Hello, everyone! I'm back with a new story!

Dual Journey… well… it just seemed too much like 'Follow the Leader', you know? Everyone's doing a P3 retelling these days, and Dual Journey (and by extension, Green Midnight) was just too chaotic, jumbled, and unoriginal. (Except for Jester, that is; she was awesome and I hope to find another use for her someday…) Therefore, I teamed up with my girlfriend, Lady Starwing, (Writer of Guiding Light) to write a much more unique Persona 3 story that we hope will really stand out from the others.

With that aside, I hope you enjoy this unique take on Persona 3 with Wild Fool.

Chapter 1: Home Again

"So… I'm back in Inaba…"

A young man stepped off a train onto the platform and took a look at the quaint town. He was dressed in black slacks, a grey wool coat, black loafers, and had on a pair of headphones, listening to his music. Swinging his duffel bag over his shoulder and brushing his blue hair out of his eyes, he walked off the platform onto the parking lot.

"Oi! You Arisato?"

The young man looked up to see an older woman walking towards him. She was dressed in a grey pencil skirt, purple blouse, grey overcoat, and black heels. She carried herself in a professional manner, a stern, yet kind look on her face.

"Yeah, I am," the boy nodded to her. "And you are?"

"My name is Dojima Chisato," the woman introduced herself. "Chief of police for this town."

"Arisato Minato," the boy held out his hand. "I was told to expect you."

"Ah, good to know that," the woman, Chisato, shook his hand. "Your grandfather wanted his assistant to meet you here, but he's busy, so he called in a favor to get me here. I'll also be keeping an eye on you during your stay here, so no funny business, ok?"

"Yes, ma'am," Minato nodded. "So, are you taking me straight there?"

"Seeing as how it's still early, I figured I'd show you around town. That okay with you?" Chisato offered, brushing her long brown hair out of her face.

"I don't see why not," Minato shrugged, removing his headphones. "Would you mind if we stopped for a bite to eat first? The train didn't offer any meals."

"Sure," Chisato smiled. "I know this fine place in the shopping district. I can show you around there as well."

"Sounds like a plan," Minato nodded as he followed Chisato to her car.

After arriving in the Shopping District, Minato followed Chisato to a place called Aiya. Going inside, he joined her at the bar, where she ordered a meat bowl for each of them. As the bowl was placed in front of him, Minato felt his eye twitching.

'There's so much meat!' he felt himself panic. 'It's like a gateway to a world of meat!'

"You might want to hurry up and get started on that," Chisato was attacking her bowl with a vengeance. "It gets harder to eat after it goes cold."

'How on earth is she eating that?' Minato gawked. 'And where is it going? She's skinnier than me!'

"I thought you were hungry. Aren't you going to eat?" Chisato asked, a piece of meat drooping from her mouth.

"Uh… yeah…" Minato bit his lip and dove headfirst into the sea of meat before him.

"Ugh…" Minato moaned as he and Chisato walked throughout the Shopping District. "So… full…"

"Suck it up, Arisato; you're a man, aren't you?" Chisato playfully glared at him.

"Yeah, but a man was never meant to eat a whole cow…" he uttered a groan.

"Don't worry; it'll settle by bedtime, but beware the frequent runs to the bathroom you'll be making in the middle of the night," Chisato laughed.

"Perfect…" Minato slapped his forehead.

"Oh, relax, would you?" she smirked at him. "Anyways, I want you to check this place out."

"What place?" Minato asked.

"That place," Chisato pointed to a set of stone stairs nearby. "It leads to Tatsuhime Shrine. Come on," she took off up the stairs.

'Dammit, how in the world does she have so much energy…?' Minato groaned as he followed. At the top of the stairs, Minato stopped to catch his breath. As he did, he took a look. It was a small shrine, but it was well kept and gave off a tranquil feeling that made Minato relax. Walking around, he came up to the offertory box and looked in. "People come here often, it looks like."

"Yup. And the summer festival here is a riot too." Chisato gave a nod of agreement, walking up to stand next to Minato. "It's a lot smaller than something they'd throw in a big city, but well … this is Inaba; we like it small and simple." Chuckling, she glanced around as well. "Hmm, that's odd; there's normally at least one person hanging around the shrine at this time of day. I wonder where they're all at …" A quiet ringing noise from the inside of her coat pocket made Chisato pause. "Oh, excuse me for a moment Arisato."

Minato nodded, looking around the shrine box more as Chisato walked a small distance away, answering her phone call. Curious, Minato began to walk around the box when something batted at his ankle. "?" Confused, he looked down. "… There's nothing here …" Shrugging, he went to step forward again, only to yelp when something caught onto his pant leg. Looking again, he found himself staring at a small fox, its teeth digging into the denim of his jeans.

It … didn't seem rabid. It just didn't seem to want him to walk around the box. Curious, Minato took a step backwards so that he was standing behind the offertory box again; the fox let go of his pant leg, but still held him in a glare. "Is your home past there, Kitsune-san?" Minato asked it, kneeling down to come face to face with it. The fox met his gaze without blinking, its tail swishing behind it. "I'm sorry that I went to look back there, Kitsune-san. I won't disturb it again."

"Yip!" The fox nodded its head in response, bounding behind the box and vanishing from sight. Checking to see that the fox hadn't nipped at any skin – his leg was unmarked, so now he really doubted the fox was rabid – Minato straightened as Chisato walked over, stowing her phone away.

"Sorry about that, Arisato." She nodded in apology. "That was my husband just now. He wanted to ask if I could pick up our daughter from the day care center right now; he'd do it normally, but he got saddled with a great deal of work for this afternoon." Shaking her head for some reason, Chisato nodded to Minato. "It's getting late as it is; I'll swing by and pick up Nanako before dropping you off at your grandfather's place. That sound good?"

Minato nodded with a smile. "That's fine with me." Chisato gave him a nod and a small smile as they walked down the steps of the shrine. Tucking his hands in his pockets, Minato continued to glance around, grateful that the trip down the stairs of the shrine was a lot less taxing than the walk UP them. Chisato was a few feet in front of him, stepping into the street to get to her car across the way.

It was due to his habit of looking around that allowed Minato to spot the car barreling down the road towards them. "Chisato-san, look out!" Reaching out, Minato grabbed the back of her overcoat and hauled the woman backwards in the nick of time. Falling backwards from the effort, Minato blinked when he heard a pair of gunshots. Looking up, he saw that Chisato had drawn a handgun from somewhere and had fired it at the speeding car.

"WRONG SIDE OF THE ROAD, AMERICAN BASTARD!" She snapped when the car's rear tires blew out, pulling out a radio and clearly transitioning to Police Chief Mode as the car took a right turn out of the shopping district. "This is Chief Dojima radioing in, and I'm reporting a white American Sedan speeding and on the wrong side of the street. It just took a right onto South Mitaka Street! Cut them off and put them in cuffs before they get out of town! Let me know as soon as they're in there, because I have a few choice words to say to them! And you can bet your asses none of them are well-wishes! Now MOVE YOUR ASSES INTO GEAR!"

Minato just sat there, staring with wide eyes. 'She wasn't kidding when she said I better not cause any trouble.' He mentally noted. 'I piss her off, things won't end well.' Shaking his head, he stood up and brushed the seat of his pants off, not knowing if he should talk to Chiasto for fear of getting his head bitten off or not.

She seemed to have calmed down a fraction, because she turned to Minato and gave a nod. "Sorry about that, but it's part of my job." At that, she gave him a smile. "But thanks; if you hadn't pulled me out of the way then, I would have a very poor chance of surviving. That jackass was going too fast as a whole. I bet they're drunk off their ass to boot." Shaking her head, she gestured to Minato as she stowed her gun back inside her coat's inner pocket. "Come on, let's go get Nanako and get you dropped off." Minato nodded, following her across the street.

"And we're here…" Chisato pulled into the driveway of an elegant manor. "I hope you've enjoyed your day so far."

"I have, thank you," Minato nodded.

"A shame you couldn't say hello to my daughter," Chisato gestured to the sleeping four-year-old in the booster seat next to Minato. "She apparently had a big day."

"That's fine; I'm sure I'll have another chance." Minato laughed as he got out of the car.

"You've got my address and my cell phone number," said Chisato as she got out of the call. "If you need anything, feel free to call anytime, or visit me at home or the police station."

"Yes, ma'am," Minato nodded as he got his bag out of the car.

"Good, now let's get you inside," Chisato walked towards the front door. Minato followed her to the door, where a servant met them.

"Well, this is it. I'll see around, Arisato. Thanks for earlier." Chisato gave him a playful slap on the back.

"Same here," Minato gave her a nod. "Take care." Chisato then left him at the doorstep, the servant waiting until her car was out of sight before speaking up.

"Minato-sama, we have your room prepared. I suggest getting yourself settled and the cook will prepare a snack for you. I also suggest turning in early, for tomorrow is your first day of school," the servant advised him.

"I understand. Thank you. Would you please take me to my room?" Minato asked.

"It would be my pleasure," the servant took Minato's bag and led him inside.

An itchy, parched throat was the first thing Minato registered as he woke up. "Damn, I'm thirsty," he rubbed his eyes. As he opened his eyes, he saw that an eerie green light had enveloped the entire room, the pale green moon hovering outside his window. Blood was also dripping down the walls, like they were holding back a reservoir's worth of it. "Drat… I had to wake up at THIS time," Minato groaned. "All the water's gonna be blood."

"Once the Dark Hour fades, you'll be able to ease your throat."

"Huh? Who said that?" Minato quickly looked around.

"I did."

Minato looked to the foot of the bed and say a young boy in black and white striped pajamas. He had a greasy smile that made Minato sick to his stomach. "Who are you?" Minato asked. "You a kid of one of the servants?"

"No, I'm not," the kid shook his head. "I'm here for a… different reason."

"And what's that reason?" Minato eyed him.

"This," the boy snapped his fingers, and a roll of parchment appeared in Minato's lap.

"What is this?" Minato took the parchment in hand.

"It's a contract. Signing it will grant you untold power; in exchange, all you have to do is accept the consequences of any and all of your actions that you may do," the kid whispered to him.

"Are you kidding me?" Minato began looking all over the room. "Is this some kind of joke?"

"I assure you that this is no joke, Arisato Minato," the boy shook his head as he held out a quill pen. "Sign this contract, and you'll be on a journey like no other."

"And why should I? I should just go back to sleep." Minato shot back.

"You could, and you'll wake up remembering none of this. But, sign this contract… and I promise you that the emptiness you feel will be filled, that question of 'What am I doing here?' will be answered, and so much more…" the boy promised.

"Really?" Minato asked, to which the boy nodded. "Well… even if this is a hoax, what's the worst that can happen?" With that, Minato took the quill pen and signed the parchment the boy had given him. The boy took both in hand and threw them up into the air, vanishing as quickly as they appeared.

"And so it begins…" the boy nodded, retreating into the shadows. "The truth cannot be hidden forever. The light of hope will always unearth it and make the truth know. The question is: Can you accept that truth and use its power? We shall see…"

At that moment, the green hue vanished, replaced with the normal colors of the night, the boy disappearing along with it.

"Damn… Just what the hell was that?" Minato asked. "Whatever, I'm gonna go get my water…"

And so it begins…

Not like any P3 story you've ever read before, have you? Well, here's hoping it keeps your attention.

And now for bios!

Dojima Chisato: The Police Chief of Yasoinaba. A wife and mother, she does her job with a stern but fair hand, despite her youth. She is on professional terms with the police force in Iwatodai and with the Kuzunoha detective family, and knows who owes her favors, and who she owes in return. An overall caring person with a big heart, but not someone you would want angry with you. Has a good hand with shotguns and rifles, and isn't afraid to use a gun if she is forced to do so.

Anyways, feel free to subscribe and review. Starwing and I will be back with a new chapter soon.