The Terminal Show (May 1st)

[terminalshow]

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!))

Comments

[terminalshow]

The shadow tilted her head back, the masked face emotionless and unmoving. Despite that, however, hollow laughter echoed around the theater. While Ren was distracted with admiring her, her attention zoned in on Seiya and Kota. Both of her arms were jerked upward by the marionette string, and her palms slammed into the wooden floorboards. Twin shock waves raged towards the two! Meanwhile, up on stage, Miho was beginning to stir. She groaned quietly, eyebrows furrowing at the blurry sight before her.

[homeruuun]

Ren slowly blinked out of her charmed state at the sound of Kota's warning. What? What? She shook her head once, twice, and then saw the shockwaves heading towards the other two. Oh--shit! With the distance between them, she would never be able to pull them out of the way in time.

"Gefjon!" Returning again, her Persona rode into the shock waves' path and snapped her branch forward, summoning her four oxen to rush into the Shadow in a miniature stampede.

[seiyayamada]

The ground beneath her feet rumbled, causing her legs to wobble. Seiya hit the ground with a thud, falling flat on her face. This just wasn't her day. Tilting her head up, she noticed her friend stirring. In a desperate attempt for some sort of progress, she shouted. "Miho-chan!"

[unexamined]

The other shockwave hit Kota squarely, knocking him flat on his ass and the wind out of his lungs. He used his half-forgotten baseball bat to help push himself to his knees, thinking frantically. Which would be better: to concentrate on Miho or her Shadow? That wasn't something Dagr could help with, and thus pretty much where he ran out of answers.

Wait, the masks. If they could just take those out, it might weaken the Shadow. "Ren-san!" he called, wary of just telling her his plan while the Shadow could plainly hear them. Let Seiya handle Miho as he stood and charged the nearest mask, silently cursing himself for being incredibly stupid as he took a swing at it. But it was the only thing he could think of.

the fight's almost over!

[terminalshow]

Ren's oxen stampeded forward while the shadow laughed. They took the brunt of the shockwave that was headed in Ren's direction, and even made it to stampling all over the shadow. She sounded less thrilled at that. “Such insolence for such a glorious being! Dia!” The mask of comedy surged forward, and the shadow Miho was enveloped in a soothing green glow. The damage inflicted by the oxen seemed to fade somewhat. A healing spell?! Her merry laughter resumed!

The mask nearest to Kota was tragedy, looking dejected and unhappy in all it's white porcelain glory. The shadow seemed to have not noticed the boy's sudden dart forward, too busy laughing and laughing away – his bat hit it's mark, and a massive crack ran through the delicate material. The shadow noticed now, and shrieked in pure fury. Everything was still for a moment, until a chip of porcelain hit the floorboards, and then the mask split soundly in two. It clattered to the ground and shattered. One mask left, and a very angry shadow!

Miho meanwhile had managed to drag her ass up into a kneel. She stared dazedly at the situation, gaze lingering on each of her friends. Did she really feel such hateful and jealous things deep down...? Gulp. She stared at Seiya the longest, as the girl called out to her. “S-seiya-senpai...”

[homeruuun]

She clenched her teeth. If she had the chance to heal herself again, then eventually their efforts at damaging her would be for nothing. Miho had to do this on her own... but until then, all they could do was keep the Shadow busy...!

Upon seeing the mask of tragedy shatter, Ren regripped her bat and charged for the mask of comedy.

[seiyayamada]

Watching Kota shatter the first mask gave the girl a burst of renewed confidence. Turning all her attention on her best friend, Seiya shook her head, "We don't care if this is how you feel! We just need you to own up to it!!" Hlin swooped between Shadow Miho and Seiya, just in case things got sticky. "Please!"

[unexamined]

Oh. Well. Kota stood, momentarily stunned by the sudden destruction of the mask. That had gone a little better than he had planned. Maybe too well, judging by the Shadow's rage. Like they needed this to be any worse.

Seiya seemed to be getting through to Miho, and Ren was already going after the remaining mask. Maybe he should try to keep the Shadow's attention? "Hey!" he shouted, but his voice faltered. Hey ugly, he'd been planning to yell, sure it would distract the Shadow. But he couldn't quite get the words out - he wasn't used to being the antagonist, and it felt too cruel. The last thing he wanted was for Miho to somehow take it as confirmation; she was, after all, the true goal here.

"Hey," he tried again, spreading his arms wide, expression and tone as cocky as he could manage under the circumstances. "How do you like me now? You wanna get rid of the new guy? Take my place instead? Just try it!" He was gambling on the worst instincts of the Shadow, hoping she'd react to the taunt instead of trying to protect the other mask from Ren's assault.

[terminalshow]

Lil miss Shadow was clearly infuriated, and had turned to face Ren as she charged for comedy, but then a cry of, “You like me now?!” tore her attention away. His guess was right, attention was completely off Ren and she was free to smash her bat into the mask while the shadow readied an attack for Kota. A giant palm was jerked up by the wiring, right as Ren's bat made contact with the fragile porcelain of Comedy. The shadow screamed as the mask shattered. A crack split her own emotionless mask, right up the middle. Fragments of it chipped away, but...!

Her hand was fast coming down, right for poor Kota, and the other hand for Seiya and Ren. Hlin was in the way, however! Miho's attention was pulled from her senpai, instead focusing on her shadow. This was her. In some form or another she felt this way. Jealous... Her voice tore through the theater. “Stop!”

Surprisingly enough the shadow stopped short in her attempt to crush them all, as Miho drew herself up.

[homeruuun]

Ren had crouched down and brought her bat over her head to brace herself for the impact, but fortunately it never came. Miho... she had finally woken up. This was it, wasn't it?

[seiyayamada]

Seiya crouched on her knees, absolutely terrified as two giant hands sailed for her party. Hlin did her best to prepare for impact, when Miho's voice echoed through the auditorium.

Eyes wide, the girl glanced up slowly at her friend, seeing a palm frozen a few feet from her. Had Miho finally begun to understand?

[unexamined]

Kota threw himself to the ground as the Shadow raised its hand, casting his bat aside to cover his head with his arms. When he heard Miho's voice, he was so relieved that he didn't even move, just mumbled a quiet "Oh thank God" into the floor.

[terminalshow]

Is this how this was supposed to go? Miho shot a glance for confirmation to her allies, and bit into her lower lip out of worry. It felt right, so... Her attention turned back to the shadow, who was still moments away from crushing her precious friends. “I.. I get it now! I think I get it..!” A hand rose to hover over her heart and then curl it's fingers into her PJ-top. “You're me! You've always been me, you're a part of me. Deep down..”

The brunette glanced to her bare feet, frowning. “Deep down I guess I really do feel that way. Replaceable, not as good as my friends..” Her shoulders sagged a little, but with a shake of her head she glanced back up. “But..! That's okay! Everyone has emotions they're not proud of, we just have to accept them! Well! I, I accept it! You're me, and I'm you, right?!”

The form of the shadow twitched and shimmered somewhat, and then burst into a dazzling glow. In it's place was something like a valkyrie, wings outstretched. The wings flapped once, and then that image vanished as well. The girl hit her knees with a thud and a gasp – Persona? Was that her new power?

...More importantly, were her friends okay?! “G-guys..!?”

[homeruuun]

Whew. That was another close one. Ren stood with her arms raised, uttering a small woohoo!. "Mippon... hehe, you did it."

[seiyayamada]

"Miho-chan." Seiya was relieved beyond all comparison. She slumped down onto her belly, resting her cheek on the plush theater carpet. Finally, her friend was safe. Rubbing tears out of her eyes, she couldn't help but produce more. "I'm so glad you're okay!!" As the girl wailed, Hlin dissipated, returning to her home in Seiya's psyche.

[unexamined]

Kota rolled over onto his back, taking a quick moment to scout, but with the Shadow gone it seemed like they weren't in any immediate danger. He wasn't sure it would last - they were still in the mirror world, after all - but he was willing to relax for right now.

He sat up to grin at Miho and give her a thumbs up. "Nice going. You totally just bailed us out there." Getting crushed really hadn't been on his to do list.

[terminalshow]

Poor Miho looked exhausted – who knew facing ‘yourself’ could be so tiring?! She also looked particularly teary eyed, and wailed a big ,“I’m s-sorryyy!” as she ran toward them. The girl rubbed at her eyes and sniffled, then put on a watery smile. “You guys saved me, ehe. You’re all so cool, like heros. In one of my novels, or an action RPG…” Starry eyed, but now it was time for them to get the heck out! Oddly enough, behind them, although it was quite a ways away, a pair of steel double doors like those of an elevator had materialized in the ice. Hmmm! Possibly the way home?!

[homeruuun]

Ren grinned sheepishly. She took a look around them and spotted the doors, then went over to Miho and offered her a shoulder, just in case. "A'ight, Mippon, you sound beat. Let's get you outta here."

[seiyayamada]

When the doors appeared, Seiya felt her heart wash with relief. Dragging her bat along the ground, she made her way to them, slamming the button repeatedly. Unable to look at Miho in the eyes now, the girl stepped into the sterile elevator, leaning on the wall.

[unexamined]

And that, it seemed, was that. Kota followed the others onto the elevator, trying to sneak a covert look at Seiya as he did so - he didn't need Dagr to recognize that something was wrong. But this didn't seem like the time or place to ask, and after the ordeal they'd just been through, he shouldn't push any buttons.

No, instead they should just worry about getting back and getting Miho home, and- ...Oh.

"Much as I like the idea of being a hero, how are we going to explain all this? I mean, well...everything." Who even knew how much time had passed? It felt like forever, but maybe it'd only been an hour. Maybe they could still sneak back into school and have no one the wiser? But how could they possibly explain finding Miho?

He didn't want to have to scramble for a story right now. In a just world, fighting the monsters would be the hard part, not everything that came afterwards.