Persona 5: Shadow Over America
By:CleruSonofShintetsu
[DISCLAIMER]
The following fanfiction you are about to read contains many subtle and sometimes borderline explicit references to real world events, though many events and people will have substitutes in the style of a Persona game.
Due to the point in time that this story is being written, many of the controversial subjects tackled may be fresh on the mind and potentially triggering to some readers, including but not limited to such subjects as: Religious and Political Extremism, Systemic Oppression, Violence of all kinds, Bullying, Propaganda, Misinformation, Historic Revisionism, Themes of Hope and Despair, and more.
While this story won't hyperfixate on such topics, and will instead try to handle them in the same manner that the Persona series has always done so (aka, not being a boring stereotypical history textbook, also by still telling it's own story separate from real world history), this is your warning. If any of these subjects cause you discomfort, please feel free to leave the story behind. If you stay, however, future warnings during certain chapters will still come as necessary.
[Chapter 1: To Dream of a Butterfly]
It's dark...a void of pure black. A young woman of 17 floats aimlessly in this void. She is a half-Navajo, half-African individual, with beautiful dark skin and curly black hair of mid-length. Her face has many freckles, and she's currently wearing a white hoodie with a black sleeveless shirt underneath, and matching shorts to fit the spring season.
Then...she heard a voice, a very peculiar voice that caused her to slowly open her eyes and view her surroundings. She was now standing in the surprisingly large Bridge of a beautiful blue and near-futuristic seafaring vessel. Outside, the sky was dark and the ocean was a deep and glowing neon blue with countless souls swimming around in it.
"And so you have awakened...very good." said the voice, which was very firm and gentlemanly.
The young woman opened her eyes fully, seeing who it was that spoke to her. Her eyes widened as she finally started to comprehend where she was.
The man had sleek black hair with a long masculine ponytail, a fine white suit, and a beautiful mask with a butterfly wing pattern on one side. He bowed courteously.
"I am Philemon, a dweller between conscious and unconscious. I can already tell that you feel great confusion in your heart, but be at ease, for I shall enlighten you soon enough." he said calmly with a few casual hand gestures.
The young woman nodded slowly, and figured that perhaps this was something related to her Navajo faith.
"First though...tell me your name. Do you remember your name?" he asked.
"...Honovi." the young woman started, "...Honovi Proctor."
"Good...it seems you have passed the test. Not all can remember who they are while in this world." He said approvingly.
"Strange..." he continued, "it seems your soul has a rather familiar energy." he then pondered, putting a hand on his chin while his other remained behind his back.
"...Familiar energy? What's familiar about my soul?" Honovi asked, tilting her head.
"...Perhaps I can explain that another time. That is...if you will return at all. Allow me to explain the reason you are here." he said, to which Honovi nodded and let him continue.
Philemon raised his hand and motioned around the room. "This is the Velvet Room, the Velvet Vessel to be exact. We are currently in the Sea of Souls, a realm in which your homeland is connected deeply to."
Honovi nodded, getting a look at the rest of the bridge. There were the usual seats for the captain and his crew to sit in order to pilot and manage the vessel in question, but there were other details like a small stage nearby, a piano, and a few doors leading to other, smaller rooms elsewhere, though all were locked. The central floor had a logo to represent the Velvet Room, and there were beanbag chairs and a couch as well, making this a very luxurious room for what it was supposed to be.
Philemon continued to explain. "The Sea of Souls is a fickle thing, it represents the torrent of souls and their many lives lived and lost in this great world power, all of the positives and all of the negatives. The good lives and the bad lives. The thriving lives and the wasted lives. The lives most mundane and the lives most unique. May it never run red with the lives lost to tyranny, as it so nearly did long ago." he warned ominously.
Honovi shuddered, nodding as she let him continue.
"I have summoned you here because your soul possesses a quality seldom seen in mankind, a strength so rarely tapped into, and so I am here to prepare you for what's to come." he said, only stoking the flames of Honovi's curiosity even more as her eyes widened in fascination.
"But...what does this all mean? What lies in my soul?" she asked.
"Why, the power to throw off the iron weights of fear and tyranny and liberate oneself from it's control. To know that even if one is unable to physically rebel against their tyrant, they can live their best possible lives and not allow themselves to be defined and rendered hopeless by they who force them down. In other words..." he said, putting his hand behind his back with the other.
"...You have the power, more than any mundane human being, to survive and thrive in spite of tyranny and despair, not because you kowtow to it for mere survival. More importantly, unlike most, you can make this power manifest in a physical form. This, Honovi, is the power of Persona." he said, snapping his fingers and projecting the image of a random persona in the palm of his hand and holding it out to her.
Honovi looked at the projection, her eyes sparkling at the sight.
"Now then..." Philemon stated, the projection vanishing and the room beginning to blur around them. "Time runs short, I'm afraid, but know this; when the hour of destiny comes, you will see a door, which will lead you back to this room, where my servants will greet you in my place. When destiny calls, will you open it and enter the stage of destiny? Or will you bow out of this great play, and remain safe and sound in calm normality?"
"I am thou, thou art I...may destiny receive your answer when the great bell tolls."
With the last of his words, Honovi collapses, the world around her vanishing...
Then...she woke up, to the sound of a close companion and the feel of him shaking her intensely.