~ Prologue: Bloom of the Flower ~

I still remember that day. To be honest, I had a feeling that I would have had to do something about the Shadow that appeared. I didn't expect how I would be used, however. We had seen horrors beyond our imagination. His dark side exposed to everyone. Shadows by the dozens swarmed into the room we were in, aiming to snuff out our lives.

And then, he came back. Her in hand. I didn't look at him, though I heard his arrival, thanks to everyone else. I was too busy keeping those Shadows at bay along with the others. Then, a horrible cry sounded out. Every Shadow in the room was obliterated – their masks cracked and shattered, they turned into sludge and disappeared in a fine mist.

The sound was loud enough to force everyone in the room besides the boy to cover their ears in agony. I covered my ears as well, though I seemed to have gotten off more lucky than the others. Their ears bled as the sound continued to drill into our heads – one of them even fainted from the noise.

Everyone that was still standing begged for the boy to stop. I remember what I said to him:

"Stop it! You've done enough!"

But to him, it wasn't enough. He ignored our pleas and summoned another of his Personas. It happened so fast, nobody could do anything to stop him. The noise stunned everyone into place. They might as well have been rocks at that point. Since I was but a pebble compared to them, Oumitsunu had no trouble picking me up.

He charged through the darkness and into a room. Lightning danced around the room like it was performing a puppet show. At the centre of it all was a mask – the mask of the Hermit, to be precise. A searing pain coursed through my body unrelentingly, burning my insides and charring my skin. It was hell... It was hell... It was a hell that I was forced through.

To stop that hell, I had to use something powerful. Something forbidden. Something that I knew was dangerous. I didn't care. I just wanted that hell to stop. To stop the pain. My screams were loud enough to destroy windows, loud enough that it could possibly be heard from the other side of the city.

Despite that, I managed to call out those trigger words. The words my mother taught me in order to control this power. Until the time came when I would be able to control it on my own. My mother was always apprehensive about letting me fight the Shadows. I never understood the reasons why she tried to stop me.

In that moment, I finally understood partly the reason why she was adamant about protecting me. It was to stop me from experiencing this hell.

Seeing the thread that composes the Shadow's life, my sword cuts through it like a weaver with its scissors. My mind didn't register this action. My body moved on its own to do this. As soon as the mask disappeared, the storm subsided. The one carrying me vanished as well, sending me falling to the ground. The damage to my body was indescribable. I had fallen unconscious almost immediately after those few seconds.

My mind struggled to catch up to reality. It was still experiencing that hell. What it registered wasn't spine-chilling terror, or the sting of his betrayal, or the unbearable pain that he put me through.

No. It told me that this pain was familiar. It told me that I had experienced this pain before.

But how? Why? When? When would someone like me experience a pain such as this?

I couldn't fathom why I would know such a feeling. It didn't matter at the moment how or why I knew. The stone-cold truth was that he knew full well what he did. He forced me to use something that drained away at my life.

And yet, that was a fate that was set in stone from the very beginning. It wasn't something I could change, even if I had the power to do so. It seemed as though the will of the world was leading me towards that moment. The moment where I would take my first proper step in confronting my destiny.

I didn't realise it then, however. All that was on my mind was one simple thing.

Why? I haven't done anything wrong...

~ Garden of Souls ~

Huh...? Why am I thinking about that day, of all things...?

I slowly opened my eyes as I awoke from my uneasy slumber. I was supposed to be on a train bound for Yasoinaba Station, but instead I found myself awaking in an unfamiliar room, sitting on a wooden chair. From what I could see, the room was tinted a velvet hue that gave the place a warm atmosphere, almost like a bar or dance hall.

The counters, the glasses and bottles certainly helped with the image as well. It was kinda like that bar in the city I used to live in before coming to Inaba.

What was it called again...? Ah, I'm sure I'll remember eventually.

"Welcome to the Velvet Room," an old man's voice spoke out. I snapped to attention and tried to discern where the voice came from. The room I was in was a lot more confined than I originally thought – very narrow, very small. Looking around some more, I saw a row of windows lining the sides.

I took a peek outside and could barely see a thing. A thick layer of fog surrounded this place. I also took not of the fact that we were moving forward through this fog.

Am I in a limo...? Would certainly make sense, considering the size... What am I even doing here anyway?

"It seems we have a guest with an intriguing destiny," the old man spoke out once again. I turned to look straight ahead and saw where the voice came from. He looked really... weird. The bit of white hair at the back of his head, the bulging bloodshot eyes and the... very, very long nose.

Oh, he also wore a black suit, with white gloves and had a handkerchief in the front pocket. Not particularly important, but it was something I had noticed. I was still trying to figure out exactly where I was.

I've seen my fair share of weird stuff, but this takes the gold.

"Who are you?" I asked, trying to keep as stoic as possible. Better not to show emotion and let the enemy take advantage of that, I've always told myself. The old man spoke with one of the creepiest smiles I'd ever seen.

"My name is Igor. I am delighted to make your acquaintance," he said, his hands clasped together and resting below his impossibly long nose. "This place exists between dream and reality, mind and matter. It is a room that only those who are bound by a 'contract' may enter... You seem to be destined to walk a different path however."

I didn't understand a word he said. A room that existed between dream and reality? Trying to make sense out of it for the moment was a futile effort, so I decided to just go along with it. Perhaps it would make sense later, I thought to myself.

"...I'm Yuka—" I started to say my name in return, but Igor interrupted me.

"There's no need to tell us who you are, Yuka Narukami," he said knowingly. I didn't let my surprise show. Instead, I raised an eyebrow. "A previous guest spoke of you. He told us that you possess an... interesting ability."

He pointed to the woman beside him. She had platinum blonde hair, pale skin and golden eyes. She wore dark blue clothing with matching high heels and had black and gold accessories adorn her clothing. She was, to be blunt, exceptionally beautiful. A feeling in the pit of my stomach told me that I had seen someone like her before, but I dismissed it as a coincidence.

"This is Margaret. She's a resident here, like myself," Igor explained. The woman called Margaret turned her head to look at me directly.

"My name is Margaret. I am here to accompany you on your journey," she told me. I relaxed a little, seeing that they didn't seem to want to pick a fight, and focused on asking a very important question.

"What am I doing here?" I asked. Like every mystery I seem to come across however, I get no straight answers.

"That will be revealed to you in due time," Igor responded with that same, almost raspy, tone of voice. "Now then, why don't we take a look at your future?"

With a snap of his fingers, a deck of cards appeared on the round table in front of him. With a wave of his hand, the cards separated, all of them facing down. With the cards set in place, he asked a very simple question.

"Do you believe in fortune telling?"

I didn't answer, tensing up a little as he continued to smile.

"Each reading is done with the same cards, yet the result is always different..." He let out a chuckle. "Life itself follows the same principles, doesn't it?"

I couldn't really argue with that – he did have a point. Igor flipped over the card closest to me and to his right and looked it over.

"Hmm... The Tower in the upright position represents the immediate future. It seems a terrible catastrophe is imminent... The card indicating the future beyond that is..." He flipped over the card on the opposite side. "The Moon, in the upright position. This card represents... hesitation, and mystery. Very interesting indeed." He looked up from the table and directly at me.

"It seems you will encounter a misfortune at your destination and a great mystery will be imposed upon you," he explained. "The coming year will be a turning point in your destiny. If the mystery goes unsolved, your future may be forever lost. My duty is to provide assistance to our guests to ensure that does not happen... But you already have the potential to see the truth of the world around us, don't you?"

Does he know about—?!

My thought process was interrupted by Margaret, who seemed to figure out what I was thinking.

"The power of the Demon's Eyes may be a valuable tool, but be ever mindful of the people around you... The truth you se can sometimes hurt more than the lies," she told me. She kept a straight face, making it difficult for me to discern the meaning from her words.

Before I could respond, the room slowly got darker and darker. It took me a second to realise that it wasn't the room itself that was going dark – it was my eyes slowly closing.

"Wait..."

As my words drifted in the air, the Velvet Room disappeared from my sight.

~ Garden of Souls ~

Ugh... That was a weird dream... How did those people know so much about me? Then again, it was a dream...

I stood up after shaking myself awake and grabbed my bag from the railing above me, between the rest of my luggage, and opened it up. I looked at the only item contained within that bag.

That book... I've carried it with me for so long and yet I don't know everything about it... I just hope I don't have to use this thing ever again. Not to mention...

I zipped the bag back up and flung it over my shoulder. Taking a glance out the window, I saw the bright and luscious countryside. The quiet town of Inaba was my next stop – a chance to get away from the life I lived before. A chance to start fresh. I took my mobile phone out of my pocket and read the last message I received from my uncle.

'Meet us outside Yasoinaba Station at 4 PM.'

I've still got some time to spare... Oh, it seems that we're getting close to arriving.

"Our next stop is Yasoinaba Station. Be sure to take any luggage before departing."

Well... Here goes nothing.


~ Author's Note ~

Hello everyone, and welcome to this unique retelling of Persona 4. I was requested by my friend 'Dad of War' to take over the Persona 4 story he was writing as the sequel to his story: 'Persona 3 – The Alternity Paradox'. So, if you want some more background on our female protagonist here, I recommend you go read that and see what happens. Though I will be covering the major, important events involving Yuka here as well, so don't worry about feeling lost because this is a sequel.

With that said, I hope you enjoy this journey, because it is one that I'll enjoy writing.

Next Time – Chapter I: A World of Fog