Here it is! The finale! Or maybe not…?
Persona 3 FES: Episode Yukari
Act 12: The Awakening and the Key of Time
Everyone walks towards the final door, Empyrean.
"Could this be... the deepest part of the Abyss of Time...?" asked Aigis.
"You think? It's no different than the rest of the ones we've seen..." said Yukari.
"But that fits, logically. Which means that the Abyss' origin—the reason for the time skips-- is here..." said Mitsuru.
Suddenly, Fuuka remembered something, "...Oh! There's something I had to tell you all. It was in the papers about the Abyss of Time I mentioned before..."
"Oh? You found out about something?" asked Akihiko.
Fuuka sounded worried, "If the report is correct, this place came into existence as a reaction to the creation of Tartarus..."
"Huh? A reaction...?" asked Junpei.
"The gigantic tower rising so high left a gigantic hole in its place. That's the Abyss," replied Fuuka.
Mitsuru then asked, "Does that mean they've known about this for 10 years?"
"They decided it would be harmless if left alone, since it would probably disappear with Tartarus. But it also said that since the Abyss is just a byproduct, there should be no Shadows in it..."
"Wait a sec! There's a friggin' ton of Shadows here! And it if was supposed to go poof along with Tartarus, why are we standing in it now? Did they forget a decimal place or somethin'?" Junpei, getting annoyed, asked.
"No, their logic makes sense. What was supposed to vanish is still here because of some force. One side's removal caused an imbalance..." said Hikari with a serious tone of voice.
"I wonder what that force could be…" said Aigis softly.
"Who knows? Maybe it's somewhere down here. One thing's certain, though: it's deeply connected to all of you," said Hikari.
"What's up with that!? What in the world did we do to deserve this...?!" exclaimed Junpei.
"Well, there's another door... If that's here, then maybe..."
Before Ken could continue, Akihiko cut in, "What's goin' on? Is that the big 'reason' behind all this?"
"If we leave out Aigis, Metis, and me... Whose past is left?" asked Fuuka.
"Hey, yeah... Who else was there that had powers like ours?" asked Junpei.
"……" Yukari remained silent.
"Whatever that 'reason' is, it's strong enough to keep the Abyss of Time from disappearing... And we've come to erase that reason. We could be in for a battle. We should be very prepared before entering," Hikari warned everyone.
"She's right. ...This appears to be our goal. Don't worry. We can do this." Said Mitsuru.
"Enter, new wielder of the Wild Card…"
Yukari heard the voice, "… H-Huh?"
"Yukari? Is there something wrong?" asked Mitsuru.
"N-No, it's nothing. Let's head in. It's our goal right?" she said as she sighed.
As she opens the door, everyone appears to be in a dark room… 'His' room.
It seemed to be the day 'he' officially went into eternal slumber. Another Yukari, presumably the Yukari that day, was sitting beside him, holding his hands, crying.
"Please… I beg you… wake up… for me… please…"
"… Yukari… san…" he replied, but with an extremely weak tone of voice.
She was shocked, "Y-You're… awake… you're okay… right Minato-kun…?!" said Yukari while crying but was trying to smile.
"… I'm… fine… Yukari… can you promise me… something… before I… go…?" he said with his right hand reaching for her left cheek.
"B-Before you go…?! D-Don't say that…! P-Please…!" Yukari continued crying.
"P-Promise me… that you'll stop… mankind from wishing for… the return… of Nyx…" Minato slowly closed his eyes.
"M-Minato-kun… I… no… come one… stay awake…!"
"Come on… let me see you smile… before I go… I… trust you…" he said while putting his hand down and closed his eyes completely.
"No… Minato-kun… wake up… please… s-see…? I'm… smiling…! I know that… you're just… playing around right…? Please! Wake up…!!!" Yukari smiled for a brief duration and went back to crying.
"……"
There finally wasn't a response or a voice coming out from his mouth. He had already passed away…
"… I… I was… the only one who… truly heard… his final wishes… not Aigis… so I will… do whatever it takes… to fulfill it… I'll… I'll do it for you, Minato-kun…!" she said while sobbing and held on to his cold hand tightly.
After a while, the scene changes to a dark and empty place where Yukari's all alone. But 'he' suddenly appears behind her.
"… Aren't you…?!"
He begins to walk away. As Yukari runs after him, he continues to slip away…
"No…! Stop! Wait, don't go!!!" and she falls down.
"Ugh… no! Don't leave me!"
He vanishes entirely, and Yukari gets up.
"Why…? Why did you have to… go? Without you, I… I feel so hopeless. You're the person whom I can trust and also, the person who I've decided to protect although I never show it… It makes me feel like it's my fault that you died, you know?
Yukari kneels onto the floor, tears rolling down her cheeks.
"If so... I wish... I could just return to being a mere ordinary teenager, know nothing about Personas… and also, not knowing about SEES and the members in it… I rather forget about everything that had happened…"
Everyone was back at where the door once was…
Ken was confused, "Huh...? That's... the cause?"
"D-Don't ask me..." said Junpei, who was also confused.
"But... Well... I didn't expect that we'd get to see him again... Although his face was covered by the moonlight shadow and he had his back turned the second time..." said Fuuka.
"...Indeed," said Mitsuru who looked at Yukari.
Yukari remained silent and looked onto the ground.
"But what's it mean? That looked like it was another of Takeba's memory. What kind of clue is that...?" said Akihiko who was confused as well.
"Akihiko… senpai. That wasn't just a memory," she paused as she looked at Akihiko sternly, "It was a dream. The first part of it was a memory and also a dream I dream before the second part. I always wake up, covered in sweat after having that dream. A dream where I chase after him but can never ever reach him."
"Yuka-tan…"
"Sister..." Hikari sounded worried.
Yukari then had a weak smile on her face, "But after a while, I stopped dreaming of that dream entirely. It felt like a weight on my chest lightened and fell off... That must have been... the last time I had that dream."
"… I think I understand now. Maybe Yukari-san's dream is somehow related to her awakening to 'his' powers…" said Aigis.
"… That may be true, but…"
Before Mitsuru could continue, Hikari asked, "Sister... are you still in pain? The person we saw... He's the one who had the same kind of power as you, isn't he...?"
Yukari sighed, "Yeah, supposedly so. But one question, were my memory and dream the big cause of all this? But they really didn't explain anything..."
"To me, what we all saw was only my Sister's memory and dream, but... all of you want to see him again, right? Then the answer is obvious," said Hikari.
"...What do you mean, Hikari-san?" asked Aigis.
"What I said at the start was right all along... The fastest way to solve this would be to eliminate all of you…" Hikari said, sounding serious.
Fuuka finally understood, "So... that means that figure we keep seeing is…"
Mitsuru suddenly cut in, "Wait, something's wrong...!"
A black mist suddenly appears at where the door was…
"What the...?!" exclaimed Yukari.
Hikari then got ready her weapon, "Just as I thought... It's coming... The monster that's taken the shape of your regrets."
From the black mist, a person who looked like Minato, came out of it.
"N-No way…!" Yukari exclaimed, not believing what she's seeing.
"You gotta be kidding... That can't be--!" exclaimed Junpei.
"This is the reason for everything... From the Abyss of Time's failure to disappear, to the presence of the Shadows... This... was born from all of you…" said Hikari.
They then fought the shadow and had quite a rough time. It was even able to use the SEES members' Personas. From Isis, Athena, Trismegistus, Artemesia, Caesar, Kala-Nemi and all the way to Cerberus.
After quite a long time, they finally annihilated it and it disappeared, the black mist following it. Everything went back to normal in the Abyss.
"We did it..." said Akihiko.
"That was... the monster born from us? But it was..." said Yukari.
"Yes... its powers and form were familiar, but it was a Shadow," Mitsuru stated.
"Wait, but that makes no sense. Persona-users are supposed to beat Shadows, right?" asked Junpei who's getting more confused.
Hikari was frustrated, "What are you talking about? Don't tell me you've been fighting them this whole time without knowing... Personas and Shadows are the same thing. That's why you're able to fight them in the first place."
Then she sighed, "Did you all think that Shadows were mysterious invaders or something? Shadows are the lower parts of the psyche everyone has... Suppressed human thoughts given physical form. When people are unable to face their darker selves, they break loose, free from all control. But sometimes, humans with special awareness can tame their Shadows... Those are Persona-users," she explained.
"So Personas and Shadows... They're the same thing, just different names?" asked Junpei.
"Let's say for instance, if someone was able to create Aigis, wouldn't he need to understand this?" questioned Hikari.
"...All those people lost their lives…" Mitsuru said softly.
Yukari thought of her father as Mitsuru said that.
"Then... the reason for all this is our Personas?" asked Fuuka.
"The Shadows' power affects time and even space... Through your Personas, your unspoken desires were manifested... You can't stand to see time move on... You don't want to accept your loss of someone precious... It was by each of your wishes that time stopped moving forward... And as a result, you all became trapped here," Hikari explained as easy to understand as possible.
"So we trapped ourselves...? Hah... It's almost funny..." said Ken.
Akihiko smiled, "Whatever the reason was, we beat that thing. We won. That should solve all this, right?"
"Yes, that is correct. If we return to the dorm, we may be able to go outside," said Hikari with a nod.
All of a sudden, everyone except Hikari receives something glowing that was shaped like a mini-key.
"Is this… a key?" asked Aigis.
"You should be able to leave using those keys. Once you make it outside, the Abyss of Time should disappear on its own," replied Hikari.
"Great! I'm glad this didn't end up taking another year," said Junpei with a smile.
"But these keys... There are eight of them," said Ken.
"That's because each of you played a part in bringing this about. The door probably won't open unless all eight are used at once."
Yukari thought to herself, "'Strength of heart, when united, is barred by no door...' …could it be that those words…"
"So it'll open if we're all around, is that right? Then let's get outta here! Uh... So are we just gonna waltz out through the front door?" asked Junpei, excited to get out.
"That door, or another one... There's still one closed door that doesn't connect to the outside world. The main entrance, or that door... It's one or the other," Hikari replied, noting there's another door.
"A door that doesn't connect to the outside world...?" asked Akihiko.
"Hikari, are you talking about... the door to his room? I just assumed someone had locked it…" said Yukari.
Hikari nodded, "That door has the same feel as the doors to the past we've been going through up to now."
"What do you mean by 'one or the other'? If we open it, won't it just connect to another past?" asked Mitsuru.
"That's right. If you go through the entrance, you'll return to the present. But that door leads to the past."
Fuuka started to not understand, "The past...?"
"The world of the past. You've all been there many times now. But this time, the Abyss will disappear once you go through the door. You'll be in the true past," she said becoming serious.
"Is that true?!" exclaimed Akihiko.
"Why would I lie about something like this? If you don't believe me, then why don't you try leaving through the entrance?"
"To accept the past, or to revisit it... You're saying that in the end, we have to choose," said Mitsuru.
"… So, we're able to revisit the past… huh…" Yukari then looked at Hikari, "Uh hey, which one do you wanna go into, Hikari?"
"I'll go along with whatever you decide, Sister. That way... I'll finally be able to save you from this cursed fate... To be honest, that's all I care about," she smiled at Yukari.
"'Cursed fate'...?"
"Anyway, which one are you going to choose, Sister?"
Yukari just stared blankly at Hikari.
"Uh, hey... W-Why don't we go back to the dorm first? This is way too heavy to decide right here don'tcha think so too, Yuka-tan?"
Yukari just nodded and so, they returned back to the lounge, not knowing what will happen next.
What's Yukari's decision? Most of you should know but, oh well, find out in the next Act!
Author's note:
Well, the fighting will begin soon! Stay tuned for it! And please R & R, thanks!!!