"... don't Know.."
"Won't wake… up."
I woke up to the sound of a voice. I groaned. My body felt like an invisible force was holding it down, and my limbs felt like lead. I looked around my room to see the door open and heard the voice of a worried woman talking to someone on the phone.
Is this the price of awakening my Persona? This is why the protagonist of every Persona game feels lethargic. I felt like passing out the moment I woke up, but I had a worried mother to comfort me.
"I feel like I did an extreme workout," I muttered as I tried to get out of bed.
"Mom!" I cried out to the woman on the phone.
I heard footsteps rushing toward my room. I saw a woman with brown hair, red eyes, and tear stains on her face. She looked like she'd been crying for a while. "Akira?! You're awake. I don't know what happened. I went to the room to wake you up, and you wouldn't wake up. I thought you had a coma and…" my mother rambled on, lost in her hysterical tirade.
I tried to use my strength to walk toward her and calm down. But it's taking more out of me than I thought.
"Akira!" My mom noticed I was trying to get up and quickly caught me before I fell. "I'm glad you're okay. But don't scare me like that. I thought I lost you," I weakly tried to comfort the brunette woman. She continued crying in my ear.
My father came home disheveled. My mom called him, and he came back home in a frenzy, checking up on his son and wife. After trying to calm my mother down from her hysteric state, he came to me and asked about what had happened.
"Mom tried to wake me up for school but found me unresponsive and thought I was in a coma. I woke up about 3 hours after my usual time," I explained in short answer.
"I see," he said, thinking while looking between me and the door. "Are you okay now?"
"I'm okay, but if it eases my mother's heart, we can see a doctor," I tried to reassure my father, but he looked upset, like he was choosing between a lesser evil.
"Okay, well, go see a doctor," he said, about to leave. Then he turned. "Also, don't tell your mother that you know about this. But she's pregnant," my eyebrows shot up. She wanted this to be kept secret and surprise you, but after today, I thought I'd tell you." That was all he said as he closed the door and went down to calm down a pregnant woman.
Now, I felt terrible for her through all that stress. I didn't know she was pregnant. If I had known that, I would've chosen a better time to awaken my persona and possibly waited until I made it to Gekkoukan High School. I slumped down on the sweaty bed, feeling regretful.
Don't feel bad, Akira. You didn't know. So it's not your fault.
The voice made me perk right out of my stupor. Because it sounded closer but farther than I remembered, it was my persona, Lucifer.
Hello?
Hello to you, Akira. I heard Lucifer speak in my head.
Wait, so you can talk to me without being summoned? I was confused because I wasn't all that sure about personas. I mean, I've played the games, but I thought personas weren't really sentient unless you were the main character because those are contracts, not your proper shadow self.
That could be true of games you've played, but this is real life. And I will admit the situation stumps me as well. I know I'm not a contracted persona but your shadow, who took on the form of Lucifer—an alter ego of the proper shadow. Perhaps this could be an anomaly of sorts I'm not aware of. Usually, I'm extremely powerful and can't be used under normal means. Although… I wouldn't exactly call this normal means. Lucifer rambled.
Can you explain that in simpler terms? I asked, genuinely confused.
Yes, I am Lucfier, but instead of the actual Lucifer, you know. It could be summed up as an aspect of the true Lucifer or a fragment you made into your shadow. He explained in a more digestible way.
I see. I pondered on the answer before a headache came my way again.
Anyway, I'll give you time to rest. We'll continue this conversation later. Until then, don't do anything reckless. His voice fainted out as sleep overtook me once again.