Chapter 6: Recovery

Haiyo bolted up, sweat coating his forehead. He looked around and saw that he was back in his bed, perfectly unharmed except for his sweltering fever. He also noticed that there was no sunlight shining in, indicating it was nighttime, though he did also notice that the sound of rain was still audible.

W-What happened? He asked himself. Was that just a dream? He looked to his desk, got up, and approached it to find his notepad and pen; he then opened up the notepad, slightly shriveled from water, and flipped to the second page, which revealed his rage induced entry for the seventh.

Maybe it wasn't, Haiyo admitted to himself. But man, what the hell was that all about? Right as he asked himself this, he heard his door open slowly, and once it was completely ajar, he saw that it was Yosuke; surprisingly, Haiyo was glad to see him for once, but at the same time, Haiyo thought that maybe he was in for a world of hell right there and then. Instead, Yosuke just walked up to Haiyo and gave him a hug.

"Y-Yosuke?" Haiyo questioned. "W-What are you doing? You're making me a little uncomfortable right now."

Yosuke pulled away while still maintaining eye contact. "Sorry man," he replied. "It's just… I'm glad you're safe."

Haiyo tilted his head. "Safe? You mean from..."

Yosuke nodded. "Yeah."

"And then there was..."

"Yeah."

"So it wasn't just some twisted nightmare?"

"Yeah, that was real."

"..." Haiyo stood in silence for the longest time.

"Don't worry, though. We'll explain everything once you're feeling better." Haiyo wanted to retaliate, but considering his fever and his state of exhaustion (he was actually feeling VERY out of it despite being able to stand), he just nodded and returned to bed while Yosuke made his way out. Once Haiyo was back in bed, however, he noticed that Yosuke hadn't left yet; in fact, he seemed to be standing there, almost as if he was contemplating something in his head.

"Is something wrong?" Haiyo asked.

Yosuke shook his head. "No. I was just.. thinking."

"About what?"

Yosuke shook his head once more. "I'll tell you later. Get some rest."

Haiyo nodded. "I will." And with that, Yosuke left the room, closing the door behind him, leaving Haiyo to only lay his head back on his pillow and go back to sleep.

P4

When Haiyo opened his eyes once again, he found himself surrounded by an endless amount of fog. He knew he had to be dreaming, so with no real risk, he ventured forward, curious as to what may lie ahead. However, after about ten minutes (at least as far as Haiyo counted), it seemed as though the foggy, grass-less plain went on forever, but Haiyo was determined to discover anything, so he continued. Ten minutes passed. Thirty minutes passed. An hour. Was he even walking that long? Regardless, the more he walked, the more it occurred to Haiyo that there really was nothing that laid ahead.

"HELLO?!" Haiyo shouted, hoping someone would answer his plea. "IS ANYONE THERE?!"

"I'm here," a familiar baritone voice boomed, and when Haiyo turned around, he saw that it was the mechanical hybrid monster that tried killing the very people who sought to rescue him form who-knows-where. It didn't make him any more tolerable to Haiyo, since after he caught a glimpse, he stumbled backwards, falling to the ground flat on his butt. He already knew he'd accepted it, his shadow, as Yosuke called it. So why was it after him once more?

"S-Stay the hell away from me!" Haiyo demanded.

"Why?" the shadow bellowed. "I thought you were asking for someone, so I came."

"I didn't ask for your ugly mug though, so go away!"

The shadow's face swapped to black, with its face curled into a sinister grin. "Are you actually scared by yourself? That's very amusing!"

"W-What do you want? I thought you went away!"

"I'm your shadow. You may have accepted me, but I still lurk in the dark. Perhaps it's because you won't fully accept me."

"O-Of course I did. Why wouldn't I?"

"You're still ashamed to have admitted it. Don't try to lie."

"Bullshit!"

"Oh, my. Getting a little testy, are we?" The shadow then began hovering Haiyo, which prompted him to close his eyes, refusing tom even lay eyes on such a monstrosity.

"NO!" he shouted. "GO AWAY! GO AWAY! YOU'RE NOT REAL! YOU'RE NOT REAL! YOU'RE NOT..."

P4

Haiyo bolted up out of the bed again, beaded with sweat; he looked all around the room, and not only did he see nothing there, he noticed that his clock read six o'clock.

W-What's wrong with me? He thought to himself as streams of light shone through the window. He didn't know what to think about the nightmare. What exactly was it meant to represent? Was it meant to represent anything at all? He was sure he would figure it out with time, but for now, he just got up, walked over to the window, and stared outside. It was pouring outside, and the puddles that piled up gave him the impression that it was raining nonstop.

As he stared, the room's door was slowly opened, prompting Haiyo to turn his head to see who was entering; again, it was Yosuke, which at this point was starting to creep Haiyo out.

"Oh, you're up," Yosuke greeted. "How are you feeling?"

Haiyo shrugged. "I'm fine, I guess," he replied.

Yosuke nodded. "That's good. Mind if I come in?"

"I thought you already were."

Yosuke chuckled. "Already cracking jokes like that? You must be feeling much better by now."

Haiyo looked back to the window. "Not really. The fever hasn't gone completely away." As he stared at the rain, Haiyo heard Yosuke's footsteps grow louder and louder until they stopped and Haiyo felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned his head to Yosuke. "Is everything okay? I mean, I know you were worried about me, but..."

Yosuke nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine. It's just..." Yosuke's face darkened as he, too, decided to look out the window.

"Yosuke?"

"I-I had someone else I cared for. Her name was Saki-senpai. She wound up in the same position as you, but I didn't know until..."

This time, in a reversal of roles, Haiyo put his hand on Yosuke's shoulder. Now that he knew about this, Haiyo no longer felt uncomfortable with what had happened last night. Yosuke had lost someone he cared for once before, and the fact that he was able to save him showed Haiyo a whole new side of Yosuke that he never saw before.

"I get it," Haiyo replied. "And thanks for what you did for me."

Yosuke turned his head back to Haiyo. "Thanks man." He then stretched his limbs and turned back to face the door. "Well, I'm gonna head out. I've got plans for later."

Haiyo arched his eyebrow. "I'm guessing it's not plans for a girlfriend."

Yosuke's eyes widened. "W-What's up with you lately?"

Haiyo shrugged. "I dunno. I just feel a little more… at ease, I guess."

"Well, maybe. But you're acting way different after accepting your Shadow. Hell, even Yukiko only had minor differences afterwards."

"Speaking of acting totally different, how much different are you during exam weeks?"

"Huh? During exam… wait a minute! That's right, we have midterms this week."

"You planning on studying?"

"I-I have!"

"Uh huh. Have fun out there, man."

"And you get some rest. See you later, man." Then, the door was shut and Yosuke was gone. Haiyo looked back out to the window once more. He wasn't sure what the future now held for him, but one thing's for sure: once he was feeling better, he'll be ready to face it head on. But again. Midterms.

He sighed. You know, Yosuke is actually right about exams. Even for me, they suck.

Oh, it's been so long since I've last worked on this fic. But, with Persona Fusion taking increasingly longer for me to work on, I thought I'd give this one another go to see what you guys think of it now. Now yes, this chapter is pretty short; in fact, it's pretty much on the low end of my Persona fanfic chapters in general. But if you guys are still game for this one, I'll make the chapters longer and rotate it with Persona Fusion so I don't grow too bored of writing it and, in turn, give up on it (not that I would, but you never know.)

Anyways, I don't have any witty remarks or any multi-paragraph retorts currently, so for now, I'll just give a thanks to LolOrNot for leaving the review that encouraged me to jump start this fic out of decommission, even if it meant putting my Crash Bandicoot fic in hiatus, but I've still got faith in it.

So that's it for me. Read on!

-rjm324