Pheonix Persona (co written fanstory)

Lucid dreams are something that your used to, far more than most people are. You are used to visions of the dreamscape, your inner world, and images of horrors and death that come to you far too often. But this dream is none of those things. You sit in a low ceilinged, long room completly covered in shades of blue, windows show a strange blue haze outside and curtains line the edge of the ceiling. it seems so real, far more real than any dream you've ever had, you are dazed by it until a voice breaks the silence

" Oh my, it seems we have a very intriguing guest," You head turns and you take in the form of a small, strange man with a long nose and bloodshot eyes sitting across from you with a low table in front of him, "will you please introduce yourself young miss?"

You pause before answering, your mind feeling a tad bit hazy despite the clearness of your surroundings. "Y-Yes," you finally manage, "I'm Ash... A-Ash Izumi, sir."
You bow your head slightly. Looking up, you notice there is a third person in the room; a woman with blonde hair and an elegant blue suit. You smile shyly at her and she nods her head in a formal way.
You wring your hands a bit in your lap and turn to the odd-looking man again. "I'm, I'm sorry, sir, but... could you please tell me who you are? And where I am? I-If it's not too much trouble, of course."

"hmm.. i see," the strange man responds to your introduction with a low chuckle, the kind of chuckle used by someone laughing at a Joke only they understand, "My Name is Igor young Lady, and this," he waves his hand in gesture, " Is a place that Exists between dream and reailty, mind and matter," Igor's bloodshot eyes focus on you, " Only those Bound by a Contract may enter this room, and its been quite awhile since we had such a visitor," he chuckles in that strange way again, "How long ago was it? five years? or maybe Six now?" he makes a gesture with his hand, "oh but im getting off track, were here to talk about you, Miss, you and your oh so intriuging destiny." he waves his hand over the table and a deck of cards materializes, "Tell me miss, " his bloodshot eyes focus on you squarely, "do you believe in Fortune telling?"

As a matter of fact, you do. Although you tend to favor the astrological method, you accept all forms of fortune telling as plausible, despite the constant teasing of a certain alternate personality slash voice in your head. A close friend of yours frequently has visions of the future courtesy of his magic artifact, so you feel it would be a little silly if you didn't believe. Instead of saying all of that, you decide to tell the odd man that yes, yes you do.
You realize that something feels a bit off, but what could it be? A slightly uneasy feeling creeps into your stomach and you do your best to ignore it.

The man simply grins at your response, waving his arm and causing the cards to spread out on the table, "each reading with same cards, yet the outcome is always diffterent," another knowing chuckle, "or at least almost always, life itself follows the same principles no?"

he turns his hand, and one of the cards flips over, you can only barely see it from where you sit, "The upright Tower, representing the immediate future. A terrible catastrophe is imminent, and the card indicating the future beyond that is..." another turned hand and card flipped, "the Moon, Upright, representing Hesitation and Mystery." he looks up at you again, " you will soon encounter a great Misfortune, and a mystery will be thrust upon you, In the coming days, you will enter a contract of somesort, afterwhich you will return here." he hmms as he stares at you, "The near future is a great turning point for you, if the Mystery goes unsolved your future could be lost forever, " he grins again, " my Job is to provide assistance to our guests, such as you, and the last person to recieve this reading, to make sure this doesnt happen." he waves his hand again, the cards vanish, and he gestures to the blue garbed woman, "this is Margret, my assistant, she is a resident of this place like myself." the woman nods in your direction and introduces herself, saying she will assist you on your journey, after she does so, Igor speaks once more, bidding you farewell.

you think your waking up now, you swear you can hear someone calling your name...

"...sh... Ash..." Someone gently touches your shoulder. You make a small sleepy sound.
"Come on, sleeping beauty. We're gonna have a blind epidemic on our hands if you keep snoozing. Get it? 'Cause you'll blind people. Because you're beautiful."

You open your eyes with some effort. The first thing you see are Jayson's warm brown eyes and your groggy mind makes the observation that this is the best way to wake up in the morning.
"Heh, it's about time." He smiles at you then pushes some stray hair out of your face and kisses your forehead. "Good morning," you mumble as you smile back.
"Well, not quite."

Confused, you look out the nearby window and are surprised to find it completely dark. You turn back to Jayson. "What time is it?" you ask, not any less confused.
"About two a.m.," he responds, as if it's the most natural time to wake up in the world. You ponder this for a moment before jolting up with a worried expression. Your mind races. "I-Is something wrong? Is everyone okay? Did I, did I have a nightmare, again?"
He quickly puts his arm around you. "Hey, hey, it's okay," he says in a reassuring voice, "It's alright. Everyone's okay." You relax almost instantly, though the knot in your stomach had yet to melt. "Th-that's good." You look up at him with the best smile you can muster and he smiles back apologetically. "Sorry. Didn't mean to scare ya."

You shake your head and poke his stomach. "Don't be silly," you laugh quietly, aware of the sleeping forms not far away. "Why did you wake me up, then?"
Jayson's smile changes to one of cocky pride. "'Cause I'm a genius and I just had an idea genius enough to come from the mind of a genius. Help me wake the others and I'll tell you about it."

You rise from your Seat slash bunk as Jayson moves through the bus first up toward the drivers seat to awake your Brother you yourself move toward the back, you stop at Dean's seat, noticing that he seems to have covered himself with a blanket, and the movement underneath suggests that he is most certainly NOT sleeping.

"U-Um Specs?" you say, tugging lightly on the edge of the blanket, it falls off rather easily as he starts, looking up from the glowing screen of his DS with surprised bright green eyes, His dark hair ruffled.

"Oh Hey Angel." He greets, saving his game and closing the device in his hands, "What are you doing up this late?" He punctuates the Question by retrieving his glasses and placing them on his face.

" Um..." you falter slightly, "J-Jay asked me to wake everyone up, i think he has something he wants to tell us..." you fidgit, "I-im Sorry for Disturbing you th-though."

" You didnt disturb Nothing," He says standing up, his seemingly never ceasing hight dwarfing you, "I was Just Level grinding, nothing important."

you smile, and then you hear an overdramatic groan from the front of the bus.

" Siiiiiiis, Can I Kill your Dumb Boyfriend?" you hear your sisters voice say, it makes you smile. you are so happy to be with everyone here.

"Please, please don't. I would really appreciate it if you didn't," you call back, hoping it's enough to save the life of your above mentioned boyfriend.

Just let her kill the damn bastard. Serves him right, waking me up at this ungodly hour.

A small sigh escapes your lips, but you smile anyway. There is no point in getting angry with the voice in your head. Good morning, Ember. Did you sleep well?

Fuck no! And it's your damn fault, you little parasite!

You flinch. Huh? My fault?

You heard me. Where the HELL were you last night?!

Um, asleep, I think.

I'm not an idiot, Smudge. That's your job.

Okay, uh, where was I?

That's what I'm fucking askin' you, moron! One moment you're in your little corner of our screwed-up brain, dreaming some bullshit about your stupid "family", and the next you're just fucking GONE! There wasn't much there to begin with, of course.

Gone? Do you mean my mind was gone?

Bingo! We have a winner!

You feel a headache appear and you lightly touch your temple. But how is that even possible?

Hell if I know. And I couldn't even be fucking happy about it, cause our body was acting like you were still there and wouldn't let me have control!

That is weird.

No shit. So where the hell were you?

I.... I don't remember...

Why am I not fucking surprised? You're the epitome of uselessness. As usual. The mental voice sighed. Whatever. Stop oggling tall, pale, and dorky over here and let's get this stupid show on the road.

You suddenly feel the heat in your cheeks. I-I'm not oggling anybody! You think firmly. Your alternate self doesn't answer. You shake your head then smile at Dean again. You apologize for anything you may or may not have said (you're never quite sure when something audible slips through your mental dialogues) and continue waking your family. Your cerebral conversation is quickly pushed from the forefront of your mind.

POV SWITCH SATO

Soon enough everyone is at least half woken up and gathered outside of the bus. tonight's parking spot is rather nice in most of the groups opinion, a rest stop on a seaside highway overlooking the breaking waves and even had a nearby small beach.

it WOULD be lovely in your opinion, if not for the fog.

Fog makes you uneasy, so do long periods of rain, its an issue you've never quite been able to shake.

none the less, you stand there in your threadbare pajama pants and an old loose t shirt and raise your voice among the groans of your younger compainions to adress the one who seems to be shaking with private glee.

"Well Jayson, " you say, "For what reason have you awoken us at this unpleasent hour?

A mischievous grin slips onto Jayson's face at your question.
"All in good time, Techie. All in good time." Judging from his expression and cheesy mysterious tone of voice, you prepare for the standard Jayson theatrical presentation.  You are not disappointed.

"Friends, loved ones, .... Kaitou," he begins, throwing a smirk in your sister's direction. She responds with her middle finger. "We gather here tonight to celebrate the magnificent glory that is my mind, as well as its most recent achievement in magical genius."
He pauses, most likely for dramatic effect, before whipping out a piece of paper from his coat pocket. "I hold in my hand, my greatest idea yet," he tells the group with pride.
"That's a pretty low set bar," Z deadpans, as he rubs his glasses with the fabric of his nightshirt.
Jayson waves a hand dismissively and continues.

"Now, I know that most of us aren't looking forward to the long trip across that overgrown puddle we call the Pacific," he jabs his thumb in the direction of the offending body of water, "so I, in all my generosity, decided to find us a solution; ladies and gentleman, we are teleporting to the great nation of Japan!"

There's a long pause. Jayson frowns indignantly. "Now don't you all go thanking me at once," he huffs.

You kept silent, eyebrow raised at Jayson's words.

Daisya was the first to pipe up with a reply, managing to somehow maintain his dignity and irritated intimidation with a still half asleep, shorts and bra clad Alu draping herself over his shoulders, "Forgive us if were slightly skeptical about such a wild declaration." as usual it was hard to tell wether the Banished Fay was speaking sarcastically or not.

Jayson attempted to say something but was interupted.

"I have read every Magic book weve ever come across and im pretty sure no such teleportation spell exists" Z boredly noted.

Again Jayson began a retort, and again he was cut off.

"Yeah dude." Darren followed up, holding a sleepy eyed Lala in his arms, "Not to call your integrity into question or anything, but claiming that you suddenly aquired the ability to get our bus full of crazies magically across the largest body of water in the world kinda sounds like Bullshit, even with magic involved." Jem silently nodded in agreement.

"Yeah i'm calling it, total bullshit." Kaitou declared turning away from the group with a yawn, "Skrew this noise i'm going back to bed."

"Oh no you don't" Jayson countered, picking Kaitou up by the back of her oversized night shirt and carrying her back over, much to you sisters chagrin and your mild amusement, an incoherent argument breaks out and a wistful look spreads across your face. you are struck by memories of similar situations invovling arguing teenagers. it reaally seems so so long ago...

You quickly put a stop to that train of thought. Nostalgia has never been kind to you and you doubt this time would be any different. Besides, now is not the time for a trip down memory lane. You have a pretentious warlock to save from the wrath of your sister that he brought upon himself.

"Calm down," you tell the bickering individuals. Kaitou pauses in the middle of what was surely a stinging verbal onslaught. She hesitates before shooting Jayson one last glare and turning away. He sticks his tongue out at the back of her head then turns back to his audience.

"I am severely wounded by the overwhelming lack of confidence in my abilities," he says with a hand over his heart, "Severely. However, I just so happen to be a very magnanimous man, so I will forgive the naysayers and resist the temptation to rub my impending success in their faces."

"How generous of you," you reply, ignoring his theatrics, "Now tell us more about this spell. For instance, is it safe? Or, where did you get it?"
He grins. "From the internet, of course." You raise an eyebrow, since this is clearly not assuring, but let him continue. "It was on this magic-user website I sometimes browse when I'm in the mood for a good laugh," he chuckles, looking off to the side as if remembering a funny joke.

Darren speaks up. "Woah, wait... They actually have those?"
"Duh," Jayson says while rolling his eyes.
"And you want to use this spell - a spell that Z has never heard of, from a site that you consider a joke, and was most likely made up by some random person on the internet - on us?" Darren asks. The expression on his face is clearly questioning Jayson's sanity and you can't say that you do not agree.

"Pfft, no. I fixed it," Jayson says with a smirk, "The author clearly only had a rudimentary understanding of magical energy, and was probably copying someone else's work anyway." He shrugs. "The spell was obviously flawed, so I took the liberty of perfecting it. As for safety, I refer to the number one rule of magic-" he begins.
"'If something can go wrong, it will'", Z finishes for him, never dropping the bored tone.
Jayson smiles and pats him roughly on the back. "Correct. Good boy." Strangely enough, Z does not seem to appreciate his "praise".

"So, Naturally," Jayson continued, "As someone very familiar with that rul, and occasionally some of  its repurcussions, i have, for the last few weeks, been putting the spell through rigorus testing and revision to ENSURE that, barring unusual circumstanses and interferance, we will all be safely transported from here, to the Land of the Rising Sun in the blink of an eye." he puncutates the statement with a snap of his fingers, before moving towards the open door of the bus, everyones eyes following him as he enters, continuing his monologue.
“In fact, as a confirmation test to make sure the spell could traverse the distance needed as well as a, apology for waking you all up in my haste,” he emerged from the bus once more carrying a couple of sizeable, though flat boxes, and slight sweet scent permeated the damp air, “ I took the liberty of zapping over to the old NYC to pick up breakfast for everyone at that 24 hour donut place you all liked so much!”
Everyones eyes are drawn to the “Rainbow River bakery” logo on the top box, proof of Jaysons claims, much of the group perked up, both at the prospect of pastries and the fact that it proved Jayson DID have the means to get them across the ocean with no need for a boat or plane.
Kaitou, however, shook herself of the sugar-scent induced stupor for a moment, “d-don’t think this means im not gonna get back at you for waking me-“
“Yes I made sure to get sprinkles and blue icing.” It scared you how smooth Abernathy could be in a pinch.
Kaitou begrudgingly took a blue sprinkled donut, “your off the hook for NOW Jayson.” She glared at his smug smile as he moved down the line passing out donuts and… oh was that cinnamon roll?
everyone made quick work of the sugary treats, when they were all finished Jayson stood again and had the biggest, most shit eating Grin on his face.
"Sooooo," he practically sang, "Shall we depart for japan my friends?"
you wipe you mouth with a napkin and respond before anyone else can, "you are 100% sure its safe?"

Jayson groans and covers his face with his hand.  "You are a hard man to impress, ya know that?"  You say nothing and continue to wait for your answer.  He sighs.  "Look, Techie," he claps his arm around your shoulders, "I am a hundred and ten percent-- wait, more like a thousand percent-- no wait... You know what?  I am so sure about this that they have yet to invent a measurement substantial enough to convey my level of sureness.  Happy?"

No, but it will have to do.  You give everyone the okay and they begin packing into the bus to change.  An elated Jayson gives you a thumbs up before walking off with Ash.  Just before entering, he scoops her up into his arms and carries her in bridal style, planting a kiss on her cheek as they cross the threshold.

with the kind of speed and persision only those incredibly used to close quaters living and fast gettaways are capable  of, your entire little motley crew is dressed and awake with thier backpacks, full of emergency and extra supplies, for the possible inevitable event that they all got lost or seperated.

everyone lounged on thier seats in the bleary 3 am dimness as they waited for Jayson to finish prepeations for the spell outside. you yourself tap your fingers on the steering wheel as you watch him though the windshield, barely visible in the thick fog as he traces a line of runes and glyphs out with chalk a few feet infront of the bus.

the sight of the thick sea fog again makes your eye twitch, bad memories reserfacing for the second time along with painful good ones. you dont even notice how hard your gripping the steering wheel until a warm, slender hand covers your own and you look up into a certain pair of lovely indigo eyes.

"Nervous?" Coriander's voice does alot to sooth your nerves, as it always does. you sigh.

"Well are you saying i shouldnt be nervous about letting an overconfidant young warlock use an experimental spell to transport us a vast distance to an area that is uncharted territory to our little group and could be full of god knows what terrible creatures?"

"As if any of that is all that different from how our weeks normally progress?"

you quirk a smile, damn this beautiful boy and his comebacks.

Cori moves around, draping his sweater clad arms around you in a comforting hug, "Besides, we've all always wanted to go to japan, and didnt you promise me in particular a night at a hotspring inn, just the two of us?"

a smirk crawls across your face, "I may have promised something like that yes, you lean your head back, looking up at him and toy with one of the long golden strands of hair that hang down from his head. the two of you share a brief, playful kiss.

he smiles and speaks again, "Besides, you always tell me such interesting stories about your highschool days in japan. id love to see some of your old haunting grounds, maybe we'd even run into some of your old friends.

And there went the painful memories again.

Before you can say anything more to your Dear Coriander, Jayson galivants onto the close quarters of the bus, proudly declaring everything is ago.

"Ladies, Gentlemen,...and Kaitou!" he declared, flipping his messy, dirty blonde ponytail over his shoulder, " This is your captain speaking, we will be departing for Tokyo, Japan effective immediatly, so if you could all please stay in or return to your seats and fasten your seatbelts, we are in for one wild ride!"

Many groans are delivered from the still tired if excited audience, Cori chuckles under his breath and departs for his own seat with a meaningful glance at you and a swish of a gold colored braid.

You sigh and turn back to the steering wheel, Jayson standing beside the drivers seat as he prepares to initiate the spell. the famliar, archane thrum of magic coarses through the cabin, Jaysons voice begins an incantation, the sound halfway between being a song and a words in a language long dead.

your eyes focus outside as the line of symbols he finished beings to light up, cutting through the fog, the vapor beging to dissipate infront of the the bus, pushed aside by the power of the spell. iridesent energies swirl and flash, blinding you for a moment as the portal takes shape, a blinding wall of sparkling colors rippling like water and filling your sight entirly.

Jayson lets out a slight sigh of exertion behind you before gesturing for you to proceed, with a sigh of your own you shift gears and with a tap of the gas pedal the bus begins to enter the portal. you keep the speed slow,  this is far from the first time youve traveled via portal, even if youve never attempted a journey over such a long distance, and far too many a misadventure had happened from moving too fast, causing the spell to destabilize.

you keep the speed steady, soon enough the entire bus has passed through, rolling along a one way highway of pure ether toward your destination. the iridesent colors are all around now, glittering and and flowing around, settling into a soft blue glow around the bus and fractal highway ahead, you can hear Lala giggling at the pretty colors at the back of the bus.

"Okay, hold this speed and we should re-emerge in tokyo in about 20 minutes." Jayson says, you nod dully and stare strait ahead, the glittering blue energies that have gathered around your etheral road make you uneasy, they seem hauntigly familiar, like a dream long forgotten...

your not sure how much time passes before you find yourself listening in on a conversation a few seats back.

"It should just be a few more minutes," Jayson.

"this really was wonderful of you." Ash, she only talks so confidently when shes with him, "hey... whats that?, " you take a peak in the rear view mirror, shes up on her knees, looking out her window into the shimmering surroundings.

whats what?"  Jayson replies, lazily glancing past her shoulder.

"Out there, look!" Ash was pointing, "dont you see? i think.... i th-think its a limousine."

Its like a switch has been flipped in your brain when you hear that. you barely manage to not floor the accelerator as your head whips to the left.

you see it all too clearly, driving through the shimmering fog, you only lock eyes on it for a second, but that moment seems endless, you almost swear you could see Her unnaturally blue eyes peaking out the veiled window at you . but any musing you could have had upon that familiar glimpse is cut short when you feel a sharp pain shoot through you from your head to your toes.

you DO floor the accelerator then, on reflex as you clutch at your chest, only vaugley aware of the pandemonium erupting around you, your family's voices and the sound of the bus door being forced open blend together. you lips struggle to try and form words and names long unuttered, but they die on your lips... as you black out on the streering wheel.

=============================================================================

you wake up alone in the bus, only the sound of rain on the roof to greet you as you re-enter the waking world. you blearily glance around the empty  cabin as you stagger to your feet, backpack still fastened over your shoulders, and stagger out into the rain.

you dont know where your going, or where you are, you just need... to get... somwhere.

you stumble over a fence and eventually come to a stone wall, some kind of overhang shelters oyu from the rain, you collapse against it, exhausted and delirious.

you stare up at the clouds through blurry eyes, feeling more lost and alone than you can ever remember, you feel as if you very soul has been torn out.....

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POV SWITCH: YOSUKE

You Hate Rain. this is something that has been constant throughout your life. first for the same simple, begign reasons anyone would hate bad weather, then later for many... not so normal reasons. now... well...

Rainy days remind you of HIM. of better days long since lost, they make you restless. make you wander. which is exactly what your doing, walking around the shopping district after work because being out in the weather makes you feel slightly less antsy than staying inside. besides it gives you more time away from your roommate.

Not that you hate the guy or anything, quite the contrary actually, he can just get a bit... exhausting is all.

You pass by the stairs leading to the Shrine, thinking about heading home, when a Yipping call draws you to turn. you spot a familiar red furred, red bibbed, increibly money-grubbing creature on the lonely steps. she stares at you, narrow eyes with too much intelligence for a mere animal asking you for something.

for any other creature, you would ignore it and continue, but not Fox. you trod up the steps to where she sits, "what is it girl?" you ask gently, bending down but careful to keep your face out of scratching range, try as you might you never had the way with Fox that HE had, and she could get rather playful with her claws.

She stares into your eyes, her look almost pleading, before bounding up the steps and yipping urgently, beckoning you to follow, and you do so. you follow her to the well kept shrine at the top of the steps,  uncaring of the hood of your raincoat being blown back by a stray gust of wind. you follow her around the edge of the shrine structure as she darts around to the back, closer to the large grove of trees that surround the shrine and cover the hill its on. at the back of the small building, barely sheilded from the  rain by the overhang of the shrine, Fox and her 3 grown kits surround a crumpled figure.

fox nuzzles the figures hand, and It strikes you as odd. Fox, enigmatic creature she was, showed care and kindness to very few things, the shrine, her kits and....

no, it couldnt be...

you bend down and the kits back away to let you examine the crumpled man leaning against the wall of the shrine.

He looks like a delinquent at first glance, someone you certainly would have heard rumors about in this gossipy town, although perhaps a bit older than most delinquents in town, he looks like hes almost in his early twenties, around... your age.... you swallow thickly.

The your mans hair is long and dark, but expertly streaked with shocking stripes of sky blue dye, though its the natural, silvery sheen his hair has that catches your eye more. its held at the back of his neck in a pony tail, while shorter, sloppily cut strands fame and cover a face that you refuse to look at for the moment

His clothes are damp, and have obviously seen better days. the other male wears a once bold but now faded white and blue striped shirt thats frayed at all hems, over which he wears a dark blue simple cloth vest. a small metal link chain hangs from his neck. his pants are odd, black, but seemingly repaired many times with cheap zippers and bits of black scrap cloth. you also notice the boy has a large, well stuffed backpack affixed to his shoulders by fraying straps

The man looks like some kind of homeless punk drifter, but a strange feeling of familiarity wells in your chest. Fox yipps impaitantly at you and you finally swallow the lump in your throat and move your eyes to the apparently unconscious young mans face.

the familiar strong jaw coupled with elegant high cheekbones strike you instantly. laboured breaths are drawn by a slightly open mouth. closed eyelids crowned by slim black brows and dark lashes squint as if in pain.

Its all frighteningly familair, too good to be true familiar, How.. how could he just BE HERE now after 6 long lonely years?

Unable to trust your eyes you move your hand to the drifters shoulder and shake lightly, "Hey... dude, You okay," you voice is shakey, breathless at the possiblitity

The young man stirs and his crack of a moment, as he mumbles something in what seems to be english, you dont know what (though it sounded kinda rude and annoyed)  but that doesnt matter, the bleary voice that speaks the words, and the familiar dark eyes that look unseeingly at you before falling back into unconsciousness are unmistakable.

You are Yousuke Hanamura, and you are crouching next to a shrine on a rainy afternoon cracking what is most likely the dumbest looking grin youve ever pulled, wiping away a couple of stray tears as you revel a seemingly impossible situation.

His hair is too long, his appearence is far less put together than it should be and you dont even KNOW what happened to his fashion sense or how or why he's here, but none of that seems to matter.

Because against all logic, the haggared, unconcious young man infront of you semms like it could only be one person.

"...Partner...." you say shakily as Fox nuzzles into Sato's still arm and the rain keeps pouring, on and on and on.