A/Note: I have never written a Persona 3 fanfic before. This is my first one, and it just had to be a chapter fanfic. I expected my first Persona 3 fanfic to be a one-shot. Well, I played Persona 3 four times almost 5 because of P3P. I have to admit it's easier to do all the S. Links when the stats are maxed out, because I just started playing the girl. Playing the guy first made things a lot easier. Well enough with my ramblings. Please enjoy this fanfic.
Chapter 1
Tartarus isn't a fun place. The shadows that haunt the halls seem to never give in to the fact that the SEES members must go on. Yet that one day when they went to Tartarus something was off about the Shadows. They weren't being constantly pursued by them. They were leaving them alone as if they all were frozen in time. The Persona-users were unsure what was going on. The leader looked at one of the shadows that was staring right at him, but didn't do anything.
"What the hell is going on," wondered Junpei.
Mitsuru called upon their supporter, "Yamagishi, what can you sense that is causing this behavior?"
They stood there awaiting her response. She must be concentrating on finding out what's ahead of them. The leader went up to the Shadow that was just staring at him. The Shadow didn't budge from the spot as he came closer. They were practically almost to the next floor when they realized this strange anomaly. A voice sounded within each of their minds.
"I don't sense anything up ahead that would cause this. But I'll continue to scan the upper floors to see if this continues on," Fuuka responded unsure of herself at the moment.
The leader answers her, "Fuuka, keep doing what you can. We need you to guide us to the top."
"Alright. If there is anything else you want to know, please, get in contact with me," Fuuka agreed with sense of worry.
Akihiko sighed, "It seems that we won't get much of a challenge from them for now… Damn it."
Junpei looked at the leader, "What the hell should we do, Minato?"
Mitsuru nodded, "Yes, what do you think we should do? You are the leader; you are to make this decision."
Minato stood there putting his sword on his side, "I don't know, but I want to know if this is happening on the lower blocks that we've already passed. Fuuka, I need you to tell the others to go through the lower blocks. If they see the same thing as us, then this phenomenon isn't just happening on the higher levels."
"Alright, I'll tell the others the plan," Fuuka communicated back.
Akihiko put his hand on his shoulder rolling it a little, "This is one bizarre night."
"Truly tonight is. It seems even if we fought the Shadows, they wouldn't even fight back against our attacks," Mitsuru shared the thought with the team.
Junpei smiled warily, "But at least we could kick some ass because of it."
Minato looked at Junpei, "Would we gain anything from the battles? I don't think so, Junpei."
As Junpei was about to say something, Minato started walking calmly to the stairs. The other three members started walking with him. They didn't understand what was going on, but it would make it easier to advance to the top. They advanced to the next floor seeing the same thing from last. They continued to walk towards the next pair of stairs; they noticed that there are rows of Shadows waiting for them to proceed. The Shadows were staring at them as they walked, but they were frozen there as well.
They stopped near the stairs and turned around to look at the scene. Junpei looked at the Shadows noticing no difference in their empty eyes. Minato put his free hand on his friend's shoulder. Junpei looked at his friend, as Minato nodded to him, with Junpei nodding back. Akihiko and Mitsuru waited at the top of the stairs for the two members that were saying things in their eyes at one another. The four members stopped as they saw a shadow staring at them at the bottom of the stairs.
"This is getting a little creepy, like a damn horror movie," Junpei said with slight shiver.
Mitsuru put her hand on her forearm, "I see your point, Iori. It is uncomfortable for them to stare like that."
"Fuuka, did you get anything," Akihiko asked the sensor Persona-user.
Fuuka's voice appeared, "I still don't sense anything."
"What about the others," Minato asked.
"They are having the same encounters as you guys," Fuuka told them.
The four members looked at one another concern written on their faces. They didn't know who the enemy was. They weren't sure if it was a Shadow or not. If Fuuka couldn't even sense the presence, then it was up to them to find out who it was. Akihiko was about to take a step forward, Minato had stopped him from doing so. Minato looked into Akihiko's eyes and shook his head.
"I think we should wait for the others to come up to us. We don't know what we're up against. We're going to need the backup," Minato said worrying for what's lying ahead.
Akihiko turned to the group, "We've made it this far."
"He has the right idea, since we have no idea what the enemy is," Mitsuru agreed with Minato.
Junpei made a cheesy grin, "Does that mean we are camping out up here?"
Minato nodded.
"Sweet. Too bad the fun will be ruined by the Shadows that are around," Junpei said with his grin suddenly settling away as he noticed a Shadow.
What else can they do? The Shadows are acting strange to where their actions are the same as the ones below them. They are acting as if they were frozen to the spot. If they tried to fight one, they probably wouldn't do anything back. All they're doing is watching, staring, and being absolutely still just like a statue. It was something they couldn't fathom. SEES has never seen such an occurrence before with the Shadows. Neither one of them could figure this out. Minato assumed that the enemy would be dangerous, in which they need backup for this fight. But even the leader is unsure of the situation the most. He didn't want any harm coming to the others if it wasn't needed.
"How long do you think it's going to take everyone," Junpei questioned anyone willing to answer as he sat down on the ground.
"Who knows? They probably already know to meet up with us," Akihiko answered getting himself comfortable on his place on the ground.
Mitsuru sat on the ground, "Most likely it won't be long since the Shadows are not reacting."
"This is sort of making me uneasy too," Minato muttered to himself as he looked at one of the Shadows eyes.
Junpei rubbed the back of his neck, "So, to make this a little easier to bear. I was planning on seeing Chidori tomorrow."
"Going to see her at her grave, huh," Akihiko smiled a little.
Junpei smiled with a blush forming, "Yeah, even though I have to speak to her spirit, but still feels as if she can still see me. I must sound like a naïve kid."
Minato smiled, "That's a good thing, Junpei. Don't ever let her go; even in her death she is still with you."
Junpei's face went completely red, "Yeah, you're right. Damn, Minato, when did you start sounding like you came from a damn romance movie?"
Minato laughed a little, "Since I had experience, in the things that you never had experience in yet."
Junpei's mouth slammed shut as he was trying to find words to speak. Mitsuru looked away from Minato. Akihiko just chuckled at Junpei's expression. Minato looked at Akihiko noticing that he thought Junpei's reaction was hilarious. He barely had time to hang out with some of his dorm mates so it makes him feel happy that he gets this time with the two senpais. He looked at Junpei with slight smile.
"Wasn't that exactly what you wanted to hear?"
Junpei was able to find words, "Y-Yeah, I didn't think you were going to be brave enough to say it in front of Mitsuru-senpai. Dude, how many girlfriends have you had?"
Minato shrugged, "Don't know. There really isn't a reason to keep count."
"Um, am I interrupting," Yukari asked as she walked up to them.
The four members that were sitting there waiting looked at Yukari. They noticed that she was the first one to show up. The archer looked at them a little confused with the situation herself. She looked at the Shadows surrounding them, receiving chills up her spine as she noticed that a few of them were staring in their direction with no ambition to attack. She sat next to Minato feeling safer next to him. It also didn't help much that she was a little frightened about this.
"So, what were you talking about," asked Yukari as she got comfortable.
Junpei smiled, "Do you realllly want to know, Yuka-tan?"
"Not really, if you say it like that," Yukari answered.
Junpei sat relaxed a bit, "We were talking about how our fearless leader has experience."
Yukari looked a little confused, "What?! Oh, that kind of experience…"
"Yuka-tan, you're blushing really bad," Junpei poked fun at Yukari.
Yukari lost her cool, "Shut up, Stupei!"
Minato looked at Yukari, "Yukari, everything was the same all the way here right? Fuuka told us that you guys were running into the same occurrence."
"Yeah, I don't get what possessed them to actually lead me to the stairs," Yukari said getting back to normal while shivering by the sudden reminder.
Minato noticed her reaction, "Do you have any clues to what's making them act this way?"
"Not really. I tried fighting one, but it didn't react, so I quit the fight," the girl in the pink explained.
Minato sighed, "Great, no leads."
Mitsuru looked at Minato, "Don't worry, maybe the others may have found clues. Takeba, where did you start?"
"Somewhere near the third block," Yukari answered.
Akihiko put a hand on his knee, "It must have been some trip."
"Yeah, it was. That reminds me, Fuuka's heading up with Ken. She figures that she would be a better help to search for the enemy this way," Yukari remembered.
They all knew that Fuuka was very worried since she couldn't sense the enemy. Their safety is her high priority. They all started to look at the Shadows that were still in the same spots looking towards their direction. Minato knew that they wouldn't have to worry about Fuuka being in danger because of this, but at least Ken would be able to protect her if needed be. Mitsuru looked at one of the Shadows red eyes seeing her reflection within them. She quickly looked away showing no difference in her cool attitude. Yukari looked at her noticing that she looked at one of the Shadows.
"They're really creepy like this, huh," Yukari mentioned unsure how to make the atmosphere a lot easier.
"Let's keep our minds off of them… That's why Junpei changed the conversation. We do have to wait for the others," Minato said wanting to change the topic.
Yukari nodded in agreement, "Alright. What was the topic before it was Minato's experience?"
"We were talking about what we were going to do tomorrow," Akihiko responded.
Yukari smiled, "Oh, well, I was planning on going to Paulownia Mall to go shopping for a new accessory after going to the archery club."
"Maybe you could bring Aigis with you," Minato said not interested in going to the mall.
Yukari kept her smile, "You know. It wouldn't be such a bad idea to have a girl's night out on the town. Mitsuru-senpai would you like to join in?"
"I might have an opening after school," Mitsuru answered with a small smile.
Junpei looked at Akihiko, "Man, what are you going to do tomorrow?"
"I'm going to go eat some ramen and train with the boxing club," Akihiko answered confidently.
Junpei relaxed on the ground, "Dude, you really need to slow down take a day at a time. You never know what you're going to miss."
Before Akihiko could comment, his attention was taken elsewhere. There were patters of feet coming towards their direction. They all looked in the direction that the sound was coming from. They heard a bark, Koromaru, and the rest is of the last remaining members of SEES. They all started to stand to start walking towards the stairs and to hear what the others had to say.
"There was no change in the behavior of the Shadows," Aigis confirmed with the team.
They all knew what that had meant. The threat must be on the final floor to where they were heading. Minato started to seem unsure to let his team go with him. The same was occurring to the others as well. They didn't know what to do since the enemy hasn't even shown themselves. All of them knew that they had to remain cautious on the rest of the way up. Now, that everyone was there they couldn't just hang back and relax. They had to tread on.
Mitsuru asked toward the SEES members, "Everyone are you ready for this battle?"
"I think we're all ready as we'll ever be for this one," Ken said little unsure about all their readiness.
Koromaru barked.
"Koromaru agrees with Ken," translated Aigis.
Minato headed towards the stairs with the rest of SEES. As they headed toward the stairs the gang looked back at the Shadows. The Shadows remained the same as they continued. There was a bright light at the top of the next floor. Minato being the first on the floor hid his eyes behind one of his hands. Everyone else came up trying to cover their eyes from the blinding light. Aigis tried to look at Minato, but the light was blinding her. She saw that he was slightly absorbed into the light.
"What's with this damn light," Junpei exclaimed trying to cover his eyes with the flap of his cap.
Mitsuru tried to look at everyone, "Show yourself!"
The person didn't show up, but there were Shadows coming from all directions. They started gathering closer towards them, as the team started backing up protecting each other's backs and to protect Fuuka. They all tried to fend off against the many Shadows that were attaching to them. There were many of them gathering up against them. They were struggling to fend off the onslaught of the many Shadows. The swipe of weapons from the SEES members were suddenly being stopped by the many hands holding them back.
Pretty soon they were engulfed by the Shadows.
A/Note: I do wish they would've let us save Shinjiro in Persona 3, not just as the female character. I cried 3 times on Shinjiro's death in P3. Now that I'm playing the girl in P3P I can have him live… I thought we could've been able to save him as the male. He's one of my favorite characters and he was one of the strongest on my team… Thank you for reading. Please review if you'd like to. Comments or concerns.
