Hey everyone, I've decided to write the first two chapters of my story. I noticed that a lot of people were reading the first chapter and leaving it at that. I don't blame you guys, when I reread it, I knew it was absolutely terrible and if it were anyone else's story I wouldn't give it a second chance. And many of you actually did give it a second chance, and although some people left, a few of you stayed and I'm thankful for those I see reading past the first two chapters. This one is for you guys, and I hope you like it better than the original version. Since I've replaced the original, I have to redo the disclaimer. Judaiandjohan does not own Persona 4 or any of its characters. She owns only the plot of this story and any OCs she may include. See you guys at the bottom!
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Everything in the forest was still, nothing daring to move or make any noise. Something was going on and all the wildlife seemed to know to stay away from this area. In the distance the sound of something could be heard making its way towards them and they scattered.
The silence was broken as a teenage boy crashed through the underbrush, his heavy breathing indicating his fear and exhaustion. His brown eyes darted around nervously, looking for any sort of cover, somewhere he could rest for a second without being caught again.
When he couldn't find any suitable cover he started running again. He couldn't risk them catching him, he couldn't go back to that place full of sickness and death. He needed to find shelter and quick, he was running out of energy and his captors were most likely catching up with him.
When he came to a river, he took a short break. He cupped water in his hands and drank it, soothing his burning throat and quenching his thirst. He splashed some of the water on his face and arms before getting up to run again.
The distant sound of howling stopped him in his tracks. They had set the dogs loose and they were now tracking his scent. There was no way he'd be able to outlast the dogs for long, they were a lot faster than humans and he was too exhausted to keep running for long. They'd be on him in minutes unless he found a way to trick them. If his captors relied on the dogs more than themselves for hunting, then all he had to do was hide his scent and lay low.
Glancing down at the river, an idea formed in his mind. He hesitated for a split second before jumping into the river. It only went up to his hips, but ducked down until his body was completely engulfed by the river then popped back up. He spread out his crimson wings to their full length before taking off into the air.
He flew to the closest trees and perched in the highest branch that could support his weight. All there was left to do was wait. Thankful for the opportunity to finally catch his breath, he leaned against the trunk and rested his eyes.
He was jolted out of his light doze by the baying of dogs. He hugged the tree of the trunk as he watched the river. The view wasn't completely clear but he could make out some of what was going on. It looked like the dogs had tracked his scent to the river, but now that they were there, they couldn't pick up another trail.
When the dogs' handlers came to check why the dogs hadn't made any noises, they found the dogs sniffing around, searching for the trail that had vanished. The teenager couldn't hear what they were saying but he could tell from one of the handler's arm movements that they furious.
The sun was starting to set, he hoped they'd give up for the night and give him the chance to run freely. Their night vision wasn't quite as good as his. Granted if there was no moonlight he'd be just as lost as they were, but he could function well enough with little enough light.
After several minutes, the handlers leashed their dogs and abandoned the trail. The teenager sighed in relief as he watched them leave. He waited for a few minutes before climbing down from his perch. Not having any idea where he was going, he decided to walk away from where the moon was rising. The place he had escaped from was in that direction and he had no desire to go back there.
Most of the night was spent trudging through the woods, though sometimes when his legs needed a break he would fly. This however was quite risky since there was possibility that someone would see him. Since he was on foot, he wasn't able to make a substantial amount of progress, but hopefully it was enough for him to rest.
When the sun began to rise, he decided it was time to take a break. He was able to find an abandoned wolf den and decided to use it as his shelter. He followed his own path, creating a gust with his wings to disperse of his scent so any dogs trying to track him wouldn't be able to follow his trail.
Content with his work he went back to the wolf den and crawled in. He was surprised to find that it was actually quite spacious. Although he still had to stay on his hands and knees and the entrance was quite narrow, he was able to go in quiet deep. It even turned a few feet in and opened into a large opening that was several feet wide. The teen was happy with his shelter, it was warm and dry, it was easy to get into but difficult to find if you didn't know where to look, and much better than where he was living before. Perhaps he could stay here and live life in the woods, he could learn how to hunt and track down some water.
He yawned and his eyelids fluttered completely exhausted. He crawled to the center of the room and curled up into the fetus position. He let his wings and tail out, he curled his tail around himself and wrapped his wings around himself. He would have to gather grass to line the floor and make it more comfortable. For now, his wings would have to do, although they would definitely be sore in the morning.
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The teen woke up to the sound of people talking at the entrance of the den. He bolted upright with a soft growl, ready to defend himself if anyone came in. The voices quickly hushed, the teen slowly crawled towards the entrance, every part of him on edge and ready to fight.
When he was able to see the entrance, he saw a pair of feet standing in front of it. When one of them bent over he gasped and tried to scurry out of view. Unfortunately, he was in the narrow part of the entrance and backed right into a wall. When a female's face came into view he was shocked, he hadn't seen many females in his life, and this one was nothing like the others. Most of the females were scientists and were either scowling or emotionless. This one looked just as surprised as he felt.
The female recovered from her shock, and spoke up. "What are you doing in there? Are you okay? Are you hurt?"
"What's up Yukiko? Who are you talking to?" A more masculine voice asked.
"There's someone inside of the wolf den, I can't tell if he's hurt or just scared." The female answered him.
"Really? Let me see." The female moved out of the way, and the other person knelt down to look in the wolf den. The teen glared at the man, not sure of his and the female's intentions. "Woah, you weren't kidding Yukiko. Hey, do you need help?"
The teen shuffled back, although he knew there was no point in trying to hide now. They already knew he was in here, but that didn't mean they could force him out. They would have to drag him out and even then he would fight with tooth and nail.
"He looks really scared Yukiko, maybe he's hiding from someone or something."
"Should we call one of our parents so they can come help him? I mean, they would know what to do if he is running away from home or if he's being chased by someone."
"Yeah, you should call your parents, they'd probably get here faster since we're closer to the inn than to the town." The female stood up and walked away while the male stayed at the entrance, preventing the teen from escaping. He shifted uneasily, were they working with the lab and calling for them to come pick him up? He wasn't about to let them take him back without a fight. He rushed out of the den, catching the male off guard. The teen jumped to his wings and flared his wings out defensively.
The male, who appeared to be around his age, quickly recovered, he stood up and put his hands out. The kid was scraggly, thin, and his skin was a pale sickly color, like he never got sun exposure. His body language was screaming that he was both ready to fight or run in a split second. He didn't want either of those things, so he knew he needed to be careful how he approached him.
"Easy there, I'm not going to hurt you. My friend's calling her parents right now, they'll be able to help you with whatever's wrong."
"Y-you're not with them?" He was startled when the wild looking teen spoke. He didn't expect for him to say anything.
"With who?" He asked, he must mean whoever he was running from.
"The lab, they want me back but I can't go back, they'll kill me." The teen's eyes flitted around nervously as he fidgeted where he stood.
"The lab, what lab?"
The teen was about to answer when the female returned and he stopped. "My mom's on her way right no- Oh hi there." She stopped when she noticed the boy from the cave was out. "Please don't leave, I promise that we can help you." The teen thought for a while before nodding, anything was better than the lab.
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Welcome to the bottom. As you can see, the entire beginning and confrontation has completely changed, let me explain. I came up with the idea for this almost 4 years ago, I was in the middle of my sophomore year. I had seen the animation of Persona 4 and had watched a Let's Play, but didn't have much experience. I had been writing for only a year and a half and wasn't aware of how to write and my plots were mediocre. All the stories I wrote back then have had their plots completely redone.
So any old plans for this story were thrown out the window. For example, Yu, Chie Rise and Teddie were originally going to be humans that were changed into dragons. However, from the newest chapter you can tell that Yu is now a dragon like Yosuke. My original plans for Naoto however do remain, as does the plan to make this a YuXYosuke story. Also, does anyone know if this ship has a name? I know of Sosuke, but since the protagonists name is Yu in a lot of stories, is there another name?
Anyways, that's it for now, thank you guys who gave this a chance even if you read the terrible first chapter before. I appreciate all of you and thank you so much. Love it, hate it, just review it, buh-bye!