Disclaimer: Fate and Persona are owned by different companies and I hold no ownership and all that jazz.


5/10

The group trudged into Ann and Hakuno's apartment deciding to do some last minute studying. Akira seemed to be able to handle it, but Ryuji and Ann needed all the help they could get. Though… Ryuji seemed a bit more on edge about it than usual.

Hakuno was not exactly hyped up for the exams, but her previous life's knowledge aided her greatly, at least Math was fairly universal, as she pushed on… And gave some last minute tutoring to Ryuji, Akira and Ann.

She did her best when it came to Ann and Ryuji, Akira seemed to pick things up fairly fast at least… And it seemed that Morgana might help slightly.

Hakuno just pretended to ignore that, as long as they didn't get caught.

Though… she did hear a rumor that people thought that Morgana was there due to how loud his Meows were, most of the other students didn't care too much 'as it kept him out of trouble'.


"What was it like?" Ryuji asks her as they are packing up a serious look on his face.

"Hmm?"

"Your first kill?"

Hakuno dropped her books as they clattered helplessly to the floor.

"Ryuji!"

"I can't not ask her! We need to know!" Ryuji cried out.

"How do you know about that?" Hakuno barely managed to ask.

The four looked at each other as if waiting for another to speak up.

"You… have a Palace." Morgana the human cat spoke up in place of the others.

"I see…" Hakuno closed her eyes. In a way she expected to have one, from what Morgana had said she would fit the bill. She didn't think she was distorted but the other… Palace Rulers wouldn't also.

"Shinji… Matou." Hakuno whispered out, "He was only eight years old. I didn't find that out until he was dying though."

"Why the hell did you kill him?" Ryuji stood up, looked down on the now sitting Hakuno, she chose not to look at them and instead looked at the floor.

"One of your Cognitions said you killed people, left your world to ruin. Why?" Ann tried to sound sympathetic but Hakuno could tell that she had a slight tone of fear.

"I didn't have a choice."

"Course you did! You didn't have to join that sick game."

Hakuno stood as she yelled "I WAS BORN INTO IT! I WAS ONLY ONE WEEK OLD! IT WAS EITHER DIE OR BE KILLED!"

"There had to have been another way." Akira said.

"No… there wasn't. The Holy Grail War left no survivors. That's why I ended it."

"You… ended it?"

"My wish was for there to never be another Holy Grail War again. I killed and spat on their dreams so others couldn't be roped into a pointless battle."

"Then then the messed up part? Because I was a BUG the Moon Cell DELETED me."

"I only lived through a miracle. I was expecting to die."

Hakuno grabbed her books, "I am going, Ann" She pauses as she looks at her cousin hurt in both their eyes, "I need some time alone."

Hakuno couldn't face them, they didn't understand.


"Ryuji! What the heck!" Akira saw Ann was pissed.

"Come on Ann! The Will Seeds didn't show anything! Just other world shit! We needed to know."

"You came off like you were going to punch her!"

Akira rubbed his head as he listened to the two.

"You didn't even let her speak." Akira stated, "She lived in another world and we knew she was an AI."

"That doesn't change the fact that she killed people! Are we going to gloss over it?"

"Ryuji. Do you not remember our willingness to defeat Kamoshida at any cost?"

Ryuji looked hurt, "This isn't about him."

"I think it is." Ann said, "Hakuno didn't get to choose."

"She wasn't like us, she was born into an unfair game." Ann stated.

That sounded familiar…

"She wasn't even human… In a way wouldn't it be like a Shadow killing someone?" Akira slowly states.

"I… guess?" Ann was perplexed, "They.. are also fighting to live. Just like she was huh."

"Ryuji… if you had to choose, to kill Kamoshida or die, what would you do?" Akira asked slowly.

"I…dunno. A part of me says I wouldn't stoop so low… But if those are the only two options…"

"... As long as she isn't in a similar situation she shouldn't even think about killing. And she does seem like she regrets it."

"We… kind of messed up huh." Ryuji states which leads to Akira nodding.

Ryuji sat on the ground for a moment. "I guess I should apologize huh."

"I think we all should, give her some space and then hear her out."

"Hey… where is Morgana?"


Hakuno was taking a moment to get a fresh breath of air out of her hotel room when she heard rustling and the door to her neighbors opened.

A… Maid? Came out?

Hakuno watched as the Maid froze on seeing her, her twin tails appeared ragged and uniform looked unkempt. The maid made movements as if she was going to speak but seeing as Hakuno didn't say anything the maid just made slow steps away.

Her face… looked slightly familiar? Hakuno couldn't put a name to it as her mind was very distracted and she watched as the maid slowly and deliberately walked down the stairs farthest from her.

A small black blur approached and jumped up next to her. Hakuno instantly recognized him.

"Morgana, shouldn't you be with Akira and them?"

Morgana looked conflicted before placing a paw on her hand motioning them to go inside. "I want to hear your story, your whole story."

Hakuno looked down as she mumbled, "Alright."


"When I was made, I was made to be the best friend to Shinji Matou, for a part of the preliminaries to the Holy Grail war, it was based on a school. So it made hollow NPCs based off the dead to fit as background students to confuse the real Masters as it put a thin film over their memory."

Hakuno was sitting on her hotel's bed as Morgana sat on the table near her.

"I was dead. In the real world my body had Amnesia Syndrome, where your body would forget everything, even how to breathe.I wasn't dead yet though, I was in Cryo-Sleep. I have… no memories of my time on Earth. I was Shinji's friend. I… followed someone, another NPC who woke up as you can say."

"My Soul and Mind managed to find its way to me, somehow the Moon Cell, the Eye of God made the mistake of making me an NPC thinking me dead. And because of that my NPC body became more."

"I didn't know who I was, what I was doing, and then She answered. I was left on the ground, a gaping hole in my chest from a doll meant to serve as a test to summon a Heroic Spirit. I managed to call her out, my pleas were heard and Nero Claudius answered my summoning."

"Tell me about her."

"She was brave, fun and perhaps… my first love, though I didn't know anyone else but her really. She went on grand speeches and loved being appreciated. She saw me on the ground and thought me beautiful and as weak as I was, she valued beauty above all else and decided to fight alongside me, even if I weakened her greatly."

"Shinji thought it was a game, I mean who wouldn't? A contest where you upload yourself and fight in a Tournament for a wish? Sounds like a bad plot to an anime. At the end of the first week we fought, Me and Nero versus him and Francis Drake. We barely scraped a win. Then the walls rose to separate us, and his body was slowly deleted as he begged to live."

"And that was only the first week."

Morgana jumped to her side and patted her hand, "I understand… You were scared weren't you?"

Hakuno nodded as the tears came crashing down.

"Then… There was Dan and Robin… he pushed for me to keep fighting to find what I stood for. To honor the fallen by winning the war. He was the… closest thing to a Father Figure I had back then… Always about Chivalry and stood up for what he thought was always right. Even handicapping himself out of an easy win by stopping his Servant from assassinating me." Hakuno had begun petting Morgana at some point.

"After that… was Alice… She was a netghost, a girl who died but her Soul managed to sneak into the digital sea, she was a child who had Nursery Rhymes as her Servant… she was childish and just.. Wanted to play, she didn't know she was killing people. When… when she died she was happy to be truly free from everything…"

Hakuno's tears had slowed down, "You can stop if you want."

Hakuno could feel a severe headache coming down upon her as she revisited more and more memories.

Hakuno shook her head, "I… should say the rest. Atrium was how I obtained Tamamo-no-Mae he had her seduce me… it worked in a way," Hakuno let out a small chuckle, "I don't even know how I managed to save her… but without his Servant he was deleted from the Moon Cell without a proper fight. He was a lot like Kamoshida… from what Tamamo said."

"I managed to take down Julius… and his Assassin, he was a broken man… I offered him kindness once I learned how bad he was abused and that's when he first actually saw me as a person. He first thought I was an obstacle for his brother… but showing him a bit of kindness left him speechless and able to accept his death."

"Then… I killed my best Human friend. Rin Tohsaka. The one I told you about a few days ago…" Hakuno could remember her long black twin-tails, her hands on her hips as she stared into Hakuno's very Soul, "She… was a Tsundere through and through, she helped me numerous times… her and her Lancer Cu Chulainn she fought me with everything she had. Me, Tamamo, and Nero fought back. We respected each other, she was the better Wizard but we had numbers on our side. Even so, we barely won. Her last words to me were, 'I'm sure you will see a lot of smiles after the Holy Grail War so… enjoy them for me."

Hakuno could see the twin-tailed wizard, a calm smile on her face as her body was dissolving. Her eyes shone with brightness that she never could replicate as she was at peace with her death.

Hakuno took a breath. Then another as the memory faded. "Then I fought myself… remember when I said I was Mind and Soul? My Body… she faced it all alone with a Servant that I never could find any information about… He stood there as a protector, and didn't say a word. She wanted to live. I wanted to live. I still wish there was a way we could have both lived. But… The Holy Grail War left no survivors. I never wanted to watch them be deleted"Hakuno didn't notice that Morgana's tail froze slightly at the end of her rambling.

"My wish was for the Holy Grail War to end, that was it. Everyone else had lofty goals from world domination to saving the planet. I just… didn't want anyone else to go through what I did."

"Then… came Savior and his Master Twice, he had wanted endless War to push humanity. I wished for the Wars to stop, we fought. Tamamo held off waves of Enemy Programs and Saber had managed to face off against Buddha himself. And we won. He was afraid to enter the core… I was as well. But my wish pushed me on and then… I woke up here as a newborn."

Hakuno could feel Morgana brush up against her hands, "Your Palace… is of other timelines, ones where you died. We saw clips from your Will Seeds, it didn't explain what happened in your time."

Hakuno nodded slowly, "I just wanted to live… Be happy, have a happy life. Maybe find a wife or a husband. Just live with my family."

"You had it rough… But… you didn't actually kill them did you?"

"The Moon Cell deleted them… after I fought them. I did kill them."

"No you didn't, the Moon Cell did."

Hakuno shook her head, "Their blood is on my hands Morgana, I … didn't do the final blow but I put them in the spot of their death."

Morgana paced around the bottom of her bed. "Tomorrow is an exam and you should get some sleep."

Hakuno nodded as she laid down, Morgana curling up at her feet. She truly didn't expect the day to go like that.


5/11

Hakuno didn't sleep much last night, she shook her head as she snuck into their apartment and grabbed her uniform and left quickly before Ann was awake. She left a note explaining she will talk to all of them after school.

Morgana had jumped out of her bag when they arrived at Shujin.

Hakuno was already in her class as she attempted to stay calm as the exams began. It was history she can do this then… face the music when she gets home.


Hakuno had expected them to not accept her, to be yelled at, to get kicked out of their apartment, but… coming in through the front door to their apartment with all three of them patiently waiting was not really what she expected. All of them had heard her story from Morgana the loose lipped cat. She decided to explain the whole story in every detail she remembered.

She did gloss over Rin and Saber's Tantric Ritual though…

The forty nine days of life she had. The laughs, the deaths, everything she could remember, about them to have someone else know about their lives.

"In… a way we are similar." Akira piped up, confusing Hakuno.

"Us three have been abused by adults," Hakuno nodded, "And Morgana's memory was stolen, and you were forced to fight your friends and watch something else kill them."

Hakuno shook her head, "Their deaths are my fault, I wanted to live, they wanted to live. Except only one of us could."

"I don't want to ever kill again… and I don't want you guys to die either…" Hakuno had been thinking about it, then thought even more. A spark of resolve came from somewhere deep inside of her.

She might be able to help them.

"I want to see if my Code Casts still work… I know of one that should work, Hack it is a spell to stun and do light damage… It should also interfere with any electronics you would encounter. If we have any items that contain skill I might be able to awaken them as well… I don't think I could even have a Persona. I don't really want to Rebel against society, but I want to help make sure you guys stay safe."

The four looked at each other and she could tell they will have to think it over, "Just… think about it, I'm not a hero like you guys… but I will try to help. And if worse comes to it… I think I might be able to do something with my Command Seals as they seem to flare up in the Metaverse. But.. I do want to help Morgana as well."

Morgana nodded and smiled in such a human way, "Thank you Hakuno."

"I don't want you to join. I want you to stay here and be safe." Ann said slowly, "But… you have more battle experience then us we could use your advice."

"You guys haven't decided on your next target. Focus on the exams and we can figure it out later. Just… Please leave my Palace alone. I don't want anything to change.. Not yet."

They nodded as they all split up, Hakuno deciding to skip dinner and head for bed.

"I wonder.. How Futaba or Makoto would've reacted to my story." Hakuno let out a small chuckle as she laid face down, "Maybe one day… I can tell them..."


Author's Note: So like… this was going to take place after the Exams, but I feel like Ryuji wouldn't be able to not ask after finding the two of the three Will Seeds. And this chapter was more like a lore dump from my perspective. Things will be tense with the Thieves for a while, but Hakuno is going to try and help them anyway she can to show that she hopes to never have to kill again.

I'm going to have to replay the game again, I forgot most of the next two Palaces.
Luckily i just bought Royal for PC