English is not my first language.

if someone likes to be a beta reader to point out my grammatical errors I would be very happy

please enjoy!

Welcome to Tartarus (IV)

Day: 08/Monday Month: June Year: 2009

Night

It was not long before midnight, Makoto had stayed in the dorms while the rest of us were preparing for the operation, using Kirijo's powers (the power of being a millionaire) we had entered the gym without any problems and opened it without any problem Come to think of it, did this place have some kind of security guard…? Although if there was one, I am sure he would be hired by the Kirijo group... which leaves us where we started.

"Well, from now on we will separate into 2 groups, some will go in to search the Tartarus, me and another will wait outside here" Kirijo said looking at us

"I'll go in the assault team" Akihiko advanced

"Then I'll go with Akihiko" continued Yukari

"I also!" Iori finished

"Hey? Then I…?"

"You will stay Tyron" Kirijo nodded in my direction.

"I guess that's what happens to me for not talking before"

I had completely forgotten that Yukari planned to go in the assault team, originally she would be stopped by Junpei, but now with me here there was no such problem and the two of them could go without problems, although that could be the best since the bigger shadows would appear in the entrance which would make most of the group ready to fight later when Makoto arrives.

"Good luck in there" I told them, and they all nodded in return.

Closing the gym Kirijo and I left the school territory, after a few minutes' midnight had arrived, seeing how the school transforms in front of me is still a novelty, seeing common sense twist in such a way is not something that is so easily overcome, even after just over 2 months here.

"Let's go"

"Yes!"

I followed Kirijo still with my rifle hanging, once inside she tried to use her transmitter to communicate with them, but had no luck, wherever they ended up was too far away for her, besides her PERSONA was not one who specialized in communications which further limited its reach, I knew that would happen, I just had to be alert until the bigger ones arrived.

"It doesn't work, I can't hear the voices of any of them, I'll try to strengthen the sound" Kirijo said still with the transmitter

"I just hope they are okay, I wish I had gone to help them"

"I cannot allow everyone to take risks"

"I understand, but I still feel a little useless just being here"

"You help us a lot more than you think Tyron, despite your circumstances…you stay positive, spend time with everyone and lift their spirits, I think you even made Makoto open up to us a little more"

"When you say it like that it's a bit embarrassing…" I said while scratching the back of my head.

It was never really my intention to behave the way I did, I think it was just me being me, sometimes everyone seemed too serious so I tried to cheer them up during our rounds, there were moments of seriousness, but it wasn't about being serious all the time, in the school I tried to be open with everyone in my class, which I think earned me a few friends, many who were from the track club, although I did not have any PERSONA of that I think the value itself is in making friends without expecting something to change.

"I guess I'm glad I'm here"

"And we to have you" agreed Kirijo as he smiled

Everything seemed to be calm for a while longer, Kirijo's attempts to communicate still didn't work, I just felt how the pressure of my grip on my weapon began to increase, until finally an explosion happened at the entrance, it was the empress and the emperor who had finally arrived, the first of these launched a blow that was aimed at Kirijo, but I managed to get it out in time, the bad thing was that the transmitter received the blow rendering it useless, I fired one of my special rounds at the shadows, but these did not they moved.

"Well, this can be bad. Come on King Arthur!"

After launching the first blow I noticed that it did not affect them, it seemed that the physical damage was out, then I used King Artur's shining sword, but it did not hurt them either, light out, switch to Atalanta, having minimal success, but still nothing decisive, it wasn't until Kirijo used his PERSONAAA with an ice attack that it seemed to do some real damage.

"Over. Go Scáthach!"

I had finally had a hit, but they quickly got up again, I started the elimination process again, but in the end after a couple of tries I did not have the right PERSONAA to hurt them, which instead made me eventually wear them down. He will start to catch up to me, Kirijo also fought his best, but it was only a matter of time before we both fell.

"Kirijo!"

In a moment of distraction, the shadow of the empress moved her cane to hit Kirijo who had fallen exhausted, with the strength I had left I managed to push her to avoid the blow, being sent flying in her place and crashing into one of the pillars, as I slid to the ground I could see how the assault group finally reached where we were.

"Mitsuru!" Akihiko yelled as he tried to reach her.

"Tyron!" that was Iori who approached where she was

"They are fine?!" Yukari asked

"Seriously?" I said dryly to which she had the essence of looking embarrassed.

Akihiko and Junpei were the first to hit them, it seemed that for a moment their attacks worked as they managed to knock them down for a moment, but then their invulnerability change ability activated and they got back up.

"Don't go on like this! Those shadows can make certain attributes invulnerable!" I yelled at them

"What?!"

I tried to help them, but the last blow had left me pretty bad, to the point where Yukari's PERSONAA couldn't really help, the pain in my chest and the blood pooling in my mouth are signs of internal bleeding, which in her opinion Maybe it must mean a possible broken rib puncturing a lung, if I had some painkillers or a stimulant I could try to get up, but I didn't have any of that.

"Let's think about how I know that later..."

Akihiko, Junpei and Yukari tried to fight against the shadows, but without a clear way to know what they were weak to, they just had to do the same thing I did, hit and hopefully something would work, if only Makoto was here I could help them more now that in my current state it was a bit difficult to move, let alone fight.

"Impossible! What is he doing here?!" Kirijo yelled pointing to the entrance

Distracting myself a little from my pain, I noticed that Fuuka's friend was reaching the entrance of the Tartarus, I would let out a sigh of relief, but the pain was still too much, Fuuka ran, avoiding the shadows somehow and reached her friend, the latter apologized a lot, but the shadows were getting closer, that's when Fuuka plucked up courage picking up an Evoker... which I think was mine.

"PERSONA…"

It was almost a whisper, but we could all hear the force behind her, it was Fuuka who summoned her PERSONA, one that might not shine in combat, but was a great support, more in this first battle she was in, I encouraged a little to see that, only Makoto was missing, but by the noise of an engine approaching he must already be close.

"Orpheus!" Makoto said after letting the bike crash into the shadows

"Damn Makoto, stop doing that that's bad for my heart..." I said with a little more encouragement

Making an entrance like a protagonist using Kirijo's motorcycle, his PERSONA managed to block the attack that was about to come to Fuuka, with him here I was sure that everything would end soon so I could not help but smile, all that even with Orpheus having difficulties like the rest of us.

"Yuki! Get Yamagishi and Moriyama out of here! If you stay here, we will be killed, save yourselves" Kirijo told him

Fuuka had not yet realized her abilities and we were in a race against time, so with all the strength I could muster and again in intense pain I moved using my rifle as a crutch to the entrance of the labyrinth, difficult I managed to line up a shot that hit one of the shadows to get his attention

"Hey ugly! Here!" scream with no little pain

I had to buy time, I knew that Fuuka would eventually understand, but if she still didn't my next best bet was that they would be trapped in Tartarus, it should be a little while before the dark hour would end, so it was a good bet to make, it seemed that Iori and Akihiko realized what I was thinking so they joined me in luring the shadows into the labyrinth

"Like I'm going to leave all the fun to you" Iori said as he helped me hold onto my side

"Thanks for the help, friend"

"Makoto! Take Fuuka and Mitsuru away! If we manage to get him to follow us to the labyrinth, we can lock him up at least until tomorrow "Akihiko yelled as he punched the shadow of the emperor

Both Junpei and Akihiko understood the plan, it was likely that we would all end up trapped in the labyrinth, but we would still do it, the shadow of the empress was going to Kirijo, but after a couple of shots that I managed to make with the help of Iori we were able to call Turning his attention back, Kirijo looked at me in surprise for a moment before I smiled at him.

"Take them boss, we'll attract them, sorry guys, I touched the short stick" I told Kirijo

I looked at Makoto who seemed surprised, I just nodded as our group of three continued to draw the attention of the shadows, even with the recoil of my rifle attenuated the minimum movements to aim and shoot were making my internal bleeding worse, but if I stopped doing it the shadows they would turn

"Leave away!" I growled at Makoto

We kept yelling at him to get away, but he insisted on staying, to keep fighting, with each blow we felt like our strength was running out, I felt the blood in my mouth, I just kept holding on out of sheer stubbornness, when I thought, we were going to fall it seemed like finally Fuuka had noticed his abilities.

"Use fire now!" Fuuka yelled at us

"Orpheus!" I do not doubt Makoto is listening to her

It had finally arrived, the shadows began to lose ground, for each quick change of weakness, Fuuka came even faster for us to hit, the empress was the first to fall, but the emperor still seemed to be trying to hold his ground

"Now it's weak to light!"

"Damn, he has no other choice! King Arthur!"

I was sure that of the whole group, in fact my PERSONA was the only one that had that attribute at this moment, so with pain I still managed to summon him to give the shadow a strong blow forcing him to change again, I knew that only I had enough energy left to use my PERSONAA once more after that.

"Fire!"

"Come on Makoto! Nero!"

"Yes! Orpheus!" (Makoto)

With that finally the shadow of the emperor fell, we had barely gotten out of this alive, I gave a smile to Makoto and Fuuka, with everything finished I felt that the adrenaline in my body was exhausted, only I had not crashed on the floor because of the help of Iori, but he was starting to lose consciousness.

"I knew you would come friend..."

Everything was dark...

Day: 15/Monday Month: June Year: 2009

Afternoon

"You should have seen, I really didn't think that guy would know how to smile" Iori explained while summarizing the latest events

"Is it okay for Fuuka to go back to school already?" asked

"We should be the ones asking that, you were really sick when we took you to the dorms"

"It was still no worse than when I first arrived"

It was a bit obvious that after so much punishment I would end up in the hospital again, to my luck it seemed that I would only be here for a couple of days, but at least I wouldn't be bored since someone from the dorm would always walk by here, Yukari and Kirijo They had brought me some books, although Kirijo's were more study guides, I had no choice but to accept because of my grades.

For his part, Junpei brought me some magicians and portable video games... the PSP was a thing around here, Akihiko spent time talking, finally Makoto... he at least seemed to try spending some time here, he did not talk much, but at least He kept me company when I played, or brought me some music to listen to.

"I hope that my routine is not to spend a lot of time in the hospital"

Day: 22/Monday Month: June Year: 2009

Tomorrow

"Finally free"

I had finally been discharged, since everyone was still at school I just had to go back to the dorms on my own, since it was one of those rare moments when I'm alone I decided to go visit the Velvet Room, I really had One chance so far, he had found the mall entrance and the Tartarus entrance, the latter being used more by Makoto and he really wanted to avoid that talk.

Being careful not to look suspicious, I reached the entrance and entered, as I remembered on the other side there was a library, the first time I had been here everything seemed to be covered with a fog that did not let me see much, but now you could see everything , and man, it was a huge place, the towers of shelves that went up several floors, corridors and bridges connected everything, some tables and chairs scattered in some places that I could see, leaving my stupor I went to where Igor was next to Lazuli.

"It's been a long-time dear guest" said Igor even with his ever-present smile

"I'm sorry about that, it really is difficult for them to leave the amnesiac boy alone" I answered a little embarrassed

"Understandable, for someone in his situation I am surprised how well he is doing"

"Thanks, I… I was actually here to really find out what I can do with my PERSONA, Can I merge them and create more? Also, why do they look the way they do?"

"It's a shame, but such a thing is not possible for you, each guest of the Velvet Room has its own peculiarities, you in particular lack the most essential of the joker, but instead you have other aspects to improve"

"How is that?"

"Your people are unique, their strength increases with the power of their bonds, the stronger their bond with which it was created, the stronger the PERSONAA, and the stronger their unique abilities will also increase"

"This is where my job lies, the unique skills of each PERSONA can only be 2 at a time, which means that if you want to take another configuration..." Lazuli said looking at me

"I have to think about it in advance and you would take care of it" I resolved

"That's right, among the unique skills there are active and passive skills that can help make better ones in general, finally you also have space to use up to 2 skills of your PERSONA on your own" continued Lazuli

"What…?"

"Just like your companions who have a certain degree of power of their PERSONA in real life, you can also inherit certain abilities, like at this moment, that you have a minor regeneration of your first PERSONA" explained Igor

"That explains how I healed so fast..."

"Exactly"

"I see… I have work to do, but first, how about her appearance? Why do they look like this?"

"PERSONA are a manifestation of the subconscious, heroes, mythological beings, even gods, and their form also comes from the same place, unlike most who do not have a clear form, you already have a clearer idea, which is the reason of his appearance" explained Igor

"Well… it makes sense… I think"

Afternoon

"And they said that video games would never be of any use"

After spending most of my visit to the Velvet Room setting up my skills and those of my PERSONA, I decided to leave my passive regeneration since that was what certainly saved me from being in the hospital for a long time, but I still could not relax, the next shadow would present a challenge, plus the first death flag was drawing near.

"It should be around here..."

Searching through the streets he had finally come to a decadent enough place filled with several misfits, among all of them Shinjiro Aragaki stood out, one of the users of the PERSONA who spends less time with the group, passing from the misfits he came directly to him.

"What do you want child? This is not a place for you," Shinjiro said sharply upon seeing me.

"You're a PERSONA user, right?"

Simple, clear, and direct, Shinjiro looked at me in surprise for a moment before moving and beckoning me to follow him, without fear I simply followed him until we reached a secluded spot that offered a little more privacy.

"So, Aki goaded you into this? Why are you out of school? You don't look old enough to be a graduate and you're too clean to be a dropout."

"Aki? Akihiko! I never thought of him as the kind of PERSONA who gets close to superficial looking people" I replied.

"You have the guts to say that to a shallow-looking boy."

"Even with all that appearance you don't really seem like a bad PERSONA to me, and about school, well I just got released from the hospital today and I'll be back tomorrow."

"What happened?"

"Some shadows ambushed us, they were stronger than normal and with the ability to change their weakness"

"It must have been tough"

"Meh, it's no worse than when you wake up amnesiac with a fatal chest wound."

"What the hell is going on with your life?"

"I have not the slightest idea, but I am happy to be here, I think I have made good friends in the bedroom"

"If what you are trying to do is recruit me, I have to tell you that I want nothing to do with the dark hour."

"It really wasn't my intention, I just felt a PERSONA user and wanted to meet him, I understand that this kind of life is not for everyone"

"Hey, that solves a possible headache"

"Since we are agreed and I do not have school until tomorrow, how about we spend time together for a bit? It's kind of boring being alone."

"You probably better not waste your time with people like me kid."

"Yes, because I have better things to do, besides, you seem lonely so let's hang out, the bad boy facade really doesn't scare me" I told him amused

"Hey, I don't know about loneliness, but if you can deal with fighting those monsters, I highly doubt it will scare you anytime soon."

Somehow, we seemed to get along, Shinjiro started to tell me a bit about him and the others who founded SEES, like he and Akihiko used to be orphans and how a friend of his named Miki died in a fire at his orphanage.

It also seemed like Akihiko, Mitsuru and him were the ones who started SEES, nothing was new information to me, but I was surprised that he really opened up to me that much, maybe I can somehow convince him to join our group before the original story, If he succeeded, he could save his life, so the rest of the afternoon flew by in pure talk.

"He has! It is too late! I will come tomorrow after school! See you!" I told him as he went back to the bedrooms

You are me, I am you… you have acquired a new link, with the power of the arcane HIEROPHANTS you have opened the way to a new chapter…

Night

"Here I am entering as a normal person!" I said dramatically

"A normal person wouldn't do what you did..." Yukari told me

"Those hamburgers were the best" Iori added satisfied

I was already back in the dorms, everyone seemed to be waiting for me as they were gathered in the lobby and quickly dragged me to a fast-food restaurant, I missed this junk food, it felt like it had been years since I last tried it.

"It seems that you have recovered well" Akihiko said looking me up and down

"You can bet on it! Although I really hope I don't end up there again."

"We hope so too, it's not very encouraging if we see you so often there" added Iori

"By the way Akihiko, I met your friend Shinjiro, a great guy, he kept me company until I had to go back to the dorm"

"It's amazing that he actually had a conversation with someone."

"Nah, I think it was more of him trying to please me since his intimidating facade didn't scare me."

"You really are brave, I've tried to get him to meet us again with no luck. Maybe you can try to persuade him?"

"Sorry, I really don't want to force him to join something he doesn't want to be a part of, though maybe you should keep pushing him, it looks like he might break your pressure if how well he talked about you is any indication."

"Maybe I'll do that then" Akihiko said happily.

Things seemed to be starting to look up...