...Thanks for the review, Xoraan.
Anyway, this is the second half of the 'two weeks later' bit. Sorry the update's so late. Writer's block can be a bitch, and I admit that I haven't proof-read this chapter yet. Matter of fact, I typed it around midnight, so it's no doubt full of typos and things that don't make sense. Sorry.
The next installment ought to be up in a few days, and...well, it's a dramatic one. Also, a predictable meeting will occur!
Don't own persona 3, persona 4, or final fantasy. (I learned how do to those nifty page separator things!)
Inaba, Adachi: Palace
The sound of static filled the room, much to Souji's aggravation. He had had little success with his radio interception, though he was certain that he had built it correctly. Whenever he did pick something up, more often than not it was just idle banter between bored Imperial airship pilots. He wasn't sure how far the range extended, but by his calculations it ought to pick up signals from as far away as Amagi. His brow creased in concentration as he fiddled with the dials, trying to find something, anything, useful.
"kkkkk…ring…"
Souji stopped twisting the dial immediately and switched his hand to the volume control. It was faint, and he didn't recognize the voice, which could possibly mean that the speaker was Amagian or a Port Islander. He brought the interceptor up to his ear and listened as closely as he could to the ensuing conversation.
"Don….omplain…..Could…..worse," a new voice said.
"Bingo," Souji chuckled in triumph. He adjusted the dial ever-so-slightly, and in doing so improved the reception a great deal.
"Yeah, I could be down there with King Moron," the first speaker said with a dry laugh. "Did you hear that he's arrested ten people since taking over?"
"Ten?" the other said, "I think that's a new record."
"Yeah." Souji could assume from the voice pitch that both speakers were men, but he could not guess their ages. Young, perhaps, but probably older than him. Not that it mattered, of course.
"It's too bad about Cid, ain't it?" the first man continued, "Got arrested just this morning; seems like they got his apprentice last night…something about being an Imperial spy. King Moron sure is one paranoid little asshole, eh?"
"Shhh," the second warned, "Never know who's listening in. Could be you next, ya know."
"Hmph." The first man let out a slow exhale. "At this rate, the dungeons'll be flooded by the time the princess gets back. I sure as hell don't envy her on account of all that paperwork…" His voice faded and the connection was lost, so Souji switched the machine off and set it on his desk. The airships must have moved out of his range, but he had heard what he'd wanted to hear.
"Any luck today?" Minato asked sleepily. He floated over to Souji's side, his one visible eye gazing at him curiously.
"I was very lucky today, Minato," Souji murmured. "You and I are going to take a little trip soon. Do you feel up to it?"
"Is this because of your dream last night?" the ghost asked. Souji had told him all about the visit to Yosuke's Velvet Room as soon as he'd awoken.
"Partly," Souji admitted. "Mostly it has to do with a part of my past that I've been trying to forget for eight years."
"I'm in," Minato said. "When do we leave?"
"Tomorrow morning. I'll have to speak with Princess Yukiko first, though. If you'll excuse me." Without waiting for Minato's reply, Souji got up and left in search of the princess. It wasn't often that he left her alone, but Chie had been getting restless so Yukiko had offered to spend the day with her bodyguard for a change. A soldier he passed in the hallway informed him that the two of them were in the palace garden, and when Souji got there he discovered that the soldier's report had been accurate.
"Excuse me," he said, walking up to them. They both turned to him in surprise, though Chie's expression looked a little more annoyed than surprised.
"What's up?" the bodyguard asked.
"I'm afraid there's been a power shift in Amagi," Souji began carefully. "From what I understand of Amagian law, the post of temporary leadership only lasts for two weeks. After that, the person next in line for power would take over. In this case, the honor belongs to-"
"Kinshiro," Princess Yukiko finished, to Souji's relief. He had only heard the man referred to as 'King Moron', and he was certain that couldn't be the man's real name.
"Yes, Kinshiro. He seems to be causing quite a stir back at the palace…"
Princess Yukiko sighed. "Yes, that's not surprising. I don't understand why my father trusts him so much, but he must have his reasons. Has he done anything…irreparable?"
"He has arrested your chief engineer, I believe," Souji replied. "Not 'irreparable' by any means, but…" He paused and waited for the princess to see where he was going. Chie just watched the conversation blankly; Souji doubted she even knew what they were talking about.
"Yes, something ought to be done," Princess Yukiko murmured, biting her lower lip in worry. "I suppose I could intervene, since I outrank Kinshiro, but the emperor has been quite firm in insisting that I stay here."
"That does indeed present a problem." Souji knew he couldn't seem to hasty in offering his services here, otherwise the princess might get suspicious.
"You seem awfully smug, Souji," Princess Yukiko said. "Do you have any ideas?"
Souji forced himself to remain calm, but he was secretly furious that she had noticed his demeanor. He looked down to appear hesitant before replying in a slow, controlled voice. "If you can't go there yourself, you could send someone to go in your place."
Her reaction was anything but expected. "So that's your plan, is it?" she demanded, "Listen to me, Souji. Chie is staying right here with me, so I'm afraid you'll just have to think of a cleverer way to get rid of her."
"Wait, what?" Souji and Chie asked in unison. They looked at one another, then over at the princess.
"Princess Yukiko, that was not my intention at all," Souji said with a gentle laugh. "Actually, I was going to propose that I go in your place."
"You?" the princess repeated, "Why you? I mean, I appreciate the offer, but-"
"Cid is an old acquaintance of mine," he assured her. "I guess you could say we have some catching up to do."
"Well, in that case…if you're sure it's no trouble…" Princess Yukiko flushed in embarrassment from her accusation and looked down at the grass.
"No trouble at all, I assure you. I'll leave first thing tomorrow morning, and all you'll have to do is write some sort of official-looking letter for me to give to Kinshiro."
"Yes, of course. I'll begin writing one right away." The princess beamed up at him—Souji couldn't recall seeing her look that happy. He bowed low and turned to leave. As he was exiting the garden, he heard Chie suddenly say, "Wait, you thought he was trying to get rid of me!" Souji chuckled a bit to himself and shook his head. At least some things never changed.
Yasogami, Amagi: Escapade
Kanji had to admit, Taro certainly knew his stuff. The deliveryman had gotten to a white mage right away and had even given Kanji some money before leaving to finish his rounds.
"If you need a place to relax," Taro had said, "There's an establishment not too far from here. They take care of their customers and don't ask questions, so if I were you I'd check it out."
Kanji had followed his advice as soon as he felt up to it. Escapade was a tavern nestled in the far corner of Yasogami, an apparently it had a reputation of being a bit shady. Kanji had initially hoped that if he waited there long enough, he'd find someone who could help him get an airship. After two weeks, though, he was no closer to finding one than he had been the first day. He didn't want to risk going elsewhere, knowing that there was quite a sizeable price on his head that many people would only be too happy to try to claim. Unfortunately, that left sky pirates as the most likely form of transportation, but Kanji sure as hell didn't want to go that route unless he had to.
"Back again, eh?" one of the waitresses asked when he walked through Escapade's door.
"Damn straight," he growled. "You know what I drink and where to find me." Kanji climbed the stairs to the second floor and went to a table in the far back; he had essentially marked it as his territory since arriving. It gave him a good view of people coming into the tavern.
The treasure hunter put his feet up on the table and grabbed a newspaper, though he kept one eye on the door the whole time. The waitress put his drink on his table presently, and Kanji fished a handful of gil out of his pocket and handed it to her.
"Thanks," he said, though he didn't look up from the paper.
"Hey," the waitress began. Kanji looked up in interest—she never stopped to have a conversation.
"You're looking for someone, right?" she asked.
"Somethin' like that that."
"Well, rumor is Kinshiro's in charge of the city now. We're prob'ly gonna see a bunch o' people for a while, so keep your eyes peeled. That's all."
"Oh…uh, thanks again." The waitress arched an eyebrow expectantly and looked at the pile of gil. Kanji sighed. He put a few more gil on the table and glared at the waitress.
"Happy now, ya damn harpy?" he snarled.
"Always a pleasure, sir."
Kanji grunted in reply and returned to the paper. Dunno who this 'Kinshiro' is, he thought, but I'd oughtta wait an' see if she's tellin' the truth. He glanced up at the sky. Hang on just a little bit longer, Rise…
Yasogami, Amagi: Castle Dungeon
The silver ring glinted temptingly on Yosuke's finger, so he sat on his hand in order to refrain from answering its siren's call. He had to wait for the right moment to use it, otherwise he would end up causing too much of a hullabaloo and wind up in even more trouble. He was pretty sure escaping from prison was a bit worse than stealing a few gil here and there.
"You've been awful quite," Biggs remarked. "Somethin' on your mind?"
"Nope," the thief replied innocently. "Anything on yours?"
"Naw, 's as empty as usual," Biggs replied with a large grin. "You know, you were probably lucky you were arrested before this whole mess with King Moron started." That name was completely foreign to Yosuke, but he was sure that his look of complete confusion covered that well.
"Oh, that's Kinshiro," the guard explained. "He's in charge now…some boring crap about food chains or something. Anyway, he's been arresting people left and right and assigning them outrageous sentences."
Kinshiro…the name still didn't ring any bells. Still, he didn't seem like the type Yosuke would want to know.
"Like who?" he asked out of simple curiosity. He couldn't do much until Wedge showed up anyway, so he might was well find out what was going on outside.
"Hmm…I don't think I could list everyone he's arrested so far," Biggs said. "You heard of Naoto? He's a pretty well-known guy, for an engineer. Real ladies' man, I've heard."
"You mean Cid's apprentice?" Yosuke asked. Biggs' description was accurate up until that last bit; Naoto had seemed less like a ladies' man than Teddie.
"Yeah, that's the one. The idiot's got an Imperial accent, and that's the first thing Kinshiro looks for when he's fishin' for spies. The kid's locked up somewhere in the lower level, and he's not takin' it well." The burly guard chuckled. "He was throwing one hell of a tantrum when they brought'im in here."
"Wish I could've seen it," Yosuke muttered. He could imagine Naoto's indignation at being arrested under such ridiculous pretenses.
"Me too," Biggs growled, glaring at Yosuke. The thief sighed and retreated back to the corner of his cell. That was the problem with talking to Biggs—Yosuke never knew when they were getting along or not. Often he thought they were doing just fine, and then the guard would pull something like that and get angry. Fortunately, Wedge's familiar footsteps could be heard from down the dungeon hallway.
"I swear, your breaks keep gettin' longer and longer," Biggs called angrily.
"Sorry," Wedge replied, "King Moron's getting more and more demanding of the people not on duty. I've been polishing cannon balls for the past three hours…"
"Heh," Biggs laughed, "You sure love your balls, Wedge." The blue-haired guard waited until he was closer before rolling his eyes to ensure that his friend saw him.
"Really funny, man," he said. "Seriously, though, you'd better get up there quick. Don't keep his moronship waiting."
"Yeah, yeah. Later, jackass," Biggs added, addressing the thief. Wedge took his usual stance, leaning against the cell with some book.
"You pissed him off again, I see," the guard murmured.
"Guess so," Yosuke replied with a humorless laugh. He didn't want to converse with Wedge, he wanted him to get engrossed in his book so Yosuke could concentrate on summoning Jiraiya. He hadn't wanted to attempt it with Biggs, because the brown-haired guard was made of sterner stuff than his slimmer friend. All Yosuke needed to do was knock Wedge out for a few minutes so that he could grab his key, and then he could get the hell out."
"Tell me about your friend," Wedge said. Yosuke was certain the guard hadn't read a single word in that book."
"Which friend?"
"The girl; you know, the one who knocked Biggs out with one hit." Yosuke hadn't heard that story, but he could guess from that description that Wedge was referring to Chie.
"Dude, if you've seen her fight, you know pretty much all there is to know. She's crazy-strong, and also just plain crazy." Come on, you asshole, READ!
"Yeah, but…" Wedge gulped audibly, which Yosuke could only assume meant that he was nervous. "Is she…you know, involved?"
"Like, in a gang? No way, dude. Chie hates gangs." The thief was determined to end this conversation as quickly as possible, so he hoped that his answers were succinct enough.
"No, that's not what I meant." Wedge scratched his head and closed the book. Shit shit shit shit noooooo, Yosuke mentally wailed, Get that book back out you son of a bitch!
"I mean…is she, like seeing someone?"
"Like a doctor? No, but she probably should." Yeah, Yosuke could actually understand that question. He'd been trying to convince Chie to visit some sort of psychiatrist for years, but as usual his pleas fell on deaf ears.
"So she's single?" Wedge asked hopefully.
"Oh, that's what you meant? Shit, why didn't you just say so? Um…" Yosuke scrutinized the scrawny guard before him. There was no way Chie could go for a guy like that, so it would be better to snip his hope in the bud…right? "She's got someone, dude. Sorry. I'll let her know you're interested, though." Now for crying out loud, read your damn book!
"Really…? I see." Wedge opened his mouth to add something else, but changed his mind before saying it. "Sorry to bother you," he muttered. He pulled his book back out.
It's go time, Jiraiya. Yosuke pressed his back against the cell and closed his eyes, searching for the summoning power within as Souji had taught him. It took him much less time than it had in the Velvet Room, which filled the thief with a sense of pride. He hadn't realized he'd come so far in such a short time. Jiraiya appeared before him in a matter of minutes, waiting to be commanded.
"Actually," Wedge said, "I was wondering-" He froze when he saw Jiraiya, and the book slipped out of his slackened grip.
"Aero!" Yosuke yelled. A magic tornado whipped around the guard, and Wedge dropped like a stone. The thief easily grabbed the cell key from the guard's belt, and with a gleeful cackle he unlocked his cell.
"Nothing personal," he said to the unconscious Wedge, "It's just that I figured you'd be easier to knock out than Biggs. Later, dude!"
First, he'd have to find his weapons and other equipment. Normally Yosuke kept a handful of thieving supplies on him, but they had confiscated that along with his money. He wasn't expecting to get his money back; that was just a loss he'd have to deal with.
Yasogami, Amagi: Castle Dungeon
No one had specifically been assigned to guard Naoto's cell. From what she'd heard from snippets of guards' conversations, they were a bit undermanned since Kinshiro had taken over. Apparently, he was quite the strict taskmaster. She wasn't complaining about the lack of a guard, of course, but she was a bit apprehensive about the whole situation. If she had to stay down in the dungeon much longer, they would learn that she was…well, a woman. Naoto couldn't imagine what sort of repercussions that could have at this point, but she still wished to keep it a secret just the same.
"I wish I'd thought to bring my revolver," she muttered darkly. They hadn't even bothered to search her before throwing her into the cell, which led her to believe that Kinshiro was not very good at his job or at ordering people to do theirs.
"I wonder how long I'll be here," she mused aloud. "Treason is a crime punishable by death, but there is absolutely no evidence against me. They can't execute me, can they…?" For an instant, the fear of death settled on the young engineer like a cold fog. It was entirely possible, yet…surely someone would intervene before then. Cid had some power, did he not? He could certainly do something.
"I've heard that talking to yourself is the first sign of going crazy," a familiar voice said in the darkness. It was familiar, but Naoto couldn't quite recall to whom it belonged.
"I'm sure it's much worse to imagine hearing a voice other than one's own," she replied cautiously. "Who's there?"
"Man, you think you make an impression on a guy, and what does he do? Doesn't even recognize a master thief when he hears one." There was a light click from the direction of the cell door, and a hand in the dark grabbed the engineer's arm roughly and dragged her out of the cell. She could barely make out a spikey-haired silhouette in the darkness.
"Yosuke?" she asked, "What in the world are you doing here?"
"I came to rescue you, stupid. Figured I might as well, since I was in the neighborhood. I found my lockpick along with my weapons and stuff, so I thought I'd pay you a little visit."
"Oh, well, thank you. Really, I mean it." Naoto thought the whole situation very strange, but that didn't make her any less grateful. Yosuke must have his reasons for being, as he put it, 'in the neighborhood', but Naoto was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.
"Aw, you're making me blush, 'ladies' man'. Anyway, let's get outta here before any guards show up. I know a back way out, so just hold onto my sleeve or something." Naoto obeyed, grabbing hold of the thief's jacket and following him down into the darkness. She wondered why he would know a back way out of the castle dungeons, and it occurred to her that this thief was a lot more interesting than she had first assumed. He, and perhaps that woman, Chie, must know a great deal about the city that Naoto had never even thought to explore. It occurred to the engineer, a bit belatedly, that Yosuke had called her a ladies' man. She wasn't sure where he had heard that, but it wasn't exactly an uncommon rumor. Naoto just decided to ignore it, as she often did, and hope that it died down on its own.
"Say, Yosuke?" she said.
"What's up?"
"Where exactly are we going?"
"Right now, we're going to the poorer district of Yasogami. I figured we could crash at my place for a bit before deciding what to do next." It was a sound plan, and Naoto could think no better place at the moment. Cid's place was no doubt off-limits, since there were few places to hide in that area of the city. She hoped it was safe to assume that Yosuke knew as much about the city's layout as he did the dungeon's.
"Hey, don't worry kid. We'll be fine."
"Yes, I-" Naoto hesitated, because she wasn't quite sure if it was the right thing to say or not. "I trust you, Yosuke."
"Ha, you'd better. I've got a feeling it'll only get crazier from here on out."
Inaba, Adachi: Palace
"You're bringing Masamune?" Minato asked as Souji packed for his trip. The katana in question lay beside the suitcase on Souji's bed, which seemed to answer Minato's question for him.
"That is correct," Souji said. "I anticipate some trouble there. There may be some Shadows there we'll have to deal with, after all."
"So that's why you wanted me to come…" Minato murmured. His uncanny ability sense Shadows who disguised themselves as ordinary citizens would no doubt be very useful in the coming journey."
"I apologize if you assumed it was for your charm and conversational abilities," the gray-haired man quipped with a smirk. "We have not yet traveled to Amagi, and I'm sure we'll run into a Shadow or two. I'd rather be prepared."
"So why not leave it in the suitcase?" the ghost asked. Minato was often a lot sharper than Souji gave him credit for, and this was one of the times where he wished the ghost would just shut up and go to sleep.
"I may need it as a show of force, and as a weapon if it comes down to that," he said, "Both for Kinshiro…and for Cid."
"For Cid? What exactly are the two of you going to be talking about?" Minato once again brushed the hair out his eyes, a gesture they both knew to be futile.
"I don't intend to talk long." Souji knew he must have looked grim, because Minato looked less spacey for a brief moment. His gray eyes narrowed in concern.
"Don't tell me…" he whispered.
"You've guessed it," Souji said dully. "I don't really intend to talk to Cid about much. I intend to kill him."