So Lovino has a Shadow battle…and Charice has to deal with him alone! GOD DAMMIT!
/= "Brother VS Macaroni (Khoi King ver.) Theme" by RomaHeta =/
Why me…? Why do I have to do this alone?
The Shadow was towering her now, scaring the crap out of her body. Hell, who wouldn't be scared of the fact that she had to battle a whole skyscraper on legs with nothing more than a couple of Persona and a poleaxe that barely surpasses her height? She'd be.
["I AM A SHADOW…THE TRUE SELF."]
So Lovino is actually suicidal?
["WHAT ARE YOU HERE FOR? ARE YOU HERE TO GRANT ME MY WISH? I'M SORRY, BUT ONLY ONE PERSON CAN DO SO. UNTIL HE IS READY, I MUST LIVE. WHICH MEANS YOU MUST DIE!"]
The ground quickly shook underneath her, causing Charice to jump in the air and saw water geysers shoot up after her and knocking herself off balance. Nonetheless, landing on your back is a very painful experience. She quickly darted up into a sitting position as she saw the monster roar forward and charge toward Lovino's unconscious body.
Oh crap SHADOWS ARE GETTING SMART! She lunged forward toward him. I can't reach him in time…come on, Charice…THINK!
"Rakukaja!"
A large glyph appeared between its punch, keeping the Shadow back. Charice darted her head around to see a familiar Persona hover behind her, an even more familiar figure holding up a crushed Persona card in his hand.
"I guess I made it in time?"
"Yeah, basically!" She sighed. Leave it to a Brit. "Lovino's shadow's going after him! I mean, literally!"
"Fine, I'll protect Lovino's body." Arthur stood in front of him. "You handle the Shadow."
"ALONE?" She darted her head around again. "Are you INSANE?"
"You're the Wild Card! You can find his weakness!"
Oh, whoop de do.
She jumped over another sweep of the leg and saw that the Shadow was still crying through its attacks. Before she could think, a huge blast appeared from his fingers, slashing her stomach open. Arthur was about to say something when Charice looked up and saw that the Shadow's tears were actually healing her wounds. Just as she was figuring that out, the Shadow was using them to heal his as well.
["LIKE I'VE TOLD YOU BEFORE…ONLY ONE PERSON IS ALLOWED TO TAKE MY LIFE! YOU BASTARD CAN'T BE THE ONE TO DO SO!"]
"OK, OK, I get it!" She screamed back why? "Well, seeing how it isn't me, how am I beating this dude?"
"It's obviously not me…" Arthur stated.
"Oh wait, I got an idea!" She snapped her fingers. "Ganesha! Garuda!"
She saw Feliciano spin behind her as the card shot out, taking out the elephant deity and attacking the Shadow. She cheered at the huge gash that appeared on its stomach, but then frowned when it healed itself up with its tears. None of the other Persona seemed to help her as well. And the beatings just keep getting worse and worse.
OK…just one more Persona…just one more… She grinned. "Odin! Ziodyne!"
The image of Antonio appeared behind her as Odin attacked with his mighty lightning. She saw the thunder tear him down, and noticed that the tears were no longer falling down the Shadow's eyes. It was then that she realized that Antonio's image was still standing behind her, smiling softly at him.
["ANTONIO…?"]
"I got it!" But…Antonio? Really? "Thunder Reign!"
Odin took down one more attack, and the Shadow fell to the ground.
/= "Who am I? (Xion's Theme)" by Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days =/
"I got him, I got him!"
Arthur walked forward as the Shadow Lovino slowly rose back to his feet, his eyes now filled with tears and shaking as of showing vulnerability, something that she knew that he never wanted to show anyone. She could also see the actual Lovino waking from his coma to see his exhausted state.
["WHY WON'T I DIE…? WHY CAN'T YOU JUST LET ME DIE…?"]
"…Lovino…you know I can't do that to you…" Charice stepped forward. "Why in God's realm would you want to do that, anyway?"
["BECAUSE…BECAUSE I'M NOT WORTH ANY OF THIS…"]
Charice stared at him in shock before feeling a card in her hands. She looked at her fingers and saw that it was the Moon Arcana upside down. Before she could say anything, it began to glow, the light enveloping all of her senses.
/= "Measure of a Man" by Clay Aiken =/
Her eyes opened, revealing that she was in a sunny meadow. In front of her, there was a man in a Roman outfit and two little boys drawing in sketchbooks. One seemed to be humming to himself, while the other one didn't seem that happy about this at all.
"Grandpa! Grandpa! Look at my new painting! Do you like it?"
"Wow, you really do draw well Feliciano!"
"Ve~~~thank you, grandpa!"
"Hey, Lovino! How are your drawings?"
"Che…I'm doing great, thank you very much…"
"Hm…your drawings need some improvement…"
"I know that, you bastard! Don't rush me!"
"Ve~~~don't be mean to grandpa, fratello."
"Thank you, Feliciano. Why can't you be more like him?"
"So you're the Italy that I get!"
"Why the hell do you sound so mad about this arrangement?"
Antonio laughed as he started to pet Lovino before seeing Roderich walk in holding Feliciano in his arms. He chirped and immediately went forward to praise his ever-holiness toward the younger brother, leaving Lovino alone. After a few minutes, he returned back to him.
"Your brother is so cute~!"
"Che."
"Why can't you be more like him?"
She stood there as the images sank into a warm light, thousands of voices echoing in the glow and all of them saying the same thing. "Why can't you be more like him?" "Why can't you draw?" "I thought all Italians could sing!" The card was throbbing in her hand.
"Why do they compare me to him? I'm nothing like him? Why can't they see that?"
"If only I kick the bucket…"
"Maybe then they'll see the error of their ways."
There was a small dark room, a table near the window. It was revealed that it was his dorm room, on a rainy day. She saw Lovino's figure walk to the desk and skim a familiar image on it, before grabbing it and aiming it on his forehead. Charice paused: it was a gun. As he began to cry, she noticed something shocking.
She wasn't looking at Lovino at all.
She was looking at Rizal.
/= "Who am I? (Xion's Theme)" by Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days =/
The light faded, revealing that she was back in the forest with the shadow Lovino. She took a deep breath and turned to the actual Lovino, who seemed extremely lost on what was going on. Arthur wisely stood out of the way, playing as the observer.
"Everyone saw you as Feliciano's brother, not as Lovino."
He cringed.
"Hence everyone thought that you could do everything that he can. But you can't. No one knew that…and hence they pressured you to change to that."
He turned away.
"You had no idea what to do. You're scared of being alone, but in order to do that, you would have to go against everything that you are."
His face wavered.
"In the end, you chose to be yourself instead of conforming to their demands…and hence you found yourself alone in the world. You just wanted at least a little bit of the attention that your brother had."
"…you're just like the rest of them, you know that? You give him all the love in the world…yet you see me as just another man."
"Maybe I did. Maybe I still do. And I can't deny the fact that when this is still over, I'll still shower your brother with all the love I have." She sighed. "But I can give you something just as good."
"Yeah? What is that?"
"Well, I can't promise the fact that I'll show you more love than I do your brother…" She smiled. "But I can promise you that I'll show you just as much!"
Lovino stared at the sincere (yet cheesy) smile on her face before nodding to himself. He mumbled to himself in Italian before walking up toward the shadow and standing before it with a strange sense of courage in his stride.
"Yes…I have considered suicide. I've attempted it so many times…and yet I've always found a reason to chicken out at the last minute. I thought it was because I was a coward…a man who feared death when I wanted to fall into its welcome arms. In the end, it was true…I was scared.
"I've just wanted attention, something that could remind me that I'm not just a waste of air and water walking on the planet. Whining about it wasn't going to get me anywhere, so I just let it go and moved it on. It obviously didn't work for me…heh, just look at where I am now.
"So you really are me…the part that will forever seek the comfort of death…the final answer for everyone in the world. I'm no longer going to deny this fact anymore…but I won't seek it for the time being. This time, I'm going to try finding myself once again. And this time, I'll succeed…so stop annoying all of us, bastard."
The Shadow nodded as it flew in the air, turning into a mechanical golden angel and a robe and shining away the fog of the forest before sinking into his body. Charice turned to her hand and saw the card in her hand turn into a silver glow before resinking into her hands. He turned around and proceeded to be glomped by the Filipina.
"Gah! What the hell?"
"What? I promised you that I'd give you all the love that I give Feli-chan, right?"
"Wait, now?"
"I'm giving you a preview~!"
"Geez…" This time, he didn't bother to fight it off.
"So we saved Lovino…" Arthur nodded. "Good. Now we can go find the others."
"Wait, others?" Lovino blinked. "What, the other bastards that were with you?"
"Yeah, basically." She stated.
"…fine. Let's find them…and while you're at it, tell me what the hell is going on."
/=+=/
Sandalphon is the twin brother of Metatron. He's said to be responsible for choosing the gender of babies or even a guardian angel that delivers the prayers of man to God. [Lovino Vargas - Moon]
Lovino's now part of the party~! Read, review, and choose your party members now!