Jack: Sup bros!
Razz: Sup sis'!
Jack: So, this is both pretty new to us as we write together a fic.
Razz: Sure we gave each other tips here and there, but never did we work together.
Jack: Okay, we still have to decide for a name, right?
Razz: The story or the OC?
Jack: Both?
...
Razz: Yeah...how about the name of one of my own OCs? Here.
Jack: ...Kind of fits in a middle long shot.
Razz: What? Whatever. Our OC will keep a journal, which normally will be shown at the end of the chapter, but for the first one, we needed to put it on top.
Jack: A short description for now: black hair, black eyes (yes, you can't see her pupils), pale skin 1.90 meters high. Clothes right now: jeans, black t-shirt, black vest, black boots.
Razz: We're very creative, thanks.
1) Reality is not enough
Day 6205 04/05/2014 Sa
Today had been my 17th birthday. How pointless. Why am I even still alive? My two only friends are dead for a year now because of this stupid incident. My therapist talked to my parents today, how we were back at step one.
I'm actually only keeping a journal so said therapist shuts the fuck up. But now I can't stop writing every day inside here.
I had another one of those dreams. It's strange and always the same, there're no differences. I'm locked in a pitch black place. I can feel the door, but it won't budge, no matter what I try. I start to give up, when I see an opportunity. There's a crack, just a tiny little crack. A small light-beam blinds my left eye and I cover it with my right hand. I stand up, walk towards the crack and bend down. I can feel the fresh air coming from outside.
I start working on the crack with a bare finger. It hurts, but it surprisingly works. Dream logic.
The crack becomes a hole and I can push my entire hand through. I continue my work, until both arms get through. It is not big enough for my body, so I continue my work. I always have the feeling I'm working for months. And when the hole is big enough and I crouch through it, I wake up.
Closing my diary, I look over to my clock, seeing it was 10 AM. I walked over to my bed, grabbed my vita and started playing P4 Golden. I was never a friend of video games, but my friends were and when they were still alive, they got me into it.
Now that they were dead and I had nothing better to do. I ace every exam and I hate everyone. Why? Just shut up you suckers and be grateful I'm actually telling you this story. I must have played through this game how many times?
Normally such games weren't something to me, you know power through friendship and all, but this game at least manages to pull it off a semi-logical way and the entire series is based off some theories from an actual psychologist and they're very interesting.
If only reality had a TV-World. I'd jump straight through and never come back. Personas are awakened in two (or three) ways: mind breaking events, facing your shadow (both literally and being figuratively) or wild card, thus velvet room contract. I sure know I am not one. Why? I only wear one or two masks in life: depressed and mad. Mostly depressed.
After playing for almost two hours, I switched the thing off and put my hands on my face. Life sure sucked. I should just commit suicide. No, everyone else should just die. They're all annoying, except for those two, but said those two are dead, driven over by some alcoholic douchebag, who is free again and dares to still live at the same rundown place I do.
I should kill him. Life in prison might be better. Then I'll simply kill again and never get out. Yes, that sounds good.
I heard some static all of the sudden. I looked at the TV in my room, but there was nothing. I must be really tired. No, there was static again, but it was not normal black-white static, it was more yellow like in Persona 4 the midnight channel. I looked at my clock and it was almost midnight.
"Huh, go figure."
What was happening? Correct: I was dreaming. Might as well play along. Of course, your thoughts are normally not this clear in a dream, so maybe I was going insane, but what did it matter? I decided to play along as long as the dream would last.
When it was midnight, my TV turned on, although it wasn't plugged in. No person was shown. I touched the screen with my hand and it got through. I was a little surprised that it worked and how it actually felt: like touching liquid electricity. Surprise, huh?
Since I could stick my hand through it, I decided that I might as well completely jump in. Who knows? My shadow might appear.
Surprisingly I landed on both feed, barely feeling the impact at all. There was fog around, white fog. But still I could see as if I was wearing the special glasses and surprisingly I was in the Hollow Forrest, in the middle of the dungeon. It didn't look like in the game, you know Junes signs, tables, chairs and all the other stuff. There were just a few roads and the roads working as the doors in this dungeon. Now, as to how things work in dreams I just needed to think and-
Bingo. A black broadsword appeared in my hands and I was carrying it, like I had done it my entire life. It certainly felt that way. I made some test swings. I didn't stumble, the sword didn't fell out of my hands and it felt light. My swings were accurate and deadly, cutting my imaginary opponents in half.
After getting the hang of the weapon, I walked over to the rope and cut it. My vision blurred and everything stretched. Before I knew it, I was in one of those arenas when you engage the shadows in the game. On cue two Slipping Halberies appeared.
Journal Update Enemies (will normally come at the end of a day; some chapters contain multiple days because we sure won't write for 365 days 365 chapters)
Slipping Halberie
Appearacne: Fake Shopping District; Hollow Forest?
Weak: Zio
Strong: Agi
The very first and weakest enemies in the game. Why they appeared in the Hollow Forest, I don't know, but it was good training.
It took me a little off guard, seeing the shadows appearing right in front of me, and so they had the advantage of the first strike. It was disgusting and didn't really hurt at all. The second one wanted to follow, but I pierced its tongue with my sword. It screamed in pain and wiggled around, not having any control over its body. The other shadow attacked again, but I slashed in a straight way right in front of me, hitting both shadows. The first one was dead and the second was finished within a second by me. Money fell to the ground.
My vision blurred again and I was back, the money still lying in front of me. I picked it up. It were yen notes, three 1000 yen notes. Most detailed dream I ever had. Or was it a hallucination and that was the reason it was so detailed?
I walked into the 'room' and found that weird staircase. Curiously I walked in and all of the sudden I flew upwards, until I was on the upper floor. With a small *thud* I landed on the ground. I walked to the next rope and cut it. Nothing happened.
As I walked on, I spotted a big shadow on the ground, crawling around. So it was like in the game, but then again, why should it be different just because it was a dream? I more or less tried to sneak up on the shadow, but it didn't quite work. It spotted me and crawled up to me in a way so fast, I would have never expected just by looking at the black mass.
Our slashes collided and my vision blurred again. This time I was prepared. It would be really strange if this turned out not to be a dream. Two shadows of the same type. One got a hit on me after my second slash left me a little open. A little bruise on my shoulder, but still nothing to be worried about.
After the battle, I picked up a few more yen notes and continued walking. My shoulder hurt a little, but it was nothing too serious. "Feels pretty real for a dream." Not that it mattered. Even if it turned out not to be a dream, which was wishful thinking, it didn't matter much. The pain was nothing.
Cutting another rope, I proceeded to another 'hallway'. Again the same type of shadows in a group of two. This time I even got the advantage. The shadows were totally confused and just kept flying around a little.
I swung my sword, as if I practiced every day and killed the shadows with a few slashes. It didn't take me much effort for some reason. Duh, dream.
Suddenly there was a voice.
"Come" it said.
I followed the voice's instruction and went down the way. After some time I heard it again much clearer.
"Life is fragile, life is suffer, yet we live, although we die. A forgotten promise, a forgotten duty, will you regain what you lost?"
There was nothing to regain. My friends are dead and they should stay this way. After all, death is the end of all suffering.
"Humans, they're worthless, they're a pest. Everyone should just die."
That was my voice, only it had a dark undertone.
"Why did they die? Why did they have to leave me alone?"
Alone. Perhaps it was my fate.
"No one understands me. No one wants to understand me."
They wanted to be my friends afterwards. But I already saw their true selves.
"I want to die."
I was now in front of 'me'. She was my shadow. She was sitting there on the ground, curled up in a ball and looking up to me with those yellow glowing eyes. She was sad and looked ready to burst into tears, completely different from my emotionless expression. Was this the state of my psyche?
"Why do you reject me?" she asked.
"I didn't even notice." But it made sense. Ever since that one day, I never showed any emotions, aside from losing my composure here and now and becoming violent in the process. I placed myself next to my shadow.
"I didn't want to show any weakness. No that's not it. I just was afraid to open myself up again, only to be disappointed again. And I wanted the rest to feel guilty, so I suppressed every other emotion. Eventually I completely forgot about you." I nodded to myself. "Yeah, that must be it."
"I hate you." she mumbled.
"I know." I answered. "I hate all humans. I'm no exception."
My shadow looked at me straight into my eyes and I stared back. I just noticed, but all of the sudden I was surrounded by shadows. This could be considered bad. I didn't even try to fight back, as they grabbed all of my limbs, making it impossible for me to move. My shadow was now crouching in front of me. She suddenly turned into black liquor and soon it covered my entire body. Said body absorbed the entire liquor and the other shadows let go of me.
"Regain what you lost. Now you have no other choice."
...
I didn't feel any different from before. It was the last time I ever heard the voice of my shadow ever again. I lost something? What a weird dream. I must be on drugs.
The shadows were gone, leaving no trace. And what was all that about? Who knows, it is a dream anyways. So shrugging off whatever transpired a few seconds ago, I continued my walk through this so called forest. I have yet to see a single tree.
I encountered another group of shadows. "This is getting old. Zio!" I shouted the spell on pure instinct, killing the shadow within an instant. I smirked. "Zio!" I shouted again, finishing off the last shadow. A blue stone fell to the ground. I picked it up. It looked like it was filled with some kind of liquid.
Soul drop.
It just appeared in my mind out of nowhere. So this is how a soul drop looked like, huh? I put it away in my pocket. I would find out how to use it later.
I found the stairs, but something was different about them, mainly fog came out of them. After hesitating for a second, I walked inside and my vision became black.
Journal Update Places
The Hollow Forest, a supposed to be closed realm, yet I found myself there. I don't really know the purpose of this place, but if I ever feel like disappearing out of everyone's life, I'll make sure to come back.
Speaking off, later I may be on the party to save that Marie girl.
When you enter the dungeon normally you'll have to use whatever you find to go through it. Your normal stuff will disappear and after every battle a certain percentage of your sp is missing. I didn't feel it the first time I went through it.
XXX
The next moment I found myself on a walk path, the sword still in my hands. This was kind of bad, dream or not, it would be better if no one saw me with that thing. And it was gone, just when I thought about it. Mentally slapping for my stupor (since everything you think happens in dreams) I walked down the path simply following my gut feeling.
I walked for fifteen minutes until I arrived at a place, where I could overview a town. It looked somehow familiar. Now I got it. This must be Inaba. There was the river, this large building there must be Junes, and it totally sticks out. There's the living area where the protagonist resides. And that was all I could make out.
"Too good to be a dream." I sighed. As long as it lasted, I could enjoy it and when it turned out to be real, well, even I cannot resist wishful thinking. I walked the path down around the hill and came out at a playground.
There was no one there, so I simply continued walking the way my gut feeling told me to do. Eventually I came out at the gas station. Perfect, I was hungry anyways. I went inside and looked around the stuff they had.
"Okay, for some reason I can read Japanese."
Well it was only to my advantage. I bought a sandwich and a canned drink and walked outside, sitting down on a bench. I smiled at the reaction of the man behind the counter as he saw my complete black eyes. I never bothered buying lenses.
A few people shot me curious glances and children mainly walked a little faster when I looked directly into their eyes. I threw the garbage away and thought about what to do next, when I noticed this girl wearing pink clothes. Ah, it was Nanako. She carried a plastic bag in both of her hands. She carefully looked left and right before crossing the street. Allowed was 30 (I don't know if it was miles or kilometers per hour), but it was like history repeated itself.
There was a car driving really fast down the street and it didn't bother slowing down.
"WATCH OUT!"
I hate humans, but children are something else. They're still oblivious to what was going on in the world. It contradicted my regular opinion on humans and my general way of thinking, but I still thought this way.
I ran towards the girl, who just noticed the car approaching her. I'd have never done that normally, but I moved on instinct. I shoved Nanako out of the way, who screamed the instant I did this to her. The next moment, the car hit my legs, throwing me on the car. The car stopped the instant it hit me, throwing me on the street. It all happened so fast, I noticed the pain going through my body after I hit the ground. Especially my legs hurt. They must have been broken. I screamed.
Faintly I heard the car driving backwards, hitting another car in the process and then driving away, only to crash into a wall. I probably would have laughed, if it wouldn't be for the pain. All my other senses were overwhelmed afterwards. I barely noticed being carried into an ambulance and brought to hospital.
At some point I must have lost consciousness.
XXX
"She's what?"
"She's recovering faster, than humanly possible. It sure will take a few days, but her legs are going to be healed soon. If we would interfere now, we would only slow down the process."
"Hmm."
I woke up as I heard the voices talking. I didn't bother opening my eyes and just used the time settling the information. This little 'accident' had felt way too real to be a dream. So I was in Persona 4, with strange powers and no papers whatsoever.
I hissed as I suddenly felt pain jolting through my legs, giving away I was not asleep. I opened my eyes and tried to get up, only to feel more pain, this time coming from my chest. Right I was hit on more spots, than just my legs.
"You're a-AHH!"
Normal reaction when someone sees my eyes. Looking down at me in horror were a doctor and detective Dojima.
"H-her eyes!"
"They're natural." I hissed, still recovering from the last wave of pain, gritting my teeth. The two looked at me dumbfounded. "What are you looking at, suckers?" I hissed, bringing them out of their stupor. Dojima regained his composure the first and looked at me more or less normally.
"How are you feeling?"
"Fucking pain." I simply stated. "You better got the guy or he's gonna die a very horrible death. So what did you say about my legs?" I asked the doctor.
"Oh...well, it seems as if...your body is recovering really fast, it is almost visible."
"That doesn't make any sense." I hissed and groaned as another jolt of pain went through my body. The doctor put a hand on my shoulder. "You should rest for the time being." he instructed me. I knew that, but I needed to make sure I didn't know a thing about my unusual fast recovery.
"I have no way in paying you. I'm illegal in this county." I never lie and it was better to come out straight with the facts. Technically I was illegal there, having no papers whatsoever. The catch was, I'd be illegal even in my home county, having nothing to identify myself.
"What do you mean?" asked the detective.
"What I mean, sucker. I never lie. I have no papers, no identity nothing. Urrgh. And before you ask me why, I won't tell you. Urrgh."
"You should-"
"I need to make things clear, sucker." I interrupted the doctor. "So, you can already prepare throwing me out of Japan." I finally finished, before closing my eyes and taking some deep breaths.
"Hmm."
I didn't really noticed what was going on around me and I didn't really care. I couldn't sleep, because I was focusing the entire time not to move my body, except for breathing, which was pain enough. I didn't know how much time passed until the door to my room was opened again and two sets of footsteps could be heard. One of them was at a faster pace. I opened my eyes and looked to the side.
Nanako and Dojima were visiting me. The girl gasped as she saw my totally black eyes, but stood her ground and continued walking until she was at the side of my bed. Dojima placed himself on a stool and took Nanako on his lap.
"How are you feeling?"
"Same as before. Sorry about earlier."
Dojima nodded and took out a book. It was all too familiar. "Is this yours?" I nodded. It was my journal.
"One of the officers found it on the street. Don't worry, we didn't look into it." he reassured. I nodded again.
"By the way, I'm Ryutaro Dojima, a detective. This is my daughter Nanako."
Nanako blushed and looked away. "'lo. Umm...thank you." I almost didn't hear her.
"Claire Nights, from America." I replied. I hissed again, when my body acted up. "Are you alright?" Nanako asked worried. I shook my head slowly, placing my head back so I looked up at the ceiling. In this position I felt less pain. "I...better stay this way."
"I understand."
My stomach grumbled. I breathed out through my nose. Dojima chuckled. I wanted to glare at him, but thought it over.
"What happens to me now? You know about earlier?" I asked not looking at him.
...
"I can't say now."
XXX
Eating turned out to be a challenge. In the end the doctors needed to feed me like I was a baby. And about everything else I better don't talk about. My journal had for the next five days only one sentence written inside: Suffering in hospital.
It was on day 6211 I was allowed to write in my diary again actually. I filled the gaps with the little stuff I had experienced and opened up two more sections: enemies and locations. I wrote a short summary about the shadow type I encountered and the Hollow Forest.
The past days Nanako visited me daily, although we barely exchanged more than a few words. My unnatural fast recovery somehow doesn't get the attention you'd expect it would get. I didn't complain.
This time Dojima visited me. The past 5 days he wasn't there, probably because of work and looking info up about me. My legs were almost all healed up. I had to wait only one more day.
"So what will happen to me?" I asked not looking away from my journal. I was drawing a sketch from the shadow I encountered, which would be colored later.
"Straight to business I see. Well, there's one thing."
"You searched worldwide and didn't find anything?" I asked. I even gave him my fingerprints and DNA.
"...Exactly."
"I never lie. But if I tell you, you'll bring me into an asylum. End of story." I struggled with the tongue. I didn't know how long I should make it.
"Not very cooperative, are you?"
"Either that or Asylum. I actually haven't talked this much in years."
...
There was a long silence between us. I finished my drawing, closed the book and put it on the nightstand. I looked at Dojima and hold his gaze.
...
...
"Hmm. This is not looking good for you, you know."
"Detective, up until I got here, I had no official records. It was like I didn't even exist, which is almost impossible in our society. You have to look it from my point of view. I have no existence, meaning I have no way of proving anything I say to you. Not only that, but you can't even shove me away to America, because they have no records of me. So, are you going to lock me up because I never existed? As I said, my story is so impossible, I would be dubbed as crazy, so my lips are sealed."
Another heavy silence hung in the air. He stared at me and I stared back with my expressionless face.
Eventually a sigh escaped his lips. I won.
"I see."
...
...
"I haven't told anyone anything about you and your...strange body..." he struggled finding the right word. "A-anyways, I have yet to thank you for saving my daughter. Is there any place you live right now?"
"No."
...
He scratched the back of his head. "I guess, I'll take you in then."
"Are you sure?" I asked. "Can you afford it? A detective doesn't get paid that much from the limited knowledge I have."
Dojima waved off. "I don't know what is going on, but this is the least I can do as a thanks for saving my daughter. Aside from this, my instinct tells me to do so and so far it never lied to me."
I chuckled, I couldn't help it.
"I guess I have to thank you now. Huh, never expected my birthday to be like this."
"It's your birthday?"
"The day I got hit, I turned 17." I informed him.
"I see. In any case, the doctors told me you can leave tomorrow. And you have no idea why you're recovering so fast?" he asked.
"Well, I had my black eyes my entire life, but I broke my legs before and it took more time for them to get fixed." I said. If Dojima was as good as a detective, as I thought, he should notice the small contradiction. It can't be seen directly, but it is there, although I also have an explanation for it. But I never lie. I don't even joke.
He spotted it, I could see how his expression changed, but he didn't press. Maybe he knew pressing wouldn't bring him anywhere or maybe he stored it in the back of his head and would gather all my slip ups until he got a picture. I had to be extra careful in the future.
Day 6211 04/10/2011 So
Today Dojima visited me. After a little discussion he gave me the opportunity to live inside his residence. Naturally I took or else I'd have to spend my time in the TV-World, with Teddie to top it all. Turned out he already prepared a high school uniform for me. That sucker planned from the very beginning taking me in or maybe when he confirmed I had no identity.
But seriously a detective breaking the law and taking me in, someone he knew shit about? There has to be more to this MY gut feeling is telling me so. Funny how life turned exciting all of the sudden. I can summon a sword at will use spells (note; make extra section) and my shadow merged with me.
Cool.
Update Magic
I can only use Zio so far. I don't know how to learn new spells, but I better find out soon.
Zio Light elec damage, one foe
I closed my book and started eating. The food was better than in the last hospital I had been, meaning it doesn't smell. It was cloudy outside, but it didn't rain. Should I do anything to safe someone? Well in my condition I can't safe the first victim. My legs would be fine, but you can't do exercise just after your broken bones got fixed. But I should at least attempt in saving that Saki girl. Plan set, I finished eating and went to sleep.