A/N: Multiple guests (and members) reviewed with basically the same note of wanting the third installation I'd originally intend to have but never wrote. So, here it is (you guys are so spoiled).

Thank you to my beta Jaslyn, the author of Frozen Chains (it's a great story. You should go read it). All mistakes found were my errors after editing was complete.

You are forewarned that the pacing and style of what you are about to read are very different from what I posted four months ago.

Don't go through that door.

Elsa frowns at her thoughts. She looks at her dress then to the grandfather clock in the corner of her chambers, considering changing her attire, again. How many outfits has she gone through already? Four? Five? The blond glances at the floor. Seven.

All week, that voice in the back of her head has been growling at her, but for the life of her, she can't figure out why.

Screw it. Elsa thinks, straightening into a noble posture and turning to the door.

Don't. Go. Through. That. Door. Her thoughts snarl, making the young woman jump. She swallows the nervous lump in her throat, however, determined not to believe in that cruel voice or its suggestions. Because she's not crazy. She's not—

She remembers being with her father when he visited his mother in their town's asylum. How the woman ranted about a red-headed demon with cold, paralyzing eyes that always hovered over the blond's shoulder.

—like her.

Sometimes, Elsa thinks her father blames her for his mother's madness—because Elsa is the only one the red demon follows, apparently—but, luckily, her father was never fond of his mother. Sad as it is to say, he believes her descent into madness is an answer to his prayers. And the blond will be damned if she does anything to prove that woman right, because Elsa doesn't belong in that madhouse.

You can't leave unless I let you. The voice growls.

Truly, she doesn't.

She takes a step towards the door.

Take one more step towards that ballroom, and I will make your life a living hell.

"You don't control me!" Elsa hisses, glaring daggers at the wall. "And I command you to go away."

A harsh cackling erupts in her head, before an amused voice grates: I know more about living in hell than you could ever reasonably conceive in this ignorant form of yours. I've made your past lifetimes a waking nightmare because you refused to listen to me. This time won't be any different, I can assure.

"Why do you hate me so much?" Elsa whispers, not wanting to be overheard. Tears well in her eyes, but she refuses to let them fall. She doesn't want to have to reapply her makeup. "Why do you insist on torturing me? Or making the people around me turn mad?" Her brain splits in ambivalence. On one hand she prays that all this isn't her fault, that she isn't this vindictive, but another part wishes she is – because, if she's not, than who—or what—is?

The voice hesitates a moment. I . . . it's not— they pause, considering their words. How is it that you can show me my wrongs, without being aware of my relevance? It isn't . . . The voice clears its throat. No matter. That stupid human brain of yours can't see what I see, and I will keep you from making terrible decisions by any means necessary.

Elsa is vaguely reminded of her estate's stable of horses all falling ill and dying not soon after a duke expressed interest in riding with her. He was a nice man, from what she discerned before an assassin slit his throat in the middle of the night.

She refused to let it get to her, however, because that was not her fault.

God, please say it's not her fault.

Elsa takes in a deep breath, before walking to the door.

At once, she twists her ankle and falls. Her neck slams against the vanity before she cracks her head against her floor. Laying there, gasping and twitching, Elsa tries to move her legs; but she can't. She can't even feel them, nor can she feel the rest of her body, infact.

The voice in her head sighs. I could leave you to live your life like this, you know. I've done it before. But, this time . . . maybe this time I'll just give you the easy way out.

Before she can fully process the words, Elsa's heart is spasming.

It stops beating before she can even consider crying for help.

In baggy jeans, loose t-shirt, a backwards cap and a skateboard under her arm, Elsa ambles into the kitchen. "Mom?" She asks.

Belle glances up from her book, her gaze flickering to Elsa's board. "Going somewhere?" She asks.

Elsa smiles. "Only with your permission, which is why I'm standing here." She says, gesturing to herself with her free hand. Belle chuckles and sets her book on the counter.

"And where would you like permission to go, oh humble daughter of mine?" Belle questions, the corners of her eyes crinkling in amusement. Elsa rolls her eyes, but her lips still twitch upwards at the corners.

"I wanted to go over to Kristoff's. He and a bunch of others from school are going to some party involving tracker pulls." She barks a laugh. "Sounds dumb, I know, but somehow he convinced me that it could be fun."

In the back of Elsa's mind a warning alarm starts sounding, but it's too distant to give any real merit to.

"Kristoff, huh?" Belle murmurs, leaning back in her chair. "I've always liked him. A little rough around the edges, but a nice man." 'Fragile' is left unsaid. "Is he going to be your designated driver?"

Elsa nods. "Yeah. He doesn't like drinking all that much; says the alcohol gives him nightmares." She doesn't say about what. It had taken a lot of trust for Kristoff to open up to her about what the smallest amount of alcohol could do to him.

That, and the blond figures it isn't the best idea to say Kristoff dreams of being an angel fighting a monstrous demon with a crooked grin, twin red braids and cruel teal eyes, and losing. He refers to her as Red Sunshine, although Elsa doesn't know why for the life of her.

"Okay." Belle says, leaning back in her chair with a serene smile. "You can go, and feel free to call me whenever you start feeling uncomfortable. Are you sure you want to go wearing that, though?"

Elsa laughs. "Of course! I chose it because it's comfy, but unflattering enough to keep away prying eyes. Last thing I want is you getting a phone call informing you I'm being held for punching a pretty boy's face in."

Belle holds a delicate hand over her mouth muffle her humour. "How very considerate of you." She drawls.

Elsa takes a mock bow. "I try my best." She says, grinning and heading to the door. "I'll see you later, love you!"

One spiked drink, a tracker driving over her legs and a knife later, Elsa is declared dead.

With Justice's celestial protection preventing Anna from interfering in any aspect of Elsa's life gone, she slaughters all the people involved in Elsa's murder. Out of spite, she makes Kristoff clinically brain-dead for the rest of his life for bringing the platinum blond to that party in the first place.

Elsa heaves, her combat gear weighing on her body as she ducks behind a wall, plasma bullets firing from all directions.

Something in the back of the blond's mind screams that she knew joining the army would be a bad idea, but how was Elsa to know a war was looming around the corner? Her brain snarks that she did know, but she was too stupid to listen. She ignores it.

Taking a deep breath, Elsa hefts her rifle and quickly pivots to return fire.

Before the soldier can even register being hit, she collapses into the rumble, her brains splattered on the walls.

Elsa clutches to the protruding rock, her other hand and feet scrambling for a hold.

Her mountain climbing instructor had cut her safety rope just enough to snap if she slipped and fell a foot or more, which she did. She managed to stop her descent—barely, if the blood leaking from her torn skin and her current position are anything to go by—but she doubts she can hold on for much longer. Her fingers begin to slip on the rock, slick with the blood oozing from the gashes on her hands. If she doesn't get another point of contact—

Elsa's hand slips, and she plummets. Along the way she loses body parts to bits of rock, suffers broken bones to protruding edges. She's dead before she hits the bottom.

Somehow, right before the end, Elsa gets the strangest sense that someone warned her about climbing this mountain, and this is her punishment for not listening.

Elsa sits on the roof of her hover car, looking over the expanse of red dirt. She adjusts her helmet and looks at her wrist, checking her oxygen levels. On the ground beside the vehicle, a bulky blue machine beeps in warning. Elsa glances over to it, raising an eyebrow. 'Unsuitable building ground', it says.

The blond leaps to the ground, her gravity boots keeping her from floating, and packs the useless cube away. She doesn't bother reading the list it flashes of why; it always says the same four things. Like a broken record.

As one of the engineers on the 'Mars Colonization' project, Elsa had suggested creating a planet-wide atmosphere like earth. It would reduce the need for protective gear and oxygen—both in tight supply—and it would create an effective defense against space debris. She said that, given time and a select crew, she could come up with a rough but viable option within ten years.

It was a good plan, and one that was generally accepted, until a vile man named Hans took charge of the city. He didn't want Mars to become like Earth – divided into mentally imposed territories that could never agree with each other. He decided the best way to avoid that was by the 'dome dependent' system, and he scratched all notions of a livable Mars outside the glass and metal protection he maintains. That was around the time Elsa volunteered for the scouts.

It was an odd thing. Hans had been planning on dismantling the scout teams altogether before Elsa had shown her interest. She has no words to describe the way he looked at her; the way he recognized her in a way that wasn't possible, since they'd never met face-to-face before. Then he had glanced over her shoulder, if only for a second, before smiling and saying he expected her to report for duty the next day.

To this day, Elsa doesn't know what that exchange was about, but she doesn't really care. If it means she can come here every day and be free of Hans' oppression for even a few hours, then it's worth it.

It might also be from the fact that, for the first time in a long time, she actually feels praised for her actions – even though nobody actually has. She knows that doesn't make any sense, but it just feels . . . right.

"Elsa!" A voice cries, crackling through the intercom of her helmet. She recognizes the voice. Shane, was it? Or is it Shang?

"What is it?" Elsa asks, activating her own transmitting signal. A pool of dread sloshing around in her stomach.

"The dome is gone!" He huffs, his hyperventilating breaths hissing through the open connection like heavy static.

Elsa's blood runs cold. "What do you mean the dome is gone?" She barks, pushing down her own rising terror.

"I was hit by an asteroid!" Shane—Shang?—sobs. "Oh god, they're all floating around like debris."

"Just calm down for a minute." Elsa says, unsure which one of them she's trying to convince. "I'm on my way. Who's with you?"

She doesn't get an answer until long after when she stops next to him and his party, staring at the utter ruin of the once only sustainable source of life on Mars. She doesn't speak for a long time, horror paralyzing her behind her seat, hands vice gripping the wheel.

As hours pass by the remainder of the solo scouting teams start returning, all taking in the destruction with varying displays of dismay. Some suggest using the scraps to create a smaller dome before their oxygen runs out but, as the only engineer in the group, she quietly informs them that the damage is too extensive to rectify with what time they have left.

Most refuse to listen to her, choosing instead to slam together material in an adrenaline-fueled dash for survival. A futile effort that only succeeds in draining their oxygen faster. Elsa winces as she watches their suited forms go limp, knowing that she herself will share the same fate soon enough.

Why me? She thinks, tilting her head to the black abyss of stars, missing the blue sky of Earth more than she already has over the last torturous years under Hans. She didn't even think that was possible until now.

The response she receives to her unspoken question is a vague, yet overwhelming feeling of wanting Hans dead – wanting him to suffer. As her oxygen continues decreasing, she hears a voice ranting about Hans' treachery and deserving every conceivable torture, both mortal and divine.

She really knows she's losing it when she sees faded images of scared teal eyes and Hans in eighteenth century garb with a black haze hovering above his hand.

Soon, she's blinking her eyes, struggling to keep the objects around her in focus. All too fast her head is lulling to the side and her eyes slide shut, never to be opened again.

What are you doing?

What Elsa wanted me to, be her spiritual guardian through her mortal lifetimes.

Yes, to rediscover the angel inside of you, not make her lives hell or outright kill her—or her chances of survival—when she makes a decision, or is in a situation, you don't approve of.

It was Hans. You know, the devil's new right hand because he betrayed me. Remember that? You should. You were one of the privileged few to witness it.

This isn't about me. It isn't even about you, either. Have you even stopped to consider what you've done to Elzima? If Harmony hadn't intervened after that heart attack fiasco to stop you from meddling so directly in her affairs, you could have destroyed her will. You could have done more than just making her fear the various ways you've made—or let—her die if heaven hadn't dedicated at least one angel into mortal existence with her to help her through the pain. For all that's good, Anna; Elzima trusted you enough to put her life in your hands and you've failed her more times than I can count.

Don't say that.

I'll keep saying it until you stop being the demon you became instead of the angel you used to be; the angel Elzima still thinks you are, despite the accumulating proof that you're not, and probably never will be.

I—

If you don't change your ways, I can assure you'll lose more than heaven's trust. You'll lose Elzima's, too.

. . . Understood.

Mulan smiles as she grabs her bag from the floor, kissing Elsa on the cheek. "I'll see you when I get back, okay?"

Elsa chuckles. "Just try to come home in one piece this time. While I enjoyed you being home for a month last time, I wasn't fond of your array of bruises injuries."

"You're just jealous because you're not as badass as I am." Mulan quips, grinning. Elsa rolls her eyes.

"If being as badass as you means being injured more then I'm well, then I'm perfectly fine being mediocre."

Mulan chortles and captures her girlfriend's lips in a brief kiss. "I'll see you when I get back." The asian whispers.

"Hopefully by walking through the door instead of me wheeling you, right?" Elsa teases.

Mulan laughs and heads for the door. "I make no promises." She chortles. The blond raises an eyebrow. Typical.

Watching the door close, Elsa reaches up to massage her temples. She loves her girlfriend, but moments like this make the world tilt a peculiar way. It doesn't make her doubt in her relationship or her partner's career choice – Elsa herself had been in the same line of work before she decided this wasn't the life for her. She never told Mulan why she joined business instead, and the shorter woman never asked.

The blond had tried to bring it up once or twice, but how could she realistically say that certain positions jog her memory of a horrid battle that never happened? Of a red beast that nearly destroyed her very being?

She hears muttering from the kitchen and frowns, following her ears. As she gets closer, she makes out the words:

"I love you. Foul woman. Scolding me for my actions and then coming down here to be my twin flame's girlfriend. What is she trying to prove, that she's an asshole? I could have told her that without this nonsense."

The female voice keeps growling and spitting obscenities, even as Elsa rounds the corner and stares.

A redhead, clad in fluffy green snowmen stocks, green boxer shorts, a black bra and a green hoodie zipped up halfway, angrily paces back and forth.

Words hang from Elsa's half-open mouth, not sure how to handle this development. Not necessarily the obvious who is this woman, but how did she get into my house and why doesn't she seem to care? Somewhere on the list is what the hell is she wearing, but Elsa figures that last one isn't exactly an important issue right now.

"And I can't kill her." The redhead gripes, turning Elsa's insides cold. "Because I need to prove to Elsa and heaven that I'm actually capable of being competent."

Elsa backs up slowly.

Okay. She thinks. Homicidal and insane. Good to know.

She barely backs up two steps before the woman's head snaps to her. Elsa freezes, eyes wide and her face draining of colour.

Out of everything she expected to happen, she didn't foresee the redhead slumping against the counter, arms crossed over her chest.

"Hey, Elsa." The woman says, in a tone meant for self-conversation. "Alone in the house again, huh?" She glances around out of boredom. She has this place memorized – Elsa can see it in her eyes. "You'll be okay, though. A little lonely maybe, but okay. You always are. I make sure of that." She scrubs her face, practically snarling at herself; "She can't hear you, dumbass. Why do you talk out loud, to feel less pathetic than you are? Make you feel like you haven't fucked her over more times than you can count?"

Tears burn in the redhead's eyes as she squeezes them shut, roughly gripping her bangs with one hand.

Something in the insane woman's words give Elsa pause, and she quickly averts her eyes and changes her posture. 'Can't hear me', she'd said – meaning that, for whatever reason, the redhead doesn't know Elsa's aware of her presence.

"What is wrong with me?" The woman hisses, tears streaming down her cheeks in currents. "Angels do duties like this all the time. Elsa did this all the time before she joined Justice. If they can do it, then why can't I? Why should it matter that my charge can't hear me, or see me, or really heed any of my advice because only inherently angry souls listen to the tone of my voice and— damn it. It wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't so lonely."

'Please, God, no.' The redhead's voice whimpers in Elsa's mind, like a long forgotten memory. 'Don't abandon me again. Please don't leave me; I can't— I can't do this alone anymore.'

Elsa frowns at her thoughts. She's never seen this crazy woman before in her life. She glances up, wanting—needing—to confirm that thought, only to startle at the redhead's eyes being barely inches away from her own. With an undignified squawk, Elsa trips backwards and lands on the floor. She stares at the woman in horror, knowing there's no way of playing this off by anything other than what it actually was.

With shock written on her face, the redhead blinks. Excitement surges within her when she realizes that the blond is staring straight at her.

"You can see me?" The redhead breathes, waving her hands around. Elsa's eyes flick to them, watching warily. "You can see me!" The intruder cheers, delight sparkling in her eyes. She puts a hand to her chest. "I'm Anna, the one who protects you from bad things. Remember two years ago when you were really tired and forgot to look both ways before crossing the road? Well that driver wasn't actually paying attention and would have smacked right into you had I not taken the wheel. I saved your life! More than just that once, too. Why, just last week I—"

Elsa's throat constricts. "That truck driver died." She whispers, voice hoarse. Anna pauses mid-rant, sending the blond a strange look.

"Yes." Anna says slowly, not quite understanding what's wrong with her declaration. "The man was an idiot trying to run a yellow light that just turned red. Had I not intervened he would have hit you and you both would have been flattened."

As insane as Anna's declaration sounds, it gives Elsa much needed relief to the blame that's been weighing on her shoulders from that event . . . and an outlet for her anger.

"You could have done something else!" The blond shrieks.

Anna smiles and hunkers down to Elsa's level. "It's nice seeing anger on you, you know." She says, making Elsa's jaw drop in disbelief. "You're not so perfect when you're human. It's . . . nice." Anna frowns. "Although I miss the recognition."

"Recognition?" Elsa bellows, scrambling to her knees and jabbing a finger into the redhead's chest. "The only reason I would recognize you is from wanted posters because you murdered someone."

"I've murdered a lot of people." Anna says, like she's commenting on the weather. "It's not the end of the world if a human dies; they can come back as someone else if they desire it. You should be more concerned with the souls I've messed with. Kristoff looks a lot better now, by the way – I think this set of lifetimes are helping him regain part of his original energy range. He might even be able to join a discipline again, soon."

"I don't even know what you're talking about." Elsa says, her voice quivering in shock. She stands up and strides towards the door, the need to get out burning in her chest.

A hand clamps around Elsa's upper arm and she cries out, tears stinging her eyes as pain flares throughout her body. She knows this sensation anywhere; Anna just broke her humerus.

Anna just broke her humerus by grabbing her.

Almost as quickly as the hand came, it disappears. Anna appears in front of her, distress clear in her eyes. "I'm sorry." She blabbers, reaching out to help, only to have Elsa retreating from her. "I'm sorry." Anna says more forcefully, like she's losing patience. "I forgot how fragile your human form is and didn't adjust accordingly. Now give me your arm so I can heal you."

Anna reaches out again, and Elsa dashes; but no matter where she turns in her apartment Anna is right there, looking more annoyed—more psychotic—as time goes on.

"Just fucking stop." Anna roars, spittle flying from her mouth. "I'm trying to help you, ungrateful little—" Her hand shoots out to grab Elsa right when the blond makes a quick redirection.

Crack.

Anna stares in horror as Elsa crumbles to the floor, realizing too late the amount of force she had wrenched into her arm.

"No, no, no, no, no." Anna chokes, panic evident in her voice as she flips Elsa over, her heart thudding in horror at the blond's slack jaw and closed eyes. "No." Anna whimpers, putting her hands on the woman's chest to heal her, even though she knows it's too late. It wasn't just physical force that smacked into her twin flame, her corrupted energy had hit her, too.

After a full ten minutes of trying, Anna throws back her head and screams to the heavens. Only mourning now what she knew to be true the moment her hand made contact.

Elsa's human heart flat lined a full half second after Anna's magic shoved her soul back into heaven. Anna's trial period with Elsa's human lifetimes has been put to an end by her own doing.

And she failed every single test.

I didn't mean to! I wasn't— I didn't mean to kill her!

But you still did it, obviously; this time without the pretense of mortal objects. Your own hand was the cause – she saw you do it. How does that make you feel?

I-I'm sorry, I never meant—

Enough, both of you. The array of deaths I've experienced under Anna's . . . guidance, has shown me something – especially this last life. We will try this one more time, but under different circumstances.

Elsa, thank you, I—

Don't thank me yet. And please keep your distance. I . . . still need to sort through that last experience.

I am so, so sorr—

I know, Anna. Just . . . give me time.

Elsa sits cross legged in her chair, drinking lukewarm tea as she stares out at the vast, uninhabited forest below.

She, Anna, Mulan, Merida and Belle, all live in this mountain cabin, secluded from the rest of humanity on a small, scarcely known planet in the Gama System. It's as much to keep the species of the universe safe as it is to keep themselves safe.

See, despite being in human form, with human emotions and human limitations, a celestial link to all their memories remain. They could have picked and chose the memories they needed—and could fit inside the small confines of a brain—but humans find it difficult to cope with certain things, thus the active link. It helps keep them sane, without giving them access to their higher powers.

Despite everything, Anna took the separation the best – saying it felt good not to have the polluted 'dark matter', as she so eloquently put it, bubbling under her skin. It didn't stop the night terrors, the flashbacks or the bouts of utter depression, but it helped.

Mulan, oddly enough, didn't take the loss of her celestial power very well at all. She had a series of minor panic attacks her first couple weeks here, muttering about this being 'unnatural' and 'unfair'. Elsa's inclined to agree with her—she herself had the same separation anxiety—but she keeps the feeling at bay as best she can. This is the only thing she could think of that, over time, would actually help Anna get her values back without her downfalls running the risk of killing someone.

Like me. Elsa thinks, shivering involuntarily at the array of deaths and suffering she had endured with Anna as her guide. And that last one, when her soul had to be ripped out of her body by Merida to prevent Anna's magic causing it harm? She hadn't even seen Anna's hand reach half the distance between them when Elsa had woken up, back in heaven at last.

The motion sensor door to the living room balcony slides open, revealing Belle with two cups of hot tea. She sits down on the other side of the table and places the second cup next to Elsa's elbow. For a long while they both just stare out, thinking.

It's weird, Elsa realizes, having all her angelic knowledge and sifting through it with a human filter. Not because it's wrong morally, per se; more so that it feels out of place. Distorted. Not quite right in a way she can't properly describe. She and Belle talked about it for many nights on this very balcony, firmly declaring at the end of every discussion that it shouldn't be this way. No one should feel the pang of losing heaven's all accompanying love, knowing what they're depriving themselves of by being temporarily mortal.

Still they remain, however. Elsa finds that it helps having three fellow angels with her that are going through the same thing; makes it easier to comfort the ache of loss. One look from Mulan, Belle or Merida can ease the suffering inside Elsa's chest – make the world a little easier to bare.

Elsa admits that it might also be because they've completely isolated themselves from the inhabitants of this planet, and all the others. Thinking of interacting with people who don't know what she knows, can't see what she sees, leaves a sour taste on Elsa's tongue. Seeing self-appointed spiritual guardians helping humans—or other intelligent species—and being ignored; heard subconsciously but never acknowledged? Seeing her fellow angels or souls and wanting to talk to them but knowing she can't because she'd be seen as talking to thin air? No, she can't do that.

At least here they're protected from all that. Justice put out a barrier that only lets in angels or celestial souls with permission. Mostly the angelic trio—and one Fallen—are left alone, but it's relieving when one does show up and she can just say hello without garnering strange looks.

"You were right." Belle says, finally breaking the ice. "This solution of yours seems to be doing wonders for Anna mentally."

Elsa hums, her gaze distant. "How ironic that the solution makes the Fallen thrive, and the angels uneasy."

"That's your humanity talking." Belle murmurs, trying to fight the same urge herself.

The archangel sighs, knowing the Harmony member is right. While Elsa's words weren't necessarily bitter, they paved the way for them. And the blond knows from experience that those judgements will come, and be spewed from her wrathful lips.

"Yes." Elsa whispers, retrying her initial response. "While she still suffers the same ailments as regularly as she did at the beginning, the severity has been minimized. That's more than we could have hoped for in a year, considering how many millenniums she endured under the devil's thumb."

Belle hums. "It also helps that she's not at an energy advantage whenever she loses it. While it still takes both Mulan and you to take her down, you can do just that and she can't escape until you release her."

Elsa smiles. "Yes, that helps." Knowing you're not at a constant risk of dying always helps, especially with someone where that security never existed.

The metal door slides open again and Mulan steps out, her tired eyes glancing at the sky. Without segue, she says:

"I can't do this anymore."

Neither Belle or Elsa appear surprised.

Elsa shrugs. "I need at least two angels here with me at all times so we can keep each other sane, and I need one of them to be from Justice so they have the combat know-how to help me restrain Anna upon necessity." She says, staring at her cold tea instead of the new cup Belle brought out for her. "That being said, you can leave whenever you desire so long as you find yourself a suitable, willing replacement. The same goes for you, Belle. Neither of you have to stay here." She slumps in her chair, feeling the heavy bags under her eyes. "Neither of you are bound by obligation or personal investment; only me. It's hard being here like this, and I won't deprive either of you for longer than you believe you can handle."

Belle considers her words. "Anna won't take well to the change."

"We'll inform her. Prepare her." Elsa says, shrugging off the woman's concern. "It's not like we have much of a choice, sanity-wise."

"Not many angels would want to subjugate themselves to this." Mulan mutters, as if already mentally running through a list of possible Justice replacements for herself.

"Some might say the same of the mortal life time experience. The normal kind." Elsa says, setting her old tea on the table and grabbing the new one. "What we're doing is hard, that's undeniable, but you learn something. Angels can see our struggle if they care to look—and they do; we're treading on new territory after all—but none of them aside from us has ever done it. Both of you will be able to find replacements because there's an entire heaven full of angels who have never done what we're doing and they want to try, despite our obvious discomfort."

Mulan and Belle gaze at each other, inhaving a silent conversation Elsa doesn't interrupt.

"You should take a break, too." Mulan says, braving Elsa's human stare. "It doesn't have to be for long. In mortal time it doesn't even have to last a day or two, but in angelic time it'll be enough to refresh you – give you enough energy to keep going. And don't give me some shit excuse about Anna; if she truly loves you, she'll want you to do what's necessary to be healthy."

Elsa sips her tea, her mind running through her options even though there isn't much competition. She either stays and falls into depression, unable to help herself or anyone around her, or give herself occasional breaks so this plan is sustainable in the long run.

"Okay." Elsa agrees, pushing from her chair. "Let's round up Merida. We're going to have to talk to Anna and, like Belle said, she might not take well to it. We'll have to get Anna used to one change at a time when it's time for replacements – only one person at a time, and never one right after the other; at least a week between each, and everyone has to stay at least a month, but never more than six. We might be at this for centuries, and I don't want anyone getting worn out."

After five grueling centuries, Anna achieves the right mental state for the next stage of Elsa's plan. While Elsa remains the same—human with her angelic knowledge—Anna was reverted to a baby, to grow up like a regular human. She was homeschooled by Elsa and other angel-humans like herself. Anna wasn't allowed contact from anyone other than the rotation of angels; not to isolate the girl, but to keep the angels' sane.

The one time Anna had run away, tired of the same surroundings, Elsa had followed after her – trying to catch up to her before her 'daughter' reached any developed areas.

That's where Elsa finds herself now, bolting through the forest with Mulan and Shang—twin flames to each other—giving her directions through her celestial link.

"Anna!" Elsa shouts, panic creeping up her throat.

While Elsa's property was protected from scans by Justice and Harmony, mortals still had a settlement an uncomfortable three-hour walk from the heaven-owned home. Anna has been missing for two, and she's been moving fast. Faster than Elsa, possibly; the former Justice angel had been sprinting at least half the time she's been out here and she hasn't caught up yet.

So she's not entirely surprised when she bursts out of the forest at the edge of the very settlement she'd been hoping to avoid. Expecting it and not being affected, however, are two entirely different things.

Elsa stops dead in her tracks, heart thudding behind her temples as she sees the array of spiritual guardians following around their ignorant charges. Her soul cries out in discord when a few of those guardians notice her, giving her a strange look for her skittish behavior. Elsa swallows and backs up, wanting to be gone before the souls realize that she can see them. Understand them. Talk to them.

Anna isn't here yet. Mulan says, her voice filtering into Elsa's head. It used to be comforting. Now it's just a painful reminder of the place she wishes she could be instead. We've lead you so that you're now ahead of her. All you have to do—

A series of directions later, Elsa is tackling her escaping daughter to the ground. The blond huffs and puffs, glaring down at the idiotic, struggling eighteen-year-old trapped underneath her.

"Get off me!" Anna snarls, flailing around. Elsa grabs the redhead's wrists and pins them to the ground, a sneer twisting her lips.

"Not until I explain something to you."

"What?" Anna spits. "That my own mother is confining me to her property, only letting me see her friends and not make my own? I need adventure, more than what your land can offer!"

"You mean teaching you every martial art, fighting sport or anything else you could have ever wanted wasn't enough?" Elsa asks, her voice flat with sarcasm. "Me giving you everything you'd ever need when you've proved yourself ready to take care of them wasn't enough?"

Anna hesitates, her face contorting in uncertainty. A half a beat later, she gives a nod.

Elsa laughs.

The blond pushes to her feet and runs a hand through her bangs, a human vindictive streak shooting through her. She doesn't mean for it, nor does she want it to stay—not really—but Elsa willingly let herself suffer for longer than Anna's human brain could ever possibly recall and this is how she's repaid for it.

It's an unfair judgement, she knows it is. How could she possibly blame Anna for something the girl isn't consciously aware of, and never will be until this human version of her passes on?

But she does. She wishes she could stop, but flashes of dying repeatedly under Anna's poor guardianship rise to the surface, along with the painful five hundred years as an angelic human she's still willingly enduring, and for what?

Anna pushes to her feet, eying her chortling mother. The sound makes the redhead's blood cold, because it isn't a happy sound – it's something filled with eternal ire. Elsa had never sounded like that, before.

"Mom?" She questions, taking a hesitant step forward.

"Don't." Elsa snaps, raising a hand for Anna to stop. "I'm not going to fight you. Or argue with you. In fact, I'm nowhere near a state of mind that gives me any right to demand anything of either of us, and I probably won't be for a long time." She's been overdo on her break to heaven by nearly two months, and its toll is weighing on her. With a sigh, Elsa lowers both her hands, her bangs falling over her eyes. "The settlement is a ten minute walk in that direction." The blond says, pointing. "Go there like you were planning. Live with them. Get to know them. Work with them. If you decide you'd rather stay there, then don't leave them. If you feel you'd rather have what I'd given you, then come back to the house in exactly five years; I'll be there for one week, starting on this day. Consider carefully, because I won't go back there a second time."

Elsa had left before Anna could respond, quickly getting out of sight and returning to her native home. The redhead had looked for her frantically, crying out her mother's name for hours. She'd checked out her childhood home and stayed there for a solid month, waiting, but was eventually forced to move on when the food supply ran low.

With lack of any better options, the mourning ginger stumbled into the closest settlement, weeping until she didn't have any more tears to shed. The little colony took her in, curious and concerned for the woman without records in any of the galactic databases.

Anna's grief quickly turned into anger; furious at being abandoned by the one person who was always supposed to be there for her. So filled with ire, she joined the corps and was deployed in every corner of the universe, never returning to her home planet until twenty years later.

The redhead had returned to her home, finding a dust-covered note in her mother's handwriting, reading; 'I hope you find peace in whatever life you've created. Love, Mom.'

For a solid hour Anna had sobbed, cursing herself for her own pigheadedness. It wasn't until two days later while she was cleaning that she had found a crumpled note in the garbage can, one Anna can only assume had been her mother's original note. It read:

I'm sorry I made you feel as though you couldn't return. If I could safely transverse inhabited regions I would have visited you—I've been watching over you, in a sense, making sure you were okay—to apologize for my actions. The fact is that I can't, which is the reason I lived here instead of near any form of civilization. Perhaps you could call it an unintentional insanity clause in my genetic makeup—

The note ends there, the entire paragraph scratched out and making the words difficult to read, especially the last two sentences. For a moment Anna simply stands there, her chest clenching and guilt blanketing her shoulders.

How could she have been so stupid not to realize her ever-logical mother had a reason for their living arrangements? For how she raised Anna?

The soldier raises a quaking hand to her mouth, tears streaming from her eyes. Flashes of Elsa wincing whenever Anna brought up the distant sounds of construction enters Anna's mind; the look of remorse plaguing her eyes. It was the same look all her mother's friends had, Anna realizes with a start, remembering their aching smiles and the bags under their eyes. It's also a look she hasn't seen since her mother left her in the woods all those years ago.

Filled with guilt and sorrow, Anna leaves the corps and lives the rest of her life in her mother's outdated—yet comfortingly familiar—home. She doesn't get married, or have kids – deciding to stick to having mountain cats for pets and the occasional visit from a friend; in lieu of what she discovered in her mother's abandoned note, she doesn't feel like she deserves more than that.

And so what if she secretly hopes her mom would return again, despite her words all those years ago?

Months after she settled in, she receives a hand-written letter with no return address.

It was from a friend of Elsa's—Rapunzel, was it?—saying her mother had passed on, but that she never stopped thinking about her daughter.

Anna wept.

Elsa grits her teeth in heaven, wishing she had the courage to return as an angelic human, but not finding the strength within her. Instead, she goes back as a guardian, helping Anna through her remaining trials of life. And it's okay that the redhead couldn't see her, or hear her, or talk to her, because somehow, Anna heeded her words, despite not being consciously aware of them.

Anna lead the remainder of that lifetime happily—or as happy as she could be—and that was enough for Elsa, or so she tells herself.

Mulan and Belle, married and living in an average suburban home, sit together on the couch. The raven-haired woman watches a martial artist fight on the television, while the brunette woman engrosses herself in a novel.

Even as full humans, without any celestial link to their angelic memories, they are still aware of who they are and why they're here. It was the memories they selected before coming for a mortal life because they were deemed important without containing 'spoilers'. They knew, for example, who their intended spouse was for this lifetime and that they'd meet when they were both mentally and emotionally mature. They also knew the names of the four parents they'd have to look for when it came time for them to adopt.

None of it really made sense to them. Sure, they understood the basics; Anna—their youngest daughter—had suffered in living hell in a prior life and needed to recover, and Elsa—their eldest daughter—had undergone the same fate trying to get Anna back to her senses. So both Mulan and Belle knew that the two girls needed stability and love, but they didn't necessarily know why. When they'd prayed for answers, all they received was a vague feeling that they weren't meant to know.

The front door opens and closes, the sound of steps and laughter following soon after. Belle sets down her book, listening. Mulan mutes the TV.

"Welcome home, Anna." The Asian woman says, tilting her head to the living room entrance. "Is that male laughter I hear? I don't recall ever adopting a boy."

Anna pops her head around the corner, quirking an eyebrow. "You know, you are allowed to ask who it is." Belle covers her mouth, hiding her smile.

"Well yeah," Mulan jests, "but what would be the fun in that?"

A broad shouldered man steps around the corner, smiling and waving uncomfortably.

"Hello." He says, stuffing his hands into his pockets. Anna gestures to him.

"Kristoff, moms. Moms, Kristoff."

"What a lazy introduction." Belle teases. "Is he supposed to call us mom? He's not part of the family, unless you're not telling us something?" Kristoff and Anna flush bright crimson.

"Mom!" Anna sputters.

Belle chortles. Mulan barks a laugh and pushes to her feet, extending a hand. "I'm Fa Mulan, and this is my wife, Belle. It's a pleasure to meet you, Kristoff." When he shakes her hand, she grips it and doesn't let go. "But hurt her and I will end you." The blond man pales considerably, but Anna only rolls her eyes.

"Has Elsa arrived for the long weekend, yet?" She asks, changing the subject. Mulan nods, releasing the poor boy's hand.

"She and her girlfriend." Mulan says. Anna's eyebrows rise into her hairline. Mulan laughs. "That was my reaction! Apparently they met in one of the extracurriculars her university offers. Goes by Merida, I believe." She absently waves to the stairs. "They're both unpacking if you want to go see her." Anna bolts up the stairs, leaving her flustered mother to shout, "Just please, for the life of you, knock before barging in." Mulan glances to Kristoff, shrugging at the odd look he gives her. "Expect the worst so you don't walk in and see something you don't want to see." Kristoff grins, and Mulan narrows her eyes at him. "But if you and Anna don't use protection, so help me God, I'll cut your balls off with a pair of rusty scissors."

The lifetimes started getting easier, after that. Some were decent, some not so decent and others downright disastrous, but they were getting better.

Soon the effects mortal lifetimes had on Kristoff—re-purifying his tainted energy range—started the same miracle with Anna. Over time her demonic link decreased, her black wings began to fade and her violent urges subsided.

Then, in one memorable lifetime, her demonic link severed altogether. She wasn't welcomed back into the angelic ranks, but she was granted a small celestial link to protect her from reverting back into Red Sunshine. That was enough for her, finally feeling what she had missed for so long.

After that, Elsa and Anna remained in heaven, Elsa as a member of Truth and Anna as a mere pure soul, free to wander the same ground as the discipline-less. They were happy, content.

After a time they both returned to Earth for another bout of mortal lifetimes, and they were good. They had their rough patches like human lives are bound to have, but they didn't contain the misery of the ones before them.

Through these lifetimes Anna's safe energy range started expanding again. At first it re-granted her angel status, and then it grew enough for her to choose a discipline. She chose Harmony.

All was well—truly, it was—but then hell laid siege on the mental territory in a force that hadn't been seen since before Anna's fall from grace.

And it was bad.

It was so bad, in fact, that they begged Elsa to fight in the Justice vanguard, despite the lapse she suffered that caused her to be removed from their ranks in the first place over a thousand years ago. She would have refused—she wouldn't have been much help by seeing demons as souls instead of unwelcome furniture—but, she found, she held no love for the creatures of hell. Yes, they were souls capable of making their own choices just like everyone else, but they had no right to advance into regions that didn't welcome them.

As one of the only archangels from another discipline who was capable of doing it, Elsa took up Justice's banner and fought alongside her old team of Mulan, Shang, Merida and Kristoff, who had regained his strength and taken her place on the team. Together, she helped them demolish the incoming herd one fiend at a time.

Anna isn't happy with her, but Elsa doesn't blame her. How can she? Anna's probably scared of losing Elsa the way she herself had been lost, except it wouldn't be reversible. The blond isn't a threat like Anna was; still is. Despite her current safe-range, the power of an elite archangel still thrums in Anna's veins. It would be celestial suicide to use it without first purifying her lingering taint, but her potential is still a very real threat to the devil. With Elsa . . . there's no need to careful. Her celestial side would be permanently burned out without a second thought.

Elsa shakes her head, discarding the line of thinking. It really isn't the time to concern herself with such things.

Shang flexes his hand, eyes flicking over the massing army just at the edge of sight. Mulan glances at the mental territory itself, gauging the taint by the colour of the sky, the clearness of the air and the tint of the ground. It's how one can tell who owns the region, if the oppressive or liberating sensation alone wasn't enough.

Kristoff merely stands by Elsa's side with a thoughtful look on his face.

"Hans is the rumoured head commander of this round." He says.

"An elite on the field, eh?" Elsa whispers, glancing back at the army of angels behind her, knowing from experience that none of them stand a chance if that's the case. Hell, even archangels need to team up to even the odds. "Are the Justice primaries on stand-by?"

Kristoff nods. "Along with an array of archangels. Justice doesn't want to send in the primaries if they don't have to – they're only meant to be deployed under one circumstance, and I'd very much prefer Satan remain content in hell. It's not like a good number of archangels can't handle an elite – we just have to be careful."

Elsa hums. It's true – Anna was the only Fallen who needed Justice primaries to take her down. No Fallen or demon by birth, like Hans, has rivaled her strength since. No one except the original Fallen and king of hell, that is.

"Hans is still a background manipulator, not a front-lines kind-of demon." Elsa says, narrowing her eyes at the expanding reddish-black taint affecting the mental territory in front of them. "He's smart. Smart enough to know to stick to his strengths, at least – which isn't fieldwork."

"He also knows when nobody expects him, and when to appear to strike a death blow." Kristoff murmurs, jaw clenched in memory. Elsa stares at the twitching muscles for a second, wondering.

Ever since celestial connected human experience some angels subjected themselves to, certain actions or objects mean something a little different. As if by having a celestial awareness in a human brain brought a human viewpoint into their angelic lives. It doesn't affect their logic or their pureness, but it does alter one's perspective, if only slightly.

Or maybe not so slightly, considering it's what allowed Elsa to realize that, souls or not, demons had no right to encroach on unwilling territories. The mindset gave her the strength to purify the beings of hell, even if they're unwilling.

In a way, it makes Elsa wonder why other angels don't see the same thing; or maybe they do, but their heavenly nature doesn't allow them to follow through the necessary actions. A touch of human logic helps overcome that reluctance.

Thankfully, human emotions don't come with that package. What a disaster that would be.

"Did you fight Hans before?" Elsa finally asks. Kristoff chuckles, the corners of his eyes crinkling in amusement.

"During my original time in Justice, he was nothing more than the overseer of eternal torture." His smile fades. "I was more referring to Anna when she was Red Sunshine. She was a great actor. Obviously insane, but uncanny at hiding her intentions. I never saw her coming."

Elsa nods. Even she still falters at the memory of her twin flame as a raging red monster, black wings fluttering in excitement at the scent of golden flaked silver angelic blood. She'd almost been turned into a Fallen by her hand.

"They're preparing to assault." Merida says, teleporting in front of them. She was the scout this time around. "There are a good twenty-five commanders, all on the top end of the high demon power scale, each with at least three high demons under them. We're going to have our work cut out for us if we don't call for reinforcements."

"Calling is unnecessary." A new voice says. The team glances over, seeing a standard vanguard group of four approaching them: Hercules' team.

"Thank you." Mulan says, shaking the closest archangel's hand in the new vanguard group. "I'd rather keep the casualties to a minimum, and that's easier to accomplish with additional archangels on the field."

"We felt the same." Tarzan agrees, glancing out at the approaching forces. "Their jump-and-run vanguards are going to start teleporting in soon."

"And we'll be within your army to protect them from that." Hercules says, before Mulan's team can offer. "You five are the charge leaders in this battle. We'll stay with your angels to protect them from surprise attacks and the higher demons, so just worry about taking down the biggest threats before they can wreak havoc." He rolls his shoulders, celestial energy solidifying his hands in the form of Greek style swords. "I suggest you make the first move."

Elsa doesn't need to be told twice.

In the blink of an eye the blond is in the middle of the demon horde, pulsing out enough celestial energy to purify the commanding demon in front of her and all the lesser fiends in a five meter radius. A quarterstaff solidifies in her hand as she dashes further in, the white weapon flashing with celestial energy with every foe it strikes.

Elsa watches as fiends, minor demons and middle demons alike wither and disappear under the power of heaven's energy. Within seconds, Elsa and the rest of her team have carved five separate paths through the enemy force.

The blond hums an upbeat tune under her breath, matching her speed and her faster-than-sound attacks. It's a distraction that helps her forget angelic conditioning when vague human logic fails her – which it often does.

Demons are souls, as are the Fallen. It's not right to choose their destiny for them.

It's not right to let them do the same to mortals, either.

Elsa hums louder, wishing she could fall back on her Justice training of regarding the beings of hell as unwanted or outdated household items. But she can never go back to that mindset, not after all she's been through with Anna.

Anna was different, though. Elsa thinks, distracting herself. Anything to help take her mind off the light she's pouring into the unwilling. Anna wasn't broken completely. She couldn't be, not without becoming a real threat to the devil and his seat of power. The rest of the Fallen have been warped to be like demons, and demons are—

She stops her thought, because demon's aren't incapable of feeling positive emotion; they can, but they've been trained to hate it through torture and conditioning. It is possible to train a demon to be good, but it's just that – training. With a lot of time and effort—at least ten times more than what Elsa invested into Anna—a demon are capable of truly change their ways, but it's not entirely likely. It'd be like a lower class demon trying to turn a Justice primary; unless the elite angel was already having inclinations towards the darkness—in which they wouldn't be in the field of duty, anyway—the demon's efforts would be in vain.

Elsa spins her quarterstaff, slamming it into a commander's chest, and sending him tumbling. If that attack had landed on any lesser demon on the field he would have been purified instantly. The light is stronger than the darkness, after all.

The demon snarls at her, but Elsa laughs and continues humming, countering the commander's attacks without thought.

Lost in a rage at Elsa's laughing, the demon fails to notice Merida appearing behind him, and he takes the full brunt of her celestial blast.. Elsa goes back-to-back with the woman as she solidifies a bow, not bothering to watch the demon commander disintegrate.

"Overwhelmed?" Elsa inquires, slamming the butt of her quarterstaff into the ground and purifying the hordes of fiends and demons around her.

"Five of the commanders concentrated themselves and their forces on me." Merida responds, unleashing arrows in a blur. "I may be good at close quarters, but I certainly don't like doing it. Too much fancy hand work."

Elsa chuckles, swinging her staff into a fiend's jaw. His body disintegrates before it hits the ground. "You could take to the sky." The redhead snorts.

"And make myself the biggest target on the field? No thank you."

"Well, I'm going to head to a different area of the field if you insist on staying here. No need for both of use to be in the same place unnecessarily."

"Works for me." Merida allows. "There's a piece of the army north of us that hasn't been affected by our assault yet. Go give them heaven."

No sooner than the redhead finished, Elsa teleports to there. She grins at the commander in front of her and snaps her quarterstaff into his face. Celestial energy ripples out, shredding his allies around him and sending their forms hissing out of existence.

The demon roars, the unpurified half of her body twitching with rage. It's a chilling sound, but nothing can affect Elsa quite like fighting Red Sunshine had.

"There's a human saying." Elsa murmurs, avoiding the half-monster's attacks and countering with deadly precision. "Something about living in eternal hell for wrongdoings, as if that's the worst fate imaginable. But it's not, is it?" Elsa sharpens one end of her staff and plunges it through the commander's chest. The blond smiles. "It's going to heaven, gaining celestial morals and having to deal with the deeds you'd done under demonic influence." The demon's eyes widen, fear flashing within their hollow depths. "Good luck." Elsa whispers, pulsing enough energy into the tip of her staff to purify the commander.

For a second Elsa closes her eyes, and takes a breath.

Every soul is meant to learn their lessons over time and under their own will, not forced to see something before they're ready.

The next second Elsa continues fighting, desperately trying to believe in the human logic that allows her to fight as she is.

A devilish screech comes from at the of the horde; Elsa snaps her head to the noise.

The source is an eleven foot beast with leathery black skin and sharp blades protruding from its form.

A pet of the devil. Elsa muses. How unexpected. Turning her staff into a sword, Elsa teleports to the beast's shoulders and stabs it through the neck. A blade erupts from its skin; slicing inches from Elsa's face and sending her teleporting away in a flash.

The beast's beady black eyes snap to her before it howls to the heavens, setting Elsa's teeth on edge. It's howling is cut off by an arrow to the jaw, before a spear lodges into its chest.

The beast snarls, readying to charge, when both celestial weapons explode, blasting a thick purification haze.

The beast emerges from the purification with smoking skin, the fumes reeking of volcanic ash. It roars in pain and ire.

That doesn't discourage the archangels, who continue striking with precision at the creature's most vulnerable points.

Elsa blows her hair out of her eyes, impressed by the beast's fortitude despite the attacks. Then again, she probably shouldn't be – the devil's pets are subjected to unimaginable horrors. It's one of the reasons celestial forces try to take them out first on the odd occasion they appear; they take forever to purify.

The beast erupts into rays of light merely feet from the front-lines, felled by Hercules.

"I really don't like those things." Shang huffs, spearing a nearby fiend and marvelling at how quickly it purifies in comparison to the thing they just took down. And Elsa's brain agrees that that creature was indeed a thing. She'd be able to sense a soul in it, tainted or otherwise, it if wasn't.

"I'd be worried if you did." Hercules says, slicing through multiple demons. "You three continue causing heaven in their ranks. It makes my team's job of protecting your lower angels a lot easier when you lot are drawing the focus of the more powerful demons."

"On it." Shang says, gone in a blink of an eye.

Elsa simply teleports to another area of the field, emitting a purifying shockwave. The two demon left standing whirl to face Elsa. The blond smiles, changing her sword back into a quarterstaff. She picks up her humming again, dashing forward and smacking both demons in quick succession before they even realized she'd moved.

By the time they do, she's already prepared a counterstrike, bringing down one of the high demons. The remaining demon eyes her wary, taking on a defensive stance. Black energy characteristic of a demon by birth slides over his skin.

A tainted sword slides through her from behind.

Elsa blinks, staring down at the tip of the blade protruding from her chest. The feeling makes her groggy, but she still manages to teleport away, landing square in the middle of the angelic forces. The blond collapses to her knees clutching the wound on her chest, watching her golden flaked silver blood drip to the ground. Her thoughts are hazy, disconnected. She knows she should heal herself, but the knowledge is gone as soon as it arrives.

She comes to her senses gasping, a troubled Tarzan hovering above her with a glowing hand.

"Relax." He says. "I've healed most of you, but I'm still trying to get the liquid taint out of your system."

Liquid taint. A demon's version of poison.

Elsa grits her teeth, Anna's anxious warning ringing in her mind.

I could lose you forever. She'd said, pacing. This is war. Angels Fall during times like these, and I don't care if you're an archangel or not, because I took down a lot of you when I was among hell's ranks.

You were an exception. Elsa had calmly refuted. Not all demons or Fallen can overwhelm the light. The darkness is naturally weaker to us – like how a candle can instantly brighten a room, despite its size.

Not all. Anna had agreed. But some . . . other than Satan there was no one who truly rivaled my strength, but that doesn't mean there aren't plenty of worthy competitors – even for an archangel like yourself.

Maybe Elsa should have taken the time to ask for specific details instead of merely heeding the warning.

"Who got you?" Tarzan asks when he finishes, pulling Elsa to her feet. The blond sways uneasily for a moment.

"I'm not entirely sure." Elsa confesses. "One moment I was facing off against a high demon, the next there was a sword through my chest, from the opposite direction. I couldn't even sense anyone there." She frowns. "I think we have an elite on the field."

"Which elites use poison?" Tarzan wonders aloud, gazing in the direction of the horde, mostly blocked by fighting angels.

"Probably the ones we never see." Elsa answers, condensing her celestial energy into a quarterstaff. "Send out a warning—"

Elsa falters on her feet and collapses, painfully grasping her chest. Without her focus keeping her staff solid, it disintegrates into thin air.

"Elsa!" A muffled voice shouts.

Advanced taint poison. Elsa thinks, pondering how the taint could go unnoticed. How intriguing.

Then she's screaming and clawing at her hair, attracting the attention of the startled angels around her. Tarzan tries healing her again, but Elsa gets the feeling that it's too late.

"Anna!" Elsa finds herself screaming, wanting nothing more than her twin flame comforting her with sweet nothings, even if she knows they aren't true.

She's been tainted, just like her other half feared.

Mulan, not so much hearing a cry of distress but feeling it in her bones, teleports to the origin of the signal. She stares down at the blond in horror, watching the archangel of Truth writhe in pain. She glances to the equally distressed Tarzan, trying his best to heal whatever ails his fellow angel.

"I don't understand!" He says, his eyes wide. "I removed all the taint, I swear I did! I scanned her system three times just to make sure. How can this be happening?"

Demonic energy pulses outwards, sending the lower class angels flying in all directions. Hans stands at the source, a crooked grin on its face. "This is happening because I'm interested to know the result. I've been hiding this particular invention for longer than you could imagine, waiting for a prime opportunity such as this."

Elsa cackles, throwing her head back in hysterical—if panicked—laughter. It reminds Mulan of Red Sunshine when she was captured, and the resemblance scares the archangel.

Hans chortles, but it's a dark, grating sound. "Look at her; she's taking so well to the taint. How much residue had to have been in her system to achieve that, do you think? I think the thousands of years she's invested in Anna's recovery might have done it."

Anna's name snaps Elsa's priorities in order, because she stops screaming and fighting the taint. She pushes to her feet and turns to Hans, an un-angelic like scowl marring her features.

Hans frowns. Elsa takes in a breath and barks a laugh. It isn't a pure sound.

"Your energy tastes a little more foul then I suspect it should. What's wrong, are you scared? You should be."

Mulan pales. Only tainted energy can taste the way Elsa is referring, and if it's already strong enough for her to pick up abnormalities, then they're in trouble. Mulan sends a distress signal up to heaven, even though she already knows the battle is being watched with keen eyes. They need someone to help the blond archangel before the taint worsens.

Rapunzel, a Health primary, appears in the field. She must have been on stand-by.

Before she can even raise her hand, Elsa launches herself forward in a shockwave. In less than a blink of an eye, both she and Hans are nowhere to be seen.

"By the light, I purify you!" Elsa's voice echoes back to them, from an unseen direction.

A screech from the other end of the field signifies another devil's pet has joined the fighting, and reminds the Justice vanguards that the battle is still being waged.

"Don't worry about Elsa or me – go fight." Rapunzel says, her wings snapping into existence. "I was a celestially linked human enough times to defend myself upon necessity." She leaps into the air, forming a shield around her as she scans for Elsa's presence.

It takes an uncomfortable, unnecessary extra few seconds to locate the platinum blond's energy signal. She grits her teeth upon realizing why.

Elsa's soul isn't purely celestial, anymore.

How can taint spread that fast without being manually administered? Rapunzel wonders, transporting to the fighting duo and separating them with a blast of energy. She pins them to the ground with celestial restraints, her wings flashing out of existence when she rushes to Elsa's side, quickly falling to her knees and setting about healing the taint twisting inside her.

Elsa, screams in both agony and relief.

Hans bellows in anger, his demonic energy spitting. His body, even protected by clothes, hisses and smokes at the proximity of celestial energy to his skin. A smart part of Rapunzel's brain realizes the look of fear in his eyes as one only a worthy competitor could garner, but the elite archangel doesn't care. She's not a part of Justice; her goal isn't to fight, it's to administer healing to all that need for it.

Hans' black magic hazes out like smoke, making the angels surrounding him back off. Rapunzel seals the elite demon in a dome. The last thing she wants is for him to taint anyone else.

A shockwave of celestial energy slams into Rapunzel, and she glances up in shock when she recognizes the signature. She'd know that energy anywhere.

"Anna, go home!" Rapunzel shouts, her chest clenching as the redhead approaches their position, her eyes locked on Hans' struggling form.

"Let me out!" The demon hollers, struggling against his bindings. "I don't care about the archangel you're healing anymore – just don't let her near me and I'll retreat the entire army!"

"Anna." Elsa croaks, reaching out to her. Anna blinks and glances to her twin flame, her instinct to purify Hans dissipating.

The redhead scampers to her partner's side, holding the platinum blond's hand as tightly as she dares. "Hey." Anna whispers, forcing a smile. "How are you doing?"

"Been better, obviously." Elsa chuckles, wincing. "I should have been more careful."

Anna shrugs. "I was watching. He hazed in and out quicker than you could have registered it; he's a shadow type demon, after all. They're meant for flying under the radar." She sends Hans a look over her shoulder, making him wince. "It's incredibly hard to catch one." She murmurs, pushing to her feet. Elsa tries to stop her, but their hands slip apart before she can. The redhead steps up to the celestial barrier. "Hello, Hans."

The demon tries to hide his fear through a cocky smirk. "Why hello, Anna. You know, I never thought you could be more infuriating than you were as Red Sunshine, but you've proved me wrong. You as an uptight, know-it-all angel is even worse."

Anna frowns. "Angels are incapable of being uptight or know-it-all's."

"That's what I mean!" Hans cackles. "By Satan, you're so insufferable. At least when you were a demon you had a range of emotions less binding than the monotone you carry now."

Anna's eyebrows fall into an unamused line. "I won't rise to the bait; you know I won't. Why are you even trying?"

Hans' eyes darken and a twisted grin splits his face. "Who said it was you I was trying to bait?"

The angel's eyes widen in fear and she whirls. Elsa snarls and fights against her bindings, a frantic Rapunzel trying to regulate the taint.

"Not everything is about you, you know." Hans chuckles.

"What type of poison did you use?" Anna clips, the muscles in her jaw clenching. As a primary, the small amount of liquid taint introduced to Elsa's veins should have been easy to extract. So why is Rapunzel struggling?

"One you're not familiar with, I assure." Hans says, uninterested.

"Release your barrier on him, Rapunzel." Anna grits, turning to face the man. "I'm going to purify his soul." Hans' eyes light with fear.

Rapunzel hesitates. "You used to be a Fallen, Anna, and as a celestial being you're only an angel. It's not safe for you to fight an elite demon."

"Who said I was planning on playing fair?" Anna asks, and it's a genuine question. "With the new poison this shadow has created, he's put the lives of all celestial souls into jeopardy; but I know him." She turns, staring at Hans with a cold logic of an angel that scares him to pieces. "Hans is extremely private with his work. He even admitted that this is a new invention he's had sitting in his vault, waiting for a prime opportunity to use. I'd bet my link with heaven that he's the only one who knows how to make it, so what happens to the recipe when suddenly Hans isn't on the devil's side anymore?"

Rapunzel nods, slowly. "Okay." She allows. "But I'm calling in the Justice primaries to do it."

Elsa roars and rips at her restraints, the taint within her hissing at the wrists.

"No!" She screams, fighting even harder when two primaries teleport in, approaching the now accessible Hans. "Let me! I want to kill him! He doesn't deserve heaven! Hans! Hey, Hans!" The demon, even in his fear of the approaching elite archangels, glances to the blond. She sends him a smile. "I'm going to crack open your skull and eat your brains, just so I know you're dead."

The familiar phrase sends a chill down Anna's spine, and she glances desperately to Rapunzel. "We need to get her off this battlefield." She insists. "We need to get her away from Hans and this war. The darkness is too tempting, here."

Rapunzel winces. "We can't bring Elzima back to heaven." She says, sending Anna a look so pitying it turns Anna's blood cold. She doesn't need to ask what the Health primary means. There's only one reason a being is not allowed on sanctified ground.

Elsa's lost her celestial connection.

Anna stumbles over and falls to her knees beside her raging twin flame. She barely recognizes her. The redhead swallows harshly. "She doesn't have black wings though, right?"

"Not yet." Rapunzel says, jaw clenching. "Whatever Hans injected her with is something of a conversion poison. First it weakens, then it makes the angel Fall and, while the angel is in mourning, it converts their soul to accept demonic energy in the same quantity it once accepted celestial."

Hans screams in the background, crying out bloody murder as the two Justice primaries start purifying his soul in chunks. Anna ignores his anguish.

"So she's . . .?"

Rapunzel nods. "But as long as I can stop the full conversion and we can keep her away from the depravity of hell, these effects can be reversible. It won't be easy, but it's doable." The elite archangel sighs. "I need to call in more Health primaries, just in case. I can't risk not being able to put a wedge in the conversion and her celestial side being burned out forever."

Anna nods and moves out of the way, vaguely aware of Hans disintegrating. She doesn't find any joy in knowing he might live in eternal, suffering by having to deal with his actions since birth from a newly acquired heavenly point of view. It saddens her as an angel, even though it was his doing that might rip Elsa away from her forever.

While it is possible to purify a Fallen in the same regard as a demon, it doesn't have the same effect. A Fallen quite literally gets its soul shredded to is reborn again. And since Anna and Elsa had never met before, Anna can only assume this has happened to Elsa before. Possibly to both of them.

Anna covers her mouth and squeezes her eyes shut.

It takes uncountable centuries to redevelop a reborn soul, and they never remember who they were before it happened.

"Please save her." Anna pleads.

It's never been easy with them, but hopefully this time they can actually make it work.

Anna glances at her cackling twin flame, cruelty flaring in the blond's eyes.