A pair of eyes open to an unfamiliar room. The room was a dark blue and not just the walls were blue - the floor, the ceiling and even the bed upon which the individual was laying upon. The bed itself was very soft with plenty of pillows and a nice comforter on top. It was so warm, the individual didn't want to leave it but curiosity had taken hold. To the left was a closet door to what was assumed to be a walk-in closest, some feathers flowing in and out of the slightly cracked open doors. To the right was a wall with two shelves, each with ten empty picture frames upon them. The frames had a Roman numeral upon them, starting at one and going all the way to twenty. In front of the bed is an elegant vanity table with two people sitting next to it - one in a bean bag that was also the same blue and the other a simple, blue wooden chair. The bean bag had a male figure sitting upon it while the simple chair had a female occupant. In the mirror was a balding man with an oddly long nose and eerie grin splayed on his lips.
"Welcome to the Velvet Room, Honored Guest!" the man with the long nose greets. He wore a suit and was leaning on his gloved hands within the mirror. His bulging eyes watched the new guest get up and approach the vanity with skepticism. "Do you believe in fortune telling?"
"...Not really," the guest replies. The long nosed man chuckles at this reply before waving his hand and a deck of Tarot cards appears in the reflection of the mirror. The guest found it odd that their own reflection was not in the mirror. With another wave of his hand, the deck shuffles and the long nosed man snaps, the top three cards being removed, the rest of the deck disappearing. Each card was flipped over, revealing the Moon reversed, the Tower upright and the Fool upright.
"My my… How curious of a start for your journey…" the man comments. "You keep clinging to something that is stopping your dreams, but you'll come to realize that on your own terms. And then, and only then, can you officially start your journey, Honored Guest."
"Honored Guest. If you could sign here, it would be most beneficial," says the female individual sitting in the simple chair. The guest looks over at the female and upon closer inspection, the female is about 5'9 and looks to be around 16 years old. She has pale skin, golden eyes and platinum blonde hair. Her platinum hair was pulled into a braid that starts on top of her head and to the base of her neck, the rest flowing out freely. She wore a dark blue maid dress that came to her knees, with a black apron tied to it. Blue plaid bow ties were on the hips of the dress and there was one at the base of the neckline. Dark blue stockings came up to below her knees and simple black heels were on her feet. The female held a piece of paper out with a pen to the guest.
"Okay…" the guest says, cautiously taking the paper and pen. The guest reads over the paper and was surprised to see that it seemed a lot like a UA application form. After seeing nothing too suspicious on the paper, the guest signs their name: Todoroki Shoto. Shoto then hands the paper and pen back to the female, who takes it and sends it off to the long nosed man.
"If you ever need our services, you'll know where to find us. We are here to serve you and help you with your journey, Master Shoto," the female bows.
"Oh great, we're giving power to this emo ice cream cone who has daddy issues? This totally won't end horrible!" the male who sat upon the beanbag says sarcastically. Shoto looks over to the male and sees that he looked to be about 6'1 and 15 years old. Like the female on his right, the male had pale skin, golden eyes and platinum blonde hair. The platinum blonde hair was pulled into a sleek and simple ponytail gathered at the nape of his neck. He wore a black dress shirt with sleeves rolled up to his elbows. A dark blue vest is neatly buttoned as a lighter blue tie sticks out a bit messily. His pants are the same dark blue as the vest and the shoes are black dress shoes.
"Alexander! Be polite to Master Shoto!" the female scolds the now dubbed Alexander. The male dressed as a butler just gives a bitch face.
"Am I wrong Hyacinth?" Alexander snarks.
"Be. Polite," Hyacinth threatens, a fist raised. The two only stopped their bickering due to the long nosed man chuckling.
"Apologies for my attendants. They tend to squabble from time to time," the man says.
"Uh… Can I know your name…?" Shoto asks.
"In due time Honored Guest. In due time. For now, you must rest," the man chuckles.
"But I have so many questions-" Shoto starts, only for the attendants to grab him by the arms and bring him back over to the bed, tucking him in.
"Shut the fuck up. If we tell ya in due time, then we mean in due time," Alexander grumbles.
"Rest well Master Shoto. We will meet again soon," Hyacinth smiles, hoping to soothe Shoto from Alexander's rather abrasive comment. After Shoto is tucked in by the two attendants, he falls back asleep as the Velvet Room begins to fade and returns to the world he is more familiar with.
Shoto wakes with a jolt, almost falling off of his bed as he hears his father, Enji Todoroki aka Endeavour, shout for him. It was time for his morning training before he went off to his father's agency. With a heavy sigh, Shoto gets out of bed and changes into a pair of black joggers and a white tank top. He shuffles downstairs after slipping his phone and earbuds into his pocket. He makes his way over to the door to pull on his sneakers.
"You know the drill. Be back in 30 minutes," Enji says, looking down at his son and arms crossed over his chest.
"I know. And then a quick warm-up using my Quirk," Shoto says, his face and voice bland. Enji smirks.
"Good. I've taught you well," the No.2 Hero says before turning and going deeper into the house. With a shake of his head, Shoto steps outside before putting in his earbuds and turning on his music for his morning jog. As Numb by Linkin Park starts to play, the dual haired male starts his usual morning run, thoughts of the dream he had starting to filter into his mind. His eyebrows furrow as he remembers the oddly blue bedroom, the two attendants Hyacinth and Alexander, and then the man with the abnormally long nose. Now, Shoto was not one to believe in fortune telling or Tarot, but the ominous message he was given was sticking out to him.
"'You keep clinging to something that is stopping your dreams, but you'll come to realize that on your own terms. And then, and only then, can you officially start your journey, Honored Guest.' What did that weird man mean by that…? What journey?" Shoto mutters to himself. "Am I clinging to something? Maybe I'm just taking this dream too literally," he says, shaking his head. It was just a dream after all and one shouldn't read into dreams too much. The half hour Shoto jogged for went by quickly enough and before entering the house, he pulls his earbuds out and puts them back into his pocket. He steps into the house and takes his sneakers off before heading towards the training room. Hearing Enji speak, Shoto pauses and listens in, making sure that should his father step out, Enji wouldn't spot him right away.
"Are the preparations ready?" Enji asks. There was a pause as the person on the phone spoke. "Good… Make sure it doesn't escape this time and continue the experiment," Enji says before hanging up. Shoto's eyes widen and he quietly makes his way towards the training room before his father could notice that he had been lingering outside the room. He had been in the middle of a few stretches when Enji had entered the training room and once finished with the stretches, an hour of grueling training began.
The rest of the day had been normal for the most part for Shoto with his internship. Morning training at home, breakfast, arrive at the agency, follow his father around for a morning patrol, lunch, study, a quick training session and then followed by another patrol. Since Shoto was technically not allowed to use his Quirk, he often just assisted civilians to safety and tending to first aid if there was an incident while on patrol. If there were no civilians, he was simply to watch his father deal with the situation. The only thing that had been different as opposed to the past few days was the nagging feeling at the back of his mind caused by the odd dream he had. His suspicions that his father was up to something had only been confirmed by the phone call he overheard that morning. Both of these pieces of information had Shoto a little distracted but not enough to alert Enji that his son was not completely focused on the task at hand. As Enji and Shoto finish their second patrol of the day and start to head home, Enji stops.
"Shoto, I left some paperwork on my desk. Go grab it," Enji says, tossing his office keys to his son. Shoto catches them.
"Okay," Shoto says monotonously before turning and heading back to the agency. The Hero-in-Training knew that this would be his one and only chance to figure out what his father was up to and he hurried up to Enji's office. Sliding the door shut behind him, Shoto walks over to the rather nice office desk that Enji owned. He spots the paperwork right on top of the desk but goes behind it and looks at the keys in his hand. Shoto starts trying various drawers, most of them unlocked and with nothing incriminating. He eventually finds a locked drawer and tries the keys until he finds the correct key. As the dual colored boy opens the drawer, he fails to notice the dream catcher insignia on the wood as he grabs an open letter. He pulls the letter out of the envelope and starts reading it. Shoto's eyebrows furrow as he tries to understand the letter's contents - Personas, Shadows, Cloud 9, Epiales, Territories. Hoping that maybe the sender of this letter would help him to understand more, Shoto's eyes dart to the end and only more confusion arises upon seeing the name Morpheus. Just as he stands up, Shoto yelps as he is suddenly pulled in towards the drawer.
Shoto lands on his ass with a grunt, letter still in hand. As he looks around at his new surroundings, soft, gentle music reaches his ears. He stands up slowly and looks around seeing lush green hills, a soft sunset in the sky and large trees with their boughs full and in bloom. Flowers with pastel colors populate various areas of the green grass and a warm and gentle breeze ruffles Shoto's red and white hair. Shoto feels himself relax a bit in this strange land as nothing felt wrong. He didn't want to leave if he was being perfectly honest with himself - he didn't have to deal with his father here it seemed. With a content sigh, Shoto closes his heterochromatic eyes, letting the warm breeze further relax him, blissfully unaware of the danger he was in. However, his moment of peace and bliss was shortly interrupted as a thick string is wrapped around his torso and he is yanked backwards.
As Shoto is lifted into the air, he manages to turn around as two sets of scissors seemingly grasp his sides. His eyes widen as he comes face to face with a giant, black spider. The spider's face was made of shiny, black silk with eight red buttons acting as eyes that bore into his own two eyes. All eight legs were scissors, the blade themselves being at the end. On the underside, Shoto could just barely make out a red, heart shaped mask that was split down the middle, a golden VI on the heart pieces. The abdomen of the spider was a pincushion with multiple needles sticking out, with the string that had grabbed Shoto retreating into the spinneret. Panic shoots through Shoto's veins as the pain starts to hit and he tries to activate the fire side of Quirk, only for it not to work.
"What? My Quirk isn't working?!" Shoto gasps out loud as he struggles more against the weird spider.
"Heeheehee~ Silly little human… you're helpless here!" the bizarre spider giggles out. The scissor blades tighten, drawing more blood from Shoto who gasps out in pain. "Such power emanates from you… A tasty morsel you shall be for this simple Alluring Widow!"
"LET GO!" Shoto shouts as he struggles more, ignoring the pain to the best of his ability. He lets out a surprise yelp as he's struck by a viscous and harsh wind that cuts his cheek.
"Oh how I love it when they squirm~!" the Alluring Widow says. As the Alluring Widow tightens its grip on the struggling Shoto, the male feels his consciousness start to fade away. A screech from the Widow has him dropped to the floor as fire that came out of seemingly nowhere strikes it. Shoto tries to see his saviours and in front of him, he sees the familiar figure of Aizawa and Shinsou stand in front of him, shielding him from the Alluring Widow.
"Todoroki! Are you alright?" Aizawa calls back, glancing at his student. Shoto goes to answer his teacher but he gasps out in pain as a voice booms in his head.
"Finally pulling your head out of the clouds boy? It's about time you know. The fact that your teacher and a General Course student had to save you is a little embarrassing. But enough talk… Are you ready to write this story with me? Ready to achieve your dream? Or will you wallow in the blinding rage that knocked you down to this sorry state?" the voice says.
"I… I'm ready. I must become a Hero-!" Shoto says, a hand clutched to his head. He doesn't notice the smirks on Aizawa's and Shinsou's faces as they fend off the Alluring Widow.
"Wonderful! I art thou, and thou art I! The contract is complete. Summon me and let's begin this journey of ours!" the voice says. As Shoto opens his eyes again, he feels a sudden weight in his hand. In his hand is a red and white book with the Fool Tarot design upon the front and a chain of fire and ice quills attaching the book to his waist. He slowly stands and the book opens.
"Geoffrey Chaucer!" Shoto instinctively calls out, papers surging around him. Behind him, an average sized male floats in a sitting position with his left leg over his right, simple black pants covering the legs. A long, red winter cloak covers the torso and falls off to the side so that the legs are seen. Red and white split hair is in a simple braid and drapes over the right shoulder. A simple white face mask covers the face, only for grey eyes to peer out. In his right hand is a quill made of fire, while in his left is a sheet of paper made of ice. The sheet of ice twirls up as a blast of ice hits the Alluring Widow, knocking it onto its ass.
"Todoroki! Attack it with us!" Aizawa calls out as he lashes out with his capture cloth. Shoto notices that Shinsou was already running forward with a large black and purple scythe. Instinctively, Shoto runs forward as well, not registering the fact that in his right hand is a sword made of ice and in his left, a dagger made of fire. The red and white haired male just runs forwards to assist Aizawa and Shinsou in taking out the Alluring Widow, knowing that answers would come after they were out of danger. With the three of them attacking all at once while the spider was knocked down, it wasn't long before the Alluring Spider dissipated into nothingness.
"What… the hell… was THAT?!" Shoto pants out, his weapons disappearing for the time being.
"That was what we call a Shadow. Todoroki, you are in another plane of existence called Cloud 9. In this world, Quirks don't work but instead, we gain something called a Persona. The being you summoned with that book, is your Persona," Aizawa explains, his eyes drifting to the book.
"Before you ask what Shadows and Personas are, I'll just tell you. Shadows are the suppressed, negative emotions of humanity. Personas are the opposite of that - they're reflections of one's soul essentially," Shinsou says. He then tilts his head curiously at Shoto's book cover.
"Okaaay… Why does this world exist and what are you staring at?" Shoto asks, eyes darting between the two.
"We're not sure why this world exists," Shinsou answers.
"As for what we're staring at, it's your book. You are the Fool Arcana. You are the most powerful of Persona users if I understand this correctly. Every Persona user has an Arcana associated with them," Aizawa says, rubbing his chin. Before Shoto could even ask, Aizawa and Shinsou hold up their books for Shoto to see. Aizawa's book was black with the Hierophant Tarot design on the cover, a chain of cats connecting the book to his waist. "Mine is the Hierophant."
"While mine is Hermit," Shinsou says. His book was lavender with the Hermit Tarot design on front and a chain of thorns connecting him to the book.
"This… This is a lot to take in…" Shoto says.
"It is. When you return to school after your internship is done, Shinsou and I will explain more," Aizawa says. "Now, it's best you return before it gets too late."
"Right," Shoto says. He bows his head in gratitude to the two before he's directed to an exit to the real world. Shoto returns to Enji's office and hastily stuffs the letter back into the drawer and locks it before grabbing the paperwork and hauling ass to make it home, hoping that his father didn't realize how long he was gone. On the way home, the Hierophant and Hermit designs flash in his mind's eye as Geoffrey's voice comments on having two new connections - one with Aizawa, and the other with Shinsou.