Persona - Chaos Butterfly 1

Chapter 1: Chance meeting.

Tatsumi Port Island… The place wasn't that bad. Sure, he'd been living there for only a few months, but he was used with his life changing over and over again due his parents' busy careers. This time, however, he felt like his world had been turned upside down.

Only a day ago, Souji Seta had been released from the Tatsumi Memorial Hospital, with no clue on what had happened to his parents and he was still reeling from it. Just a few months ago, he had felt happy that, while he was leaving behind all his friends, with all of whom he'd formed deep and unbreakable bonds, he would be seeing his parents for the first time in just under a year.

And it was a heartwarming reunion for the silver haired boy. The night he'd arrived home, Souji had surprised his mother by enveloping her in a warm hug, repeating the process with his father before talking long into the night with them about many things, enjoying their company and presence as they caught up with one another.

Time passed and Souji enrolled Gekkoukan High School for his senior year. The school was fine and all, but Souji couldn't help but getting an odd feeling about that place. Despite that, he had no major problems studying there.

But then, summer came and there was the accident. On a rainy night, they were on their way home from a family dinner when it happened: a drunk driver in a large pickup truck had been speeding, and had run through the red light of the intersection just as his family's smaller car was going through. Souji fainted after that and when he came to, he was lying at a hospital bed. According to a police officer, he was the sole person the paramedics found inside the wreckage from the car, with a gash on his forehead and a broken arm. His parents were never found, and no traces of blood were found on their seats as well, despite the fact that it was impossible for anyone to survive that crash unscathed.

Souji couldn't really remember the rest of that night, or much of the next days, until the call from his uncle Dojima had come. The police had called him, informing him of the situation, and he had immediately offered to take him in, for as long as he needed, and Souji was deeply grateful for that.

Most things had been taken care of by Dojima over the phone. All he needed now were some papers from the school and Souji would be transferred back to Inaba. Tomorrow, he'd pick up the papers and hopefully board the train on the day after.

As he walked home, going against the doctors' order to take a taxi, he wondered if any of his friends knew anything about the accident that had claimed his parents. They probably didn't, since Dojima was sensible and had mostly likely figured that Souji wouldn't be able to handle any of his friends in his current state. He'd have to thank his uncle later for that.

With a sigh, he glanced at the sky. The sun was setting. That sight was quite comforting to him. It brought him back memories. Memories from when he lived in Port Island when he was little, just a toddler. His parents were busy, but they always had time for him. And he was never alone, because there was always someone who would play with him…

"Why am I even thinking about them now? It's been so long…" He thought with a frown as the memory he never told anyone about, not even his girlfriend, Yukiko, came into his mind. "Well, we all did live here…"

Suddenly, something happened. The sky became greenish-black and the setting sun was replaced by a full moon with an eerie yellow glow. "What the hell?!" Souji gasped as he looked around. The street he was at was crowded, but now, instead of people, he saw coffins everywhere. "What's going on here?!"

A sudden rush of adrenaline started pumping through Souji's body. Not too far from where he was, he saw three creatures: three huge samurai like figures that were standing over what seemed to be two bodies. "Shadows…"

Before the Shadows could come any closer to the fallen teens, Souji quickly drew a Bombing Balloon he had found on one of his ventures on the TV World from his jacket pocket and threw it at the trio of monsters. The Almighty impact blew the Shadows back, without hitting the two knocked down guys while also giving Souji enough time to check on them.

As Souji ran towards them, he could take a better glance at the two people on the ground: both were male, one was pretty tall, maybe as tall as his friend Kanji, was wearing a maroon pea coat, a black beanie, black pants and brown leather boots. His hair was slightly long and brown colored. The other was around Souji's height, but had a more slender figure. He had dark blue hair and wore a school uniform. The same uniform from Gekkoukan, except for the red armband he was wearing on his left arm, which said SEES.

"Hey? Hey!" Souji called shaking the blue haired teen. "Are you okay? Answer me!"

With a soft moan, the teen opened his eyes. They were storm blue-grey. "Ugh… My head… What happened?" the teen mumbled as Souji helped him sit down before he noticed the taller teen also getting up. "Huh? Shinjiro-Senpai?!"

"Dammit, that hurt… I feel all stiff…" The taller teen muttered as he rubbed his shoulder when he heard a voice. He glanced at Souji and the blue haired kid. "What the…? Minato?! The hell you're doing here?!"

'Minato?' Souji thought looking at the blue haired teen. 'I know that name… And that voice… it's so familiar…'

"Might as well ask you the same question since last time I checked we were both dead…" Minato said before spotting the Shadows getting back up."Where did those Shadows come from?! And why is the Dark Hour happening?!"

'Dark hour? And what's with him saying they were dead? This just keeps getting more and more confusing…' Souji thought, trying to remain calm.

"Save questions for later." Shinjiro said. "Looks like those guys want to get their asses kicked. You got your Evoker?"

"Of course..." Minato replied as he stood up before he noticed Souji. 'That guy… I know him…'

The more he stared at Minato the more familiar he seems more and more familiar to Souji. 'Is it possible? Could it really be him?'

Shinjiro also noticed Souji. "Hey!" he shouted, snapping both teens out of their trance. "Stop zoning out!"

"R-Right…" Minato said looking at Souji. "I'm sorry. I'll tell you everything later, but for now, can you fight?"

"I'm....not sure." It was true, he didn't know if he was able to summon his Persona out in the real world.

"You have a Persona, right?" Minato asked him. "You must have, if you can be awake during the Dark Hour. Can you summon it?"

Souji was bewildered. Not only that guy knew about personas, but he expected him to summon his? Sure it had been only about a few months since he last did it, but that was in the Other World. Then suddenly, a voice spoke within him. "I am thou… Thou art I… The time has come… Open thy eyes and call forth what is within..."

As the Shadows closed in on the trio, a small light appeared in Souji's right hand and a card formed. "Per…so…na…!" Souji shattered the card. "IZANAGI!!! CLEAVE!!"

The naginata wielding Persona, wearing a long black trenchcoat  appeared before them and lunged at the nearest Shadow, slashing it in two.

"No shit… He can summon his persona without an Evoker!?" Shinjiro was in disbelief, before he noticed the other Shadows heading for the two younger teens. "Heads up!"

While Minato swiftly evaded the attack, there was no time for Souji to dodge. The Shadows had hit him hard with a physical attack knocking him into a mailbox, only increasing the pain in his arm.

'Ugh.......Crap, this can't be the end!' he thought, trying to shake off the dizziness.

Souji felt helpless. He needed Rise. He needed Yosuke. He needed everyone, especially Yukiko. Souji felt desperate at the thought of Yukiko, knowing full well she would not have wanted him to die when she was not around. What was he thinking; she wouldn't want him to die at all! His thoughts were cut short when he saw the Shadows charging up to attack again. Souji narrowly dodged their attack, but they just kept on coming. This was it, he thought, it was all over, and it hadn't even started.

Suddenly he heard gunshots and the sound of shattering glass along with shouts.

"Orpheus! Maragi!"

"Castor! Blade of Fury!"

The combination of fire magic and slash attacks seemed to work well on the Shadows, making them back off, giving Minato and Shinjiro enough time to get close to Souji and help him up. "Are you okay?" Minato asked.

"Yeah…" Souji winced as his arm ached and bleed and he could swear he was feeling the blood staining his forehead bandages.

"This ain't good... Gotta get ya out of here." Shinjiro said before looking at the Shadows. "Talk about some tough bastards... Any ideas to get rid of them?"

"They're strong against physical attacks, but they can't repel it…" Minato said thoughtfully.

"They seem to be weak against fire… A stronger fire attack might work…" Souji panted, trying to find a strong fire-based Persona in his psyche. "Mada…"

"Agi-skilled, huh?" Minato said when he had an idea. "Senpai, hit them hard. We'll handle the rest."

Shinjiro raised an eyebrow at that, noticing how Souji's face screwed up like Minato's when changing Personas. "Don't tell me that kid can also use more than one Persona like ya? Tch, whatever, let's get this over with."

Minato nodded and looked at Souji who in turn nodded as well. As Shinjiro and Minato readied their Evokers, another card appeared in Souji's hand. Souji couldn't help but finding it strange that they pointing what seemed to be guns to their heads.

"Here it goes! Castor! Heat wave!"

"Mada! Maragidyne!"

"Surt! Maragidyne!"

The three Shadows had no chance against the trio's onslaught and soon they were reduced to a cloud of black smoke that dissolved in the air.

"Well… That's that." Shinjiro said before rubbing his shoulder again. "Damn, I'm sore all over."

"You're telling me…" Minato sighed. "My muscles are all aching… Then again, we haven't used our bodies in like what? Two years…?"

Souji stared at the older teens, just plain confused when his wounds started taking their toll on him. "Ngh…" He groaned as he rested his body against a nearby wall.

Minato and Shinjiro turned their attention to the silver haired boy. "Hey, you okay?" Shinjiro asked.

"Yeah… Luckily I didn't break my arm again…" Souji said rubbing it.

"Hold on." Minato said picking his Evoker again. "Melchizedek! Mediaharan!"

As the mechanical looking angel appeared, a soft violet light enveloped them for a few seconds causing Souji's bleeding to cease and his arm to stop hurting. "That's a lot better…" He smiled a bit at Minato. "Thanks."

"No problem." Minato smiled back at him when he glanced around, the sky was turning back to normal and the moon vanished. "The Dark Hour is vanishing… We should get out of here. I seriously don't want to handle people's shocked expression at the damage caused by those Shadows."

"I'm with ya, but where do we go?" Shinjiro asked.

"Let's go to my place." Souji suggested. "I don't live too far from here."

Minato nodded. "Good idea. Lead the way."

As the Dark Hour ended, the trio quickly ran off, leaving several passersby confused at the damage caused by the battle that no one witnessed.

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Soon enough, the trio reached the apartment where Souji's family lived. "And I thought I've seen everything after what went down in Inaba…" Souji mumbled as he plopped down in the couch. He looked at his two odd companions. "Eh… Please, make yourselves comfortable."

Minato and Shinjiro nodded and sat on the other couch. After a few minutes of awkward silence, Minato decided to take action. "Well, I suppose we owe each other some explanations so might as well start with the introductions," he said. "I'm Minato Arisato."

"Name's Shinjiro Aragaki," Shinjiro said flatly.

"Nice to meet you both." Souji gave a short bow with his head. "I'm Souji. Souji Seta."

"Souji… Seta… So it IS you!" Minato said with a mix of surprise and joy. A genuine smile formed on his face. "Wow, I barely recognized you, Banchou-kun!"

Seeing that smile and the tone in Minato's voice made Souji smile as well. "I knew you were familiar…" He said with his eyes brimming with tears. "It's been a long time… Aniki."

Minato smiled softly and gently hugged Souji, being careful with his arm. "Too long if ya ask me…" He said as he broke off the hug. "You were just a toddler last time I saw you!"

"I know… I tried to get a hold of you over the years, but my parents kept moving over and over due to work," Souji said with a bit of sadness on his voice.

"Hey!" Shinjiro called interrupting the two. "Sorry to interrupt, but mind explaining to me what the hell are you two talking about?"

"Oh, sorry, Senpai." Minato rubbed the back of his head. "You see, Banchou… I mean, Souji-kun and I have known each other ever since we were little kids. Our parents went to college together and used to be good friends. In fact… it was his family that found me after the car accident at the Moonlight Bridge."

"You mean the one that happened on the day Aigis sealed that thing inside you?" Shinjiro asked looking surprised.

Minato nodded. "Yup. That one."

Now Souji was confused. "Eh… I'm gonna take a wild guess: is this somehow related with you guys knowing about Personas and Shadows?"

"You might say that…" Minato sighed. "You too have the power of the Wild Card, I see. So I assume what happened to you in Inaba is also related to Shadows."

Souji nodded. "Yeah… It's a long story."

"So is ours," Shinjiro said. "We got all night. You go first."

Souji nodded and he began telling Minato and Shinjiro the story about his and his friends' adventure in Inaba. The fog, the murders, the Other World, his friends' personal Shadows, how they summoned their Personas, the final battle with Izanami; he continued on until he felt he had covered everything possible.

"So that's how you can summon your Persona without an Evoker…" Shinjiro said.

"Evoker? Ya mean that gun like thing? That's just…" Souji trailed off.

"Crazy? Yeah, I know." Shinjiro shrugged. "Blame Aki and Kirijo for that."

Souji looked confused while Minato laughed a bit. "Don't worry. I'll explain that."

With Shinjiro's help, Minato told him about their adventures with the other members of SEES: the Dark Hour; Tartarus; the Twelve Arcana Shadows; the fights with Strega, including the one where Shinjiro died; Death being sealed within Minato, The Fall, the battle against Nyx and him becoming the Great Seal.

".....And that's how we got to here." Shinjiro finished off Minato's explanation, expecting Souji to be shocked at that. He was partly right as Souji seemed surprised, yet thoughtful.

"You two are probably wondering why I don't seem as shocked to your and Aniki's return." Souji started. "While I am curious to as why and how you have returned, my friends and I witnessed our own... miracle as well."

Minato nodded. "Go on."

"Well that Other World has places that are created from the victims' mind and well... My cousin was one of the victims me and my friends had to rescue. Only difference was she was a six year old kid..."

Shinjiro seemed to put the pieces together. "So with someone that young, the effects of that world would be harsher on her?"

"Yes, that's right. Her name is Nanako, and she was forced to stay in the hospital. At first, we all thought she would get better, but then...she took a turn for the worst." Souji closed his eyes at the memory. The pain, the sadness, the anger he felt when he thought he had lost his cousin.

Sensing Souji's sadness, Minato put a friendly hand on his shoulder. Souji looked at him and nodded with a small smile. "She survived, or rather, came back to life, thanks to one of my friends, which is why I wasn't that surprised to hear of your story, although the Seal part worries me. I mean, if you were released from the Seal, doesn't that mean this Nyx being might try to wipe out all life on earth again?"

"To be honest, I don't know…" Minato said thoughtful. "The seal was made from my soul. If it was broken, then I wouldn't be alive now. Also, there's the mystery regarding Shinjiro-senpai's return as well."

"Tch, I'm about as lost as you two." Shinjiro said.

"Hm… If only I could contact those two, maybe we could get some answers…" Souji said out loud.

"Two?" Minato asked. "One of them wouldn't be called Igor, would it?"

Souji smirked a bit. "I should've known you'd be familiar with the Velvet Room."

"So, this guy was the one helping you out with those multiple Persona?" Shinjiro asked.

"That's him alright." Souji replied. "If there's anyone that might give us any info, it's him. Though, I don't know how we can reach the Velvet Room here in Port Island."

"There used to be a door to it at the alley in Pauwlonia Mall." Minato said digging up his pockets. "Good. I still got my Velvet Key."

"I got mine too." Souji said looking at the clock. "Shoot, it's almost midnight."

Hearing that Minato and Shinjiro quickly glanced at the window. As the clock struck midnight… nothing happened, to the surprise of the trio.

"Huh? No Dark Hour? Man, things are more screwed up than ever." Shinjiro sighed.

"In a way, that's a good thing. No Shadows roaming around and no Tartarus either. For now, at least." Minato said. "And we did experience the Dark Hour before midnight today so it might be related to that."

"It's possible." Souji said before yawning. "Sorry. I'm beat."

"You aren't the only one." Shinjiro said.

"Yeah… I'm tired myself." Minato said.

"You can stay here tonight if you want." Souji said. "Tomorrow morning, we go to the Velvet Room see if Igor knows anything about what's going on."

Minato and Shinjiro nodded. "Thanks, Souji-kun." Minato said.

"No problem. Be right back." Souji left the room to get some pillows.

"Hey, Minato." Shinjiro called. "Think that kid knows Aki and the others?"

"I'm not so sure, Senpai. Except for Ken and Koromaru, everybody else probably graduated by now. Even Junpei." The blue haired teen said as he took off his school jacket and shoes. "But we can try looking for them tomorrow."

"Got a point there." Shinjiro said taking off his coat, boots and beanie. "Well, no point in thinking on that now. Let's call it a night and get some rest."

Minato nodded when Souji returned with some pillows. "Here. If you need anything, let me know." He said giving Minato and Shinjiro a pillow each one.

"Thanks." Both teens said.

Souji nodded with a faint smile. After wishing good night to both, he headed for his room. So much had happened today he could barely believe it. While he was still sad about his parents, he was glad to meet his old friend again. However, that meeting brought several questions into his mind and he couldn't help but feeling that he was about to embark on yet another Journey. As he drifted off to sleep, all he could hope was that this one would not be related to murders and death like his last one.

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Was he dreaming? He felt like he hadn't done that in ages. The place was familiar, it was the Naganaki Shrine. Shinjiro often went there in the evenings to walk Koro-chan either by himself or with Minato.

However, instead of Minato, a brown-haired girl sat next to him as they watched Koromaru playing around the Shrine. She smiled at him, her ruby red eyes sparkled with something he couldn't quite read, but for some odd reason he felt really comfortable around her.

The girl suddenly looked sad, almost lonely. For some reason, that really bothered Shinjiro. Without thinking, he wrapped an arm around her shoulders. The girl looked at him, surprised, but she smiled, her cheeks becoming a light shade of pink. Shinjiro couldn't help but smile himself, his face showing a faint blush.

As the girl rested her head against his shoulder, Shinjiro felt oddly at peace. He closed his eyes and simply remained like that.

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Shinjiro woke up with a jolt. He glanced around and found Minato sleeping soundly on the other couch. He took out a silver pocket watch from his pocket and glanced at the time: 5 am. 'What the hell was that dream all about…? Who was that girl?' Shinjiro thought confused before taking another glance at his watch. There was a huge dent on the back. 'Why do I feel like I'm missing something important? Shit, am I going crazy now?'

With a sigh, Shinjiro decided to try and get back to sleep. However, he couldn't get the mysterious girl off his mind. Little did he know that this girl would be connected to him, as well as Minato and Souji.