Story Preview: Memento Mori

No, I am not giving out prompts. I rather give those out anonymously in kink memes. This is a teaser of sorts for my future story.

Memento Mori

Burn My Dread....

Tai sighed, glancing at his wristwatch. 11:58 already?

"Ohtori Station. Ohtori Station." The intercom announced as Tai adjusted his duffel bag and walked out of the subway and onto the platform.

11:59-12:00

Vroooom....

Tai froze instantly as he took in the sight laying before him.

Coffins replaced the people around him, motionless as if frozen in time. Fear was his constant companion as he stood outside the train station. Complete darkness was shrouded the city of Ohtori.

The darkness almost felt ominous as if something was lurking... Tai shook his head. Impossible. No way had they come back.

The sheer apathy taking over betrayed by shaking hands, he proceeded to walk towards his destination, not caring the least the lights are out or puddles of blood.

The darkness had never looked so grim. The bright moon shone on the bloodstained asphalt, giving it a morbid gleam. Coffins remained still and stagnant on what could be called hell on earth. The sheer wrongness of the atmosphere was palpable.

Clutching the school map in his hands, Tai made quickly to Ohtori Academy. Despite the darkness and blood, he found his dorm, lit unlike the other dorms around the academy. Partially amused and apathetic, he took the handle and pulled it open.

"You're late. I have been waiting for you."

Tai jerked and turned to the counter. A boy wearing a black and white striped jumpsuit smiled from across him and snapped his fingers.

"If you want to proceed," the boy gestured to a portfolio in front of him, opening quietly. "Please sign your name on this contract. Don't worry; all it says that you would accept full responsibilities for your actions. You know, the usual."

- End excerpt

Summary: Remember you have to die. Remember your mortality.

Alternate summary: After Armaeddemon and everything, Tai transfers to Ohtori Academy three years later. There, he met friends he could even call his new family, dysfunctional and violent. Little did he know, death would come, even to those who vehemently denies its ultimate truth.

I'm using the Japanese timeline for this since Tai was already a middle school student or a freshmen in high school at least. I wanted time for Tai to finally decide to move away. He did give his friends and family his new address and contacts to his new school (since he transferred for his junior year from April to March..which the last several months are just whammy) but he knew that his dorm was likely temporary. I am using the English Dub names since I grew up with them except for the rest of SEES which I am using their Japanese names since I knew those names best. I know it's out of place but at least the English Dub acknowledge the Japanese names.

Characters for SEES are totally different and already they're a mismatch group whose name would be pretty infamous in school. Just because I put them in the role doesn't mean they would act the same way their equivalent would. Since all the characters aren't orphans (only Tohru and Yuri are orphans, Conan sorta counts since his parents left him behind once he became of age), the chances they would likely die and have others mourning their deaths is very probable. I still haven't wrote in the social links yet or any other characters beyond SEES. I would likely have a character cameo from Utena now and then since this school is from the anime series but a tad more modernized with electricity, cars, bikes, etc.

SEES

Minato Arisato/Makoto Yuuki - Taichi "Tai" Yagami (The Fool)

Aigis - Hikaru from Angelic Layer (Aeon Arcana)

 Yukari Takeba - Amu Hinamori (Lovers Arcana)

Junpei Iori - Tsunayoshi "Tsuna" Sawada (Temperance Arcana)

Fuuka Yamagishi  - Tohru Honda (Priestess Arcana)

 Akihiko Sanada - Ichigo Kurosaki

Mitsuru Kirijou - Milly Ashford (Empress Arcana)

 Shinjiro Aragaki - Yuri Lowell 

 Ken Amada - Conan Edogawa/Shinichi Kudo (Justice Arcana)

 Shuji Ikutsuki - Justin Law

Social Links (would be different from original and aren't finalized as of yet; there won't be multiple smashes and saying your bonds have matured. All of these Social Links will be maxed.)

Lelouch vi Britannia/Lamperouge (Emperor Arcana)

Black*Star (Magician Arcana)

Ran Mouri (Hanged Man Arcana)

Kyo Sohma (Sun Arcana)

Utena Tenjou (Strength Arcana)

Joe Kido (Hierophant Arcana)

Kyoya Hibari (Hermit Arcana)

Po Ping (Moon Arcana)

Kukai Souma (Star Arcana)

Shifu (Tower Arcana)

Schneizel el Britannia (Devil Arcana)

Nagihiko Fujisaki (Chariot Arcana)

Pharos (Death Arcana)

Strega (not yet confirmed)

Takaya - Medusa

Chidori - Crona

Reason for roles would be explained if you read the story. Because of their different personalities, I am choosing their initial and Ultimate Personas; only five of the nine members would have the same as the original game (though I think of changing that). Some will have different resolutions in their hearts in this one because of their different personalities again and their backgrounds that made them the way they are. Tsuna for example may have Junpei's role as the Butt Monkey and the girl-craziness (he noticed girls to a degree but really he never pursue them in KHR) but his resolution is a tad different. Only two of the SEES characters' origins and canonical storyline would be the same in the fic: Tai and the second is surely up there.

All of them does have their friends from their respective anime, making cameos then and there. They might show worry for their friends yet they do not know; I'm not yet sure if I want to have all of them be given the ability of Persona. It would make an army fit enough to fight a god. It would be Bleach if I write in too many Persona-users in the same story; I want FMA or One Piece if I were to make that army. I don't want it to have too many characters interacting because the story would need only a considerable cast. However, there are some that would make an impact on certain SEES characters; the Social Links above would tell you all you need to know.

Because of the social links, the story would likely be longer. Social Links would really deal with their canonical problems but it's resolved not in a really magical manner. Kyo Sohma's problem was resolved in a sorta magical moment but remember my story may take place during the fantastical sci-fi of Digimon, the cold logic of Detective Conan, and the psychological horror that is Persona. All of which genre busted. I am barring how a cursed family when hugged turn into an animal of the Zodiac, how a rebellious prince turns against his own blood country, how young middle school students give birth to eggs in turn revealing to be their true desires in chibi forms, how a strong-willed woman works herself hard to become a prince while coping her parents' death, how a mafia familigia used magic to destroy each other, how a person could be turned into a weapon to fight off witches, and how a human with shinigami powers protecting his town from evil spirits.

I will definitely make some connections to my version of P1, P2, and P4 (The Persona-users in there will be a surprise if I ever get around writing it) during the fanfic. I mean, do you think that SEES and the Investigation Team are the only Persona-users in the world granted powers from Philemon or Igor, don't you? Sure P3 and P4 gave the series fame but most people don't usually know P1 and P2 duologies (Atlus is not helping this by not providing the original games...y'know with Hitler and everything that came with the package.). Besides, I think Naoya would do great as a lawyer if I want to think of his future.

Why Do I Torture Tai So Much?

Spoilers Alert!

Rambling Alert!

When I hate, I hate. Just a warning.

Too bad, Tai, you are going through so much.

Tai had been a victim of my story a lot. The first time he was in my story Birth by Sleep, he plays Ventus or Ven, sharing a role with a companion. Now, I am planning a story I want to write anyway despite knowing that it won't get much reviews anyway that would end up traumatizing the players in the story.

One word: Persona. I would be leaning towards a certain game than any other with a central focus on tragedy. Given it's Persona, tragedy would remain a large part of this story.

Despite Persona-users are the heroes of this story, almost all that I knew of from past and present, they are broken from trauma due to the events. They did grow strong though from all the events.

Anyway, Tai...

Ehh, couldn't find the right pic for this.

Taichi "Tai" Yagami or Kamiya in the English Dub was the leader of the Digidestined and grew up to be a politician... I know Tai is a good leader and all, but I can't see Tai in a suit like I can't see Sora as a fashion designer or Matt as an astronaut. I have words for Zero Two ending. I could rant to hell about just how the writers just don't know where they are going with the story; it was all over the place with lack of character development and plot threads left dangling. One of its saving points was Ken and he wasn't able to save the series to some extent. Others can see the flaws on the obvious perfect ending so I'll just allow them to say it...more with JesuOtaku since her views are pretty much leveled compared to other fans.

In Zero Two, he still remains a good leader but passed on the role to Davis or Daisuke. While Sorato is one of the AssPulls I would forever hate, one of its saving graces was Tai letting go of Sora no matter how much that hurts him. It's still clear that he's hurt but he allows love to go gracefully unlike those psychotic love interests like Yuno from Future Diary.

Ahh, the daily life...

In my future story, I plans to have Tai transfer to another school to get away from his friends and family who moved on without him, going to the place where he had once visited with his parents (Kari wasn't born yet so Tai was like a toddler at best) and experienced a car accident that nearly killed them and left them hospitalized for weeks. He transferred without telling anyone except the school faculty and left during April, leaving behind Agumon who he felt will not be a wise choice to his new school, feeling that there is just something there will not be great for Agumon or for any Digimon. Agumon was devastated with Tai moving away and wanted to go but he can't really go due to how faraway and foreign the place really is and the fact everyone is busy to even visit the town (although they respected his decision to move to another school; in his letter before he left, he said that he needed some time away from Odaiba a bit, wanting to see the world which is a lie (not that they thought much of it)). At least they have contact to them even though the school he's going to is very faraway, quite a distance from Tokyo. Little did Tai know, he will be thrown into a battle of Shadows with his new friends in their secret club, SEES.

I changed this just a tad.

Yes, everyone will not have their own digimon. To have everyone with a Digimon will defeat a purpose of a Digidestined. Only a selected few could be given a digimon in my opinion. Heck, even Savers/DATS has only a lot of people and some used Digimon for crime, something Zero Two never even thought of.

But I digress...

Anyway, what Tai gonna do in my story doesn't seem original. In another story I read Heart of the Warrior a YGOGX and Digimon crossover, Tai ran away from home to get away from family and friends who just never found him good enough. He reconcile with them later. I decide to take a different route sort of because all the characters that are in SEES are from various anime and some are opposite personalities from the actual SEES. I don't know why but the players in my story are mostly protagonists from other anime, maybe I am more familiar with their characters. I still haven't choose the location of the school yet. I will be keeping some things from Persona 3 (Evoker, Shadows, Apathy Syndrome, erm...that thing) but I still have stuff to make sure that these characters react differently and some circumstances are different too. After all, it would focus on Tai and his new friends, and his old friends and his new friends' on the side.

The anime I am choosing from for SEES are totally different and you don't need beforehand knowledge of those characters and where they came from. No, they are not OC's; again, various protagonists from various anime/manga; all you should know is the name...I'll do their backstory on the actual story since it is AU.

However, this different route is something you had to see for yourself if you read it. I'm still gathering notes in between classes and homework. The classes are killing me.

Anyway, since it's an AU of Zero Two, then the ending would never ever happen. Yes, I am still on about that.

I still haven't gotten to the part why I torture this guy so much...

Perhaps, it was the fact he's hurting inside. For some reason, Tai seems stagnant among his really backwards friends with an exception of a few. He cares for them and they care for him but lately these friends have been going on their own direction (which is nothing wrong) but rather he stayed the same. Him being a politician is totally out of nowhere and had no circumstantial hints towards it; no, being the leader of the gang is just stretching it. I don't think Tai has that much of a passion to become a politician... a soccer coach or a minor philanthropist maybe but not really a politician. Don't get me started on the incredible idiocy of a ramen place landing on Time's front page. Like most fans, I want to ignore it. There are some good things like Cody as a lawyer and the expected futures of Izzy, Kari, Joe, and Ken (no problem with that because he can pick any career he choose really).

Oh, and one thing, writers of Digimon Adventure 02?

You can think of that the ending is canon and all with Sorato and the future of all the Digidestined but you still have no evidence of foreshadowing of any of these events. Almost all are so ludicrous and just so damn cruel to their characters that the bittersweet endings of Adventure, Tamers, and Savers stick out like a sore thumb (meant that both story-wise and character-wise).

While I do not understand the Sorato thing, I don't blame Matt for that. It's Sora's choice.
We fans have to think what happened between Tai and Sora during the time skip.

There is one thing to hate a character but to hate a character due to shipping reasons is just stupid. Shipping is just subjective; people can simply choose to ship due to its "Kawaii!"-ness, "smexiness", canon-based evidence, whatever they are thinking in their minds. I am trying to handle this maturely and trying not to blow up on the faces of such immaturity.

I like stories that show respect for certain characters. Even though I had a hard time making the characters in-character, I can recognize in-character actions which is just plain weird.