Disclaimer: I do not own Persona or Fate Stay night, any resemblance to any other Persona 4/ Fate Stay night fan fiction is coincidental and plagiarism is not intended. No flames please constructive criticism only.
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[6th November, TV World, Inaba]
After heading full speed to Junes the team entered the TV world. Fortunately, it had not taken Rise long to locate the dungeon and they wasted no time entering it.
"It's like a storybook version of Heaven," Rise commented as she looked around.
The realm Nanako's mind had created was similar to a Western castle with columns and flowers, and large beanstalks, which stretched upwards. It was like a child's image of Heaven.
"Mom?! Where are you?!" Nanako's voice asked echoing throughout the dungeon. "Mom, why did you go? And why didn't you take me with you?"
"Right heaven? That explains it" Yosuke commented.
"Look! Up there!" Yukiko said, pointing at something in the distance.
There was a man in a green outfit running up the stairs with what appeared to be a little girl in a pink jumper dress with a white turtleneck.
"Nametame!" Naoto yelled upon seeing him.
"That Bastard!" Kanji growled.
They ran after him.
Nametame was running and Nanako was behind him still being held b him. She had a hard time breathing, but Taro didn't care to know why at that moment. All he cared about was saving Nanako.
He turned to look at the teenagers and the Junes mascot running after him. He was anxious now…more people who didn't understand his mission…
He stopped and put his arm around Nanako's neck, only to secure her. He turned around and said, "Did you follow me here?"
"Nanako!" Yu yelled.
"Big Bro…" Nanako whimpered.
"So then, you're Taro Namatame!" Naoto stated.
"Who are you?" Nametame asked Naoto.
"Wait a minute…" a look of realisation came across his face with manic glee. "You're the ones I already saved!"
"What? You and your daughter saved us? " Kanji yelled.
"Do you honestly think that?" Yukiko seemed confused
"Yes," Nametame said, stroking Nanako's hair in a creepy fashion.
"Get your hands off her! Nanako doesn't need your help!" Yu yelled incensed.
"Stay back!" Namatame yelled as Yosuke, Yu and Naoto suddenly ran up to try and take Nanako from him, taking Nanako into his arm and ran.
The rest of the Team followed only to be cut off as something crashed in front of Yu, Yosuke and Naoto forcing them to stop, even as Namatame vanished up the stairs with Nanako.
"Man, what the hell was that?" Yosuke wondered as the smoke cleared away revealing a golden hand Shadow.
"It's a shadow!" Rise cried analysing it with the mirror. "It's a Luxury Hand it's even stronger than the ones we fought before.."
"But where the hell-" Kanji was cut off as another crash forced him to dodge back, another Balance shadow had crashed in front of the group.
"What's going on, why is it raining shadows?" Chie cried.
"It's not just world balances either, look!" Yukiko cried.
Suddenly from seemingly below the path many Luxury Hand shadows emerged. Numbering in the hundreds they looked like a great moving river of gold.
"This is bad," Rise said looking into her mirror. "They resist everything but physical attacks."
"And there's a friggen army of them, it'll take us ages to blow through 'em all." Kanji cursed with annoyance.
"If it's an Army you need then perhaps mine can be of assistance." A loud voice boomed from with Yu, he sensed it coming from the Hierophant, his bond with Dojima.
"Iskandar!" Yu crushed the Arcana in his hand and out a swirl of flames a large man appeared.
He had a mane of red hair, wore bronze armour, with cuffs and greaves with white-furred fringes, that left his arms and thighs unprotected. Draped around him was a thick red mantle with a fluffy white fur collar. It was luxuriously decorated and looked like a curtain which belonged on the stage of a theatre.
He sat atop a sleek and powerful black steed.
As he was taking in the sight of the man, Yu found himself being lifted up and into the horse.
"Greetings my master. I am Iskandar the King of Conquerors and I am a persona under the Hierophant Arcana in the Rider class!" He declared bombastically.
"Alexander the Great eh?" Drake said with a smirk on her face as she materialised herself. "The guy who kept going and conquered the known world in his time. Ruling from Greece and Egypt to the borders of India. Captain Francis Drake at your service."
She took off her hat and gave a slight bow.
"The woman who sunk the Sun and circumnavigated the world!" Rider spoke loudly. "Would you care to join my army? I could use such splendid sailors for when I reach Okeanos to see what lies beyond it. There would be much plunder in it for you I'm sure, and endless adventure of course."
"You really know how to speak my language." The pirate laughed heartily. "But I gotta say no, I made a promise to stick by the lassie. Maybe some other time?"
"A shame, but better than the last rejection I got from heroes." Iskandar shook his head before focusing. "Well, I suppose we should get to the task at hand. I'll help carve a path!"
Suddenly a gust of wind began billowing around the chariot forcing the others to shield their eyes. Rider was suddenly engulfed in a sphere of light that expanded outward rapidly before it engulfed the whole path.
When everything settled down everyone opened their eyes and saw that they were now not in the storybook version of heaven but in an endless hot desert with a large cloudless blue sky above them, leaving the distant horizon visible.
"A…desert?" Naoto said with an awestruck tone.
"It's a reality marble," Archer said appearing just behind her. "It's a type of magecraft that summons one's inner world to encroach upon the real one. Rin would freak out at a non-magus being able to summon one."
"Hey, this is really cool and all but we're still outnumbered!" Yosuke exclaimed pointing at the horde of golden shadows who seemed disoriented but were quickly recovering. "There are thousands of them we'll use up our energy fighting them all."
Rider didn't answer merely smiled when suddenly the ground began to shake beneath their feet. They also heard the loud clanking of armour which caused them to turn around and see, for as far as the eye could see, thousands upon thousands of soldiers walking in formation towards them, weapons drawn.
"Behold! My endless armies! Their bodies utterly destroyed, and their souls offered up to the current world as heroic spirits of old, and yet still, these valiant warriors pledge their loyalty to me! Breaking the rules of space and time to fight by side once again!" Rider spread his arms motioning to the entire army. "My bond with them is my ultimate treasure! My path to kingship! The ultimate noble phantasm that I possess! Ionioi Hetairoi!"
The army of soldiers cheered as they came to a stop just behind the team.
"Holy Crap, they're all servants!" Rise exclaimed as she looked into the analysis her mirror provided her.
"Wait, Servants and not Persona's?" Archer asked incredulously.
"Yeah, they're not too powerful individually but still…" The idol trailed off still trying to get over her disbelief.
"Alright men, let's clear a path ahead, wipe them out!" With that Iskandar let out a battle cry and Yu felt the horse lurch forward, charging towards the shadows.
The sound of clanking metal increased as the army followed suit. Spears came down like rain upon the shadows, who to their credit tried firing wind, fire and ice spells at the army. But the soldier's shields held as they quickly dashed to close the gap. Each death caused a shadow to burst into a large pile of golden coins. Before long the thousands had been reduced to hundreds and the hundred to ten and then one and finally none.
Rider let out a cheer of victory which the army echoed with a great roar. With a second flash of light, the reality marble faded away and the team found themselves back in heaven, minus the shadows and the piles of gold they had left behind. Drake was about to point this out but Iskandar merely stated that it was safe in the Hetairoi and it could be divided up later.
"Alright, then let's hurry up and catch up Namatame," Yu ordered Rider urged his horse onwards.
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Nametame kept running with Nanako until he reached the top of the stairs where a large circular platform was, he ran into the centre of it before realising he didn't have anywhere else to go that wasn't going to end with him and Nanako falling off.
"Taro Nametame!" Naoto yelled as the team finally caught up to him. "Someone's been shoving people on the Midnight Channel into this TV world, and you're the one who's behind it, aren't you…?"
"Yes, that's right."
"Tell me, what made you do this?" Naoto asked.
"On rainy nights the TV talks to me. It sends me signs showing me who wants to be saved." Nametame replied. "And so I do it."
"It talks to you?" Yosuke asked sceptically
"Look, if I didn't put you inside the TV World, what do you think would have happened to you?"
"What are you getting at? You think you helped us face our True Selves?!" Rise said.
"That's insane!" Yukiko said. "What you did nearly got us all killed!"
"Yes. I know." Namatame looked down at this.
"Dude, this guy is freakin' whack!" Kanji growled.
"I was just trying to help! I just wanted to save you!" Nametame replied.
"Enough of your crap!" Yosuke having had enough. "You weren't trying to save anyone! All you wanted to do, you maniac, was murder people!"
"NO! The murderers are you!" then he paused. "I know what your plan is. You want to kill this little girl…" he patted Nanako who whimpered.
"What the hell are you talking about?" Naoto asked.
"But you CAN"T… 'cause I'll save her!" He laughed maniacally again. HE lifted Nanako up! "Just like the rest!"
"Let her go!" Yu demanded.
"That's right, I'm a hero!" Namatame yelled raising Nanako into the air a red cloud covering them both. "I'm a knight in SHINING ARMOR!"
"Big Bro, I can't breathe!" Nanako said weakly.
"Nanako!" Yu yelled the little girl's name
The area was dark except for the redness in the centre where Nametame and Nanako were, the blackness heading towards him
"What the hell is happening?!" Yosuke yelled.
"It's his power! It's attracting a bunch of Shadows!" Teddie cried
"Shadows? But why?" Yukiko wondered with confusion.
The haze eventually faded away revealing a stoic figure with deathly pale skin, and golden eyes like those of a shadow self, she wore heavy jet black armour that gave her a vicious look.
"No," Gawain said despairingly as he materialised. "It can't be."
Iskandar faded back into spirit form to watch the proceedings, he said nothing as he realised just who this person was.
"It can and is." The persona replied disdainfully to Gawain. "Gawain."
"ARTHURRRRR!" Lancelot yelled with madness only a berserker was capable as he materialised himself.
"Lancelot." She spat his name with disgust, "Another traitor who stands before me."
"Wait, did he say Arthur?" Chie asked, "As in-"
"Yup." Archer appeared popping the end of the up. "She's King Arthur, technically Arturia but the King Arthur still."
"Shit, King Arthur was a woman?" Yosuke cried before shaking his head. "Man history is weird."
"That's the least of our problems, right now senpai!" Kanji yelled summoning Berserker.
"Rise, how strong is she?" Yu asked trying to remain calm, even though he could feel the power rolling off of her.
"Really strong, those shadows have boosted pretty everything except for Luck and Agility to the A+ rank." Rise cried nervously.
"Shit, she was strong on her own without that power boost." Archer groaned before projecting Kanshou and Bakuya. "Alright, I'll-" Archer was cut off as Lancelot roared and ripped the married blades from his hands and charged at Arturia.
"You offer yourself first Lancelot?" Arturia asked as she locked her sword with the pair he had. "very well then, I'll punish you as you should have been punished."
Lancelot pushed hard, rapidly attacking with both blades, but Arturia easily blocked the strikes despite their increasing speed. The pace of the battle quickly picked up until it reached the point where their arms and weapons became blurs of colour. She didn't stay on the defensive for long and feinted. Lancelot fell for it which caused Arturia to exploit the opening and press her attack forcing the berserker onto the defensive.
Lancelot tried to strike again only for Bakuya to shatter in his hand like glass. Saber took quick advantage of this and drove her blackened holy sword straight through his chest. Yu gasped and clenched at his chest as he shared the pain from Lancelot. Saber then knocked Kanshou away and lifted the knight off the ground and quickly used his body as a meat shield against the cannon shots that Rider fired at her, hoping to catch her off guard. Inflicting more pain on Yu as the shots hit Lancelot.
Rider clicked her tongue before giving Arturia a cheeky smile in response to the glare she gave.
"Filthy pirate," Arturia growled disdainfully.
"That's 'Vice Admiral' filthy pirate to you." Rider quipped insolently.
The Saber merely roared and lifted her sword then flung the Berserker at Rider who was unable to dodge in time and hit with the force of a cannonball, causing both Yu and Yukiko to feel pain. Lancelot promptly faded away into motes of black dust receding back into Yu's soul.
"Lancer go!" Diarmuid needed no more prompting and quickly leapt into battle locking spear and sword with the Saber.
"It is a shame, to face the legendary King of Knights under such circumstances." Diarmuid strained out as she suddenly broke the lock and began attacking only for him to back up try to use his spears range to his advantage.
Unfortunately for him, she avoided his strikes slid into his guard. He was able to retract his spears to block her attack, but she pressed hard against him, causing him to bend backwards slightly.
"I'm afraid your tricks won't work on me Diarmuid of the Love Spot," Saber told lancer casually revealing his identity.
"But how?"
"We fought in a Grail War once before, and unlike other heroic spirits I retain my memories from them." She answered casually. "So for example, I know exactly what this spear does!"
Suddenly a massive burst of wind blinded Lancer causing his guard to lower just slightly and before he knew it Gae Buidhe was ripped from his hands. She abruptly spun around to look at Namatame who was still holding Nanako and tossed the spear forcefully at him. He flinched and cried out only for the spear to seemingly freeze in the air before him.
As this happened Chie fell to her knees and cried out in pain as Assassin became visible just inches away from Namatame, the spear had gone through his side, into his heart and exiting through his neck. The sight caused Namatame to quickly back away with Nanako still in his grip.
"Apologies, I failed." Li Shuwen groaned before vanishing and returning to Chie's soul to recover.
"Holy crap that hurt." Chie cried out, as Yukiko checked on her.
"At least Nanako was unconscious and didn't see that," Yukiko said trying to look on the bright side.
"Yeah" Chie agreed still wincing at the shared pain. "And that creep has nowhere to run, we just need to get past her."
They looked to Arturia who now had Diarmuid on the defensive. Having been surprised and forced to switch a single spear style, he had no breathing room as she advanced and kept slashing at him. Lancer knew that he could just keep defending so he took a chance and made an attempt to attack.
This proved to be a fatal mistake, as Sabers strength and speed outclassed his and she disarmed him, sending Gae Dearg flying away. Before the spear even hit the ground, her sword was within Lancer, dealing a fatal blow, the pain of which Yosuke shared.
Diarmuid was barely able to mumble an apology before he too faded away back into Yosuke's soul.
With him out of the way Saber looked to the group and was about to say something before she was shot with an arrow from Archer, then another and another until the impacts kicked up smoke blinding her vision. Before she could say or do anything she quickly raised her sword and blocked a surprisingly powerful strike. That surprise faded however when she saw the attacker was Heracles.
"Berserker," Saber growled derisively.
Archer stopped firing at Saber as soon as Berserker engaged Arturia. The Son of Zeus didn't wait and immediately pressed his advantage. His skill with his weapon easily matching hers. He was aggressive but careful enough not to leave any openings.
The exchange became more and more intense. Eventually, Berserker resorted to using his Nine Lives technique. The nine consecutive slashes broke through and hit her. As they id nine black streaks shot off from her and exploded individually away from her.
"Were those Fireworks?" Yosuke asked with confusion.
"Rise, please analyse her more closely," Naoto asked quickly.
Rise nodded and looked into her mirror which showed Saber on its surface after a few seconds it gave a warning about her.
"It's the armour!" Rise cried causing the team save for Kanji to look away from the fight and to her. "The Armour is what's boosting her power."
"I thought it was her absorbing all those shadows?" Chie cried confused.
"She didn't absorb them, she fused them with her armour, giving a powerful boosting enchantment which raises all her Stats. But that's not all, the shadows themselves have independently made her armour way more durable. We can't damage her properly until we destroy it."
The mirror displayed Sabers Stats: Strength: EX Endurance: EX Agility: A Mana: A Luck: C N.P: A++
"Archer do you have anything that could help?" Naoto asked.
"No, not without causing some serious collateral damage," Archer answered shaking his head.
"Alright, let me take a swing at it." A voice requested from deep within Yu, it was coming the Justice Arcana.
"Alright, come forth Sakata Kintoki!" Yu cried crushing the Arcana in his hands.
Out of a swirl of blue flames a tall muscle-bound man appeared, he had blonde hair, sunglasses, an open white shirt, golden necklaces around his neck, golden bracelets around his wrists and finally a golden belt and buckle around his waist, securing his black trousers. In his right hand was a huge Masakari axe that clearly could not be held with the strength fo a normal person.
"Hey, can you get him to hold her still?" Kintoki asked Kanji
"Yeah, I can do that." Kanji affmirmed with a nod.
"Alright, then brace yourself, cause I gotta use my Noble Phantasm and its gonna hurt," Kintoki explained.
"Berserker!" Kanji yelled, needing only say the word for his Persona to understand what he needed to do.
Heracles changed his aggressive stance and backed off. Arturia saw the opening and lunged in to attack, only for Heracles to quickly avoid it and get behind her. He then dismissed his Axe-Sword and grabbed her by both arms and hauled her off the ground and locked her firmly in place.
"Let me go you beast!" She yelled and began thrashing to get free, forcing berserker to use more strength to hold her steady.
"Alright, now kidnapping kids isn't golden in my book. So take this…" Kintoki burst into a sprint and leapt into the air ignoring the bursts of mana Saber tried to use to stop his. "Golden Spark!" His axe struck her chest directly and suddenly both her and Heracles were consumed a by a massive and extremely bright, bolt of lightning. Cries erupted from both Arturia and Kanji, the latter of whom who despite being ready for the pain couldn't help but cry out.
Eventually, the smoke cleared, Kintoki leapt back to just before the group. The enemy Saber appeared, as did Heracles who had dropped her and backed off. Her armour had visible cracks in it which continued to spread and spiderweb all over before finally it completely shattered like glass, released all of the shadows who simply exploded into the same haze which they usually did upon death. Now with no armour, all Saber had to wear was a black gothic dress with no shoes upon her feet.
"It worked, her stats have all dropped." Rise cried out looking into her mirror which showed Saber's new stats.
Strength: B Endurance: B Agility: D Mana: A Luck: C N.P: A++
"Alright, we can beat her!" Chie cried hopefully.
However, the expression on Saber Alters face looked different. If she had been angry at being manhandled before. Now with her armour gone, she looked absolutely pissed.
"Don't celebrate just yet. I still have some residual power from that armour left, and I'll use it to boost my Noble Phantasm." She declared furiously gripped her sword with both hands. The blade then blazed with a black aura which seemed to be three times larger than the sword itself.
"Oh no, that's an Anti-Fortress Noble Phantasm and she's given it even more power!" Rise exclaimed fearfully.
"That ain't golden," Kintoki mumbled before vanishing back into Yu's soul.
"Everyone get behind me!" Archer ordered as he ran to the front of the group.
No one argued and did as he told them, huddling do they were behind him. The red-cloaked Archer let out a breath and his hand flashed briefly.
"I am the Bone of my Sword." He chanted before opening his eyes and thrusting his hand out before him.
"Excalibur Morgan!" Saber cried unleashing the furious black light at them.
"Rho Aias!" Archer yelled, causing a shield in the form of seven flower petals made from red light to appear.
As the black light barrelled towards them, Archer was too sure if the Aias alone would be enough. But as if summoned Heracles appeared a few metres outside the shield, he gave Archer a nod before turning to face the attack and spread himself out to absorb as much of it as possible.
"Heracles," Kanji spoke his Persona's name, who turned to him and gave a smile before focusing on the task before him.
The blast hit, but the son of Zeus remained defiant, doing everything he could to take as much of the blasts power as he could. Archer was thankful, it bought him precious time to reinforce the Aias. Not only that but when the blast finally consumed Heracles and hit the shield causing the team, save Naoto and Yu to cover their eyes. It only shattered two layers instead of three as he was expecting.
It was then that Yu and Naoto noticed something. The Fog had suddenly become much thicker than before. The former thought he heard something coming up behind him and looked up just in time to see a silhouette jumping high over him. Both he and Naoto looked to each other with mutual surprise on their faces.
Then the beam rose higher, going up and over the shield. Yu saw in a scant few seconds as the black light consumed the silhouette which gave an unintelligible shout as it was destroyed. With it gone the fog cleared, returning to normal. With that, the blast of energy came to a stop. Archer dismissed the Aias but gasped loudly for air while clutching his bloody hand.
"Is it over?" Yukiko asked opening her eyes.
"We're alive." Yosuke sighed with relief falling onto his behind.
"Guys Heracles doesn't have any more lives left, I can't bring him out again for a while," Kanji told them hurriedly.
"Don't worry," Yu said standing up and putting a hand on his shoulder as he walked past Archer and to the front to face Saber. "We'll take it from here," he summoned the fool Arcana and crushed it. "Right Gawain?!"
Gawain materialised out of a swirl of blue flames. As he did so the perpetual sunlight of Heaven seemed to shine brighter upon him as he drew Excalibur Galatine with a flourish.
"Indeed, it is time I stopped despairing and started taking responsibility for my mistakes," Gawain said seriously. "My king, I cannot change the past, but I can and will use those mistakes to prevent myself from bringing ruin to others."
She merely growled and lunged at him. He met her halfway and locked swords. This didn't last long and quickly turned into a fierce exchange of strikes parries and blows. As the fight went on, Arturia found herself losing ground.
"The perpetual sunlight of this place, I see." Her blade was consumed by black light and became three times larger. "Then I can't afford to hold back."
Excalibur Morgan clashed with Galatine. The attacks fiercer, as Gawain still skilfully parried her blows, despite the increased power behind her blade. Yet she was determined to give no more ground and steadied her defences and redoubled her attacks, yet Gawain remained firm, thanks to his Numeral of the Saint, in this perpetual sunlight his power had increased threefold and due to the nature of the dungeon would not wane as the sun would never set.
"We took you for granted, we all did," Gawain said as his sword met her in an attempt to break her guard.
"Yes, you did!" She snapped back furiously, as she parried a blow and made to attack only to narrowly avoid a feint. "You, Lancelot, Mordred and that bastard Tristan. The king does not understand the hearts of men." She said this last sentence in a mocking tone. "What would Tristan know? What would any of you know? I carried the weight of an entire COUNTRY upon my shoulders." Her attacks became more vicious but Gawain remained unphased and easily defended against them. "What would any of you know what I sacrificed for Camelot, for Britain and the people. Merlin told me when I drew Caliburn from the stone, that to be King is to longer be human, so I suppressed my own feelings and humanity for the sake of everyone and it STILL wasn't enough! You ALL always wanted more! Demanded more! Never once did ANY of you spare a thought for me, for how I felt! Your oaths of loyalty were hollow, you swore to serve me yet when I needed your loyalty the most you thought only of yourself. I forgave Lancelot and YOU disobeyed me for your own revenge helping destroy all that I built!"
Throughout this rant her attacks on Gawain's guard grew stronger and stronger until finally he stopped blocking and parried her blow causing the black aura to vanish, pressing his own attack.
"Indeed, and I shall always regret that immature selfishness," Gawain confessed sadly. "I know that Lancelot and the others have their own regrets too."
Arturia deflected his attacks before jumping back out of his range and gripped her sword with both hands.
"Enough talk, let us end this!" Arturia yelled as the black aura returned to her sword. "EXCALIBUR-"
Gawain tossed his own sword into the air where a miniature sun appeared, it landed back in his grasp as a ray of sunlight. The miniature sun floated overhead, a large magic circle with a sun symbol in the centre appeared under him.
"EXCALIBUR-" Gawain pulled the sword over his head.
"MORGAN!" Arturia brought her own blade down sending the black light at her knight.
"GALATINE!" Gawain did the same and the fiery energy of the sun surged forth meeting the light of the famous Holy Sword head on.
Yu watched the clash of energies and saw that Namatame was breathing heavily, clearly exhausted. He took the chance and poured as much power into Gawain as possible. It worked as Galatines attack seemed to increased in power while Excaliburs black light seemed to shrink before it.
Then it happened, the flaming light of the Sword of the Sun consumed the light and surged forward swallowing Saber as well. Her screams could be heard even through the roar of the fire as could Namtame's as he shared the pain and as such released Nanako who was caught by a swift Archer who scooped her up and ran quickly back to the team.
"Nanako!" Yu fearfully fussed over her, her eyes were closed but fortunately, she seemed to still be breathing, albeit with difficulty.
Gawain watched, as his blade returned to its normal state and the magic circle vanished along with the fires of Galatine. Arturia appeared, her hands at her side, a disbelieving expression on her face.
"You've won, congratulations." She said with a sigh before focusing an apathetic stare on him. "Know this Sir Gawain, your King forgave you long ago, despite your disobedience."
"And what of you?" he asked with curiosity.
"I am not the King you revere. I am Arturia Pendragon the human being who resides deep within her heart. You could say I am something like her shadow. The abundance of shadows allowed me to overpower her and suppress her Ego, my Ego. But now without them and masters Prana, I have run out of power." She stated matter-of-factly. "Take your victory, but know that as I return to the depths of her heart, that while the King forgives, as you look into the green of her eyes, I will be looking out, deep within, in a single small part holding these grudges, as humans do."
"I understand, and I am sorry. We were selfish, all of us." Gawain said with sadness. "I only wish that we had seen the truth sooner so that we could share and help carry your burden."
Surprisingly instead of a snort, she let out a sigh of disbelief.
"Good grief. It is no wonder that she, that I, still consider you all my good friends." She gave a half smile before turning completely black and bursting into the shadowy haze that all shadows did when they were defeated.
Yu meanwhile took Nanako from Archer, who then went and picked up Namatame, lifting him up in a fireman's carry. From there the team made their back to the entrance and to Junes. The police were called and Ambulances were ready to get both Namatame and Nanako to hospital. The former so he recover before being questioned and stand trial for what he had done.
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[6th November, Inaba Hospital, Inaba]
"Because Nanako is still so very little, her other self didn't appear like it did for everybody else…I feel so bad that she had to see those Shadows go crazy like that." Teddie said sadly.
"Dude! Those Shadows were really freakin' intense! I can't believe that bastard put her through that! Damn him!" Yosuke cursed.
Nametame was in a small hospital room at the moment, unconscious and getting an IV. There were press and police downstairs. News had spread like wildfire with the press after he had been brought in.
"I wasted so much time trying to get Nametame to explain his motives!" Naoto growled, pounding the wall with her fist, shame and regret in her voice. "If I hadn't done that we may not be here right now, Maybe then…we could have gotten to Nanako sooner!"
"You didn't know its ok," Chie tried to reassure her.
"It's not okay!" Naoto retorted. "My top priority should have been Nanako's safety! But instead, what did I put first? Solving this damn case! So you're wrong it IS my fault that Nanako's in here!"
"Move on, that's enough of your pity party," Kanji spoke up.
"It's not that easy…" Naoto sniffed.
"Right now you're just standing here whining and licking your wounds. You think that will help Nanako get better? She needs us to believe she'll pull through this," Kanji said, and then he put a hand on Naoto's shoulder for support. "So stop thinking about yourself and get it together, will ya?"
"I'm sorry," she said, a small smile playing at her lips. She opened her eyes and said to Kanji, "Thanks, you're absolutely right."
"Naoto," Yu spoke her name causing the detective to turn to him. "You tried your best to save Nanako. I was there, I saw it for myself. So thank you." Yu was giving Naoto a small smile. "I'm glad to have you by my side."
"Anytime."
"Okay, this touchy-feely shit is bringing me down even more! The last thing Nanako would want to see is all of us down in the mouth." Yosuke said leaping to his feet.
"Yeah! You're totally right!" Yukiko said.
"Damn right!" Kanji grinned. "Nanako's got the heart of a fighter. We just gotta believe in her!"
"That was cool!" Rise said with a smirk. "I can't believe you made that line up yourself…"
"Huh?" Kanji said, stunned. "What the hell does that mean?!"
"Hey, pipe down!" Yosuke whispered harshly. "Don't go making a scene at the hospital, Jeez!"
"For once he's right…" Chie said self-consciously.
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[21st November, Path to Yasogami high, Inaba]
Just over two weeks passed since Namatame's arrest and Nanako's hospitalisation. Yu had visited Dojima and wound up tightening his bond with Adachi at the same time.
"Is it me or is the fog even thicker today?" Chie asked as she walked to school, with Yukiko, Yosuke and Yu.
"Yeah, it is… and it's a lot colder and thicker too," Yukiko said.
Yosuke was looking at his cell, surfing the 'net when he gasped.
"What's going on?" Yu said.
"Check it out. It's some article on Taro Nametame. Looks like the murdering bastard regained consciousness this morning," Yosuke told them.
"'In an official statement that he gave to the police, he says that he regrets his actions and that he was mainly motivated by fear.' Whoa! It's like he admits he did it." Chie cried.
"Hey, guess what?" Yu said. "I got a call from the hospital today. This afternoon, Nanako will finally be able to have visitors…"
"For real?!" Yosuke and Chie asked in unison.
[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]
After hearing the news that visitors were allowed, the team had quickly headed over to the hospital to visit both Dojima and Nanako.
"Go easy on her," Ryotaro said from his wheelchair with a small smile. "She's still weak. Don't expect any long conversations just yet."
"Dojima…" A young nurse came in. "Are you back here again?" She sounded bemused.
"Yeah…well, I just…" Dojima found himself at a loss for words.
"I understand that you're worried about your daughter and you wanna see her, but you still have a great deal of resting and recovering to do."
"Yeah, okay…" The man conceded rubbing his head sheepishly.
"Sorry! I'm right on it!" Adachi said beginning to push Dojima's wheelchair. "I'll take him to his room right now."
"Hey, what are you doing?! Don't push me around like I'm some old geezer!" Ryotaro protested.
Everyone was either laughing or smiling at the scene.
"Careful, Dojima you sound like an old geezer, too!" Rise teased.
[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]
Eventually, the group were forced to leave the room by the nurse and were walking out to courtyard when Adachi had caught up with them and brought them to the cafeteria.
"About that Nametame, some new facts have turned up recently, and well, it's making things a little more twisted…" Adachi said after finishing the coffee he was drinking.
"Can you tell us what the new facts are?" Yu asked.
"I don't know… it's still kinda top secret stuff, but…" Then he said, "I guess I could tell you guys… We were going through his diary and uncovered some weirdness around Ms Yamano and that Saki girl…" Adachi seemed to look right at Yosuke for that last part. "Nametame was one serious pig! He made some not so subtle advances on her, you know, we're thinking that may have been the reason he offed her."
Yu and Chie looked at Yosuke with concern as his hands were balled into fists and were shaking with rage, his face twisted in a grimace of anger.
"I should have killed that creep!"
Adachi flinched back, surprised at Yosuke's reaction.
"Well… Okay… Gotta be going now…" Adachi took his can of coffee and left.
"Yosuke…are you okay there?" Chie asked.
Yosuke looked at Chie in slight surprise and then said, "Yeah, it's all good… I'll get there."
"Don't be worried, you can cry in front of us," Yu said with a smirk.
"Hey, I'm not a freakin' girl!" Yosuke said as Chie and Yukiko chuckled.
[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]-[-]
The team were walking back home through a residential area when they stopped and looked around at the thick fog that had been blanketing the town.
"I wonder what's up with this fog." One housewife said to another as they stood just outside the gas station.
"I know a person whose child has been bedridden because of it." The other said. "I wonder if it's really poisonous."
Suddenly a man inn a gas mask ran up to them. "Run! Evacuate immediately!" He screamed hysterically "This is poisonous gas! It's loaded with viruses! You'll die if you breathe it!" He then took off running, only for the gas station attendant to come and talk to the pair and reassure them.
"What's with him? Creep." Rise said with a raised eyebrow.
"That might have even an extreme example, It's true that people are getting increasingly suspicious of this fog." Naoto said.
"It's not just here, either. People everywhere are talking about the fog." Yosuke said.
"It really is hard to see anything in this fog, though. It's just like on the other side," Rise said.
"Wha-?! G-Guys, put on your glasses!" Kanji yelled after putting his on.
Everyone did as he said and put on their glasses they used in the TV World. Once on, everything they saw became clearer.
"Whoa… It's all clear…" Yukiko said in amazement.
"Wh-What the hell is going on?!" Yosuke said.
"These glasses are meant to help us see through the fog in the TV world." Naoto mumbled putting her hand to her chin. "But putting that aside, no glasses would improve one's visibility in a fog, under normal circumstances."
" Could this mean the fog from over there is leaking into our world…?" Chie asked.
Everyone looked her stunned.
"Huh? Y-You guys think that's it?! I-I was kinda expecting you to ignore it as me being random again." She nervously chuckled. "I-It's just a thought… Haha…"
"This being the fog from the TV World would make sense" Naoto realised before looking to Yu. "But how can that be possible?"
Yu knew what she wanted and idly scratched the back of his right hand which had been itchy ever since they beaten Namatame.
"The fog aside, Naoto I take it you've done the research I asked?" He inquired.
"Yes, I'm afraid if what you told me is true then your conclusion is likely correct." Naoto told him.
"Wait, conclusion about what?" Yosuke asked looking between the two.
Yu took a deep breath and stopped scratching his hand, which began to bleed a little bit.
"Naoto did some checking for me, we've concluded that based on the evidence, Namatame is NOT the killer."
There was a moment of silence from the group before they all collectively yelled.
"WHAT?!"
