One Last Chance
Chapter 10
S.E.E.S and Orpheus
Sorry for being this late. I had a short writer's block while writing the scenes.
And also, yeah...this chapter isn't very exciting. It's mostly transition. Well, at least the action of the last chapter will have made up for the rest of the fic so far.
But, let's think positive, not only is this chapter 10, but we're finally nearing Tartarus!
Minako opened her eyes and saw Igor, with his usual wide grin and extremely large nose, and sitting at his usual table, before her. She was in the Velvet Room. It looked the same as usual, blue with several doors that led nowhere, or at least she thought. However, something was different.
"Hello Igor," greeted Minato.
Igor's eyebrows rose very slightly, Minako almost didn't notice them, in mild surprise. "Well then, this is certainly new," he said, still mischievously smiling. "Nevertheless, welcome my dear guests. I'm sure you must have many questions," he said, looking at Minako.
"Igor, I-," Minako began.
"I'm sorry, but I cannot help you with that."
"But-!"
"No," he said, not really in a stern voice, yet it made Minako stop asking. "Now then, do you have any other questions?" He asked again.
"…Can we still us some of our more badass Personas-," began Minato before being interrupted by his sister.
"Personae," corrected Minako.
"Whatever!" Minato said, exasperated, "Igor, can we still use Susano-O, or Thanatos, or Helel, or any of those right now or at least at a discount?"
Igor grinned, getting Minato's hopes up. "No." Minato shrank down in his chair, disappointed. "You will have to pay a reasonable fee for them.
"Those Personas-," Minato began, outraged.
"Personae," said Minako again.
"Whatever! They cost an arm and a leg to get them back!"
"Well, that's unfortunate," said Igor with no compassion in his words.
Minato crossed his arms and sunk into his seat.
"How much will change?" Minako asked, and nearly grimaced when Igor's smile grew.
"Well then, my dear guests, that all depends on you," he said. "Do you have any more questions?"
"…Why is your nose so big?" Minato asked.
Igor frowned. "Goodbye!" He said, waving them off.
Minako then found herself looking at an unfamiliar and white ceiling.
"You're awake!" Minako heard Yukari exclaim. She groaned a bit and sat up.
"How long was I asleep for?" Minako said groggily.
"You've been asleep for 10 days!" Yukari nearly yelled while Minako was trying to keep herself awake.
"What about Minato?" Minako asked.
"He's in the room next door, he already woke up too. I'm glad you woke up."
"…What were those things?" Minako asked, pretending to not know about the shadows.
"We call them shadows," she replied.
"'We?'" Minako asked.
"Well, just wait, our senpai will explain it soon," she answered.
"Well…what did I do?"
"Well, that's what we call 'Persona,' it's what we use to fight those monsters. We summon them by…well, using our evokers; those gun-like things."
"…So, we shoot ourselves in the head to summon magical beings…" Minako said flatly.
Yukari laughed nervously and sweat-dropped, "I don't actually know what the thought process was behind the evoker, but it works, but anyway, I'll see you tomorrow at school. I brought you your backpack."
"Oh, thanks!"
"You're welcome, oh, and Minako…"
"Yes?"
"I just wanted to tell you, that I'm the same as you?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well, when I was little, my dad died in an accident, and my mom and I aren't in very good terms right now," replied Yukari looking out the window with a sad smile on her face. "I don't mean to lump us two together but..."
"It's all right," said Minako.
"All right, well...goodbye!" Yukari said, walking out the door.
"Goodbye!" Minako yelled out, waving, before sighing once she couldn't hear Yukari's footsteps. She lay down on her bed and closed her eyes. "I'm not going to fail you guys again...II will defeat Nyx..." She mumbled before going to sleep.
Minako opened her eyes and found herself surrounded in complete darkness.
"Hello?!" She called out, only to receive no response. She walked around a bit, seeing absolutely nothing. She kept walking around before she began to hear a voice.
"You're empty, aren't you?"
"Huh?" Minako asked, looking around, seeing nothing by darkness.
"You truly are zero. You're nothing, empty, worthless," the voice sounded familiar.
Minako began to feel offended. "Who are you?! What do you want?!" She demanded.
"I'm no one, just like you..."
"That's not true, I'm someone!"
"Face it, you only care about your social links because they make you feel important," the voice accused.
"What?!" Minako asked, confused.
"If it wasn't for your social links or your friends, you would be empty and nothing. That's the whole reason you also joined S.E.E.S; so you would be important to people...so you wouldn't feel so empty and worthless."
"Shut up, that's not true!" Minako yelled.
"It is."
"NO IT ISN'T!" Minako yelled.
"Minako...Minako, wake up!"
Minako opened her eyes, Minato was standing over her, his hands on her shoulders. "...You okay?" He asked.
"I'm...fine," she said, shaking her head a bit. What was that dream about?
"Well, all right. Come on, we've got one last check-up, then we've got to head to school, and then we've got to meet with the team," said Minato, walking out of her room.
"All right, I'll be right there!" Minako called out, still a but shaken from that dream. "...Maybe it was nothing..." She muttered to herself.
"So, that day didn't go as planned," said Minato as they walked to school.
"...Why did you lose control of Thanatos?" Minako asked.
"I don't know. I didn't even want to summon him. He just...appeared," replied Minato.
"...He just appeared..." Minako echoed.
"Yeah!"
Minako sighed, and began to think to herself a bit. If Igor wasn't acting hostile towards Minato, maybe she could trust him a bit.
But the fact that he just lost control of Thanatos if he had already been through it once, it seemed a bit...odd.
Her thoughts were distracted when Junpei waved to them. "'Sup dudes!" He greeted.
"Hey Junpei!" Minato said with a smile.
Minako just waved to him.
"Where have you two been? It's been a while."
"Well, Minako tried to cook breakfast, and she ended up giving the two of us food poisoning," replied Minato quickly.
"Wait, what?!"
"Woah, I don't think I want to taste anything Minako makes," Junpei joked.
"I'm not that bad!" Minako yelled, embarrassed.
"Her pancakes were pitch-black, and her bacon was...green," said Minato with a look of disgust and shivered a bit at the fake memory.
"Dang," commented Junpei.
Minako just sighed, annoyed.
"Anyway, I got something to tell you guys!"
"Really, what is it?" Minato asked.
"Actually...I think I shouldn't tell you guys yet."
"What? What a tease..." Minato commented, but with a small smile on his face. "Well, we should probably head to class."
"Oh crap, yeah. Come on, let's go!" Junpei said.
"Minato, wake up!" Minako said, nudging Minato, trying to get him awake again. "We have to go to the dorm. S.E.E.S, remember?"
"It's way too early for that..." Minato whined, trying to sleep.
"You fell asleep in class...again."
"Exactly, way too early."
Minako sighed and shook him again.
Minato sighed. "Fine..." He stood up and followed Minako out of the school.
"So, how will we make things work?" Minako asked as they entered the dorm. The meeting would take place in the 4th floor, so now they had time to talk, even if it isn't much.
"We join S.E.E.S and go from there," he replied.
"So...we just wing it?"
"Exactly!" Minato said, walking to the stairs with Minako following shortly.
"Are you crazy? We can't just wing it," she said while the two walked up the stairs.
"Then what do you suggest we do?" Minato asked.
"We should plan!"
"But we already planned, and it turned out to be pointless as things didn't turn out like they should've."
"..." Minako didn't answer. "Then what is the point?"
"There's always a point, we just have to find it," he said, smiling to his sister. "After all, things would be boring if we didn't have to find it! Now, let's begin our journey."
The twins reached the 4th floor and stepped inside the Command Room.
Inside where Yukari, Akihiko, Mitsuru, and the Chairman sitting on couches and seats, waiting for the Arisato twins.
"Hello!" Minato greeted, going to sit down on one of the chairs while Minako sat down on the couch next to Mitsuru and Yukari.
"Why, hello there, I'm glad you two are okay," Ikutski said.
Minako resisted the urge to tackled him and beat him until she was satisfied.
"I wanted to ask you two something, but before that, I would like to introduce you to someone. This is a Akihiko," he gestured towards the white-haired boxer. "A senior at your school."
"How 'ya doing?"
"Now then, let me ask you this...would you believe me if I told you that a day consisted more than 24 hours?"
"After everything that just happened, I'm willing to believe in everything, even unicorns," said Minato with a grin.
"Yeah..." said Minako. "After all that's happened...I can believe that there's another hour in the day..."
"Well, the 25th hour, we call it 'The Dark Hour.'" Mitsuru said.
"How original," commented Minato.
Mitsuru made sure to ignore his remark, "You two have experienced it before, haven't you? When you first arrived here?"
Minako put on a fake thoughtful position. "You mean when everything turned green and there were coffins everywhere?"
"Exactly, and all the lights were out, and there was blood everywhere."
"And when those monsters come out," added Akihiko. "We call them 'shadows,' and they attack those not in a coffin: Persona users."
"Not to mention, they feed on the minds of those in coffins, turning them into living corpses and they're responsible for many incidents on the news, if not all of them," finished Mitsuru.
"So...they're essentially monsters that attack people and make them into a living corpse..." Minato said after a moments silence. "...And they only appear in a hidden hour...this sounds like a Stephen King novel."
"So, how can you fight them?" Minako asked.
"With the same power you used last night: Persona. Only a few individuals can function in the Dark Hour, much less those who can use a Persona. However, we are fortunate to have found you two," explained Ikutski.
Mitsure opened up a brief case with two evokers and two red arm-bands. "We would appreciate it if you'd join us."
Minato put on a fake thinking pose for a bit before answering.
"I'll join," said Minako first.
"Me too."
Yukari let out a short breath of relief. "I was worried for a second that you would say no."
Ikutski nodded. "Now, for your rooms...why don't you just stay here? It looks like it worked out in the end, huh?"
Minako nodded, trying to get her hands from clenching into fists when everything froze for a bit.
A new Social Link has been established.
"I am thou. Thou art I, thou hast established a new Social Link, thou shall be blessed when creating Personae of the Fool Arcana..."
It was Orpheus' voice again!
And she was right. It is Personae!
Time seemed to get back to normal after that.
Minako lay down to go to sleep when she heard Orpheus' voice again.
'My master, how will you be able to succeed in your journey this time?'
"...Orpheus?" She whispered.
'Yes...'
Minako's eyes widened, this hadn't happened before.
"...This is different..."
Oh hey, no cliffhangers this time...kinda.
And sorry that this took so long.
As always, read and review please!