Disclaimers: I do not own persona 4 or any thing owned by ATLUS

Chapter 2: Returning To Inaba

Sunday April 29th 2012

The Velvet Room

''Welcome to the Velvet Room''.

As Souji's vision began to clear he noticed he had returned to the save limousine he had first woken up in when he first came to inaba over a year ago. In front of him sat an old looking man with a very long noise, and to the right of him was a women with long blonde hair wearing a long dress that resembled a lift attendants Uniform.

''….Igor...Margaret...why am I here, why am I back in the velvet room. ''. Souji was incredible curious as to why he had returned to the velvet room, 'could it have something to do with that dream, the one I had with my friends and that Philemon guy'.

Souji began wondering to him self but was cut short as Igor began to speak again.

''I believe you already know why you have returned here again, It looks like you will once again be needing are help''

''Does this have anything to do with someone called Philemon''. Souji wanted to know Philemon's role in all of this.

''It seems you have met my master, he is the one who original created the velvet room to assist those with the wild card ability, Master Philemon is incapable of interacting with the human world as I or my assistants can. But for the last few years he has been in a deep slumber, only to be revived if a dangerous threat is on the horizon''

''What type of threat'' Souji hoping Igor would give him a straight answer for once.

''I am afraid I have not been informed of this new threat, but I do know that it will be more dangerous than your last one, that is why Master Philemon has allowed me to grant you and your friends additional powers to combat this new threat''

''Additional powers, like what exactly'' Souji asking curiously.

''For one, Being able to summon your persona in the human world as well as the shadow world, but as for the other powers they will manifest them selves as you and your friends strength grows''

''Why would we need to use are persona's outside of the TV world for''

''You will understand in time''. Igor begins grinning like a mad man and looking outside of the limousine, which looks like it's driving through a thick fog

''Time marches forward in your world, but before I send you back, remember what my master had told you, Death is closer than you think''.

Inaba Bound Train

Suddenly Souji's Vision became cloudy until there was nothing but darkness. Moments later Souji found him self waking up on a train that was heading toward Inaba.

''Mmmm...deja vu''.

Only a year ago Souji was on a train that was heading to Inaba and had a dream about a man and a women in a limousine.

Souji decided to check what time it was on his phone when suddenly he noticed that he had an unopened text from Yosuke, he must have sent it me while I was in the velvet room.

Yosuke wanted him to meet up at are 'secret headquarters', It wasn't like a underground base or anything, it was just a table in the Junes food court. They probably wanted to discus that dream they all had together a week ago.

It had already been a week since then, he persuaded his parents into letting him move back to inaba for his last year in high school.

'Persuading my parents into letting me move back here had been easier than I thought it would. It's possible Philemon could have had a hand in that, No. Igor said that Philemon couldn't interact in this world. I could just be good a manipulating people, Shit I'm turning into Adachi'. Souji was cut short again by a rather metallic voice.

''Yasoinaba...Yasoinaba'' souji hear the man's voice telling him the train station was just up a head.

Souji got his bag out of the small overhead storage compartment and waited for the train to stop. As soon as the trained pulled up towards the station he remember when he left inaba over a month ago, when all of his friends had been chasing the train he was on until he was out of sight.

Inaba Train Station

The train made a full stop at the train station and people began to get off. Souji couldn't help but notice that a lot of people were arriving in inaba. When he last came hear he was the only one on the train except for the driver, 'Something must be going on, could this be related to Philemon's warning, It's still to early to tell, If something was going on I could easily find out about it, this is only small town after all'.

Souji walked of the train and headed towards the car park and with any look uncle Dojima would be waiting for him. '

'Hey, other hear'' Souji spotted Dojima waving to him.

Souji walked other towards his uncles car but couldn't help but notice a man sitting on the ground with his back against the wall drooling and mumbling something. 'I wander what's wrong with that guy, It looks like the same condition some people were going through when inaba had been covered in fog last winter, ever that or the guy's got brain damage or something'.

Souji began to dismiss that thought from his head and carried on walking towards his uncle.

''Hey, it's been awhile Souji'' Dojima begin talking to Souji while he put his stuff into his uncles car. ''It's good that your back, when Nanako found out that you were coming back, you where all she could talk about, but your timing'' Dojima mumbled that last part.

''What was that'' Souji wanted to know what Dojima just said.

''I-It's nothing'' Souji and Dojima both got into the car and drove of towards Dojima's house. Both of them not saying anything to each other only made Souji feel that something was wrong.

Dojima Residence

''OK, we here, welcome back''

Dojima parked his car just outside of his house. Souji exited the car, went towards the trunk and pulled his bags out. Dojima signed him to come towards the car window.

''You got everything, good, I have to go down to the station for a bit so take care of Nanako for me will ya''

Dojima rolled up his window and began to drive of towards the police station. Souji picked up his bags that he had dropped on the side of the road and began to walk towards the house. Souji knocked on the door and in a few seconds there was an answer.

''Big Bro, your back'', Nanako opened the door and stared hugging Souji's legs because she still to short.

''It's good to see you again Nanako''. Souji walked into the house and put his bags by the stairs, he decided that he would unpack his stuff later because he wanted to go to Junes and see his friends again''

''Nanako, do you mind if I go pay a visit to my friends a Junes for a while''

''OK, just be back before dad comes home ok''

Souji hugged his cousin and left for Junes. On the way there he noticed not much has changed in the last mount, everything was just the same as the time he left.

Junes (Food Court)

''Arr...What's taking him so long, he should have arrived in Inaba an hour ago'' said a frustrated Yosuke.

''He's probably on his way now. He probably wanted to see Nanako first''. Rise tried to calm Yosuke down.

A few minutes later Souji arrived at the Junes food court and noticed a circler table with a group of people sitting around it. This was where the Investigation team would come to discuss the murder case.

He noticed Naoto standing up to greet him ''Good Souji your here, now we can get this meeting under way''

''Meeting'' Souji asked.

''Were here do discuss what that Philemon person was talking about'' . Yosuke replied.

Souji sat down sat in his old seat next to Kanji and Yukiko, and as soon as Souji sat down Naoto continued talking.

''After we that night, we realised that all of us had the same dream. So we had Teddie go and check out the TV world and see if it had indeed returned to it's old self. And indeed it has''.

''But how is that possible, we defeated Izanami''. Yukiko asked.

''If you recall what Philemon said, he said that any being as powerful as Izanami could control that world'' Naoto stated.

''Didn't he also say that we can now summon are persona's in this world as well as the TV world'' Chie remember what Philemon had said to them about there persona's

''I do, that's why last night I tried summoning Yamato-Takeru, and I succeed''. Naoto replied

''So we can use are persona's in this world now?'' Rise asked

''Yes, but for what purpose I don't know''. Naoto replied.

''To fight shadows''. The moment Souji finished talking everybody was staring at him with question marks floating above there heads.

''Shadows can leave the TV world, Teddie is technically a shadow and he said that he could have left any time he wanted, didn't you. Once Souji had finished talking again everyone began to look at Teddie.

''It is possible for them to cross over to this world, but they wouldn't last long on this side, this world is beary different than my world. They only way they would be able to survive on this side is if it was foggy''.

''It's all making sense now, I think the next time it gets foggy a shadow will leave the TV world, it's the only logical explanation, why else would we be able to summon are persona's in this world now''. Naoto realised

With the Information Teddie had provided the team realised that on the next foggy night they would have to fight a shadow in this world, but Souji couldn't get that man he saw by the train station out of his head. He realised that it must have something to do with the shadows.

''Hey Naoto, when I got of my train a few hours ago I noticed a man that looked like the people who were affected by the fog last winter, do you think that could have anything to do with the shadows'' Souji wanted to know if the the condition the man he saw earlier was in and the shadows could be related.

''Actually I've noticed a few people around town that have been like that, some people even say they've been hearing voices in there head''. Chie asked

''I to have noticed this, I began looking into this and I found something rather similar to what is happing now and what happened when the town was covered in fog, have you ever heard of something called Apathy Syndrome ?''.

''I have Naoto'' Rise began waving here arms in the air trying to get everyone's attention.

''You have'' Naoto said, surprised that Rise of all people new about Apathy Syndrome.

''I was in Port Island a few years ago for a show, remember I told you about it, the one at Club Escapade when the power went out. That's not really important, but while I was there I heard about something called Apathy Syndrome, the people living there called them the lost.'' Rise gave a explanation as to why she had heard about it.

''I'm surprised you heard about it Kujikawa, but yes, Apathy Syndrome is shockingly similar to the disease that the fog caused. There can only be one explanation for this, Apathy Syndrome is caused by the shadows''.

''Hey, what do you think about this Kanji, Kanji, ARE YOU SLEEPING'' Yosuke began shouting at Kanji when he noticed he had been sleeping through the entire meeting.

''….H-Ha, no I wasn't sleeping, I-I was just resting my eye's you know'' Kanji tried to make it look like he wasn't sleeping.

''Then what were we talking about'' Yosuke wanted to make Kanji look like a idiot.

''Umm...Persona's and that wired dream we all had last week''

''Well I suppose your right...Shhh...Just forget'' Yosuke said in defeat.

''Back onto topic, it looks like the shadows were probably the cause of the Apathy Syndrome but around February in 2010 the number of people contracting Apathy Syndrome went down dramatical and people who had it were cured, this could only mean one thing if the shadows were involved, that there was another group of persona users in Port Island who were fighting the shadows. But I don't think knowing this is going to do any good right now''. Naoto finished here explanation of Apathy Syndrome.

''Well if a shadow does appear in town on a foggy day we'll kick it's ass'' Yosuke tried to pump everyone up.

''I don't think it's going to be that easy guys, Philemon said that this Journey would be more dangerous than are last one, so just imagine what kind of enemy could come up against, we should probably go into the TV world and get reacquainted with are persona's. If we are going to go up against shadows again we should get are strength back first''. Souji got everyone into high spirits.

They decided to go back into TV world tomorrow. They also decided to meet up at one of the Junes storehouses, they agreed that they should learn to summon there persona's in the real world in case they do have to fight shadows in the town.

The Team all said there goodbyes and headed of home.

But unknown to them, two people stood in a dark allay watching Souji Seta walk back to his Uncles house. The two people were careful not to be seen by anyone.

''So...he is the new Wild Card...wise chose'' the first person spoke

''The future of mankind is in his hands, and he doesn't even know it'' The second person spoke.

''Patience... we can only watch for now'' The first person spoke again and both carefully walked back into the darkness.

Okay second chapter is up. Third one won't take as long to upload as this one.