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 got an interesting message regarding the full direction of this story and whether it would just detail the Journey and stop there or if it will include the Answer. I gave them a reply, but I'll also let other readers know here that I would very much like to include the Answer. However, I do wonder what you all would prefer. First, regardless of how this retelling of the Journey ends, would you like to see its version of the Answer? And if so, since the Answer is essentially the epilogue, would you like it to be just continued here in this story, or would you like this story to end and then pick up in a sequel-of-sorts?

I'm fine with either, but I would very much like to know what people think so please leave a review if you have any thoughts on this or shoot me a message!

Symbiosis

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Tamamo could almost see the moment Minato's thought process stopped.

Had it been any other time, she would have laughed. But it wasn't. Nothing about this was funny.

And the worst part of it all was that she had to keep going.

"In the original timeline," she started, hesitating, before forging on. "In the original timeline, you fought and defeated all of the Arcana Shadows without an inkling as to what would happen after. You all believed Ikutsuki's words that doing so would get rid of the Dark Hour entirely. But the night directly after the battle with the Hanged Man, you would celebrate only to find out that nothing had changed."

"…And Ikutsuki?" Minato asked in a low tone. The sound of it made her wince.

"You confront him," she said vaguely. "He tells you basically what I just did—that the Kirijo Group wanted the Fall to occur. There is a… disagreement."

To put it mildly.

But that was where things went hazy on her again, memories degraded over the passage of time. She knew Ikutsuki would die, along with Takeharu Kirijo, that night. She also knew that Takaya and Jin, after somehow escaping supposed death, would reappear and break Chidori out from her extended capture after the Arcana Hermit battle. And then after that… Ryoji was meant to appear, but what happened from then on to December, when Ryoji would remember his true purpose and then provide SEES with his ultimatum?

There were too many events to keep straight. It made her head hurt.

Judging by the look on Minato's face, he wasn't having a very easy time absorbing it all either.

"So that's why you don't like him," he said quietly, in that same dull tone that made her uncomfortable. He stopped walking when she did, pulling him up to the foot of the cliff and its lone tree. When she gently nudged him to face her, he did so, shaking his head. "Okay. So Ikutsuki's crazy. But say we do defeat the last of the twelve Arcana Shadows this time around, start up the Fall, and everything. What happens then? How do we stop the end of the world?"

Something inside of her pleaded for her to stop, but she ruthlessly squashed it. "You climb to the top of Tartarus, following Death's footsteps. On the appointed day, the final floors will open, allowing you through. Nyx Avatar will wait there, to conduct the Fall," she recited. "There, you fight, to weaken her and buy time as Nyx's true body draws closer. When it is, you bring the battle to her."

"And then we fight," he concluded.

"Yes," Tamamo said, "and no."

Confusion and frustration warred on his face. "What does that mean?"

A flutter of something—like distress or maybe panic—started in her chest. "Nyx cannot fully be defeated. Not by mortal means. Like Shadows, she is the answer to humanity's despair. In a way, you could say that she will continue to exist for as long as those emotions do," she explained, or so she hoped. She felt like she was just rambling now. "So when you fight, it's not to destroy her. In the end, the best solution is to set up a seal between her and the world."

"A seal?" Minato staggered back, disbelieving. He had the look of someone that had just been socked in the stomach. "All this fighting, and in the end the only choice left would be a seal—a temporary solution at best?"

"One that allows humanity to continue fighting and living for days to come, in relative peace, yes," she replied slowly. Desperately, she hoped in vain that he would not ask what she felt was coming.

Please don't ask, she thought. Please, please, please…

"Okay… so how do we set up this seal anyway?"

Tamamo closed her eyes.

Color began to leach from the imaginary world of his Other's mind and Minato watched with morbid curiosity as the horizon was steadily swallowed by black. It was as though she was pressing down everything in her mind, containing it so it didn't go out of control. It made him wonder briefly how she managed to do such a thing, quietly drawing the world in instead of letting it explode in pieces, but he supposed that the lack of a physical body made her mind just that much stronger.

"The last card in the standard tarot deck is called The World," Tamamo recited, drawing his attention back to her. She wasn't looking at him, bicolored eyes focused on some point between their feet. "It represents full awareness, and the end of an individual's journey in search of self. In another deck, Crowley's, if I recall correctly, this card is replaced by another called The Universe."

Minato didn't know where she was going with her words, but did not dare interrupt. There was a certain power and foreboding feeling in the way that she spoke that made him avert his gaze, looking anywhere but in the direction of his Other.

Distantly, he noted that her inner world had all but faded. The only things still in technicolor were them and the tree at the top of the cliff.

"In the final battle, the power of the Universe is invoked and used to forge the seal between Nyx and the world. But it can only be summoned by one who has found their answer to life… and at great cost."

Something inside of him went cold.

Minato twitched when warm fingers gently made him look up again. His eyes stubbornly clung to the faded horizon, but reluctantly trailed to Tamamo's face. She brushed aside his bangs, looking as though she were about to cry.

For a long while, neither of them spoke.

But then, feeling numb, he forced himself to ask, "What cost?"

Because he had to know.

Had to hear it said, even as he wanted to deny what his mind was telling him.

When she tried, and failed, to speak, he looked straight into her eyes. And begged. "Tell me. You've already told me everything else. Tell me."

And so she did. "In order to save everything… you have to give everything." Her expression crumpled and then it was she who looked away. "The power of the Universe… the ultimate manifestation of your power… is beyond compare. With your will, you can keep something as eternal as Nyx and the brunt of humanity's despair from meeting. But only if you…" She took a shuddering breath. "Only if you…"

"…die," he finished quietly. When she could only nod, he tilted his head back, suddenly feeling ten times older than he had been just seconds before. His gaze traced the border of the still-blue sky over the tree on the cliff and the gray that had taken over the rest of the world. "Why me?"

He had meant it to be rhetorical, but Tamamo's voice washed over him, sounding at once so very clear and yet distant, "When you were a child, on the day your parents died… when I awoke… you experienced the Dark Hour. Do you remember?"

He didn't answer, but he tried to think back to that time. He felt lost, floundering, but her voice gave him an anchor to latch onto, her words a direction.

The night of his parents' deaths… It was hazy. All he could really remember was Tamamo's awakening, her desperate call, glimpses of the car on fire, and his parents' unresponsive bodies… And then he woke up in the hospital.

When he didn't respond, she continued, "That night… an incomplete Death escaped from its containment and was pursued by the Anti-Shadow weapon, designation Aigis. She chased it to the Moonlight Bridge, engaging it in battle, but was overwhelmed."

Aigis…? She had been there?

Minato wracked his mind for the memories, trying to remember. But it had happened so long ago. He could scarcely remember what he ate for breakfast on any given day, and the Dark Hour was a trying time even at sixteen…

"Heavily damaged, she made a choice. Since she could not eliminate Death, she instead chose to seal it away." His Other gave a dry chuckle. "Another temporary solution, at best, but one that would suffice for the time. And it was just the strange, corrupted luck of the world that she had a suitable vessel close at hand."

She reached out to him and, before he could stop himself, he flinched back. And though she said nothing, simply letting her hand fall, he could see how that had hurt her. But despite the guilt—she was only doing what he told her to do—he couldn't find it in him to apologize.

He barely knew what to feel.

"Death, still incomplete, resides within you. Beyond that door. My first neighbor, if you will." The black door. Chained up. Roman numeral XIII. Of course. "It was its influence that drew you back to Port Island, some strange inevitability, waking up the twelve Arcana Shadows in the process."

Which was why they flocked to SEES each full moon night since his arrival. To get to him. To become one with Death, who resided in his head.

Death.

Thanatos.

"That night, against the Shadow… I interfered," Tamamo had told him. "I pulled your Persona out from the depths of your soul to try to help you and… something else happened."

The Arcana Magician fight.

"When I pulled Orpheus out, the being that sleeps behind that door woke up… I was caught up in the reaction and this was the result."

Tamamo's suddenly blue eye. Bright blue, just like…

"It's a side effect of the damage from before. I lost some pieces and when I recovered, it left its own mark."

"Pharos," he breathed.

It all made perfect sense. The hints, the suspicions, had been there, but now that he had the means to connect them all together, it all fit. An incomplete Death, sealed inside his mind. In the form of a child that spoke of prophecies of the world's end. Because a child-like form meant he had the capacity to grow.

That was how the boy was learning. That was why he was remembering more as each operation passed. The power of the defeated Shadow transferred to him, bringing him one step closer to being complete. One step closer to conducting the end of the world.

And at the center of it all was where Minato stood.

He laughed, desperate and perhaps more than a little crazed. "Why me?"

Why was he given that power? Why did it all fall on his shoulders? Why, out of all of the possible people with the potential, was he singled out for it all? Why him? Why him?

Why him?

"I don't want to die," he'd told himself. Told Yukari, Junpei, and Akihiko that first night in Tartarus.

"I don't want to die," he repeated in a whisper, feeling hysteria quickly bubbling up inside.

"Minato…"

He took a step back, breathing deeply so as not to panic. "I'm sorry," he said. "I just… need to think."

Tamamo reached out once more, but he avoided her fingers. "Minato, I—I'm so—"

"Don't!" he snapped, and he tried to ignore how his voice echoed. Tried to ignore how it made her flinch back. "Just… don't."

Without looking at her, he forcefully retreated from her inner world, reappearing in a flash in his own dark mind. As he strode out of the blue curtains that hung over her private space, he turned back as the imaginary fabric swung back into place, obscuring her still-sleeping form from view.

Shakily, he lifted his arms, summoning all his willpower and memories of the mind lessons she had given him in the past.

And, for the first time in his life, he blocked her from his mind.

Minato seemed to phase in and out of reality as the days went by.

He was so caught up in everything that Tamamo told him that he just barely managed to take notes on the lectures—and halfhearted ones, at that. Even as he tried to write, bitterness festered as he wondered what the point of it all was if he was just going to die soon anyway.

He cursed himself, cursed Tamamo, and kept writing on, kept listening, if only because it was familiar.

In between the lessons, he would ask to see Yukari and Junpei's notes to see if they matched up. They never said a word, lending him their notebooks to compare and then chatting as he wrote down anything he missed, letting their voices wash over him as a comforting background noise in place of the heavy silence in his mind.

At the dorm, he stayed out of his room more often than not, often watching television or simply listening to the others talk about their daily activities. Every so often, he caught himself staring, wondering what would happen to them after the end. After he died. They were a team, yes, and, he would like to think, friends in some manner. But how much of that would hold true when he was gone and the Dark Hour was, hopefully, vanquished?

"Minato-san?" Ken's voice drew him out of his latest musings.

Blinking, Minato looked down at the boy. He looked so innocent and yet he had his own demons to slay. How would he grow up? "Yeah?"

The small brunet slowly shook his head, eyebrows furrowed over large, dark eyes. "…It's nothing. You were just staring into space so I…"

Minato's fingers twitched and, before he realized it, he was patting the boy's head. He tried to smile, but felt like he may not have succeeded. "Thanks and… sorry. I just have a lot on my mind right now."

Ken, who had stiffened under the touch, relaxed slightly, though his expression turned into a cross of a scowl and a pout as Minato pulled his hand away. "I'm not a kid, y'know…"

"Yeah, I know," Minato said apologetically, staring at the palm of the hand he retracted. "It's a habit."

The mental block remained despite his instincts screaming at him to just lift it already and talk to his Other. He wanted to—god knew he did—but he needed more time to absorb it all and figure out what he wanted. Every action he made seemed to take so much effort now and his mind was always elsewhere that it made processing difficult, but he hoped that she understood. He didn't like not hearing her voice since it had always been his source of comfort during rough times. But after his reaction and dramatic exit, he was actually rather afraid of what would happen if he allowed the block to lift before he was ready.

It had been a rash decision, and he might've put a bit more force into creating the block than necessary, but he had needed it. Needed space in the only way available to him.

Unfortunately, while he got his space mentally, it was now his physical space that he was starting to need.

It wasn't so much that he felt suffocated. His friends and fellow SEES members were remarkably subtle in their concern for him, such as Yukari and Junpei's care to not draw attention to the fact that Minato, the most studious of their little trio, needed their help to fill out his usually meticulous notes. Or the way that Chihiro actually worked up the courage to greet him in the halls, smiling timidly but brightly. Or how Yuko dragged over an oblivious Kazushi, griping about his eternal gym uniform and please, Minato, shouldn't he stop she was absolutely baking just looking at him, wasn't he?

As much as he appreciated their efforts to keep his thoughts occupied, it was actually rather counterproductive to what he was trying to accomplish. So, feeling mildly guilty, once classes let out on the fifth day of summer school, he left the classroom and campus as quickly as he could, carefully weaving through and around the throngs of students and onto the streets of Port Island. It was only when he calculated a fair distance between him and the school that he eventually slowed down, sighing heavily.

I never realized you could feel uncomfortable just getting cared for, he thought jokingly, only to curse himself when there was no rejoinder from his Other.

Chest aching, he shook his head roughly and picked up his pace again.

He had no particular destination in mind. Just so long as he got away from the people he knew. It was selfish, but dammit he thought he had a right to be selfish, especially at that time.

Tamamo would say it would be fine. That they would understand.

"Everyone needs space sometimes," she would probably say. "And you're a loner by nature so you do well when you have the time to think on your own."

Well.

Maybe not exactly like that. She'd probably put it more eloquently. Or gently. Never let it be said that just because he'd known her all his life that he could mimic her exact demeanor even if he could predict her most probable reactions and dammit he wasn't supposed to be trying to imagine her voice in a situation that he purposefully blocked her out of!

"I told you this relationship isn't exactly healthy," would be her quip. "You're worryingly dependent on me."

"I am," he agreed with a mutter, rubbing his face with one hand as he walked along. "Problem is, I don't think I really know how to live differently anymore."

Distantly, he looked around and vaguely recognized his surroundings. He was nearing Iwatodai Station and the nearby strip mall—maybe another ten minutes of walking or so and it would come into view. It was a bit of a risky area to be in if he wanted time to himself. Students from Gekkoukan hung out there all the time, and he knew for a fact that Junpei frequented the area as well, for the food.

Minato could possibly seek refuge in Bookworms. Bunkichi and Mitsuko would let him hole himself away for however long he wanted, he knew. But they were frighteningly perceptive at times, for all of Bunkichi's feigned (and sometimes real) ignorance and Mitsuko's gentle politeness. If he wasn't careful, he felt they could even pry the truth of the Dark Hour from him simply by acting like the doting grandparent-figures they were.

…Yeah, he should probably stay away from there.

Still, he shuffled along, head bowed and keeping his gaze on his feet—one step and a time—as he thought. He felt like he needed a good scream. A place to just let it all out until he was exhausted enough to think clearly. Everything just felt jumbled and numb and he kind of wanted to lift the block so Tamamo could maybe give him a good smack upside the head and—

He walked straight into someone.

They barely budged, but he stumbled back a few steps, stunned.

"Sorry…" he began to say, only to fall embarrassingly silent when he saw just who he ran into.

Shinjiro Aragaki. The distinctive maroon pea coat was quite indicative even if Minato was only seeing him from behind.

The upperclassman turned, gray eyes narrowed under the rim of his beanie. His gaze flickered, looking him over in a deceptively disinterested way. When his mouth opened to speak, Minato braced himself to be chewed out. But what was said was something he hadn't really expected.

"You look like shit."

At a loss, Minato stared.

Shinjiro snorted. He looked unimpressed, but as he continued talking it became apparent it was less about Minato and more about what sounded like his fellow SEES members. "The hell're they doing? Running you ragged? You look like death warmed over."

At that, Minato winced. Death. Not exactly his word of the day. Still, it wasn't his friends' fault that he wasn't looking so hot. He opened his mouth to defend them, but before a word could escape, he was interrupted by the sound of his stomach growling. His face grew warm when Shinjiro sent him a dull look. "…Sorry?"

Rolling his eyes, Shinjiro turned around again and began stalking away. Minato took a moment to berate his stomach for its poor timing (and himself for forgetting to eat earlier) before jumping when the older boy called, "Hurry up. I ain't got all day."

"What?" Minato asked, looking up in surprise.

The space between them had grown significantly, but not so much that it was possible for him to mistake who Shinjiro was addressing. As if to emphasize this, the older boy scowled at him. "Just get over here already."

Figuring it was best for his safety to just go along, Minato all but scampered after him, keeping a respectful distance but staying close enough to assure the fact that he was following dutifully.

Shinjiro took off again without a word, long legs leading them in the direction of Iwatodai Station. He walked purposefully enough that anyone in his way quickly got out, and his perpetual glower kept anyone from looking too closely and noticing his unusual tagalong. Minato, on his part, could do nothing but continue to follow, confused as to what his delinquent upperclassman had in mind.

(It would be sometime much later that he would look back and consider it to have been one of the best decisions he'd ever made.)