Persona 3: Nightmare

Persona 3: Nightmare

Time is a cruel thief to rob us of our former selves.

We lose as much to life as we do to death.

However time does not change us but unfolds us for all to see.

Perhaps the world that was sought to protect now returns to momentary peace but at a price. You may know how it ends but do you truly know where this shift of time first began?

Let us do what few can achieve and move back two years time where the story honestly starts and allow our minds to wander to what could have been or what might be.

And thus it truly begins…

April 7th 2007

"Damn it Shinji wait up!" Akihiko jogged after the retreating form as fast as he could but found it nearly impossible to follow his friend's path due to the continuous flow of students pushing past him. Some how the seas seemed to part for Shinjiro no matter where he was but Akihiko would always get caught up in the masses.

"I'm not interested Aki." He firmly tossed over his shoulder before opening the front doors of the school, allowing the crowd to overflow into the front yard, the trees currently leafy green in spring glee.

"Ah come on, the boxing team could use another guy like you."

"I ain't the school club type." He stated bluntly without even sparing it a second thought. Akihiko unleashed a frustrated sigh but to be honest he hadn't been expecting much. He was surprised enough as it is that he'd stayed at school the whole day. "Let's go to the ramen shop, I'm starved."

"How can you eat that stuff all the time?" Shinjiro was about to retort when a girlish squeal erupted from behind causing Akihiko to visibly pale in horror. He turned and saw a small group of 4 or 5 girls scurrying towards the two with excited vigor. An amused look crossed Shinji's face, watching Akihiko wince in protest. Why did they always seem to find him wherever he went?

Shinjiro started laughing under his breath, waving off his friend. Only a sophomore and already the school's heartthrob. "Fine, stay here, I bet they'll keep you company." The girls' ears perked up and Akihiko's eyes widened as he left.

"Akihiko-kun!"

"There he is!"

"Traitor!" Akihiko stiffened considerable when he saw them starting to circle in, Shinjiro's chortle still within ear reach. Out of options, the boxer swallowed his pride and dashed after him. "Ah shut up and wait for me!"

"Two specials Amano-san." Shinjiro offered one of his rare half smiles for the cook as he sat down at the counter that wrapped around the kitchen, not bothering to see whether or not Akihiko would join him or want something else.

"Ah right away Shinjiro-kun." The boxer, taking his seat to his friend's right, arched a brow in mock confusion.

"'Shinjiro-kun' huh?" He began laughing against his better judgment, Shinji merely rolling his eyes and shrugging it off as he received his bowl of hot steaming ramen.

"Tch, he can call whatever ever the hell he wants, he gives me a discount." And with that he set out to devour his bowl. All Akihiko could do was shake his head and graciously take his own bowl from Amano-san's fragile hands. Truth be told, he really didn't like ramen all that much but it was one of the few places that Shinjiro ever went to with him. Shinjiro was like the brother he never had, although they weren't related by blood it didn't matter. So he'd sacrifice a little if it meant they could hang out.

"He only gives you a discount because he knows you'll just spend the money you save on more ramen." But Shinjiro didn't even spare him a glare as he continued consuming the noodles with pleasure. "Besides shouldn't you be saving your money? Dorm housing isn't cheap." A smirk developed on Shinji's lips as he took a moment to look up from his dish.

"That's what I have you for. You're treating me."

"What?!"

"Now eat." Before Akihiko could protest anymore, he went face first into the hot beef flavored liquid via the aid of Shinjiro's hand. He sputtered, trying to push himself up with the help of the counter but Shinji wasn't known for his monstrous strength for nothing. Feeling a little merciful, Shinjiro let go of Akihiko's sliver hair and returned to his food before it got cold.

Face dripping in the brown colored liquid, Akihiko could only glare at his childhood friend and unleash an aggravated sigh. "Damn it Shinji I could've drowned."

"A near death experience will do you some good…" He trailed off cautiously at the face he was greeted with and quickly understood his error. Rubbing his fore head he sighed and added quietly, "…ah sorry." It seemed as though the shop grew silent for that second as Akihiko turned back to his now spilt bowl somberly before allowing a sort of half smile to grace his lips.

"Nah it's alright." He responded rather distantly and shrugged it off as he usually did and looked up at the clock. It was almost nine, had it really been that long? He shifted uncomfortable on his seat as another thought came to mind. He needed to get home before it got too late. He pulled out his wallet and opened it to see how much he had in it. "We should go…it's getting late."

"You're not scared are you Aki?" He grinned as he pat his stomach in satisfaction.

"N-no…no of course not." He finished firmly. And then all was well again as he too shared in his smugness. "I was just worried about you." Shinjiro snorted as he pushed Akihiko off his chair. He then made a grab for his wallet and pulled out the last of Aki's cash, tossing it lazily on the counter. Amano-san had an uneasy smile on his face when he accepted the money hesitantly; glancing at the boxer sprawled on the floor.

"As I remember it, you were the one that was scared shitless." Akihiko got to his feet and brushed himself off before snatching his wallet back from Shinjiro. He knew however that he only got it because Shinji let him. Even though Akihiko was the boxer, Shinjiro bested him every time. That was actually part of the reason he joined the team in the first place. Secretly it was also why he wanted Shinji to join too, a chance to beat him in a fair fight.

"Whatever." The silver haired teen quickly made for the door, knowing that his brunette counterpart would be soon behind. They slid open with ease, revealing the dusted colours of the setting sun on the horizon. The stars were slowly emerging from the vast bluish black sea above and the street lights mirrored their appearance, washing over everything with an amber glow. However the only thing Akihiko thought about was getting home before that glow would gleam a different colour. "Come on we need to catch the 9:30 train if we want to get home on time."

"Yeah yeah, don't get your panties in a knot." Shinjiro stuffed his hands into the pockets of his black school pants and moved in step with Akihiko, his back slightly hunched out of bad habit. Maybe Shinji thought he was being overly cautious but it was only because he knew that Shinjiro wouldn't take the precautions necessary. Normally he liked to think he'd be the first to jump into action but if he let both of them become unconcerned with personal safety then… well he didn't want to think about it. Shinjiro was the only person he had left and he'd be damned if he let something happen to him.

The two walked in comfortable silence from the ramen shop, something more pressing on Akihiko's thoughts and Shinjiro merely understanding his friend's state of mind. It wasn't until they reached the station that either dared to make a sound.

"Hey, what's that burning smell?" Akihiko's eyes snapped over to Shinji in confusion only to see his patented smirk. He merely rolled his eyes in response but noticed that Shinji didn't brush it off like he normally would. "Seriously, what the hell has gotten into you Aki?" He didn't answer. Shinjiro didn't need him to. "Look moron I'm fine, will you stop looking like a beaten puppy." He rubbed his arm subconsciously as Akihiko grimaced lightly before swallowing his guilt and nodding reluctantly. The train pulled up at that point, a little late with the time verging on ten o'clock, and they boarded the nearly empty passenger car.

From what Akihiko could see, the car only had four other passengers. Two of them sat together near the front, a young couple composed of a business man with short cropped hair wrapping his arm protectively around his female counterpart; a blond with her hair swept up into a ponytail. The third that sat in the middle, an elderly woman with a small bundle of groceries securely held in her arms.

Finally in the far back was a girl roughly about their age, maybe a little older, with red hair seated with her legs crossed tightly over each other. She was wearing their familiar school uniform, telling him that he may know her but she was too far away for him to really see who it was. It didn't really matter though for they were merely a way for him to distract himself from yesterday's events that were digging more into his mind as he watched the clock tick.

"What the fuck is that?"

"Shinji look out!"

"Shit, Aki get the hell out of here!"

"Where did all this blood come from?"

"You can't fight that thing Aki!"

Would it happen again? Like it did yesterday or the night before or was that just a really vivid dream? As much as Akihiko wished for that to be true, he couldn't suppress this sinking feeling that it had really happened. After all whether or not Shinjiro admitted it directly, he had experienced it too yesterday for the first time. Perhaps that thought reassured him a little that he wasn't crazy.

A brilliant blinding pain suddenly burst from the back of his head as the train can to a sudden jolt, the momentum snapping Akihiko's head on the back of the metal railing of his seat.

"Shit!" Shinjiro grabbed the bar in front of him and braced the impact as best as he could. The train made another jerk and Shinji quickly snaked his arm around the elderly woman that fell forward before she cracked her head open. She muttered a strained word of gratitude and clung tightly to him and her bags.

"What the hell just happened!?" The couple at the front were huddled in there seats, the girl in tears and the suited man trying his best to comfort her while nursing a bleeding gash above her eye.

Akihiko was now on the floor in a daze, rubbing the back of his head in aggravation. He could vaguely hear hurried footsteps coming toward him, the pounding only powering the unbearable headache that was developing. "Are you alright?" Akihiko suddenly became aware of a cooling presence on his fore head, numbing the pain a little. Allowing his eyes to open, he was greeted with the face of who he thought to be the student from the back. "Is that better?" He nodded carefully and tried to focus his vision.

However he barely got a proper look at her before she quickly righted him in a seat and moved on down the train to the couple at the front. His head actually felt slightly better surprisingly but the pounding was still there.

"…Aki! Shit man, are you deaf?" Akihiko snapped out of his dazed state, surprised to hear a concerned tone leaking into Shinji's voice. The little old woman was out of Shinji's arms now and pouring out of the train with the other passengers to investigate.

"…shut up…too loud…head's still…spinning," was all he could manage, pulling himself up with the aid of the seat railing. He looked around as he tried to stable himself and saw that they were the only two left. "Where'd the girl go?" Shinjiro sighed and chuckled lightly in response.

"You're almost unconscious and you're worried about some chick." That resulted in a dirty look that confirmed that he would be alright. "You can walk?" It was more of a statement then a question.

"Stupid question." There was no way he would let Shinji carry him out. "Let's find out what's going on." Pushing off the rail he stumbled once before managing to force himself to walk towards the exit. Shinjiro followed silently behind, hands in pockets, as though nothing had happened at all.

Outside was an odd sight, the full moon looming menacingly over top of the tracks in its hazy glow. The train had come to a halt on the track and appeared to be dented in at the bottom, the conductor inspecting it curiously with the student close by his side. The weird part was that there wasn't anything else on the track that could have caused the dent from what Akihiko could see.

"Call a cab Takuto-kun, I just want to go home." The young woman cried to her boyfriend pleadingly, to which he swiftly nodded and pulled out his cell phone. The old woman joined the pair offering to help pay for the fare if they shared to which they agreed readily. "What about you guys? Need me to call you a cab?"

Shinjiro looked over at Akihiko questionably. The boxer waved them off quickly, standing as steady as he could. "No thanks…but the girl might…" he trailed off as he looked towards the front of the train only to find that she had disappeared. Where did she go?

"The girl?"

He quickly shook his head a little puzzled. "Ah nothing, go on, we live near here anyways." The man turned towards the other two women after that but not before he caught a glance at the flash numbers of 11:50 PM across the screen of the cover. He immediately tried to cover up the panicked look he knew would show on his face, sure that Shinji would only mock him for it.

"You want to go find her?" It was as if he had read his mind but it really was of no surprise to him, Shinjiro could always read him like a book. He also seemed to realize that any form of intervention would be useless, to which Akihiko was grateful. "How annoying, whatever let's go."

Determined to make sure that nothing had happened to her, Akihiko took point and moved to the head of the train where the conductor still stood baffled at the sight of the stationary vehicle. He looked up as the two came and scratched the back of his head guiltily with a shrug. "Sorry about the delay, seems like something's ran into the train…strangest thing I've ever seen. But it went and disappeared before I could get a good look at it."

"Ah…Sir-"

"Garaki is fine."

"Right, Garaki-san. Do you know where that young woman that was on the train went?"

"Young woman…" He paused for a moment before he seemed to understand what Akihiko wanted. "Ah yes! The high school student, she was here a couple of minutes ago. Funny woman, she looked rather interested in the dent and asked me a lot of weird questions about what I thought I saw. She went further down the track after that." He pointed his thumb over his should down the tunnel that the train had stopped in front of. "Told her not to but she didn't seem to listen. I hope she's alright, streets aren't safe at this time of night."

"Ah…thanks-"

Suddenly the darkness shattered and the world was painted in a green wash that would cause any sane individual to revolt at the sight of it. The conductor that had stood before them only seconds earlier was now replaced with large coffin, copper liquid oozing down the sides. Akihiko's breath caught in his throat, the air now unusually thin. It was happening again.

"Fuck…what now?" He could only gape at how well Shinjiro accepted and adjusted to the situation however he was thankful for his presence. He'd probably fall apart truthfully if he was stuck in this odd suspended period of time alone.

"I dunno… she's probably inside…one of those…coffins now." Akihiko realized how odd the sentence sounded as he spoke and was barely able to say the words due to how utterly absurd they were. Lifting his foot, he watched the bloody water drip down off his shoe in a grotesque image and clenched his fist until his knuckles turned white.

Shinjiro of course noticed this right away and sighed. "Let's go home Aki. They don't attack the ones in-"

A vibrant flash of light burst from further down the tunnel, cutting off anything Shinjiro might have said. Both teens turned in time to catch a brief image of a large black creature charging towards them with unbelievable speed. Both looked at each other with widened eyes as a blood curling screech filled the night.

"Shit! Run like hell." He didn't need to be told twice. Allowing adrenaline to over take any fear he may have had, Akihiko pumped his well-toned legs towards the passengers he had just left and turned to the edge of the tracks. Luckily for them they were over top of a grass hill that leads down to the city. Jumping the railing, Shinjiro took the lead down the hill increasing his pace as the monster, the only word Akihiko found appropriate to use in order to describe it, powered over the tracks in pursuit.

"Do you -puff- think it's a -puff- good idea to -puff- go toward the town?!" He could barely manage the words as his momentum pulled him forward, nearly toppling him over.

"You got a -puff- better idea?!" Shinjiro merely left it at that and the two descended as quickly as they could almost sliding down the hill side, dirt kicking up behind them with the creature in tow. Luckily they had had practice the last night at out running… whatever these things were. Unfortunately their luck ran short when the beast bellowed a frightening cry, shaking the ground from beneath their feet. Akihiko fell forward, crashing miserably into Shinjiro and both ended up rolling down the hill at an alarming rate, digging at the earth in a last desperate attempt.

The pair crashed into the fence at the bottom of the hill splintering the wood upon impact. "Argh…" Akihiko was beginning to regret getting up this morning, another bump forming on the back of his head. He looked up and got a better look at the monster, it seemed to be moving thanks to the wheels that were attached to its torso. It also had two gruesome looking spikes coated in blood where its arms should have been. The thing that he remembered the most though was the bright yellow mask that sat in place of what would have been its face. Almost in a daze he barely registered the fact that Shinjiro was now pulling on his arm violently, trying to drag him away when he didn't respond.

"Aki, get the hell up!"

"I know!" Akihiko sprung to his feet and dashed down the street, passing a numerous amount of coffins that lined the sidewalks. "Shinji! You go left, I'll go right…we can try to lose it."

"Got it." Unfortunately this plan had little time to be executed for the creature had seemed to suspect it, like it was human or something, and increased its speed dramatically. Akihiko barely yelled out a warning before it rammed its large body into them, sending them flying into a store front window. Saying it was like a ton of bricks had hit them would be an understatement. Shinjiro swore he'd heard something crack and it wasn't the glass that was lying beneath his battered body.

Breathing heavily, they clumsily moved behind one of the aisles in the little convenience store, carefully avoiding the single coffin that stood in the middle of it. "What are we going to do?" Akihiko whispered fiercely in hopes to not alert the thing as to whether or not they were still alive. However Shinjiro barely got a word out when a loud crash echoed in the streets and the creature stopped whatever it was trying to do.

"Penthesilea, Go forth!" The command was followed by what sounded like a gun shot and a loud roar erupting from the creature in pain. Akihiko peered around the corner of the shelf and watched the beast (it looked as though it was covered in frost) rotate its torso away from the store towards the bodiless voice. Who was Penthesilea?

"Aki, isn't that the girl from the train?"

"What?" Akihiko snapped his head towards the direction that Shinjiro was pointing to wide eyed. Crimson hair and a high school uniform, damn it was her! She was still pretty far away but he was sure of it. The duo carefully crawled towards the hole in the wall in order to get a better look.

"Wait, that's Kirijo." Shinjiro whispered bluntly.

"What you know her?"

"You do too idiot. Kirijo Mitsuru, she's the student counsel treasurer. She's in our class." Akihiko paused for a moment before he nodded quickly in recollection. He barely ever saw her of course since all of their freshmen year she'd been part of the fencing club and the student council of course. Not to mention she was absent a lot from classes but still some how managed to obtain the top marks for every exam they took. "What does she think she's doing?"

Akihiko was wondering the same thing. She was just standing their in the middle of the street with what looked like a fencing sword and a pistol in each hand. The creature by this time had completely forgotten about them. "We've got to do something."

"How the hell do you suppose we do that?"

"Bufu!" Another gun shot vibrated through the air and the creature screeched. Anger consuming it, the beast charged at the young woman without warning and the only thing Kirijo could do was shift all her body weight to the left as she dove out of the things line of fire. Scrapping through by the skin of her teeth she rolled away and braced herself as she collided with one of the other buildings in the area, a groan of pain signaling that she was still conscious.

"Shit we can't just sit here!"

"Aki!"

But the platinum haired teen was already up right and moving as quickly as he could to help out his classmate despite not having the foggiest clue what he would do when he got there.

"Damn it, Aki stop trying to be a god damn hero all the time!" But when Shinjiro tried to follow, the motion caused him to hiss in pain. He had cracked something, figures.

The red head, who Akihiko now knew was Kirijo, used the wall the help pull herself up and positioned her body in such a way that she could use the wall as support for her back, gaining access to both of her hands. She raised the hand with the pistol up but much to his surprise, instead of aiming at the massive monster, she pointed it to her scalp. His eyes bulged in disbelief and willed his legs to move faster despite their screams in protest.

That was when she first realized he was there and hesitated in confusion and what looked like fear. "Sanada-san?" She wanted to warn him but wasn't given a chance. The boy, without any regard for proper edict, barreled mercilessly into her. The gun went flying and her sword dropped to the ground along with the sophomores.

"My evoker!" The creature crashed into the wall where they'd both just been standing, causing spider crack to crawl up the side of the concrete.

"You idiot! Why were you trying to kill yourself?" The woman looked at him with such contempt that he almost froze in fear.

"Unhand me or else we'll both be killed!" That's when Akihiko realized that he was laying on top of her protectively and for a moment forgot the dire situation they were in and blushed profusely then proceeded to move off her without a second thought. "Where's my evoker?!" Her desperate shout reawakened his senses and looked at her baffled. She didn't seem suicidal…

"Evoker? You mean that gun?"

"It's not a-" But she was cut off by a burst of glaring bright light that cut between them, forcing them to dive in opposite directions. "It's rather persistent."

"What the hell is that thing?!"

"We don't have time for that. Get out of here now!"

There was no way he was going to leave her all alone though to fight this thing, no matter how determined she sounded. What could she do that he couldn't? That's when he saw it. She grabbed her evoker that had flown a few feet away from them and ran towards the other side of the street in order to draw its attention away from the boxer. He watched her raise the 'evoker' to her temple and pulled the trigger, a gun shot sounded. To his surprise however, there was no bullet nor was she dead. But what happened then confused him even more then the fact that she was still breathing "What?"

"Penthesilea!" There was a brilliant flash of light which gave way to something even more unbelievable then the wheel-bearing beast. Standing twice as tall as any of them, a luminescent form of an Amazonian queen appeared before Kirijo, its body adorned with amour, lace and chains. Each of the illusion's hands sported a thin rapier like Kirijo, both polished and glimmering in the acid wash moonlight. "Bufu!"

Ice. The ghost unleashed a massive swarm of ice crystals at the beast, causing it to reel back momentarily. This gave Akihiko enough time to run to the side in order to get a better view of the fight. This girl had freaking magical powers! Although to be honest, nothing really surprised him anymore at that point. Hell the bloody floor and green sky was even being to become ordinary to him with there being so much of it.

The masked creature let out another cry and suddenly a bright yellow aura consumed it before a large burst of fire charred the ground around Kirijo. Her…summon began screeching like a banshee, mimicking the woman's pained movements. That's when she fell over, clutching her stomach in agony.

"Kirijo!"

"Stay back!" He was amazed at how strong she sounded, even when burnt badly, but he wasn't going anywhere. Akihiko approached her while the monster recovered from releasing his attack and looked her over quickly. Her forearms were burnt from raising them to protect herself but other then that she seemed to only be a little shaken up, which was to be expected all things considered. "What are you doing? Sanada-san you need to leave here immediately." Her tone fluctuated a little when she tried to get up but only managed to reach her knees when her body crumpled again.

"You can barely stand and you're telling me to run?"

"I'm the only one that can-" but she didn't finish her sentence when the monster finally recovered and came prepared to finish off the job. Desperately she looked around for her evoker, only to find that it had vanished in all the commotion. That's when another click drew their attention.

"Shinji?" When had he hobbled over here? Shinjiro was now standing in front of them with Kirijo's evoker held firmly against his forehead.

"Aragaki –san?! No, you shouldn't-"

"Shut up Kirijo, you're in no shape to move. Aki watch her."

"Wait Shinji what are you-"Akihiko was about to protest but that thought disappeared instantly when Shinji pulled the trigger, his eyes open and looking the monster dead in the face. Kirijo let out a gasp of surprise at the gun shot and pushed herself away from her classmate to get a closer look to confirm. A frightful whinnying noise filled the stagnant air.

"A persona?"

"A what?" But his question went unanswered. How had Shinji…suddenly the wind picked up, sending Kirijo's red lock flying in the air and Akihiko's hands to her shoulders. The thing that had come from his best friend was different then the one that she had called upon when she used that…evoker was it? His was riding a black horse and had a large sword piercing through its chest. Truthfully, the only thing that was preventing him from vomiting was the tight grip he had on Kirijo's shoulders.

Shinjiro cried out in fury but also seemed to be struggling to maintain his hold on the 'persona' for it kept flickering wildly. With a final shout, the ghostly rider charged at the beast and trampled it with deadly force. The thing disappeared into a black tar like substance, oozing into the copper liquid that painted the sidewalk.

All was silent for that next minute except for their hoarse gasps for air. Slowly Shinjiro turned towards them and Akihiko was at a lost. "Shinji…"

"What's with…that look…" Shinjiro toppled over at that moment, completely blacking out. The last thing he heard was Akihiko's worried shouts and the sound of a phone being dialed.

AN: I thus concludes chapter 1! Anyway I just wanted to clear a few things up. First of all the reason that they are all sophomores and not middle schoolers is because A) I based my timeline on what Akihiko said it the journey (I got my powers 2 and a half years ago) Since he said this in november that would put the start of his power development 2 years ago from the month that the game begins. B) I haven't actually got that far in the answer yet but supposely their is a scene of Mitsuru recruiting Akihiko. Since I haven't seen it and I started writing this after the November events in the game I decided to simply ignore whatever may have happened in the Answer.

Also I know the characters may or may not seem a little off but I wanted to take into the fact that they haven't had their personalites 'change' yet since they weren't a team yet. I imagine Mitsuru was alot more formal before she met them and Akihiko a little less mature and Shinjiro a little more friendly (but only a little)

Anyway read and review!