AN:/ Sorry about the wait all, Writer's Block decided to punch me in the face and take all my lunch money. For several weeks. But alas, here is the next Chapter of Persona 4: Renewed!
Again, much thanks to my glorious Beta, Immortal Thunder!
Let me know what you think, and don't worry too much. It might seem unnecessary, but it will allllll come together in the end. Wanna know what 'It' is? I'll give you a hint.
Nah, I won't give you a hint. You should be able to pick up what I'm puttin' down.
Anyways, Enough stalling on my part.
Please read and review!
*May 5th, Thursday, Children's Day, Early Morning*
With Nanako spending the night at her friend's house, and not coming back till the afternoon, Yu was alone in the kitchen, dutifully making small sandwiches. The Fool placed them all in a small sack, and left the Dojima Residence, locking the house up before heading out to the shopping district. His destination: The Shrine. He met a fox here in a previous life and went through all kinds of shenanigans to fulfill all of the requests that he received last time, and could only wonder about what could happen this time.
So he was slightly taken aback that next to the fox, there was a woman wearing a white hooded cape. The Fox seemed to notice his presence before the woman did, as it stood in front of the mysterious woman and growled. He slowly raised his arms up in a surrender motion before the woman seemed to notice him. "Why, hello there! Drei, stop that, let the boy in." Her voice was light and musical, a nice sound filled with hope.
Her voice… it sounds like a summer breeze.
"Hello ma'am, I'm sorry for intruding upon you." She gave a small laugh, hand raising to her mouth. Her silver eyes were filled with mirth.
"I wouldn't count it as intruding. I mean, there's not a whole lot to intrude upon." Yu seemed apprehensive still, so she waved him over. "Come on over and sit down. I don't bite. Much," she said with a semi-flirtatious wink. Yu moved to sit next to her, face slowly turning red.
"I don't believe I introduced myself yet, I'm Yu Narukami. It's a pleasure to meet you," he said with a smile. The woman smiled gently back at him.
"It's nice to meet you, Yu. My name is Summer Rose." Suddenly time stopped around him, and glass shattered in the distance.
"Thou art I... And I am thou... Thou hast established a new bond... Thy bond will bring the truth ever closer to you… Thy Heart shall be strengthened by Death."
Time resumed and it took all Yu had not to panic. Shall be strengthened by DEATH? Someone else is going to die?!
Yu! called Izanagi's voice. Her Arcana, check her Arcana! With a quick glance into her eyes, his panic ceased to rise. Death.
"Whatcha' got in the bag?" Summer questioned, her curiosity getting the better of her. Yu welcomed the change in topic as he pulled out a few sandwiches.
"I made some food for the Fox that was here. I think you called it, Drei?" At her nod, he continued, "So I figured, 'Hey, I'm kinda hungry too, I'll go eat with the fox.' And here I am." He gestured to an extra sandwich he made. "Do you want one?"
Summer looked at the sandwich, an emotion he couldn't place entering her silver eyes before giving a small smile. "Thanks, but I just ate not too long ago. Don't wanna get too fat," she joked. Yu laughed along with her, and just bit into his own sandwich. The time he spent with the two was short and peaceful. Soon enough, he bid Summer and the Fox goodbye.
"I hope to see you again, Summer!" He waved, causing a smile to appear on her face.
If Summer is my new Death Social Link, what happened to Hisano? Yu pondered to himself. Is she going to be okay?
Just because Summer is your new Death Social Link, doesn't mean that anything bad happened to Hisano, came Izanagi's ever stoic voice. This… 'Second Chance', I believe is the right term, has been different than our first experience together. Summer must just be the first Death Arcana person you bonded with.
But that's the thing, before the Social Link was made, all that really happened was us introducing each other. Why was this one so easy to start? Normally, there is some kind of bonding experience…
We can learn more about it later, to see if the Social Link ranks up just as easy as it started.
Yu nodded. Good Idea, Me.
The Fool continued walking through the shopping district, stopping in front of the Velvet Room. Pushing open the door he found himself in a very strange situation. The Velvet Room itself was different, and much bigger than it's limousine counterpart, with a very large disco ball coming out of the ceiling in the back, two smaller disco balls in front of the large one, several pillars and the couches that the Residents sat upon. Near him was Hope, standing by the entrance, a mix of amusement, awe, and confusion gracing his features. Igor was nowhere to be seen, which given what was happening, was probably a good thing. And Margaret and Marie were… Wearing each other's clothes? And Dancing? Yu and Hope glanced at each other before watching the spectacle before them.
"Um… Hope?"
"No Idea. I just walked in a few seconds ago too."
"... Wanna record this?"
"... Is that a good idea?"
"Not really."
"Do it." And with that, Yu pulled out his phone, snapping a few pictures and recording some of their dancing and laughter. It brought a smile to Yu's face as he turned to Hope.
"Let's leave them be." Hope nodded, eyes filled with mirth. The two slowly exited the Velvet Room, and continued walking down the street, making small talk with each other.
"So Yu, how are your Social Links going?" the Velvet Fool inquired.
"I gotta list at home, it'd be better if I just showed you. I don't have the best memory sometimes. Somethings are clear as day, but others aren't," Yu gave as an answer, turning towards the Dojima residence. Things are starting to differ from my first go around. It must be that butterfly effect thing. I won't be able to rely on my memory too much soon enough for the small things. I know that Kanji is next, and that we saved him before the Camping Trip that's coming up, but I can't remember the exact date. Yu shook his head, clearing his thoughts so that he didn't get off track with Hope. "What about you? How is your's going along?" Hope simply nodded before speaking up.
"Fool - Yu Narukami. Rank 3. Magician - Yosuke Hanamura. Rank Max. Priestess - Yukiko Amagi, Rank Max. Chariot- Chie Satonaka, Rank Max. Strength - Daisuke and Kou, Rank Max. Temperance - Eri Minami, Rank Max." Hope glanced over at the other Fool, before speaking up. "Mine's a bit easier to keep track of, since I usually Max them out relatively quickly."
Yu chuckled, "You have a point." Shortly enough, Yu opened the door to the Dojima Residence, only to be glomped by Nanako.
"Big Bro! Welcome back! Oh, and hello Big Bro Hope!" Nanako quickly let go of Yu and tackle hugged Hope almost instantaneously. Hope's small smile suddenly turned into a bigger one as he and Nanako embraced. The embodiment of the Justice Arcana left to go study for her mid-terms coming up, so that left Yu and Hope to go up to his room.
As soon as Yu closed the door, the Amnesiac spoke up again. "Justice- Nanako Dojima, Rank Max." Yu couldn't help laughing.
"It took you this long? Jeez." Hope just rolled his eyes, before adding his own laugh. Yu went to his desk and pulled out a journal before opening it up to his most recent entry. He handed it to Hope, who looked at the recent page.
Fool Renewed - 3 Hope Estheim. Magician Renewed - 2 Yosuke Hanamura. Empress - MAX, Margaret. Chariot Renewed - 2 Chie Satonaka. Justice Renewed - 1 Nanako Dojima. Strength Renewed - 2 Daisuke. Sun Renewed - 1 Cooking Club. Aeon - 2 Marie. Universe - 2 Claire.
"Aw crap! You're beating me by two!" Hope complained after counting all of the social links.
"Well technically, I'm only beating you by one with my 'Renewed' Social Links. But with all of my old ones, I'm definitely crushing you." Laughter ensued, and they eventually heard a knock on Yu's door. Nanako's voice called out to them.
"Dad's home!"
The two Fools went down stairs and enjoyed a simple dinner with the Dojimas. Things were looking pretty okay.
*May 19th, Thursday, After School*
"Things are not okay!"
Yu dodged a giant, muscle-man like shadow that was throwing the sauna pits at the Investigation Team. "Less talking!" Hope called as he ducked underneath another flying pit. "More killing! Shell! Protect!" the Velvet Fool called out as he rebuffed Yukiko who was currently healing Yu. The Daring Gigas was giving them a harder time than necessary, considering that Yosuke was knocked out. Chie and Hope were fighting Rainy Brothers and Rainy Sisters that definitely should not be here. Yu continued to block and counterattack the singular massive shadow, but he was running low on stamina.
"I can't keep this up!" Yukiko called out. Damn! Gotta think, gotta think.
"YU! DROP!" With zero hesitation, Yu complied to the other Fool. A second later, a giant fist was where his head was. Yu quickly slashed at the hand and fired a few shots at the Shadow, retreating to get some space between the two. Chie flipped off of a Rainy Sister, landing behind one of the thrown sauna pits, careful not to land on one of the many hot rocks.
"This is crazy! There's more than twenty of them! And we've been laying on the hurt too!"
"Hope! Time to test out your new spells! I'll cover you!" Yu called as he fired several shots at the Shadows, doing minimal damage to all but a few and effectively aggroing the swarm around them.
"Faith!" A bright white light surrounded the Velvet Fool as the spell was cast. Almost immediately afterwards, Hope leaped into the massive crowd of Shadows, with a mighty cry of "BLIZZARA!" A large diamond shaped block of magical ice appeared in the center of the swarm, instantly freezing a few, and destroying some others. Within moments, the ice exploded, killing almost all of the Rainy Siblings in the vicinity. Hope ran out of the black Ichor and launched himself at the Daring Gigas. "BLINDSIDE!" The Amnesiac jumped off of the back of large shadow and fired several Ruin spells at once. As Hope landed, however, he immediately collapsed and started breathing heavily. The Black Mage looked up and saw the Gigas fall towards him, and raised his arms as a way to shield some of himself from the fall. With all of his magic spent and his Protect spell gone, he needed all the defense he could get. He shut his eyes and waited for the impact, only to hear a whoosh of air speed by him.
Hope opened his eyes and saw that Yu was now standing in front of him, shield raised and Blazefire Saber firing from behind the cover on his arm. Just as the Shadow as about to land, it exploded into black Ichor, covering the two Fools. "Bufu!" Chie called as she felled the last Rainy Sister. The team immediately let their guards down and collapsed in exhaustion.
Sighing in exhaustion, Yu spoke up to the conscious members of the team. "That. Was stupid." Teddie reached inside his head, and pulled out several containers.
"Sensei! Here you go!"
With a lazy smile on his face, Yu grabbed one of the containers and opened it up. An ethereal light came pouring out of the container as Yu reached in and pulled out a small blue square, quickly popping it to his mouth. As he began to chew, his energy seemed to come back at full force. He jumped to his feet. "Thank Izanagi for Soul Food. Open up, you three." The Fool put a single Soul Food into each of their mouths and watched as the three seemed to come to life. "Teddie, you think you can give Yosuke a Bead?" The bear nodded and went over to the fallen Magician. Soon enough everyone was on their feet and gathered at the stairs of the 9th floor. "All right, everyone okay? Then, let's go to the next flo-YUKIKO MOVE!"
"Huh!?" Yu quickly tackled the priestess to the floor as pain flared up his right arm and a loud bang sounded.
Rank up! The Priestess has gained some memories of the past. Thou bond grows ever stronger.
The culprit was none other than a Intolerant Officer, laughing mockingly at the group before raising its oversized gun at the Fool. Yu quickly rolled over and fired a few shots of his own at the Shadow. He only saw red.
This is… the Shadow that killed Naoto! This… This FUCKING ASSHOLE! DIE! With a cry of rage, Yu charged at the Shadow, firing shot after shot into the beast. In a fit of desperation, the Shadow tried to shoot at the enraged boy again, only for Yu to dodge beneath the bullet and switch the Blazefire Saber into Sword mode. DIE! DIE! "DIE!" He kept hacking and slashing into the beast who roared in pain. YOU KILLED HER! YOU KILLED HER! "YOU KILLED HER! SHE'S DEAD BECAUSE OF YOU!" He pulled back his wounded arm and slammed it into the Shadow's chest. "MEGIDO!" And in a burst of purple light, the Shadow was no more. But his rage remained. "FUCK! GOD FUCKING DAMN IT!"
Hope could only watch in awe as the shadow was slowly being destroyed. It was...terrifying. "Yukiko, Me Patra now." She seemed to snap out of the trance they were all in and cast the spell. It surrounded Yu, but nothing seemed to change. Confused, she cast it again. The light enveloped Yu again, but still, nothing happened. In fact, Yu seemed to roar in anger. Hope raised his arm. "Esuna!" The pale green Orb appeared and with supreme accuracy, impacted Yu's head. The Entire Investigation Team watched as the Orb was absorbed into the teen, but nothing changed."I-it's not working!"
Chie spoke up. "That's because it's not a status ailment!" The entire team focused on Chie, causing the Chariot to blush at the attention.
Yosuke nodded after a second. "Oh I get it! Esuna and Me Patra only work on status aliments caused by spells, like Enraged. But he didn't get Enraged because of a spell. He got enraged because of-"
"YOU KILLED HER! SHE'S DEAD BECAUSE OF YOU!"
"-Because of that."
"MEGIDO!"
Oh shit… "Yosuke! Get the girls out of here. Take this Goho-m. I'll stay here. Something tells me this isn't going to be good." Chie wanted to protest but a single look from Hope shut her down. That and the angry ranting in the background.
"FUCK! GOD FUCKING DAMN IT!"
"Go now!" With a nod, the rest of the IT departed in a flash of white. Hope cast a quick Protect and Shell on himself as Yu slowly turned to the Velvet Fool. Pale green eyes met yellow, and maniacal laughter sounded from Yu.
Or Rather…
Yu's Shadow.
TheFallenAlphaAngel