Persona Series 1. Chapter 1

A/N: Okay heres my first persona fanfic. I decided to write this as i was playing the lst persona game on the psp and since there really not many fics on this game(don't know why, i thought this one was pretty epic). The story is based on my playthrough with a mix with stuff from the manga and my own thoughts(mainly i'm going to try to include all the characters. i didn't like how if you choose one character the others can't join...). So i hope you enjoy it and keep reading till the end. Oh, i'll try to update this fic every Monday.

Disclaimer: I don't own the persona series, i only own my OC. ^-^

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Chapter One

_**High School, Class 2-4**_

_Once, I dreamt I was a butterfly._

_I forgot myself and knew only my_

_Happiness as a butterfly. Soon,_

_I awoke and I was myself again._

_Did I dream that I was a butterfly?_

_Or do I now dream that I am a man?_

_Yet there is a distinction between_

_Myself and the butterfly. This is_

_The transformation of the physical_

_-Zhuang Zi _

The Chinese literature teacher was walking back and forth in front of the classroom, quoting a poem about a man dreaming he was a butterfly. I wasn't really paying much attention to him because I was trying to get my friend, Naoya Kimura, to wake up before the teacher caught him sleeping in his class. Nishida-sensei hates it when you're not giving him your full attention or when you correct him even if he is totally wrong. But sadly my efforts are in vain. It seems like nothing will wake him up.

"Why not try bonking him on the head? That will surely wake him up" a hat-wearing student suggested to me. His name is Masao Inaba (but his friends call him Mark, though sometimes people call him a monkey which only pisses him off) and he is the spoiled son of the Inaba Dry Cleaning's Owners. He's an earnest and excitable person. His grey hair is covered by a large yellow beanie with his favorite button on it that says "Do it" and has a strange little character hanging from his left ear.

"Like that will work. His head has the hardness of a bowling ball. He won't feel a thing if I did that" I stated.

"You know I can hear you two." a muffled voice comes from the 'I thought to be sleeping boy'. He got up from where he was laying his head on the desk to sitting up straight in his seat, glaring at me. Naoya Kimura's glares can be quite scary, especially so since his red eyes seem to deepen the effect of it. His black hair and a small black hoop piercing on his left ear also adds to the effects, but they usually don't affect me much because I'm used to it by now.

"Hey, don't glare at us! We thought you were asleep this whole time. So we were discussing on how to wake you up." I whispered, looking at him straight in the eyes. A soft sigh escaped the red-eyed teen as he momentarily stopped glaring at us.

"If you actually bothered to look closer, you would have noticed that I was simply resting my head on my arms and not actually sleeping away this boring class." He explained to us as if we were simpletons.

Knowing that this was a losing battle, I decided to give my attention back to the front of the classroom and try to catch up to where we are. It was then at that moment that a student with a blue scarf with a black #1 on the front of it, got up from his seat and started to correct our teacher on something he was apparently teaching wrong. He is known as Kei Nanjo, the heir to the Nanjo Group and he is an utter pragmatist and skeptic. He has black hair that is slicked back with the exception of a couple of hairs at the front and wears black rimmed glasses that he often pushes back.

Naoya let out a sigh and soon after I let out one of my own, both of us knowing that Nishida-sensei won't appreciate this very much. Sure enough, sensei started to say that this is a literature class and not a philosophy class.

"I will not allow anyone in my class to correct me while I'm teaching." he said while giving Nanjo a pointed look in his direction. "As punishment, I want all of you to do a report for me and I want them done in two days time." And with that he left the classroom right as the school bell rang, muttering something along the line of "I hate that class".

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_**Class 2-4: Afterschool**_

Since the cultural festival was coming up soon, our class began creating and putting up the decorations for our 'Maid Café' that our class will be doing. Though mostly everyone skipped out on it and only eight students stay behind to set everything up.

While everyone was working on whatever task they were doing, Mark started to complain at Nanjo.

"It's cause you did something pointless that the Chinese lit guy gave us a report to do and stuff" he said while shaking a can of spray paint in an angry manner. "It pisses me off"

"Humph" Nanjo began "All I did was speak the truth. The one at fault isn't me, but Nishida's thoughts and personality. With that level of…Oh sorry, Monkeys wouldn't understand." He said in an offhanded tone. Mark just exploded at the remark. But before anything could happen, a girl with short bluish-black hair intervened.

"Hey stop it, you two. Both of you are being annoying. Let's hurry up and get the work done! I have my part-time job this evening." She is Yukino Mayuzumi, a former Yankee. But she is trusted by everyone and she's like an older sister to all the students in our school. Yukino wears a yellow clip in her hair on the left side and her skirt is all the way down to her ankles.

Both Nanjo and Mark mumbled a fine and went back to work. I was helping Naoya with putting up the paper flowers when I noticed a girl with blonde pig-tails that were held together with green ribbons, walk over to Mark. Her name is Yuka Ayase and she is a troublemaking member of the suntanned, bleach-blonde "Kogal" set. She wears a dark blue cardigan over her uniform with light blue socks.

"Hey Inaba, your signboard is really good." She said in awe.

"Heh…I've thought about doing this kinda stuff for a living. Well, no one knows what's going to happen in the future. So I'll see where this goes for now…" he said just as a red-haired goggled student put his arm around Mark's shoulders.

"For that kind of thing, leave that up to Brown!" he exclaimed. His real name is Hidehiko Uesugi but everyone usually calls him Brown. He craves attention and doesn't take things very seriously. He wears a purple shirt with some sort of character on it and red boots to match.

"What the hell!" Mark practically yelled. Brown soon came closer to Mark and whispered something to him.

"Persona?" Mark questioned.

"What's that?" I heard Naoya ask from beside me.

"It's a game that tells your future!" he beamed to all of us.

"Dude, if that really worked and I could see my future, I'd be on easy street….You sure you ain't got a brain fart, Hidehiko?"Mark said looking unconvinced.

"Hehehe….turns out there's more to it than an easy joke!" he exclaimed. "Maybe not seeing the future exactly but weird stuff does happen! So, I'm willing to put my money where my mouth is if you are, Mark."

"Alright….You're on!" Mark then smirked "I'll bet you an all-you-can-eat dinner at the Peace Diner on Joy Street."

"Woooo! I'm with Hidehiko!" Ayase suddenly shouted.

"I'll throw my lot in with Brown, too." A ponytailed student added. Her name is Eriko Kirishima (but most people call her Elly) and she is a ladylike student who recently returned from abroad. She is beautiful and elegant who also likes anything to do with the abnormal. Eriko has long reddish-brown hair and wears a yellow scarf around her neck.

"Are you guys serious?" Mark said with disbelief in his voice. "Yo Kei, Yukino! Who're you guys gonna side with?" he questioned.

"Hmp…As if I care one whit…its sounds absolute bunk to me" Nanjo nonchalantly says. Mark then turns his head towards Yukino to hear her opinion.

"What he said….This is all you" she said also not taking part in this bet. Inaba sweat dropped after hearing her response.

"Ugh! You guys are so cold, y'know?" he sighed. He then turned to where Naoya and I were standing and asked who we are with. I thought about it for a while. I was kind of curious to see what would happen if this game truly did work but then again I shouldn't really take Brown seriously. I don't really want to look like an idiot when this proves to be all bogus, so I chose to side with Mark.

"Yes, finally someone on my side! What about you Naoya?" he asked.

"Bets on one side are boring, so Mark" he said in a calm voice.

"Aww! Just wait, you'll be sorry!" Ayase mocked us.

"Alright, so let me explain the rules." Brown started "First, a person stands in each corner of the room. After reciting the incantation, walk over to the next person and touch them. When all four people have finished walking, Persona-sama is supposed to descend. It's the same for cupid-sama and stuff."

"Kay! Let's do this!"Ayase cheered.

Since there were one too many people to play the game: Naoya, Nanjo, Yukino, and I stood in the middle of the room while Brown, Mark, Ayase, and Elly went into the four corners of the classroom. From where I was standing, Mark didn't look too overjoyed to be the one actively doing this.

"Alright I'm going to start….Persona! Persona! Please come here!" Ayase recited. She then began to move towards Brown and touched his shoulder.

"My turn! Persona! Persona! Come here!" he yelled. He moved towards Mark and did the same thing as Ayase.

"Man, why I gotta do this…?"He sighed.

"Hurry it up! All-you-can-eat! All-you-can-eat!" he said with glee.

"Okay, okay…jeez" he said with no enthusiasm "Persona, Persona. C'mere…I guess." Mark began walking towards where Elly was standing in her corner.

"Well then…Persona! Persona! Please come to us…" she said. Elly walked over to where Ayase stood at the beginning of the whole thing. Since it was finished, we all waited for something to happen. We kept waiting for a few mintutes and nothing what so ever happened. I was feeling a little bit disappointed that nothing happened. I looked over at Brown and he had the look of confusion written upon his face.

"Something was supposed to happen…"he said going into a thinking pose. As soon as he said that, Ayase walked right over to him and started complaining; while Mark and Elly retreated from their place in the corners of the room and came to join the group in the middle of the classroom.

"Hidehiko! You jerk! Now I look like a total idiot!"

"See? A fat load of nothin'. Looks like I win, Hidehiko." Mark gloated.

Yukino sighed "Happy now? Hurry up and go get the teacher since we won't be getting anymore work done for the day."

"W-wait! Hold up! One more time, please? Mark screwed the whole thing up!" he yelled.

"What!"

"C'mon, you gotta take it seriously when you do it."

"Oh, you little…! What a sore loser. A deals a deal, Hidehiko."

Suddenly, Naoya started to look a little pale and cover his ears even though there was no noise in the room. I was going to ask if something was wrong until he turned around to face a little girl holding a teddy bear that wasn't there moments ago. Her back was faced towards and it seemed she had brown hair with a pink ribbon tied at the top of her hair. Apparently, Naoya and I weren't the only ones to notice her as Nanjo began to mutter things in disbelief. Which in turned made everyone else turn around and finally take notice of the little girl.

"S-see just like I said" Brown said in a slightly terrified voice.

"My last time was a rapping sound, but this time I'm surprised."Elly gleefully said. I just looked at her like she was crazy but then again she does like this kind of stuff.

Soon enough, the young girl took notice of us and turned around to face us. That's when everything began to get weird. When she cried out help me, the ceiling had started to be pulsing with electricity, sparking here and there until a big surge of bright light flashed. When it ended, Yukino was unconscious on the floor. Nanjo started to walk towards her, when a bolt of electricity hit Mark then Nanjo with Naoya following soon after. The four of us left started to panic wondering if anyone else will be hit. When no one else seemed to be in any danger, Elly ran out of the room, probably to get the nurse or a teacher, when a bolt came towards me and hit me straight in the back. After all that, I slowly fell unconscious…seeing nothing but darkness.

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So i hope you liked it! Please read and review! But please no flames.^-^


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter two

**_?_**

The darkness soon led to a spiraling downward fall, following the guidance of a golden butterfly. Little balls of light, gears and what appears to be buildings, flew past me as I kept following this butterfly. What seems like forever, the balls of light become more condensed until a bright light flashed in front of me.

When the light faded away, a round platform with six pillars encircling around it came into view. In the middle of said platform, a man with a white mask adorned with a purple butterfly wing on the right side, stood there as if awaiting my arrival. His long black hair was tied back into a ponytail. The man wore a white jacket and pants with black dress shirt n shoes.

"Welcome, it's a pleasure to meet you. I am Philemon, a dweller between conscious and unconscious." He informed "and now a simple test…can you state your name?" An odd question to ask a person, but since this is all a dream I didn't think much about it.

"Reina Kobayashi" I stated

"Splendid, there aren't many who can remember their identity when in this domain." He began "It seems you pass that test. But tell me this, are you aware of the many and buried selves you harbor within you? The self suffused with divine love, the self capable of demonic cruelty. People live by wearing different masks"

"Different masks?" I questioned.

"Yes, your current self may be only one of those innumerable masks. You though, have a very firm grip on your identity. I respect your strong will. In return I grant you this power." Something then appeared in his hand. It looked somewhat human but at the same time was not. It's red in appearance, wearing a deep red dress with flames on both her wrists and ankles. Her face was hidden by a golden mask revealing only her ruby red lips that was framed by midnight black hair.

"Persona, it is the power to summon the selves within you, the gods and demons you harbor. The time comes soon that you will need this power. Now you must return to your proper time and place." And soon enough, everything was engulfed in a bright light.

_** Infirmary**_

When I regained consciousness, I was lying in a bed surrounded by cabinets and white walls. It seems I'm in our schools infirmary. I sat up in bed, wondering how I got here, when a voice came from beside me.

"Oh, Reina, you've come around." a woman in a nurse's uniform said. I looked towards my right to find Natsumi Yoshino, our school's nurse, looking at me. She had long curly brown hair and is popular amongst the male student body. But watch out for her cooking!

"How long have I've been out?" I asked.

"Only for a few hours, your friends will probably wake up soon as well." She indicated to four other beds. As soon as she said that Nanjo, Yukino, and Mark started to stir in their beds. Soon they started to sit up in their beds as well. When all of us were more alert, she began to explain that after we collapsed Elly found a teacher and told her that we had an accident that made us unconscious. After the explanation, all of us decided to get out of bed and wait for Naoya to wake up as well.

Few minutes later, Naoya joined the land of the awake and sat up in bed with a dazed look. He soon noticed us all standing in front of his bed with a confused look on his face. Yoshino-sensei started chucking to herself.

"Ahaha…Welcome to the Infirmary. You sure look cute when you're asleep" she said smiling at him.

"Should you really be saying that, Sensei?" I asked.

"It's all in jest. No need to be jealous." She said with the smile never leaving her face.

"What!"

At that moment a teacher with navy blue hair bursts into the room. We all turned to her only to see that it was our homeroom teacher, Takami-sensei. She's very popular with the students in our school.

"Are all of you all right?"

"Ya we're good. Just a little bump on the head" Mark answered.

"Thank goodness! I was so worried when you all collapsed" she sighed with relief. Sensei turned towards Yoshino. "I'm sorry you had to deal with my students, Natsumi."

"C'mon, taking care of students is her whole job! What's so bad about us…?" Mark questioned.

"Now, now, Masao! I want you to think about what you've done! Anyway, Eriko told me what happened. No helping out for you today!" She told us.

"I thought we were done for the day?" I inquired.

Takami-sensei paused for a moment before she continued "Never mind then…anyways, I want all of you to go get yourselves checked out at Mikage Hospital and head home afterwards."

"So you think something's wrong with us?"Yukino asked.

"Oh, not like that. I can tell by looking at you that you're perfectly sane. But I'm worried you all might have gotten hurt while collapsing, so everyone should go see the doctor." She told her.

"So you're unexpectedly prone to worrying, Takami-sensei" Yukino mumbled to herself "Alright, we'll go" she added deciding for everyone.

"I hate hospitals…"I said to myself.

"Speaking of Mikage Hospital, wasn't a student in your class staying there?" Yoshino asked.

"You mean Maki, right?" Naoya questioned.

"Yes, that's right. You should visit her while you're there." She smiled "She's been laid up there for over a year now…I'm sure she's lonesome."

"Sure we'll go visit her. We've been meaning to go anyways," I said. Soon enough we decided to leave the infirmary and head towards the entrance of the school. As we were walking down the hallway, I overheard a couple of girls from the cooking club gossiping about a student and his girlfriend that have been missing since two months ago. Their names were Yosuke and Chisato and much of the student body thought they were an odd match when they got together.

When we got to the front, we began to change our school shoes for street shoes. As I was finishing tying up my laces to my ankle boots (kind of like how Victorian boots were), that Nanjo started speaking.

"You're all so slow…You must seize the moment, like myself! There's a reason it's said that one's youth passes quickly." He said trying to hurry us along.

"That Nanjo pisses me off so bad…I'll find a chink in his armor someday" Mark mumbled to himself from beside me.

"Masao and Kei are both such children" Yukino sighed as she closed her shoe locker.

Leaving the school grounds, Mark began mentioning this strange dream he had when he was asleep. From what he was saying it sounded just like mine with only a few variations on what the "Persona" looked liked to him or her. So I decided to voice my question.

"You had that strange dream too?" I asked.

"Yeah, a butterfly flew around and I met a guy named Pheromone…." Mark started.

"Philemon!" Nanjo interjected.

"And got a thing called Persona" Mark finished ignoring Nanjo completely.

"Ridiculous is what I'd like to say but everyone seems to have had the same dream. I'm stumped." Nanjo added.

"This is bad. Maybe everyone hit their head hard enough that it messed us up" Mark said beginning to sweat a little.

"That's why we're going to the hospital to get checked out. So stop your useless panicking." Nanjo commented before a frown came upon his face.

Mark turned around to face him, scowling "I wasn't panicking….What are you frowning at?" as his face changed to that of confusion. For there was an old man in a butler's outfit waiting around the corner we just turned a second ago. When the old man spotted Nanjo, he made a bee line for him and gave a slight bow before saying in a soft voice "Young master, Kei!"

"Yamaoka, What are you doing here?" Huh….so this is Nanjo's butler, he seems to be a nice person.

"Oh, my! Master Kei is walking around with a crowd of friends! I'm…I'm so happy to see this!" he said in a joyful tone, ignoring the question directed at him. Does Nanjo not have that many friends? Well truth be told, I never seen him hanging around with anyone before…

"Master….Kei?" Mark then started to chuckle a bit.

"Y-Yamaoka! I've told you time and time again to never call me that! Y-you dummy!" he yelled, blushing when Mark's (and soon mine and Yukino's) laugh started to get louder.

"Did you just call him a "dummy"?" I said letting out a laugh between words.

"You guys shouldn't laugh….though it is amusing to watch Nanjo be flustered instead of being stoic like he normally is" Naoya said.

"N-No, I, ah…Oh, be silent, all of you!" Nanjo practically yelled at the end. "Look, Yamaoka, if you're here to give me a ride I don't need it. Just….go back without me!"

"Oh, my! Will you be going around town with your chums, young master?" he inquired.

"I'm only going to the hospital! And stop calling me that!" Nanjo chided.

"The hospital! Heavens! I do hope you haven't hurt yourself, young master!" he said worriedly.

This caused another small round of laughter by the rest of us (besides Naoya, he had the decency to be polite and not laugh at poor Nanjo, who at the moment was blushing due to embarrassment). But I'm somewhat jealous of him. At least someone is there to worry about his well being. My parents wouldn't care a rat's ass about me if something were to happen to me. A frown soon replaced my smile that I wearing a moment ago.

If Reina were to have looked around, she would have noticed that Naoya saw her change in facial expressions.

"Enough! Let's be on our way, Naoya! And Yamaoka…do NOT follow us!" he shouted before storming down the street. Naoya followed right after him and after finishing whatever laughs they had left, Mark and Yukino continued after the two dark haired teens. I stayed there for a bit saying good-bye to Yamaoka, before I tried to catch up to everyone.

_**Mikage Hospital**_

After a few wrongs turns here and there, we finally made our way to the hospital. After setting up our examinations, we still had some time to burn before our exam.

"Since there's some time until our examinations, we should visit Maki first." Nanjo suggested "Best not be idle, after all."

"Heh…Cold man…By the way, Maki's in Room 302" Mark informed everyone.

"You're pretty well informed, Masao" Yukino curiously said.

"Uh…" as he paused for a moment "Shut up! A friend of mine told me! Naoya, let's just go already." he then bellowed. Soon after, he started to head towards the doors that led into the rest of the hospital. Everyone knows that Mark has a crush on Maki (well except the person herself) and this pretty much proves it. After a short pause, the others began to follow Mark though the doors when I decided to hold back Naoya by grabbing his arm.

"Hmm…what's wrong?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Do you often visit Maki with Mark?" I inquired, letting go of his arm in the process.

"Well, yeah. We've known each other since we were younger because of our parents. So I visit her from time to time…Why do you ask?"

"It's nothing for you to worry about, I was just curious is all." I said plastering on a smile.

He looked at me for a few seconds not really sure to believe what I was saying was true or not. He heaved a sigh, leaving the subject alone for now, and decided to catch up to the others. When I started to follow him, I noticed a familiar figure behind the vending machines. I look at the doors and then at the machines, soon deciding on going over to the vending machine to give the person a little spook.

I walked over and gave out a big "Boo!" that made everyone in the reception area give me strange looks, but it was quite worth it.

"Oh, my!" Yamaoka shrieked "You gave me such a fright! But oh dear I've been spotted….I would ask that you keep my presence a secret from the young master, if you would." He kindly asked. Now I kinda felt bad scaring the old butler. His dedication to Nanjo is endearing, so I said I wouldn't tell him and he graciously thanked me. I headed towards the doors to catch up with everyone else.

After climbing the stairs to the third floor, I was able to catch up to everyone else as they were about to open the door to room 302. When we opened the door we caught the doctor about to leave.

"I have to go…but you should get some fresh air sometime. It's good for you" her doctor suggested.

"That's right, Maki. Why don't we go for a walk tomorrow?" the nurse beside the doctor, kindly asked. The girl in the pink hospital gown that was sitting up in her bed gave no answer to the nurse. The girl is Maki Sonomura, a chronically ill classmate that's been hospitalized for over a year now. She has shoulder length dark brown hair with a pink ribbon sitting at the top of her head,

The doctor sighed and turned around to see us five standing in front of the doorway. A faint smile appeared on the doctor's face as he said "Oho, it seems your medication has arrived. I'll leave you kids be." The man and the nurse left though the open door and closed it behind them, giving us privacy to talk to our classmate. We gathered around the bed, to give our hellos.

"Naoya….You all came…Thanks" she said smiling to all of us, but mostly at Naoya. Which if you have to guess, annoyed me for some odd reason…

"You're so thoughtful, Masao" she smiled at Mark now.

"What do you mean?" Nanjo asked with a confused expression.

"I told Masao I wanted to see everyone when he was here last time…." She explained "Isn't that why you all came?"

"What? This is the first…." But Nanjo didn't get to finish his thought when Yukino stepped on his foot hard to stop him from what he was going to say.

"…Yes, it is. How are you? Have you been feeling okay?" Yukino asked nicely, saving all of our hides.

"Uh-huh. I'm doing much better lately. I wonder if it's because of that good dream…" she paused as if trying to remember what it was about "It's hard to remember, but I keep dreaming of a really nice man…He's like a father…"

"Like that doctor? He seemed nice." Yukino commented.

"…I don't like him…"Maki mumbled, but was loud enough for everyone to hear.

Enraged, Mark asked (more like demanded really)" Did he do somethin' to you!"

"No, that's not it…I just…don't like doctors…." She calmly answered him.

Seeming to have cooled off after her answer, he said "Well, let's talk about other stuff then." He paused for a moment then as if a light bulb went off over his head he asked "Hey, how about your mom? How's she doin' at SEBEC?"

"She's not my mom! She cares more about her job than me" she yelled "She doesn't care about me at all…"

As if noticing the touchy subject, Mark stuttered out an apology. As Maki was about to say something, she suddenly grabbed her chest with her hand, as if in pain, and doubled over. She started to scream in pain with us starting to panic at bit. Mark tried calling out to her but nothing was working. Yukino decided to call the doctor. Not long after doctors and nurses rushed into the room and rolled out Maki to the ICU for treatment. We followed her all the way until we were stopped at the entrance to the ICU. The nurse told us to wait outside while they treat her and to wait for any news on her condition.

Naoya and I decided to sit on one of the nearby bench's while everyone else stood around. After what seemed a long time, no one else seems to be coming. Not even her mom, which is kinda sad and with no news it's a tense silence. Naoya got up a couple of times saying he has to make a phone call to someone but always came back with a long sigh.

"I hope it's nothing serious…" Nanjo said mostly to himself. After a few choice words, Mark went up to Naoya asking where Maki's mom is.

"She's probably still at work. I tried calling her earlier but her office phone wasn't picking up, neither was her home phone. Her mom might be in the middle of a meeting or some project she's working on" he said taking a seat next to me again.

"What kinda mom is she? Letting work take over her life and not caring if her kid is in the ICU." Mark said outraged. Silence soon came over the hallway once again until it was disturbed by some violent shaking.

"An earthquake?" questioned Nanjo. Soon it got even worse as Naoya and I bolted out of our seats in order to avoid being hit by some picture frames that were about to fall due to the shaking. It got so bad that I was about to topple over when it suddenly stopped. We looked around the hallway seeing nothing broken but a few frames and moved benches.

"Maki!" Mark yelled dashing for the ICU doors. But when the doors opened it revealed to be a solid wall, which was not there before the earthquake.

"The hell?" Naoya let out. That was when we heard a loud scream coming somewhere down the hallway. After each of us gave a nod in agreement we ran down the hallway to where a doorway was thrown wide open. A female nurse was backing away from something that was obviously terrifying her. When we reached the open doorway and looked inside, none of us could believe what we saw. It was like some scene out of a zombie movie. Dead bodies of the staff and zombie staff members were around the room except one lone butler fending them off with a mop.

"Miss! Hurry I don't know how much longer I can hold them back!" yelled Yamaoka.

"Yamaoka! What are you doing?" Nanjo said in disbelief.

"Oh…young master." He said noticing Nanjo, along with the rest of us. "Please run….I will hold them here." He gravely said as more of those zombies (at least that's what they look like to me) slowly walked towards the loyal butler. Nanjo was in a state of shock, as were we all, so he was glued to where he stood while Mark kept muttering things in disbelief.

"You must run, young master! Please hurry and run!" he yelled once more. I started to notice that he had a lot of injuries, some bleeding quite a lot too. "The young master is an important person who will carry the Japan of tomorrow! T-that's why you must hurry and flee!" he begged.

"Idiot….As if I would leave you behind" He said as he charged forth into the fray of dead people.

"Nanjo!" We all screamed out to him. But the moment Nanjo joined one of those things swiped at Yamaoka, knocking him into the wall on the far side of the area. This enraged Nanjo and he went forward to punch the zombie right in the stomach. When he landed the hit, it did nothing whatsoever to the thing. All it did was make it even angrier. It was that moment that Mark dove in and grabbed the fallen mop; and whacked the zombie in the head.

"Thanks…" Nanjo began but soon cut off when another one came at him. I looked at Yukino and she looked at me. We gave each other a nod and we went in as well. Somehow Yukino pulled out a knife out of nowhere and began to slash the things. Since I had no weapons like Nanjo, I used my fists and legs to fight off the zombies. (Though I am beginning to question my name for them, since they have razor sharp teeth and claws that seem to cut threw anything. It's amazing how that mop hasn't broke yet)

I gave one of them a kick in the face when I noticed that Mark was being cornered by a really huge one.

"Mark!" I yelled. At that moment, the zombie was clunked in the head by an extinguisher, saving Mark in the process, by none other than Naoya. But its head just went back to where it was before and readied another attack. I didn't see what happened next when, having been strangely ignored by them; one of them came at me again but I was able to dodge it and was backed up into the others.

Yukino, Mark, Nanjo, and I were soon surrounded by the zombies, when all of a sudden we started to glow a bright light. Something started to come out of me….it was the same figure that I saw in my dream. The same phenomenon was happening to the others too. This "Persona" began to say:

_I am Thou_

_Thou art I_

_I am the being that emerged from the sea of your soul_

_I shall lend you my power_

Naoya was the first one to utilize this power they speak of. "Garu!" he yelled and from the persona a powerful gale came and destroyed one the dead. We soon followed after his example and shouted out a command that for some reason we knew already, even though we never learned them in the first place.

"Hama!" Nanjo released a pillar of white light against the enemy.

"Frei!" Yukino released a blast against the enemy.

"Agi!" I released a ball of fire against the enemy.

"Tackle!" Mark released a physical attack against the enemy.

With all these attacks combined, the zombies before us perished before our attacks. Once everything was in the clear, Nanjo slowly walked over to where Yamaoka was lying and knelt down beside him.

"Yamaoka….Don't go…You wouldn't leave me behind? Right, Yamaoka?"He pleaded to him.

"Oh, young master…Don't be so sad…it spoils your handsome face…" he coughed, a little blood coming out in the process. "You're a fine Japanese man…And a man must stand on his own someday…It seems that this…will be the last service I can provide for you…"

Seeing this, Nanjo began yelling "No! No no no! I won't let you leave me!" he said on the verge of tears "Hang in there, Yamaoka!"

"It seems this is farewell…but promise me….promise to become the No.1 man in the country and carry Japan on your back." His coughing started to get worse and worse.

"…Of course….Of course I will. When that time comes, you'll see. So, until then…." But Nanjo was cut off when Yamaoka uttered his last words.

"That's my young master…I will always be…in your heart…" and he slowly breathed out his last breath, going limp in Nanjo's arms.

"Yamaoka? Hey! Answer me…I'm begging you…Yamaoka!" getting no response from the butler, Nanjo hung his head and silently wept. We all turned away to give him some privacy until Mark faced Naoya and asked "Hey, did you hear those voices earlier? That thing said it was me." The red-eyed teen nodded his head.

"I heard it too….think it was that persona thing that guy in a mask talked about?" added Yukino.

"It could be…I can't think of anything else on what it could be. But what if it's dangerous?" I said.

"It said it would lend us its power, so I kinda doubt it's hostile. If we're lucky, maybe it'll listen to what we tell it….anyways I guess we might as well go on calling it persona" he shrugged.

"If you say so…" Naoya sighed as he looked around "No point in staying here, we should try to find a way out of here. It's too dangerous to stay in one spot; there might be more of those things around." He gestured to the 'zombies' that were disintegrating as we speak.

"You're right! We gotta go save Maki! If we don't hurry up and find her those things may get to her!" Mark suddenly shouted.

"What about Nanjo? I don't think he's ready to leave that spot anytime soon." I glanced to where he's kneeling by his butler. As if he knew we were talking about him, he spoke without turning around, "I'm not going….I'm staying with Yamaoka"

"Nanjo…I think it's a shame about what happened to the old man but you can't stay by him…" but before Mark finished he was cut off.

"Be quiet!" Nanjo yelled "I know that already without having you tell me! But I want to stay with him"

"But…"

"Shut up!" he then added "If all of you are going to go, then go. Just leave me alone." Mark suddenly started to get mad and just starting yelling at him but when he noticed Nanjo still not moving he stopped.

"Fine. Let's just leave this guy and get going" he said marching towards the doors we came in moments ago.

"But Mark…"Yukino began but was cut off immediately.

"Come on, it's fine. He even said so."

"Wait" Naoya said.

"What" Mark angrily said.

"We can't just leave him here. What if those things come back, what then?" Naoya said.

"I-I know that! But that guy…!"

"At any rate, we'll bring him along even if by force." He said looking towards Nanjo. "Give me hand, Reina" Naoya started to walk to Nanjo, with me giving a mumbled sure before following him, while the other two just looked a tad shocked at his suggestion. When we reached him, Naoya stated a simple 'Let's go' before grabbing his arm while I followed his example and grabbed his other arm. Nanjo gave out a couple of protests while we dragged him to the open doorway.

We were soon walking through the many corridors of the warped hospital looking for anyone else or even a way out of the place.

"It's awfully quiet around here…." Yukino mumbled, probably freaked out that we haven't seen anyone or anything since earlier. I looked towards Nanjo; he hasn't put up a fight since a few minutes ago. I looked away when I heard Mark shouting to see if anyone is there. He soon got yelled at by Yukino saying how much of an idiot he was, which I totally agree on.

"You two can let go of me now…I won't run away." Nanjo said from in-between me and Naoya. I looked towards Naoya to make sure I should let go and when I got the signal, I released my grip from his arm at the same time as Naoya.

"Thanks"

But we soon stopped walking when we heard a low groaning and shuffled footsteps coming from around the corner of the hallway. All of us slowly walked over and peeked around the corner to see more of those things just roaming around.

"Shit…there's more of them" Mark muttered.

"Think we can slip pass by them somehow without them knowing?" I asked everyone.

"Probably not but if we summon ours personas again we could take them out" said Nanjo.

"But how, I don't even know how I did the first time? It just came to me." questioned Yukino. No one answered her question when Naoya jumped out from where were we were hiding and stood in the direct line of vision of those things. Wind started to form as an image of a man (which I could guess was his persona) appeared behind him and soon a blast of wind went towards the zombies, eliminating them in the process. Now that they were gone, Naoya turned around with I could guess a cocky grin and said

"All you have to do is think of what you want it to do and the persona follows your command. It's simple once you get your head around it."

"Simple my ass…"Mark mumbled.

After a while we got used to using our personas to fight the zombies along with these other weird things that I've no idea what they are. Some of them even look like freaking fairies! Eventually after wondering around the corridors and looking thru various empty rooms we found one occupied by a doctor along with a couple nurses. Nanjo went up to the doctor and started to ask him a few questions. I, on the other hand, decided to look out the window of the room since we hadn't really had the chance to do so earlier. When I looked out the window all I saw was a strange haze that seems to be covering the town. I was really starting to think we landed in some horror movie, you know being in a hospital with monsters crawling around trying to kill us. But before I could go any deeper into my thought, someone called out my name which turned out to be Yukino seeing how we were going to go out to the hallways again.

"So what did the doctor say?" I asked once we were out of the room.

"Weren't you paying attention earlier?" seeing how my face looked a tad confused, Nanjo sighed as he continued speaking "He said that he was the one who was operating on Maki when the shaking started and that he and the other staff that was in the room were transported to that room that we found them in."

"I see…so you think she still in there?"

"Personally, I don't know what to think anymore." He sighed before asking me "What were you doing by the windows anyway?"

"Hmm…just looking to see what the outside looked like. And let me tell you, it's like the whole town is covered in this weird haze"

"Peculiar…" he mumbled, as he seemed to be thinking about the odd events that are happening around us. Since I think he was done talking with me, I went to the front of the group where Naoya was taking lead.

"This place is messed up!" Mark complained, referring to our going up to the third floor then back down to the first floor via a different set of stairs just to find the exit in this warped hospital.

"Calm down, Mark." I said. I looked at the door as Yukino began to open it with the others following behind.

"Hopefully this door will lead us outside cuz personally I'm tired of this place."I thought. Once we were inside the room, we noticed it was the reception area we were in earlier when we first entered the hospital.

"Naoya! This one's still alive! Gimme a hand here!" Yukino shouted. I looked over to where Yukino was kneeling near a collapsed vending machine that trapped a nurse underneath it. Naoya was beginning to head over to where Yukino was, when we suddenly started to hear a loud moaning noise coming from the hall we just vacated.

"Yo, Naoya! I think the monsters are just around the corner!" Mark yelled, peeking into the hallway to confirm if they are.

"We haven't time to waste here, Naoya! It's too late for her, but not for us!"Nanjo said heading towards the exit.

"We can't just leave her here!" I yelled to Nanjo.

"D-don't worry about me, kids. Leave b-before they get here." The nurse said in a strained voice.

"We aren't leaving. Yukino, take that side and help me lift it." Naoya said walking over to the machine and grabbing the edge of it.

"It's no good! They're coming!" Mark panicked when a few of them burst into the room stopping Yukino and Naoya before they even started. Soon everyone gathered around the enemies and were about to fight, when all of a sudden a feminine voice was heard from behind us.

"Oh, good day!" she spoke "Oh my! There are demons here too?" she questioned as if it was perfectly normal to see these things everywhere.

"That's what these things are?" I said as I turned around to find Eriko standing there with a rapier in hand.

"Eriko, stay back!" Nanjo shouted when he noticed that she was walking closer to the zombie demons.

"No worries! I may not look it, but I'm a rather capable fencer" she smiled.

"Eriko! This is no ordinary enemy!" Yukino warned her.

Elly ignored her warning and went to the front of the group. One of the demons noticed the new prey and went for the attack against the pony-tailed girl. She easily dodged the attack only to reciprocate with a well placed thrust of her rapier. It backed away slightly wounded from the girl's attack, when all of a sudden Elly started to glow just like how we do when we start to summon our personas. Soon it emerged and out came a woman with wings that let out a powerful attack the wiped out the enemies before us.

"Was that Nike? The Greek goddess of victory…." She started to ponder while the rest of us just look at her in shock "It's me…and I'm it…."

Yukino snapped out of it sooner than the rest of us when she said, "Eriko? Hey! Are you okay?"

Seeming not to have heard her Elly continued with her mumbling, "Nike…The archetypal portrayal of Christian angels…It's me…and I'm it…"

"No good, she's completely gone." Mark stated after waving his hand in front of her face.

"Elly! Snap out of it!"I said going over to her and shook her a bit. Her eyes soon widened and let out a gasp, snapping out of whatever trance she was in.

"I-I'm sorry…I'm all right." She said reassuring the rest of us. Eriko soon started to smile saying, "I am an angelic bringer of victory! From now on, you have my protection!"

Mark just looked at her funny before saying, "You idiot…We can do it too."

She sweat dropped a little before saying, "R-really..? So I'm not the only one who was chosen…"

"Eriko…" Nanjo began, walking towards her a bit, "You dreamt of the butterfly, didn't you?"

"How do you know about that?" she asked. "I've seen it quite often in my dreams…Ever since I played the Persona game."

Taking the information in stride Nanjo said after confirming something in his head, "Just as I thought. That dream must be the cause of the phenomenon…"

"That aside…why'd you come here of all places? Is it like this outside too?" Mark asked.

"Yes…there are demons everywhere. Also it's impossible to leave town…like there's some kind of barrier around the city." She informed before continuing, "I also looked around everywhere, but it seems that the school is the only safe place"

"Oh? The school's safe?" Naoya mumbled before saying, "We should head towards the school as quick as possible."

"Oh, but before I forget! We should go to the shrine first."

"Why would we go there?"Nanjo questioned.

"Maki's mother is hurt. I found her collapsed there…"

"What! Dude, why didn't you say so before!" he said before rushing out the door.

"Wha? Hey, you shouldn't run off considering that demons are running around!" Yukino yelled.

"Sigh…let's save Maki's mom and make a run for the school." Naoya said before rushing after Mark to stop him from getting to far ahead.

"Well I guess that's that. Elly, is the shrine far from the school?" I asked as Nanjo and Yukino exited the hospital.

"The shrine isn't far from the school. So we should have no problems along the way." She said.

"That's good. So let's head out" I smiled before I left as well not knowing what trials that lay before us….


End file.

Persona Series, Adventure, Romance