Haruto Namikaze Origin Story VIIThursday, 9th of April 2009. 07:54
It was a strange dream, even stranger however was the key he found in his hand when he'd woken up the next morning. He attached it to his keychain; you never knew when something like that could come in handy.
As he approached the gates he heard someone call his name. A quick browse picked up Junpei trying to get his attention.
"What's up!?" the baseball-capped teen greeted enthusiastically. "Man, today is the perfect day! The sky is blue... We're young... What more could we ask for!?"
"Well you're lively today," the white-haired junior replied with a faint smile.
"Of course! Dude, listen to this..." He paused before he quickly realised something. "Oh, wait! I'm not supposed to say anything! Sorry, man," he apologised with a small chuckle before they carried on into the school building.
For the morning period he had to listen to Ekoda-sensei try and fail miserably to dress up classic literature as a "cool" part of modern culture. In the afternoon he watched as Miyahara-sensei completely side-tracked herself from the topic, by getting caught up on how good the numbers looked. By the time he'd returned to the dorm he was more than prepared to sleep the rest of the month away. Hell at this rate he'd still be ahead in all of his classes.
Thursday, 9th of April 2009. DH:03
In the control room on the fourth floor, once again the room of one Namikaze Haruto was being monitored.
"So how's he doing?" Ikutsuki Shuji asked as he entered.
Mitsuru let out a slight chuckle of disbelief. "He's actually reading a book."
At the look on the Chairman's face Yukari explained. "He actually came in at about six and just went straight to his room."
"He was asleep until about ten minutes ago. Since then he has pulled out a book and has just sat at his desk, reading it." The redhead paused to remove an errant lock before continuing. "He didn't even react when the power went out, although I suspect the full moon is providing more than enough light as it is."
"Hmm… Very interesting." The scientist scratched his chin in thought. "Even those who have the potential tend to be unstable at first... Memory loss... disorientation... But, this subject is rather unique. He hasn't exhibited any of the common symptoms."
Yukari shook her head as the word subject came up. "But... we're treating him like a guinea pig."
"I understand your concern, but it's imperative that we recruit new members," the chairman tried to placate the younger girl. "I heard he's your classmate... Wouldn't you be more comfortable working with someone from the same grade?"
"Yeah, I guess. But, still..." Yukari faltered.
Mitsuru kept her head down, torn on if she should back up the Chairman or her dorm mate. Although she agreed with the Chairman that they needed to strengthen their numbers, he was still a scientist and there were times when his ways didn't really help matters along. Granted she and Yukari didn't exactly get along too well, but she agreed with her about one thing.
If Namikaze found out that he was being monitored, before the Chairman had his fill of evaluating him as a research subject, there would be hell to pay.
The standoff was ended by an incoming call from the control panel, which Mitsuru quickly answered. "Command room. Is that you Akihiko?"
His voice was distorted by the transceiver, it didn't help that it sounded like he was running. "You're not gonna believe this...! This thing is huge!" the boxer stated. "Unfortunately, I don't have time to talk... It's chasing me... I wanted to let you guys know. I'm almost there."
"Does that mean... he's bringing that thing here!?" Yukari exclaimed as she quickly stood up from her seat.
Well, at least this settled the matter. Namikaze was awake in his room; if they had a battle with one of THEM here, then they couldn't hide it anymore. "Mr. Chairman! Let's suspend our observation for now. We'll prepare for battle!" She stated as she rose from her seat.
The Chairman looked suitably worried. "... R-Right! Be careful!"
Mitsuru quickly picked up her rapier, watching as Takeba picked up both her own bow and a quiver of arrows as well as a short sword. Deciding there wasn't time to ask, she bolted out the room, Takeba right behind her and the chairman lagging at the back.
They arrived in the lounge to find Akihiko slumped against the door. "Akihiko!" The heiress called as she saw his state.
"Senpai!" She watched as Takeba leaned down beside the silver-haired boxer to check his injuries.
"I'm alright. Get ready to be surprised... It'll be here any second," the injured teen replied before groaning as Takeba placed her hand on a sore spot.
"This is no time to joke around!" the redhead hissed in response. This was bad; they had only 4 people who could possibly take on Shadows, one was injured, one couldn't bring herself to summon, there was herself and the last was a complete unknown, who didn't even know what was going on.
"Is it one of them, Akihiko?" the Chairman asked, a frown on his face.
The boxer looked at the scientist before replying, "Yes, but not an ordinary one…"
The ground shook.
"Ahh!! What the...!?" the brunette called in alarm before she regained her footing. "... You've gotta be kidding me!"
The heiress closed her eyes as she drew her Evoker. "Mr. Chairman, please head for the command room! Takeba, go upstairs and get Namikaze! Then, escape out the back."
"But what about you two?" the brunette asked as she stood up.
"We'll stop it here," she announced. "You led it to us, Akihiko, so I'm afraid you'll have to fight."
If looks could kill… "Like I had a choice!" he snarled in response before turning his attention to the other girl in the room. "What are you waiting for, Yukari? Go!"
With that, the brunette ran.
He'd already been on edge since he'd woken up; the feeling of trepidation he always linked to the Dark Hour had increased ten-fold when this one had begun. Luckily he'd procured a book of short stories from the library and had been reading the book as a method of calming down.
The commotion down the staircase had drawn his attention from the book; the building shaking had made him close it.
He quickly put on his school uniform, since it was close at hand, deciding to forgo the tie and leave the top two buttons undone. If some teacher was going to decide to have a go at him for not wearing his uniform properly in the middle of the night, well they could go swing.
As he was ready to go and investigate someone started banging on the door. "Wake up!!" He heard Yukari shout before he heard a key turning in the door. "Sorry, I'm coming in!"
Why did she have a key to his bloody room?
That question went out of his mind when he saw that she was armed with a bow, a quiver of arrows, a short sword in a sheath and her silver handgun. Even so there was a look of pure panic on her face. "Problem?"
"I don't have time to explain. We have to get out of here, now!" she announced.
Okay, so there was a problem. "What's…"
Before he could finish the building started to shake again. "Hurry! Downstairs! We'll leave through the back door!" He nodded his response as he watched her turn her back to leave. She paused for a second before removing the short sword and sheath and passing it to him. "Wait! ...Take this, just in case."
Taking the weapon, he had a quick look over before using the hooks to attach it to his belt. Once he had done so, a frantic dorm mate dragged him towards the staircase.
He followed the brunette as she led him to the back door, all the while looking through the key chain in her possession for the key needed to unlock it. "Okay we should be safe now…"
Famous last words.
Just as she found the key, the strange watch she was wearing started to beep. He watched her press a few buttons and then he could hear the voice of the other female occupant. "Takeba, do you read me!?"
"Y-Yes! I hear you!" She replied.
"Be careful! There is more than one enemy," the redhead informed them, a bit short on breath. "The one we're fighting isn't the one Akihiko ran into."
Something slammed into the back door. "Err… Senpai... I'll get back to you," the brunette replied as she deactivated the transceiver.
"I think we better pull back," the crimson-eyed teen stated calmly as he took a step away from the door.
The brunette jumped as once again something slammed into the door, quickly nodding to her companion before they bolted back to the steps. Taking a quick stock it was apparent that heading out either doorway was suicidal. "What are we going to do...? They're downstairs! Do we have any choice but to go back up?"
Seeing no other choice the pair rushed up the stairwell, seeing as none of the floors had anywhere to go and the command room would be a dead end, they ended up taking the stairs to the exit onto the roof. Hoping that they could take the fire escape and meet up with their other two dorm mates. As they reached the exit onto the roof Yukari quickly unlocked it, ushered the other teen through and locked it behind them.
"That might not have been wise," the crimson-eyed junior started as he saw… something climb over the edge of the roof. "What is...?"
The main body was a black... mass; there was no better way to describe it really. From the mass there were many hands, one of which held a mask, another four armed with swords and the others propelled it forward.
All in all it didn't look good.
Yukari moved to shield him, an odd move in itself, as it was usually the male that shielded the female. Once she was in position she finally started to explain. "These monsters. We call them Shadows."
With that she pulled the silver handgun from her thigh holster and aimed it at her own head, ignoring the fact that her companion may consider her to be raving. The first time she nearly pulled the trigger she panicked as the monster released bursts of energy close to her. The second attempt failed spectacularly as one of those blasts knocked her off balance and a sword knocked the weapon out of her hands.
It landed in a puddle just at Haruto's feet.
The two experienced members of S.E.E.S. finally managed to find their two dorm mates on the security camera system. Takeba was down and Namikaze stood facing the Shadow effectively unarmed. Mitsuru threw a look at the injured boxer who stood by her side, both nodding their heads in agreement as they turned towards the exit and started moving to help the newcomer.
"Wait," the chairman ordered. Both veterans both started to issue objections before they noticed what was happening on the screen.
Namikaze had picked up Takeba's Evoker.
He looked at the weapon he held in his hands, trying to make sense of what Yukari was trying to do with it before this creature knocked her down. His right hand was wrapped around the grip while the left cradled the barrel. As he looked over the detailed work, instantly noticing the initials S.E.E.S. engraved on its length. He noted that the weapon didn't seem to take magazines, as a battery of some sort seemed to be the clip.
The young boy was right; this wasn't a real gun.
Yukari had been moments from shooting herself with this weapon before this Shadow had interfered. Did that mean this weapon had the power to stop this thing? And why did this require the user to shoot themselves in the head?
He looked up at the creature once again, time seemed to slow for a few seconds, in his mind he saw an image of the six year old child he'd met on the night he had come to this dorm. The child gave him an encouraging smile before saying, "Go on." Then he was gone.
This felt so wrong.
His left hand left the barrel and clenched by his side.
This felt so wrong.
Trying to keep the hand holding the weapon steady, as it was moved up towards the side of his own head.
This felt so wrong.
As the cold metal touched his head, he couldn't help but smirk. Suddenly there was a feeling, a calming sensation which came from somewhere deep down within his own soul and it changed his nervousness to confidence.
Suddenly this felt so natural.
He then muttered a word, deliberately emphasising each syllable.
"Per-so-na."
He pulled the trigger, listened to the sound of gunfire and then to a noise that sounded remarkably like glass shattering.
Crimson eyes glowed as he instantly felt the shards of energy, which also looked similar to shards of glass, swirl around him and pool into the form behind him. Somehow he knew he wouldn't need to turn around to see what the form looked like, because deep down in his soul he already knew.
"Thou art I, and I am thou. From the sea of thy soul I cometh. I am Orpheus, master of strings..." the being announced.
The smirk turned into a grin as the Shadow in front of him shifted backwards slightly. Now we'd see who should be the one to feel fear.
The three figures in the command room watched the scene unfold on the monitor.
There was silence for a few moments before finally Mitsuru brought herself to speak, "As we suspected."
Namikaze Haruto was a Persona-user.
Shock turned to concern as the white-haired junior raised his free hand to his head. Genuine worry worked through the three occupants that there could be another incident with an out of control Persona. Mitsuru made to move for the doorway, but a white light emitting from Namikaze's Persona caused her to pause. As the events unfolded, a gasp escaped from the heiress, her eyes stayed firmly rooted to the monitor.
Haruto felt a surge of power, its intensity causing the teen to stagger as he moved his free hand to cradle his forehead. The other teen on the roof having recovered from her slight knock, in time to see the charge she was supposed to be protecting was instead protecting her. When he staggered back, she was about to call out in worry before the words died in her mouth as she spotted the white light emitting from his Persona.
The harp on the Persona's back started to glow white, the tip of it extending higher than the being's head, to form a sword-shaped monolith. Two new protrusions then formed on each side, the ends forming into claws before the glow started to travel downwards, forming what could only be wings. Once the work was complete the two claws move together, locking around the figure's waist.
The sound holes on the shoulders vanished as a white studded bodice wrapped itself around the Persona's stomach. Similar studded material also wrapped around the thin metal arms and legs, bulking them out so they were the same width as the rest of the appendage. The white light emitting from the Persona's face changed the skin tone from black to white, even its white hair seemed to change as it grew an inch or two.
A chain burst from the ground and wrapped itself around the being's left arm. The Persona only paused for a few moments, as its left hand got a solid grip on the chain and it was yanked free of the roof. As the chain came to a rest, four coffins materialised along its length. The free right hand rested on the middle of the Persona's chest, as if it was checking its own heartbeat. Once satisfied, its eyelids opened to reveal that the red eyes had turned golden.
The Shadow finally seemed to get back its nerve and started to charge at Haruto. The new Persona didn't seem worried, it simply raised its free hand, palm facing outwards, so it was pointed towards the approaching target and three beams of white energy lanced towards its foe.
The first beam lanced through one of the arms the Shadow was using to propel itself forward, causing it to stagger, moments later the creature slammed into the roof, as the second beam took out another of these arms. The third beam lanced through one of the Shadow's sword arms leaving it with only three weapons.
The Persona suddenly shot forward. Its foe tried to meet it head on with two of its swords, only to lose them as the Persona swung its left hand, causing the coffins attached into an arc that crushed the two offending appendages. The free right hand grabbed hold of its foe, the area of contact on the Shadow melting as if it had come into contact with a strong acid.
The Shadow made one last desperate attack on the Persona with its last sword arm. However in a feat of unfeasible control, the Persona whipped its left arm into the air, scythed blades appearing from the edges of the coffins, before it brought the chained weapon down in a diagonal arc. The mask was sliced in two, as was the final sword arm, which landed in front of a shocked Yukari, making one or two final erratic movements before it went still.
Claws unlocked from their resting place, as the being's wings unfurled just before it took to the skies, dragging the remains of the Shadow with it. The Persona stopped and faced the full moon, thrusting its defeated foe forward as if it was issuing a challenge before tossing it back onto the roof. The remains finally disintegrated into nothingness.
Haruto felt the surge of power diminish as the Persona reverted back to Orpheus for a moment before returning to the place it held within the teenager's soul.
Stunned silence filled the command room.
"What in the world...!?" Akihiko asked as he shook his head in disbelief.
The Chairman had a similar look on his face. "Was that metamorphosis...? No his power hasn't awakened long enough for that." the scientist rationalised. "Maybe he's just changing Personas to one more suited to the situation. This is incredible!"
Akihiko turned towards the heiress, planning to say that maybe they should get up there, only to find that she was already rushing towards the door. A small smirk appeared on his face as he remembered the conversation from the other night.
It seemed that the Ice Maiden of the Kirijo Group was interested in a guy after all.
"Is it over?" the brunette asked as she turned towards the other teen on the roof.
"Not yet," Haruto replied as two smaller Shadows approached the pair.
The teen pushed the hand gun so it was secured between the waistband of his trousers and his belt before he drew the short sword Yukari had given him earlier. He tested the grip before contemplating what to do. He had no real battle experience to call upon, and although he was fairly fit, he hadn't taken part in any martial arts while at school and standard physical education was not geared towards this. The only real help he could call upon was things he had read several books; two on kendo, one on western sword fighting techniques, and a final one on reading your foes in battle. All in all there was only one thing he could do.
Trust his instincts and hope his luck hasn't run out just yet.
Years of avoiding attacks from bullies paid off and he was prepared as the first Shadow made its attack. He made a quick evasion to the left before counter-attacking with a slash aimed to the main body. It worked, throwing the Shadow off-balance. The white-haired teen wasted no time as he loosened his grip on his blade, letting the hilt slip though his grip until he only held the end. He quickly passed the blade into his off-hand in a reverse grip before pulling the handgun from his belt, bringing it to his head and pulling the trigger.
Orpheus answered the call.
There was no surge of power this time. Instead the Persona descended on the stricken Shadow, pulling its harp from its place behind him and using it as a bludgeoning weapon. As the Shadow disintegrated into nothingness, the Persona backed away, before disappearing back to the place it came from. He returned the gun to its temporary resting place before turning to the other Shadow.
This time he took the initiative, charging towards the Shadow while keeping his blade in that reverse grip. As he reached his target he brought the blade up before using his good hand to apply extra force and thrusting the weapon through the Shadow's mask. This didn't quite have the effect that he was hoping for, as the Shadow, while injured, wasn't dead and Haruto had to abandon the sword in order to avoid the Shadow's swiping claws. Once clear, the teenager, once again, pulled out the handgun and shot himself in the head. As previously Orpheus descended on the Shadow and used its harp to smash its target. Unlike last time, although the Shadow had stopped moving, it hadn't disappeared in a plume of nothingness.
"Is it dead?" the brunette asked as the white-haired teen cautiously approached the unmoving Shadow.
"I think so," he replied as he passed the handgun into his off-hand before using his right hand to pull the sword out of the Shadow. It disintegrated the moment the blade was pulled free. A small smile appeared on the teen's face as he sheathed the borrowed weapon.
It was over.
He suddenly felt the last traces of adrenaline leave his body as fatigue set in. He could just make out Yukari's call of alarm as he stumbled and dropped her handgun.
He was out before he could hit the roof.