Chapter Text
Aigis thought about how strange it was that even being stuck in an infinitely-looping day, she feels like she was still transported back to December of last year again.
After the reveal that the keys they had been collecting could be combined into ‘One True Key’ that could take them through any door, and that the key could potentially undo the tragedy that took their leader from them, SEES as a whole had divided itself.
Her friends suddenly felt so far away, as they bickered over a single solution. Even Metis’ idea she was hesitant to trust, since these were still her friends.
Aigis, suddenly in the shoes of the one person who knew them better than they knew themselves, once more felt the deep longing for their leader who always seemed to know what to do. They were never prepared for this responsibility, even now.
Stumbling for something real, she decided to commit to the one thing she knew she was good at. Dispatching shadows.
Under the guise of exploring every crevice of the Abyss of Time for another solution, Aigis ran through the floors of Judecca again, losing herself in the rush of certainty she could rely on when fighting shadows and pushing away the memory of the enemy who wore their leader's face.
Even so, the halls seemed exactly as she remembered, and Aigis began to dread the inevitable climb back up to face the rest of the group and finally decide what they would do. Could she even bring herself to bear arms against her fellow friends again?
“…it seems that there are no answers down here. I apologise for the detour.” Aigis somberly confesses to the team she brought in, too ashamed to look them in the eyes.
“It’s fine, Aigis,” Mitsuru attempts to console her. “I think we all needed a break to consider all the ramifications of what we learned from Métis. To think our personas and shadows are only different names for the same entities…”
“Yeah, the tension back there was bad. Especially with Yuka-tan getting pretty desperate to fix things. We needed some time to really think before we made that decision.” Junpei huffs, resting his sword on his shoulder.
“Besides, it’s always good to keep our skills sharp, we got a few new items to sell so we can’t say it wasn't a waste of time!” He laughed into the silence.
Koromaru tried to emphasise Junpei’s statement with a pair of barks, although Aigis’s new disposition unfortunately meant she could no longer understand Koromaru as she once did.
A bit flustered at being found out so easily, Aigis nodded her head but kept it bowed as she spoke. “Thank you everyone. I suppose we have no choice but to return to the dorms.”
“Yep. Sucks, though. Would have been nice to find something helpful down here-“
Junpei’s statement is cut short by the sound of shifting earth and the Abyss of Time trembling. Everyone scrambles to keep their feet for a moment when the corridor they had been standing in began to drift until it was oriented towards an entirely separate path.
“The abyss is shifting while we are still inside?!” Mitsuru gasped when the shaking stopped. “The Abyss has never re-ordered itself while we were still within it.”
“Is everyone alright?” Aigis called to her companions. When they all responded with varying levels of energy, Aigis turned her head skyward.
“Fuuka, do you have enough energy to scan this floor? I would like to confirm that the Abyss of time has reset itself.”
“I should be able to. Give me a moment.”Fuuka’s voice echoed in her ear and a few seconds later, the ripple of green light in the air burst out from their position.
“…that’s strange.” Fuuka’s uncertainty drew concern from Mitsuru, and the others in the team.
“What is? Is there an issue with your scan, Yamagishi?”
“No, I managed to scan the entire floor.” Fuuka confirmed. “However, I scanned several chests that seemed to be empty, and I didn't detect any additional shadows. It’s as if the room… jumbled itself without actually changing anything?”
“That’s weird. You think it was because the Abyss knew we were down here? Is it trying to confuse us or something?” Junpei asked, but Mitsuru shook her head.
“No, the Abyss acts very similarly to Tartarus and Tartarus, while dangerous, never deployed any trick like this. While plausible, I don’t think that’s what happened here.”
“Um…” Fuuka’s voice re-entered their heads. “There is one difference in this floor that was not there before.”
“Really? What is it?” Aigis wondered. They should have headed up already, but that can wait just a bit longer. Aigis was almost thankful for the distraction.
“I sense a new door on this floor. It feels like a monad door, but the energy signature is… strange. I’d advise caution if you planned to investigate.”
“We sort of have to, don’t we?” Junpei interjected. “We make it down to the bottom of the abyss again, and a new door suddenly shows up when we want another solution. We sort of assumed we caused the abyss to open, so it might be reacting to us again.”
“…as surprising as it is to agree with Iori,” Mitsuru asserted, ignoring Junpei’s sputtered offence, “with how the Abyss has acted in the past, there is a chance that this new door could be our ‘out’ so to speak. It’s your call, Aigis.
All heads turned to Aigis, even though her mind was made up already.
“We will investigate the new door. Fuuka, can you guide us there?”
“Yes. In fact, the corridor you are in is very close. You just need to head right, continue straight and then left. You’ll reach a set of stairs that won’t lead to a new floor and the door will be at the end.”
The team turned and began traversing the halls of empyrean, until they reached the stairway and the long corridor that ended with the door that had mysteriously appeared.
“This is it. Are you ready, Aigis?” Mitsuru asked her, right as she reached out for the door.
“We have to be. For her.” Aigis asserted, and pushed the double doors open.
_________________
The doorway leads to halls very similar to the Monad Passages they once explored in Tartarus. Long, winding hallways connected by a series of doors. It doesn’t settle any concerns in Aigis’s mind, as these always led to difficult battles.
Aigis assumed that she would be prepared for anything she saw at the end of the corridors, she’d fought the abyssal version of her dear leader in the abyss of time already.
When the sound of shattering glass filled the air, followed by the crackling boom of fire, Aigis knew she was once again taken off guard by the abyss of time’s tricks.
“Hey… you guys hear that too?” Junpei shuffled his grip on the greatsword in his hands, staring off at the next door.
“We do. Someone behind that door is currently in combat.” Aigis confirmed. The real question was who, since all the persona users they were aware of are either accounted for or already deceased.
“Whoever it is, it won’t hurt to check. If they are friendly, we could even provide support.” Mitsuru concluded, looking over at Aigis.
“Affirmative. In the case of such an event, it is best we move swiftly.” Aigis picks up speed again as they begin to rush through the rest of the passage.
The sounds only began to pick up, and Aigis began to be more and more worried the more varied they became. Fire, ice, Lightning, Wind, Light, Dark, At least one type of Physical, even Ailments. If a persona user was fighting behind these doors, they were either immensely powerful, or the shadow they were battling was dangerous.
A part of her remembered that there was only one person she knew who could use multiple elements because of her ability to use more than one persona. Even though it couldn’t be her, she had the faintest dread that they may be running into another of the abyss’s abominations with her face.
“Aigis, wait!” Fuuka’s voice snaps her out of her thoughts right before another door. “I sense an incredibly powerful presence. Or is it two? I can’t tell. Either way, there’s someone dangerous behind this door. Are you sure you’re prepared.”
Aigis dislikes how she hesitates now. Before their leader left, she never even thought about if she was unprepared. As long as she was beside her leader, she’d never even thought to doubt her capabilities. Still, if this had even the slightest possibility of saving their leader then she had to go.
“We are. Let’s go, everyone.”
Beyond the doors were the end of the hallways, but they were too late to assist in any help with the battle that had clearly occurred.
They had only just entered when a dark figure leapt into view, then another wearing the same garb followed suit. A flash of a violent looking implement was the only indication given before the second person leapt to its side, firing a hail of bullets before pushing high into the air with a second volley and landing clear on its feet.
A second passes before the first person suddenly collapses, as if the floor was ripped out from under them and the other figure moves to stand before the prone figure.
“Sorry about this, Doppleganger. Only room for one joker on this stage” and with a cracking hiss, the standing figure blows a hole though the prone one which quickly fades away into black smoke.
Aigis can hear Junpei and the others release a loud exhale as they too came to the realisation that the defeated figure was a shadow.
That exhale was unfortunately loud enough that the figure spins around to face Aigis’s team and lets her get a full scan of the figure.
The figure was very oddly dressed, wearing a long black three tailed coat over a grey waistcoat decorated with gold buttons and long dark pants that end in black boots and a pair of red gloves. The most prominent piece was the sharp bird-like domino mask that he donned atop his piercing grey eyes and messy black hair.
“Wha-more shadows?” He huffed, angling the sinister looking pistol at the group, which let Aigis know of the secondary knife held in his other hand. When he faltered, probably because of the dog and the very un-shadowlike appearance of the group, Junpei quickly spoke up.
“Woah, hey dude! Don’t fire!”
“…I’ve never seen a shadow like you. Who are you?” the figure muttered, lowering the gun a bit further. If Junpei kept his attention, Aigis could probably disarm him. Something felt like she wouldn’t need to.
“Yeah, because we aren’t shadows!” Ever trusting, Junpei makes a show of digging his sword into his sheathe. “The names Junpei Iori. If anything, you look more like a shadow than we do.”
“Yamagishi, can you check if this person really isn’t a shadow?” Mitsuru whispered, as the figure seemed focused on their talk with Junpei.
‘Scan complete! He’s definitely not a shadow, but his power… his strength rivals the readings from our leader!’ Fuuka confirmed through Juno. Aigis would tense if she had the muscles to, because their leader was a power beyond anything they had seen. If this person could match it, she would hope they weren’t a shadow.
If that wasn’t proof enough, the figure’s eyes flew wide and looked around for a moment as he tried to locate Fuuka’s voice.
“Did he… can this person hear Fuuka?” Aigis pondered to herself as the figure came to a conclusion in the meanwhile.
“That didn’t come from you guys… was that your navigator? Do you guys have a Navi?”
Mitsuru was the one to respond this time. “You know what a navigator is?”
From that admission, the figure visibly relaxes, a lazy smile dragging along his face. At this point, Aigis feels like they have successfully avoided a pointless battle.
“Looks like we got off on the wrong foot here,” they laughed, and theatrically spun both their gun and dagger into their coat. Seeing this, Koromaru tucks their knife into the pouch under their neck and Mitsuru slides her rapier into its holster.
“Name’s Amamiya Ren. You can call me Joker. A pleasure to meet you all!” He introduces, walking over and performing a theatrical bow which Aigis is starting to suspect is part of his personality and not a simple gimmick if all the flipping before was done with no audience expected.
“I told ya already, but Junpei Iori. And this is Koromaru.” Junpei gestures to Koromaru, who barks his own greeting.
“A wonderful gentleman, your friend seems to be.” Joker chuckles, and Koromaru preens at the attention.
“Mitsuru Kirijo. I am interested in how you ended up here, Joker.” Mitsuru cuts right to her questions, but Joker laughs the seriousness off.
“That’s a question I would like to figure out myself. One moment I’m escaping a collapsing palace and now I’m here.” Mitsuru gapes at the ridiculous claim Joker makes, which Joker seems to find very funny.
“I am Aigis. I am the leader of this group. It is fortunate that this situation did not escalate further.” Aigis remarks. If Joker caused even a portion of the damage around this area then he is a powerful character. The fact he stands victorious gives more credence to this assessment.
Joker opens his mouth for another sassy remark, but something Aigis said seems to have meant something to him as Aigis can briefly feel his gaze change, flickering a familiar blue for a moment, before his smile widens by a noticeable margin.
“It is a great stroke of luck that we did not fight, Aigis. I feel we may be more alike than you realise.” Joker agrees cryptically. Aigis wants to dissect that sentence more but this is not the place to be conversing.
Joker seems to want to talk more as well, but Koromaru hops onto their leg and they kneel down to converse with the second most excitable member of their group.
‘I can’t sense anything else in the area. Would you like to return, Aigis?’ Fuuka asks the group, which at this point has to include Joker. Aigis thinks that would be preferable.
“You ‘took the thought from out of my mind’ as they say, Fuuka.” Aigis turns to leave, but realises they forgot a step that would be quite crucial.
“Joker-san,” Aigis turns to the masked boy who looks up at her. “It is dangerous to stay in the abyss of time for prolonged periods of time. Would you like to come out with us?”
Joker doesn’t take a second before responding. “I’m pretty sure I’ve already overstayed my welcome here. If you have the space, I would be happy to be anywhere but here.” He laughed, stretching languidly as he got up off the floor.
“Affirmative. Please follow me.” Aigis nods, and the rest of the team huddle around as they prepare to leave.
“Fuuka-san. Please guide us out.”
‘I’m on it!’
______________________
Aigis knows there is something wrong before she even leaves the monad door. There is a tension in the air that wasn’t present when they had entered, and it seems everyone else feels it too. The sound of chains rattling only seals their fates.
Joker is the first to make his opinion known about the situation, and does so loudly.
“Oh, come on. He’s here as well? That pest can’t leave me alone for more than a day can he?”
“‘As well’? Have you encountered this enemy before?” Mitsuru jumps at the crumb Joker had let drop.
He shrugs. “A few times. It never showed up this quickly, though I guess you guys must have been here for a while before you met me.”
Aigis knows the answer to her question, but she asks it anyway on the slight chance she’s wrong. “Fuuka-san. Can you sense the presence of the Grim Reaper?”
‘…I can. It’s approaching rapidly, and the structure of this area means you don’t have a way to avoid it.’ Fuuka regretfully informs everyone.
“Oh crap. Are we going to have to fight the reaper!? I don’t think I’m mentally prepared yet!” Junpei moans, and Koromaru whines in concert.
“There is no point in complaining. If anyone feels hurt it's best to dispense items now rather than in the battle. Is anyone wounded?” Mitsuru begins checking over everyone, and Aigis sorts through her items until she finds their horde of life stones.
“I’m A-okay here, though Koromaru still has that bad scratch from the Kouagon a few floors back.” Junpei calls, and Aigis quickly feeds the rock into Koromaru’s mouth. The stone dissolves as soon as Koromaru bites down and he seems to perk up ever so slightly.
“Joker, are you hurt in any way?” Aigis hasn’t been with Joker long, but when they did meet him he was just finishing a battle so it was natural to assume he had taken some damage.
“Nah, I’m at my best.” At Aigis’ disbelieving face, Joker reaches into his coat and pulls out a strange golden trophy cup.
“Got this little trinket to keep me safe. That shadow couldn't even touch me if it tried anyways.” He tucks it back into coat, and his eyes flash blue again. “It’s coming up now, everyone get ready.”
The others quickly unsheathe their weapons as the horrifying figure of ragged cloth and chains rounds the corner. The Reaper continued to float menacingly down the hallway as if it already knew where the group was, as was its unnatural ability.
“Shadow spotted. Engaging!” Aigis yelled, and the team charged forward. They couldn’t let it get the advantage or they could very well lose the battle before it starts.
The Reaper raises its comically long revolvers toward the group, and Aigis was in the motions to counter with her own bullets when a cable whirred past her head and wrapped round the white clothed neck of the Reaper.
If her sensors could not analyse hundreds of times better than the human eye, Aigis would have never believed that their tagalong had launched and wrapped a wire around the neck of their enemy and rapidly closed the distance between them by reeling himself towards it like hand-line fishing in reverse.
The audacious move was not only enough to stun Aigis and the rest of SEES, given the loud outcry Junpei let out when Joker came soaring past, but also the Reaper which had no chance to shoot at them until Joker had slammed into its upper torso with enough force to force it back.
Capitalising on the moment, Joker lunges for the white bag that covered all but its single furious eye and tears it off with a flourish.
“Showtime!” Joker laughs, pushing forward off the Reaper so he lands behind it while the interior of the Abyss of Time shifts the corridor into the endless hallways it did when combat had been initiated.
The reaper’s form melted, forming back into the slightly smaller version of itself that it used to terrorise their group. Aigis could feel it was still disoriented from Joker's surprise attack, and knew she had no better opportunity to push their advantage.
“Koromaru, Cast Debilitate! Junpei and Mitsuru, try and do some damage.” She commanded, feeling the rush of her Auto Mataru and Masuku rushing over her as the battle began in earnest.
Her team wasted no time. Koromaru howled to the sky, his modified collar setting off his evoker, calling forth the looming form of Cerberus who mimicked its user's motion. The dark orb of debilitate swirling with the handful of smaller red, blue, and green orbs formed before the ragged shadow and flew into its chest.
Junpei and Mitsuru followed close behind, running to the left and right sides of the Reaper. Evokers slipped into their hands with a practiced ease, and in a flash of blue light, Trismegistus and Artemisia appeared with the sound of shattered glass.
The reaper was then bombarded by a construct of ice that rapidly sprouted from the floor and then shattered in its face, and then by three slashes of crackling physical energy that managed to knock the shadow onto the floor.
“Hell yeah! Time for an all out attack?” Junpei cried out, bolstered by his brave blade's critical strike.
“No, we can do more damage than an all out attack. Shift to me!” Aigis responded. The all out attack was guaranteed damage but they couldn’t play the long game with the Reaper.
“On it. Take it from here!” If Junpei was disappointed, he managed to keep it out of his tone, and Aigis felt the rush of energy of the One More that Junpei’s shift passed to her.
“Fuuka, we need a revelation!” Aigis called out, and barely seconds after her call did the brilliant orb that Revelation would create appear atop the reaper's stunned form and burst into a shower of drops which almost seemed to jump in streams around them.
The bright columns of orange and purple that burst up beneath them gave Aigis an advantage they sorely needed.
Aigis felt her Papillon heart burn brighter, and her body lifted up as she called her leader's power forth, because this power would never truly feel like hers. No single persona would be enough to make a dent in the Reaper, so she called two.
“Come forth!” Her Theurgy ‘Shadow Hound’ called forth the duo of Scathath and Cu Chulainn, who struck immediately. Scathath summoned a flurry of pointed geometric shapes and unleashed the empowered torrent shot toward the Reaper, each shot detonating with increased strength through her Charge and Tarukaja.
The attack was not done, as Scathath turned to her apprentice and held her hand toward his spear. The Gae Bolg began to glow bright with physical energy, and Cu Chulainn flung the spear straight toward the Reaper which released a second, much larger explosion.
It was a testament to the Reapers tenacity that such an attack does not kill it immediately, but Aigis is not done. The One more may have been used but she still had some energy left in her.
“Come, Helel!”
Her Papilon heart spins up again, and the enormous form of the light bearer appears behind Aigis. The angel stretched out his hand and the room was bathed in stars, as if transported into the cosmos.
A flash of light from the Morning Star was all the warning the Reaper received before a bolt of energy came screaming down at it from the darkness, bursting into a Plasma ball of Magic until it could not be contained and exploding in a grand display of Almighty magic.
When the dust settled, the Reaper looked worse for wear, but was unfortunately still standing. It was a valiant effort but she knew that it would not be enough.
She would have used Armageddon had she been sure she could get the group back to the dorms without issue, but with the halls having shifted, she did not want to risk being surprised by a shadow on the way back to the teleporter at barely any life.
Right before the Reaper would have righted itself, a voice from behind screamed out “Ravage them!” and a bolt of purple energy slammed into its back. Aigis recognised the Vile Assault, but she had almost forgotten that their extra companion had leapt behind the Reaper.
It was not enough to kill the shadow, and the Reaper floated back up off the floor, ready to attack. It had barely finished righting itself before its arms began to flail, its two revolvers firing pellets of Fire all around in a shower of fire.
Aigis only had a second to think on why the Reaper would use Maragidyne when two of her teammates nullified the element until she recalled the one teammate who was not.
“Mitsuru!”
The heiress had no time to brace and the spread of the attack left no space to dodge. A large form bounded in front of her before the fire struck her down, but instead of capitalising on the damage though the One More it would have earned from the strike, it instead seemed to glare into the kicked up dust.
Aigis could not see Mitsuru when the cloud cleared away, as a large machine had taken up the space in front of her. It would not be a stretch to refer to it as a ‘Giant Metal Plated Dragon’ as the machine was covered in metal plates which looked to mimic scales.
It sat on all fours facing down the Reaper, giving Aigis a good look at its long sharp claws, the strange apparatus on its chest containing a cartoon representation of a heart, its pair of wings which looked more like strips of metal welded into its back, and its strange mask like head where its face resembled more a man when ignoring the jagged maw and the horns atop its head that were reminiscent of a pair of handless sickles dug into its head.
The thing took a single step forward, and Aigis felt the room shudder under its weight, before it unleashed a deafening roar that rattled her internals. It sounded much more like the roar of a blast furnace if a furnace could feel hatred.
When the roar subsided, and Aigis was left with the sound of her ears recalibrating and fafnirs’ rumbling growl interlaced with a low clicking like a geiger counter, she realised that a figure in a black coat sat lazily atop the beast's body. Joker seemed unnerved by neither the Reaper or the large beast, though Aigis noted that Joker was currently missing his bird-like domino mask.
“Have you ever heard of ‘trigger safety’? You need to be careful with those things. You almost hit a lovely civilian.” Joker snarked at the Reaper, which Aigis would have considered a poor decision.
The reaper did not reply, though that was probably because it had no mouth. It instead lifted one of its guns and fired a single bullet which broke apart and reformed into a glowing arrow, pointed straight at the dragon.
Instead of dodging, the machine lifted its heavy head, and slammed it into the approaching arrow. When it made contact, the arrow was repelled back and struck the Reaper. It was not a substantial amount of damage, but it was enough to anger the shadow, which rattled menacingly toward the dragon.
Both Joker and the metal beast seemed unfazed by the reaper's anger. In fact, the dragon opened its mouth to laugh, a wicked sound like sheets of metal being torn in half.
Then, as if Joker and this thing were sent by the Abyss of Time simply to screw with her, the beast spoke.
“Das reicht nicht, um mir zu schaden, oh dunkles Wesen” It mocked, staring down the reaper until it burst into an inferno of blue fire that consumed its form and rushed toward Joker.
He simply reached out as the fire coalesced into the same white mask he had been wearing in his hand, which he placed eagerly on his face before running in the direction he came from which meant Aigis had a clear shot to strike the Reaper from behind and the Reapers’ attention was away from the group.
Aigis then had two obvious realisations. One was that the Metal Dragon that protected Mitsuru was most likely a persona. The second was that Joker was a very powerful Persona user if his persona simply acting menacing felt that imposing.
She could consider those implications when they weren’t in the middle of combat. Right now, Aigis needed this fight to end as soon as possible, which she figured she could do with some assistance.
“Koromaru, Revolution! Everyone else, please use a Physical move. If you get a critical, shift to Joker!”
Koromaru did as he was told, summoning Cerberus again and unleashing a wave of yellow light that rushed from the middle of the room. Aigis had to hope that they managed to knock down the Reaper because a critical Akasha Arts could ruin the fight.
In a flash of blue light, Aigis summoned forth her Masakado as her friends brought out their own personas. The reaper was bombarded by a flurry of physical attacks, and while Junpei’s Brave blade and Mitsuru’s Vorpal blade failed to knock the Reaper down, Aigis felt the rush of energy as the Reaper knelt down again.
“Joker! Hit it as hard as you can!” Aigis yelled out, pushing the energy she could feel to the masked boy.
“I never disappoint!” He responded cheerily, reaching up for his mask. With the Reaper stunned, Aigis could see Joker’s smirk clear under his mask.
“You were ever so kind in showing me such wonderful spectacles, so allow me to return one in kind!” He laughed, and ripped the mask from his face, which burst into the same azure fire and swarmed behind him.
But it was not the metal dragon that appeared from the fire. Aigis knew what persona emerged from the fire, because she had seen her leader use it in the Adamah block of Tartarus when the structure still stood.
With skin a dark, sickly purple, three pairs of bat-like wings and a violent grimace on his face, Aigis looked up at the colossal body of Lucifer and a thought abruptly rooted into her head.
It really was lucky that they had not tried to fight Joker, because Aigis doesn’t know if they would have won.
“Ialpon, Aziazor Ol Gnay!” The fallen angel bellowed, as Lucifer raised both its hands skyward. The roof of the Abyss of Time tore open like a cardboard box, and Aigis bore witness to the brilliant night sky above.
In awe, she watched as the sky began to turn under the will of the fallen angel, stars leaving trails behind as they drifted across the sky. High up above, A single star larger than the others seemed to burn brighter and brighter almost as if it was growing in size.
She momentarily wondered how a star would burn brighter until the answer froze her in place. A star does not burn brighter. The only way it would be growing brighter would be because it wasn’t, but instead that something was coming closer.
Almost like it responded to her realisation, a single bright beam of light fell from the sky like divine judgement, striking the Reaper's body which quickly became impossible to see as it was engulfed by the explosion that spread out farther and farther from the point of the beam’s impact.
The resulting explosion of Almighty magic shook the arena so violently Aigis felt her body crash into the floor, even if the sound of her fall was swallowed up by the cacophonous rumbling that Joker’s attack produced. The burning light and the deafening howl of the attack forced even Aigis to seal her eyes and brace her body until the blast subsided.
When the light died down and the room stopped quaking, Aigis slowly got to her feet and began to scan the room for her team mates and the enemy, in the rare occasion it had even survived that attack. The power of that persona is almost without peer as Aigis already once beheld before but the Reaper has always been an irritatingly stubborn enemy so she couldn’t confirm it just yet.
Lucifer itself had disappeared, likely returned to Joker’s mask. Joker himself had left his spot right across from Aigis and was helping Junpei off the floor. It was safe to say that if Aigis could not stay standing, that none of her companions could either.
Mitsuru was slowly getting back to her feet as well, while Koromaru had already gotten up and was shaking his fur clean of any dirt he may have gotten on his coat. Neither of which seemed damaged in any way so Aigis can happily say the only thing harmed by Joker’s attack was the Reaper.
Speaking of the Bane of S.E.E.S, Aigis could technically also see the Reaper. It felt more like identifying the Reaper as its only trace was a thick black patch of soot in the place it would be. Aigis also scanned a pile of yen and a single bloodied button, which Aigis was impressed had survived the attack.
She and Koromaru ran up to Joker and Junpei, picking up their spoils as they went, when Koromaru jumped up onto Junpei when they reached them causing Junpei to stumble back.
“Koromaru! You okay, dude? That must have been really loud for you” Junpei soothed as he kneeled down to pet Koromaru. Mitsuru is the last one to group up, and she took charge as soon as the group was reunited.
“Is everyone alright? That last explosion was of considerable size so it is not impossible anyone else could have been caught in the blast.” She asked.
“Im good… physically at least. I felt like my heart gave up on me when the roof opened up. Speaking of that…” Junpei leads, before spinning to grab Joker by his shoulders and shake him rapidly.
“What the hell was that, dude! I thought Aigis and Leader were stupid powerful when they used Armageddon but that attack made the others look like childs play!. You can just pull out a space laser like it’s nothing!?”
“The Morning Star? It wasn’t that impressive, Aigis’ Attack helped put down the Reaper much more than mine did.” Joker tries to reduce his involvement, but that only makes Junepi shake him harder.
“Morning Star!? That wasn’t Morning Star. Morning Star is that attack that makes the area all glowy and spacy and then that big ball of energy blows up all the shadows, like Aigis does. You pulled out an orbital ray on the Reaper!”
“It was a very impressive attack, but I feel more interested that you hold the ability to use more than one persona.” Mitsuru interjects, having the mercy to rest her hand on Junpei’s shoulder and release Joker from the grapple.
“We only know two who held that power, Ko-“ the name dies in her mouth, and she scrambles for something else to say. “Our old leader, and more recently from Aigis. That power is not something you can simply happen upon without reasoning, so how do you have that exact power?”
As he readjusts to firm ground, Aigis pushes further. “Indeed. The metal beast and the persona ‘Lucifer’ were two distinct personas you summoned. One of which we had only ever seen used by our old leader. How did you acquire that persona?”
“Lucifer?” Joker mutters, suddenly as intrigued as the rest of SEES is in him, looking Aigis into her eyes.
A smirk appears on his face, and Aigis has a feeling that this expression makes its home on his face more often than anything else.
“‘That power’ you ask? You mean the nature of the Wildcard?” Aigis tests the word in her mouth. It feels right, in a way calling it ‘that power’ never did despite them having no real name for it before now.
“So it has a name…” Mitsuru mutters, and she opens her mouth to continue pressing the question. A loud groan from Junpei cuts through the atmosphere like a brick through a glass window.
“Look, it’s all good that he has answers for a lot of things we didn’t know before,” he begins “But can we get back to the dorms before we summon another Reaper? I don’t know about you guys but I’ve had enough of this place for a while.”
“Although crass, I have no objection to that either. Joker has proven himself a trustworthy individual so far, and a powerful ally, at that.” Mitsuru reasons.
“Agreed. I see no reason not to bring Joker back to the rest of the team.” Aigis responds. “Fuuka, can you lead us to the closest teleporter?”
“Yes, the closest teleporter is one level down. You should move left from here!” Returning to the conversation, Fuuka relays to the rest of the group.
Silently, her team and joker slots him behind her as she runs forward, which is for the best since Aigis feels that if they were closer they would be able to hear the gears in her head spinning.
Joker was clearly sent to them by the Abyss of time, and he seemed to know more about this power of hers. A power that shouldn’t belong to her, and still doesn’t feel like hers.
Could he have the answer to their dilemma? Did he know what happened to her? Regardless of the answer, she knows she won’t be able to make any decision without the rest of her group.
So she focuses on Fuuka’s directions out of the Abyss of time and pretends her head isn’t full of questions still.
__________________
“Welcome back, everyone!” Fuuka greets them as they exit into the desert of doors again. She hesitates slightly as Joker exits with the rest, and strolls casually up to her.
He bows low, and gently pulls one of her hands toward his mouth. “You must be their lovely navigator. I ask you to forgive me for being unable to introduce myself fully before now. I am Amamiya Ren, but when I wear this outfit, you may call me Joker.”
Aigis wants to push Joker away as soon as Fuuka begins to look uncomfortable, but as soon as that happens, Joker slides back as if he was never in front of her.
“Wow. This guy is smooth.” Junpei whispered, admiration glittering in his eyes. Aigis doesn’t know if she should be concerned but if it gets out of hand she trusts Junpei to be mature about it.
“If you are quite done.” Mitsuru glares down Joker, and he only seems playfully bashful. Aigis decides that the ability to be unfazed under Mitsuru’s disapproving glare trumps his special Morning Star as the most impressive feat he has performed yet.
“Yes, my apologies.” he chuckles, adjusting his gloves. “I assume this isn’t the final exit, since I don’t see anyone else here.”
“Yes. If you would follow me.” Aigis leads Joker to the stairway back to the dorm room. The rest of the group follows behind him as they exit the desert of doors.
“Guys, Aigis is back!” Ken’s voice is the first thing that she hears when she crosses the threshold into the dorm room.
The rest of her friends group around the stairs as they ascend with Métis at the front, and she knows the moment that they see Joker because they stop in place before they close the distance fully.
She opens her mouth to introduce Joker to the others when he spontaneously combusts into blue fire. She leaps back as the others predictably react as people do when someone bursts into fire.
As quickly as they appear, they fade and Joker seems unharmed. His clothes have somehow changed entirely, his long duster coat and pants becoming a school uniform. It’s not Gekkoukan because the pants sport a cross cross pattern she does not recognise and the emblem on the blazer is not the same.
His mask also disappears, becoming a pair of unassuming glasses. If it wasn’t for the mischievous smile on his face, she wouldn’t assume that they were even the same person.
The rest of the team she brought down into the Abyss of Time rush up the stairs, and when they reach the top and find him unharmed, they join the rest of the team in stunned silence.
With the opportunity, Joker puts on a disarming smile and addresses S.E.E.S. “You must be this Wildcard’s group. I am Ren Amamiya, but on the job you can call me Joker.”
“Nice to me-hee-t you, ho!” Joker bows and winks to his audience, who continue to stare slack-jawed at Joker like he just killed a man right in front of them.
At least Aigis doesn’t have to introduce him herself.