Lupine flowers were named after 'lupinus' which means 'wolves' since in ancient times they were mistaken for taking the nutrients from the soil. However the flowers were helping enrich the soil by adding nitrogen. The flowers also symbolize imagination and can also mean inner strength to recover from trauma.

To clarify, yes this will have female!Akira and will feature a few ships here and there.

Disclaimer time: I DO NOT OWN ANYTHING PERTAINING TO THE PERSONA SERIES! IT BELONGS TO ATLUS!

Warnings for this chapter: Implied/Referenced drug use, use derogatory words towards a female, physical contact used to inflict pain to another person.

When she comes to she's so confused, distorted…

Her eyes squint about the room, trying to find something familiar through her blurred out vision. Had her eyes always been this bad? Where are her glasses?

There's a sort of heaviness in her head…As if someone had taken a hammer and continued to just strike every inch of the inside of her skull.

She's so tired…Dizzy…

Her whole body aches…

What happened?

She closes her eyes for a moment to try and remember…

Faint memories of bright lights and colors as well as the smell of metal and alcohol mixed in. She remembers hearing faint sounds similar to what you'd hear a slot machine make…

…A casino?

She tries to force herself to open her eyes to their fullest, but whines as she can feel the strain hurting her.

Her whole body hurts so much and she feels restrained by something. Something is around her wrists, but she can't figure out what it is. She shakes her head again and forces herself to hang her head forward. She has to ignore the pain and push through the fog…She has to remember…

"Nice work as always, Joker."

Voices…She can remember voices of people…She knows these are people she knew.

"Good. Now get running!" A young boyish voice manages to come through followed by voice of another male, "This is our only chance!"

"Stay calm! You can get away now!" A girl's voice cuts in as if trying to soothe her as another one a little more mature sounding comes right after, "We'll retrieve the briefcase on our end."

The pounding gets worse and she wants to curl up and…

"Just run! Get out of there!"

A girl's voice filled with urgency shoots through her head making her jolt up at attention, "Joker, behind you! Go through that door!"

Breathing becomes harder and she fidgets a bit to realize that she is sitting in a hard chair with her arms behind her back. She lets out a grunt as she tries to move herself and hisses as she feels a sharp pain run down her sides as she tugs a little too hard to get her arms to move.

"See ya."

Her own voice echoes in her head, and she recalls something…

Her lips turning up into a smirk as she gazes across the room to three men in suits as her fingers rise up in a mock salute just before she dives right through a window. She remembers the sounds of the glass shattering upon impact and the wind whistling as she goes through the air. Her hair and the ends of her trench coat flutter about her like flags…

She can hear the same voice that had been filled with urgency suddenly change to one that scoffs, "Huh. What a show-off. You're so reckless you know that?"

Oh god her throat hurts so much…

And her head….

She gently shakes her head and forces herself to swallow.

She remembers her back hitting the cold pavement as she landed down. She whines as she remembers voices chiming in suddenly once she hit the ground. Her own body growing heavy as she lets out a shaky gasp.

"Enemies here?!"

"What's wrong?!"

"These readings…It can't be!"

"What happened?!"

"An ambush?!"

"Joker! Can you handle this!"

"Joker!"

"Oh no!"

There's so many voices yelling at the same time that she barely has a moment to differentiate each voice. Her head is hurting more now and her eyelids can't stay open anymore…She wants to just lay down.

She remembers hands grabbing at her hair roughly and bright lights shining in her face as she's forced to look up at someone as their fingers grasp her thick curls tightly. There's a smirk on the man's face as he studies her before he speaks, "Didn't expect to find some little girl…You have your teammate to thank for this. You were sold out bitch."

The man drops her head immediately and she can remember the cold pavement rough against her temple as something in her chest grows heavy at his words.

"Suspect confirmed, cuff her."

She's having a hard time staying awake and she tries to keep the bits of what she remembered before the pounding in her head becomes too much. Somewhere she can hear a door open with its squeaky hinges, announcing she is no longer alone. A part of her is still grasping to keep those fleeting memories intact, she has to remember…

Her mouth drops open as her vision begins to fade to black.

There's an odd sense of welcoming as she allows herself to fall into the darkness…

"Wake her up."

Cold water is splashed right over her head making her jolt back into conscious and allowed a soft gasp come out of her mouth. She weakly lifts her head up and her eyes blink rapidly as the world becomes clear again.

"No dozing off here princess," a voice mocks as she grits her teeth just as the voice's owner comes into her view. Three men are in the room with her now all dressed in suits, but the one speaking is by far the bulkiest out of the three…And the one she wants to desperately wants to punch that smirk of his off his face. Despite her fading memory she knows this man is the main reason why her body hurts so bad…And his voice just makes her stomach clench in discomfort along with that sneer.

His lips twitch into a smirk as she glares up at him through her bangs, "Ah and the sleeping beauty awakens. Had a nice nap?" Her mouth opens, but no sound comes out as she feels her throat clench in pain. His smirk finally finds its way onto his face at her silence and she lets out a low growl.

She tries to raise her arms, god she wants to get a good punch right at his face!

Only to halt as cold metal digs into her wrists making her groan in frustration as she turns her head at an angle to spot the shine of the handcuffs on her wrist. She wiggles in her seat trying to break the handcuffs and grits her teeth as she feels it digging deeper at her skin. The man clicks his tongue and sighs, "You still don't get it, do you?"

She's taken off guard as his shoe makes contact to her stomach making her cry out as she topples down to the floor. Her body twitches on the impact and she can feel just how cold the floor is as she tries to get back up. She lets out a yell as the bottom of his shoe presses against her head, her eyes watering as he applies more pressure.

"Come on, cooperate you little bitch," he hisses and grinds his heel right above her temple, "Or what, you want another shot?"

Shot?

Her eyes slowly begin to notice the scattered empty needles on the floor and she feels a faint pain in her neck. Well…That explained her grogginess and weak body…The bastards…

She grinds her teeth harder as the man keeps pushing his foot right over her temple before noticing a red light in the far off distance. Her stare doesn't go unnoticed as the man looks in the direction, "Huh…What about the camera? You thinking it can be used as video evidence?"

His fingers grip through the locks of her hair and yank her up, "Well, speak up!"

She tries to move her head only to have his fingers grasp her hair tighter and she groans. Swallowing down what little saliva she has left she allows her voice to croak out an answer.

"…of course not…"

How stupid did they think she was? The treatment they were doing to her were far from what she could faintly recall humane. In fact, this was outright abusing whatever power they had with her restrained. The man stays silent before chucking, "Well aren't you a smart one? Of course, there are no laws here that will protect criminals like you!"

Her head slams down to the floor and she lets out a wheeze as he kicks her in the stomach which leads to her body curling up as she coughs in pain. The light wheezing soon halts as she notices the clipboard in his hand, "Obstruction of justice, blackmail, defamation-"

Wait…What was he going on about?

"-possession of weapons…manslaughter too? Talk about the works right?"

She stares up at him in confusion and wonders if the drugs they had forced into her made her forget something. All those…Were those…

The man stares down at her before letting out a scoff, "To think," he says as he slowly advances to her, "All those crimes were led by this slut right here…And it looked like you were enjoying every second of it huh."

Enjoying it?

She lowers her head a bit and closes her eyes as she tries to recall anything…Everything is…Everything was still so hazy. She can barely recall what memory she managed to remember earlier before they splashed her with water...How could they expect her to remember more with her so disoriented from whatever they shot in her system?

"You should know your place…"

She stays still on the floor as she can hear his feet thud against the floor towards her, "Uncuff her."

She grits her teeth as a hand roughly yanks her from the ground and the handcuffs on her wrists fall to the ground with a faint thud. There's barely time for her to enjoy the feeling of her free wrists as her back is shoved to the wall making her fall back onto her ass. Shaking her head she tries to get up only to be pushed against the wall by her shoulder as the clipboard is shoved into her face. The man is looming over her with the clipboard shoved too close to her face...

"Sign it. It's a confession under your name."

She stares at the paper, her eyes squinting as she makes out the words before letting out a grunt and slaps the board away. The man stares at her in silence for a moment, his grin gone and she can feel her lips twitching a bit before he stands up to his full height.

"I see…I need your hand to sign this, but…"

She barely has time to brace herself as his shoe lands right on top her knee making her cry out in pain as the rest of the men chuckle at her reaction. The man only grinds his shoe harder much like he did to the side of her head before waving the board in her face, "I don't care if you end up losing a leg. Get it sweetheart?"

It sickens her how he speaks to her like she's some sort of pet, but the pain is too much to bear already and she weakly raises her hand up to accept the clipboard. Once her fingers grasp it he lets off the pressure on her leg and she immediately brings both her legs to her chest. The action seems to amuse him as he chuckles before grabbing her hair again making her yelp as she's forced to stand up.

Her knees bend awkwardly as she tries to find strength to keep herself up without the support of his hand tugging her hair and presses herself against the wall as he leans in close to her face.

"Don't expect to walk out of here in one piece," he hisses as he takes out a silver pen and yanks her free hand up, " "We are going to make you understand…One must take full responsibility for their actions little lady." Her hair is released and she stumbles to keep herself up against the wall, only to collapse onto her knees in front of him.

She lets out a breathe before raising the clipboard up and gripping the pen a bit tighter as she finds the spot she has to sign.

A….K…I…R….A

K….U….R…U…S…U

She stares at her name.

Akira Kurusu….Dear Lord had she nearly forgotten her name?

Her head is hurting and she forces herself to raise her arm up to return the clipboard back to the man. She can feel all eyes on her as she continues to hold the board up, her arm shaking the longer she is forced to do so. The man from earlier chuckles before roughly yanking it out of her fingers, "Now was that so hard?"

She glares up at the man through her bangs as she watches him hand the clipboard to one of his associates before reaching down towards her.

No way was he touching her again…No.

Just as his fingers even come close to her hair she snaps her head up and bites down. The man lets out a scream as she forces herself to put as much pressure as she can until she feels a fist collide into her temple.

"THAT BITCH!"

Her lips form a smirk until she's forced back down onto the floor.

Shit…She forgot about the others in the room with them!

The way he stares down at her is like a predator ready to rip his prey into shreds, "You think you're so clever you little bitch? I think someone deserves another shot." Her eyes widen as he pulls out a needle and she tries to wiggle free from the hands on her.

No….Nonononononono!

"Sir!"

"Shit, what?!" She freezes as the door opens to reveal another man, this one wearing a guard's uniform, as he closes the door, "Um..There's uh…Sae Niijima is here…Sir."

"What?"

"She's here to talk to the suspect…."

Niijima…?

The men grow quiet and the only sounds Akira can hear are her gasps as she remains on the floor, "…Get her up." Akira is forced up onto her feet instantly, making her gag slightly as the sudden change of inertia gives her little time to adjust. One of the men quickly goes off to drag the chair she had once sat in towards a table in the far end of the room as another keeps a hold on her.

"…You got lucky," the head of the group scoffs before shoving the needle back into his pocket, "But luck will run out for you."

Akira opens her mouth, but coughs lightly instead as she is forced back into the chair. At least now she can rest her arms on the table…

The men all leave the room and she almost allows herself to lower her head to the table if not for the sudden appearance of a stranger entering the room. The woman's stiletto heels click lightly against the cemented floor before stopping at the the chair across from her. Akira weakly lifts her head up as the woman pulls the chair back and dropping her bag right beside her as she settles down.

She knows her…She knows she knows her she's familiar…

The woman's long gray hair flows over her shoulders and she pushes a stray bang out of her face as she looks at Akira with a frown though it falls as her eyes study over her slumped form at the table. Those dark red brown eyes seem to have pity in them as the woman leans forward a bit before speaking up, "Kurusu-chan…Do you remember me?"

"…Niijima-san…?"

The woman, Sae Niijima, yes…She remembers her…

Sae breathes a sigh of relief as Akira manages to keep her head up enough and talk, "I…I honestly wasn't expecting it to be you. You'll be answering my questions this time…And I can assure you, I am not going to snoop so low as those bastards."

The woman turns her head slightly and Akira wills herself to see what has the woman's attention before spotting the empty needle still on the floor. Instinctively she rubs the side of her neck as Sae returns her attention back to her. Sae's gaze falls back to the floor as her mouth goes back to a frown which gives her a look of sympathy before leaning forward towards her, "You've been through a lot. Almost anything can happen here…And I can't stop them."

Akira bites her lower lip before closing her eyes and nods in agreement as the older woman exhales loudly, "That's why I need you to answer me honestly. I don't have much time either."

She can feel her head throbbing again, but ignores it as Sae rattles down a list of questions for her. What was her objective and why cause a major incident, she knew why yet her head hurts too much to speak up…

"I didn't think it was a prank from the get-go, but I couldn't assemble a case for prosecution," Sae adds before leaning back in her seat to cross her arms, "It's because I couldn't figure out the method behind it."

"…of course you couldn't."

Her voice comes out so softly and meekly she isn't sure if it even belongs to her, but Sae continues to speak, "True. There's no way I could be convinced of such a…'world' just by reading the reports. It seems you're coherent at least Kurusu-chan."

Is she?

Her head hurts so bad…She weakly rests her forehead against the palms of her hands as Sae takes a moment to study her.

Who did Sae see in front of her?

A high school girl whose been roughed up so bad? Or something more than some high school student?

"When and where did you find out about that world? How is it even possible to seal another's heart?"

Sae's questions make her stiffen, but it's enough to get her to lift her head up again to look at the woman. Sae is still leaning forward towards her, the gentleness in her voice and face is gone as she continues to stare at Akira. This is a look of a woman on a mission for answers and Akira gazes back at her with a hardened look in her eyes as Sae speaks again, "Now tell me your account of everything. Start form the very beginning."

At the corner of her eye she can see a blue butterfly flying past her and she closes her eyes as she lets out an exhale, "Right," her voice cracks as she rests her forehand against the palm of her hand, "At the beginning…."

Jumping on the female Akira train! Whoo whoo! I apologize to any missed spelling or grammatical errors. Thank you for reading and see you next chapter!

I will be posting up chapters for this story on AO3 under the same name, XrosaryX!