Time never waits.

"I"m so sorry, Hamuko..."

Screeching-

Yelling-

Burning-

You, who wish to safeguard the future, however limited it may be.

"It is all up to you now..."

Blood-

Sweat-

Tears-

You will be given one year.

"Protect him..."

Monster-

Fear-

Death-

"You have to-!"

Nothingness-

"Live..."

It was the same dream over and over again, a replay of her broken memories of that night when she lost more than just her parents, but a good part of her own self which was shot dead and buried into the blasted soiled of the cursed bridge. This time that voice, and the letters falling into place made a recurring nightmare even more haunting.

"Hey, Nee-san!"

Hamuko turned to the source of a voice and gave a tired smile to the boy who was tugging on her sleeve, a seven old kid who was her last link to life.

"Hey there little bro,"

"Are you okay? You were sad in your sleep,"

"I'm perfectly fine, you can't sleep well in a train after," Hamuko smiled after the little lie, which her brother took without much thought. Lying to him was a shitty thing to do but while she had no plans for herself, she did have one goal for the foreseeable future and that was to give her brother a normal life. No matter what.

"We are now approaching Iwatodai!"

Hamuko nodded and hurled their luggage off the top shelf, setting the strap on her shoulder. After a few yawns and light stretches she turned back to-

"Hey Minato, it's almost time..."

Minato was already out like a bulb on the seat of the monorail. That was no surprise as he was quite sleepy when she woke up and the timing worked for her because in a few more minutes, the cursed hour was about to begin.

Hamuko wasted no time and picked up the sleeping blunet, making sure he was comfortable on her shoulder and then got off the monorail. The hour came over the world just a few minutes after she escaped the crowd and Minato tightened his grip around her in his sleep.

"Sleep well, little brother,"

By some miracle, Hamuko signed the contract while still holding Minato in her arms, a feat which even surprised the boy who urged her to sign but as the boy faded into the darkness he did cast a glance over to Minato and Hamuko clutched him close, almost glaring at the obvious supernatural brat who whispered.

"Take care of him..."

"I will..." Hamuko spat. "Now go away."

He left, but another idiot had to ruin the moment of peace. Someone ran down the steps and Hamuko faced the direction of the quivering voice, observing a panicked girl with a pink sweater and a pistol hostler on her thigh.

"Shoot,"

Hamuko loosened the strap on her shoulder and hurled the backpack on the floor. She kicked the luggage in the direction of the girl without warning and the brunette in the darkness yelped, collapsing down and the gun in her grip went flying when the heavy backpack crashed into her legs-

Hamuko caught the gun with one hand and made sure Minato was still asleep and comfortable. He was and so she focused back on the pink clad female, who was absolutely terrified at whatever the hell happened, even more so when Hamuko glared at her and pointed the barrel of the somewhat awkward gun in her direction.

"Wait!"

The lights came back on and Hamuko simply changed the target, now switching over to an older female that descended down the same steps but she was not too concerned about being threatened, which led Hamuko to believe the gun was fake but that was no way to welcome someone into a dorm.

"Are you alright, Takeba?" Mitsuru asked as she was a little ashamed to start the conversation with the other girl. Not to mention Hamuko did not seem keen to talk either as she first thing she did when the Dark Hour came to an end was to rest Minato on the large sofa and then finally, she acknowledged the other two girls with a hand on her hip and a scowl on her face.

"Thank you for the warm welcome,"

After having a yelling match with Mitsuru about whether her little brother could stay with her, the heiress accepted her demands and urged her to be extra careful in the dorm as robberies were common. Hamuko could sense some BS in her statements but choose not to dwell for the time being. She gently woke up and Minato and for the first time, Yukari saw her smile which was a much different look than the stoic face and the scowl she had on during their interaction.

"We're here, little brother," Hamuko smiled and ruffled his already messy hair, making sure that most of his face was obscured from view as she dreaded the evil eye. Yes, Hamuko was superstitious but only when it came to her brother.

"Is that your brother?" Yukari asked, trying to be nice and start a conversation.

"Yeah," Hamuko replied with a bit of stiffness as she was still pretty resentful.

"He's so cute..."

That got her to move and she faced the brunette with another icy glare, followed by a stern warning. "Pinch his cheeks and I will rip off yours."

Yukari did not know whether to snicker or facepalm. She did hold a hand to her face to block a small chuckle. "I hear you. Come on, I'll show you to your room."

"Who are these people!?" Minato wondered.

First day of school was important and the ideal opportunity to set an example that the new transfer student was not just a punk, but a diligent, hardworking and punctual individual-

"Okay so your school should be around here, little brother," Hamuko took another wrong turn and glanced at her watch. 10 minutes until the start of her own school and she was currently staring at a back alley of rats.

"Um, Hamuko-nee, you will be late," Minato pointed out with worry. This was her first day in a top ranked school and his sister didn't seem to care at all.

"Forget that. Did you eat breakfast today?" Hamuko blinked. Come to think of it, she did hurry Minato out of the dorm before the other two girls could ruin her innocent little brother and by that, he had missed breakfast.

"Um no, you got me out there pretty quickly," Minato said, rubbing his now growling stomach now that she had mentioned breakfast.

Hamuko found a takoyaki shop and pulled out the required cash from her wallet. "I'll have to look up a few jobs here soon," she made a mental reminder as her brother had a bottomless pitch for a stomach but he was young and Hamuko was always happy to see him chow down on a buffet which never got old.

After making sure that Minato was well stuffed, she found his school, double checked his supplies and even dropped him off to class and met with his teacher and told her to take special care of her brother and then she was finally done with some of her most important obligations. She made her way to her own school and was forced to sit out the class as she was not welcomed in during the middle of a lecture.

"Well," Hamuko said to herself while she sat on the bench, sipping a juice box. "This isn't so bad."

"Sup, dude?"

"Ah, shit,"

Junpei Iori was interesting. Very very interesting if he was the last guy left on earth but he was not and so Hamuko declined his offer on the pretext that she had to pick up her brother from school. She did not expect Junpei to tag along which did better his opinion in her eyes, as he was not looking to get in her pants like so many other idiot boys.

After surviving a stampede of elementary school kids, Hamuko successfully rescued Minato with some help from Junpei who had to suffer a few tackles himself. Minato was quite happy with his new school as he was not bullied on the first day for his awkward hair color but he did quiet down when he saw Junpei nearby.

"Um, Nee-san, who is he?" Minato asked with another tug on her sleeve, a reflex whenever he was sad, confused or somewhat scared.

"He's a classmate, Minato. Don't worry, he's a nice guy," Hamuko gestured towards him, trying to prove a point.

She was not expecting Junpei to kneel down to the level of her brother and flash him a friendly grin. He held out his fist for Minato and upon a pat from Hamuko, Minato bumped his small fist against with a small smile.

"Nice to meet you, Mina-chan," Junpei did his best to come across as friendly which Hamuko appreciated but eventually she pulled Minato back to herself and kept him close, still unwilling to hand her brother over to anyone else. She had a strict no risk policy when it came to Minato and there would be no changing that.

Hamuko gripped his small shoulders tightly, with enough force that Minato did feel discomfort but he was used to this and was happy being a clutch for his sister whenever he could. He patted her hand in response to calm her down and the two made their way back to the dorm.

The first few days were quite uneventful, although Hamuko did find a camera in their room on the second day and she ripped off the said device and made sure to toss the remains in the trashcan outside Mitsuru's room so she would know. Those two girls were spying on her little brother, she just knew it! She was happy to raise hell and start a war but Minato pleaded her to calm down and forget about it and she did, for the time being.

That was another student living in the dorm and she bumped him into him. Akihiko Sanada, boxing champion and a senior. She did address him respectfully as he was a senpai but when Akihiko tried to shake the hand of her brother, her tone grew cold and she pulled Minato away from him. There was something odd about the dorm people. They were able to walk around in the Dark Hour, all of them carried fake guns and they were a member of S.E.E.S, a group listed as a school club with with nothing more to go by.

Another strange thing was that the dorm was very selective and no other student was even allowed to visit for some reason. Hamuko tried to narrow down the list but decided against so because it was too much work. All that mattered was that she kept Minato safe and away from them until they were relocated to another dorm.

Next day, Hamuko left school early and picked Minato up alone. She did have a budget that could allow dining in once a week, not to mention Minato enjoyed eating at restaurants. They hung around their old hometown well until evening and on the way back, Hamuko noticed that the moon was full and more eerie than usual. She did not think much and after her normal routine of a nice shower, change of clothes, she lulled Minato into a sleep, switched the lights off in her room, hugged him close and slept.

That night was just a start to downward spiral of chaos and a game of fate that Hamuko wanted no part off but the circumstances were far greater and threatening, not only to the city of Iwatodai but Minato as well. That night was the first time she was legitimately terrified.

Someone rapped on the door nonstop, without enough force to even wake up her deep sleeper brother. Hamuko scowled and opened the door, about to yell at Yukari to let them sleep but something was off as her classmate was terrified and shaking, pale and gripped with fear.

"We have to get out of here now!" Yukari almost shrieked. "Come on, get your brother and let's go!"

Hamuko held out her arm to block the entry and she leveled the brunette with a deadly glare. "Get out of my room. Minato isn't getting involved in your stupid games."

'You don't understand-"

Yukari was cut off as the dorm rocked, as if struck by something massive and while the two females were able to hold their weight, Minato fell fro the bed and landed on his head, letting out a small cry of pain which froze his older sister. She had not heard him cry like that in a long while but that was only a small taste of the nightmare that awaited both.

Upon insistence, Hamuko carried Minato and followed Takeba to whenever the hell they were going. First they stopped at the lounge but after yelling at someone on her earpiece, Yukari drew back and took the two siblings to the roof and that was where it all began.

A massive creature emerged from the edge of the roof and Minato, seven year old and a kid who was awfully sheltered and protected started to yell and cry as the monstrosity came closer towards the trio. Hamuko herself was struck speechless by the appearance and she could not fathom how such a thing existed in the world.

Minato kept screaming and Hamuko shivered as well. For the first time in a long while she was scared, scared that she had no way to save Minato because even the blades that the creature carried was twice her own height. All she could do was hug Minato and attempt to muffle his screaming, whispering him to calm down while she made sure to hide him from the view of the monster, sweat trickling down her face as she panted, desperately trying to think of something, anything that would keep him safe.

Yukari was the first one to attempt something and she pressed the fake gun to her temple and took a trembling breath. The creature sensed the danger and hurled a sphere of flames in her direction which knocked the brunette to the other side of the roof. Hamuko clicked her tongue and clutched her little brother harsh enough to suffocate him, glaring at the entity with clattering teeth.

"It'll be alright, little brother," Hamuko still whispered into his ear, hiding a bitter smile from his vision as their death came right at them. "I'll keep you safe, no matter what."

Minato's muffled scream vibrated against her forearm and the wet tears struck her hand, making her curse as her innocent brother was reduced to a stuttering and sobbing mess, now exposed to a whole new world of horror and misery, something she swore was never going to happen.

Hamuko shook her head and made Minato look at her for a moment while she steadied her fist, already cursing herself for the only chance at survival, which included knocking him out and then throwing herself at the shadow which would hopefully leave after she was torn to shreds, thinking the boy was dead-

Dead-

DEAD-

DEAD-

Something went off in her head and Hamuko felt a phantom hand around her throat as the thought strangled the life out of her, her broken memories coming back to haunt her as the images of her dead parents flashed before her eyes in the the last few minutes of her life, a solid reminder that she was a cursed bitch but she was not going to allow that curse to fall upon her brother. That she swore.

"I love you, baby brother..."

Hamuko said with a genuine smile despite the circumstances and was ready to knock him out as the monster was now very close to the two of them but at the last second, her eye caught a glint and she saw the gun that Yukari attempted to use next to her feet. She reached out and cradled the same into her hands, now pushing her little brother behind her and away from the view of the monster that she stood up to face.

"Pull the trigger!"

The voice was ripe with urgency and concern and Hamuko saw the boy that she met on the first day in a vision just when she pressed the cold barrel of the gun to her temple and steadied her breathing, following the emerging echo in the back of her head.

"Per..."

"So..."

"NA!"

Hamuko pulled the trigger and sealed her fate, setting off a chain of events that she would never ever dare to dream of. Something happened and the next couple of minutes went by in a blur which she could recall but only bits here and there. She pulled the trigger and summoned a creature which was soon obliterated by another monster that emerged from within and that was where her memories failed her and so did her sanity.

A monster emerged from her persona and flew at the mass of arms after a bestial roar that rocked the dorm worse than the shadow did. Her brain was bouncing in her skull when the new entity cleaved the puny shadow and did so with extra quickness and ferocity, as if making it suffer in kind for the hell it had brought upon Hamuko and her brother. Each blink would fast forward time and the headache she was suffering got worse by every second, border lining on a brain hemorrhage by the point she lost her voice due to the constant screaming-

Eventually, mercifully, the hulking monster surrounded by a shield of coffins disappeared and the headache subsided. The redhead fell to her knees and caught a glimpse of the decaying corpse of the shadow, which gave her a small respite because Minato was safe. Her little brother was safe and she quickly located him next to herself, trying to make sure that she was okay.

A few more shadows emerged and Hamuko cursed. She was on the last legs of her consciousness but Yukari was in no shape to fight and she was not going to allow those blobs of filth to harm her brother. She grabbed the knife that Yukari had given her in one hand and the evoker in the other, standing up once more to face the shadows.

"Persona!"

Hamuko managed to defeat the two shadows and soon collapsed, catching a worried Minato running at her just when she met the ground. Despite all that had happened, Hamuko let out a small laugh to close out the nightmare because Minato was safe, without a wound on him. He was most likely scarred from what he saw but she was there to take care of that, all she needed was a little rest and she would be right back to heal him.

"Hey, Nee-san!"

She heard his voice from somewhere and tried to talk, assure him that everything was okay but her strength left her and Hamuko blackened out seconds later.

"NEE-SAN!"

Hamuko felt herself waking up sometime later and the horrid taste in her mouth told her that she was out for quite a while but when her memory began to work, the first thing she yelled out was the name of her brother-

"Minato!"

She woke up rather harshly and her vision dimmed momentarily as she was still weak and exhausted but thankfully someone else was nearby to calm her down.

"You're awake!" Yukari was the first to greet her and she gave a sigh of relief to see her classmate up and running.

"Where is Minato!?" Hamuko demanded to know, already trying to get up and run out despite her protesting body.

"He's right here..."

Yukari pointed down and Hamuko blinked, finding her kid brother sleeping on the edge of her bed and now she knew why she was not able to move her hand because Minato was holding onto her. She calmed down after that and gave a sigh of relief, ruffling his messy hairstyle with a genuine smile and Yukari did not speak, instead allowing the two siblings to have a little moment for themselves.

"He was pretty worried about you," Yukari informed and could not help but smile when Hamuko hoisted him and made him rest on the bed while she got off and began walking around to get the feeling back in her body.

"I'm sorry I hid so much from you," Yukari said, gaze downcast as she was legamitely ashamed but now it was time to come clean. "But I will tell you everything, I owe you that much."

Yukari talked and talked and talked and Hamuko finally found out the truth about the dorm she was staying at, which was the headquarters of a special force made to combat the shadows that attacked them the other night. She also got to know about the power of persona and the fact that Yukari was in the same boat as them, having lost her dad at a young age.

After all of that, Hamuko asked the number one question on her mind.

"How has Minato been doing?" she asked while going through a lock of his hair to calm him down in his sleep. She could see the dry track of tears and cursed under her breath, knowing that he had suffered the whole week when she was out.

"He hasn't left your side but we did bring him back to dorm from time to time," Yukari explained. "A hospital is no place for a boy like him."

Hamuko nodded, appreciating the gesture. A hospital indeed was no place for a kid, with so much misery, disease and death.

"He was pretty scared but we got him to calm down," Yukari continued. "Mitsuru-senpai even contacted his school and made sure his attendance wouldn't suffer."

"..." Hamuko had no words to reply and just listened.

"Akihiko-senpai took him to parks and playgrounds and well, I made him some meals when he was hungry," Yukari rubbed the back of her head. "Even helped him with some homework to get his mind off what happened that night. He is still a little shy with us but I can talk to him now, hehe."

"Thank you..."

Yukari was a bit surprised when Hamuko said those words, as she was always a little distant and cold but the sincerity in her voice was real and she looked thankful, which was followed by a bow of her head.

"Woah, you don't have to go that far, that is the least I could do for you saving me," Yukari exclaimed with a small blush of embarrassment. "I couldn't stand seeing a little boy suffer like that, especially a sibling of a classmate."

That did change her opinion of Yukari and the other dorm mates and Hamuko thanked each of them for taking care of her little sibling. Soon after, Yukari left and Minato woke up, proceeded to wail and yell until Hamuko got him to calm down and the two left the hospital to eat somewhere as she was staving after a week of slumber.

When Mitsuru presented her the evoker, Hamuko had to think her options. First thought was to decline, grab Minato and run out of the crazy dorm and to somewhere safe but after the lecture on the Dark Hour by Mitsuru and the chairman, Hamuko knew escape was not as simple as that. The shadows were behind the dreaded apathy syndrome cases and that itself was a pandemic across Japan.

The only way to combat the syndrome was to defeat the shadows, creatures that fed on the human mind. Still, fighting life and death battles was not on her to-do list but next to her sat Minato, and as a kid he did not know much as most of the lecture went over his head. Hamuko knew he was going to follow her no matter where she went. She was capable and was considerably hardened throughout the years to take care of him, keep him safe from bullies and other morons but against the shadows, she doubted her chances no matter how much awesome her power was according to Yukari and Mitsuru.

The only sure fire way to keep him safe was to be under the protection of more seasoned persona users like Mitsuru and Akihiko. According to Mitsuru, people with potential were always targets of the shadows and that included her, and by extension Minato.

The things she did for her baby brother...

"I'll do it," Hamuko said, much to the relief of the other members but a slap on the table made each of them look at her as she laid down just one simple condition. "You keep Minato out of this."

Mitsuru smiled at her and had no problem accepting those terms. Yukari smacked the younger redhead on the back and grinned.

"Don't worry," the brunette pointed towards Akihiko as well.

"We'll keep him safe too,"

What Igor spoke of happened and Hamuko formed a bond with the members of the strange club but they were not too bad, not after what they had done for her brother in her absence. Maybe they could even pinch his cheeks now-

"I already did," Yukari informed.

"Ah dammit!"

"There!" Hamuko put aside the brush when she was done combing his hair into something neat. She had the weekday off from much like him so there was no chance of someone messing Minato up with the evil eye as they were to stay indoors. "I swear, if that teacher pinches your cheek one more time!"

"She is really nice though," Minato exclaimed, how could she not be when Mitsuru freaking Kirijo told her to take special care of the boy? Hamuko owed Mitsuru for that favor because now Minato was basically treated like a prince in the school he went to. "She does my homework for me too!"

Hamuko chuckled. Around his age, Hamuko had no one else that would help her in homework, as her relatives barely took care of Minato and she never risked pissing them off and studied on her own. Now that she was bitter, in fact she was glad her little brother was having a much easier time in his life than she did, something that she swore to her mother's grave.

"Listen Minato," Hamuko took away his handheld and Minato whined, turning to face her. She was pretty serious and after a quick glance at the clock which was close to eleven, she started to talk. "I have some work to do during THAT hour so you'll be alone for a little while."

"Is it dangerous?" Minato widened his eyes in concern and Hamuko laughed it off with another cheeky smile.

"Danger? For me?" Hamuko blew a raspberry after the obvious lie. Tartarus was sure to be a a disaster and while she was not keen to leave him alone, that tower was the best place to nip the problem at the bud.

"That's true!" Minato exclaimed and jumped up to her height. "You're a superhero after all!"

"Right?" Hamuko grinned back, despite the bead of sweat rolling down the side of her face. "So I'll be fine. I'll tuck you in and don't worry, the nice chairman will be around too to keep you safe. Even if you wake up, just stay in your bed and sleep again, alright?"

"Alright, nee-san!" Minato nodded his head rapidly and Hamuko was pleased. She switched the lamp off and settled the boy's head on her lap, with her sight still locked on the clock which was now half past eleven. She began to stroke and pat his head during a small lullaby, praying feverishly that Minato would sleep before the emergence of the Dark Hour and to her relief, he did. After a few minutes, the blue haired boy started to snore and Hamuko carefully rested his head on the pillow, threw the covers on him but before she was about to head off and join the others in the lounge, she took one last look at him.

She had failed to protect him from the horrors of the Dark Hour and her little brother was now exposed to a world of abnormality and bloodthirsty creatures. She was introduced to the cursed hour in the most brutal way, as the first time the hour emerged, she lost her parents and suffered scars, mental as well as physical.

Despite her disinterest in studies, Hamuko was a careful planner and would plan each day to best suit Minato but she had no idea what awaited them in the coming days, weeks and months. There was still a part of her which was adamant about grabbing Minato and running out of the city but it was never that simple.

No matter what, her highest priority was to keep him safe, no matter the cost. If she had to sacrifice a few people or even a whole city, she would do so.

Her last link to life and reason for living after all.

"Your sister loves you, Minato," Hamuko whispered and she closed the door, after one last prayer for his safety. "And will keep you safe, no matter what."

When Hamuko was about to step into the tower through the clock, she faced Mitsuru with a stern frown and openly told that that she would leave the team for dead if something happened at the dorm.

There was no compromise but she also had no idea about the chains of fate that were broken that day.

Good luck being a messiah with a 7 year old brat to take care of. ._.

Okay, PSA time.

After months of feeling like I was brain dead, yours truly is finally okay. No seriously, post corona fatigue is real as I've said but thankfully, according to several tests I am somewhat immune and this virus is at least clearing up in NY. I have to get back into studies as well so I'm thinking of doing a small course until next year when I head back to school.

So... sorry to say but the other fics are discontinued. Here's the schedule. This, 3 chapters, BL, one chapter of that dance fic and fucking pimpsona 5. As I've said before, Bloodlust will be my last fic, no questions asked. As for the others, they're discontinued but up for adoption if anyone is willing.

About this story, a kid sibling was actually one of the first persona fic I've read and while that had the roles reversed, I went by Hamuko being the older sister cause God knows Minato is in the spotlight in the siblings fics way too much. Also, her being older will make more sense in the long run. This was a nice in comparison chapter so next one will be what I am known for, gore and brutality so have fun there. ._.

Review if you liked it enough and wish to see more. And again, be safe people and always exercise caution. By next time, this will be a thing of the past but take care of yourself and your loved ones until then.

Cheers! ._.