Disclaimer: I do not own the Persona series. Atlus owns that, rofl.

Author notes:
1. Be advised that words that are italicized are the character POV's thoughts, or a voice in the POV's head, or music. The horizontal line denotes either a change in scenario, or a change in POV.

2. Enjoy!

"Icarus"

Meguro International High, Boys' Dormitory Rooftop
Time Unknown

Souji opened the door up to the roof. His plan had to work. Rei would lure Shin's Shadow onto the roof, where he would engage him in a small skirmish, while he placed his Rakunda and Sukunda traps along the passage going up to the roof. He would then engage the enemy with Rei in a two-on-one scenario, hopefully defeating the Shadow before the others could reach the roof.

He had taken note of the Shadows movements at the previous engagement. Shadow Shin had better evasion than his and Rei's shadow, and its winged persona seemed to give him an ability to either jump higher and longer than normal, as well as create a pocket of air below him, making him much more maneuverable after getting knocked down.

It was definitely strange. All of the previous Shadows he had faced in the Midnight Channel were all like monsters and demons, even those that had come from his friends. Those Shadows were unnaturally strong and fast, and had certain abilities that made them dangerous to go up against. But the base form of these Shadows seemed to be limited to what an average person was capable of, only being enhanced by the power of their own Shadow personas. It was like they were still incomplete.

Well, it made life a bit easier then, since that would mean that they could fall and get hurt just like any other human. And so, it would also make sense that Shadow Shin would get atop the roof faster than the other two using its wind-based persona.

As he went through the door, his heart sank as he saw Rei knocking Shin out of the way of the Garula arrows; however, one of the arrows had caught his left foot, taking his balance away and causing both him and Shin to topple right over the edge of the building.

"They're too far! I can't save them!"

He ran towards the falling duo, and could only watch in horror as the two went over the edge completely.

"Those two are done for. I'm certain the same can be said for you." Shin's Shadow laughed, the sound echoing in his ears.

The Shadow's persona shot those arrows again. He didn't care.

He had already switched personas.

A beautiful gold figure that was made up of three one-winged women appeared, holding an ancient clock between them. The Garula arrows hit him, but did no damage at all.

At first he felt hollow and empty. Then a rising anger seemed to bubble up from deep within him. He had never allowed shadows to cause life-threatening harm to his friends in Inaba. He had always done whatever he could to protect them. He had always been there for them. But now...

"I… couldn't do anything… I virtually sent Rei to his death…"

Now two of his comrades had just fallen right in front of his eyes. And he was to blame, for not making a good assessment of Rei's capabilities and basing his judgment on it.

The Shadow was just staring at him, trying vainly to damage him using its puny arrows.

His eyes hardened, and he clenched his fists. "Rei… Shin… I'll make sure that your deaths aren't in vain."

"So this is it? Shit! There's so much more that I want to do!"

Shin closed his eyes. He didn't want to see what would be his final resting place in the next few seconds.

A tiny voice suddenly reverberated in his head."I am you…"

Shin shuddered visibly. He hoped that death would come quickly, and that he wouldn't have to feel a lot of pain.

The voice grew stronger, and spoke once again. "And you are me…"

"Am I going crazy? I've started hearing voices in my head!"

"If you don't want to die, then open your heart to me and call out my name!" The loud voice echoed in his head.

"I don't want to die! You say you can save me? How do I call you out?"

"You know what, you've always known how. The day every human was born in this reality, they've known. It's just that all of you have forgotten."

Shin opened his eyes, and saw that his left hand was holding the blank card Igor had given him. He then noticed a small word at the bottom, and decided to say it out loud. It felt… right.

"Per… so… na."

Shin felt a great force rushing out of him, like a gigantic river gushing out of a dam that had just broken. He felt a heightened sense of awareness around him: he could feel every bead of sweat that was left on his body and the sharpness of the wind as he fell; with his eyes he could see…

"Oh shi—" He could clearly see the ground as he sped towards it!

"I am Icarus. Now, normally I'd go on to say stuff about where I come from and all that, but this doesn't seem to be the time. Instead, I'll lend you a bit of my power."

Though he was still hanging onto Rei's arm as they fell, Shin suddenly felt… lighter. As if a hundred pounds had suddenly been taken off his weight. He could also feel a small pocket of air beneath him, swirling and supporting his body. The speed of both of their drops gradually slowed down, and seconds later, he felt the gentle earth beneath him.

He turned to his side and saw Rei on his knees, still clutching at his arm.

He didn't move. With his back on the ground, he could feel the granite of the floor; he could feel every pebble that stuck onto his neck and arms as he remained in that position. He was still breathing hard, and he could feel the cold sweat that had formed due to that fall. His heart, which had been beating hard a few seconds ago, was starting to slow down. He then took a huge breath.

"It feels good to be alive!"

He closed his eyes. "Icarus… thanks. What are you, anyway?"

The voice snickered. "I'm one of the masks that you humans wear when faced with hardship and fear. I am one of the multitude of beings that come from the sea of your soul; however, I have a certain affinity to you as I represent a greater portion of your psyche. I am your Persona."

"Persona, huh? Is that what Souji and Rei and those monsters use as well?"

Though he could not see Icarus, he could tell that it was nodding. "Yes, those two are Persona-users as well."

He suddenly felt a shoe dig in to the side of his body.

"Agh! Being able to feel much clearly apparently means that pain gets amplified as well!"

"Hurry and get up, Shin. This is no time to be sleeping," Rei said urgently. He felt another shoe dig in to his side, this time hitting him with more force.

He opened his eyes and sat up immediately. "Fuck, Rei! Can't you give me some peace and—"

The ground was splattered with blood, the trail leading to Rei that was on his knees a few meters away. His breath was getting labored, the wounds he had sustained earlier were bleeding profusely, and he was beginning to pale, as it looked like had lost too much blood. Directly in front of Rei was Rei's Shadow Self, and its hands were covered in blood.

Shin reached out without thinking.

"Garu!"

Icarus once again materialized and created a green bow out of the wind around him. He then let loose a few arrows that hit Shadow Rei at the back of the head and along its spine, the force knocking him forwards.

Rei then immediately threw an uppercut which sent the Shadow's head straight up, following it with a tackle that took the monster down. Rei then mounted his Shadow and started bashing its head into the ground with his fists. After a few punches, the Shadow's face had caved in and was completely unrecognizable, as it looked like a jumbled mess of bones and flesh and blood.

Shin suddenly felt sick. The contents of his stomach had started churning when Rei had thrown his first punch right at the monster's face, and seeing the messy face of the Shadow, he felt that all the food he had eaten during dinner was now coming up his throat. He instantly doubled over and vomited.

"Just what the hell is Rei?! Doesn't he feel sick doing that? That Shadow looks just like a human being! Hell, it looks like it even has bones and muscles and—"

He didn't want to think about it anymore.

He suddenly heard a sound of a faint fall, and saw that Rei had fallen face first onto the ground, appearing to lose consciousness. As he hurried over, he felt a sudden jolt from behind, followed by the feeling of a million needles lodging themselves into his skin all over his entire body over and over again. He fell to his knees and cried out in agony.

"Not paying attention to your surroundings. Such a rookie mistake."

He turned his head, and saw the golden eyes of Souji's Shadow. Its persona was holding a gigantic blood-soaked lance, and an electric current was flowing through it and directly onto his back.

As the current subsided, Shadow Souji smiled. "Don't worry. I'm sure that a simple Zio won't be enough to kill you. I'm going to keep casting it on you until you scream yourself hoarse and you fry to a crisp."

Shin tried standing up, but his knees immediately buckled under him. Taking that hit had sapped away a large portion of his strength. He was unaccustomed to moving his body when he was too tired and was in too much pain.

"Icarus…"

"You've got to hang in there, Shin. Don't lose focus, or you'll lose the added protection I'm giving you if I disappear!"

"Shit… Just when I thought everything would be ok…"

A ball of light suddenly descended on Shadow Souji, which it promptly avoided by evading to the side. Upon reaching the ground, the ball of light created a small, bright explosion, nearly reaching the surprised Shadow.

Shin shielded his eyes from the light. A few seconds later, he heard someone step right beside him.

"Souji? No… it's different…"

The man standing over him was tall and blonde, wearing an unkempt and untucked white shirt and black dress pants. His pale skin seemed to glow in the dull green moonlight. The man looked over to him, and he immediately recognized the face as one of the second years in the dormitory.

"Faust-senpai!"

The young man merely nodded, focusing his attention once again at the enemy. Souji's Shadow immediately launched its Persona towards them, blade at the ready.

"Come, Azrael!" Faust declared.

An angelic figure wearing pure black priest's robes with a red serpent wrapped around its body suddenly appeared in the darkness and engaged with the enemy with its own blade. Sparks flew as the two Personas clashed blades, but in a few seconds it was clear that the enemy's Persona was clearly superior in close combat, easily batting away Azrael's slashes.

"Now's our chance, Icarus! Hit it with Garu!"

The arrows of wind sailed through the air piercing right through the Shadow's Persona and hitting Shadow Souji squarely in the chest. The Shadow staggered backwards, but before it could recover, another bright ball of light descended on it, followed by another bright explosion. When the light subsided, the enemy was nowhere to be found.

"It's… gone? We defeated it? We defeated that… monster?"

A warm feeling spread through Shin, and he lay down on the ground in a heap. His head hurt, every single muscle in his body ached, his heart was still pounding like it wanted to jump out of his chest, but he felt relief.

"It's over! This nightmare is over! I'm… I'm alive!"

His eyes suddenly felt heavy, and as he closed them, the last thing he saw was Faust sitting over to his side, with a look of concern on his face.