Disclaimer: I do not own Persona 3—or any version of the Persona series, really. I just own this rather shameless piece of work.

Other Notes: I'm glad people seem to be enjoying this. It's fun to write and try to reimagine scenes that people have no doubt watched and read countless times before. I admit I was a little nervous that people wouldn't give it a chance given the "OC SI" note straight in the summary hanging over this like a neon sign, and the fact that I can't write Minato as a stoic badass… Still, to all you readers, skeptical or enthusiastic, thank you for giving this a shot.

Also, I would like to note that this attempt at a FANOWRIMO challenge involves more than just reaching the 50k word goal. I want to keep writing and updating throughout November… in order words, to update pretty much daily the entire month regardless of word count. I don't know if I'll be able to keep up the steam for it, but hopefully I'll make it at least halfway before tapering off.

Symbiosis

Chapter Five

The next evening, Minato met Shuji Ikutsuki, Chairman of the Board of Gekkoukan High, and felt Tamamo's normally warm presence go cold.

Ikutsuki, in Minato's opinion, looked like any other authority figure of the high profile school. At first glance, Minato felt wary just at the sight of the long hair, glasses, and pressed suit. Something about the combination seemed off, like the villains portrayed in disguise in anime. But then the man opened his mouth and he seemed so very… plain.

But the corner of Minato's mind that Tamamo occupied seemed to freeze over. He had trouble concentrating on the conversation after that and excused himself before long.

"Sorry," he said, though he wasn't sure he meant it. "I've had a headache since school ended. I'd really just like to go sleep it off right now."

"Oh, of course," Ikutsuki said with a kind smile. "Feel better, Arisato-kun."

"Goodnight," said Yukari.

Minato nodded and briskly walked away, taking the steps two at a time before hurrying to his room, inconveniently at the end of the hall. Once he entered, he practically threw his bag by his desk before flopping onto his bed on his stomach.

"Tamamo," he called his Other aloud, "what happened?"

Silence met him. He was just starting to fear that she wouldn't respond when she sighed. "I don't… like that guy."

Minato shifted, rolling so that he was on his back and staring at the ceiling. Why? We just met him.

He felt her hesitate and knew she was holding something back. It was a familiar sensation. She did the same thing whenever he asked her more about herself. "…I just have a feeling, I guess. Watch out for him, Minato."

Minato agreed, confused as he was, and, sensing the conversation's end, got back up to prepare for bed. As he shuffled about his room, he pondered Tamamo's words.

Again, he felt that there was so much he was missing about his Other. It didn't so much as bother him, per se, but he felt as if he were always playing catch up with her. Even when he was a child, she was older than him and seemed to know much more. It had been a goal he eagerly chased after to match her in age and finally be equals, but even now, when he more or less appeared the same age as she did, she still felt frustratingly out of reach.

It was almost funny.

"You'll tell me one day," he said, voice firm.

He could be patient. He could wait.

"Of course," Tamamo replied.

They depended on one another, after all. He relied on her intuition and knowledge when his wasn't enough, just as she relied on him to keep them both alive and safe. They coexisted peacefully, trusting in the system they had created when Minato was just a boy with bad luck and a neglectful extended family. Neither of them had to—Minato could certainly survive on his own and Tamamo could easily ignore him and barricade herself in his mind—but they did so anyway, depending on one another for survival.

Symbiosis.

Maybe that was the wrong term in the end, but he liked to describe it that way.

It gave him an excuse to want to keep her around, and it kept her from those horrible bouts of guilt and self-loathing. He laughed with her whenever she called herself a parasite, but it left a bitter aftertaste.

They depended on one another, so however long it took, he could wait.

Minato was certain that he fell asleep, but the next moment, he found himself opening his eyes to a blue, blue room, sitting across from an old man with an obscenely long nose.

Tamamo groaned. "Minato…"

What? he asked, defensive. It is!

The old man introduced himself as Igor and the short-haired blonde woman standing beside him as Elizabeth. They were apparently residents of the room they were in, the Velvet Room. Wherever it was.

"This place exists between dream and reality, mind and matter," Igor explained, though it was vague at best. It sounded impressive, at least. "Only those who have signed the contract can enter this place…"

Minato watched as Igor waved a hand, a familiar document appearing out of thin air on the table before them. It was the contract he'd signed back in the dorm… Did that mean that creepy boy was around, too?

Igor smiled amiably. "Henceforth, you shall be welcome here in the Velvet Room. You are destined to hone your unique ability, and you will require my help to do so." He leaned forward in his chair. "I only ask one thing in return: that you abide by the contract, and assume responsibility for the choices that you make."

I chooseth this fate of mine own free will, Minato echoed, remembering.

"Yes," Tamamo said, solemn. "The ability to choose is at once both freeing and yet utterly binding. What it will mean for you will develop soon."

Minato dipped his head in a nod. "I understand."

A key appeared in Minato's hand, silver and intricately designed. Igor bade him to hold on to it.

"It has been years since we've had a guest," the goblin-like man mused. It would have sounded almost conversational had it not been for the peculiar gleam in his bloodshot eyes. "And it appears that you have quite an unusual passenger with you."

Minato eyes widened. Passenger? Did he mean—?

The old man chuckled. "My dear young man, as I said before, this place exists in a space beyond reality… To be quite honest, however, I expected her to either appear here beside you, as she was, or to be left behind entirely. That she remained within you is intriguing indeed… Your souls are quite deeply intertwined."

The woman standing beside him finally moved, her head tilting as she looked upon Minato with unnerving yellow eyes. "I would like to look into this further as well."

"As you will," Igor said before waving a hand. "'Til we meet again…"

Tamamo felt the change as Minato's consciousness, with her in tow, left the Velvet Room and returned to sleep. It was odd, like what she thought teleporting would feel like (the infamous "hook behind the navel" sensation), and she wasn't quite sure that she liked it. She would have to get used to it, though. Minato would be making a lot of stops to the Velvet Room in the future.

Turning, she paused when she saw a new structure in the mindscape. A single blue door, sitting innocently opposite of Death's door. Bypassing the Shadow's seal, Tamamo looked up at the door with wonder. She knew the Velvet Room's door could pop up in odd places to allow the main characters to access its residents and acquire their aid for their journeys. But she had never thought one would appear within the mindscape.

A thought struck her. The Velvet Room connected to various points of the outside world. The door before her now… could it possibly…?

She reached out for the knob and, after taking a breath to gather her nerves, twisted it.

The door opened, but no link was established. It was just an empty doorway.

Closing it quietly, she tried to tell herself that she wasn't disappointed.

Minato worried. Ever since he woke up from that strange dream, Tamamo had gone quiet. The coldness she exuded since meeting Ikutsuki had faded, but in its place was an anxious silence.

What's wrong? he asked as the Classic Literature teacher, Mr. Ekoda, went on another tangent, giving the class a break from taking notes.

"It's nothing," was Tamamo's reply.

He frowned. No, it's not. You're giving off a weird feeling.

"I…" she trailed off. There was a long pause and Minato nearly prompted her again when she continued, "Tonight. It's the full moon, isn't it?"

…Maybe? He had glanced at his calendar in the morning before he left to double-check the date, as was his habit. There had been one of the little moon symbols by the number, but he couldn't remember which one it was. What does that have to do with anything? You've never been affected by a full moon before.

"Just promise you'll be careful tonight, okay?" Tamamo asked, and his halfhearted theories quieted unsettlingly when he noticed that her voice was trembling. "Tonight and every full moon night from now on."

She was afraid, he realized. Terrified, even.

He couldn't remember much of the night his parents died, but he could remember with clarity the high terror in Tamamo's voice when she first awakened, calling his name with such fear. This was the first time he had heard her sound that way since then. And he would be lying if he said it didn't make him nervous.

But he was no longer the little boy that she had to comfort and guide to safety. They could work together now.

I promise, he told her earnestly. No matter what happens, I'll protect us both.

The rest of the day passed by in a blur.

Tamamo's warning stuck with Minato through the rest of his classes, keeping him hyperaware. Even after school, as he walked with Junpei to check out the Paulownia Mall, he kept careful watch of everything.

"Dude, you okay?" Junpei asked after pointing out the local arcade, Game Panic. "You look… wired."

"Too much caffeine," Minato replied.

"Ah, I see," Junpei said, nodding sagely. "I get that. Sucks, though. You're so gonna crash later."

"Let's hope it doesn't happen soon, then." He gave an easy grin. "I'd feel bad if you had to drag me all the way back to my dorm."

Junpei sputtered a laugh at that. "Like I would, man. You're on your own!"

"This guy…" Tamamo chuckled, sounding fond. "What a liar."

Minato privately agreed. The other teen was taking time he could have been doing anything else, like hanging out with other friends, to show the new kid around. Voluntarily. For all his bravado, Junpei Iori was a relatively nice guy.

"Sure thing," Minato agreed. "So those are the hangouts. What about places to eat?"

"Well, there's the usual food court stuff," Junpei said, gesturing to some corner of the mall where said food court was probably located. "Chagall Café isn't half-bad either if you're into that, but if you ask me, if you want food you should go to Iwatodai Station…"

When Minato made it back to the dorm, it was evening.

Mitsuru greeted him when he entered, sitting at one of the lounge's couches. He nodded to her and to Yukari when she gave her own passing greeting, heading to the back and climbing up the stairs to the second floor.

You okay? he asked as he entered his room.

"I'm calmer," Tamamo said, sending him a feeling that was like a shrug. "That's probably the best we can expect until the night is over."

He hummed in response, heading over to his small bookcase and picking out one of the few novels he still had. Then he settled on his bed, not bothering to change, and flipped it open. He didn't want to waste energy studying, especially so early in the year, and he never liked watching TV for long. But he had to do something to keep himself awake. Tamamo's earlier warning made him feel that sleeping would be a bad idea.

So he passed the hours by, evening fading into night, simply reading to himself and occasionally listening to Tamamo read instead. It kept them both awake, with the added bonus of keeping her mind occupied.

Or so he thought.

As midnight neared, Tamamo's voice trailed away into another uneasy silence. But before he could ask her what was wrong this time, or tell her not to think about whatever was scaring her, she spoke up, "Minato… if anything happens to me tonight…"

A well of emotions not his own swirled up—anxiety, distress, anger, helplessness, resignation—breaking through whatever blockade she usually had up and knocking him breathless. As he tried to make sense of it all, tried to rein himself in and find an anchor in the maelstrom of her turmoil, a single thought flitted across the forefront of his mind, no doubt accidental and yet no less clear.

"Will this be how I die again?"

Midnight struck, and as the outside world was bathed in the sick light of the swollen moon, Minato thought he heard a door creak open.

On the fourth floor of the Iwatodai Dorm, Shuji Ikutsuki entered the Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad's—SEES for short—command room. Yukari was already there, seated beside Mitsuru at the control panel. The red-haired upperclassman didn't look up at the chairman's entrance, but Yukari did, very briefly, before reluctantly dragging her gaze back to the monitors.

"How is he?" he asked as he crossed the room to take a seat.

"He's… awake," Mitsuru said slowly. Yukari looked back, curious of the chairman's reaction, and saw Ikutsuki's eyes finally snap to the screen. "He's stable as well."

"Interesting," Ikutsuki said, clearly taking in the sight of the teenaged boy on the monitor. He was lounging on his bed, eyes on the book on his lap and clearly unbothered with the world around him. From the lack of emotion on his face, he almost seemed bored. "Even those who have the potential tend to be unstable at first. Memory loss… disorientation… but this subject is rather unique. He hasn't exhibited any of the common symptoms."

Yukari shifted in her seat, feeling uncomfortable. A part of her marveled at the boy's ability to shrug off the Dark Hour like that while another balked at the idea of treating him like some sort of lab rat. "Subject"? It sounded so… demeaning.

She told the chairman so.

Ikutsuki nodded. "I understand your concern, but it's imperative that we recruit new members." He peered at her, glasses glinting in the monitor's glow. "I heard he's your classmate. Wouldn't you be more comfortable working with someone from the same grade?"

She winced. "Maybe. But…"

A shrill beeping cut her off before she could elaborate, making her jump. Beside her, Mitsuru reached over to receive the call.

"Command room," she answered tersely. "Is that you, Akihiko?"

The sound of static filled the room before Akihiko Sanada, the dorm's other senior resident, answered. He sounded out of breath.

As he explained the situation, Yukari felt a sinking feeling in her gut, coupled unpleasantly with an elevation in her heart rate. It sounded bad.

And it felt like it was about to get worse.

Minato jumped, startled, when he heard people running down the stairs, followed by a door slamming on the first floor. Tossing his book aside, he stood up and ran to his door, exiting his room and following the disruptive sounds.

The sight of Mitsuru, Yukari, and the chairman crowding around a silver-haired teenaged male slumped against the door met him as he stepped off the stairs. He approached cautiously, making sure his footsteps were deliberately loud so he didn't startle them. They had their holsters on, with the not-guns strapped in.

Mitsuru turned on her heel, pinning him with a sharp glare that softened somewhat when she saw it was him. She kept her expression stern, however. "Good, you're here. You and Takeba will sneak out around the back while Akihiko and I intercept them from the front. Do not engage battle unless strictly necessary, understood?"

She turned to Yukari then, as Minato had no clue what she was talking about. Yukari nodded, however, and briskly approached him.

"Just come with me," she said, "we don't have time to explain right now."

Minato hesitated.

Mitsuru's voice cut in. No nonsense. "Takeba."

Yukari flinched and hurried to the back door of the lounge, gesturing impatiently for Minato to join her. After a moment's more of hesitation, he followed.

He still felt off-kilter from Tamamo's earlier slip—Die? Again?—and now all of this was happening at once.

What on Earth was going on?

"Ready, Akihiko?" he heard Mitsuru ask from near the entrance. When Minato looked up, he saw the silver-haired student wince as he stood. Ikutsuki was fleeing to the stairs.

"As I'll ever be," Akihiko replied. He tried to roll his shoulder and grimaced at the effort.

Mitsuru sighed. "Don't do more than necessary or you'll need twice as long to recover."

"I know, I know…"

An ominous rumbling sounded behind the front door. Both upperclassmen tensed, looking to one another and nodding. Then, without another word, they pushed the doors open and burst out. Minato thought he heard the sound of a gun firing.

When he redirected his attention to Yukari, he found that she was on the verge of hyperventilating.

"Hey," he said, trying to ignore the sound of another gunshot beyond the main entrance.

Yukari jumped, spinning around and glaring. "What!?"

He ignored the sudden hostility, too. She was tense and wound up. He could relate, letting out a slow breath to calm his own nerves that had jumped in response. "We should get going."

He gestured to the door in front of them and Yukari followed his gaze. She nodded, pulling out a key and unlocking the door. When it was open, she motioned for him to step through first so she could close and lock it behind them.

They stepped out into what appeared to be a small alleyway. Yukari stepped forward, taking point.

"We'll head this way to avoid the fight in front," she told him. It seemed talking kept her somewhat calmer, so he didn't interrupt. "We can't venture far in case they need b—backup, but Mitsuru-senpai and Akihiko-senpai will take care of them and give us the all-clear when it's done."

Minato nodded—it wasn't as if he had a plan and Tamamo wasn't offering anything either. He stepped in line behind her, hands going to his pockets out of habit. The sounds of fighting echoed back to them from the main street, but though he was curious, he felt his survival was much more important than trying to sneak a peek.

The two juniors hurried down the alley before turning down another, slipping around an upright coffin standing beside a dumpster.

Yukari stopped when Mitsuru's voice suddenly rang out from a small communicator on her hip. "Takeba! Do you read me?"

She reached down for it, pressing a button. "Yes! We hear you!"

"Be careful! There's more than one enemy!" Yukari blanched. "The one we're fighting isn't the one Akihiko saw!"

"W—What!?" Yukari gasped.

Minato tensed when a squelching sound reached his ears. He resisted the urge to look over his shoulder.

"Yukari can technically fight it," Tamamo finally spoke up. If the situation hadn't just gone down the drain, he would've felt more relieved that she'd recovered. "But she won't be able to. Drag her and run to Mitsuru and Akihiko. If you can lure it there, they might be able to take care of it."

Minato didn't ask questions, just followed. He grabbed Yukari's wrist, ignoring her yelp, and started running—sprinting—to the alley's entrance. The thing behind them made a garbled sound and pursued. Yukari shrieked when she saw it.

"What the—That Shadow! It's…!"

They tore out into the streets, dodging more coffins. Not wasting a second, Minato pivoted and kept running towards the dorm.

Up ahead, it seemed the upperclassmen were just finishing their fight. A light-colored, hulking figure with blond hair slammed its arm into a dark blob of a creature, which dispersed in a black and red mist. Another figure, slimmer and wielding two thin swords, stood by Mitsuru.

"Senpai!" Minato called. He didn't care which, so long as they heard him.

Mitsuru's gaze snapped in their direction and she gasped. "Arisato! Takeba!"

"That's the one!" Akihiko called hoarsely, clutching his side.

Minato felt a strange energy well up behind him. Before he could think to do anything, fire erupted, white-hot, at his back, throwing him forward. He fell on his front, skidding against the asphalt. He hissed, seeing stars. Through the pain, he thought he heard Yukari fall somewhere behind him.

"Dammit!" Akihiko cursed. "Polydeuces!"

Something flew over Minato, the displaced air sweeping over him as he struggled to get up.

What the hell was going on?

Wrong.

This was wrong. This wasn't how the night was supposed to go!

How had so much changed just by Minato staying up and investigating the noises for himself?

Tamamo looked around the mindscape wildly, searching for something, anything, she could do to help.

Her gaze fell upon Death's door and she froze.

Death, in Thanatos's form, had taken care of the Shadow handily in the game, but it needed a way out. It was still sealed and incomplete, so it couldn't appear at will. It had needed Orpheus, or any Persona, summoned so it could channel its power through. And it had needed the surge of power from Minato's full awakening to make it happen.

But with Minato so injured, how would he take an Evoker from any of the others to summon his Persona and complete his awakening? She couldn't tell him to do it earlier; Yukari would've stopped him and he wouldn't have known how to work it anyway—not without a full explanation of why he had to point it at his own head. There hadn't been time for any of that. And would any of the SEES members even think to give him a chance with the battle raging on right in front of them?

She shifted her gaze to the floor of the mindscape. Unless…

Running forward, she fell to her knees at the point where she accessed Minato's lower subconscious. If she felt deep enough, would she be able to reach the point where the Personas slumbered in the sea of his soul?

Tamamo thrust her hand down, reaching. She lowered herself until her entire arm was swallowed by the depths. "Come on… please… he needs you…!"

There was nothing there.

"No!" Gritting her teeth, she forced herself to go lower, sticking her head in and trying to find any sign of a Persona to draw forth. Anything! Anything at all! Even Pixie would do! She could heal! "I don't care about me! At least save him!"

And just when she thought she was going to have to immerse herself fully (or resort to insults), something grasped her hand. Almost dizzy with relief, she tugged, pulling it free and—

"Orpheus," she said, awed.

The silvery figure floated before her, his lyre fastened securely on his back.

"Thou art I…" he began, but Tamamo jumped as she realized she was wasting time.

"Yes, yes, I know! Now, go save Mina—"

The sound of a door bursting open interrupted her. Tamamo, terrified, spun around as a familiar roar resonated within the mindscape. Pain flashed through Minato's mind. She whirled back, pushing Orpheus towards the screen.

"Go! Now!" she cried, desperate.

The sound of chains rattling filled the air just before she was slammed into from behind. She didn't have a chance to struggle as she was shoved forward, Death's body engulfing hers.

The only thing she could do as things went hazy was scream.

Mitsuru cursed as she knelt between the dazed Yukari and injured Minato, red eyes critical as she watched as Polydeuces and Penthesilea circled the large Shadow. Akihiko was further back due to his own injury, and she could not risk leaving their underclassmen unprotected to better command her Persona. Furthermore, she did not even have her rapier at hand; if she got closer she would just get in her own Persona's way.

The Shadow was stronger than they'd expected and kept their Personas at bay with its many sword-like knives. With two members and a recruit down and her attention divided, they were at an extreme disadvantage.

She tore her eyes away from the fight when Minato gasped beside her. She was alarmed when she found him clutching his head. "Arisato?"

The distant sound of glass breaking made her eyes widen. He was summoning a Persona? But how?

A tall figure appeared before them, but Mitsuru did not have time to analyze it fully when it jerked, body convulsing as something tore at it from within. She paled when a tidal wave of power swept over them, watching as gloved hands broke the Persona apart from the inside out, ripping the body to shreds as another form burst free.

The ominous black figure, surrounded by what looked like floating coffins, emitted a horrible sound that was a monstrous roar and a human scream all in one before shooting forward, blade drawn. It tore in between Polydeuces and Penthesilea, its passing blowing them aside from the sheer power it gave off.

Two Personas? Had there ever been someone recorded with such an ability? She had known their newest dorm resident's potential to be high, but this… this was unprecedented.

Kill kill kill kill kill…

"N—No…"

This was worse.

…kill kill kill kill kill…

This was so much worse than she could have imagined.

Tamamo huddled, trying to curl up in as small a form as she could manage. She slammed her hands over her ears, but the distorted voice reached her no matter what she did. The images still appeared even when she closed her eyes.

Blood. She wanted blood. Death. Carnage. She hungered for it.

She felt the Shadow thrashing beneath her, writhing and trying to get away, but she had it in her grasp. Sadistic amusement flooded through her.

Struggle more, she thought tauntingly, pushing the Shadow further into the ground. She wanted the pleasure of seeing it in agony.

"No, please…!"

Long abandoning her sword, she settled for pummeling the Shadow into the ground. How dare it hurt Minato? Piece of shit! She would tear it apart, see how it liked pain!

Gripping the wriggling limbs, she pulled, relishing in the sounds of the flesh being torn apart. The detached piece kept squirming, still alive, until she crushed it in her hand. It squelched obscenely before dissipating into a bloody, black mist.

A hand holding a knife tried to stab her in the face, but she caught it with ease. She pried the knife out and slammed it into the limb in retaliation, pinning it to the ground where it struggled feebly.

Death had caught her. Devoured her, even. It dragged her with it on its way out and now she was there. She was Death and Death was her and she had been sealed for so long, trapped for ages, and now she was free to perform her duty—

"No! No, I'm not! I'm not… That's not…"

It was dying.

Too fast, too soon. Stupid. Weak.

She hadn't punished it nearly enough for its transgression. But she supposed it would have to do.

Pulling her arm back, she brought it forcefully down into the other Shadow's mask. With a satisfying crack, the mask broke, its owner dispersing soon after. She bellowed in her triumph, laughing as the Shadow's power joined with her own.

Tamamo struggled to pull herself together as Death's bloodlust waned, its power receding. She was swept along, helpless, as it drained from the air, flying back, unseen, into Minato. She gasped when she saw it retreating into the door, dormant again, while she was still connected to it.

No! She didn't want to be trapped there! She would have preferred to actually die than be absorbed into Death!

The door drew her in closer, even as she tried to pull away from Death's grip.

Just as she thought she was going to lose the battle and get dragged over the threshold, something mercifully let her go and she tumbled down, hitting the floor of the mindscape. She gasped at the pain that wracked her phantom body. Sparks flashed across her vision and when she looked down, she found that some parts of her limbs and even a good chunk of her side were missing, as if torn out.

But she was still there, she thought deliriously. She was torn up, but she was still alive, in a loose sense.

Tamamo remained on the mindscape floor, exhausted. Her vision was clouding over and she could barely move.

She still had to… check on… Minato… but… she…

For the first time in years, Tamamo fell asleep.