infinite_reflection | The Terminal Show (May 1st)

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The Terminal Show (May 1st)

April 22nd, 2012

After the events of April 19th, it had been decided that a meeting of sorts needed to be held between those that had been to the 'Mirror World'. Seiya, Ren, Kota, Gregory and Miho had gathered – three out of the five equipped with a strange new power called 'Persona'. It'd been a rainy day, with a tense and disquieting atmosphere. The meeting itself was confusing, given the small amount of information they had. The Mirror World was linked to the crimes and heavy atmosphere that had infected their city – normal and seemingly rational people were being driven to murder. For whatever reason, the three of them had faced themselves, and gained a new power. Perhaps a power to fight whatever was happening in their city? That was the consensus.

The Academy Defense Squad (A.D.S.) was thusly formed, and from that day forward they were going to try their best to fight an unknown enemy.

April 23rd, 2012, early morning

Miho jerked awake with a start, heart hammering like wild in her chest, and her skin covered in a thin layer of cold sweat. “W-what a nightmare, jeez...” She fumbled quickly for her oversized glasses on her bedside table so she could squint at the time. Late! Late! She was never late! This would surely go on her personal record! A quick glance outside (pouring rain again, sigh) and the girl wiped her thoughts of nightmares and monsters from her mind.

In her rush to get ready for school, she failed to notice the flicker of movement from her closet mirror.

April 25th, 2012, early morning

It was another rainy morning. A light mist seemed to hang about the city – it was the type of weather an umbrella wouldn't save you from. Somehow, Miho's foot falls felt heavy against the pavement. The last two nights had been horrible. She'd had all sorts of nightmares, and gotten very little sleep. Heck, she hadn't even done any of her homework for the past two days, or taken any notes in class... Or even studied. With an inhale she let her shoulders slump.

“What's even the point of going to class today...?” Truth be told, she really didn't feel well. It was probably the rain. The rain always made her feel suffocated, and made her think too hard. At least it was supposed to be sunny soon, though! The weather forecast called for one more day of rain. Miho forced herself to class, and tried her best to smile throughout the day.

April 27th, 2012, afternoon

Sunlight filtered in through the window, lighting the bathroom up and illuminating the figure standing before the counter. Miho hadn't gone to class yesterday. She wasn't able to force herself out of bed. Everything was fuzzy and distorted, as if she were somewhere else – floating in the air, watching her body lie there. Calls and texts went unanswered. And now here she was, standing in her Pjs in front of her bathroom mirror.

The girl, eyes wide, raised a hand. The mirror rippled with her touch like the surface of a lake. Tears were starting to form at the corners of Miho's eyes. What was happening? I don't want to die! But she couldn't stop herself. With little effort she climbed the counter and placed her palms against the cool (cold! It was cold like ice) surface. Her breath came out in a chilly puff of mist. She leaned in to easily push herself through, and then stopped at the last second. “W-what--”

A hand shoved outwards, grabbing her by the collar of her oversized t-shirt and dragging her in.

“SEIYYAAAA!”

That afternoon, at class, Kota would be hit with a pang, and then a nagging feeling that would gnaw at the back of his mind. This feeling would last for several days, until one morning...

May 1st, 2012

Miho had been missing for several days now. Her mother was frightened, the police had been called. There were no leads! No leads, that is, until during the morning while getting ready for school, Kota would suddenly be assailed with an image appearing on his bathroom mirror. The surface rippled and then, as if it were playing a movie, showed Miho being yanked into the Mirror World. It rippled again, this time displaying the image of an old and run down theater house surrounded by ice. On the 'Now Playing' were the words:

'The Terminal Show'

((Sorry about the length of that! This is going to be a little bit different, because I plan to lead y'all through a short little dungeon. You'll be fightan shadows and stuff! I might even throw in asking for some dice rolls for little random things to happen – if it works out, it should be pretty fun!))

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When they stepped through the mirror they would be presented with the ever chilling site of a massively long corridor of ice. It was much the same as when they'd rescued Kota – in fact, it appeared to be the exact same corridor. Strange noises echoed against the ominously glittering ice. Further down the corridor, if they looked, they'd be able to see chunks of mirror half embedded into the walls and other such oddities. There was, however, no immediate sign of Miho. Kota would be able to feel her presence very faintly, but far off. It appeared they'd have to do some exploration!

Some fast exploration, too, because several meters ahead of them it seemed that wisps of dark shadow were beginning to seep through cracks in the ice. Shadows, perhaps?

"Yeah," Kota answered quickly before impatience got the better of him and he darted through the mirror. Finding himself in a familiar looking corridor, he frowned - he would've been just fine forgetting all about what had happened, you know!

More importantly, his instinct had been correct: there was definitely someone else in here, though it was hard to pick up much more than that. And before he knew it he had the small mirror that Seiya had given him in hand as that same instinct that had been driving him all morning prompted him to dash it to the ground, scattering broken pieces of mirror about his feet. Dagr appeared, the warm light of his torch enveloping himself and Kota.

"It's Tanaka-san alright." The sensation was stronger just with his Persona there, but concentrating on the missing girl made it a bit clearer, like focusing on a single voice in a distant echo. Faint, but definitely there. He raised an arm, pointing in the right direction. "But pretty far off. Looks like you were right, Ren-san. There is some connection between where the mirrors are and where you end up." Kota looked at his teammates, able to sense their worry but also their strength, the same way he could tell that each of their Persona - Hlin and Gefjon, Dagr supplied for him - were ready to go. It was slightly startling, but he didn't have time to think about it as a new presence tugged at his mind.

"But, uh, I think we have company," Kota said nervously, looking back down the corridor at those strange wisps.

Ren's eyes narrowed at the wisps down the corridor, and she popped her knuckles, test swinging her bat in the air a couple of times. "Time for some warm-ups, then?"

The wisps seem to solidify, for lack of a better word, as they fell out of the cracks and onto the floor. A puppet-like monster with a mask took form and wobbled its way towards them, joints clattering. Ren didn't wait for it to draw its weapon - she didn't even stop to look at what it was - and took a few steps further, readying her stance. As soon as it was close enough (with its... whatever it was raising, raised and readied), she swung her bat at it with full force, sending it sliding back with a clatter.

Slipping into the mirror world, Seiya took in a sharp breath. The change between dimensions caused her bones to ache, though she pushed that to the back of her mind.

As Kota summoned his persona and Ren took out a shadow, Seiya allowed herself to think.

"The chunks of mirror down there. Would they work as portals, you think?"

Kota chewed his lower lip absently as he considered Seiya's question. The amount of information bombarding him was overwhelming, almost painful. The layout of the area, the mirror that exited back home, even things about the monster Ren had just dealt with. And above all else, the bright, shining beacons that were his teammates, so distracting that he actively had to shut them out to concentrate on the rest.

"...Maybe," he finally answered, a frustrated edge to his tone. There was his second problem: how was he supposed to explain that the mirror chunks felt similar to the exit, except not really? He didn't have the language to describe the way they seemed in his head. "They might, but there's no telling where we'd end up. It's a gamble: we're so far off that getting any closer would be great, but if we came out farther away I don't know if I'd even be able to sense her."

Obviously he was going to have to find a way to test his new power, figure out his limits, and try to get better at sorting through everything, but now was not the time to be experimenting! But thinking of the danger Miho was almost certainly in decided him.

"I say risk it. If Tanaka-san's been in here the whole time she's been missing, that's a hell of a long time. And warm-ups aside, it might be better to go into the theater with all guns blazing." And if they lost the gamble, well... he'd just have to be good enough. The thought made his palms sweat.

The puppet-like monster was sent flying back. It tumbled into a heap of twitching joints and strange groaning noises, and then with a sound rather like something fizzing… It dematerialized into a black and quickly fading haze. One shadow down, probably many, many more to go! Ren wouldn’t have much time to celebrate, however, because while she was taking out the first shadow, a small tendril of smoke had curled lightly around her ankle.

It became apparent quickly that this tendril was about to morph into an actual Shadow, though, and within moments it would feel like a hand was trying to dig into her calf! There was an odd screeching noise from the thing at her feet that looked oddly like the top half of a ball jointed doll. It seemed to be attempting to hold her legs in place so it could take a bite.

At the same time as this was going on, a wisp of shadow was beginning to form around Seiya and Kota!

Anyone could notice, at this point, but one of the mirrors further up the icy corridor seemed much larger than the others. Rather than being half embedded into the wall, it appeared to be mounted onto the wall. The thing looked very old, with a tarnished silver frame and dark smudges along the glass.

… There was also a bloody hand print, smack dab in the middle of it. Oh dear!

Ren clenched her teeth and grunted when the Shadow seized her leg. Son of a bitch, was this thing pretending to be a zombie? Turning her bat in her hands, she aimed the larger end downward and thrust it down in an attempt to run in through the doll's head. Pulling back up, she then swung her bat to break the arms away from her leg.

When she could afford to throw a glance back at the others, she cursed. Dammit, they didn't have time for this. Looking around, she spotted the large mirror and pointed at it. "How about that one?"

Apologetically frowning at Kota, Seiya was immediately distracted by the smoke. Swinging her own bat quickly, she bolted down the hall.

"Looks good to me!!" Shouting back at Ren, she attempted to clear a path to the blood stained mirror, keeping the strange creatures at bay. A knot formed in her stomach as she thought of poor defenseless Miho. The girl didn't even have a persona to keep her safe. What if they found her dead?

"You two in first!"

Dagr disappeared, and Kota paused just long enough to scoop his mirror off the ground before he was off and running for the mirror, only too happy to get away from those forming monsters.

Of course, it couldn't be that easy. As another puppet creature rose up to block his path, Kota shouted "North Star Dot Chime!" and swung his bat at it, tossing it out of his way. If it was good enough for Fist of the North Star, it was good enough for him, and as out of place as it felt it still made him grin. Okay, he decided. Maybe this wasn't going to be all terror and doom.

Good humor faded as he finally noticed the bloody handprint, but it was way too late to second-guess things. After all, if he was wrong he was about to run face first into a bunch of glass. Kota resolved to stop thinking so much about things as he threw his arms up in front of his face and dove through the mirror.

The doll that was currently attacking Ren made an altogether horrifying wailing noise before it was successfully batted away. That seemed to be a cry for help from it’s other shadowy companions, and within a few moments the amount of smoke and wisps forming around them would double. Had Miho ran through all of this?! Kota swatted another ball-jointed-doll out of the way. The thing chittered at him as it was sent flying to the side before hitting the icy ground with a clatter.

The surface of the mirror rippled and gleamed as the highschool boy through himself into it. With a bright blast of light he passed through, leaving the way open for Seiya and Ren. It’d be a turbulent ride, for sure, and when they were all through they’d immediately have the sense of falling very fast. They were spat out in a heap into another portion of the icy terrain. This area was noticeably darker, with only pale light from god knows where weakly reflecting off of the ice. Certain shards of said ice were an unpleasant deep red, as if they’d been dipped in something..

Despite the dim lightning of the cavern they were in, in the distance they’d be able to spot a flickering sign and hear the faint hum of electricity. Nestled in the back of the icy cave was a massive theatre, looming over them. It was damned hard to make out, but the sign definitely seemed to say ‘The Terminal Show’. Oh boy! The smell of popcorn was slowly wafting toward them! Buttery!

Ren followed them through the window. Oh shit, this was going to be a bad fall. But she would be ready this time! She managed to break her fall, tumbling a few times on the ground, and carefully picked herself up.

That must be the theater Kota mentioned. The smell of popcorn was enough to pique her interest, but not enough to distract her. She took a few steps forward when they arrived, looking up at the sign and the decor, as though assessing it.

She gave the other two a look - there was a twinkle of worry and another of impatience in her eyes. Please be okay, Miho.

Following her teammates through the glass, the world seemed to warp. As the mirror spat her out on the other side, Seiya hit the ground with a resounding thud.

Rubbing her tailbone gingerly, the girl eased up onto her knees. Staring curiously up at the marquee, Seiya's face twisted in a mixture of fear and doubt. The buttery smell in the air made her stomach churn, nausea washing over her.

"... The 'Terminal Show'?"

He didn't need his arms to protect his face from glass, but at least it stopped him from landing on his face. Small victories, even though those would definitely bruise.

"That's it!" Kota said when he pulled himself off the ground. "That's the theater I saw!" It was impossible to miss, with its flickering lights in the dim area (another unpleasant reminder he would've been okay with skipping, thank you very much). He let his eyes skim over those dark red shards per his new 'no thinking' policy, but despite the ominous backdrop there was at least one piece of good news:

"She's definitely in there. But-" there's always a but, and Kota hesitated slightly as he tried to interpret the signals he was getting. "I don't think this is going to be as easy as last time. You guys came in right after me, but this time it's had days to prepare. I don't think this was here before."

Meaning the theater was specifically made for Miho. Meaning that the Terminal Show was also meant for her, and that seemed a very, very bad sign.

Beyond the buttery-good smell of popcorn wafting toward them, the slight breeze also seemed to carry voices. It was like a very muffled murmur of a crowd – as if just beyond the cavernous walls, there was a crowd of cheering and happy people here to watch the show. There were no formations of smoke and shadows anywhere yet! How lucky! Miho was definitely in there, Kota would be able to sense that much very clearly. But where?

The walk to the theatre itself would pass uneventfully enough, with the murmur of the crowd following them. Every once and awhile the crowd would laugh or jeer, but it really wasn't very audible. The theater itself was massive, but the large double doors would open easily to reveal a long red carpeted corridor. At the end of the corridor were two doors. One with a smiling mask, and one with a frowning mask. Hmm!

Ren shuddered to think what might have happened to them if they had been stuck in the mirror world for this long. Would places like this have manifested for them too?... No, this wasn't the time to worry about them, it was the time to worry about Miho - and more importantly, to get her out.

She looked at Kota and pointed at the pair of doors. "Can you feel anything?"

Following the carpet path before them, Seiya clenched her fists. The barely audible crowd caused a tingle up her spine, and it wasn't all too pleasant.

Pausing at the end of the corridor, she glanced from one mask to the other. Good end, bad end? She'd wait for Kota's analysis.

"Yeah, but..." He was chewing on his lip again. This couldn't possibly be right, could it? He quickly summoned his Persona, but it only confirmed what he already sensed.

"She's...behind both doors - it's like there's two of her. I get a slightly stronger reading from this one," he pointed to the door decorated by a frowning face, "but there's definitely a response from the other one too."

Kota hesitated slightly, then remained silent. The only answer he could think of was that one was Miho and the other her Shadow, but he couldn't distinguish between the two presences he felt. He didn't want to guess and end up leading them right to the Shadow. If that's even what he was sensing.

The two distinct presences he felt were both definitely Miho, and the presence behind the frowning door was stronger, but… Beyond that there wasn’t any way to tell what was what, and it seemed that the two doors were the only way to proceed. The murmur of the crowd, still sounding as if it were just beyond the walls, started to grow restless. Faintly, and with a slight echo to it, they’d be able to make out some distinct voices. It sounded like an older woman with a deep voice.

“Wow, Mi-chan, your friends are so great!”
“Why don’t you invite them over more often?”
“That Ren’s like a pro-athlete, like your brother! Why can’t you be more like her?”
“Seiya-chan’s so pretty, why don’t you take care of yourself like she does?

There was a pause and some silence. The door with the frown on it creaked open, just an inch.

“Why can’t they be my daughters?”

At the sound of those words, Ren's jaw slackened, leaving her mouth slightly agape. Was that Miho's mother? Did... did she really say those things? Lowering her bat slightly, she gave Seiya a look.

As the words filtered through the doorway, Seiya's expression changed from worry to shock. Stepping forward, she eased the frowning door open.

"Mi-chan...?"

Despite everything, there was a brief second where Kota was a little miffed that he hadn't been mentioned. Then came along the sensible part of his brain that pointed out that he had never met Miho's mother, wasn't a girl, and OH YEAH THEY WERE BUSY TRYING TO SAVE SOMEONE'S LIFE.

Kota remained within the glow of Dagr's torch as he readied his bat, just in case. He figured he'd be of more use by giving them as much information as possible, but he didn't want to be caught off guard.

The hallway beyond was rather normal. It was well lit, with an old red carpet lining the floor. It was also somewhat musty, as if that door hadn’t been opened in awhile. All in all it wasn’t completely unpleasant, but it could be considered faintly… eerie. Lining the walls down the hall, spaced a few feet from one another were individual painted portraits. They looked related, presumably family members? Each plaque was labeled ‘Tanaka’, so it was safe to assume!

Each portrait was also utterly gorgeous and painted to make each subject look completely super-star like. At the other end of the hall (although it may have been too far to see clearly), nailed to the door, was a portrait of Miho. Unlike the other pictures she looked rather plain, and not at all done up.

When they all had entered the door snapped shut behind them with a hollow thud. The female voice rang out again.

“Why can’t you get into soccer like your brother? Or even modeling? Sitting at home all the time isn’t healthy. Let’s go shopping, you need a new wardrobe..!”

While she was talking, an odd shadowing mist had begun to pour out from the cracks in the floorboard under the red carpet. Wispy tendrils curled along the floor, and from the ceiling. Out of no where they’d hear a cackling laugh, and then suddenly Ren would find herself suspended mid-air by marionette strings!
Two marionette shadows had formed, one above them, now holding Ren, and another from the ground.

"Whoa-AHHH-AH-?!" Suddenly hoisted up in midair, Ren let out a rather unfortunate yelp. Her brain ordered her muscles to react, to struggle away from the strings and get back down to the ground, but all she could move was her head. Not even her fingers would twitch; it was like command to the rest of her body was severed.

"Hey, what the hell?!"

"Ren-chan!!" Seiya called out to her friend, as if by magic it would free her. Of course, no such luck. As the marionette shadows formed, dancing like creatures straight out of a horror flick, Seiya palmed her mirror. Punching the glass, she wasted no time summoning Hlin.

The Goddess sprung forth in a dim green light, diving at the marionette responsible for Ren's entrapment. Meanwhile, Seiya ran for the one on the ground, bat raised.

"Ren-san!" Kota's cry was similarly useless, which pretty much described how he felt as he watched Seiya spring into action. She was taking care of the one on the grond, he couldn't reach the marionette that Hlin was attacking, and Dagr-

Dagr was telling him something new, cutting off Kota's thoughts as his attention snapped back to the Shadows. "Fire," he shouted. "They're vulnerable to fire! Do we have anything-?!"

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oops hope this bullshitting is okay

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