It was meant to be a simple patrol, one of the few ones he did solo.

Akihiko had been preoccupied, and Mitsuru was needed elsewhere. So he was on his own as much as he could be in this time, where the Shadows patrolled and tried to hunt down the few humans were awake in this time.

Shinjiro swore at the fact that fate had chosen to throw him against a large Shadow.

He'd found it outside a house, having broken one coffin already and dragged out a younger woman – a mother, judging by the way she had instantly ran over to the smaller coffin, screaming – out to eat, but he'd shown up in the nick of time. Gripping the war hammer he carried with him, he glared at the Shadow. It was a twisted, shining silver knight, the form reminding him of his Persona in some twisted way.

The Shadow gave him a look before charging him, irritated someone had deigned to come between it and its prey. Dodging, the teenager swung the hammer, landing a blow on its arm. Hearing the horse neigh in pain, Shinjiro grinned wolfishly …

Only for the flat of the blade the Shadow carried to come around and hit him in the ribs.

Crying out in pain, Shinjiro rolled several yards before coming to a stop. His Persona let out an agitated cry inside his head, desperately trying to recover the damage. He had to make sure that the mom was safe …! Forcing himself upright, he found himself face to face with a blast of fire that knocked him back once more, sending him flying into a wall.

Seeing stars, he was certain he had blacked out for a bit from the pain. It took a small child screaming in terror for the darkness to recede into cold panic, Shinjiro focusing on what he was seeing.

'No!'

The mother had been injured, but her movements suggested she was still alive. The small coffin had opened up, revealing a boy of eight, paralyzed in fear as the Shadow turned to him.

A child would be easier prey.

Shinjiro didn't know he had moved until after the fact.

He had his arms wrapped around the boy and was rolling with him in his arms, keeping his body between the child and the large Shadow. He faintly heard something small and metallic clinking against the blacktop, but paid no heed to it as a searing pain lacerated his back, making him scream. The Shadow had nailed him hard with its sword, and he could feel skin and muscle severe from the blow.

Stubborn, he pushed himself upright, drawing the Evoker out of his pants pocket, glaring at the Shadow. "Fuck you. If I'm going down, you're going the fuck down with me." Putting the barrel against his head, he pulled the trigger.

Ken had no clue what was happening anymore.

On his hands and knees, the young boy stared at the teenager in front of him, eyes wide in confusion. It looked almost like a scene from Featherman R in the setup, the atmosphere almost surreal. He could see his mother nearby as she crawled for cover, her ankle twisted and several scrapes and cuts on her body, a cut on her forehead bleeding into her eyes.

Moms were tough, Ken told himself. She would be okay.

The teenage boy in front of him, however, was what held Ken's attention. He was dressed in the uniform for the private school Ken himself attended, Gekkoukan, but clearly a high-schooler. Ken hadn't even known he was there until he was being grabbed up in a pair of arms as the large, silver, horse-bound knight had attacked him. Even now, the teenager stood tall, even though blood poured out of a gaping wound across his back and stained his dark uniform almost completely black.

A blue aura had surrounded the teenager as he put the gun to his forehead, the only thing that had made Ken pause as he watched the scene. Was he going to do something? The knight seemed to sense danger, and was rearing back to strike again when the teenager pulled the trigger.

"Castor!"

In the next second, the blue light had exploded, and a black horse with a rider appeared above the teenager. A long spear was held in one hand, and a bright gold light began to build as the teenager pointed at the silver knight

"Pralaya."

A bellowing neigh rang in Ken's ears as the black knight the teenager had called forth charged the other, spear ramming forward to pierce through horse and rider in a single blow. The resounding crack made Ken throw his hands over his ears to save his hearing, eyes shutting as the pale moonlight was overruled by brilliant white light that he could see through his eyelids. The faint sound of a horse's dying screech lingered afterwords, even amongst the ringing that had now filled Ken's ears.

Then, silence.

Uncurling slowly, Ken blinked a bit, looking around. The silver knight and black horseman were gone now, leaving Ken, his mother and the teenager standing there. As Ken watched, the older boy seemed to relax a fraction, turning to look at his mother. Opening his mouth, Ken wasn't shocked to hear how quiet his voice was.

"W – who are …?" He began, stopping when the teen turned to look at him. Beneath the bruises, blood and dirt were a pair of pale grey eyes, alert and concerned as the teenager looked Ken over. After seeing that the boy was unharmed apart from minor bruising, the older boy smiled and began to fully relax.

"Good … you're oka ..."

He fell over in mid sentence, the gun in his hands dropping to land in front of Ken. Yipping a bit, the child looked it over as he heard his mother shout in panic, running over to try and talk consciousness back into the teenager. Picking it up, he kept his fingers away from the trigger as he traced the English letters engraved into the side of the silver barrel.

Looking up, his eyes spotted something small and silver nearby. Curiosity biting at him – maybe it would explain something – Ken got up and walked towards it. It was a pocket watch, the cover popped open to show a completely still face. Had the fall broken it? Picking it up as well, the boy felt something engraved in the back, making him flip it over. A set of kanji he couldn't read quite yet stared him in the face. Was it the teenager's …?

"SHINJIRO!" The shout in the middle of the night made Ken yip, stuffing the watch into his pyjama's pocket as he hid behind some of the rubble left over from the battle. A pair of teenagers, both in the Gekkoukan uniform as well, were racing towards the scene. One of them was a boy, silver hair and eyes bright in the evening as he ran forward. The look in his eyes made Ken want to look away in guilt, but the boy couldn't do anything but stare as things continued to unfold.

The second teenager was a girl, a redhead, and she seemed equally distressed. However, when she spotted Ken's mother, her focus shifted to the woman. As both teens neared, Ken watched as the silver haired one dropped to his knees, a green glow covering his hands as he reached for the fallen boy. The girl tended to Ken's mother instead, talking with her. From the sound of it, she was asking what had happened.

Ken didn't listen to that too much, more focused on the boys, who were closer to him.

"D … dammit Shinji, yo .. you can't! Hold on!" The silver-haired teen's voice sounded scared, the green light glowing brighter as he tried to close the wound on the downed teenager's back. "Shinji, no, please...!"

"A … Aki …?" The brunet teen – Shinji, Ken told himself mentally – opened one eye slowly. His voice sounded horribly gurgled, and Ken couldn't see his chest rising or falling at all. Trying to tell himself it was just the angle, the boy continued to eavesdrop, not noticing when the world began to slowly fade from the murky, unnatural lighting that had covered the entire scene. "L … late as always ..." Shinji forced a laugh, the sound raspy and hollow.

Aki shook his head. "D – don't talk, okay? Your back is … Shinji, what the hell!? You almost let a Shadow cut you in half!"

"A ki … kid ..." Shinji seemed to be fading in and out of it, shaking his head. "W … wasn't gonna … he deserves a full life … y'know …?" Ken could see the older boy fighting to keep his eyes open, blood starting to creep out of one corner of his mouth. "Sides .. I got it good … it won't be comin back ..."

"Doesn't matter, you idiot!" Aki shook his head, voice going from scared to tight from what had to be crying. "You're bleeding everywhere, a – and I can't … Di … Dia's not doing anything, I'm not …! Mitsuru, help!" Desperation broke Aki's voice as he turned to the redhead girl, who snapped to attention and ran over to the teen boys.

Kneeling down as well, the redhead girl's own hands began glowing green as she reached forward, only to stop. A realization seemed to settle into her sharp eyes, and Ken felt his stomach drop. He had seen that look so often in his shows, he knew what it meant, and it scared him. Aki seemed to pause at that, the green light still going.

"Mitsuru, please, we've gotta …!" He began, only to stop as the girl shook her head, looking away.

"... I'm sorry, Akihiko ..." Her voice seemed completely broken, hands going to grip her skirt. "E … even if we tried … Penthesileia, she … She's saying that he's lost too much blood. We can't get him to the hospital in time ..."

"Heh … sorry ..." Shinji's voice was faint now, and Ken felt his stomach drop even further. "I … I wasn't gonna let it … get two people … not while I could help it ..." His breaths were even more shallow now, and Ken quietly curled up into a ball as he looked away. He knew what was coming now, and there was nothing to be done to help him. "T … they're both fine … look out for them, okay …?"

"Shinji!" Aki's voice had broken, and Ken glanced from his ball to see the boy grip his bleeding friend desperately, pulling him into his arms. "No, you can't …! I … what am I …?!"

"... Is there anything … you want me to tell Miki …?"

The only thing Ken heard in response was a broken cry from Aki as the young boy looked away, eyes burning with tears. This wasn't right; Shinji was the good guy, wasn't he? The good guys didn't die like this … Heroes didn't die like this …!

"Heh … alright then … Sorry Aki, but … I ..." A raspy breath hit Ken's ears, making him curl up into a tighter ball. "Look after th kid, okay …? and ... Miki 'n' I'll kick your ass if you join us too soon."

After that, Ken couldn't hear him talk anymore. Biting his lip, he let the tears fall, hearing the pocket watch start to tick away mockingly.

No.

This … This wasn't …

No.

Shinji hadn't just …

Breath stopped, Akihiko looked his best friend over. His eyes had slipped shut as some point, head resting limply against Akihiko's shoulder. "Shin ..ji...?" He breathed, shaking his best friend. "come on, you idiot … wake up."

No response.

Heart stopping, Akihiko shook Shinjiro again, ignoring the way blood had seeped through his clothes and now touched his skin. Shinjiro remained motionless in his arms, the faintest of smiles tugging at his lips. "Shinji, please …" Hearing his voice crack more, Akihiko hugged him tighter. "Wake up ...You have to … Shinji …!"

In the back of his head, Pollux – who had remained dead silent the entire time – let out a mental screech that overwhelmed most of Akihiko's senses. Pain, confusion, grief, rage, sorrow … the whirl of emotions gave the silver-haired teen a headache as he tried one last shake of the shoulders. "Please …?"

Nothing but stillness.

No response, no breath, no flicker of the eyelids … The faint bond of energy that Akihiko had always felt between Castor and Pollux had been severed. Mitsuru gripped her skirt tightly as she silently wept, red curls hiding her distraught face. Nearby, the woman Shinjiro had saved buried her face in her hands, clearly as upset as the teenagers. The kid Shinjiro had kept bringing up was nowhere to be seen, but at the moment, the silver-haired teenager wasn't thinking about that.

No.

This hadn't happened.

Shinji hadn't just … hadn't just …

He wasn't …

He couldn't be …

Body reacting, Akihiko pulled Shinjiro in close as he screamed, the world falling apart around him. He didn't care.

Starwing's Notes: I swear Shinjiro is my favorite character in Persona 3.

Well here's a new story from me; I have spotty motivation when working on "Soul Survivor" so here have a bucketful of angst and alternate universe sadness to break your hearts while you wait. Going back to the Original October Fourth where things got fucked up for the subplot in-game, and adding another level of sad and oh god no into it.

I just wanted to fuck around with things a bit and see what happened in a ripple outwards from this point. Expect lots of aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaangst and a surprisingly GOOD Ikutsuki to come next chapter.

Because I'm killing off one of the main characters two years before the plot kicks off, why the frig do they need an evil asshole of a chairman/mentor? They've got enough on their plates as it is.

Until next time!