The moment that they had escaped the view of their guild, Cross's beaming smile only seemed to grow. Sia watched him with quite a bit of curiosity; Cross hadn't been in the best moods of late. Of course, for him that just meant that he he wasn't beaming every second of every day. Not noticeable to anyone who spent any less time with him than Sia did. As it was, she saw no trace of that now. He seemed far too thrilled by the thought of whatever he had planned if she was to be honest.

"What exactly are we doing?" Sia ventured cautiously.

His hand tightened around her wrist as he shot a smug smile back at her.

"Looking for the fairies, of course!"

Sia sweatdropped.

"Didn't Laxus forbid you from coming within ten feet of them?" she asked.

"He did," Cross replied. "That's why you're here, Pr--"

"If you're wanting me to deal with him, that's a poor way of asking," Sia cut in irritably.

Cross simply chuckled and continued to drag Sia through the crowds, paying no heed to her continued, logical protests over the subject. Instead, he focused on searching the crowds for the rather noticeable fairies, easily dodging people here and there as the sidewalks grew thicker. With the Grand Magic Games so close to starting, the main streets were packed. Which was how the two mages ended up cutting through an alleyway in place of attempting to push their way through a hold-up on the street. It would seem that some mage had decided to show off and caught several civilian onlookers- a matter that Cross cared little about at the moment. He was more interested in finding their targets.

After all, he hadn't heard whether or not Fried had fully recovered from the medicine. It would have been a shame for the man to have to miss out on the games as a result of Cross's inability to protect him while they were working. All of this ran through his mind as he reached the end of the alley.

"Ah, shit."

"Cross!"

The second he'd stepped out, Cross had been sent stumbling backwards into Sia. She, of course, was sent sprawling on the ground. Whoever had bumped into him must have suffered the same fate as a series of muttered curses hit the air. Cross, deciding apologizing to the stranger came first, stepped back into the street. His eyes were instantly drawn to a boy sprawled on the ground. His shaggy brown hair blocked view of his eyes, lean, corded muscles revealing that if Cross wasn't so towering, most likely he would have been the one sent sprawling.

"Sorry," Cross apologized. "I wasn't looking where I was going."

"Obviously," the boy grumbled, ignoring the hand Cross offered him as he pulled himself up. "Try an--"

The boy cut himself off the second his eyes landed on Cross. The blonde cocked his head curiously, about to question if the kid was okay, when a scowl suddenly crossed the kid's face. Instantly, he spun on a heel and dove into the crowd. Unthinking, Cross took off after him.

"Hey! Wait up!"

"Cross! Dammit, Cross! Don't just leave me here!" Sia called after him.

Despite knowing that he should probably turn back, something about the way the kid had took off rubbed Cross wrong. Which was why he spent the next twenty minutes dodging mages and civilians as he tried to keep up with the annoying fast brunette who had obviously noticed Cross following him. By the time he managed to close in on him and seize the back of the kid's shirt, both of them were breathing rather heavily.

"H-hey... what's the h-hurry?"

Rather than respond, the kid twisted away in an attempt to shake cross off. Determined for a reason unknown to even him, Cross latched on more tightly.

"Seriously, kid..." Cross said, amusement leaking into his tone. "Beyond the little running into you incident, I don't think I've done anything big enough to piss you off yet. Well, you did run off after looking at me. My face offend you or something?"

"That's exactly it," the boy snapped. "Let go of me!"

"Wait... really?"

"Yes, really. Your face bothers me. Can I go now?"

Cross blinked a few times, then chuckled good naturedly as he released the kid's shirt. Before the he could run off, however, Cross threw his arm around his shoulder- something the boy instantly attempted to shake off.

"You can't hate me based on that," Cross declared. "People usually wait until I've done something more to piss them off before hating me! You gotta give me another chance. Hell, I haven't even introduced myself yet. The Name's Cross, Cross--"

"Ashworth, right?" the kid interrupted.

A grin snaked across Cross's lips.

"You've heard of me? That's awesome! What's your name, kid?" he asked.

The boy simply stared at Cross for a moment, his expression rather incredulous. After another moment had passed, however, he simply sighed.

"... Easton Diamond," he replied, this time managing to slip under Cross's arm and start off again.

Not easily deterred once something has caught his attention, Cross jogged after him.

"See? Was that so hard?"

"Extremely," Easton replied dryly.

"Huh? Why?"

"... you..." Easton began, then shook his head. Obviously, he was dealing with an idiot. "Stop following me."

"Nah, I don't feel like it."

Following Cross's response, the boy simply scowled and picked up his pace. Cross grinned and drew even with him, badgering the boy for more details. Questions which were almost all instantly answered with curt refusals or annoyed silence. Eventually, Easton let out a curse and spun to face the still grinning Cross.

"What the hell is your problem?" he demanded. "Don't you have something better to do than interrogate strangers?"

Cross cocked his head as if he were actually giving the question thought.

"Eh, not at the moment. Besides, you really did get pissed at me for no reason. I'm pretty curious, you know?"

Easton glowered at him.

"I've plenty of reason."

"Oh? Like what."

"Your face, your last name. Let me guess- you also happen to be a womanizing bastard, too, right?" Easton demanded, obviously not really expecting an answer as he spun away from a rather stunned Cross. "That's more than enough for me."

The kid started off again, Cross frozen in spot for a moment. All he could do was stare at Easton's back. It was a full minute before he could force himself into action again, lunging forward to land a hand on the kid's shoulder.

"Wait a second. Wait, kid... do you know that guy?"

Easton stopped dead once again.

"... yeah. I know him. And I hate him," he replied, twisting his neck so he could glare over his shoulder at Cross. "Unluckily for you, you're his spitting image."

Cross released Easton's shoulder, laughing under his breath as he did.

"Ah... I see," he replied, raising his now free hand to rub the back of his neck. "Guess that's a decent enough reason to dislike me, then, from what I know. Never met the bastard myself, so I'll just take your word on the spitting image, part. Should have known... guess that magazine wasn't lying.

"Hey, Easton... lemme guess something. Not many people would recognize him from me right off the bat anymore. Are you in his guild?"

Even as dumb as Cross was, he could piece something that simple together rather quickly. When Easton didn't respond instantly, Cross took it as a yes.

"Ah, then that means--"

"Cross, there you are! Dammit, I've been looking all over for you. Don't run off like that!"

Distracted by the voice, Cross glanced back to find Sia glowering at him from further down the street. He shot her a sheepish smile, never removing his hand from the back of his neck.

"Sorry, sorry. I got distracted by something..." he replied, turning his attention back to where Easton stood. "This ki--"

He cut off, blinking in surprise. In those few seconds, Easton had disappeared from sight. Cursing lightly under his breath, Cross searched the crowd with his eyes, becoming uncharacteristically frustrated when he didn't catch sight of the brunette.

"Something wrong?" Sia asked as she joined him.

"... no, it's nothing," Cross answered after a moment. "Say, mind taking a rain check on finding the fairies?"

"Huh?"

"I wanna ask Sera something," Cross explained in response to the rather confused expression coloring Sia's face. "I think I just saw a fox."

"You... what?"

Leaving Sia staring after him in confusion, Cross took off through the crowd again. She sighed, but followed him. After all, it wasn't like she had much of a choice. It was just like the other day when he'd been staring at the magazine- his expression was impossible to read. She had to wonder, though, why it was Sera he needed to talk to. Honestly, Sera was pretty knowledgeable, but she rarely left Wisteria. If Sia was going to ask someone a question about other places, she would have chosen Gideon or Lock.

A fox? She wondered mentally. I wonder if he means...

It took some time, and several annoyed comments about the direction they were going, before the two of them made it to the inn that Starry Rose was staying at. Lucky for Cross, the moment they entered the dinning area, they discovered that Sera had elected to get a drink at the bar rather than explore the town. Apparently she'd decided to leave that off until Waverly had recovered from traveling. Still concerned about Cross, Sia trailed him as he made a straight beeline for the brunette.

"Sera," Cross greeted.

The woman looked away where Sky was sitting next to her. If the slight flush to her cheeks was any indication, the two of them had been seated at the bar for awhile.

"Hm?"

"Sia here was curious," Cross began, ignoring the knitted brow look Sia sent at his back. "Have you heard any information about Polar Fox?"

"Eh? Isn't that the one you asked me about the other day?" Sky cut in.

"Yup!" Cross answered chipperly. "Her and I were talking about the other guilds."

Sera, most likely too tipsy to connect Cross's lie with Sia's confusion, cocked her head back thoughtfully.

"Hm, I've heard a few rumors and reports," she announced after a moment. "The guild seems favored even less than Fairy Tail by the council, which is pretty hard to do. They toe the line of what is and isn't allowed, although no one's ever been able to bring them up on anything. Never any proof. That answer the question?"

Cross shook his head.

"I knew that. I'm more curious about the members. Any kids?"

"Several," Sera answered after a moment. "One boy rumored to be pretty unstable. Apparently he's rather sadistic in his methods of taking down enemies. A girl, pretty sure rumors put her as equally questionable sanity wise. Then... another kid, pretty sure the last one's the guild master's son. Pretty skilled from what I heard."

"... I see," Cross replied after a moment, beaming at Sera and ruffling her hair. "Looks like you know a lot, huh?"

"Don't treat me like a kid!" Sera protested, shoving him away.

"Aw, c'mon, Sera. Don't be like that! You know you love it when I touch y--"

"And don't say such misleading things so loud!"

"Haha, who said it was mislea--ow!"

Sia watched as the bickering grew, Sky laughing uproariously when Cross went too far and Sera resorted to magic. Throughout all of this, she couldn't shake off that sneaking feeling. It didn't help that she had proof, now. After all, he had lied.

Cross was hiding something. Whatever it was, it had to do with that guild.

Well, they were in the games. She supposed that she'd get to see soon enough, what sort of people he was getting so worked up about. Until, she had herself to worry about. Participating in the games was no little matter.

Still... she'd keep an eye on him.

He was her guildmate, after all. Besides, it was Cross.

Whatever it was, it probably wasn't that big of a deal. Cross was Cross, the most trouble he got into was flirting with married women.

Shaking her head, Sia turned away to go find her room.

Everything was going to be fine.