Chapter 7: It Was Pretty Bad

A/N: Short chapter, last of prologue chapters. Screw adverbs. Get out of my story. Beta'd by Erin Carde. I added some minor stuff after he beta'd, so it's probably my bad if there are mistakes.


SWS: Shinjiro Aragaki


I always lost.

Lost my family.

Lost my home.

Lost Miki.

It felt like my hands had holes in them or something, you know? Every time I tried to hold something, it fell right through them. It's enough to make a guy like me want to give up. For a while, I did. I stopped caring. As long as I had my brother, I'd try to not be greedy and grab onto something else.

Then things changed.

Somebody came up to us and forced their way into being our friend. People are tough. When we're broken, we sometimes try to stitch ourselves back together using other people as the stitches. Ai became our stitches, kept us from falling apart. From then on, a normal life was possible. Healing and moving forward and shit was possible. At least, that was how it should have been. Even if I don't want to admit it, I guess now I fucking have to. Akihiko fixed himself up, stitches all nice and clean, but mine?

Mine were crooked, infected.

Guess it was only a matter of time before the holes in my hands opened up again.


1 Year Later


The night sky loomed over the world, showing only a small peek of the endless depths beyond it, of the moon and the stars.

But… Ken Amada wasn't supposed to be able to see the stars tonight.

Wasn't he in his bed with the curtains drawn?

Where did the ceiling go?

"Mom?" He whimpered. All he heard in reply was a moan. Turning his head to the right, Ken saw his mother pinned beneath part of the ceiling that had collapsed. Suddenly, a roar shook the night. His mom opened her eyes only for them to flood with fear. The wind chilled Ken to the bone. He'd never seen his mother afraid. Even when dad left…

'Mom… what's happening? Don't look like that, please,' Ken cried in his heart.

"Ken, run!" She shouted mere seconds before it fell through the ceiling.

Horse and horseman, black with glowing red eyes, a monster from someone's nightmare. Thick, black liquid oozed off the monster as the horse reared back onto its hind legs. The liquid-like arm of the horseman bubbled before hardening into a lance aimed at Ken's mother.

"No, you can't take her!" Ken screamed as he pushed himself to his feet and ran at the monster. Instinct surpassed reason, surpassed fear. As a young boy in his pajamas without a weapon, Ken could do nothing, but he still had to try!

A tear formed in the corner of his mother's eye.

'Don't hurt my mom, you monster!' Ken's soul shouted.

But he was too slow.

The beast thrust its lance forwards… and its attack clanged off metal. A golden shield had appeared in front of his mom. From behind it stood something just as impossible as the monster that had appeared and almost taken everything from Ken. A hero with shining white hair and a fluttering red scarf. The golden shield turned into a broadsword that the hero swung in a huge arc, sending the monster flying out of the hole in the ceiling.

The hero took a moment and looked at Ken with his red eyes.

'Heroes and monsters… they're all real…'

"Everything will be fine. For now, call an ambulance," he said before transforming into a red and blue armor and flying into the air after the monster. Ken grabbed a phone that had fallen onto the floor and ran to his mother's side.

"We'll be okay, Mom. It's all going to be okay," Ken could only say those words as he fumbled with the phone. Looking up, he saw the hero fly through the monster with his sword, splitting it in two.

"Ken, you… Listen to your mother when she… tells you… to run away," his mother said through pained breaths, yet she smiled.

Suffice to say, Ken would never be the same after this.


"It was pretty bad. I get it, kid. You're a bit mixed up, maybe nervous," Officer Kurosawa said to the kid in the chair across from him. At 2AM, the station was a mess with officers running to and fro, phones rings everywhere, and, to top everything off, the damn intern still hadn't come back with his coffee. There were people who wanted to know what happened, people who wanted to report what had already been reported, people whose homes had been affected by the destruction.

"So how about you take a deep breath, relax, and try to remember. Tell me what you saw for real this time, kid. You're apparently the only eyewitness who saw everything happen," Kurosawa said as he leaned back in faux-leather chair. It had started to fall apart recently, with flakes of fake leather chipping off every other time he sat in it. His mahogany desk, at the very least, was clean. This was, of course, because his shift should have ended an hour ago.

"I'm not lying!" The kid, Ken Amada, shouted as he slammed his fist on the table. "It really happened! A monster attacked our house and a superhero stopped it! It's not some sort of stupid explosion!"

Kurosawa rubbed his temples. Of course it wasn't a gas leak or any sort of explosion. He'd been an officer for a while now, but the clues didn't add up. Just by looking at it, it was obvious that most of the debris of the kid's house was on the inside, not the outside. Not to mention, no sound of an explosion had been reported, only a large crash. From preliminary reports, not even burn marks were found.

He was a police officer. Which meant if this was a crime and not just an accident, he had to get to the bottom of it. But this kid was giving him nothing to work with. The horse and its rider that the kid described sounded way too made up and, even if this "monster" was a guy on a horse, how the hell did he destroy half of the kid's house? And, more importantly, why? What was the motivation here?

Kurosawa sighed as he stood up from his desk.

"How about I get us both something to drink, alright? It doesn't look like the intern will be getting my coffee anytime soon, anyway," he said before moving towards the door opposite the desk. The kid looked back, indignation in his eyes. Kurosawa sighed once more as he left. Bringing his phone out of his pocket, he dialed a familiar number as he made his way towards the back exit of the police station.

"It's me. Got a report not too long ago. Kid's mom survived, but we're looking at a possible permanent disability."

{Nobody else was hurt?} The voice on the other end of the line asked.

"Nobody," he said as he reached the back parking lot. The squad cars were out at the scene setting up a perimeter, so the backlot felt much emptier than normal. Holding the phone to his face with his shoulder to free up a hand, Kurosawa reached for his cigarettes. "But that kid's gonna have some sort of mental trauma. Thinks he saw a monster and a superhero and won't change his stance on that. Hopefully, he'll learn to admit he saw wrong."

{How much to make this incident disappear?} The voice requested. Kurosawa lit his cigarette and put it to his mouth. After a moment of deliberation, he exhaled the smoke and spoke into the phone.

"It won't be that hard, assuming you guys also got people in the forensics division."

He was a police officer, which meant he had to work for the good of the people, solve crimes, and mete out justice where necessary. However, before that, he was a husband and a father.

'Sorry, kid. But I have to feed my family. My wife's hospital bills don't pay for themselves.'

"I'll accept the usual rate with a bonus. It'll help with the guilt, Mr. Kirijo."

And, like that, Kurosawa buried his curiosity about the truth behind the events that transpired with the hopes that nobody would ever find out the truth, whatever it was. With luck, the kid would question what he thought he saw, try to forget it, move on, and not make a big deal over it. Life would go on.

'Or he might never get over it and his mom will never walk again. Maybe he'll always be traumatized, never knowing why this happened to him.'

Kurosawa tossed his cig, stomping it out onto the ground. Pulling his police cap down, he swore under his breath. The extra money wouldn't help with the guilt at all.


Simply put, it had been a disaster.

A patrol where Shinjiro's Persona went rampant. However, thankfully, Minato and Labrys had been there at the time. Unfortunately, the fight lasted beyond the Dark Hour and some innocent people ended up being involved.

"...But, nobody died. With time and therapy, that boy's mother may even walk again," Mitsuru said to the group assembled in the dorms. They were all in the conference room on the fourth floor, sitting around a table with chairs and couches. "Shinji, I'll extend my offer once again. Take some time off from school and head down to Yakushima. My father's men may be able to help you. We need you."

Shinjiro's eyes were fixed on the floor.

"But I… hurt somebody. Maybe permanently disabled a kid's mom. You can't act like it's fine just because nobody died," Shinjiro said with his hands clasped together. "I don't want to go into some sort of lab to be poked and prodded. If I rampage there, I'll only hurt more people. I'm a nuisance at best."

"So you're going to not even try to see if they can do something for you? That's stupid, Shinji," Akihiko said as he leaned forwards. "What other option do you have? Are you just gonna run away? How the hell will you be able to face Ai if you're not willing to take care of yourself and just run away?!"

Shinji stood up.

"Shut up about her! Damn it, she's all you ever talk about anymore!" Shinjiro shouted. Akihiko froze for a moment before he leaned back, eyes downcast. Shinjiro took a shaky breath. He looked around. Honest concern shone in Labrys' eyes, Mitsuru's as well. Minato, the person who'd defeated his rampant Persona, sagged in his chair with his nearly black lyre in his hands, but fire remained in his eyes. Sho, the asshole of the group, chuckled as he thumbed through a comic.

"Look, I appreciate that you all care or whatever, but this whole 'teamwork' thing doesn't work when one member of the team is a fucking bomb," Shinjiro said as he fell into his chair, staring at his hands. "I think I should just leave."

Mitsuru sighed.

"Let's get everyone else's thoughts on this," she said as she stood, taking command of the room. "I, for one, think he should go into treatment."

The whole room looked to the non-participant, Sho, who still read his comic.

"Look, it's his fucking choice, right? Who are we to stop him?" Sho said as he turned the page. "If you want to run away like a little bitch and piss on somebody else's tree, then do it." Sho threw the comic behind him and leaned back into his chair, placing his feet up on the table. With an eyeroll, Labrys stood and frowned at Mitsuru.

"I'd like to agree with ya, Mitsuru, but you and I both know what happened at Yakushima before. Maybe we can find some sort of other solution. We could try seein' if there's something specific that triggers the rampages. Run some tests in Tartarus where the only ones that could get hurt are Shadows," Labrys suggested. She sat back down, blowing a raspberry at Sho, who had since gone back and retrieved his comic. Minato took the floor next.

"If you want to leave, Shinjiro, I will not stop you. You have that right. In fact, I was against you joining in the first place," Minato said. "But if you hurt somebody else because you walk away from us, I will bring you back via whatever means necessary. You will not get any more chances. It would be wise to take Labrys' suggestion and see if we could handle this instead."

'To that kid, he'll remember you as the monster that almost killed his mom. However, with time, he can start to forget and he can heal. If you rampage without us, you'll kill somebody. Their family would never forgive you for that. I know I wouldn't,' Minato suppressed the words he wanted to say. The image of a burning car flashed in his mind.

"I don't know what happened, but he's my brother. Regardless of the risk, if there's a chance we can stop this before something serious happens that could harm him or somebody else, we should take it," Akihiko said before turning to Shinjiro and placing his hand on the boy's shoulder, "At the very least, do it for the people that care about you. I can't lose you too, Shinji."

Shinjiro shuddered at those words and shrugged off Akihiko's hand.

"You'll find somebody else to take my place. Just like with Miki." Shinjiro walked towards the door. "I don't want to risk hurting anybody else. I'll go far away, piss on somebody else's yard."

And, with those words, Shinjiro Aragaki left the organization recently titled the Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad, or S.E.E.S, for short.

"It was 'piss on somebody else's tree', idiot!" Sho shouted after him. Akihiko sighed as he dropped his head into his hands while Mitsuru and Labrys glared at Sho.

"Yeah, he really is an idiot," the boxer murmured.


Ikutsuki cracked his knuckles in the control room, staring at the screen through the camera that had captured all the events that had just transpired. He pushed the button on his earpiece.

"We have ourselves a stray little lamb. Have the modified suppressants ready."


That night, Akihiko punched his punching bag until his fists bled, cast Dia on them to heal them with his Persona, Polydeuces, and then punched even more before exhaustion claimed his consciousness. His phone lit up with the message, {How is everything?}. It would take him a hour to answer that question when he woke up.

Mitsuru confined herself to her room. If one listened with an ear to her door, they could make out her chastising herself in hushed tones until she could do so no more and fell asleep. The following morning, she'd appear to them as composed as ever, despite the fact that her sleep had been fitful at best.

Sho stared at his phone, biting his thumb. The number reflected in his eyes was one titled "Dad". With a sigh, he threw his phone onto the bed. He would not call that number this time.

As for Labrys and Minato…


SWS: Labrys


Minato and me went up on the roof for a bit. Neither of us really needs sleep, so I figured we might as well keep each other busy for a little while. ASW to ASW. Brother to sister, I guess. Over the past seven years, I liked to think we'd gotten a lot closer. Close enough to see the subtle changes. Of course, it helped that I had a perfect memory and could directly compare the past him to the present him. He'd grown more serious and a bit colder, just like Mitsuru.

Seriously, it's not a good idea to try to imitate her, ya know? There were times he'd feel more machine-like than me, ya know? If it kept on, I might have had to start making it a competition, ya know?

"I get it," I started as I sat on the edge of the roof. "You trusted somebody and were betrayed before. You're the hero and he's the villain or somethin' silly like that."

He said nothing. All that silence is irritating. Big sis gets annoyed when her little bro won't hold a conversation with her…

Noticing my glare, he looked off to the side and replied, "Something like that."

I patted the ground beside me and he walked on over and sat beside me on the edge of the roof. What? We could have fallen? It was dangerous? Heh, if we fell, I'd be more worried for the concrete than us. Mitsuru would definitely had made me pay for it. I threw an arm around Minato's shoulders and pulled him close.

"You think he wanted to hurt somebody?" I asked. He shook his head. Good boy. "You think he wanted to go on hurtin' people?" He shook his head again. "Then he's not a stinkin' villain or monster or some crap. Sometimes people got no say in the matter."

#024 and my other sisters had no choice. Neither did I. We all killed each other with no real alternative. But, if I'd fought back against those scientists earlier, if I'd been able to unite my sisters, if I'd done somethin' different… Maybe I could have found an alternative. I could have saved them. Instead, I slaughtered them all. Shinji lucked out. He didn't have to kill his own kin.

"But he needs to take responsibility for his decision," Minato answered as his hands curled into fists. "If he wants to run so he doesn't hurt anyone, I won't forgive him if he still ends up hurting people."

That's fair. People have to take responsibility for their actions.

Responsibility...

I sighed and took my arm off his shoulders. It was as good a time as any to tell him. He had the right to know.

"You don't know this, but, I had to earn this name. There used to be a lot more 5th Generation ASWs like me. I was… good friends with one of them. She was my sister. All of us, one family," I said, smilin' a little. Even Sho could have seen the gears turnin' in his head as he processed the information.

"What did the Kirijo Group make you do?" He asked. I felt like laughin'. The Kirijo Group? How sweet.

"I killed 'em all. One by one, broke them into pieces, takin' their data. I can tell it's different for you, but, back in my day, only one ASW got a name. The last one remainin'." I paused, grippin' my skirt so hard that I knew it'd be wrinkled later. I had no idea what expression I was wearing when I choked out the next words. "They made me kill my sister."

Silence weighed on us for a few moments. I wiped away the tears formin' in the corners of my eyes. No time to cry. Push forward.

"So, does that make me a villain?" I asked. With shock fillin' his face, I pushed one finger against his chest. "The world ain't black and white. I got plenty of regrets and things I gotta make up for, but I'm doin' my best right now. Sometimes life just smacks ya in the back of the head and curses ya with somethin' awful. Sometimes it makes ya do awful things. I'm sure Shinji is sufferin' right now. He's a good person at heart."

His eyes widened as if the world now made a little bit more sense for him. The feelin' of being a reliable older sister felt good. Was that what #024 felt when she guided and looked out for me? Then, out of nowhere, Minato hugged me.

"You're a good person too," he said just loud enough for me to hear. I returned the gesture. There we were, two robots huggin' on a rooftop like a couple of idiots. Even today, the memory makes me smile.

I needed to hear those words back then. I like to think that he knew that too.


Next Chapter: Matryoshka


A/N: The stage is set. Happier times ahead. Enjoyed reading your guys' responses to the last question. Check out Fandom Flux on youtube. Podcast thing I'm a part of.

Question of the Chapter: Have you ever been so filled with regret for something that you ran away without thinking things through?