Trigger warnings: language, graphic death, child death, suicidal themes, mentions of suicide, attempted suicide, torture, graphic blood and gore, possible mention of sexual assault, and sexual themes.

"Just putting that out there."

Chapter 3

Morning came too soon, in Addie's opinion, though it took her a moment to place where she was. She groaned and rolled over, shoving her face into the pillow. Fuck. It was real, her world was now doomed to turn into a hellscape every night from this point on. Trying to go back to sleep was unsuccessful so she grabbed her phone from the nightstand. 8:03 glared at her from the screen. Unlocking it, she went straight to her school email but nothing new had been sent yet. She'd been hoping that the professor in charge of her research internship would have responded by now, but apparently not.

She rolled over on her back, staring at the ceiling. Because walking out of this room, even though she knew everything that had happened last night was real, would just cement it. The opening and closing of a door near hers, followed by feet walking down the hall, meant that Lisa was up and about. She wanted to be a bump on a log today, to not acknowledge anything but that would be the cowardly way out. With another groan Addie got up and dressed for the day. Apparently she had slept like the dead since there were her clothes on the dresser by the door, fresh and clean.

Heading down the hall and through the living room to the kitchen, she made a beeline for the coffee maker and downed two cups back to back before making a third and drifting back to her room. She had textbooks waiting -two were already in her bag when she went to the Kickoff Cookout last night- so she could at least get a head start on her course readings, especially if her normal study time was going to be getting cut into by the Dark Hour.

An empty coffee mug and a discarded textbook later -not really but she had put a bookmark in the chapter she was rereading- her stomach growled as the smell of food wafted through her door. She blinked and checked her phone. 10:33 and several new email notifications. Scrolling through, she grabbed the empty mug and made her way back to the kitchen. Free breakfast? Yes please. Sitting down and grabbing a glass of orange juice, followed by another coffee because she was still pretty tired but not quite exhausted, a quick scroll through the waiting emails revealed mainly junk mail so she set her phone aside to make a plate of food.

"So, how did everyone sleep?"

She blinked at Rory, not having noticed him. Huh. She hadn't actually paid attention to who all was there and the answer to that was everyone. She'd noticed Akihiko and Mitsuru as she walked in, plus Lisa but not the others apparently. Which meant she was out of it because Rory and Alistair were sitting at the kitchen table with her. Given the lack of sickly yellow light -and panic attacks- everyone looked a little different. All of the guys had lean muscle and surprisingly, Alistair wasn't the only redhead but his was a lighter red whereas Trevor's was a rich vibrant red. Her gaze slid down to her breakfast. Clearly, she was the least physically fit one in the group and the shortest by a good 5 inches at least as the guys were all around the 5'10-6' range. Yeah, she was definitely the odd one out in the group. But at least there was some decent eye candy, as per her friends' standards. Maybe she could sneak some pictures to the girls at some point….

"Great actually," came from Ken who was tucked into the couch with a book while his sister Lisa just groaned as she dropped in to the couch next to him.

Addie just lifted her hand and waved it in a "so-so" fashion as she continued to eat.

"As well as I usually do."

Trevor had claimed the other free couch -Mitsuru was sitting on one and the siblings had claimed the other- with his laptop up and running.

"No the best sleep but better than bad, at least. This food is good." Addie nodded in agreement with Rory. "Thanks Akihiko."

She refilled her orange juice and watched as Akihiko shrugged.

"No problem. Cooking is a small hobby of mine."

"Do we owe you anything for food?"

"Nope!"

"Oh." He blinked at Akihiko. "Okay. Well thanks again, then. Not used to a free meal."

Mitsuru responded in lieu of Akihiko as she walked into the kitchen. "Well considering you students were just kind of thrust into this situation, giving you meals and a safe roof over your heads is the least we can do. My company should be in the process of moving your belongings as well as we speak, and we will be taking care of any rent or payments that you have so you don't lose any residences while everything is going on."

"That's a lot. Thank you."

Oh. Well, that definitely makes things easier but telling her roommates that she's moving elsewhere? And her hall mates? Her friends were going to be very confused and possibly suspicious because, well, last minute was not Addie's style unless it was something out of control. Maybe she could blame it on an admin screw up or something…

"That's great." Trevor's deadpan voice came from the doorway into the kitchen. "Really appreciate it but what about the part where we need to defend ourselves in 13 hours?"

That was a good point, and one everyone else acknowledged but would rather not have thought about at that moment. Her included. Just thinking about it made her want to get back in the shower and just scrub because even though she knew it was gone, she was feeling phantom sensations the blood and ooze on her skin and it made her skin crawl.

Akihiko just waved his hand as he sipped his own coffee. "It's no problem, as Mitsuru said. It's the least we can do for you. And in regards to defending yourselves, be here once the Dark Hour hits. We will go over that at that point in time. In the meantime, go out and be college kids."

"I don't really go out."

Trevor grabbed a drink then spun on his heel and walked out, only stopping to grab his things on his way to his room. Akihiko watched him go then turned to say something to Mitsuru who shrugged and sipped her coffee. She wasn't close enough to hear whatever that quiet conversation was and with her levels of tiredness she wasn't exactly trying to find out.

Rory left first, snagging an apple as he left the kitchen. Then, once she finished and took care of her own dishes, Addie grabbed her messenger bag and left as well. First stop was her dorm for her laptop, not really worried about the rest since the Kirijo Group was handling the rest. Next was the student center for a quick glance through for any organizations that could catch her eye, no such luck this year, so she opted to grab the rest of the textbooks from the campus bookstore. Never hurt to get a head start and there were still books for five other classes she needed to grab anyways.

After that, the day passed relatively quickly and easily. She grabbed food and was content to pull up World of Warcraft to pass the time when reaching out to friends revealed that they were doing last minute scrambling and she was not getting involved in that this semester, thank you very much. They did meet for lunch and she mentioned that admin messed up, that she had requested off campus housing and that admin had just now approved it. Considering how often admin screwed up- from financial aid to housing to classes- none of them were surprised at all. Then they were all scattered again, leaving Addie to her own devices. Which, she was a curious person by nature and a budding researcher in her own right -well, an Art History researcher anyway- so she grabbed a seat in the corner of the student center and started digging.

Forums, news articles, you name it and she hit it, curious about the Kirijo Group. Of course, she found the general information about them being some international trade company. She knew there was more, no way that there wasn't with the whole Dark Hour business going on, but she'd continue that research later. It was going to be a long night and she was already feeling tired. Powering off her laptop, she went back to the dorm/house for a nap to try to alleviate a bit of the tiredness.

But, like that morning, her alarm clock went off far too soon. Instead of fighting it this time, she simply grabbed her laptop and went straight to the living room to try get a head start on her research papers for the semester. Seeing Alistair on his laptop, she figured she wasn't the only one.

"What are you two up to?"

She looked up at Rory who had wandered into the living room, apparently joining her and Alistair with a laptop of his own.

"I'm trying to go ahead and get a jump on any possible research projects for classes. If we're going to be doing this Dark Hour stuff, I won't be able to pull all nighters like I normally do."

"Playing World of Warcraft. It keeps me level headed."

She blinked at Alistair. Well, it was nice that she wasn't the only one who played WoW, which was new. Sure, the girls were always down for video games but usually things like MarioKart. So someone else playing WoW that she knew in person was kinda cool. Then somehow, her and Alistair roped Rory into downloading it. She wasn't getting that far ahead tonight, it seemed.

"I can see this Dark Hour stuff making classes tons of fun. Hope nobody has early classes."

Alistair glanced over at Rory. "Looks like I've only got afternoon classes. You?"

"I got mine in the afternoon too. Just easier for me."

Addie snorted. "Coffee is my godsend for a reason. Got morning classes Mondays and Wednesdays at 9 but everything else is afternoon courses."

She saw the wince from Rory. "That's not too bad? At least they aren't 7am ones? I do agree about the coffee, though. Couldn't make it through life without it."

At some point, Ken joined them in the living room and in WoW -shit, she knew three people in person that played!- while Lisa and Mitsuru relaxed on a free couch as the four of them nerded out.

"Well you guys have seemed to make yourselves at home and getting along."

She sounded rather amused, more than anything. Then Trevor walked in with a PlayStation console. A ps3 maybe? Perhaps she should probably grab hers from the storage unit, see which ones he didn't have.

"Anyone against me using the TV?"

She shook her head and the others responded in the negative, though Ken's was the most emphatic, per se -"The PC master race has no problem letting the inferior console race have the TV." "Oh so you're a douchebag. Noted."- then he hooked up his system up to the TV.

Lisa kicked her brother from her spot on the couch. "Quit being an asshat."

"Ugh. Fine. Sorry sis. My apologies, Trevor."

And they lost track of time. (They hadn't learned not to, not yet.)

The clock hit midnight and the world froze around them.

"...at least we won't have to worry about saving progress, I guess?" She tried to joke, more for herself than anyone else, but it fell a little flat.

"Now we can get down to business." Mitsuru stood up and moved so that she could see all six of them.

Trevor and Rory watched her attentively, the latter more excited than the former.

"Alright! Let's do this!"

Akihiko moved with a smirk, leaning on the wall just behind Mitsuru.

"Do any of you have weapons you are familiar with?"

The woman eyed each of them, giving Addie the feeling of being sized up and compared to some unknown standard.

"I'm good with knives and hand-to-hand." Considering his reaction the previous night, Trevor's response didn't surprise Addie in the slightest.

She bit her lip, already feeling lacking. "Does a taser count? If not, then put me down as a solid no."

Rory held up a fist. "All I know how to use. Unless a sledge hammer or an axe are options. Pretty good at swinging those."

Lisa shrugged. "I'm good at hand-to-hand."

Ken just looked up, slightly confused. "Huh?"

"I am proficient in kendo and with pistols." Alistair rolled his shoulders. "I am sure a real sword would be different but I am fine with either."

Akihiko hummed. "A real one is a lot heavier."

He looked the older man dead in the eye. "I am not lacking in strength."

The man just grinned and walked into the kitchen. When he returned, he began handing out weaponry, as if the two of them had already guesstimated at their weapon choices. Alistair was given a katana and her eyes followed him for a moment as he moved to a more open space to test it out.

"Not bad."

Trevor was given a pair of knives and for the life of her, she couldn't tell anyone what kind of blades they were. Then again, she wasn't particularly interested in them, either. Rory received a two-headed axe of some kind -looked like she was going to look into these weapons just so she could name them properly, good god- that apparently needed two hands to wield based on the way the athlete gave it a test swing.

"This is nice. I like this but can we use these weapons to fight the shadows?"

Mitsuru nodded as she observed the three. "Yes. They are designed with the purpose of killing shadows."

"Awesome. I'll have to practice fighting with this but I'll figure it out."

Then Akihiko's gaze fell on her and called her over, only to be handed a bow and a quiver of arrows. At least it wasn't a bladed weapon like the others had gotten so far. After last night, she was much more comfortable with putting distance between her and the shadows. It would take some getting used to, that was for sure.

"Well here's to hoping that my aim in real life will be just as good as it is in games…"

"Always time to practice if it isn't." Rory piped up.

She set the quiver down and tested the bow. "Good point."

Lisa was next, getting a set of combat glove-gauntlet things, foot guards -or foot pads?- and shin guards. Followed by Ken who got a spear of sorts and holy shit, when did they get a hold of weapons like these on such short notice?

"So what about those persona summoning guns? I have apparently unlocked mine."

Rory backed him up. "That's a good point. And what about the rest of us who haven't unlocked ours yet?"

"Alistair is the only one who gets one of these."

Mitsuru walked over and handed him a holster and a gun, the same as the ones she and Akihiko carried.

"You will get one when your Persona makes itself known, don't worry." Akihiko just shrugged.

"And how do we do that? I know you said its part of our conscience and we gotta be okay with dying but what exactly does that all mean?"

From where she was standing, Addie saw the way Rory's eyes shifted between Akihiko and Mitsuru whose only responses were a vague "Trust us, you'll know."

Alistair, on the other hand, was examining the gun/evoker that he was given. "So. I put it to my temple and fire? Anything else involved?"

"Completely accepting your own death."

Addie wasn't even the one with the evoker-gun and that statement did nothing to reassure her at all. She bit her lip and looked down at her new weapon, noting that Trevor was testing out his knives now that there was space for him to do so.

"So what do we do now?"

And then she noticed Akihiko pulling on his own gloves with a growing grin.

"Follow me!"

He took them back to the campus clock tower and gestured to the open space where the cookout had been. The scent of iron was still strong and the yellow light made the campus buildings appear a little warped and severely uninviting.

"And here is where you will get some practice."

Addie's grip on her bow tightened. This man was a lunatic because there was no reason for someone to sound chipper and enthusiastic about any of this. But there was no more time to consider it because there were creeping, crawling things that looked like flea-squid hybrids all over the campus.

"Do we kill them…?"

"Yes." There was steel in that quick response. "When it comes to shadows, it's always best to kill them before they kill you. These guys here should be easy enough for you guys to dispatch."

Addie eyed them with their tentacles trailing behind them as they crawled along on tiny legs with long antenna-like legs hitting out from their face. Trevor moved first, a single slash killing one of the crawlers and she readied her bow, aiming for another's head just as a third one lunged for Alistair. Both splattered, hers from an arrow and his from the katana. Well, she might have decent aim in real life after all. She couldn't see what Akihiko was doing but Rory, Ken and Lisa each got hits in as well, Addie noticed as she thanked every high power that she could watch from a distance. That distance also meant that she noticed that the shadows were not dissolving, not like the one from the night before. Rather, they seemed to melt into puddles. Puddles that were starting to come together, gliding across the ground towards each other without leaving any residue behind. The surface began to bubble, like something was just set to boil.

"Um, Mr. Akihiko, sir? Is that normal…?"

Addie directed his attention to the bubbling puddle with an arrow and then notched it. It was weird, she was really trying not to panic, and having a weapon seemed to be helping so far. So she notched the arrow just in case. Which was a good thing as the puddle hissed and surged outward into the shape of a massive snarling demonic dog with cockroach appendages wiggling along its body, three tongues spilling out of a set of split double jaws and skin that looked more like cracked asphalt than anything else. Shealmost flinched, seeing as how the creature easily came up to her chest.

Akihiko shook something black off his gloves and cracked his neck. "Look alive. This one can probably do some damage."

"Could not have guessed that. At all."

Her voice came out much more deadpan than she expected as she let the notched arrow fly. Well, her aim was still decent, as it sunk into its head. She notched a second as Trevor and Alistair charged with their blades drawn, Trevor reaching the shadow first and getting a good cut in before having to dodge a massive scaly paw swiping at his head. Alistair took the opportunity given and slashed the things arm open while Lisa entered the fray, driving a fist into its side. Ken on the other hand, seemed to have found part of the skin that was more scale than flesh as the tip of his spear glanced off of the beast's hide. Addie let her second arrow fly, arrow sinking into the shoulder as Trevor dove back in with his knives slicing along its hide. Rory followed him, swinging the axe into one of the hind legs as Alistair's katana found another patch of scales, causing the shadow beast to roar of not-quite and give off a bolt of electric discharge. Alistair caught the edge of it while Rory managed to get enough distance and Addie could see the way him, Lisa, Ken and Trevor flinched and hissed at the sudden shock. Her eyes narrowed and took her time to take careful aim, lining up her arrow with the shadow's eye. She held steady, Alistair driving his katana into the head of the thing, which didn't seem to bother it much as it shook him off. But once he was out of the way, she let the arrow fly, watched it hit the eye and just sank into the beast. It fell, dissolving into dust as it hit the ground until there was nothing left.

"I did not expect a low-level one like that to have magic." Akihiko did not sound very bothered, though. "Alright. Let's get you guys back to the house."

She nodded as everyone else gave various forms of agreement. There was a slight twinge in her finger, the twinge that usually preceded shaking hands, and she gripped her bow tighter hoping to stave it off.