Betrayal. Abandonment. Loneliness.

Those were the only things she knew of ever since she was born.

A little girl, no more than the age of six, wandered through the busy streets of a bustling market. She was dressed in rags, or more specifically, a large dirty shirt full of tears and holes. She wedged herself between the legs of the people browsing the stalls at the market. Her skillful fingers grabbing onto any piece of food she can get. This was the only way for her to survive.

Once she scavenged enough to last her the day, she retreated into the shadows. She never tried to get more than she needed, and she always stopped when she thought she was going to get caught. She made her way through the dark alleyways of Sector 11 in the city of Rexron, and returned to her normal spot. The spot that was her current 'home'.

It was a tight space in between two large, dusty and forgotten boxes. Towering over her is another box that served as a ceiling for her. She thanked her body for being small, this way she could fit into the small space. However, she knew that this slight comfort was only temporary. Her small body was because of her lack of nutrition and her current age. No matter how poor her intake is, her body would grow with age.

She sat in the small place, laying down her food for the day on her lap. She passed the day like every other day. In her small space. Just like she's done every day since her parents have left her to rot on the streets.

She picked a small piece of bread that she had grabbed. She could never understand why her parents had decided to throw her away like a rotten piece of object. Was there something wrong with her? Did she do something bad? Did they not love her?

Love.

What is love in the first place? She placed the piece of bread down after taking a small bite. She was only five, yet she thought of such topics. Maybe that was what's wrong with her. Having nothing to do all day has lead her mind to wander into different territories. She also often wondered why she still tried to keep herself alive.

Death.

Something else that she constantly thought about. The thought of putting an end to her life was certainly alluring if not for one thing. The fear of it. For whatever reason, she still wanted to live her dreadful life.

She spent her whole day lost in thought. She had nothing better to do of course. She holed herself up and when night came, she closed her eyes and drifted off. She never actually fully fell asleep. There was always a danger of some sort lurking in the darkness during the night. That one night was no exception. A loud, piercing cry jerked the young girl from her light slumber. She cringed from the loudness and sat in her little hole.

She wondered if she should go see what had happened. Of course, that would be dangerous, but curiosity had won this battle and she slowly began to crawl her way out of her place between the boxes. She pushed herself up into a standing position and tiptoed towards the source of the previous cry. The person was still screaming and crying, though it wasn't as loud as the first cry.

She stood by the corner of the end of the alleyway she was in and peeked her head over the corner to get a look at what was going on. The sight shocked her. Two large men were standing over two other people. One of them was passed out and laid at one of the men's feet, whilst the other was struggling against the hold of the other man.

That man seemed to get annoyed with the young boy who was struggling, and delivered a blow to his head. He fell limp to the floor. she let a gasp escape her mouth before she clasped both her hands over her mouth. The two men seemed to have noticed her. She made eye contact with one of them. Panicking, she stumbled backwards and fell onto the floor. She could hear their heavy footsteps move over to her spot.

Scrambling back up, she started running in the opposite direction as fast as she could. It wasn't long before her body began to ache, and when her breath began to come out in heavy puffs. Her sight began to spin as she struggled to continue running.

She supported herself against the wall as she stopped running for a moment to catch her breath and to steady her shaking legs. But that moment was all it took for the man to grab hold of her neck, choking her. She let out a strangled cry as she thrashed around, kicking her legs and clawing at his thick hand.

She was running out of breath. She could see her vision darkening. Stop. Her thrashing ceased as she lost consciousness.

When she awoke again, she was curled up into a fetal position on the floor, surrounded by other girls in a variety of different ages. She pushed herself into a sitting position and wrapped her arms around her knees. Her mind ran through what had happened in the dark alleyway. She had been choked to unconsciousness by the man who most likely brought her here. But where is here exactly?

It didn't matter to her, someone who didn't have a home or a family. It shouldn't matter to her. Yet she was scared. Scared of what might happen. A comforting hand fell onto her shaking shoulder.

She jumped at the sudden contact and jerked away from the other person. The other person was a girl around the age of eleven. Her face and body was covered in dirt and minor scratches. "Don't worry," she whispered in a soft voice, her eyes radiating warmth, "I won't hurt you."

She stared at this other girl and took in her appearance. Her brown hair was chopped up to her chin, bringing her attention to a small scar on her chin. "My name's Olivia." The older girl stated, giving a soft smile. "What's yours?"

The little one continued to stare at Olivia, before directing her gaze onto the ground. "I don't have one." Her voice barely came out as a whisper. She hasn't talked in a long time and her vocal cords were rusty. She heard Olivia gasp and she kept her eyes looking to the floor.

"In that case," Olivia started, bringing the young girl's attention back to older girl's face, "I'll name you." Olivia smiled widely at her, despite the mysterious situation the two were currently in.

She continued to stare at Olivia, her words still not processing in her mind which has long gotten used to desolation and ignorance.

"Lindsey."

The little girl tilted her head at that as Olivia's smile widened further.

"Your name is now Lindsey."

The girl, now named Lindsey, blinked at Olivia. "Why Lindsey?" She questioned.

Olivia shrugged, "I've always wanted a little sister named Lindsey."

Lindsey's face scrunched up into a frown as she tried to wrap her head around that logic. Lindsey let out a sigh, deciding just to go with it. Lindsey looked over at Olivia who was looking towards a corner of the room, a frown on her face.

Just as Lindsey decided to ask what was wrong, Olivia's face contorted into an expression of panic and pulled Lindsey into a lying down position with her.

"Wha –" Lindsey got out before she was shushed by Olivia.

"Pretend to be asleep." Olivia whispered, closing her eyes. Lindsey frowned but did as she was told. Not a moment later, a loud banging was heard as a door that lead into the room was slammed open. Olivia moved her hand from where it was on Lindsey's arm and clasped it around her hand instead.

Footsteps sounded against the floor as the person made their way across the room. The footsteps stopped right above her head. Olivia squeezed Lindsey's hand once more as a rougher hand grabbed onto Lindsey's arm and pulled her up, tossing her over his shoulder. Even then, Olivia's grip on her hand did not loosen.

She heard the male sigh before he bent down again. Lindsey decided to peek one eye open, and saw Olivia slung across the other shoulder of the man. She shut her eye again. Moments later, her breath was knocked out of her chest as she was tossed onto the ground. Another thud came beside her as Olivia was tossed down as well.

Even though her eyes were closed, she could feel the room get darker before she heard the sound of metal hitting metal. Lindsey furrowed her eyebrows and slowly began to open her eyes. Staying in her position, she glanced around the room that she was in.

A vibration came from under her as she realized that she was in the back of a truck. She tried to sit up but Olivia quickly pulled her back down again.

"Stay down." Olivia whispered as she scooted over. "The people at the front will be able to see you if you sit up."

Lindsey turned to face her, "how do you know this? What's going on?"

A grim smile found its way onto Olivia's face. "We're going to be sold as slaves. And this, may or may not be the third time it's happened to me."

Lindsey stared at Olivia in shock and in confusion.

Olivia shrugged, "I've managed to escape before I was sold the last few times, but I don't think I'll be able to make a run for it this time."

Lindsey blinked at Olivia and then nodded slowly at her.

"Guess we'll just see what's going to happen." Olivia muttered, "but I'm sure it'll be fine as long as the two of us stay together." She gave Lindsey another smile.

Lindsey found herself smiling back at her, warmth spreading through her body. The word friend briefly popped into her mind. Her first friend.

~*~

"Lindsey? Think you can give me a hand here?" Lindsey placed down the stack of boxes that she had been carrying and turned around to see Olivia rounding a corner, carrying a stack of clothes that towered over her and were close to tumbling over.

Lindsey ran over and took half of the stack into her arms. Olivia breathed a sigh of relief, "Thanks. The masters would get really angry if they find that I dropped the clothes." Olivia shuddered at the thought.

The two of them walked into a room in the mansion and placed the folded clothes into the correct sections of the wardrobe. As soon as they were done, they retreated into their shared room in the basement of the mansion. The basement had five beds cramped into the small space. Two people shared one bed. The mattresses were thin and the blankets did nothing to protect you from the cold. But at least it was something.

"Lindsey, your hair is falling out of your bun. Come here, I'll fix it." Olivia called out, grabbing a brush and motioned Lindsey to sit on their bed. Lindsey did as she was asked and Olivia moved so that she was kneeling behind Lindsey.

Olivia freed Lindsey's hair from the bun and combed through her hair. She sighed, "You have such beautiful hair. If we were in a different world, it wouldn't be hard to believe you're a princess."

Lindsey blushed. "That's nonsense." Lindsey played with a strand of her black hair, wondering if she should cut it or not. It had grown in the past year so it nearly reached her lower back. Olivia pulled the strand from Lindsey's grasp as she began working on fixing Lindsey's hair into a bun.

Just as Olivia finished up, a ringing rang through the room as a hologram appeared on the wall beside us. The masters were calling for Olivia. She placed the brush down and gave Lindsey a quick hug before leaving the room.

As Olivia left, another young girl entered the room. She was one of the many other girls who had been bought by this household as servants. Lindsey noticed that the girl's cheek was swollen. "What happened?"

The other girl sat down on her bed and sighed, cradling her cheek. "The young mistress slapped me. I accidentally spilt her drink on her." Lindsey winced in response. She slid off the bed and crouched down, pulling a box from under her bed. She dug through the box until she found something that was cold enough to serve as an ice pack, and passed it towards the other girl.

She took it and breathed out her thanks. Another ring sounded as another hologram appeared. This time, Lindsey was being called to the kitchen. Pushing her box back under her bed, Lindsey made her way towards the kitchen. The family's chef met her near the kitchen and explained that they were short on staff today, and that her task was to wash the utensils and put them back into the correct cupboards.

Lindsey went to work quietly. As long as you did what you were told and did not mess up, you wouldn't be punished. That was how Lindsey understood it after working here for a year. As she washed the dishes, she glanced over at her arms. Pale white scars covered her arms. She was sure she had scars on other parts of her body as well but the ones on her arms serve the best reminders for what would happen if she did something wrong.

She managed to get through this task without getting in trouble, which was an accomplishment. It was close to midnight by the time she returned to the basement. Lindsey was expecting Olivia to already be there when she had got back but she was nowhere to be seen. The other female servants had all returned and were already asleep.

Lindsey frowned and sat on her bed. What was taking Olivia so long? It was unusual for a task to take so long.

The door to the room creaked open. Lindsey stood up and looked over expectantly. A large figure appeared at the door, with a smaller body draped over his shoulder. He took the body and tossed it into the room.

Realizing the body was Olivia, Lindsey rushed towards the body. "Olivia?" No response.

Lindsey reached over to grab her arm. Cold. Wet. Lindsey began to panic, "Olivia? Say something!" Lindsey moved her hands to Olivia's face. Her face was cold too. Shaking, Lindsey placed two fingers on Olivia's neck, trying to feel for a pulse. Nothing.

The body at the door moved slightly, allowing more light to enter the room and tears spilled from Lindsey's eyes as what she saw settled into her mind.

Olivia was covered in her own ruby red blood. Cuts were engraved on her skin all around her body. Lindsey was shaking uncontrollably, her eyes wide with shock. Denial and panic bubbled in her chest. A large hand grabbed hold her Lindsey's arm, ripping Lindsey from Olivia's side. The person who was previously at the door tossed Lindsey over his shoulder and began making his way out of the room.

Snapping out of her shocked state, Lindsey noticed that she was being brought towards one of the rooms that she was never allowed to go in. At the entrance, a male stood holding a knife that still had remnants of blood on it. Lindsey's eyes widened in realization.

She began to thrash around, kicking and hitting the person carrying her. The person didn't seem affected and tossed her onto the ground in front of the knife-wielding male. Scrambling onto her feet, Lindsey tried to run but someone grabbed hold of her hair and yanked her back. Lindsey screamed out in pain. She noticed the one with the knife was approaching her and she continued to thrash against the other person, trying to get him to loosen his hold on her hair.

The knife was suddenly in her line of vision, coming down on her. She moved her head at the last moment and she felt the hold disappear from her hair. Without wasting a moment, she ran to a window and jumped right through it, ignoring the jolts of pain as the glass cut through her skin.

She tumbled onto the grassy floor but rolled her way back into a standing position and ran out of the estate. She kept running until she felt like she was a safe distance away from the mansion, and that there were no people following her. She ducked into a small alleyway and leaned against the wall, panting heavily. Her hands found its way to her head and she noticed that her hair was shorter. The knife had probably cut through her hair when she had dodged it.

Her body shook with silent sobs as she slid onto the ground in a fetal position.

Here she was again. On the streets. In a dark alleyway. Alone.

~*~

Almost another year had passed when the family she used to work for were taken in by the authorities. They had found out that the family had gotten rid of all the servants they had after they had served them for a year. Apparently, the family did this because it was 'boring to have the same people serve you for a long time'.

Lindsey suppressed her anger as she continued to fill out the form. When she heard the news of the family getting caught, she also heard of Syndicates. If she joined a Syndicate, they will provide her with food, shelter and money. She had just turned eight recently too, so she decided to sign up.

She went through the whole process in silence, only speaking when asked questions. Once she was officially entered into the Syndicate program, they brought her to the Syndicate training center that was in Sector 1 of the city, Rexron.

As she walked down the hallway of the building, heading towards the main office, a loud laugh echoed through the building before someone crashed into her from behind. Lindsey stumbled forwards but managed to stay on her feet. She turned around and stared at the person who had ran into her.

It was a boy, around her age, with messy black hair and a cheeky smile. "Sorry about that! I was running backwards so I didn't see you!"

Lindsey found herself mirroring his smile and shook her head. A group of children, some her age and some older, ran past them, screaming at the boy, "See you later, jungle boy!"

Jungle boy? Lindsey thought in amusement. The boy stuck his tongue out at them in response before turning back to Lindsey.

"What's your name?" He asked.

"Lindsey."

"Ooh! Are you alone?"

She felt her eyebrows slightly twitch in annoyance and nodded.

"Are you always alone?"

Lindsey's heart clenched at this question as she nodded again.

"Do you want to be friends then?"

Lindsey shook her head. "Everyone leaves me at one point anyways." She muttered under her breath.

The boy seemed to realize the change in her mood and he quietened down as well. "Then I promise that I will never leave you."

Lindsey stared at him in shock. He shot another wide smile at her. A smile found its way back onto her face. "I don't even know your name."

The boy laughed before replying, "Well then. Hi. My name is Vincent, and I promise that I will never leave you alone."

Lindsey found her own smile widening. "I'll hold you to that."

~*~

"Congratulations on joining a Syndicate!" Lindsey's roommates cheered as she returned to her room that day. Her two years of training was over and she had passed the final test. She shared a room with nine other kids, including Vincent.

Lindsey laughed, "Thanks!"

"Do I get a 'congratulations' too?" Vincent bounced into the room. He stood in a dramatic way and held his hand out in a victory sign.

"You passed?" Lindsey asked, her excitement rising.

"Yup! Just finished my test a few moments ago! I told the old man to put me in the same Syndicate as you right away!" Vincent let out a laugh as he finished talking.

The entire room cheered and congratulated Vincent. That night, the trainers announced the names of people who had passed the test as well as which Syndicate they would be joining. Lindsey sat in her seat beside Vincent, listening with rapt attention.

"Now we have the list of new Syndicates that are formed as well as their members." The head trainer rambled on. Neither her name, nor Vincent's name has been announced yet. That meant that the two of them were going to be joining a new Syndicate.

"Joining Syndicate 45 will be, Lindsey, Vincent," Lindsey let out a relieved sigh and looked at Vincent who gave her double thumbs up and a wide grin, "Kyle, Vanessa, Max, and Hugh. You will be stationed in the city of Aestrea."

Lindsey had never met the other four before, but Vincent's excitement and extrovert tendencies were rubbing off on her.

She met the other four the next day when they had to meet up in front of the training center. They were heading to Aestrea that day and they were travelling together. Vanessa was a girl the same age as Lindsey, with curly black hair that framed her face. Max was a tall, lanky boy who stood with a hunched back. Kyle and Hugh were both the same age as Vincent, a year older than her. Vincent seemed to get along great with them and Lindsey found herself pulled into the conversation as well.

By the time the six of them arrived in Aestrea, they were already inseparable.

~*~

Vincent leaped from building to building, Lindsey followed close behind him. They were on night patrol around the city and Vincent had mentioned he saw someone acting strangely.

Vincent stopped on the roof of a building beside an alleyway and Lindsey knelt beside him. A man had grabbed hold of a girl. Lindsey squinted before recognizing the man in the dark. "That's the serial rapist the government is after." She whispered to Vincent.

Vincent nodded and pulled a knife from a stash of weapons he kept on his belt. He aimed and threw the dagger at the rapist. Bullseye. The man fell over and the victim slid onto the ground. Lindsey and Vincent jumped down from their position on the building. Vincent went to check on the man and Lindsey walked towards the victim.

The victim was a girl who was covered in bandages that were soaked in blood. She was way too thin and her hair had strands of white. She stared back at Lindsey, almost emotionlessly. Somehow, this girl reminded Lindsey of herself many years ago. She was eighteen now and she has changed a lot over the years, but her past self was still engraved into her. Lindsey decided to bring this girl back with them to their Syndicate house. The girl had way too many injuries that needed to be treated.

Lindsey carried the girl back to their Syndicate house and Vanessa helped her treat her injuries. The girl, who had introduced herself as Amelia, had fallen asleep while Vanessa and Lindsey had worked on disinfecting and stitching up the multiple wounds around her body. Lindsey couldn't stop herself from wincing as she worked. She couldn't even imagine how Amelia had gotten all of these wounds.

When they were done, they moved her to one of the spare rooms that they had in the house. There were only six of them but they had eight rooms in the house. As they got Amelia settled in, Lindsey thought back to when she had first met Olivia. Was this how Olivia had felt when she had first met her?

Once they were done, Lindsey walked back downstairs and sat herself down on the couch beside Vincent. Wordlessly, he draped an arm around her shoulders as she leaned against him. The two of them officially began dating three years ago, after a few weeks of consistent teasing from the other four.

Amelia had slept for the next two days without waking up. Vanessa and Lindsey took turns feeding her soup while she slept. The poor girl was way too malnourished. Lindsey decided that she would take on the position that Olivia was in when she had first met her.

On the third day, Lindsey made her way to check on Amelia but saw a strange sight. Hugh was sitting on the floor, his head around the edge of the door, looking into the room. Max was kneeling behind Hugh, looking into the room as well, with his head on top of Hugh's. Kyle was behind Max, head on top of his, and Vincent was at the very back. All four of them had a hand on the door to support themselves as they looked into the room, one head on top of another.

Lindsey stifled a snicker and walked to the door and pushed it to open fully, making the four of them topple to the ground. She noticed that Amelia was sitting in the bed, staring at them. "You're up!" Lindsey smiled widely and made her way to the girl. Vincent told the other three boys to go back downstairs since they shouldn't crowd around her since she just woke up.

He then made his way towards Lindsey and Amelia and began to help Lindsey explain things to Amelia. Lindsey was happy that she was able to convince Amelia to stay with them until she healed. Even though she more or less forced her into accepting it, she still felt accomplished.

A few days later, Lindsey welcomed Amelia as a member of her family. She really did look to her as a younger sister and treated her as such. When the Syndicate house was attacked one night, her first instinct was to protect Amelia. She rushed her to the meeting room and told her to activate the built in weapons in the house. This way, she can help the others in fighting and protect Amelia at the same time.

But she wasn't expecting her life to be destroyed that night. She watched in despair as she watched four of the attackers grab onto Vincent and impale him with multiple daggers. "No, no, no, no, no." She whispered to herself. "NO!" She deactivated the electric barrier that she had set up and ran out of the room.

Lindsey screamed out Vincent's name in panic, only to hear gunshots in return. She ran into the gaming room that he was in and fought the remaining attackers in a fury. Hugh and Vanessa appeared not long after and took them down as Lindsey ran towards Vincent. She dropped to her knees and cradled his head in her arms. A bloody hole was in his forehead. She felt his face. Cold. She felt for a pulse in panic. None.

Tears poured out of her tears and wails of grief ripped from her throat. She held onto Vincent's body tightly, unwilling to let him go. She didn't notice when the others had formed a circle around them, or when the authorities had arrived.

Denial formed in her mind. Vincent promised that he would never leave her. He would never break his promise. He's not dead. He's not dead. She wouldn't let them take him. He wouldn't leave her. Her grip on Vincent tightened and bit and hissed at anyone who tried to take him away.

She screamed, she yelled. She attacked them, kicking and punching. But she couldn't do anything. Vincent was leaving her. He was going so far away... She could barely even hear herself screaming in real life.

A pinch came from her arm as she felt her body going limp, mind going blank. He was so far away... so out of reach... "Don't leave me..."

~*~

Lindsey regained consciousness a few hours later. She was lying on a soft bed beside Vanessa and Amelia, both of them were asleep.

Vincent is gone.

That thought resonated in her mind.

Where did he go? Why didn't he take her with him?

A thought occurred to her.

She can still catch up to him.

Lindsey pushed herself into a sitting position. This action caused Vanessa to wake up. She had always been a light sleeper. "Lindsey? You're already up?" Vanessa whispered and she sat up as well, one hand rubbing at her eyes. Lindsey didn't reply and just stared back at Vanessa.

"Are you okay?" Vanessa asked, watching Lindsey with worry.

There was a slight pause before Lindsey smiled. Her mind was set. She leaned forward and hugged Vanessa. "Thank you."

She released the hug a few moments later and slid off the bed. "Lindsey?" Vanessa called out, still in confusion.

"I just need to use the bathroom real quick." Lindsey replied heading towards the bathroom beside the room. She closed the door behind her and locked it. They shouldn't be able to open the door from outside.

She turned on the tap on the bath and began to fill the tub with water. As the water level began to slowly increase, Lindsey looked at herself in the mirror. Her hair was still in a ponytail. With one pull, she released her hair from its position and watched it drop down.

Death.

She no longer feared it. Because of it, she'll be able to be with Vincent again. The only person who ever promised to always be with her. She's not going to lose him.

The tub was full. Lindsey turned off the tap and stepped into the water. Some water splashed over the edges of the tub as she submerged herself into the water, fully clothed.

She laid onto the bottom of the tub and released her breath, the lack of oxygen already suffocating her. She smiled.

After eighteen years, she's finally going to have some peace.