Chapter 1: The Hollow Hour
"Hey man what's wrong? Get back in here!", the band was just finishing up their set, and I wasn't having any more of this shit. He was cute, but not enough to take home, especially considering how he treated the other fans in the pit. I had taken my stuff and I tried to ditch him, but he followed me out the back door.
The guitars finished their final wail and the punks inside cheered as the band made their exit. I was pulling on my jacket when the dickhead spun me around by the shoulder. "What did I do wrong dude? Didn't you say you liked me?" he said, tequila reeking from his jaws. "Get off me man, I'm not interested." I said as I pushed him away. "Don't pick one with me asshole" he said as he wound up a punch. I wasn't quick enough and I fell on my ass, my nose throbbing. I had forgotten my phone was in my back pocket, and I felt it push up against me as I hit the pavement.
I'm not sure what exactly happened, but I felt as though the world was twisting and distorting around me. My former hook-up-to-be vanished before me and I found myself in the same place, the back alley behind the club, but something felt off. I stood up but I couldn't exactly balance myself. I looked around and I noticed that the club was silent. Usually after a Temper show people hung around to chat and get extra drunk, but there was nothing but an eerie silence.
I started to walk towards the street in front of the club. I noticed that when I walked, my feet were making a rippling effect on the pavement. I was taken aback, and I tried touching the ground. My fingers made the ground ripple, but it felt like normal. My mind was racing at this point, 'Did that dude drug me? Am I getting ass-fucked in the back of some van right now?'
My thoughts were cut short when the sounds of footsteps started to ring from the alley behind me. The only lights around were from the front of the club and a streetlamp on the other side of the alley, shrouding the thing in darkness. I backed up into the middle of the street and called out to it. But there was no response.
"Hey man, I told you no I don't know how many times. Fuck off!" I shouted. But I was met with more silence. As the being came out of the alley, I got a good view of it, it looked like a rocker, it had black pants and boots, a denim sleeveless jacket covered a torso which seemed to blend in seamlessly with their pants, but their head was the strangest part. Their haircut was straight out of a cartoon, it had a mohawk about two feet high that was dyed neon green with pink tips. It was also wearing a plain white mask with dead facial features. "What the hell are you?" I asked as I continued to back away from it.
I was so entrapped within the gaze of this being that I didn't notice the other two which were flanking me on either side. I froze up as they continued to close in on me. I stuttered out some meaningless attempts at bargaining, but nothing worked. The one in front got within arms reach of me and my heart was just about ready to pop out of my chest. The thing reached out for me, and I closed my eyes as I prepared for whatever was to come, but then I heard a gunshot. The thing in front of me froze and collapsed, its body fading away into a black mist. I stood aghast, staring at the place where the thing should have been. I didn't even register the two other shots that killed the others on my sides.
I looked up back into the alley where I saw a man emerge. He was wearing a black leather jacket, a white shirt, blue jeans and black boots, silver mirrored aviators covered his eyes. He had deep brown hair and a generally handsome appearance to him. He was carrying a rifle with him, I thought I recognized it from some movie about African mercenaries, an FAL I think it was called, and affixed to it was a bayonet that shone in the streetlamp's orange gaze.
"You alright?" he said, his voice was surprisingly normal given his appearance, I thought it would be grizzlier and deeper. "Y-Yeah, th-thanks-s man." I stammered out, it was hard to talk, my body was shaking all over. "Good, do you know where you are?" he asked. "I… I got out of a concert just now, I tried to shake a dude, but he followed me. He knocked me on my ass and then I ended up here." I said. "Hmm, she won't be happy about this.", the man murmured, "Okay, fuck it, let's get out of here." he said.
He pulled out his phone but as he tapped away at it, more of those things he shot had shown up. I counted about seven or eight of them. I was about to warn this guy of what was happening, but he was quicker than me. "HAWKWOOD" he shouted as he jumped into the air. I'll never forget what happened next, the man was shrouded within a blue apparition of a medieval knight. The knight had a sword and shield in hand and was adorned with blazing white armor that dazzled in all different colors.
In contrast to the brilliance of the apparition, the things attacking us were being engulphed among red and black tendrils of fire, they all vanished into a black mist after a sufficient 'burning'. As soon as they were gone, the apparition vanished, and the man landed on the street. He ran up to me and whipped out his phone. The world went all dizzy as it had before. X
I don't know why I decided to help this guy out, Lena was going to hang me for this, but Council Rules trump her I suppose. After we exited the metaverse I pulled the guy out of the road and back into the alley, people were still inside from the show.
"Hey man!" I said as I shook his shoulder, he was still in a minor state of shock, as most people are after seeing the metaverse and it's gracious Shadow hosts for the first time. "What the hell…" he said, he was seemingly still in a daze, and I had to take him inside. I seated him in a booth in a back corner where no one would bother us. I got him some water from the bar and after a few minuets his mind seemed to return to him.
"Was that real?" he asked as he sipped some water. "Yes, it was, and I need you to pay attention to me, because what just happened will up-end your life." I said clearly. "Wait, I saw you on stage, you're the guitarist, Tom Taylor, right?" the guy said. "Yeah, that's me but I really need you to pay attention." I said. He straightened up in his seat and leaned forward. "You just entered another reality called the metaverse. Don't ask me why you did but you did. Those things that came for you are called Shadows, and they don't like normal people like you and I." I said, he was surprisingly quick on the uptake and nodded along. "If you look at your phone, you will see an app there that wasn't there before. It should look like some creepy red and black eye." I said, he took out his phone and showed me the app.
"What does this thing have to do with that world?" he asked, "Well, that's what allows you to pass between that world and reality." I responded. He nodded and put his phone away, a few minutes passed as I let him take in all the information. "You're surprisingly calm about all this." I said. "Well, I can't really deny that it happened." he said. "What was that ghost thing that appeared?" "Ghost thing?" "You know, you shouted something, 'Hawkwood', and that ghost appeared." He said. "Oh, well, that's hard to explain. But that was a special ability I have called a Persona. The name Hawkwood comes from a medieval mercenary called John Hawkwood but listen. I am not the best person to explain all this, so I'm going to take you to some people who can." I said. I led him out of the bar and to my car, an old black Camry and we drove off.
The muggy July air ripped through the open windows as I sped through DC. After a short drive I stopped by a small bar, the sign above it read Le Finis. I turned to my passenger, who was starting to doze off. I shook him awake. "Listen, you need to go in there and ask the bartender for Claire. Tell her that your bell has tolled, and she will guide you further." The guy nodded and got out of the car. I drove off, wishing I had just left him behind.
I had to get to some college radio studio. I was supposed to go into an interview with an undergrad guy who had some connection to our manager. The band I was in, Temper, were all supposed to be there, but it turns out that only I and our vocalist, Lena Barlow, were the only ones who could do it. She's an amazing woman, the one of my dreams but I just never found the opportunity to say how I feel, and she thinks of me as her best friend. She also has a Persona, but that's another story.
I was driving through some traffic in Georgetown, and I got a call. "TOM! WHERE IN THE FUCK ARE YOU!?" Lena screamed through the phone. "Sorry, I'll tell you later." I said, trying as hard as I could to sound like I gave a shit about this interview. "Suh- Suh- Sorry my ass! We're waiting on you." she said, "Lena, why'd this have to be right after a show? That's basically a kick in the nuts y'know." "You should've just came with me afterwards like we agreed to dumbass. Just get here…" she said before hanging up.
About five minuets later I parked the car and walked into the studio, I made sure to wear my 'whatever' attire in a bid to appear as punk-ish as possible. My plan was to act as disinterested as possible. I found my way into the production room where Lena was talking with the host, one of our few original songs was playing, and we were slated to do the interview next.
The host was a little goblin of a man, he was about my age, 22, but he looked like he never got through high school. A hunchback, pimples, and about fifty pounds he could really stand to lose. His voice was about the antithesis to what a good "radio voice" ought to be, it was high and squeaky, like Nardwuar without the charm.
"Hello, I'm Clem." The host said to me as I walked into the studio, he reached out a hand. "Tom" I said as I gave him a quick shake. "Well, it's great to have you guys here, I've been looking forward to this for a long time.", he said, "I have two chairs over there, mics are all set up and I can handle all the sound stuff.", he proclaimed, motioning like a tyrant to two chairs sat across from him. I sat down with Lena, and it felt less like a studio and more like an interrogation room the longer I waited for us to go on the air.
Finally, it was time, "Hello to all of you out there, you are listening to 91.1 WHSK, the DC underground's home on the air. And today I have something very special for you, an exclusive interview with one of DC's most promising acts, TEMPER!" the host said. "Now, sadly the whole band could not be here because they just finished a show tonight, hopefully you all were there had a grand rockin' time! I have here with me today the always lovely vocalist and frontwoman, Lena Barlow, and along with her is the band's lead guitarist, Tom Taylor, thank you both for coming.", the host said, "Thanks for having us on." Lena said, I could tell she was on the same wavelength as me about this whole situation.
"Now, you two are integral to Temper, which itself is integral to the DC college punk scene at the moment. And having been to a few of your shows myself, I can say that the rumors are definitely accurate. You guys put on one hell of a show, and I just have to ask, what kind of bands have influenced you or even inspired you both to begin playing music?" the host asked, it was a fairly standard question. Every interview starts the same way, something about our 'great influence' on DC's punk scene and how 'integral' we were to it, which is followed by the good old influence question.
Lena had answered this question before, enough to give the same answer, "Well, I think what really got me into music and preforming was definitely the records that my parents had. They're from New York and they were into the CBGB scene, so I grew up listening to all the classics from there like Patti Smith, Blondie, Television, and the Ramones. I think Blondie is really my favorite out of all of them though, Debbie Harry is such a great performer." she said. "Well, that is quite interesting Lena, and I can definitely see the influence of Blondie in your music, and heck, one could mistake you for Debbie Harry from afar too!" the host said. Lena gave a courtesy snicker, but the host wasn't wrong either. She did have bright blonde hair and a strong face, but she had a few slight differences. Her vocals were the major one, Lena was icier with her clean vocals, whereas Blondie was bolder and fiercer. Debbie Harry also didn't do screamed vocals, and Lena's were top notch.
"And what about you Tom?" the host asked, I was too busy thinking about the intricacies of Blondie and Lena's similarity that thew question took me off guard. "Oh, well, uh, I guess the same as Lena said. But I did most of my music discovery myself, I grew up in bumfuck nowhere, so I didn-" "No swearing please, this is a straight-edge station" the host interrupted. I was on the verge of a good tangent there, but he made me lose my train of thought. I recouped and started again, "Okay, so, I grew up without all the live shows and scenes that people fall into, so I ended up buying CDs from a local shop with allowance. I would ask the cashier what he liked, and I bought it. I ended up listening to stuff like Converge, Fugazi, and some Japanese stuff too like Ling Tosite Sigure. I really got out when I started driving, and that's also when I bought my first guitar." I said, the host nodded and cleared his throat.
"Well Tom, that is awesome, it's great to see such a diverse selection of punk in this band, and now I just have one more question for you guys since we are running out of time." The host said, I looked at my watch and somehow ten minuets had passed since we started, and the people tuning in were likely really bored by now. "On this show I like to make a point to keep in touch with the rumor mill of the scene and I just must ask this. Given that you two are very close to each other, your chemistry on stage exemplifying just how well you two get along, are you two dating?" the host asked.
Lena and I were completely taken aback by this, sure we were close, and on stage we shared mics a few times for stuff like chant vocals, but no one had ever been so ballsy to ask straight up what, I guess, everyone supposedly was thinking. "Uhm, no, we are just friends." Lena said, I looked over to her and she was looking down into her lap, she gave me a sideways glance that told me to finish this off. I was planning on wrapping this up smoothly with a snide joke and a crack of the metaphorical whip, but I found myself without the words, I had my mouth slightly open at the mic, but I just couldn't say the words I wanted to.
"Just friends huh? Well, is that a 'for now' kind of thing? Or are you two seeing other people?" the host asked, it took everything within to hold back from screaming at him, but I took a deep breath, "No, and dude, you're a fucking creep and a loser, now play some song you wish you ever had a dream of making and lose our number." I said. I got up from the chair and I put my hand on Lena's shoulder, she got up too and we made our way out. While doing so the host was the personification of a Twitter feed going off about how mad we were and how much of a great troll he was, but in truth, I couldn't have painted a more pathetic picture if I tried.
Lena and I walked outside, and we stood by my car for a while, not saying much of anything. "I'm sorry I was late. But after the show I saw some guy leave the club through the alley door. He was being chased by some guy and I wanted to check up on him. The guy chasing him ran into me, saying something about the guy he was chasing being a ninja and vanishing before his eyes. I checked the Palace and I had to save the missing guy and drop him off at Finis." I said. Lena was leaning against the hood of my car looking at her shoes, she nodded. "I understand. Council Rules and all that shit." she said.
"What a fucking asshole though." she said, talking about the host. "Yeah", I replied, "how'd he even get us in there?" I asked. "Apparently his daddy is the exec of some record label, and manager thought it was a good way to get noticed." she said, we had just hired our first manager as a band, and so far he was getting us into bigger gigs, but his interview headhunting could get better I suppose. "Listen, I'm-", I was fully ready to say something else about that question, maybe allude to my own interests, but I decided in a split second to not fuck up the good I already had, "uh, can you, come to Finis with me tomorrow? I want to check up on that guy I picked up. And I also got a message the other day about the Palace." I said. Lena smirked at me and agreed. We then went our separate ways. X
A/N: Thank you for reading if you made it to the end. Next chapter, we catch up with Joker and the rest of the Thieves as they celebrate Marine Day. I just want to note that I'm only operating under the events from P5R and P5S, I tie them together in the next chapter. I have yet to see the animations, but I'm sure I will someday. And considering that this story is set well after both of those games, there are spoilers a-plenty.
Leave a review and tell me things you liked, disliked, or whatever comes to mind really. Reviews are so important for improving as a writer it is unbelievable, and it really makes every author's day to see them. In the future I'll keep author's notes to a minimum, but I just want to say thanks again, and I hope you enjoy the rest of this story :)