Chapter Text
Prologue
~~March 5th 2010~~
“The wind feels so nice...” Said Aigis, “This is my first-time experiencing spring.”
“I hope you get to see many more.” Said Makoto weakly, slouching on the bench next to her, he looked so tired, to the point he was barely sitting upright, he had to use his arms to support himself.
Aigis looked over to him and smiled, then looked down at Kotone, who was resting her head on Aigis’s lap. A sombre expression crossed Aigis’s face “But, this season will eventually pass…”
‘Did Aigis know what was about to happen?’ thought Kotone, Aigis was the only one who remembered that the twins had sealed Nyx, and she was more than smart enough to figure out what they had sacrificed to do so.
“After fighting alongside you, and facing the world’s end…” Aigis continued “I finally began to understand, what it means to live. Thinking for yourself. Not running away. Accepting the inevitable.”
Kotone opened her mouth to speak, but no sound came out, she felt so weak. She wanted to tell Aigis that it would be ok, and what she meant to her. She wanted so badly to pull Aigis into a hug, but her body refused to move.
“All things eventually come to an end. Every living thing will one day disappear”
Kotone heard Makoto shift on his bench as he lay down, a sad smile crossed his face.
“Only by accepting this can one discover what they truly want. What the meaning of their life will be.” Aigis gently stroked Kotone’s hair as she said this, a tear forming in her eye. “I understand now why I was so tormented by my lack of strength. Protecting others became more than just an order I had to obey. I wanted to do it for my own reasons. I realised this once I decided to try and prevent the fall.”
Kotone lightly shifted, her determination to comfort the android she loved so much, caused a tiny amount of strength to return to her, only enough to raise one arm, but she would take it. She placed her hand on Aigis’s cheek, and smiled at her.
Aigis placed her hand over Kotone’s and returned her smile “When I thought I might never see you again, something else became clear to me, what I wanted most.” She then looked over to Makoto, who had closed his eyes his chest only slightly moving as he breathed. “And so, I made up my mind. I decided that I would continue to protect you both. I want to be your strength.” She closed her eyes, trying to hold back more tears. “I know I’m not the only one who can do this, but that’s okay.” she lightly sobbed as she took breaths “My life will be worth living if it’s for this reason…” A tear dropped onto Kotone’s cheek. “Thank you.”
“Don’t cry.” Kotone managed to quietly say something, she wanted to say more, but she could feel her life leave her body, just those two words took so much out of her.
“You’re right. What am I doing? I understand now, so I should be happy.” Aigis tried to smile but Kotone could tell that it was forced.
“HEYY!” came a voice from the other side of the rooftop, it was Junpei’s
“Everyone.” Aigis turned her head to the source of the voices. “I realise now that I have friends as well.” She then looked to Makoto. “You don’t have to save the world to find meaning in life. Sometimes all you need is something simple.” Lastly, she looked at Kotone. “Like someone to take care of. I’ll keep on living no matter what, so that I can protect you.”
Kotone could feel her eyelids get heavier. ‘No, not yet’ she thought ‘I haven’t seen the other’s yet.’ She could hear their footsteps as they approached. ‘Just a little longer.’
Aigis leaned down to kiss Kotone on the forehead “Thank you for everything.”
Kotone tried to speak again, she only wanted to say 3 more words to Aigis before she died, but she couldn’t even open her mouth anymore.
“You must be tired. Please get some rest, I’ll stay right here with you.”
The sounds of everyone else approaching were getting closer.
“Soon, all our friends will be here by your side” tears were streaming out of Aigis’s eyes now, she was barely holding herself together.
Kotone’s eyes stared to close, ‘No, not yet’ she internally pleaded to herself, ‘Just a little more, I don’t wanna…’
Death is not a hunter unbeknownst to its prey,
one is always aware that it lies in wait.
Though life merely a journey to the grave,
it must not be undertaken without hope.
Only then will a traveler's story live on,
treasured by who bid them farewell.
But alas, now my guest's lives has ended,
their tales finally written…
… or so it was supposed to be.
Chapter 1
~~??? ?? ????~~
Kotone stirred, her whole body felt numb, she felt like she had been sleeping for ages, and was struggling to wake up. She slowly opened her eyes, and realised that her face was buried in some kind of blue, velvety fabric, she moved away from it to get a better look at her surroundings. There were cages moving past her, she was being carried, and whoever was carrying her seemed to be in quite a hurry. She looked at them, and upon seeing their face, jumped, the movement being enough for her to fall out of their arms, before they tripped over her, both ending up on the floor.
“Theo?” Kotone questioned
“Ah you are awake, that is good.” Theo replied “How are you feeling?”
A growl alerted them both to the crowd of monsters approaching them, Kotone recognised a few of them as, Personas? But why were Personas attacking them?
“We must run now” Theo interrupted Kotone’s internal questioning by grabbing her arm and pulling her away.
“Theo, what’s happening?” Questioned Kotone as Theo pulled her away, he was a lot stronger than he looked, his grip on her arm was like iron, it even hurt a little.
“I apologise, but I must explain later.”
After much running, they came to a wall of some kind. Theo placed his hand on it, a troubled look on his face. Kotone took the moment of respite to look at their surroundings, it looked like they were in some kind of subway, but everything around them was warped, tracks twisted all over the place and the walls pulsed with a red light, there were queues of people, lining up to go into the prison that they just escaped from.
“I can take us to the entrance from here, but getting back will be… difficult.” Theo turned back to Kotone, “We must leave now, before more shadows find us.”
“Theo, what is going on?” Kotone tried to question again.
“I suppose we have time for a brief explanation.” Theo mused “My master suspects that his next guest will require some extra guidance in their journey, so has seen fit to bring you back. He has assigned me to be your guardian for the time being.”
“Bring me back, what do you mean?”
“I shall explain on the way up.” Theo then turned back to the wall. The ground started to shake as the wall shifted, opening the way forwards. Once it was open Theo walked through.
“We should hurry, it will not remain open long, and I will not be able to open it again.” Theo explained.
Kotone hurried to follow him, only to be met by a long stretch of more of the twisted rail tracks.
“Looks like a long way to walk”, she remarked
“Do not worry about that, my sister gave me a mode of transport to navigate this area.”
Theo held out a key, and the area around them seemed to become filled with fog. Kotone could hear the faint hum of an engine, as a velvet blue limousine faded into view. After a moment, the fog lifted, leaving only the limousine, Kotone and Theo.
Upon getting into the limo Theo stared at the dashboard, a faint look of confusion on his face.
“Do you even know how to drive?” asked Kotone
“Of course, I do, push this stick to make it go forwards” Theo said confidently as he pushed the gearstick into its most forward position. The limo did not move.
“This limousine hasn’t been used in a few years, it must be damaged, we shall have to make repairs.” Theo said, still confident that he knew how it worked.
Kotone could only laugh at his antics. “Is it turned on?” she managed to chuckle out
“A-are you making fun of me?”
“No, you need to use the key, put it in that hole” she pointed at the ignition.
“Of course, I knew that, I was just trying to cheer you up, and clearly it worked.” The confidence had returned to Theo’s voice.
After a couple more minutes of teaching Theo how cars worked, it was decided that Kotone would drive. She had never driven a car before, but had at least seen people driving them so had more experience.
The journey was rough, partially due to the subway tracks, partially due to the inexperienced driver, and partially because of the huge shadows that she had to swerve out of the way of.
“So, you said that you’d explain what’s going on, on the way up.” commented Kotone.
“Ah yes, well I don’t know the full details, but My master has decided that you are required to guide his next guest on their journey, and so revived you. Which reminds me, I apologise if you don’t like your outfit, it was all I could find that might fit you in the rush to leave.”
Kotone looked down, finally paying attention to the sleeveless white shirt, red and black plaid skirt, black and white striped stockings and black calf-high boots.
“It’s alright, I kinda like- wait, why did you need to find me clothes?” asked Kotone, coming to a realisation that she hoped wasn’t true.
Theo’s face began to turn slightly pink “When you were revived, only your body appeared, so I took some of Marie’s old clothes for you, I hope she is not too ma-“ Theo was interrupted by a hand hitting his face, as a bright red Kotone smacked him.
This small fit of embarrassment-fuelled assault took both of their attentions off the ‘road’ long enough for the limousine to crash into a large Shadow, causing it to split into 3 smaller shadows. At the same time the limo disappeared back into a puff of fog.
Kotone looked up from where she landed and looked at the forms the shadows had taken, resembling one of her old Personas. “Should be easy” she commented to herself as she stood, reaching for where her evoker used to sit on her belt “come Thana…” Kotone stopped, realising that not only was she unarmed, but she also couldn’t summon any Personas without her evoker.
“This way” Theo grabbed Kotone’s arm again, pulling her into an area where the tracks of the subway twisted even more, looking almost like a portal. After pulling her into it, Theo turned to Kotone “we should be safer here, normal shadows don’t come to these areas.”
Kotone, looks around, the area looked mostly the same as the one they just left, except, instead of a corridor, it was just one room. Standing in the middle of the room was a girl with long black hair, bright red glasses, and glowing yellow eyes. She was wearing some kind of uniform, and was mumbling to herself about something, seemingly she hadn’t noticed Kotone and Theo standing in the room.
“Who’s that?” asked Kotone
“She is the shadow of someone with a corrupt heart” replied Theo
“Corrupt heart?”
“When a human’s heart becomes filled with distortion, their shadow changes to reflect this. This person’s distortion is still minor, but if left on its own, it will grow, and may even form its own Shadow Nest.”
“So how do we help her?”
“You can either convince her to change her ways, or defeat her shadow and physically take her distorted desires from her.”
Kotone approached the girl’s shadow and tried to get her attention. “Excuse me, can I ask you a question?”
Now she was closer, Kotone could hear what the girl was mumbling, “No one pays attention, they’ll all leave me.”
“No one pays attention to what?”
The girl finally noticed Kotone and snapped her head in her direction. “I’LL MAKE YOU LISTEN” she yelled as she melted into a black goo, and reformed into a large Jack Frost, and casting a Mabufu at Kotone, hitting her with a large block of ice.
Theo rushed over to Kotone’s side, as she stood up, “It is unwise to engage with shadows without a Persona.” He advised
“I can’t summon one without an evoker.” Replied Kotone
“There is more than one way to summon a Persona.”
Theo grabbed Kotone and pulled her out of the way of another blast of ice.
“Remember what you felt when you first summoned your Persona.”
Kotone thought back to when she and Makoto first summoned their versions of Orpheus on the roof of Iwatodai Dorm. She thought of how she saw Yukari in danger, how she wanted to help this stranger she had just met-
She was hit by another ice blast. “It’s not working Theo!” She yelled.
“Try to think of a time your emotions boiled over, when you, or someone you care about was in danger and you would do anything to protect them.” Replied Theo
Kotone thought to Shinjiro lying on an alley floor, in a pool of his own blood. To Mitsuru crying over her father’s body, while Kotone clutched an unconscious Aigis. To her and Makoto floating over her friends, on their way to seal-
And another block of ice hit her, hard enough to send her flying. As Kotone flew across the room, she thought back to the Moonlight bridge, to the night her parents died after Aigis and Ryoji’s battle. And as she hit the ground, she flashed to her holding Aigis’s beaten up body after their second battle.
Kotone looked up at the ceiling, Blood pouting from her nose, and frost gathering on her hair.
“It has been a while hasn’t it, wildcard?”
The voice made Kotone’s head hurt like hell, causing her to write in pain.
“You wish to see her again?”
“Yes” replied Kotone, struggling to her feet.
“Then let us renew our contract, and we shall find your beloved together.”
The familiar words rang through her head, bringing a smile to her face:
“I am thou, thou art I”
Blue flames appeared before Kotone’s face, forming into a pink mask, with a golden crescent moon on the left side, across her face, The mask had a white crest on top of it, resembling the top of Orpheus’s lyre.
She reached up and touched the mask, confusion crossed her face for a second. Before being replaced by determination, and an excited smile.
“ORPHEUS!” she yelled, with all the breath in her lungs, pulling the mask off her face, leaving only blood under it, which splattered across the room. As an explosion of blue flames appeared around her. Forming into white and gold Greek styled armour, with a red skirt, a long, pink scarf and a pink armband, resembling her old S.E.E.S armband, along with a naginata that formed in her hands.
“From the sea of thy soul I cometh, to ensure the trickster completes their journey!”
As Oprheus’s voice echoed in Kotone’s mind, the flames behind her formed into a red and silver version of Orpheus, with a black lyre, covered in gothic spikes.
Kotone looked to the shadow, who was preparing to launch more ice. And pointed her naginata at it. Orpheus played a note on her Lyre, causing an explosion near the Shadow, shattering the ice it was gathering and knocking it to the ground.
Seizing the opportunity, Kotone dismissed Orpheus, who formed back into her mask, and jumped into the air, spinning her naginata around herself, and used the momentum of the spin to slam the naginata down on top of the shadow.
The Shadow reverted back to the form of the girl and kneeled on the ground, crying.
“Can we finally talk?” Asked Kotone, lowering her weapon.
“Sorry, I just thought you’d ignore me too.”
“I don’t like ignoring people, especially when they need a smile.” Said Kotone, a large grin on her face. “Now, what’s the matter?” she knelt down in front of the girl.
“I’m the head of the Newspaper Club at school, and the principal threatened to close us down because we don’t sell enough papers. And then members of the club started to leave.”
“So, your desire is to keep your club going?”
“My desire? I guess so?”
“Why do you need a club though?”
“Huh?”
“Can’t you make your own newspapers and sell them at the school? Your principal would look pretty bad for shutting down the press if none of his school’s resources go into it.”
The girl’s eyes lit up. “That’s a great idea.” The girl slowly started to fade away
“What? NO!” Panicked Kotone.
“It’s ok, I believe she is just returning to her true self in the real world” explained Theo.
“Oh”
“Thank you” said the girl as she faded away, leaving only a small pile of papers behind. Kotone picked up the papers and turned to Theo, a very smug smile crossing her face.
“Told you I could do it.”
“I don’t believe you said anything of the sort, however, I did not doubt you for a second. You also successfully regained a persona, that should make the rest of our journey much safer.”
“Where are we going anyway?”
“The real world, to get you reacquainted with it, and to find my master’s newest guest.”
“Oh, ok” Kotone took a moment to look at the papers the girl left behind, they appeared to be a school newspaper, the headline reading “Olympic Gold Medallist Joins Staff”. But the thing that drew the most attention to Kotone was the date.
“2016!!!” She yelled.