This story is a work of fiction. Any similarities to events or persons living or dead in your world is purely coincidental.
Can You Hear This Late Night Sing?
Decide The Fate Of Everything
6/20 Friday
Afternoon
The voyage back across the ocean towards Reiha's Land was oddly quiet, the normally talkative crew silent as they each individually contemplated what lay ahead of them.
None of them expected what Noel was the first to see. "Wait. I... don't believe that was there before, was it?"
Climbing up to the top rail of the ship to have a look, Aiko cursed. "Nooo. Definitely not."
Previously, the strange monochrome city had laid wide open to attack, but it was now enclosed behind several towering walls of dark steel, lined with several squat guard towers and searchlights which looked identical to the kind used by the zeppelins.
"No wonder she wanted us to come here", Jiachi growled. "She's got the place totally blocked off!"
"No. Just the harbor", Pelagio pointed out, his voice emanating from the ship's decking. "Unfortunately, that is also the only entry point."
"Hmm", Aiko considered. "Alright. This must have been built in just the last few days. Let's find out just how sturdy it is... Guardian, let's veer to port side. Dancer, Gunslinger, man the canons on that side and fire at will."
"Aye, captain!"
Inwardly pleased by how easily the three she'd named had acted- even if they'd used a nickname she wasn't fond of- she watched as a pair of their cannon shots flew out to blast the wall, scorching and zapping the surface but unable to do anything more than cosmetic damage. Subsequent shots yielded the same result, and before long she called a cease fire.
She'd only just ordered that when something smashed into their ship hard enough to knock her and the rest of the crew completely off their feet. Running back up to the deck, Mira gaped at the sight before searching for the source. "Cannons", she gasped, pointing in panic at the base of the guard towers. "Over there, mounted right beneath the lights!"
"Full... sail!", Aiko managed to grunt, vaulting back to her feet. "Hard to starboard! Get away!"
A minute later, the impacts finally stopped, and they had time to look back and realize the range of the enemy's cannons. "If we were to sail right at that gap between those two walls", Noel noted grimly, "then we might be able to pass through. But... that would require us to take the direct fire of their cannons for nearly a full minute."
"I shall endure what I must, to secure our victory", Pelagio claimed, prompting half the crew to roll their eyes at his bravado.
"Maybe", Aiko pointed to the center. "But now that I know about those cannons, I can see there are more of them closer to that gap. Hm... Eight towers in total, it looks like. We can't risk taking that kind of punishment. Guardian, let's go around again. Slowly this time."
"Of course, captain."
Retracing their course, they drew even with the first tower, sporadic shots causing massive eruptions in the water nearby but none slamming into them directly yet.
"They're higher up, so they have better range than our guns", Mira slumped in defeat. "Can't get through. Maybe we should come back another day, after we figure out a way to get past this?"
"There's no time to wait", Aiko shook her head. "We only have today and tomorrow." Moving back to the rail to get a better look, she pulled her cornered hat back, studying the wall's angle. "Wait... Yes, that's it. Trim the main sail so we slow down even more. Guardian, please take us on a pass along the far right side of the wall. I'll take the wheel and guide you."
The response sounded less certain. "Captain?"
"We need an exact course", she pointed at the tower again, trying to make sure he understood. "We want to be within range of the farthest tower on the right side so our shots will reach, but far away from the rest so they won't hit us."
Looking back at the arrangement of the towers to be sure, Julian snapped his fingers. "Oh yeah. Duh. We can move and they can't. Just need to take 'em down one at a time without exposing ourselves."
"Exactly!", she exulted. "Once all the guns on that side are down, we can just coast on in."
Their ship continued to shake with the blasts from the single tower of course, but after four return shots the round silvery gun poking out of that tower's base was permanently silenced, nothing more than a pile of wreckage.
"Sure you can take that three more times, Guardian?", she asked, already knowing what his reply would be. To be safe, she had Noel take the wheel for the next tower, joining Mira and Julian down below to fire three cannons at once, guaranteeing the enemy never got more than a handful of hits in each time.
"It's working", Mira said admiringly once the third tower had exploded. "They're not close enough to cover each other, are they?"
"Only against a ship sailing straight for the center", Ai corrected her with an excited smile. "If someone tried that, they'd expose themselves to eight guns all at once."
"Ah."
"Freakin' morons", Julian snorted. "Those towers must've been a rush job. Oh well, shouldn't complain. Nice trick there, captain."
Her reply was lost however, over the cacophony suddenly exploding from behind them, far too massive to be a missed cannon shot. It cast water in every direction before giving way to the sight of a steel-clad juggernaut of a ship more formidable than any defenses a Land could conjure.
When she saw the gleaming scythe blade hanging off the bowsprit, Aiko's reaction was instantaneous: "Back to full sail! Now! Ignore the last tower, we have to get inside! Hurry!"
Thankfully, they were only halfway past the fourth tower before its shots redirected onto the Reaper's vessel. The intact cannons along the left side followed suit, but their shots may as well have been spitwads for all the damage they did to the battleship's armor.
Instead, it was the Reaper's own fire which dogged them, violently rocking the deck again and again like miniature quakes until the safety of the narrow gap had enclosed them.
Even if Noel hadn't had the sense to fear the metal colossus, he would have been able to read the fear on everyone else's faces from miles away. Once he was certain they were finally safe, he stared at Aiko, at the anxiety frozen on her face. "Captain. Just what... was that?"
"The Reaper", she panted, one hand pressed to her heart after coming so close to annihilation. "It's the... absolute most powerful Shadow in this dimension. At least, I hope it is. It's been kind of... stalking us lately."
"I see", he said slowly, digesting the implications and not liking any of them. Looking back through the gap, he couldn't see any sign of the hooded figure he expected to be standing on that massive deck. Rather, it was the ship itself which looked back, too large to chase them but too powerful to fear the defensive cannons. In fact, it wasn't long before the Reaper's cannons turned stymied vengeance into pure elemental destruction aimed at the remaining towers, lighting up the night with fresh explosions and fire. The Reaper... a dreaded machine of death.
"Guess he's not used to having his prey escape so many times", Jiachi remarked, though even he sounded more subdued than his usual. "Bastard keeps coming after us. That's why it's dangerous for us to just blindly explore this world. Never know when he's gonna show up."
"Keep going", Aiko commanded, turning back to the wheel. "He might blast through the walls to reach us at this rate. The only place we're really safe is on land. Um... Guardian?"
Only then did they all notice that Pelagio had been drifting aimlessly, unresponsive to their commands. Gripping the wheel and sending Noel and Jiachi up to change the sails, Aiko managed to steer him into the harbor.
"I guess he took a few more hits than we thought", she sighed once they were all safely disembarked. "Okay Guardian, you can change back now."
No response. The more they looked at him, the more the silver-winged ship looked more and more like a ruined derelict only remaining afloat by staying nestled up against the angular concrete docks, the scalloped hull riddled with holes and cracks.
"Poor man", Noel remarked. "Erm... poor bird-thing. Whatever. Illuminate the way, Dellingr!"
They all watched in wonderment as the light emerging from Mender's Persona slowly, carefully covered their damaged ship, watched as the frayed ropes reattached themselves to pegs, as cracked boards were knit back together and shattered windows reformed themselves into flawless sheer panes, and the leaning mast was propped back into place.
Heard a surprised voice pipe up, as if waking from a nap: "Huhn...? Oh! I see we have arrived. About time."
Aiko waited until he was done transforming back into his armored form before calling out a Persona, Lorelei, and casting her weakest water skill at him. Sputtering and coughing from the soaking, Pelagio took a moment to recover enough to speak.
"C-captain? Am I to assume... that was my punishment for falling asleep?"
"Nooo", she told him. "It's your punishment for being so stubborn you don't even let us know you're in trouble until you get knocked unconscious. You're just lucky that Mender's here."
"It's my fault really", Noel insisted. "I should have used Dellingr's power while we were dealing with the towers instead of just standing there like a fool. That way he might not have gotten so damaged."
"Don't take the blame for him now", Aiko sighed. "He seems to make it a habit of shielding us at the expense of himself. Which would be fine, except he never admits when he's at his limit. I'd say he picked that up from my own idiocy, but he was pretty much like that when I first met him too."
"Captain?" For once Pelagio sounded uncertain.
"I'm sorry about this. We really don't want to be so harsh on you, Guardian", Mira chipped in more compassionately, kneeling down slightly to match his eye level and stroking his head until he flinched away. "Saber just worries about you, that's all. We all do. You keep putting yourself in danger, never telling us when you need help. There's no shame in saying that. Try it now."
Stunned silence fell on Pelagio's round-eyed face, the hesitation stretching until some of the others began to wonder if it was literally impossible for their companion to speak those words.
"Please?", Mira near-whispered.
Pelagios beak clicked emptily, his raptor eyes bulging with effort. "I... I... I require... a-a-assistance."
"Wow. Did that hurt?", Jiachi tried not to look too amused at the sight. "C'mon, angry bird. Are you on this team or not? Yeah yeah, you're a tough guy, we get it. But there's no shame in asking for help if you need it."
Pelagio's twin orbs studied him back, the gradual realization that Julian was merely speaking what the others thought dampening the ire of his trademark harumph. "So. What now, then?"
Aiko smiled, producing a simple-looking bags stuffed with costumes. "Now, we start the plan. We draw Hex out."
"The Phantom Thieves have been sighted. I repeat, the Phantom Thieves have been sighted."
The report continued on needlessly- the first mention had been enough to quicken Reiha's pulse and bring her gaze back up into the present. Back up into her duty. The defense of her home, her Shirubashiti, from the criminals who threatened its people. The Phantom Thieves were here... and now they would learn what it meant to threaten innocents. Her wrists trembled in anticipation.
Her new 'partner' floating beside her either had no proper name or didn't want to share, and so she had settled on 'Wraith'. He now joined the pursuit, seemingly just as eager as her to visit punishment on the deserving. Some of the zeppelins were veering off as well, but they were too slow. They'd never get there in time. They never had.
Of course, neither have I, she acknowledged in self-depreciation. No matter how many times she'd caught up to that bastard Joker and beat him up, he remained the very definition of a trickster- he always managed to get away in the end, and wait to strike again.
But not this time. This time, he doesn't get away. This time, he pays. For everything.
In a strange show of mercy, the Thieves had shied away from the demolished area, choosing instead to rob Shirubashiti's sole museum. On the outside, broodingly grim aesthetics guarded the interior, where ornate marble sculptures and set pieces stood to tell the history that had led to the Land's creation. Hex had never bothered looking too closely, only acting to prevent robberies here, as the marble always made a tempting target.
She caught up to them in the main gallery, which accessed most of the larger sets. While for the moment they seemed to just be admiring the sculptures, their outfits were unmistakable. They were just as she remembered from that legendary broadcast that had taken over the airwaves six years ago: a bold red cat lady outfit and mask, zippers running up and down seemingly at random and left open at the top to reveal an ample chest. A blond boy with a black vest and pants with red kerchief hung around the neck, thickly reinforced segments protruding out of the back like bones with a skull mask as complement. Another dark garb similar to her own with reinforced gauntlets, but topped off by spiked shoulder pads and a harsh-looking piece of curved industrial metal serving as the eye mask, an open slit wrapping around it allowing sight.
To top it off, there was Joker himself. A stylish black trench coat, gray undershirt and stark white domino mask, frizzy black hair ballooning out from behind it just like back then.
The Phantom Thieves are really here, trying to steal from this museum...
"It's Joker", she whispered, careful not to alert them. "He's mine. You get the others."
Floating silently beside her, the wraith's ashen mask slowly descended, then ascended, an unnervingly hollow yet focused voice emerging from the empty gap where its mouth ought to be. "It shall be my privilege. They shall all burn in the fires of justice."
"So you do talk after all", she smiled back beneath her helmet. "Man, you're a better 'protector of the night' than I am."
"That doesn't matter", the harsh voice replied, the torch-bearing ring behind it spinning up until the entire shape was a wreath of crimson flames. "What matters is our victory. What matters is that we stop the Thieves."
"Got that right. We go in five. Four... three... two... one...!"
The Thieves seemed awed by the display itself, not even suspecting an attack until they struck. Disc-shaped Hexarangs flew out out of the gloom, knocking Joker's gun from his hands, while a dart struck one of the female Thieves in the neck. In the time it took them to realize what had happened, Hex had already descended from atop one of the pillars, drop kicking the blond male Thief down into the light-ensconced floor tiling.
The other one, the one with the spiked shoulder pads, had her gun up and aimed before the Wraith pounced, a sharp claw lancing out to send it clattering along the floor. A part of her wanted to shout a warning to him that there were more than four Phantom Thieves and the others might well ambush the ambushers, but there was no time for that now. Not when Joker was already brandishing his traditional thief knife, the blade glinting under the artificial light.
Her arms lashed out, ignoring the cut to take him in the chest, soaking up the pain and powering through it as she had learned to do long ago, the follow-up swing blasting him into the display case glass. Following after past the fallen minions she put a heavy boot into Joker's collar before he could get up, ready for any attempt to escape.
"Show's over", she snarled, bracing for the other Thieves to rise and charge but mainly focused on the wretch pinned beneath her heel, on trying not to feel so proud she screwed up. Got you. Got you at last. Go ahead. Try a smoke bomb, I dare you. Whistle and call the other Phantom Thieves down on us and run away in the confusion like the coward you are.
Doesn't matter. This time, I've got you. This time, you'll face justice, and suffer for all the crimes you-
But when she looked down again, she frowned. Joker wasn't doing any of that. His chest rose and fell in a barely perceptible motion, stifled by the pressure until his head tilted back...
It was enough to make her forget all about the other Thieves, the way that Joker's frizzy hair suddenly seemed to fly off his head, revealing shorter, ginger brown hair beneath. Sensing the way it had caught her off guard, Joker took advantage of her shock, reaching up and lifting his eye mask free.
"Heh. Gotcha."
Hex glowered down at him. This wasn't Joker at all. The black wig was still nestled there behind on the carpet, as if mocking her efforts. This was...!
"R-Rosea?!"
The younger boy smiled up at her, grateful to have some of the choking pressure off. "Hi there, Hayato-senpai. Sorry we took so long to come back for you."
Looking back up, she saw the other 'Phantom Thieves' were following suit, swiftly discarding their disguises, her wraith ally momentarily delaying his attack while they tried to figure out what was really going on here. The cat-suited blonde revealed herself as a stern-faced Aiko Tsuruga, replacing the cat mask with a wide-brimmed captain's hat. The shoulder-spiked biker emerged as Mirambela Sorano... and the last one, the blond skull-faced thug, was the only one who didn't need to discard a wig, Noel Vitienne having natural blond hair, if a bit lighter than the Phantom Thief she remembered from the broadcast.
The patchwork remains of their disguises littered the tile and carpet, but beneath those were the familiar outfits they'd worn during their previous visit: Tsuruga wore a grand-looking captain's buttoned jacket, retrieving a three-corner hat. Sorano wore a dancer's scant attire, seeming like she should have been the one to wear the exhibitionist catsuit, while Noel kept an opulent white-gold set of robes decorated with eye marks with wide poofy sleeves, a pearlescent mask beneath the hood covering his face like some kind of robot.
Finally, there was the one still sprawled beneath her, who still couldn't remove Joker's black coat with the boot weighing him down. A simple tug from her pulled it loose to reveal a blazing fiery red coat instead, a gun belt holding up black pants.
Making a noise of disgust, she kicked him away to crash into a statue. This wasn't Joker. It wasn't even the Phantom Thieves. They'd come to the museum on a false rumor.
"Easy with that", Aiko warned her, the rest of her team preparing themselves to fight if needed. "He's a friend too."
She didn't need the mask this time to make her voice sound properly threatening- the anger suffusing it accomplished that handily. "You're my friends. But you're also criminals. You shouldn't have come back here, Tsuruga. I thought the others would've told you already. I've already chosen to protect the people of Shirubashiti- of this world. What the hell was this all about?!"
"A few things", she explained, trying not to sound too hurt by the hostility in her friend's voice. "Something to draw you in, for one. For another, I was hoping the chance to finally catch Joker might make you realize just how stupid this all is."
"Stupid?!", Reiha scowled. No matter how she tried to stay relaxed and avoid any further wrath towards old friends, Tsuruga seemed intent on insulting her. The look in her green eyes shaded beneath the hat's brim suggested a carefully-maintained facade of confidence that could crack at any moment, but her voice showed none of that weakness. "Is it stupid to want to protect innocent people from criminals?!"
"If they were people", Noel provided, his own mask concealing any doubts he might have had, just as hers did. "But they are not. They are merely cognitions, projections filling up this world to give you something to protect."
"We learned everything, Hayato-senpai", Mira remarked sadly, lip quivering. "Everything. We know why this city is the way it is now. Because you want to protect people from evil, and you can't do that in the real world. That's why-"
But the Shadow behind them had heard enough. His torches returned to their full force, and a bony claw extended out of the cowl's dark sleeves. "Phantom Thieves or no, they are still wanted criminals, and must face the flames of justice!"
Despite his threats of burning, as the claw tightened a ray of luminescence shot out, blasting a screaming Mira back before Reiha could manage to utter a denial. Even that was halfhearted, and she had the distinct impression that Wraith wouldn't have listened anyway. His next ray followed after, only for Noel to very deliberately place himself in front of it, soaking up the blessed light without any real damage.
"Seems like I'll be the ideal one to handle this", he noted with an excitement she'd never heard from him in the other world. "Captain, you take care of Hayato!"
"Ungh... You're gonna need some help with that", Jiachi pointed out, having recovered from the earlier gut kick and now moving up alongside their healer. "See all those torches behind him? Three guesses what main element this guy uses, and the first two don't count."
Noel looked temporarily confused. "Why would you allow three guesses then?"
Deflating, Jiachi sighed as he pulled his weapons loose. "Okay, can you please stop ruining my jokes for just one sec? You're bad for my vibe, man."
"Oh. Oh I see", Noel rolled his eyes. "Anyway, we should stick to the plan. Illuminate the night, Dellingr!"
The appearance of the bright morning star encased in metal delayed the Shadow's attack for a moment, but didn't stop the rest of his team from following after, summoning their Personas to fight. As Mira stood, emboldened further by the energies of Oya, she turned to Reiha even while using healing skills on herself and others.
"That's why this place has 'people' for you to protect... Kaneshiro-senpai."
Reiha was grateful for the helmet now. It hid her reactions, whatever they might have been. In truth, she couldn't guess them herself. It just felt like the world slipped out of phase for a moment, like she'd experienced the world's shortest blackout, and then she was back and her Wraith protector was now completely engaged in a battle with Noel and Julian. While the former never launched any truly damaging action, as the robed Shadow drew closer Dellingr released beams of wild, kaleidoscopic light from its dozens of apertures, temporarily blinding the creature and giving Julian a big opening to strike- not with his fire, but with the fast, numerous shots from his revolvers.
"Don't..." She stopped, no longer knowing if the command was meant for her Shadow ally or for Mira, uncertainly warping the electronic snarl of the helmet. "If you know... Then you know why I have to stay."
"We know why you want to stay", Aiko corrected, harsher than Reiha expected. She looked like she wanted to run over and join the fight as well, but held her ground, focusing on the plan. "The only thing that's stopping you from leaving is you. Like, literally, in this case."
"I know it's hard", Mira emphasized. "Really, I do. Even when I knew the truth, it was agony for me to leave my Land behind. But, Hayato-senpai... if you stay here any longer, you'll never be able to leave! You'll be gone forever!"
"Shut up", Hex growled back, clutching the helmet. Being angry at someone causing her such pain was inevitable. "Please, just shut up already and go back to your world. This one is mine. This is my dream. This is my destiny."
Aiko looked disappointed, moving over and clapping a white-gloved hand to the flesh of Mira's exposed shoulder. "You did you best, Dancer. It's my turn to try now. Go help the others, okay?"
Like their leader, Mira looked momentarily torn, still wanting to stay behind and do whatever she could to help convince their old friend. The start of tears stained her face, but she wiped them away and nodded. "Y-yes, captain. Good luck."
Oya boosted her sprint over, and her leap above the enemy Shadow to release a wave of blistering green winds and lightning. Amazingly, the Wraith didn't complain at all about being forced to fight three on one while his partner just stood there and talked, turning back to Aiko and feeling like she had to act.
"Well? You heard me. Get the hell out of here. This is my place, Tsuruga. And you're all technically criminals here. Because we're friends, I'll let you go this time. But if you insist on staying here..."
Yet once again, the younger girl surprised her by acting hostile enough to be an enemy already, the cruel counterpart to Mira's compassion. "Don't worry. We won't be long. We can go just as soon as you stop being such an idiot."
Behind the helmet, she gaped. Was this really the kind-hearted person she'd first seen in the school courtyard, defending Mira from Kujou's bullying at her own expense? Had they not shared the same green eyes and pale hair, she might deny the possibility.
"You call me that, even knowing the truth about me? Knowing what I've..."
"Knowing what you've been through, yes. I do. They took your mom. They took your whole life away from you. All just because your dad was Junya Kaneshiro, and because he had his heart changed by the Phantom Thieves."
Temper rising at the other's merciless glare, Reiha spun around and kicked a statue apart out of rage, only realizing after the fact that it was a statue of an obvious gangster. That this entire set piece they were in was actually a diorama of the day that the Syndicate's professionals had come for them.
When they'd raided her home, and destroyed her old world.
"And no one stopped them! No one! The cops didn't even lift a finger to try to stop it!"
Catching herself, she gave a dark, mocking chuckle, refusing to be baited. "The Dragon Syndicate are free to kidnap and kill people. Cops can't stop 'em. They're indestructible. Other criminals get away with it too. Justice is dead in that world. This one is the only place where criminals get punished the way they should be."
"Because the criminals are Shadows", Aiko remarked acidly. "And the 'innocent people' are just illusions who never leave their homes. Is that really justice?"
"It's my justice." Feeling oddly satisfied at having finally gotten a look of pity out of her, she watched as the fight between the rest of the Dream Voyagers and her Wraith raged on. The Shadow had now resorted to its strongest attack- predictably, fire skills- not posing as much of a threat to Jiachi but seriously injuring Noel and Mira. "I suppose I should be taking you down now. So you can face your punishment."
Pity still limning her features, Aiko turned and spoke five words that turned the entire world a blazing, seething, vibrating red:
"No wonder you loved Kujou."
Reiha didn't remember clenching her fists, or releasing a howl that echoed through the museum dedicated solely to her tragedy. The next second of awareness she had was having an outstretched punch ready to tear into her former friend only to be stopped in place by what appeared to be a hideously grinning Matador-garbed skeleton. A Persona, like the ones the others had summoned.
Normally she would have been intrigued by this sight, but the black rage coursing through her veins was too fresh, too insistent. And as had always, always been the case with her since the incident, the only way to release the red rage was to break something. To break someone.
Breaking Aiko Tsuruga would teach her to insult justice.
Seeing sporadic plumes of light, fire and more erupting from the battle in the distance, Aiko grimaced as the action of dodging Reiha's attacks led them further away from the main gallery. Yippee, objective one complete. Now we just have to survive the rest of it.
Just choosing to go with this method had been a personal trial enough for her liking. Certainly, Noel and Mirambela had both objected when they heard about it, the team's two most kind-hearted members wanting now more than ever to spare poor Reiha's feelings. They would have been much more comfortable with an empathetic approach, a formal intervention reminding their old friend of just what she was leaving behind by staying here in the world of dreams.
They didn't get that it wouldn't work. In fact, even with Mirambela, kindness and empathy alone hadn't been enough to sway her in the end. Julian had stayed resolute when his turn came, believing back then that he truly was a wretched enough person to abandon his family for a place where he could punish a mere simulacrum of his father. It had taken a more aggressive, almost insulting talk to get him to snap out of it, with the revelation of his future brother acting as the final touch.
This time, she'd removed the 'almost'. Like Julian, Reiha Hayato was a more hardened soul, one more receptive to decisive, aggressive action than she was to kindness or compassion. If anything could shock her enough to wake her up, it would feeling be the harsh contempt of those that she had once called her friends.
Properly faking that contempt felt like it had burned Aiko's own heart to a cinder within her chest, but now it was done, she'd said the things she had to and there was no going back. Even if that had been the goal, she couldn't think of anything to say that would stop Hex's barrage of punches and kicks, blind with rage yet far more dangerous than when they'd fought each other on the rooftops before.
"Why did you have to come here?!", the masked warrior screamed, the systems inside her helmet twisting accusing words into guttural howls. "I told you- you were innocent! You all had a chance to live happy lives, free of the night! So why...?"
Aiko dodged five more strikes before calculating that she could afford to spare the concentration to speak. "Happy? Innocent? It's like you don't know me at all, senpai."
"You got a normal life!" Despite the lingering ire in her words, Reiha seemed more lucid than a moment ago, reaching for a slew of the sharp-cornered 'Hexarangs' to throw instead of carelessly charging. "You don't have to feel this pain every single day!"
A brief burst of power from her Persona, and a neon green hurricane spun into being, casting the projectiles away to gash into the walls instead of her. "I guess you really weren't listening before", she remarked absently. "A normal person couldn't do that. And believe me, even with these powers of mine, I've learned more about pain in the last few months than I ever thought was possible. I'm not an innocent, Hayato-san. I'm like you- I'm a fighter."
Ignoring the words, Reiha dropped into a slide kick, rising to knock her cutlass aside and force a retreat further down the hallway and up the stairs that Aiko hoped looked convincing.
"Even if you never wanted me to be one", she continued on, arms spread a little wider, "here I am. And... the truth is, Hayato-senpai, ever since we met I've looked up to you. You were just who I wanted to grow up to be. Cool. Dark. Mature. But this? This is just wallowing in self-pity!"
Peering back up from a fresh crater she'd gouged in the wall, Reiha remained silent for a long time, prompting her friend to stop running and watch, wondering for a moment if she'd finally gotten through before she ripped a black-clad arm loose from it, scattering debris across the way. "You... know... NOTHING!"
Uh oh. I might have pushed that one a little bit too far...
The resulting chase over the next few minutes was so risky and harmful to the scenery of the museum that it reminded her of her plan against Jiachi's Shadow in more ways than one. There were no more words to be exchanged. It didn't even feel like Reiha was specifically focused on her any more. Instead, the goal seemed to be the destruction of every single piece of art and sculpture depicting yet another moment of the worst week of her life. The end of Ruri Kaneshiro's life.
The bulging, self-important statue of Junya Kaneshiro, Aiko noted, looked particularly unflattering even before a screaming punch crushed half of his smirking head in. A failed sweep kick destroyed the statue's leg as well, letting the sphere of his bulk roll down a staircase and crash through a wall.
At the end of the chase lay the door leading up to the roof that they'd scoped out coming in, a squat railing of concrete devoid of the city hall's gothic elegance but providing a wide view across the greater part of the city, including the area that still showed lingering damage from Joker's even more catastrophic battle with Prince Taurus. Zeppelins prowled overhead, searchlights poring over the rubble.
Just looking at the damage, remembering how it was caused, momentarily took her breath away. Dozens of the monolithic skyscrapers had been shattered in the fight, and apparently putting them all back together in the few days they'd been gone would have been a stretch even for this Land's strange rules. Even the cannon towers from earlier felt rushed, slapped together at the last moment to keep intruders out and manned by Shadows.
But it does mean that Reiha's Shadow really does want to keep us out of here. That's good.
Turning away from the damage, she heard her pursuer breaking through the door, turning to meet her and reaching down to the handle of her flintlock pistol. Jiachi's weapons would have been more ideal for this scenario, but taking either of them away might have made the difference in the fight she knew was still going on just beneath them, doubtless proving just as destructive.
"I want to show you something", she said to her old friend, peaceable as if she hadn't been trying to punch her lights out for the last ten minutes. Whether sheer exhaustion or the enduring sense that her rage was steering her wrong, Reiha didn't attack her, merely standing and watching as Aiko pulled her flintlock loose, taking aim not at her, but at one of the nearby residential buildings.
Her target- a rounded multi-floor tenement shielded by slanted roofs, walls at sharp angles- had been too far away from the earlier fighting to show any damage. The argent light contained by the windows revealed more of the city's citizens, who appeared to be in the middle of some kind of family board game. They looked happy. Excited. Glad to be alive.
Aiko didn't need to look to feel Reiha's sudden spike of terror as she realized what was going to happen. It was easy, so easy, to imagine. All she had to do was picture what this would look like if this had been the real world. If it had been actual, living human beings behind that glass pane, and she'd actually been about to shoot one of them.
The possibility alone froze her up for so long that she considered it amazing she wasn't stopped. Was this how the real murderers did it? Some kind of trick of mental gymnastics that they played on themselves to believe that their victims weren't actually real people, that they were just cognitions, empty projections of another's psyche?
"Wait, don't-"
Her final thought before firing was wondering if Bartholomew was watching this. He'd been her harshest critic for so long, always calling out any hesitation to act. Then there was only the deafening, and the crashing of glass.
And no other sound. Reiha's protest had fallen silent as soon as she saw the crack-framed hole in the window. She was the only one who reacted to it; the people inside continued with their game, oblivious. Aiko couldn't quite tell if her shot had actually passed through one of them, but it hardly mattered. Normal people would not completely ignore a bullet crashing through the window of their home.
Sensing the roiling confusion inside that motionless glossy black helmet, Aiko smiled sadly at her side. "Is that enough to prove it to you? What about this?"
Without waiting for permission, she shifted targets over to another window, another with signs of habitation. The shot was even stronger, creating a hole the size of a baseball.
"-Or this?"
A third shot, and this one into a bedroom where someone had been sleeping. Where the image of someone sleeping was, and continued to be.
Finally, Reiha acted, charging in not to harm her but simply to stop the gunshots, one plated shoulder smashing into her arm and slamming the antique pistol cleanly out of her hands and over the railing.
Aiko didn't gape at the loss. The hard part was over, or so she hoped. She stared back into the dark visor that was now within spitting distance, unflinching.
"Projections", she emphasized again. "No more real than the characters in a movie. The only reason they're here is for you. This entire Land is for you. To give you what you want. To make you think you're protecting people from bad guys."
"No... no!"
Hesitating, she decided to gamble. After all, she hasn't actually hit me yet. Reaching up, keeping her eyes focused on the hidden face, she wrapped both arms around the armor, pulling her closer, so that she couldn't escape. "It's not your fault, Hayato-san! This world... it twists everyone up! It's taking advantage of your nobility!"
Reiha had no reply. Her gloved fists were clenched, the visored helmet motionless as the lights played off it.
"Take that awful thing off", Ai demanded. "Let me see the real you."
And she could almost see it, too. Even behind the helmet and armor- both physical and emotional- Reiha couldn't hide how much she had been shaken. Not only the beliefs and habits that had trapped her here, but the ones that had been a part of her since that day six years ago:
Justice is in the night.
The world is divided into innocents, criminals and victims.
Only the innocents are allowed to be free of pain, while victims have to fight to protect innocents from the criminals, or else there will be no innocents left to enjoy a pain-free life.
If I'm a victim, doomed to suffer like this, then I'm immune to lesser suffering.
Justice is dead. Pain is the only real law. The only way to stop criminals is to hurt them until they surrender and stop hurting other people.
I was innocent, but made into a victim. Hurting criminals means I don't hurt as much.
Criminals deserve no mercy.
But...?
Then, just as quickly, the fists unclenched, the breaches seemed to heal themselves, and the reflective visor refocused on her. "This is the real me."
Both arms shot forwarding, pushing her back to slam into the railing. "This is the only me."
Then those armored, well-muscled arms were vised around her shoulders, not exactly choking as her Shadow had done to Kujou, but inexorably lifting her up, past her feet, hauling her past and over the edge of the rail...
"Why couldn't you just leave me alone? I didn't want you to be a part of this!"
"Ha...yato...", she managed to choke out, struggling in the older girl's iron grip, just as irresistible as her Shadow's had been. "Tawa!"
"My name", came the cold whisper, "is Hex. Protector of Shirubashiti."
After the insane stunt they'd pulled escaping city hall, gravity seemed positively eager to swallow her up into its embrace the instant that Reiha let go.
Falling...
Distance muffled the last of Tsuruga's final scream, and then she was gone into the darkness below without a trace.
And Reiha Hayato no longer knew who or what she was.
It wasn't exhaustion which brought her to her knees. It was the earlier red rage bleeding out and swallowing itself, giving way to the realization of what she'd just done hitting like a wave, more ferocious than any attack. "I... what have I...!"
Tsuruga...
Tsuruga had been her friend. Her only true friend. More than that, she'd been one of the most courageous and gentle people she'd ever met in her life. An innocent, to be preserved and protected. They'd gone to the mall together, eaten together, worked together, laughed together.
And now she was gone. Forever.
Because of me.
Because I got angry.
Angry at someone who was just trying to help me.
But the rage was gone now, drained away as though it was her own armor melting down. It couldn't shield her from the truth any longer.
Not, as Tsuruga had hoped, the truth of this world. That, she had known for quite some time. This was a different, more personal truth.
That there is no Hex. There is no Ruri Kaneshiro. There is no Reiha Hayato. No Tawa.
That the person standing here on the roof of this museum, to this memorial of tragedy that she herself had created was nothing more than a worthless criminal. A murderer.
Worse, a betrayer. A destroyer of friendships as well as lives.
If the others- Rosea, Sorano, and Vitienne- survived their battle against the Shadow downstairs, and came up here, anything they did to punish her would be completely justified. Criminals deserve no mercy.
But at this point, it felt like killing her would be a mercy. It would free her of this impossible horror.
The nameless craven who had hidden themselves behind three layered false identities found her arms reaching upwards, past her shoulders towards her own neck. Not to choke it, she understood immediately. That was mercy she didn't deserve. It was to remove the helmet, undoing the clasps and twisting it free.
The instant it was clattering on the brick, her theory was confirmed. The helmet did more than just distort her voice into something masculine and threatening. It was just one more shield against the pain. A shield I no longer deserve.
Finally free of it, she picked it up, staring into the reflection and seeing a scared, broken, tear-stained face looking back. One who had moments ago believed that the events of six years ago had rendered her immune to any further suffering.
This might have actually been worse though. Because it was a suffering that she had brought upon herself. Perhaps this merely felt worse than the old memory because it was fresh.
It no longer mattered. What mattered was that she no longer deserved this shield to hide behind. It no longer felt like a shield anyway, but a restraint. A relic of sorrow created for the same purpose as the rest of this disgusting outfit- to blot out her identity and nullify painful emotions. To hide herself away.
Exerting all her remaining strength into both arms still took several moments before she heard a thin cracking sound ringing in the air, becoming visible on the visor moments later. Intensifying the pressure made the crack grow, spider webbing out until she began to tear into the surrounding metal as well, eliciting groans acute enough to belong to something that was actually alive. Alive, and all too aware of its painful demise.
One more push, and then the helmet was cracked in half, reduce to a bit of broken wreckage in her hands, to be discarded over the rail like trash.
And Hex was no more. Criminals deserve no mercy.
She breathed out releasing what she could only describe as an invisible poison, idly wondering, hoping that the others had defeated Wraith. Only one way to find out.
"Hahaha..."
Reiha stood up, the noise rousing her unidentifiable until she saw the long black coat and white eye mask that she had associated with the enemy for so long.
Joker, leader of the Phantom Thieves, lay perched on the roof of the museum, staring down at her with the same ghoulish pallor and wicked grin as always. "We will take this country."
The words had always been the same as well, though the intonation was different. It sounded like an invitation to fight. Yes, recognized quickly. Yes, that's exactly what it is.
Joker had always been there, a permanent fixture of this city. Always with the same lines, always maddeningly elusive, and always escaping in the end. Yes... he served his purpose very well, keeping me here, always thinking the next time would be the time I finally caught him to exact justice on him. Whenever I started doubting my purpose, really thinking about whether I wanted to stay here or not, there he was again, triggering me to go after him.
Well done... for a cognition.
And now here he was again, a cheshire smile plastered on a sickly greenish yellow face, looking eager for another chase. To lure me away from the fight downstairs, keep me occupied with hatred instead of accepting due punishments for my crimes.
No more.
Feeling her energy return just as painfully as her sense of regret had, she gave Joker a mocking wave. "See ya."
She ran for the stairs, leaving a very confused-seeming Joker to remark: "That's... right?"
Mirambela felt a scowl of frustration color her lips with no time to erase it. While this opponent was nowhere in the league of Prince Taurus, that didn't stop it from offering up the kind of fight that Kaneshiro's previous lieutenants had given them, if not more.
Knowing its two main attack elements only went so far in overcoming it. While Noel's Persona resisted its bless skills and Julian's Persona resisted the blazing fire it was spreading so eagerly, this one was too smart a Shadow to let them take advantage of that fact more than once, directing the more harmful attack skills on the right targets, often focusing on Mira herself and even predicting where she was going to dodge. Noel's healing powers had kept them alive through it all, but this Shadow seemed even more resilient and stubborn than the thin scythe-user had been.
The resulting battle had lain waste to the dioramas and statues, occasionally tempting her to stop and simply soak in the awe-inspiring ruin around them. That would potentially be fatal though, particularly now that the enemy had moved on to a different tactic.
Clasping both of its hideous bone claws together, the robed Shadow produced a strange bracketed circle of garish yellow light, several small gaps running through it as it flew out towards Jiachi, who had been wildly blasting away with both barrels from behind the cover of a fallen statue of a Yakuza. Seeing it coming, he broke and ran, but too slow to evade as it completely surrounded him. He braced himself for a hit, but looked surprised, then satisfied when none came.
"Hah! Idiot!", he gave back a cocky smirk. "Let's give those gloomy robes a little color now! Agilao!"
It wasn't until the expected blast of fire failed to materialize that Mira remembered where she'd seen that circle from, her heart sinking along with Jiachi's smile, Wild Bill looking equally at a loss beside him. "It's a seal!", she warned him. "He's put a seal on your Persona's power so that you can't use it!"
Jiachi's eyes widened in horror and he nearly dropped his guns in shock. "What? No freakin' way! That's some cheap BS!"
"It'll wear off on its own after a while", she elaborated, firing off her own elemental skills to keep the enemy busy while their main attack recovered. "The problem is, we don't have time to wait!"
"No, we don't", Noel agreed, carefully rolling away from the Shadow's lunge to call upon Dellingr's radiance. "Fortunately, I believe we can fix that... Mutudi!"
A ray of light from his Persona projected a green circle similar to the seal onto Jiachi, revealing the orange one and shattering into pieces. Offering a grateful thumbs up, he immediately resumed blasting the enemy with fire.
Soaking it up with a resistance equal to its attacker, the wraith did not smile- the mask it wore showed no mouth, merely an empty black hole beneath the nose. Still, Mira sensed its relish at the next move it made, releasing another seal to cover Noel before he could run.
"Schiesse", he looked over at Mira with his mask concealing a worried expression, now completely helpless without Dellingr's power- he already knew that the skill he'd just used to clear Julian's malady wasn't shared by Mira's Persona. "I'm sorry, I can't heal you any more! You have to hurry and destroy this one before he seals up your Persona's powers as well!"
"Easy for you to say", Julian grunted, unleashing a powerful trio of gunshots that ripped into the enemy yet failed to inflict the critical damage they needed- underneath that cowl there seemed to be only more fluid darkness and emptiness. "Dancer, let's go for a duo while we still can!"
Nodding, Mira unleashed Oya's brute-force winds on the cloaked figure, Julian's fire mixing in with it and creating a violent sirocco that burned carpet and drapery alike, but merely scorched their target as it lunged out of the storm towards her at a clip that would have been impossible with actual legs.
His short-range reaction time was equally impressive, curving around when she skipped back from his initial swing to strike with the other claw, biting into her leg and leaving behind a hatefully familiar orange smear along it. "Disease too", she murmured, inwardly surprised at how calm she sounded as the malady began to sap away her attacking strength. Perhaps she'd finally seen enough of this sort of action to become as clinical about fighting Shadows as Aiko was sometimes? "I guess I should stick to healing after all."
"Leaving only one of us attacking him", Julian cursed, reloading both guns as he did so. "But if that's what I've gotta do, then bring it on! I've brought enough ammo to do this dance all day, cloak boy!"
True to his claim, he was able to unleash a piercing barrage of shots into the Shadow's tattered cloak, but that wasn't enough to stop it rushing at him, gliding across the floor like some sort of mad ghost until it was directly over top of him. "Foolish criminal", the Shadow's hollow voice spoke up for the first time since beginning its attack. "All that bravado, yet you lack a close range weap-"
The taunt cut off abruptly, as having the metal barrel of a revolver slammed into the Shadow's chest that hard had momentarily knocked all the wind out of it, glowing coal eyes stretched wide from the shock. "Sorry", Julian cackled, pulling the trigger to compound the damage further. "Were you saying something?"
"You-"
He surprised everyone then by following up with his other arm. It was too far away to reach the large Shadow's masked face, but the much taller Persona floating just behind him copied his move, slugging hard enough to knock it into a display case.
He caught Noel staring at him in awe, trying to restore the team's confidence with a carefree thumbs up. "Damn, that felt good."
"Well done", Mira acknowledged, just as amazed as Noel at the gall it took to simply throw a hay maker at such a powerful opponent; or the fact that it had actually worked. "Here."
The flowering Rejesho skill covered him, mending the damage he'd taken earlier and capable of continuing to do that over the next few minutes. The enemy reared up out of the ruins of the case, his voice conveying the fury his face couldn't.
"Enough! All intruders must be purged in the name of justice!"
"It grieves me to see just how badly that word has been misused", Noel remarked, frustrated by his helplessness bur unwilling to break his oath, particularly when it would accomplish nothing. "I should go find Saber, since I can't help you here."
"Saber'll find us when she's good and ready", Jiachi countered, preparing his twin weapons again. "Beside, this guy's not so tough as he seems. Glass jaw."
"You might regret saying that", Mira warned him, pointing. "I think you just made him mad."
The Shadow leapt forward with an inarticulate noise. The torch-bearing ring on its back had been mangled, but it still spun, faster than ever until it shone with the light of a bless skill. Accepting the challenge, Jiachi charged forward until he realized that the attack was already on him- another circle of golden light, a quartet of rectangular bits of parchment rising up from it in front of him until he understood what was being done. "... Damn it."
Then, just at had happened to Pelagio in his own Land, the power of the holy seal could actually be felt ripping away his life force, sending his body collapsing to the floor. "Hama", Noel observed in dismay. "He's not truly dead, not yet. If I could just..."
"Any sign of that seal going away?", Mira asked hopefully.
"None. All we can to now is try to survive." Which wouldn't be easy, she knew. With this enemy's speed, it could follow them anywhere they ran, and burn through doors that were too small for it to pass through.
A new arrival cut into her thoughts as the enemy gathered power for another magic seal, yet the Shadow actually stopped and stared at he recognized the black clad-figure leaping from the atrium balcony onto the smoked carpet. "You're returned. I trust you've dealt with the other criminal?"
The look on Reiha's face was no more expressive than her helmet had been- bleak and lifeless. "...Yes. The other one has been dealt with."
"No!"
Mira realized she'd made the strangled noise several seconds after hearing it, realized she was staring open-mouthed at the person they'd come here to save. Without the helmet, Reiha's pitch black hair hung back freely over the collar of Hex's spartan armor, shifting slightly as she turned away from the horrified expressions on the paralyzed pair's faces, striding over to the Shadow's side.
"I'm only sorry that I couldn't bring her in alive, to face the punishment for her crimes."
Wraith remained impassive as ever, the twin glowing embers that served it for eyes focused more on his targets than his partner. "It couldn't be helped. One who insults the concepts of justice so completely has earned their fate. Just as these ones have now."
"Basha! You... you traitor!", Mira screamed, only held back from lunging at them by the combination of Noel's grip on her and the disease from earlier still sapping her strength, though not her voice box or tear ducts. "I can't believe you! Ai-chan did everything to help you see the truth about this world! And now... she's... she's...!"
Reiha looked back at her with an expression melancholy enough to make her stop struggling against Noel for a moment. "Yes. She sure did."
For a second time that day, the cloaked Shadow found itself subjected to a sudden, vicious punch. A third followed, ending with a kick that sent him flying off into a painting depicting Shibuya's infamous 'scramble'.
"And she succeeded", Reiha finished without a hint of triumph.
Mira was grateful for a diversion from the sheer confusion she was feeling then, seeing the yellow sealing circle that had blocked the power of Noel's Persona for what felt like hours snap back into visibility only to shatter into fragments. Reinvigorated, Noel ran over to Julian's fallen body, calling back Dellingr's light to revive him.
"Oh...", he managed to pant as the life returned to his eyes. "Oh hey, it's Hayato. Does that mean...?"
"Yes", Mira nodded, wishing she felt happier at the fulfillment of their goal. "She just pummeled that Shadow, so I think she's come to her senses. But, Ai-chan, she..."
"What about me now?"
The voice's honest curiosity snapped her head back up to see their leader striding back into the ruined gallery without a hint of injury, merely amusement. "Oh, and it's Saber, remember."
"Hmph." Walking in just behind her, Pelagio snorted. "Really now, how many times must we remind them of the need to use code names?"
Even as Noel dutifully cured Mira's disease as well, Aiko realized that she might actually be too shocked to fight effectively, and gave a confident smile. "Sorry about that, Dancer. Things went a bit further than we'd hoped, but everything turned out all right in the end. That's why Guardian couldn't help you here, see. He had to be in position to save me when I fell."
"After distracting the weak Shadows seeking to ambush you here", their bird-knight protector added. "They were aggravatingly persistent."
Seeing her still sputtering, Jiachi stood up and chuckled, shrugging. "Looks like you really surprised her there, eh captain? She should've known better- you're not that easy to get rid of. But I always knew you wouldn't let us down."
"Hmph. I believe we can discuss this later", Pelagio reminded him, taking up a front line position with Aiko to defend their exhausted teammates. "Firstly, this Shadow must be dealt with."
Nearly as surprisingly to her as Aiko's miraculous survival was the revelation that despite the hectic battle it had put up against them for so long, finishing off the black-cowled wraith didn't take much at all. It tried of course. Being outmatched six against one didn't stop it from dealing out the magic seals and blasts of fire and blessed light to any it saw, but sealing Reiha did nothing to stop her fists and feet tearing into the cloak, and the sole attempt it could spare to seal their main healer's power was blocked by Pelagio willingly accepting the temporary loss of Galahad.
"Why", it muttered once it sensed defeat was imminent. "Why do you betray...?"
Reiha didn't smile; even the realization of Aiko's survival hadn't shaken her gloom. "There's no betrayal. I'm the ruler of this Land. And what I say is justice... is justice. And justice is dead."
One final uppercut knocked him reeling, and then the lightning from Mira and the ice from Aiko slammed into him, simultaneously freezing and electrocuting it until the mask frosted over and shattered. The cloak fell empty, leaving nothing behind on the floor but spoiled rags.
They all stood silently for a moment, Reiha with her back turned to them, no one completely sure how to approach her after all that had happened. "Nobility", Aiko piped up at last, putting a gloved hand on her shoulder and shutting down any lingering fear that Reiha might wheel around and punch her. "After what happened six years ago, you thought that you had no future. That you were doomed. Condemned. Worthless. So you decided to sacrifice yourself to help other people. Right?"
Turning, Reiha revealed a confused frown. "Y-yeah... Kinda. Really, I just wanted a way to vent. I tried a lot of stuff to make the pain go away, but... How'd you know?"
"Because", their leader explained, quiet and calm and careful not to catch the eyes of the others as she spoke, "I've felt the same way too, sometimes. A worthless life, that I can still spend on something worthwhile."
Before the resulting silence became too strong to break, Noel stepped forward past a patch of burned carpeting. "I believe you have it backwards, Saber. Rather, it's pursuing the goals we believe have value that grant a life its worth."
Nodding, Mira brushed her tears away and smiled. "We all noticed. We're not stupid. The way you that kept on throwing yourself into harm's way to protect us, both in this world and the other one... it was like you didn't even care if you died."
"Whatevs", Jiachi waved as if trying to chase away gnats. "We all feel that way sometimes, yeah? Like there's people and things in this world you want to protect, even if you gotta face some pain to do it."
Large orb eyes watching them all as they gathered, Pelagio blinked in amusement, steel-clad arms folded. "Hmph. As though any of you have reason to act in such a way. You're all still young. From what I understand, it's improper for humans your age to think in such a way."
"Maybe", Aiko agreed with a wistful chuckle. "But if you were expecting us to be 'proper', you must've had your eyes closed for the last two months."
Reiha seemed to realize then that the Voyagers' talk wasn't only an attempt to ease her out of her gloom, but something they needed as well to defuse their tension, and emitted a happy sigh. "Looks like you managed to find some other friends after all, huh? Even got one who isn't even human by the looks of it."
Raptor eyes swiveled to face their former enemy, still intimidating even for those who knew him, his tone carefully polite. "Will that be a problem, miss Hayato?"
Smiling felt strange. Like she'd nearly forgotten how. "Not at all. I mean, less than an hour ago I considered this guy", she pointed to indicate the remains of the cloaked Shadow, "to be my friend."
Surprised, Aiko stared at the pile of ruined rags that had once been a living being, face falling. "...I'm sorry. We didn't know."
"It's fine", Reiha waved her worries away, the hardness and regret returning to her pale features. "He didn't feel the same way, obviously. I know now; all the Shadows here are just servants of the big fish... The one I brought in here with me."
She sounded like she was about to elaborate when an impossibly loud crashing noise drew their eyes up to sight of main skylight exploding even as their ears went on strike, the resulting rain of glass shards camouflaging the source of the destruction until the series of winding black cables had blasted through the gap and slammed into the carpet all around them.
"Zeppelin!", Pelagio screeched, drawing his blade and shield. "Shadows incoming!"
Sure enough, the shattering was followed by the sight of armless figures mummified in black descending on the cables, twitching randomly as they had during the Voyagers' first visit to Shirubashiti. The freakish movements only intensified when they struck the ground, writhing madly until they burst apart like fresh produce to reveal the Land's familiar gruesome Shadow protectors.
"Speak of the devil, and she'll drop her minions on you", Noel snarled, recalling Dellingr to stun the enemy with light beams before they could strike, recognizing right away that the rest of the Voyagers needed time to recover and form a proper front line. They'd only begun to manage that when the second set of cables fell down, disrupting any attempt at organizing.
The rest of them seemed to recognize that as well, instead focusing on using their Personas to clear away the Shadows immediately closest to them. Sphere-shaped nuclear flares from Galahad sent the scarred monstrosities reeling away and Oya's hurricane winds cast several airborne, while Wild Bill's fire immolated the heavier ones and Lorelei's trickery sealed the strongest of the mob before they could use their own abilities.
In thirty seconds, the confusing melee brought down half of the invading Shadows. That was also how long it took for them to notice that the cables were now snaking their way back up through the roof, into the belly hatch of the giant dirigible that had released them...
With a precious cargo in tow.
"Reiha!", Aiko shouted to be heard over the noise of battle and wounded Shadows. "Grab on! Quick!"
Realizing what was happening- what the real goal of this attack had been- the others immediately reached for the cable nearest to them, all of which had begun to quickly rise up in response. Looking down from the one she'd caught, Aiko gasped for a moment seeing that Mira's target had escaped her and was now in danger of leaving her down there all alone, surrounded by the surviving Shadows, but then she was engulfed in a locus of frenzied green before being blasted forcefully upwards, shooting past the others so that she could catch onto an empty cable in time.
A quick look around confirmed everyone else had made it safely. The only ones left were the Shadows they'd failed to destroy, who seemed at a loss now that there was no one left to attack. Before the Voyagers had managed to clear the roof, Aiko saw one of the headless knights turn on a hideous eyeless goblin, sparking a chaotic free for all with no sides or goals.
Fascinated at the sight, Julian forced himself to look up instead, observing the way the cables that had grabbed Reiha were much faster to reel in until she had disappeared. "Huh. Guess that's one way to make sure the dream doesn't end."
"By kidnapping the dreamer", Mira remarked sourly, beginning to climb up the cable towards the zeppelin before nearly falling off deciding to focus more on keeping her handhold.
"She's getting desperate", Pelagio observed quietly, carefully clinging to his cable as they rose up through the roof and into another gorgeous aerial view of the city which Reiha had named Shirubashiti. "She knows that Hayato has come to her senses. The only choice left is to keep her hostage in a place we cannot reach."
"I... think I... understand", Noel considered, looking increasingly desperate not to look down until he had no choice but to close his eyes tight and hang on. "When Hayato leaves this... place of her own will... the Shadow will... disappear."
"Are you scared of heights, Mender?", Aiko noted sympathetically across from him. "I'm sorry, this wasn't in the plan. I didn't think she'd be so up front about not letting Hayato leave. I thought she'd just ambush us at the harbor."
"Like the previous two did", Pelagio acknowledged, eyes locking into their leader's. "Captain. I'm certain you must realize that while the Shadow may not expect us following after Hayato in this way, we are still being brought into an area where the enemy holds an advantage. My transformation will be useless up there. And in this world, I cannot even fly."
"Neither can she", Aiko responded, her mind already racing to try and predict what Reiha's Shadow might try once she realized she had five unwanted passengers. It was no good. Her main experience with that tightly-dressed Shadow so far had been experiencing her skills as a torturer, both physical and mental.
Whatever threat was waiting for them inside the massive flying ship, they would meet it blind.
"Don't worry", she promised her team as the true size of it became apparent the closer they got- nearly twice the size of the normal zeppelins they'd seen so far, likely held in reserve until this critical moment. "We all knew that this was coming. There's no way shed let us leave without a fight. That cloaked Shadow was just the warm up. It's finally time... Time for the main course."
Enemy Profile #15: Throne
Arcana: Justice
Strength: Fire, Bless
Weakness: Physical, Curse
Ability: Agilao, Kouga, Hama, Sealing Circle, Virus Claw, Recarm
Background: Third of the nine classes of angels, they are angels of knowledge. Also known as the Erelim or Ophanim, they are a class of celestial beings mentioned by Paul of Tarsus in Colossians and related to the throne of God, living symbols of God's justice and authority. Despite their greatness, they are intensely humble, an attribute that allows them to dispense justice with perfect objectivity and without fear of pride or ambition.
A/N: Happy Remembrance Day all. It's certainly one I'll always remember.
So it's still up in the air if I'll be able to finish this 'arc' before the end of the year, but I do promise at least one more chapter before having to stop for a bit to deal with my 'Christmas responsibilities'. Thanks to all my reviewers- you are my motivation.
Kabuto S. Inferno: Thanks plenty! To answer your question, I've played most of the more (in)famous titles in the series after SMT IV got me hooked. My repertoire, in no particular order, is as follows:
Persona 4, Persona 5 (duh), Persona Q2, SMT IV: Apocalypse, SMT IV, Nocturne, Devil Survivor 1 & 2 (the 3DS remakes), Strange Journey Redux, Soul Hackers.
I can definitely see why many still consider Nocturne to be the best of the main series due to its unrelenting darkness and difficulty (and Dante), though here's hoping SMT V can give it a good run for that title whenever it finally comes out without carrying over some of the more obnoxious things from Nocturne like the random encounter rate or the 'if the leader dies you lose' rule. That's actually why I introduced the idea of the '1st Mate' mechanic in this ga- er, story.
Funnily enough, one of my original inspirations to write this story was this theoretical video outline for a Persona 6 by Crosspawgames: watch?v=5Wm4SpWToaU
In particular, my visual concept of Aiko Tsuruga would be nearly the same as the pale-haired female protagonist shown at 4:33 (although that checkered shirt looks weird and I'd want her to look just a bit older since she's supposed to be 16), but I think we can all agree the rest that I've written is vastly different enough that I shouldn't have to worry about any accusations of plagiarism. No Madarame here.