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An empty dorm on a stormy night had always been this eerily familiar void. For Mitsuru, who sat alone beside herself when she would rather be beside Akihiko, it was a cold reminder that despite two years having passed...nothing had changed. Would she always be this cold?

Akihiko had accepted her flimsy excuses about needing a cup of tea, and retired to bed without issue. Without her. That warmth that she had so enjoyed for the past few nights, warmth that had finally broken through the walls of ice she'd so thoroughly built around herself, was gone – and she was once again alone.

Maybe she should have looked in on Yukari. Her best friend had just accepted the fact that she'd been refusing to repair her broken heart, and been reunited with the part of her soul that would do something about it. She could surely use a friend right now. But Mitsuru was too afraid to expose herself to the radiant heat of unabashed love that Yukari had rediscovered. Not with this fortress of ice she lived in. Tonight, once again, there were only ghosts reflected in her teacup.

Mitsuru estimated that she had only spent around fifteen minutes hoping in vain that Akihiko would descend the stairs, having read between the lines and realizing she longed for his company after all. But he never showed, and so she efficiently switched to the ever-curious Shirogane, someone for whom affection was as alien as it was for Mitsuru herself. A kindred spirit, to be sure. More time passed, and Mitsuru was forced to admit to herself that this was not a problem she shared with the detective – at least, not one that Shirogane was even ready to acknowledge – and the stairs remained silent.

With no answers to be found at the bottom of her cup, Mitsuru retreated back into her high school bedroom and her high school isolation...both designed by her very own hand.

Akihiko did not press the issue the following day, which was a relief, but also a concern. Mitsuru knew that Akihiko was always a bundle of energy before a fight, and this fight in particular would not be easy for him. She really, really should have been there to calm his nerves.

"Not much farther to go now." Narukami was doing his best to maintain team morale. It didn't seem to be as effective as of late. "Looks like it's...Akihiko-san's floor? Chie, Teddie, you'll be on the team this time."

Satonaka began stretching. "Sorry, Master, but I'm gonna have to kick your Shadow's butt!"

"Shocky Akky's being put on ice!" added Teddie.

"Heh. Good luck," Akihiko replied – but there was no bravado behind his words. In fact, he seemed rather distracted. Mitsuru moved a bit closer and noticed a new emotion in his eyes: fear.

Akihiko, afraid?

No one else seemed to notice that anything was amiss as they continued. Most of them preferred to bury their apprehension in pointless babbling or nervous motion. The only person not fidgeting, oddly enough, was the one person who never remained at rest during a mission – Akihiko. He was uncannily calm, and it made the normally calm Mitsuru anxious in his stead just watching him. Simply standing in his orbit should have been making her hair stand on edge, but at this moment, she felt that he would have gladly turned around and went home rather than stay and fight. He was anticipating being broken, and it frightened Mitsuru more than anything to see the fight in him just vanish.

The green hue of the teleporter dissipated, and the seventh floor revealed itself to be...horrifying. It looked like Hiroshima after the atomic bomb had decimated everything in its path. Red. Black. Desolate. The skeletal remains of buildings stretched towards the angry sky, reaching for help that was never coming, their open doorways like mouths screaming in terror. Ash covered the ground, making the Persona-users cough as they trudged through it. Koromaru could not stop sneezing. Their eyes were watering so badly from the smoke that the Investigation Team decided to put on their TV World glasses. Even without her ice powers, Mitsuru felt like she was burning. This was Hell...and for Akihiko, this was home.

He stopped in front of a particularly charred building, one that appeared to have taken the brunt of the burning. A storm door, dented as if it had been rammed open, led out into a small courtyard. The corpse of a jungle gym leaned precariously before them, its bars rusted and melted into a twisted abomination resembling a gigantic dead spider. Beyond it, a crooked pole held one broken swing, twisting in the wind like a leaf.

"Was this a school?" they heard Amagi whispering. That's right...they didn't know. It wasn't something he was proud of, and he did not want their pity. He'd risen from these ashes like a phoenix, and made a name for himself to replace the one he'd lost. No one was to see the pain behind the power.

Beyond a collapsed wall, they could see piles of melted metal bed frames, dozens of them, too many for one small room and much too uncomfortable for the fragile little bodies that were undoubtedly packed like sardines into each one. Charred, shattered mirrors. Sinks filled with murky, watery sludge. Even in its prime, this place was cold and lonely.

"No," Shirogane had caught on. She stepped into the framework and onto scraps of burnt papers – papers that had pictures of children on them. "This was an orphanage."

The effect was immediate, with the Investigation Team (sans a confused Teddie) quickly putting the pieces together and murmuring amongst themselves. Though Akihiko's back was turned, his posture indicated that he was desperately trying to ignore them repeating the same lines he'd no doubt heard since childhood. Can you imagine having no family? How did he even go to school? Who took care of him when he was sick? What was it like, growing up in a place like this?

Teddie had wandered away from his friends, and was considering approaching Akihiko when Mitsuru stopped him. "He...he doesn't like to talk about it," she said quietly. "People tend to judge him harshly, and even now, it's difficult to move through society with such a stigma hanging over you."

But Teddie appeared to be even more unsettled as he looked from Akihiko to his own buoyant body. "No Pops?" he asked, his voice quavering. "No Mamamura (?) to make you little sandwiches shaped like bears?" (Mitsuru herself was confused, until she remembered that Teddie had been taken in by Yosuke Hanamura's family.) "Not even a Nana-chan to cuddle and play with? Akky was all alone?"

It took all the willpower Mitsuru had to not hug herself in despair. "He may have felt so."

"Teddie was all alone before Sensei and Chie-chan and Yosuke came." The animated eyes filled with tears. "Is Teddie a orhp...orphan?"

Oh.

None of them had ever stopped to ponder whether or not Shadows had a hierarchy. They'd believed them to be soulless creatures until meeting Teddie, who didn't appear to be the Shadow of any mortal, but his own independent entity. Would primordial Shadows be considered his "parents"? For one dark moment, Mitsuru considered telling him that Nyx was his mother, but that would have been opening up an entirely unwelcome can of worms no one wanted to address.

She was saved by Narukami coming up behind them. "But Teddie, you have a family," he began. "All those people you named? They all love you and want the best for you. They may not have been there in the beginning, but they'll be there for you in the end. That's what makes a family. It's more than blood-"

"Teddie doesn't have blood-" interrupted Teddie.

"-or muck or whatever runs through your veins," finished Yu. He ruffled the tuft of hair adorning Teddie's top half – the way a brother would. "Everyone has a family – and everyone deserves a chance at a good life." He allowed those words to fill the void surrounding them, silencing any doubts that lingered among them with the authority of a leader. The murmuring stopped.

"Until you dump one for the other," a gruff, angry voice added.

Oh, no. No, no, no. Mitsuru knew this voice as sure as she knew her own. She turned to Akihiko, only to find him already smirking ruefully at the voice he'd apparently triggered by picking up some burnt material from the ashy floor. After staring at it longingly (?), he laughed.

"Come on out, you bastard," he said.

And the sneering visage of Shinjiro Aragaki emerged from the darkness.

Against her better judgment, Mitsuru found herself moving closer. She knew that Akihiko truly loved Shinjiro as a brother. How cruel it was, to allow him a vision of this face he'd missed, twisted in pure hatred with those foul yellow eyes. Shinjiro, who had risked his life to awaken a Persona because he could not let his brother suffer alone. Who left SEES with the fear that he was becoming a monster and endangering his friends. Who returned to atone for his failures, only to sacrifice his life for a child.

She burned with anger at the audacity of this spectre.

"Well, look at world famous Aki," the mockery of Shinjiro sneered. "First class ticket around the world, living it up on Kirijo's blood money. Hey, that's fuckin' great!" He leaned closer as if he was imparting a precious secret. "You think them stewardesses know you slept with that damn rabbit until you were 13?" He laughed, though the lack of immediate protest from his lungs was nearly as jarring as his viciously grinning face.

Rabbit? Mitsuru took another look at the fabric Akihiko was now strangling and sure enough, she could just make out a shape that might have been an ear, and the remains of a stitched face. A stuffed animal? The pieces of this puzzle began clicking together, and the image emerging nearly broke her heart.

Shadow Shinjiro realized he had an audience. "Whatsa matter? Captain Protein never told you he was a worthless orphan? All your little fans didn't realize Gekkoukan's Golden Boy was just a polished turd? Yeah, feast your eyes on Akihiko's humble home! Six to a bed, and one hole in the ground they called a toilet. Far cry from a mansion, ain't it? You know, the last time you were too big for your britches, it was 'cause we found them in a trash can. Remember that? Did you tell your cold-hearted bed warmer your haute couture came from La Garbage?"

"Leave her out of this," Akihiko growled. Mitsuru froze.

But Shinjiro had spotted her, and his sneer grew to epic proportions. "Oh, no, not the Princess! What's she gonna do, continue to use you as a free stud service without telling you she loves you?"

So it did bother him.

"Face it, the moment you bagged the richest bitch in town, you forgot all about this. You forgot about us!"

Akihiko's face crumpled. "Us?"

Another Shadow appeared next to Shinjiro: a little girl who couldn't have been any older than Nanako Dojima. If the ragged clothing didn't make it abundantly clear who the child was, the resemblance to Akihiko certainly did.

The toy fell from Akihiko's hands. "Miki?" he gasped.

"Aki?" She moved like smoke, her voice wispy. "Where did you go? Why didn't you come back? I waited and waited...but you 'forgotted' me."

"No…!" Akihiko was openly sobbing now; a gut-wrenching wheezing, gasping noise.

"You used to protect me all the time...but you weren't there when I needed you. You don't 'member me like you used to – 'cause of her." Miki's voice grew louder as she spotted Mitsuru as well, a burning fury in her eyes. "You love her more than me!" she shrieked.

"N...no, M-Miki…"

"You're not my brother anymore! I...I hate you!"

This brought Akihiko to his knees, choking. He looked so broken, and it was all her fault. All she had to do was tell him how much he made her life worth living, and she couldn't even manage that. The family that he'd wished for all these years could have been possible with her help...but she was too cowardly to admit it, and hid behind her bank account. All the money in the world couldn't put the missing pieces of his heart back together again.

"Was it worth it, turning your back on everything you went through so you could pretend you had it made?" asked Shinjiro. "You really think that frigid bitch is going to announce to the whole entire world that she fucked a nobody?" His smile turned even more menacing. "Not that it was the first time. Still settling for secondhand goods, huh, Aki?"

The smile disappeared as Akihiko's fist collided with it.

Mitsuru spent the entirety of the Shadow battle locked in a war with herself. Akihiko sat just feet away from her, in pain. Pain she had no doubt caused. Should she try to approach him? He might never want to see her again after his subconscious reminded him of the past he'd shoved aside for her.

But why? She'd never asked him to! She didn't give him money because he had none of his own. She gave it to him because she wanted him to have it. Money had never warmed Mitsuru the way Akihiko did. She had more money than the Emperor – why would she care if Akihiko had any at all? Why should she hold onto it, when she could spend it on the man who made her so happy?

Of course, she knew the rest of the world didn't see it that way. Mitsuru had every available man on the planet clamoring for her hand, men with as much or even more money than she herself had. But...they didn't have a smile that lit up the Dark Hour. They weren't strong enough to hold her together when she fell apart.

Akihiko's love for her was priceless.

Mitsuru bent down and picked up the damaged stuffed rabbit. Even before being burned, it appeared to have been well-loved. Akihiko needed to know that he, too, had been well-loved even before he'd met her.

The tide had turned for the Persona-users in their battle, and Shadow Akihiko was "on the ropes", as they say. Akihiko seemed surprised when she approached him, like he'd forgotten she was also there. Seeing the rabbit in her outstretched hands seemed to spur him into action, and he got up just as his Shadow fell.

"It's not your fault," he said.

He'd said it to Mitsuru, but everyone turned to him. Even the Shadow.

"Yeah...I'm an orphan. Barely even five or six when our parents died, and we ended up in one of the worst orphanages this side of the river. Me and Miki...my sister. All we had were the clothes on our backs and each other." The others seemed conflicted. "Does that change anything?"

"No," Narukami replied immediately, once again looking to his friends as if daring them to challenge it.

"Not surprised that I walk upright, still have all my teeth, and can actually read?"

"N-no!" Satonaka was tearing up. "No, you know what? You're even cooler now, Master. You started at the bottom and climbed to the top in spite of everyone pushing you back down, just like the Dragon did in Trial of the Dragon!" The name meant nothing to Akihiko or Mitsuru, but Hanamura appeared to be rolling his eyes in a long-suffering manner.

"You hear that, Shinji? I'm an inspirational character." Akihiko chuckled. "It's either that, or an Untouchable. That's all I've ever heard for fifteen years now. 'You're so brave for attempting to walk among us! Here, have five hundred yen! Get yourself a flea bath!' I'm not trying to be a movie of the week, Chie. Sure, you're a fan of me now, but you'd have thought nothing of kicking me out of the way when I was a scrawny kid in hand-me-downs nobody wanted. So I decided no one needed to know any of that. It had nothing to do with Mitsuru. I made that decision long before I met her." He managed to give Mitsuru a small smile before turning back to the Shadows. "It just so happens that Mitsuru was the first person to know and not give a shit one way or another. I'm not fighting all these endless battles on my own anymore. I'm not powerless anymore. I wanted to get stronger for you...and with her help, I have." He looked down at the rabbit. "But I NEVER forgot where I came from. I never forgot, Miki. I just...didn't let anyone see me remembering. I know that I failed to protect you when you were alive, but I'm still fighting for you. I'm always fighting for you."

Miki had that same beautiful, scintillating smile as she tugged Shinjiro over to her brother and placed him and Akihiko in position like dolls at a tea party, both boys completely wrapped around her finger. Seeing Shinjiro forced to smile and apologize sincerely at a five-year-old's insistence was the funniest thing Mitsuru had witnessed all year.

As they coalesced into Caesar, however, a chill ran down her spine – and it appeared she wasn't alone. The orphanage and its surroundings faded away, and before them, a door appeared...and opened on its own.

Hell had frozen over.

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This was the second chapter I conceived after figuring out things with the Junpei chapter. With virtually nothing in canon about Miki, it's easy to project anything you want on her. All we really know is that she's Akihiko's sister, and she died in a fire. Apparently, "Sanada" isn't even their actual surname – they were both to be adopted – but their original name was both only reported in Japanese and lost to time, I guess. I'm just going with it because it's easier than nothing. Besides, they wanted to adopt her. Maybe they paid for a plaque or tombstone. Akihiko says in The Answer that he barely remembers his parents' faces, so maybe he forgot their names, too?

OOC is Serious Business. Akihiko is the guy who always wants to go-go-go, which is what makes it so heartbreaking after Shinji dies, and all his enthusiasm and will to fight just...leaches out of him.

The stuffed rabbit appears in FeMC's route when Akihiko buys her one as a present. It seems to be something he really wanted to give her, so I'd imagine it was similar to one Miki had.

I feel like Teddie would have had this past year to look at families, parents, and children and absorb the fact that these are things most people are fortunate enough to have, because loved ones fit into the overarching theme of "bonds" Persona 4 is built on. It may not have occurred to him that some people don't have families of their own, that families of choice exist and are all that others might have, and that blood doesn't always make a family. He knows Kanji's dad has died, that Naoto's only relative is her grandfather, and that Yu would rather live with his uncle and cousin than his parents, but someone having no family at all is new to him...and would hit home in a big way.