Chapter Text
“Ow! Watch where you’re stepping!”
“I would if I could!”
“And I’d smack both of you upside the head if I was able to, keep it down!”
Akira couldn’t think past the pounding in his head as he maneuvered their way through the House of Darkness. It had already been close to an hour of stumbling through the pitch black, at first trying to feel against the walls for a direct path through the maze, but after twenty minutes it became obvious that this maze wasn’t going to play fair. None of this palace was playing fair and it was about to drive Akira off a cliff in the Mona bus.
It had taken to relying directly on his Third Eye, the ability given to him by Igor, to find any help at all. And it was draining.
Even with using his Third Eye, which he wasn’t exactly sure how to describe using it other than just thinking really really hard, it still left a lot to be desired for actual vision. It gave vague outlines of doors and walls, even vaguer shapes that were supposed to be shadows, and no color. Not to mention that the rest of his group had continued to wander off, even when Akira had told them specifically to not move until he told them.
Now Akira felt like he was wrangling children, chaperoning them by holding hands. It was something he should have implemented earlier, but by the fourth time Skull had pulled them into a fight by assuming the mass ahead of him had been one of their members, Akira had enough. Now he was leading the chain of nine Phantom Thieves like they were ducklings.
Akira, Panther, Mona (of course he needed the excuse to hold Panther’s hand), Noir, Queen, Skull, Fox, Oracle, and Crow as the tail. Crow was their next strongest fighter beside himself, and had already proved more than capable of beating off tailing Shadows. It was ironic that Akira was trusting the party’s safety to him, but that wasn’t something Akira had the time to think about. That would be left for the sleepless nights between now and the day they would steal the treasure.
The day he would fall into Crow’s trap.
Focusing his attention on the task at hand, Akira sensed out the room in front of him, slowing down to a stop. The pressure behind his eyes grew, thumping along with his heartbeat. His teeth gritted together, but he took it as silently as he could muster. Security was already high by the amount of noise everyone had been making and running into shadows had not helped in the slightest. Everyone was running low on health, too. There wasn’t time to take a break, no safe room in sight. Going back at this point wasn’t an option, either. They had to push through however many rooms were left, even if there was a part of Akira begging him to stop and take a breath.
Panther bumped into his back as he stopped, as she did nearly every time. Akira had to practically wire his jaw shut to keep from snapping, the pain grating on his nerves more than usual. He swore, if he had to step back into this palace and its endless games one more time after today and it wasn’t for the treasure-
“S-sorry, Joker!” Panther started, only to squeak as Mona bumped into her, which bumped back into Akira, and Mona was bumped into by Noir, which started the whole chain reaction again-
Akira sucked in a deep breath and closed his eyes, not that it did anything vision wise. He counted backwards from ten, twice. By the time he finished, the squabbling and bumping had ceased.
“Pardon me-” a smooth voice spoke in the back, followed by a groan from Oracle. Footsteps padded up the chain until he felt a hand touch his shoulder. “Are we waiting for something, Joker?”
Akira turned his head towards the sound, and though in pitch black darkness, he could imagine the garnet eyes looking back at him from beneath the crimson mask. “Shadows,” he said curtly, jerking his head towards the room in front of them and then immediately winced when he realized that no one could see the movement. “Three in the room ahead, pretty high level. We must be close to the exit.”
“Ah,” Crow exclaimed softly, the hand on his shoulder tightening.
“Jokeeeer, his hand is sweaty!” Oracle complained loudly, even when she was mere feet away.
“He’s wearing gloves,” Akira gritted out, for once thankful that no one could see him rolling his eyes so hard they were falling into the back of his skull. Shaking his head to try to clear his thoughts, he focused back ahead of them. Two were standing beside what he assumed to be a doorway, their way out of here. One was wandering aimlessly in the center of the long room.
Reaching back, Akira tapped his free hand against Crow’s extended arm. “Stay with me, we can’t afford to dangle. Fox is still hurt and I know Mona and Queen are running low on stamina. We avoid the wanderer and split up to take the two at once. Sounds like a plan?”
“As tactical as ever, Joker.” Crow mused softly, but any other flowery language was thankfully put on hold. “Do you wish to hold my hand as well? That way we are better connected.”
God, if someone was going to tell him that he was going to have Goro Akechi asking if he wanted to hold his hand today, Akira would have told them to stop looking at his diary. He could sense the sly smile behind Crow’s words, and for the second time, was thankful for the darkness to hide any twitch of his expression that could have given him away.
“Sure,” Akira said smoothly, as if he hadn’t been holding the biggest crush on their newest Phantom Thief member ever since they had met at the TV station. Oracle gagged behind Crow. He was sure Panther was pulling a face, too. But they weren’t the ones going to hold Crow’s hand.
…Okay, Oracle was already holding his hand but that was beside the point-
It took a little bit of time, Akira trailing his hand down Crow’s arm to find and wrap his hand around the other boy’s. And if it took a bit of extra time to make sure they were properly situated, then that was also fine. And maybe he had to swap hands between Panther and Crow to make sure he wasn’t crossing his arms and maybe he had to make sure Crow was holding on tight and maybe-
“What’s the problem up there?” Skull groaned out, and Akira sighed.
“We’re avoiding a Shadow,” he called to the rest of the group that now was in an oval formation, with him and Crow being the front. “Then we’re taking two in front. Got it?”
“Two?!” Panther cried out, right in his ear. “I’m still aching from the last one!”
“We’re almost out of here,” Akira soothed as best as he could, well aware that he had said that for the last ten minutes. “Mona, can you do a quick check on our health?”
“Got it, Joker!” Mona said, and there were a few quick flashes of green. The rare bits of light were becoming painful to Akira’s vision, and judging by the recoil by everyone else, they also felt the same. A few soft thank you’s followed. “I’m running on empty, though.”
“That’s alright. If this isn’t the end, we’ll find a corner and heal up,” he promised, though knew all too well that being able to find healing items in the dark was going to be near impossible. It was why they had been relying so heavily on Persona healing abilities. Akira didn’t know if he was pulling out a Takemedic or Goho-M from his endless Metaverse pockets.
Looking back into the darkness ahead, Akira closed his eyes and focused again, feeling that pain flare back up. The shadow lingering in the center wasn’t quite as high leveled as the ones guarding the door, but they may not have the strength to get through all three. Their best bet was to just ignore it and hope that no one spooked it.
Akira tightened his grasp on Crow’s hand, who squeezed it back. Something inside Akira celebrated, but he shoved it back down to never think about it ever again. Focus, he told himself. “Stay together,” he warned, then took the step forward.
The Phantom Thieves moved with him in a wave, and Akira kept them close to the wall. The shadow was still lingering in the center, just as lost and confused as they had been at the start of this maze. For a moment, Akira almost felt bad for it, but then he remembered how the shadows at the beginning of the maze charged them at the slightest sound and almost tore them apart and- yeah, he didn’t feel bad anymore.
They passed the shadow in silence, everyone holding a collective breath. That, unfortunately, was the easy part. The two shadows ahead were going to be another problem entirely. “Crow, take Skull, Mona and Noir for the right. I’ll take Panther, Fox and Queen for the left,” Akira said, keeping his voice low from the Shadow but just audible enough for the rest of the group.
When it came to fighting, it was actually easier than fumbling around in the dark. Most, if not everyone’s, attacks gave off some sort of light, especially Panther with her fire attacks. It may have been a better idea to have her lead the way, but the amount of stamina she would have burned through would have led to them going dark halfway through the maze. If his calculations were correct, they had just enough to get through this fight.
Anything after, well…
Taking a few more steps, Akira slowed his pace considerably. It was enough of a cue to the others the need to stop, and there was much less bumping around this time. The shadows were directly ahead of them, guarding the door. Looking over his shoulder, at where he assumed everyone was standing, Akira glanced back to the hulking shapes barely visible in the haze of his Third Eye. “Split,” he commanded, and he felt Crow immediately release his hand.
It took precious time to figure out their grouping, especially with the wandering shadow, but with time, they were ready. Sucking in a breath, Akira hissed out a quiet, “Now!” and shot forward. He more tackled the shadow down than gracefully and swiftly ripping off the mask, but as soon as it tore free, color and light exploded around them.
Their team had a Skadi, and the others a Randga. Akira winced. That wasn’t going to sit well with an already weakened Fox on their team, while Crow had a much easier face-off. Panther was quick to release a blaze onto the Skadi, further illuminating the room. Akira took the moment to glance behind them, to the wandering shadow. It had drifted away, hopefully being far enough to not be bothered by the battle.
He flicked his gaze over to Crow and his group. Skull had already started unleashing a barrage of electric attacks on the poor Randga, and with Crow swiftly finishing it off, their battle was over in moments.
Reaching for his mask, he quickly unearthed Anubis. He needed a quick, easy insta-kill.
He didn’t get that, only a miss.
Instead, what he got was Fox who was just about ready to fall over, Panther barely landing a fire attack, and Queen who had just used the last of her stamina on a nuke attack. “Someone swap with Fox!” Akira called out, a bit too loud for his own taste.
“I’ll handle ‘em!” Skull cheered, only to run straight into someone on his own team. Judging by the wail, it was Mona. Akira hoped he didn’t trample the poor cat/not-cat
“I got it,” Panther grunted, using a fire attack to light up the area momentarily. While useful, Akira could tell by the flickering that it was eating up the last of her stamina. It was enough to get Skull across the room and Fox to stagger back, then strike the Skadi with another electric attack.
The Skadi vanished with a wail, and the room once again grew dark. Instantly, a chill raced up Akira’s spine. They were scattered again, split across the room. Cursing softly, Akira closed his eyes and focused on using his Third Eye. The pressure behind his eyes was building, like he was opening up a freshly healed wound over and over again. He was going to need to take something for that when he got home.
Mona was at Fox’s side, but judging by the lack of green light, he must be out of stamina, too. Panther, Queen and Skull were still cheering their victory, but were noticeably trying to huddle back together. Oracle was clinging to Noir, while Crow was standing off to the side, possibly losing track of the others as well.
“Crow, Oracle, Noir, follow my voice,” Akira called out, noticing them each jerk to attention as he called their name. “We need to group back up. Mona, how’s Fox doing?”
“He can’t take another fight like this, Joker,” he responded, his voice noticeably tense. Crow, Oracle and Noir were starting to make their way back to him.
“Anyone else hurt?” he asked. A chorus of negatives responded. Good. Then all they had to do was group back up and-
A shriek split the air. Cold realization crashed over Akira at the same moment the shadow did.
“Joker!” the collective cried out, just as Akira was thrown to the ground.
He scrambled against the carpeted floor, his sure-footedness stolen by the surprise attack. Gritting his teeth together, he reached for his mask and tore it, calling out Arséne. His Persona was at his side in an instant, but without being able to see what he was fighting against, was just as in the dark as he was. Literally.
“Does anyone have any stamina left?” he heard Oracle cry out, her voice shrill. “Panther and Queen are out!”
“I got it!” Skull responded quickly.
“I can assist,” Crow added just as fast.
“I think I’ve got some to spare!” Noir squeezed in.
A full team at least, Akira thought. “To me,” he called out, hoping that his voice was going to be enough of a guide. His stamina was already dangerously low, and Arséne didn’t have any lighting attacks to help anyway.
“Lemme handle this!” Skull cried out with feverish glee, calling out Captain Kidd in an instant. Electricity crackled through the air, giving a short burst of sight. Only a moment, though, not enough to even locate where the shadow was in that single fraction of a second. Skull groaned out his frustration.
“Save it,” Akira lashed out, feeling the frustration crawling under his skin like bugs. He was still struggling up to his feet, the surprise attack having knocked him around a bit more than he cared for. Skull wouldn’t admit it, but he had to be running low on stamina, too. They had maybe one more chance at a hit.
Gritting his teeth together and fighting back the headache, Akira closed his eyes again and stretched out his senses, focusing entirely through his Third Eye. He mapped out where the rest of his party was standing, a semi-circle thankfully facing the shadow. Noir was a little off, but if they had enough light from one of their attacks, it would be enough to guide them. He would have to rely on Crow and Skull.
Said shadow was still looming in front of him, the form still not taking shape. Whatever it was, it was going to attack again if he didn’t do something.
“Sukunda!” he commanded, and while it didn’t give any light, his link with Arséne made sure the attack hit. There, at least whatever attack they were going to do was going to hit it with him slowing down the shadow. It did give him a glimpse of the form, but… still too dark. Still murky. What was it? If only he could get close enough to rip off the mask…!
The shadow gave a wail of anger, aggravating the headache that Akira was still trying to stave off. He clenched his jaw again, trying to find any levity from the pain. Just until the end of the fight, he told himself. Then he will never, ever, ever use this damn Third Eye ever again.
“Hit it!” Akira snapped when he realized that the others weren’t moving. Were they expecting someone to hand deliver an opportunity? He just did that!
“I’ll help!” Noir said, quickly unleashing a psy attack. It almost missed, but the pink light managed to give the other two some guidance. Yet it still wasn’t fast enough for Akira.
Akira pressed his hands to his temple, the throbbing reaching a peak that he just wasn’t sure he could stomach much longer. “Hit it now!” he snarled, just as the shadow started rushing forward to attack him. If those two didn’t do something quick-
“Kougaon!”
“Ziodyne!”
There was a flash of white.
White light. White pain.
In an instant, every part of his body felt like it had been set ablaze.
It felt like it lasted an eternity and a split second at the same time. Like his body had imploded. His head had burst.
There was nothing left.
He was mere dust.
But he could still feel.
There was sound, all around him. Yelling, frantic sound. He couldn’t move.
Something touched his body, he felt hands grabbing, how could they touch him when his body was burning? When there was nothing left? White hot, white pain, he couldn’t think, he couldn’t-
The world snapped back to him with a choked gasp. He couldn’t get enough air in his lungs, couldn’t suck it in quick enough, he choked on the air like it had been water shoved down his throat. He spluttered and coughed, feeling a surge of strength deep in his muscles.
Healed. He was being healed.
The pain wasn’t nearly as strong, dulled down to a low throb, and with each second of him desperately filling his lungs with air, the horrid feeling was becoming more and more like an unpleasant dream he had been woken from.
He opened his eyes and was greeted with darkness. They were still in the maze. Still in danger. Immediately, he grasped for the Third Eye, only for that white hot pain to scorch through him once again.
The sound that left his throat made his head hurt. Ears hurt. Everything hurt. Everything still hurts.
He dropped the attempt, letting the darkness occupy every sense again. Pain went away. Mostly. Still there. Behind his eyes. Pressure.
Noise came through like someone had flicked a switch, all at once and much too loud. He couldn’t make out individual voices, just loud, everyone was loud!
“S-stop-” he croaked out, his voice unfamiliar to his own ears, like it had been rubbed raw with glass shards. The noise quieted immediately. Good. Better.
He reached out, pressing his hands down to the ground he only now realized he had collapsed down onto. Carpet. He twisted his fingers into the short strands, trying to find purchase to pull himself up.
“Stay down, Joker,” a quiet voice said, perfectly quiet, needed to stay quiet. Something pressed down onto his shoulder, holding him down. “Breathe. Focus on breathing.”
He was breathing, a bit too fast. He coughed again, it hurt. So much hurt. He was shaking, he could feel the tremors against the ground, against his own clothing. He stayed down. He breathed.
He breathed.
“Is he okay?” someone, he thought it was Panther, asked in a hushed voice. “I-I don’t know what happened, he just-”
“Joker,” the first voice spoke again. Crow, it was Crow. “Do you know where you are?”
“S-Sae’s palace,” Akira graveled out, flexing his hands against the carpet again. He wanted to get up. He didn’t know if he could.
“Good. Do you know the date?”
“November 1st,” he said, after a moment of thought. He had planned out the days, they were going to try to get through most of the palace this week, then take next week off to prepare, then-
“Do you know what happened to you?”
“I-” Akira paused, trying to scrape together his thought process that wasn’t focused on the pain still vibrating through his body. “I… Shadow? Did the shadow…”
“One of our attacks reflected off the shadow and hit you. You went down. We finished off the shadow and got out. You were right, it was the last door.”
Got… out?
Got out.
Akira’s eyelids fluttered open. He didn’t realize he closed them. Got out.
“Mona got some healing items out of your pockets, I don’t believe you’re fully healed, but if my instincts are correct, there is a safe room nearby. Do you think you can sit up?”
Got out.
Got out.
“Joker? Do you need a little more time to gather yourself?”
“Y-you said we… got out?” the words rasped hard in his throat.
There was a pause. Why was there a pause? Someone was saying something hushed in the background. Then someone else.
“Joker, I’d like you to look at me, please.”
This was ridiculous. It was pitch black. He couldn’t…
He couldn’t…
He swallowed, licked his lips. He stared out into nothing. Into darkness.
“I… can’t, Crow.”
“You can’t,” he repeated slowly. “I’m going to touch your face, stay still for me.”
He did exactly as he said, which was to do nothing. Gloved fingers touched his cheeks. Turned his head to face upwards. Akira swallowed again. The fingers remained for a few seconds, holding him. A thumb brushed against his cheekbone just beneath his eye. The contact to his skin made Akira flinch like he had been slapped.
Crow pulled away.
“What are you- Don’t!” Queen yelled out suddenly. “I wasn’t going to hurt him,” Crow tsk’d, a trace of annoyance in his voice. What was he trying to do? “I was testing something.”
“By jabbing his eyes?”
Oh.
“Gauging a reaction, if any.”
“You’re not helping, out of the way-”
“Actually, I am being the most helpful-”
The weight on his shoulder lifted abruptly, Crow probably being pulled back and away. He didn’t know.
“Joker, dude, you’re freaking us out a bit,” he heard Skull say uneasily. He blinked, because his eyes were starting to burn. “What’s going on?”
Akira opened his mouth to speak and felt it immediately run dry. The words couldn’t come out. He couldn’t… process them. They just didn’t… He couldn’t…
Finally, someone said it out loud.
“Oh my god, he can’t see!”