Persona: Darkest Hour (Private Roleplay)

[Introverted Insanity]

Takuto sat at a couple's table and leaned against the glass a bit while his right hand tapped against the cloth-covered wooden table. He'd already ordered his drink and sat patiently for either the waitress or Yuki to arrive as he suddenly sat up straight when the latter appeared and sat across from him. Glancing up from the table, he listened to her speaking for a while as she asked him to explain why he'd asked her to meet him here and he seemed to think deeply for a second, trying to figure out what he was going to say. He was considering opening off with a smug remark, but he decided against it as he took out his cell phone and placed it in the center of the table with a light sigh.

"Well, I called here to ask you to be my girlfriend, but I think there's a more pressing matter at hand. Of course you know, I must break the tension with one of my remarks, but...this is serious. For the past couple of weeks, I've been having weird dreams and receiving strange messages..."

He suddenly flipped open his phone to reveal a txt message he'd received in school with the large card and the message. He showed it to her just as the waitress brought him his cup and he leaned back and thanked her with a low tone before looking over to Yuki while he took a sip of his drink. He wanted to see what her reaction would be to the situation at first and then he'd continue as far as what he thought based on his latest episode just before classes ended. He found himself anxiously tapping his fingers again as he leaned against the window and peered out into the rest of the mall as other teenagers moved about without a single thought on their mind. He wished he was in their shoes instead of having some creepy stuff going on with his head...  

[Akira.S]

Waving to call the waitress over, she ordered an exotic looking coffee and a couple of classic cream puffs, placing the menu back in it's proper spot while playing with her phone in her lap. It seemed to take Takuto a moment to properly answer her as to why he asked her to meet him and he opened up with a lame 'I want you to be my girlfriend' question. It was a smart remark and Yuki knew it right away but something about his tone seemed off other than the fact he became serious very quickly. Despite that fact she listened as he presented his facts while staying absolutely quiet. Even during the time the waitress came back with her drink and cream puffs leaving the two in silence for a moment.

"And you only felt like telling me this...after you saw me have one of my episodes. I had told you what was wrong with me and you wait until two weeks later to tell me you've been having the same problem?"

Yuki wasn't really amused by this, sipping her coffee, putting the cup back down on the table. This was a serious matter though, it seemed that he had received a strange text message with a large card within it. Almost like her Velvet Door text message. After considering the two strange events, she pulled up her phone from her lap and placed it on the table to face him, opening the text message with the strange Velvet Door attachment.

"I've still been having these dreams. They're becoming more and more elaborate the longer I stay awake, always showing me the same few images. I received this message the first day of class - the night you took me home and I've been wondering what to really do with it...."

She didn't tell him she was tempted more than once to open the message after thinking it might have been spam or it might have been a virus trying to infect her phone, however both of them having these dreams wasn't a coninscidence at all. There was no way it could have been, regardless if they were having strange dreams in their sleep and getting weird text messages, it didn't seem to be happening to anyone else...and it seemed logical to share the information.

"What....do you see in your dreams?"  

[Introverted Insanity]

As the platinum haired boy looked to Yuki as she began talking, he looked down at her first statements and seemed to let out a sigh. His dark eyes focusing on Yuki as he looked at the text message on her phone as she showed it to him. He seemed to remain silent for a time, his head rocking back and forth barely before he stopped and opened his hand to examine his own palm.

"I dream of shadows...living shadows that want to hurt me. I've seen that door...in my dreams, and every time I run towards it, the shadows get stronger. But I had a dream today....where this card appeared and it told me it was the strength to overcome obstacles. So I ran to it...it's like the closer I got to it I got this feeling inside me like something was growing, getting stronger. But I woke up just before I reached the card...I don't know what to do...the dreams were never that vivid before. It was just a nuisance up until this latest dream and now I'm beginning to wonder what's really happening...the door and the card go hand in hand...I got the txt with the card and you got the txt with the door."

He trailed off after a bit and seemed to go into deep thought once more, he didn't take a single sip of his drink beyond that first one as he seemed utterly flustered. Closing his eyes, he took hold of his phone and closed it with a distressed sigh while running his hand through his hair and resting his head on the table with a groan.  

[Akira.S]

Throughout his story, Yuki said calmly and quietly, drinking her coffee and having her cakes to keep herself calm and relaxed, despite the fact her insides were trembling at the similarities and the differences between their dreams. But he was right about one thing. Their dreams weren't just a coninscidence...the fact that he had been dreaming and she had been sent a door that he had also seen in his dreams wasn't just a random phenomenon.

After putting down her cup, she put her elbows on the table and crossed her fingers together, resting her chin above them while closing her eyes. The two seemed to be in deep thought, wondering what they should do, whether they were crazy and if they were going to do something what would it be? It didn't really seem like anyone else was having these sort of dreams and she couldn't really remember anything that could link the two and two together. One thing was for certain at least she wasn't in this alone. It would have made a big difference if she was doing this alone, instead of someone like Takuto, at least she was familiar with. It was sort of sad though how one of their smart remarks would have broken the tension but this really wasn't the moment.....even though it would have been nice.

Yuki could tell he was stressed, as was she. Maybe he wasn't sleeping as much, just as she wasn't since the last two weeks of summer vacation. Thinking about it another moment with her eyes closed she sigh before opening her eyes and sitting back to explain her side of the story.

"Like you I see shadows..." she began softly. "As I'm running through a strange tunnel like room. I'm always in this tunnel running from shadows that chase me time and time again...even as a dream I'm usually able to control them...After dreaming for so long I feel....physically aware that I'm dreaming and I'm usually able to create things in the dream to my advantage. Give myself some sort of weapon, or summon a moster to protect me, but I found in this dream nothing happened. I'm constantly running until I reach a dead end...and the shadows surround me and are about to attack me. Time and time again just before they get me this bigger shadow appears over me. It's cold...and yet so warm. It's so familiar and yet such a stranger to me. By this point I'm already beginning to wake up and everytime I see the figure I see a smiling mask and a sword..."

She shuttered just thinking about the strange shadow like creature looming over her body but still felt a sense of familiarity from it, which is where she obtained the warmth. Going silent again, she looked down at her drink that was practically empty, with her arms folded on her lap. She felt sort of releaved that she had told someone but at the same time felt like they were just back at square one, not sure what they should be doing with each other's information.

Too stressed and unsure, Yuki's movement suddenly became rash as she reached for the phone and reactivated the text.
"I'm going to open it...." she said softly so only he could hear, her head looming down towards her phone, her eyes hidden by her brown bangs.  

[Introverted Insanity]

His fingers twitched as they wrapped around the cup and he finally downed the remainder of his beverage. Setting the cup back down, he listened intently to her story as she began to speak, this being the first real situation where they opened up to each other about anything really. For some reason, he felt a bit closer to her for this and as he did so, a churning sensation could be felt within him but he pushed it aside in share of retaining his solemn expression.

"I see...be careful, Yuki-san..."

He wasn't exactly sure how she could be careful opening a text message attachment, but for some odd reason his hand touched hers lightly for reassurance. It wasn't like a romantic hand hold, it was more like the digits of his index and middle finger touched against hers as he leaned forward a bit to get a slanted view of what would appear on the screen. Whatever would happen, he couldn't think of anything else to do other than to take that leap and hope some questions were answered, but they had no way of knowing for sure without taking that risk.  

[Akira.S]

Almost jumping at his touch, she looked at his hand, his fingers just barely touching hers as he leaned forward to see if anything would happen...her thumb just about ready to push the select button when she stopped and looked up at him, as an idea struck.

"You open yours too." she instructed motioning to his phone, remembering what he had said. "There has to be a reason you have the card and and I have the door." she motioned while waiting for him to take out his phone and reopen the message, ready to open both their attachments at the same time.

She felt sort of odd, like a child as if something was going to happen. They were in the real world, nothing was supposed to happen. Images were just supposed to appear on an a screen. It wasn't like they were going to be teleported anywhere...why the worry...why the head rush? To her it just made more sense for them to open their messages at the same time, after figuring out this wasn't just a coinscidence. It was strange he told her to worry, which was why she was thinking nonsense but still...something about this entire thing just felt odd, so of course she'd think something would happen.

"On the count of three. One...Two...Three."  

[Introverted Insanity]

Raising an eyebrow to her statement, he drew his cell phone and opened it to the message as she said and looked to her. His fingers still touched hers for some reason as he moved his thumb to the select button to open his own attachment. He could feel his pulse quicken with every passing moment as his thumb came to rest atop the button without pressing it quite yet.

Looking up at her as she began counting to three, he felt every one of his anxieties towards what would possibly occur come to an all time high as she uttered the final number. Hitting the select button on his phone, at first nothing occurred, as he looked around the cafe for a moment and half-expected the whole world to end. But nothing did end, the waitresses continued making their rounds from table to table and the other teenagers began to chat with one another. It was as if the whole thing was nothing but a big prank after all, as Takuto let out a groan of relief and aggravation.

But as he went to look out the window of the cafe, something disturbing caught his attention as he turned. When he peered at the reflective surface of the glass, there was nothing odd going on within the rest of the mall, but what shocked him most was that there was some type of...creature standing behind him in his reflection. Twisting around quickly, he expected to see someone there, but there was no one anywhere within the building that looked like that and upon looking again he noticed it stood there still.

"What the hell is that?!"

He exclaimed before cringing and turning to expect a large crowd staring at him...but there was no one now. There was a long tunnel extending to a velvet door as the glass dissappeared and the table vanished, leaving Takuto and Yuki standing at the entrance to the tunnel with the creature that stood before Takuto to spread its wings. Taking a step away from it, the male couldn't help but feel aprehensive about this situation, but at the same time he knew he'd asked for this by clicking that attachment in a way. The creature, monstrously angelic in appearance, seemed to speak to him in a booming voice as its voice echoed through his mind as it rose its arms to point down the tunnel.

"Takuto, I have emerged from the sea of thy soul to give you the power to endure your coming crucible. I am the power to overcome the advent obstacles that will surely litter your path, for thou art I and I am thou. From the sea of thy soul I come forth to bring eternal peace to your enemies and aid you in protecting that which you hold dear; I am Siegfried, the Arc Paladin of Fortinbras!"

As Takuto was forced to listen to that booming voice, he couldn't help but clench his skull at how loud it seemed. Turning around to face the tunnel, he felt a sense of foreboding simply by looking in the direction of the long path leading up to the door. Looking over to Yuki, he took in a deep breath before turning to the creature that stood behind him as it vanished and a stream of light seemed to pour into him. Looking at himself for a second, he felt that strange feeling inside him once more that made him feel as if another entity was within him now as he opened his palm, a card formed along with a key with the words 'Velvet Room' written on it.

"I guess...this is what we get for wanting an answer...all we can do is push forward at this point...you ready? We should stick close to one another..."

He spoke as he held out his free hand to her as he put the card and key in his pocket. He could feel a breeze coming from the tunnel as if trying to suck them in as he had to squint his eyes a bit to continue seeing forward, his hair fluttering back. He could feel them lurking in the shadows, peering further into the shadows, he could see something squirming around in the darkness. He didn't even need to assume, he could tell what they were...their very presence made his whole body tense up as he took a side step towards Yuki "Those shadow things...they're here..."  

[Akira.S]

At the touch of a button she shut her eyes tight and waited a couple of seconds for everything to grow silent or for something to happen around them....but as she opened her eyes it seemed that nothing had changed around them. There were people in the cafe, her cup was still there and so was Takuto. In a sense she was sort of disappointed nothing had happened. Even looking out into the mall it seemed that nothing had changed. Everyone was going about their day as if it was nothing....nothing happened. The releaved and disappointed teenager sat back in her chair and sigh heavily, looking back at her cellphone text message, only to strange find the message was gone.

Eyes widening, she paniced and searched her phone for it but couldn't find it anywhere. As she searched her phone for the text, she saw a reflection in her screen....something standing behind her...looming with a smiling face. Slowly turning around to it, her eyes widened as she stood to the figure she had been seeing in her dreams..only this one was more real.

"W-What...are you....?" she asked nervously.

She turned back to ask Takuto if she saw anything, but just as she turned their table had disappeared, their cups had , all the people, the entire cafe and mall had morphed into some strange black tunnel just like in her dreams. At the end of the extremely long tunnel as well was a velvet coloured door that seemed to be calling for them. Her eyes still wide she looked back at the figure, still looming over her, white mask smiling, a strange black crown just floating over it's head, a white figure with human like figures, black fluff like feathers surrounding it's upper body and arms, with white long metal like gloves and a strange black and white metal dress with black metal knee high boots to add. It also had black wings coming out of it's mid back, which was keeping it up and a float above her.

Yuki had totally been zoned out and was barely paying attention to what was going on with Takuto and the tunnel, but instead was entranced by the strange creature as it floated towards her, extending it's arms to her small and fragile face. Standing perfectly still, she allowed the strange creature to cup her face within it's hands, feeling a somewhat warm and cold sensation run through her cheeks. She stared into the mask as it stared into her eyes a couple of moments before the creature released it's hold on her face and instead, embraced her - beginning to fuse into her body and leave nothing but a black trail of light seemed to pour into her and disappear. As the light finished seeping into her, she turned to Takuto and noticed a strange white glowing light was streaming into him and had just finished, her eyes still rather dazed and confused.

It took her a moment to realize what was going on, not totally feeling any different than what she had now...Turning to Takuto when she was finally more concious of their spacing she opened her hand to find a key with the words 'Velvet Room' on it and notice that he was holding the exact same key. Everything seemed to be coming together, everything seemed to be making sense: the dreams, the Velvet door, the strange creature she had been seeing....the only thing missing were those shadows...and the fact that Takuto had never once appeared in her dreams.

"It's still a decent walk to the door...I wonder what's behind it.."

Neither of the two had ever really reached the other side of the door in their dreams so basically it was the turning point to decide what was going to happen from now on. Deciding to press forward she put the key in her uniform coat pocket, a bit....cautious toward Takuto before taking his hand and holding it within hers. She'd never held his hand before ever; there was no need to....but strangely it felt warm to the cold breeze that seemed to be pulling them deeper and deeper into the dark abyssal tunnel.

As they pressed forward, Yuki could only keep her eyes on the door instead of searching the tunnel after feeling a strange set of eyes on her coming for a variety of different directions. Every so often she'd see something moving in the black, trying to stay brave while keeping a gentle hold on Takuto's hand. "Just ignore them and head towards the door...." she wasn't all too sure they'd go away, however she'd never seen the door in her dreams before..only the creature that was now seemingly inside her that, she assumed, defeated the shadows before she woke up.
Still holding his hand, she motioned him towards the door, keeping her eyes forward, cautioning every movement as to whether or not the shadows would attack as they walked towards the door.

"Not what you expected did you?" before he could answer, motioning to their hands which held each other, "I didn't think you were that worried about me Takuto-san." she remarked just trying to lighten the mood slightly after all this...strange phenomenons going on.  

[Introverted Insanity]

Each step felt heavier than the last, for some reason, Takuto felt a sense of malice being aimed at him with each step closer he took towards the door. He'd only ever floated in darkness, this tunnel was something new to him as he held onto Yuki's hand gently as if they were each other's lifeline. She may not have seen a meaning in it, and may even have thought that he'd done it simply to be closer to her, but he wasn't going to let go of her. It was this kind of situation that made him not want to be alone, he held onto Yuki's hand to tether one to the other in the event of one of several possible worst-case scenarios took place.

"Is it me...or does it feel like we're not getting any closer to that door...?"

He questioned in a retort to her comment as he stopped for a moment and seemed to look around at the stirring shadows that surrounded them both. Before he could make a comment about anything, though, he was lightly tugged at as Yuki kept moving forward and he continued along with her after but a nanosecond's hesitance. His dark eyes shifted in every direction, spanning every direction and angle within his peripheral vision to keep track of anything and everything he could at once.

Though they continued forward, they still didn't feel any closer to the door as a single step, Takuto felt a chill run up his spine and he felt his right leg lock up. Turning his head quickly to Yuki as he voice broke the silence between them, he could only manage a weak chuckle to her remark. He tightened his grip on her hand for a moment, signal for her to take pause as they came to a stop so that her massaged his leg for a few moments.

"Necessity brings forth latent expressions, I guess. This is a strange venture, a world we've only experienced in dreams...and this certainly is no dream, so we should stay close for the sake of strength in numbers. Tch--My leg's acting weird...something's wrong..."

He seemed to carry a foreboding tone in his voice at the utterance of those final words as he felt a jolt of electricity through his leg and leg out a yelp of pain. Quickly pulling up the pant sleeve of his uniform, a black marking seemed to be constricting his right leg as it tightened to send another jolt of electricity through his leg. Attempting to muffle his yelps proved more difficult than estimated as the male's leg was yanked back and Takuto was dragged away several feet, as he instinctively released Yuki's hand to save her from being pulled along.

From the ground, a limb protruded in an inky black that extended back into the shadows as a faint blue glow began to grow brighter and brighter until a mask came from the darkness. With a sorrowful expression, it extended from the wall, the boneless limb that still held firmly onto Takuto's leg seemed to link to the creature's invertebrate main body as it continued to form. With a pained wail of anguish, it towered above the teenagers at such a size that made it seem barely able to fit within the confines of the tunnel, but as that question seemed to arise, the tunnel itself began to expand to accommodate the being.

Lifting the platinum-haired teen off the ground by a single leg, Takuto writhed in pain and distress as he came face-to-mask with the being as it let out another anguished wail. Without much in terms of defense, the boy's body seemed to flail with rag doll physics, unable to keep his form due to the incredible force of the shadow's wail. All he could manage was to cover his ears with his palms enough to buffer the noise until it ceased its cry and fall limp once more, still held tightly within its grasp.

"Let go of me you freak!!! Can you hear me behind that ugly mask?! I said: LET ME GO!!! That was your last warning!"

Raising his right arm, he clutched his head tightly as he felt himself slowly begin to lose consciousness from all the blood rushing towards his head, as his eye lids began to close, he could hear the faint words of the creature that stood before him moments prior. "The power to overcome obstacles...I need that power now...please...I know you're there...come out...persona..." he thought to himself as he felt himself drifting into unconsciousness as the creature began to fling him around like a play thing. After only a few seconds of this, however, the platinum haired male's eyes shot open quickly and his fingers were pulled together as he sliced at the creature with a quick chopping motion.

It stopped flinging the boy for a moment, but then its grip on his leg weakened and he fell quickly towards the ground, landing on his hands and flipping backwards. As he slid back towards Yuki, it was obvious he wasn't in control of himself as his eyes still had the vacant expression of being unconscious, but his body moved all the same. Rising to his full height, he reached into his pocket and drew the card he'd stuffed into his pocket and brought it above his head as it began to emit a radiant glow before shattering into pieces.

"Thou art I and I am thou, from the sea of thy soul I come forth."

That familiar chant echoed through the tunnel as the hand which held the card above Takuto's head once moment now wielded a long katana with a golden blade. Upon his left shoulder, a pauldron took form and his left arm and right hand was covered in a light armor of the same energy that fluttered around him as a humanoid form took shape behind him. Beginning with the boots and gray pants, the shape began to grow larger, revealing a large coat which covered most of its form and a pair of white wings adorned its back. Finally, the head took shape as an avian-shaped mask took form over its facial features and a golden halo formed above its head. Finally reclaiming control of his own body, Takuto looked over his shoulder to see his persona standing behind him with arms folded solemnly over his chest and he felt a sense of invincibility for a time. He wouldn't waste this power, this thing wasn't an ally and it had to be destroyed, he could sense that much from the darkness that oozed from its flexibly grotesque form.

"The power to overcome obstacles...you seem like a pretty big obstacle to me. So I'll take it upon myself, with this power, to cut you down! Yuki, I'll handle this...go for the door!"  

[Akira.S]

The longer they walked, the farther the door seemed to be and with the door staying as far away as possible, Yuki felt a bit of nervousness and uncertainty about this strange place in comparison to her dreams. What was stopping her from approaching the door? Since the door had never been in her dreams she never really learned how to approach it, but with the door in Takuto's he should have known...so why the difference? She wanted to run forward and test out what was going on, but her hand was still intwined with Takuto's so there was no real point in trying now without voicing her opinion.

"It's not just you...I sort of felt it too..."

The door moving away seemed just plain odd, so she tried to ignore it while continuing to walk. Every now and then she'd look from the corner of her eye to Takuto, noticing his stern face as he answered her previous statement about being in an odd situation like this and the fact that they were holding each other's hands which had never been done before. The touch to the fingers was odd enough but this was just way too fast.

She kept her eyes on him as he spoke of their strenght in numbers...but she questioned what strenght they had with no weapons and no idea how to get those creatures back out of them as it happened in her dreams. As she was about to answer he stopped to fix the odd feeling in his leg. At the motion of his last word he let out a yelp of pain and pulled up his pants leg to see a black mark around his right leg, beginning to tighten and causing him another yelp of pain.

Yuki looked concerned as he tried to muffle his yelps; about to say something before he seemed to be dragged away several feet and forced to release her hand.

"Takuto-san!"

Following Takuto and the strange shadow creature down the tunnel, it seemed to morph into a much larger being as it looked like it would barely fit the tunnel size. Thinking that it couldn't get any bigger, it seemed the tunnel was morphing itself to accomodate the shadow holding Takuto by the leg, dangling him in the air. The shadow swung him around upside down, flailing him around until it began to screetch loudly, to the point where even she could hear it as well, covering her ears to block out the sound. The sound continued to resonate louder and louder, pushing her to the ground, almost as if her ears were going to explode...her eyes shut tightly to block out anything and everything in the tunnel.

After a few moments however the sound ceased and she felt a thump agains the floor. Opening her eyes, Yuki saw Takuto sliding back toward him with his eyes carrying a vacant expression of being unconsious, but his body moving all the same.

"Takuto-san..."

Her voice was now more worrisome than frightened for him as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a card he'd stuffed there earlier, raising it above his head as it began to emit a strange bright glow, then shattering to pieces as he chanted.

Takuto called that creature that had entered him a 'persona' strange way to call a creature since she had learned the meaning of persona to be a 'hidden self' or another side of a person that had yet to be discovered...something like a would-be-self sort of image. These creatures didn't seem to have anything with a person's would-be-self, especially hers...Regardless, the light began to form behind Takuto, creating a more humanoid persona than her own, wondering why hers was so different for a moment before focusing on the two of them. Yuki also wondered how she was going to summon her own persona, seeing as she didnt have a strange card or didn't seem to know any chant or way to summon it. As far as she was concerned hers didn't even talk....she just...instantly knew what it was trying to tell her by looking her in the eyes with it's white smiling mask.

Looking at his persona, he then turned to the shadow creature before calling out to her, instructing her to head for the door. They both knew how impossible it was to reach the door in that strange tunnel but at least now she was able to test her theory. Although she worried for his safety she imagined he could handle his own with his persona. Nodding in agreement she turned her back to the scene and fled as quickly as she could to the other end of the tunnel.

Once again it really didn't seem like she was going anywhere for a good amount of time, then it happened. The door finally seemed as if it was getting closer and Takuto seemed more distant and beginning to disappear into the darkness. Still looking back she turned towards the door and looked at it hesitantly before taking the strange velvet key and running the rest of the way. Sticking the key into the door she turned the knob and pushed the door open as a flash of light blinded her for a moment.  

[Introverted Insanity]

Looking back at her one more time, his attention focused on the creature at hand as it regained its composure and observed the male before it. Letting out a grunt, Takuto found himself speeding forward and leaping through the air, slashing at the creature with what force he could muster. His blade cut through the creature's arm, but not enough to cleave it completely off or anything cool as it seemed to try to repair itself, but before it could, his persona added to the damage by sliding forward and forming a blade out of one of its wings and drawing it from his back to completely slice the arm off. The beast let out a screech of agony as the blade his persona used was long enough to cleave away the arm and slice into its side with a deep gash and the shadow began to lean to the side in an asymmetrical form and the mask adjusted slightly.

"It won't go down...?!..."

Feeling a bit of a surge through his body, he thrust his sword forward to point at the shadow with a solemn expression, it felt as if what he did was reflected in his persona and his persona could lead him to learn new techniques. As he pointed his sword forward, the angelic male behind him did the same as a bolt of indigo lighting surged from his blade and struck the creature to send it flying back with great force. As it rolled around, still feeling the electrical current flowing through its form, it's like the name of that attack echoed in his head as a reference for the future.

Zio... that word echoing through his mind made an exciting tingle run up his spine as he positioned his blade and ran forward as the creature tried to get up. This whole time, he'd been guessing at what to hit, but it seemed more obvious now that he had time to react and the power to fight back against this beast. His dark eyes shimmering a bit with his insight as he curved a bit and placed a foot on the wall to launch him higher up and aimed for a cut across the shadow's mask. His blade came in full contact with the mask, but there wasn't enough power to do more than lodge the blade into the mask as Takuto slid forward and pointed his blade to the creature once more.

"ZIO!"

The angel that had followed closely behind him reeled his blade back and thrust forward, sending another zap of electricity through the dark form of the monster before its own blade collided with the mask and stabbed straight through, the wide blade completely cleaving the mask in half. As the mask fell to the ground, the main body of the creature seemed to dissolve and melt away before completely vanishing as Takuto went down on one knee before turning around and watching his persona and weapon vanish. Back to his normal self, he felt utter fatigue, but he had to make his way to the door as well, so he began to hobble his way forward, holding himself up by placing his hand against the wall of the tunnel. He didn't feel the same sense of foreboding he did before, so it seemed that shadow was the leader or the culmination of the darkness shrouding the tunnel at this time, so he made his way towards the door and entered.

As the door opened, he was engulfed by light and suddenly felt light as a feather as he found himself sitting on a couch within a room. Looking around hesitantly, he could see Yuki sitting on the opposite end of the couch as he let out a sigh of relief before looking forward to catch sight of a rather old-looking male with a younger assistant. The old man seemed to have an avian nose and grayed hair that balded at the top with his fingers intertwined and a disturbingly bemused expression across his face as his bulging eyes peered at the two high school students. Feeling a tad uncomfortable with the way the male peered at them, the assistant stood behind and to his right-hand side with an apathetic expression that seemed to crook upward into a slight smirk as she looked at Takuto, this child barely looked 12, but in this room she seemed to be perfectly in sync with the rest of the old decor.

Above the old man and his assistant was a rather large digital clock that seemed to be counting down in military time almost, but it seemed to be counting down towards something. But the oddest part was the rate at which it counted down, the numbering was erratic and not following in increasing or decreasing increments as he tilted his head to the side. The old man seemed to take this as his opportunity to speak as he placed his hands flat on the table and then removed them to reveal two cards, one with a skull and another with a king sitting on a thrown as the cards seemed to stand on their own.

"Welcome, young masters. I would like to take this time to welcome you to this place, the 'Velvet Room'. This is a realm that exists between the waking world and the dream world, and you are rare guests to this place indeed, so welcome once more. I am Igor, a guide of sorts that dwells within this room that exists outside of time itself; and this is my assistant, Lilim.

You have been summoned to this room for quite some time, I was beginning to wonder if you would ever come. But in the end, I knew you'd find your way here, as your destinies seem to be intertwined with that of this room. A power has awakened within each of you that will come to be a great aid to you in the coming days, very soon the world will be put in great peril and it is up to you to restore the balance. This is something only you can do."  

[Akira.S]

After the flash of white light had subsided, Yuki's eyes widened to a tall Velvet Room. None of this seemed real, but then again nothing from the past couple of weeks seemed real at all, so it was easy for her to take this in....to a certain degree. The moment she arrived she was seated on top of a velvet couch across from a table. There sat a strange old man and behind him a young looking girl. Both seemed rather strange looking - the man had a large pointed nose, gray white hair that was balded at the top and his fingers intertwined with each other as a constant grin sat on his face. The girl behind him was also rather strange. She was no doubt a child, but had a solomn look on her face as if she wasn't even mentally present in their current situation.

Sitting ever so quietly and ever so still, she waited patiently for Takuto to arrive, hopefully in one piece. She felt guilty for leaving him alone like that to battle that shadow creature, but he did order her to get to the door and she did...she just hoped her decision to leave was the correct one. Still, unlike Takuto she wasn't sure how to summon her persona, or how to really use it. It wasn't that she felt weak but she felt rather incompetant...things would hopefully come together soon.

In a couple of minutes, without much notice Takuto appeared on the opposite side of the couch as Yuki was seated on, looking perfectly fine which to her was a sign of relief. He seemed to be looking around hesitantly before seeing her, also letting out a sigh of relief. After another moment or two the old man at the table placed his hands on the table and then removed them to reveal two cards. One in a skull and one with a king sitting on a throne, the cards beginning to float a bit off the table on their own.

The old man welcomed them to what was "The Velvet Room" which wasn't much of a surprise, the only thing that she didn't understand was the fact that this place existed in between the waking world and the dream world...so which world was that....if you're sleeping you're dreaming, and if you're not sleeping you're awake..so where was this in between world? Where was the logic in that...anyway after letting the thought go the man introduced himself as Igor while he named the assistant behind him Lilim. He explained that both had been summoned to this room for quite sometime, Yuki's case being during the summer break but as for Takuto she was not completely sure. Their destinies also seemed to be intertwined with each and with the room which was another thing she wasn't fully surprised at but...she still didn't understand why those two out of everyone else in the world, and what was this power? he was talking about, those persona creatures? is that what he meant and if so what were they supposed to save the world? why them? WHY!?

"Excuse me for objecting."

Yuki finally spoke up. Too tired of sitting still and just letting these things happen. She was sure Takuto had many questions as well so she took the opportunity to ask.

"You haven't explained anything to us. There must be some sort of reason it's the two of us who have the bare the weight of the world on our shoulders, what sort of peril is the world coming to if you have to rely on teenages to save it and what about this power and those shadows that attacked Takuto-san outside this room?"

The blood underneath her veins was boiling rather quickly. It wasn't fair all this reponsability was left to the two, what could they possible do to help save the world? It was just asking too much. They were a couple of high school seniors who had college entrance exams, clubs and a life to worry about, they didn't need this extra stress.  

[Introverted Insanity]

"I...am not entirely sure myself as to what this peril is or why it was you who was chosen. But out of the billions upon billions of people on this planet, you two were designated as the most worthy of candidates, it is not my position to judge the wheel of fate but to offer my services. You see, the power you posses is that of 'Persona', or an entity that is born from your mind and takes the form that suits your very self. Each one is different and unique to the person who summons it, as it is shown that your friend here has already been introduced to how this will be a necessary tool for the upcoming events.

Age has nothing to do with quality, those who are strong enough to wield their power are drawn to that power. You may deny that if you wish, but your destiny has spoken in its delivering a persona unto you as proof of your possession of 'The Gift'. This gift is the ability to fight back in a way that no one else can...you have the opportunity to make a great difference in this world and save it from the very brink of destruction."

He seemed to speak cryptically as Lilim finally seemed to move as she simply lifted her hand and the table seemed to slide forward as the cards that hovered over the table came to face the students. The card featuring the skull hovering before Yuki while the one with the king stayed before Takuto as the girl moved to their side of the table and Placed two pieces of parchment before them. Though they seemed to have so many questions, the girl seemed to be keeping to her script as she looked at the girl and then seemed to peer into the eyes of the male as he tilted his head confusedly. This was all really happening, and despite Yuki's questioning, Takuto didn't feel any confidence in him to burst out as well, he still felt weak from the battle.

"The Emperor...these care tarot cards...interesting..."

He managed to utter as he looked at the card and then the parchment as he picked it up and looked at it curiously. It seemed to be a contract stating in a nutshell: I do hereby take responsibility for my decisions from this day forth. What kind of contract was this to be presented so callously? Takuto wandered in silence as he sat back in his seat and seemed to think very carefully about everything that was happening as he looked up for a moment and finally brought himself to speak with not much resolution in his voice.

"So...what does this place have to do with things? And what are those monsters that I had to fight? I get the feeling they have something major to do with all of this...just from the fact that they wanted to obstruct us from reaching this place..."

"Ah, those were the shadows. They are born from the negative emotions and insecurities of in the minds of every living being. Your power, the persona, is born from your convictions...like, I'm sure when your persona aided you earlier you weren't thinking about just killing a monster, but protecting yourself and your friend. Shadows and Persona are yin and yang, two sides of the same coin...

As for our role in this...this velvet room serves a purpose that we are not allowed to divulge just yet. There is much left to do and preparations to make for the coming days, you have been summoned here to be informed of your destinies and your choice to pursue it. Every decision you make will have an adverse effect, and with each coming day, the shadows grow stronger."  

[Akira.S]

As Igor could not even fully answer her questions, she still felt incompetant to be able to do this job. Besides...she didn't think she was the right person to be 'saving the world' especially with Takuto. Maybe it was time to destroy it all or at least those who deserved it, nothing really good came out of their planet anyway...still another part of her was convicted and knew that she had the responsability to save it out of everyone in the world...and I guess that was saying something.

When Igor had finished speaking, his assistant Lilim moved forward while lifting her hand as the table began to slide forward towards the two. The two cards continued floating above the table; the Skull appearing before her while the King appeared before Takuto. Another strange point that bothered her was the fact the card in front of her was a skull which usually represented Death. If what Igor said about the Personas were true and that they were the forms that suited their very selves...was she really represented through that strange masked Persona...? She tried not to think too much of it while Lilim also placed two pieces of parchment in front of the two, which was a contract that stated: I do hereby take responsability for my decisions from this day forth. Why would she have to sign a thing like that? Her decisions weren't going to change much around them....

Takuto began questioning Igor of the shadows that had been pursuing them in the tunnel and in their dreams, Igor told them that they were the negative emotions that insecurities of the minds of people and that they were the opposites of the persona that the two carried within them. He also told Takuto that his persona aided him in the tunnel not just because he thought about killing a monster but to protect himself and her as well.

"We're not...really friends..." Yuki objected again keeping her glance away, "more like...aquaintances..."

This just seemed to be another opportunity to attempt to get things back to normal. Yuki'd never really needed protecting before, she could well protect herself from those shadows and she certainly didn't want Takuto or anyone else taking pity on her because she was female or because she was alone.

Without much notice or another word, Yuki took the pen that Lilim held out to her and signed her name at the bottom of the contract, heaving a heavy sigh and saying nothing else. She obviously wasn't going to get any more answers staying in this Velvet Room, and figured that if things were going to reveal themselves, they'd happen in due time. She waited quietly on her end of the couch, her hands folded on her lap for Takuto to sign or to not sign his contract.  

[Introverted Insanity]

As the platinum haired boy sat with the contract in his hands, he shrugged and signed it before setting it on the table as the parchment vanished and the card before Takuto turned into light and pierced itself into his chest. As it did the same for Yuki, Igor nodded as the papers formed on his end of the table and he tolled them both up and placed them away, Lilim waved her arm and the table retracted. Reappearing in her prior position behind the old man as Takuto rubbed his chest lightly and stood, ignoring Yuki's statement from prior of them merely being acquaintances.

"If that's all...I'm ready to leave...I have a lot of thinking to do now."

"Of course...you'll be summoned here again when the time is right...until then, you have nothing to fear. Your dreams should cease for the time as well...but for what awaits you next, your dreams may no longer be fantasy."

Igor spoke cryptically once more as he waved his arm and a white light engulfed the area once more as they reappeared in the cafe as they'd been just before they'd pushed the button to open their attachment. The text messages were wiped from their phone and time resumed as it had been before the ordeal that took place a moment ago. Takuto looked around for a moment as he looked at the empty cup before him and placed his money down on the table and placed the cup over it to pay for what he'd ordered.

Not another word was spoken as he stood up and simply walked out of the cafe with a ambiguous expression across his face. Something felt off now, as though for some reason he felt heavier than he did before, he was fatigued still from his fight and he simply wished to get home. So he left, he didn't say a word to Yuki or concern himself with anything else, he simply stood outside the mall and awaited a taxi to come and take him away from this place.