(Alexander saves Damien from his Idol and founds the Quartz Idol Busters with his friends - read through lunchtime of Labor Day in Chapter 12 of the main story)

September 4, 2015 - Friday, Evening - Clear

When Alexander went into his room, he was greeted by an unexpected sight: a glowing blue door, floating just off the ground next to the closet. His first thought was to go get Justin and ask him if he could see the door, but something told him the answer was probably no.

That's a little... too convenient. I never even found where the other one was supposed to be yet. Well, that works out for me, I guess. Ada told me she could empower my clothing to make me stronger, and I did just buy some new threads the other day, so... guess I'm going inside.

He closed his bedroom door, gathered his new clothes, and approached the door to the Velvet Room, noticing it had no handle or lock. He shrugged and attempted to push it open with his hand, but found that as soon as he touched the door, he was sitting in the comfy chair across from Igor.

"Oh! Well, that's even more convenient." Alexander remarked. Igor still had the same creepy smile as before, and Ada stood at his side with that same expression of both boredom and intrigue.

"Welcome once again to the Velvet Room. It appears you found a way here from your world. I do not sense any new Personas within you. Would that then mean you are here to request Ada's services?" Igor asked. Alexander noticed the clothes he had brought were in his lap. Ada bowed to him at being acknowledged by Igor.

"Yeah, that's pretty much it. How's it work?"

"If you would come with me, I will show you." Ada said, gesturing to the area where the racks of clothes were. In an instant, the previous clothes all disappeared into thin air, leaving all the racks empty. Alexander got up from the chair and followed her to where there were long, flat tables presumably meant for enchanting things.

"Please arrange the clothing you would like for me to enchant on this table here." As Alexander laid out the clothes, Ada said,

"You currently only wield a single Persona. Will that be sufficient for these enchantments?"

"Yeah, it should be fine." He said.

"Very well. The cost for this service will be..." She gave him the price.

"Right, this costs money. Didn't think this would be free. Uh... yeah, I don't have my wallet on me, so I'll be right back." Alexander said, feeling his pockets and confirming that he was indeed currently without money.

"I will see you in just a moment, then." Ada responded. Alexander looked around for the exit, and saw that the door was positioned directly behind where he sat across from Igor. He left the Velvet Room and took a brief moment to take in the fact that he was now able to come and go from it at will.

I wonder if Ada's allowed to leave. Oh, man. That basically means I'm living next door to a girl I don't even know and the door is basically unlocked. Not that we have that kind of interest in each other, but man, if Justin or anybody else could see this thing, I know for a fact they'd get on my case about it.

He got his wallet and returned to the Velvet Room, finding that it always put him back in the chair upon entry. He made his way back over to Ada, who was still waiting for him at the table where the clothes were.

"Alright, here's the cash." He said as he handed over the money to Ada. Alexander watched Ada drew out Hamlet's power from the Compendium several times over in order to enchant all the clothes, noticing that they looked exactly the same afterwards as they did before. Once she was done, he decided to ask her a question.

"So, what do you do when you're not hanging out here in the Velvet Room? I'm guessing it's like a part-time job and you spend that money elsewhere, right?" He imagined her literally letting her hair down from the tight bun she kept it in. She had a cold prettiness to her, he thought, almost like she was a living porcelain doll.

"I have no use for money. It is asked of you because in order to grant power to you and your clothing, something of equivalent value must be offered up. Money is merely the simplest medium by which this exchange can occur. To answer your other question, I spend all of my time in the Velvet Room. I may not leave except if accompanied by you, the current guest. Even then, I may only leave the Room every so often."

"Okay. Got it. Guess that means I'll have to get a job or something if I want to keep being able to do this. But huh, you can actually leave if you're with me? For how long?" He asked.

"The period is indefinite, ending only when you dismiss me, you return to the Velvet Room, or you become incapacitated. To clarify the last point, this also includes any instance of you falling unconscious or dead, willingly or otherwise. There are further restrictions regarding my ventures into your world as well, but unless you wish to take me there right now, I do not feel it strictly necessary to inform you of them at the moment." Ada responded. Alexander met her eyes, seeing nothing but sharp calmness in them, a look that was alert as a hawk but still as an undisturbed lake.

"Alright. Nah, this isn't the time. But I will definitely keep that in mind. I think you'll enjoy what my world has to offer. Plus, I feel like you need to take a break every once in a while. You're wound as tight as a piano string." He said, beginning to gather the clothes off of the table.

"The tensile strength of my body far exceeds that of piano wire, actually. However, striking me will not produce any sounds you would interpret as music. I would also prefer you not test that statement." Ada said. Alexander thought he could hear her voice stiffen just a bit more on the last sentence, making him chuckle.

"Don't worry. I'm not going to start poking you expecting music to come out or anything. But when I think of something, I'll be back to show you what my world is really like. See you later, Ada." He said, making his way to the door.

"We will be looking forward to your next visit. Until then, Alexander."

Tomorrow, he was going to head off to Damien's house to see what would happen when he looked into a mirror with the intent of having his Idol take him. Justin would also be coming along. After having been told the details of the incident with Allie, Justin decided he was better off listening to the stories rather than living them, opting instead to act as the guy who makes excuses and throws normals off the trail.

September 5, 2015 - Saturday, Morning - Cloudy

Alexander, Allie, and F.Z. stood before the double doors with the phoenix emblazoned upon them. They all knew what was behind it, and they took a moment to prepare themselves before going in.

"Give me a sec. Hamlet, Tarukaja!" Alexander called out to his Persona. His other self appeared and cast the spell twice, granting both Persona-users additional strength.

"There. That should help us. I've also got Omoikane and Pixie if we need debuffs or healing." He explained as Hamlet dissipated. F.Z. let out a worried sigh and said,

"Not that I need to tell you, but Damien and his Idol are behind that door. So... don't go dying on me. I swear, if you two bite it and leave me alone again, I'll never forgive either of you!" Alexander and Allie looked at each other, shaking their heads in tandem.

"I didn't come here to lose, alright? Allie feels the same way. I can tell." Alexander asked. She nodded and said,

"Don't worry, F.Z. No one's going to die today. We will save Damien. Alex, are you ready?"

"Yeah. Gonna start off with Omoikane to get those debuffs going. Let's do this." Alexander said before pulling open the doors that led the roof of the skyscraper.

"Just as I expected, other me. I knew you had it in you! There isn't an adventure out there that you're not willing to undertake, no opportunity for excitement that you'd refuse. I mean, that's why you came here, isn't it? You wanted to meet me! And why shouldn't you have? You're-"

"Damien, don't listen to him! He's full of shit!" Alexander called out as he and Allie ran up to Damien. He turned around, momentarily surprised, but then shook his head, smiling.

"Oh, hey. You guys... you guys made it. I knew you would."

"Well, look who showed up. Your best friend and some guy you met just a couple of weeks ago." Damien's Idol walked up next to him and slung his arm around his shoulder.

"But let's be honest with ourselves. They're not exciting enough for you - nothing in your ordinary life is! You want to live life on the edge! You gotta be risking it all every day or else you're not really living! Well, guess what. This set of spy games I put you through? This is only just the beginning! Take me in, and I-"

"Just shut up already, damn!" Alexander shouted over him. He readied his mirror and looked Damien in the eyes.

"Damien, I'm not gonna pretend that I know all about you. But I know you've heard the old saying, 'If something is good to be true, it probably is?' Well, that's exactly what's going on here. You literally have a devil on your shoulder telling you to give in to it. He's promising you nothing but lies, I'm telling you!"

"It's your choice. What does he know? Nothing. He doesn't know what he's talking about. I'm you! Who else knows what's better for you than you?" Damien's Idol said, glaring at Alexander.

"Damien, please, listen to me! I know the life we've lived can be a bore." Allie began to speak.

"I know that you want more out of life, that you want to be this total badass. That's not a bad thing! But... adventuring every second of the day isn't what's going to make you happy. Think about it. If you were always on the move, when could you have time to enjoy the solace of relaxation? When would you be able to spend time with your friends, or with your family? It's okay to dream about being on the edge sometimes, but you don't want to live there, Damien!" He listened to her words and then looked back at his Idol, who looked even more annoyed by Allie's little speech.

"You're right. Both of you. Alex. Allie. If I was always risking it all, that'd be the most selfish thing I've ever done. And this sounds exactly like the kind of thing that's too good to be true. So that's why... that's why I don't wanna be you." Damien said as he pushed himself away from his Idol. The Idol rolled his eyes and sighed, shaking his head in disappointment. The blue aura around him started turning black, and his body was beginning to show those moving black-and-white stripes.

"Fine! Then I suppose I have no other choice. I will show you that your destiny is above all of these ordinary people!" The stripes flashed and Damien's Idol began to be encased in quartz. Damien himself ran away from the transforming Idol and joined his friends on the other side.

"Good stuff, Allie. Let's get ready to beat him down. Damien, get out of here. It's about to get dangerous up in here."

The chrysalis grew until it shattered, revealing the Idol's monstrous form.

It was a shiny, blue-suited man that stood a couple of feet above everyone else, with the emblem of the phoenix on the suit's breast. His hair was navy blue and was spiked up like Damien's typically was, and on his back was a circular pack with multiple implements sticking out of it. He stood in a defensive stance and held a pistol in his right hand, smirking with Damien's face down at the people that dared to oppose him.

"I am an Idol... everything in you that you wish you were." He spoke, and started by taking a shot at Allie. She wasn't quick enough to avoid the shot, and was knocked back by the impact.

"I'm gonna see if there any weak points you can focus!" F.Z. called out, turning into the wind. Alexander called upon Omoikane and cast Sukunda on the Idol, saying,

"Pretty sure that backpack is full of crap that he's gonna use on us. He's fused with it, so we'll have to aim for the weapons themselves!" F.Z. reformed behind the Idol and confirmed Alexander's words; the backpack was part of the Idol's body, but the weapons themselves were not, meaning they could be attacked and possibly disabled if the Idol had them out. There were four: a ray gun, an antenna, a strange gray rod, and a rocket launcher.

"Yep! One of them's a rocket launcher!" She said before disappearing into the wind again. Allie attacked with Medusa's Magna spell.

"Well, aren't you smart? But let's see how well you do without magic!" He pulled out the antenna from his backpack and aimed it at Alexander, releasing jagged black-and-green waves that enveloped him. He grit his teeth as he felt a mental block preventing him from using any of Omoikane's abilities. The Idol laughed as he returned the antenna to his backpack. F.Z. reformed next to Allie, who had made her way to the other side of the roof, and said,

"Okay. It doesn't look like the pistol's attached to him and he always has it out. If you aim your attack just right, you could knock it away from him. Think you can do it?"

She nodded.

"Medusa, go! Magna!" She called upon her other self, who snarled at the Idol as she fired a sharp rock at the pistol the Idol was holding. The attack was a hit, and the pistol was sent flying out of his hand and sent skidding across the roof, stopping near the edge.

"Clever. But you act like I really needed that!" He pulled out the strange gray rod from his backpack, which turned out to extend to the point of needing two hands to wield properly. It ended up looking like a giant leafblower, which he pointed at Allie before flicking the switch to turn it on.

"Goodbye!" He said as a powerful wind began to push Allie off of the building. She tried her best to stand her ground against it, but it was clear that she was going to lose her footing at any moment. Alexander tried to push his way past the mental block, but couldn't do it.

Damn it. How am I supposed to stop it if I can't use my Persona's powers? Run up to it and attack it myself?

"Call upon me. The debilitation does not extend to physical arts." Hamlet spoke to him from within his mind.

"You got it." Alexander said, bringing Hamlet to the forefront of his mind and summoning him. Just as he said, he felt no trouble in giving Hamlet the power to use Pierce.

"Go, Hamlet!" He commanded his Persona to attack. Hamlet leapt into the air and aimed for the Idol's back with his sword, striking dead center and knocking the Idol onto the ground in the process. This caused the Idol to drop the leafblower and left him vulnerable to a Fusion Spell.

"What? How? You had no magic! Where'd that come from?"

"Allie, let's go! Now!"

The two of them summoned their Personas and prepared the Fusion Spell. Hamlet extended his sword and Medusa charged it with earth energy, making small pebbles float around the blade.

"Fall before the power of Magna Blade!" Hamlet cried as he drove the sword into the back of the Idol's head, making black goo spill forth from the wound. The Idol screamed in pain and reached for the back of his head. In the background, F.Z. had gone over to the doors and noticed that Damien was behind one of them, watching the battle carefully.

"This is crazy... but I'd be lying if I didn't also think it was really, really cool." He said to her. She scoffed at him, saying,

"It's not gonna be cool if Alex and Allie die, dumbass. Now stay there. I'm going back in." She returned to the winds and got closer to the fray once more.

Even after that attack, he still managed to get up and stand. He took the rocket launcher out of his backpack and shouted,

"No! I'm not done yet! Die! Die!" He fired a rocket at Alexander, the shell colliding with him and knocking him to the ground. He groaned, feeling as if he'd been hit with a flaming sledgehammer. He looked up to see that the Idol had turned around and fired the rocket launcher at Allie, who was able to see the attack coming and barely dodged it. The rocket exploded on the roof and made a small crater instead, grazing Allie with the shrapnel. F.Z. reformed next to Alexander and said,

"You almost got him! Get rid of that pistol before he uses it against you!"

Alexander brought himself to his feet and looked at the pistol. He smiled as he realized what he could do with it.

"I'll do you one better. Watch!"

He used the opening the Idol gave him by turning around to attack Allie and rushed for the pistol. The Idol turned around to see what he was doing and shot another rocket in his direction. Alexander managed to grasp the pistol, surprised by how light it was despite its size, and smirked as he aimed at the oncoming rocket and fired.

The bullet met the rocket and made it explode several feet away from Alexander. F.Z. saw this and her expression went from confused to grinning. She turned into the wind and reappeared next to Allie.

"There's your opening! Go, go!" She urged her on.

"You don't need to tell me twice. Medusa, Lunge!" Allie summoned her Persona, who charged at the Idol's wide-open back and sent him stumbling forwards. He spun around and fired another rocket, which was easier to dodge due to the Idol's aim suffering from the Sukunda debuff that still persisted on him. She took no damage at all from the explosion or its resulting shrapnel. Meanwhile, Alexander saw what was unfolding and took aim with the pistol, aiming for a headshot.

"It's over. You're done!" He pulled the trigger and sent a bullet into the wound that Hamlet had made earlier, making the Idol's head explode in a burst of black goo. The Idol fell to the ground, his implements turning into quartz and crumbling into dust along with him. He laid on the ground in his previous form as Damien emerged from behind the doors.

"Damn. You two owned him. The both of you would make one hell of a secret agent team." He said, still in awe at what he'd just seen. He leaned over his Idol self, who was rubbing the back of his head in pain.

"Maybe it's because he literally blew my head off, but I just don't get it. How... how you can be okay with the mundane, other me?" He looked his other self in the eyes, awaiting an answer. He put his hands behind his head and spoke.

"Think of it like this. If life was just a game, then that means you can potentially lose that game, which would mean losing your life with it. Honestly, you showed me a really good time. I enjoyed it. I really did. But at the end of the day, I want to be able to sleep in the silence of my bedroom just like anybody else. Yeah, it might get boring sometimes, but I know that with my friends around, there'll always be something new to keep it interesting." He extended his hand towards his other self and helped him up.

"That sounds like an adventure worth going on to me. Thanks for inviting me along." Blue flames consumed him, revealing an anthropomorphic falcon wearing a white hat that had a flaming yellow disk as its brim and a navy-blue suit similar to what Damien's Idol had worn, complete with black dress shoes. A circular mirror with tens of small, golden metallic curls representing the sun's corona floated before him.

"Our zeal for life burns hotter than the sun! Greetings, my other self. I am Ra, and it is my pleasure to accompany you on this journey." Damien took hold of the mirror and looked up at Ra, the entity he now knew was his Persona.

"The pleasure... is mine."

September 7, 2015 - Monday, Morning - Sunny - Labor Day

Alexander woke up to see that it was around eight in the morning, which is about how early he'd get up without school getting in the way. He saw that yep, the Velvet Room door was still there, and still completely invisible to everyone that wasn't him. After saving Damien from his Idol and then passing out on his couch, he had done a whole lot of nothing except homework yesterday. He left his room and met with his brother downstairs. Their parents still had to work today, so it was just the two of them alone at home.

"Hey, rockhead. Still feeling the weight of that Idol fight from the other day?" Justin asked him, stirring his cereal in its milk. Justin had gone over with him to Damien's house, where he and Damien's older sister Lin talked while the whole Idol event was happening. He knew all about the fight by now, including the part where Alexander blew the Idol's head off with its own pistol.

"Not as much as yesterday. I'm feeling pretty good now. What do you want to do today?" Alexander asked. Justin shrugged, eating some of his cereal. Alexander continued on, saying,

"Well, I was thinking about how the news keeps going on about how people keep turning up in the woods around here with that mark on their left shoulder. Now, this is just a hunch, but do you think that maybe that has something to do with how F.Z. said that several people gave in to their Idols? The disease those disappearing people have is called Narcissus Syndrome, which is named after some dude from Greek mythology who was so vain he drowned staring into his own reflection in a pond or something. That kinda makes me think they're related."

"That's where they kinda go into a stupor if they see their own reflection in mirrors, right? And it's only the people that vanish and then end up in the woods? I don't think F.Z. ever told you about exactly who it was that ended up there, did she?" Justin asked.

"Well... kinda sorta. She said she remembered vague details about them. One of them was a teenage girl, another was a teenage guy, another was an adult woman, stuff like that. I mean, yeah, the people we know that disappeared fit those descriptions, but that's so general you could easily argue it's just a coincidence. We don't know for sure that the two have anything to do with each other. That's why I said it's a hunch." Alexander reached for his phone and looked up Damien's number.

"We should call up Damien and Allie and see what they think. We can eat lunch together." He said.

"Think they're awake? They might be sleeping in today." Justin said, eating some more of his cereal and slurping the milk.

"Yeah, I'll wait until later. They both seem like the type to do that on a holiday."

Monday, Lunchtime - Sunny - Labor Day

"So, I think that if we're going to go back there on our own terms, we'll probably need to use a mirror to do it." Damien said as he took a drink from his soda.

"Yeah. For some reason we can't use the mirrors we got from in there, but I think any other mirror should work just fine. We also don't need to all be in the same place. All we need's a mirror large enough for it to work." Alexander said, eating a piece of one of his chicken strips.

"That would be really helpful if we could each go there on our own." Allie said, finishing up the last of her fries.

"You ate all the fries again." Damien pointed out that next to the empty fry holder were a set of empty ketchup packets. Allie narrowed her eyes at him through her glasses and grabbed his fries.

"Not yet I haven't." She said as she took a handful of them and ate them in front of him. Alexander looked at his own empty fry holder and said,

"Damn, girl! Good thing I ate all of mine already. You're not stealing 'em now." Allie looked at him and laughed before dipping a couple of fries into the open ketchup packet and eating them. Damien leaned back in his seat and put his hands behind his head.

"So... looks like we're officially a group now. Me, you, and Allie. Oh, and Justin too. I don't blame you for wanting to keep your distance. It was pretty damn crazy in there."

"Yeah, I know. He told me all about it. I think I'd prefer hearing about it to living it." Justin said, drinking some of the strawberry milkshake he'd ordered earlier.

"But Alex. You remember how I said that I could count on you and Allie to bust my Idol up if it showed itself?"

"Yeah. And we blew him away. Literally."

"So I'm thinking that if someone ever gets trapped on the other side again, we'll be there to bust up their Idols too. Do you know what that would make us?" Damien paused, looking to the others to fill in his blank. Justin raised an eyebrow at him and said,

"Busters?"

"Idol Busters. Quartz's Idol Busters. QIB for short." At this, Alexander chuckled and shook his head.

"We some Saturday morning cartoon now? Are kids eventually gonna want to have action figures of the each of us, complete with detachable mirrors?"

"Aw, come on. It's not that bad, is it? But seriously, man. You don't want to just leave the mystery of that valley open, do you? That place has gotta be there for a reason. Who else do we know that's capable of traversing it? I figure if the police can't figure out what's going on, somebody's gotta pick up the slack. The best part is that we can keep it on the down low. Real hush-hush, all of our missions on a need-to-know basis."

"Actual superheroes, huh. Except no one but us and those we save will ever know. Didn't think this is how it was gonna happen back when I was a little kid. Figured I'd become a policeman or fireman or whatever. Yeah, you're right. We can't just leave it alone. This is probably why all that stuff with Philemon and the Velvet Room happened to me when I came here." Alexander said, closing his eyes for a moment to recall the dreams he'd had. Allie's voice got him to open his eyes again.

"I think we were given these powers for a reason. Hamlet, Medusa, and now Ra... I think we're meant to work together with them to unravel the truth behind that place. And even though it's... even though it's really dangerous for us to save people, to help them face their Idols, there's no one else who can do it. So yes. We will become the Quartz Idol Busters."

"But do we really gotta keep the name, though?" Alexander asked.

"You got a better one? I can't think of anything that doesn't sound just as corny myself." Justin said, finishing up his milkshake. Alexander shrugged, sighing.

"Nope. Guess we're sticking with QIB."

"Then it's settled. Hey, Alex, what do you think..."


Original upload date: May 10, 2018

A/N: Hey, look! I remembered this was a thing! And while it'll take some time for it to catch up to the main story, eventually you'll see how Alexander deals with his own set of Social Links and the various turns and twists the plot has. Eventually. Yep.