Arianna nodded when Kisheto seemed comfortable with the gun. She turned and looked up at the third floor, then focused on how she would get to the top. With her rapier in hand, Arianna walked around the outskirts of the courtyard in the mall, gingerly stepping over the dead gang members and the blood puddles they were creating. The carnage made her feel sick, and she stopped to catch the breath she’d been holding as she quickly, but carefully made her way across to the other side. She leant against the wall, looking anywhere but at the bloody mess in the courtyard. She felt like she’d see those dead faces every time she closed her eyes, now.

[b][i]”It’s alright, Arianna,”[/b][/i] Castiel murmured, trying to console her. Of course, to Castiel, this was nothing. He’d seen worse in the void, and didn’t quite understand how Arianna could feel this way about dead gang members. Hadn’t they done wrong? Hadn’t they killed innocents? He did suspect Iktomi of foul play, especially since his kage was Arachnia, but the gang members did seem like awful men. Their death would probably bring more good than bad to Sovereign.

Arianna took a deep breath and nodded, standing straight again. “I’m fine,” she murmured, hoping it would help her psyche focus on something else. She stepped through an opening into the inside part of the mall. The glass door had shattered long ago, and Arianna simply stepped through the frame. There were a few dead bodies lining the hallway, their guns laying aimlessly next to them. While a gun was a better way to defend oneself, Arianna preferred the use of a sword, dagger, or rapier. She thought using a gun was cold, and didn’t make the death a right one. It didn’t give anyone a chance to defend themselves, it was impersonal, and it almost dehumanized them. Castiel had taught her to honor every life form, because even though the onikage inside of a host is evil, the host really didn’t have a choice. One could never tell if the host was just as corrupt as it’s onikage, or was corrupted by one.

Upon finding a stairwell, Arianna began to jog up it, her rapier outstretched in front of her in case anything unexpected and unwelcome popped out. As she went up the stairs, the dead bodies thinned out, but as she was almost at the top, it thickened. She was glad when she stepped into the hallway and out of the fuming stairwell. The empty hallway made her a little uncomfortable, but she just guessed that all of the others were in the only room that was on this floor. She paused at the door, taking a deep breath. With a small nod, Arianna pushed open the door and stepped inside.