Chapter Text
Iwatodai Hospital
Stairway
Shinjiro and Alphonse sat down on one of the steps from the stairway to take a breather after what had happened. Alphonse sat on the middle step, and Shinjiro was seated below him.
“Alder… how the hell were you able to resist your Persona? It shouldn’t be that possible to.” Shinjiro questioned him.
“I have no idea what just happened just now. I was able to control my Persona last night when I saved my unc—I mean, Adam. Damn… I never thought I would be one of the unlucky ones…” says Alphonse, disappointed.
“Were you almost about to say, Uncle? Who are you really? It’s clear that... You aren't around here. You don’t belong in this time, don't you?” Shinjiro suspiciously asked him.
“Crap… I can’t lie to you… The young man I saved last night during the “Dark Hour”… was my late uncle from my father’s side. He committed suicide when I was only four years old. I barely remember him, but he was a good uncle to my younger brother and me.” Alphonse admitted.
“Do you know the cause of your late uncle's suicide?” Shinjiro wondered.
“I once overheard my parents’ conversation that Adam was found in the back alley of Port Island, unresponsive and emotionless. The doctors were able to contact my father in Shinjuku using my uncle’s cellphone, which was in his personal belongings. They took him to the hospital just like this, but… by the time my father arrived to see him and possibly moved him to another hospital, he jumped off the building and killed himself. My father was… horrified by what he had witnessed since he saw him fall off.” Alphonse replied, anguished.
“That must have been Apathy Syndrome that your uncle had gotten from after Shadow devoured his psychic.” Shinjiro guessed.
“I heard about this strange condition before, but I was too young to understand what it meant back then. Shadows… feeds on humans’ psychic… That isn’t very pleasant. So that’s how my uncle died because of his misfortune encounter with a Shadow…” said Alphonse, sadly.
“But you prevent your uncle’s demise, and he’s alright, would it change your timeline? He didn’t get his mind devoured by a Shadow.” Shinjiro wondered.
“To be honest, that never crossed my mind at all,” says Alphonse, frankly.
Meanwhile, in the present time…
May 3rd, 2022
Shinjuku Park - Daytime
Shinjiro decides to take the kids and his wife on a family day off after a near-shock scare from yesterday morning. Kojiro and Shiori are seen playing in the grass with their beloved pet, Shiro. They toss a red Frisbee in the air. Shiro runs faster to catch up with it, jumps high, and catches it in his mouth.
“Yay! Way a go, Shiro-chan!” Shiori praised the family pet.
“That’s a good boy, Shiro! You deserve a head pat.” Kojiro praised the family pet as well.
“Arf!” Shiro barked while happily holding the frisbee in his mouth. He happily runs towards the kids to play with them more. After he gave the frisbee back to his younger owners, Shiori knelt to rub his chest gently for a while. At the same time, her older brother patted his head, then scratched behind his ears, making the white Shiba Inu very happy, as his tail wagged rapidly.
“Now let’s try this rubber ball! You think you can catch really fast?!” Shimon says with an exciting smile.
“Arf!” Shiro barked in agreement. He excitedly wags his tail at a faster pace.
In the meantime, both Shinjiro and Kotone sat on the bench, watching their kids play with Shiro. Shinjiro looks at Kotone with worried eyes, checking to see if she is going alright.
“Koto, are you sure you want to go out today? Aren’t you still recovering from yesterday?” Shinjiro worriedly asked his wife as he held her hands gently.
“Shinji, I’m fine. I’m about 90% better. I want some fresh air since I didn’t get a chance to go out with you, the kids, and our pet during Golden Week. Though there are so many questions I want to ask Mimi once I see her at work. I’m positive my dreams and her possessing my past self are somehow connected to Marco’s disappearance.” Kotone reassures her beloved husband with her kind, red eyes and warm smile. Shinjiro smiles back at her.
“I was wondering about it since yesterday. I hope he got a better explanation the next time I see him,” says Shinjiro, sulking.
“Big Brother! You throw the ball too hard! It’s coming towards Mommy and Daddy’s direction!” Shiori shouted.
“Crap! Mom! Dad! Let out!” Kojiro yelled toward his parents. Their parents turn around to see a rubber ball going straight at them. Luckily, the ball was only thrown above their head, and it landed on the road. Where a kind stranger was willing to pick up the ball to give it to whoever threw it, he carries it with both hands.
“Looking for this?” says the adult man in his mid to late 20s. He has short, messy blond hair and blue eyes. He wore a dark brown suit with a matching tie slightly loose, a light brown collar shirt somewhat open, which exposed his collarbone, and dress shoes. He also wore black professional glasses. The two kids and their dog were heading towards the stranger who had their ball.
“Thank you so much, mister! We are so sorry if we bother you on your walk.” Shiori apologized to the kind stranger as he handed her the rubble ball.
“Arf! Arf!” Shiro barked.
“I’ll be sure to be careful next time. I’m… also sorry. It’s my fault for throwing the ball too far.” Kojiro bows his head in shame, showing he is sorry.
“No worries. I’m fine. You didn’t do anything wrong.” The stranger said with a reassuring smile. He gently tapped the boy’s shoulder, and he looked at him, who didn’t seem offended by his actions.
“Shiori! Kojiro! Shiro! Don’t run off from us!” Kotone shouted at them. Both Kotone and her husband follow their kids and pet, who are talking to the stranger.
“Shinjiro? Kotone? I didn’t expect to see you there. You feel like taking your kids out of the house?” says the kind stranger.
“Excuse me? I don’t think we have met. How do you know our names?” Kotone says with a confused look.
“What are you talking about? It’s me, Adam von Alder. Alphonse’s uncle, Mandisa’s ex-brother-in-law, and Charles’ half-younger brother. It really hasn’t taken long since I decided to move to Japan in Shinjuku to be closer to my ex-sister a year ago.” Adam reminded the married couple. “Are you guys feeling alright? Did you guys have a bad hangover of something?”
“I’m sorry, Uh… Charles-san, it just… this is our first meeting. I was wondering if you, by any chance, know us from social media, or know us by chance?” Kotone asked him, still puzzled by Charles’ claims.
“Kotone, you don’t have to be formal with me. I’m like two years younger than you, remember? Your kids should know who I am, right?” He looks at Shiori and Kojiro’s direction; they don’t know him either.
“Seriously?"
“Charles! There you are! I must apologize, Konrad saw another dog and wanted to play with them. I have to run after him…” says a familiar voice. The next one to appear is an adult woman who seems to be in her thirties, half Japanese and half black. She wore a dark orange long-sleeved turtleneck, a brown velvet skirt, and leather boots. Next to her is a German Shepherd, who is seven years old.
“Bark. *pant* *pant*” Konrad barked happily.
“Mandi, do you know this guy?” Shinjiro asked her cousin.
“A course, he is. He used to be my brother-in-law after Charles, and I divorced seven years ago. How could you not remember him? You met him last year when he first moved here.” Mandisa reminded him that he had given him a suspicious look a while ago.
“What the hell is going on? We clearly don’t remember him at all. Didn't Charles’ half-brother commit suicide thirteen years ago after he got Apathy Syndrome?” Shinjiro says in his inner thoughts, puzzled.
April 10th, 2009
“It’s probably nothing. For now, I need to check if my uncle is alright. I did leave him by himself when I almost lost control of my Persona just now. Will you accompany me until then? I don’t think my Persona will go berserk again.” Alphonse requested Shinjiro.
“Tch. Fine. After this, I’m leaving. I don’t have time to stay in the hospital for too long. I would rather hang out in the back alley of Port Island than there.” Shinjiro says rudely.
By the time they return to the cafeteria, the mid-teen Charles is gone. Alphonse wonders if someone will pick him up from the hospital or if he will go back to his room. He assumed it might be his father's past self who was taking him back to Shinjuku.
“It seems he’s not here. I think it’s for the best for him not to stay in the hospital for too long,” says Alphonse, relieved.
“…? If you worried about whether Shadows may prey on him again last night. It won’t happen again. That was a one-time experience, even though he doesn’t remember it. The Dark Hour will still activate even if you are outside of Japan. Though it won’t be as bad as here.” Shinjiro reassures him.
“I hope so. However, I am curious about what my half-uncle will be doing now that I changed his fate. He will probably stop my parents’ divorce or be a good uncle to me and my little brother growing up.” Alphonse guessed.
“Who knows, and I don’t care. I need to leave since I have been staying in the hospital for too long. I hope your friends will find you soon and gotta the hell out of here before you mess up the timeline.” Shinjiro says rudely. Before he can leave, Alphonse stops him.
“Wait, Aragaki. When the Dark Hour started, if you see my best friend and his friends, will you let them know where I am? I probably won’t be released until the following day. I’m not planning to stay here any longer.” Alphonse requested him.
“Fine. I will let them know where you are. What did they look like?” Shinjiro asked.
“Well… My childhood friend is named Touya Yuujou, but I called him Toki for short. He looked like a gender swap version of your friend, Kirijo.”
“Gender swap version? So, he is like a copy of Kirijo, then?” Shinjiro seems confused about what he means.
“Trust me. Toki looks exactly like her, no doubt about it. He is her cousin after all, from my mother’s side. However, I don't know other names since I only saw them at school. One of them is half-Japanese and half-Chinese, he wears a Chinese traditional jacket, the other is a young woman with long black hair tied in a bun, and often wears a pink cardigan jacket…” Before he could explain further, Shinjiro interrupted him.
“Stop. Could you give me something more detailed? Something I will likely know what you mean. I know if those people who are looking for you. I know what your friend would look like, but not the rest that you barely know.”
“Oh, yeah. I remember one time from last month in April. Not here, but from my time, I saw Toki hanging out with a pair of twins. Each of them has different colored eyes. One is a young, beautiful woman with cyan hair, with her right eye being light blue, and her left eye is green.”
“Did you call her beautiful just now?” Shinjiro seems confused.
“Stop talking! I just saw her one time!“ Alphonse says with a bashful expression. “Then there was her twin brother, who had braided long green hair, and he had the same as his twin sister, except in reverse.”
“I won’t forget. Thank you for letting me know. If I ever come across them during the Dark Hour, I will be sure to tell them where you are.” Shinjiro said with a calm look. He saw the past version of his mom’s cousin as he left the hospital alone. Alphonse decides to do the same and return to his hospital room.
Alphonse’s Hospital Room
By the time he returned, he decided to check on his phone for any recent text messages he had missed since he was hanging out with his past version of his father’s younger brother, along with Shinjiro and Akihiko. When he opens the messaging app, he realizes Touya had sent him a text message nearly 20 minutes ago—mostly asking where to meet and bringing him back to their own timeline.
Alphonse:>” I’m sorry for not replying to you sooner. I met some unexpected people at the hospital I’m currently in. How about around the Dark Hour, you meet me at the hospital since my motorcycle is parked at a parking lot.” Alphonse asked.
Touya:>” Are you sure about it?”
Alphonse:>” It’s fine, everyone in this hospital will be placed in black coffins in the Dark Hour. I have a Persona now, so I can handle escaping without being detected if Shadows roam around.” He reassures him.
Several hours later…
Iwatodai Hospital - Dark Hour
Alphonse ditched his hospital garb and put on his own clothes. He grabbed his motorcycle key from the table next to his bed, put it in his jacket, and added it to his personal belongings. He quietly leaves his room and notices a few black coffins in the hallway he is in. Though he still finds it creepy and disturbing that everywhere is green, a drip of blood on the ceiling, walls, and floor. Not to mention the moon outside is eerie yellow and the clouds are dark green just like when he first arrives in the past. He leaves the floor as he about to leave by using the evaluator, it seems not working.
“The hell? Don’t tell me that electronics don’t function in the Dark Hour. But wait, but then… why did my motorcycle the only vechile to function?” Alphonse frustrated. ‘I guess I have to uses the stairs then.” He decides to use the door meant for emergencies not too long ago when his Persona briefly lose control. Once he found it, he open the door, entered it and close it. He walk down the flies of stairs to the ground floor, much of his dismay and yet, good way to excerise.
Meanwhile, somewhere in Iwatodai…
Midori and the others have arrive in their destination to find Touya’s childhood friend. The location they arrive seems to be no signs of life except black coffins and blood stains see on building and floors. Especially the entire scenery is green.
“Is this the place? It looks hella creepy.” Bolin commented, disturbed.
“It’s called the Dark Hour. A hidden hour between one day and the next that non-Persona users aren't aware of. I never imagined being this dark and abnormal…” says Midori, concerned.
“And what with these coffins? Don’t tell me that is there dead people behind!? Ahh! I hate zombies!” Rena screamed in horror.
“No, there's no undead people. These coffins technically normal people from the Shadows. Once the Dark Hour is over, they won’t remember anything what transpired them.” Touya explained.
“Phew… That’s a relief,” says Rena in ease.
“So, we are definitely meeting your childhood friend at a hospital?” Sasuke asked Touya.
“Well, his motorcycle is parked at a parking lot. It shouldn't exist in this year. It’s reasonable why he wants to bring his motorcycle back. Though, we do need to help move it since the Dark Hour shut down all electronic devices.” Touya explained.
“If that’s truth, then how are we going to communicate with Senpai? Our smartphone?” Bolin asked him.
“You just answer your questions, Bolin.” Rena looks at him with disappointed frowned.
“Huh?” Bolin was somewhat puzzled.
“Partically, as long as we have this app on our homepage, we can not only travel back to Abyss of Time and our original timeline, we can used it during the Dark Hour. You can say it's time-proof. I have already sent him a text message that will meet him outside of the hospital.” Touya informed them.
“You had experienced the Dark Hour before? Were you like four years old at the time when you first awaken to your Persona?” Bolin guessed.
Touya shook his head. “No. I awakened to my person when I was only ten years old. It's hard to explain, you could say it's that me and Alph time travel to the past by accident.”
The four of them were shocked and confused by Touya’s statement.
“What do you mean you two time-traveled by “accident”? Did you guys enter a time machine that you weren’t supposed to?” Bolin questioned.
“It wasn’t a time machine. It was those monsters we've been fighting right now, those time familiar Shadows… they sent us to the past when the Dark Hour was still active at that time…” Touya corrected him.
Everyone except Vivi and Touya gasped in horror.
Before Touya can explain further from his past, he received a call from Alphonse. He took it out from his pant pocket and answer the call.
“Hello? Alph? What are just a few minutes to arrived at the hospital since the coordination to your location was slightly off.” Touya explained.
“Um.. I’m here to call you that after as soon as I arrived at the park a lot to find my motocycle, there is some human-like bird person with rooster theme waiting for me out of the blues. I was wondering if he is a friend of yours?” Alphonse’s voice asked.
Vivi’s expression in horror. When Touya looks at Vivi’s reaction, he assumes that the person Alphonse is not a friend. He looks at the rest of them, who seems to have no idea who that person is.
“Alph, you need to get out of here. I have a bad feeling that the person you're talking to is not an ally, but an enemy.
“Is this your friend you’re talking to?” says unfamiliar voice.
“*gasp* Cooper…” says Vivi in her inner thoughts, grasping in horror.
“He’s just an old associate I used to know…” Alphonse’s voice lying to the unfamilar voice. Touya can tell he is lying in order to protect him. He continue to overheard their conversation.
Parking Alot - Dark Hour
In the parking lot there are several cars parked except they don’t function in the Dark Hour. There is one car that has a black coffin inside in the front seat and the driver's seat. There are few blood puddle on the floor.
The person in front of Alphonse appears to be a humanoid rooster. He seemed to be a young man in his 20s; he had a medium red mohawk, orange-red eyes, and a short beard. He wore Southeast Asian dark red traditional attire with a dark brown high-collared cloak that concealed his neck. He has a rooster tail spout from the back. Alphonse has his suspicious towards him.
“Alph, I need you to buy some time until we arrive at your location. Don’t get yourself killed or attempt to fight him on your own,” says Touya’s voice, which sounds cautious.
Cooper summons a ball of fire and aims it at Alphonse’s head. Once, he shot it straight towards him. In his head, he sees a symbol that matches on his face, so he decides to draw it in thin air, by crossing his arms and quickly extending them wide like he is making claw marks with his fingers. Suddenly, Alphonse’s marks glow bright green along with his hair and eyes.
“Logi!” He calls forth his Persona. Once he did, he summoned his Persona and absorbed Cooper’s fire spell instantly. This made Cooper both shocked and impressed.
“Gotta, I’ll try to stall him as long as possible,” Alphonse reassures him. He ended his call with Touya and placed it on his motorcycle for a navigation holder.
“I am quite impressed that you awakened to your powers on your own. Then again, it's not your first time experiencing the Dark Hour.” Cooper says in a sarcastic tone.
“What do you mean? Are you the one who sent me here? That voice is what I heard before coming here,” Alphonse demanded.
“Guilty as charged. I thought a normal Shadow would have killed you if it weren't for your awakening to the power of your Persona.” Cooper admits.
“What do you want with me, you birdbrain?” Alphonse glares at him.
“Well, I want you to steal something for me, and in return, I will send you back to your original timeline. It’s a win-win situation. Though there is a price for it, betraying your friend.” Cooper says maliciously.
“That’s bullshit! I’m not going to betray my only friend! Whatever it is, I’m not doing it,” says Alphonse furiously.
“You have no other choice. The item I want you to steal is called The Index; it’s my younger sister’s companion's possession. If you don’t do as I say, your mother’s cousin’s life in the past would be at risk.” Cooper warns him. He uses his power to show Alphonse where Shinjiro is located in a flame-like mirror. He is located in the back alley of Port Island. The same beanie that looks identical to Alphonse sits on a staircase, minding his own business.
“Shinjiro…!” says Alphonse, horrified.
Iwatodai Hospital
Midori and the other arrive at the hospital as they are about to enter, and the automatic door shuts due to Dark Hour.
“It’s not opening!” Bolin says in a panicked tone.
“Wait, you say a parking lot? Is it by any chance on a ground level or close by?” Vivi asked.
“The parking lot should be next to the building across the street. Can you use your portal powers to get to Yuujou-senpai’s friend’s location?” Bolin replied.
Vivi shook her head. “ I can’t just instantly use my rabbit hole to fast travel. My powers don’t work that way. But… there is a way, since you and Alphonse both have your apps installed on your smartphones. Then maybe using my powers can take you guys where he is.”
“Just do it! We don’t have time!” says Touya, impatiently. He gives his smartphone to Vivi, then she sticks one of her talismans with her blood and creates a large portal onto the glass door. It can fit two people.
“Whoa…” says Bolin, slightly suprised as one of his eyes opens.
“I don’t know how long I can hold it, but I can only send two people to the other side. Touya and Midori, you have to go save him.” Vivi tells them.
“Why them, why not us?” says Sasuke, rudely.
“Because it seems we have some unwelcome guests coming our way…”
Everyone reacted in confusion. Suddenly, they heard significant footsteps coming from behind. When they turn around, it was a rooster-like shadow with a snake tail and a clock wrapped around its neck. It also has a symbol of II on its forehead.
“Go!” Vivi shouted.
Midori and Touya nodded at Vivi. They quickly enter the portal that would lead straight forward to Alphonse.
Sasuke along with Bolin and Rena are prepared to the shadow rooster at them.