Okay, hello guys!
Sorry for not updating this fic for a long-long time..
Hu... Got to lazy typing these story down, even tho we have a great ideas for this story -_-
Well, enjoy this chapter first :D
Oops, almost forgot.
We own nothing in this fic except the story. All of the characters and places that we mentioned in this fic belongs to Atlus.
Go go go! Read this fic!
Renewed Contract
Chapter 2
The Revival
Unknown Place
Unknown Time
The sound of a beast roaring could be heard loudly in the darkness. A silver haired woman clad in blue was seen jumping to dodge something. A hand appeared from the mist and smashed the place where the woman once stood. A two headed beast came out from the darkness and roared to the woman. It seemed like she had provoked the beast to attack her.
She jumped again into the air as the beast's hand came down smashing the void floor. In the middle of the air, she drew a card from the book that she was holding.
"Helel!" she summoned a persona and ordered it to attack the beast. "Morning Star!"
A bright light formed above the beast and it bursts down a laser like beam, damaging the beast severely. It then went back into the darkness to hide and recover itself again.
The woman landed on the floor swiftly and put the card she had taken back to the book. She sighed. She was sweating quite a bit.
"Phew, this is taking quite long. I need to finish this quickly and release him from this place. I can't waste my energy too much or it won't be sufficient for the ritual." the woman said to herself as she wiped the sweat of her face. She looked at the door behind her and smiled to the statue that was being chained in the center of it.
"Wait for me, okay? I'll make sure to finish this up as quickly as possible." she said again.
She then felt a chill ran down through her spine. A black energy ball came out of nowhere, startling the woman. She didn't react fast enough that it exploded on the ground in front of her. The shockwave sent her flying near the door.
"Ouch, that hurts you know. Don't use dark embrace like that!" she stated as she got back up to her feet and cleaned the dusts that are stuck to her blue dress.
"Let's finish this, Erebus." smirking, she ran towards the beast and leaped into the air. She drew another card from her book.
"Satan! Megidolaon!" she summoned another persona and attacked the beast with a giant purple energy ball.
…. (And so the fight went on)
Inaba, Junes Dept. Store
December 31st, 2012
3:55 P.M.
"Hmm… Which one should we buy?" asked the woman wearing a red sweater to her group as she picked up two bottles of sauce from the rack. "The spicy one, or the sweet one? What do you think, Chie-chan?"
"I think the spicy one is better, don't you think so, Rise-chan?" Chie answered.
"The sour one would be better!" Rise commented and picked up a bottle of sour sauce from the rack.
"I think the sweet one is good enough." Yukiko remarked as she put the spicy sauce back to the rack.
"Guys, let's just pick one and go to the next corner. It has taken quite a long time now. The boys are going to get bored." Naoto said to them after seeing how the boys were doing.
Souji, Yosuke, and Kanji were starting to get irritated because it has been an hour since they came to the store.
"Man… What the hell are they doing anyway? This is taking too long. I want to go home and watch the TV!" Yosuke complained.
"Just bear with it, Yosuke." Souji retorted. "Hm? Where's Kanji?"
Kanji disappeared from them. It happened in a blink of an eye. Yosuke and Souji started to look for him.
"There he is! What's he doing in the… household corner?" Yosuke stumbled as he saw Kanji holding a knitting needle. Souji wasn't expecting this and was speechless.
"Hm... What should I buy? This one is good, but… this one is more fit in my hand." Kanji mumbled and picked another one of the needle.
"Okay… I know that Kanji's got some odd hobby for a man, but this is just… too weird." Yosuke said as he went to get close to Kanji. Souji followed him from behind while sighing.
"Hey there, Kanji." Souji's greeting surprised Kanji and he immediately put the needles back to the rack.
"O-oh, i-i-it's not what you think, senpai." Kanji stammered, trying to deny what just happened.
"It's alright, Kanji-kun. It's alright." Yosuke tried to calm him. "We all know that you have that 'kind' of hobby." Yosuke snickered. It made Kanji mad.
"What's that, SENPAI?" Kanjis eyes were glowing and his mouth were emitting smokes as he said that. The same kind of expression he had when Yosuke cheated on him, four days ago.
"O-o-okay, Kanji-kun. Forget what I just said and calm down." Yosuke panicked.
Souji was now chuckling after seeing what happened. His attempt to stop his laughter didn't work. He then decided to move out from the sight of Kanji. He didn't want to be caught in the riot that was going to happen.
Before Kanji could do something to Yosuke, the girls came to them.
"What are you guys doing?" Naoto asked.
Kanji was awoken from his enraged state after hearing Naoto's voice. He then started to blush madly and turned his face around.
"It's nothing." he said feeling embarrassed.
Yosuke sighed in relief as he was saved from being injured badly. Souji smiled at that and came out from his hiding place to talk to them.
"So, are you guys finished yet?" he asked the girls who were piling stuffs into their trolley.
"I guess we are. Let's pay this in the cashier." Chie pushed the trolley to the cashier.
The others then followed her. They paid their groceries and went back to Yukiko's house. On the way there, Yosuke came up with a plan again.
"Hey guys! Why don't we stay at Yukiko's place for three days after our picnic ends?" he suggested as he ran to the front of the group who were walking.
They thought for it awhile before Yukiko responded.
"Well, I'm okay with that. You are all welcomed to stay at my place. After all, you are my friends." she smiled.
"Is it alright to do that, Yukiko-senpai?" the blue haired girl asked.
"Yeah, I mean, are we really allowed to sleepover at your place?" Chie looked hesitating.
"It's alright guys. I'm sure my mom wouldn't mind you guys staying over at my place." Yukiko answered their questions.
"Besides, she would be too busy to be angry at us if we made some noises because we've got a group of people coming to our inn three days ago." Yukiko continued as she walked in front of them, switching place with Yosuke. "I heard one of them is the so called Mitsuru Kirijo, the Director of the famous Kirijo Group. My mom said they were staying here for five days to celebrate the new years."
"Kirijo? As in, Mitsuru Kirijo? I'm a fan of her! I've seen her on the TV countless time since the past few months. She is said to be a very polite and graceful woman." Yosuke rattled.
"Well, I've seen her in the TV a few weeks ago. She said she was going to donate a quarter of their company's money for Japan's educational facility. She also promotes the school they managed, Gekkoukan High School, which we had visited a year ago." Kanji joined in the conversation.
"Is she really that great?" Chie sounded confused.
"What? You don't know about her? Have you ever watched the TV Chie?" Yosuke teased her.
"Of course I do!" she retorted back with a blushing face.
"Yeah, but you only watch the cooking program and bruce lee's movie. Not the news." Yosuke added mockingly.
WHAM!
Yosuke was now rolling on the floor, holding his crotch as Chie hit him in his balls. He cried a silent cry.
"That will teach you to not tease me again." Chie turned around and went on ahead.
"You alright, Yosuke?" Souji bent down to see his friend's conditions.
"I think I'll survive…" he replied while still trying to endure the pain.
The girls then walked ahead to catch up with Chie, leaving the guys behind. They were waiting for Yosuke to recover from the attack that Chie did to his "thing".
"I'm alright now… I think." Yosuke stated as he tried to get back up to his feet.
"Don't push yourself too hard, you might want Kanji to piggyback you to your house. What do you say, Kanji?" Souji suggested and smirked to Kanji.
"Okay, I'm good!" Yosuke then straighten his back, trying to hide his pain.
Souji grinned as he saw his best friend walked funnily because of the pain in his lower body. Kanji was clueless on what happened between the two. He shrugged it off and followed them.
They finally arrived at an intersection and went to their separate ways to go home.
"See you guys tomorrow morning!" Souji waved his good bye to them.
Souji went back to his house and was greeted by Nanako and Dojima. They had dinner together and chatted about the picnic tomorrow. Nanako was really excited for it and decided to sleep earlier so that she could wake up early tomorrow morning. After the dinner, Souji washed the dishes while Dojima escorted Nanako to her room. Dojima then left to take a bath.
Souji who had finished cleaning the dishes thought the same thing as Nanako and he went to his room. He changed into his pajamas and slept as soon as he reached his bed.
Before Souji went to sleep, he looked through the window and saw the moon. It was a full moon.
'Tonight's a full moon… I wonder what did Igor means when he told me to be aware of the full moon.' he thought while trying to get a good position for him to sleep. 'Nah, I'll just go to sleep now. I need to be ready for tomorrow's picnic anyway.' With that, he went to sleep.
Amagi Inn, Dining Room
December 31st, 2012
11:40 P.M.
"Stop that, Stupei!" the brunette girl yelled at her friend who was wearing a baseball cap and doing some acrobat. He was trying to balance a plate on top of a long stick. "Someone will get hurt, you idiot."
"Whoa!" the man said as he almost dropped the plate to Fuuka's head. He recovered his balance and said, "Relax, Yuka-tan. I'm quite professional in doing this kind of thing." confidentially.
"Yeah, right… You almost dropped it onto Fuuka's head." Shinji pointed out.
"It was just a small accident." Junpei retorted with an annoyed kind of face.
"Now, now, Junpei-kun. You shouldn't be rude to your senpai." Chidori prompted him. "I'm sorry for his action just now, Aragaki-senpai."
"Tch. Whatever." Shinji shrugged it off.
"It's alright, Junpei-kun." Fuuka tried to calm Junpei down who was a bit upset.
"Now that you've learnt your lesson, you shouldn't do that again, okay Junpei-kun?" Mitsuru said, threateningly.
Feeling the deadly aura coming from his senpai, Junpei gave up and sit down to continue eating the food that was still on his plate.
They were having a party until midnight to celebrate the new years. The S.E.E.S. members were having quite a good time talking about how they are doing in their life.
…
11:56 P.M.
"It's getting quite late, isn't it?" the youngest of them said and yawned. "I still can't get this habit of sleeping after midnight off…"
The albino dog which was also with them, yawned too, following Ken. Shinji then scratched Koromaru's neck and finally yawned, unable to hold his tiredness.
"It's time for your awakening, Minato-sama. I'm going to release you from this place." Elizabeth said as she took out a card from her compendium. "Come forth, Messiah!"
She summoned a persona which body was white and was bringing coffins behind it.
"Well, well, well, aren't you cheating? To be able to summon that persona that is." A voice came out of the darkness.
"I know it's you, Ryoji, or should I call you 'Death'?" she replied it with a calm voice.
Orbs of darkness began to accumulate in the thin air near Elizabeth, materializing as a human figure.
"Hello there Elizabeth. It's nice to meet you." the figure smiled to her.
"Guess you too, huh, Shinji?" Akihiko commented when he saw his old pal did the same as Ken and Koromaru.
"Like you're one to talk, Aki. You had tears on your eyes. Those were from your yawning." Shinji pointed out.
"So, it has finally begun…" the long nosed man said as he saw the coffin that was floating in the velvet room starting to shatter and glow a bright bluish green light. "I hope you'll be safe, Elizabeth."
"Don't worry, master. She's not that weak of a girl, you know. She is my sister after all." a woman with a long curly silver hair who was sitting on the couch stated.
"I think she'll be okay, master." a man with a short silver hair appeared from the door that appeared suddenly beside Igor. "She should be able to handle this thing without any problem."
Igor then chuckled after hearing what his servants had said to him. "I have no doubt that she will certainly come back here alive. Fu fu fu…"
"Yeah… I think we all need to get some rest. After all, there's still tomorrow, right?" Akihiko replied.
"That's a good idea, Akihiko." Mitsuru remarked him. "Let's get some rest everyone. Tomorrow we're going to tour the town and buy some souvenirs."
"I'm going to need your help, Ryoji. I need the power of death to do the procedures." Elizabeth requested him.
"Well, what should we do, Pharos?"
Another figure of a young boy came out of the darkness and said, "You know it, right, Ryouji?"
"Heh… You're right." he replied before turning into the persona, Thanatos. "I can't become the avatar of Nyx right now. I guess this form will do."
"Thank you, Ryouji." she thanked him and turned her back to them to face the door. "Erebus has been immobilized for only an hour. We should do this quickly before it came back."
"You do know the risk that you're taking right, Elizabeth?" Pharos questioned her with a curious face.
"Of course, I do. I didn't come here without any resolution, you know." she smiled to the two guys.
"Guess you really do loved him. Heh…" Ryouji chuckled.
Junpei then got up to his feet and stretched his hands up. "Mh… I'm really tired. I'm going back to my room first, okay." he told them as he walked to the sliding door. "Chidori-chan, you should head back to your room with Fuuka. You two are in the same room, right?" he asked to Chidori.
"Yep, don't worry about me, Junpei-kun. Just go to your room and get some rest." the woman in charge answered.
"Alright. I guess it's time for us to return to our room then." Yukari uttered and stood up.
Everyone then started standing up as they prepared to leave the room to get some good night sleep.
"Aren't you two the same? For the arcana shadow of death to be reviving a human from his deep slumber. You really have lost your title as the most terrifying shadow." she replied.
"Fu fu fu…" Pharos chuckled, "We don't really care about that title anyway. What we want to do now is to unseal his soul from this place and revive him to the human world."
"So, where's his 'body'? Did you bring it here, Elizabeth?" Ryoji asked her with Thanatos' deep voice.
Messiah, which was called by Elizabeth earlier, glowed, and in front of it, a coffin materialized as the particle of light began to shine brighter and brighter in every second. It finally materialized fully and showed a pure white coffin with some golden ornate around it. A golden cross was carved in front of it, glowing its' majestic light.
"Here it is. This is his body which I took a few hours after his burial. I made sure I put it in a way that it won't rot away by using some of my power." she explained.
"M-hm…" Pharos nodded. "Now that the parts are gathered, let's start the procedure."
Elizabeth and Ryouji nodded in agreement and went to their assigned place. Elizabeth positioned herself in front of the giant door, while Thanatos was behind her, preparing to recite a spell.
Elizabeth's body started to glow in the color of purple after Thanatos started to read some sort of magic spell. A purple light radiated from beneath Elizabeth, forming a magic circle. It grew bigger as Thanatos read more of the spell. A ball of purplish blue light materialized in front of her. The ball grew bigger and intensified as the magic circle expanded. It finally stopped growing after Ryouji finished with the spell.
"That's quite some power you've got there, Elizabeth." Pharos praised her after seeing the energy ball that was now floating and glowing brightly in the air.
"Thank you… Pharos." she said with an exhausted look. "This would be sufficient enough to replace his life force and become the seal for a year or so."
Thanatos then laughed with an evil voice, "This is interesting." he commented. "I'll take out his soul. After I do that, you should immediately throw your power that you've gathered to the door so that it will be closed before Nyx could get out from it."
"Alright." Elizabeth answered with a nod.
"Here we go…" Thanatos leaped to the air and flew to the statue.
"Well hello there, my dear guest. Good evening." Igor greeted his visitor who appeared to be Souji.
"Hi, Igor. Good evening to you too. Now what's the problem for calling me at a time like this?" he asked while yawning.
Igor grinned and gave Souji the answer, "I have a request for you tonight. You'll soon meet some people, who will need your help. Amongst them, there's a young man, just like you. I hope that you'll help that person and his friends. That's all for my request."
Souji was about to opened his mouth to ask Igor about the group, but he changed his mind, knowing Igor's habit to not answering questions specifically. "Alright then, Igor."
"Thank you for your agreement. Now, off you go. Time's marching in your realm." Igor replied.
Before Souji's mind blanked, he saw that the coffin inside the Velvet Room earlier had disappeared. He wondered where it could have gone to.
Ryouji pulled out a blue colored light from the statue and the statue then dissolved, leaving the chains loose. The gigantic door then started opening. Dark mists oozed out from beyond the door followed by the sounds of misery of the dead. It was a horrifying scene to see what lies beyond the giant door. It is the only thing that prevents the death to come over the world of the living.
Elizabeth took a quick glance to what lies beyond the door before she swiftly threw the energy ball she had gathered earlier to it to prevent the door from opening and sealing it in the process.
She fell on her knees, looking exhausted, but with a happy feeling inside her heart. Ryouji moved to the coffin that was summoned by Messiah and hurriedly put what seems to be the soul of Minato into it. The coffin then shone brightly, blinding the void space and suddenly, it was gone.
When the clock finally reach the number XII, the electricity in the inn was suddenly out, alarming the S.E.E.S. member.
"Hey! What the hell happened here?" Junpei, who was already out of the door, was surprised as the lights lighting the hallway were out. He quickly ran back inside the room.
"So, do you have any idea on where it's gone to, Elizabeth?" Pharos asked, smirking.
"I think I do…" she answered confidently.
Ryouji returned back to his human form and sighed. "That took quite a lot of my power. I'm gonna need some rest for a couple of days." he said cheerfully. "We should bring you back to that place first, I think."
"Thank you, Ryouji, Pharos." Elizabeth smiled before collapsing to the ground in front of Ryouji.
"Why is there a black out at this kind of time?" Junpei yelled.
Just as he said that, Shinji got surprised as stepped on a pool of blood. "The hell? What's with these liquid? Blood?" Shinji said abruptly when he saw some of the blood dripped from the wall.
Ryouji then grabbed her from the floor and piggybacked her. He then started walking through the darkness space.
"We thank you too, Elizabeth, for rescuing our other self." Pharos smiled and followed Ryouji.
"Let's get out of here quickly before Erebus comes back, Pharos." Ryouji uttered as a matter of fact.
"Yeah, let's go." Pharos replied.
The both of them then vanished from the place…
"Everyone! Look at the sky!" Fuuka warned the team.
The sky's moon was glowing with an eerie green light, signalling the return of the Dark Hour.
"What the hell happened? This can't be happening?" Akihiko stated with an unbelieving look.
"It's the Dark Hour! Why is this happening again?" Mitsuru said.
"How can this be…?" Aigis frowned. "What's the meaning of this?"
"Don't tell me… Have the seal been broken?" Yukari seemed really shocked.
"Arf! Arf!" Koromaru barked as he sensed someone else's presence other than the team who was actively moving towards them.
"Everyone, please be careful! Koromaru sensed something that's coming this way." Aigis notified them.
They immediately grabbed things that can be used as a weapon and readied themselves to attack the intruder. Junpei grabbed Chidori and hid her behind him. She didn't have a clue as to what's happening.
The door was suddenly opened, revealing a woman's figure. The guys almost charged at her but they stopped as soon as they realized who the figure was. It was Yukiko Amagi, the daughter of the owner of the Amagi Inn. She was quite stunned as she was almost got hit by Akihiko's punch in the face.
"I-I'm sorry, Amagi-san." he apologized to her.
Yukiko who was still a bit dazed just nodded and told them, "I'm sorry, it seems like the electricity is out. I'll check on the power box in the back of the building to see if there is anything wrong with it. Please wait here."
"Wait Amagi-san!" Mitsuru yelled at Yukiko who was already walking out of the room. She then stopped and looked back with a quizzical face. "What's wrong, Kirijo-sama?"
"Well, um… I… don't think that it's safe to walk around in this kind of darkness." Mitsuru tried to convince her as to not move around too much because there might be something like the shadows that are creeping in the darkness. "You should wait here with us. It's safer here."
"Yeah, I don't think that's a good idea to walk alone at a time like this." Fuuka tried to assure Yukiko. "You should stay here for awhile."
"Oh, I'm really grateful for the offer, but I think I'll only be bothering you guys if I stay here." Yukiko bowed and turned around to leave them.
"Aigis, please secure her." Mitsuru ordered the humanoid woman android with a low voice.
"Understood." Aigis responded.
Just as Aigis almost grabbed her hand and made her unconscious, the lights turned back on, which surprised the S.E.E.S. members.
"Huh? Why's the electricity turned on again? It hasn't even been an hour since the start of it." Junpei questioned.
"Oh, look! The lights are on again." Yukiko smiled to them. "Guess there's no need for me to go to the back of the building. Please, continue your party. I'll take my leave now."
Everyone nodded to her and she left the room. The team now looked confused.
"How come that girl is active during the Dark Hour?" Yukari curiously said.
"Maybe she has the potential?" Ken mentioned.
"Yes, Ken-kun's right. I think she does have the potential." Fuuka remarked. "I could sense her power a bit when she came into this room, although it's just a little.
"Now that explains how she could move in the Dark Hour, but the bigger question is, how come the Dark Hour returned?" Akihiko pointed out.
Everyone was now thinking about it, heads down. They can't find any other single reason besides that the seal that Minato had made to conceal Nyx was broken by something.
"Let's just stop thinking about this for now. We need to get some rest first." Mitsuru spoke out. "We'll discuss this tomorrow morning. Everyone please go and have a rest first tonight."
Everyone then stood up and left the room without any talking. "What are we going to do, Mitsuru-san?" Aigis asked her.
"I don't really want to talk about it right now, Aigis." she uttered and then left the room too.
"Arf! Arf!" Koromaru barked.
"Yes, I think we should really get some rest too, Koromaru." the android smiled to the dog and walked to her room with it.
Inaba, Junes Dept. Store
January 1st, 2013
11:26 A.M.
Yosuke, Chie, Yukiko, and Naoto were waiting in front of the giant TV screen in the dept. store.
"Good morning everyone!" Nanako greeted all of her brother's friends.
"Oh, good morning too, Nanako-chan!" Yukiko replied back and hugged her. "How was your sleep last night?"
"Great! I'm full of energy right now!" she answered cheerfully.
"What about you, Souji-kun?" Yukiko asked Souji, which was answered by a smile. "I'm good."
"Good morning Nanako-chan." Chie bent down and smiled to her.
"Good morning, Chie-san! Are we gonna go to the place for the picnic yet?" she questioned enthusiastically.
"We have to wait for Rise and Kanji first, Nanako-chan." Naoto said. "They're bringing some cards for us to play while we're picnicking."
"Yep, and they sure are late." Yosuke looked a bit irritated. "It's been half an hour and they haven't gotten back yet."
"Be patient, Yosuke. They'll be here in a few minutes, I think." Souji tried to calm his friend down. Yosuke was tapping his feet and crossing his arm, showing his annoyance.
"Ah! Look! There they are." Nanako happily said.
"Sorry we're late, senpai." Kanji apologized to them and huffed. He was running with Rise from his house. "Something unexpected happened when we arrived at my place…"
"And what would that be, hm, Kanji?" Yosuke demanded for an answer from Kanji.
"We can explain, senpai." Rise, who was breathing quite heavily because of the running, spoke out.
"Please do, Rise-chan."
"Well, Kanji suddenly had an urgent *cough* business *cough* to do when we arrived at his house." Rise's face reddened and she looked embarrassed.
"What kind of business was it, huh?"
"It's… *cough* Ehm…" Kanji tried to hide his embarrassed face from his friends.
"Just let it go, Yosuke." Souji cut them. "It's time to go anyway."
"Hurray!" Nanako cheered. "Let's go! Let's go!"
"Alright, alright." Souji sighed and grabbed her nephew's hand. "Don't let go of my hand or you'll be separated from us."
Nanako nodded to Souji and tighten her grip on his hand. "Everyone, let's go!" Yosuke signaled as he jumped into the TV. Nanako, who had only seen that for the first time, was awed.
"Let's go, Onii-san!" she begged Souji. He replied her with a nod and readied himself to jump.
"Here we go, Nanako-chan. Jump!" They both leaped to the huge TV screen and went through it.
"Hey, wait for us!" Yukiko yelled and followed them.
"Teddie is waiting for us in there, right?" Kanji asked, feeling uncertain.
"Of course! Now jump!" Chie kicked his butt and he fell into the TV, leaving only the three girls left, Chie, Naoto, and Rise.
"Let's jump together, Naoto-chan, Chie-senpai." Rise suggested and grabbed their hand.
"Careful guys. Don't let anyone know what we're doing her.." Naoto was cut off as Chie pulled her hand.
"Yippie!" Rise jumped into the TV while dragging the other two girls.
"H-hey! don't do it so suddenly like that! I might fall down!" Chie protested to Rise who had already fallen to the TV World with them. "Luckily there was no one besides us in the store. It's probably because it's the new years day today."
"I still can't get used to this thing…" Naoto said while grabbing her hat, as to not drop it while they were being warped into a different dimension.
After a while of falling down, they finally landed, with their bumps first. "Ouch… That hurts" Chie whined and rubbed her butt.
The others had already stood up and watched the view of the place, which was very pretty.
"I can't believe that this place is the world of the shadows." Yukiko remarked while viewing the sight that was in front of her.
"Hi there, everyone!" a loud and cheerful voice was suddenly heard from out of nowhere. "It's good to see you guys to have arrived here safely"
"Is that you Teddie?" Yosuke said, looking for the source of the voice.
"Where are you Teddie?" Nanako uttered as she was searching for him around the bushes.
"I'm up here, Nanako-chan!" Teddie answered their call and then jumped down from a high tree near the spot where the team landed.
"What are you doing up there, Teddie?" Chie asked the blonde man. "And why are you not in your Bear 'costume'?"
"I was waiting for you guys to show up." he replied, grinning. "It's my special spot too. I can see where you guys landed from there. As for the costume, I don't want to use it today. It's quite hot here."
"Alright Teddie. So, have you found any place that's good for us to have the picnic?" Souji questioned him.
"Of course I have sensei!" Teddie said reassuringly.
"Well then, take us there." Yukiko requested.
"Alrighty! Follow me everyone-kuma!" Teddie walked away, showing the direction to the spot he had found.
The team then followed him, chatting with each other along the way. They walked through the bushes of the forest and arrived in front of a huge lake.
"Wow! Cool!" Yosuke commented. "You did a really great job finding this spot, Teddie!"
"Yeah, this place is fantastic!" Rise added.
"Of course, I'm a genius after all." Teddie said with a proud face.
"Let's prepare the food first, girls!" Yukiko called. "The boys can help too if you want."
"I'll help." Souji offered himself.
"Me too!" Nanako shouted happily. "I'm going to help out to prepare the foods."
"Alright, Nanako-chan. Come over here then." Chie invited her.
Nanako then ran towards the girls, with Souji trailing behind her. 'This is gonna be a beautiful day…' Souji thought while looking at the clear sky.
The sound of chirping bird and ripples echoed through the ear of a certain someone, waking him up from his slumber.
He opened his eyes, only to be greeted by the blinding light above him. 'Light?' thought him as he moved his hand to cover his eyes. His face got wet because of the water that splashed his face when he pulled his hand.
'Water? Where am… I?' his mind wondered as he was floating in the middle of a lake. 'What happened…? Why am I here?'
He then turned his head to the right to see his surroundings a bit, soaking the right side of his face and hair as he did that. 'Forest...? What's this place?' he thought after seeing the forest that lies beyond his vision.
A sharp pain suddenly shot his head, making him clutch his head. The pain only lasts for a few seconds, but it left a painful aftereffect. He tried to endure it.
After he had gained his composure, he decided to swim to the dry land that wasn't very far from where he was floating before, considering he hadn't recovered yet from the headache. His head was hurting really bad and he couldn't hold his eyes opened.
When he got to the shore, he immediately looked for a place to rest. He saw a huge tree near the place where he was standing and chose to rest beneath it. He walked over to it while striping his gekkoukan jacket and undoing the tie that's wrapped around his neck.
He sat down under the huge tree and started to close his eyes. The sound of the wind blowing and the rustling leaves could be heard as he closed his eyes. Feeling comfortable, he fell asleep with a peaceful mind.
"Ah, I've been waiting for you guys." Igor smiled widely to the trio who had just come to the velvet room through a portal that materialized in front of his desk. "So, how is he doing?"
"What kind of a greeting is that, Igor? Aren't you supposed to worry about your assistant, Elizabeth, here?" Ryouji said lightheartedly and returned the smile. "Well, he is now alive again and doing just fine. As for Elizabeth here, I think she would need a lot of rest before she could move around freely." Pharos explained the situation to the long nosed man.
Igor then laughed creepily, startling the two who were holding Elizabeth that was still unconscious.
"Here, let me take her to her room." a man wearing a blue butler suit came out of nowhere and cradled Elizabeth, bridal style.
"And who might you be?" Ryouji asked curiously to the man.
"My apology, I'm Theodore, Elizabeth's little brother. I'm the youngest of the three siblings. My older sister, Margareth, is not present here right now, so I'll take care of her." Theo clarified to them.
"I see… Well then, good luck. We're going out of here. This place gives me the creep." Ryouji said while taking a look at the velvet room. "Oh, and give her our thanks when she wakes up, Theo-chan." He added before disappearing with Pharos, who was chuckling after hearing the nickname that Ryouji gave to Theodore.
"….." Theo was speechless after hearing that.
"Don't let it bother you, Theo. You should go and take care of your sister first." Igor ordered him.
"Yes, master." Theo replied and quickly went to take Elizabeth to her room.
Igor was now alone in the room, accompanied by the sound of the ticking clock.
"The wheel of fate is starting to turn again. I look forward to see you, my guests, handling it." Igor said as he looked to the ceiling of the velvet room which was like a night starry skies.
…..
Amagi Inn
January 1st, 2013
8:13 A.M.
The S.E.E.S group was now waiting in silent in the Kirijo's room. They're waiting for one of their missing member.
"Chidori-chan, do you know where Junpei is?" Fuuka asked the read haired woman.
"I… think he was looking for something in his luggage." Chidori answered with a thoughtful face. "He told me to go on ahead and meet up with you guys here."
"Oh, alright then." responded Fuuka.
Just as she said that, the sliding door was opened abruptly, revealing Junpei who was breathing heavily. It looked like he had just run from his room to the meeting.
"Sorry…" *huff* *huff* *huff* "for" *huff* *huff* "being late…" *huff* he apoligized while trying to catch up his breath.
"What were you doing Iori?" Akihiko questioned him with a bit of irritated look on his face.
"I'm sorry, guys. I was looking for my evoker, but I can't seem to find it in my bag." Junpei said.
"You brought your evoker?" Yukari asked.
"Well, yeah. It's my memory of our adventure in the Tartarus. Sometimes I also use it to scare some thugs that are threatening me." Junpei was silent for awhile and finally muttered, "It also reminds me of 'him'".
"So, you carry it every time you go out, huh?" Akihiko said.
"Yeah…"
"Okay guys that's enough. Let's start our meeting today about what do we have to do about the return of Dark Hour." Mitsuru ordered the group.
"For starters, we need weapons." Shinjiro pointed out. "The evokers. I didn't bring mine this time so… this will be quite dangerous. We won't be able to kill those shadows with only ordinary weapons. We need the personas." he continued.
"Don't worry Shinji, I have already ordered my company to deliver the new prototype of the evokers here. It should arrive in another 10 hours." Mitsuru said.
"What about our weapons?" Ken asked.
"I also told them to bring the most powerful weapons our company has that might suit your style." she added.
"Is that so…" the young boy said with a relieved expression.
"Man…. This sucks… Why do our new years have to be started with the return of Dark Hour…" Junpei complained.
"Yeah, this is the worst new year I've ever had in my life…" Yukari admitted.
"What's Chidori doing now Fuuka?" Junpei asked the blue haired girl.
"She's in her room, cleaning some things up." she answered.
Junpei then sighed, "I wish she wouldn't have to experience the dark hour again. This is too much for her."
"Chidori-chan's memories of the dark hour were gone right? What will happen if she sees the personas again? Is she going to get her memories back?" Yukari questioned them.
"I don't know about that, but I don't think it will be good for her." Mitsuru said.
"I guess so…" Junpei mumbled.
"So, are we going to explore this town tonight? Or are we going back to Port Island and check wether Tartarus has come back or not?" Akihiko asked the team.
"I think we should check around this place for tonight." Aigis said. "We need to clean this place up first so that there won't be victims of apathy syndrome in this town."
"Arf! Arf!" The albino dog barked, seemed to agree to the female android.
"Well then, which place should we check first tonight?" Akihiko enthusiastically said.
Inaba, TV/Shadows World
January 1st, 2013
12:15 P.M.
"Could you pass me the plate, Kanji-kun?" requested Naoto to Kanji who was daydreaming, seeing Naoto.
"O-oh! Sorry, here you go." he gave the plate to her while blushing.
Naoto who noticed that Kanji had been looking at her face asked him, "Is there something on my face, Kanji-kun? You have been staring at me."
"N-n-no! There's nothing on your face. It's nothing." stuttered Kanji who was now blushing madly.
Naoto thought for awhile and then said, "Okay then." She then got back to prepare the food that they brought.
Rise who had seen Kanji's reaction couldn't help but laughed. She tried to cover her laugh by covering her mouth with her hands. But it didn't help. She burst out laughing, attracting everyone's attention.
"What's wrong, Rise-chan?" Chie asked.
"It's nothing, haha, senpai. Fufu…" she answered while trying to hold her laugh.
"I see…" Chie responded doubtfully.
Meanwhile, Yosuke, Teddie, and Nanako were walking around the woods while talking to each other. Yosuke and Teddie were told to look after Nanako.
"Hey senpai, how is it going between you two?" Teddie asked.
"What? What are you talking about Teddie?" Yosuke asked back, clueless.
"You know what I meant, senpai." Teddie continued to tease him.
"No, I don't know what you mean" Yosuke retorted back with an annoyed face.
"I MEAN, between you and Chie! Have you told her yet that you li- MMmph!"
"Shut it! Someone might here you!" Yosuke said as he shut teddie's mouth with his hand as hard as he could, blushing as he did. "(&#(!"
Teddie then bit Yosuke's hand and ran off from him. He hid behind a tree while Yosuke was screaming because of the bite.
"Gaahhhh! Dammit! Teddie! You'll pay for this!" Yosuke said as he started to search for Teddie.
Nanako laughed at the scene she just saw. While Yosuke and Teddie were 'playing' hide and seek, Nanako decided to leave them and go for a walk alone. She wandered around and had so much fun. She saw birds (?) flying around the trees. She even saw a squirrel jumped down from a branch and landed in front of her. The squirrel looked at her with a curious look. She then tried to get closer to it. The squirrel didn't move a bit. It just stayed there while eyeing Nanako's movement.
When Nanako was close enough to it, she bent down and tried to pat it. The squirrel suddenly jumped to Nanako's head, surprising her. It then moved to her right shoulder and gave itself to be patted by her. Nanako smiled at that at patted it.
"Hm… What should I call you? How about… mii-chan" she said.
The squirrel wiggled its' tail and snuggled itself to Nanako, an approving sign. Nanako chuckled and patted its' head again. It seemed like the squirrel had taken a liking to her. She continued her adventure in the woods with her little friend.
When she was exploring the place, she saw a shade of person under a huge tree. That person was sitting below it. The person has blue hair covering his face. From the clothes the person wear, she could guess that it's a man.
Curios, she walked closer to the man. She seemed interested with the man as she looked closely to inspect the blue haired young man. 'His hair is beautiful…' She thought as she touched the man's hair. She then moved the hair that was blocking his face so she could clearly see the young man's face. 'Oh, he's so handsome…' Nanako thought to herself. 'His sleeping face is so charming'
Inaba, TV/Shadows World
January 1st, 2013
12:23 P.M.
Two persons were walking alongside the vast lake. It was Souji and Yukiko. They were walking beside each other.
"So, Souji-kun. How is it going with your life in the city?" Yukiko questioned Souji.
"Um… It's quite boring if I may say…" he replied
"Oh? Why is that?" Yukiko asked back
"It's because… You guys are not there." said him. "Especially you, Yukiko" he uttered.
"E-e-eh?" Yukiko stumbled and almost fell down. "W-w-what are you talking about? I don't understand."
"I mean, I missed you there…"
"O-oh. Is that so…"
"Yeah."
"That makes me happy, Souji-kun…" Yukiko murmured.
Silence filled the air, leaving the both of them blushing. Souji tried to break the quietness down by changing the topic of what they're talking about.
"Yukiko, are you going to inherit your parent's inn?" he asked.
It took quite a while before Yukiko started to talk again.
"Yes, I think I'm going to inherit it. But…"
"What's wrong?" Souji had a curious look on his face.
"I'm not going to inherit them alone. I need someone to help me manage it…" she said, looking at Souji from the corner of her eyes.
"Ah, so… you mean… you want me to…"
The two were now blushing again as they realized what they had been talking about. Silence ruled over them again, making the atmosphere awkward.
"Hey, Yukiko…" Before he could finish his sentence he saw a shadow of a young girl not far from where he was standing.
"Yes, what is it, Souji-kun?" she replied. Not receiving her answer, she looked at the man's face to find that he was staring at someplace else. "What are you looking at, Souji-kun?"
"Huh? O-oh. Sorry." the man apologized to her. "I thought I saw Nanako walking alone. But, he was supposed to be Yosuke and Teddie…" he wondered.
"Really? Well, maybe you should check it out. Perhaps Yosuke and Teddie left her alone." said her.
"That's… a possibility, I guess. Maybe I should go check it out." Souji said. "Stay here okay, Yukiko. I'll be back in a sec."
"Sure." she answered.
Souji then left her alone and went to search for Nanako in the direction he had seen her before.
Minato's POV
'…to … Minato… Minato Arisato…'
I heard someone calling my name. Somehow the voice seems nostalgic but I can't remember anything. Slowly, I gained my conscious and tried to open my eyes a bit. My vision was still blurry but I'm sure that someone is standing in front of me right now… Who is it?
"Oh, you're awake?"
A girl?
I tried to focus my eyes on the little girl in front of me. Finally I could see her. She was a girl that was dressed simply with a white summer dress. Her hair was kind of short and she had it tied in two pony tails.
"Good afternoon Onii-san! What are you doing here?"
Is she talking to me? Of course she is. There's nobody else around here as I turned my head to my sides. Okay… What was I doing? Where am I? How did I end up right here? It was the things that were flowing inside my mind as soon as she asked me that. But I couldn't answer her question. Because I, myself, don't even know what happened.
I just convert my gaze to my side and tried to ignore her. She then asked me again.
"What's your name?" she asked with an innocent face.
I ignored her again and she didn't respond. I looked at her face, curious of what's her response of my action. Surprisingly enough, her face didn't show any annoyance to it.
"It's alright if you don't want to answer my questions, Onii-san. Maybe you could tell me some other time." She said as she walked to my side and started to sit down next to me.
"By the way, why are your clothes all wet?"
Huh? My clothes? Oh yeah… I remembered now. I swam from the middle of the lake to here…
I decided to ignore her again. I was too tired to answer her questions... She sighed at that and paid no attention to my reply.
Parts of my body still felt numb. I tried to move my fingers, but it only moved a bit. I was glad. It meant that I was recovering. The girl then suddenly moved next to me and sat beside me.
"What a beautiful day…" she said with a cheerful tone.
She was a cute little girl as I may say it. And she's kind of like somebody that I know… Who was it? Um…Miko? or something? Ah… Forget it. I still can't remember anything.
I looked at her from the side of my eye and saw her playing with a squirrel. She was patting its' head. She looked really happy. Then I thought for awhile and tried to speak out.
"…to" I said with a bit of difficulty.
"Huh? What did you say?" she asked me while hugging her little squirrel friend.
"Minato. Arisato Minato… My name. You asked for it before right?"
"Oh, yeah. I'm Nanako, Dojima Nanako. Nice to meet you Mina-chan" she replied with a huge smile.
Mina-chan? Okay… That's a new nickname for me… Maybe I should ask her somethings…
"So, uh, Dojima-sa…"
"Just call me Nanako." she cut me. The squirrel was now staying on her head. Hiding from me, I think.
"Okay… Nanako-chan. Can I ask you something?"
"Sure!"
"Do you know… where this place is?"
"This place? This place is inside the TV world." She answered.
TV World? As in inside a TV? What's she talking about…
"Um… TV World? What do you mean by that?" I tried to get another answer from her.
"It means that we're inside the world of the TV, I think. That's what Souji-nii told me anyway." She replied.
"Who is this, Souji-nii, that you're talking about?"
"Oh, he's my cousin from the city." She answered with a happy face. "He's staying with my family for now to relax from his daily life in the city."
From the way she talked about her cousin, it seemed that she really liked him, I think… The squirrel was moving along her shoulders while she was talking. It was eyeing me. It seemed rather strange…
"What's with the squirrel?" I asked.
The squirrel stopped moving after I asked Nanako the question. It then stared at me.
"Oh, this little guy? I met him not long ago and he started to follow me." Nanako answered, smiling as she did. She patted the squirrel's head again.
"Really…?" I asked again, feeling something odd about the squirrel. I swear I could feel some kind of a strange atmosphere around the little creature. Maybe it's just my imagination… Ah, whatever.
"Woah." I squeaked a bit, surprised to see the squirrel jumped to my head. It moved to my shoulder. It felt like it's examining me.
Nanako giggled and said, "I think he likes you."
I sighed and let the thing moved around freely on my shoulders and head. I tried to move my hand to touch it but it was hard. It felt like my hand was bounded by chains. When it was almost as high as my face, the squirrel jumped to it. It surprised me cause it's a little heavy then I thought. My hand was shaking with the weight of the little squirrel on it. I shifted my hand to the front of my face and tried to see the squirrel from up close. We stared at each other for a few seconds until…
"Nanako!" A young man's voice could be heard, startling the little rascal. The squirrel immediately jumped back to Nanako's shoulder and leaped to the nearest branch it could reach. It then hid itself among the leaves.
"Oh, it's my cousin that I told you." she said to me. "Over here Onii-chan!" she shouted while waving her hand in the air.
I could see a silver haired man coming to us from the left side of the woods.
"Nanako! There you are." the man said as he got closer. Looking closely, this man had some odd aura radiating from him. I sensed something familiar from him.
"What are you doing here, Nanako?" he asked her. "Where's Yosuke and Teddie? They're supposed to be with you right? Did they leave you behind?"
"I'm just sightseeing onii-chan. And Yosuke and Teddie onii-san didn't leave me. I just took off from them when they were quarrelling." Nanako explained.
The man then seemed to notice me sitting behind Nanako. He glared at me before realization hit him. He immediately grabbed Nanako and pulled her behind him with a protective stance.
"Who are you! What are you doing here!" he interrogated me. "How did you get IN here?"
I could tell that he was confused as to how did I came here. I thought that it was best to ignore him. So I just did it and looked away from them. I sensed something odd about his presence.
"Souji-nii, this is Minato Arisato. He was sleeping over here before I came. I woke him up by accident because I was curious." the little girl clarified, trying to help me from his cousin's wrath, I think.
Souji's PoV
I stood there, in front of Nanako, trying to determine the identity of the person who was sitting in front of me.
How did he get here? No ordinary person should be able to come inside this place. What is this guy? A shadow, like Teddie? But he doesn't give any bad feeling… Is he just like us? A persona user? Maybe it's better if I ask him.
"Who are you! What are you doing here!" I interrogated him with a bit of a deep toned voice. "How did you get IN here?"
The guy ignored me and I was kinda ticked off by his attitude. Before I could move and grab his collar, Nanako told me his name, Minato Arisato. She also told me what he was doing here.
I started to loosen up a bit after hearing what she said and I started to analyze the situation again. This man's appearance… Blue hair? A school uniform? Wait a second… I think I've seen that mark on his jacket… Hm… W-Wha..? Gekkoukan high school uniform? Wasn't that the place that we visited during the school's trip a year ago?
"Isn't that the Gekkoukan high school uniform?" I asked, trying to get an answer from him. The boy didn't answer again, but I think I've got his attention. He turned his head and stared at me. Then it seemed like he was looking at something else beside me. I don't know what he was staring at but his face showed some distress.
Minato's PoV
"Isn't that the Gekkoukan high school uniform?" the man asked. When I heard him say that, my head started to ache. I tried not to keep my face stern from the pain and faced his way. I looked at his face, determining whether he is a trustable person or not. A few seconds passed and I saw a boy appeared from behind the back of the silver haired man. He walked to his side.
He came out of nowhere, wearing a white and black striped clothes, a prisoner's attire alike. The boy has a blue eyes and a short messy hair. I glared at him and he knew that I was gazing at him. He said something to me, "It's nice to see you again, Minato-kun… I hope that you don't forget about me…" The little boy whispered. "It's me, Pharos."
Hearing the name, I felt something odd in my memories. Suddenly, pain rushes to my head. I clutched my head, struggling to endure the pain.
"Hey! Are you okay?"
"Mina-chan! What is wrong?"
I couldn't answer them. The pain was agonizing.
Memories from years ago came to me out of the blue. I began remembering the past. The time when I was in S.E.E.S., the time I spent with my friends from S.E.E.S., the time when we fought the shadows, the time when we fought Nyx, the bringer of dead, and many more memories.
My head was completely throbbing and I couldn't do anything. I started to lose my consciousness. Before my mind went completely blank, I saw the boy, Pharos said another thing to me. "….." I didn't hear what he said but I read his lips. "It's time for you to be awake again…" What does he mean by that? … Ugh...
Souji's PoV
The man suddenly clutched his head and his face displayed an excruciating pain.
"Hey! Hey! Get yourself together!" I tried to calm him down.
"Mina-chan!" Nanako who was completely worried about him moved to his side.
I was aware that what he had just seen may have triggered this, but I didn't know what he see. He was starting to lose consciousness because of the pain. I told Nanako to settle down and let me handle him. I grabbed his shoulder. I could feel his body shaking and started burning up.
After what seemed to be a minute of enduring the pain, he totally lost his consciousness without me being able to do anything to help him and he fell to the floor. His face was covered with sweats. Nanako was stunned at the scene she had just witnessed. I told her to go back to where the others were waiting. She did what I instructed to her and left me with the blue haired man.
I thought for awhile and decided to bring him back with me to our picnic spot. I grabbed him and put him in my back, piggybacking him. He was quite heavy despite his thin outer look. I started to walk and get to the place.
End
Omake
"Stop running Teddie!" Yosuke yelled while chasing Teddie.
"No way!" the blonde replied while running away from Yosuke. "If I stopped, you are gonna do something bad to me, and I don't want it!"
"Tch, I'm gonna catch you Teddie!"
"Na na na na na! Try and catch me, slowpoke!"
Teddie ran without seeing what's in front of him and…
"W-w-whoaaa!" Teddie shrieked as he fell down the hill.
"W-wha!" Yosuke followed him.
*CRASH* *THUMP*
"Ouch! It hurts!" Yosuke protested.
"Owie…" Teddie rubbed his head. "Get off of me Yosuke! You're heavy you know!"
"Alright, alright. Geez…" Yosuke moved from Teddie.
Teddie tried to get back to his feet but he saw someone he didn't expect to see in front of him. "Um… Yosuke…" he pointed his finger to his front while looking at Yosuke.
"What Teddie? Can't you see I'm hurting over here... Uh…" Yosuke went silent after he saw the person in front of him.
The both of them had fallen in the face of Souji, who was piggybacking the boy he had just met. Souji had some killing intent that the two men could felt.
"So… What're you guys doing here..?" he asked with a calm voice, but a vein could be seen on his forehead.
"U-u-uh… What were we doing again, Yosuke?"
"Uh… We were… We were looking for Nanako! Yeah! We were looking for her!"
"Oh really?" Souji said with a disbelief look. "You two had abandoned Nanako alone. I'm gonna punish you both later!" he cleared.
"Hie! Forgive us!" the duo begged in unison.
"Now, take this man and bring him to our spot. This guy fell unconscious not long ago."
"Uh, sure." Yosuke spoke, feeling relieved. "By the way, who is this guy? And just how did he managed to get inside this place?" he said while taking the man from Souji's back.
"I think Nanako called this guy Minato, and for your other question, that I don't know. Maybe he is another victim from the serial killing that had happened inside this TV World." Souji answered him.
"Eh! Another victim? But I didn't sense any other people beside us even before you guys came here a few hours ago."
"That's odd…" Souji thought for awhile. "Okay, enough talking. Start walking and let's go back." Souji ordered them.
The trio then went back to their picnic spot with an unexpected guest with them.
Some trees behind them, the squirrel from earlier, was eyeing them with a curious look. It then followed them sneakily without being noticed.
That's it folks... Um... Sorry if you guys think this story is not exciting or fun to read... This is just the beginning of the story (We mean this is still a part of the prologue) we tried doing PoVs of Souji and Minato. We don't know if it fits them...
And for the next chapters..WeI don't know when will it be updated... so don't expect them to be updated soon :(
Well, we're not really in the mood to type them all... (so sorry guys _)
And..
Reviews & critics please! (This will motivate us :P)
Thx all..