CHAPTER 29 THE SOUL OF AN ANGEL
It was very slow walk for Yu as he closer and closer to the abandoned house and the closer he got the more he felt a large heaviness in his heart. he had absolutely no idea what would be waiting for him once he got into the tv, not only was he doing this without his friends this time but he also wondered what would happen once he got in. this time the victim was Irina a young priestess whose always smiling and cheerful...what kind of demons dose a girl like her have to hide...and what kind of secrets did they want to torcher her with.
"I just hope I find her in time" Yu said, "though there is no more fog to appear, I still worry for the girls safety" Izanagi said " there's no telling how this will go" Cybele said in concern " this could still very well be a trap for you my master" "I know but still I can't take that chance if Irina really is in the tv world then I can't just leave her" Yu said with determination. eventually Yu came up to the abandoned house that looked pretty dark and quiet " I do not sense anything nefarious within the building" Gabrial said, " ...but" " don't worry I know be careful" Yu said
After some more walking Yu finally made it to the abandoned house witch honestly looks like a nice house it was fairly large two-story house with blue wood for walls and a large chimney, think of any suburban home you've might've seen in your life and your seeing what Yu was. It was dark and very quiet, and his personas didn't sense any other livening beings in the house still Yu checked to see if he was going to find any blood trails or dead bodies. Thankfully he found neither, after his search he went to the only place that had the tv on, the living room, the tv was on but all it showed was buzzing and, on the table, there was a note on a laptop that said, "switch me on" so Yu did and what immediately appeared on the screen was someone he hoped he never have to see again "Adachi!" Yu screamed angerly "hello hero" Adachi says with a cocky grin "looks like you finally made it i put that young girl in the tv a while ago she could be dead by now you know?" Adachi said "what. the. hell. Adachi?" Yu said, "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING? you said were done with doing this you said you'll abide to rules of this world and here we are again, you putting ANOTHER young girl in the tv!" " hey come on give me a brake tough guy it's just a job and besides now you get another chance to be the big hero again your welcome" Yu clenches his fist tightly in anger " ...Adachi" "alright alright calm down, look you already know where she is and if your smart you'll find your way out" Adachi said "that's not the-" "oh I should tell you the girls a little exposed in the chest area so you might wanna covering her up" "...Adachi tell me you didn't..." "hehehe ok I won't bye now hero" and the screen shuts off "grrr danm you Adachi I swear if Irina gets hurt..." Yu takes a deep breath calming himself down "I can't worry about him right now ill deal with him later right now Irina needs help" Yu walks over to the tv and stuck his hand inside " ok let's do this" with a deep breath and jumps right in.
The first thing that Yu sees is a vast open field full of sunflowers under a bright sunny with a light breeze, and then he notices he's on a path with one way looking like it goes on forever through the field, the other is leading towards a very large white building that looks to be a grand church that had the starting bells ringing. "Huh you know I honestly don't know if this is just the tv world or a world she created in her mind it's both beautiful and really soothing." Yu said, " it does look kind of like home I honestly thought her whole sunny and cheerful personality was all an act but seeing this" sylph said, "yea it makes me even more nervous on what I'm gonna see" Yu said, and then he hears a familiar voice screaming "NO SHUT UP!" "Oh, crap that was Irina it came from that church!" "Master we must make haste" Michle said "yea" and Yu rushes over to the church doors and kicks them open.
Inside Yu can see the interior of the church looks kind of like the one he had to save Asia from only it looked so much more brand new and well kept, beautiful tapestry lined the walls, stained glass sparkled and shined in the room, and the wooded chairs numbered in hundreds all gracefully carved into a very nice design, and at the end of the room he saw two figures one a young orange haired girl in a skin tight battle suit that's been ripped up that was kneeling and shaking her head in despair, the other figure the same young girl only she was standing on the churches podium Wareing a priests robs, and one striking difference the figure on the podium and a self-centered sinister smile and looking on the other with glowing yellow eyes.
"Oh, crap its Irina and her shadows already emerged" Yu said, "this is bad my lord it looks close to being berserk" Michel said, "I know I have to hurry" and Yu rushes over to Irina.
"Oh god please forgive me for i have been a horrid sinner" shadow Irina said sarcastically "stop! just stop! that's not true!" Irina said, "you see I actually never cared or loved ANYTHING about you, going to church was not only super boring but it was a total waste of time!" " n..no...that's not-" "And I just HATE how my parents forced me into this life, it wasn't even my choice to begin with! but they kept pushing and preaching and saying all kind of crap like its what's best for me! UGGHHH, I hate them, I hate the church! I hate God most of all!" "NO! that's not true you lie!" ohhhh really is that what you really believe?" "Huh?" "You know danm well what I'm saying is the truth, screw the heavens angles and the church two! you're sick of both of them especially on how they tried to control your life, " t-they...didn't..." "oh and the whole I'm so happy and cheerful act was a load of shit two wasn't it?" Irina looks at her shadow in confusion " Oh yes mister priest I would love to take on this VERY dangerous because I wanna serve God as best as I can" the shadow says mocking Irina " HAHAHAHA what a complete joke!" "H-How do you?" " Be honest you didn't come on this ridiculous mission to serve God or whatever you only came to get away from it all. the church, your parents you couldn't stand being around them did you!?" " ...n-no..." "It makes you angry, doesn't it? how your whole entire life was stolen from you, you never got to experience school, what it's like to fall in love, hell the only thing that made you actually happy was taken from you to. that so called "best friend" you seem to cherish sooooo much and if that wasn't bad enough you got replaced by that same exact "best friend" with someone else and completely forgotten and never even thought of you" Irina was shook to the core hearing that to the point where she almost didn't breath "Hehe Yea that's right deep down you know I'm right you wish none of it ever happened heaven the church even god himself deep down you wish they would all burn don't you? you want all of them to burn all the way ground. hehehe I can do that you know After all I am you!" "no...NO! YOUR...YOUR NOT..." "WAIT STOP IRINA DONT!" Yu shouted in desperation " YOUR NOT ME YOU SINNFUL ABOMINATION!" A very dark blue aura starts to grow around the shadow" hmhmhmhmh AHAHAHAHAHAHA YEA IM NOT YOU ANYMORE, AM I?" a dark mass of energy then starts to surround the shadow making it grow bigger and bigger and its voice becomes deeper and more monstrous "IM MY OWN SELF NOW AND YOU ARE NOTHING BUT A WEAK IMATATION!" "danm it I'm too late the shadows going berserk" Yu said with frustration. The dark energy explodes revealing the shadow in its most powerful state. It was no longer a teenage girl it was a large woman like being cladded in black and red armor wielding a large sword covered in red fire, the skin on her face was pale white, and her long crimson red hair was completely covered in red fire, and from her back were large menacing wings, and just like her hair was also crimson red and completely covered in red fire. and with red glowing eyes she looks at Irina ready to kill her
ENTER - PERSONA 4 OST (ILL FACE MY SELF)
" I AM A SHADOW THE TRUE SELF! I AM DONE LETTING THE CHURCH CONTROL HOW I LIVE! I WILL BURN IT ALL DOWN TO THE GROUND!" She looks at Irina with a murderous glare "AND ILL DO IT WITHOUT YOU IN MY WAY!" The shadow swings her sword and hurled a large fire ball at Irina. but thanks to Yu's quick reflexes he managed to tackle Irina out the way making the fire ball go over their heads "PERSONA!" Yu shouted summoning Izanagi to fight off the shadow. Izanagi and the shadow collided with a thundering clash of their weapons, they both look at each other in an intense struggle "Hehe oh look it's the god that couldn't save his dead wife, trying to save hopeless little girls now?" The shadows says in a very mocking way "I will not harm this young maiden so long as my master wish it so if you want her, you'll have to deal with me!" Izanagi pushes the shadow away and continues to fight her "Irina are you alright?" Yu asks "uhh huh? n-narukami? what are...where are we? and...and what is that thing?" Irina asks pointing at the shadow "it's a shadow a monster born from the hearts of humans and...and that one's yours" "m-m-my shadow?" "Yes, it's another part of you that kept locked away" "no NO! THATS NOT WHAT I AM! IM NOT..." "HEHEHAHAHAHA DONT GIVE HIM THAT SHIT!" Yu and Irina look up to see the shadow floating above them "Don't start thinking just because you have a huge hard on for him that you can start hiding what I am!" As the shadow finishes, she narrowly dodges an incoming blade and quickly fly's away "huh? a hard on?" yu questions "SHUT UP! SHUT UP! JUST SHUT UP! THATS NOT TRUE! ITS NOT TRUE!" Irina then tries to run for the exit but was stopped by her shadow appearing Infront of her "I don't think so little girl this is where you die!" the shadow swings her flaming sword towards Irina, but yu barley manages to block it with his own, but the force behind it pushed Yu and Irina away and on their backs, " uugghhh danm that was rough" Izanagi then lands Infront of his master facing the shadow protecting him. Yu then notices some growing dark spots on some of the surfaces of the church "oh shit this is bad that shadows rampaging is attracting more shadows her, Izanagi we have to finish this quickly!" "Understood master yu" Izanagi then fly's over to the shadow readying an attack "BRAVE BLADE" Izanagi swung his glowing blade towards the shadow but she narrowly dodges and counters by throwing Izanagi towards the chairs. the shadow then looks at Irina "you say I'm a liar!? that I'm the one spouting bull shit!? think again" the shadow causes a large fire Infront of Irina and in the fire showed two young girls "dose she always have to be that annoyingly happy?" a young girl said "ugghh I know right? and all her praying gets on my nerves like none of us need god's blessing or your yours for that matter" the other girl said. The image changes to three priests "why is she always like this?" one priest asked "who knows? you would think her parents would know how to train her" another priest said "still she knows how to use a sword well enough shell make decent soldier at some point" the final priest said. The image changes again showing Xenovia "ugghh but for the love of god why did I have to pair with this one?" Irina looks at the images almost about to cry "you can clearly see that everyone doesn't even fall for your happy go lucky act, and yet you still want to pretend that everyone's happy your around!" "grrr JUST SHUT UP ALREDY!" The shadow lunges at Irina in anger "I don't think so!" Izanagi comes in blocking the blow and kicking her away and continues fighting her "it's...it's not true...is it?" Irina questions completely quivering "you know danm well it is, you absolutely hate your life with the church which made desperate to venture out, all cause you wanted to run from it all like the cowardly little bitch that you are HAHAHAHA!" " NO! YOUR WRONG...ITS NOT TRUE ITS NOT TRUE ITS NOT TRUE! THIS ISNT REAL! NONE OF THIS IS REAL!" Irina practically screams in desperation hoping it all really wasn't real " "try saying that while being burned alive you little brat!" the shadow ready's a fire ball to throw at Irina "GO IZINAGI" and with that mighty vocal command Izanagi with his blade covered in lightning slashes the shadow away heavily wounding her.
STOP MEUSIC
Yu then grabs Irina's shoulders and forces her to look at him "Irina! look at me! who cares!?" yu shouts "w-what?" "Irina who care if all it was true it doesn't matter" "..no you don't get it! this is my life my duty what I'm meant to do and any who doesn't do what God wishes are nothing but heretics" "that's bullshit!" "What?" "that's bullshit and you know it having that shadow proves it" "b-but that's not..." "all they did was put really messed up shit in your head and then chastised you for being different just like what they did to Asia!" Irina gasps in shock hearing that "so what if you though going to church was boring? so what if you wanted something else out of life? dose wanting to walk a different path really make you a heretic?" yu asks "I...I..." "Irina was there ever a time you were genuinely happy being part of the church?" Irina gasps again, for the longest time she was always told that she can never question her life and duty to God, that doing so made you a heretic and non-believer...not even worth living...but why?...why? she finally wondered she just wanted to be happy, she wanted friends, to have a life, meet a cute boy, be genuinely happy for once...would that really make her a heretic?..." no, no it wouldn't...I just wanted something that I didn't have to pray to, or have to fight for my life for, or that would get me punished and looked down on!" and as she says that a wave of memories stared to come to her. Memories and thoughts she wanted to keep hidden or locked away, memories of times she was so bored during church sessions, memories of sneaking of to isseis house when she was younger, a memory of when she first fell in love with someone but then like everything else it was taken from her. Irina makes a heavy sigh.
NOW ENTER - PERSONA 4 OST (ILL FACE MYSELF SLOW)
"Your right narukami I was never happy being with church but I was forced so deeply into believing I was...to the point where I was forcing myself, it was never my choice to be part of the church or be a soldier in their army, that choice was forced on me by both my parents and everyone around me, and I thought that if I just did it all with a smile on my face it would make it all bearable" Irina sighs heavily "but it was never what I wanted I wanted to go to school and learn more about our world, I wanted friends that I can have fun with and make good memories...I...I never even got a chance to have a real boyfriend the one really cute guy I met a long time ago got completely scared off by my parents" she sighs and takes out the same picture of her and Issei when they were younger "and the one and only thing that made me happy, was the best friend that I had to move away from cause my parents couldn't accept him, and then I come back to find out that he never even thought of me once and when he did...*scoffs* he actually thought I was a boy! uggghhh!" Yu could understand her frustration there, that was really messed up. With another heavy sigh she looks at her shadow still in an intense combat with Izanagi "so that really is a part of me huh?...no that's not it your more than that you were right you are me" the shadow then stop and starts to feel lightheaded as her flames start to fizzle out "w-wha...what the hell are you doing? you irritating little brat!" "Shes disoriented now's our chance IZANAGI! "ZIODYNE!" A large bolt of lightning struck the shadow hard causing her to explode with Fiery dark energy which Izanagi shielded them from. Once it cleared, they can all see the shadow revert to its first form, Irina in a priest's robes kneeling in pain. Irina then walks over to her shadow "master Yu?" Izanagi questions "we've done what we can the rest is up to her now" Irina kneels down Infront of her shadow and gently pulls up her head to look at her "you were right, you were right about all that you said but I kept trying not to listen. I'm so sorry you had to go through so much pain because I was too weak to listen to you. But I promise you that will never happen again I swear you are me and I am you we are one and always will be" and with that the shadow smiles, nods and starts to glow. The shadow then began to lift in the air and glow brighter until it was covered in sparkling blue light. After a second the light subsites revealing a very different yet strikingly beautiful figure. The figure was a woman bathed in golden light, she had light brown skin and golden flame that erupted from her golden wavey hair. She wore a white robe like dress that showed some of her cleavage and left her back exposed. And speaking of from her back she had large golden wings bathed in golden fire. And on her neck and ankles is a golden meatal choker and metal braces, on both her arms golden chains wrapped around them, and with her glowing golden she looks at Irina her other self, her mistress and gives her a warm smile. That's the thing that Irina noticed everything about this womanly being was just purely warm, calming, loving, her flames aren't hot and burning like before no, these flames are soothing, welcoming like a fire meant to warm and heal you. "Irina thank you for accepting me" the woman's voice was just so soft and beautiful a voice that Yu can't help but be entranced hearing it. And with a flash the woman disappears and in her place a tarot card of the sun floated down to Irina's hands. She then motions the card towards her chest and absorbs it into her body "I'll never push you away again Icarus" and then she starts to feel like passing out but then Yu managed to catch her before she fell "hey you ok? Yu asked in concern "y-yea just really really tired" "yea awakening to your persona will do that to you don't worry I'll get you someplace safe where you can rest" "hmhmhm my hero" Yu knew that was a halfhearted joke but still made him smile anyway. he carried Irina out of the church and used a wish to teleport him and Irina to his house. he let her down on a bed in his spare bedroom and covers her up with the blanket "w-wait narukami..." "shhhhh its ok just rest now" "b-but about w-what you herd" "its ok like i said just rest we can talk mor about it later ok?" Irina yawns and shuts her eyes "ok please be careful my hero" she then falls asleep "don't worry I will" Yu then leaves his apartment and runs to the school as fast as possible "don't worry everyone I coming".
Hey everyone, welp there you have it Irina has a persona now and it's a female Icarus, I actually had another name for her for a long while but in the end I chose Ikaris. This was my very first attempt in making a shadow confrontation I just hope I did its justice based on what I know about Irina with some obvious changes I did. Oh, and yea you all might have noticed how different the writing is well a certain someone advice to wright a little differently...ok a lot differently. It was still a big change to how the whole story's been written so I don't know how well it holds up you guys are welcomed to tell me. And that's pretty much all I have to say hope you enjoyed Irina's awakening and maybe a growing romance coming.