Eight – Episode Dread
"You know, having all those black vans outside the hospital hardly seems inconspicuous..." noted Tetsuya.
"There was no other choice. Speed is of essence, yes?" asked Mitsuru. Tetsuya nodded. "Alright, everybody, I'm glad you could make it, and I'm sorry about disrupting your lives again."
"Hey, it was kind of hard to focus on training for my next match when the world's about to end- again," quipped Akihiko. "We couldn't just ignore it last time- we can't just ignore it this time, right?"
"So this is the last shot?" asked Yukari.
"If this fails," replied Aigis. "There will be exactly zero percent probability of success. This is very much our last shot."
"Then let's make it count," said Ken.
The night of the attack, as the body of his enemy tumbled to the ground with clipped wings, he saw the moon. A baleful green-yellow crescent, like a narrowed eye, glaring deeply into him.
The spark of memory distracted him so much, he could barely focus on the fight.
Yes, that baseball cap was familiar. As was that stubborn look of determination. And that brunette- if you shortened her hair, washed off ten years of struggles and hard work... and that flash of red. A face of striking, diamond-hard beauty, crouched down near the crumpled form below him, looking up with... fear? Regret? Longing?
Then a wave of crushing despair swept over him- not from him, but from within the target. And, suddenly, his master called him back.
Confusion.
Doubt.
"Thank you," said Tetsuya as Mitsuru handed him an Evoker. "And for the heal, too. Would've hated to sit this one-" A sudden spasm of coughing. "...yeah. I'll bring some cough drops."
"You sure you want to go with us?" she asked. "I... haven't told anybody else, but-"
Tetsuya shook his head. "Don't be silly. My brother started this, it's my duty to end it. ...I'm more concerned about that dog, actually."
Koromaru, grizzled with age and much, much larger and wolflike, loped off of the van and followed Ken into the darkened basement of the office complex.
"Koro-chan has as much right to see the end of this through as the rest of us," said Aigis. "You would be surprised at what that dog can do."
Heavy firepower.
"I'm glad you approve. Takaya, they've cleared out the final Guardian," said Alex, pocketing his radio. "You're clear to move on up."
Mankind's talent in destruction is, as always, impressive. I find myself in admiration, against my will.
Alex nodded as he activated the teleporter, kicking aside spent shells and bullet fragments. "That's a large part of the whole problem, isn't it?"
But humanity's greatest talent was always the act of creation... even in the face of decay's inevitability, they struggle to stay one step ahead. Often, they succeed.
Alex glared silently at the chained coffin-like apparatus.
"I take it back," wheezed Tetsuya as black and purple flames dissipated. "The dog can stay. Jeez."
Koromaru howled, and Monad shuddered under his fury.
"Captain Smith, any signs of my brother or his companions?" inquired Alex.
"Sir, no sir. Awfully quiet on all floors, sir." crackled the radio.
"Now isn't... that odd..." said Takaya with a smug grin. "Perhaps... they've learned... wisdom, and decided not to... interfere."
Alex barked out a bitter laugh. "Wisdom? My brother? Don't underestimate a Juno, Takaya. The bastard's got something up his sleeve. He always does."
"If you... insist. Nonetheless... the world... ends tonight."
"Let's take a break here," said Tetsuya, stopping at the stairs. "Everybody alright? Aigis, your power level okay?"
Aigis nodded. "I am running off a sixty-hour nanomesh lithium pack. I am in no danger of running out of power."
"Glad to hear." He dropped his backpack, and pulled out a few cans. "I, on the other hand? Need to refuel. Sanada-san?"
"Yeah, thanks." Akihiko caught the flung can. "Juno-san, you know we can't rest too long, right?"
"Yeah, I know, only two more hours to go."
"No, not that."
The air suddenly grew still. The distant clinking of chains could be heard. Koromaru growled lowly.
"...oooookay, that's creepy. Bad news?"
"Very," said SEES.
Tetsuya chugged the energy drink down quickly.
Alex paced irritably at the final set of stairs. "...something's bothering me. Captain!"
"Sir?"
"You said something earlier- 'all's quiet?'"
"Sir. No report of any suspicious activity."
"What about Shadow activity?"
"Um... negative, sir."
Takaya narrowed his eyes. "...that is an impossibility."
"My brother's good at those," growled Alex. "Patrol all levels! Retreat only if the Reaper is on your tail! Takaya, it's time."
Takaya nodded. "Very well. I was tired... of waiting."
As the moon waxed, so did his doubts.
More memories, faint and alien, but heavy and full of portent. Flickers of ghostly emotions intruded upon his sterile existence. The memory of hot food, a bad joke, shared secrets, shared tragedies.
A kiss.
It didn't feel like his memories. Or, it did, but there was something detached in its quality. As if he was viewing a movie from all the way in the back row. Somebody's else's life, being played in his head. But the images stuck, festered in his memory.
And, one night, just before the moon was full, it wasn't detached at all. In the darkness of his sparse, spartan dorm, he was wracked with... a nightmare? A dream of bitter longing? He felt fractured, torn between raging and weeping; laughing and howling. The moon glared green down through his small window, washing over his grief-struck face.
They picked him up the next morning. Nothing showed. His face was impassive as always. If the seeds of doubt were beginning to splinter his heart, not even Takaya knew. It was too deep, far too deep.
Shock.
There was no other way to describe it. That leering, playful grin. Those eyes lit up in almost childlike excitement, despite the context of their surroundings. The wind howled over the altar of Nyx, high atop of Tartarus, and Alex Juno, burdened with the casket containing Death, was shocked to find his brother pointing a gun to his head, the others taking position in a wide arc around them.
"Hey, bro. What took you so long?" asked Tetsuya. "We've been waiting for hours! Felt like days, even. Three days, to be exact."
"You... you took advantage of the temporal displacement effect," said Alex as realization dawned. "Clever. Very clever. How'd you get past the guardians?"
"SEES has been to all the floors before. The teleporter apparently still recalls."
Alex laughed quietly. "I'm impressed, brother. You actually thought this through. Only, you forgot something."
"Oh?"
"Me," said Takaya, as a spear of black fire and smoke flew out of the darkness of the stairway, slamming into Tetsuya, knocking him ten feet back. Takaya sauntered up, unbound by the wheelchair, a dark glimmer in his eyes as he prepared another volley.
"Target acquired," said Aigis behind him. The loud roar of a rocket, a blazing trail of fire... missing Alex, and knocking the casket out of his grip.
"Ooh, that stung," griped Tetsuya as he shakily regained his footing, and quickly grabbed for the casket, hoisting it up as a shield, and ducking behind. "Ooph, heavy. My apologies, Appriser, but you're on meat shield duty. Looks like we've got the upper hand, bro."
You fool!
"Eh?"
Takaya laughed loudly. "The ritual, you idiot, is for that which sealed Nyx to unseal her. By wresting away the power of the Appriser. Via sacrifice. Arisato-san, if you will."
"...oh, well. Shit."
"Minato, stop!" Mitsuru ran in front of Tetsuya, rapier at the read. "Think for a second about what you're doing."
"Get out of the way, Kirijo," hissed Tetsuya. "He doesn't remember you- don't expect mercy!"
"If he doesn't remember me, why did he pause?" she snapped back.
Takaya's eyes widened, then narrowed angrily as he slowly turned around and faced his charge.
"What... is the meaning of this?"
Turmoil.
An emotional earthquake shuddered through Minato's psyche. His hand trembled, years of training and imprinting keeping his finger tightly pressed upon the trigger of the Evoker.
But a counterweight presented itself- the stern reprimand of a voice echoing out of the years before, and searing its way into his mind now.
"You... remember," said Takaya, a dark smirk leering across. "No matter. Pull the trigger, Arisato. You have reason enough to hate this world. Isn't that right, Kirijo-san?"
"What are you talking... Mitsuru, what's he talking about?" asked Tetsuya quickly. "Mitsuru? Yamagishi-sensei, what...?"
Mitsuru trembled silently.
"She... she ordered his euthanasia," said Fuuka quietly. "He was comatose for about half a year before she asked us... if we would approve..."
"She betrayed you," hissed Takaya smugly. "Every last one of your closest friends... except the dog, I suppose. They all betrayed you, in the end. They killed you, Arisato- the very reason you saved the world, and they turned on you. An eye for an eye, yes?"
"It... was hardly an easy decision to make," said Mitsuru through clenched teeth. "Every day after that... every night... if I thought there was any other way... but... I didn't want you to suffer anymore."
"But there was another way," hissed Takaya, a small, smoldering ember of anger in his voice. "You were resurrected, were you not? Are you not now standing before her? The Kirijo Group knew of the Juno's experimentations-"
"That's a lie!"
"They knew. She knew. And now she stands, protecting another man. Pull the trigger."
A pause. For far too long.
Takaya sighed. "I knew it wasn't going to be easy. Juno."
"Right," said Alex.
Alex pulled out a heavy handgun. For a moment, as he pointed it at Takaya's head, there was a surge of hope running through Tetsuya- dying instantly when, after the smoke cleared, Takaya's body was on the ground...
...and a low, growing chuckle came from Minato.
The way his eyes leered at the world, the haughty grin. There was no mistaking it.
"I win," said Minato, possessed by the devil.
Click- bam.