Persona: Frozen IC (Open)

[Noel]

Did I ask to be in a carnival ride? No.


A blur was all I could see uve' my surroundings. The continuing zip that Grimwell's Death-Go-Round isn't helping either. By now my hands would've lost their grip and I would be flying. Thankfully, these gloves have some weird etched cross things helping hold on to the skeletons giant sickle. During each zig and zag this unneeded monstrosity did I tried saying some words during a stable dash, provoking him. "You know!..You!..Could make!...A Good pony ride!"

I had enough uve' this, my glove's grip were starting to show that they weren't that all perfect. Especially since I'm sliding towards the blades sharp edge. Please. Please. Tell me that 'armor plated' gloves actually can live up to their name. Finally the etched grip gave out and slid off on to the blade of the scythe. I couldn't feel any slice uve' my fingers, well yet. Any sudden movement uve' sliding on the blade. I'd be nicknamed no finger Noel.

Still In a drastic situation, but maybe I can could do at least something about the momentum he's giving me. Left. Right. Left. That's it! As soon as Grimwell turned once more, I immediately whipped my self up to where my legs went up to his neck, er well at least his collarbones, and wrapped them around it. Then finally putting the last uve' my momentum pulling him towards me and rolling backwards in the air to throw him down on to the ground, letting him crash towards the school floors.

Uve' course being the graceful Orca as I am, Issac Newton thought it would be a great idea to explain gravity again, and I fell down to the floor as well, not as hard as the flying taxi service over there but, it was enough for me to cough some blood.

I stood back up slowly with my slight trembling legs back up right. "You guys might want to call the Janitor.." I heard behind me to what was an energy-ish and screech. As I turned around to see some red head come up to Val, flirting for some reason, and asking what was going on. I figured I'd come over there and help explain, but I realized that what I did to Grimwell was too easy. Turning back to see the dust from the crash clear up, I yelled out behind me. "Can we discuss that later please?" As I came to duck under two smaller Grimwell looking things tackling me and then elbowing them to oblivion. Huh.

The people's elbow?

 

[King Naruto]

"You do know that we have to help them, Lilim?"a green haired beauty spoke pleasantly to her companion. Her shallow heels clanged against the floor as she walked forward. A green motif etched into her style. A smile aimed at her fellow partner brought an air of glee to the situation. Smoke rose from the earth below before condensing beside her and rapidly taking a solid form. A form akin to that of a snow wolf but entirely composed of smoke. "Please....clear the air." The wolf raised it's head into a harsh howl that echoed throughout the area. Smoke slowly escaped it's mouth in a huge volume. The area that the one known as Maxwell and his victims resided in was slowly covered in the dense smoke. It was so dense that the ability to see completely impaired.

"Guess I could help out, Miraye." Lilim closed his eyes to the world around him and opened his ears. Unless they trained tirelessly on their other senses, it was expected that everyone that wasn't Lilim would be hindered by the cover of smoke. He rose his hand into the air as if to grab something. In the palm of his hand a black goo slithered from his pores, molding itself in the shape of a black and white sword with a mouth on it. The blade resembled a nodachi in length and appearance. His persona was unlike any other. Instead of taking a normal form akin to an animal, human, or just generally disturbing appearance, it was naturally a sentient weapon.

Without a moment's notice, Lilim dashed forward. His steps were quick and light. Speed far outweighing the pure strength that he actually lacked in comparison. Sight was not used to figure out the exact location of the puppets, instead he used the sense of touch and sound almost like a radar. One swing cleaved a puppet through it's chest. Dust rustled from a quick spin, feet sliding across the ground as he turned his blade to slice through another puppet during the spin. A few more sounds gave way to the action followed by the clearing of the smoke. Lilim stood behind Maxwell with his sword pointing at the back of the villain's head. "So....how is your day going?"

 

[KingdomKey]

This wasn't really happening, right? Valerie looked over her shoulder to see Phoenix appear out of nowhere from several feet away, impaling a puppet shadow straight through the head. Am I okay? Valerie felt a bubble of laughter rise into her throat. How do you explain a scene like this to someone who wasn't here to see it the first time? Then it clicked. You can't. Another shadow stepped into Valerie's line of sight, that she acted on impulse and punched it in the face. Withdrawing her hand away, she hissed from the throbbing sensation of pain burning through her fingers. Long as I keep hitting something, the pain will keep my head on straight. Or so Valerie thought, when Phoenix called her, 'beautiful' and once again asked her, if she could explain.

As Valerie went to open her mouth to say anything to tide Phoenix over, she noticed the heated look on Phoenix face as if, enduring some sort of pain. About to inquire what was wrong, she heard Noel's voice cut in and dispel all of her thoughts instantly.

"Noel!"

Valerie felt her heart skip a beat at the sight of Noel getting tackled down onto the ground with a thud by two miniature Grimwell, and watched him fight back with his elbows. Seeing a few droplets of blood smeared on Noel's lower lip was enough to make Val freeze in place for a moment, feeling like an invisible clock was mocking them as blood was beginning to be spilled in this icicle hell. As she looked past Noel, she could see Saito had thrown himself into the fight with Max's Shadow, leaving Crystal on her own, and weaponless. There was simply too much going on around them. If Phoenix hadn't disappeared, she might not act so indifferent to him, and had been feeling a lot kinder to explain it all to him. Right now, she didn't have the energy or the time for it. Casting an apologetic glance at Phoenix, she muttered two single words, "I'm sorry."

Then she took off running as fast her feet could carry her. "Get the hell... out of my WAY!" As if Crona had heard her thoughts, ice shot out from beneath Valerie's feet, piercing any of the shadow marionettes reaching out for her and keeping them at bay. The moment Valerie was close enough, she leapt out with arms stretch out before her and tackled one of the Grimwell's off of Noel's body; grabbing it by the torso and using the momentum to knock it into the ground with her a few feet away from him. "Leave Noel alone!"

After a crashing onto the floor, Valerie quickly rolled off of the Grimwell's body and got up off the ground. Staggering slight, she pressed herself up against the wall and willed the black spots to disappear from her sight. Inhaling deeply to clear her head, she noticed the distance wasn't as much as an issue as before for her to assist Crystal and Noel's injures. Wait... How did I know I could heal them? Instead of questioning it, she felt Crona awaiting her command. "Crona... use Media!" Crona strummed her guitar as she manifested into the air and casted a healing green glow onto Crystal's arm first, ceasing the blood dripping from her arm and removing the wound.

Knowing Crona couldn't get to Noel with the other Grimwell in the way, Valerie threw herself onto the other Grimwell and placed it in a choke hold with her arms, feeling it trying to claw and shake her off. "Again... use Media!" Obeying her command, Crona lifted her arm up in a sweeping motion and casted another healing green glow over Noel's body. A soft smile touched Valerie's lips, knowing whatever injury Noel had gotten would be gone as her strength began to waver from over using her persona.

In one abrupt jerk, Valerie felt the Grimwell throw her off of its back and into the air, hitting the ground hard as she landed with a heavy thud and felt the air get knocked right out of her lungs. It was enough for her to lay there on the ground, trying to inhale through the pain she felt in her back and chest. As if that wasn't bad enough a dense smoke filled the room, making it harder for Valerie to breathe without coughing, and unable to see a thing clearly. I think things...just got several times worse.

 

[Eva]

I wanted to say I thought I was dreaming, but all things considered, very little was starting to really surprise me. Well, it did, but as more and more stuff happened it became very easy to accept it. Like monsters and people summoning creatures and weapon slicing and this one guy coming out of nowhere. I swear, it was all straight from an anime (and a video game, maybe).

Meanwhile everyone's jumping around doing stuff, what the hell could I do? For now, stay back and don't get in the way. All things considered I was calm and collected, but maybe right now the best thing I could do was just watch and see what happens. I still have no idea what exactly was going on, so there was no point in just...rushing in. Right? I don't know. I don't know anymore. This is all too crazy, I should've stayed home.

 

[nightmarezeroX9]

Whatever seemed to be going on was happening pretty fast. The boy that no one knew had a twin it seemed, tho this one seemed incredibly hostile, and his eyes were an eerie gold color. The encounter with this twin ended up with it transforming into something horrifying, something entirely unreal. The appearance of whatever it was caused Jack to open his mouth in slight shock, staring at it with a mixture of awe, and fear. Immediately afterwards, nearly everyone jumped into action, attacking the monster, along with puppet like creatures that had appeared along with it. Causing even more alarm was the fact that a few of the club members were summoning beings that were helping them out. Cures had smashed his fist to the side of him, and something that looked like a store mascot had came out, and fired out a few shards of ice to destroy the puppets. His friend had then leaped in front of him, telling him to get to safety, as Jack did not have a weapon.

Looking around, there wasn't really anywhere to go besides outside, but Jack couldn't abandon Cures, and everyone else for that matter, when their lives were in danger. Sure, normally he wouldn't care about others, but they were fighting like their lives were at stake, and it might very well be. Without a weapon, Jack was indeed a little useless. He knew how to use his fists in a fight, but compared to that of his sister, he was like a baby. His strength was with a weapon of some sort, although a polearm like Cures's would be a better choice. The icicles that had formed around the school seemed to be too thick to snap off and use. What could Jack do? His thoughts kept racing. At this point, it was looking like he'd either have to resort to hand to hand, or stay back at Cures's suggestion. Or so he thought.

Crystal had taken a hit from the monster that had once been Max's twin, or whatever. Jack didn't know what the hell he actually was. Last he checked, your twin didn't have the capability to morph into a boss out of a video game. The hit that Crystal took knocked her back, causing her arms to bleed, and forcing her to drop her katana. This was Jack's chance. He dashed past Cures, intent on picking up the katana to use. He was trained in the use of many weapons, luckily the katana being one of them. It would have to do, although Jack wished he had his glaive, which he was much more proficient with. One of the puppets had attempt to take a swing at Jack, but he quickly avoided the attack, sliding underneath the puppet. While sliding, he grabbed the katana, quickly stopping himself from going any farther on the ice, and spinning back around to face his attacker. The puppet had already begun charging for a counter attack, intent on causing harm. Gripping the blade with both of his hands, he ducked underneath the shadow's attack once more, but this time bringing a powerful horizontal slash across the puppets body. The puppet had been cleanly sliced in two, both parts of it's body falling to the ground and melting away until nothing was left. Jack took notice that the puppets didn't bleed, and they weren't human, which made fighting this things much easier.

Turning around, two more puppets had charged at Jack. The floor was slippery due to the ice, so wildly running all over the place could prove to be potentially fatal. Waiting for his targets to get closer to him, he sprung into action. Blocking one of the puppets strike, he pushed it back throwing the creature off balance. The other one had come up immediately after, attempting to land a blow in Jack's abdomen. He parried the attack, swing the blade to the side, throwing the puppet off balance. Immediately after the first swing, Jack swung the blade again, causing a deep cut in the puppet. It was enough to kill the puppet, as it melted into the black mass, same as the previous one. Not forgetting the other puppet, Jack faced it, watching as it came to attack one more time. Before it could reach him, however, Jack had thrust the katana forward, impaling the puppet. It melted away, signifying its end. Most of the group seemed to have the large monster under control, despite taking a few hits from it. Jack figured he would join in on fighting it, but before he could, his left eye began to burn. The sensation was intense, causing Jack to grip his eye, and fall down to one knee. He was vulnerable. Any of the puppets could attack him at this moment. Luckily, and maybe unfortunate, a smokescreen began to cover the entire area, and Jack couldn't see anyone else. The only thing he was alerted to was the voice of someone else, someone entirely new. The insanity of this situation was only increasing, and the pain that Jack was feeling in his eye only made everything seem much worse. He stayed there, kneeling, and waited to see if the pain was subside.

 

[Max]

The battles around me raged on. Maxwell's physical burst of energy, his 'Mind Slice', made definite contact with the golden-eyed girl. I watched as she began flailing aimlessly at the marionette creatures. Could she see okay?... This could get bad. Another boy from outside took the opportunity of Golden-Eyes abandoning her weapon, and he began to take action against the puppets himself. Everybody was getting on board trying stopping this in any way they could.

The Mind Slice also seemed to nick the boy covered in scars, but it barely affected him and he began dodging attacks left and right from the little creatures, slowly taking them out. All of a sudden, I watched him direct his gaze at Maxwell, and forming his weapons into an odd pair of nunchucks, he started started racing at the flying Grim Reaper.

I looked up to the ceiling as Maxwell flew the cocoa boy around in the air. The boy was slipping, it was looking pretty close, and then he totally took me by surprise. He used the momentum of the spinning to throw himself upwards and wrap his legs around Maxwell's neck. As they naturally turned backwards in the air, the boy launched his foe down into the ground. My eyes trailed along with Maxwell's falling skeleton body, and I witnessed the scarred boy reach him just before he hit the ground. He began swinging his newly formed nunchucks at Maxwell with rage and with speed, his strikes all connecting, which knocked the bag of bones back into a wall before he could even hit the ground.

It wasn't too long after I watched Mr. Cocoa stagger his way over to the small battle with the marionettes before I noticed Maxwell start to move again. His body slowly slipped up against the wall, beginning to float again, but almost as if he was using the wall for support. As his body rose to the point that his robes weren't touching the floor anymore, I saw something drop from out underneath of him. What was it? It was white, and there was a small pile-

They were bones. I didn't really think about it since all I could see of him besides the black hole of a robe was his head and each of his hands. In the pile of bones lay an entire skeletal leg, from foot up to the shattered thigh. Beside it was a smaller leg, it was the area from the ankle up to the knee. The foot was there too, but it had been broken off. And then there were a couple more bones... Were they ribs?

Maxwell wasn't gliding through the air with as much ease as he was before. Even as he took the form of death, I felt like I could tell he was in pain. He gripped his scythe, and began flying right towards the scarred boy like a jet. He spun his scythe and looked as if he was planning on plowing into the boy not with the bladed end, but with the butt of it. Before I could see the result, I heard a thud nearby that startled me, making me naturally turn my head to see what it was. I watched Blue Eyes fall to the ground, heaving in exhaustion after taking out a couple marionettes. I went to redirect my attention to the fight between the broken Maxwell and the fierce scarred boy, but as I turned my head my vision was quickly clouded by smoke.

I could barely see, and it was harder to breathe than before. I looked around, and I couldn't see Blue Eyes on the ground anymore, as if she'd been absorbed by the smoke. I could no longer see cocoa boy or Golden Eyes, I could hardly even make out the boy with the grip on my shoulder. The only thing I could really see... Was Maxwell, and his mini-marionette copy cats. He was definitely a good distance away, the only explanation I could make was that I could see him because of our connection.

I didn't know what to do. What was causing this smoke? Did he do it, or was it something else. If it was him, then he may be able to see through it, he may be able to slowly pick everybody off one by one! I jerked my way out of the guy's grip and started running towards Maxwell. It made my shoulder hurt like hell though, he was holding me pretty tight. The pain now went directly across my left shoulder and merged with the pain in my neck from the jerky slapping I'd been given earlier by Blue Eyes. I held the shoulder with my right hand and pressed forward through the smoke.

A couple of marionettes with scythe-arms confronted me on my way. I made an attempt to make a quick dodge to my right, but slipped on the ice beneath my feet falling right on my butt. How I made it this far without slipping was beyond me. As I started to sit up, one of the marionettes flew through the air right at me and I just managed to stop them from stabbing me in the face as I wrapped both of my hands around it's neck.

"AHHHHHH!" I let out this small wail as my muscles tightened and burned in the shoulder I shouldn't be using. The marionette slowly pressed it's little blade toward my face, it was strong considering it's size. I redirected it's blade away from my face towards the left, and then my muscle gave and it lunged right into my injured shoulder. I let out another painful scream as the little scythe tore into my muscle tissue, inducing a pain far worse than any paper cut I'd ever experienced. The next marionette made it's way over towards us, and as if some animal instincts kicked in, I gripped the arm of the marionette that had stabbed me, and ripped it and it's attached blade out of my shoulder. Keeping my grip on it, I waited as the next marionette leapt through the air at me and jammed it's friend's little blade into it's head. I let go of the little monstrosity, and watched it struggle to get it's blade out of it's friend's head. I then turned toward the larger Maxwell and soldiered on towards him.

I managed to make it to him without coming across anymore enemies, and I could now make out the figure of the scarred up boy close by. Then, I heard that voice.

"So....how is your day going?" I heard come from behind Maxwell. Maxwell turned to face him at the same time I looked around to see the figure of another man pointing his sword at Maxwell's back. The smoke slowly started to clear, and as the figure of the man became more and more clear to me, I became even more tense. I mean, what was it about this man that made me feel uneasy? It wasn't the same uneasiness I felt from Maxwell, and nothing particularly stood out about him. He had black hair, and he wielded a sword, but none of that was it. Maybe it was his eyes, the way he looked at Maxwell. The look of someone intent on taking out his prey... And that sword, it didn't seem, natural. Where did this guy come from?

I kept my hand pressed against my bad shoulder, and blood started leaking between my fingertips from the blade wound. I looked upon Maxwell's face, if you could call it that, and he looked back at me.

"Maxwell, this has to stop! I don't want anybody else getting hurt!" I tried to plead calmly, as if I've been able to act calm at all so far.

"You had a chance to prevent this the moment you stepped into this castle. You won't do what you need to do." I wasn't sure how to respond. I won't do what I need to do? What do I need to do? I gazed up at his face, and I didn't say another word.

"So be it." I could hear a slight tremble in his mighty voice as he gazed around at each of his enemies. He was drained, I could tell he was losing his strength, which wasn't surprising.

The dark aura that was around him before appeared, and it seemed as if his breathing was picking up. He was mustering something up, this wasn't good.

"MAMUDO!!!" Maxwell released most of what energy he had left in what seemed like a final attempt at victory. His dark aura began shooting through the room in all directions, filling everything up like the smoke that was here not long ago. I looked around trying to see if everybody was okay, not sure of the effects of the attack, when all of a sudden I felt my body get blasted by his overwhelming dark power. I was lifted off my feet and flung backwards through the room. My body didn't stop until I felt it crash into somebody, and I couldn't tell who it may be. The impact wasn't the worst of it. Once I was on solid ground I tried to stand up, but I instantly keeled over as I felt a sharp pain in my stomach. The pain grew, and began coursing through my body.

This must have been because of Maxwell's attack, this awful power. My head started thumping and I grabbed it as my body twisted around on the ground. I gritted my teeth as my head felt like it was going to blow. I just hope to God he didn't hit anybody else, because this felt like pure hell and Maxwell needed to be stopped.

 

[Cassette-Disk]

As another shadowy blur raced at Crystal, she ducked under its attack and savagely swung her fist at it's face, noting the soft red drips that followed her arm's movement. When her fist connected, the shadow vanished but her hand cried in a white pain. Noel had gloves for punching, and Val had shoes for kicking, and they both had at least a small amount of training to effectively use their body parts as weapons. Crystal had none of those things, even in her current state. She had power, sure, but without a proper way to channel it she was likely to damage herself as well as her opponents. The musician shook her wrist once, trying in vain to shake away the pain as her vision slowly began to clear.

A soft green glow was quickly approaching her, and unsure of what it was, Crystal put her arms in front of herself again in defense. To her surprise, the glow went straight to her damaged arm and began to mend it. In less than a second, her arm was fully healed; no gashes, no scars, even her hand had returned to its normal flesh color and ceased thumping in pain. Seeing Valerie cast the same spell again, Crystal smiled.
"Thanks, pal." She said, rubbing her eyes quickly as she returned to full strength. "I owe you one." It didn't take long for another shadow to rush the girl, but this time she knew better than to face it head on. Dodging the scythe, Crystal grabbed hold of the wooden handle before kicking the shadow off, leaving only his arm still gripping its former weapon. Another nearby shadow took this as an act of war and also ran towards her. She smiled in response, swinging the scythe horizontally at the shadow, purposefully swinging in such an arc that the blade was now behind the shadow. With a quick chuckle that was practically a purr, she pulled the weapon towards her, decapitating the lesser being.

Her ears perked up. There was a familiar sense of dread that was emitting from the Grim Reaper Shadow that would spell doom for anyone not ready. Though her own Persona was locked away, she still drew power from it. As a result she knew the darkness of this attack would not do her much harm. The others might not be so lucky. Not that it mattered to her at the moment. None of them were important to her anyway. Crystal's eyes widened. One of them was important to her. She couldn't remember how or why, but one particular college student could not be left behind. The room crackled with dark energy and she knew she didn't have much time. Thankfully Saito wasn't too far away from her as he held his own against the onslaught of shadows. She ran in front of him, spreading her arms as far as she could to absorb the dark blast.
"Stay behind me." She growled at the waiter as the darkness loudly began trying to suck her life away. She wasn't sure if standing in between the attacker and the attacked would work, but it was better than nothing.

Darkness wasn't all that bad, as Crystal could testify. It was what came with the darkness that was the main problem. Whether it be complete loneliness, a dog-piano, or an army of undead, darkness was often a warning sign. This sudden attack was no exception. The wind howled mercilessly against Crystal as it attempted to push her back. She could feel the invisible forces graze past her as her hair whipped about her face. Something collided into her, causing her to lose her footing. Someone is most likely dead, she told herself, and that person almost caused me to fall backwards. Thankfully, she just managed to steady herself as the attack ended. To her surprise, the body in question was still very much alive, and it belonged to none other than Max. Crystal shook her head in an attempt to readjust her hair. The room was eerily quiet. Like an underground catacombs that had been left untouched for centuries.
"You alright back there, pal?" Crystal asked Saito, breaking the grim silence. After making sure the waiter was still a part of this world, the shadow looked at Grimwell. It was obvious he had weakened. This last big blow was his last shot, and she had survived, which meant that he soon wouldn't. But before that, something else had to be done.

She calmly walked over to Max's downed body and sat him up, dropping the scythe she had stolen from the shadow next to him. She noted that keeping him steady wasn't going to be easy, so instead of holding on to him by the shoulders she placed both hands on his head, forcing it to look back at her.
"Max?" She said, in a weak attempt to sound kind. "Max. Look, I know you're hurting right now, but it's important you listen to me. I don't know what's happening right now between you and Grim over there, but you have to accept this. He is a part of you. I know you don't want to admit it, but you have to accept that this is just how you are, at the very least to a certain degree. If you don't he'll come right back. He'll be back and we might not be there to stop him when he does." Gingerly letting go of Max's head, Crystal stood and faced her opposing Shadow. "I'll be right back." She told him.

"Sorry, I don't think we'll get the chance to talk after all." She said, walking towards it while pulling back her sleeves. One more punch wouldn't hurt. Not much, anyway. "If it's any consolation, you did scare the crap out of me for a second." She was quickly reaching the now weak Grim Reaper and began to sprint towards him. When she got within range she jumped towards him, placing her left fist into her right one and above her head. As she began to fall back to the ground she brought her arms down in a sledgehammer motion against Grimwell's head, hoping to hear a soft popping noise followed by the sound of a skull hitting the ground. Hey, a girl can dream.

 

[Noel]

I'm gonna hold on till there's nothing left.

I thought there was nothing I could do. I expended all my energy throwing that robe and bones down to the ground, I can hardly handle the mini me versions uve' him right now. Two we're on top uve' me and all I could do were throw elbows to keep from them to slice the flesh off uve' me. Well. That was until Val came in to save the day.

The cuts and internal bleeding i probably had felt as if they vanished. As if the self inflicted wounds were gone. I couldn't even think about it, the only things I could here were Valerie's voice come in to mind. 'Get the hell out of my way' she said. She came in full charge ripping off these things from me helping me back up from the distracting the lesser two, then went off going off to give the other one a choke hold.

As I finally got up, scrambling to get on my feet from the slippery floor I looked up to see Valerie get thrown off landing flat on her back. Hearing her gasp for air, my body tensed. My reaction felt as if i saw somebody died in front uve' my eyes.

You know how I never seem to be the guy get angry? Well. If you hurt my friends, you rather wish you had the Hulk get angry at you.

I dashed at a high speed with the newly given energy Val and her Persona gave me, jumping over her laying body towards the mini me version of Grimwell, lifting the both uve' my legs up for a drop kick towards his face. The impact was so strong it actually knocked it so far back it crashed into a window before landing straight outside.

As I recovered back from the strike, I looked and walked over to Val; picking her up carefully, making sure I didn't cause any more pain for her before carrying her on my back. I turned my head over a little to say. "Get some rest,you deserve it Val. I think our fight is done for now" As I carried her over to the now weak master Grimwell, Max and Crystal. Over hearing the last bit of what Crystal said to Max, I added "Even if you can't accept who you really are, doesn't mean you can't change it later."


Boy. I wouldn't mind having that movie date plan we were talking about after this is all done. We all could use a break.

 

[KingdomKey]

It's warm. Why do I feel... so light?

Valerie's mind slowly came to the conclusion that someone had picked her right up off of the floor, and held her securely in their arms. Inhaling the familiar scent of hot cocoa was enough for her tired blue eyes to open up, and welcome the sight of Noel's warm back pressing against her cheek. A sense of relief washed over her after listening to him tell her to 'rest' and felt the hold on her legs adjust as she was carried across the room. "Aren't I heavy?" Val whispered into his back. A silly thing to ask at a time like this, she knew. Had it been someone else, she would of demanded they set her down; despite feeling weak and exhausted. "This is the first time someone has carried me in a long time. It feels nice." Then a smile touched her lips at the new thought she had. "Now I know what I was missing out on, and why kids requested piggy back rides so much. You can see so much from up here. Its like a whole new world for short people to look down from." At the back of her mind, Valerie knew she was rambling on and probably not making much sense. "And your back is really comfortable too..."

Peering over Noel's shoulder, Valerie could see Crystal hitting Grimwell over the head with her fists as Max looked on from where he sat on the floor. Looks like he's the only one left with a severe enough injury. Somebody should take him to a hospital... Crystal looks like she's doing okay... Is the fight really over? The question lingered on inside the back of her mind as she half listened in on what Noel had to say to Max, and used what energy she had left to concentrate on staying awake. Only to lose that battle as her eyes began to close; submitting to her exhaustion at last. "Wake me up... when you get tired of carrying me."

 

[Peace]

After his assault, Saito landed on the ground. Problem is that anyone can easily tell his favoring a leg and that was not the one he touched down on. So pain shot up his limb, threatening to make him fall. Adrenaline can only block out so much pain and he's almost within the grasp of exhaustion shown by him breathing heavily. Have to keep going! He told himself as he righted his balance then ran at Maxwell.

During his sprint, he cleared up his eye with the side of his fist. The flow of the red liquid has slowed down a bit in the course of this fight. It took a few seconds for his colored orb to adjust to the light pouring into it. When it did, the sight of the faux Grim Reaper seemingly crap bones greeted him. He would have grinned at the damage he had done if the rack of bones wasn't all of a sudden rocketing towards him.

Unfortunately, he wasn't quick enough to dodge the strike. The blow to his torso knocked the air out of his lungs and made him tumble onto the floor, losing his weapons in the process. This left him on his side coughing and gasping for air. As if to give him another reason to hack his brains out, smoke started pouring into the school. Shortly after, it cleared up somewhat to show the Maxes sharing another dialogue. The conversation didn't go well as a dark aura seeping off Maxwell increased and lashed out at everyone with a command.

Ma-whaba?

That question was quickly answered by a dark mass coming at him. Saito instinctively knew that if he were to get hit by that, it might not end well. So he moved his arms in an attempt to cover his vitals. But the with fatigue in his limbs, he would not be able to move them in time. His body flinched to brace itself against the incoming pain when something moved into his line of sight. Crystal? was his first thought when he processed it.

Following the blast passing, Crystal was still standing. Saito's head perked up when she asked if he was okay. "Huh?" He said dumbfounded. The lad collected himself and replied "Uh, yeah." While the possessed girl went to talk to the Maxes, he looked at the floor and wondered Why did she take that hit?

See? Even she knows you're weak...

Shut up, Saito retorted while punching the ground in anger. For some reason, he hated being protected. It wasn't a manly pride thing. It was more a combination of him usually in the position of the one helping and trying to do everything himself and failing at it. He couldn't care less if he got hurt so long as someone else didn't. He also detests the thought of someone covering for him. This doesn't mean he's not appreciative of the gesture.

Accompanying a sigh to quell his anger, the music lover used his fist as a crutch to get up. A hiss of pain escaped his lips as his weight shifted on his bad leg for an instant. After recovering his coat and clackers, the Jojo fan joked with a slight grimace I really gotta stop losin' my balls.

 

[King Naruto]

Lilim's calm demeanor allowed him to be unfazed by Max's retreat back to Maxwell; Maxwell was obviously the shadow of Max. The golden eyed beauty just stared at the teen. There was no reason to give chase and plunge his blade deep into Max's sternum. Between Max and his shadow talking and the other teens fighting against the puppets, Lilim felt no need to finish for them. Plus he knew that if he did outright kill Max in order to stop this then they wouldn't take well to that. Watching what happened next would delight Miraye and himself far more. It seemed that Max had no control over the shadow; that would be more of a problem then anyone could imagine.

"MAMUDO!!"

Darkness arose from Maxwell's body at such a speed that Lilim was taken by surprise. A powerful spell indeed, Lilim would not to act fast to avoid the damage. Miraye could fend for herself so, her well being was not his concern. "SHIELD ALL!" the element of Almighty surged forth from Ragnarok, the sword in his hand, in the shape of a shield that covered Lilim's entire body. The shield caught the full force of the technique, slowly digging into the earth as it slide back from the force. Nasty little attack that was stopped by the shield. Dark and Almighty were opposing elements lending to Lilim's protection being much better. Once the attack had ended and everyone was more so okay. Lilim decided to speak up.

"Not the terms at which I expected to meet other users but, nice to know you do exist."

 

[Kazem]

There was quite a bit happening around John, but oddly enough, he didn't really give it any thought. He was busy with Max and the tongue filled with the sensation of burnt chocolate. Oh and it burned. Both of them did. Max burned with confusion, frustration, embarrassment, so many emotions. John could feel him twitch, his blood pulsing quick and strong, his shoulders slumping from secrets and his feelings being let out. John's tongue twitched, blood thumping inside, burnt from the extreme hot, the muscle relaxed to avoid bumping into any teeth.

Heh.

But there was something wrong. No, it wasn't the giant cloaked skeleton terrorizing them from down the hall, nor the several smaller cloaked beings lining said hall. John felt...odd. There was this feeling of urgency swelling up within him, almost trying to come out. But now wasn't the time, he wasn't about to hurl in front of everyone, and so he gulped and decided to loosen his grip. Funny enough, he did lose Max as smoke quickly started filling the halls.

There was ringing in his ears as a voice boomed out, echoing throughout the halls. John could feel the physicl blast of embodied death coming towards him, but he didn't panic. He could move, flexing his legs and curling his fingers. Not one arm was raised, not one eye blank as the blast came towards John. He stared at it...

...and nothing happened. It was just gone, not even a rush of following wind hitting John's face. Given, his stomach may have become even more troubled, but that really was minor to everything else happening around him. A new recruit was apparently here with them, though a number of things were odd about them. A hand was raised and waved once as John's eyes traveled to the mouth on the sword, causing a gag and choking up John from saying anything without blurting out more than words.

 

[Max]

My head kept spinning. I wouldn't have been surprised if I started foaming at the mouth like a wild animal, that darkness Maxwell hit me with hurt so bad. I felt like a tiny person was inside of my stomach trying to cut their way out with a rusty knife, and then a tiny track team was running laps in my head wearing their little spiked shoes. I could almost feel each individual little stomp. It seemed likely that my brain would soon become oatmeal and I would become a mindless fish flopping around gasping for air.

I was brought back into the moment when I felt somebody sitting my body up. I didn't know who it was, I couldn't focus. I knew there was person, I knew even more-so that my head was about to split in two. The person grabbed my head and made me stare at them. I was weak, I couldn't resist them at all, and my head thumped as I was forced to stare into those bright golden eyes.

"Max?"The golden eyed girl spoke my name more calmly than I would have expected. I stared deeply into her eyes that made me think of nothing but Maxwell. "Max. Look, I know you're hurting right now, but it's important you listen to me. I don't know what's happening right now between you and Grim over there, but you have to accept this. He is a part of you. I know you don't want to admit it, but you have to accept that this is just how you are, at the very least to a certain degree. If you don't he'll come right back. He'll be back and we might not be there to stop him when he does." She knew... Everybody probably knew... Even me. Maxwell, he's... I felt Golden-Eyes fingers smoothly slip away from my face, and I watched her turn to look at a hurting Maxwell. "I'll be right back," she said to me as she walked off towards my other self.

My hand made it's way back up to my throbbing head. I didn't want to let the pain get to me again. It was still hard to focus on something in the room for too long, but I needed to fight this pain and stay aware of what was going on. That was when I noticed Cocoa Boy was beside me, carrying Blue-Eyes on his back. "Even if you can't accept who you really are, doesn't mean you can't change it later." He was right, the things I've done were horrible, but if I make it out of here, I don't have to be that person anymore. I can accept who I am now, and change later. "Thank you..." I responded to him.

I looked back towards Golden-Eyes just in time to witness her mighty blow. She'd started a sprint right towards Maxwell, who looked to be struggling to hold himself together, then she leaped through the air with her fists together and brought them down hard on his head. He wasn't even able to attempt a dodge, and his body crashed down into the floor.

A cloud of dust formed where their bodies had been. The throbbing in my head instantly stopped, as well as the tearing pains in my stomach. All I could feel now was my aching shoulder that's been bruised and stabbed, as well as the icy cold floor beneath me. The marionettes had all disappeared as well, and those that were fighting them could now be at ease. I struggled my way up to my feet as I grabbed hold of my bad shoulder, and I stared into the dust cloud. It was thinning out now, and I could see two silhouettes standing in there. There was the silhouette of Golden-Eyes, and then there was him. Maxwell was standing beside her, but he no longer took the form of death. The dust totally cleared, and I could see that he now looked just as he had before the fight, just like me. Except for his eyes.

I slowly walked over to him. Golden-Eyes said that if I couldn't except the truth, then Maxwell would lash out again. I don't think we would make it through a second time. I stood about a foot away from him looking straight into his eyes. His demeanor was calm, it was as if nothing happened to him. Golden-Eyes was beside me, and I kept hearing her words over and over as I stared on at Maxwell.

"You're... You're me..." I muttered to him. My lips started trembling, I could feel my body shaking. I was so nervous and scared. "You're me and I'm you." I said a bit more steadily this time.

"Yes Max. Now accept who we are, you don't have to hide anymore. Accept it all for yourself, and it will all be okay." Maxwell's words were very calm, and his face had a kind of understanding I'd never seen before. I looked around at everybody, I made sure to look at each and every person. My eyes watered and I could feel the tears lightly streaming down my face. I spoke clearly so that everybody could hear me. "Maxwell, the monster we all just fought, he's... He's me. My name is Maxwell Morgan. I killed my father, and I attempted to kill Frankie. The how and the why doesn't matter right now, what matters is that you know that this is who I am." I felt a lump in my throat as I spoke, but I couldn't let myself get choked up now. I had to do this. "I'm also the reason you were all put in such danger today. I'm so sorry, I don't know how I could ever possibly apologize enough for all of this! I don't expect any of you to forgive me, especially now that you know what a monster I am, but I have something to ask of you... I know you are all investigating the lake murders, please carry on, please find out who's behind all of this! I know you guys can do it, I've seen what you can do. My mother... She was the latest lake victim, and I just need to know why..."

"Max?" I wiped some of the tears from my face, but more only came. I turned to Maxwell to see what he needed, and to my surprise, he was glowing. It was the opposite of earlier, that terrible dark aura had been replaced by a great glowing white light. "Maxwell, what's happening to you?"

"I'm not going to be able to stay around here much longer, not like this. But don't lose yourself, you've excepted the truth, and you are stronger for it. You can change, and you can trust people again. Never forget what happened today." The light around him started glowing brighter, it almost felt warm. He turned and looked at Golden-Eyes, and made his way slightly closer to her. I could hardly make out what he said to her, whatever it was he only intended for her to hear it. "I know it isn't any of my business to tell you how to do things, but eventually you'll have to let go. I know your intentions are good, but this isn't fair to her. Think over what happened today, think about what you told Max. And I know he isn't your responsibility, but while you're around, please look out for him?"

Maxwell turned to me and smiled, and then I was blinded by his white light. When the light cleared, I couldn't believe what I saw. It was a grim reaper on a horse approaching me, and the strange thing was that I could tell he wasn't bad. Was this... Was this Maxwell?

"Thou art I, and I am thou. I am Pale Rider, You and I are like two sides of the same coin... Remember that." And with those words, the Pale Rider became a small orb of light, and I felt its warmth as it was absorbed into my chest. I felt the void of Maxwell's departure quickly filled, and I knew I wasn't alone.

I turned to face the only people in the world who now knew who I really was. I was scared, but I couldn't run from the truth any longer.

"While it is associated with foreboding and of doom, Death Arcana also symbolizes the metamorphosis and deep change, regeneration and cycles."
-Megami Tensei Wiki​

 

[Piercing Light]

My mind was focused. Every inch of gray matter felt as if it was super charged, directing me. With a castle of ice as my backdrop, and with weather far below freezing, my body was boiling hot in what was effectively an icebox. My limbs snapped to action with speed they were entirely unaccustomed to, the weapon in my hands twirled around me with untrained ferocity, slashing, crushing apart every enemy that got in my way. This was combat, this was what fighting for one's life felt like. I forced my way towards Maxwell, but for each foot of progress I made the puppets set me back two more. The black monsters were pouring from the ground like a limitless plague. "What the?..." I jumped back reflexively, after all, suddenly being surrounded by smoke was usually a bad sign. But that didn't seem to be the case this time. The smoke cleared, and I saw that a stranger had arrived, a guy who looked to be around my age. He carried an odd sword, a sword that I couldn't help but draw my eyes to. A puppet going for my throat reminded me that I was meant to be fighting for my life, I kicked it to the ground and slammed the blade of my naginata into it.

The tide of the battle was changing now. Everyone else was holding on as best they could, and the reaper was on it's last legs, and the puppets had thinned out. My feet dug into the icy ground, and I pushed my body forward towards the reaper. But something was wrong, the reaper swelled with dark energy. I froze, what was coming from it felt familiar. It was the stench of death, my death. I gasped helplessly and fell on my behind. I raised my arms in a futile attempt to protect myself, and the blast of darkness crashed into me.

Yet somehow, I was fine. I lowered my arms, and saw Pepper over me. She had protected me from the blast with her body. "Pepper..." I muttered, shocked.

"Good, you are unharmed. Can you stand?" She asked, in the same tone she always spoke in.

"Me? You're worried about me? What about you!?" I shot up, looking her over. Surprisingly, she didn't seem to be hurt.

"I am fine, Cures. You do not need to be worried about me." She said, nonchalantly looking past me. I wanted to protest, to get mad, but I had no right. She had just saved my life, again. She seemed to catch on to the pathetic expression on my face, as she looked back to me. "If you are truly so concerned with everyone's well being, then become stronger." My face tensed up. She was right, If I didn't want anyone to get hurt, then I simply needed to become strong enough to protect them. Right... that was so easily said, but how was I going to do it?

Pepper turned around, facing the reaper, or what was once the reaper. Crystal had managed to defeat Maxwell, and now he was back to his human form. The shadow was different now, even I could tell just by looking at him. Max approached his shadow, and instead of an exchange of venom filled words there was... acceptance. Maxwell Morgan accepted his shadow, and embraced the black part of his persona as a part of him. As his shadow ascended to it's true form and entered Max, I was left in awe. I walked up to him, and shook his hand. "You won't be sitting this out Max, as long as you are searching for the truth, you are a member of this club." I released his hand, and turned to the others. "Unless that is, anyone has an objection? Regardless, I think we'll need to call off the search into this castle for today."

~~~~​

Pepper walked up to Lilim, adjusting her wrists with creaking metallic reverberations. Taking a direct attack from the reaper had done more damage than she let on. She was able to guard against most of the damage with Gaia's help, but her inner energy was nearly depleted already. She stopped in front of the owner of the living sword. Her neon eyes glared at him as if she were taking him apart and putting him back together. "This group will welcome you, but I will not accept you so easily. I can tell you are from the other world, for I am not truly human myself..." Pepper's eyes relaxed. "Tread lightly, and do not bring harm to these people." With that, Pepper turned her back to Lilim and approached the rest of the club. "Tomorrow, come to the dojo by the end of town, all of you. The situation has changed, so I believe you all need to be properly prepared."

 

[Cassette-Disk]

As the smoke began to clear around her, Crystal brought her fists up again, readying herself for a counterattack. She highly doubted there would be one, but nothing was ever a guarantee with these things. A second passed, and Crystal felt her mind crack in pain for a split second before it was washed away along with her previous blood lust and out-of-character demeanor. Maxwell--that is, Maxwell's Shadow--had returned to his human form. The fight was over, but that hardly registered in the girl's mind. The real Max walked towards the pair of Shadows, and Crystal quietly stepped aside. This was his moment, the stage was his.

"You're me and I'm you." Was the first thing he told his counterpart. It was that simple. Just accepting who you were and carrying the responsibilities that came along with it. It was also something that everybody had trouble with, including herself. It might be simple, she told herself, but it definitely is not easy. She felt a small amount of jealously from the pit of her stomach. She, of course, did not hate Max for accepting himself, but her unease at how her own attempt to convince her other half into acceptance was growing inside of her. Something that caught her completely off guard was Max's statement regarding his father and Frankie. Things would most likely get very complicated in the near future, but they didn't have to worry about that right now. The most important thing was the Max accepted his Shadow, and he had done exactly that. It's a fairytale ending. She told herself as the Shadow spoke to Max. Then he turned to her.

"I know it isn't any of my business to tell you how to do things," he said in a near whisper, "but eventually you'll have to let go." Crystal felt her eyes begin to burn. The very idea of facing her other half again caused a flurry of emotions. Sadness from the thought of being rejected a second time, imminence fear of becoming a monster and attacking her friends if she was rejected, and, worse of all, the uncertainty that came if Crystal did accept her. Would the Shadow return to the darkness and be forced into isolation? Maxwell's Shadow looked happy, so it was highly unlikely, but the idea stuck out in her mind. "I know your intentions are good, but this isn't fair to her. Think over what happened today, think about what you told Max." The girl quickly rubbed at her face with her sleeves. Now was not the time to cry, not for her.
"Okay." she said weakly, bringing out a smile. "I'll...I'll try."
"And I know he isn't your responsibility, but while you're around, please look out for him?"Crystal nodded sincerely in response, trying to avoid using her voice and giving away how shaky it undoubtedly sounded.

A few seconds after Maxwell's shadow was accepted, Cures had declared Max as a part of the group. The musician cleared her throat before speaking.
"Of course he's in." She said in her best attempt at keeping her voice even, and maybe even cheerful. "After what just happened I don't think any of us are going to deny him."
Shortly after, Totally-not-Dr Pepper had given them a place to meet for the next day. Crystal sighed in relief. There were many places she wanted to be right now, but the inside of this frozen school was not one of them.

 

[purgatory]

I found myself submerged in work, the same as always. I couldn't put this one together, no matter how much I wrapped my brain around the disappearances. All I could pursue were incomplete questions, why were these people being targeted? What did all of the recent disappearances have in common, and the cause of death still unable to be identified. A most baffling trial, but one I found myself innately challenged by. I always remembered what grandfather would say about what a detectives job was, "It is our job to pursue the absolute truth. Good or Bad, people have a right to know the answers to these mysteries."

I found myself briefly daydreaming again, before coming too when tapped by my superior officer. I was not a true member of the police force, simply appointed as an in-training representative from the Lane family. At some point all of my family had done this, they wanted to refine my as early as they could, I didn't disagree, this was very stimulating work. Upon getting a positive I.D. on the victim it was always crucial to play "private investigator" to dig through their life somewhat. The victim at this time before their information was released to the media (name/occupation/date of disappearance), had apparently been going through some financial hurdles.

The things I found myself digging further into, it mattered little as my biggest priority was to in so many ways thwart and prevent the next mishap from taking place. It was freezing, and I wore a massive winter coat, feeling toasty and burly inside of so much weight. I generously accepted a cup of coffee from the lead detective in this string of murders. Sometimes I could sense his scowls burrowing into the back of my head, thinking "I can't believe our department enlisted the help of a novice with no credentials. He's not even a licensed DT for crying out loud." It was strange, when I shook his hand upon first meeting him around the time the incidents occurred, I saw him briefly mentioning this to his police friends. Either way, part of me just let that comment go although I was admittedly bothered for some time.

Looking into the actual state of the body, just like the others, a most bewildering event had taken place. It was frozen solid and concealed beneath the heavy sheet of the lake's ice. The more I looked this, the less everything seemed to make sense, I mean...it was blatantly obvious that they were killed by hypothermia. It kicked the police and I hard trying to understand just how the victims got beneath a lake that never thaws.

"Detective Lane, a word young man."

I spun around a bit red in the face as a result of the snow and gave my direct attention to my superior. "What have you got for me Captain?"

He spoke with a grimace and burden heavy sigh, "This one is just like the others, they I.D. positive for the missing persons, the cause of death is exactly the same, but there are no witnesses that can account for nature of how the bodies are arranged. Everything is far too bizarre to be tried normally."

I could sense the captain's bewilderment and exhaustion but swiftly replied, "We need to remain diligent, new information may in some way manifest itself during the course of this investigation."

"Your optimism is appreciated Jr, but our batting average with these unsolved deaths is growing exponentially, I'd say we need some new information now. I'm recommending you do some independent work for the time being, besides, you should be in school instead of chasing abnormalities."

"But sir!" I of course objected swiftly, but encountered yet another wall.

"We don't need the help of a child on a sensitive case like this." the captain sighed, "Clean out your locker and head home."

As much as I wanted to raise my concerns, it'd only appear as if I'd be doing nothing more than throwing a tantrum. I quickly composed myself, though unable to wipe the smug look from my face, dutifully did as the captain requested. In that moment however, I felt I had to shed new information on the case on my own, the police in this state seemed virtually useless. Though they would see, and regret belittling me of that I could certain.

 

[Peace]

Okay... What the hell just happened?

That seems to be a common question nowadays. Saito witnessed Max acknowledging the incarnation of his repressed emotions. The Shadow turned into a form resembling his Reaper self, but this time riding a pale horse. To not ruin the moment, the red-eyed student repressed the urge to whistle the Old Spice jingle. Back to the recent change, preceding his metamorphosis Maxwell whispered something to Crystal. Saito couldn't hear clearly due to his distance and paying more attention to the fact that he was glowing.

With Max's acceptance, the lesser Shadows went away. Saito heaved a sigh of relief before he took a minute to assess the damage done to him. He shoved a hand in between his hoodie and shirt. No sources of significant pain, so nothing was broken or ruptured. A bruise might form within the next few hours from where the Shadow's weapon hit him. The waiter didn't think he had a concussion from his fall down the stairs. He shifted his weight on his other leg for a second and it still hurt a lot. His gaze went down to the source of feeling and saw that the part of his pants that got cut along with his leg was bloodied up. He looked at the group and noticed that Crystal's arms were healed. At first he thought she healed them herself using her own powers. But he shot that down because he never saw any of the other Shadows heal themselves. "Can whoever healed us before heal my leg too please?" He inquired, lifting up his pant leg to reveal the wound for emphasis.

Whether someone did or not, he then grabbed a small fist full of snow and wiped it on his face. He prefers not looking like he just killed someone. After doing that, he wiped the excess with his sleeve and observed that the flow stopped. Whether it's due to the dried up blood or him healing doesn't matter to him.

Cures and Sarah then said something about Max being added to the body count to this little group as well as their meeting place for tomorrow. Oh joy. More plans bein' made for me, Saito thought sarcastically.

All Saito wanted to do at this point is to go to the hospital to get himself checked out then home. For some reason, his eyes went to Crystal and he could not help but think she looked sad, despite her upbeat attitude. He shook off that thought, assuming he's just overthinking things. "Too much adrenaline in my brain," he would say. He considered leaving her to her own devices. Even so much as thinking that left a bad taste in his mouth. Or maybe that's the concussion.

I suppose walkin' her home first won't hurt.

"Hey," He said lowly to grab her attention following taping her shoulder. "Do you want me to walk you home?"

 

[Cassette-Disk]

As things further settled down, Crystal realized she was missing the sunglasses she had brought along. A quick look around the room was all it took to find them near her feet. They had most likely flown off of her face when Maxwell attacked with his dark blast, and as a result the lens on one side had cracked while the other shattered completely. Fortunately, this pair meant nothing to her or her mother. Unfortunately, this also meant that she would have to go without any way to mask her eye color. It probably didn't matter by this point though. Someone tapped her on the shoulder, breaking her away from her little thoughts.

"Hey," Saito said as the girl turned around to face him. She calmly placed the now-broken sunglasses inside her pants pockets. “Do you want me to walk you home?” Something in her chest skipped for a second. Even after what he just saw, it didn't matter to him that she was essentially the same as the large grim reaper they had just fought. Crystal gave the waiter a sad smile and nodded. After giving everyone a quick goodbye, which included handing Max a slip of paper with her phone number on it along with a hastily written message saying “all will be well,” the pianist walked out of the school alongside Saito.

As they walked, she kept her eyes low, staring at the snow that crumpled under her feet.
“Sorry.” She said awkwardly, breaking the silence. “I have a bad habit of making really stupid choices on a whim.” The girl rubbed her right hand, the same hand that had connected with Maxwell's skull. “I mean, the whole body snatching thing was one thing, but...” she trailed off for a second before pressing forward. “But bringing you into it--practically forcing you into it—was really really dumb.” Crystal exhaled slightly, her warm breath visibly passing the stale cold that gripped the island. “I should have just told the entire group, but I'm scared as hell about what they'll think about me, especially after what we just went through with Max. I'm scared that they'll hate me for taking Crystal. I'm scared of the idea of not being able to get her back. And I'm scared of losing myself in that...world.

“Once things started getting hectic, I kind of lost it. I couldn't think clearly. It's all a blur now, but I remember most of my thoughts were negative ones. I wanted to hurt things. If it wasn't for the shadows and Max, I don't know what would have happened.” The words from Max's shadow rang in Crystal's ears as she kept talking. “It's not fair to you either.” She said quickly. “You probably have enough to worry about without having to keep an eye on me to make sure I don't go berserk.” The pianist rounded past a corner, into a residential street, leading the pair. “It was kind of selfish of me, really.” She said as she walked up the steps to her house. As she passed under the small roof overlooking the front door she turned to face Saito. “Sorry.” She repeated with a stoic expression as she pressed her back against the wall. “I really chewed your ear off. I just...” The girl paused for a second. “It's getting kinda late, but do you want to come in for a minute before going home? I have a first aid kit in the bathroom for your leg and you can wash up if you need to. You don't have to, but all things considered, I thought I should offer.”

 

[nightmarezeroX9]

It was all over.

Before Jack knew it, the encounter with the large creature that was Max's shadow had come to an end. All of the miniature creatures that had been attacking the group alongside Maxwell had disappeared. The fight was ended with Crystal hammer fisting the creature in the head, reverting it back to its original form. When the dark wave of energy shot out from the shadow earlier, Jack expected his skin to melt off in a horrible fashion. Rather, the attack no effect on him whatsoever. Nothing happened to him at all. No adverse side effects, no hair falling out, and certainly no skin melting effects. Was the attack even supposed to do something. Jack concluded that it did, since he was able to hear the sound of someone being knocked back by it.

The pain that was residing within Jack's eye had begun to subside as well. It felt like a terrible migraine, something he does receive quite often. Once the pain went away, he was able to stand up again, rubbing his eye with his free hand, while still holding onto the katana that didn't belong to him. Jack was witness to what would have been a very touching moment, if Max hadn't gone and admitted that he killed his own father, along with attempting to murder Frankie. Jack was sure that the kid had his reasons for doing so, but that sort of ruined it for him. The rest of the group seemed to welcome the new companion, who talked to his doppelganger, and then he disappeared in a shining fashion, reappearing as a man with a scythe, riding a horse. After that, it was over. Everything was done here.

Cures walked up Max and immediately welcomed him into the club. Jack wanted to speak up to Cures about objecting, but Jack held his tongue. It wouldn't look good if the new guy didn't want the newest guy in for whatever reason. His reason seemed solid, at least to him. Jack had a few questions for him, mainly regarding Frankie. He could save them for later. Everyone seemed tired, especially considering the fact that Noel was carrying an exhausted Valerie on his back. This was probably it for everyone today. There were a lot of questions that needed answers. Out of everything, however, one question slapped Jack right the mouth and called him a bitch. What the hell just happened? Max's twin that's gone now, the little shadow creatures, the weird guy that appeared out of nowhere to help, all the creatures that the rest of the group was summoning. Stuff like this would make any normal man insane. Jack had to fight back every ounce of his being to flip out and start screaming. He composed himself, and looked around for Crystal. He couldn't find her, along with Saito. It seemed the two of them had left already.

Jack scanned the ground, and found the sheathe to the sword. He picked it up, and sheathed the blade.

"Well kids, when someone wants to tell me what just transpired today, I'll be at my house." he said, as he walked out of the building. Today was definitely crazy. What else would come from being part of this club? And was Claire caught up in something supernatural? Wherever she was, Cures claimed to have a good idea on her whereabouts. For now, Jack had no choice but to trust his friend. It was all he could do at the moment. Jack left the school grounds, and made his way to his abode. The strange girl with the awkward hair style gave everyone instructions on where to meet tomorrow. He could give Crystal his sword then. For now, Jack just hoped a police officer didn't see him carrying around a sword.

 

[Noel]

Does. This. Finally mean. We can eat?

A big smile came off uve' my lips. I wanted to skip up down the frozen halls with my excitement, but I had to keep a calm mood toward my emotions, or else I would uve' woken up Val. I have a feeling she doesn't take kindly to people who wake her up, abruptly. My thoughts could imagine Valerie turning a slightly primal, almost like a lion if someone woke her up. Yeah. I better should not do that, or maybe if we're in a pinch I could like have her fall asleep and wake her up and go hulk on these shadow things. Why am I thinking about this? I walked over to Max, gently nudged my shoulder against his. "Y'know Max. If you need anything, you can always head over to my place, alright?" I remembered that I had an extra sticky note leftover from last night, and I proceeded in to giving Max my address.

After that, I readjusted my back slightly for the sake that I wouldn't have Val somehow falling walking back home. I looked at everyone else and gave them a goodbye. "See yah guys. Get some rest alright?"

—Slight Time Skip (Peirce you get the ownership when you want it to be the next day)—

Do you think Val would ever want to build snowman with me? Being reminded of a certain movie when I looked over at the lawns near my apartment, with snowmen fully built. Top hat, and scarfs flying in the breeze. Maybe sooner or later they could turn to animate beings? Dancing with its carrot nose and its—OKAY. I seriously think there is something in that Hot Cocoa.

I walked in to my apartment to see it as always. Slight consideration was that the tone uve' the room was quiet, and dark. I gently put down Val on the bigger brown couch, moving her feet on to the couch as well, then after that I took one uve' my blankets and put it over her. I looked over at my digital clock seeing its blue LCD lights with a small moogle leaning side to side to indicate a second had past. Why do I even have this thing? I picked the clock up in my hand, examining it, turning it around then putting it back down. As well as my wallet out uve' my pocket. Huh. Its only 7:30.

My stomach started growling once more. I walked over to my fridge to see If I had anything I could make. It was just recently restocked so that was easy, but actually , exerting more energy. Yeah, no thanks. Might as well call for some take out. I pulled out my phone, unlocked the screen and dialed. "Yeah I'd like some Chinese food.." "You don't say?" (A few minutes later.)

"Thank you for calling, you're food will be here soon!"

I walked back out uve' the kitchen after I put back my phone. Awh. I could finally relax. My muscles felt so heavy after today, I could barely keep awake. My feet were barely making step, I ended up shimmying my feet in little paces to get anywhere. It felt weird. It felt like.

Instantly I collapsed down on to the carpet, making a soft thud noise.


I could feel nothing. Was I in a dream? That's a bit cliché saying that, but it was true. I felt, light as a cloud when I was moving my arms around. I turned my body left and right to see where I was. It was weird, I was practice, but only I could only see the pool, nothing else. Everything else was blank white. I was by my self. I was alone.

Standing on top uve' the water. How the heck am I doing this? All uve' the sudden I heard two voices. It sounded like Val's and Cures calling out their Personas. I looked around to see if they were around. They weren't. I looked down to see reflections uve' them calling out their Personas during our fight earlier today. I heard they're voices again. This time it wasn't just once. I kept hearing them command their personas, louder, and louder.

To the point where my hands where covering my ears from the sheer rings in my ears while my knees touched the water. I couldn't bare it. Then. "Shhh." As soon as I heard this voice. Everything went quiet. I looked up, to see who was there. No one. Again. I looked back down on to the pool's reflection. This time Val and Cures weren't there. I was truly alone, but not for long. The water was starting to pile up. Like gravity was upside down. forming like a giant upside down droplet, before forming in to a body. It was almost like a tiger with flames coming out of his fur. "Who are you?" It talked? I was hoping for just a meow or a growl but it really talked! My name is Sulphur*" "Why are you here?" "You'll find out soon. When you're in need for help." Before I could figure out what happened, it pounced towards me. Going inside my body. I felt. Weird. I felt.

Like I could protect everyone.

*Sulphur is Actually Gdon, but I renamed him for the fun uve' it. (Gdon - Megami Tensei Wiki: a Demonic Compendium of your True Self)