?, ?, ?

3rd Floor, Lounge

Evening

Fuuka heard Midori come down the stairs long before she heard the resultant muttering. Beside her, Akihiko rolled his eyes. "We were right," he said as he stood up to greet Midori as she landed on the stairs. "I take it you rejected her offer."

"What was I supposed to do?" Midori wasn't surprised in the least that Akihiko and Fuuka were already involved in whatever it was that Mitsuru had planned. They were good to her like that.

"Did you at least give her a chance to explain what she wanted?" Fuuka asked politely as Midori took a seat and huffed in annoyance.

"Nope!" The reply was typically short and to the point.

"Huh." Akihiko retook his own seat and leaned forward. "Will you let me explain what it is, then? Without interruption?"

Midori waved a hand dismissively, though made no motion to deny him.

"Mitsuru has thought long and hard about everything that's been happening. From Tartarus to Tokyo to the Abyss, she's concerned about the fact that they are affecting the real world more and more." At Midori's silence, he kept talking. "She feels responsible, and yes, I know your opinion about that, but that doesn't change her. Rather, she's decided to be proactive about it and is looking into forming a group that can respond to these sorts of incidents with appropriate resources and skills. I've already agreed, and so has Fuuka."

"I'm going to tell you honestly," Midori replied, slightly annoyed, "that absolutely nothing Mitsuru could have done would have changed what happened in Tokyo."

Akihiko nodded in acceptance. "You're right, and that's partly why she wants you. Because of your experience."

"She's going to be asking Aigis and Metis as well, though she's very certain they'll agree as it's why they were made." Fuuka added in firmly. "Though I'm still on the fence about Metis. I think she'll only help because of Aigis."

"Mistsuru is going to ask Metis?" Midori was incredulous given what had been discussed previously. "I... no. Forget I said anything. Go on."

"Anyways, I know she's going about this all wrong with you..." Akihiko took the lead again.

Midori interrupted. "This is like the third or fourth time she's tried to 'recruit' me. I'll keep saying 'No' as long as it takes."

"There's something else," Fuuka replied. "After talking it over with her, and knowing what you've said, we're going to ask your friend Atsuro as well."

That brought Midori up short. "At-low?"

A nod. "Yes. Because he controls the Babel Server, which is built on Kirijo Group technology, Mitsuru and I felt that bringing him into the Shadow Hunters would be a good thing."

"what." Midori simply couldn't wrap her head around that. "But he doesn't have a Persona!" Her first line of argument was the one that jumped in the way of 'He summoned demons like the rest of us!' And he didn't have a signature summon like some of the others had, or Black Frost for her to use as a cover.

"We're not interested in him as a Persona user," Akihiko explained. "We want to scout him out for his technical skills to compliment Fuuka's."

That almost made sense, but in her head, it was equally wrong. More points of contact meant more points where things could come undone. All the effort she knew that had been expended to keep the reality of Tokyo under wraps gone to waste.

But then again, it was Atsuro. He and Abel were good friends. Surely they could be trusted? Abel obviously knew what was going on, so she wouldn't get in trouble either. It just unsettled her.

"I suppose so. I'm still not joining up." She resigned herself to trusting in those she fought with that week to make things right.

"I accept that." Akihiko announced. "You best head on down, Aigis was looking to talk to you as well."

After Midori had made her apologies and left, looking for bright spot in the evening, Mitsuru came down the stairs from her quiet observation. "Well? You didn't try to convince her."

"She wouldn't," Akihiko pointed out. "No amount of asking will change that. But once something bad does happen, I think she will fight her way to the front of the line of people who are willing to help."

That was a result that Mitsuru could live with. Midori on the reserves, rather that on the active team. Unlike Akihiko's assumption, she had actually talked to Aigis first about this, and the robot had readily agreed, providing the logic she had used to bring the two in front of her on board as well.

1st Floor, Kitchen

"Aigis! Junpei and Chidori said you were back here!" Midori announced as she threw open the door. "You trying to cook supper?"

"No," Aigis replied as she looked down at the pot of rice. "I am following Fuuka's instructions precisely. There is no 'trying' involved."

"Awesome! So, Fuuka said you wanted to talk to me?"

"Yes. I did."

"So, any reason why Metis isn't here?" Midori looked around for Aigis' 'sister', finding nothing.

"She is in my room, tuning herself up."

"Any progress on that front?" Avoiding an accurate description of the issue at hand was not a new thing to her, so Midori was quite at ease with the generalities. "I mean, if she really needs it?"

Aigis didn't divert her attention from the pot. "Not yet. I am compiling my evidence and logic still. But that is not what I wanted to talk to you about."

"About this Shadow Hunters thing?"

"Nor that," Aigis knew that Mitsuru was going to approach Midori about the position, and she had already calculated the most likely response. "I have reversed my decision regarding... living outside."

"Huh?"

"These events of the past two weeks have given me cause to re-evaluate my decision to withdraw from public life. I have chosen to return to school, and the Tennis Club, and..." She stopped talking when Midori's arms wrapped around her.

"YAY! Wait, isn't that going to cause problems?"

"Not really. If we leave and it is still the 31st of March, or the 1st of April, then there will be plenty of time to re-do the paperwork. I've already come up with some ideas about how to explain the sudden reversal."

Midori was joyous at the revelation. "You're coming back! Rio will be so pleased!" She left go as Aigis had to stir the pot, and couldn't with her arms in the way, especially with the retrofitted armor. "So, what else is new then?"

?, ?, ?

The Abyss of Time

"Two last doors." Aigis announced. "Yukari, you will be in the team as you and I are the only ones left." She looked around. "Mitsuru and Chidori, will you please join us?"

Chidori gripped Junpei's arm firmly, and only a comforting pat gave her cause to let go. "Don't worry about me Chidori. I've got the others here. I trust you'll be back soon."

"I'd rather not," the red-haired woman whispered, not moving.

"Chidori," Junpei said, a bit more force in his voice, "go." With this last push, Chidori stepped away ever so slightly from Junpei, only to stop to turn and look at him. He smiled and nodded, and she took another step, then a firmer one to join up with the others.

"Be safe." She commanded, only for Junpei to wave with his good arm. "You too."

After the quartet and Fuuka had left, Midori turned on Junpei. "That was sappy! Even by my standards!"

Junpei's response was to swat at her with is hat, somehow reclaimed from Chodori. "When you have a boyfriend, then you can complain. Until then, stuff it!" The friendly reprimand did nothing to deter Midori's grin.

Judecca

Fuuka relayed their encounter with the Mysterious Shadow, that they were now convinced was related to Minato somehow. Once again it had fled, leaving behind powerful Shadows to fight. And once they had been defeated, there was no sign of the Shadow itself.

So they stood before the door, and once Yukari gave a nod of approval, Aigis pushed the door open.

Dormitory

A younger Yukari, still dressed in her pink cardigan slouched on the bench. Some hidden voice announced that it was time for the cafeteria to close.

The Yukari of the past sighed, and made no move to respond to the announcement. She was pulled out of her reflection by a female voice. "Hey, Yukari! There you are! We couldn't find you in your room."

Rolling her head to one side, Yukari waved at the approaching duo. "Hey, sorry about that. I.. just.. I haven't had the chance to get there yet."

"Really?" The incredulous reply was delivered by both girls simultaneously. "We're High School Students now! You should put your stuff away!"

"No.. no... NO!" The modern Yukari began to yell at the image of the past. "NO! Not this! I don't regret this!"

"Yukari! Get a hold of yourself!" Mitsuru commanded as the attention of everyone was distracted between the image of the past, and the reaction in the present.

"No! Why can't I see him? Why won't you show me this!" Oblivious, Yukari dropped to her knees. "Why? Why? Why?"

Midori focused on the events in front of her, seeing that here was something that Yukari didn't want to see. Of course she would want to see Minato, that was obvious. Was she just reacting to the absence, or was there something more here?

She watched as the image of the past received the message, and ran off, headed for her own future, her father beckoning to her. "What did we just see?"

"I don't know," Aigis replied, stepping up beside Aigis as they both kept Yukari in the corner of their eyes. "She didn't see him."

"No, why would she? This place is made of our regrets, and our motivations for creating our Personas." Midori reiterated as she put more focus on the older girl. "She wanted this so bad. Just one last moment."

"To say goodbye." Aigis finished off. "Come, there is nothing more to be done here. We must return."

Minatodai Dorm

2nd Floor Stairwell

Ascending, Midori caught up to her target. "Are you alright, Yukari?" It was a dumb question, as it was plainly obvious that no, she was not alright. But still, Midori found herself asking, hoping for an honest answer.

"I'll be fine," Yukari replied flatly, not bothering to make eye contact with her junior. "You wouldn't understand." She moved to take another step, but was caught short by Midori's firm grip on her skirt. "Let go!" Her snapped command was met with impervious force.

"Not until you talk to me," Midori spoke, careful to not be too forceful to cause Yukari to withdraw or not forceful enough, giving her opportunity to flee. "I'm sorry you didn't see him. But do you think that's what he would want?"

Slamming around, Yukari tried to rip herself free, but Midori held on tight, advancing as the dress rotated around. They stood there, the shorter Midori looking up at the taller and higher Yukari, one arm wrapped around Yukari's hips to keep her grip.

And yet, it was Yukari being looked down upon. "LET GO!" She demanded, "I have nothing to say to you!"

"You have everything to say, and I'm the only one who can listen!" The blue-haired girl fired back hard, ignoring the position they were in. "In case you've forgotten, I've had people die on me too!"

"This isn't about Junpei!"

"You're right!" Midori refused to let Yukari finish her faulty accusation. "This isn't! It's not about Shinji either!" She couldn't believe she was about to do this, but as the English saying went – All's fair in Love and War. And as a Magical Girl, Love was her speciality. Homeground advantage was hers. "How do you think I felt when Keisuke died?"

She screamed. That's what she did. She screamed, and then she tried to get revenge. But Yukari didn't have that. She didn't have the opportunity to exact herself on the one that felled her love. How could one strike back against something that didn't exist? When one just fell over dead, what do you rail against?

Yukari seemed confused, then a dawning recognition as the name filtered its way through her memories. She hadn't heard of what happened in Tokyo to that boy directly, but now... now... Now she saw in Midori the same person who comforted Chidori those months ago, who offered her support to Mitsuru and Akihiko earlier. Who was now willing to go again down the road of horrible memories for her.

Unbidden, tears began to roll down her face, though she had no strength to wipe them away. "He went away. I wanted to see him again."

"I know," Midori said in return. "You wake up and he's not there to say 'Good Morning'." She felt some tension leave Yukari's frame, and let go of the skirt. "You go to school and there's an empty seat where he should be," she said words that she had no relation to, though she said them from her heart, channelling the feelings of loss she had been around before she had left Tokyo.

"You can't ask him to share lunch," Yukari added, "Or miss his smile even when he's not looking at you." She looked down. "Why did he go? Why did he leave me?"

Midori didn't know what to say, for there was nothing to say. "I don't know. But it's not for me to know. The only one he owes an answer to is you. But that Shadow that's running around looking like him? Maybe it has the answer. Will you follow us that far?"

1st Floor, Lounge

"Is she better?" Mitsuru asked without preamble, waiting patiently for Midori to return form her assigned task.

Firing off an annoyed glare that splashed harmlessly off the elder girl's imperiousness, Midori did not reply until she had taken a seat and straightened out her dress. "To think, I've worn this for over a week, and I still haven't even seen Inaba yet." Her second shot went wide as well.

"Could be worse," Junpei commented from where Chidori was politely invading his personal space. "You could be wearing one of your cosplay costumes."

This time her aim was true, and her voice switched over to a syrupy sweet tone as she politely informed him of his error. "Oh? Like, say, a week in Tokyo?"

The blood drained from his face, and Chidori sadly shook her head. "Oh. Sorry. My bad."

"Forgiven!" She turned to Mitsuru, who was starting to feel the slightest tinge of impatience with Midori's distractions. "She'll be alright. Yukari can hold it together long enough for the last door, but after that..." she shrugged, "better people than I will need to talk to her."

"I understand." Mitsuru turned to Fuuka, who was working on her laptop, head down. "Yamagishi, I think we're ready for the presentation."

"What presentation?" Ken asked as he adjusted his sitting position to better accommodate Koromaru's desire to sit in his lap. "Did you discover something new?"

"A bit, yes." Fuuka admitted as she looked up from the computer screen. "Aigis, can you please confirm that Metis is occupied?"

The robot looked up at the floor above. "I believe that it is irrelevant, given the nature of the information, but yes, she is in my room."

"Now you have me interested," Akihiko said as he leaned forward. "What are you trying to keep from Metis?"

"Not keep away, but to avoid having her know that we know," Mitsuru explained firmly. She saw Midori's exasperated reaction to having to keep yet another secret, and moved to mollify it. "This isn't a permanent thing. As said, this isn't about keeping a secret, but rather to make sure we are all working off the same information."

"Barely any better," the girl complained, "but go ahead."

With the unneeded permission, Mitsuru began to speak. "While researching Metis' existence, certain irregularities began to emerge regarding not only her, but about the existence of the Abyss of Time. While I have all the details available through Yamagishi, the summary is thus;

"Knowledge of the existence of the Abyss has been known to my company for almost as long as Tartarus itself. The meta-physical connections it has to Tartarus where known of, but not extensively studied as this place was not seen to be as easily accessible as the tower was."

"What." Junpei recovered from his shock first, followed quickly by Chidori. "What do you mean?"

Fuuka moved to explain. "The Dark Hour, an hour long, right?"

"Yes. Go on."

"Well, where did that hour come from? Not the physical space – that was Tartarus, but the time itself? That was the Abyss."

"My brain hurts," Midori groaned, "Why can't there ever be simple answers to anything? Like beat up everyone with the name of 'Demon King' or something like that?"

Deciding against forking into her segue, Mitsuru took a hold of the conversation again. "The Abyss does not have a specific physical location, nor does it have a temporal one. That we can access it through the dining room is nothing more than convenience."

"So, how does this relate to Metis?" Akihiko saw where this was going, and encouraged talk in that direction.

Mitsuru took a deep breath, only to be cut off by Aigis.

"Metis is I, she is my shadow."

If the revelation about the Abyss was enough to cause pause, this was enough to cause total silence. "Um..." Ken tried to find the words, but failing in the process.

Seeing no opening for people to prod her into speaking again, Aigis continued. "Midori's theory of her existence, while sound, does not account for all the variables"

"WHAT variables?" The robot's friend grumbled across the table. "Are you telling me, I was wrong?"

"Effectively, yes. A wrong conclusion based on incomplete information. You are not at fault," Aigis tried to prevent herself from hurting Midori's feelings any further, though she could tell that further work would be required. "I have spoken with her at length, and taken her information to compare to my own observations, as well as those of all of you as well as that of Igor from the Velvet room."

"One day, we're going to meet this guy," Akihiko muttered.

"Uh," Junpei raised one hand in question. "Who's Igor?"

"I'll explain later." Midori and Aigis spoke in unison, causing the young man to look confused between the two of them before turning to Chidori for an answer. She began to whisper in his ear while Aigis resumed her explanation. "Anyways, there are sufficient inconsistencies to her story and observed reality that I could no longer conclude that she was rescue sent by Naoya-sama."

"How do you go from that to 'she's a Shadow'?" Junpei asked, apparently satisfied with the explanation from Chidori. "I mean, aren't they like animals?"

"Ryoji was a Shadow," Aigis pointed out, "even though he was the Avatar of Nyx, he was still fundamentally a Shadow, one who looked and acted human. But as he came from Nyx, Metis comes from me."

"That doesn't make sense." Ken complained.

"It's a pattern," Mitsuru added, "Nyx/Ryoji, Aigis/Metis, and Minato with the Shadow we are chasing through the Abyss."

"I'm still not seeing the logic, Mitsuru." Akihiko took his turn to voice his concerns.

"We were wrong in the origin of Personas. Very wrong." It galled the head of the Kirijo group to admit that ten years of research had been faulty, but multiple evidence points proved it, ones she could not ignore. "Midori is walking proof."

"What? Oh. Um. Sorry?" The blue-haired girl was confused but didn't feel any guilt or hostility coming at her. "What do you mean?"

"You are living proof that Personas are not tied to the existence of the Dark Hour, that they can be formed from more than that. Your comments and actions have shown us that a Persona can have a level of independence that we previously did not account for." Mitsuru watched as realization slowly dawned on Midori's face, as she replayed what she had done with Black Frost in her head. "It was simple enough to extrapolate from there."

"You speak in riddles, Kirijo." Chidori chided Mitsuru. "The only thing that could make you speak sense would be if Personas and Shadows were one... and... the... oh."

Aigis took over. "Yes. You are correct. Our Personas are also our Shadows. They are our reflections in the Dark Hour and other places, our power and our defense. The Shadows we have fought all this time would be the reflections of concepts, of the shallow effects of the collective power and strength of humanity."

"I give up," Midori announced. "This is all way too complicated and stupid, even for me. What does this say about Minato, or the Wild Card in general, and how does this explain you and your change?"

"The power of the Wild Card displaced my own natural Persona, forming Metis in the process. The Abyss was merely a convenient conduit for that to happen."

"Then wouldn't she be Athena? I mean, if she's your Persona given form, then wouldn't she be, you know, your Persona?"

"Metis is more than that, my friend. She is also the part of me that I didn't want to accept, that I wanted to reject in the days leading up to our entrapment. I am responsible for all of us being here, by my rejection of myself."

"It's official. My brain has stopped working. Just tell me who to hit." Midori slumped down in her seat, refusing to think things through. "At least that's easy enough to do."

"I hope it does not come down to that, Midori. I want all of you to know that before we enter the last door that I will confront Metis about this, and it will be resolved before the end."

There was a sullen acceptance of all this. Fuuka worried that this was all too much on people too quickly, but then again, they didn't have the benefit of the conversations that she, Mitsuru and Aigis had over the past week. "Look, why don't we break for food? I'm sure eating something will help!"

Evening

Yukari and Metis had joined the rest for supper, as thin as it was. As she served herself some more rice, the sad girl tried to reach out to someone in a more social setting. "So, Chidori, have you decided what clubs you want to join?"

A non-committal grunt came from the target of the question, giving Junpei the opportunity to speak on her behalf. "Well, she'll have to join a sports club and a culture club."

"Or the Student Council in lieu of one or the other," Mitsuru added. "Much like Aigis did to avoid sports."

"Exactly!" Junpei got a smile on his face. "Hey, Aigis, you're in the Tennis club, right? Why don't you bring Chidori in? That way, she'll have a friend on the team."

"I am on the competitive team, Junpei." Aigis considered, "Though there is nothing stopping her from participating in the casual half of the club."

"Are you saying I cannot?" Chidori did not like the implication that the robot was deciding something she couldn't do.

"No, merely making an offer based on your established decision making process."

"Girls! Please!" Junpei jumped in, trying to prevent things from getting out of hand. "I know I'm going to rejoin the baseball club once my shoulder is looked at by a Doctor," Mitsuru nodded at the acceptance of her decision. "And besides, those two teams don't practice on the same day except for Saturday."

"So?" Chidori's natural harshness was tempered because she was speaking to Junpei, and not anyone else.

"Well, that means that I can sit and watch you on the days I'm not practicing, and you can do the same. On Saturday we can walk together after practice!"

The calm declaration was met by Chidori's face turning as red as her hair, but for just a moment. "That won't be necessary!" Her voice tried to reject his offer, but his insistent grin defused her just as surely as anything else. "Fine. I accept."

It was so sweet that Midori was tempted to ignore the real reason for Junpei's offer. But she had to poke fun at the two of them, if only so in the end they would be better off by working together. "So, does that mean you want to try on the team Uniform, Chidori? I'm sure we can get Aigis' or my old one to fit you with a little work, though I'm not so certain about the skirt."

She kept her grin hidden deep under the surface of her face as Chidori's mind clicked, seeing where Junpei was coming from. In a moment, it all fell into place, and she turned on him. "JUNPEI IORI! I will not flounce for your entertainment!"

?, ?, ?

The Abyss of Time

They all gathered in the lobby of the Abyss, a rough circle as they various people went through their routine. Midori for her part watched Frosty watch her back, her mind still unable to try and conceive of how Frosty's existence had been the cause of people making assumptions and changes in how they understood their power. Frosty wasn't even a real Persona, just a cover!

And then it was time. "Metis, a moment."

At the call of her 'sister', the Shadow Robot stepped up to her. "Yes, Sister?"

"Before we go into the last door, there is something I wanted to ask of you."

"Anything, Sister!" Metis paid no heed to anyone else around her.

"Will you drop the charade?"

"I don't know what you're talking about!"

Aigis narrowed her eyes, the rest of SEES feeling tense. She was glad that Mitsuru and Fuuka had taken Yukari aside the night previous before bed to explain to her the vitals of the situation, and to make sure she wouldn't interfere due to a misunderstanding. "Yes you do, Shadow."

A change came over Metis. Without altering her appearance, she appeared altered, growing darker and more menacing. "Oh? What makes you say that, Sister?"

"It is now obvious that you are not really who, or rather what you say you are. You are a Shadow. Mine."

"Sister!" The changed Metis said in a pleading voice, even if that was the only thing about her that seemed attempting to reconcile with Aigis. "Why would you say such mean things?"

"You are not real;" Aigis reaffirmed, even as Metis moved closer. "You are of this place, born of me and my failings. I will destroy you, and leave this place."

"No, you won't." Metis' declaration was hard and certain. "I am you, and you are I. You cannot destroy me, but I can destroy you."

"That's a threat. You are fond of making them, Shadow." Aigis stood her ground. "I do not know where you came from, or what your ultiamte goal is in harming my friends"

"THEY ARE NOT YOUR FRINEDS!" Metis roared, such an uncharacteristic move that is stunned the rest into stillness. "They use you, abuse you, laugh at your inhumanity behind your back, and treat you like dirt!"

"They do not!" Aigis tried to raise her voice as well, but found she could not. She simply couldn't muster the same emotional energy as her dark counterpart. "If you say such things, you don't know them. You never thought about them, because you cannot. Your entire existence is focused solely on me, and my actions!"

"You are everything, Sister! You are the world!" Metis made no move to back down from the arguement, or from her proximity. "Everything that happens is because of you!"

"Who are you?" Aigis finally whispered in response. "Who are you, really?"

"I am you. I am everything you reject."

"What is that? What are you?"

"You."

Aigis froze, something in Metis' words striking true. A pressure put out that prevented anyone else from interfering in this conflict. "I am you, sister. And there is nothing you can do about it."

"What do you want?"

"You."

Aigis took a step back, putting up a physical guard. "You are not saying anything making sense. Make sense!" Her voice was finally raised as she tried to force the issue back into something she felt she could control. She needed to control this encounter, not just for her, but for everyone else. They looked up to her as lead... er.

No, they didn't, she realized. Yukari was right. They didn't want her. They wanted Minato. They wanted his power and his skills and his friendship, and they didn't want her.

Metis was her, the part of her that recognized this truth, and was formed with the power of the Abyss. Something that she didn't want to deal with any more, so she cast it aside, only to be drawn together and given form in a dark mockery of her real self.

Realization, and determination. She was still Aigis, the Anti-Shadow Combat Unit, and that meant protection of her allies from harm. Harm in the form of Metis. She would destroy this weakness and become stronger for it.

"I will fight you!" she declared, rising to the challenge. This was simplicity. This was her proper place in the world, with no distractions, no silly diversions. Just her and the enemy.

In her eyes, Metis had changed more, becoming less and less defined, darker and more black as her nature as a Shadow came to the fore, with eyes of burning gold. She readied herself for battle, and then all was dark.

Midori watched Aigis' declaration, and her elation turned to ash and dust when she collapsed in the face of Metis. The falling friend heralded the end of the thing that kept her rooted to place, and before she was certain she was free, she was already in motion. There was no reason to hold back. Metis had done something to cause Aigis to not behave like herself, to regress more and more into the robotic psyche that marked their first encounters.

And that had to be punished. Her charge was sudden enough that it caught Metis off guard, she shoulder checked the Shadow, driving it away from Aigis, for whom she spared a single glance to assure herself that – yes, Aigis was down, and thus it fell to her best friend to deliver retribution.

Trying to bring her hammer into play with its longer reach to push off her attacker, Metis failed to account for Midori keeping up her assault by converting her momementum into a heavy punch, once that ripped past the non-existent defences and into Metis' face. The blow threw its head back, the false face deforming and cracking under the impact.

"ZIO" Akihiko began to command his own Persona, being the next person to recover. His trust in Midori was enough that he had no problems aiming for Metis, or what was formerly her with his Persona, and that she would get out of the way. "DYNE!" the finished incantation brought forth the electric strike.

True to his expectations, Midori had hopped back when she heard Akihiko speaking, and shielded her eyes from the bright light, even as she tried to figure out how to best avoid the Shadow's retributive strike.

It never came as an arrow sliced through the air and into the arm holding the great hammer before the swing could begin. "LEAVE HER ALONE!"

"NEVER!" The thing that was Metis abandoned all sense of deception, limbs extending in a grotesque mockery of arms and legs, "I WILL KILL HER!"

"Not on my watch!" Mitsuru commanded as she and her own attack entered the fray. Training for SEES kicked in and the rest backed up, leaving the four of them to their foe. Ice narrowly missed the Shadow as it bent at impossible angles to avoid the scattered shots. "Yield!"

"You don't understand!" Was-Metis cried out as it swung the hammer around, not to hit anyone in particular, but to simply have the force of its passing harm those who attacked it. "It has to be me!"

Midori tumbled from waves sent out, flipping through the air ungracefully, though she landed as well as her father taught her. But on her front, and unable to defend herself, the Shadow took advantage of her weakness to add in a follow up. "Fatal End!"

The twisted mockery of Psyche formed from whispers of blackness and nothingness emerging from the head and shoulders of the Shadow. Raising its own form far above its head, it brought it down hard on Midori, who only had time to roll over and brace for the blow. She felt it, even through her guard, and for a moment, cursed the weakness that Frosty had. She loved him dearly, but it just wasn't right. She was better than that!

Yukari was there to help her up with offered hand, and a burst of healing magic to reduce the physical harm. "Thanks," Midori said as she was hauled to her feet.

"No problem. I mean, you did help me out, that first night, right?"

Midori smiled honestly at the reference. It was a debt paid over a hundred times or more in the intervening months, but there was the fundamental truth to it. They were all in this together, and all help was natural.

"Stick to healing," Midori stepped back up, partially shielding Yukari. "Akihiko-sensei, keep hitting it! Mitsuru-san, help Yukari when she needs it!"

"Who put you in charge?" Yukari said, worried at the possibility of confusion in the ranks.

There was no confusion. "Me!" Aigis was down, and as her best friend, it fell on her shoulders to make sure she would be alright. Not Akihiko or Mitsuru. They may have things to say afterward, but here, now, in the moment of battle? This was hers. "Blitzkreig!" The German command word came naturally as she focused on the skill she first had installed on her COMP in Tokyo – now passed on to Frosty - strengthening everyone for the next few seconds. "JUSTICE STRIKE!" Channeling all her emotion at the thing that had abused their good will and intentions, she sent in Frosty to deliver punishment.

It was almost comical, the small Persona running up to the gargantuan thing, but it wasn't funny when it prompty jumped into the air and landed on the Shadow's face, punching it a few times before dissolving and reforming at Midori's side.

Naturaly, she struck a victory pose.

Akihiko didn't miss a beat, though he made sure to have yet another chat with her with needless showboating in the middle of combat. Afterwards was fine, but not in the middle. He took advantage of the now off-balance foe to deliver a hard physical attack of his own, building off the energy that Midori threw out and into their former comrade.

Mitsuru was beside him, adding a point blank show of magical ice that embedded itself into the things back. They both cleared out as it screetched in pain, a loud piercing scream that nearly shattered eardrums.

On the edge of the fight, Junpei and Chidori dragged the unmoving Aigis behind one of the doors, hoping that the impervious facets of the Abyss would stay that way.

The end result of the battle was never in real doubt. There was too much determination and cooperative skill on the part of the humans, and the Shadow-Metis was fighting more to cause harm, than to seek victory. It flailed and raged and struck without rhyme or reason, making it easy pickings for the quartet.

As they wore away at the black abomination, it began to lose it's inhumanity. Blow after blow caused its limbs to receed, the bulbous false armor worn away to reveal first patches then whole segements of the armor of Metis underneath.

And then it was gone, in a hail of Fire, Ice, Wind and Electricity. All that was left was the small form of Metis, curled up and whimpering softly for her sister.

"Aigis! You shouldn't move!" Chidori's voice came from behind one of the doors, a distraction that snapped Midori back to reality. Looking around, she saw that everyone not involved in the battle had taken shelter, and now that it was over, they were emerging.

Aigis stumbled out first, removing herself from the support of Chidori. "Why are we fighting?" she asked, as her legs threatened to give way. Mitsuru was in a position to help, but held back as she saw that Aigis needed this, some part of her had to make this confrontation her own.

"You're me," the pearl robot said, "I felt what you felt, and it scared me. I'm scared because you're scared." She knelt beside the Shadow, and caressed her forehead. "I understand. I can't reject you, I can't turn away who I am, can I? This Abyss, tried to hurt me... I want to know why. But I can't do that without you."

Aigis lifted up Metis, and the false-sisters shared an embrace. "We cannot keep going like this."

"No, Sister. We can't." Metis agreed quietly. "Say the words."

For a moment, there was silence. Then Aigis spoke in English words that Midori took a moment to translate.

"I art thou, and thou art I. Pallas Athena."