Pisces
Chapter 1:Orpheus and Eurydice
Disclaimer: The author does not have ownership over Persona 3 Portable or any of its characters, locations and such; they belong to Atlus. This fanfiction, however, does belong to her. If she did own Persona 3 Portable, Shinjiro x Hamuko would be canon.
Warning: Violence, sexual themes and other things that would warrant a warning. Spoilers from the game are to be expected. There are also major differences from the actual storyline, such as the fact that both Minato and Hamuko exist here and Death is sealed inside them on March 1999 instead of May 1999.
Pairings: (Major) HamukoxShinjiro; (Minor) HamukoxRyoji, HamukoxKen, HamukoxMinato, AigisxMinato, ChidorixJunpei.
Author's Notes: I tried to make them in character as possible, so I hope you like this. Oh, and the title is 'Pisces' because, well… they're Pisces! And Pisces is the sign which has two fish, so there's two of them and… yeah, I'll shut up now and let you read.
[March 7, 1999 – 23:50 Sunday
Moonlight Bridge]
There was the sound of a girl desperately trying to muffle her giggles in the backseat of the car. The man in the passenger's seat looked up at the rear view mirror, amusement twinkling in his eyes as he gazed lovingly at his wife and his two wonderful children. "Are you still awake, Muko-chan? It's way past your bedtime and just because it's your birthday doesn't mean you should stay up late," he said, trying to sound serious but couldn't keep that smile off his face as his little girl pretended to sleep despite the giggles escaping her lips. The little brunette shut her eyelids as tightly as she could and leaned on her brother, giggling a bit before exaggerated fake snores escaped her mouth.
Now, it was her father's turn to laugh at this display but he managed to fight it off by biting his lower lip as he didn't want to wake the two who were actually asleep. "You should go to sleep, Muko-chan, you've got your exams tomorrow and you don't want to fail those, now do you? Go to sleep like your brother," he said once more, probably trying to get the little girl to sleep for the umpteenth time that night. They had celebrated the two children's birthdays at that nice ramen shop and had also gone to buy a birthday cake in the sweetshop at the Iwatodai Strip Mall at their insistence.
The girl, Muko-chan as her father had called her, stopped pretending to sleep her crimson eyes twinkling with amusement as she stood up from her seat and wrapped her tiny arms around her father's neck. "But I'm not sleepy, papa. Besides, Minato-nii is always asleep," she giggled, glancing at her blue haired brother and rolling her eyes in good nature. "And I think I'm old enough now to stay up this late, right, Gyosha-san?" she added, looking at the old man behind the wheel who chortled with amusement.
"You are six years old, milady," he started when the girl quickly corrected and reminded him that they were now seven. "Well, yes, you are still seven years old, milady. You should have been asleep a few hours ago. If you don't get enough rest, you might stop growing," he continued on politely, never taking his eyes off the road.
"I knew I shouldn't have let you eaten all those sugary stuff. It's gone straight to your head, Muko-chan, and your stomach. You might get too fat and we'll have to start calling you Ham-chan instead," her father added in a teasing manner earning a groan from the little girl at his lame joke.
"I just want to be awake until I actually turn seven," Hamuko quickly whined in return. She was always very specific at being awake when she officially turns a year older. You see, Hamuko and Minato where indeed twins but she was very specific of the time that they were born. Minato was first to be delivered seven years ago on the seventh of March at exactly 23:50; Hamuko was delivered a bit later, being delivered on the eight of March, 00:01 and she could never let the fact that his brother was eleven minutes older than her go. In her eyes, that officially made her the younger sibling and meant that she was supposed to be the spoiled one in a weird sort of way.
Her father rolled his eyes at this in reply and laughed. Looking at his wristwatch, just to humor her, he said, "Well, you don't have to wait too long. It's already eleven fifty nine, Muko-chan. Two more minu-" but the man never got to finish what he was saying when everything seemed to freeze; the car engine died down and the lights went out. The sky outside turned an eerie green and the moon felt as if it was closer than ever.
Hamuko's innocent eyes widened and the first thing that she noticed was the coffin that replaced her father. She had been hugging him all this time and now, her arms were wrapped around this cold casket. In a panic, she made to move and call Gyosha-san for assistance only to find that he had been turned into a coffin as well. "Pa… pa?" she called out hesitantly when there was a groan from beside her, making her jump and look around. It was only her big brother Minato, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes and pushing himself off his mother who had became a coffin as well.
"Are we home yet, Muko-chan?" he said, yawning into his hands and blinking. His eyes focused and the last thing he saw was his sister crying before everything turned… brown. Hamuko engulfed her brother in a tight hug and began crying into his shirt. "What's wrong?" he asked with confusion as he tried to push her hair away from his eyes so he could see something other than the brown mess.
"Papa, mama and even Gyosha-chan," she was sobbing. "They've turned into boxes."
There was a sigh from the boy and he reached around with his free arm to try and wake their mother awake; mother always knew how to handle Hamuko when she was crying. "What are you talking about? Mama is right here…" he trailed off when he couldn't feel their mother from where she had been seated; instead, there was a cold coffin there. This was probably what Hamuko thought was a box but Minato knew better. 'What's going on here?' "Muko-chan, can you let go of me for a second… I can't breathe," he said, using that as an excuse to see and confirm what he had felt.
Hamuko nodded before letting go of him, albeit hesitantly, and watched as he turned to inspect the coffin beside him. And there it was but he couldn't believe it. Now, Minato was a smart kid, smarter than most his age but he couldn't figure out what was going on, let alone believe in it. This must have been some sort of bizarre night dream. There was a look on his face that made Hamuko scared, usually seeing this look when he was serious or, on the rare occasion, angry. The look on his face melted off though and he turned to his little sister with a small smile. "This is just a dream, Muko-chan. We should go back to sleep," he said, reassuring her but his eyes betrayed him. This dream felt real… too real and it was more like a nightmare.
The girl pouted and shook her head, not wanting to go to sleep especially if this was indeed a dream. Even if it was very different from her usual dreams which were usually filled with ice cream, cakes and sushi, it was still a dream and Hamuko always wanted to have fun in her dreams. But when Minato patted the spot on the seat next to him, she couldn't complain and complied instead, leaning her head on her brother's chest and closing her eyes.
Minato wrapped his arms around Hamuko and closed his eyes as well, trying to drift back to sleep. It was usually easy for him to sleep in a moment's notice but found that he couldn't. So, he just closed his eyes and pretended to sleep for his little sister's sake but after thirty minutes had passed, he couldn't take it. There was a pout on his face that said that he clearly wasn't amused with the situation.
"We're still in this dream… Falling asleep usually works for me," he mumbled like a kid that was given a lousy sock as a present for Christmas.
Hamuko was shy because her brother was usually right about these things but she couldn't help herself when she said, "Maybe it's one of those dreams where you have to do something to get out of it?" with her face burning up in embarrassment. She never did good at school and her brother was always better than her at most things so she was afraid that she was wrong about this one. So it wasn't surprising that she was, well, surprised when her brother agreed with her.
"Probably," was all he muttered before unlocking the car door and stepped out unto the bridge; his sister was quick to follow him as well. It was eerily cold, seeing as there was no wind and he wrapped the black jacket he was donning tighter around him. There was no wind, no sound, no light and not even a breath of life – as if the whole world stood still for him and his sister. The only thing that kept this world from being a dark abyss was the moon and the green glow it casted on them. He looked to the sides, forward and behind them, checking out the other cars to see that they too had coffins in them.
Minato was nervous but Hamuko was in awe. "This looks like something that came out from a horror movie!" she said, all fear washed away as she believed in her brother – that, yes, this was a dream of some sort. The girl ran over to her brother who was looking for other signs of life other than themselves that was hopefully human (not wanting anything from those horror movies to pop up). But, even as they called out, things were still deathly silent and chillingly still.
But the silence shattered like a bullet to glass; there were loud explosions off in the distance and a scream that made one's hair stand on end. Minato was frozen where he stood but Hamuko wasn't fazed, heading towards the direction of the sounds. The brother's eyes widened. "Muko-chan! Where are you going?"
She turned around to face him with an excited grin. "This is a dream, right, you said so yourself? We'll be alright then, dreams can't hurt us. Don't tell me you aren't curious to what that was," she said, giving him a cute pout and running off towards the strange lights that got closer and closer. Minato regretted telling her what he did and struggled to follow with the long distance she had covered in her excitement.
They didn't get too far though as they hid behind another vehicle before they were audience to a battle, as if they were plunged into the world of an action movie or a role playing game of some sort. Just a few feet away from them stood a girl, much older than them with a head of corn yellow hair with her back turned to them. She was wearing what looked like white and gold battle armor and her movements were strangely stiff and mechanical. Across her was a floating figure with what looked like coffin shaped shields surrounding it; the thing let out another ear piercing roar before lunging towards the android with breath taking speed.
"Initiating summoning sequence," came her robotic voice and a woman adorned in robes and armor appeared in front of her to protect the girl from the creature.
The first thing that came into Minato's mind was the possibility that robots and monsters were fighting over who got to take over the world.
What came into Hamuko's mind, however, was the excitement in seeing something so… exciting! She couldn't help it when she cheered out loud for the robot girl. "Kick his butt, yeah!"she shouted, jumping out from behind the car with her fists in the air and a huge grin on her face. Minato, knowing when a cover is blown, ran to her side and tried to drag her away from them.
The blonde's head snapped back, taking a glance at the little human girl which was enough for the dark creature to get in a hit which sent her flying back. Her metal body went soaring and crashed into the car they had been using as a hiding spot and Minato was glad that he got out of there or he would have been flat as a pancake. But it didn't stop there as the girl continued to be thrown back and five cars had been totaled by the force and there was a huge explosion with the wreckage… one of them was the Arisato's car.
Minato screamed but both he and Hamuko were forced away from the blast. To make things matter worst, their bodies were thrown nearer towards the awful creature… at arm's length, in fact.
The blue haired boy's eyes widened as he scrambled to his feet and placed himself in front of his sister. Raising both his arms high up, instinctively trying to protect Hamuko, he shot a glare and tried to make himself look threatening to the weird creature as much as he could. "Stay away from my sister!" he yelled at the thing that paid him no attention. 'Mama and papa told me that I have to protect Muko-chan… I'm the big brother; they're all gone so I have to protect her.'
And the thing just looked at them for a moment, tilting its head before unsheathing the sword at its side. Then, there came that voice – "Come to me, Minato. Come to me, Hamuko,"and it was most dreadful and chilling as it reached their ears. It drew closer and Minato took out a pocket knife that he kept with him at all times.
"I told you to stay away!" he roared, trying to plunge the knife into the things body but instead, was met with a blade through his chest – straight through his heart. His eyes widened as the pain racked his body and he coughed out blood. Life was leaving his body and Hamuko could only fall to her knees and cry behind him, raising a shaking hand towards his body.
"Mi – minato-nii," she stuttered as sobs racked her body and the thing, the shadow of death flicked the blade to the side and the body was thrown off it. It skidded and rolled along the pavement and almost fell of the bridge as well. "MINATO-NII!" she screamed, running over to her brother's body and the thing made to move for her as well when there was a blur and the blonde girl from before held the thing back.
For a split second, Hamuko and the robot's eyes met. And a decision was made right there and then; a decision that Hamuko wasn't aware of and one that would change everything.
Using all her strength, the blonde plunged her hands into where the shadow's heart should be and, with difficulty, started to drag that black mist that surrounded her hands towards the young human girl. They were like strings, still attached to the creature as it shrieked in pain and started to convulse.
Hamuko's eyes widened, not knowing what was going on and she sought out Minato's hand with her own. She found it but it felt cold and dead but that was enough to give her a bit of strength to try and protect herself from what that robot planned on doing to her. She steeled herself and she stood up in front of Minato's body much like how he did just a few moments ago. "What do you want?" she shouted at her.
And all she got in response were the words "Initiating sealing sequence," and her cold, metal hand grabbed Hamuko's forehead. The dark mist started to seep into the girl, creeping into her mouth and her nose and the thing behind the robot started to writhe and slowly disappear. It was painful and agonizing for the human child and she started clawing into her throat as if she was being fed pure evil… which she was. There was silence once more except for the child's sobbing and the thing's pained cries.
Soon enough, the shadow disappeared but the pain didn't as if the monster itself lived within the girl. The blonde let her go and Hamuko was panting on all fours and she felt as if she was going to throw up. "What… what did you do to me?" she wheezed, tears still spilling and she tried to reach for the girl… maybe hit her fists at her, just to take out the pain. "It's your entire fault! Papa, mama and now Minato-nii! They're all dead!" she screamed when a gun… a hand… no, her hand was a gun and it was pointed right at her.
"I am a weapon created to destroy Shadows, human child. This is not my fault and you will speak none of what has transpired to the other humans or you shall have to be eliminated. Is that understood?" she said with no emotion in her cold voice, nothing at all to show that she had felt guilt in her cobalt blue eyes.
There was silence as the gun was still trained at the young girl's face but a voice cut through the tension like a butter knife. "Aigis, what are you doing? That's a human! Stand down and report at once," someone shouted and Aigis removed the gun from her face and looked back.
"The Shadow has been eliminated," was all she replied and Hamuko's vision was blurring and the last thing she saw was another child, about a year older than her more or less with long, wine red hair. The hold she had on Minato's hand tightened for a moment before she dropped on the ground, at the dangerous bridge between death and life.
[March 8, 1999 – 00:01 Monday
Moonlight Bridge]
The world started to move once more, the green glow gone leaving a crash site in its wake. Everyone who had been saved from the disaster was confused as to how this could happen in such a short time and the police and paramedics were sent. Only two were still alive from the accident but this wasn't going to be the case if they weren't sent to the emergency room immediately. The ambulance rushed over to Tatsumi Memorial Hospital.
Watching them were two figures in a limousine. "Casualties were expected but you eliminated the Shadow, Aigis, good work."
[? - ?
?]
Hamuko's eyelids were heavy but she tried so hard to open them and found herself in a strange room. Everything around her was white and she felt very light even as she kneeled down, the pain that had racked her body from the incident at the bridge gone as if it didn't even happen.
"Am I… dead? Is this heaven?" she asked out loud, a great sadness washing over her as she looked around, half expecting her parents and her brother to be with her if she was, indeed, dead.
"Dead? No. Merely in a plain between life and death," a voice called out, that of another child but she saw no one else around.
"What happened to Minato-nii? Is he here too?" she continued to ask, hopeful for an answer.
"Mi… nato, he was here but – he just left and he's going to another place."
"Another place? You mean heaven, right?"
"Heaven or hell, I do not know. Why do you ask about… Minato?"
"He's my brother and if he's going somewhere, he's going to heaven! He's a good big brother," Hamuko shouted back at the voice, annoyed that whoever it was would even think that her big brother would go to hell. But this still didn't comfort the girl; her brother was leaving her and it was all her fault.
There was a silence that was neither comfortable nor awkward – it was just empty.
"Why are you crying? Surely you should be happy to know that you will live," the voice said again in a most curious tone, as if questioning human emotion – as if he himself wasn't human.
Hamuko couldn't take it anymore as she bit her lip and tried to stop her crying. Her fists were clenched and her whole body was racking with sobs once more. "Show yourself, jerk and I'm going to punch you in the face!" she shouted.
"Show… myself?" the voice asked again. "What is… myself?"
Tears were running down the girl's face again and she wiped them off with her arm. "I don't care if you're that monster that killed my brother! I'm going to punch you in the face for what you said so show yourself!" she screamed even louder, getting up to her feet.
And that accusation rang again and again in the other's head. Guilt, sadness and anger bubbled up in him. Why was he feeling these things? He didn't think, as far as he knew, that he was the monster that this girl spoke off. But there was a feeling deep down in his being that the monster she spoke of was him. Looking at the girl, despite having no eyes, his sadness and guilt swelled until it made the anger disappear; he didn't want to be that monster… not to this girl. So, he searched… searched in her memories for a form that he could take up. It didn't need to be a specific person; it could even be a lot of different people just so he wouldn't be that monster that this girl hated, that this girl feared. He didn't know how he did it but when things were done, they were done.
And he stepped out, into the light to show the form he took to this girl. "Greetings," he said with a small smile, his hands behind his back. He was wearing clothes that where of black and white stripes, something akin what they call prison uniform although it only made the child like entity to look even more harmless. He had fair skin and dark hair… but what struck Hamuko were his bright blue eyes.
They reminded Hamuko too much of her brother and she started to cry.
This startled the other entity that there was a small frown on his lips and confusion in his eyes. "Do I… displease you?" he asked her, stepping forward but received no reply as the girl just wept, whispering the name 'Minato-nii' over and over again as if it was some sort of mantra. He couldn't believe it himself when he felt for this girl and regretted even opening his mouth. "It's not too late, you know? You can still save… Minato, if you want to. I can – help you," he breathed out and his eyes widened at what he did. He knew what he was going to help her do was wrong, like it was against some form of unwritten and unspoken rule but that look on her face made this emotion swell up, replacing all the negative emotions he had felt before. Was this… happiness?
"You know how we can save Minato-nii?" she said, looking up at him, trying to dry her tears and something unexplainable shining in her eyes.
The entity looked away, at anywhere but her. "Well, yes… but it will be difficult and this curse upon you – he will be receiving it too," he muttered, not really understanding himself what this curse was all about. He just knew that he wanted to help her after seeing that look on her face.
Hamuko would hear none of it. "Tell me! Please, tell me how to save Minato-nii!" she said, threatening to break down into sobs again.
And he would have none of that also. "Do you know of the story of Orpheus and Eurydice?" he started, hesitant at first but one after the other, he just kept speaking and talking to this girl he didn't even know; just to see her happy, just to see that smile on her face.