Summary:

Awakening was thrilling, scary and felt wonderful all at the same time.

Disclaimer: Persona 3 and its characters belong to Atlus.

Thrilling.

Minato was in a fix. And he knew that. Even someone as oblivious as himself could tell that that menacing dark blob posed a threat. It was disturbing how it looked as if it was a misshapen human, a mistake. Looking to his right, Yukari looked as if she was hyperventilating, beads of sweat were falling down her face, and he knew it wasn't from running up all those stairs. He felt something stir in his chest, a familiar yet foreign feeling. A certain thrill.

"Those monsters, we call them shadows."

This was all heard before Yukari pulled out her gun from her strap. And before he could even register it, put it straight to her head. Somehow, Minato took this to be normal even though he could tell this was clearly not. Just before she pulled the trigger, the so-called "shadow" dashed forward and some wind* blew around her, snatching the gun out of her grasp. She fell to the ground, grunting in pain.

Scary.

Minato looked down. The gun, still shining in the moonlight, was lying in the pool of blood (was it really blood?) Time stopped. He was now all alone, facing the menacing creature. For the first time in 10 years, fear ran through him. He might actually die. How he knew that he did not know. One thing was for certain though, if he didn't do anything, he would die. A voice called out to him, something he hadn't heard for a long time. Do it. I'll handle the rest. His hands shaking, he reached down to the gun. What was he doing? He had opposed this idea not a minute ago, yet here he was a gun to the side of his head. Fear of dying. That was his sole motivation now. Say the word, and set me free. Pull the trigger now! Now there was another voice, it was hoarse and gravelly, along with the aura of the thing he feared. Mechanically, his voice responded.

"Per…So…Na"

With fear coursing through his body, he pulled the trigger.

Wonderful.

There was a sense of euphoria; his soul was being set free. The sound of glass shattering was all that could be heard and Minato couldn't help but smile maniacally. He hadn't felt this excited, this great since forever. A part of him that was repressed was now set free and he felt like nothing could stop him.

"Thou art I, and I am thou. From the sea of thy soul I cometh. I am Orpheus, Master of strings."

A humanoid figure formed behind of Minato, with a face resembling his and a harp on its back. Somehow Minato knew this and realised that he was connected with said being. Just then, he felt a sharp pain in his head. His hands automatically whipped up to his head as the pain continued. His "persona" was being ripped apart from the inside out. A new being came out, all black and with 8 coffins on its back instead. It had a skull on its head and it was then that Minato realised that that was the other voice in his head.

Minato could barely focus on what was in front of him, everything was a shaky blur. He was vaguely aware of how the black humanoid figure tore the blob up with its bare hands. And then, everything went back to normal. Yukari stared on in awe or fear or possibly both. (When did she even get up?) Orpheus regained his original form and Minato could concentrate again.

"Is it over?"

Yukari was still a bit shaken by the experience. Just as she said that, more of the shadows came out. Sighing, Minato ran to engage in battle with them. Spell names and attack styles flew about in his brain and he said the first thing that came to mind while shooting his head.

"Bash!"

Orpheus flew forward and using the harp on his back made quick work of the shadows by bashing them into nothing. Whipping his head from side to side, he made sure there were no shadows left before relaxing. He felt a surge of energy and the fact that something inside him changed. Was it Opheus?

Fatigue washed over Minato, feeling no energy left in his body, he collapsed and hit the ground. As he was blacking out, he heard the faint cry of "Are you okay?" from Yukari.

Awakening his persona was thrilling, scary and felt wonderful all at the same time.