Author's Note:

This story is going to be a novelization of Persona 3 FES/ Persona 3 Portable. Here the male protagonist (Minato Arisato) and the female protagonist (Hamuko Arisato) are related. The story will at times switch between points-of-view depending on the situation. Also there will be original, added scenes and dialogue in this story. Spoilers for the game have been included so you have been warned.

Rating: M for language, violence, and mature themes

Pairings: Minato x Yukari, Hamuko x Shinjiro, Junpei x Chidori, and Akihiko x Mitsuru (hints of)

Disclaimer: Persona 3 and its characters belong to Atlus.

Enjoy!

Memento Mori

-Remember That You Will Die-

Prologue

The Fools

March 9, 2009

Afternoon

The opening of the mailbox could be heard in the apartment complex lobby. Arisato Hideo's hand shuffled around the small mailbox, taking out all that it held. Once done, he then proceeded to lock up the mailbox and move towards the elevator to reach his floor. Hideo had to wait a only a few seconds for the elevator to hit the main floor, it wasn't long before he heard the familiar ding followed by the sight of people getting out. As soon as the last person left, he went inside before the metal doors closed shut.

During the elevator's climb upwards, Hideo began to glance through the mail. Most of it was just junk mail. However, Hideo soon came upon a large, manila folder. He then inspected the address and to whom the folder was for. The dark print on the folder read that it was from a Gekkoukan High and was for Arisato Minato and Hamuko.

"Took them long enough to say something," the man muttered to himself.

Weeks had passed since Hideo had first sent the applications for his niece and nephew. He was starting to get worried that nothing would come and that the two had not been accepted. A small part of him agreed that maybe it was for the best considering the circumstances, but Hideo did want them to go. Gekkoukan, he heard, was quite an accomplished school. The education he heard was among some of the best, which was nothing to scoff at. The school's facilities such as buildings and staff were also said to be good.

Normally, Hideo definitely did not have the means to send the both of them off to a prestigious private school like this, however this scholarship would take care of that. The scholarship promised to cover all the expenses such as various fees and housing. He was glad for that so he hoped that this folder would give him some good news.

His hands clenched the folder as he looked down at it. This whole affair was the least that he could do for those two. While nothing could ever atone for the years that he subsequently abandoned them by leaving them to their mother's family, nor did he ever expect anything to, small efforts like these he prayed would at least count for something. A slight chuckle escaped the man.

It's funny, though. I never thought that I'd think about Iwatodai again...or the Kirijo. Hideo mused. And now here I am wanting to send them back to that place with both involved. I wonder...Great, now I'm starting to doubt if this is a good idea. No, don't think like that.

Hideo was so absorbed on the folder that he failed to notice that the elevator was opened to his floor. As well as that there was another person in the elevator with him this whole time. The other tenant looked from Hideo to the now open door. The tenant put his hand to his mouth and gave a cough.

"Hey, Arisato-san, isn't this your floor?" The other man asked.

"Huh?" Hideo quietly mumbled to himself, still focused on the folder.

"Isn't this your floor?" The man repeated.

It was up until then that Hideo snapped back to reality and looked around. He saw that it was indeed his floor and got out. He turned to face the other man.

It took awhile for Hideo to fully see who it was that spoke out to him. But upon recognition, his face immediately relaxed. It was a friend and colleague of his, Kannagi Shige. He lived in the same apartment complex as himself, but was located on the ninth floor. It wasn't uncommon for them to bump into each other every now and then. Hideo didn't mind as this enabled the two of them to keep in touch with each other.

"Ah, thank you Kannagi-san. If you hadn't said anything, who knows how long I would have remained in the elevator." He bowed his head in thanks.

"No problem," Shige replied, "Besides, I doubt you'd want to end up on the wrong floor. Unless...you know you like making things harder for yourself."

"No, Shige," Hideo said, dropping the formalities. "What do you think I am? Some masochist?"

His friend laughed, "Hah, hah. I wonder, Hideo. Well, I'll see you later. Oh, hey, tell Minato-kun and Hamuko-chan I said 'hi'."

"Sure, I will. Anyways, I'll see you then. Good-bye, Shige," Hideo said with a small smile.

Shige then pressed a button closing the elevator. The elevator continued on its way up, leaving the man staring at the closed metal doors.

"A masochist, huh...Maybe…" He briefly contemplated.

Hideo turned on his heel and began to walk towards his apartment. He pulled out his keys, unlocked the door, and went inside. He locked up and slipped his shoes off near the entrance before he went for his room. Shortly after he entered, the man shut the door behind him. Then he made his over to the small study desk near the side of his bed, pulled out the chair, and sat down.

When seated, Hideo opened up the folder. The contents of the folder spilled out onto the wooden desk. Hideo grabbed his glasses that were sitting on a few stacked books before proceeding to look at the papers. His dark, grey eyes scanned over the papers while his hands would occasionally shuffle them around.

It took him awhile to finish, but once he was finished reading through them, Hideo sighed. He closed his eyes.

Well...It seems that they both did get accepted, he thought, Now comes the hard part of telling them about this.

With that thought in mind, he grabbed one of the desk drawers open and pulled out a couple of items: a lighter and a pack of cigarettes. Hideo laid them out before him as he went and grabbed the ashtray from the desk's corner.

Within a short while, the man lit one of the cigarettes and began to breathe out the smoke from his mouth and nostrils. He never did this in front of his nephew and niece as the last thing he wanted was for them to get ideas from him. It was a bad habit he knew and he did try to quit for their sakes multiple times, but each attempt would meet with limited success and ultimately failed. In the end, he decided to only smoke in his room or out on the balcony and even then only when the two teens were not around too. It was his makeshift way to prevent him from influencing them and for their health.

As he let the effect of smoking lull him into a calm state, Hideo looked at his desk. His grey eyes landed on a picture that was among various papers and books. His eyes grew dark and the corners of his mouth fell into a frown.

The picture was a photograph that featured his late younger brother and his sister-in-law along with their children; the background being that of a park with trees and green grass all around. Hideo recalled taking the picture during one of his visits with them. He forgot the exact location of where the shot was from, but he knew that it was during one of those visits.

His frown further deepened.

Dammit…

Looking away from the picture now, Hideo noticed that he had already finished off the cigarette. He reached for it from his mouth and snubbed the end in the tray. Immediately after, he went for another and lit it.

Hideo put it to his lips and began to inhale. He looked back down at the folder and its papers. Smoke billowed out as he exhaled, all the while thinking on how he was going to do this.

-0-

Late afternoon

Two figures were walking on the sidewalk past the various buildings and people. One was a young, dark blue-haired boy and the other was a girl with auburn hair tied up into a high ponytail. Both had on school uniforms and were wearing headphones. However, the headphones were different for each. The boy had regular colored earphones while the girl had red earphones. Though, at the moment, only the boy had his earphones up and was listening to music. The girl had hers hang loosely around her neck, softly clanging against her chest with each step.

"Hey, Minato-nii, did you think those final exams were hard?" the girl called out, looking at the boy. The boy named Minato continued to listen to his music, completely ignoring the girl's question. Hamuko gave an irritated groan before again speaking out to Minato.

She went closer to his side, lowering her face a little to meet his downward gaze. "Minato-nii...Hey, Minato...?"

Upon seeing his sister's face enter his field of vision, Minato turned the volume down on his mp3 player. He turned his head to look at her.

"Ah, sorry, couldn't hear you," Minato mumbled out before speaking in a clearer voice, "What is it, Hamuko?"

"Ugh...You didn't hear a word I said, did you?" She grumbled.

"Hamuko..."

"Geez," she frowned. It could be quite annoying when her brother wasn't listening and she would have to repeat the question or conversation to him. Hamuko mentally sighed. But, now that she had his complete attention, she supposed she could say it again.

"What I said was, did you think the final exams were hard?"

"No," Minato answered, "Sure there were a few questions that I might have tripped up on, but overall I think I did fine. You?"

"Yeah…I think I did pretty well too. Though, it's surprising to hear you say that, Minato-nii, because towards the end, mostly you were sleeping during class. I had to cover quite a lot for you so you wouldn't get in trouble," Hamuko said, who was now remembering those moments of seeing her brother take naps at his desk while class was happening.

"And I must say that I thank you for looking after your poor, older brother who can't seem to stay awake, my dear sister," Minato replied in a mock tone of gratitude.

Hamuko went next to him and gave him a small shove. "Oh, be quiet, you."

Minato snickered as they both continued their walk. The two siblings started to talk about the day and would occasionally laugh. It was during the talk, that Hamuko remembered something. She had wanted to talk about with her brother for some time now. It concerned their uncle and his behavior. At first she thought it was nothing, but after awhile she kept seeing it happen. Now would be a perfect opportunity to talk about it, then again she wasn't sure whether it was just her that noticed or not. She looked down, quiet.

"What's wrong?" Minato said, who grew concerned about his sister's sudden silence.

"I don't know, maybe it's even nothing. But...Um...Have you noticed that Uncle's been acting a bit off lately these last weeks?" she questioned.

Minato looked at her and said, "Ah, now that you mention it. Yeah, I've noticed that he seems to avoid us in the mornings before school or in the evening. That and sometimes during conversations he seems to change the subject for some reason. Though, I don't exactly see why. As far as I know, I don't think we've done anything to upset him or make him mad."

"Mm, so you noticed that too. Hey, do you think we should ask him if something's wrong?" Haumko asked. "Maybe something's bothering him."

Minato looked forward, adjusting the strap on his shoulder that held his schoolbag. He wasn't sure. Honestly, Hamuko was closer than he was to their uncle, explaining why she picked up on his odd behavior in the first place and was worried for him. He didn't fault her for that, it was just who she was. She cared for others. But, him…

While he was a lot better from what he used to be, Minato still closed himself off from other people. Unfortunately, he maintained his defenses even around their uncle; Minato wasn't oblivious to this fact. He was quite aware of his distance, many people around him were good at reminding him. But this behavior wasn't something he could easily discard so quickly. So many years were put into building up and maintaining his defenses, drilling into his head the idea of never getting too close to others...

"Minato?"

"Hm?"

"What do you think we should do?" The young girl asked, looking to her brother for an answer. Hamuko wanted to know what her brother's opinion was on the whole thing. Upon hearing no immediate response, she was going to speak out again, but stopped when she saw Minato lift his head up to the sky briefly. He then let his head drop back down with his gaze locked straight on ahead.

"Well...Do you want to ask him tonight during dinner about it?" Minato offered. "If he sees that you're genuinely worried about him, I don't think he'll get upset. So it wouldn't hurt to try."

Hamuko turned her face forward away from looking at Minato. "I guess we could. Okay, let's do it." She smiled.

Minato also let out a small smile of his own, calm now that he answered his sister's worries. Both continued forward towards their uncle's apartment.

-I-

Evening

A silent, tense atmosphere filled the apartment as the three of them were seated around the small dining table. It happened a little after the food was ready and the small family sat down to eat. And not a word had been spoken since, only the sounds of stifled eating and the occasional clinking of tableware could be heard. The silent, awkwardness continued to linger throughout the meal.

As Hamuko ate her food, every now and then, she would nervously peek at her uncle. Sometimes, she would even catch the eyes of her brother, watching her. With each look, Minato would tilt his head in their uncle's direction. The girl stopped eating and set her chopsticks down. She agreed on the plan to ask their uncle, but now that it was dinner, she wasn't so sure.

Come on, Hamuko, she encouraged herself, You want to know, so just ask him. He's not going to get mad. She let herself take a deep breath before letting go. In a steady voice, Hamuko then asked, "Uncle, is something the matter?"

Hideo lifted his head from his food to meet his niece. "Oh, um, no everything's been fine. Why?"

"It's just that you've been all spacey and kind of out of it lately. So I was wondering if something's wrong or bothering you," Hamuko explained with a concerned expression. Minato looked up from his own food to observe their uncle's reaction.

Hideo's eyes widened in surprise at the question, seemingly caught off-guard. However, the man quickly recovered his bearings. "Ah, that. I've just been tired from grading papers and doing lectures. Class has been kind of rough on me lately. Nothing too bad so don't worry, I'm fine." The older man said before giving a reassuring smile.

The twins both frowned at the answer. Their uncle was definitely hiding something, his tone of voice betrayed his answer. Now curious, Minato decided to participate in his sister's plan.

"Uncle," Minato questioned, "Are you sure? You never act this way even when school has been tough. What is it?"

Hideo looked at his nephew before looking back again at his niece. His mouth opened briefly before closing immediately afterwards. The older man looked away, a tired sigh escaping him. Minato and Hamuko couldn't hear what he said next clearly, but they did catch him say, "Just like you, Makoto."

Grey eyes now were focused on the two of them. Hideo took in a quick breath before replying, "Okay, fine, I'll tell you. I was hoping to do this after we ate, but I guess I got found out early." Hideo straightened his back and motioned for Minato to join Hamuko on her side of the table.

Minato complied and went to sit beside Hamuko. Once settled in, they looked at their uncle expectantly. Hideo began his explanation.

"Alright, well, you see, I've noticed how both of your grades have been very good as of late. And it was during one of my days at the college that I overheard talk of a certain highschool."

Hideo continued, "This highschool is a very prestigious one and is privately owned by a wealthy family. Anyways, I became curious and did some research on it. There I found out that they had this program where certain students who meet specific standards are eligible for scholarships that guarantee a free ride through the school. Only a select few are chosen, but seeing as how you both met the standards, I went and sent an application for the both of you. Just recently something came back saying that you both were accepted."

Hideo finally finished his explanation before looking between to the two twins to gauge their reactions; only to be greeted by two confused, surprised faces.

"Uncle, then why didn't you want tell us this?" Hamuko said, breaking the short pause that followed. "It doesn't sound too bad to me. In fact, it sounds nice."

"Yeah," Minato agreed.

Hideo raked his hand through his dark, blue-black hair and answered, "It's... It's not the school or the scholarship that I'm worried about. That's all settled. Rather it's the location that's got me worried about if you both would even want to go or not."

Hamuko and Minato looked at one another from the corners of their eyes before Minato slowly asked, "So then where's the school at that has you all worried about?"

Hideo bit his lip before answering, "It's…It's in Tatsumi Port Island near Iwatodai."

As soon as the words left Hideo's mouth, Minato's grey eyes instantly widened. His hands unconsciously clenched his pants tightly, all the while trembling. Minato lowered his head, his hair obscuring both his eyes.

Hamuko looked at her brother with a concerned expression. "Minato?"

"No." Her brother mumbled, his hands tightening even more till the white of his knuckles showed. The shaking even more visible throughout his whole body.

Their uncle looked on in worry,"Look...I know your reason for refusing this, Minato. But...But, please consider this. I think that this will be good for both you and your sister. Just-"

"I said no, Uncle!" Minato shouted, before then dropping down to almost a whisper. "No..."

Hideo said nothing more, his shoulders now slumped in defeat. And Minato still had his head bowed, looking down. In meantime, red-brown eyes flicked between the two. Hamuko didn't know what to do or say. She didn't know how to quite proceed, but she knew that something had to be done.

In her uncle's direction, she hesitantly asked, "Uncle...Would...Would it be alright if we had some time to think about it?"

Hideo then focused on her, "Of course," the older man answered, "You can think about it. There's still time."

"Okay."

Hamuko looked back at her food. She picked up her chopsticks and slowly started to resume finishing her dinner. After a few, lengthy seconds, Hideo soon joined in and began to eat. Minato, however, did not return to his spot or eat the rest of his dinner.

The tense, silent atmosphere from earlier returned and stayed that way for the rest of the evening.

-II-

Late Night

The two siblings were getting ready to sleep. They didn't need to stay up late tonight studying, today was the last day for tests. A relief as neither didn't feel up to seeing the green light, blood, or staring at their Uncle's coffin frozen in place. Especially at this moment. Once the two had finished brushing their teeth, they went to their bedroom.

The Arisato twins shared the room together in the apartment, but each was able to have their own separate bed. When they were now in the bedroom, the twins got into their sleepwear. There was only silence the whole time, except when Hamuko said goodnight to their Uncle who called out to them as he went past their door. Other than that, there was quiet between the two.

Lights were shut off, engulfing the room in darkness. They pulled the covers over themselves and settled into their beds. While by now, they would already have fallen asleep, tonight the both of them remained wide awake. Minato and Hamuko stared at the walls across from them.

"Minato-nii?"

Hamuko could hear the shifting of blankets and feel her brother's gaze on her back.

"What, Hamuko?" Minato asked.

"Does it...Does it still bother you? You know the accident?"

Minato flipped himself onto his back, thinking to himself. Ten years. Ten years had already gone by since their parents' death. Surely after that long he would've gotten over it. He didn't know why he was so anxious about the whole incident. Truth be told, he barely remembered what happened. All that he could remember was just fire everywhere, the strong smell of blood, and...a white mask. It was at that last image that the teen quickly turned away from going down that path of thought. Minato didn't want to think about that thing. Not tonight. He didn't want to see it in his dreams anymore.

"I guess," he finally answered, "I don't know...It's been ten years and still...The nightmares have stopped at least. I don't have trouble sleeping anymore either. Honestly, I don't even know why I just acted out like that. I should apologize to him."

A few seconds of silence passed before Hamuko responded.

"You were...You were just upset, Minato-nii," Hamuko said, before turning to face her brother, "I don't blame you for it. But, do you think that maybe we should at least consider Uncle's offer? I mean, I think it's nice that he actually went through all the trouble for us to be put into a better school. And that he did all this stuff for us. If you don't want to though, I have no problem with it. I don't want to do something that will make us miserable."

Minato glanced at her briefly before he lifted his face to the ceiling.

Their uncle, their father's older brother, was probably the only relative to have truly cared cared about them. Both of them. And the older man actually did try and get close to them. It could be seen that to the best of his ability, he provided and did what was in their best interests. Their other relatives couldn't say that.

Minato huffed. It was interesting to note that their first meeting with him was far from a first good impression. And the days after just continued to feel just as awkward. It was only after months and years that both Minato and Hamuko showed respect and considered him as their 'uncle.'

However, Minato was still felt uneasy about returning back to their hometown. Yet, he didn't want to outright refuse what appeared to be an offer made from good intentions and act like an ungrateful brat. Didn't seem right to do that to their uncle. Not after what he's done so far for them.

Minato gave a huge sigh. "I'm not sure about this. I don't know if I want to or not. But we have time before we have to make a decision right?"

Hamuko gave a small nod. "That's what Uncle said."

"Then...I'll think about in the meantime," Minato said, "'kay?"

"Okay." Hamuko said. "I'll have to think about it too. I mean, I am going to leave some friends behind. Sure, I can still stay in touch with them, but it's not the same."

"Mm," Minato then returned to his previous position of facing the wall. "We'll see how it goes. 'Night, Hamuko."

Hamuko gave a faint smile, knowing that her brother had calmed down. She too turned her face back onto her side. "Goodnight, Minato-nii."

It wasn't long before the two closed their eyes and drifted off to sleep. Their chests rising with each faint breath.

A/N:

- Reviews, faves/follows, or feedback is greatly appreciated.