Welcome to this really self-indulgent story I wrote in 1 hour because Makoto makes me sad. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. I put in some (modified) excerpts from Persona 4 Arena story here and there, by the way. Any lines that you recognized is not mine.

Formatting in FFnet is a bitch, by the way. I did my best here, but it's still better in AO3, sorry ):

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Fold Your Wings, and Sleep

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My dear sister… I want to tell you a fairy tale.

Hm…? What's this about?

In our world, at the far reaches of the sea of the soul… there stands a large door. A soul which devoted itself to sealing that door slumbers there…

Why did it do such a thing?

That soul is risking itself to prevent those who have lost sight of life's brilliance from luring the world to self-destruction. It has become the guardian of the door… of the whole world, in fact.

That is a very sorrowful story.

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…My dear sister, do you think… I can save that person?

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When he opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was Elizabeth.

Standing across of him, she was clad in the blue attire that he remembered she always wore at all occasion and was wearing an easy smile on her lips as she gazed upon him with eyes that were filled with warmth.

He blinked to dispel some of his disorientation and glanced around, noticing the darkness of the sky and the emptiness around them. Amongst the darkness were scattered countless bright lights, like a nebula.

"I see that you are awake," Elizabeth said, closing her eyes. "I am glad to see you up and about again. My apologies for taking such a long time to make this happen."

Still disoriented, he stared at her for a second before he parted his lips.

"Where are we?" he asked her.

"We are at the furthest depths at the place where every human's consciousness is connected," she told him with a smile. Her words were cryptic, but somehow he understood what she meant by that.

The collective consciousness.

The sea of the soul.

It was the place where he…

He shook his head, suddenly overcome by a bout of dizziness.

What was happening to him? The last thing he remembered was the warmth of the sunlight on his skin; the feeling of Aigis's fingers, carding softly through his hair, and the faint voices of his friends, calling his name.

They had promised to meet at the rooftop on Kirijo-senpai and Sanada-senpai's graduation day, but he was just so tired, and…

Before he could remember anymore, suddenly he noticed there was particles of pale yellow lights fluttering before his eyes. He traced back those lights and it was with a start that he noticed that it was Elizabeth's body that was emitting those lights— her body was disintegrating into those yellow particles.

"Elizabeth…!"

He inhaled sharply, stepping closer to her with urgency, but the woman just raised her hand to observe her disintegrating body closely, intrigue shining in her eyes. Unbothered and unshaken, even as her own body was falling apart.

"I had a feeling that this would happen, but I did not expect it to look this beautiful..." Elizabeth said softly, fascination lacing her voice.

He furrowed his brows in frustration, not understanding just what would make her willing to throw away her life, but Elizabeth just continued to smile at him as if everything was normal—as if she wasn't disappearing from existence.

"If you know this would happen... then why...?"

She let out a light, tinkling laugh.

"It's because you are worth everything to me," she said, her eyes creasing upwards with mirth.

"You see, Makoto-sama… we residents of the Velvet Room have our own roles, but we are also constantly on a journey. We help our guests grow as people, and through the help we offer, we come to understand the ultimate question. It's the fundamental question of, 'Who are we?'" she began in a reminiscing tone.

"I spent so many days like that for a long time... I had thought it would be impossible to change, but... then I met you and finally reached my answer." Elizabeth told him, her eyes softening again as she confessed her thoughts.

"…You helped me discover my true self and gave me the key to the answer that I have been seeking since my creation," she continued, before falling silent as she looked down and her hands reached up to grasp her chest.

Behind her gloved fingers, a soft light seeped through from inside her heart.

"The moments I was able to spend with you were like glittering gems. So precious and treasured that it left a lingering warmth inside of me and… I found myself being unable to let go of that feeling," she murmured fondly.

"I wish to see you again, even if it is just for one more time. That is why I have set an objective for myself… to defeat the monster that you were protecting the world from once and for all and set you free," she told him. "…And if the price for this wish of mine was only my existence, then that is a price I'm willing to pay."

Elizabeth paused and looked him in the eyes before continuing.

"That is why I abandoned my assigned role and departed on my long journey. And now, it appears that I have succeed." She beamed at him, looking proud of herself. "You don't have to be alone up here anymore. Exciting, isn't it?"

"Elizabeth…" he whispered, his eyes watering as she continued to disintegrate into millions of light particles in front of him, but before his tears could fall, Elizabeth's gloved hand reached up to his face and wiped them away.

"Don't shed your tears for me. I didn't do any of this for you, Makoto-sama. I did it for myself," she said with a small smile as she cradled her hand back to her chest. "…I am simply a selfish woman with a selfish wish. But… I suppose it makes me happy that you are willing to cry for me."

Elizabeth closed her eyes, looking more content than he had ever seen her before.

Gritting his teeth in frustration at his own powerlessness, he stepped closer to her and wrapped his arms around her tightly. Elizabeth stilled, as if not expecting him to do it, but after a while she finally relaxed her body and raised her arms towards his back, hugging him back.

He closed his eyes tightly, willing himself to stay strong.

"What will happen after this?" he murmured against her shoulder.

"That, I do not know yet. We residents of the Velvet Room are not omnipotent beings, Makoto-san," she said in amusement. She coaxed him into letting her go and looked him in the eyes, smiling softly at him.

"But I suppose you will return to the sea of the soul, where your friends are waiting for you to come back to them," she eventually told him.

At her words, Makoto swallowed heavily, his heart feeling heavy at the knowledge that his friends weren't amongst the living anymore.

"…I see. So they're…"

Seeing that he was upset, Elizabeth was quick to reassure him.

"It have been a long time since you devoted yourself to the Seal, Makoto-san," Elizabeth told him matter-of-factly even as she tried to be gentle in her revelation. "Your friends lived fulfilling lives. They journeyed a long and difficult road with me, but they ultimately reached the end with smiles on their faces."

"…They helped you?"

"Of course!" Elizabeth beamed at him. "I realized in the middle of my journey that this was not something that I could do alone. Your friends desired to protect you just as much as I want, so they tried to reach the impossible… to change humanity for the better."

"No matter what difficulties they faced, they never gave up because of their collective wishes to create a world where the Seal to protect Nyx wouldn't be needed anymore—so that you'd be freed from the burden you have chosen to shoulder," Elizabeth paused and, with a softer tone, she continued.

"…You have excellent friends, Makoto-sama."

At her words, Makoto felt his lips quirked upwards a little and he looked up at the nebulas that filled the sky.

He couldn't see them, but he knew that they were there, looking at him at this very moment as one of the shining stars in the sky. He closed his eyes again as he hoped that his feelings towards them would be conveyed somehow.

"I see… I'm glad that you were not alone," he told Elizabeth finally, and she eyed him for a second, her eyes glimmering with something that he couldn't quite recognize. She nodded at him with a soft smile and reached out her arms towards him.

With a small flash of light, a familiar blue leather-bound book appeared in her hands.

"This is for you, Makoto-sama" she said, presenting him the book.

"A book?"

"It's your Persona Compendium. It holds every Persona that you've awakened inside of it. I suppose… it could be considered the proof of the life you led back then," she told him before she paused, a hint of hesitation showing in her expression, but she hardened her eyes and stared right into him with sincerity in her eyes.

"I understand that the last year of your life must not be easy. It might have even be painful for you. But… no matter what, I wish for you to always cherish those times and keep them close in your heart," she said solemnly. "That is why I wish for you to have this book—so that you'd never forget, wherever Fate may take you to in your next life."

Makoto stared into her eyes and nodded, accepting the book from her hands.

"…I will."

Hearing his answer, Elizabeth's eyes softened and she gave him a warm smile once again. She looked down into her almost completely disappearing form and closed her eyes, finally at peace with herself.

"I'm glad that I got to meet you again, Makoto-sama," she told him softly.

"…Elizabeth?" he called to her.

"Yes?"

"I'm glad that I got to meet you too. Thank you… for everything," he murmured, giving her a crooked little smile that made her eyes widened in surprise before she let out another tinkling laugh.

"It was my pleasure, my dearest guest."

Elizabeth beamed at him again, for one last time, as she finally disappeared into the nothingness around them with glimmering, brilliant sparks.

From within his heart, somehow he could still hear her voice, gentle and cheerful as always as she told him, "See you in the next life," and he let himself drop his smile.

Parting his lips, he reached one hand to the sky and finally closed his eyes.

"Yeah…"

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One day, one day for sure. I know that we'll meet again.

That's why…

Everyone…

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…wait for me. I'm coming.

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And then… 200 years after the descent of Nyx...

Inside a hospital, late at night…

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"Look, Inko. He has your eyes and hair," a man, grossly sobbing and hiccupping as he held his son in his arms, pointed emotionally to his exhausted but happily smiling wife.

Inko laughed and wiped his tears with her hand.

"And he has your smile," she told her husband fondly as she caressed his cheek. He paused in his sobs to lean into her hand and she giggled in return to his action.

Smiling warmly at her little family, she went to nuzzle her son's cheek with her nose and whispered lovingly into his little ears.

"I'm sure you'll grow up into a great person, Izuku."

Sniffling a little, her husband smiled and kissed her head.

"Yeah…" he nodded.

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"I'm sure he will…"

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This is the end of the chapter.

It's been 11 years and Kimi no Kioku's lyrics still got me every damn time.

Writing this made me cry big, ugly tears because I wish for Makoto to be free. I want ATLUS to just bring Makoto back, and not just for dancing spin-offs. Even if they don't bring him back to life, I just wanted to play a remake of Persona 3 in HD. They have the character model already. Make it happen, dammit!

If it's not clear yet, Makoto is reincarnated into Izuku.

I don't know if I'm going to make this into multi-chaptered story, but I do have a draft for another episode that I want to write that's sort of Inko's view of this new Izuku in my phone as well as a special someone that I love very much being reunited with him, so that's at least 3 chapters planned.

We'll see if I ever get to posting that though.

Thank you for being here and reading through this manifestation of my wishes. I hope you enjoyed it!