A New Ally
“Why can’t we just go and beat the crap out of them?” Ron asked.
Hedwig sighed, “Do you want a repeat of last time that bad? Besides, we’re here to steal his treasure, not to ‘beat the crap out of them.’”
“Where is the treasure anyway?” Harry wondered out loud.
“We need to find it. Come on, let's go, we need to go further.”
The three hurried off, but stopped when they noticed the guard in their way. They quickly hid from the Shadow.
“Should we go beat it’s ass?” Ron asked.
Hedwig shook her head then paused, “This could be a good teaching moment for you two.” She looked at Harry, “Joker, take it down, but don’t kill it.”
He nodded and did just that. Luckily, the fairy was weak to gunfire. Holding the fairy creature at gunpoint, it cried, “Seriously!?...What are you going to do with me?”
Hedwig continued, “Ask it for something. Money or items, that sort of thing.”
The fairy grimaced, “I-I actually don’t have anything on me right now. That’s embarrassing-I usually do, though!”
Hedwig balked, “That-That’s not what I was expecting.” She sighed, “Well, might as well send it back to hell.”
“NO! Please don’t kill me! Please!” Cried the creature and Harry couldn’t help but cave.
“Okay.” Ron and Hedwig looked at him in confusion, but the fairy smiled.
“You’re the type who can’t say no, aren’t you? I’m the same way!” It tilted its head as if something changed, “That’s weird…Something feels off…”
“What’s going on?!” Hedwig exclaimed, “This has never happened before!”
“Oh!” It exclaimed as it rose, “I remember now! I don’t belong to just Crouch. I’m an existence that drifts about in the sea of humanity’s soul! My real name is…Pixie!”
It grinned at Harry, “I am thou, thou art I! I’m Pixie! From now on, I’ll live within your heart!”
It turned into a blue ball of light before flying into his mask. Harry stumbled back, touching his mask. When he felt that it was fine, he looked back to the others.
“What…?” Hedwig began, “What was that?!”
“Shouldn’t you know?” Ron asked.
Hedwig shook her head, “That’s never happened before!”
“Intruders?” The three swerved around to see a guard in the doorway, “Halt!”
The guard melted into a horse with two green horns. As the battle began, Harry felt the urge to say that Shadow’s name from before, “Pixie!”
That seemed to do the trick and it came in a flurry of blue lights. It used its lighting to strike down the creature, ending the battle.
Hedwig blinked, “Was that…the Shadow from earlier? Don’t tell me…You took its power and it became a Persona?!”
Ron was also stunned, “You can have multiple Personas?”
Hedwig shook her head, “Not normally, no.” She grinned at Harry, “I knew you were special!”
As they entered the next room, Ron noticed something, “There’s a treasure chest!”
There was also an enemy in the room, however, and that needed to go first. Sneaking up on it, Harry pulled off its mask, revealing its true form. It took the same shape as the double horned horse from before. Knocking it down, Harry tried to repeat what happened with Pixie.
“Lend me your power.”
“And why should I do that, sonny?” It asked gruffly, “If you’re going to kill me, make it quick, will ya?”
Harry could sense it would not like the responses he gave Pixie, so he tried a different approach, “I won’t make you suffer.”
It let out a laugh, “Says the kid wearing all black and a mask…”
“You’re going to die if you don’t join me. You know that, right?” Harry asked.
Another laugh, “You know, you’re not half-bad kid-Wait, now I remember! I used to live in the sea of the human soul. Call me Bicorn.”
Just like with Pixie, it formed into a blue light and flew straight into Harry’s mask. Hedwig grinned, “Way to go, Joker!”
Unlocking the chest, Harry found a silver dagger. Ron whistled, “That looks good…You should try it out, H-Joker.”
Harry nodded, hooking it on his suit’s belt. Going through the door, they were met with a hallway and another fuzzy door. A safe room.
They headed inside.
Ron let out a sigh of relief before speaking, “Is it just me, or is there more Shadows than before?”
Hedwig nodded, “It’s most likely due to the fact that you provoked Crouch last time.” She took a moment to contemplate, “He is rather on guard, still.”
Ron shook his head, “Anyway, how are we supposed to steal his Treasure?”
She scowled, “Don’t be so hasty! We’ll need to secure an infiltration route, first.” She seemed to notice their confusion as she answered, “We need a secure way to the Treasure if we don’t want to get caught.
She sighed, “Honestly, I’m not sure we have enough manpower…”
“Hey,” Ron piped up, seemingly realizing something, “How can you remember all this stuff, but forget everything else?” He looked to Harry, “How can we be sure it's really got amnesia?”
Harry didn’t know why, but he didn’t have a thread of doubt that Hedwig was telling the truth and he told Ron as such.
Hedwig smiled, “At least one of you two isn’t a moron.”
“I’m not a moron!” Ron seemed flustered, “And how do you know you’re actually human and not some stray cat?”
“I’m not a cat!” Hedwig immediately snapped back, “I can’t be-!”
“Still, why was the princess outside?” A Shadow’s voice came from outside the room.
“Princess?” Ron whispered to Harry, who shrugged and motioned to listen to the conversation.
“And how come she had the readings of an intruder?”
“It doesn’t matter,” Another responded, “We must take her to Crouch.”
Hedwig slipped out of the room, causing Ron to sigh, “Another question left unanswered. He turned to Harry, “Out of all the mysteries we’ve discovered, Hedwig’s gives them a run for their money.”
“You mean Heddie, remember?” Harry corrected, reminding him of the code names.
Ron flushed, “Right, sorry, mate.”
Hedwig returned a few moments later, seemingly in a panic, “This is bad! Really bad!”
The two immediately snapped their attention to the cat. Harry asked, “What is it?”
“Your friend, Miss Pansy- She’s been taken by the Shadows!”
The group’s eyes widened and Ron exclaimed, “How? We sent her home, didn’t we?”
“What if,” Harry began, “She has the App too?”
Hedwig nodded, “It could be…but we have no time to waste we must help her!”
The three followed the sound of her screams and bursted through the door. Parkinson was strapped and hanging on a large X in front of Crouch’s Shadow and his Cognition of her. She was surrounded by guards, all of them with their swords pointed at her.
“Parkinson!” Ron blurted out.
The Shadow groaned, “Just when I was beginning to be entertained…”
“What the hell is going on?!” Parkinson shouted, struggling from her restraints.
Ron growled at Crouch, “You son of a-!”
“When will you give up?” Crouch’s Shadow asked before turning to Pansy, “You’re probably here because you’re also pissed at me, right?” He smirked, “But don’t forget that it’s your fault she jumped.”
Parkinson froze and muttered, “What…?
“If you had just gotten with me, I wouldn’t have needed her to take your place.”
“You son of a whore!” She cried, but gasped as the guards closed in on her.
Harry and the others attempted to help, but Crouch’s Shadow stopped them, “One more step and she’s dead.”
“Shit!” Ron hissed.
“Just relax and enjoy the dismemberment.” Crouch said before smirking again, “Maybe I’ll start with the clothes.”
“No!” Pansy cried.
Ron looked desperate as he cried, “Parkinson!” He turned to the other two, “What are we going to do?”
Harry didn’t know what to do either. All he could think about was how helpless he felt. All he could do was just watch as Parkinson, no, Pansy crumbled.
“Is this my fault? My punishment for not protecting Daphne?” Pansy slumped in her restraints, her ire burning out, “Oh, Daphne. I’m so sorry.” Tears sprouted from her eyes, “Forgive me.”
“I see you’re finally learning your place” Crouch’s shadow laughed. He kept going on and on, but Harry didn’t care. All he cared about in that moment was the girl in front of him, the girl who was losing hope, giving up.
“Don’t let him win!” Harry’s voice seemed to cut through her resignation.
“You’re right…” Pansy whispered, her struggles resuming, “I can’t let myself be played with.” Her struggles grew stronger. The shadow’s rant was finally stopped.
“Shut the hell up.” She bit out through gritted teeth.
“Excuse me?”
“I’ll kill you, you fucking bastard.” Pansy shrieked, glaring at him with her reignited fire.
“My, My, My” A regal voice echoed through her head, before the stabbing continuous pain shot through it,
“I see the time has finally come”, the voice continued as Pansy writhed against her restraint, sweat and pain clear on her face, “You’ve seen the truth, Yes? To let him win is to forsake your beloved. No, you will crush him beneath your boot like the roach he is. At least, the you within longs to. If you forge a contract with me, I can help you show them who the true villain is”
Pansy’s struggles ceased, “Yes…Give me strength.”, as if on cue, a blue flame surrounded her face before extinguishing and leaving behind a deep red mask with fang shapes curving on her cheek.
The voice chuckled, “I knew you’d say that, my dear sweet fledgling. First let’s break the shackles that confine you”
As if on command, Pansy ripped the restraints off, landing on her feet, knees bent.
“I am thou, Thou art I. Let the villainess now become the heroine!”
“No more holding back”, Pansy replied as she tore the mask from her skin, blood dripping down her face and eyes flashing yellow, before the blue flames from before consumed her.
As the fire vanished, Pansy stood in her mask and new attire. She wore a skin-tight suit, the same deep red color. Its top attached itself to a spiked collar, leaving no sleeves. Her high heeled boots ended just before her knee and her gloves ended just before her elbows.
Behind her, her Persona sat up tall. It had a white dress stained with blood and a shadowed face. It sat on a chair of men, pale and lifeless, smiling with fanged and bloodied teeth.
She side-eyed the guard to her right before running and kicking the sword out of its hand and slicing its head off.
She turned her attention to the fake version of herself and threw the sword at its head.
It chopped through its head.
As the fake fizzled out of existence, Pansy grabbed two swords that hung on the wall and spun them in her hand.
She turned to the cowering shadow, swords in hands, “I’m not some cheap doll you can play with, you piece of shit.”
He, smartly, retorted, “Bitch.”
She glared at him, “You stole so much from Daphne. You destroyed her!”, she pointed a sword at him, ”I will take everything from you! I’ll destroy you!”
The shadow backed away further, “Stay back! Guards!”
Guards appeared at his side and stood protectively, “The king has had enough of you!”
“I’m sick of him too.”, Pansy gripped her swords tighter as the guards melted into a larger monster, “I won’t let anything stop me from tearing you to shreds.”
She tilted her head towards the Persona as Harry and Ron got into position beside her, ”It’s time, Carmilla!”
The creature growled angrily, “How dare you deny King Crouch’s affection, you selfish lass? You’ll pay with your life!”
Pansy snorted, “Affection? Don’t make me laugh! He’s just a sick twisted perverted misogynist! Don’t pretend he’s anything more.” She raised her hand, “Carmilla, show no mercy!”
Her Persona summoned flames that surrounded the monster, weakening it. The other three used this opening to slash the Shadow with frenzied attacks. Another fire attack brought the creature to his knees.
“Let’s end this!” Pansy called out and the others nodded. Surrounding him, they finished him off with effective, if a little uncoordinated, attacks.
“How-? How could a servant of King Crouch…lose?”
Ron laughed, “It just means he’s not as tough as he thinks!”
As the Shadow dissolved, Crouch’s Shadow seemed to realize he was out matched, “Shit.” He ran away with his tail between his legs.
Pansy was panting and bent over, but still cried out angrily, “Wait a minute, you-” She was brought to her knees, wincing at her lack of energy.
Ron immediately started his interrogation, “Why did you come back? And, more importantly, how?”
Hedwig bristled, “Is that how you speak to a woman?” She looked at Pansy, “Are you alright, Miss Pansy?”
“‘Miss…Pansy’?” She questioned slowly, before her words became more frantic, “Wait, what are you? How can you talk?! And where the hell are we?!?”
Hedwig tried to soothe her, but Pansy just used her to push herself up. Only then did she realize that her outfit had changed.
“Why am I dressed like this? How-?” She groaned, covering herself and cowering, “What is going on?!”
“We’ll explain everything once we leave here.” Harry told her. Ron and Hedwig nodded fast.
“It’s not safe here.” Hedwig told her, “We’ll lead the way.”
.
.
.
.
.
As the distortion brought them back to the real world, Pansy sighed in relief, “Thank you.”
Ron frowned, “Are you, y’know, okay?”
Pansy huffed out a laugh, “Do I seem okay?”
He rubbed the back of his neck, “Yeah, dumb question.”
“Can you please explain to me what just happened?” Pansy asked with a sort of pleading expression. The other three looked at each other before returning their attention back to her.
Harry spoke first, “It’s a long story.”
As the three finished explaining, Pansy seemed to understand. Ron brought the three of them some drinks.
“What about me?” Hedwig complained.
Ron frowned, “You’re a cat.”
Pansy couldn’t contain her giggles, “I can’t believe Weasley’s arguing with a cat.” She calmed down, “Well, what’s the plan?”
Ron and Harry shared a look. Ron spoke up, “What do you mean?”
She raised an eyebrow, “How are we going to take down Crouch?”
Ron gaped, “You…want to help?”
Pansy rolled her eyes, “Obviously. You didn’t think I’d stay still and look pretty, did you?”
“It’s dangerous-” Harry began, but she butted back in.
“You saw me in there!” Pansy argued, “I’m not helpless. I’m going to help you take him down whether you like it or not. Besides, If you won’t take me, I’ll just go on my own.”
“Shit.” Ron huffed, “I forgot about that.”
“It’s decided, then!” Hedwig nodded, “Welcome to the team, Parkinson!”
She smiled, “Call me Pansy.”
Harry could feel a strong bond beginning to form between him and Pansy.
—----
Back in the interrogation room.
“A group like yours must have relied on subtlety and misdirection. There is no way you could have done all this, if not. Perhaps, some of you hid behind a public facade their entire lives.”
The woman leaned forward, “Am I wrong?”
—-----
“I am thou, thou art I…
Thou hast acquired a new vow.
It shall become the wings of rebellion
That breaketh thy chains of captivity.
With the birth of the Moon Persona,
I have obtained the winds of blessing that
That shall lead to freedom and new power…”
Moon Rank One
The three of them exchanged contact info and Pansy left, leaving the original three to talk.
“You know,” Ron began, “It would be easier if we could meet up quicker.”
Hedwig hummed, “Indeed, we’ll need a hideout.”
“Hide out?” Harry pondered.
Ron lit up, “How about the school roof? No one goes up there, anyway.”
Hedwig smiled, “Perfect! No on to more important matters.” She looked to Harry, “Seeing as I have nowhere to stay, I have decided to stay with you.”
Harry’s eyes widened, “Wait-!”
Ron gave an awkward smile, “Good luck with that, mate.”
Hedwig purred and Harry sighed in resignation. When he got to the cafe, he noticed a woman sitting at the bar. She had brightly colored hair and looked rather annoyed when she noticed Harry walking in. Harry flinched, but the woman was already looking back at Sirius.
“Thank you for the coffee.” She stood, brushing past Harry and out the door.
Harry looked at his godfather, “Who was that?”
Sirius shook his head, “That’s my cousin, Tonks. She works at the clinic nearby.” He sighed, “You should get some rest, kid.”
Harry nodded, walking upstairs to his makeshift room. Hedwig jumped out of Harry’s bag, her nose twitching.
“What is this place?” Hedwig looked around, “It looks horrible.”
“It’s not that bad.” Harry protested and he wasn’t lying. He had used to live under the stairs of his aunt and uncle's house.
“What are you-?” Sirius started as he walked up the stairs before stopping to stare at the snow white cat. Harry expected him to yell, but he just sighed.
“Where did you find it?” His face and voice were both stern, making Harry feel guilty.
“She was out there all alone.” Harry told him. Technically, he wasn’t lying. He was just…withholding information, “She had nowhere else to go.”
Sirius’ face softened and he sighed again, “One moment.” He headed downstairs and came up with a plate of tuna. Hedwig purred and started to dig in. Sirius smiled slightly.
“Poor girl,” He said absentmindedly, “Must be starving.”
He looked to Harry, “You can keep her, just make sure to take care of her, alright?”
Harry nodded
“Have…you decided on a name for her?” Sirius asked awkwardly.
Harry nodded, “Hedwig.”
“Good,” He told the teen, “Get some rest,” His godfather told him before he left, leaving him alone with Hedwig. As she finished off her plate, she looked back at Harry.
“To be honest, compared to that Palace’s cages, this place is like heaven.” She sighed, “Before, you guys asked me what I am, remember? Well, I can’t. I don’t recall anything of my birth. I suspect the Metaverse’s distortion made me lose my memories and my true form.”
“And that form is human?” Harry asked.
Hedwig frowned, “It has to be.” She shook her head, “Anyway, we have more important things to deal with.”
She sat up, staring him straight in the eyes, “I want to make a deal.”
Harry blinked, “A deal? What do you mean?”
“In exchange for taking care of me,” She began, “I will give you my infiltration knowledge. I even know how to make the tools we’ll need for the Palace. I’ll teach you had to make them if you agree with my deal. What do you think?”
Harry pondered for a moment, thinking over the cat’s words. He suddenly grinned and nodded, “Let’s do it!”
Hedwig nodded back, “Good. Then it’s a deal.”
—---
Back in the interrogation room.
“With your group's skillful infiltrations and escapes to all sorts of places and the possibility of special tools that someone must have manufactured for you, you must have had someone extremely skilled in such fields.”
She raised an eyebrow, “Well? Answer me!”
—----
“I am thou, thou art I…
Thou hast acquired a new vow.
It shall become the wings of rebellion
That breaketh thy chains of captivity.
With the birth of the Star Persona,
I have obtained the winds of blessing that
That shall lead to freedom and new power…”
Star Rank One
“You should rest up,” Hedwig told Harry, “You have a big day ahead of you.”
Harry nodded and got ready for bed. As he slipped underneath the covers, Hedwig jumped up and laid on his stomach. He gently closed his eyes and let the exhaustion overcome him.