Chapter XV: The Life I Choose.
Alex screamed in pain as one of the shadows clawed into his skin. He recoiled and clutched the wound it had left, crimson blood dripping between his fingers.
"Shit-" He coughed, "This is bad."
The shadows gathered together, as if plotting the best way to pick apart the three persona users. Jackson felt a cool chill run through his bones. He looked down at Sam's lifeless face through thick tears. "What do I do, what do I do!?" He thought to himself, the adrenaline drowning beneath sadness and shock. He felt sick.
"Jackson! Get beck in there!" Ray shouted, "Alex needs your help!"
"Sam's dead, Ray!" Jackson screamed, "Stop worrying about the shadows and get us out of here!"
"She's not dead, you idiot!" Ray called back, "Look!"
Jackson's eyes darted down and met Sam's. She smiled weakly up at him.
"What?-" Jackson began, but before he could finish, he and Sam were engulfed in a rich torrent of blue energy. Wind rippled between the strands of their hair.
"Guess that ring Ray gave me came in handy after all, huh?" Sam chuckled.
"Of course!" Alex grimaced, "Her ring means she can survive some attacks that would normally kill her!"
"Sorry if you were worried about me." Sam said, "I never wanted any of you to feel like you had to protect me. Not being able to fight the shadows like you and Alex can is so frustrating. But I guess I'm not as strong as you guys."
"That's not true." Jackson said reassuringly.
"Of course it is." Sam frowned, "The two of you are both so determined and so ready to face this. I spent so long trying to find out why I wanted to fight the shadows with you, that I missed out on what was right in front of me. I've not been doing this to rid the world of the shadows. You both seem to have that covered. I'm doing it because you two are the best friends I think I've ever had, and I wanted to spend time with you."
She stood up. "I mean don't get me wrong, I have loads of other friends. Ones that I've known longer, and ones that I've shared more with. But when you come from the kind of family that I come from, the people you meet are all very similar. I was fed up of being forced to be what my parents wanted me to be, and I'm fed up of being friends with the people my parents want me to be friends with."
She unzipped her rucksack, and reached inside, "To tell you the truth, I think I pretty much worked out what my evoker was a while back, I just didn't realise that it could be something so simple. Because the only thing that's important to me, and the only thing that gives me the strength to fight along side you guys, are the memories that we have together. They are my evoker."
She pulled a book out of the bag, and flicked the pages between her fingers, "And those memories are all inside this. My diary. You guys are the only two friends that I think I've ever made for myself, how sad is that? But the time we spend together is important to me, because it's the only time in my life where I've been myself, not what everyone else wants me to be." She snapped the book shut between her hands, and shards of shimmering glass shattered out from the tight slits between the pages. "This life of fighting the creatures of this world may not be how I pictured, but it's the life that I choose for myself."
Energy ran fast around her. The shards of glass fell neatly into the shape of a circle beneath her feet, and a figure began to appear behind her. It had a long mane of dark blue hair that fell down to the knees, and was clad in armour reminiscent of a roman soldier. Pale grey skin could be seen between the metal plates, and with one hand it wielded a sword so long that that it looked more like a lance. A tassel of red fur was hooked to the base of the sword's long hilt and a shinning blue line ran down the centre of its blade. The persona's facial features were hidden behind a full-face helmet, with horizontal slits for eyeholes and vertical slits running along the mouth, as if it were constantly screaming. Two horns of pale bone curved along the sides of the helmet, in line with the eyes, and two fluorescent cyan lines ran down the front of the persona, crossing through both eyes and ending at the tip of both feet. There was a small circular plate of armour in the centre of its chest, just above the breastplate.
"Thou art I," it said, in a more feminine voice than Alex or Jacksons' personas, "And I am Thou. Together, we are bound for a great journey. I am Athena, you are no longer alone."
"I knew you could do it!" Alex called. The shadows chose that moment to strike, and charged at the party. "Perso-" Alex began.
"Wait!" Ray called, "It seems Sam's Persona is strong with lightening moves! Sam, tell Athena to-"
"I've got this." Sam smiled confidently, as she pointed at the oncoming monsters, "Mazio!" She shouted, and Athena jumped into action, lifting her mighty sword high into the air, and sending long lines of electricity from its tip straight towards the shadows. Each creature was stopped in their tracks, and bombarded with bolts of lightening which left them all nothing more then puffs of black smoke.
Everyone sighed in relief. Jackson smiled, and hugged Sam as Athena faded away, leaving behind countless green butterflies, which all disappeared into the purple of the sky.
"Don't ever do that to me again." Jackson smiled.
"I wont." Sam looked deep into Jackson's eyes and he felt happier in that moment then he could ever remember feeling.
"Agh!" Alex coughed blood and fell to his knees.
"Alex!" The other's shouted, and ran to his side.
"He's pretty badly injured. He took most of the damage in that fight for you two." Ray said.
"I'll be ok." Alex said weakly.
"We have to get you to a hospital." Jackson said, and he pulled the handheld radio from his belt.
"Wait, we may not have to." Ray said, "As luck would have it, Sam's persona knows some healing skills.
"Really?" Sam asked.
"Yes, if you summon her now, and use Media, then you should all be back in perfect health." Ray replied.
Sam took out her Diary, and clutched it tight. "Media!" She called, and Athena once again appeared before them all. The persona gestured at the group, and they were all hit with a wave of energy.
It was like nothing Jackson had ever felt. All the pains in his body, and the aching in his bones were washed away in an instant, like a message in the sand.
Alex looked down at his hands, which had just moments ago been covered in blood. He had never looked healthier. None of them had. Athena faded away.
"Good." Ray said, "That should also decrease the resting period for Sam after summoning her persona."
"Resting peri-" Sam stopped mid sentence, as she fell slowly to the floor, unconscious.
Jackson caught her before she hit the ground. "Sam!" He called.
"Don't worry." Ray said, "That's completely normal. Summoning a persona for the first time can be a strain on your body, I'm sure you both experienced it?"
"Yeah, you were out for days." Alex smiled at Jackson.
"Yeah, but I was first, so." He stuck his tongue out jokingly in response.
"Well after that healing spell, she should be fine after a good night's sleep. I suggest we take her home." Ray said. They put all their things back in Ray's bag, and Alex brought them back to the real world by turning the radio to a random frequency.
"What are we gonna tell her parents?" Alex asked.
"We'll figure something out." Jackson said. They took Sam back to her parents' house, where they were met with a scolding like nothing they had every heard. The couple were more happy to see their daughter returned to them relatively safely, though, and Ray covered up the truth by saying that she had had too much to drink, and they were merely making sure she got home alright. On the way back to the apartments they talked about how unfavourably Sam would take to that excuse when she found out about it in the morning, but decided it was a problem for another time. Right now they all needed to go to bed, and that's exactly what they did.