Tartarus, FL ?, Dark Hour

I open my eyes after everything went black. Upon doing that, I look down to find that Fuuka is nestling her head into my chest. This, in turn, is making me blush...a lot. Crap now's not the time for this.

"Fuuka, Fuuka... Please wake up!"

This starting to worry me. What if- No, I need to see if she's alive. I was going to check her heartbeat but... Instead, I check her pulse, she seems to still be alive. Good.

"Kazuki...kun..."

"Fuuka, I'm right here, can you hear me!?"

"Is...that...you?"

"Yeah, it's me!"

"You're here...I'm so...glad."

"You're gonna be fine." I Look all over her body and I found a few bruises on her legs. What the hell happened to her, who did this to her!? Well, in any case, we're in Tartarus now. This floor layout is unfamiliar to me. But I'm certain the others will be here soon to save us. So until then, we need to hold out. Although, if we stay in the same position for far too long, shadows might find us, especially that one. I slipped the bags of medicine and food onto my arms, then, I put her on my back.

"Okay, Fuuka, I'm gonna get you somewhere safe, okay...?"

"O...kay."

I don't know who did this to you, but when I figure out who did, they'll pay! I lay Fuuka down on the ground, then I pull out some of the medical supplies I have. I wrapped bandages around the bruises, on her legs. A thought ran through my mind: what if there were more injuries that I can't see!? I rolled up her sleeves to find a bunch of bruises on her arms.

"My god..." I began wrapping bandages around her arms.

"Don't worry, when the others get here, Yuka-chan can heal all your wounds, so you're gonna be alright."

I finished wrapping the bandages around her arms, now all I could do is wait for her to wake up. This is my fault. if I... If I hadn't left her alone, then she wouldn't be in this state. But I just wanted to protect her!

Hour: 1

It's been an hour since we both entered Tartarus. I'm starting to grow concerned. I know she's alive, but what if she fell into a coma. If that happens, I-

"Huh?"

I look over to where the pain-induced groan is coming from.

"Fuuka, are you okay!?"

"Kazuki...kun?"

"Yeah, it's me, I'm here Fuuka!"

She tried to get up but due to the pain in her legs, that action proves to be fruitless.

"Ow! Why are there bandages on my legs and arms?"

"There were a bunch of bruises on your arms and legs, can you tell me why that is?"

"I...don't know."

"Oh, I see."

I'm just glad Fuuka didn't fall into a coma.

...

I took a look around us. The area we're in had a creepy decorum to it. An ominous and eerie feeling to it.

"Where are we?"

"..."

"Kazuki-kun?"

"Tartarus."

"What in Tartarus?"

"You don't need to know."

"How come?"

"It is best if you never knew."

Kazuki-kun is trying to keep me from knowing any more about this "Tartarus" place, other than the name.

I look at Kazuki-kun for a minute. I spot something unusual in his hands.

"Why do you have a weapon, Kazuki-kun!?"

"So I can fight."

"Fight what?"

"The monsters in this place."

"Monsters!?"

"Yeah."

I start to contemplate the situation we're in; I start to think about the worst-case scenario, but all that was interrupted when something embarrassing happened. My stomach loudly grumbled. I cover my face to avoid shame.

"Hungry?" he teased as he let out a laugh.

"Why are you laughing!"

"Because it's kinda funny."

"Is it really!?"

"You're right, I'm sorry."

Even when admitted it wasn't funny he still kept laughing.

"I can still hear you laughing!"

"I'm so sorry, Fuu-chan...it's just...too funny!" he explained in between laughs.

"You just being mean now!"

Kazuki-kun started to settled down after a couple of seconds had passed. He gave me some food and we both started eating, he seems to be in a better mood than he was before.

"Thank you, Fuuka."

"For what?"

"For cheering me up, I kind of needed a good laugh."

"What do you mean?"

"What I mean is..."

"What's the matter Kazuki-kun?"

All of a sudden, I felt something coming this way.

"Fuuka, listen up! I'm gonna need you to move the stairs."

"O-okay" I hid behind the stairs leading up to someplace else. I look to see Kazuki-kun drawing out his sword, the blade itself is all black. I look to see what Kazuki-kun is fighting.

"What is that!?"

I can't believe what I'm seeing. There really are monsters in this place! Kazuki-kun sprinted in the direction of the monsters, he sliced a couple of them and they turned into black ooze and started melting. Kazuki-kun is fighting all by himself, and he's warding all of them off by himself.

"He's amazing."

Out of nowhere, some of those monsters hit Kazuki-kun by the legs and his right arm.

"AAARGH!"

"Kazuki-kun!"

He's hurt, I need to do something!

"Time for you all to have it... PERSONA!"

Two extra arms above his right and left shoulders. How is he doing that!? The two arms start punching like their bullets.

"My goodness..."

Words can't describe how impressed I am right now.

"Take it!"

Kazuki-kun finished off all the monsters.

"Kazuki-kun, you did it!"

"Yeah, aaah!"

"Kazuki-kun!"

When I reached him I saw blood coming from his wounds. It doesn't appear to be deep but if they don't get treated he could bleed out!

"Kazuki-kun, I'll get something to stop the bleeding!"

"G-Got it."

I bring the medical supplies from the stairs to treat him. He helped me, now I'm going to help him!

hour: 2

I was still in the process of bandaging Kazuki-kun. But before bandaging his wounds, I disinfected all the cuts on his legs and arm.

While I was disinfecting his injuries, he wasn't struggling at all when I was treating him; He seems used to pain, how come though? There were also other matters I want to talk about.

"Kazuki-kun, can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"Why were you staying away from me?"

"I...can't say."

"Why?"

"Because I just can't tell you... I'm sorry."

The image of his tearful smile popped up in my mind.

"Kazuki-kun, are you hurting?"

"No, I don't feel the pain anymore."

"Not that pain... Kazuki-kun, you know what I'm talking about...don't you?"

"..."

"Please tell me. Let me know why you were crying when we last talked."

"I was?"

"...I want to help you, I don't want you to think you don't have someone you can rely on. So if there's something I can do, then please let me help you."

He went still, hiding his face from me.

"Why do you care so much?"

"Because you're some dear to me!"

He turned his head to me, facing me with a look of astonishment.

"Fuuka..."

"...Moreover, I...I!"

Suddenly, an overbearing, threatening, and deadly presence arrived. A ghastly hiss echoed through the area, the rattling of chains were coming closer.

"No, no, no, no, not now!"

"What's going on!?"

Kazuki-kun turns to me in a worried way.

"Listen to me! You need to pack all the medical supplies up, now!"

I nod in agreement. I started packing all the supplies in a hurry as the entity came closer.

"Kazuki-kun, everything is packed!"

"Good, now I need you to run to the staircase!"

"What about you!?"

"I'm gonna hold it off for as long as I can!"

"But it's too strong!"

"I know that. It's the strongest shadow in this place" Two long guns poke out from around the corner. "It's called..." I see the monster reveal itself. It was wearing a dirty black jacket with blood on it. It wore a bag over its head that had an opening for one eye. "...The Reaper!"

A shiver went down my spine in fear of what I'm seeing. And for whatever reason, I can feel its presence; even clearer now. It was suffocating.

"Kazuki-kun...we need to run! Do you hear me, we have to run, or it will kill us!"

"I'm sorry, but I gotta buy you time to run away. Now run!"

"But you'll-"

"Please!"

Without saying anything else, I started moving for the stairs, but I stopped; I want to go back, I don't want him to fight it alone...

"Let's do this!" Kazuki-kun charged forward towards The Reaper.

...

Its guns and my sword clash, and I gotta say, they're pretty strong to be able to withstand my sword. Mitsu-chan told me that this thing was strong but I didn't expect this.

It hits me with a Zio attack, it seems stronger than what Makoto or Akihiko can do. I block it with my sword and Persona...

"ARGH!"

Damn that was too much, did I really block that!? The Reaper was getting ready to use more of its skills. Shit, I better start dodging! It threw a series of spells at me. One by one, I dodged some of them by the skin of my teeth. If I wasn't able to dodge them at all, I would block them with my sword and Persona. I halved most of the damage, but that didn't stop it from hurting tremendously. I'm tanking most of these attacks, and The Reaper looks ready to unleash a powerful attack. This is bad; if I don't do something, I'll-

All of a sudden, I see a teal-colored object move in front of me... "What are you doing!? ...Fuuka!?" I watched in horror for what Fuuka was doing.

"What are you doing, I told you to run!" "I'm sorry, I can't leave you." "WHY NOT!" She turns around to me... "Kazuki, you're the nicest person I have ever met, and the only to have ever cared for me."

"What...?"

"You always helped me, even when I was just a stranger, just another face to you..."

"Stop."

"But that didn't stop you. No, you accepted me with open arms."

"You don't know what you're doing!"

"...It-It made me happy. Happier than I ever felt before."

"PLEASE DON'T!"

The Reaper began to put one of its guns in the air.

"PLEASE, DON'T DO THIS!"

"So, before I die here..."

"YOU'RE NOT GONNA DIE HERE, I'M GONNA SAVE BOTH OF US, JUST DON'T DO THIS!"

"I..."

The Reaper pull the trigger and a bundle of energy began forming in the sky, only to descend to the ground.

"STOP IT!"

"...Love you."

My heart was crumbling, everything is crumbling. I can't let this happen, I can't let this thing take her away, I can't lose anyone ever again! I can't!

"I CAN'T LOSE YOU! FUUKA...!"

I run in front of the attack guarding her with my own life,

"I WON'T LOSE ANYONE ELSE!"

I never understood why, but when I was near Fuuka I felt happy but scared. I always wondered why until recently. I was scared to lose her for any reason. The more we grew closer together the more my feelings changed. As I grew affection towards her, the more I got scared of losing her. In the end, I almost did anyway. But now I realize that's not what I want, I want her in my life, I want her to still be there. I don't care how anyone else sees me, I just want her standing next to me because she's more than just a friend to me, but I love her!

"I WON'T LET ANYONE HURT THE PEOPLE I LOVE!"

I yell at the top of my lungs

"SKEEEITH!"

I yell out my Persona's name for the time. "Skeith". It appears in front of us and guards the two of us. I find it holding The Reaper's gun in place. The Reaper seems to be struggling to get my Persona's grip off its gun. I stand up with all the remaining energy I have left. A blue mist of energy surrounded me.

"Listen to me: I don't know if you're like the other shadow from the other night..."

"RAGHHH!"

"It seems like you do understand me, so listen up... I don't know how many of those shadows like the one on the train there is, but I'll say this! I vow to eradicate every single last one of them. More importantly, the one who will do this is standing right in front of you! And his name is Kazuki Kei."

I ball up my fist...

"Now show him your strength, Persona!"

The Reaper tried to shoot Fuuka and me with its other gun, but my Persona used its right leg to kick up the gun's long barrel to the air.

"You aren't hurting anyone today."

Skeith then punched the shadow in the face with great force, not enough to do damage but enough to send it flying back into the wall, stunning it in turn. This is our chance to run away.

"Fuuka." I put out my hand to her. "Come with me! I...I want you with me!"

"O-Okay." She takes my hand, I pull her up and we started running towards the stairs. While we were running I heard the reaper let out a chilling shrike

Hour: 3

I look over to Fuuka in concern after we both made it to the staircase on another floor.

"Are you okay?" I asked her as I tried to catch my breath.

"Mm-hmm."

"Good, I'm so glad."

I feel exhausted. The fight with The Reaper was more than enough for me, but fully awakening to my Persona did me in. But more importantly, I need to ask Fuuka about what she said to me before she almost sacrifices herself.

"Fuuka...before we almost got killed, you said you loved me... Did you mean it?"

She embarrassingly looked at me. She began to kick her feet together.

"I guess I was just hearing things, huh?"

"No, you weren't. I do mean it."

"Re-Really!?"

A funny feeling rises in my chest. The moment she says that I start to feel some sort of pull towards her.

I tried to move closer to her, but my knees gave out.

"Kazuki-kun!"

"I'm fine, I just need rest for a bit."

"Oh."

"You seem exhausted yourself? Do you wanna sit next to me?"

"I...um...I...!"

"I mean you don't need to."

"Actually, I...don't mind"

Fuuka sat down next to me. She was kind of cold to the touch. It was pretty cold in Tartarus, or at least for this particular floor. I took off my jacket and hoodie, so I can use them as blankets.

"It's warm."

"Well, thanks to my great and almighty hoodie, it'll keep you warm."

"What about the Gekkoukan jacket?"

"It has a lot of uses and it looks pretty sharp if I say so myself."

"It really does look good on you."

"Thank you," I smiled at her.

My eyes start to get heavy. I used way too much energy fighting, and I got hurt too much. Rest will do me some good. Before I fell asleep, I have to tell Fuuka something...

"Fuuka, I'm gonna sleep off the pain for a bit. But when I wake up, I'm gonna tell you everything, why I was being distant. And what my life was like back at Mikage-cho."

"I'll be waiting right here, next to you."

"Okay..."

Having said all that, I closed my eyes. I felt something clasped on top of my hand; I think I already know what it is but I still looked down nonetheless. Her hand was on mine. This made me blush, but I'm not embarrassed, and I have no reason to be.

?/?, The sea of Kazuki's soul

"Kazuki Kei, can you hear me?"

I look around, apparently, I'm in the sea of my soul with Philemon again.

"Yo, Philemon, what you need today?"

"Kazuki... We have more important things to discuss."