Chapter 5 – Awaken, my Persona!
Before I begin, I would like to give a big thanks to the guys/girls who faved and followed this story. I'm glad I could keep you interested, and with careful planning and a little luck, I'll keep things interesting 'til this story ends.
"Anything to report?" Ikutsuki asked as he walked into the command room and took a seat behind the girls.
"No, she's still sleeping" Yukari replied, looking away from the monitor displaying a real-time feed of Akane's bedroom. "Same story with Sakuya."
"It's interesting how they managed to last so long in the Dark Hour despite arriving in Iwatodai only a few days ago. Any normal person would not be able to stay asleep as long as they can, let alone keep their sanity with the random memory losses and overwhelming terror that this hour brings."
"I can understand Shiomi, seeing as how he somehow managed to tap into his potential," Mitsuru added, "but not in Arisato's case. As far as we can tell, there was nothing to suggest the reason for her remarkable endurance."
"Still…" Yukari said as she looked away. "It feels bad to treat them like guinea pigs. Sakuya may have had it coming, but…"
"He's gone!" Mitsuru exclaimed.
All eyes turned towards the monitor, which showed Sakuya's with an empty bed, the curtains drawn back and the window open. A minute ago, he was sleeping peacefully in his bed, but now was absent from his cell. Yukari quickly scrolled through the other camera feeds, but they showed no signs of their blue-haired captive.
"He was asleep, right there a few seconds ago! How could he just disappear like that!?" Yukari exclaimed as she once again returned the feed to his room. "Don't tell me he just jumped out of his window…!"
"I'll get a hold of Akihiko, Takeba, you…"
"YAAAAAAAH!"
Mitsuru's command was cut off by a sudden scream emanating from the floor below. Quick as she could, Yukari quickly switched the feed to Akane's room, where the auburn-haired girl was slowly recovering from her nightmare. And sure enough, their walkabout lodger was leaning casually against the wall. Everyone witnessed Akane scoot away from him as soon as he made his presence known. Ikutsuki looked a little unnerved by this turn of events. The two girls, on the other hand:
"How dare he." Mitsuru spat, clenching her hands into tight fists. "Is there no vile depth to which he will not stoop?"
"Why that…" Yukari hissed before quickly rising up from her seat. "I'm going straight down there and I'm going to make him regret the day he ever…!
"Sorry to disappoint you, but this isn't a booty call. Get dressed, you're going to have to start running soon."
Any and all anger was quickly derailed when Sakuya said that. The girls decided to keep on watching, eager to know what he meant.
"As I was taking my customary midnight stroll, I noticed that one of our dorm-mates was about to collide head-first with something unpleasant roaming the streets. And it will make its way over here when he decides to retreat. In short, you need to be prepared for when it arrives."
"What is he…?" Yukari muttered before it suddenly dawned on her. "Oh no… He's talking about Akihiko-senpai!"
"I'll contact him right away!" Mitsuru's hands flew over the console in a desperate attempt to establish contact. "Akihiko! Report your status at once!"
"Mitsuru!?" Responded the confused boxer. "I was just about to call you! You're not going to believe the size of the Shadow chasing me at the moment! It's too much for me to handle, so I'll see you soon!"
"He's bringing that thing HERE!?" Yukari exclaimed out of fright after the transmission cut off.
Mitsuru quickly turned to Ikutsuki. "Mr Chairman, we'll suspend our observation for now and prepare for combat."
"R-right! Be careful!" He replied sheepishly.
"Takeba, keep an eye out for Shiomi. We may need his help."
"…Alright." She hesitantly agreed, not wanting to resort to those measures yet aware that she may have to. "He should still be in the building, we'll bump into him eventually."
Guess what? They didn't bump into him.
Not when they charged downstairs to aid a wounded Akihiko, not when he and Mitsuru went outside to deal with the attacking Shadow, not when Yukari went up to the third floor to evacuate Akane who managed to throw on her uniform in time, nor when they found out that the inky-black monster attacking the dorm bought some friends with it and was on the other side of the emergency exit they tried to escape from, or when they had to charge back up to the roof in order to escape. Sakuya was nowhere to be found. But given the situation, this was the least of the girls' concerns as that particular moment.
Yukari hurriedly locked the rooftop's door behind her to buy some time, both of the girls still gasping for breath. Akane paused, leaning against the naginata she was given for self-defence as she tried to restore some of her energy, but it seemed like her body was not as co-operative as it usually was. She suspected that it was because of the strange green time, given how tired she felt when she first arrived at the dorm. She also wondered what exactly was chasing them. Yukari didn't explain and Akane decided to go with the flow because of the apparent danger they were in. But that still didn't stop the rampant questions from running around her head.
"Speaking of running, are we really safe on the roof?" She thought before putting the question to Yukari when she gained enough breath to do so. "So, what now? Where do we go from here?"
"The fire escape." Yukari replied, catching her breath as she leaned against the door. "If that thing is still inside the building, then we can… AH!"
It turns out that Yukari spoke too soon. The thing chasing them wasn't chasing them inside the building, it was climbing up the outside. One inky-black hand grasped the lip of the roof, another bought up its head; which consisted a blue mask. It took a quick look around before even more hands rose from the edge to pull itself up. The creature in question was a most disturbing one: a writhing mass of arms known as the Magician. With half of its limbs it walked forward, the other half held the mask and brandished three-foot long blades that it held aloft in anticipation as it slowly crept along towards its intended victims.
"That monster… we call it a Shadow." Yukari explained, more focused than before. As she stepped forward, her right hand went to the holster on her thigh and bought out her Evoker, which she then pressed against her forehead.
"Yukari!?" Akane exclaimed upon seeing what many would interpret as a suicide attempt. "Look, stay positive! We'll make it out alive if we try!"
"I can summon mine, no problem…" She muttered as she shakily tried to pull the trigger. Akane's words failed to reach her. "I… I just need to…"
Before she could work up the nerve, the Magician did something unexpected. It threw one of its blades at Yukari.
The girl in pink froze in terror. It took so much from her to even attempt to pull the trigger of her gun, but this spontaneous action pushed her fear over the limit and her entire body seized up. Despite Akane yelling at her to duck while dropping her weapon as she dashed to knock her out of the way, all Yukari could do was stare straight ahead at the blade that would soon impale her through the face.
But she managed to snap out of the trance when someone in dark clothing appeared in front of her just before the blade hit home. Someone with blue hair.
Yukari collapsed to her knees from sheer mental exhaustion, dropping her gun from her limp hands. Akane, meanwhile, screeched to a halt when she processed the scene that unfolded before her. Sakuya came out of nowhere, leapt in front of Yukari and stopped the blade before it hit.
With his bare hands.
"A naked blade capture!?" She thought as she saw the angular blade caught firmly between Sakuya's palms. "He stopped it so near his eye… How is that even possible!?"
Sakuya smiled as usual as he moved the pointy object away from his face and stood up straight, inspecting the blade visually before testing the sharpness with the tip of his finger, doing a few practice swings, twirling it around and tossing it casually between his hands. "Hmm, the blade is a bit heavy, and it's not as balanced as the short sword Little Miss Kirijo confiscated. But hey, it's a weapon. I'm not complaining."
He then flipped the blade around, grasping it firmly in a reverse grip in his right hand. As he did this, he assumed a relaxed stance with his left hand on his hip, thumb inside his pocket. He then turned towards the Magician, eyes narrowing and mouth forming a somewhat sadistic grin. The Shadow responded by pulling a replacement blade out from behind its mask and locking "eyes" with its new opponent. Both of them stood perfectly still, sizing each other up.
"I've never seen anyone look that pleased before." Akane noted as she observed Sakuya. "He looks eager to shed blood…"
"Hey, Akane." Sakuya said in a calm yet expectant voice, snapping her out of her thoughts. "Take a break, I've got this under control."
"What!? You can't really be thinking about fighting that thing!" She exclaimed.
"It's either that or running away for another forty minutes. And let's be honest, neither of you are in any shape to do anything. So, take a break and get your strength back."
"…Alright." She said reluctantly, stepping towards Yukari to defend her if need be.
Not once in that conversation did Sakuya turn around to talk to her. His gaze was fixed solely on the Magician, who likewise held its gaze while its many arms swayed in anticipation. Then all of a sudden, Sakuya charged forward and swung his blade at the Shadow's mask.
CLANG!
His sudden assault was stopped as his foe blocked with all six blades. Even so, he kept on putting force behind his strike and soon both sets of weapons were locked together in a sharp embrace. The Magician slightly tilted its mask clockwise, bemused at how a simple human was able to match its strength and not get forced backwards more than a few inches. And it wasn't the only one. The girls were also bemused by the blue-haired youth's feat of strength. Yukari forgot all about using her Evoker and kept watching the duel.
With a smirk, Sakuya slipped his blade free, ducked under the thrashing swords and dashed to the left. The multi-armed monster responded by swinging wildly at its attacker while the mask twisted around to keep track of him. But Sakuya was too quick for him. He circled around the stationary Magician, scouting out his opponent's capabilities by delivering his own slashes in return, dodging and parrying the return blows as he went. Despite the din of the fight, his mind calmly processed the information it received.
"No co-ordination between each attack," He mused throughout the deadly dance, "it's as though each hand has a mind of its own and simply lashes out. This thing's bigger and tougher, but no different to any Shadow I fought in Tartarus. Heh, this should be easy."
Upon thinking that last line, the agitated Magician proved him wrong by performing yet another unexpected action. All of its sword arms reared up at once and bought every blade down in a hammer blow, cracking the ground as a small crater formed directly where Sakuya was standing. Good thing he jumped to the side, then.
Things weren't so great for the Shadow, however. As soon as its attack missed, Sakuya retaliated with one of his own when he made it to a safe distance. He tossed his sword to his left hand, and placed his right against the left side of his face with only the fingertips touching his chin, forehead, and the edge of his eye socket. He then turned his head left, gazing at his target as a sadistic smile formed on his lips.
Akane gasped in surprise. She saw someone pose like that before and knew what to expect.
"Let's go, Seth."
A shining white aura formed around Sakuya in a circle, from which a mirage-like entity drifted out of. As it rose to hover above Sakuya, it stood upright and proud, like an arrogant king. Gradually, the mirage gained focus that defined its true form.
It was a tall, lean and muscular humanoid with a mechanical appearance. It had the body of a human cast in a rusty blue metal with bronze lines highlighting the muscles. In the centre of the torso was the Egyptian hieroglyph "Was" in the form of a glowing blue symbol outlined in bronze that resembled a staff. Both of the hands and forearms were shaped like angular brass gauntlets with curved, jagged talons in place of fingers. The legs also featured similar brass greaves, the angular feet curling upwards at the toe. Each of the brass mechanical ball joints were bare, separating each of the limbs. And the black metal head was that of a fanged jackal with red eyes, adorned with a red and bronze crown resembling the hood of a king cobra: the Uraeus.
And when it spoke, a booming, dominating voice echoed all around with underlying malice in its tone.
I am thou…
Thou art I…
I am Seth, god of storms and chaos…
Let thine foes tremble before the searing heat of my wrath…
"No way…!" Yukari managed to exclaim despite her emotionally overwhelmed state. "He can summon his without an Evoker!?"
The Magician was also surprised by the arrival of the ancient storm god. Sakuya capitalised on this opportunity and motioned with his right hand for Seth to attack. He charged forwards, floating through the air towards his target. Out of instinct, the Magician lashed out with one of its blades. This was a terrible mistake, for Seth nimbly dodged it and raked his claws across the arm, severing it in five places. The startled Magician then waved all of its blades defensively, though his opponent was more cautious and calculating. With four more well-timed strikes, all of the weapon-bearing arms were severed.
Sakuya dismissed Seth, grinning like a madman as he watched his foe squirm. It moved its mask in a panicked frenzy, looking from the stumps of its arms, to the severed hands thrashing on the floor, and to the smug Sakuya over and over again. It simply could not believe that something like this could happen.
Not wanting to pass up such a perfect opportunity to finish the battle, Sakuya charged forward and vaulted off of the Shadow's body, gaining extra height as the arms instinctively moved to throw him off. As he fell back down, he flipped around stylishly and raised his blade up to strike down at the erratic mask as it looked upwards at the sneering teenager. This extraordinary feat earned gasps of surprise from the two girls.
SHIK!
Which suddenly turned to cries of horror a second later.
The Magician countered Sakuya's assault with yet another spontaneous action. It used two of its good hands to grasp two of its fallen blades and thrust them upwards defensively. The result was one skewered teenager, one blade in his left shoulder and the other in his gut. Upon noticing the result, the Magician violently swung Sakuya downwards, dislodging him from the blades and sending him crashing down on his back four feet away from the girls.
"SAKUYA!" She screamed as she moved over to his side.
"Aw, hell. That… agh… is what you get for being a show-off." He joked through the pain, pressing down on his gut wound with his good hand. "Looks like it's your show now, Akane."
"Me? Wh-what can I do?" Akane fretted.
"That gun-thing… *cough*, Use it. Yukari's too confused to help…"
Looking over her shoulder, Akane realised that Sakuya was right. Yukari's mind as too muddled from this encounter to be of any help. And to make matters worse, the Shadow was growing new arms from the stumps and reequipping itself. It would be on them at any second.
Swallowing her fear, Akane got up and walked over to the discarded Evoker. She looked at it hesitantly as swarms of doubts plagued her decision, before she got a brief vision of the boy in prison clothes once more, encouraging her to continue. So with another nervous gulp, she picked up the gun and placed the barrel against her temple, finger primed to pull the trigger. The Magician was back in working order and moved a lot more cautiously this time, slowly edging towards its victims. It no longer deemed Sakuya to be a threat and turned its attention to the only one standing: Akane.
Taking deep breaths, the red-eyed girl slowly worked up the nerve to fire the gun. Before pulling the trigger, she muttered the first word that came to mind:
"Per… so… na."
BANG!
Waiting around in a hospital lobby for news of your friend's or loved one's condition is held by many to be one of the most nerve-wracking experiences. Tonight was no exception for the members of SEES, who were busy waiting for news about Akihiko, injured running away from the Magician. Then there was Akane, who lapsed into a coma soon after her Persona's awakening. And finally Sakuya, who was stabbed and had his back broken when he was flung to the ground, though insisted there was nothing wrong with him because of a few steps he took afterwards. Mitsuru, Yukari and Ikutsuki waited in the lounge of Tatsumi Memorial Hospital in silence as the doctors did their work.
After Akane summoned her effeminate male Persona that turned into bigger and angrier Persona that proceeded to turn the Magician into mincemeat, before that Persona reverted back to the original Persona, which then, under Akane's control, bashed the living daylights out of the two weaker shadows spawned from the Magician's corpse, Akane collapsed unconscious from the sheer mental exhaustion instead of jumping up and down Final Fantasy style.
Sakuya had hauled himself up and was kneeling next to Yukari with an uncharacteristic look of concern on his face. Akane's unresponsiveness troubled him as well, but to a noticeably lesser extent than Yukari. He tried to use one of his Revival Beads to wake her up, but that had no effect. When the others came up to investigate, they received quite a shock when their resident antagonist was helping them. Not once did he mislead them when he explained the situation, nor did he jump at the opportunity to attack SEES while they were crippled. Sakuya simply followed orders in order to help all those injured as the ambulance took them to the hospital once the Dark Hour ended.
So while they waited, Mitsuru decided to figure out more about Sakuya to deduce his motives. "Mr Chairman, did you get the file from Nanjo-san yet?"
"I'm afraid not." Replied Ikutsuki, pushing his glasses up before continuing. "Though I did notice that he was surprised when I told him of this "Dark Blue Moon" Sakuya mentioned. After that, he promised to get the files together as soon as possible and send them over to me. However, with all the red tape and the Dark Hour delaying things, we should not expect any results until tomorrow."
Mitsuru nodded. "I expected as much. Accessing or distributing old files usually takes time, even when you hold the power of heir to the company."
"And what do you intend to do about Sakuya?"
"Despite what he's said and done so far, I don't trust him. We need to be certain about his motives before we do anything else, so we should keep him in our custody to be on the safe side."
"I agree, keeping him where we can see him is the best course of action." Ikutsuki nodded, before looking towards a door swinging open. "Ah, it seems a verdict has been reached."
The tall doctor with strawberry-blonde hair tied in a ponytail strode out of the emergency room, adjusting her glasses as she went. All three of the SEES members got up and walked towards her. Yukari, however, was so anxious with worry over her fellow students that she practically ran there.
"How are they doing?" She asked worriedly.
"It's a good thing you guys called us up when you did." The doctor explained. "Mr Sanada has broken three ribs on his left side, any further exertion on his part and they would've pierced his lung. He'll have to stay in hospital for a while for his bones to re-align. As for Mr Shiomi…"
"Like I told you earlier," Sakuya interrupted, pulling his sweater back down as he walked past the doctor, "I'm perfectly fine. There's no need for me to stay here."
The doctor glared at him. "You should be thankful I even bothered to check. That fall you suffered could've lead to injuries as bad as, or worse, than Mr Sanada's."
"Fine, whatever makes you feel better about wasting time and resources." He grumbled dejectedly as he looked away in frustration.
Mitsuru shot her trademarked icy glare at Sakuya to accompany the doctor's look of disgust. But since he didn't react to them, she decided to move the conversation on. "And what about Arisato? Is she okay?"
The doctor looked back to her. "Well… That's hard to explain. She is definitely out cold, but so far there's nothing to suggest why. No external trauma, no abnormalities in her vitals. Blood test have yet to come back, so we don't know if she's been drugged or has some kind of infection. Apart from that, nothing appears to be wrong. It's… as though she's fallen into a deep sleep. That's the best explanation I can come up with at this moment in time."
Sakuya nodded his head at that last part, but unlike his previous actions, this one was without sarcasm. Mitsuru took note of that, but was distracted by the sudden appearance of someone else coming from the ER before she could follow it up. Namely, a shirtless Akihiko with bandages wrapped around his chest.
"Didn't I tell you to stay put until I returned?" The doctor asked indignantly.
Since shrugging would've caused pain, Akihiko held his hands out to imitate one. "I can manage walking around for a bit, that shouldn't put too much strain on my ribs. Besides, I need to talk with them for a moment."
The doctor paused, before sighing in resignation and walked back, mumbling something under her breath about getting hardest patients to control of her career. Mitsuru then turned to glare at Akihiko, causing him to flinch slightly.
"What? What's wrong?" He asked.
"You should be more careful with your condition, Akihiko." She practically shouted back. "Your reckless behaviour earned those injuries, do you really want to hurt yourself any further?"
"Sheesh, calm down Mitsuru." He backed off. "I just want to set some things straight before anything else happens." He then turned to the blue-haired student with annoyance. "First of all, I would like to know how you got out of there unscathed while I have to wear these bandages."
Sakuya shrugged. "It's harder for a Persona user to heal outside of battle situations, since your mind isn't focused on keeping your body in its optimum working form. For example, I healed myself right as Akane put the gun to her head, before the conditioning wore off."
Akihiko grunted in frustration. "Then if I had summoned Polydeuces before I ran away…"
"You would've be in the morgue instead." Sakuya finished in a matter-of-fact tone.
The boxer shot another glare and pointed indignantly. "Oh yeah? I'd like to see you try better in a similar situation!"
"Give it a few days, maybe I will."
"That's enough, you two!" Mitsuru commandeered the conversation before turning to Sakuya with a slight hint of disgust on her face. She was still mad about the groping yesterday. "When the doctor mentioned Arisato's condition, you seemed to know more behind what was causing it. Explain."
He seemingly ignoring her cold treatment and complied. "My guess is she passed out from the strain of summoning her Personae. Everyone gets exhausted first time they summon theirs, but the second one that appeared? It tore itself right out of Orpheus and raged out of control. I'm surprised that she managed to stay awake after the big Shadow bit the dust."
"And… you're sure about this?" Ikutsuki asked warily.
"Common sense. Surely you've noticed how tired people get after the first summon…?"
"Well, I can't say since I can't summon a Persona…" The Chairman said, somewhat embarrassed.
"And… uh…" Yukari forced herself to speak. "I haven't… actually awoken mine yet…"
Instead of a witty retort, Sakuya looked on in sympathy. "I'm not surprised. You guys literally blow your Personae out of your brains with a pistol-shaped device. I don't see how that can't be considered scary the first time around."
Both Yukari and Akihiko were taken back by this sudden display of kindness. In all the time they knew Sakuya (About three days now), all he did was give them grief. And now here he was, explaining things to them in detail and sympathising with them, without a trace of his usual smile on his face. This sudden change of pace was too unnerving for them. Thankfully for them, Mitsuru helped shake their confusion off when she asked another question.
"Speaking of which, how are you able to summon a Persona without using an Evoker?"
"Oh, that?" He responded in a plain voice. "I played a game in middle school, and Seth just appeared."
"You… what now?" Yukari asked, naturally confused by the statement.
"I played something called the Persona game. It was an occult game that was somewhat popular back in the nineties. You play with three friends, one in each corner of the room…" He stood in the corner of the waiting lounge as he explained. "…Then the first guy chants: "Persona, Persona, please come to me." After that, he walks to the person in the corner on his right…" He demonstrated. "…and stops to tap them on the shoulder. Everyone repeats the process until the corners are filled again."
He then turned back to the onlookers and took a slight bow. "Then BAM, instant Persona."
Utter silence was the only response he got from his befuddled audience.
"What, you don't believe me?" He asked, annoyed. "Ask Kei Nanjo. That's how he and his high school buddies got their Personae."
Once more, utter silence.
Sakuya facepalmed while groaning in frustration and began walking out the room. "Give me a break… I might as well go to sleep. See you back at the dorm."
"Hold on!" Akihiko stopped Sakuya's advance by clamping his hand on his shoulder, who looked back with a bored look on his face. "First you antagonise us, and now you're helping? What's behind the sudden change of heart?"
"Akane, of course." Sakuya replied, turning around to hide his expressions. "I've never met her before our school term started. But… I have this strange feeling that we know each other."
"What makes you think that?" Mitsuru asked, curious about his reasoning.
"I've been having… vivid nightmares, lately. Ones that are strangely similar to hers from what I know. I just want to figure out what they mean. And it seems she's the only other person who knows." He then gently shrugged Akihiko's hand from his shoulder before walking off again. "I suspect you've got an information overload by now. Let's talk about this some other time."
The members of SEES simply stood there and watched him leave, trying to make sense of all that was said. Nobody spoke until they were sure he was out of earshot.
"Anyone else think he's screwing with us?" Akihiko asked out loud.
"I get what you're saying." Yukari replied. "I don't trust that guy. But at the same time, I've got this feeling that he's really trying to help us."
"It's probably shock." Ikutsuki suggested. "Sakuya is friendly with Akane, after all. As for the other things he said…"
"I am not sure what to think either." Mitsuru interrupted as she re-joined the group. "But I'm afraid I'll have to agree with Shiomi. We've been through so much this night, anything else can wait another day. Let's head back to the dorm, we'll return tomorrow to check up on Akihiko and Arisato."
"I'll be fine, Mitsuru." Akihiko replied, his voice full of forced vigour. "This is nothing but a…"
An icy glare cut him off. "You may not think that injury is anything to worry about, but I would rather let someone with medical training make any judgments regarding your health. Do I make myself clear?"
"Oh, all right." Akihiko grumbled as dejectedly waited for the others to go before returning to the doctor.
DRIP...
DRIP...
DRIP...
Sakuya was standing once more in the apartment he and his parents once lived in. He recognised the old carpet with a pattern comprised of multi-coloured rectangles, the horrible beige paint on the walls, the layout of the furniture they had, the pictures of him and his extended family at the various gatherings attended, his framed music certificates, everything was in place and as it remembered it.
Apart from the corpses of his parents, that is.
They were both lying on the floor, with horrific wounds covering their bodies and their blood staining the ground and the walls crimson. Sakuya was alarmed at this sight, this wasn't how it went before. From what he remembered, he blacked out after the ceiling collapsed and a high-voltage cable snapped and fried them. Instead, it appeared they were savaged to death by something. Or someone.
Sakuya was hyperventilating as he looked down on the bodies, adrenaline coursed through his veins as he observed the carnage at his feet. From his peripheral vision of the nearby mirror, he saw that he wore the same casual outfit he did at that age, a grey polo shirt, black dress pants and white socks, all of which were coated with the blood of his parents. His focus then shifted to his body as slowly, he raised his blood-stained hands up. Compared to the rest of his body, his hands had a thicker coating of the red substance. There were even traces of foreign flesh around his hands. And as if to confirm his suspicions, he suddenly looked closer at the corpses. They were savagely ripped apart.
There were no other suspects in the room.
All of a sudden, applause and a hearty bellow erupted from behind him. "BRILLIANT!"
Whirling around, he came face to face with a tall, ominous figure dressed in black. He wore a double-breasted coat with golden buttons, a red scarf that bore the gold design of a rose enclosed within a diamond shape, a white mask that resembled a lion with a gold outline and a large red gem in its forehead, and had messy white hair billowing from the back of his head like a mane. Sakuya knew this man, he knew it from the memories his master returned to him. He was a man who went by the name of King Leo.
"You have certainly outdone yourself, boy!" King Leo praised as his clapping died down. "Master Joker was right to keep an eye on you. The way you used your granted wish turned out better than expected! Of all the people you decided to try it out on first, you chose your parents. Most commendable."
"You… are happy with me?" Sakuya asked, not in control of his actions.
"Of course!" Leo replied, a sadistic grim forming behind his mask. "Because you have been such a good boy, Joker to help you."
"Are you going to help me kill everyone I want?"
"Even better!" The King said with a chuckle. "Tell me, did you like killing your parents? Was it fun?"
Sakuya looked right at that moment, towards the full-length mirror that hung on the wall there. He looked straight at the reflection of his blood-stained face. He had a vacant, hollow expression. In his mind, he was still shaken by the way he tore his parents to pieces. He slowly recalled the events that happened a few seconds ago, remembering the kills with every detail. And as he recalled them, he was somewhat pleased by what he did. A smile started forming on his face. He then turned eagerly back to the man with the lion mask and gave a one-word response:
"Yes!"
Upon hearing that, King Leo exploded with a short bout of gleeful laughter. "Excellent! I like those who are eager to get their hands dirty! Very well, boy. I'll help you. But in return, you've got to do a few things for my little club…"
"You have a club?" Sakuya asked eagerly.
"Yea, it's a very special club. We like to call it…"
Everything snapped to black in an instant, any further actions were hidden from his eyes. But before the macabre dream ended, King Leo's last words reached Sakuya's ears.
"The Masked Circle."
As the last words echoed out of existence, Sakuya immediately bolted upright in his bed. He was sweating and hyperventilating, a result of the vivid dream that he saw.
No… It felt more like the dream was forced on him.
Looking towards his alarm clock, he noticed that he woke up twenty minutes earlier than usual. As soon as he processed that bit of information his body started to relax, settling into its usual rhythm as his mind shook off the terror. Groaning while massaging his aching temples, he swung his feet out of bed, disabled his alarm and drained the cup of water he had placed at the head of his bed in one go.
"Speak of the devil and he shall appear… Or screwy dreams, in this case." He mentally complained as he lazily replaced the cup on its coaster. "What is up with them anyway? They always turn my memories inside-out… I could've sworn I didn't lay a finger on my parents, and yet there's King Leo giving me the full Olympic Awards Ceremony as though I did tear them apart. I don't recall using the rumour system to get that kind of power…"
He then quickly tensed up again as a thought struck him. "Wait. Did I really meet King Leo when my parents died? Was he even there in the first place?"
"Getting cold feet, boy?"
Sakuya slowly turned around to the source of the familiar voice. And to his utter surprise, there was King Leo himself standing before him. But there were a few noticeable differences. First of all, he was transparent. Secondly, there was a smoky black aura surrounding him.
He grunted at the spectre with indifference. "Finally decided to talk with me, eh?" He thought, since he wasn't sure how the others would react if they found him talking to himself.
Leo laughed. "You talkin' about your little chat with The Reaper? Sorry, but the only thing we have in common is our dress sense. You see, that guy's a new enforcer for the boss. He makes sure everything goes to plan, keeps all the good gear to himself so it can't be used against us, and hunts down those who stand in the way."
The King then brushed some imaginary lint off the cuff of his coat. "I'm guessing he looks like me since I was one of the most well-known and faithful servants. Puts the fear riiiiight into people's skulls. You get my meaning?"
"The only thing I don't get is why you're floating around here."
"Ain't it obvious? I'm dead." He then turned towards Sakuya with a sinister smile visible through his mask's mouth. "But that doesn't mean I'm useless. All the time we spent together left an impression on your little brain. You could say I'm just a figment of your imagination formed out of your memories."
"So, you're a Remnant Psyche?"
"Oh… you clown." The spectre shook his head in despair. "You've been playing way too much Killer7."
Sakuya chuckled. "I can just imagine seeing your disembodied head in a tumble drier. No, scratch that. Calling you "Susie" would be too weird."
With a growl, King Leo decided to move the conversation on. "Long story short, I'm here to give you a friendly prod now and again. Keep you on the right track. I'm going to follow you around from today. Try not to make a scene whenever I turn up."
With a sarcastic bow, King Leo faded from view. "See you around, boy."
Sakuya sat there for a few minutes more, processing what just happened. He was somewhat glad to see a familiar face with him again, but at the same time, he wished that King Leo would stay in his memories. Things were hard enough to figure out without a ghost from his (supposed) past showing up every now and again to give help like a murderous version of Navi the Fairy.
With a sigh, he got out of bed and went to pick out his clothes for the day. "I've got a feeling that this trend of confusion is going to last a long time…"
Author's note
So… much… dialogue…
Well, it's a good thing I moved this fanfic into the drama category.
Anyway, we finally got to see Sakuya's Persona. It wasn't Reverse Orpheus like most people would expect from a reversed main character. I decided to use Seth of the Moon arcana instead. It's interesting how the Egyptian god is never portrayed as anything but a demon in the entire Megami Tensei franchise. So I decided to spice things up and portray him as what most people would expect to see from first impressions of the storm god: a cunning, savage beast that tears his foes apart with no mercy. It also makes a change from the amount of screen time the Ancient Greek myths get in the Persona series.
I also tried to make up a reason for The Reaper's physical appearance and why he attacks the heroes in the Persona games. Surely the bringer of Death has a reason for hunting down teenagers or being an evil Jack-In-The-Box?
As for King Leo? His ghostly appearance is supposed to play off the Moon Arcana's motif. More of that will be explained as the story progresses.
Oh, and that stuff about Killer7? It's an obscure video game that likes to confuse the heck outta everyone who plays it. The "Remnant Psyches" are ghostly images of the people the main characters have killed, pretty similar to how I explained King Leo's appearance. And as for the disembodied head of Susie in the drier... Don't try to make sense of it. It's better for your sanity if you don't.