Guiding Light
A Persona 3 AU Fanfiction
By Chris D Henry
Summary: In the year 1999 the sealing of Death within Arisato Minato was the last option left in order to stop the coming of Nyx. However this action had unexpected side effects that wouldn't be realised until two years later, when the soul of Death separates into a separate mortal body. In the Year 2009 Minato once again returns to Iwatodai where the events of that night 10 years ago once again start to affect his life. The real question however is; who is the white haired child who calls himself Pharos and why does he keep warning Minato about the difference between fate and destiny.
Author's Notes: Well another week, another chapter and an interesting week it was. With the Olympics over (GB ended up in fourth place to our complete surprise.) and work easing down a bit I have some of my free time back so I should be back on track for chapter release and I shouldn't miss as many mistakes in my initial scan through.
Anyway this one has quite a bit of original content compared to the others as it deals with the aftermath of the last full moon (2 days in over 7k, sheesh) and it holds a bit less humour than the chapters before hand, I think so I hope everyone enjoys.
On a side note, I want to make it clear that I'm not getting anything from Nerf for product placement. I also want to disassociate myself from the comment Maelstorm969 made in the review for the last chapter, in a feeble attempt to protect myself from the SMT lynch mob. After all that's sacrilege isn't it?
Disclaimer: The plot, characters and location of Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 is copyright of Atlus Co. This piece of fan-fiction has been written for entertainment purposes and no infringement is intended. The alteration to the original Persona 3 contract was suggested by Darkforce222 (and as it was so much more elegant than mine I decided to stick with it).
Chapter 11:
Sunday, 10th of May 2009. 12:48
"Hello Otou-san, Okaa-san."
The teen felt his mask drop as he looked down towards the grave, the wind picking up his fringe and revealing the other window to his soul. After a few moments spent crushing the worry that he looked like a complete pillock, he decided that since he had started, he may as well finish what he came to do. After all, that was important if things with the Dark Hour continued on how they started.
"Sorry I didn't come sooner," he started. "But I wasn't ready..." He paused, shaking his head as he admitted: "Hell, I doubt I'm ready now, but I'm a lot better now than when I left, and I can't keep making excuses."
He never thought that he'd come here at all, to be honest. This was something he wouldn't have even considered before the whole mess with the Shadows started. However, as was its way, things change with time, and since he had realised that he would have to face the concept of his own death, the fewer regrets he had the better.
"Things are going well at school..." He paused, not understanding why he was jabbering off this inane small talk. This wasn't who he was; this wasn't what he wanted his parents to hear. "But that's not why I'm here." He took a breath. "I've started to look into things, the Dark Hour, the Shadows, the reason why I can't remember what happened that night on that bridge..."
He paused, unsure what else he could say. He was used to actually listening to people, coming to his own conclusions and making them as efficiently as possible. He wasn't good at lengthening things out, and he'd never been one to use small talk, although that was getting slightly better nowadays especially compared to after...
...best to look to the future and in that case he knew what to say.
"I'm going to discover the truth about all of this, even if I have to drag it out kicking and screaming," he promised. "I'm not sure how or when, but I'll find a way." A smirk appeared on his face. "After all, Otou-san, there's nothing like solving a good mystery, right?"
He let out a nervous chuckle. This was worse than pulling teeth. To be honest, he was here for one reason, something that needed to be said. Not only for his parent's benefit but also for his own.
"I'm sorry." He looked away for a moment before his eyes refocused on the engraved names on the marble. "I couldn't help you all those years ago. I've spent all these years thinking over it and even if I had the chance again, I'm not sure if I would have been able to save you. I'm not sure if I can save anyone else, but that doesn't mean I'm not going to try."
He couldn't think of anything else to say… well that wasn't true, there was one more thing. Something he knew he had to say.
"I don't know if I'll be back again." He let a single lone tear run down his cheek. "But I want you to know that I miss you."
Deciding that he'd tortured himself enough, he took a step away from the marker giving a half bow before he finished what he started.
"Goodbye."
--
Sunday, 10th of May 2009. 12:56
From his position leaning on a tree a short distance away, Ryoji bowed his head down as his brother finished his broken monologue. He knew why his blue-haired brother had asked him to accompany him: not as a shoulder to cry on it or for moral support, well not in that way at least. It wasn't Minato's way to show what he was really feeling; the blue-haired teen was one to draw his emotions deep inside, and the heir had always worried that one day the end result could be disastrous.
Nii-san could end up like he was after the actual accident again.
"Ryoji?"
The heir turned his attention back towards the cobalt-haired junior, noticing that his mask hadn't fallen back into place. "Yes Nii-san?"
"Do you think I could have stopped it?" the teen asked as he looked down at the grave.
How the hell do you respond with that?
"No," the teen finally decided on. "It was their time."
Anger flared on the teen's face before he managed to rein it in. "Why?"
"Because you can't change the past," the heir explained. "There is no point at looking back and thinking 'if only' or 'what if'. All you can do look forward."
"Easier said than done," Minato sighed as he looked down on the grave.
"Minato." He paused, what he was about to do was risky, but this was for Nii-san. "Why did you accept the power of Persona?"
"How do you...?" the junior started to ask before he paused for a moment then sighed. Had this been at any other time Minato would have been all over him. However he had gambled on the teen's current condition and oddly enough it paid off. "Let me guess: 'You can't tell me.'"
The heir merely shrugged his shoulders.
"Well what else could I do?" the teen asked.
"There is always a choice, Nii-san," the heir stated. "You could have decided to say 'fuck this' and let it kill you."
"No." Quickly answered. "If I had done that then everyone would have been..."
A smile lit the heir's face; his brother was starting to understand. "There is always a choice Nii-san. You chose to accept the reasonability that being the Cipher in order to protect those around you."
The teen looked up at the sky. "So, all I can do is make sure that I don't add to my list of my regrets?"
"That's one way to look at it. This life is transitory; our souls will continue to travel through the cycle of life and death as they always have, and what happens to our conscience, well... that's another story."
Live life with as few regrets as possible, eh?
Well, he wasn't the best advertisement for that. After all, there was something else on his mind as well, one of the things that he couldn't tell his brother, not yet in any case and even if he could, he was stumped about how he would tell him.
How could he tell Nii-san that the only reasonable way to stop the events, which had started to unfold, would result in the Dark Hour existing forever?
There was silence for a moment before the blue-haired teen's voice called for his attention again. "Ryoji?"
"Yes, Nii-san?" the heir asked as he turned to face the teen.
Eyes narrowed as his mask fell back into place. "What the hell do you mean by a Cipher?"
Oh bother.
--
Sunday, 10th of May 2009. 14:42
Kirijo Mitsuru was someone who liked to be on top of everything.
Although she never put it that way since it led to the less sensible members of the male population with the survival instincts of... Well the obvious choice would be lemmings, but that wasn't factually accurate...
...you got the idea.
Anyway, they would turn that phrase into the highly uncreative: 'Kirijo Mitsuru likes to be on top!' which was typically followed by a snigger and, if she was present, swift vengeance in the form of an execution. Back to the topic on hand. Mitsuru was someone who liked to understand everything that was going on around her. Granted it was an impossible task, but she could usually understand, evaluate and prepare for any situation that arose.
Until the mysterious white-haired child appeared to her last night.
After she had returned to the dorm, she had spent a good few hours going over the recorded data from last night. The mission hadn't ended when the child had appeared, so there should be a record. Not to mention that the child must have used a decent amount of power to pull the appear/disappear act he had. Sadly her instruments didn't agree with her assumption. All reports from around Dark Hour, fifty to one minute past midnight showed no real activity, a few negligible changes from the base line, but nothing that she could use to get a reading on her quandary. She'd given up last night, deciding that having a good sleep before returning to the data analysis with renewed vigor would allow her to make some headway.
Sadly, she was mistaken.
Maybe she had to take into account that the boy may not have been there physically at all, he could be a psychic. Granted, there were holes in that theory as well: to make a connection with her, someone whom he'd never met in person, would require a large amount of power and the scanners would have picked that up. Granted that there were ways of dropping the power required for such a link, and decreasing the distance was the simplest method she could think of, but to drop the power required to levels that it would be disguised by the light background noise that the Dark Hour always emitted would require the distance to be so close that it would make the whole thing futile.
The other viable method would be to use an already established link that was already formed between herself and the child. However she'd never met this child before, although he was hauntingly similar and she was positive that the power to create such a link would be high enough and in such proximity that she'd be able to detect it, even without her equipment.
Urgh... Maybe it was time to give it a rest for now, without more details she'd get nowhere.
One thing she could be glad for however, was that she'd deleted the reports from the encounter with the Shadow that had been commonly dubbed 'The Priestess' by the members of the field
team. After she had returned the Chairman had instantly wanted the data from the battle, citing the need to analyse the Shadow in order to learn more about these larger ones.
She had an excuse already prepared, stating that the data had been corrupted, going on to explain that it looked like sections of the memory in her scanning equipment had been damaged, probably from the power surge during the night of their first encounter with a Shadow of this kind and she would have to run a full diagnostic to see if the bad areas could just be ignored or if new memory chips were needed.
To say the Chairman wasn't happy was an understatement, but he had no real reason to complain, after all the memory chips were actually damaged... Granted, that was after she'd taken them out and shorted them, but they were damaged. The downside of this was that they wouldn't be able to go to Tartarus until new chips were acquired. Luckily that wouldn't be too long, Monday night at latest.
And then there was the issue of Arisato. Again. The Chairman was making his view clear that he didn't like the fact that a person who was essentially a newcomer had come along and effectively taken over the field operations of S.E.E.S. coincidentally just as the larger Shadows had started to make their move. It was almost as if he was implicating that Arisato was a spy of some sort, sent to infiltrate S.E.E.S. and sabotage their operations from within.
As far as she was concerned, that was complete rubbish. Arisato's actions didn't imply that he was some sort of spy. Such a person would have wanted to get involved, but also keep a low enough profile to be able to move around with little chance of detection. Arisato couldn't have made a more high profile entrance into their lives if he'd parachuted into the dorm with a neon light sign attached to his chest.
He also didn't have the right mentality to be a spy. His way was to keep his thoughts to himself, evaluate the situation, investigate any questions that hadn't been answered to his satisfaction and then act. Arisato was more of a detective than a spy; he seemed to be drawn to mysteries instead of shadows.
The front door creaked open. Speak of the devil.
"Afternoon, Sempai," the blue-haired teen greeted as he removed his headphones and moved into the dorm. She noted the charcoal suit the teen was wearing, taking into account that he'd removed his tie that was now draped from his left suit jacket pocket, unbuttoned the first couple of button on his shirt, and left his suit jacket undone, his hands pushing it back as they rested within his trouser pockets.
She had to admit he looked good in a suit.
However the most noticeable thing was just how tired he looked.
"Arisato," she returned the greeting before she asked the question on her mind. "Long day?"
"I've just had lunch with the Mochizuki Ryoji," he replied as if that explained everything.
"Ah," she replied as she settled back into her chair. "I've heard about the heir of Mochizuki Enterprises. Is he as..." she stopped for a second trying to settle on the right word before she settled on "...vibrant, as people say?"
"He's a pain in the arse," the teen replied with a wry smile. "But his heart is in the right place, you just have to deal with his head."
There was something that puzzled her since she'd met the heir of a conglomerate that rivalled the one her family had built up in Japan, and dwarfed them internationally. She had read up on the heir; he had been raised in secret, taught by private tutors until he was eight. Once he had hit his eighth year, he had been placed into a boarding school until he had been expelled four years later, and after that he'd returned back to being taught by private tutors. How had Arisato created such a long lasting friendship with someone who shouldn't have given the teen the time of day in such a quick time?
"You seem to know him well," she noted, hoping to hook the teen into revealing more about himself.
Minato let out a small chuckle. "We were placed in the same boarding room," he replied. "The school was pretty strict; they had a policy that if someone in a room caused trouble it was a reflection on the room as a whole, and that's not a good thing when you're rooming with a prankster."
"I can imagine," the redhead replied.
"Anyway, it wasn't long before I became the person charged with keeping the idiot out of trouble... or at least keeping said trouble out of the room so it wouldn't be linked to us." She watched as the teen made himself comfortable on the arm of one of the sofas before he continued. "Half the time that just meant that I got pulled in for the ride. I suppose from there we formed the friendship we have."
A smirk lit up the redhead's face. "I was told by Yukari that when he introduced himself you weren't that welcoming."
"Mitsuru-sempai... Ryoji is trouble-incarnate," he explained. "With everything we're going through the last thing I need is Ryoji turning up and adding more chaos to the mix."
Well she could see the point in his argument, especially after the whole Y.M.C.A. debacle on Friday night.
"I'm going to go and get changed," the teen said as he stood up. "It's best to get the studying out of the way before the mid-terms start."
"Arisato?" She wasn't going to say anything, but she needed to get this off her chest and Arisato was the one most likely not to press too much.
"Hmm." The teen turned towards the redhead, stopping his move for the stairs.
"I wasn't strong enough last time, which resulted in a difficult situation," the heiress started while looking at the book in her lap. She may be willing to say this to Arisato, but she couldn't say this while looking him in the face, otherwise he'd be able to look straight through her. "I apologize for that."
"No need to apologize," the teen replied.
"That's very kind of you," she told him, unable to believe that the blue-haired teen could dismiss this so easily. "But, even if you forgive me, I don't think I can forgive myself. I promise to be stronger if there is a next time."
"Mitsuru-sempai... let me ask you something." He paused for a second, obviously thinking of a way to reply before he continued. "Are you trying your hardest?"
"What?" The comment threw her off guard; she'd expected many things but not that.
"Are you trying your hardest?" he asked again.
She tried to control the rage that gathered with her; how dare he accuse her of not giving her all. "Of course I do! This mission is of..." Partway through her defence, she made the cardinal sin.
She looked him in the eye, seeing her way through the mask and being disarmed by the sadness that showed in his eye.
"Then I don't see what you're apologising for," the teen remarked with a sad smile. "As far as I can see you're operating in a field that isn't your speciality, with a Persona not cut out for it and the resolve to work around that and give your best. You have nothing to apologise for."
"Arisato..." Well what could you say to that?
"You're not alone," he explained. "Akihiko-sempai and I are here too; even Yukari and Junpei want to help. Just give us your best and we'll take it from here."
There was silence for a few seconds; she imagined that the teen had thought that he'd overstepped the mark as he scanned the room for a second before deciding a quick retreat would be in order.
"See you later." With that the blue-haired teen slipped up the stairs and out of her presence.
Damn him.
Of all the people she'd met, Arisato had to be one of the few she couldn't read. His shields were that good, too good for what just happened to be a slip.
He'd let her in.
If you looked at it the Chairman's way then, yes, that did make him a suspicious character, but it was in the same way you were suspicious of the cheeky rogue in movies. The type of character who you always think is going to sell everyone out and then you find out that in reality he's been keeping an eye on the real traitor, who turned out to be a long time friend of one of the other heroes.
In many ways Arisato was a mystery to her, even with the clue he'd just given and she knew that this fact only added to the attraction. However there were things that needed answering and she had a feeling that Arisato Minato would be in the heart of the events that would lead to answers.
All she could do was to prepare, observe, and, when the time was right, react; after all, she liked to have control of the situation. But there was one thing that took some of the pressure away and although he had gone, there was something that she wanted to say, but couldn't to his face.
"I'm glad you're here Arisato Minato."
--
Sunday, 10th of May 2009. 19:42
He felt tired.
To be honest, the day had just drained all the energy out of him, although he'd known that going through with his plans for today, especially after the events last night, would be draining. Of course, this wasn't helped by the actions of the idiot. How the hell could Ryoji expect him not to ask too much when the idiot kept leaking clues that just begged to be followed up?
What the hell was a Cipher?
He knew the definition of the word, and also that it was a term used in encryption. It was something that alone meant nothing, but when it was used in conjunction with other things it became something else entirely.
Hadn't Igor said something similar about the Fool?
Urgh... This was getting nowhere. He'd underestimated just how bad the after effects would be, and his attempts to decipher all of this in this state were frankly futile. Realising that the same thing would be true about studying, he gave up, picking up the remote to the TV and started to browse through the channels...
'Here comes Tanakaaaaa'
'Over the-'
Click
Sod that for a laugh.
There were far more relaxing things than that, things that included pulling out teeth with rusty pliers, or allowing Ryoji to have a free shot with that Nerf baseball bat. Maybe the best idea would be to sit back with a book of short stories and have a casual browse though until it was a reasonable time to get some sleep.
Sadly, his plans were shot to hell as his phone rang.
"Arisato," he answered after receiving the call.
"Hello?" a familiar voice answered from the other end of the line. "This is Elizabeth."
"Evening, Elizabeth-san," the teen stated as he sat up. This could spell trouble.
"I'm calling to inform you of a change in Tartarus." He heard her pause as the sound of ruffling papers could be heard in the background. "I believe that the path that was blocked is now open. I thought you might like to know. ...I wish you a safe journey."
"Right, thanks for the heads up Elizabeth-san." Minato thanked the elevator assistant as his mind worked overtime. Was the change in Tartarus due to the demise of the large Shadow they had defeated last night?
"There is something else..." Oh please, 'whoever's up there' please, not another outing. He'd enjoyed the last one, but he still needed some time to recuperate before he watched the chaos that was Elizabeth descend on another part of Iwatodai. "Please come to the Velvet Room at your earliest convenience, there is another service that we wish to make available to you."
"Alight, I'll see you when I can get over," the teen replied. "Until then, see you later Elizabeth-san."
"Farewell," the assistant replied a moment before the phone call ended.
Well this should be interesting. What could the residents of the Velvet Room offer him this time?
Although he was tired, his thoughts didn't allow the blue-haired teen to sleep for a while.
--
Monday, 11th of May 2009. 07:42
Minato felt better actually. There was nothing like having something on your mind to tire you out. He'd decided that he wouldn't find out what Elizabeth-san wanted until he met her later today, and until then it would be best to put it to a side. The other issue, the mysteries of Tartarus, could only be answered in one place: the tower itself.
"Wazzup!" Minato turned to the side to see that Junpei had fallen in beside him.
"Wazzup?" the blue-haired teen queried as he gave the teen a look of confusion. What the hell was 'Wazzup'?
The black-haired teen just sighed. "Dude, you need to get out more, pick up some of this great modern culture."
Minato simply kept his mouth shut; he'd sooner watch paint dry.
"Today is just an ordinary day, huh?" Junpei stated as he looked around to make sure they weren't being overheard. "That was crazy though, the day before yesterday. I've never had that kinda thrill in all my life... Don't you think it's been getting more exciting lately?"
In a way it had. Since the Shadows and Personas came into his life, things had become more hectic, to say the least. The real question was, therefore, was it something to get excited over?
"I think we're cursed." the blue-haired teen responded as he stopped near the gates.
He looked at Junpei expression of disbelief before the baseball-cap wearing teen finally responded the way Minato had expected. "Dude, are you crazy!? We've got the power of Persona!" Minato watched as the black-haired teen gestured wildly, his voice raised enough that the teen was worried that others could hear. "Plus, we won the battle and saved the city... How sweet is that!?"
The cobalt-haired teen shook his head as began his explanation. "There's an old Chinese curse, Junpei: 'May you live in interesting times.' I have a feeling that we're under the effects of that."
"Doesn't sound that dangerous to be honest," the black-haired teen replied, an uninterested look on his face.
Oh, it was dangerous alright, he was sure about that. Last night, during his thoughts, he'd come to a conclusion: once you had been pulled into the events that surrounded the Dark Hour you could never turn a blind eye, a small piece of innocence was forever lost. This sort of curse may be fine when you wanted something interesting to happen, but what about the times when all you wanted was a few moments of peace?
"Sometimes it's the most subtle things that are the most dangerous," the teen warned as he started towards the school block.
"Eh? Well whatever, Dude." He hadn't really expected Junpei to understand if he was honest. The black-haired teen still had some growing up to do.
As they headed towards their homeroom, Minato realised that in some ways he was jealous of that.
--
Monday, 11th of May 2009. 07:42
Of all the things to start a Monday morning, why did it have to be Classic Lit?
"I'm sure you all remember that midterm exams start next Monday," Ekoda-sensei reminded the class. "If you paid attention during class and studied diligently at home, you should have no problems..."
The blue-haired teen noticed that the teacher stopped talking as his eyes scanned over the place next to him. He wasn't surprised to see that Junpei had fallen asleep to his side, threw a quick and discrete look to his right to see that Ryoji had also fallen to sleep. However, unlike the black-haired teenager, the heir was using skills born from hours of experience. He never knew how the idiot was able to sleep with his eyes open, while only supported by a lone arm that was tucked under his chin and propped against the desk.
"Of course, the best way to prepare for a difficult exam is to sleep through class, like Junpei here," the teacher stated as he gestured towards the obviously sleeping teen. "Hmph... If you choose to neglect your duty as a student and waste your life in idleness, then be my guest..."
Minato held back a sigh as the class let out nervous laughter. After all, almost no one paid any attention to what the man said since he was almost as boring as reading the pieces of classic literature themselves.
"In my day, society was nowhere near as rich and abundant as it is today...!" Oh 'whatever is out there'. "That's why we worked so long and hard; to better our lives. Can you young people say the same?"
Minato was always annoyed by comments like this. Society changes; it was a fact of life. The current generation of adults always went on about how the young people had it easy and were lazy idiots who would never achieve anything. Even when they current generation of school children did well, getting the highest percentage of pass rates for exams for example, it was chalked up to the exams getting easier, not the students getting brighter.
In the teen's eyes it was proof that everyone was becoming more cynical, and that was a bad thing. Cynics were negative people who believed in no one, and that negativity could only lead to a downwards spiral. Minato had always classed himself as a sceptic; he wanted to believe in everyone, but as things were the way they were, he had to look at things objectively, in order to protect himself and those around him from people who didn't think along the same lines.
He wasn't too sure that was the correct definition of a sceptic, but that was the one he'd chosen to follow and he'd stick to it.
The teacher was nowhere near done with his rant though. "Hmm? Our society's material wealth has come at the cost of its spiritual wealth..." No. Simply put, the spiritual wealth had changed as was the way of life. Just because you don't like how it's turned out isn't a reason to say that everyone was spiritually bankrupt. "In 'Ise Monogatari', on the contrary..."
At least some of the people that the teacher was berating refrained from trying to force their morals on others.
--
Monday, 11th of May 2009. 17:18
He'd left school early, partly because he had to go and see Elizabeth about whatever this new service was. Secondly, all the clubs had been cancelled and everyone was running around like headless chickens as the pre-exam panic started to settle in. He never understood why such commotion surrounded these events; didn't panic only make the situation worse?
Ah well, at least he was out of the chaos, all he had to do before he could return to his casual revising was to check to see if there was any other material that could be useful and as such he planned to head for Bookworms.
But first he had to make a quick diversion.
He moved through Paulownia Mall, considering popping into Chagall Cafe before deciding that getting drawn into their addictive coffee mix wouldn't help him manage his time. Moving past the Police Station he entered the alleyway below Mandragora and headed to the velvet door that only he could see. As his hands wrapped around the handle he could feel the velvet-coloured key in his pocket vibrate before he turned the handle and was pulled into the dimension that existed between reality and dreams.
He had returned to the Velvet Room.
"Welcome," Elizabeth greeted the blue-haired teen as he moved up to the seat that was always left for him.
"Good evening, my dear young man," the long nosed master of the Velvet Room greeted from his seat.
"Good evening Elizabeth-san, Igor-san." He gave both of the residents a small bow as he took his seat. "You called me?"
"Indeed," the old man stated as Elizabeth poured him a cup of earl grey. "I wanted to congratulate you on your success on the last full moon. Seeing as you have proven that you have
the tenacity to survive the task given to you by our contract, we've decided to offer you another service to you."
"Another service?" the teen asked looking over the two residents of the room; he had to wonder if holding things back like this invalidated the contract, although he was sure that the old fart had something in the fine print to protect himself. "Any particular reason this wasn't offered earlier?"
"There is wisdom in not placing your eggs in a single basket... Not unless you test the basket's durability first." Minato wasn't sure if he should take that as an insult at being compared to a basket or a compliment because he had been rated as durable enough to maybe live through this.
In the end there was only one way he could reply. "Right."
"In any case, Elizabeth will fill you in with the details," Igor stated as he stood up. "There are things I must handle. Until next time, farewell." With that the old man tapped his cane on the ground and with a flash of blinding light he was gone."
The teen held back a sigh. "That's a pain," he admitted as he leaned back in his chair. "I was hoping to do some fusion."
"I must apologise for my master," the elevator attendant said as she bowed her head. "I'm afraid that his schedule has become rather full with the events that have taken place."
Well the teen couldn't blame the old man for being busy, but something seemed off. "It's no problem Elizabeth-san." Best to get the matter at hand dealt with. "What do you have for me?"
"My master has asked me to inform you about the Persona Compendium," she stated as she placed the book she held under her arm on the table. "You may register any of your Personas in this book, and, for a fee, you can withdraw them at any time."
"So it's like a vault," the teen speculated.
"Not precisely," the attendant corrected. "A Persona is a manifestation of the soul; in the case of those of the Fool Arcana, like yourself, they have many facets in which their soul shows itself. Think of this as a record of the many different faces of your soul."
"But I have to pay to call on one of these facets."
"Everything has a price," the white-haired elevator attendant pointed out. "You must make the choice as to if the given Persona is worth the cost."
He had to wonder what the price Igor had stipulated was when he had given this contract. The only downside he could think of was that he no longer turn a blind eye to what was going on. He hadn't had much innocence left after the events of ten years ago, so all the contract had done was make the path clearer.
One way or another he had to make a choice. "Alright, let's have a look."
By the time Minato left the Velvet Room, he had considered many options for Persona fusion in the future. He also knew where Elizabeth got all the money from in order to fund her fountain filling adventures.
He was sure that if his wallet was sentient then it would be sobbing just at that thought.
--
Monday, 11th of May 2009. 17:47
"Minato-chan!" Bunkichi greeted the teen as he moved through the door.
"Evening," the teen returned the greeting as he moved over to browse at the stacks.
"Too bad you didn't come earlier," the old man stated as he watched the teen remove a few books that had caught his interest. "My wife left for Gekkoukan a while ago."
The teen nodded in reply. He probably just missed her coming on or off of the monorail then. "I'll just have a look around then."
"Well, she won't be gone long," the old man said before putting forward a suggestion. "Why don't you keep me company, Minato-chan?"
The teen couldn't think of any reason not to since he came here to pick up some extra revision material, and he had no doubt that he was more than ready for the tests. "Sure."
"Are you thirsty?" The teen turned to see the older man pull out a couple of cans from behind the counter. "Here, you can have some of this."
Realising that he was parched and had forgotten to carry any sort of drink around with him. "Thank you." Minato let out a small smile as he moved over to the counter.
The old man stopped, looking around the area behind the counter before he muttered. "...Wait, where are the cups?" Realising that he'd said the comment a bit too loudly; he turned to the blue-haired teen and let out a nervous chuckle before he gave his admission. "I'm afraid I'm completely useless without my wife.
Well Minato could understand how such a thing could happen in many relationships; he just hoped that he wouldn't be like that if he ever got involved with someone in the future. Granted that was a big if, even if the Shadows hadn't involved themselves in his life he wasn't sure that he'd get involved with someone in that way. He was far too damaged in many aspects to open himself in that way unless they could draw him out of his defences or they were very special.
So far he'd only met one person who filled one of those requirements, and he was the first to admit that he had little to no chance.
"That's alright," the teen opened up an avenue of escape for the old man. "I'm not that thirsty at the moment."
Before the old man could reply, the front door opened, admitting Mitsuko into the shop. The shaking and scared look in her eyes told the teen everything he needed to know.
Something was very wrong.
"Are you alright?" The teen asked as he moved over to the old lady.
"Th-th-the tree," the old lady stuttered as she nearly lost her footing. It was only the quick response from the youngest person in the store that stopped the upset lady from falling to the ground.
When the teen looked at the older man, a sort of telepathy passing between them as the old man nudged his head towards a chair on the other side of the counter. Once the teen was sure that the old lady was safely in the chair he asked the question that was on his mind. "What happened?"
He waited a few moments as the older lady tried to regain her composure without much success before Bunkichi spoke up.
"See, you have Minato-chan worried too," the older man stated as he finally found the cups. "You oughta know better than to walk that far at your age."
The teen had a fair idea that wasn't why Mitsuko was in this state, but when he saw the look of worry on the older man's face he realised, this must be his way of helping his wife to calm down. He wasn't sure about how effective it could be but then again he hadn't been involved in that sort of relationship for that length of time.
"Here drink this," he stated as he poured some of one of the cans into a cup and handed it to his partner; he moved back to the counter and took the other can and a cup, which he passed over to their customer. "And here's one for you, Minato-chan."
The teen took offered beverage, recognising it as Cylon Tea before he leant up against the counter and poured some of the iced-tea drink into the offered cup.
Once the old lady had calmed down enough, Bunkichi started to explain. "The Persimmon Tree by the walkway in your school..." he started. "My wife heard a rumour that it was going to be cut down, and she almost fainted." Well that explained why she was in such a state. He knew from experience how fond the couple was of that tree. He just wished he knew why. "Do you know anything about it, Minato-chan?"
He wished that he's spent more time in the Student Council now.
"Not that I know of," the teen responded. "I would have told you if I'd heard anything."
"You're too kind Minato-chan," the old man chuckled before his expression returned to match the mood that filled the room. "I'm as worried as Mitsuko. I tried to look into the rumour, but... I think I was 'barking up the wrong tree'..."
Oh Hell, the spirit of the Chairman had invaded the store.
There was silence for a few seconds as the bad pun hung in the air like the smell of a dead... something.
Fortunately, the teen was saved from having to comment as the older woman drew his attention. "Minato-chan, if it's not too much trouble, can you tell us if you hear anything about the persimmon tree?"
It wasn't a difficult request, an easy one to be honest. "I'll ask around," he promised. "Anything I find out I'll tell you as soon as possible."
Thou art I... And I am thou.
Thou shalt have our blessing when thou chooseth to create a Persona of the Hierophant Arcana...
"Thank you, Minato-chan." The old woman gave the teen a smile, obviously feeling better now that he'd agreed to look into the matter.
Minato liked a good mystery; it was something he'd picked up from his father. He knew that the Persimmon Tree was important to the old couple, but he still didn't know why.
Hopefully that would be something he'd find out soon.
--
Monday, 11th of May 2009. DH:07
The old man stood in a position on the Iwatodai monorail track, about three hundred and fifty meters outside Port Island Station, trying to get a feel on the powerful presence that had been there not more than two days ago. He tapped his cane to the ground as he finally gave up. There was nothing left.
This would have been what he was expecting, if things had gone the way fate had directed. The Arcana Shadow would have been destroyed and then joined the piece already held within the seal. To check on this he had brought the seal to him earlier, under the guise of offering a new service, and he'd been suspicious the moment he had entered his presence.
The fragment of death had not become stronger as he'd expected. It seemed to become more constrained as the seal became more powerful.
At first he thought that the seal was too powerful for the fragments to bypass and join together, which could be the case if all the fragments weren't able to merge. However, now that he had been to the scene of the second battle, he could tell something was wrong. The fragment wasn't drifting around aimlessly trying to detect another piece of itself. It was gone.
There was another player at the table.
Well things weren't too bad at least. There were still ten more to go, and one of those may have more success at breaking through the seal and joining with the piece behind it. If not, well... There were other actions that could be taken to bring things back on track.
It was a shame that fate had chosen this path for the young man who had been given access to the Velvet Room, but as a representative of fate he had seen and dealt worse hands than the one that had been currently given. No one could leave the path fate chose for them, for to do so would cause chaos, and chance was an unknown that could place existence in danger. As such, if anyone attempted to leave the path fate chose then he would have no other option but to force the issue.
Sadly, no one could escape fate.
--
Monday, 11th of May 2009. DH:42
The heir sat in his study, a cold beverage to his side and his 'revision' material spread out in front of him. He didn't know why he attempted to do things this way. Systematic study with casual revision before an exam was Nii-san's way of doing things. He just found it... well, boring to be honest. However, he may as well make an effort. If nothing else than to keep the remaining spies that the board had sent to his manor in Iwatodai off the track.
He'd planned to make a visit to see Metis again tonight, but even after a day since he'd watched his brother torture himself with a task he thought he had to do, he wasn't in the best of frame of mind and he didn't want to expose Metis to that. So here he was, within his office with a pile of 'revision' in front of him that he had no desire to even touch.
Things were going well so far, with two down and ten to go and Nii-san becoming stronger at a rate he hadn't expected. Everything seemed on course. So that's when someone threw a spanner into the works.
"Good evening, Thanatos."
The teen looked into the shadows as the white-haired child emerged from the depths. "It's been a while, squirt."
Pharos grimaced, much to the heir's delight; he still couldn't believe just how easily he could get under the child's skin. "Maybe not long enough."
"Aw, don't be like that." The heir let out a mock pout. "I got you chocolate."
Pharos' exposed right eye lit up before he realised that even if it was true, his phantom like body could not eat it. "You're a bastard."
The heir held back a laugh, this was so much fun. "Such language from a child." He shook his head sadly to add to the effect. "Nii-san would be so sad to hear the enigmatic Pharos speak like this."
However his fun was ended by four simple words.
"He's on to us," the white-haired child told the bringer of death, a smirk appearing as the white-haired child watched the look of horror on the heir's face before the seriousness of the situation called for the child to push the small victory to the side. After all, Ryoji didn't need to be told who 'he' was.
"How much does he know?" the teen asked as he stood up and started facing.
"He called in our Cipher to 'offer a new service,'" the child started to brief the heir. "He knows that the fragments can't get past the seal and they are disappearing. He doesn't know how it's happening or who is involved, but he knows that there is another factor in the equation." The child took a breath before he gave his recommendation, "We may have to leave the sealing until after the full moon."
"No." The teen struck the idea down flat. "It's too dangerous for Nii-san if we leave them free for too long."
"But if he starts to monitor events on the full moon, he'll discover that you're behind the meddling," the child argued back. "If that happens everything we've worked towards, everything you, Elizabeth-neesan and I have accomplished so far is for nothing."
"He can't risk monitoring the full moons," the heir explained. "If Nii-san catches him meddling, then all the rules are void and Nii-san will be told the truth about everything."
That was the trump card that they were relying on; as long as the representative of fate was tied to the rules, they had the freedom they needed to get things done.
"The contract will bind him as well," the child realised. "He hasn't realised that it was changed before he signed it."
"In the end all we can do is believe on Nii-san and do our part," the heir admitted. With that topic at a standstill the teen noticed his white-haired companion start to get a bit fidgety. "Something else bothering you, squirt?"
The child looked away before he turned to look at the teen again. "I'm going to ask him tomorrow."
"Ah." Ryoji replied, sounding completely nonplussed by the topic at hand. "It that it?"
"What do you mean: 'Is that it!'?" Pharos looked incensed before his shoulders slumped and his expression filled with worry. "What if he says no?"
"That won't happen." The heir replied as if it was fact.
"How can you be sure?" Pharos asked his face alight with confusion.
Mochizuki Ryoji, the mortal who used to be Thanatos, herald of Nyx gave a simple answer.
"Because if he can accept someone like me, you'll have no problems."
End of Chapter 11
Version Changes:
1.00 – Completed with self-checking for errors.
1.01 – Obligatory changes to fix typos and clean up areas that were a bit rough around the edges.
1.02 – After speaking with Vocarin, it was apparent something was missing from the graveyard scene, this changes things a bit in order to try and correct that.
1.03 – Completed with editing from Vocarin