Chapter Twenty Two: For Real
Anna couldn't remember when she had fallen asleep or how she had gotten into her bed but the sunlight boring through her curtains told her that she had definitely made it there at some point last night. She felt drained, both mentally and physically. It was only with a heaving sigh that she managed to will herself to roll over and out of the sun's path, but as she came face to face with a slumbering Elsa all complains flew from her mind.
It was shocking how Elsa's simple presence altered those previously irritating beams of light, transforming them into a gift. The slivers of light washed over Elsa's skin and cast her in a nearly ethereal glow, the light catching her hair in just such a way that it seemed to shine.
Of course she looks like an angel when she sleeps, Anna thought to herself, swallowing hard, why wouldn't she?
Looking at Elsa now Anna couldn't help but think about how in a movie this would be one of the more romantic moments. The main character sees their lover sleeping, cast in a golden sheen by the rising sun, and leans in to gently kiss them awake.
"Stop staring at me." Elsa mumbled, sleep making her voice heavier than usual.
"Wha-" Anna flushed in spite of herself, only to feel all the more foolish when she realized that Elsa hadn't even opened her eyes yet. "Yeah, you wish."
"Mm." Elsa muttered as she rolled away from Anna and hid her face beneath a blanket, "Maybe I do."
Anna went rigid at the blatant admission, then furrowed her brows and rolled her eyes. Now wasn't the time to be taking anything Elsa said too seriously, she was still the reigning queen of teasing after all. "You're back to normal this morning, at least as far as I can see."
There was a swift rustling as Elsa rolled back over and dramatically raised the blanket off of herself, a cheeky grin spreading across her lips. "Want to check me for a tail?"
Anna's response came rapid fire, accompanied by a rueful smile. "You won't kiss me but you'll let me feel you up?"
Anna wasn't sure if she expected Elsa to react angrily or as if she had been shamed, but she certainly didn't expect Elsa to smile at her after that comment. "Ah yes, nothing screams 'bad teenage horror flick' more than a first kiss between a half changed monster and a beautiful leading lady."
It was difficult deciding which portion of that statement to dissect first, but Anna went on instinct. "That's a...weirdly sweet thing for you to have considered in the moment."
Elsa appeared to have been caught off guard, casting her eyes down to the sheets and dropping the blanket back over herself. "Is that so?"
Anna had to hold back a comment about Elsa's half answers. She knew that if she was frustrated that Elsa likely was too, but the urge to push, to try harder, was hard to ignore.
"Well, you're human now." Anna pointedly stated, lifting herself up onto her elbow. "And I am too."
A gentle nudge, one that she certainly didn't expect to lead to anything, simply to make sure that her feelings were clear in the light of day. Elsa had to know that Anna was serious about what she wanted, even if it meant making herself look needy in the process.
"Batting those long eyelashes at me and asking me for a kiss while I'm in your bed?" Elsa too lifted up to lean on her elbow, quirking a brow up and staring Anna down with a confidence that nearly made Anna shiver. "If I didn't know better I'd say you were trying to seduce me, Miss Fields."
Anna struggled to catch her breath as she forced herself to stare into Elsa's eyes. "It wouldn't be the first time."
There was a playful glint in Elsa's eyes, and the very corner of her mouth was upturned in the tiniest smile. "Wouldn't it?"
A swift knock at the door spared Anna from having to struggle for a response, but the end result was no less embarrassing.
"Anna, I can't find Elsa have you..." Kris paused, having walked halfway into Anna's room before his eyes settled on the sight before him. His cheeks colored as his gaze rocketed to the ceiling. "Well that solves that mystery."
"Nothing happened, pervert." Elsa said, not breaking eye contact with Anna as she tossed a pillow in his direction. "You know I don't fuck on the first date."
Watching Elsa's lips form the word 'fuck' while she lay in Anna's bed was nearly enough to make her brain short circuit, but as she processed further it dawned on her that Elsa had also called their strange night together a date. Had she meant it or was it just her witty way of teasing Kris? Regardless, Anna couldn't help but break the intense eye contact with Elsa at the thought.
"No ears this morning?"
Anna's gaze snapped to the doorway, finding Eilonwy standing just behind Kris with a smug grin on her lips.
"Nope!" Elsa bounced out of Anna's bed, twirling around for Eilonwy. "No tail either."
Eilonwy raised a brow and shook her head at Elsa's excitement, "I take it you're feeling fine, then?"
Elsa nodded an enthusiastic reply that had Anna marveling about the strength of werewolf blood. It must have truly been a powerful thing to allow Elsa such vigor after a night like last night.
"Shall we go to your room, or will you be undressing in front of your team?"
Eilonwy's question threw Anna off, but Elsa was quick on the draw. "Wouldn't be the first time."
Elsa nearly floated out of Anna's room, slipping skillfully around Kris and snatching Eilonwy up in a side hug on her way, leaving Anna and Kris alone in stunned silence.
"Well that wasn't odd at all." Kris muttered, crossing his arms over his chest.
"Come on, let's get to work." Anna sighed and rolled out of her bed, "We need to make up for the time we lost last night."
With Elsa being examined only one room over though, Anna's planned day of research was proving more and more fruitless by the minute. Anna reasoned that their lack of success in nailing down the exact location was due to the skill with which it was hidden, most of the blame though could be placed squarely on Anna's overactive imagination.
As much as she wanted to focus the act of putting aside her thoughts about what might be happening in the next room was more difficult than she thought it could be. Elsa couldn't be blamed for letting Eilonwy look her over of course, but away from prying eyes was Elsa just the same with her as she was with Anna?
"-might be a little to the-" Kris sounded irritated when his voice cut through Anna's daydreaming, only to cease abruptly. "Earth to Anna, scared kids definitely still missing here."
"I know, I know." Anna admitted with a guilty grimace, "I'm just..."
When Anna's words fell short, Kris offered a suggestion. "Thinking about Elsa?"
"Why is she so friendly with that Eilonwy girl anyway?" Anna grumbled, swiveling her chair around to face Kris, "She was never that nice to me when we met."
"I really don't think she's all that into blondes." Kris gave a thoughtful pause. "Speaking of being into blondes, just how far did the two of you, uh-"
"We didn't." Anna squashed whatever Kris had been imagining with a brutal interruption. Then, as an afterthought she added in a defeated tone. "Not that I didn't try."
"Wait a minute, wait a minute!" Kris' eyes were wide with surprise, his mouth slightly ajar as he laughed triumphantly. "You were trying to sleep with her?"
"No!" Anna huffed, rotating herself until she was facing her screen again, a sad attempt to hide the blush on her cheeks. "I did make a fool of myself practically begging her to kiss me though."
"I thought it was endearing, actually."
The sound of Elsa's voice made Anna's spine go rigid. When had she gotten here? More importantly, how much had she heard of this little heart to heart with Kris?
"Well?" Kris demanded, "You all good?"
Elsa made a small sound of agreement, nodding for emphasis. "Seems like it."
"Good, because we're close to cracking this and we're going to need you at the top of your game." Kris said it sternly, but from where she was Anna could see the small smile on his lips. "We've got kids to save!"
"Right," Elsa hesitated as she looked between the two, eventually deciding to sit with Kris. "I'm sure the paycheck at the end of the tunnel isn't enticing you forward at all."
XXX
Surreal wasn't a powerful enough word to describe the feeling Elsa had as they came upon the scene. A building stood perfectly placed in a cleared grove of trees, as if it had always been there nestled there in the semi-circle of nothingness. After all that work, all the guessing and speculating, there it was looking perfectly innocent. Normal, even. In fact, the strangest thing about it was that, save the ghoul, no one had reported stumbling upon the building yet.
There was clearly power running to the building, lights shining in a few of the windows told Elsa that much, and obviously whoever was within had to have the building connected to a water supply somehow. There were children inside so it had to be assumed that basic amenities were being provided.
"Anything on your end?" Kris muttered quietly, adjusting his weaponry before kneeling at Elsa's side.
"Nothing. Not a sign of movement, even the lights inside haven't changed." Elsa admitted with a sigh.
"There's a door at the back right with a pretty simple looking lock." Anna sighed as she slumped to the ground with the others, "Might be able to get in there, but I haven't seen anybody come or go. It's pretty far out here, you'd think they'd drive in but there's no worn paths to or from the building either."
Elsa remained quiet, brows furrowed as she thought hard about their next step. The place was obviously occupied and yet aside from the lights inside there wasn't much sign that anyone was here. Could the building be well supplied, meaning no one had to go in or out frequently enough to make a mark? Were the routes purposefully varied to keep people from finding it?
"It's more than dark enough." Elsa thought aloud, glancing at Kris for confirmation. "Breach the door Anna spotted and just go room by room?"
"I'm on it." Anna whispered excitedly, taking off ahead of them.
"You can't just-" Elsa ran a hand down her face and sighed as she watched Anna scoot away, unable to stop her. "How did she trick me into liking her?"
"What was that?" Kris asked, though before Elsa had even looked back at him she could tell that he was smirking.
"Shut up and focus." Elsa hissed, "You know perfectly well I didn't mean it like that."
"Hey, I'm plenty focused. You're the one thinking about smooching-"
With a single look, a brow raised and a sharp glare, Elsa was able to stop Kris from speaking altogether. He wasn't wrong, but he certainly didn't need to know that.
As Elsa knelt alongside Kris in the brush, watching Anna work at the lock on the door, she noted how strangely sparse security seemed to be here. Instead of a high tech key pad or automated locks there was just a regular door lock. Did those within not care if they were found? If not, then why didn't they care? It was all far too strange, something felt very off but Elsa couldn't put her finger on it.
She had to force herself to shake those thoughts off as she heard the lock click, it was now or never. A silent hand signal called herself and Kris to Anna's side, blanketed by a the darkness of a moonless night. With Elsa at the head of their single file line the trio slipped inside to find themselves in a room just as dark as the outside world.
The telltale hum of machinery confirmed her thoughts about the building having power, but the sheer volume of tiny blinking lights told her that there had to be much more equipment here than one might expect a random building in the forest to have.
"What is all this?" Anna whispered from behind Elsa.
"No idea." Elsa answered, straining her eyes to try and see if there were any identifying marks on the machinery.
"This looks familiar..." Kris muttered, his fingers tracing a symbol that Elsa knew well.
"It's outdated S.N.O. machinery." Elsa joined him, laying her palm flat over the symbol with a frown.
A nervous silence fell between them as they all shared glances with one another. There was no question that they were all wondering just what they would be walking into if they were to continue on this path, but what other choice did they have? Surely S.N.O. wouldn't have allowed them to go on a mission that would expose anything nefarious about the organization?
Not unless they thought we wouldn't find it. Elsa thought, Or if they expect us to die.
"Should we-"
Anna didn't even let Kris finish his question before she urgently whispered, "We're going further in."
"You heard the lady." Elsa whispered, suppressing a laugh at the shocked expression on Kris' face.
For the better part of half an hour the trio cleared room after room, all of them frustratingly empty, until finally they came to the end of the hall. There was no real option for where to go next, as the hall ended in a sharp left hand turn.
The right side of the hall had been bricked over, a detail that Elsa noted as strange given the supposed newness of the building. Elsa turned back to Kris and Anna, ready to give an order to wait here while she investigated, but the words withered in her throat as she heard a haughty voice echoing down the halls.
"-I said I don't care how you do it, just get it done." The voice was feminine and heavy with anger, "I'll not have my project delayed further by you bumbling buffoons, we will release this line on time. Am I clear?"
There was a loud, partially muffled scream of rage that followed, which made Elsa think that the woman was on a call rather than accompanied by anyone. Clearly the woman was frustrated with how her accomplices were handling things which, in Elsa's mind, might have been a point in their favor. If things weren't going to plan then it was possible that their plan for rescue could succeed unhindered.
"Don't look at me like that, you little rats." the woman growled, then a sound like a hand banging on glass followed, "You'll eat when you're fed and not a second before."
The statement sent a shock through Elsa, who quickly glanced over at Kris and Anna for confirmation of what she had heard. Was it possible that their goal was right around this corner? It couldn't possibly be that easy, could it?
Footsteps echoed in hall as the woman seemingly stomped away, fading within a moment. Wherever she was headed it was in a hurry, and by the sound of her temper she likely wouldn't be back their way for a while. It was a gamble, but it had to be taken.
"Stay here, I'm going ahead." Elsa whispered urgently, taking off before either could supply an argument against the idea.
Around the corner it was clear that the room the woman had yelled into was large, and likely the one that they had seen lights from on the exterior. There were rows of glass panes peering in to a room and once she was at the edge she was able to peek in at the contents.
The kids inside were all huddled together, as if the room were freezing cold. They didn't appear to be thin so clearly in spite of the woman's words they were eating at least semi-regularly. Their faces were desperately sad though, and most had dark circles beneath their eyes. Were they being deprived of sleep or were the conditions within the room enough to keep them from sleeping regularly?
"That's not all of them."
Anna's voice startled Elsa, who whipped around to glare at Anna. "What are you doing? I said I was going ahead."
Anna rolled her eyes and gestured behind her where Kris was grinning sheepishly.
"You are a terrible influence on him." Elsa hissed, narrowing her eyes at Anna before deciding that not much could be done to push the two back.
"There should be more of them, at least a few more." Anna continued her previous statement, unfazed by Elsa's irritation. "Do you think...?"
She certainly didn't have to finish her sentence for the meaning to be clear. In spite of the conditions in the room, which seemed relatively good all things considered, it was entirely possible that some of the younger ones could have succumbed to the stresses of their situation.
Or the method they're using to change them was too much.
"What are you waiting for?" Elsa gestured to the lock on the door. "We don't have all day."
While Anna fiddled with the locks Elsa steadied herself for what was to come. There was no way to tell if the children would trust them, no way to be certain that they would even want to risk the ire of that woman by leaving.
"Got it." Anna whispered.
The statement was unnecessary however, for the second the lock clicked the numerous sets of eyes within the room pointed straight at the door. Many looked uneasy, some curious, but all stared at the strange faces in the windows.
"Well, at least they know we're here now." Elsa sighed, shaking her hands a little to alleviate some of her anxiety about entering the room. "Keep watch, I mean it this time. The last thing we need is someone sneaking up on us while we have a gaggle of kids to guide out of the building."
Elsa edged the door open, just wide enough to pass through, but the smell hit her hard the second she was in the room. It smelled of sweat and urine, clearly the children weren't being bathed or allowed out of the room to have access to a bathroom. The outward appearance of health was clearly no more than just that, appearance.
"Uh, hi." Elsa said, swallowing back a gag that threatened to mar her strong but confident facade. "It's alright, you don't have to be scared of me."
The group moved in unison, looking at one another in a silent wall of gestures and nods. Then, one stepped forward and regarded Elsa, causing her to turn in a circle as he walked around her to check her out.
"What's that for?" His voice was rough, either from lack of use or from screaming Elsa suspected. "You here to kill us?"
"No, that's not for any of you." Elsa breathed out a laugh at the notion, a sound to keep the sadness that the question brought to her at bay. "Why would you think that?"
"She takes one of us every now and then," A girl stood up next and as she approached Elsa noted that her face looked remarkably similar to the boy's, but she looked older than he did. "and none of them come back."
"Says we're being 'adopted.'" The cynicism in the boy's voice shocked Elsa, but given their conditions she was certain it was warranted. "I know my pop, he wouldn't have just left us. He wouldn't!"
There was a chorus of quiet agreement that grew louder by the second, causing Elsa to extend her hands in a quieting motion.
"I believe you, all of you." Elsa breathed a sigh of relief as the crowd quieted, "Have any of you..."
If there was a tactful way to ask if any of them had been turned into werewolves it certainly wasn't within the grasp of Elsa's mind. Looking at their tiny frames, their eyes still somehow bright in spite of all they had seen, it seemed impossible that any of them could have been turned.
Unable to bring herself to say the words, instead Elsa opted to ask "Can any of you tell me what's happened since you got here?"
"We just been in this room." Another youngster piped up now, "'Til that lady takes us anyway."
"No...no medicine or shots or anything?" Elsa asked, toeing closer to the line.
"I can't remember." The girl in front of her responded, "One minute we were walking in town and then we were here."
Elsa clenched her jaw, forcing a pitying smile as she tried to mask her concern. Any or all of these children could easily have been changed, but if none of them remembered anything before they arrived then who was to say that some rogue Alpha wasn't working behind the scenes with some new method that could force someone to accept wolf blood without their consent?
"Okay kids." Elsa exhaled to steady herself, "Can you all be very, very quiet?"
After a chorus of verbal and non-verbal responses Elsa nodded firmly and continued, "Follow me then. I have two friends outside who will take you all out and-"
"What about the others?"
Elsa's immediate response would have normally been too crass, but she took a moment to collect herself as she delicately answered. "We found you first, so we have to get you out first, alright?"
"But you're going to come back for them, right?"
"Of course." Elsa wasn't sure if she was or wasn't lying, not at the moment, but the hopeful eyes staring at her made her feel guilty all the same.
Quietly as she could she herded them into a single file line and re-joined her team at the door, briefly and quietly explaining to them what she knew of the situation. Kris eagerly volunteered to lead the group out, looking more than a little amusing as he played the role of mother duck to seven of the missing youngsters.
"There were eleven files." Anna whispered, as if Elsa hadn't already been doing the mental math.
"We're missing three then." Elsa stated the obvious, briefly lamenting the loss of the one child to the ghoul. "We should join Kris outside, re-group after the kids are taken care of and-"
"You're not serious." Anna sternly frowned at Elsa, crossing her arms over her chest. "They're going to notice that empty room. What do you think they'll do then?"
"Once the kids leave this room they don't come back." Elsa's lips pulled tight in a thin line, she didn't have to hold back with Anna like she had had to with the children. "Don't you think that means something?"
If Anna was fazed at all by Elsa's bluntness she didn't show it. In fact her expression did the opposite of what Elsa had expected. Anna raised a brow at her and tilted her head forward, still frowning. "So you want to just leave them to the mercy of that crazy woman? And whoever else is here?"
"Anna we can't just-"
"No." Anna wasn't budging on her point, but when she spoke again her tone was much gentler. "I know you by now, more than you think I do. You're putting on a brave face, but if we left here without knowing for sure you would never forgive yourself."
Elsa found herself bewildered by this sudden boldness from Anna, had it simply been hiding beneath the surface all this time or was this development new?
"Fine, but you better not step out of line again." Elsa hardened her expression, trying to make her point clear, but Anna's mouth was tilted up in a clearly victorious smile all the same. "No more disobeying orders, got it Fields?"
Anna gave a mock salute and Elsa rolled her eyes, hoping that they would be able to make quick work of the rest of the building for Kris' sake. There was no telling what havoc the seven that were rescued could wreak on a single guardian.
a/n: Hey all, hope you enjoy this early chapter this month! It's my birthday this weekend so I figured I'd post early so I didn't forget, next chapter should be up in about a month! I'm also working loosely on another story that will likely have much shorter chapters and will be updated more frequently so keep an eye out for that!