A/N: Well, I think this will be farewell for a while folks, if not permanently. I have a lot of things competing for my time and am in a rough place both physically and mentally. Physically, my back is still achy after physical rehab and it isn't helped by the fact that I'm working 55 hour weeks. Work is work and I hardly find time to do anything social anymore. I am just staggering around, barely able to keep things together and work will only ramp up soon, hard to believe I know. Spending the remaining time typing up this story has turned nigh impossible with my constraints.

There is also the fact that I am getting older really, really fast. I'm not questioning my mortality, but just facing the facts. I never imagined the response I would get for the story or the amount of effort required to keep going on what is essentially an individual effort that was originally supposed to soar past 400k to 500k words without any author's notes. I really regret not hauling ass the first two years and finishing the story, but I always tried to find that balance. Balance as in progressively slower updates, aha. Forgive the laziness.

Mentally, I am in a bad place as well. I don't have any mental issues. It's just that the sudden spiral downwards has me exhausted. And the fact that I found out that the love of my life ended up with someone else within the past month when I was mentally checked out because of my physical struggles. It's hard to put into words how devastated I was and am. That's the way the ball rolls sometimes, but if I was a drinker, I would have reached the bottom of the bottle a long while ago. I don't have the right to continue at this time as your writer because it would honestly come out as a giant piece of turd that ruined the rest of the story that I worked so hard on with the feedback from you all. The 4k words written here were completed before everything went to hell. Then again, it may already suck, I can't tell anymore.

In the back of my mind, I hope I'll come back when things have ironed themselves out. This feeling is temporary or so I hope and letting out my grievances here is incalculably immature. I know that, yet I am unable to stop myself from doing so. Also, to be blunt, producing chapters every 4 months is inexcusable and maybe I had checked out already before all of this. I just feel so battered and feel the walls caving in, I hope you can understand.

~Nowherefast


Chapter 29: Torment

July 7th, Tuesday (Outside Champs de Fleurs, Dark Hour)

Minato P.O.V.

A stray drop of sweat stung his eye, making Minato flinch as he rested after failing to force his way into the hotel. No matter which method he chose to attack with, the black substance covering the building refused to yield. Of course, Fuuka had let him know about the futility of his attempts, but he wouldn't have felt right if he didn't at least try to save them. The sudden change in tactics by the Shadow worried him and he felt part of the blame fell on his shoulders for provoking an enemy.

"I still can't contact any of them," Fuuka said, gripping her hands together anxiously. "The black substance from the Shadow must be the reason for that, but it seems vulnerable only from the inside."

Minato sighed, mopping up the perspiration from his forehead with his shirt sleeve and said, "I guess there isn't too much I can do to help you then. By the way, Fuuka, you mentioned that you felt a second Shadow right before we lost contact with the team, right?"

Fuuka nodded in affirmation. "Yes, I wanted to tell them about the change, but then the Shadow's power surge knocked out all communications."

"Don't worry too much," Minato reassured her, trying to stifle his own doubts. "We knew there was always the possibility of another Arcana Shadow appearing. And besides, we have our best fighters inside to deal with the situation."

"I suppose that's true," Fuuka replied, as she returned her attention to trying to reach their friends.

Aware that Fuuka would inform him if the situation changed, Minato went back to trying to figure out if the lone member of Strega made any movements away from the rooftop. To his dismay, he found that he could no longer sense them there. Panicking, the time traveler got to his feet, but realized that he didn't know the first thing as to how his ability worked. Assuming the worst, he began to think that he would need to enter a direct confrontation with someone from Strega. Though, he possessed serious concerns over whether he could win, let alone protect Fuuka at the same time.

"Minato-kun, what's wrong?" Fuuka asked, dismissing Lucia for a second time as she noticed his agitated state.

What could he say to get her to move out of harm's way? Minato thought. He couldn't say that a stray Shadow loomed nearby when Fuuka could see through that ruse using her powers. Then again, what other reason could he give? Regardless, the fact remained that the others needed her support as soon as possible, with this full moon cycle proving a larger challenge than anyone anticipated.

Before Minato could say anything, the nagging feeling from earlier came back to him and he could see not one, but three faint figures approaching them from the end of the street. At that moment, his instincts took over and he grabbed Fuuka's hand. To his relief, she didn't object as they made their way to the far side of the hotel.

"Fuuka, I want you to stay here," Minato said, his voice still tense from the stress of the situation.

"Um, would you let go of my hand first?" she asked, looking rather puzzled.

Minato obliged, feeling embarrassed by the fact that he hadn't let go because of his adrenaline-fueled panic. "Sorry about that."

"Why did we suddenly run off?" she continued, casting a curious look at him. "Lucia didn't sense any Shadows approaching us. Are we in danger from something else?"

"Yeah, you could say that," he began, trying to ward off her questions. "Anyways, I want you to focus on reestablishing contact with the others. That takes priority over everything else."

Fuuka didn't look too convinced by him just glossing over her question as she raised her voice and said, "Minato-kun, answer my question first."

Minato braced himself, recognizing a losing fight when he saw one. "Fuuka, something as bad as Shadows were on the way. I had to make sure that you were safe because you're too important to the success of tonight's operation. And look, I know you'll check in with Lucia to see what's happening to me, but don't worry. I'll do whatever is necessary to handle things."

She mulled over his words for a bit and then answered, "I'll believe in you for now and expect a full explanation later, but I have to still ask, did you know this would happen before? Is this the reason why you came back outside?"

Her response made him want to kick himself since each word he muttered made things worse, so instead, he tried to make a joke. "You give me too much credit. I just didn't want to experience Junpei going through puberty all over again inside the love hotel."

With that said, the petite girl gave him a small shake of the head and returned to her duties. An unspoken reply that she understood his intentions well enough and for him to get going.

He hoped that Fuuka would give him the benefit of the doubt with regard to his lack of clear answers. Though, it felt like she could see right past him with that earnest gaze of hers. Part of that feeling probably came from her Persona, Lucia, who despite being blind could identify enemy weaknesses and generate location data. Yet another case of irony, but then again maybe a paradox would fit as a better term.

On the short trip back to the front of the hotel, Minato couldn't help but wonder about the significant changes during this full moon. Sure, there had been differences so far since the start of his trip to the past, but not to this extent. However, any further time to reflect ended because he came face to face with Takaya, Jin, and Chidori.

"So, my eyes did not deceive me," Takaya began in a hushed tone, spreading his arms out in a grand gesture of welcome. "Minato Arisato, it has been such a long time since we've all last met."

Minato's eyes darted back and forth between the three members of Strega. None of them had their weapons drawn or Personas active for some reason. A part of him felt stupid for walking right into a potential ambush, but judging by appearances, Strega didn't come here looking for a fight, at least not yet. As for knowing his name, he assumed that Chidori must've told them about their conversations. Still, that explanation didn't quite mesh with what Takaya just said about not having met each other for a while. This information left Minato a bit tongue-tied as he didn't know how he should respond.

"What's the matter, Minato?" Jin asked, watching him without any of Takaya's apparent amusement. "Why aren't you saying anything? Don't tell me that you don't recognize your old buddies?"

When Minato still said nothing in response, Takaya took a couple steps closer to him and said, "Hmm, the Kirijo seem to be treating you well. No signs of malnutrition or any noticeable physical trauma. How odd, considering they disposed of us in the past like trash. Perhaps you could enlighten us as to how you came to work for them."

As Minato attempted to piece together an answer because of the increasing peer pressure, he locked eyes with Chidori for a second, and experienced a stronger sensation than earlier, this time he could best describe the feeling as a minor static shock. Judging by appearances, she must've felt it too as she grimaced before turning back to her usual countenance. No wonder he thought that there was just one enemy earlier. It seemed like he could only sense Chidori's presence in a way similar to what he experienced while searching for Maiko last time at the shrine. Once again, pointing to the influence of the Hanged Man Arcana present within him.

"It seems that he's shocked by our sudden appearance," Chidori remarked out of the blue.

If Minato didn't know any better, he thought the reserved girl made a small joke in regard to whatever linked them together. Gaining some needed confidence from the unexpected interaction, Minato tried to stall and said, "Well, you're right about that. I don't really know who any of you are. I mean, it's not often that you meet someone new during the Dark Hour, let alone three other people."

"That much may be true, but you seemed to notice that we were watching you earlier," Chidori replied.

"You can never be too careful during the Dark Hour," Minato explained, wondering if they would believe his improvised reasoning. "It's something that I've learned with Shadows attacking on multiple fronts. I've found them intelligent enough to attack where groups remain the thinnest. I just happened to remember that happened during a previous full moon and decided to come back."

To Minato's surprise, Takaya seemed to take him at his word and said, "Well then, it seems that reintroductions are in order. I am Takaya, this is Jin, and she is Chidori. Do any of our names ring a bell?"

"No, not really," Minato said, trying to keep his tone neutral. "Never heard of those names before."

"Are you just trying to play stupid?!" Jin lashed out, gripping the grenade in his left hand. "You couldn't have forgotten what happened to all of us in the past!"

Takaya stuck out his arm to prevent Jin from getting any closer, like a parent holding back a child throwing a tantrum. "Jin, that's enough. You should recognize the situation our friend finds himself in. It seems that there is a good possibility that his mind has been contaminated by the Kirijo through unknown means. Tell me, Minato, do you truly not remember what happened in the past at the Kirijo Labs?"

Minato shook his head, trying his best to keep up the clueless façade.

"How disappointing, but not unexpected," Takaya said, while grabbing the side of his head with the palm of his hand.

Takaya's actions made Minato fidget because the pose reminded him of how Takaya summoned Hypnos. Takaya then placed a hand on his shoulder and the blue-haired teen couldn't help but shiver a little at the sight of gruesome scars etched over said hand.

"Just know that you belong with us, Minato," Takaya explained, his grip unyielding. "I don't know what may have caused you to forget, but know that the Kirijo conducted artificial Persona experiments using street urchins and the orphaned as test subjects. Needless to say, everyone here experienced unimaginable suffering at their hands."

Jin and Chidori turned away at Takaya's account of their pasts, but their leader plowed on, ignoring their obvious discomfort.

"For the longest time, I thought someone would come to rescue us from our suffering," Takaya lamented, his eyes growing wistful at the thought. "How naïve I was back then, I still hadn't tasted the bitter fruit of reality that no one cared about the disappearance of beings at the fringes of society. Hope changed into bitterness, but that feeling drove me forward to survive by any means necessary. My personal methods in that jungle proved quite effective, and the three of you had enough sense to support my efforts, which is why I allowed you to leave with me when the opportunity presented itself. Unfortunately for you Minato, you perished before we gained our freedom."

"I died?" Minato questioned, taking a step back, away from all of them. He didn't need to act for this revelation. Thinking back to what Igor said a while ago, he remembered hearing something about Hamuko switching places with him. If everything else held true, then maybe in his time, she died in the experiments like how the Minato in this setting perished according to Takaya. Maybe, the Minato on this side dying allowed the current him to exist here. Quite a number of farfetched assumptions to keep track of, but he didn't see any fault in his logic.

"I'll spare you the gruesome details of how it happened," Jin replied, looking to have calmed down from his earlier outburst. "We saw your corpse on the gurney after they let you bleed out. The only window that we had in our prison was a view to the operating room. It was the Kirijo scientists' way to keep us in line and forget about any ideas we had about gaining our freedom."

Minato looked around at the strained faces of the Strega members and saw something close to pity. A feeling he thought he would never receive from his rival group. Although, that didn't even begin to make up for the atrocities they ended up committing. Then again, could he make such snap judgments about them? Would he have acted much differently if he ended up in their shoes? He couldn't say for certain one way or another.

"Minato, you do understand now why we're curious now, right?" Chidori added. "We saw you die with our own eyes and now you reappear as if nothing happened to you, all these years later."

"Chidori won't say it directly, but I will," Jin said. "It seems too convenient of an excuse for you to have forgotten your memories. Not only that, but also the fact that you reappeared here of all places where everything started for us."

"There isn't much else I can say right now to ease your suspicion because I don't know any better myself," Minato offered, choosing his words as best he could. "Answering your earlier question, Takaya, I'm not sure why the Kirijo Group has treated me as well as it has when I had no other place to go. My guess is they accepted me because of their initial lack of battle potential. Still, if they knew who I am based on what you said, then I'm sure they never would've allowed me to join their group. Especially, when each member of the team is charged with protecting the lives of each other."

"A valid point," Takaya agreed, rubbing the whiskers on his unshaven chin. "One would think that they would carefully vet anyone that joins your little group. Speaking of that group, would you tell us what they hope to achieve during the Dark Hour?"

Minato looked Takaya in the eye and said, "I think their primary goal is to cover up their own mistakes. Without intervening during the Dark Hour, there have been situations where abnormalities would carry over to the normal world. Like the incident with the monorail that I'm sure you saw in the news."

"I would tend to agree with you," Takaya concurred. "Upon further consideration, however, I feel that explanation lacks a certain greed and ambition that is always present within the Kirijo Group. Helping humanity is far too noble of a cause for them. I'm certain there is an ulterior motive that you are not yet aware of. The answer we seek may lie more in your adventures into the Tower of Demise more than your expeditions during the full moon."

"It's possible that those two objectives aren't mutually exclusive," Jin proposed.

"Whatever the truth is, Minato will find out for us," Takaya said. "Won't you?"

"Yeah, I will," Minato said in no uncertain terms. He didn't see how he would end up telling them that, but the goal for today was to make sure his friends came through in one piece. Starting an open conflict with Strega now remained a bad idea, so he needed to continue to string them along.

"Very good," Takaya said, looking satisfied for the moment. "There is one last issue that we would like to speak with you about tonight."

"Oh, and what's that?" Minato asked.

Without warning, Takaya clutched the side of his heads with both palms this time to summon Hypnos and Minato reacted by crushing the Persona card within his pocket from the sudden danger he perceived. However, Takaya's actions turned out as a ploy to goad Minato to summon Orthrus.

"This is rather unexpected," Takaya said, watching Orthrus snarl at him. "How have you managed to change your artificial Persona from the original one?"

"I can explain," Chidori interrupted. "His current Persona is a natural type."

"What?" Jin questioned, sounding skeptical. "How could you possibly tell that?"

"Didn't you notice how easily he summoned his Persona?" she replied, without any of the tension her teammates exhibited. "There was no pain, no sign of imbalance, and no tool used to manifest."

"How did you become a natural user?" Takaya demanded of Minato. "Do you even need suppressants?"

Seeing how he painted himself into a corner with no way to leave Minato said, "I told you I don't know. I lost my memories of the past, remember? As for suppressants, I don't need them. I was told that they're only needed when a Persona goes out of control."

"You say that you lost your memory," Takaya said, "but this is the second time in a row that you reacted to my actions. You knew how I summoned my Persona manually."

Minato didn't have a response for that and an awkward silence fell on them.

"I will need time to consider what I've learned tonight," Takaya said in finality after some time passed. "You no longer share our fate, and seem to know more than you are willing to let on. I would hope that you're more open to discussion next time. Let us take our leave, Jin, Chidori."

"You're just going to let him go?" Jin argued. "Don't you think he knows too much about us?" When he received no reply, he hurried to catch up with the others into the shadows, leaving behind a sweating Minato, who breathed a sigh of relief.


(Champs de Fleurs Room, Dark Hour)

Hamuko P.O.V.

Hamuko stirred, an indeterminable amount of time having passed by. A groan slipped through her lips as she still felt sore from falling down earlier. As she regained her senses, a quick look around her surroundings revealed next to nothing because the opaque steam from earlier remained. Remembering how everyone fell victim to the noxious gas earlier, she wondered if she needed to escape, but noticed she didn't feel sick anymore from inhaling the fumes. Not to mention that she must have taken in loads of it while unconscious. Figuring she didn't face any immediate danger, the auburn-haired girl tried calling out to her friends.

"Yukari? Akihiko-senpai? Mitsuru-senpai? Junpei?" Hamuko called out to them numerous times, but her voice just carried itself in no particular direction. Sensing something amiss, the leader of S.E.E.S. attempted to find a wall in the hotel corridor to put her back against, so she wouldn't come under surprise attack from behind. In spite of her best efforts at groping through the mist, she found nothing tangible. Growing frustrated with the situation, she tried punching the ground, and winced as the pain shot through her hand. She would've normally done this with her naginata, but found both her weapon and evoker missing on her person earlier.

Not a dream, she thought as she rubbed her hand gingerly. The full moon Shadow had a bad sense of humor if it wanted to take her out like this. With the pain subsiding, Hamuko elected to keep walking in the direction where the steam looked thinnest. Not like any other ideas came to her at this point. After a while, a clearing came into view with a way forward. Two white crosses stood on either side of the pathway with mysterious markings on them. She spent some time examining them, but gave up trying to figure out their meaning and continued, hoping to find an exit.

As she took her next step, a bright light engulfed the area. The sudden change caused an explosion of dark spots in her vision, similar to the sensation of having a photo taken multiple times in rapid succession. In the midst of trying to blink away the spots from the flash, Hamuko noticed the surroundings around her reordered themselves to that of a cityscape during nighttime. A sudden uneasiness filled her because of sirens wailing in the background and a visible fire raging in the distance. She scampered off in the opposite direction and soon found herself at the foot of what looked like a suspension bridge, where a certain person stood to the side bathed in the moonlight of the full moon.

"Minato?!" Hamuko called out breathlessly in surprise. "Where are we? Why are you even here? Where are the others?"

Her barrage of questions garnered no response, making her wonder if he somehow didn't hear her as she drew closer. Yet, even when she got right up to his face, close enough to count his eyelashes if she wanted, Minato's expression remained unchanged. As if the auburn-haired girl didn't even exist in his eyes. Perturbed by the reaction, Hamuko tried to grab Minato's shoulders and shake some sense into him, but her hands slipped through him and she toppled over after losing her balance. Soon afterwards, she heard a fluttering noise in the background and an accompanying blare of a car horn.

A cacophony of noise soon followed, leaving Hamuko wincing at the ringing in her ears. Tires screeched, metal crumpled, sparks flew, and the bridge audibly groaned under the sudden impact. At last, the sedan at the epicenter of the chaos rested on its side, the wheels in the air still spinning. The scene straight out of her worst nightmares played out right before her eyes. Only now, she witnessed the looks of anguish on her parents' faces firsthand as they perished. Finding no strength in her legs to stand, she watched from a distance as Minato ran to the accident site and pulled out a little girl to safety as flames from the crash threatened to envelop them both.

By squinting, she saw the girl wore typical elementary school clothing, who looked pale as a sheet from what just transpired. Though, what caught Hamuko's attention came from Minato, who had tears streaming down his face. Could it have been caused by the smoke getting into his eyes? Forget that, how did Minato even exist here? At first, she didn't recognize the scene so she didn't think much about his presence. However, this painful memory somehow made Minato appear as a teenager like in the present. Then she remembered, how in a similar instance a couple months ago where Minato appeared in a similar capacity. That eliminated the possibility of the Arcana Shadow trying to change her memories in that aspect.

The whirring of machinery shook her out of her thoughts as a blonde woman flipped acrobatically onto the bridge. She had seen this woman before, but never managed to figure out her identity. But now, with the clarity and length of this nightmare, she could scrutinize her appearance like never before. An oversized red bow similar to a student from Gekkoukan, golden accents around her thighs and shoulders, and what looked like oversized red headphones over her ears. Of particular note, this foreign girl seemed to lack any feet, perhaps a result of amputation? Or not, as the girl in question started to shoot bullets like a railgun towards her target. That's when Hamuko realized this person was a machine, maybe even an android.

The machine's target which caused the death of her parents seemed unaffected by the hail of bullets. Hamuko too grief-stricken earlier took a careful gaze at her parents' murderer and had a painful sensation wash over her as the fight continued. A familiar migraine that threatened to push her sanity past the brink. While the body looked different, the head of the murderer appeared identical, the same metal shape, just like the Persona which eliminated Orpheus during her initial Persona summoning.

Her nails dug into the skin on her face, but she didn't care. Blood began to drip, forming splotches onto her clothes. The truth of having the monster that killed her parents sealed into her made the girl want to scream in anguish. In a way, she previously thought her power was her own and made her special, but the truth of the matter remained that a major part of her ability came from this monster. Having that monster sealed into her by some kind of robot with no emotion made her feel worse somehow.