Persona 4 FYL

[Author's Notes: I figured I'd try this out here for the sake of helping people understand my own concerns during the writing of this fic so that they can more effectively review my work. So here goes!

This chapter was quite troublesome, for many reasons.

1> Making Souji's decision believable. I chose to focus on the consequences of the decision's aftermath to show the mixed sensibility and stupidity he demonstrates here. But then again, if we care deeply about our friends, what sort of decisions would we make to protect them?

2> I'm concerned that the battle fluctuates too much to be effective, and also about the possibility that it's stretched out too much over the chapter. Let me know if it's too long, and where it should be cut off (if at all).

3> Exposition regarding the Naoto/Souji center of the story. I'm trying to provide enough tidbits without being TOO revealing - just enough to pique interest. Let me know if this is effective, and also let me know if any of Naoto's responses or dialogue put her too much into OOC territory.

4> The lead-in for Chapter Ten - is it REALISTIC? Does the transition work?

Other than those major concerns (which I hope I'll receive feedback for in reviews), I had a LOT of fun writing this chapter. Let me know if it's a thrill to read! Also, thank you very much to those who have reviewed consistently. Your efforts are highly appreciated, and I hope you'll continue your valued critiques to the final chapter!]


"You gotta be kiddin' me!"

Kanji tore his hand from Souji's grip, glaring up a the large ball of flame that lit the blue sky above. It began to arc back toward where the group had run, it's radiated heat swelling into higher temperatures.

As the living flame moved closer, Souji could see a humanoid form hidden within the bright blaze. It was more clearly defined when it ceased its flight and hovered in front of them, floating two or three feet above the ground. It was genderless and faceless, much like the black-cloaked creature, but it was far more muscular. It's body glowed as though made entirely out of charcoal. The surrounding grass could not withstand the sweltering temperatures, and the blades began to wilt and turn brown as their reserves of water quickly evaporated.

"I Am AngEr..." the fiery humanoid spoke, it's voice roaring like an uncontrolled inferno.

"...Anger?!" Kanji roared back, his fists clenched as his own temper flared. "I'll show YOU anger, you-"

But Kanji was forced to stumble backward as the blazing fire around the humanoid burned more hotly, cursing so fluently that it even made Yukiko glare at him.

"....fEEd mE.... nOUrIsh mE wIth YOUr rAgE... YOUr hAtrEd... YOUr AngEr..." The fiery spirit raised its right arm, and tongues of flame shot out from its fingertips, surging through the group as though looking for something...

"Scatter!" yelled Souji, and he ran toward the Anger, raising his sword and attempting to bring it down on the extended arm. But the flames surrounding it doubled in strength, surging all around him and knocking him backward, rolling along the dusty, bare ground to put out part of his coat that had been set ablaze.

"'Feed me?' gasped Yosuke, tightening his grip on his daggers. "No way! It's using our- AAGH!!"

Yosuke was hit from behind by something tremendously heavy, knocking him face first into the dusty ground. Flipping over, he cried out in alarm as he saw Kanji standing above him, his plate raised above his head, his eyes glowing orange and a vein pulsing in his temple.

"...Crap." Yosuke spun along the ground, moving just in time to avoid the plate as it was brought down into where he had lain. Kanji pounded a massive hole into the dry, cracked earth, dust surging around the point of impact.

Souji turned to see Yosuke rising and Kanji moving to take another swing, but he was distracted as a pair of unnaturally strong arms wrapped around his throat and tried to choke him. Reaching up with his left hand, he attempted to pull the arm away from his windpipe, but he was distracted by the faint scent of familiar perfume... With a jolt of horror, he dropped his sword and used his entire strength to pull at the arms he abruptly recognized to belong to Naoto.

Souji felt a strong kick to the small of his back, knocking him down once again into the dust. He saw Naoto stare down at him in fury, her eyes glowing bright orange as she pounced onto him and tried to wrap her grasping, clawing hands around his throat.

And then he realized that the Anger could inflict rage upon his friends.

"Hey! What're you doing?! YAAAH!!" cried Chie, and Souji glanced around just in time to see Chie being thrown down by Rise, who also possessed the orange, glowing eyes. The idol roared incoherently as she tried as best she could to claw and scratch at Chie's face, held at bay by Chie's well-placed legs.

"Stop!" Yukiko ran up behind the enraged Rise and tried to pin her friend's arms behind her. It set Chie free, but only served to further enrage the idol, who thrashed and kicked in an attempt to remove herself from Yukiko's grip.

Souji tried to think frantically about what to do, but he couldn't... not with those soft hands closing around his throat... He couldn't think, couldn't concentrate, and he looked around to see if someone, anyone, could help him...

"Stop! Please, don't fight!"

Teddie was standing alone, his animated face contorted in anguish as he saw his friends fighting each other. "We need to fight the fire-thingie! Please don't fight!!"

Only Souji seemed to hear the poor bear, though. Yosuke seemed to have had enough of Kanji's attacks and had him in a grapple, and now both men's eyes surged with orange light. Chie and Yukiko were not only battling with Rise now, but also with each other, their eyes also blazing with the unnatural glow... Naoto was above him, tightening her grip around his windpipe, and Souji began to see stars burst in front of his eyes...

Is this how it is? thought Souji, his own temper beginning to bubble to the surface. Is this what she really thinks of me? I'll show her... I'll give her a taste of her own medi-

"No...!" Souji croaked, shaking his head vigorously to clear it. This isn't what it looks like!... this is...

The surrounding light intensified into a brilliant white hue, flickering with motion, and Souji turned his head to see the towering, powerful figure of the Anger avatar standing above him. It had grown, stories tall, its flames a pure white tipped with blue on the edges of the tongues of flame it emitted from its entire body. It seemed to revel in the chaos it had created, presiding over the infighting like a god of war.

And then Souji realized what was happening. He realized everything in a split second. And with the last vestiges of clarity available to him, almost without realizing he had done it, he made a decision.

Souji reached forward with his left hand, causing Naoto to tighten her grip. He grabbed Naoto's revolver from her side and pulled it to him. He dropped it to the ground, quickly placed it in his hand properly, aimed... and pulled the trigger.

A gunshot rang out. A scream pierced the battlefield.

Blinding pain pierced Souji's thigh.

And Souji smiled inwardly, even as his face contorted in anguish, the last part of his scream of pain escaping his lips. He focused entirely on the pain, his vision clearing as the sensation drowned out what rage was affecting his mind. He saw the spirit of anger stumble, the strength of its blaze weakening visibly even as he watched.

"..Did I..? What was I...?"

Hearing a soft voice nearby, Souji looked up to see Naoto looking at him, horrified at the position of her hands... They were still wrapped around his throat, but they had ceased their clenching... She looked down at Souji's pained face, then to her hands, then to the gun... and then to Souji's own thigh, blood seeping from a bullet wound.

"...Why...?" Naoto's voice was quiet, and yet her eyes were wide in shock and pain.

"I'll... explain later..." Souji dropped the gun and pulled himself out from underneath Naoto, crawling to where his sword lay on the ground, covered in dust. He looked around as he grasped the handle, only to find all of his friends staring at him in abject shock and disbelief. Kanji appeared dumbstruck. Yosuke was shaking his head. Chie shivered where she sat. Yukiko looked away in shame. Rise wept, her eyes filled with pain. Teddie was lying on his back, having fainted only moments ago.

Souji stood up, gritting his teeth from the blinding pain in his thigh. Blood trickled down his leg, soaked into the cloth of his pants. But he returned his focus to the Anger spirit; it was shrinking. The white-hot blaze that had been present before had weakened into its original orange hue, and the humanoid form was once again his own size.

"....AnOmAlY...." The Anger spirit lunged forward, flying straight at Souji and raising its arms to strike. But Souji raised his blade, parrying the hammer blow with a well-timed slash, turning on the spot to bring the sword down through the fiery being's stomach. Sparks flew as part of its body was torn from it in a cloud of glowing ash and stone, and the spirit roared in outrage at the indignity of being wounded.

Yet in between his focused strikes and the almost blinding pain of his attempts to remain standing with a bullet stuck in his leg, Souji couldn't help but wonder what the fire-cloaked humanoid meant when it called him an "anomaly".

Everyone else remained where they sat, staring at the battle unfolding before them. Souji was calmly and logically dueling the spirit that had so easily caused them to rage and storm at one another.

"...Wha... Where am I...?" Teddie sat up, shaking his large head to clear it. Everyone moved closer to their friend without realizing it, their eyes still fixed on the one-on-one battle.

Rise continued to cry as she hugged Teddie tightly, her emotions getting the better of her. "Oh, Teddie!! Souji-kun! He... he..!" She couldn't continue as she began to sob in earnest, burying her face in the red suit.

"..That idiot..." Kanji muttered, but there was no anger in his voice. Only disbelief. "What kinda stunt was he pullin'?"

"...We were... all consumed by rage..." said Naoto calmly, her eyes entirely focused on the battle. "...except him... He's.... In order to focus entirely on his objective, he realized he needed a method to remove anger from the equation..." She bowed her head, shivering slightly as her own deductions frightened her. "...So... he replaced it with a more powerful variable..."

"...No..!" gasped Yukiko, horrified. "He's overcoming his anger by focusing his feelings on..."

"...Pain." Naoto shook her head. "..It.. works.. but... Was it truly necessary...?"

"Souji thought so." Yosuke said firmly. "And... it worked, didn't it?.."

"..But... that scream..." said Chie, her arms tight around her chest. "...It wasn't a normal scream... it was like..."

"...like you felt the same pain in your leg?"

Everyone stared at Teddie, who petted the crying Rise with his paw, looking dejected. "It's the connection we share... Our hearts... and Sensei's..."

Souji had called upon Izanagi-no-Okami to assist him, and the Persona caused a large block of ice to form around the Anger spirit, immediately following up with a combined cross-slash technique. The ice shattered loudly, and the fiery spirit's energy seemed vastly diminished from the Bufudyne attack as well as the power of both human and Persona. The humanoid spirit fell to its knees, its back slumped forward and its head bowed... but it reached its hand out toward the gathered group, seeking fuel... sustenance.

"...Damn it..." Kanji started to fume all over again without realizing it, the Anger's influence drawing it from him. "Senpai didn't have to DO that! There coulda been somethin' else! SHOOTING himself?! That's just WRONG, man!"

"Kanji-kun, NO!" Yukiko jumped up as the flames surged around the Anger once again, knocking Souji off his feet. He hit the ground hard, his sword spinning out of his grip, his vision going black as he was stunned from the impact.

"Let's go, Yosuke!" called Chie, leaping to her feet and rushing forward. "Fearless Leader needs us!"

"You got it!" replied Yosuke as he retrieved his daggers and joined Chie's charge.

"Senpai!" Kanji turned around in shock at what he had caused, smacking himself in the head. "DAMNIT!! Of all the-"

"Calm down, Kanji-kun!" Yukiko begged him, shaking him hard by his jacket. "It's your temper that's doing it! Take a deep breath and try to relax!"

"Easy for YOU to say!" Kanji shivered, grabbing his own bleach-blond hair as he tried desperately to take Yukiko's advice.

"Calm... must remain calm..." Naoto's eyes were closed, her breathing deep and controlled by her own discipline. But her hands were clenched, and they shivered slightly, betraying her anxiety. Please... don't die... I don't know if I...

Chie had reached the Anger avatar as the flames begun to diminish, and she called forth Suzuka Gongen, who used its double-blade to force the fiery creature back from Souji's prone form. Yosuke summoned Susano-O in turn and sent a Garudyne blast not at the Anger, but at the dusty ground below it. Dirt and stone rose in a cloudy cascade, surrounding the Anger and forcing the flames to diminish further still.

"...Personas...?" Kanji blinked. "...How did- ..When did-" He turned to Yukiko and began shouting at her. "What the HELL'S up with THAT?!"

"Kanji-kun!" Naoto rose in a panic, but it was too late. The flames intensified, bursting through the dust cloud and knocking Chie and Yosuke backward.

"NO!" Rise had raised her eyes to the battle and was now horror-struck that everyone fighting had been knocked down. "Get up, you guys! Get up!"

"Urgh..." Kanji bowed his head, trying to calm himself, but he couldn't... He was angry, and he was ashamed of it. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't control it... Even Mina had said...

Souji blinked as he recovered from being stunned, rubbing the back of his head as he noticed the wavering flames of the Anger surging and diminishing violently, fluctuating because of Kanji's poor attempts at control. It turned to see him staring up at it, and it lunged forward, intent on finishing the battle once and for all. "dEstrOY AnOmAlY..."

But Souji was ready for it. Summoning his Persona, he directed Izanagi to charge Megidolaon. It lowered it's hand, which glowed purple with the Almighty energies, and thrust the condensed ball of force into the Anger's chest.

The explosion surged outward from Izanagi's hand, piercing the Anger's back and causing its chest to shatter with the massive impact. Stumbling backward, the Anger's heat dispersed, its body writhing in agony as it could not draw any more rage into itself to repair its mangled body.

".....RAGE!!!!!"

The avatar roared one last time to the heavens... and exploded into an intense pillar of flame that rose higher and higher into the skies, forcing everyone around to cover their eyes. Smoke seemed to pour forth from the inferno as the humanoid silhouette disintegrated within, the dark clouds enveloping the blue sky and concealing the warmth of the sun. Soon the column began to shrink, becoming thinner in width, until the flames diminished into a flickering pile of smoldering ash - all that remained of their enemy.

Souji breathed a sigh of relief... until he felt the stabbing pain in his left thigh.

The wound slowly closed up, the bullet left behind popping out of the hole before it sealed itself shut. Souji heard a faint shout, and smiled at Izanagi's victory cry.

But his smile faltered as he saw Chie and Yosuke standing above him, looking dusty and disheveled.

"You... might look level-headed..." said Yosuke as he shook his head, offering his hand to his best friend, "but you're one of the craziest people I've ever had the luck of knowing..."

Chie offered her hand to Souji as well, and the two of them pulled him to his feet. "I gotta agree.. Geez, controlling your anger is one thing, but shooting yourself in the leg...?" She hugged Souji tightly even as she smacked him in the back of the head. "You're such an idiot sometimes, Souji-kun..."

"Senpai!"

"Sensei!"

"Souji-kun!"

The others had come up to them, looking relieved for the most part. But Kanji's face was pained and downcast; Rise's was dejected and miserable, trails from her tears still glistening on her dusty cheeks. Naoto's visor was pulled down in front of her eyes.

Yukiko embraced Souji tightly, and he felt her shiver in his arms. "Thank goodness.. I was so worried.."

"That was... really incredible, Sensei..." sniffled Teddie, "but please promise us you won't do something like that again. It was... un-bear-able to watch..."

"In spite of the pun, I feel strongly inclined to agree with Teddie," said Naoto softly. She approached Souji and allowed herself to lift her visor, revealing her grey eyes, her eyelashes clumped together from her tears, watery trails descending along her dust-coated cheeks just as Rise's did.

"You... that was..." Naoto couldn't help herself. Everything began to pour out of her all at once. "...That was reckless, foolish, inconsiderate, illogical, and completely STUPID of you! How you could have-, I mean, what if you... What if..." She had lost control of her emotions again, but she couldn't stop herself as everything she had held in, her rage, anger, pain, and anguish came out in a violent torrent. "What if Yosuke-san and Chie-san weren't able to use their Personas?! What if the control wasn't broken when you..." She snarled, covering her eyes with a shaking hand. "Why must you be so impulsive?! Dammit, I can't LOSE you, Souji-kun!!"

And she shook with suppressed sobs. She hated herself, hated the fact that she had lost control during the battle, hated the idea that she almost killed the man she honestly and truly loved more than anyone else in the world!

Naoto felt Souji's arms embrace her, and her attempts at controlling her emotions became meaningless. She reached up and hugged Souji tightly around the neck, and he swept her off her feet in the embrace. She didn't care about stupid things like logic and sense anymore... She was with the man she loved, and that's all that mattered in that moment... She unconsciously appreciated what she felt were some of the oddest things... the scent of Souji's cologne mixed with sweat from the heat.. the softness of his hair... the warmth of his embrace... the gentleness of his touch...

Please, she said to herself, calling to someone, anyone who would listen to her prayers.. but even as she spoke them, she knew she had to let go sometime. Don't make me release him... Let me remain here with him like this forever...

Souji reluctantly released the embrace, looking into Naoto's eyes and smiling gently. She smiled back, but her eyes appeared firm in quiet resolve as she made a silent promise to herself... one she had no intention of breaking.

"I seriously hate to do this to you two," said Yosuke quietly, "But... I think we're in even deeper trouble than we were before..."

It didn't take long for everyone to realize what Yosuke was talking about. A stunned silence fell over the group as they beheld the TV world as they had never seen it before... the entire landscape had become dust and earth, the lush plants and greenery entirely burned away. Charred skeletons of trees dotted the bare landscape, and the beautiful lakes and rivers had become fields and trails of mud. Worst of all, the skies had not returned to their vibrant shade of blue, entirely cloaked by the black smoke that had issued forth from the avatar of Anger.

"...Why does this always happen to us?" asked Chie sourly.

"It's the decay," whimpered Teddie. "That.. anger-thingie just made it worse.."

"...It's my fault..." said Kanji in a hoarse whisper. "If I could control myself, this shit never woulda happened..."

"You weren't the only one among us who lost control," replied Naoto, looking down. "We all became.. infected by rage..."

"We can't keep blaming ourselves, though," said Yukiko firmly, taking it upon herself to try bringing the morale back up. "We can stand around all day and toss blame back and forth, but it won't help us at all. Remember that we have a job to do!"

"You're.. you're right..." squeaked Rise, taking a deep breath. "We need to get to the Rift before anything else happens!"

They easily located the Rift in the distance, which seemed wider than before, much to everyone's regret. Yet the group pressed forward, the remnants of the Anger's heat quickly replaced by frigid cold without the presence of the sun in the sky. Everything was much gloomier now, more desperate...

Things are moving way too fast, thought Souji to himself as he huddled against Naoto, both of them clinging to each other for warmth. He could sense a change in her, as well, for she was standing beside him at all times now. He couldn't help but think to himself about how badly the battle with Anger had impacted her... had impacted everyone.

But his greatest worry at the moment was Kanji, who had taken a position in the middle of the marching order and seemed more distant than usual. Souji knew Kanji had been just as strongly affected by the battle as Naoto, but he couldn't shake the feeling that Kanji's issues went much deeper than the issue of his temper...

...Kanji's next... There's no doubt in my mind...

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"You're under arrest, Akio Okuguro. There's no escape, so come quietly."

"You're too late, Shirogane! The powers that have been set in motion this night cannot be stopped!"

"Cease this foolishness now, Okuguro. Put the dagger down and come with us."

"You don't believe me, do you? Well, then... maybe I should provide some proof?"

"No, don't!"

"...Stop! STOP!! STO--"

"Naoto?"

She blinked heavily, awakening from her reverie as she stared into Souji's concerned face.

"Oh.. sorry, Souji-kun..." Naoto sighed, rubbing her eyes with her fingertips. "This has.. been quite a stressful day...."

"...Why won't you talk to me?"

Her heart ached at the question. "...It is.. unimportant."

"You're important to me."

"....I know..." She leaned against him, resting her head on his chest as they continued walking. "...I'll tell you soon.. I just need to... sort out the information, that's all..."

"...Promise?"

Naoto smiled to herself. "I promise, Souji-kun."

She silently hoped she wouldn't have to keep that particular promise.