-Summer Day 8-

When there existed nothing but darkness long ago, there were two original beings, two brothers. One brother was benevolent, kind, and wise. The other was cunning, cruel, and malevolent. For years they bickered and argued with only each other in eternal darkness. However, at one time they agreed on one thing only: They were lonely and wanted other company.

It was then that they decided to create something of their very own. The benevolent brother worked hard on his creations. He pulled out the light he imagined, and began to mold forms from it. He soon found himself making all the animals and plants. But his favorite creations were by far the Humans.

The cruel brother rushed his, pulling out the darkness around him and making monstrous forms. They functioned on pure instinct only. Driven by desire and hunger. But they could not survive without light. And so the cruel brother set his creations down with the benevolent brother's creations. Due to their ravenous hunger, these shadows coveted the light of the humans, wanting more and more for the closer they drew the bigger they became until eventually the shadow would consume the human and it's light.

This angered the benevolent brother. Once more they bickered and argued while the human's lights went out one by one and the shadows grew larger and larger still, evolving into spirits, and angels,demons, gods, and devils.

The shadows craved the light of the humans, they had emotions and thoughts, yet they lacked the instinct the shadows possessed. Perhaps to one shadow, one human's light would be deemed more favorable than another. These shadows stalked these individuals relentlessly wanting their light, and no one else. They began to mimic the humans, following them in every possible way, adhering themselves to the human until it could feed off it's light long enough to continue growing.

When the benevolent brother finally looked to his humans once more, many of them were swallowed up and his precious creations were little. To his dismay he realized his humans could not survive against these shadows. That is, until he noticed one human, a small child whose light shone brighter than any others. The shadows revered this light, all pursuing the child tirelessly. The benevolent brother saw hope in this child's light and so decided it best to create a safe haven for them. A secret place kept from his brother, the benevolent one created a place between mind and matter, dream and reality. Here the child would be safe.

To entertain the child, the benevolent brother created residents for this place, creating one to assist the child in any way, giving him the name Igor. Despite the Belladonna's beautiful songs, or the tunes played by the nameless blind one, the child was unhappy, they did not want to be kept here. The child ran from their haven, a place made for them, a room of velvet.

The benevolent brother could only watch in horror as the child came into contact with a shadow. Certain that this light of hope would be extinguished the benevolent brother gave up. However, to his surprise, the child fought back, his light shining bright enough to overpower the shadow into submission. The child then proposed an agreement. They would share a mutual relationship with one another. The shadow protecting the child, and the child letting the shadow feed off their light in moderation. This stunned both brothers.

The shadow did as it was told, and soon more shadows fell to the child. His light was bright enough to sustain any shadow he defeated and soon he had amassed a small following of shadows to do his bidding. Within time, each shadow grew to be more like the child in personality. When the other humans saw this, they too decided to confront the shadows. While their light was not bright like the child's, it was bright enough to subdue a single shadow most like them. They too would form a mutual relationship.

This gave hope to the benevolent brother once more.

The cruel brother however was angered by this. How could his superior shadows fall prey to a human and be controlled so easily? He was stubborn and pestered his brother, boasting how his creations were stronger and could easily end humans. The benevolent brother however did not care, he knew his humans would survive, and they grew in numbers with each passing day, their light earning them their own shadow guardian.

However, once more humanity fell. Eventually the humans began to take the shadow's protection for granted and began to shun them. This angered the shadows, causing them to lash out violently the more they were denied. Many humans fell to their arrogance. The same child however, now more mature, still did not succumb to his ego. He acknowledged that the shadows were as much a part of him as he was of them. Some followed his example, others still denied their demons.

The cruel brother mocked the humans for their free-will, he claimed that the humans would fall to despair and insecurities and be devoured. The benevolent brother said otherwise. He looked upon the shining child and knew there was hope for humans to become something more, something even he could not imagine.

It was then that the two brothers struck a bet:

Would humanity fall to the darkness?

Or would they transcend into enlightened beings?

Since that day, the benevolent brother has been watching over his beloved humans, keeping a special eye on those who were born with a brilliant light, just like the child from years ago. He would nurture their light, and guide them silently unseen. The velvet room would be their sanctuary. Until the time came when it would be time for them to show off that brilliant light of theirs and make the world a brighter place for one and all.

The cruel brother however, did not abide by the rules. He himself went among the humans in disguise, causing a great many catastrophes and leading people to fall prey to his shadows. However, no matter how hard he tried to interfere, he could not harm the children of light. His own shadows turned on him in favor of protecting their host. With this power the children of light would thwart the cruel brother every step of the way.

This bet has continued on for many, many years. The children of light had all gone through their trials of hardships due to the crawling chaos that is the cruel brother. One child now wanders the world, hoping to spread his light to others. Another is far far away, in another timeline that the crawling chaos managed to succeed. But he stopped the chaos there, sealing himself away with all the despair to protect the new timeline. One child resides in this new timeline, promising to be happy for the other's sake, never forgetting his sacrifice. Two children sacrificed their lives to seal away a great shadow entity from bringing the death of all, their spirits guarding magnificent golden gates.

The last child of light thus far… Well his trial has yet to end.

Both brothers continue to watch, silently (or not so silently)attempting to push or guide the child in the desired direction

However, neither of them took into account his friends who plan to interfere, for better or for worse.

- o O o-

Tatsuya sighed. It was much later than he expected. With a slump in his shoulders, he set down his suitcase beside his apartment door and made his way to the couch. While investigating this bizarre case, he would be spending his nights here, if his work even allowed him time to sleep. It wasn't the first time he'd been transferred somewhere upon request. However, for the most part, his older brother was always with him, rarely did they ever work apart. But Katsuya was planning his wedding with Maya, this was the reason Tatsuya offered to take the case, to give them time.

However, it seemed this simple missing persons case would not be solved so easily. In a small town like this, where could one possibly go? Into a television apparently. Tatsuya sat himself down and closed his eyes, leaning his head back with a long exhale. Some more memories came back to him today. The masked man shrouded by butterflies.

Opening his eyes, Tatsuya lowered his head to meet the gaze of the small television on the stand not far from the couch. He was silent for a moment.

"Souji Seta, huh?" he muttered to himself as he pushed himself from his seated position. He kneeled in front of the cold glass separating him and that other strange world. Experimentally, he reached out and pressed a finger to the glass, a little shocked when he found that it slid in easily. It was the same feeling as if dipping your hand in water, but there was no wetness. The small television glowed eerily, as if coaxing him inside. Like that was going to happen, it was a small TV anyway, he would never fit.

"You're somewhere in there, aren't you kid?" he called out to no one in particular, as if the missing boy could somehow hear him. "You're freaking your friends out pretty bad. I wonder where in that vast world you could be."

Silence passed as Tatsuya opened and closed the hand that was submerged in the TV screen, feeling around for something, anything.

Suddenly, there was a soft noise that continued to grow at an alarming rate. It was screaming, but it certainly wasn't human, and it was racing toward him from the other side of the television.

"Tatsuya!"

He could feel Apollo tugging at the back of his mind,as if pulling some puppet's string, Tatsuya felt his hand reflexively pull back and out of the TV all too fast. He stumbled, landing hard on his ass, just before something collided with the television screen causing it to jump violently in the air and off the stand, hanging by the electrical wires which kept it from shattering on the ground.

It swayed in the air once, twice, and stopped moving. The screaming was gone. The one making that horrible screeching noise must have run into the television screen, finding that it did not have the same convenient power of passing through into the human world. With a shuddering breath, Tatsuya picked himself up first, before placing his hands on either side of the TV and hoisting it back up onto it's little pedestal.

Shockingly enough, when he looked back into it's screen, he could just faintly see the golden glower of eyes beyond the screen. The figure then turned and disappeared into the darker recesses of the strange world on the other side.

Tatsuya stood frozen for several seconds more, before letting out the breath he had so desperately been holding and visibly relaxed.

"Are you alright, Tatsuya?"

"I'm fine thanks to you, Apollo. What was that?"

"It seemed like a shadow,"

Hesitation.

"But it didn't seem the ordinary type."

"Of course." sighed Tatsuya, "It would be a miracle if I encountered an ordinary anything."

He turned his back to the TV and calmly made his way into his bedroom, changing into a more comfortable change of night clothes, snagged his cell phone, and made his way to the kitchen. Turning on the lights, he simply sat for a few seconds, scanning over his messages, if any.

There were none of importance. Only ones from co-workers so far.

"Apollo."

"Hm?"

"Any idea of what's going on?"

Another beat of silence as Apollo seemed a little stunned by that question.

"I don't understand. Do you mean this whole case, or the incident with the TV just now?"

Tatsuya clicked his tongue, "This whole case. That world on the other side. That missing boy. Those kids. Got any ideas?"

He could sense Apollo shaking his head, "I'm afraid not. I am you, and you are me. Whatever you do not know, I do not know."

This earned him another irritated scowl from Tatsuya as he continued to peruse and then delete his messages.

"Don't play dumb. You are me, but at the same time, you're not. I remember Personas being described as shadows simply tamed. Shadows come the darkness in people's hearts. But both shadow and Persona reside in the "void" don't they? All the times I've been able to call upon other personas.. Where did they come from? Were they just waiting in this void until I called out to them, or were they created when I needed them?"

Tatsuya seemed to think over his words, "Shadows have been around for a long time. Longer than personas, and lived in this "void", is it like a big community of personas and shadows and if so, you all must know something we humans don't. Am I wrong?"

Strained silence.

"In a sense, you're not wrong."

"So, any thoughts then?"

"I am still not sure. I have only ever been summoned by you, no other, I resonate with you and you alone."

"Wow, I feel so special."

"You should. All joking aside, we personas don't question our existence. We simply sit and await the day we find the one we resonate most with. When they die, we simply await another. Sometimes a shadow will follow a human it resonates and it will either consume the human, or be dominated by them and be born anew as a persona. If the human dies while it is still in it's shadow form, the shadow dies along with them, with no more light to sustain itself. If their host dies in the form of a persona, we continue to live as we have slowly stored the light for ourselves in moderation for us to last until the next host. However, personas can revert back to shadows very easily. If we are denied we return to our primal shadow state, even stronger than before due to our experience as personas."

Tatsuya remained silent before finally setting down his cellphone, "...You make yourselves sound like parasites."

"Shadows are parasites. Personas however, share a mutual symbiotic relationship with humans. Shadows and persona are two different entities, and yet we are one and the same."

"You're pretty calm about that. Doesn't it upset you, knowing you were once a mindless shadow?"

"That was then. I am what I am. And I am no longer a shadow thanks to you. I have walked by your side and have grown from my basic state. And with you I shall remain."

Tatsuya took Apollo's words to heart, and smiled, feeling that familiar warmth deep within his being.

"You know, I think I should be touched by that," he placed a hand on his heart, "But I can only feel concerned that I'll be talking to a voice in my head for the rest of my life." he laughed jokingly.

"Wh- rude! I am no mere voice you imbecile! How dare you even-!"

"I'm guessing Personas still haven't grasped the concept of a joke..."

Apollo gave something of an irritated sigh in the back of his mind, then gave a little startled noise as if he had just remembered something.

"Hm, Tatsuya?"

"Yes?"

"Here's is one thought of mine…"

"Go on?"

"The boy's friends mentioned him being able to summon multiple personas, yes?"

"I think they mentioned that, yeah?"

"If it's possible for one to have multiple personas… If the boy were to reject himself entirely… Would it not be plausible for him to have multiple shadows as well?"

"...Shit."