Chie's Shadow

April - 17 - 2011

Things happened quickly the next few days. Takashi felt like he barely had time to catch his breath.

After gaining his Persona, Yosuke discovered he could now enter the TV without Takashi's help. Apparently anyone with a Persona could do it. The culprit behind the two murders must have had a similar power and used it to feed his victims to the Shadows. Yosuke explained to Chie that they were the only ones who could stop the killer.

"Are you nuts? Let the police take care of this!" Chie said.

"The police won't help," Yosuke countered. "Even if we told them about Shadows and that other world, they'd never believe us. So we have to do it ourselves."

Story of my life, Takashi thought with annoyance.

Out loud, he added, "They can't enter the TV without our help anyway. Even if we told them, we'd still be on the front lines."

Chie became much more eager to help once her friend Yukiko Amagi went missing. Before she disappeared from the human world, Yukiko's image was seen on the Midnight Channel. Then a giant, fairy tale castle appeared in the other world. The pattern was undeniable: Yukiko was somewhere inside the castle.

Takashi, Yosuke, Chie, and Teddie walked through the front gates and went down the hallways.

"A bedroom, a store, and now a castle?" Takashi wondered as he walked. "The first two were based on places the people have been before, weren't they? So why is it a castle now?"

"Are you seriously trying to apply logic to this place?" Yosuke asked.

"Who cares what it looks like?!" Chie shouted. "Yukiko's here, isn't she?"

Teddie nodded. "Uh-huh. I definitely smell a human, but it's sorta faint. She must be up on a higher floor."

"Then let's go!"

It wasn't going to be quick. In addition to being larger than the previous areas, the castle was loaded with Shadows. They attacked the party on sight.

"Izanagi!" Takashi struck lightning into some ball-shaped Hableries.

"Jiraiya!" Yosuke used tornados to dissolve the fish-like Pesces.

"Ha! Once we know their weaknesses, this is easy. They can't even get a scratch on us," Yosuke bragged.

Takashi was less confident. He looked over his shoulder towards Chie. "Satonaka-san, you don't have to come with us... The Shadows won't attack Amagi-san until the fog lifts, but they target us because of our Personas. You'll be in danger if you stick too close to us."

Chie thought about this for a moment. "You know, you're right... We should split up." She ran past them. "Catch up when you can!"

"That's not what he meant!" Yosuke shouted.

The boys tried to chase after her, but more Shadows sprung up between them. "Out of our way!" Yosuke summoned Jiraiya again.

.

They didn't catch up to Chie until they reached the stairs to the second floor. The room beyond the stairway was wide and open, with a grand chandelier above and red carpet beneath. As soon as the group was together again, they heard a voice come out of the air.

"She said that red looks good on me."

It was Yukiko's voice, but not Yukiko herself.

"It's just like with Saki-senpai," Yosuke whispered, recalling the painful memory. "This castle is telling us Yukiko-san's inner thoughts."

Chie listened in silence.

"I hated my name... Yukiko... 'Snow'... Snow is cold and it melts quickly. It's transient. Worthless. But it's perfect for me. Apart from inheriting the inn, I'm worthless. Still... Chie told me that red looks good on me."

The voice continued. "Chie looks after my worthless life. She was the one who gave my life meaning. She's bright and strong, and she can do anything. She has everything that I don't. She protects me. Chie is so kind, and I... I don't deserve any of it... Compared to Chie, I'm... I'm..."

Chie's expression twisted up in sadness. She opened her mouth to speak, but before she could say anything she was interrupted - by her own voice.

"Are we talking about that Yukiko? She thinks I'm protecting her?"

All eyes snapped to the source of the voice - the door at the opposite end of the room. A person was walking towards them. She was a girl with a green jacket and short brown hair. It was another Chie, with scornful, yellow eyes.

The original Chie didn't realize what she was looking at. "Wh-What...?"

"Oh, no! It's just like last time," Teddie exclaimed. "She lost control of her suppressed self. Now it's a Shadow!"

The other Chie sneered and said, "Yukiko is so good looking... so fair-skinned... so feminine... She's the one all the guys drool over... And yet she says she's worthless! When a girl like her looked at me with eyes full of jealousy... Man, did I get a charge out of that!"

Chie looked like she was slapped. "No! I have never thought that!"

"No, it's true. Yukiko knows the score: I'm better than her. Much... much... better!"

Yosuke glanced over to Takashi worriedly. "Natsume, at this rate it's just gonna turn into another monster." Yosuke's own Shadow incident was only the day before yesterday, so it was still fresh in his mind. And this was so similar to that he almost thought it was intentional.

Takashi nodded. "Yeah, let's break this up before that happens."

They ran up to the two girls, but the real Chie turned and yelled at them. "Stay back! And don't listen to her! She's lying!"

"Wait, stupid!" Yosuke panicked. "Don't say anything else like that!"

The other Chie ignored the lot of them and laughed to herself. "I can't win as a girl, let alone as a person. I can't even feel good about myself unless I'm stepping on someone else. That's why Yukiko's so important to me. I'll never loosen my grip on her."

Chie turned back to her doppelganger. She was horrified. Even if she could admit this to herself, she didn't want Yosuke or Takashi - or anyone - to ever hear it.

In a flash, Takashi thought of something. When he heard the voice of Saki's Shadow, he also heard Saki's father and neighbors. Or rather, they were probably how Saki saw those people in her mind. The voice of Yukiko they heard earlier might have actually been Chie's inner thoughts - Not how Yukiko secretly saw herself, but how Chie secretly saw Yukiko.

Yukiko was supposed to be Chie's friend, but Chie needed her in a horrible way she couldn't admit in the front of her mind.

"Shut up!" Chie shouted. "It's not like that!"

The other Chie frowned. "So you're just gonna turn your back and deny me again? But things are different now. When the time comes, I'll be the one left standing. You won't mind right? After all... I'm still you."

"No! You're-"

Almost in unison, Takashi and Yosuke reached for her and cried, "Don't say it!"

But Chie ignored them. "You're not me!"

Darkness poured out of the other Chie. She laughed madly, even as the black smoke spilled out from her mouth, ears, nose, and every pore of her body. The black funnel cloud enveloped her completely. But after only a few seconds, a blast of wind cleared it away and exposed the other Chie's new form.

It was a dominatrix: a woman in a revealing bikini but long leather gloves and boots, and a whip in each hand. She also wore a long, pointed mask that made her look like an executioner. And she had smooth, black hair that was so long it reached the ground and spilled all across the floor.

Three humanoid dolls in high school uniforms stood on top of each other to form a tower. This tower was the throne the Shadow sat cross-legged upon. She was literally using others to elevate herself.

"I am a Shadow... The true self..." it said in an angry voice.

Takashi took one look at it and said, "I feel like I'm not old enough to fight this battle..."

Regardless, he and Yosuke ran between Chie and her Shadow. Teddie grabbed Chie's hand and pulled the shell-shocked girl away from the battlefield.

"What do you guys think you're doing? Trying to defend the 'real' me? Then you're gonna pay the price!"

"Hanamura-san, your Persona controls the wind, right? Can you knock her off balance?"

The boys watched the tower of dolls that supported Chie's Shadow. The dolls were already buckling under her weight.

Yosuke grinned. "No problem. Let's do it, Jiraiya!"

The white ninja appeared and summoned with it a tornado. The funnel of wind shot towards Chie's Shadow.

GREEN WALL!

Chie's Shadow slapped her whip against the ground, and a glass barrier sprung up just in time to block Jiraiya's tornado.

"What the-?!"

"Ha! Did you think it'd be that easy?!" A curved, transparent wall shimmered in front of Chie's Shadow. She was completely unharmed on the other side.

The monster's long black hair slithered along the ground. Before anyone noticed it, the braids shot up and wrapped around Yosuke and Takashi, pinning their arms to their sides. "Ah... Ugh!" The boys couldn't breathe. The black strands tightened, trying to crush them.

Takashi couldn't speak, but as he concentrated, Izanagi appeared and sliced the cords with his knife. The hair around his torso fell limp. He immediately repeated it for Yosuke.

Once Yosuke got air in his lungs again, he shouted, "Jiraiya!"

"Izanagi!"

The glass wall blocked Jiraiya's tornado again, and then immediately moved above Chie's Shadow and stopped Izanagi's lightning.

"Geez, we gotta do something about that barrier!" Yosuke said.

"Let's try to hit it from different sides," Takashi said.

"Right, Partner."

The boys split up and ran to opposite sides of the Shadow.

Meanwhile, Teddie and Chie were watching the battle from afar. Teddie was rooting for the boys, but Chie was frozen in horror. She couldn't stop staring at the monster that was supposedly shaped by her feelings.

"Teddie... That thing... What is that thing?"

Teddie looked up at her. "Seems like whenever a human comes to this world, and then they lose control of their suppressed self, it becomes a Shadow. You wouldn't admit your feelings, so they had to find another way out."

"It's not like that," she protested, finally turning to face him. "Those weren't my real feelings! Yukiko's my friend! I want to protect her, but not just so I can feel important! I don't think like that at all!" She quietly added, "...Do I?"

Teddie shrugged - as well as he could, considering he didn't have real shoulders. "I dunno. You'd know about it better than I would, Chie-chan."

Chie looked back to the fight.

The curved glass shifted back and forth around Chie's Shadow. In addition, she used her whips to parry the Personas' attacks, and to snap at the boys if they came too close. They couldn't get anywhere near her.

Yosuke turned his head to look at Chie and Teddie, who were standing against the room's back wall. He noticed the expression on her face.

He thought, Even if we do beat this thing, doesn't look like Chie's willing to accept it anytime soon.

"Hey, Partner!" That was the nickname he'd given Takashi ever since they agreed to solve the murder mystery. "Can you stall it for a little bit? I'm gonna try something!"

"Okay!" Takashi called back as he made Izanagi summon lightning again.

Yosuke turned away from the fighting and ran over to Chie. But she didn't look like she wanted to speak with him.

"Yosuke... don't... don't listen to what that thing said... I don't know-"

"It's okay, Chie. I understand."

"No, you don't! It's not-"

He grabbed her by the shoulders and looked her straight in the eye. "Chie, listen to me. I do understand. I went through the exact same thing last time I was here."

She gaped. "You what?"

"My Shadow came out that time we went without you. I have a side like this too. In fact, everyone probably has a side like this. We all have things we don't want other people to know... or things we can't admit to ourselves... I get it."

Yosuke let go of her before he continued. "You don't have to tell everyone. But if you can't at least admit it to yourself, then nothing's gonna get fixed!" He looked over his shoulder. "Even after we stop that monster, if you don't accept it, the same thing will just happen all over again."

"But..."

"I learned something when my Shadow went berserk," Yosuke said. "I realized it's okay to think bad things sometimes, because there's more to us than just the bad stuff... I could accept my Shadow, because there was someone else who accepted me."

They both turned and looked at Takashi.

"Ukobach!" the fighting boy called.

His Persona appeared as a small imp carrying a torch. It set fire to the long hair on the ground, and the flames raced across the strands towards Chie's Shadow. The monster screamed in pain and tore out its own hair before the flames could get her body.

"Pixie!"

His Persona changed again to a tiny girl with butterfly wings. It zipped across the field, deftly dodging whiplashes, and sprinkled powder that caused electric shocks. But the Persona couldn't break through the glass wall.

"Angel!"

Takashi stayed away from the monster's reach, leaving his Personas to move in and attack. Pixie became a blindfolded woman with feathery wings. As the wings beat, a column of light shone through the glass and blinded Chie's Shadow.

"Ngh... Don't make fun of me..." the Shadow growled. "You're... You're nothing against me...!"

"Izanagi!"

His Persona rematerialized in its original form and brought a lightning storm with it. The glass dome moved up to protect Chie's Shadow from the lightning bolts, but Takashi and Izanagi reacted even quicker. While the dome was still up, Izanagi swung his knife upwards and latched it onto the underside of the glass barrier. The blade cracked through the very edge of the wall.

"What?!" Chie's Shadow screamed.

"Now!" Takashi ordered. He put his fists together. Izanagi mimicked his movements, gripping both hands onto his knife.

CLEAVE!

With the blade still impaled, Izanagi flexed his long arms and pulled the barrier away from its master. There were a few seconds of resistance, as if a magnetic force was keeping it in place, but then Izanagi pulled it loose and smashed it onto the floor. The glass wall shattered into countless pieces.

"AAAAaaauuuhhhHHH!" Chie's Shadow shrieked, like a part of her own body was shattered.

Takashi held his hand out, like he did each time he re-summoned a Persona. "Ukoba..." He swallowed. "Uko..."

His hand was trembling. The next moment, Takashi felt himself fall down to his knees. He heard voices calling to him, but they sounded far away. His vision swam.

What's going on...?

"Partner!"

"Natsume-kun!"

"Sensei!"

Everyone rushed up to him. Yosuke kneeled down to Takashi, who was panting while on his hands and knees. "What happened?! Are you hurt?!"

"I dunno," Takashi managed to wheeze out. "I'm just so exhausted all of a sudden... I can barely move..."

Chie's Shadow was starting to recover. She glared at Yosuke.

Yosuke glared back. They didn't have time to lick their wounds. "Jiraiya!"

The white ninja reappeared and launched a whirlwind towards Chie's Shadow - or rather, the dolls that held her up. Their rickety limbs didn't stand a chance against the strong winds. The entire tower collapsed and Chie's Shadow hit the ground hard.

"Now's our chance," Yosuke told his other self. "Finish her off!"

Jiraiya threw one of its golden shuriken stars towards the Shadow. It stabbed the target dead center, and black mist sprayed from the wound. A moment later, the whole monster fell apart, turning into a mere cloud of black smoke.

"We won!" Teddie cheered.

But Yosuke turned his attention back to Takashi. "Natsume, think you can stand?"

He nodded weakly. "Uh... Yeah." Yosuke helped him up to his feet, pulling one of Takashi's arms over his shoulder.

Yosuke looked over to Chie next. "How're you doing?"

Chie didn't reply. Instead she looked over to the remains of the battle.

The humanoid other Chie was still there, calmly standing in the fizzing darkness.

"What's the matter?" The original Chie asked bitterly. "Got nothing to say anymore?"

"Stop it, Chie," Yosuke told her, still holding up Takashi. "It's all right."

She hesitated, and then she nodded a little. "Yeah... I know."

Chie walked until she and her imposter were just a few feet apart. She looked her other self in the face, and wouldn't look away. "I kinda get it now. You are me... A side of me I couldn't forgive - that I tried to ignore - but ignoring those feelings wasn't enough to make me stop feeling them... You still exist. You're a part of me."

The other Chie nodded. Then she vanished in a flash of pale blue light. In her place was a strong woman with a yellow bodysuit, white armor, and a lance with a blade at each end, a naginata. It was the Persona Tomoe.

The Persona faded away, and then Chie fell down to her knees.

"Chie!"

"I'm okay," she told Yosuke. "I'm just a little tired."

Yosuke looked between her and Takashi. He thought, I can't carry them both home!

Takashi picked up on Yosuke's stress and said, "I-I can stand on my own now." He gently pulled away from Yosuke. He did manage to stay on his feet, but he wobbled a little. Takashi seemed much more exhausted than Chie.

"Neither of you look okay at all!" Yosuke said. "That's it. We're done for today. We need to head back."

Chie jumped back to her feet and looked at Yosuke in horror. "We can't go back now! Yukiko's still in here, isn't she?!"

"We can't keep going either!" Yosuke shot back. "If we run into more Shadows, tired as we are right now, we wouldn't stand a chance against them! And then who'll save Yukiko-san?"

"I'm sorry, Satonaka-san, but I have to agree with Hanamura-san," Takashi breathed out. "We can come back for Yukiko later, but today... I just don't have the strength to keep going. I'm sorry."

"But she's all alone," Chie countered. "She must be so scared. And if what we heard were Yukiko's true feelings, then I have to tell her something..."

Teddie spoke up. "Yukiko will be okay, 'cause she's normal. Shadows won't attack normal people until the fog lifts."

"The fog lifts here when it gets foggy in our world," Yosuke explained. "That happens after it rains hard, but it's been sunny lately. We have time. So instead of running in and getting wiped out, let's go home, rest up, and save her when we're at full power."

Chie looked down at her feet. She knew they made sense, but she just didn't want to give up yet.

"We'll save her, Satonaka-san. We still have time," Takashi gently told her.

In the end, Chie couldn't ignore the limitations of her own body. "All right... Let's regroup for now."

The group slowly trudged back the way they came.

.

They walked back to the main entrance, the bull's-eye pattern on the ground. For the last bit of the journey, Takashi had to lean on Yosuke's shoulder again.

Teddie ran to the center of the room and tapped his furry foot on the floor. Yosuke and Takashi saw him do this before, but this time Takashi was looking up. He saw one of the holes in the sky drop to their level, and in a poof of smoke, transform into the pile of TVs.

"So that's how it works," Takashi muttered.

"Huh?" Yosuke heard of course, being right next to his face.

"Oh, uh, nothing." The holes in the sky were where TVs in their world connected to this one, but apparently only Takashi could see them.

"You can let go," Takashi said. "I can walk again." Yosuke wasn't really convinced, but he let go of Takashi's arm anyway. The other boy struggled to stay upright on his feet.

"You sure you're okay, Nastume-kun? You look even worse than I feel," Chie said.

"I think it's because I overused my Personas," he told them. "It seems like a Persona's skills can't be used endlessly. When I kept using one right after the other, it sapped up all my energy."

"That makes sense. I guess we can't rely on our Personas too much then. Speaking of which..." Yosuke looked at Takashi in annoyance. "Where did you get all those Personas, anyway?!"

"Huh? I just sorta... picked them up while fighting the smaller Shadows, I guess. Didn't you get any?"

"No! You're just showing off on purpose, aren't you?!" But Yosuke was smirking as he said it, so Takashi knew he wasn't really upset.

Takashi turned his head towards Chie. "Doesn't explain Satonaka-san, though."

"Yeah, I feel even worse than last time I was here. So how come you're fine, Yosuke?"

Yosuke blinked. "Oh, I get it. It's 'cause you don't have the glasses."

"She does now! TA-DA!"

Teddie proudly held up a pair of yellow-framed eyeglasses. He handed them to Chie. "I just finished them. With these, you won't have to bear the effects of the fog next time."

"'Just finished'? How do you make these glasses anyway?" Yosuke asked.

"I'm curious, too," Takashi added.

Teddie replied, "A bear's gotta have his secrets. Hee hee."

"No he doesn't," Yosuke said.

Teddie ignored them and patted the TV exit. "I'm gonna leave this exit open from now on. You guys will be coming in and out of here a lot until we all save Yukiko."

"Sounds good," Yosuke said. "But let's agree right now: No one ever comes here alone. It's too dangerous. When we come here, we come here together."

"Definitely," Chie added. "No one's getting left behind again. We're a team now."

Takashi nodded. "All right... We'll meet up tomorrow after school and talk about a plan."

He trudged towards the exit, but Yosuke didn't move. He was watching Takashi. His eyes darted to the floor, then back up, and he called out, "Hey, Partner - I mean, Natsume-kun..."

It was a while since Yosuke spoke so formally, so it caught Takashi's attention. He stopped and turned around to face him.

"I've been wondering," Yosuke continued timidly. "We're all part of a team now, so... Would you mind being our leader?"

"Leader?" He was taken aback. "W-Why...?"

"You're our strongest fighter after all. I think it's best if you set the pace of the investigation and let us support you, instead of the other way around... I mean," Yosuke diverted his eyes, feeling awkward, "I don't want to cause trouble again by doing my own thing in the middle of a battle, like I did today. It'll be better if we have someone like you calling the shots."

Takashi didn't know what to say. After some stuttering, he blurted out, "I-I don't need to in charge. You can do it if you want."

Yosuke shook his head. "Nah, I'm more the advisor type anyway, y'know? An ideas man, not an executive."

"I agree with Yosuke," Chie said cheerfully. "You'd be a great leader. You seem much more level-headed than Yosuke, who just blurts out whatever he's thinking."

"You're one to talk," Yosuke muttered to her.

"My pillow will be much more comfortable at night if I know Natsume-Sensei's the one taking care of things," Teddie said with a smile.

It seemed like a unanimous vote, but Takashi never expected an offer like this. And he felt a lot less confident than they did.

"But what if I mess up...?" he finally asked.

"We won't get mad," Teddie said.

Yosuke smacked the top of the mascot's head. "You're supposed to say, 'of course you won't mess up'!"

"We all think you're the best one for the job," Chie said.

Eventually, Takashi nodded faintly. "O-Okay... If that's what you all want, I'll do it. At least until we save Yukiko."

They all smiled and agreed, but Takashi couldn't share their optimism inside.

He already decided to get involved in solving the murder case and saving Yukiko. And if he was getting involved, he decided to see things through to the end... That's what Takashi wanted to do, but...

Takashi didn't know how much time he had. Even after they saved her, he didn't know how much longer he would be able to stay in Inaba.

.

Author's Notes: (1/19/2014) I recently got interested in the manga adaptation of the first Persona game. It's said that when you run out of "SP," your body becomes so weak you can barely move. That's why Naoya and the others start carrying weapons, to avoid overusing their Personas. I decided to carry that idea over to this story.

One thing I really like about the Persona games is that the main characters are doing the fighting themselves, and their Personas are just their most useful weapon. This is different from anime and games that have spirits or monsters fighting for the humans while they sit back on the sidelines. This element was unfortunately watered down in Persona 4: The Animation, but my hope was to bring it back in full force here.

Disclaimer: I do not own the manga Megami Ibunroku: Persona nor the anime Persona 4: The Animation.