Dancing in the Shadows

Thou Art I

"Wait up!" Futaba ordered. "I'm getting another reading up ahead. Are you ready for this?"

Ren squinted looking down at the ground.

"Not yet," he answered.

"What is it?" Makoto asked. "Do you need further preparation?"

Ren didn't answer. He kneeled on the platform and looked closer.

His eyes widened.

"Come on!" He instructed. "We have to get down."

He immediately started to descend down the stairs.

"Dude, wait up!" Ryuji called. He quickly followed.

"I swear, those two are going to get killed someday," Ann sighed.

"Well, it must be of importance if Joker rushed off like that, right?" Haru tried reasoning.

"No time to justify it," Makoto cut through. "Let's see if they need backup. Oracle, run a scan."

"On it!" Futaba said, furiously typing away on her keyboard.

Meanwhile, Ren and Ryuji were running down the stairs. As soon as Ren got down, he started looking around, but immediately turned his head back to the staircase when he heard a thud.

"Dude," Ryuji groaned, slowly getting up and rubbing his arms. "How the eff d'you run down stairs so quickly without falling?"

"Did you trip?" Ren asked, snickering.

"Man, stop laughing," Ryuji complained, "It hurts, alright?"

But Ren had already turned around, scanning his surroundings, his face serious.

"What're you even looking for?" Ryuji asked.

Ren held a finger up to his lips. His eyes suddenly locked in on an area next to the staircase.

"Come on," he instructed.

Ryuji's eyes widened. "Dude, wait up!" Ryuji quickly started running to him.

Ren slowed down and skidded to a stop as he saw the scene in front of him.

There was a Throne, standing--rolling?--still in front of something, or someone...

Ren peered around the wheel, and what he saw made his heart drop.

There was a kid there. He couldn't have looked more than ten or eleven. He was covered in blood, although whether it was his own or from the rain wasn't clear. What astonished Ren the most about this, however, was the fact that the kid was cowering in fear, meaning he could SEE the shadow.

"The eff is that thing doing there?" Ryuji asked behind him.

"I need you to get behind the kid, alright?" Ren instructed. "I'm gonna get behind the throne. You need to get the kid to safety while I fight that thing."

"Roger that, Joker," Ryuji said, nodding.

"Three...two...one...let's go!"

And they were off.

Ryuji quickly found his place behind the cowering kid. He saw him turn around and gaze up at him with wide fearful eyes, looking at the skull mask on his face. Ryuji quickly extended a hand to him.

"C'mon," he said urgently. "There isn't much time, as you can probably tell."

Reluctantly, the kid took his hand, seemingly contemplating whether this was a good idea or not. Once he was pulled up, he loosened his grip, but Ryuji held on.