Shattered Justice (A Persona Quest)

Yukari-san looks exhausted. You don't know why you're only noticing this now, but you think you're meant to do something about it. She's supposed to be leading you all up this tower, and she's sort of the reason you're all still standing, so if she's getting tired, well... That's not good.

At least she's wearing down at the same rate that Shadow Morgana is. Given the similarity in their skillsets, this almost doesn't come as a surprise, though of course the cat is much more experienced and seems to hit harder as a result of that.

Then again, you'd rather she not wear out at all. And while being exhausted of magic is not something you can cure, you can at least remove a bit of the burden. Make sure everyone's all right.

Once you start thinking about who needs healing or not, it comes to mind that Koromaru could probably use the help. That he needs it more than the others. You don't question where this information comes from, because time spent questioning inexplicable knowledge is time spent not healing anybody, simply casting the spell as soon as you have line-of-sight.

And then it becomes apparent that the one who would get the most use out of healing would be Akihiko-san. Which sort of makes sense, because in the absence of an electricity weakness, he's decided that the best option is to punch the Shadow into submission, and of course being close up makes him a better target.

"I don't really know what happened, with Akira-san," You quietly admit, though you aren't sure which Morgana is meant to hear it. If either of them are. Maybe you're just trying to lure Mitsuru-san up, except you know she'd never fall for that.

Yukari-san has moved to trying to fill the Shadow with arrows. This seems sort of like a good idea to you, except it manages to get the cat's attention, and soon you're readying another Dia to cast on her, though you aren't entirely sure it'll be enough.

She manages to stay up, though you think she'll have to replace that sweater, given that it's been sort of ripped open. It comes to mind that maybe fighting monsters in your casual clothes is a bad idea.

At this point, you think you just have to hope for the spell he cast to wear off. Akihiko-san's been pretty good at applying Tarunda when he needs to, but you'd really rather get out of here before the Hour passes and you find out what happens to anyone still in the tower. Just because it isn't a school night doesn't mean that's something that needs to be tested.

"Why are you still doing this!?" Okay, the Shadow has almost certainly moved from infuriated to confused, and that's probably good in the sense that 'maim, smash, kill' probably won't be his only thought processes from now on.

...Then again, that's probably why he now resists electricity.

"Why shouldn't we?" You heal Yukari-san again, just to be sure, before moving on to whatever damage Akihiko-san has done to himself after moving from punching the Shadow himself to having his Persona do it.

Honestly, you aren't sure that's much of an improvement in terms of avoiding damage, but you'll take what you can get. At least he's not right in front of it anymore.

And now the Shadow's turned to you again. You aren't sure if he heard you, if he's noticed you're healing the others, or if he's just trying to attack his other self again. It could be anything.

"Get. Out. Of my way!" And you can't get your guard up in time, and of course that's when the most recent Tarunda wears off, though at least it's a Garu he's using and not those sharp claws, though that barely means anything when you're only vaguely aware of anything that's not pain, anyway.

"No," You gasp, once the winds die down. "I-I won't. Morgana's my friend, and that's what's important right now." You wonder why most of your friends happen to have obvious issues. It can't be some sort of prerequisite for a Persona or something, because Yukari-san seems to be more or less fine, and she's... gaining experience.

The Shadow quivers, and you're pretty sure he's about to attack you- but you haven't even healed yourself from the last bit yet- and the shield of light around him flickers out of existence.

He is immediately struck by lightning.

It's nice to see that, despite everything, Akihiko-san is more or less enjoying himself.

Once the electrical assault stops- you didn't even know Akihiko-san could use that much magic at once, you may have to look into improving your casting time- you see that the Shadow has reverted to his... okay, you'd call it his normal appearance, but your Morgana certainly doesn't look like that most of the time, so you're not entirely sure what to say about it.

Speaking of your Morgana... "Ow..." You see him pushing himself up, wincing. You don't even think twice before casting Dia on him, wondering why you didn't do that before.

...Right. Because you were used to him being able to handle that sort of thing himself. "Are you all right?" You ask, though you're pretty sure you already know the answer.

"What do you think? You've seen my Shadow." Yes. Said Shadow is also struggling to get up off the ground, not helped by the fact that Koromaru has decided to start licking him for some reason. You think you'll leave them to it. "Now what am I supposed to do?"


[ ] He could start by explaining what, exactly, just happened.

[ ] He could join the rest of you.
-[ ] How will you convince him?

[ ] That's for him to figure out.

[ ] He could not do whatever made his Shadow so murderous again? That'd be a pretty good start...