"Where is this?"

The words broke soft against the silence that surrounded him, and Takaya almost flinched as they rebounded back towards him, eerie, haunting echoes of his uncertainty, his confusion… his fear.

"Am I alive?"

"Oh, that hardly matters anymore."

Takaya turned slowly toward the source of the voice that sounded so uncannily similar to his own, seeming to dread the sight that might greet him (he had always had a sense for these things, a sort of preternatural awareness that kept him awake late at night when he thought he could hear the accusing whispers of the dead - perhaps the men he had killed in a past(future?) life) and he was not disappointed. A man stood there, gaunt and pale and utterly sinister for his silence, his smile, his eyes— golden and gleaming, completely inhuman, and yet shining with a dark knowledge that made Takaya cringe — and as he drew closer, the blonde was startled to realize that this man was a mirror image of himself, after perhaps years of malnutrition and a tragedy.

"Who—"

"What does it matter who I am? Or… who you are, for that matter?"

Takaya felt the hairs on the back of his neck begin to rise as the man spoke again, his voice a colder, drier echo of his own. The specter simply chuckled and raised a heavily-tattooed arm to beckon him closer - yes, those were his tattoos, he would know them anywhere. He had designed them himself, after a long, involved study on Greco-Roman mythology, during his years of study in… His years of… study…

"There is no use in struggling," the ghost chimed in, sounding almost sympathetic, but for the sickeningly amused look on his face. "All your memories of before will be gone soon enough. Alas, it is simply part of the process, one of the prices you must pay…"

"What process?" Takaya snapped, finally tired of the stranger's taunting and his half-answers. "The prices for what? Stop playing coy and just answer me."

The man simply laughed, a cold, near-maniacal sound that he was certain had never left his own lips. "But being coy is our very favorite way to play, is it not?"

Takaya's steely gray eyes widened, then narrowed immediately in suspicion and distrust. "What do you mean, 'our'?" he barked, furrowing his pale brows and taking a single step back from this otherworldly mirror of himself, already well aware of the answer but dreading it just the same.

"Ha! And now who is the one playing coy? You know exactly what I mean, Sakaki." His ethereal twin quickly closed the gap between them, his amused smile twisting into an arrogant smirk as he gripped Takaya's chin. "I am you, and you are me. And there is no point in denying it - I am fated to win either way. They made sure of that…"

Takaya shut his eyes tightly, struggling halfheartedly against the iron grip of his double.

They… Who are… they…?

Memories of scientists, men and women in starched, pressed lab coats wielding clipboards and needles, reassuring words and empty smiles assaulted his mind, followed shortly by stinging pain, scalding heat, and finally, the blessed darkness of nothing at all.

"Ah, yes, the calming embrace of numbness, of nothingness…"

"No!"

The blonde opened his eyes and scrambled away from his other, clutching at the thin fabric of the hospital gown that covered his arms, his lanky frame. "I want to live! I was destined for so much more than this… this meaningless life of anonymity!"

"Fate has other plans in store…"

"No!" Takaya's voice started to crack now as he gripped his head, staring into the void that surrounded him in horror, in disbelief. "I was going to be legendary… I had a future! It can't end this way for me, it cannot… I refuse…"

"You are not dead yet, you know." The Shadow approached once more, his words soft and smooth, proverbial balms for his true self's wounded psyche. "There is still much you can do in your limited time… With my help, and with our brother's…"

"Brother…?"

Takaya slowly released his head, looking up at his Shadow once more, and a satisfied smirk split the other's face. Within seconds, the replica began to glow darkly before fading away, leaving a ghastly, skeletal figure in its place.

Without quite understanding how he knew, Takaya spoke the creature's name. "Hypnos…"

"That is correct. He and I, you and he… We are all one and the same."

"The god of sleep… Of false death. Son of Nyx, brother of… Thanatos," Takaya whispered, eyes widening somewhat as realization seemed to dawn upon him.

"Yes… The goddess of demise, the god of death… These are your kin, the ones you must seek out to make the world suffer for its wrongs, suffer as you have suffered."

"No… I want to live," Takaya whispered, falling to his knees. "Surely there must be a way—"

"THERE IS NO WAY BUT THIS!"

Without warning, Hypnos reached out and wrapped a clammy, clawed hand around Takaya's throat, hoisting him high and squeezing the breath from his lungs.

"You do not have the liberty to choose. That right was taken from you the moment they decided to play god. You will accept the path fate has chosen for you, or you will die here."

"Wh… y…?"

"It is not our place to ask why, merely to live within our means. You have always known that."

Takaya locked gazes with Hypnos then and, after a moment's pause, nodded slowly. Words would do him little good, now; it was exactly as his Shadow had said. All he need be concerned with is surviving, living through whatever means he could until fate's plans became clear - whatever misfortunes he caused others along the way was not of his concern. After all, if he could not have the life he was destined for, why did anyone else deserve it?

Slowly, Hypnos set its master back on his feet and released its grip on him. The creature began to shine, and Takaya caught a glimpse of his shadow self and heard it laugh once more before he closed his eyes and surrendered completely. He could feel his Shadow entering him, changing him… and at last, he felt whole once more.

.

.

.

.

.

"There they are! The other Persona-users Chidori sensed… That has to be them," Jin informed him in an urgent whisper, pointing towards three nervous-looking teenagers approaching Tartarus. "And I think I saw a few other people with them earlier… If their group is really that big, it could mean serious trouble for us."

Takaya scanned the trio, golden eyes narrowing in distaste. "They will pose no threat to us, Jin. We need not concern ourselves with—"

As his eyes lit upon the blue-haired boy in the center of the formation, the blonde felt himself shudder as Hypnos let out a wail of recognition inside his head.

"The goddess of demise, the god of death… These are your kin, the ones you must seek out to make the world suffer for its wrongs…"

Suddenly, Takaya began to laugh, a cold, near-maniacal sound that had not often left his lips. "What a fickle mistress Fate is!"

When Jin simply gazed up at him in muted confusion and concern, the blonde shook his head and turned his back on the group of Persona-users as they entered the dark tower at last. "Come, Jin. We have much to attend to tonight. Leave the children for another day."

"Come, let us summon our mother and have a proper reunion someday soon… brother."