warning for canon spoilers

The world is a piecemeal collage,

bound by the threads of life.

We dangle strength

From the memories held and abandoned

By strings without name

To you, we offer one year's time.

With your heart as your guide

Go forth and seek what has been lost

And create it anew

chapter one - down the train tracks

?,?

"It's dangerous to sleep on the train, you know."

Mikagura Mirei awoke with a start, purple eyes flashing to the person sitting next to her. They smiled, eyes solemn and almost gentle through their blue hair. Her dark fingers curled over the case of her laptop in a protective gesture. Then her free hand went to her warm forehead and she shuddered with a heavy chill. The boy frowned.

"Are you well?"

Mirei found herself smiling. Her guard hadn't dropped, but perhaps her sanity had a little. "Usually not." The truth of this was almost uncanny. She didn't have a body to help and keep healthy, only a form to maintain. At least, that was as far as she knew. Her memories were jumbled up at best, due to circumstances beyond her control. Thinking about that might prove to be a pointless effort. She would just have to see.

Instead, she returned her focus to the young man beside her. His grey eyes were intent on the old MP3 player screen, tapping out a steady rhythm with long, pale fingers.

"Who are you?" she said after a few minutes. He paused to look at her, lowering the earphones. He smiled a bit.

"I suppose you wouldn't remember." His voice slowed, deepening like fingers touching the bottom of a pond. "You've been working hard all of this time after all. It's only natural that you would have consequences like this. As you and Igor tried to tell me, 'we must take responsibility for our actions.' I didn't take you seriously until towards the end, I think."

The name 'Igor' made her stomach flutter with anxiety, but she pushed it away to look at him still. Look at the dark colors of his clothes, threadbare with multiple washes and resewn from tears and rips.

He's holding her hand, showing her how to really dance, his blue school coat is a blot on the bright colors of pink and grey. It melds with his hair and he almost smiles and tugs on the hat she wears. Only one other brings this sort of cheer out of him, she notes, which is unusual because she is always cheerful in her own way.

He's using his jacket as her pillow. She's petting a small grey dog who licks her and noses her with gentle awareness. He knows what she is, he knows better than her.

He's unbuttoning his dress shirt, he's embarrassed without a change in the lines of his mouth.

His face is made of stone and he is staring blankly forward. She touches where his chest is carved and reaches in and in. She is the Universe. She is aware of it all once again.

She is falling. A woman is screaming. She is falling. Her glasses are lost and she is falling through a sea of numbers.

She is unraveling.

"Indeed we must," she finally said, mouth dry. "Still, your name would be appreciated."

He smiled a little. "Yuki Makoto."

The name opened a hundred doors and she felt her smile soften for reasons she didn't understand. "It has been a while," she finally said, as if the memories made sense that she could gather up and compartmentalize away. "I suppose I must have succeeded in my endeavor."

"For the most part," Makoto agreed, nodding at her with a respectful little grin. "I'm still recovering of course, as are you. You have been wavering between existences for a long time, but it seems you've settled on one, huh?"

Mirei looked at herself, at the purple hair and twists of her clothes. There were odd memories associated with them too, of people close to her appearing age and giant monsters, of friends, like the angel and devil on her shoulder. As she looked about, glittering blue wings fluttered past her nose, alighting on her right shoulder.

A butterfly flaps its wings and causes a hurricane.

She smiled and sighed to herself. "It appears that is the case."

"Good," he said. He opened one hand and a blue file swiveled out from the palm, pen floating beside it. "Then I think you know what this is, don't you?"

Mirei took it and the then offered pen, and she smiled. She thought of blond hair and mechanical arms. She thought of grey and blue and a flashy pair of goggles. "'I chooseth this fate of my own free will,'" she read aloud, just to be safe. Accept responsibility for your actions.

Indeed. That was something she knew how to do very well, after all of this time. She signed and Makoto took it back.

"And now it begins," he mused, and when he looked up at her, his grey eyes were cat-yellow. "Doesn't it?"

"It does," she said, and an announcement began to blare over their heads. The lights of the city began to wink into view, one at a time. "I hope to see you soon."

He vanished the file and pen away and rose to his feet. "I think we will. Later then?"

Mirei dipped her head and closed her eyes. "I'll see you later."

The blue butterfly flapped from her shoulder, wings moving to the sound of the mechanical announcement of now arriving in Kyoto.

Her destination was a long way off, but that didn't mean others couldn't join her.

April 2013

Taiga was having too good of a day.

He had gotten up on time. He had managed to eat the healthy breakfast his mom had recommended. Heck, he even had his uniform ready. High school wasn't going to stand a chance. He swallowed his last bite of toast and went to head out, blue-grey spikes even tamed from their typical bedhead disaster. Note to self, just water is fine. Not crisco. Never again with the Crisco.

He hurried out of his dorm bathroom. Today wasn't a big deal. First days were short at his school, but he still had a long day ahead of him. He sure hoped the manager at the cafe hadn't changed his mind again...

At the sight of his dinged, slightly garish goggles, he hesitated. Taiga had been trying to get rid of the things for about a couple of years now. He had wanted to come to high school back then looking a bit less like the nerd he was, even if his insides hadn't changed. It would look good for jobs and the like and all. But try as he might, he could never let them go. It would make his heart sink to even consider them in the garbage.

That in mind, Taiga gave up and placed them to loop around the strap of his bag. If it looked weird, too bad. At this point, he really ought to stop worrying about his academic reputation. If it was doomed, it was doomed a long time ago.

He hurried to the train station, eyes intent on the traffic. At least Iwatodai was less crowded than home, not by much.

Just had to get through today and then the rest of the week. No pressure, none.

He felt something alight on his shoulder for a moment before it passed him on by. His eyes glimpsed blue sparkling wings. And then it was gone.

What might have been a butterfly vanished in the wake of his best friend's face as he tugged on his uncomfortable jacket collar, his mouth twisted in irritation. It was just hot enough not to need the thing, but the dress code was the dress code. Besides, Niko hated heat in general. Taiga had no idea what his problem was. He waved his hand in his general direction and gave a shout of greeting. It took Nikolai a moment to see him. Considering the guy had grown to over six feet since the onset of puberty, it was no wonder the guy hadn't been able to see him. Taiga tried not to grumble. It wasn't like either of them needed to stand out any.

Niko moved over, parting the sea of people with ease and answered with distaste. With the talent of a long since uncomfortable and accepting person, Niko ignored it. Nikolai had his hair back in a small ponytail, having grown it out slightly since his father started spending more time at home. RIna had joked that he was in his rebellious phase forever. Taiga just figured he didn't feel like getting it cut.

The two of them gave each other a companionable shoulder bump. It got some looks. It wasn't that they were too young to care, they just didn't. "Good few days off?" Taiga asked, hurrying to secure a spot for the oncoming train.

"All none of them," Niko deadpanned, eyes completely brimming with amusement. "RIna blew up my phone."

"Literally or figuratively?" With Shinomiya Rina, either was completely possible, the math and science nerd that she was. She was the only one they knew, lazybone or not, that they knew earned that stereotype of top of the class. It was almost annoying.

Niko grunted. "She tried literally." He shook his head, making to push through the crowd. "She was keeping something secret. I didn't think she could actually do that."

"You're so nice man," Taiga deadpanned.

"For god and country." They ducked onto the train, finding what few seats were available and quickly folding their legs. Niko almost looked like an overgrown kid. "What's it so crowded for today?" he grumbled, shaking his head in exasperation.

Taiga shrugged. "Think some alumni might be coming by or something. That or I think Aegis-san said something about a lot of dorm mix ups this year, 'cause they switched computer systems. I think." He shook his head and shrugged. "She said she wasn't really happy about it in any case. It made it more difficult to keep an eye on the dorm…" He trailed off at the sight of Niko just looking at him, calmly appraising his best friend like he should know something he didn't. Taiga's light skin flushed with embarrassment. "Dude no."

"Good."

Taiga huffed a bit, fiddling with his goggles. Yes, Aegis was nice and cute and awkward and sometimes said things that made no sense, but that didn't mean anything. It certainly didn't mean anything that there was a girl's email address in his phone with emails in it that were similar that he didn't know but for whatever reason didn't want to delete, nope, not at all. She was an alumni and a college student, besides. It was awkward at best. "You're so supportive man."

"It's part of my duties for the new year." Niko cast around for a change of subject. "You hear anything from Yuuya?"

Taiga shook his head no. "Barely a thing. I'm not sure if he'll be back at school." Hell, Akiho didn't even live near them to go to their school, though she supposedly had the grades for Gekkoukan. Taiga had never seen her transcript so he would just have to believe her.

Niko let out a sigh. "I dunno man. We really should call somebody."

Taiga shook his head. "Not going to get anything out of him. GIGO's too big anyway. Between them and Kirijo, Japan's under an iron fist of economics." He wrinkled his nose. He wouldn't have talked about things like that back in middle school. Growing up probably encouraged that out of him. Eurgh.

But there was nothing he could do about that now. Days were passing by and life was changing. He just had to be optimistic that it would be for the better.

The Digivice app beeped softly on his phone, unheard over the sound of the trains.

A/N: You know what I blame for this? I blame the Persona 3 movies. I saw the last one and just melted into my blanket. I cried. I tend not to cry at much of anything. But it took me a while to get this to you guys and now here it is!

This takes place after Persona 4 Arena Ultimax and Dancing All Night and post-Decode canon. However! You lucky ducks won't need to really get Decode canon yet because it's not available to anyone yet! That all said, please read and review! It is greatly appreciated and really helps me as a writer! Have a good one!

Challenges: Crossover Boot Camp prompt - route, 100 prompts, 100 MCs prompt 'sweetheart', Gameverse Boot Camp prompt 'possess', Epic Masterclass (World) 6. crossover prompt, Diversity Writing (Game/Gen) M8, and Crossover Big Bang