Revamped!

A Study in Scarlet: Part Three

Commonwealth, The Earthen Union

As evening hits, the Locating Scarlet Expedition Squad sat in the middle of the mall with no further progress on their hunt for Scarlet. At this point, they somehow have less information than what they started with. They only know that as of now, she wasn't with her Grandmère since she would've called or texted. Even her Grandmère wasn't home when they were there. They're not sure about the lie but there's certainly one somewhere in a mess of many. To them, Scarlet was both MIA and AWOL and they try to talk out their next plan while drinking sodas.

"I think we can figure this out," Cress says to motivate them since they all seem to have lost hope. "On television, the teenagers are always the one who solve the mysteries."

"Okay, then let's state what we know," Cinder says. "Scarlet had a pregnancy scare with Wolf, her father sent her a letter saying that he wants or needs to talk to her, her father gets arrested for something, and now Scarlet is gone."

They nod, trying to see if they can dissect something from that story that would've prompted Scarlet to have run away. It doesn't help that if they were in her shoes, any of those tidbits of information would've sent them straight out the door and into hiding. So in hindsight, they can't blame her for what she did. It's the fact she didn't tell any of them that's bothersome.

"Maybe the police were looking for her because her father got arrested," Winter suggests.

"Or maybe child services took her in because her father got arrested," Cress adds.

"Or maybe Scarlet didn't run away," Thorne says. Everyone looks at him. "Hear me out, maybe because of her father's arrest, Scarlet's mother didn't want child services to take her in so she kidnapped her."

They're cringing at how ridiculous that sounds but at the same time, it wildly makes sense although Scarlet's mom left when she was a child.

"Her grandma is still out of the picture," Kai reminds them.

"I bet that her grandma went out of town and Scarlet took that opportunity to flee," Cinder says. "Or she's in on the criminal story and they fled together."

"Okay!" Wolf exclaims, slamming his hands on the table. They jump up and their sodas shake. Luckily, none of them fall over. They look at Wolf as he exhales exasperatedly. "Aces, guys, you're losing your spades."

"You've been shockingly calm this whole time," Winter says. "I thought you would be the most riled because she's your Scarlet. When Jacin ran away, I couldn't handle myself. I got interrogated by Commander Clay's associates. What are you thinking?"

Wolf bites down on his lip. He understands why Winter told him this but their stories are different. Sure, Winter had no idea where Jacin went and why when she first learned that he went missing but Jacin eventually called and told her that he was running to her. He ran in her direction. Scarlet said nothing and ran the other way from him. If anything, he isn't concerned about himself in the equation at all. He's beyond terrified about Scarlet and where she is. At the moment, he's more concerned about her location rather than why she left.

But he doesn't tell her that.

Wolf sits up after being quite this whole time. "Let's not jump to any conclusions yet. She ran away from France when she was a child and I'm not sure how the immigration process would've worked for her in that case. And now her father's in jail so they would've done a background check on him which would've revealed that Scarlet's his daughter. Since Scarlet's still a minor, they would've been looking for her and it wouldn't be that hard to find her here because they would have records that her grandma's here. So, with that in mind, let's say she got deported back to France. From that point, how do we get her back legally?"

Everyone's silent. They should've just let Wolf do the talking and hypothesizing first because his explanation had logic in it while they were spitting conspiracy theories.

"Since you're an Earthen citizen, you could marry her," Kai says.

"Honestly, that's probably the easiest form of immigration - or re-immigration in her case," Winter says. She smiles before she starts cheering. "We can have a wedding and welcome back party!"

"Wedding of the year!" Thorne chants as if he was at a frat party.

Wolf is a little shocked by that idea but isn't hating it one bit. " … we'll call that Plan B. We're too young and I don't want to wait."

Winter and Cress coo at the idea that Wolf doesn't want to wait to marry Scarlet. In their minds, they're already planning the wedding. Wolf does his best to ignore them but he bites down on his lips to hide his smile.

"I get what you were saying," Thorne says to Wolf. "There's the possibility that Scarlet thought the same thing so maybe she ran away to avoid all those legal spades."

"But then wouldn't we get the Feds on our trail?" Cinder questions.

"Why would Scarlet do that and not at least tell us?" Cress asks.

"Because the less we know, the less we could tell the police," Wolf says, also answering Cinder. He feels antsy the more time Scarlet's whereabouts are unknown. Then, he looks down and smiles to himself as he thinks about one of the first times he was aware he was dating Scarlet Benoit. "She almost shot me twice…"

He said that with so much tenderness that the others look at him with concern. If anyone else heard that statement, they would give him and even stranger look that they're currently giving him. That wasn't normal but at the same time, it was. Winter and Cress have their wedding planning faces again and Wolf doesn't hide his smile.

"You pretend like you're all tough, but look at you being a big ol' softie," Thorne tells him.

Wolf looks up to glare at him. "If my girl wasn't missing, I would kick you right here and now."

Thorne makes a heart with his hands and pushes it back and forth as if it was beating compulsively. Cress captures it for her story, making a boomerang out of it. Wolf rolls his eyes which Cress catches for another part of her story.

-o-

Paris, France, The European Federation

Early the next morning, Émilie brought Scarlet to the nearest café for them to talk. Scarlet barely slept that night so that adds another reason why she feels so tired. She thinks about her Grandmère and is relieved that she's still out-of-town so she'll never know that she's currently in France (granted if she returns in time - or at all, at this point). Then, her mind wanders off to her friends in Commonwealth who are probably worried and panicking about where in the stars she went - aces, Wolf must be tearing up the town.

Scarlet wipes a tear she didn't know she shed as Émilie approaches their table with their coffees and pastries. She pulls out some creams, sugars, and napkins from her pockets before taking a seat beside her. Lucky for her, Émilie was too preoccupied with their food to notice Scarlet wipe away her tear with her sleeve.

There are some worries better kept if never said aloud, but Scarlet needs to tell Émilie the truth. No one knows her to the extent that her oldest girl friend does. There's a deep bond that never goes away over time, even if they drifted. As much as she made new friends, it's not the exact same as her first. Scarlet owes Émilie a lot of explanations such as why she ran away a decade ago and why she was suddenly back unexpectedly. When they were kids, Émilie didn't know much about Scarlet's domestic life but knew that her parents fought a lot up to the point where her mom left and her dad started drinking. Sure, they didn't fully understand it when they were kids, but now it all makes sense. Deciding to tell Émilie everything was like Scarlet giving her secrets away to her and Émilie keeping them as if they were her own.

"Alors…" Émilie mutters as she makes herself comfortable in her seat. "How is your Grandmère?"

"She's good," Scarlet replies, sipping her coffee which was too hot. She didn't want to talk at the moment no matter how much she knew she had to.

"And how is - I believe you said you were in Commonwealth?"

Scarlet nods, lowering her coffee. "Commonwealth is fine."

"How do you go to school? I mean, aren't there background checks when you register?"

"Lunar Academy's school board started out as some safe haven for Lunar kids who escaped during the reign of the now-late President Blackburn. So, they were lenient at first when it comes to registration because they flooded in at once. Now, all you need to be a student in that school is a Lunar citizenship, wealth, intelligence or a combination. As for me who is none of the above, the school thinks I'm an international student and Grandmère gave them the paperwork as if she filled it out in France. Forged signatures and all that. Or not really forged since she still had her Air Force connections."

Scarlet opens the paper bag with her pastry in it and breaks a piece off her brioche to munch on. She glances up at Émilie who is unexpectedly frowning at her.

"Quel est ton problème ?" Scarlet asks, not wanting to feel mad because she had no right to be.

"We haven't spoken about how you're feeling and I need to know." Émilie's face softens up a little. "As much as I'm happy to see you, it scared me to see you at my door. You came back after a decade so, obviously, it was for something scary - which it was. I shouldn't say this, but that letter from the French government was in my nightmare so I can't imagine how you must have felt reading it back in Commonwealth."

Scarlet sighs. "I feel like my life is over. I made some stupid decision by coming here and I might not even be allowed to go home."

"What do you mean?"

"My Grandmère knows the situation with my father and you didn't have to tell me but I know my father in all his drunkenness came knocking on your door the moment he realized I was gone. I know I should've at least told my Grandmère about coming to France but I couldn't bring myself to get the words out. Same goes to my friends back home. It's all this pride I have towards this. It's why I just leave and show up. It saves me the tragic storytelling." She takes a breath and Émilie rubs her arm. "If I can't even tell them, what the stars am I supposed to tell a freaking judge? What if child services takes me? I probably deserve it for reckless behaviour. I mean, they should probably lock me up for running away. If only the French government sent the letter when I was an adult."

"Is that why you left the first time?"

"It was a hard choice to leave when I was seven. The only reason why I stayed for so long was because state care is worse than alcohol neglect."

Émilie nods before squeezing Scarlet's arm a little. "Hey, we'll get through this. Nobody's perfect and your genes aren't your destiny. We all make mistakes and feel depressed, but you can get up again and feel better again. I'll be by your side throughout this whole process no matter what happens."

Scarlet smiles happily as a grateful tear falls down her cheek. "Merci, Émilie."

Émilie grins as she uses a napkin to wipe Scarlet's face. "You have a bad habit of running away."

Scarlet rolls her eyes. "It's not a habit if it only happened twice in the span of a decade."

"At least call your Grandmère."

Scarlet shakes her head. "She'll be fine."

"If being fine is a euphemism for completely freaking out, then sure, she'll be fine."

"Exactement."

Émilie sighs disappointedly. "Scarlet, j'uis sérieuse. You'd better have told at least one person."

"I did."

"Qui ?"

"Toi."

Émilie groans as she rolls her eyes. Scarlet smiles to herself as she finishes eating her brioche.