From the backseat of the car, I could just barely hear my parents speaking, but I was too tired to understand what they said. We were moving again, something about work. I just knew that we'd left another home.

I dozed off for what I am now sure was a little more than an hour, having a nice dream about a butterfly before being woken up by mom's screaming. I didn't know how I got out of the car, much less pull my sister out too, but I looked back at the car and saw it burning. A figure burst out one of the doors just before the car-

I woke up soaked in the familiar cold sweat that usually accompanies the nightmare that I had come to expect whenever exhaustion overtook me and I fell asleep before midnight. It's something I try to avoid doing. I doubt you'd be able to sleep until it passed either if you'd seen what I have.

I checked my watch, hoping that it was still working. If it wasn't, I was about to have either a very boring hour… or a possibly deadly one. Well, if it's the second it'll at least be interesting for people to try and figure out how I was already dead from blood loss after someone saw me alive and well when my liver temp will indicate that I was already dead.

Good, it's only 22:28, I didn't even sleep through my stop. Would have been kind of embarrassing to show up at the school dorm a couple of hours before school started.

Feeling the train slowing down, I reached to pick up the bag containing the few things that hadn't been sent ahead of me to the dorm. A spare set of clothes, an old picture… and the sheathed sword strapped to my back and hidden by my jacket.

I can understand that you're questioning my sanity after having admitted to carrying a sword around at night in modern Japan, I'd probably feel the same way in your shoes. Unfortunately, I don't have the luxury of appearing sane to people who don't know the truth, I'm too busy increasing my chances of survival.

Looking out the corner of my eye, I saw the shadow of a man contort itself as something went from it down into an alley. No one else, even if they had been looking, could have possibly noticed that. Well, not unless they were good enough to hide from me, but I really doubt there's anyone that good in the area. It's not like those things are uncommon, but they can cause some serious damage, even when they seem not to have real bodies like right now. People that can see them, however, are exceedingly rare. Of all the people in the country, I'd be surprised if the number that would have been able to see that were up to three digits. People that can do anything about it are probably single digit.

I did what I always did when seeing one under these circumstances; I kept walking along the street toward the dorm like the map told me. There isn't anything I'll be able to do about that for more than an hour anyway.

I arrived at my destination with a couple of minutes to spare. I don't think there was an actual limit to when I was allowed to show up, but it wouldn't be a very good thing if I seem to violate the laws of physics by pushing the door open and being on the other side of the room a second later. No thanks, I already spent a year in a nuthouse where the 'specialists' seemed to think of patients as toys, I don't feel like getting thrown to scientists for them to experiment on.

I checked the time on the mp3 player hanging around my neck, and walked into the building. I let out a low whistle. "Nice place."

"I suppose so." I looked around and spotted a young woman with dark red hair wearing a ruffled blouse and a skirt. She almost seemed to have an aura of elegance about her; no surprise considering who she was. "My name is Mitsuru Kirijo, I'm one of the students living in this dorm. You're a transfer student, right?"

I nodded. "Minato Arisato, nice to meet you." Mitsuru Kirijo, heiress of the Kirijo Group that separated from the Nanjo Group back in '97. "Is there anything I need to take care of now, or can I go to bed?" I'm not really tired, well, I am a little, but I really just need to be out of sight by midnight.

She seemed to think about it for a moment before responding, "No, nothing that can't wait until morning. One thing though," she handed me a key, "I wouldn't recommend unpacking anything you don't need right away."

"Why's that?" I asked as I pocketed the key.

"It was a last minute decision to place you here. Since the boy's dorm is undergoing renovations, you'll be given a room at the boy's dorm in the next week or so." She turned and started walking back to the stairs. Assuming she was going to tell me where my room was, I followed her to the second floor. "You're things are in the last room on the right, down this hall. Good night." Before I could do so much as thank her, she continued up to a higher floor.

Oh damn, the time!

I rushed down to the end of the hall, hoping that no one was able to see me. As I put my key into the lock, I felt the familiar sensation. It started with a feeling similar to something pulling on my stomach, followed by a wave of pain passing through my head. It was more severe than usual, causing me to reflexively wince.

Looking around, I saw something that I shouldn't have. The lights in this place are still on and… yeah. I thought I was imagining it at first, but I can hear footsteps from the floor above. Looks like he was right, the Kirijo Group is up to something.

I went into the room and unceremoniously dropped my bag on the bed. I walked towards the window above the desk and looked out. Alright, there's a fire-escape I'll be able to use to get back in.

I opened the window, stepped back, took a deep breath, and dove out; twisting my body so I would land on my feet. "Now, let's find that Shadow."

"Hello? Is that you sis?" I asked as I walked towards the room I had just seen someone's shadow coming from. "Are you in there dad?"

He hadn't been the same since the funeral. I cautiously walked into the kitchen, expecting to find dad or my little sister. I sighed as I saw that bastard lying by the now broken TV, his precious bottle in hand. Damn lush. "Hey Mizuiro… be a good boy, go get dad a drink, will ya?"

I went to the kitchen and pulled out one of his damn beers. The man spends the mornings dead to the world and his nights drunk off his ass. We'll end up homeless if he doesn't start doing his damn job. He and mom were detectives before the accident. Now? He just calls himself a detective and doesn't actually do a thing.

I handed him the bottle of poison. "There's a good kid." He took a sip from his bottle. "Y'know, your sister looks more and more like her every day." I remembered a couple of stories Mom had told me after getting home from work. "Why don't you go get her, I'll teach you two a new game." I don't see this ending well.

23:54

I looked out the window to see a sparkling blue butterfly.

Time never waits.

It delivers all equally to the same end.

You, who wish to safeguard the future,

You will be given one year;

Go forth, never falter,

With your heart as your guide…

I really should be more surprised that a butterfly sent a cryptic message into my mind as it kept pace with a train, but things like that don't really surprise me anymore. That or I'm too tired to care. The last one's probably more likely.

I checked the time on the mp3 player hanging off my neck. You'll see why in a minute. Well, since it might be more than an hour before I can get off, might as well introduce myself. My name's Marina Inoue (No. I have no relation to that VA you may or may not have just thought of. Even if I do sound strangely like her.), I'm in my junior year of highschool.

I guess you could say I'm a little nervous right now. It's got nothing to do with being late; I'm just going to the dorm the new school's assigned me to. It shouldn't matter when I show up either, since they didn't say there would be anyone waiting for me and I have a key. No, the thing I'm worried about is having to spend the next hour in this little metal box.

"We apologize for the delay. The next stop is Iwatodai."

My concerns proved unfounded as the train slowed to a stop and the doors opened.

The world shifted as my foot touched concrete. Everything happened as usual; my music (like everything else requiring power) stopped working, the moon was glowing yellow, and my surroundings had a green tint to them. Did I forget to mention that I won't find anyone walking around? They're all in coffins right now.

I reached into my bag. Oh no, don't tell me I forgot the map.

…

…

I sighed. Now I'll have to wander around until I find the place.

If it weren't for my Persona, I'd be dead. I don't mean that it helped me in a fight a normal person couldn't win either. Only people like me could have survived that.

As I ran down an alley, I saw a young man in a tracksuit with a black liquid flowing down his face.

Of course, I also could have met a fate worse than death.

I followed the trail of black liquid further down the alley as I drew my sword.

I was able to see my target a few meters in, a massive black blob covered in what looked like masks, but I knew better. Those masks were faces, showing a sick and twisted glee as the soul of the guy I'd seen was consumed. If I don't take these things down now, that poor bastard's going to become one of them.

I ran towards the giant mass, sword drawn and a card in hand.

I could hear the two speaking outside my room.

The by now familiar voice of the 'Counselor' I'd been speaking to for the last three months. "The boy just keeps talking about things that happen at midnight, I don't know how he even thinks of these things. People becoming coffins, water turning to blood; it's such a shame to see him like this, the tests show he's got an IQ bordering on-"

Another distinctly feminine voice responded, "I don't care about his IQ. I would like to speak with the patient." I'd heard this voice a couple of times before, but I hadn't seen what she looked like. I think her name was Sona-something.

"Now now, I'm sure there's no need for that, Sonomura-san." I mentally clapped my hands together (unable to do so physically because…). Sonomura! That's it. "It's not like there's anything else to be gained from speaking with him, it's obvious that what happened to his parents was just too much for his young mind to handle. So tragic, losing them like that; Tamaki-chan was a good friend of mine, and for her husband to just disappear so soon." Bastard's just trying to make sure I don't tell anyone about his 'treatment' methods. Forcing sleeping meds into me so they can observe my brain activity during my nightmares is probably illegal.

A voice I didn't recognized brushed off the bastard's attempt at keeping Sonamura from seeing me. "You don't seem to realize who you're speaking to." The man, and based on the voice, I was sure it was a man, showed the 'Good Doctor' something and the door opened amidst his stammering.

I saw the woman, Sonomura, enter out of the corner of my eye. She came over and kneeled down to where I was sitting on the floor. "You're Mizuiro-kun, right? You can call me Maki." Taking my silence as a cue to continue, she said, "Why don't you tell me about these things you see at midnight?"

Without turning to face her, I answered, "Because you won't believe me. Who is it that sent you, that man? Trying to have my testimony rendered inadmissible? If you are, it's too late. I've already told them everything he did."

She was somewhat indignant as she said, "I have nothing to do with Tadashi. I could barely tolerate that sleezeball before he went crazy. And I swear, I won't think something's wrong with you if you just tell me what you see."

"You aren't the first to tell me you believe me," I answered. "And you probably won't be the last, either. Try something else, because pretending you'll believe me is getting pretty boring." A man with glasses came in through the open door, the same man who scared off the shrink.

Sonomura smiled. "I'm not lying when I say I believe you, and neither is Kei-san. We already know what you said about that night after the accident. We think you're like us. We think you have that power." What would that be, the power to make little girls into orphans? "We believe you can because we can do it too." That was enough to make me look up. "Verdandi."

"Yamaoka."

I felt something resonating from them, and looked down to see a card in my hand displaying man with a metal body from the neck down. One of his red eyes was covered by white hair, in a stark contrast to his pitch black face. His head was the only part of him that looked semi-human; though I couldn't see a specific cutoff point because of his blood-red scarf, the rest of him appeared to be made of cold-steel. His left hand was holding some kind of instrument, the right was empty, and his shoulders looked like speakers.

But there's one thing that to this day still confuses me. The four vertical bars across his chest seem almost like a cage, but I can't see what, if anything, is in it. All I see when I look past them is a shadow, like he's a hollow suit of armor.

I'm not sure I want to know what's in there.

As Ares cleaved through the masks of the last pair of Shadows, I went back to check on the guy I'd seen before the fight. The black liquid was gone from his face, and he was sitting on the ground, dazed. I jogged over to help him up, sheathing my sword behind my back before he saw it. "You alright?"

The guy stood up once I was a few feet away from him. "Owwww…" he moaned as he rubbed his head. "What happened?"

I decided on a lie in a second. "I saw some jackass come up from behind and hit you in the head with a pipe. I tried running after him, but he was too fast for me to keep up with." He seemed somewhat dubious, but he accepted my answer. "You sure you're okay? Need a hand getting to the hospital?" Wait, something isn't right…

"Nah, I'll be fine. My family's place isn't too far. Thanks for the offer though. Name's Hayase." He held his hand out.

I took it as I introduced myself. "Well, I'd better get going. So should you."

"I guess so. Maybe I'll see you around." He jogged off as I realized what was wrong. Then I slapped myself in the head for not realizing it sooner. There's no way that guy was just another temporary awakening that the Shadows feed off of, he was too well oriented. And that means… he's lived with this for long enough to accept it. And if he's survived this for that long, he must have a Persona.

Or had. There's a chance that the Shadow consumed his Persona. It would explain why I didn't sense one from him. Of course, it might be a few days before he can summon it again if he does have one. Should I go after him or go back to the dorm? If he can't summon his Persona, he could get killed. But if Kirijo is involved like we thought, then she might know I snuck out. That would cause me a lot of problems.

Sorry Hayase.

As I ran down the street, I found myself amazed at what Persona could do. The power was far more than a weapon, though almost all of them I've seen seem to be based on some form of combat. They also provide a major boost to my physical capabilities just by focusing on one. And by summoning, kaja skills can be used to further enhance my speed, strength, and endurance. They also have healing abilities like dia, which can really speed up the recovery time for injuries. I'd have to answer a lot of unwanted questions if I couldn't heal quickly. I've even seen skills that allow the user to ignore dangerous environments.

Others have innate abilities. Some allow greater tolerance for extreme temperatures, others that block harmful effects of electricity. Hell, I met a guy with a Persona that made him bulletproof. Some people theorize that the abilities of a Persona are based on the mental state of the user. For example, a pessimist would have access to skills based on darkness. But likewise, the mind of a Persona User can also cause things to injure them more than they should. Take me for instance. I've had to work through a lot of shit in my life, and I like to think I'm fairly normal (contrary to most of what you've seen of me). But I still get depressed fairly easily under the right circumstances, so Orpheus would have trouble fighting the aforementioned pessimist's dark based attacks.

Every Persona is associated with an Arcana. Each one of the Arcana is associated with a certain state of mind. People of the Sun Arcana are usually optimistic, Emperor tend to make good leaders, etc. A Person's native Arcana is the deciding factor of what Persona they can use. Most people are limited to a couple of Arcana outside their own.

But I'm not like most people. My true Arcana is the Fool, the first part of the Journey of the Fool that Tarot cards are sometimes known as when in their numerical order. In theory, I can use Personas of any Arcana; though I haven't actually used all of them. I've actually only used a few. Fool, Chariot, Temperance, Hierophant, and Strength. Hell, I've only used one Persona of the Fool Arcana, and it was only summoned once. I could go on for hours about the greater nuances of the myriad powers of Persona, but it can basically be summarized as follows: Personas can be categorized into one of twenty-two Arcana, Fool through World; Personas of the same Arcana have similar abilities; and their skills can have dozens of different effects. Most importantly, Persona Users are extremely rare, and it's even rarer to find one that can enter this world for an hour in between days.

I was pulled out of my meandering thoughts as I saw a figure much further down the street. Before I was close enough to get a good look, I went down an alley and jumped, grabbing one of the fire escapes and using it to reach the top of the building. Proceeding by jumping from roof to roof, I got close enough to make out a few details.

The girl looked to be about my age, had a duffel bag in hand, had red hair and eyes, and was wearing the uniform for my new school. I can't remember the name right now, but I think it had something to do with insurance. I blame the Americans for that.

I'd guess that she just arrived here because of the bag, but she seems to know her way around here pretty well. Maybe she used to live here or something. But there's something more important to consider right now: Does she have a Persona? I tried to check, but she was too far away for my Wild Card to resonate with hers (if she had one).

What I could sense was that if she kept going the way she is right now, she'll turn a corner and walk right into a Shadow. Damnit, I'm not going to be able get there fast enough jumping from roof-to-roof.

I just know I'm gonna regret this in the morning.

I generated a card in my hand, wincing at the by-now familiar feeling of a piece of my soul trying to tear itself loose, and crushed it, exploding into a ball of blue fire that I threw into the gap between this roof and the next. I jumped off the roof after it, curling up into a ball as Ares followed my mental command and used his shield to knock me to the end of the block before fading away. I realized what a bad idea this was when I was about halfway there, as I looked down and saw that the girl had taken a shortcut to wherever she was going by cutting through an alley.

Why do I have this sudden urge to find and kill a butterfly?

Luckily for me, I didn't land in the street on top of the Shadow. The door leading downstairs from the roof stopped me midflight. "Damn you God."

Where'd the butterfly go? I could have sworn it went this way…

I kept walking, coming out onto another street directly in front of the dorm I'd been looking for. That was convenient.

I walked up the steps and opened the unlocked door; I guess they're expecting me. I dropped my bag and reached the counter on my left before realizing the lights still worked. Weird, normally they'd be cut off right now. I wonder if they realize that all their crap runs for an extra hour…

"You're late." There wasn't anyone behind that desk a second ago. Now there's a little boy leaning his elbows on the wood. "I've been waiting a long time for you." But I got here first…

He snapped his fingers and was in front of me. Wait; did my brain just stall or something? He was behind the counter a second ago, now he's right in front of me. "Now if you want to proceed, please sign your name there." I looked at the red notebook on the counter. "It's a contract." The book opened by itself. "Don't worry; all it says is that you'll accept full responsibility for your actions. You know; the usual stuff."

I looked at the paper.

I accept this fate of mine own free will.

Screw this; I just wanna go to bed.

Marina Inoue

I handed the notebook to the kid, who was holding it to his chest like it was the most important thing in the world to him. "No one can escape time. It delivers all equally to the same end…" The contract disappeared in his hand. "You can't plug your ears or cover your eyes." The shadows in the room seemed to move to cover him. "And so it begins."

And now I'm alone again.

This place is weird.

"Who's there!" I turned and saw a brunette pull a gun from a holster on her thigh and aim it at me. With the way her hand is shaking, I don't think she could hit me if I was close enough to reach out and grab it. Instead I took the time to notice that she had legs as nice as mine. Does this school really let her wear that short a skirt?

"Takeba! Wait!" A voice with some authority called out and I saw another girl at the top of the stairs. The girl I'm guessing was Takeba looked up as-

"-and he chained me t-" I hit the pause button on the mp3 player hanging off my neck.

-a girl in a long skirt and ruffled blouse looked down from atop the stairs. For the love of God, someone please tell me she stuffs her bra.

"I didn't think you'd arrive so late. My name is Mitsuru Kirijo. I'm one of the students who live in this dorm."

Before I had the chance to introduce myself, Takeba asked Mitsuru "Who's she?"

"Marina Inoue." Now where's my damn bed?

The two of them kept talking about… something I was too tired to focus on. I heard something about eventually being moved to another dorm. Great, maybe they'll tell me where my damn bed is.

"Is it okay for her to be here?" That couch looks pretty comfy.

"I guess we'll see." She turned to me and finally gave a proper introduction. "This is Yukari Takeba. She'll be a junior this spring, just like you." Unless I'm gonna be using her chest as a pillow and sleeping right here, get to the freakin point.

I'd have ended up saying something along those lines if she hadn't given an almost hesitant, "Hey."

I gave a reflexive "Nice to meet you" without thinking about it. Maybe I should have said something about the gun, but I just can't bring myself to care about anything that won't get me a pillow and blanket right now. I also probably should have paid attention to how she answered.

Then Mitsuru said the magic words. "It's getting late, you should get some rest." Please, please, tell me you didn't just realize that. "Your room is at the end of the third floor hallway; your things should already be there." I love you Mitsuru-sempai.

I followed Yukari up the stairs. "This is it. Pretty easy to remember, huh? Since it's right at the end of the hall." Why did she just start giggling? Did I blank out and miss some joke? "Oh yeah, make sure you don't lose your key, or you'll never hear the end of it. So, any questions?"

"Does that kid live here?" I shouldn't be allowed to talk when I'm tired. I end up saying or doing things that seem stupid even to me.

"What kid?" That answers that; he was just a sleep deprivation induced hallucination. I wonder if my name's scribbled on the counter now. "Hey, can I ask you something? On the way here from the station, was everything okay?"

Aside from the people turning into coffins for an hour like every other night? "Nothing out of the ordinary." I'm used to that happening.

I think she's relieved. "Looks like you're alright."

Why is she relieved?

Well, she was walking around during that, so maybe she thinks I'm like one of those weird people who walk around but don't respond to anything. I saw a guy like that once; he didn't respond to anything I did, not even the blindfold. Yeah, that's probably it.

How long have I been standing here trying to think? Yukari's still standing there, so it probably hasn't been too long, but she's got that look people give me when I spend too much time in my head.

"Well, I'd better get going…" she awkwardly said. Yeah, I've been thinking about this too long.

"See ya later."

She turned back as I opened my temporary door. "Um," Oh come on; I can actually see the bed! "I'm sure you have other questions, but let's save them for later, okay?" She gave a small smile. "Goodnight." I didn't say anything in response. I'm usually nicer than this, but I'm tired.

Hello bed.

Okay, for anyone who read this story before, I apologize for any inconvenience this has caused. When I first started this story, I honestly had know idea how I was going to end it, nor did I have any clear plans for how I would implement certain things. Thus, I removed the old story and am completely rewriting it so these can be implemented in a way that makes sense.