Sorry for the wait, I took a break to focus on something else. Now I'm back!
Chapter 35: The Upside Down Palace (Part 3)
Naoki's POV
I found myself falling in the red void and landing in a solid ground shortly after. The walls close themselves around me, creating a room without windows, but only a door. I rapidly stand up and look at my surroundings. The room turns itself into a little cell, the only exit was a metallic door. Without thinking it twice I run to the door and hit it. It didn't open, it didn't even move at all. I keep punching the door, but nothing happens.
"Goddammit!" I yell. "Kurusu! Sakamoto! Anyone!?"
"Naoki!?" I hear someone's voice from the other side. It was Akira. "Is that you?"
"Yes, it's me! Can you get me out of here?" I ask and Akira remains silent. "Are you still there?"
"Get back from the door" He said and I do as he says. I hear three shoots and chains falling to the floor. Akira opens the door and I get out. The door was chained. "Are you alright?"
"Yeah, thanks" I look around and found myself in a very familiar hallway. It was the exact same hallway that leads to my room and Misaki's in the real world... But considering our luck it might be a trap.
"We all got separate" Said Akira. "We should find a way to reunite with them"
"We should avoid going there" I point at the hallway in front of us. "That's clearly a trap"
"What do you mean?"
"Before we were attacked, I was going to say that the Treasure might be in Misaki's room. That's the most logical place to search, isn't it?"
"Maybe you are right... And this hallway leading to her room?"
"It looks exactly the same as the hallway in the real world... If the Treasure is really in her room, then she's messing with us now. We should turn around and go- AH!" I jump back when I saw something that I didn't want to see now... A Statue. It was the statue of a tall man staring at us. Akira looks at the statue too and he seems creeped out be it. I'm not surprise, it had the form of a really skinny man with his bones almost visible and a sword go right through his chest. He didn't have mouth, nose or ears, but he had eyes and they were wide open like he didn't have eyelids... And he didn't have any at all. I walk away slowly from him and grab Akira's arm. "Don't look at him in the eyes"
"... I think I already did" Said Akira and he looks away.
"No! Don't look away now! He will-" The Statue move violently and point at us. His jaw tearing up the skin and creating a mouth full of sharp teeth and screaming with a baby's voice. "Dammit!" Akira, without thinking it twice, summon his Persona.
"Arsene!" Arsene attacks the Statue with Darkness, but it didn't do anything at all. The attack went right through it like the statue wasn't even there to begin with. "Dammit... Jack Frost!" He summons another Persona which I wasn't expecting at all. This Persona attack with ice, but it happens the same thing as before. "What the...? Sandman!" He summons yet another Persona and attacks with wind, but the result was the same. "You can't be serious now... Oni!" A bigger Persona appears and attacks the Statue with his bare fists, but the Statue take out the sword from his chest and cut the Persona in half. "... Is this a joke right?"
"The Statues... I don't think we can do anything to them" I said.
"They don't look like Shadows... Are they... Cognitions?" Akira asks to himself.
"Whatever they are we should run away from them for now" I said and behind the Statue came out fifteen more of them. "Run" The Statues run toward us and we run away from them as fast as we could.
"This is on another level!" Akira yell. "Maybe they are cheating!"
"Of course they are cheating! Misaki is a cheater by nature!"
Ryuji's POV
I fall for who knows how long and hit the ground so hard that I almost break my back. The walls around me move and create a new room, the ceiling didn't exist and I could see that void from where I was falling. Then I saw Makoto falling next to me. As soon she hit the ground whole room shook. I stand up and walk toward her.
"Makoto, are you alright?!" I ask and she stands up without troubles.
"Yes... That was unexpected" She said and look around. The place looked completely normal, it was a living room. "This place... It feels different from the rest"
"Yeah... Wait, isn't this a Safe Room?" I ask and the room distorts a little, showing black walls made of bricks.
"It looks like... Also, this might be the living room, that means she doesn't use or either don't pay any attention to it, which is really odd" Makoto had something in mind. "I've been thinking while I was falling and I think that the reason Misaki have complete control over the Palace structure is because she literally controls her own house. Naoki mentioned that his guardian almost never comes back home?"
"Yes, then that means that she sees the house as her own playhouse"
"Without an authority, she's free to do whatever she wants and following that train of thought, it might mean that the other Safe Room might be the guardian's room and the Treasure might be inside her own room. I won't be surprised if the origin of the distortion comes from there too" Makoto explains and Ryuji scratches his head.
"Good... The bad thing is that she keeps changing the whole Palace. We might never reach her room"
"We have to try. She might have control, but like everyone else... she's human, she can't keep an eye on all of us. Separating us was a good move from her, but also risky. Now we have more chances to reach the Treasure"
"Huh, I didn't saw it that way" Ryuji smile. "Alright, let's get goin'" Ryuji walk to the door and open it. There wasn't a floor outside the Safe Room, actually, there wasn't anything outside the Safe Room. Ryuji saw the rest of the Palace in the distant, a giant labyrinth that is constantly changing and multiple rooms floating outside of it. "We might have a problem, Makoto"
"I'm seeing it... We might be stuck here for a while"
"I refuse to stay here... There has to be a way to go back there" Ryuji look at the others room floating, they were moving around the Palace, like they were moons and the Palace was a planet. Then a room pass in front of them, it was pretty far away, but closer at the same time. Ryuji goes back inside the room and saw a large table. He smiles and looks at Makoto. "I think... I have an idea"
"Is it going to work?"
"That depends... Is there a sit for me in Johanna?"
"Y-Yes... Wait, are you suggesting that...?"
"Hell yeah! Are we thinking the same thing?"
"I think we do... Let's do it"
Ann's POV
I was separated from the rest. I fall into a long hallway with Morgana. The walls move like they were alive and, out of nowhere, they try to crush us to death. I stand up, grab Morgana, who was unconscious for the moment and run as fast as my feets could take me. The hallway was getting smaller and smaller the further I go. I saw a metal door at the end, but the closer, the smaller it gets.
"This can't be happening, this can't be happening, this can't be happening!" I yell as I run away from the walls that try to crush us. I reach the door and was almost half of my size. I kick it to open it. I throw Morgana inside and crawl my way inside. The walls close behind me, a second later and I would be coming back home without a leg... or both of them. I stand up and Morgana opens his eyes.
"Ugh... My head hurts..." He said and stand up. "What happened?"
"We fall and you hit your head against the ground... And we almost get crushed by the walls, but besides that, I think we are doing fine" I said sarcastically.
"Where are the others? Did we get separated?"
"Looks like it... This place is kinda dark" I look around and we were in a big room without light, but at least I could see where Morgana was. "Can you see anything? Cats have nocturne vision right?"
"I'm not a cat!" Morgana yells at me. "... But yes... I have nocturne vision and I'm seeing pretty well"
"Is there any exit around?"
"Mmm... I can see a door, but is chained up... Wait, there's a switch on the wall" Morgana run to the switch and the lights were on. We were in a room with red walls and a brown chained door. "Ann..." Morgana stares at the door.
"Is there a problem?"
"... I think the Treasure is at the other side of this door" Morgana point at the door and that catch me off guard completely. I wasn't expecting to find the Treasure that easily.
"Seriously?!"
"Yes! I can sense it! We are so close!" Morgana smile. "But the door... Won't open that easily"
"I figure that much... We should search for the others. We found the Treasure at least"
"Yes, but considering Misaki's power we might lose our way back here. Looks like she's constantly changing the Palace structure. It shows the power and influence she has over the house. She sees it as a dungeon in which she's the ruler... Maybe we should try to open the door now to see if the Treasure is really there. I'm sure that it's inside, but maybe it's a trap. We can't be too sure with Misaki now"
"Alright, let's see if we can get inside"
Akira's POV
Naoki and I managed to lose the statues and fall to our knees in an empty hallway. We eventually sit down and lay against the wall. I was frustrated, and I mean REALLY frustrated, that I couldn't even kill a single one of those things while Naoki looked grateful that we manage to escape. It's the first time since we start the Phantom Thieves that I truly feel completely useless. But putting that aside, while we were resting, we hear a weird noise that was coming from below our feets. The whole Palace starts shaking out of nowhere.
"... Did you hear that?" I ask and Naoki nodded. "What was that?"
"I think... Misaki is changing the Palace again. It feels like... She's about to tear the whole place apart and put it back together in a different order" Naoki explains.
"Perfect... Just Perfect. How much control does she have here?"
"... All of it?"
"Dammit!" I hit my head against the wall. "If we at least find a Safe Room, everything would be different... But don't worry. We'll end this"
"I know... But now it looks harder than before" In that moment the hallway cut itself in half and separate from the rest of the Palace. Naoki and I could sense the floor moving away from the main Palace. We stand up and saw how the hallway was floating away with them in it. "Of course... Another obstacle"
"I'm getting tired of this" The hallway float away, but suddenly goes back to the Palace and place itself on the last floor. In front of us appear a wooden door, out of nowhere, and Naoki tries to open it. "You don't what's on the other side"
"It's better than staying here and do nothing" Naoki open the door, take a step and fall forward. "What the F-?!" He falls for a second before hitting the floor... or wall from my angle of vision. He falls to a red room. To my surprise, I saw two familiar faces in that room, Ann and Morgana.
"Naoki?!" Ann yells and checks on him. "Are you alright?!"
"... No. It hurt a lot" Naoki stand up. "I wasn't expecting this at all... I might've broken my back"
"I told you to be careful" I yell.
"I know!" He yell back. I jump and landed safely on the floor. "Showoff..."
"Thanks... Well, at least we reunite faster than expected" I look at Ann and smile. "Are you alright?"
"Yes, I almost get killed, but nothing to worry about" Ann explain and I saw Morgana trying to open a chained door.
"What are you doing, Mona?" I ask and he looks at me.
"The Treasure is on the other side" He said and that was enough to make me and Naoki run to the door and help him to break the chains.
"I was right, the Treasure is in Misaki's room" Said Naoki. "This door is just like the door to the bedroom"
"Good, but how do we open it?" Ann asks while she looks at us trying to pull out the chains. "I don't think that's the way to break the chains"
"Well... There's another way" Said Morgana and we look at him, expecting the answer, although I think I know that answer. "If we can't open it, then we can open it on the real world. Just like we did with Madarame"
"... Then that means that Misaki always has her door close with a key?" I ask Naoki and he shrugs.
"I didn't try to enter her room before, but I wouldn't be surprised if that's the case" Naoki crossed his arms. "So... You are telling me that I need to open her room?"
"Yes, and she needs to see it happening for us to enter"
"... You know that you are asking me to do something that will probably get myself killed, don't you?" Naoki was right. If he's not careful, Misaki will hurt him or even kill him. I highly doubt she'll kill her own brother... But... Misaki is really unpredictable.
"It's a risk, yes" Said Morgana. "But if we do it right, then you'll get out of it unharmed"
"Good... How do I do that?"
"Hmm... We have some time until the evening. We might as well try it now" Morgana suggest.
"Are you sure?" Ann ask, concerned.
"We are already here and we didn't found any Safe Room so far, so better get to the Treasure. When we find it and send the Calling Card we'll need to dedicate all that day on reaching the Treasure, because I know Misaki not only will be waiting for us, but she'll make sure that we don't reach it"
"... Alright... Does any of you want to come with me?" Naoki asks and Ann was first one on turn him down. "Seriously?"
"On not going anywhere near that crazy bitch"
"... Akira?"
"I'll pass"
"Ugh... Then what about you, Morgana?"
"Sure, I'll go" He accepted without complaining.
"Really? I thought you'll decline too" Naoki was surprised, just like me and Ann.
"Supposing that she's inside the house, I need you to distract her. If she's not, then we'll wait until she shows up and sees the door open" Morgana explains. "She has to see the door open before her for this to work"
"Okay... This is going to be a little hard for me... Let's get out of here then" Naoki and Morgana leave.
"As soon the door open, find a way to maintain it open, just like before" Morgana order us.
"Don't worry. We'll take care of it"
Makoto's POV
To be honest, I had doubts about Ryuji's plan, but I'm with him now. Not because of our chances of survival, but because it sounds and looks exciting. Ryuji opens the door, place the "ramp" and run toward me. I summon Johanna and he sits behind me. We wait for an opportunity, it was that or fall to the void. We saw an empty room slowly coming into view and I wait for Ryuji's signal to accelerate.
"Wait for it..." He said. "Wait..." We saw the room in full view right in front of us. The door was open and Ryuji scream. "Now!" I accelerate and go full speed toward the door. We jump the ramp and reach the other room without any difficulty. I saw another room floating at the end of the hallway full of Shadows and I get carried away by the speed. "Qu-Queen, there are Shadows up ahead. Stop!" I didn't hear Ryuji and keep going at full speed, running over every Shadow that was on my way and jump toward the next floating room. We barely made it to the room and I hit the breaks when I saw a dead end. Ryuji falls to the ground and looks at me in disbelief. "That was awesome, but I thought we won't make it. You could've told you'll go all the way!"
"So-Sorry... I got excited" I confess and for a moment I thought about buying a motorcycle, but I shake my head and get rid of that thought for now. One thing was riding Johanna, but riding a motorcycle in the real world feels different...
"It's okay. I wasn't yelling at you or anything. It was exciting and fun"
"Hahaha, even though we find ourselves in this weird situation you have the luxury of having some fun" I find Ryuji to be quite... Unique. I don't know. I look at our dead end, it was a giant red wall. "Now then... What are we going to do now? I saw that we are now at least back to the main Palace, but we don't have a map... or know where the Treasure is. The whole place is a labyrinth that "rebuild" itself. It change rooms, hallways and even big parts of itself, twist them and place them in another part of the Palace"
"It's a real pain in the ass if you ask me" Ryuji look at the wall. "I wish it didn't do this so randomly..."
"... Or maybe it isn't" I suggest. I have the feeling that it changes based on some kind of pattern. I told Ryuji that.
"Seriously? Did you figure it out already?!"
"Not really. It's a theory. From what I saw while we were in that room away from the Palace, it looked like the rooms on the lower part of the Palace are cut in half and taken to the top, while those on the top are reshaped, slipt and taken to the bottom... It's quite simple, but I have the feeling that it's half true. I think is actually random on what part of the top or bottom the rooms are taken"
"And now we are... Where we are?"
"In the bottom, near the middle"
"So, now we have to wait, huh? How long it will take?"
"Everything changes every two minutes, so we'll wait and see what happens"
Misaki walk through the Central Street in Shibuya. Her eyes look everywhere, searching for something specific. A lot of things goes through her mind that it was hard to follow her thoughts, it was like a computer. She stops when she finds what she was searching for... She smiles and walks right to her target. While she did so, she put on black gloves and slowly get closer. She starts the act.
"Officer!" She said with a desperate tone to the police officer near the corner of the street. Oddly enough, there weren't any people walking around. "There's a man in the alley! He's bleeding! Someone stab him!" Misaki act really desperate, like a normal girl that just saw someone about to die for the first time.
"What?!" The officer asks, surprised by the sudden situation. "Where?!"
"Follow me!" She said and grab the officer's arm. She takes him to the black alley and point at the mountain of trash near the wall. "He's near the trash!" She said and the officer gets closer to it, only to discover that there was no one there. Confused, he turns around.
"There's no one here-" His sentences couldn't be finished. Misaki stabs him in the stomach, she twists the knife and takes it out while cutting the right side of his guts. The officer falls to the ground, he couldn't scream at all because he was spitting blood.
"Now there's someone here" Misaki smile. "Are you calling me a liar? That's not right" Misaki saw the gun in the police's belt. She takes it out of the holster and looks at it like she just finds a new toy. "This is really nice... Can I have it?" She asks and the officer tries to raise his arm, but the pain he's feeling is so strong that he can't even move. "I'll take that as a yes. Thank you..." Misaki turns around, the people walking around didn't notice her. She grabs the officer and drags them far away from the street, toward the deepest part of the alley. "Before you pass out, I want to have a little fun with you" She grab the man's jaw and force it open. She then grabs her knife and put it inside his mouth. "I always wanted to try this... You might, or not, feel extreme pain... But that's the best part of it, isn't it?" She asks with a twisted smile and her eyes turn bright yellow, demonic bright yellow. Her voice twists a little too, like a demon. "Reality is so fragile. No wonder this world is going to end soon"