[from here]

Dim light met her eyes and Aigis blinked, attempting to adjust her sight. As usual, the depth of the ballroom was rather stunning in its own way, if it didn't hold such terrible truths behind it. It was just another of Landel's sick games, but here she was, looking to see if there was a way to escape after this.

Surely there was something... A hidden tunnel or another secret room. There was the door that she had not yet gotten to pass, but surely could after the fight in the Coliseum.

At odds with herself, Aigis reached into her pillowcase and pulled out one of the items she had salvaged from the pantry. A box of crackers. That would work. Taking out a sleeve of the crunchy treats, Aigis opened it and began to eat a few while she considered her options.

[from here]

This was it. From here on, Aigis was going to be alone when she went down there, and there was no one to blame but herself for this hideous condition.

No. She had one person to blame above even herself.

Martin Landel.

Grimly, Aigis tightened her grip on her pillowcase and shoved aside the trap door. As carefully as she could, Aigis descended into a place she hoped she never had to see again after this night.

[to here]

[from here]

She had to tread quickly. Who knew if a creature was lying in wait for her to slow down so it could snack on her?

Swiftly, she patted around the shelves in an attempt to find something edible. Her hand fell on a basket of fruit and a banana was quickly taken for an immediate snack. It wouldn't last for long, so she also added a few more random fruit to her pillowcase bag along with a few boxes and bags she found in the pantry that weren't too heavy. Cans she left alone, not sure if she would have an implement to open them anytime soon.

With her pillowcase a bit heavier, and a half-eaten banana in hand, Aigis stepped back into the kitchen.

[back to here]

[from here]

She was nearly out of breath when she entered the kitchen. Already, she was feeling worn out. Aigis needed fuel. Food.

Deviating from her course for a moment, Aigis moved to one of the pantries on the side to find something to help her recharge.

[to here]

[from here]

Here, the air was still, stagnant. No one had been here tonight, and she hoped nothing would be in here waiting for her, either.

Quickly, she raced across the room and over the counter. She didn't look back to see if anything followed her.

[to here]

Aigis had been nearly useless for the past several days. Even when the nurses attempted to get her to eat, it was nearly impossible for her to work up the effort.

All of her friends were dead and gone. Certainly, a few acquaintances had survived, but most of them were gone or busy with their own troubles. Aidou was distant, Heat no longer believed in who he was, and now Sechs was...

She clutched her plush toys to her chest when Landel spoke with his grim tone over the intercom. From the sound of it, this was going to be a night of purging. A part of her welcomed the idea, thinking it would probably be best if they just let her shut down for good. Then she wouldn't have to live with the memories of her friends' faces playing over and over through her head.

But after a few minutes, just stroking the plush fur of Schrodinger-san, Aigis sat up and the small Sechs plush fell into her lap. If she was gone, if she was destroyed, then where would those memories go? Where would be Heat's impatient scowl, or Scar's clumsiness, or Ema's enthusiasm, or... or any of it? Would it be lost to the world, no longer even a small glimmer to anyone's knowledge? And Aigis, despite how down she had been recently, stood with a sureness that she hadn't felt since that night she entered the Coliseum.

Without allowing herself to think further on it, she began to stuff a pillowcase full of items, everything she had went in there as Von Karma had taught her once before, and she made her way out into the hall and walked past the row of silent doors.

[to here]

[From here (with mod permission for three).]

Sechs jolted awake, instantly aware that everything had changed around him -- yet he had no idea on what exactly was different now. For some reason he had fallen and was flat out on his stomach upon what felt like sand. He was completely dazed by the suddenness of it all. Had he just woken up from a dream? Coughing, the perturbed Replica lifted his head up and shook the dirt out of his shaggy hair. "...Wuh?"

Blinking at the disturbed sand beneath him, Sechs' brain scrambled to catch up with what had just happened, feeling as though he had inexplicably crashed like a computer and was just rebooting with fragmented memories. The hell...? The last thing he remembered was being in that darkened hallway with Aigis and Soushi, just after the stone snake received their blood in exchange for entry. He was sure he was just standing a second ago, waiting for the door to open before them... Now why was he suddenly dumped out in some dirt?

Compared to the pitch-black corridor from before, this new environment was brightly lit, leading Sechs to think that he was outside. Digging his hands into the sand, the Replica thought -- even hoped -- that he was back at the wastelands surrounding the Scrapyard. Yet he quickly found that to be untrue once he pushed himself up to his knees and got a good look around himself.

He was in an arena of some sorts, one which dwarfed the first one he and his allies encountered after discovering the armory two nights ago. Squinting his eyes against the overwhelming light, Sechs could somewhat make out the walls encircling him and the rows of seats above. It was like the feature presentation to the basement's glorified ballroom. Was this arena the whole purpose of the basement? A place of glamor and battle for Landel to entertain his guests with?

Sechs wasn't able to contemplate further on this question, as he realized that his whereabouts wasn't the only thing that had changed. Something inside him felt different -- no, not different, restored. The last time he felt this freeing sensation was during that one night when the institute's control over its prisoner's abilities had been lifted. Did this mean...?

[from here]

This hall was much shorter than the other two she and Sechs had traversed together. Much shorter. And all they had here was one large door, and it was much more ominous than their last one. The creatures there reminded her of Shadows while the ones on the other reminded her of Personas. What would this lead them to...

There was even some writing above the head of the snake that protruded out at them. An offering of blood was needed, but did the message mean that only two of them could pass through? Aigis wondered. By all accounts, she and Sechs were the leaders of their party.

"Sechs-san and I should give the offering," Aigis stated, her eyes turning to Soushi. "We appreciate your company, Soushi-san, but if there is something dangerous on the other side then we will be leading you into further darkness."

[From here.]

A dizzying moment later and Sechs found himself once again beneath the glorious chandelier of the basement's impressive ballroom. The sudden brightness of his new surroundings stung his eyes at first. Once his senses adapted, Sechs turned to check to see if his allies had made it through ok. "You two alright?"

Seeing they had arrived in one piece, the Replica promptly redid the usual procedure of feeding the teleportation ring a drop of his blood. By then Sechs had less difficulty using his machete to cut into the base of his thumb, but the sharp pain and the nagging ache which followed afterwards still bugged him. Just how many more times would he have to do this bloody routine before he found freedom from this damned place?

Once the ring was fed, Sechs turned his attention towards the imposing door from across the ballroom. The marble-set gateway loomed before them, like a silent opponent awaiting their first move. Sechs' curiosity had been vexed by the enigmatic door ever since he laid eyes on it two nights ago. Unsheathing the ornamental sword from his belt, Sechs made a predatory bee-line for the door and held up the artifact beside one of its empty indentations. The sword made a perfect fit.

Grinning, Sechs turned towards his allies. "Hey! This sword definitely fits as a key!" he called. Turning his attention to Aigis, he added, "Now let's give that shield a try!"

Night. Again, another day taunted by the monotony of the institute, then taunted by the insidious Martin Landel. But no matter, Aigis had plans tonight, so she had little time to waste.

Gathering her usual equipment, Aigis placed her stuffed cat on her bed and bid Rita good luck before stepping out into the darkness.

[from here]

This room was much smaller than the one they had visited the night before. It also was not so bright, but there was one thing that stood out--a giant creature that very well could be a Shadow had it worn a mask of the higher arcana. As it was, Aigis felt her breath leave her in a quick gasp. Could they really fight such a beast after having already fought off the enemy from before?

She could call on Athena but... no, after all she had done that night, she feared she could not rely on her Persona again. She was much too fatigued.

What were they going to do?

[from here]

Aigis staggered into the hallway, vaguely aware that it was similar to the one they had gone down the night previous with Zero. If she had been able to focus, she might have even stopped to ask that they turn around and check, but instead she reached for her Evoker and placed it to her temple again.

She called on Athena, first for Sechs then for herself, and a healing light covered them both. While her powers were greatly reduced here, she could rid them of their immediate discomfort and sew up the deepest part of their wounds, if not all the way through. Aigis still felt some slight discomfort, but the shooting pain in her midriff had subsided into something manageable.

That taken care of, she leaned against a wall, gasping, then fell to her knees. She just needed a quick moment to breathe. That was all. Then they could be on their way.

[from here]

Aigis was quick to take a spot where she would be easily seen. As far as she knew their plans for the night were simple. Get downstairs and go through the opposite door they tried the night before.

Resting against a wall, she calmly waited for her friend in the dark.

[skipping from here]

Aigis had nothing to fear in this hall, nor the next. So she breezed right through, her path unfaltering.

[to here]

Landel's speech seemed almost defensive. As if he felt he needed to assert his authority because someone was hitting a tender nerve. Interesting.

Aigis expected that Rita had something to do with it as she was familiar with the third floor. Aigis might have handed over her dessert to the girl tonight had she known Landel was biting his nails over it. But now they both had plans to accomplish.

Gathering her usual assortments of things, and giving Schrodinger-san one quick hug, Aigis was out the door and heading off for the Main hallway.

[skipping to here]

[from here]

Aigis blinked and raised a hand to shield her eyes from the bright lights above. Unlike the rest of the institute, this room was very well lit. Open and spacious, and the ceiling was much higher than should have been physically possible without making an obvious indication of something underground from an observer outside the institute. Still, the room existed, so Aigis figured it must follow the same bizarre non-physics that the rest of the institute followed. That same unholy inconsistency that reeked of the same ilk as Tartarus.

And speaking of the nest of Shadows, Aigis felt a keen similarity between this place and the Tower of Demise. The room itself felt hostile. Something was not right.

"Be on your guard..." Aigis' hands reached into her pockets, instinctively clutching at her Evoker. But she restrained herself and grabbed out her metal claws instead. Athena was her trump card here. She needed to rely on herself first before hiding behind her Persona.

[From here.]

The next room, in contrast with the mostly empty hallway the group just came from, was...more interesting. Zero couldn't help but slow his steps to almost a complete stop as he looked around, feeling mostly confused. Why were there suits of armor just sitting in here, all alone? The room was clearly devoid of life, even though the creaking of the lanterns overhead wanted to suggest otherwise. So what purpose did this place serve for Landel or the prisoners?

It was almost enough to make him want to go up to one of the armors and try to take it, or at least their weapons, but a suspicious part of him wondered if it might be a trap... Wouldn't be underneath Landel to pull something like that.

Instead, he turned to look back at his companions questioningly and asked (after his brief visual search), "What's the point of this place?" (Although 'this place' could really mean either this room or the entire basement, as both of them seemed strange and pointless to him so far...)

[From here.]

Racing to leave the biting chill of the freezer, Sechs bowed his way down the darkened steps to the basement. Yet his brief moment upstairs was more than enough to trigger off the worst of his dreaded post M-U effects. All six scars left behind by that cruel doctor's syringes were searing from the frigid poison inside his spine, spreading pain throughout his nerves and muscles like cracks diverging across an icy landscape. Such agony clouded the Replica's mind, slowing down time and stretching the staircase below into infinity. Sechs' vision worsened and his hearing was overwhelmed by the drug's malicious taunting. Nearly thrown off balance with each step, Sechs forced his flashlight-wielding hand against the wall to keep himself stabilized. Refusing to give in, Sechs continued his pained journey down the stairwell, focusing on reaching warmer air than anything else going on around him.

Once he finally reached the end of the stairwell, Sechs nearly stumbled off the final step, his boots shuffling against the pristine marble floor as he turned to lean his back against the wall. By then his shivering had faded and the icy sensation that racked his spine had finally thawed. The triggering cold of the freezer was gone, replaced by the lukewarm air of the ballroom. Even though the worst was over, Sechs' nerves remained ransacked and his burdened flight down the stairs left him hunched over and panting. Standing with his head bowed over, the Replica closed his eyes tight against whatever dark hallucinations may be awaiting him, knowing they could trick him into attacking his allies.

It was then that Sechs' awareness of the present returned, reminding him that he hadn't been alone during his episode. Zero and Aigis were sure to have seen it all now. There was no doubt that they were going to ask the questions which Sechs always dreaded to answer. They may even decide to leave him behind. He was just a big liability to the group and the drug was no more than happy to remind him of that fact with a deviant cackle. All Sechs could do was catch his breath and rub his hand into the back of his aching neck, bracing for the questions to fall upon him like blasted shrapnel.

[From here]

Now this place, he remembered intimately for a number of reasons. Goku couldn't feasibly count the number of times Taura, Birdy, and he had come through here to get to the basement. Most of the time they had been stopped by someone or something lurking in here. The memory started his heart pumping with excitement. It had been a long time since he had a proper fight!

The one with Birdy didn't count. Goku thought back further and stopped on the time he had attacked Kibitoshin in this exact room. He tried, but he couldn't remember why he had wanted to defeat the man... Either way, it had been a great fight. It was also the night he had truly met Taura and everything she was capable of. Yeah, those were all fond memories!

Welp. Goku flicked his gaze back and forth within the spacious room, but nothing seemed willing to assault him. That was a real drag!

"Ah well..." Technically, he had a job to complete. Reluctantly, he peeled his feet off the carpet and moved to the doors that lead into the main hallways. He could there'd be a lot of people out there to throw these bricks at.

[to here]

[From here]

"Eh--" This place, in the dark with no other people running around and no delicious-smelling food all over the tables, seemed a lot larger now that he was standing in it all alone. Or, at least, he thought he was alone.

"Helloooo?" he called out experimentally. He waited for an answer, but all he got was his own echo. At first he thought it was another patient, but when nothing stirred in the dark, the young boy took the hint. It would have been nice if he could just dump all these brick things on everyone all at once so he could go find his own excitement, but it looked like this adventure wouldn't be completed so easily.

What a drag.

After one last moment of staring blankly into space, the monkey boy began waddling toward the door in search of someone who would lighten his load.

[to here]