During this time of her being there, Ty had not touched her. Mostly because she would get VERY scared when he did. He tried once, and she withdrew back into herself for a good solid hour. So he'd stopped. He would let HER make the first move when she was ready.

So he didn't take it personally when she flinched at his sitting down.

"It's okay." he told her.

"I'll tell Agent Sharp." he said.

"And I'll keep being here for you. You know that." he said further, standing up.

"I always will be. I'm not going away ANYTIME soon."

Ty witnessed her, taking in her form and demeanour, before sighing silently.

"Hazel." he said.

"I promise I will always be here to help you." he told her, moving the small table over towards her.

"Try and eat a little something. It's bottled water and some Fårikål." he told her, before pausing. "Er... mutton stew." he clarified, in case she didn't know. "Pretty sure I butchered that pronunciation, too." he admitted with a light laugh.

"Anyway, please try and have a little." he went on.

"I need to tell the others about this new info."

Ty gritted his teeth as he saw this. Seeing Hazel this way, acting like she was, being the way she used to be... and knowing that Sebastien was... technically responsible for it, but at the same time, not... ate at him inside.

Sebastien was a fine target for his aggression, his anger... but that wouldn't be right. He was just a pawn as well. A tool that someone else was using. It wouldn't be right to be mad at HIM.

And yet... knowing that Sebastien would probably trigger a relapse if she ever came into contact with him again, made him SO angry.

But there was nothing he could do.

He wanted to tell her not to eat, because he hated that she was taking his plea as an order, but he wasn't about to tell her NOT to eat.

"...I'm sorry..." he apologised softly, before turning and walking away from her, stopping at the door and looking back. "I believe in you, Hazel. You can come back from this. You're already doing so well." he told her further, though it was mostly him talking to himself at this point.

Or he would have been, had Vae not been walking by at the time. He looked over towards her, and sighed.

"I guess I should be happy that ANY progress is happening." he admitted to her.

"I know you did." Ty responded.

"Still... it hurts to see her regressed to this." he muttered. "But yes, there IS progress, and given how she was essentially forced to relive the existence she left behind, that is a miracle, in and of itself." he reasoned.

"And I'm... fine..." he mumbled.

"Hate seeing her like this, hurts me every time I ask something of her, and she takes it as an order." he went on.

"I want to slam my fist into Sebastien's jaw SO badly." he then growled. "...but I'd be hurting a victim of this, as well." he lamented.

"This is just... such a shit situation."

"...she did!?" Ty asked, some light in his eyes.

"She did." Vae confirmed. "Not much... maybe an hour or two... but it was some." she said.

"That does my heart good to hear." Ty responded quietly, exhaling in relief.

"Also... seems she gave us a clue about what's happening." he then revealed.

"Oh?" Vae asked.

Ty then proceeded to tell her what Hazel had said... the little there was. But it was SOMETHING. It was more than they had before.

"It's not much, but we know this is transmitted by touch. Or... hand-touch, I guess." he finished.

"Alchemy, huh?" Ty mumbled.

"Well, we have Kiah, and Aedan, and Robyn for that." he said. "And Ilias as well." he continued. "Moreso Aedan than any of the others, admittedly. And her son, Cain." he added.

"I guess we can try and get ahold of them, see if we can't get that mana print off of Sebastien or Cameron." he said further, thinking about it some more.

"At this point, we need to try all we can." he reasoned. "We can't afford to ignore ANY sort of path that might be opening for us on this." he went on, crossing his arms over his chest.

"I'd love to try and get more information out of her, but... I think she did VERY well to get THAT much out." he mumbled.

"But it's something. It's a damn bread crumb, at least."

He watched her go, and shook his head.

"This place is something else." he said. "Almost as nuts as The Unit, and that's saying something." he muttered.

He then shook his head and headed off. He had work to do, calls to make.

---

She was there for about 15 seconds, before Gabe rushed into the room.

"...what the hell!?" he exclaimed, racing towards her.

"Erica!? Is that you!?" he asked.

"Wait... wait, weren't you....? Just...?" he then muttered, obviously confused.

"The hell's going on here?"

Gabe almost fell back when he felt the rush of emotions, and then the bit of pain.

"...oh... oh my God..." he said quietly.

"Oh my God!" he exclaimed.

"Erica!" he said, before laying his hands on her and starting to pulse some mana into her.

She needed healing. Bad.

And if nothing else, he could give her some emergency healing right now.

"Erica, save your strength." Gabriel responded.

"What's happened?" he asked her.

"In my heart and soul, I know that you're you." he then said. "But... but what about the OTHER you?" he asked further.

"She has your mana, your soul..." he continued.

"This shouldn't be possible..." he went on, clearing confused and distressed.

Gabriel looked... angry now.

He was angry that he'd been tricked. Deceived. Fooled. And Erica had been hurting all this time.

"And I'll make sure he tells me everything." he growled.

"I need to send you somewhere you can get medical treatment." he then told her.

"And so this faker won't try and hurt you."