Crystallization

by Ways

Following the events of Ozymandius, Walter White leaves his former life behind to start a new one in Japan. Now under the alias, Garrison Grey, he leads a normal life at Gekoukan High until the cancer catches up to him. But when he finds himself in the Dark Hour and awakens to the power of Persona, he must now work as a member of SEES and climb Tartarus. Collection of Oneshots.

1. Recollection Under the Moonlight

The reason that this fic exists is because I am the pinnacle of human garbage.
Hello, everybody welcome to another fanfic. So… I saw the one video by The UI Maestro who did a Persona 3 Reload Trailer for Walter White. It is the funniest thing and I highly recommend it.
I finished Breaking Bad for the first time like a week before seeing said trailer and it was still very much in my thoughts and I entertained writing fics but decided against it. Then that video came out and my dumbass started getting ideas of how this would work and all of them were serious lol. I am in P3 brainrot and I am in Breaking Bad brainrot. It was inevitable.
This fic is the result of that but I think the idea is still kinda nice despite how kinda silly it is. So with that said, enjoy whatever this is…

Summary: From loving family man to a Cancer victim with not a lot of time left to a drug kingpin to a man who had lost it all. Walter White had truly lived. Now a member of SEES with not much left to live, Walter reflects on his introduction to the group, relationship with the kids and has a heart to heart with Makoto Yuki.

Recollection Under the Ethereal Moonlight

Walter Hartwell White was a lot of things. He was a teacher, a husband and a father to what was once a loving family, the kingpin of a drug empire… And now… He was a member of S.E.E.S., a group dedicated to eliminating a supernatural hour that appears between one day and the next. Truly, not bad for someone who a little under two years ago was told that he had only a few months left to live.

He was on the rooftop of Iwatodai Dorm now, a glass of alcohol in hand, sloshing about and reflecting the glistening moon with its ethereal green glow. It was The Dark Hour yet again, but they all had decided not to go to Tartarus with the kids' midterms coming up. Mitsuru was the one that insisted on it and when the likes of Junpei and Akihiko were about to protest, he had hit them with what the kids had jokingly been referring to as the famous Heisenberg glare: capable of scaring drug lords and shadows all the same.

He took a sip of his drink as he recalled the moments that lead up to him sitting alone on this rooftop now. How he had done everything that he had over the course of nearly a year, how he had built his empire and lost it all, how that fateful day in the desert with Hank brought him back to his home where… he- he did things that he had regretted… How he had called Saul to call his guy and how Ed made him disappear. How he had brought him to Japan, Tatsume Port Island to start over as Mr. Garrison Grey and hopefully put Walter White behind him, how he had started teaching Chemistry at Gekkoukan High and how shortly afterwards he had discovered The Dark Hour and wandered into Tartarus.

SEES, which had consisted of Makoto, Yukari, Junpei, Mitsuru and Akihiko at the time and had run into him and after a mishap with a shadow, he had gotten his hands on an evoker and had awoken to his Persona. And to say things had gotten messy… would've been an understatement. It was then that his students had dragged him back to Iwatodai Dorm and gave him the rundown.

~Recollection Under the Ethereal Moonlight~

Akihiko roughly pushed him into the chair of the dorm and he groaned.

"Now just what do you think that you're doing to me, young man?" Walter glared directly at the white haired bruiser.

But he simply smirked. "Simply doing my job as a member of SEES. Now, why don't you start talking?"

Walter looked around at the children who all had varying expressions. Mitsuru, like Akihiko, had been furious at the sudden awakening of a new Persona user and a seemingly ruthless one at that when it came to disposing of shadows. Junpei seemed rather unsure of the rough treatment that the two had given him but when he eyed the young man he was quick to look away. Walter made a note of that about him. As for Yukari, she also looked rather apologetic.

And then there was Makoto Yuki who to his surprise he could not really get a read on. He had a rather bored expression about the whole ordeal and he didn't really like that. While it was true that it seemed that Mitsuru and Akihiko were running the show now when he saw those children get into battle it was Yuki that was calling the shots. His cool attitude and what seemed to be a vast multitude of these spirits… these… Personas…? He believed he had heard Junpei call them, gave him an edge against the others. In a lot of ways that unnerving calm reminded him of the likes of Mike or even… Gus Fring himself.

He really did seem to be full of surprises just like they were. But the likes of Mike, Gus, they were all tameable once he had all the cards in the deck, because he was smarter than them. And if he needed to face children, regardless of any seemingly magical abilities, all he had to do was wait and learn.

"Pay attention!" Mitsuru snapped at him.

Walter blinked and looked back to the Kirijo heir only to see that she had that rapier of hers drawn towards his face.

Despite his own rather disgruntled facade, he couldn't help but laugh at the girl. "What do you plan to do with that butter knife, Kirijo?"

He probably shouldn't have done so. He didn't have any weapons on him and yet, at this point he had faced far far worse dealing with his past company. And considering what they had seen him do, there really was little point in him hiding.

The girl flushed a little but still didn't waver. "I will do what I must if you prove to be an enemy to us. What were you doing in Tartarus?! How did you get ahold of Iori's evoker?! And who are you working for?!"

Junpei frowned. "Hey… Why don't we all just take it a little easy here okay? This is just Mr. Gray, our chemistry teacher. He wouldn't hurt us… right?"

"He took your evoker right out of your hands and used it to summon that freak of a Persona he's got." Akihiko pointed out. "You don't find that at least a little suspicious?"

"I mean, sure. But he saved us." Yukari added. "I mean, if he really was working against us, why would he do all of that?"

Mitsuru still kept her gaze firmly on Walter. "We have heard rumors of enemy Persona users working their way through Tartarus. These Revenge Requests that have been worked on. Who's to say that he is not the one carrying out these malicious demands? He could be notre adversaire!"

"Come on… Mr. Grey?" Junpei asked. "The guy could barely even hurt a fly."

"Listen to your friends, Mitsuru." Walter told her.

She didn't budge.

A moment of silence passed between them and she finally asked. "What do you think, Makoto?"

The young man, who Walter had been keeping an eye on throughout the encounter, who had said nothing but simply watch with his hands buried deep into his pockets, simply shrugged. "Beats me. Mr. Grey here looks like he's hiding something. But our mysterious other Persona users? I don't think it's that."

Walter frowned. What did he mean that he seemed to be hiding something? In what way could he possibly have deduced that Walter had anything at all to hide. But he simply chuckled. "I'm an open book. Ask me anything."

The group all looked at one another, but it seemed that they all agreed with Yuki.

"How about we start by putting our weapons away and having a conversation like civilized adults?" A kindly yet familiar voice said from the end of the room.

All of them turned to see none other than Shuji Ikutsuki walk into the room, ever present kind smile on his face.

"Chairman?!" Mitsuru paled at the sight of the man.

Even Walter was surprised by the man. "Shuji?" The hell was his boss doing here?

Junpei had to hold back a chuckle only for Yukari to elbow him in the gut.

Ikutsuki ignored this and looked to Mitsuru. "What do you say, Mitsuru?"

She looked between Walter and Ikutsuki. Walt, who was still wearing a sly grin simply raised his eyebrows at her. She growled at this but slowly but surely… She put the blade away.

"Ah, good." Ikutsuki smiled. "Now… Garrison. What exactly were you doing in Tartarus at such a late hour?"

Walter frowned. "I still don't know what this Tartarus is, all I know is that after working late at night grading too many papers, I left the school when suddenly the moon turned green, people started turning into coffins and then… I turn around and that… tower had come out of the school."

"Oh? So this would be your first time experiencing The Dark Hour?"

"You people keep mentioning this dark hour and your Personas and even this mysterious SEES organization that you all seem to be a part of." Walter growled.

Ikutsuki chuckled. "Well… That's pretty simple. We are the Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad, our task is simple: to eliminate the Dark Hour through the use of our Personas."

"Personas?"

It was Junpei now who grinned. "Yeah! They're those ghosts that we summon using our evokers! The gun thingies that they give us."

Everyone turned their attention to Junpei. Ikutsuki and Makoto seemed amused at this antics while Yukari rolled her eyes, Akihiko's lips curved into the tiniest crack of a smile and Mitsuru's glare just turned to Junpei.

Despite himself, Walter couldn't help but chuckle. "I wish you were that intuitive in my class."

Chuckles ran around the group about that.

Good… Further ease the tension Walter thought.

"So… Let me get this straight… You all fight monsters using ghosts… these… these… Personas… that you have. To eliminate this Dark Hour?"

Akihiko was the one to speak up this time. "That time in between one day and the next where everything goes bump in the night. It's bad and we need to stop it."

"Yeah, that about sums it up." Ikutsuki noted.

Walter looked at the man again. "And you're using students for this…?"

Ikutsuki sighed. "Not particularly my choice, but it's our best option. Adults don't seem to be capable of wielding Personas… Or at least, so I thought but you… You seem to be one of a kind Mr. Grey…"

"I'm nothing special." He was quick to dismiss him.

Ikutsuki smiled still. "Perhaps, but that could always change. That Persona of yours is quite powerful from what the children are telling me, we could use a fighter like you by our side."

"You're going to let him join us?!" Mitsuru demanded. "Just like that?!"

"Sure, I don't see why not?" Ikutsuki shrugged. "Does anyone have a problem with him joining?"

"I think he'd be great." Junpei grinned.

Yukari sighed. "I mean… I guess so."

Makoto simply shrugged. "Sure, whatever."

Mitsuru's pleading eyes met Akihiko's, but the young man didn't really say much of anything to which she pursed her lips.

"So what have you Mr. Grey?" Ikutsuki asked. "Would you like to see what it would be like to be a part of SEES?"

The kids groaned.

"Just like that?" Walter asked, ignoring the terrible pun. "I thought you all didn't trust me after the incident with my Persona."

Ikutsuki simply laughed. "Well, I am your boss, so I'd say I've already done a suitable enough background check on you. So really I guess it's just up to you."

Everyone looked at him expectantly.

Whatever this Persona and Tartarus were, it presented an opportunity to him. An opportunity to rise to a type of power that could be greater than that of his previous empire. And perhaps he could use it to better prepare himself for his goals, to protect his family, get the money back and maybe even prolong his life. But like before, with his own dealings with meth, he had no idea how to move forward on his own. But this SEES group, between his boss Ikutsuki and these kids and their own experience with these abilities, it was clear to him that his best option was to follow their lead for the time being and look for his options to rise on his own when the time was right.

Walter smirked. "Let's get started."

~Recollection Under the Ethereal Moonlight~

Walt took another swig. Back then, it really was very simple. Use SEES for his own gain and then when the time was right, stab them in the back or simply dispose of them to take his place atop the throne of this other world, whatever form that it may take. That's all it had been.

But he never expected to care for the children… Not really. But it was over time that he knew that he started to take a liking to all of them in one way or another.

Yukari for her resourcefulness. The girl knew what she was doing both on the battlefield and in the school setting even if she didn't believe in herself much.

Akihiko for his general handling in a fight. The guy was just as reliable as one would imagine and he knew he could count on him. In a lot of ways, he kind of reminded him of Mike.

Mitsuru, much to his initial chagrin, was extraordinarily smart for her age, brilliant even. And while his own intellect butted heads with her's at first, the two came to an understanding that allowed them to become one of the greatest teams. The others, particularly Junpei, had said that when they would start scheming together that it was scary.

Fuuka was a gem amongst the rest. He initially didn't trust her and found her specific power in The Dark Hour to be rather intrusive on his own dealings. But when he learned to let her in, she found her to be uplifting in a way that he hadn't found anyone to be in a long time.

Aigis was a mechanical marvel, extraordinarily fascinating to him. When the kids came back from their little trip with the fully functional android, he wasn't sure what to think, especially with the way she stared at him so intently as if she were trying to read him. And then he saw her in battle, the thought crossed his mind as to whether or not she could be hacked and how he could potentially disable her core personality but leave her Persona intact to use on his side. But like the others, things changed and people changed. He was one of the few people who consistently understood her and to his surprise, she understood him to a degree too.

Koromaru was unlike any dog he had seen before. And at first, he found the notion of working with an animal in the same capacity that he was already working with children to be rather ridiculous. But there was no one more loyal than Koromaru, even when it was clear to the dog that Walter was not very fond of him he didn't hesitate to save his skin in Tartarus where Walter knew he would've left him. It was a few extra treats after that encounter that the dog would often be found sitting on his lap in the living room or at his feet in the dinning room when he was grading papers. The kids would make their jokes about it but he simply brushed it off as not even realizing Koromaru was there. Aigis knew though and made sure to share their relationship with the others even if he would deny it.

Ken was too young for all of this and it was him that really started the shift. He thought it would be easy to manipulate the child into doing what he wanted. After all, Brock had been easy to poison when he had met the child. How hard would it be to entice a child to join him or even dispose of him if he became a threat? A lot when the child really seemed to look up to you as a shining example of maturity and how he should be as an adult. He thought the admiration would be easier to deal with, but there were so many things that he felt needed corrected. Following his example was incorrect and he needed to make sure that the kid didn't fall down his path. No, Ken… I may make the shadows suffer but that doesn't mean you should do the same. No, Ken… Just because I often question Yuki does not mean you should do the same. No, Ken… You do not want to be like me. And yet, he continued to follow and looked up to him when he shouldn't have. Following him like a chick to its mother hen. He didn't know when he started trying to be a better role model for him, but he had reminded him so much of Junior at that age, that he just had to.

And as for Shinjiro… With his opposition to SEES he really thought that he could use him against them, lure him to his side and use this powerful Persona user to do his bidding. But it was ultimately Shinjiro that made him change the most after everything.

Junpei though… Junpei reminded him too much of Jesse. And at first, he thought that this was excellent, that he could use him in the same way. But then, he actually found himself starting to like the kid in the same way that he had started to like Jesse. And he wasn't particularly sure why, but his enthusiasm towards him ultimately felt infectious. And then when the boy was having issues, from his own ineptitude in comparison to that of Yuki to wanting relationship advice with that Strega girl… He couldn't be there for Jesse and Walter Junior certainly didn't want him now but at the very least, he could be there for Junpei.

And Yuki… Makoto truly was one of a kind. From his incredible ability to wield multiple personas, to just the way that he had with people it made him feel less like a child and more like a colleague that he could rely and trust in ways that he hadn't had in a long time. It took a long time to break down those walls of his, but Makoto was probably the one person in Tatsume Port Island who knew the most about him. The first to learn about his cancer, the only one to learn the true extent of his crimes after the truth had been revealed and the one that had stuck up for him when that truth had come out to the group and Mitsuru had been ready to gut him. When he had asked him later, he shrugged and simply told him that he was a bad person but that like his chemistry, he too had the ability to change. And they had only grown closer since then… Yuki, he really was…

He shook his head and smiled as he took yet another swig of the burning liquid. He was getting far too sentimental especially with the full moon still out.

Click

Walter turned his head towards the direction of the noise, to find a figure closing the door to the rooftop garden.

He let out a rough chuckle. Speak of the devil… He thought.

"Hey." Makoto nodded to him when he turned around to face him.

Walter shook his head. "Hey yourself. Aren't you supposed to be studying?"

Makoto shrugged. "Done a lot of that already, I'd say I'm ready."

"Are you sure?" Walter asked him.

The boy crossed over, hands stuffed in his pockets and leaning against the wall across from his fold out chair.

Walter, despite his slightly inebriated state, was ready to test him. "What happens to water at zero degrees celsius?"

"It freezes unless you apply the pressure necessary to keep it in a liquidus state."

"Why do most atoms usually have the same protons and electrons?"

"They don't. While they do in most equations for simplicity's sake, the removal or addition of either a proton or electron ionizes the atom."

"Name a way to produce aluminium oxide."

"Burning thermite. By burning the fuel, you oxidize the aluminium atoms within and create aluminium oxide chemical formula for which is Al2O3."

Walter pursed his lip while the boy looked rather uncaring at it all. But he finally gave in. "Very well, I gain you entry to the roof."

"If that's what you think is happening, then sure Mr. White." Makoto replied, his lips ever so slightly curled into a smile.

Walter couldn't but snicker at that. Kid was good, he gave him that.

And just as quickly as the conversation had begun the two had slipped back into silence. Makoto had always been the quiet type, not one of many words and he liked him that way. It made for a peacefulness in comparison to the rest of the children that he could appreciate and it left him to have his drink in peace as they were both bathed in the ethereal glow of The Dark Hour's moon.

It wasn't until he took a couple more swigs that Makoto finally spoke up.

"What's that like?"

Walter was confused for a moment before Makoto gestured towards the glass in his hand.

"This? Oh, well why don't you see for yourself?"

He held it out to him and Makoto raised an eyebrow in slight surprise. Walter was about to hand it to him and then really thought about what he was doing, giving alcohol to a 17 year old again.

And just as Makoto seemed to contemplate what he was going to do and reached out for it, Walter withdrew.

"When you're older…" He added.

Makoto simply shrugged. "Whatever."

Walter simply gave him a smirk and raised his glass in mock cheers before taking another swig. Makoto simply rolled his eyes.

"I almost thought you were the cool teacher."

"I am the cool teacher." Walter noted. "You think Ikutsuki or Toriumi would've considered that?"

"Yeah, but you still said no which makes you uncool." Makoto noted.

"Everybody's a critic." The old man sighed.

Makoto let out a snort at that.

Walter smiled too. "Besides, I don't think any one of your teachers can summon a Persona like Bacchus?"

"No, but Ikutsuki certainly wishes he could."

"All too true."

The two let out light chuckles at that and soon the conversation lulled again. Walter looked between the reflection of himself in the glass, the moon up high and the young boy just staring out without a care in the world it seemed.

But Makoto seemed to be chattier than usual tonight as he spoke up again. "You know… I'm actually surprised you're still here, Mr. White."

Walter turned to him. "What do you mean?"

Makoto shrugged. "I mean, guy like you shows up wielding one of the strongest Personas in the group, clearly up to something-"

"You never did tell me how you knew about that."

"You didn't fool me." He shrugged. "At the time I thought maybe you were the real leader of Strega or something. Wasn't expecting the whole murderer drug kingpin trying to hide in Japan thing, but hey. That's life sometimes isn't it?"

Walter chuckled. "I suppose it is."

"Still… For the longest time, I thought 'This guy is totally gonna jump us one day or try to take over Tartarus or something one of these days.'"

Walter chuckled. "I can't say the thought hasn't crossed my mind."

"Oh, I know." Makoto moved his hands from his pockets to across his chest. "For a while, we were all kinda wary about you. Powerful friend that could also be an enemy. Mitsuru yelled at me for a long while after I convinced her that chopping your head off wasn't a good idea."

"I can imagine."Walter paused and looked him in the eye. "I still wonder why you didn't let her."

"Same thing I said before, like the matter in your chemistry I think you can change and you have. And we're happy to have you on the team, even if you are The Great and Powerful: Heisenberg."

Walter chuckled again to which Yuki's lips curled up once more.

He was about to take another swig of his drink and then he saw his reflection in the glass, covered in the green of the dark hour, all of his scars and blemishes free to be seen by him in this time looking even more sickly under this light. He frowned at his appearance and put down the glass, looking ashamed.

"You kids don't deserve someone like me." Walter sighed.

Makoto nodded. "Yeah, you're right."

"I've done so many terrible things and you're just a bunch of kids. Don't deserve an old man like me getting in on your fun. Fighting shadows… Climbing Tartarus… A young man's game. Me? Powerful as I may be, I still can't run for all that long, not with the age and certainly not with the cancer."

"Yeah, you're right." Makoto nodded. "But we'll still have you anyway. Murders and drugs and all."

"My son though… He would have loved it here." Walter noted.

Makoto raised an eyebrow in surprise. They had known about the family that he had left behind as they were mentioned in the news report that Mitsuru had shown them all after the big reveal. But he had never mentioned them over the months that they had been operating as SEES and all of them, even when they were wary didn't think it was their place to ask. But here he was, mentioning his son. He wondered if it was the drinking. He hoped that he had enough courage and charm to navigate this conversation.

"Yeah?" He asked.

"Oh yeah." Walter nodded. "Average students by day? Fighting monsters with his super powers and friends that include cool guys like you and Junpei and Akihiko and pretty girls like Mitsuru, Yukari and Fuuka? It's right out of the comic books he would read as a kid." Walter chuckled.

Makoto chuckled. "When you put it that way, it does make the gig sound pretty nice."

"Oh yeah. And you all would've loved him."

"Is he anything like you?" Makoto asked.

Walter shook his head. "No… Nothing like me… Better. Kinder, much more free spirited. A lot like… Junpei actually… God, the two of them would've been the best of friends."

Makoto nodded. "I can see why you get along with him so well then."

"Yeah…" Walter sadly nodded. "He reminds me of him and somebody else I was once close to…"

Makoto paused for a moment, biting his lip and weighing his options. But he decided to go for it. "Pinkman? Your old partner?"

Walter sadly looked down at the glass, remembering the discussion with Jack and that fateful day in the desert.

"Yeah…" He choked out.

Makoto waited in silence for a moment, unsure of how to proceed. He figured that taking the topic off of this Pinkman fellow. They didn't know a lot about him either other than he was his partner and that Junpei seemed to remind him a lot of him. The subject had come up but it was always avoided. Apparently, Junpei knew a little about him, bringing up stories about go-karting and flies in the meth lab and the time spent getting closer in this empire. Still, he decided to get the subject off of Pinkman.

"Your son… What was his name?"

Walter didn't seem to miss a beat at that. "Walter Junior…" He smiled, but once again that frown came again. "Well… It used to be. He's been going by Flynn for quite some time now and after everything, I don't think he'll be wanting to use his real name ever again."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah…" Walter breathed out, just barely audible. But then he cleared his throat. "But that's in the past. And we're here and now and right now, we have to keep doing what we can to destroy The Dark Hour, right?"

Makoto nodded. "Right, Mr. White."

"So chin up." Walter said as he stood to his feet. At that, he lightly wobbled and Makoto was quick to help him.

"I don't-" And then Walter paused, looking at the young man who just wanted to give him help. His comrade on the battlefield and friend through all of this. "Th-thank you, Makoto."

Makoto simply nodded at him and together they made their way away from the folding chair and to the door back into the dorm.

At that, the moon shifted back into a pale white glow. The Dark Hour was officially over and Makoto felt as though he understood Walter White a little more.

Here I am finishing this oneshot and listening to Persona remixes at 2AM. What a world we live in.
Granted, I am gonna edit this when I wake up in the morning and not 2AM when I'm writing this A/N but still.
So… This ended up being a combination of a few different ideas I had for fics. Initially I wanted to write a fic where Walter talks about Junior under the moonlight. I realized I had to do some establishment work so that led to his initial introduction to SEES being included which I had intended to be a separate oneshot but I think it works better here tbh.

I might do that initial awakening as its own oneshot since I have a pretty good idea as to what it looked like. In addition, there are other ideas that I have and haven't mentioned in this fic that I might end up writing so I'm not entirely sure if this is the last we'll see of Walter White in Persona 3. Especially since I have an ending in mind.
In fact, with my Reload hype through the roof I might actually write a proper Persona 3 fic as well without this weird crossover in mind haha.
I hope I did well with characterizing both SEES and Walter White. Outside of like a few lines for Mitsuru and Akihiko in a joke fic, his is the first time I have written any of them and with Walter, he's at a very specific point in the story which I have extended. That year where he was in Alaska, instead he's here on Tatsume Port Island which is well… extraordinarily loaded which is why I feel this AU has far more stories that can be told and will be depending on my muse. This is another side project and not my main priority in terms of fanfiction.
But yeah, I hope you enjoyed me taking a meme way too seriously because that's literally what this lmfao. But in spite of that, I hope you all enjoyed it.
R&R