Persona 3: Memento Umbrae
is a Persona 3 fanfiction by Slasher71.
One year after the events of Persona 3, Yukari Takeba has just graduated high school. After getting together with the other members of S.E.E.S., Yukari discovers that Minato has written her an account of his thoughts on the journey they spent together, as well as his love for her in the last remaining weeks of his life. After realizing from reading his journal that they barely understood their leader as well as his personal history, the members of S.E.E.S. set out to find Minato’s surviving family so that they can tell them of the impact that he made on their lives, as well as finding true closure for the fate of their fallen leader.
The story is told from three different perspectives in two different time periods: with Minato in 2009, serving as a recap for Persona 3’s story, and Yukari and Hamuko in 2011, both of whom form a close rapport as the latter wishes to understand more of her brother’s history, as well as her own.
This fic is also noteworthy for including multiple references to Persona 2, especially near the end where it truly begins to link the two games together in the same universe.
A sequel to this fic, Persona 3: Memento Reliquum is in the process of being written, but is currently put on hold for the author’s intention to finish writing Persona 4: Last Symphony first.
This work contains examples of:
- All Love Is Unrequited: Mitsuru had fallen for Minato as well, but by then, he was already together with Yukari. After maxing out her Social Link, Minato himself catches on to this and wonders how things would have turned out if he ended up with Mitsuru instead.
- Angsty Surviving Twin: While Hamuko initially takes the news of Minato’s death in stride, her reading of brother’s journal and realizing the deep impact his life has made on S.E.E.S. and those around him eventually fills her with sorrow and regret that she never got to know him personally. It eventually gets to the point that she willingly chooses to erase herself from the timeline so that she can create a world where she can save her brother, noting that “all she did was make people sad” in her original timeline.
- Antivillain: Although Yoshimitsu’s intention to save his brother and sister-in-law along with his nephew by altering the timeline is genuine, albeit misguided, it still doesn’t excuse him from having faked his niece’s death and performed dangerous Shadow-related experiments on her for years, while also leaving Minato alone in the foster system. The fact that he's also working with Nyarlathotep doesn't help matters either.
- Badass Family: As Minato’s sister, Hamuko is not only more than capable of holding her own in a fight against Shadows, she also shares his “Wild Card” ability to switch between Personas. Apparently this is a trait shared by most members of the Arisato family, if the family book is of any indication.
- Big Brother Instinct: Not even death can stop Minato from helping out his sister fight against Shadows, albeit in an indirect manner by giving her one of his Persona (Tam Lin).
- The inverse also applies with Kana, a Shadow who took on the form of Hamuko in an attempt to help her escape from the Kirijo Group-owned lab she was trapped in. She even gains access to her own Persona (Eurydice) when she sees Hamuko’s life in danger again.
- Big Bad: Nyarlathotep is the mastermind of the present day storyline, being the one pulling Yoshimitsu's strings by manipulating his twisted desire to save his brother and sister-in-law.
- Brutal Honesty: Minato doesn’t mince words when taking issue with peoples’ problems. It’s particularly noticeable when, after he beats up some thugs who stole Yukari’s wallet and subsequently gets in a fight with her, he risks breaking his social link with her by giving her a harsh "The Reason You Suck" Speech in an attempt to make her stop running away from her problems in life. Much to his (fortunate) surprise, however, it made Yukari realize that she was in the wrong and profusely apologized for it.
- Childhood Friend Romance: Yukari’s mother reveals that, as Minato’s parents were friends with her and Eiichiro Takeba, Yukari herself was also friends with Minato before he was put away in the foster system.
- Deadpan Snarker: Minato has quite the sardonic wit.
- Deal with the Devil: Yoshimitsu ended up striking a deal with Nyarlathotep.
- Escapism: Yukari saw her relationship with Minato post-Yakushima as a way to escape from her personal issues, namely her estranged relationship with her mother. It takes a harsh calling out by Minato for her to realize just how unhealthy her dependency on him is, and how running away from her problems isn't going to solve anything.
- Freudian Excuse: Nyarlathotep reveals that Junpei's dad and Fuuka's parents' terrible treatment of their children were indirectly the result of the fatal experiment caused by the Kirijo Group. For Junpei's father, the incident severely upended the town's economy and caused him to lose his job, resulting in him turning to the bottle. In the case of Fuuka's parents, the trauma of the incident caused them to develop deep-rooted suspicion towards engineers and scientists, hence their disapproval of Fuuka's interest in machinery.
- Irony: Minato had a peaceful, albeit brief childhood with his parents in Iwatodai, and, except for the monitoring of Persona capabilities in the Kirijo Group-owned daycare his parents put him in, didn’t really experience anything Persona or Shadow-related until the Moonlight Bridge incident. His sister Minako, on the other hand, not only had her death faked soon after childbirth by her uncle, he spirited her away to a lab in Inoto where she, along with other children, were part of inhumane experiments (some of which involved locking them in rooms with Shadows) for years. But not only did Minato and Minako’s lives turn out inversely since the Moonlight Bridge incident, with Death being sealed Minato and Minako’s memories of experimentation erased thanks to Kana, Minako ends up outliving her brother.
- It Sucks to Be the Chosen One: Downplayed. Though Minato regrets having to leave Yukari behind as he becomes the Great Seal, and wonders what it would be like to be protecting humanity against Nyx for the rest of eternity, he’s completely content with the fact that with his sacrifice, his friends, as well as that of the world itself, will be able to live on thanks to his efforts.
- I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Mitsuru had fallen in love with Minato as well, but chose not to act on her feelings because she knew that he was in love with Yukari instead.
- Love at First Sight: Minato reveals to Yukari the night before they face Nyx that this was what he immediately felt upon seeing her for the first time.
- Pre-Climax Climax: Minato and Yukari spend the night together at a hotel before January 31st, unsure if they’ll survive the battle or not. This, along with Minato revealing that he was always in love with Yukari, is what finally completes his social link with her.
- Retgone: Despite apparently coming to full closure with her brother’s sacrifice, years of emotional turmoil and nightmares over what could have been have shaken Hamuko to the point where she willingly sacrifices her place in the timeline to Philemon, just so that she could possibly create a world where Minato never had to become the Great Seal.
- Separated at Birth: The life story of the Arisato twins.
- Someone to Remember Him By: Sometime soon after The Answer, Yukari discovered that she was pregnant as a result of her night with Minato before the final battle. She then gave birth to a daughter, who she named Kokoro.
- The Stations of the Canon: Several events from Persona 3 have been altered slightly as a result of Minato’s characterization (as well as his relationship with Yukari).
- In the original game’s Full Moon Operation in July, Minato and Yukari never gave in to their desires in the love hotel. Here, they end up having their First Kiss (unintentionally though, a moment which Yukari later regrets as their relationship gets more intimate).
- Operation Babe Hunt is largely excised, with the event itself replaced by Junpei and Akihiko teasing Minato about his feelings for Yukari.
- Tomboy and Girly Girl: Hamuko (Tomboy) and Sayane (Girly Girl) share this dynamic in their friendship. Later on, Kana joins in as another Girly Girl to Hamuko.
- Tragic Keepsake: Minato’s charm, for Yukari.
- Twin Telepathy: The twins have apparently kept contact with each other in their dreams for years, despite not knowing each other’s existence until one year after Minato’s death. Minato admits in one of his journal entries that he can never seem to remember his sister’s name, though, nor was he even aware of his relationship with her until after he died.
