Second Chances (Persona 3 x Tales of Berseria)

4

In the church of the town of Hellawes, candles burned and flickered in the dark halls of the church as a woman clad in white bathed in a circle of light cast by the stained glass above her head. Her dress was cast out like a halo around her and her blond hair shimmered in the light as if she were an angel in this vast darkness. Her hands were clasped in front of her and her head was bowed in prayer as she resided at the steps before the altar while the pews behind the woman acted as her audience, just barely within reach of the light. As she resided on the cold floor, she took in a slow, calming breath before speaking out into the empty church with a clear voice, one of authority and confidence.

"O Empyrean Innominat, hear my prayer," She said out, her voice echoing off the walls as if she were commanding the god to hear her, "blessings and honor unto thee."

Her commands rung out in the room as two figures entered the church, one by the doors while the other strode down the aisle towards the altar where the woman prayed out. His armor clinked softly as his metal boots ground the stones beneath his feet and his white cape behind him as if the still air in the room moved only to sway the white fabric in its own breeze. Whether the woman heard his approach or not had yet to be acknowledged as she continued her prayer.

"This frail flesh a sacrifice to be thy foundation..."

"Sister," The man called out as her voice fell away into a new breath.

The woman's eyes snapped open out of her meditation before she turned her head with wide bright green eyes toward the man at her back. A smile grew on her face as she quickly made her way to her feet to embrace him in a hug, only to receive the kind gesture in return.

"Oh, Oscar!" She said with joy, "what brings you here?"

She pulled back to greet the man properly when her mouth fell open in shock and she nearly wrenched herself from his grip. Her eyes fell upon the bandages that marred his otherwise placid face and his one green eyes staring down at her while his platinum blond hair did nothing to hide his injury. Her eyes widened and he simply stared down at her as she took a slow step back to look him over in more careful detail, yet not far enough that she couldn't pull him into another hug.

"Y-Your face! What happened to you?!" She nearly demanded with worry clouding her eyes while his eye flickered with rage for only a brief moment. A blow to his pride was something he wasn't taking lightly, but still, he spoke calmly.

"A Daemon got the better of me," He said neutrally, "I've been summoned back to the Abby, but I'd thought I'd stop by on my way."

"My... My poor brother," She said as her hands went up as if she meant to gently hold his head in her hands, but she stopped, "I'm so sorry..." She whispered out before her hands fell to her side and she looked down in shame, missing as her brother shook his head with his eye closed as if lost in a memory.

"There is pain," He said with a slight upturn of his lips and determination in his voice before opening his bright green eye to his sister and a definite smile on his face, "but I can still fight. The scar will serve to remind me of my inexperience."

The woman grit her teeth before looking back up at her brother with nothing less than anger as spite laced her next words.

"An underhanded foe, no doubt," She said as she stared back at his injury.

"No," Oscar said with almost a tone of respect for the one who injured him, "the Daemon saps her enemies' strength with her left hand and turns it against them." His next words were what got her attention as she bit back a reply for respecting the one who had blinded his left eye.

"It was a girl with black hair and eyes full of fire."

For a brief moment, recognition sparked on the woman's face as she thought back to an encounter with a girl, one with black hair and barely more than the cloak on her back to protect her from the cold. In that one encounter, she had seen this girl's eyes and how they were filled with fire despite her attitude colder than the snow at their feet.