Title: "Last Days"

Author: Agony-Howl

Summary: When the unthinkable happens, the Investigation team is on high alert. As they prepare for the killer to strike again, Yosuke tries to make sense of what he's feeling towards his partner and what he meant by "Today may be your last."

Pairings: SetaHana, with Chi/Yuki on the side. Stop reading and thinking about flaming me if you don't like it.

Disclaimer: Persona 4 would be a crappy game if I owned it so rejoice-I don't.

Rating: T-oddly tame for a story based on an "M" rated game.

WARNING!!! If you didn't read the pairings, this story contains shonen-ai and shojo-ai. Also, there may or may not be possible spoilers depending on where you are in the game. (This takes place after Naoto's dungeon).

Before I begin… WOOT! I beat Persona 4! True ending first time!

Anyways, this story was sparked by two certain things. One was a discussion with a friend of mine, who is also a Persona addict and who got me into the series in the first place. (Though this is the only one I've played-so please don't talk hard core about the previous games). I won't reveal what it was since I want it to be a surprise, but I promise it will be revealed in this chapter.

The second was one of Nickelback's new songs, "If Today Was Your Last Day." I fell in love with both the music and the meaning the moment I heard it. There will be snippets of the lyrics every chapter, just an FYI.

Now, onward!

&

It took him five seconds to realize what had happened.

His gaze slowly traveled down. The lance's sharp point was embedded in his chest. A sickly purple fluid dripped from the base into the wound. It burned when the substance made contact with the wound.

The weapon was torn out of his body mercilessly, but he was too shocked to cry out in pain. His legs collapsed under his weight as he fell to the hard ground. His surroundings began to blur and darken, though he could make out familiar shapes moving towards him and a voice-his voice calling out his name.

'Not until I tell him.'

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------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------"Prologue: Countdown"--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Two Weeks Earlier, Evening: October 10, 2011

Today was not a good day for Yosuke Hanamura. First, he was worn out from exploring the TV world with his friends. They had gotten done beating a particularly strong Shadow they found in the dungeon Naoto Shirogane, their newest member, was in when she was kidnapped. However, he was used to that.

It was when they got out that things went bad. Apparently someone was so mad about Junes stealing business from the shopping district they had decided to vandalize part of the electronics department when they thought no one was looking. Unfortunately for them, one of the workers caught them and called the police. And unfortunately for the investigation team, this meant that the media would want part of the story. Or, rather it was unfortunate for the music loving teen-seeing as he had a connection with the department store. He had managed to get away from the news-hungry reporters and cameramen…only to find out that the light shower promised by the weather forecast that day had turned into buckets of water being seemingly poured down from the heavens.

Yosuke made a mad dash for his house with Teddie, a bear mascot who was also an inhabitant of the TV world, so he wouldn't get as soaked while avoiding anyone who looked like they had anything to do with the news. Before they did, however, Teddie had to get out of his bear suit so that running wouldn't be as hard for him. While he was changing, the brunette hid from the reporters still looking for news. The results?

One, he was worn out not only from exploring and fighting Shadows, but also from running half a mile through heavy rain.

Two, he was soaked to the bone from all the water being poured on him and was freezing.

And three, the possibility of being hounded for input on a story to get everyone's attention until there was more news on the serial killer hung over his head like the dark clouds outside.

Put it all together and you got a concoction for grumpiness that could make even the cheeriest person in the world snap and murder everyone around them with a butter knife, laughing maniacally all the while.

Or, at least that's what Yosuke figured-he may have been exaggerating it a bit. But he was in a bad mood. All he wanted was a hot shower and an early night.

After a quick shower, he changed into pajamas, crawled into bed, and within five minutes he was asleep. He didn't see the TV slowly flicker to life, despite not being turned on. And he didn't see the figure that appeared on it.

&

Early Morning: October 11, 2011

"Just what did I do to get on your bad side?" Yosuke muttered as he ran, not expecting an answer from the entity who decided to make the brunette their whipping boy. The power in the Hanamura household had gone out in the middle of the night and went back on sometime in the morning. Since his alarm clock ran on electricity from the house, it had reset itself during the night and didn't go off when it was supposed to. And Teddie kept trying to talk to him while he was throwing his uniform on and grabbing something to eat while running. He seemed excited about something…

So now, he had to once again make a mad dash if he wanted to get to school on time. Thankfully, Yasogami High wasn't too far away now. Yosuke checked his watch and would have sighed with relief if he hadn't been running. Apparently the entity mentioned before decided to no longer torture him anymore-he had arrived with five minutes to spare.

The teen slipped into the classroom seconds before the bell rang. As he did, he noticed the members of the investigation team in the room give him odd stares. Chie Satonaka, a girl with a love for kung-fu, looked…worried? It was the same look she wore when her best friend, Yukiko Amagi, had gone missing months ago. Was she taken again?

'No.' Yosuke thought, spotting the black haired girl in front of Chie. Maybe it's something going on with Yukiko?

He felt a tap on the shoulder and turned to the person who had done it. The leader of the group, Souji Seta, had a look of concern on his face. While Ms. Kashiwagi was reminding everyone of the midterm exams coming up in a few days, the silver haired teen whispered "Meet up on the roof at lunch." Yosuke nodded in affirmation, though he didn't know what was going on. Slowly, however, he remembered that it had rained last night. 'Damn! That's what it's about!' he cursed silently. 'Someone must have shown up on the Midnight Channel.' No use worrying about it now. All he could do was wait and see.

&

Lunchtime

The morning classes seemed to drag on through the day at a painfully slow pace. It seemed to go even slower for Yosuke-the worried looks on his friends' faces seemed to imprint themselves into his brain. Especially Souji's.

Maybe it was because he didn't seem to get frustrated or uneasy when it came to rescuing victims from the TV-the group had plenty of time to rescue the people there and they managed to get them out with plenty of time to spare or maybe he just knew that a cool head was what was needed in situations like these.

The only time Yosuke had seen his friend so worried was when Nanako, his seven year-old cousin, had run off in the night after a small fight with her father, Ryotaro Dojima. 'Maybe because he didn't know the other victims too well.' He realized. 'We never really got to know them until after they were saved. So maybe this time it's someone he knows…someone everyone else knows.' That would explain why everyone was so worried. And why Teddie seemed so excited-now that the teen thought about it, the blond must have been trying to tell him about the person who had shown up on the Midnight Channel.

A bell announcing the lunch period broke into Yosuke's thoughts. He remembered what Souji had told him and made his way up to the roof. The rest of the investigation team save Teddie-since he didn't attend Yasogami High-was waiting for him. Souji, Chie, and Yukiko were there; as were Kanji Tatsumi, a gangster-looking first-year who was different from how he appeared, Rise "Risette" Kujikawa, a former idol taking a hiatus in Inaba, and Naoto. All of them went silent as he approached. 'Maybe they know I didn't watch the Midnight Channel last night.' He thought glumly. Up until this point, he had never failed to check the TV when it was raining. To have not done so was-

"So, Yosuke-Senpai." Kanji began, a hint of unease in his casual tone. "The Midnight Channel-"

"About that…" Yosuke said, trailing off. "I…I didn't watch it last night."

The group stared at him. So they didn't know about that. It made sense-he was almost always the first to call Souji after watching it, and he was the only one in the group who had a personal connection with one of the victims.

"I see…so that's why you don't look panicked." Naoto murmured quietly. "Because you didn't know-"

"Didn't know what?" Yosuke asked, now getting annoyed with everyone for avoiding the subject. "Damn it, I know I messed up and I don't have any excuses, but that was only one time! So stop going in circles!"

"We're trying to tell you!" Rise spoke up. "So stop interrupting and let us explain!"

The brunette took a deep breath, then let it out. "Sorry," he finally said once he calmed down. "With the way all of you were acting today, I guessed that this was serious and I wanted to know what was going on."

"Well…" Chie trailed off. "You could say that it's serious…I mean, this is the first time the killer targeted-"

"So it's someone we know!" Yosuke exclaimed before remembering he was supposed to let the group explain. "Is it?"

"Yes, it is." Yukiko answered this time. She looked uncomfortable, like she didn't want to be the one to give the bad news. "The person who showed up was…was…" she looked away.

The teen was starting to get a bad feeling now. 'Wait a minute!' he thought. 'Everyone is acting around this like me, so that means that it must be someone I'm close to. But who?'

It was Souji who spoke this time. And even though it wouldn't change what was to come, it still almost seemed like it was his words that would change everything. "Yosuke, the person who showed up on the Midnight Channel was you."

&

Yup! That's right-what my friend and I were discussing was "what if a member of the Investigation Team got targeted?" Naturally, since what we discussed involves what everyone would do I can't talk about what we thought of.

The story really starts up in the next chapter, which I am working on along with the fourth chapter of "TRHS." (I have writer's block on that one, so it may take me awhile.) So until then see ya later!