(Warning: The following is a recursive fanfiction of Persona 4: The Rest of Our Lives. As such, I highly recommend that you read that fanfiction first which is on this website. The purpose of this fanfiction was simply to make a satisfying conclusion to a 7 year old Persona fanfiction that no one would probably care about. But darn it, I might as well publish it seeing as I've had it saved for about a month or so. That being said, there may be some retcons here and there but it is simply to make the stakes a bit more meaningful for the characters and add more weight to the fact that their lives were taken from them. I would appreciate any and all constructive criticism and as always, please enjoy.)

-Persona 4 and all of its characters are owned and created by ATLUS -

*Chapter 1: Now What?*

After that, it was over. Yu managed to summon Izanagi-no-Okami and stop Izanami after going back to confront her. And in return, she promised to not tamper with their lives any longer. Still, Yu was furious. Everything he ever knew. His future with his friends, his marriage, seeing Yukiko and Yosuke's children. Rise and Teddie's child. And the man he became to Chie. He was angry at the terrible things that Izanami forced him to endure before the fog was lifted. He didn't know how to react, how to act, what to think, he was confused, angry, sad, and- "Yo partner! You alright man?" Yu felt a tap on his shoulders and looked around to see he was in Junes. But it was…familiar. It was the new bustling store it always was but it looked like how it did back in high school, 14 something years ago. Then he looked over at his friends who all looked…younger? They had the same outfits they usually wore in high school and looked the same. Even him. But he could see it in all of his friends' faces. They were confused and scared. The same feelings as him. Was that their future? Was it some sort of warning or premonition? But he looked over at Chie who looked like she was on the verge of tears. They just stood there for a few minutes, taking in the warm spring air and light chatter coming from the inside of Junes. Finally Kanji broke the dead air.

"So now what?" Kanji blurted out looking at everyone. "I mean, are we gonna talk about all of that…stuff that happened?" Yukiko was the next to speak up. "I mean, it felt so…real. I thought it was all our actual lives." "Yeah I don't blame ya. Speaking of which, you uh…taking this well Yosuke?" Yosuke was tapping his fingers on the table fast and loud with his face in complete disbelief. "Yosuke?" Yukiko said, holding her…dream future husband's hand? Yu was still confused about these things. "Are you all right?" "Hm? Uh yeah. Totally. I'm all right. Just. I…that was…something." "Yes. Still, I'm not sure what chemicals or strange mental distortions Izanami inflicted among us to imagine such a realistic and believable future for all of us. Not to mention that in a way, we were all connected in this future." Naoto added. "Yeah, I'm not even sure how Izanami managed to know about my parents and make them…weirdly ok with what we were doing." Yu said, still dumbfounded what happened. "S-so, does that mean me and Rise-chan never…scored?" Teddie asked, with his voice cracking and the eyes on his bear mascot uniform lowering in sadness. "I guess not, Teddie." Rise said, also having tears form in his eyes.

Yu looked at everyone who were all still quiet and looked at either the table or at the ground. He looked at Yukiko, holding and caressing Yosuke's hand and smiling at him. He looked over at Naoto looking at Kanji and feeling her hair, short again and still the color blue. He looked at Teddie who was crying on the table silently, the tears pooling up and making a small puddle on the table, with Rise patting him on his head and saying it was all right, while she also looked like she was about to cry. And then Chie…who wouldn't even look Yu in the eyes and looked like she was also going to cry. Yu then remembered what happened. He was fighting with Chie over having a baby. He was wrestling and fighting Chie who didn't want to fight and gave up. Even after that, he still was fighting her. He still remembered her terrified face and his knuckles getting bloody. He remembered his hands over her neck and trying to squeeze the life out of her. And the last thing he remembered was crashing the back of her head against their tv. He had his hands on the top of his head with his face scrunching up in anger and disbelief. He couldn't believe what had happened. He knew that was NOT him. That was NOT how he would act. Not wanting a kid? What reality would he ever not want someone in his life like that? He always wanted a child running around and him being able to care and nurture for them and help them grow. He didn't know what to think except just looking down and silently cursing. "what was wrong with me?" Yu said, closing his eyes trying to hold back tears.

"Alright, enough of this pity party!" Kanji said, slamming his hands on the table and standing up. "Who the hell cares about what this stupid demon god thing said about our futures? That's a load of crap! Those memories and stuff we had, it was real enough for me and I liked it! So let's just forget about it and just live our lives like we did!" "Kanji, you know we can't do that man…" Yosuke said, looking up at Kanji with his eyes tired and full of grief. "Like, I know it wasn't real but…I wished it was. It sucked that me and Yukiko were…put as parents that early but I mean. Weirdly enough, it was…nice." "Yes. But now, it's like…they're just gone." Yukiko said, breaking down into tears. It was hard for Yu to see Yukiko, a woman who was known to be strong emotionally, broken down like this. "They're gone…my little Nari and Yasuhiro…they're just gone!" Yukiko cried out, burying her face into Yosuke's shoulder. Yu could see Rise was joining Teddie with crying on the table, a giant stream of tears falling down into the ground like a waterfall. "My little cub, Teddie Jr is gone! Ohhhh WhYyYyYy?" Teddie blurted out, in between him crying. Yu looked up at Kanji shaking with anger and clenching his fists. "I can't stay here, man! I need to punch…something!" Kanji said, as he stormed off. Naoto followed behind him but was still pondering and was more confused than sad. She looked at Yu and stopped and walked to talk to him and offer some advice. "Yu, you should probably comfort Chie-senpai. Out of all of us, she's the one you were…always in a relationship with before all of this." Naoto said, as she ran off behind Kanji. Yu looked over to see Chie left a while ago. He decided to leave the grief filled and saddened "couples" to Junes and went back to Dojima's house. While walking down the street, he saw all of his old friends from Yasogami that were happy to see him back for another year. He saw Daisuke and Kou hanging out with Ai inside of Aiya's and waving at him. He waved back weakly, still determined to go back to see if Dojima was the same. The same old Dojima who had his gray hairs setting in. The same Dojima who remembered how him and Chie would always sleep together upstairs in Yu's room and were caught by Nanako and confronted. The same Dojima who remembered when Yu got socked in the face by Chie's dad outside their house. The same Dojima who remembered the time when Yu, Yukiko, Yosuke, and Chie were running around town naked trying to get their clothes back after being locked outside of the hot springs. The same Dojima who remembered him and Chie's marriage, Yosuke and Yukiko's, Rise and Teddie's, and Kanji and Naoto's. He was in their neighborhood. He breathed in harshly and blew out nothing but hot air. He opened the door.

"Welcome home, big bro!" Nanako said cheerfully, looking the same age as she did all those years ago. Her brown pigtails. Her pink shirt. Her same innocent young face. Yu was mortified. His worst fears were realized. He was back. He stared at the calendar and it confirmed it. April 2012. And he looked over at Dojima. Drinking a cup of coffee and the ashtray full, reading a newspaper. Dojima put his paper down and looked at Yu. "Hey, welcome back. You were gone for a while. Causing trouble?" Dojima said, chuckling to himself. Yu asked one more question for Dojima, blubbering like he was in a daze. "Dojima…how old am I again?" Dojima looked at him confused and put out his cigarette. "Well your birthday was about 2 months ago so I'd say that you're still 18, Yu." Dojima said laughing. That was the last thing Yu remembered, before his vision went hazy and him feeling like his body was weighted by a thousand bricks while hearing Nanako cry out to her big bro.