A/N: Oh man, I've finally gotten this out. Only... 5 months later than I'd said it'd be out. Really no excuse on my part other than just general laziness and forgetting about it entirely. Some of that was working on Alone in this World, but mostly laziness is the reason behind such a delay.

Anyways, this here is a rewriting/redo/revamp of my first P3 fic. A fic that, despite having a multitude of issues with consistent character traits, consistent game mechanics (specifically with how Thanatos works), and just generally being my shitty writing from a lack of experience managed to be the most popular fic on my profile for over a year. AitW has only just dethroned it in terms of favs and follows with the most recent update.

So, instead of going back through 14 chapters and weeding out all the shit, I'm gonna start fresh.

If you're new here, I hope you like what I've got.

If you're a returning reader from the original, welcome back. I'm going to be changing a few things so you all shouldn't get too until we catch up to the original.

4/6 (Mo) Outskirts of Iwatodai

It'd been a long day.

A very long day.

So long, in fact, that they were only ten minutes away from it not even being the same day anymore.

But, despite that, she knew she couldn't fall asleep.

As much as the warm, comfortable weight on her lap and the steady beat of the train rolling over rails would have her otherwise do, she couldn't fall asleep.

So, when she felt her eyelids droop further than they were normally, she reached up to where her mp3 player was clipped to her jacket and turned the volume up another notch.

The music blasted away at her eardrums at a volume that would have had her foster mother after her throat; a thought that brought a flicker of amusement to her features for only a moment.

Not that it would have mattered since the car they were in was currently devoid of any other passengers.

Her gaze flickered back and forth, mindlessly scanning over the dull interior of the train.

The movement of something snapped her out of reverie.

Looking left to right, there wasn't a person that had just walked past her

Looking out the window behind her, she couldn't see anything out of place other than the rapidly approaching skyline of what was going to be her home city for the foreseeable future.

Giving up with a sigh, she looked back down at her twin when he let out an unhappy grumble.

Only to nearly shout when she found a blue, slightly translucent butterfly resting on his messy head of brown hair.

It stared straight back at her; its dainty wings slowly moving up and down.

Frozen in place, she could only continually meet its gaze.

Seemingly content with itself, the butterfly lifted up into the air and, to the shock of the blunette, simply flew through the glass window above her.

"We apologize for anyone inconvenienced by the delay. The next and final stop is Iwatodai. Iwatodai"

The conductor's announcement interrupted any line of thought she was about to pursue.

Deciding to push the incident out of her mind, she gave her brother a shove on the shoulder.

"No… Mina… Five more minutes…" He groggily responded, before attempting to go back to sleep.

Rolling her eyes, she lifted his head off of her lap, stood up, and placed him back down on the seat. She grabbed her carry-on from its place on the rack above them and slid the duffle bag over her shoulder.

The train slowed down and turned as it neared the station.

"Hamo"

He let out another grumble.

"Hamono" She spoke up again, with more force in her voice.

"Alright, alright" He swung his legs back onto the ground and stood up, grumbling to himself as he grabbed his own bag.

"With all the effort I put into keeping where we're going a secret, I thought you'd be nicer to me".

The train screeched as the brakes applied and they stopped at the platform. She didn't bother answering him; as far as she was concerned, he was responsible for keeping his 'fans' in check.

Walking through the doors and out into the station, she practically walked straight into a massive reminder of the situation she was about to be in.

In the center of the platform, a large steel clock counted down the moments until it was midnight.

23:59:55

23:59:56

23:59:57

23:59:58

23:59:59

Dark Hour

A second ago, it was so insignificant that she didn't notice it. But she noticed when the air changed and practically froze in place; the overwhelming smell of blood flooding the station as the clock's face was practically defiled by the blood that now slowly crept down it.

That, along with the blood that pooled in various places along the floor and the tall, black coffins that now held the station's other inhabitants would have horrified anyone else.

Minako Aristato simply sighed and sat down at a nearby bench. She'd made sure to stand behind her brother before this time hit, so she could get away with resting until it was over.

Green moonlight streamed in from a nearby sky light, coming down directly on top of her brother's coffin; an observation she made while letting out a deep sigh and dropping her bag on the ground next to her. Knowledge that she'd be alerted in one form or the other if anything approached them coerced her into closing her eyes.

It was dark, less in a 'late at night way' and more in a 'no light to begin with' way. Even more disturbing was the fact that there was no sound to be heard.

How did he get here? He was...

He was what?

What was he doing a minute ago? A hour ago?

Nothing... He couldn't think of what got him to this place.

...

Just how long had he been...

A murmur broke him out of his thoughts. It was practically inaudible, it's presence of realized as it was the sole sound cutting through the silence.

".o ... ...h t. ..v. ..r"

Just as it arrived, the noise vanished entirely.

But, as it left him, the overwhelming feeling of vertigo filled him. Clenching his eyes shut, he stumbled and his hands collided with something rough and slightly uneven.

Looking up, Hamono scanned the street he was on, vaguely realizing that this must have been Iwatodai.

But Iwatodai wasn't cast in such a sinister air earlier, nor were there puddles of blood scattered everywhere.

Blood...

Blood.

With that thought, the putrid scent of blood hit his nostrils and with it came a wave of nausea that Torn between using his hands to keep himself prop'd up and clutching his stomach, the decision was made for him as he violently retched.

The contents of his stomach emptied themselves out onto the asphalt before he could entirely realize what had happened. Bile burned the back of his throat and he could feel the beginnings of a migraine begin to set in.

The familiar feeling of a hand on his back distracted him enough from the pain enough to look over on his right to where his twin was kneeling down, concern evident in her eyes.

"M-Mina..." The silent question in his statement went unanswered as she silently forced him to stand and walk.

The sound of their footfalls were the only noise other than the wind in the night while walking down the street. Minako had one eye on the pamphlet they'd been given to direct them to where they'd be staying while attending Gekkoukan high school and the other on the pitch-black alleys they were walking past.

Upon reaching a large intersection, Hamono stopped and stared at the street perpendicular to them. Further down that road, two large black coffins stood ominously, the green moonlight highlighting their presences to the brunet.

"What the hell..."

The blunette looked over at her twin, before turning back and urging him along, "Come on, we're getting close".

The migraine was now in full effect, throbbing away in his temple as they continued walking. The constant pain was enough to distract him from the journey until they suddenly stopped.

Looking up, a large, semi-western styled building loomed overhead. His sister letting go of him and beginning to walk up the stairs was enough to let Hamono know this was their stop.

Following her inside, he dully noted that the interior had only a slightly less sinister air to it compared to outside. Possibly because they were off the streets, his migraine was slowly beginning to subside.

Dropping his bag next to the coffee table, the brunet began walking towards the kitchen, "I'm just going to go grab some water".

Hearing her hum in acknowledgement, he approached the sink while snagging a small glass from the drying rack.

What was so wrong with this place that everything looked so corrupt?

After briefly reaching around in the dark corner, Hamono absentmindedly turned on the faucet and partially filled his cup.

Why was the moonlight dyed green? It couldn't have been some sort of elaborate event, and they'd only just coincidentally arrived without prior knowledge of it?

No, he realized, there were other people that got off the train with them; not many, but there were a handful. Those people should have been with them when they left the train station, but they weren't.

He drank some of his water, only to immediately widen his eyes and spit it back out. The kitchen was so dark that he couldn't see what exactly was in his cup. But the taste of blood in his mouth at the moment now made it rather apparent what was.

"Who's there!?"

The brunet jumped slightly at the sudden sound of another, distinctly male, voice. Slowly rounding the corner back into the main lobby, his attention was immediately drawn to the stairway on his right.

At the bottom of said stairs, a brunet around his height stood and stared at him. The unknown teen was wearing the uniform as Hamono was, only he wore a brown collared shirt underneath his jacket.

"What? But its... Don't tell me..."

Any thoughts he had on inspecting the teen ground to a halt when he reached down and pulled a silver gun from his side. He couldn't help but freeze, his muscles locking up as his brain processed this new information.

The weapon was halfway to being raised when he also practically froze in place.

"Takeba, wait!"

Yet another voice rose in the once silence night, Hamono and 'Takeba' both turning to look up the stairs where another male was walking down.

Suddenly, it was like a light was switched. The sinister feeling in the air vanished, and the world seemingly returned to normal. 'Takeba' visibly relaxed in response, something close to a smile rising to his face as he turned back.

"We weren't expecting you two to arrive so late" The older teen walking down the stairs had an air of sophistication to him that the brunet he stopped next to didn't have. Whether it was the red hair on his head neatly styled despite how late it was or the near perfect black suit he was wearing.

"Well, the train was delayed so we arrived well after we should have" Hamono quickly replied. He wasn't sure what exactly was going on right now, but playing it cool seemed to be the best option at the moment.

"I see... Ah, forgive me, where are my manners? I am Mitsuo Kirijo. I'm a resident of this dorm, as well as a pseudo-adviser. This here is Yuuhei Takeba, he'll be a junior starting tomorrow; much like yourself" Even his words were polished. He could help but notice that they weren't as polished as his shoes though; he could almost see his own reflection despite the distance.

"So... Who is he?" The brunet, after holstering his gun, turned to Mitsuo with a questioning glance.

"He...? Well, he's a transfer student. But, unless I'm mistaken, we were expecting your sister to arrive as well..."

At that comment, Hamono looked back towards the front door of the dorm. Unsurprisingly, Minako wasn't there. Did she go to the bathroom? No, he would have heard the door opening with how quiet it was before. Turning to where he'd just walked out of the kitchen, he couldn't find her there either.

Suddenly, Minako's tendency of vanishing into thin air at night was a whole more concerning than usual.

Hamono was about to turn back to his two new dorm mates when the sound of light breathing caught his attention.

He almost slapped himself when he found his twin face-down on the couch fast asleep. With both of her shoes lazily kicked off by her feet and one hand hanging off the side, the blunette looked like she usually did while sleeping which was to say that she looked like a mess.

Knowing that nothing short of an earthquake would wake her at this point, the brunet motioned for the two, who were looking between themselves and him with confusion, to wait for a moment while he walked to the kitchen.

Running the tap to make sure that water would actually come out this time, Hamono grabbed the same glass he'd been using previously and filled it half-way with cold water.

Returning to the lounge, the male twin carefully removed the now-functionally mp3 player and headphone from his female counterpart. If he accidentally broke them with what he was about to pull, Minako would mostly likely actually murder him.

Making sure to place her music-playing equipment on the coffee table to avoid ending up in a shallow, unmarked grave, Hamono couldn't help the massive smile on his face when he turned back to the sleeping teen.

His smile grew exponentially when said sleeper practically jumped into the air after having the contents of his glass dumped on her head.

Even after being covered in ice water, it still took his sister a few eye-rubbing moments in order to become fully cognitive.

"What?" He knew that the lack of venom in her voice was only due to the fact that she'd already spotted her mp3 and headphones safe and sound on the coffee table.

Hamono jerked his head over to where the brunet and red-head were standing, both of them now trying to keep any laughing to a minimal, "We've got company".

She slowly looked over at them, then just as slowly looked back at him, "So?".

He gave her a sunny smile, just before smacking her upside the head.

After a rather forced introduction, Yuuhei walked the yawning blunette down the hallway of the third floor to where her room was located. She hadn't spoken a word after she gave them her name in about as few words as she could. It was actually somewhat impressive, how she managed to be so rude while in a picture-perfect bow.

"Well, this is it!" Making sure to raise his voice and turn his smile as bright as he could get it despite being exhausted, the brunet turned around as they reached the end of the hall, "Should be easy to remember, being at the end of the hall and all. You won't have to worry about anyone walking in on you, as you're one of the two female dorm residents at this time".

She blinked in response, to which he reached into his pocket and pulled out a key, "This here is your key. Make sure you don't lose it, Kirijo-sempai doesn't take that too well".

Placing the key into her hand, he motioned towards her door, "Before you turn in, did you have any questions?"

She immediately shook her head in response and began walking past him.

"U-uh..." Gulping as her gaze silently fell on his, Yuuhei continued, "If you don't mind me asking, was everything alright? On the way here from the train station, that is?"

Minako seemed to consider it for a moment, before shaking her head again and opening her door.

When she closed the door and he walked down the hall, he could help but release the breath he didn't even realize he was holding in.

Back down in the lounge, what hadn't stopped him from nearly attempting to summon his Persona wasn't Mitsuo's sudden shout.

No, what stopped him dead in his tracks was looking over by pure accident and seeing two steel-grey eyes barring into him.

A/N: Alright, so that's where I'm leaving things for now.

And we've already got quite a few corrections/changes in chapter 1 alone. For one, Philemon actually makes an appearance like he should have. I'm not sure how many of my original readers would be interested in reading a full change log of what exactly is different from the original to the revamp. Let me know if you want to see it, I might post it up on my profile or something.

Moving on, I'm not exactly sure when the next update for this is going to be, since I need to dust off Hunger and Apocalypse sometime soon as well. However, I will say that I enjoyed writing this. It was a nice change of pace from my usual, soul-crushing work.

Until next time

- Changling96