Patch Up [Layla]

[Ringo Shiro]

Ringo sliced through another shadow as he ran around the old hospital. If he guessed right this was roughly the eighth floor of the hospital. He looked behind him to see the shadow chasing him lunged over to him. He sliced that one in half as well. Ringo lowered his blade for a moment before then hearing rumbling and his head shot up to the ceiling. Crashing through the old ceiling was a samurai like shadow.

"Tokoyo..." Ringo raised his blade up as the persona card descended. The samurai shadow likewise did the same. The two of them watched each other. In that split instant, they made their move. However, Ringo was faster. The force of Ringo's strike and weapon was enough to bend the sword of his enemy...Tokoyo appeared to finish off the shadow with a clean slice through its body. However, it should be noted that the bending of the blade was only enough so that the blade won't kill him.

The boy collapsed on his knees as his left side bleed, a deep cut now apparent on his body and a slash of his clothing. Looks like he bit more than he can chew this time around. He laid on the wall for second and winced. He quickly took out the medical powder and bandaging he brought with him. Ringo proceeded to do some bandaging albeit trying his best not to scream.

Ringo got the bandaging good enough. He slowly crawled up till he thought he heard a sound vibrate throughout the halls of what should be an abandoned hospital. Another shadow? He pushed himself off the wall he was laying and placed his back on the wall and slowly started to stalk the hall. He looked around the corner and then right away walked out when he saw who it was.

"Layla?"

[Layla Amare]

There really were way too many shadows here for a place that should have been mostly cleared out by now. Layla was only halfway up, eighth or ninth floor, and yet she was being swarmed by shadows almost constantly. They weren't even particularly strong ones either. Just trash that didn't realize it was outmatched. She might not have minded, but she wasn't hear to fight them. There was no point in fighting them, and having to slog through all of them was a waste of time and energy. No, she was here for...

Actually, Layla had no idea why she was in the hospital anymore. She'd gone in with some bright idea of trying to look for something that might shed some light on what to do about her condition. But that bright idea had turned out, somewhere along the way, to be a very stupid one. There were certain important things that an abandoned hospital lacked in comparison to one that was still open. Things like working equipment, or medical professionals. Things that would have helped her a lot more than free access to anywhere in an old building.

And now, there was nothing left to do but to fight her way back out. "Let's see...one two three...seven?" Layla thought out loud, counting the shadows standing between her and any chance of an exit in either direction. Yes, seven looked right, unless another one of those invisible head shadows was hiding among them. All of different types, but nothing that immediately looked like it would block lighting. "Vajrabhairava!" Layla called out, summoning the Terminator of Death from the recesses of her mind. The towering, many-armed wisdom king materialized, holding a vajra high above its head. A ball of electricity gathered over the vajra, then slowly descended towards the battlefield. It grew in size as it went, until it was level with Layla's head and as wide as she was tall. Then, massive bolts of lightning erupted from the ball in all directions, shredding through the enemies around her effortlessly. Drywall cracked as electricity slammed into it, exposed metal fixtures became supercharged, and shadows went straight past collapsing and dissolving to instead disintegrate on the spot.

As the attack itself died down, bolts of electricity continued to arc between the metal fixtures that had been struck earlier, its crackling providing the only sound for several more seconds. Only then did someone's voice break the near-silence, calling her name. Layla turned, spotting a familiar boy at the end of the hall, poking out from around a corner. "Oh, Ringo," Layla said. Just then, she sensed even more shadows approaching. "Stay back for a moment," she said, trying to pinpoint where the next wave of bothersome entities would come from. Just then, a shadow fell from a hole in the ceiling above, already readying a spell of its own. Layla spotted it, but had only a split second to register with some irritation that it was indeed one of those invisible head shadows, currently visible, before a column of light followed it down from the hole in the ceiling. Aimed directly at her, of course.

[Ringo Shiro]

Ringo took a look at the fact that Layla was surrounded by shadows. Before he moved though, he saw her summon her persona. The many armed being summoned a surge of electricity with its vajra. A very powerful one. Ringo quickly backed from the wall to avoid being caught up in the attack. It was amazing to look at. He knew her persona was powerful considering he saw it grow when he awakened to his own persona but to see it grow this much in power.

"Oh, Ringo," Layla said. "Stay back for a moment," Did she sense more shadows? Ringo did notice that since gaining a persona he has had heightened senses of some kind. Come to think of it he felt the presence of shadows too...

"Layla!!" Tokoyo seeped out of his body and flew across the air. Layla took notice of those shadows that have five eyes yet the head remains invisible but she won't be able to dodge the pillar of light. Tokoyo took the hit...however the feed back was getting to Ringo. However the attack was blocked giving Layla a chance to slay the shadows.

[Layla Amare]

Ringo called out again. Layla instinctively knew why. She'd seen it too, after all, but there was no way she could avoid the pillar of light. Not that she needed to do anything, but-what?! No, no, no! Layla had even less time to react to the Persona materializing and interposing itself between her and the light attack. She couldn't say anything to stop it, only watch as the Persona took the hit and Ringo felt it. Even the instinctual "What the hell are you doing?!" that followed the action didn't manage to get out until after the damage was already done.

She was given an opening, not that she needed it, and so she took it. The head started to fade back into invisibility, but Layla was still able to track it by the eyes surrounding it. She whipped her urumi forward and started cutting. Diagonal left, diagonal right, horizontal and spin, upward diagonal. Each strike sent a slicing gust of wind at the shadow, bringing the head back into view with a new deep cut each time before it split apart and dissolved into nothing. Seeing this, Layla brought the urumi around into another spin to cut through what was left of the shadow one more time. As she felt resistance on the weapon, she slowed down and let herself lose momentum. A second later, she came to a stop, and the weapon hung limply from its hilt.

And finally, she turned back to Ringo. Though she was normally patient, stress and the perceived urgency of her current situation had not been kind to Layla's mental state. Before she realized it, she was snapping at Ringo. "You idiot! What'd you go and do that for? That attack wouldn't have done anything to me! And even if it did, why would you just throw yourself in harm's way in my stead like that?! Didn't I tell you last time never to do that again? Didn't someone else tell you back on the beach never to do that again?!"

[Ringo Shiro]

Oh shit... Ringo's vision began to blur for a moment. The feedback was more harsh than he thought. Layla sliced the shadow apart with her whip sword like weapon. He took a few deep breathes. From what he can comprehend he could hear foot steps. Ringo's hearing had to be a hundred percent shut down for not hearing Layla's...choice words for him.

"You idiot! What'd you go and do that for? That attack wouldn't have done anything to me! And even if it did, why would you just throw yourself in harm's way in my stead like that?! Didn't I tell you last time never to do that again? Didn't someone else tell you back on the beach never to do that again?!" Come to think of it...yeah... Ringo thought back to what Holly said...what Phoebe said.

"Oi you can't expect me to just sit there! Now that I do know that light doesn't effect you I'll lay off but none the less I'm not going to sit there while possible danger is still around!!" Ringo winced. He looked over at the slash on his cloths and one would notice that the bandages underneath are red, at least where it was visible. Likely the blood has spread out a little. "Besides, I have plenty to give anyway."

[Layla Amare]

"That's not the point!" Layla blurted out at 'plenty to give', before realizing that no, that was in fact exactly what she was arguing. "No, actually, that's completely the point. If you keep doing stuff like this, you're going to get yourself killed one of these days. And for what? Someone who was just fine on their own? Someone who didn't need saving? Someone whose life isn't worth as much as yours?" Layla stopped herself after that, on instinct. That was usually where she backed off when something like this came up. She didn't need to burden anyone else with her troubles. But so long as Ringo was going to be an idiot, maybe she did need to say something.

"You've got a long life ahead of you, still. You don't need to waste it. Certainly not on me, who doesn't," Layla continued. She took a deep breath, and sighed as she let it out. This was too much trouble. She was already frustrated with her current predicament without having to yell at someone. At the moment, she already wanted to just go home. But first, she still needed to deal with Ringo. "Sorry for blowing up at you," she said after another deep breath. "But I'm not healing you until you apologize too."

[Ringo Shiro]

"That's not the point!" Ringo felt the force of that voice. "No, actually, that's completely the point. If you keep doing stuff like this, you're going to get yourself killed one of these days. And for what? Someone who was just fine on their own? Someone who didn't need saving? Someone whose life isn't worth as much as yours?" Layla stopped her self for a moment.

"I..." Ringo couldn't finish his sentence with Layla's next statement.

"You've got a long life ahead of you, still. You don't need to waste it. Certainly not on me, who doesn't," Ringo's eyes widen. Any and all thoughts he might've had suddenly were gone. "Sorry for blowing up at you, but I'm not healing you until you apologize too."

"Hold what do you mea-ghh...?!" Ringo winced. His panic just made the large wound on him worse. He leaned back on the wall to support himself. "What do you mean you don't have a long life ahead of you?" Layla seemed perfectly fine at the moment aside from her anger towards him...

[Layla Amare]

"I'm dying, Ringo."

And there it was. Having already said so much, there wasn't much left for Layla to do but to be straightforward with it. "I have been for the last two, almost three years. Normally I'm just fine and can function normally, but when it first happened I...I'm pretty sure I was dead for a few minutes. And it could happen again at any time. I don't know if I have ten years left or ten days. Lately though, it seems more and more like it's about to very soon." She closed her eyes and turned away. She briefly considered describing her condition, but decided that it wasn't going to make much difference. Unless Ringo was a medical student, it wouldn't even matter. All that mattered was the end result. There was no 'if'. Only 'when.'

"There's nothing that can stop it. No Persona ability, no healing magic. I'm already on medication, but that only does so much. That's why no one should have to put themselves in harm's way to protect me. Any of us could die fighting shadows out here. But for me, it's probably going to happen whether I fight or not." She sighed, then called forth Vajrabhairava again. The many-armed Terminator of Death raised a skull cup high and poured out a shining golden liquid from within, which washed over Ringo to heal him.

[Ringo Shiro]

"I'm dying, Ringo." Layla's words hit Ringo like a bullet. "I have been for the last two, almost three years. Normally I'm just fine and can function normally, but when it first happened I...I'm pretty sure I was dead for a few minutes. And it could happen again at any time. I don't know if I have ten years left or ten days. Lately though, it seems more and more like it's about to very soon."

"But...there has to be..." Ringo's thoughts were spiraling everywhere. There has to be a way to get her better. Personas have advanced healing abilities right? But at the same time Layla's persona has plenty of healing skills for it to use. Maybe she needs another user with the skills? But I've seen that black haired lady heal Layla and the others plenty of times...

"There's nothing that can stop it." Those words snapped Ringo back to reality. "No Persona ability, no healing magic. I'm already on medication, but that only does so much. That's why no one should have to put themselves in harm's way to protect me. Any of us could die fighting shadows out here. But for me, it's probably going to happen whether I fight or not." Ringo didn't even take notice of Layla summoning her persona to heal his external wounds. All he could do was stare at Layla. All that struggling to survive and she is just going to die.

"Lay..." Ringo was struggling to find what to say to her. At this point, Ringo's eyes were blank just trying to think of what to do. What can he do? It wasn't like he was a medical expert. His persona had no healing abilities so there was that issue as well.

[Layla Amare]

Ringo started to say something after Layla finished, but trailed off before he got anything else. "Don't," Layla said, raising a hand to cut him off before he could succeed in finishing the thought. "I resigned myself to this a long time ago. All I can do now is keep living, for as long as I can. But that shouldn't ever come at the cost of anyone else's life. You've still got your own to live too. So live it. Stop trying to throw it away for someone who doesn't need it."

She turned around again. Her expression softened, and she gave Ringo a smile. "Don't worry. Even if I'm out here alone, I don't plan on dying to anything else before this disease takes me."

[Ringo Shiro]

"Don't," Layla said, slicing any chance of Ringo forming a full thought to this information. "I resigned myself to this a long time ago. All I can do now is keep living, for as long as I can. But that shouldn't ever come at the cost of anyone else's life. You've still got your own to live too. So live it. Stop trying to throw it away for someone who doesn't need it." Layla started to walk off. Ringo started to follow now that his body wasn't surging with pain. . "Don't worry. Even if I'm out here alone, I don't plan on dying to anything else before this disease takes me."

"...o-okay..." Ringo wasn't even sure what he is saying okay to. He lightened his grip on his sheathe and attached it to his belt. He slowly started to follow. "Any plans on heading back?" Ringo wasn't sure what direction Layla was headed.