Alright guys pay attention because I have a lot of announcements at the end of this chapter. But in the mean time, enjoy.
…
Where ever Astral ended up, there was no sound. No wind, not even the clattering of stone. It was a silent dark void.
"Yuma?" His voice barely carried and felt like it got caught in his throat. There was no response of any kind from anywhere in the void.
I highly doubt this is Yuma's mind. Astral thought. Unless it's so smothered in darkness that nothing can show. He looked around looking for any sign of something, by this point he really didn't care for what it could be but he need something to go off of.
Astral persisted forward in a random direction. "Yuma! Please answer me!"
The sound of something dripping reached his ears. Even more bizarre was that it was coming from beneath him. Looking down he saw ripples as if there was an ocean beneath him but he could see despite the distortion of the water, was Yuma.
"Yuma!" Astral immediately moved to dive down only discover that the water was thick like tar his hand barely breaking through the surface. But that wasn't going to stop him, he clawed at the muck parting it slowly as he forced his way down. Being grateful that he didn't require the ability to breathe air he worked his way down towards Yuma. Getting closer Astral could see more details about the predicament Yuma was in. Thankfully he was in a bubble that had protected him from the liquid that Astral was currently crawling through but he was unconscious.
Think you can save him?
Astral felt something grab his midsection. It felt like a large spider like hand. Daring looked behind him Astral saw the thing that haunted him for the rest of his life.
White scratches as if drawn on or scratched at the darkness around him, thin and distorted, eyes and mouth wide and full of malice dripping darkness. There holding Astral, was a monster version of himself.
Think you can save him? It asked him again.
"I came this far…I won't give up." Astral tried to pry the fingers off of him. Despite their brittle appearance, they held firm.
"Then why did you leave?"
Astral was surprised when Yuma started speaking, even more so when his eyes were completely black.
"We were in this together, then why did you leave?"
Astral's lip trembled, "I was weak….can you forgive me?"
Forgive you, the monster him tightened his grip, How can he forgive you when you can't forgive yourself?
"It's your fault that I'm in this mess! You shut yourself in the key when you should have come to me!"
"I know….I was scared of you rejecting me Yuma." Both Yuma and the monster him backed off. "To be honest…I'm rather…what's the word?"
Jealous?
"That's right….I'm jealous of you Yuma….so carefree with your friends even when you are in pain. Me….I have the fate of my home world on my hands. That everlasting pressure that if I falter for one moment, I will lose everything. I wish to be like you but part of me screams that I can't. Is that wrong?"
Yuma seemed to let out a chuckle and closed his eyes, "No…that's just part of being human."
"And you…." Astral looked at the monster him in the eye, "You are part of me no matter what."
The thing released him. I am. The part of you that is your free will. The double edge sword that can lead to glory and ruin. You've learned the hard way of its destructive power.
"A mistake I won't repeat." Astral shot forward through the bubble grabbing Yuma and burst through the other side. "Let's head back Yuma."
Yuma wrapped his arms around him in returned and smiled. "Yeah...everyone is waiting for us."
…..
The Investigation Team plus Shark waited with baited breath. Yuma just stood there staring ahead since Astral entered his body. Even Vector had remained silent and was waiting to see what would happen next.
Yu bit his lip. On the one hand Yuma had stopped attacking them. On the other they had no idea what was going on inside his body. Not even Rise could detect what was going on. He still hadn't dismissed the three Personas he had summoned to get to this point even though a stabbing headache was forming quickly. He did not want to be caught off guard if everything went south.
Yuma suddenly hunched forward in pain and was coughing. The sudden movement spooked everyone as fear turned to worry.
"Yuma!" Shark was the first one to approach him, "Stay with us!"
Yuma coughed again, and then reached. Buckets of black goop poured out of his mouth. Several members of the party present nearly empty their own stomachs at the sight.
"Hold on...just get it all out." Shark held Yuma's shoulders in support. He could feel how weak Yuma was. He only hoped that Astral was successful in forcing the Shadow out.
"S-Shark….." Shark nearly jumped in alarm at hearing Yuma's undistorted voice. "Don't panic….but…he's coming…."
Before Shark could question who was coming, Yuma let out a cry of pain as the Shadow Astral ripped out of his back and fell to the ground.
"It's out!" Yukiko cried in relief.
"Astral did it! Hooray for him!" Teddie bounced in joy.
Yu sighed in relief as he dismissed his Personas. This battle was finally over.
"Wait…why does Yuma still look like that?" Kanji pointed out something.
Yu looked to what he was referring too. Yuma still wearing the armor but all the grey parts had lightened to white and the red was a brighter shade. Even the black part of his hair had turned into a bright orange.
Shark rolled his eyes, "He's supposed to look like that. That's the true form for when Yuma and Astral fuse."
"Really?!" Yosuke seemed excited, "So they're like some sort of shonen super hero."
Yukiko started laughing, "Super hero!? Yosuke that's too much!"
"Welcome back Yuma…you holding up?" Shark asked.
"I feel like I haven't eating in days and had just run a marathon…..so just peachy." He gave a weak smile and thumbs up.
"Good to have you back finally." Yosuke pounded him on the back hard.
"Don't beat him up!" Chie scolded him.
"Is Astral alright?" Yu asked.
"He's here." Yuma pointed to his head, "He's tried but fine."
"I could imagine….so what do we do about that?" Shark pointed to Shadow Astral who's odd coloring was fading away and his image was starting to fizzle out.
Yuma suddenly glowed gold then separated into two lights, one blue one red. The red one faded into Yuma, while the blue faded to reveal Astral. "I'll need to accept him now….I'll be alright." Astral said.
Yuma gave his friend a thumbs up. "Go for it."
Astral gave the group a smile before approaching his Shadow. All the corruption in him was gone so now the only difference between them was the eyes. "How much of what you said was actually true?"
Most of it…aside from the part of trying to kill you. You do need to be careful about how you treat those around you.
"I suppose I do….and my mission?"
You know your answer to that.
"I do….I want to know more about this war before I do anything. No more blindly following orders."
The Shadow Astral smiled, I'm glad to hear.
A blue light washed over him as the Shadow took on a new form. In front of them stood a mechanical knight its armor glittering gold and white with bladed wings extending from its back and cape fluttering in the wind. The knight had an Egyptian theme to it and the number ninety three shined brightly on its arm. The knight glowed as it turned into a Persona Card and floated down to Astral.
"Hope Kaiser….." Astral whispered, "My own Persona."
"Alright Astral!" Yuma cheered.
"Congratulations," Yu said.
"So this is something that happens every day for you guys?" Shark asked.
"More or less…." Yosuke said.
"Hold on!" Rise interjected, "Where do you think you're going!?" She pointed to Vector who was trying to slip away on noticed.
"You've got to pay for all the crap you've put us through…" Kanji cracked his knuckles.
"Keh….I was in a generous mood and was going to let you live for now….but you've changed my mind!" Vector faced the group again, "I'll enjoy killing all of you!"
Just like you did to everyone else?
Vector froze. It couldn't be, that was his voice. Don Thousand! What's going on here?
The deity was silent.
You were going to bring peace, why did you turn to war?
Vector was breathing heavily, it's just a trick, there's no way this world was pulling tricks on him. But, it was real. Stepping out of the shadows, was him, with gold eyes.
"What's going on? Why did a Shadow of him come out of nowhere?" Yukiko wondered.
"And why does it look human?" Chie added.
Shark gritted his teeth. The Shadow had the same appearance as the Vector he saw in Abyss' visions.
You had a chance! There was a time for peace but you slaughtered everyone! The Shadow seemed to be pleading with his counterpart. Do you not remember Mother's sacrifice?
"What are you on about?! Are you supposed to be me?" Vector demanded.
The Shadow looked confused. Do you not remember anything? Or has he corrupted your mind?
Before Vector could say anything he felt Don Thousand taking control of his body, mainly his arm. What are you doing?!
This isn't anything for you to worry about, forcefully take its power.
The Shadow seemed alarmed by something, Don't tell me….you've allowed him….He was cut off by Vector's clawed hand sinking into his chest. W-Why…..
Don Thousand prevented Vector from answering and instead started absorbing the Shadow's energy.
Wh-what are you doing?!
"It's….not….me…."It was the only thing Vector managed to croak out.
He…lies…..That was the last thing the Shadow said before melting into a pile of black goo.
"Did….did he…..just…." Teddie couldn't believe it.
"It wasn't like with Mitsuo…." Chie gulped, "That…melted!"
Yuma had of look between shock and horror while Astral tried to process everything that just happened. Shark was plain confused.
Yu recovered first and got into a battle stance, "Vector!"
Vector stared at his hand and didn't look at any of them, "We'll meet again." He disappeared into a portal after that.
"He left….." Yuma collapsed to his knees, "I was worried that we were going to fight another Shadow."
"Me too….but something was defiantly wrong about that Shadow." Naoto said, "Did you guys listen to what it said? Do you not remember? It was like it knew of memories that Vector wasn't aware of."
"It could be possible since the Barians had past lives as humans. This may confirm that they don't remember any of it." Astral said.
"But let's get out of here for now…I don't want any other weird things to happen." Chie said.
"Yeah…" Yu agreed, "Let's head back."
…
Going back through the TV screen was just as weird as jumping in. Shark was even more amazed that the shopping customers didn't notice a group of teenagers pop out of nowhere. He didn't know to call it obliviousness or willful ignorance. "How have you guys not been caught doing this?"
"Don't really know but most people assume were hanging out here since my dad's the manager." Yosuke said.
"Plus people really don't shop for electronics a lot around here so this part of the store is mostly empty." Chie added.
Shark shrugged as he took the glasses off and put them in his pocket, he had a feeling he might need them later.
"So Shark…have you figured out where you're staying?" He heard Rise asked.
He smacked himself, in all that excitement of rescuing Astral, he had forgotten to make those arrangements.
"There's room at my place, just need to clear it out. Mom's been insisting that you stay ever since she heard what happened." Kanji said.
"I suppose so…I'll swing by later tonight. I have to go get my stuff."
"Don't worry about that, I'll take care of that. Kanji doesn't live that far from me." Yukiko said.
"Can we get food first? I'm hungry."
Typical Yuma, Shark thought to himself.
"I know of a good place. And it's raining so they'll have a special." Yu said.
"Ohhhh….Aika's place. Should we get Nanako too?" Yosuke asked.
"Nanako?" Shark blinked at the unfamiliar name.
"She's my cousin." Yu said.
"Yeah! Let's bring Nana-chan!" Teddie bounce as he unzipped his head and jumped out of his costume.
"Don't do that in front of kids!" Yosuke protested.
"That was a mental image that I didn't want." Shark muttered.
"Eeeehhh…it's fine." Yuma grinned. "So how about it Shark? Join us for dinner?"
"Fine…" Shark admitted defeat and followed the group.
…
The recent manga chapter couldn't have come at a better time. So that wraps up this story arc so for my news.
1. I am looking for a duel writer. While I could try to write them on my own it would take me a long time and I really don't know all the ins and outs of the TCG so they might now turn out very good. If I could get help on this, it would make the next few chapters come faster. There are three original duels coming up so if you want, PM a sample (like a duel you wrote or a chapter to a fic that you wrote that has a duel) and I'll let you know if you're hired.
2. I'm planning to start posting my fics to Archive of Our Own and they do allow posting of art with the chapters so I will also work on illustrations to go with each chapter which leads be to news number three.
3. FAN ART CONTEST! I am holding an art contest for my fics. The basic rule is to draw art either based off or inspired by any of my fics. This is not just limited to Persona Zexal, you can choose any story that I have written. There will be a winner and runner up for each story so there are several chances to win.
Prizes:
1st place for each story: Art used in Archive of Our Own posting, one shot request, art request.
2nd place for each story: Art used in Archive of Our Own posting, one shot request.
3rd place for each story: Art used in Archive or Our Own posting
All artwork will be credited to the original artists. Please keep all requests SFW and please no yaoi parings.
The due date is May 31st so just PM a link to your art to submit. If you are having a hard time submitting your work let me know.