Could Be Considered An Escape Plan [Alfred + Tino]

[Alfred F. Jones]

“Crap, crap, crap.” Alfred was chanting to himself, picking up his already accelerated pace, sharply turning the corner and rushing down the darkened alleyway. The blond just barely avoided a head on collision with a dumpster.

He’d stayed over his friend’s house a bit later than he intended to that night. Before he knew it, it was past eleven thirty, and for normal people, that didn’t mean much, except maybe that they should be getting to bed. Not that many people actually do that. Regardless, for a Persona user, it meant something entirely different. It meant the Dark Hour was just around the corner, and the Dark Hour meant Shadows would be prowling about.

Shadows ordinarily wouldn’t be a problem for the American, that was, if he had his evoker and swords on his person. But, of course, he didn’t. He was more than sure he’d be risking some kind of suspension bringing the blades to school with him, and same goes for the evoker, which still looked like a gun even though it technically wasn’t.

He supposed if he had to, he could throw his text books at the Shadows—God knows they were heavy enough to do some damage—but he really didn’t want to have to pay any fines if the books were damaged themselves. The Shadows Alfred had seen in his limited experiences normally tended to have some sort of claws or daggers jutting out from their hands or a mouth that could spurt ice or fire at random.

The very second he began nervously musing over how much he’d hate to have to resort to something like that, he flipped his cell phone open just in time to see the digital clock flicker from a bright 11:59 to a short lived neon 12:00, just before the screen went up in static and then sharply faded to black, in his opinion, very much resembling how an old fashioned TV would turn off.

“Crap! Crap, crap, crap, crap!” He was suddenly chanting again, much more spastically than before, probably not taking into account that his loud attempt at scrambling to exit the alley was likely drawing the attention of any Shadow within earshot.

Upon reaching the end of the lengthy and narrow alley, Alfred performed yet another sharp turn, only to collide with what he didn’t at first realize was a person in the process. Something resembling a gasp escaped him as he fell back and onto the ground with a plop, his backpack thankfully cushioning his fall. He picked his head up, eyes widened in shock and maybe even a miniscule amount of fear, and sought out what, or, rather, who he’d crashed into.

“.. O-Oh, It’s you.” He breathed out, visibly relieved.

[tino]

Tino smiled as he made his way down the aisle of an all-night store, not really looking for anything to buy. In fact he did that a lot whether he actually meant to or not. He would see something and sometimes be distracted for hours without even realizing it. Luckily that always seemed to happen on days where he didn't have to do anything. But this time he was looking for something specific - though made sure not to bring his wallet so he wouldn't actually buy anything yet - and that was ingredients for his baking experiments. Unfortunately for the people who agreed to be his taste testers he was looking at the fish and seaweed.

It was almost two hours later before he finally left, waving goodbye to the surprisingly perky girl at the counter as he stepped out the door. Tino gave a content sigh as he looked to his phone which he had been keeping baking ideas on, saving the note before checking the time. And that was when he started to panic. "T-Twenty-three fifty-eight..." Tino's eyes darted to the street signs as he quickly tried to figure out his way back to the dorm. Once he's sure he's got it right he heads in that direction, trying not to let the panic show on his face.

Tino checked his phone again as he turned the corner. "Twenty-three fifty-nine!" He covered his mouth when he noticed how much of a panicked squeak his voice had become and scurried away from the few people staring at him. There was no way he was going to be able to get back in time now, he knows this, and so he begins to pace and frantically talk to himself, thankfully in an alleyway where no one could hear him.

"I don't have my evoker, I won't be able to heal myself. My sling shot won't do much damage unless they're weak to it, and even so it's not quick to reload. I only have a few marbles with me so I need to find more ammo. Uwaaah, I've never been alone during the dark hour before, what am I supposed to do? I've always been the support, never the one in the fray." He gave a huff as he clenched his fists, knowing what he really needed to do as the lights went out around him and coffins appeared all around him. "Right, ammo. Lots of it!" Tino turned to pick up some nearby rocks, but right as he was about to crouch down to get them someone, or worse something, ran into him and he was just able to catch himself on the wall in front of him before he ran his head into it.

He was about to turn around and attack until he heard a familiar voice and he couldn't hide the relieved smile on his face. "Alfred!" He immediately went to help him up and all but hugged him."I'm so glad you're here! I was so worried I would have to face the shadows alone. I knew I wasn't going to be able to get back to the dorms on time and I'm really not that good at fighting without my evoker. I don't know why I didn't think to bring it with me, I knew it was already kinda late when I left the dorms to go shopping, but I was just so excited to get recipe ideas. I feel so stupid now. But now you're here and you can fight with me!" Tino finally stops talking, it almost seeming like he didn't take a breath.

[Alfred F. Jones]

Alfred allowed the other to help him up and expelled a small, “Oof!”, when he suddenly pulled him to a hug. Once he recovered from his small state of shock, he laughed and returned it with gusto, a more complete sense of relief washing over him like a tidal wave.

“Boy, Tino, am I glad to see you!” The blond expressed, then pulled back to listen to his story, keeping a gentle grip on the Finn’s arms. “Same here, dude. I was gaming at a buddy’s house. We both lost track of the time, I guess. Nobody’s fault, really. Don’t beat yourself up for it.” He went on and offered a glowing grin in reassurance, moving one hand to pat him on the shoulder, however, still a bit unsure despite his display of confidence. “Yup! We’ll be fine! No worries! We just gotta’ stick together, and we’ll make it back a-okay!”

He was sure it was obvious anyway, but he struggled with admitting to Tino that he wasn’t sure how much help he would be in this situation without his weapons—because really, Alfred was supposed to be the hero here—and he figured he could simply cast that little detail out of the equation and use his bare hands, if he really had to, but this possibility was quickly thrown out the window as a whirring began sounding in the distance. Alfred perked up, cocking his head to the side and quirking an eyebrow, listening attentively to the faint sound from outside the alley. The whirring, as it grew louder, sounded more like grinding, and the grinding slowly became more like a loud rumbling that steadily began to shake the ground beneath their feet.

Realization finally flashed in the American’s eyes. It quickly occurred to him that neither his fists nor Tino’s slingshot would be any use here. Without another thought, he grabbed hold of his wrist, hastily pulling him back into the depths of the alley. “I-It’s one of those God damned tanks! Tino, c’mon!”

Thankfully, Alfred managed to pull the other behind the dumpster from earlier just in time. His heart hammered in his chest as he pressed his back against the brick wall of the building it rested against and waited for the shadow to hopefully pass by and continue on its way. Amidst this, he brought a finger to his lips, warning the other to stay silent.

[tino]

Tino couldn't help but smile as well, finding Alfred's smile completely contagious. He really did feel relieved being with someone else in the Dark Hour, and he could tell the American was feeling the same right about then. While there was still the problem of no evokers and very little ammo, Tino would rather focus on the positives rather then the negatives. Even if there were fewer and harder to point out. He had to keep his hopes up, as well as his ally's, if they wanted to get back in one piece. And so he went to his comfort zone and started talking, about anything really.

"Oh, I wasn't planning on going anywhere alone," he replied when Alfred said they should stick together. "I never really like being alone during the Dark Hour. This is only the first time I've been out alone during it, though, since I never saw it before coming to this school. But I don't really like being alone in any kind of bad situation like this. That's why I've always tried to make friends, since I would never be alone, y'know? Though I usually prefer to help people, I think that's why I'm always the support whenever we have to fight. Oh, but I'm afraid I can't tonight since I don't have my evoker with me. I can only attack tonight, but I'm not that strong so I don't really know how much help I'll be. But you're really strong, so you can take care of the big ones! I need more ammo th - " He was soon cut off by Alfred, truly barely noticing the approaching noise.

"T-Tank!?" he exclaimed as he was pulled back into the alley. That was one monstrosity of the Dark Hour he had apparently never seen, but by Alfred's reaction to it he was sure he never wanted to. He always saw the other boy as very brave and carefree, much like the comic book heroes he loved. If something frightened him, it was truly something to avoid. Tino tried to keep his breathing steady as he hid, clenching his own fist around his sling shot to keep himself calm, quiet, and still; the hardest of those of course being quiet. He glanced to his friend and nodded when he was noiselessly told to keep silent. He did try and glance to the street, though, to see what exactly they were hiding from, but he couldn't do so without revealing himself. And so he looked down the other end of the alley where they wasn't a dumpster in the way.

What Tino saw almost made him give away their position. Slinking into the alley were two men attached to each other by what looked like spears, masks on to hide their most likely grotesque faces. Tino honestly had no idea the name of the shadow that came towards them, but he did remember fighting one before. And it wasn't a pleasant experience as none of his attacks worked. They would have to run, but they couldn't now thanks to the other shadow. What to do? He glanced back to Alfred and hoped he had a plan, or at the very least saw their other problem.

[Alfred F. Jones]

Alfred managed to keep calm, along with a hold on his breathing. As he waited those tense moments, he’d already been concocting their escape plan. The escape plan was, in all simplicity, for them to wait until the tank moseyed on by, then run like hell.

Flawless.

When he looked over and found the other eying him expectantly, nervously, he quirked an eyebrow, about to ask what was wrong, but then he saw exactly what was wrong looming at the opposite end of the alley. The blond bit his lip as the twins drew closer. His escape plan needed some modification.

“Tino.” Alfred began in a soft voice. He wasn’t sure if the Shadow was within earshot quite yet, or let alone if it even understood human language, but for the sake of being safe and hopefully not drawing any more attention to himself and the Finn, he’d do his best to remain quiet for the moment. “I’m gonna’ charge in. When I’m about an equal distance between you and the Shadow, the second you see it focused on me, I want you to fire at it. Just once. Once you hit it, I’m gonna’ give it a whack of my own, and then while it’s wondering what the heck kinda’ awesome it just got blasted with, we’ll clear out. Okay?” He paused to take a small breath, not taking his eyes off their potential threat. “We’re gonna’ run as fast as we can and hope that cuts it. If it follows us and it turns out we gotta’ deal with it after, then we’ll deal with it after, but we at least need to get our evokers first.”

There. Now it was flawless.

The American glanced back towards the dumpster, listening carefully for the rumbling of their original threat. When he heard nothing, praise whatever was up there looking out for them, after giving himself and the other a few seconds to collect themselves, he flashed the other a small signal with his fingers and darted forward.

[tino]

Tino listened to Alfred's plan quietly, nodding to show that he understood. He gripped at the ammo of small to large rocks he put in his pocket, his other hand holding on tightly to the handle of his sling shot. For now he ignored the sound of the tank as it couldn't see them anyway and once again looked to the more pressing threat of the masked shadow. Their attacks wouldn't do much damage, but like Alfred had said there was no need for them to fight it right then. They needed their evokers, especially if either of them got injured. Because of his Persona's healing abilities Tino never carried healing items with him. True, the American boy might have had some with him, but with how unexpectedly they had run into each other he doubted he was equipped for any kind of battle.

Tino watched the approaching shadow carefully until, out of the corner of his eye, he saw Alfred's signal. He loaded his slingshot, drew it back, and waited until the other was in the correct position to fire. He aimed true, hitting one of the masks and causing the shadow to stumbled backwards and eventually stop altogether. It looked around, trying to figure out where the attack came from. 'Is it blind?' Tino thought as he ran after Alfred, slingshot ready for another shot just in case.

The shadow apparently became angry and confused, as it started to just swing wildly until it found its target. In fear for Alfred's health, Tino shot one more rock at it to confuse and stun it again despite the American's instructions to only shoot once. He wouldn't be too mad at him for doing that, right? Now the only problem was Tino had to stop to shoot and that got him even further behind his friend. Hopefully that wouldn't be too much of a problem if Alfred hit it hard enough, he just hoped the shadow wouldn't get up too soon afterward and chase after them.

[I'm sorry it took me so long to reply! I got very unexpectedly busy. Also sorry it's so short, I didn't wanna GodMod Alfred. ^^']

[Alfred F. Jones]

Once Alfred was at the designated distance, he swerved off to the side, just slightly, so as the give the other more of a clear shot at the Shadow.

When the monstrosity was struck directly between the eyes of its mask by one of the rocks the other was shooting, Alfred grinned, making a mental note to give Tino a pat on the back for his skillful aim later. He even got the idea to invite him out for ice cream to celebrate, but that was a suggestion that’d have to wait for later.

For now, Alfred picked up in speed, preparing to strike at it with all his might. The Finn’s second shot was actually welcome, as it threw off the enraged Shadow’s wild flailing and gave him a bit more room to work out his big hit. Once it was completely stunned a second time, he did something of a leap forward and struck at it for himself. As he reared back, he ignored the dull pain in his clenched fist inflicted by the hard material of the mask and glanced back towards the other.

“C’mon!” He called out, urging for him to follow as he began hurrying past the Shadow that had moments before collapsed to the ground.

God knew how long it would stay like that, so Alfred didn’t want to waste any time. When he reached the end of the alley, he looked back once again, making sure Tino was as fast as he was sharp with his aim. He was at least grateful that the Shadow didn’t seem to be stirring just yet.

((Not short at all Fin, but sometimes it has to be short~. No worries. I’ve been pretty caught up with stuff myself. <3))

[tino]

Tino definitely didn't need to be told twice, and he soon quickened his pace. Though thanks to Alfred's rather large wind up for his attack the Finnish teen caught up in no time, vaulting over the limp outstretched arm of the hopefully unconscious shadow. By the time Alfred looked back to see if he was indeed behind him, Tino was only a mere two feet from his American friend. And once he was finally sure that they were out of trouble - for now - he decided to ease the tension by talking as usual. Of course never slowing down and keeping an eye out for anyone, or rather, anything.

"That was really spectacular!" he started off praising the American, as if his ego needed to get any bigger. "Even bare handed you knocked it out flat. I don't think it's going to get up for a while now. I just hope that when it does it can't find us or has its friends come after us. Do shadows even have friends? Considering the attack in packs sometimes I guess they do. How would they communicate, though? Some of them don't even have mouths, and others just look like inanimate objects that can somehow float around. I never found those, scary; it's hard to be afraid of giant floating dice. W-Well I guess unless they squished you to death, but I don't even think they can see, so it's pretty easy to not have that happen. Right?"

Tino gave a little chuckle as they continued their escape, but it was soon forgotten when he heard something around the corner Alfred was about to turn to. "Wait!" he yelped as quietly as he could, grabbing the taller man and pulling him back. The only problem was as soon as he did that he lost his balance, falling backwards and bringing the other with him, them both landing hard and loud on the concrete. "Oww..." Clearly whatever sneaking Tino wanted to attempt by stopping Alfred before they were spotted was long gone. Soon there was the sound of large footsteps of a four-legged shadow coming towards them. It stepped from the shadows to reveal itself, and it was nothing good - when was it ever in the Dark Hour?

It was a large, purplish grey wolf-like creature with glowing white eyes. Its fur seemed to flow like the flames of a fire while it moved. It bared its fangs and reared back, ready to pounce. Tino went wide-eyed, knowing there was no way he could get out of the way, though he admitted he couldn't say the same about Alfred.

[Alfred F. Jones]

As soon as Alfred realized the other wasn’t far behind at all, much to his relief, he continued to flee.

“Wasn’t anything much, dude! But don’t worry, It’s gonna’ be busy trying to collect itself over there for a while!” He called back as he ran, flashing a smile he was sure Tino could see from his angle, but all the while making sure to keep his eyes ahead of him and not anywhere else. After all, he wouldn’t be surprised if another unexpected guest suddenly decided to pop in on them. “Eh, Shadows don’t and never had made sense to me. I don’t think they ever will. As far as I’m concerned, they can do their own thing, whatever floats their boat, but if they get up in anybody’s grill, they’re getting an up close and personal greeting from the hero.” He rambled in response, somewhat trailing off the original subject. That was a bit of a habit of his. He never seemed to notice as he was doing it, though. “You’ve got a sick aim, by the way! Should join an archery team, or something like that!”

Alfred was feeling a lot better than he thought he’d be feeling at the moment about how things were going. He could see the final corner they had to round straight ahead, and after that, they were home free. The dorm was a mere block away.

Just as he was thinking nothing could possibly go wrong, fate, God, the universe or whatever it was just had to laugh and spit in his face. He wasn’t sure why it was that the Finn behind him had suddenly been telling him to wait, but he must’ve not have been able to skid to a stop in time, because the next thing he knew, he’d been tugged backwards, pulled down onto the ground below, and there was a throbbing pain in the back of his head that had probably been a result of the harder than anticipated fall.

The blond hissed as he sat up, shaking away the slight offset in his vision and reaching to rub where he’d landed as he searched out the other. “Ow. Yo, Tino, are you—”

That was when he saw it rearing. It was a wolf looking creature with spiking fur and a more than worrisome predator-like gleam in its eyes. Alfred’s own eyes widened, much like his companion’s. He had no blade, let alone sheathe he could jam its jaw with like he normally did when battling the more bestial schemed Shadows.

“.. Run!” He hollered, not hesitating in grabbing at the other’s wrist and yanking him up off the ground and out of the way.

Luckily, he got Tino and himself out of the line of its claws and potentially teeth just in time, but he didn’t really want to think about that. He just kept running, once again making his attempt at the corner they’d gotten stopped at mere moments before and succeeding. Thankfully, there were no more Shadows lurking around in that particular alleyway. He could see the dorm now, it was just the rest of the way down the alley and across the street. He didn’t dare look back and simply went on allowing his feet and adrenaline to carry him, still keeping the firm hold he had of the other's arm.