Plagued by a dream that comes to them night after night, three high school students come together and are faced with a phenomena that they never knew had existed. What these dreams could mean is lost to them... But the answers will be found on the other side of the mirror...
Beyond the Mirror, stylized as Beyond the Mirror [A Persona Story] or known simply as the Mirror AU, is an ongoing Persona Fan Fic written by Essention following Otoji Arisato, Naruaki Seta, and Hato Kurusu in their quest to discover the reason behind their recurring dreams. During their efforts, they discover a world accessible through using mirrors that is at the threat of destruction alongside apparitions of their alternate selves. Being the only people who are capable of doing so, having awakened to their own Personas, they must fight for the sake of this other world while learning about their place in their own.
While the general info regarding the story is out to the public, the story itself is still in progress. At it's core, the story is essentially a Role Swap AU. What makes it so is that the users and their personas are the ones that swap places. For example, Makoto Yuki is the persona and Orpheus is the user; this results in Otoji and his Persona, Messiah Anima.
You can read the fic here
and read all the general info here. You can also find the associated Tumblr blog here (which is more in the realm of roleplay).
Due to the nature of the fanfic, it will contain references and spoilers regarding the whole of the Persona series with heavy emphasis on Persona 3, Persona 4, Persona 5, and their associated spin-offs. Alongside that, a lot of late-story details for the fanfic itself have been public since the story's inception with the associated Tumblr Blog also containing said late details.
This fanfic contains examples of:
- Alternative-Self Name-Change: With the Personas and users of canon being swapped in this world, their names also have to be affected. This goes a bit further regarding the protagonists; while the AU uses the anime names of the canon users for reference, the protagonists take on the last names of the manga adaptations.
- Capital Letters Are Magic: The terms Mirror and Reflection are subject to this. One's Mirror is their direct alternate counterpart. Reflections, however, seem to be unique with the Persona Users. If one's Mirror is a Persona, then their Reflection is that Persona's user.
- Debut Queue: The manner in which the protagonists were introduced in order of Otoji, then Naruaki, and then Hato. Only when Chapter 9 comes do the three come together.
- Dream Intro: This occurs in Chapter 1, Chapter 5, and Chapter 8. It is, however, subverted as each chapter starts with the chapter's focus character getting into bed and falling asleep, leading into the dream.
- Easing into the Adventure: Chapters 2, 3, and 4 serve as this, even if it's evident that something's not quite right in regards to the recurring dreams right from Chapter 1.
- Elsewhere Fic: Of the second type; the canon selves of the protagonists make an appearance in this but only as supporting characters and the sources of their Mirror Links.
- Eye Color Change: Whenever a Persona is summoned in this setting, their User's eyes briefly change into a bright, glowing cyan.
- Magic Mirror: Much like how televisions are used in Persona 4, mirrors act as the gateway to the Mirror World. The first instance of this is in Chapter 10: The One who opens the Door, though it's more as a hinter for things to come.
- Magical Library: The Velvet Room in the AU takes the form of a large, seemingly endless library.
- Meaningful Rename: With the users of the canon side being the Personas of the AU side, their names as Personas are given as a reflection of their canon selves and their stories.
- Mythology Gag: As to be expected. An example of this is in Chapter 10, both in title and content, as it references Persona 4 in how Naruaki discovers that his hand sticks into the bathroom mirror... He isn't immediately sucked in like Yu was with his TV, though.
- Personality Powers: At essence, that's what Personas are; manifestations of one's self. This is still applied in this story regardless of the swap.
- Recurring Dreams: The method of kick-starting the plot and the reason they get together. While they varied between the three protagonists, they are the same at their basis. They take place during the awakenings of the canon protagonists with the protagonists here acting in the shoes of their alternate counterparts.
- Role Swap AU: As mentioned above; the Personas and their Users swap their roles so that the User is the Persona and the Persona is their user.
- Suddenly Speaking: Downplayed. In comparison to what is seen in canon from Persona 3 onward, the Personas of the AU (including the apparitions of the canon Personas) are able to actually have conversations with both their Users/Mirrors and other Personas beyond the initial awakenings. This is first seen in play in Chapter 12: The First Calling when Orpheus speaks to Otoji as they establish a Mirror Link.
