Ren: And we have returned from the brick wall known as writer's block!

Ryuji: About time!

Ann: We missed you guys!

Lucina: Yahoo?

Morgana: Let's start the show!

Persona V: Reversing the Wheel of Fate
Chapter Sixteen

[Opening Scene: Palace of Lust (The Love Room)
Theme of Immediate Danger: Disintegration from Persona 5]

"Let us go!" Haru yelled as she struggled against her bindings, a pair of pink silk rope as she laid beside an unconscious Shiho, similarly bound as the pair laid on a heart-shaped bed above the covers.

Haru pulled against her bindings before she shut her eyes in despair. "No matter where you are, you are always restrained, Haru-Hime," A voice said, which caused Haru's eyes to snap open only to see herself with eerily glowing yellow eyes looking down at her with pity.

"It's you…" Haru murmured with a frown on her face.

"Who else would I be?" her shadow taunted as she caressed Haru's face.

Haru moved her head away from the shadow's touch and said,, "Why are you here? You're usually in my head mocking me…"

"We are were in a place where I can come and go freely, although still attached to you," Shadow-Haru said. "First your father, then your loving and devoted fiancé Sugimura, and now by Kamoshida...It's sad how easily you can be shackled by someone."

"Stop mentioning that slime! He's not my fiancé!" Haru snapped angrily. "He will never be my fiancé. He's just someone my father wants to sell me to!"

"And yet you still allow it to happen. Where is your backbone?" Shadow-Haru questioned.

Haru opened her mouth, but then she closed it and looked away.

"You want to be free to follow your destiny, find your true love, and yet you allow your father to pimp you out to someone you don't care for. Don't you care?"Shadow-Haru asked as she turned Haru's face to look at her.

"I care!" Haru yelled. "But he is my father. I must abide by his word. And even I could; there is no changing his mind."

"And that is why you will always be enslaved…" Shadow-Haru said before she pressed a kiss onto Haru's forehead and said, "When you're ready to be free from the chains that bind you, I will be waiting for you Haru-Hime…"

The shadow faded just as Shiho began to stir beside her. "Wha…Haru-san? What happened? Where are we?" Shiho asked curiously.

"Welcome back," Haru softly said. "They knocked us out the moment we were kidnapped. We're currently in a bedroom of sorts. Pretty tacky if you ask me."

Shiho began to pull at her bindings and frowned. "This stuff is burdensome…" Shiho murmured with a slight whine.

"I know, I've been struggling since I woke up some time ago," Haru muttered.

"I heard you speaking with someone…Where are they?" Shiho asked.

Haru blinked and said, "I was talking to myself…"

"I see…Well, now that we both are awake, maybe we can get each other out of these bindings?" Shiho suggested with a small smile.

Haru nodded and said, "Here, let's get you free first…Turn around."

Shiho squirmed and rolled over to her right to face Haru, who began to tug at Shiho's binding. "I should be honest…I was awake for a while," Shiho admitted softly.

Haru paused before she continued with her movements as she said, "I see…so you saw her."

"Yeah…It's funny. I thought I was alone," Shiho told her.

Haru looked up at Shiho in surprise. "W-What?" Haru stammered out.

"I thought I was alone having a replica of myself talk down to me…With those glowing yellow eyes. She was the one that pulled me off the roof," Shiho said. "Ever since I was little, she's been around. Lurking within the darkness that I have inside of me…"

"Shiho-san…" Haru murmured.

"It's hard to drown her out, isn't it?" Shiho asked.

"Yeah…" Haru replied. "But it scares me because I know she's right…But what can I do?"

Before Shiho could answer, Haru said, "I did it."

Shiho pulled her hands free from the silk rope and immediately undid the bindings on her feet before quickly working on Haru's bindings, and soon, the two were free.

The two hugged briefly in excitement before they each got out of the bed, but the minute they did, King Kamoshida and the bikini-clad Ann and Shiho cognitions walked into the room.

"Oh no," Shiho murmured as fear struck her heart.

Seeing this, Haru stepped in front of her as King Kamoshida began to laugh. "Well, well, well. Two princesses were trying to escape my grasp."

"Escape his grasp. How stupid," The Bikini-clad Ann cognition said as the Shiho cognition giggled.

"Let us go, Kamoshida," Haru said with narrowed eyes.

"No, I don't think I will," King Kamoshida replied. "You two have been chosen as my newest concubines. If not, you both will be executed."

"I will never be your concubine," Haru said. "And I am very sure Shiho will never allow herself to be touched by you ever again."

"You are very unwise to believe that. I have already taken everything from Shiho. She owes me her body, and I will get it, along with yours," King Kamoshida said.

"A man like you shall never touch her or me, and I'll stake my life on that," Haru darkly said.

"And do you agree back there?" Kamoshida asked.

Shiho was paralyzed by fear as she stared at the man, his glowing yellow eyes glaring, but she felt Haru take her hand and glanced down briefly and nodded her head, not trusting her voice.

"She nods, but I can taste the fear in her," King Kamoshida said with a lick of his lips. "But I'm sure having someone as brave as you around is giving her strength. Something I can amend."

King Kamoshida then looked to the Shiho cognition, who nodded and skipped up to Haru and gave her a sweet smile before landing a solid blow to Haru's stomach, which caused her to bowl over in pain.

"Haru-san!" Shiho cried as the cognition grabbed Haru by the neck and tossed her to the left, where Haru collided with a wall. "Leave her alone!" Shiho shouted as she ran forward to the downed Haru, only for the Ann Cognition to appear before her.

"D-Don't do it…I'm fine," Haru said as she struggled to get onto her feet, but the Shiho cognition walked up to the downed Haru and landed a hard kick to Haru's chest, causing Haru to gasp in pain.

"Stop it!" Shiho shouted as the Shiho cognition landed a hard punch to Haru's face, sending Haru down to the ground.

"Then submit to me," King Kamoshida ordered. "Submit your body to me, and I will stop her pain. Submit like you always do."

"I-I," Shiho stammered before everything froze in place.

Behind King Kamoshida's frozen form, Shiho's shadow was leaning against the wall, her eyes staring at Shiho's shocked form with her arms crossed, her eyes gleaming with anger.

[Scene Change: Palace of Lust (Great Chamber)
Theme of Battle: The Great Sign from Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey Redux]

Ren skidded backward on the heels of his feet as the Brutal Calvaryman's spear collided with his knife. "Arsène!" Ren shouted, which caused Arsène to appear and kicked the armored shadow in the head, which caused him to skid back.

Ren then leaped into the air, and with a swing of his arm, he decapitated the shadow before he landed on Captain Kidd's ship beside Ryuji.

"Ahoy Ren-Ren," Ryuji shouted. "Shock the world: Captain Kidd!" Captain Kidd let out a yell as he fired several bolts of lightning towards the group of Brutal Cavalrymen, but they held steadfast against the electricity.

"Damn. These guys are resilient!" Ryuji exclaimed.

"Lightning must not do the trick," Ren said. "Well, let's see if Darkness does! Arsène: Ravage them!" Arsène appeared beside Ren and sent out a burst of dark energy towards one of the Brutal Cavalryman, and while it was defeated, Ren knew it had resisted it until its bitter end.

"Ice is their weakness, similar to mine," Pixie said within his head.

'Great. And we don't have an ice user within the group, but thanks for the knowledge, Pixie,' Ren thought back.

"We have to keep hammering at them," Ren said. "They have a weakness, but we don't have it."

"Boy, that's nice to know!" Ryuji shouted before he leaped down from Captain Kidd's ship and landed a knee strike at the head of a Brutal Cavalryman that was trying to sneak up on Ann, sending it down to the ground.

Ryuji landed with a roll behind Ann, blocked a spear from another Cavalryman, and said to Ann, "You nearly got attacked twice. You gotta be careful!"

"I've been dealing with a lot, so I'm sorry for not paying attention!" Ann responded as she whipped a Cavalryman in the head before she leaped up and kneed it in the head before wrapping her legs around the head and twisting her body sharply, breaking its neck and causing it to melt away.

She landed on the ground and avoided three lunging strikes from another Cavalryman.

Seeing this, Morgana jumped up on her shoulder and kicked off of it and stabbed the Cavalryman in the middle of its eyes, causing it to melt as well.

Morgana landed on the ground and sliced off the right leg of the Calvaryman's horse, causing it to let out a demonic neigh and fall to its nub before Ann wrapped her whip around the Cavalryman's head and tugged it forward sharply, breaking its neck as well.

Ryuji rolled to the left to avoid a lunge from the Calvaryman's spear and swung his pipe at the horse's left leg, hobbling it down to three legs before Ren landed behind it slashed at its right hind leg, making it do the splits.

"Batter up!" Ryuji yelled as he swung his pipe against the Cavalryman's head, making its head whip back right into Ren's knife, causing it to melt into an inky black fluid.

(Theme of Palace: King, Queen and Slave from Persona 5)

"Holy shit," Ryuji sighed out as he leaned forward on his knees and panted heavily. "Between getting our asses kicked by Ann and fighting these guys, I'm almost afraid to see how tough saving Shiho and Haru will be."

"You're telling me," Ren replied as he held his side in pain. "That was brutal."

"We need to get moving," Ann said as she walked to the pair. "Shiho and Haru need to be rescued."

"Calm down there, Wonder Woman," Ryuji said as he stood upright again. "We need a slight breather."

"We don't have time for a "slight breather," Ryuji. There's no telling what that monster is doing to her up there," Ann argued.

"Ann," Ren said, his voice taking on an annoyed tone. "You act as if we're asking to go home and leave them in his hands. We just need a break."

"We don't have time fo-" Ann began

"Shut up!" Ryuji shouted furiously, which caused Ann and Ren to look at him with surprise.

"I've had it up to here with you!" Ryuji yelled as he put his hand above his head. "We want to save Shiho and Haru as well, but if you hadn't rushed here like a fucking moron, they wouldn't be in danger! They wouldn't know about the castle, and we would all still be at Haru's resting. Instead, you pushed the issue, fought against us instead of calming down and talking it out and causing them to be captured. It's your fault we're wading in shit, so the least you can do is allow us to breathe before we move forward and continue to fight to make up for your fuck up!"

Ryuji panted roughly, his face beat red and his eyes shining in anger while Ann looked visibly upset.

"You're right…" Ann whispered as she looked down to the ground. "I'm sorry, guys. It's just Shiho means a lot to me and what happened to her pushed me past my threshold for bullshit. I screwed up, didn't I?"

"Yeah, you did," Ryuji replied, his voice now softer. "But you're human. Someone you care about was hurt and is now in the hands of the one who injured them. I get it, but you can't go off the handle like that."

"Ryuji's right. We're all a team dealing with this. We need to work together to stop Kamoshida, not rush in with a hotheaded. Pardon the pun," Ren added. "So in the future, talk to us if that urge happens again, and we'll deal with it, and in turn, we'll do the same."

"Besides Ann, I'm supposed to be the fuck up, not you," Ryuji added with a grin.

Ann nodded and let a small smile appear on her face.

"Okay, sappy team time over," Morgana said. "We have work to do, so let's do it!"

'Pixie, any idea where Shiho and Haru could be located?' Ren asked the persona within his mind.

"There is only one place Kamoshida would put them. The Love Room," Pixie replied. "It is located in the West Building on the 1st Floor."

"Alright, I know where they are. Let's move," Ren told them.

[Scene Change – Palace of Lust (The Love Room)
Theme of Unknown: The Voice of Someone Calls from Persona 3]

"Well, here we are again," Shadow-Shiho stated as she pushed herself off the wall and walked past King Kamoshida and stood in front of Shiho. "So are you going to do it? Sacrifice yourself to stop her pain?"

"It's the only way to save Haru-san," Shiho said. "She didn't have to stick up for me, and now she's hurting. It's all my fault!"

"You spineless coward!" Shadow-Shiho exclaimed as she smacked Shiho hard in the face. Shiho looked at her replica in shock.

She had demeaned her many times and tried to make her take her life but never hit her before. "You were afraid to take your life because of how it would hurt others. You let yourself be used like a common whore when Ann was threatened, and now you're willing to become this dick's concubine AGAIN because of Haru's life being in danger? Why do you think sacrificing yourself is the best choice?!"

Shiho looked down at the ground and whispered, "I don't know…"

"Bullshit," Shadow-Shiho said. "You know exactly why you do this. Because you think people prefer you this way. You think people want this soft, shrinking violet that always needs to sacrifice herself to protect others and to be protected instead of standing up for yourself, no matter how bad things get!"

"That's not true!" Shiho shouted.

"It's not? Then explain why Ren sent Morgana to save you that day. Explain why Ann nearly drowned in her rage. Explain why all of you are in the situation you are in now. Go ahead. I'm waiting," Shadow-Shiho said as she tapped her foot.

Shiho couldn't answer.

Shadow-Shiho smirked and replied, "You know what? It's not your fault you're this way. Your parents are just as responsible for your spineless nature due to being weak themselves. They knew you were going through hell, and they never fought for you. They just let you fall into the abyss of sexual, emotional, and mental abuse, and it's been that way your whole life, hasn't it?"

"Anytime you wanted to do something, they would break your confidence until you folded. Even Volleyball wasn't your original love. Being an artist was, and you let them morph your love into a sport you now can't even watch because of that man! No wonder you can't protect yourself. You never learned how to do that. All you've learned is to fold like a house of cards to everyone you've ever met. Just as they intended," The Shadow finished.

Shiho was silent for a moment before she let out a bitter laugh. "Spineless…That's exactly how I've been, huh?"

Shadow-Shiho looked at Shiho with narrowed eyes.

"Kamoshida knew I'd do anything for Ann and used that to bring me into his trap. Instead of fighting it, I allowed him to control me. My parents failed to instill the confidence that I needed to survive something like that. I stayed under his thumb and allowed him to do what he did to me…" Shiho whispered as she looked at her hands.

"And the one time I didn't, he nearly managed to bring me back into it by threatening Ren and Ann, and if not for Morgana-kun, I would have…" Shiho began as she looked at the frozen King.

"But if I had stood up to him when he threatened to sexual abuse Ann-chan at the very beginning, I could have stopped all of this, but instead, I fell to him..." Shiho said, her eyes locked on her trembling hands. "I should have fought him every step of the way, and because I didn't, Ann fell to him, Morgana-kun, Ryuji-kun, and Ren-kun got involved, with Ren-kun nearly dying because of me…"

"All because I didn't stand up for myself…I even tried to take the easy way out and kill myself to be free of it all…And I nearly fell again to protect Haru-chan…" Shiho sullenly whispered.

Shiho then clenched her fist hard enough to break the skin with her nails, causing blood to flow from them. "My parents may not have instilled the confidence and the means to protect myself but no more! I will no longer allow myself to be the victim to those older than me! It's time I stop surrendering and letting others protect me and begin to protect and fight for myself and what I want!"

"Yes…" Shadow-Shiho said as her eyes began to glow brighter.

(Theme of Awakening: Awakening from Persona 5)

The world began to move, and Shiho found herself in front of King Kamoshida, who had his hand reaching out to her face. She immediately punched the king in his face, a burst of blue energy exploding from her body.

King Kamoshida crashed to the ground as Shiho shouted, "I refuse!" her eyes glowing a fierce yellow before a pulse of pain went through her body.

"It's about time we agreed on something, Shiho. I was getting worried that you would never wake up," A harsh, hotheaded voice said from within her head as King Kamoshida scrambled to his feet in shock.

Shiho began to stumble backward as the pain flowed through her body, alarmed screams of pain leaving her lips.

"You've spent so long playing the sacrificial damsel in distress that you were unable to see the true lioness inside of you!" The voice yelled King Kamoshida took a step backward as the Shiho and Ann cognitions stepped back as well.

"No…Not again," King Kamoshida whispered fearfully as the Shiho and Ann cognitions quickly stepped in front of him.

"And it's time for all of those that have demeaned and abused us to see it too! So says the inner typhoon that rages in your heart!" Haru watched from the ground as Shiho hunched forward with her hands on her head before they went limp at her side before Haru noticed a smirk appear on Shiho's face.

"I am thou; thou art I…It is time to forge the pact!" Shiho leaned back sharply and let out a scream as a "V" shaped ocean blue glass mask that covered her face with a circlet with horns on each side of the mask appeared on her face. "And unleash the raging lion that lies within the sea of their sins!"

Shiho smirked and said, "I think I like the sound of that Boudicca!" before she gripped the edge of her mask and ripped it off, causing blood to fly into the air as a wave of cobalt blue flames engulfed her body.

The cobalt flames soon parted, and Shiho stood, her outfit changed.

Shiho now wore a black high-neck long-sleeved armor short dress with ocean-blue accents and matching boots with the ocean-blue accents on different sides as the right boot was thigh-high in length and her left boot was ankle length.

Behind Shiho was a humanoid silver metallic woman with blazing braided red hair with glowing green eyes, bright Celtic tattoos on her face, chest, and shoulders.

The humanoid wore a tattered sleeveless ocean blue knee-length tartan dress with leather armor beneath it, a large leather garter belt around her waist with a sword holster attached, leather bracers, and leather armbands on each arm, leather grieves and leather boots on each leg, and foot.

Both Shiho and the woman held a shield strapped to their left arms and a spear in their right hands.

Shiho turned and silently walked to Haru, knelt before her, and asked, "Are you alright?"

Haru's cheeks heated up faintly as she replied, "I am well…But what happened to you?"

"I do not know, but I think I like it," Shiho replied before she helped Shiho to her feet and looked to the King of the palace, who shook behind the Shiho and Ann cognitions, who both seemed slightly nervous.

"I will protect you, Haru-chan. Just stay back," Shiho told Haru before she stepped forward and pointed her spear to King Kamoshida and said, "You have sinned for far too long, Kamoshida, and now, I will drown you in them. Not just for me, but for everyone you've hurt!" Shiho yelled as she twirled a spear.

"Get King Kamoshida out of here," The Shiho cognition told the Ann cognition, who nodded and grabbed the King before vanishing in a crimson red mist.

"I shall be your opponent and protect my stud muffin!" With that yell, the Shiho cognition changed into a sizeable purple demon with yellow gloves and boots sitting on a toilet appeared in her place.

"I'll make you submit to our King!" The Ambassador of Filth shouted.

"I'd like to see you try," Shiho murmured before the mask appeared on her face once more as she held up her shield.

Ren: Whoa.

Ann: WHOOOO! GO SHIHO!

Ryuji: She's all grown up *wipes tears*

Morgana: Well…This fight should prove interesting. Until the next chapter!