Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or any content from the Megami Tensei series as a whole. I do not claim to own anything. All contents' right belong to their respectful owners. Once again, I do not claim to own anything
In response to RaidEye, yeah sorry about the long wait. By the time I wanted to sit down and write Christmas was around the corner and I was spending most of my time with my family and etc added that I was busy doing gift shopping for December. I'm writing before this chapter is over, but I'm pretty sure it's not going to take that long it's only a three scene chapters.
In response to TheImperfectDarkOne, glad you like the novelization. It's kinda saddening that their aren't many fics for P1 and P2 on the site and I'm happy to be the only one who's really attempted to do a novelization. Apologies for the occasional grammatical or spelling errors, when I throw these in the document uploader for revisions it's usually after I'm done writing the chapters which can vary at 11-1 o'clock at night. So in my tired state or just normally I'm might miss a minor error.
Chapter 12 is a guess you could say a milestone chapter in a way. It's going to be told solely with Brown's thought because the chapter centers around him. Now, for his dialogue, the game has voice actors for when the characters are in battle but for actual text no voice, so I often find myself hearing a specific voice actor for lines of characters, like in my story I often hear Naoya as Yuri Lowenthall, Reiji is Liam O'Brian, Kei is Troy Baker, Yukino Mary Elizabeth McGlynn, Eriko Julie Maddalena, Maki Michelle Ruff, Masao is Kirk Thornton, and Brown is Tony Oliver. SO, if you can image some of Brown's one-liners for this in Tony Oliver's Hibiki Tokai voice from Vandread, I think you might feel like I do while writing this and actually to tell the truth Brown out of all the characters, I guess you could say I exaggerate the most, because the characters in the game excluding Maki and Reiji have no back stories, so I created my own based on their personalities whilst trying to have them reach a resolution which they don't do in the actual game. While if you like Brown you should like this chapter, you don't like Brown you won't like this chapter simple as that, but aspect other chapters in the story that are only going to be in the thoughts of a certain characters. Chapter 14 and Chapter 15 are likes this as well. With that aside, I welcome to Persona: Be Your True Mind Chapter 12.
Chapter Twelve: Mikage Subway: Seiryu
Brown lifted his shades above his eyes, no longer needing them to block the rising rays of the morning sun. The group was stepping into the dark, dank, and dirty subway system of Mikage. "Hoo-rah, maybe they actually hired a janitor to clean this world's terminals." With it's loose brick walls and unnaturally smudged, greased, and littered tiled terminals, Mikage Subway was infamous for it's unlawful smell and near unsanitary environment.
Brown walked with the spear cradled under his arm, he'd gotten used to the odd-ended weight of the weapon. "It's been ten minutes since we left the museum with the Mirror and supplies. N.T. shouldn't need to say anything important until we get close to the other side of town. Time to work the ol' Brown magic and slither my thoughts in and flip the conversation. I want to know seriously what was up?"
"If we follow the tunnel up two stations we'll be at the turnstiles for the other side of town." Masao explained.
"I doubt trains will be in circulations, but to stay safe, we'll line up single file and stride off to the side up against the wall of the platform away from the rails as best we can manage." Naoya ordered.
"He's done speaking! Interject!" Brown cleared his throat. "Hey, N.T., I wanted to know what was up back there in the museum?"
"What are you referring to Brown?" Naoya asked.
"You know, you're grand plan to kill the turtle. You left me out, you know."
"Brown, you paralyzed him how is that leaving you out?"
"No! No! You left me out of your combined attack with Kei, Masao, and Reiji! Why leave me out? Come on, you know I'm the strongest out of all of us!" Brown boasted.
Masao and Reiji snorted, turning Brown's attention towards them.
"If you're the strongest, ass-hat, I'm King Enma." Reiji quipped.
"Brown, there's something you need to know, Nao's just too much of a nice guy to say it to your face." Masao informed.
"Yeah, what's that then Masao?" Brown asked sternly.
Kei took up the conversation. "Uesugi, the nine of us may truly know why we are here. Philemon told us it was by chance of the string of events, but in turn it was your fault we are united together in this mess. Frankly, I don't care for your company. You are obnoxious, pathetic, and filled with plenary garbage. Your tall-tales, jokes, and lies are hackneyed and your quite a nuisance in battle and out of it. You contribute nothing to strategies, formation, fighting assistance. You have not aided our group unless instructed to. When we are moving onward from place to place all you spout is never-ending carping and grievances. To be even more frank, Uesugi, I find you to be a cowardly parasite, that only chose to be a part of this for your own selfish reasoning. Todo, Masao, Yukino, Sonomura, Kirishima, Kido, and I, maybe even Ayase have at least a reason to be a part of this journey, yours is indubitably selfish and inane if you carry one at all."
Brown glared into the black tiles at his feet. He spat to the side, hoping it would relieve the bitter taste in his mouth from Kei's words. It didn't help. "Is that all you have to say, Nanjo?" Brown asked, firmly a no-nonsense tone to his usually nonsensical attitude."
Kei kept his cool, not threaten in the slightest, completely uncaring to Brown's feelings at all. "To be repetition, Uesugi. To be the most honest I can be, not a single person here could say they care for you at all."
Brown's fingers curled tightly around his spear, anger taking control of his fist. "Say more, Nanjo! I dare you! I'll show you whose a coward! I'll skewer you like a shish kabob and smear this shit-hole in your guts!
"Not one of us would protect you, Uesugi. If you were put in that situation to take a blow for any of us," Kei laughed, picturing Brown being able to do that. "You'd run away terror-struck and we'd only see your sad timid figure in the distance."
Brown jerked his spear-handling hand up, Naoya shoving it down. "Kei, that's enough!" Naoya scolded. "Do you want Brown to kill you?"
"Uesugi, wouldn't be able to touch me in his life."
"You're an idiot, Kei."
"What did you say, Todo?" Kei asked, getting in Naoya's solid face.
"Look at Brown, Kei!"
Brown's arm was writhing in Naoya's grip. "Let go of me! I'll stab him in the throat!"
"You instigated the Chaos, Kei! You and Brown were about to throw down with your Personas like Reiji and I did yesterday. We don't have time for more alignment trouble, let alone deal with the aftermath of another fight."
"Plus, four-eyes, Kandori probably all ready knows were coming with the Mirror. That bastard probably has another of those Sign assholes waiting for us. Considering how well we did against the last guy everyone of us is going to have to pitch in as much as I hate to emit it." Reiji added.
Yukino stepped to Kei's side. "Kei, go on and apologize to Hidehiko, before he attacks you."
"I refuse to offer an apology to the truth."
"Nanjo, get off your goddamn high horse! Your guilty of the same shit you accused Brown of possibly doing!" Masao exclaimed.
"Your indictment, Masao, has no basis!"
"Really, Nanjo, let me refresh your memory. A day and half ago, outside the front doors of the police station, you left Brown and I to be meals for those little shit Ukobachs!"
"I went for help! I brought help!"
Ayase chimed in oddly. "Nanjo, we all know, like, you totally didn't do it for their sake."
"I'm inclined to agree with Yuka, Kei." Eriko said.
"I agree with Yuka-chan too."
Now Kei faced the floor. Brown ceased his struggling, hearing the words of the others. "That's right, Nanjo, sulk in your wrongdoings! When we're done with this, I'm going corrupt your reputation, your company…and whatever else you have of value! You don't know a damn thing about me! This isn't the Chaos in my mind, this is the true thoughts of Hidehiko "Brown" Uesugi!" Brown sighed. "I'm not a coward…and I'm not useless."
Brown removed his arm from Naoya's grip. "I'll show you." He muttered. "I'm cool, N.T., the urges and thoughts are out of my system."
"Okay, just make sure to not think about it Brown. That's the easiest way to keep away from the Chaos." Naoya suggested.
"Got it." He hissed.
"I'm going to take the front of the line, Brown you're right behind me. Then Maki, Masao, Eriko, Ayase, Reiji, Yukino, and then Kei is all the way in the back. I want you two to be far away from each other."
"N.T.'s acting like it's partial my fault. I didn't say a damn word. It was all Nanjo. He doesn't understand, none of them do. They don't understand the emptiness. They don't understand the loathing. They'll never understand me. I'm not lonely, I haven't lost anyone, but that doesn't mean I don't have motivation to be who I am or to be here at all. I could've run away a long time ago then this power of Persona Butterfly-sama gave me those months ago awakened and the situation was different. I didn't want to run away anymore. I…what the hell am I doing? I'm babbling to myself in my mind. No one's listening. I'm just gonna walk."
A feminine "humph" of displeasure could be heard in the recesses of the young man's mind.
Persona: Be Your True Mind
Coming to the end of the tunnel, blocked by collapsed rock and rubble. Luckily the last platform before the tunnel collapse was the one they needed to exit from. The nine hiked up onto the terminal.
"Turnstiles are up ahead, get the Expel Mirror ready Mark." Naoya said, signaling Masao to retrieve the jade object from his backpack.
"How does this thing even work?" Masao questioned peering at his own reflection. "If it can take down the barrier why couldn't we have used it up above ground?"
Eriko answered. "My assumption is that the Mirror doesn't have the power to expel the whole barrier dividing the wards of Mikage. So, maybe down here in a more confined area, the barrier is weak enough and condensed enough for the Mirror to remove."
"Kirishima's assumption is right." Kei's hand ran over an invisible sheet of air in front of the turnstiles.
"So, what do we do, Nao-kun?" Maki asked.
"Mark, try pointing it at the wall. See what it does." Naoya suggested.
"Gotcha, Nao!" Masao fumbled to delicately angle the Expel Mirror to display the fronts of the turnstiles.
Brown tapped his spear on his shoulder, irritated. "Is it going to do anything?" He hissed.
The Expel Mirror glowed in Masao's hands, much to his surprise and the reflecting surface was glazed over in white which soon retracted back to the border of jade encasing the mirror. The Mirror ceased its glow.
Kei's pushed his hand forward, actually being able to pass and touch the cold, metal glorified toll booths. "The barrier has dropped, Todo. We can proceed."
"Brilliant deduction, Nanjo. I'm sure the mystic object glowing in Masao's hands did fuck all to aid us in anyway." Brown glowered. "Way to state the obvious?" He said under his breath.
After Masao put away the Expel Mirror in his bag. Everyone prepared to jump the threshold to the stairway. Naoya's ear perked. "Everyone, hold up! Stay close!" Everyone halted and kept together as Naoya instructed.
He heard a whishing sound breezing by him. It continued actually causing his earring to shift about. The slight hiss magnified into a gust hitting them all, throwing their hair and loose clothing into furrows. The gust picked up swirling together in a contorting, slender, and serpentine hurricane, gaining a definite turquoise color. The wind current blew through the Persona Users again, the turquoise wind visible.
From the constant rising and falling end of the figure of wind came a flag-like tall, wavering in the air, bursting from the spiraling current and green energy. Element and color dissipating, stubby four talon claws protruded as arms and legs near the end of the revealed azure-scale serpent-like body and up close to the still revealing head. At the wrist and ankles were cowl of lapis fur. Finally the head burst from the energy, a dragon's appearing, complete with Elk-type horns extending from the top of the skull, oscillating up-and-down tendrils, similar to a moustache, extending to the lengths of ten feet, snarling nostrils above the gaping maw, and two yellow eyes glaring at the teens in front of it.
The azure dragon spoke, his rippling form at the width of an oak tree matching the wavelength of his whiskers. "I am Long, the Japanese call me Seiryu!" His voice was brisk and fast like the wind. "I am one of the Four Signs of the Chinese Constellations!"
"Dude, we just fought one of you!" Masao complained.
Brown put his spear in his ready stance. "Why did Kandori pick the Ssu-Ling from Chinese myths anyway? When I write this up for my quick-dime, I'm leaving these guys out. They're needless hindrances."
"Oh really?" A feminine, but familiar voice rung in Brown's mind.
"Huh? What was that?"
"Master Kandori, has asked me to guard the way to his domain! A mouthful of humans will not be able to stop me! Bai Hui, Gui Xian they often like to play with their opponents, but clearly that has gifted them defeat! I prefer to decimate in one attack!"
"Everyone get ready!" Naoya ordered, drawing his katana from the back of his waist with his MP5.
The wind picked up around the dragon. "Before I end this, if you choose to try to attack me with anything! Bullets, swords, arrows, spears, axes, whatever you have armed yourselves with is futile! My scales are thicker than Gui Xian's and my skull is not as soft as Bai Hui's!" The wind rose higher and whipped faster.
The female spoke again in Brown's thoughts. "Might wanna tell them to dodge."
"What? Again? Am I going nuts?"
"So, you can hear me. You just aren't comprehending anything I'm saying. Your loss."
"MAGARULA!" The wind flying skyward of Seiryu lapped over and shot forward like a tidal wave. Everyone was caught in the Wind Skill, the savage wave much like Genbu's Sheru no Shot, sent each of them flying, impacting the brick walls of the subway with heavy force. An added effect was the dozens of nicks and slashes darted across their clothing, exposed skins, and underneath the cloth.
Naoya's spat blood to the side of the excess dripping into his mouth from a slice on his cheek. He pulled himself from the now-destroyed brick wall he Masao and Maki were thrown into.
Brown watched on, he was jostled a little bit. Pushed almost off the platform. He saw everyone standing back up, looking somewhat bad, but not deathly injured.
"Nothing a little Media can't fix." She said.
"Seriously, what the hell is that?"
"Sigh"
"The Magarula was not enough, eh?"
"So much for decimating us in one shot, Shen Long!" Masao exclaimed, the sleeves of his jacket in tears with multiple cuts trailing his arms.
"Your nothing special, dragon." Reiji stated smugly. "I've had deeper and worse cuts then these!" Reiji pointed his thump to the scar, etched in his forehead.
Naoya stepped up. "Kei, Eriko, do you have anything to protect against Wind Skills?"
"I do, Todo." Kei replied, swiping his broadsword to the side to summon his Persona. "Persona! Wind Wall!" Aizen Myouou spread it's arms, a greenish wind encircling them all strictly. "I'm not sure how well this will work, but it is all I have at my disposal, Todo."
"That's fine, Kei. I don't want the back-blow to hit you all." Naoya stepped closer to Seiryu who was gathering his wind. Naoya's hand covered his face. The milky white mist consuming him.
"What do you mean, back-blow, brave leader?"
"Just stay together everyone!"
"Human, you want to take me, Seiryu, on! I can feel it you have a resistance to the wind, yet your not the least injured. With a resistance to wind, I can believe you too use the wind! Let us see how you stand against me!"
"Okay, when N.T. and Seiryu collide, I'm gonna damage him. I'll show Nanjo I'm not useless."
"Are you sure that's a good idea?"
"Yes, of course I'm sur-ah goddamn it, I have gone insane. I'm talking with the voices in my head!"
"HERE IT GOES! PERSONA!" Seimen Kongo shot upward, bellowing, his right arm, his clenched fist, trembling with power and wind flurry around each knuckle.
"Come, boy! Strike with all you have!" Seiryu's fierce gaze struggled with Naoya both not giving any lean-way for intimidation.
"GARULA!" Seiryu roared and Seimen Kongo threw his punch. They both unleashed a gale of green wind that splashed together, the winding air streaming backwards at the casters due to the struggle.
"Now!" Brown called forth his Persona. "Go for it, NEMAIN!" The eloquent dressed goddesses appeared, a displeased look on her face.
"Uesugi, what the hell are you doing?"
"SHUT UP, NANJO! MAZANMA!" Nemain threw her open palms out at Seiryu firing a rapid barrage of the medium-sized Zan energy balls at Seiryu.
Naoya looked back. "BROWN, STOP!"
The Garula clash ended and the Mazanma struck every inch of Seiryu, exploding on contact as normal. Seiryu bleeding jaw escaped the smokescreen caused by the Zan Skill. The Mazanma had managed to inflict minor damage to Seiryu.
The azure dragon yelled. "How dare you interrupt our clash, human! All your ends are here! MIND CHARGE!" A spring of energy pulsed underneath Seiryu. No physical difference had occurred.
Reiji and Masao flipped Brown off. "Wait to go, asshole!" They both shouted.
"I didn't expect it to piss him off!"
"Guess you weren't so sure after all." She counted.
"Oh shut up! Your nothing, but a figment of my imagination."
"Wow, you are dense! I am you."
"What?"
Seiryu roared, summoning the winds to do his bidding. Turquoise cyclones spun in a counterclockwise motion, consuming into a severe, feral tornado. The wind speed hurling wide gusts at the Persona Users in succession as the commanding tornado enlarged. Previous breezes created by Seiryu felt refreshing, a light touch to the skin, these he sent were rough and granted wind-burn.
Seiryu's yellow eyes glowed, pinpointing his location in the tornado. He spoke loudly to overtake the sounds of the wind, which were now picking up the brick rubble that his Magarula created. "You have angered me! I am done with you all! I acted like Bai Hui and Gui Xian, playing with you, even with me doing that you have not defeated me! It was fun for the moment, but you must contend with the force of the heavens! HEAVENLY CYCLONE!"
At Seiryu's announcement, the tornado encasing him vanished, fading away like it was never there. Before Naoya could give the word to counterattack, the tornado reappeared….as the dozens of cyclones that manifested it, but they appeared not around Seiryu instead in the very center of the group. A second blitz of air currents, they were thicker, heavier, and as finely edged as a razorblade with the nine teens trapped inside, being taking for a brutal ride through debris and slashes to every inch of their beings. As the cyclones spun for minutes, the wounds expanded, seeping a red tint to the turquoise.
At the mark of two minutes, the Heavenly Cyclones dropped their victims. Naoya, Masao, Maki, Eriko, Reiji, Ayase and Kei fell to the uprooted tiles, disheveled and battered beyond belief. Brown on the other hand was fine to his own surprise leisurely chucked a far few meters from everyone else.
There he laid, almost recumbent and relaxed on the wall. "Shit, shit, shit! I'm such an idiot!"
"Really? Never would have known."
"Okay, seriously what the hell are you? You said you're me and why am I not hurt like everyone else?"
"My, you are a forgetful one. Let me recite the speech again. Maybe this will jog your memory. Thou art I and I am thou, I am a being that has emerged from the sea of your soul, I shall lend you my power, I am Nemain!"
"My Persona? You're Nemain!"
"Do I have to repeat myself?"
"But, how? Why can I hear you, when I couldn't before?"
"I been commenting this whole time, most likely your friends' Personas have to, but you may be able to hear me now, because you opened your eyes and unplugged your ears."
"What does that mean and you never answered why I'm fine?"
"First is difficult to explain. Second one easy, I absorb Wind and Force. So, out all of you, you're the safest from ol' Seiryu. If you wanted to you could run."
Brown's eyes broaden, images of a six year old version of himself running away from a middle-age man with a sword-less scabbard, several other children laying on the sidewalk at the man's feet flashing in his head. He gasped as Naoya fumbled, standing back to his feet, trying his greatest to not let his glare at Seiryu falter.
"N.T., his clothes are soaked in blood. How is he standing?"
"Weren't you listening? His Persona resists Wind, not as great as absorbing, but…"
"He's going to try to take on Seiryu, is he insane! He can't win by himself! We probably couldn't win together!"
"Déjà vu, huh? Of that sop story memory that haunts you, right?"
"You know…about it. How?"
"Well, I am you, that's why I'm your Persona, so being inside the sea of your soul I can see who you are, meaning the memories of the past, your thoughts, and etc. As I was saying this scene is very reminiscent, right. This situation was proposed by that glasses boy too."
"What are talking about? Seiryu isn't doing anything he just did that Mind Charge thing again. Even if I wanted to I don't know if I can do it and take the blow for N.T. Even if I could, what would it accomplish, delay all our deaths a few minutes."
"Maybe this emptiness you often privately hate is related to it. Perhaps you need to face the problem you have."
"Yeah, what's that? Enlighten me, because even for someone whose suppose to be me doesn't understand me at all!"
"I wouldn't be so sure of that. We'll need to make it quick, Seiryu's preparing his upcoming attack. I'm gonna bring some memories up at a subliminal speed, try to reflect on them, please."
"You've lost me." A serious of pictures delineating Brown's "haunted" memory flashed through his mind, like a freight train at full speed.
Persona: Be Your True Mind
A young six year old Hidehiko Uesugi was playing with Beigoma (A/N: The tops were you wrap the string around them and pull.) with five other children on the sidewalk of his neighborhood. They were enjoying the summer day. Unfortunately it was to turn absolutely sour as Hidehiko suggested going we're none of their mothers would allow. He wanted to go in front of Mr. Yoshida's lawn.
Mr. Yoshida was the neighborhood kill-joy, who detested disturbances. He was of the age of fifty, retired from his family dojo, letting his sons teach the arts of Iai to the mature, responsible youth of his town. With nothing to do being retired, Yoshida cared for his lawn and garden more than his own offspring. He occasional practiced his Iai swordsmanship with a sacred family katana that was forged by his forefathers. He often required peace and quite to relax for the moment, which is why he banned kids and loud music from being presented near his house. He had called the police saying the music barely piercing the walls of his neighbor homes was disturbing him and the handful of youngsters who may have accidentally stepped on his finely treated and cut grass were attempting to vandalize his property. If the music wasn't lowered, he would badger the dispatcher with complaints in anguish until it was taken care of and if the child wasn't punished or removed off his lawn, he'd take matters into his own hands. In a blind rage, he would un-sheath the family katana, brandishing the scabbard only, stomp outside of his house and porch, swinging the scabbard threateningly in the air, yelling profanities and warnings to the disrespectful and immature youths on his hallow front lawn. He was raised on discipline, he raised his sons on discipline, he taught his students with discipline, and he dealt with rowdy, unrestrained teens and children with discipline.
Hidehiko had convinced his friends to go to Mr. Yoshida's. They were only six, they knew how to test the patience of others and loved every minute of it. Hidehiko would regret his idea.
When they arrived to spin their Beigoma in front of the lush grass of Mr. Yoshida's residence, they deliberately made disrupting noises, clapping their hands, kicking and jumping on the curb, intentionally trying to annoy Yoshida, who retaliate unlike other times.
Yoshida had apparently earlier that morning dealt with a couple disgruntled neighborhood graffiti enthusiast who tried to tag his house because they didn't appreciate his consistent hindrances of their loud music. He was on the edge of exploding and taking matters into his own hands during the afternoon. The heavy claps and stomps and the sound of the children laughing on his front lawn put him over the edge. He skipped the phone call, he wasn't in the mood. He was angry, unable to relax, because of minor disturbances. Children needed discipline and he was going to give it to them in spades. He un-sheathed his family sword, taking the oak-crafted scabbard in his hands. He went outside, the children not running wanting to see how far he'd go.
Yoshida barked and screamed pissed beyond belief, demanding all of them beat it or else he'd beat them himself. The thought of running never crossed their minds even when Yoshida gave a swift smack to the head of one of them.
They then started pleading up and down that it wasn't their idea to play in front of his house. Yoshida asked them furiously whose it was. No one would answer, they were a close-pack of friends, whose fathers and mothers had lived on the same block for years. Five out of six of them wouldn't give each other up.
Hidehiko was the exception. He was an opportunist like his father taught him to be to his mother chagrin. Taken his father's words of "every man for himself" to heart. He could have confessed to Yoshida, said it was his idea to deliberately annoy the fifty-year old man and took the punishment he'd received, but he decided to turn tail and run, afraid of the pain, selling out his friend Sota as he ran.
Yoshida wasn't pleased. The other children weren't going to run. They had lied to him, disturbed him. Discipline was needed to such immoral children and so he handed it to them. Striking each brutally with his scabbard, bruising there frail bodies, the boys taking the pain that Hidehiko deserved.
Hidehiko had not only lied, but he ran away like a coward, when if he excepted responsibility, maturely he would have become the hero in his friends eyes. This effected his relationship with his friends on a level he couldn't imagine. The families of the boys attacked by Yoshida stopped socializing with the Uesugis and banned their children from going near the Uesugi household, they happily obliging. And so, Hidehiko grew up alone, often staying in his room, or playing by his lonesome on his block, his former friends being called back into their respective homes if he went outside.
As the years passed, Hidehiko entered middle school, the other boys he'd betrayed too, having a deep-seated grudge against his actions at six years old. They had ended up in the same middle school, the families were unaware because they no longer communicated with each other.
Hidehiko had a hard time making friends, having lost the ones he had in elementary school permanently. He decided to fudge-truths, concoct lies, bath himself in arrogance and self-adoration to at least be able to be in a crowd or sit at a table at lunch. Hidehiko made the mistake of making one lie too many. He figured spiting his friend in the past wasn't going to do harm him in the present. They all ready hated his guts since age seven, how much worse could it get.
The second biggest mistake of Hidehiko's life was spinning the narrative of his incident with Yoshida, bragging that he stood up to the man and emasculated him in his old age with a bunch of creative jokes while his friends ran away crying to their mothers, he even rambled off Sota's and a few other names of the five. His story escalated into a rumor which was telephoned through out school, reaching the ears of Sota and others. Needless to say the five were pissed.
Sota and the others didn't appreciate Hidehiko slandering them with the crap he was guilty of. They were pushed to the point were they taught him a lesson, show him the discipline he needed for putting the praise on him and the shame on them.
They cornered him at the end of the day, not saying a word. They wanted the silence to scare him, to make him understand the eminent event that was about to befall him. Hidehiko stammered, trying to convince them he was joking, he wasn't serious. They didn't buy his bull lie and made him finally feel the pain he escaped. Hidehiko cowardly tried to run again instead of confessing his guilt again. He received a beat down from each of them at the same time, Sota fractured a rib and sprained his arm.
Hidehiko found himself stuck, unable to move. They had beaten him badly. Was this what they had endured or felt when Yoshida went to town on them? He asked. It was then Brown was hit home with the guilt understanding what he had done, but it couldn't be helped it was in the past, gone for ever. He was afraid, he ran, he couldn't step up and take the responsible anymore and he'd lost his only true friends because of it. After that day, the Uesugis moved to the town of Mikage, where no one knew their name and no one would hurt their son. Hidehiko had lied to them, saying he was mugged for pissing off a gang member, leaving Sota and the others out of it, he got what he deserved and he knew it fully well.
Persona: Be Your True Mind
"Okay…maybe you do know me. I was an idiot, it can't be changed. The situation back then and now mirror each other yes, but what is it I can do?"
"The emptiness is from the chose you made isn't it? You decided to not be the hero, but to be the coward. So, which do you chose to be. Can you be the hero or are you the coward?"
Brown stood, putting down his shades, dying the world in bronze. He picked up his spear, leaving it adjacent to his waist, firmly grasping it with both hands.
Naoya still stood tall, Seiryu had forgot the Mind Charge in favor of just a thrust right at Naoya. The dragon was pulling back his horned head, opening his jaw. Seiryu darted his open-mouth at Naoya.
Brown gulped, sweat dotting his brow. He'd made his decision. He was going to follow through. He yelled his answer to Nemain at the top of his lungs as his legs took off, his muscles straining at the incredible speed he sprinted. "MY NAME IS HIDEHIKO "BROWN" UESUGI AND I CAN BE THE HERO!"
Seiryu's had made it to Naoya, Brown's spear plowed into his unsuspecting right eye, puncturing it entirely, causing blood and ocular fluid to gush and spray. Brown gritted his teeth shoving the spear farther in as Seiryu yelled in pain.
"You are dead, human!"
"KISS MY ASS!" Brown leveled the thrust spear with his left hand and jammed the barrel of his TMP into the iris of Seiryu's other eye. He pulled the trigger emptying the clip in seconds, splashing Seiryu's own face with vicious fluid mixed with his own blue blood. Brown angled his foot and kicked the dragon in the snout, un-wrenching his spear from the beast's eye. The azure dragon rose high, roaring in rage.
"I will use my Mind Charge to finish you all!"
Brown looked up at the dragon, determined, his heart pounding in his ears, the adrenaline flowing in his veins, He dropped the gun and favored his spear, charging forward at the dancing tail-of-a-body the dragon possessed.
"Brown!" Naoya called. "What are you doing?"
"LEAVE IT TO ME!" A powerful, expanding aura of velvet blue overtook Brown as he thrust his spear to the heavens with his determined arms. The blue aura aided the spear in it's target objective and skewered the dragon right through his underbelly, Brown keeping him locked where he stood. "I won't run! I'll do this! I'm not making the same mistake as last time! This won't fill the emptiness, this won't make up for what I did, but if I can maybe save some lives even if it means my own, I can really be the hero, I can really show justice! I'm giving it everything ounce of energy I got!" Brown arched his head up, the aura pulsating, resonating with his emotions. "PEEEEERRRRSOOOONAAAA!"
A shatter of glasses was heard in Brown's mind. "Thou art I and I am thou! Thou hast proven thyself worthy of the power of Justice! Thou hast had a revelation of the heart and demonstrated objectivity, rationality, and a sense of justice! Thou hast earned his Ultimate Justice! Nemain hast become Tyr, the God of Glory and Victory!"
Nemain erupted from the aura, soaring towards Seiryu, her lilac hair flurrying, her plume feathered wings flapping, her cocktail dress fluttering within the energy. She smiled, white painting her over in a veil. Her surface peeled away, a completely different figure revealed his self. A eight foot tall man, skin a cerulean blue, stark naked except for a flowing cape of dark blue silk, his right hand was steel, mechanical, artificial, wielding a double-side battle axe arose; he was aiming straight at Seiryu's mouth his hair of brownish red, matching Brown's, in a frenzy. Seiryu opened wide and Tyr raised his weapon high to match.
"Open wide, say ah, and die!" Brown heard a increasingly pronounced word in the foreign tongue, repeating in his mind.
"TYR! BINAL STRIKE!"
Tyr swung his axe, grabbing with both hands, slicing both jaws done the middle, bisecting the head of the azure dragon in half as green electrical energy sparked over him and transferred to Seiryu. In the moment of Tyr retrieving his axe the energy formed a dome of Zan and detonated, swallowing Tyr, Seiryu, and Brown in the blast radius. The Skill reduced Seiryu to giblets, the Force energy pierced his proud scales as a residual kick back of the axe chopping his not-so soft skull in two. Tyr took the strike, vanishing after as all Personas do, but just as a Persona takes the damages as does the user.
Brown fell, unable move, reminded of the time Sota and his friends beat him. He shut his eyes, not aware of the aftershock of the Skill. He didn't care. He still deserved it, even if the voice told him he had demonstrated himself worthy of the power of Justice. In his blank sleight of a mind, Nemain's card, that Igor had predicted his Arcana with floated. The image morphed to Tyr, his Ultimate Justice, his cape behind him and his artificial hand holding his axe to cover his pelvic area. Brown smiled on the inside and outside, feeling a little better about himself, letting his consciousness drift not knowing where he'd end up.
Persona: Be Your True Mind
"Brown! Brown!"
"Maki, use that Recarm thing again."
"Masao-kun I don't have enough spiritual energy to do that again. I was barely able to use the Mediarama to heal us all."
Brown's eyes opened, feeling refreshed and healed. Everyone was crowded in a circle around him. He weakly grunted and said. "What's the matter? Somebody die,"
Ayase nailed him in the side with her foot. "Brown, you're an asshole!" She was crying.
"Oh, Ayase, I didn't know you cared so much for me."
She kicked him again. "No, I like don't care about you! Y-y-y-you're….just an asshole!" She kicked him a third time.
Naoya helped him up. "Hey, thanks for saving me, Brown. If you didn't jump in I don't know if I could have stopped Seiryu."
"No problem, N.T." They high-fived.
Kei extended his hand to Brown. "Uesugi,"
"Yeah, what do you want Nanjo?" Brown was bitter.
"I…would like to apologize. From what Todo informed us of, you proved me wrong. I…was wrong about you." Kei was somber.
Brown chuckled and shook Kei's hand. "Ah, it's nothing Nanjo." He hooked his arm over Kei's neck. "Now, if you really want to make it up to me you can give me some of your fortune when this mess is done."
Kei's eyes narrowed. "You're pushing your luck, Uesugi."
Masao sighed. "That was close. We almost bit it big time there."
"The most important thing is we survived and Brown is to thank for that." Naoya stated. "He saved our lives, so maybe we can show him a little more respect." Naoya eyed Kei who folded his arms and to Reiji who just waved him off. "Okay, let's go. Who knows what's awaiting us next."
Persona: Be Your True Mind
Well, that turned out longer than I thought it would. For the record, that's not Brown's actually back story. None of the characters except for Maki and Reiji have actual back stories. I weaved it together based on his personality and basic logic, plus during the game he sometimes talks about skeletons in closets, so I thought of maybe leaving his friends to take the fall for something and then they retaliated when he brought it up. I hope it makes sense. As for the Nemain turning into Tyr, Brown's ultimate Persona in the game, the characters don't go through resolutions like in Persona 3 or Persona 4 during the game instead at a late, late, late area of the game you receive items that you need to use in Persona fusion to create the Ultimate Personas for you party members, since I'm trying to avoid a lot of game mechanics in the novelization, I decided that for the characters sake so they don't seem like flat or static characters, but round characters they'll have resolutions with their back stories like in Persona 3 so when they fully develop their initial Persona becomes their Ultimate Persona. Little bit early than I originally was going to update, three days early in fact. Either way, I hope you enjoyed Chapter 12 of Persona: Be Your True Mind and I'll see you next time for Chapter 13: Black Market Part 1: Trapped.