Chapter 1: The Beginning

3/5

Minako was tired… very, very tired. The bright light shone brilliantly on the Gekkoukan High School roof as cherry blossom petals blew around her. Yet, despite all of that, she kept feeling more and more lethargic. Though it wouldn't seem like it, Aigis's cold metal lap felt surprisingly comfortable. She heard yelling in the distance from her friends-no, her family. Were they shouting her name? She couldn't tell. Everything felt fuzzy, as if a mist had descended upon all her senses.

"You are tired aren't you?" Said Aigis, looking warmly down at her. "You can close your eyes. I'll always remain here by your side." The voices and footsteps grew louder and closer, yet Minako had to strain what little energy she had just to hear them.

"The others will be here soon." whispered Aigis. Maybe she should just… close her eyes for a bit. Everything went dark as she descended into her slumber. The dark was somewhat comfortable and warm. She didn't dream, or even think, it was almost peaceful in a way, a sort of cocoon of nothing. Soon, as her friends finally reached her, she was asleep in peace, happy to make it to the promised date.

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Minako awoke with a startle. She glanced around frantically, seeing that the school roof had disappeared, along with Aigis and the others. Where was she? She seemed to have awoken in a jarring place, filled with sickening yellow fog and bizarre landmarks. As she got a better look at the place, even with the fog, she could tell that it was almost a castle-like setting. However, the fog made her feel both nauseous and anxious at the same time. Minako perked up, hearing something from a distance. It sounded like voices! She managed to shake herself out of her stupor and began to head towards the unknown voices. As she followed the strange voices, for some reason she felt weirdly lightweight, as if there was a sort of floaty quality to her movements. She shook that off as unimportant as figuring out what the hell was going on was dominating most of her thoughts.

"I have to save Yukiko!" Rang out a loud, desperate voice. It was a voice Minako didn't recognize. It sounded female, but had the sort of brash tone you'd hear from Akihiko when he ran headlong into danger. She could hear the emotion behind it. It reminded her of the times when someone fell in Tartarus and no one knew if they were still alive, a sort of heart wrenching, yet adrenaline-filled cry. She started to break into a sprint. She may not know what the hell was going on, but she knew that someone was in trouble.

Finally, Minako located the source of the voices, it brought her to some sort of room, decked out with extravagant red curtains. Actually now that Minako had a better look of the place, almost everything seemed to take on a red hue of some sort. From the carpet sprawling out across the floor to the bricks that made up the room, everything was a bleeding red color. She then fixed her gaze upon the sources of the noise. She spotted two seemingly high school aged boys, one with silver hair in a opened up high school uniform and another with brown hair and red headphones, and a guy in a weird bear costume. They watched in horror as another teenager dressed in a vividly green coat seemed to be listening, shellshocked, to a disembodied female voice. The voice crooned on and on about how worthless it was, and how someone named Chie was the only one who gave their life meaning. The green clad teen, who Minako could guess was named Chie, began to stutter out something "Yukiko, I-I…" until another strange voice cut through the stammering.

"Chie is so kind, huh? What a joke." This voice sounded awfully like the stammering girl, yet it was cruel and distorted. The sort of voice that sent shivers down Minako's spine.

"W-What…!?" Yelled out Chie, wiping her eyes and glaring at nothing. A laugh rang out, as another figure came out. Another Chie walked out of the shadows, bearing the same screen coat yet with an inhuman grin and cold glowing yellow eyes.

"Oh man… is that…?!" the brown haired boy began, before he was cut out by the bear-like thing. "It's just like Yosuke! She lost control over her suppressed self! Now it's a shadow!"

"Shadows!?" Now that's something Minako has heard before, but yet it couldn't be. SEES worked so hard to rid the world of the Dark Hour. How could shadows be here? The two boys turned towards her, weapons raised.

"Who are you?!" shouted the brown haired boy, but before she could answer, the shadow spoke out yet again. "Are we talking about THAT Yukiko!? She says I'm protecting her!?" It barked out a malicious laugh dripping with inhuman amusement. "She says she's worthless!" cackled the shadow "That's how it should be, right?" The real Chie took a step back, her eyes wide and her mouth open.

"What-what're you saying?" She said, her voice quivering.

"Yukiko's sooo good looking… sooo fair skinned… so feminine… no wonder all the boys drool after her. When Yukiko looked at me with such jealousy… man did I get a charge out of that!" The shadow let out another chuckle as it spoke these words. "Yukiko knows the score. She can't do anything if I'm not around… I'm better than her… much, much better!" Continued the shadow. "No! I have never thought that!" Snapped back Chie.

"Wh-what're we going to do?" Spoke the brown haired boy to his companion, momentarily forgetting about Minako. "We need to protect Chie." The silver haired teen spoke for the first time. The other two nodded in agreement, it seemed that he was the leader of the group. They moved closer to Chie, but before they could do anything, Chie cried out. "N-No, don't come near me! Don't look at me!"

"Chie, calm down!" Reasoned the brown haired boy as he tried to advance further. "No…No, this isn't me!" Said Chie adamantly. "W-wait stupid! Don't say anything like that!" He warned her, his eyes wide with caution. The shadow began to laugh once again.

"That's right. I'm the one who can't do anything alone… I can't win as a girl, let alone as a person… I'm pathetic..." The shadow sneered gleefully. "But Yukiko… she depends on me… that's why she's my friend… I'll never loosen my grip on her… she's too important to me." Explained the shadow as if it was obvious.

"No… that is not how I think of her!" said Chie, her lip trembling and her eyes closed shut as if ignoring it would cause it to go away. Yet again, the shadow barked out another laugh.

"This thing really likes to laugh..." thought Minako.

"So, you're just gonna turn your back and deny me again? But things are different now. When the time comes… I'll be the one left standing. You won't mind, right? I'm still you!" taunted the shadow ominously. "Shut up! You're…" Chie began to say, as the brown haired one yelled. "Chie, no!"

"You're not me!" Finished Chie. The shadow let out one more final laugh, except this one was different, it was wild, insane, and prolonged. It's cackles filled up the room, reverberating all around. Then, something even weirder happened. The shadow began to change and morph, dark smoke covered it as it transformed into… whatever it was. It had bright yellow skimpy garb with an equally yellow pointed mask. It sat shakily upon a totem of faceless students. Long black hair whipped out from underneath it's hood, tipped with sharp metal edges. It cackled as it cracked it's whip. Whatever this shadow was supposed to symbolize about this girl, Minako decided she probably doesn't want to know why it resembles a dominatrix banana.

"It's coming! You have to use your powers to save Chie-chan!" Yelled the bear.

The two boys readied their weapons again and began. They started slicing and slashing at the monster. Eventually, the silver haired one yelled to the brown haired one to do something. The other teen nodded and a glowing card appeared that he subsequently punched. Then Minako saw something else shocking. A persona appeared! This boy had just summoned a persona, and not only that, he summoned it without an evoker.

"Garu!" He exclaimed as the persona let out a burst of wind magic, knocking the shadow down enough for them to perform an all out attack. The shadow grunted in pain but kept cackling as it let out attack after attack. It almost killed the brown hair boy, but the silver hair one saved him. They continued to fight it.

Minako watched helplessly as the battle went on. She didn't know what to do, but she wanted to help. She hated feeling useless like this, but then she saw it. A glowing blue card floated in front of her. She tentatively reached out her hand and crushed it. She felt a familiar rush of power as Orpheus erupted from her. It felt weaker than she was used to, but it still felt good. She felt alive! She pointed at the shadow and Orpheus rushed forward, grabbing its lyre and bashing a hefty blow onto the rampaging monster. The boys turned back to her, having seemingly forgotten she was there. She looked back at them and yelled "We can talk later! Fight now!" They nodded silently and together they managed to defeat the shadow.

Once the shadow was defeated, they all rushed towards Chie, she was on the ground having been knocked over by the transformation. "Ngh.." She grunted as she slowly pulled herself to her feet.

"Chie are you ok?!" Yelled the brown haired boy, holding his arms out, ready to catch her if she fell. "Yosuke? What happened…?" She asked softly, wide eyes full of confusion and fear. But before the boy, Yosuke, could answer, something caught Chie's eye. She turned and so did the boys and Minako. The shadow was standing there, back in its human form. It said nothing, it's yellow eyes boring into Chie's brown ones.

"What's the matter…? Got n-nothing to say anymore?" Inquired Chie angrily, but Yosuke interrupted her. "Stop it Chie. It's all right" he said, still out of breath from the earlier fight. "B-but" she began to stammer out.

"You're more than that thing" said the silver haired boy gently, nodding encouragingly. "B-but I-" Chie kept trying to stutter out. Minako felt like she should say something, but for some reason it seems like Chie couldn't see her at all. Thankfully Yosuke spoke up instead. "He's right… I went through the same thing. So I can understand… I mean… everyone has a side like this…" he explained.

Chie looked down before glancing over at her shadow. She sighed and turned towards it. "Yeah... I kinda get it now. You are me… a side of me I couldn't forgive… that I tried to ignore… but you still exist. You're part of me…" She said finally, looking back at the shadow in the eyes. The shadow nodded in understanding as it was enveloped in bright blue light. It transformed once again, but instead of becoming a monster, it turned into a persona. It wore a tight body suit that reminded Minako of the ones you see people wear in kung fu movies. A pointed white mask with a visor like a motorcycle helmet and long black hair flowing out from underneath it, and in its hands, it wielded a deadly looking double sided naginata. The persona hovered for a second before turning into a card that descended into Chie.

After obtaining her persona, Chie fell to her knees, seemingly exhausted. The others crowded around her as she began to speak. "I… um, well it's true that a part of me feels that way…" She said, looking at the floor glumly. "B-But I wasn't lying about being friends with Yukiko!" She said fiercely looking back up.

"Like we didn't know that already" replied Yosuke, reassuringly. Chie began to fall again, but the two boys managed to catch her. While the bear thing hovered around cautiously. "Be careful." Said the silver haired one. Chie grumbled, but then stopped "U-U-Uh… what's that?!" She said, shakily pointing straight at Minako.

"At least she can see me now." thought Minako, though, she was a bit confused. Last time she checked, she didn't look that weird.

"Guh-guh-ghost!" She yelped and somehow had enough energy to try to kick Minako. It hurt, this girl sure had a strong kick. But when Minako looked down, she saw the foot was partially inside of her. Both Chie, Minako, and Yosuke began to scream. The bear let out a loud yell. "That's b-beary bearrifying!" It seems the only one who wasn't screaming was the silver haired boy, who was observing pensively.

"WHAT DID YOU DO!?" Screamed Minako. "WHAT DID I DO!? YOU'RE THE ONE WHO'S A G-GHOST!" Screamed Chie back. The yelling went on for a while before the silver haired boy let out a loud "AHEM." Everyone stopped their screaming and turned towards him with rapt attention. "How about we all calm down and introduce ourselves, a little order would help us figure this out." He said rationally.

Yosuke nodded. "Y-You're right partner." he agreed.

"I'm Yu Narukami" began the silver haired boy.

"Yosuke Hanamura" said Yosuke.

"Ch-Chie Satonaka" said Chie, albeit hesitantly.

"I'm Teddie!" shouted the bear costume, cheerfully.

"I'm Minako Arisato" said Minako

"Now..." said Yu, "Who and what are you?" He asked. "I'm not a ghost, t-that's for sure!" Minako replied, her cheeks puffed up angrily. "I was taking a nap with my… friend." Minako flushed a bit at that detail, but continued nonetheless. "A-And suddenly,I woke up here with the weird fog and I heard your voices so I came over here!" Yu nodded and squinted. "How come you can summon a persona?" He asked. "W-well usually I need an evoker, but I saw you guys doing it with your cards and I just tried that! The real question is why can you guys do it!" She said. "Yosuke and Chie had to face their shadows in order to summon it, as you saw with Chie." Yu explained. "I however obtained my persona upon entering this world." Minako was going to ask another question but Yu beat her to the punch "How come you're transparent and Chie's kick went right through you?" Minako eyes widened at that and looked down at her own body. Now that she got a good look at it, it was slightly translucent.

"W-wuh!? Why am I all ghosty?" She screamed, she grabbed her own arm and it felt real to her, if a bit cold. "Oh man, none of this makes sense…" she groaned. "H-ho-how come I couldn't see you until I got my p-persona thingy?" Said Chie, it seemed she was finally done cowering. "You couldn't see her before?" Inquired Yosuke with a tilt of his head. "That's beary strange..." added Teddie, scratching his head. "Perhaps only people with personas can see her." rationalized Yu, glancing from his teammates to Minako.

"W-well the kick still hurt a lot! So I can't be a ghost!" Stammered Minako "Well it still went through you..." replied Yosuke, thoughtfully. They began to squabble once more before Yu clapped his hands. "Let's head back to Inaba and figure this out there. Minako? You're free to join us. You helped us take down that shadow, so I don't think you're out to harm us." This response got nods and "Yes Sensei" from the party. Chie seemed less enthused but nodded anyway.

They followed Teddie as he led them to a weird circular pattern with televisions stacked on top of one another. Minako looked around for this supposed Inaba. Was this where they lived?

"Through here." gestured Yu pointing to the televisions. "Um I don't think that's a door…" questioned Minako skeptically. Yu sighed a bit and proceeded to stick his hand through the television, and then stuck his whole body through until he completely disappeared. Minako watched as one by one they all did the same until her and Teddie were the last ones left. "Go on! Go through!" Said Teddie. "I can't keep this exit open bearever!" Minako hesitantly reaches out her hand to the tv screen, but instead of being met with cold glass, it completely slipped through. "I can't believe I'm going through a TV..." Minako mumbled to herself as she went fully through. As she fell, she felt even more weightless, her breath hitched before she realized she couldn't even take anymore breaths. Yet she wasn't choking, the ground seemed to disappear and as she left the TV world, she felt like she was floating. Before she realized, yes, she was indeed floating.

"EVEN MORE GUH-GUH-GHOST-" Chie began to scream before Yosuke clamped a hand around her mouth. "Shut up idiot!" He hissed at her. Minako looked around, it seemed she was in a department store? That, however, was the least of her worries as her main one was "holy fuck I'm floating how do I get down." She tried to grab onto something but everything seemed to go right through her, slipping through her fingers like air. She began to panic a bit, but no one in the entire store seemed to notice, except for the three teens next to her.

"Clearly..." Yu said. "Something is going on."

Hey y'all! This me and my friend Salty's first fanfic. She was the writer of this chapter and I helped with the editing. I hope you guys enjoy our story and continue to support us. We should have Chapter 2 in the near future. Thank you for reading!