Persona Zero: The First Journey

Prologue: Another Day at the Seal

Hello, and welcome to my first ever fanfic!
The story may go be a little rough around the edges, but I'll do all I can to improve my writing skills. Well, without further ado, let's begin!

Persona and all of its characters belong to Atlus.

Cold, dark, and empty.

That was now the accustomed feel to the boy. Alone in this wretched space, completely devoid of all other life, the boy sighed in his mind. It has been around two years since he had performed the act that got him into this situation, yet all of the memories were still fresh in his mind, like it had just happened awhile ago.

Thinking back, he would never have thought that he would do something as what he did. He was always alone since childhood, isolated from others, due to him being labeled "weird" and "creepy-looking". He had grown to get used to it, and began to stop caring about anything. He thought that was how it going to be for the rest of his life.

That all changed when he turned 16, when meeting a mysterious boy and signing a contract twisted the already abnormal life of Makoto Yuki.

Throughout his year in the city that took away his parents' life, he obtained a power to summon beings inside his consciousness, found out about the cause of the tragedy, and joined a band of his newfound acquaintances on an epic adventure hidden from the eyes of others. During his journey, he awakened to feelings that he thought he had not felt since the accident. Friendship, trust and most importantly, happiness. They hung out together, fought together, and mourned together. He had finally found his place where he truly belonged.

But fate had other plans for him. On 31st January 2011, they were fighting their final battle, against a deity who would bring about the end of the world. They fought gallantly with all their might, but it seems all hope was lost when Nyx began to descend upon the world. Crushed by its sheer power, none of the S.E.E.S members found the strength to rise.

Then Makoto stood up. To his comrades' bewilderment, he began to rise towards Nyx and began to fight it alone. With the power of all the bonds he had forged, he sealed the Queen of the Night, and the Dark Hour and Tartarus was no more. But it came with a price. His soul. However, he did not succumb until much later, on Gekkoukan High's Graduation Day, where he passed away peacefully, surrounded by his friends.

He understood what he was supposed to do, and the implication of what will become of him. The claws and jaws of Erebus, crushing his soul, the only barrier between it and Nyx, were painful to endure. But the most agonizing of all his pains was the lack of friendly company. Sure, Elizabeth is around to drive Erebus away, always smiling sadly upon seeing him. But he longed to be with old friends. Eating ramen with Junpei, watching Featherman Neo with Ken, taking Koromaru out for a walk with Aigis, and finally, spending time together with his beloved girlfriend, Yukari.

"Too bad you're stuck here for awhile, huh?"

Makoto awakened from his stupor to find, to his surprise, Ryoji Mochizuki, with that friendly smile that he usually wears on his face. The boy who was also the Avatar of Nyx was standing in front of him, looking just as he remembered during his brief stay in Iwatodai, with white shirt, black pants and his signature yellow scarf. "You know what I was thinking about?" Makoto asked. "Dude, I lived inside you for 10 years," Ryoji said cheerfully. "I can tell what's going on through your head just by looking at you." Makoto grunted. "Yeah, well, sitting here in a completely deserted space with no one to talk to for two years does things with your head. I can't even listen to my MP3 anymore." Ryoji chuckled. "Heheh, sorry about that." He then gazed up to the black skies. "Wish this didn't had to happen." "Huh?" Makoto replied, puzzled. "What do you mean?"

The smile that Ryoji wore was replaced with a slight frown. "You weren't supposed to end up like this, actually." Makoto stared at the boy in front of him. What does he mean by that? He held his silence, waiting for Ryoji to continue. "Remember that accident you had at the Moonlight Bridge?" Makoto nodded. How could he ever forget that? The incident that took his parents' life? "Yeah, well…." Ryoji was becoming fidgety, biting his lip while looking straight at Makoto's eyes.

"It has something to do with your dad," Ryoji said with a pained expression on his face. Makoto paused for a bit, processing what he had just said. "My dad? What does he had to do with all of this?" Makoto became more and more confused. Wasn't the accident caused by Death who happened to be where their parents' car was driving by, killing them, and got sealed into him by Aigis? "Yeah, well, that part is true," Ryoji said when he expressed that. "But the question is, why was I there, of all places? I just escaped that laboratory, and I should, like, run far away from there." He had a point, Makoto thought. Why the Moonlight Bridge? He was being chased by Aigis that time, and he could've hid somewhere. Ryoji then took a deep breath, then stared at Makoto again.

"Your Dad was my original carrier."

The whole blank space seemed to swirl around, as Makoto could not believe what he had just heard. His dad used to carry Death before him? Ryoji noted the shock he had just caused Makoto and quickly responded. "It's true, Makoto. Plus, he was also a Persona User." Only one word managed to find its way out of the shocked blue haired boy's mouth. "How?" Ryoji said no more, as he began to sit down next to him, clearing his throat. "I suppose I should tell you from the very beginning," he said. "The journey of the first wielders of the potential." He paused a bit. "And the tragic love story of your parents."

Makoto's heart lurched at the last one. How is his parents' love life is connected to the events that had transpired to this day. He wanted answers badly, and he focused on the boy beside him as he began his long tale.

"It all began 22 years ago….."

Thank you for reading! Feel free to rate and review! ( No flaming, OK? )
Seeya on the next chapter!