Byul & Hoshi note: Wow! We're so happy and proud and amazed that you all still follow our story. We were so happy when we woke up the morning after scene vi - after two months of no updating - and found our hotmail full of review alerts. Thank you, all of you, from the bottom of our hearts! Here's the double release I promised :D Not a chapter, but OH SO GOOD.

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Hoshi So, when we were in San Antonio (see our profile for the reason), we recorded a shit ton of videos. :D
Byul Yeah, and I wish we were paid for all the "advertising" we did in there xD
Hoshi On another note, let the angst begin! YEEES! PLOT how I love you.
Byul What? It's not like you were writing filler before.
Hoshi True. I mean, all that in between stuff WAS needed to reveal plot and all, but damn was it long! Now finally our amazing story can truly be born! It. Shall. Live! Mwahahahaha!
Byul *sweatdrop* You sound like Young Frankenstein =_=
Hoshi FALBRUKA!
Random Horse *neeeeigh!*
Hoshi I also went to Austin to visit my aunt :D You NEVER run out of things to do there. I bought a super cool bag with Animal from the Muppets on it :D
Byul The drummer?
Hoshi YES! I wuvs him OwO
Byul ...Okaaay...xD
Byul You know, we seriously need a blog to write all this stuff :wink wink:
Hoshi :dramatically: Oh! But, who on earth would read it and follow us :HINT HINT:
Byul Let's just say they should expect a new link on our profile soon.
Hoshi NOTE! We got rid of the deviantArt link. We'll put it back up when we have more stuff xD
Byul Long A/N is long.

And so, three day weekend! Let's get WRITING!

Byul :checks to see that Hoshi isn't listening: I still think it's weird that the plot enters in an intermission...xD
Hoshi HEARD THAT.
Byul ...whoops :D

Show Biz: Act I

Intermission Unus

Cross came back from dropping off the damn feline - he himself didn't know what stupid emotional impulse had lead him to dropping off the small furball - and went straight to his wine bottle. He poured a large glass for himself, chugged it, and was starting a second one in no time.

Irritated. Cross was really really irritated. Every time he thought of the damn brat, his scowl deepened.

"Why did I ever fucking agree to it?"

x x x x x

It was a dreary morning in early January. No sun was shining, and no birds were singing. Not this early. The streets were empty and lifeless, and not a light shone in the darkness. Except for one. It was a small establishment, snuggled into a remote corner of a nearly empty street. A rare sight in the packed streets of Seoul, even if this was the outskirts. Inside was the bartender, and a single patron in the corner, staring solemnly at his glass of beer. He sat like that for maybe half an hour before the bell in the front door jingled, alerting him of new company.

The newcomer was dark to say the best. He stood tall and ominous in all black, with his sleek coat drawn tightly around him, cowl up. Smoke curled from the man's cigarette and faded into the cool air. The figure looked around, and his eyes rested on the man in the corner. He slowly walked forward, his long, blood-red hair sweeping behind him, and stopped in front of the table.

The man sitting there looked up, his black locks splayed messily across his forehead. Upon seeing his new companion, his face spread into a wry, humorless grin as he said, "Cross. What a pleasant surprise."

Cross just made an annoyed sound as he spit out his cigarette, stamped it into the ground, and sat down.

"Surprise? I should be the surprised one here, what with you calling me out so early."

The dark haired man just looked away and said, "I wasn't..."

Cross raised an eyebrow, urging him to continue. The gesture did not go unnoticed.

"I wasn't expecting you to show up."

An awkward silence pervaded the room as the two men sat there. Finally, unable to take it any longer, Cross sighed heavily and leaned back in his chair.

"I've known you too long to just not show up when you...when you're like this."

Cross swept his arm up and down to indicate his friend's haggard appearance.

"Now, Neah, I think it's time you start talking."

x x x x x

Cross scowled at the memory of what happened next. He was practically conned for Christ's sake!

x x x x x

Neah tried to smile at Cross, but it came across as just a slight twitch of his mouth.

"Alright, old friend. Have a seat, and we'll begin."

After Cross sat down, Neah released a big sigh that he'd obviously been holding in for a long time.

"He's here, Cross," Neah said. "After a whole year of searching, I finally found him."

"What on earth are you talking about? Who on earth are you talking about?" Cross corrected himself.

"Allen. He's in the orphanage on the southern side of the city just east of here...Cross..."

And when Cross saw the look in Neah's eyes, he immediately went on alert. He had a bad feeling about this.

"Allen ran away about one year ago," Neah suddenly said. "...He'd be ten by now...Cross...no child that's gone through what Allen has deserves to go back into an orphanage. Especially not in the southern slums of Seoul."

Cross just grimaced. It was true, but now he was starting to see where Neah was going with all of this...and he didn't like it one bit.

"Cross, please, adopt Allen."

x x x x x

He should have said no. Just NO. It would have saved him the trouble of raising the kid. So why didn't he? Thinking back on it now, he tried to remember why he hadn't.

x x x x x

"Why don't you adopt him? After...that day...Allen ran away and you've been looking for him ever since haven't you? Don't tell me you haven't, Neah, because that'd be one big lie and you know it. So why, after all this fucking time, are you just handing him over to m-"

"He hates me, Cross," Neah whispered. His voice was so broken, so torn, so alone, that Cross could barely stop himself from reaching out to his old friend. "He hates me." Neah repeated. "I know it. Ever since he ran away, I kept thinking why he did it, and I keep coming back to one conclusion. He must have found out..."

"Found out what?"

And now, Neah looked straight at him, and the sorry sight of the wrecked man in front of him nearly broke even Cross' unyielding heart. "It's my fault Mana is d-dead...All my fault. He begged me to let him go out without his body guards for Allen's birthday, and I just let him. I just let them go out, unprotected, and look at what happened! Allen knew I was in charge of the guards...he must have figured it out," Neah whispered, completely breaking down.

Cross made no move to comfort him. He couldn't tell his friend some lie about it not being possible, how he was just crazy from losing everything and from his self-imposed guilt. Cross just couldn't bring himself to do it...because the facts were that it was possible.

Instead, after a while of letting his friend vent all his pent up feelings, he sighed and said, "You owe me, Neah."

Neah's head shot up, a small spark of hope in his eyes. "You mean...you'll do it?"

"Yes. I'll do it...Come on, let's go and get you cleaned up."

But as Cross reached for him, Neah too a surprisingly firm hold on his arm. "Cross, promise me just one thing. Only one."

Cross raised an eyebrow at Neah's sudden request, but since he didn't stop him, Neah continued.

"Promise me that you will never let Allen get in to show business. I doubt he will, but...I just don't want him to go through what I've gone through. Go through so much struggle, only to lose everything...everything...I just don't want him to have to go through that again. And if he get's into the business, it'll be all to likely to happen. So...please..."

Cross ran a hand through his hair. He'd never understand why people got so attached to each other. But Neah and Mana had grown up with him in the slums, so that was different. These were bonds of survival that could hardly be broken by just a decade of not seeing each other. So now, here he was, agreeing to everything Neah told him.

"Okay. I promise. Just order me some wine already, will you?"

x x x x x

After that, Cross remembered, he had drank until he almost forgot what he'd agreed to do. Then he'd sobered up a bit before heading to the orphanage. There, he'd found the child called Allen Walker. The kid was even worse than Neah. Unknown to Cross, Allen had slipped back into the mute state that Mana had found him in. He wasn't able to bring Allen out of it the was Mana had, but instead, Allen gradually came out of it himself as he started going to school.

That probably took longer than it should have, Cross thought with a annoyance and a hint of regret as he recalled how they had moved around a lot when he had first adopted Allen. It was only in the past two years that they had come back to Korea again. And only this year that Cross had dared to bring the kid back to Seoul.

He didn't want to admit it before, especially not to himself, but he had a soft spot for the kid. Maybe it was because it was a favor to an old friend, or maybe it was because he'd spent years with Allen. He has to admit that it had been a nice experience, deliberately getting under the kid's skin as often as he could. It helped bring a spark into his previously monotonous life. Usually he would wander around the world, alone - the woman he thought he loved; dead - meeking out a living and running from debtors as he "enjoyed life". Allen had slowly changed that, and even Cross himself didn't realize it until he was looking for a house to really settle down in...and a certain dark skinned, long haired beauty that he'd met years ago at the bar she'd owned.

Tch, I'm growing sentimental in my old age, Cross chided himself. Then he thought about what he'd just said and could have punched himself. If there was one thing Cross wasn't, it was old. Sure he wasn't a teenager anymore, but he was NOT. Old.

Then he felt a pair of warm arms wrap around his shoulders from behind the chair he was sitting at. He didn't need to look behind him to know who it was.

"Tch. Shouldn't you be asleep, Anita?"

"Shouldn't you?" the woman smoothly countered as she walked around him, plucking the wine glass from his hands and taking a sip as she sat down across from him.

"I can go out whenever I want," Cross defended himself a bit too hurriedly.

"Oh?" Anita said, raising a questioning eyebrow. Then she looked around - seemingly innocent - and asked, "Hey, where's Tim? I wonder, did someone come in and take him?" she now asked Cross directly.

It was the alcohol, Cross reasoned with himself, that made him clam up and turn away from her instead of standing his ground while being totally aloof like he usually did.

"No? Then did he run away?" Anita, now openly teasing Cross, asked. "Not that either? Then, what else could it...oh! I see!" she said, smaking her fist into her palm as if a brilliant idea suddenly struck her. "You must have taken him to Allen! Then why not just do it in the morning? Could it be?" she said, now leaning towards Cross. "The great Cross Marian is...embarrased?"

Now, Cross whipped around to face her, his face set like that of an indignant child, and said, "You're crazy! Just shut up and give me my wine."

"Whatever you say, dear," she told him as she handed over the glass and watched him sulk off to the main bedroom.

She just chuckled as she watched him walk off, then went to join him for a good nights sleep.

Or not.

[Intermission End]

Byul D: oh gawd the ending xD
Hoshi What? Oh, you just read the last two words huh? :P
Byul Yes! I wish I didn't xD I would prefer to keep my innocence thank you!
Hoshi You're co-writing a yaoi fanfiction and still say you're innocent? Please, spare these fans your lies.
Byul But I am innocent OwO
Hoshi DON'T FALL FOR IT. SHE'LL STEAL YOUR SOUL. HIDE YO KIDS, HIDE YO WI- OW!
Byul :just hit Hoshi: You were saying?
Hoshi Meep. Nothing ma'am o-o
Byul That's what I thought xD
Hoshi oh shiz, you know what I just realized?
Byul What?
Hoshi We forgot to type the whole "signing out" message thing in the last few chapters...
Byul Well we'd better do that now then, shouldn't we?
Hoshi Indeed we shall.
Hoshi has signed out
Byul has signed out.

Note: Intermissions will be a regular thin from now on. They'll be about other character's lives. Expect a bit of Bak and Lena, and even some Komui and Reever, but we're saving most of the Bak/Lena for a separate series ;D