A/N: Oh, it feels good to be back to writing again. Please review, I'd appreciate it very much. This chapter gets a bit angsty, so beware. With that said, enjoy the story!

I kept running, stepping around odd shapes piled upon the red, segmented floor. Fog surrounded me as I tried to run faster and faster.

What am I running from?

What am I running from?

What am I running from?

I don't know... I just don't know. It's all I asked, all I told myself as it chased me. As they chased me, running faster and faster, gaining on me and gaining on me. Whatever was there, ever behind me, chased me like a swarm of bats out of hell. They ate up everything, the blocks I stepped on slowly falling down into the fog below.

I approached a large, blue, intimidating door. It held my attention for more than a moment before I remembered what was behind me. I turned to finally look at it, but whatever it was had gone. All that remained where I assumed it once had been, was a wall of fog. I wouldn't stay there anymore, not trapped between this door and the unknown.

I gathered my breath, and opened the door. I had almost expected Igor and Margaret, but someone else stood there. A man, with short blue hair and a mask akin to the face on the tarot cards, stood with authority. Behind him was a gigantic golden archway, with it's doors closed and wrapped hard with a chain. A small effigy of a woman, made from stone, was tangled in with the chains. She wore a dress, that reminded me of the velvet room's residents. All of this stood on a thick platform of fog. I was more concerned, however with this person before me.

As my attention focused to the blue-haired newcomer, he rose his hands in a messiah-like position. "Hello, my friend."

I said nothing, too intimidated by my surroundings to speak. He began again, "I see you are at a loss. May I welcome you, then, to the edge of the World." making sure to annunciate properly, as if he'd forgotten to speak long ago.

"Who are you?" I questioned him, carefully, as to not provoke him. I didn't know who he was, his information, or his emotional state. I thought momentarily the irony of my questioning. What right did I have to judge someone's emotional or mental state?

"I am the universe."

"That's pretty-,"

"Conceited?"

"Yes."

I could have sworn that he smiled, but there was no way of telling. Now that I focused on him more, I noticed his clothing was very familiar. I realized it was akin to the school uniforms at the high school in Tatsumi Port Island. "Again, who are you? Really?"

"The universe, I told you. And you are the world... or, you were."

He was talking about Arcana, I knew then. "What do you mean, I was the World?"

"You held power, but it is gone now."

"Where am I?"

"The edge of the World, the edge of you." He cleared his throat. "Well, it was... sorry."

"I don't have an... edge... anymore?"

"Oh, you do indeed, but you've already tipped over it, and fallen off. This is another's plane now."

As he said that, the chains on the door rattled and the ground quaked. Behind the door, a voice; "Narukami! NARUKAMI."

The Port Island man chuckled, almost mockingly. "Yes, it's been yelling that for some time. Your name? Thunder-God? Or is it Lighting-God? I apologize, human languages are foreign to me now."

"You imply you were once human?"

"Oh, I am a human, I'm just the Universe at the same time." He yawned. "Now though, it is your time to leave. We will meet again very soon."

"Yu..."

"Hnn..."

"Senpai."

I lifted my head from it's place at the kitchen table, and opened my eyes. In front of me was a blurry splotch of blue. I blinked my eyes a few times, as Naoto finally came into vision. "...Hey."

"...I missed you."

"I love you." It was all I could say. She smiled, sullenly. "Did you... do you know?"

She nodded.

I sighed, deeply. Of course she knew. She was everywhere, she was a detective. It was as if I'd forgotten, or closed my eyes to that fact, at least. "I'm sorry I didn't call you."

"No, do not apologize. It is not your fault. I'm sorry I didn't call you." She brushed my bangs from my vision gently.

My eyes started to well up. She tensed when she saw the single tear I'd held back roll down my cheek. She didn't expect that. I wiped my eyes and sighed shakily. "Sorry..."

"Senpai... you can cry if you would like." She smiled slightly. "I know how it is."

What she'd said was right. She knew how it was. How such a loss could affect a person. She knew more than anyone else, and I eased to this. The tense feeling in my stomach loosened, and I let it go. Just for a moment, I could let it out here. I laid my head on her chest, and let out a sob.

I choked on my thoughts, on the memories of my parent's last moments. How they must have felt then, as they died. As they were ripped apart bit by bit as the thirteenth floor let loose in an eruption. The building surviving, but it's top decimated. They'd died instantly. The thoughts danced in my mind, stomping on my heart, and destroying all the bits of a steely persona I'd kept to save myself.

I cried as hard as I could, my cheeks burning red, as I felt her hand continuously run through my hair, soft whispers consoling me. She didn't tell me any lies. She didn't tell me that it would be okay. She only said, "I know... I know... I know..." As she quietly cried.

"I don't want to be here like this anymore..."

"I know."

"I want to die..."

"I know..."

I started to hyperventilate, which alarmed her. I stood quickly, and ran to the television. I stuck a hand in. "I don't want to be like this anymore!"

"Senpai!"

"You know how this feels! You know that they'll never come back! They didn't have to die that way!"

"You know as well as I do that this is cowardly."

I stopped speaking. The only sound in the room was of my heavy breaths. I removed my hand from the television. I couldn't stand her look of disappointment. She was so ashamed of me then.

"I know how you feel. Do not think you are not the only one in pain!" She almost shouted the words at me. "You are not the only one, Senpai!"

I turned to her. "...I'm so sorry."

"What if I want to die too?! Will you oblige?! I know that they'd want us to go on! They'd want us to keep moving forward, and not be cowards! It is so awful that this had to happen to us, but we must keep on moving! A mother and father's love cannot be replaced, neither can a grandfather's! A man who has looked after me-,"

I gripped her tight into a hug. She had already started sobbing. Her voice raspy from screaming, she grabbed the back of my shirt, and almost shouted as she cried. She had lost everyone. So had I.

No... no, you're completely wrong. You still have me...

I was as driven as a pack of wild dogs, as her and I marched to the electronics center of Junes. Naoto had made sure nobody saw us, as we reached the televisions. The new models were sleek, and very large, but their advancement seemed lost on the still-sleepy town of Inaba. Reaching my hand into the television, a ripple appeared on screen. Naoto gave me the all clear, as I leaped in and she followed.

We landed somewhere not completely foreign to us. This was not the lobby of the shadow world we had explored so many years ago however, nor was it the tranquil landscape it had been transformed into either. No, we stood in the middle of an abandoned central shopping district. Inaba was dark, but the sky was not of the red and black we'd come to expect. In fact, the shopping district looked more like an older, more populated version. More buildings reached up toward the green, dark sky. One of these buildings, that reigned very prominent, was the cathedral set against the sky. Naoto and I agreed to head towards it.

Both of us hadn't an idea of what meeting our shadows would accomplish, other than to affirm our suspicions of ourselves. We both knew that we were not in our right places at the moment, and that it would have been more intelligent to have more of our team tag along. But this was a personal mission for us. We HAD to do this.

We finally reached the cathedral, which oddly enough, replaced the high school. Naoto seemed to study the front of the building, before she gasped and pointed to the painted-glass window that adorned the front of the church.

The image depicted me, holding my arms aloud, like I'd been carrying a load. My eyes were a bright yellow, and I wore a black cloak. Around me were many depictions of the arcana. The empress, the priestess. And behind me, was the Wheel of Fortune. It almost seemed as if I were leaning on it. The glass was extremely cracked.

"That is you... leaning on me?"

"Yes, and... the glass. It's..."

"Breaking."

We had to state our worries to each other, or else we'd both go insane. I walked towards the door, as she followed close behind.

As we entered, the halls seemed to twist, the red carpet laid out, and the grandiose halls shining a brilliant gold, muddied by blotches of red. As we walked, we seemed to follow the gravity of the red carpet, as it ran twisting down the hallway, to what we perceived as an upside-down door. We made haste through the cathedral, as we climbed stairs, and hid from shadows. We were powerless, as we both knew we could not summon persona in our current state. We ran up four flights of stairs before reaching a hall, that was not twisted, and that led to a blue, glowing door. I approached it, and held my hand to it. Light shone forth, and the door flew open.

In front of us was the carpet, leading now to two thrones, side by side. Sitting in one, was me... my shadow, wearing the traditional Yasogami uniform. Naoto's shadow, however, was dressed in a brown blazer and brown slacks. Her shadow had hair down to her waist, and it smiled, it's legs crossed, mockingly.

My shadow was the first to speak. "So, you have come. Good. You didn't cave! I'm surprised. What do you think, dear?" He turned towards shadow Naoto. She grinned. "I believe that they came to save face. They're both broken, and they do not wish to be."

My shadow beamed. "It's unfortunate... because we will do more than break you. We will crush you!" He crossed his arms, as he revealed the multiple cuts on his wrists, and as a dark energy floated up around him. He started to laugh. Then shadow Naoto joined in as well, also smiling, as she did the same. Her wrists were also scarred.

"Naoto!" I shouted over to her, as the sound of the energy whipping through the air masked much of the noise.

"Yes, Narukami-Kun!"

We braced for the beating of a lifetime. These shadows were not us denying anything. We had known this whole time, that these shadows were borne by anger. They wanted to hurt us, and we'd suffer it at all costs.

"I love you, Yu-Kun!" She looked to me as the wind almost blew us away.

"I love you too, Naoto-Kun!"

It was clear then, as we uttered goodbyes to each other, we both feared our deaths.

A/N: Sorry this chapter took so long to put out, hopefully the next wont take as long. Thanks for reading!