Hey guys, I'mma back with chapter 4.

Oh and another note, I might not be able to upload cuz I'm gone on an internationalisation trip to Bali Indonesia :D. It's for a week I think.

And now…

ROLL CHAPTER

Chapter 4: Persona

(Minato)

"Per…so…na"

*BANG*

Instead of what would have been blood spewing out of my head, frosty glass flew out from the other side. Slowly, it begin to swirl around my body and recollect itself, manifesting a being above me. It was that of a metal statue, on it's back was a huge white lyre and a red scarf.

"Thou art I, and I am thou," the being that appeared spoke, "from the sea of your soul I cometh. I am Orpheus, the Master of Strings."

Yes…although I'm not too sure what was going on, I knew I could kill the thing. I could beat it.

I could tear it apart.

I could….agh…

What's this…pain…

In my head….!

"Ah….gahhh…." the pain was almost like tearing my skull apart, "AAAAAAARRRRGGHHHH!"

I could see Orpheus starting to shake and spasm, wriggling its body in all directions. Suddenly, two hands emerged from it's head and tore itself apart to reveal a new being altogether. It had a dinosaur's skeletal head, surrounding its body like a cloak were coffins and carried a sword in one hand.

Jumping over to the monster, it stabbed it and ripped it apart with it's bare hands. It dug its fingers into the monster and pulled it out with such force that the monster burst into pieces, black blood on the hands. It's remains lay around the rooftop floor as black goo.

Then, the creature that emerged reverted back to Orpheus. It turned to me, his (looks like a guy) red eyes casting a piercing gaze in my direction. His head bent a little lower and he turned around to Akira, who was staring in awe. Orpheus placed his hand on Akira, causing a light to glow around them both before disappearing back into me.

"Mi…Minato…?"

The soft voice came from Hamuko, who was struggling to stand.

"Are you alright, Minato?"

I wanted to walk over to her and nod, tell her I'm totally fine.

I would have of course.

If I didn't black out right that second.

(Hamuko)

THUMP

"Minato, MINATO!"

Minato fell to the ground as soon as he turned to me. Whatever happened, whatever he did, shooting himself and summoning that creature, must have drained him a lot. I shook him again and again, but he was still unconscious. I placed my hand under his nose, and sighed in relief.

Good, he's not dead yet.

Suddenly, without letting me think further, the remains of black goop and blood that Minato's creature had killed started to form in several small puddles. The masks were similar to the big one that we had just saw and definitely much less threatening, but I think ten of those is a bit harsh for me to take. I gripped my nagitana and defended myself, fending of each of the small creatures.

But they couldn't die!

No matter how many times I hit them, they still keep coming back.

I heard a scratching sound on the floor and thought it was another one of those things coming from the side. Instead, I saw Akira trying his best to reach for the gun. He never made it though. One of the creatures saw this and seized his hand and stabbing what seemed like a claw through it.

"Gah!"

"Akira!"

Akira was so hurt he could barely move, plus the fatal blow from the giant creature previously made it all worse for him. I tried to rush over and help him, neglecting the other shadows and I paid sorely for it.

"Hamuko, give me…the gun…" Akira wheezed from the back, his injured arm still attempting to reach for it. I looked at him, at the creatures.

I looked at the gun.

Casting the nagitana aside, I picked it up.

My hand was trembling to I held onto it. Despite the fact that I was hyperventilating, I placed my injured hand on my chest for reassurance.

And the gun at my head.

"Hamuko, what are you doing!"

I'm…

Going to…

"Demolish you all…."

"PERSONA!"

BANG

Frosted glass flew from the other side of my skull and started to materialize. A creature similar to Minato's Orpheus appeared above my head, and it was clearly more girly. She had long, flowing red hair similar to mine when it was untied. The lyre was now pink as well as her body.

Thou art I…And I am Thou. From the sea of your soul I come. I am Eurydice, wife to the master of strings.

Without delay, my Eurydice drew her lyre and swatted a few creatures away. Playing a few notes, the remaining creatures which surrounded us burned, with only masks left on the ground.

I…killed those things.

I…

I feel exhausted…

Damn, it's like, my mental and physical energy were just sapped away. Making me feel sleepy…

So…

Sleepy…

THUMP

(Akira)

Like her brother, Hamuko too passed out on the floor, leaving me to be the only guy awake and conscious on the rooftop.

"Nngh…"

Well, make that two.

"A…kira?" Yukari mumbled as she woke up, "The monster, it attacked us, then…ah! Hamuko, Minato!"

Pretty slow reaction, Yukari. Pretty much about time you woke up.

As we began to holster each twin up (which was pretty damned hard considering our sorry state), I noticed something in the air.

Eurydice.

"Eurydice…?"

"We shall lend you our strength once more."

!

"However, remember that this time, your actions are irreversible."

"There will be no second chances."

Like Orpheus, Eurydice touched me and, engulfed us in a small white light as she disappeared. Yukari just watched, dumbstruck.

"Wha…what was that?"

"I don't know…"

It was true, I had no clue what the hell was going on. Minato's Orpheus said the same thing to me.

Damn it… what is wrong with me.

As much as we could, we tried to holster each Arisato over our shoulder and did as much as we could NOT to drop them on the floor (I almost dropped Minato twice and Yukari nearly freaked.) We laid them down on the fourth level sofa's.

"Yukari, go get senpai. I think we better call the hospital."

"Takeba…?"

The large double doors opened and out stepped three people, the chairman, Mitsuru-senpai and another boy with short grey hair and a sweater vest over his school uniform. Even though I've never seen him around the dorm, I recognized him immediately.

Akihiko Sanada. School boxing champion and heartthrob for all the girls.

Our two senpai came rushing out as soon as they saw us, while the chairman stayed inside, looking rather shocked.

"Takeba! What happened to them?"

I noticed Yukari looked a little nervous as senpai asked her the question. She kept glancing from side to side. First at Mitsuru-senpai, then at Akihiko senpai and back to me.

"It's alright Yukari, just tell her."

"I know but I…" she stuttered, now glancing over at the chairman who started to walk out of the command room.

…

Command room?

Is that what that place was?

How... did I know that?

Come to think of it, I've never been to the fourth floor before. I raised my eyes a little and tried to see what was in the room. I could see a control panel, a screen…

A screen…

I pushed through my senpai and walked up to the chairman, who seemed rather surprised at my sudden action.

"Mr Chairman, might I ask where you and senapi were all this while when we were almost getting our ass served by a walking hand monster?" I gritted my teeth angrily. I expected him to get angry, shout back or something, but no. Instead, he just pushed up his glasses and said, "Of course we heard you, we were going to get you right away."

"So what the hell were you all doing inside the command room!"

The question stunned everyone conscious at the moment. Akihiko-senpai looked like he had bit punched in the gut, and so did Mitsuru.

"Of course, we couldn't go up to get you yet," the chairman calmly continued.

"WHAT!"

"We had to be sure, whether you really needed any help, or not. But, considering the twins' awakening, I'm wouldn't be too concerned if I were you-"

THWACK

Akhiko rushed to help the chairman right after threw a punch in his face.

"So, you were just going to leave us up there and die?"

"Arisato!" Akihiko defended, "It was not our intention to…"

"I DON'T CARE WHAT YOUR FUCKING INTENTION WAS!" I swore, "You watch us from your stupid command room like we're guinea pigs, waiting for us to summon…persona I heard? What happened if we didn't?"

"Which is why we observed you, in case anything else happened!"

"What happened if I did that on YOU?"

"ARISATO!" Akihiko-senpai growled, "Calm down and understand the situation here."

"Fuck you…"

"What…!"

They were all lies.

I felt the heat in my whole body rising.

"All of you…"

I didn't care that my hand was hurting or that a strong force was gathering around me.

"Arisato, what on Earth!"

"GO TO HELL!"

I didn't know what was going on, I didn't care.

Right then, I just wanted to pay them back for what they did to me and the twins.

CRACK

Suddenly, a white light engulfed the whole room momentarily, followed by a strong shockwave that seemed to be emitting from me, causing everything and everyone to be blown into walls (no one got hit by anything though). Power and energy rushed through my veins. I couldn't stand the immense force from myself and I screamed.

"PERSONA!"

The light stopped, the shockwave faded. I felt myself, even though it was slight, being lifted off the ground. Yukari, my senpai and the chairman all dropped to the floor, dumbstruck.

Behind me was a being that resembled both that of Orpheus and Eurydice, but yet it was not either. It's face resembled the previous two personae as it faced upwards but in its left arm were coffins surrounding it. A tall structure like a sharpened tip of a cross extended from nowhere behind it. It had what I thought was a white sash around its waist but as it extended it's arms, I noticed something else.

Wings, like that of an angel.

The being spread its arms over Minato and Hamuko and muttered, "Salvation…" Soon, all their cuts and bruises were completely gone, but were still in comatose state.

Unconsciously, we began to speak.

Thou art I, for I am thou.

From the depths of your soul, I am re-evoked.

I am the judge.

The ultimate being of thee.

I am…

Suddenly, my head hurt, like something tried to rip me from the inside. I fell straight to the ground, unable to control all bodily movement. The being behind started to writhe as well, screaming as white light glowed from it's eyes and changing it into a smaller form.

(Hamuko)

We saw Akira spasm on the floor, the new manifestation draped in a dark cloak with long black hair and sword appeared.

Thou art I, and I am thou. From the sea of thy soul I cometh. I come to you as the greatest form of the fool, Susano-o, the storm of summer.

It threw a fist down at the chairman and knocked him unconscious. Our senpai drew their weapons and guns in order to protect themselves, but the being had already disappeared, leaving Akira on the floor half dead.

And I still can't believe Igor let us all watch that, from the part from which he summoned till he fainted.

It was downright scary, maybe scarier than his nose.

The projection vanished as Igor and Theodore turned their attention back to us, "So, I suppose that clearly explains what happened to your new friend?"

Minato was still wide eyed with shock, as was I. You see, we got summoned back to the velvet room again (apparently Minato was here first because he fainted first). Igor then went on to explain how the things we manifested were called Persona, a manifestation of our psyche, a mask that protects us as we faced hardships. Then Minato (for once) asked how Akira was and we were shown what was enveloping on the fourth floor.

Which leads back to the whole cycle up till now.

"So…he's not dead right?"

Hey, I wanted assurance alright?

"Fret not, master Hamuko," Theodore answered politely, "he has merely passed out due to exhaustion. Though I would admit he is in a much more dire situation."

"Fine…but I hope it's not too serious. But another thing," I straightened myself in the chair, "What happened to Orpheus, he changed into some skeletal dino. And something similar happened to Akira as well, what's that all about?"

"Those," Igor said as his grin grew, "are questions you are not capable of answering now."

Okay…?

But still, Akira he…he didn't use the gun to summon his Persona. I looked at Igor, whose smile was still very wide.

Probably gonna give me that same damn answer, so I decided against asking.

"You might have awakened to your ability know, masters, but your power is still weak," Theodore suddenly spoke up.

And did he just call us weak?

"Both your abilities develop based on 'Social Links', your emotional ties with others." Theodore continued, "the stronger the link, the more powerful your personae ability are."

"But how do we form such links?"

"You will find out in time. Now," Igor tapped his cane and a door popped up at the back of the room, "Time moves on in your world, I'd not keep you too long now."

Date: 17th April 2009

(Minato)

There was quite a few things to take in when I woke up. First was that I wasn't in the dorm anymore, and obviously elsewhere. Second was that Hamuko had woken up right on a bed beside me and the fact that there was someone else here and in between our beds.

"Oh you're up!"

Sitting between us on a little chair was Yukari, "Finally, the two of you were out so long! Do you have any idea how long you guys have been asleep? A good week!"

"Uh…sorry?" Hamuko gave a nervous laugh.

"Well, its good to see you guys awake again, but…" she let her head down and turned to my right a little.

"Akira…he hasn't woken up yet."

Oh…

No wonder she didn't look as happy as I thought, not all of us were up yet.

"Cheer up, Yukari," Hamuko tried comforting her, "Akira's a strong guy, he'll live."

"Guess you're right…"

"Where are we again?" I suddenly blurted out.

"This is Tatsumi Memorial Hospital, the doctor wasn't able to find anything wrong with you two. All he could find was that you were exhausted. But you know what? The two of you just kept on sleeping and sleeping. Do you know how worried I was?" she scolded us and turned around. For a moment there, she looked like she was angry with us, and the next she just looked like she needed a hug, "I'm so sorry, the whole thing messed up because of me. I was supposed to protect you two, but in the end I needed the protecting, pretty pathetic huh?"

"Yukari…"

"It's not your fault."

Both girls looked at me.

"Well, I'm not good with words Yukari, but if I were there in your shoes I would have freaked too, so don't think too much about it alright?" I told her. Hamuko just stared at me, not believing that I had just spoken a whole sentence in months.

As I said, I might not be good with words, but I know when someone needs to talk it out.

"Minato…" Yukari sighed as she stood up and sighed, "Thanks, both you and your sister are so forgiving."

"Hey, we're just honest about it," Hamuko reassured her, "But what happened exactly? We were all so panicky I kind of forgot."

Ah Hamuko, the indirect way of trying to get more info.

"I think it's pretty much like you remembered, you guys must have evoked your Personas to fight those things, shadows. Senpai said she'll give you all a more detailed explanation when you all wake up."

She started fidgeting around the corner as she stared out of the window.

"I…um…"

"I wanted to say, I'm sort of like you guys."

"Hmm? In what sense?" I asked.

"Well…" she took a deep breath before starting, "My dad died in an explosion when I was a kid, and my mom and I are on pretty lousy terms. I guess you're all alone too huh?"

"We have an uncle and cousin who adopted us, so we were like a family. But the absence of a parents love sometimes got to us…" Hamuko told our side of the story, though I could see her holding back tears.

"To be honest, I already about your pasts, but it didn't seem fair so I thought I'd tell you about mine," she stifled a small, nervous laugh, "Wow, and here I am throwing so much information the moment you guys wake up, I must sound pretty bitchy huh?"

"I don't think so, you know?"

We all turned at a low voice coming from my side.

(Akira)

"A…A…Akira?"

I tried hard not to laugh though, all of them saying my name at one shot. I lamely waved a hand and gave the a little grin, "Yo, guess I'm not as dead as I thought I would be."

My brain was still a mess, however. I think I exerted a little too much that night. Elizabeth never summoned me to the velvet room, so it was darkness all the way till now.

But anyway, you should see Yukari's face, it's priceless. It's like she saw me rise from the grave or something.

Maybe to a certain extent I did.

"Geez…" Yukari looked a little angry, yet peaceful at the same time, "All of you are really freaking me out, sleeping for a week. They woke up not too long before you."

"Actually, I woke up about when I heard your voice," I explained matter-of-factly. All of them gave me a strange look and sat in silence before bursting out laughing.

"Akira, you sneaky little."

"Heh…"

"I can't believe it, to think you were unconscious just awhile ago…" Yukari sighed, "Well, you'll be discharged soon, so I'll go inform senpai about this."

Tch…

Senpai huh?

Yukari must have caught the look on my face said, "I know, but you'll have to talk it out tomorrow with them."

"Fine…" I huffed as she was about to leave the door.

…

Fine, again.

"Hey, Yukari!" I called to her as she was about to leave.

"Hmm?"

"Thanks for visiting us."

"Oh ..uh…" she looked at us nervously, and I swore I saw her blush pink, "No…problem I guess?"

With that, she left the three of us alone. I closed my eyes, hoping to get a little more rest than I thought.

Orpheus and Eurydice huh?

I caught myself snickering a little, remembering something from an old legend.

"Akira, what's so funny?" Hamuko asked.

"Hey, do you know the story of Orpheus and Eurydice?"

"Mm-hmm," Hamuko nodded her head, "Why?"

"Well," I tried not to laugh, "they if two were lovers in their last life, they would reincarnate as twins."

She stared and blinked at me for awhile, before letting it sink in.

"AKIRA!" she yelled at me, turning crimson, "don't say stuff like that! It's embarrassing!"

I ignored her protests as I sank into bed.

Senpai...chairman.

Man, tomorrow's gonna be such a 'fun' day.

And wrap up!

Once again, thanks for reading this newbie's chapter (kinda made the hospital scene boring, gad...).

I'm not at descriptions but I'm guessing you know what Persona Akira used when he went OVER 9000!

So anyways, review please?

Ps. And see ya guys, I'm gone for Bali this week!