This story is a work of fiction. Any similarities to events or persons living or dead in your world is purely coincidental.
5/24 Friday
After School
MN: I must say, I've missed this.
AS: rly?
AS: I thought all adults hated instant messaging and texting and interwebs
MS: be nice, Ai-chan.
MN: To clarify, I miss being able to communicate with my friends this way often as we did.
MN: It was as though the Phantom Thieves could meet anytime we wished, even if we were all scattered and occupied with other things.
AS: ...
AS: ru sure that's okay?
MN: It was never a problem then, though your concern is perfectly understandable.
AS: sry, but I don't feel completely safe talking about that here. Never know who might be listening.
MN: A friend of mine gave us a 'special' app to prevent someone from ever hacking my phone. I'll ask her to send it to you later.
MS: Thank you.
MN: no trouble. more importantly, have u decided on how you're going to deal with the current situation?
AS: we have a chance. have to go tonight though.
MN: Good luck, and be careful. I've never encountered anything of that nature before.
The sun dawned on a brand new day.
Sheltering behind a large rock outcropping as though the sunlight itself were eavesdropping on them- and knowing the nature of this Land it very well could have been- Aiko Tsuruga stared into the waters of the ravine near Freedom city until she saw the spiral near the bottom start to spin.
"It's harder to see than I thought", she remarked as the spiral finally graduated into the spinning whirlpool that Mira had described to them earlier. For while, she'd feared that the 'Breach' phenomenon Pelagio mentioned had been a one-time occurrence, but here it was again.
And if I'd been awake for it, I would have been truly desperate to go in there.
Back in her Dancer outfit, Mira knelt down and nodded at the sight. "I didn't see it either at first. All I could think of then was washing all that awful poison off of you and Guardian. Then, the ravine started turning into a whirlpool, and..."
Trailing off, she shook her head, the golden eye mask failing to hide her anxiety as she folded her arms around herself protectively. "Well, for a while I thought we were dead, that I'd doomed us all."
"Far from it", Pelagio commented, returning from his patrol of the strange sepia-colored western town named 'Freedom City'. "Instead, you saved us from a painful demise. You alone you were able use your agility to avoid that serpent's vile poison and bring us to safety. A fact that I shall not soon forget, Dancer."
"Thanks, Guardian", Mira nodded back and smiling appreciatively. "Any luck?"
"Unfortunately, no", their armored friend admitted. If he felt any discomfort from the sun's heat baking his suit, he would never show it. "I have checked around, and the man named 'George' is not currently present in the town. Some of the cognitions here said that they saw him riding off to Oppressor's Gulch, though I would not put much faith in the tales of such-"
"That's fine, Guardian", Aiko cut him off. Normally she'd be fine putting up with Pelagio's tendency to be more verbose than usual, but something about their third visit to Julian's Land made her feel itchy, like they were being watched.
She supposed that had everything to do with the fact that while Pelagio had reported that the man who had identified himself as Ryuken Samesaji had taken Julian's Shadow in his car to the Karma nightclub in the city the day before, they had no idea how long he would remain there. There were too many blanks about the Karma club for her liking, too many things they didn't know for her to feel completely safe yet. All they really knew was that Karma's managers clearly knew about Shadows and the world they came from.
At the same time, they couldn't pass up a chance like this either. The Karma club could wait, but Julian couldn't. Every day his Shadow walked freely in the human world presented a new risk, a new chance for him to hurt someone.
Setting her hat tightly on her head and hoping it wouldn't fall off, Aiko beckoned to her team. "Well, surf's up. Ready to go?"
Mira withdrew a pace though, staring into the spiral of water. "Are you sure about this, Saber? I still think it makes more sense for us to steal more horses and ride the way we went last time."
Still wanting to hurry, her first instinct was to order that they enter the Breach quickly, but then clamped down on that impulse. Come on now. You're not principal Yumika. You can stop to explain your reasons to the people you trust.
"I think this is the better option", she said patiently. "Sure, we'll have to walk once we get to the other side of the Breach, but we can still follow the train tracks. Also, Guardian said that they've upped the guards in the town. If we try taking a horse again, we might get caught and have to fight more Shadows before we even reach the gulch. This way is both faster and safer."
"Assuming there isn't much more to go past the Breach before we reach it", Mira argued. "I know this sounds crazy coming from me, but I'd rather fight a few Shadows than walk for hours through a desert."
"We'll be okay", Aiko promised her. "I don't think that snake attacking us when it did was just a coincidence. I think... That it was trying to keep us away from something. Some place they don't want us to visit."
Giving up and looking relieved to be able to do so, Mira nodded. "Alright, I understand. You are the Kiongozi. Lead the way, and we will follow."
Wading into the small pool felt a bit like coming home. All the previous outrage at Koashimizu's pool being unfinished and its beaches forbidden for safety laws were all washed away with the cool embrace of the water. The pull of the whirlpool was felt immediately and would have been alarming if her goal hadn't been to go into it.
Only once she was in the exact center of the spiral did it exert full force to pull her under. Alongside the expected pressure sensations, there was a brief jolt like a tiny underwater quake, and then she was raising her head back out of a completely different pool in the same Land, her hat sopping wet but still attached.
"Nice", she remarked once the others had followed her out. "About as painless as we could ask for. Did you get through okay, Guardian?" She was always acutely aware that Pelagio's heavy armor and broadsword limited his movement compared to the two girls.
"Hmph. It was a simple matter", he assured her once they were all out of the water. "As you have no doubt seen, I'm quite used to fighting Shadows like this, which demands mobility. Movement in water is no great task, though I do appreciate your concern, captain."
"Just don't transform by accident", she joked back. "Speaking of, that Leviathan Shadow who went after us on the way here seemed like it was in a rush. Any idea why?"
"Perhaps it was fleeing another, larger one", Pelagio offered uncertainly. "That is the ecosystem of Shadows, at least with the wild ones and the Leviathans. One Shadow devours another and grows larger and stronger. Fortunately for us, the strongest ones always gather around that dreadnaught vessel I mentioned to you before."
"A dreadnaught?", Mira asked in confusion.
"Another Land", Aiko explained, spreading her arms wide to indicate massive size. "A huge moving ship, way bigger than Guardian's transformation. Good thing we don't have to go there. Even if we could, the ruler of that place has been there for years. We'd never get them out."
"Ah."
Sure enough, the train tracks were still there, twin lines of gleaming steel stretching to either end of the horizon without any hint of their earlier warping. Regardless, the team kept their ears open for any hint of a train approaching. As Mira had predicted, the walk was hot, long, and boring, but after the disaster of their previous visit they had brought water bottles and other supplies for the journey.
Aiko figured it couldn't have been more than half an hour before they saw a cluster of rock spires in the distance that matched the description the locals had given to Pelagio.
"That's it then", she pointed ahead, her voice hoarse but far from defeated. "Oppressor's Gulch."
"And hopefully, the lead to Rosea-kun that we're looking for", Mira commented, already bracing herself for a climb up a rock face. Luckily, after an initial set of unreliable-looking stone steps, the path flattened out into a meandering trail that took them through the outer perimeter of rock and into the valley proper.
It was from there that the real structure could be seen. The canyon walls spread off into the distance in both ways, the center formed by a set of graduating cliffs meeting in a dusty-looking river bed. By kneeling and squinting down into that dirty water, she could just barely make out the sign of a spiral.
"That's handy", she noted with more enthusiasm. "We can book it if things get too intense here, and come back fast. Hopefully, we won't have to. We've taken way too long already."
"Don't rush it", Mira warned her from behind. "We're prepared, but we still have to be careful. We won't do Rosea-kun any good if we're dead."
"He's not my boyf-" Rising, she caught herself, realizing almost too late the words Mira had chosen to mask the true meaning of her concern with infliction. Palming her hat, she laughed. Sensitive, are we? No surprise after what happened. "Trust me, I won't be holding anything back on him. I didn't with your Shadow, did I?"
"No", Mira agreed shyly. "To be honest, I was kind of scared of you during that fight. You and Guardian, together... but not as scared as I was of her."
"Shadows are scary", their leader pointed out simply, already scanning the valley for any sign of the being under discussion. "The first time that I saw one up close, I cried, I was so scared. I could watch a thousand horror movies- and please remember, I can't stand horror movies- and it still wouldn't prepare me for what they're really like."
"So... I guess that means we can count you out when we let Guardian watch the Alien movies?"
"I'll go for a walk. Preferably not on the beach."
They both burst into laughter then. Laughter that Aiko was pleased to notice had a lot less anxiety in it than usual. Whatever may come, we're prepared for it. We have to be. Nijima-san worked hard to give us this chance. We can't waste it. No matter what.
Distracted by these considerations, she didn't spot the source of a sudden focused impact striking her head until Pelagio pulled her aside. Quickly recovering from the hit, she stared across the massive gap in the valley in time to spot, of all things, a soccer ball falling down into the water below. "What the hell...?"
Gesturing ahead with a steel gauntlet, Pelagio carefully paced forward until another sphere struck his shield at high velocity and went the same way. Two more black and white projectiles smashed into him before he stepped back, allowing them to see the source of the trouble.
The canyon running through the heart of the gulch had been lined with massive rock spires, but until now she hadn't looked closely enough to notice that several of them also bore 'faces', three meter wide protrusions that puckered up into chubby cheeks and puckered lips. Each face was exactly the same; a near likeness of the chubby coach Kurikado, complete with the cap he always wore to practice sessions.
Not believing what she was seeing at first, Aiko grabbed a nearby pebble and threw it ahead of them. A single soccer ball flew out of the first statue's mouth, fast but not enough to catch the pebble. Instead it merely struck the wall before following the others down.
"Oh my gawd. You have got to be joking."
"Sir Rosea's Shadow is indeed known to occasionally make jokes, Saber", Pelagio acknowledged stoically. "But they are always mean-spirited jokes, t'would seem."
"Good one." Standing back up, she regarded the new obstacle carefully. "Any ideas on how we can get past that without getting pelted?"
"Hm. We could just run", Mira suggested, studying the craftsmanship of the statues with interest. "It's not like it's that fast. Maybe we might get hit once on the way through, but that's it. Not so bad, really."
Aiko turned her gaze downward instead, trying to piece together the various bridges of both rock and wood spanning the chasm, rails running across the latter as they emerged from various mine shafts. Looks like a big interconnected system, so we can definitely use those... but I think the longer we stay higher up, the better.
"Sounds like fun", she decided at last. "Here goes..."
By sprinting with all her might, she was able to clear the statue's range without being hit. Mira repeated the task with greater ease, while the less mobile Pelagio decided to merely block the shots with his shield.
Deciding not to say anything more about the nature of that particular obstacle, the group rounded a mesa and into a cavern barred by a more traditional one. Three men in cowboy hats and cloaks stood guard over the entrance, their badges and posturing making it obvious that they were Shadows.
Sensing Mira's apprehension after their previous encounters, Aiko stepped forward and made sure to put her savage grin at an angle where her friend could see it. "Oh good. Volunteers."
"Volunteers, captain?", Pelagio asked over the revolting noise of the Shadows screaming and transforming, not even bothering with their guns this time. One of the enemy bore the familiar shape of the voracious green-skinned ghouls they had fought in the saloon and elsewhere, but the other two were new sights.
The leftmost one took the form of a long-hooded phantom, riding atop a partly transparent horse, dark cloak flapping in the breeze as it raised a wicked-looking sword.
The last one looked to be compensating for its companion's drab lack of color, a chaotic mishmash of pink, green, red, yellow and blue adorning every inch of a thin, spindly body. The closest thing it had to a face was a pair of squiggly lines running along its head, red beneath yellow.
"Yes", she confirmed, not stopping her walk forward even as Pelagio become worried to the point that she could sense it. He was moving in as well now, but too late to stop her from making the first move, reaching up towards her hat to tilt its brim so it revealed her dangerous-looking eyes to the enemy. "Because equipment and supplies aren't the only things that we picked up for this trip. Come on... Lorelei!"
There was a burst of energy surpassing any of her previous mask, and then the Persona appeared in the air before them. A floating wraith woman with a wild mane of ghostly green hair and loose blue robes, invisible wind currents seemingly keeping her aloft by blowing into the robes. Eyes gleaming malicious yellow and red, the new arrival bore a harp with a thin, bone-white frame, and struck its chords even as the hooded rider began to howl and charge.
"Mazan!"
Just as they had with the mighty serpent days before, the green wind currents struck with a force rarely seen in the real world, tearing into all three Shadows and leaving only the slender rainbow creature unaffected. The blast had deflected the rider's momentum enough for her to dodge, and then Pelagio's broadsword tore into it, nearly separating rider and mount in one clean slice.
The rainbow creature spun its gangly limbs around ragdoll-style then, obviously focusing for some kind of spell, but Aiko merely changed targets and focused her mind once more. "Oh no you don't... Makajam!"
A bracketed ring of yellow light descended, locking itself around the enemy's slim form until its wild gyrations ended. Even without a face of any kind, it was easy for the team to sense the enemy's surprise that nothing had happened through its body language, though it only paused a moment before shrugging and joining the fight in a more direct fashion.
Staring at this display, Mira almost forgot to summon her own Persona, Oya. "How did you...?"
"Sealed its magic", Aiko explained briskly. "Watch out!"
The ghoul had now released its own attack, the mouth spray of blinding fog from the previous fight, this time too close up to evade. However, another cast of Mazan cleared the foul-smelling gas away, and prompted Mira to add her Mazio spell to the mix, the combination of lightning and wind washing over all three foes equally in a typhoon of destruction. When another slash from Pelagio failed to topple the rider, he shifted to a defensive plan, letting the thing chase him back along the mountain trail the way they had come.
"Lilim!", Aiko called, shifting back into an older mask while dodging the third Shadow's drill-like limbs. "If you won't zap, then maybe you'll burn... Agi!"
The fire she conjured seemed more effective, if not enough to destroy the enemy entirely. It looked ready to get back up and charge when four darts from Mira's gun blew it back even further, leaving it open to a fatal shock from the Zio spell. Sensing the shift in the battle's momentum, the ghoul actually fled deeper into the mine shaft, shrieking wordless outrage as it went.
"Well done, Saber!", Mira complimented her cheerily, her Persona healing what little wounds they had received in the fight without even being prompted. "I don't remember you recruiting those ones."
"That's because I didn't", their leader explained simply. "No time to explain right now. Honestly, I kind of wanted to make more of an impression with that one. Maybe beat 'em all at once without any help like the cartoon heroes do."
"Ah. Well, maybe next time we'll let you solo it", Mira giggled, then hushed herself as a new voice overtook her. It seemed to roll out of the cavern's darkness like the same blasts of wind Aiko had conjured, loud enough to drown out anything they tried to say, yet sounding so bitter and mournful that it was a long period before either of them recognized the voice as belonging to Julian Rosea.
"I hate this place. Everyone's the same. Stupid language! Why can't we go live in grandpa's home country?"
"Whoa", Aiko said after they were sure it was done. "That's new. Think we're getting close?"
Pelagio returned to them then, bearing no injuries and an uncharacteristic bounce in his step. "We will not have to worry about that Shadow any longer", he answered when asked. "He will be quite a while climbing up out of the valley, I am certain."
"Called it", Aiko remarked while peering deeper into the cavern. Luckily, the way ahead was dimly lit by a number of oil lamps mounted on a series of hooks along the walls. "We should try and fight the Shadows outside as much as we can. Chuck them off the cliffs, and I don't think they'll come back."
The Shadows infesting the gulch didn't seem to want to play along with that strategy. While occasionally a foolish one would try attacking them outside, the majority were content to wait within the caves and coal mine shafts in ambush positions, always attacking in varied groups. Several Mezukis made a return appearance, but far more threatening were the copies of the jailer Shadow from their first visit, which Aiko was always careful to burn down or seal the magic of first, preventing the use of Mudo.
Not that their brief sojourns outside were entirely hassle-free either. Several more statues of coach Kurikado blocked the way with endless streams of high-velocity soccer balls, and it wasn't difficult for any of the group to deduce that each one was spewing them at a faster rate than the last, the projectiles both more damaging and harder to run past.
By the time they reached the fourth such statue, Pelagio tested it with another rock and determined that this statue's rate of fire was not only impossible for even Mira to avoid, but would quickly cause them just as much harm as any Shadow's claws.
"I could use Praesi", he offered hopefully. "That would block the impacts long enough for us to make it through."
"Maybe", their leader considered, staring ahead to try and determine how far long the length of the gulch they really were. "But I can see several more of those ahead. You'd have to do that for every one of them. I don't know about you Guardian, but I'm starting to get tired out, and I know using that spell takes a lot out of you. Don't try and convince me it doesn't. We need to conserve."
Mira tried the more direct approach, unleashing more lightning against the frozen stone face, followed by shots from her gun, but was disappointed when it showed no sign of damage. "Time to go down, then?"
The same wailing voice broke upon them then, billowing out from the mine shaft they had just exited as a wash of furious clashing noise.
"I'm half and half. I'm a hafu. That means I'm special. But no one respects me. They just want me to be like everyone else. Appreciate me! Look at me! I'm special! I have skills! I'm cool! Why won't anyone tell me that?! Tell me I'm cool! TELL ME!"
Once more, no one was quite sure what to say about it. More demanding of their attention was the sounds of a fight somewhere beneath them. Peering down at a wide shelf of sun-coated rock, Aiko could see the bearded form of 'old man George' dressed up in a rumpled black vest and pants, and more importantly, surrounded by several Shadows in their human forms. While they didn't seem quite as aggressive towards him as they were towards her team, George didn't seem very happy about the situation either.
"Yep. Definitely time to go down", she agreed, leading the others into a short set of hops down onto each ledge until they were close enough to strike.
"Come on, grandpa", a tall Shadow who seemed to be the boss of this pack was ordering. "You don't belong here with the oppressors. Time for you to go back to Freedom city where it's safe."
"I'll go when I see my grandson, not before!", George replied angrily, about to push back the Shadow who was bringing handcuffs to him until he thought better of it. "Get those stinking things away, y'polecat! I want to see my grandson! I have to talk with him!"
"The sheriff is busy huntin' outlaws. He'll see you when he's good an- AGH!"
Aiko knew the bullet she sent crashing through the Shadow's broad shoulder wouldn't kill it, but it threw the others off enough that the surprise attack took down several of the weaker ones before they could transform and get organized. The leader took on a strange new form; a fanged skeleton with a menacing looking skull and jaw, bizarrely clad in a butler's outfit and carrying a large, three-headed candelabra, its triangle of flames already roaring with otherworldly power.
"Three guesses what he's going to be doing", she cracked as they hit the ground below, shifting back into the more fire-resistant Lilim Persona. Instead of her own fire however, she directed a sleeping Dormina spell towards the other Shadows, knocking them out so they could be dealt with at a later time.
"Perhaps after this?", Pelagio offered. Mindful of their leader's need for them to conserve strength, he did not use another Praesi spell to guard himself against the butler skeleton's powerful flames, instead employing the less-taxing Rakukaja, the defensive enhancement blunting the pain instead of blocking it out completely. The lesser Shadows became his main target as well, the ones who weren't sleeping struck down by sword and nuclear detonations.
Seeing Mira moving to protect George, Aiko turned her attention back to the boss Shadow, once again briefly calling upon Lorelei's power to neutralize the greatest threat. "Okay, that's enough burninating out of you... Makajam!"
The yellow ring descended, stretching to fit the enemy's larger form... and suddenly shattered into pieces. "You idjit!", the horrendous animal skull crowed, still carrying the common accent of the Land. "My fire is too strong to be sealed! Taste my flames of burnin' justice! Maragi!"
The blaze blasted up out of the rock at all three of them, turning sand into glass and making Mira and Pelagio buckle... but the creature looked stunned when Aiko walked calmly through the flames, her Lilim Persona guarding against it. "You little shits don't know when to quit... Tarunda!"
The curse only affected her this time, but Aiko swore she could actually feel the newfound weakness in her blade without needing to testing its edge out on the leader and see how just little damage it would do. Instead, she brought her pistol out, its slower shots still powerful enough to pose a threat from a distance. "Well? Come and get me, big guy!"
Drawn in by her taunting, the skeletal Shadow charged. Instead of fire, razor-sharp bone claws lashed out, quick enough to leave numerous scratches. They bled a familiar garish toxic purple even as she devoted her full attention to dodging. "Hurry up and clean their clocks, y'lazy dirtbags!", the Shadow screamed at its allies during the exchange, even managing to wake a few of them up. "Gotta do everything myself 'round here..."
"Maybe that's because you're not a great leader?", Aiko continue to tease casually as they dodged and weaved around, her sword still serving enough to block a few swings. "Even if I'm the strongest one on my team, I don't want Guardian and Dancer only having confidence in me alone. I need them to believe in their own power, too!"
"Idjit!", the skeleton repeated, scornfully raising his blazing candle. "I got my strength! That's all we need! Everybody else jus' needs to shut their damn yaps an' do what I tell 'em!"-
"Sorry... They're going to have problems doing that now."
Seeing Aiko suddenly dodge back away from his swipes, the Shadow paused, empty eye sockets flickering up to meet the impassive eyes of a Kurikado statue face. "Huh? What the hell are you- aw, DAGNABIT!"
The resulting assault of soccer balls went on far longer than any they had seen before. Dozens of the projectiles slammed into the Shadow over and over again, battering down its guard and pulverizing bone. They did not bounce off, allowing Aiko to see that these particular balls weren't actually made of vulcanized rubber as they would be in reality, but some kind of material that was far heavier.
After over a dozen shots, the creature's guard was finally broken and it fell off the rock ledge, frantically howling curses all the way down until hitting the water, its three flames extinguished.
The rest of the fight was merely a cleanup after that. Awe at seeing the powers of their Personas on display gradually fading, George regarded them with grateful eyes, taking his pipe back out to light it before them. "Hey there. Thanks for the save, ladies. Much obliged."
"As if we'd just let a friend get locked up by those jerks", Aiko pointed out, ignoring how strange it felt to refer to a cognition as a 'friend'. "Not that we're complaining, but... why'd you come all the way out here? We searched for you in the town."
Blinking through the dust the fight had kicked up, George coughed. "Sorry 'bout that. I got a mite worried 'bout the sheriff. He's my grandson, see, and he never stays out this long, even when he's huntin' for outlaws. Also, his top deputy's done gone disappeared on us."
The group exchanged a knowing look. "We'll be glad to help you find him, Mr. Rosea", Mira offered.
"Mighty fine of ya", he puffed. "I tell ya, the outlaws here are a nasty bunch, and now the sheriff's deputy wants to bring me in too? Horsehit."
That brought Mira up short, looking around at the lingering ashes of the Shadow's they had defeated. "Wait... huh? These are the sheriff's men. You're saying there are outlaws here too that attacked you?"
"'Course", George shrugged as if it were obvious. "This here's Oppressor's Gulch, where all the outlaws on the run for threatenin' the Sheriff's freedom head to and try to escape. The Sheriff's here, huntin' em down, and so are his men."
"Men of the law, and criminals", Pelagio suggested after a pause as they all tried to understand. "Both of them wearing the same masks of flesh, at war with each other without end."
Aiko sniffed. "All to fulfill a fantasy." It was hardly the most alarming thing they'd discovered in this Land, but it was alarming all the same. "You did say that most of the Shadows here like to fight. Even if they fight each-"
The last word became an agonized bark and she knelt, suddenly numb, remembering too late about the purple scratches the butler Shadow had left behind. "Poison", Mira muttered, without the dread that had choked her words before. "Guardian, if you would..."
Not that her amazement was dulled at all by the sight. The idea that the medicine that Pelagio produced- the weak, over-the-counter antivenom that she and Aiko had purchased at a simple street corner pharmacy mere days ago in preparation for this- could cure even this kind of virulent poison was something that would take some getting used to.
Yet, the proof lay before her eyes. The instant the medicine was applied to the scrapes, the purple began to shrink inwards on itself before fading entirely, leaving behind nothing but a tingling feeling and unblemished, new-looking skin. Just the same as it had been in the handful of other times they had needed to apply it after one of the poisonous Shadows got too close. The skeleton butler Shadow, it seemed, had been another one of those.
"Still stings a bit", Aiko commented, warily reaching over to test her freshly-cured skin. "But a million times better than what happened last time we got poisoned."
"Human cognition is very strange", Pelagio acknowledged, grateful to have averted the injury before it could become serious. "Because the majority of humans believe that this medicine will work to cure the body of any type of venom, it shall indeed do so in this world as well."
Aiko chuckled lightly, rotating her afflicted arm to confirm its use, ignoring the stinging. "Right. Just like the anti-sleep stuff we bought restores energy. We could probably even use coffee for that. I've never had coffee though."
"I have", Mira looked worried. Not about the coffee, but certain symptoms associated with its overuse. "I know that this world's rules are different, but try not to use the anti-sleep stuff too much, okay? You're only supposed to take so much each night. If nothing else, we might have some trouble getting to sleep tonight."
"Oh. Business as usual then", Aiko replied briskly, pulling herself back up again. "At least for me. You seem to be sleeping alright these days."
Mira regarded her with sympathy. "Somehow, I'm not surprised. Don't worry, Saber. We should be able to banish your nightmares today."
The trials ahead were indeed worthy of guest spots in any human's nightmares, though Aiko didn't think any of them would be able to supplant Julian's Shadow for the number one spot there. Massive shrieking bats swooped down from the cavern ceilings, fangs ready to sink into flesh, only to be blasted apart by the team's guns. Great bull-headed creatures, their bodies rippling with light blue muscle, proved tougher. They struck hard with pole-mounted axes, just as resilient as Mezuki until they were struck by ice.
Smaller but most dangerous were the ebon-scaled cobras, false eyes upon their flaring hoods, hissing and rattling as they slithered out of the darkness of the caves, carrying the threat of further poison in their curved fangs.
"Yet you didn't hesitate at all", Aiko remarked as they left the most recent mine shaft behind, emerging onto a dusty mesa above the ravine. "Have you seen those at home, Dancer?"
"A few times", Mira admitted shyly. "The ones near my village aren't venomous at all, but they're aggressive. Bad tempered. And these ones weren't as bad as that big one from before."
"Indeed", Pelagio agreed with a forced note of enthusiasm, still trying to hide that having to use so many spells and fight so many Shadows was beginning to strain him, just as it was the others as they charged through battle after battle. "Fortunately, our enemy seems to only possess one Shadow of that type, and only one of that skeletal atrocity which Saber dispatched earlier."
Aiko hushed him swiftly. "Don't give them any ideas now, Guardian."
They all made sure to ignore the deranged howling that followed them out of the cave like a stiff wind: "Society didn't reject me. I rejected society!"
George shared in their exultation, once being so surprised by the sight of one of Aiko's Personas emerging that he dropped the pipe from his mouth. "Easy to tell that you folks are from some crazy place far away from here. Your shootin's pretty good too, if not quite as good as the sheriff or his deputy."
"Hey, I appreciate the praise, old man", a new voice called down to them from above, drawing four heads to crane around and stare up. "The key is constant practice."
Eight eyes beheld the sight on the ridge running along the top of the cave entrance, connecting to a narrow mountain pass. The speaker sat atop a midnight-black steed, twin revolvers in the holsters at his sides, a gleaming golden star on his vest and a grainy beige hat atop his head. It tilted down so that it masked his eyes from the sun and onlookers just as effectively as Aiko's wider-brimmed captain hat obscured hers.
Despite this, everyone knew who they were looking at. Two prisoners were securely roped up behind a bar tied onto the horse, and to her horror, Aiko also recognized the frightened faces of Akusa and Hirata Rosea, both clad in unkempt rags and smeared with dirt.
"It's been a long time", Aiko found her voice at last, blaming the dust and sun more than the shock. "Sheriff Julian."
5/24 Friday
Afternoon
The Shadow looked less jubilant than he had on the previous night as Ryuken Samesaji led the way into the main entrance of the Karma nightclub. A change that Ryuken suspected had everything to do with the fact that they were doing it in the afternoon instead of the night.
The club's main room stretched out for a long way past the foyer and entrance, thin screen walls acting to divide it into three separate 'wings', each one topped off with a jeweled chandelier. The center wing was the main attraction; there, the floor dropped away after several meters of black and white linoleum tiles to reveal a 'pit' only accessible by wrought-iron staircases at either end. The pit contained the main stage-slash-dance floor with all the tables set up on the main floor, but when the show started it could be raised up several meters above it, allowing all the guests to get a good look.
The main hall stretched off further beyond the pit where the dividing walls stopped past the bar area, fanning out into an atrium that managed to look much larger than it truly was from the further away due to some kind of optical illusion. Architecture wasn't Ryuken's forte. It was very the least of what made the club special to him.
While they wouldn't be open for another few hours, several of their staff were already hard at work preparing tables and meals, as well as tonight's main show... some of his performers trying out for the first time. He doubted that the place would be completely packed- in a city the size of Tosashimizu that was difficult even if you let younger people in- but they would certainly get the money they needed to continue their current operations, and that was really all that was needed.
One of the senior staff politely greeted them at the coat check just outside the main hall. Like all the other staff present, she wore a simple white eye mask with one-way lenses obscuring sight of her eyes, along with the standard black and white dinner jacket and shirt combination, well-pressed pants stretching down to dark heeled shoes. What made her stand out from the others besides having longer and lighter-colored hair than most was the way that she spoke to him, immense respect evident in her tone as she bowed: "Ah. Welcome back, Prince Taurus. I have the item you requested last night."
Smiling back, he made a simple rolling gesture with his hand that the staff had learned was his non-verbal shorthand for an authorization to proceed. "Thank you very much, Natuya-san. We have some business to conclude before the show starts, and I'd hate for our guest to miss the beauty of our club a second time."
Natuya quickly brought them the items that were needed before they could step through the second door into the grand hall. The mask she brought to Ryuken was familiar and always would be to him; a more extensive face covering that protruded outwards into a firm snout and extended down to his nose. It bore the closest resemblance to a black-furred bull with the curving, spiraled white horns running up and around the sides of the mask, a pair of angry-looking eye frames surrounding the same one-way lenses as the others had.
The mask she provided for their 'special guest' was less detailed, as to be expected since it had only been created in one night by their costuming department. It had merely been a slight visual modification of a staffer's mask, but it was colored a scarlet orange and stylized so that several pieces of it trailed backwards away from the top half of the face at random angles, suggesting it to be a mask of fire. Still, it seemed to be enough to satisfy the Shadow's annoyingly insistent need to be unique and stand apart from the standard rank and file.
"I still don't get why we need them", he complained as they stepped out into the grand hall's central wing. "Why do you make all your people wear these dorky masks anyway?"
"We have our reasons", Ryuken said, not completely sure just how much he wanted to reveal to a being that he wasn't sure was going to become an ally or an enemy yet. From what he'd seen so far, this Shadow was utterly typical of its type. It's only allegiance was to itself and its warped personal obsessions, and this one was particularly adamant about maintaining independence. "Firstly, to show our respect and honor to Lady Scorpio, our proprietor and hostess."
The Shadow scoffed aloud as they walked past the main pit. "And that's the other stupid thing about this place. I hate to agree with that ice lady, but come on. Lady Scorpio? And you're 'Prince Taurus'? Code names? More like code lames."
The careless words earned him an angry glower from one of the nearby staff, but either he didn't notice or care. Ryuken merely chuckled mirthfully to defuse the tension, a warm, easygoing noise that he'd practiced and refined until it could deflect the suspicions of nearly any young woman.
"Mm. I suppose it must feel very strange for a Shadow such as yourself for us to play a game like this. Try to understand. Before joining this club, we spent many years of our lives in the same dull, repetitive toil as other humans. For me at least, it's fun to be able to be someone else for a while."
Pointing a finger over to the right, he indicated another female server who was giving him a nod of the same respect Nayuta held for him. "Do you see that? No one outside of this nightclub respects Ryuken Samesaji much. But in here? Prince Taurus is the third most powerful and important person in the secluded world called 'Karma Club'."
"...We all want respect, I guess", the Shadow agreed grudgingly. "And I gotta say, you do have the looks of a prince down pat. In we go?"
He referred to the door they had come to at the end of the 'optical illusion' part of the grand hallway. While composed of the same elegant wood carving as the rest of the doors, it was also marked with a golden spiral shape identical to Ryuken's earring. Passing through the doorway and a thicker wall of exposed brick, the two proceeded through another corridor and a wrought iron staircase before reaching their destination.
"This place used to be very different before Lady Scorpio took it over", Ryuken explained to the Shadow's bored-looking face. "But there's still a few architectural quirks left over from the original owners here and there. Me, I like a building with some character to it."
His guest grunted, saying nothing more as they continued on through the next area to the last door, another one marked with a spiral.
The new room was comparatively large for one that had once been designated as a fitting room, and the mirrors lining the walls top to bottom made it seem larger still, as well as a headache to stare anywhere except the back wall for any period of time. That one was a bookshelf and a bank of live video screens with a single chair, though others of the same type lay positioned along the elegant red carpeting.
The single figure in that chair had risen to meet them before they had even entered her quarters, regarding them with the same inscrutability as always. Ryuken had known Lady Scorpio for many years, and to this day she remained the biggest mystery of the club to him. She was always clad in a classical noblewoman's gown and corset, the thin cloth and leather covering every part of her body except her slender, pale hands that extruded from the hanging sleeves like ravens.
Her mask was even more distinctive, a smooth-cheeked geisha design covering the entire face all the way back to the front lobes of her ears. Just like the room, it was almost entirely composed of reflective material. The only hint of eyes and a mouth were small indentations in those areas matching the shape of eye sockets and soft lips. A large, prim bun of ash-black hair tied up in white ribbons behind her hair completed the effect of appearing to be a regal personage from another century entirely.
In all the years they had worked together, Ryuken had never once seen Scorpio remove it. Unlike him, the mirrored mask was her true face, and if the woman beneath it ever had a normal human name, it had never once been uttered within the walls of the club. Not even if asked by him.
Her age remained somewhat of a mystery as well; her voice was normally a flat neutral in her dealings with him, not sounding like a crone or like a younger lady, but somewhere in-between that was impossible to pin down. What he did know was that more than one person had made the assumption that he worked for her because he was smitten with her beauty. An incorrect assumption, but entirely understandable.
"Prince Taurus", she greeted them formally. "You have brought the Shadow that I have seen in my dreams."
"I have." Even in a world where he held none of the respect for their founder that he did, something about her formal manner of speaking would have compelled fair reciprocation on his end. "He is the Shadow of the disappeared boy from Koashimizu academy, Jiachi Rosea."
"Julian Rosea. Call me that name again and you'll regret it", their guest growled dangerously, making Ryuken breath an inner sigh of relief that they had finally reached the inner quarters of the club. In this place, in the secure heart of their building, even the Shadow's brazen threats had no ground at all.
He just doesn't know it yet.
Not caring, the Shadow tore his fire mask free, carelessly dropping it on the floor along the various arranged costuming props and tables before taking a seat, arms folded crossly. "You invited me. Here I am. Nice place y'got here, but I don't see any reason to stick around for the late show."
Lady Scorpio retook her own seat, passively examining the form of their guest in that typically spooky, indiscernible way that she did, voice gentle but also permitting no disobedience or foolishness from those she addressed. "We have a job offer for you, Shadow. Consider this to be an interview, of sorts."
The false Julian gave a mocking laugh. "A job? Seriously? That's what you idiots brought me here for? What makes you think I need a job, or that you could give me one that I want?"
"Indeed. There are quite a number of unknowns for us both", she agreed slowly. "But let me begin by saying that we already have several other Shadows in our employ, so you will not be alone here."
Taking his own seat beside the Lady, Ryuken idly adjusted his horned mask as she continued. "You are, however, the first one we have seen with a human form, and the first to visit without our knowledge. Most curious. That is why we wanted to ask you some questions about your origin. How exactly did you come to the human world?"
The Shadow seemed more intrigued by Scorpio's words now, glorying in his advantage of knowledge. "Heh. Checkmate. Like I told Tsuruga-chan, that's my little secret. You can figure it out, right? You said that you've recruited Shadows?"
"We have", Scorpio confirmed. "From the dimension of Faraway Lands. That is where you come as well, yes? I sensed your arrival several days ago, and sent Prince Taurus to retrieve you."
"And that icy bitch tried to beat him to it", the Shadow noted, still nursing a grudge against Cecille Yumika, who had actually managed to threaten him into not killing her as she deserved. "Guess I do owe you a bit for telling her where to stick it."
"Queen Aquarius was once one of us as well", Ryuken explained, sounding inevitably insulted. "She left us some time ago, though I believe she may return to us when she sees all we've achieved here."
The Shadow looked thoughtful for once. "Eh. I dunno 'bout that. She seemed to be pretty against you earlier... and not just 'cause your code names are stupid."
"That can wait", Scorpio told him. While she didn't share in Taurus' optimism that the young woman who had once proudly called herself Queen Aquarius would ever return to their ranks, she also didn't want her dead. Certainly not at this simpleminded brute's hands at least.
"What we have in mind for you, Shadow, is something far more pressing right now." Taking charge of the conversation over Scorpio, Ryuken stood and nodded to her. "Recently, there's been a quiet police investigation of our... private activities, let's call them."
The false human looked amused. "Heh. So you want me to go beat up some cops, right? Sounds fun!"
"Just one", he hastily corrected him, producing a small photo from his sleeve. Just like with Cecille, the Shadow was just as quick to jump to the most violent solution as its kin. "She's a junior officer who is currently visiting from Tokyo, and isn't yet aware of the arrangements we've made with some of the authorities in this city."
Studying the picture of the young woman with the chocolate brown hair and strangely red-tinted eyes, the Shadow smirked. "...She's pretty."
"Her name is Makoto Nijima", Ryuken said. "And she has allies. Someone we can't detect has been feeding her inside information about us for the last week or so. In fact, we've already had to cancel some of our special plans for tonight, just because our own sources have tipped us off that she is pushing to arrange for a surprise police raid on us soon, perhaps even today."
The Shadow gazed across the length of the former dressing room as if trying to find signs of the canceled plans in question, then those blazing yellow eyes returned to the photo. "A shame."
"You must not kill her", Lady Scorpio warned him harshly. "That would bring down even more unwanted scrutiny on us. Merely injure her, so that her investigation of us will be stalled until she is ordered to return home to Tokyo and continue her usual duties."
The more that they talked about the offer, the more the day waned, the more Ryuken began to get the sense that this Shadow was even less controllable than all the other ones he'd met. The restlessness in his poise, the way his eyes were constantly shifting about like a curious animal... If they let this one loose on poor officer Nijima, there was no telling what might happen in the end.
Secrecy is our asset. The rest of society doesn't know. They won't understand the truth.
"Maybe we should go back to our original plan", he suggested to her. "This one seems unreliable. We can have King Leo handle it."
Their rude guest burst out laughing. "'King Leo'? Really? There's another one of you Karma freaks?"
Ignoring the mockery, Scorpio shook her masked head, indicating only disgust for the Shadow now. "No, Taurus. King Leo has been growing more and more unstable lately. I don't want to risk letting him out of the club again. I would consider him just as likely to accidentally kill the Nijima girl as this one."
"So talk to him. Get him to calm down."
The venerated hostess sighed in vexation. "My talents do not work on everyone, Taurus. Leo is far too strong for that. No, I think that this Shadow you've brought us should serve us nicely in this regard. Shadows, we know how to deal with."
Ripping up the photo of Nijima, the Shadow in question stood up. Picking up a stray ink marker, he began to twirl it around in his hand just as he had so many other similar objects before.
"Hey. I appreciate the offer, really. But... nah. Sorry, folks. Maybe you guys've dealt with Shadows before, but I bet that none of them were ever like me."
Thinking quickly, Ryuken moved to place himself between their guest and the door, regarding the creature's inhuman eyes closely. "Oh, really? And what makes you think that, 'Julian'?"
"Because there are no other Shadows like me." Moving up to punching range, he spat into the older man's face, a revolting glob running down his skin.
"For a while there, you had me interested. I thought that I was working with some real big-time movers and shakers, like the Yakuza. But you two? You're just a couple of adults playing dress-up for fun. I don't even have to meet this 'King Leo' idiot to know that. You're in way over your heads here. In fact, for wasting my time like this, I think I'll enjoy myself a little more before I-"
He could say no more before Ryuken took a deep breath, drawing all noise into silence. His eyes were shut as he reached up to the porcelain horned mask. The last of his patience felt like it had bled out through the eyeholes.
The time for patience was over.
"Mighty Mithras, together we shall conquer."
There was no point in registering the Shadow's note of surprise, or Scorpio's sense of satisfaction at the sudden blast of power that left a hairline crack in one of the mirrors. He ignored all other sensation. He whirled, his broad fist impacting chest flesh. In the very next instant, the Shadow was sent flying over to sprawl against the room's sole bookshelf and covered with its contents, dazed and worse.
Cursing at nothing, he tried to stand again... Only for a second strike to blast him backwards and damage the bookshelf even further. Ryuken- Prince Taurus- loomed over him like a rampaging giant, casually examining his own fist for signs of blood stains or other damage.
I must say, I've missed this.
"My sincerest apologies, my lady... I've been wanting to do that for a long while now."
Scorpio seemed content enough with the result, shrugging innocently and unperturbed by the sudden violence. "Do what you must, Prince Taurus. I know that I have trained you well."
"Yeah", he saw his smile reflected back in the motionless mirror mask. "You have."
As the two watched, the Shadow eventually managed to recover enough to make sounds again, if not exactly stand up properly. "Wha... whazzah... what was...?"
Ryuken sighed melodramatically, as if his victim were the greatest of idiots. Which, in his humble opinion, wasn't really that far off the mark.
"I trust an idiot like you at least knows what a Persona is? The opposite force of a Shadow? My 'other self'?"
"Wha... Persona...? You can't...!"
Another hit, this time a kick that sent his target smashing into a wall and this time shattered a mirror even as it busted his jaw. A human would have been dead several times over by now, but Shadows took much more punishment than that.
Of course, that's what made it good for him. The Shadow before him was not human, and was not protected by the laws that protected humans. If he broke the Shadow's fingers, or crushed his skull, or caved his ribs in, or hit him in the gut so hard he would cough up dark blood... Then too bad.
Doing this to Shadows always helped him take the edge off.
"Funny thing about Personas. They enhance the speed, the strength, and the durability of the human who summons them forth from their heart. The stronger the Persona is, the bigger the boost you get. Remember, Shadow? Remember how I told you that I was the third-ranked man here?"
"B-but... you... you c-can't... you do that!" The Shadow was practically blubbering now, the fear for his own existence outweighing his anger and arrogance for the first time ever since he had come into being. Even Shadows felt pain, and this one was now in more than enough of it that he could do little except cringe away from the man. "We're not even in... Faraway..."
"We have our ways. As you do." Normally the more reserved of the two, even Lady Scorpio seemed satisfied to see their guest painfully taught his errors. "Ways that we would be willing to share with you, if you are willing to behave yourself, and do all that we ask of you."
"Y-you... bastards...!" Despite his biting words, the fear had truly taken hold of their guest now, and he made no move to counterattack either of them.
"Pathetic", Ryuken remarked, sincerely enjoying the sight of the brief conflict between the creature's fragile little ego and his self-preservation, triggered by that single blunt insult.
Even with King Leo's current issues, he would much rather work with a real human operative than this whimpering excuse for a Shadow. This narcissistic thug, who hadn't even noticed the slight change in the building's atmospheric pressure when they had stepped into the club's inner quarters...
That had to be why he was feeling so melancholy, why he was missing Queen Aquarius' presence so much right now. Back when it was the four of us as a team, I knew that we could do anything if we worked together... but now we're shorthanded. We have to resort to using disgusting Shadow trash as minions, and they're never as reliable as a good Persona-user is.
His target actually was spitting up blood on the carpet now, studying not only him but Lady Scorpio as well with renewed terror, yellow irises enlarged and his self-confidence flown away on the wind. The way he was squinting at the air behind Taurus leaving no doubt that he'd finally spotted the distinctive horned shape of the Persona floating just behind him, augmenting his strength beyond anything he'd ever known as a mere human- as Ryuken Samesaji.
"You... her... just what the fuck are you people!?"
Scorpio stood up with her sleeved arms folded around each other, a dark pride in her words and the slant of her own mask.
"You should have read your invitation card more closely, Shadow. We are Scorpio, Taurus, Aquarius and Leo. We are the Masked Circle of the Karma club. And we are the ones who will bring humanity its long-sought Salvation."
Ryuken grinned tightly beside her, the power of Mithras surging even through the muscles he used to smile, making the expression look vicious. "A bit much? Sorry, we rarely ever get the chance to boast. If we told too many people, some of them might actually start to believe it."
Until he'd seen the truth for himself, he too had considered such a goal to be mere fantasy. But now... now he was not only part of the plan to save humanity from its looming fate, but one of the plan's most important leaders. My parents, if they understood... if Kotone understood, they would be very proud of me.
Someday he would tell her, and then she would understand why it was that he had to be Prince Taurus right now.
No one reached for their gun.
That was a massive relief to everyone involved, and Aiko could only shiver at the brief jolt of reflex, no doubt induced by hours spent fighting through caves full of Shadows, that had moved her hand down towards her holster when she had heard the voice calling out to her.
More luckily, Julian was just as welcoming to them as Mira had been when she and Pelagio had first managed to breach the massive tower of technology that comprised the heart of her Land. While he did not release his captives, he was fine with them all traveling out of the gulch to a safer area before taking positions around an unlit campfire that the 'outlaws' had apparently been using as a rendezvous point, surrounded with heavy logs.
That was the easy part.
"They're criminals, Tsuruga-chan", Julian explained when the necessary pleasantries were done and matter of captives and the wanted posters was finally brought up. The fire wasn't lit, but it still served its purpose as a useful distraction for the eyes when it hurt too much to look into someone else's. "Getting what they deserve. Which is a lot more than what they'll ever get back in the other world."
The captives themselves seemed to frightened to talk back to him. That was fine, since Aiko had a lot she wanted to say, and not enough air to get it all out in one go.
"They're your parents, Julian-kun", she said strictly. "Well, actually they're cognitions of your parents. But I still can't believe you actually think of them that way."
He hawked up some spit to fire in their direction, accurate as always. "You don't know. You don't them like I do."
"But we do know them", Mira countered firmly from her seat opposite him. "And yes, we know that things have been difficult with your dad. We know that he forced you to change your name. That he made you hide your heritage, and speak, read and write only one language, and a lot of other things that aren't so nice... But he's still your dad!"
"He is only just trying to keep you safe", Aiko continued. "He's overreacting to JCAP, that's all. Can you blame him for being scared for you?"
Julian's square jaw clenched in anger and he rose up from his seat, suddenly reminding Aiko that this was the same athletic body that had effortlessly pinned her a few days ago.
"I blame him for a hell of a lot more than that", he rasped dryly. "It was his choice to go with that. His choice to move to Japan. My mom said she didn't even want to go if I didn't want to... But he did. And her?" He gestured to the cognition of Hirata Rosea accusingly. "She just went along with it. Just like she always goes along with everything that asshole says!"
"Because she loves him", Mira emphasized patiently. "When you love someone, you respect them. You keep their desires in mind."
"Interesting definition." Sitting back down, he glared across the empty space. "It sounds more like slavery to me. And I sure as hell never saw him ever do the same for her. Or me. If that's really what 'love' is, screw it!"
Taken aback by the bitterness in his tone, Aiko fell silent. She was even more surprised to hear old man George speaking next, ambling over to the other side of Julian and removing the pipe from his cracked mouth.
"Sheriff... You gotta know that these young'uns are just tryin' to help you. Maybe things ain't so great back home right now, but if there's people wanting you back, can you really just abandon 'em? Seems a mite yellow to me."
Aiko relaxed a bit over this statement, the aged cognition's voice suddenly sounding more passionate than she had ever heard before. Just like with Mira. There's someone here who was very close to him, and even here in this place, their message can't be shut out of his mind.
"This is my home now", Julian argued stonily. "This is the home I always wanted, where I can be completely free."
George gave a throaty cackle at that turn of phrase. "'Free'? Son, you don't have a clue what 'freedom' even is. Just like you don't have a clue what the real America is like. Those stories I told you about the free plains of the west? They happened centuries ago, and a mite bit different from how you think they were too!"
Julian's brown eyes went wide and blank at this news, his breath escaping in a faded hiss. "But gramps, the stories you told me-"
"I kept telling 'em", George said, "because you liked 'em. Didn't ya?"
Julian nodded numbly. "I did."
"'Course ya did. And I liked seeing my grandson happy to spend time with me. More time than my own son ever did, that's for sure. If I'd known that they would make you resent Adam and Hirata the way you do now..." He shook his head in regret.
A loud clatter pierced the static of the desert as Julian rose up and kicked the pile of charred wood which had once been a campfire. Becoming unreadable for a moment, he turned around and offered the cognition a tight smile.
"It doesn't matter. What happened, happened. Isn't that what you always told me? You can't unring the bell."
"Your gums're flappin' out truth", George acknowledged somberly. "Maybe for the first time since you got here."
"Yeah? Well, here's some more truth for you." He began to pace around the circle then, so that each of them could see the fresh resolve in his face.
"You're wrong, gramps. The home you told me about does exist. It exists here. Here, where I'm the boss. The sheriff. The only way to really be free is to be the boss, and here I am."
He stopped at Aiko, momentarily thrown by the horribly sad look on her face.
"Yeah", she echoed. "Here you are. The sheriff. The big bad boss of a place where you're the only real being there. Where everything else is just there to stoke your ego and tell you cool you are. Even me."
His face froze up, his earlier apprehension momentarily forgotten now that he could acutely sense hers.
"It's no secret, Tsuruga-chan. I never wanted it to be. Forget anything that bitch Kujou says. You're perfect. I wanted you."
"No. You didn't want me", she said coldly, temper only rising further. "You wanted that cognition in the saloon back at your 'Freedom City'. Someone who looks like me and sounds like me, but that... thing isn't me. And... I don't think you really want it to be, either."
He couldn't face her. Even the empty fire held no solace now. Instead, he found himself looking at Pelagio and Mira's concerned eyes. They weren't much better.
"We came to help you, boy", Pelagio spoke up for the first time, just as disdainful as Aiko had become. "By my lady's command, we have all risked life and limb many times to allow you to leave this false world behind. All that we ask in return is that you have the courage to seize the chance we've created for you."
"I know what it's like, Rosea-kun", Mira implored. "I went through the exact same thing. I know what it is you're really struggling with right now. Why it is you're acting this way."
"Mi- Dancer?", Aiko turned back. She'd expected her own tears, but not from Mira, who had only met Julian a handful of times before now. "What are you talking about?"
"It's not just what's here that's keeping you", Mira emphasized, refusing to let him cast her objections away as he had the others. "It's what's waiting for you back home. Back in your real home. Because, if you go back there... Then you'll have to do the hardest thing in the world. Something harder than beating up a hundred Shadows."
Julian looked back, not quite comprehending. Not wanting to comprehend the meaning.
"Listen to her well, boy", Pelagio ordered him, raptor eyes flashing with more than a hint of threat. Mira flashed him a grateful smile before continuing.
"The hardest thing in the entire world", she said, eyes wide, "Is to go back, and ask for forgiveness. To admit to the people you love that you were wrong. That's why. That's why you're trying so hard to make us- to make everyone- give up on you. Trying to make us think that you're really the kind of disgusting person who would prefer that cognitive version of Ai-chan over a real, living person."
The dust was all he could stand to look at now, his hat dipping down across his gaze to shroud it in shadow, only his lips visibly moving.
"What would you say if I am disgusting? If I really was that kind of person you're talking about? If I told you that I'm happy with what I have here? That this is the home I want?"
Shuddering at the concept that she was no longer sure wasn't complete fantasy, Mira abstained from answering even as Aiko rose behind him, her own resolve bringing the light of hope back into eyes that had moments ago been clouded with personal outrage. Leaving that behind wasn't only necessary. It was welcome.
"I'd call it horseshit. Because such a greedy, selfish person wouldn't have offered to help us the way you did." Palming her own hat- upwards instead of down- she shook her head dismissively. "No matter how much you try and make me hate you, Julian-kun, you can't. You're nowhere close. Someone who was like the person you're describing? They wouldn't even care about their own brother."
"You don't understand", Julian shot back, his voice a broken whisper on the sands. "Deep down, I'm really nothing more than a-"
Then the last word finally registered with him, her tone finally conveying what she'd been waiting to say all along. One revolver, no longer suspended in his hide-gloved grip as it slackened, fell down to kick up a dust cloud. His eyes quite suddenly wider than Mira's had been.
"Wait... What? What did you just say...?"
Forget how it was
Think how it could be
Enemy Profile #7
Bifrons
Arcana : Devil
Strength : Fire (Absorb), Curse
Weakness : Light
Abilities : Maragi, Tarunda, Venom Claw, Charge
Background:
The 46th spirit of the Goetia and an Earl of Hell. At the command of his summoner, he will move a buried body to another location, or light candles upon the graves of the deceased that he has control over. Leads 26 legions of infernal spirits.
Also known as Janus, the Roman two-headed and dual-natured god of gateways and new beginnings.
A/N: Not much to add here except I feel like I made too many obscure references. Oh well, the big one with Persona 2's Masked Circle is completely intentional, along with the reference to a certain other dangerous supernatural group in the main series...