Hey everyone, I'm Syndranar and this is my first fanfic. I'd be delighted if you guys could help out with constructive criticism.

At any rate, enjoy. I don't own the rights to Persona 3 FES. Regretfully.

Death's Slayer

A New Beginning

I had sealed Nyx to keep her out of Erebus' reach and to protect humanity as a whole from its own malice, or better put, from itself. A little over a month I was running on embers, my consciousness slipping in and out of itself, with me barely hanging on through sheer force of will alone. My friends had all but forgotten about our "little" adventure during this past year, barely remembering the bonds we had forged in its wake.

As I was sitting on the bench atop the schools roof, which had become my favourite place to let loose and relax during this year, I found myself staring at the sea and wondering if they will remember our promise to meet up here on graduation-day, which happens to be today.

As if in answer to my thoughts, the door to the roof is opened violently, resulting in an audible Clang, followed by hurried footsteps. I turn around to the direction of the newest addition to sources of noise pollution, to find a certain scientific blonde, which I've come to adore like a little sister over the time I've known her.

Said individual had short blond hair and beautiful, dark blue eyes. She was wearing the standard female uniform of the middle-school section of Gekkoukan. Oh, and she happens to be a female robot, or gynoid as Fuuka deemed it needed to enlighten me.

Yamagishi Fuuka is a shy, nervous and very friendly person, and a great friend of mine and the other members of S.E.E.S., which is in turn the "school-club" we belong to. The girl is also quite the wizard when it comes to the more technological aspects of life, but you should run as fast and far as you can, should she ever present you with food she cooked. You better. Really. She's cute too, having short teal green hair, and dark brownish grey eyes. But back to my present company.

Seeing who the new addition to the sources of noise pollution was, I couldn't help but smile. Raising my right arm in greeting, I flash her a smile while telling her "Yo, Aigis. Beautiful day we have today, yes?"

Glancing at me for a while, astonishment clear in her eyes, she returns my smile with one of her own while replying with a refreshing tone of voice with "Hello to you as well Minato-san. It is as you say."

I didn't introduce myself, did I? I'm Arisato Minato, a second-year at the middle-school section of Gekkoukan. I have dark blue, some say cobalt, hair and grey eyes. I lost my parents in 1999 and have travelled the world along a certain fellow named Kuzuki ever since. The man was a colleague of my father and opted to take care of me, since he "owed my father a bit" as he put it. After consulting both me and my grandfather on my mother's side, Kusanagi Ichirou, who happens to be mentioned in my parents will as my legal guardian should anything happen to them for some reason, we began our travels.

We travelled to numerous countries and visited many temples and ruins, which caused me to learn a great number of languages, and many facts about both modern and ancient history and mythology. I was also taught some cultural dances and songs, and some martial arts, which came in handy, since i had to fight shadows every night. Damned freaks of nature were coming after me, as if I was the last living human.

This, combined with trying to balance this with my normal education and my constant transfers, put me in very difficult situations, where my sanity was doubted most of the time. To think that, it was during these travels, more specifically during a visit to a temple of Thanatos, that I would be discovering a clue to what had happened to my parents and me back in 1999. But enough of that, at least for now.

Aigis had sat down to my right, and was glancing at me through the corner of her eyes now and then. She must be checking readings on my physical condition. It's to be expected after all, I have been very exhausted ever since putting up the barrier between Nyx and Erebus, and my pale complexion since then wasn't doing much to dissuade her fears.

I had to sacrifice my life-force to erect the seal after all, it's a miracle that I'm actually still conscious. According to Ryouji, I would've died instead of simply entering a state of coma upon sealing Nyx, therefore he made me a suggestion to try to do something that "could actually let you survive" according to him. It's a gamble but if it works I may yet see the light of day again.

As for Ryouji himself, he is the human avatar and/or form of the Greek god of death, Thanatos. He called himself Mochizuki Ryouji an even joined my class for a few months befriending both me, again that is, and the rest of the class. Aigis was the only one who sensed that there was something different about him, and continued to call him dangerous. Someone even joked about the two of them being rivals in love. I had a good laugh at that.

Ryouji and I continued to hatch our plan to make sure my survival after the sealing of Nyx. Whether I survive or not will needs to be seen after I enter my coma, for if everything went according to plan I should be meeting someone while my body is asleep.

I turn my attention back to Aigis, only to find her staring at me from a very close proximity. I look her in the eye and begin to reach for the velvet key that resides in my pocket. Said key is a key to the so-called velvet room, a place between consciousness and subconsciousness.

Its residents consist of Igor, a long-nosed man with a hunched back and bloodshot eyes, who is always wearing a suit, and the three attendants Margaret, Elizabeth and Theodore. The three of them have platinum-blond hair and yellow eyes. They also wear elegant, and in my eyes, quite stylish velvet attire.

Those four serve their guests in the name of their master, the patron-deity of the velvet room, Philemon. Philemon I only met once, after I and Ryouji completed the last step in our "preparations" to make sure of my survival. He's a very interesting and pleasant man to talk to.

As I hold the velvet key in my hand, I ask Aigis what seems to be the matter here, in order to distract her for a bit. Blushing she averts her eyes, and I use that chance to slip the key into her jacket-pocket. She will be needing the key, for she seems to have inherited my wild card ability.

She looks back at me and asks me if I'm al-right, both physically and mentally. Ah she really was worried about that, huh? I look directly at her and give her my best "I'm al-right"-look and ask her why I shouldn't be.

"You have been pale ever since that day, and your readings are fluctuating between dangerous to borderline-dangerous. I am very worried that you might just disappear." she says to me. "What else is bothering you?" I ask, sensing that she's holding back something.

Staring at me like I grew a second head, she quickly recomposed herself and stated "I am afraid that our friends will not remember our promise to meet here today" she shoots me a saddened look that asks for hope, hope I plan to deliver.

"Of course they'll remember, you know how strong our friendship is" I respond with an upbeat tone of voice, something quite uncharacteristic of me if I might add. "And neither will I disappear anywhere, not when I have yet to graduate from both middle and high-school" I quickly add while stroking her head. That seemed to have done the trick, as she now looks at me with a smile that is brighter than the sun itself.

I'm sorry Aigis, for lying to you like that. The reason that not even her amazing sensors are able to pick up my lie, is because of the many personae I have.

To expand on that, a persona is a personification of our self, which symbolises the most prominent facet of our personalities. A persona's main purpose is to combat shadows, beings born of the collective subconsciousness of humanity, which are the children of Nyx, who happens to be not only the mother of all shadows, but also the primordial goddess of night. Yeah I've actually fought and won against a goddess who stood at the very beginning of creation.

The reasons for that are plenty. I formed bonds with many people which became my source of strength. Sounds cliché but it's true nonetheless. The fact that I didn't fight alone would be another reason for my success. I had help in form of my comrades in arms and friends that are the members of aforementioned S.E.E.S., the so called "school-club". And it was one, at least on the surface. In reality we were dispatched into a tower that appeared every midnight, along with an extra hour that we dubbed the dark hour. I still think we should have picked shadow-time, but oh well. The tower was named Tartarus after the Greek name for hell and was apparently the nest of the shadows.

Me, Aigis here, and aforementioned Yamagishi Fuuka are members of S.E.E.S. Kirijo Mitsuru, the daughter of Kirijo Takeharu who was killed by that bastard, whose name I would rather not mention, and current head of the Kirijo group is another member. I knew her before the loss of my parents, mainly because my mother was working for the Kirijo group. She's been fighting the shadows at least as long as I had. She's a good friend of Akihiko.

Sanada Akihiko is, for the lack of a better statement, someone who has a "one-track-mind", and is admired for it. Has many fan-girls, even more than I do, but doesn't know the name of even one of them. He's been fighting shadows for a while now, after Mitsuru managed to convince him to join. There's just one tiny detail that keeps me from respecting him as he deserves it. He's a damned protein-junkie and fills the fridge with protein-drinks, when we can clearly do without. He and Mitsuru are third-years and will begin their first year of high-school starting the next semester. The two them are, together with someone else, the founding members of S.E.E.S..

The other founder is Aragaki Shinjirou, or Shinji for short. He's a hardcore bad-ass that could cook dinners that would make the gods drool in jealousy. I had him teach me everything he knows about cooking, and improved tremendously with his help. He joined the fight against the shadows together with Akihiko, but quit temporarily shortly afterwards because of an incident involving another member of S.E.E.S.. He died protecting said member from the members of a group called Strega.

Said member is a kid of 7 years of age named Amada Ken. He's in elementary school but tries to act in a very mature fashion most of the time. The reason for that is that he had lost his mother at a very young age. It took a while for him to open up in front of us. We both share the hobby of being fans of superhero-shows. Together with another S.E.E.S. Member named Iori Junpei. An avid fan of games and all forms of electronic entertainment in general. His dream is to become a hero and I say he more than did reach his goal. Totally in love with former Strega-member Yoshino Chidori. She loves him too.

He's my classmate along with Takeba Yukari, a very energetic girl who is a member of the archery-club and makes a fine archer because of that. She's apparently very popular. Funny thing is that she doesn't like people who hit on her, yet she wears one of the shortest school-skirts I have ever seen. She had problems with her mother, but managed to come to an understanding with her, thankfully. You really shouldn't mess with your parents, you don't know when you might lose them.

The last member of our merry group of misfits is a Shiba-Inu named Koromaru, or Koro-chan as we keep calling him. He uses daggers as weapons, is fierce when fighting and absolutely adorable when not. I'll always have a soft spot for him. We're good friends and I take him out for walks whenever I can.

Second to last reason for my success is the fact, that while most persona-users can summon only one persona, I could call a total of 169 personae, courtesy of the ability called the wild card which I mentioned earlier. This is also the reason for my amazing prowess at lying, acting and reading an individuals emotions and intentions. Though I still have my personae I can't summon them any-more, because the wild card is now in possession of Aigis, which is the reason, why I "gave" her the velvet key.

The last and maybe most important reason for my success against Nyx, is that the bonds I had formed with the people here in this city converged and merged together unleashing my full potential. During my confrontation with Nyx many things happened. First of, I actually obtained the answer to life's greatest question, meaning I actually reached enlightenment. I wonder what Buddha would say if he finds out that I didn't discard all my evil to do so. Heh.

Then through the fusion of powers of the bonds I had forged during my year here in Iwatodai I obtained the power of the universe itself, making me a god of sorts, since it's the ultimate power anyone could obtain. Unfortunately I had to sacrifice it to erect the seal between Nyx and Erebus, meaning I don't posses it any-more.

I return my attention to Aigis again, and secretly hope, that she forgives me for lying to her like that. "Minato-san, do you want to lie down a bit? You have been awake since 6 o'clock. Normally you would have slept in class during this time." she asks me in concern. I couldn't help but smile at her. "And where do you suggest I sleep then, Aigis?" I ask, interested in her merely pats her lap and I don't even dare refuse, lowering my head to her lap after a quick "Thank you".

Just as I made myself comfortable, the door to the roof is, once again, opened violently in what results, one again, in an audible Clang followed, again, once again, by hurried footsteps. As I look over to the new additions to the sources of noise pollution from my comfortable lair, I notice a sense of relief washing over both me and Aigis, for our friends seem to have remembered our promise, to meet up here today.

Ah, it seems I forgot to mention that after the sealing of Nyx the dark hour disappeared, and shortly afterwards our friends forgot about the events of the previous year. Only I and Aigis remembered, me being the guy who has to bear the responsibility for his actions, in this case sealing Nyx, and Aigis because her memory works different from a humans, since she's a female robo-, I mean gynoid.

As the rest of my friends look over me with arched eyebrows I defend my position the usual way. By redirecting their attention to other topics. "What? I've been waiting for you guys for some time. I haven't slept since 7 o'clock-" "6 o'clock" corrected Aigis hastily. "since 6 o'clock so I'm going to sleep now".

My friends stared at me in disbelief and then started laughing. Things like "Typical Minato" were heard and I started laughing as well. I looked up at Aigis, gave her a reassuring smile and told her "What did I tell you?" Aigis' smile was even brighter than before and I felt a tinge of guilt at lying to her again. Nonetheless I smiled back and then took out my cellphone, to see when it was, that I entered my, hopefully, coma.

Silently wishing Aigis and the rest good luck with the ordeal they need to face next, I took a look at the screen and saw the date. It was Monday the 5th of March 2007, about a year after my return to Iwatodai, about 8 years since the fateful day when it all began. I put the cellphone back in my pocket and close my eyes, hoping that the gamble would pay of. But nothing is really that simple is it? Especially not when dealing with the gods.

To be continued

As you've no doubt noticed, I played around with the time-line of persona 3 a bit in order to fit Minato into the continuation of this story, that I will hopefully write someday. I also gave him a background story that indicated what happened to this Minato during the time between his parents' death and his return to Iwatodai, which will be expanded upon later. When exactly I wouldn't know though. I'm new to writing stories in general and to writing in English, which is why I would appreciate any corrections you could mention.

Syndranar, over and out.