Infinitely Zero (SMT/Worm)

Posting this from over on SB and SV

Infinitely Zero

Prologue I - The End
​

Life was coming to an end.​

In his final moments he had thought about his decision, the decision that he had made because he was a coward. His heart had clenched, his blood racing, even as he tried to remain a calm facade. The decision to fight fate, to fight death itself or to live the rest of his days in blissful ignorance that the world was going to end was one that he had put much thought into. His friends would agree with whatever he chose, but he knew they were much more willing than he was. In the end he had chickened out, however he had not attained true ignorance.

Sure, for a few months he had lived without knowledge of Tartarus and S.E.E.S, but it hadn't lasted. March 5th, as he enjoyed karaoke with Junpei and Yukari, his memories had come back and he’d felt sick. So very sick. Everything was wrong, so very wrong. He’d excused himself giving some excuse because he couldn't be around those people that were Junpei and Yukari, but weren't. He ran away from the Karaoke bar and towards where the door to the Velvet Room should, to see if he could fix this, to see if he could do anything to fix his mistake.

It was futile, going to that small dead end he found nothing. It was in that moment that he saw her, that blonde girl that he’d met for the first time only days ago, though that wasn't quite true. The girl was Aigis, he knew this and somehow he felt as if she knew it too as she looked at him with sad green eyes as the clock striked 12. Her final words as the world ended being just as sad as her eyes.

“If only you had remembered sooner, Makoto.”

And then, without warning or any chance of stopping it The Fall occurred as he cried out to the world in regret. Regret, as he had doomed the world when his friends were all more than willing to help him ascend Tartarus and stop this from ever happening. As his consciousness started to slip away into the bliss of death, he saw those two people who had been a constant throughout his journey and had helped him down the road he’d followed. He forced himself to try and go them, even as the sweet whispers in his ear telling him to just let go got louder.

The familiar ever ascending elevator and pure blue velvet colored room was something that surprised him. Though, more importantly the ever-grinning Igor and Elizabeth stared at him with a look that made him feel even worse than he did. He tried to keep himself stoic, it was better than breaking down at this point.

“Ah, dear guest...I had not expected you to be able reach this room once more. I suppose one with a power as unique as yours can surpass even my expectations,” The long-nose fellow known as Igor chuckled as he looked at Makoto, though the grin on his face never quite reached his eyes. “However, I suppose now is not the time for jokes. As you can see your world is ending, something I believe is a result from not completing your journey.”

Makoto winced at that and stared down at the floor, wanting to avoid the stares of not only Igor but also Elizabeth. The white haired elevator attendant stared at him with a look that made his heart clench, he didn't want to look at her golden eyes anymore.

“Dear guest, please do not worry. As I said before, no matter what you're decision was so long as you abide by the contract you signed so long ago. However,” For the first time since his meetings with Igor, Makoto saw the man stop grinning. “The events that have transpired are quite unfortunate, the event known as the Fall has come to pass. Even as we speak the outside world is slowly coming to an end. I fear this is one the worst possible course of events that could occur, there is nothing I could do to help you at this point. It is unknown to even myself why you came here now, or even how. Fate is quite unusual, is it not?”

“I refuse,” His words were short and to the point as he got up from his seat. “I refuse to let things end like this, I refuse to let all of our efforts go to waste just because of my mistake. I’ll fix things...even if it kills me.”

As he faded away from the Velvet Room, his last sight was of Elizabeth, reaching an arm out to him. He smiled at her, even though she could see that it didn't really reach his eyes; and then he was gone. Igor simply grinned as tarot cards lied on the table in front of him, the promise of a new journey in the cards.

Makoto’s footsteps were heavy as he ran, things weren't over yet. He still had to graduate with his friends, he remembered all of the promises that he had made and he refused to let them end in ruin because of this. He saw the faces of all those people that had given him purpose; Kenji, Fuuka, Mitsuru, Hidetoshi, Bunkichi and Mitsuko, Yukari, Kazushi, Chihiro, Maya, Keisuke, Yuko, Maiko, Bebe, Mr. Tanaka, Mutatsu, Mamoru, Nozomi, Akinari, Aigis, Pharos, and Elizabeth. They were his world, no, his universe. He refused to go back to his lonely existence his bonds meant everything.

“Hmm, what a fascinating development.”

The voice that appeared from nowhere made him stop, looking around the street he was on he noted it was worryingly empty. There wasn’t just a lack of people, but also a lack of coffins as well. Looking around, the only thing he saw in sight was a woman. She didn’t look like anything special; The woman was pale and had blonde hair that was adorned with a goat-head hair clip, along with this she wore a simple blue dress and was strangely barefoot. Her eyes were what put him on guard, besides the fact that it was seemingly the Dark Hour and someone besides himself was active during it, each were a different color. One red and one blue.

“I suppose this is why some Demons emerge from humans, to protect their psyche from this Nyx…,” Turning her eyes towards Makoto she spoke with a small smile on her face. “However, I suppose this is not of much importance to you. I believe I can offer you some assistance in accomplishing your current goal. Would you like my help?”

He didn’t know if he could trust this woman, the odd feeling he got from her told him that she was much more than she appeared to be, but he didn’t have time to think things through. The more he stood around, the less time he had. So, even if his instincts were telling him this was not a good idea, he nodded his head at the woman as a sign he would accept her help.

“Good choice, this wouldn’t be much of a world if humans no longer existed. No freedom nor will, only mindless husks would remain, a terrible fate indeed.”

Pausing for a second she snapped her fingers and the effect was near instant. Things felt like they were swirling, distorting, what did she do he thought?

“Now, go. Go and change fate.”

Things twisted and distorted more and more until things looked like they had been twisted thrice over, becoming a mangled caricature of itself. It was a decidedly odd experience seeing things like this, he didn’t like it. He was surprised when the view changed suddenly, and the moon was much closer than it had been a moment ago. He’d think about the how part of his sudden teleportation up here later…

He had bigger problems to deal with now.

Looking up at the giant eye-like moon, he reached inside of himself to find the power that had always been with him. A sea overflowing with different facets of himself, even if he didn’t have an Evoker any longer their power was still his. Looking at the foe that was more than likely to defeat him, he stated that word that had started his Journey for the final time.

“Per-so-na.”

​

 

Infinitely Zero

Afterthought - The Rouge​

The being stood there staring at where the Fool had went to confront what would be the changing point in his life. The chances of success were slim, he knew this to be true, but he hadn’t placed his faith in the Fool lightly. In a world that had not gone through Conception, he was truly unique. His strength now wasn’t anything special, but that wasn’t what he cared about, it was the infinite potential that was there.

The possibilities were literally endless, and that was something very interesting. However, as he was now it was guaranteed that he would die against Nyx. There was simply no way for him to bridge the gap between power, unless of course he managed to call upon the power that lie within him. So...he would have to take this matter into his own hands, someone with such potential could be the person needed to go forth with his plans.

Turning slightly he caught a glimpse of a black butterfly, it was going towards the tower known as Tartarus. He could only chuckle at this, it seemed that he wasn’t the only one with a vested interest in the boy. He’d have to make sure the interloper knew how he felt about such a thing.

His wings unfurled around him as Lucifer took flight, off to save a fool.

 

Infinitely Zero

Chapter I - To waltz with…​

Watching the clock slowly tick by, I thought to myself that these last 5 minutes of class were going by too slow for my liking.

I sat in the classroom bored, my head was down on the desk, my earphones played a irritatingly catchy song that I had downloaded on impulse. I had tried to remain focused, but at the moment it seemed like a near impossible task. It wasn’t the teacher’s fault, he actually seemed to be rather enthusiastic about his job if I was being honest, it was the fact that I had already learned all of this. In subjects like Math and English, well, it wouldn’t be false to say that I was years ahead of them. It was...annoying to have to go through classes like this.

“Okay class, now I know I said that today was going to be a bit lax due to spring recess just ending, but I still need to hand-out homework,” The rest of the class groaned at Mr. Devin as he pulled a stack of papers off his desk. “This is a simple assessment of your basic Calculus skills, so as to make sure that the lessons you’ve learned so far haven’t faded due to a week of non-stop partying.” He finished dryly as he quickly went around desk-to-desk giving each of us the work.

While I waited for him to get around to me, I thought about what I knew of the man. From what I had heard, Mr. Devin had transferred here from New York a short while ago and still had remnants of an accent, but I never really heard it. He was tall, about 6 feet or so if I had to make a guess, and had short slicked black hair. His skin was a bit tanned but still rather fair, more notable was the small scar on his cheek that he’d apparently had gotten from a break-up he had before getting this job. Out of the teachers I had, he was probably the youngest being only in his 30’s.

“Mr. Yuki, I hope you’re quite confident in your math skills seeing as you weren’t paying attention in my class today. Even if you think you’re just that smart, remember that the early bird catches the bookworm.” Placing the paper on my desk, he moved on to the next desk as I twitched a bit at the lame pun that he had just made.

The classroom quickly started to devolve into a series of chatter and noisy voices that made me wish that I still had my old MP3 player and headphones to block it all out. The ones I had now simply weren’t good enough. Students chatted back and forth around me about mundane stuff like; what boys they thought were cute, what they planned to do after-school, how they were totally going to cheat on the homework, and other things like that. I disliked all the noise and decided to just pack up my belongings now, hoping that the bell would ring so I could get out of here.

The bell rang soon after with a soothing ding-dong as I finished putting my things away. It was finally lunch time. Rising up out of my seat a bit, I was about to start making my way towards the door only for a loud voice to suddenly interrupt me.

“Makoto-san,” Turning my head slightly I saw him, Naoki Managi, one of the other Japanese students that were in my class. He had short black hair and grey eyes, his skin was strangely pale for someone who spent as much time outside as he did, and he was an inch or two shorter than me. The ever-present blue hoodie that he wore made him stand out in a crowd if only because he’d worn it since the beginning of the year. “What’s up? Classes still being boring as usual?”

“I guess.” I said noncommittally as I picked up my bag, slinging it over my shoulder as I made my way out of the door, Naoki following behind me with his arms behind his head.

“Yeah, Calculus has gotta suck man, introducing all these letters was a killer for me in Algebra. I can’t even imagine doing the stuff Mr. Devin has you guys doing.” Naoki said with a sigh as we walked towards the lunchroom. It really wasn’t that bad, in my opinion, but I did have an unfair advantage of course.

“Hey! Naoki,” As soon as we entered, a voice yelled from across the room. Getting up from a table off in the corner was a tall asian guy with a green and red scarf. The green and red colors that the guy wore let me identify what he was apart of immediately, the Asian Bad Boyz. Or maybe he just really liked Christmas? I doubted it, it was March after all. “You got the stuff that I asked for?”

“Yeah, of course,” I watched silently as Naoki reached into his book-bag and pulled out...a smaller black bag that seemed rather full of something. “Here ya go Sudou.”

Snatching the bag out of Naoki’s hands, Sudou looked around a moment before stuffing the bag into his shirt. “Thanks…” He muttered gruffly before walking back over to his table. This seemed immensely sketchy, but I knew Naoki wouldn’t think of it like that. He was a bit too nice for his own good, helping out others and being way too trusting. I knew for a fact that it was going to get him in trouble one day, and I think that he knew too.

“What did he have you get him, Naoki?”

“Uh, he just wanted me to pick something up for him that he left around the Boardwalk. I thought that it’d be rude to pry, so I didn’t actually open it up. It felt pretty heavy though.”

“...Did it ever occur to you that this guy had you pick up something illegal for him?”

“What? Sudou would never do something like that, he’s had me pick up stuff before and it was never anything illegal. Heck, I picked up a book for the guy from a bookstore a couple weeks ago, ya gonna tell me his book was illegal? I think you’re just worrying too much man, anyway Ms. Knott asked me to help her with some stuff so I’ll see ya later man.” Running off before I could respond, I simply shook my head at him. I hoped that if he ever did mess up or something bad happened, I was there to make sure he didn’t die.

Going and grabbing my lunch, I quickly exited the cafeteria. I didn’t like eating food with all these people around, even after all I’ve been through I guess I’m still not the social type. I planned on asking one of my teachers if I could eat in there room, but as I walked back to Mr. Devin’s room I noticed something. It was a group of girls, they were surrounding something or maybe someone. Focusing in a bit, I saw who they were surrounding.

The girl was tall, at least an inch or so taller than me, but gangly. She wore glasses and had long dark hair, her clothes were a simple sweat-hoodie and some jeans. Overall she looked rather plain, however I still needed to know why the girls were surrounding her. Stepping a bit closer, he could hear their voices better and the things they were saying.

“Oh Taylor’s such a slut.”

“A guy wouldn’t want to touch her with a ten foot pole.”

“She’s so ugly.”

“Probably the ugliest girl in the school.”

“Obviously, she’s just an idiot. Doesn’t she know that nobody likes here?”

They continued on with insults and other disparaging comments even as the girl, Taylor if there words were to be believed, stood there. The annoyed look on her face made me think that she was used to dealing with such a thing, that wouldn’t do. No one should have to get used to being bullied, I hated bullies.

Despite the group of girls being huddled rather close together, I still had more than enough reach and strength to pull the girl out from the group as I felt my power shift within me. Dragging her away and into the classroom I had planned on going to while the girls stood there in shock was easy, people didn’t expect a guy like me to do things like that after all.

I paced my stuff down on a desk and looked around a bit, Mr. Devin wasn’t here. That was weird, but I suppose it worked out for me. Mr. Devin would likely ask question about why I had just dragged this random girl in here and might kick us out, yeah there was definitely less to worry about without him here. Though, thinking about that made me think about what Taylor thought was going on, should probably clear that up.

Looking over at her she seemed...perplexed, and a bit anxious. I suppose being dragged around, or in this situation away, by some random guy you had never met before. I stared at her a bit, watching her try and work up some sort of nerve before finally she spoke.

“Who set you up to this?” Her voice hardened a bit.

“No one, I didn’t even know of you till today.” I answered honestly.

“Why should I believe you?”

“Hmm, you have no reason to.”

That made her go silent, If I had to make a guess, she was currently wondering whether I was being genuine or not. I didn’t know anything about her situation, I knew nothing of her and I wouldn’t pretend that I did.

“...Then why?”

“Because, you looked like someone that needed help.”

I am thou…

Thou art I…

The moment man devoured the fruit of knowledge, they sealed their fate... Entrusting their future to the cards, they cling to a dim hope.

Thou have made a genuine bond of the Reversed Death Arcana.