Welcome to Persona: Loud Reflections REV, the revised version of Persona: Loud Reflections. For old readers, thank you for picking up this story again. For new readers, thank you for finding this obscure fic. This story features highly mature concepts that may be too much for some individuals. Please take care and read at your own discretion.

Now, relax and enjoy the story.

...

In Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, mirrors were fashioned from stone and were used in a number of ways from being luxurious decorations to divination tools. It was believed that mirrors were a portal to a realm that could be seen but not interacted with. Mirrors were often used to reveal a person's destiny through divination, or as a means of communication with otherworld entities.

Such beliefs have been all but forgotten in the present day.

4/3, Sunday - Evening

In a cramped linen closet that served as a makeshift bedroom, a young Caucasian man with shaggy snow white hair stared somberly at the phone in his hand. He was wearing only a pair of red briefs as he sat upon his bed with his thumb wavering over the phone screen. On the screen was a private message that read: "Happy 16th Lame-O. Show this to anyone and you're dead." and below it was a rather risque selfie of a beautiful young Latina woman with wavy black hair grinning seductively as she pulled down the collar of the shirt she was wearing to show the camera what was underneath.

He couldn't remember how many times he viewed this picture over the past few months, but this would be the last. With a heavy sigh, the white haired teen tapped the screen and deleted the last birthday gift his ex had given him. "There, now nobody will see it." he thought to himself before tossing the phone onto the nearby dresser. He laid down on his bed with his hands behind his head, and mulled over the school week he had. It had been a rough one filled with annoying gossip, unwanted sympathy, and a lot of attempts from his family to cheer him up. It wasn't that he didn't appreciate it, he just wasn't in the right mind to accept it.

"I hope she's happy..." he bitterly thought to himself. He felt his eyelids grow heavy, and slowly closed his eyes. The sound of his door opening stopped him from dozing off.

"Hey Lincoln, are you ready for your reading?"

Begrudgingly, Lincoln looked over to see no one else but one of his younger sisters. Pale skin with long raven hair that fell to her lower back in a black nightgown, holding an unopened deck of tarot cards. He rubbed his eyes with one hand as he sat up, "Isn't it kinda late for that Lucy?" he groaned.

Lucy nodded, "They work best late into the night."

A glance at his wall clock told him it was close to midnight. "Can we do this in the morning please?" he asked, "I'm really tired Lucy."

Lucy crossed her arms, "We agreed to try out my new deck tonight. I wanted to do this at three in the morning, but you complained that'd be too late."

Lincoln gave in to her demands and pulled himself up, "Alright Lucy," he got off the bed and towered over his sister with a slight smile, "I do owe you for helping me with that poetry assignment."

A smile almost appeared on her face, but the spooky thirteen year-old kept her blank expression. "Perfect, take a seat then."

"Uh, shouldn't I get dressed for this?"

"That won't be necessary, sit down." she quickly said, maybe just as ready to get this over with as Lincoln was. Scooching down to the foot of his bed, he sat cross-legged with Lucy taking a seat across from him. She opened up the deck box and pulled the cards out. After quickly shuffling them several times, she handed them to Lincoln, "Cut the deck." she ordered, and he obliged.

After shuffling again, she set the deck down between her and him before taking the top card and setting it down. "The Tower in the upright position." she stated.

"Meaning?"

"Disaster. There's chaos in your immediate future."

Lincoln shrugged, "What else is new?"

Lucy flipped over the next card, "The Ten of Cups is upside down. This means a loss of family or misplacement of values..."

"...right." Lincoln narrowed his eyes, he looked up from the cards to her sister's face, "Lucy, do you really believe this stuff?"

"It would be foolish to completely trust a deck of cards, and it would be equally foolish to disregard them completely." she drew one more card, "The Page of Swords is in the upright position. You will soon be challenged, and should embrace it by moving forward."

"Everyday has been a challenge for me." he scoffed.

Lucy gave a heavy sigh, "Lincoln, I'd appreciate it if you would stop mocking my reading."

Lincoln sheepishly smiled and scratched the back of his head, "Sorry Lucy. It's late, it's been a rough week, and I really don't think cards can predict the future."

Another sigh, "Oh well, we should stop here. It seems that your future is destined to just be the same chaos day in and day out." Lucy gathered up her cards, "How disappointing."

Lincoln stood up, "Sorry, well if that's all-urk!" suddenly, he felt a sharp pain in both his temples, his hands shooting up to both sides of his head as it throbed. Like somehow all the blood in his body was being squeezed into his head to the point of popping. He could hear his ears ringing and didn't notice Lucy trying to call out to him. The only thing he heard were the words of a strange but oddly calm voice.

"I am thou, thou art I.

Thou hast been doomed to an undeserved fate."

Lincoln backed up into the wall, Lucy got up to his side and tried to keep him from falling over.

"If my voice is reaching you, there may be a way to overturn this fate.

You will be given one year to prepare, in the May of next year, you will meet your fate."

At this point, Lincoln felt his legs give out. He fell forward and hit the floor.

"Try as you may, but time is short.

And time waits for no one..."

...

Lincoln's eyes slowly opened and he found himself sitting in a bizarre room. It was a rather large room that looked oddly similar to his family's living room, even with the same type of furnishings. The difference being that everything in the room including the floor, the walls, and the furiture (especially the couch Lincoln himself was sitting on) appeared to be made out of blue velvet. There was also a melancholic yet comforting song Lincoln could hear being played on a piano with an accompaning singer, but both musicians were nowhere to be seen.

What could be seen however, were the very bizarre-looking people who were in front of him. The most notable was the pale, long-nosed old man in a black suit with bulging eyes and an unnerving smile that stretched ear to ear who sat on a blue velvet lounge chair across from Lincoln with his hands clasped together. Standing at either side of the old man were two pale-skinned individuals with yellow eyes. On Lincoln's left was a short young lady with long platinum-blonde hair and a blank expression, she wore a dark blue maid outfit and held a large tome to her chest. To his right was a very tall and thin young man with a bald head and slight smile, he wore a blue butler uniform and held his hands behind his back. Both the long haired lady and the bald headed man had odd yellow irises that stared intensely at Lincoln.

The bizarre old man leaned forward with a hand stretched out, "Welcome to the Velvet Room." he greeted in a low, soothing voice.

All the alarms went off in Lincoln's head at once, and panic gripped tight as he found he couldn't move his body. So many questions filled into his mind, most of them having to do with where he was and why he was there but the shock of the situation stunted his voice. Desperately, he managed to squeak out the words: "W-Who are you?"

"My apologies, I seemed to have frighten you." the small man remained seated and gave a small bow, "My name is Igor, I am delighted to make your acquaintance."

Lincoln observed the room again, gradually feeling less uneasy due to it looking just like the inside of his home aside from all the blue and velvet. The familiarity gave him a modest sense of safety, and the song helped soothe his initial anxiety, "Where am I?" he asked, "Is this a dream?"

"You could say that." answered the long-nosed man, "This place exists between dream and reality, mind and matter." he looked away from the boy and examined the room for himself, "The Velvet Room tends to change accordingly to accommodate our guests, and here we find ourselves in a family room meant for togetherness." he then looked back at Lincoln with his eerie smile, "It's quite rare for someone so young to be family-oriented."

Lincoln shrugged, "Maybe it's because my family is so big? They take up quite a bit of my life."

Igor nodded, "Indeed, they appear to be very important to you, so much so that your other self woke up when it sensed the danger from your sister's tarot reading."

Lincoln eyed the old man suspiciously, "My what woke up?"

"In the coming days, your other self will fully awaken. After that, you will return here."

"Wait, what did you mean by my 'other self'?"

"We can discuss the details later." the strange man said, dodging the question with a smile, "A small piece of it awoke when it sensed a terrible catastrophe happening to you in the immediate future. If you don't stand against it, you and your family may meet a terrible fate."

"Hey, I don't like the sound of that!"

"Don't worry, it is my duty to provide assistance to our guests to ensure such a fate does not happen."

Lincoln tried to make sense with the information given, but was unsuccessful, "I still don't understand what's going on."

"That is fine, for now." Igor assured, "Although there is one more thing I should mention..."

"What's that?"

"My services are available only to those who have entered a contract in one way or another. Once you've entered this contract, I'll do everything in my power to help you." Igor then gestured towards the two pale people standing at either side of him, "Ah, I've yet to introduce you to my assistants. To your left is Elly, who will help you keep track of your other selves once they awaken."

The young woman didn't move, she just continued to stare at Lincoln with her expressionless face and unblinking eyes. "I'm Elly. Nice to meet you." she greeted flatly.

"Uh...hi." Lincoln found her creepy, as if he had just found a shorter, white-haired version of Lucy.

"To your right is Eli, a craftsman that can give form to your sleeping power."

The tall man turned his head towards Igor, "Master, if I may?"

Igor nodded, "Yes, go ahead Eli."

The tall man stepped forward and bowed before Lincoln, "Greetings Master Lincoln. I am Eli, and I shall craft weapons for you that will strike down both the wicked and the holy." he spoke with a soft, polite voice.

"Weapons?" Lincoln asked.

"Master Lincoln, I wish to craft a weapon for you. To do so, I need to reach into the sea of your soul, and pull out the power that sleeps within. Will you allow me?"

Lincoln was a bit put off by the politeness and shrugged, "Uh, sure?"

The tall man raised his right arm up, "Thank you, please hold still." he then suddenly shoved his arm towards Lincoln's forehead. Then his hand went into Lincoln's forehead.

"Wait a minute! What! What! What!" Lincoln began to shout.

"Please do calm down Master Lincoln!" Eli told his as he moved his arm further into Lincoln's forehead, "This is a very delicate procedure!"

"It feels weird!" Lincoln screeched. As the otherworldly being poked around inside Lincoln's noggin, he tried to pinpoint exactly what this new sensation was. The best comparison Lincoln could make would be if he put an ice pack on his head and the ice somehow forced its way inside and began a rampage upon his psyche. The worst of this was however that Lincoln was still paralyzed as this was happening.

"Calm down! Relax! It's almost over!" Eli started to pull out his arm and finally exited, "Found it!" he announced. Lincoln looked at what this bizarre butler had pulled out and saw some sort of glowing, moving orb. Glowing an orange hue, and moving as if it was alive.

"What...what is that? Why was it inside my head?" Lincoln asked.

"This here, Master Lincoln, is a rare material that I like to call Forma. It is, in essence, the inner strength from whichever being that produces it. In another way, this is you, Master Lincoln." Eli handled the Forma, which began to change shape with his touch, "Forma may come from any particular being be it human or otherwise, but obtaining it is quite difficult to do. Every Forma is unique, and there are certain forms that suit them best. While some may be similar, I've yet to come across two that are exactly the same. Now, let's see what shape your Forma wishes to be..."

Eli stopped and held up the Forma again. Lincoln watched as it lit up the room with a bright flash. When the flash subsided, he saw that the glowing Forma was gone and in its place was a longsword. The blue butler held the sword in his hands and inspected it closely.

"Ah, the classic sword. The weapon of choice for those who seek to lead and inspire. A favorite among heroes." he held it out for Lincoln.

Lincoln hesitated to touch the blade. He had never held a weapon before now, let alone a sword that just came out of his head. His nervousness was noticed.

"Go on Master Lincoln, this is my gift to you. May it serve you well."

Hearing that only pressured him more. Lincoln took a deep breath and grabbed onto the longsword's grip and tried to pick it up with one hand. He didn't take in account on how heavy it would be, and the blade fell forward with the edge slicing through Eli's outfit and flesh underneath, making a visible cut along his torso. On reflex, Lincoln grabbed the grip with both hands before it hit the ground, "Oh shit! I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!" he cried out upon seeing the mark he made.

Eli stood still for a moment, "Nothing you need to worry about, Master Lincoln." then the mark Lincoln had made vanished, and the fabric that made up the butler outfit started to re-stitch itself until the damage was completely gone.

Lincoln's mouth couldn't be more open, he somehow manage to utter the question: "How did you do that?"

"Again, nothing you need to worry about, Master Lincoln. I advise you to refrain from trying to harm me in the future. It will not end well for you." Eli regained his composure and he took his place back to the left side of Igor.

Suddenly, the sword vanished from Lincoln's hands. He looked at his hands in shock, "Huh? Where did it go?"

"Do not worry Master Lincoln." started the butler, "As I've told you, that sword is a part of you and it will always be at your side. Should you ever need it, you'll have it."

Lincoln was just getting more and more confused.

"I believe that is all we have to offer for now." Igor announced, "Until the next time we meet, farewell."

Lincoln felt lightheaded, and his vision began to fade again.