His body trembled. He couldn't remember ever feeling this small, this weak, like the slightest breeze would send him flying away.
But there was no wind in the air, and the air itself tasted of rust and mold. There was no light, aside from the murky green glow of the moon itself. The only sounds he could hear were the faint echos of unearthly shrieks, the roars of guns firing, of metal hitting metal.
The only warmth he felt was his parent's blood, pooling at his knees as they lay dead beside him.
As he looked up, all he could see at the end of the bridge was a corpse crawling towards them, blood and oil pouring of its body, wires and entrails dragging across the street, a broken jaw opened wide enough that he could see down its throat, with its lone dead blue eye staring at him.
He couldn't move. He couldn't breath. All he could do was sit here, and it crawled ever closer, and closer, and-
Makoto jolted out of his sleep, body and bed doused in sweat, as he huffed for air. The light had only begun to trickle into his room. His body felt like it was boiling. He was alive. He wasn't at the bridge. He wasn't going to die.
"Damn it." Makoto bit his lip as his body shook. "Damn it."
He hugged his knees, tears mixing with sweat as he breathed in deeply, trying calm himself.
"Damn it." He muttered one final time before standing up and straggling to the bathroom, desperate to wash off the sweat, and praying the water could cleanse him for good.
Thursday, July 23, 2009, 12:45PM
Yakushima Mansion, Common Area
"Can't believe we're already leaving." Junpei sighed as he lugged his suitcases downstairs. "Maaaaaan, it feels like we just got here." He sat down next to Yukari.
Makoto shrugged. All of his things were neatly packed next to him on the sofa. "Feels like we've been here for weeks." He muttered, his body nearly sunken into the sofa.
"Weeks!?" Junpei shook his head. "Bro, you're loco if you actually think that."
Makoto crossed his arms. "Nuh-uh."
"What'dya mean 'nuh-uh'?"
"Nuh-uh."
Yukari rolled her eyes. "You know, our lives have been pretty insane for a while now." She said. "It's gotten to the point I'm almost numb to it all. Robots, and time science, and alternate universes," she shook her head, "I still can't believe they're things that actually exist."
"I guess." Makoto mumbled.
She looked at him with narrowed eyes. "Doesn't any of this stuff even, like, bother you?"
Makoto shrugged again. "It changes nothing for me."
"I wish I had your ability to stay cool under pressure, dude." Junpei's head hung between his knees. "I am not excited to go home, or to see my grades."
Yukari inhaled sharply. "Oh crap, yeah."
"Think you did bad?" Makoto asked.
She looked away. "Not bad, just...worse."
He nodded. "Unfortunately, I think I did the same."
"Me three." Junpei said solemnly.
Friday, July 24, 2009, 7:30AM
Iwatodai Dormitory, 2nd floor, Makoto's Room
Makoto looked in the mirror one last time, making sure he looked presentable for the last two days of school before break, and sat down. He glanced at his phone, checking the time. As he noticed the date, he narrowed his eyes and frowned.
Three months from today will be the anniversary, and I still haven't even...he closed his eyes and sighed.What the hell am I doing? The whole reason I even came back to Iwatodai was to go back there. I've had months to do it, I've stepped on the damn thing fighting Justice. He snapped his phone shut and stood up.I've got two and a half weeks before I'm going home to visit Aunt Yae and Uncle Daisuke. I have to do this before then. I have to have something to show to them, to myself.
"Damn." Makoto narrowed his eyes as he found his results. "Third place."
"At least you scored in the top five." Kotone muttered as she peaked over the other student's shoulders. "I'm lucky number seven over here."
"Looks like we fell by the same amount." He scanned through the list. "Where is Yuka-oh."
Kotone shook her head. "Nineteenth place. In the words of Junpei, that's no bueno. "
"Where do you think he is?"
She shrugged. "No clue, and we don't have all day to look."
"I guess."
"You sure you don't need anything else?" Kotone asked as they dropped the last box into Aigis' room. The last unused room on the third floor was bequeathed to their newest member, with most of it filled to the brim with boxes that had arrived today.
"I do not require anything in particular at this current moment." Aigis stated, wearing a casual pink dress that Kotone foisted on her. "Chairman Ikutsuki and Kirijo-san have stated they will furnish my room with similar diagnostic apparatuses to those on Yakushima."
Kotone nodded, pretending like she understood what either word meant. "Well, if you need anything, you can always come to my room."
"Affirmative." She bowed exactly thirty degrees as they left.
"That was a lot of stuff, eh?" Akihiko asked.
Shinjiro shrugged. "She's a 'bot, who knows what kind of crazy things she needs just to function, let alone to fight. I think I saw two whole boxes full of flak jackets in there."
Kotone snorted. "Did you see how Makoto and Junpei almost blew out their backs trying to lift that case filled with her weapons?"
"Yeah." Shinjiro let out a low chuckle.
Akihiko smiled and shook his head. "For such an advanced machine, it's kind of funny how she's going to fight with a kanabo of all things."
Shinjiro shrugged. "If it works, it works. Besides, you saw how much crap she can lift with one hand. Girl's going to be hitting more home runs than Iori."
The other two laughed. As the three arrived downstairs they overheard the ending of the other junior's conversation.
"Well," Junpei tipped his hat, "I got in the top half, so I got my wish. I can't complain, no matter how much I want to."
Yukari snorted. "How high above the middle were you?" Junpei looked away and held up a single finger. "Oh, wow," her eyes went wide, "I was going to make a joke about that."
"A win is a win." Makoto said. "As long as you pass, there's nothing to be ashamed of."
"Yeah." Junpei mumbled.
"I managed to keep my grades steady." Fuuka said, a hint of pride in her voice. She turned to their new arrivals. "How about you senpai?"
Shinjiro sat down and grunted. "The less said, the better."
"Not great, but Mitsuru probably won't chew me out over it." Akihiko said. "I don't know if you guys noticed, but even she dropped down to second place this year. The other seniors were gossiping about it all day. It was a real pain having people bug me about it."
Junpei whistled. "Damn, even the boss lady herself is struggling with all the crap we gotta do."
"Things are only going to get harder going forward." Shinjiro said. His eyes lazily wandered over to Yukari. "By the way, did they fill you and Makoto in on the stuff you missed a couple days ago?"
She nodded, thankful that he didn't point out she missed it because she stormed off. "Yeah, they gave me a summary. How Shadows work, where they come from, and how they're pretty sure that all of the Full Moon Shadows originated from that artificial Shadow."
"I still don't get why it exploded and created them." Junpei confessed. "I was listening, I just didn't get it."
"It wasn't supposed to exist in the first place." Akihiko shook his head. "Shadows are born of the human mind, they're- well I don't want to say natural phenomena, but they're something born from our repressed thoughts and desires, our subconscious. For something like that to be consciously made by human hands, it's an aberration, it just shouldn't be. Its very existence was a contradiction that couldn't exist for long."
Makoto sunk in his seat, eyes lost in thought.
"Classic mad science." Junpei said. "They meddled in things they shouldn't have, and now we all gotta pay the price."
On the seventy-fifth floor, at the end of the hall, a lone Shadow blocked their way to the stairs. Its body resembled that of a wrestler, one that stood exactly three meters tall, with pitch black skin that accented by golden hair, thighs, and boots. On the opposite end of the hall stood Kotone, Mitsuru, Makoto, and Aigis.
"Alright, Aigis," Kotone pointed at the flexing Shadow, "time for you to show us what you're made of!"
Aigis thrust her hand forward as the Shadow charged at her. "Atalanta!"
A red-haired woman with pupil-less obsidian eyes and chalk-white skin emerged. Thin blue pulsing lines extended out from her whirring mechanical silver heart, all visible through her thin white tunic. The tips of her fingers had holes measuring ten millimeters each. Her legs ended in dark blue ice skates, with the blade of the skates being a dark crimson.
Atalanta pointed at him with all ten fingers, firing a volley of bullets at the Shadow. It held up its arms, protecting its mask as it was pelted by her attacks. Aigis and Atalanta ran forward, the former going left and swinging her kanabo at the Shadow's leg, crushing it in one blow, while her Persona went right and kicked at it, slicing off its arm.
The Shadow roared it fell to the ground. Aigis smashed her kanabo into one of its legs as she stomped on its other leg and remaining arm. "Holy Arrow!" Atalanta's heart glowed a bright blue, and blasted through the Shadow's head, destroying it.
Kotone whistled. "Damn, now that's what I call a spicy meatball!"
Mitsuru nodded, confused at her compatriot's manner of praise, but not drawing attention to it. "Impressive work Aigis."
"I am glad my performance was satisfactory." Aigis stated. "Do you wish for us to continue our expedition and eliminate more Shadows?"
Mitsuru shook her head. "No, all I needed to see was a practical demonstration of your abilities. We'll be returning via the teleporter."
"Understood." The two walked away as Kotone stayed behind with Makoto.
"Maaaaan." Kotone shook with excitement. "Every time I think Aigis can't get any cooler, she proves me wrong!"
"Yeah." Makoto mumbled, as he stared at her blonde hair and wondered.
Merry Christmas and happy holidays everyone. Sorry that the chapter is a bit shorter this time around, things have been a bit busy for me. This will be the last chapter of the year, updates will resume sometime in January, hopefully sooner rather than later, and I wish you all well.
Persona Compendium:
Atalanta: The fastest mortal alive, she was raised by bears after being abandoned by her father as a baby. She was the only woman among the Argonauts, and, along with her future husband Hippomenes, was among those who killed the Calydonian boar. As punishment for the sin of sacrilege, she and her husband were transformed into lions.