2 days remaining, midnight

Trae was many things- an idealist (or so her mother always said), a black sheep, and a ninja who didn't really act like one (usually)- but she was almost positive she wasn't suicidal.

And stepping out from behind the upturned part of the roof sounded like suicide to her.

Trae clutched the roof tiles, her green eyes just barely peeping over. Her body was unnaturally crunched into a small hidey-hole between the tiles and the attic. It was uncomfortable, but if it meant safety and a possible ambush, it was worth it. Wars had been won by less effective bombs than she.

The hovering god- he had to be a god, with that cruel, one-eyed face, incredibly handsome and cold- grinned fiercely. Red blood spattered his face suddenly, and she flinched back. At the same time, Goro came into view. He stared in absolute horror at the roof, then let out a battle cry and charged. A firestorm- fire, and the strange red mist that Trae had seen kill Reug- erupted around him.

The god smiled and slung his scythe over his shoulder, tossing a dark-haired body to the ground. He leaned back, impossibly far- and the first fireball whizzed past his ear. A barrage of fire followed, Goro moving fast but the god moving faster. No matter how quickly he could summon flames-

Then he let loose the firestorm and the god vanished in a haze of blood mist.

Goro let out a mad cackle. He aimed his ray gun at the cloud, narrowing his eyes. "Come out, come out, wherever you are..." he sang. Trae shivered at the odd pitch in his voice.

There was no response.

He frowned and lowered his gun. "Well," he huffed. "That was anticlimactic." The fire and mist shut off with a flick of Goro's fingers. And there was nothing there.

Panic struck Trae full on. Had the god seen her? Was he going to ambush the ambusher? Would the god kill her mercifully or torture her first? With that impossibly cold face- and Trae knew all about the cold- she would not be dying quickly.

Then Goro spat a violent curse and went still. Ice formed around his skin, hissing steam where it made contact. The god floated up from the edge of the roof, mere inches from Trae, and smirked at the ice cube formerly known as the Assassin. He freed Goro's face with a lazy flick of his wrist.

"Do you remember what I first told you?"

His voice had a strange singsong melody to it. It would be pretty if not for the gravel in it, she thought.

"I said that you lost your will." The god reached for Goro's chin and chuckled lowly as he snapped his teeth at them.

"Shut up before you lose you other eye."

"You lost your purpose. There is nothing for you to fight for. Everyone you loved and hated is gone." His voice lilted up. "Why not just... give up?"

Goro bit out a harsh laugh. His lips were turning blue. "Why, it almost sounds as if you're scared!"

"I am merely pointing out your sole option, worthless human."

"Ah, but if I'm so worthless, why haven't you killed me yet?"

"You are under the Fates' protection," he said simply. "I cannot kill you."

Goro frowned. That wasn't particularly reassuring. Torture was becoming a more and more viable option as time went on. "You must be the mastermind..." His brows knitted, then his eyes widened sharply. "What did you do to Arsene?"

Arsene.

Her lying little brother's Persona. The charming, winged thief who'd suffered so much in her fog, but bowed to Trae as if it were nothing. He'd been... kind. And kindness was something so rare, she would give her freedom to experience that happiness again.

She owed Arsene.

"Oh, the thief?" The god examined his claws lazily while the Assassin vainly tried to escape. "I assume he's still unconscious. Torture does take a toll, after all-"

"You bastard!" Goro howled. Fire burst over his exposed skin, but went out instantly on contact with the ice prison. "Your days are numbered," he hissed.

"Incorrect, as every lowly mortal is. I have an infinite amount of time. You, however..." Lightning flashed in the cloudy skies, and suddenly the crackling light was wrapped around the god's hand. "I have always wondered what lightning will do to encased flesh. Does it explode or melt?"

"It explodes," Goro said. "Ice explodes on contact with lightning, if I remember correctly. However, considering this is time-freezing ice, I would assume the lightning will melt my exposed skin. Or perhaps fry my nerves."

Time-freezing ice? Trae thought about it. If it froze parts of him in time and it was made by a time god... then maybe she could undo it. She had to. She owed Goro as much as Arsene, if not more.

"Chrysopelia," she whispered quickly. Her Persona was a prophetess. She had to have some sort of power over time... and maybe the ice? It was a stretch- actually, it was a really big stretch, but maybe it'd work?

I can break it. Can you summon me without giving yourself away?

"It doesn't matter! Do it!" Trae brushed two fingers against her delicate mask. "Persona!"

Goro's eyes widened as the lovely dryad-nymph flickered to life behind him. The god lurched back in surprise. He threw his hand out and lightning flashed for her exposed throat, but Chrysopelia shook her finger. She clicked her tongue and sidestepped. "Now, now," she chided. "Is that a nice way to greet someone?"

"Latecomers aren't admitted to this party," the god hissed.

"Don't be that way, Kronos," she pouted. "Release the boy. He's too pretty to be left in there."

Kronos.

This was bad... for everyone else. Trae was probably the only one who understood the threat and knew some of his weaknesses. Although... someone had put out his eye. Someone had fought back, so surely the others had a chance. Even the orange-haired girl with the skinny arms.

"Absolutely not, puny nymph." He snapped his fingers and ice sprouted around her. Trae put her hand to her mouth. Please, please, please... "Have fun rotting in-"

Both prisons exploded. The shards scattered across the roof and vanished, dropping the Assassin. Chrysopelia laughed and vanished.

Were you worried for me? She cooed. I didn't know you cared!

Trae didn't deign to answer that. She was too busy watching Goro, who slowly stood and glared at Kronos with furious eyes. "Bastard," he hissed, but his eyes flicked to the edge of the roof and Trae's brown hair. She flushed a deep red. How had she been so stupid! Of course Goro would know she was there... but he'd sounded so crazy earlier! What if he attacked her?

He'd saved her once, Trae reasoned. He wouldn't kill her. Besides, she decided with Fenrir growling his agreement, she could protect herself now.

"Unlike you, I am born from two all-powerful beings! Ibuki was a disgusting-"

A throwing needle whizzed past Kronos's eye.

"Don't talk about her," Goro snarled and lunged. His sword crashed against the god's scythe with a dissonant ringing noise. "Keep her name out your filthy mouth!" He drove Kronos back one, two, three steps until he was teetering on the edge of the roof. Trae's breath hissed between her teeth. Goro, that's a bad move!

"You're dead!" he screamed, and with his free hand drove a knife at Kronos's head. With a cackle, the god grabbed his arm and spun around, then let go. He howled in laughter as Goro plummeted off the roof, then let out a very undignified yelp as something with scales wrapped itself around his throat. The Assassin hung from his Persona's tail with one hand, his terror-inducing mask gone. Red mist spun in his free hand.

With a flick, Python tossed Goro onto the roof. He landed on his feet (as always) and grinned fiercely. He nodded to Python, who wrapped the rest of himself around the god's neck. Kronos's hands sparked as he pummeled the massive snake, but Python might as well have been stone for all it mattered.

"You know," Goro said quietly. "After torturing Arsene, killing Ren, and playing me like a pawn, I was sure karma would find you." He looked at the ball of mist in his hand and smiled. "I think I'd rather do this than let karma break you."

So that was the body on the roof. Most likely, the unmoving Shadow beside him was Ren's too, and the slice through his chest was probably the cause.

"Master, if you believe turning yourself psychotic again is a good idea, you're wrong!" Python raised his snakey head in alarm. "Don't you dare-"

He cut himself off with a cry of pain as Kronos grabbed his head and tossed him to the side. Python flew through the window and slammed into the attic's wall. He vanished in a flash.

Kronos bore down on him. "You would not dare," he said, but Trae thought he sounded uncertain.

"You think so."

"I do." Then Kronos's eyes shifted to a broken part of the roof and met Trae's. His lips turned up into something almost a smile.

Trae! Chrysopelia's voice echoed sharply in her mind. She winced and ducked back into the hole.

Yes?

I... I was in the Mansion... and suddenly saw Arsene!

Trae's world stopped turning. She stared at the wall, almost numb with surprise. Arsene had been tortured and with how vicious Kronos was, there was no way he was still sane, much less conscious and moving around. There was no way!

But impossible was a word only a fool used. She knew that.

Arsene?

Yes, him and another Persona! The other one's old. Much older than this god. He's a shapeshifter- oh, but Arsene's not moving. He's breathing a little bit, though.

He's alive?

Yes- oh, he's waking up!

"THIS IS HOW IT ENDS!"

Trae yelped and popped her head out in time to see Goro pulse a dark red, then the color faded into his skin. He leaped at Kronos, who opened another line in his chest with his scythe, but it was as if Goro couldn't feel the pain. He just kept charging, widely slashing at Kronos with his sword.

A burst of fire landed dangerously close to her and she yelped. Trae summoned a Bufu and put it out quickly.

Beyond it, Goro threw aside his sword and burst into flames. With a howl, he shot at Kronos, who laughed. It ended in a cry of pain as the Assassin caught the god in the chest and they both tumbled into the attic. The flames burned even brighter and things began to catch.

Trae suddenly noticed something on the ground. Her lying little brother laid crumpled on the roof next to another body just like him, but next to him was a chess piece. More importantly, there was a thick stack of letters, the first embossed with delicate words. She couldn't read them, but both the letters and the chess piece glowed brightly.

Treasure.

The Assassin's flames tore through the wall and circled Kronos, who snarled and released a lightning attack. It struck just next to the letters with a flash so bright she had to duck back down for a moment. The image was seared behind her eyes: the lightning, the letters that said, "To Goro Akechi..."

That was Ren's, wasn't it?

Trae had a sudden feeling most nine-year olds get when they find something incredibly personal. A powerful desire to read through it and grant that knowledge to the entire world.

She giggled to herself and jumped out of the hole, ignoring the flames, explosions, and screams of incoherent rage, and sprinted across the roof for the book. Trae settled next to Ren's body and squinted at the title. Her vision was always a little blurry. "The Days that... Pass Us By."

A slight wheezing beside her.

She snapped the collection shut and reevaluated her previous analysis of Ren. He was bleeding, sure, red caking a path from his ears, nose, and eyes, and his shirtless body was practically made up of open wounds. One in particular caught her attention- a half-closed, grisly one at his hip. Hadn't Trae done that?

Trae reached over to touch it, and the Ren hissed in pain. She gasped and jumped back and Ren's eyes fluttered.

He was alive?

How? Surely he'd lost enough blood to be dead! And his Shadow laid beside him, dead as Reug was!

Trae glanced over her shoulder. The two were still fighting, and without the ice, the deranged Assassin seemed to be... surviving. Trae probably wouldn't have to intervene. "Little lying brother?" she whispered.

Ren let out a low groan.

"You told me you'd help me leave." It felt good to say it again. He'd lied to her. He betrayed her. "And you left, but I can't?"

His mouth opened and closed like a fish. Trae had never seen a fish before, but she'd read stories about them. Their mouths opened and closed like they were talking, but there was never any sound. Ren made a choking sort of noise, then hissed. His arm lifted slightly, pointing to himself. Heal?

"I don't think so," Trae said. "Tell me how you left! I have to know!"

"Idealist," he whispered with a crackling laugh. It sounded more like a pained cough.

She felt furious. He dared to call her that? Trae only saw the world as it should be! If her fate was to live out an unassuming life full of nothing but looking outwards, she would make her own fate or die trying! Ren had seen the outside world! Why couldn't she? "You don't understand! This place is worthless! I have to leave!"

"You... know why..." The words died on Ren's lips and his head slumped to the side.

Trae growled lowly. "You will not die yet!" she yelled. "Not until I get my answers! Dia!"

His wounds began to heal; slowly, because Trae would not expend her energy on someone who betrayed the way the world should've been. But it worked, all the same, and life rekindled in her brother's dull eyes. He looked exhausted. "Thank you," Ren murmured. His eyes drifted shut, but flared open at the next explosion. "What- where-"

"I ask the questions." Trae had never heard her voice become so cold. It was as frigid as the ice embedded in Ren's arm. "You were able to leave. Why?"

"There is..." He frowned. "This may not be a correct answer, but a hypothesis." A hint of a smile. "You won't kill me?"

"I believe in redemption."

Ren chuckled. "Sure you do." His eyes snapped to the book she was holding and they widened in... something. Fear, maybe. Anger? No, he looked too tired for anger. "Trae-"

"Explain."

"There is one woman in Jamestown, old beyond belief," he narrated quickly, "That remembers the beginning of this place. Five generations later, Akira Kurusu was born of her blood and I was born of hers. You were not. So you can't leave-" He hissed as Trae punched him.

"I don't believe you!" she screamed. He had to be wrong.

He had to be!

"It's only a hypothesis."

"YOU'RE WRONG! WRONG, WRONG, WRONG!"

The explosion felt dimmer in her ears as she stared off the roof in horror. He had to be wrong, because if he was right there was no way to alter her future. She might as well jump now, for all the good that would come out of it.

"And what if I'm right?" There was no kindness in Ren's voice, only truth. Truth, he used to say, was the sharpest weapon. "What will you do?"

She could no longer hear the sounds of fighting, only Ren's stumbling voice and her own heartbeat.

"THEN I'LL PROVE YOU WRONG!" Trae was beyond screaming now. She had to prove it to him. She had to prove it to herself. "I'LL LEAVE JAMESTOWN ANYWAYS!"

"Ah, but I don't think you will."

Trae yelped and jumped to her feet. Kronos stood just behind her, a maniac grin on his black-cracked face. He twirled his red-dripping scythe, and behind him, Goro stumbled out of the attic's wreckage. The fury was gone from his face, his eyes half-lidded and his steps slow. His footsteps were bloody.

Mister Assassin...

Kronos sneered at her. "You're certainly in the wrong place, girl."

She kept her head high. "I want to leave Jamestown."

He slung his scythe over his shoulder. Trae watched the blood fly off the weapon. "No one leaves Jamestown."

"Ren did."

"And now look at him: a broken figure. No, it's best you forgot what you saw here and go back to living your life. It is best to not meddle with things and silently live, is it not?"

"I'd rather see the entire world, if only for a moment, then a thousand years lived the same!" Trae unsheathed her knife. "I want to leave!"

"No. You will stay here, silly girl." Kronos twirled the scythe in his hands. "You are worth more, as a Wildcard, then most beings who walk upon this earth." He glared at her. "You may not leave!"

His argument was weak, Trae realized. But it could be much stronger. He could so easily stop her, but he didn't... because he was still hiding his final ace from the Assassin. Who was the only one who didn't understand.

Trae smiled. "I will tell Goro what you do not want to. Then you will have to set me free."

"You think you can threaten me?" The cloaked god laughed. "Why, do you think you can go against the grain without punishment?" He gestured to the book of letters in her trembling hands. "Look around you, Dryad girl. Every human here has tried to defy their fate, and look! The former Trickster has been cut off from the Velvet Room, his soul-bond was destroyed, and he lays there dying!"

Ren made a slight sound of protest, but as he was, he was utterly defenseless.

"And your precious Assassin! I took his Persona hostage and played him like a puppet!"

Goro's eyes flared wildly and his fingers curled around his sword, but Trae was sure he could do nothing more. Kronos, apart from tears and charred sections in his cloak, was unharmed.

"There have been countless examples through human history! Do you really think it wise to oppose me, girl?"

Trae suddenly thought of something that was hilarious. Her mother, harsh and scornful as she was, had been right. "Well," she said. "I am an idealist."

Ren laughed softly.

"I'm crazy, just like them," she continued, and her words had never slipped off her tongue so easily before. "I'm an insane, irrational black sheep. I'm a Fool."

Goro laughed, too. "The best people are."

"Let us go free," she demanded.

Electricity ran its crackling fingers down his arms. "Then I will subdue and imprison you, just the same as I did that worthless Thief." His chilling tone drew beads of sweat from her forehead, but she stood her ground. Trae had power over Kronos because he wanted her alive.

She had no such qualms about brutally murdering a god.

"Chrysopelia!"

The Persona appeared in a flash of blue flames. "Oh, it's this one again." She wrinkled her delicate nose at him. "Doesn't he ever get bored of playing the villain?"

"I know!" she agreed. "It'd be really boring, wouldn't it?"

A blast of lightning cut them off. Trae barely jumped out of the way in time. Kronos glared at them with his one good eye and tossed another lightning strike at them.

"Bufudyne!"

Ice exploded around them. When it cleared, Kronos was still there, staring them down. Trae frowned. He hadn't done anything particularly god-like yet, and he had to be way stronger than this. He was going easy on her, wasn't he?

Of course he was. Trae was too important.

But she wanted him to go away, so she turned to Goro with a brilliant smile. "Mister Assassin?"

He played along beautifully. "Any secrets you would like to tell me?" The Assassin smirked. "All the cool kids are talking about secrets."

"Of course!" Trae smiled innocently. "I'll tell you, but the only reason I wouldn't is if Kronos left. After all, what's the point-"

Kronos vanished.

Chrysopelia doubled over, giggling. "Well, that was easy!"

Behind them, Ren stumbled to his feet. He swayed dizzily, but Goro sighed and leaned him against himself. Color flushed her little lying brother's cheeks. "Goro?" he whispered.

"Normally," he said, "I would gut you, but I believe you've already been tormented enough... for the present."

"You're so kind..." he murmured. "Hey, Goro?"

"What?"

"Did I dream that kiss?"

Goro turned bright red. Trae giggled, and he gave her a look that told her not to mention this again. He glanced back at the dead weight leaning against him. "Doesn't matter."

"Oh..." Ren sighed heavily. "I... just thought you finally cared for me. Just a little." He gave a weak laugh. "N-not like that could happen... you have a reputation to uphold."

The Assassin's eyes widened slightly. "Ren-" he started, but a sudden rumbling cut him off. The roof shook and Trae nearly fell over. Chunks of the sky crashed around them. All the dust she'd noticed floated up and the Shadow's body glowed a bright gold.

The Palace was crumbling.

Trae yelped. She hadn't thought of how to leave, other than the park. And that was really far away! "How do we get out?"

"However you came in," Ren said. "I... uh, wouldn't know."

"You got kidnapped by a Shadow."

"I wouldn't know," he repeated, pouting.

Trae sighed. "Chrysopelia, let us ou- waah!" The roof trembled again, and clearly deciding it had enough abuse, collapsed entirely. She found herself flying through the air with a lot of debris and a few humans. "Ren, do somethiiiing!!!!"

"Like what?" He sounded almost at ease flying through the air.

"You're all imbeciles," Goro hissed. He leaned away from a rock that nearly crushed his skull. "Trae, get us out."

"Me?" She screamed and covered her head.

"You. You had some sort of power that Kronos was scared of, didn't you? Then you'd better use it for goddamn something!"

"That's a bad word!"

The street was getting alarmingly close. It was breaking into pieces and vanishing, but instead of giant scary things with teeth, there was only a grey mist.

"The Gap," Goro said, alarmingly calm. "An eternal, empty space... or so Loki said. How does dying slowly sound to you?"

"Chrysopelia!" Trae screamed. "Get us out of here!"

Red and black ripples distorted Trae's vision and the grey of the Gap? vanished. She couldn't see a thing. Where was she? What was going on? Why were there such strange colors? Usually, it was an instant transformation to Jamestown. Why was the world so distorted?

"Trae? Trae, calm down."

She cracked open her eyes- it felt like she hadn't slept in a long time- and saw Goro leaning over her. Trae shot up, breathing heavily. It was too bright. What was going on? "What- what-?"

"I suggest breathing," he said dryly. "It helps."

It actually did.

Trae scrubbed the sleepiness out of her eyes and looked around. It was still nighttime, but the moon was setting and there was just a little bit of brightness in the west.

Goro frowned. "The sun rises in the east."

That was crazy! The sun always rose in the west! "No it doesn't."

His brows creased.

Ren made a sound halfway between a whimper and a curse. "Where the- what the actual fuck is going on?"

"That's a bad word," Trae said. She looked at the cracked ground and the charred walls and the dark houses and the haunting office building looming over all of it. She was back in Jamestown. It wasn't exactly a relief.

"Perhaps we could regroup with Ren's friends," Goro suggested. "They're not incredibly useful, but once in a while they come up with decent ideas."

"That so sweet of y-" Ren paused halfway through and gaped at the sky. "I... I have to be hallucinating."

Goro looked up, too, and his mouth fell open. "I..." He stared upwards and fell to his knees. "He's alive," he whispered to himself. "He's really alive."

Trae tilted her head to the sky. Something black and red and white hurtled towards Ren's utterly destroyed house. It was frantically flapping its wings, trying to control its descent, but it crashed into the ashes at full speed.

She ran as fast as she could- why was her nine-year old body so slow?- and shoved over the charred doorway. Now Trae could see the bare structure left, and in the very center, two blue-glowing Personas.

They picked themselves off the ground, the feathered one unsteady, the... black and white one?... looking around in a confused way, like he couldn't see anything.

"Arsene?" she whispered.

And then someone screamed.

---

I know I say I'm late usually... but I'm really late. Like REALLY LATE. Im very sorry for that, but in my defense... I got distracted and ended up writing a cover to a Splatoon song. Let's not talk about that. Anyways, this should connect to Loki's perspective, so now we're caught up at the dawn of the last day.

Onto the hints/ things you might wanna note(this is not everything because i can't just hand you the answer lollll): the sun always rises in the east. Both Trae and Arsene said that Trae was too valuable to kill (or severely damage). And obviously the title; an eight letter word following the 1248 format thingy- that's how I got Trae's name. find the word and you basically figure out everything. Although I dropped a lot of hints other than these, so if by the next hapter you don't have part of the answer or a hypothesis, ive probabably messed up somewhere.

In America, it's thanksgiving break. So I'mma celebrate by writing pain and agony like a good american ^^

yall are gret for sticking with me so long!!! Also consider reading the chapter with the music I put up, i kinda tried to match the chpater with it??? Not sure how well its gonna work bu t if you wanna try go ahead.

Tell me whatcha think if you wanna in the comments; ive seen  people make theories and stuff like that before, its really cool!! Thank you all so much for reading!!

Words: 4251.

Robin out!