Persona 3 – Five Arrows
1: Denial
A/N: So yeah, school's out now meaning that I have more time to do stuff, including write more fanfiction XD When I uploaded Second First Kiss someone I greatly respect, An author named Screaming With Your Mouth Shut, suggested that I should maybe write a follow up to it showing what Yukari does after Minato is gone. I was all like "Cool idea, I'll have to think about it". Then deadlines happened and it was on the backburner :P I had an idea for it now though! Hence this Five-Shot. Expect some possible OOC-ness as well as some other guff. Also, these are quite short. I'm aiming for around 1.5k words a chapter so it should be moderately sizeable by the end of it :) So yeah, Thanks, Screaming With Your Mouth Shut for continuously giving me ideas (This is like the third time now XD) Regardless, Enjoy :)
xxx
You're not dead
You can't be dead
You always find a way
Wake up
You have to wake up
These were the thoughts echoing around Yukari Takeba's mind as she sat next to a bed in the Municipal Hospital. In that bed was the man she'd fallen in love with over the course of the last year as they fought side by side against a threat that could end the world. He'd given his life to ward that threat off.
No, that wasn't right. He couldn't be dead. Could he?
Yukari just sat there, gripping his hand tightly. It was cold as ice, like he'd been gone for years. Then again, he'd been like this for weeks, even when he was alive. She didn't quite understand why. Aigis had explained it to her briefly, saying that he was alive after the final battle purely because of the force of his will, but she didn't care. It was like the world was on permanent mute. Even as Mitsuru stood next to her, speaking to a doctor, she heard nothing. She just stared at Minato's pallid face, gripping his hand, wishing he would open his perfect blue eyes and tell her everything was fine.
That moment had to come. Any second now.
But it never did.
Yukari felt her friend tap her on the back. "Takeba?" she said, concern in her voice.
"Hm?" the archer replied, not turning her head away from Minato in case he woke up.
"We have to go back to the dorm now, there's things that need to be arranged"
"I can't. You go on ahead" Yukari said, her voice devoid of emotion.
"Takeba…" Mitsuru sighed.
"I need to be here in case he wakes up"
The doctor cleared his throat before speaking. "Miss, you're friend-"
"Boyfriend" Yukari corrected him.
"Boyfriend… is not going to wake up. He's gone"
"He has to though…" The young girl said, her eyes still locked on Minato. She could swear that his chest was rising and falling, meaning he was breathing at the very least, if only he would wake up…
"Yukari" Mitsuru said, dropping her normal formalities. "We need to go back to the dorm…" She paused and sighed inwardly before continuing. "If he wakes up, then he'll know where we are, right?"
Yukari thought about Mitsuru's proposal. She wasn't wrong. When Minato wakes up, the dorm is the only place he would have to go.
"You're right… Let's go wait for him there" Yukari said, standing up and letting go of her boyfriend's hand. Before walking out of his room, she leant over and planted a quick kiss on the cerulean-haired boy's lips.
"Wake up soon, Hero" she said, as she withdrew.
As Yukari left the room, Mitsuru glanced worriedly at the Doctor.
"Don't worry" The doctor reassured her. "This is normal behaviour, she'll be fine, just give her time and be there for her. If she starts doing anything strange then give me a call"
"Thank you" Mitsuru said, worry still hanging in her voice. Before she left, the redhead cast one last glance at her friend in the bed, her eyes filling with tears.
xxx
Once the two girls got home, Yukari didn't leave the lounge at all. She alternated from staring at the front door to staring at her phone. On the tiny LED screen, there were the last messages that she and Minato had sent to one another. She was fixated on the last one.
"'Night. Talk to you soon x"
That had to mean something, right? He had to know he'd come back. Why else would he reassure her like that? Any second now, he'd walk through the door or she'd get a message saying something like "Sorry for scaring you, on my way back" or… something.
She was so focused on the door and her phone, she barely noticed Ken had come up next to her.
"Um, Yukari-san? Is everything OK?" He asked.
"Yeah, Ken-kun everything's fine" she smiled. Of course everything was fine, her boyfriend was going to come through the door any second and then everything would be good again.
"Um, you know what I do when I'm feeling bummed?" Ken said. "I go for a walk. I was going to go with Junpei-san up to the shrine to walk Koromaru. You should come with us"
"You go on ahead, I need to stay here. Besides, I'm not bummed, Ken-kun, everything's fine" She beamed. "Enjoy your walk".
Ken frowned before getting up from the couch to report to Junpei, who simply shrugged as they left the Dorm. Yukari continued her vigil once they walked out the door.
xxx
After hours of sitting and waiting, nothing happened. Nobody walked through the door, no messages came, nothing. But Yukari had hope. She knew that her love would return to her. He promised.
"Um, Yukari-chan?" Came a quiet voice from behind her. Yukari had to forcibly tear her gaze from the door to look at the source of it. Fuuka stood behind her wearing an apron.
"I just want to know if you wanted anything to eat?" she asked.
"No thanks, Fuuka, I'm not really hungry"
"Really?" Fuuka asked, shocked. "You haven't eaten anything all day, you'll get sick if you don't eat something…"
"Seriously, Fuuka, I'm fine"
"If you're sure…" Fuuka said as she withdrew from the lounge to prepare dinner. Yukari snapped her neck back to the door as soon as Fuuka's back was turned, wanting to make sure they was no way Minato could sneak in without her noticing.
xxx
Still nothing. It had been hours and nothing. He had to come back, right? He said he would, so where the hell was he? This had long gone beyond a joke…
"Yukari-san?"
Yukari sighed, once again snapping her neck around. This time, she was greeted with the piercing blue eyes of the robot that claimed to know Minato so well.
"What is it, Aigis?" the archer asked, frustrated enough already.
"You have been sitting on the couch and looking at the door for over nine hours. I was wondering if everything was alright? You have not been the same since he left us"
"I'm fine" Yukari spat. Aigis was pretty much the last person she wanted to talk to right now. She had the privilege of saying goodbye to Minato. Yukari didn't get that honour.
"Your tone indicates that is not the case. Forgive me, I am only just now discovering my emotions" Aigis stated in her robotic tone, although it was downplayed somewhat.
"Aigis, just go, OK? I'm going to be fine, he's going to walk through that door any second, and everything will be fine again, so just leave me be" annoyance permeated every single one of Yukari's words.
"Yukari-san… He is not coming back"
She was sick of hearing that. Sick of people doubting her, second guessing her. That's all she'd heard today. She was done with it.
"Yes he is!" Yukari shouted, turning any heads that were around. "What the hell do you know?!" she yelled as she stood up.
"Yukari!" Akihiko said from his position at the dining room table, voiced raised in some attempt to get through to her. "There's no use shouting at her, she didn't do anything wrong! What the hell is wrong with you?!"
"Nothing! I'm fine! Leave me alone!" Yukari bellowed one more time, her face bright red, as she ran up the stairs to her room.
"Yukari-san?!" Aigis shouted after her, as best she could, before she felt a hand on her shoulder.
"I wouldn't bother, Aigis" Akihiko said to her, forlornly. "She's grieving, just give her some space"
"Will she be this way for much longer?"
"Who knows?"
xxx
Sleep finally came to Yukari. She had to concede that eventually she would need to go to bed, she couldn't wait up all night forever. Her dreams, however, were hardly sweet.
She stood in a place she never wanted to see again, a place where she had lost everything to save everyone. She stood, once more, atop Tartarus. The moon was still huge and green, but yet there were no Shadows, no Nyx, no nothing.
Except for a boy with blue hair, and a pair of headphones…
"Hey" he said, smiling, as if nothing had happened.
"You…" Yukari exclaimed, shocked. That was short-lived, however, as she ran over to the young man and embraced him, fully, in a tight hug. "I knew you'd find a way to come back…" Yukari smiled into the crook of his neck.
"I haven't… You're dreaming, Yukari" the boy said, his arms still down by his side and his eyes still staring dead ahead. Yukari let go of her lover and looked him in the face.
"You are going to come back though, right?"
"No"
"What do you mean no… you promised you'd come back"
"I didn't"
Yukari winced. "W-Well what about that text message? The one that said 'talk to you soon'?"
"Yukari, I think you're trying to find meaning where there is none. You know deep down that wasn't a promise, right?"
"I…"
"It's time to move on, Yukari…" Minato smiled.
Then, before her eyes, parts of Minato's body started to peel off and float away towards the large green moon. It was slow at first, starting with his legs, but quickly the frequency and speed at which he was disappearing. Once Yukari noticed what was happening she tried to grab onto him, tightly, once again.
"No! You can't go yet! I'm not ready yet! You have to stay!"
But nothing she said worked. And, eventually, he was gone. And Yukari had to face another day without him.