Getting up from her seat, Light resumed cooking while she went to help Rose take a bath and get her out of the disgusting patient's clothes she was wearing.
Taking Rose's clothes off, Aida took in a sharp breath. Aside from Rose's clear, doll-like face, the rest of her body was riddled with scars both new and old. There were various cuts and marks of surgeries around her stomach and chest areas, some were even still bleeding. Countless punctures of needles could be seen on her lower back to draw bone marrow and on her wrists for blood. Not an inch of her skin wasn't colored black, blue or purple. There was no way these open wounds weren't painful for the little 9 year old girl, yet she never uttered a word of complaint.
Aida's eyes turned colder as she saw this. She should've just gotten rid of all those bastards earlier on, they didn't deserve to continue living and polluting the air. Rose had her eyes shut tight as she began to shudder heavily. It was apparent that even Rose herself was afraid to look at her own body.
Aida immediately softened her vibe and erased her killing intent. She hugged Rose gently, careful not to touch any of her open wounds. "It's okay now. You're safe, we can be your family and we will never throw you away or hurt you."
Then, she began gently cleaning Rose's body, careful not to agitate the wounds. Feeling Aida's gentle and soft touch, her shuddering slowed slightly but never stopped.
Right at this moment, Yukio knocked on the door and walked into the bathroom. His eyes were immediately drawn towards Rose whose back was towards him. He saw the numerous injuries on Rose and unconsciously gasped in horror, tears began forming in his eyes.
Coughing gently, Aida interrupted Yukio and prompted him, "You came here for something..?"
"Ah! Yes… Onii-chan..h-h-h-he s-s-says it's t-time to eat," Yukio stuttered as he tried to regain composure.
Nodding, she sent Yukio back downstairs as she continued to meticulously help Rose clean up and put ointment on each of the wounds. She took some of the androgenous clothing that Light picked out for the twins and helped Rose into them. Because of her frail stature, the clothes looked extremely oversized. Rose seemed to take comfort in the larger clothes, she appeared to like hiding within the clothes. Aida had selected a long sleeve turtle neck and a fluffy jacket with a hood on Rose which made her look even prettier and more doll-like than before despite the larger size.
Looking in the mirror, she complimented Rose, "You're so pretty, you'd look even prettier if you smile." Aida knew that Rose wouldn't respond, but it was important to treat Rose as if she were normal even if she wasn't as that was part of the healing process.
Drying her hair, she helped Rose braid her hair into two twin tails. She also placed two hair clips with red roses in Rose's hand. "I think these look nice, would you like to put them on?"
Rose stared blankly at the hair clips that were in her hand for a few minutes before tears began to pour out of her eyes. She gripped the hair clips tightly. Before the outbreak, she had gone to a public school, and all her classmates had hair clips like these that their parents got for them. She always watched on with envy, but never had the guts to ask her father for them.
She continued to cry silently, as though afraid to make any noise. Slowly opening her hands, she stared at the clips as though afraid they would disappear.
Aida smiled warmly, gratified by Rose's change. She took the clips from her hand and put them into her hair. Wiping away Rose's tears, she asked, "There, doesn't that look nice?"
Rose slowly looked up from her hands and hesitantly looked at herself in the mirror, as though afraid that she would see a monster in the mirror. Aida didn't rush her and allowed her to take her time as she slowly moved her eyes until they met the ones in the mirror. "Pretty right?" Aida asked again gently.
Rose nodded shyly before looking away again. Children around 9 years old were still in their formative stages and had rather flexible minds. Unlike adults, they were highly adaptable to situations. Rose was young and still had the opportunity to break away and move past the horrifying life she had lived up till now.
Aida picked her up and brought her to the dining room. She didn't want the injured Rose to be moving around too much for fear of agitating her wounds. Carefully setting her down, she placed Xiao Ai in her arms to reassure her as she went to grab a glass of juice.
Making sure her actions were out of sight, she decisively used one of her hidden knives to slice across her hand and dropped a good amount of blood into the juice. Light who was standing on the side simply gave her a knowing look before bringing the rest of the food out to the dining table. Aida shrugged as she calmly mixed the blood in and handed it to Rose for her to drink.
Ace spent this time talking about what he learned from hacking the network as well as a map of all the other bases he was able to identify. There were a lot of undercurrents going on between the bases and the government.
Yukio was uncharacteristically silent and withdrawn as he pushed the food idly around his plate, not eating. Something was clearly on his mind.
Light gently reminded him, "Eat before the food gets cold."
Instead of following Light's instructions, he firmly put his utensils down instead. Facing Aida seriously, he said, "Big sis, I want a healing ability. I don't want to see the people around me hurt. Can you help me?"
Aida nodded while patting his head. It seems seeing Rose's injuries had triggered something within him. Healing would be the perfect skill for Yukio. He had the mindset of a healer and would certainly put such an ability to good use.
Rose continued to sit at the table, mechanically drinking the juice she was given, not touching any of the food on the table. She didn't react to Yukio or anyone else's conversations at all.
Aida was inwardly surprised to see Rose still conscious. She knew that the process of her blood reverting her body was not a pleasant one, and most people would have fainted. One had to have a strong consciousness to withstand the change.
Lucifer still hadn't returned after all this time. Aida drummed her fingers on the table as she considered what to do next. Right at that moment, there was a knock at the door.
***