"Well that's a bummer," said Gab, keeping the blood.
The doctor stirred in his sleep but was knocked out once more by Ysabeau's foot. With the silence between the two, they managed to close the box on the child and murmured a few prayers. As Ysabeau took a deep breath, she realized something familiar with the child's scent.
"That kid... I know that scent. I've just come across it recently, but I can't remember when or where," said Ysabeau, her brows furrowing.
"What is your definition of 'recently? A few days ago or a few years ago?" asked Gab, though it was sounding like he was making fun of her age.
"A few days ago."
Lost in her recent memories, Gab found a small, white stuffed dog. It was an actual plushie, to his relief. It had button eyes and floppy limbs. Its ears were small and pointy. It was quite soft to the touch, reminded Gab of one of the dozens of plushies Mavislin owns.
He smiled gently at it and guessed that it might have been the child's belonging. Ysabeau caught sight of it and her face lit up.
"That butterfly! He had the same scent as that butterfly!"
Her excitement dimmed down when reality kicked in.
"Mavislin and Bryan faced off with Rina a few hours ago. Let's keep this as proof first. We can tell her the truth," instructed Gab as they both got out of the room.
They went down the hall, they halted at a narrow hallway full of doors. If each door would open to the same scene as what they encountered earlier, it would be such a pain to go through each room. But they had no choice, that was their mission. And so they went through the rooms.
To their surprise, not all of them were grim and dark. Some were empty, with small skeletons lying with their bones in chains. Okay, those were the grim rooms, but at least it was less painful than the live ones. The duo had to interrupt some 'experiments' and witness a child on the operating table.
This went for hours, even Ysabeau was beginning to tucker out. Gab was beyond tired, he had already ascended by the time they took out the doctors from the 27th room. Despite them going through so many rooms, they have yet to find a kid that they can save.
"This is the 33rd room and still we can't save any kid's life. We've seen more bones than what I had for thanksgiving last year. This is getting frustrating," said Gab, shutting the door.
"I know, but we can't lose hope. We are being sent on this mission to find the missing victims and whoever was being harmed in this terrible thing. So, we can't give up now," said Ysabeau, unusually hopeful.
As they went into the next room, their hopes lit up. But the sight of this room was dreary and tear-jerking. Over ten kids were bound by chains and on the brink of starvation and malnutrition.
"Ysabeau, can you heal them?" asked Gab, hoping that the kids could be saved.
"I can do it halfway, Mavislin would be a better candidate for this," said Ysabeau as she got to work.
She placed her hand on the first child and enhanced the child's organs. She made their hearts, lungs, and bones slightly larger and stronger. This seemed to work as color returned to each child's complexion. Their looks were still sunken but they are nonetheless alive.
Luckily, all of the children in that room were savable. Gab heaved a sigh of relief as the first kid's eyes came back to life. All of them were at least four years old and above. But none of them could speak, they were all human, as confirmed by Ysabeau.
"Looks like they've been locked up in here for their whole lives. They lack the mentality to move, speak or show any form of emotion other than that blank expression," noted Gab as he gently patted the first kid on her head.
He was right, the kid had a response. The two tried asking questions but all of them failed to respond. They weren't dead, they just do not know how to talk. In total, there were exactly 15 kids. All could not speak. The ones who looked older, the most was about six years old, were able to walk.
But they were quite shaky. There were only five six-year-olds. The rest were all aged four years. Now, the two adults needed to find a way to get these kids to safety without drawing too much attention. They lack the power to move them all at once.
"Well, time for me to use my Ancient Relic. Come here, Fluffy," whispered Ysabeau as she extended her arms out.