[Summary: The DEATH Squad members make their escape from the TV World.]
"What happened... to Teddie?" Yukiko asked hesitantly.
Nanako stared at the mask, turning it over in her hands. "He's gone," she whispered.
"Gone?" Yosuke repeated.
"Gone, dead, however you wanna say it," she said in a cold voice. She swallowed. "He..."
"He was a Shadow, wasn't he?" Kanji continued for her. "Hey, that's what it said!" he added when everyone looked at him. "We all heard it, right? But he wasn't anything like the Shadows we've been fightin'. Dude was always happy to see you, Senpai."
There wasn't judgment in his voice, but some measure of reproach. Yeah, she thought, and I ignored him and his problems for weeks on end. He tried his damnedest to impress me, and I hardly took the time to thank him.
I never bothered to ask if he ate or drank or where he lived in the TV World. How he managed when the fog lifted and the Shadows grew violent. If he needed to sleep or not. What he did when he wasn't making new sets of glasses for us.
Teddie's loneliness had snowballed until he'd snapped. Those golden eyes... He'd developed his own doppelganger Shadow. A Shadow with a Shadow, did that make anything possible? And what, he hadn't been able to accept it? If she'd been there, could she have reassured him... made more promises to him that she'd inevitably break?
She blinked away her tears. She could cry about this later. "Wh-what happened here?" she asked her friends.
Yosuke glanced at her from where he was inspecting Yukiko's arm. He'd run out of healing juice and was helping the girl immobilize it with strips of cloth torn from her sweater. They should relocate to the backlot, where the large medical kit was, but the thought of even walking that short distance was too much for Nanako at the moment. The pain had receded to a manageable level, but it flared up when she made even the smallest movement. Heck, even breathing was enough to keep a grimace on her face.
Yosuke ignored her and turned right back to Yukiko. Kanji seemed to be at a loss for words. Maybe no one would tell her, at this rate.
Chie rubbed her face and then began to speak. Or, Nanako assumed she did. She couldn't hear a thing until she turned her head a different way. Apparently her right ear was clogged... It was the least of her worries at this point.
"—made it through this stupid dungeon. It wasn't easy," Chie said flatly.
Naoto's dungeon hadn't been easy, either, but Nanako knew the protest wouldn't be well-received.
"We almost gave up halfway," she went on. "One of the floors was a bitch, but whatever, we can tell you about that later. We got here," – she indicated the arena, or what was left of it after Naoto's powerful spell had blown it to bits – "and that Kubo kid and his Shadow was here. He denied it right in front of us. It turned into a..."
"No need. I... saw it." Nanako suppressed a shudder at the memory since the motion would hurt too much. A fetus with soulless eyes. How difficult it must have been for her friends to fight such a grotesque thing.
"It kept leveling up," Chie said, "and getting stronger while we were fighting it. After a while, we realized we weren't winning, Nanako. It would regenerate its shield over time, and we just couldn't manage to break it down enough, and we were getting tired. It used bombs. They looked like stupid toy bombs, but they hurt and we couldn't get away from them in time."
Chie looked down at her feet now, scuffing her shoe against the ground. "...We yelled at Teddie. Because he wasn't being very helpful. And then one of the bombs exploded, and... The next thing we knew, Teddie was there, trying to protect us. I'm not really sure what happened."
"He joked about going 'bearzerk,'" Yukiko said. Her eyes were fixed on the red cloth wrapping her wounded arm, and she was toying with a stray string. Kanji stepped towards her and gently pushed her hand away to make her stop.
"He blew up," said Yosuke. "That's what it looked like, anyway. The bear's last stand." He lowered his head for a moment, blinking rapidly, and then lifted it again. "He survived it, and it destroyed the shield around Kubo's Shadow, but, well, that's all it did."
"And under that shield, Kubo's Shadow was..." said Chie. "W-well, not gonna lie, it was pretty disturbing."
"Horrifying," Yukiko murmured.
If it was horrible even to Yukiko... "You mean you couldn't see that it was in the shape of a fetus until then?" Nanako asked for clarification. She tried to imagine the scene and her brain rebelled.
"And strong," Kanji said. "That bastard was even tougher without his damned shield. Hit Yukiko-senpai with ice right off the bat, and... No offense, Yosuke-senpai, but you ain't much for support compared to her. We were about to panic without her, but then behind us, Teddie, he was all flat, could hardly tell it was him, but he was arguing with his Shadow. Honestly, so much shit was happenin' that I didn't pay him much attention."
"You did get knocked into Chie by some wind," Yosuke pointed out.
Chie rubbed a bruise on her arm as if in memory. "Teddie denied his Shadow and it... Kubo's Shadow had decided to rebuild its shield, but Teddie's Shadow... it..."
'I have a gift,' Teddie's Shadow had told her while holding the fetus up in its monstrous claws.
"You don't... you don't have to tell me," Nanako said. "I think I know."
She stared off into the red and black sky, watched the vortex spin for a while, trying hard not to think about it. Teddie's desire to be helpful, culminating in his Shadow absolutely wrecking Kubo's... and then turning on the squad after that...
"Umm, speaking of Kubo," Chie said slowly.
Now what? Nanako could hardly lift her head to face the direction her friend was presently facing.
There he was. Fish-faced Mitsuo Kubo, hunched on the ground, somewhat battered, ha, there was blood on his face, good, he hadn't gotten out of this unscathed. But aside from her satisfaction about that, Nanako couldn't muster the energy even to glare at him.
His Shadow, wearing an identical orange T-shirt, stood meekly before him, as if it was reluctant to face the kid it originated from.
"I killed them all," Kubo said. "Why won't anyone believe me...?"
"Because you are nothing," the Shadow replied.
Kubo lurched to his feet. "Not just that bastard Morooka... That stupid announcer and the Konishi bastard, too! I killed all of them! It was me! ME!"
"It totally wasn't you," said Nanako from the ground. "You killed Morooka, yeah, but that's all you did, and all you'll ever do, you little shit."
"What do you know!?" Kubo growled. His fingers curled into fists, and he took on a fighting pose. "I did it all, and no one listened!"
"Kanji-kun," Naoto murmured. The detective was holding a rope. Nanako didn't know where she'd acquired it. "I may need your help in subduing him. We should secure him before he accepts his Shadow and earns a Persona."
Kubo's dark-rimmed eyes widened. "You!" he shouted, pointing a finger at Naoto. "It's your fault. You got all the attention, you bastard! And you didn't do anything!"
"I merely exposed your ridiculous and pathetic claims," Naoto said. "That you went so far for attention... You are a pitiable individual."
"I don't want pity!" he growled.
Kubo's Shadow shook its head. "You want nothing... You feel nothing..."
"Sh-shut up!"
Nanako took in her breath sharply. What would happen if he denied his Shadow a second time? If another monster formed, then...
"You are nothing," the Shadow whispered.
Kubo blinked at his Shadow. With a long sigh, the Shadow dissolved into black smoke that dissipated into the air. Kubo staggered forward as if pushed, and ended up collapsing to the rocky ground. He wasn't dead, because he began to chuckle to himself there. "Haha... I beat it..."
"Wh-what a creep," said Chie. "And he wanted to go out with Yukiko...? What are we going to do with him? We'll have to take him back with us, right?"
Leave him here, Nanako thought.
She sighed and immediately regretted the action as her body protested. Naoto glanced at her before turning to the task of tying the unresisting Kubo's hands behind his back. He didn't seem dangerous at the moment, but looks were deceiving, weren't they? He'd killed Morooka.
"We should find out how he managed to get in here," Yukiko said. "Yosuke-kun said he wasn't even on the Midnight Channel."
"That's right!" said Chie. "Kubo!" She moved in front of the boy and opened her mouth to speak, but Naoto behind him shook her head.
"That's unnecessary," the detective announced. "The culprit did not evade my systems. There should be footage of him in my apartment, and all should be according to plan."
"...Plan?" Chie repeated.
"Plan...?" Yukiko followed. Kanji shifted, and Yosuke's scowl deepened.
"Ah, yes," said Naoto hesitantly. She caught Nanako's eyes. Nanako nodded, and she continued. "The police had become desperate to pin the serial murders on Kubo, so with Nanako-san's help, I devised a plan to flush the true culprit out by being on TV and becoming a target for kidnapping myself."
"What the hell is wrong with you, Nanako!?" Chie screeched. "Was this that 'plan' you had to see through? And you didn't tell us? You made us watch the news... I know you're miserable over Mr. Morooka's death, so I was okay with you being distant with us, but this is kind of important!"
Nanako said nothing, because she didn't have any sort of excuse to diffuse this situation.
"C-come on, Yosuke," said Chie, turning to the floppy-haired boy. "Back me up! You can't believe this either, I know it!"
"Honestly, I don't expect any better from Nanako anymore," Yosuke replied. "But you," – he looked at Naoto – "I expected better from you. I don't care what Nanako promised you, but making yourself a target is unbelievably irresponsible... Did she even tell you how dangerous this place is?"
"She promised to rescue me should anything happen," Naoto said, regarding him coldly. "And she did. Though I do admit that accepting my Shadow was far more difficult than I had imagined, despite our preparations."
"Wait wait wait... You broke the rules?" Chie was staring at Nanako, open-mouthed. "You were so keen on making them! And you told someone about this place without telling us? We're supposed to be a team, aren't we? Did you even think about consulting us? Were you ever going to tell us?"
"In her defense," Naoto said, "I did not give Nanako-san much choice in the matter. I was quite suspicious of her involvement in the case once Kanji-kun was kidnapped, which pressed her into demonstrating her TV-entering powers for me."
"I was there when that happened," Kanji added. "He didn't give Senpai much choice, and I think she made the right call."
Naoto sighed. "Nanako-san offered to introduce me to you all, but I insisted only to work with her and Kanji-kun. I admit... I'm not the most sociable citizen. I understand that this world is a secret, and we may have started off on the wrong foot, Satonaka-san, but we have the same goal here, so I hope we can get along from here on out."
"That's not the issue!" Chie growled. "It's Nanako! Do you think we're not important or something? We could have helped you with your stupid plan, but you just told us not to worry about this guy being on the Midnight Channel. Why'd you leave us out, Nanako?"
"Honestly?" said Nanako. "Because I knew you'd react poorly, and I thought that together Shirogane-san and I were smart enough to pull this off without him ending up kidnapped at all. So I was wrong, okay? And now you guys know."
"Yeah, we know what you think of us," Chie spat. "You look down on us, like you did Teddie!"
Nanako's eyes widened, and Chie put a hand over her mouth in surprise at her own words.
"I, I didn't mean that," Chie amended.
Yukiko looked down, and Yosuke shuffled his feet, because the truth was that it wasn't just Nanako. They'd all kind of looked down on Teddie.
It killed the conversation dead, anyway, and after several long moments of silence, Yosuke glanced around at everyone. "Well, I think I speak for everyone when I say it's about time we get the hell out of here."
Kanji pulled Kubo to his feet and pushed him towards the nearest hole in the wall. Outside, the blocky trees that lined the path to this dungeon could be seen. Naoto followed him, and then Chie began to head after them with Yukiko.
Nanako laughed weakly. "Guys," she called out after them. "I can't fucking move."
Yosuke paused in his tracks, his concern for her battling with his exasperation with her. To his credit, it didn't take long for the concern to win out. He knelt by her side. "Really?" he asked.
"I sleep on rubble every day," she joked. "Yes, really. I got an item in my pocket that might help. Give it to Yukiko, will you? I think we could use one last group heal."
He hesitated for a moment before ruffling around the pleated folds of her long skirt, trying to find the pocket. He pulled out the item she'd received earlier from hitting one of the blocky trees. Soon Yukiko's beautiful red-clad Persona was refreshing them all. It wasn't as effective as Nanako had hoped: she still couldn't manage the strength to pull herself up. Wordlessly, Yosuke held out his hand and helped her onto her feet, but with a piteous whimper, she crashed into him and they both ended up on the ground.
"Nanako," he said, pulling himself into a sitting position.
"Yeah," she said with a sigh. "I guess I can't stand up."
Yosuke stared at her for a long moment. "You can lean on me," he finally suggested, "like Kanji did when we got him out of here."
It would hurt too much to shake her head, so she just told him, "No," right out.
She called for Kanji to come over, and after taking in the situation, the large boy gently picked her up and began to carry her in his arms. "Senpai," he said, looking down at her, worried.
She had to look so small and fragile to him in this position, cradled in his arms. "It's all right," she assured him. "Pretty sure I'm just bruised all over. Let's get on out of here."
At least the backlot wasn't far away. The fog there seemed thicker somehow, and for a moment, Nanako almost panicked, but Teddie's exit TV was still present. It was, perhaps, his legacy to them. They gathered around it like a beacon, everyone looking grim. She wouldn't begin to guess what they were thinking.
Yosuke volunteered to go out first and check that no one was around in the electronics section. Their escape from the TV World would have to be carefully orchestrated. They couldn't be caught by anyone in their current condition. It would raise too many unanswerable questions.
Several minutes of suspenseful silence passed before they finally heard Yosuke's all-clear from the other side of the exit TV. It took some maneuvering for Kanji to fit Nanako through, but he managed it, and then they could hear the welcome (for once) sound of Junes's theme music.
"It's still early enough in the morning," Yosuke remarked in a low voice, "so there aren't too many employees around yet. We should be careful, though... huh?"
He trailed off because the wail of sirens in the distance began to grow louder. He told everyone to stay there and scampered down towards the stairs.
"Oh, shit," said Kanji. His body tensed; Nanako could feel it in the way he shifted her in his arms. He looked around, and then walked over to a display shelf holding various electronic cables and proceeded to stand behind it. He hunched down as if he was trying to hide, difficult to do since he was so tall.
"What? What's going on?" Nanako asked him.
"You didn't hear that?" he whispered. "Someone shouted 'finally' after hearing the sirens. Seems we ain't alone in here... There're some employees in the next department over, or somethin'."
"I only heard the sirens," she admitted. Her ear... she still couldn't hear out of it.
"Seems like someone called the damned cops before we got out of there," Kanji went on. "Uh, no offense, detective."
"None taken," said Naoto, who had joined them behind the display. "Although I'm working with the police, I am not a part of the association. And it's an unfortunate situation we're in... The police will want an explanation, and I don't see an easy one." She rubbed her temple. It was possible that she was still feeling a headache from that powerful spell she'd pulled off earlier. It would interfere with her ability to think quickly.
Yosuke ran up to them, almost out of breath. "You guys," he panted. "Do you remember how you got in here? The path you took." Yukiko nodded, so he went on quickly. "Go out that way, all of you. Leave Kubo here with me. I've got a plan."
"I'll remain here as well, then," Naoto began, but Yosuke was shaking his head.
"No, there's no time," he said. "Go, I need you all out of here. The police are being let in through the front entrance, so you guys gotta use the side door now."
Chie took a few steps in the direction that led to the stairs, then glanced back at everyone. Nanako nodded, and then clutched at Kanji's shirt for support as he ran after the others down to the staff entrance, hoping beyond hope that no one had decided to go there in the intervening time. They were in luck—apparently the staff were at the front entrance, opening the store up for the police.
It was lightly drizzling outside, but they hardly acknowledged the rain. They didn't slow until they were a few blocks away from Junes, where they took a minute or two to catch their breaths.
"N-now what?" Chie muttered.
"Naoto," said Kanji. "You can double back to Junes. I know you wanna be there to see what happens with that Kubo dude."
"Perhaps. But first, Nanako-san needs to go to the hospital," Naoto replied. "Amagi-san should get her arm looked at as well. As for an explanation for these injuries..."
"I fell off the bridge," Nanako said, "and Kanji-kun found me." Kanji looked down at her in his arms, doubt apparent on his face. "It'll work, trust me." She raised her hand despite the pain to brush her fingers against his cheek in a reassuring way.
Chie and Yukiko exchanged glances. "Well," Chie said. "I could say I was training with Yukiko and she got hurt. It's, umm, happened before."
"Perfect," said Nanako, closing her eyes. God, she was exhausted. But poor Kanji had it worse. His arms had to be aching from holding her for so long.
Closing her eyes had been a mistake, however, because her consciousness faded even as she fought to keep it.
[AN: I'm not sure how to say this, but updates are gonna slow down from here on out. I've been writing this almost nonstop for several months, and I need a break. I have stuff written up through approximately chapter 40, but I'd like to have the entire 'summer break' arc completed before I start posting any more of it. Right now it's all a bit disorganized and unpolished, and I simply need more time to pull it all together to make it the best it can be. The next chapter will probably be out sometime next month.
With that said, if you have any concerns or complaints or suggestions or anything you want me to address in future chapters, now would be a very good time for you to speak up!
Notes to my beloved reviewers:
Floodtalon - there won't be a replacement Star link, so... yeah...
Dusk Clark - I promise that Rise is in this story. ... EVENTUALLY!
Atlas J - think of 'federal offense' as a localization quirk. Most Westerners wouldn't know the difference and I think would be put off by a different phrase being used there instead.
Next Chapter: Sterilized]