Shuffled
Story Summary: One was unwilling to fight death and the other incapable of seeing the truth. The failure of the two twisted the power of the wild card. Now Makoto Yuki must see what Yu Narukami could not and Yu Narukami must fight what Makoto Yuki would not. (P3 and P4 protagonist switch up)
Chapter 3: Girls with Guns Part Three
13 March 2011
They fell for an eternity in an instant. The matter of the world they knew gave way to the flowing form of the unusual universe they had stumbled upon. Their tangled limbs, tied in the confusion of their unceremonious landing, fought for freedom. The Biker, the Detective and the World Killer had entered the world of the television.
Makoto was the first to regain his footing. His head felt warm and stars twinkled across his eyes. The body swayed as it fought for equilibrium and a hand shot to the head in a fruitless attempt to quench the sharp pain found there. His hand came back red and Makoto realized a wide gash had opened during the fall. The warmth of his blood covered his face in a mask of red iron. Adrenalin flooded his body and the world around him went quiet, but his eyes took in what they could.
The world around him was cobblestone and fog. A deep fog the obscured anything further than a few strides. The world was a discomfort to see. In that blindness a dull throbbing graced his mind, it was more an ache than a true pain, but it stood in stark contrast to the deep cut that had opened above the throb. Wobbling, he took an unsure step backwards, from the cobbled street he stood upon, into the fog behind him. The familiar force of gravity brought him to his senses as he fell to his knees in a desperate attempt to stop his descent into the fog. The muffled feminine voice behind the motorcycle helmet drew his attention.
"Careful not to fall over, World Killer." Her black-leathered form stepped cautiously towards him. Her gun rose to him once more. "Off the cobbled path and into the fog sleep shadows. And I cannot lose you to them until I have riddled you full of bullets."
"S-stop!" The child detective rose, her revolver raised to her new foe. Naoto fought for focus. The fog was forcing her aim to waver, unsure. "Drop your weapon and get on your knees."
Behind a tinted visor brown eyes glanced aside at the intruder. The Detective was not supposed to be in this place. "It is shame you followed us in. After I have dealt with boy. I will have to kill you as well." A slow breath clashed against the helmet. "It is a shame, the King did not want your death."
"I'll shoot." Naoto warned, but the threat did not hold weight.
The woman laughed in response. "I have won child. I would have preferred to kill him at the altar's table, but I can do so here as well. Whether your aim holds true in the face of the fog, whether you kill me or not. My goal will be met."
"Wait!" Makoto shouted. He did not care for his life, but he saw in that moment a bargain for the detective's safety. "Let her go and I will come with you wherever you want."
"No, no World Killer," the masked woman taunted, "You are the only one with no chips at this table."
She pulled the trigger.
He closed his eyes to the bright flash that came from the pistol's barrel and grit his teeth at the deafening explosion caused by it. After moments quick to time, but slow to his comprehension his eyes opened once more. Bullets and blood he expected to see, a villain triumphant behind the gun's hot smoke, but there was only a lost blue cap in his field of vision. He followed its path as it soared over his head and drifted over the edge into the fog below.
At his feet lied Naoto, her blood pooling below her waist. He saw blood, but not the bullet and realized the Detective had taken it for him. She had saved his wretched life. That was the truth beneath the fog at his feet. He knelt down to her, desperate to help, but impotent in his ability. The masked woman walked towards him, stalking her prey. The mother lion had fallen to her lead and now her hand would slit the cub's throat.
When she was just an arm's length from Makoto, the Detective acted. Playing dead was a trick known to the oldest of dogs. She emptied the contents of her revolver into the woman. Six bullets bit deep into the masked-villain's gut, tearing through flesh and intestine. The woman fell, but did not rise.
Makoto looked down at the triumphant Detective in wonder. The wonder did not last as he saw the deep red wound on her left thigh. The villain's bullet had left the muscle underneath it torn and mangled. Blood seeped from it at alarming speed and his instincts took over.
He took the black cloth that tied his bloodstained white button-up and against Naoto's protests bound her wounded leg. It stopped the blood flow for the moment and the muffled gasp of pain that came from her drew him from his actions. Their eyes met, a matching pair of grey. His held no sign of care and hers spoke of grim determination.
"Why did you?" The question came from Makoto slowly.
"I refuse to give your life away so easily. Not when it may be the key to saving others. You are in my charge," Naoto's eyes shone fiercely. "Until I have had the truth from you and justice for those murdered, you are not allowed to die. Your life is no longer your own. If you truly wish it, you may die after I ascertain the true identity of the murderer, no sooner."
His normally bored face was colored in anger and argument. But that was the cause of the shame her words brought him. Her actions spoke of selfless devotion to a cause greater than herself. He had never been capable of an act so admirable. He had felt empty since arriving in Inaba, but a new feeling took him now. It felt like guilt.
The familiar silent slithering drew his attention from her. He saw them approach the monsters that plagued him in another world, reborn in this new strange reality. He called them Shadows and they were a frightening scene. Their emotionless blue masks stared as their crawling shadowy bodies raced towards them. They held jagged knives twisted and rusted from use.
Faintly he heard her speak. "What in the world?"
Makoto took the one choice left to him in that desperate moment. He grabbed the detective and jumped over the edge and into the fog.
He stepped from the fog having enjoyed the show the three had performed for him. His hair was set in careless ease and his red tie was bound loosely around his neck. He wore a necklace, a simple brown rope held his crown. From the rope hung unbroken chopsticks, their wooden end colored red. He was King.
He clapped a slow beat and laughed happily. He addressed his masked agent watching as the shadows stabbed her writhing body with their rusted blades. "What a wonderful performance!" his voice was that of an adult, but it spoke with child-like amusement. "Naoto really stole the show! Unfortunate for you though, Mayumi Yamano."
He nudged the helmet with his foot playfully until it came off. Her deep brown eyes were red with pain. Her short light-black hair was wet and sticky from the sweat and blood. She begged for help, but he ignored her. "You were supposed to catch or kill the Yuki kid. Making up a new chapter to this story was not in the script!"
The shadow's ignored him as they always did. The monsters were the personification of the most common of unspoken desires. They were the stupid and violent yearnings of the heart. They acted in unchecked and primal emotion as they stabbed the woman, as they stabbed the King's agent, his lover. Her cries filled the fog singing to him. The lyrics of her cries begged for his aid with every knife that entered her body.
But they ignored him. They were commoners and commoners were not permitted to address the King. He thought of leaving her their for a moment. There were others in the King's harem he could use. "So many bitches and whores to choose from," He sighed with a false frown.
He could let her die, but Mayumi was useful and she was the first to catch his eye. She had taken to her role quicker than the others as well. "I'm such a softie on the inside."
With a quick movement he shot the shadows dead, freeing Mayumi from their assault. He readied himself for her gratitude. Kings become Gods only by the prayers and praise of their subjects and Yamano was dedicated to a fault. He had assured it.
"It hurts," she cried in a whimpering whisper. Her hands shook fiercely as she tried to stop the bleeding. "Please help."
"Well you shouldn't have let Naoto shoot you then?" The King said confused by her distress.
"Please it hurts so much." She yelled this time in desperate pain.
He frowned in true anger. He gave her head a quick angry nudge with the heel of his dress shoe before kneeling down. Their faces were inches from one another. Her bright pink lips stood in contrast to her pale face made paler from the blood lost. Her King was smiling, but his eyes told her she had spoken blasphemy. She felt his warm breath as he talked down to her.
"I come all this way to congratulate you on a job well done. I, instead, find you have failed," His voice was hard now. "You let them get away. Nearly die in the process and make me dirty my hands with . . . with those disgusting shadows!"
He was screaming at her in anger imagined. "So what do I do? I save you from those shadows! Here I expected a thank you and instead you ask for more?" Adachi sighed the anger leaving him, "I guess it is to be expected. You are a worthless cheating whore after all. Still if you do one thing for me and I will save you."
"Anything my lord." She begged tears welling in her eyes for her failure.
"Raise your head just a bit to me and give me a kiss." He said with a simple tone.
Pained cries escaped her as she tried to lift her head to meet his command. With only the slightest of space between them, her kiss a breath away, he pushed her head back down with two fingers and laughed.
"Haha. Just kidding." He smiled with glee, "I would never touch someone so cruel and stupid, let alone kiss them!"
He stood up and walked away.
Her eyes were wide with fear. With the last moments of consciousness she prayed once more hoping for an answer. "Adachi . . . Tohru, please." She whimpered.
He turned around with empty eyes. "Ok, if you really want."
He summoned his persona and white light encased her.
Makoto fell into the fog with the detective in his arms. He turned his back to the ground hoping to shield her from the collision. But it was not the ground they hit. The sharp surface of still water was broken upon their impact. Their fall continued, as they were drawn further and further into the depths of the water around them.
Makoto realized with fright that he had lost the detective. He spun his body as it continued to fall deeper. Desperately he looked for her, air escaping his lungs. He found no detective. What he saw was Fuuka and Ken and Koromaru. His eyes widened in shock and false hope.
They swam in calm blue waters under the warm sun. They were at play, happily splashing water at each other, diving to mysterious depths for shells and other underwater treasures. They were smiling and laughing. They were beautiful. They were alive.
And then they looked at him. Their smiles were gone as they swam to him. They circled him as he fell yet deeper. They looked sad, but forgiving. It broke his heart.
The image of Fuuka before him was the first to speak. She was assuring him it was okay, working as she always did to help those around her. She told him to go deeper into the waters, to find rest beneath the shores. His struggles were done. He just had to choose.
Look back Makoto.
Koromaru and Ken met him next. Their sadness was gone replaced by happy smiles and happier sounds of laughter and bark. They wanted him to come with them. They wanted him to play with them. They offered no forgiveness because they felt there was nothing to forgive. It was wrong, a dream, and a lie. But it was a good lie. A smile graced his face. In this place he could be with them once more.
Look back Makoto.
Their hands were outstretched to him. He just had to take it in his own. How could they just forgive him so simply? They were infinitely greater than him. True friends and bonds that never fully matured, it was wrong.
Look back Makoto.
A single blue cap drifted before him and he reached for it instead. Grabbing the cap with a firm hand and rejecting offered hands of his friends he swam towards the surface. He found the Detective drifting silently under the water and caught her once again dragging her along in his ascent.
Naoto's eyes opened wide and saw them. The girl with sky blue hair, a boy no older than ten and his pet dog; they screamed at her suspect, at Makoto. They called him a killer, naming him their murderer.
Makoto for his part heard only the whimpering and chocking sounds of three lives drowning beneath the water. It mattered little. He was not their savior, he was their killer.
Makoto did not look back.
His nose had caught scent. It smelled like two boys, two feminine boys. It was a confusing scent. The child in the bear suite realized he had visitors again. They were coming with increasing frequency, he noted. Most importantly they were not leaving and to not leave this place meant something horrible.
He inhaled deeply trying to track where they had gone. His eyes widened with worry. They had fallen into that place, the great dark tower of the underworld, Tartarus. A great shadow slept there. Teddie hated the shadows.
Teddie shook, his blue soft fur standing on end. What difference was there between him and the shadows if he would not help? He would rescue them. "I'm beary worried, but I'll try."
They broke the surface of the water gasping for air and swam to the grey stone that served as their shore. Makoto dragged Naoto and sat her down on the floor. He offered her back her cap, which she accepted after a moment.
He looked up with blank eyes. They were in a pit, and the spiraling stairs that led upwards to the fogged surface looked familiar. After a moment he realized where he was. It was different, but the presence of the tower was unmistakable. This was Tartarus or some part of it. TVs and towers, shadows and masked shooters; Makoto's mouth set in a fierce line. Nothing ever changes. The struggle is ever shifting, but always familiar.
Naoto sat up flinching as her leg sung with pain. She quickly loaded her revolver with the extra bullets she carried on her person. She frowned realizing she had only one round left, six bullets. She closed her eyes, six bullets for masked-villains and shadowy monsters. She wanted to shout in fear, but her resolve held. She took a breath, answers for later. She needed to get back to the Police Station from wherever it was she had fallen into. Falling into a television, a part of her wondered if she had finally lost it.
She gave a fierce shake of her head. Such thoughts were not helpful. She was wounded, her mobility greatly compromised. She needed help and she had a hunch that the boy in front of her was not the serial killer she hunted. He was something else and she needed to know what that something was now. She held her gun up to his face drawing his attention. "Those people . . . those things under the water," she said quickly still gasping for air. "They said you killed them. Is that true?"
Makoto looked at her gun and then at her. "Is that what you heard them say?"
"What did you hear them say?"
A pained look crossed his face, but he blinked it away quickly. "All I heard was them choking to death as I tried to pull you to the surface. So yeah, I guess I did kill them."
Naoto thought for a second before lowering her gun. "You're no longer my primary suspect, but that does not mean you are not guilty. And I will have answers from you before the end of this. However, it appears circumstance has forced us to work together. I suggest we move up the stairs out of this pit and try to find an exit."
Makoto nodded in silent truce. "Or a television?"
Naoto could not tell if his words were a joke.
He offered her a hand up, which she refused. He saw that her leg brought her great pain as she tried to hobble up the steps. Against her will he took her under the arm and let her lean her weight onto him.
He spoke before she could protest. "You can barely walk and I don't see you giving me that gun any time soon. So you will just have to accept my help, Detective. Ignore your pride for just a bit longer."
Naoto blushed at being called out on her immaturity. She noted, not for the first time, that the boy who helped her climb the stairs had an uncanny ability to see into the nature of others.
Their climb was a slow hobble, but progressed at an even pace. When they reached the surface they found themselves faced with a desert on fire. The fog mixed with smoke at the surface and uneasy warmth surrounded them. They began to sweat as the smell of cooking meat of unknown origin filled their nostrils. Naoto felt her heart quicken knowing the implication of her senses.
They had fallen into a television that led to hell.
She looked over at Makoto, but noticed his gaze was set firmly ahead of him, focused on four newcomers. One wore a baseball cap smiling happily at them, a cheery young man. Another a stunning woman with crimson eyes and dark red curls that went down the curve of her elegant back. The third was a mature young man with silver hair wearing a bright red sweater. The last had the face a pretty young woman with sky blue eyes and straw blond hair, but her body was made of white metal. Naoto decided in that moment that she had in fact lost her mind.
"Mitsuru . . . Akihiko?" His voice shook with the closest thing to emotion she had heard from him since his arrest. "Junpei . . . Aigis? Is it really you guys?"
As the group of four approached the two, Makoto let go of Naoto. She struggled to maintain her footing, but was able to stand. The robot girl was the first to reach them running in an awkward way, her hands never moving from her sides.
Naoto watched as she hugged Makoto with desperation. The others caught up also embracing him and patting him on the back. They laughed in their reunion. A small but genuine smile graced her suspect's face. It was a good smile, fitting for his usually blank demeanor.
But then his companions spoke. They told him to go back into the waters. It was safer there, they said. It was the only place they could be together once more. They could go to karaoke or to get beef bowls after. These were cherished childish desires that mean so much to the young. Things could be the way they used to be before they died. Makoto just had to look back.
Naoto saw the illusion for what it was and in her core she understood what these things were truly. They were shadows and memories of a past life calling for him, demanding his life for reasons unknown to her. Naoto frowned angrily and pulled the trigger. Her shot caught the boy wearing the baseball cap in the throat. He fell to the ground gurgling in pain.
Makoto watched as Junpei fell choking on his own blood. It was a slow, but inevitable death. His eyes were blank watching as his best friend had died once again. Before he could tell anyone to stop. Aigis batted the gun from the Detective's hands. The revolver fell to his feet and he reached to pick it up. Staring at it he was unsure of what to do.
The robot girl had batted her gun away. Naoto tried to avoid the next blow from the machine, but was powerless to act. A strong metal appendage buried itself into her wounded leg. Naoto screamed in pain falling to the ground. The silver-haired boy was on top of her in a moment and began to punch her.
Makoto stepped forward to help, but Mitsuru put her hand on his shoulder stopping him. He looked at her, the woman he had always sought for advice. Her dark red gaze was sad, but spoke of a promise. They could see each other again he just had to look back.
"Look back Makoto," Mitsuru said.
Makoto hesitated hearing Naoto's cries of pain.
"Leave the boy behind." His former senior said.
Boy? Makoto saw the terrible truth for himself. He turned on Mitsuru and pulled the trigger. She fell back. Her hands grasped at her stomach covering the wound the bullet had made. Mitsuru screamed at him begging for him to save her, to turn around. His next shot took Akihiko in the back of the head, ending his assault on the Detective.
Aigis stepped towards him. Makoto readied himself to block her attack, but only her cold metal hand touched his face, cradling it gently. "I could never hurt you. My greatest desire is to be by your side."
Her voice was normal, a feminine and sweet sound. The Aigis he knew had never fully realized her own humanity. He had stolen that time from her in the dark night of the New Year. It was a great sin and he owed her so much more. The image before him was what she could be and what she could be was magnificent.
He shot her between the eyes.
He walked forward picking up Naoto in his arms. He focused on the Naoto's ragged breaths and the swelling of her purple bruised cheeks from where Akihiko had hit her. The cries of his dying friends behind him were ignored.
Makoto did not look back.
The scent had led him to the gates of the underworld. They were locked firmly in protest to his entrance. Teddie could go no further in this realm. He shook the ancient bars of the gate, but they held fast.
He looked up at the sign that adorned the entrance. Abandon all hope. Teddie fell to his knees thinking he had failed.
"No, not again." He whispered.
Makoto looked down at Naoto. She was lighter than he expected. This hell was meant for him, but it was her who suffered the most. Her half-lidded eyes stared at him tiredly. She had told him to put her down twice now. She said it again with tired and delusional exasperation.
Makoto smiled once more. It was a small thing. "Shut up. You can't even walk."
Makoto saw before him great gates and knew them as his exit from this place. He was almost to the end. He could save her. She had great stubbornness. No, it was strength and it shamed him. Her half-lidded eyes closed. He panicked and set her down. Makoto shook her lightly trying to wake her up.
"Makoto?"
Her familiar voice froze his heart. He did not look back at her. He did not deserve to see her.
"Makoto it really is you," she raced over to him. Her arms wrapped around him from the back and she whispered a teary exclamation of joy and relief. "I thought I had lost you forever."
"Yu . . ." He stopped his voice breaking as he said her name. "Yukari?"
"It's me," She said happily. "We've been looking for you for so long. We're all back there. Back at the water, we need to go back Makoto . . . my Dad's there."
His head fell staring firmly at the ground. Tears formed in his eyes and fell in silent protest. "Stop it, please."
"Makoto?" her arms released him and her soft footsteps echoed as she moved to stand in front of him.
Her voice was soft, her words wretched and precious. "What's wrong? I missed you too," He could hear the soft smile and happy tears that formed in her eyes as she spoke. "C'mon you're going to make me start bawling. And you know Stupei will never let me live that one down. Hey, look at me!"
She was there, exactly the way he remembered her. The false annoyance that she used to hide her enjoyment, the soft doubt that entered her voice when she asked a question, even the childish nicknames she used for the friends she pretended to tolerate, but secretly loved. She was right in front of him; it was a treacherous gift.
"Stop it." He begged again.
She knelt down to his level, the Detective's body dividing them. Her soft hands took him by the head raising it to look at her. He kept his eyes firmly shut refusing.
"Sto . . ."
Her lips cut his protest short. When she pulled away he finally opened his eyes. Her bright smile and pink cardigan sweater greeted him as they always did. Her presence was better than his memory, sharp and real. It was a simple thing to forget another, no matter how much you cared for them. But she was familiar like the reflection of an old mirror from years past.
"It's you."
"It's all of us," she responded happily. "Just look back, we're all here."
She pulled him into one last embrace and whispered in his ear. Gentle promises of love and sweet memories of times gone by filled his mind.
But he whispered back. "I wish it wasn't really you."
He pulled the trigger. His bullet pierced through her breast, past her heart, and out the back. She collapsed into his arms. Fading from him as she had done before. He placed her kindly off to the side, as she died a quiet death. A death forced upon her, once again by his actions. She would never again suffer needlessly. It was better that way.
It was better that way?
His eyes widened as pain exploded from his skull.
He heard laughter. It was his voice. He looked up with watery eyes and stared at himself. The new him was smiling with abandoned restriction, emotion crossed his face easily and often. His normally dull grey eyes were now expressive yellows.
This was his shadow.
Naoto's eyes opened to the sound of laughter. She saw before her the great gates of the underworld and the image of two Makotos. One she knew, a boy with blank expression that hid tiny smiles and quiet understanding. The other was everything the one she knew was not. He smiled in wide abandon that did not fit his face. His bright yellow eyes shown with a love of the moment. And the laughter that came from him was full of shameful emotion.
The yellow-eyed Makoto took notice of her. Speaking brightly, happily even. "Oh you're awake! That's perfect! I was just about to tell the other me a story."
"You're not me." Makoto protested.
The other's smile widened at the denial, but ignored him for the moment more interested in the Detective girl.
"He really is clueless isn't he?" The shadow asked her. "But then again not as clueless as you. I mean you're really something. Pretending to be a boy because of some silly insecurity. It's sad really."
"Shut up," the yell was uncharacteristic of Makoto.
"You immerse yourself in pretend performances all because you are too afraid to face the world as you really are. You struggle needlessly. If you just accepted who you are . . . but you could never do that you're too weak," Makoto's shadow said. "You would be better off dead. At least that is what he thinks."
"That's a lie!" Makoto said, but Naoto felt guilt in his words.
"Hey go back to being gloomy. I am trying to have a conversation with the Detective. She is way more interesting then we are." The shadow leaned against the gates of hell with casual calm.
"Detective you ever hear the story of Orpheus and Eurydice?" The shadow looked at her not caring what her answer was, "It's about a guy trying to rescue a loved one from the underworld. To do it is actually very simple, he just has to cross the gates hand in hand with his beloved without looking back at her."
The shadow pointed dramatically at Makoto and Naoto and then to the gates that stood behind him. "That is all he has to do. There are no monsters to fight, no demons to slay. Just walk through a gate without looking back at her," The shadow began to laugh. "And you know what that asshole Orpheus does? You guessed it! He looks back and loses Eurydice forever!"
Orpheus and Eurydice? Naoto remembered the story and the wheels of her mind turned as she figured out the key to their escape. Naoto stood grunting in pain as she did. She met the impressed smile of Makoto's shadow and the questioning grey eyes of the real one. "If you have a point, get to it. Because I'm ready to walk out of this false hell."
"She really is amazing!" the shadow exclaimed. "But right, my point. Why do you think Orpheus looked back? Some people claim it is meant to convey the importance of moving on after the death of a loved one. It is the importance of fighting for the birth of a new future instead of struggling to reclaim a dead past."
"And I take it I am Eurydice in this scenario," Naoto smirked at the comparison. "From Eurudike, she whose justice extends widely. Still I barely know my suspect. You are reaching in your analogy."
The yellow-eyed Makoto clapped with enthusiasm. "That's right, but we know you! We know all of you so well. And Orpheus is going to kill you. He'll enjoy it too," its eyes narrowed with a wicked smile. "The part about why Orpheus looked back is bullshit, you know. He looked back because he wanted Eurydice to die. He wanted to die."
The shadow turned back to Makoto taking a step toward him. Makoto felt the denial well up in his throat, but it would not come. Cold sweat formed on his bloodstained brow. It could not be true. It was not. His silence was telling and his shadow's laughter filled the smoke and fog of hell.
"They're all in so much pain. Why, why do they hurt so much?" The shadow's laughter turned to tears. "I don't want to feel their pain. It's too much. I . . . I . . . They would be better off dead. That's why I killed Ryoji to end their struggle, their suffering."
"That's not true. You are not me!"
A sad smile replaced the shadow's weeping face.
"At least that's what you told yourself. The full truth is worse though is it not?" The shadow said with knowing weary. "We were weak Detective. We were the ones who wanted to die. And so we looked back. We killed the avatar of Nyx and with him the world. An entire world of people, people we loved, dead because of selfishness."
Naoto's eyes widened a mix of confusion, shock, and disgust. She failed to speak drowning in a truth to terrible to believe. The shadow spoke to her once more offering a gift.
"I can end your struggle too."
Anger filled the Detective. Rage for all that was lost. Disgust and pity for the miserable monsters in front of her, her words bit out like a bark. "Do not be so presumptuous. What I or anyone else chooses to do with their life is not your decision to make," Naoto protested. "If people want to fight a losing battle that is their right. To rob them of that is a terrible crime."
She was talking to the real Makoto now. "And my job is to bring criminals to court."
"I'll make you a deal Makoto," The shadow said seriously. "You have one more bullet there. Give the Detective a quick death, one to the head. And then I'll kill you. You can have exactly what you want. An end."
Makoto stood over Naoto. The revolver shook in his hands as he pointed it to her. She saw the tears falling from his face and for a moment felt sorrow for the boy. Makoto's voice came out not in his usual calm, but in broken sobs as he accepted a truth in his heart.
"He's right I don't want to fight anymore. I'm so tired, all of the time. My parent's died in an accident when I was little and so many more after them."
Naoto swallowed quietly his words drawing quiet memories from her own past. "Do you think they would want you to give up?"
"I wish they were here to tell me." The face of the real Makoto was full, expressing loud emotions that no one should bear. It did not look right to Naoto's eyes. His quiet expressions were better. "Truthfully, I don't think they would like who I am."
"You are secretly quite arrogant," The small Detective said quietly and to his surprise. "Presuming to know what the dead would want. What others should want. I think if your parents do hate you then you should live, avoiding them as long as you can. That would be the kind thing to do for them, real self-sacrifice."
The world went quiet for Makoto. The Detective's words stung. Her disgust for him open to see. He admitted to himself that somewhere a part of him hated the girl. The way she hid herself simply to please the world around her. Living up to expectations that were unfair, fighting everyday. Her life was no longer her own.
Makoto pulled the hammer of the revolver back with a click, reading his shot. Naoto did not blink once as she stared at him. "Naoto remember what you told me about my life back when you took that bullet for me?"
"Your life is no longer your own," The Detective smiled knowing the game was done. "Do what you must and do not speak to me in such a familiar tone. It's Detective to criminals."
Makoto fired his last bullet.
Teddie heard the gunshot from behind the gates and returned to his feet. The seal on the gates shattered and he desperately pulled at them. The old rusted iron gave centimeters and then inches and then feet. Soon it was open completely. Fog and smoke exited, released to the snowy world around Teddie. The costumed bear retreated away, afraid of what had made its exit from the cursed realm.
From its gates walked two figures.
The bullet hit his shadow forcing it to the desert sand, its blood coloring the ground black. Makoto grabbed Naoto in desperation and they ran to the opening exit. As they ran he heard their voices one last time. Aigis and Junpei, Akihiko and Mitsuru, Ken and Koromaru, Fuuka and Yukari they cried for him to look back, but in his heart he could hear them cheering him on forward. He said his last goodbye.
Makoto and Naoto exited the gates hand in hand. They never looked back.
They fell together in the snow, never feeling warmer. Makoto felt the tears, but it was laughter that came from his mouth. Naoto joined in not knowing why, but taken in the moment of triumph. They were alive. That was reason enough.
His shadow stumbled cradling his arm against his stomach wound. It leaned against the open gates. Its yellow-eyes were taken with the madness of grief.
"No," it shouted, "You will not leave. You cannot walk away. Acknowledge me!"
Its demands fell on deaf ears, as Makoto stood ready to move forward. It screamed one final shriek of pain as it transformed into the hideous entity it really was, but had hidden from them. What it looked like Makoto would never know, he offered it no place in his mind.
"Consider yourself acknowledged and ignored." Makoto put the empty revolver to his temple saying the all too familiar words. "Per . . . son . . . na."
The soft click of the empty gun gave way to the explosion in his mind. From the Wild Card she came, familiar, but new all the same. The one Orpheus had failed, but Makoto had won.
"I am thou... Thou art I... From the sea of thy soul, I come... I am she whose justice extends widely. The one left behind, but now reclaimed. Eurydice!"
With a single word he sent his shadows back into the depths of his soul rejecting and binding them there. "Hama."
Chains of divine light entrapped the shadow as it screamed. They dragged him back into the underworld locking the gates behind him. His shadow cursed at them promising its return, but Makoto walked forward, claiming the future that now belonged to the Detective. It was his new contract. One signed with her. He met her in the snow that surrounded the front of the gate. The white gold light of Eurydice healed Naoto's wounded leg as she looked on in disbelief.
A smile, a small thing graced Makoto's quiet face.
AN: Some more world notes.
The Altered Aeon
Alternate Universe Aigis The Traveler (August?)
Age: Technically 10
Persona: Pallas Athena
Arcana: Aeon
Weapon: Assortment of Weapons
Personality: The Robotic Multidimensional Traveler
Personality Flaw: Never Found Her Answer
Skills: Made of Metal, Stalking, Can Speak with Animals
Likes: Being By Makoto's Side, Action Movie Catch Phrases, People Watching (Stalking)
Dislikes: Not being Completely Human, Romance Movies, Being Accused of Stalking
Stats (1-5 scale):
Courage – 5
Charm – 3
Intelligence – 3
Understanding – 2
Expression – 2
Diligence – 5
Bonus Stat: Stalking - 5
Bio:
This is Aigis from the dead world where Makoto failed in his fight against Nyx. She is Alternate Universe Aigis The Traveler. She is August? She is here because of the power of her own Wild Card. She never found her answer maybe that is why it brought her to Yu's new timeline. Regardless she holds information useful for the fight. Problem is, she is not this world's Aigis and that is bound to cause problems when the two finally meet. August is dedicated entirely to Makoto, but Aigis? Well we will see.
In terms of her relationship to Yu, she is here to help him, but for her own reasons. Those reasons are obscure even to her. But she knows the fate of the original world and maybe with that knowledge she can help Yu save this world. She does not like Yu. It is surprising really. Everyone likes Yu, except for August. She doesn't really know why. It could be her relentless devotion to Makoto or it could be that she sees the darker more manipulative parts of everyone's favorite MC. Or she just might not like him. Maybe there does not need to be a reason. Somebody has to dislike Yu. It was bound to happen eventually.
Yu likes her though. He likes anything interesting and what is more interesting then a pretty robot girl from another dimension trying help him save the world? The Terminator references are just a bonus.
charizardatemymathteacher: Thank you for the words of encouragement. And I called it the midnight hour because I am old and cannot remember things. -_-
Really though thank you for saying something. I would have kept calling it that if not for your review. You have improved this fic with your review I really do mean that.
Blizzardfang: I am glad you like the story so far and are happy with Yu's characterization. That is one of the more troubling parts of writing Persona fic. The MC's are pretty much blank slates so it is hard to decide how set their voice. I hope you continue to enjoy what I have planned for him.
As for Arena content, I do not know. I have never played Arena and I do not have it sketched out in the main plot. Arena is so far away in terms of story time as well. I have to go through 2009-2012 covering both Persona stories plus all of the added twists I have thrown in. I have no plans for abandoning this fic, but it is a lot to write and I tend to write slowly. So as of now, no, I probably will not. However, I often find I don't have control over where things go. If I find a plot point in Arena interesting I could very well incorporate it into the story.
Icetail of WindClan – Meta-If: It was actually meant as a Terminator reference. A reference that the Lego Movie pokes fun at as well. But I did enjoy the Lego Movie so now I may have to throw a reference from that in somewhere. :)
Big Gay Boy: Will there be any pairings? That is the question that always comes up. :)
Right now I have no planned pairings. Most character moments I have planned are driven to explore the different interactions between the swapped MC and their P3-4 cast.
Yu will definitely interact romantically with the female cast of P3, but that is because he is Yu. And Yu is King. I plan for it to be more of a plot point than an actual romantic subplot. There is a rather dark moment in P4 Golden on Valentine's Day if you romanced all of the characters. I want to explore that with the P3 cast and the possible consequences that arise from it.
As for Makoto, well, he is not very lively right now is he? Bit of a gloomy kid and as such it is hard to imagine him pursuing romance with any of the P4 characters. There is also the fact that I have written him to have been involved and rather taken with Yukari. Now I don't actually have any attachment to the Yukari/Makoto pairing or any pairing in fact. I consider myself pairing neutral, as long as it is developed and there is an actual plot, I will pretty much read any pairing.
So why did I write in Makoto and Yukari? I did this in part because I wanted to show that Makoto did fully max out his bond with at least one character, which in turn raises the question of who Makoto did not max his social links with. You can probably guess some of the incomplete S. Links from this chapter actually. Also I find it hard to see this quiet and apathetic Makoto catching Mitsuru's interest. And his courage stat is not high enough to endure Fuuka's cooking. :p
Time wise it was too early to complete Aigis' S. Link so that leaves Yukari and the non-main cast ladies. So I went with Yukari.
I am not saying there will not be pairings. It just is not in my plot sketch right now.
Thanks for the reviews guys.