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: Some trivia for the last parts of this chapter, but in some cultures, the length of one's hair can be seen as the equivalent to one's power. In the old days especially, this was often driven to the point that cutting someone's hair (such as after they lose to you in battle) was seen as the ultimate offense and often used to invoke shame. Don't quote me on this, but I also believe there's one Native American tribe that considers hair length to measure one's wisdom and knowledge—the longer the hair, the more thoughts you've had. Or something to that effect.

Symbiosis

Chapter Twenty

Not much time had passed before things came to a head amongst the members of SEES.

Things had gone quiet after the last operation, the members taking the time to rest from the extended ordeal. While they had certainly dealt with more pressing circumstances before, the two battles had taken their toll. And with exams looming over the horizon, they were all very grateful for the respite.

It was after school that the juniors received word from Akihiko via text that Ikutsuki was calling a meeting at the dorm. Judging by the wording, it sounded important. Enough to discard what plans they'd made to get together and start studying in the school library.

Junpei groaned. "Man! That guy's got some horrible timing. I need all the help I can get, and then this happens on one of the days we can all actually get together and study!"

"This wouldn't happen if you would actually pay attention in class and do your work instead of play video games all day," Yukari said snidely.

Her caustic tone took both boys by surprise; she sounded downright venomous, and for something so little. Sharing a look with Minato, Junpei cautiously asked, "What's up with you, Yuka-tan?"

"It's nothing. I…" Her mouth opened to try to explain, but the words stopped short of leaving her throat. Eventually, she sighed and shook her head. "I'll tell you guys later. During the meeting."

Minato and Junpei glanced at one another again, but, when she refused to elaborate further, decided it would be best to leave it alone. Still, her words were rather ominous, leaving Minato wondering what sort of disaster lay ahead even as they gathered their things and left the classroom, picking up Fuuka next door along the way.

Their teal-haired navigator seemed to sense the tension in the air, for she didn't attempt to make any small talk on the way back to the dorm. But every so often Minato would catch her sending small, concerned looks in Yukari's direction, though the brunette herself was completely unaware.

Bewildered, Minato went to his Other. Do you have any idea what's going on?

"Yukari found something unpleasant regarding the incident ten years ago," Tamamo told him. "Fuuka helped her uncover it. I don't remember the details, but it has to do with the explosion you heard those girls gossiping about the other day."

Minato tried to remember said conversation. He heard a lot of things as he approached the school gate each morning, so they all sort of blended in together. But he could vaguely recall a girl mentioning an explosion occurring, calling for a replacement building to be built.

Looking back over his classmates and friends, Minato sighed, leaning back further into his seat as they waited for their stop to arrive. He'd known Yukari was starting to question the way Mitsuru did things, especially after Fuuka joined, but he hadn't realized it would get so bad. Bad enough for her to go through with a confrontation, at that.

He could only hope that the squad's dynamic didn't shift too radically as a result. They were starting to really pull together. If they unraveled now, where would that leave them?

The moment they were all seated in the command room, Mitsuru relayed a synopsis of what occurred during the last operation to Ikutsuki, who listened raptly.

"…I see. So they're getting tougher," he murmured when she finished. He looked up at the somber group, smiling. "But it's not all bad news. You see, I called today's meeting because—"

Yukari, who'd been ominously quiet up until that point, finally spoke, interrupting him, "I'm sorry, but before we go on, I'd like to ask Mitsuru-senpai something."

The Kirijo heiress was clearly surprised, straightening in her seat. "Me?"

Yukari nodded, expression stern and eyebrows furrowed over her large eyes. "Ever since I joined, so many things have happened… I went along with it without really understanding what was going on. But now, I need to know. So I'm gonna ask you straight out: You've been hiding something from us, haven't you, Senpai?" Her eyes thinned, voice accusing. "You act like you don't know anything about the Dark Hour and Tartarus, but they're related to that accident ten years ago, aren't they?"

Junpei looked wildly between her and Mitsuru, who had stiffened, spine rigid with shock. "Wait, what? What accident?"

"There was an explosion near our school, and a lot of people died," Yukari told him, sparing him a glance before coolly returning to Mitsuru. "It must've been big news back then. You know about it, don't you?"

The redhead took a moment to breathe, surprise fading into something resigned and regretful. "Yes."

Seeing that she had the attention of the entire group, Yukari decided to continue explaining for their benefit, "Luckily, no students were injured in the explosion, but around the same time, a large number of students were recorded as absent. Seems like more than just a coincidence."

"What do you mean?" Mitsuru asked. She seemed weary, but determinedly went along, to see Yukari's accusations through.

"I dug up some old school records and found something interesting," Yukari said in response. To the side, Minato saw Fuuka duck her head. "The students who were absent… They all collapsed suddenly and had to be hospitalized. Sound familiar? You know… like the girls who bullied Fuuka." When Mitsuru didn't respond, lowering her own head, Yukari jumped to her feet. "There has to be an explanation! What really happened on the day of that accident!? The Kirijo Group built our school, so you must know something! Tell me the truth!"

There was a long silence. No one, not even Ikutsuki or Akihiko, moved or even seemed to breathe.

Finally, Mitsuru sighed. "I wasn't trying to hide anything from you. It just never seemed relevant. But…"

There, Ikutsuki regained his voice, "It's okay. It's not your fault."

Lifting her head, Mitsuru nodded. "All right. I'll tell you the whole story." She looked at the group before her gaze settled on Yukari, who slowly sat back down. "The Shadows have many mysterious abilities. Some research indicates that they can even affect time and space. We think of them as our enemies, but what if we could somehow use them to our advantage? They would be a source of unimaginable power, wouldn't they?"

That was apparently not what Yukari had expected to hear. "What?"

From his seat, Minato glowered. That sounds like a megalomaniac's reasoning.

"Shush," whispered Tamamo, an odd inflection to her voice.

Are you all right?

"I'm fine… Just listen."

"Fourteen years ago, one man pursued that line of thinking. He was the former leader of the Kirijo Group, Kouetsu Kirijo… my grandfather." Mitsuru closed her eyes briefly at the admission, then gathered a breath before continuing, voice soft. "My grandfather was obsessed with Shadows. He wanted to harness their power and create something extraordinary."

"Harness their power?"

Mitsuru nodded at Fuuka's question. "He assembled a team of scientists and, over several years, collected a significant number of Shadows."

"He what!?" Junpei exclaimed. "Damn, that's freaking crazy!"

"However… ten years ago, during the final stages of the experiment, they lost control of the Shadows' power. Consequently, the nature of the world was altered."

Fuuka seemed to realize it just moments before they did. "You mean…"

"Yes," Mitsuru said. "Tartarus and the Dark Hour." She sighed, looking down at her hands where they rested in her lap. "By their account, the mass of Shadows they collected split into several large ones that then dispersed. These are the Shadows we've been encountering on nights when the moon is full."

Minato felt his Other shift uncomfortably.

"Is that why they've appeared in different places?" Fuuka asked.

"Wait a minute," Yukari interrupted. "If what you said is true, then why did our school turn into Tartarus?" She paused, and Minato could see her mentally reviewing the conversation thus far. She gasped. "Don't tell me… That's where they conducted the experiment!?"

This time, Mitsuru only nodded, looking pained.

"Then… those students who were hospitalized…"

"I'm afraid it's just as you're thinking," their upperclassman confessed. Had she been anyone else, Minato suspected she would have shrugged helplessly. Or maybe start crying. "Port Island must have been an ideal location for them. It was a highly-populated area, and the Kirijo Group had influence there. They could do as they pleased… As you guessed, the experiment ten years ago was conducted at Gekkoukan High School."

Yukari slowly shook her head, disbelieving. "Does that mean… that all this time… all we've been doing is cleaning up their mess!? You lied to us!?" When Mitsuru didn't respond, she turned her accusing eyes to Akihiko. "You knew, too, didn't you, Senpai!? They've just been using us! Or do you not care as long as you get to fight?"

Akihiko, who'd been quiet the entire time, finally reacted, offended. "Hey, that's not true! I have my reasons!"

"Think what you'd like," Mitsuru said over them, deliberately drawing Yukari's attention back to her. "It was my decision not to share that information. And I'm sorry. I never intended to deceive you. Convincing you to join SEES was my highest priority, for, as absurd as it may seem, only we—with our Personas—can fight the Shadows." She looked away, folding her arms over her chest. It was a very usual pose for her, but this time Minato noticed that it seemed more like she was trying to curl around herself. "Besides… some of us were never given a choice. I…"

Her fellow senior reached over, but aborted the movement halfway. "Mitsuru… Don't."

The chairman, seeing how very shaken they all were, sighed. "Yukari, it's those in the past who are to blame. And they lost their lives as a result of what they did. We're all in the same boat here; none of us deserve the burden that's been thrust upon us."

"But…!" Yukari began, only to fall silent.

"It's been ten years since that incident," Ikutsuki continued. "No one knows why those Shadows suddenly returned. But since they're active, at least we can find and destroy them. Do you realize what this means?"

At that, everyone's attention returned to him.

He adjusted his glasses, the lenses glinting. "What if I told you that those twelve Shadows are the cause of everything?"

Akihiko understood first. "Then, if we defeat them all, Tartarus and the Dark Hour will disappear?"

Ikutsuki nodded, pleased. "Exactly! That's what I was going to tell you earlier." Before Yukari interrupted and verbally tore everything apart. "See, it's good news, isn't it?"

"Is that true?" Fuuka asked, hopeful.

"There's evidence to support it," Ikutsuki confirmed. "Now, our true battle begins. Regardless of what's happened in the past, we must fight to protect the people. The Shadows are, as noted, gaining strength. We can't afford to just wait for them." His reasoning appeared as sound as always. "And there are many mysteries still surrounding Tartarus. Why did such a gigantic structure appear in the first place?" He shrugged. "The answer must lie within it."

Conversation tentatively started up again at this revelation, gladdened by the news, though Mitsuru and Yukari were notably silent.

Tamamo, too, Minato noticed uneasily. He called to her, tone questioning.

"He's lying," she said eventually. Quietly. Her words poured over him like ice water. "Or, rather, he's not telling the entire truth. I…" Her voice trailed off. When she continued, she sounded strange, "I think… I…"

He waited, but she said nothing more. Tamamo?

The chatting between his teammates drowned it out at first, but eventually he heard her. She was breathing hard. "I feel… strange… burning…"

Alarm spiked and he stiffened. What? What's going on!?

"I can't…"

If anyone found his sudden and rather hasty retreat strange, no one said a word.

Hurrying to his room, Minato threw himself inside and nearly slammed the door shut before locking it. He dove into his mind the moment his body was situated on his bed.

He was disconcerted when he found himself in the middle of a body of water. The sensations felt real, but it didn't flood his lungs and drown him, so he forced himself to ignore it and search of his Other. After turning around several times, he found her floating somewhere between the Velvet Room door and the chained one. He swam over, reaching out to grab her shoulder only to pull back when his hand burned.

"Tamamo?" he called cautiously.

She turned to him, bicolored eyes bright with pain. "You idiot," she said weakly, "why'd you come in?"

"Because you're like this," he retorted, looking her over. His eyes caught sight of the back of her right hand, the skin cracked in a familiar way. Annoyance flared. "You liar. You said you were fine."

"I was," she insisted. She took in a shaky breath. "At the time, anyway. It's just… been growing. I don't know why… it hit all at once now…"

Minato grabbed her hand, inspecting the injury. When his fingers strayed close to the exposed black matter, she flinched and he moved them hurriedly away, instead holding on to the tips of her fingers. Feeling helpless, he asked, "What's going on, Tamamo? Can I help?"

"I don't know," she told him honestly. "It started out with this… stinging in my eyes after the Arcana Lovers went down… When you rested, it spread a little… but I mostly just felt warm. It wasn't… painful…" She gasped, curling up into a ball, her free hand wrapping around her torso and over her chest. "It just… started burning…!"

She cried out then, trying to pull herself in tighter. The movement made her sink in the water and he followed her, his hand still latched onto her.

It was difficult to watch. Painful, even, though he couldn't feel her pain like how she sometimes felt his. But he couldn't look away, terrified that if he did she would vanish or, by her words, burn up completely. Didn't some religions or cultures or myths attribute burning in fire to purification? Was she leaving him?

His grip tightened on her hand.

When she pulled away, his fingers tried to chase hers only for her to plant her palm on his chest, pushing him back. He moved easily, the water making him glide back, frustratingly out of reach of her. "Why—"

"Fuuka," was all she managed to get out before pulling herself in tighter, emitting a wounded sound.

Minato left his mindscape in a flash, grabbing an Evoker and leaving his room (and nearly running into his door because he forgot he locked it) before heading back up the stairs. The other SEES members were just leaving, to his luck.

"Fuuka," he called, somewhat breathless. "Can I talk to you?"

The teal-haired girl blinked in surprise, but her eyebrows soon creased with worry. "O—Of course, Minato-kun."

With that, Minato turned on his heel and strode briskly away. She followed him down the stairs and through the lounge, never questioning even as he had them put on their shoes to go outside. She did seem to hesitate when he went into the alley leading to the area behind the dorm, but followed him dutifully. When they were sufficiently out of sight of pedestrians, he lifted the Evoker for her to take. Fuuka accepted it, puzzled.

"Use it," he told her. "Please. Something's wrong with Tamamo. She's in a lot of pain."

She let out a small gasp, mouth opening to probably ask what happened. She reined herself in at the last moment, however, instead lifting the Evoker and doing as he asked. Lucia formed around her and Minato stepped back, carefully looking around to make sure that no one saw the Persona in broad daylight.

He turned around and held still when he felt Lucia analyze him, waiting impatiently as Fuuka took in the information and picked it apart.

"How strange…" she murmured. "Her presence… It feels like it's flickering. Like a flame… Wait, no. It's something more volatile than that. It feels like… lightning?"

"But what does it mean?" he pressed, even as he filed the information away. Lightning? So she had an affinity for electricity? "Is she getting weaker?"

After a moment, Fuuka shook her head. She gazed at him, but it was noticeable that she wasn't focusing on him but rather something only she could see beyond him. "I don't think you have to worry about that. Flickering is just the best way I can describe it—it's actually rather strong…" She blinked, finally looking at him directly. "This is just a guess, but I think… I think she may be growing stronger. I felt her power burst during the operation, so it's possible that she's broken through her current limits."

"Growing pains?" Minato asked, surprised, before wondering, "What the hell did she do?"

"I'm not sure," Fuuka admitted. "I could only sense what was happening, but it must've been rather big." She paused, looking at him uncertainly as Lucia faded into particles of light. "I'm sure she'll be all right, Minato-kun. She just has to… adjust."

Minato sighed deeply. "Thanks, Fuuka. Sorry to drag you out here all of a sudden. I was just worried."

Panicked, really. Funny how he could grow up and yet feel the exact same way as he did when he was a kid and thought Tamamo would leave him like his parents had.

Fuuka shook her head. "It's okay. I'm glad to help. Tamamo-san's talked with me a few times while we were in Tartarus. She said it was to keep me company while you all were off 'doing your thing'." She giggled. "I'd like to consider her as something of a friend."

He heard his Other murmur something through her pain and gave a small grin as he relayed it, "She says if that's true, then drop the 'san'."

The navigator blinked at him in surprise, but soon smiled in return. "Tamamo-chan, then."

That night, after Minato turned in, reluctantly going to sleep at Tamamo's urging and leaving her to her "growing pains", Pharos visited her.

The avatar of Death looked fascinated by the water, standing beneath where she had drifted off to and peering up from the mindscape floor. Tamamo caught sight of him and sighed, willing her body to sink down. The burning had subsided very little and flared up from time to time, so she tried to do as Fuuka suggested and adjust to it. Tried to force herself to ignore the pain and relax in order for her soul to somehow expand and contain it. She could only hope that it would eventually stop. If it didn't, she had no idea what she would do.

"Hey, Pharos," she greeted softly as she touched down before him.

"Hello," he replied. His eyes roamed the water surrounding them. "What is this?"

She looked up to see what he did, smiling softly at the sight of the starry barrier through the imaginary sea. "Water. I find it comforting." Then, looking back down again, she said, "I'm surprised you're visiting me rather than Minato."

The boy blinked back at her, confused. "You are my friend as well, are you not?"

His earnest words made her smile. "True. So, what can I do for you, then?"

"I simply wished to ask you something," Pharos replied, looking over her thoughtfully. "You are in great pain now, as a result of your endeavors to protect him… You said before that you would have no regrets so long as he remained amongst the living. Do you regret that vow at all, even now?"

Tamamo took a moment to think. If she were more foolhardy, she would go on and say that no, she didn't regret it at all. But she wasn't the type. Not usually, anyway. "If I were to be honest, then… yes, I do regret it a bit."

"Really?" His voice remained placid, but the surprise shone through in his eyes.

She nodded. "Yes. Regret is a very human thing. So is the aversion to pain. Not many people like to be in pain, so it's natural that I regret it a little now that I am." She chuckled. "But at the same time, I'm glad. If Fuuka's right, even though this sudden power surge hurts like nothing else, I'll be able to use the power I've gained to help Minato further. So even though I'm hurting right now, I still gained more in the long run. Theoretically, at least."

A brief silence fell over them as Pharos took in her words. Then, he nodded. "I see… People are highly complex. I learn more and more every day from you both. It's very enlightening."

He lifted his arm, reaching out and placing his hand on her forehead. Tamamo allowed it, watching him uncertainly only to freeze when some of the pain ebbed away. It was still there, like embers left smoldering in an untended fire, but it was much more bearable now.

"What did you do?" she breathed when he pulled his hand away.

"I helped you," he said simply, as if it were obvious. His head tilted. "Just as I try to help him, when I can… Is that not what friends do?"

It was, but as she lifted her hands to touch where his hand had been, she wondered wildly what he had done, exactly, to help.

"Goodnight," Pharos told her, body fading even as he spoke. "And take care."

When he was gone, Tamamo looked herself over and even summoned up a mirror to see if there were any changes. For a moment, nothing caught her eye and she was about to settle back, relieved, when she realized what was off. With a little more effort than it usually took, she banished the empty sea she created to soothe herself. Then, very carefully, she reached up, bearing with the lingering pain to undo the ponytail she'd had since forever. Amaranth-pink hair fell—much longer than before. What would have fallen to just her shoulders now trailed down easily over her shoulder blades and chest.

It didn't seem like much of a change, nothing extraordinary like a suddenly blue eye, but it was still change. Highly noticeable change, at that. Especially since she appeared to have lost the ability to morph her appearance save for her clothing now.

Fingering the strands, she found herself considering them before conjuring up a pair of scissors. She breathed out slowly when they appeared, body aching, but brandished them and cut off a portion, rendering it to approximately the length it had been before. Holding the detached pieces, she looked over them and made them disappear before glancing back down at the chopped strands still attached to her head.

It grew back within moments.

She cut them again, shorter this time, and watched. It grew back.

Sighing, she erased the scissors and tied her hair back up, if only so she didn't have to look at it. Whatever Pharos had done, it was apparently there to stay.