03 November 2009

Minatodai Dorm, 4th Floor Control Room

The Dark Hour

Bouncing back and forth on her feet, Midori's heart felt like it would explode from her chest as Fuuka scanned for the final Shadow. A part of her wanted to turn back time to the first so she could help everyone from the start, but this, it seemed, was the end of the story. She had helped save the world! Again!

Well, in about an hour, of course. No sense in getting ahead of herself.

"I've found it!" Fuuka announced, her own eagerness quite apparent. "It's at the Moonlight Bridge!" She was about to deactivate Juno when she gasped. "No! I sense STREGA is there too! The two of them!"

A tense atmosphere descended before Junpei grinned. "Three for the price of one? Does anyone here have a discount card that needs stamped, because I'm liking these odds."

"Shut up, Stupei." Yukari filed out with everyone else, leaving the failed joke in the air.

Moonlight Bridge, South Entrance

This time of night, the bridge across the bay was mostly empty. Although that still meant that there were quite a few cars and other vehicles that sat in still motion, caught between one moment and the next. Curious, Midori looked into one of the cars along the roadway to see how the transmogrified people inside managed to fit their coffins into the small spaced.

One look inside was enough to convince her to not try again; the reality of it was more mind-bending than looking into the real face of Babel. She rubbed her forehead to work away the headache that threatened to take her mind off the fights they were going to get into shortly.

They spread out in a thin line across the roadway as they approached the two figures in an empty space in the middle of the road. Waiting for them was Takaya and Jin, the latter flipping a grenade in his hand while the former checked the load on his revolver one last time. "You know the significance of this day, do you not?" The shirtless man waved his weapon in the air in defiance of all gun-safety. "You claim to hunt the Shadows of this Hour to prevent some ill-defined disaster! He waited for Minato to get closer before continuing in a more reasonable tone of voice.

"Why? To fight evil? You should know that the powers we are granted are not evil in the slightest! So what would you want to fight it? Admit your sins!"

He stopped raving for a moment to catch his breath.

"You cannot truly wish to eliminate the Dark Hour and all that comes with it! To do so would be to erase yourselves! How can you not see this truth, you foolish insolent CHILDREN!"

"Hey! Idiot!" Midori shot back with vigour. "The Dark Hour is a blight on the world! A wound! A crack in the world that never should have been!" The others looked at her as she tried to prove Takaya wrong without revealing all that she really knew.

"If we get rid of these Shadows, the Dark Hour will heal over! We won't stop being ourselves for it. In fact, we can even become better!"

"IMPUDENT BRAT! You speak of such things as if you know the truth! But it is beyond your feeble comprehension!" Takaya delving into mere name-calling only cemented in Midori's mind that he was just making stuff up.

Jin tapped his partner on the shoulder, pointing back over the bridge. In the distance hung a figure in the air. The last Full Moon Shadow, the Hanged Man. "It would appear as though our time is short." Takaya raised his hands to the green-tinted moon in supplication, asking for a blessing to prolong his source of power, the proof he used to justify his own existence.

Minato, however, said a different thing. "Mitsuru, Midori, Junpei, Ken. You hold off these two. The rest of you, we get around them and take out the Shadow. First to finish, go help the other group."

Akihiko opened his mouth to object to being denied his chance to exact punishment on Takaya for killing Shinji, but thought better of it. Midori's words rang in his head, words spoken from personal experience. "Careful Ken, and follow Midori's lead where Takaya is concerned."

Takaya, too far away to hear the lowered speech called out one last time. "As I believed. Our goals are irreconcilable. Come, MAGGOTS!"

SEES broke into a run, the two groups splitting while Fuuka stayed back a safe distance, activating Juno in the process. She would do her best to help Mitsuru's group while Minato's headed for the Shadow, then switch to helping them. "These two are going to be serious! Fight hard!"

Midori had experience fighting people with guns. Her encounter with the SDF at the edge of the Circle, plus the platoon trapped inside and condemned to the same death as everyone else, in addition to some fights with Police or Yakuza Tamers meant that she had developed a quick sense in how to not get shot.

And how to treat gunshot wounds, as Akihiko had noticed a month ago. So she focused on Takaya, his gun in hand still, though pointed at the ground. Drawing her Evoker and tonfu, he raised his weapon and looked around for a target. Their eyes met, the first time the two of them had crossed paths. "Brat! Know your place!" It would be the last, if either of them had anything to say about it.

He pulled the trigger, aiming with his whole arm. Midori watched with calm detachment as his aim was truly horrible. She wasn't scared of him, or his weapon. She had seen far worse things. As his finger tightened around the trigger, she changed direction, crossing against the motion of his arm; the bullet whizzed by behind her and out over the water.

Too far away before he could re-centre his aim, Midori pressed her Evoker to her chest, feeling the pressure on Frosty's card. "FROSTY!" she yelled as her aim was true. The shadow of her friend materialized and fire danced between the two STREGA members.

Some flares struck Takaya, and seemed to take it well, while Jin only grinned, his Persona protecting him from all fire.

Mitsuru wiped the smirk off his face with a solid blast of ice.

Snarling, Jin pulled the pin on the grenade in his hand, and rolled it towards Mitsuru. She dived behind a car to take shelter before it exploded. A shard of concrete was ripped off the roadway and slashed under the car, stabbing into Mitsuru's leg. She bit back a scream from the heat as Jin taunted her. "There's no cure for stupidity!"

"Hey! I take offence to that!" Junpei sent Hermes against Jin. After seeing Midori's own Agi skills failed to harm him, he went back to what he was better at doing. Beating people over the head with a baseball bat.

Ken ran over to the hobbled Mitsuru, and blanched at the sight of the shard sticking out of her leg. "Leave it!" she said, "Just heal it!" He did so, and then helped her lean against the car for cover, allowing her a view of the battleground. "Go! Get in there, and watch out!" She put her Evoker to her head and began to pelt Takaya and Jin with her own attacks.

Hoping to distract STREGA from targeting Mitsuru, Junpei rushed Jin, but the briefcase wielder simply stepped to one side, allowing him to pass by harmlessly.

"You bother me, pest. Now is the time for your punishment!" Takaya dropped to his knees, holding his head in pain. Not quite understanding what was going on, Midori was surprised when a pale and winged Persona emerged from Takaya's head, and blasted a shard of Bufu right at her.

But she did have enough sense to meet the magic with open arms, allowing Frosty to block the energy from the attack. With him on the ground, she took the opening to dash in at him, bringing her Tonfu down on his gun arm. "MAGICAL JUSTICE!" she yelled in triumph as she reversed her grip and smashed the weapon into his chest – a one-two that knocked the white-haired nihilist to the ground.

Ken, following Akihiko's instruction to follow Midori, sent Kali-Nama to strike Takaya while he was down.

And the battle continued.

Apex of the Moonlight Bridge

The Hanged Man hung over the other other half of SEES. They had found that by destroying its rooting sub-shadows, they could cause it to fall down to the bridge and within reach of the mortals below for a moment before taking back to the air.

"This is going to take forever!" Akihiko growled as the Hanged Man pulled away, just in time to avoid a hit from Aigis. "Damn, I never thought I'd loose in a race against the others!"

Base of the Moonlight Bridge

For on two is never good odds for the two. This became more and more apparent to Takaya and Jin as they were slowly pushed back towards the side of the bridge. Takaya himself was growing distressed as each round of combat saw the newest member of SEES take seeming pleasure in targeting him. She could read his body language like no other, and with a start, he finally realized that this was not the first time she had fought against a gun. All the psychological advantages he normally enjoyed were turned against him as she kept pummelling him with weapon and Persona.

Jin backed up another step, only to find the safety railing at his back. He cast a quick glance backwards at the bloody water far below. "Dammit!" He cursed loudly as he dodged a shot of ice from Mitsuru, still behind cover. "Is their power THAT different than ours?" Takaya was unable to answer, gasping for breath through a bruised ribcage.

Mitsuru loped forward. "Different?" Her question and voice were as full of accusation as she could make them through the pain in her leg. "Personas are Personas. There is nothing different about them."

Straightening up, Jin found he was out of grenades, the last of which had been knocked right back at him by Junpei. "You ignorant broad! Didn't your friend tell you? We have to force them out!"

Confused, Mitsuru decided to take the opportunity to get more information out of the two of them before moving in to capture both. Looking around, she saw that everyone was slowly recovering, but even Midori, who true to form, had pushed herself to the brink while having the least durable Persona. The glance at Midori was enough to remind her that not all Personas were created equal, and she reached a conclusion that shocked her deeply. "Wait... Yoshino's pills... You were the ones giving them to Shinji?"

Jin tried to laugh. "You don't have a clue!" He looked to Takaya, who was slowly beginning to recover. "It doesn't matter to the normal people! But for us? When the Dark Hour vanishes...!"

"Enough!" Takaya finally regained his composure enough to shut Jin up with a snarled word. "This... ephemeral body! I am worthless without power!" He put the revolver to his head. "I shall prove my existence!" He pulled the trigger as Jin, Midori and Junpei all lunged at him to prevent the suicide.

Click.

The hammer came down on an empty chamber, and Jin wrestled the gun away from his limp hands. "Don't be so reckless! Your words still have meaning!" He pulled Takaya close to him, leaning on the railing. "You win! You get your wish! Now suffer!"

"WAIT!" Junpei yelled, his arm reaching out from too far away.

"This is how we live." With that, Jin leaned over the railing, dragging himself and Takaya over the edge of the bridge and into the abyss. Instantly, the four SEES members rushed to the edge and looked over, trying to spot their fallen foes.

"I don't..." Ken tried to say the words, but they were caught on him being denied revenge and justice for the second time.

"There's no way..." Mitsuru began to say when Midori cut her off.

"Mitsuru-senpai. If you say that there was no way for them to have survived that fall, I'll be very disappointed." She decided that now was a good time to collapse against the railing, letting her tired body catch up with her. "I mean, we didn't really defeat them. They dive off a tall height to escape us. Of course they survived. We'll just have to choose our next battleground better."

"Uh, Midori, I hate to be the voice of reason here, but this isn't one of the shows you and Ken watch." Junpei spoke up, as surprised as anyone at his comment.

Considering her retort, Midori finally saw Mitsuru's limping, and the reason for it. "You! Lay down!" She stood up and gestured for her senior to do as she was told. "When did that happen?"

Mitsuru looked down at the still injured limb. "At the start. I haven't felt it. Must be the adrenaline."

"Damn it! Lay down now!" She commanded her senior in a far more stern tone of voice than she was used to giving. "What were you thinking, walking around like that?"

"I'll be alright." Mitsuru tried to brush off Midori's concern, but the blunette would have none of it.

"Junpei help me out here. I need you to hold her leg steady as I remove the... whatever it is." She gestured for Junpei to assist, causing the young man to balk. "I don't have time for this! Help me remove it before it gets infected!"

There was something in her eyes that forced Iori to move. "I'm sorry Senpai," he said as he gently forced her to the ground. "but even I know it's not good to leave stuff like that in the body."

Realizing that she was going to lose this argument for good and sound reasons, Mitsuru sat down, putting her leg out for Midori to look at. "Ken healed it already."

"I know," Midori said flatly. "You shouldn't have. All the Dia magic did was to heal around the splinter. Thankfully it's not bleeding internally."

"Uh, Midori-chan?" Ken asked as it seemed like she was being critical of his help. "Have you done this before?"

"Yes!" Midori snapped before realizing what she had said. "I'm sorry Ken. It's just this isn't the first time I've had to do first aid like this. Thankfully the shard looks like it isn't jagged so I don't have to worry about tearing on the way out." She shuddered, memories of watching over Mari-sensei's shoulder as she did similar things to people who needed it. "Alright... Ken I'll need you to heal this again after I've taken it out. Junpei, you got the leg steady?"

The two males nodded. "Oh, and Mitsuru-senpai? This'll hurt." With no further warning, Midori grabbed and slid the concrete shard out of the leg, causing Mitsuru to grit her teeth against the pain. "Ken!" Another invocation of Kali-Nama and the wound closed up again.

Holding the piece of roadway in her hand, Midori gave it a completely disbelieving look. "Seriously? All this for something that went in, maybe half an inch?" She tossed it over the side of the bridge, never to be seen again. "Stand up. You'll be fine. As long as the wound doesn't re-open."

"For now," Mitsuru agreed, "Iori and Amada, go to the aid of the others. Midori, take your time, I'll stay with you." She took a moment to massage her leg. "We will not treat Strega as destroyed until we find their bodies."

"Right-o, Mitsuru-senapi." Junpei began to jog off, headed for the upper battle still taking place, Ken following a few steps behind.

Mitsuru began to walk, Midori matching her pace. "You said something interesting back there, to Takaya. That the Dark Hour was a wound. What did you mean by that?"

Too exhausted to argue, Midori just kept walking. "I thought it was obvious. The Dark Hour is something that isn't natural, and will exist as long as these Full Moon Shadows, right? Well, I called it that, because it seemed like the right thing to do." And not because that was how she currently interpreted Igor's warning and description. "It's like a scab that you keep picking at, preventing the injury from healing properly, that's what the Shadows are."

Mitsuru nodded in understanding. "That's a very interesting way of looking at the situation. I can recall a few times where such a simple interpretation would have helped." She looked down at her leg again. "I must thank you for your intervention. You handled yourself well."

Dismissing the concern, Midori replied carefully. "It was one of those things I picked up during the Lockdown."

"Makes sense. Your knowledge of how healing magic interacted with treating the wound confirmed a theory I have."

Midori froze. "what"

"I am aware that you awakened as a Persona user during the Lockdown, in addition to many others. You don't need to hide this fact from me. In fact, I can understand completely why you would choose to keep it a secret in general."

Mind racing, Midori tried to figure out how Mitsuru apparently went from 'Summoning Demons' to 'evoking Persona' during those seven days. "Would you mind if I chose to say nothing at all?"

"No. Of course not."

The two looked up at the sound of a screech, seeing nothing but the dissolving form of the last Shadow. "Come, it appears as though we are done."

Moonlight Bridge, Apex

All ten members of SEES gathered in a loose circle around where the Hanged Man had finally been put down. "Is it over? Really?" Junpei asked, disbelief in his voice.

"I can detect no trace of the Shadow." Aigis confirmed. "Operation – no – Mission Complete."

Yukari's shoulders dropped, the grip on her bow loose. "Yes! It's finally over!"

"I believe that Minato promised a celebration" commented Aigis. "What is the protocol for such things?"

"FOOD!" yelled Junpei. "Come on Senpai! You can splurge, just this once! Get the good stuff!"

Mitsuru looked abashed at the sudden demand. "Well, I suppose I could arrange it. I will have to invite Father..."

"WOO-HOO! I want Sushi!"

Akihiko chuckled at the exuberance from Junpei. "Fine. I haven't had a good plate of sushi in a long time. My training regiment can take it if I do it just this once. I got dibs on the Halibut!"

"Salmon Roe!" Fuuka and Midori called out at the same time, causing the two to share a glance then erupt into laughter.

The rest made their own dream requests, and Mitsuru promised that no expense would be spared. It was going to be their victory celebration, and they would earn it.

Minatodai Dormitory, Front stairs

"I guess it's time to say goodbye to the Dark Hour." Minato paused on the threshold to their home, looking up at the large green moon.

"Saving the world! All in a day's work for the Magical Warrior of Love and Justice!" Midori weakly proclaimed as she tried to raise her hand in victory. Her exhaustion had finally caught up to her, and she was far too tired to put more effort into it, hoping that Aigis would be able to help her up to her room before she fell asleep properly.

"You know, I'll miss many things. But I don't think I'll miss that." Minato opened the door to allow everyone to come in.