"Great! Now the damn Dark Hour is back!" Junpei exclaimed, throwing his arms up in frustration. He turned sharply to face Minato, who was sitting unphased by the sudden shift in time and space "And it happens as soon as you come back from the dead. Some coincidence, huh?". Minato's lip twitched slightly in annoyance "I can assure you, my seal was perfect. Nyx isn't the one causing it this time. It's a different, yet still very powerful, threat this time. I'm quite certain it's Erebus, the creature you fought during that whole 'Abyss of Time' fiasco". Yukari's expression darkened, and she suddenly feltrather embarrassed "Not that the Dark Hour being back isn't important but...You know all about what happened with the Abyss of Time?". Minato nodded "Yeah, weird stuff".
He stood up sharply from his seat and stretched "I predicted that Erebus would eventually decide to use his head if her were to have a chance at breaking the seal. He's planning, and the first step of that plan involves creating a new 'Dark Hour effect'. First order of business, get the old gang back together. Akihiko and Mitsuru,I imagine, will be trying to get in contact as soon as the Dark Hour ends...However, I know that SEES alone won't be enough to resolve the issue. We'll need help, from other Persona-users". This caused confusion among the others, as the only other Persona-users they knew about were Strega. Two of which were long dead, and another who had lost all memories of her past as a Persona-user.
"How do you know all this?" Fuuka asked, leaning forward in anticipation. "Psuedo-omniscience" Minato replied bluntly "I decided to do a little bit of...fortune telling. I saw ahead by quite a bit, but Nyx interrupted me from seeing everything that lies ahead...All I know is, another group of Persona-users will be helping us against Erebus...". Junpei scowled "If you're so powerful now, can't you just...I dunno, wish the Dark Hour away or something?". Minato frowned "I don't know if I could...Even if I released the restrictions on my power...I don't even want to think of the damage I could cause if I accidentaly lost control of my power. Trust me, it's troubling to think about". Junpei's scowl only seemed to worsen "It worked ten years ago...". Minato gave a scowl of his own and narrowed his eyes "Ten years ago,it killed me" he hissed.
Ken stood up coming between the two "H-hey, let's not lose our cool here. We'll need to be focusing any anger on the Shadows when the time comes". Junpei and Minato seemed to sigh at the same time, with Minato speaking up "Ken's right. You always were a logical guy Ken. Nice to see time hasn't changed you...". Junpei looked up, an idea hitting him "Maybe I should get Chidori back in on this?". Minato shook his head "Bad idea. Junpei, when she was revived with no memories of the Dark Hour, her Persona was effectively locked away. If she uses it again, even once, then she could be killed by her own Persona. And if her Persona doesn't kill her,the drugs to restain her Persona will. She'll be able to live a long and full life, so long as you don't start that vicious cycle again". Junpei nodded, somewhat unnerved at the prospect of Chidori going through all that again. Having her memory back could be a good thing, but her dying would be horrible as you can well imagine "Y-yeah, you're right...So what do we do now?".
Minato moved silently over to the window, his features illuminated by the pale green moonlight. He stood there, perfect posture, with his hands clasped together behind his back. Then he spoke so softly, that it made all those present jump slightly "We wait...".
Tartarus, the massive Tower of Demise, had been brought into this world after the Death Arcana was given form. Gekkokaun High, the place where the Kirijo group had performed their ungodly experiments was the focal point of the Shadow's time-space distortion, creating Tartarus , a vile lair for Shadows to thrive in while they waited for their beloved mother to descend upon the Earth. And the day she did, Minato Arisato dashed their plans by sealing Nyx and all other Shadows away along with Tartarus.
Now though, Erebus had dragged everything except Nyx back into the real world. Tartarus now gleamed as menacingly as ever on the horizon, jutting out of the ground like a broken bone that had torn through the Earth's skin. For over ten years, nothing had entered the grand tower. Until now. A slender figure, clad from head to toe in a black suit, with a golden Melpomene mask covering his face. He was near the top floors of the tower, standing over the untouched remains of Jin Shirato. They had been completely blown apart by a grenade blast from his final battle with SEES, leaving nothing but a charred skeleton and beaten suitcase behind. A grenade to the face will do that to a guy. The only reason there was even a skeleton left at all was due to the Persona-users superhuman durability. The mysterious figure, seemingly unmoved by the gruesome sight, lifted the skeleton up with a flick of his wrist and kept advancing further up the tower with Jin's remains hovering up ahead.
As he ascended to the top of the tower, where the Nyx Avatar planned to summon it's mother, the figure stopped to examine the corpse of te Strega leader, Takaya Sakaki. His body, untouched by time as the tower had been sealed away, was in much better condition then Jin's but it still looked badly beaten. SEES had shown him very little in the way of mercy, after what he had done to them in the past. The mouthpiece on the figures mask opened wider by a degree, and suddenly a jet of shadow burst from his mouth, flowing into Takaya's mouth.
The Strega leaders eyes popped open, filled with new life, glowing a pale yellow. His muscles tensed and flared, and he shot up gasping for air. "Takaya Sakaki...You had hoped to bring about the Fall, you are an instigator of apathy, despair and destruction. We have need of you" the figure spoke, it's grim voice echoing when he spoke. Takaya will still breathing heavily, looking himself over. His body felt...stronger, he couldn't explain it. His tattooes were flowing and moving globs of darkness, and whatever the hell was flowing through his veins now it certinly wasn't blood. He looked up and the dark figure looming over him, the only feature he could make out was the golden face mask "What are...How am I...Jin..." Takaya couldn't think straight, so many thoughts flying around in his head, and the remains of his best friend resting beside him certainly wasn't helping. Jin may have been little more then a skeleton now...But Takaya just knew it was him.
The mysterious figure tilted it's head to the side, seeming somewhat annoyed with Takaya's erratic behaviour "Yes that is indeed Jin Shirato, your second in-command. You are alive again because my superior wishes for you to live again, and Jin can live once again if you are willing to aid us. As for who I am..." the figure reached up and stroked the chin of his mask "Hrm...I never had a name. Never saw any need for one. I suppose you can call me Mr. Niall Hism". Takaya narrowed his cat-like eyes, clearly unimpressed with 's wordplay. He forced himself back onto his feet, wiping some beads of sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand "Very well...If I can help to bring about the Fall, and if I can give Jin a second chance against our most unruly enemies, then I will take you up on your offer...".
The lips on 's mask, amazingly, curled upward into a smile "Glad to hear it. Let us see if Jin is as willing to help". 's mouth opened wide once again, firing out another jet of shadow which encased Jin's charred remains. Suddenly, Jin's flesh was reformed, he was given a new black-and-red trenchcoat, and a pair of red-tinted sunglasses resting on the bridge of his nose. He was breathing heavily, gasping his first few breaths with his new lungs. He, like Takaya, had been heavily altered by 's interference. He started feeling at his face, shocked that he could feel anything at all. He looked over at Takaya, still struggling with these sudden revelations "T-Takaya! You...Me...What's..." he looked up at the ominous pale green moon "Th-the Dark Hour? What's going on? Did you fail to defeat those brats?".
He slowly looked up at Mr. Hism, only now noticing his presence "I can explain things quite well . You've been dead for ten years, as has Takaya. You did indeed fail to bring about the Fall. However, now I am here to give you a second chance. Call me Mr. Niall Hism". Jin looked up, he was sweating extensively and his eyes had narrowed into tiny little beads "A-another chance, huh?" Jin asked, trying to get back on his feet. Hism nodded "Indeed. Well, if you are willing of course...".He extended his hands out to both Jin and Takaya. The two hesitated a moment, unsure if they really wanted to be dragged back into another lifetime of suffering...Still, if there was a chance to complete their greatest ambition and bring about the Fall, it was certainly an opportunity they didn't want to pass up on.
They lead lives too short to stop and ponder things. They accepted Hism's offer, having no intention to ever look back.
Akihiko could have done a great deal many things after leaving school, he was a smart fellow and a fantastic athlete. He had recieved a great number of offers to go pro in boxing, or to go pro in other athletic circles. But, he had no cares for either fame or fortune. He found pleasure in being able to help people, in being strong enough to protect those who needed his protection. Hence, he became a police officer in the city of Ayanagi. He had also become involved in researching the origin and nature Persona/Shadow phenomenon.
It was after pulling another late nights work, that Akihiko had gone to sleep early and missed a very important call from his recently resurrected leader. The only reason he had even been awake to experience the newly returned Dark Hour was because 'nature called' as he'd put it, and when he became aware of his surroundings there was only one thing Officer Sanada could really say.
"Well...Shit...".
A/N: Well, I'm not overly happy with how I introduced Akihiko, but I really just wanted to get his proper introduction out of the way. So yeah, sorry if it comes off a little half-assed, but it's really all I was in the mood to do.