Chapter 7
-Saturday, August 17th, 2013-
On the outer edge of Gode, where the airport is, the town turns more into a half-city, with smaller skyscrapers, business buildings, a shopping mall, a movie theater, and stuff like that. It doesn't take long at all to get out there from the rural center, all things considered; the town isn't incredibly large so the traffic is sparse.
Thanks to this, I can get to Gode Memorial Hospital in record time.
Aunt Joanne drives me there as soon as I explain to her what Emile told me. It took a moment for her to take it in, but she recovered quickly. Walking into the hospital, I can tell she's not used to coming in on a Saturday, and her coworkers react the same way, asking her why she's here but swiftly realizing the reason. She seems somewhat shaken up.
As for me? I don't know what to think.
"How is she?" I ask, walking up to Emile. He's sitting on a bench in the waiting room with his hands covering his face. He's not crying, but it looks like he had been.
"Fine," Emile replies with the saddest voice I've ever heard. "She's…she's fine. Just out cold."
Noticing that his family is nowhere to be seen, I ask him how he even got here.
"They took me here. They were here earlier, but they had to leave."
"How long have you been here?"
"Probably five hours," he responds after checking the clock on the wall.
"It's only 9 in the morning…"
"I know," he says with a yawn.
I take a seat next to Emile, feeling the weight of the situation. The bags under his reddened eyes speak volumes to me. We already know what being in a coma could imply, but neither of us brings it up. The tension in the room is too heavy to talk about that right now.
"Have you gone in to see her yet?"
"Yeah," Emile replies. "Earlier this morning."
He sits in silence for a moment. I let him, assuming that saying anything could set him off. He needs the silence. To my surprise, though, he speaks up.
"It feels wrong," he says. "She's so energetic. Even when she's sleeping, I know she'll bounce to her feet when she wakes up. But looking at her now…" He trails off, looking down the hallway. "She's lifeless…"
I continue to be silent. I've only known Ally for about a week, but I know she's strong-willed and a generally happy person. It's utterly shocking to think she could get trapped like Emile did…
"How long do we have?" Emile asks.
"What…?"
"How long until she's gone?" He looks at me with broken yet fierce eyes, demanding to know the answer.
I take a deep breath and try to come up with one.
"The radio host was out for a week before she died," I tell him. "I think it's safe to assume we've got that long." I look back at him, looking for a response. Getting nothing but more silence, I ask, "How do you know that's what it is?"
"Her dreams," he tells me. "When she mentioned vivid dreams? She explained them to me later that night when her parents got home. They were mostly nonsensical, but I could tell they were a lot like mine."
"You had dreams before you got trapped?"
"Yeah, I did. Both my dreams and her own focused on one thing: staying asleep. All the dreams were either too good to wake up from or someone was taunting us, or threatening us if we left. They start off subtle, but eventually…it's like they get angry. And at that point…"
I think back to my own nightmares when I first moved to this town. They sound eerily similar to Emile's description of his and Ally's dreams. Starting simple and getting into your head…perhaps this is how the Shadows work. Though I wonder why my nightmares escalated as rapidly as they did.
Aunt Joanne approaches us and asks us if we want to see Ally. I really want to, but Emile just leans back against the wall.
"I can't…" he says. "Not again…"
"You sure…?"
"Yeah…you go ahead." Emile leans his head back and stares up at the ceiling, taking in another loud breath.
I nod to Aunt Joanne and rise to my feet, following her to Ally's room. We slowly enter, finding an unmoving figure underneath the bed sheets. On a chair next to her is an older woman, presumably her mother. Her red hair matches the shade of her daughter, only it's longer and, at the moment, is messy and standing up in some places with static. She must've not had time to shower this morning. I also notice her father's absence; with her little sister gone as well, that must mean they're at home.
"Who are you?" she asks us. Her voice sounds annoyed, but sad at the same time, like she's angry but too tired and upset to really care.
"O-oh, um…Tyson," I tell her. "I'm, uh…I'm Ally's friend from school. Friend of Emile, too. And this is my aunt. We wanted to see if she's okay."
She nods in realization, and then returns to being silent and stares back at her daughter.
"When did you realize she was in a coma?" Aunt Joanne asks.
Ally's mom seems somewhat on-edge, but she answers anyway.
"She came home from school Friday and took a nap," she says. "But she…she never woke up."
I look at Aunt Joanne with a face telling her she should stop. She takes the hint and goes quiet. I approach the bed to look down at the face of the usually hyperactive redhead and feel a twinge of worry. Emile's right; seeing her like this feels wrong. She's not moving at all, and her face, which would normally be spouting words a mile a minute, is completely still. It's calm, but not in a reassuring way. It's too calm, like she's going to cease to exist at any moment and any attempt to pull her back from drifting into the darkness is futile.
(Star,) my Arcana voice says to me. Only it's much quieter this time, as if it's fading away.
(…You okay, kid?)
No…I don't think I am.
(You have the power to save her, you know.)
I know I do…I just can't believe this happened again. I saw the signs. I should've known.
(Even if you did, you couldn't have done anything about it.)
That's the worst part. Actually, even worse; what if I can't save her? What if I mess up?
(Then I guess that's life. But I'd say making an effort to save her is better than just giving up.)
…yeah. You're right.
I take a deep breath, feeling a fire burn deep in my heart. I turn to the door and storm out of the hospital room, leaving Aunt Joanne confused, and walk straight up to Emile. He's not going to keep looking broken like this if I have anything to say about it. He looks up at me with a puzzled expression as I approach him.
"We're going to save her," I tell him in a hushed but serious tone. "She's not going to die. I refuse to let that happen. And you're backing me up."
Emile looks at me, shocked at my newfound determination.
"You said it yourself," I continue. "You want to get stronger to save the people who suffered through the same thing you did. If what you said is true, then we're going to beat those Shadows so hard that there won't be anything left of them."
His face changes from shock to a slight smile. A glimmer appears behind his eyes. We both know what we have to do.
SMASH
Thou art I,
And I am thou.
Thou hast strengthened thy bond
To the Third Rank.
Thou shalt be blessed when thou choosest
to make a Persona of the Magician Arcana…
"We've got this," I tell him as he stands up.
"I know we do," he agrees with a smile. A damaged one, but still a smile nonetheless. "So, what's the plan?"
"Well, the first step," I tell him. "Is going home and sleeping. You've been here since four in the morning and you look like hell."
Emile looks slightly upset at my comment, and having Jack Frost equipped lets me know why – he wants to act now.
"We're not going to do any good in this state," I add. "We need to sleep and plan this out. Otherwise, we'll both end up dead. Like I said, we have a week."
"Ugh…dammit, fine," he says, yawning yet again.
"We'll spend today resting, and we'll figure out everything tomorrow," I suggest. "C'mon, I'll have my aunt take us home."
{~}
-Sunday, August 18th, 2013-
Emile and I spent the majority of yesterday sleeping, though he definitely slept longer than I did. I told him to meet up at my house while Aunt Joanne went off to work so we could discuss the situation in private. This also gave us a perfect liaison for Ally's condition, knowing my aunt would likely be at the hospital all day. Emile eventually arrives at my house, looking somewhat beat and a little depressed, but still considerably better than he was yesterday morning.
What's slightly bothering me, though, is his occasional sniffle.
"So do we go in tonight?" he asks almost immediately after we enter my room.
"I'm not sure," I admit, analyzing his face. "Are you sick?"
"What? No, I'm fine!"
He sneezes.
Liar.
"You didn't get enough sleep, and now you're sick."
"N-no, really, I'm-…" He sneezes again. "Ugh…"
"Going into the Dream World frequently seems like a bad idea," I tell him.
"Well, it's not that," he says with a sniffle. "It's cuz I got up at four in the morning yesterday."
"It's a combination of both," I retort. I swear his ego's going to do him in one day. "How soon can you get better?"
"I don't stay sick for long," Emile explains. "I'll probably be fine tomorrow if I drink a lot of orange juice."
"Then we'll go in tomorrow."
"No, we can't do that. We can't waste any more time."
"Emile, what did I tell you? We need to pace ourselves. Believe me, I want to get her out of there as soon as possible, but we can't do that if you're sick."
"How do you know I'll even be sick when we go into the Dream World?"
"Have you ever had a dream when you were sick?" I tell him with a snarky half-smile. "Nobody is ever right in the head when they're sick, so if we're literally fighting inside our minds, I wouldn't expect a very good performance outta you."
It's a tough pill for Emile to swallow, but pushing back the day of our first rescue attempt is in our best interest. I'm not lying, either; I desperately want to save Ally. I'm putting on a calm front, but I'm actually completely terrified that we won't get her in time. Even still, we can't rush into things, or shit's gonna go south. The worst part of it is that we'll have to juggle this alongside school. Obviously, we can't skip, because any honest explanation would get us sent to the psych ward on the spot.
School, saving lives, Social Links...my plate couldn't possibly get any fuller than it already is.
Knock on wood.
Speaking of Social Links, I'm suddenly realizing that I'm getting somewhere in all the Links I have, but the problem is that I don't have very many of them. My range of Arcana to power up in Fusion is gonna be kinda limited if it stays like this. I end up blaming it on a combination of being busy, being the new kid at school, and that I haven't been getting out of the house alone nearly as much as I should be.
"What kind of stuff did you have to go through while rescuing me?" Emile asks, snapping me out of my thought process. "Just so I know what to expect."
I think for a moment, trying my best to recall the events.
"Lots of Shadows," I tell him. "Those will get in your way a lot. I tried to convince you of the fact that you were dreaming when I found you, but you got kinda irate and the Shadows took over at that point."
"I remember that part," Emile says, wincing. He holds back a sneeze before continuing. "Anything else?"
"I found this crack in the wall that, when I looked into it, showed me what looked like repressed memories of yours. It kinda helped me piece together what your little personal world was based on. Oh, and this is just a theory, but I'm going to assume Ally's dream…thing…is gonna be way different from yours, considering they seem to be based on your dreams. We'll probably have new Shadows to fight and new stuff to deal with."
Emile nods in agreement, and then shakes his head in frustration.
"Alright, our mini dream world things need a name," he says. "This is going to get really annoying really quickly."
"Yeah, you're right," I agree. We need to know what to call them so we don't have to explain what they are every time, but what could we possibly call them?
"Mini dreams," Emile suggests.
"Sounds like a kid's toy," I say, shooting it down. "Nightmares?"
"That'll make it more confusing. Dream holes?"
(Soul patches.)
Oh my god, no.
"Sleep warps," I say.
"Wet dreams?"
"You're disgusting."
"Fine; moist dreams."
"Focus, Emile."
"Um…dream…a Dream Matrix?"
"No, that…" I stop myself. "Actually, that's not too bad. Makes sense and sounds badass at the same time."
"See, I have good ideas sometimes," Emile says with a cocky smile and a sniffle.
"You just have to try a little harder than the rest of us," I respond jokingly.
{~}
Emile and I tried to relax for a bit by playing video games, though Emile's cold progressively got worse, so he opted to go home and sleep the rest of the day so he could recover faster. Now, I'm just kinda sitting in my room, staring at the wall.
(…kid?)
Hmm?
(Why are you staring at the wall…?)
Because I can.
(That's-…there's literally millions of other things you could do.)
I'm aware.
(…)
What?
(Get up.)
Ugh, fine.
I guess sitting around all day and wasting time is a bad idea in this scenario. In fact, I've got a gut feeling that Ally would kick me if she knew I was doing nothing productive, even if it is a day off from school. Remembering my earlier thought on Social Links, I figure I may as well get out of the house and do something.
Sixteen years old and I'm working on making new friends. I thought I was past this a long time ago.
Considering it's a Sunday, I figure plenty of kids my age could be at the outlet mall, so I decide to head there. To be honest, I don't see what the hype is about this place. Yeah, there's a lot of stores, but to be the prime hangout place for virtually everyone in the school? It seems odd to me. Then again, there's nothing else to do in this part of town, so I guess I can't fault them too much. Luckily for me, my suspicions were right – there are loads of teenagers here, all laughing with their friends.
Initiate Operation Social Link.
(Oh my gods…)
I walk the pathways alone for a moment, scouting out potential targets. I eventually find two girls sitting together on a bench, talking about boys or something like that. They seem about a grade younger than me, so I figure this could work. I approach the two of them with a smile.
"Hey, ladies," I say. I mentally kick myself. That is not how you greet a woman, but I roll with it anyway. Get stuck in the hole, may as well keep digging and hope you find gold. "How're you doing today?"
"What's it matter to you?" the one on the right says. She's got brunette hair with a thin blue highlight on the right side and, according to my Arcana Voice, she's Strength, the Arcana of self-reliance and confidence.
"Just being friendly," I tell her, semi-honestly. "In a good mood today is all."
"Well, we're not," says her blonde friend. She's the Chariot Arcana, symbolizing determination and aggressiveness.
I'm immediately regretting this.
"Go find someone else to bother," Strength girl says. "We're in the middle of something."
Ouch.
I nod an apology and head off down the pathway with a brisk movement.
(That could've gone better.)
No shit.
I try talking to a boy about my age this time, only he actually recognizes me from school.
(Emperor.)
"It's Timmy, right?" he asks.
"Tyson, actually…"
"Look, Tyrone," he says, completely oblivious. "I've got somewhere to be, so I'll have to catch up with your later."
The guy walks off after giving me a 'friendly' pat on the back. I give a half-assed wave goodbye as he sprints to meet his friends, fully aware of the 'Kick Me' sticky note he slapped on my back. I rip it off and drop it in the trash, cursing the maturity level of my generation under my breath.
"Stupid little-…" I say to myself. I cut myself off as I pass the alleyway between two shops, hearing a strange sound that scrambles my thoughts.
Is that a spray can…?
I turn to look down the alley. It's the same one with the Velvet Room door, but I know whoever came down here probably walked right through it. Nobody's in my immediate view, so I walk further down between the sub shop and antique store, the sound getting louder.
Turning the corner, I find a stocky teen my age with long black hair spilling out from the sides of his dirty gray beanie. Stubble and acne cover his face, and he stands with a slouch in his shoulders. One hand is in the left pocket of his torn blue jeans, barely held up by a lopsided black belt, while the right hand is holding a green aerosol spray can. I watch the boy silently as he casts the neon mist across the wall with an accuracy I have never seen before.
I gotta give him credit. He's really good at this.
I stand there a little while longer, admiring his work. For a split second, he looks to his side as he picks up a different can color, and he does a double take as he notices me. He's caught so off-guard that he jumps and drops both cans.
"What the hell, man," he groans, holding his chest. "Don't do that!"
"Sorry," I tell him. I nod towards the artwork. "Nice stuff. Looks good."
"You're not some cop, are you?" he asks with suspicion. "Or the son of a cop or some shit like that?"
"No, no cops here," I tell him. "Aunt's a nurse, though, if that means anything."
He breathes a small sigh of relief.
"Good," the teen says. "I didn't wanna have to run again."
"Again?"
"I'm back here a lot," he admits with a shrug. "Got chased by cops a few times, but they started leaving me alone after they realized they couldn't catch me."
"Why'd you run in the first place?"
"Didn't want to get in trouble for anythin'. Guess graffiti's a big deal to some cops, though most of them don't give a damn if it's hidden."
I just now notice the walls of the alleyway are covered in various graffiti tags, not just this one. They all have a similar art style, with jagged edges on the letters but large round backgrounds, giving everything an interesting sense of contrast.
"You make all of these?" I ask, admiring the work.
"Most of them," he replies, snatching up a red can to continue work on the current piece. He brings his shirt above his nose to protect himself from the fumes, and I do the same. It's harder to make out what he's saying this way, but I piece it together. "Some of 'em were here before I showed up. My guess is, some guys left their tags and the cops showed up. Either they got caught, or they pussed out and never came back after runnin'."
The can begins to make a strange spurting sound, indicating that it's running low.
"Shit…" the teen curses under his breath, smacking the can with his palm. He tosses it into a stained duffel bag on the ground. "Who are you, anyway?"
I bring my shirt off my face to speak more clearly.
"Name's Tyson. New kid in town."
"New kid? Tch, I remember when I was the new kid. It was a living hell." He extends his hand for one of the weakest handshakes I've ever had. "Tyler."
SMASH
Thou art I,
And I am thou.
Thou hast established a new bond,
One that brings freedom ever closer.
Thou shalt be blessed when thou choosest
to make a Persona of the Hermit Arcana…
As time starts up again, I suddenly remember what Igor had told me a while back when he first explained Social Links.
"It can only become a true Social Link if you or the individual you are bonding with feels a genuine friendship…"
I guess that explains why those last attempts failed miserably.
"I can't keep working on this one without red," he explains to me, slinging the bag over his shoulder and grabbing a skateboard that's been propped up against a wall. "Gotta cut this short. I'll see you around, dude."
{~}
I head home shortly after meeting Tyler. My earlier worry about not having enough Social Links has been put to rest now that I've realized they have to happen by chance; forcing them isn't really going to get me anywhere. Who knew making friends was so simple?
As I come through the door, Aunt Joanne lets me know that another neighbor has asked for my help in mowing their lawn tomorrow afternoon. I decide to take them up on the request, even though what I made from the Dream World the other night is considerably more than when I got paid last time. I'm not one to turn down a way to earn cash. Well, there's that, plus the fact that I can't seem to get the money out of my head to actually use on anything. As far as I know, I can only use money from the Coin Arcana on Personas in the Velvet Room. It's kind of a cop-out, if you ask me.
"Both of them seem to want you as a regular," Aunt Joanne tells me. "Apparently you did a great job at the Anderson's."
"I don't think I did, but I guess so," I admit. "Could've been better."
"Keep it up and you'll be swimming in cash!" she says with a chuckle.
"Somehow, I doubt that."
Considering I don't have much else to do at the moment, I retreat to my room for the rest of the night, turning on the TV for background noise and browsing the web, watching videos. Y'know, generally wasting time until I'm tired. The usual stuff for a high schooler.
"August 18th, 2013," I write in my journal. "Got another Social Link, but Ally's in a coma. Emile and I are going to go save her tomorrow night. I don't expect it to be easy, but we'll get her. I'm sure of it."
I put my journal down and lean back in my desk chair, letting out a long sigh.
Am I sure of it…?
{~}
-Monday, August 19th, 2013-
After parting ways with Maria as I enter the school, I pick up on the conversation between two girls walking in front of me. I've started to notice how easy it is to listen in on conversations and how much it helps with different things during the day. For example, I'm pretty sure I'm going to ace the next government quiz just from eavesdropping on other students studying. Some say that's cheating the system and being lazy; I say it's using my resources.
"Some clubs are opening up today," the girl on the left says. "You gonna join any?"
"I was thinking about a music club," says the second girl. "Though photography seems interesting, too…"
"You don't seem like a photography kind of person, though. I assumed you'd go for…I dunno, drama?"
"Drama?! I'm not an actor!"
I've been meaning to find out what clubs this school has, and I now I know. Further proof eavesdropping is the best way to learn.
Entering literature class, I find Emile sitting at his desk looking incredibly tense and nervous. He doesn't even seem to notice me as I take my seat in front of him.
"Uh, dude…" I say as I wave my hand across his field of view. "You feeling alright?"
Emile snaps out of his trance and looks up at me, somewhat stunned.
"Oh, y-yeah…I, uh…" he trails off to collect his thoughts. "Today's it, huh?"
"Are you feeling better?"
"I think so, yeah…"
"Then yes, we're going in today."
"Good…" Emile looks down at his hands, which are subconsciously drumming against the desk. "I don't know how much longer I can wait this out. I'm going to go crazy if we don't get her back."
"I know," I tell him with a hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry. With how much we've been training, this'll be a breeze."
"I sure hope so…"
The teacher stands up at the front of the room as the bell to begin the day rings out.
"Alright, class, open your books to page two-hundred and nine. We'll be going over the Federalist Papers for the next few days, so make sure you take some notes."
We're already learning this in American Government…this school isn't even trying.
{~}
After contemplating it for way longer than I reasonably should, I've decided to join the photography club. Acting has never been fun for me, even when we had to do it for projects in elementary school, so that one's out; and I thought about joining music, but without a guitar or the funds to get another one, I have a feeling that wouldn't work out.
Now, do I know how to take good pictures? Hell no. But I may as well give it a shot and see what happens.
I find a small number of students gathering around the teacher's desk as I enter the classroom. The teacher is nowhere to be seen, but a junior-aged girl is sitting in their seat talking to the other members of the club. Multiple cameras, lenses, and SD cards are littered across the desk surface.
"I don't know if I want to use this lens for that," says one boy who looks to be a sophomore. "It has a fixed zoom and I wanted to get tighter shots."
"I keep telling you, Randy," the girl at the desk says with an encouraging tone. "You gotta stop relying on zoom lenses. You're not going to get the shots you want unless you physically get closer to your subject. I mean, you can, but they won't look as good as you want them to."
The boy nods in understanding. He looks up from the conversation, having just noticed me, and the girl follows his gaze to see me standing in the doorway. I comically wave with a half-smile.
"Oh, hey! Are you here to join the club?" the junior girl asks. Her wavy blonde hair falls just barely past her shoulders, and her bangs are kept up with a headband decorated with flowers. On her chest is a high-end looking camera hanging by its neck strap, dangling in front of her black sweater with gray hood, front pocket, and sleeve ends. She stands up to shake my hand, seemingly ecstatic. "Isabella Harris, leader of the Photography Club! I'm glad you could join us!"
(Temperance.)
Oh, now this one I can handle.
"I don't know much about cameras," I admit while returning the handshake and putting Apsaras at the front of my lineup of Personas. "But it seemed like fun and I wanna give it a shot."
"No better place to learn than here, I'll tell you that much!" Isabella says with a laugh.
She introduces me to the other four members of the club and begins showing me the basic functions of the cameras they use. On the surface, the cameras seem really simple, but apparently there are a lot of menus within menus in the software, and you can equip different lenses for different results in your photographs. It makes my head spin a bit, but I feel a little smarter having learned so much stuff.
Even as people begin leaving the club as the allotted time draws to a close, Isabella continues the lesson, failing to notice the absence of what few members were here.
"If you want some really close shots, there's this setting called macro. You gotta be careful, though, because that's a digital-based setting, so even the slightest movements of the camera will change the shot completely…"
She trails off as she realizes that club has long been finished.
"O-oh…wow, I didn't realize what time it was," she says. "I'm sorry…time got away from me. That happens a lot when I talk." She chuckles at herself.
"That's fine. This is all really interesting," I tell her in full honesty. "I had no idea so much went into good photography."
"A lot of people just point the camera at something and expect it to look good," Isabella explains. "Heck, we live in an era where taking a half-blurry picture with your phone and throwing a filter on it suddenly makes it 'good'. My point is that I'm not surprised."
"Well, I'm looking forward to learning more. When does this club meet?"
"We come here every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. If it's not raining, we might go out to the garden in the courtyard and see if we can get some nice shots. Otherwise, we'll just take some pictures inside or learn about how to make portfolios and stuff like that."
"Sounds like fun," I say. "I'll definitely be here Wednesday, then!"
"Glad to hear it…" she says, leaving me a space to introduce myself.
"Oh, Tyson. Tyson Rayne."
"Wait, you're Tyson? The new kid?" she says in awe. "You know rumors are going around that you've been showing up Coach Crane?"
(Who called it?!)
"Those are mostly true, actually."
"No kidding?" Isabella says with a laugh. "Wow. That takes guts!" She notices the time on the clock on the wall and springs to her feet. "Crap, I gotta be somewhere! I totally forgot!" She throws her equipment into a large camera bag and dashes out the door. "See you Wednesday, Tyson! Thanks for joining!"
SMASH
Phew…
Thou art I,
And I am thou.
Thou hast established a new bond,
One that brings freedom ever closer.
Thou shalt be blessed when thou choosest
to make a Persona of the Temperance Arcana…
(For a second there, I thought you weren't going to get that one.)
Yeah, me too. That was weird.
As I begin my walk home, my phone vibrates inside my pocket. I respond to Emile's texts as I slowly begin jogging. I want to take care of that lawn I promised to mow before the sun goes too far down.
-u ready for tonight?- he asks.
-Yeah, are you?-
-kinda. nervous tho-
-Me too.-
-what if we can't do it-
-Stop asking yourself and just do it. Don't be so negative.-
-yeah ur right-
The conversation ends there, though I know Emile will still continue to worry. I understand why he's stressing out over this, but it's getting frustrating to keep him calm. The operation will go way more smoothly if he would amp up his confidence. Sadly, I don't expect that to happen.
Thankfully, there's still a few hours left of daylight despite staying at school longer than I intended to. I head over to the house with my trusty lawnmower the instant I get home to take care of the job as soon as possible. My mowing job is about as sloppy as last time, but I think I'm starting to get a little better at it. This lawn was a little bigger than the last one, too, so I got paid slightly more from this family than the last one. By the time I'm back home, the harsh sun has already halfway set and I'm sweating so much that I think my red t-shirt is a shade darker. I take a long, well-deserved shower after putting away the lawnmower. Just as I'm putting a towel around my waist and drying my hair with another towel, my phone begins to ring.
~Tell me what you'd like to hear / Something that'll light those ears / I'm sick of all the insincere~
"Hello?" I say as I pick up my phone.
"Hey," says Emile on the other line. "You think you're ready?"
"Why're you asking me if I am?" I say as I go to my room, locking the door behind me. "I thought you were the one freaking out?"
"I was, but I've been thinking about it, and you're right. I need to calm down and be strong for Ally. We're gonna save her, no matter what it takes."
"Now that's what I'm talking about!" I say with a laugh.
"So what's the plan?"
"Like I said before, we don't know what her Dream Matrix will be like, so I'm not sure what we're up against. All I know is that you have to be prepared to fight a lot of Shadows. Oh, and you've known Ally for way longer than I have, so when we find her, it's up to you to convince her to wake up."
"Got it. I'll see you in there."
"Cool, see ya."
Beep
Any other night, I'd be staying up way later than this, but tonight's different. I throw on some pajamas and curl up into my bed sheets. I take one big breath, trying to calm myself down. Emile and I are the only ones that can save Ally, and we know that. This rests on our shoulders.
You ready, Ixion?
(Only if you are.)
Let's go.
My vision grows cloudy as I feel myself falling into the misty void.
{~}
"Looks like you were right," Emile says. "It's completely different from mine."
On the opposite end of the plaza from Emile's Matrix is a collection of thick white puffy clouds suspended outside of the plaza, hovering over the fog. A rainbow curves up and out of the mass of clouds, leading to a bright light which presumably is the entrance to Ally's world. It would be a really pretty sight if it weren't for the disgusting black tendrils snaking through the structure and into the light, just as they do with Dark Gode.
"Rainbows…why am I not surprised?"
"It's fitting for her," Emile says. "But that just makes it creepier…"
I get the same vibe as Emile does. The entire Dream World takes familiarity and morphs it just enough to make it incredibly unnerving. It makes the both of us constantly on-edge knowing that we can't hide anything about ourselves from this world; it doesn't get into our heads, it is our heads.
I notice Emile shaking slightly out of nervousness again. Just as I did earlier today, I put my hand on his shoulder and give him words of encouragement. He simply looks back at me, his eyes showing both determination and fright. I'd say that's the perfect combination of emotions for kicking some serious ass. With firmed resolve and weapons in hand, the both of us walk up the curved rainbow and into the bright light.
As the light subsides, what we see is somewhat unexpected. We have now found ourselves in the hallway of some kind of temple build out of beige stone. The ceiling arcs above us, and the floor below is made out of thick clouds. Emile and I walk a little farther down the hallway, our mouths agape in wonder, and we find a window in the stone walls. Outside the window is a vast blue sky, though it seems to have a movement to it like an ocean. Clouds of all kinds of shapes and sizes, as well as many rainbows, are strewn across the open space, creating a beautiful scene that Emile and I stare at in silence.
"Damn…" Emile finally says.
"Yeah, no kidding…"
"We must be really high up. I can't even see the ground."
"This isn't the time to be scared of heights."
"I'm not, it's just…I'm amazed, is all."
A sudden slurping sound snaps us back to attention. The two of us point our weapons down the hallway to the sound, finding a pile of black gunk slithering towards us. The Shadow lashes out, and I have no choice but to retaliate. I slice the Shadow clot in half, causing the mass to split and reshape into three new Shadows neither of us have seen before. This time, the Shadows take the form of black and red crows holding glowing lanterns in their talons, and they all let out a sharp cry and flap their wings in anger.
"Ixion!" I yell, calling his card down before me. Backhanding it, Ixion appears and casts Agi on one of the Shadows, only it doesn't affect it whatsoever.
"Looks like fire skills don't work on these!" Emile points out. He summons his own Persona to bring his blade down upon one of them, causing considerable damage. Another one of the crows makes a loud screeching sound and golden pillars of light momentarily envelop the three of them.
"The hell did they just do?" Emile asks.
"I think that was an attack booster!" I respond. It's hard to explain, but just as I can tell how much energy Emile and I have, I can tell just by looking at the Shadows that they're stronger than they were earlier. The third Shadow dives straight into me, square in the chest.
"Sh-shit!" I swear under the pain. "Yup, definitely an attack boost!"
I swap out Ixion for Jack Frost, casting Bufu on the second Shadow. None of them have died yet, but two of them are close. Emile takes notice of this and shoots one of the nearly-dead ones with his handgun, causing it to explode in a flurry of black and red sludge. Both of the remaining ones charge us; I'm able to barely sidestep out of the way, but Emile takes the brunt of his attacker. Still looking for their weakness, I switch to Pixie and throw a Zio on the one with full health. With a satisfying sizzling sound, the Shadow falls to the ground, unable to move.
"They're weak to electricity!" Emile says in revelation.
Taking the opportunity, I kill off the Shadow that isn't downed, leaving the stunned one on the ground by its lonesome.
"Call it, dude!"
"Go all-out!" I respond.
"Don't hold back!"
The two of us beat the Shadow into oblivion, leaving nothing behind but its lamp. As I touch the lamp, it disappears into my Subspace. I have no idea what these will do, but it wouldn't hurt to hang on to them.
Continuing down the hallway, we find it ends and splits left and right. Both hallways seem to stretch out for a while, so we decide to take the right path and come back if needed. We encounter another group of Shadows on the way down the hall, this group having one of the tongue Shadows from the last Matrix as well as two of the crow ones, only this tongue one is pink and not blue.
One of the crow Shadows casts the attack boost skill, Matarukaja, giving all three of the Shadows an increase in attack power. The crow itself with an attack boost isn't too big of a deal, but the tongue one with more strength could prove to be a problem.
As I size up the crow Shadow, my Arcana Voice catches me by surprise.
(Hermit.)
Wait…Shadows have Arcanas?!
The tongue Shadow acts faster than I expected it to. It casts Agilao in my direction, hitting me dead-on and shoving me to the ground. I couldn't react fast enough and change Personas, even though I know Pixie is weak to Agi skills. Unlike when I have any other Persona equipped, the burning pain is immense and leaves me unable to stand. Now defenseless and on the floor, the Shadow comes up and licks me, causing even more damage.
"Leave him alone!" Emile yells. He runs into the fray, firing two bullets at the tongued Shadow, leaving it open for attack. Jumping into the air, he uses gravity to his advantage to strengthen a pistol whip on the Shadow. The sheer power of the attack puts the Shadow on the ground as well.
The two crows go after Emile, knowing he's now the prime source of danger, though he takes the hits with little trouble. This gives me the opportunity to stand up and cast Zio on one of the crows, downing that Shadow as well.
"I've got an opening! Let me at it!"
"Go for it!" I respond to an eager Emile.
Emile dashes at the active Shadow, slamming the butt of his gun into its face. He then forces his foot into the Shadow, shoving it away and giving him a chance to aim with his firearm. With perfect accuracy, he fires a bullet directly between the eyes of the crow. The Shadow collapses to the ground, unable to move.
"They're all down! Let's get 'em!"
Giving the nod of approval to Emile, we charge the Shadows just as we did with the last group, bringing up a cloud of smoke in the massacre.
(Shuffle Time.)
After picking up more lanterns from the wreckage, I'm presented with a chance for money, a weapon, or a Persona. I aim for the Persona, but accidentally end up with the weapon instead. However, nothing seems to change inside my own Subspace.
"Hey, Emile, check your weapons real quick."
"Huh? Why would I…" Emile suddenly switches out the silver handgun for another one, only this one is black and seems to be stronger. "The hell? When did I get this?"
"Don't ask," I tell him. I don't think I'd be able to explain it.
We round the corner and find a small room with a treasure chest at the far end of it. I summon Apsaras to heal me before we take on the Shadow patrolling the area. Taking it out easily, we open up the chest and find a blue overcoat inside.
"What does this do…?" I ask aloud.
"Doesn't matter; either way, I'm taking it," Emile says, putting it on. Strangely enough, the coat is absorbed into him, making no change to his physical appearance but presumably giving him the benefits of it. "You got the fire ring."
Finding this path to be a dead end, we turn back and go down the unexplored hallway. This time, we find two Shadow clots roaming the hallway. Emile shoots the one closest to us, initiating a fight with another three crows.
"I'm really sick of these ones," Emile groans.
One crow casts Matarukaja, as expected, bringing up the power of the three Shadows. Deciding I'm not going to have any of that, I cast Zio on two of them, bringing them both down. With one Shadow left, I allow Emile to perform the same follow-up attack from earlier, bringing all the Shadows down and giving us an opening for another All-Out Attack. We assume the battle is over, but to our dismay, the other clot down the hallway was attracted to the fight. The clot splits and forms pink tongued Shadows and the two of them enter the fray. I switch off from Pixie and over to Nekomata for a fire resistance and attack the Shadow on the left with my sword. Emile holds out his new gun and fires it at the one on the right; the Shadow clearly feels more pain than the previous gun caused. Thanks to Nekomata, I receive minimal damage from the next Agilao cast on me, and Emile dodges a lick with such perfect timing that the Shadow is thrown off balance and falls over to the floor. I summon Nekomata to use Cleave, and she slices at the non-downed Shadow with her claws right across its body. The downed Shadow slowly begins to float back up, regaining its composure, and the two of them move in for another attack. Shrugging them off, Emile and I take out what little damage they have left with our basic weapons.
"You tired?" Emile asks me.
I summon Apsaras to heal what little damage the two of us took.
"Not at all," I say with a smirk.
Down a couple more hallways, we find a spiral stone staircase leading upwards. We make our way up to the next floor, which is visually identical to the last one but with an entirely different layout. Strangely enough, looking out the windows, we find no traces of the previous floor below us.
After decimating another group of Shadows, Shuffle Time reappears again, only this time I manage to nab a new Persona, this one being Saki Mitama – a golden teardrop-shaped Persona with a squinty-eyed smile. The pointed end of the drop curves up and to the Persona's left side. Checking its Arcana, I discover it's of the High Priestess.
It's about damn time I got one of these!
We fight off another group of Shadows, and Emile uses this fight to show off a new skill his Persona got upon leveling up. This one is similar to the spell used by the crows, only it's Tarukaja instead of Matarukaja, so the attack boost only works on one of us at a time, but I can see that skill being used a lot. Looking at our Spirit Points amount, it's not all that low but it's decreasing at an uncomfortably fast rate. Emile and I unanimously decide to conserve SP unless it's completely necessary.
Making our way through floor two is an easy process, and we pick up some more money and another gun for Emile along the way, though this one, a pistol with a silencer, isn't as powerful as his black one, so he's decided to stick with the old one.
Halfway through the third floor, Emile points out a glowing crack in the wall to me. Just as he says, to my left is a long but thin opening in the tan bricks with a bright light pouring through it. I hesitantly walk towards it and look into it, Emile standing behind me. In a sudden flash, the two of us now begin to see a discarded memory of Ally's.
In what I'm guessing to be Ally's house, her and her younger sister, Ellie, are sitting on the floor of their living room, playing with dolls together. Just as it was in the vision of Emile's memories, the world is monochrome, but Ally herself is in full color. Looking at Ally, I can tell this isn't what she enjoys doing in her spare time, but Ellie is having so much fun spending time with her older sister that it brings a bright smile to Ally's face. The two seem to be having a genuinely good time together.
However, a sound slowly enters hearing range, and the sisters look at each other in disappointment. I can't make out what the sound is; it's too quiet and too muffled, but it's a constant angry noise. Ellie's face shows discontent, but Ally quickly reassures her sister with a smile that I know is faked. The two of them continue playing on despite the noise.
After another flash of light, the memory ends. I look at Emile, confused, but he looks back with the same face.
"I don't know what that was," he tells me. "I don't think I've ever seen her that upset before…"
"We need to keep going. This is making me worried."
"Yeah, me, too."
As we reach the top of the stairs leading to the fourth floor, a mysterious figure turns the corner at the end of the hallway. Emile notices it first and runs off after it, and I follow after him. We turn left just as the figure did; we see nothing but a Shadow clot in front of us.
"I though…I thought I-…" Emile mumbles incoherently.
"No, I saw it too," I tell him. "What was that?"
"You're happy, right?"
Emile and I immediately go back-to-back, looking down both ends of the hall but seeing nothing.
"Why wouldn't you be happy? You have no reason to be upset."
"Who's there?!" Emile yells.
The voice seemingly ignores him and continues on.
"We'll be just fine here."
A second voice speaks, though this one is recognizable.
"You'll keep us safe?"
"Ally…?!" Emile yells. "Ally, where are you?!"
"We'll be safe…yeah…"
The voices stop there, leaving Emile without answers.
"Look alive!" I tell him as a Shadow clot comes after us.
The Shadows that form as I cut it open are three marionette-looking things will visible joints and strings that lead to nothing. Their heads are covered in black sacks and tied off with ropes, and dark blue rounded masquerade masks are attached to the fronts of the bags. Their hands and legs dangle and move in a very unnatural and jerky fashion.
(Emperor.)
The one on the far left suddenly raises its arm and vibrates, casting a storm of lightning toward Emile and me. Luckily, I've had Saki Mitama equipped, so I receive regular damage from the electricity. Emile doesn't have the luxury of switching Personas, so the multi-target Zio skill, Mazio, forces Emile to the ground; Capaneus seems to be weak to electricity. The next Shadow casts Mazio as well, and the third one goes straight for me, kicking me in the face. Looking at Emile, I find him to be Dizzy, which means he's not going to be getting up anytime soon and is now just a sitting target. I quickly devise a plan that might work, though it'll take luck on our part.
"Saki Mitama!" I call out as the card comes into view. I backhand it, bringing out the gold Persona to spin around in midair. Frozen energy collects around one of the marionettes and, thankfully, the Shadow falls to its knees – it's weak to Bufu. I repeat this process for the next two Shadows, though because Emile's down and Dizzy, we can't go for an All-Out Attack. Instead, with the opening I have, I switch over to Jack Frost and use Re Patra, which cures Emile of his Dizziness. Emile stands to his feet and attacks one of the downed Shadows, finishing it off. The two get back up again, however, and the first one casts Mazio. Luckily, Emile manages to dodge the electric blast. The second Shadow opts to kick Emile instead, which was a dumb choice on its part. I perform three consecutive slices on one of the Shadows, killing it off with a powerful critical hit, and I attack the final Shadow with one slice; Emile finishes it with a single shot. Switching back to Saki Mitama, I heal us back to full health again, though my SP is now too low for comfort.
Upon reaching floor five, we find a large stone door, and an ominous presence can be felt through it. Asking Emile if he's ready and receiving a positive response, the two of us shove open the door, finding ourselves in a large round room with the ceiling open to the beautiful sky. On the opposite end of the room is another door similar to this one. However, there's someone standing between us and the next floor.
"Ally!" Emile yells happily. He starts into a run towards the girl, but I force him back beside me.
Ally, in a beautiful, flowing, pure white dress, turns around to face us. Her face lights up and she begins jumping for joy, just as she always has.
"Oh, wow, guys! You came! You actually came!" she says with a smile. "I can't believe it!"
"Ally…" Emile says after composing himself. "Ally, you need to listen to me. You can't stay here. You need to come back with us."
"Don't be silly, Emile!" she says with a scoff. "I just got here! Why would I go home?"
"Because you're dreaming!" Emile yells. "You need to wake up!"
Unfortunately, Ally isn't listening. Her mind seems to be elsewhere at the moment, though when people say that, they usually mean the person's daydreaming, but in this scenario, it seems like her mind is literally somewhere else entirely; the Ally before us may be happy, but with the way she moves and talks, it seems more like she's just an empty husk.
As if remembering something, Ally clasps her hands together and begins heading towards the door in the back of the room, her dress waving behind her.
"Emile, come here; I have to show you something!" Ally says. "Seriously, it's amazing!" She waves to us as the door opens all on its own. As she runs up the stairs, we hear her yell, "Hurry up!"
"Ally!" Emile screams. This time, I let him run after her. Unfortunately for him, the stone slab quickly slams shut, locking him off from the stairs.
Suddenly, a flood of black mist collects between the two of us in the center of the room. Emile quickly realizes the danger of the situation and readies himself for battle, and I do the same. What appears from the black sludge is a Shadow similar to the crows, only it's much bigger, is lacking the lantern, and has a large plumage of feathers around its neck. On its face is a white mask.
"Look out!" Emile yells as he notices the Shadow's movements.
The giant eagle-like Shadow reels its wings back for a powerful swipe; as it does so, a blast of twisting green energy, the wind skill Garula, throws me back towards the door. Emile summons Capaneus for the Physical skill Skull Basher on the Shadow, dealing some decent damage, though the Shadow appears to have a large amount of health compared to what we've fought so far. I switch off to Ixion to cast Agi, but to my surprise, the Shadow absorbs it and regains health from the attack.
"What the hell are you doing?!" Emile yells from across the room.
"I don't know!" I call back. "I thought that would work!"
The Shadow attacks me with its talons, slicing me across the chest and cutting open my white t-shirt. Thanks to Personas, cuts on my skin are minor, though they still hurt pretty badly.
"Find something that works on it!" Emile tells me as he summons his Persona to give me a power boost.
I switch to Jack Frost and cast Bufu, which thankfully seems to do the trick; the Shadow panics and falls to the ground, and thanks to the Tarukaja, the Shadow is reeling in some serious pain. We jump up on top of it, creating a large cloud of smoke as we beat it as much as we can. Unlike past fights, the All-Out Attack doesn't finish it off, but it does put a dent in its massive amount of health.
This time, instead of attacking us, the avian Shadow flaps its wings and glows with a green energy.
What did it do that time?!
(I think that was Sukukaja. It might be harder for you to hit it now.)
Oh, freakin' fantastic…
My fears are realized when a Skull Basher from Capaneus fails to connect; the Shadow suddenly barrel rolls out of the way seconds before impact. Sadly, I don't have any skills that counteract the Sukukaja, so we'll have to wait out the boost. I try hitting it again with Bufu, but to no avail. At this point, my SP is now nearly depleted. A knot sets into my stomach; we shouldn't have fought this thing in this state.
The Shadow now goes for Emile, hitting him with Garula. Emile may be able to take hits, though he's taken enough of them by now to make him really weak. This time, Capaneus' Skull Basher connects with the Shadow and causes it to become Dizzy. Knowing it'll take some time to recover, I reach into my Subspace and pull out an item we picked up while exploring the Dream Matrix – a Soul Drop – and eat it, restoring a small bit of Spirit Points at the expense of a god-awful taste in my mouth. Emile hits it with another attack, causing some more damage while I switch off to Saki Mitama to heal some of Emile's damage.
"Why are you healing me?!" Emile questions. "Just hit the bastard!"
The Shadow recovers from its Dizziness and attacks me with its talons again, though I jump and roll out of the way this time. Staying on Saki Mitama, I summon the Persona, feeling that familiar buzz of a perfect hit in the back of my skull. The Persona spins in place as the Shadow falls to the ground from another Bufu.
"What're we waiting for?! We have an opening!"
"Take it!"
With one last All-Out Attack, the Shadow explodes in a brilliant flurry of disgusting slime. I stab my sword into the clouds at my feet and lean myself on its pommel for support, trying to catch my breath. That was easily the toughest fight we've had so far, and I'm utterly drained from tackling five whole floors worth of Shadows.
"Dude, what're you sitting around for?" Emile says to me, beckoning me to follow him through the now-open door. "We almost had her!"
"Emile!" I yell as I sternly grab Emile by the shoulders. He looks back at me with shock, sadness, and anger all at once. Looking back at him, I can tell his health is low and his SP is even lower. "Stop. We can't keep going today. We need to come back tomorrow."
"What?!" he responds, shaking me off.
"Dude, you gotta listen to me," I say, switching to Jack Frost. "We can't keep on fighting like this. We're tired and that last Shadow almost did us in."
"We beat it!"
"We got lucky!"
Emile simply stares at me, somewhat angry.
"We're not abandoning her," I explain. "Like I said before, we're pacing ourselves. We're no good to Ally if we're dead."
I stare directly at Emile, not breaking eye contact. I've realized being stern with him is the only way to get him to listen. Honestly, I feel bad having to be such a dick to him, but he needs someone to keep him in line. If he had tried to rescue Ally alone, he wouldn't have survived for more than five minutes.
Emile stares back at me, clearly pissed, but he knows I'm right. He looks down at the ground and shakes his head as he heads back for the door we came up through.
"Tomorrow," he says with determination. "We come back tomorrow night."