The Hour of Fell Light (Persona/DtbB/CC)

[Meryck]

12: 00.

12: 00.

12: 00.

That's what the time was. It had been that time for fifteen minutes. It wasn't one of those brief glitches that seemed to happen around her. Oh no. See, because those random glitches didn't turn the moonlight, the ambiance, the AIR into green fog. The glitches didn't roar the sound of static.

There was no way this was normal.

The young Inaba girl pulled herself out of bed, blinking rapidly as her eyes adjusted to the fell light. There was no way this was normal or real. Perhaps this was a dream....?

"It's not a dream." Her head jerked up, black tresses bouncing. There was a boy at the end of her bed- blonde, one eye red the other blue, who couldn't have been older than her little brother. His mismatched eyes glinted mischievously, hint of a knowing smirk pulling at his lips.

The girl did not remember any kid being there five seconds ago.

She gulped, and tried her best to get into her sarcastic nature.

"O-oh yeah? Then e-explain how you just p-popped up." Crap, was that shaky, pathetic sound ME? There goes my rep as a snarky brat. But the boy just grinned.

"There are many unexplainable things in this world, Young One." Before the black-haired, green-eyed girl could protest at being called "young one" by someone who was at least two years younger than her, he stretched his hands out to her. Two guns appeared in his hands, glittering like silver in the sickly light. The girl blinked.

"Um...pardon my French, but what the fu--"

"You're going to need these."

"Wha--?"

The loud sound of storming, slimy footsteps echoed outside, startling the girl. WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!The boy, however, didn't seem to be fazed, although his face set into a grim expression.

"If you want to live, I'd suggest taking the Evokers and running."

"Hey, what?! Wait a second--!!"

SHCWICK THUMP ROOOOOOOOOOOOAR!!

"NOW." The girl decided to listen this time, in light of there being roaring outside her house. She snatched the guns from the boy and sprang from the bed, charging out the door, not noticing the fact the child had vanished without a trace.

She officially didn't care how warm nightgowns were, she decided as she ran down the hall, white dress starkly contrasting to the fell light of the air. They sucked for running in, and she was never going to bed in such a thing again.

She burst out of the back door, paled, and screeched to a stop.

Coffins. Everywhere there were coffins. In the streets, in the houses, EVERYWHERE. Red and black slime oozed around in what was once the peaceful residential area of Inaba. No human but her was around.

No human at all.

Holy--?! How, What, Why---?! The Hell's going on?! This isn't right...something...horrible is coming isn't it, I--

Ran. Rosette.

DAMMIT!!

Her mind instantly whirred to her friend's safety, as she turned to head for her school- and the dorms Rosette Christopher and Ran Thanton lived in.

Sadly, something huge, slimy, and monstrous was in the way. The girl paled.

"Aw, hell."

The thing was made of black tar, oozing all over the place, ever-shifting into something more and more grotesque. It had eight- no, six...ten?- sets of limbs average, all of them far too thing and long. One of these arms was acting as a "neck" for a blue Tragedy mask. A nightmare in corporeal form.

If it had eyeballs, she'd have said it was looking at her.

She backed up, paling significantly, as the...the...THING slithered toward her. She was a brilliant marks-woman, true, and training to be a detective, but nothing had prepared her for this crap.

I'm....I'm going to die... It certainly seemed inevitable, for there was no where to run- she was stuck in the backyard, and the thing was blocking the exit. An absolutely hopeless sort of situation that only heroes could get out of.

And she was no hero, right?

He is thou, and thou art He...
Pull the trigger, child, and set him free...

She had no idea who spoke or thought the words, but the words came, distantly, as if trapped in the green fog one now had to call the "air". Suddenly, she looked down at one of the guns. It came to her, somehow, what she was really supposed to be doing with them, aside from fighting. Her face faulted.

"...You have GOT to be kidding me."

But alas, as the thing slithered closer, as the hands began reaching for her, she realized that her random bout of insight wasn't in a joking mood. She sighed, resignedly, taking one last step back before standing her full height, defiantly.

"...Fine."

She was Reggae- Goddamn- Alastor, and if she had to go down, it was going to be of her own choice and by her own hand.

"Can't be as bad as what this thing's gonna do to me."

She put one of the- what was the term the boy used?- Evokers to her temples. Took a bracing breath. Pulled the trigger.

BANG. It hurt as much as one would expect a bullet to the brain to hurt. For a moment, Reggie's mind was flooded with white-hot agony. As her body's pain throbbed down to merely migraine-level pain, she noticed something strange.

That's odd. Don't remember blood being a blue mist....

[Elf]

The burst of blue mist that gushed from the girl's head was only the beginning. Suddenly the air sang with power, the blue mist animating itself and swirling around her in a double helix. The rising column of color took on its own ambient light to offset the foul green mist hanging in the air. Blue turned to red and shadow, billowing up from the girl's feet in a small maelstrom that tossed her black hair around and swallowed her whole--

--but only for a moment. That aura of power, the rising red and shadow, detached from the girl and rose up behind her, swirling independently as if possessed of its own will.

Then a voice, deep and comprised of power, echoed through the night like the tolling chimes of inevitability.

"Thou art I, and I am thou."

The aura maelstrom began to coalesce into a humanoid figure, that of a tall man, long of limbs, with wild hair and a long braided tail flowing from his neck--

"From the sea of thy soul I cometh."

Bat's wings appeared out of shadow, and the many-fingered coattails of a dark cloak, a strange raiment like that of a demonic nobleman. Two straight, pointed horns rose from the sides of the creature's head, just above long ears that tapered into fine points. And it was now clear that the 'braid' flowing from the creature's neck was no extension of hair, but more like a second spine, a long appendage that ended in a wickedly sharp, pointed bone blade.

With a final flash of light, a brief flare of white-gold, the auras faded away, leaving a demonic figure hanging in the air by fell wings.

"I am Chrono, Master of Time!"

The two monstrous creatures engaged in an instant. Chrono's wicked claws tore into the shadow-monster's flesh, which gave beneath them like gelatin. His spine-like protrusion swiped upward, moving by itself like a prehensile tail, slicing viciously through the shadow-flesh. The demonic form swept upward, his black wings flaring, before sweeping down again, utilizing gravity and his own speed to give his rending claws a monumental force. The creature squealed and screamed, its Tragedy mask sliced in two. What was left of its writhing puddle of a corpse dissolved into the air.

Tump. A pair of booted feet landed on the grass of Reggie's backyard. Unruly purple bangs shifted as he half-turned, regarding his Channeler with an intrigued, curious glint in his crimson eyes.

[Meryck]

Reggae blinked briefly, echoes of pain in her mind still, with traces of red tunneling her vision. That was it. She was in the deep pain and trauma of dying, and something most certainly did not just pop out of her skull.

She shook her head, dispelling the headache and flashes of crimson.

But the--

Persona.

Where was that voice coming from?

But the Persona hadn't vanished.

I am officially way in over my head.

She let out a sigh, calming herself.

But at least I'm not...er---

Shadow.

--The hell is that coming from? At least I'm not Shadow kibble.

She felt a buzzing in the back of her skull, like something- some one- was on the edge of her consciousness. He- Chrono was it?- just popped out of her skull, so...were they part of each other?

This was starting to sound like a bad horror story.

But she was taking this in stride. Panicking never solved anything, after all.

"....Someone tell me I NEVER have to shoot myself in the brain again...", she muttered before eyeing her...Persona with the same curiosity that was in his eyes.

So, what, I had a demon sitting around in my head? ...Well...it'd explain those clocks. Maybe. Possibly. NO.

[Elf]

The creature fully turned to face Reggie, the curious look in his crimson eyes now fully fixed on her. He blinked, considering her muttered question as if it had been directed at him.

“Actually,” his baritone rumbled matter-of-factly, “you do. Each time you want to Summon me, you must use the Evoker in the same manner you just did.”

[Meryck]

".....Are you serious?" Reg groaned and face-palmed, aggravated by this revelation and dreading future run-ins with the Shadows. "Freakin' typical." Somehow, she was starting to wish the bullet to her skull really had killed her.

Except...Hey, wait a second. She blinked as she removed her hand from her forehead, looking up at the Persona. "Wait, if that's the way it works, then shouldn't you have vanished by now?" She instantly regretted the words; Murphy's Laws tended to hate her and, while she had long ago dealt with her fear of being alone, being alone with monsters trying to eat her was a whole different story.

The fact that she could call Chrono back out with another semi-suicide was not comforting whatsoever.

[Elf]

Chrono blinked, his red eyes seeming somehow larger, inexplicably more childlike, as he did. “Hm. An interesting point.” The Persona gave a blasé half-shrug, the expression manifesting more on his face than in the movement of his shoulders. “I honestly don’t know. I suppose we’ll both have to take this as it comes.”

“And in the meantime,” he took a step towards her, his expression setting grimly, “we should stay alert. There’s no telling how many more Shadows will manifest in this Dark Hour.”

[Meryck]

Dark Hour? Really? Of all the cheesy names...

Well, what would you call a hidden hour of the night filled with monsters, child?

....Shut up.

"More? Oh, man. I have fallen into a terrible horror story." She sighed and face-palmed again. "Man, Ran and Rosette'd never believe thi--"

Ran. Rosette. They're still at the dorms. The girl froze.

"...Aw, hell." She started hauling it out of the yard, mentally returning to griping about dresses and how painful it was to do anything requiring legwork in them. "Hokay, first things first; must make sure friends are not being eaten by Shadows."

[Elf]

With a single flap of fell wings, Chrono was in the air and gliding after Reggie. A very faint, off-gold aura surrounded him as he drifted behind her; apparently it was some kind of magical energy keeping him aloft rather than the wings themselves, as he barely moved them at all.

The Persona scowled lightly as he drew even with Reg, clearly not appreciating being left behind. “Do you see those coffins?” he said, nodding towards the upright coffins perched hither and thither along the length of the street. “Those are human beings—any human being unaware of the Dark Hour becomes one of those. When the Dark Hour ends, they have no memory of it ever occurring.”

“Still…checking on your friends would not be amiss,” he mused quietly. “Whether they’re awake or not, anyone can be in danger from the Shadows…”

[Meryck]

"I was wondering what was up with those coffins....", Reggie murmured as she glanced at them, continuing to run for the school. "I was really hoping they were just for show-- wait, anyone?" She blinked, wide eyed and alarmed. "Is that what--"

No, he wouldn't know about the murder cases. I think... She shook her head. "Never mind-- Not important right now."

[Elf]

Chrono's brow furrowed; he gave Reggie a curious look. "Is that what what?" he prompted her to finish her sentence. But if she wasn't going to talk, then she wasn't going to talk...he couldn't help but let out a sigh. He was part of her. If she wasn't going to trust him, who would she trust?

"If I carried you, we could get to the school much faster." He glanced sidelong at his Channeler, wondering how much that would be an affront to her pride.

[Meryck]

"...." She realized that with how slow she was with a dress and how far she lived from the school, running was actually a bad idea. Especially if more Shadows were coming.

"...faster would be nice." As much as she hated looking anything like a damsel, if it got her to her friends quicker, then she didn't mind.

[Elf]

A shadow of a smirk flitted across the Persona’s face. He was actually surprised at how quickly his stubborn alter-ego had caved.

Without any further prompting, he swept downward and scooped up the girl. “Hang on,” was the only warning she got before the off-gold aura surrounding him flared and he shot into the sky.

[Meryck]

YIKES! She did hang on- for dear life in fact. God, had she not expected that. Perhaps she should have- she was dealing with her inner demon in a literal sense, after all- but she didn't.

Yet, the fear somehow fell away after a few seconds.The buzzing in the back of her skull acted up, and it seemed to feel....amused? Perhaps? Grim, yes, but it seemed like the inborn warmth of flying unaided had infected it. There was no doubt about it now- the buzzing had to be her connection to Chrono.

The warmth of the buzzing infected her, as well, as she relaxed slightly, looking around.

Most stories would say here that the skyline was breathtakingly beautiful, as a stereotypical story of a child and her guardian unfolded. That a world of light and purity was stretched below them, enticing childlike wonder from the girl. A lovely little fairytale that could put a smile on the darkest face.

This was not a fairytale.

Fell light seeped into every corner of her beloved Inaba, twisting it into a dark, gloomy place. Water had been turned to blood, or at least something that looked like blood, and similar red splashes painted the walkways, along with black ooze. Shadows crept everywhere, and Reggae couldn't pick out the Monstrous ones from the mundane, normal shadows, for said everyday shadows had become blacker than a starless night.

It was frightening, it was sickening, and overall...

It saddened her. Her poor, poor home town.

Her voice was uncharacteristically quiet with her next words; "Is...there any way to end this...?"

[Elf]

Chrono's eyes narrowed, fixed on something intangible in the distance. He pursed his lips and said nothing. So much for the giddy rush that flying brought; and it was his first flight, too, his first giddy rush. This was technically the day of his birth, after all, being that before now, he'd only slept inside Reggie's soul...

...but he was here for a purpose. This Dark Hour, and every Dark Hour that was to follow, he had to fight. That was why he was here: to destroy Shadows, to protect this town, and to protect his Channeler.

Booted feet touched down on the broad, sweeping expanse of grass that made up the front lawn of Yasogami High. Rather than cheery green interlaced with paths of clean white concrete, the grass and sidewalks had dulled to grey, a monochromatic sheet uninviting of guests. The whitewashed outer walls of the building echoed back the fell green glow streaming from the sky.

Nary a handful of seconds passed after Chrono set his Channeler down on the ground before another Shadow reared its head...or what passed for one. Black hands stretched out of puddles of shadow on the ground, groping upward for prey before pulling themselves out of the void, coalescing into the same image of the monster they'd fought in Reg's backyard, blue Tragedy mask staring eyelessly at the pair. Another Shadow soon joined its brother, yawning up from its own pool of darkness.

Chrono's fingers curled into claws. One long-legged stride put his body between the Shadows and Reg. But he stayed motionless, waiting for her command.

[Meryck]

Reg blinked, confusedly. What was he waiting for?

Most heroines would be terrified at this point, and betrayed that their guardian didn't immediately protect them. Reggie just got annoyed, trigger finger itching.

"Uhhhh. What are you standing around for? There's Shadows right in front of you, and if we aren't running away, and you're not gonna kill them, I'd like to know so I can prepare to be eaten."