Disclaimer: Thankfully for all of us, I don't own the Persona series and most definitely don't own Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3.

"Where am I?"

It was a reasonable question to ask, considering the circumstances. When he fell asleep on the train, he wasn't exactly expecting to end up trapped in some strange room.

Well, actually, it looked more like an elevator. Which really didn't help him understand his predicament any better, in fact, that fact made him even more confused.

Taking another quick look around the room, the young man noticed two other people nearby. The first person was an old man, dressed in a slick black suit with white gloves. He seemed… deranged, for lack of a better term. His eyes were bulging and bloodshot, and his smile was unsettlingly wide. The most bizarre thing about the man though was his long nose. It was ridiculously long and pointy.

The old man's wicked grin seemed to grow wider as he saw the blue haired man's confused expression. "Welcome to the Velvet Room, my dear young man." he said, motioning for the boy to take a seat. He did as he was told. He didn't want to risk the consequences of aggravating this strange person. Seeing his nervous expression, the man with the long nose chuckled slightly. "There is no need to be afraid. No harm will come to you in this room."

"My name is Igor. I am delighted to make your acquaintance." Motioning over towards the young woman standing next to him, he introduced her as well. "This is Elizabeth. She's a resident here, like myself."

"Pleased to meet you." the woman - Elizabeth - said, smiling slightly. One could hear the ages of wisdom in her voice, and the young man knew that his assumption about her age was well off the mark.

"Likewise." he said cautiously. He still didn't exactly trust these people. Not like that should be much of a surprise; he's woken up somewhere that doesn't recognise. For all he knows, these people could had kidnapped him. Then again, this could all be some sort of strange dream; Igor's strange appearance seemed to indicate as much.

The old man confirmed his theory with his next line. Well, sort of. "This place exists between dream and reality, mind and matter."

He was confused. "What do you mean, exactly?" he questioned, wondering how such a thing was even possible. How could something exist between dream and reality? So, what, it was both a dream and not a dream at the same time? How is that physically possible?

Whether Igor didn't hear his question or had just ignored him, he didn't know. Chuckling, Igor continued. "It's been years since we've had a guest..." As he says this, he gestured towards a leather bound book, lying on the table in front of him. "Please, sign your name here."

Would he get answers if he signed this? He didn't know. It looked to be a contract of some kind, however the terms of the contract only stated that he must "take responsibility for his actions", whatever that means. He sighed. Well, there was no reason not to. Hopefully he didn't come to regret this later...

Arisato
Minato

Minato looked at Igor once he had finished writing, handing him the contract. Igor's already wide grin grew even wider as the contract faded into nothingness. "Only those who have signed the contract can enter this place... Henceforth, you shall be welcome here in the Velvet Room. You are destined to hone your unique ability, and you will require my help to do so. I only ask one thing in return... that you abide by the contract, and assume responsibility for the choices that you make."

"...I..." He paused, trying to make sense of what he had been told. "I don't understand." He really didn't. The bluenette liked to think of himself as a rather intelligent person, but all of this has just been flying over his head. "Is this a dream?"

Igor nodded. "Precisely... You are fast asleep in the real world as we speak. This visit of yours is merely a dream. However, you will come here of your own accord, sooner or later. Please, hold on to this..."

Minato sighed once again. He didn't understand what the old man was talking about, and quite frankly, he wasn't sure if he wanted to know. A silver key manifested into reality just then, appearing out of thin air and hovering above the table. Without thinking, Minato quickly grabbed and pocketed the key. If it got him out of this weird dream and back into reality, he was fine with having the strange key.

Igor's unsettling grin softened slightly. "Till we meet again..."

And with that, Minato's vision went black.

Minato couldn't see anything. After leaving that strange reality known as the Velvet Room, he found himself here, in this strange land of absolute nothingness.

Suddenly, he heard a voice.

Time never waits.

It delivers all equally to the same end.

He wanted to speak up, ask this strange voice what was going on, but he couldn't. It was like his mind didn't want to interrupt this strange entity.

You, who wish to safeguard the future,

however limited it may be...

You will be given one year;

go forth without falter,

with your heart as your guide...

Suddenly, pain.

Minato screamed as he felt absolute searing pain. He didn't know what was happening. The pain wasn't coming from any specific point on his body, it just... was. Suddenly, the pain stopped, and he saw a face in the abyss. It was a young woman, around the same age as him. She had auburn hair and wore the female variant of his current Gekkoukan High uniform. She had an exact copy of his beloved MP3 player and headphones, worn in the exact same fashion as himself. Her eyes were what really caught Minato's attention however, being a bright, piercing yellow. Really, if it wasn't for the hair and her eyes, she looked exactly how Minato would picture a female version of himself looking.

His eyesight faded once more, as he began to lose consciousness yet again.

April 6th, 2009.

"Attention, passengers."

Minato opened his eyes blearily as the train conductor finished his announcement. He must have fell asleep.

"We sincerely apologise for any inconvenience caused by the delay. Next stop is Iwatodai."

He sighed in relief. For a moment there, he was worried he might have missed his stop. Pushing himself off the seat, he put his headphones back on and walked to the train door. Glancing down at his MP3 player, he checked what song was playing. Once he saw "Shoji Meguro" listed as the artist, he turned up the volume as loud as it could go. He had bought Shoji Meguro's newest album before he left for Iwatodai, and it has proved itself to be his favourite album yet.

He bent down, and grabbed the bag that rested by his feet before stepping off of the subway and back onto solid ground. Above him he saw a clock ticking away slowly. "Almost midnight." he noted. He moved across the practically empty station, ignoring the few people around him, solely focused on the music blaring from his headphones.

"I will burn my dread..." He muttered the lyrics under his breath. "No soul, robust... huh?" He paused, shaking his now blank MP3 player. Had the batteries died? Behind him, he noticed the lights go out and the nearby ticket machines go dark. He sighed for the umpteenth time as he realised what must of happened. They could have made sure everybody had left the building before closing, but he supposed that he couldn't blame them for closing up at midnight. He brushed his blue hair out of his eyes as he peered up at the large skylight overhead.

Walking out onto the completely empty streets, Minato frowned. Had those coffin-like structures always been there?

...Well, he supposed worrying about them didn't really help matters. Pulling out his map, he began to walk.

With his eyes fixed to the paper in front of him, he walked past many of the coffins lining the street. He had no idea why they were there, but he knew that they definitely weren't there ten years ago. His memories from that time were a little foggy, but he knew that for fact.

After nearly an hour of walking through the empty streets, he finally reached his destination. The dormitory where he'll be living for the time being. Folding his map back up and stuffing it into his pocket, Minato entered the dorm.

Well, he was planning on entering the dorm, however currently he was laying face down on the pavement, with a young girl standing above him, apologising profusely. Pushing himself up off of the ground, he looked at the cause of his current predicament.

A young girl with red hair and an eerily familiar set of headphones.

The girl paused as she saw Minato's face. "...Have I met you before?" she asked, looking Minato over. She was the spitting image of the girl he saw in his dream, although there was one difference. Her eyes. Instead of the bright yellow eyes he saw in his dream, her eyes were a deep reddish colour, shining at him in both worry and slight confusion. She shook her head suddenly, the sharp movement pulling Minato back into reality. "Nah, I couldn't have. Anyway, who are you? You moving into this dorm as well?"

Minato nodded. "Yes, I am. My name is Minato." Minato glanced at her MP3 player. Exact same model as his. The screen on hers was blank as well, he noticed. "And you are?"

The girl laughed as she heard his name. What? His name wasn't that funny was it? Calming down slightly, she looked him over again before beginning to speak. "Oh man, it's like this was meant to be!" Nodding excitedly, she introduced herself. "My name is Minako Yuki! Nice to meet you!"

Minako? ...Maybe he wasn't that far off the mark when he described her as a gender-flip of himself. That said, however, she seemed rather... excitable. Once they had finished exchanging pleasantries, Minako pushed open the doors of the Iwatodai dormitory, Minato following after her.

The interior seemed much more welcoming than the exterior, he noticed, looking around the lounge. It was just as barren as the station, but that wasn't really a big surprise. It was around 1:00, or, well, he assumed it was around 1:00. It was midnight last he checked, and he doubted that he spent more than an hour walking down the street. Still though...

"It would've been nice of them to stay up and wait for us. I mean, we were just moving in and all..." Minako muttered under her breath, voicing Minato's silent complaint.

"You're late. I've been waiting for you."

Minato blinked when he suddenly heard a distinctly non-feminine voice next to him. Turning around, he spotted a child, sitting behind the counter. Shaking his head softly, he snapped his fingers, the contract that Minato signed in his dream appearing before him. Seemingly at his command, the book opened to the page holding Minato's signature. Snapping his fingers once again, two new lines appeared below his name, and a pen appeared in Minako's hand, startling her.

"Now, if you want to proceed," he looked at Minako, gesturing to the contract, "please sign your name there. It's a contract." His constant smile reminded Minato of that old man in his dream, although there was something different about his smile. The boy's smile was soft and kind, contrasting greatly against Igor's inane grin. "Don't worry. All it says is that you'll accept full responsibility for your actions. You know. The usual stuff."

The red head seemed to be rather shaken up by the sudden appearance of this strange child, but did as she was told.

Yuki
Minako

The boy chuckled softly. "No one can escape time." the boy said, his attention now shared between the two students. "It delivers us all to the same end." His focus shifted again, this time to Minato. "You can't plug your ears and cover your eyes."

The room seemed to darken, the shadows in the room closing around the boy, cloaking him in darkness. "And so it begins..." he whispered as suddenly he was no more.

"...What WAS that!?" Minako yelled out, suddenly panicking. Honestly, Minato probably would be as well if it wasn't for the person he saw come down the stairs. She wore a lot of pink, however that really didn't matter to him. What mattered was what she was reaching for.

"Yuki-san..." he muttered cautiously, eyeing the gun the girl had strapped to her thigh.

"Who's there!?" the brunette shouted, glaring at the two from the nearby hallway. She tore the pistol from its holster.

"Takeba, wait!"

The newly identified girl, Takeba, quickly turned around, holstering her weapon. Suddenly, almost as if on queue, all the lights in the lounge flickered on. Minato's MP3 player suddenly began to work again, "Burn My Dread" blaring from his headphones. Glancing to his right, he noticed Minako's MP3 do the same thing, suddenly powering on. Well. That was odd.

He glanced up at his saviour - another young woman, this one with long scarlet hair - as she began to speak again like nothing had happened. "I didn't think you would arrive so late." she said, eyeing the two.

Still somewhat in shock from the events of two seconds ago, he asked rather lamely, "Uhm... sorry, is this the girl's dorm?"

The other red head in the room was left to ask the important questions. Minako's eyes never left the brunette as she asked her question.

"...What's with the gun!?"

A/N: Here we are. We've begun the Journey.

So, this is the first fanfiction that I've made in years, and it's the first fanfiction that I've posted here. I'm kind of nervous, honestly.

I had the ideas for this fic for a long time, it's just now that I've decided that I want to try and put pen to paper (er, keyboard to word processor) and try to make this work. Hopefully this will go well. ...It probably won't, but hey, I can only hope.

One thing that I want to make clear here before I say anything else is that while I'm planning to follow the general plot of Persona 3, I'm going to deviate from it a lot at some points. The fact that the P3MC and FeMC both exist in this story should show that. Don't treat this story as a faithful novelisation of the source material, treat it as a loose adaption at best.

How I'm going to handle Social Links, well, me telling you here would be a spoiler. But, I do want to say here before I do anything that some if not most of the Social Links shown in this story will either be unique to this story or FeMC links that have been adapted for P3MC or vice versa.

...And no, I'm not having FeMC get into a relationship with Ken at any point. I'm sorry to ruin your day, but I'm just not.

If you're still interested in this fic, then... sweet! Please leave a review on this fic, I'd really appreciate it, and I hope you're all having a fantastic day.