Sixth Ammo: Perhaps a better explanation was needed.

The first thing I saw when I headed to Shana's room (after getting directions from Little Louise) was Aria standing right outside her door.

"Open the door already!" Aria yells. "I want to help you out here!"

It's hard to tell, but I think I heard a faint "Go away," coming from the other side of the door.

"Don't make me shoot a hole in this door!" Aria yells again. "I will if I have to!"

"Not the best at this, are you?" I ask her.

"You!" Aria says as she turns and points at me. "You've known Shana longer then I have, haven't you? I need you to go in there and cheer her up!"

"Well that was the plan I had in mind when I came here," I reply.

"Perfect!" Aria says, sounding satisfied. "She hasn't even opened the door for me so you better do better. If you don't I'll blow a wind hole in you!"

"… I'll keep that in mind," I tell her, eyeing the gun Aria has started waving in my face.

Aria nods, puts her gun away and walks off. So, how do we approach this one? Kick the door open and run in guns blazing?

"Hey Shana," I say with a knock on the door. "You okay in there?"

What a boring way to go about things.

"I'm fine, go away," I hear from the other side of the door, confirming that she is indeed, not fine and I shouldn't go away. As such, I open the door and step in.

I didn't expect a pretty scene when I came in, but I was still surpassed by how awful the room looked. A complete mess. That perfectly sums up both the room and Shana herself as she sat in the corner dressed in a nightdress and hugging her knees. Her hair was a mess and she looked like she hadn't slept in weeks.

"I though I said to go away," she says when I walk into the room.

"I didn't think it would be a good idea to just leave," I reply.

"Why would that be?" Shana asks. "Like I told you, and like I told Aria repeatedly, I'm fine. I just want to be alone for a bit."

"You don't look fine. At all. You look really terrible."

"I just haven't slept in a few days, nothing to comment on," Shana tries to handwave her appearance.

Thus explaining the "Haven't-slept-in-a-week" look.

"Don't give me that look," Shana scolds me. "It's fine. I just need to kill him again, don't I? So that's what I'll do. I'll kill him and then I'll finally be done with everything, won't I?"

I sigh, before walking over and sitting down next to Shana.

"Is that really how you see it?" I ask her.

"It's how it is, isn't it?" Shana says, smiling weakly. "I mean I already killed him once and that wasn't permanent, so I just need to kill him again and again until it sticks, don't I? I already killed him once, why should this time be any different?"

"Shana, I want you to be honest with me," I tell her.

"I am being honest," she insists. "I've only been saying facts, haven't I?"

"That's not what I meant. You had to kill the person you loved and now he's still alive. That can't be easy for anyone."

"Oh no, you're mistaken. I killed Yuji because I didn't have any other way to stop the Snake of the Festival," Shana clarifies. "So that means I killed the person who meant the most to me in the hopes that it was the only option and that I didn't make a horrible mistake. And you know what? That's exactly what it was! The Snake is still alive and Yuji died for nothing! I killed him and there were probably a million other ways we could have resolved it, but I picked the one that wouldn't work. Some flame haze I am."

"Shana," I start, but she cuts me off by covering my mouth.

"I know. There's no way I could have known that it wouldn't work, right?" Shana asks. "There isn't any possible way I could have known that the Snake would come back, right? That doesn't change much, now does it? I still killed Yuji, and it was all for nothing."

"There's nothing you could have done."

"Is that so?" she asks. "I could have not killed him. That was always an option. I could have tried a million other things, but I chose to kill him. That's really all there is to it."

I can't think of any way to cheer her up. She's dead set on blaming herself for it, and I don't think I can change that.

"Still, I'm grateful," Shana says. "To both you and Aria for at least attempting to console me. Thank you both. You can go now, if you want. Go and tell Aria that if nothing else I'm feeling a little better."

"Are you sure?" I ask, to which she nods her head. "All right then. Let me know if you ever want to talk about something."

"Thank you Saito," Shana says with another weak smile.

I exit her room and close the door behind me. Upon exiting I ran almost directly into the nurse, Little Louise.

"Ah! Perfect!" She says with a grin. "I was looking for you! Um… is she doing okay?"

"No," I say, giving the honest truth. "But I think she'll survive. I just wish she'd be a bit more open about things. I really feel bad about having to just leave her like not having been able to do anything about it."

"Well that's normal, I suppose," Little Louise says running a hand through her hair and flipping it over her shoulder. "It's normal to be worried about people you care about and all that. That's not important. I got the whole group together… minus you and Shana, of course and we're waiting in the lobby. They're having a meeting."

"A meeting? What for?"

"To discuss what's the next part or something," she explains. "I don't really know what it is, it was Nagi's idea."

"Okay, thank you for telling me."

*Scene Break*

"Look who finally showed up."

"Nice to see you too Fuka," I respond, as I take a seat. "So what's going on here?"

"Just figured we would have a group discussion on the fact that we're fighting a god," Ryuji says.

"Nothing that big, really," Kinji adds.

"So I feel like taking a poll," Nagi says as she stands up and address the people of the resort. "I want to know how everyone feels about the situation. I know we've got sort of the basics on everyone's opinion, but if you feel like going more in-depth then feel free."

"I'll start by saying that we're fine," Fuka says. "What's there to worry about?"

"The fact that we're fighting a god seems like a big one," Kinji says.

"You're point?" Fuka retaliates. "Me and Desco practically slaughtered God back home, and this guy's already been beaten! I don't know why you're all so upset about it."

"How about the fact that he nearly killed all of us?" Ryuji asks. "Considering he brutalized all of us, and Louise died-"

"They didn't die in the technical sense!" Little Louise pipes up from the next room over. "They just came reeeeealy close!"

"The point is, he's clearly a bigger threat then you're making it out to be," Ryuji finishes. "Even if Shana has beaten him in the past, he just effortlessly defeated her, didn't he?"

"She still defeated him by herself," Eve points out. "That's still impressive."

"As impressive as it is inaccurate."

We turn and see Shana, dressed in her usual outfit standing in the hallway. She walks over to the group, though she doesn't take a seat.

"Shana, you're up," Louise notes. "How are you feeling?"

"I've felt better," she admits. "Is your entire basis for us having a chance that I beat the Snake in the past?"

"Well, yeah," Fuka says.

"You're not going to say something like you never actually beat him, are you?" Hayate asks.

"I didn't beat him alone, that's for sure," Shana says. "I had a good friend with me for the fight."

"Two against one does provide much better odds," Eve says, nodding her head.

"Well… was this friend of yours as powerful as you and this Yuji guy?" Taiga asks.

"Honestly? No, she was quite weak," Shana says, smiling somewhat nostalgically. "Very weak, actually. Most of you could probably beat her in a contest of pure strength."

"How reassuring," I comment.

"Her greatest asset was her quick thinking and moral support," Shana continues. "She was very good at keeping me grounded, so to speak. I suppose that's the problem I had a few days ago. I let my emotions get a little too out of control."

"So if you were a bit calmer then we would have won?" Nagi asks.

"I'm not so sure," Shana admits. "He does seem tougher then when I last met him. That's likely because he doesn't have a reason to hold back anymore. Last time it was Yuji using his power, and Yuji didn't need to use anymore strength then was needed. Now that the Snake is free of the burden of a conscience, he's more likely to use everything he has against us."

"So it's not that he's stronger, so much as he's simply not holding back anymore?" Hayate asks.

"What a convenient cliche," Nagi observes. "He has ways to deal with the larger group now without requiring any type of plot related power up that we could easily negate to give ourselves the advantage."

"It is indeed rather clever, milady," Hayate agrees.

The rest of out group is rendered silent at the exchange.

"Um…"

*CRASH*

"OHMYGOODNESSIFINALLYFOUNDYOU!"

Before anyone could respond to Nagi and Hayate, it appears that we have another interruption, this one is significantly more "Ariana" shaped. She pulls herself out of the dust from her crash and starts up again.

"Where did you all go?!" she asks. "We were just talking and then you disappeared so suddenly and I was panicking and no one was there and I so worried! What happened to you all?!"

"Later," Shana says. "First, I have to ask you a question."

"E-eh?" Ariana immediately deflates. "Wh-what would that b-be?"

"When you first appeared to us and told us about the 'universe ending threat.' Did you know that it was the Snake of the Festival?"

"U-um…" Ariana starts twiddling her thumbs and looking down at the floor. "Y-you see-"

"You knew and you didn't tell us?" Shana asks. "Any particular reason why you wouldn't tell us such an important piece of information?"

"I-I… Uuhh…" Ariana seems to be finding trouble finding the words. "I-it's just-"

"Ariana, I'm not mad at you," Shana tells her. "I'm just curious."

"Y-you're not mad?" Ariana asks. Shana shakes her head, causing Ariana to sigh in relief. "Thank goodness. I'm sorry. To all of you. I wanted to tell you about all of this, but I couldn't. The biggest reason is I don't know about it all myself."

"You don't know?" Aria asks. "Aren't you the one who organized this whole thing?"

"I don't have that kind of power or authority," Ariana says. "Even when I wasn't wanted for something that hardly qualifies as a crime, I was only a ground force in the system. The lowest tier in the ladder. I was never told a lot of stuff. The only reason I was even privy to these events was because I was told about it. Please don't ask me who, I was contacted by phone and never got a name. I was told that something really bad was going to happen in this timeline and that I could help prevent it. I was never told what it was, but I got enough hints to piece it together pretty easily."

"So someone you don't know calls you and tells you that you can help prevent the end of the universe and you just go along with it?" Shana asks.

"Well… Y-yeah," Ariana admits bashfully. "Why would someone lie about something like that? Anyway, that person is the one who told me about what was going on and helped me figure out what to do. I wanted to tell you everything I could about this, and I did. I told you everything I knew for certain, even if it wasn't everything I knew. I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry."

"That's okay, but why are we here then?" Ryuji asks.

"I can answer that one," Little Louise says, walking into the conversation. "Here's a question for all of you: There's a threat that could destroy an entire universe. You don't know what how it existing will work out. It could be snuffed out like a candle, or it could destroy the universe as you feared. What do you do?"

"Try to neutralize the threat, right?" Eve asks.

"Bingo," Little Louise affirms. "That's really the job of the Angels. And the Demons, but they don't have the same resources so they don't count."

"T-that's right!" Ariana says, nodding her head. "We look over all the timelines to make sure nothing threatens the fabric of existence!"

"So, the Snake of the Festival could potentially destroy the balance and cause a timeline to collapse in on itself, completely destroying it and killing a literally uncountable amount of lives. This collapse could spread and destroy other timelines, meaning many more people die. What do you?"

"Neutralize the threat?" Eve asks.

"And how do you do that? Little Louise asks. None of us respond, so she continues. "You destroy the timeline and the surrounding timelines yourself, to make sure that such an event occurs within an easily controlled environment so it doesn't get out of control."

W-wait," I interrupt. "Are you saying-"

"Yes," Little Louise nods. "In order to prevent an unknown amount of destruction, they would simply cause a known amount of damage to stem the flow. Sort of like cutting off your arm to stop an infection from spreading."

"And… And the timelines they would have destroyed?" Aria asks.

"Yours, obviously," Little Louise confirms. "Why else would you be brought here?"

There's a minute of silence as that information rests with us. It's an awful lot to take in. All these timelines destroyed? That's… I don't even want to think about how many people that would be that would simply die, not even knowing what happened.

"Perhaps I said too much," Little Louise laments. "You should all go to your rooms and call it a day. Sleep on it. I'll take you back to the academy in the morning and you can work it out from there."

*Louise POV*

Everyone went back to their rooms after the chat I had with them. Well, almost everybody.

"Um… Miss?" Ariana asks.

If I'm honest, I forgot she was here. She actually could have severely ruined everything. I need to be more careful about what I say around these people.

"I'm only seven years old, you don't have to call me Miss," I tell her. "It makes me feel old. My name's Louise."

"Louise," Ariana corrects. "Is all of that really true? Is that really what the higher-ups would do if everyone fails?"

Excuse me?

"You don't know?" I ask her.

"Like I said, I hung out on the lowest rung," Ariana tells me. "The one time I was told what the higher ups were doing we had the incident that eventually led to me becoming a wanted criminal."

"I see."

Well. Strike my earlier comments. I could say that the moon is purple and made of chocolate and we'll probably be fine.

"So, is it true?" she asks again.

"I'unno."

"… Excuse me?" Ariana seems confused.

"I mean, it's kind of common sense, isn't it?" I ask her. "It sounds like something they would do. They're kind of jerks from what I've heard. I've also heard that they have done things similar to that, though I wasn't actually there so I don't know."

"W-w-wait. So, you don't know if what you were saying is true or not?" Ariana seems very confused.

"I have absolutely no idea whatsoever," I confirm.

"Then why did you tell them that? Did you see their expressions?! You just put a huge burden on them that you didn't need to!"

"Yeah, now they'll fight."

"Excuse me?"

"They were very clearly doubting this whole thing," I explain. "They were very clearly wondering why most of them were here and why they couldn't just go home. A few probably think of themselves as burdens and would be better served as cheerleaders back home. By telling them that their world's are threatened, it'll motivate them to fight and protect it."

"So, you lied to them to motivate them?" Ariana asks.

"Exactly. I would have preferred another way, but it was quick and easy."

"I… I think I get it. I don't know if I like it, but it seems to be working."

"You should go home for now," I tell her. "You're probably still a bit tired from your last excursion, right? Take a rest, I'll look after them while you're gone."

Ariana seems unsure, though eventually she relents.

"Okay. Just make sure they're safe, okay?" Ariana asks. "Please."

"I promise that they'll be alright," I tell her.

"Thank you," Ariana says with a smile, before turning and running off.

When she vanishes I let loose a sigh of relief and sink into one of the chairs that's around.

"That was a rough one," I say out loud to nobody. "That could have gone far worse then it did. It could have gone better too. I would have liked if Saito could have successfully consoled Shana, maybe even ended with a hug or something else adorable like that, though what we got should be good. There's only one Louise now, and everyone is going to fight. Seems like all the pieces are set. Time for the real game to begin."