Hey, I've returned! So... yeah, this is a bit of a cluster fuck, but who cares, right!?
Just for those who's curious, it's going to be a while yet before Makoto makes himself known to anyone else that he's a Wild Card, so please, bear with me until then!
Alright, folks! Onwards!
Chapter Nine: The Dark Hour
"What the actual fuck!?"
Ren repeats after a short pause. The sky is a shade of green, the moon dark and barely recognizable. Eerie silence replaces the car horns and the people. He glances at Morgana who promptly hops out of the bed then at Makoto, who locks eyes with him for a brief moment.
He quickly gets up and grabs her shirt, throwing it her way while he gets to dressing his own. Once he's done, he noticed that Morgana –
"Morgana, how in the world could you turn into a monster cat?" Ren asks, incredulous, at Morgana's Metaverse form. The cat (not-cat) looks down and jumps around frantically.
"What!? I didn't even notice I changed, and no, I'm not a cat!" He yells back.
"What is this?" Makoto says, looking around, a hand on his sleeve at the eerie silence. She tries to turn on her phone. "My phone's not working. I charged it."
He tries his. "Mine's not working, either. What the hell is…"
He trails off, a pang of pain, and Lavenza's voice echoes in his head.
The Dark Hour is upon you. Be careful.
"The Dark Hour," Ren says aloud. Morgana and Makoto turn to him, and he stands straight up, his mind reeling. He remembers Igor's words, and this – this strange feeling, and Lavenza's voice. This confirms it. "This is the Dark Hour Igor's been talking about."
They fall silent.
Then there's a loud noise from the stair, the clinking of chains and loud footsteps. He instinctively pushes Makoto backwards. And as the large, shadowy silhouette comes into view from his staircase, his mind and his other self are screaming at him to move.
"Run. RUN!" He yells and quickly throws Morgana (sorry) out of the window, then ushers Makoto out. He looks back to see that one eyeball rolling inside a bloodstained cloth sack, two long revolvers being dragged alongside it. Makoto tries to reach for him, but he quickly pushes her out.
The chain finds his ankle and he's pulled into the floor, his head hitting the wood harder than he had anticipated. He rolls around to find himself at the firing end of the crooked gun.
Oh shit.
He manages to lean his head away just in time, and his right ear rings so loud he couldn't centre himself for a while. In his daze, the other barrel finds him. Deformed finger pulls down on the trigger, and he thinks for a split second that he might actually die this time, only to find that something had pushed the gun away.
"Ren! Come on!" Makoto screams at him, one hand outstretched. He follows her eyes to see that she'd thrown her phone at the gun.
He quickly pulls his ankle away from the chain and punches the damn Reaper in the eye before running to the window, ignoring the growing pain in his ankle. It lets out inhuman roars as he climbs out and pulls Makoto down as a small beam of light pierces the air where her head was.
"Go to Futaba! Go!" He yells and jumps down from the roof. Makoto follows closely with Morgana in her arms. He looks back at Leblanc as the damn thing crawls out of the window and lands on the street like a pile of boneless meat before the chains clink together as it rises up. He spits as he makes a sharp turn, pulling the other two with him.
"Why is the Reaper in the real world!?" Morgana hisses as they sprint into the opposite direction from Sojiro's house to lose the Reaper. Ren alternates between looking at the street ahead of him and glancing behind. He could still hear the terrifying moans and the sound of metal against asphalt from the darkness they had just left from.
"Hell if I know!" He replies.
"This is too quiet," Makoto states. "All I see are coffins. There's no people here!"
"Fuck!" Ren curses as they near Sojiro's house. As soon as the gate's within sight, he sees Futaba stumbling out with a scream, a dark goop sliding towards her. Ren's legs carry him on their own as he grabs Futaba by the wrist and pulls her away from the swiping claw.
"Futaba, you okay?" Morgana asks. "That damn thing just keeps chasing us!"
"Just fucking run!" He orders and lags behind slightly, clubbing the Shadow nearest to him with a pipe lying in his path.
Makoto throws her shoes at the Shadows. After that, she growls, one hand dragging Futaba along while the other grabs Morgana and carries him. More and more familiar masks on black liquid pops up from everywhere, and the sound of the Reaper inches closer and closer. Ren curses as he directs the others to take another sharp turn towards a nearby shrine.
Once they're there, he leads them to the building itself and opens the door. The creaking of the woods is not too loud, so he hopes they don't get caught here. Once he pushes the gate closes, he slumps to the ground, panting. He tries getting up again, but his left leg gives out under him.
There are chain marks on his skin, and his ankle is swollen. He curses the Reaper once before sitting back down, a hand gripping at the swollen appendage. He then looks up and, after a moment of him catching his breath, he says, "You guys okay?"
"We're good," Makoto whispers. She takes a peek at her wristwatch and frowns. "My watch isn't working."
"Nor any of my electrical devices," Futaba says. "Thanks for saving me."
"No problem," Ren says, giving her a thumbs up. "Where's Sojiro? Is he okay?"
"Dunno," Futaba replies, holding her knees to her chest. "I caught a glimpse of a coffin in the living room, though, so I guess…"
"Coffins in the streets," Ren begins, voice low. "Those must be the people."
"So, in this… Dark Hour, the only people awake are us?" Morgana surmises, hopping to where Ren is to take a look at his ankle. He inhales sharply when the cat touches his injury. He looks up at Ren with a frown. "Ren, I think this is either broken or badly twisted."
"Yeah," He nods. "I'm not moving anywhere anytime soon," He pauses, closing his eyes and listening to the faint noises outside. "For now, I don't think there's anything we can do except waiting."
"Right. But this Dark Hour…" Makoto begins.
The others then start talking in hushed whispers, speculating, formulating, while Ren starts to zone out, his mind too tired to really pay attention. He tries, he really does, but he can't focus on their words for three seconds without feeling a sharp pain in his head.
He then feels like he's alone in the vast darkness. Ren blinks and looks around, seeing no one, hearing nothing, feeling only the freezing air around him.
Then, a voice.
I am here.
"Who…?" He murmurs, a hand on his head.
But before he can really think on it, the word leaves his mouth on its own.
"Raoul."
There's blue flame erupting from his face, and it rises to the empty space before him. He could see Makoto looking at him in shock while Morgana and Futaba reel backwards. The flame shifts, forming itself into a silhouette with wings and a red fedora.
He gasps as his other self forms fully before him, tangible in the real world.
"How…"
"These very seconds… is the moment when two worlds collide," Raoul begins, voice low and soothing, a hand on his hat while the other sits on his waist, a thumb hooking at his belt. His red, nearly formless eyes looking directly at him. "Reality and Metaverse are now one. The Shadows can manifest themselves here, and so can I."
Ren looks at his other self for a time, mind not comprehending his words. He's then snapped back to reality when Makoto walks over to him, her eyes on Raoul.
"So you're saying… we can use our Personas here…?"
"Summoning your other self, you mean? Yes," He says with a small bow. "But the summoning itself will be more taxing here than in the Metaverse, for you must force your other self to cross the border between worlds. Such is inevitable."
Ren could feel his head getting heavier. He's losing grip on Raoul, so he needs to ask whatever he can, fast, before his other self leaves. "Do you know anything else? About this Dark Hour?"
"I do not," He says with a shake of his head. "It is best you speak with whoever have experienced it before. However, I can say for certain that this is not the first time something of this nature has happened upon this world."
"…We'll work on that," Ren says after a brief pause. He has a few ideas where to start.
Raoul nods at him. "Then I shall retreat, for now. Call my name whenever you need my strength, Trickster. I shall continue to be your mask."
With a flap of his wings, and an eruption of azure flame, Raoul is gone.
No sound, no words is uttered for what feels like hours.
Finally, Ren says, "Fuck my life."
He isn't quite sure how long they've holed up there, but as soon as the sky returns to its original color, his fucking phone blows up.
There are lots of texts from his fellow Persona-Users, both from the Thieves and the Investigation team, without a single letter from those who isn't. He quickly scrolls past all of them to see, much to his relief, that everyone's responding.
He types into the joint chat between the two group.
Joker: We need to talk. Right now.
Choruses of agreements reply to his request. Ren sighs and nods at the others before he shakily gets up. Makoto helps steady him, putting one arm around his waist. Morgana (now a cat) climbs onto Futaba shoulder as she comes over and steadies him.
"Of all the Shadows there is, it's gotta be a fucking Reaper," He hisses. "And here I thought I used up all my bad luck with my sentence and Shido and Yaldaboath."
"At least we're alive," Futaba says. She then makes a small oh. "Narukami says we should meet up at Leblanc now. What say you?"
"That'd be best," He grits out, unable to put a weight on his ankle. "Ow, fuck."
"Who goes there?"
They all freeze and look up, having just walked out of the Shrine. Morgana hisses, while Makoto subtly pushes him backwards a little. He narrows his eyes as two figures walk towards them, but he can't quite make out who they are, so he just replies with, "We got lost, sorry. We're leaving now."
"You're a terrible lair, Amamiya," Drawls the shorter boy as he walks close enough for them to see, and somehow the Thieves both tense up and relax at once.
"Yuuki and… Mochizuki…?" He calls, confused.
The two boys walk closer, Yuuki holding instant coffee in his hand. His eyes narrow slightly as he takes in the sight of them – and Ren couldn't blame him. They… are disheveled, Makoto doesn't have shoes, Morgana is on Futaba's shoulders, and the girl herself looks like she'd just seen a ghost.
"You people look like absolute shit," Yuuki says. And, after a pause. "Uh, no offense."
"None taken," Ren murmurs.
"We heard some noises so we thought you might be those thugs who'd come to steal from the donation box," Mochizuki says and jogs over to them. "What happened to your ankle?"
"Twisted it," He replies, still half-confused. "How are you here?"
"How?" Yuuki says, tilting his head. "We were heading for the vending machine. What are you people even doing here?"
Ren frowns. It seems like none Persona Users would be oblivious to this Dark Hour thing, just like they had thought. He elects not to say anything else about it and cooks up a lie to cover up instead. "We got chased by rabid dogs and we kinda run here."
"Rabid dogs?" Mochizuki questions as he replaces Makoto, steadying Ren by throwing one of Ren's arm over his shoulder. Mochizuki's surprisingly strong, he notes off-handedly. "That ankle looks nasty."
"You want to go to a clinic to get that looked at?" Yuuki asks, one hand holding his phone as he gestures at his injury.
Ren shakes his head. "I'll do that tomorrow. Sorry to bother you—"
"It's fine," Mochizuki cuts him off. "So, where do you want us to drop you at?"
Their eyes tell him they'll not let him refuse their offer, so he just nods and says, "Leblanc, please."
.
The walk is a bit longer than he wants it to be. But considering the fact that they were running for their lives, it's not hard to believe that they had covered some unbelievable distances.
Yuuki seems disinterested, aside from the occasional concerned glances at his ankle. He mostly listens to music with one earbud, a hand in his pockets, fingers scrolling through a few articles. He doesn't even look where he is walking half of the time. Mochizuki, on the other hand, is openly concerned, and had asked a few questions. After Ren shot him down (for the fourth time) he finally drops the subject.
Then, out of the blue, Yuuki says, "Two."
"Huh?"
"Oh. Uh. Sorry," He quickly says, waving his hand. He then looks at Mochizuki, who's eyeballing Yuuki hard enough he could give the man a hole on his forehead. "I'm just a bit lost in thoughts."
"And you said I'm spontaneous," Mochizuki says with a huff. "You're worse."
"Am not."
"You are."
"Am not."
"Um," Ren cuts in, as their bickering is about to make them walk past his destination. They both turn to him as he desperately points at the sign of the Café. "We're here. Thanks for helping."
"Oh! Oops, sorry," Mochizuki says and slowly and gently lets Ren go. He only really steps away when Ren finally stands on his feet (or rather, foot). "Make sure you get that to the doctor, alright?"
"Says the one who insists on not taking me to the hospital," Yuuki says what Ren's thinking with a straight face and a deadpan tone, making him splutters. He could hear Morgana and Makoto coughing behind him.
"Makoto! You know I had good reasons!"
"Yeah, but saying that to Amamiya is like the pot calling the kettle black," Yuuki continues, relentless.
"Why are you so mean —"
"Anyway," Yuuki says, ignoring Mochizuki completely (the poor man) before he waves at them. "Do have that looked at, though. I'm concerned."
"I will," He reassures. "Thanks for the help."
"Anytime," The two choruses before they retrace their steps back.
He looks after them for a long while, a thought nagging at the back of his mind. Their timing seems a bit too perfect, but since Raoul doesn't make a comment, he decides to think over it later. He sighs before turning his attention towards a rather crowded café. "Well then… this night's only half over."
His first experience with this… Dark Hour is not a pleasant one.
And he doubts it is for anyone, after seeing their grim expressions and their tired faces.
Yu still feels sluggish, having summoned Izanagi to defend himself. It's out of sheer luck that he even thought of summoning one at all, thanks to a vague hint Igor gave them. Even then, feeling his energy being ripped out of him in order to manifest his Persona, or feeling pain when Izanagi was attacked, are definitely one of the worst experiences he'd ever had the displeasure to have.
At least he's having it better than Amamiya. Being chased down by a Reaper is not a fun thought.
He stands by the counter, arms crossed. He doesn't know where to begin. He looks around; most of his team are shaken, and Rise is outright terrified. It's a good thing they were together – he doesn't want to imagine Rise being out there alone when this Dark Hour business began.
Tatsumi and Shirogane stay together, their hands locked. Tatsumi is putting on a brave face, Yu could tell; he jumps at every little chime, but when he looks at Shirogane he seems to pull himself together enough to reassure her. The detective herself has an expression that's a mixture of fear and, if Yu dares to say, awestruck. But he supposes that comes with being investigative by nature.
Amagi, Satonaka, Kuma and Yosuke sit together with some of the Thieves. Amagi and Satonaka were lucky they didn't run into anything, while Yosuke, being Yosuke, had the luck of being chased by everything excepted the Reaper. Kuma seems to have been confronted by some of those monsters, too, but Yu isn't too sure. The bear is silent, though, so that says enough for now.
The Thieves huddle together. They seem more… used to the violence and the jump-scares somewhat, but it's still life-and-death experiences, so he doubts any of them make it out of this scotch-free. He'll have to check up on them later, especially Amamiya, who's the worst off out of all of them.
"For now, none of us should be alone during night time," Yu begins. "We have no idea when or how this Dark Hour will start again, so we'd best be prepared."
"A group of at least two to three people, I think, would be best," Amamiya adds, still propping his injured foot onto a stool, a pack of ice on it. He winces as he shifts slightly. "During that time, if we can use Personas, I'd suggest the navigators coordinate their own teams together. Intergroup communications would also be preferable, but I think it's a secondary priority to intragroup network."
"I agree with the idea," Akechi says, a hand on his chin. "Although… this Dark Hour makes my planned trip to Tatsumi Port Island somewhat hazardous, but it cannot be help."
"Allow us to accompany you," Shirogane says. She glances at Tatsumi, who nods. "We'll not do anything to slow down your own work, and having a few people together will be safer."
"Proposal accepted," Akechi says with a sigh. "As much as I want to decline it, I know I cannot. This turn of events is much more dangerous than anything I'd ever anticipated."
"How about the rest of us?" Yu asks, eyeing Rise. "I'll be fine staying with Yosuke, since we're in the same dorm and all."
The team then starts to chat amongst themselves, grouping up. He sighs and sits on the stool, propping his chin on his palm. He watched as Amamiya massages his leg, the angry red chain marks still visible. Yu shudders at the mere memories of facing one of those monsters, and while Amamiya hasn't told them everything yet, he can hypothesize on his own about what had happened.
And judging from a slight burn on his face that shaped like a barrel of a gun, one could only assume just how close he was to a Reaper during the cursed hour.
Yu's hand flies to his ear, wincing at the faint memories of the Reaper's Megidolaon.
Once they are done splitting into small groups, Amamiya begins again. "Now that we at least have the contingency plans for the time being… we need to contact this Artemisia, and soon."
"I agree," Yu says. "This person seems to have some knowledge about it. I'll leave it to you three, Shirogane, Tatsumi, Akechi."
"Roger."
"Now that that's settled, stay vigilant, everyone," Yu murmurs. "Good night."
.
Once everyone is gone, excepted for the few who decided to stay at Leblanc (namely Morgana, Amamiya and Niijima), Yu nods at the Thieves' leader. "You sure you're going to be fine, Amamiya?"
"Yes," He says, attention not here, but some place far away. "Thanks."
"…Leave the leading of the Thieves to me, for now," He offers. While he knows he's been out of the game for a bit longer than is healthy for his skills, not to mention the remnants of distrusts between groups, he is more mature and level-headed than Amamiya is right now. The boy's clearly agitated and rattled. "Take this time to cool down for a bit."
"But—"
Niijima steps up. "Ren. Take the offer. You know you can't lead anyone around right now, with what's been going on."
The boy glares at Yu for a long, long time. But his eyes finally soften as he relents. "…Sorry. Alright, then we'll be in your care for the time being."
Yu nods. The clocks tick 2 am already, but he feels so wide awake he could go on for one more day (or maybe he'll crash in class, who knows?) before he needs resting. He crosses his arms and rubs the bridge of his nose. "I'm going to visit the Velvet Room for a bit. See you later, Amamiya. And do get that look at."
"I will."
.
Rather than his own Velvet Room, he finds himself in a blue prison. Amamiya's, he recalls. Yu steps out of the cell he's in only to be greeted by the small, long-haired girl.
"Welcome," She says with a bow. "Margaret Nee-san is busy at the moment, so you'll be in my care for the time being, Narukami-san."
"Okay," He says with a small smile. "I didn't catch your name before. You're Amamiya's attendant, right?"
"Oh, my apologies," She states. "Yes, I'm the Trickster's attendant. My name is Lavenza. A pleasure."
"Pleasure's all mine," He says, seating himself on a rather comfortable chair, across from Igor's usual seat. Igor is nowhere to be found, and he frowns slightly. "Where's Igor?"
"I cannot say, lest the malevolent entity interferes with your business," She responds with a pained expression. Yu frowns. From Amamiya's story (or as much as he's willing to share, at least), that happened once before with a god named Yaldabaoth. Clearly, this must also be the doings of a god that is at least Yaldabaoth's equal.
Instead, Yu settles with a quiet, "I see."
"So," She starts, gold eyes that are much softer than Margaret's looking at him. "How can I help you?"
"The Dark Hour," He says, arms crossed, eyes squinted. "When will it happen again?"
"I know not the answer," She says with a small bow. Yu suppresses the urge to sigh, and Lavenza continues with a small smile. "But from what Elizabeth Nee-san told me, the previous Dark Hour occurred at exactly midnight, and last for exactly one hour."
Yu's eyes widen slightly. It is a useful information, even if it's not accurate. "Thanks. That helps."
"You're most welcome, Truth Seeker," She says, opening her tome and bringing out an Arcana. She holds it up before him; it's the Aeon. "There is a Fool, who was once an Aeon. Seek her out, and she will prove vital to your Journey."
"A Fool… that was an Aeon?" His mind goes back to Marie, but she's not a Fool. This must be the other Wild Card Igor has mentioned before. "…You can't tell me where I can find her, can you?"
"No, I cannot," She shakes her head, but there's no apology following the statement. Instead, there is a smile on her lips. "But do not worry. She has already found you, and in time, she will make herself known. But seeking her out will quicken the process, so I suggest you do so."
"Alright, thanks," He says with a nod. Then, "Is she this so-called Artemisia?"
"No, but she's a close friend of hers," Lavenza responds. The Velvet Room shakes, as if hit by an earthquake. The girl frowns. "Looks like I must cease my advice here. My apologies, Truth Seeker."
"It's no problem," He says, holding up a hand. She has already provided him more than enough to go, even during the Velvet Room's so-called invasion. So all in all, Yu counts this as a successful visit. A very fruitful, highly informative visit. "I'll be seeing you around then, Lavenza."
"Very well. Best of luck, Narukami-san," She bows.
Looks like they've got more work to do.
"You done yet, Makoto?"
"Not yet," He says, trying to keep his voice steady. Lying to Ryoji is a real challenge — they can read each other like a book, so he has to put in a lot of work to even make a lie believable. "Gimme a minute."
"Okay!" Ryoji chirps quite happily from outside, signaling that he's still oblivious…
… To the fact that Makoto's having one of the more mind-numbing headaches at the moment.
"Fuck," He mutters under his breath, eyes closed, trying to keep his breathing under control. He splashes cold water over his head, a hand gripping the sink tightly. By pure luck, he's been able to ignore the pain since the end of the Dark Hour, but now that pain is getting unbearable.
He groans and lets water run all over his head for what feels like an eternity before he looks up, staring at his own reflection. Makoto can see an angry red mark, like a burn, on his neck. He clasps his hand over it and immediately regret the action as it makes his neck sting.
Summoning Ifrit hurts. He is strong, scarily so — maybe Ryoji's equal, even. But every time Makoto pulls the trigger, he feels like a part of him's being burned away, reduced to ashes. His trigger finger is numb, and right now he can't feel the part of his neck that sports the red mark. His headache grows stronger and stronger with each summoning, and even after a few hours have already passed, it's still not entirely gone.
And that's not the only concern. Two hours – that's how long this one Dark Hour has been, and he dreads the next one. He doesn't even know if one'll show up tomorrow or not, or when it will show up. But when it does, if the duration stretches out more than two…
He shakes his head. He's been in here long enough; any longer and Ryoji's going to get suspicious. He looks up at the mirror, one last time —
— and sees a pair of unrelenting red orbs staring right back at him.
And as quickly as they come, the eyes are gone.
"…What the hell's that?"
Yeah, I hate myself for foreshadowing like this too. The answer won't be soon, either, so sorry about that :P
Well then, folks! Hope you enjoy this one! Till next time!
