Okay so I made a thing here, inspired by this: art/P3-P4-Replacements-115952283
Haha, enjoy!
-"I'll Burn my Dread~"-
It was a late October afternoon, yet even though the sun hasn't set a chilly wind blows through the streets of the Inaba Shopping District. The gray haired boy makes his way from the southern end, casually, taking his time. This place had become so familiar to him without his notice, though not even a year has passed since he first entered the sleepy town.
He walked past the bookstore; having already purchased a new book to keep him company at night should he not decide to pursue any of his other activities. Most, if not all of these involved the friends that were so dear to him.
"Would you be willing to risk your life just to protect everything you hold dear?" a voice whispers in his mind. He found that strangely unusual, as his mind usually hears the voice of Izanagi, or his own. He could tell it was a mix of two voices, one male and one female, and they spoke with almost perfect synchronization.
Deciding not to waste time, he turns left and faces the odd blue door sticking out in the side of the road. Ordinarily it would stick out like a sore thumb, but nobody else appears to pay its existence any heed.
He pushed the door open after unlocking it with the similarly colored key in his pocket, and was met with the blue interior of what appeared to be a limousine. It was exactly as he remembered it, except for three things:
One, the usual master and assistants of the room were missing.
Two, in the master's place sat a boy about his age, wearing a similar tuxedo suit as the person who is supposed to be there. His black hair was slicked back, and around his neck was a wide yellow scarf with black edges.
Three, the assistants' places were taken by a boy and a girl. The girl sat to his right, with red hair kept in a ponytail and barrettes arranged in such a manner as to appear as the Roman numeral XXII, 22. She wore a blue dress not unlike that of the assistant he was expecting, but the largest noticeable aspect of her attire were what appeared to be metal shackles wrapped around each of her wrists and ankles, with chains that run toward the back of the black suited boy.
The boy sat to his left, sporting blue hair that had bangs covering his right eye from view. He had on a blue butler's suit, which oddly contrasted the style of the other two residents. He too had shackles like his female counterpart, which gives the appearance of both of them being chained to the divider behind the black boy.
Noticing the arrival of the room's current guest, the aforementioned trio look up as their heads were previously bowed. The boy with the scarf spoke first.
"Welcome to the Velvet Room. I apologize for the absence of Igor, Margaret and Marie; they had business to take care of. I will act in their absence." He spoke cheerfully, as if to assure the guest that nothing was wrong.
"My name is Thanatos. These are my assistants, Orpheus and Eurydice." He first gestured to himself, then to the boy to his right and the girl to his left, each nodding as they were introduced to the valued guest.
Eurydice then spoke up. "We are sorry if these new accommodations inconvenience you in any way."
"No, that's fine. I just wanted to ask Igor a question." The guest replied. He took his place in the seat opposite Thanatos.
"Oh? Why not ask us then? Nothing happens here in the Velvet Room without a reason, and perhaps fate has decided that we are better suited at answering this question of yours." Thanatos offered with a gentle smile on his face, very different from the borderline creepy one Igor always held. The guest hesitated before nodding.
"If you say so. I'm just rather confused. You see I've only been here for less than a year, and I've bonded so much to the community… Given that I complete the contract I have with this place, I would have to leave this all behind come next spring. Is there any way I could leave without making it feel like I just left a big part of myself?"
The three residents visibly flinched at the question. This was odd, as the Velvet Room residents usually had a detachment to these kinds of things, right? Orpheus, silent until now, delivers his response: "Sadly, no."
Before the guest gets to ask for an explanation, Eurydice cuts in as if on cue.
"If you leave a place that holds treasured memories and loved ones, you would have in a literal sense left a part of yourself there. I'm sorry, but look at it this way; that just gives you all the more motivation to return as soon as you can, right?"
Orpheus then continues her thread. "That also should give you motivation to fight to keep it. You fear that you will lose what you have there if you leave, correct?"
The guest nods solemnly. The two assistants are more unusual than he expected, their tone suggested they spoke from experience, and the way they complete each other's line of words seamlessly suggested some sort of strong bond between them.
Eurydice then presented a question of her own. "If you fear you would lose all your loved ones, would you do anything you could to protect them?"
The guest didn't waste any time with his reply. "Of course I would."
Orpheus' next line however shook his resolve as it went: "Anything? Even sacrifice your own life for them? All your potential, the future you could have, would you give it up for them if it meant they would stay safe and sound?"
Thanatos surprisingly ended the thread instead of the redhead. "You should realize that you cannot simply close your eyes and cover your ears. Time comes to bring all to the same end, but should you be scared of the truth of your own potential death?" The residents' faces are all stoic, and they gaze into the guest, expecting an answer.
A pregnant silence follows and after a lost count of time the guest raises his head to meet their gaze, eyes filled with determination. His response, "I'll stay by my word. I'll protect them; I'll keep all of them safe, even if it means the end of my own life."
The three residents smiled warmly at this, and the guest could swear that Eurydice was fighting back tears. Thanatos closed his eyes. "I see. You truly wish for their safely, and despite knowing the truth of your own death faced it head on instead of denying its very existence. Your determination doesn't surprise me in the least, as you remind me of two people I know." At this, the two assistants' eyes widen.
"I believe that should satisfy your uncertainty. Now then, would you like to avail of the services we have to offer?" He nods to Eurydice, who then opens the Compendium which has been sitting on her lap this whole time.
The guest smiles back and then goes through the motions, his goal this time to fuse Futunushi and Kohryu. After a long line of chat, the guest prepares to leave.
"Thank you for your help." He humbly says, and the residents smile.
"You're very much welcome, honored guest." was Thanatos' reply.
"I hope to see you again very soon." came the voice of Eurydice.
"Take care of yourself out there." last but not the least was Orpheus.
The guest then proceeds to leave the room with a big smile on his face and a weight lifted off his shoulders. The residents then turn to each other.
"Seriously? Eurydice? Is that the best you could come up with for me?" the redhead pouts in an almost comical manner. The bluenette chuckles lightly at her antics.
"What? Wasn't she Orpheus' wife in the legend? I'm sure it fit better than anything else I could think of." was the scarfed boy's reply.
"Well that was fun while it lasted. This boy… he's really something huh?"
"Yeah. I definitely hope he wont end up the way we did. Actually, I'm sure of it. There's no way he would end up like us."
"Now, now, you two. It's time to return to the golden gate in space. I'm sure the siblings don't need to hold the seal's power anymore than they already are."
Twin groans were heard from the two, and they both leaned on the ink-suited boy.
"But we wanna stay and keep playing Velvet Room~" was the simultaneous reply of the two, leaving the boy at a loss of what to do. He sighs, and places a hand on each of their foreheads.
"Fine. But you two owe me for this."
"Thanks Ryoji!"
And for the rest of the week, the current guest of the Velvet Room had to deal with Ryoji Mochizuki's two very childish assistants whenever he visited the now tumultuous Velvet Room.
-"I'll Reach out to the Truth~"-
And it's over. Thanks for reading!