[subliminal]

by the Legendary Armor

Another night, another dream, but it wasn't as if he wasn't used to it by now--

His attention came crashing back to the present as an otherworldly limb smashed against his daggers. The music blaring through his headphones reached a crescendo as a gleaming card was torn asunder--

"Jiraiya!!"

Razor gales sliced the monster to ribbons, and right across from Yosuke and his fallen enemy, Souji stood-- no, danced -- and his sword glimmered in the dim light, his glasses flashing as he moved with an almost inhuman grace. There was no Persona, no cry of battle -- none of it was necessary. Death came from his hands so easily, it seemed...

Doubts seeped again into Yosuke's thoughts. His heart still burned from one who had secretly hated him, and though he knew it, he clung to her death, to her memory, wishing it could have been different. She was the only one he could remember that cared. Or at least, that he'd thought had cared.

But Souji cared. And Souji... couldn't die, there was no way! Look at the way he moves, it's... it's beautiful. He's so good with his hands, he... But, no. His fear still held him back, keeping him locked away in his own self-pity and remorse. Yet as the group began to tread on through the darkness and the shadow, he felt something stirring inside of him -- determination? A kind of epiphany, perhaps...

It wasn't cold in Souji's room, but Yosuke's hands pulled his jacket tighter around him nonetheless. Silence was too loud in his ears -- the only things he could hear were his heartbeat, too damn loud -- and both his and the other boy's breathing.

Sunlight gleamed along the edge of the television set, and it caught his attention -- for a split second, he forgot his sweating palms, forgot his scrambled thoughts, and remembered only the rush of adrenaline he felt while in combat. And that second, that moment of distraction was enough time for Souji to stand and close the gap between them with liquid grace--

"Tell me," he breathed, his voice heavy in the air, but still barely a whisper. "What you've been thinking. What you've decided."

He couldn't resist that voice. That request. Those eyes. In but a moment it all came spilling out -- his doubts, his fears, his decision. The decision he arrived there to act on today. His heart felt lighter for it, but his stomach still twisted itself into knots. Souji stepped closer, the heat becoming more pronounced as he placed himself right in front of Yosuke. He waited, staring into his eyes, urging him on to the path he'd chosen -- the path he felt would heal him best.

Silver eyes closed slowly as their owner's lips were covered in a tender kiss.

If not salvation, at least the start of something positive.

-end-