The Idol and the Prince
Part IX
09/17
"Holy….this place is…"
The three men in the party all gaped at the huge room that opened up once they swiped the key card through the terminal. Each area seemed to be even more heavily guarded than the last. The monsters were getting more technical too. It was like Naoto's imagination had no end.
"Geez…it's really like Featherman's secret base here. For serious…" Kanji looked around, inspecting the suspended metal walkways, peering through the gaps into pure darkness. Bad idea. He swallowed hard. Heights were never his thing. "Looks like we've gotta go down...again."
The platinum blond paused, catching his breath as the rest of the group passed by him, advancing further into the musty smelling lab.
"And I thought the lobby was ridiculous. Looks like our little detective isn't as grown up as he thought." Yousuke narrowed his eyes, his gaze roaming over the flickering lights. Everything was just so suspicious. He felt like they were being watched.
Taking advantage of Yousuke's momentary pause, Rise overtook the brunette and resumed her position as the rightful leader of this operation. She marched on, determined to save Naoto even if half her party members were dumbstruck by Naoto's secret base. The pop singer never had much patience for Yousuke, but Kanji was being a wuss and Souji was just trying to keep the two guys in line.
"Yo!"
"Kyah!" Rise jumped as a sudden weight descended upon her shoulders. She snapped back and came face to face with Chie's gaping smile.
"You're looking really down, Rise-chan." Chie poked her index finger against the idol's smooth cheek, making the redhead's eyebrow twitch in response.
"Chie-sempai…on Mayonaka TV, they said Naoto-kun was going to have a body alteration operation. What is that supposed to mean?"
"We're gonna save Naoto-kun for sure, so don't you worry your pretty little head about that!" Chie grinned even wider, letting herself be dragged along by the idol as she hung off the girl's slender shoulders. The redhead resisted the smile tugging at the corner of her lips, forgetting momentarily the dread she felt.
"Yukiko-sempai's going to get jealous~" Rise replied in a singsong voice, keeping her stoic composure as she continued on.
"Naw, Yukiko's not the jealous type." The loud mouthed brunette chanced a glance backwards and Rise could feel Chie's body seize up beside her.
That smile Rise was trying so hard to repress showed on her face now. She could feel the laughter welling up as Chie let go, bouncing over to Yukiko. Rise knew that the dark haired beauty was watching. It was a wonder how Chie couldn't feel that icy jealous stare. Rise got the chills the very moment the brunette left Yukiko's side.
Sighing, Rise shook her head. She had the utmost faith in her upperclassman and she knew their hearts were in the right place. Without a doubt, she knew she would entrust her life to any one of them. She loved her friends, but she just felt like something was missing knowing Naoto was in danger.
They continued on as a group down the dark corridor, the clang of metal against their shoes echoing along with their light hearted laughter.
You're in love with her, aren't you?
The words slithered against Naoto's ear and he flinched. That voice. That horribly familiar voice.
He was alone though.
"You're mistaken. This isn't love…It's…" Naoto's eyes clouded over as he watched the fuzzy figures on the CRT. His gaze was fixated on Rise, unwavering. He knew they were coming to save him.
You're going to make her cry when she finds out.
The voice was getting louder, closer. It felt like he was the one saying it, but there was no way.
Clenching his fists, Naoto shook his head. He must not be getting enough sleep. The ventilation in here wasn't very good and he had an ear-splitting headache coming on. Trying to keep his eyes glued onto the screens, Naoto felt his heart sink as Rise and her group approached a large door, a shiny keycard in their hands. The detective could see all too well what was waiting for them.
Taking a couple of steps back, Naoto turned, walking over to the examination table where the jagged shadows of twisted laboratory tools hung over him. The great detective felt his hands shaking. He wasn't scared, but something about this world just made him sick to his stomach. The last thing he remembered before waking up on the floor of this horrid lab was walking out of Rise's house that rainy night.
Closing his eyes briefly, Naoto tried to will away the incessant throbbing in his temples, but the sound of his blood pumping hammered in his ears.
A sinister voice echoed in the room and the detective's head snapped up, his gaze darting around until he spotted movement in the corner. Naoto couldn't believe his eyes as a figure erupted from the shadows, a blue cap obscuring his face, an oversized lab coat draped around his small frame.
"INTRUDER DETECTED WITHIN THE RESEARCH AREA. ELIMINATION PROCEEDING."
The mechanized voice boomed across the dimly lit area, the robotic menace's eyes lighting up with bloodlust.
"What the-"
Everyone's eyes were wide as they stared at the large Gxndxm-like monster that loomed over them. Their personas were only half the size of the nostalgic transformer and that giant sword wasn't consoling them at all either.
"Everyone, get ready! It's charging up for something really big!" Rise's persona scanned the beast, question marks dotting her visor's view.
"Damn it! We need to take this guy down! Tomoe!" Chie summoned her persona, dealing out the first round of many attacks.
"Agidyne!" Yukiko unleashed her attack, the heat from the blast swamping the room. Konohana sakuya's attack connected perfectly, but the Gundam rip-off didn't even flinch. Without a second to spare, the robot raised its sword and aimed right for one of the group's heavy hitters.
"Chie!"
The sporty brunette took a sharp sidestep and took a diving barrel roll out of the way. She narrowly missed the attack, the metal flooring giving out completely from the weight of the monster's sword. Chie's eyes grew wide as she scrambled to her feet, frantically trying to escape the cascade of metal tiles that were falling down into the darkness.
"Shit! Guys, this floor's not gonna last much longer!"
Chie was stranded on a small section of the floor against the wall. Her teammates all looked on, the metal monster separating them from their friend, the metal plates creaking and groaning under her feet.
"Chie, just hold on! We'll distract this hunk of junk while you get over here!" Yousuke yelled across the chasm as he summoned up a galestorm. Magical blades cut into the transformer, whipping up dust every which way.
"Souji!"
Seta Souji's ziodyne crashed down from Izanagi's blade and struck the mid-boss' sword like a huge lightning rod. The group momentarily shielded their eyes from the flash as the blast filled the room with searing heat and blinding light.
Distracted, the enemy moved towards the group, forgetting about Chie, giving her time to leap across the gap and land with a flashy barrel roll. The brunette stood shakily, holding her bruised side from the stunt move she pulled just now. "Geez…they make these moves look so easy in the movies." The girl recovered quickly, rushing back into the fray.
Rise scanned the monster meticulously, trying to find something about it that would give them an upper hand. All she could dig up was its immunity to darkness. A lot of good that did…None of them even used darkness skills. Suddenly, Rise caught a glitch on her radar. It was a huge power boost.
"The next attack's going to deal a lot of damage! Block or dodge it if you can!" Rise could feel her heart racing. She had never been so close to the battle before and she had never felt so useless. There was nothing she could do to help her friends. All she could do was heal and Yukiko-sempai was a hundred times more efficient in that area.
The air trembled as the mid-boss let out a metallic screech, making everyone's ears ring. It swung its heavy sword in a circle around its head as it cut through the air. It was beginning to pick up speed, gaining momentum.
"Brace yourselves!"
Everything seemed to move in slow motion.
From there, Rise couldn't remember too clearly what happened after. She had bits and pieces of her memory spliced together with darkness. The best she could put together was that everyone had managed to block the attack that would've taken any one of them out. However, the same couldn't be said for the floor.
The metal plates beneath her crumpled and she felt so heavy. She was sinking into the unknown and the last thing she saw was Souji-sempai's hand shooting down to try and catch her.
But she felt nothing and everything faded to black.
Do you even have a plan?
Naoto ran as fast as he possibly could. Left, left right, straight ahead to the stairs. He was on the last floor, the 9th floor of the basement level. B8F. Rise was a floor above him. He had checked the security footage carefully, and it was just unlucky that she fell three floors down.
Is she even still alive?
His heart skipped a beat. A fall from three floors down? It was unlikely that anyone could survive that kind of fall without sustaining injuries.
Unholstering his gun, Naoto suddenly stopped and pressed himself against the wall. He peered around the corner, feeling sweat bead on his brow as he felt a dark presence coming closer. The feeling was suffocating to say the least; the fog in this area wasn't helping his visibility at all. It was dense and heavy and it made him feel like he was swimming through something…unclean.
Naoto took a deep breath, trying to still his racing nerves, but his hands were shaking.
How are you going to save her if you can't fight those things yourself?
The detective shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts.
You should have stayed in the room. You were there for a reason.
Closing his eyes and saying a quick mantra to calm himself down, Naoto took another deep breath and bolted down the corridor as fast as he could, bypassing the creature that was turned the other way.
"Left, right. Just a bit more…" Naoto's breathing was coming ragged. He could see the stairs ahead, only a couple of metres more.
Only children play these delusional hero games.
Naoto's eye twitched at that comment, but he trekked on, mounting the stairs two at a time as he made his way to the 8th floor. Closing his eyes momentarily, the young boy tried to bring up the map in his mind. "Right, right, left, right." He just crossed his fingers and hoped Rise was unharmed.
Children should obey the rules. Go back to the room.
It was getting harder and harder to ignore that voice, that voice that mocked him in a singsong tone.
You're going to die before they even get a chance to rescue you.
"Who says I need any rescuing?" The words escaped Naoto's lips before he realized what happened. "Great. Now, I'm going crazy."
Hehe. Not crazy. You're just talking to yourself.
The detective grimaced, thinking back to the figure in the lab. He shook his head again, feeling confused. That wasn`t him. There was no way he was so whiny, needy, and…childish.
Steeling his nerves, Naoto pushed aside that voice, focusing on the task at hand. He continued on, trying to look past the thick fog.
"Ughh…." Rise sat up on the cold metal floor, her body aching. Her arm burned with a searing pain and she was afraid to move it. She coughed, feeling a coppery taste flood her mouth. "Damn it…" Gritting her teeth, Rise could feel the tenderness on her side, the pain in her arm. There was no doubt that she had a couple of broken ribs, maybe an arm. She had managed to somehow make it through the fall alive, but even that in itself was surprising. How many floors did she fall through? It was definitely more than one. Summoning her persona, Rise concentrated on her injuries as she whispered one word.
"Diarama."
She could feel everything mending in her body, the bones slowly resetting. As the magic's effects started to fade, Rise let out the breath she didn't know she was holding. Healing wasn't her forte, but she felt like she covered most of the bases.
Trying to stand, the redhead felt a jolting pain shoot up her leg. She pressed a hand to her calf and felt a warm sticky substance coat her palm. "D-damn…I guess I missed a spot…"
"Dia." Rise whispered the skill name, the magic activating as a green glow started to repair the torn tissue. The girl winced, trying to spread the magic evenly to avoid leaving a scar. Broken bones were one thing, but gashes on her perfect legs really wouldn't do.
Sighing, Rise realized that her persona really wasn't cut out for the battle field. Rather…maybe she herself wasn't the fighting type.
Getting right to it, Rise scanned the floor she was on and to her horror, she could pinpoint exactly where her team was. They were still fighting the mid-boss three floors above her. "God…the only time when I wish my scanners weren't so accurate."
Pinching the bridge of her nose, Rise had no idea what to do, being all alone by herself just above the final boss' lair. It was ridiculous. The monsters were stronger here too. The safest thing she could do was track the monsters on her radar so she could avoid them. Right now, looking at her scanner, she could see that she was in no immediate danger. It was just her, the darkness and…
Rise's eyes shot wide open. There was a green blip on her map. It wasn't an enemy for sure, but…it was strange to see something like that so close to their destination. The redhead furrowed her eyebrows, wondering if it was that strange little fox she would see playing with Souji-sempai sometimes.
Or maybe it was Naoto-kun…
Rise smirked, smiling at her own foolishness. There was no way. Even if it was Naoto, he'd be in big trouble without a persona of his own.
"What the-" Rise jumped as the green blip started moving towards her at a frightening speed. "From the left….? Wait no….the right…" Rise darted to the end of the hall and poked her head around the corner. She could hear footsteps coming down towards her and for sure, she could see a faint figure in the distance.
She cautiously moved towards the person, the eerie green light throwing her shadow ahead of her. Footsteps grew louder and in the dim lighting, she could make out someone who looked like Naoto, but it was impossible, right? How much of a coincidence could it be?
Suddenly, as the unknown subject came into full view, Rise's breath hitched in her throat. Striking blue eyes pierced through the darkness, meeting hers before a warm body slammed right into her with an awkward scream.
"Kyaah!"
The two tumbled to the floor, intertwined.
"Ouch…Is that you, Naoto-kun?" Rise pushed herself up, finding Naoto doubled over at her feet.
"Ugh…R-Rise…?" Naoto stood up slowly, cringing as a sharp pain radiated from his wrist. He had tried to break his fall with an outstretched hand, but probably ended breaking something else instead. He moved away from the girl he had just stumbled into, offering his good hand to her.
Gladly accepting his help, Rise was in a daze.
"A-Are you real? I can't believe my wish came true." The redhead cupped Naoto's face gently, stroking his soft skin.
Gently clasping Rise's hand in his own, Naoto laced their fingers together as he abruptly pulled them to the side, pressing up against the metal walls. "I'm happy that you're glad to see me, Rise, but I think we need to get going soon. I was running from something on the way here and I'm afraid that it's going to catch up soon." Glancing behind him, Naoto furrowed his brows, squinting into the distance in the dimly lit hallway.
"Oh. Just a sec." Pulling out of Naoto's grip, Rise closed her eyes, focusing her energy as she whispered, "Himiko." The redhead's persona bathed her in a soft light and Rise had a full view of the floor. Memorizing the relative positions, she dismissed Himiko and formulated a plan to avoid all the big shadows. "We're going to hide in one of the rooms down the hall, but we have to be fast and quiet moving through the halls."
"Roger." Naoto swallowed his anxiety, feeling more reassured from Rise's confidence in her plan.
Without delay, Rise took the lead as she took off into a fast jog. Naoto followed close behind, feeling the sweat bead on his forehead as he moved through the labyrinth. Every flicker of light made the shadows move, taking a year off his life as he held his breath, waiting to see if he would be attacked.
For many grueling minutes, the pair moved through the fog, Naoto feeling the pain get worse, his wrist numb with searing heat. He was really starting to sweat, his blue hair matted to his forehead, the nape of his neck damp. Something just felt off. The whole place made him feel like he was swimming underwater. His head pounded.
You can't play hero all the time. You're going to lose. Everything.
Suddenly, the detective felt a heaving sensation, nausea rippling through him in hard waves.
"Naoto-kun? What's wrong!?" Rise stopped as she heard Naoto let out a groan. As she whipped around, she saw the boy on the floor, doubled over in pain, a hand cupped to his mouth.
Nothing you do can fix things. You are going to ruin everything you have because of your childish façade.
"I think I'm…going to be sick…" Naoto felt his head throb, dry heaving as he coughed up nothing but water and acid.
"C'mon, Naoto. We're almost there. We need to keep moving!" Rise checked the scanners frantically, watching as a dark blip rounded the corner towards them. The idol panicked, not knowing what to do. There was a treasure room 500 metres from where they were, but at this rate, she wasn't sure if they were going to make it. Her eyes darted around the map. There was a set of stairs just 50 metres behind them. She was sure that it lead to the final floor, but they didn't have much of a choice.
The shadow was almost there. Rise could feel the foreboding, the heaviness in the air.
Grabbing Naoto by the arm, Rise mustered up her strength as she half dragged the semi-conscious boy towards the stairs.
The growls were getting louder, black fog rolling in around their ankles.
"Ahngh-c'mon…Naoto-kun, just…a bit more!" With a lunge, Rise threw all her weight forward, propelling them both into the stairwell. She knew the stairs would be safe, the monsters always repelled by the yellow light.
The eerie lighting in the staircase enveloped the two, Rise letting out an ear-splitting cry from the hard fall they both had. She had thrown them both hard into the stairs, propelling them down four steps and onto the landing. Her shoulder hit the metal floor hard, a crack resounding in the small area. The pain was white, hot, searing and it took a minute before Rise was able to move. Looking down, she still had her good arm around Naoto, but the detective was slumped against her, still.
Rise froze, but started to relax as she felt the faint heaving of Naoto's chest against her. He was out cold, but everything was alright. She still had MP left that would last her a Media spell. Things were going to be okay. The redhead repeated this mantra under her breath, fighting the tears that welled up in her eyes.
"Souji-sempai…please…find us…" Rise ground her teeth together as she tried to summon her persona.
"Himiko…"
There was just silence, emptiness in the air.
Rise felt panic spread through her.
"Himiko."
Again, nothing happened.
"Himiko!"
There was a stagnant silence before Rise burst out into tears. She pressed left hand against her face, squeezing her nose bridge as she felt the tears on her palm. Her shoulder hurt, the pain was paralyzing. Clearing her head, she wondered if it was the stairs that muted her persona's skills. They had never lingered too long in the stairwell, but this might have been why the shadows never followed them to other floors.
Rise winced, turning Naoto over as gently as she could before laying him flat on his back. The redhead inched herself towards the wall, resting her good shoulder against it.
As she sat there holding her right arm, she basked in the silence, trying to make heads or tails of the whole situation. It was surreal, nightmarish and with a bitter laugh, Rise realized how foolish she was to try and be the hero.
Naoto felt his body ache, his consciousness returning as he grasped his surroundings. The cold metal against his back was soothing, alleviating the feverish haze that seemed to weigh down on him.
His eyes fluttered open and slowly scanned the room. Things were still blurry, but red hair caught his eye. It was Rise. There was a slightly quizzical quip to his inner voice, wondering where they both were.
The detective stared longer at Rise, studying the forlorn look on her face, the pallor in her skin. Her breathing was slightly ragged, her chest heaving heavily up and down.
Groaning, Naoto eased himself up on an elbow, which stirred Rise out of her stupor.
"Naoto-kun…"
Naoto kept staring, watching as Rise's lips parted slightly in a sad smile. His gaze shifted as he caught a glimpse of red against white. The sleeve of Rise's summer uniform was slowly turning a dark red. Blood was seeping through, starting to drip down her arm.
"Rise, your shoulder…" Naoto moved abruptly, his eyes widening at the sight. "I'm going to take a look at it, Rise. Just bear with me."
Rise nodded silently, tasting the salty tears that trickled into her mouth.
Naoto gingerly rolled the short sleeve higher, swallowing hard at what he saw. It was definitely a compound fracture. Rise's upper arm was seriously injured, the white of bone peeking out through ragged and torn skin.
"We've got to get you somewhere where we can treat this, Rise. You're not looking good."
Again, Rise smiled weakly. "I'm so glad I found you, Naoto-kun…"
Naoto bit his lip, staying silent as he moved over to Rise's good side, supporting her as he draped her arm over his own shoulder. He knew where they had to go. That laboratory had instruments, chemicals, medical supplies. It was a long shot, but it was better than nothing.
It doesn't matter what you do now. She'll still hate you when she finds out.
The detective grunted as he walked with Rise's weight against him. The headache was coming back as the voice became louder in his head. It was no longer in the background, and the echo made it seem like it was right in front of him.
Whatever you do is useless. Stop playing grown-up.
Again, the voice drew him closer. It was almost as if he knew where the lab was, where…it was, waiting for them.
Stopping in front of large elevator doors, Naoto stopped at the terminal beside it. There was a hand imprint and the detective put his palm against it. The terminal lit up and the doors slid open with a groan as the metal scraped along its tracks.
A/N: Haha...I'm still alive. Hoping to FINALLY finish this story so I can write some Hibike! Euphonium fanfiction. Dunno if anyone is still reading this, but I've drafted most of my chapters and will be finished by the end of this month.
Shoot me a review if you're still there :) If you're not...I understand haha...it's been...4 years...