Visiting Hours (Salmane)

Cyril walked inside the hospital, very wet from the rain bustling quite loudly outside and sat in the local waiting room. He enjoyed the rain, and didn't bring an umbrella, but it didn't help his pants and shirt, which were soaked through and were a bit uncomfortable to wear. It may have served him to bring an extra pair of clothing had he thought earlier. It seemed relatively busy that day, and as most hospitals, clean and white. He didn't want to just blatantly ask where her mother's room was until he was sure if he knew he was going alone or not. He had contacted Salmane the previous night asking if she wanted and if she could, to come by around noon to the hospital in Shibakuzoi. Admittedly, it was very much so a last minute call, but for whatever reason, he didn't want to be alone in his room with his mother, now hospitalized in a coma since that night he acquired his Persona.

She hasn't shown any sort of signs of her waking up. Being able to breathe and not dead was not enough for Cyril. He hated being powerless, not only knowing the cause, and having to lie to the doctors about what happened, feeling that even if he told them, and they knew what to do, they would not believe him. He knew that was probably not the case, nothing could be as mysterious as the ailments these Shadows caused, but it tugged as his heart. She was all he had as a family, having very poor relations with his father, and not much contact with his family back in America. He felt, a bit lost without some guidance, which was what his mother usually offered. He pulled out his phone and would send a text message to Salmane as some sort of excuse to talk to her.

'Hey Salmane. I just got to the hospital, if you are at all up for it lemme know, I know it was very last minute, sorry. haha'

He would send the message to her and keep his phone in his hand waiting for a response of some kind. Worst case scenario, he would wait a half hour before going to visit his mother by himself. He probably expected himself to break down and get emotional like every time he has been here by himself. His friend would hopefully be here to help him out of it. It would also be a good opportunity. He had recently talked to a certain individual who gave him an abundance of information, plus his own he would learn, and it would be a good opportunity to tell her anything she didn't know, since she now had a Persona like himself. He would continue to wait until twelve-thirty in the afternoon to see if Salmane ended up stopping by.

Salmane had been sitting in her living room reading the play ‘Macbeth’ when her phone rang; it was a specific ringtone though so she knew who it was. After opening the phone, she would look for the newest text which would be from one of her friends, Cyril. He would ask her to meet him at the hospital, was something going on, did this have something to do with shadows? She would send a quick reply to her friend stating that she was on her way. In any case, Salmane would grab her evoker out of her school bag and call upstairs for her driver to come down immediately, and they quickly drove off. The rain poured down on the small car as James complained about having to leave on his day off but she promised he would have tomorrow off.

They arrived at the hospital, Salmane handed James some pocket money and told him he could go home. She pulled out an umbrella she brought and steeped out of the car and shut the door, her driver smiled before taking off. Now turning to face the place she came here for, she would walk towards the front doors which opened and she stepped into the building, closing the umbrella and looking around. It seemed Cyril was in the waiting room, was there something wrong? Had something bad happened? “Hey…” She would pause for a minute before continuing, “Cyril, what’s wrong?” She would look around as if looking for any danger, although none was found, so she would look towards her friend with a worried look. “Are you okay?”

Cyril was sitting back, checking his phone. '...12:14. Alright...' he would think before finally putting his phone away. He would hear the sliding doors open and look to see Salmane actually walking in and pulling out her umbrella. A bit of relief washed over him, to see her again. He would stand when she approached him asking if he was alright. "I'm fine. Sorry I made you come out here. I didn't really want to go in alone," he said. He chewed on his finger a bit before looking at the desk to see no one was up to it. This would be a good opportunity. "One second," he would say before walking to it, which Salmane could follow or stay there, he would only walk back to her if she didn't, and if she followed, she would hear him ask where a 'Marianne Vaans', having the same last name as his own, before the doctor gave him the appropriate room on the fourth floor.

If she didn't follow, he would return to her to explain, and if she did, he would tell her right there about the woman. "It's my mother. I wanted to see her. Just not alone. You can join me if you want, it is only a few floors up," he would say before walking a bit slowly to the elevator with Salmane if she chose to join him. He would open the door, ad walk inside and click the button to go up to the floor, being a bit silent, not knowing how to start the conversation. That may end up being Salmane's job, seeing as how he may have made the situation a bit more gloomy than it needed to be.

Salmane would stand still as the boy walked over to a desk, he heard him mention a name and floor number. Were they here to visit someone? But again, was this shadow related? She herself had been interested in the concept of shadows. The world, limbo, where the shadows resided in, was a fascination of itself. Although, it seemed to be the core of the murders, everything stemmed from that one place. Her new power, it seemed to change her, she wasn’t as shy as she used to be. Wasn’t this what happened to Cyril himself? Her was acting more confident and even asked the girl out which surprised her.

Cyril would turn around and walk towards her, he mentioned they were there to visit his mother, without questioning this; she followed him to the elevator. As he pressed the button to go up to the fourth floor, the elevator doors closed and there was a slight kick before they slowly began to rise. Salmane would look towards her friend and smile although the smile would fade slightly as she began to speak. “What happened to her, C-Cyril?” There was a slight pause as she waited for a response, if she got one or not she would feel a slight kick and the elevator doors opened on the corresponding floor. “Cyril, I don’t want to push you.”

The elevator was silent on the way up still, until Salmane broke the silence, asking what was wrong with his mother. He made a slight shift with his head towards her, but didn't actually meet her face as he spoke. "My mother is uh....a bit in a coma actually...." he said. He would have gone on more, but the elevator abruptly stopped at the appropriate floor and the doors opened, to a long white, clean hallway being taken up by some doctors, and every so often, a person being moved on a cart. To the right, the city of Shibakuzoi could be seen, albeit not very well due to the rain still pattering outside. He would shake his head putting on a small smile at Salmane. "Don't worry Salmane. I will be fine," he said.

He would begin to walk down the hall, making a left at one of the few turns, before coming across the right room. Without really checking to see if Salmane was following, he would walk into the moderately-sized white room, where his mother, lying, as though she were dead, yet still breathing. He would then sit down in a chair near the bed not really looking at his mother. If Salmane were to come in, he would look at her, thinking on what to say before he said it out loud. He would make sure to close the curtain to gain some semblance of privacy if she didn't.

"You remember when you went to that place? Limbo? Well, that thing that did this to my mother was like your Shadow," he said thinking. He would gauge her reaction before moving forward. If she didn't really seem surprised he would look at his mother and continue. "I only know what those things can do, and not how to reverse it," he would say. If she would seem shocked, he would explain what he knew of Shadows. "Shadows are like what you faced. Though, smaller that I have seen. I guess Personas fight them, since the two are the same things, just formed under different circumstances, Personas and Shadows," he would say.

A coma, what had happened? And why hadn’t he told her sooner? Was she in a life or death situation or would she eventually wake up? As the thoughts flooded the girls head she followed the boy until they approached the room of who she believed was his mother. “I… I am terribly sorry I can’t do anything…” His mother lay on the bed, it was as if death had taken her soul but her body did go up and down indicating her breathing was still in progress. As her friend began to speak, Salmane would look towards him and listen before responding. As he explained a shadow had done that to his mother, she was not surprised, although she let him speak before adding in her response. “I am aware what shadows are, as well as personas….” Without asking Salmane would sit in a small chair opposite of her friend, staring at him before looking at his mother and sighing, “C-Cyril… Let me tell you a story…”

She would cross her legs, turning her gaze from the mother to the boy, her eyes looking directly into his. “… When I obtained my persona, I remembered something, something that I had blocked out for many years…” She would pause for a moment, gripping the handles of the chair as she continued, “… When my father died, my brother and I were present…” She would loosen her grip on the chair and reach into the holster for her evoker and pull it out, making sure Cyril could see it. “This… This ‘Evoker’ is what my father used to summon his persona…. He died fighting a shadow…” If one were to look very closely, they would notice the small tears rolling down her face. “… He gave this to me, although I did not know of it’s true purpose… When the shadow entered the house, me and my brother’s minds were not corrupted by it, but our memories of it are a bit blurry…” The tears would stop and she would smile “But when I awakened to my new power, I could see it clearly. My mother and father wielded personas…. So yes, I do know of shadows and personas…”

He would take another look at his mother, still in that deep sleep, wrought by the Shadow that should now, by all rights, be swimming in some hell somewhere. Once he finished explaining, he would look at her confused, as if that was a half-silly, half-odd thing to say. "Well, surely you know now right? Especially after what happened. What do you mean?..." he would ask before seeing Salmane sit in a chair. He nodded, curious to know what this story was all about.

He would listen to her story. Her father dying, and her being there to witness it. He thought it would just be a sort of confession to parts of her past, that is, until she brought the same gun she used to summon her Persona. However, that didn't catch on to him until instinct took over, and his hands went to the gun trying to grab it and lower it. If he succeeded to do that, he would frown and pull his hands back, apologizing. "It's called an "Evoker"?" he asked. 'So she remembers Shadows as well...' he thought. It was all until he saw Salmane start to cry, and Cyril started to frown, and move from his chair to wipe her eyes with his fingers. "Cmon, don't cry..." he would say in an attempt to comfort her. However, she mentioned her parents having Personas. Odd thing to suddenly remember, but stranger has happened. But he sighed. "Sounds like you really don't know much about them regardless. Just that your parents could use Personas..." he said a bit quieter, lowering his voice. "I am sorry this happened to you. I really am. I don't have much to say about my father, at least, anything I want to say at the moment, so I have nothing to go with the story..." he said smiling and chuckling a bit. He would soon realize it probably wasn't the best time, so he would move to her and give her a large hug. He would hold it as long as she let him, and soon, after some seconds, remove his hands, sitting back down.

However, something did give him pause for thought about that story. She mentioned she was not corrupted by the Shadow. But curiously enough, she mentioned her brother was not corrupted as well. He survived. This could mean anything, hell, it could easily mean that the Shadow was more focused on the parents using Personas. Then again, the Shadows seem to drain the minds of everyone who didn't have this ability. And that is when it hit him. 'If my hunch is correct...' he paused for a second. "Salmane. You actually mentioned something peculiar. Your brother was never corrupted as well right?" he asked waiting for her answer. If she stayed silent or refused, he would just wave it off. However, if she confirmed that fact, he would continue. "My idea is that he could use one too. These," he said pointing at his head. It was his best way to have a sort of signal to mean the word "Persona", however, she may not get it. "Persona, I mean," he said a bit quietly. "Is there any way we could possibly see him?" he would ask.

Salmane would laugh when Cyril hugged her and hug him back. Although she was sitting and it was kind of awkward so she stood up and continued to hug him back. That same embrace lasted for quite some time before he released her and sat himself down as she did the same. He would mention how he thought Sagami was a persona-user, she did laugh at that and comment with her thoughts on that, “Ha, my brother? A persona-user?” He would then ask if he would be able to see her brother in anyway, She would sigh but answer. “Sagami Sho Sokida, He’s in the same class we’re in. You could talk to him if you want…” Maybe she didn’t know a lot, although she did know her brother had her mom’s evoker. So then maybe he did have a persona, but right now, Salmane was dead set on calling her mom and asking things. At least she understood what shadows and personas were.

He would nod confirming her statement. "Maybe one day we will have to see him. But, in the meantime...I think we should try and train up in Limbo one day alright? We should probably stick together as much as we can when we fight..." he would say. Continuing on, he would look back at her mom resting sound asleep in the bed, not making a single movement. Not long has passed since that night, but his hope was turning into worry, and he did not want to wait around doing nothing.

((End. We can just assume they talk for a bit longer and leave))