P3. Senpai-centric. Mind-warping. Gore.

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You've had nightmares like this.

Mitsuru pressed the button of her now-redundant communicator and called, once again for Yamagishi.

"Yamagishi, this is Mitsuru. Please respond."

A flurry of static responded, and Mitsuru lifted her finger from the button. Naturally, she knew she wouldn't be able to contact Yamagishi this high up into Tartarus, but the attempt in and of itself was the only thing keeping Mitsuru from walking a path of panic. She looked around and scanned the floor for shadows and found nothing. Part of her was relieved that she wasn't in any imminent danger, while part of her constricted. Floors empty of shadows were notorious stomping grounds for the Reaper.

Mitsuru bent the blade of her foil on the ground as she smoothed out a portion of crimson hair and tucked it neatly behind her shoulder. The most important thing, her fencing instructor had taught her, was to remain in control of the situation. Either by facilitating or disrupting a bout through tempo changes or manipulating distance, methodical speed, precision, and awareness were essential for victory. She was grateful for the years of instruction, because she could apply the same tactics here in Tartarus.

Suffice to say, she was not concerned about her own well-being. . . yet.

She peered down a darkened hallway coated with a stark neon blue color. Mitsuru looked down and noticed that below her feet, black stones comprised the floor which wound into several directions. As she contemplated this new and strange floor-plan, Mitsuru felt the first few tentacles of panic begin to tickle her nerves. Floor 202, she told herself. The last location she had seen the others.

While winding their way back to a transporter, she had noted a myriad of cracks lining the inner-walls. Previously, the only imperfections in Tartarus' architecture had been limited to the metaphysical appearances of running blood, mismatched coloring schemes, and shifting floor layouts. This had been the first time Mitsuru had noticed a realistic flaw in Tartarus' structural integrity, and for good reason, it unnerved her.

Mitsuru shook her head firmly and pressed the call button again.

"Yamagishi, this is Mitsuru. Please respond." She was careful as always to keep the rumbling desperation sealed in her mind, and refused to let it surface in her transmission. Even though Mitsuru knew Fuuka wouldn't respond, the sound of her own voice was all she had to control right now.

Once again met with empty crackling, Mitsuru switched her communicator off and tapped her shoes against the cold stone ground. She was hoping for some sort of hint about her current whereabouts to lead her to a suitable course of action, but predictably, no such clue had dropped from thin air. She could work her way through this new setting and search the neighboring floors, but it would prove disastrous should her teammates come looking for her. The safest decision would be to stay put. Distantly, Mitsuru heard the tinkling of chains and suddenly felt the gaping void where Fuuka's guiding voice had recently been.

You've had nightmares like this.

Mitsuru swallowed as she rounded a corner and found a neat, neon-blue staircase winding up into the darkness.

Yes.

What are you going to do?

I have to find the others. They may be hurt.

I am blind beside Lucia. I can offer you nothing.

I wasn't intending to ask. I will search for them on foot.

Do you remember how the nightmare ends?

Mitsuru's step hitched as she worked her way up the stairs.

Immediately following Mitsuru's first visit to Tartarus and the first summoning of Penthesilea, she henceforth had recurring dreams of walking Tartarus' bloody floors dressed in the yukata she wore to her mother's funeral as a child of barely six years of age. The dreams varied in style, sometimes the floors were different colors and even the shadows varied in nature. Sometimes they were friendly and played hide and seek with her, while sometimes-

It doesn't end - you must awaken in order for the nightmare to die.

Every dream was essentially the same due to one overriding characteristic- Mitsuru was trapped in Tartarus; alone and with no way out.

Aigis threw open the doors, the sound of her legs thumping lightly on the ground as she pulled Fuuka urgently by the hand. Yukari and Junpei shortly followed as they fumbled and tripped over each other, bickering all the while. Minato brought up the rear with Ken and Koromaru, and behind them the doors snapped shut. Koromaru barked urgently, and Aigis responded by merely shaking her head. They soon found themselves outside the gate of Gekkoukan High which was currently in its trasmutated state of Tartarus.

"The Dark Hour is ending," Aigis answered with a slight inflection in her voice.

As if to punctuate the statement, the sudden moaning and bending of concrete and steel was pitched forward into the night. Struck with horror, the remaining S.E.E.S. members watched Tartarus expand and shudder before it pulled in on itself and returned the normal state.

"What the hell?" Junpei finally sputtered. "Where's our senpai? Minato gets back and the next thing I know I'm being pushed out the damn doors!"

"We couldn't stay another second." Ken reminded him. "It's amazing we got out in time."

A brooding silence blanketed the group, and the only sounds that emanated from the team were the sounds of heavy breathing.

"When I stepped into the portal," Minato replayed softly, his eyes fastened to the now inconspicuous school that loomed quietly over skyline of Port Island. "they were right behind me, and as I stepped in. . ." His brow furrowed.

Fuuka's skin chafed as she wrung her hands together.

"I looked behind me and it was like someone cut them out of the scene. They were being pulled one direction and I was being pulled another. There was a loud crash, like part of the building was falling over and then I came back to the entrance alone."

"Shit." Junpei murmured, stunned.

Minato swallowed and then shook his head.

"We'll come back tomorrow."

All eyes turned fearfully to Minato.

"Don't worry." Minato finally said mustering up the strength to form a reassuring smile. "If I had to choose anyone to put through this, it would be them."

"Yeah. . ." Ken finished, feeling Minato's confidence spread. "Besides. . . it's just an hour for them, right?"

Silently, Fuuka disagreed as she reflected back on her time locked in Tartarus. It was an hour, yes, but not just an hour.