Persona - Mask of Origins

"It's my father's notes on his research. I planned on deleting it all."

 

Zain skimmed through it, "Hmm, that or...we could just take it all and invest in a cure for all those he's tested on. I think Callen....huh? Where'd he go?"

Callen lifted the sheet from Maria's body and grimaced at her mutated body. "What've they done to you?" Maria's smile twisted and she snarled, "The same they did to the rest. Or do I still remind you of that woman you claimed you loved when you left me!" Callen closed his eyes and rested his hands on either side of her head and twisted, snapping her neck. "Forgive me Maria. I never meant for you to hear that. You were always the one I loved."

 

"I guess we could do that." Toji said as he downloaded the files to a flashdrive.

 

Zain looked for Callen around the room, "Huh, I wonder where he went." Shaking his head he flipped through a few, what looked like patient records lying about. "So you said Shiv and your father were working together. Did he ever test on her?"

Callen closed her eyes and mournfully set out in search of another he'd been looking for. His eyes skimming the other rooms and even the cloudy water tubes for a serial number or name.

 

"I would assume so. He was always a bit of a coward."

 

"Hmm, for a cowardly man, he made a huge impression on Shiv. Lady Shiv ran the Orphanage I was left at. Callen was a normal human back then. I remember...she had a picture of whom I assume is your father in her room. She used to talk to the picture like it was a real person. Thanking him for what he'd done to her and that she'd carry on what he started. Back then...I assumed she meant the Orphanage...until she started injecting me with that stuff."

Callen broke the glass and wrapped his fingers around the throat of the odd looking child in the tube. They are not my children...creatures of the dark... Releasing the thing after it had stopped squirming he returned to the room Zain and Toji were in. He was covered in whatever was inside the tubes and glass, "Sorry...I had a few things to take care of. Are we ready to go?"

 

Toji was about to respond, but an alarm sounded.

"We better get out of here!" Toji shouted.

 

Zain gave Callen a look of 'what did you do?' and ran after Toji. Callen, a bit slower, having noticed one he missed followed reluctantly after them. Dammit, and I thought that was the last of the brats she'd recreated.

 

Toji sighed as they got out undetected.

 

Zain gripped Callen's arm and threw him over his shoulder, slamming him into the ground. Callen's face was filled with surprise at his anger, "What did you do?! This...stuff you're covered in, what's it from?!" Callen looked away from him, "It was the least I could do."

 

"He probably killed one of the experiments. You two can fight back at the house though. The guards here usually have a shoot first, ask questions later attitude when an alarm goes off."

 

Callen stood, brushing himself off and headed back. Zain followed, "So does Callen. I wonder why he'd kill an experiment?" There was still a lot Zain didn't know about Callen.

 

"I couldn't begin to tell you." Toji said as he set up the equipment.

 

Zain flopped on the floor beside him, "You really did distance yourself from your father's work. I suppose...it makes sense, but it would be nice if you knew something."

Callen disdainfully sat at the kitchen table. He couldn't fathom going home after seeing her that way. But it's my fault...I should've protected her better...and those things...they're not my children. Nothing close to the sweet children I held so long ago. Her desires...I guess were too much for her.

 

Toji finished studying the vial of blood with the new equipment.

"I had no idea such a thing was possible. The persona that Yuki has is fused with her, making her more than human. She is half human and half persona. That is what has caused her to have wings and her strange powers as well."

Yuki was listening from the other room.

"So I'm not human?" She thought to herself.

 

Zain stared at him, motionless and speechless.

Callen overheard, now leaning against a wall not far from Yuki and spoke directly to her mind, "Join the club. We've got blood. You won't be the last of your kind either Yuki. Just the start."

 

Yuki didn't respond to Callen, lost in her own thoughts.

 

Zain fumbled for words, "S-so...what does that mean Toji?" There, he could speak.

Callen stayed where he was. He knew learning you weren't human was quite a shock to the system. His thoughts took him back to his memories of Maria, his late wife and their twins. He'd only killed one of the boys. The other...as he'd passed didn't look like it's twin. He wasn't deformed into a shadow just yet. The only sign he wasn't human were the small fangs protruding from his upper lip. Zero...I'll free you one day.

 

"I'm not quite sure. All I know is that this won't change how I feel about Yuki."

 

Zain nodded, "I'm glad you feel that way. She's still my sister, half persona or not. She took me in, away from Lady Shiv. I owe her my life."

Callen had to stop the sorry fest, he broke into Yuki's thoughts again, "Are you just going to let them discuss you like a science project or are you going to confront this like a human would?"