March 23rd, 20XX

Afternoon

The entire week, Suki was filled with anger and irrationality, so much so it effected her fighting and ability to think things through. This showed through the last minute training they did the day before they had to head into Anzu's circus.

She was matched up with Haruko to fight and was getting way too intense. Suki was recklessly slashing her sword at Haruko, constantly grunting and yelling in anger.

"Suki, fix your form! Use both hands with your sword!" Yu shouted.

Suki became annoyed, a characteristic she did not recognize. Haruko could see it in her face. Something was different and it was effecting her fighting. She was becoming sloppy. Very sloppy.

Haruko threw her bat straight at Suki's face, flinging her back. In anger, Suki threw her short sword towards Haruko's face.

Haruko quickly jumped to the side just as the sword hit the fence, inches away from cutting Isas' cheek.

Once Suki realized the gravity of what her anger almost made her do, she collapsed onto her knees.

Holy shit...I almost hurt Isas! Any closer...and I could have killed him!

She snapped out of her trance when Haruko stabbed her sword into the ground in front of her.

"I hate to be a bitch-actually, I kinda don't-but let that be a lesson to ya. Don't let your shitty teenage anger get in the way of what you're fighting for."

Suki nodded, her stare blank. Once Haruko walked away, Isas walked over and knelt down to pick up Suki.

"Suki-San, are you okay?"

Suki looked up, almost crying. "I-Isas, I am so sorry. I wasn't thinking, I-"

Isas shook his head. "Don't apologize. Really, it's okay. I've been through worse." He said, chuckling awkwardly. He took her hands and picked her up off the ground.

"C'mon. Why don't we go calm down? There's something I've been meaning to do and I was hoping you would come join me."

Suki took a deep breath and nodded. "S-sure. That sounds nice."

Isas smiled as he lead her out to the back gate. "We'll be back."

"Be careful!" Haruko shouted. Isas gave a thumbs up before he and Suki disappeared.

"Alright! Your turn, Narukami-Eko!" Haruko shouted to Jumin, a deranged look on her face.

"Oh gods someone help me!"

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Isas and Suki arrived at the hospital, standing in Anzu room which was now covered in blue azaleas. Anzu was still as stone, her chest barely moving and lips blue. She almost looked completely dead.

"That's a lot of flowers. I'm assuming this is your doing?" Suki asked.

Isas nodded. "I thought she might like it. Pastels are surprisingly her favorite."

"How'd you know that?"

"Her journal. I know it's very invasive but...I feel like I have to know everything about her to understand how she felt, how she taught, why she did the things she did...like I have to make something up to her."

Suki tilted her head, very puzzled.

"I know doesn't make much sense, but....I don't know. I feel like...she could feel my pain. She knew what brought me down. What hurt me inside and out, you know?"

"I...think I do?"

Isas sat beside Anzu, taking her hand and caressing it, staring at her longingly.

"You know...Jumin came to visit me a few times in the hospital after the incident. He would always talk to me and I could faintly hear what he was trying to say...I wonder if she can hear me now..."

He sighed. "But I doubt any of my words would be useful to her now...."

Isas stood up, making his way to the door. "Thank you for coming with me today, Suki-San. It really meant a lot to me."

With that, he left. Suki looked back at Anzu, walking over to her and taking her hand. It was ice cold.

"Please don't do this Anzu....please don't leave. There are people out here in the real world that want you here! Your dad wants you here, Isas wants you here, even I want you here! So please, keep fighting!"

"....I.....can't..."

Suki jumped in surprise, looking down and seeing...nothing.

Anzu didn't move. She was as still as she was when they entered, her lips still locked in place and eyes shut.

I must be hearing things.....

Suki let go of her hand, quickly walking out of her room and back home, too frazzled to stay.

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Anzu's shadow balled her fists in anger, yet a toothy grin still plastered on her face.

Anzu looked on in astonishment and fear. "W-what do you mean?" She asked hesitantly.

"What do you mean by that....?"

Shadow Anzu turned her head back, striking fear into Anzu's heart. "You'll see soon enough my friend.....but for now, we have to get you ready for the big show."

Shadow Anzu reached into the trunk placed right beside her, throwing Anzu a purple and white costume. "Put this on. You'll need it for tomorrow..."

Anzu complied, running to the costume trailer to put it on. She was shaking. She had never been so afraid of someone her entire life. And this was herself!

Was this what she was really like on the inside? Did people see her like this? No...no, not like this.

But...why this? Out of all the people in the world, why did it have to happen to her? What was so wrong with her...that it had to come to this?

Anzu looked up and into the dressing room mirror, now really seeing the damage she had done to herself over the years. She was paler than paper with deep dark bags under her eyes. She could almost see through her skin. The scars on her limbs were the most prominent feature.

So had gotten this bad....she couldn't believe it. She was so far gone...it was no use now.

They couldn't save her no matter what they tried...they would die here.

She could feel it.

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March 24th, 20XX

Sunday

Noon

The Quaran-Team had gathered outside the waterfall, preparing for the battle that laid ahead. Anzu's shadow was strong, much stronger than Isas' shadow so they had to be careful.

But their leader didn't seem so ready.

Suki's thoughts swirled around in her head like never before, like she was losing a battle against herself.

She felt a tap on her shoulder, bring her out of her thoughts. It was Kimi.

"Yo, you okay?" She asked, concerned.

Suki nodded. "Yeah. Yeah I'm okay," she turned to look at the others, "you guys ready?"

Yasahiro gripped his arms tightly, obviously nervous but nodded anyway. "Y-yes..."

"Ok then....let's head on in."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Anzu's circus was bigger.

It was huge.

There were lights shinning brightly, giant towering roller coasters, even a giant ferris wheel.

"Woah...she really went all out this time, huh?" Jumin stated.

"Good. I don't like it when people keep me waiting." Kimi chimmed in.

They charged in and entered the enormous circus tent. Shadows were the audience, just sitting there and staring blankly. Shadow Anzu stood front and center, basking in all this attention she was getting.

"Welcome everyone! Welcome to the show you have all been waiting for! The big stunt I have been planning for so long has finally come to light!" Her eyes met those of the Quaran-Team, her smile turning malicious.

She motion above her. Standing on a platform above the trapeze, hands tied behind her back and a blindfold on was Anzu, stiff as a board.

"ANZU!" Jumin shouted.

The platform suddenly disappeared from under Anzu and she began to plummet to the floor.

"NO!" Kimi shouted.

"ANZU-CHAN!" Yasahiro shouted as he charged head first to try and save Anzu from falling. "PERSONA!"

reached out his hand, Anzu falling into his palm and then being placed on her two feet on the ground. Yasahiro ran to her, undoing her restraints and taking off her blindfold. She was utterly terrified.

"Are you okay?!" Yasahiro asked.

She nodded, breathing shallowly. "P-please...please get me out of her."

"I'll do my best!"

Anzu smiled a bit. But Shadow Anzu was enraged. She was grunting and making animal noises, having a total meltdown. She began to tear out her hair and growl in anger. "DAMNIT!DAMNIT DAMNIT DAMNIT DAMNIT!!! She was right about you! All along, she was right! You ruin everyone's lives without a second thought! You don't know a single thing about saving someone like me!"

"And what? You know what's good for yourself? Look around! Look at yourself! You're completely corrupted from the inside out! You've let yourself become-"

Isas sighed. "I know...but at least I had the decency to change."

That pissed her off the edge. She was began to produce a black smoke that rose up to the ceiling of the circus tent. The tent then began to lift itself off the ground.

"Everyone! Get back!" Suki shouted.

Yasahiro took Anzu by the hand and they raced out of the tent just in time before something colossal arose.

The tent had formed a base for the skirt of this monstrous shadow with a hallow head. It's lower body was filled with lions and other circus animals, growling in agony from being trapped in this things chest cavity.

"Pfft. Please! We'll take you down in a hot minute!" Kimi shouted.

"Hmph! Is that so?"

From behind her, the rollercoaster tracks shifted, now pointing towards the Quaran-Team. Barreling down the tracks at high speed were lines of rollercoaster cars launching out one by one.

"TAKE COVER!" Suki shouted.

The Quaran-Team scattered as a storm of cars fell onto the ground. Yasahiro and Anzu hid underneath some costume trailers. They watched as Kimi tried to jump in the air and get a hit with her bat but getting rammed with a rollercoaster car and falling back into the earth. They watched as Suki struggled to heal Kimi quick enough before having to retreat. They watched as Isas was using himself as a human shield to protect Jumin from Shadow Anzu's attacks.

All they could do was watch.

"I-it's no use...We'll be crushed if we try and go out there. Oh, but they need our help."

"Your help."

"Huh?"

Anzu gripped the dirt. "This is all my fault. I'm the one who did this. I'm the one doing this. I was right. We were right. I'm nothing but a plague. I bring nothing but pain along with me in my steps."

Yasahiro frowned. "Look, I don't know you, and you don't know me, but I feel like you do that a lot."

"Do what a lot?"

"Bring yourself down. You let things get to you too easily. You believe people that hurt you and push away people that try to help."

Anzu growled in anger. "SHUT UP! I DON'T EVEN KNOW YOU SO DON'T TELL ME WHAT I'M LIKE!" Anzu shouted. She crawled out from under the trailer and out onto the battlefield just in time to see what her shadow was doing to Suki.

At first, it seemed like nothing. It juat seemed like Suki was tired and had just fallen to her knees. But then she realized...that Suki was crying.

No, she wasn't crying. She was sobbing.

Anzu looked up at her shadow, their eyes locked on each other.

"What did you do to her?"

" I showed her what real pain feels like."

"W-what?!"

Her shadowed sneeered. "Isn't this what you wanted? For people to know what it's like to be you? To be us? To have to live with ourselves? Our shadows? Isn't this what you wanted?"

Anzu bit her lip as she took a step back. She had created a monster and that monster was herself.

The hard truth was...she did want this. She wanted all of this. She wanted other people to feel the pain she had been feeling for far too long. And she got it.

She got it and she hated it. The world crumbled around her as she saw all the destruction and disarray that was happening around her. Isas was on his knees, bleeding, with Jumin trying to heal him as quickly as he could. Kimi was bleeding but she was still trying to put up a fight, a fight she knew she was losing. Yasahiro was still cowarding underneath the costume trailer, crying because he couldn't do anything without failing and most likely dying.

This was her fault.

And she didn't know how to fix it.

"Annie...?"

"?!"

Was that...Dad's voice? Am I really hearing Dad's voice?

"Annie, I don't know if you can hear me...but I just came here to say ....I'm sorry."

"Annie, I'm sorry I couldn't help you. I didn't know how to help and instead of tryin' to find someone to help....I let you face the world alone...now you're here. Now you're like this....knockin' on heaven's door far too soon...all because of me. I'm sorry Annie...p-please...Don't leave...not yet....I promise to be a better dad and I'll listen. I'll really listen! I won't fail you again!"

"What...? No, Dad! You didn't fail me! I failed you! You're not the one who put me here! It was me! It was....me..."

Realization hit Anzu like a truck. This whole time, she had refused to listen. She refuse to see. Or, at least she saw but refused to believe it. She refused to believe that she had gottent this bad so fast. She refused to pick up on the hints her shadow was giving her about how she could change. How she could have stopped this all from happening. It was all right there but...she didn't want to take the leap.

But not anymore.

With sheer determination, Anzu whipped her around, eyes narrowed and fists ready to fight.

"HEY! DOWN HERE!" She yelled.

Her shadow's attention went down to Anzu, who has clear had enough.

"You're my shadow, right? That means you're MY problem! I'm gonna take you down and win back my life, you got it?!"

"Pfft! Please! I would loooovvve to see you try!"

Anzu clenched her fists tighter. "Believe me...I can do it. I know I can..."

She rose her head as her eyes glowed a bright yellow, the pounding headache making its presence.

"I hear you, Y'know? I hear you loud and clear!"

"If you hear me, you can also hear the words I am about to tell you now..."

"I won't just hear you... I'll listen. I'll even let you take the wheel."

"You have been rob of your

"....I'll take it. I'll take all of it."

"Very well then...heed my words and seal our vow through your determination so that you may unlock your power. I am thou.. Thou art I...call upon my name and show your sickened self what true despair is!"

Anzu nodded, feeling the power rush through her bones and shake her body.

"Alright...let's finish this, once and for ALL!