Oh my, it's been a while. My apologies. I really don't have an excuse beyond laziness and some computer issues. In any case, before I forget, this is a Shinjiro/FeMC fic. I should have put that earlier. It is sort of blatant in this chapter.

In any case, thank you for your time, and I hope you enjoy the chapter. As a reminder, I do not own Persona 3 or Tales of the Abyss.

Chapter 3

In this world you've just got to hope for the best

and prepare for the worst and take whatever God sends.

~Lucy Maude Montegomery

Jane kept her promise. She led them to the inn and ushered them inside, pausing to speak with a gruff man standing by the counter. A few words had been exchanged during the passing, and before Misao knew it, she and Shinjiro had been separated to get new clothes.

It was awkward at first, having Jane flitter about and having her try on this shirt and that shirt, these pants or those pants. Never had Misao been fussed over in this manner, just for clothes. When she had been growing up, she had always gotten clothes that fit, or a simple school uniform. Nothing expensive, always cheap. Those she had lived with had not viewed getting the best of clothing for the pass-along child as the most important duty in their lives. The fact that Jane was fussing over a girl she had just met warmed Misao's heart, and the Japanese girl expressed her thanks with great enthusiasm.

It took them a while to find clothes that would fit Misao, for she was smaller than Jane. They eventually settled on a white blouse cinched loosely with a soft yellow corset and a manageable knee length skirt. Misao kept her shoes because the boots that Jane thought of as sensible were much too big for Misao to wear comfortably. Several spare outfits were packed away in a bag as well.

The girl wouldn't let so much kindness go on without compensation. After she had changed into her clothing, Misao insisted that she help Jane clean up the inn. For the rest of the afternoon she helped to change sheets and clean rooms for new guests. Shinjiro was nowhere to be to be seen. He had been sent away with Jane's husband to get new clothes, so it was solely Jane and Misao working together.

In a way, it was a good thing. The girl got Jane to explain just what this Order of Lorelei thing was. The older woman had been very surprised when the girl had asked, almost in shock. "How can you not know?" she had said, and had launched into an explanation of what the Order of Lorelei was, the kind only a fervent follower could give.

The Order of Lorelei was a religious order, devoted to the upkeep and protection of The Score, Jane informed Misao, and what blessed people they were, led by the Fon Master and the Maestros. For the Score was all-knowing, and always right. It could tell you everything from the weather, to what you would eat for breakfast, to what would happen that day with perfect accuracy. It was the Score that had told Jane to go out today, that there would be a man and woman traveling together who she should help, and who she should ask for help from.

The woman's praise of the Score seemed to be never ending, and it continued on for a good time. Misao struggled to commit as much as she could to memory. The Score was a prophecy, read from fon stones by those who had the ability to use the Seventh Fonon, one of the core components of the world. And it seemed as though everyone followed that prophecy without question, with complete obedience. This world was so alien and strange… but Misao said nothing of her unease to Jane, cheerily trying to keep up her end of the conversation. There were religions in her world that had the same fanaticism that Jane held for this Score.

With a quick motion, she finished making the bed she was working on, settling the pillows neatly on top of the comforter, and stepped back, eyeing her work. Jane had finished sweeping the rest of the suite, the last one for the day. Misao sighed and stretched, before bouncing in place, pumping her fist in a victory motion. "Finished~" she sang out, a little smile on her face.

Jane laughed at the girl's little dance of victory as she swept the last of the dirt into the dust pan. "So we are. Are you ready for dinner then?"

Misao's stomach grumbled in reply. The girl blushed sheepishly, putting a hand over her growling stomach. "Yep," she said, joining in as Jane began to laugh harder.

They put away the cleaning gear and headed downstairs. The dining room was communal; all guests came here to join in the feast that was held at eight o'clock at night, so that all could eat, even the neighboring farmers who came here after working in the fields. Misao and Jane sat at the middle of the long table, as the food was piled on top, stew with meat and vegetables for the main portion, and bread as a side dish. Water was the main drink, except for some of the older ones, who partook of ale instead.

It was a happy time. Misao spoke with Kelly, the owner of the in. He was hoping that whoever was stealing from the storehouse would be caught soon. The villagers were puzzled as to who was breaking in to steal the food, no matter how many guards were posted. Many of the other farmers agreed with the man's hope that it would be cleared up soon, so that they didn't go bankrupt from not being able to sell the food they had grown.

The girl was so busy talking animatedly with the farmer, trying to come up with solutions which ranged from the normal to the bizarre, that she didn't notice Shinjiro slid into the empty seat until a familiar hand reached for the bread basket that sat in front of her. The girl finished her thought, something about little creatures coming from the sky through cracks and taking the food back to their overlord as piece offerings, and turned to say hello to Shinjiro. And fell silent.

Shinjiro Aragaki normally clothed himself in concealing clothing, a beanie pulled low over his brow and a jacket covering him from neck to knee. But that coat had been ruined with the blood of monsters, and he had been forced to forsake it. And now…

Misao had never really appreciated how tight Shinjiro's shirt was until she saw the man without his coat. The black turtleneck clung to his body and outlined the firm body beneath, and combined with the cream pants he must have gotten from Jane's husband, Misao was pretty sure she could stare at him forever. That wasn't even the best part. A wicked grin overtook the girl's features. "You're not wearing your hat, Shinjiro," she cooed, reaching up with her free hand and patting Shinjiro's bare head.

Shinjiro looked away from the girl, a blush fairly visible on his cheeks and moved away from her inquisitive hand. "Don't do that, Fumetsu," he growled, as the farmers and the other dinners laughed at the exchange.

The girl giggled, and returned to her dinner. "Okay Shinjiro~ if you say so." She was still eyeing her companion out of the corner of her eye, a fluttering feeling in her stomach. This was one sight that she was never going to get. Shinjiro looked downright handsome. Well, he always was handsome in Misao's opinion. It was just a little easier to see when he wasn't dressed like a thug. If this were a romance novel, Misao thought to herself, this is where I would swoon.

The rest of the meal went quickly. A few of the farmers had tried to tease Shinjiro, but his piercing glare quickly quieted them, much to the amusement of the others eating. It was a peaceful time for a meal, with good food and great company. The girl was reminded of the dinners back in the dorm, with the rest of S.E.E.S. Dinners there had been much more chaotic, starting with fighting over who would prepare the meal, and finally ending, hours later, with arguing over whose turn it was to do the dishes.

"Did you help make this?" Misao asked Shinjiro around a bite of meat. She had never quite tasted any meat like this before; the girl suspected that she was eating rappig at the moment. At his silence, which she took for a Shinji-yes, she smiled sweetly up at the brunet. "It's very good Shinjiro."

"Thanks."

The two helped the kitchen staff to clean up after everyone was done, picking up dishes and cleaning them up, packaging the left over stew for use as lunch tomorrow. Shinjiro and Misao stuck close to each other as they helped to clear the table, a companionable silence shared between the two as they worked together. When they finished Jane pulled them to the side.

"The Fon Master will be in front of Rose's house in the morning. It's to the left as you leave the inn. To get to the Cheagle forest, he'll have to go early, so be ready to wake up before dawn." Jane paused, looking from Misao to Shinjiro and back again. "Thank you for doing this."

"Thank you for feeding us, and clothing us, and giving us a place to rest," Misao replied, taking the woman's hands between her own, looking gratefully up at the other woman's face. "I cannot tell you how thankful we are."

Jane smiled. "It's what any Score-abiding woman would do. Now, it's getting late. As you have to get up early, you should get some sleep." The two followed the woman, stopping before an oaken door. "This is your room; if you stop by the kitchen in the morning, you can pick up some stew for tomorrow. Sleep well." Jane swiftly hugged Misao, and left.

The girl started to protest the room assignment, but Jane was gone too quickly. Had anyone seen her face, they would have seen the smug smirk on the woman's face. Shinjiro, on the other hand, had no clue why Misao would protest a room. She was blushing ferociously, and refused to open the door. Raising an eyebrow, Shinjiro swung the door open and peered into the room he they had been given.

Ah. That explained it.

"I'll sleep on the floor if you want me to," he offered, fighting to keep from blushing.

Misao shook her head violently. "I don't want you to sleep on the floor. I want you to to sleep well…" she babbled, her entire face turning a bright shade of red.

The brunet's hand had risen to cover his face. "I don't want to make you uncomfortable…"

"I won't be uncomfortable!"

"Tch, I'll be fine on the floor if I have a pillow, idiot."

"Just share the bed you two!" Jane called up.

The two glanced at each other, and blushed violently. With barely a pause, they hurried into the room, practically slamming the door behind them so that they could continue the argument without being overheard.

The power of Persona was a mysterious thing.

Only those who had the Potential could call their Persona out into the world, a manifestation of one's psyche. A mask created to protect the summoner from the world around them. There were many questions about why some people were able summon Personas and others weren't. Some researchers pointed to childhood, saying that the power of persona arose from the traumas within. The death of parents, violence, tragedy… that the Persona was the mask created to deal with such tragedy. Others said that personas arose from strength of a person's will.

Misao had been taught that in order to summon, two things were needed. The first was the presence of the Dark Hour. Only in the Dark Hour did the tower of Tartarus and the shadows appear, and only in the Dark Hour could the Personas be summoned. The second requirement was a certain weapon. In order to call forth a persona, an evoker was needed.

The evoker was simple little machine. Made in the shape of a simple pistol, one with the potential only had to raise the gun to their head. And shoot themselves.

For ten years, this power had been used to fight the Shadows. Slowly at first, due to the sheer lack of manpower. But, when Misao had moved into the Iwatodai Dorms in the middle of April, the fight snowballed. S.E.E.S. had slowly expanded, and Misao had learned how to use her power to fight against the Shadows, to protect everyone.

They had talked, before they went to sleep. This wasn't their world; that much at the very least had become clear over the past twenty-four hours. Too much was different: locations they had never heard of, things they had never seen, a religion they knew nothing of. Not to mention the fact that there was no Dark Hour. The two had waited up, patiently, to check to see if that thirteenth hour still occurred here.

It didn't. Misao knew it was a good thing; that the fact there was no Dark Hour meant that all of these people were safe. But its absence also put both Shinjiro and Misao on edge. It confirmed that they weren't home anymore.

They couldn't deny it any more. There was no way that this world was the world that they had grown up. And there were several precautions they had to talk about. For since there was no Dark Hour, and since this was not their world, would their evokers work? Would their Personas come forth? Or would they simply die? And they couldn't risk others knowing… Ikutski and Mitsuru had always impressed on the newer members of S.E.E.S. the necessity of secrecy. Ikutski had elaborated once, back when Misao had first joined.

"Well, Misao, do you remember your first night?" he had begun, pushing up glasses. "The panic, the fear?." The advisor had paused to wait for Misao to come to her own conclusion.

"Easy fodder for shadows," the girl had murmured, gazing off into the middle distance. "There would be so much panic… and they wouldn't be able to defend themselves… if they would even believe us. Seeing… is a large part of believing after all."

It had been the last time Misao had openly questioned the Kirijo group's policy of secrecy. Things would come to light, when they came to light. Even if it took a little investigative prodding from the various members of S.E.E.S.

In any case, what chance would they have of people believing them here? Here, in a world where the Dark Hour never occurred? They were stuck between a rock and a hard place, and the only had their wits and their weapons to figure out how to get home.

They had gone to bed when it was almost one, having talked long past when the Dark Hour was supposed to have occurred. Misao had made Shinjiro sleep in the bed with her. The job tomorrow wouldn't be easy, if they had had no sleep. And it had to be a good sleep, not one that involved one person sleeping on the floor. So Misao insisted they each get a side of the bed, and they had each fallen asleep on their own side.

So when Shinjiro woke up from sleeping on the bed, he was surprised to find Misao curled up next to him, face pressed into his chest. He looked down at the sleeping girl. She looked so much more vulnerable when she was asleep. He had only seen her asleep once before; when she had fallen ill from getting caught out in a typhoon.

Brushing a strand of hair from out of her face, Shinjiro lay there for a moment more, before he slowly disentangled himself from Misao and got out of bed. The sun would be coming up soon and they needed to be ready to go. Well. His eyes slid over to look at Misao who was still asleep on the bed. She had curled into a little ball, moving to where Shinjiro had been lying a moment ago. With a gentle smile, the brunet pulled the covers farther up, and made sure Misao was tucked in. He could let her sleep for a while longer while he got the supplies together.

With a quick motion, he pulled his turtleneck over his head, and ran a hand through his hair to smooth it out, and went to check the bags they had been given. His had a few sets of spare clothing and a few other supplies. The brunet wasn't quite sure what was in Misao's bag. It was probably something similar. Making a few adjustments to his own bag, Shinjiro stood up and absently stretched, and headed towards the door. The chef had promised to give him some of the left over stew Shinjiro had helped to make if he came to pick it up himself. He spared himself a quick glance back at Misao, who was still sleeping.

He would have to wake her up when he got back.

Misao awoke to an empty room. With a groan, she curled up further under the covers, before shooting out of them, practically tripping over the sheets in her urgency to get out of bed. "Shinji?" she called out, wildly searching the room for her companion. His stuff was still here… Peeling off the pajamas that had been in the bag Jane had packed, she dressed, thumping around and tripping over herself in her haste to get dressed and try to find Shinjiro.

She had fallen into the floor and was wiggling into her socks when the door opened and Shinjiro stepped in, pausing to look at the girl wriggling on the ground to get her socks on. "What are you doing?" Shinjiro asked drily, stepping into the room.

Shooting to her feet, one sock half off, Misao lunged at Shinjiro, hugging him, forcing him to shift his grip on the food packages so they weren't crushed. "I'd thought you'd disappeared!" she told him, voice muffled by the fact her face was pressed into his chest. "Don't do that, you lummox!"

The brunet patted her on the back, trying to not drop what he was holding in his hands. "Misao, I'm holding food…" The girl held on for a moment longer, before stepping back, the half-on sock awkwardly following after her.

"Sorry Shinji~ But I was worried… You could have woken me…" Misao followed Shinjiro as he moved to the table in the room, setting down the food he had picked up form the kitchen.

"You needed the sleep, idiot. I know you were out doing something at Paulownia Mall before we went to Tartarus," Shinjiro began to sort through the food, separating the lunch food from the light breakfast he picked up. "And make sure you eat the apple. You need to eat more fruit."

During his speech, Misao had finished pulling on her sock, and hid a scowl. She didn't want to eat more fruit. Or vegetables, which he would probably bring up the next time she tried to dodge eating that food group. In any case, she did eat the apple, and the rest of breakfast Shinjiro had brought up, making him eat too.

They left soon after finishing breakfast. Jane had met them at the door, brightly beaming at the two. "Thank you so much, Jane," Misao said one last time, as she and Shinjiro stood on the inn's threshold.

"Don't thank me dearie, you just go help keep the Fon Master safe. Remember: A boy with green hair, white robes, wearing the symbol of Yulia Jue. Now off you go, shoo!" Jane smiled, hugging the girl one final time. "And you keep her safe young man. I want to be invited to the wedding."

"We're not getting married!" they protested simultaneously as the door shut in their faces. Shinjiro sighed, and turned away from the door, taking a few steps.

"Let's go."

Thank you for reading! Reviews are appreciated. Have a nice day~!