Hello there! It's me, DrProfessorStealYoGirl! If you saw my profile, you'd probably expect that my first fanfic would be something tokusatsu related, but this isn't even close to a toku fanfic. The thing is, Persona is one of my favorite video game series, and I've wanted to write a Persona fanfic for a while. I just so happened to be really hyper-fixated on it recently, so I figured it was now or never. Hence, why I am now writing this story!

If this chapter feels a bit short, that's only because it's more of a preview/prologue chapter. I promise, the rest of the chapters will be longer, and probably paced a bit better as well. I hope you enjoy this chapter regardless, and I promise I'll have the first proper chapter out soon.

I do not own the Persona series, or any of the recurring concepts used within it. The rights to that all belong to Atlus and the creative teams behind each game. However, I do own all of the original characters in this story, and all of the Personas used by the characters are created by myself as well.

With all of that out of the way, here is the prologue chapter of Persona -unAwake-!

Persona -unAwake-

Chapter 0

"Zero hour"

Date- February 28, 2023

Sirens wailed through the once quiet night in Hijima. This sound had become no stranger to the inhabitants of the city in the recent months, and it had only become more frequent as time passed. The civilians despised the sound, as to them it represented the chaos and confusion that had come to their once quiet town. Each night of sirens indicated another victim of this unknown menace. A sense of dread had fallen over Hijima, and it didn't seem like it was going to lift any time soon.

Kousuke Hijiri sighed as he exited his car, arriving at the scene moments after the other officers had gotten there. A pair of police officers were examining the body, while another was taking a testimony from the witness, a young woman who was passing by. One of the officers performing the examination noticed Hijiri approaching, and moved over to greet him.

"What are we looking at?" Hijiri asked, with exhaustion and irritation in his voice. It didn't take a genius to figure out that these recurring cases had taken a toll on him. His normally straight black hair was unkempt, and his brown eyes had deep bags under them. The cup of coffee in his hand barely served its purpose of keeping him awake.

"It's another Re-emergence," the other officer said, looking back over at the body, "We identified the victim as Hayato Asano, a student at the local high school."
"Damn," Hijiri muttered, taking a sip of his coffee, "What condition is he in?"
"Just like the others, sir. His clothes are torn like he was mauled, but he has no visible wounds. He's also been rendered comatose."

Hijiri groaned as he listened to the description of the body, frustrated at the circumstances of this case. Not only was there another instance of someone disappearing for a few days and coming back comatose, but the most recent case turned out to be a mere high schooler. He wanted to find the origin of these "Re-emergences,'' as the higher-ups started calling them, but there was no evidence leading to any possible culprits. At this moment, Hijiri could only fruitlessly look over the case files in an attempt to find some culprit behind them, while more and more people suffered as the Re-emergences became more frequent.

'If only I could do something about this…' Hijiri thought to himself as paramedics carried the comatose high schooler away, preparing to transport him to a special ward at the hospital. He clenched his fist, enraged at his own inability to do anything, before noticing something out of the corner of his eye. When he turned around to see what it was, he didn't see any signs of anything there. He looked down at his coffee quizzically, before thinking, 'Maybe I should try getting more sleep…'

He ran. He ran as fast as he could. It was the only thing he could do. His feet hit the asphalt roads silently as he bolted down the street, muted by some unknown force. That meant he couldn't hear the creatures behind him chasing him, but he knew they were there. There was no way those things would stop now, not after pulling him into this strange monochrome world. He had nowhere to go, and nowhere to hide. All he could do was run.

As he ran down the black streets, rows of dark, menacing gray buildings lined up along the sides of the road, the boy felt his stamina depleting. He started slowing down naturally, against his own wishes. He tried to keep his speed up, trying to escape his fate, but to no avail. In the end, his attempts to go faster in spite of his rapidly decreasing energy resulted in him tripping over his legs and falling, hitting the hard ground. He groaned in pain as he tried to get up. He couldn't waste any more time. He had to get up and keep running. He couldn't let them catch him.

It was then that he made the mistake of looking back at his chasers. Seeing them caused a wave of fear to wash over him, freezing him in place. There were three of them, and though they were humanoid in shape, they were far from human. They were entirely black, like walking shadows, and each of them wore a porcelain white mask with black eye holes and a small creeping smile. They were hunched over like apes as they bolted toward the downed boy, ready to make him their prey.

His eyes widened, and he felt like his heart was about to explode out of his chest. His ears were ringing, and his breath was heavy. As the creatures approached, and he felt his imminent demise, he thought back on his life and his regrets. He thought about the argument he had with his mother earlier that day, and how he would never get the chance to apologize. He thought about the girl at school that he liked, and how he would never get to ask her out. He thought about his dream to become a world-famous soccer player, and how it would never come to pass. As the creature at the front of the pack approached, raising one of its claws to strike, the boy could only close his eyes and hold his arms up in an attempt to block, though deep down he knew it was futile. It was only a matter of seconds before the monster would swing its claws and end his young life…

The sudden sound of a sword slashing through something caused him to open his eyes. He looked up to see a mysterious humanoid shape standing, or rather floating, between him and his would-be killer. It suddenly faded before he could get a good look at it though, revealing that one of the monsters was now on the ground, writhing in pain. The other two creatures stopped, looking down at their fallen companion.

Before long, another figure appeared, walking from behind the boy. He looked up to see that it was a girl, wearing a white jacket and a dark red skirt. Though she wore a hood that covered the top of her head and most of her face, from the angle he was sitting at he could see her brown eyes and a bit of brown hair framing some of her face. In her right hand she held a naginata, resting by her side as she approached the shadowy creatures.

The two monsters that were still standing let out inhuman screeches, before charging at the girl. The girl raised her naginata and entered a fighting stance, ready to counter them. As one approached, she stabbed through its chest, before removing the naginata from its body and performing an upward slash with it, causing it to hit the ground. The second monster approached and swung its claw downward, which the girl was quickly able to block. She kicked the second monster in the stomach, causing it to stagger backward, which gave her the opportunity to perform two slashes to its chest.

As the third creature stumbled to the ground, the other two had gotten back up and prepared to retaliate. They began rushing the girl, swinging their claws wildly and angrily. Through a series of blocks and nimble dodges, she was able to mostly avoid being hit, although they did manage to land a few hits. Surprisingly, despite their sharp claws, they didn't seem to do any physical damage, although the girl still seemed to be pained by their strikes.

Before any more damage could be done to her, the girl disengaged, jumping backward away from the monsters. She was now standing in front of the boy, who could only look up at her in awe as she stood fearlessly against the monsters. By this point, the third monster had gotten back up and had joined its companions, all three of them preparing to strike once again. They had seen that the girl wasn't invincible, meaning that they could kill her and their previous prey as well.

The girl, however, had different plans. She lowered her weapon, much to the surprise and confusion of the boy. The monsters saw this as their chance to strike, all running toward their prospective victims at once. Fear once again coursed through the boy's body, as he wondered what the girl was thinking. Before he could say anything, though, the monsters had closed the gap, and were about to use their claws one final time. The girl smirked as they approached, muttering a single, three-syllable word as they were about to strike…

A sudden force knocked the monsters back, practically sending them flying. From the girl's body, a ghost-like figure emerged, cloaked in blue light. As it arose, it grew to almost twice the girl's height, and began taking its own shape. When the light faded, its true form was revealed.

It appeared to be feminine in shape, though much of its body was covered by a light-blue kimono, though it looked much more like a long coat with the way the figure wore it. It had black, claw-like hands, and long black legs ending in flat silver blades. It wore a silver mask, through which its yellow eyes shone, and had white hair tied back into a thin ponytail. In its right hand it held a large sword resembling a nodachi, which despite its size, it seemed to wield easily.

The boy looked up at the specter in awe. Despite not getting a very good look at it earlier, he knew that it was the figure that had saved him just a few moments prior. All of his fear had vanished in that moment, instead replaced by wonder. Just what was this thing? Is it some kind of ghost, or a demon? Did that girl really summon it? How did she summon it? Just what was going on?

The girl, meanwhile, stood completely still and silent as the specter floated above her. The creatures slowly began to get back up, snarling and growling angrily. All three of them bore their claws and ran forward, attempting yet another strike on their prospective victims. Before they could even come close, however, the specter struck first. In the blink of an eye, it had flown forward and impaled one of the monsters with its blade. It swung its weapon horizontally, flinging the creature off the blade and knocking it into one of the other beasts.

As two of the monsters were knocked backward, the specter grabbed the third one by its face and lifted it upward. The creature writhed and thrashed its body wildly, trying to escape, yet the specter kept its grip tight. It then slammed the monster into the ground, creating a small crack in the road from the force of the impact. The other two monsters had gotten back up by this point and tried rushing the specter yet again, only for it to fly upward to evade their attack. The specter then flew back down, pointing its blade downward. When it hit the ground, impaling the blade through the fallen monster, it created a sudden swirl of icy wind. The wind became more intense, building its size until it had consumed not only the monsters, but the girl and the boy themselves. The boy, now afraid once again, ducked down and closed his eyes, hoping that the mini-blizzard wouldn't kill him.

When he opened his eyes again, everything was gone. The girl, the monsters, the weird ghost, and even the crack in the ground. The boy then noticed that the world was no longer monochrome as it had been earlier. He was free from that weird other world. He was home.

It was then that the boy had heard nearby police sirens. He turned to the direction they were coming from, and realized that he could finally get some help. Without hesitating, he bolted in the direction of the sirens, hoping to report what had happened to him. He didn't even stop to think if they would believe him or not, he just wanted to let them know. At the very least, he figured that they would take him back home, and that was all he wanted at that point.

As the boy ran to talk to the cops, the mysterious girl watched him from the roof of a nearby building. She had effortlessly disposed of the Shadows, and led both the boy and herself back to their world. Despite this victory on her part, she couldn't bring herself to be happy. This wasn't even close to the end. The Shadows would continue hunting people, and they would only become more aggressive. In the end, she could only sigh in contemplation, wondering if she could carry on this fight alone.

Little did she know that she wouldn't have to for very long…

I hope you enjoyed that little preview for what's in store! Any follows, favorites, and reviews are appreciated, but not mandatory. I hope I've intrigued you enough to keep you along for the ride, and if I have, then I'll see you in the next chapter of Persona -unAwake-, where we will meet our true protagonist and begin his journey!

Until next time, I'm DrProfessorStealYoGirl, and this is Persona -unAwake-! See you next time!