(I rewrote so much script so many times and it's still probably out of character.)
The old building Zukin had described turned out to be some sort of... church? It showed no signs of any religion, but it was elegant looking and well-kept with stained-glass windows. Yet the gray sky and dismal environment around you had some sort of morbid aura about it.
"What is this?" Rage asked. "Doesn't look like anywhere Zero would wanna go."
"It's a place he imagined," Zukin commented. "Perhaps we will understand more when we go inside."
"Honestly," Yuni mumbled, "this place really creeps me out."
"You scared, blondie?" Rage teased.
Yuni fumed. "No! I'll prove it, lemme go in!" She stomped in front of everyone and made her way to the double door entrance. She stood there for a moment before she gingerly touched the door and slowly cracked it open. As the rest of you walked to her side, she opened the door wider. Wanting to protect your team, you pushed your way into the lead.
Inside, the room was dimly lit by candles. There were old chairs neatly arranged in rows and columns, but no one occupied any of them. The room was quiet and tranquil; your group's footsteps echoed as you all softly paced the wooden floor.
"I still don't get where we are," Rage whispered.
"Why are you whispering?" Yuni asked back, softly.
"I don't know, why are you whispering?"
"Because you were!"
"Since when do you do what I do?"
Their voices rose, and the two bickered back and forth at normal volume. Akira came in to break them up but he was stopped by a voice.
"Who's there?"
It was Zero, echoing throughout the room. Everyone cowered a little and stared at the ceiling as if to look for the sound's source.
"Are you here rid your lives of suffering?"
"… what?" Rage asked back, confused.
"That's why you're here, isn't it? To find an answer?"
"What if I said yes?"
"If you can find me, you can find your answer."
"You're a lot of help," he muttered.
"It didn't hurt to ask," Zukin commended.
Not knowing what else to do in this room, you instructed your party to follow you. You noticed that the chairs were divided in the center, so you walked down the empty aisle to find a door at the end. It led to a staircase that you ascended.
The next story of the building was a familiar dungeon-like layout, still lit by candlelight with a few lights above you. You instructed everyone to stay close, not wanting your teammates to get lost in the dim rooms. You listened to the several footsteps behind you to keep track of your party members.
You were in a hurry, so despite having limited visibility, you ran down the hallways of the maze, and you got to the end with the strategy of opening the first door you saw. Upon running into dead ends, you would occasionally hear people running into each other; your line was usually Akira, Rage, Yuni, and then Devil Zukin in that order, but their speeds varied and created a few problems.
"Stop that!" Rage yelled.
"I only ran into you once, Rage-sama," Zukin replied.
"Sorry, I meant to yell at Yuni."
Yuni growled.
The second floor seemed to be absent of monsters, but the third floor had a suspiciously vacant room. Your search was interrupted by Zero's voice.
"Are you afraid of this place?"
Your group stopped.
"We're not afraid of anything!" Rage shouted.
Clang!
You heard doors open in the shadows that surrounded you. From those dark voids, you noticed there were knives and groups of needles floating in your direction.
"Are you afraid now?"
You were definitely a little intimidated. You looked back at your team; each member showed a taste of fear through their expressions, but no one dared to reply to the question. You encouraged them and told each of them to prepare to fight.
"Right! Benkei!"
"Lu-yan!"
"Loki!"
"Um... Tsutomu!"
You did not want to risk Norn's wind power of blowing the knives at anyone, so you chose Loki to freeze the seemingly haunted weapons in place. You noticed that there were disappearing and reappearing shadows to wield the sharp objects.
"You cannot harm the shadow beings that wield the weapons," Zukin said, "their powers are in the tools they possess."
You left Loki alone for a moment to fend off a few small Shadows with ice powers; as he did so, you Rage and Benkei mercilessly take on the weapons with physical attacks. Akira used Lu-yan's distant Electric moves to destroy the weapons and make use of their conductivity.
Yuni and Tsutomu were confused. You asked her to focus on her Persona's thoughts; somewhere in Yuni's soul was Tsutomu's soul itself, and she would have to find it. She awkwardly looked at the ground for a second, but she tried to regain her cool attitude. You turned your attention back to your own enemies and used light Mabufu skills to damage the frail weapons.
"Mamudo!"
Whoosh!
Several weapons and their owners faded away instantly. It seemed Yuni and Tsutomu were able to use dark instant kill moves. This was quite useful for swarms of enemies like this; you complimented her move.
"Thanks!" she said with a cocky tone. Tsutomu was an agile Persona that hid well in the darkness, and she took on enemies physically when they didn't die of Mudo. You and the others brutally and quickly wiped out the rest of the army; the monsters seemed to populate the entire floor, so the battles continued until you found the next staircase.
"If you join me, you don't need to be afraid."
There was Zero again. His tone wasn't as cold and distant as it was outside the television; his Shadow was deceivingly gentle and sounded as if he was trying to calm you.
"Some mouth you've got, you tried to kill us back there!" Rage complained.
"I can save you."
A reference to his role at the hospital, perhaps? Or was his Shadow trying to make himself out to be a savior? You pondered that as you continued through the hallways and dark rooms.
On the fourth story, a Shadow grasped onto your ankle and yanked you onto the ground. Akira shot it with his gun (it scared you a bit, but you were grateful he could see well in the dark or he may have hit you). Once it let go of you, you slashed it with your sword. The weak Shadow faded away after one hit.
"Be careful," Zukin noted. "There are many more of those around here."
Upon closer observation, the Shadows were dismantled looking creatures, some of which possessed weapons. But Yuni and her ninja-like Persona walked alongside you to end them quickly; sometimes you allowed Tsutomu to lead and instantly kill some of the hard-to-see monsters.
"Yes, that is exactly what I want..." Zero's voice echoed.
You were confused, but you kept going through the halls.
"Ah!"
Zukin, still in the back of your group, yelled for help. A small group of monsters struggling to stand had struck her from behind. Rage bashed through them with his shield, and when Zukin recovered, she was able to kick them into pieces.
You noticed something interesting about the Shadows: the ones in the beginning were tall, but as you progressed, the Shadows lost the ability to walk. Some were missing an arm or a leg; toward the end, they could only move by pulling themselves forward with one arm.
"I want people to stop suffering... I want their pain to end..."
The voice was beginning to lose its calm demeanor. You were worried that the Shadow would soon lash out at Zero, wherever he was. You picked up your pace, but you noticed Yuni lagging behind you. You realized that her usage of Mudo spells must've drained her spirit power. You considered asking her to switch with Rage, but in all honesty, Rage was too reckless to be a leader here. Instead, you stopped running and asked her to switch with Akira.
"Huh? You don't want me in the lead?" she argued. "C'mon, I can do it; I still owe you guys for saving me."
"You've done enough," Akira said. "Besides, we're all in debt to Souji for saving us. Allow me to help lead." He reloaded his gun and kept it to his side while Yuni headed to the middle of the group with Rage. Yuni's Persona resided in her soul for the time being; Akira chose to arm himself with nothing more than his gun. The two of you proceeded to go through the hallways.
"Rage-sama!"
Thud!
Everyone turned around to see a mage behind your group. Rage was on the floor, seemingly knocked out. You didn't see any injury, nor did you sense an elemental attack; it must've been an instant kill move.
Devil Zukin tried to kick the mage, but it blocked her attack. You knew Physical attacks weren't going to work, so you told everyone to back up.
"Zionga!"
Akira already prepared his Persona, and when everyone cleared a path, Lu-yan was able to strike the mage with an electric attack. It trembled a bit, and you used its temporary paralysis to freeze it with Loki's powerful ice spells. With some effort, it faded away.
"Is it safe to assume there are more around here?" the tall man asked. You sighed, knowing he was probably right. For that reason, Akira's Persona remained in physical form with the rest of your group.
You summoned Ishtar to revive Rage with Samarecarm. He gained his strength back immediately, but he took his time to get up from the floor.
"Whoa, what just happened?" he said. "I was doing fine until I blacked out..."
You told him he was attacked, and warned everyone that those attacks could be fatal. You realized that you were the only one with a healing Persona; the thought of you being hit with an instant kill attack made you uneasy.
Zzzt!
You heard another harsh lightning move; Akira must've caught another mage.
"We should hurry," he encouraged.
You asked Rage if he could use his Persona to watch for more surprise attacks from the back. He agreed, and Benkei followed your team.
You sped up another staircase and opened a door at the top. Another voice echoed...
"You don't look anything like a surgeon! You look more like a... a... I don't know."
"A murderer, perhaps? I can't help but think I would be better suited for it..."
The second voice was definitely Zero... but the first...? The first sounded far too familiar...
You noticed you and your teammates were glaring at Rage, who looked nervous.
"I was just teasing him!" he protested. "And he didn't say that when I was talking to him!"
"He was probably thinking it," Yuni said bitterly. "He was down about being a doctor, and you made him feel worse. Way to go, Rage."
"I-I didn't know he was down or anything! Really, he doesn't say stuff like that."
"You can apologize when we see him," Zukin advised. "Let's continue."
You dashed through the hallways; the crawling monsters seemed to have disappeared, but the mages were growing in numbers. Benkei's fire attacks nearly burned your team a number of times, whereas Lu-yan's accuracy was much better, despite having wild sparks flying whenever he used a Zio attack. You, Yuni, and Zukin saved your energy while you kept looking for the staircase to the top. You asked Zukin if she could sense Zero anywhere.
"He is definitely upstairs somewhere," she responded. "Perhaps two floors away."
You nodded. You wanted to help Akira, so you summoned Loki to assist again. He was able to block dark attacks, so you knew you would be safe from any instant kills.
You marched up the next floor, unlocking another piece of Zero's thoughts.
"The procedure would only spare her life for a month at best... she cannot even leave the hospital. Nothing I can do will keep her alive for long... I can't keep anyone alive forever..."
You weren't given any time to discuss what you heard; more enemies were headed your way. You kept moving forward as you and Akira plowed through the Mudo-casting mages with Zio and Bufu.
"Uh, guys? We got a problem back here!"
Rage sounded like he was having difficulty with an enemy. The mage was white and, from what it seemed, it blocked Benkei's fire moves. The white cloaked Shadow was able to cast Blue Wall on the dark mages; you remembered immediately that the spell increased their electricity defense, and Akira would no longer be of any use in beating them. The most logical solution would be to tell Akira and Rage to switch roles.
"Got it," Rage replied. He came to lead while Akira took on the white mage in the back. The black mages were just as weak to fire as they previously were to lightning. You found it difficult to work in any ice moves with Rage's massive amounts of fire, so you brought out Norn. The Persona's wind attacks amplified Rage's fire (albeit the infernos were becoming dangerously large). You heard Akira firing more gunshots; it seemed the white mages couldn't resist physical attacks. Yuni must've noticed, for she brought out Tsutomu to beat up any Shadows when Akira needed help.
Your team rushed faster, slowly depleting in spirit power and stamina, until you reached the final staircase. The last hall led to what seemed to be the last door, as indicated by the portal to the side.
"He is there," Zukin commented. "Are we ready?"
"We gotta," Rage said in between breaths, "get him out of here."
"Rage is right," Yuni agreed. "He was always so big headed and stuck up. I... didn't know he always doubted himself this much."
"That is only part of it," Zukin argued. "If he was completely against his work, he would no longer be a surgeon. There is more to it... the rest is behind that door."
But you couldn't take on the Shadow. Rage and Akira's strength had been falling since Yuni's power had nearly run out. Going past that door would put all of you in danger. For that reason, you told them they you'd need to come back on Wednesday.
"Why so late?" Rage protested.
"You work tomorrow, don't you, Souji?" Zukin said.
You confirmed it, a little disturbed that she knew your schedule without you telling her.
"And Rage-sama, you need to work as well."
You couldn't force everyone to come in each day, or you would all be exhausted. Everyone had things they could take care of on Tuesday. Zukin, you weren't so sure about, but she deserved a break, nonetheless.
"You're the boss," Yuni said in defeat. "Let's all go home, I guess."
You found the glowing portal to your right and instructed everyone to leave through it as well...
(Rage and Yuni are fun to write. They need to argue more often. :P)