Chapter 13
Lectured in Tartarus
Today I am lazy.
Disclaimer: Own nothing. (Minato's POV)
Back to the impossible tower again. I slip my hands into my pockets and crane my neck up to see the top of the tower, silhouetted against the swollen moon. Always swollen. It sits in the dark green sky with something like a buoyant quality... like a bloated corpse in sewage water... I stare up at it a while longer. I suppose that would imply that the Dark Hour rots things. I glance down at my hands, also faintly greener than in reality, and imagine what might happen to them if I stayed as long in the Dark Hour as the moon did. It's nonsense though.
There's Yukari walking ahead of me with Kaguya. Yukari isn't saying anything but she looks calmer than the first time we came. Maybe because that nameless fear has a face now, if not a name. Maybe because Kaguya is here though I doubt Kaguya could handle Death alone. Still... It's good that Yukari has relaxed.
"You excited to be back?" Junpei asks from beside me.
"I don't know." I answer. What more can I say? We don't know what Tartarus is, except dangerous, or what exploring it will accomplish. Maybe answers. And then what? Is our intention to save the Lost? Destroy the Shadows? Can any of that even be accomplished? I guess that's where finding answers becomes important. Better that than just inaction.
Something seems to have annoyed Junpei. He fidgets with his hat and looks at his feet, mumbles something to himself. Before I devote much time to him, however, I notice that we've caught up to Mitsuru and her motorcycle at the entrance to Tartarus. She has her helmet tucked in the crook of her arm and she appears to have been waiting for us. She nods first to Kaguya and then to the rest of us, excepting Yukari.
"We must be careful," Kaguya warned "Time flows differently in Tartarus. Sometimes quicker, sometimes slower. It varies. It's an unstable place. Mitsuru, make sure to keep an eye on the time out here and tell us when an hour has passed. I will not spend more time within than is needful."
"Certainly, ah Kaguya. I wish for a SEES member to lead. They will need the experience. I would prefer your role to be that of guardian- to ensure they come to no serious harm while they act as an independent unit." Mitsuru says and Junpei perks right up.
Kaguya nods demurely and says nothing so Mitsuru turns her attention to us, "I spoke to Akihiko about this earlier and we have agreed that, as the last mission did not... go according to plan, we will allow Iori to attempt the leadership role."
Junpei pumps his fist up into the air and whoops, begins promising loudly and persistently that he's the right choice for the job and nearly hugs Mitsuru for joy. As he distracts the others I glance towards Yukari to see her reaction. I'm expecting exasperation or incredulity, she'll say 'Stupei? Ace Defective? Our glorious leader?' and Junpei bashing banter will ensue. However, she seems more or less uninterested and only looks on with her mouth firmly shut.
I don't mind, I guess. I look back and see that Mitsuru is watching me, presumably trying to gage my reaction. I shrug for her and smile a little to put her at ease. If I were in her position I would have done the same. Though... maybe not Junpei. Ideally Mitsuru but Akihiko would serve, perhaps even excel, when he healed properly.
As we enter Tartarus, leaving an uneasy Mitsuru behind us, Kaguya begins speaking. "You must trust them a great deal."
I look up, glance over at Junpei who returns the look with a shrug. "Yeah, I guess so." He says to Kaguya.
Yukari shakes her head "It's not trust. They have to be right. What other explanation is there?"
"You can't know without looking, this is true, but you must not let your mind be narrowed by their prejudices." Kaguya pulls her evoker from its holster.
"Wait... what are we talking about?" Junpei splutters.
"Nothing. Pay attention we're nearly there. I won't fight unless things get ugly. You, Iori, take point- you do remember that you're supposed to be leading this operation right?" Kaguya moves to the back of the group as they reach the top of the stairs and enter the first block.
Re-excited about the prospect of leading, Junpei quickly moves to the front and readies his sword. I can't help but smile a little, seeing him so serious. I've not known him for a long time but I have noticed his tendency to not take things seriously. I've known people like him before. Usually it's a studying thing, mentality being 'If I don't try then whatever mark I get is not actually representative of my abilities' but it can apply much more generally too; 'If I don't try then I don't ever have to know my limits... I will never have to acknowledge what I can't do'. Maybe we're all like this a little.
Tartarus... I look around at the greenish walls and peeling black and white tile linoleum floor. There are spatters of fresh blood here and there, sickeningly red. I wonder why it looks like this. Cheap diner meets nondescript institution. And the smell... I'm reminded of a trip I once took to the west. It was in the southern United States in the middle of summer. We didn't speak English but my little sister was studying it and, young though she was, she delighted in ordering our food for us and incorrectly translating signs- who were we to complain if sometimes we got the wrong food or got hopelessly lost? I'd never seen her smile so much in my life- solemn, whiny little creature that she normally was. We were at a fast food restaurant, mostly for the air conditioning as it was a sweltering 40 degrees outside, and my sister and I were sitting at a greasy, unwashed booth, waiting for my parents to bring the food back. Ahead of us sat an old couple, their wrinkled skin bathed in sweat that- with the aid of the overbright light above them- gave them a certain watery glow. And so... there it was... that smell... grease, medications, and old person BO.
As I think about it I can't help but feel that the temperature is changing gradually from the chilly night air outside to that too-hot, sticky 40 degrees. But not so bad... How can it be changing? It is only a feeling.
Conversation has tapered off completely and we're moving with whatever stealth we can muster. I can't help but continue to be distracted by our surroundings. The more I think about it the more it reminds me of that day. I'm drawn back to reality by Junpei's soft intake of breath. Around the corner is a shadow with it's back to us. Beside me Yukari steps round the corner with an arrow already notched. Without waiting for Junpei's confirmation she lets it fly and the shadow wails on contact.
As it turns around and fixes us with a pair of angry red eyes its inky body melts away and begins to reform. I rush to Yukari's side, she has already notched another arrow, and reach instinctively for my evoker rather than the sword at my belt.
Three smaller shadows form, their faces covered by reddish masks adorned by roman numerals. One wails as Yukari lets fly another arrow. Its mask cracks on impact and the arrow lodges itself in the creatures brow. Its companions begin to advance on us and I see Junpei out of the corner of my eye rush towards them with his sword held straight out by his side.
I lift my evoker to my head and close my eyes. I imagine Orpheus but am reminded of that other creature that I summoned once... Is it still in there? I pull the trigger and one of the advancing shadows is engulfed in flame. I don't wait to see what will happen to it.
The shadow with the arrow in its brow has disappeared- did it run? Or is that what happens when they die?- and as I look over Junpei drops his sword onto the remaining shadow, cleaving it essentially in two. He remains standing there, as if still unsure of himself, and then straightens and pulls his sword- whose blade is now covered in inky blood- back close to his body, resting its tip against the floor. "Not bad, huh?" He winks, grins and gives a thumbs up.
"Your fighting abilities are adequate for this floor." Kaguya answers, seemingly morphing out of the darkness behind me. She has put her evoker away and now stands with arms crossed. "But your purpose here is not primarily for fighting. That is a means, not an end. What did you notice?"
Junpei's jaw drops initially but he regains his composure and fiddles with his sword uncomfortably.
"They disappear when we kill them." Yukari says thoughtfully, her eyes on the charred spot on the floor. "Even though they bleed."
"Good. They are able to impact the physical world- bleeding, occupying space, manipulating mass- when they are alive but at the moment of death whatever it is that makes them physically real ends and they lose both their ability to impact the world around them and their physical bodies." Kaguya strides forward and crouches before a pool of blood. "The blood will disappear soon too."
Junpei blinks, "Er... why? How?"
"You need to decide if that's important." Kaguya shrugs. "For now, we should move on. There's still a lot of ground to cover."
We continue on at much the same pace. Every once in a while Kaguya would interrupt us, bring our attention to some detail that seemed otherwise irrelevant. Junpei proved adept at detecting and avoiding shadows, whereas Yukari nearly always managed to ambush them. It is so different from the last time we were here... we are now the hunters and not the prey.
We have not gone too far before Junpei is injured. It's not serious. He had rushed into the fight to try and kill a wounded, fleeing shadow, and was careless. One of its companions reached out for him and placed a heavy blow against his kneecap, sending him sprawling. It clawed at him again and cut the skin but before it could do any real damage I brought it down.
After the battle Yukari was approaching Junpei to heal him but Kaguya waved her back. "This is important." she murmured as she knelt by his side. Wordlessly she reached forward and pulled up Junpei's pant leg until his knee was exposed. The skin was already turning that sickly yellowy purple associated with bruising.
Junpei looks highly suspicious "Why do I get the feeling that- OW! HEY! What'd you do that for?"
Kaguya had tapped, not gently, Junpeis knee with the butt of her evoker. "Notice the physical signs of bruising and the patients reaction to aggravation. The wound was caused by light bludgeoning damage."
"In other words it's completely normal." I say quietly.
Junpei looks exasperated "Great, so we can stop poking it now?"
Kaguya points the evoker to her heart and pulls the trigger, her persona- whatever it is- emitting a blinding light. When my vision refocuses Kaguya is once again holding her evoker loosely at her side and Junpei's knee is void of bruising. Kaguya bangs the butt of her evoker on the place where the bruise used to be and Junpei shrugs.
"Completely healed." Kaguya says, "Now..." She pulls out a black, heavy looking baton and rests it against the spot where the bruise used to be, tapping pensively. "Are you paying attention?" Suddenly, she cracks the baton hard against Junpei's knee- causing him to howl out in pain.
"You HIT me! Did you see that? She hit me! This is abuse!" Junpei bites on his tongue to keep from crying and can't help but touch his knee gingerly. Kaguya swats his hand away and, through the red, a bruise is forming again.
"Try to heal it." She instructs Yukari.
Yukari frowns but obliges. As her persona fades I lean in to see what has happened.
"It's still there." Yukari exclaims, surprised. "S-should I try again?"
Kaguya shakes her head "You can't heal it with your persona." Instead she summons her own persona and we are again blinded. This time the bruise is gone.
"Why didn't it work when I did it?" Yukari asked, kneeling down beside Kaguya.
Junpei pulls his pant leg down and scoots away from them a little bit, eyeing the baton suspiciously. "We are done experimenting aren't we?"
"There is a difference between the wounds inflicted upon you by a shadow- or a persona- and by a person. Although both physically real and nearly identical in result there is in fact a difference. You will learn how to heal wounds inflicted by people in time. But... Don't ever get shot." Kaguya stood up slowly, returning the baton to some hidden holster under her jacket.
"Why not?" Yukari also stood.
"Understand what the difference is between the wound inflicted on you by a shadow and a wound inflicted by a person during the Dark Hour and then I'll tell you." Kaguya smoothed out her skirt and then shrugged a little, "At least. I'll tell you what I understand. Maybe I'm not right."
I hear a click and then the faintly eerie white noise filtering through my headphones. "It's almost been an hour." Mitsuru's warbled voice blares into my ears, followed by more white noise, another click and silence.
Junpei gets to his feet and looks over at Kaguya, "We can't stay longer?"
Kaguya smiles a little and shrugs again "I won't. But what you do is up to you, leader."
"Right!" Junpei exclaims "We're leaving, team! Onward!" He heads off in the direction of the access point, Yukari tailing him silently. I wait for Kaguya and then walk beside her.
"How do you know so much?" I ask quietly. "Mitsuru and Akihiko don't."
Kaguya sighs a little and runs a hand through her hair. "You have an interesting power Minato." She says, ignoring my question. "I sense in you more potential for power than in any creature that I have ever come across. But potential and realization are two very different things. And nothing comes without a price. What will become of you, I wonder."
I look at my feet quietly. "Must things become of me?"
Kaguya laughed a little and smiled at me. "That's what it means to be alive."
We travel back to the dorm in relative silence- along the way the Dark Hour fades to nothing and that oppressive green tinge dissipates. It's cool out in the night air and it smells more of fish than that southern American restaurant. I think of my little sister again- Hotaru. I open my cell phone and scroll down to her number but I flip the phone closed again before I can talk myself into it. What would I say? 'I remember the old person BO and how are you, taking care of yourself?'
It won't change the distance.