A putrid smell assaulted Akari as she finally caught up to Kei, Masao, and Yukino on the first floor of Mikage Hospital, and she covered her nose and mouth to block it out. "Wh-What in the world…?"
"Meat!" a hoarse, crackling voice groaned. "Meat is here!" And when Akari finally entered the room, she saw what it was – vacant-eyed, grotesque men and woman with bludgeons raised in the air.
"Wh-What's with these guys?" Yukino asked as she stood her ground, her voice shaking only slightly.
A nurse was cowering in the corner of the room, far away from the strange men and women. "Th-The dead patients suddenly got up and walked…" she whimpered, pointing a shaking hand at the vacant-eyed men and women.
"What, so they're like zombies or something?" Masao asked disbelievingly.
"Impossible…" Kei whispered.
"That old man rescued me," the nurse said as she pointed to a familiar-looking white-haired man lying crumpled on the floor.
Kei's face turned milky white as he recognized the old man. "Y-Yamaoka…?"
"Kei-kun!" Akari cried as he ran to Yamaoka, crouching before him. She followed him as well, sinking to her knees behind him.
"You bastards…" Kei said in a shaking voice. "How dare you?"
But then, one of the zombies walked over and threateningly raised the weapon he was holding, and Akari shrieked. "Hang on!" Yukino called as she swung a fire extinguisher at its head, sending it sprawling.
"How the hell are we supposed to fight these things?" Masao asked as he grabbed a chair and swung it wildly at the zombies.
Somehow, one of the zombies managed to escape Masao and Yukino's assault, and it neared toward Kei and Akari. Kei moved protectively in front of Akari, glaring at the zombie. "I'll never forgive you bastards!" he roared. But it was no use – the zombie swung the bludgeon down, and Kei ducked out of the way, allowing the weapon to graze Akari's shoulder.
And then, all of a sudden, Akari's ears began to ring and that strange, sharp headache from before was back. Thou art I… and I am thou… The time has come. Take… my hand… The voice that echoed in her mind sounded a lot like her own – but at the same time, it was thin, breathy, ethereal, and completely alien. For a second, it felt like a huge weight was taken off her shoulders, and Akari gasped as she saw a silhouette of a woman with long hair and flowing robes – much like the light in Philemon's hands. I am Aliao, Maiden of the Southern Forest. From the sea of thy soul, I cometh. I shall lend you my strength. The sword-like object in Aliao's hand morphed into a bow, and she fired an arrow at one of the zombies, extinguishing it on one shot.
"Whoa…" Masao gasped. But before anyone could get another word in, a yellowish figure rose out of him and struck another zombie, vanquishing it.
"H-Hey, what—" Yukino started, only to cut off when a red figure rose out from her. She smirked as she clenched her fist. "Frei."
"Hama!" Kei yelled as a bluish figure rose from him and vanquished the last zombie with a burst of light.
Akari slumped forward, panting as she stared at her shaking hands. "D-Did we seriously just…?"
"No way…" Masao gasped.
"Yamaoka!" Kei yelled. He was back by his butler's side, his expression frantic as he rolled the old man onto his back and shook him vigorously. "Yamaoka!"
"Oh, young master…" Yamaoka said in a frail voice, raising a shaking hand to cup Kei's face. "Why such a miserable face? Your noble face is… being spoiled…"
"Yamaoka!" Kei yelled again, his voice cracking. "You… You can't die! You won't leave me alone… Right, Yamaoka?"
"Please," Yamaoka whispered. "Listen to me, young master. You are a fine Japanese man… And a man must stand on his own someday… My sincerest apologies… that my service has already… come to an end…"
"Yamaoka…"
"Please promise me this…" Yamaoka whispered. "Please… Become the most important person in Japan!"
"Yes…" Kei whispered. "I will! Of course I will! I'll definitely show you that! That's why you have to…"
"Th-That's my young master…" Yamaoka choked out. "From this day forward…"
"No," Kei almost whimpered.
"… I will always be in your heart." Yamaoka exhaled as his hand fell over his chest.
"Yamaoka…?" Kei said faintly. But there was no response. "Yamaoka!" Kei shook the old man's body violently. "Answer me! Yamaoka—I order you to answer me!"
"Kei…" Yukino whispered.
"W-Wait, you guys!" Masao protested. "You heard it too, didn't you? That voice…"
"So I guess this means that dream we all had was true…" Yukino mused.
"But…" Akari protested weakly as she stood up, gripping her now noticeably throbbing shoulder, and she groaned in pain. Yukino and Masao shot her worried glances, which she pointedly ignored. "If it really was that Persona thing… Those kinds of things don't exist… Right?"
"I don't believe it either," Yukino agreed. "That those monster-like things came out… or that we managed to kill them."
"Monsters…?" Masao echoed, his eyes widening in shock. "H-Hey, we can't just keep hanging around here! We've gotta find Maki, grab our asses, and run!"
"Masao-kun…?" Akari said faintly.
"What're we gonna do if there's more monsters like that, huh?" he demanded. "Come on! Get it together! We need to go, right now! Oy, Nanjo—" But Kei was still crouched by Yamaoka, not moving at all. "Nanjo?"
"I'm not going," Kei said quietly. "I'm staying here."
Akari stumbled over to Kei. "Kei-kun, Masao-kun's right. We can't just—"
"I said no!" he exploded suddenly, turning around to glare at her. Akari's heart broke for him when she saw his eyes red with tears.
"Fine!" Masao yelled angrily. "You can stay here and die, for all I care!" And with that, he stormed out of the room.
"Hey, wait a minute!" Yukino called, running after him.
"Kei-kun, please, just come," Akari begged.
"You go," he said dismally. "I'm staying with Yamaoka." But by then, Akari's patience had worn down entirely. She grabbed Kei's wrist and yanked him up, forcibly dragging him behind her. "Akari!"
"Akari." Kei's voice sounded weary and tired now, and though he'd stopped struggling and trying to break away a while ago, Akari still gripped his wrist tightly. "You can let go now."
Akari sighed as she released his arm, and she couldn't help but notice just how empty she felt now that she wasn't holding onto anything. "Is this really a good idea?" she asked. "Even if we do find Maki, what can we do to help her? Can we do anything?"
"We'll protect her and get her out of here," Masao said stubbornly.
"Protect her with what?" Yukino asked. "These Persona things? What if they don't come out like they did downstairs? What are we going to do then?"
"I don't know, okay?" Masao yelled.
Akari sighed and wrapped her arms around herself. It seemed like she'd left school with everyone so long ago, even though it'd barely been a couple hours since then. Were there demons in the rest of the city, too? Were Haru and Haku okay? Worse, was Miki okay? A woman's voice suddenly echoed through the halls, and everyone froze. "What was that?" Yukino asked sharply, stepping to the front of the group.
"I-I think it might be human, but I'm not sure," Akari said. "I think we should go check it out." But what if it's not human? As she took a step forward, her knee gave out, and it was only Yukino, who suddenly gripped her arm to steady her, that kept her from falling down altogether. "S-Sorry," she said, giving everyone a weak smile.
"Are you okay?" Yukino asked.
"I'm okay," Akari replied on impulse. "I mean, my shoulder still hurts because the monster got me back there, but I'll be fine." I'm scared. Help me. Mommy…
And, as it turned out, her fears were entirely founded, as the voice she'd heard before belonged to yet another monster. Masao yelped in surprise. "Go back!" Yukino ordered. "Back the way we came!" But when Akari turned around, there were more monsters blocking their path. "Damn it!"
"Does this mean we have to fight?" Kei asked as they all stood back to back.
Akari closed her eyes as she tried to remember the feeling from before – Aliao's voice in her head, the rush of power, the feeling of total release. "Persona!" she cried, and, thankfully, Aliao rose out from within her.
"What a pain…" Yukino muttered as she summoned her Persona. I guess we have no choice but to fight, now."
And with that, the battle officially started.
"Don't cry, Yuka," Eriko said as she tried to console the hysterical girl. "I'm sure Kei, Masao, Akari, and Yukino are perfectly fine."
The two of them, plus Hidehiko, stood by a wall at school. Fortunately or unfortunately – they had yet to find out what exactly it was – they had easy access to the world outside St. Hermelin High. "Hey, Eriko-san," Hidehiko said uncertainly. "You sure about this?"
"It seems that everything is okay," Eriko said, smiling reassuringly at Yuka and Hidehiko. "I'm going out for a bit."
"No, don't!" Yuka wailed. "If you die, then what are we supposed to do? You heard, right? There's monsters all over the city! That's what those people that came here said!"
"There's no need to worry," Eriko said calmly. "I'm confident in my fencing skills. A demon or two will be no problem!" She gave Yuka and Hidehiko a carefree wave. "Well, I'm off!" And with that, she leapt out of the hole in the wall.
"Hey, be careful, Eriko-san!" Hidehiko called after her.
"If something happens to you, I won't care!" Yuka yelled petulantly, and Eriko couldn't help but smile at her antics.
The streets were completely deserted, which was unusual in and of itself, since people would usually be outside with their friends, ready to welcome the weekend (it was a Saturday, after all). It's so quiet… Things started going wrong ever since those people showed up at St. Hermelin, screaming about monsters in the city. No one believed them at first, but they were allowed to stay nonetheless. And then more and more people started coming… Eriko giggled excitedly. It's just like a Stephen King novel! How amazing…
A slithering noise put her on high alert, however, and she hid behind the nearest pole as two lizard-like monsters strolled into view. So those are real monsters… What an exciting experience! Still, when the monsters left, Eriko sighed in relief; just because she could fight them off if she had to didn't mean she wanted to. But then, as she looked down, splotches of something reddish brown caught her eye. Bloodstains…? They seemed to form something of a trail, which she followed. "Is someone there?" she called.
"S-Someone help…" The source of the bloodstains was a middle-aged woman with short brown hair and glasses, and blood was pouring out of a wound on her shoulder.
Eriko ran to her immediately. "Are you all right?" she asked concernedly. "What happened—"
Eriko gasped as the woman suddenly grabbed her arms. "You're a St. Hermelin student, aren't you?" the woman asked anxiously. "My name is Setsuko Sonomura. Do you know Maki Sonomura in class 2-4? I'm her mother!"
"It's nice to finally meet you, Setsuko-san," Eriko said politely, "though I wish the circumstances were a bit different. "I'm her classmate, Eriko Kirishima. But your wounds—"
"N-No, it's nothing serious," Setsuko said wearily. "I-I have to get to the police right away…" Setsuko's eyes suddenly widened in horror, and Eriko realized with a sinking feeling that a monster had found them.
But Eriko was ready. She brandished the rapier she'd brought with her and smirked confidently at the monster. She was in the middle of an important apocalypse, and there was no way she'd be going down so easily.
And then, all of a sudden, a voice echoed in her head. Thou art I… and I am thou. Take my hand…
Th-This is… Eriko shook her head furiously to clear it, though when a large winged figure rose out from within her, she felt more relieved than anything.
I am Nike, goddess of victory, said the voice in her head. Come. Let us conquer our foes.
The goddess Nike… She's me, and I'm her… And at that moment, Eriko felt more confident than ever that she'd win.
Akari sank to her knees as soon as the battle was over. Her shoulder was now throbbing worse than before, and she felt exhausted and drained. Masao kicked a pile of soot that was formerly a monster. "These guys aren't a big deal at all!" he said haughtily as he snickered. "Or maybe we're just too strong…"
Yukino yanked on his ear. "Get off your high horse! It's thanks to our Personas that we can even fight those things, remember?"
"Stay on your guard," Kei warned everyone. "There might be more."
Akari struggled to stand up. "We should check for survivors," she said, trying to ignore the shiver that ran down her spine. "If we're the only ones who can fight these things, then we need to help as many people as we can."
When a door opened behind them, Masao yelped in surprise. But thankfully, the ones behind the door were human – a doctor and a nurse. "Oh, thank goodness!" the doctor sighed in relief. "You're all right!"
"Are you all injured?" the nurse asked anxiously. "Let us help you!"
And, for the next several minutes, that was all they did, and Akari rolled her newly bandaged shoulder back a few times. Pain still pulsed through it, but it wasn't as bad as before. "It might hurt for a little while," the doctor said, "but nothing looks broken, so you'll be fine."
"Thank you," Akari said as she smiled at him, and she couldn't help but wonder if she at least appeared more confident and at ease than she really felt. "I'm sorry for the trouble."
"So doc," Masao said quickly. "There's someone we're looking for – Maki Sonomura. D'you know what happened to her?"
"Oh, Sonomura…" the nurse said quietly.
The doctor pressed a hand to his forehead. "I don't know…" he whispered. "I-I thought it was just an ordinary earthquake, but then there was this terrible pressure… When I came to, I was in here, and Sonomura-kun was nowhere to be seen. I was going to go look for her, but…"
"… but the monsters showed up, right?" Akari finished.
"So call the police!" Masao yelled a bit rudely. "Or the fire department!"
"I tried!" the doctor protested, swiveling his chair around to face a desk as he lifted a phone from its receiver. "There's no dial tone! I can't get to the ICU, and that girl needs treatment!"
"And it's not just the phone," the nurse added. "The TV, the radio, the computers… nothing's working!" She exhaled slowly as she stood up and pulled open the curtains in the room, and Akari gasped as she saw a strange white mist covering the city. "This mist doesn't look natural. We want to investigate, but we can't leave the patients here alone."
"So please…" the doctor begged. "Get in contact with the outside, somehow. I'm begging you!"
"Damn, it's no good," Masao muttered as he stepped outside a booth with a pay phone. "No dial tone here either."
Akari shivered. "Okay. We'll just head back to the school and see what to do from there."
"Yeah," Yukino said. "Head back to the school, and then what? If we can't get into contact with anyone outside the city, then there's nothing we can do."
"Why is this happening to our city?" Kei asked, pushing his glasses up his nose. "Why here, of all places?"
"It's no use thinking too hard about it," Akari said briskly. She sighed. "I just hope Miki's okay…"
"Hey…" Masao said slowly. "Is it just me, or does the air seem kinda… heavy?"
"No more!" Yukino snapped. "If we keep talking about it, we'll psyche ourselves out. That's what the enemy wants, and we are not giving into him."
No one said a word as they walked through the deserted streets. "We should look for survivors," Akari said quietly after a long silence. Yukino, Kei, and Masao simply glanced at her, but didn't say anything in response. "I'm serious. Think of how scared they must be, being trapped in here, without being able to defend themselves…"
They neared a large building with the name "SEBEC" written in lights across the side. "D'you think there might be some in here?" Masao asked, jerking his thumb toward the building's entrance.
Inside, Akari could see various men in suits – along with someone in a school uniform. "Isn't that…?"
Kei clenched his fists, his eyebrows furrowing slightly, but then he quickly relaxed and sighed. "Fine. Do what you must."
Akari ran inside, stopping just behind the wavy-haired boy in the St. Hermelin uniform. "So, you're not lettin' me through?" he asked in a low voice as he cracked his knuckles. "Looks like I'll have to use force, then." It was strange, seeing Reiji like this – normally he was so quiet and reserved…
"Don't make me tell ya twice," one of the men in the suits sneered at him. "Past here is SEBEC territory. You don't listen, then maybe you get shot to death."
Something jolted in Akari's chest, and she stepped forward without thinking. "Oh, there you are, Reiji-kun!" she said, forcing a smile and entwining her fingers with his as she gripped his hands tightly, ready to drag him out at a moment's notice. "I've been looking all over for you!"
Reiji narrowed his eyes at her. "You…"
Making a mental note to apologize profusely to Reiji later, Akari smiled at the suited man who had threatened Reiji before. "I'm so sorry for the trouble," she said. "There was that huge earthquake, and then we got separated… He must've thought I was here, or something."
"Why?" the suited man asked pointedly.
I'm sorry, Setsuko-san. "Because my mom works here," Akari replied much too easily for her liking, and it was hard to ignore the strange look Reiji sent her way.
"Yeah, well get out," the man sneered. "This ain't no playground."
"Ah, sorry," Akari said. "Come on, Reiji-kun. Let's go." It was even harder to ignore Yukino, who looked like she was about to burst out laughing.
"Wait a minute," Masao said slowly as they all exited the SEBEC building together. "Did you just… adopt Maki's mom as your mom?"
"Kind of?" Akari said as she finally released Reiji's hand. "I'm so sorry, Reiji-kun. I… I wasn't sure if that guy was serious or not about the whole… being shot to death thing."
"Whatever," the taller boy muttered, turning on his heel and preparing to walk away.
"Wait," Yukino interjected before he could take a single step. "It's too dangerous for you to go off on your own. Come with us."
"I don't see the need," Reiji said through gritted teeth.
"Reiji-kun, please," Akari begged him as she grabbed one of his hands with both of hers.
Reiji jerked his hand out of her grasp. "Fine."
Akari sighed in relief and smiled at him. "Good. Stay close to us, and we'll do our best to protect you."
Reiji raised one disbelieving eyebrow at her. "Yeah," he deadpanned. "You do that."
"Oh, there you are! We were all so worried!" From seemingly out of nowhere, Eriko hobbled over to them, half supporting, half dragging a brown-haired, middle-aged woman with her.
"Setsuko-san?" Akari gasped as she noticed the blood covering nearly half her side. "Oh my god, what happened?"
"Maki…" the woman groaned. "Is she…? I need to… I need to…" And with that, her eyes rolled backward as she collapsed altogether.
Aliao (also known as the Lady of Yue and Maiden of the Southern Forest), Akari's Persona, was a swordswoman from the Chinese state of Yue who lived during the reign of King Goujian. In a war against the state of Qu, King Goujin wished to hire the best trainers for his army, at which point Prime Minister Fan Li suggested consulting a woman from the Southern Forest, Aliao, who was reported to be exceptionally skilled at sword fighting. The maiden had learned archery and how to use a sword by hunting with her father, and she compared the art of the sword to a door, stating that while strengthening the spirit, one should remain outwardly calm. So, likewise, Akari's Persona is sort of a jack of all stats, but doesn't really specialize in anything. She has decent attack and defense, an affinity toward wind abilities, and a few healing abilities, but nothing exceptional. Think of Akari as the Red Mage of this little gang - she's easily outclassed by other party members in pretty much everything.
I won't tell you what Arcanum Akari has right now – that will be revealed later. But if you'd like to guess, I'll tell you if you're right or wrong.
Please review!
