Chapter 6- Brooke and the Angel Tear

[junkuroki]

Ash~

“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!?” Gone panicked and Blaze watched in amusement as Gaeia tried to console him. She took another sip from her glass, Darla had still not given her the steak and Blaze doubted that it would ever come.

"Actually," Blaze began, "I believe that Terry did crash and burn your precious Lady thing. He was in the Lady when we last saw him and there's no other way he could have gotten to Esthar so fast. So I think it's a pile of scrap now."

[junkuroki]

Ani~

Stardust straightened up as Brooke finally made her way towards them with a handful of assorted T-shirts. Dumping it in the couch across her, the posh brunette sighed and said, “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 nodded as thanks and made her way towards the stack of clothes. Brooke left them to check the others at the kitchen.

Stopping in front of the sofa where the garbs were, Stardust bent down to pick an aquamarine shirt on the very top of the pile. It had a little symbol of a smiling star on it as if bidding you ‘Goodnight’. She stared at it for a while with a blank expression before casually throwing it aside. She went on to pick another one.

/Pick that!/ Diwata cooed at the sight of a red tee this time, three small hearts were printed on it and the words ‘I LOVE YOU’ were penned in on each hearts. Stardust silently threw it aside then moved on to the next one.

/That’ll look good on you./ Stardust didn’t bother to stare at the hot pink shirt--saying ‘KISS ME’ on bold letters in front of it--and quickly shoved it away.

/Oh, how about these?/ The next was a purple one with cute happy daisies bordering it. Then a white one striped with red letters saying, ‘PETITE MONDE’. She disdainfully flung it all aside.

Picking another one, she threw it aside again. That was Altair’s.

Perky...perky...perky, thought Stardust, maintaining the blank expression on her face as she deliberately set Brooke’s old colorful shirts aside. She just wanted something that wasn’t that cheerful looking—something plain or just isn’t perky. She grunted and exasperatedly looked at the pile of clothes that she had cast away. The only ones left were Altair’s and she still couldn’t find a ‘decent’ shirt for her. This was getting ridiculous.

/Stardust, I told you get the pink one!/

I’m getting this one, Stardust finally said and grabbed the green baby tee with a sad ‘Wally Gator’ from the clothes that she had set aside.

/Ugh, you have bad taste.../ Diwata sighed hopelessly.

At least this fellow isn’t happy.

[junkuroki]

GC~

Gone was comforted as Gaiea and Jun assured him that the Lady was fine. He sighed blissfully as he sat back in his seat, the tension draining from his body, a content smile on his face. Then Blaze had to open her mouth and ruin it all for him.

"Actually," Blaze began, "I believe that Terry did crash and burn your precious Lady thing. He was in the Lady when we last saw him and there's no other way he could have gotten to Esthar so fast. So I think it's a pile of scrap now."

Gone sat up in seat so fast, he probably gave himself whiplash. He stared shocked at Blaze. “Please tell me you’re lying.” He whimpered.

Not waiting to hear her response, he stood up, clapped his hands over his ears, and started singing ‘I’m too sexy for my shirt’ as loud as he could, just in case Blaze decided to shout at him about how mangled the Lady probably was. She’s a liar, she’s lying. He repeated to himself over and over again in his head as he left the kitchen.

He took his hands off his ears, but didn’t stop singing as he entered the room where Stardust, Reese, Dan and Col were. Gone walked to the pile of shirts, closed his eyes tight and grabbed one. Whatever he picked he would wear. He opened his eyes and sighed in relief that he hadn’t picked a girl’s shirt. Instead he had picked up a retro dress shirt. Shrugging, he pulled off his dirty beater and slipped his arms into the sleeves.

“I’m too sexy for my shirt too sexy for my shirt, So sexy it hurts, And I’m too sexy for Milan too sexy for Milan, New York and Japan, And I’m too sexy for your party, Too sexy for your party, No way I’m disco dancing.”

Gone looked up from beginning to button his shirt. It was then he realised that he wasn’t alone in the room.

[junkuroki]

Ani~

“I’m too sexy for my shirt too sexy for my shirt, So sexy it hurts, And I’m too sexy for Milan too sexy for Milan, New York and Japan, And I’m too sexy for your party, Too sexy for your party, No way I’m disco dancing.”

Stardust's eyebrows met, her lips slowly curled in disgust as Gone deliberately took off his shirt in front of her while singing that usual sick song of his.

How sick... she thought, eyeing him up and down, annoyed.

Grabbing the first shirt that her hand touched, she chucked it towards Gone and spat, "You're disgusting!!"

Then she tucked her green shirt closer to her and stomped her way out of the room, heading for the elevator that was said to be waiting for them at the end of the hallway.

[junkuroki]

Ash~

Oh. My. God. was Blaze's reaction to Gone's singing.

"You're disgusting!!" Blaze could hear Stardust yell.

"If sexy is the new English word for vile, then yes, you are indeed too sexy." Blaze said, gripping her glass a little too tightly as Gone left the room. She left the kitchen and walked through the shirt room.

"Oh, Miss.. are you sure you don't want some clean clothes? It looks like you might need some." Darla said to Blaze, guestering to her bloody, torn pants and her muddy shirt.

Blaze snarled and walked over to the shirt pile. "I guess I'll take this one." She yanked out a shirt that said 'innocent angel' and left the room.

Wolfe stared after Blaze blankly. "Did she just take a shirt that said.. 'innocent angel??" He asked in disbelief

[junkuroki]

Auria~

"I think she did..." Tomoe said as she distractedly sat her glass on the counter, staring after Blaze also.

Zacke arched an eyebrow before standing. He stretched and yawned exagerratedly loud, then exhaled loudly. "Thanks for the meal...er...maid...lady..." he trailed off and scratched the back of his head.

Darla didn't seem to take offensive, and smiled with amusement.

Zacke turned to face those still left in the kitchen. "Uhh...everyone meet in the living room at...umm...seven o'clock tomorrow morning, okay? Night guys."

He walked past Tomoe on his way to the door, placed a hand on her shoulder and leaned down a bit. "Take care, Tomoe." When she turned and smiled in response, he nodded slightly and left the room.

[junkuroki]

Auria~

Reese's eyes narrowed slightly as Gone walked into the room singing some really stupid song about being 'sexy' or something.

Stardust spat an insult his way and stormed off down the hallway. Blaze walked in and also spat an insult Gone's way, before grabbing a shirt and striding off in the same direction, looking less-than-cheery.

Reese stood, shaking his head. "Boy, you're just a lady-killer aren't you, Vacc?" he said dryly, walking over to the pile of clothes. He extracted a white long-sleeved shirt, kind of business-type-looking and crisp. He strolled past Gone. "Literally." he smirked and made off down the hallway and up to one of the rooms.

[junkuroki]

Lily~

Jun groaned as strains of Gone's singing streamed in through the kitchen door.

Oh Hyne... not that again! She shook her head tiredly then drank the last of her iced green tea.

She stared down at her clothes. There was dried blood on it, not to mention a tonne of her own sweat, and a layer of dust she had gathered while sliding down the air-vent chimney. Her cargo shorts were damp with something sticky that she did not want to think about.

"Guess I'd better go change too. See you guys tomorrow." She smiled tiredly and brought her tray to the sink, saying a quick thanks to the maid.

She went into the next room, and spotted a pile of shirts on a couch. Gone was still there, a silly expression on his face even after being insulted by Stardust and Blaze consecutively for his overtly-ambitious attempt at singing.

She thwarped his head with her hand.

"Next time you sing again, I will stuff one of your smelly socks into your mouth!" She growled. "I don't need a bigger headache on top of the one that's Sapphy!"

She went to the couch and surveyed the shirts left. There was an assortment of baby tees.

They look kinda tight. She wrinkled her nose, and picked a black guy's T-shirt without reading its words. She had no knowledge that it was actually saying
"If you can read this, you're standing too close to me, a**hole."

"Come on, are you planning to grow mould standing here? There's a guaranteed rush for the bathroom if you're not quick enough." She told Gone, and walked past him towards the elevator that would take them to their rooms.

[junkuroki]

Ani~

A few moments had passed, Stardust finally reached the guestroom with the help of one of Brooke's maids. She hesitated to give her dirty clothes when the maid volunteered to place them in the laundry and deliver it to her first thing tomorrow.

Such hospitality definitely was new to her, especially when they were just a bunch of SeeDs who happened to come across Brooke. But then, if you think about it, this treatment wasn't free.They had to do something in return. And if she was going to do that, might as well be worth it.

So here she was--freshly-showered--staring at a girl with a brushed back pink hair. Her green shirt with a sad comical alligator in it completely contrasted the modish room that she was in. The 6 feet oval-shaped mirror was so neatly polished and wide that she could almost see the whole room through it.

A fully-tailored mattress laid behind her, sided with two ovoidal lamps, affixed on the silvery wallpaper, on each side. She could see the starless skies above the bed through clear rectangular glass window that extended from the far left to the right edge of the room. An automated metal door was situated to the right of the bed, facing the opposite door that led to the outside. And a medium-sized closet stood behind the mirror. Nothing but towels and sheets were inside of it.

Lowering the ends of her black-cycling shorts down to her mid-thighs, Stardust turned around to slip into the bedsheets, grabbing the mini-notebook--sitting at the base of the bed-- that she had extracted from her black pants before she handed it to the maid.

I look weird... she thought as she laid flat on her stomach and stared down at the notebook below her, detaching a small pen in it.

/Yes, you do.../ Diwata mumbled.

Good. It was as if the others would see her like this. She didn't plan to roam around the house anyway. Nothing would make her come out of this guestroom until she get her clothes back. For now, she would just sleep.

[junkuroki]

GC~

"Boy, you're just a lady-killer aren't you, Vacc?” Reese said, before adding, "Literally." Over his shoulder.

Gone scoffed. As if he knew anything about it. Tch, dumb little Reesie-boy.

"Next time you sing again, I will stuff one of your smelly socks into your mouth!" She growled. "I don't need a bigger headache on top of the one that's Sapphy!"

Gone turned to look at Jun, as she picked out a shirt. Why does she always boss me about? Is she like my keeper or something?

"Come on, are you planning to grow mould standing here? There's a guaranteed rush for the bathroom if you're not quick enough." Jun said, leaving him standing in the middle of the room.

Gone grinned, “Aw come on now, love, you know Lady Luck would never let a dashing chap like me get mouldy. And as for the bathroom filling up well…” Gone paused here, almost stopping to consider his next words, almost, “We could always share.” He leered suggestively at her and slapped her butt as he ran past her.

[junkuroki]

Lily~

Jun let out a shriek when Gone slapped her butt with a wolfish expression on his face and ran away.

She didn't know which made her more furious - Gone's suggestion to share the bathroom or his slap on her butt. For sure she did know that both her butt and her cheeks burned like hell.

For a pulse-racing second, an urge plant her foot into his butt and send him flying out of the window, or at least, sprawling to the ground, was threatening to overcome her, but she decided to let it rest.

Gone would have been relieved to know that sheer fatigue was what kept Jun from sending him a butt-bone shattering kick.

OOooh he makes me so mad!!

But she seemed to remember something, a wicked smile curving her lips as she sprinted up to Gone.

With a hugely exaggerated motion, she lifted her arm in the air and slammed it against his butt.

PIIIIIIIIIIIAAAAAAAAAAKKKK!!!

That has gotta hurt, or I'll change my surname. She shook her hands to ease the pain, for it was a very hard slap indeed.

"An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. My oldest motto. How do you like that?" She grinned when he yelped and turned around. "But be forewarned. I won't be letting you off so easily the next time. If you touch me like that without my explicit consent, I'll feed your hands to my perpetually-thirsty sword."

She stalked passed him into the elevator, quickly pressing the "door-closing" button, and glared at him to express her unwillingness to share it with him.

When the elevator reached the third storey, she was led to one of the guests rooms by a maid. She noticed it had a bathroom attached.

Good. No rush for bathrooms as I had feared. She smiled, making her way into the showers immediately.

She came out of the showers smelling like a lavendar garden and deposited her dirty clothes embarrassedly into the waiting hands of a maid. She fell into the bed without pulling the covers up, hence dispelling any previous worries about difficulty with sleeping in strange new places.

Yeah Master. I will kneel on rocks for slapping Gone's butt tomorrow... just let me sleep now... She mumbled, peacefully unaware of her slumber speech.

[junkuroki]

GC~

Gone pressed the up button on the elevator. Confident he had escaped Jun’s wrath. He snickered to himself as he waited for the elevator.

PIIIIIIIIIIIAAAAAAAAAAKKKK!!!

Gone’s eyes widened as Jun smacked his posterior. He turned around to look at her incredulously.

“Well, Jun, love, I didn’t know you loved me that much.” He said grinning foolishly. Pointedly ignoring the pain.

"An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. My oldest motto. How do you like that?" She grinned when he yelped and turned around. "But be forewarned. I won't be letting you off so easily the next time. If you touch me like that without my explicit consent, I'll feed your hands to my perpetually-thirsty sword.”

“Yeesh, love, but did ya have to give me a love bruise?” Gone grinned and winked at her right before the elevator door closed.

Once the elevator was closed and Jun safely out of his sight. He closed his eyes and groaned in pain. Damn, that hurt. He rubbed his butt, trying to get rid of the pain.
“I suppose everyone’s going to say I deserved that.” He said aloud as he headed for the stairs. Elevators only left time for him to get assaulted.

[junkuroki]

Auria~

Reese rode the elevator up to the third floor and made for one of the bedrooms.

"Sir?"

He halted and looked over his shoulder toward where the voice had come from. It was a young maid--couldn't be older than twenty-five. Pleasing to the eye. "Yes?"

She gestured toward his head. "Would you have me take your hat, Sir?"

"Uhh, no thanks. But you could wash my clothes for me." he replied.

The maid smiled. "Oh yes, of course, I'll be going around to all the rooms. Just leave them at the foot of your bed."
He nodded in thanks and started to walk away, but stopped and turned again. "Err...what am I supposed to sleep in?"

The woman looked fairly surprised. "You...don't have a change of clothes?"

"Well...we were planning on getting back to Garden before nightfall."

The nurse nodded. "Hmm. Well, I could ask Miss Coroniere--"

Reese cut her off. "That's okay just...um...have my clothes washed and dried by the time I'm out of the shower."

The nurse smiled and nodded. With that, he started off down the hallway and to the first door he saw. He switched on the light and looked around, closing the door behind him.

The walls were painted a very light sunny yellow. The curtains had a white background behind teenie tiny yellow sunflowers. The bed was a king-sized, with bright yellow comforters and a white canopy. On one wall was a wooden vanity table, painted bright yellow, with a large mirror and a matching chair. Adorning the other wall was a huge painting of a little girl in a baby blue dress and sunhat, standing in a sweeping feild of flowers. The sun burned down on the scene brightly.

He blinked...flipped off the light...turned around...shut the door...and went straight to the one across the hallway.

He opened the door and flipped on the light. This one had plain white walls, a window on each side of the black bed, the sills painted black. An end-table sat under each window, the lampshades on the lamps also black. A black dressed sat against the eastern wall, a black doorway into the bathroom on the west. Next to the doorway was a large abstract painting, all blacks and whites and greys.

He stepped into the room and shut the door behind him.

He walked into the bathroom and undressed, throwing his clothes out onto the bedroom floor--all except for his hat, which he sat on the bathroom counter. After the shower, he discovered his clothes crispy folded at the foot of the bed. He pulled on his boxers and pants and sat down on the edge of the bed, extracting a cell phone from his pocket. He dialed a number and waited for her to answer.

"Hello?"

"Waverly?"

"Reese!"

"Where are you? What are you doing? Are you okay?"

"I'm in my room at Headquarters, and I'm fine! Where are YOU?!"

"Oh, we're staying at the Coroniere mansion. I guess the Amabassadors daughter has a soft spot for SeeD."

"You shouldn't be on the phone with me!!"

"I miss you."

"So you call in the middle of your mission?! This is not like you Reese."

"I know, I know, please just listen--" he paused. "--who's that in the background?"

"Oh! Oh that must be the TV, here let me turn it off. Okay. What were you saying?"

"Right. I just wanted to tell you we don't have the Emerald, that's why I haven't retrieved the girl."

"You'd better hurry it up Reese, Adel's getting impatient! We can't start the ceremony without her and the Pandora is almost up!"

"I know, I know, but Adel doesn't know what it's like, does she?! There's like a dozen of them Waverly! I can't just sweep her up and run fast!! It's not like that!!"

"Don't yell at ME!"

"I'm not yelling.""I have to go, Reese."

"Wait, Waverly--"

The other line died. Reese sighed and pressed "end". "I love you." he whispered to himself, and shoved the phone back into his pocket.

The door to his room burst open. Alexzander strode in, clearly furious. "So YOU'RE Adel's little b!tch!!"

Reese stood immediately and punched him across the face. Alexzander stumbled back a bit. "You filthy little eavesdropper!" Reese muttered through a clenched jaw.

He ducked under Alexzander's counterpunch and backed toward the door, throwing an arm out behind him and shutting it as Alexzander once again came after him. He tried to summon Perish, but she wouldn't come out. He suddenly remembered he'd unjunctioned her. @#%$...

Now they were on opposite sides of the bed. Alexzander suddenly lunged to the side and grabbed the bedside lamp, then chucked it at Reese, ripping the cord from the wall. Reese ducked low, and it broke against the wall behind him. He growled and jumped onto the bed, then dove for Alexzander.

They landed in a tangled mess on the ground. Reese came to his knees immediately and brought his fist against Alexzander's jaw. He hit him three more times before standing, his chest heaving. Alexzander gave a gutteral growl, coming to his knees, blood dripping from the corners of his mouth. Reese took a step back.

"C'mon Ske, stand up." he dared the man.

Alexzander came to his feet almost immediately, fueled by Reese's words. He ripped the mirror from the wall and came at Reese. This time the man didn't duck in time, and Alexzander shattered the mirror over his head, shards falling around him like sharp rain.

Reese shut his eyes tight and came to his knees. His head was spinning. He felt hands on his shoulders and a knee plunge into his gut. His immediately stooped forward and gagged. Again, the knee slammed into him, before the hands let go and Alexzander stepped back.

Reese coughed and came to his feet dizzily.

"Who's 'the girl' huh Amaerick?!" Alexzander spat, panting heavily.

Reese ran forward and slammed into Alexzander. He grabbed his shoulders and pushed as hard as he could. Alexzander stumbled backwards until his back hit hard into the glass window.
"Any last words?" Reese muttered.

Alexzander spit into Reese's face. Reese growled furiously and stepped back, jerking Alexzander with him. He then mustered up all the strength he had left and shoved Alexzander forward again, toward the window. This time the glass broke, and Alexzander fell through, falling to the sidewalk below. A faint, sickening crutch resounded as his body hit the cold cement.

Reese swallowed, dragging the back of his hand over his forehead to wipe away sweat as he looked down at Alexzander's body. He turned and walked across the room, locking the door. He grabbed his clothes, pulling on Altair's borrowed shirt, his black jacket, and his hat and boots. Taking up his old, torn and blood-stained shirt, he folded it over his arm and left the room.

As he crossed the hall he pulled his hat low so no potential lurkers would see his un-lined eyes and glanced from side to side. The hall was uninhabited. He opened the door to the yellow room he'd walked into earlier, flipped on the light, closed the door, and locked it.

He sighed and threw his stuff onto the bed.

He commited suicide. He jumped out of his window tonight. I have no idea what happened.

[junkuroki]

Auria~

Tomoe stood from her stool and pushed it in. under the island counter. "Thank you for the meal, Darla."

The maid smiled and nodded in response. Tomoe turned and walked over to Wolfie, wrapping an arm around his shoulders and giving him a squeeze. "You remember, tomorrow morning at seven! No sleeping in, okay??" she smiled slightly and turned, headed for the door.

[junkuroki]

Auria~
With the rising sun, the start of a new day began...


Auria~
Reese woke to the sound of his cellphone, ringing on the bedside table. He sat up and blinked sleepily before grabbing it and pressing "Call".

"Yeah?"

The voice on the other line snickered. "Your girlfriend was a great screw last night, Amaerick."
"What the...who is this?!"

"Ahh c'mon don't tell me you don't recognize your best friend's voice??"

Reese's jaw clenched. It was Mitch, the one man in the world he hated most. "What's this about my girlfriend?"

Mitch mimicked Waverly's voice. "Oh! That must be the TV! Let me turn it off!"

"I'm not in the mood for games Mitch, is there a point to this call or are you just trying to piss me off?"

"She's taking a shower as we speak. Oh, wait, there she is, just coming out. You should really see her Amaerick, she's beautiful. Not wearing anything..."

"Alright, I'm hanging up." Reese said. Just before he pulled the phone from his ear, he heard a woman's voice.

"Who are you talking to?!" she said.

There was a snicker. "Oh, that would be Loverboy." There was a shuffling, then Waverly's voice resounded from the phone.
"Hello?"

"Waverly?!"

"Reese!!"

"Waverly what the fvck is going on?!"

There was a pause. "...don't act like you care, Reese."

"Act like I care?!" Reese's heart raced.

"You know what I mean!"

"What the fvck is going on?!"

Another pause. She continued in an icy tone. "...let's just say that wasn't the TV last night."

Reese tried to swallow the lump in his throat. His mind raced. "Tell me it's not true, Waverly. You tell me it's not true."

"Are you asking me to lie?"
Several seconds passed. Neither spoke. Reese concentrated on breathing in and out. A tear ran down each cheek. ".....I'm on a mission...I don't need this right now--"

"--well I didn't tell Mitch to call you!"

"Don't talk to me." Reese pressed the "end" button.

He stood up and let the phone drop to the bed. It was all he could do to breathe. Reese's world had come crashing down around him. He went through the regular morning chores silently, almost mechanically.

He pulled his hat low leaving the room, making his way down to the first floor lobby.