A/N: I don't know if there's enough to warrant a TRIGGER WARNING, but there's quite a bit of violence in this chapter. Please be advised if you think it'd affect you!
No...
Ren looked at the Crystal in his grasp once again.
"Now now, let's not count our chickens out before they've even had a chance to hatch."
She'd been so sure of it, radiating as always like a sun of optimism.
But she was wrong.
It had done nothing.
Her optimism had failed her.
It had done nothing!
If she'd just fallen unconscious...well, he didn't know if any of them had the strength to manage a healing spell, but they would have done something to help her - no matter the risk to themselves. He knew he would. Sumire definitely would even with her weaker abilities. Morgana would too. But...if she had already stopped breathing, if she'd already gone that far...
He hurled the Crystal to the floor with the strength he had left. One of its three faces hit the marble with a loud crack that reverberated through the air. He felt a wide grin spread across his face at the sound and watched it roll onto its side, revealing a wide gash splitting one of the skulls keeping it upright in two.
Good.
He felt a moment of triumph as he stared at it, the empty gaze of its third head staring into the sky. He heard Morgana approach on his stumpy legs. He turned at the sound in time to see him fall to his knees beside the girls with a soft "No..."
His team, both alive and...
He shook his head.
His team accounted for, Ren forced his head up, turning his own empty stare to the Persona floating before them, its silver form reflecting the moonlight with a faint emerald gleam. A voice in the back of his mind reminded him of the state of the battle. The Persona had already brushed off their initial assault, but now that they'd spent so many precious seconds with Hana...with her...well, surely they'd lost their chance to push what little advantage they'd had left? And with the damage they'd already dealt...
Right on cue, the giant figure turned pitch black and raised its hand. He heard a low chuckle escape his mouth as it started to form the now familiar sphere of red and black light above its head.
...then shook his own.
What am I thinking? I just lost one friend, the least I can do is protect the others!
He threw a quick glance at what remained of his team. Sumire's head was bowed, but he could still see tears dripping down her cheeks and onto Hanako's forehead, her chest trembling with quiet sobs. Morgana held her arm, swallowing over and over. Neither of them seemed able to speak. Ren shook his head again and faced forward once more as the sphere reached its full size. He broke into one last run, feeling the air around him grow hotter and hotter as he drew closer and closer. He mentally called on his loyal Arsene and he answered, forming above him, but before he could issue a command something large shot from behind him, the wind from its charge knocking him off-balance and breaking his concentration. Arsene dissolved into dark blue flames and he stumbled to a halt, looking up to see a familiar figure gripping the now-black Persona's wrist, forcing it ever so slightly back even as its own palm hissed and bubbled from the heat, a faint trail of white smoke wafting away from both it and the other hand pressing against the foe's shoulder for support.
"...Orpheus?"
He looked back. Black fog was now pouring out of Hanako's body, so much of it he couldn't understand how it had appeared in the short time he'd looked away, forming a loose cylinder around her even as Sumire shook her prone form, spluttering as the smoke buffeted her face. "H - H - Hanako-san?" she choked out. "Mona-senpai, wh - what's happening?!" She broke into further coughs as the cat stepped back, taking in the woman from head to toe as he shook his head.
"I don't know! Hey, Joker!" Morgana turned to him, eyes pleading as Sumire continued to shake the other woman. Ren took a step towards them but a roar whipped his head back to the ethereal figures in front of him as Orpheus pushed the other Persona's hand back far enough that both the red sphere above them and its own black coating dissipated into red and black wisps of light. Even the Shadow, whose gaze had until now been fixed to the sight of the weeping Sumire cradling Hanako's body, turned to the grappling Personas, twisting her torso to get a better view.
It was the first time she'd moved more than her hand since the battle had begun.
The immediate threat gone, Orpheus drew back her right hand - now bright red and bubbling like boiling plastic - only to grab the other Persona's other shoulder. Her foot touched the floor for a second, that moment all she needed to kick off with a second roar. The two Personas grappled as they flew, but their momentum continued on and on until Orpheus slammed their foe into one of the many pillars surrounding them, denting it inward with the impact, the raven atop it angled down as though it were observing the scene as its still-molting feathers continued to peel away, now streaming into the sky above.
Sumire screamed. Ren spun around to see the fog surrounding Hanako had erupted into a thick pillar of smoke shooting into the sky. Sumire held onto the prone figure as best she could, even as the heavy winds battered her, tearing away the ribbon keeping her hair in place. Her jacket and red locks billowing around her until even she knew to retreat, shutting one eye tight as she lowered Hanako's head to the floor as gently as she could before backing away to where Morgana stood. She fell to her knees, blowing cool air into her hands, but even then her eyes remained locked to where her friend had been, the space completely blotted out by the black essence that had consumed her. Ren ran to the redhead.
"Sumire! Sumire, are you okay?"
The younger girl snapped to attention as he drew near, turning to him with her eyes wide as if she'd forgotten he was even there before pointing at the other woman. Ren caught a flash of a dark red stain on her palm as she did so.
"Y - yes! But...but Hanako-san!"
Morgana opened his mouth, but a loud shatter resounded in their ears before he could speak. The trio turned as one to see Hanako's silver gun reduced to a pile of fine metal fragments, pale blue shards of crystal gleaming atop the small mountain. Wait...crystal?
Sumire looked to Hanako again but another loud noise, this one a bang, drew their eyes - even hers - to the fight. They saw Orpheus pull back from a headbutt before slamming its skull into the other Persona's again. Cracks spread over her forehead and its face, the latter too stunned to move.
Then Orpheus' face bulged outward like a swelling balloon.
A third arm burst out of it, sending shards of metal and glass flying as it grabbed the other spirit's left shoulder. It was black and bulky and wore an elbow-length, white glove. A matching arm punched a hole through the metal grating in Orpheus' gut and grabbed the white Persona's wrist. Both limbs suddenly pulled outward, both figures going taut for a split second before a giant screech of metal rung through the air. The Thieves covered their ears and Ren felt his legs quake from the sound as Orpheus ripped the arm from its socket, tearing through her own torso in the process.
"What the hell is going on?!" shouted Morgana. The trio watched as Orpheus raised the severed limb to its new face as if it were a dead rat - the face made of a small white, fanged dome with two eyeholes resting on a much larger lower jaw, both hanging from a curved black protrusion - before crushing its wrist. Black and red liquid gushed out of the now-shattered joint for a lingering second before the entire appendage broke apart into black mist. A blast of wind, so strong it battered their eardrums and almost knocked Ren to their knees boomed behind them. They turned to see the black pillar in front of Sumire and Morgana expanding, until with another bang it disappeared as if it had never been there to begin with, revealing Hanako back on her feet, a new gun pointed to her head.
Sumire struggled to her feet and tried to take a step forward, but staggered. She couldn't take a second, instead staying in her half-crouch with her head tilted up, looking at her. She opened her mouth but no words came out.
Ren knew exactly how she felt. He turned his gaze back to Hanako, feeling his own face turn as pale as his girlfriend's the longer he looked at her. The older woman's head was drooped, as was her body. Her unused arm dangled by her side. Her hair was loose, hanging over her face as she took a clumsy step forward.
Another crunch of metal.
Ren, Sumire and Morgana turned around to see Orpheus punch their foe's head back into the pillar, her fist lingering against its white face for a moment and further spreading the cracks running along it, then threw the still-stunned Persona to the floor with another crash and rush of wind before flexing its legs, tearing new ones out of the old. The rest of its body was also pitch black, covered in a dark jacket that billowed out around its waist from which hung a plain black scabbard, kept there by a brown belt with a golden skull and crossbones for a buckle. It drew its sword, long and thin, one-sided with slight serration near its hilt, and roared. Eight flat coffins, identical to the white Persona's, bloomed around its shoulders as it did so. For a moment they looked like the petals of a grotesque flower, they they flipped down into place behind its back like a wide cape. It floated in the air, watching its foe - no, its prey - struggle to rise again. One of its feet, draped in a soft, knee-length white boot that tapered off into thin rows of gold, hanging inches off the earth.
"H - Hanako-san has multiple Personas too, Senpai?!"
A soft flutter alerted them to the Shadow raising her finger to the sky again as the wings of her dress flared outward.
But Hanako whispered, her voice so soft Ren wasn't sure if she'd spoken at all until her gun fired.
"Don't you dare."
Hanako's new Persona - for it certainly wasn't Orpheus anymore - held out its free palm towards the Shadow. A large pool of Almighty energy spun out from beneath her feet, black and white pillars of light shooting up and down around her like a water fountain. The Shadow's posture was unaffected - it was as if she were standing on a glass panel above it the vortex beneath her - but she froze as the multi-colored ethereal matter clung to her wings like slime, weighing them down and down and down until -
They heard six loud squelches.
- the added weight tore her wings from her. The slapped against the floor before melting into the still spinning spiral beneath her feet, hissing as though it were a pool of acid. At the same time Ren saw a thin, black line appear, connecting her to the Persona still struggling to rise, but a moment later it snapped. It too tore away from the Shadow and Persona, both halves soaring into the swirling abyss as though magnetized to it.
The lights disappeared.
The Persona managed to get to its knees, a hand covering the still leaking stump of its shoulder, but no wings appeared to shield it.
Ren understood what had happened.
With the connection between the Shadow and her(?) Persona severed, the black figure bounded through the air to its prey in a single leap. Just as the white figure tried to rise, Hanako's Persona grabbed it by its long hair and raised it into the air, pulling its sword back.
And thrusting it into the figure's scarred gut.
Once.
Twice.
Thrice.
Stab.
Stab.
Stab.
Stab stab stab stab stab stab stab stab stabstabstabstabstabstabstabstabstabstabstabstabstabstab
Ren lost count as Hanako opened up hole after hole after hole, covering the white figure in further wounds, each gushing out black and red liquid as she created the next. He glanced at Sumire and Morgana, their expressions matching the utter horror that kept him frozen to the spot. They turned as one to Hanako, but even in the crossfire of all three of their gazes the older woman didn't react. Her gun remained at her temple as she heaved. She raised her face for air and he caught a glimpse of her eyes between two locks of her fallen, dirtied hair.
They were glazed over.
Her new Persona grabbed the bloody figure's head and slammed it into the floor, raising it by its skull once more before tossing it in their direction with a simple jerk of the elbow, as if it were nothing but a broken doll. The three old Thieves jumped back as the white figure hurtled towards them. Sumire screamed Hanako's name as it drew near her but again she stood still, even as the coffins in its remaining hand brushed against her skirt, whipping it and her hair in a brief flurry of wind before it crashed behind her. Did she even know what was happening anymore?
The white Persona couldn't even get to its knees this time. As soon as it touched the ground the black figure had leapt into the air, landing beside it with a crash and grabbing its arm before it could even roll to a halt, pulling it up by the limb and slamming it this way and that against the marble floor like a wet rag, the coffins in its hand clattering against the floor with each hit. Thud after thud after thud reverberated through the air, accompanied by the chilling crunches of metal and bone. The black figure kept swinging its opposite against the floor until the sheer force of its wrath tore the Persona's torso away from its remaining arm with a deafening mix of screeching metal and the squelch of blood as the figure spun across the floor, trailing blood and entrails behind it.
"Hanako-san!" Sumire came to her senses while the others just stared, running to the fourth member of their group and grabbing her shoulders. She shook the older woman, looking deep into her eyes. "Hanako-san, stop it!"
But Hanako remained rooted to the spot, her unfocused brown orbs refusing to acknowledge her. Instead she mumbled, as if talking in her sleep.
"I...have to...protect...my friends... protect...everyone..."
Ren turned to the Shadow. She stood still, simply watching the beatdown taking place before them, as if whatever thread Hanako had ripped away from her had taken any and all attachment she'd had with her partner with it. He followed the gaze of her still-smiling mask to see the now-armless figure doing its best to slither away. The black one tossed its sword away. Sumire shrieked as the blade spun behind Hanako, almost slicing through her Achilles tendon as it clattered past, coming to a halt further away. Meanwhile its former wielder had bent down and grabbed its foe by the skull once again, raising it to its own face. It opened its stiff metallic jaws slightly, just enough for Ren to make out the black material inside them, as if to sneer at the divine figure before wrapping its other hand around its neck. It pulled again. Pulled. Pulled. Pulled. It put in more and more strength into its arms. The other's eyes flashed various shades of red until, with a horrendous shriek of metal, its head ripped away from its body in a shower of thick, red and black liquid. Sumire screamed. Morgana covered his mouth as he gagged and even Ren felt his blood run cold as Hanako's Persona simply dropped the now limp body as if it was just a piece of trash, raising its head to its own again. A demonic face stared into an angelic one, its luxurious locks now stained dark with its own blood. Only a few hints of its original gold remained.
The demon began to squeeze.
The cracks running across the white head spread further still, bit by bit.
Squeeze.
The head began to flatten, as if in slow motion. The two lines that already ran down its face by design started to bend outward.
Squeeze.
The head had no pupils, but Ren still felt as if its eyes were looking directly into his own, even as thin fractures appeared along their edges before growing inward to meet at their centres. He felt as if the once mighty figure was now begging for someone - anyone - to save it, even those it had just fought so hard against.
"Finish it!" He, Sumire and Morgana jumped at the scream, tearing their eyes away from the pleading face, unable to believe such an alien, such a...gutteral cry could ever be produced from a human. They turned to Hanako as she yelled again. "Send it screaming into hell!" She wasn't even looking at her own handiwork. After all this time she still hadn't moved an inch, even now facing the silent Shadow though her eyes remained blind to the world. Far away to her right, her Persona's jaw parted a second time as if to smirk as it tightened its grip yet again. The head in its grip seemed to shrink as the cracks covering it split, sending pinpricks of metal in all directions. Smaller cracks spread across its eyes, fragmenting it like a fly's. A second later they shattered, adding shards of crimson glass to the carnage below. The next second passed in silence. Then the blinded skull exploded, tiny specks of metal showering the ground as five long, thin digits closed around the air it had just occupied.
A moment of silence.
Then what remained of the Persona's body hissed as its extremities - its legs, winged belt and the stub of its neck - turned to red-tinted black fog, the decay spreading to the rest of the corpse. Ren closed his eyes and looked away, but the sound still rang in his ears, only growing louder as more and more of the body broke apart. At least this way he could almost pretend he was back in Leblanc, listening to his friends passing fizzy drinks around.
Almost.
He took a deep breath that turned into two, three, more. He was almost afraid to see how Morgana and Sumire were handling what they'd just witnessed - especially Sumire, considering who had done the deed. It was fitting that Hanako had used a demon to lay low an angel - after all, that was exactly how he'd defeated the first God of Control - but at least Yaldabaoth had died with dignity, able to congratulate him and his friends as he passed away...but this? Compared to that, this was...
The hissing grew quiet. He opened his eyes to see the last of the Persona's bloody torso disappear. His heart leapt into his throat as Hanako's Persona roared in victory at the sight but it too faded away right after, Ren managed to catch a glimpse of Orpheus within it before it completely disappeared but didn't have the energy to comment on it, instead letting his head droop to the carnage. The blood and shrapnel faded away a moment after the Personas.
A thud.
A moment later Ren turned, his reactions dulled, to see Hanako on her knees with her eyes closed.
"Hanako-san..." Sumire wheezed. "...Hanako-san!" Sumire dropped to her own before shaking Hanako's shoulders. This time the woman fell forward, but Sumire caught her. She slid back and nudged Hanako as she fell so that the side of her face fell onto her lap. She twisted to the side and stretched her legs out from under her as Ren knelt beside her and did the same for Hanako's. Sumire tried to twist the older woman's shoulders to no avail and looked at him with a beseeching look. He understood at once, turning her legs the same way by tugging at her knees so Hanako could rest on her back. The deed done, he lowered his ear to her nose. He held his breath for a moment and listened, then raised his head with a sigh
"She's...shes breathing." Somehow he managed a smile, a smile which Sumire returned. She let out a soft "Haa..." and sagged, tears flowing freely down her cheeks and over loose strands of her scarlet hair, sticking them to her face. Ren forced out a short laugh of his own and brushed a clump of it out of her eyes, feeling something warm on his own cheeks. He pressed his hand to one, surprised to see moisture cling to his fingertips as he drew it back. He let out another sigh, twisting to spread his legs -
"Guys!"
The teens followed Morgana's outstretched paw to see the Shadow watching them. Ren tensed and got back on his knees, but her mask turned a faint blue. He stood up as it peeled away, turning bit by bit into a stream of tiny, shining butterflies, reminding him of his own mask during his final encounter with Maruki. He heard Sumire ease herself out from under their friend and come to stand beside him as it finally disappeared, her gown following in a slow flash of more blue light, leaving the silhouette they'd followed so far. The Shadow started to disappear from the feet up, but the darkness cloaking her broke apart just a moment sooner, sending two ripples up her body - one seeming to cleanse her, the other erasing her - both separated by a thin band of visibility. They saw brown shoes followed by long white socks. Then a patch of skin followed by a knee-length black skirt and top.
If he'd had the energy to spare, Ren would have laughed at the knowledge that her clothes were already mostly black.
The shirt had two white strips leading up it, not unlike the lines running up the white Persona's face. She wore a small badge with a checkerboard pattern over her chest and red band around her left arm. Unlike Hanako's the latter had text on it, but her arms disappeared too quickly for him to read what it said. Next was her neck, revealing a white shirt beneath her jacket.
Then came her face. It too disappeared in less than a second, but Ren still froze and heard Sumire gasp as they took it all in.
They saw a grateful smile first.
Then wet cheeks.
Glistening, sparkling red eyes.
And thin air.
The teens stared at the space the Shadow had just occupied a moment longer.
"Was..." they jumped at the sound of the faint voice. "Was...that..."
They turned around. Hanako had rolled onto her front to see the Shadow as well and was now trying to push herself up, one hand clutching her head as she groaned.
"Hanako-san - "
"Hanako-san, are you okay?!"
Sumire's shout overpowered his words as she ran ahead of him, skidding to her knees beside her. Ren was grateful for the tall leather boots taking the brunt of the friction away from her, but knew that she wouldn't have cared even if they hadn't protected her. Morgana, who had remained beside the brunette, examined her face as she let Sumire raise her into a sitting position. She slouched forward and stretched her legs out in front of her, pressing a hand against the marble floor for support as Ren approached, looking from one teen to the other as she let out a quiet chuckle.
"Heh," she finished, squeezing her temples once more before looking at them again. Ren noticed her eyes clear once more. "You don't even waiting for the other to pause before you finish each other's sentences, do you? You just say the same things at the same time...you know, you two really are the perfect couple." She stuck her tongue out at them and grinned.
"H...Hanako-san! Y - y - you - !" Sumire opened and closed her mouth several times more, eyes darting all over her face as if she didn't believe what she was seeing. "Th - this is no time for...for jokes!" She spluttered at last. She burst into tears yet again and pulled Hanako into a fierce hug, burying her face into Hanako's neck. The older woman froze for a second, then smiled and wrapped her arms around Sumire in turn, twisting her torso a little so they could both get a better grip, pressing the hand opposite the redhead to the floor for a second to balance herself.
"Shh..." she soothed. "I'm alright. I'm alright, Vi - no, Sumire-chan, shh..."
She's making jokes? Ren's mind finally caught up to what had happened. Now? Just what is this lady made out of?!
Smiling to himself, He fell back on his haunches and spread his legs out just as Hanako had and let out a second, much louder sigh of relief. Morgana collapsed beside him and leaned into his side. Ren placed a hand on the cat's head and pet him, the usually haughty member of the Thieves letting it slide as they watched the girls before them, one sobbing louder and louder as the other smiled, trying to hide tears of her own as she continued whispering to her. "Shh...I'm alright. I'm alright. Look, it's all over now. Everyone's fine..."
"It's all over..." echoed Morgana. He exchanged smiles with Ren and let out a sigh of his own, bouncing his legs on the floor like a toddler...then froze, one still raised in the air. "Oh no..." he jumped to his feet. "Oh no!" He ran to where the Shadow has disappeared and looked around. He darted in all directions, continuing his search, even getting on all fours and sniffing where she'd been and looking around again. The humans watched him. Ren didn't know why, but he felt a rising sense of dread fill him. His limbs begged for rest but he forced himself to his feet, gritting his teeth to muffle a groan, and limped over to his friend who now stood still, clutching his head once more. Something occured to him.
Wait - don't tell me...
Morgana noticed his presence and looked up at him, voicing Ren's new fear.
"The Treasure! Where did the Treasure go?!" Morgana's eyes curved downward, pleading with him. "It has to be around here somewhere, right? Help me find it!"
"R - right..." His body still ached. He couldn't think straight. Ren looked around for a moment then up at the sky, but saw only the same green moon that had observed both their climb and battle staring down at him. The craters on its surface were like a face, mocking him. Where could the Treasure have gone?
"I'm so sorry, Trickster."
He whirled around. There, a few metres from him stood Lavenza, her sad, golden eyes staring into his own. Beside her stood a much taller man - taller even than himself - in a blue suit and cap. He had the same silver hair as the girl. The same shining eyes. The same expression. But it was Lavenza who spoke again.
"I'm so sorry."