"Another person with the potential, eh?" Questioning Minato was probably out of line, as, even though he and I had fought the same enemy, we weren't in the same situation. Still, I asked, quite sure of myself, "We already have a handful of Persona users, what good are a few more?"

Minato shook his head. "Look, I'm not talking just a few more. I'm saying another bunch. More than likely, we'll get another ten to our cause."

With my mouth agape, I again asked another dumb question. "There are that many out there?! Well, I figured so but-,"

"HEY!"

We both turned towards the stairs leading down the hill. Bounding up the stairs with a fire in her step, was none other than Marie. "Look, you can't just go and leave the dang seal! The nose was up MY nose for not paying attention!"

"Marie? You know him?"

With a finger poking Minato's chest, she turned to me. "Huh? Oh, hey Narukami. Look here Arisato, youstupidassmoron-,"

With a sigh, the universe grabbed her wrist and moved her hand. It wasn't forceful, but just tight enough to where she was unable to move her arm. "I didn't leave. I was forced out. Y'know, by Elizabeth."

Marie went silent. I finally got a chance to see how she'd changed. Her hair was still short, but she had on a white blouse, a black blazer, black pants and combat boots. She was a little taller. "Why'd you let her do it, though...?"

Now it was Minato's turn to be quiet, with Marie's question burning in his brain. His look of guilt was enough evidence to support my theory. "Look, I... she wanted to take my place. It's been, what, six or seven years? I... I want to be alive, God dammit!"

Silence between all of us. I had no place in the conversation, obviously, and it was also clear that Marie and Minato had a history. "You guys... ok?" I piped up, with a slightly meek voice. "Yeah. I'm fine." Minato smirked at me, his half hearted smirk I came to find charming. Marie simply nodded. "It's great to see you, by the way."

"Who, me?" I pointed a finger at myself.

"Yeah you, you stupidjerkfacetwerp. Ugh, you could have told me you were coming inot town!"

"Sorry. So, speaking of the nose, what is Igor having you do now?"

Her face grew long, as she told us something we didn't want to hear. "He's... well... gone. That's why I came headhunting. Big boss sent me."

"What?!" Minato and I exclaimed. "What do you mean? Is he dead?" I had to ask. "A-and big boss? Are we fighting a nuclear war now?"

"No clue. About Igor, I mean, we're definitely not stopping warheads. But the velvet room still works. You both have your keys, I take it?" We nodded. "Then follow me."

Walking through the shopping district, I saw buildings being renovated. A third floor of the Tatsumi Textiles building was being erected. Strange, this place felt like it would stay the same forever. Finally, the velvet room door opened up. Strangely, everyone around us stopped, completely, as we approached the door.

"What the hell...?" My eyes darted around the area, looking at the, now colorless, landscape.

"This is normal now. Ever since Igor left, this happens when approaching a door. It also happens around areas of high shadow activity." Marie explained.

"Shadow activity?" Confusion had been the only thing constant these days. I've no idea why I was so befuddled at that.

"I told you back at the hill, when the Innocent Sin and Eternal Punishment events took place, shadows seeped into our world." He shook his head. "Sadly, it's happening again."

Marie opened the door. "Step inside, the Velvet Room has some guests waiting for you. Well, one is less a guest, more of a... well here,"

Stepping inside, the room had changed. It now was a cylindrical room, with the walls all windows into space. The floor was it's usual color, and the ceiling seemed to reach up forever. Blue butterflies flittered down from this eternal ceiling, and they seemed to emit the music that always accompanied the velvet room.

There was a staircase leading up, towards the middle of the room. Once at the top of the stairs, the elevated section of the floor we stood on, housed a large table with blue tablecloth. Chairs were seated around it, with too many for me to count at the time. Sitting at the table were two men I'd never seen before in my life.

One was a helmeted man, wearing a tight red leather jumpsuit, with a black 'X' motif on it. The other was a man in pure white, with half his face concealed by a butterfly mask. He seemed extremely important.

"So, these are the two successors of Naoya and I?" The man in the helmet said, pessimistically. "Not very impressive, Philemon."

"Tatsuya, stay your tongue. Sit down, you three."

We heeded his word. I sat by this Tatsuya fellow, Marie sat across from me and Minato sat at the far end of the table. Philemon spoke, "No. Your power alone is not enough. I figured Izanami, the two heroes and the sinner would be nominal, but you obviously have a long way to go."

Minato chuckled. "You're the butterfly then?"

"Indeed. You have also seen me, Narukami."

I nodded, wordless. Honestly, I could feel the light of a God emanating from him. He was far more powerful than Izanami.

"Tatsuya. Off with the helmet." Marie spoke this time, demanding of him.

"Jesus, kid has the power of Izanami, suddenly thinks she's hot shit." He threw the helmet to the ground, a half frown sat upon his face. Short, graying red hair and a scar across his cheek were all the other features I took notice of. "Marie, or is it Mariko Kusumi? Kasumi?"

"Marie."

"And you're the next wildcard?"

"Sure, if that's what I need to do."

Tatsuya started clapping and shaking his head, a mocking smile on his face. "How do you pick them, Philemon? An emo kid, a board and a tsundere... don't make em like they used to!"

Minato stood in protest. "Did you waste away for seven years while your friends lived out their lives?! I don't think so, so watch that shithole you call a mouth!"

Tatsuya's smile disappeared. "He's got bite. Good. All of you will need that to deal with this." Looking to Philemon, the deity nodded.

"Nyarlathotep. A being I'm sure you've all prepared yourselves to take on. A name you all probably know. His power is nothing compared to this;" Holding his arm into the air, a small card floated gingerly down from the ceiling. Catching it, he showed us all the front of the card. Immediately, sensory images shocked me. It was if everything I had ever done happened again in two seconds. I saw my future, my past, everything.

The card let up, and the effect was over. It was so powerful, Marie, Minato and I had all been shaken up pretty badly by it. Marie, who had little memories, was panting scarily, as Minato struggled to sit up in his chair.

Tatsuya sat there, however, completely stoic. Not a single drop of sweat was on his brow. He looked at me and sighed. "I couldn't do it. Not again. I didn't look."

"W-what... the hell... was that?!" Marie seemed to choke through her own words.

"It was the power of an angry god. One so angry, he usurped Yehovah's throne and sat upon it himself. His name is Chronos. One who controls time. He has removed God. Now, he wants to reset this world."

"Reset? So he wishes to turn back time. How far?" I spoke up.

"I can answer that. He'll turn it back so far that we'll be set on another timeline. One far more dire. One with monsters walking the streets, people being devoured. The word Embryon pops up a few times. But we'll be seeing none of that. It's just a horrible future Chronos wishes to set us upon."

"But why?"

Philemon shook his head. "It's not his fault. Nyarlathotep has taken all of this much too far. He indoctrinated Chronos with feelings of hatred towards the human race. Our real threat is Chronos, and if we do not stop him, abhorrent things will happen."

Tatsuya looked at me. "Have you ever been pulled back through time?"

"No."

"I have. It's the most painful thing I have ever had to endure. It ripped me apart, limb from limb it seemed. I'm thankful I wasn't thrown back to when I was a kid. That would have been hell."

Marie, holding he head in her hands, said, "So, we kill the God of time then?"

"No. We first have to build an army. Then, we storm the pearly gates themselves. We attack Purgatorium." Tatsuya closed his eyes.

"Correct, and you will be the ones to build said army. People will be thrown into the TV. You will awaken their Persona. If their Persona does not wake, you must move on. I will try to get the right ones."

I felt heat build up in my chest. I jettisoned from the chair and shot daggers at Philemon. "So we're just going to have people endure the pain of all of this, just to build a damn army?!"

"Yes."

"I should punch you in your damn face."

"Go ahead. What you see is the truth."

Tatsuya's body jolted when he heard my remark. "I have to go. I'll be in Inaba. Staying in the Amagi Inn. Hope to see you all soon. Room 8-A."

Philemon also left, without saying a word, disappearing into thin air. All three of us looked to each other.

I looked at Marie. "So who handles fusions now?"

Ryotaro Dojima was tired. Not necessarily beat, just that the press was coming down harder than a hailstorm. After two explosions close to home in the same week, one literally and one figuratively, it was not the time to by dilly-dallying in the office.

He drove leisurely through the rain. It poured down, very hard. As he drove, he heard something in his back seat. Swearing it was a voice, he pulled to the side of the road. No cars were coming, so he figured it safe to check.

Opening his trunk, the sound became louder. Soon, his ears started ringing, heavily. Blue butterflies surrounded him as he collapsed to his knees. Another car, an old white american sedan, pulled up next to him. A familiar voice spoke to him.

"Nothing personal, old pal, but I got a job to do."

Before he knew it, he was off the ground, and thrown into a... a flat screen television sitting in the trunk. Unable to speak, he heard a grunt, and tried to spin around as he was thrown in. He just barely caught a glimpse of a red tie...