A/N: Hey everyone. Sorry for the long wait for this. But I hope you all enjoy it regardless.

After parting with his friends, Ren found himself in a place he was definitely not expecting. A graveyard at nighttime. And this one seemed to stretch on for miles, with no end in sight.

'Well this certainly is a dreary scenery.' Ren thought to himself. 'Though this is Persona so I should have expected something like this somewhere along the line.'

As Ren walked through the graveyard, Ren couldn't figure out for the life of him whose world this was. As he thought about it, he considered the possibility of Sinon, considering her past. But for a whole graveyard to appear for one death? That didn't sound right.

"Hello?!" Ren called out. "Anyone here?!"

"Ren? Is that you?"

Ren turned his head and widened his eyes when he saw Kirito in the distance. The black clothing he had on made it hard to make him out completely with the scenery, but it was unmistakably him.

"Kirito!" Ren quickly ran over to his friend. "You alright?"

Kirito nodded his head. "Yeah, I'm good. But where the heck is this place?"

Ren knew that this was going to be difficult to explain to someone who hadn't played Persona in the past. It was probably going to be even harder once this world really started to affect Kirito. But he still had to do it. "Well… long story short, this world is representing something you're repressing. In the world of Persona 4, your Persona awakens by conquering this repressed feeling and admitting its a part of you."

Kirito scratched the back of his head. "Ok… but what does that have to do with this graveyard then?"

"Oh I think we both know the answer to that." Both Ren and Kirito turned to the new arrival to see a lookalike of Kirito sitting on top of a giant tombstone. The lookalike was dressed exactly like Kirito had been in SAO. But the part that was different from Kirito was the menacing smirk on his face.

"Wh-What the hell?! What am I doing over there?!" Kirito gasped.

The Shadow Kirito let out a chuckle as he looked at the real version of himself. "I'm the part of you that you've been denying this whole time. The part that you want to admit never existed. I'm the you that knows we're both cold blooded murderers down to the bone."

"That's a load of bull!" Kirito shouted back.

"Oh? Is it really?" he asked. Shadow Kirito held up his fingers. "Let's count off the people we killed. There were the two from Laughing Coffin, as well as Kuradeel. Who else was there… oh right, there was that one guild wasn't there?"

Kirito suddenly felt his body shiver. "Shut up…"

"The Moonlit Black Cats. What were their names again? Let me guess, you tried to forget them all, just like you forgot the fact that you killed them? Let me try and refresh your memory. There was Ducker, Tetsuo, Sasamaru, Keita, and one other… what was her name…?"

"I said shut up…"

"Ah that's right! Sachi!" Shadow Kirito let out a cold-hearted laugh. "Boy she was a cutie. Remember how you told her she wasn't going to die? How you'd protect her? Well look at what happened after that. But of course, you've repressed the memory, haven't you. You don't want to admit that you got them killed."

"BE QUIET!" Kirito shouted at the top of his lungs. "I am… I am…"

Ren widened his eyes, knowing what was coming next. "No Kirito! Don't say-"

"I am not you! Get out of my sight!"

Slowly, Shadow Kirito began chuckling, soon breaking into full laughter. "Still trying to deny the real you, huh? Well then, maybe I should be the one of us to remain instead." A black aura began to surround him as he changed form. When the transformation finished, both Ren and Kirito were greeted with a scary sight. The shadow version of Kirito now looked like a demonic samurai. Sheathed at his back were a multitude of swords, with a skull at the crossguard of each.

"Damnit… this isn't good." Ren muttered. He turned to his friend, seeing Kirito completely paralyzed. That meant he would be on his own in this fight.

"Die!" Shadow Kirito exclaimed as he grabbed one of his swords and threw it at the real Kirito.

"Look out!" Ren shouted as he tackled Kirito away to avoid him getting impaled. He quickly led Kirito behind a tombstone for cover. "I'll deal with this. Just stay here."

Shadow Kirito smirked as he watched Ren come out from behind the tombstone. "Oh? Do you wish to be the next person on my kill list?"

Ren reached for the mask on his face. "Go ahead and try it." With a yank, Ren ripped his mask off. "Persona!" His Persona, the demonic wolf Fenrir appeared behind him and growled. Ren pointed to their enemy. "Sick 'em Fenrir!"

Letting out a howl, Fenrir lunged at Shadow Kirito. The demonic samurai quickly brought a blade out to defend himself. Fenrir bit on the blade, the Persona and shadow trapped in a test of strength.

"Get off me you mutt!" Shadow Kirito glared as he finally managed to push Fenrir back. "Take this!"

Ren quickly opened his skill list to see what he had to work with for his Persona. "Garudyne!"

Letting out a loud roar, Fenrir summoned a cyclone that pushed the shadow back. But just like the real Kirito, the shadow version wasn't one to go down easy. It grabbed a pair of swords from its back and threw them at Fenrir. The blades just barely scratched the skin, but Ren could still feel the same pain his Persona felt as he watched his HP fall slightly.

"Sukukaja!" Ren called out. As Fenrir responded, Ren found himself given a boost to his speed, more notably his accuracy and evasion.

'This buff won't last forever. I've got to end this quickly.'

"I wonder, is my real self hiding here somewhere?" Shadow Kirito asked with a smirk. "Hiding behind friends as always I see. Using them to hide from the fact that all he is is just a murderer."

"Shut up!" Kirito yelled as he came out from the tombstone. "I never… I never forgot about Sachi and the others!"

"What are you doing?! Don't let it see you!" Ren exclaimed. For Kirito to do something this stupid meant the shadow was really starting to get to him.

"Don't worry. You'll be joining them soon." Shadow Kirito said with a smirk. As if by magic, two of his sheathed swords came out of their sheath, floating in the air. They both shot straight towards Kirito.

The raven haired teen gasped as the swords came for him. Before they could connect though, Fenrir jumped in between them. The Persona let out a loud howl of pain as the swords impaled into it. Ren felt the same pain as he fell to his knees, his HP plummeting.

"Ren!" Kirito exclaimed.

"What an idiot." Shadow Kirito sighed as he shook his head. "It seems everyone around you is just destined for death, aren't they? I wonder how long it'll be before you get your other friends killed too. And how long will it be until she dies."

Kirito felt his blood run cold, knowing who he was referring to. "Asuna… no…"

"It'll be just like Sachi. I bet she'll say something corny like "It's not your fault Kirito" when we both know it will be."

Kirito fell to his knees. He tried to block everything out. He wanted to leave this place. "No… Not Asuna… Not her…"

"Kirito, snap out of it!"

Kirito turned to Ren's voice only to be greeted by a right hook across the face. He laid on the ground of the graveyard as Ren looked down at him. "You can't let this thing control you! A lot of bad stuff happened in SAO! That's true for all of us! But not all those deaths are your fault! And just because people close to you died in the past doesn't mean that your friends in the present will die too!"

"Ren…"

"Insolent maggot. Begone." Shadow Kirito said. This time, all of the swords he still had sheathed came out. The swords he had thrown before also floated over to him. The spun around like a circle as he prepared to deliver the finishing blow.

"If you're that worried about us dying-" Ren told him. "-then get stronger and protect your friends! But you can't do that if you're letting this eat away at you!"

"I'm tired of listening to you. Now die!" Shadow Kirito said as he fired every single sword Ren's way.

Ren widened his eyes as the swords came for him. But the bigger shocker was getting shoved out of the way by Kirito. The raven haired teen stood in the path of the incoming blades.

"Kirito! Look out!"

With a fluent motion, Kirito dodged the first two blades, grabbing them by their hilts in the process. He then proceeded to slash at the remaining swords as they came, deflecting each one with his two swords.

Both Ren and Shadow Kirito gasped as none of the blades hit Kirito. The raven haired teen let out a chuckle. "That was an attack from me? Man I must be getting sloppy."

"Wh-What?!" Shadow Kirito gasped.

Kirito walked towards his shadow self. "It's true. I didn't want to admit that I had pushed Sachi and the others to the back of my mind. That I tried to forget about them, using the friends I had now. I didn't want to admit that weakness." He shook his head. "I got them killed that day. And I will stand and take responsibility for that. And I'll get by it. Because I have my friends by my side." Kirito looked at the demonic samurai in the eye. "You and me. We're the same."

A tear fell down from Shadow Kirito as he dissolved into light. In its place however, was another samurai-like figure. It was dressed in red armor and a pair of swords was in its hands. Long black hair fell from his head.

"I am thou. Thou art I. The strength to face one's heart has been turned into power. From now on, I will fight by your side. I am Yoshitsune."

Kirito watched as Yoshitsune dissolved as well, floating into his body. "So, now I have my Persona, huh?"

"Congrats." Ren said as he walked up to his friend. "Let's hope the others managed to have an easier time than we did."

Kirito nodded his head in agreement. "Ren… thanks. I'm lucky you were here to help me. I don't think I could have done that without you here to encourage me."

"Don't mention it. What are friends for? I'm sure the others would have done the same."

"By the way? Do you know how we're supposed to get out of this graveyard?"

Ren widened his eyes, realizing Kirito had a point. There was no exit in sight. "Um… well, I guess we'll just have to start looking."

Kirito let out a sigh. This game really had a way of making things difficult for people it seemed.

"It looks like they're all finished. Everyone's awakened their Personas."

"That's great! That means it'll be our turn soon, right?"

"I think so."

The two small figures stood together in a dark room. The floor was covered by a dark blue rug, the same color as the clothing they had on. It had seemed a little weird at first, but they had each other so the two were alright with waiting for everyone to come to them.

Though there was one part of the room in particular they hadn't gotten used to yet.

"Welcome to the Velvet Room." a man sitting at a desk at one end of the room said.

One of the figures leaned over to the other and whispered in their ear. "He's so weird, isn't he? And he keeps saying that same thing over and over again."

"To be honest, I'm just freaked out by that long nose of his."

A/N: Sorry for the short chapter this time. Next chapter is the finale for this Persona story though and I have a feeling you'll enjoy what I have in store for you all.