Chapter 1: The Arrival

The train was filled with mostly empty seats, save for a few salarymen getting home from their jobs late, and one out of place teenage boy wearing headphones. The world was silenced around him, no sound but the music from his MP3 player.

Solitude, what he had desired all along. But even that wouldn't last forever. And he knew. But he relished in the short comfort he was feeling.

But as the train exited the last of the subway tunnels, he was joined not by a fellow passenger, but a bright blue butterfly outside his window.

And at nearly midnight, the brightness of such a creature against the dark, slightly lit city skyline in the distance was all that was needed to distract him from his thoughts and music. He stared at the creature for what seemed like an eternity.

Meanwhile, in a particular dormitory, on the third floor, a faucet is running in an attempt to mask any sound. A teenage girl with tears in her eyes is sitting on the floor, breathing heavily and shaking, terrified. In her hand, she holds a gun. She attempts to calm herself and lifts the gun to her head, attempting to pull the trigger. She can't make herself go through with it, dropping the gun to her side and holding her head in her hands, sobbing softly.

"-dai. Iwatodai. Last call for all passengers. Now arriving at Iwatodai Station. This will be the last stop of the night. All passengers are expected to exit the car at arrival."

Minato Arisato had barely heard the announcement, and was lucky he had. Snapping him out of his fixation with the butterfly that was now gone, he quickly gathered his small bag of belongings and began to stand up. The train slowly came to a stop, the doors hissing as they opened agonizingly slowly, at least in Minato's eyes. He was feeling many emotions, attempting to hide them all behind a mask of apathy. But as he stepped onto the station floor, he realized that one particular emotion was rising above all the rest:

Fear.

It was December 31st, 1999. Minato was 6 years old, and his family driving home from a New Year's Eve party. He couldn't remember all the details, only that his mother was complaining of a headache and thus his father decided to take everyone home.

Sitting in the backseat of the car with his sister Hamuko, Minato remembers falling asleep, before waking up still buckled in the car. Groggily, Minato looked around to find the sky was green and the moon was unnaturally large and yellow. But that wasn't the scariest thing to him.

His parents were not moving. Stuck in place, as if frozen in time.

In fact, the entire world seemed to be stuck in place.

"Mom? Dad?" Minato unbuckled himself so he could grab his parents arms. "Come on, we have to go home." He began shaking their shoulders, their bodies moving limply like a ragdoll, but not responding. Panic began to set in, as he began repeating himself, begging his parents to respond and shaking them harder and harder, his voice raising every demand.

"*yawn* Mmm, big bro, no yelling..." the groggy voice of 3 year old Hamuko Arisato spoke up.

Before Minato could respond with relief that at least his little sister wasn't frozen, he noticed a scene behind his family's car. A girl was just standing there, in the middle of the bridge, her back to him, staring upwards. Minato was unable to see what she was staring at, and had no chance to find out, as suddenly a violent force knocked Minato against the passenger side of the car, along with the car itself going airborne, and hitting the ground with a violent thud. Minato blacked out and awoke days later, unable to convince any doctor or therapist for years that it was more than just a bad dream.

His parents perished in this accident, his little sister being nowhere to be found, presumed dead. And Minato has lived with these memories and emotions for 10 years.

Minato sighed as he brushed the memories away. Yes, he was back in Iwatodai, but he had to remember that he himself chose this path. He could have always gone to Shibuya, or Inaba, and even had an opportunity to travel abroad to Lunarvale in the United States, but Minato was adamant.

I have to do this. I have to come to terms with this.

These inner thoughts of 10 years are what drove Minato to this decision. The long road to recovery could never be complete in his eyes without confronting his past.

"-sponsored by Kirijo Electronics." Minato was able to overhear a PA system as he passed by.

"At the tone, the time will be midnight, 12:00 AM."

"Shit, it's that late already?" A young man holding a can of Dr. Salt could be heard.

"Yeah, guess it's time to head home." Another spoke up.

"C'mon, guys, live a little! We aren't in high school any-" A woman was cut off by the deafening sound of pure silence. A sickening green hue began to overtake the midnight black sky, and the moon began to grow in size.

Minato's eyes widened as he realized in horror, that his nightmares have returned. And he had agreed to walk straight into them.

Author's Notes: Yes, this chapter is much shorter than the original version's, but you can already see how I've changed things up (if you read the original version that is... which I deleted. *chuckles softly*). Anyways, hope you enjoyed, and remember to leave me a review so I can improve upon the later chapters!