I can finally see the views again! Fanfic seemed to get their shit together at last.

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18, June 2009

Tartarus

"Everyone, I sense a lot of shadows in this new area, please be careful," Fuuka's voice informed the group as they walked up the stairs to the second part of the new block that had been unlocked upon the defeat of the full moon shadows.

"Should we split up?" Akihiko asked Minato.

"We'll go in pairs," Minato answered, "You and May will go in a group, and Yukari and Junpei will go in another."

"You'll go with Mitsuru?" Akihiko questioned.

"Yes," Minato confirmed.

He wanted to see what she was like in battle. He needed to know so that he could make the best judgment during a fight. Yukari and Rosemary were his support, Yukari with her healing and Rosemary with her shields. He and Junpei were full-frontal fighters. Akihiko was in a league of his own, he couldn't really figure out a spot for him. It was genuinely terrifying to watch the older teen fight. He went in with his fists most of the time. It was when the shadow was weak to electricity did, he ever see the teens persona.

"Let's get going then," Junpei said as he started to walk off.

"Would you not go off on your own, Stupei," Yukari huffed at him.

Akihiko and Rosemary shared a look before heading down a different corridor to see if they could find the stairs before the other groups. Akihiko was extremely competitive, and he helped to bring that out in Rosemary. They would find it simply due to their stubborn nature. They walked down the corridor, keeping an eye on the area around them. He cracked his knuckles slightly while she readied her naginata. Even with a few of her fingers still in a splint, she could use it. One of the fingers that was in a splint was the one with the broken knuckle. That was going to make fighting a bit difficult.

"Incoming," Akihiko stated as they both moved back to avoid a shadow that had rushed them from the end of the corridor.

He watched as she swung her naginata upwards and launched the shadow up into the air. He grinned at that and rushed forward to finish it off. It had looked like a dice of all things, but the color was bronze. He didn't get shadows sometimes, and he could tell that she didn't either. He held his fist out for a fist pump and she gave him an amused look as she gently tapped her fist against his. He was getting her out of her small bubble even more. He would drag her out if he had to. She gave him a look at that and slightly moved away from him with an uneasy expression.

"You scare me sometimes," She informed him, "Those thoughts are concerning."

"Am I wrong?" He asked.

"…No…" She looked away to the side with a slight pout before returning her expression to its regular apathetic mask, "I think there are a few more shadows nearby."

"Can you sense them?" He asked and she shook her head before tapping her forehead, "Wait, they have thoughts?"

"It's more like constant internal screaming," She answered with a slight frown, "It's distracting at best and painful at worst…the large shadows have some coherency to them, it's strange."

"Have you talked to Mitsuru about it?" He asked and she looked at him with a slightly surprised look, "You never even thought about it, have you?"

"Sorry…I'm really not used to having people around that I can talk to," She admitted, "Though Shinjiro can get information out of me."

Akihiko may be many things, oblivious is one of them, but he could tell that something was going on between those two. He was somewhat happy for them, but mostly concerned. She was close to Ken and couldn't really get closer to Shinjiro without something going awry. He was hoping it would work out in the end. He drew his evoker and called her persona to send a Zio towards one of the bronze dice in the distance. It was a one-hit kill.

"Well, now we know what it's weak to," He heard Rosemary mutter, "Do you think Fuuka noticed?"

'I did, I made sure to write it down for now. We can compare notes later.' Fuuka's thought was soft in her mind.

Akihiko watched as Rosemary's expression smoothed out and she went back to looking around. She seemed curious about the way that the dark hour and Tartarus worked. Her left hand twitched in thought. He gathered that Yamagishi had joined the taller girl in her investigation. They shared quite a few hobbies and interests, so there was plenty of things for them to talk about.

"Do you think we'll run into one of those large shadows again?" She asked him as they went down a separate corridor and came across a briefcase.

"It's a possibility," He nodded, "They seem like mini-bosses."

He looked at the blank expression on her face. She wasn't too familiar with video games. She had some inkling about them but had never really played one. She hadn't even played a tabletop game that wasn't a puzzle. She looked to the side in embarrassment and he was slightly surprised.

"There's an arcade," He said, "Either Arisato or Iori can teach you more about video games."

"Both would be excellent at it," She muttered.

Junpei was oddly patient when it came to things she didn't know. He gathered she was sheltered and found it fun to be the knowledgeable one. Granted, she helped him in return with studying for exams. Yukari joined in on those sessions and dragged Minato along with her, even if the other boy wanted to go and progress his 'social links'. It was better to start studying early than to wait last minute.

"How the hell did this even fit in there?" Akihiko asked as he held up a naginata that was different than her own.

"Just another thing to talk to Fuuka-Chan about," She sighed as she held her hand out for it.

He placed it in her hand, and she tested the weight. It was a lighter Naginata, but a bit longer. In fact, the blade was sharper than the one she was currently using. She took care of her weapon, the blade on her naginata was as sharp as she could get it. She studied the blade and frowned. It wasn't made from steel; she knew that much. She tapped a finger against it and blinked. It was made from a metal alloy that she didn't recognize.

"Yukari-Chan and Junpei-Kun has found the stairs." Fuuka informed everyone.

"Let's get going then," Akihiko said as he turned to Rosemary.

She gave him a nod and they hurried towards the staircase. Everyone was waiting for them. Mitsuru raised a brow at the newly acquired Naginata before handing a new pair of boxing gloves over to Akihiko. Minato was quietly thinking about whether those weapons would be better than what he had picked out. He was bouncing numbers around in his mind and concluded that they would be better, but he would need to update everyone's equipment soon. They headed up the stairs while he continued to think that way. As soon as they reached the last step, they split up to search for the next stairs.

"Those two really do get along," Mitsuru said as she and Minato walked down a corridor.

"Akihiko-Senpai and May?" He asked and she nodded, "It's an interesting combination of personalities."

"They work well as a team," She added, "I had them paired up for patrol after she awakened her persona. I must admit I was curious as to how it worked."

"I haven't come across any other persona that has the same abilities," He admitted.

"I hadn't either until I looked into a report from one of our labs in America," She confirmed, "There's a woman there that can use a persona and it acts as a shield…her persona is Freydís."

He didn't know the story attached to that name. He didn't doubt that there was some significance to it. Icarus, the boy who ignored his father's warning and flew too high to the sun and fell into the sea. Polydeuces, the twin brother of Castor and son of Zeus who became a part of the Gemini constellation after his twin's death. He had read one of the mythology books that Rosemary owned, the fact that it was in Japanese was a relief. He knew why she had them, it was a bit of an insult to her old school and the highly religious teachings she had gone through. Those were her words, not his.

"There it is," Mitsuru said as they came across the stairs.

A few seconds later the others were there. Akihiko and Rosemary had slightly miffed expressions before hers went away. He raised a brow; he hadn't expected her to be slightly competitive. He looked at the silver-haired teen and knew that he brought it out of her. They headed up the stairs to the next floor without questioning it.

"I sense a strong shadow in the middle of this floor, please be careful." Fuuka warned them.

"Let's go and get it so we can proceed," Akihiko said with a slight grin, slightly excited about an upcoming fight.

"We'll proceed with caution," Minato informed him with a quiet sigh.

'Not like it matters, he's still going to rush ahead anyway.' Minato thought, his shoulders slightly slumping in response to his negative thoughts.

Rosemary didn't have anything to say that would bring up his spirits, besides, he was right. She adored Akihiko as an older brother figure, but she wasn't blind to his faults. His readiness for a fight was admirable, but it did cause problems. She would make sure to keep an eye on him so that he would be safe. She wanted to keep those she cared about safe, and everyone in the group was someone that she cared about. She strengthened her resolve as they walked to the middle of the floor.

"It's a beetle," Mitsuru said as she readied her rapier.

It was multiple beetles, and Akihiko eyed every one of them. They surrounded the beetles to the best of their abilities and got ready to fight. The beetles stared at them before deciding to make the first move. Yukari moved to the side as it tried to run her through, she released an arrow at it. There was minimal damage to it, and she let out a slight curse.

"Crap, I don't think my arrows will do much damage," Yukari stated, "I'm sorry."

"Yamagishi, can you scan it and figure out its weakness?" Minato questioned as he blocked an attack from a beetle.

"Leave it to me." Fuuka confirmed as she began to scan the shadows with her persona.

Akihiko easily moved to the side when a beetle ran towards him and he was a bit surprised when a naginata was swung at it. Rosemary braced herself as the blade caught the beetle and caused it to flip upside down. He grinned at that and rushed forward to punch it. It seemed to get a bit dizzy from the damage done to it.

"Way to go," Junpei said to the two and they gave him a nod.

"This shadow is weak to electric attacks," Fuuka informed them.

"Seems like this enemy was made for you, Akihiko," Rosemary quietly teased the older teen.

He laughed at that and grabbed his evoker as Junpei tried to recreate the technique that Rosemary had done. He was able to get it to back up but was unable to flip it upside down. He still thought it was progress, he contemplated joining the boxing club to gain the strength that Rosemary and Akihiko had. Well, Rosemary didn't have a lot of strength normally, but she could fight shadows with more strength than he had ever seen.

"It's the weapon, isn't it?" He asked with a teasing tone.

"It's all the weapon," She answered.

Mitsuru shook her head in disbelief before stabbing one of the beetles before it could even charge at her. Minato joined in her attack and forced the beetle back. Akihiko used his evoker and summoned his persona. Polydeuces appeared in all his light grey glory and long blonde hair and readied himself. He sent a multi-Zio attack at the beetles and knocking them down. They all attacked at once and defeated one of the beetles. A second beetle was stumbling about due to the damage it had sustained. Minato knew that meant that a few more attacks would bring it down.

He used his own evoker and summoned a persona that wasn't Orpheus. Take-Mikazuchi, one of the persona's that belonged to the same arcana that Akihiko did. He used an identical attack of Mazio. They all attacked together again, much to Akihiko's joy. This defeated the second beetle, and they all circled the last one.

"We'll rush it," Minato ordered, "It should be damaged enough."

Rosemary went first and slammed her naginata down on the beetle's head and her attack was followed up by Yukari shooting the spot with an arrow. Junpei ran up and stabbed his sword in the exact spot. Akihiko ran up and slammed his fist onto the end of the sword to push it in further. The beetles stumbled about as Mitsuru and Minato attacked as one and finished it off with a slice to its neck. Junpei picked up his sword and everyone took a deep breath of relief after the fight was over.

Minato looked at them with a curious glint in his eyes. They were all different strengths. Rosemary was the "strongest" out of all of them, he would have to check to see what they would need to play to. Her strengths were the shield and her magic, her weaknesses were her endurance. He made a mental note to pick up a good piece of armor for her to wear under her uniform. He thought about one of the pieces that he skipped over and cringed slightly, he watched as she turned to look at him with a look of disbelief.

"Bikini armor?" She quietly muttered, "What the actual fuck?'

"I don't know," He answered as he looked to the side, "I thought the same thing upon seeing it."

"At least you have integrity," She said with a slight sigh, "Are we going all the way till the next barrier tonight?"

"It's better to get it all out of the way," He confirmed, "We'll take short breaks, so we don't get too tired."

She nodded at that and they headed up the nearest stairs. They continued their current strategy of exploring and when someone found the stairs, they'd all convene at that point and continue up to the next floor. Minato kept an eye on them, not that they noticed except Rosemary who was doing the same thing. He could tell when they got stronger or when they needed to rest. She didn't know how he really did it, but she gathered it was due to his connection with the velvet room. It made sense to her if she thought about it. Maybe she'd one day figure out the entirety of the dark hour, shadows, and the velvet room. She ignored that train of thought and moved to a different one as they continued their steady climb up the floors.

She couldn't help but hope that Shinjiro was doing all right and was safe during the dark hour. She shielded Akihiko from wind attack and returned it with an agi of her own. He gave her a nod as they continued to run through the corridors. She still had Shinjiro's handkerchief but hadn't had the time to return it to him. He didn't even ask her to bring it back. She hoped that she hadn't made him mad, or upset. She started to worry about what her grandfather had said to him. She inwardly winced at that. Her grandfather may be good at showing his thoughts through his actions, but she worried that he might've said something that pushed Shinjiro away.

She took a deep breath as they found another floor with a strong shadow on it. She got ready to fight along with everyone else. They were all getting tired of exploring Tartarus and were ready to sleep. The constant fighting of shadows was starting to wear them down. Junpei had to give his respect to Rosemary for being able to stay in Tartarus for days and remain standing when they found her and Fuuka. It truly put it into perspective how much fighting they were doing to burn enough energy to become tired.

They sized the large shadow up and prepared themselves. It looked like a knight and it seemed stronger than the beetles. Yukari changed to healing and support as did Rosemary, it was a strategy to keep everyone else standing. Minato eyed the knight and readied himself to attack. They'd have to attack with physical attacks, he could tell with the coloring of the shadow.

The fight was long and difficult. They had to work to get the shadow to the stage where it was stumbling around due to the amount of damage it had received from them. Rosemary had some sweat going down her face as she used Icarus to stop another attack directed at Yukari by the shadow. Akihiko rushed up and punched the shadow in the stomach, which allowed them to attack it all at once. It vanished and they quickly went to the last floor for that block.

"I really want some coffee," Yukari softly moaned as they headed back to the base floor so they could go back to the dorms and get some sleep.

"I just want to sleep," Junpei said.

"A coma would be lovely right now," Rosemary added and that got a few concerned looks from the others, "It's a joke."

Minato cracked the smallest smile at that, he got her humor. It was the same jokes that he liked to make when people were bothering him too much. He stretched slightly and spared a glance towards the velvet room door. He'd make sure to go and fuse persona's the next day. He needed sleep first. They weren't surprised when the dark hour ended when they walked into the dorms. The lights went back to their normal coloring and they all headed up to their rooms. It was a quiet night.

19, June 2009

Iwatodai, Japan

"Did you get any sleep last night?" Ken asked his guardian the moment he watched her stare blankly at the eggs she was cooking.

"I got…two hours of sleep," She quietly answered, "I'll be able to function, don't worry about me."

She got a dubious look from him and gave him a tiny smile back in response. She couldn't even say what had kept her up, because Minato hadn't said anything about the velvet room. The more she saw it through his thoughts the more she could actually see it. It was just a slight outline at the moment, but it was something. She didn't know if she should bring it up to Minato or let things play out as they were. She was undecided on that.

She placed breakfast in front of Ken, and he got his hair ruffled. He felt his cheeks warm up in slight embarrassment before she started to make him a lunch. She figured that he would like chicken with some rice. She made four lunches, one of them was for her. It took her twenty minutes to finish the lunches up and wrapped them. Ken was surprised when one that was wrapped up in an orange cloth was placed next to his school bag. He tried to remember the last time when someone made him a homemade lunch. It was nice. He gave her a bright smile before he headed off for school.

She cleaned up from her cooking and made sure to leave the names of the left-over lunches for their owners. Yukari and Akihiko would possibly be thrilled for their lunch. She picked up her own and headed towards the monorail. She needed to go and check on the greenhouse. She had been slacking for a little while and wanted to see how the plants were growing.

She was torn from her thoughts when something ran into her legs. She looked down to see the Shiba Inu that hung around the shrine. It was looking up at her with wide eyes and its tongue hanging out of its mouth. She was confused as to why it had run-up to her. She knelt and held a hand out to it. It didn't even wait to sniff her before putting its paws on her shoulders and licking her cheek. She was confounded.

"Did…Did you need something?" She quietly asked.

Mochi was a less energetic animal compared to a dog. The Shiba sat down in front of her with its tongue still hanging out. She continued to kneel and became more confused. Did she play with it or pat its head? She hesitated on giving it a head pat, her hand drawn close to her chest. She reached out and gave it a small pat. Its tail started to wag back and forth, and she continued. It rolled onto its back and she moved from its head to its tail. She was able to see that the Shiba was a male dog.

"Are you a good boy?" She quietly asked, and she got a bark in response, "You're certainly an adorable boy."

After a while, she had to leave. She gave him an apologetic smile before leaving the dog. She hoped that it would be all right on its own. She didn't know if it had an owner or not, but she couldn't do anything. It was a dog without its collar but still had an owner she didn't want to get involved. She wasn't really in the mood to be yelled at by someone for causing a problem, though it would be for a justifiable reason.

She looked rested her head against the window as the monorail traveled to the next station. She couldn't help but feel her fatigue from not getting a proper night's sleep. She put her headphones on and turned her MP3 player on. She was welcomed to a song, one that was just instrumental. She couldn't really place where she'd heard it before. She took out her phone and looked at the screen when the first hint of water began to show in the distance. She didn't have any new messages. She put it back after checking and ignored some of the thoughts that began to come her way.

The rumors, the information that had gotten out about her. She had almost forgotten about it; she was so used to ignoring it. She never forgot the feelings of isolation and self-hatred that had permeated every nook and cranny of her thoughts when she was first entering her teenage years. She closed her eyes and contemplated just how long it had been. A good four years, something she hadn't really thought about before. Time truly was precious, and she had waisted so much of it. She felt the monorail come to a slow stop and opened her eyes. The station awaited her, and she got off.

There was no Shinjiro in the area to greet and she felt oddly cold at that. She ignored it, pushing her feelings away and refusing to acknowledge them. She had Ken to take care of and look after. Could she really afford to think about Shinjiro in that way? It was a conundrum that liked to have permanent residence in her mind. It liked to lash out every so often and she would always look inwards for the answers, this time there was nothing. Icarus also had nothing to say to her, the persona was quietly resting. It was a needed rest seeing as she hadn't been able to sleep after their exploration of Tartarus. It possibly affected her Persona.

She listened to the rumors more intently and found that several people believed that Akihiko was friends with her out of pity. A part of her believed them, it wouldn't be the first time that she'd miss important thoughts due to her diligently straying away from other people's complete thoughts. Some people were good at hiding their true intentions through silly things. Like Ikutsuki's puns or Akihiko's ability to have protein on the mind every so often. She walked into the greenhouse and welcomed the silence that was inside of it.

She felt herself slipping into old mindsets and habits. She could feel and hear her thoughts turning darker and the self-doubt rearing its head. They never really left, she had moments where she believed herself unworthy of her friends, but she had handled them well in remembering the funny things they did. She found it intriguing that a few choice words were enough to send her determination spiraling. She allowed it to continue to get it out of her system. Even as she finished looking over her plants and headed to class, the thoughts and feeling prevailed. She started to catalog things that could do the most damage to a person.

It didn't even register in her mind that she was doing such a thing. She barely caught herself when she became distracted and stared out the window. She couldn't help but wonder what it was like to fly if only for a second. Her eyes widened a minuscule amount as it occurred to her what the negative thoughts were starting to do to her. Once allowed to fester in her mind, they would soak into her own deep thoughts. It was like the inky darkness that would appear in Mitsuko's and Bunkichi's minds. It was her feelings, that inky darkness. The negative feelings that she would push down and ignore, the ones that grew stronger without her say.

She found a new hiding spot for lunch, one where no one would find her. She listened to her music and picked at her food. She didn't really feel like eating, her stomach constantly churning as her mind continued to fill with dark thoughts. She was starting to pull away from everyone, something she wasn't entirely conscious of doing. Her small notebook was out, and a fountain pen was in her hand. Her eyes were focused on an object in front of her as she sketched it in black ink. It was a small flower that had somehow grown in the cracks of the concrete. The small yellow flower was a pop of color against the dull grey.

"Such a stubborn flower," She softly said to it in English, "Don't you know that growing there will only get you crushed?"

She was talking to a flower now, great. She sighed and finished her sketch. She kept the book open to help the ink dry as she finished her lunch. It was good as usual, though the rice was heavy in her stomach. It wasn't a good thing to eat when she felt her anxiety flare up at each rude thought. She wondered where the sudden surprise at the rude thoughts had come from. She should be used to them by now. She brought a hand up and moved her hair to hide her face from the prying eyes of others. It allowed her a kind of curtain. She looked down at her MP3 player and checked the time, she had to head back to class.

No one really spoke to her. Fuuka was still getting situated at the dorm and Natsuki didn't even remember what had happened in Tartarus. There was still a bit of doubt and the feeling of forgetting something important coming from the teen. She felt that way when she looked at the bluenette.

Natsuki didn't really like her still. She found Rosemary to still be aloof and standoffish. The cold demeanor and short replies were also things she disliked. Rosemary could talk quite a bit but never did so in class. Natsuki couldn't help but wonder if the other girl could even cry, or feel any genuine emotions. Her small smile, though considered bright by her friends, looked like she had never known how to smile. It looked more like a grimace to her. Rosemary simply went through the motions of smiling, but it never seemed genuine.

Rosemary wondered why Natsuki would believe her smile to be disingenuous. It looked like a grimace, like someone that hadn't smiled before? Perhaps it was due to her upbringing that some people found her smile like that. She looked down at her notes and wrote something down that the teacher said was important.

Maybe Natsuki had a point.

That thought stayed with her as she went to work. The mindless actions of restocking the shelf and cleaning didn't do much to keep her mind busy. She was basically locked in her own thoughts, the amount of work that Akihiko had done to bring her out of her shell was slowly being undone by the thoughts of others. She had been told that the rumors would die down, but they had yet to do so. They had instead gotten worse. She now heard stories that she had been abused sexually by her parents. She couldn't say anything to somewhat defend her parents on that front. They may have been shitty people, and her mother may have tried to kill her on multiple occasions, but they had never touched her inappropriately. It was sickening to even think about, yet it still happened to people.

"Are you all right?" Akihiko asked her when she entered the dorm after her shift was over.

"Yes," She quietly said with a slight nod.

"Thank you for the lunch," He said, and she nodded.

She washed up her box from her lunch before heading to bed. Ken had his dinner already and was studying a bit before heading to sleep. She entered her room and felt the dark thoughts returning the moment the door closed. She headed over to her bed and sat down, shedding her vest as she did so. Mochi was sleeping on her pillow, and she'd move the cat when she was ready to sleep. She felt tired but wasn't sure about sleeping. She didn't know if her mindset would give her nightmares of not. She gave a soft sigh before standing up and walking to her dresser to find a pair of long-sleeved pajamas.

When changing she took a glance at the scar on her left shoulder. It was large and jagged; the angry red skin was bumpy. It had a match on her back. It was from when her mother attacked her, she had gotten a rather good stab in with the knife she'd been using. If she hadn't missed and had hit her target she wouldn't even be around for a scar to have formed. She would've been dead. Her mother would've succeeded and gotten something that she'd always wanted.

She finished changing into her pajamas and laid down in her bed. Her sleep was deep but uneasy. Her dreams horrifying, and a sense of being held under the surface of water started to rise in her. She was dreaming that she was standing in a large pool of dark water and it was slowly getting deeper and deeper. It was dragging her with it as it grew. She had noticed the hands above the surface and tried reaching for them. She missed every single time, and eventually, she gave up. She allowed her fate to happen, her eyes closed in the dream as the darkness around her finally became all-encompassing.

She woke up feeling worse than she had when she fell asleep.