Guts was once again sitting in his familiar spot at the kitchen table, waiting for his coffee to finish once more. Though he looked stoic and calm on the outside, he was practically abusing the company within his head.

"So you're saying that nothing else is in there?" Guts growled in his mind.

"Yes! That's what I've been saying for the past hour." Puck reassured. The small pixie noticed how the answer made his user just more upset than anything else.

"Then why could I see that fucked up dog and no one else could?"

"I don't know..." That was all Guts called his hallucination. No other description, not even what it said.

"Figure it out, bug."

Silence drowned the two as their conversation was ended with that one order. The house felt lifeless without the presence of the little girl and her father, one of which pulling a shift that drug him far into the hours of the night and the other fast asleep.

Sleep. The word felt bitter in Guts' mind. The past week had left the scarred student with little sleep, at least the kind that truly earned the name and not just fatigue that caused him to pass out for a few minutes. The dreams just got weirder and weirder each night, ripping away any form of rest and leaving him to rely on caffeine and adrenaline to just stay on his feet. It felt like he would be punished any time he tried to lay his head down for a moment or two.

A yawn caught Guts' attention, jolting him awake before he realized that it was his own yawn.

"Damn... I need to get some kinda sleep before I crack."

He lifted his coffee cup to his mouth and took a long drink. The sensation was welcome as the beverage caused a noticeable change in the endurance of the teen, shaking him awake for the time being. It was there that he never recalled ever getting a mug... or that the coffee was even finished. Yet, in his hand, there was the same mug he found himself drawn to filled with that familiar concoction that was the key to his salvation.

"I really am losing it."

Guts made his way through the halls of Yasogami High, noticing the distinct lack of students around him. In fact, he was the only one in the hallway whatsoever. The echo of his footsteps roared as the emptiness provided nothing that could have diluted it. He shuffled himself in his uniform coat, feeling uncomfortable once again.

"I feel like a monkey."

He felt restrained. Like he was being held back by the clothing he was required to wear. He once again found himself groping in the air, hoping to grab a handful of something around his shoulders. The exposure is what annoyed him the most. He needed to be ready for anything, yet he was being purposefully crippled in terms of protection. There was no way that a suit jacket would stop a swor-.

"Wait, what?"

"Oh, it's you." A familiar, and stuck up, voice called out. Ai Ebihara made her way down the stairs as Guts approached them, the sound of her heels clacking against the floor giving him a headache.

"You're Ebi, right?" Guts stated tersely, his eye following the prima donna as she walked up to him.

"To some people!" Ebihara huffed out, remembering the cruel nickname she had. "To you, it's Ai Ebihara!"

"Whatever." Guts took note of her appearance, fresh makeup along with her hair that looked as though she had just finished fighting with it to stay presentable. Though what stuck out the most was the slip of paper in her hand, the words 'Excused' stamped on it in a deep, dark red. "You goin' somewhere?"

"I have to go get some things for the basketball team," Ebihara said as she turned to leave, momentarily stealing a glance at Guts. "If you're available, I could use your help."

"It'd be a good way to get Chie on your good side...!"

"Oh right... You're still here."

"Sports guys too!"

"You sound so confident, yet I know you have no idea if that's even true."

"Just do it, you big lug...!"

"Why are you being so buddy-buddy right now?"

"Were you even paying attention?" Ai asked, frustrated. She wore a scowl that slightly smeared parts of her makeup.

"Yeah," Guts blocked out the near-shrieking voice of the elf in his head, "let's get going."

The two teens walked down the street of Okina City, one clearly more excited than the other. People of all types bumped into the two as they made their way from store to store, none of which anywhere close to being sports related.

"How the hell does a new skirt have anything to do with basketball?" Guts looked down at the bags he was forced to carry for the ice queen that practically skipped down the street ahead of him.

"Oh this is so great!" Ebihara cheered as the duo entered another store, this one selling all sorts of clothing that killed Guts' masculinity just looking at them. "I've never had anyone to carry my things before!"

"Great..." Guts growled out bitterly, "Help someone out and become a human pack-mule." He grit his teeth as he imagined all the ways he could shove the pair of sunglasses with two pairs cartoonish lips for rims down the girl's throat as she placed them around his face.

"I swear, I will kill Chie for this..."

"You know," Ebihara began, the two now sitting in the courtyard of a nearby cafe, "you really surprised me." She took a drink from her beverage with the name that perplexed the young man, who had just ordered a black coffee.

"What do ya mean?" Guts felt his throat burn as he took a large gulp of his order. Though, compared to the agony he felt during his battles with the Shadows, it barely hurt whatsoever.

"I thought for sure that you would hate coming along with me," Ebihara looked off to the side, sounding melodramatic.

"No, it was..." Guts searched around for the right word, "Interesting."

Ebihara gave a frown at his statement.

"I haven't skipped school in a while," Guts shrugged in his seat, the stiff plastic chair reminding him of the Junes food-court. "Kinda nostalgic."

"Good," Ebihara gave a wicked smile, "I was worried you would be a boring square, but you're actually pretty interesting yourself." Ebihara placed her elbow on the table and her head in her hand. Her smile melted into a much kinder one. "We should hang out again! But maybe we should do it after school. Okay?"

"Good grief..."

"So what are you waiting for...? Do it."

Guts laid on his knees, blood spilling from his body in buckets. His armor was broken and shattered, his cloak torn to pieces and what was left barely hung on, his weapons laid destroyed before him. Even his massive sword was split apart, fragments of broken iron and uneven pieces littered the ground before him. Every breath felt harder to take, with results becoming smaller and smaller. He was splashed head to toe in that familiar black substance, almost painting him completely in the dark ink.

He called out to the more slender form before him, clutching a revolver in its hand.

"DO IT!"

The gun made a quick bang as it fired.

Guts was used to the routine by that point.

Already he was in the kitchen and simply stared at the clock on the wall, watching the hours flow. It all felt rehearsed, which it almost was.

The bombardment of dreams during his time in Inaba was still made no sense to him. Why then? Why had he never had them before he arrived? Did it have something to do with that place in the TV?

"Doesn't really matter, I guess."

Still. The mornings weren't the only thing that felt routine. He could tell that he was almost on auto-pilot, every action performed before he even registered it. It all felt robotic. His mind almost felt muddled, it all becoming a haze in his head.

Drip.

Drip.

Drip.

Guts looked down to see something dark dripping into his coffee. Thick, heavy droplets fell into the mug. The stench of copper threatened to choke him as he realized what it was.

It was blood.

"That's... not... goo—"

He was unconscious before he knew what had happened.

"Hey, Guts!"

It all felt alien. He knew where he was moments before, yet he was no longer there.

"Guts!"

How could he have gotten there? He was passed out on the kitchen floor!

"Dude? Guts, stop ignoring me!"

Something was going on. It was obvious at that point. The whole question was wha-

"GUTS!"

Kou's voice tore him from his thoughts. The basketball obsessed teen had a worried expression as he scanned his new teammate's face. Somehow Guts went from the kitchen at the Dojima residence to the school gymnasium, where he was now practicing with the rest of the team.

"What the hell...?" Guts was wide-eyed as he looked around, seeing the rest of the team practicing without him and Kou tapping his foot impatiently.

"I should be asking you that!" Kou jabbed at his friend playfully, hoping to defuse the situation with humor. It was so weird to see Guts that morning, his personality the total opposite of normal. He acted like a totally different person!

"How the fuck did I get here!?" Guts grew a sneer as he grit his teeth.

"Uh... you walked in?" Kou was mind-boggled by the question.

"NO!" Guts barked out, rage overflowing him. "That can't be true because I passed out this morning! There is no way I could have made it here!"

Kou just stared at his teammate.

"I blacked out hours before school and I just now woke up!" Guts gave the short version of the story, not adding in the nosebleed or the dream he had.

"Dude, you came to school alright," Kou said, almost sounding hesitant.

"What the hell does that mean?" Guts glared at the basketball player, who practically went white as a sheet.

"I mean that you've been acting weird all day, man." Kou stole peeks of his team, seeing that they too were stealing glances at the dark-haired male. It was quite the spectacle that morning.

"Stop beating around the bush and tell me!" Guts practically went white-eyed.

"You've been possibly the cheeriest person in school all day."

The whole gymnasium went dead silent.

Guts merely stared at Kou.

Yosuke and Chie walked together towards the gym, hoping to retrieve Guts and get to Junes. The two felt that they should look over the case notes they made now that they were rested and energized once again. Though... their friend sure acted weird all day.

"I can't believe he helped paint the third floor with the maintenance club..." Yosuke recalled in disbelief. He remembered how he went to the third-year floor to get to the roof, going to get Chie for class as their lunch ended. There he saw Guts, splattered head to toe in paint and laughing with some of the seniors as they repainted the halls.

"I can't believe how he helped the drama club..." Chie saw the school listings for their latest performance. Why Guts auditioned to be in 'Macbeth vs. 1984', she will never know...

The duo was unable to ever actually speak with him that day, all three kept separate by clubs and differing class schedules beyond Homeroom and lunch. Still, they knew what he was like. So they could tell that something was very wrong.

The girlish shriek helped bolster their fear.

"Wh-What was that!" Yosuke called out nervously as they shot down the halls, rushing to the source of the sound as fast as they could.

"I don't know!" Chie called out, making much better progress than Yosuke due to her 'training'.

The solid double-doors greeted the two as they reached their destination. Ironically, it being the same as their original goal.

"Let's do this!" Chie gave a heavy kick to the door, nearly breaking both off their hinges.

Guts walked with Ebihara outside of the gymnasium, taking shelter from the coming rain with the sidewalk awning. She had walked in just as Guts was told about his strange behavior. It turned out that he was nice with everyone during his blackout, including Ebihara.

"You also helped out Ayane, that terrible band player, with her trombone. She still sucks, but just not as bad." Ebihara was counting off all the good deeds he had performed on her fingers, already on her fifth and moving on to the next hand. "You volunteered to teach the sewing class when the teacher stepped out for a bit. Which I gotta say, I had no idea you were that good."

"I've never sewn in my life..."

"You acted all arm-chair therapist to some girl who was crying her eyes out in the bathroom."

"What the hell...?"

"You saved a dog that got lost and gave it back to the blind kid."

"I hate dogs..."

"You found out what one of the girls was interested in and told the guy that liked her."

"You've gotta be kidding me!"

"You also helped translate for a little kid that could only speak Spanish because he got separated from his mom."

"I ONLY KNOW FUCKING-!"

"You also-"

"I get it!" Guts smacked his face with a palm in embarrassment. He couldn't help but think about how much of a jackass he must have been. What the hell happened? He went from passing out in the kitchen to being a saint for a few hours? That didn't make any sense!

It was all getting jumbled in his head. He needed to clear his mind. Just blow off some steam for a few hours and get himself back on track.

"Come on! Let's go kill something. It's been too long, and I'm way outta practice...!" The menacing growl of the Hound offered. Though... A few hours in the TV world didn't sound too bad. Just a few... Not too long! Just enough to tide him over.

"H-Hey," Ebihara called out nervously, twiddling her fingers as she bit her lip, "d-did you do what I asked you to do?"

"What was that?" Guts couldn't recall what favor she asked him to do for her. Hopefully it wasn't too stupi-.

"You were supposed to find out what girl Ichijo liked!" Ebihara huffed, her face as red as a beet.

"Fuck my life..."

There was absolutely no way he was budging on this one! He'd rather go to some all-male bathhouse than make himself look that idiotic! There was no way in hell he was going to ask Kou-!

"You wanna know what!?" Kou went red in the face as he placed his icepack over his testicles, which made an introduction with the metallic fist of Guts not too long ago. That guy had serious issues...

"Some girl asked me to find out." Guts admitted tersely. He still had some form of dignity.

"W-Well... If you really need to know..." Kou looked around in the supply room the two stood in, the stench of old rubber and rotting wood making them light-headed. The cramped conditions didn't make it any better as the heavy carts full of supplies constricted any breathing room possible.

"Ch..." Kou's face now rivaled Yukiko's sweater as he mumbled out the name of his secret crush.

"Who...?" Guts asked, nearly barking out the order. His day was just getting crazier and crazier... Even his time in the TV world felt somewhat sane in comparison to what his week had been like. It sounded as if they all belonged in some shitty high school show or something...

"Chie, alright!" Kou threw the icebag down, caught up by the moment.

Guts once again merely stared at the boy.

"Oh, go ahead and laugh!" Kou ranted one. "Man, I'm so jealous you get to sit next to her everyday!" Kou stormed out of the supply room, embarrassment overflowing inside of him.

"Oh... shit..."

Guts looked down to see a destroyed Ebihara, sulking in one of the crates containing basketballs.

"I swear to God, if you freak out!"

"I'M GONNA KILL MYSELF!"

Ebihara had tears pouring down her cheeks as she grabbed hold of the chain-link fence on the school's rooftop. Her sobs drowned out the angered bellows of Guts, who had grabbed her in an attempt to pull her off the fence before she did anything stupid.

"I know that Chie chick!" Ebihara had pure venom in her tone, each word hissed out between her wails. "How could I lose to a dog like her? I'm way cuter than she'll ever be!"

Eventually, her energy was sapped and she collapsed into a crying ball on the rooftop. This continued until she had finally calmed herself down and managed to find her voice once again, occasional sniffles still peeking out in her speech.

"I used to be the ugly fat girl when I was younger..." Ebihara closed her eyes as the memories came flooding back. All the anger she felt and how powerless she was to do anything. "All the girls made fun of me and called me names like 'Gross Girl' or 'Piggyhara'..."

"Okay... that last one is fucking hilarious!"

Though Guts had to choke back his laughs as Ebihara continued her tale.

"Then my family came into a lot of money and we moved here. I read fashion magazines like they were text books and looked up tips on how to be cute and popular..." Ebihara felt her mascara stream down her face as her tears flowed once more. "But still... nobody likes me!"

"Because you're a bitch." Guts didn't even try to soften the blow. "You take the fact you worked so hard to get where you are for granted, and treat other people like dirt that don't meet 'your standards'. Then you complain when people don't want anything to do with you." Guts crouched down next to the girl, now sobbing even harder. "You're problem is that you don't know when to tell people to fuck off or give them a handshake."

"Wh-What are you talking about!?" Ebihara couldn't believe that that asshole was critiquing her! What made him so perfect!? He certainly wasn't any Prince Charming himself!

"Hell, I bet you're already thinking of ways to get under my skin for saying all this." Guts smirked as Ebihara eyes grew to the size of dinner plates, showing that he hit the mark.

The air went heavy between the two, Guts convinced he won the mind game between them. Ebihara just stared at him for several minutes, her eyes drilling their way into any conceivable idea to throw him off his game.

"Hey, why don't you and I go out?"

Wait... what?

"What?"

Of all the reactions he had expected, that was not anywhere near one of them. Not even in the top fifty.

"Come on," Ebihara got to her feet and inched herself closer and closer to Guts, "Give me your love..."

"Wh-What the hell is wrong with you!?" Guts panicked as the prima donna pressed her body against his, sliding her face closer. He could feel her breath lap against his cheek as her lips were mere centimeters from his.

"DO IT, OR I'LL KILL MYSELF!"

The sudden shriek caused the already traumatized teen to jump back, falling against the fence as his heart threatened to break from his ribcage. He looked up to see the queen bee holding out her hand to help him out as she wore a mockingly cute smile.

"You're serious?"

"Do you really want to risk finding out?"

"...FUCK!"

Guts' armor clanked and clanged as he adjusted his chest-plate and bandolier. His cloak wafted in the slight breeze flowing in from his room's open window.

"Finally! I really needed this."

Not ten minutes earlier, he received a message from Yosuke. All it said was that him and Chie were going into the TV world for training and that he should come along with them. Needless to say, Guts was excited. It was their day off school, Sunday, and he was finally able to make use out of it.

"After all this high school shit, I really need to blow off some steam."

He wondered if he should be worried about his eagerness to start killing things, but then he decided that he didn't care. Better monsters that no one knew about than people that can get you arrested. Besides, everyone has a hobby. What made his so different? Sure it wasn't college resume material, but it was something that made him feel... worthwhile.

Guts' eye made its way to the massive sword, barely hidden by his futon. The slab of iron that would have made any other blacksmith, besides its creator, smack you upside the head for calling it a blade. Something about it calmed down Guts. He couldn't explain it. But just being around it made him feel peaceful.

"As long as I'm swingin' that thing, I don't give a shit who it's goin' to."

The statement just came out of nowhere. It was like ordering a drink at a restaurant or telling someone your name. It just flowed out from his brain and stuck against his memory. What made him anxious was that he couldn't disagree with it. He really didn't care.

"Doesn't matter." Guts shook the thought from his head. "I gotta get my head in the game."

He opened the door to his bedroom, ready to head to Junes.

"I can finally get some me time."

"I FUCKING HATE EVERYONE!"

What had started off as an optimistic start to his day off from school quickly turned into a frustrating battle with a very familiar trio of students that decided to unload their problems onto him right as he stepped outside.

Ai Ebihara was waiting outside of his house and demanded that they walk around town together, doing nothing else but gossiping about other students and critiquing Guts' armor for its lack of 'style'.

"Honestly, black is so boring and depressing," Ebihara explained, showing her fashion knowledge. "You look like a total emo with all that on. And why are you wearing a bunch of metal stuff on you? Oh please don't tell me you're a cosplayer! I don't need a boyfriend who's a total nerd! I'll just die if that's true..."

Ebihara was not the only one who decided to keep Guts from seeing what Shadows use for a pancreas. Kou and Daisuke both just so happened to be outside of the local bookstore in the shopping district, where Guts was at least granted mercy from the prissy girl as she left him there, her face red when she noticed the blue-haired basketball player.

Only, the athletes decided to do something more humiliating than merely making fun of his outfit. No, instead they did something far far worse...

They posted pictures of him on the internet.

Now Guts was not one to ever really pay attention to what others say about him, a trait he picked up over the years. However, he did know to pay attention when the things said are clearly going to bite him in the ass later. And having your two 'friends' cover their Facebook walls and Twitter pages with pictures of you in a set of armor is nothing short of dehumanizing and inconvenient. He could just smell another incident like the first time he entered Junes coming from a mile away.

"Dude, that junk actually looks pretty cool," Kou said as he inspected the gear Guts wore. "I've always been a sucker for medieval stuff."

"What's with the sword, though?" Daisuke asked tersely, scanning the blade that towered over all three. "How can you even carry that thing?"

"Don't know." Guts turned his head, looking at the handle of the sword Daidara had given him. There was more than question floating in his mind about the old man, but he knew better than to ask just then. He didn't want to risk pissing him off and have him take the stuff back. "It's heavy as hell, don't get me wrong. But I can pick it up just fine."

Guts felt a buzz in the pocket of his trousers, his phone telling him he got another message from Yosuke. His distractions did not go unnoticed by the two he promised to meet at Junes. The entire time he was forced to follow Ebihara, his phone practically exploded with questions about where he was and if he was going to be late. Though more than once he got a message from Chie asking is he was alright, some sounding as if she was panicking.

"Hell is all that about?"

Another buzz shook him back to reality, where Daisuke and Kou were actually waving goodbye as they left.

"Is... is this for real?"

Not risking the chance, he practically sprinted to Junes, the sound of his armor grinding deafening him to all else.

"Ugh... Where is he!?" Yosuke asked to no one, him and Chie sitting at their regular spots in the Junes food-court. Yosuke was tapping his foot impatiently while Chie scarfed down her third steak bowl.

"Guess he's not coming," Chie said after finishing her meal in record time. She was starting to get impatient herself, she was excited to start her new training regime! Even more so since she knew that Yukiko would be joining them when she got better.

"Yeah, guess not," Yosuke shrugged his shoulders, accepting the strange truth. He seemed so excited when he offered the idea...

"Well what do ya wanna do, leader?" Chie asked teasingly, knowing the title got under Yosuke's skin.

"I told you not to call me that!" Yosuke snapped back, showing his annoyance clearly. Why did he have to be nominated for the position...? He was an idea man! Not an executive! "But I do think we should go ahead without him. He's got all those weapons and can use them in battle. We have to rely on our Personas, so we need to strengthen them as much as we can."

"Alrighty then!" Chie hopped up from her seat, pumping a fist in the air.

The sounds of the Junes Electronics Department grew closer as Guts he rushed through the store as fast as he could without raising suspicion... which may have already been a lost cause. He had received a message from Yosuke, telling him that they were going into the TV without him and to try to meet them there if he could.

"You idiots! You're gonna get yourselves... killed..."

Yet again, the empty silence in his head hit him like a brick wall. Where was Puck? He heard him the day before, but he was missing for the second time. Where was he going? Where could he go?

The television they had used to enter the world came into his view, clearing his mind of all other thoughts.

"This is gonna be fun..."

"Tomoe!" Chie summoned her Persona, the warrior spirit floating next to her as it fired large chunks of ice at the familiar Shadows within the Shadow Yukiko's castle. The décor was once again splashed in black sludge as the hordes of corrupted knights were torn to pieces by the teens' Personas.

Tomoe split the creatures apart with her naginata while Jiraiya, Yosuke's Persona, was seeing how many ways he could see a Shadow be split in two by his shurikens.

"Wow! You guys are awesome!" Teddie did his thing and merely sat on the sidelines, watching the battle unfold before him. When they arrived, he did his normal routine of greeting them and taking them to the place they had found before, minus mentioning his growing existential crisis based around his own origins and identity. But it wasn't like that was important in any way.

"Hell yeah!" Chie cheered as Tomoe cleared the hall of Shadows. The clanking and groaning of the broken metal was giving her a headache, but she ignored it as best she could.

"Oh man!" Yosuke called out excitedly. "I'm having the time of my life!" Yosuke could not deny how badass their training session was making him feel. He woke up that morning a normal high school student in a small town, now he was fighting off hordes of repressed thoughts with a magical demon-thing!

More Shadows flowed into the hall, completely surrounding the three. Chie and Yosuke looked like children on Christmas morning while Teddie looked more like a spider with a newspaper coming towards it at a very high speed. Needless to say, he was glad he had no insides, or he would have soiled his suit.

"You ready, Chie?"

Yosuke and Chie were back to back, Shadows pushing closer and closer. It was there that they realized that they bit off way more than they could chew. The clanking grew louder and louder as more and more shadows poured in. It started off as a trickle, one or two at most in a single floor. But now it was an entire waterfall as every time they killed one Shadow, fifty more took its place. The stench of the black ooze was making them light-headed as it grew stronger, smelling like a rotting animal in an old dumpster.

"... Chie?" Yosuke asked worriedly, noticing the lack of a response from his Kung-Fu enthusiast friend.

"Yosuke..." Chie said distantly, almost as if she barely knew he was there. "You should look over here...!"

"Yeah, I know! A lot of Shadows on my side too." Yosuke began to feel a heavy weight press against him, physically held down by the hopelessness of their situation. The damned clanking wasn't helping either!

"No! I mean look over here!" Chie grabbed Yosuke's shoulder, yanking hard.

All that Yosuke saw was a Shadow flying through the air, torn in two. Ooze rained down on the Persona users and even Teddie. They all heard a smash, like a wrecking ball hit the ground, and saw more Shadows fly through the air, all torn apart like they were hit by a cannon.

"Wh-What the hell was that!?" Yosuke covered his head with his arms, shielding himself from the bits of metal and goo that rained down on the three.

"Sensei!" Teddie called out excitedly, a bright smile on his face, though it was stained by the gallons of fluid the Shadows poured on him.

"Guts!?" Chie was the only one that got a clear look at the cause of the mutilation spree, seeing his cloak flowing in the air as he twisted his body, swinging something very large and very heavy.

He looked more like a silhouette than a person, completely painted black by the slime the Shadows sprayed all over him as he revealed their insides to the world. His grunts sounded more and more animalistic as he slid from one Shadow to the next, each one either flying through the air with less limbs than it started with, or with a hole caved in its armor as he swung his metal arm with just as much force as he did his sword.

"Wow, Sensei!" Teddie hopped in place, only getting inches off the ground as he clapped his paws together. "Keep going!"

"That's right... Go ahead. Just let loose and swing that big thing around."

Guts shook his head as he brought his sword down on an unfortunate Shadow, splitting the creature in two and spilling more slime.

"Now isn't the time to think. Just keep swinging your sword."

And he did just that. As more Shadows came for him, he sent their comrades flying towards them in pieces. His sheet of iron that he called a 'sword' cut through five or six at a time, his eardrums almost exploding from the sound of the blade tearing through their armor.

And through all of this, a single thought played through his mind.

"Just need to be the last man standing..."

Igor sat with Marie and Margaret in the Velvet Room. He lacked his trademark smile, and why not? He was not in a particularly good mood. He was going to have to admit he was wrong.

"Why am I here again, old man?" Guts demanded to know, interrupted from his training session with his friends for whatever reason they drug him there for.

"I apologize for the inconvenience, dear guest," Igor began coldly, "but I must warn you now of what your destiny has just revealed to me."

"Let me guess, weird dog thing tries to take me over and make me go nuts?" Guts figured that out days ago! Why did he have to know about that no-?

"You are going to die." Margaret stared blankly ahead, avoiding any eye contact with Guts.

"What!?" Guts and Marie shouted in surprise, one more fearful and the other enraged.

"You're fortune reveals a grave calamity that requires a sacrifice of untold proportions to overcome," Igor explained. "That sacrifice involves your very life as an offering to restore balance." He saw the anger practically boiling within Guts. "I am truly sorry. I did not know your destiny-"

"Fuck destiny!" Guts barked out angrily.

"It is understandable that you are angry." Margaret sipped from her wineglass. "But the mark on your neck has already deemed you as the sacrifice to restore order and bring prosperity. It is your destiny."

"Destiny...destiny...destiny...destiny...SHUT THE HELL UP! How 'bout you save your high and mighty crap for after I've been haunted to death, skullface? Sacrifice? Offering? Destiny? Quit spoutin' out a bunch of cryptic explanations! The point is, this is war! It ain't different from any other war! The last one standing wins! Listen here! I'm beatin' all a' you back down to Hell! Tell those ugly pale-faced bastards for me! If I get hit, I will hit back! Tell 'em leavin' me half-eaten is gonna be the end of you! I'll hunt and kill all those wretched monsters...and all of you...DOWN TO THE LAST ONE! THIS IS...MY DECLARATION OF WAR!" Guts screamed out, rejecting all that he was hearing.

"It does not matter..." Igor said hopelessly. "Your fate has already been planned out. You are merely a passenger on this journey."

"Fuck that old man! That blue one too! Destiny's nothing but a bunch of bullshit! I'm gonna live, no matter what!"

More Shadows exploded through the doors as Guts kept his sword swinging into at least three of them at a time.

"Hey," Chie said to Yosuke, "is it just me, or does Guts look pissed?"

"Yeah, he's got this look in his eye." He noticed how it seemed to go completely blank, leaving it glowing compared to the rest of his body, still a deep inky black.

"Guys," Teddie looked around seeing the hall almost completely cleared of Shadows, "why aren't any Shadows coming for us?"

"Huh?" Yosuke turned around to see that the bear was right. Not a single Shadow came for them, all going towards the one swinging a sword the size of a minivan.

A wild war cry shook the three as Guts fired the cannon in his arm, the explosion rattling the whole castle and leaving giblets where whole bodies once stood.

"Dear god!" Chie hid behind Tomoe as the weapon fired, scaring all three behind the Personas.

On the up side, the hallway was finally cleared. Meat and slime spilled across the walls and floor... or from Guts himself. His breathing sounded ragged, like every breath was getting harder to force into his lungs. His arms felt like they were about to fall off, every muscle in them feeling like they were on fire. He had to rest against his sword, the blade dug deep into the ground as he pressed against the handle. Though he felt like he was about to croak right there, he couldn't keep a vicious smirk from growing on his face.

"How's that... for destiny...?" Guts started to laugh as the thought played through his head once again.

"Just gotta be the last man standing."

And he could be. He was strong. He just proved how much they could hit him, and how much he'd throw back!

"Uuuh... dude?" Yosuke carefully walked up to Guts, trying not to slip on any Shadow entrails. "You... okay?"

"Okay?" Guts repeated breathlessly. "Oh, I'm better than okay. I've never been so fucking happy." His smirk became more sinister as he pressed against the sword.

"Well... guess training's over for today!" Yosuke tried to laugh off the situation, though it only made his bladder weaker.

"R-Right!" Chie said just as fearfully. She was not prepared to see her friend go complete ax-murder-psycho. She and Yosuke made their way to the stairs, Teddie practically skipping behind them, oblivious to the mental state of his 'sensei'.

"I can win! Destiny can go straight to Hell! I'll live, no matter what!"

With that, he pulled his sword from the floor and chained it to the back of his armor once more.

Guts entered the Dojima household, his armor clanking around as he entered the small home. He had not expected anyone to be home by that point, rather Dojima to be working and Nanako to already be asleep by then. Luckily, it wasn't Dojima that saw him.

"Guts, why are you wearing all that stuff?" Nanako asked from her spot in the living room. She scanned over her cousin, seeing his armor and weapons in full view. Being so young, she couldn't comprehend why anyone would be wear or even have the multitude of gear that Guts had with him.

"Job at Junes." Yosuke made the excuse, now Guts was gonna use it himself.

"Wow!" Nanako was blinded from her confusion with pure excitement. "You work at Junes now?"

"Yep." With that Guts made his way up to his room, ready to sleep off the events of the day.

All in all, it was a good day for him.

"Hey, Guts!"

Shit.

A/N

You know the drill. I'm Plague and this is my story yada yada. Anyways! I decided to show off another change from the original Persona canon and add in a bit of the Berserk! As in, Guts is basically destined to be dead. He is supposed to die and he is just constantly fighting that. Persona is chock full of destiny and fate stuff, so it's kind of a perfect fit in a way. Also, I included two word for word quotes in this chapter. One is from Berserk, and the other from my favorite underrated game Splatter House. And I know I skipped over the dream before Sunday. I just couldn't think of anything, and it isn't really necessary at this point. Guts is used to the freaky shit, and it's mainly so he and Dojima can bond over talking about them. He's not really involved at this point of the game... so...

A-Anyway! I finally wrote a battle sequence with the DRAGON SLAYER! All that teasing worth it...? No...? Well... shut up.

Seriously though, leave a review if you enjoyed this story. I really need the feedback so I don't get paranoid and change shit because I think it's broken.