A/N

Hello ladies and gentlemen, welcome to my first real attempt at a Persona fic. This will be focused on Yuki and Elizabeth reuniting with the P3 cast after Yuki gets freed from the seal. I'm also trying to write Elizabeth closer to her P3 incarnation since she's a more 'calm' kind of crazy rather than how she acts in later entries. This will mostly be focused on the relationship between Yuki and Elizabeth, and I will be ignoring the P4Arena games because it makes more since for this story, and until Atlas stops being cowards and gives us the spin off featuring Elle-P saving her wooden door that we deserve, I'll do what I want.

An important note, I had to write most of this on my phone to kill a day at work, so if you notice any egregious errors please let me know.

~January 31, 2010~

"We will soon reach our destination."

In hindsight, she should've chosen better parting words. But she had to keep up appearances in front of her master, and it had been Elizabeth herself who had insisted their relationship come to an end. Yuki had seemed disheartened but understanding when she'd broken things off a few weeks ago, and ever since then she'd only seen him during his brief visits to the Velvet Room while preparing for the final battle, and they hardly spoke at all. Things had been awkward, and if this was going to be the last time she was going to see him, Elizabeth couldn't help but regret not saying something more personal to him.

The elevator doors opened, and a brilliant light engulfed the room. When it faded, Yuki was gone. "Truly marvelous." Igor said into the silence. "Don't you think so?"

Elizabeth swallowed hard. "Very few will be able to match him." She conceded, hoping there was no bitterness in her voice to reflect how she felt. "Why does such a fate have to befall him?" She asked herself. Through what little she'd learned of his past while on their dates, Elizabeth knew that his life hadn't been happy or fair. In fact it was only through meeting the other Persona users and finding a cause to fight for had his life found meaning. Why did it have to end when he had just found happiness?

~March 29, 2010~

"Elizabeth, stay here. Another ordeal will soon be upon us, and I must speak to my master to get ready."

With that, Igor shimmered and then vanished without a sound, leaving Elizabeth alone in the dimly lit elevator. Standing immediately and making her way to the exit, Elizabeth took a deep breath before doing something neither of her sisters or brother had ever done before: disobeyed a direct order from their master. But it didn't matter to her; there were far more important things she had to do other than sit in silence like she'd just done for the past two months.

Stepping out of Paulownia Mall's back area and ignoring the looks people were giving her, she made her way across town to the location she'd written down many weeks in advance. After nearly 45 minutes of travelling, she'd arrived at the small plot of land where Yuki's family stone was standing. The grave looked as though it had been recently cleaned, as there were no offerings present.

Sighing, Elizabeth cleared her throat and began speaking into the silence. "I am sorry I was not present at your funeral. I could've gone, even if it had been against my master's wishes, but I decided it would be for the best to let your friends say their goodbyes first." She took a deep breath as she tried to get her thoughts in order. "Soon, your friends will be going through challenging times. I will do what I can to aid them, just as I did for you. And after that, I promise to do what I can to free you from this fate." She put her hands together, offered a silent prayer for Yuki and his friends, and then left the graveyard, wiping at the few tears that were falling down her cheeks. When she returned to the Velvet Room, Igor was still gone, and Elizabeth breathed a sigh of relief. She didn't know how to leave without invoking her master's wrath, but she'd made a promise and she intended to keep it. So as she took er seat in the silence, she began to think.

~April 1, 2010~

"So, he didn't simply seal Nyx away, he's acting as the barrier between Nyx and Erebus so humanity cannot call down its own destruction… How interesting…" Igor said quietly. "That was quite unexpected! I hadn't thought that's what had transpired."

"It seems Yuki is full of surprises." Elizabeth conceded, her eyes turned towards the ceiling as she thought of the great seal out in the vastness of space. "I wonder how one man is capable of such a feat."

"It was not his feat alone, remember? Through the bonds he'd created, the joy in life he had found, he drew strength from all those he encountered in order to perform that miracle." Igor explained.

"How do these bonds between people work?" She asked herself, as the sounds of Aigis talking with the members of S.E.E.S. drifted through the elevator, her request to return to school being granted by Mitsuru before the team left the dorm for the final time. "How do they grant one the power to perform miracles? I am still naive to many of these things, despite being a ruler of power. Perhaps in understanding them, I can find a way to free Yuki from his fate." Elizabeth's thoughts were cut short when her siblings entered the room. "Hello, sisters. Theo. It's good to see you all again."

Seats materialized in the room so everyone could sit down comfortably, and the room itself changed from an elevator to that of a simple living room, lacking any windows to look outside since the Velvet Room did not exist in reality.

"It seems you've had an incredible guest recently." Margaret spoke first, crossing one leg on top of the other. "Please, tell me more about him."

Elizabeth did, explaining everything she could about Yuki's journey without going into too much detail about their dates when she got to those parts of the story, and not even mentioning their last date together at all. When she finished talking about Yuki, she explained Aigis' story to her siblings as well.

"It seems like you've had quite the experience." Theo remarked.

"The power of the Universe…" Lavenza muttered.

"I must say, compared to the last several guests we've had, this Yuki boy seems to be quite a few levels ahead of them all." Margaret said.

"Indeed. In all my years, I've never had such a wonderful guest." Igor finished.

Elizabeth sat silently, eyes cast to the ground and a forlorn expression on her face. When the room went silent, she looked up and saw everyone staring at her. "What is it?"

"You seem troubled." Lavenza pointed out.

Elizabeth scoffed lightly. "I am just wondering why he had to die. It seems like such a cruel twist of fate to end his life when he's finally found the answer to it." She told everyone.

"It isn't our place to determine when or why humans must pass away." Igor reminded her. "Our only duty is to assist them on their journey."

"All humans pass away eventually. It doesn't concern us when they do since we don't live among them. We've been around since they first ate the apple and we'll be around for a lot longer than any of them ever will be." Lavenza added. "Why bother thinking about it?"

~May 2010~

As was usually the case when Igor was present, the siblings would fall silent after conversation was spent and the room would become deathly still. It never dawned on Elizabeth how much she disliked these stretches of silences that could go on for months or years in the human world. Perhaps it was because she'd never asked a previous guest to take her out into their world before, but all she could think about was the places that Yuki had taken her, and how much she yearned to go with him again into places unknown. Of the various cultures, cities, towns, shops, and restaurants to visit, there was a near infinite world of possibilities out there, and it was all gone now that her guest was deceased. As the silence dragged on, Elizabeth wondered how different her fate was from Yuki's; trapped in a single place as she mindlessly went about her purpose.

~August 2010~

"There is no purpose for such a thing here." Igor stated, his ever present smile hiding his exasperated tone.

"But it wouldn't hurt either." Elizabeth argued back. "Besides, our guests come here quite often. I'm sure they would appreciate some familiar scenery and-"

"The answer still is no. Be silent." Igor commanded, his eyes flaring as he turned to glare at Elizabeth.

Her hands clenched into fists on her knees, and she glared silently at the ground as her heartbeat pounded in her ears. "I cannot forget him, yet I have so little to remember him by. How am I supposed to cherish the memory of someone so dear to me when I can't even convince my master to heed such a simple request?"

~October 2010~

"Perhaps Elizabeth was right. Igor should've put a horizontal bar in here to help alleviate the boredom." Lavenza mumbled.

"I know, let's see if we can come up with a new song to sing!" Theo offered to the group.

Igor had vanished nearly a week ago, and ever since then the four siblings had been left to wait for his return.

"Elizabeth, you said that your last guest took you into the human world several times. Did you happen to learn of any songs while you were out?" Theo asked. He'd been trying the hardest to bring Elizabeth into conversations, because it was obvious to everyone that she was upset and yet none of them knew what to do. It wasn't like Elizabeth to be upset over the fate of a past guest.

"No. He did listen to music a lot, but I never asked him what he listened to." She mumbled, barely audible even in the quiet room.

"Ah. How unfortunate." Margaret responded a little awkwardly.

Slowly, Elizabeth stood and exhaled, stretching her arms overhead as she did so. Then she made her way to the door.

"Where are you going?" Margaret asked, her tone much more serious.

When Elizabeth turned around, she saw Margaret coldly staring her down while her siblings gave her fearful looks as they stood at the eldest siblings side. "I'm leaving. I'm going to save Yuki." She stated bluntly, ignoring the looks she was receiving.

"You can't save him. He's dead." Margaret replied, leaving any warmth out of her voice.

"No, he's trapped." Elizabeth corrected. "His life force still exists out there. That means there is a way to return him to normal."

"And what about Erebus? Removing the seal will let Erebus reach Nyx and mankind will be destroyed. You aren't thinking things through." Theodore tried to reason with her.

"Erebus only forms because mankind wishes for death. All I have to do is change mankind's wish and then Nyx will continue to slumber undisturbed."

"So, you'll break all the rules we abide by in order to exist just for the sake of one man?" Lavenza questioned, eyes wide in disbelief.

"To Hell with the rules!" Elizabeth yelled back, causing Theo and Lavenza to recoil in shock. "I've made up my mind. I will not remain here any longer against my will!" Before her siblings could try to argue or reason with her, Elizabeth left, the stunned looks and heavy silence the last interaction she would have with her siblings for many years.

~January 2011~

"Yuki…"

Elizabeth raised a hand and gently touched the stone cheek of her former lover, her tears rolling down her face where they fell into the void of space and immediately evaporated. "I promised I would save you. I will keep that promise. Just give me some time."

She sniffed and forced a small smile, before turning and meant to make her way back to Earth, but something caught her attention. The darkness seemed to shimmer and ripple, then a large beast emerged. "Hmph. To have reformed so soon…" She opened her persona compendium and turned to look back over her shoulder. "Allow me to send it away this time." Turning forwards as Thanatos appeared behind her, Elizabeth smirked playfully and then flew forward into battle.

It had ended so quickly Elizabeth stopped to wonder if maybe she'd gone overboard. "I guess I am a tougher foe than a normal human is…" She reasoned. "But that's not important. As long as I can banish it for a time, I can ease Yuki's burden."

With that, she made her way back to Earth.

~March 2012~

"My, even I felt that one." Elizabeth said as she stood on the Moon's surface, gazing up at the Earth. "I wonder if that was from a new group of Persona users, or if Yuki's friends are in trouble again." Elizabeth tilted her head to the side. "Oh well. I just defeated Erebus once more, and that's what matters to me."

A twinge of regret went through Elizabeth as she wondered which of her siblings was assisting the guests since she'd decided to abandon her duties, but she forced the thought out of her head. It wasn't the first time thoughts of her family had come to her, and most likely wouldn't be the last. It had been especially worrying for the first few weeks after she'd left, thinking that her siblings would suddenly appear to drag her back to the Velvet Room. But as those weeks had given way to months and now two years had passed, she was a little more at ease. If her siblings were going to come after her, they would've done so immediately, she reasoned. For now, it seemed she was free to go about her journey, and she opened a doorway to Earth to resume it.

The small detour to ease Yuki's burden was over with.

~2014~

"Just a little longer, I promise."

Erebus was fading beneath her once again, and Elizabeth left quickly. It was never easy returning to the seal, but lately she was having trouble staying for any longer than was necessary after defeating Erebus. It wasn't the real reason she was leaving so quickly, but she rationalized it as a desire to get back to saving Yuki when really, it was Elizabeth's guilt over her lack of progress on that front that was causing her to run away.

~2019~

"Perhaps I've undertaken a task I had no way of actually completing." Elizabeth muttered into the vacuum of space.

She was hugging her knees to her chest and had her back to the seal, her unfocused gaze on the vast expanse of stars in front of her. "I've spent years searching for any information, any esoteric tome or long lost artifact that I could use to change humanity just enough so you wouldn't have to stay here. But I've come up with nothing. The only one who might be able to help would be my master, and if I ever returned he would surely destroy me where I stood." She looked up, turning around to look at the seal. "This can't be the way things are supposed to be…" She sniffled and dropped her head so she her forehead was resting on her knees. "If there is a desire to change things, then things will change. You changed fate for all of mankind, so why can't I change the fate of just one person? I have no idea what to do…" Elizabeth's shoulders shuddered as the tears started flowing, her voice breaking as she started sobbing. "The years never felt this long before… How much longer until I can finally do something, anything?"

Elizabeth's cries continued to be the only sound in the silence for a while until a faraway noise caused her to snap upright. Summoning her compendium and readying for a fight, she waited for Erebus to appear.

Then, she heard it again. Looking around, Elizabeth scanned the area for any spacial warping, any odd shadow formations blocking the stars, but saw nothing. "It's about time for Erebus to reform anyways… It's been gone for nearly a year…" She continued to scan the area for the beast, but saw nothing. The noise echoed around her again, and Elizabeth noticed movement out of the corner of her eye. But it wasn't Erebus making that noise, it was the seal itself; it was shaking itself apart. She watched as rocks tumbled down the massive frame and then vanished into the void, then large cracks began spreading all over the seal itself before it exploded into a flash of white light that was intense enough that even Elizabeth had to shield her eyes.

When she lowered her hands, there was no evidence that the great seal had just been before her, no lingering debris or energy was floating around the void around them.

It was just Yuki floating silently in the darkness of space, looking just as he had ten years ago.

For a moment, Elizabeth was just silent, completely shocked by what had just occurred. Then her senses came back to her, and she leapt forward, wrapping her arms around Yuki and opening a doorway back to Earth. They fell, and Elizabeth twisted in midair so she would take the brunt of the impact. They hit the ground and slid a few feet, and Elizabeth shut her eyes as she tried to focus on keeping Yuki safe. When they came to a stop, Elizabeth let her grip slacken enough, and her heart jumped in her chest when Yuki pushed himself off of her and sat up. "Yu...ki?" She whispered hoarsely.

He blinked, confusion plainly written on his face as he tilted his head to the side. "Elizabeth? What's going on?"