That was it then.. She'd tried everything she could, everything that could be done to find her sister but she just couldn't be found. She left the castle in search of her sister, hating that everyone else could go looking for her while she had to stay in there, trapped, feeling helpless because everyone thought it was too dangerous for her to go out. Everyone thought that if she went out to look for her, she would be kidnapped next and that was the Death Eater's main goal with taking Naomi away.
They knew that she would eventually go out to look for her and while she also knew that that was exactly what they were hoping, she still did it. She had hoped to get caught, to be able to be taken to her sister, but it hadn't happened. But two things had happened to her in the time she was gone. She had encountered Felix Barker again.. though he wasn't the same sicko that he had been before. He was a mere shell of the man who had tortured her the previous year. But something about him still scared her. No, not scared, it terrified her.
That wasn't the worst thing that had happened though, or that could have happened. She had actually taken a bit of pleasure in seeing him the way he was now. He was nothing, no one. She had basked in the pleasure, even after leaving him, but it hadn't lasted long before the other thing had happened that took all that joy and happiness away. She had seen Naomi.. But it wasn't her. It couldn't have been her sister, it wasn't the sweet, innocent girl she had known as her sister. She was different.
"N-Naomi..?"
"Hi Hit."
The smirk on Naomi's face wasn't like her. It seemed to reach from ear to ear and it had a strange look to it as her narrowed eyes stared at Hitame with something resembling hatred in them.
"Naomi.. W-what's wrong with you..?"
"Wrong with me? Nothing. I'm the same as I was before."
"No.. No you aren't. You're different. What happened to you? What did those bastards do to you..?"
"What did they do to me? Don't you mean what did you do?"
"What I did.. What did I do Naomi? I haven't done anything.."
"Exactly! You didn't do anything, you haven't done anything! You never came to get me! You always promised that I'd never be in danger with you.. That you'd always be there for me, to protect me! But you didn't. You didn't do anything!"
"Stop Naomi.. STOP. I've done everything I can to find you! If I wasn't doing anything, wouldn't I still be at the bloody school?! But I'm not! I'm out here, I'm looking for you! And now that I found you.. I wish I hadn't."
"Oh? And why not?"
"Because you aren't Naomi. Not the one I knew."
An ice cold laugh escaped from the lips of the girl who was no longer her sister and Hitame couldn't even look at her. She decided right then that she had nothing else to do there. She was done. Naomi was dead. That was the explanation she was going to give everyone and she wouldn't give any more information to anyone about the subject. She would pretend she was mourning, which she technically would be, that way no one would want to bother her.
She returned to the school shortly after her encounter with Naomi and she didn't talk to anyone. She knew she was in trouble for leaving, but she didn't care anymore at that point. Tears fell from her eyes, rolling down her cheeks as she made her way to her dorm and she settled into her bed, covering her entire body with a blanket, hoping no one would try to talk to her anymore before she drifted to sleep.
Now she stood at the Entrance Hall, looking out at the grounds, wondering what she was supposed to do. Her eyes were puffy and red from crying, and she didn't feel like getting up from bed but she did anyways. Life had to go on. She couldn't let something like this stop her. Sophia had been through the same thing, though her sister had actually died. Sophia.. She had to tell her about what happened.. But she'd probably be pissed that she left the school grounds without permission. She sighed and moved from where she was leaning to walk down the sloping ground to the lake. Maybe she'd be able to think clearly there.
When she reached it, her eyes fell on a familiar figure. Her eyes narrowed and she curled her hands into fists. It was his fault. Naomi's face flashed in her head, both before she was kidnapped and after, and she felt tears well up in her eyes again. She stood for a moment, watching him, before she gathered her strength and walked toward him. "Alex!" she called out, her voice lined with anger and hatred. "This is all your fault!" she spat at him. Standing a couple feet away from him, fighting back the tears that threatened to fall. She refused to cry again. Not again. Not in front of him.