Persona 4 and it's world is owned by Megami Tensei. Not me. This just for fun.
Dance of the Cards
Dance of the Cards
X. The Desertion of Chariot
May 2035
Twilight
Takahito looked at the four girls around him. "Are you sure we can be here with Tatsumi-senpai or Takigawa-senpai?"
"They said it was fine, stop spazzin' out."
Takahito glared at Kotori "I. Am. Not. Spazzing out."
Himeko and Sakura looked at each other over the top of Kit's head. Kit, who disliked the fact that Himeko had stopped petting her, butted her head against Himeko's hand. She let out a high pinched purring which made Sakura laugh.
"Can we go now?" asked Reika. She had just gotten a new Labrys axe, again she tested the weight. She was a bit worried the gold binding won't hold, but when she had pointed this out Hayate had looked offended. He said he didn't do unnecessary things to his works of art. She really hoped that was the truth.
"Yes, yes I'll take everyone to the Flood Plain, nothing else has opened yet." Takahito closed his eyes and summoned Balder.
Soon all were back at the twisted flood plain with the sickly black grass.
"Let's go," said Reika. The other three girls followed her into the maze.
Flood Plain 3rd Floor
Reika was very glad to find the Labrys axe far better then she thought it would be. In fact somehow at certain angles the gold binding reflected light that only blinded the eyes of Shadows, not her teammate. She made a mental note to thank Hayate the next time she saw him.
"Wait!" Takahito voice sounded panicked. "There's something coming! I-I can't tell what it is, but it's big and very bad." Then they heard it, a rattling of chains. It made all their hearts beat faster. "I don't think we can beat it it's way too strong!"
Sakura paled, "Then what to we do?"
Himeko turned to Kotori. "Do we have any Go Balls?"
Kotori dug into the back and pulled one out. However nothing happened when she turned it. Shocked she looked up at her teammates. "I-It won't work."
"Let's find the stairs, maybe if we get to the next level it will won't follow." Himeko tightened her grip on her Kusargama. "We need to keep from engaging with any remaining shadows."
The others nodded. The four girls ran as fast as they could. The sound of the chains didn't grown any louder, but it didn't go away. Luckily there were few shadow left on the floor.
Just as soon as the rattling grew louder they spotted the stairs. They sprinted up the wide staircase onto the next floor
Flood Plain 4th Floor
The rattling sound was gone, however they're relief was short lived since there was a muilt-colored shadow right at the doorway. It had spotted them and there was no time to prepare themselves.
It slammed into Reika first causing her to fall against the other girls, knocking them all down. The first thing they noticed was the smell, an awful sickly smell. Himeko was the first to look up; she really wished she hadn't.
The shadow it front of them was made of melting flesh. It's skin hung in long strips off it's bones. It's head was shaped just like a human's but it was faceless. It only had large black holes where the eyes should be. Himeko hated faceless things with holes for eyes. She heard a shuttering breath to her left, she looked to see Sakura staring at the shadow full of fear.
"It's so...so empty," whispered Sakura. Himeko looked back at shadow. Those weren't the words she would use to describe it.
"Sakura!" Himeko used a harsh tone. Sakura's head snapped around to look at her. "What do you see?"
"Nothing, it's just...darkness, empty space. It almost hurts to look at, like I'm not suppose it. It makes my eyes water."
"That not what I see." It clicked in Himeko's brain. "It isn't real, well...more so it isn't what we see. It just show us something we really don't like."
"Like your fear?"
"I don't think so, what I see isn't my worse fear, it's just really unpleasant and gross."
Sakura looked back at the shadow. "It's...you're right, I think. It's not really my worse fear too. Wait...why hasn't it attacked?"
Himeko was surprised she hadn't noticed before. What Sakura said was true, the Shadow was just floating there, doing nothing. Himeko look over to her right. Kotori was staring at it, looking very confused.
"Kotori?"
"Hmm?" was her answer.
"What to you see?"
"I...don't know." Kotori tilted her head to the side. "It's a car, I think. It's all black and smoky." She looked at Himeko. "What is this suppose to be?"
"We don't know. Ask Reika what she sees."
Kotori turned to Reika. Unlike the others Reika looked terrified. Her face was pale and her eyes wide.
"Reika! Reika!" Kotori touched her shoulder.
Reika didn't notice any of this. She was transfixed on the image before her. It showed a man, a man in a dark suit. He pulled his hand away before walking away. It played in a loop over and over again. No matter how hard she tired she couldn't look away.
Panicked Kotori turned to the others, "She's not responding."
Himeko stood. "It's still a Shadow, so let's battle it."
"Right." Sakura stood. Kotori did as well, stepping in front of Reika.
Sakura was the first to attack. "Gersemi!" The wind attack made the Shadow howl.
"Um, cars don't howl." Kotori looked confused.
"I don't it really is what it looked like. Until we know it's true shape Sakura and I shouldn't attack with our weapons."
"Right!"
"I'll see if mine works." Kotori fire two quarrel at the shadow. They both hit their mark.
The shadow launched an ice attack on the three of them. With a shape gasp Himeko legs gave way. Her hand became to stiff to hold on her weapon. Again the shadow attacked, this invisible slashes attacked the three girls. Sakura managed to block most of them, however Kotori and Himeko weren't so lucky.
On shaky legs Himeko stood, "Agilao!" It was the shadow's weakness. With a loud howling it fell. "Now!" The three girl ran for the fallen shadow. After they finished the attack the shadow slumped.
Reika could dimly hear something. The image in front of her flickered, making the noises louder. They were the noises of battle, she shook her head. The image in front of her disappeared replace with a humanoid black shadow covered with masks. She looked around and saw her teammate battered and bruised. She looked down at herself ,but nothing was different. For the first time she noticed that Kotori was in front of her, defeating her from attacks. Reika chest tightened, her teammates were standing by her, protecting her. Reika stood.
Sakura was the first to notice. "Reika!"
The other to glance at Reika as Sakura attacked the shadow.
"Feeling better now?" asked Kotori.
"Yes..." Reika closed her eyes. The others were very weak she could tell it didn't even really help when Himeko healed everyone. "Escape."
Even though the shadow had fallen again the others ignored it.
"What?" Sakura was sure she hadn't heard right.
"Run away. If we keep doing this am sure the shadow will win, but I-I can distract it while the three of you leave, only one of us will be...injured."
Himeko and Sakura could feel something coming off of Reika. A fear radiated from Reika, but it wasn't a fear of the shadow or what could happen to her if it won. Himeko was sure that the fear came from the fear that Kotori, Sakura and she would take up the offer and run. Leave Reika to deal with this shadow alone.
"No." Himeko's tone left no room for argument. "I will not leave. I will not leave you." Reika looked shocked at this statement. "You are my friend and my teammate. I will leave none behind."
"That's right! We stay together." Sakura nodded.
"You can't get rid of us that easily, Reika." Kotori smiled. "We don't leave the people we care about."
Reika was shocked by their words. They care enough about her to stay? They wouldn't leave just because things became tough. She almost couldn't believe this was happening. The shadow stirred.
"Come on, before it gets up!" Sakura ran for the shadow, followed closing by the others.
With each hit that Reika managed to land something changed, she wasn't sure what, but there was a lightness in her she couldn't explain. As they finished the attack the shadow turned into red mist.
"Yes! We did it!" Kotori gave Reika a hug. Reika managed to give her a pat on the back.
Himeko touched her torus. "Taka, are there any shadows near by?"
"No, that last one seemed to scare them away."
"Good." Himeko released her torus. She turned her attention to Reika. However she didn't really saying anything, just waited to see if Reika had anything to say.
"In there..." Reika stopped, unsure of how to word what she wanted to say.
"Did you really think we would leave you?" asked Sakura looking very sad.
"I don't know really. My mother died with I was really young along with my little brother. I don't remember them too much, what I do remember is my father...he...he left me. I just remember holding his hand. He muttered "Too much", made me let go of his hand and walked away. I called after him, but he never turned around. I've lived with my grandparents since. I've also never heard from him. Sometimes I hate him, sometime I miss him, sometimes I just don't care." Reika let out a deep breath, again she felt a strange lightless.
"And because he left you think no one else will stay?" asked Sakura.
"I guess..."
To everyone's surprise Sakura hugged Reika. "Not everyone is like your father, some can handle bad things. The blame is his, not yours."
"Logically I know, but..."
"It's okay. We'll be here for you as long as we can. We won't leave you if things get hard."
"That's right. We're strange friends, but we are friends." said Kotori patting Reika on the back.
Reika laugh at that statement.
"We're here for you, so don't hesitant to call on us if you need help or just need some friends." Himeko rested a hand on Reika's shoulder.
Reika was very glad to hear their words. "Thanks, I really mean it. Thanks."
Evening
Akira and Daisuke walked together towards Top Hill. They both had gotten text messages from Takahito asking them to meet the rest of S.O.T.A. there. Daisuke could tell that Akira had something on his mind, but he didn't seem to know how or want to put it in words, so they walked in silence.
Takahito ran to them the moment he spotted them.
"Akira-senpai! Fix them!" pleaded Takahito
Akira's heart clenched, "What's wrong?"
Takahito just pointed. Akira and Daisuke looked over that the girls who were sitting on the bench. They were siting together talking.
"I don't see anything wrong, they seem to be getting along well," said Daisuke.
"Yes! That's the strange thing. They've been nice to each other to whole time. Kotori has been going on about the best ways to cook chocolate and Reika hasn't told her to shut up once."
"...I don't see the problem."
Akira looked at Daisuke. "They tend not to get along, but Daisuke is right. This is a good thing, but it might be best not to bring it to full attention, just in case.