Persona 4 FYL

It was impossible not to look up at the wide, dark Rift as the team exited Naoto's car. The rip in the fabric of reality was widening much more rapidly than the one in the TV World, and they actually noticed bits of the world fragment from the edges and tumble into the abyss from their position at the bottom of the familiar hill. Looking up, the group noticed that the leaves, painted with autumn colors, had been ripped away from the cherry trees, giving the area the wasteland appearance so similar to the deteriorated landscape they had left behind. The school gate further ahead was torn to shreds, and the main Yasogami school building appeared split down the middle, bits of masonry and metal collapsing under the Rift's constant influence.

"Okay..." murmured Yosuke in disgust. "No one messes up my old school and gets away with it."

"Geez, it's like someone bombed the place," noted Chie, pain crossing her face. "Like those old war pictures, you know?"

"Damn," croaked Kanji, rubbing his throat. "I can hardly breathe here. Like this thing's suckin' up all the air."

Teddie moved closer to Souji, his brilliant blue eyes peering up at the Rift in worry. "That guy is up there, right Sensei?"

"Who?" asked Naoto in confusion.

"...Okuguro," replied Souji in a soft voice.

"What?!" Naoto grabbed Souji by his shirt, her eyes wide with horror and shock. "That's not possible! He'd dead! I saw him die!"

"Naoto-kun, please calm down," pleaded Yukiko, moving over to the sleuth and placing her hands on her shoulders. "What are you talking about?"

"Wait! That Okuguro?!" cried Rise, recognition dawning on her. "The one from your Grampa's last case?"

"...Yes. That's him." Naoto leaned against Souji, sighing as the silverette wrapped her in a warm embrace. Her anger and tension fled her heart almost instantly. I feel his heartbeat... It's soothing. He's here. He's really here with me. I...

"I remember now," said Chie, her face contorted as she recalled the incident. "The report said that Okuguro and..." She hesitated, glancing at Naoto and deciding not to mention Misanori. "Well, they were supposedly incinerated, because no bodies were ever found."

"I see..." Souji remembered his last conversation with Hotei, but didn't wish to mention any of the information to Naoto. The last thing she needs now is another distraction. It may seem cruel... but I need to help her keep her focus.

"It seems you were correct," said the sleuth softly, looking up at Souji and sighing deeply. "This does indeed seem to be my test. My past has returned to haunt me in earnest."

"We're all here for you, Naoto," whispered Souji into her ear as he gave her a quick, affectionate squeeze.

"I know, and... I'm truly grateful." Naoto gazed into the silverette's eyes, her own silver-blue orbs shining with renewed confidence and happiness. "It gives me strength. Thank you..."

"I found him," announced Rise. She had summoned Himiko yet again, the circlet concealing her eyes as she scanned the area. "A really strong power is up ahead, just through the gate."

"Well, I guess it's now or never, right?" asked Yosuke as the idol banished her Persona. "Lets go fix our home, partner," he added, giving his old friend a wink.

"Yeah, lets kick some ass," said Kanji, punching his hand with enthusiasm.

"Wait."

Everyone turned to look at Souji, the unexpected request taking them by surprise.

"What is it, Souji-kun?" asked Rise.

"I..." Souji considered his idea for a brief moment, but decided to act upon it. "I think we should perform the cheer."

No one spoke. Chie blushed abruptly, the first to realize what Souji had meant: the cheer they had performed five years ago after they had defeated Ama-no-Sagiri, the God of the Fog. She had been the one to suggest it, after all.

"R-Really??" Chie looked down at her feet, clearly embarrassed. "Like... right now??"

"Is it honestly the best time, though?" piped in Yukiko. "We don't really have any to waste."

"I think it's a great idea."

Out of everyone who may have supported such an idea, no one had expected Naoto to speak, much less show approval. The detective blushed furiously, looking away from the group's collective gawk.

"You're... joking, right?" asked Rise, looking almost frightened.

"Of course not," replied Naoto, slightly irritated at the show of stark disbelief. "This isn't like the last time. I... I think we should do it properly. For luck."

Luck… Souji grinned inwardly. "Fortune" would hopefully be on their side this time, too.

"Ah, hell, why not?" Kanji chuckled softly, moving forward to stand closer to Yukiko. "For old times' sake, yeah?"

"Well, when you put it that way," said Yosuke with a widening grin, extending right hand into the forming circle of friends, "I can't really say no."

"It still feels so weird to do this now, though," remarked Chie, placing her hand on Yosuke's and causing them both to blush. Yukiko's hand followed quickly, and Kanji placed his own large hand on top of her smaller one. Both exchanged fond smiles, blushes lightly dusting their cheeks.

"It's not weird at all!" Rise giggled as she clasped Kanji's hand, using her free hand to direct Teddie's palm to hers. "I'm with my best friends! How can it not be right?"

Souji and Naoto placed their own hands in the circle last, the detective closing her eyes and sighing contentedly as she felt not only Souji's warmth, but the warmth of every single one of her friends.

"Lets do our best, guys!" yelled Teddie with a grin, and everyone let out a loud whoop as they threw their joined hands into the air.

Souji Seta knew he had finally, truly, returned home.

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The group ran up the hill as quickly as possible, passing through the ruined gates into the courtyard. They stopped as they noticed a lone figure standing at the edge of the cracked pavement next to the Rift, right in front of where the school’s front doors once stood.

The man was tall, thin, almost emaciated, with long hair the color of rough stone receding from his scalp. His garb was that of a priest, a kimono which may have once been magnificent. Yet age and fate had not been kind to the garment, the royal purples faded and dulled, the bright whites darkened, stained, and frayed. In his seemingly frail hands he held a sheathed katana, the scabbard tinted a bloody vermillion. Lightning erupted from the widening Rift, illuminating the ruined area at random intervals, casting the thin man’s shadow around like a malevolent spirit.

“It’s him,” confirmed Naoto, moving closer to Souji out of instinct.

“So that’s Okuguro,” muttered Souji, more to himself than Naoto. I can feel his malice… or is it something else?

“Let’s go kick his scrawny ass,” growled Kanji, itching to finally battle the source of their problems.

“Be careful, guys,” said Teddie in a trembling voice. “I have a beary bad feeling about this…”

The group cautiously approached the lone man, the wind causing their clothes to flutter around them. They halted when Okuguro turned his head toward them, a thin, beady eye focusing upon them with single-minded intensity. His gaze fell on Naoto, and a haughty grin crossed his pale, thin lips.

“I’ve been expecting you, Shirogane,” said Okuguro in a surprisingly deep voice, amusement rife within his gaze.

“You…” Naoto felt rage burn inside of her, but she swallowed hard as she forced herself to remain calm. “How can you still be alive?”

“The path of the gods grants many favors to those who tread upon it,” replied Okuguro with a chuckle. “It merely took a little longer to obtain this particular gift thanks to that meddlesome old cretin.”

“Don’t you dare!” shouted Rise, her own temper rising. “Don’t you even dare talk about her Grampa like that, you jerk!”

“My my, what a lively bunch you’ve brought with you,” commented Okuguro, turning to face them with a cold gaze. “I never expected you to be the type of person who has… friends.”

Naoto smiled, feeling Souji next to her, elated at Rise’s defense. “You’ll find I’m also full of surprises, Okuguro-san.”

“It matters little,” continued Okuguro, shaking his head. “My time has finally come, and all of you shall bear witness to my ascension. I shall be carried into the heavens as the new Ama-no-Kagaseo, and no one, nothing, can stop me now.”

“The what…?” Yukiko blinked in dull shock.

Souji watched his friend silently, realizing she was trying to make a connection to something. As I expected… the Kagaseo’s linked to something else... but she can’t remember either. He turned back to Okuguro, who was sneering at them in apparent triumph.

“It won’t work,” said Souji confidently, and he felt a small twinge of satisfaction as he watched Okuguro’s confidence falter. “You have no idea what you’re doing.”

“…Oh, I understand much better than you think!” Okuguro replied haughtily, laughing off the show of weakness he had displayed.

“But,” interjected Yukiko, trying to talk out her confusion, “the Ama-no-Kagaseo—“

“—will be my title! My mantle!” Okuguro snarled, his hand grasping the handle of his sheathed katana. “Mine, and not yours! I shall not allow you to steal the very prize I’ve sought my entire life! I shall not be stopped by anyone, not even the so-called ‘Anomaly’ or the protégé of the Misanori Shirogane!”

“He’s gone bye-bye,” said Yosuke, rolling his eyes. “I don’t think he’s gonna surrender.”

“Obviously,” agreed Naoto, drawing her revolver from its holster. “It seems we have no choice but to fight, not that I didn’t expect it to come to this.”

“Bring it on, then!” yelled Kanji, hefting his plate in his hands. “I’ve been dyin’ to get my hands on this sunofabitch and give him what’s comin’ to ‘im!”

“Yeah. I’m already sick of his mouth,” said Chie, stretching her legs. “I think he needs someone to help him keep it shut!”

“You… fools,” hissed Okuguro, drawing his blade from its sheath. “All of you! You would do battle against a god?!”

“We’ve fought gods before!” yelled Teddie, readying his large claws.

Souji tightened his own grip on his blade, staring down his opponent.

“…and you’re no god.”

The thin man began to laugh as Souji ran forward, raising his blade to block the silverette’s strike. The blade was deflected, and every subsequent attack was diverted, Okuguro’s blade almost a blur in Souji’s vision.

Damn, he’s good… Souji twisted on the spot, bringing his blade up from below. Okuguro deflected the blade again, but too late to stop it from nicking his leg, the dull white cloth blossoming with a crimson flower.

“Not bad, Seta,” hissed the priest, suddenly rising into the air. Souji blinked in surprise as Okuguro chanted a spell, and the thin man’s body suddenly sprouted a doppelganger, complete with his own sword. “But my powers are that of a god! I shall not lose to you!”

Two..?? Souji growled as the pair of Okuguros landed lightly on the ground, both charging straight at him and assaulted him with a flurry of strikes. Parrying the attacks, Souji noticed Yosuke and Kanji out of the corner of his eye move next to him, the doppelgangers dropping their offensive.

“Hey, you don’t have to do everything yourself, you know!” chastised Yosuke, but he gave Souji a wink anyway. Kanji slammed his plate into the cracked pavement as his Okuguro leaped backward to avoid it, and Chie thrust her booted foot into the copy’s head with a loud crack, having approached after the other two. The Okuguro that had been kicked collapsed to the ground, disintegrating in a foul, black mist.

“It… seems I need more…” hissed the Okuguro near Yosuke and Souji, rising again into the air, shimmering with shadows as his body split again, this time into four.

“Not good!” cried Yosuke, summoning Susano-O and sending a massive surge of wind into the new doppelgangers, spinning them in the air and sending them crashing into the ground. However, the Okuguros jumped quickly to their feet and charged him in response, forcing him to backpedal toward the Rift.

Souji cursed under his breath as he saw the enemy’s strategy, summoning Izanagi and casting a blast of fire in their direction, forcing them to disperse. Yukiko joined Kanji and took one of the Okuguros while Rise and Teddie converged on another. Chie ran to Yosuke’s side for a strong double-team as Naoto fired an accurate shot that knocked the blade from the hand of the Okuguro besieging Souji.

“Insolence!” snarled all four priests in unison, wearing the same irritated scowl.

“What are we gonna do, Sensei?” asked Teddie, blocking a katana strike with his metal claw. “I don’t smell the real one!”

Think..! Souji tried to bring his blade down upon his Okuguro’s shoulder, but missed as the thin man slid along the ground and retrieved his blade. How can I tell the real one apart from the others?!

“…Help me…!”

Souji blinked, turning as he saw Naoto summoning a Persona that looked very much like his own, except without the spear in its hand… and obviously female. Izanami held up both of her bandaged hands, a surge of godly power crackling from her fingertips, slamming hard into all four Okuguros while avoiding the rest of the team. Three of the copies vanished in a blinding flash, but the fourth, the one near Souji and Naoto, flew through the air and slammed into one of the few remaining walls of the school, collapsing in a heap at its base as the cement collapsed back into the Rift.

“Im… possible…” rasped Okuguro, coughing up blood. “Tha… that was…”

“Was that who I think it was?” asked Souji in amazement.

Naoto took immense pride in giving the silverette a shock for a change. “It’s a long story. I’ll tell you once we finish—“

“Finish? FINISH?!” Okuguro howled at Naoto, dementia reflected in his eyes, now wide and bloodshot. “I will never surrender to the likes of you – mere children!”

“Yes, well…” Naoto took a step forward as the rest of the group converged together. “…we children have defeated you fairly. I suggest you reseal this Rift before and come quietly with us.”

Okuguro laughed, low and vile, his face contorted in a mixture of pain and vindictive triumph. “Defeated…? No, I still have one trump card left, Shirogane. My wisdom still surpasses your own, just as it surpassed your grandfather’s, and I shall demonstrate my supreme power to you now!!”

Standing shakily, the priest raised his hands up toward the blackened sky, laughter bubbling in his throat. The darkness solidified and swirled above him, and from the depths of nothingness sprung forth a familiar, cloaked creature that hovered in midair. The team took a step back, staring in shock at a foe that was quite familiar to their sight.

“Wait, that thing’s his Persona?!” yelled Kanji, eyes wide.

“…No. Something’s not right,” said Teddie with a whimper.

“I don’t believe this! I didn’t think we would—Yukiko?” Chie turned to peer at her dear friend, who seemed to watch the Fear entity with a much more curious gaze than the brunette believed it warranted. “Hey, wake up! Are you okay?”

“Hm?” Yukiko turned to Chie, and nodded slowly. “Oh, I’m fine. It’s just that… the name ‘Kagaseo’… I’ve heard it before, but I can’t seem to remember…”

“Behold your death! Behold the harbinger of my glory!!” Okuguro screamed, making Yukiko jump and bringing her attention back to the situation at hand. “This being, my right hand, shall send you all to the depths of oblivion! Now… annihilate them!!”

The team prepared for the cloaked menace to attack. A few seconds passed. Ten seconds. Twenty seconds. An air of awkwardness soon fell upon the gathering, and Okuguro looked up slowly at that which he summoned in stark confusion, madness obvious within his eyes and voice.

“Wha-What’s the matter with you?!” he shouted, his voice shaking with rage. “I said destroy them! Tear them to pieces!”

“I gotta agree with Teddie this time,” said Yosuke, looking increasingly nervous. “I don’t like this at all!”

“…You should have listened to the boy.”

Everyone gasped as the hollow voice emerged from Fear’s masked, featureless face. They had become so accustomed to his usual annunciation that the change came as a shock to them. Okuguro was also shocked, but for very different reasons.

“You dare to defy me?! Me?! Your master?!” Okuguro shook bodily, his rage palpable as his voice rose in pitch.

“I, uh… don’t think that’s his Persona, guys,” said Rise with a shiver. “I can sense a separate power from it… not like ours. Our Personas are extensions of ourselves, and this… isn’t something from him!”

“You seem to have formed the belief that you are superior to me,” whispered Fear in a clear voice that rose above the rushing winds. “Yet like so many others that came before you, you are sadly mistaken.”

“Don’t talk back to me!!” roared Okuguro, stepping forward and shaking his fist. “I said kill them! Do it now, or I’ll—“

“I tire of this facade,” interrupted Fear without emotion. “Your presence… is no longer required.”

Okuguro blinked, his rage interrupted by the dark creature’s words. “..What?”

“Do you see it now?” asked the entity without pity. “The answer you have sought for so long? The end of the long road you have travelled?”

Okuguro took a step back, his frail body now shivering out of fear instead of anger. “No! You betrayed me!!”

“You did not expect this? If that is the case, then you truly are an ignorant fool. You have outlived your usefulness, and I have no use for obsolete pawns who consider themselves players.”

“No! No!!” Okuguro fell to his knees, clasping his hands in penitence. “Please, no! I’m supposed to ascend! I’m supposed to become a god!!”

“Then ascend…” hissed Fear, extending a hand beneath its billowing cloak, pointing it at the fallen priest. “Ascend… into oblivion.”

Okuguro let out a piercing scream, his thin hands clutching at his head. His beady eyes bulged wide as a black mist seeped from between his eyelids, out of his nose, escaping through his open mouth. His kimono expanded and fluttered as the black mist surged out of his sleeves, through seams, and out of his collar. The scream rose transformed into a wail, his face rotting away much like the Rift decomposed reality. There was no blood, no internal organs, no gore as even the cloth began to break apart. Akio Okuguro then shattered in a haze of darkness, the broken remnants blown into the Rift. No trace of his existence remained.

“Is it… wrong to pity him?” whispered Naoto unexpectedly, slipping an arm around Souji’s and appearing on the verge of tears.

Souji shook his head. “No. It means you’re a more compassionate person in spite of the wrongs he committed against you.”

“…I hope so…” Naoto sighed deeply, turning toward the Rift… toward Fear. “…But it seems we aren’t finished yet.”

The rest of the team gathered around Souji and Naoto and beheld their true enemy, its sightless eyes fixed upon them, black cloak billowing around it like the visage of the grim reaper, radiating the power of the unknown.