The AU

[plumesofdusk]

 The Fall: A Persona 3 AU

Basic premise: What if The Fall actually happens?

 

Set-up A: 

 

The protagonist chooses to kill Ryoji. This results in everyone forgetting (except Aigis) and the Dark Hour seemingly ceasing to be. Or at least it ceases to be experienced by anyone. But as for Ryoji/Nyx/etc., it really only results in destroying Ryoji's physical form, and the pieces of him eventually do reform in time, called by the despair and misery and death wish of the world. Nyx Avatar makes its appearance eventually, and The Fall happens without anyone having a chance to stop it. 

 

 

Set-up B:

 

The protagonist gets killed. Could be that Jin and Takaya are very successful in their attempts to impede you in climbing. Or maybe Nyx Avatar was just too charming powerful. Whatever the case, the protagonist is killed before The Fall begins and so is unable to become the Great Seal. There is no one else with enough potential to do this, either.

 

 

(A sidenote: an explanation about Nyx and Shadows and such can be found here) 

 

The result and the aftermath:

 

Every single conscious being - with the exception of the robots Aigis and Labrys (who is locked up in stasis at this point) - has their shadow pulled out of them and the piece of Nyx that gives them consciousness returns to her. Everyone and everything that had conscious thought is now a mindless, apathetic shell - everything has Apathy Syndrome.  Everyone will die of pure neglect.  (Unless, say, Aigis makes an effort to keep them alive by forcing them to eat and take in liquid and such.)

 

With the consciousness gone, the desire for death would be gone, and so Ryoji is able to take conscious control over his form and his actions. However, he is still of course under the influence of Nyx, and there still remains a task for him to perform to completely reunite the pieces of Nyx. Each Evoker, all special items that were functional during the Dark Hour, and also the Anti-Shadow Extermination robots - every single one has a piece of Nyx in it. Ryoji begins to collect these things and retrieve the piece of Nyx. Once she is whole, again, his task will be done, and he can fade. Even more than that, perhaps Nyx can again resume traveling the stars.

 

It's relatively easy to collect inanimate objects, even if emotionally it's very difficult for Ryoji. But nothing is as hard as taking the hearts of Labrys and Aigis. In the end, however, it's more of a mercy killing than anything else... It is kinder to them to end their existences than to linger on alone in a world they were unable to protect...

 

It is Aigis' heart that Ryoji takes last...  Perhaps he draws her into am embrace and kisses her gently fairwell as he pulls hear heart out to reclaim the last two of Nyx's feathers. "I'm sorry," he whispers, as her gears whirr to a stop.

 

Ryoji remains on earth for just a little while longer. He is sure to give Aigis and all his friends the best burials he can, and he leaves his scarf on the grave marker he makes for them. And then, he lets himself fade away back into Nyx, crumbling apart into feathers and blue butterflies.

 

 

 

Special notes: I am still undecided as to if Labrys gets woken up or if Ryoji simply takes her heart while she is still asleep as well as other specific details.

 

For example, with Aigis, he can either simply take her heart in the end by force or by trickery, or he can ask for it directly. Whether she would give it to him or whether she would blame him and fight him is something I'm still debating. If she refuses but doesn't try to fight him, then he will simply linger with her, keeping her company whether she wants it or not (he wants it, at least), until it becomes too much for her - she cannot find enough power sources to maintain her charge, perhaps, or psychologically she gives up and is ready to die. I don't think Ryoji would want to take her heart without permission, but it's more her reactions I'm still pondering in this scenario.