This story is a work of fiction. Any similarities to events or persons living or dead in your world is purely coincidental.

Every Plan That You Made

Every Time That I Stayed

Is This The War You Wanted

Or Am I The One Who's Haunted?

Is This The Dream Of Which I Dreamed?

8/9 Saturday

Afternoon

Aiko knew that she had often been criticized for having too active an imagination, by classmates and others. She could still remember the stern disapproval on the teachers' faces back in middle school for indulging in 'foolish fantasies'.

But even her wildest fantasies wouldn't have guessed at this situation unfolding before her. A massively intricate tower of gears and pulleys and pistons and lenses and devices, stationed amidst a dark ocean that all available evidence suggested was another world entirely. Standing there at the top of it, dressed in a resplendent 17th century captain's vest and cornered hat. Not merely the garb of the legendary pirate Anne Bonny, but a powerful, idealized form of it that reflected her innermost self.

Or so Igor and his assistant Bartholomew had explained anyway. They tended to be... cryptic.

Standing there in that getup, getting ready to play a strange 'game' of questions and answers with a schoolmate of hers who now fancied himself some kind of deity. In her strangest nights she could never have dreamed of it, but here it was. She realized now that it was weird things like this that always kept her coming back to this strange world called Faraway Lands. Just to see what was next.

Of course, she hadn't forgotten that persistent proverb about curiosity and cats...

"We'll trade questions", she declared, turning back to the enormous golden head of her opponent, Shukiji Niyoga, a 3rd year student at the very top of his class. Some kind of metaphor there, but I have no idea what. "If I answer your question wrong, then feel free to throw whatever you like at me."

"Yes. That sounds fair", Shukiji nodded to her, his interest finally caught by her. The rumors of his fondness for intellect-based games like Shogi or Chess were not exaggerated after all. Naturally, he would be an expert-level player at all of them. She couldn't help but remember Futaba Sakura's own blunt analysis of him: Consistently the top-graded student at Koashimizu academy for three years running. Possesses strong antisocial tendencies. "Purely hypothetically... What happens if I answer your questions wrong?"

Aiko smiled coldly back at him. From what she'd seen so far, he seemed to take that kind of thing better than any compassion she could give him. "I don't think you'll do that. The only way to do that would be if you lie. So just don't lie, and we'll be fine, m'kay?"

The lenses along the sides of the room flashed into luminous life, as they had before. The closest one to her displayed its message: 'What do the lysomes in a cell do?'

Despite knowing it would probably be pointless, Aiko studied the message, pretending to think it over. Need to buy more time. As much as I possibly can.

"...They clean the cells." No one in the tower was surprised when the lens flashed a glaring alarm red.

"Wrong answer", Shukiji gloated. "Here is your penalty!"

A new Shadow arose from the empty floor space. A new sight, yet familiar: It was the black crocodile covered in chains that had helped defeat her friends in battle less than two weeks ago.

Truly, had that only been two weeks? Less? It felt like an eternity had passed since then.

The crocodile's toothy maw opened to unleash a blasting shockwave of disturbed earth, leaving a deep trench in its wake that Shukiji had to repair, the pristine glass surface renewing itself. "This Shadow must be really annoying for you to clean up after, huh?", Aiko commented after dodging the attack and refocusing her own, tipping her hat. "Strike, Matador!"

As she'd hoped, the Shadow was vulnerable to the skeletal Persona's blistering winds, falling back in a way that exposed its soft underbelly to a sword strike. It didn't fall immediately, even deploying a strong healing skill to restore itself, but Aiko simply repeated the same combination again to destroy it permanently this time.

The golden head of Shukiji stared down aghast at the defeated reptile. The earlier wrath on his face was surprisingly absent... and she had a pretty good notion as to why.

He sounded far more exasperated than angry, repairing the damage the fight had done to the tower's roof before turning his gaze back on her. "I can see", he sighed, "that this is going to take us a while, isn't it?"

"Maybe", she shrugged. "Not like you've got anything better to do, right? My question next."

"Go ahead then."

"...Why do you hate me?"

For the first time since he could remember, Jiachi studied the waves beneath them. That way, he could pretend he was watching for the Reaper to return instead of admitting that this waiting was beginning to fray his patience.

"Is it time yet?", he asked the empty air.

"I will tell you when it is time, sir Rosea", Pelagio's voice sounded infuriatingly calm, just as he had the last two times he'd asked. "We discussed this earlier. We are to wait exactly twenty minutes before changing course. That will give the captain enough time to successfully distract Niyoga."

"What if we're wrong though? What if he just gets pissed off and blitzes her? He could be torturing her right now!"

Reiha gripped his shoulder to stop him, forcing him to gaze back. "Hey. You don't need to worry so much. If Guardian can wait..."

"Then I can wait", he finished irritably. "Fine, fine, I get the point. Geez."

"Furthermore", Mira pointed out, emerging from the lower decks, "that would completely go against what we've learned of Niyoga-kun's character, as well as what Mender's told us about him. He's not into torture. He never has been."

"Back when he was just a high school student, maybe", he argued more quietly. "He's changed now. He's different."

"Uh-huh", Reiha chuckled harshly, adjusting the brim of her witch's hat. "And so were we. Weren't we? We all changed."

Mira automatically looked like she wanted to steer clear of this conversation completely, but even if the deck of their ship had considerably expanded in size since the beginning it still held few actual hiding spots. Particularly when they were supposed to remain alert, ready to change course as soon as Pelagio told them it was time to move.

"We were", she admitted reluctantly. "Words of deception filled my ears from the Shadows' lips, beckoning me to stay there in my new home, forever. I knew that pain would follow if I returned."

"Pain?", Reiha frowned. "What? Did you think people would hurt you if you came back? I didn't see anyone attacking you back then, Dancer."

"No. Not that way", she corrected, trying not to roll her eyes. While it came up infrequently enough not to be a nuisance, their newest teammate did have an excessively literal way of looking at events sometimes. "Admitting that I was wrong. Coming back to make up with everyone, and apologizing. Not just to my papa, but to everyone else too."

"Yeah", Julian agreed in commiseration. "I get it. Honestly, I was amazed by how chill everyone was about it when I got back home. Sure, my mom and my old man were both angry and really clingy after, but that's only to be expected, yeah? It definitely wasn't as bad as I imagined it would go."

Cheered up, Mira smiled grimly at him. "That is always the case, isn't it? It couldn't possibly be as bad as we always worry it could be. It's just our minds jumping to the worst possible outcome. It's fear. Fear of the future."

"Fear", Reiha seemed to understand a bit better. "Right. Living in our own world is always gonna be scarier than our Lands. That's the whole point, aight? We get a whole place all to ourselves, that conforms to our wants." Turning, she made a face out at the bleak orange horizon before them. "Funny how I'd actually hate to go back there now, to my city of Shirubashiti."

"Well, I did tell ya", Jiachi shrugged. "Yeah, I'm sure not eager to ever go back to 'Freedom Gulch' either. Way too many bad memories there now."

"How strange", Mirambela considered more quietly, one finger to her lips. "I don't recall giving ever my Land a name as you two did. I simply referred to it with the same name as my village, my home: M'bali."

"M'bali", Reiha repeated, sounding the strange name out before glancing at the distant tower. "Wonder if Niyoga gave a name to that place too?"

"Ooh. How about 'The Tower of Prideful Genius'?", Jiachi suggested jokingly. "Or like, 'The Brainbuster'? Ooh, ooh, or 'The Synapspire'! Ohohoh, I'm pretty damn good at this!"

Giggling at his antics, Mira shook her head to clear it. "We've all tried our best to understand Niyoga-kun, and predict his mind and what he'll do. But we can't always predict everything. It's enough to know that right now, at this time... he feels the same way that we all used to feel back then, when we took our Lands." Seeing the same memories on their faces as she spoke, she knew they understood. "Alone. Angry. Filled with despair."

That sober realization was enough to quiet them down for a while. Then Julian spoke:

"Is it time yet?"

"I told you before, I will tell you when it's time for us to-"

The seas exploded beneath them, a surging wave pressing them back until they could recover themselves and resume their course.

And see the ship that had emerged.

"The Reaper? Is he back again?"

"No", Pelagio's voice came to them, no less alarmed for it. "That is not the Reaper. I do not feel the same deathly presence from it. This is a different vessel."

Their eyes could tell them that much once they were finally able to look past the curtain of displaced water and see for themselves. The new arrival wasn't nearly as large or long as the Reaper's ship, but it looked formidable all the same. Golden plating clad most of it, the surfaces traced with a patternless myriad of spirals. Beneath a wide observation deck lay a set of four round hatches that likely housed cannons or some other weapon, several more of them adorning the front of the hull.

But far more striking than any of that was the strange feel they all got from it. Somehow, it hurt their brains to look it at for too long, and yet some part of them was drawn back, some unconscious desire to stare at it forever after until it no longer mattered.

"Xibalba", Reiha named the hideous gold ship, her eyes narrowing. "It came to Shirubashiti too, to retrieve Samesaji when we fought him."

"Masked Circle!", Jiachi whispered before remembering his role. "Get down below! Open fire!"

Pelagio's voice wasn't so certain though. "Are you sure? They outgun us. And we are technically observing a truce with them."

"Truce, schmuce!", their auxiliary captain snarled, taking up his position at the wheel. "I'm pretty damn sure they just tried to ram us!"

"Actually, they were merely emerging from a Breach. But you are the captain."

"Not just that", Reiha called out, pointing out beyond the stern. "Look at where they're headed!"

He stared. They all did, seeing the way the Xibalba was ignoring them, instead heading straight for Shukiji's clockwork tower.

"Well", Jiachi lamented enough for all of them. "So much for plan B."

The question clearly came to Shukiji as a great surprise, in more ways than one. He took a minute to process it before that looming golden head turned back to her. "...I don't hate you, Tsuruga."

"You don't hate me?", she deliberately sounded confused by his answer before letting loose some very genuine, unfeigned anger. "Then what exactly do you call singling me out among my friends, forcing me to answer questions you know I'll probably fail, and punishing them every time I do? Knowing how much that would hurt me?"

That sudden display of intense emotion hardly threw him. "That... was not hatred. That was a demonstration. A demonstration that until now, I had believed shown you the truth. That you are unfit to lead this expedition into the new world."

"I've never heard anyone describe it that way before", she considered. "Let me rephrase the question then: Why do you hate girls?"

Once again the question caught him off guard, if only for a moment. "...I don't hate girls either. They irritate me, that's all."

"Why?"

Shu smiled knowingly. "That's three questions now, Tsuruga. A bit unfair, wouldn't you agree?"

"Fine", she dropped her gloved hands to her sides. "You're right. Your turn then."

The lenses flashed, drawing her attention back to them and the message on the second one: 'What material is the 100 yen coin made from?'

She didn't even pretend to try this time. "Wafer-thin mints."

Naturally, her answer was wrong. The lens flashed red, and a new Shadow appeared. One they'd never seen before, a red-skinned warrior-type whose shining armor appeared to have strong Greco-Roman inspirations, a dramatic blue cape flaring out behind him as he prepared a heavy-looking sword and round bronze shield.

"Tough one", she acknowledged, reaching inwards to shift Personas yet again. This time, the tiny white and blue pixie known as Jack Frost came out to aid her. While she dared not take her focus off this enemy- or the act of calling on her Persona's power against it- she heard an unmistakable hum of surprise from her 'host'.

"And so you summon a tiny fanged imp who is barely able to defend you?!"

There was no time to answer him verbally- the Shadow brought its weapon down, forcing her to block it before striking back with the elemental ice skills the Persona granted her. As she'd hoped, that was enough to make it clear that Jack Frost was hardly for show.

Her opponent hardly seemed impressed though, bracing with the shield before unleashing the distinct bright blue domed-shaped blasts that Aiko had sent enough time fighting alongside Pelagio to recognize as the 'Nuclear' element.

Not much of a surprise that it exists here, she considered in the brief fleeting moments where she could think and fight at the same time. Even if very few people have ever seen a real nuclear weapon in action, the history books and videos alone are enough to prove its absolute power.

Many times she'd read about the various effects being the very first nation to be subjected to nuclear warfare had on Japan's people and culture, effects which it was theorized had created the limitations placed on the SDF and would likely outlast even the fallout from the weapons. If anything, Nuclear should be the strongest of all the elements in this world.

Even now, she had seen the effects of nuclear weapons on her people's psyche firsthand not so long ago. It was Daisuke Kujou. He disliked all other nations on principle, but he seemed to harbor an especially extreme hatred for the Americans. Strange that Pelagio, a sworn guardian, would use that destructive element... but then, the same goes for Nijima.

And they weren't only ones either. She had access to it too, one of the various Personas she'd developed for this 'test'... but that one would not be of any use to her here. Instead, she skipped back from the creature's returning downward slash, reaching again for her hat to change. "Let your siren's voice ring out, Asherah!"

The new Persona produced yet another wincing reaction from Shukiji, and for a moment Aiko grinned. This one was certainly an eye-catcher, but it had been so powerful that she couldn't pass it up. A large, divinely beautiful woman with extremely long blond hair dangling down past her head and waist, but seemingly clad in something skintight and white, displaying a seemingly chaotic pattern of black lines all across her body. She bore only an obsidian club weapon that looked like a twisted tree branch, but was actually volcanic glass.

But that branch wasn't the reason she'd been chosen. Instead, at Aiko's command the Persona unleashed a blast of flame from her lips, one bearing the same vague rose-like shape as the powerful technique that Jiachi had unleashed against her when they'd fought. Agidyne. That's the name. The strongest fire skill. I'm glad Jiachi isn't here to see me use this. He'd be upset that I was 'showing him up' copying his skill.

The armored Shadow's shield came up again to block, but that was only enough to prevent the resulting blast from completely consuming it. By then, she was already inside its guard and striking through with clean cutlass stab until it finally toppled, its handsome red face a grimace of pain before it faded completely.

"I can't answer that question yet", Aiko proclaimed, turning back to her host. "Rules are rules. You still have to answer mine."

Reminded of the rules of their strange 'game', Shukiji nodded back. "As you say, Tsuruga."

"And no lying, remember."

He seemed amused by the suggestion, yet took his time thinking, formulating an answer. "Well. I suppose it's not your fault. Not entirely. Your bodies and brains are just designed that way. Natural biology at work. Designed so that you'll be more likely to desire and seek out a mate."

"Ummm... thank you? I guess?" She had to remind herself that this sort of bluntness was standard issue for Koashimizu's 'rumor king', especially now that he'd attained power of his own.

"But", he admitted, looking into the skies above instead of into her, "I can't help but feel disgusted. Those chemicals- your hormones- they do their job far too well. When you hit our age, they dominate your brains completely. You all become vapid, airheaded, obsessed with appearance... Luring in handsome boys is all you ever seem to think about. It becomes all you ever talk about. Finding attractive clothing becomes a goal more important than any kind of academic success, school is merely a distraction... and even that action is ultimately in service of attracting a mate."

For once, she wasn't sure what to say. She'd had hints of what the answer might be, but never heard anyone voice it quite that way before. Shukiji had never said so many words at once within her hearing.

"For a time", he continued, "I believed that you might be different, Tsuruga. But the truth is, you're really just like all the others. You care nothing for knowledge or logic or achievements. Your only concern is the next handsome boy you're going to cozy up with."

Ordinarily she would be offended. But she'd done her research, and come in expecting something like this from Shu. At least he didn't straight up call me a 'bimbo'. That's the nicest way of saying it I've ever heard. Or at least the most complicated.

And because she'd done her research, the answers came to her easily for once. "Ayano Furusato", she spoke the name firmly. "And... Chisao Nanjo." Seeing his abject surprise at her mention of the second name, she nodded. "The only two girls you were ever friends with. And they both left, didn't they?"

He recovered quickly however, frowning at the memory. "Is that your next question?"

"No", Aiko conceded, chuckling. "Rules are rules. I'll answer your question first, then. Yes, Jack Frost is prolly my weakest Persona. I don't use him very much anymore. But... I can't just get rid of him. He's just too cute!"

Which of course produced another guttural noise of exasperation from her 'host'. "Typical", he seethed. "Well, you answered correctly. Ask your question, then."

Hardly intimidated any more, Aiko stared up into the golden head, focusing on the objective once more. "Chisao Nanjo. The one before Ayano Furusato. The one you met at the Shogi club. The only one who ever beat you, right?"

"Is that your question?"

She shrugged nonchalantly. "Sure, why not?"

"She", the golden avatar stammered, for once at a loss, "She... Nanjo-chan did not defeat me. She... she was simply the only one who was any sort of challenge to me. The only one who understood the fundamentals of the game, and how to be strategic in your planning."

"Also", she continued, "the only one who was, well... I have her 1st year picture here."

The picture was small and made even smaller by thick white borders, but thankfully it wasn't interfered with like a cell phone would be. The girl in it had dark blue-toned hair framing her face, but far more noticeable than anything else about it was how unusually bloated and blemished that face really was. It wasn't an attractive face by any stretch of the imagination, and it certainly was not a happy one.

"Eating disorder", she observed. "Some kind of chemical imbalance that made her constantly hungry. Constantly eating. Leading to her becoming extremely overweight."

A regular-sized face might have hidden how perturbed he was by the picture, but the giant avatar could hide nothing, not even the smallest facial tic. "Where... where did you find that?"

"Is that your question?"

Considering it for a moment, he actually laughed, duplicating her earlier carelessness. "Sure, why not? Rules are rules."

"Mender had it", Aiko explained calmly. "It was her yearbook picture, but he saved a copy of it on his phone. Along with his pictures of you, and of Furusato-chan. Phones don't work in this world though, so we had to print it."

The very sight of the photo seemed to be poison to Shukiji. No one could have missed how eager he was not to look at it... and Aiko knew that it wasn't because the picture was unattractive.

"People shunned her for her appearance, her fat. So she joined the club, trying to find a place where people didn't judge her. And that's when she met you."

"But not for very long", Shukiji mused, shaking his giant head in dismissal. "They cured her, in the end. Figured out the medicine that would get her body's chemical imbalances back to normal."

"And she burned off the weight just as quickly", Aiko observed, sounding sad despite the achievement. "But it wasn't long after that she left the Shogi club, was it? And then you left at the same time."

"The medicine", he grumbled, focusing back on the dark sky above. "She lost her weight. And she also lost the ability to see me. Suddenly, I didn't exist to her."

"The only time any girl showed interest in you", she acknowledged bleakly. The story had been difficult to piece together, but it made much more sense than the bizarre 'cover story' of Shukiji leaving the club out of wounded pride because Chisao had beaten him in a game.

She felt the sensation of concentrated rage before looking back up at the head. While it had technically been her goal to reach this point, it didn't make the feeling any less easy to bear, any more than it had been for Mira, or Julian, or Reiha.

Shukiji's normally presentable face had contorted, entering something between rage and jovial sarcasm, bitter satire of the darkest, most loathing kind.

"Oh, but don't you see, Tsuruga? All this stuff we're talking about... it's the will of God. It's the will of God that Chisao lost the ability to see me. It's the will of God that my mother died in front of me. It's the will of God that my father became a lying cripple. It's the will of God that I be cursed with a hideous body shorter than everyone else my age. It's the will of God that they look at me with revulsion and disgust, the will of God that they treat me like I am less than human. It's the will of God that I will never, ever know a woman's touch!"

His ranting heightened along with the size of the head, transforming into furious screams that shook the tower, shook the very skies above.

"It's the will of God that I will never have children. It's the will of God that I have to watch thousands of clueless imbeciles destroy themselves around me, and be helpless to stop it... until now!"

Barking out one last, crazed laugh, he refocused his gaze on her, as his voice descended into an animal's furious growl. "No more GAMES. Get out of here, Tsuruga. I have important research to do on the new world. Leave my home, and never return. If I ever see you again, I will kill you."

Aiko knew she must have looked stunned. She could say nothing.

Fortunately, she wasn't alone up here. Not this time.

"You are wrong, Niyoga", the new arrival's normally gentle voice sounded as firm as the one he addressed. "For once, your answer is incorrect. Perhaps there should be a penalty?"

Turning, the glowing head spotted the source standing silhouetted against the sky.

"Vitienne", he snarled furiously. "Of course, Vitienne. You heard me. What I said to her also applies to you. Get out NOW. You're not wanted here any more. Either of you."

But the Dream Voyagers' devoted healer, dressed in legitimate robes instead of a mere store-bought costume, shook his head. "You would threaten your friend?"

"We're not friends. Not any more. I have no need for friends. Friends are useless."

"Wrong again", Noel insisted. "For the same reason as before."

The golden avatar screamed, swelled even larger and more intimidating and for a moment Aiko thought it might engulf Noel entirely... and yet, it stopped short before that happened.

Mender didn't even flinch from it. And slowly, the giant head descended, gradually shifting back to its original size.

"'There is no knowledge that you should not possess'", Noel quoted calmly. "Including the knowledge of how we tricked you. You will not kill either of us until we reveal that answer. That's why you've played this little game with the captain for as long as you have."

After a pause, Shukiji glared back at him. "I could force one of you to tell me now, by threatening to kill the other."

"But you won't", his old friend countered. "That's not what you do, any more than I do. Besides... There's no need for you to make threats. Not with us."

"He's right", Aiko chipped in when she saw Shu hesitate to attack. "I'll even tell you now, if you want."

Suspicion was a natural fit for Shukiji's messy face, and for a moment he looked like he might summon another Shadow to test them... but in the end, he turned back to Aiko, glowing eyes searching her for any sign of a lie. "I have to know. How did you know that 'Gunslinger' would hold to his end of the bargain during your battle?"

Satisfied that the plan had worked, she took a moment to respond. "Well... I didn't, really. Not at first. When we started out, I totally thought that he was trying to unseat me, and take over the team. Almost wanted him to, at the time."

"Yes", the avatar grumbled visibly. "He can't help but be an insecure little show-off. After all."

Like you're one to talk, she almost shot back, but blocked the impulse. "But about halfway through, I got it. I figured out what he was actually trying to do." Knowing how her answer might go down, she still couldn't help herself, smiling lightly beneath the brim of her cap, like one who was ready to stir a hornet's nest and run. Or was it a different reason? "I guess you could say... I had faith in him."

"What?! Faith...?"

"Yeah", she nodded, her smile only growing. "Faith. I have faith in all my friends. They'd never turn on me like that. I knew Gunslinger had to be trying to accomplish something else with that fight, and so I played along with him to the end."

"You just... knew? Where was your data to support this conclusion?!"

"I just knew", she repeated back in exactly the same astonished cadence, her expression softening. "Niyoga-kun... I know that you used to have faith in people too. And sure, after what happened to you with Nanjo and Furusato and even your own father, maybe you feel like placing your faith in all of them was wrong. But that doesn't mean you can just give up. No matter how smart you might be, you can't accomplish what you're trying to do alone. None of us can."

"It was never my intention to offend you with Furusato-chan", Noel stepped forward as well, his face bleak. "You seemed content that we would be together, and expressed no desire for anything further than the friendship you had with her. If I was wrong about that, then I apologize, mein freunde."

The head shook for a moment, but showed no signs of an attack, instead merely studying the transparent floor they both stood on, large eyes almost completely veiled. "Damn it. Damn it, Vitienne... No matter how many times... I never was angry with you. No. Never."

When neither spoke, he veered back up, chuckling. "It was Furusato. You gave that stupid feather-brained girl everything she ever could have asked for, and she threw it all away. She didn't even care about your feelings, or mine. To her, we didn't even matter. Just like Nanjo."

Despite the suppressed anger in his friend's words, Noel actually looked relieved. "There is still much we still have to learn about Furusato-chan's reasons for coming to this world and remaining here." Turning downward as his friend had, he shook his head, grabbing the cap of his outfit. "Part of the reason I joined this crew is the chance, however faint, that I might learn the truth of that. For myself, if no other reason. A selfish goal, I know."

"Mender...", Aiko whispered.

"Yet, I still hold onto hope."

"'The most powerful human trait'", Shukiji echoed, eyes narrowed. "So you keep telling me. But I always bring the data to support my beliefs, Vitienne. It wasn't just Nanjo or Furusato. It's hundreds of them. I keep my ears open to the winds at school, and so I inevitably have to listen to endless chatter, and learn of their plans."

His rancor returning, his avatar swiveled back to Aiko in accusation. "That one is no different, I would wager. For her, the only thing that matters is finding an attractive mate to cozy up to."

"But you're wrong", Noel affirmed, nodding silently to his captain. "She's very different. Different from any of the others, in so many ways. That's the other reason you can't kill her, at least not yet. You're still gathering data on her abilities here, her 'Wild Card' power. The power to change into different Personas at will. You need to learn more about it before you kill her."

As usual, as they'd planned, curiosity over the unknown deflated Shukiji's rage. Even his rage towards her. "So that's what you call it. And you say this power is unique only to her?"

"We know only one other person who ever possessed the Wild Card", Noel admitted. "The leader of the Phantom Thieves. Regardless, it's an extremely rare power. In a world composed of cognition and dreams, that's your data. That's your proof. Proof that Tsuruga-chan's mind works slightly differently from the rest of us. Proof that she's not the hormone-controlled fool you believe her to be."

The words could have been taken as an insult or compliment, she knew. But she also knew Noel's intent for them, before he had even opened his mouth to defend her.

"It's not like I knew it from the start", she shrugged nervously. "I had to practice for a long time and learn how to use it properly. But I can now. Now, I can change to and use different Personas' powers whenever I want. Inti, Matador, Jack Frost, Tam Lin, Lorelei, Simurgh, Asherah... I can even change some Shadows into new ones sometimes."

"The Persona is the power of the true self", Noel reminded him. "At least, that's what the Phantom Thieves told us about it. What does it tell us about Tsuruga-chan. then... that she is able to shift between so many different Personas in that way?"

Any hint of his earlier malevolence was faded now, buried beneath a rapidly growing curiosity, and Shukiji cocked an eye at her. "The data is... inconclusive. More information is needed."

"And", Noel continued, "are you not doing the same thing as Furusato-chan with this, mein freunde? Leaving our world, our home, in favor of this one?"

That one hit square on, Aiko could already tell. She knew now, beyond any doubt, that while this glowing avatar normally copied Shukiji's expressions, it always failed to copy any sign of tear duct activity. In Shukiji's mind, tears represented weakness. And so, he never allowed anyone to see his if he could. But it was enough, now, to know that they were there.

"I...", he recovered breathily, "I... I didn't do what she did. I didn't enter this world willingly. There was another person, who threw me in here. It was-"

A peal of alarms deafened her to the last word. Thankfully, after three repetitions they stopped, and were replaced by Shukiji's concerned expression and words. "We have an intruder. Another intruder. One of yours?"

"I don't think so", Aiko denied, as surprised as he was. What? It's not twenty-five minutes yet. Who could this be? Damn it, we were so freakin' close... They screwed up our plan!

"The first floor's guards have already been destroyed", Shukiji observed, oddly calm. "Hm. As have the sensor lenses. Locking down the main lift now."

That was all she needed to hear in order to act. Destroying the lenses wasn't part of the plan. "Activate one of the outside lifts", she recommended. "I'll take it down, find out who it is."

"There's no need for that", Shu claimed confidently. "My Shadow guards will stop this intruder."

"If they can", she argued back. "But if they lose..."

The avatar's sigh could have carried an entire world's worth of exaggeration... but he nodded in the end. "If you must. Go to the east lift. It will take you down to the third floor."

"Both of us", Noel corrected, running to catch up to her with an expression that permitted no argument.

The trip was shockingly efficient. Last time she'd taken one of the external lifts, Aiko had been too distraught to notice, but now she did. There was almost no time at all to wonder who the new intruder might be before the next door swung open with a mechanical groan, allowing them onto the large circular chamber dominating the third floor of the tower.

At first, the room was completely, unnervingly silent. Noel was just about to speak when the very walls seemed to implode from the impact, glass shattering and clockwork breaking apart in a din worse than the alarms, sending the robed healer sprawling across the transparent floor and skidding to a halt near a pillar.

"Mender!"

He felt like he was only just barely out, still with a good healthy pulse in his neck. Aiko was about to switch to a healer Persona anyway when another noise demanded her attention.

It was another wall panel caving in, its shards collapsing down onto the floors below. Yet she'd seen for herself that the transparent substance covering the Land, whatever it might be, was clearly far stronger than any type of glass. The damage caused another chunk of renaissance machinery to fall out of its housing, smashing into the floor as if to prove her point.

Then she saw it. Saw the figure climbing though the self-created hole in the wall. Veiled in smoke from some previous battle, yet unmistakable.

And still, she had difficulty comprehending what she was seeing walking through and onto the main platform.

The intruder's garment actually looked beautiful at a distance. A shimmering, lustrous neon green gown, regal and commanding and flowing all the way around and down her arms, yet flexible enough to allow full movement. A gray marble tiara accentuated it, styling curly ebony-black hair into something from a long-departed age of nobility.

Yet, the closer they came to each other, the more details Aiko saw that made her want to hurl. The texture of the gown looked like nothing she could easily recognize. Instead of a single layer, it seemed to be composed of several overlapping ones, as if covering prior gaps and rips. Closer still, and she could see the way that the knees and shoulders actually looked to be composed of matching sets of jagged teeth, teeth from some ancient predatory beast she didn't care to ever meet. That was enough to draw back memories of other things, like the feel and texture of the coral samples she'd collected for Dr. Spica.

Then she was close enough finally see the eyes. Nominally open but motionless as if they were just decorations. Only occasionally would one of them twitch, alive. They lined both sides of the gown, the sides of the arms, four more of them creating a line down to the navel, and one more larger one adorning the dress' neckpiece like some kind of grotesque living pendant. Which was enough to make Aiko realize in shock that the garment wasn't actually composed of any kind of recognizable fabric. Her own eyes and memories and instincts were screaming were telling her exactly what it was made of.

Flesh. Overlapping, rippling layers of living azure flesh, the teeth suggesting a harvest from some nautical creature. She tried to think back, and remember a Shadow whose appearance had filled her with this much revulsion, this much disgust, and failed completely.

Of course, that might have been something else. Such as the pretty cupid's bow face of the intruder, whose identity could no longer be denied.

"Hello, Tsuruga", Benihime Kujou offered up the eager, predatory smile of one who had waited years for a single moment in time to arrive. "It's been a long time, hasn't it?"

Julian lurched back, wonder if he'd missed losing his lunch. "Okay", he bit out, trying not to faint. "This? This is on me. Feel free to take it out on me later."

Groaning, Reiha pulled herself up off the smoke-blown deck. "Write that down, Guardian. I'm not sure I'll remember it right when the time comes. I'm so going to hit you later."

"I think he has a few more important things to worry about right now", Mira panted. Pausing, she blinked. "You can still hear us, correct?"

The voice answering her sounded ragged, injured: "Of... course. That was... my... not pleasant."

While the firepower of the Xibalba was certainly inferior to the Reaper's ship, the last few minutes had made it clear that it still exceeded theirs. Significantly. Before long, the plan had changed from stopping the ship's advance towards the Land at any cost to merely pacing it, trying to land as many shots as possible without becoming too engulfed by the return fire constantly smashing into them.

Still, it had been bad. Worse than he could have imagined. For a brief grim moment, he had thought they'd had it. Leviathan Shadows had damaged Pelagio's hull before, but never this badly. By the time they'd given up the chase completely, Pelagio's sails were tattered rags, the crow's nest had fallen apart completely and the deck had more gaps in it than stable space. Without being asked, Mira called on Oya to begin using her healing powers to repair the worst of the damage.

"Of course they get the bigger, nastier ship", he managed one last complaint. "Maintain course."

Mira looked up at him like he'd gone crazy. "On other side of the island", he corrected himself. "Where they can't blast us."

The maddening golden ship didn't even try, perhaps content with having won their 'race' to the shore. They saw no sign of disembarking yet, but Julian drew a revolver and aimed it out of habit. "That's not the only thing they have that's bigger than ours", Mira reminded him gently. "If that's Prince Taurus there..."

"Right", he growled. It wasn't his nature to ever back down from a fight, but he also wasn't forgetting how that particular fight had gone any time soon. Taurus- otherwise known as Ryuken Samesaji- had spent ten minutes pummeling them, tearing them down with his Persona's superior power. No matter what they threw at him he'd kept on coming, only faltering when Joker- Akira Kurusu- of the Phantom Thieves joined the battle.

The fact that all their lives had been saved by Kurusu's unexpected arrival rankled. The fact that he was weak to Taurus' main element of ice rankled worse.

But no matter how badly it annoyed him, no matter how much he'd improved since then, and no matter how badly he wanted to show that to Prince Taurus if he so happened to be on that ship today... now wasn't the time.

As they made their own way off, allowing a weary but undeterred Pelagio to revert to his smaller armored form, he spotted another figure appearing out of the darkness of the Xibalba. One without the distinctive horns of Taurus' heavy battle armor.

He'd never seen this one before. At first he thought it might be some kind of servant, a woman of average height dressed in a formal kimono from centuries past and clad in a face-concealing mask. However, no others emerged following her... and Aiko's brief description made it clear who they were facing now on the ground floor of the tower.

"Lady Scorpio", he called out, not bothering to try to hide. He felt subtle distortions in the air indicating that Mira, Pelagio and Reiha were all calling their Personas; his was already there. "So this is your truce, eh?"

The voice sounded younger than expected, if clearly an adult. The strange lack of movement on the mask's frozen lips when the sound reached them threw him for a moment. "Dear children. Let me assure you that this act is not one we authorized. This is the act of our newest member. A renegade."

"And I have several awesome bridges I'd like to sell ya", Jiachi countered easily, reaching down to his gun belt by instinct.

"So this one is their leader?", Reiha observed cautiously, knowing even less of Scorpio than the others.

"As far as we know", Mira noted, not daring to take her eyes off the enemy Persona-user. "Taurus answers to her at least. She's the manager of the Karma club."

"And the one who called for our current truce", Scorpio emphasized, folding her sleeves together. "A truce that Queen Aquarius threatens. But I have come to put an end to that now. There's no need for you to interfere."

"Maybe if you offer us something for those bridges?"

He studied the entryway as he spoke, and the more he looked the more damage he saw. Someone had already blasted their way through the main gate that led to the lift. There were more signs of fighting further in: broken wall segments, shattered lenses and several curved slashes in the floor. So maybe she is telling the truth and this is a renegade. Just means we should get in there to help take her down.

He felt Mira's arm clutching his shoulder, holding him back, and knew what answer she wanted. Reiha and Pelagio looked more eager to fight, but no matter how often they questioned and mocked him he knew they also would follow his order either way.

He couldn't just let Scorpio walk into the tower though. Removing one revolver, he spun it idly in front of the motionless mask. "You can prolly tell our leader's in there already. We were here first. Got any complaints if we go in instead? In the spirit of, y'know, 'truce'?"

He was amazed to see Scorpio actually stop her movement towards the entrance and face him, as though she were truly considering his offer. "...Perhaps. But as much as she might have earned it with this betrayal, I don't wish to see Queen Aquarius killed."

"And we don't want to see our captain killed", Pelagio snarled back. "Move out of the way."

Reiha was a bit more subtle about it. She drew closer to Jiachi, whispering in his ear: "We can't trust her! She's as crazy as Taurus was. Maybe more. We can take her. We take her now, the Masked Circle dies."

"And if we can't, we die", he whispered back just as harshly. Scorpio hadn't summoned Cleopatra yet, but he could feel its lingering presence, held in reserve behind the mask. "She's at least as strong as Prince Taurus was. Maybe with the captain and Mender here I'd risk it, but..."

"Not now", Mira agreed. Then, she shocked them both by stepping past them, her arms devoid of any weapon, her Persona relaxed. "What if we promise not to kill her? In the name of the truce?"

The masked woman paused, head tilted. "Your terms are... acceptable. So long as I am the one to take her back with me."

Turning, Mira looked at him. At him. Waiting for his choice to go along with it or not.

And if he was wrong, and Scorpio was just waiting to stab them in the back and they died, it, like the previous unpleasant sea battle, would be his fault.

You know what? Being the captain really stinks.

But it was his role to play right now. Until the moment Aiko returned to them, the call was his to make. And he didn't have to think very hard to know what call she would have made.

"Witch and Guardian will go and help the captain", Jiachi announced at last, sounding almost broken for a moment. "Dancer, we'll stay here with our 'guest'. To make sure she doesn't try anything."

He could feel a faint sense of amusement from Scorpio at the idea they could do anything at all to stop her, but the decision was made. It would have been even worse to go back on it now. They all waited until Pelagio and Reiha were out of sight before resuming.

"So you are the '1st mate' of this group", she focused back on him, seemingly content to stand motionless. "Yes, you do remind me a bit of Taurus that way. Not a major thinker, but loyal and strong. The best kind of subordinate to have."

"Don't think I didn't notice you calling me dumb", he said. The worst part of it was how genuine she sounded. Complimentary. Like she was actually choosing to make small talk while their captain might be fighting, might be dying. Like it was appropriate to talk to an enemy that way. I mean I'd expect it if this was some sort of shonen manga, but not before we fought for a bit at least.

Fortunately, he had Mira there with him, to compensate for his moment of speechlessness. "And you're the organizer of the Masked Circle", she remarked, staring into the metal visage without flinching. "If what happened here is what you say, then isn't that proof that not everyone is meant to have a Persona?"

The argument didn't remove any of the older woman's courteous tone. "Not everyone can have a Persona, child. Only those who are worthy of one. And while I must say I'm greatly disappointed with Queen Aquarius' actions today, the fact remains that she has a Persona. Quite a powerful one at that. It's my duty to encourage and nurture as many of them as I can, to better prepare humanity for the future ahead. That is our Salvation."

Jiachi sat back, holstering his weapons. The two of them could talk. If there was any sign of a sneak attack from Lady Scorpio, he would be ready. Whatever terrible powers her Persona held, his quick-draw speed remained absolutely unrivaled.

He was amazed however at how easily Mira and Scorpio were able to settle into a peaceful conversation however. It was almost enough to forget how the encounter with Taurus had gone after they'd finished talking then.

"What you are doing", she argued with their enemy, "isn't nurturing. Your 'Salvation' will lead to a lot of innocent people being consumed by Shadows!"

"Only the ones who lack a Persona", Scorpio reminded her, now sounding almost like a disciplining mother. Like she pitied the ones who couldn't see things her way. "Think of it. Think of how you all were before your Awakenings. Those poor, unfortunate souls... they lack the very thing that gives us a deeper reason for being, for acting. Is it not mercy, to relieve them of such empty, purposeless existence?"

"No. You are wrong. Every life is precious", Mira maintained sternly. "Everyone. And as long as you continue to threaten them, manipulate them... then our 'truce' is going to end some day. You know this."

"All truces end in time", Scorpio spread her arms in surrender. "That is a universal truth, whether for people or nations. But I would prefer ours not to just yet. As would you, clearly."

Seeing Mira wince at that, Jiachi knew why. It wasn't hard to guess the likely result of the end of their 'truce'. While Lady Scorpio was supposedly unable to leave her club in the real world, nothing was stopping Taurus or King Leo- or even this new Queen Aquarius woman- from attacking them in reality. A truce benefited them much more than it did the Masked Circle... which was the reason why Aiko had agreed to it in the first place.

But Mira seemed reluctant to let it go at that. "Your 'Salvation' is false", she accused. "I've seen your other allies too. They're insane. Violent. A world containing more of them would be nothing but chaos."

"It would be an honest world", Scorpio claimed. "But I can see we won't be able to come to an agreement here, child. Certainly not under these circumstances, where one of ours has violated the terms of our truce. You have my sincerest apologies for that."

Astonishing them both, Scorpio clasped her hands and gave a contrite bow.

That seemed to end their talk for the moment. Instead, Jiachi drew closer to Mira to whisper to her again. "Hey... good try."

"Not good enough to persuade her", she whispered back regretfully. "And, um... thanks for standing guard for me."

"Had a shot trained on her the whole time", he winked back, tipping his hat to her.

Mira smiled.

It felt like the chamber wasn't even there any more. Aiko couldn't feel the breeze on her face, or even the noises of the tower's clattering machinery. Her mind had drawn in upon itself out of protection, and suddenly she had to remember to breathe.

Benihime Kujou. Here, in Faraway Lands? How?

And yet... somehow, the sense of surprise fell flat for her. Like when she would eat something and expect a certain sharp or spicy taste, only for it to fail, and leave her even more confused.

Because of course it was Benihime Kujou. Of course it was her who had arrived now to destroy all their plans of saving Shukiji Niyoga from the intricate mental prison of his own Land. It was what she did, always, and assuming she would stop now was mere fantasy.

Somehow, she'd always known it would be. For how long? Since meeting with her father? Before then?

It didn't matter. Not now. Not when a blind person on the other side of the world could feel the intent behind that sweet-looking smile on her lips. "Not exactly the reaction I was hoping to see", Kujou remarked, spreading her hands. "Come on, Tsuruga, surely you can offer something a little better than that?"

It was the bizarre living costume that did it. "The Masked Circle!", Ai felt her stomach churn. "You... How could you do it? How could you join them? They're insane!"

"Some of them are a bit weird", Kujou shrugged casually. "But it's not like you'd ever share this power with me, right? No, no, you need to hoard it all to yourself, and your pet gaijin. But unlike you, they're actually willing to help people in need, people who cry out to correct the injustices given to them by life. Like the Phantom Thieves used to do, right? Prince Taurus is such a huge fan of them... or at least he used to be."

"If that was the case", Aiko reached down, grabbing the hilt of her weapon. No matter what was said here, her instincts were she already flaring up, telling her that a battle was inevitable. "Then you should have gone to visit your father. There's no injustice here for you."

The taller girl laughed mockingly. Reaching back, she produced a weapon: a long naginata that, like the tiara, appeared to be made from dried bone, the thin curving blade at the end shaped like a severed rib. "Oh, come on. There's no need for you to lie any more. The only ones here are us, Tsuruga. Us, and Niyoga, right? I know that you're listening!"

Sure enough, Shukiji's voice filtered down to them both, more faint than before when she'd been at the top of the tower, but still clearly audible to them both. "Kujou. You're not welcome here in my Land. Leave, now."

"Maybe I will", she pretended to muse, performing a small flourish with the handle of her new weapon, "if you address me by my proper title in this world. Queen Aquarius, if you please."

"Ridiculous. That's even worse than the other code names!", Shukiji complained.

"And already taken, too", Aiko seconded before her face grew serious again. "I've met the former Queen Aquarius, Kujou-san. We've spoken. She regretted every single moment she spent in the Masked Circle. You think that you know better than her? You think Lady Scorpio isn't just using you to get to us?!"

"It's cute how you think you know me." Benihime gestured around at the ruined tower walls. "You think all this is that clueless old hag's plan? No. This? This is my plan! I knew you'd come here, as soon as you found out about Niyoga!"

That shocked her so badly she nearly dropped her weapon, staring up at the floors above. "N-Niyoga-kun?"

"She's correct", he answered, sounding more deflated now than she could remember. "She found me at the coast. A pure coincidence, or so I thought. She used her power to throw me into the gate when it opened. I'll summon some more guards to escort her out of here."

"Why bother?", Kujou asked, craning her neck up as well to speak to him. "I'll just kill those too. They'd only be a distraction for this. And I'd really hate to have it ruined after waiting so long."

"So all this was just to get to me", Aiko realized softly. Whatever barriers of cynicism she'd prepared weren't enough for this. "Everything. You sold your soul to this bunch of evil maniacs. You ran away from your home, from a father who loves you." Tipping her captain's hat, she called on the agile Matador Persona once more. "You even lied about him abusing you! Don't you realize just how much trouble that could get him into?!"

"Some", Kujou shrugged the accusation off. "It's not my problem. It's what he deserves... just like you'll get what you deserve." Bracing the naginata in one arm, she reached up to sidle the front-most bang free, revealing an eye that surged with newfound power. Power that was felt in her scream before it manifested, a unseeable tidal wave that could not be denied, only endured... and only then with undying fortitude.

"O ravenous Rusalka, together we will dominate!"

The serpentine Persona's arrival blasted the remaining panels apart, its hair black as well yet far longer and more frenzied than its master and easily as hideous as any Shadow Aiko could remember. The sight of the pale white blooms bursting from its flesh in particular caught her off guard for a second... and allowed Kujou to strike first, suddenly sliding forward far faster than anticipated and only prevented by the unnatural agility and reaction time Matador granted her target.

At Kujou's command, a crushing blast of water descended from above, catching Aiko at the spot she'd dodged into. A forceful counter-blast of wind skill dissipated the attack but didn't rob it of all its force, pushing her down until the transparent floor beneath her feet cracked. The follow-up sweep knocked her clear away to impact one of the surviving wall portions and slide down it.

"Disappointing!", Ai heard her rival cry out through the haze of pain. "Weak! If I'd known you'd really be this pathetic-"

"Asherah!", she howled back, dismissing Matador for a more powerful caster. More water fell with pummeling force, but this time a less-costly fire skill was enough to dissipate it into steam, just as Jiachi had done in their own private battle earlier.

At the moment, Aiko really wished this could be like that fight in other ways too. Like having an opponent who didn't want her dead.

All she could think about was how much of a waste it all was. "You have all this power", she lamented. "And all you use it for is to attack me? Is that really all you want?!"

The next charging strike nearly caught her leg. The sweep was blocked, yet the impact was enough to send her sprawling away. "Rusalka came to me, answered my call, because she recognized a true Queen. A Queen of reality!"

"I've met 'Queens'", her rival snarled back, stopping to boost her defenses with Asherah's power before resuming her own slashing attack. "Nijima-san and Yumika-san aren't nearly as badly-behaved as you."

"Then they're mere pretenders!" Too late, Aiko realized that the next attack skill coming wasn't more water again, but some kind of wildly spinning blade storm that pulled her in to strike from multiple directions, though she could still manage to hear Kujou's taunting through the gale. "None of them would be willing to work as hard as I have for this! For you!"

Finally, the anger that had driven her this far arose once more, boiling blood feeling like it was searing her skin from within. Exerting, exhaling, she was able to leap clear of the spinning blades, stopping only to heal her own wounds. "For the last damn time, I didn't do anything to you, Kujou! You did it to yourself!"

"Still lying!", her opponent mocked. "Even to yourself!" Without stopping her forward moment, she cast the naginata out like a javelin, barely missing. For a moment this seemed to be a foolish move, but then Aiko spotted the thin current of flowing water wrapped around the long handle, pulling it back towards its owner and even catching her arm on the return slash. "You took everything from me, Tsuruga! EVERYTHING! You cost me my power! You even turned my friends against me!"

The crushing water blast came again, and there was no time for her to stop and heal, or to speak out and deny the accusations. Instead Shukiji's voice rang out again. "Tsuruga committed no crime against you, Kujou-san. You're the one who's lying."

On cue, the Shadow guards he'd mentioned earlier dropped down. Two of the inverted green squids, both of which inhaled to focus their powers. Smirking, Benihime spun her weapon around, conjuring the blade storm to shred one of them, conjuring a small water geyser to block the ice from the other.

Aiko watched, only cursing her own hesitation a moment. She was fairly sure what she was about to do constituted some kind of grievous sin for a Persona-user: For them to aid Shadows in battle against another Persona.

If she lived through this, she would ask the Phantom Thieves about it later. For now, these Shadows were her allies against Kujou. When Rusalka's power sent the naginata weapon flying out again, she timed a fire blast from Asherah to intercept it, preventing the second squid's demise. To her surprise, the creature responded by moving its appendages around and generating a familiar barrier across them both, the transparent protective shell of Praesi. Nice. Prolly not as strong as Pelagio's but better than nothing.

"Look like someone wasn't listening when I told them to butt out!",Kujou remarked, easily catching her weapon. "Keep that up Niyoga, and I might just pay you a visit when I'm done here."

"This is my Land, Kujou", his equally angry voice responded. "My world. Tsuruga is my guest here. Unlike you."

"Your world?" The tall girl seemed to examine the damaged foundations of the clockwork tower for a moment before laughing. "I gave you this world, Niyoga. Everything it is, you owe to me. Your dream come true. If anything, you should be helping me punish Tsuruga!"

"Never", his denial rang through the building. "That would be completely illogical."

"Yeah", Aiko followed up, regaining the strength to resume. "This one... doesn't logic much. She's blaming me for things she did to herself."

"Still you deny it", Kujou shook her head. "There really is no hope for you. Nothing left now but to beat the truth into your little bitch skull." Rusalka seemed to respond to her command, drawing several thin blades from the spines embedded within her own scales. "...I'm game."

More Shadows descended between the two of them- two of the bone-demons- but Kujou simply laughed, spinning her weapon, gathering up Rusalka's power into a massive water wave that rushed out suddenly to drown them all, the undertow blasting them out and off the tower balcony to fall into the sea.

All of them but Aiko. She'd seen it coming and hid up on a raised lift, staring down from her perch, cutlass in one hand as the other pulled her captain's hat down tight, bracing for what was come.

Her enemy smiled up at her. "I can guess what you're thinking." Stepping forward, her voice shifted into a higher, mocking pitch. "'Oh, how did this ever happen? How did Kujou become so much more powerful than me, the great Aiko Tsuruga?'"

"Not exactly", Aiko ground out. She switched Personas again, taking on the power of Simurgh before releasing the divine bird's power in a bullet-form. Kujou dodged with surprising swiftness, leaving behind a misshapen hole in the floor- she had lost track of which one they were on.

"I met a very nice man", Kujou explained, casting the blade storm up at her to demolish the lift. "A very nice looking man who trained me. Helped me gain the power and skills I needed to give you what you deserve."

Using Simurgh's agile powers, she retreated up higher to heal herself, frowning. "Prince Taurus?"

"That's right! Feel afraid yet?!"

"Hardly." Narrowly avoiding another javelin strike, she fired back only for the shot to be blocked by the water. Turning back, she sighed. One more try. "Kujou. Enough is enough. If you've spent that much time with them, then you know that they're evil. They're planning on using their powers to change the world. You want to help them with that?"

"Changing the world is evil?" Too late, she saw that the javelin attack had been deliberately aimed to miss. It became embedded in the wall, and the water current sent Kujou flying up onto an adjacent platform. "Ridding the world of you and your disgusting pets can only be for the better!"

Unfazed, she unleashed a barrage of shots through Simurgh and her own flintlock pistol, trying to dislodge Kujou but unable to breach her target's own barrier. "They're my friends."

"Ooh, 'they're my fweeends!'", she mocked back in the same high-toned imitation as before. "Please. You lie so badly it's painful. Here's a thought, Tsuruga- would any of them actually be your friends if you didn't have a Persona?"

Despite her barriers, both physical and mental, the harsh words made her hesitate just enough for the next water blast to knock her off the lift. Simurgh's wings brought her to safety, but she only had a moment to regain her bearings before the next blast flew down, only barely blocked.

Then Kujou herself descended from behind the blast, the sudden weight pinning her to the rounded glass wall. Only rapid movement of her weapon stopped the naginata from spearing her from a dozen different directions, but then Rusalka's swords followed after, catching her in the torso.

And Kujou's words were now close enough to be unavoidable. "The truth is that none of them would. I've seen the way they all fawn over you. But they only do that because of your power. They want it. They want what you have. But they don't understand. You can't protect them. Not from the truth."

...Pain. Her Persona could only shield her from so much of it. She could barely move, barely hold her cutlass in place to block the main weapon...

"The truth is that none of you belong here. You're all trash. Unwanted refuse that doesn't fit in anywhere! I'll do everyone a favor and dispose of it now!"

The raised naginata blade descended, full force behind it-

Stopped.

Is this the end for you already, then? Will you stand and fight, or will you sit there uselessly and die like a dog?

You must not allow this faithless wretch to destroy your hopes. You are far more than she believes you to be. You are what those you have connected with view you as. Such is the scream of the other you which dwells within.

I Am Thou. Thou Art I. Break free from your chains of doubt. Unleash my power, Dream Voyager, and pillage this dismal dawn of illusions!

The voice was gone. Time resumed unhindered. Everything was back to normal.

An explosion of blazing light engulfed the falling blade, causing Kujou to fall back from it and nearly tumble off the edge of the platform. Recalling her swords, she stared, trying to fathom the emerald inferno that had erupted from her enemy, a conflagration that only after receding somewhat was revealed to have come from Aiko's single visible eye.

That blazing green eye... it was different in other ways, too. Kujou hesitated to approach it, yet at the same time she couldn't look away from it.

Whatever power was in that eye that simultaneously frightened and drew her also appeared in Aiko's lips as they curled up into a mocking smile. Spoke with a voice that shook the tower from its bottom to top, powerful yet possessed of a terrible serenity.

"Oh? If that's how you want it... let's fight, then!"

A/N: I was going to try and do this fight all in one part, but as usual it ended up being much longer than expected. Will finish next time.