Archive of Our Own

What was it that had started it all? Where was the beginning of the end? What point in his life did he wind up messing up on so that it ended like this? Was it when he had lied to his mother about the bruises? Or was it when the stranger that approached him and asked him if he wanted for all of this to stop?

His mother always did tell him not to talk to strangers, especially strange looking strangers.

“Vampires?” Mishima could remember himself asking as he stared at the short, stocky man that stood in front of him with a grin that could challenge the Cheshire Cat’s grin from Alice in Wonderland. “They’re fake,” he commented as he furrrowed his eyebrows a bit and gripped his bandaged wrist just a bit tighter.

“Fake?” The man barely moved his mouth as he spoke in a deep and unsettling tone. “Even if they are not real as you claim they are,” there was a hint of condensation in his voice that reminded him of the way his teachers and bullies would talk down to him, he didn’t like it one bit. “It would help deal with the abusers that target you.”

His blood went cold for half a moment.

“You could stop them.”

The man took a step forward with diligent grace for a man his size.

“You could take revenge how you see fit.”

The promise of revenge slowly squirmed its way into his conscious. He could be stronger! He could make them pay and stop worrying about all of the marks, the bruises, the words and pain inflicted on him.

“All I ask of you is to obey my orders about an sort of vampires,” was the last part of the verbal contracted deal. “I will give you time to think, but only till the last hour of Saturday.” The man turned briskly on his heel as he walked away into the darkness of the alley he had originally came from when Mishima had passed it.

He could only stare at the inky pit with wide eyes, the contract of revenge still engraved in his mind as he continued on his way home subconsciously. Eyes trailed to the dirty bandages wrapped so delicately around his wrist. The phantom throb was starting to become stronger, the only hint that his painkillers were starting to wear off. His mother, a petite woman with so many emotions running through her face, came to greet him with a soft smile and two pills and a glass of water in her hands. Wordlessly, Mishima took the two items and downed them quickly with a resolve in his mind.

He had made his decision.

All that happened back when he was in middle school. It was almost three or four years ago and it felt like such a hazy memory that still replayed to only be shushed soon after. The bullying after he had started training with the man he had made the verbal contract with had started to lessen only to a few fights here which he had quickly settled. There was only one that he could not stop.

The gym teacher, Kamoshida.

Any hand raised to him would end up in suspension, or worse, expulsion. After all he had gone through to stop the wounds and bullies ended in an almost fruitless attempt but at least his mother didn’t have such a sad look on her face whenever he came home with new bandages, the thought of volleyball training must be difficult.

Oh yeah, it was difficult but not in the way she was thinking, Even with that, he never had the heart to tell her and took it all with a smile for her.

After the contract, he had found out his contractor’s name was Igor and he was to be trained by these two little girls who went by the names of Caroline and Justine who were almost opposites of each other yet the same with their levels of strictness. He would be trained every single night without a day to relax as the twins had said that it was the best for him if he ever wanted to survive an encounter with the beings they called “personas” which were, in all of the vampiric lore that Mishima had studied in his free time, the equivalent of a lower class of vampires created by the middle or top class of vampires, servants or subclasses if he recalled correctly. Each one of these Personas he met were always different yet some seemed to have similar traits and moves that would travel down from their creators.

He had never gotten the chance to meet the ones that the twins and Igor had called “Persona Users” who were the ones that made the Personas. From what information Mishima was able to gather from Igor and the twins whenever they felt generous enough to provide some type of hint, there was a total of five groups of Persona Users and each of them had their own titles to their gangs.

The hostility that was spoken with each word about each of the groups made Mishima shudder as eyes narrowed in an emotion that haunts him with the memories of bullies and in the face he is forced to see almost everyday: disdain.

“Don’t become like them,” Igor said in a low, foreboding way as he stared at the teen during his training with the twins and barely managing to dodge the attacks.

“I….I won’t,” he barely gasped out between breaths.

It was barely a whisper of words but it had been said and couldn’t be unsaid.

It was a verbal contract after all, one that would not be forgotten by the contractor.

A loud gasp of pain escaped Mishima when his hair was pulled and his face was forcibly pressed into the cold desktop while a low and dark voice spoke from behind him.

“I need you to do something for me...Mishima-kun,” Kamoshida rasped out, a bad sign that whatever the man had planned was going to hurt someone badly.

Mishima tilted his body roughly out of the way of an attack from the Persona he like to call Silkie as the Persona was always a woman that usually had a form of red draped around her body and long silky hair that danced behind her each time she moved with such grace. The woman’s arm was outstretched next to him and he made his move by quickly grabbing it and flinging her over his shoulder with a high scream from the Silkie. He wasted no time reaching into his side pocket to grab the cuffs that were made to stun the Personas and Persona Users, a set of plastic cuffs that were stuffed with wild roses within its contents.

The Silkie pleaded with him as he neared her, fear in her eyes as she couldn’t move. “Please I beg of you! Don’t do this to me! Please!” The Silkie pleaded in a heartbroken voice as tears clinged on her long lashes as if they were trying not to escape. “Please!...please no no no….pl-please...don’t do this...I only wanted to go back to my mom!”

His hand stalled slightly, barely touching her wrist and she started sobbing the words.

“Mama...mama i-I’m sorry...i shouldn’t have gone out...mama...i’m sorry..!” A twisted feeling of regret stuck in Mishima’s gut as he watched the Silkie continue to cry out before he felt his hands automatically place the wild rosed cuffs onto her delicate wrists.

She gave one last sob before she fell silent, body limp on the ground and lashes covered in cold and glittered tears. He hung his head over her body with eyes devoid of emotions as he stared at her face, waiting for the group that Igor had put together that would be the collection group.

“Mishima-san, we’re here to take the Persona now,” a gentle, female voice said as two shadows appeared behind him.

The teen stood up and turned to face the two people that came over to take the body back to the base. Both were females but the difference was one was an adult while the other was a teen.

“Togo-san, Ohya-san,” Mishima barely greeted them as he passed them to let them do their job. “Thank you for all your hard work,” he quietly said as a bypassing remark.

“Continue your hard work,” the long haired teen quietly said as she helped the older woman pick up the light weighted Persona.

In total for that night, he had apprehended three Silkies, two little boys that he called Jack Frosts, and a lone startled man was known as a Mothman. He sat in his room with his hands over his ears to try blocking out the sounds of their pleas and begs to let them go, to let them go back hope to their parents and loved ones. Each one just wanted to go home, that was all that they were there for, to go back home to their families that had warned them not to leave the house for whatever reasons. Each one of them was ridden with guilt and fear.

Guilt that they didn’t listen and didn’t get to say goodbye or make amends to them.

Fear of him. Fear of the teen that was taking away their second chance to make everything right.

He was what stopped them, who wasn’t letting them go.

Tears started to blur his vision and fell on his lime green sheets and darkening the fabric with the pained tears. He hand no control of himself any more as the tears fell freely and his fingers curled tighter against his head. Every single time, every plea and remorseful confession, Mishima wanted to let them go, to tell Igor to let them go to fulfill their last wishes but every single time he stood stock still by the man’s side as he was to watch each one get executed by the hands of his trainers.

The other people that were recruited by Igor never got to saw the executions, always being excused while he stood like a mannequin at his side. The Personas would squirm in their new binds of cloth and rope before they were put into the guillotine or gallows, their shouting pleas muffled and falling on deaf ears before their final moments.

Once, only once did Mishima ask why he was forced to watch this and his answer was: “Because you’re my hunter.”

“Because you’re my puppet.”

It was finally the day that the transfer student would come to Shujin, the student with a criminal record that was leaked out to the school by none other than Mishima under Kamoshida’s order; not that anyone was going to find about it. The rumors spread very fast in prestigious schools like this, well, any rumors that didn’t benefit the volleyball team, any rumors about the volleyball team were swept under the rug - especially the ones of Kamoshida abusing the teams, though that was the truth that Mishima had quietly tried to get everyone to see but ended in nothing but more pain.

When the transfer student stood in the class, Mishima had his eyes trained to his desk with a lorn expression and a phantom pain from the punishment earlier that morning from Kamoshida. He barely spared a glance up at the transfer student as he was introduced as Akira Kusuru and barely said anything, even as the home room teacher asked him to say something about himself. A tingling feeling went through Mishima as he briefly made eye contact with the mop haired teen.

A feeling of predator and prey.

A feeling of dread.

His instincts curled up on him as he felt like his world was going to change once again because of this transfer student.

Oh how right he was.

Barely a week since the transfer student came, Mishima was on the list of becoming expelled because of how Akira and the other school delinquent Ryuji decided to act upon the rumors of Kamoshida abusing the volleyball team. The others of the team never talked but one barely did and told them who the easiest to get information from: Mishima Yuuki. Everything from that week happened so fast, faster than Caroline coming at him during training and throwing him across the room and yelling at him. All of it was a blur of black as he was cornered, a blur of black and white as students gathered at the windows, a blur of white at his volleyball senpai - Shiho Suzui - tried to commit suicide and was rushed to the hospital with her friend Ann Takamaki and a blur of monochrome as Ryuji, Akira and unfortunately Mishima rushed to Kamoshida’s office that led to the threat of expulsion.

He would stare at his desk for long periods of time as the reality of everything was still trying to catch up to him but refused to. When Akira would come to check up on him, he always would break, not as much as he would when he would after watching the numerous executions of the Personas but probably just as bad as anyone who feared of disappointing their mother just after making her worry less.

“Kusuru-kun….what am I going to do?” Mishima weakly asked him with furrowed brows and a soft whimper.

Most of the time, he would stay silent before leaving with a contemplative look on his face as he tried to find a suitable answer but never did. That was until today. Akira place a gentle hand on Mishima’s shoulder with what could be called a kind squeeze. “Just leave it to me,” he said in a remorseful tone, never meaning for this to happen to the already broken looking student.

All Mishima could do was nod and trust the criminal. He had no power, not in this situation.

Did he even have power in his contract anymore?

“If you can’t even beat me how do you think you can defeat a Persona User!” Caroline yelled as she attacked with her saber, moves full of grace and anger. “They’re already here and if you can’t beat me then there’s no chance you can! All this training will be for naught and then you’ll end up like all the other Personas if they even give you that mercy!” Caroline insulted with each attack.

Mishima could barely register her words as he dodged and tried counter attacking whenever he had the chance to, his strength still being weak by Caroline’s standards. Out of the corner of his eyes, he could always catch Justine’s figure just out of distance as she waited to either attack or help but she was usually always documenting something so he didn’t have to worry too much about her. His tripped over his foot at a lunge from Caroline, barely missing the saber digging into his side as she made an annoyed tsk sound and looked down at him. Even as she looked down at him with anger, it wasn’t anger of him not fighting well against her but anger for something else...anger at herself for not being able to get him to the level she wanted him to get to. With another click of her tongue, Caroline turned on her heel and made her way back to Justine’s side without another word.

Mishima slowly stood back up, keeping in mind of his ankle and rolled it to make sure he did not sprain it or else he would have to go hunting with a bad handicap. He could feel the two pairs of blond eyes on him as he looked up to both of the twin who were watching him intently.

“A group of Persona Users called The Phantom Thieves have been spotted in the area Mishima. It’s advise to stay away from them for the time being until you are ready to face them,” Justine, soft spoken yet somehow commanding, ordered of him as the hand holding her clipboard moved to her side. “If you are faced with a different type of Persona that is not of your regular attributes, the chances are it is a Persona User. Remember this well Mishima.”

All he could do was give her an affirmative nod in response as the two girls decided to end training for the day so Mishima could take his regular stake out for Personas. He moved passed Igor’s desk that was strangely empty for the first time since he had been here, he was almost always here with some other input with whatever the twins would tell him. Hands ritualistically grabbed his uniform that was located in its locker behind the desk. The feeling of the thick, burly night sky fabric slid under his fingers as he tugged it over the white training shirt he was wearing. The same type of pants were pulled over his legs, over his shorts and he checked all his pockets and stuffed them with items such as the wild rosed handcuffs, garlic pills, ammunition clips for the handgun he carried on his leg and a belt of stakes. He sat down as he tied his shoes in a comfortable way, the wore leather of his shoes had wrinkles in its face and they would increase more each time he moved. He glanced over to the last item he had to put on. The armored vest was meant to keep the Personas from being able to inflict any dangerously deep wounds onto him, the vest had a lone waning crescent moon in the middle of it on both sides painted a chilling white color with the tiniest hint of green on the edges of it.

Mishima made sure to look over all of his equipment one more time as the anxious feeling of Igor not being there started to wash over him. The shift in air beside him made him turn faster than he would usually inside the room. Justine stood there at his side, eyes barely glancing up at him from under her hat.

“Remember, run away as fast as you can if you are faced with someone out of the normal from a Persona,” Justine chided again as she lifted her hand up to give him a vial with a pinkish powder substance in it. “A mix of wild roses and garlic to momentarily stun the Persona Users in order for you to get a good distance away. They are much faster than a Persona and much more sneakier to so it is wise not to let your guard down.”

He gingerly took the vial from the girl and tucked it into his left pocket wordlessly. As he started to walk out of the building, he could feel the familiar feeling of the world shifting around him as if he was entering a new world and it wasn’t far from the truth as when he would look into the sky and see only the unnatural red sky that hung overhead as if it was there to taunt him. To show him how much blood he had inadvertently spilled by agreeing to become a vampire hunter.

For about an hour or two, Mishima roamed the areas around his city in search of any of the Personas with no sight of any at the moment. The tension that he had early was slowly leaving him as the night seemed to drag on without much of an incident with any Personas.

No Personas meant no executions!

A soft sob of relief almost escaped him. Almost. He caught the glimpse of a Jack Frost - a small blonde hair boy with a blue shirt and dirty jeans - standing only a few feet away from him, red glowing eyes staring at him before turning and running in the opposite direction.

A shudder escaped him, he didn’t want to see a child get executed again, before he took off after the Jack Frost. Each step he took in his jog made the guilt grow more and more, each breath he took shrunk and dried out his throat in an uncomfortable way that made his lungs burn from the pain of even breathing.

He caught up to the Jack Frost, only catching glimpses of blue as he would turn the corners, trying to get away from the hunter. He was so close.

Until he body slammed into a wall.

No, not a wall.

A person.

Mishima fell harshly onto his butt from running full speed and colliding into the person, he could feel the warm trickle of blood drip down his nose and over his lip. The pain was only a dull sensation, it always was whenever he went hunting for Personas. Shakily, Mishima glanced up to look at the person he ran into.

The person, a male, had messy ash black hair that covered most of his face and framed his long jaw line. A black leather tail coat seemed to float around him lightly as he moved around slowly, the collar of the coat reaching a bit over his mouth but was wide open. The black pants clung tightly to his long legs, heeled boots reached up only to mid shin and his hands were covered with bright red gloves. A white mask was covering the upper half of the male’s face as he looked down at Mishima with lips barely parted.

“....This is the hunter?” The male’s voice was deep but not deep enough to sound scary or intimidated the teen.

With a glance downwards, he could see the Jack Frost he had been chasing at the man’s side but a bit behind him as well, more than likely trying to hide from the hunter.

“Yea! T’is him! He gots the others!” Jack Frost yelped in a high voice, brows upturned in pain at the mention of the other Personas. “We gotta get ‘em free boss! We gotta! they probably scared a-“

“They’re dead.” Mishima’s voice sounded very empty, the lack of emotion frightened him but he continued as if he had no control of himself any more. “All Personas are executed the night they arrive. That’s the rules.”

“He’s lyin’! He gotta be lyin’!” Jack Frost screamed, pupils shrunk and tears slowly escaping from the little boy’s face. Jack Frost tightly gripped onto the man’s coat more, as if to stop himself, to try comforting himself. “He’s lyin’!”

Mishima moved his hand to grab the gun at his side but stopped when the man pulled one on him first. His hand stilled in mid air, shock probably written on his face as he stared up the barrel of the gun. Never had any Personas he encountered ever pulled a weapon on him! Never!

“Did you really kill all of them?” The man asked in a tight voice. “All they were trying to do was go back home! To apologize and say goodbyes,” the man spoke, eyes still hidden under the mass of hair.

“I’m only doing what I was ordered to do,” Mishima countered with bite, it wasn’t him. “It’s part of my contract!” His face felt warm, extremely warm.

“......” both Jack Frost and the man were silent. “You’re crying.”

So that’s why his face felt warm?

“It’s part of my contract,” Mishima whispered once again, mostly to himself rather than the man.

There was the slow click of the hammer being set back down and the click of heels. Mishima looked up to see the man walking away from Mishima and holding Jack Frost close to him, cradling the small boy close to him that if he let go he would be taken away from him by Mishima - which would be the truth. Mishima stood up against his will, hand taking out his own gun and aiming it at the man.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” the man warned Mishima, glancing over his shoulder and revealing glowing yellow eyes instead of the red ones he was use to seeing on Personas. “We might have similar eyes but it’s obvious that you’re still human and you can still be easily hurt.”

Mishima froze slightly at the revelation.

Same eye color?

“What do you me-“ and like that the man was gone, climbing quickly up the wall and away from Mishima without another word.

“Mishima-kun, how are you feeling?” Mishima looked up from his desk to Akira who stood over him with a soft smile on his lips.

The day previous, Kamoshida had confessed about his sins and the abuse of what he had done to the volleyball team and apologized to everyone publicly. It had shocked him so much that he almost cried. Almost.

“I feel…” he whispered softly, he was happy but the encounter with that man who was undoubtingly a Persona User and told him that bit of information was still chilling him. “Better.” A half lie as he gave the criminal a watery smile.

“That’s good to hear,” his voice was soothing as he looked relieved about that. “Can I see your phone real fast?”

Mishima looked up at Akira with a questioning look of uncertainty before handing his phone over after a few moments of debating. Akira quickly typed over the screen of his phone, in total taking about a minute in all before he finally gave it back to Mishima, the smile never left his face. Mishima could only raise an eyebrow as he looked down at the app that was still open on his phone. In bold letters he saw it.

Akira had put in his contact information on his phone.

“W-what?” Mishima looked up in surprise at the other teen with wide eyes.

Akira chuckled softly and flashed another soft smile at him. “To contact me and hang out,” he explained before saying he had to leave back home and waved bye at him.

“Why are my eyes yellow?” Mishima was currently tying his shoes as he side glanced at Igor who had came back that night.

Igor raised an eyebrow as he turned around in the seat and faced Mishima, hands curled together under his long nose and stared at him with a curious look. Mishima shuddered under Igor’s unnerving stare as he stayed quiet for several moments as he leaned back. It was obvious that Igor was looking around the area for any type of reflective surface that Mishima could have seen his reflection off of; there was none.

“How do you know?” Igor asked.

“Don’t dodge the qu-“

“Do not talk back to me!” Mishima flinched at the dark and commanding tone as he was glaring at him. “Now I will ask again and you will answer me. How do you know?” Igor’s tone was cold and his eyes tore into Mishima.

“I-I met a Persona User,” Mishima shakily said. “He told me that I had the same color eyes as him.”

Igor stood up - a feeling of dread overcoming Mishima as he had never seen Igor move away from his chair - and walked over to him, towering over Mishima as he was still frozen on the floor. The shadow that ran across Igor’s face gave a menacing aura that surrounded him like a thick veil. The clothed hand tightly gripped Mishima’s chin as he tilted the teen’s head upwards a bit so they could make eye contact.

“Persona Users lie.” Was all he told him, the three words heavy on Mishima’s shoulders as Igor let him go and turned around. “They all are liars Mishima. Don’t let them deceive you. I chose you because I know you won’t be fooled.”

Weeks passed from the incident with the Persona User and Mishima had yet to see the man again besides the normal Personas he always encountered. During those weeks, he would hang out with Akira and the ragtag bunch of people that he never guessed that he would have ever had the chance of interacting with. He would talk with Akira and the school delinquent, Ryuji Sakamoto about random things and even went to scout out a flier about a maid service. He would spend time with the school’s model, Ann Takamaki, and talk about how Shiho was doing and would meet up with the student council president and the gardening club president, Makoto Niijimi and Haru Okumura for study sessions and tea. He would sit in a room and watch as the art student from Kosei High School, Yusuke Kitagawa, would take hours of a day to try finishing whatever painting he was doing that day and rushing over to Yusuke whenever he would go on too long without eating or drinking anything or even almost drinking the paint water. There was times where he would be taken to the electronics store by the small orange haired girl who was the renounced hacker of Medjed, Futuba Sakura, and was have late gaming nights with the previous shut in that ended with lots of laughs and playful picking on. Then there was rare times where he would be able to talk with the famous high school detective, Akechi Goro, sitting down in the cafe of Le Blanche with Akira serving them their drinks.

Each day, Mishima learned more and more about each of his new friends, friends he never really had as a kid and his mother could tell that he was happier. The smile grew on her face as she would listen to her only son talk about his friends with much gusto and happiness in his smile. Her delicate hand gently pet Mishima’s head with fondness, fingers carding through his hair.

“Will I be able to get to meet them soon?” Mishima’s mother asked happily.

He looked up from his meal, smiling more to a point where his eyes were absolutely shining up at her as he nodded excitedly. “Yeah! Really soon!” Mishima almost giggled from how happy he was.

The memories of the executions of the Personas were dormant in the back of his mind, only concerned by the feelings he was feeling now. The happiness. The feeling of acceptance of people who wanted him for him.

“Happy Birthday Yuuki!!” Mishima looked up in surprise when he got home, watching the glitter and confetti that surround him.

His mother stood in the middle of his group of friends with a vanilla strawberry topped cake that read Happy Birthday Yuuki in dark green food dye. Ann and Shiho were in the front who had thrown most of the confetti and glitter onto Mishima as he came, glitter pieces in shape of stars and moons. Futuba had small noise poppers but was being held back by Akira and Ryuji, her legs kicking at Akira’s own as she tried to squirm out of their grasp. Yusuke was quietly asking Mrs.Mishima small things which she would nod or shake her answers to him and kept her happy smile on her lips. Goro, Haru and Makoto were in the middle and trying to hid the small giggles from the events that were going on and Mishima couldn’t help but giggle as well, laughing after a while with tears in his eyes.

He could feel the gentle grip of Ann and Shiho as they tugged him deeper into his house with warm smiled on their faces.

“Come on! It’s time to make a wish and open up the things we got you! And dig into that cake! It smells so good! Your mom, Akira and Haru made it!!” Ann excitedly said, almost hoping in her place.

Both Shiho and Mishima laughed more at Ann’s display. He followed the girls into his living room since it was the biggest area in the house that could hold this many people. Mishima watched as his mom put the candles on his cake and light it up before all of them started to sing Happy birthday to him before he blew out the candles as he made his wish. Not seconds later, Ann brought over the plates and utensils for everyone, eyes were glowing as she eyed the cake. Mrs.Mishima laughed at how excited Ann looked at the cake as she asked if Ann wanted the first piece.

A gentle nudge got Mishima’s attention as he looked over to where all of his male friends were on his right side, Akira in the center as he handed him a small box with colorful wrapping paper and a ribbon that had a stars and moons printed on it. He looked up at them in curiosity before taking it and gently loosening the ribbon to see what was in the box. All he could do was stare at the gift inside with a hushed breath and looked up to them, eyes filled with surprise and a couple of tears.

Inside the box was a single item. It was a silver necklace that held a waning crescent moon on its delicate chain, there were nine small colorful stones in the moon, the colors being: red, yellow, hot pink, blue, turquoise, lime green, powder pink, white and a dark brown color. A small note was laid in the inside of the top of the box that read: Without our moon, we have only darkness. Thank you for lighting our darkness. A few tears fell down and onto his hands as he looked back up to his friends, all looking at him with kind smiles and flushed faces for making him tear up.

“Thank you so much you guys,” he let out a soft, happy sob.

That was one day ago.

Mishima panted heavily as he looked down at Caroline who laid beneath the small knife he used. The saber she used was thrown all the way to where Justine was, both of the girls staring at Mishima with wide eyes. All three of them stared at each other in shock at the development of what happened and a small smile passed over Caroline’s lips as she moved back up on to her feet while dusting off her outfit. Nobody spoke just yet as Caroline moved over to retrieve her saber from Justine’s side and quickly spun around with an uncharacteristically wide grin thrown at Mishima.

“You’re ready to face the Persona Users!” Caroline declared as Igor clapped slowly, his grin widened from its usual position.

“Good, now we can continue with the hunt,” Igor commented wildly.

Mishima looked over to the area the twins instructed him to go, being the place that Ohya had scouted previously to make sure that this was an area that the Persona Users would constantly be spotted at, going to the roof tops and laying wild roses on the edged as a precaution, and pictures of what he was to look for. It wasn’t hard to tell the Personas from the Persona Users since they dressed up entirely different from the regular clothes, clothes being completely extravagant that one would see only in old times or anime conventions. From the information that was given, the man he had first encountered with the mop like hair style was the leader. Igor and the twins sound so unnaturally sure about him being the leader that it almost unsettled him until he was told to go and the feeling of being controlled was over him again. Without a word he had moved from his locker after he changed into his hunter uniform and left as instructed, an arm full of wild roses within his disposal.

The air was cold with each breath he took. He could feel the coldness of the necklace as it laid under the collar of his shirt. His eyes caught the bright fabric of one of the Phantom Thieves, the red color of it quickly caught his eyes as he saw as the blonde girl covered in what Mishima could only describe as a red catsuit jog over to the area where eight other people were waiting for her, or seven people and some creature that looked similar to a cat mascot that lounged at the leader’s side.

None of them looked as if they were expecting any type of trouble.

“Don’t you find it weird that the moon hunter hasn’t shown his face around recently?” The Persona User that wore a skull mask and dressed in clothes that reminded Mishima of a pirate captain had asked the others in what could only be described as worried.

“It is…” the one with a fox mask replied. “Who knows what could have happened to him.”

“All we know is that he has a contract that he is being forced to follow,” the leader of the Phantom Thieves reminded them with a stern tone as he looked at each of them. “He’s only a victim of the contract.”

“Do you even know what the contract is that the hunter has with the contractor?” The cat mascot asked the leader in a high tone, small arms crossed cutely across its chest.

“That he is ordered to do all of this. All of these hunts of the Personas but I don’t know the entire contract,” the leader admitted softly.

“I could tell you exactly what my contract is.”

All nine heads turned up to where the voice had came from, seeing their unseen enemy standing in the middle of the entrance of their meet up spot. Yellow eyes watched in horror at the hunter; fear of what was to come settled in them all as they watched the bittersweet moment that unfolded in front of them. They watched as he threw a cluster of wild roses at the entrance to keep them from moving toward that area should they try to escape. They could see the empty look that haunted the hunter’s eyes, lips spreading into a smile that didn’t reach his eyes that looked dead inside.

The pirate Persona User took a step forward by was stopped by the leader throwing a hand out and stopped him in his tracks, eyes narrowed a bit under his mask.

“Please tell us.”

“The contract was to hunt down the vampires and obey his orders and he would give me the power to take revenge on those who made my life a living hell as a kid,” he hollowly said as he walked slightly at the entrance, making sure that there was no space between the roses for any chance for them to escape.

“Why would you make a contract like that?” One of the girls, one with shoulder spikes, asked him.

“It was revenge,” Mishima laughed, it sounded empty and broken.

“That’s a lie.” The gentleman with a red mask countered, body tensed in his position. “Nobody would take that deal just for revenge! You were doing it to make someone stop worrying!”

The sharp clink of the handgun echoed in the tense space. Mishima looked over to each of them, eyes still dead and a dark yellow.

He was not in control.

“You know nothing,” Mishima whispered under his breath as he let the gun get discharged and watched as they all quickly split up in different directions.

A couple tried climbing up the walls and let out a yell of shock as they dropped down to the floor with hisses of wild roses as their only warning for the others. The pirate let out a frustrated yell before dashing with incredible at Mishima, fist clenched tightly as he ready his hand to throw a punch but freezing when he got close enough to properly see Mishima’s face and his face distorted into something akin to horror at something that Mishima couldn’t put his finger on. The moment that the pirate had frozen gave Mishima enough time to throw his own punch and sending the pirate sprawled on the floor with a hand up on his face and a loud groan of pain.

“SKULL!” Several of the Persona Users called out in shock at the small scene that had played before them.

The pirate, Skull, had never hesitated with an enemy. They watched as the hunter moved over Skull with the handcuffs that would immobilize him handing over him in one hand and a vial with a reddish powder inside in his other hand. As the hunter neared Skull, the other Phantom Thieves moved with battle cries but only to have a cloud of dust engulf them and stun them for a moment as the hunter quickly locked the cuffs around Skull and throw him out of the entrance, passed the wild roses and safely on the other side with a strained smile before looking back to the others who coughed into their hands and stared at the hunter in more horror as they heard the sound of Skull's mask coming off and landing on the ground heavily.

If this was going to be the hunter’s tactic then they knew they had to plan each move carefully, eyes shifted uneasily to the leader for any hint of what they could do.

What happened next was something that they did not see happen as they watched the hunter move past the line of wild roses and walk to Skull in calculating steps.

“Wha-“

“I’m going to make you a deal,” Mishima stopped all of them from speaking as he turned to them. “We can do this the easy way or the hard way. The easy way would be that I throw seven pairs of handcuffs in there and seven of you get handcuffed and I will handcuff the leader afterwards,” he gave them a sweet smile that sent chills down their spines, the air around him both innocent and cold. “Or I can fight you all at once and handcuff you and throw you all out like this Skull of yours,” he added. “I am not above to playing dirty if I need to.”

“What’s in it for us? I remember you saying that Personas that were captured would be executed that night!” The leader commented, his heart racing at the future of what would happen to all of them. They couldn’t let anything happen to Skull and they couldn’t die there either! They all trusted their leader to know what to do.

“An appeal,” the hunter bargained. “I could try appealing to my contractor.”

“What is this?! A freaking court system?!” The catsuited thief cried out.

“I’ll give you some time to debate on it,” the hunter said before turning his back on them.

He could lowly hear them all debating, voices rising and lowering at different times. As they continued to state their own opinions and suggestions, Mishima carefully too out his necklace from his collar, running his finger over the edges of the stones that were placed delicately on the moon. Soon his hands started shaking, the adrenaline that was in his body came crashing down on him as he continued to hold the necklace tightly in his hands and started to breath deeply.

He was doing the right thing….right?

He was making his mom happy, he had such wonderful friends that stood by him and helped him and loved him. All of this was accomplished because he had made the contract. He changed his future, he paved his own road. He did. He d-

“We’ve made our choice.”

The voice of the leader interrupted Mishima’s thoughts. Each of the Persona Users were each in a stance, ready to attack the hunter once he came back into the sealed area. The leader looked at the hunter with a tight lipped and stone cold face. A soft, shaky sigh escaped Mishima as he turned around to face them all, fingers letting go of the moon pendent and stared down at the ground with a troubled expression.

The leader was about ready to give their answer, it was on the tip of his tongue until the piece of metal was exposed. The words died on the tip of his tongue and his blood froze as he finally got to see who the hunter was. He could only curse himself as he never noticed the first time around at exactly who this hunter was. His mouth twisted into an uncomfortable frown, the sound of his gloves tightening as he clenched his fists before holding out his hand.

“We’ll take the easy way….” he quietly said as the other let out sounds of protests.

Mishima smiled though it was more of just a tug of his lips as he handed seven handcuffs to the leader. “You’re doing the right thing,” Mishima said quietly.

The leader only nodded, a stiff movement of his head as he moved over to the others who looked at him in betrayal.

“Joker! What are you doing?!” The cat mascot hissed out.

“Guys….the hunter...it’s Yuuki,” Joker quietly whispered under his breath. “I can’t hurt him...that’s why Skull froze when he saw him up close...because it was Yuuki,” Akira whispered with a heavy heart.

“....Please tell me this isn’t true,” the girl with the black mask whispered softly behind her hands.

Their only answer was a shake of his head, the pain in his eyes evident even behind his bangs. Each one stood silent as they took in the new information with many emotions that held them in a vice grip, the raw emotion holding their throat to keep them from discussing anything more. Finally, one by one, they held out their wrists as Joker shakily placed the cuffs on them, laying them down in their frozen state with the uttermost care. Joker’s body shook as he turned back to Mishima and walked back slowly to him. No words were spoken as Joker held his wrists out just like his comrades did with him.

Nimble hands held the cuffs over Joker’s wrist, momentarily freezing.

“Thank you for choosing the easy way...I didn’t want to hurt you all,” Mishima whispered, voice tiny and vulnerable as he spoke. “I know it must have been hard for you all and I’m so sorry that I keep taking such things away from people...I don’t mean to...but I don’t have control over myself anymore,” he confessed, tears running down his cheeks.

“...please try to get that appeal…” Joker softly said, the urge to wipe away the tears that curved Mishima’s cheeks was great but he refrained as he let himself be cuffed and darkness fell over him.

He settled Joker on the ground as he went to go look over Skull, picking up the heavy mask before shifting the blonde Persona User onto his back, fingers stilled in the fabric of Sk- no….in the fabric of Ryuji’s shirt. A terrified gasp escaped Mishima as he grabbed Ryuji’s face, pressing on it both rough and gentle to make sure it wasn’t some sort of trick. He could feel his breath quicken at the bruising that was already taking place on it. His words were mumbles and small whimpers and apologies as he held Ryuji’s face and freezing at the thought in his head.

Where the others who he thought they were?

If he unmasked the leader, if he took off the white mask of Joker, Mishima knew that his answer would be answered; his gut was clenched tightly at the thought and prayed that it wasn’t right. The gravel of the ground could be felt from under his gloves as he crawled over to the motionless body of Joker. Shaken hands pushed the mess of black hair out of the way, trembling worsening with each second as he reached for the white mask and pushing it off of the man’s face.

A heartbroken sob escaped Mishima.

His gut was right.

The feeling was heavy and uncomfortable as he stared at the slightly troubled expression of Akira. Eyes shifted to the others that laid behind the roses, the others who were now undoubtedly Ann, Makoto, Haru, Goro, Futuba and the cat that he would always catch Akira carrying, Morgana. His hand went up to his mouth as he tried to quiet his sobs.

He was friends with Persona Users.

And he had captured them.

The reality struck him faster as he tried to reach for the cuffs to unlock them.

Tried to.

There was a heavy weight that dropped him down the floor as he barely glanced up to see his mentors there above him and holding him down.

“The master was right when he said to keep an eye on you,” Justine coldly stated.

“Please! Don’t do this! PLEASE!” Mishima screamed from behind the bars of the cell he was put into as he watched the twins set up the punishment for the Persona Users. This time it wasn’t the guillotine or the gallows. For the Persona Users it was the electric chair. “DON’T! JUSTINE! CAROLINE! PLEASE DON’T!” Mishima banged hard on the thick metal bars.

The group all woke up to the screams and pleas of Mishima, heads pounding from the sounds that bounced around them. The mechanical hum of drills, the electric crack and yells mixed into one auditory blur. Ryuji, who laid closest to the bars that were linked with Mishima’s cell, groaned loudly and caught the attention of everyone excluding the twins. They all called out to him, moving to his side or at least almost everyone as Mishima could barely reach over to him.

His face was red from all of the yelling and crying he had done, a bruise had started to form on the right side of his face from where he was roughly pressed into the ground with the heel of Justine’s foot. His armor was off, he was stripped of his uniform and left in his school clothes that were becoming dirty with the rust from the bars.

“Ryuji, oh god Ruiji I’m so sorry I didn’t know,” Mishima croaked out as he reached out, barely grabbing onto Ryuji’s hand that curled around his own.

“Man Mishima….you’ve gotten really strong,” Ryuji commented with a dry laugh.

A weak smile crossed everyone’s face at the comment and Mishima could only nod between sobs and hiccups, fingers tightening around Ryuji’s hand. Akira helped Ryuji sit up, having the blonde male lean against him as he still looked pretty out of it. The atmosphere of the situation was starting to creep on them and weigh itself on everyone’s shoulders. The inevitable starting to become clearer.

No words were spoken as they all huddled together close to the cell bars, hands holding tightly onto Mishima’s outstretched on as he sobbed. Tears were building up in everyone’s eyes, smiles all strained and tired yet they refused to let them fall as they stroked Mishima’s hand with such care and adoration despite knowing their fates already.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,” Mishima whispered, voice broken and repeating as he couldn’t look up at them and their faces anymore.

“Hey hey, it’s ok,” they all whispered softly at him, reaching as far as they could into his cell as they tried to comfort him.

Mishima could only shake his head. “I did this to you all...you could have been free and never had met me and continued to live…!” Mishima hiccuped.

A warm hand grasped his chin as his head was tilted up by Goro, face forlorn but sincere at the same time. “We would have been caught eventually, we’ve been alive for a long time Yuuki,” he gently stroke his chin. “And I feel like I can speak for all of us when I say that none of us had been more happier until we met you.”

Mishima watched as everyone agreed in their own little ways by nods or gentle smiles or a small stroke on his hand. Tears once again bubbled up in Mishima’s eyes as he turned his head into Goro‘ hand with a hiccup.

“Who else would come and run with me and Shiho?”

“We always got crepes from that small food cart remember? Those were always so yummy!”

“It’s always fun to tutor you Yuuki.”

“I love how you always try helping with gardening whenever you can Yuu-chan!”

“You’re always there to help me with raids! Remember when I got swarmed by that ogre clan and you came and saved my character?”

“I am always thankful for your concern about me and staying with me on long days when I tend to do nothing but paint the entire day.”

“I like how you sometimes bring me sushi when a certain someone doesn’t!”

“I do love our chats, even if they’re one sided. I like hearing about what happens in your life.”

“I admire how determined you are to keep on going.”

Each one of them spoke, eyes full of compassion, honesty and love as they told him each and every single comment to try easing the pain of the soon to be. They watched as he could only give them a broken down watery smile that felt like it was more than likely pasted on his face and couldn't yet reach his heart as he stared at them, tears glittered at the edges of his eyes. Words once again fell silent as they couldn't say any more comments as they briefly started to get emotional about each sentence said.

Mishima turned around to see if the twins were still in the area, the sounds of the power drills and electricity had long faded away and left them in silence as the electricity hummed softly in the very background as if to be only white noise. He kept checking until a moment of contemplation, he got up and begrudgingly tore himself away from his friends as he was calmed down in order to inspect the cell that held him. Throughout the time Mishima had been under the “care” of Igor and the twins, they never once had shown him the cells as they had repeatedly told him “There's no need to since you'll do as told,” was their continuous response as he would only have less than a moment to see the cells. His fingers moved over the cold, rusted metal of the bars before he closed his hands around it and tugged on it as hard as he could.

The was no sound of the metal creaking as he had hoped but that did not deter him from his determination as he continuously tried to move or loosen the bars in some sort of hope, hope to somehow free them all. Mishima pulled away as he decided to try run and run at the bars - teeth clenched as he let out a muffled grunt of pain.

“Yuuki…” Akira whispered as they could only watch as their friend continue to hit the bars like a wild animal.

“No….I got you guys into this,” another hard slam that had Mishima starting to pant with much more effort. “I’m going to get you out,” he determinedly told him.

“Hey man….don't do this…” Ryuji looked at his friend in pain.

The pleas were starting to fall on deaf ears as he continued his pursuit of trying to break down the door. His shoulder stung from the the amount of force he was putting on the bars. Futaba gave a pained look and was about to yell at Mishima to stop, that enough was enough and that they all just wanted to be here with him in silence, that was until they watched in awe as the cell’s door slowly groaned as it started to fall from its place. Mishima grabbed tightly onto the falling bars, trying to stop them and stop the unenviable noise that would ring out when it fell on the stone floors. They watched as he struggled to reach the bars with sweat covered hands and unsteady feet. They could only watch as they saw him slip over his feet, the surprise in his eyes as he fell with the bars and landing heavily; the smell of blood was starting to leak into the air slowly, their yellow eyes glowing in concern as the all crowded in one area, calling out his name.

“Yuuki! Yuuki are you ok? Oh god he's not ok is he?!” Futaba bulleted her words with large tears in her eyes.

“Yuu-chan, please say something, please be ok!” Haru held the bars tightly in her delicate hands as she was unwittingly bending them in her worry for the dark haired boy.

Everyone’s hearts calmed down just a bit as they saw Mishima’s shoulders shake from each cough that he managed to take as he shakily started to stand up or rather, sit up with his hand grasping his injured shoulder. They could see the white fabric dyed a dark red that began to spread underneath his fingers. The color of Mishima’s face was slowly becoming paler than normal as he stood up from where he sat and scuffled over to the cell that held his friends, lips parted in deep breaths and pulled into a weak smile.

Mishima pushed his head on the cold bars of the Persona Users’ cell. He could feel their cold hands press against his cheek with utter care as they took turns looking over Mishima with worry. The flutter of their fingers over his bleeding shoulder made a quiet hiss pass through clenched teeth before he moved to stand up as straight as he could in his pained state.

“Don't you even think about doing whatever you're thinking about doing,” Ryuji narrowed his golden eyes and his lips down in a tight frown.

“I'm going to get you out. I'm not going to let you get executed,” the injured teen argued as he moved himself forcibly into the bars.

Or would have if the Persona Users hadn’t held their hands out towards Mishima to stop his onslaught on the bars. He looked up at them, he met their sad and tired eyes as the held Mishima in his place.

“Please…” he begged them. “Please...I don't want you to get killed,” his voice was a little lower than a whisper.

“We are not going to allow you to hurt yourself like this Yuuki,” Yusuke softly argued, he clenched his hand around Mishima’s waist.

“I want to help you..”

“Then do it by finding another way,” a firm squeeze by Ann’s hand on his uninjured forearm.

“One that doesn't mean hurting yourself more than you are,” Futaba looked at him with hard eyes as her hand twitched on his chest.

“There's always another way Yuuki. It doesn't always have to be the brute way!” Morgana chimed from his position, the warmth of his paw on Mishima’s thigh almost burned.

“Think about it level headedly.” Makoto’s hand rested on his injured shoulder, her touch feather light and guiding.

“We all believe in you.” Akira’s hand gave a reassuring squeeze to Mishima's other shoulder as they all nodded in agreement.

They all believed in him. They all trusted him even though he was the one that got them into this mess. It took a moment before Mishima nodded slowly.

“Ok… ok, I'll try and find another way,” he whispered.

He could only look at them for so long before he moved away from their grasp once again and looked around the floor, weakly moving on his feet as he tried to look for some other way to open the cell doors. There had to be some kind of key or lever that he could use to open the bars. All of them were counting on him. They were putting their lives in his hands.

There was nothing that he could see with his limited vision as the corners of his eyes started to blur with the agonizing pain he felt from his injured and bleeding shoulder. “I-I can’t find anything else!” Mishima hissed quietly.

Akira could see the contorted pain that twisted in Mishima’s face, heavy bags had laid more prominent under his dark honey brown eyes and sweet clung to his paling face. In the midst of his gut, Akira knew that the chances of them were slim. While they were out, the twins had made sure that they taken anything that could be used as either a weapon or makeshift lock pick in the leader’s hands. They were aware of the strength they held and made sure that they had dusted the area with wild roses and garlic that would keep them weak besides the worried bending of Haru on the bars, but the bars wouldn’t bend any further.

He could have taken advantage of his knowledge of Haru and the bars but he couldn’t bring himself to even act upon it. It would have involved getting Mishima hurt even more and he would have rather die than hurt Mishima ever.

“Unless…” Everyone looked up at Mishima whenever they heard the quite croak of his voice.

They all watched with mixed expressions of horror, uncertainty and concern as Mishima moved slowly in staggered movements to the set of electrical chairs that were lined neatly in the middle of the room with the electric hum pulsing through them. Words were mumbled between Mishima’s lips but were making no sense as he reached the chairs. A bloodied hand marked one of chairs as he used it as a support, determination was once again written on his face as he sank half way onto his knees and looked around.

Mishima deliriously wrapped his hand around the electrical cord, yanking on it as hard as he could in hopes that he could mess up the wire or tear it out.

“Yuuki! That’s dangerous!” Yusuke raised his voice, eyes wide in concern as they could wait only in bated breath. His hands rested on the bars as he tried to tug at them with no luck.

“It’s not going to work!” Morgana yelled, his large eyes shifted nervously as he danced in place a bit. “You’ll only electrocute the bars and it’ll get everyone hurt! Especially you! You’re still only just a human!”

Mishima flinched at the last part and only renewed his attempts to mess up the wires, brows furrowed into a glare. “That-“ a sharp tug “doesn’t” wrapping the wire around his wrist “mean anything!” He forced all of his weight into this last tug as the cord slipped out of its place in the chairs and making him fall onto the floor, the sound of electrical crackling growing louder now that the live wire was exposed and popping up with vengeance from being released from its home.

“Yuuki you have to get away from there!” Makoto and Ryuji yelled as the grabbed the bars.

Haru followed the two, erratically jerking at the bars with no remorse and tears welding up as she watched their moon barely moving much from his spot, the movements of his chest shallow. Her hands gripped the bars tightly as she grunted with effort, tears spilling down her cheek and determination on her face. The bars creaked quietly under the loud snaps of the wire but it wasn’t enough.

“Help me!” Haru screamed at the others, her yellow eyes glowing wildly. “Help me with these bars! We have to get to Yuuki!” Haru hashly ordered that had everyone snapping at her orders as they split into groups to help pry open the bars.

Each one grunted with effort, muscles burning as they started to slowly bend and open the bars. The danger that was being enforced on Mishima’s life was giving them an extra boost as the wire danced dangerously close to Mishima’s form, almost a foot away from touching him.

“Mona-chan! Futaba-chan! You two are the only ones that can fit through the opening!” Haru yelled as they stopped when they got the bars to touch their other companions.

Morgana and Futuba nodded as they quickly slid through the opened bars with only a bit of difficulty and fell to the floor in a scramble of limbs.

“Morgana you take care of Yuuki! I’ll get the wire!”

“Are you nuts?!”

“My suit is rubber Morgana! Electricity doesn’t conduct on wire!” Futuba argued with the cat but it was something short lived as they were already running to their assigned places.

Morgana picked up Mishima as much as he could, settling on wrapping his arms under Mishima’s and slowly dragging the teen as fast as he could. There was a small acknowledgement from Mishima as he lolled his head to the side and stared Morgana with a blank look. He reached behind him lightly and petted the top of Morgana’s head with a whisper of “Good kitty” that made Morgana make a face but did nothing else.

Futaba struggled with the wire a bit, trying to put most of her weight on it as jumped under her hands in erratic strokes that made her grunt with effort. There was obviously a struggle with her and the wire as one was much stronger than the other.

“We have to turn off the electricity!” Futaba yelled over the wire.

“The only thing that you’re going to turn off is you life inmate!” A voice yelled before everyone watched as one of the twins kicked Futaba off the wire towards the cell.

A loud scream escape Futaba as she hit the bars of the cell harshly, her head falling forward and her body slumping in her place. Everyone yelled, reaching for Futaba and shaking her in concern and looking her over as they could smell and see the small amount of blood on the bars and matting her hair.

Morgana and Mishima looked at Caroline with frightened eyes. Her saber was pointed at them with dark eyes and her face blank of any emotions besides hate that laid pointedly in her eyes as she stared at them. The sharp noise of her shoes on the brick echoed with the sound of the wire behind her, she was getting closer to Morgana and Mishima with each echoing footfall.

Morgana increased his attempts on trying to move Mishima. He could feel panic start to set into his small body. He wanted to flee so badly, to get away from this cruel girl and escape into the night but he couldn’t. He couldn’t leave his home. He couldn’t leave his family. He didn’t want to be plunged back into darkness!

Morgana stumbled on his feet, he wasn’t expecting for Mishima to struggle a bit to stand up as Caroline continued her walk towards them. The Persona User watched Mishima stood up on shaky feet and placed himself between all the Persona Users and his mentor. There was an obvious shudder that passed down Mishima’s body as he held up his hands and his face was still stuck in its pained expression but anger also layered his face.

“If you would have stayed in your place then it wouldn’t have to end this way Mishima,” Caroline harshly commented as she was only two feet away.

“I never should have taken the contract,” he spat.

“You, Yuuki Mishima, are now deemed a criminal who is aiding in the escape of the Persona User group the Phantom Thieves,” Caroline announced as she readied her saber. “Punishment is allaying with Personas or Persona Users is death.”

“Yuuki! You don’t have to do this!” Morgana grabbed at Mishima, only to be pushed away gently.

“I accept the punishment.”

Caroline narrowed her eyes as she rushed forward in a graceful stroke. A yelp escaped Morgana as he was pushed out of the way by Mishima as he watched the tired looking teen push the saber blade down with a practiced hand. Both of the fighters could only stare into each other’s eyes with such coldness and hate that slowly started to engulf them.

“You’re going to die. You’re in no shape to fight me or even be on par with me,” she insulted.

Mishima could feel the deep cut on his hand start to bleed from hitting the saber down to the ground. He could hear the patter of blood. A dark smile traced his lips as he never took his eyes off her.

“We’ll see,” he mumbled with confidence as he picked up his bleeding hand and swiping at her face - more specifically her eyes.

A surprised gasp escaped Caroline as she moved backwards, her arm going up to her eyes to try wiping away the blood that had gotten into her eyes. Her eyes stung badly and her hand was holding the saber handle was loosened. Mishima wasted no time as he lunged at the saber and ripped it out of her hands. Everyone watched as Mishima plunged the girl’s own weapon into her with no remorse. All movements were stilled as Caroline’s hand slowly came down and to her side, eyes bloodshot as she looked down to the handle of the saber tucked close to her chest and the sudden darkness that was slowly spreading on her blue uniform.

“That...wasn’t fair,” she whispered as she stared at him.

“I never said….I’d accept the punishment willingly,” he whispered back as he pulled the saber out of Caroline and watching her fall down to the floor with her hand clutching her chest.

Blood bubbled up in her mouth and dyed her lips and chin a dark red as she watched her ex-student walk back towards the cell with the Phantom Thieves that stood there in absolute shock. There was a dark feeling that was coming off of Mishima, they saw him in a different light. The electricity barely illuminating his face as walked back towards them. The loud clatter of the saber falling to the floor all startled them from their shock as he stopped in front of the cell and the Phantom Thieves. His face was oddly blank as he stared at them and rubbing his face with his still bleeding hand.

Mishima felt very tired as he stopped walking. He could see everything in his vision start to tether and tilt in almost unnatural ways that had his stomach rolling. A dark smile laid under his hand as his bloodless lips were smuggled with blood. “I...think I’ll rest a little while….” He managed to get out before collapsing on the floor.

“!” They screamed in unison as they watch him collapse on the floor.

The smell of blood hung thickly in the air, covering any traces of wild roses and garlic. The sharp smell of blood flooded their senses as they sought to see how much blood had escaped Mishima. The entire left sleeve of his white shirt was now a dark red and clung tightly on his arm. His injure right hand was collecting a little pool of under it as there was nothing to stop the flow from going on.

“Morgana! We have to get out of here! We have to get him to a hospital!” Akira yelled. “We have to get both him and Futaba medical help!”

Morgana jumped and nodded, know exactly what he needed to do.

“We’ll, this is most unfortunate.” Morgana looked up to see the other twin standing at the entrance of the room, keys and clipboard in hand as she walked forward. “Most unfortunate indeed. This will be a pain to report back to ou-,” her eyes fell down to the body of her sister with a pained look that quickly went away. “My master,” she corrected herself.

When Mishima woke up it was to the sounds of the soft electrical hum and smell of different disinfectants that surrounded him in a thick blanket of sickness. He could barely his head to the side to see the needle sticking out of his arm that was pumping blood into him. There was a heaviness in his throat that kept him from trying to speak, the dryness was uncomfortable when he moved. Slowly, Mishima started to sit up with difficulty as his left shoulder and right hand throbbed in pain at being used after resting.

The room he laid in was obviously supposed to be a hospital room, however, it was smaller than he knew it was suppose to be so he could only guess that it was probably a clinic. The heart monitor spiked up slightly as he looked around the emptiness of the room, a sheet divided the room and he made no move to move the sheet. The events that happened earlier was slowly catching up to him as he stared at his hands with a horrid expression. A feeling of remorse and bile started to rise up from his stomach to his chest before it got caught and made him double over in pain with his hand tightly clutching his shirt and took short and pain breathes.

The memory of how Caroline looked at him before her dying moments stuck in his head as he looked at his hand that once held the girl’s weapon. He could still feel the phantom feeling of the worn handle beating with each small breath she took, with each beat of her heart and each word she mumbled. His hand trembled as he started at it in offense. Tears began to build up before his body chilled.

What had happened to his friends?

Without thinking, Mishima tore out the needle from his arm with a small scream and scrambling off the bed that ended with him landing heavily on the ground with a cry of pain that ended quickly. Small droplets of blood stained the floor as he tried to will his legs to work. To stand up and look around for his friends. A quiet sob escaped him as he could only think of the worse that could have happened when he had fainted. Everything hurt as he laid on the floor in a curled ball. His hand covered his mouth as he sobbed, barely registering the sound of feet coming over to him.

“Yuuki,” a soft voice voice whispered as gentle hands sat him up and brought him close to something warm.

All he could do was press his face into the warmth as he sobbed and mumble incoherent things. The hand was gently soothing down his hair and a familiar voice was humming a tune, the vibrations were lulling him into a calming state. Mishima and the person stayed like that for a good few minutes as he slowly stopped crying to a point where he would be able to talk and be understood.

“Mom...where is everyone?” He asked quietly, tears still in the corners of his eyes as he pressed himself tighter into his mother’s warmth.

Her hand stilled in his hair, hand pressing her closer and body tensing up under him before she started up again. There was a moment of silence before she started talking slowly even though there was an underlying shakiness in her voice.

“They...they’re in intensive care,” she said. “They all showed up with carrying you, all of you were bloodied and hurt so badly and bruised,” her voice was breaking with each word. “There was so much blood Yuuki...so much...Goro and Ryuji were almost dead on their feet,” she sobbed.

Mishima wrapped his arms around his mother as much as he could as she cried into his hair and holding him. All she could do was explain how all of them looked whenever her and Shiho were finally able to go and see them laying in the white beds that were stained with blood. She told him how Shiho and her could only fall and cry as they weren’t allowed to see them at all until the doctor was done. She told him how a few of them had almost flatlined in their bed and how Shiho had looked like a ghost when she found out that one of them was Ann. She told him how frighten she was at the thought of losing any of them as she held him closer.

“What happened to you all?” She questioned in a quiet voice.

Mishima didn’t have the heart to tell her what happened and he could only lie to her again for her own good.

“You were an entirely different person,” Akechi was the first to speak whenever they were allowed to see each other, whenever everyone wasn’t on the verge of death.

Akechi sat next to Akira in front of Mishima, his left hand cocooned in a cast with various bandages over his neck and head. Ryuji was in a similar state though it was his left leg that had a cast and one of his eyes was covered. Mishima found out that he had not only opened a large wound by his escape from his cell but he had also dislocated his shoulder and torn a muscle. Futaba was laying down with her head in Haru’s lap with bandages wrapped tightly around her head from the bad hit she had taken from Caroline’s kick, she was the only with the least amount of wounds, and Morgana laid limply in her arms. Ann and Makoto were leaning against each other, Ann more so than Makoto, as bandages covered their arms, thighs and chests. Each of them were staring at Mishima with tired eyes as he kept his gaze on to the floor.

“I’m so sorry…” he managed to croak softly.

“You didn’t know,” Akira was covered almost head to toe in bandages and a few stitches.

“You all got hurt…”

“You did too,” Ann countered.

“You could have gotten killed.”

“You were close to a live wire, you pulled out a freaking live wire from a set of electrical chairs! You would have been dead if Morgana and I didn’t get out there!” Futaba raised her voice.

Mishima flinched at her yelling. “I should have protected you.”

“We all protect each other Yuuki,” Yusuke said as he placed a hand on Mishima’s shoulder.

Mishima looked down at his hand in disgust. “I killed her.”

Nobody said anything as the truth was heavy and ultimately the truth no matter how they tried to word it. That was something they couldn't deny even if it was in the act of self defense. He had still killed Caroline.

“It’s in the past,” Ryuji said in a tight voice.

Mishima looked up at everyone with a pained look and shook his head. “What if I hurt you all?” He quietly whispered. “What I’d I hurt you all again?”

“You’re no-“

“How can you be so sure Akira?!” Mishima yelled and startled everyone for what seemed like the hundredth time already. “What if Igor still has a hold of me and he turns me against you all! I don’t want that! I care for you all too much!” Mishima whimpered and held his face in his hands. “I love you all too much….I don’t want to hurt you again,” he whispered as they all came into a group huddle and held him tightly in their arms, shushing him quietly.

Shiho looked at the clinic that held all of her friends that she care for so deeply. Visiting hours were over and she was left to walk home with an empty feeling about not being able to help her friends in their time of need, the sinking feeling at remembering how her best friend had almost died. Shiho turned on her heel as she tightened her cream colored scarf around her to keep the cold away from her. She was happy that all of them were slowly starting to heal up, glad that she didn’t lose any of them. Tears glittered at her eyelashes and she started heading home.

“I wish i knew how to help them,” Shiho whispered to herself.

“I may be able to help with that my dear,” a grain like voice said as she passed a small alley.

She could only stop as she saw a strange looking man with a hunched back, large smile and even longer nose appeared almost out of thin air.

“....help me how?”

The man’s grin grew even larger.

Oh how easy it was to always go for the broken and unsuspecting people.