I ran along the wall, Evoker to my head. "ORPHEUS!" I shouted, pulling the trigger to summon the great musician to crush the Dancing Hand under his lyre.

"You struck the enemy's weak point!" Mitsuru shouted as that bugger died. "One left!"

I landed on the ground and aimed my bow, firing a steel arrow through the last Shadow's fingers for Junpei to jump on, kicking off it as he sliced his blade through the Dancing Hand's mask, killing it.

Junpei rolled on the ground as the Shadow collapsed into a cloud of ichor. "WHO DA MAN?" he shouted over the Shadow's screams.

"You da man." I grinned. "Alright, let's loot the floor then let's get out of here." I decided, moving my shoulder. "Hey, does this look bleeding to you?" I asked, turning my back to the others. "It's kinda numb, so I can't tell."

"No, but it's frozen pretty bad." Yukari said, touching where the Shadow cast Bufu on me, and closing her eyes. "There ya go!" she said, patting my shoulder. "All done."

"Thanks." I said, cricking my neck as Junpei returned with a couple bottles of Soma. "Come on, school tomorrow."

It's been a week since we first entered Tartarus.

Today's Friday, the first of May.

I'd already gotten much closer to Kenji and Kazushi over the past week, and even started three new social links. I found the Hierophant with an old couple who run a book shop, and Hermit with some girl I met on an MMO Junpei gave me, but it bears an alarming amount of similarities to our Personae, though I reckon that Mitsuru's probably aware of it already. I walked home with Yuko, the girl who manages the Kendo team, and found the Strength Arcana.

I'm gonna have to be careful there, I think Kazushi fancies her.

Anyway, I was wondering who I should hang out with today when Junpei mentioned that he was delivering something at the hospital for Akihiko. Then Yukari said that she'd go with him. "You're coming too, right?" she asked me.

Actually, I needed all the time I could get, so I declined.

Or at least, I tried to…

"Come on now, I'm sure he wants us there too." she said.

"He-Hey!" Junpei protested. "He asked ME, Ya know."

"If it's important, we should all go together, right?"

I could tell that I wasn't getting out of this, so I submitted.

"Fine, I'll come." I sighed.

Maybe I'll find the Devil Arcana in one of the nurses or something... That'd be a laugh.

When we got to the room Akihiko was supposed to be in, he wasn't there.

Unless he had the ability to transform into a big guy with a mullet, trench coat and a beanie.

Which I'm sure he doesn't. But, just to make sure, I asked. "Hey, is Akihiko here?"

"…"

Dude, that is the mother of evil glares.

"What are all you guys doing here?" Akihiko asked.

Ah, he's behind us. "We came to see you!" Yukari answered. "But… there doesn't seem to be anything wrong…"

Akihiko shook his head. "Nah, I'm just here for a check-up." he said.

The badass, who probably wasn't a shape shifter, stood up. "Is that it Aki?" he grunted.

"Yeah," Akihiko responded. "Thanks."

"Tch," The badass began to leave. "I don't have time for this shit…"

Junpei practically jumped out of his way.

I caught his eye. I regretted it instantly.

Once he left, Junpei asked "Who-who was he?"

"A friend from school…" Akihiko replied, "Sort of." Yeah, some sort of. "You know how the numbers of Apathy Syndrome cases are rising? Well, he knows a few people suffering from it, so I was asking about it."

Bullcrap, I didn't even need to see his face to know he was lying.

Then again, I'd figured out that I was the only person who could see what I could about him.

Castor of the Hierophant. No weaknesses. Skills are Regenerate 1, Counter, and Evil Smile, and just a second of looking closer told me that he was the strongest guy I have ever seen.

To put it into perspective, thanks to my personae I can run on walls and kick fourteen kinds of arse. Akihiko went up against that Magician shadow on the first night, alone, and only stopped fighting after his arm was broken.

But I can tell. This guy is twice as strong as Akihiko and three times as strong as me.

I thought about this as Akihiko was talking to Yukari and Junpei, and came to a few conclusions.

1) There are Persona Users other than us
2) That guy used to live in the dorm, explaining the need for the dorm
3) He's crazy strong, but doesn't fight with us
4) But he used to, since he lived in the dorm
5) He's on good terms with Akihiko
6) So they didn't kick him out
7) He has no psychological weaknesses
8) He's also a street fighter
9) So he's better in battle than I am

So why the hell am I leading the S.E.E.S. instead of him?

Paying attention so I can steer the conversation towards my question.

"That's an interesting way of putting it." Junpei was talking to Akihiko of course, but out of context... looks like instead we'll finish with a comedy routine. "You know, I like to play games too."

"Yeah," Yukari replied with scorn. "VIDEO games…"

"H-hey, they're good for hand eye co-ordination…" Junpei's weak rebuttal was weak.

Classic Junpei.

The next day I was entering school and I overheard some girls talking about Golden Week. Apparently we had Monday and Tuesday off next week, giving us a three day weekend. Mitsuru wanted us to go to Tartarus, but I wasn't having any of that. This was my huge weekend, and I was getting sleep!

Just before class started, I got an email. As well as my dorm mates and school friends, Elizabeth also had my phone number and email address. She had me doing odd quests she called 'Requests'. I got decent rewards for them, like the high cut armour, but mostly money or rare items. The text said that I had to bring her some… Pine Resin? For Tonight?

I asked Yuko about it after school. She said that Yukari should have some, since she was in the Archery club.

She was right, and I got some… Purifying rice? Ah well, I'm sure it'd be good for something.

Back at the dorm, everyone was discussing their plans for Golden Week. Junpei wanted to hang out with some friends, but he was complaining that he couldn't get any girls to go with him. Hey, who wants a sausage fest, right? Mitsuru brought him down to earth by reminding us that we had midterm exams in a couple of weeks. That inadvertently brought me and Yukari down as well, so I suggested that we revised instead of going to Tartarus for a while. We all agreed, and went to our separate rooms.

I fell asleep at the desk.

"Hi, how have you been?"

I sat up, spinning in my wheelie chair.

It was that kid again, sitting on my bed.

"Fine thanks." I told him. "You?"

The boy chuckled. "The same." he said. "But I've come to warn you."

I sighed. "No chance of simple conversation then?"

The boy laughed, but was suddenly serious. "One week from now, there will be a full moon…" he said. "Be careful; a new ordeal awaits you…"

"Full moon huh?" I asked. "What kind of Ordeal?"

The boy nodded. "On such days, you will face your greatest challenges. You will encounter one of THEM."

"Them huh? That doesn't really help mu-" I stopped, brain catching up with my mouth. "That night… When I summoned Thanatos…"

"Yes… That night was also a full moon…" The boy looked grim. "And you faced one of THEM, the weakest one in fact…"

Oh bugger.

"You must prepare for this ordeal…" The boy warned, "But time is of the essence."

"It doesn't wait, does it?" I asked.

The boy smiled. "No it doesn't." he said, standing to his feet. "It delivers us all unto the same end…"

The boy walked towards the door. "I'll come see you again when it's over. Goodbye for now."

He walked through the door without opening it. I sighed and held my head in my hands.

Stronger than the Magician, huh?

I lifted my head and decided what I was going to do.

Next day I paid a visit to Igor and Elizabeth. I fused some of my Personae and spent the day getting ready. When I got back to the dorm last night, I simply said. "Change of plan. We're going to Tartarus."

"What about studying?" Junpei asked.

"Bugger that, we've got shit to kill."

That night, we reached a barrier blocking the stairs, but we reached the highest we could go.

I didn't bother telling the others about what was coming, they wouldn't believe me. Best I could do was to become crazy prepared.

We re-entered the tower on Tuesday, simply for more training. We had actually spent over ten minutes on a single floor just killing shadows when I heard fear in Mitsuru's voice for the first time.

"GET OUT OF THERE!" Make that Terror. "I SENSE DEATH, RUN!"

At first we were confused. "What's going on?" Yukari asked.

Then I heard it.

clink.

clink.

clink.

clink.

The sound of slithering chains slowly approaching… but the sound was nothing compared to how the air felt.

It was… crushing…

choking…

smothering...

We had to get out of there or we would DIE.

That's when I saw it.

Floating there, covered in held a long barrelled revolver in each hand, and its face was covered in bandages, hiding everything except for one, grotesque, monstrous yellow eye.

One thing was clear.

We couldn't fight it.

It would kill us instantly.

"this way." I kept my voice low, barely above a whisper. "slowly… don't make a sound…"

Then it saw us.

As it raised one gun to aim, I realised secrecy was useless,

"RUN!"

We bolted, dodging the screams of darkness flying past us, shot out like bullets from its guns. I reached into my pocket and pulled out a Magic Mirror and smashed it. As the barrier flew up, I remember thinking that that would hold it for a little while.

I was wrong.

Instead, it lifted gun to the sky and a globe of black and gold energy amassed at the muzzle.

That's a Megido, I felt. No, that's a Megidolaon. The mirrors are useless!

I dodged out of the way just as the blast obliterated everything where I just stood. I saw Junpei and Yukari had made it to the warp station, but I didn't stand a chance of making it in time. "YOU GO! NOW!" I roared at them, and Junpei forced Yukari onto the teleporter.

He watched as I jumped down the hole made by the Reapers attack, and I hoped like hell that he would have the brains to escape the same way Yukari did.

I hit the ground running. I felt the Reaper chasing me- wait, WHY ME? I went a separate direction to Junpei and Yukari, so why did it chase me?

Because I am the one it wants

Damn. Once you thought about it, the Shadow Clusters all attacked me before splitting into masked Shadows.

They were never interested in Yukari or Junpei. Why?

Because I am their greatest threat.

Oh, great. Apparently they hadn't heard of Akihiko's friend. Unless the Shadows are scared of how strong I'll eventually get?

BANG!

Woah, gunshot is just what I needed to pull me from my badly timed monologue. Runninglikehellnowsir.

"It's about to destroy the floor! MOVE!"

I summoned Jack Frost to cast Sukukaja and hopped onto the wall, tic-tacking from side to side as the ground was obliterated, then landed on the ground around the corner and sprinted for the glowing green light.

OH HELL YEAH! I slid onto the escape pod, flipping the reaper off as I vanished.

I could have sworn that it raised a middle finger at me back.

When I got down, we were all covered in sweat. Yukari seemed close to tears, and Junpei may have peed a little.

Either way, we were all terrified. I needed to do something.

"Alright, Junpei? Yukari?" I asked.

The both looked towards me, as did Mitsuru. "New Goal." I explained. "By the end of this year, we will be far stronger than you could ever believe. We will be strong enough to bring that thing down to size and force it to make us all sandwiches." I looked around the ground floor, we seemed safe for now, so I sat down. "But first!" I added, "Sleep!"

With that, we headed home for sleep.

I'm not sure we'll ever do it, but it sounded right when I said it.

I usually know what to do or say in situations like this, though normally I'm the monster that everyone's scared of.

Feels weird to be the underdog again.

Let's fix that little problem then.

-}+{-

I really didn't want to do any author notes for this story, but my hand has been forced.

This is Fairly English Story, only with all the spelling mistakes, inconsistencies and errors removed. I'm also amping up the level of crazy awesome from that fic here. If this is your first time reading, make sure you check out Fairly English Story for the full, finished story. This is basically just the Final Mix version.

I'm doing this to show how I've improved as a writer, and to give a better, fuller experience while writing. The reason why I'm not just overwriting the existing chapters in Fairly English Story is because I want to keep that there to show my development as a writer. Eventually, this will become the official version and Fairly English Story will be the first draft, which in all essence, it is.

If there are any inconsistencies, refer to this if possible. Unfortunately, I won't be able to finish this before I go on my mission in a few weeks, but I hope to at least get to chapter 36, where I first got a beta writer.