When questioned about it, Shinjiro would claim Castor had no weaknesses, because he himself had none, and that was the end of that discussion.
It wasn't far from the truth, but the reality of the situation was that Shinjiro never opened up to anyone anymore.
It was one of their very first excursions into Tartarus, just to check it out. Mitsuru had stayed on the first floor to supervise with Penthesilea, while Akihiko and Shinjiro wandered around the second, the first of the actual tower.
The shadows there were weak enough for the two teen boys to defeat without any real problem, plus Polydeuces and Castor had a certain chemistry together that made the entire thing interesting and exciting to watch.
The fun ended when Mitsuru chimed in about sensing a dangerously powerful shadow scanning the floor. "Get out of there," she told them, "it's not possible to defeat it at your level."
Akihiko and Shinjiro looked at each other for a moment, tearing out of there as soon as the rattle of chains and the smell of death filled the stale air. (Tartarus' floors never got fresh air, what was one to expect?)
They turned a corner, and as fate would have it, the both of them found themselves staring down the barrel of one of the Reaper's guns.
"Aki, run," Shinjiro whispered, afraid to move. It wasn't doing anything now, but God knows what would happen if they both tried to escape. "I'll get out soon."
The silver-haired teen's eyes darted over to Shinjiro, full of disbelief as he started to back up slowly. He cared about Shinji, and he definitely cared about whether or not Shinji died, but if he were to bite the bullet (quite literally, in this case), then who would protect him? Protect Kirijo?
"Shinji, I-I can't…," he said shakily, wincing when Shinjiro whipped around to yell, "Just go!"
Aki did go, finding the access point with relative ease after that. He listened carefully, though, for the sound of a gun, and never moved from his spot.
"Sanada, Aragaki, what are you doing?" Mitsuru demanded, "Get out of there!"
"Kirijo, Shinji is…he's in danger," he whispered back nervously, even though he knew she could hear his thoughts as long as he opened up to her. There wasn't a need to whisper.
"Danger?"
Aki didn't say anything this time, because he could hear Shinji. Shinji was screaming for help…it wasn't like him, but at least he wasn't dead.
Truthfully, Akihiko didn't want to go back and help, in part of his heart. Shinji was strong, he knew, but he couldn't stand up to something like that. Bullets killed people, usually.
"Please, Sanada, tell me what it is. Get out of there, and I will then direct Aragaki on what to do," she said, almost reaching the point of begging in her tone.
"I don't know what it is, but it's…doing something to Shinji!"
The screaming stopped suddenly.
He stepped away from the access point, much to Mitsuru's dismay, to go back for his friend. He couldn't just leave Shinjiro like this, could he?
However, when he managed to find the shadow, he froze in his tracks.
What was it doing?
It had one gun in Shinjiro's mouth, the other remaining useless in his hand, wrapped around Shinji and pulling him close.
The Reaper was the Reaper for a reason. It could tell that Shinjiro had little time left to live, compared to the other one, and the smell of death was overpowering, even for a shadow with its kind of power.
Shinjiro squirmed against the creature, trying to get free and cry for help, even though the metal was muffling any sound he tried to make. The Reaper did slowly pull away the barrel in Shinji's mouth, leaving the teen gasping and wishing he could move his arms to wipe away the spit.
Sliding the gun back into its holster and tightening its grasp around the brunette's waist, it drew cold fingers across Shinjiro's cheek, trailing downwards painfully slowly and speeding up once it hit the fabric of Shinji's shirt. It didn't even bother with his polo, choosing to go straight for the pants.
Unhurriedly, almost like it was teasing the teen, it took off his belt, unbuttoned his pants and drew the zipper down, and it didn't take much effort after that to get them to fall in a crumpled heap beneath the two. Did the blood of Tartarus stain?
"S-stop," Shinjiro begged, though realizing it was pointless, but he had never felt so humiliated in his life. Imagine if he knew Akihiko was just around the corner, breathing fast and hard, trying to come up with a way to rescue the other while his mind was swimming with teenage desires.
Letting out a strangled cry when the Reaper pressed its hand to his inner thigh, Shinjiro was thankful for his boxers, even if the thin fabric was the only thing keeping him from being naked in Tartarus from the waist down.
Any kind of relief was crushed, however, when the Reaper moved its unbearably freezing fingers to the elastic band of his underwear and slipped one in, and God, Shinji would swear the shadow was made of metal if he didn't know the smell already.
"Don't!" Shinjiro raised his voice, in serious danger because of it, but too wild with fright to care.
"Shinji, stay still!"
Shinjiro recognized the voice immediately, and tried very hard to keep from wiggling. Maybe Akihiko had a plan.
"Aki," he choked out, shutting his eyes tight and preparing for whatever the other was going to do.
"Polydeuces!"
Maybe it was sheer stupidity, but he didn't seem nervous in the slightest when he yelled out the name of his Persona. He never really practiced this, none of them except maybe Mitsuru had, so the driving force behind this was luck and a desire to help.
It was enough.
Power was not an issue here, even Aki's weak lightning spell was enough to knock the Reaper's grip loose and drop Shinjiro.
"Shinji, come on," Akihiko urged, afraid to get close because he knew the Reaper would recover soon.
The brunette didn't stop to grab his pants or his shoes, and in retrospect that might've been stupid because it was his goddamn school uniform, but…he didn't care. He just wanted out of there.
The two boys ran, Akihiko helping Shinji along, because he knew that the other wasn't at his full power.
Entirely deflecting Mitsuru's worried questions and queries, Akihiko could still hear the rattling of chains, and Shinji's shuddering, gasping breaths right next to him. He hadn't seen Shinji cry in so long, but he wasn't about to stop to watch the other now.
After what seemed like an eternity of running, the duo made it back to the access point and ultimately the first floor of Tartarus.
"Aragaki, are y--" Mitsuru began, though quieted herself when her question was answered with a look. It was obvious he wasn't well at the moment.
They slowly walked back to the dorm, and while no one said it, the air hung heavy with the feeling that maybe this was a mistake, going to Tartarus.
When they got back, it was still silent except for the occasional deep breath of Shinji's, and Mitsuru was the first to go to bed. She didn't want to face them for very long.
It was her fault this happened, she should've been able to notice it earlier, and help them.
That's what she told herself, anyway.
Akihiko and Shinjiro, rather than parting ways, both went up to Shinji's room and sat on the bed for a while, Aki holding Shinji much in the way a mother would, muttering things like, "It'll be okay, it's fine now," and rubbing the other's back while he cried.
At the time, Aki hoped he would never have to see Shinjiro like this again, broken and scared, but as weeks, months, years passed, he found himself wishing that Shinji would open up to him one more time, spill his worries and concerns, find comfort in the touch of another.