It was the forest. Not Sif, not the phantoms, not even the beasts inside it. The whole damn forest was out to get them. It was the only explanation Rise could think to come up with based on Kouzeon's readings. It was a conclusion so terrifying that she almost wished she'd never thought about it. A resurrected wolf running about with a rusty sword sounded hard enough to deal with, but how on earth did one go about killing an entire forest?
Much less this forest. It seemed like the longer everyone spent running through the dark, mossy, aged trees, the more the plant life tried ts best to hamper their efforts. Branches of trees swayed and swung, like great wooden claws slashing at their hapless prey. Bushes seemed to clutch at their clothes as they passed, and vines seemed to contort and tangle at their feet, waiting for the opportune moment to trip them into the undergrowth. Whether they'd be seen again or not, Rise couldn't say.
All she knew for sure was that she'd seen neither Astaire nor the supposedly resurrected Sif for long enough that her bottom lip was running out of fresh spots to bite. Her line of sight twisted and turned constantly, trying to slice away the darkness long enough to catch a glimpse of Astaire or Sif between the infinitely expanding trees.
Finally, a clearing. Some small proof that the forest wasn't just an infinite loop of trees and malicious greenery. For the briefest of moments, everyone stopped to quickly catch their respective breaths.
Looking around her, Rise could see the forest taking its toll on everyone. Yukiko's jumper and tights were poked with holes and loose threads. Teddie's fur was unkempt and bedraggled. Kanji's jacket had seemingly been lost altogether. Chie was putting all her weight on one leg, her other one riddled by parallel, bloody scratches. No matter who she looked at, they hardly seemed to be in fighting shape. If they were jumped now, Rse predicted it wouldn't be long before it became very one-sided.
...She couldn't let that happen. Blue light enveloped the clearing as Rise evoked Kouzeon above her and quickly set about examining their surroundings again, beating away the pain in her side. She had bigger things to worry about right now.
That the forest appeared to be one singular, angry red stain on her vision hadn't changed. What had changed was that the angry blotch condensed and focused down to one area. The red turned to orange, to yellow, to a single white dot, as it homed in on what she could only assume was the source of the Forest's wrath. Thankfully, it was nowhere near herself and her friends, but whatever it was, it moved horrifyingly quickly, darting from spot to spot with hardly any delay between jumps.
The reason for its jumping was easy to see. Because Astaire's dot was dancing right alongside it.
"Oh no…" Rise felt her anxiety amplify tenfold as she bunched up the bottom of her shirt in tight fists. The forest's core, whatever it was, struck and snapped at Astaire's dot without pause, as Astaire himself seemed to just barely edge out of the way every time. The closer both dots drew together, the quicker Rise felt her heart beat. "C'mon, you can do it… You can do it…"
"Do you see where that raggedy old wolf ran off to, Rise-chan?" Teddie asked, plopping innocent up beside her.
"...I think so." RIse said regrettably, grinding her teeth as she watched the bout between two radar blips continue. He'd be alright, wouldn't he? He'd lasted this long on his own, not to mention he'd even fought something like this before! Yeah, he could do it, of course he could!
Astaire's dot suddenly shot in one direction before coming to an immediate stop. The forest's core stopped darting about.
Oh no. No no no no no.
Astaire's dot didn't move.
The forest's dot left him behind. It was homing in towards them. Quickly.
Swatting away her deep-set concern wasn't easy, but Rise did it all the same as she whipped her visor off. "Guys, it's coming for us! Ten O'Clock!" She shouted, retreating behind the rest of the team as they shook themselves and readied their weapons.
'Sif' emerged from the trees with a mighty leap, presenting herself in all her former glory to the team as the moonlight gave her patches of silver fur an almost luminescent glow amongst the parts where nature had reclaimed her. Unable to howl for the muzzle of thorns around her mouth, she settled for a low growl a she lowered her head.
It escaped nobody's notice that the thick rust of Artorias' Greatsword had been stained red around the edges. It didn't escape Rise's notice that Astaire's claymore was lodged in the gnarled wooden tangles of Sif's leg.
"S-Shit, that's…" Kanji began, eyes wide with horror as he looked upon 'Sif's' mottled, repurposed body.
"Cruel." Yu finished for him, clenching his sword tightly as his Arcana card floated down to meet him. "We'll be doing her a favour. Nobody hold back." He said grimly as his card gave way under his clenched fist, filling the clearing with golden light as Izanagi-no-Okami was evoked behind him. The Persona took a low stance, levelling its golden twinblade with Artorias' sword in 'Sif's' mouth.
Tension was rife in the air. Both opponents stared each other down, weapons primed like the beginning of a Mexican standoff. All that was left was for one of them to move first.
Useless whelp. Ingrate. Foolish bloody… fool. This was supposed to be something he could handle on his own, just like before.
Yet as Astaire slowly bled out, a thick gash torn down his thigh where 'Sif' had caught him mid-roll, he reminded himself that this wasn't like before, not by a long shot. Sif hadn't been possessed by the entire forest, nor was he wearing these bloody stupid glasses and fighting with that bloody useless claymore. He'd been asking for trouble from the start, and the forest had dealt him a double portion.
Now 'Sif' was gone. No doubt going to hound everyone else into submission as 'she' had done him. With greater numbers they might've had a chance. Or perhaps less of one.
As the cold of the rocks and grass underneath seeped deeper into his skin, and the blood coursed down his leg ever more readily, the want to drink from the Estus Flask again was palpable. But in truth, Astaire was at odds. He'd been running through his short supply of healing elixir far, far quicker than he'd have liked. It was a rate which, if he kept it up, would soon have him left high and dry.
If he didn't have any Estus, there was no doubt in Astaire's mind that he would wind up needing it at only the most crucial of moments. And then who would protect Rise from whatever had slain him?
Not that lying about lamenting the situation was helping her much right now either. But there was one more option. One which Astaire was desperately placing his bets on in the hopes it would pay out. He clamped his eyes shut to dull the pain and channelled his faith as best he could.
Just before his body fell instantly limp, Astaire smiled.
"Kind and clever. Thank the Gods."
The once Great Grey Wolf was naught but a blur as it danced around the moonlit clearing, completely outnumbered and yet utterly in control of the encounter. As many massive, lunging swings that Takeji-Zaiten threw out, or as many deadly, darting dives that Yamato Sumeragi made, they were unable to connect beyond meagre glancing blows.
Which, Kanji had to admit, was pretty damn impressive for a bigass wooden wolf with a rusty old sword in its mouth and a claymore stuck in one leg.
"Shit, not again!" Kanji swore, ducking behind his greatshield as 'Sif' spun on the spot, spicing at everything around it in a deadly spiral, kicking shaved pieces of grass into the air. No sooner had she stopped, she leapt back amongst the trees and disappeared without a trace. "Damnit! Stupid wolf doesn't know how to sit still!"
Yu looked to Yosuke in the middle of the clearing. He was fast. The fastest out of all of them. If anyone stood a chance of hitting the Wolf, it was him.
"...There you are!" Yosuke bellowed as he spun around, Arcana card already smashed as 'Sif' dove out of the bushes behind him. Takehaya Susano-o collided in mid-air, catching the incoming sword in both hands. Finally, something resembling a hit! Yosuke's adrenaline peaked as he wound up Susano-o for another attack, before 'Sif' lashed out with her back legs, reducing the Persona to fragments and dropping her to the forest floor. "Augh, come on! Rise, what can we do to hit this thing?!" Yosuke shouted in frustration, casting a glance over to the bushes where Rise had hunkered down.
"You idiot, if she summons Kouzeon that's just gonna- w-woah!" Chie began before 'Sif' lunged at her, forcing her to dodge roll off to her right side. "-She's just gonna have that happen! It'll be like painting a target on her back!"
As if on cue, Rise stood up and evoked Kouzeon above her, immediately drawing 'Sif's' attention as her head twisted around to launch a glare.
"R-Rise-chan?! Didn't you hear what I just said?!" Chie's eyes bulged out of their sockets as 'Sif' suddenly sprinted off, blade levelled for Rise's head. "Quick, someone stop that thing!"
But again, the Wolf's speed was ferocious. It seemed as though everyone's cards had only just shattered before 'Sif' was within striking distance of Rise. Her visor disappeared just in time for her to meet her silver-coated doom eye-to-eye. Moonlight ran down the rough, rusted surface of Artorias' Greatsword as 'Sif' raised it to the sky.
And then, something happened. There was a sound of branches snapping and flesh squelching, followed by a muffled, pained whimper from 'Sif' as one of her front legs fell beneath her. Combined with the momentum from the sprint. It resulted in the once Great Grey Wolf tumbling messily and rolling to a stop on the ground.
From the bushes, standing alongside one massive footprint in the soil, a figure composed entirely of pure white light arose to their full height. They shook the snapped shards of branches that had left Sif's leg off their pauldrons, slinging their retrieved claymore over their shoulder with a satisfied grin as they pushed their luminescent glasses up their nose, closer to their pupil-less, empty eyes.
They looked down at Rise, who looked back up with stars in her eyes and an ecstatic grin. "That was so awesome! Nice one, Astaire-kun!" She chirped happily, summoning Kouzeon back to her aid immediately. "There's an opening! Someone take it before it gets back up again!"
Unfortunately, one development was being somewhat overwritten by another. The rest of the team balked in disbelief at the empty-eyed beacon of light that stared back at them, flapping its lips wordlessly and motioning towards the downed wolf. "I don't believe it! Stairry-kun died and became a ghost!" Teddie shouted, his eyes nearly rolling out of his head.
"Damn it, someone make a move!" Rise insisted, stomping a foot in frustration as 'Sif' began to regain her bearings, shaking her head and rising on one front leg.
Sensing the urgency, Naoto quickly pulled back the hammer on her revolver and shattered her Arcana card, sending Yamato Sumeragi to impede 'Sif's' recovery. Astaire's efforts in retrieving his sword hadn't been for naught, as the leg he'd pulled it from had thinned tremendously. Before the branches writhing under Sif's skin could move to seal the opening, Yamato Sumeragi was on the scene. With one clean cut, 'Sif' let out another pained, muffled whine and fell to the ground. She was down to three legs.
"Alright, Naoto! Try scamperin' around like that, ya mutt!" Kanji shouted, pumping his free hand enthusiastically as Takeji Zaiten's card came down to meet him. "Lessee you dodge this now!" With a flash of blue, Takeji Zaiten towered over the limping wolf, sword raised menacingly in the air. One hit and it'd clean the stupid dog's head right from its body.
Before the sword hit, there was a glint in one of Sif's dead eyes. Like a sweater pulled by a loose thread, she seemed to- Kanji settled for- unwind, peeling away strip by strip before they dove under the surface, like an army of earthworms fleeing a bird. In a flash, 'Sif' was gone. Branches, fur, sword and all.
The stricken look on Astaire's Phantom's face was enough to gather that this wasn't exactly par for the course. He silently, frantically twisted around on the spot, checking every angle for a potential attack. What exactly was going on he couldn't say- rather literally- but it didn't look like any death he'd seen before. This wasn't over.
A sharp quake underfoot was the precursor to trouble. The ground exploded upward as 'Sif' erupted from underground, greatsword primed to strike Naoto from below. Only an instinctive dodge backwards stopped her from being completely cut in two. It did not, however, save her from being entirely wounded. The force of 'Sif's' arrival sent her flying backwards, thrashing her against one of the myriad trees. The impact was forceful enough to throw her hat from her head and leave her limp at the tree's roots.
No goddamn way. It was burying underground just as fast as it could run. Worse yet, one look at the leg Naoto had sliced showed that it had entirely grown back. It was crafted entirely from gnarled branches which only slightly resembled a wolf's paw, but it was enough to stand on.
"You mangy bitch! I'M GONNA BREAK THE REST OF YOUR GODDAMN LEGS TOO!" Kanji roared at the Wolf, Drakeshield at the ready to pulverise the absolute shit out of every single piece of it. It wasn't the smartest move, but considering what the Wolf had done to Naoto, logic had long since given way to fury.
"Kanji's enraged! Someone stop him before he gets hurt!" Rise called out, looking mainly at Yu, carrier of every status healing item under the sun, and Astaire, carrier of every status healing item from under a different sun.
The unfortunate reality of the matter was twofold. Yu hadn't needed healing items for months, not with Izanagi-no-Okami at the wheel, and mind-clouding anger wasn't exactly easily cured with Lordran's arsenal.
The next best thing, then, was to ensure Kanji wouldn't be getting pissed all on his own. The longer Astaire looked at the facsimile of the Great Grey Wolf, the angrier he found himself becoming. Not waiting to see another friend get launched into the trees, he sprinted off from his position beside Rise and aimed for Sif's wooden leg.
'Sif' twisted in place, sword lowered in a manner all too familiar to Astaire. His lips flapped uselessly as he tried to shout out to Kanji, to warn him: "It's going to use a spin attack!" Alas, Astaire's phantom words never even left him, much less reached Kanji's ears.
Kanji watched 'Sif' lower her sword right before it began rushing towards his exposed left side, howling coldly as it parted the air around it.
Adrenaline and anger were a powerful combination, as shown when Kanji stared down the sword rushing towards him and flung his shield around to meet it fearlessly. "FUCK YOU!" He bellowed as the impact rocked through his shoulder and around his entire body. A direct hit from that massive sword was no trifling matter.
And yet, he hadn't budged an inch. 'Sif' had stopped dead in her tracks, whining as the momentum from her swing argued with the sudden stop of the sword, wrenching her thorned muzzle about painfully.
Gods above, could nothing move him? Some small part of Astaire almost regretted giving him the Drakeshield in the first place, its stability looked to be the stuff of legends. Ah well. If he couldn't be the shield, he could most certainly be the sword. Taking 'Sif's' opening in stride, Astaire's Phantom leapt into the fray and launched a mighty swing at Sif's wooden leg, shattering it into pieces and knocking her down a peg all at once.
Not content to be shown up, Kanji was quick to join him, shoving the bottom on his shield through 'Sif's' other leg, crushing branch and bone both like they were made of paper. The wolf's head thumped into the ground, anchored by the weight of a Greatsword that it could no longer hold. But if it growing another gnarled leg was any indication, it wouldn't stay like that for long.
"I'll show you what happens to puppies who misbehave!" Teddie boasted as Kamui-Moshiri flashed into existence above him. As goofy looking as the weird, rocket-shaped, rainbow-faced Persona was, something about it chilled Astaire to the bone as it leered at the downed wolf's body. "Take this! Bufudyne!"
Oh, it was a literal chill. Right.
Mere feet from Kanji and Astaire both, 'Sif's' writhing and moaning were cut off as a massive block of ice encased her head and front legs with an icy snap. Though her back legs kicked out and flailed ungraciously, the front half remained perfectly encased and still.
Cue Teddie rubbing his nose confidently with a large grin plastered on his face. "Eheheh! That'll teach you! Should we go for an All-Out Attack, Sensei?!" He called over to Yu, preemptively summoning Kamui-Moshiri again in ardent anticipation of a 'Yes.'
Then there was a crack.
The answer had been on the tip of Yu's tongue before the noise had broken his focus, leaving his hand suspended mid-summon. The back half of 'Sif's' body had gained solid footing on the ground beneath it, heaving and struggling against the ice that encased it. Worse yet, the back half pulled out a little further with each tug.
Which was… actually a bit confusing upon closer inspection. The back half was making headway, but the front half remained in place. The mottled, matted fur that still clung to the formerly-Great Grey Wolf's skin budged nary a hair. How the hell did that work?
Astaire regretted the question as quickly as he'd thought it, as the answer unfolded before his horrified eyes. Sif's skin on her front half began to pull inward in places, undulating in time with the back half's heaves. Her dead eyes, encrusted with ice, lolled lifelessly in their sockets as she continued to deform ever more violently.
"Oh my god…" Rise brought a hand to her mouth and had to avert her eyes as her stomach protested against sight laid before her. It may have been a massive zombie dog that'd been trying to kill them, but nothing deserved that. "I think I'm gonna be sick…"
She was far from the only one. Taking their eyes off the enemy hardly seemed like the wisest idea, but… God, who could stomach such a sight? Even Astaire -who keenly remembered wading through Blighttown and having actual waste seep into his wounds- looked disgusted to his core.
Then came the final straw. A sickening, wet crunching sound grabbed everyone's gag reflex as Sif's flesh began to rupture and tear in the middle. Black, rotting viscera spilled out between the myriad branches lining her dead insides, filling the air with the rancid odour of decomposition. It was as though 'sickly sweet' had an affair with a year old bucket of fish, and it was ungodly. Ungodly enough that Yosuke could no longer contain himself. He darted for a nearby bush, covering his mouth and clutching at his stomach as everyone heaved around him. Good god, it was foul.
Fortunately, or unfortunately, Astaire, Kanji and Yu fended off the urge to vomit as they saw what the horror was in aid of. Inside the ice, Sif's skin went slack like a wolfskin rug, sockets now bereft of eyes. With one last pull, the back half of the wolf liberated itself from the front.
The back half of Sif slipped off its wearers frame as they shook themselves free of her remains. No longer content to simply dress as a wolf, the twisted, thorned branches underneath had saw fit to mould itself in the image of one instead.
Thick, viscous black blood stained the newly-regenerated wooden legs of the Wolf. Its branches and twigs slithered around like snakes, coiling around and filling in the gaps that losing Sif's body had left. Though the body ended at the neck, it was easy to see that the foundations were being laid to craft itself an entirely new head, thorned teeth and all. The wolf staggered and lolled on the spot like a newborn trying to find its legs, no doubt encumbered by the lack of eyes or a nose.
The bloody thing simply refused to die. It was as tenacious and powerful as the trees that had birthed it. That being said, the biggest counter to tenacity was yet more tenacity, and Astaire felt his rile up more strongly than ever before. He slipped the White Seance Ring on his finger, felt the memories of his magic flood his brain, and picked out one from among the crowd.
With a silent cry he engulfed his hand in fire and launched it at the Wolf's developing head. It hadn't the mouth to howl in pain, but it flailed and shook as the fire exploded on impact. Evidently, losing its furskin cover had been more a curse than a blessing.
Being naught but pyromancy, the flames quickly fizzled out. As they faded, a low growl emanated from within the smoke and charred branches.
Oh, Hell.
"I think you just pissed it off, man." Kanji said bluntly, raising his shield and backing off towards the rest of the team carefully.
Astaire shot him a look which Kanji interpreted to mean "No shit." in response.
"Everyone brace yourselves, this isn't over!" Yu cried out, fishing through the recesses of his soul for the right Persona for the job. "Rise, what's different about it now?!"
The Wolf seemed more and more lucid by the second. So much so that Rise feared it might lunge for everyone at any second. Her fears… didn't quell, exactly, but shifted focus as Astaire blasted the Wolf with another Great Fireball, turning its quickly-forming head toward him with malice.
She had to be quick. Kouzeon was up in a flash. "Okay, uh… Its defences are down, way down! Plus it's weak to fire! A few solid hits should do it!" Finally, some good news! Too bad it wasn't to last. "...But it's speed and attack are way, way up too. It's gonna be even faster than-"
Rise was found caught short as she briefly exited her analysis mode to view everyone's individual stats. Just in time to see Astaire's blip on her radar suddenly become eclipsed by the wolf's. Lifting her visor, fear overtook her as she watched Astaire's claymore drop and embed in the ground. The Wolf had him in its newly-formed jaws, and bit down on his torso as it lifted him up. As much as he flailed and struggled, he wasn't getting away.
Just as Astaire brought his hand up to launch another Great Fireball at point-blank range, the Wolf reacted without mercy. His jaw opened with a scream that never left him as the Wolf's fangs suddenly caved in his chest and snapped shut. He shattered like glass, scattering into miniscule, glowing fragments that fizzled out in the air.
"W-We have a plan, don't we?" Yosuke asked hopefully, backing off and eyeing up the wooden Wolf fearfully. Holy shit he'd disintegrated him. Was he dead for real? Concern attracted his eyes to Rise, who'd covered her mouth and watched everything go down with wide, wet eyes.
"Yu-kun…?" Yukiko piped up, backing up in lockstep with Yosuke as the wolf took a single step towards them, glowering menacingly with a fully-formed face, complete with beady, soulless eyes as swiped from Sif's corpse.
Internally, Yu's mind raced. If this thing was even faster than before, there was no hope in hell of them even seeing it, never mind catching or touching it. Combine that with hitting harder to boot, and they'd be lucky if they weren't all killed within the same second.
There had to be a way. There was always a way. Always.
As Yosuke and Yukiko passed either side of him, a bolt of inspiration descended from the heavens and imparted an idea upon Yu's mind.
"Yeah. I think I've got a plan."
Phantom death was to dying as a sigh was to a scream. It wasn't quite as dramatic, but it was effective enough to be felt afterwards.
And boy did Astaire feel it. The lingering sting of the Wolf's thorned jaw around his torso prickled his skin, as though he'd been stabbed with a thousand tiny needles all at once. As if having the gash in his leg hadn't been bad enough, ignoring the fact that it actually stung worse now, having been left to stew for a while.
Gods, what he wouldn't have given for a bonfire. This 'rationing out Estus' nonsense was a nightmare.
Astaire clenched his jaw as he pushed himself upright off the ground, biting against the protests from his leg and the stiffness from everywhere else. For Gwyn's sake, he needed to pull himself together. He'd have plenty of time to lie idle when he was dead. Before then, there was no excuse. He retrieved a simple dagger and stabbed it into the trunk of a nearby tree, using it as a handhold to pull himself to his feet.
Easier said than done, as he quickly found out. That gash in his thigh was being very disagreeable, and forced him into a reluctant limp. Biting his lip against the pain, almost hard enough to draw blood, Astaire shook his head roughly. Come on, you flaming great lummox! Everyone needed all the help they could get with that Wolf on the loose!
...Again, easier said than done. He hadn't a clue where he was in relation to everyone else, and his leg wasn't exactly in 'aimless wandering' condition. At this rate he'd never find them. If only there were some sort of sign. A flash of blue as someone summoned their Persona, or one of those magnificent Megidolaon explosions of Mr. Narukami's. Something. Anything.
An unfamiliar smell greeted Astaire's nose. He sniffed on instinct.
Smoke.
Far from a flash of blue, Astaire became wise to a growing orange glow in the distance, growing brighter with every passing second. It was accompanied by a sudden gust of wind that only fed and brightened the glow even further.
Good Gods. They'd lit the forest on fire. While he- no, while they- were all still inside it.
Before he'd even registered that he was moving, Astaire fought against the pain in his leg and was weaving doggedly through the trees. The flames grew hotter and higher, licking at the branches of neighbouring trees hungrily, which seemed to vibrate and writhe as though pained and alive.
Hang on. Maybe they hadn't gone completely mental. This was the perfect environment to fight a giant wooden wolf in, after all. One wrong move and they'd be bonfire kindling. It was a risky move, but it was riskier for one party than it was for the other. Why, for all he knew, perhaps the wolf was kindling already! Maybe he'd simply meet up with everyone and make good his escape!
Him and his big mouth.
From within the fiery flora, the merciless face of the wooden Wolf lunged through the flames, fully engulfed and burning, but still out for blood. Its arrival showered Astaire with burning wooden chunks, which bit at his skin on contact with a chorus of painful hisses.
It was desperate. The Wolf knew its time was short before it ran out of wood to burn. The only thing left to do, then, was take someone down with it. And the stench of blood and imminent death lay strongest around Astaire.
"Don't underestimate me, you mutt." Astaire said through gritted teeth as he reached into his coat. He pointed the fun end of his retrieved crossbow at the Wolf's snout as the fire set its dangerous eyes aglow.
The wind kicked up again, more forcefully now. Had he guessed, it was liable to be either Mr. Narukami or Mr. Hanamura's doing. Either way, they were alive. That meant that every second he bought with his tiny, ineffectual crossbow would be a second more in aid of their escape.
He knew he hadn't a chance against the beast as it stood. Not with this useless contraption in his hand. But if it put the tiniest distance more between this hellhound and the Team, then-
"Stopped moving already?! Let me give you a hand with that!' Chie cried as her Persona punted the Wolf in the side, opening a wide hole open as the impact decimated the deteriorating wood.
Astaire's face went blank as his crossbow dropped to his side. So much for putting distance between them.
"Yay, Stairry-kun's alive!" Teddie rejoiced as he bounded through the few trees not yet set alight, wrapping his arms around a stunned Astaire's torso as he glomped him from the side. "I knew you couldn't really have been a ghost! Rise-chan would've been crying her eyes out a lot harder otherwise!"
Teddie quickly jolted to the ground as Rise appeared behind him and launched a punch at his back. "S-Stupid bear, I knew he was okay, I wasn't crying!" She insisted as the fire's light highlighted the wet streaks down her face and her glistening eyes.
"You ain't foolin' anyone Rise, just hurry up already!" Kanji called over brusquely, carrying a limp-yet-displeased-looking Naoto over his shoulder, weakly muttering something about putting her down. "We gotta go, now!"
As much as Astaire's leg wanted him to ask somebody to fix it up, Kanji was right. From within the spreading fire, the burning Wolf ignored the gaping hole in its side and lowered itself to the ground, eyeing up the Team from behind as they all sprinted through the ensuing inferno in search of an exit.
Damn it all, he hated running from a fight. "He's right, we can't stay here! Let's get a move on!" Although Astaire said it, he didn't leave Rise much choice as he whisked her up in his arms again and began following Naoto's bobbing head over Kanji's shoulder.
Rise might've found herself getting used to this whole 'bridal-carrying' thing if they hadn't been surrounded by as close to Hell as she'd ever witnessed. The embers somewhat overpowered her embarrassment.
The heat was unbearable. It brought an instant sweat to the skin of everyone present, and was so intense that not even catching fire themselves seemed like it would come close. Nobody could keep their eyes open for a measure beyond a few seconds as the heatwave assaulted them from every angle.
Rise's worst fears soon came to light. Yes, the fire was spreading, and it seemed like the only way one could conceivably kill an entire forest that was out to get you. But I'd said forest was going down, it was going to go kicking and screaming.
Branches, vines, smaller trees and bushes, everything save for the ground itself lashed out fiercely at the team as the burning visage of the Wolf loomed behind them. Yu shielded his face with his free arm, but that only opened up everywhere else for attack. He grunted and cried out as thick, fiery whips lashed away at his torso without mercy.
Their escape was accompanied by a cacophony of pain and anguish. Sections of Yukiko's jumper were burnt and singed away, Yosuke patted down the flames that kept adhering to his blazer, Chie's exposed legs bore red, angry burns which brought tears to her eyes. As much as it hurt, as often as they cried out in pain, everyone doggedly kept charging through the hellscape surrounding them.
The only ones who didn't cry out were Naoto, slowly regaining her stamina over Kanji's shoulder, which he'd prioritised protecting over himself, and Rise, who Astaire had huddled so closely into himself that there was barely any of her to strike in the first place. She could hear his heart punch her in the cheek with every step he took, feel the laboured rise and fall of his chest as he gulped down lungfuls of smoke-riddled air.
She couldn't forget that it wasn't just him. Everyone was giving it their all just to survive, and from the sounds of it- "Agh, Hell!" -it was taking its toll.
Even with their attention squarely set in front of them, everyone could hear the Wolf gaining on them. They could feel it underfoot, thundering after them with an undying lust for blood. But if it stopped them for even a second, that could be all that stood between them and an early grave. To call the situation dire didn't do it justice.
That was, until Kanji heard something over his shoulder. The click of a revolver's hammer. "P-Persona…" Naoto said weakly, summoning Yamato Sumeragi with a bang. She was the only one who could face the Wolf head-on. She had to make this count. In a flash, her Persona darted under the wolf, sword primed to strike. In four quick darting motions, the Wolf's leg joints exploded, the fire having weakened them severely. All at once the Wolf plummeted to the ground and crashed to a halt.
Opportunity knocking, Kanji wheeled around on a heel with his Arcana card in-hand. "How's revenge taste, asshole?! CRUSH 'EM, TAKEJI-ZAITEN!" He roared hoarsely as the silhouette of his Persona loomed over him, backed by the immense flames surrounding him. With a single strike, powerful enough to rock the forest and send fiery branches raining from above, Kanji obliterated the Wolf into smithereens. The thousands of burning fragments that it broke into sailed into the fiery undergrowth without resistance.
"Let's see you grow that back." Kanji sneered. "Senpai, this thing's dead! Ge-" Kanji stopped to cough into his arm, the smoke going to town on his insides. "Get us outta here!"
He needed say no more. "Everyone gather around me, now!" He barked, cringing internally as he saw the quickly deteriorating state of his friends, charred, burnt, and gasping for the slightest hint of fresh air. He had the Goho-M in his hand before he'd even thought about it. As soon as Astaire and Rise joined up, he clasped his hand tightly and let the light take them.
To say everyone had never felt worse was the understatement of the century.
The moment the Goho-M deposited everyone at Firelink Clearing, everyone crumpled to the ground. Yu fell to a knee, the full-bodied sweat he'd worked up suddenly chilling him to the bone thanks to the comparatively freezing environment. He cast his eyes around his friends with worry.
Everyone had fallen, gasping at the fresh air while coughing and spluttering roughly. Their innards felt like they'd been set alight, and those whose didn't instead felt them lurch in protest of the fiery hell they'd been dragged through. That they weren't all staring at their breakfasts again was a wonder in and of itself.
Yosuke's blazer had almost been burnt away to nothing. Where the flaming branches had scratched Chie's legs, horrific, painful looking burns lay. Yukiko's clothes were singed and burnt, as was a good portion of her hair. Kanji's shirt may as well have not been on him. Naoto's cap was riddled with charred holes and she'd since discarded her blazer, what little was left to discard. Teddie lay heaving, gasping for air greedily as he crawled out of his suit. His blonde hair stuck to his head, dampening as he wiped his brow.
Finally, somehow, Rise looked completely fine, save for holding her head and lolling on her knees. Her clothes and hair weren't singed, and not a hint of ash or char had gotten to her.
Astaire was another story. The blue cloth of his Elite Knight armour was burnt around the edges, the metal surrounding it having been blackened from the heat. Worse yet was the open wound on his thigh, which must've been bad before the running, never mind during or after. It flared up and swole to a vicious red which made Yu feel sore just looking at it.
Overall, not the best state to be in.
Astaire was the first to keel over, clutching his chest and heaving heavily, forehead pressed to the ground. "Hey… Hey, c'mon, are you alright…?" Rise asked him, sounding as though she was going to fall asleep at a moment's notice. Her eyes were only half open, and the hand she raised to Astaire did so slowly. "Senpai or someone can make this better, don't worry…"
As Rise's sluggish eyes met Yu's own, he nodded affirmatively. The sooner everyone healed up, the better they'd feel. An Arcana card appeared, which he deftly twirled between his fingers as he swapped Personas. "Ishtar. Mediarahan." Yu said quietly.
Even as the welcome wave of healing energy cascaded around everyone, Yu could tell something wasn't right. Their wounds closed, but only so far, and only so quickly. Everyone seemed to regain their respective breaths and become a lot more alert, but it wasn't instantaneous. And as before, Astaire cried out in anguish, as though his wound were getting worse rather than trying to seal over.
What the hell was happening to their healing magic?
Yu wasn't left with time to ponder as two weights on his shoulder spun him around violently. "Are you completely off your fucking rocker, Narukami?!" Astaire yelled, his voice distorted. He was missing his glasses. They must have fallen off when he was on the ground, giving way to a familiar, unfriendly shade of glowing yellow. "What the hell did you think you were playing at?!"
Yu's knee met the Shadow's stomach and forced him back. As he raised its head to fume further, he found his neck levelled with the blade of Izanagi-no-Okami from above. "Astaire-san. Put your glasses back on."
"Oh, pull the other one! What the hell possessed you into thinking that lighting the whole bloody place on fire was even a REMOTELY good idea?! You could've gotten me or Ms. Kujikawa killed!" The Shadow yelled, undaunted.
Wait, his Shadow still called Rise 'Ms. Kujikawa'? Hm. That might've been be worth noting for later. "I knew we could all handle it. It was the best method we had of safely killing that Wolf." Yu said calmly.
"You call this handling it?! You call this SAFE?! Exactly how dense do you think I am?!" Astaire's Shadow said less calmly, pointing accusingly at the rest of the team. "Look at the state of everyone! God knows if I hadn't woken up when I did you'd have burnt me up and all! And then there was that brilliant escape of yours!" The Shadow ignored Izanagi-no-Okami's weapon and took a step closer to Yu. "I suppose you planned for this too, did you?! You just knew that everyone could survive getting lashed with fire like dogs ahead of time, right?!"
Yu didn't retreat as the Shadow stepped forward. He simply stared him dead in the eye. "Calm down. Everything's alright no-"
"Like hell is everything alright!" Astaire's Shadow bellowed. From within his coat he easily produced the intimidating mass of metal known as the Demon's Great Hammer. The ground shook as the head impacted off the mossy stone underfoot. He gripped the handle with both hands. "I don't give a damn how good of a leader you are, OR how much you assume you can handle! The moment you put Ms. Kujikawa in harm's way I'll flatten you like a-!"
The Shadow's tirade ended as he suddenly went completely limp, plummeting face-first into the ground and impacting with a crack.
One hand on his katana, Yu eyed up the newly-limp body and took a few cautious steps toward him. If he was playing dead and hoping to get the first hit in somehow, he had another thing coming.
"Wait, hold it!" Rise interjected as she rushed in, ultramarine glasses in hand. "I think we've got a few seconds before anything happens! Help me roll him over!" She commanded Yu as she knelt down to the Shadow's side, occasionally peeking behind her towards a white, shining symbol glowing between the blades of grass. Whatever it was, Yu told himself he'd figure it out later. He heaved his angry adversary over as commanded- heavy though he was- and cringed at the crooked angle his nose now sat at.
His peaceful expression betrayed his prior anger. Without a word, Rise flicked his glasses out and aimed for his eyes. While she did, Yu moved back on reflex, hand to sword. It might've been a trick of the eye or mind, but he swore, for the slightest moment, that he'd seen one of Astaire's fingers twitch.
Rise sighed after slipping Astaire's glasses on, one hand on her chest and the other on what Yu recognised as the white lump of stone Astaire had given her earlier. "Phew. Glad we're not going through that again." The less she saw of her friends fighting one another and bleeding out afterwards, the better.
Her sentiment was echoed by the newly-summoned phantom of Astaire, who knelt down next to her and tapped the glasses now adorning his face. Lacking words, he gave her a smile and a thankful nod, which she all too eagerly returned.
"Huh. Didn't see that coming." Yosuke commented idly as he walked over, leaning over to examine Astaire's lifeless body. "Guess even Astaire-san's Shadow wants to keep Rise safe. Weird."
As weird as it seemed, it didn't stop Rise's cheeks from flaring up pink. Holy crap he was right. She hadn't even thought about it, but it had happened. Astaire's Shadow stood up for her. And his Shadow was some version of his true self...
She turned to see what Phantom Astaire made of the situation, only to see he was hiding his face behind a glowing hand. If he hadn't been white all over, his own cheeks would've been glowing too. That yellow-eyed cad, making things so ruddy difficult...
"So how's this whole deal-" Chie pointed between Astaire's Phantom and his body. "-work anyhow? We saw you get shattered like glass, Rise-chan looked like she was gonna-"
"Chie-senpai!" Rise squeaked, shaking her head so quickly that her twintails couldn't keep up.
She did stop- much to Rise's relief- but she still looked like she wanted an explanation. Which wasn't easy to do when one couldn't speak. Not being well-versed with how to play Charades and frustrated that she'd chosen now of all bloody times to ask, Astaire's Phantom rubbed his chin in thought.
Finally, an idea. From the phantasmal doppelganger of his bottomless box, Astaire produced a simple yet sharp dagger and held up his other, free hand. Without a moment's hesitation, he swept the blade down across his open palm and screwed his face up at the ensuing pain. That and the onslaught of cringing from most of the girls.
Rather than blood, a fine particulate substance seeped out of the wound instead, almost as though Astaire's Phantom were filled with glowing white sand. Clasping the pain in his palm tightly, Astaire then jabbed the knife down towards his real body. Specifically, the outstretched palm at its side. It was completely bare. No wound at all. However, as Astaire knelt down and pricked a very small hole in one of his fingers, a similar stream of sand-like light began to drip from his Phantom's finger.
"So your Phantom can die, but your body can't unless someone does something to it..." Yukiko summarised, looking on with interest as Astaire began fishing for his Black Separation Crystal. "That sounds like it could be useful! It's like getting a second try if you mess up the first time!"
Sinking into the ground, Astaire's Phantom disappeared right as his physical body's eyes flew open, reverted back to their normal shade of orange. "That'd be right and dandy if it didn't leave my normal body wide open. One dagger in the right place and a Phantom is all I'd be." He said, licking the drop of blood beading up on his finger as he righted himself.
"No problem! You could give Astaire-kun's body a piggyback, couldn't you Kanji?" Rise asked more cheerfully, now that nobody was coughing up their insides over the ground. She gave Kanji a playful shove in the side as he joined the group, recoiling at the touch of skin she met. His shirt was burnt and damaged enough that only a few strands were holding it together, leaving his surprisingly defined muscles on show.
She noted, however, that Kanji said nothing. Not in reaction to her poking, nor her question. He fixed his gaze on the ground and creased his brow, looking troubled. "Kanji-kun? Are you well?" Naoto asked from his side.
If he wasn't, he must've been the only one, because it suddenly seemed all eyes were on him.
With a fist clenched at his side, Kanji began to speak. "Senpai, I… I kinda…" He struggled to begin. He paused to take a deep breath before he forced himself into speaking. "I think that asshole Shadow was right."
Amongst the wave of surprised voices, none were louder than Astaire's. "Y-You what?! Are you quite mad?!" He asked, eyes ablaze as he straightened his back and glared at Kanji. "How can you even think such a thing?! Do you know the kinds of things that hateful miscreant whispers in my ear every night?! He wishes nothing but harm upon everyone!"
" 'Cept for Rise, apparently." Kanji pointed out, sinking Astaire's expression in a heartbeat. "That ain't normal, man. Shadows are normally assholes, yeah, but I ain't never seen one try an' stick up for someone other than themselves. An' if you ask me…" He paused and scratched the back of his head, exhaling deeply. This didn't feel easy. "...Seems a little weird that a Shadow's more concerned about one of us than you seem to be, Senpai."
"Excuse me." A bitter chill, worse than any blizzard, ran through Kanji like a spear as Yukiko spoke up, every part of her looking sharper enough to split an atom. "Yu-kun cares about us. All of us. Don't even think of implying that he doesn't."
The sheer malice in Yukiko's voice was intimidating enough that everyone suddenly felt like backing away from her, Kanji included. If she was bad, Senpai was worse. His expression was stern and stony, but he couldn't get a proper reading off him. He could've been calm or ready to kick the absolute shit out of him for all he knew.
But goddamnit, every time he glanced towards Naoto, retaining a few bruises and looking dishevelled, some part of him got all riled back up inside. Insistence restored, Kanji spoke up again. "I-I ain't sayin' Senpai don't care about us! But would it have killed him to ask us all if burnin' the whole damn forest down was a good idea?! Shit nearly got us killed in there, and you just assumed we could do it like it was nothing!"
As much as anyone present may have wanted to retort in Yu's defense, there was no denying that Kanji had a point. A point which his shirt, Chie's legs, Yukiko's sweater and Yosuke's blazer all stood testament to. "Kanji-kun…" Naoto tried to intervene.
"Look, Senpai…" Kanji began, massaging his brow. It felt like he was beating the guy with a hockey stick in front of his friends, and it felt awful. "I… I can't just not care when shit like Naoto nearly gettin' wrapped around a tree trunk and everyone gettin' burned alive is goin' on around me. I just can't. Maybe it's my bad, but…"
"Please do not speak on my behalf." Naoto sharply interrupted, hitting Kanji with a glare so heavy that he flinched. "Though… I do believe my thoughts on the matter align with Kanji-kun's." She said as her gaze softened. Perhaps she'd been a little harsher than was appropriate. "This course of action was not only dangerous, but uncharacteristically foolhardy, given your record with such matters, Senpai."
For a moment, it seemed as though the argument took the form of a set of scales, with Kanji and Astaire's Shadow trying to outweigh everyone else. However, as Naoto bolstered their argument with her own weight, things seemed to be shifting towards one side at a worrying rate.
"I… think I kinda agree too." Chie said, glancing at where her numerous wounds had been on her legs. "Between nearly getting crushed to death and this, it feels like everything's getting a lot more dangerous way, way quickly."
"Feels a whole heck of a lot sorer compared to last year too. Almost makes me wish we were fighting Shadows again." Yosuke added, briefly looking towards Yu and realising that he was siding with a Shadow over his partner. "N-Not that that's your fault or anything! It's just the way things are!"
"And things being the way they are, it seems foolish to automatically assume we're going to escape with our lives. Even if it's from a situation you caused, Senpai." Naoto also added, her words seeming to split the air like a knife.
The scales had long since tipped. Where there had been silence and a vague sense of unease, voices of increasing concern and anxiety began to fill the void. Like a single crack in a mighty dam which was beginning to widen and spill forth ever more violently, threatening a deluge at any given moment.
"Have you all completely lost the plot?!" Astaire roared, long having discarded any sense of decorum or subtlety. His eyes danced between his teammates in front of him, widened in disbelief. "How can you even dream of agreeing with a Shadow, much less mine?! This is completely absurd!" He spun around on the spot to face Yu as he fumed. "Mr. Narukami, tell them! Tell them you're-!"
Astaire was cut short as he realised Yu wasn't returning his gaze. Nor anyone's, for that matter. His hair concealed his eyes as he stared at the ground, his upper lip twitching slightly under his unseen expression. "Senpai…?" Rise asked gently, drawing in closer and reaching out a hand.
"I have some thinking to do. I'll contact you all later." Yu spoke quietly. Then he began to walk off towards the trees, his hands buried in his pockets.
"Yu-kun? Hey, wait a minute!" Yukiko called after him as she quickly moved off to meet his side.
Everyone watched as their fearless leader walked off into the forest with his head hung low.
It wasn't a sight anyone was too accustomed to. Considering how a guilty weight began to compound inside their guts, it wasn't one they wanted to grow accustomed to, either.
The source of their ire disappearing towards the statue grove, everyone quietly, awkwardly, began shifting towards the trees themselves, unsure of what to say to one another.
The next time anybody spoke, it was to say goodbye to Rise and Astaire respectively. They watched as they walked away between the parallel rows of statues before disappearing into the trees, silent all the while.
The whole situation beforehand had left a foul taste in both their mouths, one which was proving remarkably difficult to be rid of. For Astaire, it was the taste of knowing that the seeds of unrest were sown by his Shadow. For Rise, it was that they had been sown at all.
They were supposed to be better than this. Closer than this. It shouldn't have been this easy to rattle their chains.
"We should retire for the night. Today has been an ordeal." Astaire finally spoke up, turning his attention towards the exit TV behind them. It was easier than looking at Rise was proving to be, that was for sure.
From his side, Rise gave Astaire a look. A look which lingered as a thought ran about in her head. To act, or to not act. She eyed him up so intensely that he must've managed to feel her eyes burning the back of his skull. He turned with an eyebrow raised.
Screw it. Act.
"Do you wish to say something, Ms. Kujikawa?"
"Yeah, but not to you."
Before Astaire could question her words, Rise stepped forward and swiped his glasses off his face. Immediately, his eyes gained a yellow gleam and his lips curled into a thin smile. "Ah, gotcha. Getting tired of him as well, are you? Consider yourself lucky, you're not the one who has to rattle about in his head the whole time." Astaire's Shadow chuckled to himself, dipping his hands in his pockets.
"What was the big idea back there, huh?! Why did you say the things you said?!" Rise snapped angrily, feeling about ready to step forward and slap the Shadow across the face for what he'd done.
That he turned his nose up at her and frowned didn't help that feeling either. "Weren't you listening? I said them because I was worried for you. I can think of a long list of sorts who I'd like to see stuck in a flaming deathtrap, and I can safely say you don't make the cut, not by a long shot."
How someone could say they were worried about her and still be so annoying, Rise wasn't sure. "Worried or not, don't you see what you've done?! Everyone's all worried and confused now!" She fumed, balling up her fists and squaring up to the Shadow. Which was easier said than done considering the height difference. "As for Senpai, I… I don't know how he feels. But it's probably not good…" She petered out as anger ebbed away to sorrow.
"Jesus, what a melodramatic bunch you can be." Astaire's Shadow said as he shrugged and rolled his glowing eyes. "Honestly, if it's that easy to make you all crack, I doubt the foundations were all that strong to start with."
The sound of Rise slapping the Shadow across the face reverberated through the forest. Followed shortly by a growing, distorted laughter.
"That doesn't sound like an argument to me! Guess I must be right on the money! Hah!" He sneered as he chuckled towards the canopy up above.
His laughter chipped away at Rise's spirit like a pickaxe. The longer she listened, the more downtrodden she began to feel. They shouldn't have been as easily jostled, not after all they'd been through. So how did explain this whole situation? Weren't they as close as she always thought they were? Or was it just in her head the whole time?
As the Shadow's laughter died down, he became aware of a different sound replacing it. The sound of light, teary sobs, courtesy of the short, cute girl next to him.
He sighed a distorted sigh as he put his hands behind his head. "Ah, Christ. Alright, alright, calm down would you? Come on, hey." The Shadow said as he knelt down and placed his hands on Rise's shoulders. "Dry your eyes, would you? I'll tell you what's wrong."
This Shadow was… weird. Weird enough to Rise's mind that curiosity was what stopped her crying above all else. She sniffed and wiped the tears from her eyes before meeting the Shadow's own. "Alright, I'm ready. Tell me what's wrong with us."
"You're all bloody idiots."
SLAP.
"Well that was just uncalled for, I'm trying to help you out here." Astaire's Shadow said as an angry, hand-shaped red mark coloured his other cheek. "You're young and you're stupid, all of you. That's the long and short of it."
"Young and…? You're not much older than the rest of us, you know! What gives you the right to-?!"
"Don't act like you know how old I am, I know you don't." Astaire's Shadow said grimly. He paused for a moment to judge Rise's expression- looking shocked and a tad horrified- before speaking again. "...But I'm nineteen, for the record. And what gives me the right is the amount of times I ended up getting killed over stupid bullshit like this in the past. Only difference this time is that you lot don't exactly have that option. So all that leaves is my unfortunate arse needing to drill it into your heads for you."
The Shadow exhaled and walked over to one of the empty statue pedestals, sitting himself atop it with a hop. A motion which Rise, for some inexplicable reason, felt inclined to mirror. She plopped herself up beside him and gazed at the Shadow intently. This… this was the same guy who'd tried to slaughter Yosuke and start a fight with Senpai, right? Because acting the way he was, it was like he was a completely different person. Intriguingly so.
"When I first got thrown into Lordran, I wasn't half as strong as you and your friends are now. I was about as stupid, though. It's just the way your head works when you're young, I suppose. Haven't had enough close encounters with death for you to properly fear meeting them again." Astaire's Shadow mused, crossing his arms and fixing his gaze on the ground. "Getting ground into the dirt by a Demon with a bloody great hammer quickly sorts that out."
...Wait a minute. What did he mean by 'thrown into Lordran'?
Rise wasn't left with time to ponder his words as Astaire's Shadow continued. "Whatever you and your friends went through last year, this isn't it. It's like walking on dry land and then sinking up to your knees in a swamp. If you don't wise up and adapt properly, soon enough you'll be up to your neck. Your past victories don't guarantee your success now. Press your luck and you'll die just as quickly as I did."
That sounded… sensible. Reasonable. Far too much so to have come from a Shadow. And yet, as Rise closely studied the hard, troubled, thoughtful expression on Astaire's face, his eyes and the light, distorted breaths through his nose left her without a doubt.
Something about this situation made Rise feel uncomfortable. "You're acting… kinda weird." She summed up her concerns nicely as she inched away from the Shadow's side.
"Oi, what's that supposed to mean?! I'm only just after spilling my guts over here, what do you mean I'm acting weird?!" The Shadow asked insistently as he inched closer to Rise again.
Hopping off the pedestal entirely, Rise continued to back off as the Shadow continued to advance on her. "Like, telling me all this stuff in the first place! It's almost, like you're being… thoughtful or something."
"What? A Shadow can't be thoughtful once in a while?"
"I've never heard of a Shadow being anything good before Teddie, but he's different! Just tell me why you're being so… so… nice to me!" Rise finally yelled, balling up her fists and clenching her eyes shut.
As she stopped stepping back, so too did Astaire's Shadow. He let out a chuckle and, when Rise opened her eyes, greeted her with a soft, thoughtful smile. "Easy. I am a Shadow. The true self." He spread his arms wide as he looked to the sky. "I am everything Knight Astaire is avoiding or ashamed of, all rolled into one. That said…" He lowered his head again, shaking it as he lay his hands to his hips. "...Not everything he's ashamed of is necessarily shameful in the first place. Odd bugger, he is."
Rise's brow twitched subtly and her eyes refused to sit still as she tried to perform the mental gymnastics necessary to puzzle out what the Shadow meant. 'Everything he's avoiding or ashamed of'? He wasn't ashamed of being nice to her, surely? What reason would he have? "Does… does the real Astaire-kun not like being nice to me?" She finally just asked.
Astaire's Shadow ran a hand down his face and exhaled again. "For God's- No, that's not it! For pity's sake, it's not THAT hard to puzzle out!" And yet, as the Shadow watched Rise's facial expressions continue to dance and contort, he finally gave up. "Oh, sod it. You'll figure it out on your own soon enough."
Oh, hell no. He was not leaving this on a cliffhanger, not on his weird, Shadowy life. Just as Rise snapped to attention to indignantly demand further explanation, the Shadow took a single stride forward and deftly swiped Astaire's glasses from her hand. "H-Hey, wait! You can't just say something like that and then leave me hanging!"
"Not only can I, but I fully intend to. Until next time, Ms. Kuji…" The Shadow paused, glasses mid-way to their eyes, as he lingered on Rise's heart-rending expression. Calling them puppy dog eyes would've been an affront to her. Even puppies would've melted when faced with such an expression. Just as the Shadow melted in the face of it as well. "...Fine. Fine. One more thing." He sighed, kneeling down slightly to meet Rise at face-level. "I would've beat the hell out of Narukami as quickly as I'd have done to anyone else-"
"-Because I like you way too much to let you walk into your doom blindly. Don't care whose fault it is."
Ba-dump. "Wh-what?!"
With a quick glint of a smile, the Shadow closed his eyes as he slipped the Ultramarine frames back over his eyes. As quickly as he'd gone- "AAAAGH!" -the real Astaire was back.
Which would've been good, under most circumstances. By all means, Rise was happier to see him than she was to see his yellow-eyed, speaking-in-stupid-riddles doppelganger. But he didn't look quite as pleased to see her.
Astaire clutched at his elbows and huddled his arms in close to himself, his pupils like pinpricks as he readjusted to having control of his own body again. A cold sweat slicked his brow, and his knees buckled underneath him as his sense of balance waved to and fro. He mumbled something incoherent under his breath, a look of sheerest panic on his face.
Sensing that his current state was entirely her fault, and guilt slugging her in the ribs as a result, Rise closed the distance between them and outstretched her arm sheepishly. "A-Astaire-kun? Are you alright?"
Her hand recoiled as Astaire whipped around to face her, at which point Rise swore she felt the air change around him. He was suddenly taller. Broader. He cast a shadow over her that felt like it blotted out every bit of light around her. The only light left was the one in his eyes. His glaring, piercing, furious orange eyes. In that instant, Rise saw a part of Astaire previously only shown to those he took up arms against. And it was absolutely terrifying.
"Never. Do that to me again." He growled.
"I-I'm sorry!" Rise quivered as she craned her neck back to look him in the eyes. "B-But your Shadow was acting weird, I just wanted to know-!"
"What was going on inside my head. Without asking me first." Astaire finished for her. "And without knowing what would happen once you did."
Yes. Yes to all. Hearing it out loud, Rise realised she couldn't deny it. Judging from Astaire's reaction, it sounded just as bad as it was. A wet prickle touched Rise's eyes as her bottom lip began to quiver. Her chest heaved as she felt her breaths shudder up her throat.
As the tears welled up and began to cloud her vision, Rise watched as Astaire's face morphed before her eyes. Like wax to a flame, that horrific expression of his melted away to the one she was much more familiar with. Softer, and presently brimming with concern. "Oh, Gods forgive me! Ms. Kujikawa, I'm so sorry!" He apologised as he knelt down to face her. It was such an attitude shift that Rise almost mistook him for a different person. "...Please don't cry. I'm not all that fussed about it, really."
Rise shook her head and dried her eyes with the sleeves of her top. "You're- You're a really bad liar." She said shakily. "And even if you're not angry, you probably should be… I mean, you're right, after all."
A quick flicker of bother flitted across Astaire's face. Right on the money. After a pause, he spoke. "It'll pass. Never worry yourself about it. Just…" Astaire rose to his feet and outstretched a hand. "...Promise me you won't do it again."
He didn't seem as tall, broad or stifling to be close to now, Rise noted. Rather than anxiety, she felt a familiar comfort seep through her hand and up her arm as she placed it in Astaire's own. "Promise."
Rise smiled at the friendlier version of Astaire's face as she led him by the hand to the TV, hoping that she'd never have to see it leave again.