November 30th, Takuya returned home that evening to see the lounge area populated with the usual suspects. Akihiko, Junpei, Fuuka, Yukari, and Miyuki were all sitting around the lounge area of the dorm building, even Koromaru was there sitting in Fuuka's lap, but what caught the blue-haired teen off guard was that both Ryoji and Ryoko were there as well.
"See ya later, you two." Junpei said with a chipper tone in his voice, Takuya had to admit he was glad to see the scruffy teen back to his usual happy attitude after the other day, Ryoji stood up from his seat with his sister following closely behind. "Now stop freaking out about exams, Ryoji. I don't study either."
"Don't worry about him, he's got Miyuki-chan helping him now." Ryoko teased, she then turned as she finally noticed Takuya had entered the building "Hello there, handsome." she greeted him "Here to study too? Too bad I was just about to leave, maybe next time."
"You know, sis...it's weird that we're here quite a lot but almost never run into Takuya-kun." Ryoji chimed in. "Perhaps he's avoiding you, sister?" he added with a chuckle, Ryoko growled in response and hit her brother with a quick elbow strike.
"Takuya wouldn't do that, he's just busy." Miyuki replied with a playful giggle. "How's your friend doing by the way?"
"Kamiki's doing as good as he normally is." Takuya answered as he slumped his bag next to one of the couches "I picked you up a soda by the way." he added before tossing the colorful metal can to his sister who caught it without missing a beat, she looked over the can before placing it on the table so it could relax a little before she opened it.
"Anyway, we should get going." Ryoji said "See you all later."
"Hope to see you again real soon, Tiger." Ryoko added with a purr before she and her brother left, Takuya let out an exhausted groan once the two were gone.
"Wow, Takuya-kun. What did you do to get on her good side?" Fuuka asked.
"I have no clue and honestly I'm afraid to ask." he answered as he sat himself down on the couch next to Yukari. "That girl needs to chill." he added with a groan, as he said that Aigis came downstairs. "What girl?" she asked as she approached the others.
"Ryoko-chan." Fuuka answered, the blonde robot's face shifted to a look of stern aggression. "That girl is dangerous." she informed her human friends.
"Don't I know it..." Takuya complained. "Girl is obsessed with me or something."
"Dude, a lot of the weird girls are like drawn to you." Junpei said.
"You calling Mitsuru weird or something?" Takuya questioned.
"Of course not, dude." Junpei replied "She's scary but she ain't weird, well not in the same way Aigis or Ryoko are anyway."
"If being flirty makes her dangerous, then her brother's just as dangerous since he hit on Mitsuru-senpai the first time he spoke to her." Yukari added.
"He did what now?" Takuya questioned "That sly son of a bitch." he muttered.
"Seriously?" Akihiko asked astonished "Didn't know he was like that."
"That being said, the two seem nice enough." Fuuka chimed in "Plus Ryoji's been doing wonders for Junpei-kun's mood."
"Well...It's not like moping around will bring her back anyway, I gotta get back on the horse and keep on moving." Junpei replied "I gotta just keep living."
"I envy you, Junpei." Aigis said, everyone turned to look at her in response "I am a machine so I do not know what it is like to live."
"Don't talk about yourself like that, Ai-chan!" Miyuki exclaimed as she stood up from her seat and slammed her hand against the surface of the table in front of her.
"I am sorry, Miyuki but...it is more correct to say I am functioning than to say I am living." Aigis replied sheepishly "There are times when I malfunction but I can always be repaired..."
"Shit!" Junpei exclaimed as he suddenly remembered something "I should go study, Ryoji said math is gonna be killer on the exam."
"You wait until now to tell us?" Yukari asked annoyed "Guess we should call it a night then, shouldn't we?"
"Don't worry, Yukari-chan." Miyuki piped up "I'll help you study."
Everyone made their way upstairs except for Aigis, Takuya lagged behind a little but was stopped completely when Aigis said "I should not possess the gift of life."
"Hey, Miyu told you not to talk like that." Takuya replied catching the blonde's attention.
"Despite this, I do believe I understand the concept of loss..." Aigis replied ignoring his words "...Say you were to ever be harmed I would..."
"I said knock it off." Takuya spoke up before walking over to Aigis and placing a hand on her shoulder "I'm not going anywhere, so quit moping, it's like Junpei said...moping around won't change anything, so get on the horse and keep moving."
"I...do not know why but I need to be by your side." Aigis said "You are...very special to me..." she looked up at him, their eyes meeting "I want to protect you..."
"I'm already a shield, but I guess it doesn't hurt for a shield to have a shield of it's own." Takuya said with a smirk and a light chuckle. "I'm going to bed, Aigis." he gave her a pat on the head and began to walk off "Sleep well, okay!" he called as he went up the stairs leaving Aigis alone in the lounge area.
"Ryoji Mochizuki and Ryoko Mochizuki are dangerous." Aigis said to herself "Why do I believe this....What is this unease I feel?" she glanced at her metallic hand "I am a machine...I cannot die so why would they grieve my loss." she clenched her hand into a fist "I must do something, I do not want them to suffer anymore."
December 2nd, midnight struck once again, on Moonlight Bridge stood Ryoji and Ryoko who both looked up towards the green-tinted night sky of this hour.
"I have been looking for you two." Aigis said as she approached them from behind.
"You?" Ryoji said as he and his sister turned around the face the blonde robot. "You're..."
"You really don't like us, do you?" Ryoko interrupted with a smile.
"It's strange...." Ryoji began "...The sky and the ground look so weird, and..."
"...There's nobody here." Ryoko continued her brother's sentence "Something terrible has happened here and yet..."
"We feel at peace" both Mochizuki siblings said in unison, Aigis glared at both of them with an icy stare "Have you forgotten?"
"Forgotten what?" Ryoji asked.
"The Dark Hour, this time period where few are active, you two have adapted to it far too well for normal humans." Aigis replied, both siblings looked at her in awe "I understand now, I now understand this feeling I've had about both of you since I first laid eyes upon you two, you both..." she stopped as she pulled up her arms and readied the weapons in her fingers "...are my enemy."
"Now that you mention it..." Ryoko said as she began to recall something "...on a night like tonight..." "...when the moon was full." Ryoji finished her sentence as he too began to remember. "...that was quite a while ago, wasn't it?"
"We have met before." Aigis said plainly.
"Who....Who am I?" Ryoji questioned "....Who are we?"
"The better question is who she is." Ryoko added.
"I am Aigis." Aigis answered "I am the last remaining Anti-Shadow Emergency Control Weapon."
"Created to...." Ryoji began. "...Destroy Shadows?" Ryoko finished.
"And you, both of you." Aigis replied "Your true name is Death."
"Death?" Ryoko asked.
"Yes, the Shadow I split and sealed away ten years ago." Aigis explained "It is all so clear to me now." with those words spoken the blonde robot leapt into the air, she was no longer holding back and was about to strike down the two siblings.
"Yes....I remember now." Ryoko spoke "...Ten years ago, the night we were born into this world..."
"We...We set foot on this very bridge..." Ryoji said as Aigis drew closer to them both "She said we were Death, the thirteenth arcana who was never meant to exist." after he said that Aigis landed and began to fire rapidly at both of them, they both evaded every shot as they continued to have their memories come back to them both.
"We were incomplete! Parts of our body split away from us, and we were incomplete that night we met you!" Ryoko spoke out.
"Yes, but even still you were stronger than I expected." Aigis replied "The only option was to seal you away, and the circumstance graced me with the perfect vessels."
"You..." Ryoji stuttered out "I remember what you did."
"You split us into two different beings and sealed us away into those kids, those two children who were there on that bridge that night!" Ryoko exclaimed. "We were concealed within those two, and led them to our twelve missing pieces..."
"I remember everything now!" Both Mochizuki twins shouted at the same time, Aigis stopped her attack and stood across from them both. "I remember who I am." Ryoko said by herself. "and what I am..." Ryoji added.
"Palladion!" Aigis shouted as her Persona came to her side.
"Stop this, Aigis." Ryoko said calmly "Don't be a fool."
"There's no way you can win!" Ryoji exclaimed "I'm different than before!"
"My purpose is to defeat you! I am a machine with that purpose, I exist for nothing else!" Aigis shouted out as Palladion charged an attack aimed for the twins, some force began to surround the two and the blonde felt her body begin to give out as Palladion disappeared from behind her.
"I-I-I have failed." Aigis whimpered out as her systems began to malfunction "A-A-A mac-machine i-i-i-is useless if it can-can-cannot perform it's purpose." her sight began to blur as her mental hud began to flash several warnings. "I am...sorry." she added as her eyes went blank and she fell to the ground "I'm...I'm afraid..." she stuttered out.
When Aigis's senses returned to her, she was surrounded by her friends. "I...I am sorry." she started to apologize "I remember everything....Who I am and who they are..."
Miyuki got down to her knees so she was on eye level with her blonde friend, she took her friend's hand as she continued speaking "I am sorry...that I failed..."
"There is no need for you to apologize." A voice that resembled Takuya's said, only one person they knew sounded that close to him, they all turned to see Ryoji walking over to them with Ryoko by his side.
"Ryoji-kun?" Miyuki questioned as she rose back to her feet. "How?" as she asked this Aigis blew another fuse and shut off, Fuuka and Yukari both got down to check on her.
"Did you do this?!" Akihiko questioned "Tell us what's going on, now!"
"It's all our fault." Ryoko admitted, Akihiko began to walk over to the pair but Mitsuru extended out her hand to stop him.
"Akihiko, stop. Neither of them are showing any signs of aggression." Mitsuru spoke "...Tell us, what are you."
"I am the same as the Shadows." Ryoko began, this answered shocked everyone.
"Wait, Ryoko-chan...you're a Shadow?!" Junpei said in disbelief
"As am I." Ryoji chimed in "To be fair, we are two halves of the same being...a being that is the embodiment of all Shadows...."
"The Appriser." Ryoko continued where her brother stopped "...Born from the union of all twelve arcana."
"Appriser?" Ken questioned.
"We remember everything now...." Ryoji replied. "The frightening truth about myself..."
"...and all Shadows." Ryoko finished her brother's sentence once again, her voice shaky "...It's...all so hard to believe...I'm not even my own person...just one half of a whole..." she fell to her knees in response, as if weighed down by all of this new information.
"You...You know the truth about Shadows?" Mitsuru asked.
"Yes." Ryoji answered "Shadows exist to facilitate the rebirth of the maternal being."
"She'll...." Ryoko chimed in "...She'll begin to awaken...she's drawn to me..."
"To us." Ryoji added. "The Appriser..."
"Now I get it...." Ryoko said "....she split us into two in hopes of keeping her away."
"You're this Appriser, right?" Takuya questioned. "Both of you?"
"What's the maternal being?" Miyuki asked.
"She is..." Ryoji started "...She is a great entity..."
"There is no word in your language that could proper describe her." Ryoko finished.
"....We were, no, Death was born in a lab ten years ago..." Ryoji explained, everyone easily connected the dots and realized this went back to the Kirijo Group's experiments "...The unification was interrupted, and I awoke incomplete..." Ryoji continued "...not long after, I fell to Aigis as she did to me..."
"Aigis?" Yukari said in shock.
"That's all true?" Junpei questioned equally as shocked.
"She knew she couldn't defeat me." Ryoko said "...So in an act of desperation, she split my being in two and sealed us away within two children..." everyone turned to look at Takuya and Miyuki as they all connected the dots, both siblings were standing there absolutely unable to fully comprend the new information being given to them.
"Those children happened to be nearby ten years ago on that day, and ten years after that day they'd find themselves back here..." Ryoji explained "...as if by a twist of fate."
"Wait, so you two lived inside...them?!" Yukari said outloud what everyone was thinking.
"Yes..." Ryoko answered "I inside her, and my brother inside him."
"The night they awoke their powers, all twelve Shadows began to try and become one with us..." Ryoji explained.
"None of this makes any damn sense!" Junpei blurted out.
"It's all my fault..." Ryoko said "...all our fault..."
"Wait a minute...." Takuya said as gears began to turn in his head "You...Ryoji....You were Pharos?" Ryoji gave his blue-haired friend a smile "You could say that..."
"Then that means....Ryoko was Alexandria, wasn't she?" Miyuki added on, Ryoko nodded, Takuya took his sister's words as indication that she too had a late-night visitor these past few months.
"This makes even less sense." Junpei complained.
"There is....more we need....to say...." Ryoko weakly spoke before she and Ryoji both passed out and fell to the ground, Miyuki and Takuya both ran over to them to make sure they were okay.
"They appear to be exhausted." Mitsuru said "We should let them rest, we need to attend to Aigis."
Everyone returned to the dorm with the exhausted Mochizuki siblings and damaged Aigis in tow, the entire walk back both Takuya and Miyuki were silent as they took in the shocking news they had received, Ryoji and Ryoko had lived inside of them for ten years waiting to make contact with the twelve Shadows. Their late night friends, Pharos and Alexandria respectively, were really Ryoji and Ryoko. So many questions were unanswered and both of them felt this need to know more but their only sources for answers were unconscious.
December 3rd, during the school day Mitsuru had informed everyone that Ryoji and Ryoko were awake and to meet on the fourth floor of the dorm building in the usual meeting place. Once the school day was over, everyone except Aigis made their way to the meeting room ready for answers. When everyone was present and seated, they all sat around as Ryoji and Ryoko sat in the chair that Ikutsuki use to sit in. Ryoji sat in the actual seat part but his sister sat on one of the arms of that chair.
"Are you both okay?" Fuuka asked breaking the silence.
"We're okay...." Ryoji answered breathlessly "...Thanks."
"There's more we need to tell you guys." Ryoko chimed in.
"More you have to tell us?" Yukari asked.
"Makes sense, still a lot we don't know anything about." Akihiko spoke up.
"To begin with, you both said that Shadows were here to facilitate the rebirth of the maternal being..." Mitsuru said "...Could one of you elaborate one that?"
"Nyx." Ryoko replied "The maternal being is called Nyx."
"Nyx?" Miyuki asked "Who exactly is she?"
"Nyx is the mother of Shadows." Ryoko answered "In ancient times, it was her who brought "death" onto this world."
"If Nyx is awakened, it'll cover this world in darkness and all life on it will vanish." Ryoji spoke up, everyone's blood ran cold upon hearing this.
"You mean, everyone will die?!" Akihiko exclaimed.
"All life....will vanish?" Mitsuru said nervously "That must mean..."
Everyone came to the same conclusion, every single human being would become like those with Apathy Syndrome, they would become like The Lost and the human race would go extinct as a result of that.
"The Fall...." Takuya said breaking the cold silence, Yukari looked around the room nervously. "B-But it's still possible to stop this, right?" she asked "Right?!" she looked towards the Mochizuki twins who both had grim looks on their faces.
"There's no way to prevent it?!" Yukari shouted "That can't be true!"
"...I'm sorry..." Ryoji said with a crack in his voice, this reply told everyone that this terrible fate was for certain and there wasn't a way to stop it.
"My existence...." Ryoji began but stopped when his sister placed her hand on his shoulder. "Our existence, is affirmation for The Fall." Ryoko explained.
It seemed like this fate was inevitable, the entire human race will become like The Lost and there was nothing any of them could seemingly do about it, no one knew what to say as there was nothing to say.
"Can you tell us when?" Takuya piped up "....When will it happen?" in response both Ryoji and Ryoko looked towards one another with uncomfortable glances, both knowing the answer but neither wanting to tell it.
"I...I'm afraid you will not live to see Spring." Ryoji answered, Junpei rose to his feet as everyone looked around the room at one another in panic.
"That's not too far away!" Junpei exclaimed in a panic "W-What if we just defeat Nyx?! If we do that, we can stop it...right?"
"Defeating Nyx....is impossible..." Ryoko replied. "It has nothing to do with power or ability, Nyx bringing about The Fall is the same as all living things dying...the flow of time is continuous..."
"You can't just plug your ears and cover your eyes..." Ryoji said "Nyx...cannot be defeat."
"Bullshit!" Junpei screamed as he grabbed his hat and threw it to the ground upset.
"This....is all so sudden." Ken muttered in disbelief.
No one in the room could hide their fear, it's was readible on their faces and Takuya saw how every single person in this room was afraid of this fate they apparently had no control over.
"We were born from a collection of Shadows..." Ryoko said "...but we have human bodies now...we can laugh, we can cry, we can talk...all thanks to being in them."
"We were talking to one another before you all got here." Ryoji spoke "...and we feel it's only right to give you all a choice."
"A choice?" Yukari nervously asked.
"Nyx's arrival is not something we can avoid." Ryoko said "But you can live in peace before she arrives."
"How so?" Takuya asked.
"You need to kill us." Ryoji answered hesitantly, once again his words shocked them all.
"The hell?!" Junpei exclaimed.
"If we disappear all memories of the Dark Hour disappear with us...." Ryoko explained "...as would your memories of this information, you would all be completely unaware of Nyx's coming."
"We'll forget everything?" Mitsuru asked sounding almost heartbroken.
"We're the same as Nyx...we can't truly be killed, but thanks to them we both have parts that are...human." Ryoji said "...So if they kill us, it may be possible."
"You must kill us, if you don't you will suffer more than anyone could possibly imagine." Ryoko explained "Living every single day paralyzed by the fear of your impending deaths."
"Ryoko-chan...." Fuuka said weakly.
"Please...." Ryoji whimpered "...Neither of us want you to feel that pain...."
"I don't want my memories to be erased!" Miyuki exclaimed as she stood up.
"Miyuki's right." Yukari joined "To forget everything would be like running from the truth!"
"But would that be such a bad thing?" Ryoko inquired. "All that awaits now is despair."
"None of you know the terror of absolute death!" Ryoji exclaimed "Please..." he lowered his voice "...Don't make a choice without thinking first..."
"This isn't fair!" Ken screamed, he was gonna say more but lost his will so now the room was once again encased in silence.
"You don't have to decide now..." Ryoko said as she stood up.
"You all have until New Year's Eve to decide..." Ryoji added as he followed his sister's lead and got up from his seat.
"Why then?" Takuya asked.
"Because after that day..." Ryoji replied "...We'll dissolve into the darkness of the Dark Hour and become intangible."
"Ryoji?" Junpei questioned "Come on, man...."
"We will disappear with the coming of Nyx anyway...." Ryoko spoke up "So...quit worrying about us."
"We should leave....." Ryoji chimed in awkwardly "....We'll return on New Year's Eve...." he wanted to say goodbye but could tell everyone was wrapped up in their own thoughts and fears so he just left with his sister without another word.
Even once they were gone, no one said a word as no one even knew what to say or where to start, they had a difficult decision in front of them and an even more difficult fate that they had to accept as reality.
Death is inevitable and it's Appriser is waiting for them all to make a choice, no one could think clearly with such a choice before them. How does someone choose how they will die? That kind of heavy decision is not one anyone wants to have to make.
One thing was for certain, none of them could avoid Death.