Persona 3: Second Chances
The second chapter is here already?! (gasp) Inconceivable!
Well, to be fair, I guess I was really lazy with the original… so I'll pay more attention to this one.
Omegaxis1: Wrong. Even this one took a hell long time. I had to make you get your butt off of your games and back to work.
CCRagna: (sniff) That's harsh... true, but still...
Now, even though it was stated… I don't own Atlus, Persona, or any character that appears in the games. They all belong to Atlus, I do not endorse or sell their products.
With all that nonsense out of the way… let's get to the real entertainment.
Chapter 2: Fates Intertwined
Normal POV:
As the three Persona-users stepped through the light, instantly, they were going to the moment when Makoto and Minako arrived at Iwatodai, however, unbeknownst to them, the very fabric of space and time was being warped and distorted, and the surge of energy caused certain things to alter in the restart for the two counterparts and newcomer.
As the light subsided, the three Persona-users found themselves onboard a monorail, to which Makoto and Minako recognized immediately.
"The train to Iwatodai…" Minako was the first to break the silence. "I've actually returned… I'm… actually back…" Noticing her parallel half's face, she blushed ferociously and waved her arms in a sort of apologetic manner. "Uh, no offense to you or anything Makoto-kun! Heh heh…" she said. It was still weird for her that she was meeting her parallel world counterpart, and that it was a boy nonetheless.
The blue haired youth shrugged and popped on his earphones, turning on his MP3 as he did so. Soon, all noise around him drowned out as the simple, yet familiar melody of Burn My Dread played throughout his head. He noticed that Minako had done the same, donning very similar earphones with a very similar MP3.
But since they were the same person, in a way, he thought nothing more of it. Only Yu, their new friend, was confused by this sudden turn of events.
All he did was open his phone and stare at it for what seemed like an eternity. Curious, Makoto leaned back in his seat to catch a glimpse, and eventually, he did.
It was a photo of him and a blue haired girl in a similar blue outfit. Her face was beaming with a bright smile as she held onto Yu's arm tightly, while the young man smiled as well. Both of their eyes were closed, and Makoto could tell they were not just friends- they were lovers.
Like him and Yukari.
Yuki sighed deeply when her name arose in his mind. Their relationship was complicated, but they were lovers in the end.
It was pretty amusing that he was about to witness the exact same event in about thirty or so minutes, he thought. Eventually, his music player shuffled to the next song, and then the next.
Thirty minutes went by before the train screeched to a halt at the station, where the three youths made their departure. As they got off, Minako gripped her hands together and shivered.
"Damn, its cold… should've brought my scarf… dammit..." she shivered as she rubbed her hands together in an attempt to get warm.
Yu rolled his eyes and shrugged. "What's the date? If it's April, then I'm not surprised."
Makoto nodded. "Yeah, it's April 5th… Something wrong?" he asked. Yu shook his head and heaved his black bag- which he had just noticed a few minutes ago- over his shoulder. "No, just wondering. Hey, where're we going right now?" Makoto looked at his watch and sighed. "About three more minutes and then we'll head off."
Minako leaned forwards to look at the sky and shuddered at the sight of the moon. "Jeez, the moon always creep me out, especially when they're full... Those damn operations..." she stated, remembering the awful fights that she'd been in, some worse than others.
Yu didn't know what she was talking about, but Makoto would reveal it in due time. At least, that's what he thought, but his intuition told him anyway. He had a knack for that kind of stuff. Three minutes passed as midnight came around the corner, and Yu put his hand over his mouth and yawned heavily.
"I'm beat," he said. "We gonna head out sooner or later?" he asked, already being rather chummy with them, since he realizes that he's gonna be stuck with them for quite some time. Makoto stepped forward and looked at the digital clock on the wall.
In a single minute, it went blank. The lights shut off as well, and Minako's MP3 shut off instantly. Yu was shocked at the sudden turn of events. "What... how...?" he questioned, never having seen this kind of phenomena happen, especially since everything turned green around them. Minako shuddered as she looked around.
"It's, uh, hard to explain. Seriously, don't ask," Minako said, thinking that Yu might as well learn as Makoto did back then. Yu stared at her for a few seconds before shrugging and walking towards the exit of the station with Makoto, and his female opposite close behind.
Once they emerged from the station stop, Yu looked around the area- no people, just like on the train from what seemed like just an hour ago. Just coffins, standing upright, as if there were people sleeping inside of them. He wanted answers, but Minako told him that she'd tell him eventually. So he kept his mouth shut and followed Makoto through the dark, eerie streets.
Elsewhere, in Iwatodai
The young man in the white jacket finally got up, rubbing his head slightly. "Jeez, I gotta stop giving into peer pressure..." He stopped talking when he realized that his surroundings had changed drastically- he was definitely not in Tokyo, or one of its districts. "Okay... please be a dream," he said, pinching his cheek and wincing when he felt the pain. Aware that he was very much awake, he got up, brushed his pants legs and began walking through the streets.
What had happened, he thought? His question was interrupted by a growl from behind him. As he turned around, he froze. Right in front of him was a giant beetle wearing a mask, and it was glaring at him with killing intention.
Acting on instinct, the young man grabbed his phone from his pocket and pressed the ON button. Nothing happened.
Again, and no response. No matter how much he pressed or held the ON button, the phone stayed a blank screen. Not possible, he thought. He had full battery when he answered the email from before.
Pocketing his phone, he turned around and began to run, the beetle chasing after him. He turned corners, determined to lose it, but the beetle wouldn't give up- it just kept chasing him. He turned one last corner and was met with a dead end, and the beetle was right around the corner. He backed up, looking for anything that could be used as a weapon of sorts. But the beetle finally found him. Closing his eyes, the young man prepared for the worst...
Which never came.
Instead, he heard a high-pitched scream and opened his eyes to see a cloaked figure with a long, steel blade. He sank to his knees and began to pant heavily, suddenly feeling all his strength being sapped from him for some reason.
"I... what... who're you...?" he asked the mysterious stranger. The cloaked figure looked down at the young man and watched as he fainted from exhaustion. The figure picked him up and carried him out of the alley to an unknown destination, which turned out to be an abandoned apartment building, that people say is haunted and that anyone that comes in would get cursed. The figure set the young man on the couch and checked his ID that was in his wallet.
Hibiki Kuze, age 18.
The man sat on a chair, facing outwards and gripped his shoulder in pain. Damn, the Shadows were really at it for some reason. Well, putting that aside, the figure was shocked to find another human here, in the Dark Hour. How long has it been since he met another human here? A very long time… was he a prisoner too? No, he doubted it, cause otherwise he wouldn't have freaked out and passed out like that.
He noticed the newcomer waking up, as Hibiki sat up, rubbing his head groggily and looking at him a few seconds later. He stood up, brushed his pants legs and sat back down.
"Why'd you save me? I'm not that rich," he questioned, and the figure had an urge to roll his eyes at his question.
"I felt like it," he responded, turning away. Hibiki stared, shrugged and leaned into the couch, and examined the cloaked man. He couldn't tell much, but from the looks of it, he might be about his age, maybe. But something was weird about him. For some reason, Hibiki couldn't get a good read on him, like everything about this cloaked man was an enigma or something.
"So who are you?" he decided to ask.
The figure had looked up to him and was silent. "It's been a long time since I actually had to answer that kind of question, and I can barely even remember it anymore, so I doubt that I can answer that..." the figure explained, raising more questions in his mind.
This guy was the epitome of mystery…
Makoto POV
While Yu was intrigued by the wonders of the Dark Hour, I just looked at how everything was still the same, but… I was back. I was here, and I was no longer trapped in an eternal void of being the Great Seal. Looking to my right, I noticed how my counterpart was being silent, and I understood that she must be feeling exactly what I felt as well.
Now that I think about it, if we were the same being, and lived similar lives, then she must have become the Great Seal, giving up her entire existence for the lives of everyone in her world. I wonder how things will be now that all three of us are here. Igor had said that things will not be the same as it had been when I had first began my journey, and I wonder if this was it…
No, it couldn't be, because this part was without saying anything, meaning that there will be more to come.
"Let's hurry and get to the dorm," Minako suggested, and Yu and I nodded and headed to the dormitory.
As we walked and got to the building with the words GEKKOUKON HIGH SCHOOL LIVING QUARTERS emblazoned on the front, I was the first to enter through it.
The second we were fully inside, a voice spoke out. "Welcome." The voice was familiar, as Minako and I looked to see my, or rather 'our', old friend, the boy with pale skin, short shaggy black hair, and pale blue eyes, and the prison like clothing, who had named himself 'Pharos' in the future, and later on, would become 'Ryoji', but Minako and I both knew who he really was… he was the Arcana that was never meant to be… Death…
…!? Wait… maybe…
My thoughts were interrupted when Yu suddenly spoke. "Whoa! When did this kid get here?" It was not surprising that he was surprised. He was the only one that was new to this kind of thing.
"Um… like I said, I'll explain this later," Minako said to him, sweatdropping. Pharos then extended a familiar contract to us. "If you three are going to proceed, then… please. Sign here. It's a contract. There's no need to be scared. It only binds you to accepting full responsibilities for your actions." Looking at the contract, the same set of words were there.
'I chooseth this fate of mine own free will.'
Yu seemed surprised, but held his peace for now. The strange thing was that Pharos had been expecting all three of is there, rather than just me. So… who does Pharos belong to? Me? Minako? Or possibly Yu? So many questions plagued my mind.
We all signed the contract with our names:
Makoto Yuki
Minako Arisato
Yu Narukami
When that was done, Pharos nodded. "… Very well. Time is something no one can escape. It delivers us all to the same end. Wishing won't make it go away. And so it begins…" With that, he disappeared, melting into the shadows.
"Who's there!?" a voice called out and I could feel my heart skipping a beat. That voice… so long have I yearned to hear that voice in my time as the Great Seal…
We all turned to see… Yukari Takeba, standing there. And she has a gun ready to point at us. Just like old times…
Normal POV: Elsewhere…
"So where exactly are we?" Hibiki asked, looking around the apartment building. "And are you not even gonna let me see your face? Ditch the cloak, what are you, some sort of hunter or something? News flash, the cloak is not the best sense of fashion."
The figure just remained silent and suddenly tensed, or appeared to be, as he stood up and looked at Hibiki. "It's almost time. Listen, when the Dark Hour comes again, come here immediately. Otherwise you'll be attacked again," he stated. Hibiki was confused and was about to ask what he was saying, when suddenly, everything looked normal and the green color was gone… and so was the figure.
"W-what the hell?!" Hibiki nearly shouted, as he rubbed his eyes furiously. "Okay… weird guy was here one second, gone the next. It's official, I'm going crazy. Maybe I'm just dreaming. I'll just take this bed, close my eyes, and when I wake up, I'll be back to a place where things make sense."
With that, he closed his eyes, and fell into slumber.
Well, this is the end of the chapter. Can anyone guess what happened so far? Those that read the original story should know some things here, but if not, then keep reading on as the chapters are updated.
Another thing to note. Crimson Reader Ragna, or Shunto as I call him, is going to alternate the updates from this story to another story, Tales of Dissidia.
So if we update weekly sort of, one week it'll be this story, the next week will be Dissidia.
CCR: Also, on a side-note with the Dissidia fanfic, please keep in mind that some of the characters appearing in it are from JP-only releases.
Well, be sure to review after you finish reading. We'd like more reviews than the last chapter, and are willing to take any advice you've got. If not, just review your thoughts on the chapter.
