Persona - Mask of Origins

Yuki curled up in her bed and sighed.

 

Shemhazi appeared in front of him, causing him to fall backwards onto the pavement. "Master Daieko wishes to see you now. You will come." She turned away, not giving him the chance to object. Zain picked himself up and followed her. "Why is this happening to me? Why am I suddenly wanting to devour Yuki? I thought Daieko's potion would stop the cravings!?"

 

Yuki found that she couldn't sleep. Her illusion faded involuntarily and she stretched her black wings.

 

Shemhazi didn't reply. If she hadn't heard him he wouldn't have known. Zain sullenly followed her to Daieko's large house. Inside, it was still littered with fragments of shadows and some humans afflicted with Zain's same fate.

 

Yuki went out for a flight.

 

Finding Daieko hidden behind piles of books and chemistry things, Zain growled his greeting, "You said you wanted to see me?" His head snapped up, "Yes, yes, I need you to go and...uh, and...y'know Zain, I can't really remember. I've been lonely as a shadow and I fear I'll be even lonlier when the cure takes effect. Some.....some of the side effects are...um, memory loss, fatigue and....uh a few other things I don't remember."

Zain watched him, "What are you saying....you....you took the cure?! Daieko! There'd better be another one for me!" Daieko shook his head, "I wanted to be human, I needed to be human. You don't understand. I'm...i'm..." his head dropped onto the table and passed out. Shemhazi shoved Zain out the door and left him there, staring blankly at the door, to shocked to move.

 

Yuki landed on a tall building and looked at the moon. She became lost in her thoughts.

 

Zain couldn't believe Daieko had left him as a shadow. A progressing shadow while he'd taken the cure and saved himself. Oddly comfortable, he started to walk, no where in mind but just for the sake of moving. His mind completely empty.

 

Yuki caught sight of Zain. She flew over his head.

"What happened, Zain?"

 

Zain looked up, his eyes blank, "I'm going to remain a shadow forever. To live and die as a shadow. Daieko...he's human now, leaving me as a shadow."

 

"I can't believe he did that! After all the work you went through to help make that cure." Yuki shouted. Rage burned in her eyes as her wings turned demonic.

 

Zain, not looking where he was going, tripped and slowly picked himself up again. "Don't worry about it Yuki...I'm sure...he had no intention of giving that cure to me in the first place. Daieko does what he wants. He's a lot stronger than I am, why shouldn't he? He'll...accomplish a lot more than I can as a human." Zain doubted it, but he had to believe some good would come from Daieko being human. "I should move out, back to the Orphanage, before your dream comes true." he mumbled, glancing away from her.

 

"You're not going anywhere. Daieko will make you another cure, or I'll end his now human life."

 

Zain jerked his head up, "But Yuki...it took a long time to make that one and he'd had half of it done before he found me. Who knows how long a second one from scratch would take." His blank eyes sparked back to life and he stopped walking, "I don't want to rely on someone to make me a cure who's already human. Spending time with him, I may want to rip his head off. You've no idea how bad this has gotten. Y'know, not to put the spotlight on me. Belive me, the worst I could do is make myself the center of attention for everyone."

 

Yuki sighed. She couldn't think straight now.

 

He smiled slightly, "Don't worry, I'll still come around. Just...sort of live at the Orphanage. It's abandoned and I don't think Lady Shiv can come back from the dead, so I'll be fine."

 

"So I guess I'll be all alone again." Yuki said with a deep sigh.

 

Reaching up toward the stars, Zain light-heartedly chuckled, "If you want, I can still show up around dark. It'll be like nothing changed, except I can't sleep there. I'm sorry Yuki, but this....craving....has gotten worse again. I'll find a way to sate it so I can move back home."

 

"I guess that would be fine. Maybe you can find a cure at the same time."

 

He nodded, "I certainly won't give up looking. Daieko may have forgotten, but I have not. His deals with the shadows...I can do them too. They're like people when you're one of them." He'd forgotten he'd never told Yuki about Daieko's dealings with shadows.