"Okay, Minato here's the deal," Souji started, looking at Minato seriously, "If you see my parents when they come back, or in the morning, just say that you're a friend from school and you're sleeping over, alright?" Minato blinked, a little irritated that he was interrupted from looking through Souji's CDs.

"Yeah, sure." He nodded, looking back at the CDs. Souji didn't have much, but it was fun looking through them. If there was one thing Minato remembered, it was that he absolutely loved music. In the bag he was given were clothes, toiletries and an mp3 player full of songs, all of which he loved instantly and played again and again.

"Do you want to have a bath first?" Souji asked only receiving a 'mmm' in return. After a few minutes of trying to get Minato's attention, he resigned to having a bath first. He was tired after his jog, after all. Curse Margaret for having to push this onto him without any prior notice!

Minato stopped looking through Souji's CDs and began to undo his headphone wires, wanting to listen to that one track he always listened to. Souji grabbed his change of clothes and asked Minato again whether he wanted to have a bath first, him being the 'guest', but received low humming in reply. He smiled a little and left for the bathroom, clothes and towel in hand.

'He seems like a nice guy' he thought, closing the door and setting his things down. 'A little quiet and distant, but who am I to judge?' he chuckled, turning on the tap and letting the water run. 'His aura…it feels different. It's dark, but it doesn't feel like that's a bad thing.' Souji shook his head and decided not to think about it too much. He just met the guy after all.

When he returned, drying off his hair as he walked (his fringe is getting longer, he thought, maybe he should get it cut sometime), he saw something he definitely did not expect to see.

Minato sat in the same position he was in when Souji left him, aiming a gun to his temple with his eyes closed. He breathed evenly and mumbled a few syllables, about to pull the trigger when Souji threw his towel aside and tackled him, making Minato drop the gun and Souji slapping it across the room. Souji held Minato down, each of his hands clamping Minato's arms down, glaring at him as he panted at the sudden movement.

"What the hell were you thinking?" Souji exclaimed, probably a little louder than he intended as he saw Minato wincing at his every word. "I know that it's hard for you and that it's frustrating that you don't know anything about yourself or where you came from, but that's no excuse to try killing yourself!" he shouted, clearly angry at the blue haired guest.

Minato kept silent, his lip trembling. "….I'm sorry." He whispered, his apology sincere. Souji's expression softened, but he didn't move. "'Sorry' isn't enough for what you did, Minato. If you have problems, or if you just want to talk to someone, I'm here. Just…Just tell me, alright?" Minato nodded slowly, his lip trembling even more, as if he wanted to cry, but he didn't.

Souji sighed, letting go of him and letting Minato sit up, patting him on the shoulder as he did. Souji stood and walked over to where the gun slid, picking it up and mumbling, "Where did you even get this from…". He checked the bullet cartridge and to his surprise, found no ammo inside. He looked at Minato, who looked back at him blankly.

"…Were you just playing around with an empty gun?" Souji asked, feeling a bit awkward that he got so worked up before. Minato shook his head, "I found that gun in my bag. When I picked it up, the voice in my head told me to shoot myself with it." He glanced at the gun, "I admit, I didn't check whether it had bullets or not. I just…I don't know. I felt like I didn't have anything to lose."

Souji sighed, hiding the gun away so Minato wouldn't find it. He took one of his old shirts and a new towel and leaded Minato to the bathroom along with his toiletries and a new pair of boxers.

While Minato showered, Souji walked to the closet and took out a futon they kept for guests. He carried it over to his room and set it down, smoothing out the blankets and throwing a pillow onto it.

Minato showered quickly and walked into Souji's room, hair slightly messy due his towel-drying. He glanced at the futon laid out for him and thanked the other, sitting down on it and getting ready to sleep. Souji was about to do the same on his own bed when he heard the front door close and familiar voices resounding down the hall. He brushed it off and was about to pull the covers over himself when Minato suddenly spoke.

"Those are your parent's voices…right?" Minato asked from below, his voice so small he could barely hear it. "Yeah. Sorry if they're disturbing you from sleeping. They usually come back really late." He glanced at the futon laid out next to his bed, Minato smiling a little with his eyes closed.

Minato shook his head, "No, its not disturbing at all. It's just…" He looked at Souji, smiling sadly, "I can't remember my own parents, if I even had any, so I guess you could say that I'm a little jealous of you." Souji's eyes softened, staying silent as they both listened to Souji's parents talk in the kitchen. Souji felt a little guilty, to be honest. He's had times where he felt neglected and lonely since his parents worked late hours, but at least he had parents who cared for him. While he mulled pessimistically about how he barely saw his parents, Minato dealt with not even knowing them. Maybe they passed away, maybe they abandoned him, Minato himself didn't even know.

After a while, Minato's breathing evened and Souji was sure he was asleep. Souji closed his own eyes, and did the same.

"Good night, Minato."

"Welcome to the Velvet Room."

Souji jolted at the sudden greeting. After a few moments of collecting himself, he noticed that he was no longer in his room. He recognized the setting as the limousine he would always end up in the year before. Except, it wasn't a limousine.

He fidgeted in his chair a little bit, looking around the room. It appeared to be a large elevator, judging by the moving structures at the back of the table in front of him. Cracks of light would shine through occasionally, but they weren't bright enough for Souji to wince every time they shone. A large clock was mounted on the bars separating the room from the outside structures, its hands constantly moving with no indication of stopping.

After surveying his surroundings, he looked tiredly at the three figures in front of him. Behind the table sat Igor, of course, and next to him was Margaret as well as another woman dressed in blue.

"It's a pleasure to see you again." Margaret continued, her eyes softening. Souji nodded, still a little sleepy. "I apologize for disturbing you from your sleep, but this matter is of utmost importance." Margaret nodded to Igor, who had his fingers laced together, his smirk partially hidden behind his long nose.

"Of course. As you can see, Elizabeth has once again returned to her original post." Igor gestured to the other girl next to him, who smiled and nodded in acknowledgement. "Margaret will also be performing the same duties alongside her. Now," Igor leaned forward, his smirk not fading a bit even though his tone of voice grew serious.

"We have never had two hosts at the same time, but this is a rather special matter. Elizabeth here has, as you know, gone to free the boy who 'slumbers at the end of the world' over the past year, and succeeded. I believe Margaret has told you of the fairy tale regarding this after your duel."

Souji blinked. That was quite a bit all at once. But he was still a little confused. "Not to be rude, but what do I have to do with it?" he asked, leaning out of his chair slightly. Igor smirked (but then again, he always smirked. Creepy.) and Elizabeth smiled calmly in return.

"Well, the boy I have retrieved…you seem to have already met him." And she gestured gracefully-almost dreamily- at the space next to him. Souji blinked, and almost jumped out of his skin when he saw that another chair was placed next to his, which he was pretty sure wasn't there before. On that chair sat no other that Minato, who slept soundly in his upright position.

"Wait… this is the 'boy' you were talking about?" Souji asked, staring at Minato's sleeping form. He suspected that Minato would be involved with the Velvet Room and Personas, but he didn't expect him to be such an important figure. To think that such a quiet, music-loving, unsuspecting guy like him would hold such a role is simply baffling.

Margaret nodded, "Precisely. To be honest, he is much younger than what I expected him to be. Or perhaps that is just his outer appearance." Elizabeth smiled, "He does have a rather young face, I must admit. He is very mature and very much a gentleman, though to be honest I do not know much about him."

"He seems like he's lost his memories," Souji started, "Is there a reason for that?". Elizabeth darkened, her sister listening intently as to what she has to say. "Think of it as if…he has been rebirthed. I cannot explain it properly, but you will learn of it eventually. Both of you will."

Souji wanted to ask more questions, but a lump in his throat prevented him from doing so. "I request that you do not use his name, or perhaps his full name, in public. It would be best that no one knows who he really is."

"I look forward to your next visit."

"Sorry, could you say that again?" Souji asked, grinning so wide that his cheeks hurt.

"Souji, I've already said this five times. I know you're happy, but please, I need to get to work early today." Souji's mother sighed as she put on her shoes, briefcase in hand. "Your father left early this morning to collect the papers, so he's doing a lot for you. Make sure to thank him when he gets back, alright?" Souji nodded, his grin not fading.

Last night's dream has been on his mind for the better part of that morning. He stayed in bed long after he had woken up, trying to make sense of what he has been told, all the while stealing glances at Minato as he slept, completely oblivious to Souji's thoughts. Or dreams, for that matter. He finally rolled out of bed after his mother called for him, saying she wants to tell him something. And that pretty much brightened up his whole morning, day and week. He saw his mother off and closed the door, then ran to his room excitedly.

He picked up his cellphone and dialed Yosuke's number. It's a little too early to call, but this was far too exciting for him to wait. In all his excitement, he didn't notice Minato grumbling at him for waking him up, especially at 7 in the morning.

"Hello?", mumbled a sleepy Yosuke on the other side. "Dude, it's 7am on a Saturday, what the hell are you even doing up-"

"Yeah, yeah, sorry about that, but this is really important!" Souji cut in, clearly too excited to care about his default calm exterior. "I'm listening," came the sleepy answer, followed by a long yawn.

"I'm moving back to Inaba!"

I'm so sorry for the late update! It's been almost a month holy crappers;;

I've been busy with a lot of convention stuff, so please bear with me! Thank you for reading, reviewing and adding me/this fic to favorites or alerts!

-Cantella, 2010