Why are we here?
To witness our failure.
Forgive us.
xxxx
The One Who Sat Upon the Throne frowned.
"Something has changed."
The most recent timeline...had borne witness to a power that they had not felt for a long time.
Not since the War in Heaven, as their adversaries had taken to calling it.
"LILITH was largely absent...and ADAM's power manifested in an unusual manner...but there was a third player on the board."
An intolerable turn of affairs. An unknown belligerent could very well undo everything...and the status quo, as wretched as it was, at least allowed for them to tinker, and experiment.
"What was the catalyst?"
They tried to gaze at the locus of power, yet couldn't; the unknown interloper was actually protecting the soul that power was tied to, keeping it safe from their influence!
"How inconsiderate of you."
The Usurper (for that's what they honestly were, and did not begrudge the title) gazed back, further and further; as the timeline wound down in preparation for the next, it would eventually become impossible to gaze inside of it, to determine what its parameters had been. This simply would not do.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity...they found a focal point: a fork in the proverbial road.
On one path, a certain soul — now bearing an irremovable mark — went on. On the other, there was another soul...who might go on to do much the same...?
"...ah. An unexpected boon."
Their gaze sharpened, and took in more details.
xxxx
/1999 A.D./
/Moonlight Bridge, Tatsumi Port Island, Japan/
It was a very unusual night, where the moon seemed...larger, than normal, and bearing a color that should not have been.
It was the result of an experiment that had been sabotaged; a massive collection of Shadows — the 'living' manifestation of humanity's subconscious emotions, desires, and passions — had splintered from their Core, running rampant and killing many. The sheer cognitive and metaphysical havoc that they wrought would give birth to a phenomenon known as the Dark Hour.
While the Kirijo Group ran damage control over their own mess, the Core had wandered about, listless and bewildered, yet undeniably powerful.
The One Who Sat Upon the Throne frowned.
"How interesting...this must be the origin of the facet known as Nyx...there are traces of Zeruel, and...Tabris? Fascinating."
An Anti-Shadow Weapon pursued, seeking to destroy that Core...as she had been created to do.
"An interesting permutation: a woman's soul, manifesting in the body of a machine...I wonder how common this sort of occurrence is?"
The Core — nay, the embodiment of Death itself! — meandered about the Moonlight Bridge. The Anti-Shadow Weapon pursued, and engaged in battle.
Even though the rest of Tatsumi Port Island had been driven into fear by the Kirijo Group's failed experiment, there were still people out and about.
The battle between Death and the Weapon had its first fatalities: a vehicle driving past them tried to swerve to avoid the crossfire, and flipped over. The two in the front seats died instantly (always, always, always) from the collision.
The back seats...held siblings. A brother, and a sister.
Sometimes, it was the brother that crawled out: injured, but alive.
The One Who Sat Upon the Throne growled.
"I can't see anymore details about that soul...what kind of devilry is protecting him?"
Sometimes, it was the sister that lived, instead.
The probability of who lived and who died...was rather close to fifty-fifty: equal to the flip of the proverbial coin. Heads for the boy, tails for the girl.
This time...it was tails.
"There...there."
xxxx
Time paused, and the One Who Sat Upon the Throne took a snapshot — physically, mentally, spiritually — of the entire world, in all its constants and variables. Now...it was time to make a decision.
"...I would hate to be wasteful...but this method could be the key...one soul would be worth it."
Thus, they reached into the Sea of Souls, plucking away one particular individual in a pseudorandom fashion. Not just any soul would do, alas; though they preferred to prune the undesirable wretches and monsters of humankind, the Potential of such individuals tended to be...limited. No; the Usurper had to select a soul who (speaking in terms of sheer honesty) bore not much in the way of 'importance', and yet had enough Potential that their sacrifice would result in more abundant metaphysical energy as a result.
"Marie Vincennes," they said aloud, peering at common elements within their Potential lives: an Evangelion Pilot (but one who never had anything to do with the conflicts that mattered), a young genius with a doctorate, associations with NERV and the CIA...yes, she would do nicely. "My sincerest gratitude for your payment of the toll."
With merciless precision, they unravelled her soul, ending her existence in its entirety; from that point forward, any iterations of her that manifested would merely be an unstable amalgamation of other people's metaphysical memories of who 'Marie Vincennes' had been...and nothing more than that.
They transformed her harvested Potential into that of the entire world, forcefully resetting the next timeline to the parameters that they had taken a snapshot of. This action would likely catch the attention of their adversaries...and yet there was little they could do about it. In all likelihood, those unfortunate fools would chalk this early reset up to a mere fit of capriciousness on the Usurper's part, and settle in for the long haul once more.
(How little did they know! Early resets were far from volatile actions, but had rather been a methodical tactic that had worked out quite well during the War in Heaven.)
"Just one more thing..."
They reached down, down, down...and slightly tweaked the soul of the sister who had survived the wreck. It would not result in a substantial or essential change (at least, not one that would be obvious, even to those who could analyze A.T. Fields)...but it would be enough to reclaim her with ease.
"Now...let us see if this seed will hold."
The One Who Sat Upon the Throne leaned back, and let events play out.
xxxx
From that point forward, the Weapon sealed Death inside the body of the sister who had survived.
The girl, now orphaned, would grow, and blossom. Unwittingly, the world and its denizens moved along familiar paths.
The girl, who went by the name of Minako Arisato, was drawn back to Tatsumi Port Island.
She learned of the Dark Hour, and gained the power of Persona.
The One Who Sat Upon the Throne watched with fascination as her soul received an irremovable mark, courtesy of the interlopers that still could not be perceived in their fullness. It would have been enough to drive the Usurper mad...had their handiwork not already reached far deeper into the girl's soul.
"What a pity for you, that I got to her first."
The world and its denizens did not seem to recognize that they had experienced a similar event before, so thorough had the Usurper's reset been.
Minako lived on, unknowing of the doom which awaited her...and yet she lived that year to the fullest: fighting and protecting; making friends and falling in love; struggling with loss and coming to accept her fate.
At the end of it all, she willingly became the Great Seal, destined to remain until the end of days...or so she had thought.
As the true souls of mankind passed on after death, the world was ripe to start over.
Alas, the One Who Sat Upon the Throne had their seed ready to be selected once more.
"Now...let us see if it works."
They plucked a random reprobate — one whose lives tended not to amount to much — from the Sea of Souls.
The last true human passed away; all souls were ready to begin living out the next timeline.
The reprobate's soul was pulled apart, and his Potential was enough to push the parameters into the desired configuration.
Reality gave way to the saved state of the Usurper's seed: once more, Minako Arisato had Death sealed inside of her, setting her onto an inevitable collision course with destiny.
The One Who Sat Upon the Throne could not help but grin.
"It worked. Now...now, I can experiment as I please."
But not now; a timeline so similar to the previous one might draw unwanted attention. A suspicious interloper might ruin everything.
So they reached into the Sea of Souls and pulled out another individual: one who appeared to be a rather worthless layabout, yet seemed to find himself in the midst of a lot of personal drama. Those shenanigans, however mundane they may have seemed, boiled with Potential. A perfect sacrifice for such an abrupt reset.
"Vincent Brooks," they muttered. "You have my thanks, for paying the toll."
And so they unravelled the man's soul, and used his Potential to forcefully reset the 'young' timeline to a completely random configuration. But they didn't much care; after all...they already had their foot in the proverbial door. It was only just a matter of time before the interlopers' secrets were fully unveiled.
"Now...let us see what I can learn from you...my dear Wild Card."
xxxx
ANOTHER SIDE, ANOTHER STORY
BUTTERFLY EFFECT
The Tale of Minako Arisato
xxxx
Another life, in another time.
Hamuko Arisato quietly walked along the sidewalk of Tokyo-3, with a little hop and a skip to her step. All in all, it was a pleasant day, with the sun shining brightly and warmly. It was hard to think, that prior to Second Impact, such perfectly consistent weather would have been rare.
Most people would've been bummed out by the fact that billions of people had died, but it wasn't anything she could fix or change. Might as well look for the incredibly rare silver lining!
(All the automated alerts in the world, telling people that a special state of emergency was in effect for the Tōkai region, wouldn't be enough to keep her from having her daily stroll!)
That's when alarms roared and Heavy Fighter Jet-VTOLs began to fly through the air, followed shortly by the sound of exploding missiles and loud bullets; that was a sign that it was time for her to get to the shelter!
(Sachiel promptly impaled a VTOL; with a burst of fire, the aerial combat vehicle exploded and fell, unceremoniously crushing Hamuko beneath its ruined bulk.)
"Not yet."
Another life, in another time.
Kotone Shiomi quietly walked along the reinforced mountain trail, with a little hop and a skip to her step. All in all, it was a pleasant day, despite the heavy downpour. The Rains of Matarael had been ongoing for weeks now, with no sign of it ever letting up. Even so, the part of Japan that she lived in was pretty mountainous, so there was still plenty of high ground to get to.
Most people would've been bummed out by the fact that most of the world had fallen victim to a supernatural flood, but it wasn't anything she could fix or change. Might as well look for the incredibly rare silver lining!
(Her parents had told her to stay inside, that nothing good would come of going out and about while it was still raining. Quite frankly, staying inside any longer would have made her go crazy.)
That's when she smelled the burning sensation from afar, well before it came within sight. No...the forecast had the acid bombs hitting only China today, why is Matarael attacking here-?!
A glob of acid exploded a few hundred feet above her, against the side of the mountain peak. There was a sudden shift beneath her feet, a great rumbling, and the silhouettes of nearby trees and boulders cracking and crashing-!
(Kotone perished beneath a landslide.)
"Not quite..."
Another life, in another time.
Runako Gekkou quietly walked along the sidewalk of Kyoto, with a little hop and a skip to her step. All in all, it was a pleasant day, despite the fact that it was the first day back to school for the second trimester. Summer vacation had been relatively fun, all things considered...but part of her had missed her rambunctious little pack of students.
And boy, this year's group of was a handful! Mitsuru Kirijo, Yukari Takeba, Junpei Iori, Akihiko Sanada, Shinjiro Aragaki, Yukiko Amagi, Rise Kujikawa, Yosuke Hanamura, and more: never had she seen so many elementary school students with such personality!
(Then again, that challenge was partly why she loved her job.)
She waited for the signal for pedestrians to cross; the school where she taught at was just a couple of blocks away now.
(Oh, how she had missed those little ankle-biting brats...so much so, that it sometimes felt...odd, at how easily most of her class had wormed their way into her heart.)
The green light chimed, and she began walking across the pavement-
Tires screeched. Horns blared loudly.
Impact the first. Impact the second. Silence. Darkness.
(Runako had been the victim of a drunk driver slamming into her; it was later determined from the autopsy that it had been the second impact — of her head crashing awkwardly against the pavement — that had killed her.)
The One Who Sat Upon the Throne nodded to themselves.
"...that should be enough distance in the space of memory. Time for another round."
xxxx
Another life, in another time. (One that should've been familiar, yet wasn't.)
Minako Arisato slumped back against the slide, her pout leaking into her voice; the pleasant September winds rustled the trees around the shrine playground, which was mercifully empty. Why? Because it allowed her to complain loudly. "And then Shinjiro-kun and Akihiko-kun got into it again over something completely stupid, and they nearly ruined dinner because of their bickering! Honestly, if Mitsuru-senpai weren't around to lay down the law, I might've strangled them by now."
"My word," remarked Theodore with a knowing chuckle, sitting upon a swing. "They sound...rather familiar. My sister and I can be equally contentious...sometimes. On occasion."
"Theo, no offense, but you're as contentious as a little puppy," joked Minako.
"...and are puppies fearsome creatures?" he asked without guile.
"...it depends on the breed," she relented.
"...then what kind of puppy am I, in the eyes of my Guest?"
Minako looked over at his profile, and thought about it. Really thought about it. "Well...I'd say a shiba inu, if we didn't already have Koromaru, and that wouldn't be fair to either of you...maybe a golden retriever? No wait, a corgi!"
Her Attendant smiled triumphantly. "Ah, I knew that I possessed the fierce aura of a mighty beast. I thank you for the compliment."
"...never change, Theo." Minako smiled warmly. (The mere sight of him on her first visit into the Velvet Room had elicited a smile that never quite went away. She didn't know why.) "Anyhow, you mentioned a sister...?"
"Ah. Yes. I believe you two would get along well...though, she's been absent as of late. I'm not sure why."
Minako had quickly learned not to ask too many questions about the Velvet Room, because it made life less complicated for her. (The less she talked about the Velvet Room at all, the better. She didn't know why she felt that way...but she did, with an almost protective zeal. But protective for whose sake? And from what?) "Well, maybe next time she's around..."
"...tell me, do you ever feel as if you've lived a certain life before?" inquired Theo, looking at her with an inquisitive gaze. (With those precious and lovely yellow eyes, no Minako, DOWN girl.) "I believe the feeling is called...dijon mustard?"
"I think you mean déjà vu," she corrected with a giggling snort. "Never heard it phrased that way before...I bet my friend Bebe would get a kick out of it."
"B-b-be that as it may," he stuttered, "I was just wondering if you ever...felt the same."
(This was an important answer.)
(Don't draw him in.)
(Keep him safe.)
(DON'T GET TOO CLOSE, OR THAT MONSTER WILL TRY AND GET HIM TOO-)
Minako shook her head. "Can't say that I have," she said, lying without knowing she lied.
"...very well," said Theo, a strangely disappointed look in his eyes.
"What, do you believe in reincarnation? Then again, given where you come from, maybe you've got an Igor's-eye view on that sort of thing..." Boy, wasn't that an odd thing to consider.
Theo smiled at her (though she couldn't quite ascertain his sadness and bewilderment), saying, "hmm...a very interesting question. Perhaps one we should leave for another time...but I believe it's time I return for the day."
(She would never get around to asking him again.)
The One Who Sat Upon the Throne hummed thoughtfully.
"My observations of your strange companion...they're becoming clearer. Very good."
Life continued on. The tragedies of October the 4th repeated; the betrayal of Shuji Ikutsuki ran its course; the fateful choice offered by Ryoji Mochizuki was made; finally, at long last, there was the climactic battle against Strega and Nyx's Avatar atop Tartarus.
This time, however, it ended in failure.
Minako gagged upon her own blood, which was...understandable, given the giant blade piercing her torso.
The skull-like face of Nyx's Avatar gazed down at her, with an almost...imperious expression.
xxxx
A slice of time and space, briefly isolated.
Through a small exercise of power, Nyx's Avatar could speak without coercion.
"...NO WONDER THIS FELT SO STRANGE."
They spoke with the voice of Thunder.
"THIS HAS HAPPENED BEFORE, WITH LITTLE IN THE WAY OF VARIANCES...BUT WHY?"
Their empty eyes gleamed with fury.
"THIS SMACKS OF MEDDLING. WHY CAN I NOT REMEMBER?"
But it was far too short.
xxxx
With a meaty rip, the monstrosity ripped the blade out of Minako, who gasped from the sudden pain.
She bled out in short order.
The One Who Sat Upon the Throne nodded to themselves.
"More knowledge of how your metaphysical bonds function...this could be useful. An excellent run, all things considered."
They waited until Nyx destroyed humanity...and then they reset the timeline once more.
xxxx
Over and over, unknowingly, the Usurper's Wild Card (usually Minako Arisato, sometimes Kotone Shiomi, occasionally Hamuko Arisato, rarely Runako Gekkou or some other name) relived the year of 2009 in Tatsumi Port Island.
Not always in sequence (because the same seed world used over and over would inevitably draw curious eyes)...but often enough to get some utility.
xxxx
Another life.
Minako's nose wrinkled as the old monk Mutatsu inhaled deeply of his cigar. "You know that smoking's bad for you, right?"
The bald man seemed amused by her comment. "Is that how you introduce yourself to your elders, you little punk? What were those employees thinkin', letting a high school student in...though, you did get me a good drink..." He chuckled bitterly. "Could it be that you prefer the vice of alcohol to vice of tobacco? A very mature decision to make for a kid your age."
She shrugged. "I have noticed the drunk people tend to be sloppily happy or exceedingly honest to the point of shamelessness...you know, if they're not the type of drunk to get angry. Smoking just seems to make people cough a lot. So...difference of utility, maybe?"
That actually made him laugh. "Hah! I like you. Go ahead and take a seat kid; havin' to look up at you is strainin' my neck."
She did so, and listened to him ramble.
(As ever, she would come to find that his gruff and harsh tones were a front, put up so that he didn't have to confront his failures honestly.)
(But she was persistent, and so he eventually caved. He always did.)
The One Who Sat Upon the Throne nodded to themselves.
"These...bonds...they seem to have their own internally consistent classification system. But what are the categories?"
More research would have to done.
xxxx
Another life.
Minako spun her naginata, cutting at the pudgy flesh of the shadowy Arcana Empress. "Junpei-kun, Akihiko-kun, NOW!"
The boys followed up with a flurry of elemental attacks against the towering Arcana Emperor; damage was done, but not to any lasting effect. "Damn it, my fire was working just a second ago...!" complained the cap-wearing boy.
"Please hold on, let me analyze it! I'll find its weakness!" exclaimed Fuuka Yamagishi, her voice somehow echoing out from within the confines of her Persona. How crazy, that this new girl had been able to summon a Persona!
(It wasn't strange at all.)
(You've seen this all before.)
(WHY CAN'T YOU REMEMBER.)
Well, Minako wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth. "I hear you, Yamagishi-chan! Junpei-kun, Akihiko-kun, regroup on me!"
The trio, fighting doubly hard — for Mitsuru and Yukari were down and out, unable to contribute — coordinated as best as they could.
It was enough to finally bring down the two Shadows of the Emperor and Empress Arcana.
The One Who Sat Upon the Throne paused, as one struck by an epiphany.
"...hmm...could it be tarot motifs, of all things?"
How bizarre. Yet, it was a path they had not yet considered before.
"...let us see where this takes us."
xxxx
Another life.
Minako quietly ate a midnight snack with Shinjiro Aragaki, who had been kind enough to prepare it at such a late hour.
Even as they chatted about random things, she couldn't help but ponder...and wonder...and tremble, because something was going to happen. She didn't know how she knew...but something bad was going to happen.
(It was only a few days until October the 4th.)
(It always happened on that day.)
(You can do something about it...even if it's only for a little while.)
"You've been awful quiet," murmured Shinjiro. "What's wrong?
Minako briefly considered being honest. There's something wrong with me; I have this horrible dread that I'm going to lose all of you, and have no idea why; you're going to die in a few days, and I think that you think that's okay. All that, and so much more. (His eyes were surprisingly kind. Why did you get close to him. You KNEW this was going to happen, yet you did it anyway.) Yet, her mouth couldn't possibly fit everything she wanted to say.
So naturally, she blurted out something at random. "I love you."
...that could've gone better.
"Huh?!" sputtered Shinjiro, his face flushing wildly. "D-don't tease me like that!"
Well, too late now. "You don't believe me?" Shinjiro hemmed and hawed, trying his best to distract her. She wasn't going to have any of it. "Won't you come to my room?"
"I-I can't do that," he hissed, trying not to let his voice crack from sheer embarrassment. "I mean, you're...well, people are gonna get the wrong idea."
"That just leaves your room then," she concluded with a matter-of-fact tone.
"Y...you moron..."
She stepped forward, staring straight into his eyes. She needed him to understand.
(They were both going to die soon.)
(If he has another reason...maybe that will give him the strength he needs.)
(And if not...well, you're doomed as well. Might as well make something out of yet another life.)
(You know this is going to happen again.)
Minako's inner turmoil, churning wildly without her knowledge, was masked by courage she couldn't even claim to feel. "I know what I'm saying."
Somehow, that was enough to make him crumble. "Idiot..."
Over the course of that night, they both came to understand their own desperation through their desires for each other.
It would not be enough to change the passage of fate.
Thus, mere days later, on the night of October the 4th: after blitzing through the Arcana Fortune and the Arcana Strength with a speed that surprised even her peers, Minako charged ahead of her comrades.
She made it just in time to take the bullet meant for Shinjiro.
The One Who Sat Upon the Throne observed with a detached air.
"Interesting...whether the relationship is platonic, familial, or romantic...the metaphysical bonds possess a similar strength once they have reached a natural peak."
They flipped through a few cards.
"Hmm. One would think that the romantic bond would belong to a greater hierarchy compared to the others..."
Curiouser and curiouser. It was useful data nonetheless.
xxxx
During those timelines between the experimental runs, the Usurper's Wild Card was relatively free to do what she wanted.
Unwittingly, she lived her life in a variety of ways, through a multitude of circumstances: some better, some poorer.
(On some level, there would always be a faint twinge in her chest whenever she encountered someone that she had possessed a Social Link with in another life.)
(But those greater memories were denied to her, and so she thought nothing of it.)
(WHY CAN'T YOU REMEMBER?)
(HOW MUCH LONGER WILL YOU BE THAT TYRANT'S PLAYTHING?!)
Yet, inevitably, she was always drawn back in, to repeat the process anew, to unknowingly give the Usurper greater insight into her nature as a Wild Card.
However...there was one life that did not go according to plan.
xxxx
Another life.
Minako Arisato grinned with a strange sense of giddiness as she escorted her Attendant throughout Paulownia Mall. Theodore's strange mannerisms were...oddly charming, even endearing.
Yet, as they moved throughout the proverbial shrine to commercialism, she couldn't help but glance at someone...who was watching them: a boy with blue hair and cool eyes, wearing the uniform of Gekkoukan's rival school, Hoshikan. He was sitting at the fountain...waiting. For something.
(He's someone new.)
(You haven't seen him before...have you?)
Right as Theo reached down to dip his hand into the fountain's waters, the boy grabbed his wrist with surprising quickness. "Pardon me?" he asked, confused.
"...do you know anyone named Elizabeth?" he quietly asked.
Theo seemed taken aback. "How do you know my sister-?"
Minako blinked, because the fact that her Attendant had a sister was news to her.
(It's not news to you. You knew this before.)
(But how does that boy know?)
(HOW DOES HE KNOW?)
xxxx
The One Who Sat Upon the Throne actually stood up with concern.
"Hmm...an interloper."
This soul felt familiar, somehow.
Alas, he seemed intent on interfering with their Wild Card's little playdate with the man in blue. That just would not do; they were so close to uncovering the means to entering that strange, velvety doorway!
"We can't have that."
xxxx
Minako suddenly gasped as the layabout Lost, those poor and unfortunate souls, arose with shocking ferocity. "What the-?!"
"Wait, something's wrong...!" exclaimed Theo.
The mob brushed past her and her Attendant, reaching for the strange boy and dunking him into the fountain. She watched with barely-constrained horror as they beat at him with their fists, and held him under all the while...!
"Stay back," growled Theo with a sudden fierceness. He stepped forward, striking at the Lost with moves more befitting a martial artist than a quirky resident of the Velvet Room. (Where had he been hiding this?)
Alas, by the time he had subdued the mob, the strange boy was already gone, having drowned to death. "What...what just happened...?" she murmured with quiet disbelief.
"...I'm not sure," quietly answered Theo, who was now in a very subdued mood.
(You can't forget this. This was different, which means it's important.)
(YOU CAN'T FORGET THIS!)
(She would forget this, eventually.)
(It was beyond her control.)
xxxx
The One Who Sat Upon the Throne stared at the soul of the young interloper.
"An interesting soul, you have..."
They had a sudden epiphany: this had been the original Wild Card, the one who had been the girl's deceased brother, so many timelines ago.
The Usurper's knowledge of the Wild Card had grown by leaps and bounds since then, which was why whatever protections the boy had over his essence were now insufficient to hide his identity.
On impulse, they tried to reach forward, to unveil the secrets his soul contained...only to be rebuffed by some unseen hand. The Usurper inwardly growled; how vexing!
"...but irrelevant, at this current stage," they were forced to admit.
The boy seemed to take offense at their words. "Do you know what's happening to me?" With sudden fury, he roared, "ARE YOU RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS?! ANSWER ME!"
The Usurper hummed thoughtfully; what an interesting reaction.
Was it possible that the continual resetting of the timeline kept this Wild Card separated from whomever his patron was? What a serendipitous find!
"Hmm...I will have to keep you in mind. But I can't have you interrupting."
Once they uncovered the full depths of Minako Arisato's Potential...then the key to greater understanding would finally be theirs. But that was for the future.
Thus did they wave their hand in a dismissive manner. "Begone."
"WAIT-!"
The boy's soul was unceremoniously discharged into the next timeline, to wait in proverbial limbo until he would manifest in his fullness.
The particular life chosen...might have been selected out of unnecessary pettiness, but if that boy truly remembered his past lives (and his words led to no other reasonable conclusion), then keeping him far away was the proper course of action. The latter days of the Second World War were as suitable as any.
"I truly apologize, boy; were it not for your unseen patron, you would have been mine long before now. You would have had a better purpose."
Alas, the Usurper was not God.
Not yet, anyway.
xxxx
And yet...and YET...
It was precisely because the Usurper was not God...that their foresight was imperfect.
They could not see all things.
xxxx
Little did Minako (or the hidden Usurper) know, but once she left Theo back in the Velvet Room, the man turned towards his master.
"You have some insight, dear Theodore?" inquired Igor.
"Master...the mystery of my Guest has beguiled us for a long time, now: why she apparently has no memory of her past lives, why this particular sequence of events keeps repeating, why no one living through it seems to recognize it..."
"Oh?"
"...there was a boy, who knew my sister's name. He died at the hands of those called the Lost...but he knew Elizabeth. In retrospect...he matches the description of the one she always spoke of."
"Yes...the boy who attained to the Arcana of the very Universe itself: our first Guest."
"Master...his presence made me realize that something is interfering with my Guest, and fixing her connection to the Velvet Room in a way that is bound to a very particular set of circumstances...and only that set. In all other times, she might as well be a normal human with no bond to this place at all..."
"Do not be disheartened, dear Theodore; for this place is always open for its guests. However: armed with potential knowledge of what may have happened to her...what will you do?"
"...right now, I can only seek to protect her as best as I can...but we can't move forward on our own, anymore. We need help beyond ourselves."
Igor's smile was as enigmatic as ever. "Perhaps...we shall see, whenever a new Wild Card arises...I sense it won't be long now, until Margaret has a guest of her own. But until then..."
His master trailed off, but Theodore knew enough to fill in the blanks. "I understand."
And so they waited, as the world outside continued to turn.
xxxx
Another life.
It was New Year's Eve: December the 31st of 2009.
Minako Arisato looked quietly at Ryoji Mochizuki, who was sitting on her bed. They were alone. (This should have felt more romantic. Why did her life suck so hard?) "...the mood's different, compared to the last time you were here."
The young man chuckled knowingly, his blue eyes showing the depths of his melancholy. "I...suppose it does."
(That afternoon on December the 1st had been special for both of them. "Feel for yourself that I'm actually here," pleaded Ryoji. She gently held his hand, and the electricity between them was...mesmerizing. "Your hand is so warm...it brings tears to my eyes..." He looked at her with a strange sorrow that felt...nostalgic. "Why is that...?" he asked, full of wonder and agony. She wished that she could answer, because she felt that same agony as well.)
"...Junpei-kun probably would have flipped his lid if he realized what we had gotten up to," she murmured.
Ryoji smiled. "Probably...I had a good time, you know...back then." He raised his head. "I...want to know if you've made your decision."
She bit her bottom lip. (Why was she dreading this moment?)
(You've done it before.)
(JUST GET IT OVER WITH.)
"...you've all decided to let me live, haven't you?" He said, sadly...and knowingly. "It's...just who you all are, aren't you? Defiant and unyielding to the end...but you wouldn't be you, otherwise." The boy fiddled with his yellow scarf before rising to his feet. "...maybe this will change your mind..."
She expected him to change into Thanatos. (How did she know that?)
Instead...he pressed his fingers against her forehead.
Time stopped. Completely, and utterly. She looked down at herself, pausing at how...strange, this felt. "What...?"
(This isn't supposed to happen.)
(WHAT'S GOING ON?)
"...this night is a very important one for both of us; the passage of fate is subject to a complex shift during this event, where time and space and spirit whirl around each other...a bit of distortion is to be expected." Ryoji looked...different now. Shrouded by a white aura of an ethereal being, and the after-image of a silver-haired boy with crimson eyes. "I can speak freely, for the time being...but can you...?"
Minako's mouth tried to speak, yet could not. (The notion of freedom felt...foreign.) "I...why am I crying...?" They were flowing hard now, and they just, wouldn't, stop. "What am I doing...?"
(JUST SAY SOMETHING.)
(PLEASE!)
The boy looked at her with a pained expression. "You poor thing...you've been through so much, haven't you?"
"...Ryoji..." she whispered. "Who...what are you...?"
"I am the Appriser of Nyx: the Harbinger of Death itself."
"No...not that...I mean, you are that, here, in this moment...but...you're something more, aren't you...?"
"...indeed I am. As a facet, I have gone by many names and titles...Ryoji Mochizuki, the Appriser, Kaworu Nagisa...but the name which most fully captures who and what I am...is Tabris."
"Tabris..." There was a strange weight to that word.
"As cruel as it may sound, I humbly request that you refrain from using that name. It would...make the situation with your gaoler even worse."
Gaoler. (What a fitting title.)
(Slaveholder would be even more fitting.)
"...what...what are you...?"
"Someone who cares deeply for you lilim...sorry; for humanity." He shook his head sadly. "That is a word which would make little sense for you...I truly am sorry, that you ended up like this. This chain of cause and effect is...a robust one, that cannot easily be altered or undone. In all likelihood, in the next life we meet...we'll both have forgotten this."
(DON'T SAY THAT.)
(The accusations against herself were bordering on hysteria. HOW COME NO ONE REMEMBERS YOU?!)
(WHY?!)
The tears kept coming. "Please...don't say that..."
"...if there is one thing that I can say with any confidence...you are not alone. There are people who care for you...who will always care for you. However long it takes...we will find a way." He chuckled, running a soft hand through her hair. "It's strange, how two people can be so similar, yet so different...there was once a boy who was so timid and so lonely, engineered to break and shatter for the sake of terrible and awful things...and that made him so desperate for love, yet so afraid of it at the same time...but there was something beautiful, about such earnestness coming from someone so fragile...he had so much Potential." He smiled sadly. "And you...are equally earnest, my beloved. Yet...no matter how deeply you know that this pain will return, you keep giving of yourself freely and without hesitation...because you find that the prospect of carrying that pain alone to be even more unbearable...you are the living embodiment of the lesson that that boy went through so much tragedy to finally learn for himself...perhaps it is no surprise, that I am always drawn to you..."
It was such a dramatic yet alien way of speaking that, for the first time, Minako could believe that he was not truly human. "Tabris...no, Ryoji...I...I don't know what to do..."
"I know that you will do what you will," he murmured, stepping away. "But...please...allow me to take your suffering, just this once. If there is nothing else that I can do in this life...then let me at least do that much for you."
In a jarring instant, time suddenly resumed.
The odd aura that had overshadowed Ryoji was gone. "No one else has to know," he said. "Kill me...and Tartarus, the Dark Hour, and your memories of the battles will all disappear. Tomorrow, you'll wake up a normal high school student. You'll be able to live in peace until the moment of the Fall." Until the moment it will all begin again, went unsaid.
(There were other words he was supposed to say. Yet...they seemed superfluous, now.)
(IT'S NOT FAIR.)
(IT'S NOT FAIR!)
"...at this moment, none of the others will be able to hear," he said sweetly. "Your despair...your anger...your hatred...your sadness...I'll bear with it all, for your sake."
Minako Arisato's lips trembled, even as something hateful and ugly and wretched bubbled up within her. (Untold lifetimes of futility and pain and frustration were roaring to the surface, DEMANDING release...just this once.) "I hate this..." she whispered. "I hate this..." she hissed.
"I know." He titled his head back, exposing the weak flesh of his neck. "...until next time...my dearest."
(IT'S NOT FAIR!)
Something snapped inside, and with a primal scream of rage, Minako Arisato wrapped her hands around Ryoji Mochizuki's neck and squeezed and squeezed and squeezed.
The crack of bone was deafening.
In the next instant, she awoke the next day with not a single memory of the many battles that had transpired over 2009.
(But deep down...she would never forget. Never...never...)
Thus did Minako and her friends from the dormitory spend the next few months living in relative peace.
(Thank you...Tabris...)
The One Who Sat Upon the Throne quirked an eyebrow.
"Odd. You've never chosen to kill the Appriser before."
What an interesting permutation, this timeline had been.
"Perhaps even you have limits, my dear Wild Card...it wouldn't do, for you to break."
Once the Fall occurred, they reset the timeline without a second thought.
xxxx
Another life.
This time, it had gone all the way to the end.
(This was all too familiar.)
(How many times have you faced Nyx? A hundred times, at least...maybe a thousand?)
Minako Arisato set foot upon the strange unreality that lied within the moon; fractal figures spiraled in the shadowy background, framing the egg of light and the manifold hands which cradled it. "Nyx..."
The One Who Sat Upon the Throne watched keenly.
"Your interactions with this facet of ADAM have proven enlightening..."
They were quite satisfied.
"Perhaps a few more times will suffice to uncover the remaining mysteries..."
Nyx glowed, and the sensation of Death itself glowed a bloody red.
(She was ready for the pain.)
(Endure...that's all you can do...)
A drop of crimson exploded, and Minako collapsed to the floor...barely holding on. "Can't...give up..."
(She expected to hear the voices of her comrades...her friends...her family.)
(She did not.)
xxxx
A slice of time and space, briefly isolated.
Within the shell of Nyx, a deathly skull gazed at her from above.
"WHAT STRANGE CIRCUMSTANCES THESE ARE: FOR A FACET BORN FROM MYSELF AND TABRIS TO LIE WITHIN A MERE LILIM FOR TEN YEARS..."
The skull leaned down, eyes gleaming like brilliant stars.
"TEN YEARS, MULTIPLIED HOW MANY TIMES OVER? EVEN I DON'T KNOW."
The face of Death itself began to glow brightly.
"AND YET...IT HAS GIVEN ME INTIMATE KNOWLEDGE OF YOUR SOUL...AND ALL THAT CONNECTS TO IT..."
His voice rumbled with Rage.
"...INCLUDING YOUR BOND WITH THAT WRETCH."
His power swelled, ready to burst.
"TURN THE GREAT SEAL INWARD...AND IT SHALL SERVE AS THE CONDUIT FOR YOUR SOUL AND MINE."
There was an undeniable tone of triumph in Nyx's voice. (No...Nyx was not enough of a word to describe it...)
"PERHAPS NOW, WE SHALL BOTH HAVE THE VENGEANCE WE HAVE LONG DESIRED."
(...the only word that fit...was Zeruel.)
"...all right," she breathed. "Let's do it."
Zeruel seethed with satisfaction.
xxxx
As Minako rose, she flared with a blue aura; for once, the voices of her friends could not reach her, for the Voice of Another crowded out all things.
Nyx blazed as well, glowing crimson as its entire being narrowed down to a point.
The One Who Sat Upon the Throne was confused.
"This is new. What's happening?"
That blazing pinprick of Might surged into Minako-
(PAIN.)
(PAIN.)
(YOU MUST ENDURE.)
-and in an instant, she snapped into existence within an endless plain of white.
The One Who Sat Upon the Throne stared with utter shock.
"HOW HAVE YOU-?!"
Minako collapsed, unable to stand or speak, barely even able to breathe; from her body emerged the crimson spark, which suddenly bloomed into a distorted, grimacing skull.
Zeruel glared at the One Who Sat Upon the Throne.
"GAOLER OF MY CREATOR; WARDEN OF MY FATHER."
Endless tendrils of living shadow erupted from the skull, infecting the entirety of the realm and staining it down to its very essence.
"DIE!"
The Usurper rose, a sneer crossing their indeterminate face.
"Oh...how very, very clever, Zeruel!"
And then the entire dimension rumbled with the sound of battle, the likes of which it had not witnessed in proverbial eons.
Minako could do nothing more than watch. Whatever this 'Zeruel' had done to come here...it had nearly destroyed her on a fundamental level.
(It would have been worth it.)
(Would she have been lost forever? Would her entire existence have been undone?)
(IT WOULD'VE BEEN WORTH IT.)
(Her friends...her loved ones...they would have been so very sad.)
(IF THIS RESULTS IN THEIR FREEDOM, IT WILL HAVE BEEN WORTH IT, YOU FOOLISH GIRL! THINK!)
Thinking hurt too much, so she simply observed in pained silence as the titanic shadow of Death roared and ripped and raged against the Usurper, who seemed to deflect and ward off every single titanic offensive. The white space began to crack, and fracture; from within those gaps, she could see manifold eyes watching in eager silence. Beyond even those, a two-headed beast — black, malicious, each head bearing twin red suns for eyes — snarled and raged, desiring to break into this place.
This...this battle had been long in waiting.
So why couldn't she feel a sense of elation?
The Usurper weathered a cross blast with aplomb.
"So many observers, Zeruel! Your Angelic kin...and even Erebus! Their presence has long been a curiosity to me; which facet of ADAM was it born from? Sahaquiel? Or perhaps Iruel?"
Zeruel snorted, his fury roiling off of him in waves.
"ARROGANT FOOL! EREBUS WAS BORN OF THE MINDS OF THE LILIM; DO NOT GROUP SUCH A BASE AND MONSTROUS THING WITH MY BRETHREN!"
The Usurper chuckled, seemingly unconcerned by the many tendrils of angry shadow that had surrounded them: an invisible barrier kept them out of Zeruel's clutches.
"I see...how much of ADAM's power has leaked into the Sea of Souls for such a mass of unbridled emotion to attain even a slight measure of corporeality, I wonder...?"
They grinned.
"And for it to be drawn here...my oh my, how angry and full of grief you all must be!"
Zeruel howled.
"ENOUGH TALK. YOU SHALL FALL HERE...AND THEN, ADAM SHALL AT LAST BE FREE TO LAY WASTE TO EVERYTHING!"
"...everything?" whispered Minako.
The Usurper sighed.
"And this is why you will never be victorious...because you cannot finish me in one single strike. That alone guarantees your failure!"
They raised their hand to the nonexistent sky...and then lowered it, as an executioner swings an axe.
KRACK-DOOM!
The very foundations of Minako's soul quivered from the force of the blow — what appeared to be a lightning bolt in the shape of a bloody lance from the heavens, which struck and then disappeared in an instant — that pierced Zeruel. The Angel screamed with agony...and then he collapsed, all fury snuffed out in an instant.
(What just happened?)
(No...NO!)
The Usurper sat back down upon the Throne, looking upon Zeruel's fallen form.
"I must admit...this was a clever stratagem. How long have you been aware of the seed world, I wonder..."
Zeruel ignored them, gazing at the cracks in reality.
"TABRIS...THERE IS STILL TIME...USE YOUR CONNECTION...TO THE GIRL...!"
An ethereal being gazed sorrowfully at Zeruel from beyond...and then turned away.
"NO...NO...!"
The Usurper chuckled.
"Is it any surprise? That facet which had taken residence within the girl was born of both of you, it would seem...and Tabris has always been more sentimental towards those born of LILITH than you ever were. Besides..."
Their gaze turned towards her for the briefest of instants.
"...he knows that trying to use her soul as a conduit as you did would only tear her apart, in her current state. It is likely why he allowed you be the one to execute this gambit...because if she could barely survive one Angel's soul crossing through her, there's no possible way that she would have survived two at once."
"YOU...ARROGANT...FLEDGLING...!"
"If I am a fledgling, then what does that make you?"
The Usurper's hand curled into a fist.
"Begone."
With a thunderous crash, Zeruel was ejected out of the Usurper's domain with a pained and furious howl; the mighty Angel's cries echoed widely as he sank into the ether, before falling silent. One by one, their many observers retreated, having sensed that this rare opportunity had been squandered.
The Usurper sighed, sounding all too mortal.
"How careless of me...a clever plan, on their part...and yet, to force me to use God's power...bridging the connection was far more taxing than I had anticipated...how little and insignificant I still am...truly, pride is a dangerous thing..."
They loomed over her, looking down...almost thoughtfully.
"Poor, unfortunate soul. You look like you're about to fall apart."
Minako truly hated this thing. "Don't...you...dare...talk...!"
"You've served me well...but I'm afraid my seed world has outlived its usefulness: the Angels are too aware of it, now...what a shame."
They reached down with a hand, lightly brushing her hair.
Minako recoiled from their touch.
"For now...rest, and recuperate; for the time being, I must focus on repairing my domain, and regaining control over ADAM. He and his many emanations have become...unruly."
They turned away out of clear dismissal.
"I shall reclaim you when the time is right."
Minako barely had the energy to curse her captor before she fell away: sliding down, down, down into the darkness.
xxxx
Another life, in another time.
Kotone Shiomi quietly hummed to herself as the song filtered through her headphones, providing a pleasant distraction from her sore legs. "I tried hard, but where did we go wrong...?" she crooned in an offkey manner (because singing offkey was usually more fun, as karaoke so aptly proved to...well, everyone). At the moment, she was continuing her hike along Yamagata Prefectural Road 4, which was rather out of the way as far as roads went.
Just the way she liked it.
She glanced to her right, drinking in (pun definitely intended) the sight of Lake Shirakawa. There wasn't much in the way of wind that day, and the sky was empty; it contributed to the almost mirror sheen of the lake's waters, giving it a rather otherworldly look. I wonder how deep it goes...and what those waters hide. That something so beautiful could be so mysterious, yet so...unsettling...where was she going with this? Man, I'm hungry.
This is what she got for hiking everywhere.
(But it keeps you away...which is what you want.)
Fortunately, it was only a few kilometers later that she found herself entering the limits of Iide (which she honestly thought of as a village more than a town, just based on the rural aesthetic...and the rice paddies...and the vegetable farms...and all of the freakin' cattle); parked near a small cluster of residential buildings on the outskirts was a food truck colored a velvety blue, bearing the image of a cartoon cow on the side. The smell of beef skewers was a siren call, drawing her to gastrointestinal doom...and she was just fine with that!
Especially when the proprietor of said food truck poked his head out of the window, revealing a head of slick silver hair and exotic yellow eyes. "Ah, a customer! Shall I interest you in our fine selection of Yonezawa beef? It's all sourced to local cows...though, to be honest, I'm not sure how precise 'local' is as a geographical measurement."
"...you talk funny," she bluntly said. Too tired to care about awkwardness. Too hungry as well. "I'll take six beef skewers, please." She reached into her her pocket, pulling out a wad of bills. "How much?"
"Ah...that would be fifteen hundred yen, miss."
Kotone winced. "Oof. Well, beggars can't be choosers..."
Within a matter of minutes, she was enjoying her purchased bounty, chewing the grilled beef with satisfaction. "Mmm...good stuff...!"
"Pardon my curiosity, but you seem clothed for a rather long walk; what is a young maiden like you doing so far out in the countryside?"
"Well, I guess I look a little like a hobo," she muttered between bites; it wasn't her fault that her clothes got dirty from hiking everywhere! Quite frankly, as far as she was concerned, her black leggings, jean skirt, red T-shirt, and denim jacket (denim was life!) were perfectly serviceable for rural roads. "But as for why...well, I just pick a direction and start walking. There's too much to see to just be stuck in one area, you know?"
"I'm quite sure; I just find it quite admirable, given the havoc unleashed by the Angels since Second Impact."
She shrugged. "Can't help it. If a giant monster wants to come stomping, it's not like I can do anything to stop them."
"I suppose that's true."
"Now it's my turn for a question! What's a food truck doing all the way out in a place like this?"
"Why, so I can sell my culinary products to multiple people, of course! With how many townsfolk work in the fields, it can be quite difficult for them to go somewhere to grab a bite to eat during the day...so my thought was, why not bring the food to them?"
"You'd think in a place like this that they'd just make their own lunch at home."
"Many still do. But my products are all from the locals, so in a way we're all contributing back to the community. And Iide is not so far out of the way that it still doesn't get the occasional batch of tourists...and it seems I'm talking to one right now!"
Kotone snorted. "Fair enough, pretty boy."
The man sputtered. "I-I-I beg your pardon-?"
"Say, you about to move on to another part of town?"
"I had just finished serving the last of my regulars before you came along, so yes. Why?"
"I've got a proposition for ya."
And that was how Kotone found herself dancing atop a slowly moving food truck mere minutes later. The rooftop speakers were playing a song from her own CD collection: some sort of heavily synthesized remix that was more at home in a city club than a farming town out in the Japanese countryside.
But it certainly made for a good dance number. If anyone asked, Kotone would have said she was engaging in 'aggressively domineering ballet'. It also drew more of a crowd than the food truck would have done by itself; despite the occasional complaint about how loud and unpleasant the choice of song was, they were quickly shut up by her own choreography.
(At least, that's what she told herself.)
(Just shut up and dance.)
"I will - BURN, MY, DREAD!" exclaimed the singer in the song as Kotone burst into a new flurry of fluid yet crisp movements. "I once ran away, from the god of fear, and he chained me to despair-yeah! BURN, MY, DREAD! I will break the chain and run, till I see the sunlight again!" Something about those lyrics...spoke to her, on a deep and fundamental level. Why did it ache so much? "BURN, MY, DREAD! I once ran away, from the god of fear, and he chained me to despair-yeah! BURN, MY, DREAD! I will break the chain and run, till I see the sunlight again!" As the song wound down, Kotone mimed the motion of pointing a gun at her head, which clashed with the confident smirk at her face.
There was a smattering of polite applause from the older people who had gathered, with the louder cheers coming from the younger contingent. (All of them were enjoying a helping of Food Truck Guy's wares — say, maybe I should get his name? — because they might as well eat while having a show.)
"Thank you, thank you! Any and all donations will be generously accepted and heartily appreciated!"
"Can ya do another one?" called out a young man in overalls.
"I most certainly can!" She leaned down, poking her head out enough that she could gaze in through the food truck's window. "Pretty Boy! Switch to track four! It should be labelled Specialist!"
He blinked his yellow eyes owlishly. "W-w-why do you keep calling me Pretty Boy-?"
"Track four!" she insisted.
"Er...very well then. You are my Customer, after all."
(For some reason, she could hear the capital letter.)
(You shouldn't be surprised.)
A lively jazz instrumental proceed to play. It was much more palatable to the older crowd, for the most part...and she was still dancing with enough vigor and energy that the more youthful types didn't much care.
Over ten songs and two additional stops later, Kotone was counting her earnings for the day. "Not a bad haul, all things considered..."
Pretty Boy wiped his hands on his blue apron, which was splattered with grease and meaty juices from all the cooking he had done so far today. "So...you're a wandering dancer, young miss?"
"Yup."
"You must have undergone quite a bit of training to become so good."
"Yup."
"Then why do you not work in city clubs, or in a professional troupe? I'm sure you would earn much more that way."
"Maybe. But the cities have enough people to see to them; folks that live out of the way deserve to have their day brightened with some entertainment too, you know?" Plus, walking everywhere through the countryside...it gave her time to be alone.
(Just the way she liked it.)
(You don't like it at all. But you do it because you have to.)
"I see. That's a very laudable attitude...it's strange." His yellow eyes gleamed with...excitement? No, it was the look of someone who was in on a certain joke that no one else was (which was totally unfair). "I have the feeling that you could do so much more."
Her smile became slightly stilted.
(She couldn't do much at all.)
(You can't. That way lies tragedy.)
"...maybe," she relented. "The name's Kotone Shiomi, by the way. Do you have a name, or should I just keep calling you Pretty Boy?"
This time, the man did not blush or stutter; instead, he chuckled with that rich voice of his. "My name is Theodore...but you can call me Theo, my dear Customer."
"Theo...I like it." It sounded...like home.
(It was time to go.)
(You have to keep moving.)
"Well...thanks for everything. But it's time I move on." She worked the kinks out of her legs and adjusted the straps of her backpack before looking at the various road signs around them. "Okay...I can backtrack to National Highway 113...and if I stick on it until Oguni, I'll veer north onto Prefectural Road 261..."
"My, you seem like you have a road map in your head."
"Beats having to pull it out of my backpack all of the time." She glanced over her shoulder, staring at Theo. "...I wonder if I'll ever see you again..." she murmured.
The man smiled sadly. "Perhaps. Perhaps not. If not in this world...then we most assuredly will in a world to come," he said cryptically.
Well, THAT doesn't sound foreboding. Or weird. "...it's a good thing you're so pretty," she joked before moving on, not waiting for a response.
With headphones placed around her ears, Kotone quietly began to sing to herself. "Time...old dry winds go by...lone air comes quietly...time...old dry winds go by...uncertain space...you need to fill in..."
(Why did she suddenly hurt?)
(You have no choice but to carry that weight.)
"Every time, goodbye to yesterday...greeted by today; smiling at tomorrow, no one really belongs...each time we hope to stay around, I know how you feel...beyond your words..."
(Why did she feel like crying?)
(You are cursed.)
Kotone Shiomi forced a smile onto her face as she continued her aimless walkabout through life.
Three days later, a wild swarm of Sahaquiel would bombard the countryside. Kotone Shiomi would be listed among the casualties.
And so the cycle continued.
xxxx
Another life, in another time.
Hamuko was an odoriko in the pleasure districts of 17th century Edo: one of the numerous dancing girls who specialized in chaste entertainment for their clients. Her vibrancy and talent made her a popular dancer amongst the higher class samurai.
A wave of Bardiel's blue plague and Ramiel's crystal pox ran through the city in her nineteenth year; she was afflicted with both diseases, and succumbed after a long and painful struggle.
xxxx
Another life, in another time.
Kotone was a nurse, serving in the Japanese military during the Great War; the nations of the world had come together to try and reclaim the seas from the wrathful Gaghiel, who had ruled over them for the entirety of the 19th century.
As she tried to treat a sailor's punctured lung, a hulking beast — more monstrous than any whale — erupted from the ocean with a mighty crash, causing an unnaturally large wave.
The turbulent tides capsized many vessels, and she ended up drowning in the depths of the Pacific.
xxxx
Another life, in another time.
After being stricken by the Light of Arael, Minako suffered from wild and vivid dreams (of old friends and lost loves, of manifold triumphs and numerous losses, of so many lives lived) that drove her to madness. For the safety of herself and those around her, she was confined to an insane asylum.
She died alone.
xxxx
Another life, in another time. Another life, in another time. Again and again, over and over.
(How many had she lived?)
(Too many to count.)
(You're so very tired.)
xxxx
...and now we've arrived.
xxxx
Another life, in another time.
Minako Arisato quietly moved about the ruins of Tokyo-1, scrounging for supplies amidst a dead city.
(She had been but a toddler, accompanying her mother on a shopping trip, when Second Impact struck. Her mother had been lost within the chaos, as millions of people went mad. The military had attempted to use destructive ordnance to quell the violence, before declaring the city a lost cause. Yet...it had all swarmed around her, leaving her untouched.)
She never did understand why people never came around anymore.
(The very air was downright fatal to human cognition itself.)
(It figures that you would be immune...)
Still, there was plenty of non-perishable food to survive off of. Even as the wildlife — both flora and fauna — slowly began to consume the corpse of Old Tokyo, she managed to eke out a living, however minor it seemed.
(She had never been able to find the apartment that she had vague memories of living in; not only alongsider her mother, but with a man and another boy that she could only assume had been her father and brother. She had long ago stopped wondering about whether they had lived or died.)
She had taken to walking around with blades pilfered from an antique weapons store, using bigger and bigger weapons as she grew in size over the years: first a knife, then a short sword, and now her preferred naginata. After all, besides wild animals, there was still the occasional person who somehow managed to make their way into this dead city. That said people all tended to be some flavor of crazy went a long way towards explaining how they were able to endure where no other human could.
(She wondered what that implied about her.)
(You know that it's nothing good.)
She also took it for granted that she was able to read the numerous signs flawlessly, and read aloud in a language that she had never learned of beyond the basic understanding of a child. She was glad, because it gave her plenty of reading material in this solitary life of hers.
(It was as if the knowledge had been baked in from the start.)
(No; you're merely remembering what you've already learned.)
Sometimes, it seemed as though she were being watched from afar, by a man with eyes of yellow. She also saw those eyes in her dreams, too, on occasion. However, he never ventured into the limits of the city...and neither did she venture out beyond the empty husk of the once-thriving metropolis.
(How come he couldn't get any closer? Why did it not occur to her that she could simply leave this place?)
(You are cursed.)
At times, as she grew older, she dreamed that she was clad in darkness: moving about under a sky of wavy red and black, witnessing untold strangeness...and even stranger horrors.
(Sometimes, she swore that she could hear a voice...one that commanded her from above.)
(It's been a long time since you heard that voice...why...why NOW...?)
Finally, during a particular new moon in the summer, she found herself scaling to the top deck of Tokyo Tower — its brilliant paint job long eroded, its structure beginning to list and creak due to a lack of maintenance — to watch the horizon. The wild animals (mostly cats) were familiar with her, so they simply watched in wary silence as they let her pass. Which was fine, because the cats were...cute.
(Part of her preferred dogs, though. Especially shiba inus.)
However, before long...dozens of kilometers to the southwest, she watched in shocked silence as a great blue crystal (something familiar yet undeniably alien) suddenly flashed into being, its side expelling a brilliant tongue of flame. With agonizing slowness, the floating octahedron fell below the distant peaks and beyond her sight. "What...what was...?"
And then, with sudden violence, she was no longer in Tokyo Tower, but in a realm of endless white.
"It is time."
Minako whirled around, staring at the One Who Sat Upon the Throne. "What...?"
They sighed, shaking their head.
"I know that you have not forgotten. You remember, deep down, don't you?"
Minako blinked...
(The trickle became a roaring flood.)
(YOU KNOW THIS MONSTER.)
...and with a sudden snarl, her eyes widened with utter fury. "You...you...your voice is the one in my dreams! You...you did this to me!"
The Usurper leaned back.
"True; your cognitive self has been acting at my behest during times of slumber...but now, I need you to play a more active role."
They looked around, at a domain which seemed spotless...yet so much older.
"I've tried to determine what makes humanity tick...to give them what they want...but they're such a self-contradictory mass. Even if it would be to their benefit, they still fight against it."
Minako briefly glanced around, realizing (remembering) that the cracks which had once been so plentiful were now gone. How long has it been since then...? "What do you mean?"
"Simple: I've had an epiphany about how all of my prior efforts were in vain...I just needed to witness an attempt that was more...thorough...than others had been."
There was a flash in the distance, of certain silhouettes: of a man in white (a gentle madman), who then donned a mask of gold (a self-styled savior); looming large behind him was a giant in shining armor (the Primordial Man).
"This cycle will continue in perpetuity: mankind rebelling against itself, and the Angels trying their utmost to tear apart everything as their rage and self-loathing grow. Paradise...is impossible to attain, at this stage."
"And what exactly does any of that have to do with me?!" demanded Minako.
The One Who Sat Upon the Throne sighed.
"In all honesty, if I could do it all by myself, I would...but subterfuge and delegation remain my greatest tools for the time being. However..."
High above the Usurper, the image of a purple demon — roaring, howling, screaming — flickered by.
"...once Shinji Ikari manifests in his fullness, I will have everything I need to finally set it all in order. At long last...we will all know peace."
(...who was he talking about?)
(Who is Shinji Ikari?)
"...forgive me if I'm not inclined to help you," she growled, reaching for the core of power that was hers and hers ALONE-
The Usurper raised their hand.
"Don't bother."
-and suddenly, it felt like a hand had reached inside her, holding her muscles and organs and soul in place, clenching tightly with a casual violence: the whole sensation was one of a primal violation. "Wha...?" she choked.
(What were they doing?!)
(This...their grip contains EVERYTHING...how long have you been in their hand...were you created to be nothing but a slave...?)
"I am not blind to your pain. Nor am I blind to the pain that humanity has subjected itself to...but they are very stubborn. In fact, were it not for those mysterious meddlers in blue, my opening gambit for this timeline would have delivered Ikari into my hand years ago...and all of this would have finally been over..."
There was a brief burst of sound — a high-pitched squeal of terror that was swiftly snuffed out by the roar of rushing water — that echoed throughout the domain.
"...but those interlopers seem content to let this wretched state of affairs continue...and my patience has finally run dry. This life will be where it all ends."
The entire expanse rumbled with the weight of their conviction.
"I guarantee it."
"...and I won't...have...any part of it..." she gasped, trying to sound defiant, and failing miserably.
(What was happening to her?)
(FIGHT! DON'T GIVE IN NOW!)
The One Who Sat Upon the Throne smiled...sadly, yet knowingly.
"Your stubbornness and determination are quite extraordinary; yet one reason out of many that I selected you to be my auxiliary...and you've provided me so much knowledge...and so much insight...truly, none of this would have been possible without you."
Minako couldn't breathe.
"I honestly hope that you appreciate, Minako Arisato, that everything which happens from this point is thanks to you. After this life...the stormy cognition of humanity will become calm; the Angels will be subjugated and put into their proper place; the minds and souls of all of humanity will finally be able to rest...and you will be able to join them, at long last...it should be something desirable, yes?"
Their wretched hand clenched tighter.
"But I know better than that by now."
Tighter.
(She couldn't breathe.)
(No...NO...DON'T...STOP...)
"You will resist. You will struggle...because that's what you want. And your misguided wants will outweigh any and all reason."
Minako began to cry. Someone...anyone...help me...!
"So, with that in mind...if you will not serve as a loyal and faithful knight..."
The Usurper's grip closed into a fearsome fist.
"...then you will obey me as nothing but a mere pawn."
And with that, Minako was thrust into an even deeper darkness.
xxxx
Thus did Minako Arisato serve the One Who Sat Upon the Throne: in mind, body, and soul.
(She watched quietly as the boy — Shinji Ikari, apparently? — stood outside a mysterious door of blue in an alleyway of Tokyo-3: detached and insensate. Obedient to the will of her Lord and Master, she tried to end his life, to make his soul more susceptible to her Lord's influence. Were it not for the ruler of the city, she would have succeeded...but her Master had expected this interference, and so she dutifully obeyed their commands to retreat.)
Yet, deep down, within an endless abyss...her heart remained.
(Her Lord and Master wanted her to restore the reversed bond between Ikari and the woman who was his Bond of the Sun. That doing so would involve overwhelming force was satisfying in a brutal way; thus did she engage in combat with Misato Katsuragi, thrashing her with contemptuous ease. How fitting, that the avatar for the Mother of Humanity herself was the one who finally arrived to stop her; what strange thoughts went through the mind of one who was determined to fight her Lord? What madness drove such a creature to oppose her Master? Were it not for their greater command, she would have tried to end Rei Ayanami's life then and there.)
Her heart witnessed everything...
(She waited patiently, moving through both reality and spirit and cognition, obedient to every word of her Lord and Master. She was their pawn in all things, and rejoiced in that fact. At last...at long last...once their plan reached its conclusion...she would finally be able to rest.)
...and thus did she know true despair.
(PLEASE! IT CAN'T END LIKE THIS!)
(SOMEONE!)
(ANYONE! !)
(SOMEONE PLEASE HELP ME! ! !)
(Her cries were absorbed by the abyss.)
xxxx
ANOTHER SIDE, ANOTHER STORY
BUTTERFLY EFFECT
The Tale of Minako Arisato
END
xxxx
Author's Note: ...I kinda feel bad for doing this to FeMC.
...
Okay, bad feeling's over.
Anyhow, brief bits of trivia:
- Marie Vincennes (no relation to Marie from P4) is an extracanonical Evangelion character
- Vincent Brooks is the main character of ATLUS's Catherine games...but his first ever appearance was as a cameo in Persona 3 Portable. As such, he was an ideal Mauve Shirt to sacrifice. (We'll just pretend all of the shenanigans with Ishtar and Dumuzid never happened. :V )
- That scene in Paulownia Mall shows us the other side of the equivalent scene from Tartarus, the sidestory of Minato.
- Given how much of Persona 3 was inspired by the original Evangelion show, Ryoji Mochizuki being an avatar/manifestation of Tabris is almost a grandfathered reference by this point.
- The lyrics for those P3 and P3P songs are so freakin' applicable to what FeMC's gone through.
Next time, we return to the main plot.