Epilogue 1 (Minato Arisato)
It was finally over… Just a notion of this put my mind at peace, however, celebrating the victory had to wait a little as Charlotte still remained on the other side of the Curtain. Persona used by her – Cronus, successfully managed to cut off the area close to the Great Seal from the realm of time, but even though leaving or entering there was currently pretty much impossible, I was certain that she would be able to find a passage to come back to her new friends. Yes, and speaking of them, as I had a couple of important things to discuss with them anyway, I decided to appear in front of their group and clarify some matters.
"Minato?" Not surprisingly, Aigis was the one to notice my presence first. Because of the barrier between me and Charlotte, this ghostly form of mine wasn't exactly stable, so I probably should hurry then, just in case. "Thank you for all of your assistance so far. It makes me really happy to see that you've managed to grasp your own answers. You are the brightest hope of this world, so I'm glad you've done so much to spread this light to others." "I couldn't care less. What happened to Charlie? Why isn't she coming out of that thing?!" Michael Runcorn shouted out to me. He looked like as if he wanted to throw himself at me, however, his broken and dislocated leg prevented him from going too far. Well, such actions wouldn't benefit him anyhow as my body wasn't formed out of flesh in the first place. "She's fighting the hardest battle of her life. Unfortunately, there's nothing we can do for her right now but to pray. I believe she will overcome this trial, so you should do the same." "God, god, god…! You don't know her. Her mother told me about all of she went through. If she's alone, she won't be able to… Fuck! We've gotta do something fast! Help me to get there!" Despite his desperate attempts to move, the man quickly tripped and since no one was giving him a hand, he began to crawl forward on his own. Such tenacity was surely worth to be respected, but as there was no guarantee that I would be able to maintain the ability to materialize for too long, I insisted on taking priority in explaining everything I knew to my former squad mates and their allies.
I told them all about Charlotte Atkins and her power. Though it was partly my fault for failing to give the proper instructions earlier, everyone excluding Michael listened to my advice not to interfere with the Curtain of Times. Of course, he had a good reason to react this way. When the loved ones were in distress, people like him were ready to do anything, so I didn't think reasoning with him would work in such a state. That was why it was best to let him be in my opinion. Even though he was already harmed, any further injuries were unlike to occur in this environment. "But what about you, man? It's great to talk to you again, but you know… Ah, don't make me say it…" Junpei began to blabber, barely able to formulate his thoughts. Despite the fact he tried to hide it, I could see how touched he was. "Isn't the Great Seal closed there as well? What will happen to your soul, Minato?" I knew that topic was going to be brought up eventually. It was only natural. In spite of having previously moved on after my death, this meeting must have reopened some deepest scars. Perhaps, they might have even hoped for my resurrection, however, nothing like that was going to take place. "Erebus is no longer a threat." I replied, looking at the faces of surrounding me people. "So, what about…?" My fate? I turned towards Yukari to cut her midsentence. "Both Erebus and Nyx are not a part of this world anymore, without any possible chance of return. Because of that, there's no need for me to remain here as well. Reaching this point was hard and costed all of you many sacrifices. That's why I have to thank you once again. If it wasn't for your efforts, the Fall wouldn't have been permanently prevented." "But you haven't answered… I beg of you, please don't keep us in the dark anymore…" Aigis cried out, so I decided it was the high time to be blunt.
"I'm going to move on." I announced and not surprisingly, this information caused a lot of sadness to my dear friends. Even though I'd prefer otherwise, neither of us could do anything about that. Those 9 years ago I was already well aware of that my story would have no happy end. But I wasn't concerned by that. If thanks to that the whole humanity could gain one, I was fine with dying. Death wasn't something to be feared. It was a natural part of one's existence – the bridge between two paths: of life we were familiar with and the mystery of what the final breath would bring. Frankly, after standing for so long at this crossing, I began to look forward to learn what laid on the other side. "You all should know that there are no second chances in living. I've been once put down to my grave and even if I could, I wouldn't try to get out of it. My time is already over, however, it's not like I'm going to abandon you forever. Charlotte wasn't the only one with whom I was since then, as in a sense, I was at the side of each of you. I shared all of your burdens and pain and smiled to see your happiness. The bonds between us are stronger than death, so do not grief. Even though I'm no longer here, I'll always be a part of your lives." "He's right. If it wasn't for Minato, we would never be able to push ourselves this far. He's been guiding us by a hand for all of these years… That's why, thank you." Mitsuru interjected. Normally she would at least attempt to mask it, although she was currently crying in open. In reply, I beamed at her, however, before any of us could say anything else, a loud interruption from the direction of the Curtain sounded out.
"You… You are not me! Not anymore! As long as these guys are here for me, I can change." This voice belonged to Charlotte. Though hearing her exclaiming something like that made me proud, I was more worried with the circumstances. As even I wasn't able to check what was behind this veil pulsing now in red, I was clueless of what caused her to burst out in such a manner. "It can't be! Is she facing her Shadow?" Yukiko made a quick deduction. "Crap! Elizabeth mentioned something like that before. She rejected it, so she might be in serious troubles!" Yu Narukami grabbed his sword and charged at the Curtain, but he wasn't the first one to do so. "Charlie! I'm getting you out of there." Barely holding on his own, Michael somehow raised on his feet and began to repeatedly attack the barrier. With each of the blows, he was being thrown back, although he kept on standing up and continuing with this impossible task. "Something like that won't stop me. I promised I would protect you no matter what. Soter!" His Persona began to thrash its two large shields against the Curtain, but neither that was effective. "Stop him, somebody. I can sense something is going on!" Though I wasn't able to observe more, I noticed a disturbance in time and space, so just in case, it was better to remove Michael to the safe distance. Personally, I couldn't do much about that, so I had to count on Akihiko and Yu to take care of him. "Let go of me, bastards! I'm getting close to break to her." In a desperate frenzy, Michael was attempting to shake off the restricting him hands, but he had no chance and was slowly being pulled back. "There's no certainty. You could be doing exactly opposite." Correct point, although Runcorn wasn't listening to Narukami's reasoning and continuously fought to break free until the moment the Curtain wavered.
Everyone held their breaths. Initially, it was just a single tick, however, it rapidly turned into the whole sequence of effects. Like if someone was trying to forcefully cross through the blockade. "Charlie? Is that you?! Speak to me!" Once again, Michael started to wriggle out, this time stronger than before. Seeing that, Kanji also joined in the attempts to stop him, although then something unexpected occurred. Female fingers stuck out from the Curtain of Time and using this distraction, American Persona user managed to escape the clutches of the three. "I've got you! I'm going to pull you out of there!" And he did as he said. With no regards to his own well-being, Michael began to gradually help Charlotte and this way, a bit below of her wrist was already on this side. Unquestionably, it had to be her. If I recognized this beginning of the green sleeve, her boyfriend would have even less doubts, so he increased his efforts. "What the fuck are you staring at? Give me a hand!" I didn't know whether he was aware of the time limit or not, but he hastened others to assist him. The Curtain was slowly calming down and once it was about to fully settle back to greenness, it would be too late. "Yeah…" Yu nodded and began to pull as well and their force of two quickly transformed into the power of four. Like that, more and more of Charlotte's arm was showing up, however, if they were to keep up in this pace, the whole operation would have ended with failure as the layer of red was diminishing with each second. Others must have understood that too and began to aid the pulling party, even though it sometimes meant basically supporting guys in front of them. This way, regardless of age and gender, soon after everyone able to stand joined the battle. Everyone, but not her.
Elizabeth continued to watch the struggle with a completely blank expression on her face. By all means, she wasn't as heartless to do such a thing on purpose and especially after I witnessed her talking to Charlotte earlier, I was certain that there had to be another reason for her idleness. Probably sensing my gaze on her, she turned and then our eyes met, allowing me to realize what was going on. It wasn't like Elizabeth didn't want to save her friend, she was simply paralyzed by fear. It was the first time I saw her expressing such an intense emotion, which must have been caused by the readings, she also could access. Namely, despite the fact that she was slowly crossing to this side, Charlotte's signal was drastically fading ever since her cry had been heard. For that same reason, I felt like if I was about vanish any second now, but I was more concerned with her. This girl suffered a lot, which left many scars on her heart, so at this point, she was the only one who could turn the tables of this rescue mission. C'mon Charlotte! I know you can do this! Hoping that she received my message, I closed my eyes for a moment, however, it didn't take long before something unforeseen caught my attention.
The Curtain was once again green and the group underneath it dropped back on the ground. Some people were screaming, but the most dominating voice belonged to Michael Runcorn. He was laying down, clutching to a severed arm of his girlfriend and continuously called her name. But there was no answer and there would never be one anymore. Suddenly, my vision began to blur and my body started to dematerialize into the blueish gas. Just before my consciousness faded, I looked at Minako. I didn't approve of her actions, nor the usage of funds left by our grandparents, however, she was still my precious sister, so seeing her in such a state hurt me deeply. Praying that they would find a way to save at least her, I welcomed the grasping me darkness…
