Hi. How've you been?
-}+{-
I stood up from my seat. The woman stepped back, away from the table. Form-fitting blue trousers, Form-fitting blue waistcoat, Form-fitting blue short-sleeved blouse, blue tie and tight blue gloves. Platinum blonde hair and yellow eyes.
There's definitely a theme with these people.
"There's no need to feel quite so agitated..." Igor assured me as I started walking away from the waitress.
"Time doesn't exist here." I pointed out, collapsing onto a blue sofa near the table. "So I get to do something I never get to do."
I rolled over into the cushioning. "Yosuke, this is Igor." I pointed out, gesturing randomly with my thumb. "Igor, this is your new guest. And since Shadows can't come here and this is clearly a mistake, I'm going to nap until you finish with your thing."
Igor chuckled. "Please forgive me." He said to Yosuke, then turned to me. "But I can assure you, no one comes here, except by invitation."
"Napping." I pointed out.
"Okay, seriously?" Yosuke shouted. "I've really had it up to here today, what the HELL Is Going ON HERE?"
"NAPPING!" I shouted, pulling a cushion over my head. "And Turn Down That Music!"
Igor chuckled. "I'm sure he'll calm down in a minute." He assured Yosuke. "In the meantime, let me introduce myself..."
Wait.
No, that does not feel good.
Oh no oh no oh no roll onto the floor and
"HHHWWRRUUAAAGH"
Splish.
I coughed, and I could feel everyone looking at me.
But I have bigger problems.
"Igor..." I whispered, slowly standing up as I wiped my mouth. "How the hell can I vomit...?"
The waitress immediately pulled a towel from behind her waist and began to mop the mess I just made.
And I want one of those drinks on the table more than I'm comfortable with.
"Here." Another waitress, similar in dress and appearance but still someone else, said as she ran up the stairs with another tray. "Drink this." She instructed, presenting the single glass to me. "You're very dehydrated and you're not well. You need to drink."
"How can I be dehydrated..." I asked, fighting down another uprising. "If I'm not alive?"
I span around, almost knocking the newcomer down the stairs. "Isn't That Right?!" I shouted at Igor, starting to panic. "Shadows don't perspire! We don't Respire! We don't need to eat, drink, sleep or poop Because!" I shouted, arms slammed on the table. "We. Are Not. Alive."
Igor smiled viciously. "Please, have a seat." He invited, Yosuke slinking away from my empty chair. "After all, Shadows cannot enter this space..."
"Don't Screw With Me Old Man." I snarled through gritted teeth. "I Am A Shadow. I Am Not Human. Don't You Dare Suggest Otherwise."
"Very well." He said, turning to Yosuke. "It has been a while since I last saw you, but I cannot recall ever meeting you in person." Igor bowed. "My name is Igor, Mister Hanamura. I seem to recall Mister Souji referring to me multiple times in his conversations with you."
"Don't. Ignore. Me." I growled.
"Alright, Arisoto?" Yosuke asked, before standing up and yanking on the chain.
I crashed into the chairs.
"Calm the hell down, drink the fluid, and sit down and listen to what the guy's going to explain." He ordered as I pushed myself up.
Me calm down? Could make a comment, but won't.
Hm, my forehead's warm and sticky.
I touched the scrape.
Black.
I still bleed Ichor then.
I shook my hand dry-ish and put the chairs upright, then sat down. "Fine." I said. "I'll tell you when to fastforward."
Igor shook his head at me as Yosuke sat down. "I already know about the whole Wild Card, Persona, Fusion, dream and reality and so on." He told Igor as one of the girls placed a drink in front of me. "I take it that I'm here since I'm chained to him."
I downed the drink as Igor began to talk. "You were summoned here as you are both bound in a most literal fashion." he said. "As you know, only those bound by a contract can enter into this place. You agreed to take this one into your care," Igor said, then turned from Yosuke to face me. "And in return, you agreed to provide your attendant with your protection."
"I never agreed to that." Yosuke and I said in unison.
"But the chains are there, are they not?" Igor replied. "A contract made under duress is a contract nonetheless. It was never your intention to restore the young lady, was it?" he asked.
Yosuke looked at me in silence.
"It is true that I only decided to attempt healing after I arrived at the situation." I responded. "But that decision was mine. I am not a magic wish machine that responds to whoever I'm chained to. Adachi is proof of that."
"Of course." Igor said, drawing a card and handing it to Yosuke. "And I believe that this is yours."
Susano-o No Mikoto.
"My Thanatos, right?" Yosuke asked. Dang, they know about Aspects?
"You will find use for my services in future." Igor confirmed. "But please hold onto that for now."
Yosuke grunted as he put the Persona into his pocket. "Right, I'm good for now." he said. "What's up with this guy so we can go home."
Igor turned. "Enantiodromia." He stated. "The act of the Self bringing the Shadow to the Self's level, retaining awareness of the Shadow, but preventing assimilation."
"Uh, Japanese?" Yosuke asked in confusion as I gritted my teeth.
"He's rejecting me as his Shadow, but instead of letting me lash out like a normal Shadow, he's dragging me to a level where he can just cut ties with me and have done with." I explained, keeping the rage down. "Like with Ted."
"Precisely." Igor explained. "Although your friend was, in fact, assimilated. Just, not with his own Self."
That raised eyebrows. "News to me." I said, grabbing the second drink. Imagine orange juice, only saltier. Zero amount of booze, plenty of electrolytes.
"You, on the other hand, are on the way to becoming your Self." Igor explained, placing a card onto the table.
Fool. 0
"The time will come where you and he will stand together with no dependence on the other." Igor continued. "Until that point, he will bring you higher and higher until you become that which you never before were..."
The Velvet Room began to fade into white. "Till we meet again..."
Be human.
That's the only thought that was in my head as I opened my eyes.
Okay, this is meant to be a hospital, but it isn't.
Wait.
This is Gekkoukan highschool.
And this is the old music room.
I stood up to move, but dead weight stopped me at the arm.
Yosuke's still sleeping.
Okay.
And there's other people in the room.
...
I don't know their names.
...
Damn. I don't know their names.
That's not good.
I know everyone's name.
I can still see who they are. I know who each person is. I know who likes who, who hates what, and what dirty little secrets they hold.
But I can't scan their names.
Right.
Enantiodromia.
I carried the unconscious Yosuke through the school. There was a huge hustle as officials were treating the wounded, people trying to find one another, police trying to provide explanations, medics trying to treat the wounded, children crying...
I put my hand on one child's shoulder. "Your father is upstairs." I told her. "Go down the corridor, up the stairs, walk towards the fountain. Third door to the right. He's gonna make it." I smiled into her crying eyes. "Go."
She didn't need to be told twice. She bolted as Yosuke started to wake up.
"I'm going to put you down, so don't freak out." I told him, resting him gently onto his feet. "We're in a school that's currently being used as an evacuation shelter, and we're going to try to sort this mess out."
Yosuke turned around, clearly looking for Chie. "She'll be in the actual hospital." I told him. "That's where she was before the fight. She'll still be there now."
Yosuke faced me. "Then let's go!" He said, taking off at a run.
He stopped as the invisible chain went taut. "People here need help." I pointed out as someone carried a wounded friend past me, looking for a doctor.
Yosuke touched the one with an injure, pumping him with Diarama as his friend rushed past. "Chie needs me." He pointed out. "I need Chie."
I nodded. "Alright." I said.
What am I going to tell Yukari?
Not sure if I can still shift my perspective to see how they're doing, but either way, we're walking to the hospital. Road bridge was destroyed, and rescue work is still going on.
Judging by the smell, it's... three? Three in the morning? Yeah, probably. Yosuke's phone's broken, and I don't have a timekeeping device on me.
Wait.
"Yosuke, I'm gonna hijack your skills to send out a homing signal for Fuuka." I told him. "I need yours because I'm still building a digestive system."
Yosuke looked at me, then nodded. "Alright." he said, handing me a blue card.
Susano-o.
It looks down.
"You're not feeling your usual self right now." I pointed out to him. "Can't really blame you though."
The Persona card blazed green in my grip as I sent out pulses of energy.
Completely invisible unless you're awesome like Fuuka or Rise.
Alright, spirit signals. What should it say?
Ahah. Got it.
-=Hey Fuuka you so fine you so fine you blow my mind hey Fuuka!=-
...
...
Three...
Two...
~Hello?~ Fuuka asked in our ears. ~Is that Yosuke and the one who saved us earlier?~
That would have hurt me Fuuka, except she doesn't know who I am, so that's fine.
"Yeah." I said aloud, trusting Fuuka had audio on us. "We need a way off this rock and onto the mainland. Can you arrange that for us and find a way for us to regroup?"
~Seta-san's already coming to pick up Yosuke.~ Fuuka explained. ~I'll alert him to your position.~
"Thank's Fuuka." I said, walking over to a nearby bench. "Seta drives by now, yeah?"
"Yeah, but there's no way he's going to drive here." Yosuke replied, sitting down. "Not with the bridge like that."
I shook my head. "We just need to get to the hospital from the mainland." I explained. "It's gonna be rough traffic by road, so we need to get to where Shinji is and he can dragon us the rest of the way."
Yosuke looked at me like I was crazy. "You've never been to a disaster area before, have you?" I asked him. "This is gonna be like that tsunami, only with less water. Just be grateful the Japanese are organised, otherwise we'd have riots by now."
No, he's looking slightly behind me like the person behind me is crazy.
Man, Shadow powers have made me lazy.
I twisted around to grab wrist and wrench it away from me, only to get a large claw around my face.
"Friend Seta." I reminded him. "You're not supposed to claw friends."
"I hated you the moment I laid eyes on you." He pointed out.
Loathing, unadulterated loathing. For your face, your voice your clothing.
"I saved Kanji's life and got you off a murder charge."
"And I held up my end of that deal."
"I saved your life just now."
"I don't pay for my pizza when it's late."
"I healed Chie."
"It was a group effort."
"Igor watched you in the shower and I'm your only way back into the Velvet Room."
Claw remained.
"Alright, you get to live today." Seta decided.
And now fleshy hand.
"Okay, the hell?" Yosuke asked. "Can we all stop jerking around and get to the hospital already?"
Seta took his hand off my face. "TV's right there." He pointed out, showing us the large screen displaying news on the most recent disaster to hit Japan.
Us.
Well, not specifically us three, but the aftermath of-
You know what?
Forget it.
Into the TV we go.
I had to blink once I got there.
I just had to blink.
"A warthog." I said. "You replicated the Warthog."
"Ultimate offroad experience." Seta pointed out, hopping into the drivers seat. "You guys can fight over who gets to sit in front."
Me and Yosuke looked at each other.
I dibbed the turret.
Within minutes we were cruising across the grasslands, Yosuke drumming the dashboard while singing the theme song off-key. "So, this is how Nat got here so quick." I commented from the back. "You've been importing Jakkai goods into the Hollow Forest."
"Jakkai, my ass." Seta laughed. "We got the plans for this baby from the source. Also, Cortana? Way hotter in person... so to speak."
Hm, that's an interesting twist. I've been missing out on the latest gossip.
Seta kept his eye firmly on the lack of road as we rose over a small hill.
"Do you know how many are dead so far?" He asked me.
"Three hundred and eighty four." I told him. "The emergency services only found two hundred so far. Yesterday I would have been able to tell you their names."
"Jun is dead." He told me.
"I know." I said. "He was a good man."
"You're not going to bring him back are you."
Statement, not a question.
"Can't." I said. "Closest anyone's ever managed was a homunculi. Except Chidori Iori."
He raised an eyebrow. "Who?"
"Junpei's wife." I explained. "She only remembered her Persona last night, so she's pretty messed up at the moment. I doubt she could manage that even at her prime though."
Seta nodded, then came the awkward silence.
...
...
Well, might as well see what I can still do.
I looked at my hand and rotated through different skin colours. I can do that.
I felt pain in my head and abdomen when I tried to shrink more than a couple of inches. Can't do that anymore.
Let's try Gender...
Well, that worked, only now my chest is too tight to breathe.
Hollow Arcana to turn my shirt into a blouse, and Yosuke yelped in pain.
"DUDE! WHAT THE HE-!?" He stopped when he saw the young female in the back seat.
Oh yeah, Hollow Arcana hurts whoever I'm chained to. Whoops?
"Just testing." I said, but still too tired to morph back. Alright, lemme breathe...
"Alright, what the hell is that?" Yosuke asked, trying not to panic.
"Me shapeshifting." I told him. "I can still do it, but it takes more effort to morph clothes now that my powers limited."
"Wh-whatever, just turn back." He said, blushing as he turned away to look through the passenger window-hole.
"Nope, tired." I retorted. "Besides, funnier that way."
"AT LEAST PUT SOME UNDERWEAR ON!" He shouted, not even turning to look at me.
So, why am I a girl now?
No reason, except it's easier for everyone to not associate me with Minato for their second impression of me this way.
...
And it's funnier.
...
Long drive is boring with nothing to shoot.
Alright, let's try this perspective switch thing. I really hope I can still do that.
(/`)
Yukari's in the hospital, treating seven patient's at once while Keisuke runs about behind her.
She has had one rough night.
I mean, full morning to midnight shift, then crazy boss battle where she loses her arm, almost loses her sister, finds out her ex may not be 100% dead, and now she has to keep dozens of people alive.
...
Eh, she can handle it.
Let's see what else is on.
(/`)
Chie's walking home with Yukiko...
Well, I say home...
Looks more like they're headed for Shinji's place.
(/`)
And Mitsuru's helicoptered into Iwatodai. Of course she has.
(/`)
"So, it looks like we're regrouping at Shinjiro Aragaki's." I told the Driver, tired from omniscience. "You know where it is?"
Seta nodded. "We'll there in a second." He said, making a turn over a small hill.
"So, how do you organise your escape routes?" I asked him.
"Teddie showed us the trick." Yosuke replied. "We can all do it now. Warp points and everything."
Hmm, nice.
Well, morphed back into masculinity, adjusting my clothing to match the change in stature. Yosuke barley grunted this time around.
"Seta, hit the accelerator." I told him. "Yosuke, get your persona's ready, I'll man the turret.
They heard the battle cry before they got chance to argue.
Blackness poured over the upcoming mountainside.
Shadows.
A helluva lot of them.
Seta sighed. "Roadkill incoming. Yosuke, hit the switch." Glancing back at me he smirks. "This isn't our first rodeo."
A panel lowers on the front of the warthog and folds out revealing row upon row of retractable spikes.
I stood up and grabbed the handles of the Turrets, Yosuke drawing an assault rifle from next to his seat.
These Shadow raids aren't uncommon then, if they're that prepared.
That rifle is not Jakkai issue.
"SUSANO-O!" Yosuke shouted, smashing the card with the barrel of his gun to cast a Sukukaja onto the Warthog.
I aimed the barrel of the turret as we approached the screaming wall, and pulled the triggers as the jeep plowed through the mass of black flesh.
DAKKADAKKADAKKADAKKA
I swerved to dodge the flying torso, continuing my sweep of the horde.
DAKKADAKKADAKKADAKKA
I love miniguns.
"You know, we tried to swap in a gauss cannon once?!" Seta yelled as he skidded into another soon-to-be puddle, "Packed a hell of a punch but it was just too slow! Shadows sure looooove that safety in numbers shtick!"
"OI!" I shouted over the noise of the turret. "I RESEMBLE THAT REMARK!"
"WHAT?!" Yosuke shouted, clearly struggling to listen over all the noise.
"HE SAID YOU'RE AN ASSHOLE!" Seta shouted as we cleared the maw. "NOW THROW THOSE GRENADES!"
I jumped, spinning to land onto the headrests and began firing back onto the survivors. Grenades flew over my head, exploding huge numbers of the Shadows as we sped away.
"Hold on Tight." Seta advised, before driving us over a canyon.
KASHUNK! And we landed on the other side of the cliff, me rolling between Seta's and Yosuke's seats from the impact, much to their amusement.
Yosuke punched me between the legs, so I kicked him in the jaw and rolled back to my seat.
"Alright Molotov." Seta said as we rolled to a stop. "If I know my Fool social circles, and I do, we're about to enter one screwed up party with a lot of history with each other."
"Don't worry, S.E.E.S. are professionals." I assured him. "No bad history."
"Yeah, you see this thing?" Yosuke asked, pointing to a screen on the dashboard. "That's the BS detector. You just broke the scale."
"Never walk into a minefield without a map." Seta nodded. "And ideally someone to walk a couple steps in front of you. On a side note, the person walking in front of me will be you. What's the deal with these people?"
Tch. "Fine then." I said. "Junpei got hit on by one of your school teachers, and let on married a girl who repeatedly tried to kill him, was then held prisoner by us for several months, then took a bullet for him once she escaped and died in his arms. She got better."
I could see his eyebrow furrow already. "Shinjiro killed Kenjamin's mother during a battle with a Shadow. He left the team and turned to drugs to suppress the pain. Came back later, and So did Kenjamin. Shinji's best friend and Kenjamin's role model then died protecting them from a psychopathic gunman. Aigis is a battle droid who gained her own soul by falling in love with Minato. He then died. I then gave her the power to shift between robot and human body, but she thinks Minato did it. Minato dated Yukari, Chie's step-sister. Mitsuru fell in love with Minato was well, so I possessed Minato's body and slept with her. After Minato died, I told Yukari that Minato did it, then broke up with both of them. Yukari tried to patch things up with Minato, but I messed that up by the body dying ten seconds into the conversation. Oh, and Marina is a Fool and a Wildcard like yourself, though she never officially joined S.E.E.S. since she came over after fighting Nyx. She's Minato's cousin, and lives with Shinjiro. They have a thing for each other. The only normal members of S.E.E.S. are Fuuka and Koromaru. And that's only because Fuuka got over her crush on Minato and her abysmal self-esteem."
"And Koromaru?" Seta asked.
"He's the dog with the Persona you were fighting alongside last night."
"...Ah."
"Yosuke. They have a dog too." Seta reiterated, wooden.
"Ichi isn't a dog, man."
"Foxes and dogs and robots and bears. I thought we were done with this crap."
Yosuke sighed. "Let's just go, shadow-dude. He'll be mopey like this for at least ten minutes."
"Wait, scratch that." I said, planting my fist into my open palm."The Hito-Shura works in Shinjiro's restaurant."
"Hito-Shura?"
"He goes by Naoki Kashima now."
Seta's eyes widened, then narrowed. "I hate you all."
I looked from Yosuke to Seta and back again before asking "What'd I say?"
-}+{-
Welcome to 2013.
It's good to be back.