Chapter Thirty-Nine
It was supposed to be fun. Seeing new things, trying new things, spending time with family. Ann sniffles and cries on cobblestone steps, no longer screaming at the dark sky for help. No one is coming. She misses and yearns for her family. How long has it been since she ditched her babysitter to try and follow her parents? Why did she ever think that was a good idea?
It starts a fresh wave of tears; they seem to never run out. This round, however, are stopped short by an explosion off in the distance.
Ann – in her four-year-old mentality – thinks explosions must have people. People who can help her. A hopeful smile breaks, the tiny blonde staggering on unsteady pattering feet down the sidewalk. She jogs and runs and walks, all the while an unfamiliar sound and cackling slowly fill the air.
Ann is not afraid when she turns the corner. Not until the creatures supposed to be under the bed or in closets begin to focus on her. The girl is frozen to the spot, hands trembling and eyes welling with tears again. Her voice, though, is gone. The creatures are a block away, but her parents' fairy tales always say that when the bad catches sight of you, you can't get away alone.
"Hello there."
Ann jumps, whirling from the scene of darkness trying to get past the few explosion-making fighters. There is a taller girl next to her, with blue skin. Only her mummy's ever had blue skin, and that was only a little on her face. This older girl is blue everywhere.
Blonde strands fall around shoulders as the older girl tilts her head, "Who are you?"
Ann doesn't understand. Hello, she learned from her parents, but these aren't words she knows. Frustrated, teary, Ann stomps her foot. "I want my mummy! I want my daddy!"
The older girl straightens, smile widening. Finally, she says something Ann understands, "Do you know where they are?"
"I don't know," Ann cries, "I'm lost!"
"Teddy and I can help you find them." The older girl holds up her stuffed animal. Ann gulps at the sight, feeling something wrong about the toy. "And Pixie is good at that too! PIXIE!"
"What's wrong?" zooms a little blue dressed woman. So small, Ann isn't sure the creature is bigger than her four-year-old head. "What- Alice? Is that a human?!"
"Yes," Alice replies to whatever the lady asked. "She's been separated from her parents; would you mind keeping an eye open for more humans?"
"Of course," the lady replies. She waves at Ann before zooming back to hover over the fight against the shadows.
"Was that magic?" Ann gasps, eyes bright and drying at the sight of fire being thrown.
"Oh course!" the older girl giggles. "All Pixies are magical, but that one is the most magical! Come, have tea with me! We can watch the pretty lights!"
"Okay!" Ann cheers and trots along, the unease about the other girl slowly fading with the awe of real magic. Between one blink and the next, a table with steaming cups has appeared in the middle of the road. The chairs are the perfect size for them both, but the table is too high. Ann gets on, questioning it, only to yelp as the chair suddenly grows taller.
"See!" the other girl cheers, her own chair growing as well. "Everything is fine as long as there is magic! Why, we can stay here for as long as we need!"
That reminds Ann, who loses her cheer fast, "I need to find my mummy and daddy."
"We can look for them after," the other girl explains. "Looking for them on an empty stomach isn't good. They would be upset if you were to go hungry, right?"
Ann nods and gives in to temptation. She reaches for the nearby cookie and begins devouring it.
Across from her, Alice grins and rocks her teddy bear.
;;;
"It looks like we have to speed up our plans," Carmen mutters, jerking the leash on her chained victims. They whimper and whine at her feet but move no closer to the girl.
"You're so cute," Lilim coos, cupping the human's face. Her wings flap, keeping her up with Pixie and the girl's yearning gaze on them. "I bet when you grow up, you'll have people grovelling at your feet."
"A battle maiden is your right," Ishtar mummers, stroking the girl's hair until it shines. "That is the term your people use, correct? Or am I mixing my eras again."
"Ladies," Carmen snaps her fingers and effectively snaps the glamour enamouring the child. Alice pouts as the table disappears, but it wasn't like she was trying too hard. "We are in the middle of a dungeon. The shadows may be gone for now, but we will be no closer to the heart of this mind if we lag. Some of us must be returning home."
The little child sniffs, scooped into Lilim's arms before she can fall without a chair, "Will you help me find mummy and daddy?"
"Of course," Pixie butts in before the others can protest.
Alice still comes up to Carmen, pouting, "Can we not keep her?"
"She belongs in the human realm," is the final decision by the figment of humanity's collective Carmen. "We have been here long enough. Your uncles will start to worry if time has begun moving linearly between the levels and worlds, and with a human here-"
"I understand," Alice groans, pulling at her teddy's arm. "I just wanted a new forever and ever friend."
"You may see each other again," Carmen suggests, not even mentioning a chance at a contract. The human is too young to handle the power, and it could damage her mind beyond repair even if she was, "in the future. When your destinies call for it."
Alice grumbles about the logic of them meeting again, but concedes to go pluck the child from Lilim, "I found her first."
Carmen snags and drops them both on her mutts, "We have been terribly rude, haven't we? Little human, my name is Carmen."
The others introduce themselves, trusting Carmen to lead them to a place where the girl can rest. The brothel maybe isn't the best place for a child, but it contains a safe room where the shadows cannot get to and where they will not stand out. As they leave the girl at the door to be guarded by Alice, the human named Ann stops her, "Miss Carmen?"
"Only Carmen, young one." With a sigh, the masked woman takes a knee. "What is it?"
"C-can I do anything to protect all of you?!"
What a sweet girl, Carmen let the smile come, tucking the child's blonde and bouncy hair behind her ear. "Not right now, dear. Grow and become strong; do not become naïve. Only when you fight injustice will you do anyone favours."
Carmen hurriedly pulls back, hiding a flinch at the pulse of Love from the girl. She didn't mean to influence her and moves swiftly away before it can go any further.
The girl likes her, and its been so long since Carmen formed a contract. Unlike the others, she is one of the few figments who can influence towards a particular arcana typing, even weak of a figment she is. It is crippling for young humans, and why kids should never be given a contract. Not that it stops the desperate from forcing themselves to live on.
Lilim or Ishtar should carry the girl from now on. That way, at the very least, the girl will end up with some gifts when she returns home and not a passenger in her mind.
;;;
The mental heart of the person, the turning point in their life that they will fight tooth and nail to keep, is inside a train.
Because of course it is.
To get out of this place, they don't need to confront the distorted person. Nobody has to confront their trauma or realize the error of their ways. That would, in fact, be detrimental to the true shadows who are looking for a way home. If the person's world view shatters, their dungeon will fall apart and either kill the group or leave them hunting for another dungeon.
All they need to do is take or destroy the Heart of the dungeon. Easy when you're a magical being created much like the Heart was created, just on a lager scale than one person's mind.
Controlling the Heart so it opens a door for Ann is a little more difficult. The group straight-shots through the train compartments, raising the levels of alertness so the Heart will become visible enough to manipulate into reality. The shadow replicas then become harder as this version of reality tries to warp with the distortion, to pull itself into the waking world with little effect.
"A set of keys?" Pixie makes a face, grabbing them.
"It will make our tasks easier," Ishtar states, working with Lilim to create a door to the human's waking reality.
There's a shudder, the children bracing themselves on Carmen's dress. Everyone pauses to look at the only real door, Pixie asking, "What was that?"
"The conductor," Alice mutters, teddy bear falling from her hands. The toy gets up and walks towards the door while Ishtar and Lilim get back to bending reality. The real door swings open, and at the same Alice boldly steps forward and throws out a hand, "Die for Me!"
The explosion rocks the door back closed. Ann gulps when it slowly opens again, a click being heard the same time as the train's whistle blows.
"That was a neat trick," a woman steps out, Ann can tell, only she's bound her chest and tucked her hair in the cap. She wears a conductor's uniform, a baton at her hip. "Now, let me show you mine!"
;;;
For how easy shadows are, it is because, in a sense, the figments and collectives are facing bits of themselves or bits of their colleges. Humans, even distorted ones who have turned into or merged their unconscious self with shadows, are unpredictable. Going against the norms of their society and still holding influence gives them more power here, gives their aligned shadows more power.
This particular human has a resistance against fire. Suffice to say, the fight doesn't go smoothly.
Ice, wind, and explosions fill the compartment, and it falls to Carmen to keep the human warm. Everything is chaotic and they're still working on a door to kick the child through, but things aren't looking good.
Something happens. Later, when Carmen thinks about it, she wonders if maybe it's her natural response against her weakness of ice that causes what happens. It could be anything, really. Whatever causes the accident can't be pinpointed between the sudden shock of cold, the push forwards, and the hug around Ann to shield her fragile human body.
Carmen imprints on the child, a piece of her placing itself into the little darling's mind.
The fighting eventually ends, the shadow human breaking down and breaking the palace with her. They hurriedly get the feverish Ann through and to her parent's rented room, slamming it shut and stealing the treasured Heart pocket watch to make into their door home.
And away from the chaos, Carmen relaxes.
Breathes.
Realizes she can feel the fires of a burning, young Lover whose Persona is being sealed away so the human can live until she's ready for a contract.
;;;
Childen are so impressionable, aren't they?
;;;
Mister and Miss Takamaki sit at their daughter's hospital bed the day after she went missing and realize this isn't something fun anymore. There are real consequences.
Maybe the Ishiis have it right in leaving their daughter behind.
Maybe its time to give it up.
…Just until Ann can take care of herself.
A/N: Three years anniversary. Thank you so much for reading this story, the support truly means a lot!
Thank you, kalmaegi, for your review! Ann, oh yes. I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and thanks again for reviewing!
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Thank you, XBnemesisX, for your review! I'm really happy to hear that (and so sorry for the tears). There's a lot I want to write for this story, and the stall has been a mixture of life, other fics, and hesitating on the plot outline as more things come out for the Persona franchise. I really do hope you enjoyed the chapter, and thank you again for your review!
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