I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOO sorry for not updating in like four weeks! My high school homework is overloading and I don't always have time to get on, with all my algebra homework . I really tried to come up with ideas, but I had writer's block for the beginning of the chapter (had the end all planned out though) and I have a pretty good idea of the next chapter, so I swear on whatever any of you find holy that I will update again soon! My reviews, I noticed, hadn't been added to, but I suppose that's what I get. Anyway, enjoy this chapter and know more is coming soon!

Summary: Kurt is a Fallen, an indescribably beautiful race of demon–angels. Kitty is a fledgling priestess with a hidden power. Kitty knows that Kurt isn't her enemy, but can she prove it?

Fallen Angel

9. Infiltration and Discovery

Sparks and Kitty were crouched beside a large fern bush. Sparks had led Kitty to the swamplands beyond the Forest, where, she said, Fervior was said to have fled to after being defeated by Karma.

"This is it?" Kitty whispered, disappointed. She was staring across at a clearing covered in swamp life, but no sign of anything that would indicate Fervior's or Kurt's existence.

"Look harder," advised Sparks.

"There's nothing—" Kitty cut herself off, staring at the thin, barely visible metal plate in the ground. "That's all? Just some metallic thing in the ground?"

"Use your imagination," Sparks muttered, her white eyes staring out at nothing.

"My imagination? Huh?" Kitty repeated, confused.

Sparks sighed, putting her head on her hands. "What do you think is under that metal thing?"

"Um…a tunnel?"

"Possibly, although it's more than likely. Where does that tunnel lead to?"

"Underground?" Kitty guessed.

"And how do you think Fervior escaped being detected by the Fallen?"

"Underground…" Kitty muttered, the pieces finally falling into place. "I see. So we have to go in there?"

"Evidently. Do you see some sort of mechanism that blocks the plate?" Sparks fidgeted in place.

"Uh…no, not really."

Sparks sighed. "Then it's the invisible kind. Joy."

"So how do we get in?" Kitty was beginning to think everything was hopeless.

"I suspect the point over the metal plate will be the weakest; it's at the center of the clearing, I'll bet—and the invisible traps are no doubt somewhere along the sides of the clearing."

Kitty said softly, "You're kinda good at this, huh?"

"Experience," muttered Sparks quietly.

She lifted off, hovering above the ground. "Which direction?"

Kitty blinked—she'd forgotten about Sparks's blindness for a while as she didn't seem quite so blind all the time—and fluttered into the air. "We're near it, but what if there are some traps in the air?"

"Technically, that's not supposed to be possible," Sparks pointed out. "Anyways, I'm pretty sure there won't be any. Fervior's probably grown arrogant in these later years."

"That's what you're counting on?" Somehow Kitty couldn't believe that her friend—did she already consider Sparks a friend?—was depending on the fact that the crazy evil psycho out-to-destroy-the-world guy was arrogant?

"Yes."

Kitty sighed. "Fine… But if we get skewered by something or get crushed by unknown falling objects or something worse, I reserve the right to say 'I told you so.' "

Sparks shrugged—that didn't really matter to her. She hovered above the metallic plate, holding a stick. Gingerly, she dropped it, bolting upwards. Kitty drew back as well, but nothing came flying out of the bushes to attack the stick.

"It's safe," whispered Sparks, twisting the metal plate and shoving it to the side, exposing a dark, dank tunnel leading into the depths of the earth.

"Oh boy. We have to go in there?" Kitty stared into the abysmal darkness.

"Yup." Sparks disappeared down into the hole.

Kitty groaned, muttering, "How on earth did I get myself into this?" before lowering herself into the hole and grabbing the metal plate, pulling it back over the tunnel. The metal clanged loudly, with a sense of finality as darkness descended upon them.

Kitty blinked slowly as her eyes adjusted to the dim gloom of the dank tunnel. "Is this all there is?" she asked, disappointed with the lack of evil-crazy-guy junk.

Sparks gave her a look, muttering, "Quiet! The tunnel just hasn't gotten to the main hallway, undoubtedly somewhere below us."

"Sorry…"

They continued climbing down into the darkness, until Sparks reached an iron grate, covering the mouth of the tunnel. Kitty looked through the twisted metal, seeing a hallway below, lit by an odd greenish light. Both she and Sparks tugged at the grate, and slowly, its hinges creaking, they managed to move it to the side.

Kitty dropped to the ground, immediately looking for figures lurking in the shadows. But the hallway was deserted, and she whispered up to Sparks, "It's clear!"

Sparks jumped to the ground beside her. "I would assume that the main room is at the center, but I'm not sure where this hallway connects to, so we may be stuck here a while."

"Doesn't matter. Come on."

Sparks shook her head exasperatingly and followed as Kitty wandered on, peeking into other hallways and rooms, with the same result—all were empty, with no signs of having been used at all, and a layer of dust had accumulated over the floors and walls.

"Is Fervior even here?" Kitty finally asked.

Sparks shrugged. "There is always the possibility that he's not, but he may have left something—anything—of value behind. It's hard to tell. There aren't any guards or anything like that—maybe he feels confident in his power?"

"He's certainly surrounded himself in metal," Kitty commented.

Sparks's eyes narrowed. "So he has."

"What does that mean?"

"Be prepared for the probability of walking right into a trap."

"What?"

But before Kitty could say anything else, or Sparks in reply, they saw the huge iron door that had appeared in front of them. Without any confrontation, they had been wandering aimlessly among the metal hallways and Kitty wasn't sure where they were anymore—she had gotten sidetracked by the amount of hallways they had already followed to dead ends.

What lay beyond the door?

Kitty was about to push it open, but one of Sparks's wings stretched out and barred her path. "It's a trap!" Sparks hissed under her breath.

"How do you know?" Kitty asked accusingly.

"Huge door, right? Never a good idea. It's clearly a trap! He wants you to just walk in!"

"But there's got to be another way in…" Kitty mused, her eyes flicking upwards to the huge air ducts above their heads. The ducts went through the walls, and, Kitty imagined, into the room beyond.

"What about the air ducts?"

"The air ducts?" Sparks repeated, looking doubtful. "How big are they?"

"Big enough," Kitty replied, flying up to the metal covering affixed to the duct's mouth and pulled it off, before crawling inside.

Sparks stood there a moment. "Why do I get the feeling that this is not going to end in our favor?" She shrugged to herself and flew up to the duct opening, and flying into the shadows inside.

Kitty was crawling just ahead of Sparks and let out a silent yell when she discovered another opening, this one on the other side of the wall. "I found it!" she whispered, tugging on one side. It creaked loudly and she froze, but, hearing no movement beyond the duct, she pulled it the rest of the way off, exposing rubble-strewn ground, and the barest edge of the big door. She slid through the small opening and landed lightly on the ground, Sparks right after her.

"See anything?"

"No," Kitty replied, narrowing her eyes and walking forwards, too late noticing the ground beneath her feet was gone, and she tumbled into a large earthen pit dug into the ground. Because she'd made no warning, Sparks tumbled right after her.

Kitty looked up and saw an electrical net blaze to life. "What the…?"

"It appears this is the way to let people it, and keep them in," observed Sparks, listening to the steady thrum of the machine.

"Mm-hmm…" Kitty looked around, spying a pair of glowing eyes staring out at her from a corner. She jumped back, startled, hissing to Sparks, "There's someone else in here!"

"Why wouldn't there be?" Sparks tapped one wall of the pit. "If there wasn't, then there would've been a ton of pointless digging to make this thing. And look up at that electric net. My guess is that that person over there isn't meant to be escaping."

Kitty looked over at the pair of eyes. Slowly the person stepped out into the thin light from aboveground; the pale light shone on the dark blue hair, matted and tangled, the draconic tail swaying behind, the mass of dark blue feathers that were his wings.

Kitty stepped backwards slowly, her brain trying to assure her that what she was seeing was true.

The other person in the pit was Kurt.

Yes, we finally found Kurt! *happy claps* So now we have him back in the story~! What will happen next? Mwahahahahahaha!

~a-very-sorry-for-not-updating-sooner Shadey