Chapter 6

Ruby thought Weiss was acting a bit strangely. When they had first met, she was irritable and standoffish, but over time she had become more friendly and open with her team. She still at times used anger to cover her emotions when she felt they were inconvenient or unbefitting, but it was an increasingly rare thing. Now she seemed to be all anger and aggression. Ruby knew Weiss's childhood had not been the best, but perhaps it was worse than she had imagined. That would certainly explain her behavior when faced with the past. The 'why' did not matter so much though; Ruby was just worried about her friend.

"The shadows are avoiding us again." Rise said. The mansion was labyrinthine, and they had been forced to double back several times after running into dead ends. Still, they had encountered no shadows.

"You can bet they'll all show up when we have a tough fight though." Yosuke said wearily. He sighed. "Just when we need to be focused."

"We'll just have to deal with it." Weiss said angrily. "We're going to clear out this place, take care of the others, and then I'm going to give whoever is responsible for this the beat-down of a lifetime." She stomped along at the head of the group as they approached a large, ornate door.

"There are some strong shadows just ahead." Rise said. "I can't tell how many but they're waiting on the other side of that door."

"It's about time!" Weiss shouted. She burst through the door. In contrast to the tight hallways they had been walking through, this appeared to be a large ballroom. The door slammed shut behind her before the others could pass through. "What now?" She asked with annoyance, walking back to the door. "Hurry up already."

"The door's locked." Ruby reported. "It won't budge."

"Let me try." Kanji stepped up to the door and gave it a shove. Nothing. He backed up and slammed his shoulder into it. The only thing he got was a bruised shoulder; the door did not move an inch. Yang pushed him aside and gave the door a punch and shotgun blast from Ember Celica. It did not even scratch the woodwork.

"Can you open it from in there?" Naoto asked. "There may be a switch or something on your side."

Weiss examined the door. It looked like a normal, albeit fancy, wooden door. There was not even a lock on it. There were no switches or anything around the door either. "There's nothing here." Weiss said, exasperated. She pounded the door with the Myrtenaster's hilt. "I guess you'll have to find another way around."

"Weiss, there are shadows closing on your position!" Rise warned. "They're pretty strong."

"Wonderful." Weiss sighed as she turned to face the approaching shadows. There were five of them just across the room. They were humanoid in shape, but had dogs' heads and were ten feet tall. They carried delicate-looking but very sharp rapiers and wore the uniform of the White Fang. It made perfect sense. This place preyed upon a person's insecurities and fears, and as a Schnee, Weiss had quite a lot to fear from the White Fang. She had been raised to believe they were totally inhuman animals, so the fact that their shadows took a more animalistic form was hardly surprising. Weiss had worked hard to overcome the prejudice, but it was still a part of her.

"Don't just stand there." Ruby commanded. "We've got to try to break through this door." She, Yang and Blake attacked the door with everything in their arsenal. Ruby stopped and turned around and addressed the Investigation Team. "You guys should look for another way around in case we can't get through." They did not leave. "We'll be fine, go!"

Yu motioned for the others to go with him. "I'll stay behind to provide support for Weiss." Rise said. Yu nodded in agreement. The rest of the Investigation Team sprinted off in search of another path.

Weiss cycled Myrtenaster's chamber until it settled on fire dust. With a swipe of her sword, she launched a line of flame at the oncoming shadows. The flames engulfed one of the shadows, but it kept coming towards her. Cycling Myrtenaster again, she used her glyphs to slide forward, blade first, into the burned shadow. The high-speed sword thrust glanced off the shadow's chest and Weiss rolled to the side to avoid its counter attack. A second shadow ran up behind her and raised its rapier to deliver a blow. Simultaneously, the burned shadow began taking a second swipe. Weiss encased the second shadow in ice and dove between its legs. The burned shadow's attack landed on its frozen comrade, shattering the ice and knocking the shadow onto its back. Weiss raised Myrtenaster above her head, and grabbing it with two hands, plunged it into the downed shadow's throat. Weiss withdrew her sword and took a step back. The four standing shadows maneuvered to surround her while she carefully moved to prevent this. Then, to her surprise, the shadow she had stabbed in the neck stood back up, apparently having taken little damage from the normally fatal strike.

"Weiss, the shadows aren't immune to any type of attack, but they don't have any weaknesses either." Rise reported. Strangely, the voice came from inside Weiss's head.

"What am I supposed to do then?" She asked.

"You've just got to keep hitting them." Rise replied. "They're strong, but they'll go down if you do enough damage."

"We've got to get in there to help her." Ruby said. She, Yang and Blake were having no success in breaking through the door with their weapons. "Well, here goes." Ruby concentrated on the memory of her mother. She became engulfed in a brilliant blue glow as a tarot card appeared in front of her. She crushed the card in her hand. "Summer Rose!" Her Persona, the figure of her mother, appeared before her. With a wave of its hand, her Persona blasted the door with wind. The overpressure from the attack pushed Ruby and the others back. It had done nothing. They did not give up. They would keep pounding on the door until it opened or the others found an alternate route.

"Where's the weak one…" Weiss whispered to herself. As the shadows closed in, one of them walked with a limp, the one she had frozen and stabbed. "Let's thin them out." She leapt into the air and over the shadow's head, landing just behind it. She stabbed it in the back with all her might. It growled in pain and swung its sword around. Weiss jumped over the attack and used a glyph to launcher into the shadow. Myrtenaster pierced the shadow's chest and the shadow onto its back. Without withdrawing the sword, Weiss sliced up the shadow from the inside out. Finally, the shadow dissolved and disappeared. One down, five to go. The other shadows seemed alarmed by the demise of their fellow, but not at all deterred. While Weiss had been finishing off the first shadow, the others had managed to surround her. "Am I going to have backup sometime today?" Weiss called to the others.

"We're trying." Rise reported. "The door won't budge and the others haven't found an alternate route yet; they keep running into dead ends. Just keep fighting!" She encouraged. "You can do this!"

Weiss struggled to keep her eye on all the shadows, but this was difficult given that they had her surrounded. She had to change the tactical situation. It was unconventional, but used properly, dust could provide a distraction. Weiss threw up a handful of dust and ignited it. Rather than explode, it glowed blindingly bright. The shadows charged, enraged by the painful light, but only succeeded in slamming into each other. Weiss had artfully dived out of the way. "It worked once, it will work again." Weiss said. She tossed a vial of dust at the group of shadows and then hit it with a blast of fire from Myrtenaster. The vial produced a fiery explosion that engulfed the shadows.

It was not enough. The shadows were injured, but still a threat. Only the shadow she had previously burned and slashed was destroyed. Two down, three to go. One of the remaining shadows charged at her in a frenzy. Weiss leapt into the air, preparing for another airborne attack, but one of the other shadows caught her with its sword. It sent Weiss flying across the room and into a wall. She bounced off the wall and landed hard on her back.

A shadow approached, planning to deliver a fatal blow to the downed Huntress. It raised its rapier over its head and brought it down with tremendous force. Weiss rolled partly out of the way. The sword pierced her combat skirt and pinned it to the floor. Weiss spun around, still stuck on the rapier and took out the shadows legs. It dropped its sword and crashed to the ground with a thud right next to her. Weiss ripped her skirt away from the sword and delivered a series of powerful blows to finish off the downed shadow. Three down, two to go.

Weiss felt she had the upper hand now. She was hurting rather badly, but the shadows had been weakened as well, and now she faced only two. She circled and the shadows followed suit. Weiss no longer had to worry about being surrounded, and she was sure she could take on both at the same time. Weiss stopped in the middle of the room and the shadows approached her from opposite sides. They charged and she jumped out of the way. The shadows would not fall for that trick again. They stopped short of hitting each other and turned to face Weiss. She now had them in a line in front of her. With a jump and a boost from her glyphs, she charged the shadows, sword first. Myrtenaster pierced both shadows, and the momentum of the attack carried the trio into the wall where the sword pinned the shadows in place.

Weiss was taken by surprise when the shadow nearest her grabbed her with its free hand and threw her across the room. She had lost her grip on Myrtenaster, which remained firmly planted in the shadows and the wall. The shadow then grabbed Myrtenaster and pulled it out of its torso before tossing it aside. The shadow closest to the wall dropped to the ground before stumbling back to its feet. Weiss had landed in a less-than-ideal position and was in more pain than ever. Injured and without her weapon, she was vulnerable. Weiss needed to retrieve Myrtenaster, but the shadows were now between her and the sword.

Weiss charged at the nearest shadow. As it swung stabbed at her, she dove and rolled through its legs. The second shadow took a swipe, but Weiss bent over backwards to avoid the strike. The first shadow turned and tried to stab her from above, but she spun out of the way, causing the two shadows' swords to clash with one another, stunning the shadows. She ran slid, grabbing Myrtenaster as she slid past it. With a swipe of her sword, Weiss launched a line of flame at one of the shadows. It was engulfed in fire and dissolved. Four down, one to go. Weiss cycled Myrtenaster and encased the final shadow in ice. She walked up to it confidently and shattered it with a powerful kick.

As soon as the fifth shadow was defeated, the door swung open of its own accord, much to the surprise of the still attacking Ruby, Yang and Blake. "It's about time you all showed up." Weiss said, breathing heavily and bleeding from her nose and the side of her mouth. Her skirt was torn and stained with blood. "You have no idea what I just had to deal with." She was right. The shadows were dead and gone before they had arrived.

"Oh my, Weiss!" Ruby yelled, rushing to her side. "Are you alright?"

"I just fought five giant members of the White Fang." Weiss said. "They were persistent, but I think they learned their lesson." She stumbled over to a wall and sat down to catch her breath. Blake stood back uncomfortably while Ruby and Yang tended to Weiss.

"The White Fang?" Rise had never heard of them.

"That's the group that targeted her family." Blake said. She was not about to say anything more. She hoped the topic would not come up again.

"That makes sense I guess." Rise said. "I'll call the others back here while you all rest. You must be exhausted."

"Using a Persona is a lot harder than I expected." Ruby admitted. "It's almost as tiring as fighting myself. You guys must be in great shape." She sat down next to Weiss. "I'm so happy you're okay."

"Of course I'm okay you dolt." Weiss shot back. There was the anger to hide her emotions. "I'm a Schnee! A few shadows aren't going to stop me."

"It's a good thing you're a Schnee; you'll be able to afford a new dress." Yang said, pointing out the damage state of Weiss's attire.

"It's a combat skirt." Weiss said defiantly. She gave Ruby a high-five. Yang rolled her eyes.

The others arrived. With all the dead ends, they had not gotten very far away in their search for an alternate route. "Weiss, are you injured?!" Yukiko asked with alarm.

"I'll be fine." Weiss said defiantly. "It's just a scratch." It was not. "I'm more worried about my combat skirt." She was not. Yukiko went ahead and healed her anyway. Weiss could not quite describe the feeling, but it was warm, perhaps loving.

"Your skirt's ripped?" Kanji asked.

"It is." Weiss replied, not sure where he was going with the line of questioning. "So?"

"It's all bloody too." Teddie added. "You should take it off."

Yosuke punched Teddie in the back of the head. "Shut up you stupid bear." He sighed. "You shouldn't act all perverted with our new friends. Jeez." Luckily, Weiss had already mastered the art of ignoring Teddie.

"I'll fix it." Kanji said. He reached into his pocket and retrieved a sowing kit. He knelt next to Weiss.

"A sowing kit?" Weiss was perplexed. "You?"

"I like sowing." Kanji said. "So what?" He started to stitch the tear in Weiss's skirt.

"You just don't seem like the type." Weiss explained.

"I get that a lot." Kanji said with annoyance. He kept working. "There, that should hold until we can fix it properly."

"Thank you." Weiss said. She ran her ringers over the repair. Kanji had actually done quite a good job. She was not sure she could do any better, even in perfect circumstances. "This is really good." She admitted.

"It'd better be." Kanji laughed. "I've got enough practice. And if you ever want me to knit you a stuffed animal or something, just let me know. Just be warned, it'll be super cute, like give you diabetes just from looking at it cute." He looked proud of himself. Weiss just looked at him, not really sure how to react to that. Kanji looked like the kind of guy who would rob you in a dark alley or beat you up for looking at him funny, not someone who would spend his time knitting.

"You really need to be more careful." Yu advised Weiss.

"You shouldn't go running ahead like that." Chie said. "I did the same thing when I first entered the TV world. It was stupid of me and I was just lucky that Yu and Yosuke were there to save me."

"I know it's hard, facing your past, facing yourself." Naoto said. "Putting yourself in danger needlessly won't make it any easier." Weiss nodded. She was not going to apologize, that was not her personality, but she did feel bad about making them all worry. She also felt like an idiot for being so rash. It was not a mistake she would repeat.