Prologue / Rescue

This world is filled only with darkness and a bitter cold that could never change. I had no idea on where or what this place could be, but the feeling it gave me was something I was intimately familiar with. This was the world that I had lived in every day. The only exception was that it was filled with other life that at least gave an illusion that some people in the world didn't feel the same about life as I did. That is if you are to believe I feel anything at all about living.

I forced my arm to move which enveloped that arm and shoulder into a world of pain, but still I continued on to push myself up from the ground. Every muscle ached and gave new pain as I got to my feet. I did not make a sound or react to this, I was not a stranger to pain, and this was barely classified as pain. Pain like this was nothing. As I got to my feet the world around me began to light up, or perhaps my eyes were simply finally adjusting to the light. The light surrounding me was a pale blue light, and it seemed to barely light up the surroundings. And after only a few moments, I finally was able to get a decent look at the area around me. This place had a striking resemblance to a place in my past. Something that I wish I could forget but never could.

I was in a large empty room, and in front of me was a doorway. That was also the real source of the pale blue light that illuminated this room. There was little in the way of options at this point in time. So I took my first step towards the door. It was a painful step, as if I hadn't used my leg in a very long time, but I pressed forward. Each step became increasingly easier but still brought a measure of pain. Still it did not make me flinch or buckle because of it...it was just a simple pain to remind me that I was still alive. However this place and the pain forced me to ask questions.

Where was I? And how come this place looked exactly like that home? It was a place that shouldn't even exist anymore. Well maybe that wasn't true. Only that I lived miles away from it, and there should be no way for me to be back there. I thought I was done with all of that. However, I couldn't deny the striking resemblance that this placed matched what was in my memories. The wood flooring was cold under my feet, just as it had been when I had lived there. Hmm, it seems I didn't have shoes or socks. The pale blue painted walls were even more emphasized because of the light, but I knew that it was its true color. And I remembered just how much I hated those walls. This place had been my prison in my youth.

I finally arrived at the door and saw the hundreds of scratch marks that were on the bottom part of the door. At a glance someone might think there was no real pattern, but I knew better. After all I had been the one to make them. After all, this place had been my cage, and despite the futility of the gesture...I still tried to claw my way out at times. This prison had been created by the man who called himself my uncle. Still I was merely a child back then. And that man was long locked in an actual prison for what he had done. So why was I here? Why, of all places, would I be brought here? I suppose a better question would be...how did I get here?

Reaching out to the door for a moment, my hand lightly touched the ice cold brass doorknob. It had been a European style house, one that tended to stand out in Japan. And glad I don't live in a house like this anymore. I briefly hesitated; this was not a place I would ever want to be by choice. However, if this was the place I knew then it wouldn't be long till I could leave. It was just out the door, down the stairs and the front door would be there. Then again I had those same thoughts in my youth...the exit was always so close...yet beyond my reach. But I am not a child now, and that was the hope I was telling myself as I slowly turned the doorknob. The door opened and the pale blue light flooded into the room. I had to squint my eyes as I exited the room. My eyes quickly adjusted after a few moments.

This was not the top of the stairs or the top hallway of that house...no it directed me back to my room. Only this time it was decorated as it had been when I lived there. However, I couldn't remember if this was exactly right. I had been quite small at the time and my memories weren't reliable for that time in my life. Most of it only brought forth memories of pain. That which I certainly had never forgotten about.

I heard a noise and I quickly flipped around. Now...I had moved? I was no longer inside my childhood room. It was now outside. However, it was a place that I knew. A playground in the middle of the night. A moon half full hung in the sky, and even though I had been walking just moments ago I found myself sitting on a swing. I could not remember ever sitting down so my mind had to take a moment to catch up with what happened.

"I told you. There isn't anything you can do, Ikakure Kayane," I turned to see a girl with brown hair. I recognized her right away because she was one person I could never forget.

I heard my own voice just a moment later. I was speaking words I had long forgotten but I spoke without actually making any effort to do so, "Don't use my full name. Besides we won't know until we try, Fujikara-san."

"At least use my first name, Kayane," she looked over at me clearly irritated.

"Miyuki-san, we could run. We don't have to stay here," I found myself saying. And the memories of that night began to flood back faster than the scene in front of me could play out. Was this what it was...a reminder of that time? Seeing her so vividly in front of me didn't help things. I am a coward...I hardly needed reminders of an obvious fact.

"Don't be silly. Where would we go?" Miyuki shook her head. "And if we got caught…who knows what would happen."

I couldn't help but remember the helplessness that I had felt at that time. And how that same feeling was going over me at the moment. "I know what he did to you, Miyuki…I can't just…" That's right...the man who was her Father had done such horrid things to her...

"Stand by and let it happen again? Besides it isn't like you are in any better position than me," Miyuki let out a long sigh. "Running wouldn't help either of us. Not in the long run."

"But…"

"Look at me, Kayane," Miyuki's face already told me what to expect. She had always been strong...always been the one that saved me...who helped me...and yet I could never do anything for her, never repaid her for the kindness she gave to me.

"I don't want to see you get hurt," I spoke. I could remember the frustration that I had at that night. I would never forget it. Not even for a single day. I didn't need to see this again. I didn't want to see it this vividly as it was at this moment. No...I had done my best to forget so why...why was it coming back like this?

"Stop this," I was surprised how hard it was to force the words out and they came out as only a whisper. Still I needed this vision to stop. I didn't want to see this…didn't want to see what came next. I spoke again forcing the words to come out louder. "Stop This! STOP THIS!" I screamed at the top of my lungs.

"Fight it all you want. But I will never forget this day. All I could do was watch. I was nothing but a weak and powerless kid. So in the end what was the point in fighting? I wasn't able to accomplish anything. And in the end I couldn't save her. YOU couldn't save her. No...you didn't even TRY to save her," an entity appeared wrapped in a dark aura and eyes glowing a dim gold. I was on my feet again staring at this individual. Everything about him reminded me of myself. "I am to blame for everything that happened. If I had been stronger I could have saved her. YOU could have saved her."

"Miyuki and I knew better than to do anything. We were just kids, there was nothing we could have done. We would have just made things worse in the long run," I defended the actions of my younger self. It was all I could do in the face of this being. But all I was doing was justifying my own inaction as a child.

"No, you just did nothing. You were too weak. In the end it is just better if you never existed to begin with. Miyuki must have hated you, just like everyone else. You deserve every scar on your body. You should just die," the entity's voice full of malice and hatred.

I was fine with that...I hated myself for what I did then. Still, I looked to the ground. What could I even say to that? How could I ever hope to be more than who I am? I could never change what happened. And I didn't want to die, if I did I would insult what Miyuki did for me. I'm sure that one day I would be able to become something more. More than what I am now. No, if I died now then all of it would have been for nothing. And what happened to Miyuki…I had no control over it. If I had done something...who was to say the results would have been any different?

"You had no control? Is that really what you believe? You are nothing but a coward that shouldn't continue breathing," the entity's hatred for me was more like the edge of a blade. Each word felt like it twisted inside of me causing me the maximum of pain. I knew I could not deny the words this entity spoke, but I wanted nothing to do with it.

"Shut up," I muttered as I turned around. The surroundings changed completely once again. Suddenly I was standing in a large open room covered in ice. The floor and walls were designed like the room from my childhood and it was all lit by that same pale blue light from before. A large door that stood at the entrance was the same door I had previously seen. Except it was much larger and emphasized the scratches along the door.

"Running away like you always do," the entity with the dark aura and seemingly glowing gold eyes stood next to another familiar figure.

I took a few steps but my strength quickly gave way. When had I gotten so tired? I found myself collapsing and looking up at the entity and the other figure. My heart was beating faster now; something about this scene was causing my brain to go into overdrive. What was going on?

"Senpai!" An unfamiliar voice came from the direction of the door. I heard it open and saw not just one but many people. They were wearing the Yasogami High School Uniforms. Except each one was holding a weapon and there was even some strange bear looking creature. Wait? What the hell am I seeing?

"Ikakure-san!" the group made their way to me.

"You are all such an annoying bunch. Why are you even here?" the dark entity directed its question at the group. But what did this dark entity mean? It seemed like it had been aware that they were coming. I didn't even know who these people were. It wasn't like I had any friends. How did they even know who I was? And what was this place anyway? There was only a wave of questions going through my mind.

"We're here to save, Senpai," one of the girls said as their group slowly made their way over to me. This girl had brown hair, and was most likely longer than it looked because it was in pigtails…or something close to it. I felt like I should recognize her from somewhere but there was too much I didn't know. And I sure as hell was not close or friendly with any girl, I never even uttered a word to one since I had lived in Inaba. At least not if I could avoid it.

"Save him? You must be joking. No one would ever want to save this pathetic excuse for a human being. Shall I show you the true darkness of his heart?" The entity kicked forward the other figure that I had noticed before but the rapid change had caused me to not pay attention to it. There was no mistake as to who it was though. "This girl was named Fujikara Miyuki. Want to know something interesting about her? Or maybe I should just show you the truth."

How did this entity know so much about me? How could he possibly know the things that happened then? And what exactly was this place? All I had was questions. Should I say anything at all? And why...why did this entity look like me?

"She was a childhood friend. Someone he loved very dearly. She was the only one able to make us forget about our uncle. The one that beat us every night. Then one day I saw something that I wasn't supposed to see. The things that her Father did to her, I knew it was wrong. The way he touched her, groped her, kissed her. Guess what I did? Nothing," the entity looked disgusted. Its eyes seared into my own as he spoke.

"No, shut up! Don't please…" I said as I gathered my strength to get to my feet. I stumbled a bit but I stabilized myself. No one else needed to know or hear about it. I didn't need people that pitied me. It was my burden to bare...my guilt to carry.

"So you're going to speak now? Don't want to share the shame of your life, murderer?" the entity took a step forward and kicked the figure at his feet. The one that looked like Miyuki. "What right do you have to speak when you've spent it with your mouth shut? Blindly accepting everything because you were too weak to fight."

"How can you know all this? Who are you?" I could no longer stop myself from asking. None of this made any sense...was I just in a dream...no a nightmare I couldn't wake up from? And who were these people? Just individuals that could see how pathetic and useless I am.

"Isn't it obvious? I'm you," the entity smirked. He certainly did look like me...but him being me? That wasn't something that could happen.

"Me? What do you mean? That isn't possible," I shook my head, unsure what it meant. I was me...right? But...this entity knew so much about my life...things I have never said to anyone. Not even the therapist I went to when I was younger. I realized that no one really wanted to help me...they simply just wanted to document how messed up the situation had made me as an individual.

"Running away still? Even now in a world made by your mind you would still reject the simple truth. No wonder she never trusted you. Or rather, us," the entity flipped the body over so that the others could see the truth. "She died because of us. We kept our mouths shut, and we could have stopped it. All we had to do was tell the police or even Miyuki's Mother, but we didn't. We did nothing."

"No I was just a kid, no one would have believed me and…"

"That is just the lie that we told ourselves, isn't it? We were nothing but a coward, and because of that we lost her. Guess what she did before breathing her last breath? She told her Mother about what had been happening to us. She saved us a life with our Uncle. But what did we ever do to her? Tell me…what did WE do? The truth is we are the ones that should be dead." The anger was so strong.

"Shut up! Shut UP! SHUT UP!" I needed to stop these words that were being said. I needed it to end. I didn't remember that…it couldn't be right. It wasn't like that.

The group that had entered had said nothing. What this entity said must have left them all questioning what to say. And me…what could I say? I was sure that what this thing said was wrong.

"You're wrong. You…you…" I struggled to find the right words. But I knew that whatever this thing was…it wasn't what it claimed to be. "You aren't me. You can't be me!"

The entity began to laugh. "That's right, I'm me now. And the first thing I'm going to do is kill all of you!"

I was suddenly grabbed from behind and pulled back as the entity's dark aura began to expand at an alarming rate. It looked like it was transforming.

"Stay back Ikakure-senpai. Leave this to us," a young man with silver hair spoke to him.

"Who…are you guys?" I muttered as the strength I had gave way and I ended up falling to the ground.

"We'll explain everything later, okay senpai? But we came here to save you?" The twin pigtails girl was right next to him and she was wearing pink glasses.

"Why?" I muttered.

"Get out of my way! I'm doing the world a favor by removing that worthless piece of trash. His uncle understood that. No wonder he beat him every day," the entity spoke and I finally took a better look at it. It looked like me, except surrounded by blades. Hundreds of blades, swords of differing sizes. All of them pierced through the body of the entity that claimed to be me. "I am a Shadow, the true self. I will kill everyone before the end!"

I felt myself get dizzy for a moment and then without me prompting to I collapsed backwards onto the ground completely this time. The world darkened and I couldn't move anymore.

"Kayane, how long are you going to stay down there?" I knew this voice right away. It was Miyuki. I opened my eyes to see her looking down at me. She smiled at me.

"Miyuki, sorry. I didn't mean to fall asleep," I said without prompting. Was this another one of my memories? I was so confused about everything at this point I just sighed.

"Don't worry about it. I know you don't really sleep well in that house," Miyuki smiled at me once more. I realized from the way I was looking up at her that my head was actually resting in her lap. I...remembered this.

"Yeah but neither do you," I said as I went to sit up but her hands came down and stopped me.

"Just relax will you. For once in your life let me spoil you a bit. I at least want to know what this feels like at least once in my life," Miyuki smiled at me. These words hit me harder now than they had then...

"Alright, if you say so," I said as I relaxed once more, although this was more the me from my memories...my actions were predetermined it seemed. But I was experiencing them once more, firsthand. "But I'm sure you'll have plenty of time to do this when you're older and you get a boyfriend."

"Idiot," Miyuki chuckled. "Will you listen to something? And promise you won't say anything until the end?"

"Sure, Miyuki…what is it?" I asked, for some reason I couldn't remember this ever happening. This was a memory of mine…wasn't it? Or had I simply forgotten this? Sure...I forgot a lot about my time with her...I was young and my memory was often filled with only the horrible events that had occurred then.

"I know what you've been going through all this time. Maybe that was why I always dragged you around everywhere. It was just easier to get along with someone that knew the kind of pain I went through. Though I guess you can't really compare the differences in what we go through. But…it's hard for both of us, especially when even if we wanted to tell someone, there isn't many people that would believe us," Miyuki looked up into the sky. The moon shining brightly on the two of us, this place by the playground had often been our place of escape in the dead of night. Miyuki would come and climb up to the second floor and help me out the window and down the tree and we would sneak off to the playground. Normally we wouldn't have been able to see anything at this time of night but the moon was so full that its light made things incredibly visible. "I've thought about it for a long time, and I don't want to see you continue to suffer like this, Kayane. You don't even sleep at night so when we get time alone you often just fall asleep."

"I'm sorry…"

"Shh," she put a finger to my lips. "I don't mind. Besides you're really cute when you're asleep. And it's the only time you ever look like you're happy. No matter what happens Kayane…I just want you to be happy, and I'll do anything I can to see that happen."

I felt a strange sensation and then I was back in that cold room opening my eyes, I found myself looking at the brown haired girl with the twin pigtails. Gone was Miyuki and the Full Moon. I was dazed for a few moments as I gathered my composure.

"Senpai, you're okay," the girl smiled and I wasn't sure how to react to it. I looked up to see all the others looking at me. I sat up and grabbed my head. My head hurt...and I was just confused on what exactly had been going on.

"I must look pitiful," I groaned and saw that the entity that claimed to be me standing still and no longer talking. I slowly got to my feet. "What is he?"

"He's you. More specifically, the suppressed emotions of yourself," a person in a blue hat explained. "It's your Shadow."

"My Shadow?" I shook my head and stumbled up to my feet and two of the guys were there to steady me. The one with silver hair and another with brown hair.

"You have to accept him, or it will go berserk again," the silver hair guy stated simply.

"Accept him?" I wasn't sure I understood. This Shadow they are talking about had claimed to be me...and said a lot of things that I...oh. That was what they meant.

"Senpai?" the girl in pigtails questioned but I shook my head and stepped towards the one they called my Shadow.

I took a few steps away from them and towards my Shadow. I sighed, looking back at the others for a moment. "You're right, of course. I'm a coward, a waste of space, it would take me too long to describe just what I feel about myself. I just never had the courage to face my uncle. I didn't even have the guts to tell someone that Miyuki was being sexually abused by her own Father. I always run when something gets too hard for me. I just run from everything. I know that. Still Miyuki told me she loved me for who I was. She never asked anything of me. And I didn't deserve any of it. And because of me and the way I am she died to protect me. She exposed my Uncle and her Father in a ridiculous plan. She died for a coward, that couldn't protect her. Even though I wanted to be that person…I was too scared of screwing up…of making things worse. And more than that I was a coward to even admit how I felt. I just wanted to run."

"Senpai…" I could hear some of the girls in tears from what I was saying. I really looked pathetic but that was okay...I was pathetic.

"I closed up when she died, and ever since then I never spoke or admitted to how I truly felt. That I wanted to die. I wanted to die with her. That's why you are saying what you were. You are me after all." I watched as my Shadow nodded. Then it disappeared and changed into a being clothed in black and had six katana's strapped to his back. I knew its name instinctively. "Tsukuyomi," I breathed as it turned into a small card and floated down towards me. I reached my hand out to it and felt a warmth come over me as the card disappeared. I reflexively closed my eyes for a moment, but opened them as I suddenly felt my remaining strength give way.

I'm quickly stabilized by the same two guys as before and the rest come in front of me and into my view. For some reason I feel compelled to continue my tale. "I wanted to die for the longest time. I mean why shouldn't I? How could somebody just allow the person they care about to suffer like they did. And in the end she died protecting me. Apparently in the struggle against her Father, her Mother had come home and saw everything. But her Father just became furious and shoved Miyuki hard causing her to fall. Her head came in contact with the corner of the kitchen table and well…it killed her instantly. Everything had been carefully planned by Miyuki…she set up her Father to make him think that her Mom wouldn't be home for quite some time…and she set up the exact time when her Mom would walk in. Dying hadn't been in her plan but she had planned for even that possible outcome. Thats just the kind of person she was. The police found a long letter in her room that explained everything in detail. As well as the abuse that my Uncle had inflicted on me. And physical evidence doesn't lie, but Miyuki had even covered her basis there by having taken pictures of me and my bruises...more than likely when I slept. I had often fell asleep when I spent time with her. Anyway, after doing an autopsy on Miyuki they had me undergo an extensive physical examination. Just two weeks later both her Father and my Uncle were incarcerated. Having no other relatives, Miyuki's Mother adopted me and eventually decided to move out here to Inaba to start a new life. So I've lived here ever since." I paused looking at them. "We are still in Inaba, right?"

"Yes, and don't worry we'll explain everything that has happened in time. First we should get you out of here," a girl with black hair and wearing mostly red was the one who spoke.

"Who are you guys?" I finally asked.

"I'm Hanamura Yosuke. And…" the guy with brown hair was quickly interrupted.

"I'm Amagi Yukiko," The girl wearing red introduced herself.

"Satonaka Chie," a girl with a green jacket went next.

"Shirogane Naoto," I was pretty sure it was a girl judging by the voice, but she hid her eyes under her hat, tilting it forward.

"Tatsumi Kanji," This young man had a t-shirt with a skull on it…and it seemed like his necklace was a bullet.

"I'm Teddie!" An energetic creature stepped in front of him. I must have had a funny look on my face because most of them started laughing.

"He's a long story. I'm Narukami Yu. And the one over there is Kujikawa Rise," The silver headed guy indicated to the girl with the twin pigtails. She was currently in tears.

Why would she be crying? It certainly wouldn't be because of me. I walked over to her and placed my hand on her shoulder, "Why are you crying? You shouldn't waste them on me."

"How can you say that, Senpai?" Rise said as she wiped away her tears. "You must have been so lonely after she died."

I stood there amazed that anyone would even care about me. I didn't even know what to say to any of them. After a moment the girl named Rise pulled me into a hug. I was taller than her so her head only went up to my shoulder, but she held onto me tightly and didn't seem like she would let go. I really didn't enjoy the sudden contact but I was too exhausted to fight it or push away from her. I barely was registering it as I was right now.

"Why…why are any of you even here? Why save me? I don't know any of you," I was looking around and seeing that all of them seemed to want to say something in response. The girl Rise looked up at me tears falling from her eyes.

"Why wouldn't we?" Rise asked softly.

"We should get you out of here, Ikakure-senpai," Yu said trying to direct everyone. "This place isn't a great place to stand around and talk in." Yu pulled the girl Rise away from me and then made a point to stay at my side...more than likely to be there in case I collapsed. I was more appreciative that he had removed the girl.

"You guys said you'd explain this place?" I was really feeling exhausted at this point. I'm guessing that these guys were well adept at whatever this place was.

"Yeah, but for now we should get you back before you really collapse," Yosuke was the one speaking now.

I let out a sigh as I began to walk with the group. I wasn't sure what I should think at this point in time. All I knew was that there was a bunch of things I didn't know yet. And even more than that was there was more about himself that he had forced himself to forget. Now all he could think about was Miyuki and what happened at that time. I know that I had never really dealt with her death. And now I had been forced to face that reality. I didn't have room to think about anything else at this time. I couldn't even fathom why these people would rescue me, or even why the girl Rise cried because of what had happened to me. I'm not sure my mind was capable of understanding why any of them cared about me in this current state.

No longer able to think I simply walked to wherever these guys led me. The day had been too long and had drained any energy I had left. All that mattered was getting home and falling on to my futon. And that moment couldn't come fast enough.

A/N:

Hey everyone! It's been a while since I posted the last chapter of Momento Umbrae which was my first foray into the world of Fan Fiction. But actually this story has been sitting around a lot longer than that story. I think I actually started writing this after I originally played the game on the PS2. Anyway enough of that lets talk about the actual story for a bit.

Yes the main character is an Original Character...I know that turns off a lot of people when it comes to Fan Fiction but this kinda came to me and I just started writing. Also because of when I originally started this it did not initially have any events from the Golden version of the game. I'm still on the fence on if I will add anything from it or not at this point as this story will be getting new revisions and additions as I upload it here. Similar to what I did with Momento Umbrae.

Also yes...Both my OC and the OC in his backstory share the same names that I have to Minato's parents in Momento Umbrae. Is there a reason for that? Possibly but it won't factor in to this story in particular. Also Kayane's Persona is Tsukuyomi, which is also the same as Sho in Persona 4 Arena Ultimax...but there have been many protagonist to share Persona's in the franchise so I don't feel like it would be out of place and I think he really fits him. The design for Kayane's Tsukuyomi is also a bit different to as it would be. I can understand if all of this turns people off from this fan fiction. Still I think there are similarities to Sho and Kayane that make this work. Besides we got a lot of story to cover even if were coming in much later than maybe people are used to.

Obviously with Naoto present here you might be able to take a guess where we are in the Persona 4 story line. But I'll cover that in the next chapter.

Just FYI this will be a weekly updated Fan Fic. I did daily releases for Momento Umbrae but I feel like that made it hard for some readers to keep up with plus unlike Momento Umbrae, which was already finished when I started posting it...this story is not. While it will take time to catch up with what I have already written, the end of this story has not yet been determined.

I hope you all stick with me on this journey with Kayane. And maybe things might be a bit different than you remember in Persona 4 because of him. Leave some comments and critiques if you wish. See you next week with Chapter 1!