Souji and the others were standing in front of the door that would have lead them to the boss of that damned labyrinth.
They wondered about his physical appearance, maybe he was a cupid, maybe. What was sure was that he must be related with love due to the theme of the labyrinth: a date café.
The pink of the door and the representation of two kids kissing each other was overwhelming disgusting, too diabetic. Souji put his hand with hesitation on the door knob.
"Are you ready?" asked with an apparent neutral tone, because he didn't want the others to figure out his uneasiness. Beyond the door, there would had been the boss and, even more important, the answer about his ideal partner.
His friends nodded silently, even more excited than him about the love stuff. Fuuka reminded him to be careful and that she would have provided help all alone because Rise was offended due to the love inquiry that started up without her permission.
The door opened up slowly, revealing a room with astonishing pink and white walls, in which, creepy smiling dolls were represented. In the centre of the room there were two man-sized peluches: a male and a female bears in wedding clothes.
Just seeing them was enough to chill the bones of everyone.
Suddenly the mechanic voice, that asked Souji about love stuff during their labyrinth exploration, spoke up, Naoto, frightened, screamed and her cheeks become of a very intense red.
"You've finally reached the last door where you'll find out who you ideal partner is"
"This nightmare is going to end. Finally" muttered Chie that wasn't happy about "the partner thing" from the beginning. She and the sweetness didn't get along.
The voice continued apparently ignoring what the girl said.
"Without hesitation we're going to see who is it"
A drum roll resounded in the room for several seconds before a cone of light appeared from the "ceiling" and enlightened Yosuke.
"What the he...?"
the Junes guy wasn't able to finish the phrase because a trap door opened up under his and Souji's feet. They found themselves falling in a pitch-black hole for a very long time before seeing the light.
"Hey! I've never expected such flawless landing!" said Yosuke before realizing the reason why he was unharmed. He landed on Yu that externalise a very painful facial expression.
"Sorry partner!" he hurried to stand up and to give an hand to help his best friend.
"Are you okay?" asked him with a worried and guilty tone. Souji nodded and grabbed Yosuke's hand to stand up.
Where they landed was a totally different room from the others of the labyrinth. A colorful flowered garden that seemed to extend itself to the infinity, divided in two by the path where the two were. A light blue "sky" was above them, full of fluffy clouds and the air was extremely fresh, especially compared to the nasty smell of cheap sweet perfume spread in the labyrinth. That place was, in few words, an heaven in earth.
"You have reached the place where your true love can be expressed. The great day has come, please step forth or…don't step forth. These are your apparent options"
Proclaimed the mechanic voice that seemed coming, as the other times, from nowhere and this was very creepy.
"What the hell are talking about? We're not…" Yosuke started complaining with wrath in is voice though his cheeks turned red.
"Please, step forth" commanded the voice. An awkward silent fell and Yosuke was trying to find the words to continue his complaining, without results. His embarrassment was too intense.
"Yosuke" the voice of Souji brought back the Junes-boy to the reality "I can't see any exit, we should step forth and explore this place while the others were looking for a way to reach us" and he started to proceed step by step carefully along the the path, pretty sure that his partner would have followed him.
The two walked for several minutes and realized that place, apparently an heaven in earth, was starting to reveal its real nature: a goddamned trap in which you felt like you were walking in the middle of nowhere.
They were about to turn back when they noticed something ahead and, after exchanging each other a rapid glance, they started running before that thing disappeared.
"Maybe I'm bit repetitive… but what the hell?!" mourned Yosuke dropping his kunai and also Souji was speechless.
A large picture representing Yosuke and Souji hugging each, respectively wearing a bride and groom dresses, was standing in a tiny square.
"Here there is a picture of the happy couple showing their love during the great day. Now step forth, so you could vow each other your eternal love" commanded again the voice, with that neutral tone that would have given nerves even to the calmest people of the universe.
Suddenly a huge building appeared in front of the two: the architecture of the building was based on verticalism and, next to it there was a taller but less wider structure provided of bells: in the complex it was a gothic church.
"Are you kidding, aren't you?" mourned Yosuke, thinking that the whole story was driving him to craziness. He felt his knees falling down when Souji grabbed his right hand and started walking toward the entrance of the goddamned strange creepy church. After few seconds the Junes-boy managed to recover from the dismay and shacked off his hands from the Souji's one.
"Partner, are you serious?! You don't mean…nah, you can't…well you-know-what" muttered the brown-haired boy with sheepishly tone.
"We must proceed or this story will never end. We will be blocked here for the rest of our life. Surely the voice is driving us to a trap but… we don't have any choice. Together we will manage to overcome everything. I trust you Yosuke, do you trust me?" said Souji with a very serious tone seeking with the gaze the Yosuke's that, in response, was trembling "Y-yeah"
After few seconds the two opened the great church's door and the Mendelssohn's Wedding March spread in the air and Yosuke grabbed Souji's hand and tightened it, incapable to hide that he was frightened.
"Let us pray!" shouted a deep booming voice from the bottom of the church. A strange silhouette was standing at the altar giving them his shoulders. He was taller than a normal human being and was wearing a strange priest hat, similar to a sombrero and black priest garments. Abruptly that being rose his arms, that were four, and turned in their direction, revealing his ugly appearance: blonde bowl cut hairs, skin full of sores and of a pink similar to the decaying meat but, the most terrible thing was his face, in fact his eyes and his mouth were sewed.
"Time to say your vow" boomed again the being while was proceding toward them in a intimidating way.
"Damnit! He must be the guardian of this labyrinth!" said frightened Yosuke, he was shaking but Souji put his right hand on his shoulder in a reassuring way.
"TIME TO SAY YOUR VOW!" said again the shadow before summoning several coffins and climbing astride one of them. Chains appeared from nowhere and bonded the cleric to his "personal" coffin.
"It's time for you to meet your creator. Your end has come!"
The guardian was about to punch the two but a fire barrier blocked his attack.
Chie, Yukiko, Ken, Akihiko, Naoto finally had arrived.
"Just in time uh?" sighed Chie with relief before putting herself in the front line, while the others stayed in the back side in order to give them the best support.
"Do you rebel against you creator? This is sin! Your condemnation will be tremendous!" cried the priest swinging the coffins menacingly, obviously not happy to see the reinforcements.
Yosuke grinned, ready for the battle now thanks to the presence of the others, and summoned his Persona: Jiraya.
"Garula!" order and wind gusts departed the coffins that were ominously approaching.
The priest, in response, conjured four books that held with his four hands.
"Vow me that you won't strike!" said with an intimidating tone.
"I'll never make such vow!" shouted Souji and, lunged his sword against the guardian with the intention of cutting off his arm, but he only managed to scrap it a little.
"Little sheep who flout God! I'll make you respect the vow!" said the clergyman with a solemn voice. The coffins started shining and, abruptly, hurtled against the leader, except for one of them that proceded with a moderate speed.
Yukiko tried to evoke a wall of flames but she knew that she didn't not make it in time.
Souji closed his eyes, ready to accuse the heavy blow. But he didn't come.
"What?"
Slowly he opened his eyes and saw something worse that the one he was expecting: Yosuke had managed to take the hit at his place thanks to his high agility.
The silver-haired-guy wasn't able to ascertain his partner conditions because the last coffin sucked him inside and went away.
"YOSUKE!" cried Souji ready to chase that damned thing but Ken pulled his jacket
"We must kill the boss or we will not be able to rescue him!" said the child, revealing to Souji his mature nature despite he was only eleven.
This painful but true words drove the attention and the anger of the leader to the guardian. Ken was right, he must kill that bastard, or Yosuke could have suffer more in that damned coffin.
"Lost sheep, I tie you up! More vows! More penance!"
The priest was ready to read again his books and to bind them to another stupid vow, but the group was ready to prevent it. Yukiko evoked flames that burned all the coffins surrounding the guardian, except that one containing Yosuke. Ken, Akihiko and Yu focused their power and released at the same time it as a powerful lightening that burned the shadow in no time. Even finding his ashes would have been hard to find after that attack.
The enemy was defeated, he and his damned coffins were gone, at least all the coffins except the one in which there was Yosuke, that landed on the floor with a thud.
"Yosuke!" cried Souji while he was running toward his friend's "prison" without wasting any other time, even if he was tired after that fight.
He must rescue his friend and ascertain about his condition. The others followed him, worried about Yosuke too.
The leader removed the lid of the coffin and his face become extremely pale, Yukiko screamed and the others' facial expressions ranged from the dismay to mortification.
Yosuke was lying in the coffin with open wide eyes, his chest and his belly were pierced by huge fragments of wood and, from the wounds, deep red blood was flowing in sharp contrast to the white of his body.
"No…no, it can't be…" sobbed Souji. He didn't want to believe it. Yosuke wasn't dead, that was a damned illusion created by the guardian to deceive them. It must be so!
He pinched himself in order to dissolve the illusion but it was useless. That wasn't an illusion at all.
"YUKIKO! HEAL HIM! QUICK!" ordered to the red-girl that boggled from the unexpected rude request but she nodded and started casting healing spells on Yosuke. She tried and tried until she fainted. That was useless. You couldn't heal someone who is already dead.
Souji couldn't stop staring with obsessive gaze the face of his friend, seeking for a minimum sign of life, a fragile hope to cling.
"Seta-senpai, Hanamura-senpai…he is…" tried Naoto to say with a cautious tone, but those words generate an uncontrolled anger in Souji that stood up and went toward her with the intention of punching Naoto if Akihiko wouldn't have stopped him in time.
"LIAR! HE'S NOT….he's not…" the boy fell on his knees and started sobbing and tears started to fall.
"We should close his eyes, so it will be as if he is sleeping" suggested shyly Ken, dismayed by the boy's death but not as much as the others that had known Yosuke for a long time than him.
Chie nodded lightly and closed Yosuke's eyes trying to control her shaking hand in order to don't hurt him anymore. As if he could suffer anymore. That deed changed the facial expression of the boy from frightened to dormant, even a bit relaxed.
"Stupid Hanamura! How have you dared to…die! Idiot! Stupid! Idiot! IDIOT!" cried the girl with shrill tone hoarse from crying.
Suddenly Souji stood up and, walked toward Yosuke. Akihiko looked at him with an inquiring gaze, worried about a possible attack toward Chie. It wasn't what Souji was going to do.
He knelt on the lifeless body of his friend and pulled off the damned fragments from his body
"You had been great partner!" whispered to the other's left ear and lifted the body and tightened him in a strong, intense hug. He didn't care at all about dirtying his clothes with Yosuke's blood. It's not dirty at all, it was Yosuke!
The others observed the scene with a certain uneasiness. They all knew how strong was the bound that tied them, and so their suffering was even "shallow" compared to the Souji's one.
"Let's exit from this damned place. I don't want him to stay here for another second longer" said the leader to the others and kissed gently Yosuke's cold forehead before picking him up.
"When we return back we'll give him an honorable funeral. He his…was great" he wasn't able to finish his phrase because the right words didn't come to his mouth, but remained in his heart.
Yosuke had been his best friend, the one who stayed at his side every single moment from their first meeting. The true friend that is for the whole life. Though the Fate has made the whole life only an infamous, short, time span. That wasn't fair, he had deserved to live more.
Thousand and thousand of these types of thoughts was spreading into Souji's head while they walked to the exit of the labyrinth that opened up after the guardian's death. None talked, none has the strength to do it.
That day the loss had far exceeded what they had gained by defeating that damned priest.
You'll always be in my heart partner