So! This is a strange one. I was watching... something, I don't remember what it was, when I thought, "Hey, what if Namatame's Shadow didn't just control the way people moved, but just outright possessed them?" And that's how this AU came about.
Also, I'm using the plural of senpai as just senpai because I don't want to think about how that works and it'll probably end up getting complicated if I spend too much time on it. (And there's not really a difference between singular and plural words in Japanese so does it matter? I don't know)
There are going to be seven chapters (I've planned them all out!) And I'm writing chapters two and seven at the same time while I haven't started on any of the others.
So this was it. This was all that they had fought for. This was the end of the murders, the end of people being shoved inside TVs, possibly even the end of the Midnight Channel itself.
But as the eight of them ran inside the dungeon, they couldn't think about what they'd been through, or how far they'd come, or what they'd had to do, had to face in order to get to where they were. Right now, it was just Nanako and Namatame. Nothing else mattered.
"Okay!" Yu said, still sounding like the cool and collected leader he always was, despite the circumstances. "This is going to be the day we stop Namatame and get Nanako out of here. I know it." He smiled slightly. Of course he did. They were getting his surrogate sister – everyone's surrogate sister – back home safe, and stopping this madness once and for all. "We're sticking with the same teams as yesterday. I think that seemed to work well." He turned to Yosuke, Chie, and Yukiko with a grin. "Let's do this."
The other three second-years nodded enthusiastically as they followed Yu up to the higher floors of the dungeon, talking about what was most likely a battle strategy the whole way up. They were running, their energy renewed for maybe the last round of this whole cycle of saving people.
Kanji hadn't been on the front lines of a fight since the last dungeon – that time, he really would have been pissed if Yu hadn't let him go. Yu knew that, of course. He'd just smiled knowingly and without Kanji even telling him what was up, let him come along for the ride. The guy seemed to know just about everything. Sure, Kanji had been slightly... er, irrational last time, but Yu looked like he knew exactly why and he'd worked with that, and everything had turned out okay.
This time, it was okay that Kanji wasn't ascending the floors of the dungeon like everyone else. It was Nanako up there at the top, after all. Every choice was Yu's to make, and if Kanji wasn't the right person to get Nanako out as soon as possible, then so be it. He was just fine down here.
Rise had already summoned Himiko, and the Persona's visor covered her eyes as she pursed her lips in concentration. She probably wanted to be by Yu's side, rather than staying down here, but she had gotten accustomed to her support role pretty well, and by now didn't really mind staying back.
Teddie stayed energetic as always, despite not actually being able to do much. Had Teddie done anything since Rise took his place back after she fought her Shadow? Kanji didn't remember a time when Yu had told him to come and be on the front lines of the fight, but Teddie was probably okay with that. But he still looked somewhat nervous, which was definitely normal for the moment, what with Nanako being up on the top floor. He was probably just as stressed as everyone else.
"Kanji-kun? May I ask you a question for clarification?"
"What?" Kanji whirled around to see Naoto looking right up at him, a puzzled look on her face. "Yeah, what's up?"
"What exactly happens on the lower floors?" Naoto asked, "I've been ascending the dungeon with Yu-senpai and the others until yesterday, and nothing much went on while I was down here. Is that a normal occurrence?" Right. Kanji still wasn't used to seeing her down here. Yu had initially taken her up through the floors of the dungeon, and they had talked strategy nonstop for maybe three days before she got sent down with the rest of them. Yosuke ended up taking her place, and Kanji wasn't sure in what universe that was a good idea.
"Yeah, usually." Kanji shrugged. "Sorry if you were expecting more than just waitin' around."
"It's all right," Naoto said, "What do you usually do in these circumstances?"
"I dunno," Kanji said, "Pretty much just relaxin' and not really doing much."
"Oh." Naoto was looking down at the ground, probably deep in thought. And why wouldn't she be? Everyone was, right now at least. "Kanji-kun?"
"Yo?"
"Are the others going to get Nanako-chan back? From Namatame?"
"Yeah. I mean, we've saved everyone else who's gotten thrown in here. Nanako ain't gonna be any different."
"You're right. Our senpai seem very capable, at least from what I know of them. This has just taken a few days."
"That's what happens every time."
"The dungeons are quite large; it would take a lot of luck and skill to ascend to the top of one as quickly as I expected." Naoto turned to look at Kanji again. "I was only inside the TV world for maybe four or five days. How did your team manage to get through my Shadow's dungeon that fast?"
"You seriously don't know?" Rise grinned from under Himiko's visor. "For an ace detective, I'm surprised you haven't noticed by now, Naoto-kun!"
"I don't know what you're talking about," Naoto said.
Rise just giggled. "I'm sure you'll find out eventually!" Kanji could practically see her wink, even though her eyes were covered.
"Rise-chan!" Teddie said, "How's Sensei doing? Have they found that grizzly yet?"
"Don't distract her, bear!" Kanji said, punching him in the shoulder.
"Kanji! That wasn't beary nice!"
"Yeah, well, Nanako-chan's life kinda depends on Rise being able to get a handle on the situation!"
Teddie sighed. "I guess you're right." He slumped down and sat against the wall. After a few seconds of being glum, his eyes brightened. "Wait a second! It can be a party, now that Nao-chan's here!"
"What?" Naoto asked, "I mean, I'm not a very social person, I've never very much enjoyed parties."
"I didn't mean it literally, silly bear!" Teddie said, "I just thought that we could have a little fun down here!"
"Guys!" Rise said, "They've found Namatame's Shadow!"
"That was fast," Kanji said, "Now we just have to wait for them to take it out."
"It's got a weakness," Rise said, "It won't be very long." She put her hands to her temples, fierce in concentration on a Shadow no one else on the lower floors could see. Kanji wondered what Namatame's Shadow looked like. Did it look remotely like him, or was it a different beast entirely? He wouldn't ever really know, but it was interesting to think about.
"Yes!" Teddie shouted, "Go Sensei!"
"Y'know they can't hear you, right?"
Kanji asked.
"That doesn't matter!" Teddie said, "It's the thought that counts!"
"Rise, do things look well for everyone else?" Naoto asked.
"Yeah, it looks pretty good!" Rise said, "There isn't really going to be a problem here!"
"I smell a rat," Kanji said, "Namatame threw us all into the TV, it just seems too easy for us to just run in there and kick his ass."
"It really does," Naoto said, "If Namatame's behind all this, he must have some sort of supernatural influence over this world. He has to try to use his power here, if he wants to take us out at all."
"Or maybe we're just gettin' cocky," Kanji said, "Maybe this ain't easy at all."
"Guys, shut up!" Rise said, "We're not going to get ahead and save Nanako if we don't believe we can do it!"
"Yeah!" Teddie said, "We need to think positive!"
"We also need to take a realistic approach to this," Naoto said, "Nothing good ever comes out of blindly rushing into things."
"Yeah, I know," Rise said, "But Naoto-kun, I know you haven't been here very long, but I know we can do this, and Nanako's going to be back home in no time. It's just like all the other Shadows. We know the drill."
"But that's what Naoto was gettin' at earlier!" Kanji said, "This ain't like all the other frickin' Shadows! Namatame's gonna bypass the bullshit here. He knows exactly what he's doing if he knows enough about the TV world to throw us all in!"
"Don't fight, you guys!" Teddie stood up and pouted. "That isn't going to help anything!"
"Yes, you're right." Naoto sighed. "We need to let Rise concentrate on what Namatame's Shadow is doing."
They all stayed silent while Rise worked on scanning the top floor. The faint buzzing noise from Himiko's scanner was the only sound for a while.
About two minutes later, no one had moved. They couldn't afford to distract Rise now. Over the course of the battle, her mouth had gone from a wide grin to a grimace and everything in between.
"God, Yosuke's being such an idiot." Rise giggled. "I tried to tell him not to use that spell, but he wouldn't hear it from me and now he's complaining again-!" The smile on her face quickly turned to a frown as her face went pale. "Crap, that was fast."
"What happened?" Teddie asked.
"Namatame just did something and I have no idea what it was," Rise said.
"See, what was I sayin'?" Kanji said, "I told you the bastard had somethin' up his sleeve!"
"We still don't know his strategies," Naoto said, "He could potentially do anything."
"Yeah," Rise said, "It's a scary thought."
"But we have to do somethin', yeah?" Kanji asked.
"Yeah! We can't let that grizzly get away!" Teddie said, "We're going to save Nanako-chan, and br-" his eyes widened as he looked up at something above Naoto's head. "N-Nao-chan?"
"What is it?" Naoto asked.
"Ya might wanna look up," Kanji said. Above Naoto's head was a weird metal halo... thing. Kanji had no idea where it had come from. It seemed to appear out of thin air.
"What is that?" Naoto looked up, brows furrowed in concentration. "I didn't even notice it until you pointed it out."
"I have no idea," Rise said, "Do you feel any different?"
"No..." Naoto said, "I feel fine. Nothing seems really wrong."
"Okay, good," Rise said. She turned to Kanji, a smirk starting to grow on her face. "Kanji, keep an eye on her for the time being, will you?"
"What the hell?" Kanji asked, "Why me?" Rise's smirk only got bigger. Of course. She was in one of her stubborn moments, the kind where she wouldn't change her mind, and wouldn't let anyone change it for her. Great. Just great. "Okay, fine."
"Good," Rise said. She finally seemed to be content.
"Has anything else happened to Sensei?" Teddie asked.
"Nope," Rise said, "They're all fine."
"Okay, good!" Teddie said, "I just don't want them to get hurt."
"No one does," Kanji said, "We just want to get this over with and get the hell outta here."
Everyone let out a sigh and sat down against the wall, completely silent and frozen in contemplation and thought.
Naoto was the first one to get up. She shot up off the ground in an instant, almost silently. The metal halo whirred, starting to spin rapidly.
"Whoa, what's up?" Kanji asked. He stood up and looked around.
"I-I don't know!" Naoto said, "My – it seems like I'm moving entirely on my own." Her eyes were wide, although Kanji couldn't tell whether it was surprise, fear, or something else entirely.
"What?!" Rise stood up. "That doesn't make any sense!"
"This must have been Namatame's goal to win this battle," Naoto said. Her teeth were clenched, probably from trying to gain control of her limbs back. That was creepier to think about than it initially seemed to be. "If I do anything to harm any of you, I apologize in advance."
"It's okay!" Kanji said, "It ain't your fault."
"Just try not to kill us, okay?" Rise said.
Slowly, Naoto's hand moved to her pocket. Everyone else's eyes wouldn't leave it, and followed it the whole way. They followed it as her hands trembled, pulling her gun out of her pocket and raising it slowly, obviously against her will.
She raised it until it was exactly level with Kanji's chest.
"Nao-chan, what are you doing?" Teddie asked. He had jumped up at this point, almost frantic.
Naoto's eyes widened as she started to pull the trigger.
"Kanji-kun, duck!"
And duck he did. Just as the gunshot went off, Kanji hit the floor as fast as he possibly could. The bullet grazed the tip of his left shoulder and probably tore a hole through his jacket, but he could handle that. Sure, his mom would be pissed off and worried sick, and she'd demand to know everything that happened to him, but he'd get over that. He could think of a story later. At least he wasn't dead. That would really suck.
"Kanji! Are you okay?" Teddie ran over to him, as fast as the costume could allow. "That was beary close!"
"I'm fine," Kanji said, "Someone call Yukiko over here and I'll be back up and kicking ass in no time."
"That's good," Rise said, "I thought it would be a lot worse."
"Still feel like shit."
"That makes sense!" Rise smirked. "You just got shot by your girlfriend!"
"She's not my -" Kanji sighed. There was no convincing Rise that wasn't the case, even though it wasn't even close to that.
"Sure," Rise said, "Not yet." She giggled. "Teddie'll take care of things from here on in."
"I dunno if I'd -"
"Kanji-kun?"
Kanji, Rise, and Teddie all turned around to see Naoto standing rigid and poised, fingers still shaking. She'd managed to gain enough willpower to drop the gun, and it lay a few feet away from her on the floor. The metal halo was still above her head, although it spun slightly slower now and didn't make as much noise. That seemed like a good sign.
"I – I'm very sorry," she said. She sighed. "I should have anticipated that Namatame would try to do something like this."
"No, you shouldn't have," Rise said, putting her arm around Naoto's shoulder, "How were you supposed to know something like that?"
"Rise's right," Kanji said, "It ain't your fault, that's what I've been telling you."
Naoto looked down at the ground. "I just feel awful about all this."
"Namatame's been going easy on us so far," Kanji said, "We're all lucky he didn't make you fire more than one shot. It's gonna get worse, and then you can feel like shit."
Naoto looked back up at Kanji again for a brief second before she dropped to the floor, unconscious. Kanji quickly rushed over to break her fall, despite the throbbing pain in his shoulder.
"Is that it?" Rise asked, "Are we done?"
"I hope so!" Teddie said, "That was beary scary!"
"You're tellin' me," Kanji said.
"We should probably tell everyone else about this," Rise said. She called Himiko again and sighed with relief once the Persona's visor covered her eyes. "The good news is, nothing really happened up on the top floor while we were dealing with this."
"That's great!" Teddie said.
They stayed silent for a while, Rise scanning the main fight on the top floor while Kanji and Teddie both looked over at Naoto, lying on the ground. She looked relatively okay; her breathing was steady enough, and she overall looked more asleep than out cold. Well, that was good. At least she didn't look as shitty as Kanji did.
Everyone was so busy doing whatever they were doing that they didn't notice the same kind of metal halo over Teddie's head until he punched Kanji in the shoulder. Hard.
"Ow, what the hell?!" Kanji was just pissed at first. He'd been shot in that same spot like two minutes ago. Teddie had seen it happen. And this sure as hell wasn't the time to be an asshole about it just for shits and giggles.
"It's not me!" Teddie exclaimed. Of course it wasn't. If it was really him, he'd be flailing his arms around and spazzing out all over the place. Now, he just stood completely, creepily still.
"Shit!" Kanji jumped up to his feet. "We're doing this again?!"
"Like it wasn't annoying last time." Rise sighed. "Can you handle this? I have to keep an eye on everyone else."
"Fine." Kanji balled his fists. If he was going to get this done, he might as well get it over with. "Yo, Ted!"
"Yeah?"
"If I beat you up, know it's all intentional!"
"That isn't beary nice!"
"Neither is Namatame!"
Teddie pouted. "Fine! If that's what it takes to beat that grizzly, I'm all for the cause!"
"Good." Damn, Kanji's shoulder hurt. He wasn't in the position to fight anyone right now, but he didn't have a choice. He owed it to everyone else to do at least what he could, even in these, well, special circumstances.
Teddie took one step towards Kanji, who got into a defensive position, fists up, even though it was pretty uncomfortable and it made his shoulder practically cry out in pain. He just kept telling himself it was worth it, it would be good in the end.
"Hey, Rise!" Kanji said, backing away from Teddie, "Namatame's doin' other stuff up there, right? Cause Teddie's movin' pretty damn slow."
"Just the usual stuff," Rise said, "Nothing out of the ordinary."
"Then he's probably planning some important shit!" Kanji said. He turned around and looked up and down the hallway he was in. Teddie was in front of him, Naoto was still unconscious behind, and Rise was off maybe thirty feet away. And Teddie was getting closer.
Until he suddenly stopped. He stood still for a second before dropping down into a kneeling position, head bowed down.
"Ted, what the hell are you -?!" Kanji stopped. How was Teddie supposed to know what he was doing? Namatame was controlling him, he was the only one who knew what was going on here.
"Kanji, look behind you!" Rise pointed in his general direction, her eyes still covered. "I don't know what it is, but something's definitely there!"
The next ten seconds felt like an eternity as Kanji turned around, feeling like he was moving in slow motion. After keeping his eyes on Teddie for as long as he could, he turned his focus to whatever was behind him.
"Well, you all look very... tired." That was a voice that Kanji knew well, and one that sent a chill up his spine when he heard it. It almost made him plug his ears for a few seconds and check his hearing, because there was no way in hell that he could be hearing it again. It was practically impossible.
Not like anything wasn't practically impossible in a world where a teenage band of misfits decided to jump into TVs to solve a murder case, but this took the cake.
As Naoto opened her eyes and slowly began to stand up again, a familiar flash of yellow glinted in her eyes. That, combined with the tone of her voice, sounded almost exactly like her Shadow.
But they had already beaten her Shadow, right? How was it standing right in front of them right now?
"As I was saying," Naoto – or was it her Shadow? Was there any way to tell? – said, "You look weakened from the fight."
"Hell, yeah, we do!" Kanji said. Who was that? Was it really her? It couldn't have been. It looked too Shadow-like to ever be her, and damn, they had made sure they beat her Shadow to a pulp. What had happened here? The questions kept entering his mind and none of them looked like they would be answered anytime soon.
Naoto chuckled. "You deserve some rest after your ordeal." Her voice had that Shadow-like tint to it, but the creepy part was that it was combined with something sounding particularly empty, almost like Mitsuo's Shadow had been.
"There'll be time for that shit later!" Kanji's eyes narrowed. What the hell was going on?
A thump came from behind Kanji as Teddie hit the floor. Shit. Looking back at Naoto, he realized exactly what that meant. Teddie was going to end up just like her, more like a Shadow than an actual human being.
Wait.
Namatame was getting them all, one at a time. Rise would be next after Teddie, followed by Kanji himself. If Namatame really wanted to screw them over a lot, he'd end up using this shit on the senpai up on the top floor. And then they'd all probably be dead.
"That was unfortunate." Naoto frowned, before an evil glint appeared in her now-yellow eyes. "I suppose I'll just have to deal with you myself."
Oh, shit.
Picking the gun up off the ground, she started walking towards him. Why the hell was she doing this? What had Namatame done to her? The metal halo above her head only spun faster as she raised the gun, only whirring louder and louder as she closed one eye and aimed it. Right at where Rise was standing.
But why Rise? Rise wasn't even doing anything except letting everyone up top know what was going on.
And telling them how to win.
Damn, Namatame was good. He was a sick asshole, but he was good.
"Rise, look out!" Kanji dashed over between her and the gun. Rise still was focused on scanning the top floor, completely unaware of the gun pointed right at her chest.
"What the -?" Rise took a quick look from under Himiko's visor just in time to see Kanji jump in front of her, a gunshot going off just as he did it.
The bullet flew out of the gun, but time seemed to move so slowly that Kanji could see it moving towards him. He could see Naoto's eyes widen in shock as the bullet nailed him right in the leg. Damn, that hurt even worse than his freakin' shoulder did.
"Kanji, what was that for?" Rise looked at him, confused.
"Did ya want Naoto to screw everyone else over?" Kanji asked.
Rise rolled her eyes. "You're an idiot." She took a bottle out of her pocket and tossed it across the hallway to him. "Yu-senpai gave me this to use in an emergency. I think this constitutes as one."
"Thanks." Kanji opened the bottle, seeing it was filled with a cloudy, pink-ish liquid. It looked kinda gross, sorta like Pepto-Bismol, but if it made him feel less shitty, then looks didn't really matter, right? He downed the entire bottle in one gulp, waiting for it to take effect.
Which it did almost instantly. In about ten seconds, he went from feeling like utter crap to feeling slightly drowsy to being completely passed out on the floor.
He closed his eyes right after a metal halo began to form above Rise's head.
And the last thing he ended up hearing was the clatter of something hitting the floor.