A/N: Battle scenes. Yeah. Fight scenes. Yeahh.

Also an exam week for me. What do I do? Writing!

Chapter 58

Free

"Juno."

Fuuka was in her new Persona. It was similar to the old one. She was still in that glass bubble and the Persona still looked like a princess.

"... I found it. It's currently at the south end of the Moonlight Bridge," Fuuka said. "And as we expect, two Strega members are already there."

Who knows where their hideout was. It was probably closer to the bridge than from the dorm, and the twelfth one must be big for them to notice even without Chidori on their side.

Akihiko tensed up, Ken gritted his teeth, and Koromaru had a low growl.

"They know this is their last chance. Even though we were expecting this, we should still be careful," Mitsuru said mainly to the first two.

If they wanted to, then Minato would let them.

"Arcana Hanged Man, huh?" Junpei said. "And this one's like, reversed?"

"As usual, yes." Fuuka dismissed Juno. "It means indecision and stalling."

"We can assume it would be a long fight," Mitsuru said. Everyone groaned or sighed.

Junpei rubbed his chin. "Hmmmmm."

"He's thinking about Chidori," Yukari said.

Akihiko nodded. Fuuka nodded. Minato nodded.

"A dude hanging around… from the tree." Junpei nodded. "Normal one is a sacrifice for the greater good. So, the reverse is a sacrifice for the lower good?"

Yukari facepalmed. "Stupei."

"He scored more than you on this subject, Yupid," Aigis reminded her.

"Ughhh." Yukari groaned. "At least I know Hanged Man is a willing victim…"

Pharos had not said a thing until now. He was probably conserving energy, concentrating.

With a few minutes walk, SEES reached the Moonlight Bridge. No one said a thing. Strega was waiting for them right now, and after a month, SEES finally had the chance to fight them.

Minato had this weird attachment to the place. It was a place from his dream. The car crashed to the railings. She smiled. Flame. Black and white. Though, he didn't have much time to reminisce.

Takaya and Jin were there.

"You know the significance of today, do you not?" Takaya asked. "You claim you hunt the Shadows to prevent the disaster they bring… yet, countless lives are lost each day without their intervention."

"Doesn't mean we can't intervene," Minato said. "We won't sit and do nothing."

"Do you kids really want to end the Dark Hour?" Jin scowled. He was holding a grenade. "Hypocrites."

Akihiko was the first to shut them up. He put the Evoker to his forehead with the gun upside down. "Caesar."

Strega didn't expect to be attacked by a Persona so soon. They both got shocked by a bolt of lighting.

"I'm fighting for him as well," Akihiko said. The Persona was in the shape of a warrior, with a familiar shining armor covering his body.

"Erasing the Dark Hour is the same as erasing yourselves…" Takaya coughed. "Tch. Is even that beyond your comprehension?"

Ken drew the Evoker out and aimed for his own heart. "Kala-Nemi!" The machine-like Persona spun and also used ziodyne on the enemies.

Koromaru howled and summoned Cerberus. The three-headed beast attacked them with darkness.

A one-sided battle. It was cruel to even watch.

"Ugh…" Takaya panted, kneeling. "So, this is the power of those whose Persona awakened naturally…"

"By the way, I'm Ken." Ken looked down at the two of them on the floor. "It's nice to meet you, Strega."

"Woof."

"Damn it!" Jin shouted. "Is their power that different than ours…?"

"Different?" Mitsuru asked.

"For us," Jin glared at Mitsuru. "it's not that simple… It has to be forced out. You people forced us."

"... So it was you guys." Akihiko growled. It was them who gave Shinjiro the pills. Ken gave Aigis a knowing look.

"And now you guys are taking it away from us," Jin said."Doing whatever you want… You guys don't have the slightest clue what will happen if the Dark Hour disappears, do you?"

"We don't enjoy it," Fuuka said.

"It won't matter for normal people since they don't remember anything anyway. But for us-"

"That's enough." Takaya stood up. He had not given up yet. "I shall prove my existence here and now!"

"Takaya!" Jin grabbed his wrist.

Takaya tried to yank his wrist from the grip. "What are you doing?"

"Don't be so reckless!"

"... Jin?"

"Sorry… but those are your words." Jin stepped back and dragged Takaya with him. He looked at SEES. "You win, so you get your wish. Go do what you came for. It's not our business anymore."

"No, don't…" Fuuka whispered. Behind them was the edge of the bridge.

"I'd rather die than surrender to you." They stepped on the railings. "Take a good look. This is how we live!"

"Wait!" Junpei shouted.

But they didn't listen. Both of them fell off the edge. It was quiet after that.

"What the hell…" Junpei sounded angry. He didn't support the idea of wasting your own life, sure, but it was mostly because of Chidori.

"Don't bother," Mitsuru said. She wasn't too fond of them. "The operation has only begun. Fuuka?"

"The Shadow up ahead is not moving at the moment." Fuuka pointed forward. "There."

The floating Shadow was hanged like a marionette, only it was not attached to strings, but its own skin was the strings.

"Alice would be proud," Minato said.

"Alice the Persona or Alice Margatroid?" Junpei asked.

"Probably both." Minato shrugged. "And if you keep referencing other games, you will die for me one day."

"C'mon, you don't see dolls holding spears every day, used by blonde haired girls with the same name." Junpei pointed out.

"I thought Alice is a mysterious girl of lovers arcana," Fuuka said.

"In your dreams," Minato said. "Or in your games, probably."

"There are many Alice's in this world," Junpei said.

"Please stop playing around and focus," Mitsuru snapped.

"Please be careful!" Fuuka said.

The Shadow was too high up in the sky, and there were three statues below it. They tried destroying the statues and the big Shadow dropped down. They used that time to attack before it went up again. Even more statue Shadows appeared

It was the rinse and repeat of that. It was annoying.

Minato felt a small pull inside him. Aigis turned to him briefly. He ignored that and kept fighting. Shooting or hitting the statues worked well like destroying any statues. The big one hit hard, and they had to run around avoiding the attack or jumping away from it.

At one point, Minato got hit and flew backward. Someone caught him. It felt familiar.

"Are you alright?"

"Aigis?" Minato almost mistook her for a human right there. "Thanks. Got punched by a giant Shadow, but I'm fine."

It really was a long fight.

They had been fighting for a while. It should end soon.

And when the Shadow was about to come down again, Minato stared at the mask it wore. An upside down mask. The twelfth one.

Minato had a strange urge to kill.

So he tightened his grip around the sword and charged forward.

"Arisato!"

He gave it no attention. It didn't matter.

Minato reached the front of Arcana Hanged Man and plunged the sword deep into its face. The mask with XII on it had a small crack.

Minato felt as if the Shadow stared back at him through the mask.

Thanatos manifested without his calling, and with a longer sword, pierced the big Shadow in a way that it was stuck to the floor. The Hanged Man wriggled under the blade before it was reduced to Shadow goo… ichor… black substances. Whatever. All of them faded in the end.

Minato narrowed his eyes. Maybe Pharos's hand slipped. He dismissed Thanatos. He realized he could do that now.

"… Is it over?" Junpei asked, with a terrified Yukari hiding behind him.

"Yes, it's over…" Mitsuru smiled.

"Operation completed, or should I say, 'Mission complete'?" Aigis asked. "... It appears that I do not shut down after completing my mission. Do I need a new mission?"

"We can worry about that later," Ken said.

"So, Mitsuru-senpai…" Junpei's grin got wider and wider. "You're gonna throw us a party tomorrow, right?"

Everyone looked at the Kirijo. Mitsuru hummed a little. "Well, I suppose I could arrange for you."

"How 'bout sushi?" Junpei asked. "Gotta be sushi."

"Sushi, huh?" Akihiko said. "I've got dibs on the halibut and sea urchin!"

Yukari raised her hand. "Then I call the fatty tuna."

Everyone 'called dibs' on what kind of sushi they wanted, though Minato was sure the chef would prepare all kind of sushi anyway. It was a Kirijo chef, after all, and Kirijo made everything perfect.

Koromaru barked.

"You should all be ashamed of yourselves fighting over sushi," Ken said. He turned to Mitsuru. "Senpai, please order tamago for me. They say you can tell a chef's skill by how he prepares eggs."

"Um, how old are you again?" Yukari asked.

"Eleven," Ken said. "Six years younger than you, if you're curious."

"Damn," Junpei said.

Mitsuru smiled a little. "I'll have the very best delivered tomorrow."

Junpei grinned. "It's great to be alive!"

"Sure, Junpei," Yukari said.

Mitsuru lifted her head and looked at the big full moon. Others joined in as well.

"… I guess it's time to say goodbye to the Dark Hour," Mitsuru said. "For some reason, I find it hard to let go."

"Yeah…" Akihiko nodded. "No Shadows to punch anymore."

"We really did it, didn't we?" Yukari asked.

"We saved the world," Fuuka said.

"It seems everyone is in good condition," Mitsuru said. "We should return to the dorm."

They walked to the direction they came from, some of them talking about the party tomorrow, mostly Junpei. The girls complaint that they needed a shower right away, after the Dark Hour was gone, of course. Koromaru barked and wagged his tails. Aigis asked Ken what kind of mission she should have.

Minato halted.

He stared ahead of him with wide eyes.

"What's wrong?" Yukari asked.

Minato blinked and looked again. He was not seeing things. He called his friend standing in front of him on the bridge.

"... Pharos?"

Junpei glanced at Fuuka and Yukari. They all nodded. The seniors tensed. Aigis tilted her head. Ken and Koromaru were confused.

"Good evening." Pharos was on the bridge a few meters from him. "This year, this is the first time we've talked outside your room… Hey there!" The pajamas kid waved at SEES. No one responded. They were still looking at each other and at Minato. Pharos lowered his arms. "... As expected. They can't see me. Of course they can't."

"Uh dude, is he talking to you?" Junpei asked. "Is he talking about us?"

Yukari hid behind Fuuka. "Get him away from me, please..."

Minato didn't feel like answering his friends. "Why are you here?"

"I come to say goodbye."

Huh. "This soon?"

"You set me free." Pharos looked toward the horizon. "I could feel it. It'll be a nice day this morning, and when you look outside the window, you'll see how nice the weather is. I will no longer be blocking your view."

Minato wished Pharos could come in the morning, then.

"Be happy, Minato, even when I'm not there. Be with your friends." Pharos sighed. "I hope you'll be okay… I'm sure you will."

Pharos mouthed a 'sorry' under his breath.

"All the fragments of my memory, they've finally come together. I now know my role."

Good for him.

"The time has come." Pharos finally looked at him. "I am afraid this is goodbye."

"What?" Minato asked. "No way." Pharos was here. Pharos had always been here. He had never left.

"I want you to know… For me, our friendship was a miracle."

Minato forgot he was the one helping Pharos all this time, how he promised the pajamas kid that there was a world out there...

You are my world, Pharos would say.

"But miracles don't last forever."

Minato did it. Pharos was now free. He knew that. He knew. "Wait, Pharos-"

"I shall treasure our conversations always, even if you don't remember me."

The Dark Hour was ending, and Pharos started to fade.

"Even if today is the end, the bond between us can never be severed... Remember that."

Minato wanted him to be free, but, "Don't go."

Pharos smiled. "It was fun while it lasted. Thank you..."

"Pharos!"

Minato dashed forward. He wanted to be with him for a little while longer.

"PHAROS!"

But he was gone.

He was free.

It was midnight. The sky was dark blue. Minato was standing on the bridge. The moon, the lights, the cars, the city. They were all normal.

It was so normal.

Minato hated how normal everything looks.