A/N: Hey happy holidays everyone! No, I didn't write a Christmas special although I initially intended to but then I thought that it would be totally off-topic and random if I put a special smack in the middle of the story so I decided to just update. I'm sure that's a much better Christmas present I mean seriously, the mistletoe idea is cliché, the fireplace and hot cocoa is too overused, the Christmas havoc is too common, the race for a gift is trite, and the cuddly, fluffy, warm-you-up-because-it's-cold idea is exhausted. I figured if you guys really wanted to read about this stuff, you'd only have to flip a few pages of your memories or read the couple other hundred stories with the same idea. So yeah.

To Crystal Kira who asked me to respond (a month too late probably DX): Yes I did have a lot of fun with that fight scene between Arthur and Francis. I hope to work on another one heheheheh.... Ahem well anyway, yes poor little Feli was murdered in Edelstein manor but... who indeed did murder him I wonder... As for Ivan... huh... You're right. I can't seem to find him anywhere D: Perhaps he's in -pzzzzzzt-

A special thanks to PastaWar19 for taking your time off to review all my chapters. Much appreciated!

Chapter 13: Doomsday

Finally. It's The Day. Doomsday.

The office was even more hectic than usual today, if that was possible, to prepare for the arrival of some big shot president to prevent getting their asses fired both literally and figuratively. With Vash watching over the whole place like a hawk and the threat of going through the pain of finding a new job dangling over their heads, the employees decided too much was at stake to mess up.

"It can't be that hard to act normal can it?" Ludwig asked under his breath as he helped one of the men move his marble collection into the kitchen to stuff into the cupboards. Then again, this office wasn't exactly in its right mind to begin with so being "normal" meant being crazy.

"Everyone listen up, aru!" Yao called over the din and continued when he was sure everyone's attention was on him. "I will be guiding Mr. Langdon through the office very soon. To make sure everyone absolutely knows what will transpire, I will go over what will happen today again, aru. I will be taking Mr. Langdon through the design branch and manufacture branch first. This should take about maybe two hours. When I'm about to get here, I'm going to send Toris with a note warning everyone we're coming. When I arrive, everyone will be at their desks, working and not faking it." Here he shot a look at Gilbert who looked around at the surrounding people innocently. "I will introduce him to Alfred, who will behave respectfully, give him another short tour and leave. Simple, aru."

"Simple he says," Francis sighed. "After all these years working here, doesn't he know that such a word doesn't exist?"

"That was the first impression I got when I first stepped foot in this office. I knew everything was loony here. Especially Alfred. I've been assigned to be his assistant for the day to prevent him from doing something stupid," Arthur said dryly, glancing at Alfred a little ways in front of him with Matthew. He was wearing a perfectly pressed black suit and his hair was neatly fixed courtesy of the Briton but the blue-eyed man wasn't very happy. Stupid Arthur wouldn't allow him to wear his favorite American flag tie or let him eat his hamburger.

So Yao was going to give the tour. Interesting but that seemed a little odd.

"Hey Francis," Arthur said suddenly, "Why is the vice president giving the tour? Shouldn't the CEO at least come with such important company?"

"Ah so you've noticed. Well I guess it's no big deal but truthfully, no one's ever seen the president himself. Not even Yao. We're not even sure what his real name is but he goes by Mr. Edgar. I believe it was because of security reasons that he refuses to reveal himself."

Arthur gaped at him for a few seconds before snapping out of it. "And you're perfectly fine not knowing who owns this company? For all you know, he could be involved with drug trafficking!"

Francis just shook his head. "No there's nothing like that going on, trust me."

Arthur decided to drop the subject, no matter how uneasy he felt working under an unknown employer.

"Alright everyone commence work! And don't mess up, aru! The president seems pretty serious about this visit, aru."

As soon as those words left Yao's mouth, everyone immediately continued to scramble around for last-minute touch-ups.

"Arthur, can you watch Alfred while I'm gone, aru?" Yao asked, already fast walking to the elevators.

"Not like I have a choice now anyway," Arthur muttered, turning to Alfred who was busy complaining to a patiently listening Matthew. He sighed and walked over to the incompetent manager.

"Hello Arthur. Are you ready for today?" Matthew asked politely as Arthur approached.

"I'm more than ready. I'm not so sure about Alfred, however. You need to keep your act together," he said, turning pointedly to look at Alfred.

Alfred scoffed, his expression lighting up into a confident smile. "Of course I'm ready! Heroes are always ready!" he proclaimed loudly.

Arthur just gave him a look. "You see? This is the kind of behavior that gives you less than favorable reputation around here. I don't blame anyone in this room for assigning me as your 'assistant.'"

"Hey I can get along just fine! How do you think I made it through as manager all these years without getting fired?" the American said, a bit miffed at Arthur's skepticism about his abilities.

"Dumb luck and Dilbert's Principle."

"Aw c'mon Artie, you gotta give me more credit. Geez."

Arthur grimaced at the pet name. "Don't call me Artie," he hissed. "Anyway, we need to clean out your garbage dump in time for Mr. Langdon."

"Hey! My office isn't a garbage dump! I clean it out when I have the time," Alfred protested.

"I'm sure whenever you have the time, you're slipping away from work, not cleaning," Arthur said in a clipped tone. "Anyway, we can't hold Matthew up. I'm sure he has some things to finish and so do we now let's go. Have a nice day Matthew." He nodded to the quieter brother, who returned the good-bye and dragged a protesting Alfred away by the arm.

~*~

The whole office was drenched with a sense of foreboding so tangible it seemed to rain down on all the employees. The atmosphere was tense and a slight nervous energy crackled through the air like lightning. Short shaky laughter ran among the few people who were brave enough to dawdle for five seconds. The torture of anticipation was reaching its climax as the two hours slowly drew nearer and nearer until finally, a soft ping from the elevator alerted everyone of Toris's arrival. No one wasted time busying themselves or at least making themselves look busy as they hastily took calls, stared at their computer screens or scribbling frantically on papers. Arthur was no different from the frantic masses except he was even antsier than the group if that was even possible.

"But Arthur I need that watch! It's special! Please Arthur? Please?" Alfred begged desperately.

"No Alfred. Your watch can wait. Take care of your business first," said Arthur, expression darkening by the second.

"Yeah and my business is finding my watch and if I don't have it, then I'm going to leave," the American said stubbornly.

Arthur narrowed his eyes and growled. "You wouldn't dare."

Alfred just stuck out his tongue. "Watch me."

Arthur sputtered with outrage, turning red with anger. Alfred was serious about his watch and Arthur didn't think he'd have the physical prowess to stop him if he decided to leave right then and there. He knew he had to do what Alfred says and this frustrated him to no end. He would have to find the god forsaken watch or else everything would be ruined.

"Alfred, you had better hope I find your watch on time for Mr. Langdon's arrival or else I'm going to leave it on the ground for it to get trampled or stolen," Arthur howled at the manager, storming through the crowd of people in search of the missing gadget.

He zigzagged through almost the entire office, looking beneath desks and chairs and asking some people whether they have seen a watch on the floor to which they always responded with a negative. He searched almost desperately, his anxiousness and ire building up with every second that passed. How did Alfred manage to lose his watch anyway if the dunce was wearing it? Arthur suspected that Alfred didn't lose his watch at all but said he did to get him out of his hair. He felt like screaming and strangling the incompetent American but he was left with no choice so he bottled it up for now and continued scouring the gray carpet. Alfred had said he might have dropped it near the potted plant sitting by the window.

Arthur grumbled as he felt around for the watch near the only calm living thing in the whole entire office. He's so irritated at how irresponsible Alfred had become. What the hell had he been doing all these years to become such a slob?

He had finally found the watch in the plant, heaven knows how it got there, when suddenly, a ping resounded like a death bell and for a second, everyone stood still. They watched with bated breath as the shiny, mirror-like doors slid open, slowing down slightly to try to catch sight of the person who will step out of the contraption. Arthur quickly straightened himself up, also curious as to whom it could be on the other side of the door.

Yao walked out first, his posture straight and a slight smile playing on his face. He then stepped aside respectfully to allow the two people standing behind him to come out.

"Welcome to our main profit branch of Muse Laptop Co., aru," he addressed the tall figure and a woman standing beside him.

"Ah so this is the profit branch huh? Seems very active," Mr. Langdon stated, his russet eyes crinkling merrily and giving a glorious beam around his new environment.

"It does seem very busy here. I hope we are not intruding," the woman said, stroking her long red hair, her dark eyes darting around to follow the movements of various people, jumping from one person to another.

"No of course not, aru! It makes no difference to us. We welcome you to our office greatly!" Yao quickly assured and the woman nodded and seemed to calm down a little although she moved from her hair to fiddling with her oval glasses sitting upon her narrow nose.

Arthur noted how they deviated from how business people were normally supposed to look. While they both wore suits, as was proper for anyone working in a corporation, they still seemed to sport certain quirks. It struck Arthur how much of an oddball Mr. Langdon looked among the sea of proper gentlemen and ladies that swarmed around him. He seemed like a man who didn't care much for formal, going more for casual as his more or less rumpled clothes and goldfish tie would attest to. His posture was slightly slouched and his hands were hidden in the pockets of his leather jacket. The woman next to him seemed normal but a closer observation would reveal that every time something even remotely bird-shaped appeared, she would start twitching and staring, as if she really wanted to grab it. She also had a habit of fidgeting, her hands never seemed to cease motion, which was vaguely strange because she didn't seem nervous. Perhaps she just doesn't know what to do with her hands.

Having finished his evaluation on the newcomers, Arthur turned to leave when something faint seemed to touch his consciousness. It started tugging at his mind until he felt a pulse of energy moving through him. A flow of power moved through him and he shivered, his heartbeat speeding up. He froze, watch in hand, looking around in bewilderment as the crowd continued their business, a soft murmur of conversation hanging in the air. Everything seemed normal. An alarm was going off in his head. This sensation… it was the sign of the presence of a demon.

He carefully scanned the crowd, trying to concentrate on the energy that seemed to come from everywhere at once. He had a vague sense of the energy flow though. It was going either from the back to the front or…

Arthur glanced at Mr. Langdon who was talking to Yao. It seems the energy is subtly swirling around him before dispersing into the air again.

It would seem it was Mr. Langdon who was releasing the energy but in order to disperse energy like this, the demon would have to have been slowly trickling his power throughout the day and then suddenly allow one short burst to be released to create a domino effect, triggering something like a wave and activating the energy already in the surrounding. Mr. Langdon wasn't the one emitting but someone else who was in the office for the whole morning, which was practically everyone except Toris and Yao.

Arthur's contemplation was broken, however, when Yao started to lead the small group through the office. Deciding to think about this matter later, he tucked everything in the back of his mind and quickly made his way back toward Alfred's office.

~*~

"And this is the manager of the profit branch, Mr. Jones, aru. Mr. Jones, this is Mr. Langdon."

Alfred arose from his chair with a charming smile on his face upon the president's arrival.

"Good afternoon Mr. Langdon. How are you today?" he greeted, shaking hands with Mr. Langdon.

"I'm fine, I'm fine! This office has just the right kind of people to make any day a good one! Lots of hard-working people here! Such admirably classic examples of the average working class trying to support their family and themselves. I like it!" He gave a short jovial laugh and Alfred's face lit up like a thousand watt bulb.

"I'm glad you find our employees hardworking Mr. Langdon because they are! Oh, I would like to introduce you to my assistant, Mr. Kirkland," Alfred introduced, gesturing towards Arthur standing beside him.

"How do you do Mr. Langdon?" Arthur asked courteously with a smile, shaking the other's hand. He noted how calloused it was and how roughly his hand was being shaken, speaking of Mr. Langdon's ruggedness that normal businessmen usually wouldn't have. He had probably worked in another hands-on field before business. The experience Mr. Langdon received as he worked in that field probably helped him develop an inner toughness, a feature that is very crucial in the coldness of the business world

"I'm excellent! It's wonderful to meet you Mr. Kirkland. This here beside me is my vice president, Ms. Bell."

"It's wonderful to meet you," she said, shaking Arthur and Alfred's hand in turn. Ms. Bell's hand was rather dainty and soft and moved with smooth yet firm motions, contrasting to Mr. Langdon's rough way of greeting. Arthur guessed she probably never experienced the hardness of manual labor in her life. She may be quiet on the outside but she would probably be more than capable of standing up for herself.

"So Mr. Jones, what can you tell me about your job and about this branch in general? Mr. Wang has already informed me of a lot of things but maybe you can tell me some things from your own perspective."

"Oh no Mr. Langdon. I'm not going to tell you anything. Even better, I'm going to show you. This office has a lot of history and a lot of people who hold this place together so it's only fair for me to introduce them to you."

"Oh that's good! I love a good discussion with company employees," Mr. Langdon agreed.

Alfred moved towards the door and opened it for the occupants.

"Well then, I'm sure you'll love the individuals I'm about to introduce you to because they'll definitely blow your mind."

~*~

Arthur had to admit, Alfred was surprisingly good at this. He remained friendly and didn't act out of line at all. He also proved to be pretty clever because all of the employees he took Mr. Langdon to see were optimistic and talkative yet efficient workers such as Francis (as much as he hated to admit he was even decently reliable) and Yukimo. By doing this, Mr. Langdon would get the overall impression that everyone in the office was a fun group of people who like what they do and at the same time, very responsible and mature.

Arthur had to wonder why he was even assigned to be his assistant. Alfred was clearly doing a good job and he clearly had some kind of past experience with this so why was he taken along for the ride? But there was something bigger to worry about at the moment. The energy that had been there since morning still remained stagnant in the air and they were still swirling around Mr. Langdon as he moved.

Arthur had kept himself alert the whole time, inconspicuously glancing over constantly at the people around to try to at least locate a source or a clump of energy but he knew it was useless. Everything was already spread out and the most he could hope for was to try to stop any attacks towards Mr. Langdon if any came his way. Of course, two questions presented themselves in this kind of situation.

The first, and most obvious question, who is the demon? Secondly, why did it choose to surround Mr. Langdon with its energy?

There were several answers for the second question but the most prominent one and the most likely correct answer is to sneak corrupt thoughts into his mind or drive him to insanity though that would lead to another question as to why.

If the demon planned to drive Mr. Langdon into a villainous life then, as much as Arthur hated to admit it, there was nothing he could do at the time.

Thankfully, when the tour finally ended and everyone said their good-byes, nothing happened and Arthur felt a miniscule stirring of relief though he remained tense. If there was a demon in the office, it was entirely possible that it already knew about Veneziano and might already know about him too. Despite this, however, Arthur didn't want to jump to conclusions without finding more about this incident as not to raise a false alarm to his charge or Ludwig and Gilbert for that matter.

After Mr. Langdon had left with Ms. Bell, Alfred turned to Arthur with a triumphant grin.

"See? I totally nailed it didn't I? I was awesome! Admit it!" he crowed.

Despite the blatant rub-it-in-your-face tone that would normally irritate Arthur endlessly, and it did slightly raise his hackles, he felt a smile tug at the corner of his lips.

"Yes Alfred, you did a perfect job," he agreed.

Alfred seemed to burst with pride but that collapsed as he stared at Arthur.

"What?" the Briton asked when Alfred continued to stare.

"Why're you so tense?" he asked.

Arthur started. He hadn't even realized it.

He took a deep breath and let it out, relaxing his muscles. "Nothing. I guess it was from Mr. Langdon's visit. It's not unusual to feel a residue of anxiousness."

Alfred nodded slowly. "Well I guess any normal person would be nervous about something like this." Arthur gave him an indignant look but before he could say anything more, Alfred interrupted him. "Let's go celebrate! Everyone can get off early!" he cheered loudly. The office responded with shouts of their own and they all began to pack up, chattering as they did so.

Arthur gawked as people streamed past him towards the elevator or staircase. "Can you do that? I mean, it's not nearly time for work to end."

Alfred shook his head. "Naw it's fine I mean, what's more to do? Everyone probably finished all their stuff while Mr. Langdon was here," he said, shrugging.

Arthur sighed, blowing a puff of air out. Although Alfred had demonstrated astonishing maturity, he was such a kid whenever he was allowed.

"Very well. Not that I could stop you anyway," he grumped.

"Aw don't be like that Artie! How 'bout we go out for some drinks? That'll cheer you right up!"

"I'm not going to drink during the day," Arthur declined, stepping into the elevator with Alfred following.

"C'mon Arthur! You're such a stick-in-the-mud! Have a little fun!" the other said, putting an arm around Arthur's shoulders.

"No, Alfred. I'm going to go have a quiet afternoon at home."

Alfred scoffed. "That's so boring. C'mon Arthur! Celebrate! I know a great place! I bet everyone's gonna be there too! In fact, I would think that place would be booked with people from the office! Lighten up a bit and just come with me!"

"Alfred, no," said Arthur firmly. "I'll celebrate with you sometime else but not now."

The American seemed to deflate and Arthur couldn't help but feel a stirring of pity that almost made him change his mind.

"Oh fine. Be a boring old man," he said, pouting.

"Old man? I'm not old Alfred," Arthur cried indignantly, bristling.

They both stepped out the elevator as it dinged open and into the lobby, making their way through the revolving door.

"Sure, sure," Alfred dismissed distractedly, carelessly waving the protest away. There was a short silence as they walked down the stone front steps before he abruptly stopped. Arthur gave a questioning look as Alfred spun around to look at him, startled at the sudden change in behavior.

"Say Arthur," Alfred began slowly, instantly getting Arthur's attention. "I wanna ask why you were really so nervous today I mean, you were tense the whole day and I know it wasn't because of Mr. Langdon. You were a businessman for years so I don't think something like this could have shaken you up but I didn't want to bring it up 'cause you'll get defensive. Now I really need to know what's bothering you so much that you won't hang out a while with me and catch up with each other."

He was frowning now and he looked slightly upset despite the neutral front he tried to put up. Arthur realized that Alfred had probably planned from the beginning to go somewhere together after this, just the two of them despite what he said about going out drinking with the whole office.

Arthur honestly didn't know what to say. He was speechless in fact. Alfred actually wanted to spend time with him? It didn't matter much anyway because at that second, a loud screeching car unexpectedly turned the corner, tipping slightly on its side as it rounded into the street. It sped down the street alarmingly fast. It swerved all over the street, eliciting screams from the pedestrians.

"Arthur! Look out!" Alfred yelled, pulling Arthur, who was staring at the shimmering white car, away from the scene.

He continued looking back as the manager yanked him back up the stairs towards the revolving doors, but about halfway through, he started to struggle in Alfred's grip.

That car's driver was someone familiar. Furthermore, magic was abound but quite well hidden, confined only within the car with only a thread to control it. It was a vital clue that Arthur must examine closer.

"What the hell Arthur?" Alfred cried as Arthur tried to wrest his wrist from his grasp.

"Alfred let go! I need to go down there!"

"Are you crazy? Arthur stop you're going to get killed!"

But Arthur paid no heed. He finally broke free and dashed back down towards the chaos with Alfred calling after him.

The car was still swerving about the street, as if looking for something and Arthur had just managed to reach the bottom step just in time to catch the shocking spectacle unfold before his eyes.

The wayward vehicle had finally decided to settle upon a target and crashed into a man. He flew through the air by the unadulterated force of the car, the sound of shattering glass ringing loudly among the discord of horrified screams of terror from the people who bore witness to the event.

Having made contact, the car screeched down the street and made its getaway, less erratic than before.

Arthur started to run after it but was suddenly apprehended.

"Arthur! What the hell were you thinking?" came a furious shout and Arthur instantly recognized it to be Alfred. "You could've been killed! What is wrong with you? Arthur!"

Arthur wasn't paying attention. His wide green eyes were fixed upon the limp shape across from him and his breath hitched as he caught sight of the victim.

On the other side of the street, through the hole created in the glass window of the building, surrounded by shards of glinting glass and drops of dark red life-liquid, was…

An anguished cry.

"GILBERT!"

Ludwig looked on at his brother's form in distress, feeling a sense of surrealism. Had this really happened?

He quickly snapped out of it and took out his cell phone, trying not to tremble too much as to press the wrong button. Every second counted as Gilbert slipped further and further away from him if he wasn't too far gone already.

Ludwig put the phone to his ear, running his hand through his hair, messing it up. He continued to stare in a morbid fascination at Gilbert feeling as though the world was about to implode, the news devastating yet dreamlike. One thing rang clear, however, and he could hear it sounding painfully loud and crystal clear among the roar of confused turmoil battling themselves out within his mind and heart.

"When I'm not here, what are you going to do?"

Author's rambling section: Heh I bet you were all expecting Ivan. Admit it!

Okay, I have several other things to address so the rest of this section will seem a bit fragmented.

First, I hope this chapter wasn't too much of a snooze inducer -.-

Second, I hope the change of POV wasn't too abrupt. I tried to smooth it out a bit but it still seems a little out of place... What do you guys think?

And third... Well, I did it. I murdered Gilbert. I'm an evil evil person. I bet half of you are staring in horror and half of you are going, "Aw but she won't kill a main character. And he's Gilbert too!" Well... you never know... the death of Gilbert may be a very important plot landmark so just watch out and don't be too shocked if I wiped him out okay? Just giving a fair warning.

Again, happy holidays everyone and thanks for your patronage!