Sean sat up against the dirty, brick wall, staring in horror at the man in front of him. He had met him before, 473 days ago to be exact, it was...before all this happened. He pushed away the offending memory, now was not the time for a flashback.

Jason and Kamille were standing a few feet in front of him protectively, they hadn’t noticed he was awake yet, and Sean could see the delicate red stiching in the palm of Kamille’s suit heat up like coils in an oven. “What kind of price?” she yelled, though Sean didn’t know what she was talking about, she seemed angry and apprehensive. He didn’t know why something twisted inside him at her tone, but he didn’t like it.

Slowly, while they were still distracted, Sean stood up; leaning against the dumpster for balance. The man -the monster- in front of them allowed a small, sadistic smirk to leak through his stoic features. “I believe our dear friend Null would know, if only he was allowed to see me. It has been so long since I had a challenge, not since our last meeting I’d reckon. Isn’t that right Sean?”

He froze at the mention of his name, and the twins whirled around to face him, the looks on their faces conveying surprise. Sean could feel the sweat beading on his forehead, but he had to play it cool. Fake it ‘til you make it and all that jazz, “I don’t know who that is, or why you think thats my name, but I don’t really like it when melting men barge into my life and demand to see my demons. That’s not how it works buddy.”

“...stop lying Sean. You have done plenty of that in your lifetime, especially to me.” A tentacle protruding from his shoulder blades gently brushed his liquid bangs out of his face; revealing jet black, glassy eyes and molten obsidian tears that rolled down his ashen cheeks in rivers. “Especially to Myles.”

Sean could see the Juga’s backing away out of the corner of his eye, leaving the two to face each other off. They were probably gathering information about the both of them, or just taking cover. They stood, backs facing the wall, whispering to each other quietly; watching the staredown in front of them. To be completely honest, he couldn’t care less where they stood, as long as they weren’t in the way.

He took a deep, shuddering breath, feeling the four, locked Persona’s inside of him struggle to get out, and opted to end this conversation as fast as possible. “I didn’t lie to Myles. I merely avoided that area of the truth. Now, I suggest you go someplace else before I do something I might regret, Mr…”

“Shade.”

“Mr. Shade then, I suggest you leave before I get angry. I get ruthless when I’m mad.” He warned, voice low and dripping with malice.

“What will you do? Call upon your alter-egos?” Shade gave a slight chuckle, and his voice dropped to an impossibly low octave. “We both know that’s impossible at the moment, considering what you just did to them, unless you bring forth the weak magician; who will not be loyal for much longer.”

“I will not say it again, Shade, leave.”

“Very well, though I will not be gone for long. I have eyes and ears everywhere, especially with my more...robotic ally -who has quite the vendetta with you three- on the case.” the monochrome man chuckled to himself, dark tears dripping from his chin and merging with the liquid that would have been his feet. “Just thought you’d like to know, you might not want to use the internet any time soon.”

His arms and torso began to liquify, signaling that he was heeding Sean’s advice, but his shift was interrupted by Kamille, who’s shout gathered everyone’s attention. “Wait!”

Shade froze, the bottom half of his body a pool on the ground, “Yes?” He asked, lips curled into his ever-present, amused smirk.

“Why did you come here? You seem like the ‘evil overlord’ character, and they don’t show up unplanned. Why did you really stop by?” She accused Shade, who -while he was halfway melted- was short enough to loom over.

Shade merely smiled eerily, “That position is taken by another, one you will never meet. As for why I am here, is it such a crime to scope out one’s competition? If we are to play my game, I need to know who my opponents are.” With those final words of parting, what was left of Shade melted completely into an inky puddle, which soon was absorbed into the concrete, erasing all traces of his visit.

“so...Sean?” Jason probed, separating himself from the wall and strutting over.

He pinched the bridge of his nose to calm the headache that was quickly forming, the Persona’s were not happy with him right now. “My father. Died in a car accident a while ago. I’ve been told I look like him.”  It technically wasn’t a lie, his dad’s name was Sean.

The headache was getting worse, and the smell of rancid garbage wasn’t helping anything. “can we get out of here? I’m starting to hate alleys.” without waiting for consent, he began speed-walking out of the dirty side-street.

In no time, the telltale pitter-patter of the twin’s feet on the wet pavement followed him as they made their way out onto the main sidewalk. It was quiet, no cars passed, no people walked, not even a rat scurried across their path. Literally no one was out today, and it was strange.

Sean pulled out his phone and checked the time, 12:48, usually the city was bustling by now. A growing sense of unease lodged itself in his gut, doubling in size with every step he took in silence.

The Jugas, for once, weren’t breaking the eery void of noise with their chatter. Instead, they were looking around nervously for any signs of life. There were none.

Sean quickened his pace a bit, hustling down the street as fast as he could. He would take them back to his apartment for now, it was messy, and he would have to hide some things, but it was better than sleeping on garbage.

“WHEEEEEEOOOOOOO” a siren startled all three of the heroes as a lone police car tore down the road, heading straight for them at a rapid speed.

Sean cursed under his breath, of course they would find him now of all times. The last few days have been nothing but fighting, why shouldn’t today be any different? He sped up to a jog, which soon accelerated to a run, as the car caught up with them easily. “Hands up Heroes! Put ‘em where I can see ‘em!” rang out through the open window of the vehicle.

Nobody listened, too busy running from the gunshots which had started to pay any attention.

Some bullets ricochet off of the twin’s suits, but Sean had to work extremely hard to dodge every last one to avoid death or injury. He really should’ve invested in bulletproof, shifting fabric.

They must have run for at least a mile before they hit the blockade, because Sean’s legs were screaming at him. Four police cars created a dead end in the road, stopping them from going further. Sean and the Jugas stood back-to-back-to-back, surveying their situation. They were surrounded on all sides by wailing sirens and the barrels of guns.

None of them said anything, as a small path was cleared in the midst of the blue-uniformed sea. A thin man strode confidently through, his black broomstache wiggling as he walked. He stopped a few meters away, and tipped his top hat, leaning slightly on his cane.

“Well well, if it isn’t the Illusions! Or at least, one of them. Very nice to finally meet you.” The man stood up and snapped his brown suspenders, grinning all the while, “Billy! Go get me a cup of tea, I’m parched.” he yelled to the freckled boy on his right, who scurried off to grab the drink.

Neither the Jugas nor Sean answered him. Sean recognised the man from somewhere, and Elias was seething inside, but he couldn’t place his finger on it.

“Now then, I am Panin Zeaz, head of the police force and supervisor of the hero case. You, sir, have been avoiding us for quite some time. But now that we’ve found you…”

The man winked at them, a small pink spark dancing in his blue iris, “You’re stuck here with me, so get comfortable.”

The officers advanced, and Sean's suit shifted to purple.