borderline // cth au

four

I shook my head, turning to face them, "This...This doesn't make any sense, you guys were the ones who were supposed to watch her. I was asleep."

"No. YOU were the last one to watch her. When we returned from training, the tent was empty. We figured you just brought her to work with you," Arden explained.

"She..She wouldn't leave," I said, "Unless someone came in and took her."

Noah finally turned, storming up to me as he pointed at my face. "I don't know what happened to her but YOU are going to bring her back," he stated, "Since this is all YOUR fault after all."

I felt my blood boil underneath my skin as he pinned the situation on me. I felt like I was gonna blow but I managed to keep a straight face.

"Don't worry. I'll find her and I'll bring her back," I said as calmly as possible.

"You better," he said, "You do that while we go train."

"What? You guys aren't even gonna try to help me find her? She could be anywhere!" I exclaimed.

Arden opened her mouth to speak but Noah quickly stopped her, "No, this is your fault so you fix it."

I furrowed my eyebrows as they all left the tent, everyone following Noah. "Unbelievable," I sighed in disbelief as soon as they were gone.

I quickly got ready before setting out to find the lost girl. Finding her was going to be difficult since you can't really just go up and ask anyone if they've seen her since she was suppose to be a secret. I wandered through camp sites, purposely slowing down when walking by tents so I could glance inside. People would notice and glare at me, some getting physical. The search continued on for a long time and there was no luck.

"She has to be around here somewhere, she couldn't have gotten far," I muttered to myself as I strolled through the marketplace, "Unless she..."

I quickly shook my head, "No, no... she can't be...Positive thoughts, Scarlett, positive thoughts."

After assuring myself that everything would be alright, I continued to walk through the bustling marketplace for possibly the 100th time. This time, I finally caught sight of her. Even though I was in a huge crowd, I could easily spot her two pigtails and small frame. I would expect her to be alone...but she was with someone else. She was looking around with wide eyes as she held hands with someone I couldn't see. I immediately began pushing through the crowd but they fought back, shoving me back. She was only getting farther and farther away from me.

"L-Lucy!" I shouted amongst the chatter as I struggled to move through the crowd, "Lucy!"

She snapped her head towards my direction and widened her eyes when she saw me. I smiled and waved at her, "Stay right where you are! I'll be right there!"

There was something in her eyes, it was as if it was fear. She quickly turned away from me and faced whoever was with her. It was a male figure, that's for sure. Once the crowd cleared up a bit, I went straight over there. She stood, hiding behind the man. He was a bulky man, tattoos covering his body as he stood about a head taller than me. He had his arms crossed over his chest as he peered down at me.

I tried to avoid his eyes as I focused my attention onto the little girl peeking her head out from behind him. "Lucy, I was looking all over you," I said, holding my hand out, "Let's go back now okay?"

She stayed quiet for a moment before speaking up in the softest voice, "You're...You're not mad at me?"

"Well uh..." I trailed off, "let's talk about it when we get back."

I didn't wanna lie and say that I wasn't mad, because I kinda was. She left when I specifically told her not to. The whole group was mad at me because of her, especially Noah.