Summary
Author's notes:
To everyone having clicked on this, this will be a summary for the remaining part of my fanfiction "Persona 4: The Answer". I simply do not have the time to write anymore and I felt it unfair to people who want to know how the story continues since I know how it feels to have read a story just to realize that you won't ever know how it ends. I will list here now the most important things that will happen in the rest of the story. Just keep in mind that I may actually one day finish the fanfiction, so if you don't want to get spoiled please stop reading now.
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Yakushima Arc:
Shortly after Hiro gets abducted by the mysterious attacker, Yosuke - who had stayed behind due to still being in shock from having seen Souji's currently female body naked - gets kidnapped as well. He seems to somehow recognize his attacker though he doesn't remember from where exactly. The Investigation Team returns at the mansion too late to help him, and the friends decid to all sleep in the living-room together in case they're attacked again. None of them can sleep so they try to pass their time as much as possible, Yukiko telling scary ghost stories to which Chie and Rise respond in horror while Nanako happily listens to her.
Souji wakes up during the night to see Kanji staring off into space. They start talking and Kanji tells him about his worries about Naoto since she suddenly said that she likes him just moments after Souji rejected her. After Souji manages to get back to sleep, Kanji stares off into the distance again.
"You can count on me, Naoto...", is what he mumbles before he manages to get some sleep as well.
The next morning the friends search the whole island, but can't find anyone trace of the two men or their attacker. They return to the mansion at night, and it is then that Chie gets one of her sudden golden moments which makes Nanako stick her head into the TV, sensing both Hiro and Yosuke in the TV world. She manages to pinpoint the entrance to said location on the island, and so they head off to a part of the Kirijo labs that seems completely empty. With the help of Philemon and Fuuka, Nanako manages to feel the existence of a seal that has been placed near the ground in front of the laboratory, and thus manages to break it. They walk into the now opened up entrance that leads undergound into a sealed laboratory part that houses failed Anti-Shadow weapons. The place is surrounded by thick, heavy fog which they can only see through with their glasses, meaning that this place is somehow connected to the TV world. As they walk through the first floor, they hear a child's voice bemoaning his miserable life. Patty recognizes that child's voice to be Hiro's, meaning this laboratory has turned into Hiro's dungeon. Again and again he can be heard pleading with someone - Bagman - to stop experimenting on him and why it just had to be him that has to suffer like this and not someone else.
They finally meet the attacker on the second floor: Aigis, acting as robotic as when S.E.E.S. had met her years ago. She seems only fixated on Souji, calling him another possible target. They manage to defeat her and she breaks into dozens of pieces before seconds later several more Aigises appear before them. Overwhelmed by all of those Anti-Shadow weapons they try to retreat, though more and more of them get captured until only Souji, Teddie, Junpei, Ken, Fuuka, Patty, Saki and Nanako are left.
The entrance has been blocked off so they have no choice but to go deeper into the dungeon. They finally arrive at the deepest part where hundreds of Aigises wait for them in a gigantic room where their friends - including Hiro and Yosuke - are all chained to a wall. Another fight begins, and Souji and the others manage to get some of their friends free, though the moment they get their hands on Yosuke, all of the Aigises go completely berserk and turn into one giant Shadow: A huge monument-like robot that is heavily weighed down by a stone that has Minato's face, linked to a giant machine that has all of the captured friends trapped inside it.
"I am a Shadow, the true self! I have long since searched for you, Minato Arisato! My highest priority is to be with you!"
The party fights, the Shadow using the trapped friends as catalysts to switch Arcanas and elements to its liking. Souji finally managed to break into the machine thanks to Philemon's help, though it quickly closes behind him. Inside it he finds a second Hiro with yellow eyes, completely still. The moment Hiro opens his eyes, they are not his usual brown color, but silverish. And it is at that moment that Shadow Hiro starts rampaging, going on and on about how he will take back what Souji stole from him. Hiro is about to deny everything the Shadow says, but stops seconds before it is too late, his eyes turning back brown, and he falls back unconscious. The Shadow immediately goes completely still as well. Carefully Souji wanders over to Hiro and touches him. The moment he does so he collapes, his hand staying connected with Hiro, as if glued to him.
Souji wakes up in a world of smoke, facing a hooded figure with silver eyes who introduces himself as Yu Narukami. He asks the Fool if he managed to remember. The moment Souji asks what he means, Narukami attacks him, saying that he is doomed to failure if he won't remember what they talked about, and that he will trap Souji in this space shared between their minds, taking Souji's place instead to protect him and his friends. They both clash, but Souji doesn't seem to stand any chance against his foe.
It is then than Bagman appears inside the machine in the real world, his body moving like a puppet on strings. He acts furious, annoyingly shouting how this whole backup of creating multiple Aigises in case the real one wouldn't wake up in time he created came back to bite him in the ass in the end. He walks over and comments on the black arm that Yosuke has been trying to cover so hard by wearing shirts during their whole visit at Yakushima and how he did now foresee this to happen in his equation, though it would not matter since it would still take more than years for it to take effect completely. He walks over to Hiro and slaps him, commanding him to let Souji go, before he disposes of Hiro's shadow and disappears again.
That slap has an effect on Hiro in the world that he and Souji are currently in and Souji manages to overwhelm Hiro, breaking free and waking up. He then destroys the whole machine, taking Shadow Aigis down. Hiro wakes up, his eyes silver again, and he begs Nanako to come over and lend him Philemon's blessings.
Weakened, they all manage to backtrack toward the mansion, the laboratory part that had been connected to the TV World completely disappearing.
The next morning they all meet in the living-room and Hiro, still having brown eyes, introduces himself to them as Yu Narukami, his real name being Souji Seta. The whole group just stares at him in confusion. Narukami explains to them that there is a Sea of Souls somewhere out there, and that entity resides there who watches over all of the souls stored there, deciding over when the will be born into this world, whether they will be reborn someday after they died or whether they will simply be turned to nothing. That being must have made a cruel attempt of humor onde day. It decided to erase the personality of "Hiro Sideu" just days after he was born and plant into the now empty shell the personality of Souji Seta.
Months later the baby was given to the Kirijo Laboratory where Bagman took care of him, involving him in the same experiments that Strega had also been involved in. Him and Bagman also gained the power of alchemy at some point there. It was there that "Souji" met Ebisu who explained to him his cursed existence as a paradox - a thing that should not exist. He also told him that this entity that watched over the Sea of Souls did cruel things like those day in and day out by brining people into the world as cripples or other such things, just like Ebisu himself. He asks Hiro to one day try and meet this entity so that they may ask why he did what he did to them and all those other victims. "Souji" agrees and takes on the name "Yu Narukami" when he learns of the other Souji that was rightfully born into the world when and where he was supposed to. Though he tried his best to endure the experiment and the knowlegde of the cruelness that had been inflicted upon himself he completely broke down one day and wanted to kill himself. It was then that Ebisu interfered and offered him relief by sealing away what made him "Souji Seta". Desperate for any relief he agreed, and thus Ebisu sealed his personality into the diary that Bagman used to erase his memories. Behind stayed an empty shell that barely managed to survive the following destruction of the Kirijo Laboratory. He stayed an empty shell, living as Hiro Sideu, in the Sideu mansion until one day he and Patty met Minato Arisato when they were little. Minato always sneaked into their garden and while Patty happily played with him, Hiro only stared at them from afar, unable to do anything in his empty state. One day the Minato and Patty ran away at night to get away from Patty from her grandparents. Hiro had followed them on a whim, his first own action in years. The Dark Hour broke in over them and Patty turned into a coffin while a horde of Shadow appeared, ignoring Minato like they always did and trying to attack Patty. Minato tried to save her, but was pushed back by the Shadows. It was then that Hiro acted and defeated the Shadows through alchemy, saving the other two children. On that night Minato told him to think for himself and do what he wants, not what others tell him to do. It might have been through the powers of the Fool slumbering inside Minato at that time, but the empty shell called Hiro Sideu started to develop a personality at that moment, though sadly a rather twisted one, living only the way he deemed fun, doing only what he wanted.
Going back to the present day, Yu Narukami's personality finally returned to Hiro's body when Bagman started unlocking all the memories he had once sealed inside his diary, including the page that had stored Narukami's soul. Since then it has been a struggle between Narukami who wanted to get his body back and the new personality that had formed inside him that tried to deny Narukami's existence. It was only thanks to Philemon's blessing that he was finally able to take control over this body for longer than a few minutes.
He explains to them that the Aigises they encountered yesterday were paradoxes, created by Ebisu in order to have at least one fully functional Aigis, should the real one not activate on the fated day. Having two Fools - him and Souji - on this island at once must have activated them, and thus they had started searching for Minato.
Ebisu has created such paradoxes through his power to rewrite tiny moments of time again and again to help humanity, one of them being the decision Minato made one day when he killed Rouji instead of letting him live. He rewrote history and made it so that Minato did not kill Rouji that night.
Asked why he couldn't have helped spare Minato from becoming a seal, Narukami answers that Ebisu can only alter small instances. To save Minato he would have needed the power to rewrite the minds of nearly every living being that unconsciously wished for Nyx' dying embrace, an impossible task for him.
He also can't tell them where Ebisu is now since he has to stay in hiding after having changed history so many times or else he will be eradicated for doing so.
The group (except Patty) decides to trust him for now. It is then that Patty becomes completely enraged at everyone, screaming at them to not believe this fraud and that she wants her cousin back immediately. Narukami looks at her in sadness and tells her that her cousin never existed, and that his soul was erased mere days after his birth. What she had known all this years was just an empty shell that had developed a twisted personality thanks to coming into contact with Minato. Patty screams at him again and again and is about to attack him when the TV suddenly turns on by himself, Bagman's grinning face appearing inside it.
- Yakushima Arc End -
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Yosufu Bagman Arc:
Bagman grins at them and tells them that he's waited long enough now, and that they should bring him Nanako already. Of course, the group immediately denies his disgusting request. Bagman's grin only broadens and he points behind him where an unconscious Dojima and Kashiwagi are hanging down from a large tombstone. Nobody seems to care about Kashiwagi, but everyone loses their shit over seeing Dojima there.
"I am currently protecting them with my alchemy. You have one week, then I will release Miss Kashiwagi here into the TV world. The shadows will be delighted to see her, my dears.", Bagman explains to them. "One more week without any Nanako-chan in sight and Dojima-san will also be released into this world."
"Do you honestly think Dojima-san would want us to trade Nanako-chan in for him!?", Chie immediately shouts at him.
"From then on...", Bagman continues as if he didn't hear her. "... I will constantly kidnap one person from your world and release them into this world. ... Do you know what happens when they arrive here? A new dungeon will appear. And do you also know what that means? This world will get bigger and bigger aaaaand bigger until one day~..."
The group stares at Bagman in alarm as they remember that Adachi once told them that the TV World would explode one day if too many new areas appeared, and that the Shadows would finally be able to enter their world again.
"Remember: One week before the fun begins!", Bagman reminds them before the TV screen turns black again.
The Investigation Team calls Naoto, packs their stuff and heads off to the helicopter that is waiting for them. Having nearly reached their transportation device, Narukami keels over all of a sudden. Nanako tries to hurry over to him to help, though he grabs Philemon and throws him against a rock, going unconscious. The personality of "Hiro Sideu" manages to take over again, screaming at them in fury for choosing Narukami over them. He attacks them relentlessly with his alchemy while the others try to knock him unconscious to re-seal him again. It is then that Patty steps in and defends Hiro, fighting against them and four her "beloved cousin". They get pushed back, though, and Hiro grabs her and disappears into the ground with her.
They don't have any time to worry about that, though, so they enter the helicopter and fly back to Tanaba University where they meet up with Naoto who is already waiting for them, then rest as well as possible before entering the TV in Rise and Naoto's room, Yukiko and Naoto staying behind to watch over Nanako who is not allowed to go into the TV World with the others.
Dojima wakes up for a short moment in the TV World and remembers how he had driven back to Inaba in a frenzy when he had heard that Nanako had disappeared. On his way through Inaba's street he had found a sobbing Kashiwagi wandering through the streets, screaming her lungs out for Nanako. He had begrudgingly taken her into his car and was just about to continue driving when he had heard and seen the giant explosion coming from the prison. Torn between his duty and his worry for his daughter, he had finally caved in a driven there. Entering the prison he had soon spotted Namatame wandering through the burning prison. Tailing him, he had been just about to overwhelm him when Kashiwagi who had secretly followed after him without permission ran into Namatame. He was about to kill her when Dojima jumped in and took the hit instead. The last thing he had seen was Namatame trying to land the finishing blow when Bagman had appeared and had rambled on and on about "taking something back that belonged to him" before he had absorbed a screaming Namatame.
Bright neon signs are showing the Investigation Team the way towards Bagman's dungeon, as if to mock them. They arrive at a dark graveyard where they are greeted by Bagman who is disappointed that they did not do as he told them and that he would have completely left them alone after the had given him Nanako, and he would have even been so helpful as to give them the identity of the killer.
They begin the battle against him, but no matter what they do, he is always protected by barriers that block every single attack. During one of the attacks they notice that the barriers look like children, and Bagman tells them that they are children, in fact: They are the souls of the children he supposedly raped and killed. Being asked what he means, he explains to them that the first victim he killed was indeed a child raped and killed by him. Every single victim after them had their soul extracted and was simply in a state between death and life, unable to move at all, just like those victims that had been kidnapped into the TV World by the killer. But the police, unable to even determine the cause of the "deaths" for those victims, had gotten desperate and thus told the public they were all raped and killed just like the first victim, so that they could at least tell the public something and not stand there without anything to tell. He laughs at the foolishness and ugliness of humanity and how they did exactly what they wanted. By telling the public that he was simply killing the children, nobody actually noticed what he was really doing. He also laughs at the Investigation Team for thinking that Kou had been the killer's first victim, when in fact the original Yosufu Bagman had been the first victim. Unfortunately for the killer, something had gone wrong that day and Yosufu Bagman had been killed by his Shadow instead of being dragged into the TV World. He is thankful for that, though, since it allowed him to enter this world and do what he wished.
Now knowing what those barriers are and having even the slightest bit of hope that they may return those souls that had not yet been destroyed in the battle to the children the group becomes unable to attack Bagman who proceeds to fire one attack at them after the other.
A loud BANG can be heard in Tanaba University at the same time, and Naoto and Yukiko hastily run off to investigate in fear of Bagman having entered their world while their friends are searching for them. The moment they leave, Hiro and Patty both appear in the room. Nanako tries to re-seal Hiro's personality, but Patty blocks her attempts with barriers. Hiro tells her that Souji and his friends are going to die in a few moments if she doesn't hurry over to help them right now. Staring at him for a few moments, not knowing what to do, she finally turns around and jumps into the TV. Patty asks Hiro if this was the right thing to do, and Hiro assures her that this will save Souji and the others before he grabs her and disappears with her into the ground again, not telling her that he didn't act out of kindness, but for his own gains.
The moment Yukiko and Naoto return and realize that Nanako must have entered the TV World, they gather all their courage and jump into the TV as well, knowing full well that their Shadows await. Having entered the other world, they start running, chased by their two berserk Shadows, following the neon signs toward Bagman's dungeon.
Nanako finally arrives at the dungeon, followed moments later by Yukiko and Naoto. Souji gets absolutely furious at them. Philemon manages to hold back Shadow Naoto and Shadow Yukiko while Nanako looks around and manages to actually pinpoint the method with which Bagman binds the children's souls to his body: The gravestones that are scattered everywhere. Naoto yells at them to immediately destroy the gravestones and not to worry since all the children that Bagman had been attacking while they had been in Yakushima have been stored in cool houses instead of being buried and that they could at least save those. They immediately begin attacking the gravestones and Bagman keels over in agony, one soul after the other escaping his body. Souji smiley, thinking they could finally win, not noticing how Bagman was moving further and further towards the throne in the center of the graveyard each time he was thrown to the ground.
"I don't think so, Baggy...", Hiro murmurs and appears at the edge of the graveyard, staring and raising an eyebrow at Souji who stares back at him in confusion before he finally catches a glimpse of the dream Narukami had sent him that one night.
He screams at the others to get back immediately and for Philemon to produce a barrier as powerful as possible, just a moment before Bagman screams and rams his cane into the ground. All the remaining children's souls get absorbed into his body, though Philemon manages the protect the friends with his barrier just in time.
After the black fog clears Bagman stares back at them, furious that he didn't manage to absorb them as well and that he has to start over collecting new souls now to reach his goal. The party stares back at him in shock since taking all those young souls has reset Bagman's clock, making him now be back in his twenties.
"Well, would you look at that.", Bagman chuckles, his yes now silver, looking a lot like Akihiko. "Didn't know that would happan. And it also seems that taking in all those human souls has made me something akin to a human, just like your damn teddy bear there, my dears." He sneers at the killer in his thoughts.
"So he really is Akihiko-san's father...", Rise mumbles.
Bagman laughs at her, saying that should already be obvious, and since they are already at the subject of Akihiko, that they were utter idiots for having taken Akihiko into the TV World with them when they were trying to save Fuuka back then.
Naoto's eyes widen and she finally understands what had been nagging her: A Shadow of him should have appeared when Akihiko had entered the TV World, though it didn't. It was because Bagman had been protecting him with his alchemy every time he had gone with them, explaining why he had constantly been out of commission during that time and Takeda-sensei having to take over for him.
They start their battle, Bagman now having utterly ridiculous physical strength, thanks to having taken in those souls, plus his alchemy is as strong as ever. He is also rapidly losing his sanity due to all those souls being mixed together with his own now instead of just binding them near him like he had been doing before. His attacks become more and more violent, not caring if he hurts himself or does any irreversible damage to this world. Rise decides to leave the support Nanako and finally joins the fray, using her Persona's status attacks to try break down Bagman.
Finally Souji decides to use his full power, drawing strength from the World Arcana Social Link that he formed with Narukami during his dream and summons Izanagi-no-Okami to finish Bagman off, knowing that Philemon's powers to help him change Personas would be exhausted for a while if he does. Bagman crumbles to the ground, slowly dissipating after the attack. He screams and rages at Souji and slams his fist into the ground, dragging an unconscious Mitsuo who he had taken from Inaba's prison with him out of it. Under the shocked stares of the Investigation Team Bagman forcefully rips out Mitsuo's Shadow and starts to devour it, managing to use the other Shadow's barrier properties to restructure his body. He finally goes berserk in complete rages and turns into a huge monstrosity, the pleading and screaming souls of the children he's absorbed sticking out everywhere (think Envy from FMA if you know that manga/anime).
"It's weak to fire!", Nanako screams at them, and Souji barely manages to summon one of his weaker Personas that know Agi attacks, only for Bagman to cast a Red Wall thanks to the abilites he gained through absorbing Mitsuo's Shadow.
Yukiko takes a deep breath and steps out of Philemon's protective barrier. Her Shadow appears seconds later and glares at her while she demands for it to give her back her Persona and that she will accept her true self. The Messiah who controls it cackles and tells her that her denying herself has gone too far already for her Shadow who has become bound to the Messiah to just disappear like this, but he offers her a little game: If she wins, he will do as she says and let go of it, but if he wins he will take Yukiko's body instead of the Shadow. Everyone screams at Yukiko to stop it right now, but Yukiko agrees, and is immediately grabbed by her Shadow and swallowed. In the darkness she can only see two yellow eyes and white teeth that form a huge cackling smile while a voice that sounds familiar to her says how stupid she is. The eyes circle around her before they say that, no, she is not his other sibling. Before she can ask what he means, she starts to fall, but is captured on one arm by Chie while her mother grabs her other arm. Both of them scream at her to come with them, each only having her best interest in mind, and begin pulling at her, like two children arguing over a doll. Yukiko silently begs at them to stop and that they are hurting her, but none of them listen to her. She is just about to stop caring and just let them rip her apart when she hears Chie's voice in the distance, screaming at her to not dare and give up. She opens her eyes and screams at both Shadow versions of Chie and her mom to "stop fucking deciding her life for them and that she has had it up to here with being dragged around to to whatever the hell they want and that she's not their goddamn plaything". They two shadowy figures disappear and Yukiko falls to the ground, now in a forest that is completely on fire, her Shadow fire more and more fire attacks at her in the distance.
"HOW DARE YOU!?", the Messiah can be heard screaming at her. "DIE, YOU ANNOYING PIECE OF TRASH!"
Yukiko storms forward through the fire, dodging the attacks, not caring whether she gets burned or not, punches the Messiah's face which is veiled in Shadows to the side, jumps at her Shadow - and re-appears in Bagman's graveyard, her Shadow towering behind her, looking at her in expectation. Yukiko screams at Chie that she never wanted to go to Tanaba University with the others since she already wanted to take over the inn and didn't need to attend university, but she just didn't know how to say no to her. She never knows how to say no to her or her mother or others in general when being pleaded to, but that was going to stop today. Her Shadow nods at her while the Messiah can be heard screaming before it turns into her upgraded Persona: Amaterasu. She immediately summons it and burns Bagman's shell surrounding his body momentarily to ashes. Bagman screams and tries to retreat into the ground, but somehow stops in mid-motion.
"What?! Why?!", Bagman screams in confusion.
Souji doesn't hesitate and jumps into it before it closes again and is faced with a heavily panting Bagman who is now old again since he had applied those souls to his shell when transforming.
"Did you seriously just enter my mind without even thinking...?", Bagman manages to pant. "And why THE HELL can't I move my main body in the TV World?!"
"This is it, Bagman!", Souji yells while Bagman gets into battle position. But before any of the two can act, arms shoot out of the ground and grab Bagman's legs, holding him in place. Chains follow and bind themselves to Bagman's body, the chains ending at the hands of both Yuuta and the original Yosufu Bagman who are using all of their power to hold Bagman in place.
"What is-?!", Bagman screams and looks from the chains to the hands grabbing him, belonging to the children he absorbed. "What are you-?!"
Yuuta laughs triumphantly and explains that it was a mistake to select a converter - him - that early. While he was busy collecting souls Yuuta and the original Bagman had bided their time inside the realm he had created for alchemic rite and Yuuta had spoken to each soul that Bagman had gathered there, convincing them to not give up and fight back when the time was right. No matter how many souls had gotten destroyed, no matter how many new ones had arrived, Yuuta had never given up and diligently talke to him. And now that he's bound the souls directly to himself he's made it even easier for them to rebel. It was them that stopped Bagman from escaping in the TV World.
Bagman rages and tries to break free, though it is futile.
The original Yosufu Bagman lets go of his chain and looks at Yuuta who nods before he goes over to Souji and puts a hand on his shoulder. The Fool looks at him in confusion
"Let's... go somewhere else for a moment, please...", he says with sadness in his eyes and moves somewhere else with Souji, his Shadow's screams of rage in the distance.
They both arrive at a blank and white open space where the original Bagman sits down, followed by a slightly hesitating Souji.
Bagman sighs before he finally begins to explain that he noticed he wasn't completely normal when he was around sixteen years old and the three years old child of one of his relatives happily ran around naked in the garden of their house. He felt oddly drawn to that body and was immediately disgusted by those feelings. Though try as he may, those feelings only got worse and worse over the years. He shut himself in and tried to have next to no contact with anybody... until he met Akiko Dojima one day at his university, a wonderful and bright young woman. She made him feel joy and happiness again, and he thought he could finally be a normal person. He married her, had a wonderful son with her... and then she died during the second child's birth. His world had immediately crumbled around him and he didn't know what to do with himself anymore. He was immediately back in the nightmare that he had lived in for so long. Fearing that he would one day touch his two children - or do worse to them! - he gave them to an orphanage in a city far away from him. He couldn't give them to his family since they had broken all contact with him over the years he had shut himself in and Akiko's family hadn't agreed to their marriage as well so there was nowhere else to go.
He fled into the life of a scientist to forget about everything and eventually landed a job at the Kirijo Group where he was tasked with an experiment by Koetsu Kirijo that just didn't want to bear fruit. He and his research partner Takeba just couldn't advance any further in their experiments.
It was then that he heard about the fire at the orphanage. Once again his world was plunged into darkness and in his grief and desperation, trying to find a way to bring back both of his children that he had thought lost, he turned to old documents at the Kirijo Laboratory, written about gods and other things that at first seemed ridiculous. Eventually he found a supposed summoning ritual for lesser gods and managed to summon the crippled god Ebisu. He imprisoned him inside an old cane lying around the lab that Koetsu Kirijo had forgotten there one day and forced him to tell him how to summon his father Izanagi: The God of Life.
Though Ebisu must have tricked him since what he had summoned was Izanagi, but Izanami.
The goddess had been enraged at being summoned by a feeble human and had wanted to kill him right there. In his impending doom he did the only thing he could think of: Threaten to kill her child Ebisu. Somehow, even though she had abandoned Ebisu all those millennia ago, she still must have felt something for him and had stopped her attack.
"... What is it you desire, human?", she had finally asked.
"Life.", had been his answer, though Izanami had denied him, saying to something like this was out of the question. "... Then give me power. Power to create miracles.", was his next request.
"... Very well.", the goddess had said after a moment of hesitation and bestowed upon him the power of alchemy, modifiying the cane so that he could use it without any repercusions. During this the little baby Hiro Sideu that had already been there had also been affected by this and become able to use alchemy, although with damage since he didn't have the cane like Bagman.
Izanami demanded he let Ebisu free, though Bagman had denied her and said he would keep Ebisu as a lifeline in case Izanami would turn on him after he'd let him go. The goddess raged for hours before she finally gave up and disappeared. It was days after that that Bagman let Ebisu free and began studying more and more alchemy, trying to find a way to bring his children back to life. And what he found opened the abyss of despair once again: 100 souls of people close in age to the dead person where needed to bring a dead person back, and also catalyst to guide them, meaning 101 people, plus a body that is close in age and heritage to the dead person, meaning a young relative. He burned the alchemic books in rage and finally crafted a diary out of the ashes in which he buried almost all of his memories that he had ever had: His perverse lusts, his family, his worries, his past - everything except what he was currently researching and the knowledge that he could banish his memories into the book. And every time he met someone not related to work he instinctively immediately banished the memory of them into the book.
Thanks to his new powers his research finally beared fruit. He managed to transfer part of the TV World - The Abyss of Time - into the human world and started hunting Shadows to carry out Kirijo's project.
Then finally, one day he woke up in front of the exploded Kirijo Laboratory, an unconscious Hiro in his arms, no idea what had happened. Thinking the book and everything he had ever researched lost, he handed Hiro back to the Sideus and started his life anew, as a teacher at Tanaba University.
A slight sparkle had come back to his life since he was now no longer able to banish the memory of people inside the diary, and he had no recollection of ever having pedophilic thoughts. He was starting to feel happy again, even having an energetic junior named Fuuka Yamagishi who looked up to him.
It all came crumbling down again when the killer began targeting him one day. He could hear his Shadow in his mind, whisper those forbidden desires into his head, until he finally snapped one night, raped and murdered a young girl and buried her in his garden. The deed done he had grabbed a book and started reading, before he had fallen asleep. When he had woken up again he had looked into the face of his Shadow inside the TV, moments before had had died.
The original Yosufu Bagman sighs and looks at Souji, telling him that his Shadow who had still remembered everything that he had ever tried to erase by writing it into the diary had started trying to realize what he hadn't dared: Gather 100 young souls, one catalyst and one body in the form of Nanako Dojima who was distantly related to his children since Akihiko had been a Dojima. It was what he had to do because he was Bagman's Shadow. It was engraved into his very core. It was his duty... A duty that the Shadow had started to begin to hate. It had realized that it had inherited the original Yosugu Bagman's alchemic powers and had not killed Bagman, but absorbed his sould instead. Hating everything that he had to do because of being his Shadow, wanting to be free and wanting to see his original suffer for denying him for so long - even daring to try and seal everything away -, he had gone to the Kirijo Laboraty and must have found the diary there which had not been burned somehow. It had started to unlock every page and every memory, giving them back in painful shocks to its original while at the same time releasing with it the shackles that bound him to do what he had to do. No longer would it be forced to protect Akihiko, no longer would it be forced to try and resurrect Miki.
At that comment Souji asks him why the Shadow is still gathering souls and trying to catch Nanako, then.
Bagman sighs and says that this would be the Shadow's final act of revenge against him: It would revive Miki through the ritual, torture her again and again, making the original Bagman watch in the realm that he was banished to, and then one day rape and kill her, before he would close the door to the realm where the original Bagman was stuck, forever alone and with the memories of what his Shadow had done uneraseable.
Souji shudders at that. Bagman looks at him and asks him to tell his son what he had just told him and also warns him to never trust a god, no matter which one. And especially not Ebisu since he had suspicions about what happened during the night the Kirijo Laboratory exploded.
Souji agrees and they return to where Bagman's Shadow is still trapped.
"Well then...", the original Bagman says and grabs the chain again. "Please finish this, Souji-san!"
Souji looks at the Shadow who's desperately trying to break free.
"What are you looking at, you disgusting human?!", Bagman screams at him, livid. "Do you think I look funny like that, huh?! Do you feel satisfied seeing me suffer like this?!"
"No..."
"Then what?! Is... Is that pity in your... DO NOT PITY ME, HUMAN!"
"It's not that, either. All is see is some creature writhing around on the floor, like a broken doll, undeserving to be mad fun of or even pitied. You deserve nothing, Shadow."
"HUUUUUUUMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!"
Bagman's Shadow grabs his cane and tries to block Souji's attacks as best as possible, even managing to summon Personas by using the fact that his and Souji's mind are now connected. Every time he does, Souji feels a slight pain in his head, though he ignores it and manages to finally knock the cane out of Bagman's hands, the cane also flying away in the TV World where Hiro happily grabs it and disappears without anyone noticing.
Bagman sinks to the ground, panting.
"It's finally over...", Souji sighs in relief before the ground suddenly shakes and Naoto's Shadow appears, crashing into Bagman and absorbing him, to the shock of everyone.
Bagman finds himself in a black space of nothingness, still lying on the ground, above him a smiling person.
"You are...?!", he says and stares confused at the person.
"Oooh, does my face confuse you?", the Messiah asks him and cackles, showing to him his true face. He introduces himself to him and offers him the chance to turn this whole fiasco around by giving him strength if he in turn really joins the killer's cause.
"You will finally be able to fullfil your dream, Yosufu Bagman. You've waited so long, haven't you?", the Messiah whispers in his ears and extends his hand to him. Bagman hesitates a moment before he eventually grabs the offered hand.
The ground inside the shared mind between Souji and Bagman shakes more and more violently and finally a bizarre figure with five tentacles that end in heads appear: One head Akihiko, one a girl - Miki -, the other Nanako, a woman - Akiko Sanada -, and the last one a figure veiled by a grinning Shadow mask - the Messiah.
Nanako manages to speak to Souji's mind and warns him that the Messiah is attempting to replicate the power of something terrible that Philemon is warning her of: The Crawling Chaos. The chains around the monstrosity break and it swallows the children, Yuuta and the original Bagman before it screams and attacks Souji. A difficult battle ensues, but Souji finally manages to win thanks to the place they are being inside their mind and thus having some control over his powers, together with Philemon trying to recover his strength as possible and backing him up.
The creature disintigrates, the remaining souls scatter and return to their original bodies, including Yuuta, and the original Bagman thanks Souji one last time before he finally completely disappears. Souji looks at the unconscious Shadow of Bagman at the ground, pointing his sword at him before he finalls sighty and drags him outside with him, back to the TV World...
The Shadow wakes up soon and finds himself handcuffed. Desperate, he looks around for his cane, but finds it nowhere, of course. He also seems to have lost his alchemic powers while being that monstrosity, thanks to the Messiah taking them away from him the moment he lost.
"... Just kill me...", Bagman finally mumbles expressionless, staring at the ground.
"No, you disgusting bastard.", Souji answers him and forces him to look at him. "Thanks to you trying to absorb us you are now part human, like Teddie. And I would never simply kill Teddie if he did something bad. I would be a hypocrite if I killed you here." He forces Bagman to stand up and shoves him toward the exit. "You have no card to play left, no alchemy to use. No way to transform anymore. You are just an old man now. And you will atone for what you did in prison."
Bagman rages and screams as he is dragged out of the TV World and into the human world where he is brought to a hospital (not the one where Akihiko is to avoid them meeting) to first take care of his wounds, together with Dojima and Kashiwagi.
Several days go by and some normalcy returns to the group's life, though they are still aware that they need to catch the killer. After mulling over it for a while, Yukiko decides to meet with her mother soon, though she will stay at Tanaba University, but only until the case is solved in order to help the others. That's what she herself wants.
Hiro and Patty and nowhere to be found.
Souji manages to get his male body back, the effect finally having stopped. Igor who had summoned him chuckles and said that it's actually said since Theodore was so happy to finally start serving a female visitor and that Aigis will be returning shortly, then.
It's during a night a bit later that someone sneaks into the hospital room where Bagman is stationed.
The old man looks at his unexpected visitor and only smiles, closing his eyes as the visitor ramps up the morphine flowing into Bagman's body.
"Thank you...", are the old man's final words.
Akihiko returns to Tanaba University some time later, wanting to speak with Souji and then making up his mind about speaking to his father's Shadow. During that talk Naoto storms in and tells them that Bagman has been killed. That is the moment Akihiko completely loses it and storms out, ignoring Souji who tries to stop him completely.
A heavy atmosphere weighs around the dormitory the remaining day, and Souji groggily goes into the bathroom to brush his teeth before going to sleep, as a sharp pain assaults his head.
"Hello, my dear.", Bagman's voice resounds in his head all of a sudden and the pain only intensifies.
"What-?!", Souji manages to breathe.
"I may be dead now... but I will still continue to live on inside of you... as your ever following Shadow, my dear~!"
Souji screams loudly in pain and, alarmed through the screams, Kou enters the bathroom to see what is going on.
"Now, then. What should we do first?", Bagman's voice can be heard in Souji's mind still. "Oh yes, let's get rid of some annoying bugs first, shall we?"
And with this Souji grabs Kou's neck and starts choking him forcefully.
- Yosufu Bagman Arc End -
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Author's notes: Okay, that took longer than expected. I will end it here for now and write more later. And this summary will definitely be quickly finished. Until then!