"....holy crap." Ash muttered.

"Eloquently put." Vincent said.

"....what was the island like?" Ash then asked. "Can you describe what you saw on it?" he asked her.

Alice did so, and as she spoke, Ash tapped away on his phone, seemingly searching for something.

"Ah!" he exclaimed.

"I think I found the island they landed on." he commented, handing the phone over towards Vincent and Hollie.

"Sydney and I went there once on a hunt. It's uninhabited, except for a few VERY hardy critters that stay there and don't really bother anyone." he explained.

"...." there was a bit of silence after Hollie left, before Vincent looked to Alice.

"So." he said, clearing his throat.

"I have... a good many questions." he told her.

"But let's start with one of the two that are very obvious. One is more obvious than the other, but I'll go with the question that I think I know the answer to first... but I don't want to assume the answer." he said further.

"How long have you known you were an Empath, and why did you keep it a secret?" he asked her.

Vincent just sighed.

"....I expected as much." he said.

"It makes sense, sadly enough." he admitted.

"Uh... there's actually a big thing we're not addressing here..." Ash then said.

"I know, I know." Vincent replied.

"Bit of an... elephant in the room, but... Alice, since when can you TALK?" he asked her.

"...so, out of self-preservation for your sanity, you distanced yourself from everyone." Vincent said.

"I see..." he mumbled.

"Wait..." Ash muttered.

"Hold on, hold on." he said.

"You're saying that talking to people would have hurt you?" he asked Alice.

"....you're missing a few steps in between point A and B..." Vincent responded. "...but that IS, essentially, it." he confirmed.

"....." Vincent was silent upon hearing that.

"That's concerning." he said.

"It is?" Ash asked.

"It means that whatever caused her breakdown was targeted, and deliberate." Vincent said.

"...someone WANTED her to break down like this?" Ash muttered.

"Precisely." Vincent said.

"Something inside her is forcing her empathy to be amplified. What Hollie gave her should have shut things down outright, but the fact that she can still feel it means an outside source is at work." he snarled, clearly unimpressed that someone was messing with his daughters.

"We'll make sure that doesn't happen." Vincent told her.

"I know people that can help you strengthen those walls." he said.

"And people that can take out what was put inside you." he went on.

".......hm." Ash mumbled.

"I think Vicki was the real target here." Ash said.

"Whoever did this wanted Alice out of the way, so they did what they did... and then they got away with Vicki." he muttered further, shaking his head.

"Whatever this was, it was planned, deliberate, and coordinated."

Vincent nodded.

"The smart thing to do." he said.

"Seriously, that was smart. You didn't feel safe there, so you left." he reasoned.

"...we'll need to tell them you came here, though." he then told her.

"Just so they don't think YOU'RE missing as well." he reasoned.

"Yeah...." Ash agreed.

"And we'll see if anyone else there saw anything." he added.

Ash was almost paralysed from fear. He'd stared down numerous wild beasts in the past, each of them stronger than the last, but THIS was different.

He then mentally smacked himself, and nodded.

"Y-yeah, we do." he said.

"I'll... go brew some." he told her, before rushing out of the room.

"She takes honey in it!" Vincent called to him, before looking at Hollie.

"...Hollie...?" he addressed her, sounding concerned.

"........." Vincent was silent, stunned to hear that.

"....Ash was right..." he said.

"This all but confirms it..." he went on.

"This was targeted, deliberate, coordinated, and premeditated." he commented, seemingly staring forward a bit, losing himself in this thought.

However, it was then that Ash returned, having used his fire to superheat the water and get the tea to steep quickly. He'd even put honey in it as Vincent had called out.

"Here." he said, handing the mug of hot liquid to her.

Ash was silent for a moment, and nodded.

"Right." he said.

With that, he quickly left the room to check up on Alice, wherever she had gone to.

"...damn it all." Vincent cursed.

"Why this? Why now?" he growled.

"Why does this have to be happening? Why!?" he wondered further, growing frustrated.

"....and where is Victoria...?" he then asked quietly.