Disclaimer: Fate and Persona are owned by different companies, and I hold no ownership and all that jazz.
As I posted those two chapters at the same time, some might have missed that there was an actual chapter 56. I will keep that in mind for next time.
8/11
Haru's mind was groggy as she awoke in an unfamiliar bed in an unfamiliar room illuminated by a soft orange light, a soft snoring accompanied by the clicking of a keyboard.
Where was she? And why didn't she feel panicked?
"Where am I?" her eyes cleared slightly as she pushed herself so she could sit. A Western-styled bed. Her eyes could faintly see a telescope near a window, with the moonlight she could make out a… fox Horimono. She felt a slight shift beside her, a face hidden by Auburn Hair as a y-
It was Hakuno, most likely meaning it's her room… What time was it? Did the Change of Heart occur? And How will she explain she isn't home to her Father? He had to know something was wrong.
She felt in her pockets for her Cell Phone… but it appeared it wasn't there anymore.
A glance toward the source of light illuminated a… korpokkur? A tiny humanoid hunched with bright orange overly large headphones on her head-
Oh, it's Futaba.
Futaba groaned Hakuno's ancient computer was still throwing up this stupid blue screen. For a previous AI, she cared little about her dear compatriot, her prehistoric computer. She couldn't even figure out how the thing functioned when it was half broken.
Several fans didn't seem to work, a RAM stick wasn't even seated properly and the HDMI cable was plugged into the motherboard! All Hakuno did was shrug! Shrug!
I doubt it's seen any maintenance since I first built it but I wasn't expecting it to break down this fast…
Honestly, for as smart as she is Hakuno can be seriously airheaded. She was always a bit harsher on technology as well…
Her hands paused momentarily as something came to her, maybe cause in the 2030s tech is super resilient? Yeah, that makes sense, it was a fad like 15 years ago to make phones invincible. She did mention having that Portable Terminal thing tank a crossbow bolt and not be damaged.
That's another thing they need to work on, from what Hakuno mentioned that little device had more power than her mobile rig. Maybe enough to compete with her one at home, and seeing how she can hook up Necro to her laptop, she likes how her tech is the only things that work in the Metaverse other than the App, it should help her Persona.
Somehow. It'll probably only speed up her ability usage by 1%, but something from Hakuno's past that she liked that they might be able to make sounds like something she can get behind. Who knows, maybe with the weird Cognition abilities she ties into her Magic Items it can do other stuff too. The computer thrummed with life, she checked out the BIOS… everything seemed normal, they will have to get more fans for it in Akihabara soon…
She waved her hand as she felt Morgana's paw-
Morgana went home with Akira. They are at Hakuno and Ann's apartment.
"GAH!" She fell off Hakuno's chair with a loud thud. She faintly heard a door open in the distance as she scrambled underneath Hakuno's desk. Her head ached.
"I'm sorry!" Her mind races, but she knows this voice.
It's the Floof. Oh, now she felt bad as Haru had fallen back with her scrambling under the desk she had pushed the chair right into her.
The door slammed open, and a pale flickering light illuminated the room as Ann stood in the doorway a soft ball of light floating above her shoulder. Her eyes were wild as she held…
"Is that your whip?" It was kind of hot how she still had her whip on her, she watched as Ann's eyes slowly went down to her hand before dropping it.
"How do you have a ball of light on your shoulder?" Futaba nodded in tandem at the Floof's question, her mind was so focused on coming down from fear that she didn't even notice the magical ball of light.
"...Light?" Ann looked at her shoulder, and an expression of pure confusion flickered. "What the heck is this!?" A tiny flicker of blue cubes emerged from the bed, turning the small orb into blue sparks before fading to nothing.
"To..bright."
Hakuno rubbed her eyes as she yawned. "Did you sleep?" It was just early enough to interrupt her sleep, but too late to try and get some more sleep. The calming rain that beckoned her to sleep didn't help either.
Futaba froze, "Uh yeah, totally. Managed to change up my circadian clock on a dime!" Hakuno narrowed her eyes.
"Ok." Futaba was probably lying, hopefully, the small gremlin did get a few hours before tinkering with her computer. She should probably feel annoyed that she did it without asking… but if Futaba saw tech, she involved herself with tech.
She thrummed her fingers on the table, Ann had taken her apology well for popping her Will-o'-Wisp. At least that's how it appeared to her, she doubted it had been a spirit or fey she had summoned and was most likely closer to a ball of fire.
Hakuno shrugged as she bit into her pancake, Ann was really good at making pancakes… and anything sweet-related. Haru was sitting across the small table, the older teen looked at her phone nervously.
"Everything alright?"
The fluffy girl nodded, "I think? My Father either is upset or hasn't noticed I've been gone. He hasn't even texted me all night…"
Futaba perked up, "Oh I did that," She puffed out her chest, smirking, "I crashed Big Bang Burger's social media pages, and overloaded their site with tons of fake orders."
"No heavy topics at the table!" Ann brought out more pancakes and placed them on the table next to a fruit bowl. "Didn't know what you liked Haru, but everyone loves pancakes right?" Haru nodded robotically as they all enjoyed the meal in relative silence.
After cleanup, they moved to the living room.
"So…" A ball of light appeared above Ann and flashed briefly before fluttering off. "Morgana can teleport, Akira can make bullets… and I have a flashlight." Haru raised her hand slightly.
"Um… are they related to your Persona?" Hakuno watched as Ann's expression shifted as she felt a small frown on her face forming.
"No… um, Hakuno a little help?"
"I'm… from another world."
Haru's expression froze, "Excuse me?"
Hakuno watched Haru's expression as she told her story, at least the shortened version: Haru went from Confusion to Surprsied, to Worry, then ended at acceptance.
"Now… that was certainly interesting?" She didn't seem to believe her fully, Hakuno removed the glove that she now always wore showing Haru her Command Seal.
"This.. is my Command Seal, it is different than your connection to your Persona, a contract between two separate individuals instead of accepting a part of yourself. He can play the part of a Persona but he is different."
Ann kicked her leg, "Avenger is a part of you, seeing your Palace makes me think that at least. You get all scary about protecting your friends, remember you being an idiot trying to help Futaba? And don't you want revenge against the Moon Cell?" Hakuno didn't notice the gremlin's blush.
Huh.
She hadn't thought about it really.."Avenger is a spirit of Vengeance given form, he is not Edmond Dantes fully." That is something she had figured out over the time bonded with him, his distaste for his own story was a key point. He also responded better when she called him that. "A Heroic Spirit can be summoned at multiple points in their life, I believe Avenger was summoned at the peak of his Anger and Hatred. Like how you can summon Robin Hood as an Archer and get one of the many different versions of him… As for revenge…"
She still was unsure about her feelings towards the Eye of God, in a twisted way it could be argued it was a parent to her being born from the data it collected, but it had chained her to kill on Twice's orders.
But. It had given her a version of life and let her meet countless people that matter to her.
"I… Don't think I hate the Moon Cell." She sighed, "It was just doing its job… the Holy Grail War was started due to Twice's machinations..."
The trio of girls gave her various looks, she noticed a look shared between Futaba and Ann… she couldn't wrap her head around it.
Strange.
"Well… So…Magecraft?" Haru's question broke the unnerving silence, "Sounds fascinating!"
Hakuno nodded slowly, "It can be, but we shouldn't awaken your circuits yet, it will put you out of commission for the rest of the day."
"Unless you're Yusuke."
Hakuno nodded, "Unless you're Yusuke." The blue-haired boy was strangely resilient. "Are you surprised about me being from another world?"
Haru smiled softly at her, "Hakuno, your group has a talking cat, that goes into another world and has magical powers. At this point, you could tell me that a god was secretly a giant robot from space and I would believe you." Hakuno didn't feel like she should add that the Greek Gods in her world were giant space robots according to Tamamo.
Hakuno watched as the limo picked Haru up from the main road, they were hesitant to let her leave but if she stayed any longer then her Father might figure something out. They had managed to fix the damage Futaba had wracked onto their pages faster than expected.
Phantom Chat
Tricky&Kitty: How's Haru you three?
Hakunon: Tired, went back home to trick her Father.
Pirateboi: Like damn! She tossed a building on that thing! No wonder she's still tired. Somethin's botherin' me though, why did she collapse? Like, when we all awakened we were still movin' an' fighting afterward for a bit.
Hakunon: Maybe she used all of it at once?
MemeQueen: I didn't get a good look at her when she was awake, Necro wasn't able to read to much when she passed out.
Makoto: We will have to bring her to Mementos to do a check, we should give her time to rest though.
Catburglar: Yeah let her reach out to us.
Tricky&Kitty: Mona wants to know if she is joining us, I say yes.
ART: It would be up to her in the end correct? I am not opposed.
Makoto: As long as she can use her Persona it should be fine.
Catburglar: She's got my vote! I wonder if she will let me floof her hair…
MemeQueen: You should've asked when she was here!
Hakunon: It is her decision, however, if her Persona saps all her strength after a single attack it would be best for her not to join.
Tricky&Kitty: I'm sure that was a one-off thing, but yeah your right. We don't want her to get hurt.
Makoto: Then everyone agrees? Good. We will bring it up next time she wishes to talk about it. On to other matters…
Tricky&Kitty: Jabberwocky, should we be wary of it?
Hakunon: He was showing signs that he never did in the past and I would be unable to create the Vorpal Blade. In theory, he should fall if enough damage is dealt. However…
Catburglar: You wanna help him right?
Hakunon: If possible.
Art: That behemoth's way of fighting hid its intelligence, there were only split moments where I noticed a keen intellect for battle… I do wonder what will happen next time we meet.
Tricky&Kitty-Hakunon
Tricky&Kitty: Darts and Billiards?
Hakunon: Sure.
8/12
Hakuno stretched, her body popping as she glanced at her clock. She could still hear Ryuji and Futaba bickering over their mics, Ann was doing her best to keep the two focused on their objective while she was just pointing and clicking.
She didn't really understand if the game had a plot, but when Futaba just told her to shoot any of the many fungal-infested Zombies she at least understood how to do that. A thrum of her fingers for the split second she had to reload as her headset squeaked and two of her teammates fell to the horde.
"Hakuno Rez me!"
"How did you two even fall into that? It was clearly a pitfall!
And why are you two on the other side of the Map!?"
Not even counting the short amount of time it would take for her to resurrect Ryuji or Ann, she would herself fall victim to the horde if she went after them, it was inevitable now that half their team was down that they would lose on this round.
"Come on Tabs! The alien blaster is on this side!"
"... Flip the map around you idiot!"
"oh."
"I was wondering why it looked wrong! You got us killed for nothing!?"
"Sorry!"
Hakuno checked her phone as she exited the bookstore on Central Street, a slight nod as she was still on time. She felt a slight tug on her sleeve.
"What you got there Hakuno?" She glanced down at Caroline.
"A new book," She pulled out Ghost Encounters "We have an assignment to find a book in Japanese that was translated into English and try and find any difference in language used..."Akira had recommended the book, something about giving him guts.
He had a strange habit.
Caroline nodded, "You should tell me some of them… Justine is a sca-" A smack echoed, and the general public ignored them.
"What was that Caroline?" Caroline was crouching on the ground clutching her head Justine's stoic gaze staring down upon her, "Do I need to remind you about the first time the Inmate fused his Personas? The sounds you made that night when the Master left and we were in bed?"
"Shhhhhut up!" Caroline bounced to her feet a look of fury on the diminutive warden, "That wasn't crying you heard! I had allergies! Don't listen to her Seeker!" Hakuno sighed.
Her phone pinged, and she felt a presence approach from behind, the twins squeaked as they were pushed by someone who couldn't see them. "Hey, Taba." She turned around as the hacker was only a foot away, and couldn't see the twin's ire.
"Darn, I thought my sneak skill was high enough…" Hakuno watched as Futaba shivered, "Huh… what was that?"
"Caroline, don't." The young Warden had her baton, a cross look, and the anger of being ignored ingrained upon her diminutive form. "As… satisfying as it would be, the Hermit is important to the Inmate's journey."
Hakuno gave a nod; Hermit at least from the name alone fit Futaba closely. Hmm… she should talk to Mifune soon and speak to her about Tarot, at least to try and understand Akira's strange Mystic Eyes and what the Twins are linking to people. "Futaba, you ran into the twins."
Futaba made a surprised face, and looked left to right before settling on Caroline, "Sorry about that!" How did? Seeing the look in Hakuno's eyes Futaba shrugged, "One of them should be there…" Hakuno felt the world ripple slightly.
"Be more cautious Hermit. Continuing to ignore our presence is grounds for time in isolation." Hakuno popped Justine on her head with her newly purchased book.
"No threats."
Justine looked down, Caroline snickered, "Of course… it is, unbecoming of me to act on things that normal humans can not figure out." She bowed her head slightly, "I apologize for my transgressions."
Hakuno nodded, pulling out a Fruit Danish for the stoic warden who quickly began to eat, seeing Caroline's flustered pleading look Hakuno sighed, pulling out two Umaibō from her ring she gave one to each the 'Hermit' and the irritable warden.
"Futaba… do you mind if they join us?"
Futaba quickly devoured the snack, the twins looked at her in confusion, an emotion that Hakuno couldn't understand flashed on Futaba's face. "Sure…" Quickly she smiled, "If they can keep up that is!"
The twins looked offended, "Keep up? We will show you up!" Caroline's voice was certain… even if Justine looked uncertain.
Justine looked at her, "Will you inform the Inmate that our Guidance will be unavailable?" Hakuno gave a slight nod.
"To the arcade!" Futaba dashed forward, heading to the arcade, the twins quickly chasing after her.
Hakunon-Tricky&Kitty
Hakunon: Twins joining in Arcade.
Tricky&Kitty: Need help?
Hakunon: No, Justine asked me to inform you they won't be able to guide you today?
Tricky&Kitty: Thanks, I will keep it in mind.
"Oh Guinea pig~" A small paper cup was in his face, "Got a new formula, wanna give it a go?" He swallowed hard, it… why was it radioactive green?
He stifled a grimace as he quickly took it back, and for one glorious moment, nothing seemed to happen "Hey it ai-" He passed out.
Hakuno pressed her hand against Futaba's back, the poor hacker had frozen seeing the large crowd inside the Arcade. Hakuno ignored the snickering of Caroline and the slight conflicted look Justine gave the hacker.
"You sure you want to do this?"
Hakuno was all for helping her friend as long as she was ok with it. She felt a twinge of something she quashed down as Futaba jerkily nodded. "I-I handled the train! This is my zone!"
"Hermit! Hakuno! What… are all these things?" Caroline's eyes were glazed over as she watched a fighting game.
"I believe these are 'Video Games' Caroline, you control a tiny person trapped in a digital prison and force them to commit acts of aggression." …
In a way she was right.
Hakuno gave a small nod to her, Justine's eyes preened with happiness, "Huh… so that one's like you…" She faintly heard Futaba mumble. Hakuno did a slight shrug.
"Hakuno! Why isn't my character moving!" Caroline had found one of the few Dissidia cabinets that were luckily empty, her hand was pressing the buttons but..
Hakuno inserted a coin into the machine, the Warden gave her a slightly sheepish smile as Justine sat across from her, she sighed as she put another coin into the machine for Justine.
Futaba sat beside Justine, an unspoken challenge in Futaba's eyes. Hakuno felt a slight frown on her face… she had played Dissidia in the past…
Hakuno stood behind Caroline, "Caroline listen to me," She was still looking through the large array of characters but her ears perked up slightly, "Futaba's going to try and get Justine to pick characters that are fast, but if you go with this character…" Hakuno's hand rested on hers directing her to a large man in plate she gave a brief description of him and his playstyle to her, she saw Caroline's expression change from annoyance to thoughtful, then finally a smirk.
"Good thinking!"
Hakuno ran out of money quickly. She grumbled as Futaba and Justine looked down their noses at them as they had won the match.
Then they won again.
And again.
Hakuno's saving grace was that in a game of Gun About when Futaba and she played a round together, a player named 'King' crushed her. If she remembers right… King was the one who crushed her and Ryuji last time as well…
Justine smirked at Caroline, her large Jack O'Lantern plushy in her arms as tears faintly formed in the irritable warden's eyes. The look of betrayal in her eyes hurt her.
She slowly passed the losing Warden a keychain of the Onion Knight. A flicker of surprise in her eyes as she stuffed it into her pocket. "Well, that was fun!" Her mood took a 180, she puffed out her chest her former crestfallen state had quickly shattered, and Hakuno checked the time.
Tricky&Kitty-Hakunon-MemeQueen
Tricky&Kitty: Those Skytree tickets expire tonight, we shouldn't let them go to waste.
Hakuno paused she didn't have a plan tonight…
MemeQueen: I'm game!
Hakunon: I agree, me and Futaba will head over there now.
Tricky&Kitty: kk, cya in a minute, oh bring the twins.
Hakuno tilted her head slightly but shrugged.
"Do you two want to join us? We are heading to the Sky Tree after this…" The twins looked at each other.
"Akira will be there!" Futaba quickly answered, a slight… pink? On her cheeks, "So you know, you two don't gotta worry about him!"
That seemed to work them over, "He did promise to take us to the present-day Tower of Babel… Very well, lead us."
Author's Note: Sorry for the late posting! And weird Day posting! I'll try to get the next chapter out sooner!