Yo! FacelessDoll Updating! Man, his was hard to come up with because there were a lot of holes and every situation; I have this writer's block! I mean what the hell?! Or was it author's block? I don't even know anymore!
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Persona 3 and other Shin Megami Tensei stuff. If you think I did, it would literally suck and have a crappy story.
It was 11:30 in the night. Half an hour remains before the Dark hour will arise from the dark depths. Around this time of the night, a number can be found or seen, and some people mean business if you make a wrong move. The streets were still and quiet. But the dormitory's lights are still lit and echoes of their voices can be heard inside.
"What's taking her so long?" Yukari's voice sounded irritated.
The clock's tick and tock was the only sound that can be heard in the lounge as the three were waiting patiently for the new tenant to come back.
"I'm gonna look for her, I can't just sit around." Iori stood up and ran to the door.
"Wait Junpei! She might be just in a convenience store buying something."
"As if, why would a student be out at this hour?"
"I agree with Junpei-kun. We should go look for her."
"Okay, okay. I just thought that since she's new, she needs space to adjust living here a bit."
"Junpei-kun, Yukari-chan, do you have any idea where she went last time?" The two students thought about the time they were together. Takeba was left to clueless road since she left earlier for the club, but Iori seems to remember of what she has said.
"She told me that she needs to do her homework in a library. . ."
"What?! The library?" Yukari suddenly became aware of the location of where she went.
"This is bad! We have to find her before midnight!"
"Psshhah. Why worry? We have our personas to help us."
"Idiot! Do you even remember what happened when we were there when it was the Dark Hour? We got separated!" Yukari grabbed her bow and arrow beside her school bag and went to the door.
"Fuuka-chan, wake everybody up, tell them to go to the school as soon as possible! Koromaru, Junpei, and I will try to find her. Contact us when you arrive."
"Okay!" Fuuka ran up to the stairs.
"Koromaru, Junpei, gear up. We're going to Tartarus and find Anahi-chan!"
"Bark!/Roger that!" Junpei and Koromaru ran and went to get there weapons.
"I hope she's alright."
Back in the school library, the clock points to 11:41 in the night. The school was quiet. The things that can be heard are the leaves rustling, crickets chirping, and the school's janitor footsteps. Checking only outside by the halls, flashlights were lit, the sleeping girl inside the library woke up as the footsteps were close and eventually fades away in the darkness.
Slowly standing up, she rubbed her eyes. How long was I asleep? She looked at the clock and it was 11:45 in the night. Must be a new record. She looked around her surroundings without any trouble because of the moon's silver glow. Shelves with stack of books were the first thing you would see, as the night creeps around you, it feels as if the shelves were moving and isolating you in an area. Grabbing the books, one by one, she looks at each Dewey decimal to know which category it belongs to. She wanders in and her eyes focused on the Dewey decimals of the shelves
Before long, she manages to return each one. She fixes her own things as the clouds covered the moon's silver white light veil. Grabbing her bag, she prepares to go home, when suddenly a sound of something falling on the ground was heard. She looked around her. When the dark clouds cleared up and the moon's light made the area visible, a flash of light suddenly hit her eyes making her close them. Upon closer inspection, it was the gun from earlier. She bends down, grabbing the gun. She looked at the gun, her eyes brimming with suspiciousness; she made her way while examining the silver killing machine.
She traced her fingers on the gun's linings. She noticed that the trigger was a bit worn out. This has been used a lot. She looked under the gun's handle and there was no magazine found. This came to a realization that it didn't use any form of bullets. If this gun has no magazine, then what was it for and why was it used in the first place?
She placed the silver gun on her forehead, and as she was about to pull the trigger, a hand suddenly gripped on her wrist.
"What. . . pant. . . do you think you're doing?!" Iori was panting heavily and was sweating bullets.
"Hm? Junpei-kun" Anahi blinked in surprised.
"Oi! Yuka-tan, Koromaru, I found her!" As soon as Junpei screamed out to the hall, echoes of footsteps was heard coming closer to where we are, two figures appeared, seeing the figures, it was Takeba and the full grown dog, Koromaru.
"Anahi-chan! What are still doing in this time of the night? We were so worried about you!"
"Bark!"
"Studying."
"Whoa, that studying thing of yours is something else." Junpei held the rim of his hat and laughed.
"And sleeping." He suddenly fell down. Anahi's eyes traced down to their weapons, Yukari saw her staring at something. Anahi avoided her gaze no more.
"What's wrong?" Takeba's eyes followed where the snow haired girl was gazing upon. At her back was her bow and arrow. She suddenly panicked and tried reasoning with her "No! This is umm. . ."
"It's alright, your secret's safe with me."
"No! It's not what it looks like-! Anahi-chan, what are you holding?" Takeba's eyes scrolled down to her right hand.
"Hm? I got this inside my dorm room."
"Hey! Yuka-tan isn't that her. . ." Junpei trailed off on what he was about to say.
"You guys know about this?" She held out the silver gun. Junpei and Yukari look at each other, then to Anahi.
"Umm, Anahi-chan, you see-!" Suddenly, the whole entire building was shaking. Koromaru suddenly started to bark angrily. They all turned their heads to where he was barking at. They saw the moon covered in an emerald colored veil.
As the earthquake got stronger and stronger, Koromaru's barks suddenly turned into scared whines and he hid behind Anahi. Trying to maintain their balance, Anahi fell down. "What the crap is going on?!"
"We better get outta here! Let's go." Without getting her answer, Anahi just agreed. She stood up and the four of them started running off.
As they started running, suddenly, out of nowhere, a marble pillar appeared out of nowhere in front of Junpei. "Whoa! T-that was close!" Pillars continuously appeared and the windows were morphing to another design.
"Hurry up!" The pillars where slowing them down. They ran to reach the gate, Junpei tried opening the doors with brute force but it was shut. "Shit! The doors are lock!"
"Well, try harder!"
Anahi heard a sound from behind; she turned around and saw this sea of darkness enveloping the area. "Guys, I think if we don't hurry up-" before she could end of what she was about to say, darkness appeared out of nowhere and, has eaten them.
"Oh no! We're too late." Fuuka looked upon the familiar tower that was in front of them. Majestic, yet dark and eye confusing, the school they have known that was standing before the Dark Hour has turned into the tower named Tartarus.
"Come on! Let's go in! They might be inside the lobby." A little boy name Ken Amada ran off and the others followed.
They entered the lobby and frantically search for them. "They're not here. They must be inside."
"Fuuka, try contacting them." A large man in a pea coat, whose name is Shinjiro Aragaki, spoke. A friend of his calls him Shinji for short. "If you contacted them, tell them to stay put because we'll be finding them as well. Everyone let's go!" All of them nodded and went to the first block.
"Y-yes!" Fuuka reached something on her waist and it was a silver gun. She pointed it on her temple and shouted the word;
"Persona!" She pulled the trigger. A large figure appeared from the blue aura. It had a teal colored hair like herself, she may have no eyes, but her field of vision were the floating wings or eyes behind it. What it was wearing was a beautiful crimson red gown. Below it was a transparent sphere with golden linings and Fuuka, was inside it.
"Everyone! Can you hear me?"
"Yeah, I hear you loud and clear, Fuuka-chan!" Yukari responded to her.
"Same here!" Junpei answered.
"Where are you guys?"
"We're in the first block. Junpei and I managed to regroup ourselves, but we still can't find Anahi-chan or Koro-chan anywhere."
"Let me try locating them. Juno, please lend me your strength." Juno let out a bright light, and inside Fuuka's mind eye, she could see the whole first block, Thebel, without a problem. "I see them! They are on the 10th floor; they seem to be fine, while the two of you are on the 4th floor."
"Should we go look them?" The brunette girl asked.
"You should wait for the others. They told me that you guys should stay put until Shinjiro-senpai and the others find you."
"Senpai and others are coming?" Junpei, in turned, asked.
"Yes. Don't worry, I'll tell Koro-chan to keep Anahi-chan safe."
"Okay."
"Looks like another dead end." Anahi's voice echoes in the silence, she turned her head and saw Koro-chan whining. "It's okay, we'll find them soon."
"Bark!" He wags his tail in delight.
"Koro-chan, can you hear me?"
"Bark!"
"Ehh? Fuuka-chan?"
"Anahi-chan? You can hear me?"
"Mmm. Loud and clear."
"Ehh? Impossible! You even don't have a- Please ignore what I just said, but are you okay?"
"Yes, I'm okay. Koromaru has been using his nose and guiding me to where we should go."
"That's good. Yukari-chan and the others should be heading there now. Please wait a bit longer Anahi-chan."
"Okay."
"I'm cutting off now to report to the others, Koro-chan, please guide her to safety."
"Bark!" Fuuka cut off and her voice can no longer be heard in their head.
What was that about. . . Anahi took out the gun and showed it to Koromaru, "Do you know about this?"
Koromaru just smelled it with its nose and he showed a sad face when he smelled the familiar scent of the gun.
"Sorry, it must have scared you."
"Bark!" Koromaru then pushed her hand using his nose, holding the gun in that hand, the end hit her temple. "Bark! Bark, bark!" She stood up and looked at where the gun was positioned. "Should I shoot?"
"Bark!" He wags his tail. Man, for a dog, he knows how to teach a human to play dead. Anahi prepared for the impact as what's about to happen, she closed her eyes and pulled the trigger.
"What? She heard you?" Yukari's voice echoed.
"That's right! When I was talking to Koro-chan, she called out my name and I was shocked."
"Do you think she's a persona user?" Amada cupped his chin with his right hand.
"Come to think of it, the night she arrived in the dormitory, she didn't Transmogrify. She was standing there as if the Dark Hour was nothing."
"Data report studying. Confirmed. She has the potential to summon a persona." A blonde hair girl suddenly spoke.
"Are you sure Aigis-san?" Ken asked.
"My data showed a 96.5% chance of her having one." Aigis, as the boy call her, is a mechanoid that is designed for destroying shadows. She may look like a robot on the outside, but she has a heart of a human deep inside her.
"Then we should take that chance!" Junpei raised his fist in the air.
Suddenly, a sound was heard.
"Shh. What was that?" As Shinjiro spoke, they stopped on their tracks.
"It came from above. We have to hurry."
"Right!" They ran as fast as they could.
Koromaru and Anahi were wandering around. Anahi stared at the gun. Nothing even happened as I pulled the trigger. Only the sound of an unloaded gun.
"Grr. . ." Koromaru stopped and he positioned himself into intimidation.
"Koromaru?" She glances to where Koromaru was also looking at. She saw this black, gooey like creature that has red crimson eyes.
That looks like the thing in my dream! Suddenly, Koromaru barked at it and it multiplied into six. Each was wearing a shade of blue green mask.
One of it charged, heading to Koromaru, but Koromaru has a knife and managed to damage the creature.
"Good boy, Koromaru!"
"Bark!"
Out of nowhere, flames appeared in front of her. She covered her face, but her hands got burnt in the process of protecting herself and almost the half of her blazer's sleeves also got burnt. She winced in pain.
The creature regained its composure. It strikes again for round two. "Koromaru! Look out!" Before Koromaru can attack, an arrow suddenly hit the shadow and it disappeared in the air.
"You okay?" Iori then appeared.
"Yeah. Just burnt"
"Junpei! Let's go! We have to take care them since more are here because some of them followed us!"
"Yeah! Coming Yuka-tan! Just watch what is about to happen, Anahi-chan!" He then ran off carrying a long sword. All of them were fighting those black creatures. Anahi was just standing there.
"Alright, let's finish this off!" Shinjiro shouted.
"Yeah!/Roger!/Bark!/You got it!/Wooh!"
All them grabbed a gun, except Aigis and Koromaru, and pointed them to the temple of their heads. Anahi was shocked of when she saw the same gun that she was carrying for a while now. She took out the gun and looked at its silver gleam. She turns her sight back to the battle taking place as she heard every one of them shouted;
"PERSONA!"
A shattered sound of glass was created when they pulled the trigger. Shades of blue appeared that was in the form of an aura, were emitting from them. From those aura came out new figures behind them. Anahi's face grew pale as she saw the figures crystal clear through her eyes.
"Let's go, Trismegistus!"
"Help me, Isis!"
"Kala-Nemi!"
"Attack, Pallas Athena!"
"Hit 'em hard, Castor!"
"Awooo!"
The figure attacked, others casted elemental attacks. The black figures shrieked in pain as they received the attacks. The battle ends when the all of them disappeared into air. The figures returned to their respective masters, behind them, not yet disappearing. Anahi just hanged her mouth open in awe. Yukari then steps out and held out her hand in front of her.
"Your hands. . . Show them to me."
"Oh. . . Here." She showed her burnt hands. Yukari showed a worried face. She held her hands, closed her eyes. Suddenly, the figure behind released a green aura. It has a gentle feeling. Anahi looks back at her hands; she saw the burnt marks were disappearing, returning to its normal state.
After Takeba done her job, she stared at her hands as if nothing had happen to it. "Thank you." Yukari just smiled, but instantly, her face became serious.
"Everyone, I think it's time to tell her the truth." Yamagishi's voice echoed in their minds.
"Fuuka-chan's right, it's time for her tell the truth." Junpei's voice was serious.
"Anahi-chan, do you know what the Dark Hour is?" Takeba's voice was serious.
They were now in the lobby of the tower. Unfortunately, this lobby wasn't the school kind of lobby.
"All I know is that it's an extra like hour between midnight. Most people turns into a coffin and they are not aware of it, physically and mentally." Anahi's face was calm as ever, not losing the stoic face she has.
"The person that turns into coffins is the process called Transmogrify." Anahi nodded.
"Anahi-chan, the things you saw back there were our Persona. And those things we fought were Shadows, pretty cool, huh?" Junpei chuckled.
"Persona?"
"It's kinda like your other self." Fuuka became steps in, "Every one of us has one. That's why we manage to fight those Shadows. Using an Evoker, we can summon them."
Anahi became aware of the events of how they manage to summon out their Persona. She grabbed something from her back. Out came out the silver gun. Everyone gasped when they saw the gun. "This is what you used when you summon your Persona, right?"
"Where did you-" Fuuka covered her mouth with her hands.
"Hehh. . . So that's a Persona? How boring." Suddenly, there was a voice that sounded like from a radio kind, but a girl's voice. They all turned their heads and to the source of the voice.
They were shocked when they saw the figure on the stairs was Anahi. But the thing kept on having statics around its body; it can't maintain its body.
"What the hell-? They are two Anahi-chans?!" Junpei pointed at the both of them. "I don't have a twin sister! Junpei-kun!"
"This isn't the time to be joking around! Who the hell-! Oi, it disappeared!"
"More like one Anahi and one awesome Anahi." They all turned their heads behind them.
"What do you want?" Aigis prepared her guns to fire at the figure.
"Wait, wait! Calm down! I'm just here for my other self" She gestured her hand to herself.
"Wait a minute? Yourself? I'm kinda confused." Junpei scratched his head, but more like his cap.
"Wrong! Seriously, how dumb can you be? It's obviously her I'm after!" They all look at Anahi, but Anahi just stares at the figure. The figure devilishly smiled and started walking. Anahi seems to understand and she also walks.
"Anahi-chan! What are you doing?"
"Idiot! Come back here!"
They both stop at their tracks. They were only opposite of each other. The shadow just smiles playfully, seeing the view to another side, Anahi was sweating and she held the gun tightly on her right hand.
"What do you want?"
"Isn't that what I'm supposed to be asking since I'm your true self?"
"What do you mean?"
"Friends? Who needs them. Everyone should just die! I don't care if only it was an illusion! Just disappear. Isn't that. . . What you want?" The static figure was still smiling but a tear suddenly streams down her cheeks.
Everyone just stared in silence.
". . . Yeah." Anahi answered honestly because she already thought of those things in her mind. "But I already decided just let my mind and actions affect my future."
"Heh? Is that so? So you're just gonna run away or let it slide? Pshh! don't joke with me!" The girl became pissed. The ground suddenly started shaking. Everyone tried to maintain their balance. "Aren't you jealous? That they have this kind of power and while you don't?"
Anahi just gripped the gun tighter.
"Just accept it! Every human is the same! They were given a chance to live, but then they just die and leave you! They're just garbage waiting to be thrown out! They're special and you're not! The world is full of shit!"
Anahi clenched her teeth.
"Why don't you just shut up, you piece shit!" Junpei pulled out his provoker, place it on his temple and pulled his trigger. Out came his persona. "Go!" Trismegistus rushed towards the enemy.
The shadow instantly turned its attention to the persona. Its hand transformed into a blade and deflected the attack.
Everyone did the same as if it was the signal.
"Anahi-chan, you better stay back with Fuuka!" Takeba shoots arrows, but to her dismay, when it hit its back, it was swallowed by the shadow.
"Anahi-chan! Over here!" She glanced at Fuuka, and then glanced back to the battle. Her eyes trembled.
I am Thou. . . Thou art I
Release the potential from the sea of thy soul. . .
When she remembered those words, she closed her eyes. She didn't hear anything except her heart beat.
"Idiot! Why isn't she moving her ass?!" Shinjiro complained as he was fighting one the tentacles.
She releases the grip from the gun, dropping it on the floor. Without doing anything, a blue aura was seen emitting from her. And out came behind her the familiar figure she saw in her dream.
"Whoa! Isn't that-!"
"How did she-?"
"Messiah!" Aigis's eyes focuses on her. On her eyes' reflection, it was someone else she saw summoning the persona, Messiah. But suddenly, an unexpected turn of events happened.
Hahh. . . Finished! Man writing this was hard! I expected myself more of this! But I'm gonna continue to chapter 3. Comments, suggestions and other things that are in the same term with them are welcome!
