"Train service today is significantly delayed."
I was back. The beginning again.
"We sincerely apologize."
I didn't open my eyes. Choosing instead to allow silent rage to take over my senses. Simmering just beneath the surface. Chance five. My fifth time.
Dying, that is.
The announcement never changes. The second time Philemon brought me back, I had tried to find out why the train was so delayed. Someone had jumped onto the track. They'd had to shoo the train onto the maintenance track before it could continue. It was probably not much fun for the driver, who had to stay on the train and look at bloody windshield for a good ten minutes.
The whole even felt oddly symbolic, really. The human urge to die had brought Nyx here, and that poor guy was just -no, never 'just'- a prelude.
I felt sleepy. Anytime I was brought back, I'd end up sleepy. Elizabeth said it was probably the strain on my mind. I shifted against the fuzzy pillow I was resting my head on, nuzzling it cattishly.
I froze.
I was on the train. No fuzz here. No sir.
What the heck?
My eyes shot open and my neck snapped up to get a better look.
Pale. She was pale. Her hair was platinum blonde - almost white, and her eyes had a naturally condescending glower that I was certain was permanently affixed to her face.
"Finally awake, huh?" She said, "Then get the hell off me." I felt her shimmy her shoulder, and I, stunned as pelican in a bikini, obliging moved away from her.
"Huh?" I said, no doubt the hard earned result of Mitsuru's speech lessons that I didn't simply scream.
"I would've thrown you off earlier, but farm girl lectured me." She scowled, dusting her shoulder - the one I'd been resting on a moment ago - off, as if removing dirt and grime from a long days work. "Something about 'unladylike' behavior."
"Farm girl, … who?"
She turn her head from her shoulder to glare at me, "You don't need to know."
Yes? I do? Please tell me?
Before I could annunciate these thoughts, her glare garnered an even fiercer look. Her fists tightened, grasping at thick black pants.
"Fine." She gritted out, "We'll do it your way, Caster." She thrust her hand out , inches away from my face, "You can call me Jalter."
Jalter and Caster? Some kind of code name, maybe? Farm girl was obviously just an insult, but whether she and Caster were the same was up in the air.
"Have you noticed anything odd going on around here?" Jalter's asked, eyes intent. She retracts her hand and belatedly, I realized I never shook it, "I'm trying to find an… important item."
"N-no?" I said, still trying to catch up to her mental pace.
"I told you that wouldn't work, 'vinci." She said. Again, speaking to the air. An earpiece maybe? "You should get demon girl over here already. She's an Avenger too, right?"
The trains brakes switched on.
"See? Even Rudolf agrees!" She shouted triumphantly.
The train came to a stop, cars lurching as the brakes halted a couple thousand tons of metal. Jalter blushed, pouting indignantly at something this ''vinci' had said.
"You know I don't get it when you talk like that, 'vinci"
I reached out, jostling her. This was the last stop for today anyways, since it needed to go to maintenance. She didn't seem to notice, too busy listening to whoever she was talking to. I dragged her off the train by the shoulder, not keen on staying to see the grumpy train conductor yell at us to get off.
"Fine. No demon girl, then." She said, irritation painting her voice and the odd, distracted way she followed along with the guidance of my hand, "And you're sure golden boy doesn't have something in his little vault to fix this?"
She threw one hand up, angrily grasping towards the heavens "Well tell him I said he's a cuntbag!"
We passed through the streets quite loudly, garnering stares and whispers that flew easily over Jalters head.
The clock struck twelve.
I deftly maneuvered around familiar puddles of blood that splotched the ground. Careful to avoid the uncomfortable, terrible feeling of bloody socks.
My passenger didn't seem to notice this, either. Instead she continued spewing some long string of insults at the so called 'golden boy'. Perhaps a prodigy of whatever organization she came from?
Suddenly, she stopped.
"What do you mean?" There was an itch in her voice, a touch of surprise. Like how that prick Junpei tended to sound twenty-four seven.
I was still mad at him, to be honest. Nyx was the only thing that caused me to go back to the start, and I had only reached them five times. One for each death.
I told him not to overextend.
Jerk.
I hadn't given myself much time yet to be mad at him, what with there being a whole ass woman added to the mix.
Things had changed in the past, obviously, whether I changed them or not, time never flowed quite the same. But there was never a new character. Whether I sent myself a few hours, days or months back or whether Nyx finished me herself.
I looked back at her, stil not quite processing what she was talking about. I needed more context.
"An influx of that energy? The one that keeps the other brats out?" She paused, looking around. A frown dragged her face, and I felt like I was watching a small glimpse of red hot humanity splash an otherwise black canvas.
"What the fuck?"
She looked at me, then back out to the various oddities of the dark hour. Her gaze turned upwards, and, even knowing what she was looking at, I felt my eyes follow hers.
Tartarus.
Backlit as always by the knowing moon.
"What the fuck?"
It was still crumbling into existence. Broken bits sprouting together into the familiar form of my five time grave.
It was always strange that Tartarus never changed. It was like an optical illusion. One with those repeating patterns that your brain doesn't quite process right. You eyes say it's different every time. No matter where you look. But your brain knows it's the same.
She looked back at me, bewildered, "You see that right?" She said, pointing out at Tartarus.
I nodded, "That's Tartarus. It comes out for an hour every night."
"You know when I asked if you'd seen anything odd?" She didn't wait for an answer, growling as she screeched, "In what world does this not count!"
"I didn't think you'd even see it." I defended, gesturing towards the coffins.
Her eyes followed my hand to the black coffin standing ominously over the streets, "You've gotta be kidding me."
"Nope."
"Fuck." She reached back, hand delving into her back pocket, "Pisses me off to say 'vinci was right, but…" pulling her hand back, she produced a sleek looking camera. "Hey, 'vinci, what kind of pictures do you want anyway? Am I looking for something specific? I'm not good with this kind of magic." She paused, "Magecraft, whatever."
Magic? Magecraft?
I turned, casting around the streets at the Dark Hours visage.
Was this magic?
Jalter's camera clicked, taking a picture of what was certain to be Tartarus, but I wasn't looking.
To be honest, I guess I'd never thought of Personas or the Tarot as 'magic'. It had just been life. The Darkhour was the same, just a part of my world.
I didn't know.
Done looking around, I returned to Avenge-
Ah.
"Where'd she go?"
Fuck!
"Jalter!"
I scanned the area. Nowhere.
I couldn't lose her, and without a Persona she'd be as good as dead before morning.
She was the only break I'd had so far. The only obvious change my resets had ever presented!
But..
I looked back, the beastly visage of Tartarus still hung round the taunting moons neck.
I knew where she was going, atleast.
'vinci/Caster :Da Vinci
Farm girl: Jeanne d'arc
Golden boy: Gilgamesh.
Fun fact: did you know Jalter can switch freely between Jalter and Berzerker. That's not super relevant here, because the idea is that (atleast for now) only Avengers can get into the singularity, but I did research on Jalter and I want to share.
Additional fun fact: Something primordially cathartic about telling Gilgamesh he's a cuntbag.