Dining for Freedom - Nola Allaway's Awakening

"Huh... not faint yet... that's wei-ooooh there we go." Selenus resigned as his legs gave out beneath him. His body made a strong *CLANG* sound as it hit the floor, leaving the robot dog to catch his figurative breath. The fire that enveloped him slowly but surely faded from existance, revealing the machine underneath. Fenrir followed suit and disappeared back into the annals of Selenus's mind.

"I'm... *pant*... in no state to get up... *pant*... you're gonna have to come over here... *wheeze*" That wasn't entirely true. Orgia mode didn't drain so much of his energy that it made him unable to stand, but it definitely made even standing mentally stressful. "That... was your Persona... we don't understand it all that well ourselves... *pant* but... but we know it allows you to see and interact... with demons... Ta... Tatsui, tell her about our... our audience with The Phantom... later on... I'm just gonna rest here for a minute..."

Whew, that bad escapade into the realm of demonic fights ended once again. "Hey wait........" Aaaaand he's gone. I know it isn't going to be any use chasing after him if he's like 'The Phantom'. Damnit, I hate having to get toyed around with unknown groups. Unfortunately if I get toyed with the only known group....... very bad things will happen. "Oh dear." Looks like Selenus collapsed, must be a side-effect of this 'Orgia Mode' huh? "Yeah, we still don't quite understand but from what i'm feeling I think it's just a hidden side of ourselves that manifested to confront these demons. Oddly the figures that they represent seem to fit quite well for me and Selenus. Though I do wonder why you have a group of little knights as your persona." It seems that it does indicate the sense of being in a group for her, even more evidence of something odd about her mind. *Sigh* Oh well, with my obsession about right and wrong, who am I to talk?

"Yeah, I will Selenus. So, Nola, basically you just awakened to your persona. Based on people's fear of the effects of the Eternal Divide, if we are exposed we are likely to be persecuted everyone and constantly hunted down by the cadets. As you can fortunately see, all our awakenings came with a disguise of sorts. This one even modulates my voice as you can see. Well, I guess I should also go into how we got our personae. So, me, a guy named Gabriel, and another named Jack, got our interest caught about a reporter leaving the newly opened Kuzunoha Detective Agency." I start off with.

"Based on our interactions with Ms. Kuzunoha, we learned that the reporter offered her a job of recruiting people for an interview of the psyche terrorist known as 'The Phantom'. Jack was enthusiastic to sign up, probably because he wanted a persona, or whatever, and I went because I wanted to find out why psyche terrorists had to be persecuted ruthlessly. Fortunately I also managed to convice Gabriel to join us on this. So later that night, we met up with the reporter to set up the interview, but then the phantom showed up and we chased him to a nearby alleyway. Turns out he had demons waiting for us, and he somehow knocked the reporter unconscious. That was when we awakened to our personae. Though we didn't know it, Selenus was stalking from closeby, and he tried to intervene to help us combat the demons and also gained a persona."

"After that they basically ROFLstomped the demons (before the fighting we got guns from 'The Phantom') and he made some comment about the Platinum Playhouse and vanished, just like that guy that was just assisting us did. After a bit, we talked, and suddenly Jack's persona tried to lob his head off, then he decided to not have any relation with us aside from meeting with 'The Phantom' at the assigned place and time. Then me, Gabriel, and Selenus got each other's information and then we dispersed into the night." I stop taking a deep breath. "This is what me and Selenus were warning you about back at Sunlake Palms. So, like it or not, we are all stuck in this situation." I say miserably. Just great, Nola gets caught up in this shit, and she is definently younger than me. I just hope that she can digest this information properly and not freak the fuck out. We don't need attention, especially now of all times.

Trinity walked over to Selenus's side and sat next to him, listening to him telling Tatsui to explain to her, she didn't feel like leaving their sides at the moment, especially since it seemed something was wrong with Selenus. She stayed there and gently pets the robot dogs head as she looked to Selenus her body fully obscured by the belts covering her body, but she was gazing at him, waiting for this explanation that Selenus said he would give. Something that she hoped would explain the Pawns, what they were, why they were there, anything. As the two seemed to know far more then her, and seemed to have been doing this for longer. Her clarity of thought slowly fading as the seriousness of the situation slipped into this more calm introspective moment, the action gone all that was left was the Contemplation of what had actually happened.

Then Tatsui stated to explain to her what was going on, at least as best he could, as he mentioned even they didn't fully understand what was going on, at least about the things like the pawns, and she listened.... Hidden? she has always been aware of things inside her, how could she have missed eight entire sides of herself? How could she have ignored them for so long? not even realized they were there? She shook her head gently at the realization. She had been living for three all her life....but there had been eleven of them this whole time and she looked to the pawns all standing at the ready, and she was about to speak when she heard a voice in her head, the voice of one of the pawns.

"Do not apologize....we have been with you, we protect you" "We are the ones that should apologize for not being here for you more" "For not speaking up all this time, but you never seemed to need us till now" ""We are your shield, your sword, your army." "We would gladly give our lives to see yours continue. You look after and worry about others" ...We worry and look after you. That is who the eight of us are" "We never felt neglected or sad, we were happy we were not needed" "To see you live life without need of us gave us great joy. but now that you do need us we stand ready"

the eight pawns raised their spears in a salute as they gave there combined last promise to her.

With that Trinity nodded a bit and looked to Tatsui as she nodded to him as well "We suppose...We are needed here....it seems.." then it dawned on her that if she had this inside her, and Tatsui and even Selenus then everyone did, everyone had this part of themselves, the part that could protect them....if only they could contact it...could she....she looked at her pawns once more before looking at the other two.

She learned of the sundering from a book, if that happened again then it would be a disaster...but...what if more then one person could help prevent it? what if everyone, with understanding and teaching, could prevent it? she gave her neutral little huff as she sat there, she knew what she was going to do now. Something that she could utilize the past fourteen years of her life to maybe help with.


"We think...We understand..." she said as she made her choice.

"Nola..." Selenus said as he stood up on all fours, his strength having come back to him. "I realize that this might be hard for you to process... but I think the best course of action right now would be for you to accompany us in meeting The Phantom. Any regular person would probably object to you getting involved because of your age, but I see that you're more than well equipped to handle the situation." He said as he thought of her eight Personae.

"I..." He began as he regained his place in between Tatsui and Nola. "I think seeing you so resolute has helped me realize where I want to go from here. I'm going to use my powers to free an old friend of mine. I don't care how much I have to look for information or how many demons I have to destroy to get to him; I will see him a free man." He indulged himself in a small pause as he looked over towards Tatsui. "Tatsui... I suppose you have a goal in mind as well? Just imagine the three of us, four assuming Gabe hops in on the bandwagon, managing what we previously thought impossible." He stamped his foot on the ground. "I'll say it out front: My current life is absolute shit. Life has given me an opportunity to make it better, and I'll be damned if I let it go to waste. I don't doubt that you two will make the most of it as well."

Selenus looked up at the moon, shining over the city like a beacon of hope. "I'm willing to personally vouch for you taking part in this, but there's something I have to ask of you first." He turned around gently to face Nola. Memories of the little girl he met that fateful day five years ago and the smile she gave him that defined an integral part of his life views flooded his mind. He figured it would only be appropiate that a similar image defined the day he chose to take control of his life.

Hearing one of her names being said Trinity looked to Selenus and tilted her head as he started to speak, something about meeting the phantom whoever that was, but he also mentioned people maybe objecting to her being involved. Oddly those objections would be rather moot wouldn't they? she was already involved whether others wanted her to be or not, it was not their choice in this case, and even if they refused her it wouldn't stop her from continuing, she had learned something today that struck a chord inside her and she was going to see what note that chord would let out if she let it play.

Though Selenus continued as he got to his feet and mentioned how seeing her reaction and resolution to the situation had helped him figure things out. He even mentioned an old friend of his, speaking his mind on what he was going to do and she listened and nodded, she was learning more about the robotic dog, something she really didn't mind, she wanted to know about both her friends after all, He even talked to Tatsui asking or rather stating he had a goal he wanted, or would work towards. He also mentioned a fourth person as she tilted her head at the name, it was the same as the man she met at school a bit, but it could be just the same name.

Though he did mention that his life was currently shit, she assumed he meant before he got a place to live with her, so she took no offense, considering he had essentially been homeless before meeting her so she understood what he meant, and when he turned towards her and asked her to smile she tilted her a moment as she wondered why, but it was a fair request. But instead of a show smile, her lips turned up a bit at the edges in a very gentle smile as she gave him a real smile "We will help you if we can...but we have our own goal, but We hope our goals can help each other" she then looked at Tatsui "As well we hope to help you Tatsui"

If Selenus had facial muscles, he would've smiled back. "That's all I needed to see." He said. "That smile lets me know that you're truly willing to embrace this responsibility. I may not be the leader of this makeshift group, but you can bet I'll be there for both of you..." Selenus bit his metaphorical lip. The fact that Nola had Personae reflected the fact that maybe the whole three poeple thing was maybe more than just a delusion... "...for the four of you if you need me. That reminds me though, we're gonna have to assign a group leader... Eh. It can wait."


Selenus took a look at Tatsui, who had stayed relatively silent about their sudden resolution. "Tatsui? What's your goal? What do you want to do with the power you've been given? And Nola: While it's beyond clear to me that you know you want to do something, do you know exactly what you want to do?"

Hmm, it looks like Nola is starting to understand her persona. I just hope that she will be able to deal with situations like these in the future. "Yeah, I guess that would be the best course of action. Oh, well, good for you then Selenus. Yes, I do have a goal, and that is to get down to what the hell is actually going on, and reveal that to the public and help them. Truth hurts, but people hurt all the time, so they can bear it. However, they need to see what is being hidden from them by the government, and so do I. Yeah, that would be quite incredible. Yeah, I will do my best to make the most of it too." I say, flowing out of my masked form with a smile. Huh, so Selenus wants to see Nola smile huh? That is an odd request right there. "Thank you Nola. Umm, what would this goal of yours happen to be?" I ask. Her smile is quite pretty. "Yeah, if anyone is gonna be the leader, it's Gabriel. Selenus, Selenus, Selenus. Don't you know that we already have a leader? Honestly, out of all of us, Gabriel is the best qualified..... and I think we know who is the worst qualified." Egh, Jack Valentine, what are you even thinking with your actions. It's either group up or get wrecked in this type of scenario. But then again, it seems to me that he just wants to do whatever he wants. "Wait a minute, wasn't that demon eating something when we discovered it?" Oh god, let's just hope it was like a dog or something and not an actual person.

Action:

She didn't quite understand how a smile told Selenus that, however she was determined to her decision, though his talk about having a group leader was an odd one, but it put an Idea into the small girls head, she would need aid to achieve her goal, maybe more then just what they had here..especially with things like paranormal investigators, the cadets she had heard about, psych terrorists which she didn't know why but she figured that if her ability was found out about...she would more then likely be labeled as the latter, which she didn't fully understand, but that was quickly answered by what Tatsui said a few moments later. technically she supposed that both Tatsui and Selenus would have also been given that title, and hearing Tatsui's words some things fell into place when paired with the words she had heard in her head not to long ago before the pawns helped her.

As she sat there silently contemplating this the two suddenly asked her about what her goal was, and honestly her goal wasn't to much different then her original goal in life, but now it had a new addendum a very important addendum and she looked at the sky a moment before letting her mask fade to show herself, sitting there in her normal clothing, she lowered her head to look at the two again the light from the bright moon slightly reflecting off ther third normally see through eyelid making her eyes seem to glow in their different colors as she spoke.

"We want to....wish to...Awaken everyone....to their companions...People go around thinking no one cares...or knows they exist...but they are wrong...there are those that care...those that listen and watch...those that want to protect you...and they just need to be show how to contact them, We want to help everyone do that....We want to guide them to it...these demons were evil...but....we do not believe they are all evil...maybe there are some that wish to help us...live with us? maybe we can also bring them to guard the ones that wake?".

She said this all even though she fully didn't understand what she was talking about, but in her mind she could hear her pawns all agreeing with her, in the end were the demons any different then humans? she wasn't sure but she wanted to find out, and if they were not, she wanted to know if they could be talked to...made peace with....

Selenus looked at Nola like she'd grown a second head. "Awaken... everyone? Nola, you're talking about altering the entire culture and political system of not only Endymion, but the entire world! Don't get me wrong, if you're determined to do it I won't stop you, as I have no interest in maintaining the status quo, but do you even know how you plan to go about doing it?" Would it even be possible? For all they knew, Personae weren't even something that everybody could obtain. As far as they were concerned, only Cadets wielded Personae naturally. They seemed to obtain theirs due to prolonged exposure to the presence of demons. "...whatever you choose to do with your power, just please make sure that it won't get you killed. I've noticed what you are, Nola. Heterochromia, the ability to go long periods of time without blinking, unnaturally red hair and the way you refer to yourself as "We". You don't have a lot of time, do you, Nola? Just please make sure that you don't cut your time any shorter." Though it may not have looked like it, Selenus had realized from the moment they'd met that Nola's genetic makeup was definitely not that of a regular-born child. All the symptoms of a genetical chimera were there, and Selenus knew better than to overlook them.

"WAIT WHAT!?" I exclaim. Awakening everyone to a persona!? Aren't personae and the potential responsible for the Eternal Divide in one way or another? Giving the entire population of Endyimon that...... and also living alongside the demons? Wouldn't that be extremely dangerous? Like, what if some deviant was like 'To hell with it all' and tried destroying the world. That is probably what happened in the Eternal Divide now that I think about it. Some crae crae got the potential and destroyed a good portion of the continent. But.... then wouldn't others be able to counter-act that if everyone had the potential? This potential is probably limitless in scope and possibilities, so, would it be able to work? It would probably be like everyone owning a very dangerous gun, and people would need to be educated about it, just like about the demons. So could it work? I take on a look of intense concentration. "Selenus, the alteration of culture and political structure happens with every great change. Think about the industrial revolution, certainly it made things worse in some ways, but it also made things better. And if people actively tried to work to minimize the bad parts of it, it could definently be workable. Who knows if she could be able to Selenus. We barely know anything about personae and such, but if they can bring about something as enourmous and horrible as the great calamity, they probably would also be able to bring about potential in every person in endyimon. Wait, Heterochromia? What's that?"

What is this Heterochromia thing about? Is Selenus talking about what I was searching for clues about? Does this mean Nola really does have multiple.... people inside her? Based on how he also described physical traits I assume that's it. I pale. "Wait, you mean that she is going to die soon?" Is this like where genetically fused twins die a lot sooner than regular people? Oh god. Nola is going to die soon. I start to cry.

Trinity nodded to Selenus when he guessed she didn't have long to live, she had known for a long time how long..or perhaps short, she had to live. It wasn't to much of a surprise that the robot canine had figured it out considering she knew he had internet access and he was no doubt able to simply call up that kind of information on demand. Though when she heard Tatsui question it she looked over to him and he was crying. So she got up and walked over to Tatsui, gently putting a hand on his arm as she looked up at him.

"Don't cry...but We will tell you why...later We promise" She then looked over to Selenus "Some things can't be stopped....but We will make sure we do not leave without saying good bye when that time comes...That is the best we can do". Taking a step back from the two she bowed to them a low bow as she spoke out "We are sorry for not telling you before, We were worried it would make you treat us differently...We have been aware of this for some time....If you want to know more we can tell you...but not here...okay?" she asked as she stood strait again and turned to leave "For now lets go home".