Magician's Shadow Part II

[madimpossibledreamer]

Main Points:
Persona 4 Arcana Life
Chapter Summary: The Shadow fight.
Word Count: 610
Rating: teen, but, you know, it's a Shadow.  /shrug  Yosuke's Shadow does have a few profanities.
Notes: 2nd person, Shadow pov.

On the Reversed Magician, from https://teachmetarot.wordpress.com/:

In his negative self, The Magician can highlight a misuse or abuse of knowledge and power to control others. He now assumes that his power comes from him and not through him.  He will use any means to get his own way.  He has no time for anyone who attempts to block his path or has different opinions to his. He becomes a dangerous and sometimes sinister figure.  Losing his connection to either the heavens or earth he can become ungrounded and mentally or emotionally unstable. He is controlling and often a violent bully.

 

You hear the bear or panda or whatever it is exclaim, “It’s turning into a Shadow!”  Earlier, you would’ve at least felt guilty about how you feel, but now?  Now you revel in the darkness.

            “I always was a Shadow, you stupid bear,” you growl, and it comes out all menacing.  Neat.

            What’s the worst is him, readying his weapon.  So was that, too, a lie?  Now that he’s revealed his true self, he doesn’t idolize you anymore?  He’d rather destroy you, just like everyone else.  Traitors.

            “That’s it,” you laugh, “Time to clean house.  I see an eyesore over there.”  You aim an attack at your other self, and to your shock, he throws himself at your other self, like he’s trying to protect the loser.  B-but that’s wrong.  It’s the Magician he likes.  He doesn’t know the other you at all, and you just showed his inner self for what it is.  Why would he be fighting you, when you’re the only one that anyone’s ever cared about before?

            But it’s no mistake.  A card floats down, and he shatters it to pieces in his hand, and a weird-looking humanoid with a thorned helmet and a cape and a hammer appears.  “Ziodyne!” he calls, and you shriek as every nerve goes on fire. 

            “You ass!” you yell when you can finally manage, and he looks relieved and worried all at once.

            “Senpai, this appears to work differently than the other Shadows we’ve faced!” a worried voice comes over…well, thin air, really.  If you thought about it, you’d realize that the voice is familiar, but you don’t bother.  “It appears that electricity does more damage than normal, but we won’t get an all-out attack from this one.”

            “My turn,” a very cold, deadly, feminine voice speaks, and a blossom lady appears, and then everything’s on fire.

            It hurts, but not as much as the lightning.  At least he falls to his knees at the gust of wind.  Serves him right.

            You hurt them sometimes, which is nice, but every time you go for your other self someone jumps in the way.  “Stop meddling!” you scream, frustrated, but then they attack you again.  The girl in red is getting frustrated, but she’s stopped making everything go on fire in favor of something that looks like…well, it’s healing them.

            That’s really frustrating.  You manage to make their attacks and heals do less, just as shallow as their hearts, and they begin to actually look worried, not like they’ve done this a thousand times.

            He calls another, a woman in a cloak, to heal, too, which is annoying, too, but there’s only so much you can do, even when you can lessen their connection to their power.

            And then, for his next move, he calls someone new and looks shocked.  It’s a tall one in a mask and a trenchcoat and a long sword.  The others look shocked, too.

            “S-senpai, Izanagi is…isn’t he too weak?  Why is he…?”

            And then you hear a voice.  You don’t want to hurt him, do you?  If anyone matters, he does.  He doesn’t want to hurt you.  He doesn’t want you separated like this, hurting yourself like this.

            Izanagi is right, and you’re tired, and you let down your guard.  The darkness is screaming at you to get up, keep fighting, to control them all like puppets and watch the show, to tear them all down until all that’s left is despair, but Izanagi is right.  You never wanted any of this.  And the last electrocution tears through you, and you scream and convulse, but it’s almost like it’s cleansing, burning the darkness out of you.