Author's Note: I apologize for the very long wait with this fan fiction. Had a LOT of things to take care of at the time. Now that I've FINALLY got that done and got over my writer's block I believe I can get this done sooner. This is one of three fanfics I'll be working on. The other two are Forever Zero Gaiden (This one is intended to be a very dark fanfic by the way) and Nocturne: World's End. Also, if the sentences are bolded then its signifying that the characters are thinking.

Chapter 1 - Between Dream and Reality

Unknown

A young man and a young woman wake up and find themselves in a golden glowing shrine. The duo both notices the a cylindrical glowing light coming down towards a green circular butterfly emblem on the floor and then a golden butterfly appears floating and flapping its wings in the middle of the room.

"Um…where the heck are we?" The young woman asked the young man

"Hell if I know, First thing I'm on a train heading to Sasanaki then I dozed off and now I'm here…..wherever here is. Where were you before this happened"

"I was sleeping in my bed"

Before the young woman could continue, the butterfly disappears in a flash of light and the a man wearing a white and golden butterfly mask and a black suit suddenly shows up in the same spot the golden butterfly was.

The man takes a bow and says "Welcome. it's a pleasure to meet you two. I am Philemon, a dweller between consciousness and unconsciousness. And now a simple test, can you tell me your names?"

"Hmmm….that's a weird test but ok." the young man responded. "My name is Damien Kurosaki"

"My name is Hime Phoenix. I'd rather not say my actual first name." Hime responded matter-of-factly.

"She won't say her actual first name? Hmm….what's up with that? Meh, there must be a good reason for that" Damien thinks to himself as he looks around "But now might not be the perfect time to ask her that yet."

Philemon nods and in response says, "Splendid. There aren't many who can remember their identity when in this domain. It seems you both pass that test."

He points at both for a second and says, "But tell me this. Are you aware that there are many and buried selves you harbor within you?"

"Ooookay….what the hell is this guy rambling about?" Damien thinks while confused and a bit annoyed.

"The self suffused with divine love. The self capable of demonic cruelty. People live by wearing different masks. Your current selves may be only one of those innumerable masks."

"So you're saying that we have multiple buried selves dormant within us? Hmm….interesting" Hime says as this has piqued her interest.

"Well, my mind is completely blown now" Damien says with a light chuckle.

"You though, you two have a very firm grip on your identity" Philemon says as out of nowhere two small glowing statues magically appear in his hands as he raises them a little. One resembling a Shinto goddess while the other one resembles a nearly naked jet black skinned angel with 8 wings of different colors and what appears to be two small grey wings covering his crotch. "I respect your strong will. In return I grant you two this power….persona."

"Persona? What's that?" Both Damien and Hime say at the same time

"It is the power to summon the selves within you. The gods and the demons you harbor."

"That looks like…." Damien starts off.

"Demiurge and Izanami" Hime says finishing off the sentence.

"So one of us has Izanami and the other one has Demiurge as the self within us?"

"It appears so.."

"The time is soon when you will need this power and in order to unlock it, you will have to face yourselves."

Hime raised her eyebrow and asked, "What do you mean by facing ourselves"

"When the time comes, you will know but I'll save that for another time" was Philemon's reply. "Now, you two must return to your proper time and place."

As the room begins to fade away, Damien yells out "What do you mean another time? HEY, WAIT!"

Before he can get an answer, a distant voice interrupts telling Damien to wake up.

Train - Morning - Sunny

"HEY DAMIEN, WAKE UP!" a young man wearing a hoodie with a demon logo on the back shouts.

"OK OK. I'm up Naoki, You don't have to yell dude." Damien replies, waking up and feeling a bit groggy. "Man that was one weird dream", Damien says in a thinking out loud moment.

"Was it one of your nightmares again?"

"No, it was different this time."

Before Naoki could even ask Damien what happened, there was an announcement on the loudspeaker.

"We will arrive at the Sasanaki terminal. Passengers headed towards Sasanaki City and Sasanaki station please go to the other side of the platform."

After the announcement Damien looks out the window and spots a glowing golden butterfly flying in the distance. While Damien is watching this, Naoki just happens to spot the mark on Damien's arm glowing golden.

"Umm...dude, your mark is glowing golden."

"Huh? Hmm...it never did that before. Let's just ignore it for now" Damien says while looking out the window for a few minutes, puts on his headphones, plays a few songs on his MP3 player and just goes into deep thought for a few, reminiscing about the past. Then Naoki's cell phone rings with Nocturne's Boss Battle theme playing as the ringtone.

"Hello?" Naoki says while answering his phone. "Yeah, we'll be at the station in about an hour and a half. Sorry for taking so long to get there. Cool. We'll see you guys soon. Bye Ayane-chan."

As Damien decides to change the track, he notices a card in his pocket, as he takes it out, what shows up surprises him.

"The hell?...Where did this card come from?"

He examines the card and discovers that the picture on the card is Demiurge but Demiurge himself appears a bit transparent.

Naoki notices the card Damien has in his hand. "When did you get that card Damien?"

"I dunno. I know that this demon appeared in that dream I had right along with Izanami. There was some dude named Philemon in it talking about masks, personas, gods, and demons. Some shit like that anyways. Also there was some hot gothic looking princess in it too."

"Before you finish, let me guess, sounds like your type right?" Naoki said jokingly

Damien laughs and says, "Not exactly but I'll describe her to you, She's around my height, kinda pale, with blonde hair, red demonic eyes with slits in the middle but almost catlike, and wore a black dress and a tiara."

"Holy shit! That sounds like a..."

"You guessed it, a royal. Hopefully we don't end up having to fight another one after last time. She didn't seem evil though, Then again, I dunno. We'll find out eventually though" Damien tells Naoki. "But back to that issue with Philemon, he kinda gave us some weird test that involved asking us to tell him our names because according to him, not many could remember their identity in that domain. A bit confusing really."

"Hmmm that may not be just a dream then. Remember about the dream I told you about before the Conception?"

"Yeah, wasn't Ms Takao in it?"

"Yeah. I had to tell her my name in it."

"Hmmm... "

"But anyways, was that all that happened in the dream? "

Damien and Naoki begin talking more about that dream Damien had.

(...Meanwhile...)

Mansion - Early Morning - Sunny

"Fuga? Fuga fuga fuga?" A small blond gynoid asks the sleeping Hime while trying to wake her.

"Hmm...hey Flandre. *yawns*" Hime says while waking up.

"Fuga?"

"I'm ok, I was having a weird dream thats all." Hime says as she gets up. "Have Sawawa make me some Earl Grey Tea."

"Fuga" Flandre says before leaving Hime's bedroom. As Hime gets ready to change her clothes, a card falls to the floor. Hime picks it up and notices the transparent picture of Izanami on it.

"Hmm...that may not have been a dream after all if I have this. It wasn't here before." Hime thinks to herself. A few minutes later someone knocks on her door.

"Come in" Hime says.

A boy wearing a white t shirt and green pants enters the room.

"Hime, are you sure about attending high school with me?"

"Yes Hiro, I figured I'd do that to keep an eye on you in case your blood starts running low. That and to prevent what happened last time from happening again."

Meanwhile downstairs two young women, one dressed up like Kim Possible and the other one dressed in a dark sailor fuku, are busy arguing.

"I wonder what they're arguing about this time"

"Beats me." Hime responded uncaringly. "That reminds me, isn't your blood low right about now?"

Hiro nods then gets close to Hime as Hime bites her index finger, drawing blood. raises her finger over Hiro's lips. Hiro opens his mouth to catch the few drops of blood that dropped before Hime's finger heals.

Flandre enters the room again. "Fuga, fuga fuga fuga."

"Thank you Flandre. Hiro, get something to eat. I'll be downstairs in a few minutes."

Late Morning - Sasanaki Station - Cloudy

The train enters Sasanaki Station as Damien and Naoki get their bags and prepare to leave.

Naoki looks out the window and spots a few people there waving at both him and Damien. "Looks like our welcoming committee is here *chuckle*" Naoki says jokingly.

"You're right. They made it on time to meet us."

The train stops and the doors open as everyone gets off the train. Damien and Naoki approach the three young women and 2 young men that were waiting for them.

To Be Continued...

Author's Note: Redid parts of this chapter. And now while I'm working on Nocturne's World End, I'll continue with this story too. Til then stay gold.