Chapter Text
Kotone
She lays her naginata down on the floor of the coliseum, then gets down on her knees and closes her eyes, clasping her hands together in prayer.
Hang on, Makoto, she thinks. I'm coming. I'm going to save you, for once. This will all work out the way it was meant to, in the end. I promise. Just wait for me.
When she opens her eyes, she sees Yukari standing next to her, watching her carefully. “Not gonna say a prayer or anything?” Kotone asks her.
Yukari offers her a hand up, which she accepts gratefully. “I'm not praying before this,” she says, softly. “The gods are the ones who took him from us. I'm not entrusting his life to them ever again. We're taking fate into our own hands, now.”
Kotone can't help but grin. “Makes it feel a bit more badass when you put it that way, huh?”
“I guess. I don't really care about that, though.”
“Nah, neither do I.” She draws in a breath, then bends down and picks up her weapon. “The others don't stand a chance.”
“I mean, Aigis is a living weapon, and she has the wild card, now...”
“Doesn't matter. Persona is strength of heart, right? Well, my heart's never felt stronger. I've never felt more sure of anything in my life. You see how uncertain Aigis was?” She forces a small smile. “You know, when you enter the Velvet Room and awaken to the power of the wild card, one of the first things they tell you is that your power is like the number zero. Empty, yet full of possibilities. It's down to the individual wild card to decide how strong their power will be. Me and Makoto nurtured our bonds. We made friends, relationships, companions, confidants. Aigis just burned all her bridges. I think I know whose heart is stronger.”
Yukari nods at her. “When you say it like that, I get it, I think.”
“You scared at all?”
“A little, I guess. It's just... We only get one shot at this, you know?”
“Only had one shot at Nyx, too.”
Yukari flinches. “And we lost. Remember?”
“Yeah. We did.” They all stood on the top floor of Tartarus and faced down Death itself, but Makoto was the only one of them strong enough to stand up. They lost that day, more than they could have possibly imagined. We should have all lived together or died together. This isn't right, but it is necessary. We have to do what must be done, no matter what. That's what Makoto would have thought, right?
Kotone sighs. “We're not gonna lose this time. I'd rather die than lose.”
“Yeah. Same here.”
“Good. Can't back down now. Wouldn't want to, even if we could.”
Yukari's nod is determined. “I just... I can't lose here. We can't.”
Kotone says nothing. She's focusing on Eurydice, settled in her heart. She wonders if, maybe, losing the wild card wasn't a curse. Does this mean her heart is more true, now? Is she no longer changing her masks around others? But if she's had some sort of revelation, why didn't her Persona evolve? Why is she still Eurydice? Orpheus turned into Messiah, after all...
Well, it doesn't matter. Eurydice is more than enough.
Ken
“You sure about this?”
Sanada-san asks him this as he prepares his spear. “I'm sure,” Ken says, trying to keep his voice steady. Honestly, he doesn't feel good about it. Any of it. But there's no choice, not anymore...
“If you don't want to do this-”
“I have to do this,” Ken insists. “I'm not doing this to help you, Sanada-san. I'm doing this because I believe it's right. I promised to follow my heart.”
Akihiko nods slowly. “Just so you know, I would've preferred it didn't come to this. I especially didn't want to drag you into it. But...” He shakes his head. “They've been blinded by fear and rage and grief. I understand it. I can't pretend I've handled all of this particularly well, either. But I don't want to undo Makoto's work.”
“I agree.”
He's not completely happy about throwing away the keys like this. There's a part of him, however small it might be, that wants nothing more than to do as Yukari-san and Kotone-san say. That part of him wants to go back to the past and save Makoto-san, like he did for them so many times. But...
It's just so hard to imagine succeeding without him. How can they take Makoto-san out of the last battle and still claim victory?
He thrusts his spear forward a few times to test it out. His Evoker feels heavier than ever before, but he still refuses to let go of it. The idea of turning his weapons against his friends hurts him deeply, but...
He sighs and shakes his head. This is necessary, in the end. There's no other choice. He can't abstain, like the others are. He can't allow this to come down to Aigis and Kotone. He can't.
“You ready?” Sanada-san asks him.
“Yeah,” Ken breathes. “As ready as I'm gonna be.”
Sanada places a gentle hand on his shoulder. “You've grown a lot this year, Ken,” he says, his voice soft and careful. “No matter what happens, I want you to know I'm proud of you.”
Ken meets his gaze, and nods carefully, trying hard to hold back tears. “Thank you.”
Aigis
“We are not going to kill anyone.”
Metis frowns at her. “They are the cause of this, Sister. All we have to do is get rid of them, and the Abyss will be cleared. You won't even have to make a choice, then. You will be able to leave without consequences.”
“Losing my friends is a consequence.” Aigis shakes her head. “If you can't see that, you cannot call me Sister.”
“You-” Metis' eyes widen. “I don't understand!”
“I will not kill any of them, and neither will you. All we want is the keys.” She has to stick to the plan. She will get everyone back on the same side, even if it isn't easy. Makoto-san sometimes struggled, too. He had moments when he lost his faith, or when others started to doubt him. Aigis never realized before how painful those moments must have been for him.
She'll hold strong, though, just like he always did.
-
When the gather at the center of the stadium, she finds herself faltering just a bit.
It's not easy, after all, to see the looks of blinding rage on the faces of the two people Makoto-san loved more than anyone else. She had thought, once, that she herself might have been lucky enough to be third in his thoughts. Now, she isn't quite as sure. Can she truly say he would not resent her for refusing this chance?
Then again, she isn't refusing the chance. Not yet, at least.
Kotone-san nods to Aigis. “You ready?”
“I am.”
“Good. I'm not holding back.”
“Hang on,” Akihiko-san grunts. “We need some ground rules.”
Yukari shrugs. “Last one standing gets the keys. Don't think we need anything more than that.”
Akihiko shakes his head. “No. That's not enough. We are not walking out of here with another body. We take the keys. That's all. No killing.”
“And if we won't give up our keys till we're dead?” Kotone presses.
“It won't come to that,” Aigis insists.
“Fine. No killing, then. Anything else?”
“I think that rule is sufficient,” Metis says. For once, no one contradicts her. To tell the truth, Aigis can think of no other rules, either. So long as no one will kill, there's no need to restrict anything else.
The others are nowhere to be seen, but Aigis has a feeling they're watching. Either through Juno, or through some sort of magic unique to this place. Either way, she suspects there are eyes upon their duel. She doesn't intend to disappoint her friends. She will fight, yes, but she will not harm the ones Makoto-san cared for.
“We good, then?” Kotone asks.
“Yeah,” Akihiko says, nodding. “I think we are.”
“Good.” Without waiting another second, Kotone raises her naginata and slashes at Aigis hard.
Kotone
She's thrown off Aigis quickly.
Metis – of course – is the one to stop her in her assault. Instantly, the whole stadium erupts into chaos. Kotone pushes Metis aside and looks up just in time to see Akihiko dodge one of Yukari's arrows, while Ken seems to hesitate off to the side a bit. Aigis does the same, and that awakens a fury in Kotone she didn't even know was there.
She slaps at Metis with the edge of her blade, which effectively stops the android from pursuing her for now. With the opening, she rushes Aigis, throwing all her weight into a slash that connects with her neck, forcing her to the ground.
Aigis recovers quickly, as could be expected from a robot. She raises her hands and fires a round of bullets, which Kotone slashes out of the air, dodging those that she cannot stop. She slides to a halt, grabs her Evoker, and screams out, “Eurydice!” A storm of ice follows, and Aigis is caught in the midst of it. Kotone can't help but grin. She and Makoto had both gotten used to swapping Personas on the fly to avoid being caught out by weaknesses, but Aigis is still new to the wild card. She crumbles.
Before she can take advantage of this, though, she's stabbed through the calf from behind. She lets out a yelp and twists around, channeling a bit of healing energy into her wound by reflex. It's stronger than she anticipates, so Yukari must have found an opening to help her out. When she looks up, she finds that it was Ken who attacked her, and his eyes are wide as he stares at her on the ground.
“Thought you'd learned your lesson after October,” Kotone snarls at him, pushing herself back up. “Killing solves nothing.”
“I know that.”
“Then why are you trying to kill Makoto?”
Ken flinches, but doesn't respond. He stabs at her with his spear, and she deflects the attack lazily. His heart clearly isn't in this. Kotone doesn't hesitate to press him, forcing him further and further back as he tries desperately to keep up with her.
Just when she thinks she can force him to surrender, though, she's caught off guard by a punch to the face. She falls to the ground, her naginata slipping from her fingers. She hits the ground hard, eating some dust in the process. sh*t, sh*t, get back up. She just barely manages to turn over quickly enough to dodge a second strike from Akihiko. His hand hits the ground, so she's able to push him off her, kicking him hard in the stomach. He doubles over, but recovers himself with trained swiftness. She didn't expect him to go down easy, of course.
She regains her footing, and catches a glimpse of Yukari attempting to fend off both Aigis and Metis. That won't last long if I don't help out. The fury that's been building is reaching a crescendo at this point. Why are both teams so determined to beat us? We're the ones trying to save Makoto... Aigis and Akihiko seem completely disinterested in one another, though. It's not a free-for-all. It's everyone against Kotone and Yukari.
She's never been angrier in her life.
Kotone forces herself to stand strong, letting out a roar unlike any noise she'd thought herself capable of making. Another voice joins her in discordant harmony, and for a single moment she thinks it belongs to Yukari, before she realizes that it, in fact, belongs to Eurydice. Her Persona hovers above her, clutching at her skull and screaming in ravenous pain.
And then Eurydice contorts, her elegant and peaceful form twisting into something far more dire, far more viscous, and Kotone grins at the feeling. “Come on!” she screams out, her throat tearing apart. “ALECTO!”
Eurydice screams, and then erupts into darkness. What remains is a hellish creature, floating just above Kotone's head on bat's wings.
Her laughter turns into cackling as she swipes forward with a brutal darkness attack, pushing both Metis and Aigis off Yukari and buying her companion a respite. When Ken attempts to strike out at her, she lashes out again, catching his weakness and forcing him to his knees.
Akihiko holds his ground against her the longest, but Kotone's never felt power like this before. Alecto matches Caesar blow for blow, but her strikes are far stronger and far less restrained. Caesar loses ground, no matter how hard Akihiko tries to stand his.
Before she can even win the duel, Akihiko lets out a cry and falls to his knees, and Kotone looks down to see that there's an arrow in his calf. He's clutching at it, wincing in pain as he attempts to pull it out of the flesh. Kotone looks up and nods at Yukari, her eyes alight with black flame.
Kotone bends down and grabs the key from Akihiko's hands. He tries to stop her, letting out a gasping “No!”, but it's too late. She takes his key, and he crumbles, falling further to the ground. He's done, now. Losing his key took away the remainder of his strength. “Stay down,” she growls at him, but she doubts he even needs the warning. He's done.
Standing, Kotone turns to Ken. “You don't want another wave of darkness,” she says, her voice steady. “I'm thinking Alecto can destroy Kala-nemi any day, and you don't have any help, now. Hand over your key.”
He forces himself up, leaning hard on his spear. “I won't,” he hisses. “I can't. Please, Kotone-san, you have to-”
“Shut the hell up. Don't beg me to kill my brother.” She swipes her naginata through the air, and a wave of dark flames emanate from the blade, courtesy of Alecto. This power is unlike anything she felt as a wild card. “I'm going to save him. You're the monsters here, not me.”
With that, she slashes out, and he just barely manages to catch her attack with the haft of his spear. Her strength vastly outmatches his, though, and he falls backwards onto the ground after just a momentary struggle. “Stay down,” she snarls, but he just gets back up.
Before she can attack again, though, she's caught off guard from the side. Before she can lose her ground, though, Alecto swipes in and forces Metis off her. “Good!” Kotone growls, grinning from ear to ear. “Now the real fight can begin!” She rushes Metis, who calls upon Psyche just a moment too late. Steel meets steel, and Metis falls backwards.
“Sister...” she croaks out.
Aigis appears as if from nowhere, attacking with force. “Orpheus!” she calls out, and her brother's Persona attacks her. Kotone shakes her head. No, Orpheus isn't his right now. They'll be reunited soon, she knows it, but right now his power's been stolen.
Alecto throws Orpheus aside without issue, but Kotone gets pushed back by Aigis. Just a moment into their struggle, though, Aigis is blown away by an enormously powerful wind attack, and Kotone grins to see Yukari back in the fight. “Let's finish this!” Kotone calls to her, and Yukari nods, determined.
Yukari turns her attention to Metis, the two of them fighting one another with fury, while Kotone remains focused on Aigis. “Don't make me do this, Kotone-san,” Aigis says, softly, her blue eyes piercing her.
“It's too late for this,” Kotone says, her voice sharp.
“Very well.”
Kotone is the first to leap forward, the blade of her naginata slamming into Aigis' neck and catching there. The android winces, and Kotone feels a sick pleasure in seeing her in pain. “You were supposed to protect him!” she screams at Aigis, calling upon Alecto for a devastating dark attack.
Apparently, Aigis has been getting better at swapping Personas on the fly, though. She tanks the attack, then tosses aside the naginata and calls upon Orpheus again. He's no match for Alecto, though. One of Orpheus' weaknesses is darkness. Alecto annihilates him, and Aigis crumbles to her knees yet again.
“It's over,” Kotone growls at her.
Aigis looks up, her robotic eyes locking with Kotone's own. “Not yet,” she says. With an effort, she pushes herself up, then closes her eyes briefly, looks up to the sky, and roars, “Thanatos!”
Before Kotone can even react, Thanatos appears, unleashes an unbelievable almighty attack, and Kotone has no choice but to accept the damage. Her entire body seems to light up, pain spreading throughout every nerve. She screams, but the sound can't even be heard over the noise of the explosion. Alecto disappears, and Kotone falls to her knees.
No, no, no! Get the hell back up! I can't lose this! She tries to push herself up, but her knees just won't obey her. When she attempts to lean on her naginata, the handle splinters, and she falls back to the dusty ground. “No!” she cries, but her limbs feel so weak. She can't get back up. She finds herself reminded of that moment at the top of Tartarus, when she'd tried desperately to stop Makoto, only for the weight of Nyx's attacks to push her back to the ground.
Aigis turns away from her, instead watching the fight between Metis and Yukari come to an end. Kotone briefly closes her eyes, knowing that their battle will come to a similar conclusion. When she opens her eyes again, Yukari is on the ground, too, her bow broken and her Evoker lost.
With a sigh, Aigis steps up to her and kneels down by her. “I'm sorry, Yukari-san.”
Yukari doesn't respond except to break into sobs, as Aigis reaches out and takes her key.
Kotone watches in dejection as the android begins to walk back towards her. “Kotone-san...” Aigis says, softly.
“Don't try and pity me.”
“I...” Aigis hesitates, then sighs. “I didn't want it to end this way. But I am doing this for him. I failed him, and so I must do right by him this time. I promise, I will not fail him again.”
Kotone meets her gaze, shaking her head. “I never blamed you for what happened to him, Aigis. None of us understood it. How could we? There's nothing you could have done.” She looks down, and spits up some blood. “But.. if you do this... If you take my key and do anything with it but return to the past... You will be killing him, Aigis. I need you to know that.”
Aigis studies her for a moment, then reaches down silently and takes her key. And Kotone feels the last of her strength dissolve.
Aigis
Ken-san surrenders his key willingly. Whether out of fear, or obligation, or desire, Aigis has no idea. Makoto-san would have known, she suspects.
With all the defiant keys united, the doors of the stadium open once more, and the others are able to enter. Junpei-san and Mitsuru-san lead the pack, both of them looking terribly uncomfortable with the sight of the aftermath. “Satisfied?” Junpei says, his voice harsh.
“We did what was necessary,” Metis says.
“Quiet,” Aigis says, a bit more sharply than she'd intended. She looks down at Kotone-san, and offers her a hand to help her up. Kotone locks eyes with her, then scowls and gets up without help. Now that the keys are steady, her wounds seem to have healed. A glance confirms that this is the case for Akihiko-san and Yukari-san as well.
Mitsuru-san approaches Aigis carefully. “You have the rebellious keys, now,” she says, her voice soft. “So... what is it you intend to do with them?”
“You never actually had a plan, did you?” Aigis turns with a start as Yukari approaches her. Even without weapons, she makes a formidable sight. “So, what, you just defeated us so that you could admit you have no idea what you're gonna do? Is that it?” Without giving her a chance to respond, Yukari lunges forward and grabs the united key in Aigis' hands. “So give it to me! Give me the key!”
“It doesn't matter, now,” Metis says. There's a slight bit more empathy in her voice than before. “You lost your key. Only those who have not forfeited their key can choose how they will be used.”
Yukari's gaze snaps to Metis, and she stares, wide-eyed, for a long moment. Then, all at once, the strength seems to leave her again, and she collapses to the ground, her knees striking the dirt hard, her hands falling to her sides. “Do you understand what you've done?” she cries. “We had one chance! One! And-” A sob cuts through her body, and she hugs herself slightly. “I just... I want to see him again! Not a memory, not a dream or a nightmare or whatever else. I want to see him.”
“Yukari-san...” Aigis whispers.
“No! You don't get it! I... I was alone, for so long, and then there was him, and...” She lets out a shuddering sob, shrinking even more into herself, if that's possible. “I need him. I want him. I miss him so much, and I can't- I can't go on without him. I don't want to do this without him! And now you've given up the one chance we had to save him, and-” Another choking sob, and it seems Yukari is unable to say anything more.
Aigis stares at her, trying desperately to think of what to say. She knows that Makoto-san would have been able to comfort her, would have been able to comfort anyone, but he isn't here, and maybe, just maybe, Yukari is right, and... She can't even understand her own thoughts.
Before she can find the words, though, Mitsuru steps forward and kneels down next to her friend. “Yukari... I'm not going to act as though I understand entirely how you feel. But... What I can tell you is that you are not alone. We're all with you. All of us. We will not abandon you.”
Yukari makes another choked noise. “That's exactly what I promised him! And then I broke that promise! I... I wasn't even there for him, in the end...” She looks up at Aigis, who crouches down to her level as well, if only to make things easier for her. “Do you have any idea what I would've given just to be in your place, Aigis? He needed me, and I wasn't there, and...” She shakes her head, swallowing hard. “I'll never forgive myself for that.”
“It wasn't your fault, Yukari-san,” Aigis says, her voice gentler than it's ever been before. “Nyx's power was absolute.”
“It doesn't matter! We all remembered because of our promise, right? So why couldn't I remember my first promise!? Why the hell did I have to forget when I told him I'd never leave him!?”
There are tears in Mitsuru-san's eyes now, too, but she holds her voice steady as she wraps her arms around Yukari. “We all have regrets, Yukari. We all have things we wish we could have done for him, things we wish we could have said to him. But... Changing the past will not solve anything. Going against his wishes would only harm him more. You must understand that.”
Yukari chokes back another sob. “I know, I know, but...” She shakes her head. “I know, I could probably move on with enough time. I probably don't need him. But...” She swallows hard again, tears flowing freely from her eyes. “I want him. I don't want to go on without him. I don't want to have to do this without him. I love him so much, and I never thought I'd ever feel like that for anyone, and...” She looks at the dirt beneath her. “I wish I could've just died with him. I would've preferred that.”
“He would not have wanted that for you.”
“What about what I want!? Doesn't that matter at all!?”
Mitsuru sighs. “Of course it does, Yukari. But... If you love him, surely you can respect the decisions he made? None of this should have had to happen, but... It has. I don't know if you can truly say that you love him if you aren't willing to accept the choice he made.”
Yukari gives no response except to weep further, crumbling into Mitsuru's arms and sobbing without even taking a moment to breathe. Aigis clutches her hands to her heart and watches, uncertain what to say or do, if anything. She feels frozen.
“How do none of you get this?”
The new voice causes all of them to look up, to see Kotone staring dead ahead, her hands clenched into fists. “Kotone-san?” Aigis says, hoarsely.
“Of course someone has to die. That's obvious. It's been obvious. There was never gonna be a version of this where we all lived happily ever after. Igor said it himself, in the Velvet Room. Power always comes with a cost. The point was never to avert death entirely. It was just to fix the mistakes.”
“The... mistakes?” Akihiko says, uncertainly.
“Yes! God, isn't it so obvious!? Someone has to pay the price for salvation, but why did it have to be him!?” Only then does Kotone look up, her eyes bloodshot. “It should have been me!”
Aigis... hadn't expected this.
The entirety of the team stares at Kotone, wide-eyed, unsure what to say or do. The world itself seems to still, and even Metis does not break the silence.
“You...” Junpei finally manages. “You were gonna...”
“I was going to fix things,” Kotone spits. “I was going to take his place, and that would be that! It would have solved everything! You would have had Makoto back, and I-”
“You were going to kill yourself,” Junpei says, accusingly.
Kotone shakes her head. “I was going to protect him, the way he always protected me. You all keep saying how noble his sacrifice was, and all that sh*t, but he was the one who had something to live for. I could've given up my life and nothing would've changed! It would have been for the best.”
“We don't trade lives,” Akihiko says, his voice sharp.
“No, we do not,” Mitsuru says, standing carefully. She helps Yukari up, who looks just as shocked, behind the veil of tears. “We will not kill you to save him.”
“I didn't...” Yukari croaks. “That was your plan? I thought...”
“Thought what? That we'd just go back and win this time and we'd all live happily ever after? Did you even think about this? Nyx cannot be overcome through normal means. It's not like we could just fight harder and somehow win this time. It doesn't work like that. Someone has to pay the price, but there's no reason it should've been him.”
An explosion of voices erupts then, and Aigis finds herself lost in the shuffle of it. Everyone yells at one another, even Koromaru joining in with hasty barks.
“Everyone.”
The team finally quiets as Aigis calls out, her voice managing to cut through the noise. They all turn to her, but Kotone looks away. “What? Now that you know my plan, maybe you'll agree with me?”
“I never entirely disagreed with you, Kotone-san,” Aigis says, softly, and their former leader finally meets her gaze, surprise in her eyes. “My goal here was not to avoid returning to the past or the present. I have a suggestion. I just... needed to make sure you were subdued before you would listen to it.”
“A suggestion?” Yukari manages.
Aigis nods. “We still don't know why he died. We don't know whether it was necessary or not. We don't know the context of the situation. How can we make a decision until we know everything? So...” She draws herself up tall, eliminating the slouch that has been creeping into her posture ever since she developed her humanity. “I suggest that we see his memories. I suggest that we see Makoto-san's side of this.”
“Is...” Akihiko shuffles on his feet, his eyes turning to Metis. “Is that possible?”
Metis hesitates. “I don't understand this place much better than any of you, admittedly. But... Yes, I think we could see his memories. His door in the dorm would likely work as an access point. But...” She shifts slightly, uncomfortable. “Extracting memories from the dead is not the same as extracting memories from the living. They will be unfiltered. You'll be seeing the most important parts of this person's life. The most intense memories, good and bad. You may see things you don't want to see. You may not see things you do want to see. There's no telling, either way.”
“Nonetheless,” Aigis says, “I think it is necessary. We need to know what he did, and why.” She looks back to Kotone. “If you are correct, then we will return to the past. If not, we will return to the present. I am open to either option. We simply need to know which is correct before we choose.”
“I...” Kotone hesitates, then nods. “Okay.”
“Are you sure?” Mitsuru asks, her eyes darting between Kotone and Yukari. “You will have to see his memories. Are... are you sure the two of you can handle that?”
“No,” Yukari says, instantly. “But... I think Aigis is right. We need to do this.”
Mitsuru nods. “Very well.” She looks to Aigis, touching her own key gingerly. “I suppose you would like the remainder of the keys?”
Aigis shakes her head. “I do not want all the power to myself. It is bad enough that I've taken four keys that do not belong to me. The rest of you will keep yours, until the end.”
“I... Very well.”
There's a tiny noise, almost like laughing. They all turn, confused, to Kotone. She looks up, the slightest hint of a smile on her face, and she directs it at Aigis. “Y'know, maybe you are a leader, after all.”
Aigis shakes her head. “I'm only doing what I think Makoto-san would have done. And...” She takes a single step forward. “And what I think you would have done, Kotone-san. Before this.”
Kotone averts her gaze, tearing up a little bit. “Yeah,” she says, her voice shrunken. “Before.”
