After an argument, Morgana agreed to double his top speed, which made the trip deeper a bit less of a slog.
The starting area of the lower level looked similar: a small bridge leading towards a larger cell block. Expecting another dramatic reveal, the group marched forward and was welcomed by relatively underwhelming rows of filled single cells, and one massive metal door.
"What could that be?"
A Shadow mook peeked from behind the corner. "I can tell you if you won't murder me."
Joker raised an eyebrow. "That's… convenient."
"I got a message from the upper floor about a psycho chick with a poleaxe massacring the other guards," he explained. "I can tell when I'm outclassed."
"Sorry," Haru smiled awkwardly. "I have some issues to work through."
"Okay then," the leader gestured at him to come out, "exposition away. What's this?"
The Shadow stepped out and approached the large gate. "This is the quarantine cell. Inside it is the most sinful and dangerous convict we're keeping here."
"Can we see them?"
"Nope, no visits allowed," he replied. "Hell, I'm not sure if I can even open the door."
"Since we're asking questions:" Makoto joined in the conversation. "Who rules this place? As in, the Palace as a whole."
"The people do."
"The… aesthetics of this place aside," Ann said, "they don't appear to rule this place. It looks like they come here to submit to someone or something."
The Shadow scratched his head with his nightstick. "Hm. I'unno, to be fair. I'm just patrolling here. Please don't shoot."
"Eh, no worries. If you're letting us go, why would we?" Joker reached into his coat and pulled out a candy bar. "Here's something for your trouble."
He tossed it at the Shadow juuuust a little bit too hard and it got stuck in his torso, and he hissed in pain. "See, this is what I wanted to avoid all this time." He pulled it out and took a bite without bothering to unwrap it.
"Sorry," the brunette smiled awkwardly. "We're just gonna move along…"
The Thieves marched out, and the Shadow finished his snack. He was about to return to patrolling, before he noticed one of them remained where they had been standing. "Oi, you left your cat behind!"
The group collectively spun on their heels and returned to Morgana, who continued to stare at the bolted door. "I…" The memories were trickling back in. "…I was born here."
Goro raised an eyebrow. "Um, duh? You're a cat-shaped blob with intrinsic knowledge of how this realm works, what was the alternative?"
"He had a whole arc about that," Joker explained. "Mostly between the two of us."
"I… I thought I was a human," the cat elaborated. "I've felt myself drawn to the depths of Mementos, and I assumed that once I'll get here, I will be able to get my 'true' form. But now…" Morgana looked deflated. "I think… I think I saw all those imprisoned people here and jumped to a conclusion that I must be one of them." He lowered his head. "But I'm not."
After a pause, the leader said a single word: "…and?" That was a bit insufficient, so he elaborated, "What does that change?"
"You aren't defined by your origins, Mona-chan," Haru added. "Even if you're a being born of this place, that doesn't mean you're a mindless monster or anything."
"Hey!"
"Sorry," she smiled sheepishly at an annoyed guard.
"I've shaped the Thieves and their actions since before the Thieves were a thing," Morgana went on, "but what if I was shaped by… by something or someone to lead you here?"
"The same being that granted me unrestricted access to Mementos?" Goro piped in.
"Maybe?" The cat was uncharacteristically unconfident. "What if I'm a mole, a Manchurian agent leading you towards-"
"I'm certain you aren't," Joker interrupted him. "As far as I can tell, you're loyal, if with a very fragile ego - yes, I see you there, Skull - but that's something we can work with." He picked the cat up to his eye level and smiled. "The net balance is positive, and even if you're leading us into more trouble now, it's not your fault, and we'll manage." He turned to the group. "Am I right, people?"
Cue confirmatory murmurs.
The leader dropped Morgana on the ground. "Feeling better?"
The cat flashed a smile. "I think so, yes."
"Can we get going?"
Morgana nodded, and the forward team marched ahead.
"Um," Ryuji said, uncharacteristically quiet, "am I the only one concerned about Mona throwing a hissy fit again or something?"
"To our leader's credit," Yusuke replied, "erring on the side of trust worked well enough for us."
The guarding Shadows watched the Thieves move forward from a safe distance, unwilling to try and stop them. The group at first appreciated the change of pace and not having to waste items, spells and time on common mooks, but over time the lack of resistance became eerie, and everyone started worriedly scanning the surroundings, expecting something to go horribly, horribly wrong.
After going through yet another 'touch all tiles in n steps or less' puzzle, a control pillar shifted downwards, revealing a corridor leading towards an intimidating-looking rotunda, made out of black blocks with glowing red windows. Through the gaps in it, you could see the bundles of the vein-cables from above going towards something at its bottom. Something akin to a skeleton of a long-dead beast was wrapped around it.
The group marched across the bridge made out of another skeleton and entered the building. The blocks turned out to be cells, conveniently arranged to allow the Thieves to jump down level by level with little issue. At the bottom of it was a strange, chalice-shaped jet-black contraption. The red pipe-things were all coming out of or flowing into it.
"This has to be the Treasure," Morgana said, as the forward team landed on the ground. "It radiates a powerful aura."
"I assume you have a plan for absconding with something as large as this," Goro said.
"Nope," Joker admitted. "The last time this happened, the ruler of the Palace conveniently shrinked it to a more reasonable size."
Makoto dropped down to their level and circled the chalice, as a thought popped up in her head. "This place… does it look like a panopticon to you?"
"A what?" Ryuji asked.
"A rotund building, usually a prison, with all the inhabitants placed on the walls, and a single watchtower in the middle, overlooking them."
"So that's supposed to be a guard tower?" Ann asked. "I mean, it makes sense, all the cells seem connected to it."
"Wait," the leader asked, "would that mean the… thing in front of us, the Treasure of Mementos, also runs the place?"
"You are remarkably quick on the uptake."
The Thieves all haphazardly raised their guard and started scanning the surroundings for the source of the booming, commanding voice. Joker and Goro noticed the other being particularly taken aback.
"Did that- did the Treasure talk?" Ryuji blurted out.
"Indeed," it said. "I am known as the Holy Grail, granter of dreams to all who behold me. This place, the Prison of Regression, represents humanity's collective desire to surrender their cognition and neglect the world around them. Who are you to deny them what they crave?"
"That voice…" the detective muttered. "It sounds… familiar, for some reason…"
The brunette turned to him. "This thing granted you your powers, didn't it?"
It was the type of question you ask when you already know the answer. The coin dropped. He barely remembered that event, had pushed it out of his memory for whatever reason, but yes, that seemed to be the case. But how did he… How could he possibly…
Oh.
He didn't know why the being in front of him put them against each other, and truth be told, he didn't care. All that mattered was that it was a threat that required an escalation. "Makoto, gun."
The president looked at him. "Okay, first of all, codenames, second-"
"Don't bother, Queen," Joker said, his tone betraying how out of his depth he was at the moment. "Give him his pistol and let him shoot that thing down."
"What is happening?"
"I'm not sure," he replied, "but what little I know paints the situation as 'shoot first and ask questions later'."
The president pulled out the handgun and the detective yanked it out of her hands and shoved a magazine in the magwell. He then chambered a round, took aim, and fired. It sounded like a large flat object crashing into water, followed by the rattle of an empty casing dropping on the ground. And then, a short pause, as he took aim again. The inmates began to liven up.
"There's no time for marksmanship, Crow!" Ryuji shouted. "Fire faster!"
"And miss half my shots?" He pulled the trigger again.
"Miss? This thing's massive!"
Another shot. "And this is a handgun with subsonic ammo. Those things are less precise than you think."
He fired a fourth time, and then a scream from one of the inmates raised above the chatter: "What are you doing?!"
The detective kept aim, but removed the finger from the trigger, and looked at Joker expectantly. "Go ahead," he commanded.
Fifth.
"Don't do that!"
The screams of the people became louder. Begging and pleading with him to not hurt the idol in front of the Thieves.
Sixth.
"Stop iiiiiit!"
There was a reason he demanded a firearm. Because of this exact thing happening. Beating Shadows to death with a baseball bat takes too much time, during which they were able to plead, beg, attempt to appeal to whatever remained of his shriveled conscience.
Seventh.
"They're attacking the Grail!"
All those events were coming back to him now, and turning the gun on himself seemed more and more appealing by the second.
Eighth.
"You alright?" Joker asked.
"Are you sure…" He took a breath to calm down. "Are you sure we're doing the right thing?"
"You're not hurting those people, Rootkit." Futaba marched forward and put her arm on his shoulder. She always wondered how those things looked in a third-person perspective. "You're freeing them. Keep firing."
Ninth.
Goro's hands started shaking. "Come the fuck on…" he whispered to himself. "You've been doing this for years now, what's the difference now, you piece of shit? You can't fall apart now…"
Tenth.
The screams were all blending together into an incomprehensible wail. He was convinced most of them were coming from his head at that moment.
Eleventh.
"Stovepipe," Makoto pointed out.
The detective didn't register that. He pulled the trigger again and didn't even realize he didn't fire. She allowed herself to approach him and quietly point at the spent casing stuck in the ejection port. He snapped out of his trance and racked the slide back to eject it.
Twelfth.
"Crow?" Joker said. "Your thousand-yard stare is concerning."
"I'll manage," he lied. "I can't fucking fall apart when shooting a bad guy for once… I won't…"
Thirteenth.
"Goro," the president spoke up again, "you're taking this too-"
"Aw, boo hoo, the assassin's sad, whatever shall we do!" he snarled. "I started this mess and I'm going to finish it!"
Fourteenth.
"You're not fighting alone anymore, goddammit!" the leader raised his voice. "You don't have to burn yourself from the inside out to get what you want!"
Fifteenth.
Goro closed his eyes.
"This is the same egotist stubborn bullshit that made you think your best option is bum-rushing us in that fucking engine room!"
Sixteenth.
The slide didn't return back to its previous position. The gun was empty. The detective's arms fell down, completely limp, yet the hands clung to the weapon like his life depended on it. "There," he exhaled. "I did it."
"Is that all?" Ryuji spoke up. "Did we even dent this thing?"
"Somewhat," the Grail responded. "But predictably, not enough to impede me in any significant way."
"The fight isn't over yet," the leader spat.
"It is now. Will of the People!"
The moving odds and ends around the chalice started spinning rapidly. The crimson veins began to pulsate, and with each pulse, the Grail's colour shifted incrementally, from black to brown, from brown to yellow, from yellow to golden. The angry and pleading screams of the imprisoned humanity turned to awed murmurs and ecstatic prayers.
"It-" Futaba couldn't believe her readings, "it has- it has healed itself?!"
"Behold, you foolish agents of the so-called 'justice'," the Grail boomed. "This shine was granted to me by the humanity you claim to represent. This is their reality. They want my rule. They deserve it."
"That's bullshit!" Joker screamed at the chalice. "We're going to take down this Palace, and you can't stop me, Igor!"
One of the small spinning things on the Grail lit up with a bright white light, as Morgana turned to the brunette, "Wait, how do you know its na-"
A blinding laser swept across the room. The last thing everyone registered before a fade to white was the others' brief screams.
Goro always expected to end up in a personalized hell, which is why he initially didn't bat an eye about finding himself on the ground in Shibuya. The thing that proved to him that nope, he's still alive, was Joker hissing at him to hide the pistol.
The group got up from the ground, a bit groggy and in civilian clothes, but otherwise not worse for wear. "What just happened?" Ryuji enquired.
"It looks like the Holy Grail slash-kicked us out of Mementos," Futaba replied.
Ann glanced nervously at the group. "Does that mean we lost?"
"We're still alive and ready for round two," Joker announced, cracking his knuckles. "We're gonna get back down there and cut the-" A few drops of rain landed on his neck. He glanced up. "Huh. The forecast didn't say anything about showers."
Makoto pointed at the pool of water growing in front of her. "Let alone red rain, I assume."
Something burst out of the puddle, startling the group. A tentacle-like arrangement of bones grew rapidly over the square. The Thieves watched it expand and realized it's far from the only one. All sorts of decaying remains were reaching as high as the Shibuya skyscrapers, wrapped around the buildings and ensnaring the streets.
"So, when he said 'this is their reality'…" Haru muttered, terrified.
"…he was literal." Yusuke finished.
Suddenly, Joker realized something that made the situation even more eerie. "…why aren't people freaking out about this?"
Indeed, all the cityfolk continued about their business, unbothered by the apocalypse around them. Conversing about the news, planning holidays in the wonderful weather, laughing at that stupid urban legend about no-gooders getting their hearts changed by some group, what was their name again? Something about organ theft, I think.
"There's no time to worry about that," the geek announced. "We've gotta return to the Depths… before…" She suddenly lost steam and collapsed.
"Futaba!" Ann reached out to help her get up, but lost balance and joined her on the ground. One by one, the group fell down to their knees, until only a single person remained standing.
"Why…" Ryuji hissed, "why aren't you affected by this, Goro?"
"I don't know!" he said, realizing that the situation doesn't put him in a favourable light. Then, he noticed something that made him lose the last traces of his composure. "Wh-wh-what is happening to your hand?!"
The athlete turned his head to see what he was on about, and realized he can barely see an outline of what used to be his palm, with some soot-like particles drifting away from the wind. He tried touching it with his left, but the fingers just went through. "What the shit?!"
The detective spun around, and to his horror all of his acquaintances were disappearing before his very eyes.
"This… cannot be…" Ann muttered, staring at her legs, then staring through them.
"The Mementos and the reality are now one," the Grail's voice boomed. "And those who do not exist in the cognition of humanity, cannot exist at all." The god allowed the meaning of his words to sink in, then delivered one last gut punch: "Congratulations, detective. You have won the game."
Goro's brain threw an emergency brake lever. "What…"
"You… treacherous bastard…" Ryuji attempted to get himself off the ground, but his legs gave way, and his body dissolved into nothingness on contact with the pavement.
"Don't listen to the Grail…" Joker spoke up with great difficulty. "He's full of shit…"
"We're dying, he isn't!" Ann cried in response. "How delusional do you have to be to-" She wasn't able to finish that sentence.
"How… could you…" Yusuke clutched his chest with his barely-existing hand and dissolved into nothingness.
"I-I don't know what's happening, I swear!" the detective said to the barely-remaining group.
Haru stared daggers at the detective. "Wherever I'm going… I will wait for you there," she growled, and then evaporated.
Makoto tried to stay composed, but failed at the last second, seeing her comrades perish in front of her. She tried to let out a panicked shriek, but it was cut short.
Futaba didn't say anything. She just stared at the detective, tears in her eyes. They dropped on the pavement when she was gone.
With only the brunette and his cat remaining, Goro knelt on the ground next to him and grabbed him by the lapels. "I-I-I didn't do that! You believe me, right?! You have to believe me!"
Joker just stared blankly at the red sky above him. "What was I even thinking… Justice… Righteousness… Empty words…" He futilely reached up. "I dragged seven people to their doom, I guess I deserve to go out like this…"
And then he disappeared. The detective turned to the cat, his brain on autopilot. Morgana at that point was just a torso and a head dissolving into thin air. Their eyes met, and the cat said what he thought were his last words:
"Get fucked, Akechi."
And then Goro was alone, in an uncaring crowd.
Author's note:
In retrospect, I should've named this chapter "Cerebus Syndrome", or maybe "Dying Declaration of Hate".
"Welcome, Morgana."
"Huh?"
"First of all, accept my apologies. The situation is… less than ideal."
"Where am I? Where are the others?!"
"Your friends, bar Mr Akechi, were captured and banished to the depths of the Prison of Regression. I have managed to redirect you here, to a small pocket of space outside the narrative."
"Why couldn't you help them too?!"
"Unfortunately, my power is greatly restricted at present. I was barely able to save one being, and have decided to focus on you, so that I can let you reenter the scene at the right moment for you to fulfil the purpose you were created for."
"Did I not already? The Thieves are all gone. The humanity's doomed."
"This wasn't your purpose - quite the opposite, in fact."
"And how would you know?"
"I promise to explain everything in due time. For now, observe the unfolding events. While things are dire, I am certain your friends will be able to positively surprise you. Humans do that regularly."
"…can I ask you a question while we're waiting?"
"I might not answer in a straightforward manner, but go ahead."
"Did… did Goro betray us again?"
"No. Not willingly, at least. It will all become clear soon enough."