You can tell I wrote this chapter just because of the long-ass author's note at the end! 8D Ahchacha enjoy? I don't own anything?
Yu draws back the curtains to the window, and his steely, silver eyes scrutinize the weather outside; dreary shades of grey and black streak the sky, and lightning briefly illuminates it, before fading away against it.
It was raining...
All the requirements were met for the Midnight Channel.
Closing the shades, and taking his usual seat in front of the TV, he glances over at the clock mounted to the wall. 2 minutes to midnight... Would something appear? He hoped not anyway... And he grips the soft, cotton fabric of his pant legs a little too tightly—so tightly, his knuckles start to turn white—and a breath he didn't even know he was holding is released when the TV flickers to life, much to his horror.
No matter how many times he sat down to watch this, he still couldn't feign his consternation.
A boy around his age is onscreen, wearing a forest green military uniform. Platinum blonde hair can be seen sticking haphazardly out from underneath a round helmet, and his eyes are glowing a brilliant shade of gold as he lets out a haunty laugh. "Hello world~! I'm glad you're all here to witness my crowning achievement! I will make an explosion so powerful, everyone will remember me, Suzaku Todoh! Be sure to come out and watch the fireworks!"
With that, the show ends, and the room is once again devoid of sound, save for the rain pounding against the window, located behind him. He nearly jumps out of his skin when his phone begins to ring in his pocket, and with a speed he didn't know he possessed, he flips it open, and presses it to his ear. Yosuke always called him after an airing of the Midnight Channel; it was like their unspoken ritual, but Yu would be lying if he said that he wasn't surprised to hear a softer, more shrill voice on the other end.
"Hello?" He asked, and the person gave out a long sigh, like they were relieved to hear that it was him who picked up.
He recognized who it was almost instantly... It was Erin, the girl they had saved only a month ago. He could tell she was nervous, by the way she was breathing into the phone, quiet, but loud enough as it reached his ear. That's right, this would be her first time watching the Midnight Channel for herself... She had a right to be.
"H-Hey, Leader-kun!" She tried to keep her voice even, steady, but there was this anxiety gnawing at her insides that she couldn't quite hide, especially from him. He could read her, and anyone else like a book... It was one of his many bewitching qualities that drew so many people to him. With a shaky laugh, she adds, "...You, uh, saw what was on, right...?" She knew, and he knew that they had both seen it, but she wasn't sure what else there was to say. It was a good conversation starter, she thinks.
He starts to nod, but catches himself—realizes she can't see it—and instead replies with, "Yes, I saw it. That's the boy you met at the Festival, right?"
"Yeah..." Erin runs a hand roughly through her light brown locks, and his eyes widen slightly at the string of curses that leaves her mouth afterwards. She wasn't exactly the epitome of innocence, but amongst the other girls, she might've been the least outspoken; however, that didn't mean she didn't let something slip out every now and again. "Dammit, if I had known... I-I would've warned him, or something!"
Yu wants to say something to calm her nerves, to reassure her, but unlike most times, words fail him. He settles with stating the obvious, "Calm down. Let's all meet at HQ tomorrow morning, alright? We'll save him like everyone else!"
She's quiet for a moment, pauses, and he catches the unknown in her voice, the hesitation. But it takes her only seconds to catch herself, and return to her usual, optimistic demeanor. She laughs, but they both know it's forced. Neither point this out, "Got it!" She gradually smiles against the phone, feeling a little lighter than she had before she called, and sighing, appeased, despite the fact that he can't tell by the tone in her voice, "Goodnight, Leader-kun."
"Goodnight, Rin-chan." Yu hangs up the phone, and pushes it back down into his pocket. It's getting late, so he decides it'd be best to get some sleep for night, and plan out their next move tomorrow after school.
Monday, 8/29/11
They meet up at their usual place, under the usual, shaded table. The only one missing from their small is group is Rise, who was already inside the TV world, using her Persona, Himiko, to search for Suzaku. Chie—along with everyone else—is staring at Yu, brown eyes reflecting their usual intensity as she punches her open hand.
"What's the plan today, Yu-kun?"
"Same as always. Once Rise-chan finds him, we'll hopefully get him out before the Shadow gets to him."
The ebony-haired girl sitting beside him purses out her lower lip, and stares down at the hands folded neatly, elegantly in her lap. Her voice is barely above a whisper, as she begins, to no one in particular, "I-I'm a little worried, to be honest..."
Across from her, Yosuke arches a neat, brown eyebrow, "What about, Yukiko-san?"
"Well, the school trip's coming up... Wh-what if we don't have enough time to save him?"
Erin swats the air repeatedly with her hand. A laugh bubbles up her throat, warm and effortless, as she flashes Yukiko a reassuring smile, "C-C'mon, Yuki-chan! We have to stay positive, right...?" She looks to Yu hopefully, who nods his simple, knowing nod that usually eased the tension looming in the air more than he'd ever know.
"We'll have time. We had just as much time to save Rin-chan before exams, and we were fine." They only had a week to save her, and every second counted when they had to balance her rescue along with studying for their midterms. Luckily, her dungeon had been much smaller compared to the other ones they had explored previously, so they had just enough time. The group seems to nod in unison at this, and the orange-colored fox underneath the table yips, and wags her tail—thumping, and slapping it happily against the ground under their feet—as if she understood what they were talking about. Yu lets a rare, ghost of a smile grace his features.
"The fox is right. Let's go and see if Rise-chan located him!"
More nods, and they move from their spot, and walk inside the store, to the Electronics Department.
They enter the TV like normal, and they see Rise standing by the entrance, visor shading her big brown eyes, and her Persona behind her, white dress flowing against a wind that shouldn't of been present. She smiles brightly when she sees them, and waves. To make things less crowded, Yu usually only took 3 of the members with him in his explorations. Today, he had decided on Yosuke—he never left his party, mostly because he was the most balanced out of all of them, and was his best friend—Kanji for the physical support, and finally Erin because she was the newest, and had yet to use her Persona, not counting the training battles he had her do to get a feel for battle.
"You guys~! You're here!" Her smile widens as the team further approaches her, "Don't worry, I've located Suzaku-kun."
Yu is wearing a similar expression, "Good. It's great to have you on support!" He looks behind him, "Alright. Yosuke, Kanji-kun and Rin-chan, you three are coming ahead with me!" The three of them bob their heads wordlessly in reply.
Rise starts up again, "I'm getting a strong reading north of here... I'm pretty sure it's him~"
They walk towards the direction Rise had pointed out, and eventually find themselves standing outside a building that could only be described as a bomb factory, what with the wired fence and the overall, ominous, atmosphere.
Yosuke whistles, "Wow, this place is pretty scary."
Erin slowly nods beside him, as she too takes in the scenery, "Yeah... It's like something out of those old military films... A-Are you guys scared?" She wasn't really asking to be polite, mostly to cover up her own apprehension that threatened to spill over. Kanji scoffed lightly, and Teddie beams up at her.
"Don't worry, Rin-chan! I'll protect you~!"
She forces a smile, because really, it wasn't all that comforting to hear, especially from Teddie of all people, but it'd be rude if she just flat out ignored him. "Aww, thanks..." She turns back to Yu, and says gently, "Well, we better get going."
"Right. Come on!"
Words along the lines of, "Be careful in there, you guys!" and "Stay safe." float over their shoulders as Yu, Yosuke, Kanji, and Erin disappear from sight.
It doesn't take them long to reach the top, as the dungeon only consisted of roughly 5 floors, but it didn't mean that they weren't feeling spent when they had. They had encountered mostly Hableries, a lower-level Shadow, but as a medic, Erin was a lightweight, and Kanji usually always used Physical attacks, so they had been forced to expend their SP reserves, and medicinal items rather quickly...
And then there had been explosives disguised as chests. Not totally surprising in a bomb factory, but still.
Yu rolls his neck, cracking it softly as the grip around his katana never falters, "Finally here... I'm sick of those exploding chests..."
Kanji 'tch's beside him, glaring slightly from behind his dark shades. Why was he always so angry, and in a rush? "C'mon! What're we waiting for?!" He impatiently swings the door open, the only sound breaking the overall silence, and enters the room, the others following close behind on his heels. Once inside, they immediately notice Suzaku's Shadow, laughing, and towering over the real one, strapped to a chair with vinyl ropes.
"If you set this thing off, it'll wipe out everyone!"
His Shadow's laugh grows in volume, and smirks as the blonde struggles against the bindings holding him down, "Of course it won't! If it did, who would remember us?"
"Suzaku-kun!"
He turned his face to the group, who he was oblivious to up until now. He knitted his perfect eyebrows in confusion, surprised to see some friendly faces, the one who spotted him first in particular, "Erin-san?"
This seemed to further fuel the Shadow's mirth, as another wicked smirk found its way on its face. "Oh! We have some guests to watch the fireworks! Take a seat, everyone!
"You're crazy, you know that? Sick and twisted!"
"Really? ...You must be as well, because I am you, and you are me!"
Erin shakes her head, "No! Don't listen to him!"
But her efforts went in vain. Suzaku ignores the lone girl of the party, and those three familiar words that the group was already used to hearing, but still couldn't prevent, spilled out of his mouth in a rush, "You're not me!"
More laughter explodes from the Shadow as it's suddenly swallowed up by an ominous black cloud. Once that clears, standing in front of them is it's true form—a black King chess piece, accompanied by a floating Sword, and Shield. This would be a challenge, Yu already had a feeling.
"I am a Shadow… The true self.. And this is checkmate for you!"
Yu looked over at Yosuke, Kanji, and Erin. "Alright, let's try and find out it's weakness. Rise-chan, can you analyze them? Start with that shield!"
The pigtailed girl summoned her Persona, Himiko. "Alright. Let's see…" She murmured, scanning. "The shield is weak to physical strikes, while the sword is weak to magic. It'll take me a bit longer to get the main Shadow's weakness." She said, going back to scanning.
Yu nodded. "Alright, Rin-chan, Yosuke, focus on the sword. Kanji-kun, you and I will take the shield!" The three nod to show they understand. Yu chose his Persona to attack the shield. "Hanuman," He charged up, ready to strike.
Kanji grabbed his weapon and smashed his tarot card with it. "Crushin' time!" His Persona, Take-Mikazuchi, appeared behind him before hitting the shield hard with a swing of its sword. Out of the corner of his eye, Yu saw Yosuke and Erin working together to take out the sword. "We can do this, Freya!" She unleashed a Bufula which damaged the sword a fair bit.
Yosuke followed up with a Garudyne from Susano-o, which knocked it down as well. However, they were both down, but the King was not, and a ball of light appeared over him before releasing a Maragion against the whole party. No one was seriously hurt, but it gave the Shield and Sword time to get up. The Shield cast a spell which made them all a bit faster as a green light surrounded the Shadows.
"Careful guys," Rise warned, "The shield seems to be able to boost stats. Right now, their agility's up!" Yu took a chance anyway and unleashed a charged up Mighty Swing on the shield, managing to hit it and knock it down. Kanji hit it once more with his Persona, making it dizzy.
"Erin, heal us!" Yu commanded; She casted a Mediarama, and everyone was wrapped in a healing light for a brief moment, all rested up. Yosuke attacked the Sword again, with a Garudyne, and while it appeared to be almost done, it got back up.
The Sword launched a shock wave of power at the party, and while it hurt, Yosuke was able to dodge out of the way. Another Maragion from the King left everyone weak. Yu looked at his teammates. "Alright! We need to finish off these Shadows now, and focus on the King. Rin-chan, you need to heal us again, Yosuke, finish off the Sword, Kanji-kun and I will try and finish off the Shield!"
Yosuke called out his Persona again. "Go! Susano-o!" The sword was finally destroyed after one more Garudyne, Erin healed up the party, and Kanji knocked down the Shield.
Yu summoned Hanuman once more, ordering a Blade of Fury. The King dodged, but the Shield was taken out. Rise chimed back in, "I've got a fix on its weaknesses! Use Wind, and avoid using fire!"
His agility boost wore off, but the King didn't attack them. Instead, he was wrapped in a blue light. "Be careful guys," Rise warned, "He's charging up!"
Yu quickly raised his sword. "Everyone, guard!" Everyone took up a guarding stance as the King let loose an Agidyne on Kanji. The blonde was sent flying, but was able to get back up. "I've got him!" Erin called, quickly summoning Freya to heal him.
Yu quickly remembered that the Shadow's weakness was Wind, and switched Personas to something that could use wind. "Clotho!" The Garudyne spell knocked the King down.
Erin quickly said, "C'mon! We can do it!" Yu nodded, as they charged forward. "You're mine!" She shouted, as the four of them hacked away at the Shadow, until it climbed to it's feet.
The Shadow was looking mad now, "I think it's time to get serious!" Whether it had anything more to say or not was unknown, as Yosuke and Susano-o shut it up with a Garudyne of their own. "Alright! All for one, and one for all!" He cried, and Yu nodded again.
This time, the Shadow was livid when it shook them off. "Why won't you just quietly die like good kids?!" The Shadow moved forward, and surprisingly attacked quickly, slashing Yu with the cross on its head. He raised himself back to his feet as Erin moved to heal him, and waved his hand toward her dismissively.
"I'm fine." He said. "Let's just finish this!" He fired off another Garudyne spell, making the shadow fall. This time, Kanji prompted him, "Now's our chance for a beat down!" Yu gave the go-ahead once more as they swarmed the Shadow with an All-Out Attack.
It looked to be weak now, barely standing. "This... This isn't checkmate yet! I've still got some fight left!" Yosuke grinned. "We'll see about that!" He shouted back, using his own Garudyne. They charged with another All-Out Attack, with the Shadow literally about to topple over and die. Kanji dropped a Zionga on it while Erin used her Bufula spell, finally ending it. "Now that's checkmate!" She cried triumphantly as the Shadow was subdued.
Once the battle ends, Erin is already on her feet, rushing over to Suzaku's side, and releasing him from his chains. "Suzaku-kun!" She shakes his shoulders lightly, and a gentle smile appears on her face when she sees his green eyes flutter open.
"Hm? ...Ow, my head..." His head throbs in his hands, and he feels like it's about to split open. He tries smothering the feeling by asking innocently, "...What exactly happened?"
Behind him, his Shadow stands up. Erin expects him to jump, to scream, show some sense of fear, but instead, he moves out of her embrace, and meets it halfway.
"You... What you said was true, but what you did was wrong. I do want to escape my father's shadow, but I want to do it the right way. You're me, and I'm you!"
The doppelganger nods, and floats above them, transforming into his Persona, Shiranui, after being engulfed by a bright, blue light. The wolf then becomes a tarot card that drops down into his open hands.
Bewildered, Suzaku looks back at them, "Will someone please explain what is going on to me?"
Yosuke scratches the back of his neck, "Errr, well..." Dumbfounded, and more than speechless, he looks to his partner for the answer. Of course he did, he always did... That was why he was the leader, afterall.
"We'll explain at headquarters. Come on." Not recieving any complaints to the idea, Yu leads them back out.
They're sitting back at the foodcourt of Junes, and being as bright as he is, Suzaku is able to absorb their brief explanation on the situation... Mostly. "So, your headquarters to solve a murder case is an open table where anyone can hear you?
Kanji shrugs half-heartedly, "'s pretty private... For the most part." He crosses his arms over his chest, "So, whattya wanna know?"
"Well, what the hell was all of that?" Suzaku was good at keeping a straight face, at least. Most people couldn't say as much.
Yu answered this time, "Well, that Shadow was your surpressed feelings. Now that you accepted it, you can control it as your Persona." He continued on, talking more about his newfound power, Persona, and also touched on the discovery of the Midnight Channel, and what they used it for. Suzaku nodded throughout the entire conversation, taking everything in, bit by bit.
"I should really talk to my parents about finishing the year out here then, if you want me to assist you."
"Right! Oh, but you should leave out the part about being thrown into a TV... Just saying~" Yosuke winked.
"I'll make something up. But, until I can find another place to stay, do you mind if I keep my room, Yukiko-san?"
Yukiko gasped lightly, surprised that the conversation had somehow shifted into her direction. Despite herself, she felt her cheeks heat up when their eyes met, "N-Not at all! Stay as long as you like."
Suzaku nodded—either too ignorant to notice the blush, or just choosing to ignore it entirely, "Thank you, but I'll try to be out of your hair quickly." He looked between them, green eyes wandering each of their features for future reference, "When is your school's trip?"
Erin blinked at the random question, and tilted her head to the side, "Next week, isn't it? The 8th?" She asked, not said. She was met with no arguement, so she must've been right.
"So soon? This'll be interesting... To where?"
Yosuke didn't seem to have a good hold on the information either, "Tatsumi Port Island, right?"
Near him, Rise clapped her hands in delight, "Isn't that that man-made island just a few hours from here~?" A grin broke out on her face, "I've been there before!"
Seemingly exasperated all of a sudden, Yu decided to change the subject once again, "I'm sure we'd love to hear those stories, but shouldn't we get Suzaku-kun back to the inn? He's been through a lot." Rise wanted to counter with, "Oh, stop being such a party pooper, Senpai~!" but even she knew when a situation demanded seriousness, so she instead huffed lightly, and crossed her arms in defeat.
Yukiko stood up, and pushed in her chair. "I'll help him there. You'll come too, won't you, Rin-chan?" Why she singled Erin out when there were three other, more cabable guys at the table was beyond her, but she still agreeded, wholeheartedly.
"Thanks, you two. I apologize for being a burden."
"Don't worry so much~!" Erin rejoined, taking his arm, and slinging it over her shoulder; Yukiko's was wrapped securely around his waist.
"Thank you for your concern, but I can walk." Although he tried to hide it, he stumbled a bit as they took a few steps forward. "...Sort of."
Later at the inn, Suzaku shrugged the two girls off, and used the stair railing to support himself. His head still felt a little fuzzy, heavy, but his legs were cooperating now, at least. "Thank you both, but I think I can make my way up to my room." He takes a couple more steady footsteps, before looking back at Erin. "Thank you, Rin-chan." Sensing her confusion, he finishes with, " ...That's what you told me to call you, right?"
She blushed, and nodded. "Y-Yeah. I mean, if you want to... Suzaku-kun." She pauses before saying his name last minute. She likes the way it rolls off her tongue, and when that thought crosses her mind, her blush intensifies.
"Well, I'll be seeing you tomorrow." He gives her a quick—misplaced, but still very pretty—smile before retreating upstairs to his room.
"Hmm... Well, looks like this is a new dawn for Suzaku." Erin says, ignoring the grimace Yukiko shoots her.
"...Was that supposed to be funny?"
Because that's something Yukiko would totally say *stabbed*
This chapter was written by Miss Hanamura (forgot to write that for the first chappie), except for the battle scene, which was written by my partner, Nova.
Whoopsie, I changed my name again~ Yeahhh, I wanted to still keep my connection to Yosuke, but in a less creepy way? (Or more so, since this would mean I'm... Married/related to him?) Plus, I've been meaning to change it, and that's all that came to mind *shot*
Oh, and I kept your pun at the end, Nova, just because I couldn't think of one... Feel flattered~ *shot twice* *dead*
Right! And Natasha, this will eventually turn into ErinxSuzaku x3 Probably not for awhile though, we'll see... owo;