Hi there! English isn't my native language so I'm sorry for all the mistakes I made and may make in the future. But I worked really hard on this one so I sincerely hope you enjoy reading it. Thanks
Note: Souji is 5 in here, only a year younger than Minato and his sister. The ages of the Velvet assistants are made up, guessed.
Disclaimer: I own nothing
CHAPTER 1: FIRST ENCOUNTERS
I hate blue
Thoughts of different ways of torture made their way to the mature girl as she extinguishes the remaining flames licking the curtains. Her long, curly, pale blond hair tied up so as not to get in the way of her gold embers.
I swear when Igor gets back, he's gonna get it. Maybe I could show him how I've been training my Almighty Spells in secret.
But then again practically nothing escapes the nose.
Maybe he knew that the twins would be extra active today and that's why he abruptly left. Now that I think about it, I think I spotted him slipping extra sugar cubes on the twin's afternoon te—
A moment of realization came
MEGIDOLAON IT IS
It all started as a normal afternoon for Margaret, age 8. Except that her guardian has left her with her twin siblings, Lizzy and Theo ages 6, to take care of. They were however, no ordinary children. They were born with inhumane power, intelligence and unworldly beauty. They were born to serve and assist the wildcards that could destroy the world with a simple slip in a question of 'Yes or No'. With a simple flick of one of Igor's pretty, blue cards, they could become wielders of Personas of different Arcanas.
They were Residents of the Velvet Room, a place between dream and reality, mind and matter.
But despite all these, in the end, they are still children. After an hour's session of Let's Play: with Margaret which includes the oldest sibling running after them and dodging Maziongas and Maragis in a constantly shifting space of blue and finally catching them with a Marin Karin and an Evil Smile, the mature child was exhausted.
Sitting on the couch, she sipped on her tea with a grace no 8 year old can. She let herself be wrapped up by the seat's embrace almost shuddering with its comfort. Yes, after today's excursions, absolutely nothing can ruin this mome—
TAP TAP
She almost dropped her cup. Margaret, ever so slowly, looked up at the source of the commotion. One of the first things Igor taught her as a child was to never open THAT Door. THAT Door is DANGEROUS. On the other side of THAT Door are HUMANS who does only stupid things, as far as she has read at least. What if stupidity is contagious? Or air borne?
BAM BAM
She's standing up now still staring at THAT Door, mouth agape, her tea forgotten, not knowing what to do. She slowly walked towards it, her sweaty hands hovering to one of her pockets where a blue tarot card lay vibrating as if sensing its owner's demeanour. Igor never said anything about KNOCKING. He said only guests, who wield Velvet Keys have access or better yet, can see it. THAT Door has been there as far as she can remember but she only sees it open whenever Igor has to go somewhere. Never in her life has she heard someone knock on it.
DOMB DOMB
It seems the intruder has given up being civilized and had to ram on the door. Are humans truly barbaric as they seem to be?
CRACK
My first encounter of humans…how unnerving. It does not seem to be that huge in structure and yet it holds so much power.
CRACK
As the second crack resounded, Margaret saw splints of wood fly through the door and gave way to the illuminating light from the other side. The intruder is wielding what appears to be an axe and is now hacking its way through the door, favouring its one side with the doorknob where the lock is supposedly attached.
Both parties on each side of the door are out of breath for two entirely different reasons. Despite the door blocking the view, the 'intruder' knew that someone is waiting for him on the other side. And all it would take is one final ram before the door could give in. They both knew this.
And so the girl took a deep breath, card in one hand, a clenched fist on the other. She glared at the door with all the intensity she could muster to find—
CRASH
A little boy three years younger than her
-OoO-
The weather's nice today
The boy decided as he faced the window and closed his eyes trying to feel the breeze from outside. He snuggled comfortably in his arms while sitting cross-legged in front of his table. He thought how it would be nice to stay that way forever.
Without opening his eyes, he felt a shadow loom over him. As well as a few eye rolls from behind his back
Here we go again…
"Souji-chan, what's wrong? Are you not feeling well?"
Various voices were heard in the room. A particularly loud and annoying one spoke in a know it all voice.
"Tch! He's just being lazy as usual, sensei." He guessed the voice belongs to the bully with the potbelly as big as the school principal's. Before Souji learned self-defence and a little hand to hand combat, the bully always used to pester him during dismissals. After that, Souji would swerve and block the boy's attacks manoeuvring the beefy arms to get him hit by his own punches. The first time it happened, the big boy ran away red and crying not bothering to wipe the snot, sweat and drool all over his face. He almost felt sorry for him. Almost
"He does that everyday." Said the sidekick whom he swear would look like a broccoli if his hair weren't brown
"Well at least he can get full scores in desk works unlike you guys." A girl defended. The said girl has reddish brown hair put up in a cute ponytail with her bangs clipped by thingies with small flowers. The warm and friendly Minako-san is one of the only two people he can stand in his class, the other one being her twin brother, Minato.
When he first met Minato, they were in the middle of one of their nap sessions while everyone else were playing and coloring. An accidental eye contact while being reprimanded by one of the teachers was all it took for the nap lovers to become friends. They eventually started sharing secret hiding places and techniques for sleeping, much to the disdain of their teachers.
"W-what did you say?!" Potbelly flushed, glaring at the girl
"Shhh!- that's Minako-chan you're talking to, boss!" Broccoli warned his 'boss' pointedly looking at the seat in front of me where the blue haired twin lay.
Potbelly shivered and started to sweat profusely, feeling an icy prickle in the back of his neck. Despite being in a heads down position, the blue haired twin radiated a murderous aura like a lioness ready to pounce and ravage those who dare harm her cub or in this case, sister. Over the years of being a brother to a cute and popular little sister every boy has a crush on, Minato has unconsciously developed a sixth sense which Souji and Minako calls a 'Protective Brother Sense'.
Souji appreciates his friends defending him but he can't help but feel a little embarrassed. He just wishes for the day to go faster.
Souji Seta, age 5, the second sleepiest (only second to Minato) yet the second smartest (only second to Minako) student in his class is finding a quiet place to read his Science Book for 3rd Graders. Because of his quiet demeanour, impressive grades, athletic talents, good looks and constant need for ignoring anything that does not interest him, he has earned the favour of more than a few girls in class and agitation of the 1st Grade male population. On sunny days like these, he can usually be found reading or sleeping under a tree, favouring solace, acting more like an old man than a child in 1st Grade.
But not today
Today, the usually gentle and harmless 5 year old boy everyone respects is holding an axe as big as he. Beads of sweat are forming in his fore head, he could hear the loud beats of his heart, taking deep long breaths, forcing his eyes not to shut and his knees wobble. He felt like one of those badass characters in those weird zombie apocalypse movies. Apparently those badass characters are not 5 year olds.
Bring it on, Door! I ain't afraid of you!
The boy's family has been staying in Iwatodai for 2 years now, much longer than the other places they've been in making him knowledgeable of the spots for his daily relaxation. However, in Souji's search for solace he unconsciously followed a pretty blue butterfly as though it was the most interesting thing that came in his life and found a door seemingly out of place in the back of the school, somewhere in the yard, a little far off from the play ground where the other kids play. This area has always been his special place and then suddenly attached to the school building's wall, a door appeared out of nowhere. Freaky glowing doors or not, nothing gets past here without his knowledge. And so, out of curiosity and pride, he decided to investigate.
He knocked on the door, but there was no answer. He tried it again but this time louder and harder, with his fists but there was still no answer. After minutes of door knocking and waiting, his patience has finally ran out. If nobody's going to open the door in the other side, he will just have to force it.
He walked a few feet back and rushed towards it, bracing his shoulder for the impact. It did not budge. He tried it again but this time, it knocked him so hard he fell to the ground, bruising the side of his chin in the process. The tired, sweaty and dirty Souji decided it's time for Plan B.
And so, after rummaging the gardener's secret shed and sneaking through children and adults, he is finally gonna open the blasted door.
Holding the heavy axe with both hands and a deep breath, the boy tried to swing it overhead like in his few practices in kendo but thought it's too heavy and decided to swing from the sides instead. He started to hack and slash it, particularly the doorknob. Several moments later, the door is finally loose enough for one last ram. He dropped the heavy axe, thanking his Sensei for pushing him during his after school kendo practices. He licked his lips with anticipation, acting as though he will be able to discover a new element in the Periodic Table he memorized three days ago. He took several steps back and with one last intake of breath broke into a fast sprint once again bracing his shoulders for the impact.
CRASH
He found himself in the ground, aching all over but eventually smiled when he spotted the door he has grown to hate so much under him, a sign of victory. He noticed the blue carpet and the blue room and eventually a girl older than him in a stance he doesn't recognize, holding a blue tarot card.
I was right. There WAS someone behind the door.
Upon closer inspection, he noticed her pearly white and unblemished smooth skin and pale long blonde curly hair tied up. Her eyes although bewildered were bright, like those gold jewelleries his mom wears during special occasions. He decided that she was very pretty. Prettier than any girl he has laid his eyes on. So pretty he unknowingly took a sharp intake of breath when he saw her.
He tried to stand up to compose himself but found that his body is too sore to move. Apparently, he became so obsessed with the door he did not notice the strain he was putting on his body. So, he decided to stare up at her while crippled on the door.
The girl was staring down on him, wide eyes and her mouth slightly ajar as though she could not believe what her eyes were seeing. He decided to break the awkward silence
"Hi" trying to appear as timid as possible. "You er—you like blue?"