AN: Major rule-changer to the Persona series template ahead.


"Children are educated by what the grown-up is and not by his talk." - Carl Jung


Chapter 5: The Child III

Theo woke up, but did not open his eyes. Instinctively, he put his hand into his pocket and pulled out his pen. Willpower was still there. But there was still the issue of the mysterious teen.

I'm gonna kick his ass. Now where am I?

"Good morning class!"

"Good morning, teacher."

Goddamnit.

Theo opened his eyes to a classroom. The classroom was covered with children's drawings, and the boys in the class were all neatly arranged in their seats. The blackboard was covered in chalk, filled with what preschoolers needed, from their ABCs to 123s.

Am I... in my old preschool?

"Yes," said an all-too-familiar voice. "Yes you are, Thessie."

The teenager appeared, casually leaning on a wall.

"YOU! I'M GONNA KICK YOUR ASS!"

"Au contraire, Theo, I think you need to kick their asses."

He pointed towards the rest of the class. The teacher and students... his old classmates were staring at him, with smiles on their lips and glee in their eyes.

Yellow eyes, Theo noticed.

"So," the teen said, "What are you gonna do now, hm?"

"Well that's obvious isn't it?" said Theo, keeping his eyes trained on the Shadows. "I'm gonna accept them."

"Oh REALLY?" they said in unison. "Are you sure you're not gonna obfuscate stupidity again? Pretend you have no fucking idea what's going on? Do you want to know why the FUCK do you do that?" they said, moving in closer to Theo, surrounding him. The walls around the fake classroom began to extend a few feet for every step they took.

"Oh?" Theo was surprised. He knew where this was leading to and what he should do, but he steeled himself regardless.

"Yep!" said one of the preschoolers.

"You like to hide behind a thin veneer of aloofness!" said another.

"You don't want to take responsibility, don'tcha?" said another.

Theo frowned. "And so what? Everyone does it."

"Tsk tsk, Mr. Sophia," the group said. "Sure, everyone does it, but you take it to the extremes."

"To be honest, I have no idea what to do," said a familiar voice behind him. "Why don't you do it for me, hm?"

Theo took out Willpower and activated it. "Yeah, maybe I will," he turned around. It was his Shadow... but different.

The last time he saw his Shadow, it looked like him and even wore the same clothes, albeit more psychotic and insane. This one though, had a different air: innocence. This Shadow Theo wore a long-sleeved, loose fitting shirt that would not go amiss in a church choir, and a face that practically screamed don't hurt me please I'm so innocent.

It was sickening.

"...You're not my Shadow." Theo tried to keep calm. Just accept it, and nothing bad will happen.

"Hmph," it said, cheeks puffing outwards.

"...But you're still me. And I am you."

It looked at Theo, walking closer to him.

"Hmph. That's no fun at all!" it whined out.

"Well, that's the truth," Theo said, slowly backing up just in case. "And that's that, there's nothing we could do about it."

The not-Shadow stared blankly, looking worried. "NO! This cannot be!"

Theo smiled. It's working. The not-Shadow kept checking himself for changes, which never came.

"Wait," the not-Shadow said, "It really can't?!"

Oh shit.

Theo stepped back. "The hell? You really aren't me!"

"HAHAHAHA! DO YOU NOT REALLY KNOW? YOU'RE DUMBER THAN I THOUGHT!" the not-Shadow screamed, being enveloped in a black miasma, the doppelgangers of his old classmates being absorbed by the not-Shadow. "YOU ARE ME!"

The not-Shadow was fully enveloped in the miasma, becoming an amorphous blob, slowly inching its way towards Theo. The blob screamed and shifted, slowly transforming into its combat form.

It grew a torso.

It grew hands.

It grew arms, legs, and a head.

But what it was... wasn't human.

Never really was human in the first place, Theo thought.

What was once humanoid became a monstrosity. It kept the size of a seventeen year-old male, but grew four arms: two regular-sized ones where arms should be, and two slighty more muscular ones protruding from it's sides. The hands on the smaller arms interlocked and covered its face, while the hands on the larger arms were on the ground, on its knuckles like a gorilla.

"I am a Persona," it said, slowly creeping towards Theo. "The false self."

"You will know my true power!" The Persona ran towards Theo, tackling him to the ground. It raised its fists high, punching him again and again. With each punch however, Theo's arm began to glow brighter and brighter.

"...get off me!"

Theo struck back at the Persona, blasting it back towards the wall. He scrambled away, getting his bearings straight before focusing back on the enraged Persona. It charged at him again, trying to ram him into a corner. Theo focused Willpower on the monster, concentrating on creating a gust of wind.

GARU!

The blast of wind stunned the Persona, if only briefly. Theo used the time to circle behind it, and went in for a straight punch.

Imagine his surprise when the Persona grabbed the fist without even looking.

"Don't you be surprised at this," the Persona said, "On second thought, you should. After all, I didn't even know I could do that!"

The Persona gripped the arm tightly and threw Theo to the opposing wall. He hit the wall back first, nearly knocking him out.

Dammit! I need a new strategy.

"You already have one."

What?

Time slowed down as Willpower glowed blue. The Persona shielded its eyes as the light glowed brighter and brighter.

"What?! What is this?" the Persona panicked, slowly inching away from the light.

"Remember, Theo. Remember who you are, and become the hero you are destined to be."

"Yeah. I remember."

The light that covered only Willpower spread, covering more and more of his body. Theo stepped closer towards the Persona slowly as he spoke.

"Remember what you said, Persona?" Theo said with confidence. "You are me?"

He took a step closer.

"Well you're right."

He took another step.

"I act all stupid so I won't do my responsibility."

Another.

"I pretend I don't know what's happening because I don't want to get hurt."

Another.

"I'm selfish, lazy and a dumbass."

Another.

"You are those things, just as I am."

Theo reached out to the Persona.

"You are me. Just not the only part."

He touched the Persona, transferring the power from the gauntlet to the Persona, engulfing both in light.

"You are the mask that I wear."

The light was shaping the Persona into something different.

"You are the facade used to overcome life's hardships. My hardships."

The light dimmed as the transformation completed. What remained was a humanoid made of solid granite, with an axe in lieu of a right hand, a crossbow in lieu of a left It was lightly armored with leather, with its helmet forming an eagle's head.

"You are me. I am you."

The light dimmed as the Persona disappeared.

"You are my Persona."

CRACK!


Thou hast forged a new path of the psyche...

Thou has discovered the capabilities of the self...

Journey, Rank 2: Magician


Theo has gained a facade used to overcome life's hardships. He has gained the Persona Dumakulem, the Mountain Guardian.


AN: Some explanation to what's going on here (might be wrong, but eh): According to Jungian psychology, Personas are the facades we put on for the world. Just because it's what we show doesn't mean it's actually us.

Yes, Theo's a Wild Card. No, his first Persona's not of the Fool, because that would be his Main Shadow, i.e. the thing that nearly killed him in the first chapter.

At this point in time I would like to apologize to those who read this story and found it disjointed. I'm gonna rewrite the damn thing once it's done because if I'm going to make an allegory of my life into a really long fanfic I might as well make it look good.

And damn, did I just break some core rules of the Persona universe? Because I think I did.

Everything Persona owned by Atlus. Except for that Persona 4 porno (still trying to look for it).


Dumakulem: Chariot

The guardian of mountains accordin to Tagalog mythology. He is said to be one of the strongest and fastest warriors in the Philippines.

Skills:

Garu, Bash, Tarukaja, Rakunda