Blue Velvet

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Summary: In the Velvet Room, Elizabeth and her two siblings share a residency with their master Igor, but their stories stretch far beyond what their visitors see. After all, a story never truly ends until the storyteller can no longer tell the tale.

AN: Alright, to make a long introduction short, this is a 'behind the curtains' tale of the events that take place in the Velvet Room. You know, the events that take place when the protagonist isn't around. Technically, the focus will be around Elizabeth, but like most of my protagonists, she's just a tool to get past the plot sharks. This will start with the events of Persona 3, and mention parts of previous Personas. Anyway, it seems my opening Author's Notes have shrunk a lot in the past eight years. I'd draw you a line graph or something, but even that's too much effort. I should train a monkey.

A few things about this chapter may seem amiss to those who are addicted to Persona. I will only say this: it's the first chapter. This is the longest AN you'll have to read. Now go. Frolic upon the yonder pages of blathering drabble and let me rest.

Chapter One: Ideas

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The very first time Elizabeth asked her elder sister for an explanation that would satisfy her curiosity about the Velvet Room, she was given a strange story that merely augmented its enigmatic cloak, one that grew over the years of her life. There were places in this world that simply made no sense; for as long as she could remember, she had been a permanent resident of the Velvet Room alongside her siblings and their master. There was nothing to 'learn' here; if you were meant to know, then you were told. No one forgot the knowledge that existed within the innermost workings of the human heart.

Though she was told it was called the Velvet Room, this world had no name. Igor was the center of the room, but neither the man nor the place with a history that mattered any more than their futures. Outside of it, 'places' only existed for as long as they were needed. If there was one truth Elizabeth had 'learned', however, it was that Igor was not the only one who presided here, and he was likely not the first or last to be its Keeper. There was no distinction between his interaction with her and Theodore, or the guests from the real world. Was there?

There had been guests before, yet they were never there for reasons that concerned her. It was quickly becoming apparent that though she could learn nothing more about her residence, there was much to learn about the real world. She enjoyed reading about these things; it seemed that every time she visited her master's library, there was so much more to discover than before. However, nothing inside those texts was real. Despite how she knew the method in which magazines were created and their multiple functions in human society, there were no such magazines to feel or touch in the library. Despite a strong desire to remain distant and unattached in the presence of the young male guest, as her sister would have been, Elizabeth found herself drawn to his soft blue eyes. Eyes that must have seen a hundred thousand things that hers never would.

Elizabeth made a list of objects she would like to see most. It began as a whimsical wish list, but it grew to be more important to her than she had ever expected . Her master, as was his nature, quickly found out about it. Whether Theodore had turned it over to the Keeper of the Velvet Room, or the list had somehow escaped her books and found his attention, she would never know. It was not until the young man known as Minato was about to be summoned before them, that she gained knowledge of her stolen secret.

"It is almost time for our new guest to arrive," Igor told her in a calm, business-like way as he sat down in his chair. He held onto his cane for a moment, while Elizabeth bent over to take it from his hand. "Oh, that reminds me. I wanted to ensure that you were adequately prepared for this meeting before I began the summoning. Did you remember to bring your list of special requests?"

Blanching was a human reaction of surprise or alarm. She managed to keep the color from rushing out of her cheeks, but she did freeze her body involuntarily. Elizabeth stared at him and discovered that her voice was no longer operating.

Her master chuckled, sounding neither irritated nor amused. "It's all right, Elizabeth. It would be very rude of me to prohibit you from learning more about that world, even if it means bringing strange souvenirs into this one. I would just like you to know that there may be consequences for every request you make of our guest, consequences that you will have to face on your own, without the assistance of your siblings, should the time come. Do you understand?"

"I understand perfectly, master," Elizabeth responded at last, relieved that she had somehow overcome her paralysis.

"Good! Then, shall we invite our guest in?"

And then Igor opened the door across the ascending elevator, revealing a young man with blue hair. To Elizabeth, he seemed to be confused and afraid. No, not afraid? Was that expression a curious one?

It was difficult to see him go, once Igor explained the purpose of the Room and handed over a key she had never seen before. Did guests need special permission to enter the Velvet Room? Most visitors came and went without ever returning. It would definitely explain why today felt unique, but then again, it did not. By the time she remembered to mention her list of requests, the young man with the rare ability had disappeared again. Igor seemed to be more relaxed than usual. Now would have likely been the best time to do so, considering his good humor; however, it was too late. She masked her disappointment well.

"Ah, Margaret. I was hoping you would stop by," said Igor, stirring her from her thoughts. Her sister had indeed appeared from beneath the veil that covered the nearest door. "You just missed our newest visitor. It seems he understands the gravity of his role far more than I dared to hope. Tell me, how was your investigation?"

"Unfortunately, I was unable to observe the unusual weather patterns long enough to understand their nature," Margaret responded. She avoided the glance her younger sibling gave her, either on purpose or merely by accident. "I doubt the appearance of the fog in the town of Inaba will be an issue for some time, as it only appears once every five or six months."

"Hmmm, I see. Elizabeth, what do you think?"

She had been so preoccupied by the departure of the charming young man, she almost replied without thinking. That would have been disastrous. Elizabeth tried hard to make sense of the discussion, but she rarely paid attention to the ongoings in her elder sister's life. It was jealousy, perhaps, towards Margaret for being allowed to leave the Velvet Room and enter the conscious world without an escort. "Even though it has a supernatural origin, it has not harmed anyone thus far. It may be in our best interest to focus on Iwatodai. Surely, that young man will need your assistance with his Personas, master Igor?"

"Naturally. I am glad to see you taking this matter so seriously, Elizabeth." Igor chuckled. "Well, then. I would like you to prepare while I discuss something of great importance with your elder sister."

Igor's private discussions with Margaret did not bother Elizabeth in the slightest. Whatever her sister's mission, it wasn't likely to interfere with their dealings with Iwatodai. Tartarus remained a serious problem; the Dark Hour was endangering human lives and must be dealt with. As Igor's assistant, it was her duty to ensure that her compendium ability would be ready for the Personas their guest would inevitably attract over time.

The door on her left was her door—at least it was, when she needed it to be. Following her dismissal, she exited the guest room and entered the soft blue corridor that attached her siblings' rooms together. They were merely places to be when they were not needed, since they did not need quarters for the conventional means humans shared. It was where she kept her private compendium, a personal stock of Personas that she could recall at any time should her master decide it was necessary.

Elizabeth entered her room, a chamber with its royal blue walls lined with book cases brimming with tomes that each contained a special power. In the center stood a table with a bright yellow orb, where it had been standing since she was a small girl, on the day Igor had gifted it to her to aid in her study of Personas. Her siblings had no such gift. This was hers, because she could make use of it. Though they each had awoken a Persona in the past, her elder sister and young brother lacked the unique ability she possessed: the unfounded power to switch her Persona at any time she wished. This was her own, personal compendium, very unlike the book in which she intended to use to record Minato's Personas.

Raising her hand, she immediately felt herself drawn toward a tome of the Empress arcana, as though the text had been waiting for a long time for her to return. Not unexpectedly, when she moved her eyes to read the spine of the tome, she recognized it as the same book she had been studying the last time she retired. As her compendium orb shone through the corner of her eye, she strode over to the far wall and removed the impatient tome from the shelf. Her precious bookmark slid out into her hand as she opened the book to the three hundredth and fourteenth page.

"Poor avatar," said a soothing voice. Elizabeth was not frightened in the slightest. This was the second time she had experienced this phenomenon since she began studying this book, so it was nothing new. It continued on. "You pointless waste of an existentialist. No one enjoys being the middle child. That precious identity that you yearn for will never, ever come true, and why? It is because you will never know the truth. Life is a boundless mystery, pretty girl, and you are destined to remain behind while that child is practically handed his life's purpose. Poor, lost, pointless little avatar..."

As the woman's voice drifted away, Elizabeth felt the power fade from the tome. Its taunting echo had no affect on her heart, of course. If this was to be another trial to test her control over her emotions, then let it be. She turned the page and discovered that the next one was blank, as was the one next to it. The remainder of the book was apparently empty of any further written words. Alarmed, she flipped through the next dozen leafs until she gave up, shutting it gently and placing it back on the shelf. She picked up another tome and opened it. It was blank.

What was happening? These books, all of them—she must have read them a hundred times each. She had a perfect understanding of the cards. There were so many thousands of combinations that she knew off by heart, and yet the meaning of this bizarre incident went far over her head. She was about to drop the tome for another, when she felt another presence enter the room.

"Theodore," she said, knowing it was him even before she turned around. "Have you been reading these books lately?"

Her younger brother seemed genuinely surprised, and curious as he approached. "No, I cannot say that I have. I actually came to visit you, dear sister. Did you know already? Margaret just returned from the town she was visiting on Master Igor's behalf."

"Yes, I knew that. Theo, this is very important to me. Is there something wrong with my eyes? When I look at my books, they are all blank. Could someone have been in here, erasing my books without my knowlege?"

"Erasing books?" His eyes widened, causing her to wonder if sharing her dilemma had been a good idea. Theodore was quick to worry about most things, even matters far more trivial than this. Not that this was a trivial matter. "Who would do such a horrible thing? I do not think even our master would do something like that, not even if he were very upset with us. Are you certain they are blank?" Frantically, he chose one of the tomes from the Empress shelf at random and cracked it open. "Oh, I see."

"What? Has that one been erased, too?"

"Absolutely not. How could you play a terrible joke like this on your brother, Elizabeth? I was convinced that your books really were in danger of being erased."

Elizabeth took the tome from him and looked down. Surely enough, the text stood out from the pages like a river of information, just as it should be. Confused, she looked at the book she had opened previously to find that it also had been restored. But she had been so positive that they were blank...had she been imagining it? "They went back to normal," she half-whispered. "Is it possible that I was simply overreacting...?"

"Master Igor did say that you were experiencing an abnormal amount of stress due to the acceleration of the Tartarus incident and this intriguing business with the new guest," Theodore remarked solemnly. "He even suggested to me that I take some of your duties on the rare occasion, to allow you some reprieve of these stressors."

"He did?" She could not contain her bewilderment. Their master, reassigning her duties as his assistant to Theodore? True, this could be a simple gesture of compassion from Igor, but what if it was beyond that? What if he now thought of her as an inadequate assistant? "Do you suspect he wants me to...step down?"

"No. He is probably only concerned that you have, as I believe the expression goes, 'too much on your platter''. Perhaps now is not the best time to dwell on these things. Would you care to join me in the library? There are several new collections on the inherent evolution of personal amplification skills to be read."

In truth, Elizabeth felt as though she had enough enough of books for the time being. It had never occured to her before, but most of her time was spent either reading, or attending to their master's needs. This made her think of all the strange items she desired to see from the real world, and guilt flushed her face. Maybe she was wrong for selfishly wishing to experience things from beyond her grasp. Margaret certainly thought so.

Theodore must have read her mind. It was easy to recognize the slightest change in expression on her face, he would always tell her. "If you need me, sister, you know where to find me," he said, and with a polite bow, he turned to leave.

Elizabeth tasked herself with organizing the texts on her shelf. It was unwise to place tomes of opposing arcanas on the same row, as it sometimes created problems when she accessed her compendium. With so much energy in one place, accidents were bound to occur one way or another, but she tried to minimize the strife on her small family by inventing new patterns in which to build her private library.

After a long silence, she could no longer bear the uncomfortable feeling of being watched, and asked to herself aloud, despite her brother's long departure, "Theodore, tell me...am I wrong for wishing to know more about...me?"

But rather than her brother's warm and comforting voice, she heard in return the same voice that came from the power of the Empress' tome. "Someone who cannot even choose a favorite color has no 'self', little avatar. You enjoy drinking the lies that nourish you, feeding that false mask that was handed to you by an old fool. No pity should be spared for a nobody."

"I am nobody." As she stood, she felt someone's gaze roll over her shoulders. Upon turning around, she found the room was still vacant and the power behind the voice was gone. Even the words seemed to be too easy to say. Perhaps they were true. "If I am to be of use in this world, I need to discover why I am experiencing these difficulties."

Perhaps by saying it aloud, she would believe it. But she didn't.

TBC