Chapter 25 – Stalled Friendship?
"Senpai... How is it going?" Fuuka Yamagishi saw Mitsuru walking into the Dorm days later. While Junpei had to take care of Chidori, she was the one responsible for Daira Tavi.
"The X-Rays were finally taken today," Mitsuru let out a heavy sigh. "Tavi has some blood lost and a few deep cuts. However, it is nothing that she cannot live with."
"That's good..." Yukari smiled, "She looked like she wasn't ready to take anymore..."
"Daira-senpai doesn't seem like the type to give up." Minato added, "She's a lot different than Dae-chan."
"I kinda... wasn't finished yet." Mitsuru rubbed her shoulder. "Not only could Daira have died if Daedalus didn't snap out of it... I kind of looked through Daedalus's records a little more."
She pulled her hand out from behind her back, holding the folder and signaling the whole team to walk over and sit in the lounge. When they all gathered about, she had opened the folder and scanned around her profile.
"We already know she is pretty smart for her age, and she has killed her own parents." Mitsuru looked around for a certain paragraph until she pointed at it. Yukari had offered to read it, since when they saw the face on Mitsuru's face, they were pretty worried.
"Daedalus Tavi," Yukari took a deep breath, "Disappeared with what seemed like hours away from the fire that caused the murder of Abarrane Midorikawa Tavi. To add to this, Kosuke Tavi, was also murdered in this incident."
"Wait, so Daedalus ran off after the incident?" Junpei questioned Mitsuru.
"Not so much as 'run....'" Mitsuru sighed, "It seems that she disappeared off the face of the town. There were many traces when they found footprints. Tavi could've-and this doesn't even sound believable- teleported to Tatsumi Port Island."
"That explains why she would be here." Shinjiro huffed. "She actually killed her parents, though?"
"Strega must've triggered a fearsome memory in her mind that day..." Minato thought, "It wasn't intentional, though. She most likely fell unconscious while her Darker Half was taking over her body like she did days ago."
"It's only eight days until the next Full Moon." Akihiko reminded them all. "Let's all take some time to go through her full record. It should help-"
"I have found a package that was left in Daedalus's room." Aigis walked downstairs with a white box held in her hands. "It does not seem to be dangerous, but it should be handled with caution when opening it."
Ken looked at it. "It looks like it is addressed to Akihiko-senpai."
"Senpai?" Fuuka was even surprised. "Well, it doesn't seem to have a name to suggest who it's from. Do you think it could be from Daedalus-chan?"
"We'll have to find out one way or another." Akihiko took the box from Aigis and placed it onto the table they were all around. He had concern that filled his mind, but when he opened it, it felt like there was some weight lifted off his shoulder.
There was a small cake read "Akihiko Sanada-kun, Happy Birthday~!" on the top with blue frosting. It was vanilla flavored, and was surrounded with chocolate frosting. Some of the members chuckled lightly.
"Wow, even if she's gone, she still cares..." Yukari grinned, "I never knew Daedalus could bake."
"Back when she was younger, I taught her how to make little cakes." Shinjiro implied, "I'm surprised she remembers how to."
"It looks like she really worked hard on it." Fuuka complimented, "I wonder how it tastes?"
…
Daedalus stuffed her hands into her pockets and walked alone through the Paulownia Mall. It has been... probably a week now, since she had left S.E.E.S for Strega. She had still went to Gekkoukan, but never talked to anyone anymore, except maybe Fuko. Their hideout was kind of like a regular home, except the fact that it was in a hotel-like place. Daedalus was always the one who went out to buy their food for the day, or something of the sort. She learned a lot about the "Revenge Request" system, and how they did their job. She didn't approve to it, but hey, what could she do? Takaya was in control of her now.
"What are you doing here?" Daedalus turned around only to find a smug Jin watching her every move. "Didn't Takaya tell you to go home already?"
"I like taking strolls, you know that, Jin-kun." She averted her gaze from him to in front of her.
"Takaya's not going to like it when he finds out what you did for those hypocrites."
Daedalus heard what he said and turned around to face him with some blush written across her face.
"You didn't..."
"Oh, I didn't, but I will." Jin chuckled, "You should know by now how we taught you. We did not teach you to be nice to our enemies."
"Your enemies," Daedalus spat, which was really unlike her. "You know they're still my friends. You know I only joined Strega to find a home. It's bad enough I have to deal with your cocky remarks every day."
This easily pissed off Jin, as he was inches away from punching her in the face for saying that. This would be about the tenth skirmish they had the whole time she was there, and it was usually Takaya breaking it up. Daedalus held one of his fists that were coming towards her direction, and she pushed him away with a heavy sigh.
"Fine. Fine. I'll come home." She looked away from him, "On the condition that you don't tell him what I did."
"He'll find out anyways..." Jin groaned, "Fine, I won't tell him at all. Let's go then."
...
Daedalus was following him back to the hotel, when she asked: "Jin-kun, what was Chidori like?"
"It's Jin-san!" He gritted his teeth every time she addressed him as a friend. They were slight rivals, weren't they? "And, Chidori was just like you in a way. Suffered, Alone, and joined Strega."
Daedalus listened intently.
"She applied self-harm on herself," He noted, "We only stopped her from doing it for so long, it's a wonder. A-Anyways, what business is it to you?!"
"Chidori-san sounds like a nice person, despite all that..." She had a light smile on her face. "We were all forced to overcome obstacles... huh?"
Daedalus was too much into thought until she felt something cold. She noticed she had bumped into someone, and when she looked up, she noticed it was Takaya with a very ugly smile.
"My, my, little Daedalus." Takaya chuckled, "Have you still not learned the true meaning of hate?"
"T-Takaya-sama..." She barely spoke. Only a whisper was heard out of her mouth now. She scooted away from Takaya before anything could happen, but he grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her a little closer to him.
"Caring for the poor fellow... what was it, Akihiko..?" His golden eyes never moved. "Your relationship is...unfitting when it comes to learn about hate. If you let your feelings get to you, you won't want to hate at all."
"I-I can hate..." Her throat clenched up on her. How could she speak to him without getting all hyped up about it? "I can hate! What're you talking about?! Takaya-sama..."
"Are you sure about that?" Takaya asked her. "You've disappointed me very much Daedalus Tavi..."
"...I'm sorry, Takaya-sama..." Daedalus's hair hid her face that showed that she did wrong. She closed her eyes to train her central thought again, "I'll try my best..."
"Good..." He nodded, "You will go out tonight to Tartarus and train with Jin. Indeed, it should not be like this, having to kill the helpless Shadows in there. However, for your sake, you must do it."
"Don't worry, Takaya." Jin answered back, "I'll keep a good watch on her."
…
"I taught Dae well, then." Shinjiro finished up the last bite he took from the share that Akihiko gave him. "Not as good as mine... but, she tried her best while making it."
"Why can't Daedalus just come back already?" Fuuka whined, "It was fun hanging out with her. Not to mention, she felt comfortable here."
"Patience is a virtue." Mitsuru answered. "It'll only be a matter of time before she creates the right decision."
"I still can't believe it, though..." Yukari huffed, "She wanted to tell Senpai how she really felt... and that Darker Half ruined it for her."
"We kinda knew it from the start," Junpei sighed, "She really did care for you, Senpai."
Akihiko said nothing to retort that. He realized why Dae felt awkward around him sometimes, or whenever the people said they were a couple. He looked away.
"We shouldn't just mope around, though!" Yukari was getting frustrated. "If Strega wants to fight, we'll give them a fight! We're going to save Daedalus no matter what!"
"Yukari-chan, it is best to act cautiously and follow our leader's orders." Aigis began to warn her. "We could all be severely injured like Daira-san was."
"Don't remind me..." Junpei's eyes widened. "Those vines... She must've been pretty scared in order to use them, huh?"
Ken said nothing, and Shinjiro never spoke after that. All Koromaru could do was whine, and Aigis began to translate that.
"Koro-chan says: 'She might be at the Nagaraki Shrine, again.'"
"The next time I go, I can check to see if Daedalus appeared." He requested. "Daedalus can't run out of town, right?"
"Unless she's with Strega, or somehow teleported again, we don't know." Mitsuru answered his question.
"It's only a few days till the next Full Moon..." Minato could feel something dangerous in his instincts. "We cannot stress so much over Daedalus. Who knows? She may even appear at the next Full Moon, and that'll give us the time to convince her."
"If any, Minato-kun." Yukari mentioned to him. "There's still more. It says something about Daedalus having a sister that was found dead when the mother died. That wouldn't be something to mention to Dae. She'd never forgive herself..."
"I request permission to use Lucia once in awhile to find her, Senpai." She turned to Mitsuru, and then Minato.
"..." Mitsuru looked at Minato with hesitation. "It's your choice."
"I don't mind, but..." Minato trailed off. "J-Just don't go after her. Not for awhile anyway."
"It's my duty to look after you all by scanning for Shadows." Fuuka stressed. "Since her Persona's part Shadow, it should not be really difficult to scan for her."
"It'll only be time that will tell if Daedalus can fight with us or not." Shinjiro huffed. "The idiot's always getting into some sort of trouble now..."
…
Daedalus sat with a leg hanging down from one of the Trees by Gekkoukan High. Only a few more hours til' the Dark Hour, but she had to be careful not to get caught by the Security Cameras. She was just looking up at the Moon that was slowly growing full. October 4th...October 4th!!
"That's when Amada's mother died... right?" Daedalus was speaking to herself. "I forgot about it... And the Full Moon is on October Fourth!"
She fixed her Pigtails before looking back at the High School.
"As much as I wanna know what will happen on that day... it's not going to happen." She found Jin looking up something on Revenge Request. "What are you doing?"
"What's it look like?" He snapped at her, "For some reason, a lot of requests for shootings are coming in. I don't see you trying to handle them."
"Well excuse me, Bomberboy." She sighed, "You know, you really shouldn't flash a Computer's light around here, we could be caught on camera."
"Well, why don't you stop asking stupid questions and use your vines to destroy it?"
"Because I still go to this school, thank you very much." She hated when Jin gave her comments like that. She used her two legs to hang off the tree like a monkey grabbing a banana. This wasn't the normal her.
"How long?"
"Only a few more minutes." Jin mumbled, "Til' the Dark Hour that is."
Not one of my best chapters, but I'm happy to get it done with (hopefully) a bit of humor involved before the *hint hint* really depressing parts come up. Daedalus has changed for the worse of it, or is she...?
Keep in mind that when I was doing the Birthday Chapter (23 & 24), I WAS going to do this, but then I was thinking about "What if...?", and replaced it with a small one like this.
Daedalus & Daira Tavi (C) Me
Persona 3 (C) ATLUS