The footsteps echoed off the wet cobbles as Sera ran over their slippery surface. The alleyways were a zigzagging maze of crates, carts, doorways, and people that she had to either slip by or shove past to make any progress.

"Hey!" Sera yelled out angrily. "You need to give the medicine back!"

The two hooded figures looked back. Seeing Sera chasing, their body language lost its swagger and melted into fear as they began to push themselves through the crowd.

Sera started to gain and one of them pulled over a cart to block the alleyway which Sera rolled under with only a single stuttering step to catch herself before taking off again.

"Sera!" She heard Laena yell behind her as she came to the obstacle but Sera knew she could not stop lest she lose whatever sightline she had on the pair. It was a lucky thing as well because they streaked down a tiny alleyway with only a flash of their hood betraying them. .

Turning to look down the alley, she saw they were climbing a ladder up onto the rooftops. She reached the foot of the ladder just as they swung their last leg onto the roof. Taking some quick, shallow breaths, Sera did her best to sprint up the ladder. As she reached the top, the cracking sound of a gunshot roared as the sound of metal on metal echoed near her ear. She caught the image of one of the pair throwing away a pistol before jumping over the edge.

Knowing there was not another bullet coming, Sera charged to the edge of the roof to see the larger hooded figure tumbling into a roll on a building some ten meters down. Taking a few steps back, Sera got a running start and threw herself over the edge. Trying the same as the thief, she pushed her weight forward only for her to go crashing through what must have been a rotten portion of the abandoned house.

Dust filled her vision as gravity took her and dragged her down into the empty space below. Her arm had a long scratch from a jagged piece of wood she had fallen onto. Clasping her arm for the pain and to try to stop the bleeding, she did not have much time before she saw the shadowy figures drop in front of the building's windows and streak out of sight.

Growling, Sera rose up with her patience dwindling.

This section of town was much less populated than the others and there were long stretches down the alleys where Sera was able to make ground. Eventually the pair started to cut through buildings in an attempt to create distance but Sera crashed through the doors shoulder first.

They crashed through an old storefront whose bottles cracked and burst as they kicked them, an abandoned family home with a disused cradle sitting empty, a lonely home that was more bookshelf than furniture, until finally within an old butcher shop the smaller figure's foot caught in the rotten boards.

The tiny figure tumbled forward before looking back in fearful anticipation..

Sera stood in the doorway. The sweat and rain had washed most of the dye out of her hair and so she looked like the angry face of vengeance scowling from behind a roaring fire atop black coals. Holding her pistol towards the figure she huffed in exhaustion.

"Give. It. Back."

The larger figure nodded, pulled out the vial, and rolled it across the floor towards Sera.

The vial clattered and clinked as it rolled over the uneven and ill-kept floor. It came close enough that she could grab it, however, and so she reached down and grabbed it while keeping the gun trained on the smaller figure.

Alarm bells immediately started going off in Sera's head the second that she saw the vial. It was red in color with bits of dark silt floating inside of it. Slightly more viscous than water.

"Take off the hoods. I am not going to hurt you but I have to ask you some questions. Unfortunately this is as nicely as I can ask because I need to know," Sera said soberly if not with a hint of menace.

The pair began to take off their hoods and Sera felt sick to her stomach. They were kids, and were no older than eleven and seven respectively. They were gaunt, sickly, basically skin and bones. Their hair had that greasy chunkiness that Sera recognized as neglect.

The older one, a boy, spoke up past his shaggy hair.

"Can I help her? She is not well."

He made worried glances at his sister who had not yet risen but was instead taking labored, shaky breaths.

"Of course," Sera muttered out.

The boy rushed over and picked up the girl to look at her face and asking if she was alright.

"Is this medicine for you as well?" Sera asked while gesturing with the vial.

"Yes. Lady Amelia gives it to us and it helps us to feel better. She only gives out so much though. We do not have any more money and Stella is very sick so she needs it more than most," The brother answered worriedly.

"Do you have any bumps or bruises that have never gone away?" Sera asked.

The brother thought sadly for a moment before nodding.

"Show me?" Sera said shakily.

The boy pulled up one of his sleeves and along his arm were little bumps. Purple, red, some even a sickly yellow color that covered his arm like pox. Knowing that these poor children did not know what was wrong with them made all of it worse.

Sera felt her stomach turn. The gun dropped to her side as her eyes became teary.

How do we even fix this? Her internal voice asked into the void.

Sera took a few steps towards the scared kids before dropping down into a squat. She looked back and forth between the tired eyes of these children who had already suffered so much and her heart hurt. She vaguely heard Laena arrive behind her.

"This is not mine to give, so I cannot give you all of it. I know that you are in pain. If I hand this vial back to you, do you think you could take a good sip and give it back to me?" Sera asked hopefully.

The pair looked at each other and their reactions. The boy screwed up his face into determination.

"Stella needs it more than me. She can have my share."

This pained Sera, but nonetheless she handed over the vial to the girl who took one deep gulp from the vial before seeming to rip it away from herself and handing it back. An exhale of relief came as her breathing eased and a slight grin came over her face.

"Try not to steal. Not everyone is nice," Sera offered but the boy looked her dead in the eyes.

"We know."

At which point, he scooped up his little sister and they stumbled out of the room. A mumbled thanks echoed back into the abandoned house.

"What the fuck was that Sera? That medicine is for Al's sister if you had forgotten?" Laena interjected loudly but in taking a step forward, caused Sera's tearful face to look at hers.

"Children," She began through the tears, "Fucking children Laena. I am not sure why but they are putting clots into fucking children and then selling them the medicine for it. Fucking monsters!"

Sera yelled with primal fury as she kicked a chair across the room, shattering one of the already cracked windows.

"They are putting clots into them? Who is-?"

"Amelia. She runs that clinic down by the waterfront right?"

"Yes but we should go and tell someone-"

"Tell them what? That we found something is weird and that this town is using children? We already knew that, this just offers coloring. I want to know why she is doing this. Why anyone would ever want to do this!"

Sera thought for a second. It was late, the clinic was definitely closed. She could not just bring back the information she had or else they would be back at square one.

"Laena, I need you to take me to the clinic. I am going to go and find out for myself."