(A/N: This is just to polish off the last part frankly. I realize this is a lot of front-loaded information. I have the problem of cutting off too much or adding too much and making stuff boring I am sorry))
((Consider Chapter 1 and 2 the Prologue. I know cheap move))
((Sorry for the dialogue-heavy style. Please tell me if there are anything I can do to improve my style. I know it's not the best and can be done way better))
((Also this is pure FF nonsense with Power Scaling lol sorry. Also, my headcanon story set up cause none of this would make sense in the game world yet again sorry))
"Huh, can't say I saw you having this response but I am not going to be finicky and question your reasons for wanting to assistant us if only for the grounds we dragged you here in the first so that would be foolish on our part. You curiously have the same feel as Maya so I am attempting to put all my arrière pensée aside," Mitsuru pronounced in a downcast tone that reflected the feeling in the air that had taken hold of most in the room" It is as you say Yu. We are just proceeding with a roundabout way of asking for your help and that will unriddle nothing if we if we don't get to the point. But putting it all the way out there we are afraid of the answer we may get when that point is made," She inclined on the sofa and sit on the backrest of it by Fuuka's head with keen balance," As you said certainly first and foremost all we really want right now is to bring back Maya but it is a trifle more complex than what you are thinking. I said Maya gave her own life to make a seal to stop the arrival of Nyx and for the longest time that is what we conceived to be true with our admittedly limited understanding. But as we all know far too well everything is not as it always appears to be," Mitsuru was concentrating her gaze on the lone rose in the middle of the table as it seemed she was trying to dig in her own mind for the proper words to try and explain the state of affairs at hand," Last year my company launched a couple of satellites to do some environmental research using some new state of the art engineering science. We were taking pictures of the forest like areas when-" She hesitated for a second and took a deep breath before going on," We found this out of the way settlement of monks who believe profoundly in cognition of the human soul. After having a few pictures taken of the landscape around the village our scientist reported spotting a young woman in cherry-red drapes picking flowers in a few exposures"
"I see where this is going but may I ask did they ever get a clean-cut view of her face since you did say the young woman was draped," Naoto spoke up in a moment of pause from Mitsuru," Sorry my mind is just hurrying along from the information so verbalizing it out is the best way I know to deal it. I really didn't mean to be rude and not let you finish,"
"No, don't worry about it. It lets me know for the most part you are able to follow along and think forward on your own. So that being said to answer your question we did get a clear picture of the woman's face. Even so, the woman wasn't what you are imagining at least not fully, be that as it may, I will say right now she looked just like Maya facial characteristics, height, physical structure, and all the baseline stuff. The differences being Maya had burnt sienna hair with crimson eyes which always made her stand out a bit from others, but the woman we found had raven red hair with chocolate-brown bright red-tinged eyes," It looked like Yosuke was about to interject but Mitsuru politely held up her hand," Yeah, I acknowledge people can dye their hair and have contacts even that crossed my mind but she never seemed like the type that would attempt to hide from people by doing minor stuff like that is what I am trying to get at. If she didn't want to be found or if she wanted to hide I honestly doubt we could find her because she is or was not lacking in the knowledge department," Mitsuru had this exceedingly clear look of pride and regret on her face as she spoke of Maya's knowledge," So I had individuals look into the village and see if we could find any records concerning this woman. We did find records of her living there for seventeen years as well as being born there"
"Disregarding her having past history of her living there, and going off the well.. an educated guess you are thinking this woman is your leader, Maya. Wouldn't she be older than seventeen if the records date back to birth? I got the feeling from you all that Junpei and Yukari-Senpai were around the same age as Maya-Sensai? Even if it was a year different. seventeen years old wouldn't be the correct age even a year ago" Chie rubbing the side of her face as she was following the conversation as best she could. As she did this Yukari, Mitsuru, Yukiko, Yosuke, and Fuuka noticed the odd use of the word Sensai(Teacher). From what they knew Chie shouldn't have any cognition or history with Maya," Would there be any merit to me thinking this has something to do with the seal? I-I mean that you think this has something to do with the seal because I find it peculiar you would bring this woman and stick with her as a topic if she had nothing to do with your Leader Maya besides a close resemblance after seeing her much you all miss her," Chie acquired a unappeasable look on her face," It's just me but I don't believe you would be wasting time telling us about a random woman without having a good purpose for doing so,"
"It's more of an impression that you humans have then one of well-versed knowing. Indeed a magnificent and yet at the same time quite bothersome feeling which one doesn't like to experience," draggy light steps of heels could be heard in the room as a short light ash gray-haired woman appeared from the front hallway leading to the room they all were now sitting in" Forgive my abrupt entrance but I just gotten back from looking over a few things that Mitsuru asked me to look at. But oh my oh my I wasn't aware your guest had arrived," Her voice was more curious than anything else at the realization that there were new people before her all the same that didn't seem to halt her from talking to them like she would normally.
"I don't believe I really need to guess what kinda being you are because not to be bad-mannered simply you have the same atmosphere about you as Marie did in the Hollow Forest. You just seem otherworldly but in a cute way" Rise said looking somewhat anxious because even if she had the feeling she knew what this girl was. It didn't seem wise to cause a misunderstanding and piss her off so she was picking her words very carefully so not to by mistake offend her," Also your manner of speaking is somewhat the same. It has the learning air to it I mean,"
"Oh, I thought I was beginning to get a handle on the way humans interacted with one another along with your speech patterns. Looks like I will have to work on that sadly. Anyway my name is Elizabeth and it is a pleasure to meet all of you I have not before," She bowed to the room," As I am here now and I seem to have come in at just the right moment in time I will explain to you who don't know how we are sure this is 'My Dear' Maya," She pointed at Yu which caused him to slightly jump at how sudden the movement was. He didn't know why but...for a lack of any better words….she scared the living shit out of him," Like him, Maya can or could change her Personas on command. This is an uncommon power among persona users but not otherworldly beings and I for one can detect it. This along with me personally connection to Maya and how her aureola feels has made it very easy for me to identify who the young woman is. After just passing her but once before"
"You say aureola but Maya wasn't a saint she just had a light to her in general," Yukari smirking while looking at the ground,"But yeah Mitsuru sent me with Elizabeth to the Village of Moniren as members of the research team studying the area. We were to help them out while looking for signs of Maya. One day while we were out buying food we by chance encountered the woman we believe to be her but she demonstrated no signs of knowing who either of us was. Understand we quite literally bumped into her by mistake so this was not planned and we played it off as such" Yukari looked up from the ground. She had a tired look about her as she rubbed the temple over her eyebrow with her right hand," I thought she would know me but she smiled bowed her head said sorry and keep on walking like I was nothing more than dust in the wind. Elizabeth helped me keep my cool and we decided not push the matter. Meaning we didn't make her aware that we were interested investigating her out of fear she would report us, run away, or even if Maya was putting on an act and just couldn't show signs of knowing us...or didn't want to be bothered with us"
"If I can add my two cents to this," Yukiko was looking at Yukari will a sympathizing facial expression. She could see a shadow of the past of her own in Yukari that made her want to speak up and try and help her if only a little," I don't believe she would do that. I know it doesn't count for much and I am going off a brief meeting with her but Maya-Senpai didn't seem like the type of individual to not want to be bothered with her friends. I am sure if she didn't show signs of knowing you it wasn't of her own will or it was entirely out of her hands. So for the time being don't let that get you down...trust me questioning the people around you you care about distresses more than most understand, but doubting yourself along with what you believe in is a far greater stress on your mind. So until you know what is going on be brave until you get the answer you are looking for. Be that as it may, I am not going to bullshit you and say everything will be fine for no one ever truly knows what an outcome will be when dealing with the hearts of people. Like I said all you can do is weather the storm while hoping for answer while dealing with the outcome"
Yukari just gestured in approval. There in all fairness wasn't a lot she could say to that since honestly, she knew Yukiko was right. Mitsuru has given her a similar talking to but hearing it from someone else besides her just hammered it home just a little bit more," Yeah. Go it" She did her best to gave Yukiko a humble smile trying to put on a more dependable face for the younger people in the room. It wasn't going to help matters proceed forward if they started getting concerned or apprehensive about her.
"What can we do to assistance that you can't do yourselves? She doesn't know us either so meeting her wouldn't help. On the simple fact that besides Yukiko she would have never had met any of us in the first place to recognize us from the past," Yu questioning the situation. He had been following everything that had been said up until now closely but he didn't see a way that his group would be useful," Not questioning your know how but just having a hard time myself seeing what can be done with the information given to us so far"
"Candidly it is very uncomplicated really. However, the risks are, how you say, very high? First off...you" She once again pointed at Yu" Um...what's your name. I haven't had time to look over all your names that Mitsuru gave me. I have been very preoccupied as of late"
"Yu"
"Not me you silly," Elizabeth said with a confused looked on her face," You, what is your name"
"No not 'you' my name is Yu" Yu sighed. Every so often this old joke comes up but it was worst when the person was serious and didn't fully listen to the way his name was pronounced. However, something about this just seemed like a big joke" I am Yu"
"Your name is Elizabeth? Isn't that odd for a male? Or is this a new trend this day and age? My my, times are indeed changing fast aren't they?"
"No, my name is Yu! Y...U..."
"Oh! That s rather silly! Why would anyone name a child Yu? That like name someone naming their child We"
"Like the Who's on First Joke?" Akihiko plainly said as finally what was going on just hit him.
Everyone turned to him and sighed," Way to ruin the joke man. Of course, she was picking with him because of that joke. Even he caught on right away but went along with the joke. She wasn't serious Senpai, please learn to lighten up" Junpei shaking his head.
"Honestly they were trying to lighten the mood before things got dark again. You disappoint me Akihiko I had hoped over the years your sense of awareness had gone beyond you fighting ability," Mitsuru looked at the ground holding her head," Even I can read this kind of stuff now and then and you all use to call me a workaholic stick in the mud. But Elizabeth if you would could you explain what you told us when you came and gave us this information? And really thanks for trying to lift us up a bit"'
"There is no need to give thanks to me. Trust me even I know it is wise to look for moments of relief when you feel yourself breaking apart. Nevertheless...," Her voice took a more businesslike fashion," Yu, as you may know, you have a rare ability and Maya had the same power. It is my notion that if she were to come into reach with you then maybe her powers would reawaken," She interpreted the look of confusion on his face and keep speaking before he could interrogate her," Her powers seem to have been..well...kind of disremembered by her. My hope is if you can reawaken her powers then maybe this we unlock her lost or dormant memories."
"You also mentioned there would be risk involved? Care to elaborate?" Naoto said taking in every detail being said in the room. Her mind was going over every outcome she could think of.
Elizabeth hesitated for a couple of seconds after the question was asked. It was like she was trying to think of something but it kept slipping away from her," From what I know this has never been done before. And if it has I don't know fully how the person might have ended up. If I would have to give you the fundamental risks then I can think of three off the top of my head. One, the person isn't really Maya and we awaken someone we are not ready to handle. Two, there is a backlash and her powers go out of control possibly causing her harm in more ways than I care to think about or explain. Three, this is her not fused with death but fused with Nyx herself" The room was absolutely silent on the second and last answer. You could have heard a pin drop on the carpet.
"Explain each one of these in detail please"
"Right. The first one is rather simple if I do say so myself. If it isn't Maya either nothing happens or we awaken someone who we are not ready to deal with. As I said before I believe this person is Maya because of the feeling I get off of her. Even so, I must state it once again, unfortunately, the point that we must keep in the back of our minds this may not be her no matter how much we wish it to be. The second situation is a little harsher to deal with on a personal level for the older people here and me as well. If this is Maya we could just as easily kill her by being selfish. Maya was surely very powerful and getting all that power back at once could overload her body and yes even her mind. Think of it like a drug addict who uses drugs daily but suddenly stops for a few good months but relapses and tries to go back to the same quantity they were doing when they stopped….it would be an overdose cause their system can not handle that much again right off anymore.. or simply it is too much for their system to take in because the body or system is not in the same state it once was in. Either example words really" She looked heartbroken by her own words. It was clear she knew this was one of the most likely outcomes if anything was to go wrong or happen but she steeled herself and moved on from this dark reality," The last one is odd and likely. It pretty much is she herself had become death while being the new harbinger or she is simply now a living seal. But I find this last one unlikely because as you may have already talked about before I arrived. Nyx has been halted and sealed from getting a direct gateway to this world or plain. She has already been called so it's not like she needs...some kind of homing beacon. So even if she was a living seal Nyx wouldn't be within her"
"So essentially with that last one you're just casting that one out there as a worst case scenario or a combination of both one and two? And here I thought you were going to be the overly cheerful cute girl," Yosuke joked to mask he uneasiness," Now I am starting to regret wishing for some excitement in my life," He looked up a Yu," What the old saying? Be careful what you wish for right?"
"Sad but true. Never works for other things right? Only things that can get bad in a hurry" Yu smirked.
"You...are a lot more calm about this than we thought you would be," Akihiko looking Yu's group over in turn.
"What would freaking out solve? We can do that after we have discovered all the information you have to share with us and can be collected. Right now is the instance for us to ask questions so we have well-defined options so we are able to choice what path we wish to take from here on out," Yu folded his arms in deep thought,"It's a chilling thought but with ours abilities and what we have seen this does not seem that surprising...if anything my limited mind can't fully understand it. I can only try to understand what is being thrown at me the best I can just like anyone else here. Be that as it may, if we try and over think things all at once we will lose out nerve and most likely we will lose ourselves to fear, lack of understanding and just the weight of everything," Yu looked around the room," Maybe the reason my group isn't as nervous as yours is because we have never had to deal with something like this. So we don't grasp the full weight of everything going on," He knew the only way to truly feel what someone was dealing or has dealt with was to experience yourself," And I can't explain it in words but I feel a close bond with you all even if I don't know you so I myself want to help you all even if none of this quite honestly makes full fucking sense," Yu bowed," Now please tell me what comes next. Where do we have to head to get this started?"
To Be Continued.
