Disclaimer: Everything copyrighted that is made mention of in fic is not mine. It is owned by their own respective copyright owners.
Persona: One World
Chapter 2: The Velvet Room Guest
Harajuku General Hospital, 5 May 2015;
"Ughh..... What in the world...." Shibuya was groggy from waking up from his sleep. How long did he sleep anyway? He can't move....
"Hey, you're up!" Shibuya could make up his younger sister's voice. But his eyes were too blurry to see her.
"What time is it?" He asked. He tried to get up but his sister held him down. "Hey, Yumi... What gives?"
"You've had an accident. A hit-and-run it seems... You're pretty badly hurt when that guy sent you here!" Shibuya's eyes finally adjusted, and saw the worried look on his sister's face. Her face seemed a lot more mature than girls her age usually are.
Yumi Hiruma was Shibuya's only recognized relative. Their parents are working abroad, leaving Yumi and Shibuya to fend for themselves. They do send them large amount of spending money per month, but Shibuya doesn't want any of it. The two lived alone at their apartment together with their younger brother.
Yumi is only 15, though looking at her people would easily mistake her for a woman in her early 20-ies. She has shoulder length dark hair and fair skin like Shibuya, though her eyes are lighter shade of brown.
She was wearing her usual middle school fuku, so Shibuya assumed that it is some time after school. She brought him some packed lunch, which Shibuya downed hungrily.
Even through her smile, Shibuya could that his younger sibling is feeling very worried. He put up a brave smile for her and said with a bravado , "Don't worry about me, Yumi! I'm invincible!"
Yumi smiled a little at his brother's childish antics. "But its still dangerous... A hit-and-run in the middle of the night..."
"A hit-and-..." Shibuya grabbed his head suddenly. A sharp piercing pain struck his entire body. Images of large monsters, one wearing a large scary mask, flashed before him.
"Shibuya-niisan? Shibuya-niisan?! Doctor!!!!!"
East Shrewsbury High, 5 May 2015;
"Sleeping in class are we, Miss Belle?"
"Huh?" A sleepy seventeen year old Melissa Belle pulled her head up to see her whole class staring and laughing at her. The Calculus teacher, Mr. Rick was standing directly in front of her, arms crossed with an angry look on his face.
"Detention, Miss Belle... and wipe that drool off your face." She knew the teacher said that just to add insult to injury as the entire classed roared with laughter again while she stupidly wiped her mouth in a daze.
"Heh........" Melissa could do nothing but sigh while waiting in her detention class. It wasn't her fault she's tired, and she had to bear all that weird dream about a samurai and monsters again which made her nap not really that much more enjoyable.
"Hey, heading to Newspapers after detention, Mel?" Matt, one of her classmates and club mates (and now detention mates...though she really won't admit that.)jabbed her from behind.
"Yeah, I guess so..."
"Great, let's go together!"
"Ermm.... Actually, I have to run off somewhere first after this..." This was a completely impromtu lie, and though she felt very bad doing so, anything is better than being stuck with Matt.
"Oh, that's okay then..." Melissa could not shake the sad look in his eyes as he turned away.
Melissa looked at her own reflection in the mirror in the girl's bathroom, washing her face with water. She looked at herself, plain looking face with long brown hair which she preferred to keep in a low ponytail and her naturally blue eyes.
She sighed a few more times, shaking the sadness on Matt's blonde haired face out of her memory. She then stepped out of the bathroom to attend the Newspaper Club meeting.
"Sorry I'm late!" Melissa said upon entering the already underway meeting. A few other members looked at her before turning back onto the agenda. Matt motioned for her to sit near to him, but she declined to sit nearer to another girl.
"Well, Mel. Lucky of us to have you join us!" Head Editor Colin Luther greeted her briefly, which Melissa returned a smile to.
"Back to the issue at hand, the impending doom of our beloved club..."
"What?!" Melissa raised her voice, maybe a bit too much. Colin looked at her sadly.
"It is true... Unless we could have at least two issues published and sold by the end of this month, we could as well as say good-bye to our little publication..."
"The main problem is, we don't have the material or the manpower to gather as much material needed for issues that would appeal to the readers...."
"Hold that thought!" Melissa's voice was heard again. Once again, all heads turned to her.
"Why not, we make a story of the disappearance cases around Shropshire? The random ones that had been happening the past 2 months?"
There was a number of gasps following her suggestion. Colin nodded and rubbed his chin.
"That's a good idea, but don't you think this case is kinda.... dangerous?" Colin pointed. "The case also seemed quite vague as there had been no concrete leads so far..."
"That's why I think it would sell big-time!" Melissa is getting pumped. "If we can get a cover on this story we could surely sell the two issues we need and more!"
There was a murmur of excitement following this, and even the Chief Editor seemed interested.
"Okay then, I'll put you in charge of this case, Mel."
"Leave it to me!" Melissa said happily, standing up to express her excitement.
Harajuku General Hospital, 6 May 2015;
"Shibuya-niisan..." Yumi's voice was the first thing Shibuya heard when he regained consciousness after fainting yesterday.
"What happened this time?"
"Here, drink this.." Yumi offered her brother a glass of water. "You fainted after you regained consciousness earlier today... You looked like you were in so much pain... Are you okay?"
"I'm...." His was cut off when another figure entered the hospital room. If Shibuya could trust his memory right now, he'd seen this gray-haired man somewhere before....
"Can you leave us, young lady? I need to have a word with your brother."
"But..."
"It's okay, Yumi. Leave us." Shibuya assured. Yumi reluctantly left the room and closed the door behind her.
Shibuya is now alone with the gray haired man now. He was wearing shades and his hair was in bangs over his forehead so Shibuya couldn't get a clear view of how he looked like, but through all that Shbuya could feel there was something different about this guy.
"So, how was it?" the man asked.
"How was what?"
"You know what I'm talking about."
"I don't." Flashes of the monster and the samurai went through Shibuya's brain again as his hand reached up to hold his head which had started aching again.
"You do remember." The man grabbed hold of Shibuya's arm. At the same time Shibuya felt his head splitting, the vision coming more rapidly through his head that everything was a blur.
"Arhgg.... What is this...." Shibuya said, biting back the pain. He looked into the man's face but his own eyes failed him as everything went black for the second time today.
Belle Residence, 9 May 2015;
"Hmmmm.... This ain't good at all..." Melissa sighed. She had in front of her her laptop, notebook and a few photos, but no article had yet to pop out of her head.
She had spent her entire Saturday poking around town inquiring about the disappearance cases. Though she managed to get some information it is still not enough for a full story.
"Why can't people be a little bit more helpful...." she gave up fell back into her bed, her mind still yet on the topic.
At that moment her phone rang, it was Matt. Melissa groaned and rejected the call.
Her eyes shifted to her laptop again. She had a few websites on that was following the cases, but they were nothing more than just speculations and the usual bullcrap.... Irritated, she shut off her laptop and muffled a frustrated scream in her pillow.
???????, ??????;
"Huh? Where is this?" Melissa thought to herself. A second ago she remembered falling asleep on her warm comfy bed.... But now it seems as if she's on a cruise ship or something. "I gotta be dreaming here... Dammit, I have to wake up now...."
To her surprise, she couldn't wake up as she wished. Shrugging she walked around the mist covered ship, having to grope her way around until she found a doorknob. Turning it, she found herself in a room lavishly draped with blue velvet, though the only furniture was a chair and a coffee table.
"Who is it that who trespassed this realm?" an old man's voice from beyond the room caused Melissa to jump in surprise. From the shadows of the room a short, bald, long nosed old man appeared, behind him a younger man with blue hair.
"What is it that you seek in the Velvet Room my dear?" the old man asked again.
"Err..." Much to her own surprise, she can talk here. "I'm sorry.... I didn't mean to trespass or anything...."
"It's okay dear... The Room is not visited by just no-one..." the old man said. "Oh, and how rude of me to not introduce myself... My name is Igor and this is one of my older guests... Mister Arisato Minato..."
The blue haired young man nodded in acknowledgment but didn't say anything.
"Err... I'm... Mellissa Belle..."
"That's good... So now miss Belle... What brings you here? It is rather curious that you made your way here without an invitation or contract..." Igor waved his hand, and a chair appeared behind Melissa. Though reluctant at first, she took a seat.
"Err... This is a dream right?" She asked timidly.
"This is a world between reality and fantasy. Between the wake and the sleep. This is the Velvet Room. We are the denizens, and you are the guest."
"Okay...."
"You have yet to awaken my child, unlike the other guest recently..." Igor said, sounding quite unhappy. He looked at Minato, and with a snap of Minato's fingers, Melissa began feeling drowsy again.
"May we meet again, my sweet child."
East Shrewsbury High, 8 May 2015;
Mellissa turned up at school drowsy. Her sleep last night was uncomfortable as much as she could remember. She let off a loud yawn.. Not realizing a persistent pair of eyes following her every move
Not surprisingly, she fell asleep in class yet again and landed herself in detention. Again.
That night, Melissa was wide awake and ready to hit the streets. She had received a message from an anonymous source that she could get some information about the cases from the abandoned chapel in town tonight.
Suspicious and dangerous as it is, Melissa couldn't help but be curious about this mystery informer. Armed with a camera, night vision video recorder, notebook and pepper spray, she set off towards the unknown.
The church was a 45 minute walk from her house. And the empty town road made her quite nervous at first, but later she enjoyed every step of the midnight walk. The cool moonlight and the breeze feels so refreshing to her.
Looking up to the abbey now, she began to think of how stupid it seem to trust information from an unknown source. "It's too late to turn back now..." with that she pushed open the door to the empty chapel.
It seemed that there was nothing interesting about the chapel tonight. Just that the moonlight from through the stained glass makes the place looked extra creepy.
"You came, Melissa." a familiar voice was heard from the other end of the small chapel.
"Matt?! Dammit, is this your idea of a joke?!"
"C'mon Mel, you take things far too seriously." Matt stepped into the moonlight. He looked apologetic and kinda disappointed at the same time.
"Ugh, I have better things to do than play your childish games, Matt!" Melissa turned to open the door, but found that it is locked. "Ugh... Very mature, Matt!"
However, she also noticed something else about the door's handle. It was and slippery with what seemed to be... "Blood?"
"What is the meaning of this Matt? Stop it okay!" She shouted to the guy, who seemed clueless about what going on.
"Mel," Matt's voice sounds distant. "I love you..."
"Stop it, okay! LET ME OUT OF HERE!!" Melissa screamed at the top of her voice.
A deathly silence followed her scream, before a clanking sound, paired with a grinding sound was heard echoing in the dark chapel.
"Matt! Stop it, okay! No more of this! I admit I'm really scared now!" she pleaded, but he seemed as alarmed as she is as the clanking sound grew nearer.
"MATT!!"
"I'm not doing it, okay!" He shouted back, the tension in his voice and the sweat on his brow proves he's not lying.
The clanking sound grew to a stop as the true origin of the sound was seen. It was a headless suit of armor, dragging along an iron sword.
"What... the hell?!"Matt shouted. The blonde pushed Melissa behind him. The suit of armor took a step towards them, and Melissa screamed again.
"Mel," Matt said. "You run away first."
"What?" Melissa grabbed onto him. "I'm not leaving you to face that madman alone!"
"I'm not sure if it's a man at all...."
"But..."
"Run, NOW!"he pushed Melissa away, and ran head first towards the monster.
"Matt!!"
Matt and the monster grappled with each other for a moment, before a while Matt, who had been the school's football player, managed to overpower the monster for a second, and threw it onto a row of benches.
To both Melissa's and Matt's surprise, the suit of armor dismantled after it was thrown to the ground. There was apparently nothing inside.
"What is this... AH!!!" Matt shouted as the suit of armor recombined upon him, encasing his body within. The monster's sword lifted itself in to the air in front of Matt.
"Matt...." Melissa looked in horror, as the sword plunged itself through the armor, through Matt's chest. There was a look of surprise in his eyes as he looked sadly at Melissa, just for a second before his the life in his eyes disappeared. An evil laughter was heard all around was Matt's limp body was released from the armor.
"MATTTT!!!!!!!!" Melissa screamed. "MATTTT!!!!!!!"
To be continued....