Nate took a few unconscious steps back, but seeing as this was a new experience for him, he almost felt like he soul 'lagged behind' slightly, and then nearly collapsed to the floor... though he managed to keep standing.

"..." he was silent, before taking a few regulating breaths.

"K-Kiah..." he stammered.

"I'm... I'm sorry..." he apologised.

"I'm just trying... to help you."

Nate didn't know what to say or do here. Kiah was clearly on some kind of warpath, and anything he was trying to help settle the situation was only making it worse. He could feel the rune creeping at him, crawling all over him, and there was nothing he would do to stop it.

Or stop her.

He then opened his mouth to say something, but he didn't get the chance, before there was a burst of black fire off to his and Kiah's side, and Ash was suddenly standing there.

"...the fresh hell is THIS rune?" he asked, looking it over.

"Well, first things first." he said, before letting his own rune pulse out from where he stood, negating and dispelling the one Kiah had created.

Ash looked at Kiah as she said what she did, and then sighed.

"Gotta admit, THAT was a new thing." he admitted.

"But all right, if you couldn't control that, that's a problem." he stated, before looking at Nate.

"You good?" he asked.

"Y-yeah..." Nate stammered.

"Good." Ash said, looking back to Kiah.

"And we need to nip this little rune problem in the bud."

Ash narrowed his eyes, and readied himself.

"Out of the room. NOW." he ordered Nate.

Nate just nodded and rushed out of the room, as Ash stood his ground.

"...it gonna drop again?" he asked.

"Or can you reign it in?" he asked further.

Ash just crossed his arms over his chest.

"Yeah, no." he said.

"Come at me with your weird new rune." he told her.

"You're angry. Take it out on a big boy that CAN take it." he went on.

Obviously, he didn't mean it. He was baiting her to use her rune again, so he could disrupt it again, and then get her out of there as quickly as he could, if need be.

She was too dangerous to be left alone like this, with no control over the rune.

Ash was not entirely unaffected by the rune. He was surprised and caught off-guard by JUST how powerful it was, but he managed to activate his own rune, shattering the one Kiah had dropped.

"Now! While you have clarity!" Ash exclaimed.

"I'm taking you away from here! I'm going to take you somewhere that you can't hurt anybody!" he continued, racing up towards her.

He then grabbed her by her shoulders, and looked into her eyes.

"...and it's for your own good as well." he told her.

Ash didn't say anything in response, just nodded.

The two then disappeared from where they were, in a burst of black fire, and appeared in a place she didn't recognise, in front of a door. He opened it, and when she looked inside, she saw herself reflected hundreds of times over, in mirrors.

"This is a special mirror room that reflects mana." Ash told her.

"Get in, and your rune won't be able to penetrate outside it." he said further.

"We'll try and come up with an actual solution soon, but for now, this will stop the threat the rune poses."

"..." Ash was silent, before sighing.

"We'll work something out, I promise." he told her, before shutting the door and activating the outside lock for it, so she couldn't get out.

Once he did so, he texted Sydney.

Yo, we need to talk. he sent.

Ended up making emergency use of your mirror room, and we need to talk about it. he then sent further.

I'm at your place right now, pick somewhere for us to discuss this. he then added in a third one.

Ty froze a bit when Hazel spoke, before quickly walking over towards her and setting what he'd gotten on the table near her.

"Someone touched him?" he asked.

"I... you mean...?" he started to ask further, before realising that mentioning Sebastien's name might not be the best thing right now, so he clammed up and said nothing more on THAT.

"What do you mean someone touched him?" he asked her.

"How so?"

"....I see." Ty responded.

"Hmmm. I'll let people know." he told her.

"This is a valuable piece of information." he continued.

"Someone is passing this along through TOUCH, and that is terrifying." he went on.

"Thank you for telling me, Hazel." he then said further, sitting down beside her.