Face Behind a Mask
Chapter 8 - Night of the Dance


"Ah! Why are you hitting me?
What are you? I wanna get rid of you.
You are choking me down and I wanna, I wanna....

They ruined me.
They took it all, even my last hope.
They ruined me.
They took it all even my last hope.

Say ya! I couldn't show my face.
I didn't want anyone to find out bruises all over me.
"Did you go to school yesterday?"
"Did anything happen to you?"
They might be looking for me.
I can't tell anyone about it.
No, I can't do it.
Nothing can help me out.
Yes, I would be there for sure,
At the same time, at the same place.
It's like a routine, but I'm kept inside.
It's not what I want.
Absolute power! Absolute rules!
My opinions mean nothing."
- Junsaheh Hooyeh (Warrior's Descendent) – H.O.T -


When Erin awoke she found herself lying face down on the ground. The sun's bright rays were drying her soaked hair and clothes.

"What happened?"

"You collapsed in the water." replied a voice.

"Eh, Domon? I did?" She blinked. He nodded to her in reply.

"You were saying things in your sleep also."

"About what?"

"I'm not sure, it was hard to tell. Anyways, Rain wanted me to ask you if you were coming to the dance in two days…and if you are, who are you going with?"

"Ah…well I really hadn't thought about it…I don't think I'll be going either."

"What? Why?" Domon asked.

"Um, it's a formal dance, right?"

"Yeah."

"Oh…well….I just don't like dresses."

"Nice reason…"

"But seriously, I don't." She replied while wringing out her hair.

"Well you should think about it. I need to get back to training with the other Shuffles, I'll see you later." Domon waved slightly and walked off leaving Erin there alone.

'It would have been really nice to be Domon's sister…' Erin shook her head, it was no use to think like that.

It was near sunset when Erin had finished with the rest of her training. She hadn't eaten much of anything all day so she decided to return to camp she was sharing with the others.

Upon reaching the camp site she heard people talking. Sitting there were Domon, Rain, Sai Sici and a little girl with dark teal colored hair pulled into two pigtails.

"Hi Erin, welcome back!" Rain smiled and made room for her in the circle.

"Hi, my name is Cecil, I'm the sister of the fighter with the Mermaid Gundam. Nice to meet you." She held out her hand with a sweet little smile.

"Nice to meet you Cecil. My name is Erin. Do you know Domon and the others from the Gundam fight in Hong Kong?" Erin shook Cecil's hand.

"Yes, Sai was against my brother in the Gundam Fight. It was a really good match…" She trailed off, most likely remembering the fight and all the events she had experienced just a few years ago.

"Oh okay, I see…"

"Hello everyone!" Chibodee, Argo and George walked over with Allenby and Mallory in tow.

"So who here had dates for the dance?" Chibodee asked. Erin sighed, why was that the only topic she was hearing now?

"I do." Sai's face turned red. Domon and Rain were going together, Mallory, George, Chibodee, Allenby and Argo were all going as a large group.

"What about you, I'm sure someone has asked you." Chibodee says. Erin shakes her head and gives a fake smile.

"No, I don't think I am going."

"What? Why?! Oh…hey, why don't you go with Schwarz?"

"Ehhhh???" Erin nearly fell over. "Well…I…" She stuttered and began to blush slightly.

"Oh! Erin is embarrassed!" Mallory teased.

"Am not!"

"So, you'll go then? Unless you're to embarrassed that is!" Chibodee says, nearly laughing to death.

"Alright…I guess I will."

"Yeah!" Chibodee and Mallory high-fived each other, having achieved their goal.

"Yay for me…" Erin said sarcastically. After eating she went away to get ready for bed. "Such a good day…" She rolled her eyes before settling into her comfortable little tree and falling asleep.

- - - - -

Next morning Erin awoke at sun rise and walked to a field with a book bag filled with things to workout. Setting up her CD player and hooking up the speakers she put in a cd she had just burned before she left home. The song "Renai Revolution 21" by Morning Musume began to play. She stretched her arms at first before working on splits and back bends.

After a while things got boring and she just didn't feel like doing anything anymore.

"I should probably keep going…" She said with a laugh as she lay down on the cushioned grass. A light breeze whipped her hair around her face.

"Dance tomorrow…eh…I don't want to go…" She mumbled as she closed her eyes and once again took a trip into the past.

- - - - -

"Erin, I am really sorry that things didn't work out…"She had returned home to Korea after 2 years, her dreams being shattered.

Upon arriving home she began to work with the gundam her father has built. For the next 6 months she trained and soon it was time for Korea to choose a Gundam Fight representative.

One Friday morning she got up early and dressed. It would be the first round of the tournament today. Erin was worried though. She could move fairly fast and her gundam was pretty strong but would that be enough? The tournament would be held on earth, since a colony wasn't exactly the place to fight. She wondered if Domon had went to earth and try to find his brother…probably not. Earth would be closed off soon anyways for the Gundam Fight. Since her father had a permit to live on earth all year round for his studies he may have to find a place to live in the colony for a while. Erin definitely didn't want to see him get hurt. These days not too many people liked living here anyways, compared to a highly advanced colony that is. But Erin had grown up here and loved every part of it.

"Ready Erin?"

"Yes…" She replied as she slowly walked from her room. She climbed into the truck that transported her gundam and they were off, towards the stadium in Seoul.

Fight after fight occurred that day…and Erin won them all. Soon it was time for the finals and Erin sat, heavily breathing in a large room.

While she was waiting and resting someone ran into her arm, causing her to drop her soda.

"Oh I'm sor--…oh never mind, it's YOU…" a girl with pitch black hair frowned. "My lovely opponent, see you in the battlefield."

"Just great…a gundam pilot with a moody disposition and a fairly big attitude…just what I needed." Erin followed the girl and headed to her own Gundam.

"Okay everyone! Welcome to the final round in deciding who will be out Gundam Fighter for Neo-Korea! On our left we have MinYa from North Korea while on our right there is Erin Lee from South Korea! Okay, gundam fight…"

"Ready…" MinYa's voice was challenging and firm.

"Go!" Erin cried out. Starburst Gundam, belonging to MinYa surged forward with a burst of speed and power.

"Star shooter!" She yelled and raised her hand. Many small stars with explosives built inside shot towards Yin Yang Gundam. The stars were able to sense heat inside a gundam and headed straight towards Erin. Erin used to two guns in the center of her gundam to destroy most of them and take less damage. Both guns made up the circles on the Yin Yang on her Gundam's chest plate.

"Not bad, but…no half Korean idiot is going to beat me!" Erin clenched her fists tightly.

"So that's what this is about…well, you can just shut up!" Erin cried. She loved her mom even if she was American…it didn't matter to her. "I'll make you take back those words!" Erin's aura began to glow a bright red color around her. A black feathered wing grew from the left side of her Gundam's back while a white wing grew from the other side.

"Ladies and gentlemen, you are here to see Yin Yang's special mode, only seen when the pilot reaches their max peak of anger. This is called 'clash of power' and shows the force of light and dark mixing together! What a sight!" The announcer said to the 'in-awe' crowd.

"Two faced strike!" Erin said as she brought out her sword and sliced the head off of the opponent's gundam.

"I…won…" She said before things blacked out.

- - - - -

Erin awoke with her heart beating madly. It was long after dark. Are the others worried? Probably not…

- - - - -

The next day Erin supposedly had a martial arts lesson with the others. She headed to the 3rd field and met with the others. The class was pretty uneventful seeing as all the students and the teacher were tired from a long few days.

Afterwards the girls went to clean up for the dance.

"Ne Erin…what are you wearing for the dance?" Mallory asked. She was dressed in a long red dress with a full skirt. It highly accented her bright red hair.

"I dunno…I talked to my dad a day ago and he said he'd send something…"

"Hey Erin, a big package just came for you!" Sai yelled.

"Wow…you must be psychic or something…" Mallory laughed as Erin walked off towards the direction of the yell.

When she arrived in the center of the camp she found a rather large crate awaiting her. A note with it read that the dress she requested was sent as well as a new weapon for her gundam.

Erin decided to open the large crate later, seeing that the dance was to start in 30 minutes.

In the smaller box was a long blue spaghetti strap dress with a matching pair of shoes. There were also things for her hair, jewelry and make up included. She ran to her tent quickly and found the other girls waiting for her when she stepped out.

"You look great!" Rain said cheerfully. Erin blushed from the praise.

"Thanks, you all do too."

"Okay, let's get going…the guys should be there already." Rain began to walk towards area two of the island.

"Alright, let's go!" Cecil cheered.

And so…the night began.


Nuriko: ^^; Well this chapter is a big Christmas present thingy for Kenji-chan who I am writing for. Thank you to everyone who reviewed…her are some comments to questions asked ^_^

Sora: Thanks for reviewing my fics ^_^ I love your, especially 'Jokers Wild'! And don't worry about Erin finding out who Schwarz is…it's coming soon! :)

XXdOmOnXx: Thanks for the comments on Koreans and Japanese people. I am South Korean too, one reason why it was easier for me to write about Erin's gundam ^^;; Haha. Well I know that a lot of Korean's do not like the Japanese for how they were treated in WWII but I'm not sure if it is everyone. I mean, I am sure the older people do…but younger people may not as much? I dunno, I didn't live in Korea for a while. Still I have a Japanese friend…Anyways, thanks for the concern and I'll email you if I get stuck on ideas ^_^

Nuriko: So is Grandma Kenji still amused with DDR?

Kenji: Yup ^^; I am thinking of stealing Mr. Foxy Boxy away from Yami Bakura…he's gotten to attached to it o.O;

Nruiko: Aww, that's mean ^^;;

Kenji: Hehe ^^;

Nuriko: Oh well, we'll leave the readers with jtL singing Santa Baby. HAVE A GOOD CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

Woo Hyuk: 2002 jtL krismas nal eh eel uh nan eel ja! da gal ee Santa Baby! ^_~