Twin Flame Squared (16-Card Spread)

by Kaoupa

Summary:

The Arisato twins have been comatose for nearly a month now, after they passed out on graduation day, and SEES, even now, has no idea why.

Yukari, even as she hopes for them to wake up, can’t help but think that SEES would be less terrified if they’d died. Right now, they’ve still got something to lose. And the idea of losing them scares her like nothing else ever has before. Even Nyx.

And as SEES comes to fear the future, more and more, an Abyss yawns wide open.

Both beneath their feet and inside their hearts.

Updates every five days.

Notes:

• Inspired by Phantom Dumbasses by Cipherian
• Inspired by all we know by flower_not_murder

This story is based on Persona 3: Reload's version of The Answer, instead of the original Persona 3. This is because I've only ever played Reload's version of the Answer - but don't worry. I think I managed to pack in a decent amount of angst regardless.

Cipherian, if you ever read this, you gave me the general idea for this story of the twins creating the Great Seal together and being in comas during the Answer. I took a few liberties, though, to say the least.

Flower_not_Murder, if you ever read this, I thank you, and sort of blame you, for being part of the inspiration for me to write this. I - well. all we know still tugs at my heart, even today.

This is a very loose sequel to Yukari's Bi Brain.

Chapter 1: The Ace of Cups, United

Summary:

The Ace of Cups, when upright, represents many things. New love, emotional renewal, love, happiness, friendship, joy, and falling in love. New beginnings, emotionally.

Reversed, the Ace of Cups represents loss of love. Love that is unrequited, broken hearts, somebody not being ready for love, relationship problems, loneliness, grief. Emotional unhappiness. Recovery from a loss, a separation, or disappointment.

“Woo, look at Yuka-tan! Landing BOTH kinds of friend!"

"Shut up, Stupei..." Yukari muttered weakly, but despite her words being harsh, there was no real heat in them. 

The fact that Minako and Minato were both holding one of her hands (and not holding each other’s) was clearly why.

The rest of SEES, in the meantime, was clearly still recovering from the shock of learning that their leaders had started dating the same person. (Yukari sort of felt bad, at seeing the heartbroken look on Ken’s face that had come from Minako holding her hand.)

(And in focusing on Ken, she completely missed the look on Aigis’s face, as she stared at the woman who had won the hearts of the Arisatos).

“This is… allowed?” Mitsuru sounded very confused, as she spoke. As if the concept of polyamory (of a sort), or women dating, possibly both, had never crossed her mind before.

…maybe it hadn’t.

“...well, if it isn’t? I don’t care!” Yukari declared, trying to force down her blush. “I’m still doing it!”

“What she said!” Minako announced in tandem with her girlfriend.

“Yeah.” Minato concurred, gripping Yukari’s hand ever so lightly.

And then, as if guided by some sort of twin bond that she had no connection to, as one they kissed her on her cheeks.

Yukari felt more blood rushing to the cheeks she had just received affection on as her face combusted again, whoa her knees were starting to buckle-

“There.”

“Whoops!” 

But before Yukari could topple backwards onto the couch, though, two hands shot out from each of her sides.

“Whoo! You go, Yuka-tan!” As Yukari heard Junpei say that, a part of her realized - a bit late - that Minato and Minako had caught her. (Were their hands on her - nope, don’t think about that, do not think about where that hand was going - EEP!)

And as her boyfriend and girlfriend carefully sat her down on the couch, withdrawing their limbs with far too pleased expressions, Yukari Takeba’s face was overheating again…

Ugh. Another day at school. At least it was over - and since archery club wasn’t happening today, but track and tennis were - she was walking home with just Junpei.

“So, Yuka-tan, how’s it feeling for you?”

…and blinking at the question that came out of the blue. “Huh? How does what feel? Having a brain?” Yukari snarked back.

Junpei’s response was to move in front of her - and the unusually serious look on his face made her stop in her tracks.

“Being in love.” 

Yukari stopped moving. And - since she wasn’t quite sure how to reply to that…

“...how does it feel, with you and Chidori?”

She responded with a question of her own.

“Wow, Yuka-tan! Putting me on the spot!” Junpei replied, grinning unabashedly before his face got more serious. “It’s… funny, honestly?” He shook his head. “Guess… well. I get - I feel that - we get each other, you know? She knows me. And she doesn’t think less of me just cause’ I don’t always measure up to everybody else, you know? She knows me and she’s gonna be there for me, and that’s how I feel too. And - that means the world to me. And - I think it does for her too.” His smile returned. “So! How’s it feel getting shared?”

“...phrasing, Stupei. Phrasing.” Yukari’s cheeks were red, even as she spoke. But as she spoke, she was thinking. “But… well… I dunno, honestly. It’s… weird. It - it took me a really long time. To - realize it. And - it was so hard to say it out loud.”

(She would never tell Junpei that her confession had come out sort of by accident when she was having a polyamorous bisexual meltdown because both of her crushes were up in her face).

“It’s… I get this feeling when I see one of them.” Yukari exhaled deeply, as she spoke. “I want to stay with them and to have them stay with me. And… it’s kind of selfish, but - I get a feeling when I see them with somebody else. I want to just - rip them away, almost. I - well, I don’t want to share, I guess. Because…”

Yukari’s eyes fluttered, as a smile came over her face.

Junpei didn’t know it, but it was the same smile that came over his face when he thought of Chidori.

Either way, as Yukari looked at the sky, she spoke her heart’s truth about the twins that she loved. 

The first people that she had been able to truly love ever since the accident that had, directly or indirectly, defined her life since.

“When I’m with both of them… I feel like I’m the luckiest girl in the world.”

Ṫ̵͖h̷̞̕ę̵͒y̴͎̌ ̴̼̓w̴̖͒e̶͈͑r̸̫̐ë̶͎́n̴͒͜’̸̣̊t̴̢̆ ̷̼͘w̷̨͒a̷̜̿ḱ̷̬i̶͉̓ǹ̵̖g̵̗͝ ̵̭͘ū̵̫p̸̦̌.̸̯̈́

̵͈̔I̴̯̓t̸͒ͅ ̵͈͌m̵̹͆a̴̛͇d̵̻͋e̷̦͐ ̸̈́͜n̴͖̋o̷̫͋ ̷͚̔s̸̗̕e̴̦͑n̸̢͗s̵͉͊e̵̤͐.̷̣͝

̸̦͑N̶̬̏ơ̷͙.̴̢͆ ̸̪̊I̵̹͒t̷̝̒ ̷̖̈m̴̜͘ā̵̠d̵̟́e̴̻̚ ̸͔̔t̷̙̉o̶͜͝t̴̨͋ḁ̶̋l̵̯̈́ ̷̩̀s̵̹̉ḛ̴̛n̶̯̆s̸͕̊ê̸͎.̷̛͔

̴̺̆Ț̵͌h̶̪͐ĩ̵̮s̶̩̈́ ̴̧͝w̷̲̾ä̸̞́s̷̛͎ ̸̳͝n̴̹̒a̵͈̾t̴̝͐ȗ̶͓r̷͕͂a̶̛̦l̶̛̖,̷̢̆ ̶̥͛a̴̟̍ñ̵͓d̶̖͐ ̵̫̅s̴̠̓h̸̟̀e̷̦͐ ̸͇͌s̷̞̄h̴͇͝o̷̳͌u̶̥̐l̶̙͝ď̴̩ ̶̤͆h̷͙̀a̷̞̕v̶͕͠e̶̱͆ ̷̜̊e̵̚͜x̴̮͊p̴͍͌ẻ̸͎c̴̰̅t̸̼͘ḙ̶̋ḑ̵̊ ̷̠̽i̶̳̕ẗ̶̢.̵͉͘

̶̬̒Á̸̲f̸̹̌t̴̳̕e̴̳̋ŕ̴͜ ̸͉̋ä̵͓́l̵̖͐l̴̬͌,̶̢̄ ̶̧̈́ť̸̡h̸͕̃e̸̜̿y̵̚͜ ̶̦̽w̶͇͘ę̶̕r̷̢͂é̵̪ ̴̨̕d̴̪̆â̸̠ț̷̊i̴̜͂n̵̂͜g̵͉̋ ̶̟̕h̵͇̊e̴̞͐ŕ̵͎.̴̉ͅ

Yukari wasn’t sure why she had left cram school to return to the dorm. She had a life to focus on. She had to get through senior year with good grades to do - whatever it was she decided she wanted from life.

She needed a good college for whatever she decided she wanted s̸̙̈́h̴̖̆ḛ̸̓ ̸̝́w̵̱̚ä̸̤́n̵̦͛t̸̬̔e̵͉̒ḓ̸́ ̷̦̎ẗ̵̞h̶͔̐e̷̠̅m̶̩͆ ̶͕̋a̷̙͝w̷̯̋a̴͎̔k̷̜͑e̸̡͑,̷̲̆ ̶̨̉s̵̙̽h̵̑ͅe̵̖̓ ̶̰̈w̸̧̌a̶̿͜n̸̪͝t̶̟̆è̵͚d̷͈͝ ̵̧̈́t̷͙̊h̷͕͝e̷̠̓m̵͚̍ ̶̼̉b̷̡̊a̶͔͌c̷̳̐k̶̛͓,̸͇̓ and for that she had to study. A lot.

…the sushi was nice, at least.

But… well… it was strange. Something had almost… drawn her here, and she wasn’t sure what.

Oh well.

She’d leave in the morning.

Yukari had gone to bed early. So had Aigis, but that didn’t matter.

The rumbling that shook the entire dorm mattered, though, as Yukari stumbled out of the door to her bedroom. And that she could hear shouting from downstairs.

As she pondered this, Fuuka stumbled to her door. “Yukari-chan! We need you and Aigis! We’re under attack!”

Well.

That explained some of the noise.

“Hang on!”

Without waiting for a response, Yukari started to dash up the stairs to the fourth floor.

“YOU!”

The second that Yukari made it downstairs, the intruder had made a beeline for her.

She had been stopped mid-movement by Aigis, who had beaten her downstairs - but that wasn’t much help.

Either way, as the intruder seemingly braced themselves to do something, Yukari’s mind already knew what had to be done.

Her bow was in her hand, but if the enemy was that focused on her, she needed something else.

Her hand rocketed down to the holster at her waist.

It had been two months since the last time Yukari used an Evoker, but her reflexes kicked in as quickly as ever.

“Come -”

Yukari - wasn’t sure how to describe what happened next.

Personas and Shadows - well. They were - strange. There was no other way to describe it, even if strange didn’t capture it. 

There was no word for the feeling of instinctively knowing what your Persona’s name was, the person you were, that your Persona represented. How you knew, on a level that went far below consciousness, what and who you were. The name that was coming from your lips, the name that both wasn’t and was yours.

The name that came out of Yukari’s lips wasn’t the name anyone expected.

Even her.

“EURYDICE!”

But regardless.

It felt, more than anything b̵̟̒u̴̩͝ţ̵̇ ̸̼̒h̴͐͜a̸͙͑v̵̤̏ĭ̴̗ṉ̶̏g̶̬͆ ̵͔̾ṯ̷̋h̸͔̅ě̸̮m̵͇̉ ̷̝͌b̵͈͘a̸͔̅ć̴̺k̵̞̈́,̵͈͌ right.

Chapter 2: The Six of Pentacles, Reversed

Summary:

Reversed, the Six of Pentacles indicates a loss of goods of property. Something has come due, somebody is refusing to share or has withdrawn their support. Being stingy. Losses occur due to theft or carelessness. Envy, jealousy, and a lack of recognition are all occurring, potentially among other things.

“ORPHEUS!”

Aigis had Orpheus. B̸̢͘e̴̪͊c̴͉̓a̷̖͋ŭ̸̳s̸͈̏ę̴̔ ̷̟͑ŏ̷̦f̸̻̍ ̶̦̂c̷͓̈́ơ̶̧ụ̶͗r̸͚̽s̵̺͝ẻ̴͔ ̶̖̉s̷̑͜h̸̡͗ë̴̡ ̸̙͌d̴̮́i̷̮̿d̴̳̂.̷͍̓ ̴̪͌N̷͔͛ė̵̼v̶̤̂ệ̷ȑ̷̞ ̸̜͂m̸̦̈́í̴͚n̵͖̒d̷̞́ ̸͇͝ț̶̒h̴̢͒á̴̬t̷͎͘ ̷̢͝Ḿ̴͖i̵̭͂n̴̻̈́a̸̢͋k̷̡͑o̸̺͝ ̴̼͂a̶̩̚n̷͓͗d̸̥́ ̸̝̈M̵̪̈i̷̗̅n̴̦͒a̴̼͋t̵͇͝ǫ̴̆ ̴̡̈́w̴̺̅e̵̻͋r̷̟̕e̶͇͒ ̶̱́d̷̼̚a̶̮͛ṭ̷͘i̸̟̓n̷̬͆g̶͚̐ ̵̻̑h̷͈̔ë̴͎r̷̰̽.̸̣̾

Whatever. It wasn’t like it mattered. Hell, having two people who could use multiple Personas was way better than it being just her with the power, anyways. It meant that she could take breaks and let Aigis take the lead - or they could team up and rain down hell together ̴̧́l̴͖̏i̵͔͌k̴̺̽e̴̹̾ ̸̣͋t̶̬̂ȟ̸̜e̷̺̎ ̵̧̀t̵̠͗ẁ̴͜ï̷͓n̷̫̋s̸̖̋ ̸̲̕h̷̪̏ȁ̸̻d̶̹̄.̴̭͑

(And her - well. Her new powers more than made up for her loss).

(Her heart hadn’t clenched when she saw that Persona in Aigis’s control).

(It hadn’t).

(̵̥̕I̶͖͠t̴̰̅ ̵̗͒ ẉ̸̊ḁ̴̀s̴̟͠n̴̝͗’̶͖̚t̴̛̯)̵͓̐.̴̫͝

“Greetings.”

SEES didn’t jump in surprise, when they saw the person who had been waiting at the bottom of the steps start walking up to them. It was a definite improvement, over the last first meeting they'd had.

It - well… Yukari wasn’t sure to think of them, to be honest. Their clothes were very strange - a long white robe, with golden feathers adorning the upper half, and a hood that resembled - well, Yukari’s studies into Egypt made her think of a Pharaoh’s hood, but she couldn’t see much besides that, with the veil covering their face.

She wasn’t sure she trusted them…

“You again?”

…Metis’s dry and unfriendly greeting - and the scowl on her face - may have won her over to the newcomer’s side, though.

“Yes. It’s nice to meet you all, members of the Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad.”

The casual mention of their team’s name made Yukari frown, but Mitsuru spoke first. “You know who we are?”

“Yes. I am Imentet, greeter of the Abyss of Time. So yes, I do.” came the reply from the now-identified Imentet. “I previously attempted and failed to keep my companion there from assaulting you.”

Metis was unrepentant. “If you want to fight, you need to be better at getting hit in the head.”

…it wasn’t exactly hard, but Yukari trusted Imentet more than she did Metis now, at least.

The Velvet Room was - well, Yukari wasn’t sure how to describe it. Odd, but not a bad odd, at least. 

An elevator, seemingly always ascending through a shaft that had no end.

With a disturbingly attractive pair of - well, three people.

Two attendants  ̷͇̓w̶̼͝h̴̖̚o̶͉͝ ̵̟̓w̶̳̉e̵̱̐r̴̃ͅe̷̯͐ ̸͇̂a̵͔͑l̷͉̒s̸̯̓o̴̦̾ ̵̬̊s̶͙̾ḭ̸̅b̷̥̓l̵̩͐i̸͉̐n̴̰̓g̶̳̚ş̸̈́,̵̢̇, and their “master” - an old man with a nose that had initially made her wonder if he was a Shadow.

(She wasn’t far off, it had turned out, but Igor had just chuckled when she tried to demand more answers).

(At least Theodore was nice - and more importantly, sane).

(She was pretty damned sure that dealing with Elizabeth for too long would have driven her crazy. She wasn’t sure how Aigis dealt with it o̵͚̓r̵̹̕ ̸̧͝h̸̯͐ȯ̴̹ẁ̸͔ ̸̜͂M̴͎̿í̵̦n̸̫͂a̸̒ͅt̸͈̄ö̸̝́ ̶̻́h̸̀͜a̸͎͑d̴̼͐)̵̬̕.̷̟̋

Her bow felt heavy in her hands, and drawing the bowstring back hurt more than it used to.

Not that it was a surprise. She’d - kind of let the archery club fall by the wayside after she started focusing on cram school ȃ̷͕f̸̝̾t̶̰̋e̵̦͛r̶̮̊ ̷͍̈́t̶̳̑h̸̘͆ë̸̝́y̵̌ͅ ̶͈͝l̴̙̄e̶̪̓f̸̺̍t̷̥̋ ̸̼̈ẖ̶̐ė̷͚r̷̮̽.̷͖̊ ̶͙͛ She was very out of shape and she knew it. But she didn’t really feel that bad for letting her club fall by the wayside. She just… hadn’t been able to work up the interest in it she’d once had, after Tartarus vanished and she got her memories back. It wasn’t like she had anything she needed to use it for,and now she wasn’t happy doing it.

Well, she was paying for that sloth now… but it wasn’t like it mattered. M̷̫͋i̵͖͊n̶̘̊a̴̪̚k̸͓̈́ȏ̸̘’̵̞̕s̷̢̍ ̶͚̀her powers, in battle, meant a lot more than a bow.

Taking breaks was a necessity, when you were dealing with Shadows.

And as much as Yukari wanted to get the hell out of this place, hurling herself at the Shadows nonstop was a good way to get badly hurt - and they didn’t have any access to a hospital, at the moment.

That, and everybody but Akihiko and Mitsuru had sided against her, when she had wanted to continue.

So, after they’d dealt with their first group of gatekeeper Shadows, they’d gone back up the steps to the dorms. And now, she was kicking back in her dorm room. Relaxing on her bed - as much as she could when she was alone, and dealing with the knowledge that Shadows could start crawling up the steps.

…she couldn’t deny she felt tired, though. Ugh. They had all gotten rusty.

Aigis was on guard, at least. With Metis next to her, the last that Yukari had seen.

Sighing, Yukari closed her eyes. It was time to get to sleep. (Never mind that there was still light outside - she wasn’t sure how long she’d been trapped in the dorm, but Tartarus, and now the Abyss, had thoroughly messed with SEES’s collective sleep schedules).

Sighing, she began to drift off ą̸̽l̷̨̓o̴̰̅n̶̖̚e̶̲͒…̴̛̬

Yukari - well, she hadn’t really made any plans for New Year’s Day, honestly. Romantic, or otherwise. 

So when Minato and Minako - well, mostly Minako - decided to go on a walk after sunset, she went without much complaining.

So, when Minato came up with the idea of going to the beach, it caught her off guard.

It was way too hard to go to the beaches in Iwatodai in the summer. And nobody went to the beaches in the winter. And honestly, the “beaches” in Iwatodai barely qualified as beaches.

“Yukari?”

But as it turned out?

That meant that they were all alone.

And if Yukari was out in a public place, but not at risk of having anyone see her boyfriend and girlfriend kissing her, then that was fine by her.

(She could have gone to a dump with them and been happy as a clam).

“Yeah?” Yukari replied, pulling herself out of her head as her girlfriend spoke.

“Look.”

“Huh?” Yukari looked up, and gasped.

Winter had engulfed the horizon - and - well. She had been too caught up in her own head to notice.

Flakes of snow fluttered down from the sky. The sky was covered in black, without any stars visible - the snowclouds were covering the horizon, but at the same time, the lights from Tatsumi Port Island and Iwatodai were covering everything they touched, reflecting off of the falling snow and coloring the night up almost as if it was still daytime.

…it was the most romantic sight she’d ever seen. 

Not the most beautiful sight she’d ever seen. That was when she had woken up between them (without fainting) after they had kissed her for the first time.

“...wow…”

“...hey, Yukari?”

“Yeah?” Yukari replied to the question without averting her eyes, unable to tear her gaze from the beauty in front of her. Ever for the beauties on either side of her.

(They had shown her this. She would always cherish it).

“What do you want to do when we graduate?”

Yukari thought about it. And thought. And… eventually, she realized her answer.

“I’m not sure yet. But… if we can stay together? I think - I’d be happy doing anything with you two.”

“...really?”

“Yeah, why?” Yukari asked, eyes turning back to her boyfriend and girlfriend.

And that was when things went wrong.

“You really think we’d want to stay with you?”

Their eyes were dripping. And Yukari’s heart leapt into her throat.

“MINAKO?! MINATO!?”

Without thinking, she ran to her boyfriend and girlfriend. She didn’t know what was going on, but-

A black hand reached out each of their open mouths, and grabbed her.

“You think anybody would come for you?”

Yukari tried to scream at the noise that sounded like them but wasn’t coming from them any more, but the hands were lifting her by her face, shoving her eyes into the air. 

As she looked up, the sky turned green, - and the moon quadrupled in size. And before she could figure out how to react to that, it began to break open.

Ą̵̱̆̋n̷̰̦̎d̴̖̚ ̷̪̈̆ā̸̘̰͘s̵̜̓͒ ̸̲͈̿N̸̫̋̏ẏ̶̥͍x̷̟͎̄̂ ̶̘͚̆s̸̡̟̏t̷̜͈̔̈́ã̶̫͚͝ṛ̴̛̤̇t̵̨̛̰ĕ̵̟̯͌d̶̦͑ ̸̘͍̊t̷̢͕̆̉o̴̹̅̅ ̴̪̫̒d̸͕̆ĕ̵̪̒s̶̥̙̎c̴̦̠̀̎ë̸̻n̶̜̲͛ḍ̸̭͆̽,̵͕̣̏̏ ̶̭̆̐Y̴̮̆͂u̵̗̭͊̀k̴̖̣͛͠ả̶̗ř̴̨ī̵̯͘ ̸̲̍͛ǫ̶͋ͅp̸̟͋̏e̷̢̨͊͝n̶̙̼̋ē̴̤͗d̵̓ͅ ̷̡̕h̴̪̋̄ḙ̸̞̌ŕ̷͓ͅ ̷̡̏m̶͍͛̒o̶͎̅͗ų̸͔̂t̸̥̒ḫ̶̚̚ ̷̪̈̅t̵̞̺̏o̵̭͐ ̶̟̔̍s̷̠̓̉ċ̴͕r̴̥͆e̵͉͔̋̌ā̵̮̿m̸̧̠̔̕.̸́-

“̸̛̣̔D̶͕͊̉ơ̴̘̅͜n̴͓̲̔’̶̯̋ṭ̴̐ ̶̰̝͆̈w̷̧̒̈ö̷̙͚́r̴̜̝͆͌r̵̘͍͘ẙ̷͚̈ͅ…̸̱͝”̶̨̽

“̶̆ͅS̸̙̕h̵̗͊e̸̢͈̊͘’̸̼̄͜s̷̗̪̑ ̶̠̖̈́c̸̖͚̔ȏ̴̰m̴̘̮͝i̵̙̋̐ņ̶̭̌g̶̱͕̒…̵̖̺̀̐ ̸̛̳̠f̸͚̈́̾ǒ̶͈̄ȑ̸̥̼̊ ̸̻̌͌ ú̴̝ŝ̶̪̈́.̶̡̲̌͂.̵̈́͜.̶͕͌̓"̶̩̼́

Opening her mouth, as it turned out, was a colossal mistake.

The black hands grasping her face took it as an opportunity to surge inside her mouth, cutting off her air, rushing down her throat to an unclear destination.

And as she fought to scream, s̷̨̢̗͚̝̆̒o̵͖̠̮̯̜̣̘̦̘͈͂̌͐͋͗̓͋͐̍͑̀͋͝ͅm̴̝̖̳̘̺̱̜̬͊́͆̄̓̀̒͊̀̎̐͑͌̒̐͛ͅę̶̨̨̠͚̫̪̣̈̏̀̂̏̀͋͘͝ͅͅt̷̛͖͚̭͖̙͇̻͔͊̃́̈́̔̀̂̄̿̕h̴̡̨̢̝̼͕͓̘̹̩̙̗̫̤͚͉͒͆̐̑͐́́͋͊̓̕͘i̵̡̩̯͎̯̩̞̤̼͓̳̗̲̐̉̔̎͐̈́̈̿̕͝ͅͅṉ̵̟̎͑̈̔̈̾ǵ̷̡̞͍̞̹̫̮̰̺̞͉̇͊͌ ̶̛͕̹̣̼̖̭̥͔̟͖͕͚́̃̐̎̎͝ͅī̷͉͉̲͚̃̈́̆͌̕͠n̸̡̹̼͍͕̲̘̪͇̬͎̍͐̉͊͆̏͆̊͒͛͐̔̚s̶̗̉̂̓̈́͘i̸̡̢͚͉̻͍̜̭̹͐̑̂̔͋͝d̷̡͉̖̹͔͎̠͇̂̽̔̎̅͘͜ẹ̴̡̧̠͖̖̖͚͓̞̞̤̏̊̉͊̆̒̋̀̇̐͠͠ ̷̢̯̻̯̪̔̈́̈́̓̇̈̚͠h̸̖̮͍̘̦̯͎͇̔̏̌̽͑̂͂̀̊̆͊́̚͜͠ȩ̸̢͇̺̠̬̲̳͉̻̮͓̱̫̣̿̑̿͗̍͒̑͌̆̕͠͝ͅŗ̸̛̰̣̜̯̠̼͎̦̜̃̇

THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!

“AH!”

Yukari was, for once, grateful for being rudely awoken. But before Yukari could even think about responding to the person who’d pulled her from her dream, her door opened.

“Imentet?” Yukari shook her head as she tried furiously to clear the memories of her nightmare away. Å̸̳̈n̴̳̐̋͌d̶̡͚̞̅̔͘ ̵͉̲͎̅c̷̼̱͑̐͜ľ̶͍̱̯̆̅e̸̻̘̋͆͋ạ̶̜̐͊r̵̡̥͊͌i̷̥̙̯̎̋͛n̴̩̊ǵ̶̹̬̗̈́͒ ̵̻͕̞̑͘á̴̛̮͇́w̸̢̩̞̅̿a̵̩͈͌̊̃ỵ̷͌ ̸͖̼̞̏͝ṭ̸̹̫̍͗h̵͙͙͈͊̀̒è̷̠̠ ̸̢̀m̴̥̣̃͝e̵̥̋̀̿͜m̴̜̈ò̶̙̬͚̈́r̶̫̯͚͋̿̾i̸̭̝̔ę̶̩̚s̴̨̧̮͒̄ ̷̼̯͂̀̈ǫ̴̡̼́̀f̷̗̀̌ ̶͖̍̃̚t̵̩̤͛̀͘h̴̢̟́͜ė̸͎̬m̵̧͂͂,̵͍͚͚́ ̶̲̆̔̈́i̶͔̅̓ṉ̵͘ ̶̹͉̑͋̌ͅt̷̞̅͝͝h̷̥͂̌e̶̱͎͜͠ ̶͎͛̈́͘͜p̶̠͛r̸̺̆o̵͖̲͌c̸̛̠͊e̸͙͌̈́̚s̵̛̠̄͑s̸̜͛.̶͇͍͔͠ ̵̠̋̄ͅ“Why are you here?”

“I could hear you screaming.” The strange new member of the dorm replied, closing the door as she spoke. “I was in the room Mitsuru gave me, but I couldn’t sleep.”

“...oh.” Yukari murmured awkwardly

(̷̻̈́T̵̜̏h̸̘̎a̴̍͜t̴͎̚ ̴̪͋s̷͍̍h̶̰̅ó̴̪u̸͎̐l̴̢̅d̴̲̿ ̵̡̍h̸̦̀ą̴̕v̴̬͑e̷͐͜ ̴͎̓b̸͔̉ẹ̵̊ė̶̗n̶͙̓ ̴̫̉M̷͙͌i̴̦̕ṋ̴̋ǎ̶̬k̴͇͘o̶̮͒’̷̔ͅs̸̜̾ ̸̘͂r̷̗̎ö̸̬́o̷̺͠m̴̡͠ ̸͎̽-̵̙̾ ̶͈̔b̶̤̄ṷ̴̎t̸̘͆ ̸̨̑w̷̐͜ị̴͋t̶̰̄ȟ̷̹ ̶̳͌M̵͍̐ȉ̸̼n̸̦̚a̵͖̅k̴̭̕o̶͈̒ ̴̢̌ã̵͕ṇ̵͒ḋ̴͈ ̶̝͝M̴̝̈́i̶͙̒ṅ̴̫a̷̠͋ẗ̷̺́õ̷̬ ̵̥͘g̶̢͝o̴̜͐n̵̦͊ė̷̘,̶̯̈́ ̵͔͗a̴̗̐ń̴̨d̸͉̈ ̸̡͗t̷̺͝ẁ̴̦o̸̽͜ ̷̡͂ň̷͔e̴͙͌w̴̢͊ ̵̲̌p̸̛̺ȇ̷͕ơ̸̪p̵̻̽l̴͚͗e̴͈͆ ̶̱͂ḯ̴̬n̴̲̚ ̴̞̄S̵̪̚E̸͎̒E̸̦̽S̵̻̈́,̵̗͗ ̶͍̿M̴̭̐i̶̘̚ṯ̶̌s̷̖̏u̴̜͊ȑ̵͔u̸̺͂ ̷̟͋ĥ̷̯a̷̝̐d̷͍͐ ̷̯̇ǎ̷͈p̷̮̎p̸̢͂ȧ̵̦r̷͔̉e̴̩͝n̷͇͌t̷̫́ľ̶̩ỳ̸͇ ̵̼̑a̴̪͂s̸̜͌ṣ̸̀i̴̢̚g̶̣̕n̸͉̓ȅ̷̥d̶̾͜ ̷̦̈Ḿ̴͙ë̴̩́ț̸̐i̴͎̎ș̵͐ ̴̪̉t̶̲͝o̵̫̓ ̸͖̑A̷͕̽ǐ̶͉ǵ̴̜i̸̠͝s̸͓̓’̷̹̏s̶̪͠ ̵̩̄ȓ̷͍ơ̵͍ő̵̜m̷̹̉ ̷͖̈́ṯ̸͆ȍ̷ͅ ̸͚̂ä̷̱v̷̺̀ǒ̴̬į̸͌d̷̬̀ ̴̯͗c̵̬̚ǫ̴̿m̴͙̀p̵͈͑l̵͉̈a̴̫͌i̸̗͒n̷̛̖ì̴̲n̷͓̓g̷͔̓)̵̨̃.̷̻͑

̴̙̄(̴̝̿.̶̟̓.̸͛͜.̶͓͠s̸̮̚h̵͎̅e̸̜͒’̷̟̈́d̷̞̐ ̵̰̕a̴̯͂p̸͖͂p̷̳̎a̷̝̐r̴̢̒e̴͉͒n̸͖̈́t̵̙͆l̶̈́͜y̵͌ͅ ̴̠͠w̸͚̒a̷̧̍n̵͓̽t̷̥̿ê̶͓d̷̦͒ ̶͍̃t̸͖̓o̸̤̚ ̸͒͜s̶̩̄e̸̓͜n̷͉̊d̸͇̂ ̵̹̇Ḿ̴͕e̷̝͝ẗ̷́ͅì̸̫s̴̯̉ ̵̙͂ť̵̮ơ̵̜ ̴̥̓M̷̱̃ị̵̅n̸̝͝á̴̞ṭ̴̆o̴̺͋’̶̻̀s̸̹͊ ̴̰͂r̵̦̒ȍ̵̺ȏ̶̧m̷̱̚,̷̩̌ ̵̲͝b̴͉̽u̸̻̎t̷̗̊ ̷̞̊w̶̳̔h̴̳̔e̶̗͌n̶͎͒ ̷̭͌è̴͍v̷͎̌ẻ̶ͅn̶̝̉ ̶͖̃A̵͚͆i̴̪̇ǵ̶̙ḯ̸̠s̶̘͋ ̵̙̔h̷̢̓ḁ̶̄d̴̰̉ ̸̩̂b̶̳̆e̷̳̕e̸̙̒ń̸̡ ̸̙͊u̴̩̽n̴̻̍â̸͕b̷̂ͅl̸͉̾ĕ̴͕ ̸̜͑ṱ̸̍o̸͎͆ ̶̘̀b̵͓͝r̸̗̿è̵͚a̴̤̔k̵̰̈́ ̸̪͋t̷̠͝h̸̹́ę̴͋ ̵̦͆d̴̨͐o̷̕͜o̴̪͑r̸̘͌ ̷̤͐d̵̨̆o̴̪̿ẘ̸̬n̴͕͐,̴̤͘ ̶͖́t̴̢̚h̶̨͗e̷̟̍ȳ̵̦’̴̫͂d̸̯̉ ̸̝͑g̵̏ͅi̷͉͑v̶̯̑ĕ̷̗ṋ̵͠ ̶̧͌t̷̥̉h̴̗͐ḁ̵͘t̶̲͛ ̷͚͒u̵̬̿p̶͉̌ ̶̙̅a̵̧͘s̸͕͠ ̶̮́ả̶̢ ̸̖̃l̴͕͊ọ̴̚s̶͖̊t̶̩̓ ̴̜̕c̴͜͝a̴̞̎ṳ̵̀s̸̡̅è̵͙)̷́ͅ.̸̲̇

“Um… I was just having a nightmare. It’s over now, though.”

S̴̝̜͓̎̀́́ͅh̶̩̲͉͚͈̀ę̶̙͛ ̸̯̜̆c̸̱̪̺̃͗ͅô̷̧̝͓̚u̴̦̹̺̇l̷̛̮̠̫̮̿̔̈ḑ̵̪̟̒͂͜ ̵̪̀͜s̴̡̠̅t̸̥̕i̶͓̼̮̖̱̎l̷̛̖͕̒́̎l̴͇̼̗̼̒͝ ̸̢̢̰̜̻́̒̄̈̉s̵̨̡͎͕̙͆̆̓̚e̶͍̞͕͓͖͆̄̈́͛ẻ̴̝̑̏̆ ̴̢̡͔͝t̵͎̀̈h̴̘͒͒͋̈́ē̵̼̪̤̕͜m̵̱̹̭͑.̶̞̰̽ͅ ̶̮͇͕͓̊̈̌S̵̨̟̘̱̥̆͆̿h̷̞̹̠̜̅̄̏e̸͈̫͓̺̫͋̀̔̿ ̶̞̗̠̤̱̀͒̑c̸̰̣̲̤͈͋͘o̸̮̰̊u̶̱̽l̶̤͎̖̇̎̀̔͑ḓ̸̗͙͙̌̎̈́͝ͅ ̵͕̟͑s̶͔̥̪̳͆̄t̵̗̝͐͂͒͊̿i̵̱̎͝l̵̹̜͍͚̏͝ͅl̸̮̞̭̪̫̈́͌̈͗̄ ̶͚̞͙̞̉ḧ̶͚̭͓̎e̸̗̯̿̔̒̽͝ą̷͎̻̗̟̾̀ŕ̶̖̱̜̽̔̈́͘ ̴͍̖̱́͛͘ẗ̸̨̢̛̹̯́̀̽̄h̸̝̀͆͝ę̴̯̣̠̍̎͝m̶̻̪̈́.̷͇̰͙̣̥̍͝

“...what was it about?”

Yukari all but dove on the question, to get her mind away from -

“Our usual field leaders.”

-̵͔̺̈̊͜ţ̴͕̰̙̪̌́͒́̕h̸̠̭͕͙̙͆̑̃ę̸͉̔͜m̸͖̏̊.̵͍̼̑̏̾

“Ah, yes. I remember hearing about them… were they unable to come?” Imentet asked, curiosity clear in her voice.

“....they’re comatose.” Yukari admitted sadly.

T̴̛̲̼̳̹̈́̉͐̓̽̚h̴̳̎́e̴̠̤̹̺̬̠̔̋͗̐̏̃͝y̶̺̤̯͖̠͊͐ ̷̦̰͉̱͓̭͖̃̄̅w̸̙̟̙̺̝̼̬̍͒̋͆̔̚͠ę̵̧̭̳̳̠̃͌̈́̄͠r̸̻͚̈́e̴͓͛n̵̛͎͋̈́̆’̴̯̗̃t̷̖̯̩̉ ̸̡̦̹̖͚͕̻͆̔̋̒̈́́̄c̶̳̥̓͗͋̔͗͝ò̸͚͖̜͔̜͙͕͝͝m̶̦̽i̵̛͉̖͋̄͝ͅn̵̡̝̻̱͓͚̝̓͛g̵̣̯̱͎̞̍̆̓.̶̡̦̳̥̭͊̌̇̍̚̕͠ ̶͉̝̲͍̼͎̰̐̈́̊̕Ţ̷̖͕̳̘̾h̷̪̆̾͑̾͋̄̈́ḙ̷̥͚̙̭͆̑ỳ̷̦͔̜̇ ̵͙̜̜́̄͌̄͊͝w̵̨̫̰̗̣̠̔̕e̴̖̣̳͔̓̾r̴̢̟̹̞͊̓̿̇ȩ̴͖̄ ̴̡̲̣͙͕̓̈́̓̑͘n̶͔̐̎̈ͅȩ̴̧́v̵̢̲̣̯̻͉̥̍̓͑ë̴̥͉́͋r̶̡̺̭̹͕͕̆ ̴̞̽̿̎̓͂̽g̶̦͇̪̭̔̒̎͆̚͠ỡ̶̟̝̲̻̘͈̫̕i̴͖̮̺̼̪̭̯̇͒́̈́̈̒͋n̷̛͓̪̥͊͊́͊ģ̷̞̰͗͘ ̶͍̦͈̔̒̀͋ṱ̷͔͒͆͛͗̄̌ͅŏ̷͙̻̲̔̚͝͠ ̷̓̑̊͑̕ͅć̸̻̩͔͖̦̃̐́o̶̖̲̩̘͔̣̱̚m̷̛̦̘̲͚̍̅e̷͈̖͗͆͐̽̔̒͜ ̷̨͕̺͛̽̕͘͠͝b̴̦͊̚͝ả̷͉̣̐́̽̈́́c̸͚͕̹͚̝̖͂̈́́k̴̡̢͙̤͇͈̐-̴̨̧̳͚̦̀̎́

“And that’s all they are?” Imentet questioned, her tone making it clear that, even under the veil, she was raising a metaphorical eyebrow.

T̴̙͋͘h̴̡̺̜͌e̶̘̠̞͔͂̀̎y̵̭̖̲͋̀̈̅͠͠ ̷̼̩͗͝w̶̧̛̺͕̿͗e̶̹̯̯̅͋͜ŕ̸̡͓̖͇̿̃̑͝e̵͚͂̇̃͛̊̏ņ̵̯͔̥̞̟̋̕’̶̞̙̠̬̗̃̄̈́͌̈́͜͝ẗ̸̙̹́.̵̨̟͈̳͚̀̋ ̷̮͚̣̣͎̈̄́͘͝T̸̛̹̰̉̇͑̓͘ḩ̵̛̙̟̅̈́ȇ̷̝̲̗̳͍́͌̇y̴͎̣͇̮͝ ̷͖͛̓w̸̰̏̓̓e̵͖̜̕ŕ̷̜̹̰̥̄̀e̸͖͒͛̎̃͜ ̸̬̪̞̝̉͊̐h̶͚̞̲̓̏́̕ę̷͉͛͌̚͝ŗ̶̅̔ ̴̻̪͒́͆̿͛w̴̺̹̻̩̮͓̽̃͗́̀͠ö̶̲̦͎́r̵͈͇͛̾̚l̷̢͎̊́̉͌̕͝ḋ̵͕,̸̡͈̌̐̆̀̈́̑ ̴̜̳̝̼̒͜t̸̰̟͘h̸͇̩̲͎̟̼͗̿̌̍e̸̢̪͉̲͘ỷ̴̹̬ ̸͖̼͔̆w̵̻͗̓̒͆́̒e̵̛̹̤̬͚r̸̡̺͇͇̤̔̈́͠e̶̘̹̺͓͊̏̈́̍ ̸̛̺͔͊̿̓̌̒t̸̛͍̽̉̌h̸͕̺̯̫̙̃̓̀͝ë̵̛̜̾̋̓ ̵̡̛̼͆́̈́̾̔f̵͈͗͋̓̔i̶̧̘̝̤̖̥͛̿̎́̕͝r̵̗̆̈́́͊̋͝s̷̯͓̹͈̱̒͋̑̿͜͝t̷̝̰̎ ̷͙̺͕̂͑̅̅͒͝p̸̧̖̠̪̾͂̋e̴̜͑͛̌͗̐͝ö̵̢̲̥͋̊̇p̷̝͖̘̞͕̱̈̔̿̄́̈́l̵͇̍͋̐̚ȩ̶̜̺̼̺̥̐̿̅͠ ̴̙͚̪̥̤͈͊͊̆̈̓ṡ̵͉̩͔̜̋͌͜͝h̵̰̩͆̉͌ė̶̛͚͔̯̗̩̬̿̊̊ ̴̦̱͔̌h̷̢̄̆̒ą̸̛̤̹͎͓͓d̴̻̬͉͌̃̍͊̇͘ ̷̖̞̺̗͇͚͐̐͘͝͠e̸̫̣̋̈́͘͘v̷̗͇̽e̸̥͚̿͗̌̽ȓ̵̛͈̟̥͈͕͍͒ ̴̬̜͔͚̞̥͑͝͠l̸͚̓͋̉̆̈õ̷̗͗̀̈v̸̧̝̙̯͉̄͑̆͑͝é̴͍͙̗̟̂͆͐́̆d̵̳͓̙̲̝̳̓͗͂͂͐̕,̸̤̉͛ͅ ̷̜̯̲̻͛̓͛̔̕̕t̶͎͍̮͇̼͊́̊ȟ̵̛̩̂̅͘ȩ̷͇̙̺̌̐͑͂̀͝y̷͚͋̚͘ ̷̺̣͖̟̙̉̀͒w̸͕̘̤͇̯̳̽̀̒͂͝è̷͓̮r̷̛̫̪̙̙͛̒́e̶̡̹̕ͅ ̷̞̥̲̠̣̱͊e̴͙̥̞͐̆͗̕͜v̶͕̦̳̹̜̳̇͌̿ẹ̴̐̓̒̉r̸̻͙̀y̷͎̓̈́̈́̈́̽̚t̴̞̥͊h̸̢̪͓̥̊i̸̠͖̹̻̓͐n̴̰̰̿̋͒ͅg̴̡͓̟͚͎̖̐̏ ̷̬̹̀t̸̡͆͋̊̚ỏ̵̧̯̍́̈́͆͠ ̴͖͔̥̳̱̾͠h̶̠̥͛̾̋̎̃̕ḙ̵̡̔̃̍ṛ̶͍̹͚̦̬̏,̸̟̺̼͉͚̺͂͗͋͘ ̴͎̀͒̍̚͝͠s̶̢̛͇̤̞͊̄̈́̉͆ḧ̸͖̰̱̟̜̼̍ẻ̵̛̙̓̚ ̸̻͙̖̈́́̅-̶̮̲͊̔͘

“You love them.” 

Yukari blinked, snapped out of her internal denial of her swooning by the rather blunt statement from Imentet. “Huh?”

“You love them.” Imentet repeated.

Yukari’s cheeks flushed, even as her heart sank. “...yeah. …I wish I didn’t.”

Imentet - Yukari couldn't tell if she was surprised by the response, because her response was to just tilt her head. “Why do you not want to love them? You just admitted you do.”

“...It wouldn’t matter if I did or not. They’re comatose. And they’re not waking up no matter what we do.” Yukari quietly confessed, looking at the floor. “No matter what I do, the people I love keep leaving, so at least if I don’t love them it - it won’t hurt when-”

-it was starting to get watery oh she was crying again-

“Hey.”

Yukari looked up, and blinked. Imentet had sat down on her bed, and she could tell, even with the veil, that she was looking right at her.

“I’m sorry about bringing them up.” Imentet sighed. “Go back to sleep. I’ll wake you up if you have any more nightmares.”

And then, her voice hardened.

“You will get back, Yukari Takeba. You’ll see them awake again, no matter what. Believe that, and you’ll be out of here before you know it.”

…Yukari should have protested. She should have complained.

B̴͉̬͚̿̑̃ṳ̴͕͋͂t̵͎̠̿͘͜ ̶̝̞̋̀s̸͓̃͘͝h̷̭̅̂ė̷̹͉͚’̴͚͌͋d̸̯͎͖̋̍̚ ̴̛̠͙̚b̶̢̪̈e̴̳͂̎͌e̶͎̊͋n̸̘͚͈̄ ̸̨͖͍̋̉̀g̷̦̙͋̉̒o̴̥̫̍̈́į̷̦͇̔̍ņ̷͖͗g̷̤̏̅͐ ̸̻̗̒̿f̵̛̥̝͗̕o̸̲̪̠̍͊͠r̶̙͙͠ ̵͍̼̒̊̀n̸̨̺̭̔͛e̴̪̲̎ͅȧ̸ͅŗ̷̘͋́̊l̵̨̯͕̚ẏ̷̼͇ ̴̟̻̣͐͛á̵̭̩̎ ̴̫͍̭̂͠m̴̖͇̰̚ò̷̦͕̤̀n̶͇̈́͐̾ẗ̷̮͓̱́͝h̸̻̼͙͑̌̔ ̶̢̢̓w̶̦̌ḭ̵̀̇ţ̴͕͍͗̅̾h̴̡̤͗ǫ̷̅̂̈́u̵̜͊͊ṫ̸̢̟͉ ̴̺̰̌ͅḁ̴̭͇̅̀͘n̴̹͈̯̿y̴̢̓̍͝ȏ̵̠̭̮n̷̛͇̥̈̄e̴̗͕̙͗͠ ̶̤̋̽̄͜ţ̶͖̂̌ȯ̶̖̯̕ͅ ̷̧̛͙̥̆͝h̴͎͕͂ô̸̗͚̕ͅl̷̜̾͊̇d̶̬̓̉ ̵̻̝̀̑h̶̦̯͑ẽ̵̹̏ṛ̶̢̊́ ̵̠̪͎͝å̴̲ẗ̸͎̩́ ̶̧̜̥̎n̸̫͕͚͒i̴̫̪̼͂͝ġ̸̟͖̙h̷͓̰̉̾͑t̶̨̟̭͊̌͝.̵̥̠͈͑̅̊ ̴̪͋̿̔

Well…

…if it turned out that they shouldn’t have trusted Imentet…

…she wouldn’t have to wake up and deal with it.

And with that in mind, Yukari Takeba closed her eyes. As her breathing began to slow, Imentet slowly rose from the bed.

And without a word, she walked over to the door, and quietly walked out.

Notes:

I am now accepting guesses for who the newcomer is!

Chapter 3: The Three of Pentacles, United

Summary:

The Three of Pentacles, when upright, represents the beneficial usage of somebody’s talents. Rewards are coming for the work you have done, and you’re growing and doing things the right way.

Reversed, the Three of Pentacles represents issues with work - people are dissatisfied, goofing off, not doing well, or aren’t caring about their work.

“So, you’re the - greeter, for this place?” Akihiko asked curiously, as he ate his newly-acquired breakfast - SEES couldn’t really say in normal words how relieved they had been, to have found a door to Paulownia Mall.

“Yes.” Imentet replied simply. “I hope to aid you as best I can in your explorations of the Abyss. It is my duty as greeter to do so.”

“She’s not official or anything, she’s the greeter because she decided she was the greeter.” Metis bluntly informed him. “It’s not like there was anyone here before but us.”

“So… why the hell are you helping us, then?” Shinjiro picked up. “I get why for her.” he gestured to Metis with his head as he spoke. “But you haven’t said jack shit about being related to anybody here. What’s in it for you?”

“Because I want to leave and see the actual world in person.”

Imentet’s voice, despite not being raised, was as hard as iron.

“Eh, you’re looking at stuff too hard, senpai! Imentet’s nice!” Junpei replied, looking pleased by this. He trailed off after speaking, though. “Uh… why are you still wearing that, though?”

“I… don’t have anything to change into.” Imentet admitted awkwardly after a few seconds.

“Oh! We could probably lend you some clothes, if you want.” Fuuka added.

Imentet - well, her guard went up for a split second before she recovered. “...I appreciate the offer. But I have come to like my attire.”

“Well… could you take off your face-thingy, at least?” Junpei asked.

“I would prefer not to.” Imentet said this with - well. 

Yukari could only assume it was a straight face.

“Uh, keep it on, then!” Junpei quickly decided. Imentet only chuckled good-naturedly. “So… we’ll find stuff out when we get to the bottom?” Junpei asked, curiously.

“That is what we theorize, at the moment.” Imentet replied in a friendly tone.

“And this is all you can tell us?” Aigis asked.

Imentet sighed and then shook her head. “We - Metis has not been able to penetrate the Abyss by herself, and I do not have a Persona of my own. We hadn’t been here for long before you appeared, but the two of us would not be enough to reach the bottom anyways. With that in mind, it is to a degree fortunate that you appeared here.”

“Why were you trying to reach the bottom alone?” Mitsuru asked, frowning.

“We could not leave the Abyss before you arrived any more than you can now.” Imentet explained further. “Exploring was the only option we had.”

“And I can’t stand her.” Metis added, nodding to the “her” in question with a veil over her face. “So we couldn’t go in together even if she had a Persona.”

“And your hatred remains irrelevant to me.” Imentet replied bluntly. 

Despite her claim, the friendliness in her voice from earlier was gone.

“Okay, okay! Let’s not bash each other’s heads in, right? Save that for the Shadows!” Junpei quickly broke up the brewing fight, getting between the two newcomers to SEES. 

“...fine. I can do that.” Metis grudgingly bit out. “We can head in… whenever you’re done eating.”

“I will remain here, then.” Imentet added, her previous friendly demeanor now restored. “I would prefer to explore somewhere that is not the Abyss.”

“Very well. Myself, Iori, and Koromaru will be staying up here with you and Shinjiro.” Mitsuru informed her. “As we still have to acquire supplies and investigate the documents that may pertain to the Abyss. I trust you won’t be bothered?”

“Of course not.” Imentet replied.

“Actually, I’m coming down.”

Shinjiro’s voice cutting into the conversation made Mitsuru frown and turn around.

“You know as well as I do that you aren’t combat capable.”

“I know. I ain’t gonna fight.” 

That response made the rest of SEES blink. Shinjiro just shrugged. “I need to get some exercises in. Better to do it down there than up here.”

“...very well.”

The Shadows were as unpleasant as ever - not that this was really a big surprise, for Yukari. 

She could deal with them.

As usual, she was staying in the back, firing off spells and ailments while her teammates - usually Aigis, Akihiko-senpai, Metis, and sometimes Amada-kun - got up close and personal.

…even if Ken was healing more than she was, now. Absently, she shot another arrow, into one of the stacked-head tower Shadows - this one’s weakness hadn’t been determined yet, according to Fuuka. It wasn’t piercing attacks, at least. …hadn’t she shot it already with a Pierce skill?

She should probably focus more on healing, in the meantime, than her new powers. She still needed to heal, to empower -

As her mind drifted to those thoughts, Yukari’s mind and eyes drifted down to her Theurgy Gauge.

Her eyes widened, when she realized it was in the red, ready to use.

Without another word, she loaded the cartridge, and brought her Evoker to her head. Eurydice and Pixie manifested behind her like they had for Minako.

And as they frolicked merrily, SEES’s injuries began to fade.

“You know, we could have gotten through those Shadows the first time.”

As SEES stared at the door in front of them - after they had spent a few seconds gawking at the scenery surrounding the platform they were on - Fuuka shook her head. “I… it’s better to be safe than sorry. We’re… really not as strong as we were.”

“Whatever. Let’s just see where this leads.” 

And without waiting for anyone to reply, Yukari walked up and placed a hand on the door.

Light filled the world, and -

Well.

Whatever things SEES might have been expecting, the sight of Paulownia Mall wasn’t on the list.

As Yukari and Aigis walked through the door that had led them to Paulownia Mall, a startled yelp filled the air.

And so did a delicious aroma.

Somehow, even though the light was still keeping her from seeing anything, Yukari knew who it was.

Imentet?

As Yukari’s eyes cleared up, they went slightly wider as they took in the sight of their dorm’s first-floor lobby.

Wait, the door - didn’t it come from the Abyss?!

As that sank in, Yukari took a moment to look over at the only member of the dorm who had stayed behind - 

And noticed the array of cooking tools that were laid out around her. “I - have you been cooking?”

“...yes.” Imentet quickly stated, clearly still baffled.

“Oh wow, I didn’t think we’d emerge here instead of the Desert of Doors…” 

Yukari hastily stepped aside, as Metis’s voice came from behind her.

“Yo, lil’ sis! What’s with the holdup?”

As Junpei walked in, his eyes went wide after a few seconds.

“...I’ll go get Aragaki-senpai.” Yukari quickly decided.

As Yukari and Shinjiro walked back up to the dorm, Shinjiro sniffed the air, and then sighed. “Ugh… I thought I told her not to try making cream sauce.” His voice was filled with exasperation.

“…wait, how’d you know that’s cream sauce?” Yukari asked.

“Hmph…” Shinjiro exhaled, not answering the question, and Yukari should probably have taken more notice of that. But, her focus was mostly on how the last steps were coming up.

“Hey, Yuka-tan! Aragaki-senpai! Here ya go!”

To Yukari’s surprise, Junpei walked into view before they could, a bowl held in each hand. “Food’s up!”

“...thanks.” Yukari replied coolly, grabbing her bowl out of Junpei’s right hand without another word.

“Hm.” Shinjiro nodded coolly, doing the same.

As the two of them walked away, Junpei’s head sank.

“...man, what is it with people?”

“Junpei-san.”

Junpei perked up lightly as Imentet walked up to him. “Thanks!”

“It’s really good!” Ken seemed happy, as he dug into the creamy chicken stew. 

“...I wish I could make something like this…” Fuuka sadly mused, as she slowly ate her food.

A slurping sound came from Junpei’s direction.

“Seconds?”

“Junpei, don’t talk when you’re eating…” Yukari sighed, spoon held midway to her mouth as she spoke at the sight of Junpei holding out his bowl again.

She… well, it wasn’t really registering to her, but she couldn’t fight as well with an empty stomach.

“I’m glad to see you all like it.” Imentet seemed pleased, as she watched the members of SEES eat, a bowl situated in front of her too.

“It’s quite good.” Mitsuru admitted, as she brought some to her mouth. “It’s new to me, too. I’ve never made anything like this myself, or had anything like it from my family’s chefs.”

“...hm.” Shinjiro didn’t complain. That was - probably a sign he liked it, as far as Yukari knew.

“Nice and nutritious. Tastes good, too.” Akihiko commented.

“Arf!” Koromaru dug into the plate he’d had made for him in advance - well, it was basically just a bunch of meat that Imentet had apparently fried up while they were in the Abyss. But Yukari had to admit, it still looked good.

“So we can all get some sleep and go back down tomorrow?” Ken questioned the rest of the group, yawning as he spoke.

“...as questionable as the idea of tomorrow is in our current situation, I think the general idea is sound.” Mitsuru eventually decided, absently fighting down the urge to yawn herself.

“Sounds like a plan to me!” Junpei grinned. “Especially if we get a good breakfast in the morning!”

“I will see what I can do, then.” Imentet nodded.

“...wait.”

The table fell silent at Shinjiro Aragaki’s declaration.

“...yes?” Imentet replied carefully, caution in her voice.

“Get me up before you start cooking. I barely know you. So you ain’t going unsupervised, got it?”

“...all right.” Imentet nodded.

“Are you going to cook anything for my sister in the morning?”

Metis’s voice coming in made everyone else blink.

Presumably including Imentet, but the rest of them could only guess.

“Why? Neither of you require sustenance.” Imentet replied. “You can’t even digest it.”

“You aren’t even going to try for her?”  

The venom in Metis’s voice put everyone on guard.

Nobody there had forgotten their first meeting with her, after all.

The holes were still there.

“I do not require that sustenance be made for me, Metis.” Aigis stated. “She is correct. I cannot eat, truly.”

“That’s not the point, sister!” Metis shot back. “They aren’t including you!”

“Okay, okay.. Calm down.” Shinjiro interjected with a loud sigh. “If you want, I can make Aigis and you something in the morning too.”

“Oh. Thanks!” Metis’s mood swing made everyone there sweatdrop.

“...I will assist you, then, Shinjiro-san.” Imentet added, slowly and begrudgingly.

…an idea came to Yukari’s mind.

“Hey, Imentet.” 

“Yes?” the veiled woman replied, turning to Yukari with curiosity in her voice.

“You said you wanted to see stuff outside the Abyss of Time, right?”

“...amazing…”

Imentet sounded - well. It lifted Yukari’s heart a little, to see her exploring Paulownia Mall. “It really is, huh?”

She had taken things l̶i̷k̴e̷ ̸t̵h̴e̵m̴ ̴ for granted, for so long, that it was - easy to forget, just how much work it had taken to make - well, civilization.

“And… the entire world beyond is akin to this?” the other woman asked, head turning every other second to take in something else.

“Yeah. All of - well, it’s not all like this.” Yukari admitted.

“I hope I get to see it with you when we leave, then.” Imentet added, sounding - younger - as she spoke.

“...I do too, I guess.” Yukari smiled weakly, as Imentet continued to investigate the world around them. A world that was bigger than she could ever imagine - a̷͜͝n̶̰̓d̵̘̆͜͠ ̴̛̪͂͜s̵͕̭̓t̶̡̎ȋ̸̭̮͠l̷̬̼̀́l̵̪͛̄ ̸͙̰̎f̵̠̥́e̵͎̘͆͝l̶̡̞͑̑t̵̢̞͝ ̶͊͜u̶̝͆͘t̷͈͒t̵̢̉e̴̼͓̍͌r̵̢͈̈́l̸̜͑͑y̶̫͘ ̶̜̔è̵͓͕m̴̩̾͝p̵̹̳̋t̸͙̓͊ẙ̶̜̕,̵̝̏ ̸̜̓́w̸̩̎i̴̝̯͂̕t̵̨̾h̷̭̿͗ö̴̪̫̈́ụ̶̝̆́t̶̩̊ ̴̬̈͝t̸̬̞̾h̸̩̆͂e̵͙̗̽m̷̪̻̌.̴̠́

Notes:

Frolic: (Eurydice + Pixie): Restores 50% of max HP and 25% of max SP for all active party members.

Frolic is, in short, Minako and Yukari's version of Cadenza - it's definitely nothing like the original spell, granted.

Chapter 4: The Six of Cups, United

Summary:

The Six of Cups, when upright, represents nostalgia. Remembering more innocent days, when things were simpler. Sharing, and the past. Harmony and renewing something that was lost. Celebrations, family, and something old coming back, in a good manner.
Reversed, the Six of Cups represents that you’re clinging to the past. You don’t want to accept the present, the nostalgia you’re dwelling on isn’t helping, and you need to look to the future (but probably won’t). The past never dies, and you don’t want to look to the future. Even if you really should.

Notes:

I hope you like this one! Sorry it's - not quite late, but I had some last-minute edits to do. But I think this turned out well, overall!

As SEES gathered at the door to the fifth “root” of the Abyss, prepared for one last descent before they investigated the last three segments, they did a check of their equipment.

“So… who do you think is gonna have their memories at the bottom this time?”

Junpei’s question made the rest of SEES sigh. “Well…” Yukari trailed off, instead of answering.

“Who’ve you already seen?” Shinjiro asked bluntly.

“It’s been… me, Sanada-san, and Junpei-san, so far. Plus the door to Paulownia Mall.” Ken replied.

Shinjiro’s fists clenched on Mjolnir, which he had been using as a makeshift cane, at the voice of Ken Amada, as his body hitched up. But only for a few seconds. “...guess it’ll be me or one of the girls at the… bottom… then.”

Aigis, Fuuka, Mitsuru, and Yukari all traded looks, before Fuuka had a thought. “Wait… well… Metis and Imentet probably won’t have - doors, right?”

“Probably not. We woke up here.” Metis stated. “There’s not much to know.” 

“So how do you know what you do know?” Akihiko’s voice was tinged with suspicion.

“...I don’t know, remember?” Metis countered with a voice as cold as one of her Bufu spells.

“Arf!” Koromaru’s bark caught everyone’s attention - and broke up the argument that may have been about to manifest.

“So… are you feeling any better, Shinjiro-san?” Ken asked quickly, turning to the “2” of SEES.

The young man in question sighed. “I can get up and move around a lot better now… but I’m not sure how much of that is because of Numa doing stuff while I’m here.”

“Can Personas… do that?” Fuuka asked curiously, turning to Mitsuru. 

The Kirijo Group heiress looked troubled for a second, before exhaling. “I… do not know, truthfully. We have an extremely small sample size of Persona-users to draw data from. And Shinjiro is the only one who we’ve been able to analyze with injuries like his.”

“What about -” Akihiko cut himself off midsentence, shaking his head. “-Strega? Yoshino?”

It was a genuine question, but the rest of SEES could tell it hadn’t been what he intended to ask.

Ẅ̶́͜h̴̢̾ḁ̶̔t̶̻̂ ̸̛̞a̶͌͜b̷̹̆ȯ̵̙ǔ̶͈t̸̢͆ ̴͍̃t̷̘́h̵͍̀e̷̮̎ ̴̭̽ẗ̸͓w̷͉̿i̶̘̊n̸̠̒s̸̜͝?̸̤̐

Mitsuru shrugged. “Ikutsuki didn’t leave us any of the data that detailed the attempts of Ergo Research to create artificial Persona-users. Yoshino-san is no longer - we can’t exactly count her as a Persona-user any longer. And if the other two ever healed or were hurt due to their Personas, we were never able to confirm it.”

“Guess I’m sticking up here, then.” Shinjiro sighed. “Well, it’s nice catching up on my -” He paused for a second. “-gah. My reading.”

“Awoooo…”

“...I hope you get better, Shinjiro-san.” Ken said quietly, as Koromaru nuzzled the larger teenager’s legs sadly.

Shinjiro sighed. “...me too, kid.”

Another locker floor. 

“Akihiko, this name is undignified!”

“Eh… sorry, Kirijo-senpai, he’s right. It kind of fits too well.”

“Iori, be quiet.”

“Hey, you’ve never been on a sports team before, right? It - does kinda fit. It lets us take a break before we go up against our rivals!”

“…sorry, Mitsuru-senpai…”

“Yukari?!”

As they walked across the floor, SEES carefully stepped around the black puddles on the floor. They were used to it by now (and walking through them - well, getting their shoes dipped in ink was enough of a reason to steer clear of them). There were no Shadows to worry about - yet, at least.

“Everyone! I’m detecting powerful Shadows below you again!”

Koromaru, Mitsuru, Aigis, and Yukari had already been on guard, and hearing Fuuka's message only raised it further. “Do we have confirmation of their locations?” Aigis asked, already checking her internal supply of ammo.

“Yes...” Fuuka reported. “They’re moving away from the area where you’ll fall, again…”

“Good.” Mitsuru responded simply.

Yukari nodded absently, with Mitsuru’s words. Another ambush for them, then.

As SEES gathered around the hole, looking into the level below, they absently watched themselves, stepping around the spatters of black that surrounded the opening.

And as they did, and a Sylphid Aura sprang up around them, Yukari - well.

She couldn’t help but wonder.

As they dropped onto the floor that was formerly below them, there were no Shadows waiting.

Just another door, and a trail of black that led towards the exit to the next level. The exit that, as SEES peeked over the staircase, had a few Shadows running, gliding, or otherwise maneuvering down towards the opening that led further down.

“Mitsuru-senpai?” Yukari muttered under her breath.

They wanted to keep the Shadows on this level.

They had let the Shadows escape to the next level once, and running after them while running from the Reaper had probably scarred her, Aigis, Ken, and Junpei for life.

The heiress was already moving.

“PERSONA!”

SEES was at the bottom again.

And there was another door in front of them. Again.

“So, Mitsuru, you think we should get Shinji for this?”

Yukari sighed, as she heard the boxer turn to the other senior member of SEES.

Why bother? It would take time to go back and get him - and she was pretty sure she knew what was waiting behind the door. So far, they had only seen the memories of the boys, and there was only one male member of SEES left in the Abyss who they hadn’t seen the past of.

And he probably didn’t want to see what was probably behind the door, any more than -

Thwuuush.

Yukari’s brain skipped a beat, when she realized Amada-kun hadn’t stayed back with the rest of them.

And before -

“I’m coming with you.”

“No. You are not.”

Most people would have quailed under the gaze of Mitsuru Kirijo - even at the age of fourteen, she had learned from watching her father, who had managed to take intimidation to a near art form (including the fine skill of glaring with only one eye, which she had yet to master).

“Yes, I am.”

Shinjiro Aragaki was not one of them.

Mitsuru held her Kirijo Look for another few seconds before - dropping it.

As it did, Shinjiro Aragaki didn’t even blink. And Mitsuru had to admit - she was somewhat impressed. That was the first time in her life it hadn’t worked on somebody. …somebody that wasn’t her parents or Kikuno. “You don’t have the ability to do so.”

“Like hell. If Aki does, then I do too.” Shinjiro’s voice was ironclad in its confidence.

Mitsuru sighed. Sanada was - as far as she had been able to tell - the only person in the entire school with the potential to wield a Persona, as far as she was aware. Shinjiro Aragaki wasn’t his friend. “I highly doubt that.”

“I don’t care. If you don’t bring me in, I’ll get Aki to.” Shinjiro’s declaration made Mitsuru tense up.

She hadn’t considered that. Akihiko - she might be able to get him to not get involved -

-but if he was as close to Shinjiro as she was to Kikuno, and this direct, he would get it out of him eventually.

…maybe she could control what she told him.

“...I’ll consider it. Meet me here tomorrow. If you don’t decide better in the meantime.”

Shinjiro Aragaki didn’t blink, as Mitsuru turned around and walked away. “See you here tomorrow then.” As the redhead vanished around the corner, he shook his head. “Aki, I don’t know what the hell you’ve gotten yourself into now… but I’d better make sure you aren’t in over your head.”

-she could fully register that Ken had touched the door, the vision had started and ended.

“So… that’s how Aragaki-senpai joined?” Fuuka asked, curiosity clear in her voice. 

“...Yes… more or less.” Mitsuru confirmed. There was a slightly guilty look in her eyes.

Despite the sorrow in his face, Akihiko chased it off within a few seconds with a somewhat halfhearted smile. “Hey, Mitsuru? Don’t blame yourself. With what we knew at the time… he would have gotten involved even if neither of us told him, regardless of if we wanted him there or not.”

The gloom in Mitsuru’s face vanished, and a resigned and knowing smile crossed her lips. “Heh… yes. He would have done just that, wouldn’t he?”

Akihiko just shook his head with a smile. “Heh… yeah. That’s just Shinji.”

“Huh?”

The intent behind the question Ken had asked with a single word became clear, as SEES entered the dorm again.

The air smelled quite nice.

“Is that… chicken?” Yukari asked, sniffing the air cautiously.

“...Got it in one, Takeba.”

The voice of SEES’s resident non-participant Persona-user drew everyone’s attention to the living room, where the young man in question had been reading a book.

“I’m surprised you aren’t helping in there, Aragaki.” Mitsuru noted coolly.

“He was.” Imentet’s voice resonating from the kitchen where she was working - and the second word she’d used - made several of SEES’s members tense up.

“Aragaki-san? Are you okay?” The voice of Ken Amada made Shinjiro Aragaki’s laidback demeanour become - less laid back, essentially. 

“Been better. Wish I coulda helped like I used to.” Shinjiro sighed. “She made me sit down when we were cooking. Wouldn’t have listened if -”

The physically toughest human in SEES - at least, before his injuries - was cut off by a full-body wince. “Aragaki-senpai?!” Junpei yelped, hastily power walking over. 

“I’ll - heh.” Shinjiro shook his head as he sank into the couch. “Ain’t gonna say I’ll be fine. But I can handle this.”

“...just because you can handle it doesn’t mean you should have to, Shinji.”

Mitsuru’s quiet voice pierced the room like one of her two-meter long icicles.

“...well, not much we can do about it either way.”

Shinjiro Aragaki’s observation did not lighten the atmosphere in the slightest.

Mitsuru was watching silently, as Imentet cleaned up the kitchen, putting away the dishes that she and Shinjiro had made in their cooking efforts while SEES was in the Abyss of Time. It had apparently been mostly her, near the end, due to Shinjiro’s still-incomplete recovery making itself apparent and forcing her to finish the cooking alone.

“You know… I believe you might be a better maid than some of my family’s actual maids.”

The cleanup stopped. “...thank you?” Imentet’s tone made it clear she wasn’t really sure how to interpret that. “I have no interest in being one of your family’s maids, Mitsuru-san.”

“I didn’t think you did.” Mitsuru replied. “But - well, regardless. After this is all over, I would be happy to sponsor you and Metis while you get your bearings in our world.”

(...and if she was being honest with herself, recently, even if it didn’t show, she had been wondering if it would be possible to get the rest of SEES’s members to get fitted for maid and butler uniforms. For - ah - personal reasons).

“...thank you.” It took several seconds for Imentet to reply. She sounded rather touched. “Would it be possible for me to continue working with Aragaki-san in the meantime? The two of us have done well together, while the rest of you are investigating the Abyss further.”

“I’ll see what I can do.” Mitsuru stated calmly. “And I notice that you didn’t completely deny wanting to be a maid…”

The silence that resulted made it clear to Mitsuru that, even with her back turned and face invisible, Imentet’s face was definitely a fiery red.

The next branch of the Abyss went by faster than Yukari had been expecting, after that. But to be honest, even as they dug deeper and deeper, she was…

…zoned out, honestly. Things just… weren’t sinking in, for her.

She - they - would get through this. They’d get back to their normal lives, she’d go back to school, a̷͓̰͆ṋ̷̢̜̎̊͝d̸͓͋̎̋ ̶̢̓ t̸͍̀̃h̶͍̣̓̐̍ͅe̷̳̲̓y̷̖͎̫̋’̴͎̜̞̍d̸̺̋̽ ̵̘̣̀s̵̰̝̀̂ṭ̴͍̥͌̇͊i̶̡̥͒͜͝l̸̥̱͗̋l̶̬̟͈̿͋̊ ̴̛̻͚͗̇ͅb̴̹͌e̷͕͕̽̓ ̶͇͍̔͑͝a̵͔͐͆s̵͇̆l̷̖̳͌ë̴́́ͅe̸͖̋̉̀͜ṕ̵̟̦͙͛͠ ̴̧̂̽w̸͙̺̼͛̋͑ī̵̙͎̆̈t̴͚̼̽̐͋ḩ̷̖͂͝ ̸͔͋̽ǹ̷͖o̸̰͍̹̓ ̸̹̱͝c̶̗̮͖̐͋͝ḽ̸̼͆͛͘ǘ̶̮̊̈́e̶̩̓́ ̵̨̞̮̿̈́ẗ̸̳̯̜̒o̷̹͋̃͐ ̴̨͒́ī̶̈́͜f̴̜͝ ̶̬̫̥̈t̴̺͕̿h̷̢̍͆̆ė̸̡̬͛́ÿ̸͓́’̴̹̱̀̃d̶̞̙͑ ̵̣̈́̚͝e̷̮͆̚͝v̷̫̺͊̔e̷͕͚͑r̷͇̂̾ͅ ̴̠͉̑̽w̸̤͊̕a̷̭͐̓͊k̷̘͔̊͋́ḙ̸̦̲̿̀̐ ̴̝̮̓u̵͇͇̫͠p̸̛̬͉̄.̸̜̰̖̀̿͝

They were at the bottom again.

And, once again there was a door waiting for them.

“So, door number seven.” Akihiko mused. “Well, shall we?”

“Yeah… it’s probably Ai-chan or Yuka-tan this time, right?” Junpei added.

“We have seen everyone else but them, me, and Metis…” Fuuka admitted. 

So… it might be me this time. 

The reflection made Yukari sigh to herself, at the realization that part of her soul would probably be laid bare soon.

At least it was just her friends seeing it.

Well, it’s just what made us get our Personas,̶̬̲̓͋͜ ̷̞̭̀ş̴͖͙͊̓ȯ̶̬̟ ̶͇̊̑á̶͈̅t̶̙̑̕̕ ̵̘͙͍̉̒l̶̞̚e̸̜̱͆a̶̝̹͚̎̃͠s̴̨͓̓͠ṭ̷̐̈͋ ̵̧͋̀͝ͅI̴̠̖̕ ̷̮̍̂w̶̖̏̕͝ő̶̞͗n̷̰̱͆͘͝’̷̡̦̱̊͑t̷̡̙̆͊ ̶̟͍͇̈́h̵̝̠̪͐̓a̸̜͆̇̏v̴̖̔͑͜͜ẹ̴͊͛͝ ̷͉͓̔͝ṱ̷̖̞̈́̏ȍ̶͔̋͠ ̸̢̦̉̒̾͜s̵̨͑̃ḛ̴̡͙̈́ȇ̵̻͗ ̵̫̹̉ţ̴̬̳͘h̶͎͎̉̿ë̸̜̦́̚m̴͙̙̺̿̆͝…̷̢̜͔͆

With that knowledge, Yukari placed her hand on the door, and -

“Hello, Yukari-san.”

Quietly, Yukari nodded to Aigis - still standing guard. Like she had every day for the last two weeks.

After a few seconds, Aigis moved to the side and opened the door.

And Yukari walked in.

“Hey…”

Luckiest girl in the world.

Yukari stared at the comatose bodies of the twins that she loved.

Funny.

She didn’t feel that lucky now.

“I’m back.”

And really, she should have expected this.

She loved her father.

And he died.

She had loved her mother.

And her mother had abandoned her every time that it mattered, enough that she didn’t -

…she still couldn’t say it.

And she had told Minato and Minako that she loved them. Loved them more than she had ever loved anybody before - even dad.

And she meant it.

“I brought flowers again.” 

And here they were.

“I… I know you’ve got a lot of them, and all…” Yukari managed to bite out, staring at the many vases and bouquets that were scattered around the room, with dozens of cards attached. All of them made one thing very clear. That Minato and Minako were loved dearly, by many people.

Yukari was happy for them. For the love they were receiving even in their sleep.

“But these are special! Sort of. Since - well, they’re from me… and… I like to think I love you more than everyone else here.”

Since I’m your girlfriend.

She still couldn’t say it out loud.

Quietly, Yukari strode to the center table, and set down the two vases she’d brought, while also grabbing the vases that she had brought last week. Then, it had been daisies, roses, and lavender.

“I… I still miss you two. Everyone does. We’re… we’re all waiting for you! I’ve… Mitsuru-senpai’s planning to throw us another party when you wake up. Since we never threw one after you beat Nyx. Aragaki-senpai’s been trying to convince her to let him do all the cooking instead of having her get sushi, but - well. He still has a ton of time before he’s done with therapy.”

There were still roses this week. She’d added blue passion flowers this time, though.

“He’s still trying, though… I don’t know who he thinks he’s fooling.”

(She had been thinking about Forget-Me-Nots. But that was wrong. They were still here. They were still alive. They would wake up.)

For how much longer are you going to think that?

“I… I don’t know who I think I’m fooling…” 

Yukari’s voice cracked like an egg dropped to sea level from the top of Mount Fuji, as her smile disappeared.

“I… I miss you two so much it hurts…”

Water hit the floor - when had she started crying - 

“I - I love you! I love you!” 

-when had she started talking at all-

“I WANT YOU BACK!”

-why was she on her knees in her tears?

“I love you… I love you both… so much…”

She was blubbering, kami -

“I don’t ever want to stop loving you… both of you… So… please wake up… please… come back…”

It took Yukari too long to get back up. The ground around her feet was still damp as she did, but as she rose, she didn’t bother being careful. 

As she got up, she looked at the twins. If this had been a cheesy romantic comedy, like all the ones that Minako had sometimes dragged her and Minato into watching, they would have woken up from her sobbing. 

Yukari looked, as she settled into a chair.

And looked.

And looked.

But nothing changed.

It never did.

Everybody always left her. Minato and Minako hadn’t decided to do it, and she wasn’t sure if that had made her heartache better or worse.

“Sorry. I’ll… I’ll see you…”

Yukari, even as she tried to get the words out, felt her breath hitch up at the idea of coming back for weeks. 

For months. 

Years.

Clinging to this place. Clinging to them. To the hope that they would - 

She couldn’t do this.

She couldn’t.

“...bye.”

The memory dissipated. 

And as it did, Yukari ̷̲̫̑̽̅c̴̺̬̓o̸͚̐̒̉ű̶͚̚ļ̴̹͂͐̆d̵̹͖̈́ ̷͉͙͛̎̒ͅf̵̬͓̌̈́ȩ̵̫̺̅ẹ̴̟̾̀l̴̼̀ ̵̩̿̿̕h̷̖̱̒͆͠ĕ̵͇̒͝r̴͓͛̆́ ̶̝͈͊̈́ͅḩ̸͎̉ě̵̫ḁ̸̀͐̎ͅr̶͚̄t̴̝̭̽ ̵͔͇̲̈́̾b̵͓̱͐̓̑r̸͓̖͋͛͘e̶͓̋̓̀a̶͔͈͒̽ķ̶̑͆͝ì̵̞̠̜̈̍ṅ̴̨̥̣̎̕g̵̡̮͔̽̚ ̴̥͍̠̄̐ą̸̆̉g̷̹̰̈́͂ä̸͉̼̗́̔i̸̜̳̊̄̔n̵̨̜̮͐̾̔-̶̘͖͠

“Yukari-chan?” 

They were looking at her, smiling at her, loving her-

“Yuka-tan? Are…”

“Yukari. I…”

...she could see them-

“Arooo…”

In the background, she could hear, faintly, somebody sobbing -

Her feet were being lifted off the ground?

“…let us return to the dorm.”

Yukari didn’t have enough presence of mind, as her eyes became wet, to countermand Aigis’s order.

Notes:

Numa, by the way, is Shinjiro's new Persona. The second king of Rome, he was more well-known for his civic policies than his martial ones.

Chapter 5: The Eight of Swords, Upright

Summary:

The Eight of Swords, when upright, represents the sensation of being trapped. The world around you is oppressive and sapping your strength, keeping you from doing what you want to do. You don’t believe in your ability to escape your predicament, you’re stuck in a rut, and if you do try to free yourself, it feels like you always run into a brick wall. It feels, no matter what you do, like there is no escape.
(Don’t give up).

“Yukari-san, are you certain there is nothing I can do for you?”

“Aigis. I’m fine.”

“Are you certain?”

Yukari turned over, facing the wall instead of replying.

…well, not replying was a reply in itself.

…she didn’t even have the energy to care.

“I will wait here until you are willing to speak again, Yukari-san. Please do not feel you must hurry to reply.”

…Yukari said nothing.

And before she thought of anything to say, she fell asleep.

T̸̲̓h̴̜̄e̷̢̅r̸̰͐e̴̲͋ ̴̝͐w̵̩̅e̷̛̘r̶̺̈e̷̳͐ ̸̧͐d̴̗̓ȓ̶̪e̵͚͗ä̴͍́m̷̻͂s̸̥̊,̸̦̏ ̶̱͒ȏ̶̫f̷̨̈ ̵͚̔ț̸̆i̷̱̇m̵͚̎e̴̢̔s̶̹̈́ ̵̪̀g̶̡̚o̷͙̚n̷̛̯e̴̗͐ ̵̻̎b̸̜͗y̴̐ͅ.̴̡̓ ̶͈̈́B̵̩̊e̷̪͛i̶̘̾ṉ̵͠g̵̱͛ ̵̽ͅk̵͕͆ḯ̵͔s̷̋ͅs̴͇̉e̶̥̕d̷̯̄ ̸͈̍o̸̦͘n̵̹̍ ̷͚͝b̷͈͆ȍ̷̡ť̴̝h̵̪̚ ̶͎̐s̷͕̕ï̸̺d̷̯͐e̴͙̐s̵̮͆,̷̘̃ ̵̹̿b̷̝̏y̵̙̔ ̷͖͛t̵͜͝h̴̥͑ė̵̺ ̸͔̉l̴̻̅o̶͍̽v̵̐ͅe̴̦̍s̸̭̿ ̴̦͛o̷͉̓f̸̩͛ ̴̲̔ḥ̶̆e̵͓͂ŕ̵͈ ̶͔̈́l̸̢̇i̶̠͂f̴̨̿è̸͕.̵̠̎ ̶̠͐G̴̡̑o̵̫͆ị̴͌n̴̜͐ģ̵́ ̸̹̇-̴̘̇ ̴̩̀a̶̖̿l̷͓̂l̷̼͝ ̴̝͝s̷͓͋o̵͇̿r̴̺̅t̴͉̄s̴͙̎ ̷͚̅o̵̦͠f̸̼̿ ̸͉̅p̴̙͠l̷͍̔á̷̘c̴̰̿e̶̜͗s̵̜̋.̸̺̋ ̷̤̐S̵̉ͅp̴͈̎o̴̤̔r̵̮̆ṯ̸͑i̵̯͘ṅ̷͓g̵̞̕ ̷̖͋ë̶͔́v̷̞̌e̴̗͛n̵̼̏t̴͉̍s̸͍͘ ̷͓̈́w̸̤̐h̴̻͗e̸̯̕ṛ̶̂e̵̝̋ ̵̪̌ẗ̴͉́h̴͕̐ě̴̦ÿ̶̞́ ̵̗̑ǎ̴͎l̴̨̎l̸͖͂ ̵̮̽ś̵̖h̶̰̊ȏ̷̩u̷̞̅t̷̬̋é̶ͅd̵̤͋ ̶͖̒i̴̹͂n̴͚͋ ̴͇͊ŝ̴̤u̴̜͌p̷̜̀p̵͕̃o̸͇̍r̸̬̆t̵͈̑ ̵̪̂ò̷̠f̷̭̃ ̶͚̓e̷̔ͅà̸̡c̵̹͛h̷͓̃ ̴͌ͅó̶̬t̸̩͝h̴̳̓ḛ̷̕r̶͈̐,̶̱̊ ̵͓̔d̷͈̒ȁ̶̯t̵͍̄ḙ̷̋s̵̔ͅ ̶̧͑t̷̢͌h̷̟̓a̴̼͌t̵̤́ ̵̫͠ẖ̶̕ä̶͕́d̸̖̕ ̴͍͆ả̴̟p̷͖͛p̸͍̈́e̶̠͗á̷̪r̵̡̋ẻ̵̳d̵͖̊ ̴̮́t̷̨̽ȯ̷͉ ̵̫̕b̴̩́e̴̝̽ ̷̜͂j̸̥͑ù̴̦s̶̩͋t̵̢̾ ̴̥͗f̶̰͆r̷̨͊ỉ̴͎ẻ̴̘n̸̩͗d̷̙̈ṣ̶͐ȟ̴̝ị̸͆p̸͕̂ ̷̨̕ä̷̺́t̵̙̄ ̴͝ͅC̴͇̋h̶̨̀a̸̠͂g̸̥̐a̸̤͘l̵͕͗l̴̞̕ ̴̨̾C̸̝͝ā̶̠f̷̠͋e̴̬̍ ̵̧̅o̴͔͛r̶̘̚ ̷̮́ã̴̮ ̷̹̄f̸͉͋e̸̥̕w̷͇͊ ̶͈̚o̸̳͂f̷̟̆ ̶͕̎t̶̯͛h̸͕̑é̴̬ ̷̣̈́r̴̢͝ě̷̗s̶̬̈t̷̞͝á̴̝u̵̯͂ŕ̶̪ā̵̠n̵̜͊t̸͇̊s̴̨͆ ̶̱̓i̴͔̎n̵̗͆ ̵͚͊ṫ̴̹ó̵̝ẁ̵̭ṇ̷͒ ̵̩͆(̸̜̽e̵̹̊v̷͖̕e̶̥͛n̴̡̆t̷̙͋š̸̨ ̵̣̂t̷̹̀h̸͇̀ȁ̸͓t̷̨̛ ̸̖̋e̵̠̔n̶̞̏ḏ̸͂e̵͖͐ḋ̶̗ ̶̨̈w̴͕̕i̴̯͋t̷̗̏h̴̦̀ ̷͇̈ẗ̵̯́h̸̗̓e̶͈͒m̴̖̈́ ̸̢̉b̴̪̍ä̴̠c̷̝̐k̸̳̅ ̴͙͠a̶̖͂ț̵̆ ̶̠̅h̴̢̐o̸̗͠m̸̲͘e̵̫͒,̴̥́ ̷̦͗c̷̺͌ų̴̂ḋ̴̼d̶̦̈́l̵̥̚ë̸̜d̵̪̔ ̶̖̐ḯ̷̗n̴̡̄ ̵̛͎b̵̯̎e̵̜͝d̶͍̓ ̸͔̔ẅ̶̱́i̵̺̿t̷̢͝h̵̛̖ ̴̣̿ḧ̴̫́e̵͓̍ȑ̷̝ ̸̟̏s̷̝̕a̷̼͛n̵̯͠d̴̗͑ẃ̴̖ị̷̕c̸̰͛h̴̛̬ẻ̸̺d̵̥̋ ̶̝̃b̷̧̿ẻ̵̡ṱ̶́w̴̺̓e̴̪͋e̴̝͛n̴̟̈́ ̴̠̃t̵͖͂h̵͓̊e̷͉̽m̶̳̔)̴͈͊.̸͍̒ ̸̟͂

̵̺͒T̶͕͌h̸͕̆e̴͙̋ ̷̝̀m̸̹̀o̶̗͊m̴̲͠ẹ̶̈́ñ̴̻t̵́ͅ ̵͓̂s̸̬̚h̷̥̾é̴̜ ̸̖͝r̵͕̋å̸̢n̸̙͛ ̸̙̓ô̸͎ń̸̜t̴̙̍o̷̦̎ ̵̙͌t̴̳͑h̶͍̔e̴͖͌ ̷͙̊r̷͕͊o̴̻͝o̶̦͒f̸̘̂t̶̺̐o̴͈̾p̴͕̋ ̸̺̍ȃ̵̜n̴͇͋d̷̠̕ ̸̳͘ś̷͔ȁ̷͜w̵̙͝ ̸̖̊t̴̨͛h̵͈͒é̵̦m̸̬͝ ̵̟͋ḯ̸͎n̵̻͝ ̴͖̆Ȧ̸̻ị̴̄g̴̛̟i̵̭̎s̴̝͝’̶͍́s̷̖̍ ̴̠͌l̵̳͝a̶̝̕p̶̪͠,̸̳͠ ̴̢̿a̵̯̋n̷̟̏d̶̥̊ ̷̺̃s̴̙̈a̴̰͝ŵ̶̘ ̶̰̍t̸̰̕h̶̜̓e̷̪͑m̵̢̈́ ̴̰̔s̴͓͂m̷̦͝ī̵̫l̸͇̉e̴̡͗ ̷̛͈a̵̢̋t̶̥͠ ̷̮͐h̶̩̕e̵̐͜r̴͉͑ ̴̺̀f̸͜͠o̵̢̍r̴̙̿ ̶̺͆ā̶̦ ̴̦͘f̷̱̉ẻ̶͓w̴͖̾ ̴͕̂s̴̼̕ě̸̳c̸̠̔o̴̭͆n̷̪̏ḍ̶̔s̷̳̉ ̸̭͊-̶̲͘

̷̹̍-̷̟͋b̸̳͂e̵͙͠f̷̡̌o̶̪̚r̶̺͂ẻ̴͙ ̸̙̉t̷͎͗h̸̖̊e̶̡̿ỳ̶͕ ̶͍̊p̶̗̊ḁ̵͛s̷͕̒s̴͉͒e̵̫̓ḏ̵͒ ̷̧̂o̵̺͊ŭ̷͖t̸̪̂ ̸̝̃á̶̯n̴̠͝d̵̺́ ̴̙̀ň̸̮e̴̙̐v̸̰͗e̵̯͛r̴̡̔ ̸̳̇w̵͚͂ó̵̡k̷̃ͅĕ̵̺ ̸̡̛ụ̶̋p̷̗͝.̶̣͂

“-kari-san?”

…bwuh?

Shaking the darkness from her eyes and the fog from her head, Yukari turned around -

…and she was met with the sight of a wall of metal.

“Yukari-san. It is good to see you awake again.” Aigis turned around and started walking out of the room, before Yukari could really process that she had been in it.

…huh.

After a few seconds, Yukari mentally decided to move on.

Yawning, she turned around, preparing to get up, eyes set on her wardrobe. (Thank god they had a washer and dryer here - although… where did the water come from, now? How was that working?)

…I probably shouldn’t think about it.

She had ingested enough pop culture to be sure that wondering too much about the mechanics of time travel would just make her head hurt.

Well, time travel, apparently fell under Shadow bullshit. (Tartarus had way more mass than Gekkoukan and the old Kirijo facility put together, and she was not going to think about how).

Another series of knocks came on the door.

“Yukari-san. Are you hungry?”

“Uh…” Yukari’s stammer was interrupted by her stomach growling. “Yes?”

“Excellent. Breakfast has been acquired.”

Without waiting for Yukari to respond, the android walked in, a plate in hand.

Yukari recognized eggs, rice balls - and - they were cold. Also…

“Aigis… were you waiting there the entire time I was asleep?” Yukari’s astonishment was clear in her voice.

“Yes.” Aigis’s statement was rather cool, despite Yukari’s clear surprise. “After you fell asleep, I decided to relocate your food to the refrigerator downstairs.”

“...thanks.” Yukari managed, mind swimming through both the rigors of waking up, and the confusion of what Aigis had just done for her.

…̷̗̐i̶̼̤̤͂͊̏s̷̰̯̈́ ̵̨͍̳̈́̚t̷̗͗̓h̵̢̧̞͋ì̸̧̠s̵̠̀̓͘ ̵̮͈͉̑͗̏ĥ̸̫̺̪ȯ̵̢̰͝ẇ̵̛̯̪̟̚ ̸̜͇̳̓̔͑t̷̠̪͒h̶̘̰͎͋e̸͍͓͒͜y̸̟͚̔͠ ̵̧̩̏ḟ̶̰̖̱͊e̴͉͝l̸̡̟͂t̷̝͛ ̴͓̳͗͝w̵̙͕̽͠ḧ̴̥́͋̾e̷̹̐̑̔n̸̨̖̮̆ ̴̡͚̬̇̓̽t̸͚̊ḧ̸̩͖́e̸̱͛̃̔y̴̭̙̝͛͘ ̴͚͇͆̿͑w̶͙͆͝ȍ̷͙̑k̴̘̥͊̀e̶͍͝ ̶̩̅u̶͈̭̒p̴̡͉͊͘ ̴̪͉͗̄w̷͚͉̒̓̏i̵̖̔t̵͚͉̃h̶͕͗̒ ̸̝͋̈̌ȟ̸̤̍e̵̢̙̮͒r̷͈̈́̂ ̷͎͑̀n̸͓̿ë̵́͜x̸̙̹̯͛͂̚t̴̜͐ ̷̘̈́̅t̸̪̺̊̾ǒ̴̲ͅ ̵͖̈́t̴̢̙̣̍̐̌h̵̥̏ê̶̤i̴̙̾̆̕ͅr̵̬̪̈̈́ͅ ̷͉̆̊̍͜b̴̯͍̍́e̸̝̺͋͋̃d̸̳͊s̸̡̛̰͔̀?̸̰͌̾́

Time passed.

Yukari - didn’t really absorb any of it, though. She had just… collapsed in bed, drifting off after Aigis brought her breakfast back.

And when Aigis had knocked on her door, and told her that she and Mitsuru had decided they all needed some time off. They were currently planning to head down again tomorrow - 

…if you can even call it tomorrow when we’ve been stuck for about a month.

She was - honestly, just going to take Mitsuru-senpai’s word on that one, because she had really not cared enough to bother keeping track of how long they had been trapped on March 31st.

…maybe I should have spent some time practicing…

…what the hell. She still had the Wild Card.

And - well. Yukari had - sort of drifted off, after finishing the food Aigis had brought her.

It would be over soon. There was only one door of the eight here left they hadn’t reached the end of.

(Yukari laid in her room).

(Junpei idly played the same game that he had been playing for the last few weeks. He was glad his saved games weren’t resetting).

(Imentet and Shinjiro carefully watched Fuuka as she cooked. Shinjiro and Imentet’s dread was unjustified, and Fuuka’s joy was fully justified).

(Mitsuru had been catching up on her reading. There were a lot of books in the building she hadn’t gotten to before moving out. If it wasn’t for the Shadows, she might have wanted to stay here a while longer).

(Aigis and Metis had just - spent time together in Paulownia. Metis had been very enthusiastic about karaoke with her sister. Aigis had… liked it).

(Ken and Koromaru had taken walks together, around the bottom floor of the Abyss. Ken had knocked on Yukari’s door, and gotten no reply. They could go past the doors, as it turned out. But it was curious - no matter how far they had walked, when they turned back, the doors on the opposite side were always right in front of them, as if they had gotten moved without knowing it. Well, it was fun, at least!)

She wondered what was at the bottom. What could be causing all of this?

Ṡ̶̬ḧ̶͚e̸͕̽ ̵̓ͅẇ̶͈á̷̬s̴̟͛ ̵̠̒g̶̥̊ò̶̠i̷̧͘n̵̢̿g̶̗͝ ̷͎̈́t̶͍͌ő̶͎ ̴̼̚ţ̷̽û̵͕r̴̺̒n̸̼̚ ̵͓̈į̴͌ẗ̵͍ ̸͍̅i̷̗̇ñ̶̟t̷̛̩o̷̜̔ ̶̦̓a̴̗̕ ̶̬͝p̷̥̄ĭ̴̙n̸͙̾c̸̨͘u̶̗̐s̸̳̉ḫ̷͘i̸̧̚ǒ̷̥n̵͚̒ ̶͔̍f̶͑͜õ̷̧r̸͈̈́ ̴̧̓w̴̘̃h̶̢̎ḁ̸͂t̶̢͒ ̷̻̒h̵̨̚a̵̜͌d̶͘͜ ̸̙̿b̶̰̀è̴͖e̶̱̚ň̴ͅ ̸͈̄b̴̜̋ę̶̄h̴̪͋i̴̤̐n̸̻̿d̸͚̏ ̷̨͝h̵̰̀e̷͓͠r̶̟͐ ̴̰̚d̶͎̿ó̸̘o̶̳̿ṛ̸̎.̷̡̔

Time had passed quicker than she thought it would.

And - well. They were about to descend into the Abyss again.

For the last time, hopefully. Sighing, Yukari took a look over the two bows that she kept hung up on the wall of her room when she wasn’t using them, and which she’d never taken to club practice - Sarnga, and the Quintessence Bow. 

Ṱ̵̲͘h̷̳͓̤̽̅͂̈́͜e̵̡͔̎̕ỳ̵͙͉͖͝ ̴̪̥̈͆w̶̨͔̋̈́̀ȇ̷̳̋͑r̸͈͕̔̃́̚e̶̼̻͒̑̎ͅ ̴̥̑f̶̩̹̈r̷̬͋o̷̯̼̿̔̒m̶̠̣͉̮͆̋̈͊ ̴̢͈͘͘̕h̸̲̓e̶̡̖̣͍̋͗͒̒ṛ̴̰̈̽̃̕ͅ ̶̟̻̈̈g̶̨̩̬̎́̓͂i̷̠̥̟͗̈́͘͜ŗ̷͉͂́̓ľ̶͇͖̖̎f̵̠̯̦̈́͌̃r̴̘̖̺͌͗͝ͅí̶̛̟͚͍͂͐ê̷̝̠ͅn̵͇͚͔͝͝d̵̳̯̄̊̊ ̶̛̙͓̃̈́ȁ̶̦̺̎͆n̴̛̹̰̭͗̏d̶̛̮͙͖̀̏̕ ̴̢̠̪̥̊̀h̷̞͒ȇ̸̛̈́͂ͅr̷͍̥̲̲̓ ̸͉̂̐͂͘ͅb̷̝̎̉̀ỏ̷͖̥̺ý̵̫̩̹̅͜f̴̰̀ȓ̸̺̪̠͂̅̒ì̵̲̾ẹ̸͘͜͝ǹ̴̞̹̀̽̈́d̴͍͓̑́͠,̶̡͔̀̎̔̕͜ ̴̹̙̈́̊̔̓g̷͍̍̊̎ó̸̯̠̪͜d̵͍̋̅̉ ̶̟͗̍͗̈́s̵͙̰͙̜̾̎͝h̵̢̥̖̟͂͝e̵͖̯͈͍̐͌̇ ̵̲̣̠̣̿̔̀m̶̛̬͖̠͚̉̂̓i̶̛͉̪̹̺s̶̢̝̗͑̈́͘͘s̷̺̫͋̚̚͝ȩ̸̓͐d̷̙͖̩̐̄ ̶͈̤͝ͅt̴̢̝̻̻̑̄ḣ̸͈̭̬͘͜e̴͚͊m̶̬̮̐̚…̷͈͒̾ ̴̤͚͚̔́͂

(The Lightning Gloves (̴̢̛̰͑͂̕M̵̼͍͚͔̅̈́i̷̛̮̐̔n̶͖̪̲̑́à̴͍̘̥͘͜k̷̨̙̩̂o̸̡̞̘͐̿̈́̚ ̶̥̘̟͆̊͗̂w̷̜͔̤͆͘͝ͅa̸̡̼͖͂̃͠s̶̠̘͔̍̒ ̶͓̹̽̐̇̎s̸͕̄̌̈́ǫ̴͕͕̃̓ ̴̞̻̤̟͊̋̚t̸̯̼́̈́͠͝ḩ̷͎̤̔̚o̶̧̿́͜ų̸̼͒͘̚ͅg̸̨̒̓̆̽h̵̭͙͊̑̽̓t̸̞̎̽̓̓f̷͖̣̻̂̔ů̶̩̰͌̽͜l̶̲͛̅̓)̸͊ͅ, and the Vayu Bracers (̴̛͚͈̪̟̾̽M̵̢͍̲̓̍͆͠i̸͈̬̔̾̔̔ǹ̷͕̜̺a̶͍̭͓͂̀͘ṯ̶̀̈́o̴̧̩͖̭̒̀̚͘ ̴̝̣̍̍̏̕͜͜m̴̳̫̩͋͑͌e̶̻̊̇a̴͖͎͗n̴̼̦̾̐̌ͅť̶͖͕͘ ̶̥̙͚͊̔̄w̸̭̭̳͔̃͑̒̀e̵͔̪͈̪̋̿̓̉l̴̡̰̒l̵͎̲̏,̵͖̩̂͠͝ ̷̨̝͎̳̈̃̓̌a̸͈͇̹̒́̀̑n̵͎͙͈͆̽͗͝d̴̢̨̫͙̈̈ ̷̬̿͜t̸̻͙͉̏̐h̸̻̯̉͛e̵̛̠͔͛̚y̸̬̣̮͜͝͠ ̴͔̋̕h̵̦̭̘͑á̶̧̠̍d̷̡̦͇̉̎͠ ̸̙͐̓̊̍ḃ̵͙͙ȩ̵̬̬̮̉e̴̟͇̮͌͐n̵̢̲̦̍̈́ ̷̮̓ḩ̶̮̀̌e̸̜̼̳̅̋͝ḻ̶̘̞̋̒̐p̴̨͕̝̥͛̅́́f̴̧͈̣̘͒͑̿͂u̶̪͗̀ļ̴̬̾ ̸̬͇̗͋f̶̼̱̤̼̿̊̄͝o̴̗͈͎͆͝ṛ̸͙̼̐́̈́ ̸̲̜̒̇̅a̵̧͂̅ ̶̩̝̇̚͘l̷̼͖͂ǫ̸͍̩͓̊̓͒͝n̶̜̝̬̑͂g̷̼̐ ̵̯͂̂̃̓t̴̞̗͉͐̃ͅi̴̛͕̟̾m̶̮̲͓̰͆̅͛́e̶̮̰̞͚̐̈́͆̕,̴͍̌̌̌ ̸͍͍͚̺̏b̴͓͈̗̜̃ư̵̯̓t̸͍͝ͅ ̵̻̫̦͇̿͆͌s̷̮͍̹͑͊̈̾h̴̡̞͔̿̕͝ę̸̼͌̒ ̶̨̱̥̩͐̏͛̾h̷̢͔͓̾̑̇ą̶͒d̷̛̓̋͜͝ ̵̙̫̀w̶̬̮̮̩͑̈̕ǒ̸̥̃̕u̷̠͒ͅn̷̢̮͈̗̂d̵̫͉͈̯͐́ ̶̧̫͈̹̇̑̃u̵̖̟͛̓͊͆p̸̱̼̜̥̌ ̵̛͖́͌̚n̸͍͔͉͊̌o̴͚͑̔͝t̴̨͉̏̀̑̕ ̶͖͋̌̏͝n̷̛̩̙̞̈́̋e̴̢̱̒e̵̞̲̓̽͗͘d̶̫̔ĭ̵̥̮̹̉n̵͎̥͐͋̃͂g̶̡͚̰͎̅̓̔̂ ̵͈̺̠͈̈́͛͌͝ẗ̸̩̲̩̻̉̉h̵̜̖̜͛ͅe̵͚͋m̸̢̪͚͔͐ ̶̹͠b̷͍̼̥̉̆͗̉y̵͔̒̅̕͘ ̷̮̈t̸̰̤̅͗̈́̋h̵̹͈͎̗̀è̴̡̺̣̫͐̽̂ ̷̜̥̘̤̃͑t̴̻̚i̸̡̞̱̿̚m̶͗̿ͅͅe̸͔͗͛͆͘ ̴̢̞̅̽ṭ̵͎̜̳̆̕h̷̙͕͔̖̽ė̵̝̤̇̀y̸̼̅͑́̈́ ̶̨͓̭́f̵̺͖̦̉͒ͅo̶̻͖̲͛͝u̸̺͑̄̔̏g̵̭̀h̸̲͙̞͑ť̶͚̺̜̪͂̆͝ ̸̨̳̰͌̾͑͜Ń̷̜͗ÿ̶̤̳̙͇̈́̄͘x̸̨͠)̵̞͍͐̋̈́̊ she had once used were lying on a table next to her bed. 

Covering up her electric weakness and amplifying her wind attacks - weren’t as helpful, now that she was a Wild Card b̴̬͕͗̔̐̕ǔ̷͉͝ţ̶̥̘̉͐ ̶̻͔̬͍͠s̸͎̪̘͌̅͋h̴̬̊́͝ȅ̸̯̈́́ ̶͓̣͔̔s̸̘̖̺̽̌̑t̵̢͌ȉ̶̝̭͖̼͑̏̀l̶̢̬̹̑̉́͆l̶̮̊ ̵̧̥͛̿s̸̥͒͛͆͝ö̴̻͇͔́m̷͚̿͆ȩ̶͍͝t̶͚̰̫̣̍͌͋ī̵͇͋͠m̸̨̭̺͊ͅê̴͙s̷͖̞̄͛̌͐ͅ ̸̟̇̓̚͜w̷͍̐̃͗̚ạ̷̟̘̮̎͝n̸͕̣̼̉t̸͙͇͖͋̏̅́e̵̯͎̗͐̇͐d̵̳̬̕͜ ̵̨̛̝̖̿̈́͜͝t̴̞̉͋̃̃o̶̙͖̽̅ ̸̢̯̠̟͆̃̏̈w̵̖̦̌ë̸̡͇̗̫́̑̂̓a̶̻̯̟̾̃r̷̢͇̜͐̐͜ ̷͕̾̈́t̸̛͚̄h̷̯̙̑̓͋̚ę̷͎̝̹͋́͘m̷̙̳̗͕̀̾ ̶̧͛̈́̋ṱ̶̛͒o̵͕̰̤̎͑͜͝ĝ̶̟̓̑e̴͓̓͛̾͝t̵̥̹͗͜h̸͈̗͚͝é̵̟͕̄̏ŕ̵̦͖̠̄́,̸̖͔̩͈̀̅͠ ̶̖̮̙̓͝ẉ̶̩̤̃̏̚ẖ̶͎̈́ë̶̞͓̗̟́́ň̵̩̹͎͓̄͝ ̷̫̘̯̏̿̈́̈́s̶̡̛͕̝̣͋̃h̵͔̭̾̍̂e̸̠̦̻̖̓ ̴͔̠͈̃ẅ̵̩́̕a̵͎͙̱̔͊̿s̷̜̮̦̃̒ ̷̦͈͇͊̐a̷̬̞̜͆̓̕l̶̙̀̓̀ȏ̶̫̻̻͗̑̚n̴̲͗̄̿̇e̸̹͒͒̿̃)̷̧͊.̵͚̙̊̅̃͆

The door of her room opened without her noticing.

“Takeba. Thought I’d find you here.”

Yukari tensed, ever so slightly, as she turned to the door of her room.

They may have both been friends with Mitsuru ȁ̶̡̱̺̝͔̲͖̜̳͇͚̞͓̗̳͌̐̓̔͑̂͗͑͂̑͠͠n̷̼̜̤̊̎͊̿̌̽̎́̇́͘͝ḍ̸̡̹̦̘̝̣̙́̀͐̽́̂ ̵̨̭̮̭̣̱̟̙̖̤̠̯̗̣̅M̷̨̛̙̖̪̭̉̎̈́͗͊̉̀̊̽̑į̶̡̣̙̜̲̮̲̩̘̗̠̇̍͜ń̶̤̦͖̺̎͌̊͛͆̕ͅa̷̡̛̖̮̖͎͇̪̯̣̲̾̉̀̓k̴̛̦͎̭̜͇͇͚͍̹̣͗̂͝o̸̢̺͙̬̬̝̫̹͆̆̇́̀̓̏̚ͅͅ, but she - wasn’t really used to talking to Shinjiro Aragaki.

“Aragaki-senpai? Why are you here?” She asked, frowning.

“Just seeing if you’re up to head down today.” Aragaki admitted bluntly, Mjolnir touching the floor behind him.

“Of course I am!” Yukari retorted, crossing her arms.

Shinjiro looked her dead in the eyes before he spoke. “After they touched your door, and you spent a whole - reset - in here asleep or staring at the wall? Aigis had to carry you back. I think we’ve got room for doubts. And we’ve all got doubts.”

Yukari tensed up. I… I was up here a whole day?

She remembered that Aigis had brought her breakfast, but -

“They’re gonna wake up.”

Yukari tensed up more, ȩ̵̝̻̞͆̃̌v̴̖́̃̋ë̶̦͍̠̤͝n̸͈̘̿̎͋͝ ̷̨̍̊͒͝w̸̙̌̒̑̕ĭ̵̧͕͕̀̇͠t̵͕̲̟̱́̀̕h̴̥̜̰͙̋ŏ̴̧̼͕̺͛͗u̴̮͕͓͖̇t̶̼̘̓̆̈ ̶̢̔ḥ̷͈̅͑͋́ê̸̪̳̠̐͑͒͜ả̵̡̛̝̤̀ͅr̸̢͇̭̟̄́͑͐ȉ̵̮ͅñ̴̯g̷̛͕ ̸̣̗̻̒̅̃̄ț̸̗̖͇̀h̸̡͉̓͊͊ë̴̼̲̺́͜ ̶̛̼͌̚n̴̝̰̿̈̾́ḁ̶̎͐̕̕m̵̨͆e̷͇͆ș̷̨̬̖͐ ̸͓͛̍͝͠o̴̢͔̟̞͆̎̕f̵͚̖̅̊͒͠ ̴͉̹̼̑ͅẗ̶͔̝̺́̈́h̷̛̞͕͚̾̏͝e̴̫̠͆͂ ̷̙͘͜͝p̶̮̤̈́͆̏e̷̝͇̹̬͌o̴̭͂̓p̴̟̤̀̎l̶̼̜̜͆̅̑e̴͓͎͑ ̶̲̐̂s̷̖̪̈́h̸̡̡͛͒͝e̵̦̝̺̊̒͋̅ ̸̨̯͈͊̽ͅl̵̛̹̤ő̶̝̝͖̈́v̶̩̘̆̔͛̎ḙ̶̑̚̚d̸̨͉̹̥͊ ̴͕̅͑͂m̴̧͎͔͂̕ọ̵̬̲͚̄́̈̚r̶̛̞͔e̶͈͋͠ ̶̧̜͕͙͋̉t̵̛̛̤̟̏͐h̸̨͍̻̞̾̈́a̷͉͑̆͘͠ņ̸̖͙͉̀ ̴̛̹͎̥a̸͇̅͛̂n̸̗̼̝̝̾̕ÿ̸̧̯̼́̂̍̒b̷̠͘o̵̧̩̦̫̔d̷̥̏ͅy̵̼̙̾̐ ̵͉̑̒ė̸̡͔ļ̴͇͚̠͌s̷̛̬͎̤̏̕͜͝e̴̤̘͝.̵̥͈́

“...you don’t know that.”

“Takeba. I got shot. I literally only survived because - well, of my watch and a literal miracle, far as I can tell.” Shinjiro sighed. “They passed out, sure. And that’s weird. But I got shot and woke up after a few months. They didn’t get shot. They’ll be fine.”

“...we still don’t know what happened.” Yukari’s tone was hollow as she spoke. “We don’t know what Nyx did .”

And she’d searched for answers. SEES had practically torn apart the dorm, ̸͎͕̱̔ḛ̸̘̍͌͒s̸͕͎̺̃̆̅p̴̧̨͎͙̒͘ę̴̗͌̔͐c̵̻͙͊̆i̵͎̹̥͖̾̈́̄͠a̸̟̹̙̾̾̉̏l̶͖̅l̶͇̊ỷ̵̟̞͝ ̶̟̍̃̀ţ̶̇h̶̞͐̎̓ë̷̫́́i̷̛̙̟̣̯̓̔̽r̴͈̗̝͗ ̵͓̈́͐̂͠ŗ̶̰̮̥͛o̵̱̖͙̎͝ô̵̙͒̆̆ͅm̷͇̳̊̌̃̅s̷̫͓̗̟͌̔̃̕ ̵͙̲̝͎̽̅̎looking for answers or clues as to what had happened in that last battle, and all their troubles had gotten them nothing.

“So we don’t know - we don’t know if they’ll ever wake up and we should get used to it, stop trying to make me hope they will!”

And Yukari dashed out of her room, Sarnga in hand.

Yukari would admit later that she - didn’t remember much of the next few minutes.

There was a blur, when she’d run through the first floor lobby with her bow and arrows, and a few yells as she practically flew down the steps.

(She couldn’t remember, for the life of her, what anybody had actually said as she descended).

As the sand that wasn’t quite true sand spilled up into the air, Yukari’s gaze went across the entry level of the Abyss, searching for - 

There.

The last door without any other doors behind it.

“Yukari!”

As the rest of the Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad sprinted down the steps, Aigis at the front as they ran after their other co-leader, Mitsuru felt her heartbeat slow down in relief for a second, as she saw her best friend at the bottom.

Yukari, what are you doing!? We’re supposed to go in together!

Yukari, evidently not hearing either Mitsuru’s thoughts, or the panicked yells coming from Junpei and Imentet behind her, bolted towards the door to the last wing of the Abyss of Time, and-

It was very impressive that Yukari had slammed the door to Empyrean open when she didn’t have a wall for it to hit.

It took less than a minute for Yukari to find a Shadow to hit.

And one arrow later, it had manifested into a group of -

-fucking cupids.

Eyes twitching, Yukari put her Evoker at the side of her head, and without flinching, pulled the trigger on the glowing red gauge it held.

And a second later, enough electricity to power the dorm for an entire year arced through the air in front of her.

As Thunderbird and Take-Mikazuchi disappeared from behind her, and the Shadows writhed in front of her, electricity locking their joints up and keeping them from moving, Yukari pulled her Evoker out again -

“Yukari-san!”

But before she could think of a Persona to use, in front of her, a moving statue smashed into the ground with all the grace, aim, and blunt force of an artfully crafted brick thrown through an unpopular politician’s window at midnight.

And a second later, a colossal Strike attack left all of the Shadows on the ground.

And a second after that, the rest of SEES came down on them.

“Yukari. Stop. You can’t be reckless like that.”

Yukari was not - well, she had the general gist of what Mitsuru was saying, but she was not absorbing a damned word of it, to be honest.

Judging by the saddened look Mitsuru was giving her, she knew that too.

“Yukari-san. Would you like me to take command?”

Aigis’s voice cut into the conversation.

“...go ahead.”

…she wasn’t in the sort of headspace where she would trust herself with command, to be honest. She could admit that much, at least.

“Good. Then we’ll find a teleporter as soon as possible.” Mitsuru sounded rather relieved. “Yukari, you should stay off the front lines for now.”

That declaration made the archer - well.

“No way.”

Yukari didn’t react visibly, but her voice was as firm as iron.

Mitsuru’s face collapsed in concern. “Yukari! Please, you need to rest!”

Yukari just gave Mitsuru a flat look. “I’ve been in bed for the last ten hours. I’ll be fine.”

Mitsuru took a deep breath. “Yukari, you clearly aren’t.”

“I’m not going to get any better staying in bed, then, am I?” Yukari shot back.

“Mitsuru.” Akihiko’s voice - an oddly serious one - cut the Kirijo heiress off before she could reply. “Can we talk?”

“We have to find a way back to the surface first.” Mitsuru replied sharply. “I don’t feel like finding out if we’ve recovered enough to fight the Reaper again.”

A shudder passed through SEES.

“Let’s do that first, then.” Akihiko said hastily.

“Mitsuru. Making Yukari stay back isn’t going to help her.”

The redhead’s eye twitched. Akihiko’s expression didn’t change, and he was clearly less than happy, but he powered on regardless. “I know you want to keep her back. And yes, she definitely needs help. But making her stay upstairs and not letting her get her mind off of Minako and Minato is just going to make her feel even worse, because there’s no way she’d be able to, right now.”

“Akihiko. Are you suggesting that I value her life over her mental health?” Mitsuru shook her head, scowling. “She’s liable to get herself killed, in her current state of mind.”

“...yeah. But are saying that the best idea you have is to just stick her in her room to let her stew on what we saw, or leave her in the dorm with nobody to talk to but Imentet and no way of knowing if they’ll get better and nothing to focus on?”

Mitsuru’s silence was telling.

“Why are we doing this?” Yukari’s scowl was audible, practically, with how annoyed she sounded.

“You need to get your head straightened out before you fight any serious Shadows, Takeba.” Akihiko’s voice was firm.

“And that’s why we’re going into the second door?”

“It’s called Cocytus.” Metis stated bluntly.

“I really don’t care what it’s called.” Yukari hissed. “We’re at the last door, we’re almost out of here, and you want to waste time now?!”

“Yukari.”

Mitsuru’s voice did not make the girl in question relax at all. “What?”

“You aren’t fit for combat right now, psychologically.” Mitsuru replied. “You ran off by yourself, disobeyed orders, and -”

“I thought I was the field leader, not you.”

Yukari’s voice was - well, despite her natural element being wind, it was as resistant as rock.

“Yukari-san.”

“What?” the archer snapped, turning around. 

“At this moment - you agreed that I was the only field leader of SEES.”

Yukari’s face hardened. “If you’re not going to lead us all into getting out of here, then you can forget that I ever agreed to that!”

“May I propose a compromise, then?” Aigis continued. “I will lead myself, Amada-san, Koromaru-san, and Metis into the last segment of the Abyss.”

“Empyrean.” Metis added.

“...and you want me doing nothing?” Yukari shot back.

Aigis shook her head. “As a compromise…”

Ante had so many lights in it that most of SEES had gotten flashbacks to Harabah.

“Everyone! There’s another set of Monad doors on this level!”

Yukari’s frown didn’t go away, as she ran through the level.

A Shadow came into view -

The sound of shattering glass echoed through the air.

Yukari Concentrated, for a few seconds -

Megidola.

And a second later, it was gone.

“Uh, Yuka-tan?!”
Without missing a beat, Yukari dug a hand into her pack, and bit into a Snuff Soul.

They would be out of here soon. They wouldn’t need these any more, after that.

The doors came into sight -

And without further ado, Yukari moved to the one on the right.

These Shadows weren’t a threat any more, at this point.

“Yukari-chan, wait!”
As the rest of SEES caught up, huffing, Yukari felt the familiar sensation of Fuuka’s Sylphid Aura washing over her.

There. That was enough.

“All right. Here we go.”

Ignoring whatever sounds Junpei was making, she strode forwards.

There were chests - and gems that could be useful - waiting.

And Shadows in the way, that would get to die quickly.

“I still can’t believe you cleared out the whole segment!” Yukari didn’t even blink, at the awe in Ken’s voice. She was digging through her bag already.

“Heh… we’re just awesome like that!” Behind her, however, Junpei was almost fawning over the younger member of SEES’s praise. “I can’t believe you guys didn’t get that far!”

“The Shadows in the Empyrean root are considerably stronger than those in any of the previous roots. Ante included.” Aigis stated coolly. “And we have defeated one of the gatekeepers, at least, before Fuuka-san informed us you were finished.”

“Well, then.” Mitsuru nodded. “We should head back and-”

Before the Kirijo could finish speaking, Yukari had started pouring Soma into the air. As the otherworldly drink spilled, it dissipated into sparkles before hitting the ground. As it did, blending into the breeze, the members of SEES felt their discussion being cut off by surprise, as their lost vitality replenished itself.

“I feel better, and we’re all fine now.” Yukari, without waiting for anyone else to reply, turned around and strode towards the second Empyrean doorway. “Let’s get this over with already.”

Yukari - didn’t really register much, as they went down through the last segment of the Abyss. It wasn’t like it mattered if she did or not. They would be free soon. 

She… well. Things - before, she had been a frozen sphere. Nothing had really been - penetrating, so to say. Now - well.

She had - defrosted, perhaps. Enough that things were starting to dig in again.

Shadows were dying.

That was the important part.

This would be over soon, and she could get back to her regular life, where she didn’t have to throw herself into danger on a nightly basis.

She was looking forward to it.

She was.

S̶̛̜͠h̶͔̼͇̱͆̂e̷̯͉̯̥͛͗͠͝ ̶̦̋ͅw̵͓͚͎͒̄o̴̬͚̠͆͐̃̊u̸̟͒l̶̯̮͑d̶̦̗̲̙̎̔ ̷̪̗̼̒͑͋ͅr̵̮͉͙̓ą̷͂͆̍t̴̡̬͎̤͊͘͝ẖ̴̠̜̯̃͘e̶͚̜̱͎̿͑́ŗ̶̯͎͊̈́̈́̾ ̶͓͈́̃̂d̵͓̗̦̀́é̵͕̟̾͐a̶͍̦͔͠l̷̟͉̟̏̀͑͠ͅ ̵̢̣͉̈́w̷͍̠̒i̶͚͚̜̎̀͌̍ţ̴͕̘̖̃̎̈́̚h̷̨̻̦̃̃͊ ̶̥̼͐̂̄ţ̶̮̀̑͜h̶̡͋̅̃̕e̴̫̝̐͗̂͝ ̷̦̗̟͔̍Ḑ̷̛̯̈́̏͑a̴̝̅̔̎́r̷͈͠k̷̹̜̪̅͊ ̶̫̄̎̂H̵̥̣̟̗̔̇͛ő̴̡͙͙͘u̵̢̯̐͑̅ř̴̡ ̷͙̀̓̚͠ȧ̵̜͙̚͝l̸̼͓̺̲̒̄̚l̴̺̣͘ ̸͍̳̦̓̇ō̸̖̹̉͝v̷̼̙̇̏̾̈́e̸̦͆͜r̴͚̰͑ ̷̡̭͚͛̾ȃ̸͔͙̠̃ͅg̴̼͎͌̉͝ą̴̨͂͠í̵̯̋ņ̷̹̻̙̓̎͘.̸͓͖̼̟̌̽̒̚

There was another door. The final one, unless some fresh new hell came out of nowhere.

Yukari couldn’t keep herself from tensing, as she looked at it.

“Hey.” She called to the not-technically there navigator. “We found the last door.”

“Oh, so - well. Wait for us to get there, I guess… or, actually, do you want to come back?”

The question made Yukari, Aigis, Ken, and Metis all blink. “You… want us to head back?” Yukari asked, frowning.

“We’ve all been going nonstop through the Abyss, haven’t we?” Fuuka questioned, as the “away” team stared at the gateway. “ This is our final fight. We should be sure we’re at our best.”

Yukari didn’t flinch. “There’s no point in wasting time, though. It’s literally right there. Let’s get this over with.”

“Are we ready, though? Whatever this is, it’s probably what’s keeping the Abyss of Time from disappearing.” Metis’s statement made everyone hastily look at themselves. “Something like that would have to be incredibly powerful.”

“Yukari-san, I believe we should head back to recuperate fully.” Aigis added.

“...it’s right there, again.” Yukari sighed. “And we’ve got enough Somas that we don’t need to rest.”

“Actually, Yukari-san, we do not.”

“...huh?” That response actually snapped Yukari out of pondering whether she should just put a hand on the door before everyone got there and get things started. “We finished up Purgatorio with four!”

“Yes. And we have run out of Somas, at the moment.” Aigis replied. “After clearing all of the Monad doors in both Purgatorio and Empyrean, and defeating the gatekeepers, they were depleted. We possess enough Soul items to replenish our spiritual energy, but - we would be unable to replenish that of our teammates or ourselves, should we be severely pressured. Even Fuuka-san has run low on energy.”

“We…”

Yukari - honestly, she wasn’t sure what she was going to say after that. Either way, Akihiko’s voice cut in before she could come back from how she had trailed off. “I want to deal with whatever’s behind this too, Takeba, but none of us have taken a serious break since we came into this part of the Abyss. We all know how bad of an idea it is to go into battle with no sleep on an empty stomach.”

If they had been in a storybook, Akihiko’s point would have been undercut by a grumbling gut. As it was, though, Yukari - well. She couldn’t pretend that the point was untrue, and she sighed. “Fine.”

“We’re going to get through it, Yukari-san. Together.” Ken spoke up, determination clear. “So - we can go take a break, and then - well, we’ll all get out together.”

“If nothing else, I could certainly use a shower before we go into our final battle.” Mitsuru added.

…that honestly sounded pretty good right now. She was sticky and hot, and cold water sounded great.

“I believe if nothing else, a shuffling of Personas may be in order.” Aigis added.

…Yukari couldn’t deny that either. 

Time passed, and SEES took their last break.

Yukari - well. She had wanted to spend it resting, but - well. She had seen Ken going for the coffee siphon - and the idea of having a few hot drinks for their last battle sounded pretty good. And after that, Aigis had talked her into going into the Velvet Room together, so that they could optimize their Persona rosters, to ensure they could cover each other’s weak spots - and that they weren’t overlapping too heavily. (Aigis had insisted that Yukari focus more on defensive options for her Personas - and honestly, considering how naturally tough Aigis was, with her metal body, and her boost to physical attacks, it made sense to let her focus more on offense. And to be honest, the one time she had gotten her own attack reflected at her and been weak to it - one time too many. That wouldn’t be happening again, at least).

If nothing else, they had a higher chance of success, now that she and Aigis had done so much Persona-shuffling in the Velvet Room.

…she honestly couldn’t bring herself to care any more now than she had then, though. Despite the insistence of the android.

…well, the literal war machine probably knew what she was talking about.

They were back down here again.

It had been - a fairly uneventful sojourn, through the last part of the Abyss.

Fuuka’s jamming abilities, and a lot of sprinting, had seen them through with minimal trouble. They were all fully rested, recovered, and had their energy levels, physical and mental, as filled out as they could get.

They were finally about to get out of here.

“Is everyone ready?”

As a chorus of affirmatives were raised at Mitsuru’s question, Aigis placed her hand on the door.

And -

“I don’t ever want to stop loving you… both of you… So… please wake up… please… come back…”

Outside the door, as Yukari Takeba broke down, Aigis stood guard.

Every word made it to her audio processors, as the twins she loved slept and the girl they loved wept.

If there was any indication that she heard them, it never showed on her face.

As time passed - nearly a half hour, in fact - Aigis never moved, standing sentinel like the Palladion that had been her Persona.

She should have taken more after her.

“...bye.”

Aigis’s ears took note of the words Yukari was saying, as she stood outside the Arisato’s hospital room. She took note of the girl they loved walking towards the door, and opening it.

As Yukari walked away, paying Aigis no mind, the eyes and ears of the gynoid followed her, as she left the people inside behind.

Aigis did not move, as Yukari walked away.

She had moved before. 

She hadn’t watched them before.

She had failed before.

Like she had failed them before.

Like she had just now.
She would not fail them. Not again.

(Aigis would stand there until visiting hours were over, and would return the next day, never moving or blinking as she stood guard).

(The vision passed faster after that, in a simple pattern. Aigis left in the evening when visiting hours were over, and returned in the morning, every day).

(She would not break this pattern, even until March 31st).

As the vision vanished, Yukari’s eyes cleared - and she hastily rubbed them, so that nobody else would see her tears at seeing the twins again.

T̵̻͉̠̻̿̈́͋ȟ̸͖̿͐ȩ̴̧̣̍̀̉ ̵̡̢̦͔͗̿̄̏ţ̷̣̹͓̊͘ḙ̴̫̼͖͐̀à̴̫̹̹̩̆̂r̴̪͐̃ṡ̴̝̿̐͘ ̴̫̒͊̈́̕w̵͎͚̬̪̍́͋e̶̱̿r̴͔̋ē̶̡̩̤̽̊͘͜n̸͈̏̀̔͐’̶͇͝ţ̵̪̹͔͗ ̶̗̺̪̑̔͗̆j̴̧͇̫͆̐̍u̸̲̠̣̽͐ş̷̨̻̍t̵͔͛̿ ̶̟͌̑f̷̟̺͕͑ř̶͍̹͇̑ö̴̟̘͇͚́͗̾m̴̗̌͊ ̷̢̱̲̣̿š̶͙̭̚e̵͉̍e̶͔̠̞̍̀ḯ̶̢̈́̓n̷̫͈͉̮̈́g̶̪̹̀͒͂̕ ̴͚̹͕̏͆̉̐͜ť̵̤h̸̟̯̰̍ẹ̸̭͎̬̓m̴̛̞͛̏̽.̷͕̘̯̅̋

̸̨̼͉̂̐Ä̴̟͙̫̣͐̏̓î̷̧̨̗͌̎g̴̮̅i̵̻̥̕s̶̼̱̱̀ ̸̗͊͂̎h̶̡͔̠͈̿̇̈́͆ä̷̖͕̖́̋͌̅d̴͔̆̈́ ̵̝̈́͋͘͝b̷̲̈́̆̿͗e̵̮̬̙͗̇ḙ̷̈́̀n̵̝̺̟̜͝ ̶̞̻̩͚̓̽t̸͉͈̿͘h̸̛̲̮͎͖̿͛̈́ę̴͇̅̆͒̓r̶̳̙̎̄̃̎ͅẽ̷̢̨̬͔̊́̄,̵̟͊̇͑͠ ̸̠̽͘h̶͉̟͋͒̈ą̶̱̞̝̿̏̌ḍ̶̖̝͓̅ ̴̺̫̦̭̎͒̈́b̶̘̓̏̂ę̸͈̪̫̔̚e̴̙̱̼̕n̵̳̣̒͝ ̴̣̒̉̾͘ŵ̴͕̼̜ỉ̶̳̯̦̖͊̇̐ṭ̷̺̱̖͊͊h̶͇̝̣̭̍̅͝͝ ̵̡̻̇͠t̴͉̊̉̀͛ͅh̸̩͙̍̀e̶̡̙̣̓͋͊͘m̷̡͕̖̳̓͆,̷͎̔̕͝ ̷̛̼͙͖̋́͐͜s̶̘̞̭̆̍̆̆ḧ̵̖́̍͛͘e̴͇̤̦͔̅ ̵̜̩̞̩̌̊̈́h̸͖͛͋̈́̂͜ä̸͚̝̻̩́̐̋̚d̵̠͔̯͌̀͒͜͝ ̸̬̳͉̬̌̆̌͘ d̷̬̰̯̆͝a̵͐́̌ͅŗ̶͛͝ẹ̵̘̪̝̾̔̈́d̸̛͇̄̆̕ ̸̢̡̬̽̎t̴̠̗̓͘ö̵̘̱́̈́̅͝ ̷̝͈͖̅̈́s̷̮̃͜͠ͅp̶̞̮̣̠̋͗̉̚e̵̡̥͉̞̚͝ņ̶̝̭͎̊d̵͓͕͉̰̄ ̴̼͓̹̲̐̀t̵̥̿ḭ̴̫̔m̵͕̫͑̀e̶͉̖̾͆́͛ ̶̹̪͎̩̓w̷̼͒i̵͖̇͠ț̷̥̂h̷͍͕̩̩̊͛͝͠ ̴̡̃̃̒t̸̨͓̦̀͐h̷̦̅̋̀̕ȅ̶͇̜͔̫̈́̄m̶̢̹̟̋̄͒̈́ͅ ̷̟͊ẃ̸̞̺͆͋͑h̷͖̍̏ê̴͙̔̇̏n̴͈̈̍̌̂ ̴̙͖́̕͝š̴̳͎̼̕ḩ̶̤͐͒̆͘e̸̛̩̱̋̓̚ ̸̧̆̑̽w̶̨͌̀͊͝à̴͓̞̬̾̌͝ͅs̸͎̮̟̀̏n̶̫̳͂̀’̸̦̎ţ̷̹̺͂͋̕-̴̯͖̝̊ͅ

“Aigis… you spent every day at the hospital?” Fuuka asked, surprise clear in her voice.

“Yes.”

The answer was - robotic. Numb. There was no emotion in it that Yukari could hear.

“So that… that was the cause?” Ken asked quickly. “Aigis… when she was watching out for them?”

“Uh - I - don’t look at me?” Junpei volunteered weakly.

“So - that was Aigis’s memory… but why was it just a repeat of Yukari’s?” 

“Huh?” Ken asked, turning to the older Persona-user with a puzzled look.

Akihiko shot a calm look back. “For the rest of us, it was the event that got us to awaken. But… for them, it was just - the same event, from their perspectives. But they already had Personas, at the time. We… didn’t really talk about it last time. But why is that what we saw there and here?”

“Because we didn’t awaken our Personas…” H̶̘̐̿e̶̳̞͗͋͆͊r̸̢̜̖̽͒ ̶̻̂͋͘͝h̵͕̉͋̂̓è̴̬̪̤̍́͋a̵̦̙͈͝r̴̨͆̿͂̓t̸͇̔̇͛͆ ̵̢͖̆w̸̛̬̻̤̹̽̅̂a̷͉̳̔̀̍͌s̷͇͓̈́́̚ ̵̤͇̀͋̀̑ç̶͕̏̈l̴̼͑̉̆̽è̸̖̖̪̑͝ņ̵̦̺̈͘ć̵̗͚̭̅͋͝h̸̻̜̊́i̷̩̦̹̋n̴̡̪̘̫̍̿g̵̞͎͕̻̚ ̶̱̙͖͂̈a̸̪͆̄̌̕t̶̥̐ ̶̨̩͊̅͆h̷̘̤̼̆̆͘a̷̞͎̿̉̂͊v̸̼͍͒̾͐͘í̷̤̙̝n̴̤͍͎̦͝g̸̼̳̎͑͜ ̴͔̅t̶̼̂̀̑ò̵̞̣̾̐ ̴̡͓̠̈́̚͜͠à̸̩̮̣̪̈́ç̷͕̹͎͑͘͠k̶̲̣̝̇̏̒ņ̶̭̤͎͐o̶̢̳̊̐͊̏ẁ̶̨̙̳̙̓͑͗l̸͍̱̒é̴͈͇̟͒̂͜͝ḋ̷̟͎̮̒̆͑g̶̼͛e̷̢͚͗ ̶̝̥͈̐̀̆t̵̛̪̀̒͠ẖ̷̋͊͛e̶͙̗͎̟̒̽̂̓m̶̱̞̱̩̅̈̓ ̴̧̠̟̉͊͊o̴̢̫̼͕͐̀͝ư̸̧͚̦̭̓̃t̴̮͓͎͊ ̴̘̰̈́͐̃̚l̶͈̮͗͝o̵̧͍̍̃̄̌u̷̧̬͈̙͐̑̇̑d̸̡́̀̾̓.̵̧̩̑̓̓

Yukari’s realization, spoken aloud, made the veritable wires cross for the rest of SEES too.

“So… you two got their powers because… you were… both in the hospital at the same time?” Junpei asked in a puzzled tone, before shaking his head. “Wait… that doesn’t make sense! We all visited them! Tons of people did! Was it, like - you got their powers because you visited them the most or something?”

…as much as they could, anyways.

“I don’t know! We don’t even know how - we don’t know how any of this happened! None of this makes sense!” Yukari shot back.

“We don’t know… but we can guess.”

Metis’s oddly calm voice cut the discussion short, as she turned to her sibling. “The people we saw in your dream and her dream… they’re the ones with the same power as you and her, aren’t they, sister?”

Aigis said nothing. 

…as the current “co-leader” (and really, Aigis couldn’t lead for - she probably couldn’t do much leading, at the moment, after that) - Yukari should have spoken.

B̵̧̘͙̍̈́͜u̵̟̿t̵͉̱̙̒͌̑ ̷̜̋̾̊͠t̸̥͙͑͒a̶̠̰̽ľ̸͔̽k̸͙̼̾̈́́í̵̧̺̩̰ń̴̖̪͛̿̋͜g̷͙͛ ̵̝̾͌͝ã̷̢̛̗͇͖b̴̩͎̤̑o̴͖͛̿́ụ̵̧͚̔̔̀t̴̮̩̹̐͑ ̷̮͛ t̷̟̖̭̩̿̊h̷͎̜͕͌ę̷̓̆m̸͔͈͑̽͠ͅ ̵̟̬̓͘͝ w̸̘̿͘a̷͓̲̳̳̍̀́̂ş̸̺̺̗͗͝ ̸̩̗͂͊͐͝s̵̥̼̍t̷̟͂̈́̽i̵̘̮̘͂͗̑̋l̸̺̖̼̈̒l̴̫̍…̶̨̛̭̖̪

“They’re our normal field leaders.” 

Thank god for Mitsuru-senpai.

“Or they would be, if they weren’t in comas…” Yukari bit out. “Is - is wanting somebody to wake up supposed to be what caused all this?! How does that work!?”

Metis’s eyes narrowed at her. “You’re telling me you haven’t figured it out by now?”

“Figured out what? How - what does finding out why we all awakened our Personas have to do with all this?!” Yukari countered. “If you figured something out, then tell us!”

“You want to see them again, right? All of you do, but you in particular, right?” 

Yukari’s heart clenched. “Yeah, I do! What does that have to do with anything?!”

Metis stared directly at her. “It means that eliminating all of you would have been the fastest way to end this.”

Yukari’s eyes narrowed. “What does that mean?”

Before Metis could continue, Fuuka spoke up. “So… those figures that we keep seeing… the ones that keep vanishing… they’re connected to us?”

“Wait, something’s wrong!”

Before Yukari could demand any further answers from Metis, she felt it.

And when she brought her gaze to the end of the platform, she saw it.

Two black voids - churning and churning - 

But before they could think about that, two shapes emerged from the voids, dropping onto the ground as they closed.

And as she saw the two o̴̢͇̐͝f̸͎͔́͒̕ͅ ̴̨̝̺̆͊̎̄ t̵̻͒̍͑ͅh̷̖́̃̌ḙ̷̺̤͔̀m̶̡͗̀̄͆ ̸̛̰͚̽̎on the ground, not moving, Yukari’s blood froze in her veins.

And somehow, whether despite that or because of it, she kept a straight face.

“MINAKO-SAN! MINATO-SAN!”

She didn’t even think about how Aigis had screamed the words, the nigh-unbreakably stoic demeanor she’d carried through the Abyss briefly gone, as she rushed forwards. But even as she ran, however, part of Yukari noticed that it wasn’t - them?

That wasn’t them.

They were black, and she couldn’t see their faces -

- but there was more black pooling under them, and the abyssal puddles looked like blood.

“Shadows! Entering combat mode!”

Yukari’s head darted up, to follow the sound of Aigis speaking -

And she felt her heart practically leap out of her chest.

Because seconds ago, they had been in the clear, but now there were black voids behind where they’d entered - 

-and a practical sea of enemies was pouring out of them.

The towers of heads, minotaurs, Mayas aplenty, the floating heads, scales, snakes, cupids, tables, ravens, dice, wrestlers - and that was only the start - Where did they come from?! As the Shadows started to advance, Aigis was already moving to intercept them, though, and her teammates formed up behind her. 

Even as Aigis moved, however - Yukari hesitated, unsure how they were -

“SURTR!” The fire giant manifested behind Aigis, in a heartbeat’s length. Flames bathed the first ranks of Shadows - and to Yukari’s surprise, they spilled over more than one of the Shadows.

“Everyone, be careful! Something’s wrong!”

Yukari’s eyes widened, as Fuuka contacted her. “What do you mean?”

“I - our Personas and the Shadows have changed! I’m not sure how else to describe it! But - I think we might be able to handle them! Um, but we can’t let our guards down, I’m still not sure about what’s happening!”

“Fuuka-san!”
“Amada-kun?!” Came the navigator’s yelp.

“I - I feel weird! I - I can’t feel my - I don’t think my ability is working!”

Even as she took that in, Yukari shook her head.

Okay - she wasn’t sure what was going on - why the rules had changed, all of a sudden - but there were so many Shadows that she couldn’t afford to be idle.

“Shiva!” Yukari yelled, pulling her Evoker up to her head, and unleashing a Pralaya into the ranks of Shadows before her.

…she was expecting it to hit five. Maybe ten.

But somehow, as the blow landed, Yukari somehow knew that she had just hit close to fifty Shadows, all with one attack.

…and for some reason, she wasn’t surprised about that.

“Wait!”

Hearing Metis’s voice didn’t make Yukari any less stressed, and it didn’t get her to de-summon Shiva, as she fired off another Pralaya into the mass of Shadows - and neither did the odd sensation of feeling her attack, partially reflected back at her, getting nullified. “What?!”

“I think I know what’s happening!”

“Yeah, we’re fighting a bunch of Shadows again!” Akihiko replied, pulling out his Evoker even as he spoke.

“Yes, but where are they coming from?! Pay attention!” Metis snapped. “Those two appeared first! They’re coming from them!”

As Mitsuru’s eyes went wide, her eyes went to the fallen forms (that looked too much like her friends).

It took her far too much of her willpower to steel herself for -

“CYBELE!”

-the attack that Yukari beat her to.

As light blanketed the area around (they looked like his besties, but it sure as hell wasn’t them) them, Junpei winced, the katana of Masakado twitching in his hand.

At least it was over quickly -

The sheer number of Shadows pouring from the black holes in front of them, between one second and the next, almost doubled.

“AGH!” Junpei was not proud of the shriek he had just released, but he felt damn justified in releasing it! “I THOUGHT YOU SAID THAT WOULD HELP!!”

“It - Metis is right! But - she misspoke!”

“Huh?!?” Junpei yelped, as another Vorpal Blade flew.

“The Shadows - they’re linked to the two of those gates that are summoning them, and the gates are linked to those doppelgangers! But - their numbers spiked, when Yukari attacked the - twins! I think we have to heal them!”

Even as Fuuka fumbled through her explanation, Yukari was already bringing her Evoker up to her head again, preparing to pull the trigger -

Ỷ̶̪̗̗̏͘̚Ō̸͈̯̃̄Ủ̵̲̝̾͊̆ ̷̤̯͖̤͒A̷̝̖͇͈͋̍̀͆Ť̴̗̜̆͜͠T̷̖͖̭̜͝A̷̧̜̭͓̓̈́̕͝C̵̨̭̻͂̕K̶͍̪̀͐E̸̢̗̘͛D̷̨̡͕̼͋̃́ ̸̛̯̭͖̀̑Ụ̶̍̏S̷̲̼̈-̴͓̒̂̀̍ͅ

And then, her fingers fumbled, so badly she nearly lost her grip on it.

“KOHRYU!”

As the great dragon manifested in the air behind Aigis, a Mediarahan sank into SEES and the two of them -

And while SEES looked visibly better, for the two Shadows it did barely anything.

“Um - I don’t know what’s going on! But they aren’t responding to healing like we do!” Fuuka announced. 

Frowning, Yukari pulled the trigger, Houou manifesting behind her with an experimental Mediarama -

And it did even less.

Okay, then -

Yukari was glad she didn’t have to use this skill that often, but - it was always nice using it, regardless.

It was like the breeze after a rainstorm, her own version of Samarecarm. It felt - clean, for lack of a better word, in a way - as if the wind had cleared away all the grime in the air, and some of the grime in the soul, even.

And it did - 

-slightly more f̷͈̅̏̌̚ợ̴̹͎̤̏̃̊r̷͍̝̈́ ̸͍̚M̴͎͆̅i̵̙̪̠͂͂n̵̺͗̓̂̓͜a̶̠̠̣͂̽̔̕k̸͎̭̺̈́̀̆o̶͔̊̉͊͘’̷͛̐͜͜s̸̪̼̮͒̌̀ ̴͉̹͗̓̈́́l̵͉̬̘͇̋̈̈́o̸̫͓̎͐o̷͎̪̜̩̿̌͘̕k̴̢̥͖̦̓̎͌͒å̴̠̱̳l̷̳͈͊i̶͍͌̇̏k̴̘̋e̸̙̗̋̾ than Aigis’s Mediarahan had.

Yukari felt herself grimacing. All right. It seemed that it wasn’t going to be as easy as using a Diarahan and calling it a day.

Well, even if she was doubting it would work - she had one more spell.

“Everyone, take care of the Shadows! I’ll get them back up!”

Without further ado, Norn manifested behind Yukari (and oh, the Wind Spells she could use now were almost intoxicating in their power - and so was the healing é̷̞̋̚v̵̞̝̗̪̄̽́ë̴̮͎́̍n̵̨̡̬̉̾̑ ̵̺͎̩̼͌̕ḯ̴̡̻̠̺̊͋f̸̖̝̠̜͌̆͘ ̶̧͑͆͌̕h̷̺̻̙͒͘͝e̴̗͗r̷̜͚̊́̇ͅ ̸̡͔̱̙͊̂̔͝b̸̮̠͓̍̇e̵̱̦̐͌s̸̨̢͉̖͒͊̈t̸͚̂̾̏͗ ̴̫̿̋s̴̪̓́̊p̴̞͐̈́͌é̷͎̙̦̄͜l̷̡̺̰̾͜l̶͈͋̒s̴̼͌ ̵͎̥̝̀̈̃̉ḫ̸̉a̸̫̤̅d̷̨͔͉̋̀̄͗ǹ̴̡͎͚͐͌́’̷̣͍̿͂t̸̻̪́ ̸̞̀d̶̟̲̼͒̈́͒ọ̶͕͝n̴͙̻̑͗̂͘e̴̗̹͌̚ ̷̖̣̰̻̈́a̴̪̲̣͔̓͆̀̌ ̷̧͘̚͠d̷̠̅ȧ̸̫̗̜̰̈́͗͝ḿ̸̤͙̜̿̓̈́ņ̷͈̥̒͂͋e̷̹̊͐̀̎d̶̢̻̤̓̇ ̶̣̿̿͛͜͠t̴̖̒̏̈h̴͈̬͎̪́͘̕͘i̴̙̥̮̳͌n̶͓̺̈́͊ġ̸̝̙ ̴̖͙̤̬̈̽̐f̵̱͓̫̀ó̸͇̜̮̫͝͝r̷̂̀ͅ ̶̧̖̘̈͛͛ͅh̷͚͝ȩ̴̪͖̲̅r̷͙̊̊̑ ̸̠̟̱̀͌̚l̵͕̮͍͖̀̇̒͌o̵̜͙̽v̸̳̳̙̾͝ȩ̸̟̩̞̈́d̶̺̹̻̽ ̶̧̥͖̏̇̿̈o̴̢̨̪͝n̶̰͖͕̓̿̕͠e̸̪̪̍͒ș̷̇)̵̨͖͕̓́͛.̷̘̗̓

Salvation came like a gentle breeze.

At first.

Between one second and the next, the healing winds intensified, almost enough to pick up her teammates from behind - yet at the same time, never intensifying enough to do that.

Almost as if their injuries were being blown away by the gusts.

“Everyone! They’re not focusing on us!”

Fuuka’s words made Yukari snap back to attention, looking away ̶̳͎̩̙̍f̸͕̰̉̓r̸̠̈̂͗̚ò̶̮͠m̵̢̯̏̀̃̈́ ̴̺̜̻̩̉̃͘t̸͓̲̉͘̕h̵͎̳̞̹̐͊͝ë̴̡͍̼́̀ḿ̴̠̈͗ͅ for a few seconds.

And as she did, she realized what she had missed.

Despite the sheer numbers of Shadows, they were almost entirely ignoring the rest of SEES. When a human or a Persona got in their way, they would try to remove them - but otherwise, they were moving straight away from the black voids.

They were heading straight - no.

They weren’t heading for her.

Yukari’s eyes fell to the two figures at her feet, unconscious and bleeding black.

And as Yukari took that in, she realized something.

Her gauge was glowing red.

…She had just the Theurgy in mind.

Quietly, she pulled her Evoker out and leveled it at her skull.

And as Shiva and Parvati manifested behind her, a single word ran through her head as Concentration came with unnatural speed.

Ardhanari.

And then, there was fire.

Notes:

So! SEES has a very different boss fight here. The ???s aren't hostile - but the sudden shift to a Strikers format and a lack of SP regeneration is more than covering for that change.

Thunder Call: (Thunderbird + Take-Mikazuchi): Deals Heavy Electric damage to all enemies. High chance of Shock. Ignores resistances.
Ardhanari: (Shiva + Parvati): Yukari Concentrates, then deals Massive Fire damage to all enemies. Burns all enemies and Yukari (this burn lasts 5 turns and can’t be lifted from Yukari until it wears off naturally or Technical damage is dealt to her). Ignores resistances.

Here we go! Thunder Call and Ardhanari - the first one is shared by both Yukari and Minako, being essentially their version of King and I. Ardhanari is Yukari's "Ultimate" Theurgy, a la Armageddon, but the trade off for having far more reusability is that it deals a lot less damage. Relatively.

Chapter 6: The Eight of Cups, United

Summary:

The Eight of Cups, when upright, represents that you are saying goodbye. The time has come to move on, leave the place you are currently at, and leave the past behind. Things aren’t satisfying, the way they are, and the only real way to handle that is to finally walk away. Let go of what happened - it won’t do you any good to dwell.

Reversed, the Eight of Cups represents a refusal to move on. You’re in a good situation - or a situation that you aren’t willing to abandon. A relationship is enduring - for better or worse, that is. Think about what you have - and whether or not you’re willing to cast it aside for something else.

“Akihiko, move!” Mitsuru commanded, summoning Artemisia and firing a Tentarafoo into a swarm of Shadows surrounding the boxer. 

Dodging out of the way and stabbing a Shadow that had avoided confusion with Kokuseki Senjin (and putting off wondering why the weapons the twins had procured for her were so often lances instead of rapiers…), Mitsuru took stock of the situation quickly. It was - not as bad as she had feared, honestly, despite the fact that they were drowning in a practical sea of Shadows. 

And -

"MASAKADO!"

A pair of angels and a man in a robe with a makeup-covered face manifested behind Aigis, and a second later, bolts of light rained down from the sky.

-Well.

Aigis was doing well at the forefront, tossing out Akasha Arts and Myriad Arrows with every breath, almost as if she was still using Athena instead of Minato’s Wild Card. Metis was right beside her with Psyche - firing off a Garudyne or Bufudyne here and there, but mostly unleashing physical strikes left and right, Charged or not -

"SWITCHING MODES!"

-and following her sister's lead.

Iori - as bold as ever - wasn’t far behind them, unleashing his own physical strikes with Trismegistus, and occasionally tossing out a fiery blast here or there to hit any Shadows that were vulnerable to him. He was in his element, to say the least, with this many foes to fight. Shadows were falling to critical strikes left and right - as long as he avoided or saw in time the ones that repelled physical-! 

SCHWWIIIINNG! “GAAAAAAH!”

…skills. 

Well, at least he’d set up a Marakukaja earlier…

“Everyone, hang on!”

Even as Junpei bounced backwards, Mitsuru felt a familiar watery sensation passing over her, and smiled grimly.

Revelation healing her was a familiar feeling.

It was as if she was both underwater in a warm pool, and at the same time walking outside after a rainstorm had cleared the air. The sensation of Fuuka’s Theurgy touching her, be it in the form of healing, empowerment (the water flowed around her and with her, in such a way that it was both like armor and as if she was swimming downstream while standing up), or or focus (the waves empowered her muscles, even as they cooled her down and let her see with unbelievable clarity), was never not pleasant, no matter how unpleasant the circumstances that might call for it were. 

But even as her body started to heal itself, she couldn’t help but notice that her alarmingly low spiritual reserves hadn’t been restored in the slightest. Like how even Ken’s innate abilities hadn’t been revitalizing him since this battle started.

But she would make it work. She didn’t have another option, really. “Akihiko! Cover me!” As the boxer nodded to her, Mitsuru fell back, to get a better look at the rest of their situation.

Koromaru was darting in and out of the hordes of Shadows, unleashing spells and physical skills at the smaller gatherings, or sending in Cerberus at the larger ones before retreating again to meet up with one of the two main groups.

"AROOOO!!"

Akihiko was taking a page from the same book, using his agility to go after the larger groups of Shadows before withdrawing - using a combination of fists and electricity for individual Shadows, and Caesar for groups. 

As part of her took note of this, Mitsuru called forth a Neuro Slash to blast the area near one that Akihiko had just ravaged with Caesar - and smiled as a pleasingly high number of the Shadows there staggered suddenly.

And then Junpei came in.

Shadows dissipated left and right, and even as they did, Junpei was pulling the trigger once more -

And then, his blade was coated in flame again, and his wounds were vanishing.

"TRISMEGISTUS!"

Well, they had things in hand.

And of course, next to her watching things was Amada. Even as she pondered that, the 11-year old sent out another wave of light at the Shadows. Mitsuru couldn’t help but notice he hadn’t fired off one of the Heat Risers he had stuck to throwing out every so often over the rest of the party (Makarakarn and Tetrakarn were nigh pointless, with this many Shadows), Kala-Nemi hovering above him protectively - and an occasional bolt of lightning reaching out to strike at the Shadows that got past their front lines.

And as she glanced behind her, Mitsuru sighed.

Not at the sight of the two Shadows that were lying on the ground, the similarities they had to their leaders so obvious it was nearly as uncomfortable for her as the horde of Shadows they were facing.

She would process what that might mean later, when they were safe, and after they had dealt with any possible murder attempts from the beings they were trying to heal.

Not at the sight of Fuuka crouching at the back end of the platform, not lifting a finger to fight. The navigator that had replaced her had never been - well.

The embodiment of Fuuka’s soul said a lot about her, didn’t it?

Sensitive to others - capable of seeing things at great distances - and passive and defensive in nature, almost to a - well, no. Fuuka was kind. Kind in a way that Mitsuru had never known before, and that could never be a fault. 

No. 

The fault here, in Mitsuru’s mind, lay in what the other current field leader of SEES was doing.

Intellectually, it made sense for Yukari to be spending her time healing. Even with the Wild Card, it was what empowered her, and she could do it more easily than anyone else. And with the sheer number of Theurgies she had gained recently, being able to use them as consistently as possible was only an advantage. The end was in sight, but they were only getting more tired as time went on, meaning that Theurgies were the only forms of healing they had that weren't at risk of eventually becoming unusable, and while five of their members had those healing Theurgies between them at the moment (and that was counting Junpei), they still had to also focus on using them on the Shadows trying to kill them. 

And they didn't need Yukari trying to-

...even from here, Mitsuru could see how her best friend's skin looked oddly red, almost concealing her glowing gauge.

As she looked back to the front lines, Mitsuru felt herself biting down a curse.

There was a horde of Shadows gathering - and she didn't see any red gauges.

“Yukari! We need you to -”

A Shadow broke past Akihiko, Mitsuru cut herself off as she brought her blade up - and then, she was airborne.

But Yukari had heard her, and without a word, the first true healer of SEES snapped her Theurgy cartridge into her Evoker before holding it up to her head.

A sound like shattering glass echoed through the Abyss of Time.

And as Shiva and Parvati manifested behind Yukari, again, Mitsuru paled in the crater that she had just formed far too close to the edge for comfort.

Ardhanari.

Flames bathed the battlefield, devouring far more than a hundred Shadows of every type whole and not leaving a single trace of ash behind.

Yukari couldn't lie.

She was taking a bit of vindictive pleasure, seeing the Minotaur I that had nearly sent Mitsuru off the platform dissolve.

…that’s way better than anything Junpei’s ever done. 

“Yukari, please! Stop using that!”

Yukari blinked, as she realized that the redheaded first member of SEES had actually taken her eyes off the battle they’d been fighting for - how long had it even been -?

Wow, Mitsuru-senpai's worried...

…Oh well.

She’d be fine when this was over. 

Here...

Mediarahan coursed through the air, the healing winds brisk and almost warm. Healing magic coursed through her body, and the rest of SEES ̵̘̫̝̳͘a̶͍̞̘͒̿n̸̹̣̯͝ḏ̷̯͑́̾͒ ̷̙̓̉t̵͔̂̑̆h̶̭͛̈́ě̵̝̮͜ ̵̢̺̳̊͂̓̚S̸̹̠̬̻͆̀͛͘h̵͍͑̈́͘à̸̞̗͎d̶̨̳͆ȯ̵͙͉̭̿̇͊w̶̻̃s̷͍̣̜͒̍͛ ̵̫̈̇̈́s̷̟͛͊ț̵̹̓ï̵̡͈̗ĺ̵̓̂̚ͅḻ̷̛͎̫̂̈́͝ ̶̦̲̖͆͊f̵̱͛̑͘͠a̵̦̓r̴͉̆ͅ ̸̜͖͙͐̊̇̀t̷͍̉͒͜͝o̵̜̪̊̆̕o̷͍̅͌̀ ̷̦̭̠̳̒̒̌c̷̞̄̏̓l̴̞͎͛̀͘ȯ̶̲̜̇̕s̷͎̓̅̊̽e̸̝͌̃̊̎ ̷͓͇̰͛̓͒̈́͜t̷̛̮͊̄o̶͍̿̑ ̶̀̑̾ͅd̶͎͆̓͐ͅe̷͖̕à̷̱̜̦͋̒t̵̖͍̓͗h̵͔͊̃̏͑ ̴͇̼̔̀̐̓͜ţ̶͔̙͍̐̈h̴̭̬̆́ä̵̫͉͚́̏̀̈ṯ̵̮͔͕̓ ̴̜̿̎l̵̥̗̄͊̋ò̷̧͕̘o̷̬̞͈̬͒k̵̬̩̓̍̃e̵̞͎̔́d̸̼͚͉̀͛ ̶̻̊̃̈́̚͜l̸̙̱͉͓͐̀̒i̸̳̦͑́̍k̸̭͎̼̈́͠e̸̜͈͍͈̅̆ ̷͇͉͛̿t̶͚̲̣͌̓h̶̻͍̤̎̈́̉̾ę̸̤̘̣͊̔͘m̸̺̊̑̍̈.̴̰̙̬̳̈́̉͘

And the second it finished, her body was wracked with agony again.

Somehow, she didn’t scream, and just looked down.

It felt weird that her shirt and vest were still there. 

She had been wondering after that the first time she used it if the lashback from Ardhanari was actually setting her on fire, or just making her feel like she had been. But judging by the angry red covering her skin, and how it seemed her burns were getting worse…

Well. Either way, it was nothing more healing wouldn’t fix. The burns always vanished eventually.

She could see her teammates, fighting in front of her.

Ā̶̻ͅn̵̹̠͍̬͌̂d̶͍̭͓͈̂̋̓̽ ̷͖̃̋r̸͍̺͔͖̈̽ì̶̛̜g̴̛͍͎͎̓h̴̥̅̓t̶̢̯̦͂͘ ̶͍̋͛n̵͓͑̈́͘e̴̮̎̂̚͝x̴̨̌͠ț̵̺̉̑͝ ̷̛̱̝̦͉̔̋t̷̡͍̫͂͛̐͘o̴͍̪̦̭̽̏͝ ̴̗̋̓̆̀h̴͇͖̣͐̐́̂ͅê̵̢̥̣̩r̷̢̄̿̅̚,̶̤͊̃͠ ̷̹̭̓̐̀̈́t̵͉̮̱̝̎̒h̷͔̰̐͂ͅë̵̠̥́ ̸̖̜̲͑͛̓͛ṗ̵̧͉̞̹̈́͐ê̷̺̰͒͝o̵͇̮͍͛͌̄p̸̡͎͓͇̏̽l̴̡̢̛̠̣̈́͝͠è̶͎̄͝ ̷̮̺̎͝ͅs̶̪͔͑̾͆h̶̘̖̎́͗̒e̷̡͐̐̀ ̴̪̥͕͉͊l̴̗͖̮͎̏́͒ò̵͚͉v̸͇͇̤̹̊́e̷̲͕̜̻͐͂̈̀d̸̥̺̿̌̿̓ ̷͙̀͂m̶͓͌̒̾ỏ̸̗̤̂r̸̯̘̱̍͜e̶̛̟̦̰͘͜ ̷̙̙̪̅t̶͕͎̦͐̀̿̋h̵͉̝̔̓á̵͕̤͘n̶̜̓ ̵͍̝̻͉͛͐͒a̸̧̲̞͇͠n̸̥̽y̴̲̰̑̄̀ṫ̸̜̥͖̥͛̇ȟ̷̫̣̠̈́ī̷͓̩͎ń̵̞̯̪̼̋́̍ģ̶̻͍̜̐ ̸̡͔̮̍w̶̟̯̅ë̸̜́r̵͚̥̱̯̾̅̿ȩ̶̮̼̊ ̶̠̹͖̄b̷̮̈l̶͍͓̕ě̷̬͔͕̽e̸̲͒̀d̶̤̘̝̎̽̚͝i̸̝̘͘n̵̦̈́g̸̻͚͂̀̈́ ̵̮̠̱͈̾͗ǐ̴͎̘̱̈́̓̀n̶͇͊̀́̐ṯ̶̛̛̹̾ȍ̶͎̗̏̓̌͜ ̷̟̞̽̓͘͘t̶͖̏h̸͕͚̗͛͛e̴̡͍̺̤̾̓̍̿ ̸͚̀g̵̯̪͉̯͝r̶̻̬͒̀͆o̵̖̙̭̫̎̅̀͝u̵͇̮̅̇n̷̛̞͇̔̈̑d̶̰͇̈̄͝,̷̢̣͕̟̌ ̸̱͗́̄̑e̸͍̙͈̎̄͜v̴̯͙͛̃̕͘e̵̬̣͔̍n̸͙̠̻͕̈͆̐ ̸̢̞̫͋̉̆̃i̶̗̘̿̃̚͠f̴͕͊͗͜ ̸̠͇͗̂̕͝î̶̦̲̄̒͛t̷̥͚̓͛̀͘ ̸̯͗̐ŵ̸̳͓͚̰͑ä̸̻̯͙́̾̐s̶̠̻̣̾̏̉̍ñ̷̤̿̈͂’̸̧͌̀̈͜͝t̸̺̬̺̒͘͘͜͠ ̵̪̙̐̽r̴̹̓e̷̳̣̼̐̍͆ă̶̫̕͝l̸̡̖͆̇̈́ͅl̷̳̖͎̳̉ẙ̸̤̐̔̀ ̴̯̺͔͚͋t̴̳̿̏ḧ̶͙̻͙̤̒͌e̴͔̮̐̈m̵̘͓̑̕.̷̢͈̑

They needed her.

S̸̨͉͚̎̑ͅh̸͙͎́̽̊ͅè̴̙̘̤̄ ̶̮̠̺̗͗̀͘͠ņ̵̛̤̣̥̏͗͗ē̸͎̈́̔ẹ̷͛̿͗͠d̷̘̯͙̄ē̶͔͠ḋ̴̗̘̟͈̀̓̚ ̷͍̓ť̴̬͕͕͝h̷͇̬̩͆e̵̞̹̋m̷̪̙̱͂.̴͍̜̥̮̈́͊̂

A ball of purple, red, and green energy slammed into the ground in front of Mitsuru, taking the entire mob of Shadows that it had targeted with it.

Mitsuru would have taken more pleasure from that if she wasn't feeling as if she was dead on her feet, at that moment.

“Everyone, keep going! The - the spawn points of the Shadows are nearly gone!”

“That’s… great…” 

Hearing Akihiko say those words in that tone filled Mitsuru with dread she had only felt before when they’d fought Ryoji, seen Nyx itself, when father had been dying before her eyes, or when the twins had failed to wake up.

The Shadows were coming through more and more slowly - ever since Fuuka had managed to communicate that the lookalikes of Minato and Minako were somehow connected to the voids that were spawning tides of Shadows. As they slowly healed, the Shadows slowed down - and even as they did so, it had become more and more blatant that SEES was not the main target of the Shadows.

Yukari hadn’t left the side of the shadowy twins since the beginning of the battle.

And it made sense, to have Yukari hang back, since her specialty was healing - but SEES had never fought this many enemies for so long before. Even with Yukari doing practically nothing but healing them (and unleashing so many Ardhanaris that Mitsuru was going to get her at least two days of rest after this if she had to tie Yukari to her damned bed) , and everyone else, with Fuuka rejuvenating their bodies and tossing out Gems and medical supplies from the safety of Juno, she had been feeling like she was about to drop from exhaustion for - how long had it even been? Five minutes? Ten? More?

Regardless…

Gritting her teeth and falling back, Mitsuru called forth another Vorpal Blade.

Lines criss-crossed through the air in front of her, through the crowd of Shadows, boring through flesh and air identically - and then the lines cut.

Shadows vanished - and as they did, Mitsuru realized something. More were not appearing. And even as she realized that -

An - unusual - sound came to her ears.

It was - well.

In any other circumstance, she would have called that noise glorious, almost - after spending however long it had been, fighting off a horde of Shadows that made her feel as if the entire Abyss of Time’s resident Shadow population had tried to swarm them at once.

But still - 

- FLLLLWWWOOOMMMPPPSSSHHMMPPPPHH -

- was not a sound that you heard every day.

It was obvious what had caused the sound to take place - the voids that had been spitting out Shadow after Shadow had finally vanished - and even as she realized that, Mitsuru called forth a bit more of her vitality to fire off another Vorpal Blade, to deal with the stragglers.

…and that Vorpal Blade just so happened to coincide with a wave of electricity, bursting forth from Akihiko’s Theurgy.

...and...

...there were no more Shadows.

…well.

It would seem they had survived.

A frown crossed Mitsuru’s face, ever so lightly, however, when the drain that came from using physical skills wasn’t alleviated a few seconds later. A quick look behind her confirmed that Yukari was still up -

And so were the Shadows that looked like the twins she was madly in love with.

“YUKARI!”

T̴͉̟̮̙̈́̋̓h̴̢̄̂̚̕e̷̡̲͖̼̾̅̚ÿ̸̝̳̰͍́̂̐̔ ̵̧̝̳̆̉̐̾w̴̙̻͔̤͒́̕e̴̹͋r̷̼̖̩̉̈́̑è̶̉̉͌ͅ ̴̛̙͍̪̆̐h̴͕̊̓e̶̝̝̬̽̀̈́̏ŗ̷̡̘́̆̚ḛ̸͕̣̈.̶̣͒͘͘̕ ̸͚͈̪̍̂͜Ţ̴͔͑́̚ḧ̸̜͋̈́̊e̶̡̤̱̘̍͛͒́y̶̯̽̈́̾ ̴̨͇̍̎̽͝w̸̢̗̽͊e̷̳̹͛̈̎r̷̝͐́e̶̟̖̝͈͘ ̶͚͚̯͗̎̌ǒ̶̗͚̙̿̈́k̷̫̈́ã̵̡̑̒͝ỳ̴͙̦́̌̒ ̷̹͋̂͋-̵̟̲̏

It wasn’t them. It wasn’t them.

As Yukari internally screamed that to herself, the two Shadows t̵͕̩͈̼̿̾h̵̻͛̃͠a̶̲̗̭͒̌t̶̢̬̖̘̓ ̸͙̠̯̓̐̀l̵̛̮͈̈́̈́̆o̷̬̎̐̅ô̴̗̝͆̊̚k̶̪̥̠̅e̸͙͉̓d̸̯̪̮͕͐̽͊̈́ ̴̧͊̇̌ş̸̯͖̓̌o̷̢͙̠͑̌̑͝ ̶̡̅̉͘̚ṃ̶̎̾̓ü̴̬̏͌̌c̸̢̝̒h̸͔̩̯̽͆ ̴̣̟͕̼͆̀̾̑ḽ̵̦̂̈́i̵͓͒̔͘͝k̸̗͊̈͝e̷̩̠͕̖̐ ̴̛̥̠̰̯̾͆h̶̢͓̯̦͗́̄̿e̸͍͎̟̥͛̀͝͝ṙ̶̠̼̟ ̵̫̫̠͂͐̅͝l̸̡͑͠ö̶̫͙͇̂͐v̶͙͉͌e̴̜̬̲͛͑r̸͉̖̝̅̀̇͜s̵̰̑̐͐͋ ̶̧̔ẗ̷̞̙̺́̚h̴̝̉a̴͓̍͋͛͠t̸̢̉̽͑ ̴̖̦̤̻̃͗h̶̏͜͠è̴̯r̵̛̘̞̀͌͝ͅ ̶̥̗͛͂͘ỉ̷͔͚̅̔ņ̸͚̺͋t̸̫̆́̕è̵̳̝ŕ̸̛̗̎n̵̬͇̫̙̉̾a̵̘̦̝͉̎͆͂̓l̴̛̪̯̑́́ ̴̹͓̞̎͂̿͘͜s̶̰̰̙̀c̷͙̈̅͆̔r̶͔͔̅͑̉́ê̴̝͙̝̈́ḁ̸̈́̉͊m̷̨̨̮̉̂́͊i̸̝͉̗̣̐̃n̶͙̰͇͂g̴̯̤̯̻͌̽͊ ̵͖̥͋̿̋̚w̵̘͑à̷̞͙̪̐̈́͒s̷̢̻̈́̕ ̴̢̟͕̮̑g̵̘̉͒͠e̶͍̓́̊̌t̶̞̬́̒͛t̷͓̎i̴͈͑͂n̷̨͚͓͇̐͋ḡ̸̦͛ ̵̠̐͌s̷̨̋̉t̶̠̓̓̓̾ŕ̷̭̺̩͖́͒̉ơ̶̢̮͐̄n̶̠͌ģ̸̒̋ĕ̷̡̧́͗͝r̶̺̂̅͊ ̵̡̡̿͐b̶̺̺͝y̵͖̖̲̌ ̸͉̬̪͙͊͋͠t̴̲͌̀͒̉ͅh̴̺̤̜̓͒́̚ͅē̶ͅ ̶͈̘̳̎̊ͅs̶̱̀͆̈́̎ẽ̵̡̙͍̈́́͝c̸̣͇͈̫͌o̸̡̼̅n̷̡͇̜̓̋̀d̴̘̙͈̞͊͌̆ ̸̤̲͈͗̆̈͝began to raise their heads to look at her.

And between one second and the next, the ever-present sense of fear that had been shrouding Yukari’s soul since the battle began -

Vanished. 

Hastily, Yukari took a look at the glowing red and blue orbs that had replaced their eyes, and their faces - covered in a frown so much like Minako’s and a smile so much like Minato’s - that her heart felt like it was about to rip itself out of her chest.

(The other Shadows were gone, but that didn’t matter - even if they were still getting swarmed, the second they had started to get up, she only had eyes for them).

(As the rest of SEES gathered in the background, Yukari’s guard was completely down. If they decided to kill her, she would be completely defenseless - and honestly, she -)

“Yukari-san!” 

-Aigis?

As the android ran forward to stand by her, neither of the lookalikes did anything.

A few more seconds passed, as SEES waited for the other shoe to drop.

And waited.

And waited.

And as the lookalikes continued to remain passive, and no new Shadows began to form, slowly, they began to let their guards down.

“So… are you going to do anything?”

And the second the words left Metis’s mouth, as if they had been waiting for her to speak, the Shadows finally started to do something different.

Without warning, their necks fell to parallel sides, and -

As a sickening crack echoed across the platform that SEES had been fighting on for close to half an hour from the Shadows that looked like their friends, every last member of the group present (even Metis and Aigis) went pale, and then - 

- they peeled away.

“MINAKO-SAN! MINATO-SAN!”

Her hands and Aigis’s hands grabbed where they were dying, trying to catch - something - but coming back empty every time, they did everything right, why were they dying -

-Butterflies flew away, letters and numbers vanished into thin air, skin peeled away, flesh melted away, bones cracked away away A W A Y -

And then they were gone.

Chapter 7: The Two of Swords, United

Summary:

The Two of Swords, when upright, represents a tense situation. You and somebody else have come to an impasse, and can’t agree on what to do. You’re on the horns of a dilemma, and don’t know whether your heart or head is what you should listen to.
Reversed, the Two of Swords represents renewed action - the stalemate has come to an end. The decision has been made on what to do, and the tension has been broken.
Whether you made the decision yourself or not, all you can do now is see how it unfolds.

Notes:

Happy Juneteenth, everybody! I hope you have a nice day - and happy Raidou Remastered release day, if you're planning to play that!

A deathly silence fell over the platform, as the forms of Minako and Minato finished dissolving. For nearly half a minute, nobody moved or spoke.

“So… um… Metis-san, why did those Shadows look like our leaders? Um… didn’t you say whatever formed the Abyss was connected to us?”

Ken was the first to break it.

The gynoid he had addressed turned to him. “If I had to guess? Yes. They probably came from you. You said they weren’t waking up, right? No matter what you did? That’s probably why we had to heal them. And why healing them took so much effort - and why they vanished at the end.”

“Wait, what? How does that make sense?” Junpei broke the silence. “You’re saying that those Shadows came from - us?! We ain’t Shadows!”

Metis’s face became an honest mask of confusion. “What do you - you don’t know? Of course - well, you aren’t Shadows. But you all have Shadows. They’re your Personas. Personas and Shadows are the same thing.”

The faces of every other member of SEES became pure shock, as Metis continued unabashedly. “The Shadows we fought on the way here are the basest components of the human mind - suppressed thoughts given form. When people lose the strength to face themselves - or don’t have it in the first place - those parts break free. And if you have a Persona, then you’re able to face those parts of yourself.”

She idly looked at the stunned faces of the members of SEES. “...you really didn’t know. Huh.”

There was silence, as SEES digested this.

“So… since Personas and Shadows are the same thing - our Personas caused all this?”

Metis shrugged in response to Fuuka’s question. “Unless there’s more behind this we aren’t aware of - yes. The power of Shadows affects both time and space. And since they’re born from your subconscious thoughts… you don’t know what to do now, so you want to go back to when you did… you want the people you care for to be safe, but you feel as if there’s nothing you can do that will be enough… and you’re afraid of what might come, so you don’t want to face the future…”

Yukari’s fists clenched.

(̸̛̯̀̉Ś̷̳̠͊h̷̟̫͔͒͆͘͜ę̸̱̥͌͜’̷̭̍̀̇͘d̵̛̛͙̗̂̃͜ ̸̡̦͖̻͗͝͠͝s̴̗͔̺̈́̋̌m̶̗̞̄̂ṵ̷͛̿g̷̟̩̀̾̄́g̵̘͐̏̓̎ľ̸̝̠̿ę̸̦̣͗ḍ̵̊̊ ̸̘̯͆̿͝h̴̞͉̋ẽ̷͈͛̍r̴̢̘̟͖̒̔̉ ̷͉̮̱̩̓̆͝͝Ë̸̦͍͚́v̵̨̝̭̓o̴̰̙͎̹͆̄̈́̂k̴̳̳͓͑̈́ẻ̸͙̜́͂̕͜r̷̦̺̘̒́́͒ ̸̫̫̌͒̾̊i̶̯̣̜͋n̴̦̹̑̈́ț̶̛̻͊̇̚o̷͍͊̑̌ ̷̛̰̮̌ͅt̸͕͔̞̖̄h̶̼̞̯̑e̸̘̙̲̼̍ ̸̦̖͎͒̎͑̉h̷̗͎̓o̴̙̰͂̒͛͂s̴̮̫̪̉̈p̴̢̮͖͙͋i̵̺͛t̶̻̬͙͛̿à̸̜̞͚̼́̇̕l̶͈̲̈́̾,̷̳̍̓̊ ̴͕͕̣̙̊m̶͍̃́͂̂ỏ̴͖r̸̯̭̐̈́é̸̘̫̭̤͒ ̶̜̭̈͌̇̾t̴̰̉̐͜͝ḧ̸͔́̒̏̉ͅā̶̩̃̊̅n̴̝̳̩̓ ̶̠̥͈̄̒o̶̺͎͗͌n̶̢̠̤͝c̷͇͗͠e̷̘̰̺͑̍̌͜)̵̜̬̹́̈̚.̸̜̐͒͊

̵̮̜͉͒̃(̶͎̚S̸͔̳͔̈́͑̈ḫ̵͖̳̿̅͠͠e̶̡̔͋́̿ ̴̛̻͉͑̀ͅͅw̸̞̍̉a̵̜̯̭̓͋s̷͙̙̠̝̈́ ̸̞͛̀̒p̸̡̀̆̏̄r̴̝̮̺̓̐͝ė̵̯͎̣̈́̊ͅt̸̰͒̀t̶̛̞͔̳̊̕̕ỳ̸̧̞̰̆̾͠ ̵̖̫̣̅s̴̚ͅu̵̟̖̣̾ř̶͉̼͔́͑̅ė̴̲̣̤̰́ ̴̡͚̘̎͠į̵̡̲̅̀ͅt̶̗̬̗̣̋ ̵̳̟̔̍̅ẅ̶̱̥͙́ạ̸̄͐̊͝s̷̛̝̤̹͎n̵͙̺̼̑̈́͝ͅ’̵̛̳̕t̷̡̲͎̿̌̚ ̶̫̗̬͇̃̎͂̕j̶̡̬͇͋͋͋͑ŭ̶̜̬̓͘s̶̊̐͜t̸̯̒̈̅̿ ̸̮͉̮̭͛ ḩ̶͉̓͐̄e̶͚͂̈̆r̶̤̙̩̃̍͐ ̷̻̫͊̑̇t̷̞̪̹͋̚h̶͔̑̏͆̚ą̸̳̥̟́̆͝ẗ̷̺́͌͂̕ ̴̼̹̍h̵̯̫͂̈́ä̴̭̮̮d̶̛̳̤̚ ̴̜̱̊͌̚͠d̸̳̻͛ͅo̸̧̨͓̥̐n̷̢͖̬̂͌͘ể̴̮̦͉̟ ̴̻̭̻̓i̵͓͎̓͌̎͆ẗ̸̝̳̙́͑͑͠,̶̞̓͠ ̶̖͕̪̅̑͜e̶̛̬̍͑͐ḭ̷̭͛͛͐͜t̵̳͎̤̽ḧ̶̼̺͖̰́́e̴̟̎r̸̩̪͇͆)̶͔͍̄̍̀.̸͎̋̓͒̉

“So that’s… why they looked like them…? We… ” Fuuka broke off midsentence. Metis noticed this. 

“They looked like your leaders because you couldn’t stop being worried about them? Yeah. Probably.”

There was another brief silence.

“Time stopped because we couldn’t accept a world where they might not be here and didn’t want to face that… and we’re stuck with our memories.” Ken chuckled weakly. “Wow. We really are the ones who trapped ourselves here…”

“Well… those things are gone now, anyways.” Yukari winced at Akihiko’s words. “So… if they came from us, and we’ve come to terms with that, we should be able to leave now, right?”

“Yes…” 

Metis’s downcast gaze was overlooked, due to a rainbow glare suddenly filling the air.

Huh?

And looking down, Yukari noticed that - …there was a key in her hand.

Okay. So this was a thing. Why not? It made about as much sense as everything else.

…they could go back.

Her dad was smiling at her.

She could go back.

Her mom - the mother she had known a decade ago before her life went to shit - was smiling at her.

Everyone else was uncertain.

Aigis pulled out several luminescent blue particles that seemed to change shape out of the corner of her eyes, and never in her direct line of sight. The hands of the first clock to appear at the bottom of the Abyss whirled, and the members of SEES, as one, relaxed as they felt their utter exhaustion vanish. 

What she would have, normally, said was a waste of resources went unremarked on, as the storm in her mind tried to process that.

Minato and Minako were awake and smiling at her.

Yukari’s mind was whirling as her feet took her on autopilot up the steps of the Abyss of Time, uncaring of the world around her -

“Huh?!”

Until Fuuka’s yelp dragged her attention to the cracks in the walls and floor and - everything, really - of their home.

“Everyone!” Seeing the two who had stayed upstairs during their fight brought everyone’s heart rates down slightly as they came up in a rather hurried way.

“Imentet-san?! Shinjiro-san?!” Ken’s eyes went wide as he looked around him again - at all of the newly-added cracks in the dormitory.

“I - what happened?” Mitsuru demanded, turning to the shrouded woman.

Imentet shook her head. “I do not know. Roughly ten minutes ago, these cracks appeared. They - no true damage has been done to the dormitories yet, and they have not yet changed to the untrained eye, but I do not know if that will last.”

“Okay, - uh - let’s talk and figure this out real fast.”

…they wanted to talk.

She had already made up her mind.

“So, uh - we’ve gotta decide what to do with these keys, right?” Junpei asked aloud. The situation had been hastily explained to Shinjiro and Imentet, and now the members of the Squad were sitting in their living room.

“...”

Yukari didn’t say a word.

“Indeed. You can return to the first of April, where the time loop began, or any day before that when the Abyss of Time existed.” Imentet added. “All the way back to the day it was first formed.”

“...so, in other words, any point where Tartarus already existed up to the point we became trapped in the Abyss of Time is available to us.” Mitsuru mused. 

“That should be the case.” Metis concluded.

“...I… I think we should go back to the first of April, then.”

Ken speaking up didn’t surprise Yukari. But Ken saying that, however, did.

“I… the doctors, even the ones who remember the Dark Hour, still haven’t figured out why they’re in comas, right?” The youngest-looking member of SEES continued. “I… I think it’s because - they’re like that because they decided that to stop Nyx, that was the only way they could save us. They chose it.”

…no.

They were asleep, and not waking up.

No matter who came to see them, no matter what they tried to wake them up.

There was no way they had chosen that.

She knew them.

There was no way they could have ever wanted to choose that.

“It doesn’t feel right to disrespect their choice like that.” Ken finished, not noticing Yukari’s clenched fists.

“I’m with Amada.” Yukari wished that she could be surprised at hearing Akihiko’s voice. “We’ve all seen the sort of resolve it takes to face death like they did. And what they did with that resolve… we can’t just take away their decision like that. So - I think we should head back and wait for them to wake up.” 

…wait?

“Shinji, what do you think?” Akihiko continued, turning his gaze to his oldest friend. The delinquent in question returned it steadily.

Shinjiro was silent for a few seconds before he replied.

“...You and Amada seem to have both made up your minds - so I guess I’m with you.” Shinjiro shook his head. “But… let’s not kid ourselves.”

His gaze shifted.

“...Takeba. When exactly are you planning to go back to?”

“I - what? Shinji, what are you saying?” Akihiko shook his head.

“Uh… Yuka-tan?”

Yukari had been surprised for a second, that Shinjiro-senpai had been the one who asked. But the response had given her enough time to collect her thoughts. “I… I want to go back. …to the end of January. Before we fought Nyx.”

Akihiko and Ken were the only ones who really looked all that shocked, at least from where Yukari was sitting. 

(She may have been a bit too focused on them to be sure, though).

Shinjiro took it in stride, however. “Well, that’s good, I suppose. Better than going back and having to deal with all that shit you told me about Ikutsuki…”

The mention of the former advisor made Yukari’s hackles rise. “Who’s Ikutsuki?” The question from SEES’s newer gynoid caught the attention of everyone else there.

And may have made everybody there - even Fuuka - clench their fists.

“He - was - an advisor of ours.” Mitsuru summarized, her tone calm but as frigid as her first Theurgy. “He was also lying to us the entire time we knew him. He betrayed us, killed my father, and tried to use us as human sacrifices.”

“And the mess he ended up tricking us into by altering my dad’s last message to us is what landed my girlfriend and boyfriend in the hospital in comas.” Yukari bit in, scowling furiously. “They only had to protect us because of what he did. And going back in time and killing him won’t save them.”

“Wait, kill?!” 

Junpei’s stammering didn’t even make Yukari blink. “Yeah. How else are we supposed to deal with him? Arrest him? With what charges? He tricked everyone.”

Nobody had an answer to that.

Yukari took a deep breath. “But - either way, he’s not the problem, everything he helped set up that hurt them with the twelve Shadows is the problem, and he did that before the Abyss of Time even existed, so we can’t even do anything about it.” Yukari continued. “So - if there’s a way to go back to the battle and make sure they don’t get stuck in the hospital because of what he did to them? I’ll take it.”

Akihiko was silent for several seconds. The mention of Ikutsuki had forced him to take several deep breaths before he could respond. “...So. You’re saying that you won’t respect their choice?”

How had he interpreted that from what she said? “That’s not what I said at all! I’m saying we can go back and fix it so they don’t even have to make that choice!”

Akihiko’s gaze didn’t waver. “You think that you don’t have the strength to live in a world where they aren’t there for you every day, then? You’re just going to abandon the battle against yourself?”

“Oh, and you not fighting yourself is so much better?!” Yukari snapped. “You apparently don’t have anything or anyone you’ve lost that’s important enough that you want to go back!”

“Then let me ask you. If you could go all the way back to your father’s death and somehow undo it, would you do it even if you had to spend another ten years in the Dark Hour?” Yukari’s shock briefly cut her off, as Akihiko kept it up. “Even if there was a way to reverse Miki’s death and what happened to Shinji, I wouldn’t take it. Nothing that happened to us was a waste, no matter how much it hurt back then. It made us who we are now.”

Yukari’s eyes narrowed. “Maybe it did make us who we are, but we’d still be who we are now if we went back and kept them safe!”

“Whoa, whoa! Let’s - okay, Yuka-tan, calm down!” Junpei hastily interposed himself between the two other members of SEES, standing up and bringing everyone’s attention to him. “Let’s - let’s not fight!”

“Iori, what do you think?” Mitsuru questioned with an odd calm, bringing everyone’s attention further away from what may have been an outright brawl in their living room.

Junpei took a surprising amount of time to reply. “Well… I see what Akihiko-senpai’s trying to say, sort of. And - I get what Yuka-tan’s trying to say, too. I… even if everything turned out fine with Chidori… I would have liked to know she’d be fine sooner.” Mitsuru nodded slowly. “But - I - look, okay? I - hate to say this, but - if we had to fight Nyx again, I’d be scared shitless.”

…really. Really. “So you’re scared to risk your life now? After that’s all we’ve been doing for the last year?! So it’s fine if they get hurt or die, and awful if you do?!”

Junpei swiveled around to look Yukari dead in the eyes. “Of course it’s not fine, but it’s not just about us! Think this through! We’d have to fight Nyx again! What about that!? We still don’t know how the hell we survived last time or how they stopped her! What happens if something goes wrong? If we fight Nyx again and we lose?!”

“We beat Nyx already, and we didn’t have any idea what we were doing then!” Yukari countered. “We already know we can win! You’re just scared! But I suppose you’re at least better than those two.”

“Huh?”

Rather than respond to Junpei, Yukari turned to the two lightning-wielders of SEES. “Aragaki-senpai at least admits he’s just going with you! And Junpei’s scared we might lose - but you aren’t! All that talk about accepting the present is because - you lost your mother and your sister, and you don’t care about them enough to even want to save them when you have a chance!”

Akihiko’s body language went from controlled to barely controlled within the span of a second. “What?!”

Yukari didn’t stop. “You heard me. You talked about the past not being a waste because it made you who you are, but - you have a chance now to save the people you love and remember who you are! We’d remember everything if we went back to save them, and you’re saying we shouldn’t save anybody’s lives because you’re only worried how saving them might affect you!!”

Ken looked as if he was seriously considering grabbing his spear. “How can you say that?!”

“Because it’s apparently true!” Yukari snapped.

The youngest human member of SEES looked for a second as if he was about to storm over and punch or stab Yukari, but he stopped himself before any such event could happen. After a few seconds, his gaze shifted. “Aigis-san. What do you think?” The words were bit out with a calm that was clearly only skin-deep.

The eyes of the rest of SEES went to the gynoid, who looked oddly - 

…even her?

Yukari’s initial disbelief was rapidly swallowed up, as Aigis spoke. 

“I… I’m not sure what’s a better choice. The past or the present…”

By anger.

“Really. Even now, you still won’t choose?” Aigis didn’t respond, and neither did anyone else. “You were the last one who got to talk to them before they got sent to the hospital. You spent nearly a month watching them without telling any of us or caring about anything else, you ditched school, you inherited Minato’s power, and now you aren’t sure you want to keep them safe?!”

Aigis hesitated. “I… I do. But…” the gynoid cut herself off. 

“Sister?” Metis asked, concern clearly in her tone.

“Well?!” Yukari demanded. “We can take Nyx! We won and we can do it again!”

“But…” Aigis winced. “We - would be placing even them at risk again too…”

Yukari’s fists clenched. After several seconds of silence, Yukari shook her head. “Whatever. We can’t stay here forever, and we’re just going in circles now.”

Even as Yukari spoke, her eyes went to the cracks in their home.

Maybe it was just her imagination, but it seemed they had grown…

(Was there a difference, in this place, between thinking the cracks had grown, and them actually growing?)

“So we’ll have to settle this another way.”

Fuuka spoke up for the first time. “Another way?” A second later, comprehension - and horror - gleamed in her eyes like a vampire being descended on by the morning sun. “Wait - Yukari-chan?!”

The archer didn’t back down. “Taking the keys by force… that’ll work too, right?”

The suggestion made most of SEES’s eyes go wide.

“...Indeed.” Imentet added mildly. “The keys - will merge when combined. The wishes of their former bearers will have no bearing after that. Only the will of the one who has won them will matter.”

Shocked looks were traded between most of the members of the Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad.

“...so, this is what you want, then?” Metis demanded, turning to Yukari. “To fight again?”

Minato and Minako were watching her, horror in their eyes.

The fury in her veins made her ignore them. “No! But do any of you have a better idea!?”

“We could talk!” Junpei sputtered, horror clear.

“We already tried that!”

“...very well. This concerns the fates of two of our closest friends. And compromise doesn’t seem to be working.” Mitsuru stood as she finished. “And in the meantime… I’ll stand with you, Yukari.”

The redhead’s decision made everyone’s eyes widen. “Mitsuru-senpai…”

“You’re - you’re taking her side? Are -” Akihiko’s sentence ended prematurely, as he got a good look at Mitsuru. “...well, then. I know you. And - guess we’ve all got our reasons.”

“Everyone…!” Aigis’s voice was pained, as she looked around at her divided loved ones. The only ones who flinched were Junpei and Fuuka.

“...so.” Metis’s voice cut in, as nobody stepped away. “This is what you all want? None of you are willing to back down?”

“...I wanna just talk.” Junpei admitted. “But I don’t think anyone else is gonna go for that.”

“...all right.” Metis didn’t look that happy, as she spoke. 

“Follow me, then. There’s a place more suitable for battle.” As Imentet spoke, the rest of SEES couldn’t help but notice that she sounded -

…well - off.

Yukari had been very surprised, when she and Mitsuru, after entering the door to the “Colosseo Purgatorio” with the rest of SEES, the two of them had been the only ones to show up on the other side.

Where Imentet was waiting for them.

“Please. Follow me.”

“We… were separated?” Yukari asked, even as she and Mitsuru followed SEES’s - greeter.

“Indeed. The Colosseo Purgatorio’s passages may all lead to the same arena - but the different combatants will only be paired, before entering, with those on their side.” Imentet stated.

“...so. You’re going to be working with us, then? I was under the impression you didn’t have a Persona.” Mitsuru questioned.

Imentet nodded. “Indeed. I will not help you in the battle to come.”

There was silence, as they kept walking. The Colosseo Purgatorio’s hypogeum were rather bleak, Yukari couldn’t help but reflect.

(Imentet had informed them, as she guided them to the arena, that was what they were apparently called. How she knew that, Yukari had no idea. Maybe it was in one of the books in the dorm somewhere, it wasn’t like Imentet had much else to do).

Brown and dark red coated every surface she could see, in various shades, with the only light present being light from a handful of torches dotted infrequently enough that she could barely see. So - 

“Hey - Mitsuru-senpai?”

“Yes, Yukari?”

Yukari shrugged. “I - well - I really appreciate you’re fighting with me, but is there anything you want to do when we win?”

Mitsuru was silent for several seconds. “I - would have stood with you regardless of what you desired, Yukari. But I would - like to go back far enough to save my father.”

…oh. 

Oh.

God, it seemed so obvious when Mitsuru-senpai said that. How had she not realized that sooner?

“Oh! Uh - okay! We - we can probably do that. Er - but -”

…Yukari would admit. She had talked a big game earlier, sure - but -

Well, now that her words were coming back to her after she’d had time to cool down, she… okay, she had been a bit of a jerk back there. Even if Sanada-senpai and Amada-kun were too. 

But first, she had to win. Win, and figure out what to do after she went back, because - killing Ikutsuki herself was… well -

…no matter how much he might deserve it, and even if she couldn’t think of another way to deal with him… she wasn’t sure what - well, she wasn’t sure if not having the stomach to kill him, or actually having the stomach to kill him would be worse.

…maybe they could ask Aigis to do it? She definitely had a good reason if she wanted to fill him full of lead.

“I would prefer if we talked about this later, though.”

Yukari nodded, brought out of her head by Mitsuru’s request. “Uh - okay. First we have to win, though. That’s gonna be tough.”

“If you believe they have a chance, Yukari-san, I believe you are overestimating them.” The voice of their greeter caught the attention of both the women she was guiding. “Their resolve is - lacking, I suspect.”

“Their - resolve?” Yukari questioned.

Imentet gave a nod. “Aragaki-senpai, if he fights, will only do so out of a sense of duty - and Sanada-senpai and Amada-kun fight only for themselves. Junpei and Koromaru simply wish to prevent any true battles - and Aigis’s resolve is weak.”

“...that still leaves out Metis.” Mitsuru pointed out.

Imentet exhaled. “Yes. She will likely be your greatest challenge. As long as she is fighting for her sister… her love will keep her moving. Will keep her strong. So your love for the people you wish to go back for will have to be stronger than your fear of hurting them.” 

“...yeah… but…”

As Yukari thought it over…

…the idea of actually attacking the other members of SEES was…

“If they are truly your friends - then they will understand.” Imentet cut in, as the doubt in Yukari’s mind started to resurface. “And if they reject you for what they agreed to, then they did not deserve to be your friends in the first place.”

“But… they didn’t all agree to it.” Yukari felt her head drop a bit. “We - I kind of -”

“Yukari-san.”

Imentet had strode forward, and her gaze was on Yukari as she spoke.

“You are overthinking your actions. Do you think that they love you?”

Memories popped up -

Insults (friendly ones) traded with Junpei, the time she’d gotten Fuuka to wear a maid uniform with her (the same ones she’d gotten the twins to wear!), bonding with Sanada-senpai over their respective sports, becoming actual friends with Mitsuru, watching Shinjiro-senpai fail to convince anyone he didn’t like to cook, talking about lost parents with Ken, talking over projectile weapons with Aigis, petting Koromaru -

And -

Minako and Minato.

“...yes, but-”

“Then do you think they will forgive you?” Imentet cut in without hesitation. “Even if they are hurt… do you think they will still love you afterwards?”

Yukari wasn’t even able to open her mouth before a hand placed itself on her shoulder.

“She’s right, Yukari.”

Yukari turned, somewhat unwittingly, as Mitsuru guided her around with her arm.

The redheaded heiress’s gaze had lost any of the fear that was in it before.

“Do you think what we have formed together… Do you think that something like this could truly break that bond?”

Yukari looked Mitsuru in the eyes.

And she knew the truth.

“...no.”

“If they love you, they will forgive you.” Imentet voiced with total confidence. “Love is like that, is it not?”

“...yeah. It is.”

As Yukari nodded, any doubts that may have been in her heart - 

They didn’t vanish.

But they weren’t as prevalent as they were just a minute ago.

Imentet seemed pleased. “Then no matter how this goes, they will know you had what you believed to be their best interests at heart. And if you do not agree on what you think is best, and this is the only way to solve it… at the end, if they are truly your friends, they will understand this was necessary. And they will still love you regardless. I have no doubt about that.”

“...Imentet-san…”

“You are fighting for love, Yukari Takeba. Never forget that.” Imentet’s voice cut into the conversation again. “You are fighting to protect what you love more than anything else.” Yukari got the impression that Imentet was smiling at them, behind her veil. “If you do not hesitate and remain true to your heart… there is nothing they will be able to do to stop you.”

…wow.

Who knew the veiled lady was a secret romantic?

…wait.

After that, the three of them traveled the remaining distance in silence.

They didn’t have much further to walk after that. Not that Yukari could tell, at first - as it turns out, the sky of the Colosseo Purgatorio, when they finally entered a non-enclosed space, was as red as the torches that lit the underground passages that the different members of SEES had taken to get to the arena.

“So. This is it.” Mitsuru quietly stated. “I take it you won’t be coming with us?”

“I will simply observe.” With that statement made, Imentet stood to the side. “I eagerly await your victory.”

And… what else was there to say?

The arena awaited.

And as she and Mitsuru entered it, with Imentet not leaving the tunnel behind them, the rest of SEES entered as well.

I wonder… were they waiting for us? Or… did the tunnels here just - decide to make us all show up at the same time?

…whatever.

It doesn’t matter.

It would all be fine.

They’d all thank her when this was over and they were all okay.

Especially if she and Aigis could - somehow - keep their powers. Or share them or something.

And if they didn’t, she’d honestly give up ever having a Persona in a heartbeat to make sure they were okay.

They had won before when they were clueless about everything. They were just all being cowards, not being able to fight Nyx again to be sure the twins were safe.

And if things went well, there was no way they could lose against Nyx with four Wild Cards, right?

“E - everyone! Please!”

Yukari ignored Fuuka - mostly - and took a look at her opponents, confidence filling her.

Her teammates.

Akihiko wasn’t wearing the “Evil Gloves” ( how had Minato come up with that name - ?) any longer. Not that Yukari wasn’t taking some contentment in that - the idea of getting punched by anyone with those gloves, especially Akihiko, was not a pleasant one.

Ken was next to him, determination clear on his face as he held his spear. Behind them, at the other end of the arena, Shinjiro was standing next to a tunnel’s entrance, much like Imentet was behind her and Mitsuru.

Metis stood next to Aigis, and her face was covered in determination, as she held her weapon tightly.

Aigis, by contrast, pretty clearly - well, she didn’t want to be here. Every inch of her screamed reluctance.

…she had this in the bag.

Junpei was standing next to Koromaru, looking awkwardly at everyone around him. He hadn’t even taken his katana out of its sheath.

Next to him, Koromaru was on all fours - like always - but his usual eagerness - well. She - she was pretty sure he was determined, at least, but she wasn’t as good at reading him as Aigis. 

And Mitsuru was next to her.

…she would have preferred the twins, but she wouldn’t complain. If they were here, like they should have been, they wouldn’t be in this mess in the first place. 

She would see them awake soon anyways.

“Guys! …seriously. Is there any way we can just stop this, Yuka-tan? Sanada-senpai?” Junpei asked with a pleading tone, looking at the two biggest instigators of the interteam conflict.

…she got why he was worried, but - there was no serious reason to be worried, honestly.

They’d risked their lives this entire time. What was the worst that could happen here? They went through a little more pain?

“No.” Akihiko replied, walking forwards. “They risked everything for us. Like hell am I letting anybody throw that away!”

“I’m not throwing anything away.” Yukari shot back. “Least of all them!”

As she spoke, she nocked an arrow -

And the battle was on.

Chapter 8: The Ten of Swords, United

Summary:

The Ten of Swords, when upright, represents that things have come to an end - and there’s nothing to be done about that. You’re at rock bottom, lost so goddamn much, and you may not want that, but you have no say in what does and doesn’t happen - and what you may or may not lose.

Reversed, the Ten of Swords represents that you’ve been suffering for a long time. You have chronic problems, and no matter how hard you’ve tried to fight, they keep coming back to haunt you.

But no matter how low you are, you’re still alive. And if you’re at rock bottom, the coming climb may be hard - but you can only go up now.

(Content Warning).

Notes:

Hey folks! Sorry this one is a bit late, I - took longer on it than I should have, and then it turned out I forgot something important, so this was posted from my phone.

Also, Theurgy edits will come another day.

And hoo boy, here we go. The SEES fights… and, well. This chapter is - well, not gonna be fun, for anybody. There’s a reason I chose the Ten of Swords as the tarot card to represent this chapter. This chapter is the main, possibly entire, reason this story is rated M. And - well, if nothing else, the updated tags above should give you a clue as to what’s happening.

MAJOR TRIGGER WARNING! It - well, it isn’t quite attempted suicide, considering the nature of the Colosseo Purgatorio, but - well. That warning alone should set off warning bells. If you really don’t want to read that part, it’s near the end of the chapter - immediately before a line break, very close to the bottom, there’s a part reading “XXXX as XXX fell to XXX knees and XXX hands grabbed out, was not in a stable state of mind.”

Please don’t eviscerate me in the reviews!

Almost instantly, purple, red, and green light sprang up around nearly every member of SEES. Akihiko charged forwards nearly instantly, a Heat Riser from Ken already bursting into life around him, even as red light covered Metis and Aigis, a burst of black and dark purple was emitted from Mitsuru-senpai, covering the rest of the field.

And even as the heiress sapped their defenses, violet and green sprung up around the rest of SEES.

Junpei…

Yukari mentally shook her head. “Mitsuru-senpai!”

As she spoke, Yukari fell back, with the redhead covering her retreat. Ahead of her, Shinjiro, Akihiko, Junpei, and Metis were all clashing already, with swords, gloves, and hammers changing targets every other second. Ken and Koromaru were fighting too, in the background, with bolts of electricity and Ken’s spear or the many arrows he summoned constantly missing Koromaru and Cerberus, the latter of which was secure in his strangely-lit dog suit - while Ken, despite being fortified by the black ring he wore and a Heat Riser, had a bit more difficulty dodging the waves of flame Koromaru threw at him and Kala-Nemi.

And lastly-

FWOOSH!

Yukari yelped, as a metallic fist swung right past her. “My apologies, Yukari-san!” The android declared as she charged.

Eyes going wide, Yukari pulled her Evoker out, and slammed her finger into the trigger as hard as she could.

Her Theurgy gauge was as red as the rest of her SEES armband. And she knew just what to do with it.

Minato and Minako flashed behind her eyes. Succubus and Incubus came to mind -

And a second later, so did Ryoji Mochizuki, as Thanatos - and the Dark and Charm-boosting ailments she’d spent so much time adding to the Persona that had apparently come from him - roared to the forefront of her thoughts.

She looked at Aigis - And then past her.

Sorry, Mitsuru-senpai! 

 

A five-person melee was very unlike combat with Shadows, Mitsuru was rapidly learning. Especially when the other four people were not people she would normally fight. Rapiers (and lances, why were so many of the weapons that boosted her Persona’s abilities the most lances) were meant for stabbing - but it was considerably harder to stab somebody, when you’d left the sheath on like she had.

So, now, she was going against every tutor she’d ever learned from by smacking her enemies with the sheathed Kokuseki Senjin, and -

No. They weren’t her enemies. This was just -

Before Mitsuru could finish thinking, the world was awash in magenta, purple, and pink.

 

Yukari swapped to Seth without missing a beat and formed a Tetrakarn around herself the second her Dreamfest landed, just in time to knock Aigis back about ten feet. Not perturbed in the slightest, Surtr formed behind the gynoid and slashed down at Yukari-

-and she managed to swap to Saturnus just in time to drain the power of the fiery blade into her already-full stamina. Not wasting a moment, she sent a wind attack Aigis’s way, which the gynoid countered by swapping out for Metatron -

And then, a sheathed lance smashed into the side of Aigis’s head. Of course, given that she was solid metal, that didn’t bother her -

But it did convince her to fall back.

“Yukari.”

The archer winced, as she turned to her friend. “Sorry, Mitsuru-senpai.” Yukari shook her head even as she summoned Houou and called forth a Mediarama. “I - there was too much of a chance.”

Mitsuru’s expression didn’t change. It was not a happy one. Yukari couldn’t help but notice that her clothes were noticeably messed up from her attack, but - not much more. “...I suppose I can’t help but forgive you.” Mitsuru said after a few seconds, pulling her Evoker out again as she took in the battle.

It was going… much better for them, now. Metis, Akihiko, Ken, and Junpei were all still fighting - but besides Junpei, the pink shrouding their eyes told her that her initial attack’s effects were still going strong - especially since Akihiko was currently targeting the downed Ken, instead of -

Metis’s rose-tinted gaze faded, before her eyes narrowed. But she kept fighting regardless, even as Aigis fell back - away from the fight, and from Yukari and Mitsuru both.

…all right. She could handle a little hatred from the sister-complex robot.

They were fighting now. But they’d be fine later, and joke about this with the twins.

 

 

It had been less than five minutes, and the fight had turned. “AROOO!”

“Guys, come on!”

SCWIIISSSHH!

Vacuum Slash was not exactly a powerful attack, most of the time -

“GAH!”

“AGH!”

“AGAIN!?”

“YOU’RE GOING TO PAY FOR THIS, IORI!”

-but when you were fighting an enemy that specialized in knocking you down with the slightest touch, and was good at getting in those touches? With backup that specialized in helping those touches land? An enemy that had no weaknesses, thanks to her and Aigis’s shared lack of Wind Break and any Wind Theurgies, at the moment?

Yukari had not, before entering the Colosseo, given much thought to how good Junpei was at disabling enemies that couldn’t ignore physical attacks. She had mostly just gone for the downed Shadows.

And now, she was cursing herself for having gone for Asura instead of Alilat.

Junpei has to go out first…

Even as that thought crossed her mind, Junpei yelped loudly as a colossal blast of ice came from an infuriated and Concentrated Mitsuru, directly hammering Trismegistus -

-and even as the damage was dealt, fire shrouded his sword for a second, and the weakened aura around Junpei’s Persona began to strengthen itself again. And instead of directing the blaze at any of his teammates, Junpei slammed it down directly in front of him. The blaze exploded outwards, and the image of Chidori Yoshino briefly formed - and any damage Mitsuru, or the rest of SEES, had inflicted on him vanished entirely.

…that’s going to be harder than I’d like.

“Ugh - Junpei, stop it!” Akihiko snapped, going after the critical-hit master of SEES with a vengeance, having pushed himself up with his hands - and even as he rose, behind him, Ken summoned a blast of multicolored light that erupted from under the boxer’s feet.

“Nope!” Despite the boost, however, Junpei was holding his own against the boxer, despite the older teen’s greater agility and strength - not because he was landing more hits, frankly, but because Yukari, even as she dodged a few attacks from Koromaru, could see him both focusing solely on blocking the hits with his no-longer blazing blade, as the bruises Akihiko made kept vanishing before her eyes.

She - and everyone else - had been - well. The Dreamfest she’d sent at everyone earlier had been… she hadn’t really put her heart in it, like she did against Shadows. She’d wanted them all pummeling each other so she and Mitsuru could jump them and knock them out when it wore off, not to put them in the ground.

But… she was starting to get the feeling that she might have to -

“Yukari!”

Yukari didn’t jump, because she had been keeping half an eye on the rest of the battlefield, and Koromaru yelped as he dove away from the arriving Mitsuru, a blast of ice that missed the canine punctuating his departure - And Mitsuru’s glowing red armband punctuating her arrival.

“With me.” The redhead commanded, already loading her Theurgy cartridge -

And her eyes going to where Akihiko and Junpei were duking it out.

 

…this was, in hindsight, a really dumb plan, even for him. “AGH!” Junpei shrieked in a rather unmanly tone as he maneuvered his blade up to block Akihiko’s punch, while directing Trismegistus to summon another Marakukaja around everybody he could reach - even Imentet and Shinjiro-senpai, watching from the tunnels. He just - had to hold out a bit! Wait until everyone got all the - pissed-offness out of their systems!

…and if they were just mad at him instead of each other, that was a win too. He just - had to wait until everyone was willing to talk things out or smack them down enough they’d be willing to listen, since this place wasn’t falling apart like the dorms -

“ARTEMISIA!”

In front of him, Akihiko’s eyes went wide, and the boxer was disengaging in order to dodge, even before Junpei could turn around -

“Don’t bother.”

And a buttload of pain hit him. "AGH!”

Despite the enormous amount of screaming his body was making, Junpei - somehow - managed to see past the stars shrouding his vision, shaking his head to look at Mitsuru Kirijo -

And Yukari Takeba, standing next to her, Shiva summoned -

And the aura of a Bloody Charge shrouding her.

...shit.

 

 

Junpei was, physically, tougher than anyone in SEES except for Aigis and Metis, and everyone in SEES knew it. Especially after Shinjiro’s injuries had left him and Numa both maybe half as good at taking hits as they were before due to his incomplete recovery, even with Firm Stance.

His magical attacks may have been the worst in the group, to the point that he sometimes pulled out Laevateinn and just used Marakukaja as his only spell instead of bothering with anything to do with Agi, but - well.

He could take hits. And with self-healing, and his second Theurgy, getting him to stay down was a damned accomplishment for any Shadows they ran into. With that in mind, Yukari had switched to the most powerful widespread attack she had, to ensure he couldn’t avoid it after Mitsuru hobbled him - and Charged herself up to get ready for it.

And with Junpei slowed down, and the absurd area that Pralaya hit, Yukari watched in satisfaction as the Pralaya hit Trismegistus, shattered the Persona like it was glass -

And kept going.

And as the attack hit Junpei, any sense of satisfaction Yukari may have had disappeared.

 

 

Junpei Iori flew backwards, going nearly twenty feet before bouncing off the ground and skidding to a halt, as everyone else there, as if it had been planned, stopped moving to watch in shared shock.

For a second, nobody moved or spoke.

For another second, Yukari flashed back to October 4th.

Only now, instead of Takaya and Shinjiro, she could see -

“JUNPEI!” Nobody in SEES could remember Imentet ever screaming, before then, as the veiled lady rushed over towards the former baseball player, the healing items that SEES had given her before the battle started in hand, and nobody moving to stop her from using them despite that action being unallowed by shared consent before the fight.

But the spirit of her scream was still something that everyone else there felt, in their very souls. “J-Junpei?” Yukari was coming to the realization, far too late, that she may have channeled a bit too much of her frustration with him into that attack.

Junpei, despite the fact he was possibly the best member of SEES at taking hits, with or without his Persona, was currently splayed out on the ground -

And he wasn’t getting up. His left leg was bent at a very disturbing angle, visible even from here, and the ground beneath him was darker from his shadow (it was his shadow, it was his shadow that was making the ground darker), and his face was contorted in pain, but that was probably just her imagination, with how far away she was -

(it wasn’t, it wasn’t, it wasn’t-)

“H-hey senpai... Yuka-tan…”

“Iori!?” Mitsuru yelped as Junpei spoke, horror - and the fear she normally never let show clear in the name that came as a yelp, as Junpei’s voice somehow carried over to them. “Iori! Please, just hold still! We - Yukari!”

“...what the hell was that for...?”

And before Yukari could respond or fumble her numbing fingers into pulling the trigger and summoning Norn with Salvation and Samarecarm ready to go, Junpei vanished.

In less than a second, the katana he’d held in his right hand fell to the ground, blood still staining the sheath he hadn’t even drawn it from.

And Yukari’s mind -

Blanked.

 

 

“JUNPEI-KUN!!” Besides Yukari, Mitsuru didn’t say a word as Fuuka screamed - indeed, she didn’t even move, as if she had just been turned into a frozen statue in spite of her Persona’s powers over ice.

“What the hell just happened?!” Shinjiro demanded, turning to the robed woman who had just fallen to her knees where Junpei had been just a second ago.

"He paid the price for losing.” Metis’s cool voice - and the complete lack of surprise on her face - pulled everyone’s attention to her instantly.

“ARF ARF!” Koromaru’s bark, despite no human there understanding it, sounded more like a command than anything Mitsuru, Aigis, or Yukari had ever declared.

“He’s still alive! He just won’t return to normal until the true key is forged!”

And the protest from the gynoid in question snapped everyone else out of their shock. “ARF! BARK!”

"You all decided on this! I didn’t want this! We just made it less likely anyone would die!" Metis shot back at the dog.

“...What do you mean, less?!” ’Mitsuru’s voice contained a clear demand for her to keep talking.

Metis, for the first time, winced.

“...Metis?”

Aigis’s voice was as soft as her soul and as hard as her body.

"...do you see the flames?"

Imentet's quiet question caught the attention of all of SEES.

Yukari's gaze flew up, and -

Flames were burning above her, and the second she looked into them -

Familiar laughter echoed through her mind, a affectionate (but firmly platonic) hand clapped her back-

“...the fires will burn, for a very long time.” Imentet’s quiet voice was still audible, thanks to having nothing to block it out. She was standing now - and walking back towards the tunnel entrance she had stood by. “And anyone else who adds to the blaze will fuel it for longer and subtract from his burden. When all seven fires are lit, the key will go to whoever is still standing. But if Junpei’s fire burns out before the battle is decided…”

She didn’t say anything after that, but nobody there missed the implication, least of all Yukari Takeba.

…Junpei could die.

DIE.

She could have killed Junpei -

"Why did you bring us HERE, then?! We could have done this in the Abyss!” Akihiko demanded. “Are you trying to get us killed after all!?”

Metis’s eyes narrowed. “You were going to fight anyways, and there’s always a chance that you could kill somebody if you’re actually trying to hurt them! There’s always the risk somebody could die in a fight! Did you all somehow think that you were guaranteed to survive just if you were only fighting each other?! We’ve been risking our lives every time we went down!” Her gaze went up to the flames that represented the quintessence of the first member of SEES to fall. “As long as the flame burns, he’ll come back when it’s over, and nothing can hurt him further in that state. At least here we have a safety net, right sister-”

Aigis had said nothing, as Metis and Imentet spoke.

But the second Metis referred to her, she turned around, and for a second, everyone recoiled.

Aigis’s face hadn’t changed. But her hands were clenched, her posture radiated fury, and her voice was as broken as they had just left Junpei. “Stop calling me that.”

“Sister…?!”

"You aren’t my sister.”

The fact she wasn’t yelling somehow made her words worse.

“...sister?” Metis’s voice sounded broken as she spoke. Lost. As if she had just been thrown into the middle of a labyrinth in the dark, with no light to see by and no map to guide her out.

“Do… do you hate me now…?”

…maybe Yukari should have taken advantage of the pause. Of how Metis and Aigis - the most determined person there and the other Wild Card - clearly didn’t have the attention for anything but each other.

It just - …didn’t occur to her.

“...that doesn’t matter. You’re still more important to me than anything…”

“FOCUS!” Imentet’s voice, as it came from the edge of the arena, snapped everyone back to reality, and their eyes went to her. (Her dress had red splotches around the lower half, and Yukari was not going to think about that-) “He’ll be fine! That flame alone will burn for hours - and the more there are, the longer they all last!”

…okay. Hours. Fine.

This was fine.

They’d be done in the next thirty minutes.

"He’ll be fine? You’re sure?” Mitsuru’s tone made it clear that, if Imentet hadn’t been a noncombatant, and on their side, she would have had less than a second before she found out what it was like to be ice cream in Antarctica.

"...he’ll be fine as long as you hurry.” Imentet’s voice was grim, as she looked up.

…all right. Fine. Hurry?

They could hurry.

Yukari could see, distantly, that everyone’s Theurgy gauges were burning red.

She couldn’t stop.

She couldn’t afford to doubt herself.

She couldn’t afford to lose.

This was for Minako and Minato, and she could not lose them.

 

 

 

None of SEES, later, could really recall what happened after that.

Junpei vanishing into thin air had - sort of -

...Yukari wasn’t sure how the others felt, but she couldn’t see anything, when she stopped, but that moment where he’d vanished.

Or the many other moments, of Minako and Minato, in their hospital room and not coming back.

So she had - focused.

On the fight. On the rest of SEES. On dodging, swapping Personas to the ones she needed, and on anything but stopping to think.

She had gotten “into” the flow of battle before, and it was a good state to be in when your life was on the line. There was just no room to think of anything else -

 

 

Fuuka and Juno had started screaming when blood was drawn again, when Akihiko had gotten hit by one of her arrows.

Yukari had tuned it out.

It would be worth it.

It had to be.

-you only -

Ken went down next, after Junpei, at Koromaru's hands after a well-timed Theurgy.

It made sense, given how he was the only serious non Wild Card medic SEES had, at that moment.

It was another thing entirely for Yukari to force down the guilt when he vanished.

-saw the-

Artemisia was covering her back - at least, she was, until a well-placed Primal Force from a recovered Aigis left her discorporated and Mitsuru flat on the ground, writhing in pain from the psychic backlash - for a split second, before she dissolved.

Yukari didn’t even blink, as she reached for her Evoker (and the bleeding red Theurgy gauge).

-enemy in -

Yukari was aiming at Akihiko with her bow, ignoring the twitching of her muscles as she let the arrow fly -

And a Persona intercepted the attack.

Not the one she had expected, either.

“Shinji?!” Akihiko demanded, surprise clear as the other senior member of SEES limped up, still leaning on Mjolnir.

"Can’t do much here, Aki.” The other young man grunted, as his gaze swerved to Yukari. “But I helped make this mess too, apparently.”

Yukari had been Charging already, as she hastily got some ground between herself and the two all-but brothers.

“So… I’ll give you some more time to punch people.”

But seeing Shinjiro drop his hammer - the crutch he had used to get around - and slowly sink into the “criss-cross-applesauce” pose, briefly drove her mind away from the fight.

"Shinji?!”

Within a second, Yukari realized what was going on.

And what Shinjiro was doing for them.

For a second, guilt flashed through Yukari’s mind.

Sorry, senpai…

A second later, she drove it away, and a Charged Pralaya blasted through the air. But Akihiko was already moving -

…and Shinjiro hadn’t even bothered to move, let alone block.

-front of you-

“SHINJI!”

Akihiko’s scream filled the air as his best friend vanished.

And a second later, he had jumped into the air, and Yukari braced herself.

Right after that, lightning coated the entire battlefield -

And Yukari fought off the urge to scream from the familiar pain, as the electricity went right through Odin’s absorption despite her hasty swap. -

(they weren’t -

Koromaru’s mournful howl echoed, as Cerberus dissipated thanks to Akihiko.

And a second later, the loyal hound of SEES vanished.

Memories shot through Yukari’s mind, of days spent walking him, and recently, of Koromaru offering himself to be pet when she felt the familiar despair trying to overtake her.

She shoved them down.

-she didn’t want this-)

Aigis shot her a pained look, as Akihiko discorporated into the flames from Metis’s attack.

Yukari was still - relatively… fresh. Aigis and Metis had both been in the thick of it, though. “Yukari-san! Please…”

-She had to do this-

Yukari ignored the plea, shoving the emotions down her throat into her chest.

Into the heart that felt like it had already fractured apart into a million pieces.

She shoved her Evoker into her head, her Theurgy gauge bleeding red again.

She just had to win.

And then, they would all be fine.

Flames danced.

They’d all be fine.

 

 

…she had won?

Aigis was stunned on the ground - well, she was conscious, but she was dizzy and not moving.

And Metis was out cold. Yukari had no idea how.

…she had won. They'd be fine.

…Yukari looked around, just to be sure. There were six flames burning. It will all be okay in the end. She just - had to finish it. Just - had to beat Aigis, who was downed. One more - discorporation -

One more kill.

It wasn’t a kill, shut up brain!

And slowly, she started to raise her Evoker -

“YUKARI-CHAN, STOP!”

-Fuuka??

The navigator had sprinted out of nowhere, and that more than anything was what stopped Yukari mid-motion.

“Fuuka, what are you doing? I - it’s almost over!” Yukari exclaimed quickly. “I just have to-”

"Yukari-chan, please! You’re making a mistake!” The navigator yelled, cutting Yukari off.

“Fuuka, it’ll be fine!” Yukari replied - somewhat dismissively and somewhat desperately, in the hope that this would be over - as she finished putting her Evoker up to her head.

“No, it won’t be!”

"Why?” Yukari asked, already bringing Cybele to the forefront of her mind -

“BECAUSE YOU MIGHT KILL AIGIS!”

-only for her finger to freeze on the trigger.

…Aigis could die? …what? WHAT?! “W-wha - what -” Fuuka was lying. …what did I do? …she had to be lying, right?

What did I DO-

But - Fuuka was a horrible liar.

How had - wait -

“How - what do you mean - who told you that?!” Yukari sputtered, shaking her head even as part of her kept half an eye on the flames.

They were burning lower.

“Metis did!”

Yukari had already rotated Personas before Fuuka even began to speak.

 

 

 

"GET AWAY FROM MY SISTER!” Metis hadn’t been awake for a second before she had swung the Corpse Rod at Yukari again, despite “only” getting a Recarm -

And the blow deflected off of Juno.

“Metis, wait!”

The black gynoid had already stopped listening, and started to move around the navigator’s Persona.

And as she did, Yukari made eye contact with her.

“Is it true, what you said?!”

“Is what true?!” Metis demanded, even as she started swinging the cudgel at the hastily-retreating Yukari.

"That Aigis could die if I took her key!” Yukari demanded. “Is it true, or were you just making that up so you could win!?”

That successfully angered Metis enough to stop swinging. “Of course it is! Do you think I would lie about something like that?!”

“...yes, if it helped Aigis!” Yukari shot back.

“...okay, yeah, I would! But if I was lying, why would I bother doing it in the first place?!” Metis countered.

Yukari racked her brain, and -

…she couldn’t think of anything.

Metis had - she said she would go with anything Aigis decided. She couldn’t care less about what they did with the keys, she was fighting -

- for Aigis.

That realization was what made it sink in.

…This wasn’t a lie. Metis and Fuuka weren’t lying. The sheer horror Yukari felt was swiftly covered up by indignation. “That - why the hell didn’t any of you say any of this sooner?!”

Fuuka winced and looked at Aigis, prone on the ground, but her other teammate was unmoved. “I wasn’t sure it would change anything even if I did!” Metis shot back.

Okay, that hurt even more than what she’d already been feeling. “Do - did you seriously think I would have done this at all if I knew I could kill my friend?!” Yukari demanded. I - she hadn’t been that pleasant at times, lately, sure, but did Metis seriously think THAT little of her?!

“I wasn't sure you'd believe me if I told you! Or if you’d even CARE if you did! Isn’t this what you wanted?! IT WAS YOUR IDEA!” The android in question countered. “I brought us here, sure, but you were the one who came up with the idea for us to fight each other at all!”

“I - I didn’t want - I could hurt them, but I didn’t want to kill anybody!” Yukari fired back. Then, an idea came to her. “And - it - it would be fine, right?! If we - if we went back -”

“...so, you’re saying it will be okay like nothing happened if you kill them and then you go back in time like they never died?” Metis’s eyes narrowed.

Yukari’s mouth froze before it could finish opening.

Because -

What was worse?

Saying no or saying yes?

“Wait, if-” And a second after that, before Yukari could decide or Imentet could continue, Metis exploded.

“So, you’re saying it’s okay for you to willingly hurt or kill your friends?! LIKE I TRIED?! ARE YOU SAYING WHAT I DID IS OKAY TO DO, NOW THAT YOU’RE THE ONE DOING IT!? THAT IT’S OKAY AT ALL?! HUH?!”

And -

“That - that doesn't mean I -”

They’ll be okay.

Yukari’s breath came up short as she tried to speak.

Words weren’t working.

It will be okay.

“I -”

It isn’t okay.

“It isn’t…”

Yukari, for the first time, looked at the arena.

And how the five of them were the only ones left in it.

Is this… really…

“I… I…”

Okay?

 

 

Aigis hadn’t moved, as Yukari argued with Metis and Fuuka.

She… she…

…she wasn’t sure why.

But as she lay on the ground, unmoving, her mind wandered.

And she came to a decision.

…a partial one, at least.

Swapping to Kohryu, Aigis summoned a Mediarahan, fixing the worst of the damage to her as Metis argued with Yukari.

...she still wasn’t sure what she wanted.

But she didn’t…

…she… wanted to learn more before she made a decision on the keys.

“I… I…”

Frowning, Aigis tilted her head up, and -

The Wild Card didn’t - as far as Aigis knew - bestow the powers of a navigator. That remained solely the domain of Fuuka-san, Chidori, and Mitsuru-san. Aigis couldn’t see souls.

But she could still see the moment that Yukari Takeba’s soul broke.

Sarnga dropped from her twitching fingers, and Yukari’s gaze suddenly became distant, as if she was looking through Aigis, Metis, and Fuuka, rather than at them.

Aigis knew, with only a look, that Yukari, right now, didn’t even have the willpower to throw a punch at her, much less summon a Persona.

…we have won.

…I feel dirty…

"Yukari-san?” Aigis asked, slowly standing up from where she’d fallen to the ground. “Are you - functional?”

Yukari didn’t respond.

"Yukari-san?” Aigis murmured, slowly and gently walking forwards - and carefully wrapping herself in a Makarakarn and Tetrakarn, even as she spoke.

“Yukari!”

Imentet’s yell went unanswered and unnoticed, at least by the recipient.

(She - wanted to see the twins again. She still loved them. She doubted that would change).

(And she wanted Yukari-san to see them too).

"...is there anything I can do to help you, Yukari-san?”

Aigis’s question went unheard and unanswered.

As the android advanced, the archer didn’t even twitch.

 

...what did I do? I... I...

It’s for them, it’s for them, it’s for them - they’ll be fine -

-Really? You think they’ll be fine?

An image passed through Yukari’s mind that had almost taken place.

Aigis on the ground, her Papillon Heart ceased.

At her hands.

That they’ll be okay with you knowing you nearly murdered their friend for them?

And with that -

The stressed, strained, lovesick, heartbroken mind of Yukari Takeba shattered.

...how could I -

How could I ever -

Minako and Minato were looking at her.

They looked disappointed.

No, no, they can’t-

Awareness of the reality around her started to swim back in.

"-san?”

Maybe because Yukari couldn’t take the images her mind was conjuring, any longer.

“Yukari-chan?”

Yukari could still see Minato and Minako out of the corners of her eyes, but - she could see Aigis now too.

“Do you… no longer wish to fight?”

And she could hear her - right, Aigis was there -

...and not attacking.

…why?!

…the fires were still burning down. Her friends were still in danger-

What do I do?!

There was no winning. She could do nothing, let the fires burn out and kill everyone else, or possibly kill Aigis with her own hands -

Or -

Yukari's mind came to a halt, as her mind came to a conclusion.

…there was another way.

And this time? The only person her way involved was her.

…I have to end this.

Aigis…

…I’m so sorry.

Almost without thought, her hand flew to her quiver, grasping for -

She was out of arrows.

She’d used them all up.

"Yukari-san??”

Without waiting for Aigis to respond, Yukari turned around and ran.

“Yukari-san??”

The android didn’t follow.

(Her eyes ran across the ground, and Yukari whirled around, going more and more pale as she truly noticed, for the first time, the blood on the ground she had helped shed -

- she’d shot her friends, she did this, she had ASKED for this-)

No.

Her resolve steeled itself, even as her mind screamed. She could still fix this - nobody had died yet, she hadn’t killed anybody -

There.

In a stable state of mind, Yukari would not have not done what she did next.

Perhaps she would have swapped to her least durable Persona, and -

Well. Yukari, as she fell to her knees and her hands grabbed out, was not in a stable state of mind.

 

 

Aigis was still worried, despite the distance she was keeping.

As her archer friend fell to her knees on the ground, hands scrabbling across the stones, Aigis’s eyes went to where she was grabbing -

And as Yukari’s hands fell on Mitsuru’s lance, she reflexively fell into a combat stance.

Had Yukari-san regained the will to fight?

As Aigis braced for battle, Yukari ripped the sheath off of the weapon-

Aigis would swear, for years to come, that her Papillon Heart, for a split second, ceased functioning when Yukari Takeba pointed a sharp piece of metal at her own flesh and blood one.

“YUKARI-SAN!!”

 

 

 

("YUKARI-CHAN! NO!!")

Nice and long. And sharp.

Yukari studied Kokuseki Senjin with a strange detachment. She had seen Mitsuru impale enough Shadows with this lance to be sure that it would do its job nicely.

(“NO! WAIT!”)

Yukari could hear sounds. No, wait, those were screams.

(“YUKARI-SAN!!”)

Huh, it sounded like even Metis was screaming for some reason…

And -

The sound of running feet.

…she couldn’t hesitate any more.

I have to do this.

Now.

Before her friends tried to stop her and do this themselves. 

I don't deserve them.

Maybe Yukari would have, in another time, been more receptive to the terror borne of their love for her. But as she looked at Mitsuru's weapon, all the cries in the world would not have made it past the black thoughts that had taken over her mind. 

I never did…

And before anyone could get close enough to stop her, with every ounce of strength that had come from her archery training and all the agility and speed that had come from her time fighting Shadows, Yukari Takeba ran herself through.

And one second later, even before her nerves could explode in pain, her body was burning.

Notes:

...well. There we go.

One thing I find - well. Even in the original Answer (which I never played), apparently, none of SEES actually takes Aigis’s key onscreen, even Yukari (hell, the only one who says he will is Akihiko. Yukari just stays quiet and walks away if she wins, and even Akihiko doesn’t actually do it, far as we can see), and Aigis never “dissolves” if she loses, judging by the videos I watched.

So…Yukari - pretty much won, here! …and did this instead...

Chapter 9: The Three of Wands, Reversed

Summary:

Reversed, the Three of Wands represents attainment slipping away. A lack of cooperation has hamstrung you, and something you tried to do wound up not going the way you wanted it to. Help hasn’t appeared, your plans aren’t realistic, and you don’t have the resources to make your goals a reality. It might be time to give up - if you’re willing to do that.

(But if you’ve made it this far, how likely is that?)

-it hurts, fuck it hurts so much, this was a mistake, it was a mistake, I’m a fucking mistake, Fuuka Metis Aigis Minako Minato everyone I'm sorry I'm so sorry -

It was a strange experience, being aflame -

But in just a second, it was over.

“YUKARI-CHAN!” 

““Yukari-san!””

Yukari barely had the time to process what was going on before she was enveloped in a metallic embrace.

"Ai... Aigis?" She managed to croak out. 

…her chest didn’t hurt.

...why? 

Why would she...

“WHAT DID YOU DO?!”

Before she could think of a response, though, wind blanketed the arena of the Colosseum, and Yukari’s eyes widened. Imentet?

As Aigis spun around, Yukari still protectively clutched in her arms, Yukari’s mind spun around to the woman in question.

Because it was clear that Imentet was outraged. 

“You - you had won! Why did you do that?!” Imentet hissed furiously.

What?!

“You wanted her to kill my sister?!” Metis hissed, pointing her cudgel at the other resident of the Abyss.

“Wait, what?!” Ken sputtered, his eyes shooting wide open. “Imentet-san?!”

As the rest of SEES looked at their friend in confusion, Yukari couldn’t help but notice that Imentet was - 

Wait.

Imentet had a veil on, how the heck could she know who she was looking at?

H̴͖͝ė̴̻r̸̞̾,̵̤̐ ̸͎̈ḣ̴̰e̷̪̎r̸̗̐,̶͈͗ ̷̧͆s̵̝͛h̸̲̏ē̶̼ ̵̜̈́w̶̗͒a̷͇̍s̵̯͘ ̶̺͋l̴͕̉ỏ̷ͅơ̴̧k̵̖̈i̸̭͑ǹ̵͎g̵̥̍ ̶̩͆a̶̭͝t̴̙͠ ̸̧͑h̸̢͗e̸̞͛ṟ̸͌ ̴̞͋a̵̪͝n̸̞̔d̸̥͂ ̷̡̂A̷̩͐i̴̻̅g̷̗̈ī̸͔s̶̠̿…̵̟̄

And - 

Had her voice changed?

“Aigis, what is she talking about?” Mitsuru demanded, turning to the android.

Aigis didn’t say a word.

“Aigis!” Mitsuru’s voice grew even more firm.

Aigis remained silent.

“I was worried you might kill her!”

But her sister had no such hesitation.

“What?!” Akihiko asked, turning around with wide eyes.

“My sister’s key is tied to her heart! Didn’t you ever think about what ripping something out of somebody’s heart might do to them!?”

“...Arf! Arf! Bark!” Koromaru yipped, turning to Aigis with - Yukari had never seen him that energetic before.

Aigis winced. “Metis was unsure, but she theorized… that taking my key from me may have proven fatal to me...”

“What?!” Shinjiro, for once, sputtered.

Mitsuru looked as if Aigis had just actually died in front of her. “That - Aigis! Why - why didn’t you tell us!?” 

“I… was unsure that it was necessary-”

“How is knowing you might die not necessary to know!?” The sheer terror in Ken’s voice cut off any further discussion. “I - Aigis-san, if - if we killed you, I - we -” He shook his head. “I - I lost mom, we nearly lost Shinjiro-san, we lost Takeharu-san, Ikutsuki-san betrayed us, Ryoji-san is gone, and we don’t know what’s happening with - we can’t lose you too!”

“You don’t know you’d lose her! And of course you could!”

“WHAT?!”

Yukari’s eyes went wide as Imentet scoffed, ignoring the cries of shock and demands for clarity now coming from everyone else. “After all, if you go back in time, she'll be fine again, remember? Just like Minato and Minako. They'll all be fine, like this was all a bad dream… isn’t that what you all wanted to happen at the end of this? Everything better again?”

…Yukari was starting to get an idea of why Metis had hated - did hate - Imentet so much.

“Well what if she wasn't, huh?!” Junpei interjected before Yukari could think of anything to say. “If she dies and we go back, what if taking her key here kills her when we get back, too!?”

Yukari wanted to agree with Junpei. She really did.

But Imentet opened her mouth before anyone else there. 

“Well - whatever! Wasn’t she always willing to die to protect them?”

...whatever?!

Yukari’s mouth fell open in horror. She tried to process her shock through the horror still shrouding her - the sheer disregard, the sheer callousness that was coming out of the person across from her, who’d cooked for them, who’d been their friend, been her friend, who had helped her-

“And where the hell do you get off saying things like that!?” But before she could fully grasp her emotions, she was interrupted. Akihiko’s yell - and the emotions behind it - were now being shared by every other member of SEES save one, as they all glared at the person across from them who was the “one” in question.

Imentet appeared unmoved. But then, none of them could see her face. “Yeah, she might die! But - they might too! And if - isn’t it better if just one person dies than if two do!?”

“We are not trading our friend’s life for a chance!” Mitsuru declared, her lance already back in her grasp -

…huh. It still had her blood on the end…

“Especially not my sister’s!” Metis concurred, already Charging.

But before any of them could start yelling further - or before things could escalate to violence - a voice spoke up.

“...she is correct.”

Yukari felt her heart clench up as she swiveled towards her friend.

“Aigis-san, what are you saying!?” But Ken spoke first.

The android spoke. But somehow, Yukari knew that Aigis, even as she looked into the air, wasn’t seeing anyone who was with them.

“I… I swore I would protect them.”

The android’s gaze swiveled to the ground.

“After I remembered my first battle with Death - Ryoji - on the Moonlight Bridge, and how - we drew their parents into it -”

Aigis’s voice choked up before she could finish.

“What happened to them - it - it was my-” Aigis couldn’t even force the words out. But the shame still present in them was unmistakable.

Yukari’s breath hitched as an image came to her mind.

The twins in their hospital beds, asleep and unwaking, while a woman watched over them.

The same woman who held partial responsibility for leaving them comatose orphans.

“Ai-chan…”

Aigis shook. “I - I swore that I would protect them, after I returned. And I have not been able to… no matter what I have done. I - I do not wish to die. But… if it saved them…”

Yukari could only stare in numb horror, as Aigis spoke. 

As she admitted that she was up to her neck in the same blackness that Yukari had been going through.

How did I -

“There, see?! If she’s willing to do it, isn’t that for the best?!”

That was what finally snapped Yukari out of her shock. “That - AIGIS DYING ISN’T FOR THE BEST! I - hurting her isn’t going to help them!”

“Why shouldn’t I say that? You did!” Imentet shot back. “It was all for them, wasn't it?” As she spoke, Imentet gestured around herself, to the arena that still had SEES’s blood staining parts of the ground. “All of this… wasn’t it because of them, Yukari Takeba? Because me, you and Mitsuru were the only ones who could do what needed to be done to be sure they’re safe?”

“They’re already safe! They - they just have to wake up!” Akihiko countered.

“YOU DON’T KNOW THAT!” The sheer desperation in Imentet’s tone caught everyone there off guard. “What if they don’t?!”

The members of SEES all shot each other looks.

“...and you decided it was fine to maybe let Aigis die for a chance at changing that?”

And then, Shinjiro’s voice cut through the air.

SEES, as one, snapped out of their brief reverie, and turned back to Imentet.

“...Yes.” 

There was hesitation in that voice, and everyone could hear it.

But there was resolve in it too. Resolve matching that of their leaders before they ascended Tartarus on the 31st of January.

And that was all that SEES needed to hear.

“...so. You are our enemy, then.” Mitsuru declared, eyes narrowed. She was pointing her lance at Imentet now. And even as she spoke, the rest of SEES started to move themselves into combat positions.

“...If you aren’t willing to do whatever it takes to keep Minato and Minako safe… then yes. I am.” Imentet wasn’t bothered by the rising ire, as far as they could see.

That was it.

“And why the hell are you calling them that?!” Aigis let her go as Yukari burst away. Hearing her girlfriend and boyfriend referred to in such familiar terms by somebody else (who she’d trusted!) - “Why are you so interested in them all of a sudden!? You’ve - you told us you never left the Abyss before! You’ve never even met them!! Was that all a lie?! WHO EVEN ARE YOU?!”

There was silence, between everyone there, as SEES braced for the first punch to be thrown.

And then… Imentet started to chuckle.

“...who am I?” 

And right after that, she started to laugh. 

It was not a sane laugh. This was - well, hysteria, for lack of a better word. Imentet was howling with laughter, now. And across from her, the Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad tensed as one. 

“And what the hell’s so goddamn funny?” Shinjiro demanded, his grip tightening on Mjolnir.

Imentet paid him no mind. She just kept laughing, starting to double over in near hysterics, seemingly oblivious to the world around her. And that was all Yukari needed. Almost without thinking, she lined up a shot and fired -

FWOOSH!

And midway to her target, a blast of wind knocked her arrow askew.

“Huh!?” Yukari sputtered, eyes going wide.

Because she knew that skill. That was Magarudyne. And she hadn’t seen a Persona forming behind Imentet, that had come from - Imentet?! That didn’t make sense. You needed to have a Persona to do that sort of thing unless you were a-

And then, it clicked.

“...that’s what you are.” Yukari quietly realized, eyes going wide. “That’s why you never showed us your body. You’re a Shadow!”

The eyes of the rest of SEES went wide, save for Metis’s.

And Imentet’s laughter only intensified.

“Wait, that doesn’t make sense! Unless…” Akihiko trailed off in - for once - horror, as the pieces connected in his mind.

And as the memories passed through her mind, Yukari felt herself paling as well.

Four wings that were both black as night and shimmering with colors humanity had never known, just past the edges of their sight.

A grotesque white face, stretched into the image of an ancient comedy mask, despite the tragedy they were facing.

A lower body that was like nothing SEES had ever seen before, even for Shadows - 

And an upper body and a presence just familiar enough for them to recognize him.

She’s like Ryoji.

As that horrifying realization dawned in the minds of SEES, everyone took a moment to brace themselves.

Shadows in general were bad enough. But the walking, talking, and thinking corpse of Ryoji Mochizuki had been far, far, far worse than any other, even the Reaper. A Shadow with both power that greatly exceeded theirs, and intelligence to match theirs. In their fight, it was almost as if Ryoji had been a Wild Card himself like the twins.

 

And Imentet just kept on laughing.

Yukari braced herself to fire another shot, this time taking a closer look at Imentet as she -

And Yukari’s mind skipped a beat from sheer outrage.

Imentet had armed herself, at some point - and the arms were familiar. “WHY THE HELL DO YOU HAVE THOSE?!” Yukari shrieked, eyes almost bulging out of her head at the sight of the Lightning Gloves and Quintessence Bow. “THEY’RE MINE!!”

That was what finally got Imentet to stop laughing.

“...really? They’re yours?” Imentet’s voice was mocking and filled with amusement. But there was far less friendliness in it than there had been before. “Then they’re mine too, by all rights.”

“NO, THEY AREN’T!”

Imentet’s voice was amused. “They aren’t? Well then… I guess I’ll answer your question.”

That non sequitur made everyone blink, even as they waited for the first punch to be thrown - or for a signal to do so. “Huh?” Ken questioned.

“...who AM I?” Imentet’s voice retained the mocking tone as she spoke. And then, before any of the members of SEES could respond, she reached up to her veil. “That's actually easy to answer.”

And before anyone could respond, she pulled it up - revealing a mouth that was far too normal to be eldritch.

So Imentet had lied.

Big surprise, at this point.

“I am a Shadow… of your true inner self.”

The voice, however, was a big surprise.

Yukari tensed up. She had never heard this voice before - it was Imentet’s voice, still.

But something had changed now. It was the same, but different, distorted - and also still familiar in a way it had never been before , somehow. 

And she didn’t know why, but even though had never heard this strangely familiar voice (this voice that wasn’t human, it sounded like Ryoji had, at the end) before in her life, she hated it.

“And Yukari Takeba, for you…”

As she spoke, Imentet finished pulling her facial covering away. 

Yukari had expected to see a lot of things, if she ever saw under Imentet’s veil. (The few times somebody had brought up the idea of her removing her veil, had been politely but firmly refused.)

An ugly scar, perhaps - something that, well, warranted being covered up, as unpleasant as that may have been to say.

A perfectly normal face, perhaps - for all she knew, Imentet was keeping her face covered for personal reasons. And - she hadn’t wanted to pry. She had trusted her, still, she had trusted Imentet, even if she wasn’t sure why.

But either way, the one thing that Yukari had never imagined seeing was what she got.

Yukari’s eyes practically bulged out of her sockets and her mouth fell open, and the rest of SEES's reactions weren't that different as Imentet finished pulling off the veil that had hidden her face away for the entire time they'd known her.

Because what Yukari’s eyes beheld was a grinning version of herself. 

With burning golden eyes.

"I am thou... and thou art I..."

Notes:

This chapter's - kind of cheesy, perhaps? Like, I probably could have drawn this out a bit less. I hope the - length it took for Imentet to reveal who she is didn't feel forced. But - well, I think the next two chapters will hopefully make up for this one being - a bit of a setup chapter, essentially.

Also, an honest question, please tell me in the reviews, how many of you saw this particular twist coming?

Chapter 10: The Nine of Pentacles, United

Summary:

The Nine of Pentacles, when upright, represents the principles of self-sufficiency and only relying on yourself. You’ve mastered yourself, and you’re reaping the material rewards that come from doing so. You can take care of yourself, in the garden that you’ve created.

Reversed, the Nine of Pentacles represents success that has been built on very unstable foundations. The rewards you’ve gained are creating burdens for you. The chickens are coming home to roost for your past actions, and your guilty conscience knows it.

You've gotten something, in short. But - well, only you can answer if it's really important to you.

Notes:

Just a heads up before you read this - well, Imentet is - well, she's twisting things here even more than a regular Persona 4 Shadow does... if that's how you want to interpret it.

Junpei recovered first. 

“YUKA-TAN!? What the hell’s going on!?”

For a given definition of the word.

And Yukari didn’t have a snappy comeback to Junpei’s confusion. Because Imentet had her face.

“Yukari-chan?!” Fuuka gasped, hands covering her mouth.

Metis frowned, having overcome her shock at an astonishing speed, as knowledge came to her. “No - but also yes.”

“What do you mean, no but also yes?! How can there be two of Yukari?! ” Mitsuru demanded.

The Corpse Rod was held tightly in Metis’s grasp, as she looked at the being that had called herself Imentet, and who was still just standing there and smirking, the Quintessence Bow in hand. “You were right, when you said she’s a Shadow. But do you remember what I told you, about how Personas and Shadows are the same thing? How Personas are Shadows that have been tamed? This is what I meant. Personas are created when somebody’s willing and able to accept all the parts of who they are. If you’ve got a Persona, you’ve accepted and acknowledged all the things about you that people normally hide and suppress from everyone, including themselves. So logically, if somebody was no longer able to face all of themself or accept who they are -”

Metis’s explanation was cut off by a chuckle that came from the thing with Yukari Takeba’s face. “The tamed Shadow... isn’t.”

And before the members of SEES could think of a response to that, Imentet slapped a hand to her chest - and before their shocked gazes, enveloped herself in healing energies.

And all at once, for SEES, it became impossible to not make the connection. “...Isis?” Yukari's whisper was still audible to everyone.

A chuckle came from the Shadow. “Yup! Honestly, I can’t believe that it took showing you my face for you to recognize yourself…” Isis - no, Imentet - smiled again. “But then again, that I’m here at all… well, I guess you don’t know yourself as well as you thought you did, huh?”

Yukari wanted to argue. But staring at her own face, twisted with all sorts of strange emotions (...which of her?), was making it hard to come up with any response at all, again.

“Wait, if - if you’re Yukari-san, then - why did you do all this?! We could have died in the Abyss!” Ken yelled, gripping his spear tightly.

“With all of us here? I doubt it.” Yukari’s Shadow replied caustically. “And don’t blame me for getting us all stuck here. I had nothing to do with that. All of you want Minako and Minato back just as bad as I do!”

As mutinous as the grumbles from SEES were at that, nobody actually argued with Imentet. “Of course we want them to wake up!” Akihiko snapped. “That - that doesn’t mean we’ll sacrifice Aigis to do it!”

“Then make her use the key so we can go back and save them!” Imentet snapped back. “Like we should have in the first place!”

“We couldn’t even if we wanted to!” Metis replied, stepping in front of Aigis.

“...what?” Imentet replied, eyes narrowing.

“The true key has been assembled. Only my sister can use it now.” Metis replied. “Her choice is the only one that matters now. Since she was the last one standing, and you, Fuuka, and I never had keys in the first place.”

“…no.”

“What do you mean, ‘no’?! It’s the truth!” Metis screeched. 

“NO, IT -!” Imentet roared, before cutting herself off. “I - it -!” The Shadow hesitated, eyes turning to Aigis. “You.”

The desperation in her eyes made Aigis tense up.

“You’re going back. There’s no way you don’t want to. You have to want to go back, right? Don’t you want to see Minato and Minako again? They’re waiting for me! For us!"

Aigis flinched. “I…”

Imentet didn’t. “Well?? We beat Nyx before, we can do it again! And they’ll be okay! We can change what happened! They won’t have to do - whatever they did! We can get ready, go up with them, and make it all better!”

Aigis, however, did before replying. “I am not sure that we should -” That seemed to have been the wrong word choice.

“REALLY!? Even YOU!? I - DON’T YOU LOVE THEM TOO!?”

“I - yes, but -” Aigis’s fists clenched. “...what if you’re wrong?”

The Shadow stared at them for a few seconds longer. Then, she scoffed. “…Fine. I should have known you’d all be too scared to save them.”

Her eyes trailed over, ever so lightly, to Yukari.

“Even you, you little hypocrite.”

That caught Yukari’s attention. “Huh?”

“You.” The Shadow repeated, shaking her head again. “Little Yukari Takeba… daughter of parents who never did anything but fail her, and never stopped taking it out on everyone around her.” 

Yukari wanted to argue. Wanted to defend herself.

“You are wrong!”

Yukari’s eyes widened, as the girl who had been holding her spoke before she could say a single word. “Aigis?”

Aigis - still standing close to Yukari - ran a metallic finger across her friend’s bare skin, over the hole in her uniform, in the place where she had -

-ended their fight.

“Yukari-san. If you truly were solely taking out your pain on others … would you have -”

A sharp hiss came from - Fuuka?

“- done that?” Aigis finished, not mentioning the action that had given her the complete key.

Yukari winced as phantom pain stole through her chest, but the phantom pain was matched with a warm sensation.

“...please. You don’t know anything. Not like me. You’re not the one who wished that Mitsuru’s father died instead of yours or came up with the idea that all of you would pound each other flat so she could get the key without caring who got hurt! After all, as long as you didn't do anything permanent it's fine, right? You can heal them and it’ll all be better!”

Across from her, Mitsuru drew in a sharp exhalation. 

“Yukari??” 

Yukari’s breath hitched in her throat as the Kirijo heiress turned to her with an extremely hurt look - actually taking her eyes off of the Shadow for a few seconds.

“It - it was after the video Ikutsuki showed us…” Even as she spoke, Yukari couldn’t look her friend in the eyes. Considering their fathers had both died for SEES, feeling that now (she didn’t!) had just gotten worse than it did then. “I’m so sorry…”

“Oh, really? You’re sorry now, as if that makes it all better, huh?”

Yukari’s breath hitched all over again. 

“Oh sure, you’re sorry that people get hurt from you doing what you want to do.” The Shadow exclaimed with a mocking tone. “Just like you’re sorry that you never apologized to Minato for being jealous and threatening to punch him just because he was cooking with Fuuka. Or how you slapped him for what the Lovers Shadow did even though that wasn’t his fault. So what if you’re sorry that people get hurt because of you? You sure don’t seem to care, because you’ve never let that stop you from hurting them, have you!?”

“I - I have!” Yukari protested, but her Shadow rolled over that protest without pausing.

“A healer. Sure! Is it because you want to take care of people, though - or is it because being a healer makes it easier for people to overlook what you do to them? Words don’t matter, they can’t hurt people! As long as there’s no wounds when you’re done, it’s like nothing ever happened! Like you never did anything to them!”

“What?”

“They'll be fine. That's what you thought, right? Your friends and you all fought Shadows for nearly a year, at least. They'll get over all the blood you spilled on the floor and the arrows you stuck in them! After all, they're tough. Like you! They don't need anybody’s help, like you didn't. They can handle their trauma on their own without letting anyone else in like you did, and I’m sure they won't flinch at you in the future because they’re remembering you were the one that came up with the idea where you all filled each other full of holes!” The gaze of Yukari’s Shadow went to the rest of SEES. None of them flinched. 

Yukari, however, did, as her gaze went down to the floor -

And the image came back of what she’d done to Junpei.

Full of holes, leaking blood-

“The Abyss, the arena… this is all fine, right? It’ll all be fine when it’s over. The suffering you put them through is totally cool, since you can just patch it up later and ignore all the things you said! But - well, you still made your friends suffer, didn’t you??”

“No…”

Even Yukari wasn’t sure whether that “no” was one of denial or one of horror.

Or at least, the conscious Yukari wasn’t. The grin on Imentet’s face grew even wider, as she heard that. “Oh, but it does! You hurt them, you made them scream, and you just didn’t care enough about them to stop! It was to get what you wanted, and to get what you want, you’d do anything, wouldn’t you? And if you feel sorry afterwards, if you actually hurt them, you can always fix them up and apologize and that makes it all better, right? They're your friends, they'll forgive you no matter what you do to them!”

“Hey, Yuka-tan-”

“Junpei, now isn't the time." The utter whiplash of her friendly tone caught everyone there off guard. “I’m here for her.” Imentet’s tone became mocking once more as she turned back to Yukari. “You always said everyone had to do things on their own. You spent nearly ten years as an island, saying you were fine by yourself, shoving everybody away, and the second other people started to actually matter to you, all that dignity, nobility, and independence you always stood by just - you learned how much they meant to you, and that's jack shit! All that talk about who you wanted to be, and the second being who you said you wanted to be got in the way of what you wanted, you threw your beliefs away like they were yesterday’s trash! The second your ethics got tested, you proved they don’t mean a damned thing to you! You didn’t care about your morals, or your decency, or anything else - you cared about them! And part of you didn’t care one bit what you had to do, or who you had to do it to, to get them!”

“No! That… that isn’t true!”

Yukari - despite knowing that it was a really stupid idea, when this thing could attack at any time, couldn’t make eye contact with Imentet any longer.

“Silence! Yukari is nothing like what you say she is!”

Imentet’s expression remained unchanged at Yukari’s response and Mitsuru’s demand. “It is! She is, and you know it! She's just trying to feel good and not get hurt! Because after all this time, you’re still mad you got hurt! You do your best to be nice, sure, to be better than her, but so what if you aren't? You don't owe anyone anything! The world never gave you anything good, you made your good all by yourself! So they can make their own good without any help from you! You abandoned everyone that mattered to you when you got hurt, focused on what you wanted, and never even thought or cared about how they’re suffering too. And then you spat on all the principles you ever claimed you had and jumped like a rabbit at the first chance you had to get Minako and Minato back no matter what you had to do to everyone else you love for it!”

Yukari’s throat was tight. Part of her wanted to scream.

But she wasn’t sure if it was at herself - or, well - herself.

“It's funny, really. How getting to understand her... made you more like her. Made you think doing the same thing as her was fine... that repeating her mistakes was fine. After all, you went through your life - and you turned out just fine, didn't you? ”

“...what?”

...was she...?

“...Really?” The Shadow's smile... started to grow. “You're that oblivious? That willingly blind to the consequences of what you're doing? You never even realized or cared about how much you’re hurting the people you love?"

Yukari's breath hitched, without warning.

But this time, it wasn't in horror.

...she was.

"Wow! You know… I don’t know why I expected anything else from you! You always said you learned from her mistakes - and the second you get hurt like she did, you prove if you did learn anything from her, it sure didn’t stick!"

It was in fury.

I'm not.

"Because when it mattered most... you abandoned them, like she abandoned you! You hurt them, like she hurt you! You think you're better than her? You think you’re worthwhile? Please. After all… I'm just like her, and you?”

“Why - you - SHUT UP!” Yukari’s voice finally raised itself, as her voice finally fought past the block in her throat through rage.

Rage - and denial.

“You're ME! So you’re just like her too! In the end, you know the truth. No matter what you say to everyone… no matter what you say to yourself… when it comes down to it, when you're at your worst… you’ve only proved…”

“I SAID SHUT UP!”

As Yukari screamed, Imentet just grinned ear to ear.

“-You’re just as bad as MOM!”

“NO, I’M NOT!”

Yukari’s vision was as red as her face. Imentet was beaming now, and she didn’t know why and couldn’t care less, because all she wanted was to wipe that smirk off of her stupid lips.

“I’M NOT LIKE HER! I’M NOTHING LIKE HER! I'M NOTHING LIKE YOU, YOU HEAR ME?!” Yukari’s fists clenched as she continued. “Maybe - maybe you’re like she was, sure! You’re the same uncaring, selfish, bitch she was! But that doesn’t matter, because - whoever the hell you are, it isn’t me!”

“Heh!”

“Well said, Yukari!”

“Hmmph…” Despite the grunt, there was a smirk on Shinjiro’s face.

But any further praise the elder trio of SEES may have had for Yukari, or any triumph Yukari herself may have felt, was cut off by Imentet’s giggling.

“Hehehehe…”

Black and red started to pool around Imentet’s feet - 

“AHAHAHAHAHAH!”

And that was when things started to go crazy.

“HUH!?” Junpei sputtered, as the Shadow started to float -

And then, without warning, red-tinted darkness overtook what had once been Imentet. 

“What - what is this?!” Ken asked, too shocked to start attacking as the mad laughter continued.

“It’s her Shadow! It - she’s gone berserk!”

“What?!” Fuuka stammered, looking back at Metis.

“I - I'm sorry, I just remembered! It’s because she said her Shadow wasn’t a part of her!” Metis declared, taking a moment to look at Yukari. “We have to fight now! There’s no more avoiding it!”

“Aaaahhh… Thanks for that!”

And as the Shadow spoke, the storm of crimson and black died down, and SEES finally got a good look at the woman who had been helping them.

“What the hell…?” Shinjiro muttered quietly with wide eyes, a sentiment mirrored by the rest of SEES.

Or rather, the thing that had taken her place.

The Shadow was still floating off the ground, now - and now her entire lower body had vanished, with her cloak and upper half floating in the empty air and nothing supporting her.

Above the waist, her hands and arms had changed. Feathers covered the arms of what had once been a near-carbon copy of Yukari Takeba, and her hands had become almost clawed - arms and hands that were now pointing downwards, still gripping the bow she was holding tightly. Meanwhile, behind her back, four wings fluttered, tightly clustered together - wings that just so happened to look like the wings of Yukari’s original Persona.

And at the top of it all, sticking proudly into the air, were a pair of bull horns that had no floating oval between them - and that sat atop a pair of golden eyes and a sinister smile.

“I am a Shadow… the true self… And I don’t need you anymore. I’ll save them myself!”

“...even if it’s for them…  they’d never want you to save them like this.”

The eyes of what had once been Imentet twitched, as somebody spoke.

Yukari wasn’t sure who. 

It might have been her, for all she knew.

The eyes of Yukari’s Shadow narrowed. “...whatever. Those keys are mine… they are mine… I’m getting them back…”

Wind exploded outwards.

“AND I’M DOING IT WHETHER YOU LIKE IT OR NOT!”

“Everyone, move!”

The Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad moved -

And so did Yukari’s Shadow. 

“TAKE THIS!”

The bow held in her hands pointed skyward - and between one second and the next, green arrows manifested in it - 

And around it. Yukari’s brain froze. Oh hell, that’s a Theurgy.

…A magical Theurgy from the Quintessence Bow.

“BE CAREFUL!!” Fuuka screamed, with Juno already up and shrouding her - and even as she yelled, a familiar sensation came over her teammates.

The sensation of water embracing them was long-familiar by now, washing away their exhaustion and fatigue from the long civil war they’d had, as if they were walking in a pool at just the right temperature, filled with liquid the same density as air and that they could breathe freely.

Yukari -

Even as she braced for battle, even as she felt like some of the grime in her mind had been washed away, couldn’t help but notice that the “water” had touched their opponent too.

As Fuuka’s healing came, the Shadow of Yukari Takeba unleashed enough ethereal arrows to blot out the sky for a split second, directly upwards -

And a second later, more than a hundred streams formed of solidified air came hurtling down at SEES.

“GUARD!” Aigis ordered, already taking a defensive stance as a Marakukaja from Junpei went up just barely in time to boost their ability to take the hit -

And then, everything went to hell.

Notes:

Also, an honest question - what do you all think of the color "skins" that I've been using for the story? I sort of stumbled into them a while ago, and as you've probably all noticed, I've taken a shine to using them in this story, as a sort of - test run, for using them elsewhere. But - well, do you think it actually adds anything to the story's effect?

Also! It's been a while since I did this, but... we have a new Theurgy - this time for Imentet! (Imentet's other Theurgies, traits, and etc will be revealed next chapter - I don't really want to give you everything at once.)

1st Theurgy: Typhonic Archery: Deals Heavy Wind damage to all enemies. Ignores resistances.

Chapter 11: The Eight of Wands, United

Summary:

The Eight of Wands, when upright, represents one thing - going ahead, full pace. Things are happening quickly as you head forward, without stopping. There’s urgency, or even frenzy, powering you, and things are going your way. Your goal is coming up fast.

Reversed, the Eight of Wands represents wasted energy. You went too fast, went out of control, and may be feeling overwhelmed. Your actions aren’t getting you where you want to go.

You’re going full steam ahead - but, well, it’s very possible that you’re going a bit too fast without looking at where you’re going.

Notes:

Here we go, the Imentet battle! And, as promised, here's her moveset/Theurgy Traits.

Theurgy Trait: Imentet’s Drain spells are empowered (x10 effectiveness and can be boosted in power by Concentrate). Imentet and her allies recover 3% of the damage she deals as HP.

Personality: When Imentet affects the health of multiple people at once, her determination intensifies. (Use multi-target healing spells/items, Life Drain, multi-target skills that hit enemies, or single-target Physical skills that aren't nullified or repelled).

Imentet's Moveset:
1: Holy Arrow: Light Pierce damage to one enemy. 10% chance to inflict Charm.
2: Poison Arrow: Heavy Pierce damage to one enemy. 50% chance to inflict Poison.
3: Myriad Arrows: Deals light Pierce damage to all enemies 2-5 times.
4: Spirit Drain: Drains 20(0) SP from one target.
5: Life Drain: Drains 35(0) HP from one target.
6: Pierce Amp: Passive: Boosts Pierce skills by 50%.
7: Magarudyne: Deals Heavy Wind damage to all enemies.
8: Panta Rhei: Deals Severe Wind damage to one enemy.

Imentet's Theurgies:
1st: Typhonic Archery: Deals heavy Wind damage to all enemies. Ignores resistances.
2nd: Turbulence: Imentet's next three magical attacks have Concentrate applied.
3rd: Quiver of Eros: Pierce attacks now always hit, and Pierce attacks that have a innate chance to inflict Charm or Poison now have a 100% chance of inflicting it. Multi-hit Pierce skills now always hit the maximum number of times.

“Oooogh…”

A groan that was somehow regal escaped Mitsuru Kirijo’s lips, as consciousness returned from a Samarecarm that had been cast on her.

…it was definitely a bad sign, in her opinion, that she could differentiate between the various sensations of being revived from unconsciousness by the medical supplies Minato and Minako kept finding at the mall, the revival items they found in Tartarus (and now in the Abyss), a Recarm, or a Samarecarm. 

And in the case of the last two, who was using it on her, even before she was fully aware of her surroundings.

The sensation of - well. Flesh not healing, but being attached and added. Of the pain that was filling her body not being smoothed over, but filled up with a sort of comfort, as an unnatural void was wholly filled with new material.

She had no idea why or when all of that incense that the twins acquired for her during their Tartarus runs had worn off (...or how it even worked…), but she would definitely send in a complaint to Mayoido Antiques later. “Ugh… Thank you, Aigis…”

“Mitsuru-san!” Mitsuru winced as icy consciousness crept back in. Even guarding with a defensive boost from Junpei hadn’t saved her from unconsciousness, and - “Moving!” Without warning, Mitsuru’s eyes widened as she was plucked off the ground, as Aigis sprinted away from where she had been -

And abruptly, a tempest blasted the entire area where they had just been.

“GAH!”

At the pained shout from Yukari’s Shadow, Mitsuru’s mind went back to the situation they were in.

…as hard as it was to believe it was happening.

“What’s the situation?” Mitsuru asked, as Aigis set her down and she pulled her Evoker out. 

Aigis’s eyes narrowed. “We are presently reliant on our Personas and my current loadout to hit Imentet-san. Yukari-san has elected to use her Personas instead of scavenging for arrows, and Imentet-san has refused to descend enough to let us hit her with melee weapons.” A quick look upwards confirmed Aigis’s report, for Mitsuru. The - Shadow - of Yukari(??) - was at a guess thirty to forty feet in the air, clashing with several Personas or frantically getting out of their way.

“Any weaknesses we can exploit? Strengths?” Mitsuru asked.

Aigis shook her head. “It would seem that she stole Yukari-san’s gloves and spare bow before she engaged us. She has both Isis’s immunity to wind attacks, and an immunity to electrical attacks from the Lightning Gloves. However, she appears to lack the direct healing she displayed earlier. I theorize that her transformation has - altered her. She appears to have gained a number of arrow-based physical techniques. However, her wind spells appear to be her main offensive asset, as she has to focus less to use them. She still has the medical supplies we gave her before our battles - but thankfully, as we ran out of most of those supplies during our last battle in the Abyss, Beads of any sort included, she has no healing on par with Diarahan.”

“A ranged battler, then… with wings, and the mind to use them effectively.” Mitsuru mused. She was pointedly not focusing on the reminder of SEES’s brief civil war. “And if her healing isn’t effective any longer, that means a war of attrition is possible, with Fuuka and Ken backing us…”

“Indeed.” Aigis concluded, absently placing herself in front of Mitsuru and calling forth Arahabaki, with the storm of arrows that had been bound for her and Mitsuru bouncing away thanks to the repelling properties of her Persona. “However, she is undoubtedly also aware of this. I am unsure how long this battle will take… but Junpei-san, at least, is trying alternative methods.”

“Nope, try again!” Junpei grinned, somewhat weakly, as another Magarudyne rolled off of him like water off a slanted rooftop, while Aigis and Yuka-tan, in the background, went around desperately reviving the rest of SEES.

He didn’t know how much money it had cost the twins to get that ring Minato had given him, but it was very appreciated. Wind skills, once his weakness, had just mostly stopped mattering to him - well, he still dodged, out of reflex, because even he knew not dodging was a really bad habit to get into (and when that Theurgy had come their way - hoo boy. He had guarded for his life, because he didn’t know if he was still weak to wind under his added nullification, and he didn’t want to find out the hard way). He… wasn’t always good at it, though.

But still! He was doing well! He, Ai-chan, Metis, Fuuka, and Yuka-tan had survived that first Theurgy conscious - barely - WHOA!

“GAH!” He yelped, jumping out of the way of another very well–placed arrow from the floating - well, he wasn’t sure what to call her, because “Imentet” didn’t seem to be right, at the moment.

Judging from the purplish-toxic aura seeping from the arrow, he was pretty sure he should be very glad he had dodged.

“GAH!”

The exasperated shriek coming from the - Shadow of Yuka-tan - seemed exasperated, by him dodging again.

Or possibly how she’d just barely dodged a God’s Hand from the now-reformed Caesar.

Maybe both.

“Hey, uh - other Yuka-tan! Can we talk about this, or something?!” Junpei yelled.

“No!” The Shadow replied, already blasting Caesar away with wind and pushing herself further into the air (far out of the range where he could whack her with his katana), and nocking another arrow that appeared from nowhere. “I’m here for that key. And I’m not leaving without it!”

“Yeah, well - none of us are leaving without it!” Junpei shot back. “We still don’t even know how this works, remember?!” As he spoke, Trismegistus sent out another Marakukaja and drew himself back to Junpei, abandoning the attack for a bit. “Look, it’s - I don’t know how any of this works, but - even if you do go back alone, won’t you just turn into a Persona again, or something?! Don’t you need us to change stuff for you?!”

The mirror image of Yukari Takeba didn’t hesitate, as she pulled back the arrow she had formed. “Maybe I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I’ll figure it out.” THWUNK! “We did with Nyx.”

“That’s why we’re all here!” Junpei shot back, as he jumped out of the way of the second purple-tinted arrow. “We beat Nyx - and we didn’t know what it would take! We still don’t know what it took! Or how going back even works! Yuka-tan - come on! We’re friends! You don’t want to kill us or anything, do you?! Let’s talk! We can figure out something where nobody gets hurt!”

The Shadow winced for a second.

“...I’m getting them back, no matter what.” the Shadow quietly replied, forcing iron into her voice. “And if the only way I get to go back is alone, as a voice in the back of her head, I’ll make it work!”

But only for a second.

And without warning, she pointed the Quintessence Bow up between her horns and fired it into thin air.

Junpei could already feel the wind starting to intensify. “Well… that didn’t work…” he muttered to himself.

“Everyone, be careful!” Fuuka yelled, as her scans finished. “This appears to be an altered version of Yukari-chan’s second Theurgy - she’s amplified her magical power! It should wear off soon, though!”

“Not soon enough for you!”

Between one breath and the next, Fuuka felt the air in her breath vanishing.

And before she could realize that it would be a good time to panic, the wind howled.

Yukari had swapped to Norn just barely in time, while across from her, Metatron formed -

And both of the Wild Cards realized, too late, that neither of them was the target.

“FUUKA!”

“YAMAGISHI-SAN!”

A tornado had formed out of nowhere, centered on SEES’s navigator - and the members of SEES had realized, far too late, that they’d forgotten to keep Fuuka’s defenses strengthened. They’d never had to worry about somebody attacking her before, after all…

“AIGIS! GET HER!” Yukari screamed, pointing at the Shadow - and a RATATATATATA filled the air, as Yukari called Norn forth again. A Samarecarm filled the air, and Yukari relaxed a little, as -

“Tough luck!”

Cobalt bled from the great clock-woman, and Yukari only had a split second to be surprised before it was over. “What was that?!” Yukari demanded.

Her answer came a second later. All of a sudden, she realized, she felt as if her brain was in a haze - as if the mental energy she used to power her spells was gone - 

Oh, duh. It was.

“Ah… ah… ” The sound of Fuuka, in pain, made Yukari’s heart clench up all over again even through the fog shrouding her brain. “I - everyone?”

“Fuuka! Be careful!” Junpei yelled, as another Marakukaja formed over the rest of SEES. “Take a bit, we can handle this!”

“No!”

The determined voice of their navigator was both heartening and heartbreaking, for everyone else there.

“I - I can do this! That - it was some sort of spiritual-energy draining spell! Like what Minato, Minako, and Takaya used!” Fuuka confirmed quickly. “It’s an Almighty spell, too!”

Great… okay, so she didn’t have Mediarahan at least… but this wasn’t much better. Yukari hastily began to ruffle through her bag, for a thermos of coffee that, while long cold, would hopefully still help -

“But her boost should wear off soon!”  As Fuuka spoke, Artemisia shot skyward, whip burning with the multicolored light of a Blade of Execution - 

And before the Theurgy made contact, blood-red vigor flowed from Mitsuru and her Persona, just like cobalt had from Yukari and Norn. Artemisia vanished between one breath and the next, and Mitsuru fell to the ground, eyes shut and consciousness fled before she even made contact. 

“Mitsuru-senpai!” Fuuka yelped, as Yukari brought her Evoker to her head again, calling out another Samarecarm. “I - think that was a vitality-draining spell! To go with her spiritual energy draining! And - she’s healed herself!”

Great. Yukari moaned to herself, ignoring a storm sent at her thanks to Norn as a Magarudyne hammered the rest of SEES.

“But she’s lost her boost! Her attacks aren’t getting strengthened any more!”

“HEY!”

As Yukari called Mitsuru back to consciousness, Akihiko’s shout was reinforced as a ball of lightning flashed into the sky. 

And a second later, the Lightning Spike detonated.

“AGHHHHH!!”

Yukari may have taken a little too much pleasure in hearing the resulting scream of pain.

Great!

“Whoa!” Ken gasped, as Yukari’s Shadow crashed into the ground, downed by her lack of guarding and the defense-piercing effect of Akihiko’s Theurgy hitting the weakness to electricity she had covered up otherwise.

“EVERYONE! Follow my lead!” Akihiko commanded, already charging.

Nobody in SEES needed to be told twice.

“Kala-Nemi!” Ken yelled. Arrows were already forming, as he charged with Pinaka in hand -

"AROOOOOO!!"

"Wide open!"

Ken blinked, as Metis shot past him like she'd just been launched from a cannon - but, well, their target was the same, and the strength running through him from Koromaru's howl was taking up most of his focus-

And then, they were on her.

All-Out Attacks were not pleasant for anyone or anything on the receiving end. Especially when you were used to being on the giving end. 

And the Shadow previously known as Imentet was currently experiencing a new sympathy for her many lesser kin - a feeling not helped by the Rakunda a stumbling but still-mobile Mitsuru had managed to hit her with just before she made it to her, several seconds after the rest of SEES.

Fists flew, hammers came down, swords and lances slashed, impaled, and stabbed, spears pierced, bows bludgeoned - overall? Every inch of skin she had felt like it was getting or had been struck or run through by something, and it was horrible. Everything hurt, like she was getting hit by lightning that pierced the protection of Minako’s gift all over again -

“St… stop it!”

It wasn’t deliberate. Not really.

But for a second, when they heard Yukari’s pleading voice coming from her Shadow, SEES stopped.

THWACK!

With one exception.

Yukari Takeba brought her arms back up, Sarnga still clenched between them as she used it as a makeshift bludgeon, about to bring it back down -

“I SAID STOP IT!”

But her Shadow acted first, the energy briefly driven away by the pummeling now returned. Wind blasted from the Shadow, blasting most of SEES back - not hurting them to any real degree, but giving her enough room to take flight again.

And a second later, she did just that.

“Ugh… she’s still moving?!” Yukari demanded, aggravation coloring her tone as the Shadow escaped from her grasp, unmoved from where she had been by the winds thanks to Norn.

“Yes…” Her Shadow responded after gaining another thirty feet, looking visibly tired for a second before shaking it off. “I’m just getting started!”

“Everyone! I think she’s about to use another Theurgy!” The warning given, SEES braced themselves, as Yukari’s Shadow stretched behind herself - 

And pulled off the quiver that had been on her back.

“Huh?” Yukari - and the rest of SEES - were stopped for a second by the sheer non-sequitur of that action. Then, without warning, the quiver started to radiate. Purple, pink, and black light started pouring out from the arrow-holder -

And then, without the light dying down, the Shadow slung it over her back again. “Everyone, be careful!” Fuuka’s ever-present voice, however, brought everyone’s attention back to the present. “She’s - I’m not sure what this is! It’s not like her other Theurgies or Yukari-chan’s! It’s new!” The warning raised the guards of everyone there -

And a second later, the Shadow nocked an arrow.

“INCOMING!” Akihiko yelled, already guarding -

And before SEES could scatter, a bolt of pink light nailed Caesar.

“Huh?” For a second, Yukari’s mind trailed off. Because... Holy Arrow? That was - strange. It was - well… Why would any Shadow use an attack that weak now of all times?

A second later, Yukari’s eyes shot back up, and she got her answer.

Akihiko was smiling. In a way that was alarmingly familiar, because she knew where she had seen it. (The same place that had led to Holy Arrow sticking in her mind. The Lovers Shadow had left a very strong impression on her).

Crap.

And a second later, Akihiko rushed directly at her CRAP!

“Yukari-san!” Before Yukari could send her Persona at Akihiko, however, Aigis beat her to the punch. “Be careful! I believe she has increased the potency of her attacks!” Aigis announced, already shifting Personas. As Arahabaki formed behind her, and her attempts to ventilate their foe continued, a few of the Holy Arrows and fists that had been sent at the soul-filled robot bounced off due to the Persona’s innate Physical repulsion.

Not letting the threat of a rain of mind-controlling shafts stop her, Yukari called forth Norn again, for another Salvation, even as her mind raced. Okay, she’s using arrow skills, so…

Yukari’s mind shifted, for lack of a better word, as the winds of Salvation picked up, already reaching for another Persona. Immediately, Shiva came to the forefront - 

THWUD!

Just as the pink bolts became interspersed with purple.

Yukari however, didn’t really perceive the color change.

The pink bolt of energy that resembled an arrow had just nailed her in the head and then dropped away - thankfully, without actually hurting her - was probably the cause of that.

…I am so glad I’m a Wild Card now.

Junpei hadn’t really wanted to fight his friends in the first place, and this was just solidifying his opinion. “YAGH!” He yelped, loudly, as he kept trying to dodge the rain of poisonous and brainwashing arrows. “Yuka-tan, come on! It doesn’t have to be the hard way!”

To his surprise, he got an answer.

“You’re right. This would be a lot easier if you all just stayed still.” The Shadow replied darkly.

The darkness in the Shadow’s voice was enough to raise Junpei’s spirits. “Yeah, well, you know us! We aren’t just gonna roll over or anything!” 

Or perhaps, just to raise his defiance.

His voice lowered itself a second later. “Yuka-tan, seriously! We can talk this out! Are you seriously saying you want to kill Aigis?! Forget them! Do you really want to do this!?”

“...I could never forget them.” A familiar steel came into the Shadow’s voice. “And what I want is them.”

“Well, what if you could get them and keep everything else, too? Ain’t that worth a shot, at least?? You haven’t even tried!” Junpei countered.

“I DID TRY! And you all turned out to be too chicken to do that!”  The Shadow yelled back, fury coloring her features.

“Yuka-tan- AH!” 

Junpei’s attempt to reason was cut short by an arrow landing right in front of him.

Right as another touched down behind him.

“We. Are done. Talking.” The Shadow hissed, the winds carrying her words to Junpei and Junpei alone. “I’m just going to do what I should have done in the first place and do it by myself.”

“...you don't want to talk anymore, huh? ...Well, if that’s what you want, Yuka-tan…” Junpei quietly began, raising his Evoker. Without another word, Trismegistus reformed behind him and grabbed Junpei’s katana out of his hand, fire flowing onto the blade as the Persona shot skyward at his friend. “Then we can make this as hard as you want!”

“...hard as I want, huh? Well -”

The Shadow raised a hand -

And between one second and the next, SEES’s view of the sky disappeared.

“-I want to make this pretty damned hard.”

Mitsuru’s brain may have spent a split-second panicking, before her rational mind wrangled the animalistic terror back into a mental pen where it would be of actual use, instead of rampaging blindly in fear. Unguided alarm wouldn’t help SEES win. “Everyone, mirrors, now!”

Yukari, Ken, and Aigis had already started casting Tetrakarn, even as the other members of SEES started rooting desperately for Attack Mirrors as the downpour of arrows started to fall.

And two seconds after she yelled, Mitsuru felt herself fighting down the urge to scream as the arrows started piercing through Artemisia. 

It sounds like rain…

It was a rather morbid thing for Aigis to think, as she desperately had Kohryu continue throwing Tetrakarns around while behind her, Yukari and Ken were sending out Mediarahans and Tetrakarns for everybody else.

The storm of arrows was indeed, however, descending as implacably and numerously as raindrops in a storm, and unlike most spells, Aigis could see the shafts were actually shifting course towards SEES. Was that a side effect of the Theurgy Yukari’s Shadow had used?

The three of them hadn’t been idle, though, and with all of their desperate efforts - well, they were patching the holes in SEES up as fast as they appeared, but Aigis wasn’t sure how long that could last, as above them, the Shadow dove around madly, dodging the volleys that were being reflected back into the sky every few seconds.

“HEY!”

And the Persona with a fiery sword that was trying very hard to cauterize her.

Just after Aigis managed to register that shout, though, the assault ended.

Nearby, Mitsuru smiled darkly, and pulled her Evoker - and her glowing Theurgy gauge - out. “Iori! After me!”

Blade of Execution was, in Mitsuru’s personal opinion, one of the better Theurgies that SEES had at their disposal.

Yes, she was biased. But between her magical power, the boost Kokuseki Senjin gave her, and the sheer innate power her strongest move held, most Shadows that she hit with it didn’t even survive long enough for the draining effects it inflicted afterwards to take place.

This Shadow, however -

“ARGHL!”

Mitsuru - well. Despite the fact that she was presently trying to kill them, as the Shadow (of her friend?) screamed, she winced at the sound of Yukari crying in pain. 

But still, the damage was done, in both senses of the term. The Shadow slowed, ever so mildly, her reflexes and speed dulled among other things.

And that was just enough for the normally-slow Trismegistus to catch up and bring down the alight katana with all the force of a home run.

“SCRAM!”

Yukari’s Shadow, even as she was smashed down through the air and towards the arena floor, made a slashing movement with her hand, ignoring her ignited clothes from the Blaze of Life as a gust of wind blew them out and propelled herself away from Trismegistus and turning her vertical fall into a semi-horizontal one. Two seconds later, another barrage of pink-tinted arrows formed out of nowhere and forced Trismegistus into a hasty pattern of dodging as her wings beat furiously and she got further away.

As the winds intensified again, pushing the Shadow back up, she - and SEES - seemed to realize as one that none of their Personas were near her, at the moment.

“All right… you can all faint now.”

And as she spoke, another typhoon of arrows formed -

And then, they multiplied.

As the superstorm of archery continued to strengthen itself, Mitsuru forced down her dread.

“AROOOO!!”

Before the storm began again, however, a rainbow of light flowed again. “Good boy!” Mitsuru shouted to Koromaru, over the din of attacks and mild panic that continued as the Debilitate continued to weaken Yukari’s Shadow. “Keep it up!”

“Arf arf!”

Yukari’s Shadow, before either Persona could land a hit, threw something at the ground. SEES instinctively braced themselves -

But all that happened was a strange light burst from - what the Squad realized belatedly was a pair of gems.

Crap. 

A very specific pair of gems.

Dekunda and Dekaja blasted over the battlefield, and as the effects of the Debilitate washed away from their foe, SEES felt their dread rise, as the defenses that Junpei had just set in place vanished with the Shadow's weakness.

“Keep it up? How about - go down!”

The Shadow slammed both of her hands towards SEES as she ascended again.

And the arrows began to rain down again.

Shiva and Arahabaki were already moving, even as the deluge continued -

“Thanks, Yukari-san!”

“Much obliged, Aigis.” 

As the two most frail members of the team were shielded by the Wild Cards’ Personas, Ken Amada looked around. Tetrakarn, Tetrakarn…

“Artemisia!” A blast of ice shot skyward, forcing the Shadow to dodge again. “Keep it up!”

“Numa!” Shinjiro’s Persona, the second king of Rome, rose into the air after the icy assault, another Debilitate already forming.

Okay, Heat Riser! Ken decided mid-thought, already changing tactics and summoning multicolored lights around Mitsuru-san. …it wasn’t because he disliked Aragaki-san, any more, it was just because Mitsuru-san usually needed the defensive boost a lot more!

Multicolored lights shot up around Aragaki-san a second later. There, see!

And then, Ken winced, as the lack of distraction meant he was no longer able to overlook the feeling of getting holes ripped in his body.

It wasn’t him - it was Kala-Nemi, and he knew it - but that wasn’t really helping.

Forcing away the pain, Ken raised his Evoker - now glowing red - to his head again -

And he fired.

“Defenses are going up!” As Orpheus manifested behind Aigis and strummed his harp, purple lights shot up around the rest of SEES and the gynoid herself. Even as she did so, the sensation of Ken's Theurgy radiated into her, as if the darkness and injuries present in her were being drowned out by the lights emitted from the constellations that seemed to have focused on them out of the corners of her eyes.

“Thank you!” Fuuka yelled to Aigis from inside Juno - where she was still kneeling, as if in prayer, watching the battlefield. A few arrows had been sent her way - but while they had embedded themselves in Juno, she’d - well, she had been de-summoning Juno and running, whenever a pink-tinted arrow was sent her way. “Everyone… hang on!”

 

 

 

The storm of arrows wasn't letting up.

But Shinjiro Aragaki couldn't even feel especially hurt by that, as the familiar swimming sensation of Fuuka’s Theurgy washed over him. He almost felt clean again thanks to her, even with the grime, dirt, blood, and sweat of battle coating him.

Which was impressive. He - well. 

The times she had used her Theurgy on him, before last October, had been the only times he’d felt clean in years.

Of course, the effect was ruined a second later as he felt a few more arrows pierce Numa.

It wasn’t as bad as getting shot had been, but it was still pretty painful.

“Hey, Yuka-tan!”

As Junpei yelled again, right after that - Shinjiro realized - a second or two later - that the assault had come to an end, and chanced a look up.

What he saw was nearly enough to make him smile.

Yukari’s Shadow was still hovering in the air, high off the ground - but while SEES had been enduring her last attack, she had been losing altitude. She was hovering maybe twenty feet above the ground now, and the - well, she was hovering in a way that brought to mind how he had felt, when he was at his worst after taking the suppressants.

So, that was encouraging. “You feel like giving up yet?!” Akihiko yelled into the sky.

Yukari’s Shadow didn’t respond, for a few seconds.

Instead, she just - looked around. At SEES, still standing despite her best efforts to bring them down, at the arena dotted with blood and arrows -

And as she looked, she seemed to - deflate.

“...why am I doing this?”

SEES, as they heard those words, deflated too.

But in a good way.

“Cause - you’re pissed about the whole situation we’re in and needed to vent? I totally get that, Yuka-tan!” Junpei called into the air, relief coloring his voice. “You wanna come down?”

The eyes of the person he was speaking to narrowed.

“No. I mean - why am I fighting all of you -”

Within a second, the eyes of Yukari’s Shadow shifted.

“-WHEN SHE’S THE ONLY ONE THAT I NEED DEAD!?”

Without warning, the Shadow reversed her bow’s trajectory -

And one second later, as an arrow arced between her horns and sailed off into the distance, the wind around her intensified.

The winds started to whirl, around Yukari’s Shadow - 

(In hindsight, Aigis would later reflect, maybe she should have swapped back to Arahabaki - but it wouldn’t have changed what happened next. …at least, not much).

Either way, Aigis barely had enough time to throw up a guard before the Shadow was in her face.

“AIGIS!”

“SISTER!”

As the Shadow tackled the gynoid with the force of a battering ram, flying across the arena before they could react, the rest of SEES hastily summoned their Personas back, but they might as well have been in another country for all the Shadow of Yukari Takeba cared.

“GIVE ME THAT KEY ALREADY!”

As the gynoid slammed into the far wall, the impact cracked the stone around her -

And somehow, all this did was make Aigis’s eyes narrow.

Yukari-san’s Shadow hadn’t let go of her.

And at this range, it was near impossible to miss.

RATATATATATA!

As bullets ripped through the shadowy substance that made up her body and soul both, the Shadow of Yukari Takeba gritted her teeth.

It was painful as hell.

But she’d been through worse.

She had been living with worse for nearly a month, and the end was in sight.

All she had to do was get rid of this last obstacle, and it was over.

“GO DOWN!”

Red-blood essence began to gather around her hands -

And to slip out of Aigis.

As the rest of SEES charged, a Persona formed behind Aigis -

Huh?

Yukari - wasn’t sure what to make of the gynoid’s choice. Attis was her wind specialist for some reason, why would she use her on somebody immune to it - 

“Goodbye.”

KRSSSH!

…because Attis was the only reason Aigis was alive.

Enduring Soul was such a pain.

Even as the gynoid’s stamina flowed into her, the Shadow of Yukari Takeba couldn’t suppress her aggravation, because her former ally was still twitching -

RATATATA!

And firing.

The Shadow winced in pain as more shaped pieces of metal ripped through her - despite her last attack, the gynoid looked to be as good as ever.

But that was fine. That actually worked better for her. After all, thanks to her Theurgy’s nature, the turbulence empowering her wasn’t just good for her wind spells.

“QUIT IT!”

And as more stamina flowed through her, and the exhaustion she’d been fighting began to lift, her foe wobbled from sudden fatigue, and Yukari’s Shadow smiled.

Reaching down, she tugged again - 

-and the key refused to budge.

Frowning, she yanked again, much harder, overpowering any resistance that Aigis could put up -

And still, the key didn’t move.

…fine. It was tied to her?

…oh well.

She had one more charge.

And Aigis had no more Endure.

If Fuuka was saying anything, Yukari didn’t hear it, with how the blood in her veins was coursing through them with the force of a tornado, at that moment.

She, and everyone else, were sprinting towards Aigis and the Shadow, Charges and Concentrates from Fuuka keeping them all on edge, and all of their attributes (most importantly their speed) boosted as high as they would go, when the Shadow had tackled Aigis away and given them a breather.

But the Shadow with her face wasn’t paying attention to the rest of SEES. 

Instead, as Aigis’s life drained into her, she pushed off -

And with everyone else still at least thirty feet away, too far to get any serious attacks there in time, Yukari already knew what was coming.

It had already happened twice, after all.

Yukari rammed her Evoker to her head, Theurgy gauge red as blood, and her finger mashed the trigger nearly into the grip before she even realized what she was doing.

Power couldn’t save Aigis right now. She wasn’t sure she had enough magical power, even with an Ardhanari, to take down the Shadow in time to prevent her from ripping Aigis apart -

But raw power wasn’t the only thing that mattered.

Within a second, Odin and Valkyrie manifested behind her.

She had won.

Yukari’s Shadow couldn’t help but smile, at the android that had dropped at her feet, nearly dead.

(It was a bit forced, but she’d be fine when she went back in time).

“Now, give me that -”

Light formed around Aigis, before the final blow could land.

And with it, an odd - noise - came.

The sound of spears, swords, and shields clashing, of bellowing war cries, echoed through the air.

“What?”

And as the Shadow paused, the echoes continued to ring, without ceasing, the cries of battle bouncing off the walls of the arena without losing volume, as if they would never end. Yukari’s Shadow blinked in confusion. Aigis was still nearly dead. That hadn’t been a healing spell.

…oh well.

She had a key to rip out. 

Within a second, a red glow that brought the mental image of bleeding to mind formed around her hands.

Blood-red quiddity flowed out of Aigis, vastly empowered by the turbulent winds whipping around her. The Life Drain had struck home, and it should have struck Aigis dead on the spot -

But despite that, Yukari’s Shadow couldn’t feel a single trickle of life essence flowing into her. 

“Wh-what?!”

Yukari’s Shadow fired off another Life Drain, almost in denial. Life erupted from Aigis -

Or at least, it should have.

There was no change, besides the shifting lights. No resurgence of stamina in her, or a final loss of life in the target. What was this?!

Furiously, Yukari’s Shadow wondered what this was - 

And within a second, an answer came.

“...no.”

An answer that came, unwittingly, through her connection to her other self.

And then another Life Drain struck.

But despite the direct hit, not a single drop of life flew out, once again.

“NO!”

And another.

“NO! GIMME THAT KEY!”

And another. Her Theurgy had worn off - now sheer denial and desperation were all that was powering her.

And despite the best efforts of the self-twisted reflection, Aigis continued to survive.

“GET AWAY FROM HER!”

Fire - but not the fire of a Theurgy - washed over the Shadow, with the force of a forest fire concentrated into a sphere a meter across.

SEES had gotten within range when she wasn’t looking at them, but she hadn’t given them her attention until that exact moment. “You!” The Shadow spun around, turning directly to the woman she had been born from as, behind her, Aigis slowly stood up. “WHY?! I - she was all that we had to sacrifice! I could have gone back, and she would have been fine! I could have saved them! Why did you do that?!!”

“...why?”

…Yukari Takeba had never wanted to punch anyone in the face as much as she wanted to punch herself, at that moment.

“WHY?! YOU’RE ASKING ME WHY I SAVED MY FRIEND?!!”

Two seconds later, fire filled the air again.

And Yukari pulled out her Theurgy Gauge again.

Across from her, her doppelganger summoned another storm of arrows.

“YES! Don't you want them back?! Don't you want them here and loving you!?!” 

Yukari’s body seized up, at that response. “OF COURSE I DO!!” Behind her, Shiva formed - and as the Myriad Arrows went flying at her, Yukari ignored it. “But - I want them to be proud that they love me, not ASHAMED of it!”

Her finger slammed down on the trigger, again, this time powered by rage instead of terror. Above her, despite the fact that she had just used a Theurgy, Siegfried and Mithras formed behind her, Susanoo at the forefront of her mind now. Out of nowhere, massive buzzsaws roared at the Shadow, and the defensive stance she hastily took did nothing to soften the blow.

As the Shadow uncrossed her arms and started to ascend again, Aigis hastily jumped back and started to focus.

As Cú Chulainn and Scathath formed behind the gynoid, Yukari’s fingers slammed on the trigger one last time.

And a second later, Forneus and Decarabia had formed behind her.

“I'M SICK OF HAVING TO LIVE WITH THE - I HATE HAVING TO DEAL WITH SOMEBODY ELSE BEING A SACRIFICE FOR ME!! I’VE HAD IT WITH SACRIFICES!!”  

The sound of a Persona manifesting was familiar enough to the Shadow of Yukari Takeba that, the second the sound of two manifesting at once formed, in addition to the sight of Forneus and Decarabia manifesting behind her original self, she took flight.

Shitshitshitshit -

And, turning around, she ducked.

A glowing, non-corporeal, but still deadly, spear flew past her, supernaturally empowered by Forneus and Decarabia and only the first of many, many, blasts of ice, light, fire, darkness, and floating fists that all raced by her too, a few of them even making contact as the Shadow desperately tried to avoid them.

“No!”

Hastily, the Shadow began to climb higher and higher, ducking and flying through the air with unnatural drive as the rejuvenated SEES focused their ire on her.

“No. I can’t lose…”

As she continued to move, contorting her body as best she could to avoid as much of the onslaught as possible, and failing more than once, the Shadow winced.

But she didn’t break.

“I WILL NOT LOSE!”

SEES watched in slight disbelief, as Yukari’s Shadow dodged the Theurgy and the massive swathe of attacks they’d sent at her, getting out of the way of nearly every blow sent her way, ignoring offense entirely in a desperate attempt to not get discorporated.

“...anyone else wondering why this is the first time that’s happened?” Shinjiro deadpanned aloud.

As the last non-material spear flew by her, Yukari’s Shadow dodged up, gasping for breath.

…she had avoided the worst of it. But it wasn’t over.

Below her, Cú Chulainn and Scathath observed - and as she watched, Scathath gestured to the spear the other Persona held, and he began to rear it back.

Her hackles were raised.

She couldn’t relax. Not yet.

There was still -

THWUNK!

The twins she loved flashed in front of her, smiling and laughing with the joy the three of them gave each other every time they were together -

- what just happened?

As that thought passed through her mind, the Shadow snapped back to reality.

And as she looked down to see what SEES was doing again -

…the shaft of a spear was protruding from her chest.

…Gáe Bulg was embedded in her chest.

…oh.

And a second later, exhaustion hit, and the Shadow dropped like a stone.

As the ground of the Colosseo Purgatorio approached rapidly, all she could do was close her eyes.

And as she did, twin images danced behind her eyelids.

Mina…

And then, the floor met her.

And despite her efforts to rise, to force her wings to beat again, to get back up -

Well.

It may not have been intended, but the spear was still there.

“EVERYONE!”

The rest of SEES - who had been somewhat stunned by the spear going through the duplicate of their main healer and then pinning her to the ground like a trapped insect - were snapped back into focus, by the yell coming from the healer herself.

“ALL-OUT ATTACK, NOW!” Yukari commanded.

There was no doubt in her voice, and that was all they needed to hear.

And for the second time in that fight, SEES charged as one.

Notes:

So, there we go! A few more of Yukari's Theurgies. She has Best Friends (shared with Aigis, uses the canon depiction of it), Scarlet Havoc (shared with Minato, and uses the canon depiction of it), and Valhalla - which, like Ardhanari, is unique to her.

Valhalla: One ally survives all attacks with 1 HP for the next ten turns. Only usable once per battle.

Chapter 12: The Three of Swords, United

Summary:

The Three of Swords, when upright, represents troubled times. You’re in pain, may have lost somebody or something, and sorrow and misfortune are consuming you. You have something to cry about, but you need to let go, because the cutting and severance that is happening is necessary, if you want to ever get better.

Reversed, the Three of Swords represents that the pain is ending. The worst is over, and though you’ve lost someone or something precious, and are still afflicted by your regrets, recovery is finally possible.

You’ve been hurting for a long time, from what has been cut off - but no matter what you want, you have to put what’s been severed behind you.

Notes:

Minor note... this chapter, or at least a section near the middle, where the Seal is formed, was supposed to be read on a computer. You'll see what I mean when you get to it. I'll try to fix that later.

Blows flew, as the exhausted members of SEES gave it everything they had left. There was no hesitation, even as the Shadow tried to defend herself futilely -

“AGGGHHHH!!!”

And this time, the scream, as SEES got pushed back by a sudden blast of wind, was far more conclusive.

“Damn… damn it…”

Scarlet and stygian black started streaming off of Yukari’s Shadow, as she tried to rise into the air again, desperation coloring every syllable of her screams -

She didn’t make it more than two feet before her ascent stopped completely.

“No… NO!”

And before SEES’s eyes, the streams of black and red intensified, forming a miasma that completely blocked her from view -

But before anyone could brace themselves for whatever came next, the haze vanished.

And all that was left was Imentet, on her knees and back to her normal self, panting in exhaustion.

“...well. Guess that’s over with.” Akihiko shrugged.

“Not yet.”

Before the rest of SEES could respond, Yukari started to move forwards, Evoker already out.

It was time to end this -

“Wait!” Before Yukari could make it to Imentet and finish the job, Metis got in her way. “No. You can’t.”

“Why not?! She’s a Shadow!” Yukari spat. And they fought Shadows - so the response was obvious. Whether or not this particular Shadow was connected to her. She could do without -

“And she’s you, too.” Metis countered. The only thing that kept Yukari’s mouth shut as Metis kept talking was the knowledge of what had just happened, and knowing it was a direct result of her saying that - this - wasn’t her. Either way, Metis continued. “She’s your Shadow. Like it or not, like her or not. She used to be your Persona, so tell me. What do you think happens to you if you kill her?”

…Yukari had no idea. But the way that Metis was speaking told her that the answer wasn’t good.

“...can we just tie her up and leave her here, then scram?” Shinjiro suggested, frowning.

“NO!”

Before Metis could finish speaking, though, SEES was drowned in wind. “She’s still up!?” Ken sputtered, eyes wide as Yukari’s Shadow rose to her feet - swaying and unsteady, looking as if even moving was exhausting - but not downed.

The Shadow scowled, forcing herself to stand despite her wobbly legs - the stance she was taking was one that everybody in SEES had seen before. Usually a few seconds before Yukari was knocked unconscious. “This isn’t over…”

“Up for another round, huh?” Akihiko was already falling into a combat stance. The wind picked up, even as he spoke.

And then, to everyone’s surprise, it vanished.

“...no.”

Before any of the other members of SEES could truly register that, wind erupted from underneath Imentet, sending her spinning into the air of the Colosseum.

Before anyone could send their Personas after her, she landed in the “audience” section. But even as she looked down at SEES, scowling, she shook her head despite her clear fatigue. “I’ll… be back…”

And then, before anyone could say another word, she half-ran, half-stumbled into the bleacher tunnels that nobody had given much thought to before.

There was silence, for a few seconds, before Yukari scoffed. “Yeah, you know what?! Good fucking riddance!” she screamed, making damned sure as she yelled to bring up a Persona with wind skills to carry her voice further.

(Further inside, as she leaned against the wall that was not entirely corporeal since no humans or robots were there to observe it, catching her breath and reflecting on her failure, Imentet’s fists clenched when she heard her other self’s words).

“So… we’re done?”

As Ken’s words registered to everyone, that knowledge started to truly sink in.

…it was over.

…they’d all survived.

And - it was, at that moment, that the past - what felt like - how long had it been? It felt like hours -

“Yukari-san.”

As everything started to finally hit Yukari again, a hand touched her shoulder.

It was cold and metallic.

That was all she needed to know.

“...Aigis…”

“...I am sorry, Yukari-san.”

What??

“Why are -”

Aigis winced. “I - thought that the potential effects of losing my key would - not affect you so badly that you would-”

“Aigis!”

The android fell silent at the sound of Yukari hissing her name.

She was not going to discuss her - oh, call it what it was, she nearly-

“Oh, Yukari-chan… Aigis…”

Before her mind could continue down that path, however - well -

A pair of limbs snaked around her, and the android that was gently touching her, as if she feared that she might set her off if she wasn’t careful - and the arms, despite their bearer being - ah, not athletically inclined - somehow shoved hard enough to bring the two young women she had embraced together.

Fuuka’s arms didn’t fit all the way around both her and Aigis, but she was trying damned hard to pull it off.

“Fuuka?” 

“Hey, everyone! Group hug time!”

“HEY!”

Yukari’s confusion was cut off by an offended shriek as Junpei, with a far too broad grin on his face, promptly seized both Aigis and Yukari around the shoulders, before hugging them from the opposite side.

…nobody else moved. 

Yukari wasn’t sure whether to feel relieved, disappointed, or outraged by that.

“Uh… hey, li’l sis! What’re you doing over there? It’s sister-hugging hours!” Junpei declared, calling out to the other robot, clearly trying to deflect attention away from himself.

“…me?”

“Yeah! Don’t you wanna hug your big sis?”

“I… well…”

As Metis, for once, hesitated, the eyes of the rest of SEES were slowly drawn to her. “I just… well, I’m not sure how much I should - be here. I mean, I - this is between all of you, and I - I tried to do something horrible to all of you when we first met, so -”

“Metis-san, I - have to disagree with you.” 

Ken’s voice interjecting stopped the robot mid-sentence. The youngest human member of SEES looked at her without any of the concern, doubt, and distance he’d once had. “We - well, we literally trapped ourselves here, remember? You had nothing to do with that.”

“And we were the ones who started squabbling with each other, too.” Akihiko let his arms hang loose as he spoke, any tension he had held before long gone. “You’re sticking with us, got it?”

Metis perked up almost immediately. “I -” Slowly, hesitantly, like a formerly-abused dog approaching a new owner - a kind one - Metis approached the group hug.

Yukari and Aigis didn’t move, as she slowly wriggled her way in.

Going back in time - using the door to Paulownia Mall. Seeing the battle with Nyx, and what they’d done to win.

…Yukari - still felt a bit numb. Maybe if she’d had more time to just - process - everything - that she had just learned (about herself), she would have had time to feel something besides numbness, now that her rage and grief had burned themselves out.

“Yukari?”

“Yeah?” Yukari replied, turning to Mitsuru as the redhead approached her. “What?”

Mitsuru sighed. “I won’t ask if you’re well, because I know the answer. And it seems we won’t be the ones deciding if we return or not. But - I wanted to thank you. For wanting to go back.”

Yukari needed a minute to process that, before the conversation they’d had before that stupid fight began came back to her. “Oh… because of your dad, right?”

"Yes. Part of me... I was glad that you wanted to go back in time, Yukari. Because... it would let me be selfish and save my father."

"...Selfish? Mitsuru-senpai, how is... how is that selfish?" Yukari’s numbness wasn’t gone - but her bafflement had overshadowed it, for now.

Mitsuru looked down. “It... father swore that he would make up for how he had no choice but to let the burden of ending the Dark Hour fall on us. I... I wanted him to live... and I still do. But…” Mitsuru - for the first time in a long time - needed a minute to collect herself. "I... I swore that I would stand with you, regardless of my own feelings. And I understand your desire utterly. I want to save my father, just like you want to save the twins."

Yukari got that. But - there was something missing. “So… why did you think that was selfish?”

Mitsuru closed her eyes. "I wanted to, but... when I thought of returning to save him... I remembered what he died for. He always swore that he would atone for having to leave erasing the Dark Hour to us, even if he had to lose his life. And... I... I love my father... but... I know he would be more disappointed in me than words could describe, if I did go back just for him. That I would choose to risk my life, would choose to risk humanity, to disregard his sacrifice when my life was part of what he made that sacrifice for. …if you had gone back for them, well - perhaps it’s a bit of a loophole in that decision. But… if it was just me trying to save him... his wish for my life and my safety meant more to him than his own life did. As selfish as that may have been of him, perhaps. So... no matter how much I miss him... I will respect that wish."

“...okay.” Yukari slowly nodded. “I - think I get it. Kind of? My head’s…”  Yukari trailed off, instead of finishing her sentence.

“...perhaps you should think about it more after we’re safely out and you’ve gotten some sleep.”

Yukari couldn’t help but nod again at Mitsuru’s suggestion.

They were back here.

The place where the twins, she hadn’t realized at the time, decided to break her heart.

It would be beautiful, in any other circumstance.

A glimmering expanse of stars both above and below, with blue and red dotting the infinite sky around them, and -

A familiar sensation - a crushing sensation - shot through the air, and Yukari’s hair stood on end.

“Nyx!” Mitsuru spat, before her eyes went wide. “And - that’s -!”

As the members of SEES turned around, their hearts clenched as one as they looked.

Towards Nyx -

And towards Yukari Takeba’s girlfriend and boyfriend.

“So this is… the miracle they performed…”

Yukari still couldn’t speak -

And then, between one breath and the next -

 

A gate appeared. 

 

Huh?!

As that information registered in the minds of SEES, however, Yukari Takeba came to the realization that calling it a gate did not even come close to doing it justice.

 

Golden metal - or at least, something that looked like metal - sprang from nowhere, and took shapes. 

Ten squares sprang from nothingness, gold and black and gray blending as the great gate formed.

Two doors were created, one square wide by five tall each, both visible to the eye and vanishing past the horizon.

It came into existence quietly, the barricade, a light crack visible between the doors as patterns started solidifying -

And moving.

Eyes gazed out, from the great portals of the barrier, as if they were giant television screens.

And she could already tell, somehow, that those were their eyes. That the metal before her...

...somehow, it was their skin, flesh, and bones, that their blood was what kept it all in motion.

That their souls were cycling through the blockade and pulling it together.

Using their very selves in the act of sealing any cracks that might form from the inside out, however minute.

And high atop the sealed gateway, bound by thorned chains -

Was them.

It changed every second, the statue that was them holding the gates shut - a statue that seemed to flicker 

between each of the twins every other second, or to a strange amalgamation of their features before stabilizing.

All the while, there was a balance between Minako and Minato, neither of the twins ever truly “overtaking” the other.

And through it all, the shapeshifting rock (that she knew, somehow, was them), remained in flux, but in balance.

Always in balance.

SEES was briefly quiet, as they took in the golden gates before them, as they took in what their leaders had done.

“What - what is this?” Fuuka managed to say, the first to break the silence.

“What did they do…?” Yukari sputtered weakly, as she looked at the great edifice.

In any other circumstance, she’d call it majestic, seeing Minato and Minako held up so high (without their clothes, even! Because no matter how much she pleaded, they had made it clear that if the three of them were ever in bed together, their clothes stayed on.)

But at the moment, seeing them held up like this, crucified in a place nobody else would ever find for no apparent reason, and not even sure what the hell was going on, she wanted to scream.

“That’s… their life essences. Intermingled.”

…Life essence?

“This is what happened that night. With the power of the Great Seal, they used their combined life essences to form that seal.”

Life…?

The blood drained from everybody else’s faces as Metis kept speaking, as they came to a collective realization.

“But when someone’s life essence leaves their body, they die… to do this intentionally, I would say they’ve found their answers to life.”

…their - lives?

…No. No. No no no no-

Yukari could feel her heart that had frozen in place as it fell to the ground and smashed all over it, and if she’d had the mental capacity to spare, she would have noticed that everyone else save the black gynoid was in the same boat as her.

They had given up their lives, to save them, to save her-

No. What else should she have expected? That Death would let them off for defying him and staying loyal to her?

I should have known.

I should have expected this.

Why would I ever -

“But… they didn’t use up all of their life essences.”

Yukari’s heart - still in frozen pieces on the ground - 

She wasn’t sure how, but somehow, she could feel the pieces starting to creep back towards her chest.

Mitsuru was the first to recover.

“W - what do you mean?” Mitsuru asked, taking a quick look at the golden gates that held a flickering figure as their centerpiece. “Didn’t you say that they-”

“-they used their lives, right?” Akihiko carefully asked.

“They both hold the same power.” Metis mused in an observant voice, seemingly disconnected from the horror shared by the rest of the Squad. “The power to create a miracle… and they used their life forces to forge this miracle. But… They were able to do it together. If it was just one of them, they would have probably had to use all of their life force up and died as a result. But it seems they only used around half each - they kept the rest of it with them, and formed the Great Seal by cutting this part of their life forces off.”

“So this is - part of them?” Aigis questioned carefully. 

“Yes.” Metis mused. “The aftereffects of doing this must be what sent them into comas… and the Seal doesn’t seem to need any active flow of life force from them. And if they’re comatose, they shouldn’t be losing any more of their life forces unless somebody is actively attacking them. I don’t know how long it might take them to adjust to this and wake up… but as long as they’re kept safe they shouldn’t be at any risk of dying in the meantime.”

““““““““What?!?! Arf!??””””””””  

The heads of SEES’s members whipped around to Metis fast enough that they nearly all got whiplash.

“You’re sure?” Yukari managed to say, an incredibly complicated mix of emotions (love, terror, and hope - the first true hope she’d felt since part of her died inside after she had realized how close she came to killing Aigis by mistake -) filling her up emotionally faster than any kiss ever had.

“...yes? Why wouldn’t they? They aren’t dead, and they still have life force in their bodies they aren’t actively losing.” Metis’s explanation came in a tone of voice that implied she thought they were all idiots. “As long as nothing attacks them in the real world and they’re kept on life support, they should be fine. I have no clue when they’ll wake up or what the side effects of this are - especially given how they somehow held on to keep that promise they made, that probably didn’t help - but they should eventually. At least, they shouldn’t die now of anything but old a-”

Yukari cut Metis off midsentence by hauling her into the air.

“THANK YOU! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!”

The fact that Metis was over five feet of solid metal did not register in the slightest to Yukari’s arms as she twirled around, eyes firmly shut but still leaking.

A massive and goofy smile was covering Yukari Takeba’s face, ear to ear, as she practically danced with Metis in her arms, weeping with the joy that was overflowing from her soul.

And through the ears that were still working, just a bit, she could hear the rest of SEES joining her.

“What - STOP IT! SISTER, HELP!!” Metis was yelling now, but for some reason, not trying to escape.

Before Yukari could process that, metal brushed her skin, lightly but firmly forcing her arms down and Metis to the ground-

“S-SISTER?!”

-and then, before Yukari could let go of Metis, a pair of metallic limbs clamped around her and Metis alike like the jaws of a starving alligator around a particularly filling pair of morsels, and hoisted both of them into the air - WAGH!

Yukari’s watery vision began to spin, as Aigis started spinning both her sister and her fellow Wild Card around. Out of the corners of her blurred vision, she could see the rest of SEES getting out of the way, water leaking out of all their eyes - and next to her, Metis’s panicked and slightly red face -

“Wooo-FUCKING-HOOOOO!!! WOOOOOO!!”

Junpei was roaring, now - not that Yukari could judge or that she would judge because they were alive!

Metis was visibly stunned as two sets of arms squeezed her like a stuffed animal, but didn’t seem to be complaining any longer. To her right, Yukari could see a smile, small, but ever so real, so human, on Aigis’s lips.

“T-th-t-th-th-they’re aliiiivvveee…”  Yukari chuckled weakly as she heard Fuuka bawling, or at least she would have, if her head hadn’t started spinning from Aigis twirling her and Metis around like they were ballroom dancing at ten times the usual speed.

In the corners of her vision, she could see Mitsuru Kirijo, Miss Ice Queen of Executions, visibly rubbing at her eyes, and - were those hiccups?

“Arooooooo!”

She still didn’t understand dog language, but she was pretty sure that was a sign Koromaru was happy too!

“H-hey!”

As Aigis twirled with her and Metis in her arms, Yukari’s vision briefly managed to snap over to Shinjiro Aragaki - was Amada - Ken was hugging him - WAGH!

“AAHH!” Yukari outright shrieked as, suddenly and without warning, Aigis threw her and Metis in the air -

FWOOSH!

And less than a second after she made that exclamation, Aigis leapt into the air after them.

Two hands reached out, before Yukari or Metis could even finish yelling in shock, catching the two other girls on her arms, before clenching shut around them, preventing them from flying any further -

And then, before Yukari had even registered what was going on, Aigis slammed back to the ground that didn’t exist, being stopped - perhaps more by her own idea of landing, than any physical object.

…holy crap.

After a few seconds, the brunette found her voice again. “Aigis, I didn’t mind, but what was that for?!”

The gynoid at least looked remorseful (it reminded her of Metis…), as she slowly set Yukari and Metis back on their feet. “...I apologize. I seem to have let my happiness overtake my higher processing.”

Aigis's words rang through the air, registering with the rest of SEES.

And the second they did, every human there broke down wailing all over again.

…they’re gonna live.

Yukari was distantly aware that she was crying again, but she didn’t care.

They’re gonna live, they’re living, they’re alive-

It, overall, took nearly a minute for the members of SEES to regain any of their composure.

“As… as happy as I am to hear that…”

- wow, Mitsuru-senpai was crying now - wait, who was she to talk?

“-How do you know all that?”

Only for Akihiko - tears still flowing down his cheeks - to finish for her.

“...'how?' I just do. I think it’s because I’m like Nyx… I belong on this side.” 

…that was both utterly meaningless, and probably the best answer they were going to get from Metis, wasn’t it? “Although… something’s curious. Nyx is able to bring death to all things… but if she’s that powerful, what was stopping her before they made the seal?”

There was silence for several seconds before Fuuka spoke, water still dripping down her face. “M-maybe… there was somebody else?”

“Then what about before humanity existed?” Metis questioned back.

“...what are you implying?” Mitsuru asked, crossing her arms (after she finished wiping her tears away).

Metis looked back. “I think - Nyx isn’t naturally malicious. Normally, a seal wouldn’t be necessary, to keep her asleep.”

…all of a sudden, without consulting Yukari Takeba’s brain, the sheer exultation that had been filling her vanished.

“...are you telling me that my boyfriend and girlfriend… have been in comas… for nearly a month… for nothing?”

Yukari’s fingers were twitching, as she spoke.

Metis - either unaware or uncaring of the emotions of the furious girl behind her - spoke. “No. Their goal, I think, wasn't to seal Nyx away from us-”

Before Metis could finish her sentence, the expanse of stars, the empty space they were somehow standing in, despite having no solid ground -

Shook.

“Uh, what the hell was that?!”

“Look!”

Fuuka’s shout drew everyone’s attention, even as the starry expanse beneath their feet became covered by clouds within a few seconds, but that wasn’t what Yukari was focusing on, as Metis finished speaking.

Darkness gathered near them, as the clouds changed, shifting form and texture, as a shadow became visible through them -

And a second later, a massive black hand reached from below the heaven that SEES had found themselves in.

And as SEES stared in shock and horror, then -

“I… am responsible…”

As she ran out of the building, not even sure where she was going, those words echoed through Yukari Takeba.

An explosion, killing dozens, maybe hundreds, of people, that she had never seen, but which had defined her life ever since it happened.

“I… am responsible…”

Moving away, getting jerked around, her mom abandoning her in every way that mattered save financial support, being rejected more times than she cared to remember, the fucking mob…

And her dad was responsible.

“Dad… how could you?”

No answer came, from the ocean she was standing in front of - when had she gotten there -

“HOW COULD YOU!?”

The sky remained firmly silent, not deigning to release Eiichiro Takeba so that he could answer his daughter’s questions despite her fury. 

“I… I believed in you, dad…” Yukari whispered, staring at the sand beneath her feet. “I… nobody else ever did. Everyone hated you… but you loved me… so I believed in you.”

Her breath hitched. 

“And… you did it this whole time?!”

Her heart rate began to speed up.

“YOU KILLED NEARLY A HUNDRED PEOPLE, AND YOU LEFT ME WITH THE CONSEQUENCES?!”

Yukari’s fists clenched.

“I BELIEVED IN YOU FOR TEN YEARS, AND THIS IS WHAT I GET?!”

The universe around her remained silent, as Yukari screamed into the night air.

“Dad… why?”

There was no response back.

And as she looked out at the ocean, Yukari Takeba thought about death.

“-kari-chan!”

Fuuka??

As SEES’s navigator shook her furiously, Yukari snapped back to reality, away from the vision of one of her life’s lowest points.

“Hey, Takeba!”

Hearing Akihiko’s voice was enough to bring her the rest of the way out of her stupor. “W-what was that?”

Next to Akihiko, Ken, holding his lance out, pointed forwards -

And a second later, she saw it.

A massive black thing had emerged from the clouds, and was climbing the golden barricade (only she got to climb them, and maybe that was not what she should be focusing on-)

Two heads, on four legs. Four flaring red eyes, on top of a body that was -

…Yukari wasn’t sure how the words came to her, but -

As she looked at the being in front of her, Ryoji came to mind - 

…but only as a contrast.

The darkness that had shrouded the Nyx Avatar at the end was - as strange as it sounded - a comforting darkness. 

Or at least, it would have been if it wasn’t trying to kill them.

The darkness that came from every color of the rainbow mixed together, that strange blackness that, she somehow knew, came at the end of a long life well lived, when you were surrounded by your family as you slipped into whatever came next.

It was the darkness that made it easier to fall asleep at night.

…and the darkness coming from this thing was not that darkness.

This was the darkness of someone on a boat at sea, in a storm at midnight, when the stars and moon were covered and the lights had all been blown out.

The darkness of an abyss that ate light, devouring everything that came inside and never giving anything back.

The darkness of somebody who had reached their lowest point, and quietly started to call for an end.

This - thing - was attacking the Seal.

That was all Yukari could focus on.

“-...like I was saying. The purpose of the Seal they made wasn’t to seal Nyx away from us-”

Metis’s voice was quiet, as she finished.

“...It was to seal us away from Nyx.”

…This thing was why the Seal was necessary.

Yukari heard that, quietly, and came to a single, simple, realization that crystalized her feelings.

…This thing was attacking Minako and Minato.

And all at once, the self-loathing Yukari had felt ever since the battles with her teammates ended with her breaking down in horror, the disgust that had arisen from facing the parts of herself that she hadn’t been able to face, the sheer relief that had just appeared and overshadowed them both, and the aggravation that had replaced it - were shoved aside.

And burning rage, boiling like a Mabufudyne ice sculpture hit by one of Minako’s Blazing Hells, rushed in to replace it.

“Everyone.” 

The chilling tone of Yukari’s voice cut into the burgeoning conversation.

“We’re killing it.”

“You - what?!” Metis sputtered. “You want to fight that thing?”

Before Yukari could respond, however, something changed.

Namely, the thing moved -

Towards them.

“Well, it’s looking like we won’t be getting a choice either way!” Yukari declared, already knocking back one of the arrows she had recovered from the Colosseo’s floor.

“It must be after you and my sister!” Metis declared, hastily readying her hammer as she Charged. “You have the same powers that they do - it must think it can use you two to break the Seal!”

“It will never get the chance to try.” Mitsuru’s frigid declaration caught everyone’s attention, as Fuuka’s powers carried it to them from afar. “If this monster truly came from all of us, because we wished for our ends, if it is the source of all our struggles - then we cannot stand by and let it hurt them.”

“Heh. You really are overcomplicating things here, Mitsuru.” Akihiko was quietly confident again. “This thing’s a monster that needs to be taken down, so let’s take it down!”

“This is a fight against us, not just a monster… and I think I’m ready, now.” 

Ken’s quiet voice made it clear to everyone there that his resolve was steeled.

“You said it, senpai!” Junpei’s cheer was, this time, not forced in the slightest. “We took on everything else - this thing doesn’t have a chance!”

Yukari nodded to herself, quietly, as everyone else got ready.

Her gaze quietly went, to the gates in the distance.

Where they were standing sentinel, now and forever. Not just for her any longer, but for everybody.

And as much as she wanted to keep them to herself, she couldn't do that any more.

Are you watching? I hope you can see this.

I’m gonna make you proud of me.

Notes:

This story is based on Phantom Dumbasses, after all - so the twins are making it out of this in one piece.

...or perhaps, two pieces. I wonder how that (and everything that happened in the Abyss) will affect them...

...well, I already know, mostly (feel free to ask), but it will probably have to wait for the sequel to this story. Which is in the works, but might take a while.

Chapter 13: The Four of Wands, United

Summary:

The Four of Wands, when upright, represents a rest, one that has been earned thoroughly. There’s peace, a break, and abundant blessings. Happiness and the time to enjoy the fruits of your labors have come, and the time has come to prepare for the future with your rewards.

Reversed, the Four of Wands still represents success - just to a lesser degree. Victory has come at a slightly higher price than anticipated, or the success you’ve won has been delayed a bit. What you’ve earned is coming, but you may be struggling with insecurities, being narrow-minded, or disappointed, and should listen to the criticisms others have for you.

Victory is here. It might not be perfect, it isn’t an end to your troubles - but it’s finally secured. Regardless of the price - you’ve gotten what you sought.

Notes:

I'm sorry this is a bit late! I basically wrote the Erebus fight in a few days, but I hope you like it.

(In this time, in this place, an odd thought will be presented to you)

(Erebus is, for the harm it has caused, directly or indirectly, for all the harm that it represents, for all the harm that it wishes to bring about -)

(Erebus is, fundamentally, a being to be pitied).

As SEES advanced, Yukari couldn’t help but notice out of the corner of her eyes that everybody’s Theurgy gauges were glowing red as blood.

And she knew just how to exploit that.

“Mitsuru-senpai, Concentrate and then execute it!” Yukari commanded sharply.

Nodding swiftly, the Kirijo heiress dodged back, as - crap! Yukari hastily backpedaled herself, as a purple wave of energy like mist blasted at her and the rest of SEES, as the monster struck at them, seemingly pulling fog from the clouds under them.

“Everyone, be careful! It’s an Almighty attack!” Fuuka’s warning resulted in gritted teeth among the rest of SEES, even as the aura Fuuka had gifted them blunted the attack. Mist rushed past Yukari and the rest of SEES, and despite the innocuous appearance of the blow, Yukari couldn’t stop herself from wincing.

That had still hurt, and that was through their heightened defenses!

Well, it wasn’t like she’d thought this would be easy…

“Everyone, stand clear!”

Aigis’s voice caught everyone’s attention, and although she was already backpedaling to get away from the literal giant monster, Yukari couldn’t stop her eyes from glancing at Aigis -

Or from feeling her eyes go wide, as she saw Satan and Helel behind her friend, and a massive sphere of energy hovering over them that, from a single look, was making Ardhanari’s firepower feel sort of lacking.

What the hell is that?!

A second later, the sphere finished growing.

And a second after that, Yukari got her answer.

The sphere of energy vanished, between one second and the next, no trace of it left -

And then, shockwaves reverberated through the air touching their skin and the clouds beneath their feet alike. Light blasted past her, not touching any of the members of SEES, even though Yukari had, for a single second, wondered if the world around them was about to be blasted to dust and leave them floating in the void again.

The monster screamed, reeling in what Yukari was pretty sure was pain, possibly the first it had ever experienced, as an explosion centered itself around it, stumbling backwards on all fours as it tried to stay upright.

Yukari stared, and she wasn’t the only one doing it. Nobody in SEES that was staring could have stopped even if they wanted to, attacks briefly forgotten. 

(It may seem like an odd thing to say - and it is, to be fair).

(After all, from the moment it came into existence, its cries filled the depths of the Sea of Souls, dragging down everything that heard them into despair, hatred, and darkness, made the thoughts and desires for death grow ever stronger - and in a place as abstract as the Sea’s depths, words - even words as undefined and primal as Erebus’s howls of hatred and pain, the only things it had ever known, could do more damage than any weapon in the world).

(But - well).

(In the end, you could say, at the same time, that all Erebus has ever been doing was lashing out in an attempt to end the pain that it was born in).

What the hell was that?! “AIGIS?!” Yukari sputtered, turning back to the robot - 

And noticing, a second later, that she had been driven to her knees, and Yukari knew with that single glance that she was exhausted despite being in perfect condition just a few seconds ago.

“AIGIS!” Yukari yelled, furiously pulling the trigger and calling forth Norn, who immediately sent a Salvation out and brought the android and the rest of SEES back into shape. “What was that?!” Hastily, as she spoke, Yukari ran over to stand in front of the android who was hauling herself back up, swapping hastily to Houou to shield herself defensively as she kept half an eye on the monster that had just been given a slightly overdue execution. 

“My… new Theurgy…” Aigis managed to gasp out, still visibly exhausted. “I was… hoping it would end the battle…”

“You - you thought you could beat that thing in one hit?!” Yukari sputtered, turning back to where the rest of SEES, particularly Junpei, had managed to attract the monster’s attention for the time being.

Even as she spoke, however, the sphere of energy that Aigis had called into existence came back into her brain.

…okay, she could buy that yes, Aigis had believed it.

(Erebus was literally created from hate, you could argue - hate for oneself or for others, the desire for one’s own death, or the death of somebody else. The only other sensation Erebus has  is the sensation of a decision, made coldly and clinically, that the death of another human being is necessary - and that cold logic is nothing, compared to the burning wrath for everything that the rest of Erebus holds).

(Imagine - or perhaps experience - for a second, the sheer fury, the sheer rage, the sheer pain, that one must feel to, for even a split second, see somebody - and, not out of a need for self-defense, or for any cause but sheer personal hatred, to want them to die).

“...I was… reasonably sure the possibility existed. And if I was wrong, and the backlash left me unable to fight-”

“Backlash??” Yukari hissed. Aigis could not meet her gaze. “Aigis? What backlash? Besides you dropping to the ground in exhaustion?”

“...I currently have burned out my capacity to use spiritual skills.”

Yukari was silent for several seconds, eyes twitching, as the rest of SEES fought to keep the thing’s attention away from the two Wild Cards. Out of the corner of Yukari’s eyes and ears, which were mostly devoted to the gynoid she was suppressing the urge to chew out, she could hear crackling electricity, the strange noise of light-spears landing, the shwunk of Koromaru's Cerberus-empowered blades slicing through not-quite-Shadow flesh, the thunk of Metis's hammer striking at incredible speeds, and the snapping roar of Junpei’s blazing life-blade, even as the watery sensation of Fuuka’s empowering touch washed over her -

And all the while, even as attacks that would have flattened nearly any Shadow in a single blow hit it, the monster roared.

“...okay. We are going to talk about this later, you hear me??” Yukari hissed under her breath. If she had to deal with Mitsuru-senpai yelling at her about overusing Ardhanari and getting all those burns, then Aigis got to deal with her yelling at her about burning out her magic! What was this idiot thinking?!

Oh, that was easy, actually. She was probably thinking the same thing that Minato or Minako did when they were left limp on the ground after using Infinity or Last Judge! Gah, why were all her fellow Wild Cards (and her boyfriend and girlfriend) idiots who she had to heal after they used the attacks that damaged them!? Right, because they were all self-sacrificial idiots! …who she loved dearly, but still!

“...here.” Muttering a few choice words to herself (without thinking about how the android only a foot away had excellent hearing), Yukari stuck a hand into her bag, withdrawing one of the last Snuff Souls they had (with the other being in Mitsuru’s possession, in case she needed a good Diamond Dust). “Focus on physical attacks, since you’re burned out, use Bloody Charge if you need to, and tell me if you do use Bloody Charge so I can fix you up right away. When you get it back, save your magic for if it’s really important, and don’t do that again unless we say you can, got it?!”

“...understood.”

With the heated scolding delivered, Yukari turned back to her foe, eyes twitching as she grabbed her Theurgy cartridge, still red as blood.

(Now - imagine).

(How much, really, has it hollowed you out, to feel that way?)

(How much good, how much joy, has been drowned out by that hate?)

(...maybe it hasn't, granted. Sometimes, hate can be useful).

(But even for people who feel that, way ask yourselves - how would it feel to live with nothing but that hatred? Every second of every day, to never know anything else but hatred, the heartless logic of why somebody should die, pain -)

(And a single thought, overpowering all others).

(The thought that dominates Erebus, utterly).

(Make).

(It).

(Stop).

Aigis watched quietly, as Yukari summoned Saturnus behind herself, to further empower her Ardhanari’s already-incredible firepower.

…granted, it was nothing compared to her own final Theurgy, but Yukari-san’s Ardhanari did have the advantage of being far less damaging to use repeatedly.

…well, she could - at least, in theory - use Armageddon multiple times in a row.

…she’d just never had to use it before. At all.

…in hindsight, she should have allowed her teammates to attack first, to determine this being’s overall durability, before unleashing her ultimate attack.

…but it wouldn’t have impressed everyone as much…

(This is all Erebus has ever known, truly).

(What you decide, knowing that… is your choice).

A massive blast of light filled the depths of the Sea of Souls, as Ken unleashed another Makougaon against the monster they were fighting - and it was kind of terrifying, that he could use a Makougaon and have it not even hit this thing’s entire body!

They had been keeping it Debilitated, slowed down, weakened, and lowering its defenses, ever since the battle began, and every strike that came his way still rattled his bones, if he didn’t have a Tetrakarn or Makarakarn ready - and the lavender mist that was getting thrown at them didn’t care whether he’d set up a Makarakarn or Tetrakarn in the first place.

As the monster grasped at the clouds again, Ken braced himself - and a second later, mist ripped itself from below them again, paradoxically roaring towards SEES as the strangely ethereal attack impacted the Squad.

Even as the attack came, however, Ken felt a breeze coming from behind him, as a Mediarama from their other main healer swept over them.

This wasn’t easy, even with all of them.

But they were all there.

And that was all they needed, right?

Just like Featherman - the good guys never lost when they were all working together!

It was almost as if the monster had heard him.

Color leeched off of the thing that they were fighting, bleeding from both the body and eyes, streams of darkness and red blending -

And within seconds, a sphere the size of the one Aigis had summoned at the battle’s beginning hovered over SEES, both abyssal black and red that was the red of blood from a slit jugular began to mix together, sinisterly blending.

…we can still do this!

(The little things before it right now had stopped feeding it, earlier).

(They had fed it well for so long, but had stopped - it was strange).

(At least, that's what Erebus would have thought, if it had the presence of mind to think).

(They had started feeding it again, though - but it was strange).

(The strength they were giving it, the blood and flesh they offered it felt -)

(Inflamed).

(Erebus had never been hated on a personal level before).

(The sensation was rather puzzling).

As she looked at the massive sphere, the colors of spilt blood and a hardened scab over an infected wound combined, Yukari couldn’t stop herself from being concerned.

I should have saved my Theurgy…

Yukari had no idea what that was, besides that it was bad , or how much damage it would do - but at the moment, she couldn’t help but think that having a Valhalla ready for herself or Aigis would have been nice. Fuuka’s warning went - not unheeded, but it was definitely unnecessary, in Yukari’s opinion.

“Junpei! Ken! Defenses!” She ordered firmly, already pulling Seth’s Makarakarn and Tetrakarn to the forefront of her mind.

Attacks were still flying, even as she yelled - and as the order hit everyone’s ears, Ken and Junpei hastily stopped their own participation in order to strengthen SEES’s ability to take the coming blow.

(It would turn out, later, that the only worse thing they could have done at that moment was giving in to the desires the monster had been born from and slitting their own necks).

(Curdled blood and infected flesh boiled away from Erebus’s body, the blows from the little things helping Erebus cast away the pain and suffering that were coalescing away from it).

(The sloughed-off essence of whatever passed for Erebus’s identity would be replaced quickly, by the wishes for an end that came to it from the rest of humanity).

(And the burning, searing hatred that filled Erebus from heads to paws, hatred that had been lost and replaced as quickly as it left as its body was beaten away, began to make the self that it had found a use for by losing, begin to seethe).

The ball of darkness pulsed, and if anyone was looking at her instead of their enemy, they might have mistaken Fuuka’s face for a full moon, from how pale it had just gone.

“EVERYONE! ATTACK, NOW!”

SEES blinked in confusion, even as spiritual waves crashed over them again, strengthening their muscles to the breaking point and sharpening their focus to the point that it would have cut knives, instead of the other way around.

Unsure what was happening, but knowing from the desperation in Fuuka’s voice that she should listen, Yukari swapped to Saturnus again, preparing to open fire -

And it was too late.

 

(Erebus looked down, at them).

(It would end their pain first).

The sphere blasted outwards, darkness overtaking everything, twisting the clouds and blotting out the distant stars as it barreled down at SEES.

Yukari braced herself.

This is gonna be ugly -

And then, a split second before the primal darkness struck them, SEES’s vision was filled with -

Gold.

The world - and the breath of darkness that had been about to hit them - impacted a barrier of glimmering light, absorbing the entirety of the strike as if it had never been about to hit them at all. 

Translucent gold twinkled, not bending or breaking as the cast-away pain and suffering continued to assail it.

The assault that had rattled SEES down to their bones - was not even scratching the great defense.

(Erebus looked).

(Erebus had never had the chance to develop enough of a mind to let it hate anything on a truly personal level).

(But the figures that were forming on the other side of the barriers that had whisked away its cast-off self - if Erebus was given enough time to gain a true sense of self, while also retaining its current - desires - they would certainly qualify to be at the top of its list of Beings I Hate).

SEES had forgotten how to breathe.

Two figures, shimmering and as translucent as the barrier they had sprung from, had walked out of the walls in front of them. 

And their appearances were unmistakable.

Even tinted in the only primary color they hadn’t represented, a ponytail swung in the nonexistent breeze, even as short hair moved slightly on the other side (red and blue, red and blue, in their minds, despite them being composed of see-through yellow).

“M-Mina-kuns?!” Fuuka’s sputtering did nothing but make the short-haired apparition tilt its head. Its body language was still casual and cool, as if the massive attack it had just partially been responsible for saving them from was barely even worth noticing in favor of the bedraggled SEES.

“DUDE!” The spectre with a ponytail tilted its head to the opposing side of its counterpart at Junpei’s yell, and even though none of SEES could make out any facial features (that didn’t seem to vanish within a second or two), they got the impression that it was smiling - because of them.

(The pain never stopped).

(The desire for it to end never stopped).

(So, Erebus never stopped).

(More primal darkness sloughed off of Erebus, forming another ball of emotions that hadn’t quite become words - and this deep in the Sea of Souls, it could do far more than break bones).

The two figures turned around, and -

Well, if it wasn’t for the second sphere of red and black forming, Yukari probably would have been more hurt that they weren’t looking at them.

“Everyone! Prepare for battle! Fuuka-san, begin scanning!”

The barrier didn’t vanish, as SEES began strengthening themselves again at Aigis's command, with the twin figures watching as the monster prepared to strike again.

Then, between one second and the next, they - and the barrier - vanished.

But -

(Erebus shrieked, as the darkness it had released vanished without a trace, as golden, verdant winds blew past it and on it, from the place they had been).

Water dripped down the faces of SEES again, even as the twin-like apparitions vanished without a trace.

Because somehow, they had left something behind, this time.

It was - hard to describe, what they felt. Possibly because nobody in SEES had ever felt all of it before, much less all of it at once).

(Erebus shrieked, as the golden winds buffeted it and caressed the tiny things that had stopped building it).

It felt…

Like a hug, gentle and loving as a warm summer breeze.

Like a friendly slap on the back, after good times together.

Like a group study session, where things went right, where you actually understood what you were looking at and also managed to make it stick in your head.

Like a mildly harsh but well-meaning criticism, soft enough to not be cruel and also hard enough to make you realize what you needed to do to improve.

Like the satisfied exhaustion that came after a good workout together, the bone-deep tiredness that came with knowing, if you kept this up, you could do it and do better.

Like a good meal, homemade by somebody who had put a lot of hard work into it, knowing you’d be back soon.

Like a warm beverage at just the right time and the right temperature, filling up your throat and stomach and tongue alike.

Like an encouraging and gentle word - or woof - suffused with nothing but kindness, whispered into the wind. 

Like a memory of good times, one that became so close and personal it was imprinted on your soul for life.

Like a kiss on the cheek, and a whisper of “I love you”.

Yukari, recovered first, standing up, the monster forgotten, somehow managing to croak out words.

“M-Minako? Minato??”

(Erebus shrieked, as four hate-filled red eyes gazed down, at the place where the two little things that felt like the things that had just appeared, had stopped it from ending the pain, were).

(It would aim for them first).

It was quiet, when it came.

So quiet that it was hard to hear normally, much less over the monster’s howls, but somehow, she knew it was there.

“Hey…”

A whisper in her ears.

And she knew, she knew, who it was.

They were watching over them, even in their sleep.

Blood pumped through her body at incredible speed as her heart pounded - and judging by the rapidly refilling Theurgies, and the gasps of shock that everyone else was giving, she wasn’t the only one who had heard it.

Who had heard them.

Any hesitation in Yukari Takeba burned away, as she stood up.

It was time to get out of here.

They were going home, and no eldritch thing was going to stand in their way for long.

“Everyone, let’s do this!”

(Erebus roared, as the battle restarted).

(Erebus roared, as a massive barrage hit it - and it kept going, even as the initial assault ended, and lesser blows started to land)

(It was damaged. Slowing. But it would never end).

(And as a massive sphere of energy formed, the same one that had hit it at the battle’s beginning, Erebus did not feel dread).

(Incorporeal thoughts that had become corporeal flesh washed off of the embodiment of humanity’s desire for the pain to finally end, no matter what , as the twisted, dark thoughts that never stopped embracing Erebus pulled away -)

(And then, as the sphere of silver-purplish light ate away the abandoned essence of Erebus for a split second before hammering the monster itself, Erebus stopped screaming).

(As the closest thing it had to nerves, the things that signaled, to Erebus, pain, evaporated, it felt something -)

(Different).

(And then, the rest of the attack landed. Obliterating any thought processes Erebus may have had, and the rest of its body - but Erebus, for once, did not thrash).

(As the pain, briefly, ended, Erebus -).

(Was silent).

The dorm of Iwatodai was silent.

Nothing moved, inside. No life, human, animal, or robot, prepared meals, studied, read, played video games, or did anything - whether to train, or to simply enjoy life.

And perhaps most importantly, the cracked and sandy floor had - for the time being - apparently ceased to change, with nobody there to see it.

It was as if nobody had ever lived there. Had ever seen it as home.

And then, the stagnant silence was broken, as a groan drifted up the steps

“Ugh… thank god, it’s finally over…”

As the Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad started to trudge into sight of the upstairs - well.

Mitsuru sighing in aggravation caught everyone’s attention. “Iori. Surely you have played enough video games with stories to understand why we should not be giving the world ideas?”

“...I’ll shut up.”

Mitsuru would, usually, have followed up on Junpei’s response.

But - well. After everything that had just happened, she - just didn’t have the energy to.

As the two sword-users of SEES (thanks to Minato being out of action) walked onto the floor, Akihiko and Fuuka followed them, the boxer and hardware expert both looking somewhat more perky than the two in front of them.

“Well! I could have done without the potential deaths, but that was one hell of a workout.”

“...I’m glad you could find a bright side, Sanada-senpai.”

Relatively.

“Arf!”

“Yeah, Koromaru-san! I’m looking forward to this being over, too…”

As the two smallest members of SEES walked onto the floor, the sound of metal striking a staircase echoed up into the room.

Nobody that had entered even blinked, as Yukari Takeba came up, half supporting Aigis and half being carried by her, as the two Wild Cards - well, even if Aigis’s eyes weren’t drooping, Yukari’s certainly were, and the gynoid was giving off the same sense of exhaustion despite her wide open eyes. “Ugh… why’s Metis taking so long?”

“Metis told me that she wished to stay behind and think for a minute, but that she believed we would all be released, as long as we are not in the Abyss itself when we use the keys.”

Yukari blinked, then sighed deeply. “Great. So we can ditch her, right?”

The rest of SEES looked very surprised, as Yukari sat down, hard, on one of the stools in the kitchen, while Aigis moved towards the door. Behind them, Shinjiro Aragaki quietly trudged up the steps, Mjolnir still at his side, and not saying a word.

It was clear to everyone that she was not talking about Metis any longer.

“Wait, Yukari-san… you don't even want to find Imentet-san?” Ken asked, clearly surprised.

Yukari looked perfectly unmoved. “No. Where would we look? In the colosseum we know nothing about? And even if we did know where to look, do you think we could find her, knock her out, and drag her here in time to not have this whole place collapse on us?”

The silence was rather telling.

Aigis stopped near the door, pulling the key from the place it had been, turning her head to look at the stairs, even as she held it up.

And as she turned, a mop of black hair became visible.

“All right… Aigis?”

The android had not been the only one watching out for her sister. 

“Yes.”

At Mitsuru’s query, Aigis turned the key.

Metis walked up into the lobby, as Aigis finished bringing the small chunk of not-quite-metal that had caused so much strife into the unlocking position.

The tiny “shunk” that resulted was - rather unclimactic.

The second android did nothing, as Aigis quietly murmured, softly enough that only the people near her caught it.

(Somehow, Metis’s ears caught it too, in a way that had nothing to do with her superior hearing).

Either way, as SEES watched, Aigis turned, and opened a new door.

And then, there was light.

And everyone in SEES - well, they had expected light.

But they hadn’t expected that it would be blue.

“Congratulations, sister.”

“Good work, everybody.”

…Yukari had half-expected the Velvet Room to say hello one last time, before they left the Abyss. Igor gave her the impression of somebody who would do that sort of thing.

But she definitely hadn’t been expecting to see a face that she had sort of half-hated for a long time, but that recently she had come to hate a lot, in the Velvet Room.

Her own face, specifically.

“You?!” Yukari spat, anger rushing back in at the mere sight of the Shadow with her appearance. And -

…the Shadow that had tears trickling down her cheeks?

As this fact ran across Yukari’s mind, the rest of SEES tensed, ever so lightly, at both the unfamiliar situation and the familiar but currently unwelcome face.

“Kala-Nemi!” Ken sputtered, already reaching for his Evoker -

Without warning, a surge of power ran through the Velvet Room.

As SEES looked around in alarm, however, Igor’s grin - while it didn’t change - somehow gave the impression that he was sighing in understanding vexation. “Please, all of you. While I do understand your hostility towards our other guest, I must ask that you refrain from conflict in the Velvet Room. You have my word that, as long as you are here, we will not allow any harm to befall you from her in turn.”

This passed through the minds of SEES.

And, as Imentet continued to do nothing across from them but rub at her eyes, ever so slowly, they put their weapons down.

“Okay - uh, who the hell are you?? I thought we just walked outside!” Junpei asked.

“This is… the Velvet Room. But… why are you all here?” Yukari replied, turning back to the rest of SEES with an expression that made it clear she was just as puzzled as they were.

“There is no need to worry, dear guest. I simply summoned you and our other guest so that we might say our farewells.” The strangely soothing voice of Igor relaxed any remaining tension in the air. “I must admit, however, that I did not expect your friends to follow you here… the power of the wild card within the two of you has had an effect on them as well.”

“Uh… Aigis, Yukari-chan, you know them?” Fuuka asked curiously. 

“This is a place where those soon to awaken to their power can receive guidance.” Metis spoke up, before either of the two Wild Cards could.

“Both Aigis and my other self were guests here… and so were Minato and Minako.” SEES tensed up again, at the sound of the distorted voice that still made them instantly think of Yukari. “You don’t have to worry, you know. I’m not planning to fight you or anything, now.” SEES did not un-tense as the familiar but still-distorted voice of Yukari Takeba echoed through the Velvet Room.

“And how exactly are we supposed to take your word for that?” Mitsuru asked calmly, despite being as tense as her friends.

Imentet - veil still gone - gave them a strange look. “...why should I even try, now? What’s the point?”

“...so you know what we saw, then?” Yukari asked slowly, the memories of Erebus coming to mind.

“Of course I do. I’m you, remember?” Imentet pointed out. “I’m everything you’re hiding… everything you don’t acknowledge… I know everything you do know, too.” As she spoke, a smile crossed Imentet’s face. “So - I don’t have to fight you! I… I didn’t have to do anything, they’ll be fine!”

Yukari felt herself blush, as tears started to run down Imentet’s cheeks again and the Shadow started to bawl.

“Yuka-tan…” Junpei - to her shock - took a step forward.

Towards the Shadow that had tried to kill Aigis.

A hand on his shoulder put an end to that, though. “Stupei, stop it.”

“...T-thanks for caring, Junpei.” Imentet blubbered out, even as the renewed tears began to come to an end. “...it… …it always mattered to me…”

“You shut up!” Yukari snapped, glaring at the supernatural entity that reflected her suppressed thoughts as her cheeks heated up even more.

“I knew you appreciated me, Yuka-tan!” Junpei threw his arm over her shoulder.

“You shut up too!”

Yukari’s embarrassment was cut off by Imentet starting to giggle. “You know… I always wondered what it was like to have a brother.”

The embarrassment was worse, now.

“...Yuka-tan…” Junpei sounded slightly stunned.

“It’s really sad that you’re about as mature as Ken…”

“Oh, come on!”

“...but you wouldn’t be you any other way, honestly.”

As Junpei sputtered beside her, however, Yukari’s scowl didn’t go away, and she stepped forwards. “So why the hell are you here, anyways? Do you seriously expect me to welcome you back or something after what you pulled?”

Imentet looked surprised for a second, before her face recomposed itself. “You say that like you’re one to talk.”

Yukari’s eyes twitched. “I didn’t want to murder my friend!”

“...you don’t even want to let me back in?”

What caught Yukari off guard for a second was that Imentet sounded genuinely hurt by that. But only for a second. “What do you think!? I never want to see your face again!”

“...”

The deadpan gaze Imentet gave Yukari after that was not accompanied by any words, but was still enough to anger the archer even more. “You know what I mean!”

“Okay, look -”

(You can theorize, if you want, about what Imentet said after that - or if she even managed to say anything at all after that).

“...okay....!?”

Because either way, that single word was all that it took for Yukari Takeba to stop hearing anything but the racing blood in her pounding skull. All at once, the shock, the disgust, hatred, rage, pain, grief, and fear that had been stewing in Yukari's soul, from so many sources and that had been smouldering since she saw Imentet again -

“OKAY?!”

Ignited.

“SO HURTING MY FRIENDS IS OKAY NOW FOR ME, HUH!?”

And before anybody could get in her way, Yukari punched the dark Shadow of her soul in her face as hard as she could.

 

"Yukari!"

As her Shadow went flying into the back side of the Velvet Room, Yukari advanced, vision filled with nothing but red-

"I apologize, Yukari-san."

Before an iron grip formed on her shoulder.

"GRAAAAGH!" Not caring in the slightest for the Attendant who was currently holding her back, Yukari moved, bringing her fist up and ramming it into Theodore -

"I apologize again."

Only to be immediately brought out of her rage when her knuckles started screaming. 

...okay. So Theodore was for all intents and purposes as tough as Aigis.

Also. 

OW.

Yukari inhaled deeply. Took a deep and calming breath.

"Theodore. Let me go. I'm going to kill her."

…maybe she wasn’t as calm as she wanted to be.

“I apologize, Yukari-san, but I believe it would go against my duties as an Attendant to allow you to attempt suicide.”

Yukari didn’t tense up.

The rest of SEES did it for her, though, judging by the shared intake of breath.

“...please clarify.” 

Elizabeth’s response to Aigis was to stroll to the front of the group, an unusually serious look on her face.

And behind her, not moving from their places, were Metis and Igor.

Metis sighed. “Remember? She’s your Shadow. And… even now that you’ve rejected her, she’s still linked to you. Apathy Syndrome - the source of that is that people were having their Shadows messed with by other Shadows. When you defeated the Full Moon Shadows and the Shadows in Tartarus that had affected them, they returned to normal. But the inverse of that is that if you kill your Shadow…”

The red clouding Yukari’s vision finally lifted as the rage drained from her face (and the blood drained from the rest of SEES’s faces).

And a few seconds later, despite her clenched fists, she slowly uncurled her fingers. “Fine. I won't kill her. Let me go.”

Theodore may not have been socially adept, and he knew it. But he shook his head regardless. “I also believe it would go against my duties to allow you to harm yourself.”

“...I won’t attack her any more, then.” Yukari choked out, scowling.

Theodore seemed to be willing to accept this, judging by how he - slowly - released his grip on her shoulder.

And perhaps surprisingly (or not that surprisingly), Yukari indeed didn’t attack her Shadow. Instead, she just stood for a few seconds, glaring darkly down at Imentet. The Shadow in question made no move to get up from where she’d slid to the ground.

“Yukari-san.”

“Aigis?”

“This may be an odd way of comforting you, but… I believe I know where Metis came from.”

The sheer oddity of that non sequitur caught the rest of SEES’s attention. “Aigis, what the hell do you mean?” Shinjiro questioned.

“It’s like I said before - I belong on this side.” Metis stated.

“...of the desk?”

Imentet chuckled slightly at Junpei’s question from her place on the floor. “Yes, you sweet dolt, but that’s not what she meant.” Despite the insult, Imentet’s voice was affectionate.

Yukari’s eye twitched, and she turned her head to Metis, pointedly refusing to look Junpei (who she knew was grinning again) in the eye.

Metis smiled gently. “It’s almost time for the Abyss of Time to disappear. Everything will go back to normal. And - you can all watch over them again. And sister… I’ll watch over all of them with you, as long as we both live.”

“Metis…” Aigis muttered. 

“Metis. There’s something that’s been bothering me.” Mitsuru’s voice caught everyone’s attention. “Who are you, really? Do you know?”

Aigis tilted her head just as Metis did the same. “I think you already know, don’t you? With her here, it should be obvious.” The black android jerked her head to the other side of the desk, and the Shadow on the floor.

“Her?” Akihiko looked over to Imentet, for a second before the penny dropped. “Wait, are you saying that… Hang on. Even if you’re an Anti-Shadow Weapon too, you don’t look anything like Aigis!”

Metis kept smiling gently, and strode forwards past the desk. 

And as she did, she changed.

Black shifted to gold and white, and Metis’s skirt of hanging metal vanished between one second and the next. Black hair turned to a familiar blonde and grew from relatively straight to noticeably messier even as it stayed the same length, as the mask that made her face hard to see at times vanished, and her feet became slightly more like pegs.

And as Metis came to a halt in front of Aigis, the only discernible difference between them was the shade of their eyes and Metis’s beaming face.

“I’m sorry I was such a brat, everyone.”

SEES took a few seconds to process the distorted voice coming from the Aigis lookalike standing in front of them.

Junpei was the first to recover. “Eh… we’ll call it even. You helped our butts out enough in the Abyss.”

Metis giggled. “Thank you. Thank you so much.”

“...well, it looks like you were wrong, huh Aki?” Shinjiro chuckled to himself.

“...did you transform after I said that just to make me look stupid?!” Akihiko demanded, recovering next and glaring at Metis like he had when they first met.

Metis only continued to smile.

“Hey, are you gonna say anything!?”

“Woof! BARK! Arf ARF arf!”

“I - okay, I guess I was, but I’m not now!”

Lighthearted chuckles filled the Velvet Room even as every human there wondered exactly what Koromaru had said.

In the background, Akihiko sighed at the lack of response.

“...thank you too, sister.”

Metis beamed brighter than the sun at Aigis’s praise. “You don’t have to, sister. I’ll always be there for you now, no matter what we face together… your heart is my home. And… I’ve never been any happier than when I’m with you.”

Two metallic limbs snaked around Metis, as she stood smiling at SEES, much to her surprise.

And as Metis began to return the embrace, Aigis spoke. “I’m sorry I cast you out. That… I decided I didn’t want you. I… the people I love gave you to me. They would never want me to ignore you so I could better protect them.” Her grip tightened. “I should have known better than to ever even consider throwing you away...”

“I forgive you, sister. I always will. And… I don’t want to leave you again, okay?”

Aigis’s grip grew even tighter. “I promise, Metis… I won’t ever abandon you again.”

Metis’s smile grew even bigger. “Thank you.” Then, she took a step back. “The souls of all living things are connected through a plane similar to a sea. That’s part of where I came from… and your heart is connected to it. Just like all of us are. You’re as alive as anyone else now…”

Metis was cut off midspeech by Aigis embracing her again.

“So are you, Metis.”

Water started to drip from Metis’s eyes.

“Sister… I’m finally going home…”

As the twins hugged again, Metis began to fade.

And before anyone could process that enough to panic -

A spear stabbed into the air.

A familiar figure appeared before SEES, as Metis vanished - or, more accurately, as Metis transmogrified.

A familiar face, covered by a helmet with a great red plume, was hidden behind a rotating shield that looked uncannily like a ring, in some ways, with a white gown that was so very unlike the black that she had worn just seconds ago.

And as SEES realized that, Athena stood proud once more.

Notes:

Armageddon: Deals 9999 Almighty damage to all enemies. Reduces users' HP and SP to one each.
...also, because they're not going to appear otherwise, here are the reworked versions of Minato and Minako's ultimate Theurgies, Infinity and Last Judge respectively!
Infinity: All party members repel all attacks against them, Almighty, Break spells, and Theurgies included, for 3 turns. Minato cannot act during this time, and for one turn after Infinity ends, and is weak to all affinities save Almighty during this time.
Last Judge: Minako nullifies the resistances of all enemies for the rest of the battle (Tetrakarn, Tetraja, Wall spells, and Makarakarn included), and all party members can't be knocked down, hit for Technical damage, or critically hit for the rest of the battle. Knocks Minako down and makes her Dizzy (this Dizzy lasts one turn and can't be cured normally).

Chapter 14: The Seven of Swords, Reversed

Summary:

Reversed, the Seven of Swords represents appreciation - among other things. An apology is being given, and so is constructive criticism. Something lost is being given back, but you might be dwelling on past errors that led to your loss in the first place.

You’ve been wronged in the past - but the person who wronged you has come back to apologize and make up for what they did.

Of course, it’s your choice as to whether or not you forgive them - or yourself for letting it happen.

“So… okay. Metis was… Athena?”

Shinjiro sighed. “We were told Shadows and Personas were the same thing, Iori. And we all saw that Imentet was Takeba’s Shadow, and Metis was Aigis’s Shadow… apparently. Were you paying attention at all?”

“Okay, look, it’s one thing to kind of get told that, and - I figured it out! But - there’s knowing something, and then there’s actually like - having time to process it when we had to deal with each other, the Abyss collapsing, Imentet going nuts, Erebus, and that seal - and all this too!” Junpei protested, sticking a hand out towards the unphased Igor, Theodore, and Elizabeth.

“Arf!” Koromaru’s response to the transformation was to walk up to Athena and start sniffing her without a visible reaction from the Shadow returned to her Persona form.

“I guess that’s - well, that’s why she lost Athena, when this started.” Ken mused. “Athena became Metis… and that means…”

The eyes of SEES fell to Yukari Takeba.

Both versions of her.

Yukari refused to meet the eyes of her other self. “So we can leave now, right?”

“You’re - not gonna talk to her, Yuka-tan?” Junpei asked, looking surprised.

“Why would I?” Yukari replied, crossing her arms. “I’m not planning to get involved in any Shadow related stuff again. I don’t need her.”

“Like we weren’t planning to wind up in the Abyss?”

Shinjiro’s deadpan response made Yukari exhale furiously. “Okay, maybe we will get involved in Shadow stuff again. But so - so what, then!?” Yukari snapped, gesturing at the reflection of her. “I’m supposed to just look at her and admit that - that this heartless bitch is supposed to be ME?!”

“...Yukari-san. I believe you may be reacting - not entirely rationally.” Aigis stated calmly.

Athena was still hovering behind Aigis, and that was what set Yukari off. “OF COURSE I’M NOT! WHY ARE YOU BEING RATIONAL!? WE - I COULD HAVE KILLED YOU!” 

The rest of SEES flinched backwards, but Aigis somehow stayed in place. “Yukari-san, it is fine. I-”

“Stop saying it’s okay!! Stop acting like it’s fine! HOW can it be fine that I hurt you?!”

The Velvet Room fell silent for a second, as Aigis thought. “Yukari-san. You do remember that Metis tried to kill you as well, yes?” 

As she spoke, Athena - much to everyone’s surprise - actually moved. 

Namely, she took the hand that wasn’t holding her spear and rubbed her helmet with it.

“Guess she’s feeling sheepish…” Akihiko muttered to himself.

Yukari just shook her head at Aigis’s reminder. “Metis had amnesia! She didn't know a damned thing, and - she got closer to us. She even apologized even before she realized what was happening or who she was. And she - she didn’t!” Yukari gestured furiously in Imentet’s direction. “She knew the entire time who she was, she spent time with us, and - and she still did that! Metis was acting in self-defense by then! She - she probably knew from the start that it could kill you and Metis by taking your key, and she didn’t even tell us because it was fucking COOL BY HER! She - she didn’t even care!”

“Yukari… how do you know?”

Mitsuru’s question just made Yukari shake her head. “I… I just know, okay?! I know! Like Metis did! And that just makes it worse! I - I could have killed you, Aigis! I could have killed you, she would have killed you, and she’s m - she says she’s me! I would have killed you, and - it wouldn't even have done anything, and - why don’t you care?!” Yukari’s voice hitched. “I - I would have killed you for nothing, and - I’m supposed to just accept that I was the bitch who did that!? They’re going - whether they’re fine or not - nothing I did for them would make a goddamned difference whether we went back in time or not! We just would have gotten hurt even more and they still would have had to make the Seal no matter what I was willing to do to you!”

-she couldn’t see clearly, oh she was crying-

“How... how am I supposed to live with myself when part of me was willing to kill my friend?!? How can - how am I supposed to even look you in the face?!”

-Huh. She could only see the velvet floor, now…

The Velvet Room was silent for nearly a minute, as Yukari’s chest heaved in and out, the breathing - slowly - calming her down.

“...do you remember how Metis acted when she first saw you, Yukari-san?”

“We just went over that!” Yukari snapped, still not looking up. Still not making eye contact.

…calming her down a little.

“Yes. But that is not my point. Do you remember what I did, when she tried to attack us?”

“...You protected us.” After another ten seconds of deep breathing, Yukari replied with a frown that could be heard but not seen. “What are you even getting at, Aigis?”

“She may be you, but that doesn’t mean you’re her.”

All of SEES - save Aigis - jumped, ever so minutely, when they heard Metis’s voice.

“Metis - Athena - you can talk?” Mitsuru asked with wide eyes, turning to the Persona.

“Personas can talk?” Junpei looked surprised for a second, before he grinned. “Ah, sweet! I’ve got some questions for Trismegistus!”

“I think it might just be me, actually. And not all the time. And I wasn’t talking to you.” Junpei deflated, as Athena turned back to Yukari. “Think of it this way. She was - she grew up with you, in a sense. She’s part of you - but that doesn’t mean she’s all of you. I’m part of my sister… but that doesn’t mean she’s all me. And… I’m not sure I’m just part of her any more, to be honest…”

Igor’s lighthearted chuckle caught the attention of everyone there. “Not just one, but two of our guests have Personas and Shadows so very verbose… truly curious.”

“Yukari-san.” Aigis continued, after a few seconds of silence made it clear Igor wasn’t going to continue. “I understand you are angry. Both with yourself, and Imentet-san.”

Yukari didn’t reply.

“Yukari-san.” Aigis walked up to her. “I forgive you. I cannot speak for the rest of our friends - but I do speak for myself.”

Yukari’s gaze finally shot up. “…why? I… I was trying to hurt you. I could have killed you... she would have killed you… and you’re saying that’s fine? That - that I should just forgive myself and pretend it never happened?!”

Aigis met her eyes unhesitatingly. “Yukari-san. It was my own actions that led you to not be aware of the risks. I... I chose not to tell you, because of my own feelings. And when you became aware of them, you stopped yourself, Yukari-san... and you're hurt. You are hurt, so much, and have hurt for so long…” Aigis’s hands wrapped around hers. It was amazing how gentle the Shadow-destroying android’s touch was. “...there would be no point in holding any grudge against you. You have held one against yourself long enough already.”

“...my sister rejected me.” Metis’s voice coming out of Athena’s mouth again caught everyone’s attention. “When Minato and Minako fell asleep and didn’t wake up… she wanted to abandon her emotions, because of how scared she was she would lose them, that she wouldn’t be able to do anything about it, and how much it would hurt if she was powerless to save them. Because she thought being human let something hurt them. Because being human hurt too much when they fell in love with you before she even really understood what love was. That’s how I was born… because she rejected those emotions and refused to admit they were there.” Athena - no, Metis’s - visor didn’t move, and her head was still in place. But everyone there could still tell she was looking at Yukari.

“Imentet-san… Yukari-san, she was born from the grief inside you and the desire to be sure they were safe no matter what that required. Just as Metis was born from the pain inside me. I know that. We cannot change the past.” Aigis didn’t move as she kept speaking. “But… isn’t Metis proof that what is inside our hearts can change?”

“...so you’re saying we’re both team-killing assholes on the inside, then?” Yukari muttered darkly.

“Perhaps we are.” That particular reply made the eyes of every other member of SEES widen. “But - as Metis pointed out, that is a part of us we rejected. Maybe it is part of us…”

“...But is it who you want to be?” Metis’s interjection paused the conversation. “Because… honestly? I like myself better now that I’m not like that any more.”

Aigis smiled. “Do you wish to be that way, Yukari-san?”

Yukari’s eyes narrowed as they fell back to Imentet.

To the woman who had befriended her, and all the rest of SEES, and then tried to hurt them or outright murder them to get what she wanted.

…I finally get what Ryoji felt at the end, I think.

I hate myself.

The memory of the young man who had nearly seduced Minato and Minako -

…no.

…there was no point in thinking of him right now. He was gone, and this wasn’t the time or the place. No matter how confused her feelings on him were - there was somebody else who needed her attention.

This was her.

This could be her.

She had already been angry. She had been angry for a long time. At her mom. At the people who drove them out after dad died. At her dad, even if she didn’t want to admit it, before she knew the truth. At Ikutsuki, after she did know the truth.

…and at herself. 

…she was angry. No matter how much of a lid she tried to put on it.

…but…

…she could be her. 

And refusing to admit that would just make it more likely that this might be her.

She couldn’t deny that any longer, no matter how much it disgusted her.

That didn’t mean, even if she accepted that, that she would be her.

“Yukari-san?”

Aigis was starting to worry. Yukari had been staring at Imentet for nearly a minute now, clearly seething, despite her earlier attempts to calm down.

…but she hadn’t attacked herself, at least.

“...I don’t really like you that much.”

…hadn’t.

“...Yukari…” Mitsuru whispered.

Everyone in the Velvet Room could tell exactly who that statement had been intended for.

“...”

“...you’re a bit of a bitch sometimes, you know that?” Yukari continued, her scowl never leaving her face. “You do your best to dress it up and keep it down usually, sure, because you don’t really like being one. But I really don’t know how anybody even tolerates you when you are. You’re distant half the time with everybody. You’re horrible at trusting anyone enough that you’ll let them see who you are. It feels like you don’t even give first chances unless you want to. And if you make up your mind, it feels like you don’t change it no matter how much you should unless you get that thrown right in your face!”

The Velvet Room was silent, as the Shadow and her counterpart looked each other in the face.

And after a few seconds, for the first time since Metis had returned to her sister’s side, Imentet spoke.

“Yeah. That… is me.”

Yukari’s fists clenched.

“A bit of a bitch... a bit of a lover... a bit willing to admit when I messed up... A bit of a loner... a bit too ignorant of when I'm messing up... and a bit of a sweetheart. Just like mom, right?”

Yukari’s eyes all but shot out of her head, with how furious her gaze was.

But she didn’t say a word.

She didn’t deny it.

And Imentet smiled.

“And just like you, too.”

“...I know.”

It took Yukari as much willpower as it had to pull the trigger for the first time, to spit those words out.

But she still did it.

“Gah. You really are part of me, aren't you…”

Imentet smiled. “Took you long enough… well then. Since I am thou… and thou art I…”

The image of Yukari Takeba in a dress meant to evoke images of ancient Egypt stood, becoming translucent and see-through even as she did-

And between one second and the next, Imentet vanished. In the span of a few heartbeats, Isis hovered in front of Yukari again.

Yukari - slowly - reached out. She didn’t say a word. But she reached out regardless.

And the second she brushed a finger across the see-through image of her truest Persona, Isis disappeared once more, vanishing back into the depths of her heart.

As that happened, Yukari - without warning - felt exhaustion hit her. “Whoa… why’s my head spinning…?”

“Yukari?” Mitsuru asked with a concerned tone, walking forwards. 

Even as she did, Yukari fell to her knees, one hand on the ground as she fought to keep her eyes open.

“Ah… I believe… I feel tired…”

Aigis collapsing into the chair that Minato had used in the past divided SEES’s attention again, between the two Wild Cards, Athena vanishing as exhaustion overtook her. “Aigis?!” Fuuka begged in a high tone, fear filling her voice. “I - you two didn’t do anything like what they did! Why are you-”

“I… dunno…” Yukari muttered, eyes already dropping.

“I believe… I may require some time to wake up…”

And before the rather concerned eyes of SEES, Aigis and Yukari’s eyes dropped shut, as the world around them went dark.

Chapter 15: The Ten of Pentacles, United

Summary:

The Ten of Pentacles, when upright, represents the ties of family. You’re all bound together, in the security of a shared home. There’s trust among you, and you’re financially stable, possibly with a family occasion coming soon.

Reversed, the Ten of Pentacles represents family problems. A quarrel is taking place, and you feel there’s a threat to you financially. You may feel burdened by the responsibilities and commitments you have to the people close to you.

You're all together, at last. ...but being together does raise the chances you'll drive each other crazy.

The oblivion of sleep around her was nice, at the moment.

“-an, you gonna wake up any time soon?”

“....mmggghhh?”

Of course, in hindsight, realizing that the oblivion of sleep was around her was a sign that she was going to be waking up soon.

Slowly, her eyes opened. It was a near herculean effort for her, to be honest.

“Oh, hey, Yuka-tan!”

“Yukari-chan!”

“Good to see you up, Takeba.”

“...Huh?” Yukari sleepily muttered, as the fog in her brain remained heavy over it, and the fog in her eyes slowly lifted. “What is it?”

“Well, you apparently needed sleep even worse than Aigis-san did.” Ken replied.

“Arf!” Koromaru barked.

“Huh?” Yukari asked, yawning again as she slowly rose to a sitting position. …okay, she was still waking up. Sue her. She really wanted to go back to sleep, at the moment.

“You were asleep for like - we got back at midnight!”

Yukari’s head did not snap around to look at the dorm clock, and she did not blush when she saw it was ten minutes to noon. 

“We were worried about Aigis for a bit there.” Shinjiro sighed. “Her synaptic circuits stopped working, according to Yamagishi.”

…Yukari had no idea what specifically that meant, but any part of Aigis not working was cause for alarm. But if Shinjiro was talking about it so casually… 

…ugh, she wanted to sleep, but this was too important. Yukari shook her head, still not fully awake. “What happened?”

Mitsuru crossed her arms. “Our best guess is that using the Wild Card for so long overloaded those circuits - but she’s actually started functioning without them. We can’t - well, we might be able to replace them, but considering everything that’s been happening, that might be best put off until we understand what’s going on better. We couldn’t wake you up when we brought her up to her room, but after she woke up, we decided it would be best to just let you sleep it off and get some rest ourselves.”

“So… everyone’s not hurt?” Yukari felt no shame in admitting that was what she focused on, as she brought herself to a sitting position.

“I’m going to get us all a checkup to be sure we don’t have any long-term problems from the Abyss, and I’m going to talk to the labs about Aigis… but so far, the only visible symptom of our problems is that Minako and Minato still haven’t woken up.” Mitsuru declared. 

Just this time yesterday (“yesterday” being before the Abyss of Time), nobody would have been willing to even say their names, especially around Yukari. 

Yukari winced. “Yeah…” But she spoke anyways.

“Hey, wouldn’t it be kind of funny if they woke up today?” Junpei grinned.

“As pleasant as it would be to see them soon, and as much as I do hope you’re right… I find that unlikely.” Mitsuru admitted. “Creating that seal… clearly drained them. And pushing themselves into staying awake until we all remembered our promise likely drained them even more… even without knowledge of whatever the long-term effects could be.”

Yukari sighed. “I hope you’re wrong…”

Mitsuru nodded. “As do I.”

…that reminded her.

“Hey… Sanada-senpai? Amada-kun?”

The two electric-users of SEES paused and turned to her. 

Yukari winced. This was… not gonna be fun. “Hey, uh… I... I still... well, don't get why you didn't even think about going back in time. But... I'm sorry about how I was a bitch to you about it. I... I was mad, and I wasn't even trying to  be fair, I was just trying to hurt you when I said that. I'm sorry. You don't have to say you forgive me or decide anything now, but... I just... I hope that helps.”

Akihiko and Ken looked at each other. 

And a second later, Akihiko's arm lashed out.

Yukari's eyes went wide less than half a second after the senior's arm started moving, but that was still far too slow for her to even try to dodge. The boxer's fist was practically blurring as the last bit of distance between it and Yukari vanished, and then -

THWAP!

"OW!"

...okay, that was going to sting for a while.

"...apology accepted." Ken wasn't making eye contact as he spoke while Yukari nursed the new bump on her head.

Akihiko shook his hand lightly. "I pulled the punch, Takeba." His eyes narrowed a bit. "Apology accepted, and I think I should be okay with it eventually. Don't use Miki against me like that again, though."

As Yukari rubbed her head in pain, not even Mitsuru spoke up. "...got it..." Yukari managed to choke out the words around her new headache.

Akihiko sighed. "You weren't wrong, though. ...heck, after listening to everyone, I think about half of us were being idiots in all of that. I've... got some stuff to think about."

“I think we all do, Aki.” Shinjiro sighed. “Nothing to do about that but move forward and think about it, though.”

That observation was met with nods all around.

Mitsuru, as it turned out, was not wrong.

April Fool’s Day ended, without, despite the hopes of everyone in the dorm, a single call from the hospital.

And the week after that, Yukari Takeba’s third year of high school started without the man and woman she loved at her sides.

“Hey, uh… Takeba. Do you have any idea when they’re gonna wake up?”

Yukari sighed. She didn’t really care that much about Kenji Tomochika. And this was the tenth time she had been asked that today by somebody who hadn’t been in SEES , even if it was the first time he had asked it. But he was Minato’s friend, for better or worse. “I don’t know. We’ll just have to wait.”

“Okay... I bet Rio’s already talked to you about Minako, right?” Kenji replied with a smile.

If I don’t get to her first, tell her I’m gonna make her training even more intense than it was last season for worrying us all sick!

“Yes.” 

The week ended without them waking up.

She and Aigis had visited them three times, twice separately and once together (she had kissed them on their lips when nobody was looking. It didn’t wake them up - but it helped her). Everyone else had gone to see them at least once - and the sheer volume of flowers and cards in their room hadn’t decreased in the slightest.

Over the next few months, she - and the rest of SEES - visited infrequently.

No matter how long or short the breaks between visits were, though, Yukari always took the opportunity to sneak a kiss in on each of their cheeks.

True love’s kiss may have been cliche… but, well, it couldn’t hurt their chances, right?

It made her feel a bit better, at least.

And eventually, the 27th of June, 2010, came.

Yukari - hadn’t really been thinking of them much, at the time, honestly. She had been eating out with Aigis, Mitsuru, and Fuuka - just a girl’s day out at a fancy restaurant.

(Fancy for everyone but Mitsuru, at least).

“So, how’s college going?” Yukari asked curiously. “Are you and Akihiko-senpai fitting in?”

Mitsuru sighed. “Akihiko… actually asked me if I could cover for him.”

“Um, what do you mean?” Fuuka’s tone was clearly one of curiosity.

Mitsuru shook her head. “He asked me if I would be willing to help him go on an overseas trip, after he passed his entrance exams. He said he wanted to get his head cleared out and straightened up before he decided on a career path, after the last few years.”

“Can he… do that?” Yukari sounded confused. “I mean, can his family afford that?”

“They can’t. But I can.” Mitsuru stated casually. “He can enter college when he returns, if he wants to. And a similar offer remains open to all of you, should you wish.”

“Wait - really??” Fuuka’s eyes went wide.

“Of course.” Mitsuru stated. “After everything you’ve all done putting your lives on the line for so long without reward, cleaning up my family’s mistakes… that is the least that the Kirijo Group owes you.”

“...do you think you could help me, Minako, and Minato all get into the same college when we apply?” Yukari asked with a cheeky grin.

Mitsuru chuckled. “Considering your shared grades, I doubt any of you will have trouble getting into any college you -” The redhead was cut short by her phone starting to ring. “Hang on.” Without ado, she picked it up - and froze.

That action, or lack of action, got everyone’s attention. 

“Mitsuru-san? Is all well?” Aigis asked, concern in her voice.

If Mitsuru heard Aigis, she didn’t acknowledge it. Instead, she tapped the button, and listened. “Hello?” Yukari had no idea what Mitsuru had heard on the other end of the call. But the stunned look crossing her face between one second and the next was a sign of - something. 

“Both of them?”

Yukari, Aigis, and Fuuka, as one, went utterly still.  

Let it be them. Please, please. Yukari began to quietly whisper to herself, as her fingers dug into her legs.

“Kirijo-senpai?” Fuuka asked, eyes pleading.

Mitsuru’s response was to hang up -

And to smile. 

And at long last, Yukari’s prayers were answered.

“Call Iori, Amada, Akihiko, and Aragaki. That was the hospital.” She inhaled deeply, looking as if all the troubles she had gone on this lunch break to escape from had evaporated. “They’re awake.”

…Minato had to say, he really preferred the last time he’d woken up in the hospital.

He (and Minako) had Yukari as company then, after all, but that was probably just bias.

…He was still tired. And considering the last thing that he remembered was falling asleep on the 5th of March, and that it was now the end of June… 

…hindsight really was twenty-twenty.

“Hey, bro, who do you think will get here first?” He shrugged, in response to Minako’s question.

“It depends on if Aigis or Yukari decided to wait for everyone else, probably.”

“Probably!” Minako responded with a grin, before she yawned. “...you know, you would think sleeping for more than three months would mean we were energetic, when we woke up.”

“...We’ve probably got muscle atrophy.” Minato pointed out.

“Yeah.” Minako sighed. “Rio’s really not gonna be happy the next time I have practice…”

Minato yawned. “...I’m gonna fall asleep till they get here.”

“Right with you, bro…” Minako muttered, eyelids already drooping.

Before they could close their eyes for more than a few seconds, though, the sound of running feet became audible, even through the door.

“HEEEYY!”

“Iori, behave yourself! This is a hospital!”

“You know, Mitsuru, it’s funny you’re telling him to behave when you were almost running yourself.”

“...be quiet, Akihiko.”

“Um, everyone, wait!”

The twins listened patiently, as Fuuka Yamagishi spoke confidently but awkwardly - and loudly enough that even through their door, barely open, they could hear her loud and clear.

“Yes?”

“I… I think Yukari-chan should get to go in by herself first.”

“...all right. Are there any complaints?”

There was silence.

And a second later, the door slammed open.

As the rest of SEES waited behind her, Yukari walked into the room, shutting the entryway behind her.

And as she saw Minato and Minako looking at her with open eyes, her mouth formed a smile and her eyes began to sparkle with water. “Hey…”

“Hey, cutie!” Minako grinned.

Minato said nothing. But the smile on his face - so very rare - spoke for him.

“Hey…” Yukari repeated. 

…her brain may have been a bit too overwhelmed by joy to think of a good reply. “...can I kiss you?”

Minato smiled. “Always.”

“Me first!” Minako interjected.

Yukari chuckled as she walked over to the brunette’s bed and bent over.

“I’m just… so happy you’re both awake.” Minako was pouting as Minato kept a pleased look on his face. It was absolutely because Yukari had decided to cuddle up in his bed instead of hers. (She got kissed first, so this was the trade).

“Okay, Yuka-tan, you’ve had your kiss and make up! Can we come in?!”

“...all right, fine!” Yukari yelled at the closed door.

And with that out of the way, the rest of SEES poured into the room.

“Arf! Arf!” Koromaru barked, rapidly springing up to Minako’s bed and starting to lick her.

“Ah! …good boy! Good boy!” Minako yelped, before a smile came back to her face and she began to pet Koromaru’s head affectionately. “It’s good to see you!”

“It’s -” Fuuka cut herself off as she rubbed at her eyes again, the tears briefly cutting off her words. “I - we -”

“We’re - really glad, to see you both made it out.” Akihiko confessed, looking as if he was trying not to sob himself.

“Indeed.” Mitsuru added. “After - everything… I - words cannot express how glad I am that you two were not among the lost.”

“Guess we’ll be doing recovery shit together…” Shinjiro muttered to himself.

Ken was beaming, as he stood at the foot of Minato’s bed. “I’m really glad you’re both awake!”

“So are we.” Minato’s words made everyone there feel ever so slightly better.

“Minato-san. Minako-san.” As Aigis walked into the room, the eyes of the twins - previously split between the rest of SEES, or just Yukari - went to her. “It is good to see you both again.” Her eyes fell. “I am aware that you do not blame me… for the events with Ryoji-san… but once again. I am glad you forgave me - and I, as ever, will be there for you should you ever need me.” 

“Thanks, Aigis!” Minako grinned.

Yukari sighed, from her spot on Minato’s bed, and then - with a stiffness that made it clear she didn’t really want to get up - moved out of it. “I’m glad it all turned out okay. I just… have a question.”

“What is it?” Minato asked.

Yukari sighed, and closed her eyes. The smile on her face never left it.

She wasn’t sure - well.

As she rose out of Minato’s hospital bed, she could -

…she wasn’t sure how to describe it.

She could almost - 

It wasn’t an image, or anything as - complex as that.

It was…

…well.

She had - an inkling, in short?

That… well, this time, it might be a good idea to - rethink - actually, no. Yukari knew, in that instant, that - well, she could just - not say the words, the demand, really, directed at the twins, that had been burning in her throat for nearly three months.

And she’d still be satisfied with the outcome of things. Maybe more satisfied.

Yukari thought about this, for less than a second.

And as she stood up, just at the end of their beds, the moment was quickly forgotten, and her next words were almost pure venom.

“Why did you cut your souls in half and not leave behind anything that would tell us what the hell happened to you?”

There was silence.

The Arisato twins were not, by any measure, cowards. They had fought in the Dark Hour for nearly a year, gone through relative after relative who hadn't cared with only each other as a real support system, and faced down the primordial mother of all Shadows, the closest thing that humanity had to the grim reaper and a primal goddess in one, without blinking (much).

And as they looked at their girlfriend, smiling “sweetly” at them with her eyes closed, and the rest of their friends, all of whom were smiling in a very similar way or looking completely unsympathetic…

Thunk. Thunk.

Yukari’s anger vanished as Minato and Minako passed out again.

(The twins would say, years down the line, that they were very fortunate their bodies chose that specific moment to faint from exhaustion).

(It was absolutely a coincidence).

(...it actually was, but even they never really believed it).

Chapter 16: The Lovers, Upright

Summary:

The Lovers, when upright, represents choices. Trust, duality, sharing, unions, love, partnerships, reviewing a relationship, choosing a path that will affect your life.

Choose well!

Notes:

...well. Here we go. The epilogue!

In this chapter - well, take a look at the tags, and you'll see some - new additions. I really hope that I did a good enough job foreshadowing this in the main story so that it doesn't feel like it came out of nowhere - breadcrumbs were scattered everywhere, but I didn't want to make them too blatant.

And Cipherian, if you're still reading - I did base this story on Phantom Dumbasses, but I really went off-script here... I hope you like it regardless.

And Flower, I hope you enjoyed reading this! It's not as angsty as all we know, in my opinion, but - well, again, I hope that you liked it.

Content Warning: Mentions of Yukari's - close-to-suicide attempt in Chapter 8.

It had been a good study session for entrance exams, in Yukari’s opinion. It had lasted only an hour and a half before Minako and Minato had felt their energy starting to flag and Aigis had needed to bring them back to their rooms for a nap, but it was still an improvement over their previous attempts.

“Yukari-san. May I speak to you?”

And there was her other roommate now. She had no idea how Mitsuru had gotten the four of them a whole house to share, but she wasn't complaining. “Sure, Aigis! What is it?” the brunette asked, turning around without moving out of her chair.

The gynoid sighed, not sitting down as she spoke. “I wish to speak to you about yourself, Minako-san, and Minato-san.”

Yukari Takeba's heart, the second she beard those words, dropped straight to the bottom of her gut.

She was - well.

No matter how much she hated it, no matter how twisted, out of context, and deliberately meant to hurt and provoke her Imentet’s words had been at the time, they weren’t lies.

And…

No matter how much she wanted to not be dependent on Minako and Minato any longer, she wasn’t willing to let go of them.

Even for her friend.

“I -” Yukari sighed. “Aigis - I know you love them. Believe me, I get it… but - I love them too. And - they make me happy.”

Aigis smiled. “I am glad to hear that, Yukari-san.”

Yukari sighed again. “Yeah. So you know, already, that - I’m not gonna break up with them for you. Sorry, but - wait, you already know that. What’s this about?”

Aigis blinked. Then, she smiled. "I understand, Yukari-san, and I cannot blame you for your feelings. In the end... I distinctly remember my initial reactions to Ryoji-san. I have no room to judge you, for wishing to keep them to yourselves. But - you have misjudged why I wished to speak to you. I do not wish for you to break up with Minato-san and Minako-san. I am here to speak about you and them - as well as myself.”

“Then - why did you want to talk about me and them?” Yukari asked.

“...I have been studying polyamory, as practiced by you, and others.”

Yukari blinked. Where had that - well, okay. She was being polyamorous, sure. But - there was - no, that was silly.

There was no way…

“Yukari-san?”

…Aigis liked them.

“Um… what?” Yukari snapped back to attention.

And even as she started paying attention, she became aware of something.

Something felt - big, for lack of a better word, in front of her.

Even though nothing had changed, physically, she could almost sense something nearby, something that she could tell -

Well.

It would affect her, no matter what happened.

And... whatever it was, it would not be going away, any time soon. It was going to stick around.

"Yeah, what is it?"

“You have indicated to me that your heart is... not restricted to a single person, Yukari-san. And Minako-san and Minato-san have indicated to me that theirs are not, either.”

What?

“Uh… yeah?”

…she isn’t. 

…Right?

At the exact same time that Yukari thought that, Aigis opened her mouth.

“I... would like to share my heart with you, if you would let me into yours.”

Yukari’s brain capacity, without warning, flatlined.

“Yukari-san?”

Yukari did not respond, simply gazing vacantly into a horizon that could not be seen from inside their dorm.

“Yukari-san?”

Images of the Abyss of Time, and the months that the four of them had spent together as roommates, were rushing through Yukari’s head, blocking off any input from the outside world.

“...I appear to have stunned you, Yukari-san.”

Date nights passed through her mind, and memories of Aigis helping her cook for the twins, or helping them around their dorm, as they dealt with the perpetual exhaustion, physical and mental, that the Seal had caused them.

“...Yukari-san?”

And, particularly persistent in her brain, was the image from a few days ago, of when Aigis had carried the three of them to Yukari’s bed, and spent the night watching them.

Had -

Had she -

Yukari shook her head, clearing her brain out.

Save for a single conclusion.

“...you’re joking.”

The place in Aigis’s heart where Metis stayed now sank, as Yukari Takeba shook her head.

Not in rejection, like she had feared.

But in disbelief.

Not that Yukari-san thinking her confession was a lie was much better.

“You... you have to be joking.” Yukari continued, quietly.

Aigis’s eyes went to the ground. “...rest assured, Yukari-san, this is not a joke. I… I love you.”

“It - it - how can't it be a joke?!” Yukari retorted, shaking her head in disbelief with wide eyes. “I - I seduced Minato and Minako away from you, I was a bitch for nearly a month, I barely spent any time with you until the damned Abyss, and you fell in love with me?!”

“...yes.”

 

 

Yukari was silent for several seconds at the blunt response, before she shook her head again. “I... how? How - how could you -”

The fucking colosseum flashed through her brain.

Minato and Minako flashed through her mind, of kissing them happily in front of all of SEES -

With Aigis watching quietly in the background, as the twins she loved had their hearts taken by somebody with no intentions of sharing.

Somebody who she said she had come to love herself.

“...how could you all love me?”

“...It was quite easy, Yukari-san.” Aigis tilted her face up again, as she spoke. “You made it quite easy to fall in love with you.”

Yukari didn’t respond. Aigis continued.

“When - you ended our battle by - when you ran yourself through to protect me, when you decided you would rather do that than hurt me…”

Yukari looked down quietly at the reminder of the -

…fuck it.

There was a damned thin line, practically no line whatsoever, between a suicide attempt and what she had done.

But before her mind could drift anywhere darker -

“Yukari-san?”

Aigis’s hand reached out, gently grasping Yukari’s.

And as the brunette blinked in surprise at the hand holding hers, the dark thoughts began to go away.

“I - believe something changed in me. I… only ever saw Minako-san and Minato-san that way before. But… I... it was curious, to be the one being protected.” Aigis admitted. “I… thought about it, for some time. And I realized that I appreciated it. I… more than appreciated it. And… this is how I wish to express that appreciation of you. That - love of you.”

Yukari - well.

What happened next was - 

As Aigis’s words sank in, the strongheaded young woman’s eyes narrowed, and her body language became closed off, as she spoke, the defensiveness that had protected her soul even as it isolated it for years resurfacing.

“Prove it.”

“Yukari-san?”

“...you say you love me? Prove it.” Yukari reiterated, crossing her arms defensively.

Aigis did not pause for more than a second.

“Very well.”

Without waiting for a response, Aigis drew closer and crouched down so that her face was level with Yukari’s.

"If I make you uncomfortable, or you do not wish this to happen - please tell me, and I will stop immediately."

The words crossed the space between the two young women.

And when Yukari processed those words, her brain froze up.

…no.

Yukari’s closed-off posture abruptly broke, and denial that this could be happening rolled across her brain as Aigis drew closer.

And closer-

Aigis -

No. There was no way that-

- Aigis was-

And then, before Yukari could pull her thoughts together, Aigis made it to her, leaned to her mouth -

Yukari’s eyes were wide open, and as Aigis’s closed, they -

…Aigis was kissing her.

…Aigis was kissing her.

…Aigis was kissing her.

Aigis was kissing her… oh god…

Yukari's face combusted, her brain far too broken to respond to Aigis making out with her - whether with acceptance or rejection.

Plastic and metal gently ran over Yukari's lips, and no matter how hard her mind screamed, the idea of telling Aigis to stop never crossed her mind.

And then, without warning, after moments that felt like they had lasted hours, the kiss ended.

...well, she sure proved it...

“Yukari-san.”

-Aigis was talking to her.

Yukari blinked, shock shaken from her dazed and burning face. Aigis tilted her head as the other young woman collected her thoughts. “I… understand your position. I - love them, as you do. But - I do not love them alone.” Aigis nodded. “I - will speak with them separately - but this is my wish, now. I hope you accept it… and - I hope that I have not drastically misread the situation.”

Yukari could do nothing but stare dead ahead into her friend’s(???) metal and plastic orbs, words still beyond her, as Aigis looked her straight in the eyes.

"Please, Yukari-san. I will understand if you decline. And… I would ask that you speak to Minako-san and Minato-san, too. They are both precious to me, Yukari-san… and you are precious to me too. I will not require that you say yes to me, or that a reply come swiftly… but I ask that you give it some thought and not refuse me out of selfishness, or pressure them into agreement if you do wish this yourself - and that if I change my mind, that you respect my decision. I… have spoken to you first, instead of them. I… wished to approach them first, but… I believe I ‘chickened out’, as they say.”

She could still see that - she - wasn't sure what it was -

No.

She knew what it was, the - the choice stretching into the horizon and out of sight, that she couldn't make out, but that she knew was there. Two paths diverging - and two paths that would exist, she knew, for a long time, because - Aigis was being serious.

Two paths were in front of her - and the best way to sum up what separated them is that one was what would happen if she said "yes", and the other was what would happen if she said "no".

Yukari somehow managed to slowly nod. But Aigis wasn’t finished.

“And as much as I do believe I desire this… I must ask, for your sake, that you do not say yes to me just because of any guilt you feel or desire to make me happy without thinking of your own happiness. I do not wish to extort false love from you, or to force Minato-san and Minako-san into giving me a place in your heart if they do not wish to share it - or to force them to give me a place in their hearts they do not wish to give me. And regardless of what you decide, and whether or not Minato-san and Minako-san accept my wish… I hope we remain friends regardless."

Aigis stood.

“I wish you the best… Yukari.”

And that was it. With her piece said, the android turned around and walked away.

As Aigis left, Yukari slowly processed what had just happened.

…huh. Never would have thought Aigis would take a page out of Ryoji’s book…

As that strange picture crossed her mind, the picture of Aigis kissing her again entered it too.

Yukari’s cheeks went red again.

And as she blushed, without thinking consciously she reached up with one hand and lightly brushed her lips.

Notes:

...well, there we go. I hope I didn't turn off half of my readers with the idea of Aigis asking Yukari about letting her join the "Cuddles Yukari Takeba" club, so to say...

Also, just for the curious, that sensation of "paths"/"choices" that Yukari got is basically a sort of sixth sense that she got after completing her Journey in the Abyss of Time, as a parallel to the Universe for the twins and Aigis becoming fully human in personality - it's a sort of "sense" for when serious choices lie in front of her, almost. It's not exactly foolproof, and sometimes it just reinforces what Yukari already knows - but it can be useful, at times.

Of course, as we saw in the last chapter, she doesn't have to listen to it...

Well. I hope you all loved this story! It's kind of amazing that the last chapter is out now. I've been working on this since - January, I think. That might not seem like much, but all of my previous projects tended to not be this - focused, really. I'm kind of amazed I managed to do this. (And this - probably - isn't the end for this story - I have a plan or two for a oneshot, following up to this - but, well, that might take a while, because I have so many ideas that I can't always focus on all of them).

Thank you all for reviewing, kudosing, and everything else that you've done here! I deeply appreciate everybody who stuck with this story to the end - and anyone who is reading this after it's finished, I hope you enjoyed Yukari and Aigis's shared Journey.