The Fallen Soul

The shrill ringing of the end of school bell snapped Nathan out of his daze. He was mentally tired still from the events overnight. He grabbed his notebook and noticed the mindless doodles he had been making during the class. Interlocking gears covered the margins of his page, very few actual notes had been written. He shut the notebook and put it away with his pencils.

“NATHAN!” Tiffany’s voice pierced his thoughts and he jumped away before looking at her. She had pale blue jeans and a purple top on. Her hair was back up in the ponytail on top of her hair with a red scrunchie, her bright green eyes glimmered with excitement.

“Sheesh… you nearly scared me to death…” Nathan recomposed himself and continued to pack his belongings away.

“Well you weren’t responding so… but anyways, my parents are coming back into town, and was thinking you could use the socialization…” Tiffany’s smile was as bright as ever.

“Oh, sorry…” with Nathan’s parents’ jobs they would be home late so he had time to hang out. “Uh… sure…” he slung his bag over his shoulder and walked out of the class with Tiffany.

“So where is your family from? My mother’s family originally came from Egypt; my father’s family came from England but that was long ago” Tiffany bounced as she walked through the hallway and out of the school with Nathan.

“Oh, uh… I’m pretty sure both sides came from Germany… We don’t talk ancestry much… We don’t talk much anyways…” Nathan’s voice kept trailing off every time he thought of his family.

“Oh? Don’t your parents ever ask you about school or just want to talk?” Tiffany was still as happy as ever even though such a family dynamic confused her.

“Um… no, we never get to talk…” Nathan’s voice trailed off and he quickly had to snap his attention back to the conversation. “My parents work near constantly so there’s very few times we really interact… Moving up here I feel like we aren’t really going to do much for the holidays…” Family has always been an awkward subject for Nathan. His parent’s had been distant from as long as he remembered. His parents’ had been told that Nathan had been too intelligent to receive federally funded Preschool, he could remember the look of exasperation they had when looking for someone to watch him.

When Nathan snapped out of his daze, they had made it almost to the bus station. Tiffany had tilted her head, her hair blowing in the gentle breeze from the west. Nathan shivered as the breeze passed by him. Something felt wrong about the road today.

“You sure do daze out often…” looking up the road she could see the bus on the horizon. “That’s them! They’re almost home again!” Tiffany got excited and was trembling, business had called them away but now they were returning.

Nathan noticed a snap of blue and orange around the bus, and it started to skid out of control. Nathan flinched at the sound of metal at asphalt, being unable to react to get to Atlas. If he was unable to summon they were as good as dead, as well as the passengers.

“No! Mom! Dad!” Tiffany had panicked instantly; her family was everything to her. Losing them would leave her lost in the world. She buckled under the anxiety, collapsing to the ground. The bus was swerving all over the road as it approached them.

Nathan collapsed in a panic attack, her saw blood dripping onto the ground and looked up. Dark brown mottled fur filled his vision but as his vision cleared he saw hooves digging into the asphalt, the bus screeching to a halt. The new figure slumped unto the ground, dissolving into a card in front of Nathan. He could now recognize the figure; it had been a Minotaur, the card titled ‘XI-MINOTAUR’ glowing in front of him. Nathan finally collapsed onto the concrete sidewalk.

“Nathan! Oh God he’s bleeding from his head…” Tiffany had rushed over to his unconscious body and remembered the Bus. “No… They’re hurt too…” the stress was all too much on Tiffany, and all of a sudden her head felt as if it was splitting open.

“I art thou, Joy is to be shared the world, not suffering.” A woman stepped over to Nathan, she laid her hand on his head and when she lifted it a gel had been spread on his wound. She turned fully to Tiffany revealing the rest of her appearance; her face was very similar to an Abyssinian cat. A smile spread over her face as she turned towards the bus and entered it.

Nathan regained consciousness as the woman stepped out of the bus. Her skin was lightly tanned, free of any blemishes. The fur of her face seamlessly blended with her skin on her chest. Her white tunic fluttered in the breeze as she slowly started to fade. “Another Persona?” he looked around for another card but found nothing.

Tiffany had ended up passing out away from Nathan. He grabbed the Minotaur card and pocketed it. As he walked towards Tiffany he saw the shimmering blue glow of a card in her hand. As he turned to look at the bus Belladonna, Nameless, and Mr. Akuma walked over and Nameless picked up Tiffany.

“Seems like we arrived just in time, Akuma go check the bus…” Belladonna lead Nameless over to a bench away from the wreckage and began to sing. The notes resonated through the still air, vibrating into Nathan’s head.

Nathan recognized the song now; it was the song he heard in Victor’s office and in the Velvet Room. “What is this song and why is she singing?” Nathan looked to Nameless; with her eyes closed Belladonna was completely oblivious to his question.

“Ah, this is the Aria of the Soul…” Nameless chuckled as her sat Tiffany on the bench, “… she is repairing her soul and psyche. Initially summoning a persona can severely harm one’s being. She will be able to summon personas on her own, as well summon other Arcana such you did with Minotaur…” Nameless moved his head as if he was surveying the damage, “you’re quite the box of surprises, aren’t you?”

“What do you mean?” Nathan flinched as he felt a poke in his side and turned to see Mr. Akuma. He held out another card, the face where a persona would be was blank besides the faint mark of the Hanged Man in the background. “Um… its blank…”

“Ah, It’s a Creating card…” Nameless chuckled, “quite the rarity, keep the card it should form a Persona when you need it. And you won’t have to worry about all the bleeding and headaches…”

Nathan pocketed the card, “why does it hurt so much to summon?” Nathan rubbed his head; there was still a numb pain now that he thought about it.

“Well because Minotaur isn’t your arcana it hurts more to project him, with Atlas, he was your first persona summoning. When you summon more Hanged Man it will get easier to do, as for other Arcana, it’s best you make friends…” Nameless turned towards Belladonna as she finished singing.

“She shall be safe… Nathan leave the rest to us, we will make sure that everyone gets home safely… please go home, you shall be called in tonight with Tiffany.” Nathan nodded and turned to walk back to his house, the fatigue catching up with him.