Welcome To Hashi High: A Persona 3, 4, and 5 Crossover

Nightmares

"Minato, Yu... Do you guys ever have nightmares?"

Yu stopped walking, turning his head back to look at Akira. The dark haired boy seemed to be lost in thought, his eyes trained on the ground. What brought this on? Yu always thought that Akira was rather quiet except when he was angry, so this question was a bit unprompted. He sighed deeply.

"Not often." If the three of them were going to solve this case, the best way would be to get closer and fix this animosity between them. He couldn't deny that there was still a lot that pissed him off about both Akira and Minato, but after seeing their inner selves, he realized that they were just like himself. His own anger was melting away. "I never used to get them, until the Investigation Team fought against Ameno-Sagiri and Izanami last spring. They've been mostly abstract, like feelings and shapes, but recently I've been getting a recurring one." His voice shook slightly, so he took a breath to steady it. "I'm walking through Shibuya when it starts getting dark. A corpse falls at my feet, and when I check the face..." A dozen lifeless faces flash across his vision, Yosuke, Chie, Yukiko, Kanji, Rise, Naoto, Mishima... He shivered. "It's the face of one of my friends. It's why I was so afraid of the body in Yongen earlier this week. I was so scared it was someone I knew."

The other two didn't say anything. Yu felt a small spark of anger in his chest at the silence. He was about to snap at them before Minato spoke up.

"You have a fear of abandonment, right? I can imagine how terrifying it is for you to have to live through that in your dreams." Yu hadn't expected Minato to be so caring, but based on the way his voice filled with a little venom at the end, he had no shortage of horrible nightmares. "To answer your question, 'Kira..."

"Call me that again and I'll call you MinMin for the rest of your life." Yu snickered. Akira turned his dark eyes on Yu. "Laugh at that and I'll come up with one for you too."

"Whatever 'Kira." Minato shrugged. "I get nightmares all the time, so this is really nothing new." He was so aloof about it, Yu figured he must have grown up with terrifying dreams. "Ever since I came to Hashi, I started getting nightmares about that cell. Where we killed each other instead of working together. It's part of the reason I was so upset in there."

"Makes sense." The edge was gone from Akira's voice. This is good. It was going to take some time, but if they started by stopping being so cruel to each other, then that was a start. "I don't have many nightmares either, instead I get to sleep in the same room as a sleep paralysis demon."

Yu had heard that sleep paralysis was extremely terrifying, and once again he was thankful he didn't have to experience that. "I do have a recurring night terror though. I don't know how to explain it though, other than the feeling of extreme helplessness, like I'm just dissolving away into nothing. I wake up feeling way too alive." Yu chewed on the inside of his lip. Both Minato and Akira had such terrifying nights, while he was able to sleep normally. Almost normally, if you don't count needing Yosuke's clothes to even close my eyes.

"You both have been through so much worse than I have." He felt weirdly bitter, not at himself exactly, nor even at them. He felt upset at this world for being so cruel to them. He was beginning to understand why Akira had set out to change society with his thieves.

"Just because you haven't experienced worse doesn't mean that you aren't allowed to feel bad about shit that happens to you." Akira kept walking, searching for the window that led back to Kanji's room. "I heard from Ryuji that you are distant from people because you always moved around and didn't have time to make friends." Yu's face flushed at his past being so out in the open.

"That's not-"

"Doesn't matter, you've got friends now, right? We've all got these fears but it's ok. I'm afraid of losing my justice, but here I am, solving these murders with you guys. Minato's afraid of dying but he's alive." Akira turned his dark eyes on the other two. "We just have to push on like always."

The three of them turned the corner to find the window, the snake symbol contrasting the warm, inviting light of Kanji's room. Yu raced forward, desperate to see his friends again and tell them he was safe. Akira beat him, leaping through with a whoop. Yu followed through right after, accidentally tackling Yosuke and falling to the floor in a tangle of limbs. His face warmed up rather quickly, so relieved to be touching Yosuke again.

"Agh! Yu!" Yu thrilled with joy at being back in the real world. "You guys are safe, thank god. Makoto and Kanji were getting ready to get a search party together to get you guys." Yosuke looked a little sheepish, chewing on his lip in his normal fidgeting manner. "I was going to go on ahead, but then..."

Minato had come through the window by this point. "Stop making out in the floor, it's stupidly late and I don't want to hear you two sucking face all night." He walked around them to the door. "I'll tell everyone that we made it back safely."

"Wait Arisato!" Yosuke got himself untangled and stood up. "You look hurt, I'll go tell everyone that you guys are safe." He tilted his head to the side. Oh right. "Those bruises look bad, are you ok?"

Minato shrugged. "Your boyfriend hits hard, Yosuke. Also, you can call me Minato. The Investigation Team is cool by me." With that he walked out. Yu felt red hot shame rush through his cheeks as Yosuke looked at him. Akira walked out too before he could get dragged into this mess.

"What was that about?"

"It was part of the plan. It was a compromise. We all got out, and I got to punch Minato a few times. All in good fun really." Trying to defend why he punched Minato made it all seem worse, but thankfully Yosuke dropped the subject.

"You look completely dead. Go get some rest."

Yu struggled to his feet with some help from Yosuke. "Thanks. See you in the morning." Yu walked to his room, slumping against the door. He was exhausted, but even as he laid against the door he couldn't bring himself to even close his eyes. Instead, his thoughts started to spiral out of control.

It wasn't as if he'd never been through bad shit before, as if he'd never had a gun barrel pressed cold against his forehead, as if he hadn't watched his friends vanish one by one, as if he didn't strike down enemy after enemy, god after god in his desperation to save everyone. And yet, even so, as Yu pressed his back against the door, he felt tears starting to pool around his eyelashes. Fear suddenly overtook him as he thought about how badly it could have been back in that cell. If he, or any of them for that matter, had lost their temper completely, no one was getting out alive.

He started struggling to breathe, his throat clenching shut as panic gripped his heart. He didn't notice how his cheeks were suddenly wet, or how his fingers dug into his shirt so hard he could feel his nails ripping at his palms. Yu gasped for air, feeling like he wasn't getting near enough to live. He was rapidly losing control of his own mind, the fear of everything that could have happened plaguing him.

Yu was unsure how long he spent hyperventilating before the door pushed against him. He was instantly jolted from his thoughts, rapidly calming down in embarrassment. He wiped his face and rolled out of the way, hoping that whoever it was wouldn't be able to tell that he had just been crying.

"Partner?" Oh no it's Yosuke.

The boy poked his head into the room and looked down at Yu, his face falling even deeper in the concern that was already there. Yosuke crouched onto the floor and rested his hand on Yu's shoulder. "Are you-"

"I'm not really fine."

Yosuke crawled in further and shut the door. He pulled Yu into his arms, and it was actually impossible for Yu to hold back his tears for the third time that night. His fingers gripped into Yosuke's shirt as he sobbed, knowing that he didn't even have to speak for him to know what was going on. He wasn't sure how long he cried, but when he was done, he had lost feeling in his legs.

"I'm sorry, Yosuke."

"You don't need to apologize to me. Just know that I'll always be there for you." Yosuke pulled Yu away, only to look at him with a kind smile. "I figured you might need someone." He simply kissed Yu's forehead, then stood up with a yawn. "I'm going to go to sleep, but if you need someone, just come over, ok?"

Yu wanted Yosuke to stay, but knew that Kouji would be making the rounds soon. He nodded though, a small smile creeping into his lips. "Thank you, Yosuke." Despite everything that had happened, he was still here, with his best friend in the entire world.

And that was really all he needed.