Disclaimer: I do not own Persona 3, P3P, Persona 4
Souji Seta 's True Journey
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Chapter 1:
(3/20/2013)
I lost. I was powerless as I watched my friends fall one by one before my own eyes, trying to give me enough time to finish off this shadow, this monster, this god. Useless. This being has been playing with us from the beginning, making us believe that we had a chance to win only to crush those hopes and drown us into despair.
The first to go was Yosuke, my best friend, my partner. "I believe in you!". Those were his last words to me as he was swallowed up by darkness. It should've been me.
The second was Chie, headstrong and selfless . "Don't give up!". It should've been me.
The third was Yukiko, kind and caring. "You're the only one who can win!". It should've been me.
The fourth, Kanji. The tough guy of the gang. "I"ll protect you like you always did for me senpai!" . It should've been me.
The fifth, Naoto. The voice of reason from our group. "You cannot afford to fall now senpai!" It should've been me.
The sixth, Rise. Always smiling and full of energy. "You're our only hope senpai!" It should've been me.
There was only one left. I watched him smile sadly at me as he disappeared. "They are all counting on you sensei ! Yosuke, Kanji, Chie-chan, Yuki-chan, Nao-chan, Rise-chan and me too! Everyone's fate in the real world rest on you! I know you can win sensei!" It should've been me.
I was the one targeted! Not them! It should all have been me ! Power of the wild card, Infinite potential, a whole load of bullshit that's what it is! I was nothing but a puppet following the whim of the puppetter. Wielding a power that was never my own to begin with! How foolish! How arrogant was I? Because of my stupidity I lost the only people that I could call friends, family even! I looked up and glared at the god, tears streaming down my face, my will and mind all but shattered at the lost of my world. I would die here, I knew it, but I sure as hell wasn't going to make it easy! I stood up and tighten the grip on my sword. A white and blue light covered me as I channeled all of my remaining Spiritual Power(SP) on my body to enhance it far beyond human limitation. I lunged at the god and was upon it in less than a second. I slashed downward at her face, materializing a card in the way of my sword, summoning my persona in the process. My slash was blocked by one of hermonstrous arm. I saw a black-clad figure pass by me and putting his clawed hand in front of the god's face. I smirked and pronounced a single word.
"Megidolaon"
It had the desired effect as I heard her scream in pain, however I was also caught in the explosion resulting in my upper clothing getting completely destroyed and my chest bleeding heavily. I didn't care. I ignored the pain and watched Izanagi land at my side. I flared up my SP once again and summoned all of my Personae at my side, ordering them to attack. Fire, Electricity, Ice, Wind, Darkness and Light all converging into one to strike at the godly being. The platform we were on was completely destroyed, my Spiritual Energy reduced to nothing. I was barely standing, I watched the smoke dissipate, only to find her nearly unscratched. I fell to my knees, exhausted but not surprised.
"It's unfortunate that our battle must end this way..."
I smiled, blood dripping down my face and answered her in a last act of defiance.
"..You win...this round..but...one day...someone..will..definitely..put an end...to your existence...humanity..will not fall to you.."
"Everything I did was for the sake of mankind...Now, rest..."
I was helpless as I was dragged down into the darkness...
Unknown location
I opened my eyes with what little strength I had left. Fog. A land devoid of any life, filled with a thick fog. Was it death? Or was I still alive? I tried to move my body but no luck. I didn't sensed any pain from my fight. Yet again, I didn't feel anything anymore. Was this how I would pass eternity? Trapped in this barren land, forced to reflect on my actions? I suppose it would be a suitable punishment. I failed my friends. I failed the world. I was worthless...
...
I didn't know how many time passed since then. Days? Months? Years? Gazing into the distance of this cold white void. That was when I saw it. A butterfly. A blue butterfly flying in my direction. I was suddenly overcome with an overwhelming sense of nostalgia. I wanted to grab it...no, I NEEDED to. I couldn't explain this feeling inside me, I didn't even questioned myself as to how it could be here. I just knew what I had to do. For the first time in a very long while I tried to move my body, having nearly forgotten how to do so. I didn't sense anything but I didn't give up. I COULDN'T give up ! I saw my arm move in front of me even though I still didn't sense it. I willed myself to extend it and reach my target. And as I finally did so, my vision was filled with oh so welcome darkness.
Velvet Room
"Souji-san, please wake up."
I knew that voice...
"*Sigh* Souji-san, please wake up, you've already slept more than enough."
I opened my eyes slowly. My vision completely blurred. I rubbed my eyes, trying clear my sight when realization hit me. I could move. I could sense my body. In fact I felt better than ever before. I scanned my surrounding. I was sitting on a sofa in the middle of what appeared to be a the interior of a limousine. I then took notice of three presences in the room. Right in front of me behind a table, fingers interlaced, wearing his usual black suit with a handkerchief protruding from one of the front pocket was Igor. I sure has hell wouldn't forget that nose and eyes. Though one thing greatly disturbed me at the moment. He wasn't grinning. In all my time in the velvet room that never happened. Even when he announced me that I failed to rescue that asshole Mitsuo in time, resulting in his violent death at the end of the Shadows and his body hanging on an antenna, the little bastard was grinning like a madman. So why...I let my gaze lingered to his left and saw one person that I could honestly call a friend. She had long silvery hair cascading down her back and was wearing a elegant blue suit. I looked at her, yellow eyes staring right back at me and called her name.
"Margaret..?"
She smiled.
"It's good to see you' ve finally woken up."
I tried to register her words. Woken up ?
"..Why am I here...? The last thing I can remember is..."
Izanami. I stood up and unconsciously grabbed my chest in pain and started breathing heavily as the memory rushed back to me. My friends falling one by one. The helplessness. The darkness, then the cold and eternal emptiness. I was dead. Killed by a Deity. And humanity probably suffered the same fate because of how weak I was. All of it was my fault! The pain in my chest was becoming unbearable, sweat dripping down my brow, my breath becoming more ragged by the second. I fell down on my knees unable to stand anymore.
"Souji-san! Please calm down!"
I looked up as Margaret put a hand on my shoulder and knelled down besides me.
"It's *gasp* my fault...All *gasp* of it..."
I could feel her grip tighten on my shoulder.
"It wasn't you fault. You've done everything you could."
I shook my head trying to push the images away.
"If I had been stronger, I could've prevented that! I thought that the power of the Wild Card would be enough to sort me out any situation...I became to reliant on it. It never was MY power! If I had saw that earlier, I COULD'VE SAVED EVERYONE! " I yelled.
"Could you really ?"
I turned my head toward Igor who was now harboring his oh so familiar grin.
"What did you say?" I snarled at him letting my anger take the better of me. Though he didn't seemed to mind.
"I asked of you if you could save mankind should you be given another chance. Would you go through anything, no matter how difficult the task may seemed to be or how much pain it would bring upon yourself to save your loved ones?"
II didn't even had to think about my answer.
"I would."
His grin got even wider at my answer.
"Marvelous. Then let us sign our new contract." He waved his hand making a contract appearing out of thin air.
Wait. What? I got myself back up and nod at Margaret, thanking her for her help, which she returned before returning near her master. I then return my gaze on the long nosed gentleman.
"New contract..?" I asked
"Indeed. Do you remember the one time you failed to save one of this world victims?"
"I do." Mitsuo, King Moron murderer. Accessory the ugliest guy on the planet.
"Then I assume you would also remember what choices I offered to you back then."
Choices? I felt my eyes widens as I realized what he was talking about. How could I not remember this!
"You turned back the flow of time..."
" *Chuckles* That is correct. In normal circumstances I wouldn't be able to offer you a second chance. But my master allowed me to do so for this one time only." Master? The hell? I always thought Igor was the Big Boss here. I didn't had time to dwell on it for long as Igor talked again. "However, should you decide to seize that opportunity, you must know that your journey will be by far more difficult than the previous one. Not only that, but several 'restrictions' or 'punishments' if you prefer, will be placed upon you. As for what I mean, I am afraid you will have to see that by yourself." He put the contract on the table and pushed it toward me. I took it.
"I Seta Souji, do hereby swear to safeguard mankind by any mean possible, regardless of the enemy or conditions"
This contract was completely different of the old one which only asked of me to accept the consequences of my actions.
I supposed it didn't matter much. If I could save humanity, if I could save them, I would go through hell and back!
I signed. I watched as the surrounding seemed to shift. No longer was the velvet room a limousine driving though the fog. It was now a gigantic Elevator with a thin fog covering the ground and hiding my feet from view.
"It would seems you have made your choice." I nodded. He waved his hand making the contract disappear.
"Time march on in your world. We will discuss the details of this contract upon your return. Until then, farewell.
I closed my eyes and let the darkness took over me.
Unknown location?/?/?
I opened my eyes and let out a yawn. I hated going to the velvet room this way. Alright, first thing first. I had to found out where I was. I started looking around and quickly noticed I was inside a train. My Next step was to find where that train was going, that would be a little more difficult..
"...The next stop is Iwatodai..."
..Or not. Iwatodai. Now what the hell was I doing at Tatsumi port Island? Could it have something to do with our School trip? From what I could remember it was back in September. If that was the case it would mean I only had 6 months or so to stop Izanami. I now only had to confirm the date. I searched in my school uniform which was surprisingly intact from the battle and took out my cell phone. I turned it on and took a look at the date.
3/23/2013 - 23h45
Figures. Well at least I now knew the hour. I tried to dial Yosuke's number, only to find that I couldn't because my phone didn't appeared to be registered to any service. I sighed and continued to rummage through my uniform pockets and did a summary of my inventory.
~400.000 yens
Other world glasses
4 Smoke bombs
1 Defective Cell Phone
2 Chewing-gums
1 Mp3
I put the Mp3 around my neck and the chewing-gums down my mouth.
"Iwatodai"
"This is the final train for Tatsumi Port island.."
I got out of the train and turned my Mp3 on.
"Now I face out! I Hold out! I reached out to the truth.." Skip. You can go fuck yourself with your freaking truth for all I care. "Every day's great at you Junes! " The fuck? Why did I have the Junes theme on this? Probably when I lent my Mp3 to Teddie. I growled and skipped again.I ended up listening to Soul Phrase. I continued to walk out of the station and tried to think of where I could spend the night. I thought about Shirakawa Boulevard but put the idea aside immediately. For one I actually wanted to sleep and not listen to the moan and screaming from adjacent rooms. And second...Well going to a love hotel alone was kinda sad. I sighed once again and looked up in the starry sky to calm myself down. Bad Idea, I was speechless at the size of the moon. It was only half full, yet I had never seen it THIS big. For fuck sake it was ten times bigger than the full one in Inaba. Was the moon here this big back on the school trip and...Did the moon just turn green? No, not just the moon, the fucking sky WAS green. I detached my gaze from the sky and looked around me. I choked on my chewing-gum. Blood. The buildings were bleeding and the ground was flooded with said red liquid. But that wasn't all, there was coffins everywhere in place of people. Oh yeah and my Mp3 was down. What the hell was going on here? Could this be Izanami's doing? As I got my coughing under control, I started to run down the street and soon arrived at Iwatodai Strip Mall. I then spotted a worn-out newspaper on the ground and started looking through it.
3/29/2009 : "More case of Apathy syndroms. It is still a mystery as to how ones contract it but several scientists..."
I stopped reading here. I was four years in the past. Four Years. I knew I would go back in time but damn not that much! I started to realize by now the implications of Igor's words.
"Punishment huh ?..." I was erased from my friends memories for I was the only one to go back through time. That was my punishment for failing them along with mankind. I clenched my fists in both rage and sorrow.
CRASH
I whirled around at the noise dropping the newspaper. A black mass of liquid with red eyes was crawling on the grounds. Shadow. I immediately extended my arm to summon my Persona. Nothing. I was honestly startled as the shadow separate itself into three giant wrestlers and I was still unable to summon any of my Personae. I tried a different approach and just willed for my SP to reinforce my body. Still nothing. No personae. No Spiritual Power. No weapons. I ran. I ran as fast as I could. If it wasn't for the fact that three Hulk Hogan look alike was after my ass right now I would have noticed the speed I was actually running at. I continued to run as the scenery blurred before my eyes. After ten or so minutes I stopped. I actually managed to outrun them. My breathing was starting to calm down from the running. I began to ponder as to why i couldn't summon any personae and call forth my SP.
BAM
I was sent flying across the street. Those bastards had already caught up to me. I stood up shakingly and was thankful the strike didn't damage me too badly. I started to assume the same stance Chie took so many time during our sparring session. One of them ran at me is arm extended, ready to take my head off with his biceps, I ducked under it and slammed my knee in his guts. I watched the Shadow fall to the ground clutching his stomach but didn't stop here and performed a roundhouse kick that would have made Chuck Norris proud. His head detached itself from his body and the wrestler exploded in black smoke. Two more to go. Apparently they decided to attack me together. Both ran toward me in the same way the first one did. I ducked under the first one but was unprepared for the second one adjusting his course to actually catch me and throw me through a building. I was bleeding heavily, lying under a piles of rubble. My left arm seemed to be broken and the same could be said for some of my ribs. I saw the Shadows coming toward me, still unable to move. One of them picked me up by the neck trying to choke me, a dark smirk forming under his masked face. I couldn't do anything to fight back, my arms falling limply at my sides. I laughed mentally at my predicament, I was begging for a second chance to save humanity and I was going to die at the hand of a common Shadow. Maybe I wasn't made to be a hero. Maybe I should've stayed dead.
No...I didn't have the right to die now. If I was to fall here who would protect my friends. Yes..I could still hear their voices..They entrusted me with their hopes. Yosuke, Chie, Yukiko, Teddie, Kanji, Rise, Naoto. I understand now. This life was no longer my own. My life now belonged to mankind. I forgo the right to give up the moment I signed that contract !
I suddenly felt a rush of power course through me and kicked the Shadow in the chest with my new found strength hard enough to force him to drop me. I could hear the sounds of peoples screaming in the distance but I didn't care. There was only one voice that mattered to me. His voice. I raised my functioning arm, palm open, pointing to the heaven. A blank card was laying on it. I then repeated the word that marked the beginning of my journey one year ago.
"Pe..so..na ! "
I closed my hand. Crushing the card. A pillar of white energy rose up to the sky, bathing the world in light.
"Thou art I..And I am thou..From the see of thy soul I cometh..From the very moment of my emergence, I have been a guiding light shed to illuminate thy path...I am the original god Izanagi-no-Okami."
I could only smirk as the two Shadows were trembling in fear before the white-clad god. My wounds, healed the moment I summoned it. I turned around and nodded at him.
"It's good to see you back" He nodded back, acknowledging my words. "Now, let's give them hell!" I turned back once again and rushed at the nearest shadow using my SP on my legs to enhance my speed as well as their strength. I mentally ordered Izanagi to handle the other Shadow and as soon as the command was sent the wrestler was disintegrate by an enormous bolt of lightning. While that was going on I closed upon my own Shadows and decided to use my own version of Chie's finishing move on the bastard who tried to choke me to death. I kicked him in the nuts with a super powered kick lifting him off the ground, I started rearing back the same leg and struck a him once again with a yell of "Galactic punt !" The wrestler soon became nothing more than a point in the sky.
"What the hell?"
I looked in the street at the outburst ans saw three people staring at me in shock. I waved at them.
"Yo ! One one of you mind taking care of me while I sleep? Defeating those Shadows completely drained me. Thanks and Night !" I announced cheerfully as I fell into unconsciousness.
End of chapter 1
Chapter 1 has been revised. They were a lot of errors in it. It still probably the case but to a much lesser extent. Enjoy!