I'll See This Through to the End...

March - 20 - 2012

It was after the crushing defeat from the goddess Izanami. Takashi Natsume lay broken and feeble in a world of nothingness. Margaret of the Velvet Room stood before him.

"Sir Natsume, you must get up," Margaret urged gently. "You are not meant to fall in a place like this."

Takashi's thoughts were like fireflies drifting out of his reach. He struggled to keep conscious. His very sense of self was at stake.

"Maybe... I should just give up..." Takashi breathed out.

"You would be a fool to think that," Margaret said with her knife-sharp frankness. "Are you saying that because you're still indecisive?"

"In... deci...?"

"You are packed and ready to move away from Inaba. You are scheduled to get on the train tomorrow," Margaret said. "And yet, you are still not sure if you should go through with it, are you? You still cannot decide if you should move away or stay in Inaba. Do you think being defeated here would take the decision out of your hands?"

"Before... I never got to choose where to live," Takashi whispered. "I don't know... where I want to be... I don't want to lose my friends..."

"Then perhaps there are others who can help you better than I," Margaret said.

"Natsume?"

Takashi turned his head around.

Yosuke Hanamura. The first friend Takashi made in this town. Chie Satonaka. Her energy helped bring Takashi out of his shell. Yukiko Amagi. She taught him you don't have to be the same as someone to understand them. Kanji Tatsumi. Angry and excitable on the surface, but sweet and gentle keep down. Rise Kujikawa. She taught him that being cheerful and optimistic can be a lot of work, but it's usually worth it. Naoto Shirogane. Takashi wished he'd known her longer. Teddie. He showed that in the end, humans and non-humans want the same things.

Takashi's friends. His team. Even if he made other friends, he would probably never find another team.

They moved through the fog towards Takashi and Margaret. "Where are we?" Chie asked.

"Feels like limbo," Yosuke mumbled.

"Are we dead?" Yukiko asked.

"Not yet," Margaret answered. "But soon, if you don't resist."

Rise kneeled down towards Takashi. "Senpai, you need to get up. We need to keep trying." She tried to sound brave, but her own thoughts were getting hazy. All of them were in the same danger of fading as Takashi.

"But even... if we do get back to Izanami... what then?"

Margaret was right. There was something tempting about fading away in this world of nothingness. If Takashi returned to the living world, he would have to leave Inaba.

Or not. He could just cancel his plans at the last minute and not get on that train. But what about all the yokai whose names were trapped in the Book of Friends? Takashi was the only one who could help them. And the Fujiwaras were the only people he met who genuinely wanted a bigger family. Would Takashi have to abandon them all, just to help himself?

But what about his friends, and Dojima, and Nanako? Would Takashi abandon them to save strangers?

Was there any right answer?

"I didn't want the adventure to end," Takashi breathlessly admitted. "I wanted to stay here forever... I wanted time to stop."

Persona is a power that comes from the human psyche. It is directly influenced by strength of will.

"And unless you overcome that mental barrier," Margaret said, "you will never be able to defeat Izanami."

The rest of the team understood Takashi's dilemma perfectly, because they didn't want him to leave either.

Yosuke spoke up first.

"Takashi... even if you did stay... the rest of us won't be here forever."

Takashi lifted his head a little higher to see them.

"He's right," Rise said. "I only moved back to Inaba because I took a hiatus from show business. If I'm serious about getting back into it, I'll be traveling all the time for different projects."

"I, too, only meant to stay in Inaba for the duration of the case," Naoto said. "I intend to move again before the new semester starts."

"One day we'll grow up. Go to college, or start working," Yosuke said. "Time won't stop, Partner. Things won't stay the same forever. It might not be pleasant, but..." he looked at Takashi seriously, "...but it's the truth."

The truth.

"That's right," Takashi said, rising to his knees. "Izanami wants humans to ignore the truth and live like blind shadows. Never changing. And there are lots of people who want that too. But... that's not what's best for them!"

Everyone nodded.

Teddie thought to himself with a rare serious expression. Then he said, "Guys, I was gonna say this when Sensei left tomorrow. But my plan is to go back to the TV world." He dramatically held his fuzzy, mitten-shaped hands up. "No! Don't try to talk me out of it! I've thought long and hard, and I've realized that as much as I love the human world, that place is my home. I want to live there, and protect it."

"'Kay," Kanji said.

"I'll let mom and dad know," Yosuke said.

"THAT'S IT?! THAT'S YOUR REACTION?!" Teddie sobbed hysterically. "I thought you'd try to talk me out of it! How horri-bear! Such cruel indifference!"

"Geez, relax!" Yosuke said. "You always make a big deal out of nothing."

"It's not like you're getting on a train and going to the middle of nowhere," Chie said. "You're just going through the TV, like we always do. We can still see each other anytime."

"We all know you'll come back and visit as soon as you want to eat more topsicles," Yosuke said.

Kanji looked at Takashi and said, "And that goes for us, too. You're just moving to another town after all. You're not, like, going to another planet or somethin'."

"You can visit us, and we'll visit you," Yukiko said. "And we'll call all the time."

"I didn't want to leave my old city either," Yosuke said. "But it's a good thing I did. I didn't understand till I got here, but I didn't have any real friends back there. My 'friends' were just people I hung out with. But we're all different. We're connected."

"I'll miss all of you. And the reason I'll miss you is because I'll never be able to forget you."

Some things will change, and some things will stay the same. And that's the truth.

Takashi Natsume rose to his feet. The whole team turned to face Margaret.

Margaret said, "I am a resident of the Velvet Room, which exists between dream and reality. Between mind and matter. When the world faces a catastrophe, fate selects certain people to confront it. The purpose of the Velvet Room is to assist those people so that their fate is not lost.

"Fate is a mysterious and powerful thing. This is only a theory, but perhaps Sir Natsume was always meant to go to that town and begin his adventures with the Book of Friends. However, when Izanami began to stir, perhaps fate changed the plan just long enough to bring Sir Natsume here first. When Izanami is defeated, he will return to the fate he was meant for.

"My master Igor and I have helped you to the utmost of our ability. This concludes our duty. All of you will no longer be guests of the Velvet Room, and you must continue your fates on your own.

"But that is life. Everyone, including residents like myself, are wanderers who cross paths in the web of life," Margaret concluded.

Yosuke put a hand on Takashi's shoulder and smiled. "Let's go, Partner. You've got a train to catch."

Takashi nodded. "Right."

.

He broke through the surface. "Yahhhh!" Takashi was back in the physical realm, literally crawling and digging out of the ground. Black withering arms were holding him in place beneath the ground, but Takashi used all his strength to break away from them.

"What...?" Izanami stared at the floor in shock.

They were in the other world inside the TV, within a foggy dungeon reserved for the goddess Izanami. One by one, all eight members of the Investigation Team broke out of the goddess' Thousand Curses.

"Impossible...!" Izanami-No-Okami was an immense and terrifying figure. She was a patchwork of red, rotting skeletons that towered over the team.

"Let's go, everyone!" Takashi called.

Izanami's claws shot down towards the team from overhead, and black arms reached up for them from underneath.

Naoto stepped up and summoned her alternate Persona. "Norn!"

The Persona was named for goddesses of destiny and shaped like a clock. It could slow down time itself for Naoto's enemies. The black arms became so slow they had no chance of grabbing the team again. But Izanami herself was only affected for a few moments. She recovered and channeled all her rage.

KURO IKAZUCHI!

Black lightning crackled in the sky. Rise reacted right away. She, who was usually backup support, was excited whenever she used a Persona with combat abilities. "Ishtar!"

A woman with horns, both beautiful and fierce, appeared just as the lightning came down. Her long horns acted as a lightning rod and absorbed all the electricity, shielding the group.

WORLD'S END!

Izanami summoned a tidal wave from behind her and it rushed forth to destroy the whole battlefield.

Yukiko didn't even flinch. "Scathach!" The great witch appeared and froze the entire wave solid, and then threw the ice back at Izanami.

FURY OF YASOGAMI!

Their enemy didn't stop for a moment. She had many arms, each one the size of an oak tree, so she raised them all high and prepared to crush the team flat.

Chie called out, "Futsunushi!" And Kanji called out, "Odin!"

A warrior wielding a dozen swords at once parried Izanami's attack on her right side, and the king of the Norse gods parried her left. But they did more than parry. They charged ahead with so much force they tore her skeletal arms clear off.

"AAAAHHHHHH!"

"We're not done yet," Yosuke shouted. "Mada!"

He summoned a fire monster and slammed a raging inferno into Izanami's body. The giant skeleton stumbled and fell backwards, shaking the ground as it fell.

"Did we beat her?" Takashi struggled to get a good look through the smoke and embers.

The mass of rot and bones spasmed and heaved. "YOU IGNORANT MORTALS!"

Izanami flailed wildly with her broken limbs, and finally moved upright again. In spite of losing most of her arms she still had large reserves of power left.

SUMMONS TO YOMI!

A geyser of pure energy burst out of the ground. It widened and threatened to consume the group.

It was Teddie that took care of this. "Helel!"

Teddie's alternate Persona had the image of an evil fallen angel, but it was a force for good here. With a wave of its arm, the Persona absorbed all the energy and reduced the geyser to nothing.

"And... counterattack!" Teddie yelled.

MORNING STAR!

Helel struck Izanami with an intense blast of light. The attack had force comparable to a meteor strike.

"AAAAHHHHHH!" Izanami-No-Okami screamed and fell again. But she still did not submit. Her broken mess of red claws and bones angrily scrambled to get up again.

"Everyone, try to surround her!" Takashi instructed. "We'll hit her all at once with our best attack!"

It took a lot of running to get to the other side of that behemoth. But the team surrounded her, positioned like the eight points of an octagon. They each switched to their ultimate Personas.

Yosuke had Susa-no-O.

Chie had Suzuka Gongen.

Yukiko had Amaterasu.

Kanji had Rokuten Maoh.

Rise had Kanzeon.

Teddie had Kamui.

Naoto had Yamato Takeru.

And Takashi had Izanagi-No-Okami.

"Now!"

MYRIAD TRUTHS!

Eight beams of light struck Izanami. The glare was so bright it filled the area and blinded everyone for a moment.

And then there was silence.

Izanami had stopped moving. The eight Persona users gathered together and looked up at her. At the top of the pile of bones was Izanami's true head and torso, the only part of the body human-sized and human-shaped. It trembled weakly as it glared at the team.

"How did this happen...? How could I be defeated...? How could the will of so few surpass the will of all mankind...?"

"It wasn't the will of all mankind," Takashi responded. "You didn't know that because you just made an assumption. You didn't look for the truth."

"You are wrong..." Izanami said bitterly. "It is impossible for humanity to find truth... And even if there are few exceptions, truth does not bring happiness..." The sockets of her skull glared directly at Takashi's eyes. "You understand better than anyone else...! Gods and demons could be right in front of you, and most humans will not even see them...!"

"It doesn't matter if you can't see them. They're still there."

"And even if we can't see things," Yosuke looked at Takashi, "we can find someone to teach us better."

Takashi smiled. "I used to hate being able to see yokai. But I understand now. When you see something, it's important that you don't look away. Because everyone you see has their own feelings, and their own truth, and that's important... even though if it's not always pleasant. It's so important."

"I do not understand your rambling... Nor do I wish-"

"Aw, SHUT UP already!" Kanji shouted. "How many times do we have to have this damn talk?! We're not letting you turn everyone into shadows! And it don't matter what you think 'cause you're OUTVOTED! If you don't like it, we'll beat you down as many times as it takes!"

"Heh. That... won't be necessary."

The broken pile of red bones collapsed a bit further, and then it started to fade away, turning into little specks of red light.

"You needn't worry about me anymore. I accept my defeat. The fog will be lifted from your world, as well as this one. Power enough to erase my own... Perhaps that is worth betting on after all... Children of man... Well done."

Izanami faded away and disappeared.

Izanami caused so much damage, but she really thought she was doing the right thing, Takashi thought. In the end, I guess all of us have things like that in common.

.

March - 21 - 2012

Takashi hugged Nanako tightly. "Bye, Nanako."

They were on the train platform. Dojima was right next to them, along with Takashi's seven closest friends. A cat with an incredibly big head sat off to the side, waiting indifferently.

"Do you really have to go, big bro?" Nanako asked.

Takashi chuckled to himself, remembering how much he struggled with that question himself.

"Yeah. Uncle Dojima has you, but the Fujiwaras don't have anyone. And not just them..." Takashi patted his bag, which contained the Book of Friends inside. "There are a lot of people there, waiting for me."

"You're going just to make them happy?" Nanako asked.

"No. Not at all. This is for me too." He smiled warmly. "My mother and my grandmother were from that town. I feel like if I go there, I'll be able to understand who I really am."

Nanako wasn't sure she got it, but she knew he had to go. "I'm gonna miss you, big bro."

He gave her one last tight hug. "I promise I'll visit you." And then he stood up and shook Dojima's hand.

"I want you to know, we're family, and you're welcome back anytime," Dojima said, hoping he sounded as sincere as he felt.

During the climax of the murder investigation, Dojima had learned about his nephew and his friends' involvement. He said angry things he regretted before he was hospitalized. When Dojima was finally released, Takashi unexpectedly announced that he decided to move in with the Fujiwaras. Dojima worried deep down that it was his fault - that their fight made living together too uncomfortable - despite Takashi's insistence that it wasn't the case.

During that tense period when Nanako was kidnapped, Dojima learned a little about Persona, the other world, and yokai. His nephew was supposedly involved in something special that normal humans couldn't imagine. And that probably had something to do with his decision to leave. Dojima himself wasn't sure how much of that stuff he believed. But either way he accepted that Takashi had his own reasons for doing things.

It didn't matter if he could see weird things. This boy was special. He saved their family in more ways than one. So if he wanted to go out and spread his wings, Dojima owed that to him.

"Thanks, uncle," Takashi replied.

"NO, I'M NOT CRYING, DAMMIT!" Kanji yelled suddenly.

Naoto was confused. "We didn't ask if you were."

"I'm still not!" Kanji yelled as he blinked rapidly. He sniffed. "I just have something in my eyes!"

"Yeah, tears," Yosuke deadpanned.

"Aw, hell!" Kanji ran over and pulled Takashi into a big hug. And then Rise ran over and hugged them both. And then Teddie jumped in. And before anyone knew it, all nine kids were suddenly in one big ball hugging each other.

Dojima stood there. Aside from the cat, he was the only one there not hugging. He shrugged. "Why not?" Then he leaned over and patted his arms onto the mob too.

"Guys, this kinda hurts," Takashi muttered.

The cat with the big head yawned.

Soon enough, it was time to board the train. The cat jumped up onto Takashi's shoulder. He stepped through the train doors and turned back to face everyone.

"I don't know what else to say. Except..." He didn't say goodbye. "I'll see you again... I promise!"

The doors closed. Slowly at first, the train pulled away from the station. The gang walked along the platform, keeping sight of him through the window.

"Don't forget about us, okay?" Naoto called.

"I love you, Senpai!" Rise said.

The train sped up. Everyone ran to match its pace.

"Goodbye, Sensei! Goodbye, Sensei's Sensei!" Teddie shouted over the noise of the train.

"Distance doesn't matter between us!" Yosuke yelled. "No matter how far apart we are, we're still friends!"

"I know!" Takashi put his hand on the window. "No matter many people I meet, I won't forget you guys! Ever!"

The train left the station. The seven members of the former Investigation Team stood at the end of the platform, waving after him.

The inside of the train cabin was empty, except for Takashi and the cat. He sat down on one of the seats, and the cat jumped down from his shoulder and onto the seat opposite him.

"Good grief," the big-headed cat said. "I thought it'd never end. I hate long goodbyes."

"Don't be like that, Nyanko-Sensei," Takashi said. "They're my friends."

"Fine, fine." Nyanko-Sensei glanced at Takashi mischievously. "But don't be too sad without them. We'll have plenty to do where we're going."

Takashi Natsume smiled and nodded.

.

A huge shaggy monster lunged towards Natsume. "Give me the Book of Friends! Or else I'll eat y-"

Natsume punched it right in the stomach. The yokai doubled over and fell. Natsume panted heavily and shook his hand, trying to get some feeling back into his fingers. "Times like this I really miss using a Persona... or at least a sword..."

.

Natsume handed his new friends the photo of him and his friends from Inaba. "We took that the day I left," he explained.

Kitamoto looked at the photo and said, "You have a lot of friends. I kinda figured you were too shy-"

"WHOA! IS THAT RISETTE?!" Nishimura cried out.

"Her friends call her Rise," Natsume said with a casualness that drove Nishimura crazy.

"DUDE!"

.

Tanuma asked him, "So what do yokai really look like? Are they weird?"

"Sometimes, but I've seen much weirder things than them," Natsume answered impulsively.

Tanuma raised an eyebrow. "What else are there besides yokai?"

"Uh, well..." He wondered how much he should say.

.

Natsume had his back against a tree, when his cell phone rang and startled him.

He answered quickly and whispered, "Hello?"

"Finally!" He heard Yosuke's voice on the other end. "I've been trying to call you all day."

"Sorry," Natsume spoke quietly. "There isn't much cell service out here."

"What? I can't hear you."

"I said there isn't much cell service in the middle of the woods!" Natsume spoke louder, and regretted it when he heard something move in the distance.

"What are you doing in the middle of the woods?" Yosuke asked.

"Right now, I'm hiding from a monster," he hissed.

"Oh... Is this a bad time?"

"Kind of."

"Sorry. I'll call back later."

"Thank you." He hung up.

"GIVE ME THE BOOK!"

.

He got a call from Rise. "Senpai, you'll never believe it! I got a part in a movie!"

"Wow. Congratulations."

"It's only a bit part, though. I only have like four lines. But still! And it's a major movie. They got Shuichi Natori starring in it. Can you imagine? I'm going to meet the Shuichi Natori! Can you imagine what that would be like?"

"Uh, well..." He wondered how much he should say.

.

Natsume and Tanuma were walking home after school, with Nyanko-Sensei trailing behind them. They ran into Taki, who tackled Nyanko-Sensei on sight.

"He's so cute!" She squeezed the cat in a big hug. "He's even cuter than the fox was!"

"What fox?" Tanuma asked.

"We met a fox in Inaba. It's the one who helped with Taki's curse," Natsume explained. "It wore a red bib with pink hearts on it."

"That bib was so cute, too." A thought struck Taki. "Natsume, what if we put the fox's bib on Nyanko-Sensei?! That would be the cutest thing EVER!"

"Don't you dare," Nyanko-Sensei mumbled from within Taki's grip.

"When I last saw the fox, she just had babies," Natsume mentioned.

"Really?! Oh, I wish I could see them. Baby foxes!"

"Let go already," Nyanko-Sensei groaned.

"I'll try to get a picture while I'm there," he offered.

"You're going back?" Tanuma asked.

"Yeah. I planned to visit Inaba for spring break," Natsume said. "I already talked it over with Touko-san."

"You were really close with your friends there, Natsume," Taki mentioned after Nyanko-Sensei escaped from her.

"I'm still close," Natsume replied. "We're like old war buddies."

Tanuma chuckled. "'War buddies?' Is that like a joke?"

"Hmm..." Natsume smiled. "Not really."

.

In his room, Natsume was packed for his trip. Nyanko-Sensei was snoozing in the corner. Natsume was looking through his pile of letters and the photographs sent with them.

I promised to see things through to the end. But nothing ever ends. Not really.

He had great friends waiting for him in Inaba. And he was eager to tell them about the new friends he made here. Natsume used to think of himself as a very lonely person. But now, between humans and yokai, he practically had more people than he could keep track of.

My days are filled with chaos. And that may never change.

He was forced to move around so much when he was younger. He began to think that it was better not to get attached. If you don't have anyone to miss, you end up happier, or at least less sad.

Takashi Natsume doesn't think that anymore.

"I'm glad I went to Inaba," he said as he flipped through the photos of his old friends.

There may be some who think things wouldn't be any different if he skipped Inaba and came straight here. But those people don't understand how important the past is. Even if something ends, or can't be repeated, or even if it's forgotten, it's still a part of history. And it's each person's personal history that shapes their future and the future of those around them.

There are no barriers. Right, everyone?

fin

.

Author's Notes: Since I first started this fanfiction, it was always my intention to end with Natsume leaving Inaba (same as the protagonist), and imply that his "Book of Friends" adventures would still be there waiting for him in his new town. I realize this doesn't really work chronologically because the protagonist becomes a third year high school student at the end of "Persona 4", and Natsume is only a first year in "Book of Friends". Please just go with it.

It took a long time to get here. I'm grateful to all the reviewers who liked this story so much, and I hope that this gives you a satisfying ending. Most people are sad when things end, but, that is life.