Truth in Oneself Ch. 1: Souji's Disappearance AU: Hey guys. I just decided to write this. I've been brooding over this for about a day now and I feel that I really need to get this out of my system. So yeah, please enjoy! Disclaimer: I don't own Persona 4! PS: This was inspired by a story called Repetitive Mistakes by Legal Assasin.
Souji sighed and stretched his aching muscles. Soccer practice had been so hard today, but he thought it was fun so it really didn't matter. He heard footsteps behind him and turned to see Kou walking up to him with Daisuke trailing a foot behind.
"Hey! Want to go to Aiya's for a bite to eat? My treat." Kou grinned at him and Souji nodded. He needed to get something in his stomache anyways. Dojima and Nanako were still in the hospital and he forgot to make himself breakfast this morning, so all he really at was lunch.
"Let's go." Souji said with smile and they started off on their way to Aiya.
After he had a very interesting time at Aiya's with Kou and Daisuke, he decided that it was getting late and he needed to head home.
When he got home, he went up to his room and laid down on his futon. It was really late and he was really worn out from the days events. He felt his eyelids grow heavy and was soon off into dreamland, where a nightmare awaited his arrival.
Opening his eyes, Souji saw that he was in a dark, grey room with a chair as the only piece of furniture. In that chair sat himself, who's chin was on his chest and his breathing was even.
Standing, he cautiously approached this person, only to have them snap their eyes wide open. Yellow faced gray in a staring contest that Souji thought would never end.
"I'll get you somehow, and when I do, you will die." Said the other Souji.
Souji shot up in bed, drenched in his own sweat. His breathing was very raspy and he felt sick to his stomach, "What was that dream?" He murmured to himself. He stretched his arms and decided that he didn't feel like sleeping anymore.
Walking out of his room and into the bathroom, he looked himself in the mirror. Jumping back about three feet he almost hit his head on a shelf that hung low for Nanako who was obviously shorter than himself and Dojima.
The person that he saw in the mirror looked exactly like him execpt for the fact that it had yellow eyes and was giving him a sadistic smile. He walked back over to the sink and splashed his face with cold water.
"Hello," He heard his own voice say. He realized that he was hearing this in his head, "You hate them all don't you? You hate them all for calling you their leader and thinking that you're invincible. You hate them because they don't understand. Because they can't fathom the fact that you're just like them, a person with a dark side and hidden feelings."
"No, I don't." The real Souji muttered out loud. The voice inside his head kept on speaking what Souji thought was nonsense. After a while, he stepped out of the bathroom with the voice still speaking to him. Grimacing, he slipped on his school jacket and grabbed his bag.
"You hate them and yet you still protect them. You hate yourself for hating them, because you think that you're supposed to be the leader, even if you hate it. You can't stand being around them, so why go at all? What's the point? Why not just let them die? They probably deserve it anyways. Even that stupid whore Saki Konishi deserved to die. They all do. So why keep on protecting people you hate?"
"Why don't you just shut the hell up?" Souji almost shouted. That seemed to work and the voice stopped speaking. The silence in his mind was very relaxing.
He slipped on his shoes and exited his house, heading off to school.
When he got to the school gates, he noticed to girls conversing nearby, saying something about midterms coming up and that a famous person had joined their school. They were talking about Rise Kujikawa, obviously. Souji sighed and continued his way into the school.
After school, Souji decided that he didn't really feel like hanging out with his friends today. He had a headache. But as he was exiting the school he felt someone tap him on the shoulder. He turned to see Rise smiling at him.
"Hello, Senpai. Would you like to get something to eat with me?" She smiled at him, grabbed his hand and pulled him off to the shopping district.
"So, where would you like to go?" Rise turned to see Souji staring off in a different direction, "Senpai? Is something wrong?"
"There's some photographers following us, you should go." He faced her with a serious expression. She understood and ran off. Souji turned in the direction of home and began walking.
Once he arrived home he thought he heard a noise. Checking around, he realized that he had left his window open and a rat had some how gotten in. Sighing, he put out some traps and closed his window.
"Hehe, how funny. A rat. Just like all those other idiots. They're rats too. They all deserved to have their heads snapped off in traps."
"WOULD YOU SHUT THE HELL UP?" He shouted angrily and smashed his fist into a wall. He walked over to the couch and laid down, the voice in his head cackling like a madman.
Sitting up and turning on the tv, the station it was already on was the news. They were saying something about a person was spotted with Rise and they believe them to be having an affair. Sighing again, he shut the tv off and head up the stairs to his room.
He woke up the next morning and glanced at his clock. It was already noon. He shifted and shoved his head back into his pillow. It was Sunday and they didn't have school. For that, he was happy.
Deciding that the sunlight was his worst enemy because it kept shining in his face, he got up from bed and went to the bathroom to shower.
When he got out, he checked his phone and saw that he had three new messages. Two were from Yosuke and one was from Chie. They both said the same thing, "you were on tv last night". His eyes widened and he went to the tv to check the news.
They were still showing the picture of him and Rise standing next to each other in the Shopping District. She was smiling at him and he was looking at her.
"It seems when Risette decided to come to Inaba, she had more on her mind than relaxation!" Said one of the news people. He was grinning wildly.
Souji shut off the tv and sat on the couch with a blank look on his face.
Then, the doorbell rang.
Yosuke met up with Chie on Monday on his way to school. "Good morning, Yosuke." Chie said and waved to him as she walked up to him.
"Hi, Chie. Hey, did you watch the midnight channel last night? Didn't that person look a lot like Souji?" Yosuke said and crossed his arms. His headphones rested on his shoulders like usual, playing some weird instrumental music.
"It did! Oh my god, what if he's next? But...wait...doesn't he already have his persona...? So why would he..." She didn't finish her sentence, thinking hard.
"Well, if he doesn't come to school today, we'll check at his house and see what happens? Okay? No need to worry." Yosuke made an attempt to sound reassuring, but he heard his voice crack.
"Okay." Chie agreed.
It wasn't until after homeroom that they realized that Souji wasn't in school. This made everything worse, and everyone began to worry.
After school they all decided to meet at Souji's house.
"Calm down everyone. I'm sure he's just under the weather and didn't feel like going to school." Naoto said as they gathered in front of the Dojima Residence.
"Yeah, he did look a little pale on Saturday." Rise commented.
Naoto took a deep breath and knocked on the door. When they got no reply, she knocked again, "Souji-senpai?" Still no answer.
"Move out of the way." Kanji said from behind Yosuke. Naoto moved so he could get in front of the door, "Senpai! You'd better get your ass out here before I have to break in!" When Kanji got no answer, he pushed on the door and surprisingly, it came open.
When they had walked throughout the whole house, the group of persona-users began to grow even more worried. There was no sign of Souji.
"He's not here!" Yukiko worridly shouted from the bathroom.
"Sensei's not here either!" Teddie shouted from where he, Yosuke, and Kanji were.
"And he's not in the livingroom." Naoto muttered.
"So where the hell is he?" Chie said as she walked into the living room where everyone was meeting. They all shared the same expression, worry.
"Do you think he was kidnapped?" Yukiko said. Everyone was now sitting down on either the couch or one of the floor mats.
"That is the answer that makes the most sense. He fits the pattern." Yosuke said.
"Well, they said on the weather it was going to rain again, so why not check the midnight channel tonight to be sure?" Rise suggested, "and in the meantime Teddie and I can go check out the other world to see if he's in there at all."
They all agreed that they would do this and went their separate ways.
-Later That Night-
Yosuke was sitting in his room, staring at his own reflection in the tv when suddenly, it sparked to life. It was fuzzy for a moment before becoming extremely clear. And what Yosuke saw made him gasp.
Souji was in the tv!
"Hello all you fucking idiots. I'm only showing up on this program so I can tell you faggots that you're all going to die. And I'll be the one to kill you. But first, I'm going to kill this bastard right here," Shadow Souji turned and pointed towards the actual Souji who was passed out on the floor with cuts all over his exposed skin, "After I'm done with him, you're all going to die. Have fun waiting!"
Then the show ended.
Yosuke was left staring at the tv in shock. There was going to be a lot to talk about tomorrow.
AN: Soo...how was the first chapter? I thought it was okay. But idk. Were any of the personalities OOC? Was my discription of everything okay? Please review! :D
