A few days of recovery find Devyn lying in his room at the hotel, and three personae hanging out. "This is starting to get boring." he whined. Kalfu, slumped against the wall, nodded, "No kidding. Being the newest deserter from SEES made it pretty fun for a while, but the novelty is beginning to wear off." The girl sitting on the edge of the bed piped in, "So what are you going to do about it?" Devyn shrugged, "I was thinking about going back to school, messing with Yukari and Junpei. But that just doesn't seem to be enough. There has to be more interesting things to do here." An old man stuck his wizened head out of the bathroom, "Have you delivered those gifts to the ladies?" The Wild Card smiled, "Yup. Two boxes of ammo and a few clips for Yukari, and thirteen vases of roses for Mitsuru."
Kalfu laughed, "You are really cheesy, man. But who am I to judge?" The girl slid from the bed, "Go ahead, but the other you over there will just judge the other way. I'm the only vote that counts right now, and I think it's sweet." Papa Legba stuck his head out from the bathroom again, "Don't pick on either of me, Mamman. You know it's not nice." Devyn sat up, "Will you goofballs quit squabbling? The devils of the crossroads and Death's wife ought'a be able to get along a little better. Now What else can we do to spice up this little adventure...I GOT IT!" The three personae had already started laughing as they saw the idea in Devyn's head, and he threw himself from the bed and was out the door in an instant.
Just like he thought, Devyn found Shinjiro Aragaki in the back alley near the station. He mentally switched over to Kalfu for the subconsious intimidation factor, and swaggered over, "Yo, Castor!" Shinji's head snapped up in shock, then he quickly smoothed his expression into it's usual sneer. "What the hell do you want?" The American dropped onto the stair beside him and glanced around at the crowd watching him. "You know," he said loudly, "I never took well to being eyeballed. Makes me angry." That was enough to clear the space really fast, and Dev settled more comfortably on the stone step. "I recently left SEES."
Shinji just grunted, and Devyn decided to continue with his recruitment speech, "Had a bit of an event with some Shadows and I felt it best to gain some distance from the group. But I noticed that even with the team taking down Shadows at the source, there are a good many of them feeding on folks around town. I've been doing what I can, but recently I feel that some help might be necessary. I know you're aware of your Persona, and you don't help SEES, maybe I could convince you to work with me." The kid stood and began to walk off, "Forget it. I'm not interested."
Devyn summoned Kalfu in his Persona form, a red-skinned demon with black teeth, right in front of the youth. The sudden appearance pushed him back a step, and he glanced back at Devyn. "I always knew you were a weakling, but I didn't think you were a coward, too." The flash in Shinji's eyes threatened violence, but Devyn pressed on, "Your power is a twin to Sanada's, power without control, and vice versa. But to throw away that power is just plain irresponsible. How many people could have been saved if you had been there to protect them?"
"And what about the one who died because I WAS there?"
"Then you're insulting their memory by refusing to atone." The simple statement gave him pause, "Make yourself stronger, Aragaki. Become someone who can stand for people who can't. And prove to that poor soul that their death wasn't senseless." He pulled the ring from his pocket, holding it in his outstretched palm, "This will give you perfect control over Castor, but I warn you now that it comes with a price." The former SEES member couldn't take his eyes from the ring, "What price?"
"First, it will cause you extreme physical pain, but it will pass after a while. And next, once you start here, there is no getting out. I will have to kill you before you leave." That got his attention. Nice touch, I think this will spice up the game nicely. "This ring will infuse your physical body with the power of your Persona. Which means you will become Castor, with your own self-control. I can teach you to handle the power, but it's your own choice to become a part of this." They stood (and sat) in silence for a while, neither moving, until finally Shinjiro took the ring from Devyn's hand and slipped it on. "Welcome aboard," Devyn said, "now we'll begin."
"Why the hell are we in the school?"
Devyn stared at the ceiling, "We need to get into Tartarus without SEES bothering us, and they are always right by the front entrance when the tower rises. Don't worry, I've done this a few times before already." They were silent for about a minute, then Shinji began tapping his foot, "Stop that, it's irritating." He glared from under his beanie, "Why should I?" This time Devyn did look at him, "Because the reason why Castor can't be controlled is because you can't control yourself. Constantly letting your anger getting the best of you, always being contrary just to prove that nobody is your boss. It's nothing but childish foolishness, but it's gonna get somebody killed." He watched Shinji digest this new information, then reluctantly sink back to wait patiently.
"Your Persona is you, without all the masks. Remember that." He nodded, and a rumble rising from the floor signaled the onset of the Dark Hour. Devyn grabbed the table and watched in amusement as Aragaki began pinballing around the room. When everything died down, Devyn pulled the dizzy teen to his feet and said, "Come on, it's time to begin your lessons." He threw his hands forth and his Personae went running down the hall in their human forms, screaming at the top of their lungs. "I'm going to stand here," Devyn said, situating himself in the middle of a four-way intersection, "your job is to keep the Shadows from reaching me. Focus your mind, and summon Castor, but instead of summoning him into the world, release him into your own body."
The Wild Card watched as Shinji tried repeatedly to do as he was instructed, and he could see the irritation rising in his face. Just then, the sounds of approaching enemies could be heard. "Better hurry," Devyn said, "or I'm going to have to punish you for failing." That broke the boy's concentration completely, and he stood facing Devyn for a few seconds too long. Before he could do anything about it, a tank Shadow came barreling around the corner and straight towards Devyn. But just as the monster would've hit, the Wild Card flared white and leapt overhead. He landed atop the turret, and held his hands in front of him, palms facing each other.
A stream of electricity sparked to life between them, and as he passed his hands down along either side of the turret, the metal melted away. As the chunk of metal began to fall and dissolve, he pushed the arc together and began to wind it into a ball. "Oh, Aragaki-san..." He glanced over his shoulder, "you fail." He tossed the ball into the air over the disabled tank, and it exploded into a net of lightning, which wrapped itself around the shadow and released a shower of sparks and ozone. The machine dissapeared and the net evaporated with it. Shinjiro seemed astonished at the sight, and Devyn held his hand up to display the markings all over his arms, "This is the proof that I've merged with my inner demons. There is no chance of my power going berserk, because I have to make the decision to use my power." He let the marks fade, and felt the backlash begin to set in. But as he had already used Legba's light based abilities a few times already, the blindness was reduced to a slight blurring of his eyes. "But I'm afraid you fell short of my expectations tonight, Aragaki. I'll expect you back in school tomorrow as punishment. You'll go every day, and if you miss even one, I'll take it to mean you wish to 'terminate' our agreement." He could feel the tension rise in Shinjiro, and smirked inwardly. "But enough of that. We'll get out of here, and go practice your focus." He brought Kalfu forth, swaddled them in Shadow, and used one of his Traesto Gems to bring them to the entrance to sneak past Mitsuru.
She had a rose in her hair.
And sure enough, Devyn saw Shinjiro lurking off to the side the next day. And everyday after that they would attend school regularly. Neither spoke much, even when cornered by the SEES members. On one occasion Devyn busted Junpei's nose. The magician link throbbed its reversed status in Devyn's mind, but he didn't care anymore. The midterms came and went, and the Wild Card found that his new ally was pretty gifted himself, placing second under Mitsuru.
An especially sunny day found Devyn cutting last class in the branches of the persimmon tree outside when he heard a couple of snobby girls talking about picking on someone. Since he's been such a jerk to the SEES team recently, Devyn didn't really think he had a leg to stand on when arguing about bullying, but it still irked him that someone would pick on another for no good reason. He swung down from his hiding spot and smoothed back his (now even longer) hair. He slithered up to the girls and cleared his throat, "What are you ladies talking about?" They jumped at his sudden appearance, and he even seemed to surprise Yukari who was standing off to the side. "It's nothing, just stupid stuff." One girl answered. But Devyn was having none of that and stepped closer to the tanned girl, glaring, "I didn't ask if it was stupid or not, I asked what you were talking about." Most girls don't like when a glaring man invade their personal space, and this one was no different. She backed away until she hit the stone wall and Devyn slammed a hand into the wall next to her head, "Answer, please." She seemed nervous as she stuttered, "W-we ah, we were just messing with this girl in our class and..." Devyn cut her off, "Who?"
"F-fuuka Yamagishi." Devyn raised his eyebrow. Everyone had been talking about how she had been out of school for the past few weeks. "Well, you'd best apologize to the young lady, shouldn't you?" He said. "We can't," the girl said, "nobody's seen her since..." Hearing her trail off like that piqued his interest, and he redoubled his attempts to intimidate her, "Since what!" The sudden fire in his voice provoked a squeak from the girl and she said, "Since we locked her in the gym at night! Please don't hurt me!" Right then, Yukari showed up with Mitsuru in tow, talking quickly to each other. Devyn decided now was a good time to back out, so he pointed to Mitsuru and said, "You don't want to get hurt then confess your crime." And she leapt forward out of Devyn's reach to tell Mitsuru what she had told him. While the student council president was busy with the girl, Devyn made his escape out through the gym.
After school, Devyn and Shinji were at Hagakure eating when the American said, "Get your gear, Shinji. We're going into the tower tonight." Shinji glanced at him, "Why? We haven't been in Tartarus since you first gave me the ring." Devyn shrugged, "There's been a disappearance. A girl named Fuuka Yamagishi was locked in the gym in the middle of the night and hasn't been seen since. I'm afraid she might've been sucked into Tartarus somehow." Shinji accepted that explanation and finished his noodles before walking out to prepare. Devyn spent some time playing with Maiko at the shrine before meeting Shinji behind the school building with their gear. "So, how do we get in?" Shinji asked. Devyn took a key ring out of his pocket and began testing keys in the gym door, "I pickpocketed the janitor the other day. He thinks he's lost them, and I'll just randomly drop them once we're done. He'll find them and that's that." As he finished speaking, he pushed the door open and stepped inside.
The darkness made the space seem larger than normal, but otherwise did little to the pairs perceptions as they settled down to wait for midnight. Devyn found a shinai left out from Kendo team's practice and played around for a while until the black turned green. He quickly reached for Kalfu and jumped to grab a beam on the gym's cieling. They rode out the transformation and opened their eyes to find that they had been separated. Shinji just shrugged and began walking, figuring he'd either find Fuuka or Devyn soon enough. Devyn on the other hand, found himself standing face to face with Kitty. "Hello beautiful." He said. Kitty smiled warmly before slapping Devyn hard, "I told you not to come back here, Dev! What if Boss had found you instead of me?" Devyn rubbed his sore cheek and said, "It can't be helped, Kitty. I think someone may have gotten trapped in here, and I need to help them."
"Yeah, the girl's here. But why does that matter to you? She's not really your type." The Wild Card grinned and pushed a lock of her hair out of her eyes, reaching for one of the hair pins she always had on her sleeve. As he pinned the offending hair back, he said, "That's not the point. She needs help and, whatever path I decide to follow, I can't just let somebody suffer while I can do something about it. It's not in me." She looked at the boy's face, "You've grown up a little. Maybe I picked wrong when I chose Gadget." Devyn stepped back and crossed his arms, "Maybe you did, but it's too late for that. I trusted you and you couldn't even be honest with me. Whatever we had is gone, Kitty." She nodded, "Of course it is, I'm just saying. But here." She tossed him another ring, this one with more jagged lines on it, "Don't put this on yet. It's a little different from the Magatama ring and you need to be prepared for it. So far you've been taking on the weakest powers of your Persona, so there hasn't been much change. But this will allow you to absorb more powerful traits. The downside is that it'll mark you permanently."
Devyn looked at the ring in his hand before slipping it into his pocket, "Why do you keep helping me? Won't the Boss be mad if she finds out?" Kitty smiled and tilted her head, "Maybe I think you're worth the risk." And with that, she disappeared. "Hello?" Devyn swung around and grabbed for Legba as a young green haired girl came around the corner. "Ah!" She ducked back around the wall and Devyn dropped the power, "I'm sorry, please don't run. Are you Fuuka Yamagishi?" She nervously looked back, "Yes?" Devyn tried his best calming smile, "My name is Devyn Sullivan, I'm a new transfer student from America. I'm here to get you out of here." "Thank you," she said and walked all the way out from behind the wall. "Just follow me and stick close. I came here with one other person and we need to find him before we leave." Fuuka kind of looked like she was staring into space and said, "Um, I think he's over that way." Devyn looked down the way she was pointing and shrugged, "As good a place to start looking as any. Just don't be surprised if I do some strange things. And if it starts to look dangerous, use this." He handed her his old evoker and headed down the hallway.
