Right here is chapter 2, nothing much to say other than I've taken some liberties with the lore of Persona 4 to make this story and how I want it so please forgive me. We are still in our opening scene so a little more ground work til we get to the main bit.

Day One: Resolve

He found himself back in Akihabara, or what seemed to be Akihabara. The miasma was getting thicker. It almost felt suffocating but making out the bright lights in this strange evening tint was the only way markers he had. His body felt lighter, like his consciousness was slipping, or maybe it was sanity. At this point he wasn't sure if they had much time either. Something about this place was different than before. He could feel a secondary presence amongst the dense mist. Someone else was here, The thing stalking him was making itself known. Was it playing with him or was it finally time for it to collect. Wiping his brow he needed to move fast, there had to be a door or something that could even give him a moment or respite. Something in the background seemed different however. Squinting his eyes he noticed the train station was open this time round.

Either a beacon of hope or an established trap, he had to make a decision now to go in...

The problem was that this mist was getting thicker and he would eventually suffocate to it or he could find a solution there. Taking his chances he bolted towards the bright light in the of the train station, only dimmed due to the smog taking over the area. At that point he noticed...

...The shutter doors were lowering down on him. Gritting his teeth he went for it and felt he was in distance but his time was shortening fast. Taking one last breath he hoped his slide would make it before it closed in on him...

"Urgh..." Naoto shook her head of weariness. That last one was a lot more painful.

"You ok Big Sis?" She looked to her side to notice she was eye level with Nanako. She must have fallen to one knee in the pain. "You felt something weird?"

"Y-Yeah. Have you felt it too?"

"Yes, it really hurts and people at school get scared sometimes." Standing back up again, Naoto looked on before noticing she was still holding Nanako's purse. Frowning she offered it back.

"I can't accept this Nanako-chan." The younger girl's eyes widened in shock and then she looked down in sadness.

"You can't do it?" She sobbed. Naoto's heart almost broke in two hearing her sob.

"No that's not what I meant..." Watery eyes turned to her again. "Really I won't accept money to take on this case. This is something I have a vested interest in too."

Nanako seemingly caught on to what she meant because even through the sobs she pulled a small smile. "That's true..."

"While this is strange and I don't have much to go on, I'll do my absolute best. I'll find our Souji-kun, don't you worry."

"Thanks Big Sis, I didn't know who else I could turn to."

"Don't worry about it. I have a feeling I'll have to make a trip out of town for this case so I'll probably be away for a bit. I need you to stay strong and keep believing here."

"Oh ok... I wish I could come with you." As much as it hurt to deny the young girl Naoto was stern.

"I have a feeling if I bring you it will only make the case more dangerous. I can't have that, Souji-kun wouldn't think highly of me if I put his little sister in danger would he?" She nodded slowly.

"You're right."

"Good, now let's head back and I can keep you informed about what I plan to do. The best thing you could do is take care of yourself." She could tell that even with everything going on, that the acceptance of Naoto taking the case had put her mind at ease a little.

"Thanks again Big Sis." Naoto shot her one of Souji's signature grins.

"That's what I'm here for."

...

...

As soon as Naoto hit home she threw her notebooks on to the desk so she could get started on this urgently. Something in the pit of her stomach just said she had a lack of time to crack this case. The most frustrating thing about this is that whatever is happening with the rest of the team made it seem like she was working on her own, so this seemed like a solo venture. Quickly glancing at the bedside table picture of her and Souji only fuelled her preparation even more. Getting up from the desk she pulled out a suitcase from the in the wall wardrobe and threw it on the bed. She'll pack her bags after she's done taking notes but first she needed to speak to her grandfather about taking a leave of absence. It will probably fluster him that she is doing this, this close to her graduation but I'm sure he'll understand once she's back.

Picking up her phone she found her Grandpa's name and hit the call button. She was anxious but the need to get to the bottom of this case was something that overtook that. It only took a couple rings before-.

"Ah Naoto-chan how are things?"

"Hey Grandpa..."

There was a slight pause in her reply which she kicked herself for making her worry obvious.

"Is there something wrong?" She sighed a little then instantly regretted it because he probably heard her.

"Hey Grandpa, there is a case that I need to take..." There was a sound of surprise down the phone, a little unsure what was going on.

"Has it gone through the internal systems?" His tone was confused, wondering why he hadn't seen anything come up.

"No, this is a case given directly to me, I think a friend is in trouble. So I'm going to be heading to Tokyo for a week. Would you mind alerting the school that I'll be busy with work?" Matsuda sounded concerned and yet curious at the same time. He wanted details.

"A friend in trouble, you are going to need to give me more information than that. Also you only have one friend in Tokyo..." Naoto sighed. She would rather not have this conversation with him but being clean with him would be the best bet.

"I don't know if you remember Souji Seta?" His voice seemingly perked up at the name.

"Oh isn't that the young man you've been gallivanting with? Is he in trouble?" Naoto paused for a second noting two things. One he seemingly hadn't forgotten who he was and two the way he framed it only made her blush.

"Yes, yes that's him." She coughed awkwardly trying to get back on track. "I think something has happened to him in Tokyo and it's making me feel uneasy. His family members haven't been able to contact him for several days so I'm worried. I want to find out myself."

"Don't you think it's cutting it close to your finals." Naoto shook her head and dismissed it.

"Yes but I feel this is more important. I just have a gut feeling. I'll be back within a week and well in time for my finals." She heard him sigh. That was the sigh where she knew she was getting through to him.

"I want to say no but it seems that you have your heart set on this. If something is seriously wrong I want you to log it through the Estate if anything happens we can at least support you." She smiled, that's the first hurdle done.

"I will do Grandpa, can I book a flight for tomorrow morning?"

"Yes, just keep me updated with everything that is happening."

"Will do."

With that she dropped the call and took a seat at her desk. Looking at diary she used for the Inaba murder cases she looked back through that. She had the strangest feeling that it's possibly linked to it. While she had nothing concrete, the random memory loss of others, the selective headaches, that dream it all seemed to be something supernatural. Maybe going over her notes will find some clues. Putting on an alarm for an hour, she got to reading and opened up a new book to scribble down some notes as she read. Once she did this she would pack and get some sleep. She'll book a hotel on the way to the airport.

...

A couple hours later, she did the final zip on her suitcase that held it tight and took it off her bed. Happy that she got it out of the way she looked at the time and saw it said 8pm. She needed to be up by 5 so that should give her enough time for her 9:30 flight and land in Tokyo for 10:30. If she was going to do this case she would hit the ground running to make sure she gave herself as much time as possible. Looking at her phone she picked up and checked to see if the message she sent to Souji got through. She sighed noticing that it still hasn't. Out of instinct she pressed the call button causing her to ring him. She was hoping, in the pit of her stomach that he would answer and tell her it's all ok. That hope was dashed pretty quickly when it went right to a dead tone. If anything that was more concerning. Sighing, she put it by her bedside table and took her suitcase off the bed. Hopeful when she lands in Tokyo tomorrow morning she'll have some more answers. Now it's time for bed and to be fresh for tomorrow.

…

...

Picking himself up from the ground, he sighed in relief as he heard the shutters close behind him with no sound. The lack of audio in everything around him was at least consistent. Dusting himself off the ground he noticed that there was a lack of miasma in the area for the first time in what felt like days he could see clearly. His eyes struggled to adjust to the now brighter light now the hazy filter had been removed, still the consistent blue tint was annoying like it was perpetual evening. The silence in the main plaza eerie but would take it over whatever was going on outside.

Looking at the boards the times were all stuck at 03:34am. That made him all the more curious due to the station not being open at that time in Tokyo. All of the shop lights were still on, the message boards around the station were still lit but from what he could see with the text they were all backwards. A frown crossed his features. Soundlessly he hopped over the ticket barrier to investigate further. The ticket machines were still on but they had text that might as well be gibberish to him. He sighed knowing he wasn't getting anywhere. Might as well check the platforms…

…

...

She felt herself wake up. Looking around for a second she was unsure where she was as put her hands on the floor. She was laying in water? The texture felt like it was but it didn't make her wet after. Shaking her head she lifted herself up, looking at the infinite azure seemingly going on forever. Naoto pushed herself on to her feet as she wondered where she was. She assumed she was still asleep and dreaming considering how this place looked. A relaxed breath that she was in her detective attire for the now. Least this isn't too embarrassing.

"Naoto!" Her head whipped around seeing a figure run towards her. The figure was familiar, one she hadn't seen in quite some time. She then realised who it was.

"Marie!" Naoto waved back. Souji had gone into quite a few details about her origin. If anything she was the perfect person to talk too about what has been going on. She kicked herself at not thinking of this sooner. Wait is this really happening, if she was dreaming then this isn't happening.

"I'm sorry for doing this to you." She started, trying to take a breath from running. That raised the question, where was she running from?

"Did what to me? Appear in my dream?" Shaking her head while doubled over, Naoto gave her a moment to recover.

"No, I made this dream. A friend of mine can use it to summon people similar to the velvet room but I only have the ability to recreate dreams so I'm using a similar style of magic if you want to call it that... Wait did Souji fill you in about the velvet room?" Naoto shrugged. Yes Souji mentioned it when he elaborated more about his powers and his ability to summon multiple Persona but a lot of it went over her head at the time. She kicked herself again for not paying attention to something that now seemed so important.

"Well I'll give you the tldr on this one. Basically it's a realm per say that allows him to communicate with the person he signed a contract with to start his journey. This gives him the ability to summon Persona and manage multiple ones. Basically the velvet room is where he sorts that stuff out, normally it takes form as a fragment of a person's imagination so his one was inside a limo from what I remember."

Naoto nodded. "Yeah he did say it was something like that. So I'm assuming this is mine?"

Now standing upright and with a small smile on her face, Marie shook her head. "No, this is something I had to come up with at short notice. Technically I can't use anything from your state of mind because you are not a Wild Card user."

"Wild Card user?"

"They are the chosen ones able to use multiple Personas, like your boyfriend. About that little detail, can't say I'm a little jealous..." The way she worded alone made Naoto's cheeks flared hotly.

"I-I see..."

"Normally my friend manages his stuff but she's nowhere to be found right now so I'm a little worried about it."

"Friend, you mean Margret?"

"Yes I'm glad you remember. I heard through the grapevine that you were going to search for Souji right?" The Sleuth's eyes narrowed dangerously.

"How do you know that information?" Marie scoffed nonchalantly. She opened her bag rummaging through it looking for something.

"I'm the deity of this land so give me some credit. Also like you something weird is going on but I've been unable to track what's been happening. Not like I can leave or anything so it's a good thing you are going hunting for this jerk. I'm actually worried about him." After some more continuous shuffling of the bag's contents she finally found what she was looking for. "Aha! Got it,"

"Is there something you need me to do?"

"Yes..." Lifting her hand out of her signature bag she offered what seemed to be a bright glowing blue key with a butterfly model on the handle. Naoto thought it was beautiful the way it shone in the dim light that they were in, mesmerised her. She couldn't take her eyes off it. "Take this," And placed it into the Sleuth's hand.

"Me? What can I use it for?" Marie's face turned serious. In an expression Naoto herself hadn't seen in a while.

"It's Souji's. I need you to give it to him before whatever happens to him happens." That was a very worrying thing to say...

"What do you mean by that? Do you know anything about what's going on?"

"Unfortunately I have nothing for you except one thing." She took a moment to make sure what she was saying was correct. "I've lost my social link connection with Souji."

"Wait what?" That explains so many things in her head why her friends are starting to forget things related to him. But why was herself and Nanako not affected?

"Yeah it sounds stupid but that's the position I'm in. Luckily being a higher being and all my memory is unaffected, but that bond, the tether I share with him where I can feel what he feels and see what he sees is gone. I felt it forcibly sever a couple days ago and I haven't been able to contact him to find out what is wrong. I tried talking to Margaret but that got nowhere as well since I haven't seen her, she only left me that. The only people that had a bond stronger than mine and Margret's to him was you and Dojima's little girl. I think that's the only thing holding your memories together of him for now."

Her information dump was more terrifying than what she thought because that was the absolute worst case scenario she had in her mind. This got from urgent to crisis level in no time flat. She had absolutely no time to lose.

"Thanks for the information Marie, I think that confirms a few hypotheses I had in my head about what was going on. I have to ask you said it was forcibly severed. What do you mean by that?"

"Like it was cut off by an external force. If Souji did it himself I'd feel some emotion, some anger or hatred toward me first before it's cut. I would have understood why but I'll still be able to get through to him in at least his dreams. I can't even do that anymore." Naoto's eyes widened.

"Are you saying-"

"No I'm not, I can still feel something. Plus if he moved on to the afterlife, me, Margret and yourself would all know. Whatever it is, it feels like a race against time and we don't have much to spare at all."

Naoto sighed thankfully. That's one immediate worry out of the way. "That's good. Anyway what do you think I should look for in Tokyo?"

"It's a bit of a long shot, but try and find Margret if you can. Also keep an eye out for blue glowing butterflies, it sounds cryptic but it's the best I can give you. If you find her, show her that key and she can guide you from there. As long as you have that in your possession you can contact me when you're asleep but considering how much time you have that is probably very limited."

"Thanks, this has been more helpful than you think."

"Oh I know exactly how useful it is. Hence why I did it. I don't want to lose that idiot anymore than anyone else, social link connection or not. He's still dear to me and that hasn't changed."

"You and me both." Feeling accomplished from this meeting, she smiled, a sense of home coming to her, a refreshing feeling considering how bleak things looked from a couple hours ago.

"Good, I can't keep you any longer, you need to be on your way. I'll contact you tonight to see how things are while I'll keep trying my Margret Until then best of luck. And be ready for anything."

Hearing Marie put it this way made her brutally aware just how high the stakes had gotten so quickly. Not only is there as a chance of us losing him, there is a chance we'll even forget him.

"I'll do everything in my power. You have my word."

"I'm glad. Take care." With that she pressed her finger against Naoto's forehead, a single bright light emitting from it before taking over the world around them completely.

...

It took a second but Naoto stirred awake as she put her hand to her head. The dream from last night is as crystal clear as the memories of yesterday. She couldn't really tell if it was real or not considering that her day and night cycles were becoming stranger. Sitting up she checked her alarm clock to see it was 4:50am in the morning. Just early enough to beat her alarm. This time however she felt refreshed and ready for the day. She felt something solid in her hand, opening it the fluorescent blue key shone brightly illuminating the room and the walls around her. The item itself felt warm, she could feel the essence, the soul of Souji coursing through it. She smiled knowing what her objective was. Getting out of bed She turned her alarm off and picked a fresh pair of clothes. A nice shower then, freshen up and she can organise a taxi to take her to the airport. A lot on the line but the contact with Marie had done wonders to her morale.

"Hold on Souji-kun, I'm coming..."

…

...

Slowly ascending the stairs he quickly noticed the boards' incoherent text becoming more and more irrational the higher in platform numbers they were. Majority of them were gated off, the shutters making it pretty clear that entry was prohibited. Fortunately at this point he's being used to railroaded into wherever he needed to be. The ability to breath was a welcome addition however. Jogging up another set of escalators, he noticed just how dense the mist had become. He wished he could use something to help him see but at this point he figured it out on his own. He was too far from home for help and it was a matter of time before whatever was looking for him found him. Had he resigned to his fate, no but he was realistic that the possibilities of making it out alive was as close to 0 as you can get, and that is including a miracle as well.

Saying that he was one to never give up from what he could piece together so why start now...