LABYRINTH

[animusmods]

Characters: Participants in the Labyrinth event
Setting: The Labyrinth
Format: Any; party style
Summary: Characters are told to fight to the death over eight days.
Warnings: violence/gore/horror; this is a free-for-all fight to the death after all

Labyrinth starting positions, events, ring colors, and other information.

SUBTHREADS:
Please specify your location in your header, and if the thread is open or closed.
Day One
Day Two
Day Three
Day Four
Day Five
Day Six
Day Seven
Day Eight

Comments

[busstopsign]

Stupid. What's the point of killing yourself? The words echo in his mind and hit deep inside his soul, stirring the flame of life inside him.

"I don't...want to die?" he whispers from her words, coughing. Images flashed in his head. Cooking for the entire team. Listening to Minako talk for hours about herself.

Wanting to be normal.

If Castor really is a part of you, if he's the 'True Self' like he claims then you know the answer to that!

The months he spent in the hospital, dreaming of a girl who he couldn't remember the name of, when he finally woke up, the name on his lips. The last hug when she died in his arms. Being invited inside the velvet room and searching for her...

You just have to let yourself believe it!

The promise he made himself to live.

To live...

A big bully. Tch. Aki called him like that once too. He moves one of his arm tentatively. The healing wave has made it moveable again, and he feels his strength returning to him as he extends his fingers and slams them to the ground.

I don't want anyone else to die...

He wakes up from Minami's words, coughing and his head pounding. His entire body was aching. Shit, had she hit him? It didn't really matter anymore as Castor was a monster by this point and preparing itself to chase after the members of Strega that had escape. Could he really do anything? Did he want to?

...if you want to repent at all, if that's what you truly want...

...he could try. Pulling himself up on Minami, giving her a small smile as an attempt of thanking her before he can stand on his own two feet. He raises an arm into the sky as Castor continues to fight off against Yu's changing Persona by aiming its spear at Isis. He then takes another step towards him, trying not to trip from the dizzy feeling. His voice is clearer than before, and fuel but what England also told him...

Killing yourself to fight the monster within shall do little to halt it if the monster has already been freed.

And gods, what a monster its turned into. He touches his head and realizes that his hat fell off when he lost consciousness the first time. Now he can feel the horse's fiery breath in his hair and face. But he doesn't back down, narrowing his eyes.

"HEY ASSHOLE! That's enough. You gonna stop embarrassing me in public?!"

The large creature turns towards him and begins laughing. It is an insane laughter, of a beast that knows it was much more powerful than the puny mortal standing before him, before it turns away from his prey...and directly at Shinjiro, the lance aimed at his heart.

"If that is your wish...let me end your life!" There is no time to think. He holds up his hands, trying to protect Minami from getting hit herself...

But the spear doesn't miss.

Suddenly everything is quiet.

Shit. That was an idiotic thing to do--

Wait.

He's still alive. As Shinjiro realizes what happens, he looks down, eyes widening at the torn fabric revealing that the spear is dented where it attempted to pierce him.

Castor's immunities...are also his.

"You're a real bastard, you know that?" He takes the spear and throws it into a wall with a loud scream not caring if it also carried along the Persona still attacked to it. The walls groan and shake as a cloud of dust rises into the air. Shinji puts one hand above his eyes as he tries to peer inside. He knows that even something as powerful at that throw won't have hurt Castor much, but now..thanks to them....thanks to all three of them...he knows he can do this.

Yet nothing could have prepared for what came next as it was not Castor stepping out of the smoke...but himself.

"So you're finally getting it, aren't you?" It breaks into a run and grabs his neck. Castor begins to strangle him as it continues to taunt. "And what will you do now? Once I kill you, I will be the only one left..." Shinji trues to push him away, struggling to breathe.

"...just...this...."

He forms his right hand into a fist and without warning, sends an uppercut right into his Persona's face. It was a punch even Aki would have been proud of, and he feels the Shadow's fingers slip from his neck as he's sent directly to the ground.

For the first time, he can feel his Persona being afraid. Before it can get up, he takes Minami's weapon and aims it directly at his throat.

"Just even think about moving, and I let 'em pelt you with Agidyne."

"Tch...threaten all you want. You still can't let it go, can you? You're afraid of me, no matter what. You'll never get rid of me. I'm the monster inside you, pacing in a cage back and forth. You just have to slip again, Shinjiro. Shinji. Just once. You may try to stop me now, but I'll just come back later..."

[pitiedthefool]

The attack doesn't connect. Rather, it bounces off Isis' Tetrakarn spell before she disappears in the blue light, another card appearing as Yu tries to call forth Yoshitsune because he was the one he had that was immune to physical attacks of all sorts. That's what he needed right now- just to minimalize the damage caused. However, Yoshitsune doesn't come as the card hovers before him. Nothing does as Shinji speaks up. About time.

Strega was fleeing- a good call with how many of their own were injured - and Shinji was back on his feet for now, Minami and England's words had reached him. He was glad that someone close to him was there, at least. Then the inane laughter that scratches at his nerves. He almost screamed out, before the voice in his head grew louder still.

Thy comrade shall be fine.

Yu's eyes widen considerably before he nods to the otherwise unheard voice. They share immunities, much like he shared an immunity to electricity and darkness with Izanagi's initial form. He almost calls forth Izanagi-no-okami once again. In fact does just to get him out of his head before a headache splits his head open instead of a spear - almost asks Izanagi to attack again when Castor begins to try and physically choke the life out of his new acquaintance. That is, until the uppercut. Ow, that had to sting a little.

The boy is silent for a brief spell, until the threats begin anew. At that point, he can't help himself anymore.

"So what if he is afraid of you?" Yu's eyes narrow at Castor, voice nearly echoing Izanagi's cold, analytical and determined tone. "We all have a fragment like you inside of us, something we want to remain hidden even from ourselves. He doesn't need to be rid of you."

He looks to the other two, looking for confirmation because he barely knows any of them- doesn't know England at all. "And if Aragaki-san does slip up again, he has people to help him face himself however many times he needs to."

Right?

[keepscalm]

England's grateful for Minami's healing spell, and even notes the faerie-like appearance of her Persona, but he's focused on Shinjiro for the time being, poised to fire his weapon if it appears that Shinjiro is going to hesitate in his confrontation with this...shadow. He's unsure as to how one's own personal demons can manifest, but, then again, they do summon those strange things from their own heads...

"I think you underestimate the necessity of balance in this world," he eventually comments dryly to the Shadow, as if a child had just asked him a particularly stupid question. He stares down the length of his bow and the arrow loaded in it-- thinks of his own mistakes, his own shames, things he'd rather sweep under the bed where the monsters dwell so that he can pretend they don't exist too. "Your presence is not a threat. It is a simple fact of life. It is what the true self chooses to do with that fact that matters."

England's thumb absently traces circles on the wood of the crossbow, a subtle note of distaste in his expression as he arches one eyebrow. "And doesn't that scare you? Knowing that your existence and freedom both hinge on a choice that was never yours to make? Because you certainly should be scared, if you're not. It's frightening not being the one in control of a situation." He speaks from experience. It's the worst feeling in the world knowing that you're not the master of your own fate.

Hundreds of years of demons. One choice not to let them be the end of him. That was all it had taken to set his own healing into motion. Shinjiro can do it too -- he doesn't even truly need to forgive himself. He just needs to accept his past for what it is. No good or evil, no demonising himself, his actions, or anyone else. Just accepting his past as a part of what makes him who he is.

[fracta_anima]

Minami almost shouted at Shinjiro when he managed to stop her from taking the hit for him by holding his arms out. Then there's the throwing and another Shinjiro and the uppercut--

It's moving fast and Minami can barely keep up at the moment. She manages to sidestep, pulls on the shadow's arms as it tries to strangle Shinjiro and shouting at it to shut up already, but it's only focused on it's primary target. Minami is not very physically strong, she's like a bug to the thing while Shinjiro and it argue with one another.

Then Shinjiro gives the shadow a violent uppercut and points a blade at its throat. Holy crap, her heart actually fluttered for a bit and once she gets over her shock, she puts her hands on her hips, stands beside Shinjiro as Yu and Arthur speak.

She ignores the shadow and puts all her attention on Shinjiro.

"And what do you want to do, Shinjiro?" is all she has to say at that point. The choice is totally up to him.