You guys remember the Key right?

Here it is again, just in case.

"Regular Speaking" Thoughts/Flashback "Spoiler" Spell "Shadow" SpoilerSocial Link Voice "Spoiler" Hope

Once again, thanks to the glorious life-saving beta: Immortal Thunder!

Please, read and review.

BANG!

The shot slammed directly into Hope's forehead, the impact of the malevolent aura forcing Hope to go flying. Thanks only to his earlier precautions of casting Protect and Shell on himself, the Fool was still alive. Only, without his magic to keep fueling the spells, he was defenseless. He could use his emergency Goho-m, but then that would leave Shadow Yu here with Kanji and his Shadow, which only left him with one option: survive. Hope slowly staggered to his feet.

"HAHAHAHAHAHA! You sure can take a beating, can't you!?" The Shadow slowly walked towards the Velvet Fool, sheathing the Blazefire Saber. "So let's settle this, non-human to non-human."

"Settle what?!" Hope questioned, as he slowly backed away from the Shadow.

"Who the better Fool is, of course." In the blink of an eye, Shadow Yu was upon him, throwing a punch straight to Hope's face. The Amnesiac barely had time to dodge the blow before another punch made contact with his stomach. Hope's eyes widened as intense pain flooded throughout his body. The Bravery spell! Shit, I can't take another his like that! Shadow Yu cackled in joy. "And from what it looks like, that's going to be me."

Hope tried to move away but was caught by the Shadow, who lifted him up by his neck. The Velvet Fool desperately clawed at the hand around his neck, but to no avail. The Shadow just laughed at his attempts. Soon, Hope was running out of air. Hope's eyes started to flutter shut, and his arms hung limply at his sides. And just as suddenly, the pressure was gone from his throat, and air filled his lungs again. His eyes shot open, only to see, instead of the Shadow, nothing but the open sky. Wait, sky? Don't look down, you know the second you look down, you're going to start falling, just like in those cartoons. He looked down. WHY DO I ALWAYS DO THAT!? Hope did indeed start to fall and closed his eyes, bracing himself for impact. And just as his eyes shut, he saw a bright purple glow.

"Oh my. It seems as though now would be the best time to intervene." Shadow Yu turned around to try to find the source of the voice, only to see nothing. Suddenly the voice was in his ear. "Are you looking for me?" In a flash of rage, the Shadow spun around, slashing with the Blazefire Saber, only for it to be stopped with a single gloved finger. Infuriated, he slashed again, but the attack missed its target completely. "Oh my…" the voice giggled.

"YOU LITTLE BITCH, STOP MOVING!" In a flash, the Shadow switched its weapon to its gun mode and fired three shots, which were blocked by a barrier.

"Trap triggered," called the voice, and for the first time, the enraged yellow eyes met joyful yellow. Several Tarot cards appeared around Shadow Yu, lifting the aspect of anger up and preventing the Shadow from moving. "This is our grand finale!" The mysterious figure threw her hands forward and suddenly hundreds of lights flew at the Shadow, each one causing minor explosions. Almost casually, the lithe figure raised a hand and crushed a Tarot card. Behind the figure, the God of Death was suddenly there, roaring maliciously. "I bring you, Megidolaon!" As soon as the spell left her mouth, a large brilliant purple light was created by the Persona, Thanatos.

"NO! DAMN IT! I WAS SO CLOSE!" roared the Shadow as it and everything around was caught in the brilliant light. The figure turned away just as the light exploded and shot a hand out at the falling Velvet Fool, slowing his descent to the ground and gently placing him on a nearby crystal platform. With the flick of a wrist, Hope's energy and health were restored.

As the Velvet Fool slowly got to his feet, the figure turned to the now unconscious body of Yu Narukami. Another flick of the wrist, and suddenly, Yu's eyes opened to reveal slate gray. He immediately closed the eyes with a groan. "W-what happened?"

"You do seem to be better now. Well, I guess I'll be off then," the figure stated before turning away. Hope, however, called out to the figure.

"Wait, at least let us thank you!" They turned around to face Hope.

"Hmmm. I believe I've seen you before. Ah! Lord Estheim, correct? I believe it's been close to two years! But you seem… different. Younger, maybe?" Hope paused before nodding.

"I've been called that before, yes. I'm terribly sorry if this sounds rude, but have we met before?"

"No recollection of me? How dreadful." Yu slowly got to his feet.

"He has amnesia. We've slowly been able to get some of his memories back to him."

"Ah, well if that's the situation, allow me to reintroduce myself. My name is Elizabeth. It's a pleasure to meet you again." Elizabeth finally stepped out from the shadows, and her full form could be seen. She wore a deep blue elevator attendant's uniform and had vastly pale skin. Her hair was pale white, and her eyes shined with a bright yellow as opposed to the sickly yellow the Shadows possessed. In her hands, she held a large grimoire.

"Wait. Were… you a resident of the Velvet Room?" She gave a polite nod, her smile never fading.

"Indeed. Two years ago, you helped me and my guest in many different ways. But that is neither here nor there. I must leave now. Farewell." And as sudden as she arrived, she vanished. For some reason, Hope had a feeling that she did that a lot. The Amnesiac turned to the now sane Fool as he began to sit up. "You okay now, Yu?"

Yu nodded as he rolled one of his shoulders. "Yeah, never been better actually. What exactly happened? I remember us about to go upstairs, but then Yukiko almost got shot by a Shadow." The grey haired teen looked around as he said that, turning to Hope in worry. "Where are they?"

Hope rose his hands in a placating manner. "They are back at the entrance. I sent them away when your Shadow or rather, your aspect of Anger, possessed you." Yu's eyes widened in surprise.

"Possessed? But… Shadow's have never possessed someone before…"

"Well, it wasn't really your… entire Shadow? I guess that's how you'd say it. It was like, a single aspect of a Shadow, instead of it being a 'full' you, it was just a piece." Yu shook his head in exhaustion.

"Things are getting weirder all the time. Let's just go save Kanji."

"What's this about Kanji?"

Both Fools looked over to see the Emperor standing next to them, a small smile on his face, a hole in his head, and his eyes shining silver. Hope jumped slightly in shock at the sudden appearance, but Yu's reaction was different. The Fool instantly tackled the Emperor and sobbed directly into his shirt.

"Come on Senpai, you gotta man up!"

"S-shut up, Kanji!" Yu cried, shoving his face into the dead Emperor's shirt. Kanji just wrapped the older teen in a hug, smiling the whole time.

"It'll be okay Senpai. Take as long as you need, I have time." Saying this only caused the Fool to start crying harder.

"I-I'm so s-sorry!" Hope slowly backed up, letting to the two have their moment.

"Don't worry, Senpai. I don't have any regrets." The Fool slowly let go of the dethroned Emperor, wiping the tears away with his sleeve. He tried to start composing himself before he turned back to Kanji.

"H-how are you here, standing, talking, even hugging me? When I was trying to save this world's Yukiko, our world's Yukiko was… nearly gone. And you're not." Kanji nodded in understanding.

"Well, I think I understand it more that I'm actually here. You see, Yukiko was next to her Shadow right? And she was also close to the Other Yukiko. Those two were draining her of her existence. I think at least. I'm not the smartest guy, Senpai, so this theory could be total bogus."

The Fool chuckled. "That may be one of the smartest things you've said in my presence Kanji." But wait… "Kanji, if what you said is true, you should still be affected right? I mean, we are in here to rescue you."

"Well, that's because it's not me."

Slate gray eyes widened at the declaration.

"What?"

"I mean, didn't my Midnight Channel seem different to you?"

Yu closed his eyes as he thought back to when the picture was clear in the T.V.

"Now that you mention it, yeah. Near the end."

*Flashback*

"Heroes don't need plans!" Yu watched in shock as the Shadow transformed from Kanji only wearing a towel, to wearing a full on trench coat with a beanie.

"SERAH!" The now very different Kanji was sprinting toward the Bathhouse.

"Don't worry baby, your Hero is on his way!"

*End Flashback*

"That may be a Kanji Tatsumi, but it's not me. That's why I'm able to move around and not be unable to move. Uh… can you do me a favor?" Yu tilted his head in confusion.

"Yeah sure Kanji, anything."

"Can I talk to Yukiko?"

"Um… yeah." The Fool closed his eyes, and summoned Sumeo-Okami's Tarot Card.

With the twist of his wrist, Yu crushed the card, and the majestic Persona was standing next to them.

"Hello, Yukiko." There was silence and then suddenly the Persona spoke.

"...Kanji-kun? Yu-kun?" Yu was gobsmacked at the new ability that he seemed to have.

"Yukiko!? I didn't know that I could talk to you through this!" The Priestess softly laughed.

"We can talk more later, Yu-kun. But right now, Kanji wished to speak to me."

"That's right Yukiko. I just wanted you two to know, that even now, you are both my best friends. T-thank you both for accepting me for w-who I was and I-I l-love you bo-oth so m-much!" While the emperor started off strong, tears eventually started falling down his face. He started to sob and was quickly hugged by both Yukiko and Yu. Time stopped.

"Thou art I... And I am thou... Thou hast established a genuine bond... The innermost power of the Emperor Arcana has been set free. We bestow upon thee Takeji Zaiten, the ultimate form of the Emperor Arcana. Know that even in Death, your bond shall always give you strength."

Time resumed, and once it did, Kanji vanished. In his place, there was a single tarot card. With a sad smile, Yukiko vanished back into Yu's psyche. The Fool turned around to see Hope, standing there with his arms crossed.

"You okay?" he asked, concern lacing his voice. Yu nodded.

"I will be. C'mon, we've gotta go rescue this guy." And with that, Yu took off towards the stairs to the final floor. Hope simply watched him for a moment before following him.

Don't worry, Kanji. I'll show you what it means to be a True Man!

AN:/ Hello all! This little end slate here doesn't have anything to do with the story really so you can skip this if you want. I just wanted to say, "Thank you" to all of you that read my work. I've been battling moderate depression lately, so seeing all these different people from different locations in the world is a real morale boost. I hope all of you are doing okay, and if any of you need any help, please don't hesitate to talk to someone. Whether it be professionals, or your friends, someone is going to help you out. If anyone needs to talk, I'll listen.

Jeez, now I'm getting all emotional.

TheFallenAlphaAngel