Author's Note: Slight spoilers for Persona 5 Royal.
The Gates of Hell
It is a quiet afternoon in the Gates of Hell bar. The song currently on the record player is Frank Sinatra's "Stay (Faraway, So Close!). Rodin is behind the counter reading a book, Jeanne is sitting at the counter drinking a martini.
The Phantom Thieves were all sitting together at a table. Ren with Futaba next to him, Ryuji with Ann beside him, Yusuke is sitting in between Haru and Makoto, and Akechi is sitting next to Sumire. Morgana was laying under the table. Ren had just finished informing his friends of Cloud leaving the mansion.
"Wait! Cloud is gone?! Forreal?! When did this happen?!" Ryuji says in shock.
"Mommy told me he left last night." Ren replies. He leans back in his chair. "He left to find the guy who attacked him. Said he had to deal with it alone."
"How has your mom been handling the situation?" Makoto asks.
Ren shakes his head. "Not well. I've never seen her so quiet. She's really hurt about Cloud leaving...same with Corrin."
"It was really scary last night. I just hope that Cloud comes back safely. He wasn't even fully recovered when he left. Can't be going into big fights without full heals or resting. That's just a big no no in role-playing games." Futaba comments.
"We will support your mother as much as we can Senpai." Sumire declared. "Your family is our family."
Ren smiles. "Thanks guys. Oh, by the way, I forgot to mention. I have some friends who want to come in here and have some tea with us. You guys don't mind do you?" The Phantom Thief leader asks.
The Phantom Thieves all shook their heads. "When will they be here?" Ann asks.
"They should be coming right aboooooooooout now." Futaba calls.
Right on cue, Byleth, Beth, and Sothis enter into the Gates of Hell. Everyone turns their attention to the three smashers. Ryuji's eyes widened when he saw Beth in particular with her choice of clothing and her large chest size. The hot headed teen couldn't resist pointing out the obvious.
"Dude! Look at the size of those honkers!" Ryuji announced. Ann, Makoto, and Haru all stood up from their chairs and gave Ryuji a slap on the back of the head, leaving a big red mark on it.
Akechi laughs. "Idiot." He mutters under his breath.
Byleth and Sothis approach the Phantom Thieves. "Greetings everyone. It is nice to meet you." The male professor bows.
The Phantom Thieves wave at Byleth. They then turned their attention to Sothis floating behind Byleth. Morgana jumps on the table. "Woah! You have a persona too?!" The cat exclaims.
Sothis tilts her head in confusion. "Persona? Is that what you call the Gods and Goddess of your world?" She asks.
"That is a question that's quite difficult to answer." Yusuke says.
"Well I'm sure you will tell us more about these Personas when we settle in."
Meanwhile, Beth is at the counter with Rodin. "Hey Rodin. How's it going?" The female professor smiles.
Rodin smiles at Beth. "Well, if it isn't one of my favorite customers." The blacksmith and female professor high five each other. "What can I get for you today?"
Beth taps on her finger on her chin. "Hmmmmm, let me just get a beer. Also, you think you can make some tea for me and my brother? We're gonna be talking with the kiddos over there."
Rodin raises an eyebrow. "I don't serve tea on the menu."
Beth reaches into her pocket and takes out one hundred Smash dollars. "You do now."
Rodin takes the one hundred dollars out of Beth's hand. "You're right. I do now. Tea coming right up." The Infinite One goes to make the tea.
Beth takes a seat next to Jeanne. She turns and waves to her. "Hey. I'm Beth."
Jeanne looks at the female professor. "Jeanne." The Umbran Witch takes a moment to observe Beth's attire. She smirks in amusement. "Very interesting choice of style there darling. Do you go into battle like that?"
Beth nods. "Yeah. I've gotten complaints about how impractical my battle armor is. I've ignored it."
"There's nothing wrong with looking sexy while slaying your enemies. Cereza and I do it all the time. Do you use your looks against your enemies?"
"Only when I'm training with my students. The only reason I was able to recruit one of my students to join the Golden Deer was because I look hot. You know how boys are."
Jeanne chuckles. "Was it really that simple? No real convincing?" She takes a drink of her martini.
"Sylvain is very easy to persuade. Just put a hot girl in front of him and he'll easily fold."
The two women share a laugh together. Meanwhile, Byleth and Sothis are sitting with the Phantom Thieves. Ann looks to the counter at Beth.
"Hey, now I recognize her! She was dancing with her students at the ball! Her dance moves were crazy! You don't usually see someone move their hips so well in heels!" The blonde mentions.
Ryuji smiles. "Yeah she was definitely getting it with her dance moves! She was the star of the party!"
"So you were the ones responsible for the music change correct?" Byleth asks.
Ryuji points to himself proudly. "That's right! I take full responsibility for the idea! The party was getting boring, so we had to turn things up! Phantom Thieves style!"
"I guess that's a good way into introducing who we are. My name is Ren, my codename is Joker. I am the leader of the Phantom Thieves of Heart." Ren salutes.
"I'm Ann." The blonde waves happily. "My codename is Panther."
"The name's Ryuji! In the Phantom Thieves, I'm known as Skull! Nice to meet ya!" He says happily.
"Yusuke Kitagawa. My codename is Fox and I have a deep passion for art." The blue haired teen bows.
"It is nice to meet you. I am Makoto Niijima." She waves. "My codename in the Phantom Thieves is Queen."
"My name is Haru Okumura." The fluffy haired girl bowed. "I am known as Noire in the Phantom Thieves. It's a real pleasure to meet you."
"Goro Akechi. I'm known as Crow and I'm also the most mature person in this stupid group." The detective snarks.
Sumire happily waves to Byleth and Sothis. "Hi! I'm Sumire Yoshizawa! My codename is Violet! Nice to meet you!"
Morgana stands up right. "I am Morgana. Some call me Mona. I ain't no ordinary house cat either so don't get any wrong ideas."
Byleth was mesmerized by Morgana. He pats the cat's head. Morgana purred happily from Byleth touch. "Good kitty." He turns to Sothis. "He sounds a lot like you Sothis."
"I hear no resemblance whatsoever." The Progenitor God says.
There was only one more person who hadn't introduced themselves. Futaba still wasn't the best when it came to talking to people. Just having to introduce herself made her anxiety rise. While everyone was taking turns introducing herself, Futaba's heart was racing and her breathing was becoming rapid. Byleth and Sothis turn their attention to the orange haired girl.
Futaba holds on to Ren's hand as she looks down at her feet. "M-My name is Futaba Sakura. I-I'm known as Oracle...hello…" She muttered shyly.
Byleth recognized the young girl. "Oh yeah. You were with Bernadetta at the ball. I remember you. I want to thank you for being such a good friend to Bernie. She's always felt like she's never had any friends, so it makes me happy to see that she has someone else to bond with." The male professor smiles.
Futaba blushes and rubs the back of her head. "It's no problem."
Rodin comes walking to the group with a tea set and places it on the table. "Here you go. Now I don't usually serve tea around here, but this is courtesy of Beth over there." The Infinite One points to the female professor.
Beth waves to the Phantom Thieves with a beer in her other hand. "You kids enjoy your tea! My treat! My brother and Sothis will talk to you guys. I'm staying with Jeanne."
"If you insist, sister." Byleth responds. He turns his attention back to the Phantom Thieves. "Would any of you like some tea?"
Haru raises her hand. "I'll have some please. I like sugar with mine."
"I would like some tea as well." Akechi responds.
Byleth begins making the tea for the teens. Sothis uses this time to question the Phantom Thieves. "So, what is the Phantom Thieves about? Are you just a bunch of vigilantes that steal from others?" She questions with a stern look on her face.
"We are thieves, but not in the way you probably think." Ren states. "We don't do robberies. The Phantom Thieves steal the hearts of malicious and corrupted individuals, changing them to make them confess their crimes. We help the weak and dethrone the mighty."
Akechi rolls his eyes at the leader. "Tch, you just got lucky." He mutters to himself.
Byleth hands Haru and Akechi their tea. He was intrigued to know more about this process of "stealing" hearts. "How is that even possible to achieve? By stealing someone's heart, you would have to rip it out from their body. How could they confess their crimes if they're already dead?" The professor tried to figure out.
Ryuji puts his hand up. "Woah there dude! We don't actually take people's hearts!" He clears up. "We're not murderers!"
Akechi clears his throat and takes a sip of his tea. "This is delicious."
"So how does this process of stealing hearts work?" Sothis asks.
"We enter inside a cognitive world referred to as the Metaverse. We then enter inside a Palace where our target lies." Yusuke starts.
"A Palace is created by the manifestation of strong negative and corrupt thoughts. These thoughts blend together with the Metaverse in a place called Mementos. Truly corrupted people have their Palaces inhabited by their Shadows." Morgana explains.
"Are these Shadows supposed to be manifestations of your targets?" Sothis asks.
Ryuji nods. "Yeah. They're no pushover either! These Shadows turn into some really strong monsters! A lot of them are butt ugly too!"
"In order to make our targets feel remorse, we steal their treasure. The treasures essentially being the hearts. Once stolen and taken out of the Palace, their world crumbles down and we succeed in stealing their heart." Makoto explains.
"Making malevolent people confess for their crimes and feel remorse. Without having to kill their physical forms as well? It sounds like a strange pacifist way of dealing with foes." Sothis comments. "Maybe such tactics could prove to be useful to us?" She wondered.
Akechi laughs and shakes his head. "Don't be foolish. It is not as simple as they make it out to be."
Byleth raises an eyebrow at the detective. "So there is a drawback to this method?"
"Of course there is. When a person's Shadow is destroyed, it can also lead to a potential mental shutdown. Our Shadows are made up of our desires, that includes our normal lives as human beings. A mental shutdown can affect that, which can lead to death."
Byleth and Sothis eyes widened in horror. "Death?!" They say in unison.
Haru nods solemnly. "It is true. My father suffered a mental shutdown and died moments after we changed his heart." The teenage girl glares at the detective with contempt. "Akechi-kun is responsible for that."
"I simply did what I was ordered to do by that bastard. That's all in the past now. Something we can simply forget about." Akechi takes a sip of his tea. "Besides, we both know your father was a scumbag anyway."
"That's not for you to decide…" Haru mumbles darkly.
Futaba pouts. "Yeah sure. Like I'm just going to forget that you took part in my mother's death." She snidely remarks.
Byleth and Sothis were surprised by Futaba's remark. The hermit has been reserved, shy, and quiet for the entirety of the tea time, they weren't suspecting her to bite back with a comment like that. However, this put the duo's interest in Akechi. Killing family members of his own teammates. What was the reason for it?
"Let's not fight you guys!" Sumire spoke. "Akechi-kun has made mistakes yes, but he's not an evil person! That's not him anymore!"
"Sumire please, don't lie in front of our guest. I am nothing but human trash. Fighting alongside you all will not change that." Akechi says coldly.
Ren turns to the detective. "Akechi! I told you to quit talking about yourself that way! I care about you! We all do! You're part of the team!" He scolds.
"Ren is right. Look, we know you're not perfect. Nobody is. But we're happy to have you alongside us. You're our friend now. You know hurt Ren was when we thought you were dead." Ann says.
"We're all a family here now bro. That includes you." Ryuji says.
Akechi folds his arms and turns away from the group. "Hmph."
Futaba sighs. "So stubborn."
"I assume things started off on the wrong foot with Akechi. Do you wish to elaborate more on that?" Sothis asks.
"No." The Phantom Thieves shook their heads.
Byleth nods. "I understand. There's no need to talk about things you're not very comfortable with. We still want to know about Personas."
"Yes please. Inform us." Sothis nods.
"I can answer that." Morgana starts. "Personas are formed by people in the Metaverse that have been wronged or taken advantage of. If that person decides to take revenge and rebel, they merge with their Shadow Selves. They form a contract and receive a special thief suit that represents what they see as rebels. With their new costumes, they can summon their Personas by taking off their masks."
"It's painful as hell though. You start getting this really aching headache. Then you form a contract, you gotta rip a mask off your face. Which let me tell you, hurts like hell!" Ryuji shudders, remembering his experience with his awakening. "Luckily, you only have to go through that once. Once you have that contract, you're out there with some crazy power!"
"I don't think I would've been able to handle something like that. Good thing my awakening didn't happen that way. No amount of bandages wouldn't be able to fix that." Futaba says.
"You are all quite an interesting bunch." Sothis says.
"We don't like any injustice going on in the world. We're not going to stand around and do nothing about it. We will help those in need." Ren declared.
"Your sense of justice is admirable." Byleth smiles. "Reminds me a lot of Robin Hood. You all have my support in what you do."
Ryuji puts on a big smile on his face. He gives Byleth a thumbs up. "Always nice to have a fan of the Phantom Thieves!"
Meanwhile, Beth and Jeanne are still at the counter conversing with each other. Beth had just finished drinking her third beer while Jeanne was on her second martini. The female professor was definitely tispy with how much she was giggling over nothing. Jeanne just smiled at her with amusement.
"You know, I'll have to start inviting you on shopping dates with Cereza and me." Jeanne suggests.
Beth places her hand on her chest. "Me? I don't know, I'm not really a woman who splurge on clothes. Mostly because I don't usually get the money for that stuff. I had to spend a lot of my gold on battle weapons and stuff. Feeling beautiful was never a main priority for me."
"You didn't have any girlfriends to go shopping with?"
Beth shrugs. "Nope. I didn't have any friends back then. I only had Byleth by my side. Honestly, that was all who I needed back then. Friends are overrated. I don't feel that way anymore, but I don't know if I'd be a great shopping friend."
"Nonsense darling. You stick around with Cereza and me and you'll fit right in. Especially since you're a teacher like me." Jeanne smirks.
Beth raises an eyebrow in intriguing. "You're a school teacher?"
"Yeah. Let that be a secret between us though." Jeanne takes a sip of her martini.
Bayonetta enters inside the Gates of Hell. Everyone in the bar falls silent as they turn their attention to the Umbran Witch. However, something was definitely different about the Bayonetta. She didn't walk into the bar with the usual elegance, style, and confidence that she was usually known for. Her expression was deflated, the way she walked was very slow and lifeless like a zombie. She didn't even have any quips to say.
This was very concerning for Jeanne. It was rare for her Umbran sister to be sad. It always meant something serious had happened to her.
"Cereza?" Jeanne calls.
Bayonetta does not respond. She takes a seat between Jeanne and Beth. She raises her hand at Rodin. "Rodin. A glass of wine please." The Umbran Witch says in a low tone. Rodin simply nods and goes to make the drink.
"Bayonetta. She has finally arrived." Sothis says. "However, there is something...off about her. She's not exuding that strong and confident attitude I usually see her walk around with."
"I don't think Mommy would be in the mood to talk." Ren states.
Byleth turns to Ren. "Bayonetta is your mother?" He questions.
Ren nods. "Yeah. She adopted me not too long ago. I did have a family back in my world but...let's just say my relationship with them wasn't great. Now I have a new mom, and she's been a great one at that."
Jeanne places her hand on Bayonetta's shoulder. "Cereza. What's wrong? I know that look in your eyes so don't lie to me. Talk to me sister."
Bayonetta sighs. Rodin hands Bayonetta her glass of wine. "Thank you." The Umbran Witch replies. She takes a drink of wine and places the glass on the counter. "Cloud is gone." She solemnly says.
Beth's eyes widened at the mention of the blond swordsman name. "What?! Where did he go?!"
"To face his demon. Alone. He also decided to break it off with Corrin and me as well."
"What? Why?" Jeanne asks.
"He didn't want us to get involved. He said that's what his heart told him. Someone told him to follow his heart and that's what he felt was the right choice." Bayonetta shrugged.
Beth could feel a wave of remorse welling from within her. She was the one who gave Cloud that advice. She didn't think that it would lead to him leaving. What does the female mercenary say? Does she just say that she gave him that advice? That probably would probably leave into an instant bar fight.
It frustrated Beth. She slaps her head. "God, I'm so stupid!" She growls.
Bayonetta looks at Beth. "What are you talking about? Also, I don't believe we've met before."
Beth sighs and shakes her head. "No, we haven't. But I'm the one who gave Cloud that stupid advice." She confesses.
"What?"
"Look. My brother, Sothis, and I had an interview with Cloud days ago. He told us about your relationship. He told me that he honestly felt like he rushed himself into the relationship. He was confused. I just told him to follow his heart. I didn't think that...he would leave." Beth puts her hand on her head. "If you have anyone to blame, it's definitely me."
"Cloud told you that?" Bayonetta asks. Beth slowly nods. This just only made the Umbran Witch angry. Not at Beth, but at herself. She tightens her fist. "It was my fault…" Bayonetta shakes her head. "I was the one who suggested a three way relationship. What the hell was I thinking suggesting such a thing?! Especially after he just broke up with Kamui. I'm such a fucking idiot…"
"Cereza! Don't talk down to yourself!" Jeanne yells. "None of this is your fault. It isn't Beth's fault either. Cloud made this decision himself. Whatever demon he's facing, it was his decision to face it himself. He will come back. Cloud is strong."
"It's not that I don't trust that he is not coming back Jeanne. I just feel like I've pushed things on to him when I shouldn't have. Like I've ruined our relationship." Bayonetta says solemnly. The Umbran Witch turns to Beth. "Thank you for telling me. I hold no contempt for you. Beth was it?"
The female mercenary nods her head. "Yeah." She points to Byleth and Sothis. "That's my twin brother and that's our guardian. My brother wanted to have tea time. Get to know more about you."
Bayonetta lightly smiles. "Tea. That sounds nice."
"They're really nice people Mommy. They make great tea too." Ren smiles.
"Yeah." The rest of the Phantom Thieves agreed.
"If my son and his friends say you're nice, then I will take their word for it. Let's talk."
Byleth bows. "Thank you so much Bayonetta." He says politely.
"I'm excited to know more about you. We have plenty of time so please, take as much time as you please." Sothis says.
Author's Note: We're there folks, the final stretch of this long journey. The last and final Tea Time will be for Corrin and Kamui. I don't have much else to say except, it's gonna be a doozy.