Chapter 7: Meetings.

"What do you mean somebody's here?" I asked. Anxiety welled up in my voice as a thousand different possibilities flashed before my eyes. Other demon hunters? No, we would've bumped into them. Survivor? Maybe, though the pile of corpses outside leaves little room for hope. Rich white guy who's behind all of this? No, this isn't a kung-fu movie. "Can you tell anything about them?"

She shook her head. "No, I could not make out anything other than the aura."

"Nothing stand out to ya? Horns, a tail, bad breath?" I asked

"Nothing at all, only that I…believe it was human."

I hummed to myself and thought for a moment. So it's definitely not something supernatural. If it's not supernatural, then it has to be a person who's here for something. "I'm going to wager that it's somebody important."

Elsa rubbed her singed hand and looked at me. "Where did that idea come from?"

"We fought an army of corpses outside. They all were re-animated bodies, and I'll be you that most of them will show up on the missing person list. Add in the fact that something really wanted to keep people out of this place and I can't imagine someone just stumbling in here. I mean, we almost died getting in here. I can't call this a coincidence."

Elsa bit her lip and she mulled over the idea. After a bit she nodded. "I agree. We should definitely proceed with caution until we have more details."

"Yeah, well I vote we get out of here. This place is giving me the creeps." I said as I kept back a shiver.

"Don't move too quickly now." A thin, cackling voice echoed around us. It was sharp and strung-out, like someone had strained their vocal chords enough to make falsetto's jealous. It was like someone was skinning a cat with a violin. A really angry cat and a really dull violin. It grated in my ears and dripped with condescension. "You wouldn't want to trip and hurt yourself."

"And we're going to be doing all the hurting, right brother?" a second voice chimed in. Contrary to his brother, this one had the voice of a construction site. It was pitched, clamoring but deep. Every word was pounded out, each syllable another nail gun shot. He spoke slowly, but clearly as if he were trying to figure out what he was saying as it left his mouth.

"There's plenty of hurting to go around." I said, cracking my neck. "I take it that you two are the ones who run this fine establishment?"

The first voice laughed, a high pitch noise that shattered some poor window somewhere. "Of course. And we do not appreciate what you've been doing to our employees."

"You mean the vetala brother?" The slow one chimed in. "I was not aware that they were being paid."

I could practically see the forehead rub of frustration. "No you fool. It was an expre- gah, nevermind. Where was I?"

"You were about to tell me about the vetala." I said to our disembodied hosts. "So, that's what your minions are called, huh?"

"That is none of your concern girl!" The squeaky toy shrieked at me. "Now, are you going to surrender yourselves now and suffer a quick painful death, or will you prolong your suffering and suffer a slow painful death!"

"I prefer the second one." The slow voice rumbled in agreement. "There is much more time for fun with that one."

Elsa coughed at that last one. "I did not expect you to enjoy prolonging your own suffering. But considering how your brother sounds, every day must be suffering." I reached over and high fived her as the nails on the chalkboard continued.

"You two are insufferable! Very well, you choose a slow painful death by our hands!"

I laughed. "Seriously? You sound like such a cliché right now, it's hardly funny. But I'm laughing anyway. Though I can't tell if it's your lame lines, or your horrendously bad taste in interior design that amuse me."

The hallway began to shake. Colors on the walls swirled together and the plants withered and un-withered at random intervals. Elsa and I stepped closer together, weapons drawn, as the area began to morph and twist.

"Shut your mouth demon hunter! One more word and I shall make it your last!"

Elsa turned to me, meeting my eyes with a skeptical gaze. I shrugged, trying to ignore the sigh and pout over my shoulder. My partner just let out a sigh and patted my shoulder as she readied her sword.

"Your plants are tacky!" I shouted at the invisible voices. The ground rumbled beneath our feet in response. Cracks appeared in the walls and floor, and bits of plaster fell to the ground. "Totally worth it." I laughed as Elsa and I ran from the collapsing floor.

The tiled floor gave way as we ran through the hallways. Chunks of every random sizes were seemingly cut off from the edges and re-attaching themselves onto the wall. Every step we took the walls closed in on us, squeezing in on us like a craftsman's vice. The objects on the walls kept falling over and fusing to the floor before they reassembled onto the wall somewhere. I pushed Elsa ahead of me as we ran through the unending maze. Admittedly, things were starting to look a little worrisome.

"What's the plan?!" Elsa called out to me as we ran through an ever narrowing hall-way.

"Plan? Since when did I have a plan?" I replied.

"Are you telling me you intentionally aggravated them off without having something like a plan?"

"Yeah, that sounds just about right!"

"You're still completely insane!"

"Who's the one who let me do it anyway?!" I laughed as we kept running. The walls were touching my shoulders at this point. "Okay, I have a plan!"

"What?!"

I leaned forward, grasping Elsa's shoulder with my hand. "Brace yourself!" My free hand went into my jacket, pulling out Summerglow in all its crimson fury. I stomped my heel into the ground and thrust my sword into the wall. The momentum carried the sword through the concrete with a great deal of static resistance. Sparks crackled, half of them falling into the void that was encroaching upon my feet.

I grunted, pushing my sword in deeper and dragging it in a lopsided circle. The concrete resisted and sent out pulse after pulse of orange lightning, but summerglow is still the sharpest blade in existence. The floor was giving out under my right side by the time a lopsided circle was cut in. I kicked the wall in with my free foot and practically threw me and Elsa through the gap.

We tumbled past the wall into an old office room. I grabbed the broken circle of wall and threw it back towards the hole. It caught itself in the wall and sparked with energy as the surface tried to pull it inside. Sadly, circles don't fit properly in other circles and the movement fizzled out as the hole tried, in vain, to pull the piece back into the hallway.

I smirked and plopped onto the floor. "How'd ya like that, ya tacky jackass!" I shouted at the empty air with my fist raised in the air. A whole lot of silence answered me and I just shrugged my shoulders. "Well, looks like we're safe for now." I said, watching Elsa who was still twitching with adrenaline.

"Anna… Anna how did you know that this office was a safe place? In fact, how did you know there was an office here?" she asked.

I rubbed my chin in thought for a moment. "I had no idea." I said after thinking. I was met with a blank stare and a slightly agape mouth. "What?"

"You said you had a plan."

"Yeah, I did. It was Operation: 'Get the Hell Away From the Collapsing Floor.' The name's a work in progress though."

Elsa's mouth opened and closed for a little bit. It was kinda like looking at a fish, just a lot less scaley, not underwater and pretty adorable. Okay, maybe not like a fish at all. But I still kinda just sat there looking at her try and find words to describe my idiocy. In about thirty seconds she'd probably remember how to use words again.

"Unbelievable." Ah, there it was. "I can't believe… Have you still not learned how to properly plan out anything? I mean, have you never had a situation that necessitated a plan?"

I tapped my chin as I pondered that. Smiling I shrugged. "I guess so. You'd be surprised at how versatile of a solution violence is. You were always the methodical one Elsa."

She huffed, looking away from me. "It's only because somebody had to keep you from getting yourself killed."

"Hey, it takes a lot to kill an angel, even a fallen one. Besides, they always worked out in the end, right?"

She turned to me and gave me a small smile. Stepping towards me, she spun on her heels and sat down next to me on the floor. "Yes, well. I suppose your particular brand of recklessness tends to have good results. Sometimes." Her smile was a full blown grin by the time she faced me.

I stuck my tongue out at her and leaned against whatever piece of dusty furniture was behind me. "Yeah yeah. Focus on catching your breath. How're you doing anyway, after the whole 'almost dying to vetala' thing."

"I believe I am… almost at full capacity. I suppose now would be a good time to make sure everything is working."

I nodded and Elsa held her hand over her heart and took a deep breath. I mirrored her and felt the gentle pulse of my heart, easing itself into its relaxed state. Next to it I could feel a different pulse. It was warm and tingled at my fingers. I breathed and it radiated hotter before thumping out some more pulses. I hadn't felt that in ages, so I let my hand stay over the spot as the warm energy core thumped along with my heart beat.

Angels have two hearts. Well, when we're in physical form. We have a normal blood and body kinda heart like the rest of you mortals. It pumps the way you'd expect, only that it seems to be immune to clogging from thirty years' worth of pizza. It ties us down to our mortality, our humanity while we're in this kind of state. It's a warm and reassuring feeling, and if I close my eyes I can pretend that I'm just as human as Kristoff or Weasel Boy.

The second heart is our angel heart. It's not a physical organ, more of a spiritual one. Humans would call it a soul, but that's not exactly right. Unless they want to believe that most of them don't have souls, which I'd wager to be true but that's a completely different subject. It's the core of what makes us who we are. Our cores decided from our creation how we can shape the elements, our strengths, weaknesses, and what we are at a base level. Elsa's has always been a shining white with a light blue glaze; a piece as beautiful and sturdy as the person who wields it.

My core was dark, tinged with bits of light but engulfed in flames. I smiled as I felt the warm throb. It used to be brighter, brighter than Elsa's even. But that's a long time ago, and now was not the time to be reminiscing.

Elsa's breaths were slow and contained. Her eyes were closed and a gentle glow surrounded her. I smiled and slouched to get a better view. Her expression was completely relaxed, the stress lines had completely disappeared from her face. If she wasn't glowing from the magical energy, she would still be the most radiant thing in this entire building, Hell probably the entire city. I guess it could be kinda creepy to admit that I just sat here staring at Elsa, but if you were here, you would definitely stare too.

After an eternity she stirred, brow scrunching a little as she wrinkled her nose. Well it was probably more like ten minutes. Internal system configuration takes a little while.. Her eyes lazily opened after, unfocused but they drifted towards me. She smiled a kinda dopey smile as her hand dropped to her side.

"I… I am sorry that I had to do that in the middle of enemy lines."

I shrugged, looking back at the hole in the wall. "It's fine. I've been watching the hole the entire time." Lies. "I'm almost disappointed that nothing happened. Makes me worry that those two bozos are planning something."

Elsa nodded as she rolled her shoulder. "Eugh, that feels unusual. Were all your joints this stiff when you adjusted yourself?"

I shrugged as I stood. "Stiff joints were the last thing on my mind when I got here. You think you're going to fall over in the middle of a fight again?"

She shook her head and started to stand. I helped her up, feeling the slight static as we touched. My body warmed as she grasped my hands, pulling on me to get to her feet. She stood quickly but stumbled at the end. I caught her. "Hey, easy easy. Geez, this is why you should've rested. You've been here for less than two days and you've already made yourself take on half an army."

Elsa shook her head and stood up. I moved to help her, but she gently pushed down my hands as I went to help her. "Anna, please. I am fine." She looked me in the eyes and I saw not a hint of weakness that her body had shown. All there was was a fire in her eyes that dared me to try and make her rest again. I sighed in defeat, knowing that I had no chance to make her rest anymore, and retreat wasn't exactly an option at this point anyway.

"Okay Elsa, but the second anything goes wrong, you let me know."

She nodded and walked around the office. I took a good look for the first time, since I didn't have anything else attracting my attention. The office was old, furniture looking like it was from the fifties'. It was also small, probably only three or four proper desks, maybe a handful of fliers. It was probably only for the few guys who ran the warehouse, whenever that was. The chairs had cobwebs dangling off them, the walls separating the cubicles had half of their paint chipped off. The lights dangled from the ceiling, still illuminating us in a slight glow despite hanging on by literal threads. I walked around, unsettling dust as I ran my hand over the various papers and files that were left from the last day's work. I even found a rotting cup of coffee in the corner. I imagined how it must have felt. The panic, fear and anxiety as the crowds herded themselves through the streets, panicking as the city was engulfed in horror.

I shuddered at the thought, throwing them in the back of my head with the rest of the unmentionable garbage. I shook my head as I walked back to where Elsa was. Elsa was still in the middle of the office, eyes closed in focus. She looked at me and exhaled a sigh. "This area does not appear to have anything special. It is just an ordinary working space." She motioned to the side of the room with a door that I had just noticed. "However, I did detect something in there. Someone possibly."

"And by something do you mean the someone you saw before?"

She nodded her head as she drew her sword. "It is...different than what I saw. But the differences are minor, most likely due to the warped dimension that hallway was. Shall we proceed?"

I nodded, drawing my own sword. Together the two of us walked to the other side of the office to the non-descript grey door that blended in with the wall. Elsa reached out first to the handle. It jiggled a little but remained firmly stuck. She groaned as she continued to try the handle to no avail.

"Here, try this." I said, gently nudging her to the side. I brought my hand up and brought it down onto the handle with all my strength. The metal popped off and plopped to the floor. I almost pumped my fist but Elsa gave me one of those exasperated looks that shut me up.

The door was ajar now, so Elsa and I gave it a gentle pull and it swung open. The first thing that hit us was the scent. Something had died in that closet. No, many things died in there and they have been dead for a long time. The scent almost peeled the skin off my arms and made my hair stand on end. After the initial shock I noticed the bodies that lined the walls. Slumped on the ground, they lay with mouths agape and eyes staring at something that only they could see.

In the center of the room there was a figure, crouched and shivering. It looked like a giant shaking cotton ball, but that could just be because of the white hoodie it appeared to be wearing. I stepped into the room slowly, minding not to make too much noise. As I got closer I could hear gasping and broken sniffling. Taking a deep breath I reached out and gently touched the person's shoulder.

She whirled around and I looked into bright green eyes, wide with panic. She shuffled away from me, breathing fast enough that I swore she was going to pass out. "Hey, hey. Easy." I said, voice level. "It's alright, you're safe. I'm not going to hurt you." It felt like I was talking to a scared hamster. The way she curled herself against the wall as she shuddered did not help that case.

"Anna, who is it?" Elsa asked as she walked up next to me. She looked over my shoulder to the girl cowering from us. Squinting she leaned in closer. "Wait… I have seen you before. You… you are Marielle, yes?"

The girl looked up at Elsa's voice as she chewed on her sleeve. I was scratching my head. Marielle… why does that name seem familia- "You're the girl from the park earlier." I said more to myself than to her.

She was still breathing heavy, but it was much more relaxed, and she looked a lot less likely to pop a blood vessel at this point. There was a seeming moment of clarity as she looked between Elsa and I, like she almost recognized our faces. Elsa's voice must have triggered something in her, so I gently shoved her with my elbow. She looked at me, nodded and tried again.

"You're Marielle, correct? We met earlier in the park. You told us about your family… you mentioned love." Elsa scrunched her face as she tried remembering details.

"Y-you two…" she stammered out, the shaking still present but much better. "I-I'm glad that the protection… that you two managed to make it safe…" she was still hugging her legs as close to her chest as possible, but she seemed to remember something now.

I smiled and stepped closer to her. She didn't try to scoot away. "Yeah, I think your blessing really helped. Here, let me help you up." I extended my hand and she looked at it like it was a poisonous snake. Slowly she extended her hand towards me, grasping at my fingers as if she were made of glass. My fingers folded into the grasp and gently pulled her up. She stood, stumbling as she tried to stand. She slipped, falling forward before I caught her. "Hey, hey. Easy, you're okay." I said, gently stroking the head that rested on my chest. "I got ya, I got ya."

Elsa let out a loud cough and gently pushed Marielle off of my, holding her back with her arm. "There you are. Now, can you tell us what you are doing here?"

Marielle looked between us confused as she flapped her lips uselessly. "I… I don't…" she said with a deep breath. "I… I don't re… I'm sorry."

I pulled her into a hug. "Hey, hey. It's can tell us later. We just need to get you somewhere safe for now, okay?"

She sniffled and nodded her head. "T-thank you." she stuttered again, holding onto me.

Elsa coughed louder than usual and I turned to see her with her arms crossed. "Anna, we should find somewhere safe to put her."

I wave her off with one of my free hands. Something's really putting Elsa in a bad mood for some reason, but I'll talk to her about it later. Civilians come first. "How about the office? You said there was nothing weird with that place, right?"

"Yes." She said not looking at us. "Considering that we've been safe so far, she should be safe, if not only for a little bit. We should still make haste to eliminate the ones in charge, let something comes after her."

Marielle was looking between us, eyes in a panic. "Y-you can't be serious. I-I can't be left alone here!"

I patted her on the back as gently as I could. She winced, but relaxed at my touch. "Look, we're going to be quick. Until then, take this." I reached into my cloak and pulled out Marshmallow. "He's a little heavy, but he can protect you from anything that comes by. Just remember, you only have about six shots, so make them count."

She took my gun with trembling fingers. "Y-you can't be… don't you need this?"

I smirked and snapped my fingers. "I already have the greatest weapon of all, right here." I said, patting my head. "I'm invincible as long as I've got my wits, my fists and a few pieces of chocolate in my system."

She nodded, but her hands were shaking around the handle of the gun. "Hey, hey. You got this. All you have to do is wait for us to get back, right?" She swallowed and nodded. "And you managed to survive until now, right? So sitting in an office should be easy right?" My mind flashed back to the room full of bodies, and a shiver crawled down my spine. Marielle squeezed my gun tighter and smiled at me, nodding her head. "Good. Now just wait here. We'll be back in a little bit after we kick some demon ass."

She gave me a small salute and went to sit in one of the old decrepit chairs in the office. I walked over to Elsa's side. She looked at me and smirked. "That was quite a display of bravado there, Anna." She whispered.

"Hey, I meant every word of it. You should see what I can do in a fight when I'm really motivated."

"Well, you certainly managed to increase my morale as well. I actually believe that you have control of the situation."

I snorted as I pushed the debris through the hole in the wall. "Okay, if you believe that then I did way too good of a job."

We had just finished sealing the hole when our ears were assaulted. "Ahhh, there you are. I was wondering where my new favorite victims were." The noise snaked over me, sending chills to the pit of my stomach. It was the same tone as earlier, but this time it dripped with something other than contempt. I imagined it was how a hungry kid sounds like when he's talking in front of a large pizza. I did not enjoy empathizing with a pizza.

"Come out and fight us, coward!" Elsa yelled at the disembodied voice. "Are you that afraid that you have to resort to cheap tricks without even showing us your face?"

"Shut your mouth, woman!" the voice shrieked. "Do not think that you have the slightest right to speak to me like that. You are weak, useless and not even worth the privilege of being killed by my brother and I personally."

Elsa and I didn't flinch as it yelled at us, but something clicked in my head. "Well, thank God. I was scared that we were going to have to face you directly. I might have died from being exposed to your stupidity!"

"Hmph, are you really falling back onto petty insults? You truly are pathetic."

"Yeah, I figured I'd dumb it down so you could follow. Didn't want to leave you behind like last time." I said, leaning against the wall. It crackled against my back, but I ignored it as the voice began to sputter.

"Last time? Have you gone truly daft girl. You were at the mercy of me and my intellect."

"Yeah, we were really on the ropes. I almost fell asleep trying to come up with a suitable response. Would've been a real hazard if I fell head-first onto one of these ugly desks that you have jutting out of the wall." The hall began to shake and I smiled to myself. "In fact, go for it. Kill us without even seeing us. It's perfect for someone like you who can't even figure out how to draw a straight line." The wall in front of me was shaking more violently, and I could see cracks of light forming along it's length. "In fact, I think I'm glad I won't have to see your face. I would have a hard time keeping myself from laughing at your complete lack of talent!"

The wall tore itself open with a roar and a blinding flash of light. I could make out a large imposing figure standing in the doorway with a smaller gnome-like one on it's back. The small one had lanky limbs that were easily twice the length of it's body, while the tall one was build with trees for appendages. Shrimp thrust his hand out, the length stretching through the hall, wrapping around my waist. I only had a moment to look to Elsa before I was dragged through the light. I kept my eyes on Elsa until the wall behind me slammed shut, leaving me alone with whatever these creatures were.

A/N: I hope this chapter is entertaining for you guys. I powered through it since I go back to school in a week, but hopefully I don't take too long to make something for you guys. I mean, it is the boss fight next so I can't leave everyone hanging for too long. Anyway, see you guys next update.