Saturday, June 27, 2009, 12:11PM
Gekkoukan High School, Rooftop

"You believe they are in Tartarus?" Mitsuru asked.

"If they were in the school at midnight, they'd end up there, right?" From the moment the younger, smaller girl had called SEES up to the school roof, she had been on top of Mitsuru. Every time Mitsuru tried to motion her back a bit, Shiomi would just ignore her and keep pressing. "And if you don't leave it, they'd still be in there, right? That's what Makoto said happened to you, right?"

"Not exactly." Mitsuru flicked a strand of hair out of her face. "Tartarus does not ever truly goes away. If you were to be inside when it ended, you would simply find yourself in the next Dark Hour, a full day having passed you by in an instant."

Yuki raised an eyebrow.

She turned away, obscuring her face from his eyes. "I have...personal experience with that happening."

Her eyes flickered towards the impassive blue-haired youth. Yuki stood, laying against the roof fence, calm, casual, not showing an ounce of remorse, more interested at watching the gathering clouds above them than the conversation.

Mitsuru stepped back away from Kotone, leaning back against the rooftop door. I suppose if I didn't want him to say anything I should have said so. "Yes, since Gekkoukan and Tartarus exist in a sort of superposition, if anyone is inside of the school when Tartarus appears, they are transported into it. The reverse, however, does not occur. If they did not manage to escape Tartarus via the entrance before the Dark Hour ended, they not would return to Gekkoukan."

"Wouldn't they just be in their coffins?" Takeba asked, eyes narrowed and staring directly at Mitsuru's own. "I mean, I doubt even one person in that group would have the Potential, let alone all of them."

"...ordinarily yes." Mitsuru said through gritted teeth, cursing how everyone's eyes were on her, especially the juniors. She knew they were silently questioning her and judging her and wondering why she looked so uncomfortable, and- "but for some reason, if you end up in Tartarus, you cannot form a coffin."

Shiomi bit her lip. "Which leaves you vulnerable to Shadows. All of them, they're-" her voice cracking before she could finish.

Akihiko placed his hand on her shoulder. "Have faith, they've only been in there for, at most, an hour. A little more when we get there tonight. There's still hope they're alive."

"That's still a hell of a long time for noncombatants to survive against Shadows." Shinjiro muttered. Akihiko turned to him and glared. Shinjiro rolled his eyes and held up his hands in defeat.

"There's nothing we can do except wait until tonight and go check it out." Yuki said. "Best case scenario, they've managed to avoid any Shadows." The unstated corollary to that was understood by them all.

Gekkoukan already had to bury a teacher, Mitsuru prayed they wouldn't also have to bury students.

Iori stepped forward. "I got a question." Everyone turned to him. "Does it matter where they were when Tartarus sprouts up? Like, if they were in the gym when the Dark Hour began, and we're in the gym tonight, would that take us to where they were?"

"I.. think so. Although I am not certain." Out of the corner of her eye she could see Takeba roll her eyes and mutter something to Yuki, with Yamagishi quietly scolding her.

Iori slowly nodded. "Aight." She could see the gears in his head turning, and found herself agreeing with his proposed plan.

"So it's settled then?" Akihiko asked. "We're scouting out Tartarus tonight for the..." he turned to Kotone, "how many people should be there?"

"Should be...a dozen, I think?" She said. "That's how many girls were gonna go when they talked it over with me."

He nodded. "Right. We'll rescue all twelve of them, no doubt." He said with conviction in his voice. "Everyone, be ready for tonight."

They all signaled their agreement and disbanded.


Fuuka heard a rhythmic tap tap tap from across the dinner table. Kotone was constantly shuffling in her seat, fiddling with her pencil, flipping between pages of her textbooks, tapping her shoes against the floor, and not once writing anything down. Her jaw was clenched shut, and her shoulders were tensed up, as if she was about to jump and run out of the dorm at any minute.

Fuuka moved her gaze to Yukari at the table's end, also glancing at Kotone.

"Kotone-chan." She looked up, red eyes narrowed and brow furrowed. "It's going to be OK." Fuuka said, smiling and trying to assuage her friend.

Kotone forced herself to put up a small, strained smile before mumbling something out. They heard the sounds of the door opening, and Mitsuru announcing her return. Immediately Kotone sprung out of her seat and run for the entrance. "Senpai!"

Mitsuru flinched upon seeing Kotone sprinting towards her. "Y-Yes?"

"Can I talk to you upstairs, please?" Kotone asked.

"Yes, of course." When Kotone didn't move outside of her personal space, Mitsuru coughed and motioned her to go. The younger girl turned and power-walked her way across the room and up the stairs. As Mitsuru passed Yukari and Fuuka, she saw that both had worry and pity etched on their faces.

As Mitsuru walked to the top of the stairs, without turning around Kotone simple stated, "I'm going tonight."

"Shiom-" Kotone swung around immediately, her red eyes, on the verge of tears, and burning with anger.

"I'm going." She said, defiantly. "These are my friends, and my teammates. If I went with them yesterday, I could've stopped them from ending up in Tartarus. This is my fault, and it's my responsibility to bring them back." Her voice cracking as she finished.

Mitsuru opened her mouth to object, but instead just closed her eyes and sighed. "Alright, I understand."

Kotone sniffed. "You-You do?"

Mitsuru nodded. "I do." She silently walked past Kotone and went up to the next floor.


"It's weird." Junpei said as they arrived right outside the gates of Gekkoukan.

Makoto tilted his head. "What is?"

"Us going to Tartarus is pretty normal nowadays, but sneaking into the school before the ol' tower of demise sprouts up, it's like, wrong." He scratched his chin. "I dunno how to explain it."

Yukari sighed. "I get what you mean." She looked carefully around the entrance, making sure no one spotted the large group of teenagers. "Usually by the time we arrive, the Dark Hour is here and there's no one to see us coming or leaving."

"Speaking of," Kirijo turned to Junpei, "Iori, when we were coming here, you said you had a plan to get into the school, correct?"

Junpei nodded. "Mmhmm." He walked up to the door and opened it. "Tadaa. I had Kotone do the same with club rooms."

"So...you just unlocked it?" She asked, surprised by the simplicity of his plan.

"Yep." Junpei said with a grin.

She shook her head. "I think I ought to be upset with you, Iori, but," she tossed up her hands in defeat, "it worked, so c'est la vie I suppose."

Junpei scratched his head as she entered the school. "Huh? Say lah vee? The hell's that mean?"

"Something foreign." Makoto answered.

"Well I can say foreign stuff too, you know. Vamos juntos!"


They arrived at their positions ten minutes to midnight. Makoto, Kotone, Junpei and Shinjiro snuck into the girl's volleyball club room, while Yukari, Kirijo, Sanada, and Fuuka went to the girl's fencing club room.

Ordinarily SEES operated under a single four-man team exploring Tartarus, while remaining members stayed on the ground floor. But tonight Kirijo deemed it necessary for everyone to go.

The minutes crawled by glacially, as they sat quietly in the unlit rooms.

"Is it too late to use the bathroom?" Makoto asked, trying to lighten the mood.

"Now!?" Shinjiro yelled, before being smacked by Kotone who shushed him.

"I can hold it in." Makoto said stoically. "I promise."

"Worse case scenario, you can go in Tartarus." Junpei said. "I don't think it'll come back with us."

Shinjiro's face wrinkled in disgust. "That's foul, please don't do that."

"Wouldn't be the worst thing I saw at a school in midnight." Junpei said. "At least there's no ghost this time."

Shinjiro turned to him, eyes narrowed. "I'm sorry, did you just say ghost?"

"Yeah." Junpei said. "Did I ever tell you how back in middle school I st-"


"Ow..." Fuuka pushed herself off of the floor. Her head and body ached. She felt like she was covered in a thick layer of mud and mucus. All around her were dark cramped hallways with checkerboard floors. This is...the first block of Tartarus? I must have passed out when the Dark Hour arrived.

She clapped her hands together and summoned her Persona. "Anyone, can you hear me? Is there anyone nearby?"

"Fuuka? Is that you?" Yukari's voice chimed out.

"I can sense you Yukari-chan, just wait, I'll come to you."

"Alright."

The halls of Tartarus had an oppressive air to them that was thicker and more pronounced than anywhere else in the Dark Hour. As she navigated the halls, Fuuka remembered her first few nights training with SEES. While most of them were responsible for fighting and climbing the tower, Fuuka's powers lacked much, if any, combat potential. She had only climbed the tower a few times, enough to get accustomed to the feeling of Tartarus, before Mitsuru switched to training her personally to use her Persona in a support role.

Part of that training was learning to weather the nauseating sensations that came with scanning the depths of Tartarus. She remembered first time she summoned Lucia and tried to peer into the tower. The mere presence of the Shadows in the tower, it was like snakes crawling up her back, ants writhing around in her hair, and boiling water being poured in her eyes.

Fuuka shuddered, breathing in and out carefully as she navigated the halls. Back then, I was so afraid, even with them around to protect me. I could barely enter Tartarus without trembling in terror. But now, I feel like I can do this. I can help save these people. I can do anything so long as I have Lucia and the others with me. She giggled. So much has changed in such a short time. She mused as she turned and saw Yukari, who waved to her.

"Did you pass out too?" Fuuka nodded. "Tch, figures that she wouldn't warn us about that." Yukari muttered.

"Yukari-chan..." Fuuka grimaced. Even when she first joined, Fuuka could tell Yukari had...negative feelings about Kirijo-senpai. At first it wasn't too obvious, but as time went on, she only became more open and blunt about her distaste and distrust towards their senpai.

She shook her head. "It's fine, let's find everyone els-"

"Chika-chan!" They heard someone yell off in the distance. "Can you hear me!?" The two looked at each other. "Chika-chan please wake up!" They ran for the source of the noise.


"Chika-chan!" Kotone yelled. "Can you hear me!?" Kotone shook her friend, trying to snap her out of it. "Chika-chan please wake up!"

The brown-haired girl sat on the ground, completely listless. Her normally black eyes were gray and blurry, unfocused and constantly blinking. She made a few quiet groans, but eventually stopped and became completely mute, responding to nothing that Kotone said or did.

"Kotone!" She turned and saw Fuuka and Yukari running towards her. "Is that...?"

Kotone turned to her friend. "I-I don't know what's wrong with her. She doesn't seem physically injured, and I heard her mumbling something at first, but it's like she's comatose. Almost like...Apathy Syndrome."

"I think being in Tartarus might have done damage to her psyche." Fuuka said. "Even just being here makes my soul feel tainted, I can't imagine what it's like for someone without a Persona."

Kotone wrapped her arms around Chika's back and legs, lifting her up. "Fuuka, you use Lucia and look for any nearby people, Yukari, you're covering us, understand?" Both girls quietly signaled their agreement. "Good, let's go."


High pitched shrieks and wails flooded the halls of Tartarus, as dozens of Shadows, all of them writhing black vicious blobs, slithered away before being incinerated with a single blast of fire.

"I hate these stupid things." Junpei grumbled as he limped forward, two unconscious girls slung over his shoulder, and another two hauled by Hermes. "I hate, hate, hate these little bastards."

"It could be worse." Makoto said. He carried one girl in his arms as Orpheus remained behind him, ready to strike the wayward Shadows that appeared every few minutes.

"It could be better!" He snapped.

Makoto rolled his eyes. "They only have strength in numbers, imagine if these girls were passed out a few dozen floors up and we had to fight Shadows that could actually put up a fight."

"Yeah, wel-" Junpei winced as he put too much pressure on his right foot. "Shit."

"Want me to heal you again?" Makoto offered.

"It's fine." He grumbled out.

Makoto shrugged. "Hold on," he said, pointing to their left, "I think see a teleporter over there."

Junpei tilted his head up and yelled at the heavens. "Thank God!"

As they stepped into the portal and warped back to the bottom floor, they found Kirijo and Sanada, with one of the girls standing next to them. "Yo." Makoto greeted them as the two lifted them down to the ground.

"Geez." Sanada smirked. "You guys already rescued more people than us."

"Yeah it don't feel that way." Junpei groused as he sat down, massaging his ankle. "Feels like I wandered around forever, getting cheap-shot by these wimpy-ass Shadows every three seconds."

Makoto scratched his neck. "I'm pretty sure we had to fight a hundred of these things. That is not hyperbole by the way"

Sanada chuckled. "Well, just consider it the fruits of your training, if you can go through these floors that easy."

Makoto chuckled and turned to Kirijo. "Do you know where everyone else is?"

She nodded. "Takeba, Shiomi, and Yamagishi are around floor fifteen and looking for the remaining..." she paused and counted, "six members. Shinjiro went up to assist not too long ago."

"You want us to go up to them?" Junpei asked as forced himself up.

"I want you to rest." She said, voice brooking no opposition. Junpei looked away, grumbling again.

Makoto turned to the girl that was with the seniors when they arrived. Her long black hair and face looked familiar. "This girl, is she..." he closed his eyes and thought for a moment, "Rio-san?"

"Mmm." The girl's eyes were foggy and narrowed, but for a second they had a spark of life to them. "Mmhmm."

Junpei hobbled over to her and waved his hand in her face. "Wow, she's the only chick who's actually responded to, like, anything we've said."

"People without the potential normally cannot be in the Dark Hour." Kirijo explained. "With them being forced out of their coffins by Tartarus' power, I suppose you could liken it to them being trapped between dream and reality. Neither fully awake or asleep."

"But why is she, like, more awake than them?" Junpei asked.

The red-haired girl put her hand to her chin. "Perhaps she was a stronger force of will than them? I couldn't tell you."

Any questions they had were interrupted by the sounds of the teleporter buzzing. Fuuka, Kotone, Shinjiro, and Yukari appeared, carrying six girls.

"Hallelujah!" Junpei yelled out.

Shinjiro grunted as he lowered the girls down. "Is that everyone?"

Kotone quickly counted. "Yeah." She collapsed to her knees. "Oh thank God." She clasped her hands over her face. "I thought that was going to go so much worse."

"Well, all's well that ends well, I guess." Junpei said. "We got all twelve people, so I guess we can go home now ri-."

"It's thirteen." Rio mumbled out. They all froze. "Thirteen people went."

Kotone's eyes went wide. "Huh? W-What do you mean by that Rio-chan?" She grabbed her friend by the shoulders. "What do you mean thirteen people!?"

"Fujiyama-san...she didn't want to go...came at the last minute...go upset...left right before midnight."

Fuuka quickly summoned her Persona and began scanning.

"Shit, shit, shit." Kotone muttered.

Sanada grimaced. "How much time do we have left Mitsuru?"

Mitsuru pulled out her watch. "Twenty-five minutes." She announced to everyone. "It should be more than enough time if she is located on a lower floor." She shook her head. "I was hoping we might be able to deliver these girls to somewhere safe before the Dark Hour ended to avoid the risk of them or anyone else asking us too many questions."

"She's on floor sixty-one." Fuuka announced. "The nearest teleporter is two floor below."

Kotone bolted for the teleporter, ignoring the yells of the others.

"Damn it!" Mitsuru yelled as she disappeared.

"D-Do we go after her?" Junpei asked.

Everyone looked to Kirijo for guidance.

She froze for a moment, as she tried to gather her thoughts. "Here's the plan. Iori," she turned to the boy, "do you think you're in well enough condition to protect Yamagishi and all of these girls should a Shadow arrive?" He nodded, eyes filled with determination. "Good." She turned to the others. "The rest of us are going as one unit. We're rescuing this Fujiyama girl and dragging Shiomi back by her ears if we must." Before anyone could answer, she stomped off to the teleporter, rapier in hand.


"Out of my way!" Kotone screamed as she slashed apart two eagle Shadows with her naginata. A Shadow resembling a scale shot alternating blasts of wind and lightning at her. Kotone narrowly avoided each attack, jumping and rolling to the side, timing her movements to just before the Shadow's attacks charged up. Once she got within range, she stab right through the Shadow, killing it instantly.

In the air above her, three of the seven remaining cupid-like Shadows flew into position and began to bombard her with arrows once more. She dropped her weapon, ducking and weaving as several of the arrows nicked her. The moment the three paused to reload their bows, Kotone pulled out her Evoker and fired. "Elea!

Above Kotone appeared a slender feminine, humanoid figure. Her body was a dark green with lime-colored vertical stripes running down her body. Her lips and the visor over her eyes were as black as obsidian tortoise she rode. As the cupid-like Shadows fired on her again, Elea flipped upside-down, using the belly of the tortoise as a shield against their arrows.

"Eat this, Mahama!" Elea flipped once more, shooting out a wide arc of light from her hands that engulfed and destroyed the Shadows.

She picked up her naginata and ran forward, summoning Elea once more to heal her. "Just a little bit longer." She said between breaths. "I'm almost there."

A Shadow resembling a titanic rhinoceros beetle flew in from behind her, and perched itself on the bottom of the stairs. Its body was glittering and golden. Atop its back was a bright red crown.

"I said, get out of my fucking way!" Kotone screamed as she pulled out her Evoker once more. Elea held out her hand and sent out a blast of light at the Shadow, which dodged by flying under the attack and going straight for Kotone. She held up her naginata and braced for impact.

"Agilao!" A fireball flew right over Kotone's head and smashed right into the Shadow, knocking the bug back and exploding once it hit the ground. She turned back and saw Makoto, Yukari, Shinjiro, Mitsuru, and Akihiko.

"Guys!"

"What the hell were you thinking, Shiomi!" Mitsuru yelled as she pulled out her Evoker. "Running off like that, I should-" The Shadow emerged from the fire, the fluttering of its wings fanning away the flame as it prepared to attack again. Mitsuru's eyes narrowed. "Akihiko and I will take this lout. The rest of you go ahead." Her eyes met Kotone's. "We will have a discussion about this later, trust me."

Kotone gulped. "R-Right."

Mitsuru and Akihko readied their Evokers. "Penthesilea!"

"Polydeuces!"

The five ran under the two Personas and the Shadow as they clashed in the air.


"Damn." Shinjiro huffed out as he saw the enemy before them. "That's one big motherfucker."

A lone titanic Shadow, measuring twice as tall as Shinjiro, stood at the other end of the room, blocking the path forward to the last girl. It resembled a knight merged with a horse, not unlike Castor. Its left arm was a lance measuring as long as Castor was tall. For a split-second, an iridescent purple light emitted from its right hand.

"Be ca...ul ev...one, I sense a ...at power from this Shadow. It ….. to be stro... aga..."

"Fuuka!" Kotone yelled. "We can't hear you, you're breaking up!"

Shinjiro held up his Evoker. "Get ready." He said through heavy breaths. The Shadow held out its right hand and began to cast another spell. "Castor!"

The Persona rushed towards the Shadow, and the Shadow rushed at them. With extraordinary speed, it smashed straight into Castor with its lance, and forced him back with barely any resistance. Makoto, Yukari, and Kotone dodged out of the way as Shinjiro swung his axe straight at the Shadow, trying in vain to hold him back alongside Castor.

"Garula!" Yukari willed Io into existence and attacked the Shadow's back. But her blasts of winds seemingly dispersed before they hit it. "What!?" With renewed strength, the Shadow roared and flung Shinjiro and Castor off, both smashing into a wall hard enough to leave cracks.

"Senpai!" Kotone yelled. She turned to her two classmates and quickly issued orders. "Makoto, use Cadenza! Yukari, try to snipe it from behind!" As soon as she gave her order, she dropped her naginata and ran around the Shadow.

Makoto summoned Orpheus and send Cadenza's healing waves throughout the room. With rejuvenated strength and speed, Kotone deftly dodged a series of wind blasts from the Shadow. It soon turned its attention towards Yukari's arrows.

"I think it can absorb wind attacks." He said as both he and Yukari prepared to dodge out of the way of its charge. "Let me try this." As soon as Orpheus finished playing his lyre, Makoto dashed forward, narrowly dodging another stab of his lance. He jumped and grabbed onto the horse head, holding onto it as best as he could while the Shadow ran. "Agilao!"

Just as Orpheus reappeared with a ball of fire in his hands, the Shadow halted and quickly cast another spell unto itself with its free hand. As soon as Orpheus' fireball flew out of his hands, it reflected back onto him and Makoto.

"Ahhhhhh!" He roared in pain as took the explosion at point-blank range head on.

"Makoto!" Yukari screamed. She watched in horror as Makoto was sent flying back, rolling on the ground with most of his jacket and shirt burned away. Heavy red burns covered his torso. She summoned Io, but was intercepted by a blast of wind from the Shadow before she could reach him.

The moment Kotone finished healing the bleeding and unconscious Shinjiro, she turned back and saw the precarious state of her comrades. Her pupils shrunk until they were no thicker than a needle, and her body trembled with barely restrained fury. "You son of a bitch." Kotone snarled under her breath. "You son of a bitch, I'll kill you!"

She fired her Evoker and summoned Elea. The Persona flew towards the Shadow. It turned its attention away from Yukari for a moment, only to see Elea kick the tortoise into its face, cracking its mask. It let out an unearthly roar as it grabbed its head and began to writhe in pain. "Elea! Destroy him!" Kotone began to repeatedly assault it with Hamaon. "Just fucking die already!"

Each blast of light smashed into the Shadow with the force of a cannon, knocking it to the ground and sending it back further and further. But each hit also became weaker, and every consecutive Hamaon made Kotone struggle to keep Elea active. After the sixth hit, she fell to her knees and had to gasp for air.

The Shadow slowly got up, and upon Kotone summoning Elea once more, dispelled it with a glancing blow.

"Shit!" Kotone grit her teeth, ignoring the pain in her side, and ran at it. "Come get some!" She screamed as she began to attack it with her naginata.

Yukari kept looking back and forth between Makoto and the fight. "Shit." She bit her lip. "Makoto, can you just hold on for a few seconds without Io?"

"Do it." Makoto said between sharp, pained breaths. His eyes were hazy, and his body was shivering, even with Io's healing waves. "It's fine."

She looked back at the Shadow as Kotone repeatedly parried its lance with her naginata, each hit knocking her back further and further. "Alright."

She took out her bow and aimed carefully.

"Hiyah!" As the Shadow missed a thrust and jammed its weapon into the ground, Kotone ran up the lance and thrust her naginata directly into its mask, only barely missing as it moved its head to the right. As she stumbled forward, the Shadow sucker-punched her into the midsection, knocking her away.

"Bingo." Yukari shot an arrow directly above its left eye, right in the center of where the mask's crack was.

In an instant, the Shadow fell to the ground, and disintegrated entirely.

"Hello? Hello!" Fuuka's voice reappeared. "Can you hear me!?"

"Yeah." Yukari said as she fell to her knees and re-summoned Io. "We can hear you Fuuka-chan."