I'm re-continuing this story! However, I will be posting this alongside my other story Remnants of Peace, so that I can still work on it. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy!
June 8, 2009, Monday, Dark Hour
At the worst possible time, Natsuki came in between Heiwa, S.E.E.S. and the two giant Shadows. As she approached Fuuka, she fell to her knees.
"M-Moriyama-san, why…" Fuuka ran to Natsuki.
"Fuuka, stop!" Seth shouted.
Fuuka sat on her knees in front of Natsuki. "Please, you have to get out of here! It's really dangerous right now!"
Natsuki lifted her head up to look directly at Fuuka, her voice still in a trance-like monotone. "I… I need to tell you… I'm sorry…"
The Reverse Empress looked down at Fuuka and Natsuki.
"Shit!" Seth growled and began charging. "You guys help those two while I get Mitsuru away from that thing!"
Seth jumped up and swung his double-sided sword down on the Reverse Emperor's arms, but the blade fazed right through it and rolled onto the ground to recover the failed hit.
"What the hell?!" Seth exclaimed. "I knew I hit it!"
"Wait! That's not a real gun!" He heard Akihiko shout.
Seth looked to see Fuuka holding an Evoker in her hands.
"I know…" It was as if she was speaking to them through her mind.
As the Reverse Empress was about to strike, Fuuka pulled the trigger and she and Natsuki were now inside of a glass sphere that bounced the large Shadow's attack and recoiled her right into the side of the Reverse Emperor, forcing him to drop Mitsuru as she slid across the floor toward the still unconscious Yukari, Homura and Emi. When everything was clear, they could see that the glass sphere protecting Fuuka and Natsuki was a part of the former's Persona, Lucia. Minato ran to Yukari, Akihiko to Mitsuru, Daichi to Homura and Nobuo to Emi to pull them out of there.
Daichi smirked as he thought this would be his only chance to touch Homura's boobs, if only for a second.
"Grope her and I'll do to you what those girls did to Fuuka!" Seth threatened.
Daichi retracted his hand and panicked away with Homura.
"I… I can see… these monsters' weaknesses…" Fuuka spoke through her Persona.
"It's just as I thought." Akihiko said. "Mitsuru, stay back for now and let Fuuka take your place."
"I see. Yamagishi, can you assist the others?" Mitsuru asked.
"I'll do my best!" Fuuka replied.
"Seth." Minato spoke up. "You and your team focus on the round one. My team will handle the tall one."
"Right." Seth nodded. "Daichi! Nobuo! Let's go!"
"The tall one is immune to physical attacks, but weak to magic attacks!" Fuuka stated. "The round one is the exact opposite; use physical attacks on her!"
"Oberon!" Seth fired his Evoker at his head to summon the Persona Oberon.
Oberon began slashing away at the Reverse Empress with his twin swords, but she kept deflecting them away with her wand.
"Hephaestus!" Nobuo shot his Evoker.
Hephaestus appeared and tried to get behind the Reverse Empress for a pincer attack. He swung his hammer at her, sending her all the way to the wall.
At the same time, Minato and Junpei summoned their respective Personas, Orpheus and Hermes, to cast a fire spells at the Reverse Emperor. Akihiko called forth his Persona, Polydeuces, to attack the Shadow with bolts of lightning. They kept up their attacks until the Shadow was pushed to the wall alongside the Reverse Empress.
"Time to finish them off!" Minato and Seth shouted.
Minato replaced Orpheus with Valkyrie and fired an ice shard at the Reverse Emperor as Seth switched Oberon with Jason and charged at the Reverse Empress with his spear. Both of the large Shadows stood up and cast some sort of spell on themselves. Both of the Personas' attacks went right through their respective targets without even leaving a scratch.
"What just happened?!" Junpei exclaimed.
"They changed their weaknesses!" Fuuka said. "Hold on for just a minute. I'm reanalyzing them now."
"Can you make it quicker?" Seth asked.
The Reverse Emperor brought his huge sword down on Seth and he barely jumped out of the way as his foot was almost chopped off.
"Please?!" Seth shouted. "I don't plan on losing another limb anytime soon!"
The Reverse Empress slammed her wand against Hephaestus' face and he fell over.
"Daichi, assistance!" Nobuo shouted.
"On it!" Daichi shot his Evoker at his head. "Heracles!"
Heracles punched the Reverse Empress with his large fist, but the attack did nothing.
"Blunt force doesn't work either?!" Daichi yelled.
"Minato, Junpei, Akihiko, how are you guys holding up?" Seth asked.
"Fighting for our lives here!" Junpei replied loudly as he had Hermes cast another fire spell on the Reverse Emperor, only for it to have no effect.
Minato commanded Valkyrie to slash at the Reverse Emperor, but it didn't do anything either as he swung his sword on the Persona and Minato was forced to recall her.
"Fire, ice and slashing don't seem to work anymore…" Minato grunted.
"Let's see if fists will work!" Akihiko charged at the Reverse Emperor.
The Reverse Emperor tried to slam his sword down on Akihiko, but he side-stepped out of the way swiftly and continued charging until he punched the bent over body of the Shadow right in the heart and sent him flying upward.
"Orpheus!" Minato fired his Evoker again.
Orpheus appeared behind him, leaped into the air and above the Reverse Emperor and then whacked him in the back with his lyre which sent it hurdling toward the ground. Akihiko quickly got out of the way before the Reverse Emperor crashed into the floor.
"Let's finish this, Polydeuces!" Akihiko summoned Polydeuces, had him charge at the limp body of the Reverse Emperor and punched him in the face while moving at great speeds.
The Reverse Emperor's helm was sent flying off as the giant Shadow's form began to dissipate.
"Fuuka?!" Seth shouted as he tried dodging another of the Reverse Empress's wand strikes. "How much longer?!"
"Al... most… Wind! Use wind attacks!"
"Seth, our Personas can't use wind skills!" Daichi stated.
"Then I'll switch to one!" Seth aimed his Evoker at his own head. "Nigi Mitama!"
Seth fired his Evoker and summoned the Persona Nigi Mitama who cast a wind spell that tripped up the Reverse Empress, leaving her open for Seth, Daichi and Nobuo to unleash an all-out attack on her and drain the last of the strength she had. After her body stopped moving, it began to disintegrate much like the Reverse Emperor's into nothingness.
Once the battle was over, Lucia vanished and the girls had finally woken up.
"It's over…" Fuuka sighed in relief. "I don't sense anymore monsters…" She then turned to Natsuki. "Are… are you all… righ…"
Suddenly, Fuuka collapsed to the ground and passed out.
"Fuuka!" Natsuki shouted.
"It's alright." Mitsuru assured her. "She's just exhausted."
"Let's just hope it's not for over a week." Minato joked in his typical monotone.
"By the way, where did those two Shadows come from?" Akihiko inquired.
"They appeared outside of Tartarus." Homura answered.
"It was just like before." Mitsuru added.
"Um, what are we going to do with Natsuki?" Yukari brought up. "She saw the Dark Hour, Shadows, AND Personas."
"Normal people don't remember anything about the Dark Hour, FYI." Emi said. "Guess part of your brain went to your chest."
"Don't test me, Tsukino…" Yukari glared at Emi while holding her bow.
"At the very least, the Shadows didn't prey on her." Daichi said. "She should be safe now."
"But… won't she forget that Fuuka saved her life?" Yukari asked.
"Actually, I don't think that will matter." Mitsuru said as she motioned everyone to Natsuki crying and apologizing to Fuuka's unconscious body.
It was clear that Natsuki understood her wrongdoings and won't repeat them again.
June 9, 2009, Tuesday, Morning
Seth was trying his best to take notes on the current lecture, but a certain event from the night before has been on his mind all morning.
*Whatever happened to that Hand of Anarchy I met in Tartarus?* He thought. *It's highly unlikely that he got trapped there… But why did he simply let me and Fuuka go?*
June 9, 2009, Tuesday, After School
When classes had finished, Seth and Homura went to the hospital to check up on Fuuka. They were escorted to a hospital room where Fuuka was just lying in her bed.
"How are you doing, Fuuka?" Seth asked.
"I'm feeling much better, thank you." Fuuka nodded. "Still a little tired, though…"
"Hey, you're doing a lot better than Minato." Seth said. "When he woke up to his Persona power, he was out for over a week."
"Heheh, really?" Fuuka giggled. "He seems so strong."
"He is, but not as strong as me."
"Seth, stop trying to act cool." Homura mildly leered at him. "It looks like you're philandering."
He didn't deny that Fuuka was cute, but something about her made him think that she just wasn't his type though he couldn't quite put his finger on it.
"Mitsuru and Akihiko were going to come by a little later, but we wanted to check on ya once school was out." Seth said.
"Th-thank you." Fuuka said. "But I really want to know how Moriyama-san is doing."
"She's fine, but I'm surprised you're this concerned for her." Seth said.
"Yeah, I mean, she and her friends didn't deserve to be hunted by the Shadows, but they DID lock you in the gym overnight." Homura said. "They only went back to check on you because they thought they'd get in trouble."
"I know, but…" Fuuka said. "Still… Natsuki felt guilty about what she did and apologized…"
Seth sighed. "There's no getting through to you, is there? Fine, think what you want of her. We may not like her… but we can't choose your friends."
"Thank you for at least understanding." Fuuka said.
"Speaking of choices, Mitsuru's probably going to ask you to join them." Seth said. "I doubt they'd force you into it, but just don't think you're being forced into anything."
"You share the same power I do." Fuuka insisted. "And you all risked your lives for me. If anything, I'm indebted."
"Well, just think it over, okay?" Seth asked.
"You're awfully nice." Fuuka said. "Thank you."
"How many times have you said that already?" Seth jokingly questioned.
"By the way, who was that guy in the cloak we met in that strange place?" Fuuka asked.
Seth knew she was talking about the Hand of Anarchy. "… Good thing you're lying down because this is gonna take a while."
A/N: I'm ending this chapter sooner than anticipated, but only because I'm keeping in the scenes that actually gel together. That and it's been a while since I wrote a chapter for this story. Happy New Year's, my Game of the Year 2015 is Xenoblade Chronicles X and I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Stay tuned for next time! Here are the current Social Links Seth has:
Heiwa (Fool) – Rank 4
Junpei (Magician) – Rank 4
Fuuka (Priestess) – Rank 1
Mitsuru (Empress) - Rank 2
Akihiko (Emperor) – Rank 2
Homura (Lovers) – Rank 4
Theodore (Hermit) – Rank 2
Nobuo (Fortune) – Rank 2
Daichi (Strength) – Rank 2
Makoto (Death) - Rank 2
Hardcore Gamer (Temperance) - Rank 2
Emi (Devil) – Rank 1
Troubled Woman (Tower) – Rank 1
Leliana (Star) - Rank 1