That evening…

The sound of footsteps echoed through the alleyway as Shinjiro walked toward the homeless shelter he called home, a heavy sadness evident in his gait. The conversation that he and Minato had shared yesterday still weighed heavily on his mind. It was an internal debate without end. No matter what justification he told himself, he still felt guilty for not telling Minato the truth.

What is the matter with you? He makes a few good guesses and now you think that he knows you? That he can somehow help you? He can't change the past, and for that matter, neither can you.

I know that, but he said he could help. Maybe talking about it will help me find forgiveness. Redemption.

You are a murderer. End of story. There is no redemption for what you've done.

So, what? I should just sit here in this… limbo for the rest of my life, never doing anything to try and make up for it?

What are you talking about? You are trying, no matter how futile it may be. You already help those who can't help themselves. They deserve your attention, not SEES. Besides, Minato is a tough guy. He can take care of himself. They all can.

You and I both know that if he can't see the hit coming, he doesn't stand a chance. It doesn't matter how tough he is. He needs to know.

Hey, it's your funeral. Besides, you're forgetting about-

A click, barely loud enough to be audible, broke Shinjiro out of his thoughts. He stopped and turned around slowly, arms raised. Jin stood in front of him, his stubby revolver aimed straight at Shinjiro's head, his face emotionless. Inari was next to him, her arms crossed.

Speak of the devil, and they shall appear…

"You know, I thought that you would have better instincts than this, Shinji." Inari said snidely. "From the way Jin talked you up, you sounded like a real tough guy to get the jump on."

Normally, their presence would have caused intense anger and anxiety in Shinjiro, and that was without the gun being held to his head. Instead, Shinjiro felt nothing but a calm acceptance. If the two of them wanted to kill him, there wouldn't be much he could do about it, and, if he was honest with himself, he couldn't think of a reason to object to it either. No one would miss him, with the possible exception of Akihiko. Even then, it's not like Akihiko would be surprised that Shinjiro would be found dead in a back alley.

Still, they weren't showing him any respect, and he would be damned if he died without respect. So instead of being totally apathetic, he scowled deeply and said, "Well, most nights I don't have to worry about assholes with guns sneaking up on me, so forgive me if I'm less careful than you might think."

Inari tsked. "C'mon, Shinji. You know the rules of the jungle. Kill…or be killed." A tense moment passed before Inari made a gesture, and Jin lowered the gun. "Anyways, we didn't come here to lecture you." She said blithely.

Shinjiro scoffed. "Then why are you following me?"

"Because you screwed up." Jin said, shaking his head disapprovingly. "You messed up my meticulous and perfectly planned ambush on your blue-haired friend yesterday."

Shinjiro's eyes widened. "You sent those guys?"

Jin scoffed. "Of course. You really think that those idiots could have tracked him down that quickly?" He shook his head. "I knew that he would be alone that day, and told those thugs exactly where to find him, free of charge."

"Of course, if things had gone according to plan, then he would be dead or in a coma right now." A scowl etched its way onto Inari's face. "We hadn't planned for you to be there, and certainly didn't plan for you to help him!" She stepped forward menacingly, and Jin's gun snapped back up, trained on Shinji's head.

"Why were you there?" Inari asked angrily.

Shinjiro quickly worked through his options. Lying was out of the question, right off the bat. A bluff might have worked on Inari, but it definitely wouldn't fool Jin. He was one of the best information brokers in the country. The guy hacked into the Iwatodai PD mainframe for laughs. There wasn't much that Jin couldn't find out, so lying would just get him killed.

Instead, Shinjiro told him the only thing he could; the truth.

Well, or most of it.

"I was on my way home from picking up those suppressants you sent when I heard a ruckus coming from a nearby alley," Shinjiro said lightly, nodding to Jin. "I went to investigate, saw him in trouble, and the rest you know."

Jin turned to Inari, a scowl darkening his features. "I thought that you told Chidori to change the meet up time."

"I thought I did." Inari snarled as her eyes lit up angrily. "That stupid bitch… She couldn't even get one thing right…" The bitter comment surprised Shinjiro. Apparently there was more dissension in the ranks than he'd previously thought. The two women apparently didn't like each other, and somehow, he didn't think that Jin was much of a peacekeeper. Charisma had always been more of Takaya's field.

Hmm, maybe I can use that to my advantage…

"You know," he added sardonically, "If you didn't want the chance of me messing up your plans, you could have… Oh, I don't know… told me what you were planning? Or at least given me a heads-up?"

"Why should we have done that?" Inari asked, her eyebrow rising in confused anger.

"So we wouldn't even be having this conversation right now?" He shook his head in reproach. "All it would have taken was a 'don't be here around this time, or you'll be sorry', and you would have gotten him. No muss, no fuss."

As the realization visibly sunk into Inari's face, he added, "You're the ones who screwed up, not me, so do me a favor and get that gun out of my face."

Jin pursed his lips as he mulled it over. After a second, the gun dropped to his side and he nodded to Inari, who scowled and stepped back. Once she was next to Jin again, she said, in a low and deadly voice, "In that case, let me give you fair warning so this doesn't happen again: We're going to kill every last one of those idiots. If you see any of them in trouble again, you ignore it and walk away."

"Or what? You'll kill me?" Shinjiro scoffed, exuding a confidence he did not feel. "Come on, guys. That chestnut's getting kinda old, don't you think?"

Jin's blank expression slowly turned into a terrifying grimace. "No," he said lightly, "We won't kill you, not at first. We'll kill every one of those sheep that you help take care of down at the shelter, make you watch as the life, however little it may be, fades from their eyes, then kill you." He tilted his head, terrible grin still intact. "Got it?"

Whatever form of apathy he had felt towards his own life, all he felt now was terror. Of course Jin knew about the Lost that he took care of at the shelter. Why wouldn't he? He'd been keeping tabs on him ever since their falling out 2 years ago.

Minato had been right yesterday. If there was one weakness that he still had, it was that he hated watching people get hurt, and Jin knew that. What was worse was that Inari looked like she was fully capable and willing to do just as he'd said. Takaya had never held human life in high regard either, but right now, Inari made him look tame. With Takaya gone, Jin had no stabilizing influence, no control. Inari seemed to encourage his natural bloodlust, and that was worrying. Either way, they'd backed Shinjiro into a corner. There was only one option left to him.

"…Alright." He bit out grudgingly. "Understood."

"Wonderful." Inari said as Jin slipped the gun back into his jacket. "See you around, Shinji." The two of them turned around and slipped back into the shadows of the alleyway, their footsteps barely registering in the echo of the man-made valley.

Shinjiro watched them leave, then let out the breath he had been inadvertently holding. His terror gave way to a bright, burning anger. He looked down at his arm, and saw his hand was clenched into a trembling fist. The only other thing that Shinjiro hated more than seeing people get hurt, were people who intentionally hurt others. He always had, and now, Jin and Inari fell squarely into that category. It was clear that they saw SEES as a serious threat, and didn't care who they hurt in order to kill them. SEES would definitely have their work cut out for them in the months ahead.

…But maybe things won't be so dire for them, in the end.

What do you mean?

I mean, it would be a shame if Jin and his friends were suddenly brought to the forefront of SEES' attention.

...Inexplicably, you mean?

Exactly.

Shinjiro bared his teeth in a feral smile. Strega had made a terrible mistake. By threatening innocents who were only mildly associated with him, they had made themselves into a danger too great to ignore or dismiss anymore.

So he wouldn't.

July 27th, 2009

"…So you're saying I have to let Aigis come with on this one." Minato said forlornly as he and Mitsuru followed the rest of the group into Tartarus's lobby.

"Yes. We need to get a field test to see if she's truly ready for this." She replied for the fifth time tonight.

Minato groaned audibly for the fifth time tonight, finally drawing an irritated glare from Mitsuru. "I realize that you are in charge of personnel assignments when we are out in the field," she stated icily, "But I am still the leader of this group, Minato."

"I know that, Mitsuru. I just..." He trailed off, his complaint dying in his throat. He knew that they needed to see how Aigis would perform in the field, but that still didn't do much to alleviate his discomfort. He'd spent the last few days actively avoiding her, despite her rather blatant attempts to follow him around. He'd justified it as setting personal boundaries, especially after the 'incident', but he knew that was just an excuse.

He didn't know what was worse; the feeling of uneasiness around her, or the guilt from being so hostile towards her presence.

Mitsuru's expression softened as she noticed his discomfort. "Look," she said lightly, "I understand that her… interest in you is disconcerting-"

"It's not that." Minato said hesitantly. She gave him a knowing look. "Ok, not just that." He added blithely. When he didn't begin to elaborate, she raised her eyebrow expectantly, causing him to sigh again. "Look, I just don't know how to explain it to you in a way that you would understand."

"Try anyway."

He sighed again as he leaned against a pillar, pushing down his anxiety and forcing himself to speak. "Well, you know how when you stand on a roof or a cliff and you peek out over the edge, you get that feeling of discomfort when you see the bottom? That instinctual fear?" She nodded, and he shook his head and swallowed nervously. "Well, I feel that way around her, all the time."

He gave her a guilty look. "I can't tell you why I'm feeling this way, I just…am."

She gave him a small sympathetic smile, then shook her head in confusion. "Then why did you advocate on her behalf to my father if you felt this way? Why not simply allow her to be quarantined where she can't hurt you?"

"Because," he said fiercely, "She saved my life, and she deserved better than what she was getting. Despite my own discomfort, I know that she's not a bad person. I mean, she looks like she genuinely cares about what happens to me sometimes, despite being a robot." He ducked his head in thought. "Hell, at times she's more human than some people I've met…"

"So," she said clinically, "You are having a conflict between your heart and your mind in this case."

He nodded. "What I've observed about her directly conflicts with what my instincts are telling me, and it's driving me crazy. I don't trust her, but she hasn't given me any reason not to either." He sighed exasperatedly. "I don't know what to think about her."

"You can't avoid her forever." Mitsuru said lightly.

"Yeah… I know." He inhaled then exhaled deeply. "Alright, I'll take her out tonight, see what she can do."

"Thank you." Mitsuru said, a smile spreading across her face. She quickly glanced towards the party to see if anyone was looking towards the two of them, and, when she was sure that no one was looking, crossed the distance between them and kissed him on the cheek lightly. She pulled away with a slight blush on her cheeks. "I appreciate this, Minato."

A silly grin appeared on Minato's face for a second before he smirked at her. "Well, with a bribe like that, how can I say no?"

So far, the operation tonight had gone smooth enough. Junpei and Yukari looked right back at home in Tartarus, dishing out punishment to the Shadows with equal parts abandon and fervor. What was surprising to him, was Aigis' performance.

She didn't look like she'd lost a step in the decade that she'd been asleep. She took orders well, following his word without question, and her arsenal of integrated weaponry made it much easier to inflict physical attacks from range, making her the best fire support that the team had at their disposal. In addition, her Persona seemed as if it was built to protect, providing the team with barriers that could reflect and absorb elemental and physical attacks.

He had some concerns, though. His anxiety around her had not diminished; if anything, it had increased. Something about seeing her in action sent chills down his spine, as if something in his body was reacting to her presence. It made it hard to focus on the battle when his stomach tried to jump out of his body every time she fired her machine guns.

In a less personal way, he was also concerned about her in terms of long-term combat. As useful as her Persona was, it wasn't really suited for front-line combat like the others. She could only provide a few barriers at a time before she was taxed, and her offensive abilities were somewhat lacking, only having access to physical attacks. In addition to that, the amount of damage that she could inflict on the Shadows with her arsenal was limited, not only in quantity of ammunition, but in caliber as well. Her machine guns took a fair amount of ammunition to kill even a single Shadow, and she was already running on empty after only a couple of floors.

And that's why I don't like using guns. Too limited in certain situations, and too dangerous in others. Seriously, it's only because she's a fantastic shot that she hasn't accidentally hit Junpei when he does one of his kamikaze charges... Hmm, I wonder if she could learn to use a melee weapon like the rest of us. Maybe Mitsuru could teach her to fence, or maybe boxing from Akihiko?

A sudden uncomfortable sensation creeping up Minato's neck snapped him from his thoughts. The anxiety that had burned lightly in his gut all night suddenly flared up, causing him to feel faint. He looked down at his hands in bewilderment, watching them shake.

"What the hell…?"

Fuuka's terrified voice suddenly crackled through the link. "Guys?! You need to get out of there, now!"

"What? What for?" Junpei said, his tone concerned.

"There's… something up there with you! Something extremely dangerous!"

As if in response, a strange clanking noise, like chains grinding against each other, came from behind them. Aigis visibly bristled as she and the others whipped around towards the sound.

The sight that greeted them was terrifying.

It was as if something had eaten all the ambient light in the corridor, turning the area behind them into a wall of darkness. As if that wasn't bad enough, it soon got worse.

The wall of darkness also started moving steadily towards them.

"Run!" Minato screamed. The four of them turned away from the encroaching darkness and bolted in pure, unbridled terror. "Fuuka, find us a way out of here!"

"I can't! It's interfering with my readings! I'm barely able to keep in contact with you!"

"Shit!" Minato turned to look over his shoulder, and then quickly wished he hadn't. The darkness had picked up speed, and was gaining on them. "Crap, run faster!"

"I'm running as fast as I can!" Yukari yelled back.

After a few seconds of running in terror, the group came to a T junction and screeched to a halt.

"Which way should we go, Boss?" Junpei asked hurriedly.

"I dunno!" Minato said, panic setting in. He had never hated his horrible sense of direction more than right now. He needed to make a decision quickly, but which way? If he picked the wrong direction, then there wouldn't be a second chance.

Luckily, his decision was quickly made for him.

After a moment of indecision, Aigis turned to the right and set off running down the corridor. "This way," She called over her shoulder.

Minato looked bewilderedly at the others for a second before taking off after her, Junpei and Yukari right behind him. She led them down several winding corridors before finding a large room with a green teleporter pad in the middle of it.

The sight of an exit sent a wave of visible relief through Minato's body. "Thank god. Let's get out of here before-"

The walls surrounding the room suddenly disappeared into an inky black void, and the comforting green light that normally emitted from the teleporter sputtered and winked out. Minato's heart sank. "…that happens. Shit."

That horrible clanking sound emanated from the corridor behind them again, causing the entire group to spin around, weapons drawn.

Luckily, the eldritch darkness had ceased its pursuit, and had instead formed a barrier right where the entrance to the room had been. It wasn't reassuring in the slightest, however. Obviously, whatever had been chasing them was still coming, and now it had them trapped.

"Get ready…" Minato said, terrified. His arms felt like wet noodles, barely able to support the weight of his rapier. His head pounded. He felt like he wanted to throw up, he was so anxious.

"Oh god…" Junpei whispered, his breathing erratic as he started to hyperventilate.

"No, not again…" Yukari gasped, clutching her bow tightly, her knuckles white.

Panels all over Aigis' body retracted as she readied every weapon she had at her disposal. Despite the impressive amount of firepower she had, she still looked worried. She glanced out of the corner of her eye at Minato, a shade of what looked like remorse falling over her features for a moment before she turned back towards the danger. A small amount of guilt cut through Minato's anxiety. Even now, she was still concerned about him.

If we get out of this, I'll have to give her an apology…

The clanking noise sounded through the corridor again, much closer this time. The walls of darkness seemed to grow darker, if possible.

"Fuuka? Are you still there?" Minato asked under his breath.

"Barely. I'm starting to pick up something…" She went silent for a moment then gasped in terror. "Oh no…"

A figure suddenly burst out of the darkness. It was over 8 feet tall and was wearing a worn leather duster and a sack with one eye hole cut out of it on its head. It also had chains crisscrossing across its chest and two massive long-barreled revolvers in its hand. It had no feet, and was levitating. The only physical feature that they could see was the single bright yellow eye peeking out from the sack.

"It's… Death…"

"Death?" Junpei said, backing up slightly. "How the hell do you kill Death?"

At that moment, the monster started to shake up and down, but otherwise took no other action. They all stared at it in confusion. It took Minato a second to realize that the thing was laughing, a breathless and terrifying sound devoid of humor and light. Then it spoke, its voice low and guttural.

"Δεν είμαι ο Θάνατος, αγόρι. Απλά υπηρετώ αυτόν που βαδίζει στην σκιά της." It then looked straight at Minato and its eye narrowed. "Ο θάνατος σου είναι απαραίτητος προκειμένου να είναι ξανά ολόκληρη." It then lowered its revolvers at Minato's head and fired without hesitation.

Aigis immediately dove to the side, knocking Minato out of the line of fire while simultaneously letting loose with everything at her disposal. Junpei and Yukari both whipped out their Evokers and unleashed the biggest attacks they had, creating a massive fiery vortex which completely engulfed the figure. After a few seconds, the vortex dissipated, leaving a massive smoke cloud behind.

"Is it dead?" Minato asked lightly.

"Negative." Aigis said lowly. She got up off of Minato and hoisted him to his feet, then removed the cylindrical magazines from underneath her arms, dropping them to the ground, their ammunition spent. Her weapons retracted into her body and she turned to face the dissipating smoke cloud. "Stay behind me, Minato-kun." She glanced back at him, concern in her eyes. "He won't take you, not while I still function." He nodded and picked up his rapier from the ground right as the smoke cleared and revealed the monster still standing, not a scratch on it.

"Σειρά μου..." It said in its unnatural voice.

At that point, all hell broke loose.

It quickly raised one of its revolvers into the air and fired. A lightning bolt the size of a small house struck Io, causing Yukari to cry out in pain before slumping to the ground, unconscious. It fired again, causing a blast of wind so fierce that it picked Junpei up and slammed him against the wall. He grunted in pain, then slid to the floor and did not rise.

"Junpei! Yukari!" Minato cried out. He turned back to the creature and a blinding rage filled him. How dare this thing place a hand on his friends! Minato's hand snapped up to his head and he pulled the trigger, letting loose his Persona. "Jehuty! Brave Blade!"

Jehuty shimmered into existence and immediately flew forward, the blade on his arm snapping upward towards his wrist. He closed the distance in a quick second and swung down, almost faster than Minato could track. The dark creature shuffled in laughter again, then brought up one of its revolvers to block, the blade stopping just short of the creature's head. Jehuty made a crooning noise as he tried to push past and separate the creature's head from its shoulders, but to no avail. After a moment of struggling, the creature's other revolver snapped up to Jehuty's torso. The hammer clicked back as it prepared to unload the gun into Jehuty's chest.

"Orgia mode: Activated!"

A white blur suddenly impacted the creature's side, causing it to flinch. Jehuty quickly disengaged, pulling back his blade and swinging again, this time connecting with the creature's upper shoulder. The blow rent a huge hole in the creature's duster and sent the creature spinning into the wall, where it bounced off and crumpled onto the ground, shuddering before it went still.

The threat eliminated, Minato glanced at where Aigis had landed. Her joints and eyes had taken on an orange glow, steam rising off of them. She glanced back at him and gave him a nod, a slight smile on her face. He felt a smile appear on his face involuntarily. She wasn't so bad after-

A loud crack snapped the silence, and a bullet slammed into Aigis' chest with an audible clang.

"Aigis!" Minato yelled in alarm. She skidded backward across the floor, crying out in alarm. He quickly rushed to her side, taking stock of her injuries. "Oh god…" It was bad. Her arm hung loosely off her side, connected only by a few wires. Her chest plate was dented heavily, and steam started to emit from the cooling vents in her 'headphones'. It took her a visible effort to rotate her head and look at him. "M-Minato-kun…"

A loud click behind him caused him to spin around. The creature was up and had its guns pointed past him, right at Aigis' prone form. "Σε θυμάμαι, κορίτσι από μέταλλο. Είναι η τελευταία φορά που μιλάς," it said angrily, "Παρακολούθησε με να σκοτώνω τα κατοικίδια σου, και στη συνέχεια εσένα την ίδια."

"Wait!" Minato said, standing up and putting himself between Aigis and it. "You can understand me, right?"

The creature regarded him confusedly for a moment, and then nodded slowly. Minato scowled as he stared into the monster's bright yellow eye. "Let them go. They were just defending me. That is what you want, right? Me, dead?" The creature nodded again. "Then fine. You get me, peacefully." He raised his finger. "…But only if you let them go."

The creature stared at him blankly. For a few tense moments, Minato felt dread burning a hole in his heart. He looked over at Junpei and Yukari, then down at Aigis. If the thing decided to refuse, then there wasn't anything he could do to stop it killing all of them, one by one.

He scoffed as he looked back at the creature. Who was he kidding? They were all dead anyway. At least this way, if things went his way, only one person would die.

Please, please, if you're out there... Don't let them die here. They don't deserve it.

Suddenly, the creature started to shuffle up and down in laughter again. It let out a barely audible stuttering hiss, then nodded. Immediately, the teleporter started to emit its normal green glow as power was restored.

Minato sighed in relief, and then moved to pick Aigis up.

"Minato-kun, no…" Aigis said weakly as he approached her. "I won't let you die…"

"Shut up, Aigis." Minato said bluntly, his voice shaking. "I didn't ask you to protect me, and I sure as shit am not going to let you die for me, not when I have a chance to save you." He picked her up softly and then pointed her at Yukari and Junpei's prone forms. "I am ordering you to take them and bring them back to the others. Do you understand?"

She stared at him, pain evident in her eyes. "M-Minato-kun, I-"

"Do you understand?" He repeated roughly, tears threatening to spill from his eyes. He knew that what he was asking her to do was not only against her programming, but also against whatever part of her that felt human.

By doing this, he would destroy her just as badly as if she had died right next to him.

But at least they'll all live… At least…

"Please, Aigis…" He said sadly, his voice cracking.

After a tense, silent moment, she closed her eyes and nodded.

"Acknowledged… Minato-kun…"

A green flash emanating from the teleporter pad broke Mitsuru out of her nervous pacing. Fuuka had lost contact with the team over 5 minutes ago, and judging by how pale she looked, things had not been going well. Both she and Fuuka had been desperately trying to re-establish contact when the teleporter had signaled an incoming recipient. Mitsuru quickly turned around, and was greeted with a horrible sight.

Aigis looked as if she'd been hit by a tank, and both Yukari and Junpei were lying unconscious on the pad.

Minato, however, wasn't anywhere to be seen.

Mitsuru's heart sank as she, Fuuka, and Akihiko ran up to the three wounded members. "Where is Minato, Aigis?" She asked as Fuuka and Akihiko got to work assessing the injured.

Aigis didn't respond, her face blank. Mitsuru felt her calm façade cracking with each moment the mechanical maiden refused to answer her.

"Aigis, where is he?" She said, heat beginning to creep into her tone. When Aigis failed to respond again, Mitsuru lost her calm completely.

"Where is Minato, you piece of scrap metal!?" She screamed, angry tears spilling from her eyes. He couldn't be dead. He simply couldn't.

Her raised tone finally drew Aigis' attention. The maiden stared at her with cold, dead eyes. "I tried, Mitsuru-san," She said, her voice devoid of emotion. "I tried to protect him. It was only after him, in the end. I tried, but he said he wouldn't let me die for him. He made me bring them back." She turned away again and said, her voice cracking, "He said… 'Please'…"

Mitsuru stared at Aigis, shocked still by her words. It couldn't be. She was lying. She wanted to hurt Minato, just like he'd feared, right? Life wasn't that cruel…

Was it?

"No, you're wrong!" She bit out angrily. "He's not dead!" She whipped her rapier out of its sheath, and started to storm up the stairs towards the entrance. He wasn't dead. He was still fighting. She'd bring him back, or die trying.

"Mitsuru, no!" Akihiko cried out. He ran up behind her, grabbed her in a bear hug, and lifted her up, preventing her from taking another step.

"Akihiko, let go!" She screamed in pure rage. "I can still get to him! I can still save him!" She twisted in his arms and pushed out, attempting to force him to break his hold on her.

"No, Mitsuru!" He grunted as he pulled and wrestled her away from the door. "If you go up there, you'll… you'll just…" His strength gave out as the realization struck him, and Mitsuru tumbled out of his arms. She stood up and took two quick steps away from him, before stopping and sliding to her knees in defeat.

"He's not dead!" She cried in pure anguish. "He's not!" She dropped her rapier and hugged herself, attempting to calm the burning hole that had been carved in her heart. "He's not…"

Akihiko slid over to her and wrapped his arms around her, trying to give her some comfort. "I know, Mitsuru. I know."

"He's not…" She said one last time, one last denial before her heart shattered.

Even though she had only known Minato for a couple of months, he had become deathly important to her. He'd become one of her best friends. He'd become a sanctuary for her. With him there beside her, she could be herself and have no fear of repercussion or rebuke.

He set her free.

Now he was gone.

She closed her eyes, despair and anguish encompassing her heart-

All of a sudden, Fuuka shot up from next to Junpei as if he had shocked her. "What the hell?!"

Everyone's heads snapped to her as she quickly stepped back from the teleporter pad and put her Evoker to her head. "Lucia! Show me!" Her Persona formed around her, cocooning her in its familiar shell.

Mitsuru shot up and sprinted next to Fuuka, hope tentatively replacing the despair in her heart. "What is it? Is it him?!"

"I don't know… It's a huge-" Fuuka suddenly cried out in pain and tore herself away from her Persona, causing Lucia to disappear in a flash of blue light.

"Yamagishi!" Mitsuru said concernedly, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I think so." Fuuka blinked a few times, and then nodded. "That was intense…"

"What was?" Mitsuru asked hotly. "What did you see?"

"I felt a huge buildup of energy on the floor they were on," Fuuka said hesitantly. "I tried to get a better look, but something… exploded. It blinded me for a second."

"Was it Minato?" She said excitedly. "Is he alive?"

"I think so." She said a small smile on her face. "Granted," She said lightly, "It could have been that thing that was after him, but… I doubt it."

"Why's that?" Akihiko asked hesitantly.

"When that darkness was in the room with them, that's all I could see," Fuuka said lightly. "It was like wearing a blindfold. If that thing in there with them was the one who did that… attack… then I probably wouldn't have been able to feel it, let alone see it."

The news sent Mitsuru's heart into flight. "So he's…!" She hesitated to say the words, afraid that she would curse the occurrence.

Fuuka nodded. "I think he's alive."

She needed nothing else. She bolted up the stairs, Akihiko close behind her.

A few minutes later, the two of them entered the floor where they had lost contact with the ground team. They'd had to fight up several floors in order to reach it, but the two of them had torn through every enemy stupid enough to get in their way.

"Yamagishi, can you sense him?" Mitsuru said, her calm façade tentatively back in position. Inside, however, she was a mess. Hope had given way to fear as the two of them had fought their way back up. What if he'd been killed in the blast Fuuka had mentioned? What if he'd been wounded so badly that he'd succumbed to his injuries before they could reach him? A million different scenarios ran through her head, all trying to kill any hope she had of seeing him again.

"Like I said before, senpai; that blast blinded Lucia. I can feel you, but only because I know where you are. Anything I don't know about for sure is a crapshoot."

Mitsuru smiled at Fuuka's cursing. It seemed like Minato had been rubbing off on her a bit.

"He's been rubbing off on all of us," Penthesilea said in her mind, startling Mitsuru slightly. Her Persona rarely talked to her since their thoughts and opinions were so similar. Still, the thought filled her with determination.

He was too important to die; He meant too much to all of them.

"In that case," Akihiko said, his voice intense, "Can you guide us to where the blast occurred?"

"Oh yeah. That place has probably been seared into my brain for the rest of my life." Fuuka said blithely as she sent them the location.

Akihiko's face fought to keep its composure as they walked, but, after a few seconds, he blurted, "Fuuka, I didn't know you were such a... a... smartass!"

"Oh, Oh god, I'm so sorry, senpai! I meant no disrespect!" She exclaimed timidly. "It's just… I've gotten so used to talking to Minato on these trips, and he's always so… sarcastic to me, that I kind of had to… adapt."

He burst into laughter as the two of them rounded a corner. "It's alright, Fuuka," Akihiko said lightly, "I understand."

"God, I hope he's ok." She said heavily.

"We'll be able to tell you in a second." Akihiko said as he and Mitsuru rounded the corner to the last corridor.

As they started their walk down the long corridor, they saw that the walls had gradually increasing scorch marks on them.

"What the hell happened here?" Akihiko said, before quickly clasping his hand over his mouth. The look on Mitsuru's face was heartbreaking; he could see the hope fading from her eyes.

"Whatever happened here came from that room," She said in a low voice, "and it's clear that it was extremely destructive." Her eyes lowered to her shoes. "I don't think-"

All of a sudden, a loud bang echoed down the corridor, causing both of them to whip out their Evokers in alarm.

"What was- Mitsuru!" Akihiko said as Mitsuru suddenly took off down the corridor, running as fast as she could. He took off after her, cursing under his breath.

The sounds of a battle got louder as they got closer to the end of the corridor. They were about to turn the corner to the room when a large, muscled Shadow flew past them and impacted the wall before bursting into a puddle of shadowy gore. Mitsuru's face brightened visibly as she and Akihiko turned the corner.

"Minato!" She exclaimed happily.

As they turned the corner however, they did not see what they expected to see.

They expected to see a smirking blue haired boy, scuffed up, but unharmed, sardonic comment at the ready.

What they found was a blue haired boy lying on the ground, unmoving and hurt, but alive nonetheless.

What was more surprising, however, was the familiar Reaper-like Persona hanging over his head, weapon covered in black Shadow gore.

If he'd seen it from a distance, Akihiko would have sworn this was the same Persona that had destroyed the Magician Shadow all those months ago. The general features were all the same: It had the same red, unfeeling eyes, a large, brutish weapon, and a half-ring of objects forming an intimidating cloak around its body.

That was where the similarities ended, however.

The body of the Persona reminded him of Jehuty. It had the same robotic look and feel, with blade-like protrusions resembling feathers fanning out from its arms. The bear trap-like maw had been replaced with the sleek head of a jackal. His weapon, a large serrated katana, had been replaced with an elegant spear. The ring of coffins had been replaced with several elegant wings, all opening and closing in a robotic fashion. The blue duster that had flapped over the Persona's back had been replaced with a long, flowing tail.

And when their surprise had finally worn off, the Persona turned and spoke to them.

"Help him… Please…"

It then folded its arms, and shimmered out of existence.

Minato crossed his arms, anger barely contained. "Explain. Now."

"Better grab a seat then," Pharos said sardonically as he reappeared inside the dreamspace.

"Cause it's gonna be a long story."

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Hoo, boy. This was a loooong wait wasn't it? I'm so, so, SO sorry about that, guys. I had a huge setup that I wanted to plan for some plot points that I thought were super important… And couldn't figure out how to make it work without it being really, really, lame. So instead of trying something else like a normal person, I put writing this off for months, hoping I would just figure it out. Well, I did… by dropping the sub plot entirely. Please don't be sad; It was going to be dumb, guys, trust me. Anyways, that combined with lots of real life stuff I had to deal with, means I dropped off the face of the earth for a while. I'm back now, though! Kinda… I know where I want to go with this story now… but I don't have nearly as much time to write as I once did, which is why this chapter is kinda short compared to the others.

Anyways, enough of my whining. Shit got kinda dark in this one, huh? I hope that this chapter had enough twists and turns for you guys! Things will get pretty interesting in the next couple of chapters, that's for sure. As always, thank you for reading and for continuing to show interest in this little thing I like to put some of my free time into. I especially want to thank everyone who's followed and favorited over the past couple months: You guys are awesome! So anyways, I hope to have another chapter of similar or larger length done by the end of next week… So if I don't deliver, come knock on my door with the torches and pitchforks. Or a PM. That works too.

As always, please leave a review if you liked or didn't like this chapter, and please PM me if you have any questions or concerns! Till next chapter! – Dr. Ninja

PS: The new Persona is based off of the ANUBIS frame from ZOE as well. I thought that that him and Thanatos looked remarkably similar. Hmmm… :D

PPS: The Reaper was speaking Greek, by the way… Special thanks to Marvey4 for helping with the translation!