The wisp’s vague answer only fueled Mari’s fear for her Himiko more, but any sort of protest she might have had was cut off as she was gently, yet hurriedly tugged along down the train car. A sudden crazy impulse urged her to snatch her hand away and run back the way she came. Frozen or not, who’s to say she couldn’t take her friend with her, at least keep her safe from whatever was coming-
… No. It was useless. A cold realization set in, dousing her impulse. If the rumbling and thrashing of footsteps weren’t enough of an indicator, that dread that she somehow knew was founded came back tenfold. They wouldn’t be able to get away from it. It was coming. And it was out to kill.
She numbly let herself be dragged along until the train came to a shrieking halt. Mari lurched forward, bumping against Taro before her legs gave out from under her. From there it was a cacophony of screeching metal, screams, and a vicious, deafening roar.
[i]Rot[i] Was the word that rang in her brain. Rot, decay, pain, and death. Death, death, death-
She could barely make out what was happening around her, but honestly, did she really need the details? The roar of flames, the desperate voice of that little whisp, suddenly cut short… And then sobs and enraged screaming.
… They were going to die. Mari let out a choked whimper, closing in on herself. She couldn’t stop shaking… She couldn’t even care. So what if she was cowering in the back like a coward, what good was being brave going to do? None of their group could take this monstrosity on, least of all her. Poor, little crippled thing, lying on the ground like some wadded up expired garbage, only to be crushed.
Another signal suddenly fires into her brain, causing her to raise her head. It’s… Some sort of energy, and it’s actually pushing against the towering presence of that nightmare… It was two very distinct energies. One a thrumming, steadfast light, the other a roaring, towering flame. It was coming from up front, where the others were supposed to be, and… Wait. Was that…?
"Per
All at once, it burst forth, one after another, as if- no, it was beckoned from the voices of her companions, one she knew to be Izuki. All she could do was sit in dumbstruck awe as one after the other, they each sent this power hurtling towards the beast. The flash of light caused it to howl in pain, the vibrating of the floor beneath signaling it stumbling back. Next, a plume of flame crashed down upon it, and then-
Wait. Wait, no. It’s not hurting it. At least not to the degree of that lightning. You can hear an angered snarl, but if anything, it only seemed to give it incentive to lunge back, and-
”WATCH OUT!!!”
The beast slams a giant palm down. Though it doesn’t connect with anyone thank god, the shockwave is more than enough to knock the front lines down. More to her horror, the roar of flame reaches her ears. It’s… It’s fanning out towards everyone-!
Mari lets out a strangled sob as she clams her hands over her ears. No. No more, please! She doesn’t want to hear this, to hear Izuki and everyone dying, and to hear death come down upon her too. She hysterically wishes she was deaf too, right then and there. That she was numb to everything around her, blissfully ignorant of the end of her existence. She was better off dead anyway, she always-
No.
Another intrusive thought, except unlike the instinctive pushing, it actually feels like her own voice.
No no no no no no no NO!!! Why should she have to die?! What did she ever do? What right does this thing have to kill her like that? To kill everyone?! She didn’t care if she was broken, she was alive and fuck this thing if it thought it could take that away from her!!
She grits her teeth and slowly pushes herself to her feet, legs wobbling to support her. But she’ll be damned if she falls. Not this time. She freezes as she feels a sudden weight pressed between her hand and leg. It’s a round object, barely heaver than an apple. Experimentally, she runs her fingers over the surface, tracing the grooves and ridges beneath her fingertips. It actually feels rather smooth, but has a distinct pattern, barely indented into the silver.
… Wings.
She releases a long sigh, her erratic panic and rage suddenly cooled into a steel calm. Impenetrable. With it comes the word that seems so natural to her, as if buried deep within her since her birth.
And suddenly, Mari could see.
It wasn’t how she perceived things before. Nor was it something she could physically process with her eyes, but she knew of a flowing, calm energy cloaking around her, and she knew what form it took.
A tall, regal woman hunched protectively over her, pure white robes spilling all around her. A gilded shield stayed tightly in her grasp as she lowered it in front of the pair.
“I am Leto. You have called upon me out of the desire to persevere not only for your sake, but for those around you. And in turn, they, you. I swear to you, child, that I will do all within my power to have that wish come to fruition.”
A slender hand ghosts acrossed her cheek.
“For I am you.”
And just like that, everything opens before her like a book. Like whisps, everyone lights up around her. Taro just mere steps in front of her, that boy in a nearby seat, the two girls she had not spoken with scattered in the middle, that whisp creature, lying crumpled and diminished. But not gone. Not quite yet. And Izuki and Nao, blazing with their own light, struggling to recover, but alive.
And then the creature towering before them. But it wasn’t the creature at all, was it? There were roots and vines entangling and choking the life out of it, rotting it away little by little as it dragged it along like a puppet.
“Those vines are commanding it,” she shouts out across the area. “If we can get rid of those, it should go down. But don’t use fire!”
There had to be something else that could hurt it, though. The electricity that Nao shot forth seemed to work well, but there had to be something else. Taking in another deep breath, Mari throws all of her focus into examining the creature’s energy. There had to be something… Just a little farther…
… No. It was useless. A cold realization set in, dousing her impulse. If the rumbling and thrashing of footsteps weren’t enough of an indicator, that dread that she somehow knew was founded came back tenfold. They wouldn’t be able to get away from it. It was coming. And it was out to kill.
She numbly let herself be dragged along until the train came to a shrieking halt. Mari lurched forward, bumping against Taro before her legs gave out from under her. From there it was a cacophony of screeching metal, screams, and a vicious, deafening roar.
[i]Rot[i] Was the word that rang in her brain. Rot, decay, pain, and death. Death, death, death-
She could barely make out what was happening around her, but honestly, did she really need the details? The roar of flames, the desperate voice of that little whisp, suddenly cut short… And then sobs and enraged screaming.
… They were going to die. Mari let out a choked whimper, closing in on herself. She couldn’t stop shaking… She couldn’t even care. So what if she was cowering in the back like a coward, what good was being brave going to do? None of their group could take this monstrosity on, least of all her. Poor, little crippled thing, lying on the ground like some wadded up expired garbage, only to be crushed.
Another signal suddenly fires into her brain, causing her to raise her head. It’s… Some sort of energy, and it’s actually pushing against the towering presence of that nightmare… It was two very distinct energies. One a thrumming, steadfast light, the other a roaring, towering flame. It was coming from up front, where the others were supposed to be, and… Wait. Was that…?
"Per
so
na."
"PERSONA!"
All at once, it burst forth, one after another, as if- no, it was beckoned from the voices of her companions, one she knew to be Izuki. All she could do was sit in dumbstruck awe as one after the other, they each sent this power hurtling towards the beast. The flash of light caused it to howl in pain, the vibrating of the floor beneath signaling it stumbling back. Next, a plume of flame crashed down upon it, and then-
Wait. Wait, no. It’s not hurting it. At least not to the degree of that lightning. You can hear an angered snarl, but if anything, it only seemed to give it incentive to lunge back, and-
”WATCH OUT!!!”
The beast slams a giant palm down. Though it doesn’t connect with anyone thank god, the shockwave is more than enough to knock the front lines down. More to her horror, the roar of flame reaches her ears. It’s… It’s fanning out towards everyone-!
Mari lets out a strangled sob as she clams her hands over her ears. No. No more, please! She doesn’t want to hear this, to hear Izuki and everyone dying, and to hear death come down upon her too. She hysterically wishes she was deaf too, right then and there. That she was numb to everything around her, blissfully ignorant of the end of her existence. She was better off dead anyway, she always-
No.
Another intrusive thought, except unlike the instinctive pushing, it actually feels like her own voice.
No no no no no no no NO!!! Why should she have to die?! What did she ever do? What right does this thing have to kill her like that? To kill everyone?! She didn’t care if she was broken, she was alive and fuck this thing if it thought it could take that away from her!!
She grits her teeth and slowly pushes herself to her feet, legs wobbling to support her. But she’ll be damned if she falls. Not this time. She freezes as she feels a sudden weight pressed between her hand and leg. It’s a round object, barely heaver than an apple. Experimentally, she runs her fingers over the surface, tracing the grooves and ridges beneath her fingertips. It actually feels rather smooth, but has a distinct pattern, barely indented into the silver.
… Wings.
She releases a long sigh, her erratic panic and rage suddenly cooled into a steel calm. Impenetrable. With it comes the word that seems so natural to her, as if buried deep within her since her birth.
“P e r s o n a.”
And suddenly, Mari could see.
It wasn’t how she perceived things before. Nor was it something she could physically process with her eyes, but she knew of a flowing, calm energy cloaking around her, and she knew what form it took.
A tall, regal woman hunched protectively over her, pure white robes spilling all around her. A gilded shield stayed tightly in her grasp as she lowered it in front of the pair.
“I am Leto. You have called upon me out of the desire to persevere not only for your sake, but for those around you. And in turn, they, you. I swear to you, child, that I will do all within my power to have that wish come to fruition.”
A slender hand ghosts acrossed her cheek.
“For I am you.”
And just like that, everything opens before her like a book. Like whisps, everyone lights up around her. Taro just mere steps in front of her, that boy in a nearby seat, the two girls she had not spoken with scattered in the middle, that whisp creature, lying crumpled and diminished. But not gone. Not quite yet. And Izuki and Nao, blazing with their own light, struggling to recover, but alive.
And then the creature towering before them. But it wasn’t the creature at all, was it? There were roots and vines entangling and choking the life out of it, rotting it away little by little as it dragged it along like a puppet.
“Those vines are commanding it,” she shouts out across the area. “If we can get rid of those, it should go down. But don’t use fire!”
There had to be something else that could hurt it, though. The electricity that Nao shot forth seemed to work well, but there had to be something else. Taking in another deep breath, Mari throws all of her focus into examining the creature’s energy. There had to be something… Just a little farther…
