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 sincerely apologize for the long wait for this chapter. Things have been… difficult this year. A close family member who has essentially been fighting cancer on and off throughout the years has taken a turn for the worst, and so my family (and thus myself as well) has been doing all in our power to ensure her comfort and to be around her as the prognosis has been quite dim… It's been years since I lost my mother to her own health issues, but watching another older female that I have looked up to all my life deteriorate in such a way has impacted me so greatly that I couldn't find the will to write for a long time.

Regardless, to those of you still willing to read this after all this time, thank you. I know it can be discouraging when it takes a very long time for another chapter to come up, but I will try my best to complete this story regardless of what reality throws my way.

Still, this chapter will be lackluster and short—I'd wanted to go through October 4th already, but the way the chapter ended up setting itself up ultimately made me cut it out for next time. Still, given the cropped chapter I was left with, I tried to mitigate that by adding an Extra regarding Symbiosis's involvement with Persona Q—specifically, there was a request regarding the Group Date Café scene, but I ended up mostly just using it as a frame. It probably falls a little flat, so I'm sorry about that, too. Regardless, on to the chapter!

Symbiosis

Chapter Thirty-Nine

"It appears you've made yourself quite the powerful friend," Elizabeth said.

Tamamo looked over her shoulder to where Pharos sat, resting against a lilac-tinged tree. He had a leaf in his hand, holding it in front of his face by its stem as he inspected it closely, as if it held all the secrets of the universe (or, knowing Pharos, humanity). She smiled. "Sometimes I wonder about that."

The Velvet Room attendant tilted her head ever so slightly, sitting right at the edge of the doorway that led into the Velvet Room. Her legs dangled over the abyss that separated it from the door in Minato's mind, swinging rhythmically. "So you deny you've made a bond?"

"Not at all." When Elizabeth only continued to stare, golden gaze expectant, Tamamo's smile widened even as she shook her head. "I guess it's just that I don't feel like I did anything."

Elizabeth's head tilted further, like an inquisitive cat, as she peered over Tamamo's shoulder at Pharos. Unable to help herself, Tamamo looked again, too. When the boy Death inevitably looked over, she smiled and wiggled her fingers in a wave. He smiled back—he was really getting good at them now—and lifted his own hand before standing with inhuman grace and wandering off. Though whether to give them some semblance of space or to chase some other curiosity of Minato's forest, she didn't know.

When Tamamo turned back around, she found Elizabeth's gaze locked on hers, indulgently amused.

"What?" She shifted self-consciously.

The attendant blinked, deliberate and slow, and said, "You've given him much more than you know, it seems."

The next day, Minato joined his fellow SEES members in the meeting room. Mitsuru had sent a message out that she wanted to see them, giving the time for them to meet to coincide with the time she estimated it would take her to return to the dorm from the hospital.

It was extremely short notice, but given the circumstances… Well. Minato wasn't surprised.

Neither was he surprised at Ken's lack of presence in the meeting room, nor how Mitsuru said nothing about it when she arrived.

"Unfortunately, due to medical concerns, Shinjiro will no longer be joining us in battle," she said almost as soon as she was seated.

Junpei looked startled at the suddenness of the statement. "In Tartarus and…?"

"Is his condition really bad?" Fuuka asked worriedly.

Sharp red eyes cut to Junpei first before trailing to Fuuka. "It isn't critical—" yet, Minato heard between the lines, "but the Persona suppressants he'd been taking have very debilitating side effects. Suffice to say, he has a long recovery ahead of him. Thus, to aid that recovery, he won't be on the field. At all." There was a split second pause then, just enough for her to purse her lips, no doubt keeping another expression from taking over her face. If Minato hadn't been looking at her right at that moment, he would have missed it entirely. "For either our sessions within Tartarus or during operations."

"Then…" Yukari began, expression uncertain. "What about Ken…?"

Mitsuru hesitated. "That…"

"Wouldn't it be better to take him off the field, too?" Junpei asked as he leaned forward, elbows on his knees, brows furrowed in concern. "I mean, yeah, it'd kind of suck to have two members out when we sorta just got them, but… the kid's stressed, ain't he? Last night was…" He grimaced and gave a little shudder that Minato couldn't tell was real or fake. "Yeesh. Y'know? Better not to push him while putting him in danger. He might explode. Er, again."

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but that's a good point, Stupei," Yukari murmured, voice subdued and almost absentminded, staring at her hands clasped tightly in her lap. And it was a testament to how serious the situation was that Junpei only sent her a dry look before facing forward again.

He understood where both were coming from, but Minato couldn't help but wonder if that were really true. In most cases, with… well, "normal" children, then he would agree that the idea of putting them on the front lines, regardless of their potential, was just asking for them to self-destruct.

But if he thought about it, Ken was… different. When he'd first joined, in the first training session in Tartarus that he was included on, Minato could admit that he'd found the younger boy a bit off. And while Minato could attribute some of that to Ken's goal of wanting power to achieve his revenge, Ken had acclimated almost seamlessly to the carnal world of the Dark Hour. Comparing his first foray into battle with, say, Minato's, Junpei's, or Yukari's… suffice to say, he'd taken to it like a duck to water, really.

"Minato-kun?"

Blinking, Minato dragged himself out of his thoughts to find Fuuka looking at him. A quick glance around told him that the others were staring, too, and he realized belatedly that that probably wasn't the first time they'd tried calling him.

"Sorry," he said, dipping his head. "What happened?"

Something about his question seemed to make Junpei ease back with his signature lazy grin. "Penny for your thoughts, man?"

"Any and all opinions on this would be appreciated," Mitsuru added solemnly.

Minato ducked his head, wondering how to put his thoughts into words. "Well…"

"Just say whatever you think should be said," was Tamamo's encouragement when he hesitated, drifting in from the back of his mind. "I… Something like this never happened in the timeline I remember, so I won't be much help. But honesty usually is the best policy." Even without seeing her, he could feel her smile—a wry and self-deprecating twist of her lips. "Even if I haven't been the best example for it."

With a slow breath, Minato set his shoulders and looked up again. He made deliberate eye contact with Mitsuru, flicking his gaze to the other SEES members in turn before saying, "I think Ken should be kept on the team." Then, like an afterthought, he added, "On the field, I mean."

Mitsuru blinked in honest surprise, but her expression was neutral. In comparison, Yukari was positively aghast in the corner of his eyes.

"Really?" Junpei asked, shocked.

Minato nodded. "Really."

"But…" Here, Junpei visibly fumbled with what to ask before eventually just spitting out, "Why?"

"Y—Yeah," Yukari added, still looking vaguely horrified. "He's just a kid, Minato-kun. You saw him last night! That's… It wouldn't be right to send him out when he's like that…"

"True," Minato agreed, which only seemed to baffle them more. "If he were like that in battle, unstable, then he'd only be more prone to being reckless, probably."

Mitsuru's eyes narrowed. "But…?"

"But he's not," Minato answered simply. He looked down again, going over everything he'd thought in the last few minutes, hours, days as he'd tried to work through and around the problem between Ken and Shinjiro. "He's good at compartmentalizing, I think. Even when I put him and Shinjiro on the team at the same time, he never showed any signs of wanting to stab Shinjiro in the back or something. He treated him like any other ally." He tilted his head. "His desire for revenge and want for power were related, but not interchangeable."

He sighed, but looked up once more to lend strength to his argument. "I think it'd be better to keep him on the field. If we kept him away from it, like putting him on house arrest or something… I think that'd be worse for him. At least having the fight ahead would keep him… occupied, I guess."

"It does appear it would be unwise to leave him alone at this time," Aigis stated with a slow blink of her eyes. Her gaze dropped to Koromaru when the shiba inu let out a series of barks. "He says, 'I agree. A cage will only make him restless enough to hurt himself'."

The additional support was nice, Minato concluded. Especially when it made both Junpei and Yukari sit back, expressions still troubled but more open.

"…I see," Mitsuru said, slow and with consideration. Then, she nodded. "In that case, for the time being Amada will continue to join us unless such a time comes that he's proven himself incapable of safely remaining on the field. Agreed?"

Minato, Aigis, and even Fuuka nodded with little hesitation while Koromaru barked his agreement. Yukari and Junpei were slower to concede, but eventually they did.

"All right." Mitsuru stood. "I need to head back to the hospital to check further on Shinjiro's status. In the meantime, please do your best to continue on as normal."

And then she left, straight-backed and head held high as usual, leaving the others to trickle out behind her. But as Minato lingered in the meeting room, wondering if he did the right thing, he heard Fuuka give a soft sigh.

"Poor Mitsuru-senpai…"

The time leading up to October passed quickly, September melting away with the last of the summer's warmth. Minato resented it. Resented time for dragging them all, perhaps not quite kicking and screaming, but certainly with enough reluctance to have made the days drag endlessly on had things been fair.

But, as with all things in life, nothing was fair and he found himself sitting in his room that Sunday on October 4th, considering his current roster of Personas over and over as he waited for night to come. There would be two Arcana Shadows to confront, Tamamo had informed him, and while the situation with Shinjiro and Ken was much better than what happened in her recollections (despite being unresolved still), Minato wanted to minimize the chances for things to go wrong as much as possible.

"Someone's knocking," his Other informed him, voice breaking through his internal muttering.

Sure enough, the sound registered in his head as soon as he realized what she'd said. He could have kicked himself for being so distracted, but chose instead to cross his room and open the door rather than keep whoever it was waiting longer than they'd already had to.

Ken stood on the other side.

For a moment, Minato could only stare (rather dumbly, he could imagine). In retrospect, he probably could have been forgiven for it—somewhat—given that the younger boy had so dedicatedly avoided everyone in the dorm since that fateful night. Furthermore, given his own involvement in Ken's little revelation, it was even more surprising that he'd come to Minato for anything.

Then again, as far as he knew, Minato hadn't planned out the confrontation and had only confided something private regarding their teammate without any clue as to how it would impact him…

Trying to manipulate people is exhausting, Minato thought tiredly. And terrifying. Why did we do this…?

"Because while actions often speak louder than words, words were still made for a reason," said Tamamo. She gave a small, mirthless laugh. "There is always more than one way to fight a battle—don't ever forget that. While it may seem cowardly and mean, this is one of them."

"I'm sorry to bother," Ken spoke up, drawing Minato from his thoughts. "But I…" He ducked his head, brow furrowing over dark eyes. "I just wanted to talk to someone before the mission tonight."

Minato blinked, but stepped aside to let Ken into his room. When the boy entered, he closed the door behind him and gestured for him to take a seat on his bed while Minato sat at his desk. "…What is it?"

Ken's eyes remained fixed on the floor, seemingly studying a pattern on the ground that Minato couldn't see. His hands, clasped in his lap, squeezed and loosened at sporadic intervals, betraying the mostly calm (if vaguely troubled) expression on his face.

Then, in a plaintive tone, he said, "I don't know what to do."

"What do you mean?" Minato asked—not gently, as to convey sympathy or pity, but in a way that he hoped was understanding. That he wasn't asking because he didn't comprehend, but that he wanted to hear it in Ken's own words.

Ken's shoulders lifted, hunched defensively, before he seemed to forcefully relax and let them fall into a neutral line again. It was quick enough to look like a shrug.

"You saw what happened… before," said the younger boy with a grimace. "He asked what I wanted him to do… and I… don't know." He fell quiet, looking at his hands. They clenched on his lap, bunching up the fabric of his uniform shorts. "I thought I'd still be angry." He looked up, dark eyes imploring. "I want to be angry. He killed her. Mom was all I had and he…"

Again, his voice died, words strangled into oblivion.

(There was a quiver in the back of Minato's mind, almost eclipsed by the sickly feeling of his own guilt thudding hard in his chest. It was such a small feeling that it was easy to miss, but Minato reached for it anyway. He felt his Other's hesitance, but she reached back before he could insist—before he could beg—and he took comfort in her steady warmth.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, and he could hear the words echo with the desperate mantra that he heard underscoring his own thoughts. "I'm sorry. I just want to help. I didn't mean to hurt you. I'm sorry.")

"But when he asked," Ken eventually continued, voice cracking, "I couldn't think. Why is this so hard?"

Minato kept eye contact even as he slowly shook his head. "I doubt it would have ever been easy, Ken. No matter what you say, no matter what you choose in the end, you'll probably be thinking about this for a long time."

Ken sighed, and when he lowered his gaze it was easy to see how exhausted he was. Regardless of his earlier convictions and determination to see his revenge through, the problem plagued him more than he'd realized. Up until now, anyway.

Unbidden, Minato found himself thinking back to that terrible summer week, when he'd shut Tamamo out and just about broke his own mind trying to figure out what to feel.

("I'm sorry.")

"…What would you choose?" Ken asked.

"To be honest? I don't know." He shifted in his seat. "Maybe I'd just try to move on as best as I can since that's how I've learned to deal with a lot of things. But that would be my choice. This is something you have to choose for yourself."

"I see…"

That wasn't good enough, Minato knew. He tried to think of what else to say, even though he really didn't think he had a right to give Ken advice. "…It is okay, you know. To still be so conflicted about it. Don't feel like you have to rush to figure out an answer. Working through it slowly is good." And then he blinked, realizing that he was rather stuck in the exact same position as Ken. A reluctant chuckle escaped him at that. "In a lot of ways, I'm still dealing with the fallout of my own parents' deaths, too, so I can relate."

Ken nodded slowly.

A quick glance at his clock reminded Minato of pressing events, and he leaned forward subconsciously as if to emphasize his next words. "This isn't to belittle you, but tell me honestly: do you think you'll be okay with fighting tonight? Don't think about anything else, don't think about what you might feel in the future—just focus on yourself and how you feel right now. Could you still fight?"

Surprise glimmered in dark, doe eyes before the young boy schooled his expression. He pressed his lips into a grim line as he thought.

"…Yes," he said eventually. "I… I know I'm just a kid… but… I can still fight. Honest."

Minato searched his gaze for any hint of a lie, any trace of bravado. Finding none, he nodded. "All right then. I believe you." He tilted his head. "And for the record, I don't think you're 'just' anything. You're a lot braver and stronger than I was when I was your age, that's for sure."

This brought a halfhearted smile to Ken's face.

It was a weak attempt, just barely there, but Minato felt gratified to see it regardless.

EXTRA

Given everything that'd happened to him in the past half a year or so, it actually wasn't all that often that Minato believed his life was the product of some cosmic joke. Sometimes, though, he really wondered.

Like now.

"Just so you know, I will laugh ourselves absolutely sick if he gets you."

You're going to laugh us sick no matter what outcome happens, Minato thought as dryly as he could, though he couldn't help the smirk that gradually dragged its way across his face at the giddy feeling building up in the back of his mind. If any of the combined forces of Persona users saw this and thought him weird for it, well, none of them said it aloud.

Tamamo snickered. "Yeah, probably."

He blamed Elizabeth, really.

With tensions running high in the SEES dormitory from the recent meltdown, Minato had decided to risk his health to the typhoon just to get away from it all for an hour or two. He'd been so desperate that, when Elizabeth called to inform him of something strange occurring that required his attention, he'd actually felt relieved to answer the summons. Even when Tamamo had not known what was going on, which would have sent alarm bells off any other time.

But then one thing led to another and SEES was sucked into some pocket universe and Minato couldn't help but think that maybe this was taking the term "escaping reality" a bit too far. At least Elizabeth had seen fit to drag the rest of his friends down the rabbit hole with him, which was a relief (well, other than for Shinjiro, since he really ought to be resting and healing—had she stolen him from the hospital or something?). Even if it was just to boss them around all together, sending them into a maze with only the notion of "helping the others already inside".

Despite the initial confusion, they'd gone in with grim purpose, reminded of Tartarus and the Lost Ones who'd occasionally wandered in. But what, or rather, who they met at the end instead of a bunch of innocent civilians was a shock.

"Persona users," he'd murmured. They'd quickly had to engage in battle, lending their support to the fighters already on the field, so he hadn't had the time for much else.

Tamamo had, though. "Oh god. Elizabeth, why…?"

The Investigation Team was what they called themselves, and they were so different from SEES that Minato felt disoriented seeing them side by side. They were all around the same age, but the sheer differences in personalities between them was astounding.

Even between himself and their leader, one Yu Narukami. Who was also (and wasn't this a shocker?) under a contract with Igor. A Wild Card, capable of summoning multiple Personas.

It… wasn't entirely so bad, though. With such a large group and the knowledge of someone else capable of leading in battle, Minato could safely abdicate the role without much fuss. Some members of SEES were a bit discomfited, used to his leadership, but they didn't argue his decision.

The Investigation Team had given him a few odd looks, but they were unsurprised. One—Yusuke? Yasuki?—commented that he'd seen it coming and had gotten a hasty elbow to the side, but Minato hadn't been bothered.

He'd actually been more interested in approaching a rather familiar-looking stranger, and it was only through prolonged scrutiny that the recognition kicked in. She'd borne his staring with silence and had looked up expectantly when he finally walked up to her.

"Naoto-chan?" he asked.

Something like relief crossed her face briefly and she nodded. "It's good to see you here, Minato-nii-san."

(Tamamo had noted the odd expression with curiosity, but let it go as the two cousins caught up.)

Ultimately, the two teams worked together swimmingly to accomplish their shared goal in returning home. Even the two outliers—the quirky Rei and moody Zen—slipped into the combined team dynamics with ease. A bridge that hadn't been truly necessary, but linked them all together nonetheless.

Tamamo watched it all with mixed feelings in the back of his head. She remembered a bit about this, she told him, but not a lot. Not enough. Just key points to give them a nudge in the right direction at times, but nowhere near the level of detail she recalled about his own adventures in Tartarus.

"W—Well, at least I'm pretty good at helping navigate you through the mazes!"

Minato conceded. You are pretty good at leading us to FOEs.

"Wha—! Don't be mean…!"

Now, in the latest maze they had to work through, Minato found himself waiting on the sidelines as Yu answered questions to find his perfect match… or something of that sort. He wasn't really paying attention, but Tamamo was. Enough to be building up to a laughing fit with each question that passed that Yu considered and answered with almost hilarious sincerity.

"This guy's a riot. Makes me wonder what his mindscape looks like and if it's as opposite of yours as I think it is."

Gonna try to mind hop? Minato thought dryly.

"Hmm~" Tamamo hummed, amusement clear. "Nah. I'm all cozy enough in your head. A nighttime forest suits me well and I imagine Yu's mind would be all bright, blunt truth. Probably a busy cityscape, too." She sent the impression of a dramatic shudder. "No thanks."

He smiled and shook his head (feeling a bit irrationally smug, but that was neither here nor there), tuning back in just in time for Yu's results to be announced. A spotlight shone out of nowhere and cast itself over the group before focusing on…

…

"AHAHAHAHAHAHA—"

Of course.