No Longer a Magician

The ARCANA are strange and powerful representations of oneself. For those who wield the power of PERSONA, these Arcana are what separate them. For many users, they remain IGNORANT of the complexity of the Arcana. Under 90% of normal circumstances, Persona users only have one Arcana.

              Yosuke Hanamura was one of the few exceptions.

Please LIKE or REBLOG if you are interested in interacting with an Arcana Inheritance (AU) Yosuke Hanamura from Persona 4.

Their team never seemed to catch a break, did it?

The last fight was pure hell, and Adachi personally didn’t want to think about it for a few months solid at the very least, and he didn’t even suffer the brunt of the emotional bullshit that most of the brats around here had to. Tensions of course were going to be high, and in anticipation, he learned how to mute all the main chats just so he wouldn’t get so worked up about whatever weird comforting or arguments would result from it.

Maybe it was for the best that he was charmed by Eclipse right after, he mused to to himself as he popped the top on a can of soda and took a drink, making his way down the hallway. And thank god to everything out there that his team was decent enough to make sure no one else heard or saw him.

Thanks to Eclipse, he’d been working a little on making sure that he tried his damnedest not to hide behind masks anymore. He thought he’d stopped when his identity as the Inaba killer had been revealed, but he knew deep down that his smug attitude to everyone he wanted to think he saw as beneath him, and the indifferent demeanor to those who had managed to worm their way past the immense emotional wall he’d built around himself… those were fronts, too. And the members of this team weren’t going to let him hide anymore.

Maybe it was for the best. Just in general. Whatever the hell he was feeling now, this mess of emotions, telling them all his sappiest feelings when he was charmed and now, giving the Leader a kind of tirade on responsibility like he was Dojima-san… it was at least more interesting than his everlasting boredom in solitary confinement. That’s at least what he told himself. But maybe it was doing something to the weird ice around his heart that had started to melt.

The Leader - Sarus - had wanted to talk to him. Adachi had to admit he wasn’t pissed anymore, but was still a little peeved, if that made sense. The kid had hidden a lot, and the “whiny tantrum-throwing brat“ part of Adachi’s mind wanted to complain that the kid getting to hide things and then apologize and act like it wasn’t a big deal wasn’t fair, but he shook it off. Right now it’s just important to make sure that they don’t die in the next fight.

Used all his life to walking as quietly as possible, Adachi was practically silent as he made his way to where he and Sarus had agreed to meet. He muttered something to himself that Adachi only caught snippets of; his attention was mostly directed at the weird little persona - which had to be Narukami-kun, if he got his facts straight - playing on one of the little video game systems he had. He did a little double-take at the sight before shaking his head.

“Sounds like you’re thinking hard.”

He finally speaks up from behind the other, taking another sip of his drink.

“Well, what did you want to talk about? Something that we didn’t say before? Or did you want me to call you a dumbass again? That offer’s always on the table.”

“If all I wanted was for you to call me a dumbass again, I wouldn’t have had you come all the way over here to do that.”

Sarus replied with a small smile on his face. While Adachi’s sudden appearance did spook the Fool-Magician, he didn’t visibly react to the scare. Though Adachi did have good timing as lunch was about done. All that was left was for him to plate it and then they could enjoy their meal. Or at least he hoped that Adachi enjoyed his meal. This was his default meal choice for when he had to go bother his Adachi for a few hours doing chain fusions.

“I thought long and hard about what you and the others said in the chat. About being honest with my feelings, and telling you guys what I need. Most importantly, not keeping secrets from everyone else.”

Sarus started off as he plated their lunch. It was clear by his body language and tone of voice that he was taking this conversation very seriously. He was a dumbass for thinking that he had to pretend to be like every other Wildcard here. While the source of power for many were similar, the journeys and evolution of that power was all different. He knew that he shouldn’t be ashamed of his short comings compared to the others. However, that was something much easier said than done. 

“Honestly, I feel like I should be able to micro manage my Personas and still give good directions to the team during these massive fights. In reality, it’s too much to manage. The team itself is getting too large for me to remember everyone’s positions and weaknesses. Then to take that information and make a sound decision on what Persona I should use.”

He continued on while finishing plating their lunch. Just like he said in the IMs it was two eel rolls with a few other side dishes that he felt like went well with the rolls. Sarus wasn’t sure if this would be to the other’s standard, but given that this was bribery food he wasn’t too worried.

Yet here he is.

He lost team members before the last fight even started. He couldn’t focus enough to switch off a Persona that was weak to the element the Shadow was using. He couldn’t give important instructions to his team when they needed him. Outside of the one skill he was able to use once he swapped Personas... he ended up being more of a hinderance than an aid. 

Working on making the lunch he promised Adachi, Sarus ran through what he needed to say to the other Persona user. A few things got talked about as a group, yet there was more to be said. He glanced up from his cutting board to see Yu in the corner with headphones on and playing on a Switch. There’s still things about this that the Fool-Magician didn’t understand. Like how he was able to hear things with no ears, but that was a talk for later.

Returning his attention back to the food, he took a deep breath. He didn’t need to ask why Yu wasn’t being vocal, Sarus already knew. This was his team, not Yu’s. He was the one who needed to talk to the others about what his needs are. There was no need to be ashamed of his shortcomings, and how he has restrictions compared to someone like Coffee or Ori. This was his power and there was nothing to be ashamed of. 

He hasn’t found himself in this kind of headspace since the Investigation Team nearly fractured because of the accident. A hollow laugh came from the Fool-Magician’s lip, the irony of the situation. He’s having this conversation because he’s concerned about being able to do his job properly. Just like he did about five year ago, where he admitted being concerned about filling Yu’s shoes. The main difference here is that he hasn’t frozen a Navigator on accident because he wasn’t used to controlling Bufu spells yet.

“Hah, maybe I haven’t grown as much as I thought I did since everything changed.”

Regardless... lunch is almost done, which means Adachi should be showing up anytime now.

Setting the phone down, Yu looked at his hands and then to the kitchen that was nearby. Would it even be feasible for him to cook like this? At just around 2 feet tall, navigating the kitchen may be a bit difficult. Though it was worth a try. With that, he pushed himself off of his seat and walked over to the kitchen. 

“Maybe Onigiri would be easy enough to make.”

Sarus mumbled to himself as he sat in the medical bay. He got several second degree burns across his body from the fight, most likely from when he insisted on keeping Lakshmi out despite the obvious fire weakness. While everything was bandaged and ready to go, they wanted to keep him there for a day to make sure nothing got infected. Given the amount of goo there was in the club by the end of the fight... it wasn’t a bad idea.

Sarus thought that he was strong enough to keep taking those hits back to back. Lakshmi was the only Persona he had that had group support skills after all. Unfortunately, he never did quite find the right opportunity to use his skills, either someone beat him to the punch or it wasn’t needed at the time. However, he wanted to stick to the plan to try and make sure that his team had someone who could  cure ailments. Though it  was obvious how good that did when he ended up passing out from exhaustion due to the constant waves of fire. It wasn’t until he was healed the second time did he finally switch to his main Persona.... just to do some damage and then panic. 

A bandaged hand ran through his hair... that’s what he spent  most of his time doing the last few days wasn’t it? Panicking, stressing over things he couldn’t change. The sleep deprevation from the music didn’t help his judgement calls and it made it hard for him to even be a Wildcard. But still.... maybe someone else should lead the team. He was just thankful that no one died due to his incompetence. Again.

Yosuke glanced at the various places spread out across the table. Asking for her passport status wasn’t going to be easy if he wanted to surprise her. Then again, given her line of work it was probably a bad idea to spring such a large trip on her. But after everything they’ve been through, some time away from everything wouldn’t hurt. 

“Then again...  surprising her with something this big is probably a recipe for disaster.”

He mumbled to himself as he stared down at the various locations. Hawaii, New York, Paris, London were all locations listed on the various sheets of paper and then some. He had enough money saved up from their time in the TV World plus his job to make sure that this was a financially sound trip.

Kaylah was one of the last people he wanted to see charmed. Those arrows were obviously deadly seeing that the Shadow was currently poisoned by them. They needed to get her un-charmed as soon as possible, especially before she does some serious damage with those arrows.

“Knock me down once, shame on you.  Knock me down twice, shame on me.”

Knives were firmly grasped in his hand as he searched for a very familiar presence within his soul. Grabbing onto his original power, the outline of Lakshmi shimmered away, replacing it was Takehaya Susano-o. Something shifted in Sarus’ readings as the Magician Persona took form behind him. Gone was the Fool Aura around him, replaced with the Magician Aura. 

Probably. 

Though the consequence of not being able to switch is after the 4th Maragion hit him, the last of Sarus’ strength gave out. He wavered on his feet for a few moments before falling forward on his face.

“I’m sorr-”

The last Maragion left the Fool-Magician shaky on his feet. He could smell the scent of burnt fabric and his skin aching from the high intensity heat being thrown across the battlefield. However... he did not fall. He had things he had to fight for, and he would move heaven and hell if it meant he could protect them.

“Burn me all you want you dammed Shadow but I’m not going to fall. My team is relying on them to protect their backs and that’s what I’m determined to do! I’ve already let one of them slip through my fingers, and recklessly let one willingly go! I’ll be dammed if I’ll let you have any more of them without putting up one hell of a fight!”

He took a step forward, teeth bared as he glared at the Lovers Shadow the source  of so much heartache throughout this current battle and the last few days. He didn’t know if Coffee or the rest of team 2 could hear him from his current location, but that didn’t matter to him. 

“I said that I wasn’t leaving this place without my entire team by my side and I’m not breaking that promise! No one is staying charmed by your side and no one is dying tonight if I have even the slightest say in it!”

“I need a minute.”

Who knew there would come a day where an OTTER would be considered a maximum level threat. A single hand covers part of his face as he just stands there baffled at what  his life had come to.

Seeing his teammate so happy with the enemy made Sarus feel sick to his stomach. He nearly dropped his phone in shock... and guilt. He turned and left the group as quickly as possible and retreated into his room. The resolve he had started to waver. The music started to get louder and it was harder to think straight. Doubts he thought that were already taken care of came rushing back to him. 

Incompetency... Failure... His fault... He should have thought of that...

He had to let someone know he was slipping. They were one night out from the fight and the team already had a plan. So much would be derailed if he fell under the Shadow’s control now of all times. With shaky hands he opened up the leader’s chat and let them know he was slipping. 

Then Yu said something. It caught Sarus off guard to see him speak like this. Even back home, he couldn’t recall a time where Yu was this.... aggressive? In his words. It took a few moments for him to understand what Yu was saying. He didn’t even notice that he responded to Yu and Vivi’s comments until after the message was sent. 

It was all of his emotions laid out nice and neat for everyone to see. The stress, guilt, the pain, and the fear. Yet despite that, the one person he feared learning the dark truth of his past. The one person that he never wanted to know what really happened in his timeline... not only knew what happened but still called him strong. 

A tormented laugh erupted from the Fool-Magician’s lips as he dropped his phone on the ground. It was just like Yu to see the potential that Sarus had,  even if he lost sight of it himself. That’s right, he still had the rest of the team to look after. They were counting on him to keep his head in the game for the fight tomorrow. 

He let Coffee slip through his fingers once, and Sarus promised himself not to do it again. He’s not leaving the dance club until he’s got both of his team members back to their senses and out of harms way.

“We are bringing everyone home... alive! Fuck this music, fuck this Shadow. We aren’t leaving that dammed club until we have every single one of our friends back!”

He pulled the kunai hidden under his shirt and stabbed into the wall behind him. Using the Kunai as leverage, Sarus pushed himself into a standing position, pulling the blades out of the wall. A confident smile was on his lips. He knew that his resolve was firm and that everything is going to be alright... for real this time. 

“Heh... of course it’s always Yu who makes me wake up and see the truth in front of  me.”

Though before he could do anything with his Persona, he saw an attack go after Rise’s area. A part of him hoped that it would do some damage so that way she would stop buffing the  Shadow. But then he saw a VERY familiar shield come up and he got worried. The information first relayed to his team because it was the chat he had opened and then to the group.