Chapter 2: What Lies Beneath

[gone]

There was one thing going through his mind at this point in time. It was the horrified thought of having hit on a drag queen. GAH! HYNE! It was awful! He was going to haff to scrub his brain with peroxide. No with nitric acid!

Oh my gawd it was worse that hitting on Reese!

So yeah, that was why he had been being pretty quiet. He was in shock. He was in horror. He could smell own socks. Yeah, you knew things were bad when Gone complained about his precious and precocious socks. Cause like, dude the guy willingly wore icky old smelly socks without a complaint. So when he smelt their wretchedness, he was totally down in the dumps.

Yeah, he hadn't paid any attention in the least to the whole buying a hotel or inn or whatever it was they were doing. Cause there were doing something, and it was causing some major jostling. Like lots of it. But he was totally buffered. Because he was so horrified he didn't notice being pushed around.

"You crazy, bipolar bitch...you don't fucking attack civilians!!!!"

"Duuuuuuuuuuuuuuude!" Gone sang out. "Whatcha think you're doin' to Stardie!? That's so not the way to her heart! You need a hat for that. Ooh! And some cool make-up. Both of which you dun haff. So leave the ickly powder puff alone. She wants to play x's and o's with me, her cutest boy friend."

[Bun]

Sho nearly choked at the sound of Gone's voice. He turned his murderous gaze to the other man.

Polaris acted. She stepped in between the two men just as Sho started forward, and Polaris pushed him back, at the same time placing her palm on Gone's chest and keeping him at arm's length.

"Alright, stop this. Now." Her voice was icy. "Miyavi, stand down." She turned to Gone. "Vacc...Gone, I suggest you go and tend to your 'ickly girlfriend' before she decides to shove an arrow up a certain bodily orifice of Sho's."

Sho looked as if he wanted to strangle Gone. Then Polaris. But stood down, and shoved his clenched fists deep in his pockets.

Polaris relaxed, but knew that Stardust would soon have something to say.

[ST]

Hadrian scratched his head and nodded at Polaris. She dragged him out the crowd, but it felt like it should be the other way around. He thanked her right in time Polaris turned around to attend to a more serious matter. He looked at Sho and Stardust.

*********
Stardust could feel Sho's annoyance towards her and she was just about ready to hurt him too should he pull something wise.

/STARDUST! Get a grip of yourself! He's RIGHT./ Diwata said. The noise of the crowd was getting worse.

"Don't touch me!" she barked and pushed herself away from Sho's grip. Polaris was there trying to sort things out.

"Duuuuuuuuuuuuuuude!" And that was where Gone started to enter. "Whatcha think you're doin' to Stardie!?"

Stardust's pure look of anger mutated into a surpised confusion.

"She wants to play x's and o's with me, her cutest boy friend," he ended, earning himself a "WTF" look from Stardust. What could she expect? He IS Gone afterall.

"You're insane," she told him right before Polaris decided to break the tension building up between Sho and possibly Gone. She was starting to realize that they were going through another war once AGAIN.

/HYNE! War war war...raw is war. I'm sick of this./ her GF whined.

"Shut up, he's just bluffing and YOU take it seriously," Stardust bluntly replied to Polaris. "That Inn is whacked. If they don't want us there, then we might as well camp out!" she announced, gripping some of her composure. It was just like a reflex action. Those civilians were pushing it. She knew she gotta get away from them.

She cast another glare from Sho. "Don't ever touch me again."

[waterlily43]

Rayden uttered a 'hey' of annoyance when the crowd started squeezing their group towards the entrance.

What's up with them? They're crazy!! He pushed back against them, attempting to go against the flow of the crowd when a commotion near the front made him stop again. One of his teammates, pinkie, {Stardust, your forgetfulness} was wrestling her way to the rooms before being whisked forcefully away by the bidding enthusiast.

"Well at the rate this is going we can forget about staying here." Rayden muttered to himself, allowing the crowd to move him towards the entrance. But he saw one of his petite teammates being pushed into a corner, looking as if she was on the verge of using violence to fight a way out to. It was time for some Sharpola-style heroics, he decided.

"Yo! Get away from her you uncouth people!" He shouted at the people surrounding her, squeezing towards them. He shot out a hand and grasped around it around her gloved arm, before pulling her closer to where he was.

"Let's get out of here." Without waiting for a reply, Rayden had to do some major jostling and elbowing before they reached the inn's exit.

The fresh air was most welcome. After taking several gulps, he looked down at her.

Only then did he realise that it was that famous, or rather, infamous Blaze Sanaku.

Gulp.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Jun managed to struggle her way out of the inn after some naseau-inducing skin contact with the tourists. Some of them were taking advantage of the situation and it was all she could do not to hurt them.

She made her way towards where Stardust, the two new guys Sho and Hadrian, Polaris and Gone were standing. They were having some kind of disagreement. Jun felt too weary to jump in and play peace-maker.

Jun shook her head, her gaze travelling away from them as she tried to find a solution for their lack of accomodation. She didn't relish camping out in the elements at all, although worst come to worst they would have to accept it.

It landed on another house a few buildings away from them, with a similarly 'boisterious' atmosphere. Cameras were flashing and a lot of microphones were thrust at an authoratative figure coming out from the building.

Hey that's Governor Arland, right? Sapphy?

{Indeed.}

"Hey you guys. STOP QUARELLING!" Jun raised her voice a notch, careful not to release it at full volume although it was tempting enough. "Arland is coming out of the Elder's dwelling. We can pay a visit to the Shumi Elder after he and the media are gone. No need to worry over where we're gonna stay after all."

[Bun]

>) *remembers infamous Zacke-Stardust scene and converts it, then makes it even worse*

We're still stalling for Braze & Al, ne?

---

"Shut up, he's just bluffing and YOU take it seriously," Stardust said, rather rudely, to Polaris, who narrowed her eyes and wished for a half second that she hadn't stopped Sho Miyavi from introducing his fist to her face. Stardust said something else, but Polaris was preoccupied by the arrival of Jun Kuroki and her raised voice of annoyance. Blaze was nowhere to be found.

"...touch me again." Stardust's trademark snarl was aimed at Sho, and Polaris saw a sudden movement in her peripheral vision.

<Miyavi wouldn't dare...!>

Miyavi dared. Before Polaris could even react he was a blur of white and blue, and then there was the sickening sound of a punch.

THWACKKKK!!

Polaris whirled around, just in time to see Sho hit Stardust in the side of the face with a right hook Zell Dincht would have been proud of if he saw it. It was a sharp snap of the shoulder, the force of the blow strong enough to break most men's necks. Then again, Stardust Infinity wasn't most men. She didn't die, but she fell back.

Sho stepped back fluidly and was moving in again for another blow.

Polaris let out her inner Blaze.

<Screw this shit!!>

She reached behind her, withdrawing her Maverik with lightning speed and a fury that could make Marlboros cower, and brought the shining blade down, the weapon biting into the earth a half inch from Sho's feet. It was enough to make him shift into a different position, and the imbalanced stature allowed Polaris to pull her axe from the ground and brandish it at both Stardust and Sho, her expression akin to that of Diablos during a Summon. Polaris doubted that even Gone would find her fury attractive...but then again...

"Next one of you two that attacks the other is going to eat my axe," she said to Sho and Stardust, her voice dangerously calm, like the ocean before a killer tidal wave. "Sho, I will not say this again. Stand down. And you, Stardust, stay back. Move and I'll meet you in a fucking war." Polaris' eyes glinted ominously. "I defy you to try me. Stop this stupidity."

For a moment, nobody moved, and Sho was glaring at Stardust with an expression of utmost dislike. And then he released his fists, and straightened. When he spoke, his voice was hard.

"Don't think that I'm afraid of hitting a woman," he told Stardust clearly. "If that's what you really are. I've no need to be afraid of beating a worthless loser like you." His eyes were narrowed, his expression absolutely savage. "I dare you to go at me."

"Sho!" Polaris said sharply, and he stopped, his gaze moving sideways to her. And then his battle stance relaxed, and he winked. His smirk returned.

"Standing down, as you wish, fearless leader."

And Polaris realized that Sho was like Stardust, only male. And probably more of a wiseass.

<Oh, fucking Hyne...!>

[stardust]

HAHAHAHAH OMG. OMG. OMG. XD!!!
***************************************


In a span of 3 seconds, Sho attacked Stardust and punched her on the side of her face. The blow was really solid and it made her fell back. It took her a few seconds to realize what just happened. Her gaze quickly met the ground, the pain creeping slowly towards her jaw.

Polaris was screaming something, hovering her axe in the air and thrusting it on the small space between her and Sho. Stardust hadn't experienced something like this in a long time. When was the last time she was hit rock solid by someone. Other than Adel? Maybe a year ago. She was being feasted on by the lowest kind of people. People like this guy, standing a few feet from her, staring at her with undervalue. Her gaze wandered back to Sho, her vision turning into a huge daze of red. And what does she always do when put in this kind of situation? What did she always do to people who step on her? She would never let them bring her down. Not anymore. Not now. Not ever.

/Earth to Stardust? EARTH TO STARDUST? Can you hear me?/ Diwata tried to shake her thoughts but the pinkhead seemed to be in her own world.

"Don't think that I'm afraid of hitting a woman," he told Stardust clearly. "If that's what you really are. I've no need to be afraid of beating a worthless loser like you." His eyes were narrowed, his expression absolutely savage. "I dare you to go at me."

Stardust slid her tongue to the side of her mouth. Bringing up her hand, she wiped her mouth and looked at her hand. Blood. She didn't care whoever it was. Nobody does THIS to her.

"Damn you..." she said, completely disregarding the existence of Polaris acting as a referee between them.

And then something snapped.

DAMN YOU!" she shouted and dashed full speed towards Sho. She was aware of Polaris's axe aimed towards her but that wouldn't stop her. She slid on the ground to evade the axe and kicked Sho in the legs on full force that made him fall hard to the ground.

Her growl was animalistic and she climbed on top of Sho to land a solid punch square in the face. She wasn't contented and she did it again, and again, and again, and again, and again, until she saw the glint of blood in him. But she wasn't done yet. "Who do you THINK you are!?" She gave him another blow.

Pissed, Hadrian ran to the scene to attend to Polaris. This wasn't FUNNY at all. It was stupid of him to let her control the show alone.

"F*cking Hyne!" He wrapped his arm around Stardust to pry her away from Sho. "What kind of SeeD mission is this!?"

Stardust shouted once again when she got pulled and scratched the side of Hadrian's cheeks. That didn't stop him from dragging the girl away from Sho and straddling her to the ground.

"You ARE insane, do you know that?! Are you SeeD or what?" Hadrian shouted in her face, gripping tightly to her wrist and pinning her to the ground. "Somebody help me with her!" He looked at Gone.

Glancing behind him to look at Sho, he announced, "And so the hell are you! I'll f*cking report BOTH of you to Xu when we get back. We're SeeDs for f*cking sake! You don't HARM each other on missions!"

Stardust was breathing heavily, staring at Hadrian on top of her. She could feel blood in her hands.

/Get a grip of yourself...Stardust!/

Just then, the mention of SeeDs seemed to attract the attention of the people passing in the area. Few seconds later, everyone was looking at them.

Hadrian cursed at himself. Damn it!



**********************************
Psycho in full force ~__~ I'm sorry Sho Now their incognito plan is screwed x.x

[Blaze Sanaku]

Inner Blaze XD

---

The crowd became wildly violent as soon as the first punch. Everyone suddenly began fighting with each other just for the sheer thrill of an all out brawl. The shumis in the inn had fled in terror, leaving the tourists to duke it out among themselves.

/No attacking the civilians, Blaze, we talked about this/ Deathstrike soothed as she felt Blaze's breathing increase rapidly. /Do you remember the Pupu song? Let's sing the Pupu song. ~Once there was a little blue Pupu--~/

Blaze felt the mass of bodies roughly shove her against a wall. She closed her eyes and clenched her fist until her knuckles turned deathly white. I swear to Hyne I'm gonna...

/~Little blue Pupu had a litle silver spaceshipp~/

THAT'S IT!!!! Blaze's eyes shot open and she grabbed the shirt of the civilian nearest to her. Her fist reared back, ready to unload full force, when someone grabbed it and pulled it away.

"Let's get out of here," Rayden said and yanked Blaze out of the crowd before she could protest. Before she knew it, she was back outside the inn.

Blaze and Rayden stood there, panting for a few seconds before they looked at each other. She wondered why he looked like a deer in headlights until she realized that she had murder in her eyes. Being Blaze, she didn't even attempt to thank him. She turned away from him, furious.

Her eyes darted around for some way to unleash her anger. Then she heard the unmistakable yelling of Stardust back in the inn. Blaze slowly started walking back towards the crowd, without a word to Rayden.

Blaze..... no! Deathstrike pleaded.

There's no way in hell that that bitch gets to have her fun and I have to be a good girl. No. fucking. WAY. Blaze walked to the melee and started ramming her fists into the ones who were trying to escape from the inn. They crumpled to the floor.

"YOU WANT THOSE ROOMS SO BAD, WHY DON'T YOU STAY THE FUCK IN THERE?" Blaze yelled. The people trying to escape the inn saw what was happening and began screaming and pushing back inside.

[Bun]

*sighhhhs at the loveliness of battle* ^ ^-

Sho- Hyne, mother, you're worse than Jenova!! >(

Polly- *rolls eyes* She's gone Blaze.

^ ^- *sighs in contentment* Let's sing the Pupu song!!

---

Damn, they were hella screwed.

Polaris blinked as Hadrian ran over to her, then grabbed Stardust and wrestled her down to the ground, bellowing in her face. Stardust was crazy, but then again, so was Sho.

<Sho!!>

Sho growled, his lip bleeding, and he rose, battlelust in his eyes, and Polaris didn't give him the chance to jump onto Stardust. She dropped her axe and threw herself at him, catching him off guard and sending the both of them toppling to ground. As Sho struggled to get up, Polaris leaned back, caught her axe and in a grip and sheathed in, then straddled Sho, staring down at him.

"We are leaving," she said coldly. "Now."

She was aware of the eyes on her and her team, the civilians, tourists, and media gaping at their violent display. Beneath her, Sho was breathing heavily, and there was a maniacal smile that lit up his face, blood streaking his cheek, his eyes dark and his hands above his head, languid, almost as if he were a cat stretching.

Hadrian was yelling something about reporting Stardust and Sho to Xu, but Polaris only heard him dimly, staring Sho down, a battle of wills. He wanted to fight. She wanted him to stop. It was all a matter of who was more willing to kick the other's ass to achieve their goals. And then Sho blinked.

"Sure thing, boss," he told her easily. "I'll be good."

Polaris let out a soft, silent breath. <Safe.>

And then she heard Blaze happen.

Her head snapped up, and she saw Blaze in all her murderous, violent glory, shoving and kicking and screaming at the top of her lungs, a blonde man that Polaris recognized as Rayden staring on in numb shock at the sheer insanity of it all, and Polaris rose to her feet, allowing Sho to sit up and smirk at Stardust and say, "And who do you think YOU are, talking like you're so much better than me?" To which Stardust most assuredly screamed back some insult or other, but Polaris ignored her. She knelt down beside Stardust and Hadrian, then reached out with lightning speed and had her left hand on Stardust's mouth, effectively silencing her.

"Quiet." Polaris' voice left no room for argument. She stared Stardust down like she did to Sho. "You haven't changed, Inifinity. Look where your bitchslapping got us. It got us fucking cameras and all of the Village staring. Is this what the famous Stardust Infinity, SeeD ELITE, is good for? Shut up or I will get both your and Miyavi thrown off our team. You're both a disgrace to SeeD. Now, for the final time...stand down." There was soft iciness to her voice, and Polaris' eyes moved away from Stardust to study Hadrian, his cheek badly scratched. She raised her right hand, pressed her slim palm against his injured face.

"Regen." Instantly she felt the pale orange warmth of the Support-Mag spell jump to her palm, mending the skin on Hadrian's face. She moved her hands away from both Hadrian and Stardust, noticing that Stardust was glaring at her with intense dislike, she disregarded it, checking Hadrian's face to ensure that the skin was fully healed. "Thanks for holding her down," she murmured to the redhead, and then she rose to her feet, and strolled over to Blaze, who was, at the moment, shrieking at some hapless fool. The majority of the tourists had finally barricaded themselves into the Inn, leaving Blaze to triumphantly beat on some random person.

"Blaze, time to move out. We've got an audience."

Polaris glanced to one side, surveying the Elder's hut.

<Oh, golly gee. Governor Arland.>

Polaris almost smirked, then glanced back at the team.

"Once again, I'm open to bright ideas," she said with a cynical smile.

[stardust]

LOL Pupu song XD

Ahh you know Silence only stops a person from casting a spell >__<
******************


Stardust saw a glimpse of Sho's blood-streakened, bruised face and felt bad. She could've done a much better damage to his hideous face. She exhaled through her mouth, barely hearing what was being said all around her. Was he saying something?

All of you lowlifes can just get lost. she thought to herself. Her aggressiveness simmering. So she would get reported. Big deal. She'd do it again in a heartbeat.

Diwata sighed. /You're not acting yourself.../

Stardust felt Hadrian's grip loosen and she was finally able to move. She propped herself up with her elbows just right in time for Polaris to cast Silence spell on her. She ignored it and pulled herself away from Hadrian. Polaris's words were just a big blah blah blah to her. Shut up... she thought, frowning at the tingling sensation in her lip.

Lurking her gaze around, it dawned on her how much attention she--no they--had attracted. She could see the Elder's hut from where she was. The said governor was making his way out already. It seemed like they weren't going to have to sleep at the cursed Inn for tonight afterall.

[Hadrian D'arcell]

Looking down on Stardust, Hadrian felt his forehead crease. Now she looked "okay". he thought to himself. She sure was a weird one, and definitely had anger issues. Hadrian wondered if he was on the right team. He thought Balamb SeeDs were going to be more professional and mature. Mature huh, The girl named Blaze was doing more mature stuffs from behind. Hadrian began to wonder why the heck would Balamb Garden be viewed as the most superior among three Gardens? Even better than Trabia. He couldn't see why.

Hadrian decided to loosen his grip on Stardust and got off her. The pink-haired seemed to have a blank expression on her face. "You all right?" he asked one time but Stardust ignored him. Just then, Polaris joined them to scold Stardust. She casted Silence on her while casted Regen on Hadrian. He slightly pulled his face away when Polaris's rested her hand on his face--out of uneasiness maybe--but succumbed when he felt the pain on his cheek soothen.

"Thanks for holding her down," she murmured to the redhead, and then she rose to her feet to attend to Blaze.

"No, thank you," he told her, heaving a grunt. He guessed he had no choice but to stick with this team. There were people in their area, and there were people around the Shumi Elder's hut as well. Where do they go from here?

"Once again, I'm open to bright ideas." He heard Polaris say with a cynical smile.

"Ler's jus wait till the Shumi Elder's hut is all free." He noticed the petrified/annoyed/scared expression of each crowd. "But first, we definitely have to get out of here!"

[Polaris Lyn]

XD Ate, Pol didn't use a Silence spell. She put her hand over Stardust's mouth TO silence her. You're so cute.

---

"...we definitely have to get out of here!"

"Well, we most definitely have to do that," Polaris told herself coolly. She caught Blaze's eye and tilted her head back to the team. "Sorry to stop the madness, Blaze."

[miyavi]

Sho smirked at Polaris, even though it twinged to move his jaw. He knew he looked spectacular; he could feel the blood in his mouth from where he cut the inside of his cheek on his teeth, and Psychochick managed to get in a decent hit at his chin. It didn't matter, though, as Sho looked at Stardust in satisfaction. The punch he had aimed at the side of her cheek left half her face pink, and he knew that in a half hour or so, the entire area would swell grotesquely, making her look more hideous than normal, and swelling her lower jaw so that it would hinder her speech. She'd look terrible, and sound like a drunken prostitute when spoke, to boot. It was classic.

Hand-to-hand wasn't just a practice for Sho; it was an art, a precise science, and he knew when to make it count. A single punch from him would hurt her more than her random beating would ever injure him. He eagerly awaited her transformation.

"Lowlife," he growled, still unable to keep the anger beneath the surface. His eyes glinted with a furious light to match Stardust's. She had no idea who the hell she just picked a fight with. She was an unpredictable whirlwind, he'd give her that, but he was a fucking typhoon, precise and calculated and utterly devastating. She believed him beneath her; she believed them all to be beneath her, which only showed her own ignorance and selfishness and made Sho hate her even more. He ached for their next battle, longed for it, so he could properly beat her down and teach her what true worthiness was.

<Pain, after all, is our greatest teacher.>

"Once again, I'm open to bright ideas." Sho blinked and glanced up at Polaris, who was glancing back at the team almost nonchalantly, a cynical smile gracing her features.

Hadrian answered, but Sho only half-listened. He was busy scrutinizing this woman, this curly-haired little waif of a thing, small and petite, but with a temper as razor-sharp as the humongous axe she carried on her back. He remembered seeing her file, <Polaris Lyn, 19>, and marvelled at the fact that she had the balls to stare him down. She stood straight-backed, listening to Hadrian, considering his words.

"But first, we definitely have to get out of here!" Hadrian finished.

"...most definitely...do that..." Sho heard Polaris mutter, and he grinned as she turned away from them, towards the woman in the red vest. <Blaze Something-or-other>.

Polaris reminded him of Celeste: ice cold in battle, but comforting and warm at the same time. Sho knew that this woman would have a sister complex a mile wide; she would always be someone who would watch out for them, nevermind the fact that she would make him eat axe without a moment's hesitation. She did, after all, play referee between two imbalanced soldiers, and that took guts...or a whole lotta love.

Snapping out of his reverie, Sho suddenly spoke. "I suggest," he said out loud, "that we run like hell. Good idea?"

---

Sho's more like Stardust than he knows.

[Diego Stanton]

Deo felt a familiar hand grasp his arm and pull him back.

"There you are!" Vanesse exclaimed. "I'm sorry I went on ahead, but there's our target."

Deo glanced nervously at the inn where Vanesse was pointing.

"Van, we decided to-" Deo began to say before the inn burst open and a melee of people began piling out. He heard punches being thrown and glasses being broken from inside. Everybody was screaming. Suddenly, two people he recognized as the seeDs came bursting out of the crowd. The girl in red next to the blonde guy strode back to the crowd and started taking out tourist after tourist.

"Oh.. shit!" Deo panicked. He pulled Vanesse and Jamie even farther back and out of sight. All three of them seemed to watch with a fascinated horror.

One by one, the other seeDs came out of the crowd, torn and bruised as if they had just been in a major battle. But Deo knew there was nobody in that inn besides tourists. They were yelling incoherently at each other.

Did they... did they do that to each other?

"Look at that... maybe we don't have to ambush them. They'll finish off each other," Deo said to the two girls.

[Blaze Sanaku]

"All right.." Blaze grumbled and cracked her knucled before following the rest of her team. The crowd huddled inside the inn, leaving the seeDs in plain view for the media to catch. As she met back up with the rest of the seeDs she noticed something.

Blaze stared at Sho's bloody face and Stardust's swelled up one. She blinked twice, then stifled laughter.

"Did I miss something?" she asked.

[Polaris Lyn]

"Did I miss something?" Blaze sounded close to laughing.

Polaris shrugged. "Just Stardust acting like the violent bitch she is. And Sho Miyavi reiterating the emotion with interest."

She sighed, crossed her arms, looked over her team. "Move out."