A.N. (3/13/21) - It took a while to write this. I was thinking how I wanted to quickly progress through the PQ arc since it's taking a little longer than I was expecting.

Persona (50) - The Hanged Man

The instant Tatkuto's Persona was summoned, the Reaper's attention immediately changed focus from Nagi to Takuto.

Takuto immediately pointed towards the Reaper and shouted out a skill. "Memory Blow!"

His Persona, a strange golden sword-shaped being with tentacles, attacked the Reaper with a physical blow. The Reaper was blown back by the unexpectedly powerful attack.

Nagi's jaw dropped at that. Takuto's Persona was a lot stronger than he expected.

Also, what the heck! Takuto could awaken to a Persona?!

"T-This is incredible," Rise's voice sounded out. "His Persona, I've never seen someone awaken to one as strong as his."

The Reaper immediately got up from where it crashed, pointing its two guns towards Takuto and firing off a barrage of bullets.

A wall of tentacles suddenly appeared in front of Takuto before he could get hit, each tentacle blocking every attack with amazing precision.

"Nagi," Takuto called out to him. "Get out of the way, I'm going to give him something that's going to keep him busy."

"R-Right," still in shock at the change in Takuto, Nagi scrambled away right as Takuto glared at the Reaper.

"Megido!"

The preceding explosion blew everything in sight away. Even from a distance, the force from Taktuto's attack still blew towards Nagi, causing him to grab onto the ground to just barely prevent him from flying away.

A hand grabbed Nagi's arm. "Are you okay?"

Nagi looked up and saw Negi giving him a worried look.

"I-I'm fine."

"Good," and immediately after saying that, Negi threw a fist on top of Nagi's head. "That's for being an idiot. But don't worry, we can take care of things from here."

"We?"

And Nagi saw them. The two leaders of their respective teams both suddenly charged towards the Reaper.

A tarot card appeared in Yu's hand, crushing under his grasp. "Izanagi!"

The gun in Kotone's hand pointed towards her head. "Orpheus!"

Two sounds of glass shattering sounded out, and both of their Personas suddenly appeared before them.

"Zionga!" "Agilao!"

A burst of fire erupted from the Reaper right as a bolt of lightning suddenly struck it. The Reaper cried out as Takuto also took that chance to launch another attack at it.

Negi pulled Nagi's arm. "We better run. Even with everyone here, we're still not strong enough to take out the Reaper."

Letting himself get dragged along, Nagi glanced back and saw that Yu was busy holding back the Reaper while Kotone healed Takuto.

Just as Negi said, the Reaper was still as active as ever, looking as if none of the Persona's attacks were doing anything to it other than annoy it.

Nagi took in a stuttering breath. "Yeah, let's go."

}-{

They barely managed to shake off the Reaper.

Nagi's memories of heading back towards the entrance of the labyrinth were hazy at best. This was the first time his life had ever been in this much danger fighting against an enemy that outclassed them so significantly.

Seeing everyone waiting for them made Nagi wince. He expected them to reproach him, or to lecture him about how stupid he and Takuto were.

Instead, Rise just gave him a soft hug.

"I'm glad you're okay."

Somehow, that was worse than anything he was expecting.

"I'm sorry," he mumbled.

"Just don't cause us to worry like that again," she replied. "We'll forgive you just this once."

"I apologize for interrupting, but there is something I must ask." Mitsuru turned her eyes towards Negi and Nagisa, who was trying not to look her in the eyes. "How were you able to sense the Reaper's appearance earlier? Even Yamagishi and Kujikawa were not able to sense them until we reached the entrance to the labyrinth."

The two of them glanced at Nagi.

"Spoilers," they said in unison.

Nagi sighed at that. "Guess this isn't something I should know."

"Nope," Negi said. "It's still too early in your timeline."

Nagisa spoke after Negi. "Even if you won't remember this, I really do not think this is something that you should hear."

He stood up and awkwardly smiled. "It's okay, I'll trust you two. After all, I probably know myself the best."

They gave a quiet sort of laugh at that, and Nagi walked away so that he wouldn't listen in on their conversation. Sitting down at a nearby chair, he was surprised when a few seconds later Takuto caught up to him.

"Hey," Takuto waved a hand when he neared Nagi. "I didn't think it would be fair if you were by yourself while everyone else talked. So I told the others that I'll be hanging out with you."

"Oh," Nagi blinked at that. "That's nice of you, I guess."

"Yeah…" his voice trailed off after that.

The two of them didn't know what else to say for a moment.

"...hey, listen. I can't say this enough, but I really appreciated that you chose to go with me today."

"We're friends," Nagi simply said. "But forget that, how's it feel to have your own Persona."

A silly sort of grin sported on Takuto's face. "It's - oh, I don't even know how to say it - but it's just incredible. It's like there's just something that's been missing all my life and learning that everything finally makes sense."

Nagi smiled at that, then blinked. "Wait a minute, what was your Persona called again?"

"Azathoth," Takuto answered.

"Azathoth?" Nagi frowned as he tried to place the name. "Wasn't that from something related to Lovecraft?"

"I'm… not actually sure," Takuto admitted. "Isn't that weird though, that I don't know who my own Persona is?"

"Well," Nagi got up from his seat. "We can just ask an expert on the subject. Let's try and find out what kind of Persona you got."

"An expert?" Takuto gave him a confused look. "Who's that?"

}-{

"Hm, I see." Margaret stared at Takuto, who fidgeted in place under her gaze. "This is most unusual."

Currently, the two of them were inside the Velvet Room, where Margaret and Marie were residing. Marie just gave them a somewhat curious glance before seemingly ignoring them. Meanwhile, Margaret continued to stare at Takuto with a serious look and a face that said she found something interesting.

"To think that it would be possible to awaken a Persona in a place like this," she commented. "I had assumed that normal humans who did not initially have Personas would develop abilities like that of the two individuals known as Rei and Zen."

Nagi blinked at that. "Huh, I forgot that they didn't have Personas either."

"About that," Takuto began. "How is it that they are able to fight Shadows when everyone else needs a Persona?"

"This world is a haven in the rift," Margaret answered. "A floating island, gently drifting deep in the sea of consciousness. Normally, you wouldn't find any living humans here. If there were any, one must assume that maybe they fused with an entity such as a Persona or a Shadow."

Nagi blinked. "So Zen and Rei are partially Personas?"

"I am uncertain for sure. But I must say, this world truly cannot be held by the same rules we've followed until now." She suddenly smiled at them. "Now, I believe you came with questions on what kind of Persona you have awakened to?"

"Y-Yes," Takuto stuttered. "I wanted to learn more about Azathoth."

Marie suddenly chose that moment to speak. "Azathoth, also known as The Blind Idiot God, is an Outer God in Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos. He is also considered the ancestor of almost all of the other deities or beings in this mythology, including Cthulhu, Nyarlathotep, Yog-Sothoth, and others."

Everyone turned to stare at her, causing her to blush. "What? I read sometimes when the Nose allows me to go out. Sometimes, I bring books back to the Velvet Room to read."

"Still," and Margaret had a curious look on her face. "To think that you would awaken to that particular Persona while the Velvet Room was in this state. Could it be that this is fate…?"

"What?"

"It is nothing," she quickly said. Turning to Nagi, she frowned. "That said, I'm curious as to why I sense something different about you."

Nagi was confused for a second before he recalled exactly what he noticed earlier. "Ah, about that. For some reason, I seem to have lost all of my previous Sub-Personas. I know I had them up until yesterday, so I'm not sure why they're gone now."

Margaret hummed at that. "Perhaps I may be able to help. Please, follow me."

Nagi walked after her as she led him to the nearby table. "Please, have a seat. And I will try and see if I can discover what is the problem."

As Nagi sat down, Margaret pulled out a deck of cards and began to spread them across the table.

Pulling a card out, she flipped it over and revealed what it was.

"The Hanged Man."

Nagi blinked at that. "Is… that bad?"

"These cards are a means as to determine your fate. While tarots have numerous readings, it is not important to read too much into it now." Margaret frowned. "However, what is important to note is that I did not draw the Moon, which is what you should be associated with."

The Moon Arcana? It's been a while since Nagi's heard someone mention that.

"It seems that something fundamental about you has been changed without anyone realizing it. That might be the reason why you cannot access your previous Personas as you have been able to before." She sighed at that. "Not unlike the rest of the Persona-users, who have somehow found themselves able to now wield a secondary Persona alongside their main ones."

"Could that be the reason," Nagi said before he frowned. "No, then this would have happened yesterday. It wouldn't make sense for it to change now."

"Regardless, I do not believe that this change will be permanent." She gathered the cards together and stacked them into a deck. "This change will most likely revert once everyone returns to their proper timelines."

Nagi stood up and gave a slight bow to her. "Thank you for answering our questions."

"Not at all," she replied. "It is my duty to aide all guests of the Velvet Room, even if that number has increased exponentially since we came here."

As Nagi was about to leave, Margaret called out to him once more.

"One moment, please." Once Nagi turned to face her, she smiled. "Although, I do not believe that this change is necessarily a problem. But rather, a possible solution to our current situation."

She began to walk away after that, and Nagi found himself looking at what she was standing in front of before she moved.

It was the three locked doors that suddenly appeared in the Velvet Room. Each door had a different color, and Nagi recalled how everyone had guessed that they represented a way back to their original timelines.

Blue, purple, and yellow.

Seeing the purple door, Nagi felt something in his chest warm up for a moment.

"Hey, Nagi?" Takuto called out to him. "Are you coming with me? I'm thinking of seeing the rest of the festival today."

He blinked and lost that feeling from earlier. Turning to Takuto, he replied back. "Sure, I'll be with you in a moment."

Nagi quickly left the Velvet Room.