A/N: This story is going to twist some things from the game in a very dark way. It takes place six years after the events in the game (2017. 1st year students would be 21 and 2nd year students would be 22), so obviously the characters will be reacting to situations that are more adult. The M rating (though I'm loath to give it for fear of losing readers) is mostly for blood, violence, and language, although there may be some sexual situations (but this isn't a lemon). The title refers to the bad things that happen when you draw an Arcana card in the reversed position. Please read and review. Persona 4 is copyrighted by Atlus and used here without permission.

Reversed

Prologue:

It was painfully cold. That's all Naoto could determine at first. All her senses were cut off except for that of touch, which was amplified by the lack of other perceptive means. All she could feel was the cold draping over her body like an icy shroud wrapped so tight she could barely breathe. Oppressive. That was the word she'd been searching for. The cold was oppressive.

But where was she? Why couldn't she see or hear? What was going on? Naoto searched her mind in vain for any memory that might assist her in forming answers.

Think! Yamato Takeru buzzed. You can't do anything but feel. So use that!

Naoto silently agreed and began to take stock of her position. She stretched out her arms and felt along the ground with her hands. Taking a deep breath, Naoto focused on drawing logical conclusions based on her immediate evidence.

"I seem to be lying on the ground. There are small, gritty particles in the area surrounding my body. I can rule out any smooth surface, for there is a heterogeneous mixture of rock, firm soil, and sand in the vicinity. All evidence suggests that the surface on which I lay is a type of rocky soil."

Good. You have ruled out any place indoors. So where could we be with rocky soil and chill temperature?

Naoto paused to think. "I doubt we are in a city. Cities are far too busy for an incapacitated person to go unnoticed. As I have not been touched or otherwise moved, I shall assume that I have gone unnoticed. Therefore, I must be in an inconspicuous area within a city or, more likely, in a rural area."

A rural area. Home?

"No. We are not in Inaba. It is currently the rainy season, meaning that the air would be hot and humid and the ground would be moist. Neither of these conditions hold true here."

Naoto shifted against the ground uncomfortably. She was surprised when she heard gravel crunch beneath her. "My hearing has returned?" She paused and listened. Strangely enough, she couldn't hear anything. There was no distant traffic or voices; no barking dogs or singing birds. She couldn't even hear the wind. The silence, like the cold, was oppressive.

In order to prove that her hearing had indeed returned, Naoto grabbed a handful of gravel and tossed it in the air. The small stones landed on the ground with an audible plink.

Naoto frowned. So she could hear after all. There just wasn't anything to hear.

Can you see?

"No. I have already established…" Naoto realized as she spoke that she could see something. It was blurry. No. It was foggy. Everything was shrouded in dense fog.

"I almost wish I had my glasses from Teddie," Naoto chuckled. Suddenly her stomach dropped as a vague memory tickled the back of her brain. "I-I'm not in the TV world. I can't be." She would test this theory and prove it wrong.

Pushing herself onto her feet, Naoto focused. "Come Yamato Takeru!" A shinning blue card appeared out of thin air and floated in front of her. She crushed the card and her persona appeared to Naoto's great dismay.

So what does this prove? The white-clad persona buzzed at her.

Naoto sank back to the ground. "It proves that I am in the TV world…alone…and I don't know how I got here."

But you have solved the first question: you know where you are now.

"True," Naoto sighed. "But why and how are the more important questions."

Can't you remember anything?

Naoto closed her eyes and thought as hard as she could. Her mind felt fuzzy somehow. No, that was pain. Naoto felt her head and found a large gash just above her ear. The blood had clotted and now there was a sticky crust in her hair. Dried blood flaked off her ear and neck as she ran her hand over them. For the first time, Naoto noticed that her hat and revolver were both missing. There was a gash in her lip as well.

"There must have been an altercation immediately prior to my entering the TV. This leaves it safe to assume that I did not enter the TV of my own will. That means that some one put me here." Suddenly, there was a flash of memory. "The case! There was the case. I was tracking the murderer."

Go back to the beginning. As far as you can remember. Retrace your steps. That's what all great detectives do.

"The beginning?" What could she call the beginning? Further thought brought her to a clear starting point: April 25, 2017. "The weather was rainy. The night was dark. I had no suspicion of what was to occur on the following morning. I was focused on something else entirely…"

Everything began to come back to her. The fog in her mind was beginning to clear. And all Naoto wanted to do was put the fog right back. The memories were ones she'd rather not possess.