4/9 - Thurs
Dark Hour
Next: Full
And in that exact moment, Minato blinked.
The abnormal shadow had destroyed the window, making it much easier to look at the girl leading the two boys away and where Minato and [Your Name] once stood. The [hair color] haired boy wasn't hurt, in fact, he reacted in a timely manner considering it was all happening in a split second. From shoving Yukari away from the window to shielding Minato.
If becoming a meat shield doesn't particularly show empathy, [Your Name] didn't know what did. He cared, even if he didn't know Minato exactly, he still had to protect him, duty or not. All he could focus on was getting somewhere safe with the other three.
'...the roof isn't exactly the best place considering-'
A rumble vibrated throughout the building, two of the three surprised that they weren't safe on the roof. [Your Name] watched as an overly large hand grasped onto the roof's edge. In another split second, its face -which consisted of a blue mask covering it with the single Roman numeral for "one" displayed in the center of the forehead- peaked over to see the trio standing there flabbergasted. Not only that, but once it stepped onto the roof, it pulled out multiple daggers. Very sharp ones indeed.
'You can't always avoid fighting, [Your Name]. Get your shit together.'
Yukari pulled out her evoker, pointing it at her forehead with heavy breathing that made [Your Name] push her out the way almost angrily. He did the same motion to the [non-dominant] side of his head but with no effort, his face held no emotion, but just looked rather droopy and exhausted.
His initial -and only- persona Eurydice appeared to protect. But he knew in the bottom of his heart that he was too weak at the moment, and will most likely lose. Even so, it was his duty to protect the two. It was like Mitsuru knew this would happen but she was probably just being prepared, he had been around for a while after all.
Eurydice was beautiful, put it simply. His hair was silky and a lighter chocolate color. His skin was what made him seem less human, it had a golden hue to it but remained a deathly pale. He held a lyre that colored red from the top that made it seem like blood was dripping down, landing on his delicate looking hands that held the instrument tightly.
All he wore was the same red, dripped cloth -it was cut off with a belt in the middle- that was in all actuality white. His face was contorted, only his closed eyes and frowning lips noticeable from a certain distance as if you were farther away, his face would blur.
And so, he ordered the facet sluggishly, "Zionga!" He stumbled to the side a bit, something he wouldn't have usually done if he were much more rested.
Lightning shot from the sky as Eurydice strummed the lyre he was holding fondly with ease. It damaged the shadow but didn't stop it as it cast a fire skill, easily overpowering Eurydice enough to throw [Your Name] away to the side. Noticing Yukari finally trying to summon her persona once more, it swatted her away too, leaving her evoker near Minato.
It was then hit with a deadly slash from behind, Eurydice once again appeared to be the culprit. He had hit the monster with the tips of the lyre he held. It had been caught off guard with its weakness, giving a chance for [Your Name] to cast another physical skill, his face having dirt smudged in with metallic-smelling blood and his [non-dominant hand] faltering its grip on the evoker. His [left/right] side might have been the side he landed on and scraped.
Minato stood still at the door, holding Yukari's evoker in hand after the small child's tempting to do it, to begin the process that would surely doom humanity. The child from back at the beginning. The two boys looked at one another, Minato searched for approval in which [Your Name] allowed. Both [Your Name] and Minato knew by the [hair color] haired boy's sluggishness that he wouldn't fight for long. And in a dramatic flourish, Minato pulled the trigger.
Blue, glass-like shards shot out the other side of Minato's head. His visible eyes glowing the color of the aura behind him and the shards, an uncharacteristic smirk dancing on his face. As something began to form behind the bluenette, winds drifted around him making the boy who first summoned seem more intimidating. Orpheus appeared from the depths of his soul, now in the real world behind its master.
"Thou art I, and I am thou. From the sea of thy soul, I cometh. I am Orpheus, Master of Strings."
Orpheus screeched after his short introduction, fire going off on the roof as the Magician shadow danced to avoid the spells. Until a wretched, raw scream of pain pierced the sky, as well as another overly loud screech that seemed, robotic, before being disrupted by a deeper, clearer one. Minato's head was gripped in pain as something was happening.
Thanatos emerged from Orpheus, breaking him apart. [Your Name] wondered what that meant if a persona was a facet. If a persona is apart of one's psyche, does that mean that an instinct of Minato's mind just tore his pacifist side that originally heeded his calling?
That's fucked up in its own right.
The extra summoning worked in the trio's favor as the extra facet ripped the shadow apart easily, so no one complained. Its sword was large but it was one-handed, easily slicing through the mask and getting to the large shadow's weakness. The persona was breathing heavily as if it had asthma or something. So was Minato as Yukari sat up fully, "Is it over?"
Right as she said that, more shadows appeared -to which they were at least smaller and easier to deal with- which in turn made her scream in terror as both Minato and [Your Name] ran forward to intercept them. As they got into a battle stance, so did the shadows. They had the advantage so Minato leaped forward to slash at the first shadow with his new short sword, [Your Name] followed up as quickly as possible, improvising with his feet as that wasn't his preferred weapon, and killed the same enemy.
That left one that seemed angrier than before, probably because his friend died at the hands of what it perceived as pesky humans. It crawled to hit the veteran to which [Your Name] dodged agilely and letting Minato counter with him summoning Orpheus. Deciding to use a fire spell he yelled, "Orpheus! Agi!"
It was a low tier, but that made the most sense. How in the world did Minato have that other persona if he was simply just a beginner? Only time could tell as [Your Name] leaped forward with a feet-based attack once more to finish the enemy off. The fight was for the most part easy, although [Your Name] swore that these were Cowardly Mayas which were weak to most elemental spells like the one Minato cast.
All he could do was sigh, the brunt force of the exhaustion weighed him down. He didn't even know how Minato felt until he collapsed. Of course, the boy couldn't let him land face first onto the roof, so he caught him, even with the shooting pain up his one of his arms. Minato was probably much more exhausted than he was -it worried [Your Name] to see someone so nonchalant about fighting literal monsters- so he guessed it was okay to sacrifice his arm.
Yukari got up, albeit she staggered and limped, to reach the two as Akihiko and Mitsuru barged open the roof's door. Yukari just shouted for the blue-haired boy in his arms to wake up and multiple other sayings with the same meaning. Next was Mitsuru asking if the boy could help carry Minato to the ambulance she called even with his injuries. The dark hour was over, and so was the intense fight that put literally everyone on edge.
Especially [Your Name] as he had a pit drop into his stomach. But there was more. He felt, aware. More aware than when he was in the Velvet Room. Aware that humanity was doomed from that point onward. Unless he went along with what Igor had described his role to be. Perhaps. . .
All he could do was drop Minato off with Mitsuru and Akihiko as they went to the hospital and obey orders while dismissing the others' worry about his health. The orders were simple, take as much time to recuperate from this mission and head back to school as if absolutely nothing happened.
It was the usual thing from when he first encountered this godforsaken hour, and he hated it deeply. If the new guy made any friends, they would be worried. If he didn't go to school, Keisuke would be proud but everyone else would ask what happened.
He wondered what would happen. He knew Yukari would definitely feel guilty for being more useless than a guy who just figured out what the hell was going on and he knew he would visit his hospital room more than once in the timespan of him being passed out.
He also figured that Yukari would drag him to help as well, and It made him feel annoyed but sad at the same time. Yukari always tried to put on a strong facade, but half the time it made him highly annoyed with her high-and-mighty attitude. [It was a bitchy attitude from time to time, let's be honest.]
In other words, she was terrible about acting like nothing was wrong. Sure, some people did it better, but it was so clear she was distressed. Yukari was distressed with thoughts of her father, she was very upset about Mitsuru's attitude, and then she was feeling guilty for being useless. He could understand the last part, but everything else made him feel like he was being used, in which he most likely was, to help her feel better.
In the end, he settled in the bathroom for more than an hour to fix himself up. His face probably took the most damage, his arm kept shaking and he couldn't raise it higher than his shoulder, his legs were scraped, and there was a large bruise on his side that began to turn a deep purple. A single, tentative touch made him wince. After taking care of himself, he crawled away to his room at the edge of the hall. He was tired, he didn't want to do anything other than sleep.
He couldn't go to school, not looking like this, maybe Keisuke would think that he had gotten sick for a while and wouldn't question the new scar on his face. Touching the side of his face that got cut, he winced. Everything ached and he just felt sick. "Worst. Day. Ever." After his short complaint, he went to bed, hoping to not twist and turn.
---
4/10 - Friday
Morning
Next: 29
Waking up to birds chirping wasn't what [Your Name] wanted. The birds sounded pretty, yes, but he didn't want to look in the mirror and see a broken face. A knock suddenly came to his door, "[Last Name]?"
Realizing it was Mitsuru, he decided to just shout, "Come in, it's open." The redhead did, and she winced at the damage. He probably had sustained the worst injuries that night, other than Akihiko at least. "I'm sorry for barging in during your short recovery."
The [hair color]-haired male shook his head, "Nah, it's actually okay. What'd you need?" The Kirijo just sighed, "Nothing. I'm here to tell you the conditions of what happened last night to us." The male nodded, "Continue." "Gladly."
"The one who sustained the most injured was you, from what I've seen. You have the large scratches from the roof's pavement, exhaustion, possibly more. Takeba suffered from a leg wound from the shadow's initial attack on her. Arisato is purely exhausted from the summoning. I remained mostly uninjured except being roughed up. Lastly, Akihiko has fractured ribs from what we can tell. They haven't fully scanned him yet, so we're waiting for results."
[Your Name] sat up slowly while nodding, "Makes sense, thanks for telling me. Anything else I need to know?" Mitsuru shook her head this time, "We're on our way to discovering what happened last night and what that attack was, but so far we have no clues. So, nothing important." The male smiled, "Thanks." A few minutes later of small chatter, the redhead left the injured boy alone.
He sighed. The next week was definitely going to be hell explaining this. Going back to sleep, he hopes he'd sleep the day away.
---
4/17 - Friday
After School
Next: 22
[Your Name] eventually got news that the nurses at the hospital were allowing visitors for Minato, it was after school had ended. Deciding to be a good "friend," Yukari dragged him with her to visit as now was the perfect time to see him. As she did, she ranted on and on about how they were responsible for the bluenette being in the hospital in the first place.
Complaints filed out of the male's mouth, stating how much homework he needed to get done, how inconvenient it all was, how they weren't to blame, how Yukari could just visit herself or with Mitsuru or something, mostly how he needed to tend to his injuries.
The veteran of SEES groaned before sitting down in the armchair to the left of the bed, opposite of Yukari. The blankets were pulled to the teen's chin, eyes closed peacefully. Yukari sat silently, glancing to the sleeping male constantly while fiddling with her hands. Touching his bandaged cheek, the awake male sighed, patience running thin already as he stopped himself from scratching at the stitches at the top of his head.
"Listen, he may not wake up today. Either way, you didn't have to drag me down here. I wasn't responsible, nor were you-"
"I was so useless." [Your Name] raised a brow on the opposite side of his injuries, "Look at everyone. Akihiko-senpai is officially out of commission for a while because of the injuries he sustained. Mitsuru-senpai is risking her sleep schedule to get to the bottom of all this. You have the most injuries, yet you're gonna leap back into the field once Minato-kun wakes up so you can help lead with a small party going to Tartarus."
"Yet, what am I doing that can contribute?" The male sighed, leaning back on the chair and thinking while diverting his eyes from the girl. "I'm such a-" "Maybe if you can quit moping and get a move on, you'll be able to stop being so useless and such a coward that you claim to be. You're annoying the hell out of me with all these supposed problems of yours."
He sighed with a bit of annoyance slipping through, he continued, "Akihiko is a reckless idiot, Mitsuru is a workaholic, and I know that my actions have consequences. You just joined, you're not gonna be the best of the best just yet." He jabbed a thumb at the sleeping teen, "Leave that for this guy."
Yukari lowered her head in thought, 'He addressed them so regularly. Are they that close? He did say that he was a part of this thing for a bit, long enough to know them.' She looked up at the male who had proceeded to close his eyes and rest a bit, 'But he said it himself, they're more comrades or confidants than anything else.'
'This team is held together by goals, and that's it.' She lowered her head once more, 'Even I can confirm that for myself.' She bit her lip before speaking up quietly, "I don't agree with Mitsuru-senpai's decision to recruit him based on merit."
The other teen opened his eyes, "You saw what he did, why wouldn't we recruit him for our cause?" 'Then there's the fact that he might be that Wild Card Igor spoke of, we need him here.' "We need people, or would you rather let the citizens of Iwatodai fall victim to Apathy Syndrome and rot? I surely wouldn't. In the end, it is his decision. Don't convince him or anything, let him choose his fate."
Yukari grinned, "You sound mighty protective of the guy." [Your Name] scoffed, "Sure I am. Don't let anyone else hear that, will you?" The brunette smiled, he might not have a sense of humor, but it brought a sense of reassurance to the girl whenever he comforted her. If you could call what he said comforting in the slightest.
"You need to work on your social skills." "Yadda, yadda. I don't need them." She smiled much wider and genuinely.
As silence pursued for a moment, the two remained seated, waiting for the bluenette to wake up. [Your Name] looked at the male, silently hoping that he didn't just waste his time on nothing. That was until Minato's eyes opened. It was a bit at first before he began to open them fully. He looked at the other male before turning and seeing Yukari.
The girl's eyes widened, "You're awake..!" Her face then regained its neutrality as she debated on what she should say. After such a heartfelt conversation with the other male in the room, she had spilled what she needed to let out.
Yet the [hair color]-haired male let her figure it out, considering she wanted to stop being useless. "Um, how do you feel?" He immediately gave up hope. She sounded so awkward and he was pretty sure Minato noticed. He could see the slight debate in Minato's eyes as he sat up and glanced around.
"Where am I..?" Good, he wasn't trying to be rude or anything. The female only smiled slightly, "Thank goodness. You finally came to..." Her smile fell as she sighed before jokingly asking, "How much sleep do you need!? It's been a whole week!" She smiled once more before nodding her head in the other male's direction, "Everyone was really worried about you, ya' know?"
Minato turned to [Your Name] who only sighed, "We're in Tatsumi Memorial Hospital, walking distance from the station." The bluenette nodded while a blush coated Yukari's cheeks, "Sorry.." She muttered, getting the man of the week's attention, "Anyways, your condition was sort of weird. The doctor couldn't find anything wrong and declared you exhausted more than anything."
"Pretty lucky too, skipped out on a whole week of school." The other male muttered, Yukari staring at him in disappointment.
With a huge sigh, she continued her little rant of sorts, "I'm sorry I couldn't do anything. Funny thing was that the two of us were talking about the fight before you woke up." She forced a heartbroken smile, "Even though I was supposed to protect you, I..." She trailed off, not sure how to continue.
That was until an actual smile appeared on her face, "But, your power... it was nothing short of amazing." Then her smile turned mischevious, "Even the veteran complimented you." The implied male simply scoffed, "I'm not even the true veteran here. Once he gets a compliment from Mitsuru, then you can act like that, Yukari."
Minato tilted his head at the bickering, not really understanding what the male was a veteran of. He did have that weird power that Minato unlocked the last time he was conscious, perhaps there was a group based around that.
"What even were those things?" His voice was blank, pretty similar to how he speaks all the time unless you counted the slight grogginess in his voice.
"Do you mean the big mythological creatures or the murderous blobs?" "Both." [Your Name] nodded, "Well, the blobs are Shadows. We fight against them because of the reoccurring Apathy Syndrome illness plaguing Iwatodai. We use Personas, the creatures, to fight back against shadows and ensure that the people of this city remain safe."
Yukari smiled at the transfer, "Everything will be explained later. I'm personally sorry that we didn't tell you anything earlier." "I was basically dead the whole time you arrived, so I can't really say anything." The female deadpanned, "Yet you were able to fight, miraculously."
"Yes. Yes, I did." Yukari then stood, "Alright. Well, we hope you get released soon. [Your Name]-kun here will probably be the one to pick you up when you do, just to ensure nothing happens like you getting lost."
The other male in the room stood as well when Yukari exited out the room, stopping just as the door shut and his hand rested on the handle, "Get better." He slid the door shut on his way out.
---
"I'm glad you didn't say any of that stuff about your dad."
"What? You knew!?"
"'Course I did. Just glad you didn't say anything about that. He probably doesn't care, especially after waking up and stuff."
"That's so heartless to think."
"And it's so heartless for you to know his background like that."
"But you do too!"
"Yeah, because of you and Mitsuru."
"You're so difficult."
"I try."
---
Minato's gaze stayed locked onto the door before he averted his eyes to the armchair that the male had sat on. He left behind a note. Reaching over, he flipped it open carefully. In the note, the events that had transpired a week before were explained and at the end, it was a small heartfelt part.
'I naturally assumed that's you'd be having a hard time to settle in. Just know that even though those in the dorms aren't the closest, there are those who are more similar to you than you may think. Welcome to Iwatodai, Minato.
- [Your Name]'
He set the note down on his lap, bandaged hands folding it back up neatly as the bluenette stared out the window blankly. 'Someone needs to work on the welcoming committee around here...'
---
I didn't think that the original dialogue would be interesting, so I put a twist on it seeing as there is a new character. This chapter is a bit shorter than the last, about half the size. I didn't really know where to stop and just decided to end it.
Edit: This chapter is pretty old, like, I'm not joking. I wrote this a long time ago and my writing style likes to change a lot. I feel that I'm progressively getting better at writing, so keep that in mind.
-Unedited-