Chapter 6- Brooke and the Angel Tear

[junkuroki]

Auria~

Reese would have spat some biting remark Brooke's way if Stardust hadn't spoken.

"Of course, of course. I'll bring something things down from the wardrobes later..." she replied to Stardust enthusiastically and glanced around. "Looks like you're not the only one who'll need a change of clothes." she bit her lip. "Why don't you guys go into the kitchen and have something to eat." she glanced around as if looking for something. "Darla!!" she called. A few seconds later a maid rushed into the room. "Take these people to the kitchen and make sure they're taken care of--whatever they want, you understand?"

The maid nodded and gestured for them to follow. Brooke smiled warmly. "Oh! And take care of my diamond too, Darla." she pointed at the ground where it sat. "Make sure it's cleaned properly. I'll be getting those clothes now." she nodded and turned to leave the room.

The maid bent and retrieved the diamond, than started for the kitchen.

Reese grunted and collapsed into the nearest chair. "Sorry, don't feel so hungry anymore." he sneered at Brooke's back as she disappeared into the hallway, thoughts of the gem flying from his mouth coated in slimy mucus registering in his mind.

[junkuroki]

Seiferfetish~

Gaiea had remained silent for most of the discussion, letting things settele into her brain and tuning out the repetitive arguments of the other members of her group. Her stomach DID twinge when Reese admitted to swallowing the stone, though, and she'd had to use all her willpower to not let the gag reflex win.

/Funny how killing people doesn't affect you at all, but the mere thought of swallowing a stone makes you nauseous/

It is funny, isn't it...I guess that's what SeeD conditioning does. The SeeD wasn't quite sure she enjoyed the weight of that truth.

She did rise when Brooke summoned the maid. Food was sounding might good, despite her stifled gag reflex. Her stomach felt empty and food and rest were perfect.

"We can continue first thing in the morning," she murmured, before disappearing into the next room. And figure out where we're continuing to and how we're going to get Brooke to keep up...

The door opened and Gaiea wrinkled her nose as Dan lit up a cigarette. The smoke always made her sick. Turning away, she wandered up to the maid. "I don't suppose I could have a salad..."

The maid, Darla, looked at her in surprise. "Is that all, miss?"

Gaiea started to nod, but a loud rumble from her stomach stopped her, and she grinned sheepishly. "A thick roast beef sandwich would be great too."

Darla returned the smile and went to work.

Leaning against the counter, Gaiea let her thoughts tumble around inside her head They didn't get the emerald...which means Laice was misinformed. But why would they misinform a high-ranking member of DoTNA? Unless...do they know she's a double agent? Or maybe it was moved last minute? But to where?

Plates were pressed into her hands and she looked down in confusion, before registering that Darla had finished with the food. Thanking the maid, she sat at the table and began to eat quickly, suddenly ravenous

[junkuroki]

Ani~

Stardust followed Brooke with her eyes until she disappeared from the hallway. She just wanted some clean clothes so she decided not to follow the maid, like Gaiea and Dan, and wait for Brooke to come back—with good ones hopefully. She made her way to the couch and sank down, fighting the urge to yawn.
"Sorry, don't feel so hungry anymore." Reese collapsed on one of the chairs near her. He looked kind of pale for obvious reasons.

Stardust gave him a sidelong glance before mumbling, “You shouldn’t have swallowed it.” She leaned her head back and covered her eyes with the back of her palm. Heaving a sigh, she let her other hand rest on the arm of the couch.

/I wonder what Xu would say if you went back empty-handed...again./ Diwata teased. Stardust didn't answer. She would worry about that tomorrow.

[junkuroki]

GC~

Food was the only thing on Gone’s mind as he set off towards the kitchen after Gaiea. Gone sat on the bench and stretched out leisurely. Finally they were eating!

“Well, love, I’ll have some peanut butter and banana sandwiches, fried rice, a couple apples and… oh yeah, some ginger ale.” He said, grinning at the thought of food. “And some pumpkin pie to finish up.”

Once the food was set before him, he tucked into it with relish. Hyne, nothing beat a good meal after a good fight.

“So, Gaiea, love did ya miss me? What’d your team do anyway, while we were getting that rock?” Gone asked with his mouth full, thankfully not spraying while he talked.

[junkuroki]

Auria~

"Could have been the Emerald in some sort of disguise. Better safe than sorry." Reese replied quietly. He leaned back against the couch, the front of his hat falling down slightly. He remembered it was she who requested a change of clothes and gave a sideways glance over at her shirt. "Sorry about the blood."



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Zacke walked into the kitchen, the sheer size of the place impressing him. All the counters were of pristine white marble, a large island counter in the center with at least eight bar stools along one side.

He walked over to one of the stools and sat just as Darla placed Gaiea's salad in front of her. "Um, excuse me," he caught the maid's attention. "yeah...I want a really huge hamburger--no, cheeseburger. With like double everything--make that two cheesburgers. And a huge glass of soda."

Darla smiled warmly and nodded, then started to fix his meal. Soon enough it was done and he practically inhaled them both as if he had been starving for days.

[junkuroki]

Ash~

Blaze rudely clapped her hands for the maid as soon as she had served the others. "yea.. I want a big slab of your most expensive steak.. make it rare. As rare as it can get. Hell, just kill a cow and bring it over.chop chop."

Anyone who serves Brooke deserves this treatment. Blaze snickered as Darla stared at her.

"Oh, and the answer to your question Vacc, we killed Terry and I flew from a car that Zacke crashed. Met some Hell Cats, not to mention save your sorry asses from getting mauled by those wimpy soldiers." She paused to take a sip from her glass, waiting for anyone to disagree.

[junkuroki]

Auria~

Zacke stifled laughter at Blaze's Terry comment causing him to swallow some soda down the wrong pipe and erupt into a coughing fit. His eyes were watering before he could stop.

He coughed once more. She makes it sound like we outright murdered him. And he might not even be dead! "Heh. Well we didn't mean to..." he added in their defense.

[junkuroki]

Ani~

"You don't have to apologize. It happens." Stardust dropped her hand to her side and paused for a while, staring at the carpeted floor.

Most of the others were at the kitchen eating their hearts out and there was no way she would be joining those lowlifes. She would rather stay here and wait. Then probably, go ahead doze off. But how could she sleep peacefully when she knew that the only thing they came here for was to waste time.

Was Laice misinformed? Was she fooling garden all along? Or did someone know they were going to look here and took precautions? She wanted to know what exactly happened.

"I can't believe we were misled...And to think that we came here on Esthar for absolutely nothing," she said in a monotone, then eyed Reese.

[junkuroki]

GC~

"Oh, and the answer to your question Vacc, we killed Terry and I flew from a car that Zacke crashed. Met some Hell Cats, not to mention save your sorry asses from getting mauled by those wimpy soldiers." Blaze said.

Gone snorted or at least he tried, he ended up choking on his food. “Sure you did, love, sure you did. Since you saved me and all how ‘bout I thank you by taking you out for a romantic dinner?”

Gone grinned, he never learned. “Bet you’re the one that made Zacke crash, love. What a minute you killed Terry? Our teammate? How you gonna explain that one to the brass?”
Gone’s eyes widened as a thought came to him, “How exactly did Terry catch up with you? Didn’t we leave him on the Lady? The Lady is okay isn’t she? Isn’t she!?” He finished with his voice rising in panic.

[junkuroki]

Lily~

Jun looked at the faces of her team mates, and realised they all looked pretty fatigued.

{Even if you don't need the sleep, which I seriously doubt so, you cannot expect the same of your team mates. It is highly inconsiderate of you.}

But Sapph... Before she could continue her protest, an enormous growling erupted from her stomach.

Great... even my stomach acts against me.

"Alright, I'll stay too, then." She muttered to Brooke and to the room in general, but no one noticed.

Heading straight for the kitchen, she approached Darla tentatively.

"Hey Miss, do you have any Ramen?"

The maid turned around and smiled. "Yes. Would you like
some?"

"Yeah, that'd be great. And some mango pudding and a glass of iced green tea please."

As she brought her laden tray to the table, she caught part of Blaze's answer to Gone's question.

"... not to mention save your sorry asses from getting mauled by those wimpy soldiers."

"Did you really now? How did we end up in jail then?" Jun muttered irritably in a low voice.

{Ooooh someone's in a bad mood. You do know that you might get into trouble for running your mouth off like that.}

I was REALLY starting to appreciate your quiet side for that little while back.

"The Lady is okay isn’t she? Isn’t she!?” Gone's rising voice next to her caught her by surprise. Her lip burnt from the steaming soup that she had unwittingly slurped the wrong way.

"For Hyne's sake, calm down. He must have caught up with them some other way. Surely Terry wouldn't have been so stupid as to try and fly the Lady. He wouldn't have that kind of guts too." She resumed eating again, but stopped mid-bite. "....would he?"

She looked round questioningly at Blaze, Zacke and Gaiea

[junkuroki]

Seiferfetish~

Used to Blaze by this point, Gaiea simply raised an eyebrow and took a huge bite of her sandwich, surveying those sitting with her. Any of them could be a traitor...

/They're probably thinking the same about you/

Point to you.

The Lady is okay isn’t she? Isn’t she!?” Gone's voice suddenly rose in fear for his precious ship.

"For Hyne's sake, calm down. He must have caught up with them some other way. Surely Terry wouldn't have been so stupid as to try and fly the Lady. He wouldn't have that kind of guts too." Jun paused with a mouthful of ramen halfway to her lips and looked at the group quizzically. "...would he?"

Thinking, Gaiea frowned and stabbed a tomato with her fork. "That would explain why he was already half-dead when we found him...He has no pilot training, so if he tried to catch up with the airship, he probably tried to bail." Catching Gone's woeful expression, she forced a smile. "I'm sure the Lady is fine. Not even Terry is stupid enough to try and fly a hundred ton machine that's our only real mode of escape." I hope...

Worried herself, Gaiea had to force herself to swallow the chunk of meat in her throat, that suddenly felt too large. And if he did try, there's a huge smoking metal pile of SeeD evidence a couple miles from Esthar just waiting to be scoured by Adelites. Shaking her head, she looked up at Jun and Gone.

"So the Emerald wasn't there...hear anything as to where it actually is?"

[junkuroki]

Auria~

"I can't believe we were misled...And to think that we came here on Esthar for absolutely nothing," Reese heard Stardust's voice.

He glanced over at her and sat up slightly, pulling his hat up to it's normal position so he could see more. "My sentiments exactly."

/LIAR!!!/ Perish screeched gleefully. /You lie-d you lie-d you liedie liedie lie-d you liar!! YOU DON'T CARE!!!/
He closed his eyes and unjunctioned Perish to block out her piercing voice. He reopened them and looked back over at Stardust. "So why aren't you in there eating, with them?"

[junkuroki]

Ani~

"I'm not hungry." Stardust replied and encased her chin with her hand as she leaned her elbow to the armrest. "Besides, those gluttons will just make a raucous in that kitchen...." She stared at the hallway where Brooke had disappeared. The place was so quiet. Everyone had made their way into the kitchen but them. It kind of make you feel a little bit awkward.

"I don't want to be a part of that..." she continued. She looked at Reese from the corner of her eyes. The dried blood that was on his shirt was always the first thing that she noticed whenever she set eye on him. She swung her eyes back to the hallway. And let stillness take over.

"You know...you need some change of clothes too." she finally said, cutting the sheer silence once again.

[junkuroki]

Auria~

He glanced down at his white shirt, ripped from the Estharian blade and bloody. "Yeah. Damn Estharians..." he said quietly.

Brooke walked back into the room, an arm full of clothes. She headed straight for the nearest cough and dumped them into it. She straightened, placing her hands on her hips with a loud sigh. "Okay, I just grabbed a bunch of shirts. Some of them are Altair's. Take whatever you want, don't worry about returning anything." she gave a smile and a curt nod, then made off for the kitchen.

Sticking her head through the doorway, she said: "Okay, guys, the guest wing is on the third floor. At the end of this hallway there's an elevator that should take you right up. I've informed the maids of your stay, so you've got free run of that floor until tomorrow whenever you want to leave." she started to leave, but seemed to remember something. "Oh! And my room is on the fourth floor. If you need me for anything I'll probably be up there. Just ask one of the servants where I'm at, they should direct you. Okay, night guys!" she gave a wink and set off.

[junkuroki]

Lily~

Jun shook her head at Gaiea.

"No... minutes after we found out that the gem at the lab was actually a diamond, and not the Emerald, alarms were set off and the troops were sent upon us. Courtesy of the silent alarms. There was never a lot of time for us to snoop around and gather information.

I wonder how this could have happened. We were led on a wild goose chase, but I don't believe Laice would have intentionally given us the false information."

She lowered her head and spoke into her bowl softly.

"....so someone must have planted it."