#badautz

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Sherry gritted her teeth as she kept brushing her hair, trying to tune out the whispers from the hallway where Tobi was talking to Lyon about things she was not supposed to listen into.

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She scowled.

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There were many places where she would rather be at the moment, back in her apartment, applying the cute pastel blue nail polish Chelia had gotten her, taking a bath or reading a book.

(Yes, Sherry liked reading.)

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And if things had gone her way, she would not be there, in this little inn, brushing her hair after her shower and listening to her fighting guild mates.

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But no, Chelia had had to tell on her (and the others).

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And then, Master Ooba had decided that Team Lyon--

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(What team, anyway? There had been no Team Lyon in months now, not since shortly after the Grand Magic Games when the supposed leader had decided to follow his own ambitions.)

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--had to go on a job as a team building excercise.

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And if the change in the entire group dynamics had not been glaringly obvious to Sherry beforehand, it would have been now.

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Because Team Lyon did not feel like Team Lyon anymore.

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Growling, she yanked on her hair to rid it of a persistent knot.

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Indeed, Team Lyon felt like Team Lyon, Tobi, Yuuka and Sherry these days, it lacked the old familiarity, the old bond they had once shared.

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And that was frustrating. And painful.

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                  2--

She hurled her brush across the room -- nevermind that she was seventy-three brush strokes away from the usual hundred -- and watched how it hit the wall and shattered before she slid of the edge of the bed and sunk onto her knees, wrapping her arms around herself.

She sobbed because it all hurts so much and her general confusion was not helping either.

She had been dealing with Lyon's coldness before, she had thought that she had gotten used to it with -- but that had been when she had had the excuse that he just did not care enough because he had not known her long enough.

Now, they had known each other for nearly eleven years and he had called her his friend, his best friend even.

She had thought he cared.

This situation now felt different from being cared about.

>>Damn you, Lyon Vastia,<< she hissed as tears ran down her face.