Story so far: Her journey has met its end; but what if she finds herself back at the beginning, with a new role...? Now, with memories still intact, & ultimate Personas at hand, she won't stop until she obtains her ending...

But things are already looking different from her previous encounter... She doesn't have Death within... and this twin brother she never knew existed appeared...? Added to that is that he seemed to have replaced her original role...

Now assuming the identity of a mysterious masked Persona-user, Minako is determined to fight alone, hoping to change their fates...

But is this the right path to take?

Chapter 6: Tartarus Alone

4/9/09-Thursday, Dark Hour

"It's a pleasure to welcome you again my guest..." The old goblin stared at her red, piercing eyes. She darted it toward the younger male who turned away at the sight of her. The girl walked in, her gaze still on the man who began to feel rather uncomfortable. After all, last time she was there, she kept giving him a cold shoulder.

"Theo!" She shouted by his ear which made him flinch. The white-haired man finally faced her and sighed.

"Yes, master Minako?" He forced a smile at her.

The man really didn't want to see her right now. It's because of her bullying and... the relationship they kind of had in the past. They had some misunderstanding during that time, and now, she's hot on his tracks. She snaps at him pretty quickly ever since he ended their 'human world expeditions'. Come to think of it, their relationship became strictly 'business' after that day.

"I need equipment and armor... you have any left?" Suddenly, her rather serious expression turned into a warm smile. Her cold, red eyes became that of a little puppy's, begging him to listen to her plea.

"I am afraid I cannot simply accept such request. I may provide them over once you accomplish my quests..." he frowned at her. It was difficult to answer to her like that... Her puppy eyes says so... Her scary, adorable, bloody puppy eyes... Theodore was about to get ready for another 'Minako glare'. He turned to Igor to avoid it, but he heard a giggle instead. The man gave her a quick glance. She was still smiling.

"Don't worry... I plan to pay... It's not money or anything though" the girl bent down and rummaged through her paper bags. Speaking of which, she was carrying quite a lot of those since entering the elevator-like room. Three of them, all white in color. "Tadaa~!" she held out a Black Frost stuffed toy in front of him. His eyes sparkled with delight. The old man stared at him suspiciously, but he managed to retain his composure. Theodore cleared his throat and turned back to the girl.

"I am afraid I cannot accept this... It is... inadequate..." he sounded quite disappointed, his eyes were still on the doll. The man had been lectured by Igor about those kind of things lately.

"Awww... but you accepted Jack Frost last time..." she pouted. The girl bent down again and started taking out more stuff. From Vegeta plushies to Pikachu-themed pens. The man's eyes began to sparkle in excitement, not noticing the older man's sigh. Finally, seeing that it was not affecting him, Minako began returning them in the bag. Although she did know he was in fact, very interested, she knew that he thinks Igor might scold him again.

"Oh well... I'll keep them then... I should've known you're not interested in this kind of stuff..." the girl let out a disappointed, yet sarcastic sigh. She glanced at the man who was now staring at the items with yearning.

"... I... I do need a spare space in my room after all. I would not mind if you take some of the equipment lying about" the attendant finally snapped. He tried to avoid Igor's eyes by turning all his attention to the guest.

"Thanks~! Can you keep these for a while then?" she winked at him and shoved the bag to his arms. "Don't worry, I'll do your quests some other time!"

Minako was given a crimson-red dress, a strange wig and a naginata. As for the mask she now held... Let's just say she had it taken care of...

4/17/09-Friday, Dark Hour

'I should have not promised to do more quests! I DID pay him...' the girl complained inside her mind while mindlessly slashing through the creatures in her path. Her attacks were so fast that they leave the world before even realizing that someone was there. The last thing they would see was a crimson flash...

'Oh well... but...' she spun around and defeated the Shadow who attempted to prey her from behind. She was defeating them with ease. It was like a walk in the park actually. The way her golden hair swayed in the dark halls, her leisurely walk and her calm attitude all pointed to a 'Shadow slaughter fest'.

'Seriously, first time I came here... Scary. Now that I'm here again at the lower grounds, it's so easy!' she chuckled, slicing through another unsuspecting Shadow in front. If those things didn't look so freaky, you'd think she's the bad guy here and they were the victims. Most of them were actually minding their own business when she just suddenly hack them with her blade. In fact, most of the Shadows would run just from the sight of her crimson mask.

The chess-like floor and the green shoji*-like walls were blood-stained as always. It was just as how she had remembered it. Normally, she came in that cursed tower with her friends. This time, she's alone. Not like it's her first time alone... okay, it is... Though even coming there by herself in the past, Fuuka or Mitsuru still guided her around. Still, she can manage by herself even without navigation since the lower floors were simple and easy to explore compared to higher ones. In fact, she had already defeated the guardians and she's on her way to the final floor where it's supposedly blocked off.

The dark hallways had become desolate and quiet. One would normally feel better if things were like that, considering that the other ones who'd accompany you would be mask-wearing black slimes. Not the cute ones at least. They're hideous, but always better than having THAT creature... It appears in such of setting... First... the sounds of chains clashing each other, as they were dragged around ring in your ears... Then... dare not turn back... Run. Find the stairs or the portal. Coming in contact with it would mean death, and she should know it more than anyone else, after all, she had died once and she was the one who carried Death for 10 years...

'Shit...! Dead end...' she turned around to the creature. Something was different about it... A strange, dark aura it didn't used to have... It was staring at her with its one visible, golden eye. Revolvers were on its hands, ready to attack. The masked girl raised her weapon, preparing for battle.

'I could beat this thing... but something's different with this one...!' she grasped her weapon even tighter, charging at the Reaper first to its right. She slashed her way through. It shrieked, but the attack barely did any damage. It had resistance on almost everything and even blocks light and darkness. Plus, her current equipment was not exactly the best... This would explain the difficulty of defeating it, so it's always a wiser choice to run. Added to that was the strange feeling she couldn't shake off... That's her decision in the first place anyway, if not for this dead end. If Fuuka was around, she could've known about this and prevented herself from getting cornered, but she's all alone in this one.

The girl took the chance to run. With her accumulated speed after charging, she ran straight to the wall toward its side. It was her first try, and lucky for her, the speed was enough to temporarily stay on running the wall before returning to the ground.

'Now...!' she was standing right behind the monstrous entity before she knew it. Her nerves couldn't calm down. It was still behind her. No looking back.

"ARGH...!" her face twisted in pain as a powerful bolt of lightning fell out of nowhere. Sparks of electricity ran through her skin as she leaned on the wall, now facing the attacker. The Reaper had used Thunder Reign on her before she had the chance to get ready. It would've been worse if she didn't had resistance on Elec damage thanks to her current Persona, Messiah.

'Oww... I don't remember it being this strong... and it definitely didn't do that before...!' she held her arm with her left hand. She bit her lip and tried to ignore the pain. Her main priority was to run. She went for the opposite direction with the sound of death still closing up to her. The girl knew she couldn't outrun it in her current condition. Without turning back, she pulled out the Evoker and shot.

"Helel! Morning Star!" she called out in a trembling voice.

The sound of the shattering glass overpowered the sound of death in that single moment. A humanoid creature appeared behind her yet again as she continued on her way. It was different from the first one. This one was more human in appearance. It had six wings sprouting from its back, a pair of long horns from its head and wore a strip a cloth. The creature spread its wings and a flash of bright light exploded, immobilizing the enemy. It did quite a fair amount of damage since it was an almighty attack, one of the only type of moves which can give this creature 'normal damage'. The moment Helel disappeared, the Reaper continued its pursuit. She was still suffering from the earlier injury, causing her body to twitch once in a while.

It was gaining on her...

...Light? There was a faint light on the next turn... Could it be...? With all the strength she had left, the female tried to endure the pain. The creature behind her pointed its weapon and shot a large fiery explosion. Everything felt like it was in slow-motion... The fire... it was a meter behind her... an inch... a millimeter... The heat could be felt from her back...!

"HYAAA...!"

The last thing she saw was a flash of green light...

"Haa... Haa... Haa... Ugh..." she winced in pain and grabbed her injured arm. Sweat dropped down her forehead, flowing down her mask as she breathed heavily. The naginata now sat beside her while she remained rested on the entrance of Tartarus.

'That was worse than Nyx... Not in terms of power but...' during that last moment, she jumped toward the turning point. There was a portal just as she expected...

'Strange... How come it was stronger than I remembered...?' her face cringed in pain again at the thought. If that last attack hit... Well... there wouldn't be anyone to get her and she'd probably be one of the 'Lost' by now. The girl took the Evoker from her side and shot her temple. The silent hall echoed with the sound gunshot. A rainbow colored snake appeared behind her, though it looked more like a worm...

"Yurlungur... Diarahan please..." the creature shook its body and rained a shower of bright light on the girl. Slowly, her wounds began to disappear and her breathing began returning to normal.

'Sheesh... I couldn't even get through the first block alone...' The girl slammed her fist on the white floor. Her knuckles began to bleed, but it disappeared right away after the rain of light touched it.

"Can I really do this alone...?" she muttered to herself. The snake finally disappeared, but she still felt pain...

4/18/09-Saturday

"... Minako. Wake up" a soft knocking on the door entered the small room.

It was a Saturday morning. Beautiful skies, sunny day... Perfect for cutting classes. Speaking of which, she had never really ditched any of her class, unless if she gets sick. It's been almost two weeks since the attack of the first Shadow. The next couple of days were fairly normal. She went through Tartarus here and now... but last night was definitely the worst.

'Going there on a weekday... bad idea...' now that she remembered it... She was supposed to be absent for a week... or at least, Minato should be... Well... this was one change in history now.

"Ugh... Yes... Coming..." she groaned. The girl lifted up her head and began doing her morning routine. She took a quick shower, changed her clothes and ate breakfast with her brother. All that time, she was slow on everything she did. In fact, they just made it in school in the nick of time. With Minato dragging her of course. During class, their roles reversed too, Minato was listening, while Minako slept through everything, which made her twin glance to her direction. Something was wrong with her...

"Hey... Hey..." he shook her, trying to get the girl up.

"Mmm... Wha...?" she opened her eyes and instantly shot up her seat, almost hitting the boy's chin.

"B is the square root of- Huh? Class... is over...?" she looked around, only few students remained. They were packing up their things, others were just chatting.

"You don't look so good... Maybe you need to go to the clinic..." Yukari approached her with a worried look.

Minako was acting strangely the whole day... She almost lost her way a couple of times, drifted off more than usual and most of all, she slept through lunch! That was what hit the nail which signaled that there was definitely something wrong.

"Haha... I just... Slept in the wrong side of the bed" she forced a smile with her sleepy face. Minato stared at her and sighed. He took her auburn head toward his chest and began patting her.

"Take care of yourself okay?" he said in a gentle tone. She smiled while resting on him. It was warm... It felt nice...

"Hey there! Rough night?" Junpei came in with a wide grin on his face. Besides Minako, he the was the other one sleeping in class. "And you were the one who lectured me about sleeping!" he joked, poking the girl's forehead after Minato had released her. The blue-haired boy was a lot less wary on Junpei since they met. During that past week, they had become friends through Minako's efforts of setting them up together.

"Doesn't matter... I've heard this lesson before anyway..." she held her head and yawned. They looked puzzled. 'Did I... Agh...!' she shook her head and flailed her arms, trying to fix her minor slip up. "Er... I mean... I've studied in advance!" they shrugged.

"Oh~ As expected of Mi-chan" the capped boy pat her back. Minato smiled and pat her head again. That was enough to ease her feeling...

'What was I thinking... Yes... I can do this by myself... for them...' she smiled lightly at the thought. The pain suddenly went away...

That next night... Junpei joined the group and they began their first exploration in Tartarus the night after that... For some reason, enemies ran away from them... They needn't even use their Personas...

Shoji- is a door, window or room divider consisting of translucent paper over a frame of wood which holds together a lattice of wood or bamboo.

Anyway... speaking of the Reaper... to be honest... I never defeated that thing XD

I attempted to do it a few times, but failed even though I was at lv.99...

Yes. I know. I'm weak... (or maybe it's just strong ;P)

Btw, again, if you have any questions, comments, suggestions, or (hopefully not) violent reactions, don't be afraid to message me or post in the review ;D

In any case... Next chapter, some romance~ (maybe)XD

-Persona 3 or any SMT series does not belong to me-