W00t! Next chapter! Sorry about the delay again, hopefully it's good though...thanks again for the reviews, really appreciate them!

Cruxis Corporation

Chapter Ten

It had been two days since the trio had begun working for Cruxis. They worked from ten in the morning to five in the afternoon sorting paperwork and stamping documents. At first they had been curious as to what exactly they were sorting and stamping, but most of it was written in some other language that the three didn't understand. Ashley was fuming, she said that it looked like the 'Angelic' language found in ancient church documents, but the other two were starting to ignore her crazy conspiracy theories.

They were starting to get used to the way things were done in Cruxis, so much of it was kept a secret from everyone, even the employees! It was a very nerve-wracking experience for Anna. She knew that they wouldn't tell them much when they had started, but this was ridiculous! And worst of all; she hadn't seen Kratos since that first day.

She had tried to find things out about him in secret, ask the people around what he was like, but none of the people knew what she was talking about. They knew there was someone called Kratos and that he was one of the heads of Cruxis, but aside from that they had no clue who she was talking about.

She and her roommates had developed a type of pattern for going to work; Anna was the one in charge of getting them up. Anna would wake up bright and early, usually around six. After taking a quick shower she would get some coffee brewing and start to read the daily newspaper while sipping on a fresh cup of joe. Reading the entire paper would usually take her to seven thirty, at which time she would begin to make breakfast. She typically made bacon and eggs, with a magitech fan blowing the scent up the stairs to the girls' bedrooms. This would normally tempt the other two to get out of bed.

However, today Anna wanted to try something different. She had found some old alarm clocks during her rummaging through the house and decided to let them be the ones to awaken the girls. She made sure to set them to maximum volume, just to make sure they would hear them.

The reason for the alarms was that Anna had wanted to get to Cruxis early and see what she could find out. She had asked around and from her understanding the people on the third floor were always working. They did get time off to eat and sleep, and that was what Anna was curious about. She wanted to find out where they ate and slept, mainly to see if she could find out if that was where Kratos was.

She realized that this was an odd reason, she had just met the man and yet she felt the need to see him, to talk to him, and mainly just to be in his presence. That was the entire reason she was walking toward the bus stop in the cool early morning light, just to see him and hear his voice.

She stopped with a start then. 'When did I start to feel this way towards him? He is a complete stranger, and yet… I-is this love?' As she thought that it felt like her heart skipped a beat. Love, she had never been in love before. The entire concept was foreign to her, but she didn't know how else to describe her irrational attraction to the man.

'There's no time for this now! I can't be in love! It would never work out anyway! I-I mean, he probably doesn't even feel the same way…'

She began to hesitantly make her way toward the bus stop bench that was just within her line of sight. She was trying desperately to think of another reason for going to the Cruxis building so early. What would she say to anyone who asked why she was there? She couldn't admit that she wanted to see Kratos…

'I know! I could say that I'm interested in living there, like all the other employees! They couldn't turn me away if I said that! And it would give me more of a reason to be wandering around behind the scenes, maybe I could even find out where Kratos lives there and meet him! I wonder what Cruxis's policy is on dating employees? They must allow it since they don't let their employees leave, I mean, how could they meet anyone outside of Cruxis if they're not allowed out?'

As she was thinking this she saw the lights of the bus, she made it to the bus stop a second before it did. She got on board and paid the fair of one Gald piece, she had thought about getting a bus pass, but money was really getting tight for her. This was another reason for looking into living at Cruxis, it looked like they provided free food and lodging to their employees so if she was an employee why not take full advantage of that?

She was all alone on the bus this morning; the bus driver was strict and didn't intend to partake in small talk with her. She sat down in one of the seats that faced the side of the bus, looking up and reading the numerous advertisements that were near the ceiling. Nothing caught her eye, so instead she looked out the window at the houses and yards they were passing. After a few moments they were into the business sector, now it would only be a moment or two before her stop came up.

She reached up and pulled the cord that told the bus driver to stop once she began recognizing where they were. After a moment the bus came to a stop, right outside the main Cruxis entrance. She made sure she didn't drop anything and left the bus after saying a quick "thank you" to the bus driver.

'I hope the doors are open…' she thought, mind quickly envisioning worse case scenarios. She climbed the ten steps that led up to the doors two at a time and tried the door.

Yes. It was unlocked. 'I wonder if people have tried breaking in?' she thought. She walked in slowly and saw the receptionist; it was a different person each time she had come in. 'I wonder how many there are? There seem to be a lot of them for that one little job…'

She gave the receptionist a smile and a small, "good morning" before she headed past the door labelled 'Employees Only'. She was getting used to walking through the bottom floor, but she still had to ask someone to point her in the right direction when she found herself at the elevator labelled '56' instead of '23'.

After she managed to find the right elevator, she got in and began to get nervous. As the doors closed she let out a sigh and pushed the '3' button. 'No turning back now.'

It didn't take long before she was on the third floor, elevator dinging softly to let her know she had arrived. She looked around and saw that there were people working here, she could hear the furious scribble of pen on paper and some stamping going on, she also saw that many of the cubicles were still empty and that people were slowly trickling in from a door to her left. It was way at the other end of the room though and she could barely make it out. She decided that she would try there first.

She began to walk quickly through the rows of offices, peeking in each one as she was walking to see if she saw any familiar faces and to see if she could make out what they were doing. She noticed that many people had breakfast sitting on their desk. It looked like they were the keener ones, working quickly in-between bites.

Seeing all these people eating was starting to make her hungry, she had only wolfed down a piece of peanut butter and jam toast before coming here. All these breakfasts looked so good, eggs and hash browns, toast, French toast, mmmm pancakes…

Her stomach rumbled and she quickened her pace, maybe she would find where they got those delicious looking breakfasts beyond that door.

She reached the door just as someone was coming out, they saw her coming and held it open for her, "Thank you!" she said to the man, he gave her a smile and a small nod in return.

Beyond the door was a large room. There was a small step down into the main area where many tables were spread out. It looked like a giant restaurant! She noticed that there were many people eating at the tables, the tables were large enough that ten people could sit comfortably around them. On the other side of the room she noticed a large counter where people were lined up. It looked like you got your food from there and then you could sit anywhere in here or take it with you to your office and eat it there.

Anna walked over to the counter and began to look over the large menu that was posted on the wall past the counter. She wondered if they had to pay to get the food, and if they did, what kind of money did they use? Cruxis seemed to have its own little world going on inside of it so they must have their own monetary system, right?

The line moved fairly quickly and before long she was standing in front of a tall, blond half-elf. She was getting better at telling the difference between humans and half-elves, but she still didn't believe that they were really any different from her. She had heard stories from Ashley about how cruel they could be and how they could use 'magic' to control the elements, but they really didn't seem any different to her. They where still people, and that's how she treated them.

"And what can I get for you this fine morning?" he asked, he was standing in front of this odd-looking device. It looked like one of those 'computers' that had just been developed.

"Could I get the French toast?" she asked nervously, not knowing if she was even allowed to be here.

"Why certainly! And what kind of bread would you like that to be made of?" he asked, he taped the computer screen two times in two different spots and then paused to hear her answer.

"White is fine." She said giving him a nervous look. He was really good looking, it seemed like everyone at Cruxis was, it made her feel a little embarrassed to think that she might be compared to one of the perfect looking half-elves that worked here. "Um, I've never actually been here before… how do I pay for it?"

"You work for Cruxis, right?" he asked, she gave a small nod, "then there is absolutely nothing to worry about! Go have a seat over there and someone will bring it to you." He pointed to his right towards a long couch where several other people were sitting already. As Anna made her way towards the couch people were coming out of the large open doors that were located behind the counter, each one was carrying a tray of food. At there approach several of the people sitting down got up and took the food from them. After their food was taken away these people returned to what Anna suspected was the kitchen and the other people who had taken the food went to find a place to sit down and eat or to head back to their cubicles.

Anna sat down next to a young half-elf woman who was reading what looked like the newspaper, only it wasn't the Palmacosta Press, the only newspaper in town. This one was labelled 'The Cruxis Crusade'. Maybe there were newspapers for the employees? 'I wonder where you can get them…'

It didn't take long for her food to arrive, once she got it she began looking for a seat. She wandered all over the place; most of the tables were full by this point though… Just as she was beginning to give up and thinking about just going to her cubicle to eat it she saw a familiar red head. Kratos.

He was seated at a table in the corner, next to him was a small blond child and on his other side was…a large green and silver dog. At least it looked like a dog…but it had huge ears and really odd colouring, not to mention it was huge! It looked like someone could actually ride that thing like a horse!

She was a little nervous about approaching him with this large animal beside him, but she had wanted to see him since forever! Taking a deep breath, she walked up to the table and cleared her throat.

All three of the table's occupants looked up at her at that. At first she was met with a confused look from all three, but then recognition flashed in Kratos' auburn eyes.

"Anna! Good to see you." Said Kratos, "would you care to join us?" he asked, waving a hand to invite her to sit in the chair across from him.

"Thank you very much! I would love to sit with you." said Anna blushing slightly.

"Ah, so this is one of the people you suggested we hire." Said the blond boy, "Miss Anna, it is a pleasure to meet you." he said with a small smile. The large dog barked, as if agreeing.

"What are you doing here so early?" asked Kratos, getting straight to the point.

"Um, well, I was wondering if I could live here…like the other employees do." Said Anna softly, she was trying her best to force down the blush that was growing on her face. Kratos blinked at that, he gave her a questioning look. The blond boy also looked startled to hear that. "If it's a problem I don't have to, I was just curious is all…"

"It's no problem; you are most welcome to live here. We had thought that you would be against living here, that's why we didn't suggest it." Said the blond boy, he gave her a friendly smile, "how about you finish up that French toast and we'll get a room all set up for you! We'll also show you around, seems like you found the cafeteria just fine on your own though!" He snickered at that.

"Thank you so much!" said Anna, "but are you sure you're allowed to say that? Shouldn't we talk to someone higher up and confirm that I can stay here?"

The child looked stunned to hear that, he kind of froze up as he was about to say something, and then Kratos began to laugh softly at that, in fact the dog started to make snickering noises to… That was weird. Anna gave them all a confused look, that just seemed to make the two laugh harder, the dog started to roll on the floor making strange laughing noises.