The ethereal glow of the dungeon's seemingly-innocent sky-blue background shone off a piece of sharpened metal as it sliced through the ink-black being that dared to stand between its wielder and the next floor. For each slice, more water dropped onto the yellow-color paved pathway, not all of it sweat and not all just water. A boy, no older than 16, already sported bloody tears in his school uniform and a sweat-laden face, but his determination would not waver and he would not hear anything but his cousin's voice still echoing her hidden thoughts. The dungeon was, after all, created by said inner thoughts, focused on the largest tragedy of her life: the death of her mother, who she believed had gone to Heaven. Yu had barely noticed the Pearly Gates as they entered, nor did he care; someone had kidnapped his cousin, who over the past year had become his younger sister, and nothing would stop him from rescuing her. Not even his own teammates, who worriedly followed him as he dived deeper into the dungeon, taking on every (it seemed) Shadow they came across. Yu had to keep switching Personae, but so far he had obliterated every single enemy; the team had yet to do anything to attack or even defend themselves.
Behind him, Rise whispered, "I'm worried about Senpai... he's scary when he's angry."
"I hear you there," Yosuke muttered, absently rubbing his jaw where Yu, no more than a week ago, had punched his jealousy out of him. "He's not going to make it at this rate..."
Kanji, ever the serious one, scowled and said, "But he ain't listening to anything we say."
"It's not that he 'isn't' listening, Kanji," Naoto replied, "but that he CAN'T listen to us."
"All he hears is Nanako-chan, begging to be rescued..." Yukiko sadly affirmed.
Chie stomped her foot and said, "Doesn't he know that we're here for him?!"
"Sensei knows, but he's driven by grief and rage," Teddie pointed out. "They're very strong emotions for humans to experience, especially together. At this rate, I don't know if anything but rescuing Nana-chan CAN snap him out of it."
"Correct, Teddie," Naoto said. "The best we can do for now is follow him." In silent agreement, they continued to follow their leader, shelving their own worry and sadness at the situation in order to be ready for the next assault by the mindless Shadows.
As they continued to climb the different levels, a gnawing uneasiness began to grow in the consciousness of each member, as if some corrupting presence was overwhelming the otherwise-peaceful environment. After several floors, a man's voice could be heard, and it was drowning out Nanako's thoughts, mumbling how no one understood. This unfamiliar voice was jarring to the group, but Yu seemed to ignore it as he continued on. Opening yet another doorway, they were blocked by a large Shadow that had taken the form of scales. Not bothering to switch his Persona, Yu ran up and swung at it, but the attack seemed to do little damage as it charged a magic attack. He jumped back and began preparing to have White Rider cast Agidyne, but did not realize that the Shadow was casting Bufudyne.
"Yu, look out!" Yukiko gasped sharply, seeing the ice attack coming, and, before she knew it, she charged in and shoved Yu out of the Shadow's path, immediately being encased in a block of ice.
Seeing the two down, Yosuke said, "Alright, Chie, Kanji, run interference and distract the Shadow. Naoto, prepare to cast your spells; Teddie, heal Yukiko!" and buffed the party's evasion and hit rate with Masukukaja.
Yu, meanwhile, was frozen in horror at seeing Yukiko literally frozen. The last hour of dungeon-crawling caught up with him immediately and he began to cry tears of rage and grief. As he continued to cry, however, a wet, yet warm set of arms embraced him.
"Yu, it's okay," Yukiko whispered. "It's going to be okay…"
"I let Nanako-chan get kidnapped… You had to practically kill yourself to save me…" Yu muttered, not caring if anyone else could see him break down.
"Yu," Yukiko continued, "there was no way to prevent what happened. You could not have known that your uncle would find out about the letters, or that Namatame would choose today of all days to kidnap Nanako-chan and put her in here. And I saved you the same way you saved me, remember?" She lifted his face to meet hers and said, "Remember my Shadow? It wanted to kill me and take my place, but you risked your life to save mine, and you didn't even know me. Well, I know you, and I didn't have to even think about saving you, because I love you."
Yu could feel his heart, long since having run cold, warm again under Yukiko's embrace, and briefly wondered if her Persona, Amaterasu, was channeling her element. "Yukiko… I love you too."
Suddenly, a loud crash resounded through the chamber as Kanji got knocked back and his shield flew into the wall. "Not to break up the heartwarming moment, Leader," Yosuke shouted as he healed himself from the last attack, "but we still need to beat this Shadow!"
"Right," Yu said as he took off his coat and draped it around Yukiko's shoulders and stood up. Gripping his sword in one hand, the other hand shattered a Persona card, that of Kali. "You like Ice so much, huh? Well, how's this! Bufudyne!" Kali appeared in front of him and caused a giant block of ice to appear around the Shadow. "Deathbound!" Suddenly the block shattered and the Shadow dissipated, having been defeated. Yu sighed with relief as Kali disappeared as he turned to face the rest of the team. Yosuke and Chie, who he was holding up while Teddie rushed to and fro healing everyone, were already looking at him with a mix of sympathy and understanding. Kanji, having already been healed, was glaring with crossed arms; ironically, Naoto and Rise were glaring at him, ready to hold him back in case he flipped out. "Everyone, I'm sorry. I couldn't think of anything since last night, except for saving Nanako. I guess, deep down, I was afraid of being alone… it's funny, I thought I was not going to bond with everyone, and I ended up ignoring the people who care about me to chase after the one I don't have anymore."
Yosuke unwrapped Chie's arm from over his shoulder as Teddie healed her and she stood up on her own, and after walking over to Yu he patted him on the shoulder. "It's alright. We're all worried about her. Still…" Suddenly, Yosuke punched Yu in the face, sending the grey-haired boy down to the ground. "Don't EVER make us worried like that. What if the Shadows had killed you before we rescued Nanako!? What could we tell your uncle, huh!? And what about Nanako!? She'd blame herself for your death, and could end up committing suicide!"
Yukiko had knelt down protectively over Yu, but Yu looked up at Yosuke and said, "You're right. I must look like a fool."
"Yeah, but we're as foolish as you are, Senpai, so don't worry about it," Kanji said as he helped Yu back to his feet. "I mean, we had secrets that we tried to hide, and they came out anyway and almost killed us."
"But we only got this far because you never let us give up, Senpai," Naoto said. "Not on ourselves, and not on the investigation. We need to keep going, though, or else our efforts will be for nothing. But we must do this together."
"They're right, Sensei. We only got this far because we all worked together, so we have to stay together if we want to save Nana-chan and stop the murderer," Teddie added.
Smiling, Yu took his sword in hand and nodded, saying "Alright. Let's do this together. We'll rescue Nanako and capture Namatame."
"Right!" the others exclaimed as they began walking deeper into the dungeon.