When his arms wrapped around her shoulders, Minako's heart skipped a beat. For a moment she felt infinitesimally small, and she leant against the muscle of his chest. Her hand sought the beat of his heart and it's slow rhythm was as familiar as her own. She took a deep, shuddering breath but refused to cry. Not this time.
His hand was in her hair, wrapped in it as he gently stroked the back of her head. The silence was that of two people who didn't always need words to communicate to each other – at that moment, all they needed was the reassurance that they were real and the knowledge that they were together.
That didn't mean they were done talking, nor did it mean that the air was clear between them, but for now it was enough.
Naturally, this meant it could not last. There was a crash from outside the window, followed by a roar and a load whinny.
"Shadow!" Akihiko exclaimed. "Again?!" This was the second shadow to attack the Amagi Inn.
"Let's go," Minako said, turning and dashing into the hall. People were peering from their rooms, terrified faces visible only through the slits in the door. Minako ignored them, dashing towards the nearest exit.
When she saw the shadow, her heart faltered for a second – what if she couldn't do it again? What if they refused to listen? No, she told herself forcefully. I can do this. She reached to her thigh only to find nothing there. "My evoker!" she exclaimed.
"Mitsuru has it," Akihiko cursed. "Take mine; you'll be more effective alone than I will."
He proffered the evoker handle first towards her and she hesitated a moment. "Take it," he urged her, glancing back at the shadow, "Before it hurts someone!"
That did it. She snatched it from his hands and without even pausing to think she raised it to her head. "Helel!" she screamed, summoning the persona that seemed most fitting. The ultimate form of the star arcana.
There was a single gunshot. A tinkle of breaking glass. An angel with six wings. A column of light so bright that it blinded all and any who looked upon it. The light crashed down into the shadow, a large Knight in purple and silver, and it cried out in rage and pain.
"Odin!" Again, the sound of breaking glass, only this time thunder crashed from within the shadow itself as the norse god raised his spear, leaving it stunned and barely able to move.
"Norn!" Wind swept at the knight, blasting it high into the air. As the force collided, Minako knew she had found the creatures weakness and when it crashed into the ground the silver metal of its armour collapsed in upon itself and faded away into nothingness.
"Man that was awesome!" a voice said from behind her. She turned and saw Yosuke leaping down the steps two at a time. "I mean, I still think the whole shooting yourself in the head thing winds awards for being fucking insane, but… that was awesome."
"Umm… thanks?" Minako said at last, handing the evoker back to Akihiko. "That makes three, right?"
"Yeah," he replied, strapping it back in place. "Two here and one on the main street."
The sound of running feet heralded the arrival of Fuuka, Yukari and Mitsuru. The others arrived soon after and it wasn't long before Yukiko was ushering both groups away from the area of the attack and, once again, into a conference room. Most of them were wrapped in the thick robes the Inn provided for guests (or her pyjamas, in Yukiko's case), although a handful were still dressed.
"We need to figure out why these shadows are coming," Mitsuru said decisively, "We cannot hope our involvement will remain unnoticed for much longer."
"There was a few days between this one and the others," Kanji pointed out. "The other two were on the same night. Maybe that'll help?"
"We need to work out what the common factors are," Naoto said thoughtfully. "What was there on every occasion a shadow attacked? Or who."
"I was," Akihiko said.
"No, we arrived on scene for the first one," Mitsuru reminded him. "It was already attacking the Inn when we got here."
"It's me," Minako answered quietly. "I was at the Inn when the first one attacked, and I had… I was in town for the second. There wasn't one after that because I entered the other world the next morning. And now I only just got back and…" No one spoke. No one spoke because everyone knew she was right, and nobody wanted to be the one to admit that.
"We need to find out exactly why they are coming," Mitsuru said finally. "Has there been an update on the state of the other world?"
"Nothing's changed," Yosuke answered. "Teddie says the sky's still green and the tower's still there."
"Which means there's probably more to investigate," Naoto finished for him.
"Was Monad there?" Minako asked after a moment. "I can't remember."
"There was only the stairs," Fuuka said, "And I never sensed the reaper."
"Teddie said there was a new door in the lobby, if that's what you're after? And you guys met that nutjob too?" Yosuke asked.
"Yeah," Junpei said, slumping in his chair. "We had to beat the crap out of him to get into Monad as well."
"It wasn't that bad once I had Odin," Minako reminded him.
"Why do you ask about Monad?" Mitsuru asked.
"Remember we fought Theo on the top floor? He and his sisters know what's going on here, and I think that's where he'd leave answers."
"They couldn't just tell us?" Chie grumbled.
"That would be way too easy, clearly," Kanji laughed.
"Well it would seem prudent to keep a task force on this side of the screen whenever Minako is here," Mitsuru said eventually. She reached down and produced a silver briefcase, laying it on the table before her and popping the clasps.
"These arrived a couple of hours ago," she said. "Welcome to the team." She slid the box forward. Inside were evokers, each one almost identical to the ones wielded by SEES. "I will take the Strega evokers back as emergency back-ups," Mitsuru said as, one by one, the members of the investigation team took an evoker.
"What does SEES actually stand for?" Yukiko asked, cautiously examining the barrel of her own.
"The Specialised Extracurricular Execution Squad," Akihiko replied.
"And the IU?" Naoto asked. This was the only part of the evoker that differed from those the original SEES members possessed.
"Investigative Unit," Mitsuru told them. "I'm hoping that, eventually, we'll have many specialised persona units across Japan, if not globally. The more people actively fighting the shadows the better."
"Man if Dojima finds this," Yu muttered, shaking his head.
"It's a necessary risk. If he does, you will simply have to demonstrate that the gun is not real. When fired at anything other than a persona user an evoker will have no effect."
"That might not be our biggest problem if shadows keep attacking here," Yukari pointed out, "It's only a matter of time before there are news crews and cameras poking their noses in. If we're not careful, shadows and personas are going to air on every news channel in Japan, and probably everywhere else as well."
"We may have to face the possibility that this is inevitable," Mitsuru sighed heavily.
"Rise and I should be able to help some," Fuuka offered. "We can't stop cameras, but we might be able to keep people at bay at least a little."
"It'd definitely be worth a shot," Rise said thoughtfully, "Especially if we work together again."
"Yes, your teamwork was most helpful in that battle. In fact, I suggest we all form pairs and see how we can best complement each other's abilities."
"How are we gonna split?" Chie asked.
"I'd suggest a member from each team in a pair as far as that is possible."
"Why not do it by arcana then? At least as far as possible, anyway. That'll pair people with similar temperaments."
"A sound plan. How would that work out?" Mitsuru asked.
"Well I'd work with Minako, obviously," Yu said thoughtfully, "Yosuke would work with Junpei," the two high fived each other, "Yukiko is priestess…" he glanced at Minako, who shook her head.
"Fuuka," she replied. "What arcana is Rise?"
"Lovers."
"Then Yukiko should work with Yukari, she's lovers as well." Everyone else was watching mystified as the two wild cards spoke.
"Akihiko is star," Minako said.
"That's Teddie." A pregnant pause. Visions of Akihiko and Teddie trying to get along.
"I always thought he should have been Emperor? His persona is, anyway," Minako said hopefully.
"Kanji."
"Good. Koromaru will work with Teddie, I think they'll get on well."
"So that leaves Naoto and Chie."
"And Aigis, Ken, Mitsuru and Shinjiro."
"Fortune and Chariot."
"Aeon, Justice, Empress and Moon. Though Shinjiro's persona is hierophant."
"What on Earth are you guys on about?" Chie asked finally.
"It's a wild card thing, I think," Yukiko answered.
"You all have arcana," Minako explained, "From the Tarot deck. Each arcana represents something different, and as wild cards, Yu and I gained powers from the bonds we formed with you and your arcana."
"Huh. That's… weird."
"Yeah, it was a little," Yu replied, laughing nervously.
"So there are two more SEES members than your team has and none of the arcana match up any more," Minako said thoughtfully.
"If I may," Ken interjected, "I think I might benefit the most training with Shinjiro-senpai." Jaws dropped.
"Umm… ok then," Minako said finally.
"I would appreciate the opportunity to work with you, Miss Kirijo, if you would permit it," Naoto requested.
"I look forward to it," Mitsuru replied.
"Which leaves Aigis and Chie?" Yu said, turning it into a question.
"Cool," Chie said, glancing at Aigis, who smiled encouragingly.
"And to avoid any distrust between our groups," Mitsuru said, "I have printed and prepared these." She handed out a small sheet of paper. "Pass this around. The usernames and passwords here will allow you access into the newly christened Kirijo Persona Database. It is important that we know both the abilities and weaknesses of all our allies, and the data for both teams is listed in the database."
"Awesome," Chie exclaimed, reaching out for the sheet and scanning it for her username. "So how are we going to find these Velvet Room people?"
"The first step is to fight our way through Monad," Mitsuru said.
"I'll speak to Marie," Yu offered, "She may know where they are; she spent a long time in the room, after all."
"A good idea," Mitsuru agreed, nodding.
"So shall we rest up for the night?" Akihiko asked. "Looks like we're busy tomorrow."
"Indeed."
"Do we have enough beds for everyone?" Yukiko asked. "I've set up Chie on the spare futon in my parent's wing, and the others all have beds."
"Can we add a spare futon to Mitsuru's room for me?" Minako asked.
"Of course," Yukiko said, nodding.
"Then we should be fine. Rise can stay in the room she booked for me."
"Good," Mitsuru said, standing. "Let's get some rest. We need to be ready tomorrow."
Monad should be interesting :p I'm looking forward to introducing the Investigation Team to it. The pair-dynamic should make it easier to deal with the HUGE cast as well, as at the moment when everyone's together only about five people ever seem to talk, which is silly.
Regarding Shinjiro and Akihiko's arcana - that is their persona arcana, which makes their social link arcana a little weird. Especially as if their original arcanas are kept, P3 has one persona user of each one of the first twelve arcanas, remove that and it's missing Emperor and Hierophant.
Hope you enjoyed!