Sup? Welcome to Rhyme Without A Reason. The place where, me, Nights, and whoever else who happens to have a crazy idea gather to post said crazy stuff. I'll update this first chapter every time a new entry appears in this 'story', so you know which chapter to jump to in case you're looking for something specific.
Most of this fic will be composed of 'Director's Cuts' for scenes we thought needed one, side quests for our fics, random, but kickass ideas that maybe didn't make the cut for a fic for whatever reason, and even your suggestions. Yes, if you manage to submit a crazy enough idea, I might even write it. Anyway, the first chapter is an outtake of FM's chapter 85's first part, so no need to say 'spoilers'.
That said, hope you enjoy this different take on the scenes. Without further ado, on with it.
The capped teen quickly turned around, fearing that Minato would attack him. He prayed for every deity he knew that his feeling was fooling him.
Or better yet, he hoped everything was just a prank, a dream or something. Anything to deny him the reality of that situation.
A slight breeze made him freeze and snap out of his silent wishes.
"Minato!" He screamed, but there was no one there. Not that it helped his condition in the slightest.
He had to force out the air in his lungs. He'd been subconsciously holding his breath, as if even the oxygen inside of him was afraid of Minato. "What am I gonna do..." he mused aloud, biting hard on his lower lip. The ruined city looked the same, no matter where he went. "He'll kill me in seconds..."
... He really said that out loud. He never thought he would. The chill blue haired kid, his man, the dude always by his side when the chips were down...
"What on earth happened to him?" Junpei kept walking forward cautiously. Unwelcome as it was, the sadness calmed him down a little.
He had never experienced such a vulgar display of power and dread. The thing that Minato summoned was maddeningly frightful... he had never seen a creature anything close to that, not even in horror movies or his wildest nightmares.
Could he really summon something like that? Was that really him?
... Did he always hide something devilish as that beneath the surface?
The question made him look down to the ground. "Was all that an act...?" He wondered, and as much as he didn't want to believe it, it was painfully obvious.
Minato just went insane but it was a little different. He wasn't out of control. It just seemed... true. He even seemed tired of holding up that mask for so long. And the expression on his face while he was cursing Hamuko was one of relief, like he was holding that inside from the get go, which made even less sense to him.
But alas, it seemed to be the truth.
... Dammit...
"Tch," Junpei swore under his breath, not believing his rotten luck. His life was really turned upside down in the past few months. He had lost Chidori, then Ken and Shinjiro and now, Minato, the strongest persona user on team was out for their blood.
...
Shaking his thoughts away, he barely pulled himself together and resumed his desperate dash, hoping to find some sort of hole or hiding place where his former friend couldn't find him.
...
...
"Junpei!" Hamuko yelled on the top of her lungs, stopping and looking in every corner of the decimated city. She was still reeling from the slap and abuse from Minato earlier but that wasn't the time to dwell on that. She needed to do something to improve the situation somehow, or else the fear surging inside her would cause her heart to stop. "Where are you!?"
She rounded a corner and pushed through the wreckage, but didn't find the capped young man.
"How far could he have gone...?" The city was vast, but she still intended to search every nook and cranny in the city to locate her friends. "If only Fuuka was here..."
She knew for a fact that Minato would go after Junpei first. The two always had a love-hate relationship during missions. The latter would always try to one-up the former and even talked shit to his face.
The redhead remembered the slight twitch of annoyance on the leader's face every time he dealt with Junpei, sometimes, he would glare at the capped teen behind his back. She'd always brushed it off as minor annoyance but after what happened earlier, she knew that wasn't the case.
He hated Junpei and she knew very well how much of a vengeful mercenary when he was pissed.
However, at the top of his shit-list, was she, herself, for some reason. His demeanor and words during their interaction passed all of his hatred across, and it was so real...
Too real.
The past few weeks she tried desperately to fight back the suspicions in her mind, but all the signs were there. The cult that worshiped Nyalathotep and his champion. Minato disappearing just after defeating Tatsuya and finally, the whole incident on the bridge.
She began to think back on every single moment they shared.
Was it all a lie? Every promise that he made...
The female Fool quickly shook her head. "No, now is not the time to dwell on that," she couldn't afford to waste any more time, lives were at stake. She'd be egotistic to dwell in her illusions.
She searched the area one more time before running off for the next one. Junpei usually hung around the Strip Mall for comics but in his current state, she had no idea where she could find him.
Her mind astray, she tripped over a rock, but was quick enough to stop the fall with her arms. How could she have been so careless... her thoughts and images were passing right before her eyes, at a million miles per hour. She didn't even see... no... she didn't even care where she was going, as long as she could find Junpei. God knew what'd happen if Minato got to him...
His face flashed before her eyes and she punched the ground. "Dammit..".
...
Minato stopped laughing and sat on the edge of the building, overlooking the decimated city of Iwatodai. "Should blast this shithole, for all I care about it..." he said. "But nah, we have much bigger things in store."
So she was going for Junpei, huh? He was easily able to hear her shouting the name due to his superior hearing. "Well then, Hamuko. Let the games begin." He stood up and took a deep breath, concentrating the godly power into his eyes.
"Junpei," Minato said. His so-called best friend... the fallen messiah opened his eyes and zoom-ed straight through all the uselessness between himself and his victim.
Dead people.
Coffins.
Collapsed buildings.
Minato sighed as he continued to look over the city, going through every single detail and particle in the city in micro-seconds. He looked over to the north end of the city.
He saw Mitsuru running.
Akihiko walking cautiously.
Yukari sobbing and praying with her hands clasped together, which drew a laugh from him.
Who the Hell was she praying for?
Finally, he found his victim running like a bitch near the school area. "Heh..." Minato followed Junpei running through the ruins without stopping. He was deathly afraid, the smell of his fear was in the air.
Minato concentrated on his 'best friend's' figure, who sucked in a deep breath and collapsed to the ground when he felt a weight on his shoulder.
"What on earth was that?" Junpei asked aloud, like he didn't know what it was.
The fallen fool channeled the godlike power into his veins and kept going straight for the capped teen.
...
...
Hamuko stopped running and let out a gasp when she felt a terrifying aura bolt past her.
"M-Minato?"
There was no doubt, that energy belonged to him. It was there just for a few seconds which meant he had locked onto his prey.
"Shit!" Hamuko cursed and pulled on her hair. "No, no, no!" Without thinking twice, she ran ahead praying that she wouldn't be too late.
...
...
Every thought in Junpei's mind drained away when a certain aura crept closer. All he could hear was the buzzing in his ear caused by the approaching terror. Not even the voice of his conscience could make it through the ghastly noise drilling into his mind's ear.
He quickly stood up and panicked. While he couldn't sense like Fuuka did, he knew for a fact that it was Minato who was in the vicinity. There wasn't anything special about the aura, it just dread. Plain fear, contagious as a plague, making the air heavier to breathe.
"Fuck!" Junpei tried to power through the pressure upon him and ran away as his reaper inched closer still. "Please, please, please..." he pleaded over and over again, stumbling and faltering his way inside the school. The building was in ruins, but it provided some sort of hiding place. Maybe his hunter would just search for a while and leave him alone.
He quickly forced himself under the rubble and crawled his way inside, burying himself under the debris and dirt.
...
He grimaced slightly.
'What are you gonna do when life catches up?! Crawl under a rock and hide?! Stand up, young man!' His father's rare, sober words reached him.
... Like the old man was one to talk.
Besides, that was not life catching up to him, it was Death! What was the problem with hiding?! Huh, old man?!
... It'd probably be of no use. That was the problem.
"Junpei!"
Minato's voice punched the thought out of his mind. He quickly bit back on the shout of surprise and horror when he heard his name. His body began to shudder when an ungodly amount of dread seeped into the area.
"He's here..." Junpei clenched his jaw hard, hoping to cancel out the shouts. "J-Just go away... I'm already dead." He hissed.
The blue haired hunter glanced around the destruction and found his prey, curled up under a rock just a few yards away. He had half a mind to pull him out by force but that wouldn't as fun. He intended to hurt him mentally and physically and there was one surefire way to do that.
"Junpei!" He sang out again, in between slow steps in a carefree stroll around his location. "Dude, we never really had a chance to talk, huh?"
"I've been so busy making you my bitches," he sneered. "Never got enough time to talk."
Junpei kept quiet and bit hard on his hand.
"Let's talk about girls, shall we? I mean... bros talk about them, right?" Minato suggested, walking closer. "Hm... never mind. My girlfriend is worthless... I'm too ashamed to talk about her."
"..."
"Let's talk about your girl, instead. That goth chick."
The capped teen clenched his other fist.
Was he talking about Chidori...?
"Chidori, was it?"
"Grr..." Junpei took a small breath, hugging his knees. What the hell was he talking about?!
... That was just a ploy, he had to remain calm.
The hunter walked around, humming to himself. His prey was starting to shake due to anger, he could see that.
"She always seemed a little devoid of emotion, you know?" Minato stopped and looked at the spot where Junpei was hiding. "But man, she screamed a who-ho-le lot when I had my way with her." He couldn't contain a laugh.
Junpei widened his eyes.
He what?!
"It was amazing, you should have seen it!" Minato continued. "The sheer emotion, the passion... I taught that bitch how to fear death."
He fucking what?!
"Her persona did choke her out, yeah... Unfortunately I wasn't the one to squeeze her life out of her throat. But someone had to be there to trigger it, right? Does it still count?"
... That... bastard!
Heh... Junpei was coming out really soon. "And you know what else is cool? I can remember her pathetic screaming for you to save her."
He saw a hand emerging from under the debris, clawing at the surface of the rock he was trying to push aside out of pure anger.
"What a pitiful end! She died trying to reach for the pills in my hand, begging me to hand them over like I had her life in my grasp!"
Junpei's nails dug further into the piece of rubble, drawing blood. "You son of a bitch!" Junpei growled, his voice raspy. He remembered very well the way Minato consoled him the day after her death, was that just an act!? Just a fucking game to him!?
The capped teen was inebriated by his hatred, his fingers dripping more blood into the debris they were dug into.
He was gonna beat the shit outta the blue haired bastard! He was going to kill him for Chidori's sake!
Minato sneered. "Come on out Junpei! She wanted me dead, and she wanted you to kill me! Come fulfill her last dying wish! Can you do it?! Or will you just crawl and hide under a rock!?"
...
Junpei yelled on the top his lungs and exploded out of the ruins, throwing the heavy piece of concrete in his grip like a baseball at high speed towards his enemy, before lunging straight forward, readying his fist to tear a hole into the bastard's fucking soul!
"I'm going to kill you!" He roared during his mad charge.
Minato smirked, easily slapping the flying chunk of debris aside with one hand, before allowing Junpei's right to connect with his face, the impact shaking the land slightly and the wind pushing the nearby rocks away.
"Heh," He simply smirked as Junpei gritted his teeth and tried to push his fist deeper into the cheek, to no use. In fact, Minato turned his face against the force of his knuckle.
Iori eventually stared up, his eyes lit with anger.
"... What the Hell are you?!" He asked through his teeth.
"I am the end. Of you, and everything in this godforsaken dump."
"Fuck you!" Junpei screamed in rage, widening the smirk on Minato's face.
No way in Hell he was backing down!
...
Hamuko froze on the spot when she heard a harsh of yell of pain resounding in the area. "What the-!?" that was coming from everywhere, not from a particular direction.
The shout belonged to Junpei, no mistaking it.
Fear seized her limbs and she frantically looked around, hoping to catch them but the shout was multi-directional, it could be coming from anywhere.
Another enraged yell of pain made her lift her head towards the skies. "... From the sky?" the shout was literally coming down from the skies for some reason.
"Junpei!" She cried out. "Where are you!?"
"Where are you..."
The voice made her jump and gasp.
Minato's condescending voice reached her ears, along with a muffled scream in the background.
Hamuko had no idea how that was happening, but she could hear him clearly.
"Let him go!" She blurted out the words. "He never did anything to you! I'm the one you want, right?!"
"... Stupid bitch," was the reply she got from him, and everything fell silent after that.
She ran her nails down her face, trembling from the anxiety pooling inside her stomach.
Junpei was going to die... Minato already had him in his grasp.
And she had no fucking idea where they were!
That left her no choice but to keep run and pray that she would run into them.
"Minato..." She gritted her teeth and ran.
...
Junpei latched with burning hands onto Minato like a vice, trying to grapple him to the ground, but the fallen messiah did not budge. All the puny punches invoked a cruel laugh from him, who casually shoved the now cap-less teen away after a few seconds. "Weakling!"
He had no evoker or sword but he didn't give a crap. All he could see in front of him was the dead body of the bastard who had tortured and killed his beloved Chidori. "You piece of shit!"
Minato ducked under another flaming punch and smirked. "What made you come out, huh?" He wondered, casually weaving out of the way of another fist. "You knew this was hopeless."
The taller male paid no mind and swung another scorching haymaker that missed by a mile. Arisato used the opportunity to finally reply with a shot of his own, which sent Junpei skidding back, but refusing to fall.
"Chidori..." He muttered and ignored the blood leaking out of his mouth. Growling and cursing, he stood up to glare his enemy down. "I'm gonna get you..."
Minato shook his head and lunged forward at blind speed with another brutal, wild strike to Junpei's stomach, this time making him double over. "Pathetic..." The hunter said, staring down at his prey.
Junpei grabbed onto Minato's legs, lest he hit the ground. After letting out a sigh, the latter casually threw the former to the other side with a slap to the face.
"Where is the hero of justice, Junpei?" He said with a scowl. "Come on. Defend her fucking memory!"
Struggling to get up, the short haired teen scowled and charged at him but Minato was through playing games.
He met the furious charge head on and grabbed a hold of his shoulder. With one swift, but dragged out movement, he twisted the joint and made the bone shatter, eventually breaking through the skin.
"Fun time is over..." He said with a serious expression, but frankly couldn't keep a grin in check. The way his skin stretched before the bone ripped through it, the blood that escaped from the wound, the chilling sound of the bone breaking...
The scream could be better. There was rage in it instead of terror. But regardless...
What an amazing feeling. It felt as if he was one bone away from his objective, even though he knew it was inevitable.
He could surely get addicted to the thrill.
But wasn't he, already?!
Minato's eyes widened as the grin grew and turned into a smile as he overpowered his enemy to the ground and growled. "My best friend, huh!?" the agi-user clenched his burning fist and dug his fingers into the ground as Minato started raining down punches on his face with no remorse.
"F-Fuck you!" Junpei spat blood into the bastard's face, still struggling to break free.
The blue haired devil smirked and pulled his fist back, allowing his prey to cough and regain a little breath. "Hey... Hey! Look up there! Can you see that sky?! Can you see your girl up there?!" Arisato said, reeling back to allow Iori to look up.
Junpei sucked in a deep breath, refusing to look the direction he was pointed, instead pointing his eyes to Minato's.
"Look the fuck up!" Minato demanded, releasing another punch at Junpei's face. "She's up there, crying for the life she wasted on your pathetic ass!"
The pain exploded something in him, and he grabbed onto his assailant, repeatedly clawing and punching his body which Minato found amusing. The blunette grabbed Junpei by the head and forced him down, pinning his head against the ground. "... That all?"
"I considered you my best friend," Junpei forced out. "You son of a bitch!"
"I considered you my best friend during every damn cycle, Junpei!" Minato responded. "This hurts, doesn't it?!"
"What the hell are you talking about?!"
"Imagine my pain when you brushed me off and greeted me like a stranger!" Arisato shouted and started raining down punches once more.
Junpei took the punishment but still kept trying to struggle his way out. Minato brushed his hand from his face and stared him down. "You know this is useless, just give up and die!"
"Like hell I will," Junpei spat, the flames on his hands burning brighter by the second. "You dammed us all to hell, I will never forgive you!"
"You stupid piece of shit! You will forget all this, shut the hell up."
"I will never, ever forget!" Iori's hand shot at Minato's throat, and he looked at his nemesis dead in the eye. "I won't forget and I won't forgive!"
"You won't do shit!" Arisato replied, wrapping his hand around Junpei's wrist and crushing it under his grip. "You are nothing compared to me, and you know it."
"H-Hamuko..." The downed teen powered through the pain and pulled the blunette closer to the point that their foreheads were touching. "She'll get you..."
... A snort escaped Minato's lips. "If I had a yen for every single time someone told me that..."
"Mark my fucking words!"
Arisato laughed to the skies but unlike the last time, Junpei wasn't scared. The spite had burned all of his dread to ashes.
"Naoya was supposed to be the one.
Then it was Margaret.
Maya was supposed to stop me, too, but I never stopped. Reiji. Katsuya. Theodore and finally... Tatsuya was the one promised to stop this reign of terror but nobody could do shit. The greatest persona user of all time couldn't stop me!"
Minato then looked dead into Junpei's eyes. "And you actually think my weak, broken ex can beat me?" He chuckled. That was actually a good joke. "If they couldn't stop me, that bitch certainly won't!"
"She will slaughter you!" Iori shouted again.
The joke was only funny once.
Minato looked away with a scowl and clicked his tongue, before drawing a breath through his teeth. "You know, in one cycle, Takaya kidnapped and tortured you. You said those exact same words: 'Minato will slaughter you'. Now, just the name is changed, you'll still cling onto someone else to take your revenge for you, huh? Never strong enough to do it on your own, always relying on someone else!" He snapped, clasping Junpei's mouth shut.
"You've always talked a big game. Be it on your behalf, or for others... you always had something to say..."
"Mmmmf!" Junpei bit his hand.
"I'll make sure you never talk again," Minato channeled almighty flames into his fist, before pulling back his bitten hand. "Any last words, punk?"
"Go to Hell!" Junpei yelled out on the top of his heart.
... Heh. "Fitting..."
...
Hamuko trusted her heart and kept running. Somehow, she was able to hear bits and pieces of the conversation. Mostly, it was Junpei screaming in pain along with the painful cracking of bones that accompanied every punch.
The rhythm of the punches accentuated the beat of her heart. Sometimes it seemed like the thing was gonna come out through her throat.
"He's talking about the cycles again," She bit her lip. He clearly knew something even before the first reset. "What is he hiding?"
She also heard Junpei yelling at him that she'd take revenge for him. "Revenge..." she whispered. "Against Minato..."
'Stop right there...'
The redhead stopped her charge when the same aura alerted her and made her halt.
... A drop of something fell on top of her head. And then another
... The Hell...? Was it raining?
"Look up, bitch," the cold voice snapped her towards the top of the building right next to her.
"J-Junpei!"
As soon as she could recognize him, a droplet fell right into her eye before she could react.
It was blood.
She was seeing red out of her left eye.
She didn't even blink.
Her friend was right there, in the grasp of the fallen messiah who was glaring her down from the top of the building.
Junpei was bleeding profusely. His entire uniform was drenched in blood and Minato was holding him by the ankle, upside down on the edge of the building.
"Junpei!" Hamuko shouted.
"What are you gonna do, huh?" The blunette asked. "I highly doubt you'll do anything..."
She didn't care about the questions this time. "Leave him alone!" She ordered. "That's going too far!"
Arisato blew a raspberry. "Yeah right," he spat, flipping her the birds again with his free hand. "This fool is all yours and remember... I have far worse on store for you."
He loosened the grip around Junpei's ankle and the teen plummeted downwards at a furious pace.
The redhead swallowed her anxiety and questions like a pill and ran for the landing point.
Minato gave one last stare at the two before turning on his heels and disappeared, heading for his next victim.
Hell if he wasn't going to make all of them suffer...
Hamuko positioned herself on the landing point and let him fall on her arms. The sickening slapping sound of his soaked clothes falling on her arms sounded like hand, slapping her face.
It was all real.
She quickly rested the battered male on the ground and observed his condition. "Junpei...?"
The guy opened his mouth but nothing came out.
She leaned in closer. "Speak up, please..." She pleaded.
Iori couldn't get his words out, and upon closer inspection, she could see some burns on his tongue.
...
"God no..." she shook her head.
Junpei grabbed her by the ribbon and shook her slightly, trying to force words out but all that came out were whimpers.
"Junpei..." Hamuko bit her lip. Nooo... "Open your mouth..." She asked him.
The male did so, and allowed her to observe more burns that ran down his throat. The hold around her tightened, but she was still lost in the shock and horror.
... Did Minato really... burn down his... vocal cords...?
He disabled Junpei for life...
The agi-user released her ribbon and collapsed to ground, literally coughed out small purple embers from his throat.
"What did he... do to you..." Hamuko whispered, the knots on her throat making her speech difficult.
The male couldn't even scream in pain, all he did was shudder on the ground.
He began scribbling in the dirt with his still bloody fingers, after several failed attempts of getting his voice to come out.
The girl was about to help him up but stopped when she observed the words that Junpei had written down on the ground.
"He killed Chidori..." Hamuko read aloud.
Junpei bit his lip and continued writing.
"Kill him..."
Hamuko read the next few words and looked away.
He had slapped and abused her on the bridge but burning down Junpei's vocal cords...
How could he...
She clutched Junpei's broken frame with a vice grip, silently promising to never let anything slip away from her again.
"Minato!" She shouted at the sky. She was going to stop him, no matter what...!
A/N about the chapter: Here's the thing about this. If you haven't noticed, I'm the co writer of FM. Nice to meet you. :P
I usually just help plan the script for FM's chapters. I rarely write anything, cause I got my own fics/life/stuff to take care of, and my creativity has been running kinda low lately.
But then I looked at the latest chapter, and two scenes immediately popped into my mind: Junpei's blood raining on Hamuko and the capped teen falling on her arms like a wet towel. So I was like, hey can I edit this chapter, and Nights gave me the green light. This is the result. Hope you enjoyed it, kind of a change of pace from Nights' gritty, in your face style. I even think I might actually begin editing some of the next chapters, though... depends on how sleepless I am. :P
Things in this fic, and where to find them:
CH 1: Junpei's Turmoil, a Fallen Messiah outtake.
CH 2: Caught In A Mosh, an extended lynching scene from Seasons In The Abyss.
CH 3: *new* Suicide Redemption, a Blood Lust alternate chapter.
Usual A/N: So... Yeah. Here's this new thing, hope you like it. If possible, do post suggestions in the box below. I'm dying to write something a bit different. Maybe it'll revive my motivation for writing, since it's been shot dead for a while. You know what else you can do with the review box below? REVIEW! Send your critics and opinions my way, please, feedback is key. Anyways, I'm Raidou the 16th and I approve this message. *thumbs up* Yes, Nights, I took out the last line. Use it as you please. *grins* Peace!