Reversing Arcana, Chapter 10
Oct. 30th, 2011 08:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sinnatiousTitle: Reversing Arcana
Rating: T, for violence and language. Spoils everything.
Rating: T, for violence and language. Spoils everything.
Summary: Persona 3 and 4. Six months after Souji leaves Inaba, he wakes up to his house on fire. The Investigation Team are the only ones who know he survived. But that's only the beginning of their troubles.
Author's Note: We're halfway! \o/
Previous chapter
Author's Note: We're halfway! \o/
Previous chapter
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Reversing Arcana
Chapter 10
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Reversing Arcana
Chapter 10
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Something stinks. Rise’s instincts outside the TV might not be as good as inside the TV, but she can still feel a wrongness about everything, and it’s not just because of whatever Yosuke’s problem is. She wishes he’d cut the drama and just tell them. Rise hates waiting.
“So we’re all here?” Chie asks, standing on her tiptoes and counting heads.
“Everyone, senpai,” Kanji confirms.
“I’ve gotta say, Yosuke, not a bad place you’ve got here,” Chie remarks, staring unashamedly around the spacious living room. “Though I guess it’s to be expected. Junes does pretty well, and all.”
“Yeah,” he mumbles, fiddling with his glasses.
“Seriously! We should have made this our secret base! Way more room.”
“Chie…” Yukiko whispers with a wince, eying Yosuke nervously. He keeps staring at the floor.
“Oh! Sorry! I didn’t mean anything by it. It’s just the first time you’ve invited anyone over, you know? I mean we’ve all been to Souji’s and Kanji-kun’s place, and Rise-chan’s too if you count the tofu shop, but…”
“Don’t worry about it,” he interrupts, trying to wave it off with a smile. “It’s no big deal. It’s just embarrassing is all.”
“Perhaps we should get moving. We don’t want to be interrupted,” Naoto suggests. Rise blinks. That’s right. If someone comes home and discovers them all hanging out in the living room, they’ll never get a chance to go.
“Then what are we waiting for? Come on!” Rise bullies Chie and Yukiko into the TV, though Chie continues gawking at the house until the last moment. It’s a nice house, but Rise isn’t impressed – as an idol, she’s stayed in places far ritzier, and just as lifeless. A tiny part of her feels sorry for their reluctant host – it doesn’t feel like a home, and she knows exactly what that’s like.
In a way, it’s almost a relief to be back in the TV, with the weight of glasses on her nose and her Persona a mere thought away from tangibility. She reaches instinctively for the power, for the extrasensory awareness that’s such a boon in this world…
And realises what Yosuke’s going to say before he even says it.
“So, now that we’re here…” Naoto says pointedly. Rise sends her a panicked look, trying to tell the detective without words to soften up, show a little sensitivity. Of course, while Naoto does do subtle, she doesn’t ever do sensitive.
“Hey, yeah, what was that thing you wanted to show us?” Chie chimes in, and Rise sends her a frantic glance too, but she’s typically oblivious.
“Yeah, about that…I’ve kind of got a small problem,” Yosuke mutters.
The idol swallows a lump in her throat, and forces the quiet words of encouragement past her lips. “You know we won’t judge you, Yosuke-senpai.”
The look he sends her is so desperate, so broken, that she feels sickeningly guilty for doubting him even once. Then he spins, the card shatters, and he mumbles, “Persona.”
Except what comes out isn’t the flame-haired, razor-adorned Susan-O everyone else expects. It’s a bow-legged, mickey-mouse creature, more a colourful clown than the embodiment of a warrior they’ve grown used to.
Yukiko gathers her wits first. “Isn’t that… Jiraiya?” Her brow creases as she struggles with the recollection.
“Jiraiya?” Naoto asks, perplexed. “Do you mean to imply that Yosuke-senpai can summon multiple Personae too?”
Of course. Rise forgot. Naoto joined them last - she’s never seen either Yosuke’s or Chie’s initial Personae, so the implication is lost on her.
To save Yosuke the pain of having to answer, Rise steps in. “You remember, don’t you, Naoto? Your Persona changed. As you grew stronger, so did your Persona.”
Their Detective Prince is quick on the uptake. “I see. So this Jiraiya was… that’s an unfortunate development.”
An awkward silence falls over the team. Rise can tell everyone wants to ask how it happened – she wants to ask, too – but deep down, they’re worried it might be their fault. Confidence, resolve, and self-acceptance… these are the backbone of their Persona.
If Yosuke’s backsliding…
“Hey, so where’s Teddie?” Chie blurts out, voice pitched a little higher than normal.
“He’s probably over by the barrier,” Yosuke mumbles. “I think he said he planned on heading over there again yesterday.”
Rise’s the closest, so she gives him an awkward pat on the back. She’d wondered how Yosuke could have gone into the TV and not remembered to ask Teddie about Souji’s situation, but after getting that kind of shock, she couldn’t blame him.
“Can you sense him, Rise-chan?” Yukiko prods.
She frowns, sparing a bit of concentration, but when nothing immediately jumps out at her, is forced to summon her Persona. She’s relieved to find hers hasn’t changed, but she still feels out of practice. She used to be able to pinpoint treasure chests and Shadows through walls.
It takes her longer than she’d like to locate Teddie, and even then, the sensation is like grasping at a wisp of smoke. “Yeah, he’s over by the barrier alright, but…” The sentence dies on her tongue, and she frowns reflexively before remembering to smooth her face. Her agent is always going on and on about wrinkles. “I think I can sense Senpai, too. Only…” It can’t be, though. It’s so far away, it’s hard to tell. It’s like an echo. Another presence, tantalisingly familiar.
“We won’t be able to get there today,” Naoto points out. “It’s almost the weekend. There’s rain forecast all next week. We should use the time and prepare. Make our excuses, and stay until we get Senpai out.”
“What about the barrier?” Chie asks.
“We’ll break it down if we have to!” Kanji growls, thumping his hand in his fist. He’s kept quiet for the most part, most of it probably going straight over his head, but kicking down doors – yeah, Kanji is good at that.
“We’ve found ways through barriers in dungeons before,” Naoto reasons. “With enough time, we can do it with this one. We should have explored that option first, in fact.” She looks a bit embarrassed. Rise understands – she feels a bit embarrassed too. It would normally be the sort of thing Souji would take care of, and in his absence the notion didn’t even occur to them. Even worse, it’s her job to notice things like this. What’s the point of her Persona if she can’t find a way around some weird barrier?
Yukiko stares into the distance, over the tranquil fields of flowers and streams. “At least we know he’s still alive,” she reasons.
There’s that much. Some of the panic ebbs at that reminder. “Maybe it was just the Midnight Channel that stopped working,” Rise adds.
Naoto frowns at that, but Rise doesn’t notice.
……………………
He’s brought back to consciousness by a burst of pain in his side.
“Finally. Thought you’d never come around.” There’s another, softer jolt in his ribs, then the scuff of shoes across concrete.
He tries to move, but it’s like all the strength has left his body. His limbs feel like they’re encased in cement, and it’s a struggle to pull his eyes open.
What-?
The memory returns to him, though it’s as foggy as the deceit within the TV world.
Even now, it’s all he can do to force himself to stay awake. It’s dangerous, his instincts scream at him. He can’t afford to sleep here.
Not when Adachi’s in the TV world.
“So. Souji. Souji, Souji, Souji,” Adachi parrots, his voice practically a purr. “Doujima-san’s clever little nephew. You don’t look so impressive now, do you? Without all your little friends to back you up.” A pale hand reaches down, wiry and hiding unexpected strength, and twists itself in his shirt. Souji gasps as he’s pulled up into a sitting position. His eyes roll around the dungeon, trying to place it.
It’s no good. It all looks the same. But the exit’s gone. Adachi might have destroyed it, but more likely, he’s dragged him somewhere else after knocking him out.
Adachi notices his wary observation, and the grip in his shirt tightens. “You like my new digs? It’s a lot better than prison, you know. I got solitary confinement, because I was a cop. I put some of those guys in there, you know? They said it’s for my own safety, but those bastards… they’re just embarrassed. Embarrassed that they were all too stupid to catch me, and some whiny little Detective Prince was right when they were wrong. Except that it wasn’t the little brat, was it? The credit really goes to you.” The words are oily, sliding and tumbling over each other, and the grip on his shirt twists, growing painful.
Grey eyes blink, trying to focus on the blurry image of the psychopath that had very nearly buried Inaba in a permanent fog. The sloppy suit is gone, replaced with orange coveralls, but the twisted visage has barely changed beyond that.
How is this possible?
"I never would have confessed if I knew it would be that boring. I didn’t even get any visitors, you know." He seethes. "Not that there's anyone interesting enough who’d visit. They're idiots, all of them..." His scowl transforms, with eerie slowness, into a twisted, wide-eyed smile. "But you're here now. The precocious little brat who ruined all of my fun.”
He’s shoved against the wall, and his head snaps against the concrete. Stars spin in front of his eyes. Adachi’s grin warps further in his blurry vision. “Won’t you talk with me, Souji-kun?”
Then he remembers what Kirijo said.
“With the assistance of someone familiar with the events that occurred in Inaba…”
She never said who.
Coming back into the TV was a mistake.
Next chapter
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2011-10-30 10:33 am (UTC)There's always Namatane. Also, I got my guess wrong.
no subject
Date: 2011-10-30 10:37 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-10-30 11:01 am (UTC)The bit about Yosuke is interesting, though. It's an interesting concept that they seem to have forgotten?? ... that if you have a breakthrough, it's possible to backslide. Living isn't that easy. /ponders
I wonder where this will take them all, though.
no subject
Date: 2011-10-30 11:20 am (UTC)Heck, I certainly find myself backsliding into bad habits and frames of mind often with little to no impetus at all. How much harder for kids with gender issues or friendship anxieties etc etc? Especially without Souji there to shore them up?
no subject
Date: 2011-10-30 11:24 am (UTC)*ponders* Same, same. It's also easy to think that "Hey, I overcame this I can relax" but that isn't true at all. It helps to have a support group, of course, but without Souji, the catalyst and group glue, it's hard for them to stick to what they've learned.
Interesting, though. And kinda fitting, since Yosuke's the first one to get his Persona. As the first, he doesn't have the same development or experience as the others.
no subject
Date: 2011-10-30 11:32 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-10-30 11:44 am (UTC)Or perhaps it's because they reject their Personas. The circumstances where they met their personas didn't quite paint them in a positive light. Comparing Mitsuru's own traumatic experience and subsequent guilt (though in a milder scale), she still relies wholly on Penthesilea and accepts her Persona as something necessary in an instinctual level.
On the other hand, Chidori's own Persona was out of control and hurt her. But as a reflection of Chidori herself, Medea was created the new Persona, Trismegistus without causing harm to Junpei. I assume it's because Junpei accepts Chidori - and therefore her Persona.
... rambling, and I'm not even sure if this makes sense haha
no subject
Date: 2011-10-30 11:53 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-10-30 12:00 pm (UTC)I try, but you make loads of sense already!
no subject
Date: 2011-10-30 04:20 pm (UTC)T_T
I hope the others don't start backsliding too. It would be a huge depressing mess....but then again you do like to torture your characters, don't you :)
I'm starting to wonder if the "barrier" is self-generated. Either on the IT's part or Souji's part...or I've had too much coffee...
no subject
Date: 2011-10-31 03:05 am (UTC)Bring on the huge depressing messes!Thank you for still reading!
no subject
Date: 2011-10-31 02:05 pm (UTC)I should thank you for always magically writing things I've always wanted to read!