Chapter 11: Messenger of God
"Seriously? We're breaking into our school?" Serena said. "I mean, my school."
"I take it I go there in your world, then? This alternate reality thing must be true. But researching that is another matter. Let's focus on this one." Kyle said, displaying pictures of the inside. "High schools all over the city are where members of the Ornatu Legion are initiated. Every time it happens, the city thinks it's a big event. One step closer to the end of the Shadows."
"In desperate times, people cling for any hope they can get. It's sad." Nathan said. "Blind hope brings nothing but pain."
"Check Nathan out, guys, he thinks he's a psychologist!" Blaine said, rolling his eyes.
"Gentlemen, I'm the one in control of the giant computer. Attention on me please!" Kyle said, angrily. "Now try and listen. The proper initiation won't take place until July, so we need to quickly work out what equipment they use to give the fake Personas and sabotage it."
"Awesome! So we get to tear the machines up?" Serena said. "Bring it on!"
"That's not entirely what I meant by sabotage." Kyle said, sighing. "We can't make it obvious they're broken, or they'll just fix them. We need to just tamper with the inner mechanism. That way, the initiation will be stopped - for a time."
"We've just managed to get the codes for Lucille Valley." Aimee said, handing a sheet of paper to Amara. "With this, you'll be able to get to get inside, in the secret basement. You'll need to look around and find the machinery, then contact us using this." Aimee then handed over a white cell phone to Amara, which was clearly made out of scrap materials.
"Alright, sounds like a plan. When do we go?" Blaine said.
"It's about 9:46 pm, so whenever you're ready." Aimee said. "Don't worry guys, you'll be fine. If you get in trouble, just call me. We've got Personas too, so we can handle any tough Shadows. There shouldn't be any Ornatu Legion or Holy Cross members inside." Aimee said. "Be careful anyway."
"Got it. We'll head out in a minute." Amara said. "Finally, our first mission! Let's do this thing!"
"She's really getting into this leadership thing!" Blaine said, smiling.
"Well, at least she's not likely to be distracted by a bar..." Nathan said. "Let's do our best."
"Yeah! Our first real dungeon. Don't worry, I'll be on hand to heal everybody!" Serena said, giggling. Kyle sighed, but Serena ignored him.
|Lucille Valley High School|9:15 pm|
The four of them wound up in a dark, damp room, with various cardboard boxes and mops. Serena looked around, and found some dusty folders, with many pages inside. Upon opening a folder, she gasped.
"What? What's wrong?" Blaine asked, running over.
"There's a lot of students in here!" Serena said. Amara and Nathan looked as well, and were shocked to discover the high number of pupils who were subject to Ornatu Legion initiation. Almost the entire school.
"This is dated back to 2003-04." Amara noticed. There was another scrap of paper in the folder that especially alarmed her. "All participants of this year were dead after six months. The process needs fine tuning. Josephine."
"Who's she?" Nathan asked. "I guess that's not important. Right now, we have to act fast and find these artificial Persona machines."
"Yeah, and they're not going to be in those boxes. Let's go!" Blaine shouted, running out of the room. The other three followed, and ran through the dark hallways, searching every room in the basement, but they were just kitchens, storerooms, and disused gas rooms.
"That took forever and we still didn't find what we were looking for. It's like trying to find Expiation beer at the store." Blaine said.
"I guess they're upstairs. C'mon, hurry!" Amara shouted. Quickly, they ran upstairs…
|Aeternus Headquarters - Outside Commander's Office|9:15 pm|
"Get out of my face!" A furious voice was heard booming all over the hall. "You're fucking useless, Richard. Always have been, always will be!"
"Have mercy, master!"
A helpless Richard was thrown outside of the office, onto a cold stone floor. The hallways was pure white, with only black plush chairs as decoration. Richard quickly stood up, but before he could say anything, the door slammed shut. The Commander was clearly not in a good mood, after the second failed attempt to capture the Persona users.
"Oww!" Richard cried. "This sucks."
"Oh, you too?" Kazuya said, walking up to his comrade. "Alastair was getting worried."
"Yeah. He said if we don't get them soon, he'll really use the...BL." Richard whispered. Kazuya's look of absolute horror chilled Richard's spine. "If only we could stand a chance against him!"
"I wish. Wait, we can't talk about that outside his office. He'll hear us! Let's go to our room!" Grabbing Richard's arm, Kazuya ran all the way to the Holy Cross office, dragging Richard across the floor.
The Holy Cross office was probably the most wholesome building in the entire headquarters. While the walls and floor were still completely white, there was a worn orange rug on the floor, a remnant from Richard's house, as well as a soccer ball covered in soot. There was also a stole idol of the Japanese god Arahabaki on the shelf too, as well as everyone's favourite meals. Richard and Kazuya sat down on the sofa, but neither felt like lying back and relaxing. The Commander despised laziness, and his punishments were rather harsh.
"I'm confused. Why didn't those guys know who the Holy Cross were?" Richard said.
"I don't know. There's something weird about all this. Especially the last guy!" Kazuya said.
"Oh yeah. I didn't tell the Commander about that part. Do you think I should have?" Richard said, worried. The prospect of another beating was not one any of the Holy Cross desired.
"No! But we have to keep it a secret. That goes for the others too." Kazuya said. "Not only that, I was looking at their pictures. Don't they look familiar to you?"
"Oh yeah! The blonde chick, she looks like the girl who got killed last year." Richard said, thinking back. "And I'm sure I've seen the other two before."
"Yes. The other woman. She looks like the daughter of that oil guy, but didn't she have a scar on her face?" Kazuya said. "Damn, this is weird. I'm hoping all of this is coincidence."
"I don't think it is, Kaz. The redhead guy looks exactly like the son of the old guy in charge of Albion." Richard said. "Still think it's a coincidence?"
"Well, in that case, we'll keep it a secret to ourselves for now. This will be between the four of us, Richard. Keep it a secret, okay? You are pretty lousy at keeping secrets, you know." Kazuya said, glaring.
"Don't worry! If I can keep the secret about Alastair taking money out of your wallet, I can keep this one!" Kazuya stared blankly as Richard smiled innocently. "Wait, I wasn't supposed to tell you that, was I?"
|Lucille Valley High School - Auditorium|9:30 pm|
"Nothing on the ground floor so far." Amara said, bored. "What do these machines even look like?"
"No idea, but we'll probably know when we see 'em." Blaine said. "Just look for any freaky ass stuff."
"Last time I checked, a chemistry set does not qualify as 'freaky ass stuff'." Nathan said, thoroughly looking around. "Quoting you is painful."
"Well, don't do it. Save your energy for the Shadows!" Blaine said. "With all these red chairs, it's like a theatre."
"Hold on. Let's go on the stage. Look behind the red curtain!" Serena said. "If we're lucky, it won't just be crappy second hand props for the school play. Or the Math teachers making out."
"I guess this school is freaky in both worlds, then." Amara said, shuddering. As they pulled open the red curtains, they gasped at what they saw. Strange, jet-black cockpit like machines, with red tubes connecting to something behind the auditorium.
"They look like things out of Gundam!" Serena said, astonished. Walking over, she touched them. "Cold...it's even colder than a freezer."
"It's like we're stuck in a sci-fi movie. Like they suck the kid's brains out to create a race of super zombies. But this is worse. They're putting fake feelings into their minds." Blaine said, disgusted.
"I know. We have to stop this, and fast. Let's go in there!" Amara said, pointing to a steel door with a sign bolted to it that read "DO NOT ENTER: Aeternus Personnel Only". "We just need to knock it down!"
"Wait, Amara, we should be more careful -" Nathan said, but before he could finish, Hathor appeared and used her sword to break the door.
"Shit! If that sets off an alarm, we're screwed!" Blaine yelled. Amara gulped, and stood still for quite some time. Serena, Nathan, and Blaine glanced around, anxious, but no alarm came.
"Looks like we're okay..." Amara said.
"That was fucking stupid. Just hold your horses, would ya? I guess we might as well go in now..."
|Backstage|
"Oh my god!"
Serena screamed at what she saw. In large glass canisters were powerful looking Shadows, that seemed especially distressed at their current state. There were computers next to the canisters that seemed to display images of Personas, such as one of a strange multicoloured male called 'Dionysus'.
"So the Shadows get turned into Personas..." Amara said. "These monsters go inside their minds, and kill them from within?!"
"Hey. It says Rank V on here. What does that even mean?" Blaine asked, confused.
"I'm guessing they rank the Personas based on their strength and decide which students are best suited to them. Ugh." Nathan looked like he was going to throw up. Amara felt the same way.
"Guys, what now? Should we contact Aimee?" Serena asked.
"Y-yeah. Let me ring her." Amara took the phone out of her pocket, and called the only number listed in the address book. The keys were rather stiff, but she managed to get through.
"Amara! Did you find the machines?" Aimee said.
"Yeah!" Amara said, still in shock. "They're turning the Shadows into fake Personas!"
"What?!" Aimee shouted. "Okay, stay there. Me and Kyle will come in a minute. You didn't touch anything, did you?"
"We broke down a steel door…" Amara said, nervously. "I'm sorry!"
"Drat. Don't worry about that, I'm sure me and the others can sort it out. Give us some time to think of something, okay? Stay put and don't touch anything else." Aimee then hung up, leaving Amara looking embarrassed.
"Well, it wasn't the best way to get in here, but it seems like things will be okay. Think next time, okay?" Nathan said to Amara.
"Yeah, I will. I'm sorry." Amara said, looking down.
"Hey, did you hear that sound?" Serena said.
"Nope. What was it?" Blaine asked.
"I thought I heard footsteps." Serena said. "It's probably just Aimee or Kyle, so don't worry!"
After a few seconds, there was a loud noise that sounded like a blade cutting air. Before the others could react, a Shadow jumped in front of the gang, brandishing a large katana. Wearing blue samurai armour, it had a blue mask with an indignant expression.
"Urgh, why now?!" Amara shouted. "Guys, get ready!"
"Wait! We shouldn't -" But before Nathan could finish, Amara jumped at the Shadow with her sword, with Hathor doing the same, but the Shadow barely flinched. With a powerful slash, he sent Amara and the others into the wall.
"Dammit, Amara! That one's too much for us!" Blaine said, furious. "What now?"
"We have to get away!" Serena said. "Think of a distraction!"
"Hmm." Nathan thought to himself, although the Samurai Shadow was approaching, ready to attack again. "I've got it -"
"Persona!" Blaine called out, and Tlaloc appeared in the centre of the room, taunting the Shadow. Angry, the Shadow rushed at Tlaloc, but he just avoided the attacks and kept moving around the room.
"That...works too." Nathan said, bemused.
"Good thinking. Let's go!" Amara and the others ran outside, quickly, and before the Shadow could follow them, Nathan used Setanta to put the steel door back in place.
"It won't hold! Let's get out of here!" Nathan shouted - but before the team could do this, they saw someone standing on the stage, glaring at them. Amara gasped at her face. She had seen that very face earlier that day. Her hair was very untamed and long, like a lion's mane. She had soft pink eyes, yet now they were indignant. With a green tunic, tights and boots, her outfit looked like it was made out of leaves, and her armlets looked like vines. In one hand was a sharp sword with a rose hand guard, and in the other was a beautiful red rose.
"I see you didn't realise the alarm did go off. You uncouth vandals, you will pay for your treachery!" she said.
"Bianca!" Amara shouted. It was the same Bianca, the nice girl running the flower store. This Bianca wasn't like her, though.
"That's correct. I am Bianca Summers, of the Holy Cross. I was minding my own business, tending to the flowers behind this school, when I got word someone had broken into the Personality Enhancement Area. I didn't expect it to be you awful people! Your negative vibes will hurt the flowers!" Bianca said, glaring at them.
"You know this girl?" Serena asked Amara.
"Yeah, she sells flowers at the mall!" Amara said. Bianca gave her an odd look.
"Amara, what are you doing?! Stop it!" Nathan shouted.
"Flowers at a mall?" Bianca thought for a minute. "I've never done anything like that! Whatever! From the sound of things, you're suffering from memory loss. Perhaps I can knock some sense into you thugs!"
"Listen lady, we beat up Richard and Kazuya already. Do we really have to beat up a lady like you?" Blaine said, shrugging.
"Huh?!" Bianca gasped at Blaine. "What's going on here?! Who are you?"
"Blaine Spencer, master of the Black Lightning!" Blaine said. He didn't seem fazed at her reaction "Sorry, baby, but for for some reason I don't think we're compatible."
"No, that's not what I - why are there - never mind! I can have the higher ups deal with that. For now, I'm going to have to take you down! My beloved Persona, come forth! Gabriel!"
"Oh goody, another angel." Serena said.
With yet another burst of blue energy, a beautiful female angel appeared. Despite having green skin, she was an elegant dainty being, with long flowing blue hair and a white rose in her hand. Brandishing a white sword, she had blue armour complete with a white necklace.
"Mabufu!" With one twirl of her rose, she sent forth a rain of ice down on the entire team.
"Ow ow ow ow OW! That's cold!" Amara shouted, cursing her weakness. "Who do you think you are?!"
"Didn't I tell you? I'm one of the Holy Cross! Together, we'll save this city from Shadows one day!" Bianca shouted, then she attacked Amara with her sword.
"No! You don't get to freeze me!" Amara said, in pain. "Agi!" A burst of flame caused Bianca similar pain, and Serena reacted swiftly and struck her with her whip.
"Time to clip this girl's wings!" Blaine shouted. Ignoring Nathan rolling his eyes, Tlaloc emerged, which caused Bianca to scream in shock. "Hammer Crush!" With a powerful swing of his almighty golden hammer, he bashed Bianca, further punishing her.
"You people are stronger than I expected! Take this! Malaqua!" A burst of water struck all four of them, and Serena shrugged it off. Yet, Blaine was hurt immensely by this attack. "Wonderful! As I thought!"
"What do you mean, 'thought'? I haven't even used any Zio spells yet!" Blaine said, pissed off.
"That's something for me to know. Looks like I've got the advantage now. Hama!" The holy cards appeared around Blaine again, and this time, they caused a strange reaction in him.
"Oh shit -" Blaine fell to the ground, unconscious.
"Brilliant! I'll succeed where Richard and Kazuya could not! With the majesty of my grace, you shall fall! Bufu!" Gabriel raised her rose again, but before the ice could reach Amara, Nathan rushed over and pushed her out of the way. "What?!"
"I won't let you take her down too! It's time you wilted!" Angry, Nathan commanded Setanta's winds into blades of air, and they turned into what looked like Raphael's Air Break spell.
"What - that's Richard's move!" Bianca tried to dash at Amara, but she couldn't move fast enough. Reacting swiftly, Amara slashed Bianca many times, and as she was trying to cast Agi, she felt a new power.
"Flare Hail!" Amara called out. Feeling the fire rise up in her blood, she sent forth a rain of small fireballs that had a strange air to them.
"This cannot be happening! Why do I feel so weak?!" Bianca screamed. Serena, blocking many swings from Gabriel's sword, cast Aqua on Bianca, but with no affect.
"Ow! I need to help Blaine. Give me a second!" Serena said, running over to Blaine. But before she could do anything, someone burst into the room. "Aimee!"
"Guys, are you alright? I got here as fast as I could!" she shouted.
"There's more of you?" Bianca shouted, enraged. "Begone, madam! This is between me and these unsightly brutes!"
"Unsightly brutes? You're the least pretty female here!" Blaine said.
"I am not! Be quiet!" Bianca shouted, and she blasted him with Bufu again.
"Hold on!" Aimee said. "Persona!"
Emerging from her body with blue energy once again was a pale white woman, with short silver hair and a giant floating blue glyph behind her. Wearing a white cape, gauntlets, high heel boots and a blue and white dress, complete with a white cape, she didn't look especially powerful at all. "Irene, return Blaine to his full vitality!"
With a breathtaking flash of light, supreme amounts of energy flowed from Irene into Blaine's body.
"Ugh..." Blaine, stirring, stood up, holding his head. "The fuck just happened?"
"Blaine! Are you okay?" Aimee shouted.
"Yeah! Now that you're here, we can kick her ass in no time!" Blaine shouted.
"Kick my ass? With language like that, you're not fit to use such a powerful Persona! I will never lose to you! Malaqua!" The blast of water hit everyone again, causing Blaine a lot of pain once more.
"Damn! I'm not falling for that again!" Blaine said, as Nathan dodged Bianca's thrusts. "Hey, I think I've got something new!" Tlaloc, instead of casting Zio, sent forth a great black lightning bolt. Bianca's scream sent a chill down Amara's spine, and she collapsed, unable to take anymore.
"Why...why couldn't I defeat you?!" Bianca, with tears falling from her eyes, stood up, and gasped at the gash on her arm. "I've never lost before. The Holy Cross is the best of the Ornatu Legion! How can you imbeciles be better than us?!"
"Maybe it's destiny for us to win and you to lose!" Serena said, smirking. "So get used to it!"
"I don't think we'll need to. The last of the Holy Cross is the best of us. You won't beat him. As for the Commander…" Bianca looked to the ceiling as she mentioned him. "You could never compare to him. He is the only thing we fear!"
"Who is this Commander anyway?" Amara asked. "You guys keep bringing him up!"
"He is the first member of the Ornatu Legion! Before we came into the scene, he was the only natural Persona user they had. He is a tough leader, but he is the best. I would give my life for him!" Bianca shouted. "Your Personas are nothing compared to his!" Glaring at Blaine, she turned and jumped off the stage, despite her injuries.
"I'm sorry, everyone." Amara said. "I messed up our chance to stop the initiation."
"Perhaps you did. Still, your skill with a Persona is getting good." Aimee said, with a kind but firm voice. "Listen, don't worry about the Commander. Leave him to Kyle and the others."
"What about you?" Nathan said. "Can't Irene do anything other than healing?"
"Well, she has this spell called Traesto that'll take us back to the 'marking point'. I chose the base as the marking point. Other than that, most of the fighting is done by the others." Aimee said.
"Won't Aeternus go after you now?" Serena said, worried.
"Relax, they already were looking for me. I just haven't appeared in public for a while. Don't worry about us, the base is still secret. Let's go!" Aimee said.
Irene, with a flash of white light, sent them all back to the base.
|Secret Base|9:50 pm|
"I see. So that's what happened." Kyle said, shaking his head. "I suppose we shouldn't have expected perfect results from newbies. You've only had Personas for a few days."
"I got mine yesterday." Blaine said. Nathan shook his head, and Blaine returned the gesture with the middle finger.
"That's not really something to boast about." Kyle said. "It's regrettable, but we'll have to think of another way to sabotage the initiations later. At least you held your own against Bianca."
"Like I said, I'm really sorry -"
"Hey, do you guys know anything about the Commander?" Blaine asked. "Is he really as strong as they say?"
"We've never met him. Any articles in the news about him don't show his face, and he never shows up in public. Aeternus just say he's the best they have." Kyle said. "I suspect the Holy Cross aren't lying when they boast of his power."
"Yes. He sounds scary. You four aren't ready to take him on yet, so don't even think about it." Aimee said, seriously. "It's really late now. You should go back to your world. Have a good night! And from now on, come in whenever you want. Someone will probably be here, even if all you want to do is train!"
"I'm glad I did my homework already. I just wanna go to bed!" Serena said, yawning.
"Homework, huh? It must be so nice to have only that to worry about." Kyle said, looking away. Aimee said goodbye as the four left via the NDD, eager to get some rest.
|Farawell|10:00 pm|
Nathan, Serena and Blaine said goodbye to Amara and left, without saying very much. Amara couldn't decide if they were angry at her for screwing up the mission, or just tired.
"It'll be fine, right?" Amara said to herself, but it was just empty. She had doubts, fears about the future. Not just because of the failed sabotage, but of fighting the Holy Cross again. Would they always be able to defeat them?
As she went to sleep that night, she wondered how things would have gone had she not have entered the other world. She probably would never have spoken to the others, and would have just led a normal life as an artist. But would that be enough? Was this her destiny?
She tried her hardest to answer those questions, but instead of answers, the only thing that came was sleep.