Chapter Text
Akira adjusted his mask back onto his face and saw Ryuji do the same with a bright grin, still enjoying their time playing around in a safe room. Ryuji wanted to find out if he could hold his mask and to their surprise he was able to.
And naturally Ryuji decided to make the most of it and did a rather cute imitation of him with his mask. Akira found himself smiling too at the amusing memory, and of course he had to give Ryuji a taste of his own medicine, stealing Ryuji’s mask and pretending to call out for Captain Kidd with his best Ryuji impersonation.
But now that they have rested enough it was time to move on and explore a bit more of Mementos.
“Whoa…” Futaba breathed as they entered the new floor. Akira could feel something off with this area and no doubt their navigator could feel it too. These floors never had the same layout upon entering but this one felt strange and entirely different that previous floors.
Strange feelings aside, the area itself was darker than usual but it looked like the area was close to crumbling down. Akira tightened his hands on the steering wheel as he drove the Monabus around.
“I got a bad feeling about this place,” Akira admitted after exploring a few corridors in this area, “let’s go back to the real world for now--!”
“Ah! Incoming!” Futaba shouted.
“Gah!” Morgana grunted in pain as a Shadow suddenly crashed into him.
Akira, Ryuji, Makoto and Haru took the frontlines with support from Futaba as Ann and Yusuke looked after Morgana.
Large eight headed snakes emerged from the hulking Shadow that slammed into them.
As they fought, small bits of dust and concrete fell from the walls, the whole place shaking from every strong skill each side used to take the other down.
Akira panted, the room was spinning slightly, these Shadows got a few lucky hits and unfortunately they seemed to like targeting him. Makoto was charging a Diarahan to heal him but one of the Shadows took the opportunity to rear its heads back to strike--
“Look out!” Ryuji got in front of him and before Akira could push him out of the way, Ryuji took the brunt of the attack but he couldn’t stand his ground and was knocked into Akira. The impact knocked their masks off and they clattered to opposite sides.
“Ugh… you ok dude?” Ryuji asked, grunting in pain but tried to quickly get off of him despite it.
“I should be the one asking you that.” Akira said quietly, reaching out to check Ryuji’s injuries, pushing down the guilt that it was his fault.
“Don’t worry, I’m fine--! Wait, your mask!” Ryuji pointed to Akira’s face, eyes wide with shock, oblivious to his own missing mask.
Akira instinctively reached towards where his mask should be and indeed there was no comforting weight of his mask on his face. “Your mask is gone too, Skull.”
“Eh?” Ryuji looked around frantically for it.
This never happened before… normally their mask would just reappear in a burst of blue flames back onto their faces when not in use. And not to mention Arsene’s and his other personas’ presence felt muddied and far away. Could it be because of this strange area of Mementos?
“Joker, Skull, are you alright? We could use your help back here.” Makoto informed them.
“Shit, we’ll be there soon! Where’d our masks go?” Ryuji called out as he and Akira looked around.
Akira caught something glinting in the sparse light of this floor at the same time Ryuji did and they went off in opposing directions to investigate.
Akira kneeled down and gently picked up a mask of a familiar steel gray. It was Ryuji’s. He turned to meet back with Ryuji and to reunite him with his mask. Akira smiled as he saw Ryuji hold up Akira’s mask excitedly and start to run towards him as well.
“Joker! Here, I--Guh!” A Shadow took advantage of Ryuji’s distraction and slammed into him. The Shadow reared back ready to strike again. Ryuji curled slightly then screamed as he was smashed into the ground.
“No!” Akira shouted helplessly. He pocketed Ryuji’s mask and quickened his pace to get over there and… do something, anything! Akira began to worry when Ryuji wasn’t getting back up. He couldn’t call on his personas while he was still separated from his mask but he could get between the Shadow and Ryuji at least. Ryuji, so foolish and selfless ...He saw Ryuji curl around his mask to protect it.
Akira gasped and skidded to a halt as the floor started shaking terribly. Soon it got worse and ground started to crumble beneath them.
“Skull!” The floor around the zio user gave way and Ryuji fell. Akira grunted as a Shadow crashed into him but it lacked strength behind it... it wasn’t attacking him, Akira realized. It was running away. The ground shook even more and the floor gave way beneath him.
He tried jumping from a solid chunk of falling debris to another when a few snake heads of the fleeing Shadow turned to him and hissed. They launched ice at him and Akira tried to dodge but lost footing when the ground crumbled even more and tilted unexpectedly. He grunted as the ice hit him, he was always a little sensitive to the cold and Arsene was the same as well, their weakness caused Akira to black out and fall into the darkness as well.
“Joker! Skull!” Ann called out, taking a step forward to where they fell but Yusuke stopped her.
“Wait, it’s dangerous. This place is unstable, you might fall in too--” Yusuke started to say.
They turned when they heard Futaba yelped as a chunk of the ceiling fell nearby.
Morgana nodded, then he transformed into a bus. “Fox is right, this place is unstable, let’s get to a safer area and regroup. We could wait out this shaking and come back to help them.”
“Oracle, can you sense Joker and Skull, are they alright?” Makoto asked as she drove them away.
Their readings weren’t moving at the moment, which was worrying but they were still strong so they weren’t injured too badly. “Yeah, they should be fine. Luckily this shaking must have scared off the Shadows. They’re fleeing the area and won’t accidentally stumble across them. But let’s not push our luck, let’s find them quickly.”
Haru looked out the window, gasping as part of the tunnel collapsed blocking them from going back. “The tunnel collapsed! How will we get to them now?”
“They should be on the next floor down, I would guess.” Yusuke tapped his chin. Hopefully the state of the tunnels would be better than here.
“Alright! Then let’s go! Queen, let’s find a way to the next floor.” Ann said with renewed determination.
Futaba hummed to herself as she kept an eye on their missing teammates’ signatures. Huh? Somehow, she picked up Ryuji’s signature where Akira was and Akira’s signature where Ryuji was. No… those two new signatures felt like their respective personas…
But how? It could just be that she was picking up their masks, it was separated from them, but still… Hmm…
Ryuji groaned, slowly waking up but still in the haze of exhaustion and pain.
Glad to see you’re awake, mon char. I was worried for a moment… you didn’t have to endure that attack to protect me. A smooth voice said, relieved and with a hint of guilt at the end.
Mon char? Ryuji squinted in confusion to find Akira sitting up next to him in his school uniform staring down at him with warm eyes. Warm, golden eyes…
If Akira was in his school uniform, maybe Akira had managed to find him and got them out of Mementos. He deliriously reached out to hold Akira’s hand and sighed out, “always want to protect you ‘Kira… glad you’re safe…” He couldn’t fight his exhaustion anymore and fell unconscious again.
‘Akira’ stared in slight surprise then his expression melted into something softer. With his free hand, he gently ran his fingers through Ryuji’s hair.
…
Gah! Ryuji woke up with a start and pushed himself up slightly off the ground. It all came back to him in a rush. The Shadows, the floor collapsing and… Akira!
He wildly looked around for his best friend who he could’ve sworn was right next to him but… with golden eyes and not in his Phantom Thief outfit? Then he registered a light weight in his hand.
It was Akira’s mask. Ryuji held it in his hands so that it was facing him. The simple white domino mask with black accents that usually helped Joker’s stoic, cool, mysterious vibe but right now it seemed like it was staring at him with a gentle demeanor.
…! Wait, if Akira’s mask is here then Akira was still without his personas! When that Shadow knocked off his mask, he felt like a part of him got separated and he couldn’t clearly feel Captain Kidd like usual so it must be the same with Akira.
“Don’t worry, I’ll get ya back to Akira in no time!” Ryuji said to the mask and he might’ve imagined it but it felt warm for a second. He stood up ignoring the aches and pains that wracked through his body and looked for a way back to the others.
“Whoa.” He breathed out at the rubble surrounding him, he got super lucky that he wasn’t buried underneath it. Thankfully, there was a path that wasn’t blocked by broken concrete.
There was no other way to go so he moved forward.
Akira woke slowly to slight rocking as someone carried him on their back.
“You’ve kept me waiting quite awhile.” Ryuji? That voice kinda sounded like Ryuji… “Honestly though, I’m relieved you’re alright.” The voice grew soft.
Akira blearily caught sight of familiar bright bleached hair. “Ryuji…” He clutched him a little tighter. “You’re safe…? Good,” He nuzzled tiredly against Ryuji nape. “I don’t like seeing you hurt… especially for me.”
Ryuji turned his head back slightly and Akira caught his fond expression. “...Heh, you just don’t know how much you mean to us. You’re worth protecting too, you know.”
Akira started to fade in and out of consciousness as Ryuji carefully placed him against a wall. Akira caught Ryuji saying something about getting him somewhere that wasn’t falling apart and not being able to go further or he’ll attract unwanted attention. Before sleep claimed him, he could’ve sworn the Ryuji in front of him had bright, golden eyes.
…
Huh, Ryuji?! Akira woke up with a start. Was that just just a dream? Akira found himself propped against a wall and something on his hand.
It was Ryuji’s mask, the light glinting off of it giving it a metallic sheen. Akira gently touched foreheads with the mask. Ryuji… “You mean a lot to me too.” He whispered, the mask felt slightly warm for a moment.
He pulled back and smiled, “let’s get back to the others and get you back to your other self.”
Akira got up and saw that one part of the tunnel was blocked by fallen rocks and concrete. How did he not get crushed underneath all of that?
The only way forward was the opposite path of the tunnel and so he started walking.
“Oracle?” Akira called out as he explored, searching for the others or at least a safe room. But he was met with garbled static. This odd part of Mementos must be interfering. He sighed, he had hoped Futaba could guide them back to each other and he was worried about Ryuji--
Grrr…
Akira swiftly turned around to find a mane of white dangerously close to him. He dodged dangerous claws and tried to retaliate with his dagger but he couldn’t seem to put his persona’s strength behind it like he used to.
Akira grimaced as more Shadows joined in and to his abysmal luck, it was those elephant Shadows that could reflect one of the only attacks he could do right now.
This was bad, if only he could summon one of his personas to give him an edge.
Ryuji’s mask started sparking, leaving a tingling feeling in his hand.
A familiar voice echoed from Ryuji’s mask…
Gah, these birds were annoying. Ryuji leaped to the side to dodge a shining, golden bird Shadow swooping at him. And what’s worse was that they knew wind skills. He’s alone so getting hit with a wind skill would mean he’s toast.
He didn’t want to die here. He wanted to see the others again. He wanted to see Akira again. If only there was someone to back him up.
His hand twitched as he felt Akira’s mask get hotter to the point of burning but it didn’t hurt. It was like that brush of heat as Akira used a curse skill right beside him.
Ryuji gasped as a familiar voice resounded from Akira’s mask…
Holder of my heart, call upon my name and I will lend you my aid