Hi there people, it's me~! Decided to do a Persona 4 oneshot out of love (And boredom) that got inspired by Sia's (Who is now added to my personal list of Media drugs) song "Stop Trying".
There are no actual parings in this one except implied and a one-sided crush on the OC's part. Enjoy!
Oh yeah, I don't own Persona, cause if I did…Yeah, it's better if I didn't
The only thing I own in this story is Shinobu (my OC), her family, the other OC, and nothing else.
Warning – there will be swears and Character bashing(Non-intential of course).
Update: Has been edited a bit
Shinobu let out a quiet moan as she pushed herself off the floor, pain throbbing throughout her body
"W-what happened…" She whimpered. The last thing she remembered was making a stop before coming home from work and then…
Another spike of pain shot through her, and she slowly stood to find herself in a strange, stain-glass gallery-esk hall, filled with portraits of various people she vaguely recognized. As she walked, she couldn't help but feel like the canvases were watching her, calling out to see if there was a janitor or maybe a fellow wanderer who could help her
"Hello," She called, getting silence in return "I-is any one here? I'm sort of lost. If you could help me or something…."
Suddenly, a low growl was heard, and she quickly ducked into a tiny opening in the hall as some strange, black creature wearing a red mask crawled past her and down to where she woke, leaving a inky trail of sludge behind it
Shinobu couldn't help but let her nose wrinkle as the sludge trail suddenly vaporized into smog.
What was that? She thought, then slipped out of her hiding spot and quickly continued on her way, lest the creature decided to round back
She continued wandering around the halls, quickly ducking out of sight as an array of strange creatures popped out left and right, getting more and more frightened as she began to wonder what sort of rabbit hole she had fell into. Suddenly she spotted a painting that really wasn't a painting – just a photograph of a brunnete girl angrily painted over with black, and reached out for it
The second she touched it, voices started booming all throughout the hall, forcing the girl to clutch her head as pain shot all over out of nowhere
You really should give up on that loser Hanamura
"Mo-Moemi-san?" She whimper as she winced
I don't see why you want to get into his pants so much – he's such a dick, and he always bugging everyone and acting like such a tool. Makes me wonder why we have to work with him…
"N-no! That's not true!" She cried, as if she'd get a response or make the voice take it back, but it only echoed it's words at her, forcing her to flee from it.
The event repeated itself as she got farther along the hall. Every time she stopped a familiar portrait, it would blast back horrible words at her, words she had tried ignoring, words she hated, words she wish would just stop…
Eventually, she reached a pair of ornate doors, and with trembling hands pushed it open. Inside was a huge gallery, pictures floating all around like birds while massive steps lead up to a giant column with it's own steps, where a giant portrait of her sat. Once she was far enough inside, the doors slammed shut, and before she could react, Shinobu was bombarded with thousands of voices, piercing at her from everywhere
Why does she always defend him?
It's because she wants to get in good with the Boss
Do you see the way she clings to him and acts all sweet – pathetic!
The words kept pouring out, each voice more agonizing than the next. Shinobu climbed up the stairs to try and escape, but they we everywhere. She fell to the ground and curled into a ball, trying to block them from her ears, but they still poked through
She's such a kiss up! Acting all goody-goody to the teachers! I bet she talks about them behind their backs
It's so irritating how she can be all quiet one minute then so "Helpful" the next!
Such a stuck up little bitch! Does she think acting that way gonna make her popular?
Who does she think she's fooling?
But the last one was the most painful of them all
Stop acting like such a damn fake! You have a brain don't you! You don't have to do everything Dad says and smile about it!
"I…" she whimpered, tears beading from her eyes "I-I don't think that…I'm not like that."
"But you are."
Shinobu quickly sat up and gaped at the sight before her – Standing atop of the steps of the column was...herself, only dressed in suggestive cocktail outfit you'd find in one of those Porn magazines. And her eyes…were a horrid sickly shade of yellow that gleamed cruelly, as if she were going to devour the poor lost girl there and then as she held a black canvas
Just then the gallery doors burst open and, to Shinobu's added surprise, revealed her upperclassman Yosuke accompanied by June's new mascot Teddy and some other students from her school.
"Well, took you long enough." She snorted, then stretch out her hands around her "You're all just in time for the show!"
"Inoue-san quick, you need to get away from her!" he yelled, and Shinobu nearly felt her heart stop
He…he came to save me….
Suddenly, her joy was interrupted by the look-alike's piercing laughter as she gave her a coy grin
"Oh, I'm sorry about that? It's just -" She chortled, grinning wider at Shinobu's confusion as it turned and pointed at Yosuke "-The way your face lit up when that slob Hanamura came in was too hilarious! Priceless even! I mean you've been waiting for so long to have this opportunity, and here he is – the Big hero ready to save the princess! I really need to take a picture of this!"
Shinobu stared rather heatedly at the doppelganger, though in truth she was rather frightened over how accurately she had analyzed her, and tried to sound unthreatened.
"J-just who are you?" She stuttered
The doppelganger turned to stare from it's pedestal, and Shinobu flinched as she gave the most frighteningly vicious smile she'd ever seen
"I'm you – Who else?"
The poor girl took a step back in shock, and whimpered as she tried to stand her ground "Y-you're me…?"
"Shinobu" just stood there coolly, eyes still gleaming with full-blown malice before taking a few steps down.
"There's no way you can be me. You're not real…"
"Shinobu" laughed at the sight, Yellow eyes sparkling with glee while she stopped and twirled a canvas in front of her like a toy top
"No, silly girl – you aren't real! Nothing about you is real." She mocked, then made a spectacle of herself by mimicking the tearful girl's voice " "I'm sick of it! I don't wanna be the "Good girl"! I don't wanna be an example of a "proper student"! I don't wanna be yelled at every time Hinata screws up! I don't wanna hog Hanamura-Sempai's attention for myself"! That's all shit and you know it! You act like a poor lonely goody-twoshoes that can't make friends, but the truth is you like it that way because it makes things easier to cover up-"
"I DON'T!" She screeched, chest heaving as more fresh tears dropped "I-I never think that way, I don't…"
"Shinobu" laughed again, stopping the painting mid-spin as it was revealed to be a portrait of Yosuke with a pink heart encircling him before restarting its orbit "Of course you do – you're just so fucking pathetic that you don't admit it and pretend it's not there, like how you hid how sick to your stomach you got every time Hanamura started panting over that damn bimbo Konishi!"
Shinobu quickly stole a horrified glance at him, fearing his reaction as her doppelganger continued her spiteful tale
"Oh, you played the "Cute helpful co-worker" quite well; giving him advice, offering to do his shifts so he could spend the day hovering around her like a love-struck moron, lending him every little favor short of sex just so he would talk to you. And the best part is that when even though you're the only one actually nice to him, even though he spends the whole time dicking around while mooning over her, and even though he barely give you the time of day - you never let it show how much you loathed it! You even went out of your way to make sure he didn't overhear her badmouthing him to the other employees! And how "bravely"you defend him when they do it in public because you hope it makes it look so noble in comparison."
She then stopped the painting again – revealing a portrait of Saki whose face was torn by cuts in the canvas, "But I have to admit – It's admirable how you managed to contain yourself and not hump him the moment she died. You were practically jumping for joy when the cops identified the body!"
"I-I didn't, I wasn't-"
"Not that it mattered, he still held a torch for the poor, dead bitch – even when you made every attempt possible to get him to stop thinking about her by consoling him since you all were "Such good friends" and how it was a shame this happened to "such a nice person". Too bad huh?"
Shinobu quivered, desperate not to look at "Shinobu", the portrait, or Yosuke
"I wonder what would happened if it had been your corpse on that telephone pole, or a different one for that manner?" she taunted, and Shinobu's quaking increase as she began to descend the stairs, portrait now spinning on the tip of her finger "Would he have sworn a bloody, love-filled vengeance then, for you too…"
"Shut up…"
The canvas stopped again to reveal the portrait of a girl with short, dyed spiky hair with red X's spattered all over it "And how about how you pretend to be a sweet and valiant little sister to that ungrateful bitch Hinata, but the truth is you'd ring her ugly neck the second you'd get the chance so you'd stop having to deal with your dad yelling at you for "not keeping her in check". I mean, you make every sacrifice possible, ruin your own life, and deal with all her crap, and she has the balls to call you a self-serving bitch because of it. If she has such a problem with you butting it, she should ask deadbeat Dad to just deal with it instead."
"Shut Up…"
"Oh, but let's not forget the biggest lie of them all," "Shinobu" sneered cruelly, and her smile went wide as she stopped the canvas for a forth time as her own face showed up, half hidden beneath black paint
"How much you lie to yourself – about how you're not a pathetic girl pathetically in love with a pathetic, idiot excuse for a coworker whose never going to notice pathetic little you. About how you're not some no named student no one recognizes. About how you're not some hopeless girl in a small town that'll never have a life – or a future, because the world can't see you. And how you're not stuck taking care of a thankless brat and a deadbeat and taking the brunt of every slur, insult, and wound all their stupidity brings – because the truth is you want it! It gives you a reason to pretend, gives you a reason to create those masks! And most of all - it gives them a reason to at least look you in the face." She gleamed, staring at the picture rather spitefully "And why should you complain when you can just keep quiet about it all. Why should anyone defend you when you want to be hurt so you can lie about it? Why express yourself when other can make them up for you? Why have outlets when you can bottle everything up for everyone and act like its fine? Because at the end of the day, no matter what you say, you're just a sad little masochist playing dress up…."
"SHUT UP!"
The girl stood there shaking, knuckles white as she repeated the words, hoping that they'd make her, this - everything just disappear.
"SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP!" she cried, clutching her head in despair as more tears splashed down. She wanted everything to drown – everyone's voices, the clicking of "Shinobu's" heels as she got closer, the silence – as every word cut her over and over like relentless knives "You're lying! It's not true - None of that's true! You don't know ANYTHING!"
"Actually," She drawled, standing right across from her now as she smirked, "I know EVERYTHING! And you know why..."
"Shinobu" then threw the canvas at Shinobu's feet, revealing that the black paint had had faded and now showed "Shinobu's" face
"BECAUSE I AM YOU BITCH! I'm everything you are, everything you hide – Everything you try to paint over like a shitty little portrait!"
Shinobu stared at the portrait, knuckles turning white as she shook, "You…"
"Inoue-san, don't!" Yosuke cried as he and the others tired to reach her, but suddenly appearing monsters and paintings impeded their path
There's no way…
"You're not…."
The others attempted to call out to her and prevent the danger they knew was coming next.
"Inoue, don't say it!"
"You're not real…None of this is…"
…That can be true…
"Inoue, listen to us!"
The girl then turned her gaze to her smirking doppelganger, eyes wide with disbelief, "Your not real…"
...She's lying! I'm not…
"We have to stop her!"
"You…can't be…"
She just can't be me…
"I am." "Shinobu" stated matter-of-factly, "So deal."
And with that final sentence, Shinobu broke, face wrenched with furry as she screamed over the warning
"Inoue-san! Stop!"
"YOU-"
THAT'S…
"We're too late!"
"-AREN'T-"
NOT….
"SHINOBU!"
"-MEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"
Then, as if she said some magic word, "Shinobu" began to cackle as wispy shadows enveloped her cruel form
"That's right, because now…"
Shinobu could still here the sentence resonate through the room as she was unconscious when "Shinobu" exploded into black
"I! AM! ME!"
We like you! This is a game already won, The time has come – Stop Trying!
We like you! This is a game already won, The time has come – stop crying…
I am the Shadow - The true self….
My first one shot – really had to take this time with this one. I hope Shinobu and her life doesn't sound too angsty (it was a lot worse when I first started). Tell me what you think.
And I apologize to anyone who feels I didn't do Yosuke or Saki (I don't hate her, I actually wish we'd gotten more on her character) justice – but the Shadows are pretty brutal and are a dark (but true) interpretation of the Character's thoughts and feelings, and that's pretty much how Shinobu felt about her efforts to win Yosuke's heart…
No flames please, the internet burns easily