This story is now abandoned. I started writing long before I played the game ("What do you mean I can't have the hot lawyer?") I've finished. Good news is the game itself put the ship into OTP-ville. Bad news is that a got a lot just plain wrong that I can't fix, most notably that Shadow Sae is more annoying than a credible antagonist, but also that the romance is really rushed because the game doesn't really cover them getting to know each other. So I present to you the unpolished first half of chapter eleven. I am working on a canon-compliant fic that's a little over half done and should begin posting soon.

If I'd known I would be me doing my entire wardrobe here, I would have brought another suitcase. Of course, Sae thought with a grim smile, most people who bought close on vacation didn't have to worry about running away from monsters. The flats complemented her blazer, but more importantly, she wouldn't have to waste precious seconds discarding them if the worst happened. She had made other, grimmer purchases while Akira finished packing. The holster pressed ever so slightly against her hip. There were advantages in being the daughter of a cop, like knowing how they carried their service weapon during plainclothes work and how to keep a realistic-looking weapon inconspicuous. She would not be caught offguard again.

She entered the suite for the last time to find Akira doing his own preparation. He stood in front of the vanity, elbows and knees bent, weight on the balls of his feet. The knife came out in a single, fluid motion. She had seen knife tricks before and watched her father and other officers trained in CQC, but Akira was something else entirely. All she saw was a metallic blur as the knife spun and changed from hand to hand. Step forward, thrust upward, circle around, all with the same fluid movements. He took the grip in hand and spun the blade so it was perpendicular to his neck and jabbed it into the air.

Exactly where the carteroid artery would be on Hastur if he had arteries.

Sae shivered. It was one thing to let him caress her skin with the flat of a penknife. There was always a little playfulness behind her gasps. But watching his muscles tense and flex, the steel behind his eyes reminded her again of that man in a mask. Her protector in that dark world they were entering, the nearest a person could be to a god and still be flesh and blood. And if she needed that man against an actual god, well she had read the stories of mortals who fell in love with those things beyond them. They tended to end up transformed into trees.

You really think pathetic toys will help you if Hastur gets his hooks into him?

No, she didn't. Which was an excellent motivation to defeat Hastur. She cleared her throat. "Ready to go?"

He froze mid-strike. His skin shone with sweat and with one guilty half-smile he was Akira again. Sae relaxed. He was always Akira, she reminded herself. And she knew he would never hurt her as surely as she knew a compass pointed north. Her wonderful darling writer and occasional savior of the world. "Sure." He holstered the knife.

Sae raised an eyebrow at the small, telltale bulge at his hip. "Might want to rethink that. I'm not so good at defense attorney that I can get you out of a weapons charge if they actually find the weapon. 'I'm fighting a being of the collective unconscious still isn't considered a justified reason."

He blinked and looked down. "Sorry. Still getting used to this. Kept everything in my bag last time."

"And the police never caught you?"

"Well, you know what they say: the smart people in law enforcement are the prosecutors." He smiled and ran a hand down her side. "And the really smart ones of those become defense attorneys."

Sae chuckled. It felt good to laugh, to know that she hadn't forgotten how. "Flatterer. But use an ankle holster. Less noticeable for a knife that size."

He cocked his head to one side. "Are you telling me how to break the law? How do you know so much about concealed weapons?"

"Ah, yes, because the daughter of a police officer and a former prosecutor wouldn't know the first thing about how to hide a weapon. Also…" She sobered and adjusted her jacket by the smallest fraction so he could see the model gun. His eyes widened. "I'm going to do everything I can keep us both safe, and if that means bending the law, so be it."

Anything to win? I should have thought of this ages ago: the moment someone you love is threatened all that talk about how we are a nation of laws goes right out the window. Maybe you should run back to SIU, see if they'll take you.

Sae rubbed her temples. This wasn't the same thing at all. Knives were permitted as long as the user had a justifiable reason and "could be forced to fight for his life in a cognitive realm at any moment" was justifiable, even if the authorities wouldn't believe him. Her father had known when to let things slide for the sake of justice, and so must she.

Akira put his arms around her. "I really am corrupting you." There was something dark behind his easy tone. "Before the other night, I'd kind of hoped I'd forgotten about all this. But it turns out knives and guns and Personas are like bicycles. I know way too much about how to hurt people. I don't blame you for being a little nervous watching me."

So he had noticed. "I trust you. And when this is over, you are going to make your deadline if I have to handcuff you to the desk, Kurusu." And then maybe he really would forget all the violence and death and be at peace. She buried her nose in his neck. That was what she wanted as a reward for surviving this, if she did: peace and quiet and figuring out how to make things work and dealing with normal things like schedules and deciding how they were going to split the bill. Her life would never be entirely free of violence or horror, but let it be the sort that every defense attorney had to deal with. Let her learn how to keep him.

Morgana darted through the door. "You don't want to miss the train." He sighed. "Have I mentioned how much I hate carrying cases?"

And also how to have a talking cat as a roommate. Sae smiled despite herself. "I think I am being corrupted." She pecked Akira on the lips I wouldn't have it any other way."

But as they passed through a restaurant serving coffee and strangely-shaped bread to vacationing Europeans on their way to the lobby, Sae's stomach churned. Sitting at the table closest to the door and looking as if she had croissants there every morning, was Mitsuru. With the heels Sae had given up for lost poking ever-so-inconspicuously out of her bag. She gestured for them to sit. "Ms. Niijima, Mr. Kurusu, how nice to see you up and about. I trust you recovered?"

Akira and Sae looked at each other and sat. She had hoped to be finished with Kirijos and their machinations. "As recovered as we can be. We have a train to catch soon."

"Then you are committed to this?"

"I don't think we have a choice, but yes I am committed. I am going to free my client."And find a way to defeat this monster remained unspoken but lingered in the air between them. She stiffened. Hastur might be the most dramatic thread, but a knife in the dark would leave her just as dead and all of Mitsuru's attempts to make the case go away had failed. "I hope that's not a problem."

"A problem, and I still think you're foolish, but the thing hunting you is a much bigger problem. I wish I could offer more help, but someone has to protect this city if the false Dark Hour was more than a parlor trick. No, I wanted to return these." She put the shoes on the table. "And to apologize. It seems that I miscalculated in bringing the prosecutor here."

Akira gripped the table. "Miscalculated how?"

"She noticed the heels on the balcony. I wasn't at my best, so I'm afraid I might have only made her more suspicious. And this morning I find that she spoke to the officers I asked to clean up Dr. Shinshaudo's shop and that she bought a ticket on the Seiya Express bound for Inaba."

"Wonderful."

"So she knows something weird is going on." Akira's brow furrowed. "We can use this. I mean, the end goal is to convince people that Shadows exist and get Sato acquitted. If I can convince her like I convinced you, it makes things a lot easier. Assuming she doesn't find something to arrest us for in the meantime."

"We'll be careful." Tension worked its way up and down Sae's spine. Kinoka was nothing compared to the supernatural enemies they faced, but that she was taking an interest right after Hastur appeared was suspicious. So many careers had turned to ashes after Shido's defeat. A prosecutor with her eye on a promotion could do worse than bring down the Phantom Thief of Hearts for good. Or the former colleague who remembered where some of the bodies were buried. She took back the shoes. "If there's nothing else..."

"One thing. May I speak with you in private, Ms. Niijima?" Mitsuru's voice softened as she looked at Akira. "I promise I won't keep her long. Just a bit of girl talk."

Akira returned her gaze, and there was confusion in his eyes. Confusion and that hard, glittering glare he had possessed when training with the knife. "If it's all right with Sae."

"I'll be fine."

"If you're sure." With the barest touch to Sae's shoulder and a last glare at Mitsuru, Akira walked off.

"He really is quite something," Mitsuru said when he had gone. Her voice was still soft, and Sae could almost believe that she had once been a high school student whose boyfriend had to teach her about fast food. "I wish you had walked away when I told you to. I wish you could walk away."

"Because you're afraid of what the public will do?"

Mitsuru shook her head. "Because the only thing worse than fighting a battle for reality is being on the fringes of that fight. Knowing that, for all your wealth and all your power, your memories, your free will, your very existence are in the hands of someone else and there is absolutely nothing you can do because Fate or Igor or whoever else has decreed that you aren't the chosen one. And then you discover that it's even worse than that: the chosen one is still an ordinary boy who changes your life without any magic at all."

Mitsuru and Minato were dating. I don't think she ever got over it. "I know all that. Believe me, after last night, I've learned all I want to know about being powerless."

"I hope you're right. It's the hardest thing in the world to love a Wild Card. Especially..." Mitsuru shook her head. "Well, there's nothing for it now."

The tension in her spine intensified. "Especially what?"

"Do you really want to know?" Mitsuru leaned forward. "You haven't awakened. Everything I know about Shadows suggests that you should have a Persona. There were always ordinary people awake during the Dark Hour, but most of them lost their memories if they weren't consumed by Shadows, but you do it without special training. You have endured severe psychic shocks. Very few people remain both completely normal and knowledgeable of this world, but you do."

"You're saying that I have this potential inside me? I could fight Hastur? Protect Akira?" The chatter of the surrounding diners faded away as Sae's world narrowed to that thought. She had always assumed Personas were a reward for strength of will, those like Makoto who did what they thought was right no matter the cost. But it she could truly wield that power...she wouldn't be at Leviathan's mercy. No more of her knees scraping stone and blood dripping from her lips and watching helplessly as those she loved made bargains to save her. "Tell me how."

Mitsuru held up a hand. "Please, let me finish. There are also those who cannot awaken in the same way that a colorblind person can't see red despite being aware of it. You may be such a person. And, if you are, Shadows will be drawn to you. This world, this life, will never quite leave you alone."

"So, I'm what? Some kind of genetic damsel in distress?"

"Possibly. Or it may be your Shadow preventing it. Persona users don't have Shadows, generally. Either way, I don't envy you."

Sae raked her hands through her. You will never be his equal. The darkness would come again and again, around her and perhaps even for her. She would watch Akira do his duty—because how could ignore suffering when he had the power to do something about it?-as she and her mother watched her father do his duty.

And we know how that ended. Of course, given how things are going, you'll probably die or go crazy a long time before he does. This is your precious redemption. Still want to deny me?

Sae put a hand on the holster. She wasn't a hero, whatever Akira said. Heroes could do more than endure. "Let me ask you a question, then," she whispered. "If you could make it so you and Minato never met, would you?"

"Not for a moment," Mitsuru said with a sad smile.

Sae clenched her fist under the table. If she could find a way to master Leviathan and fight these battles on the field, then she would. But if not, if she was doomed only to watch, then perhaps this was another part of her punishment: to figure out how to survive as a mere mortal and to make sure Akira and Makoto survived as heroes. "Then I have a train to catch. Goodbye, Ms. Kirijo."

"Goodbye, Ms. Niijima. And good luck."

But Sae's steps were leaden as she rejoined Akira. "What did she want?" he asked. His hand hovered over her shoulder, almost but not quite touching.

"Just reminding me of how dangerous the collective unconscious is. Apparently, there's a good chance that I'm some kind of Shadow snack food." She told him what Mitsuru had said. His jaw set, and lines formed between his brows and around his mouth. "I wish...I wish I had your power. Or that I didn't know about all this." She flinched. "No, that means I wouldn't have you. I wish I didn't have to worry so much. I wish I could help you."

"Well, you're already saving me from going to jail again, so that something." He smiled. "Clearly, I need to take you to a few superhero movies. The hero always has a perfectly ordinary person who ends up saving his tail. Just like you did last time."

The Seiya Express gleamed in the midafternoon light. Just as before, the porters took their bags and Akira offered her his hand. It was still warm and strong and the sheer old-fashioned gallantry of it made Sae smile despite everything. "Such a gentleman."

"You two are worse than I am," Morgana whispered from the carrying case. "I expect to be released promptly this time. Do you know how hard it is to pick locks with your paws?"

A cluster of people had gathered in the dining car despite the hour, apparently fascinated by a small sign the staff had erected. Special quiz night! 8 PM. Drinks! Prizes! Get to know your fellow passengers! Twenty-five hundred yen entry fee. All proceeds go to the Lighthouse Project for Human Trafficking Victims. Speak to a steward to enter.

Akira read. "We should enter."

Sae raised an eyebrow. "Work, remember?" If she had to fight these battles as an ordinary human, she would work as hard as she possibly could. "I need to go over the files on the Inaba murders. It may give us a clue on when and how our mutual friend will strike. And I need to decide which potential interview subjects to approach first."

"You can do that later." He looked suddenly tired. "I need to do something fun that isn't going to remind me of the thing trying to drive me personally crazy."

Oh. Of course he would need something. Every attempt to unwind in Port Island had led to some adventure or other. He needed to be more than Joker the same way she needed to be useful. She smiled. "Well, if you don't mind me beating you even more thoroughly than I did at ping-pong then I suppose I can free an hour or two."

"Is that so?"

"I was top of my class for a reason."

"Funny. I was also top of my class. And I'm a writer. That means I'm the master of useless trivia. Prepare to lose very badly, Ms. Niijima." The light was back in his eyes and he was once more her handsome, dashing Akira with the arrogant smile. Sae's stomach flipped to the side. It was almost enough to make her want to let him win.

Almost. "Side bet to make things interesting? Winner claims a reward of their choice this evening." She leaned forward to whisper in his ear. "Anything they want."

Akira flushed scarlet. This was going to be fun.

You're wrong, Leviathan. This is my redemption. And there's nothing you can give me to make me give it up.

"Mr. Kurusu, Ms. Niijima," Professor King called. "What are you doing here? I thought you would have been on the first train back to Tokyo."

Sae turned. Professor King looked and smelled far better than he had earlier, even if he was still wearing that ghastly yellow shirt. "I would have thought you would have been on the first train back to America."

He frowned. "Unfortunately, I have to see this through, just as it seems you do. I've seen Personas and Shadows with my own eyes.. I can't rest until I have solid proof. Perhaps we could speak later? I'm planning on entering the trivia contest tonight, but I'll be staying at the Amagi Inn once we reach Inaba."

Akira had gone rigid and paled beside her and sweat formed on his brow. "Yes, I'll do that." There was the barest hint of a tremor in his voice as he seized Sae's hand in an iron grip. "If you'll excuse me, Ms. Niijima and I need to go to cargo." He all but dragged Sae away as King blinked in confusion.

"What was that?" Sae whispered, but Akira only raised a finger to his lips and kept almost-but-not-quite running towards cargo and Morgana's carrying case.

Akira all but ripped the door open. Morgana's eyes were wide. "I know I said to be prompt but you didn't have to—what's wrong with you? You look like you've seen a ghost."

"Worse." Akira shivered. "Professor King? I think he's Hastur."

"What?" It sounded ridiculous. King definitely knew more than he was saying about the occult, but Hastur? King had also been awake during the false Dark Hour. King who was also hunting to prove the existence of Personas. King who always wore the same yellow shirt. Sae put a hand to her forehead. "King in Yellow." Every muscle in her body seized. The supernatural brushing against her and she hadn't even noticed, just like with Akechi. "What do we do?"

"We could confront him, force him to transform and get this over with." His eyes had that hard look again. "I'm looking forward to the idea of shoving his teeth down his throat."

"No. His name is suspicious, but it's hardly proof." She spent enough of her life going off half-cocked because she was desperate to win. "Definitely probable cause to bring him in for an interview."

He forced a half-smile. "Fine, we'll just get that prosecutor friend of yours to order his arrest, find the nearest secret detention facility, and let you have at it. I'm sure the consular office will be especially impressed that we asked if he was a god."

"At least you can still make a joke." Morgana's tail swished, and his eyes narrowed. "We need to ask him about Hastur, see how he reacts. If it's suspicious, then yes, we need to act. I won't let him take my best friend in the world from me."

"Then we interrogate him, " Morgana said. "Discover everything he knows about the supernatural and why he's here. Before we get to Inaba would be ideal since we have no idea what Hastur has planned there. You do the interrogation and Akira translates."

Interrogation? See, you're becoming more your old self every moment. Don't you wish you could still just order a squad of officers to do your bidding?

Pain throbbed behind Sae's eyes. "It's not an interrogation. It's an interview." The distinction seemed suddenly vitally important. "We can't force him to talk to us if he doesn't want to. This may all be coincidence. Our priority is determining whether that's true."

"Of course." Akira's voice softened. "Everything on the up and up, minimal chance of a false confession. We just need to get him alone and ask him if he's ever heard of Hastur outside of a horror story. He saw Leviathan. If we're wrong and he is just some eccentric professor, he'll be glad to help us."

"But if we aren't wrong, then we let him know that we know what he is. No need to give up an advantage if we don't have to." Morgana's expression was a blend of pleading and hopeful as he looked at her. "This is your area of expertise, Ms. Niijima."

"We need a way to bring up Hastur in the source of an ordinary conversation." Sae frowned. There were always ways to make a subject say what you wanted. The trick was getting them to think about what you wanted, guiding their thoughts like rats in a maze so they didn't wander off thinking about what they had done last Tuesday when you wanted a description of the getaway car but not actually tainting those memories. "And twentieth century literature isn't exactly the weather."

"Yeah, sounds like something Akira would be asked about in class. Or on one of those quiz shows."

Quiz show. Quiz. Trivia Sae snapped her fingers. "That's it! We arrange for there to be a question on Hastur during trivia night, watch his reaction, and then bring it up with him and go from there." She sobered. "But we would need to get access to the questions."

Akira crossed his arms. "I could just bribe one of the stewards. Tell him my girlfriend is a big Lovecraft fan. What? It's for charity!"

Sae glared at him. "Just don't spend too much. It's a miracle you got your savings back the first time."

"Don't worry. It's a good plan." Akira cleared his throat. "The play's the thing wherein we'll catch the conscience of the king."

"What play?"

Shakespeare? You know when Hamlet puts on a play to—nevermind." The smile he gave her was real and sent a bolt of electricity racing through Sae. "I'm going to enjoy beating you at trivia, Empress."

Sae returned his smile and hold on to the sound of the codename like a charm.