"I want you to look into Libertá's mind." That was the only greeting Jolly got as Mondo stepped into his laboratory. Jolly didn't look up from his book to look at him.
"Good evening to you too Mondo." Mondo, however, felt too busy for the formalities.
"Please. If his mind truly is still under the hypnosis I want you to help me break it." Jolly finally turned to look at him with suspicion in his eyes.
"Why? He is alive, isn't that enough?" Mondo turned slightly angry. It was obvious that Jolly was not in a good mood either.
"You know that it isn't. And who knows how long he will stay that way? We need to help him. He's just a kid."
"And not yours for that matter." Jolly commented and they shared a dangerous look. Both of them were on edge.
They stared at each other for a while before Jolly gave in.
He sighed and said: "Fine." while getting up from his chair.
He walked by Mondo into the hallway before the older followed. "I still need him as a test subject anyways. His power has proven to be much more intriguing that I originally thought..."
"Jolly." Mondo warned him. Libertá would probably not want to use his powers for a very long time after all of this if he were to wake up. And definitely not by someone else.
The two walked silently all the way to Libertá's room. They stopped by the bed and looked at the unconscious figure.
"I will just take a look for now. If there is something you can help me we will try this again another day." Jolly said and took a seat next to Libertá's bed where Sumire had been sitting just moments before.
Mondo nodded and stayed close. He knew that he would not be able to see much from the outside but he wanted to at least watch over the two. There was no knowing what could happen when the Arcana powers were included.
As Jolly touched Libertá's forehead, the room went quiet.
–
As Jolly expected, it was very dark inside Libertá's mind. There was nothing to see at first but when he searched for a while longer he saw some light ahead.
He was happily surprised by what he saw when he reached the light.
There was a green field and three kids running around, playing. Jolly recognized them as Nova, Felicitá and Libertá. However, he knew that the memory was not accurate. He didn't know if it had something to do with the hypnosis or was it more like a dream to Libertá but Jolly knew that the boy had not met Felicitá and Nova until he was much older. In the scene the three looked like they were around eight years old.
Just when he thought that the scene wouldn't change, something happened. A giant wave appeared high in the horizon and was gradually closing in to the peaceful place. Jolly braced himself as the giant wave crashed down but to his surprise nothing hit him.
He opened his eyes to find himself on a ship at the sea. He knew the ship very well. It was Dante's ship.
There was a storm raging and Jolly guessed that it was the time when the pirates would appear and kidnap Libertá.
He didn't have to wait for long to see how the pirates boarded their ship and started fighting.
There was a lot of noise. He could see the fight from Libertá's point of view and saw what a desperate situation it had been. He was surrounded by the pirates and there was no way that he could fight them off by himself. The fact was soon confirmed as someone knocked Libertá out and he was carried off to the enemy ship.
The memory ended there and everything became dark.
"No! Don't do this! Stop!" Libertá's voice called from somewhere. Jolly was right to have a bad feeling. A sea of flames soon engulfed him and when they lessened he could see a town.
It was destroyed.
There were flames everywhere and the ground was covered in blood and dead bodies. And in the middle of it all was Libertá.
He looked completely emotionless, expect for the tears that ran down his cheeks.
Jolly could still hear what he was thinking since it was his memory.
"I don't want to kill anymore... Please! I just want to go home!" Jolly didn't often feel sympathy for others but seeing Libertá moving against his will as he was suffering inside was bringing up his emotions more than usual.
A kid, no more than ten suddenly appeared from behind a building and seemed to try and get away from Libertá. The blonde, however, noticed this and appeared in front of the poor child in a flash.
The child fell to the ground in fear and surprise and before he had time to even beg for his life, Libertá whispered one word and the poor little child disappeared in flames.
"No! NO! STOOP!" Libertá shouted but it was no use.
The scenery changed. A town after town appeared and they all were destroyed by the young blonde against his will.
It was frightening to watch and unfortunately Jolly had to feel all the same feelings as Libertá did when all of it happened. He could feel how every single time the boy killed his mind broke a little more and the little control he had slipped away.
Just when Jolly thought that nothing could go worse, a new scene appeared.
There was a gang of people seemingly under the deck of the pirate ship. Laughter was heard as the people had gathered to see something in the corner.
Jolly feared to go closer but he knew that if he was to help Libertá wake up he would have to see what he had. He saw how one of the pirates had grabbed Libertá by his hair and was dangling him in the air like a rag doll. Libertá's eyes were open but they were completely emotionless. Jolly could still feel how Libertá's mind was still trying to weakly oppose what was happening. He was so afraid.
Jolly then had to witness how the sick men treated the kid like a punching bag- kicking and punching him- while they just kept laughing.
Just when Jolly thought the men couldn't be any sicker they did something so bad that Jolly instantly knew that Libertá's mind might be forever broken due to it.
They started to humiliate him.
They undressed him and touched his body while they boy could only cry inside his mind.
Jolly decided that he had seen enough and he ended the memories to see where Libertá himself was inside his mind.
When Felicitá had lost her memories, vines had surrounded her body and kept her from getting her memories back. Jolly figured that Libertá would be in a similar place since his mind was under some kind of lock too.
"I have killed so many..." Libertá's thought called Jolly in the right direction.
Jolly felt resistance when he got closer to the presence ahead.
Suddenly he noticed that everything around him was blue. He had somehow ended underwater.
He moved thought the space to see Libertá ahead. Long, green seaweed had wrapped around Libertá's body tightly so he couldn't escape.
Jolly knew that he couldn't break him free for now. Libertá would have to stay inside his mind with his fears until more help arrived to break him free.
Just when Jolly thought his job was finished he noticed something shining at Libertá's feet. He struggled against a strange force in order to reach the object. It was a rope that let out a purple shine. When Jolly touched the rope, flashes of memories occupied his mind.
The memories were of the pirate captain who had hypnotized Libertá. All the horrors the man had did could be seen.
So that rope symbolized the hypnosis then?
Jolly however frowned when he saw that the rope had been broken and it had fallen on the ocean floor. Didn't that mean that the hypnosis was broken?
Jolly looked up to the blonde kid.
"So... you just don't want to wake up then?" It wasn't like Jolly couldn't understand. After all the boy had seen, how could he live with himself from now on? Maybe it was the best that the boy would stay this way.
Without knowing the answer, Jolly severed the connection with the boy and returned to the reality.
–
Mondo waited impatiently as Jolly stayed still in his position.
As five minutes had passed Mondo moved to the other side of Libertá's bed and sat down. He stared at Jolly to see if his expression would change- telling if something was wrong.
He didn't hate to wait for a long time as a frown appeared on Jolly's face. It didn't leave his face for another ten minutes. Then he slowly breathed out and opened his eyes.
Seriousness colored his face. It was clear he had seen something unpleasant but Mondo hadn't really expected any good news from the start.
"So?" Mondo asked. A long silence passed before Jolly leaned back in his seat and sighed. He looked at the roof and seemed to think about his answer.
"Good or the bad news?" Jolly asked, earning a surprised silence.
"The good news."
Jolly leaned forward and found straight eye-contact with the older.
"The hypnosis is broken. I'm not sure how it happened but it's definitely gone."
Mondo's eyes widened and his jaw dropped before he shot up from his seat.
"Jolly! Are you telling the truth?!" A small satisfied smile appeared on Jolly's face.
"Yes." A silence returned again and Jolly could feel it in the air how Mondo's excitement faded by the second.
"Then...what are the bad news?" Jolly looked away from Mondo at this.
"I won't lie. That boy's mind has gone through a lot." Jolly started at looked into Mondo's eyes as if preparing him. "So much that it would be for the best if you left him the way he is now."
"JOLLY! You aren't honestly suggesting that we just-" Mondo shouted angrily but was interrupted by Jolly.
"-He saw it all." This quieted Mondo. Jolly got out a cigarette, but remembered how angry the others had become so he put it back with an annoyed sigh. He needed a smoke badly. "That kid saw how his body was being used to kill and destroy. He killed countless of people day after day."
Mondo felt his feet grow weak and he slumped into the chair under him.
"He saw...everything?" He asked in disbelief.
"Yes. And unfortunately that is not all." Mondo shook his head and prepared himself.
"The abuse he got from the pirates was not something even I wish to speak aloud." Jolly said and waited for a while as Mondo's head fell in sadness and pain. "Mondo, that boy is already too broken."
Mondo, however, shook his head.
"No, that isn't true."
"Mondo-!" Jolly tried to reason but he knew that he wasn't the one making choices.
"-No! We will use Dante's powers. He will seal Libertá's memories from all that has happened and everyone will forget about it." Mondo only sounded like a desperate man that moment, like a father instead of the head of the family.
"Do you really think that will resolve this?" Jolly asked with anger in his tone.
"It has to."
"Mondo, you aren't thinking this straight. Everyone else remembers what happened. Do you expect that no one would blurt out the truth somewhere along the way? And what if those memories would return like the ones from his childhood? You would just be betraying him all over again."
Mondo opened his mouth to argue, but he snapped it close after he realized the facts himself.
"So this is how he will spend the rest of his life? Living his nightmares over and over again, never going forward and eventually dying as he grows weaker?" Mondo asked sadly. Jolly then more like blurted the next thing out.
"Not if you end it." Mondo looked at Jolly with rage in his eyes. Jolly only shrugged and looked away.
Mondo calmed himself and sighed.
"I will speak to the others about this too. I can't make this decision myself."
–
"No way!" Nova argued before he had even heard the end of it. "It's Libertá's life. Just because he has gone through some horrible things doesn't mean that we should not help him! Just letting him die like this... That is much more horrible than what anyone has done to him these past weeks. We are family and family members support each other. That's what we will do for Libertá." He finished and left no room to argue.
"Papá, Nova is right." Felicitá said and earned determined nods from everyone in the room, expect for Debito who looked uncharacteristically guilty.
Mondo's look relaxed and he smiled. The kids were so much smarter than him. How had he not seen this answer? Libertá had a good family. Everyone would help him get back to his former life, no matter how difficult it would be for him.
"Yes. You are right. Let's get Libertá back then, okay?"
–
Nova, Felicitá and Luca stood behind Jolly as the older man sat at the same spot than he had just been sitting at less than an hour ago. He lifted his hand and rested it on Libertá's forehead.
Mondo stood at sidelines, frustrated that he could not travel inside Libertá's mind to help due to his unstable condition. He would have to let the kids handle this one.
"Let's go then." Jolly said and the three pressed their hands on Jolly's back.
–
Jolly was able to instantly guide them to the place where Libertá was.
The sea surprised the four.
"We're...underwater?" Luca asked in surprise.
Jolly didn't answer as he just looked ahead.
They couldn't see anything but water for some time but soon the seaweed started to rise from the bottom- or were they sinking?- revealing the pale boy who was trapped.
"This sure looks familiar." Nova noted.
"Huh?" Felicitá asked in surprise.
"You looked pretty much the same when we entered your mind that one time." Nova explained.
"Oh." She only said as they stared at the unconscious figure for some while.
A sound of a sword being unsheathed woke them from their thoughts.
Nova walked before them and prepared himself to attack.
"Let's get him free." He said and swung his sword. Just when it was about to hit its target, a strange power field appeared and stopped the attack, causing enough force to knock Nova a few steps backwards.
"What?!" He asked in shock.
Before anyone could comment anything, a light started shining on Libertá's forehead. It was his stigmata.
Then there was a voice.
"Why do you disturb my master?" The voice asked and after a flash of light, a familiar object appeared in the air right before Libertá. It was his Tarocco card- Il matto- The Fool.
The party was too surprised to speak. Fortunately the card was a talkative one.
"You have proved me once again that no one is capable of protecting my master. Not his parents nor you. Leave this place at once!"
The attitude of this card pissed off Nova.
"Huh?" He asked in annoyance, "Since when have you started to make the decisions? Like you say, Libertá is your master, not the other way around. You don't get to choose what is best for him!" The blue-haired shouted.
Luca smiled proudly. It was exactly what he had been thinking about.
"Libertá! Please, wake up! You are there aren't you?!" Felicitá shouted. The boy didn't respond in any way.
"Young ones. Why do you keep trying?" The card asked.
"Because Libertá is still alive! As long as he lives we will fight to keep him together with us, with his family!" Nova shouted and pointed his sword towards the card. "-And if you are coming in the way of our family, then I see no reason why I wouldn't cut you down."
An amused huff was heard from the card.
"Is that so...Then the rest is up to you." It was the last thing they heard from the card, Il matto. After a light flashed, the card was gone back inside Libertá where it belonged.
Nova wasted no time to charge towards the seaweeds that held his friend captive. This time no force stopped his attempts and the seaweed was cut off. But like in Felicitá's case the weeds grew back more quickly than Nova could cut.
"I'll help!" Luca shouted and ran to aid Nova.
Felicitá stood beside Jolly and watched the unconscious boy, trying to think what she should do to wake him.
"Don't falter." Jolly surprised Felicitá by his voice. "If you do, you can't wake that kid up." That was the only advice Jolly offered and it was enough.
"LIBERTÀ! WAKE UP!" Felicitá shouted at the top of his lungs and was soon joined by Luca and Nova.
"LIBERTÀ!" Luca shouted in slight anger, just like Nova did.
"WAKE UP YOU IDIOT!"
And just like that, those blue eyes slowly opened and the party was forced out of the boy's mind.
