Death and Ker

Death and Ker is a Persona 3 fanfiction by Rayless Night. Taking place during January of 2012 following both the events of the P3P female PC's version of The Journey and an adapted version of The Answer, it tells the story of a new Shadow threat in Port Island, one which requires the heroine, Minako, to temporarily return from the Great Seal in order to protect the world. At the same time, the rest of SEES re-form to investigate the new Shadow activity, and Minako struggles to keep them from discovering her presence while she deals not only with the new threat but also with accepting just how much the rest of the world has moved on.

The fic is particularly noteworthy for how much its plot is grounded in existing Greek mythology, which is also used to link it to the mythos of the original game; although the author admits to having taken some liberties, she also Did the Research. It also includes references to Persona 4 and cameos from that game's main cast, although they do not play major roles in the story.

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Tropes used in Death and Ker include:

• Beauty Is Never Tarnished: Averted. Minako receives some nasty wounds during her fight with Ker, including having a chunk bitten out of her face, and although they're subsequently healed, they leave substantial scars.
• But Now I Must Go: After the keres are defeated, Minako leaves SEES to take her place as the Great Seal again.
• The Cameo: SEES have several brushes with the main cast of Persona 4 during their trip to Inaba. Former Gekkoukan student Kenji also makes a brief appearance.
• Chekhov's Gunman: Harris, one of the first people Minako has any direct interaction with after her return to Port Island, turns out to be Charon, one of the greater keres.
• Collapsing Lair: The caverns underneath the stadium where Minako and SEES fight Ker.
• Cool Car: Mitsuru provides a series of them, culminating in a fifteen-seater van which Akihiko describes as "field trip commando."
• Continuity Nod: Several to the events of Persona 4.
• Dream Weaver: Oneiroi, the ker of Dreams.
• Evil-Detecting Dog: Lampshaded and subverted; Minako looks to Koromaru for some kind of confirmation that the old man Thanatos is bristling at might be a ker or some other sort of evil, but Koromaru doesn't show any unusual reaction to him until after he's attacked Minako.
• Hannibal Lecture: A specialty of several of the keres.
• Hero Stole My Bike: Minako commandeers a bystander's car in order to pursue Eris.
• How Do You Like Them Apples?: Apple symbolism recurs throughout the story, including allusions to Eris's Apple of Discord, Snow White's poisoned apple, and the golden apples of immortality tended by the Hesperides.
• It Sucks to Be the Chosen One: Yep.
• Kill It with Fire: Thanatos's frequent idea for how to deal with the keres, usually vetoed by Minako for fear of collateral damage.
• Leave the Two Lovebirds Alone: Shinjiro finds a way to vanish every time Akihiko and Mitsuru seem to be on the verge of having a Moment. It's almost on the level of a Running Gag.
• Love Hurts: Minako and Shinjiro. Aigis catches a good bit of it as well.
• Love Makes You Crazy/Love Makes You Dumb: Themes of Philotes, the ker of Love.
• Master of Illusion: Apate, the ker of Deceit.
• Mythology Gag: The male protagonist appears briefly during a vision that Minako experiences while fighting Ker; she admires his headphones and observes that Yukari seems attracted to him.
  • Akihiko plans to join the police after graduating from university, a nod to the non-canon anime spinoff Persona Trinity Soul.
• Never Got to Say Goodbye: Defied.
• Once For Yes, Twice For No: Minako quizzes Koromaru about how the other members of SEES are doing using a "one bark for yes" method.
• Psychopomp: The role played by Achlys, the ker of mist.
• Refuge in Audacity: Minako and SEES get themselves into backstage at Toshiko's concert this way, first by exploiting Mitsuru's status and then by having Minako, Aigis, and Akihiko - only one of whom can even pass for twenty - pose as private security personnel to distract the actual security guards. By interrogating them as to the status of the current security measures.
• Stranger in a Familiar Land: Minako, returning to Port Island two years after the end of the original game.
• Takes One to Kill One: Only a ker can kill a ker. Fortunately for the heroes, Thanatos and Nemesis (and, by extension, Kala-Nemi) are also keres.
• Talk to the Fist: Akihiko and Shinjiro's method of deterring some overly persistent reporters who start pestering Mitsuru: punch out a camera or two. Shinjiro does it again shortly afterwards, this time as Talk To The Headbutt.
• Talking in Your Dreams: Minako has dream-conversations with several people whose Personas are also keres. The dreams about Jin and Takaya may or may not be this trope, but the one with Souji definitely is.
• Tragic Keepsake: Shinjiro kept, and wears, the wristwatch he'd previously given to Minako.
• White-Haired Pretty Girl/Woman in White: Toshiko Miura aka Ker.
• Will They or Won't They?: Akihiko and Mitsuru. They Do.
• Wound That Will Not Heal: Minako has a series of wounds all the way down her back where she was pulled off the seal. They don't hurt, and seal over from time to time, only to reopen and bleed again at plot-significant moments.
• You Must Be Cold: Gender-inverted with a nod to the elemental weakness of Akihiko's Persona; Mitsuru voices the concern several times that Akihiko is getting cold and at one point offers him her coat. He's not amused.