Breaking the Chains
(Re)Joining
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There was you.
There was me.
And there is us.
.
? ? ?
Minato didn't know why, but he felt so relaxed and at peace.
Was it time to wake up?
He opened his eyes after so long and he expected to see either the Velvet Room with Igor, Elizabeth, and Theodore greeting him, or the shining rays of the sunlight and the face of a worried Yukari Takeba.
Instead, what greeted the boy from his slumber was a view of a hospital room.
Two beds were in front of him, and they were occupied by two sleeping figures. A boy on the Minato's left and a girl on Minato's right. Minato started to move towards the two beds. As he moved closer, his vision became clearer and he started to notice the details of what laid out before him. Attached to the sleeping figures, were those tiny yet very long hospital wires that connected to liquid packs. There were also oxygen masks attached to their faces and the figures before him were taking slow and deep breaths. When Minato got a clear vision of their faces, he gasped and held his breath.
Before him, were the still sleeping figures of Minato and Hamuko Arisato.
Suddenly, he heard the door swing open. Minato jolted up from his position and turned back to see who had entered. For some reason, the face of the person who had entered was blurred out, but the rest of the person's body wasn't. Based on his observations, Minato had concluded that the person who had entered was a man, based on his build, and was a doctor in the hospital, based on the white coat he wore and the stethoscope that hung around his neck. On the doctor's hands, he held a clipboard.
The doctor didn't seem to notice the Minato standing between the two beds.
He reached for the foot of the sleeping Minato's bed and stood motionlessly before the sleeping Minato. Minato wondered if he was observing his actions, as after a few moments of silence, the doctor took out a pen from his coat pocket and started jotting down notes on his clipboard.
"As usual...██ ████████ █████..." He muttered, although the tone of the doctor's voice sounded like it had been morphed exaggeratedly and some of his words were censored.
The door swung open again, and the invisible Minato and the doctor turned to see who had entered. This time, the entire body had been blurred out, so the invisible Minato couldn't tell who had entered or even guess what they are. However, he noted that the figure was carrying a backpack. The figure walked up to the right of where the sleeping Hamuko's bed was, sat down on the vacant seat that was next to her bed, and had set down the backpack the figure had carried.
"Doctor," The figure spoke up. Just like the doctor's voice, the tone of the figure's voice had been morphed exaggeratedly, "have you found out anything?"
The doctor shook his head, "No, I'm sorry, ██████-███. From ███ █████ today, they have ████████ the ████ as ██████. Don't █████, ████ ███ still ██████ and no ███████ have ████ found."
Minato heard a sigh from the other figure, "I-I...see..."
For the third time, the door had swung open and two more blurred out figure had entered. One had stayed at the door while the other reached for the sleeping Minato's bed, standing next to him and holding his hand.
"█████," the figure who was near Hamuko's bed spoke up, "They're...████, but ██ ███████ ████ ████ they ████ ████ anytime ████."
"Ah..." The figure near Minato's bed bowed down, "That's...████ of a ██████."
As the two blurred out figures and the doctor remained still in their positions, Minato suddenly felt a great force pull him back. It wasn't like the one in the void, where it had literally forced him to move, but rather, it was slow and steady. It felt like watching someone slowly walk away from you, and you stood there in place and patiently watched their figure disappear. But as he was being pulled back, he had gotten closer to the person that had stood behind the door.
For some reason, he felt the need to close his eyes.
His eyelids slowly closed and he felt himself getting drowsier and weaker. Before succumbing into another slumber, he thought he had gotten a clear look of who was standing behind the door, and he heard her all too familiar voice speak.
"Please...wake up."
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April 17, 2009
Friday
Morning
-
Waning Gibbous
And Minato did wake up.
The bright sunlight greeted his tired eyes, almost blinding him. Minato raised his hand to cover his eyes from the radiant sun rays. His head ached a little. Letting out a rather loud yawn, he sat up from the bed and decided to take a look of his surroundings. On his right, he saw Hamuko still lying down, but her eyes were open. She had just awoken from her own slumber.
"Y-You're both finally awake!" Yukari's voice suddenly exclaimed. He turned to his left, to see that Yukari had stood up from her chair and held a surprised expression on her face, "How do you feel?"
Hamuko's tired eyes shifted to gaze back at Yukari's and she gave her a small smile, "...Um, we're okay."
"...Wh-Where are we...?" Minato spoke, and he rubbed the back of his head. His head ached a little, and he wondered if-
-Oh.
Suddenly, the memory of what had happened that night flashed before his eyes. Hamuko saving Yukari, the dropped Evoker, the sudden sharp pain that had been arisen inside him, and...Thanatos appearing before him. While everything had seemingly gone according to plan, he was surprised that he had summoned Thanatos as his Persona. Would this mean Thanatos is his initial Persona?
"Oh, thank goodness, you both finally came to!" Yukari spoke happily, "We're currently in Tatsumi Memorial Hospital. It's a short walk from the station. The doctor said they couldn't find anything wrong with the both of you, stating that you both were just exhausted."
Hamuko sat up and looked around her, "Ah! So...we really did..."
She trailed off mid-sentence and the room was now enveloped into an uncomfortable silence. They all knew what Hamuko had wanted to say, that what had happened that night...was all true. Meanwhile, Yukari was still in awe about the amazing power the twins possessed, but she couldn't help but clench her fists and bite her lip remembering how she...
"About your power..." Yukari spoke up, breaking the silence and the twins turned their attention to her, "I-It was amazing."
"R-Really?" Hamuko couldn't think of a better response, rubbing the back of her head and grinning sheepishly, "I-I was kind of surprised when it happened, haha! I didn't even know we had something like that, though."
"Although...those things, what were they?" Minato inquired, looking up and faced Yukari with a curious expression.
Of course, Minato knew what they were and basically why they existed. But he needed to bring up that certain subject, as not doing so might raise some suspicion for Yukari.
"Oh, those things? That's what we're fighting against. We call them "Shadows." And the power you used...we call it, 'Persona.'" Yukari explained, "We'll explain everything else later. I'm sorry that I didn't tell you before..."
Yukari frowned a little, paused, and bit her lip. Now is the time to tell them, she thought. She needs to let it all out.
"Also, I just wanted you both to know that I'm...sort of like the two of you."
The twins' held their breath for a second once Yukari had spoken those words. Hamuko decided to take the initiative to ask her what she meant, despite knowing what she was about to say, "What do you mean?"
"My...dad died in an accident when I was little. Around '99, a big explosion happened in the same place he was working at and he supposedly died when it happened." Yukari continued, "Ever since then, my mom and I aren't exactly in good terms now.
"...While the both of you always find time for each other, you're both still alone together, right? Truthfully, I already know about your past. It didn't seem fair that I know so much about you, so I want to let you both know about mine. That's why I stick around here, hoping to find out something about it.
"...I'm really sorry again for not being able to be of much help. I really wished there was something I could have done to help you both."
Yukari hung her head low and tried to hide her pained expression from the twins. But she heard a giggle from Hamuko, and she looked up to see her grinning while Minato gave her sincere smile.
"You don't need to apologize, Yukari! It's not your fault!" Hamuko exclaimed, raising up her hands and waving them frantically, "What matters is that we're all okay! Don't worry about it!"
"Hamuko's right," Minato spoke up, "You're doing well, right? That's what matters to us."
Yukari raised up her head and whatever was weighing her down, it was starting to lift up and disappear. She felt much better than how she was moments, and she couldn't help but let a smile form on her lips, the most radiant smile that she has ever given to anyone in so long. She felt so much relief, to finally have someone she could trust after so long. The twins smiled back at her, with Hamuko giggling a little bit.
"Thanks. From now on, I will be more honest to the both of you." Yukari spoke, standing up from her seat and started to head for the door, "Well, I better get going. I'll tell the doctor and Mitsuru-senpai that you two have awoken. See you."
She waved farewell to the twins and left their hospital room. The twins were left alone now, and five seconds after Yukari left, Hamuko managed to scooch a bit near Minato's bedside and punched him in the arm. Hard.
"Ow!" Minato yelped in pain and clutched onto the area where Hamuko punched him, "What was that for?!"
"Scaring me to death, you...you piece of shit!" Hamuko exclaimed angrily and she crossed her arms, "Dammit, you know, I thought you were going to die there. Gratefully, that didn't happen!"
Minato stared at her for a few moments, before stifling out a chuckle, "Hamuko, don't think that. See, I'm fine now. Nothing to worry about, alright?"
Hamuko stood up from her bed. She was clenching her fists and fighting back the tears that were starting to form in her eyes, "I know you are! It's just..." She hung her head low, "I don't want you to die...not yet, not now, not in the next few years, Minato-nii! You're sacrificing yourself again so everyone will be safe! It's just like that time! Please, I don't want to go through all this without you, brother!"
With the uncontrollable tears streaming down her eyes, Hamuko clenched onto Minato's hospital sheets with her hands and slammed her fists onto the white mattress. The bright smile she always bore had shattered away into nothingness and revealed her true self: a trembling, naked body wishing and fearing for the future.
Minato understood why Hamuko had felt that way. He understood that she was worried about him, that she might be alone again on the journey and never having someone to understand her. Understand how happy she is meeting SEES again, understand that she will have to fight against Death again, and understand that once all said is done, everything starts all over again. It was painful to watch SEES go through cycle blindly again and again. Fighting Death was now more of a chore than a challenge. Dying and living the year again and again felt...tiring.
She used to wish to die, and had accepted death at the first few times. But now, she just wants to live. Be free from the battles and continue on after March 5th, 2010 was now her new wish. But, why wouldn't the chains of time break her free from the burdens? From the year?
Minato wonders and feels the same way as her, and that itself makes Hamuko truly happy to be with him. Because they had gone through the same thing, and he understands. So if he dies now, she will...
With what little strength he had, Minato gave Hamuko his most reassuring smile and hugged her tightly. Hamuko's eyes widened as she felt her brother's warmth embrace her. Without hesitation, she hugged him back while still sobbing.
"I know you're scared, little sister. I, too, am scared of the future." Minato spoke to her softly, "And I know I can be a bit selfless at times, and it might cause some accidents. But trust me when I say this, nothing will ever stop me from saving all of us from this endless cycle, not even Death. I will stand by you and together, we will save us and the world."
Hamuko smiled a little after hearing his words, and suddenly, she felt a bit better. She trusted him on this, and she needed to know, that it was all going to be alright. They will make it through it all, they know it.
The twins stayed still in their embrace for a while longer, letting themselves feel at peace with each other's close presence.
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April 18, 2009
Saturday
Morning
-
Last Quarter
After taking one last checkup with the doctor, the twins were checked out of the hospital and managed to go home before midnight came. Mitsuru greeted them last night with a cool smile on her face and with her is the trying-not-to-show-it-but-a-sorta-enthusiastic Yukari. After having a quick dinner, they headed for their rooms and managed to get a peaceful sleep that night.
Now, it was the next morning and they had just arrived at the school grounds together. A cool breeze swept by them, and the usual noise of the weekday mornings buzzed all around them. As they walked with the crowd to enter the school, an all too familiar voice called out to them.
"Hey, you two!"
The sound of frantic footsteps can be heard behind them and they turned to see a worn out Junpei. He crouched a bit on the floor and took in deep breaths, before standing up tall and wink at the two. His signature smile had formed on his lips and he waved at them, happy to meet the twins after so long.
"Been a while since I last saw you both, I heard you guys were absent! You both okay now?" Junpei asked, crossing his arms and his smile disappeared, giving them worried looks instead.
Hamuko nodded and a grin formed on her lips, "Yup! We're fine now! Thanks for the concern, Junpei."
As the twins and Junpei headed for the school's front door, Yukari appeared out of the blue, surprising Junpei and Hamuko while Minato just stared at her indifferently.
"Good morning Minato, Hamuko!" Yukari greeted the twins with a smile, and it changed too quickly upon looking at Junpei.
Her eyes stared daggers at the boy wearing the cap, and in response, he flinched and slowly scooted away, but not before bidding a "See you two in class!" to the twins.
With Junpei gone, Yukari turned to face the twins and smiled at them once again, "Sorry to bother you both with this in the morning, but…"
Ah, they knew where this was going.
"Ikutsuki-san would like to talk to the both of you after school. Would that be okay?"
"Sure!" Hamuko immediately responded, giving to Yukari her signature grin once again. Minato only nodded silently as his response.
"Great!" Yukari exclaimed, "Come to the fourth floor of the dorm once you get back, okay?"
And she turned around, waved them a "See you soon!", and headed off to the school's front doors. Once Yukari disappeared, Hamuko's grin formed to a frown and she almost gagged.
"Ew, we have to meet Iku-shit-suki again." She mumbled, rolling her eyes.
"Now, now, Hamuko, you know why we have to meet them." Minato spoke in a hushed tone.
"Yeaahh, I know. I just…ugh, I hate him." Hamuko responded, pouting her lips and crossing her arms.
Minato couldn't help but chuckle, "It's okay, I hate him too."
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April 18, 2009
Saturday
Evening
-
Last Quarter
School was a bore today that Minato fell asleep right as the teacher opened his mouth, but on the other hand, Hamuko managed to stay awake for the entire day, taking notes on all the lessons she had learned today, and remembered that she would have to share her notes with her brother when the tests come in.
When Minato and Hamuko finally made it to the dorm after a surprisingly busy day at school, they found no one at the dorm's lobby. There was no sign of Yukari, who had left home early, Mitsuru, or even Ikutsuki. Of course, they knew what they had to do. After all, they had gone through this so many times already.
They headed for their rooms quickly just to settle down their school bags and proceeded to the fourth floor. They know what awaits them: an invitation to Hell.
Hamuko knocked on the command room door twice before opening it, and all eyes in the room turned to their direction as they heard the knocks and the door opening. Hamuko greeted the three people and the one bastard inside with her usual grin while Minato only bowed at them slightly. The female twin trotted inside, and her other half followed her.
"Oh, good evening to you both!" Ikutsuki greeted them with a smile, "I'm glad you're both doing well, please do sit down."
Their expressions remained indifferent and they took a seat on one of the sofas.
"Before we begin, I would like to you both to meet Akihiko Sanada." Ikutsuki spoke, his hand gestured out to the only other male in the room aside from him and Minato, "I believe one of you have already met him though?"
"Yes, it was me!" Hamuko piped up and waved her hand at him happily, while holding her brother's hand and letting it wave at Akihiko, "Hello, Sanada-senpai! It's been a while!"
Akihiko could only chuckle and waved back at the two, "Hello to you, Hamuko. And your brother, I presume?"
Hamuko nodded, "Yup! This is my twin brother, Minato Arisato!" She nudged at Minato with her elbow and surprisingly, Minato didn't falter from her action. Instead, he raised his hand and waved at Akihiko.
"…Hi, Senpai." Were the only words he spoke.
After the greetings were made, the five students all sat down on the open seats while Ikutsuki had stood up from his place. He faced the twins with a serious expression, and the twins faced him back with serious (read as: disgust) expressions.
"Alright, let me ask, would you believe me if I told you that a day consists of more than 24 hours?" Ikutsuki inquired, and the twins swore that they saw his glasses shine for a bit.
The twins looked at each other first, then faced Yukari, Mitsuru, and Akihiko who all sat patiently, waiting for their answer. Finally, they faced back at Ikutsuki again.
"Yeah." They answered.
Ikutsuki widened his eyes in shock, Yukari and Mitsuru gasped, and Akihiko slightly flinched from his seat. Their response was…quite unexpected.
"You…you both know about the Dark Hour?!" Mitsuru asked, standing up from her seat.
"Um, yeah, if that's what you call it." Minato spoke up, "Ever since like ten years ago or something, we've…experienced these weird things happening every midnight. Dark green everywhere, blood sometimes, and the moon looks really scary."
"We don't really like staying up late because of it though," Hamuko continued, "But yes, we do know that some odd stuff happens every midnight. Funny, I thought…Minato and I were the only ones who know about it."
"Well, that won't be the case anymore." Mitsuru spoke up and all eyes were on her, "You see, everyone in this room now experience the Dark Hour, the time period that is hidden between one day and the next."
"And the Dark Hour will happen tonight, and the night after, again and again." Ikutsuki added.
"Normal people don't really notice it, since they're all sleeping in their coffins." Akihiko chimed into the talk, grinning eagerly as he talked, "Do you remember those creatures? Those are Shadows. They appear during the Dark Hour and attack anyone who isn't in a coffin. Our job here, is to defeat those Shadows. Sounds exciting, huh?"
Hamuko couldn't help but smile as well, because the thought of having to fight Shadows kind of made her excited. On the other hand, Minato just simply nodded, not showing much interest in the thought of Shadows.
Mitsuru frowned slightly at the excitement building up around Akihiko, "Akihiko! Why are you always like that? You got hurt the other day!"
"Now, now, Mitsuru," Ikutsuki spoke up, "He does his work well."
The bastard of a Chairman turned back his attention to the twins, and with a smile, he continued, "In short, we are the Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad—SEES for short. On the paper, we are classified as a school club. But in reality, we are dedicated to defeat the Shadows. Mitsuru is the leader, while I am the advisor."
Mitsuru continued, "Shadows feed on the minds of their prey, and as a result, the victim becomes a corpse. They're usually responsible for the incidents on the news lately, if not, all of them."
"…Um," Hamuko spoke up, "Well, couldn't the police handle them?"
Mitsuru shook her head, "Unfortunately, the police can't do anything during the Dark Hour."
"So, how do we fight the Shadows?" Minato inquired.
"Ah," Ikutsuki smiled, "Although rare, there are those who can function during the Dark Hour. And some can awaken to a power that could fight against these Shadows. That's Persona, the power you used that night. Only Persona-users can fight against them, meaning that it's all up to you guys."
"Hmm, I see…" Minato muttered softly, crossing his arms.
"Well," Mitsuru spoke up and walked to the table that stood in the middle of the room. It was only then that the twins realized that there were two suitcases on the table, and they knew all too well what would be inside those suitcases.
The red-haired senior opened the suitcases and inside, revealed the two Evokers, "What he's saying is that, we want you both to join us. We have an Evoker prepared for the both of you. Will you lend us your strength?"
A silence filled in the command room after Mitsuru spoke. Minato and Hamuko looked at each other. They knew that it would obviously come to this, and what would happen.
Of course, they will accept the offer, not like they would refuse.
"Alright." Minato spoke up, standing up from his seat and Hamuko followed his movements, "We'll join you."
"Me too!" Hamuko exclaimed excitedly, raising her arms and waving happily, "This seems exciting! I want to fight these Shadows!"
The other four smiled at their response, relieved that the twins have accepted the invitation to join their odd group.
"Thank you," Mitsuru smiled, "If you have any questions, please feel free to ask us."
Yukari nodded and smiled at the twins, "I'm really glad you could join us."
A sheepish grin formed on Hamuko's lips and she chuckled, rubbing the back of her head, "Well, all this sounds quite interesting so who wouldn't want to join, right?"
Akihiko, who had listened into the conversation between the female juniors, couldn't help but nod excitedly and agree with Hamuko, "Yes, it is interesting."
Minato and Mitsuru remained silent as the three continued to mingle on, but they were also feeling quite happy. It's not obvious, but a smile also formed on their lips.
Unbeknownst to all except the twins, a faint sound of glass shattering had been heard. As they continued to get to know with their new (old) companions, a solemn voice speaks softly in their ears.
Thou art I, and I am thou…
Thou shalt have our blessing when thou choosest to create Personas of the Fool Arcana…
A/N: HEEEELLLLOOOO FELLOW READERS! Anyone remember me? No? That's fine;;;
Anyways, hey! It's been so long! Man, 2016 was such a WILD RIDE, huh? I mean, despite all that...international chaos and what-not, 2016 was pretty decent for me. I graduated from HS and started uni (UNI IS HELL BTW), met new online peeps (they're all nice and so precious btw i love them all ;_;), WENT TO JAPAN (I DIDNT BUY LOTS OF P3 MERCH EXCEPT A RYOJI AND FUUKA KEYCHAIN;;; i was tempted to buy a blu-ray of the p3m4 movie thou huhu;;;;;), and well, discovered the Persona series! The only downside to this year was that an online friend left me...it was my fault...I miss them.
But yeah, so! I'm not highly satisfied with this chapter, even if it has been on my folders for months. Especially the middle and latter parts, since they're all rehashes of the P3 game. I might edit this chapter some time soon to fix some mistakes, it's already late here haha! Although, I did enjoy writing the first segment! By the way, what did you think of that? What do you think that means? WE'LL FIND OUT SOON!
As for the pairings, here it is! The official (and fulfilled) protagonist pairings for the fic is...Hamuko/Akihiko and Minato/Fuuka! ShadowAsh Senpai guessed the Hamuko ship first, they got it right, and so they decided that Minato's partner is gonna be Fuuka (and personally i was happy bc i love minato/fuuka ok bye). Congrats! Those ships aside, there's also going to be a lot, and I mean A LOT of focus on the relationship between our two lovely protagonists and Aigis, Ryoji, and Shinjiro! Maybe with Chidori too, if I figure out how to implement it.
Anyways, that's all, I guess! I'll try to update this whenever I can! I already have the next chapter planned out, just...pray I write it down soon.
Thanks for all the reviews, favorites, and follows! Reviews are highly appreciated, and see you all in the next chapter!
