I am sorry that this chapter is later. I had a lot of irl stuff happening and I couldn't find the time to update this until now. The next chapter is also going to be delayed as I have an exam on Thursday.

Now with that out of the way, I hope you enjoy this chapter!

—

"it's strange what's in the scars not seen on the surface of the skin"

Akira sits on Akechi's couch, a pad of paper set on the coffee table. His head is ringing, but dulled after his day hungover a few weeks ago. He wonders if he's starting to gain a tolerance to the pain.

He wonders if it means he's finally come closer to ending the cycles.

He reaches over and picks up the pad and a pen. He flips through the pages, his own scratchy writing mixed in with Akechi's neat script. Most of these were unsuccessful or regarded as implausible early into the planning process. He opened a blank page and drummed the end of the pen against it. There was one option that he's been considering, ever since he had that conversation with Lavenza runs ago. He wrote Jose's name down.

The boy was a mystery himself, one that even Lavenza couldn't puzzle out. She told Akira to leave him alone, under the assumption that Igor had it under control. But she didn't know about the cycles, another one of the people helplessly being dragged through. Igor on the other hand knew something. He didn't say anything to Akira about it and never gave any indication that he knew about the cycles, but he would watch Akira with intrigue when he thought Akira was distracted.

He's waiting for Akira to make him move.

The door to the apartment opens and Akechi walks inside. He hangs his coat on the rack by the door and places his briefcase on the island. He settles into one of the barstools and leans on his elbows against the counter. "I should make you pay rent."

"My companionship isn't enough?"

"I'd start looking for a job if I were you." Akechi glances down to the pad in Akira's hand. "Think of something?"

"Jose." Akira drops the pad onto his lap. "He's the only enigma that we haven't looked into."

"There is something odd about him." Akechi leaned forward, pursing his lips in concentration. "I always thought he was a Shadow."

"I asked Lavenza about him some runs back. She said he was harmless."

"He does look a little like her. With the silver hair and golden eyes."

"She said he wasn't an attendant either."

That interested Akechi. His brows knitted. "So he is an avenue of interest. When are we going to talk to him?"

Akira glanced at the clock. It was still early enough to warrant a visit to the Mementos, especially considering that they were only going down a few levels. "We could go now."

Akechi slid off the barstool and picked up his briefcase. He held his phone in his other hand. "Let's enter the Metaverse from here. There's less risk of people noticing us."

Akira heard the unspoken reminder. There's less chance of them pulling in any number of his friends. "Alright."

Akechi opens the MetaNav and activates it. The world around them ripples and distorts but ultimately doesn't change. The atmosphere is heavier but if Akira wasn't paying attention, he could've missed it.

Akira follows Akechi down the stairs to the bottom floor and out into the street. The roads and sidewalks were empty, missing both the pedestrians and cars. Their steps echo in the silence.

They enter the station and Akira realizes that he sorely miscalculated something. He hasn't awakened to his Persona yet. He could still feel Arsene's presence faint in the back of his mind, awaiting to be called upon, but he doubts that he could force the awakening.

Akechi watches him with thinly veiled amusement, his arms crossed. "How did you forget that you hadn't awakened to your Persona yet?"

"I don't usually deviate this early." Akira tries to keep the embarrassment off his face, but he could still feel the heat rising on his cheeks. "It's always after I Awaken."

He could still see the Velvet Room out of the corner of his eye but without anyone standing out beside it. He had no use for it at the moment without access to his Personas.

Akechi's grin fades as he walks down the stairs into Mementos and Akira follows him. He feels exposed without his Persona, without the thieves' clothing that helped protect him from the distortion. The upper levels were safer, the Shadows standing no chance against Akechi's Personas, but he couldn't guarantee where they would find Jose. He might not even be here yet.

But they didn't even step off the platform before Akira was tackled. "You're finally here!" Jose cries out, wrapping his arms tight around Akira's waist.

Akira wraps his arms around Jose's shoulders, ignoring the sinking feeling pooling in his gut. "What do you mean?"

"You always come down on May 7th and now it's the 21st!" Jose digs his fingers into the fabric of Akira's jacket, choking out a sob. "I couldn't even give you the star!"

"Jose." Akechi draws the boy's attention to him. Jose lifts his head from Akira's stomach. "Are you saying that you remember too?"

Jose nods and extracts himself from Akira's arms to rub his eyes. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't be crying."

"Let's sit down." Akira guides Jose to the edge of the platform. Jose sits down after Akira's prompting, his feet dangling over the edge. Akechi stood back, watching them and keeping an eye on the tracks. "Why didn't you say anything?"

"I didn't know if you could remember." Jose holds his hands together in his lap, not meeting Akira's gaze. "You always came on the same day so I thought you were just following the script."

"How long did you know about the cycles?" Akira keeps his voice soft and gentle.

"Ever since the beginning." Jose stiffened, his jaw tightening and his fingers digging into the skin of his hands. "I think I started them." His voice was strained from trying to hold back tears. There were hints of fear hidden within his words.

"Why do you say that?" Akira could feel Akechi's stare on them but he ignored it for now. He had to get answers out of Jose before they took any action, even if it meant fighting the boy.

"The star I gave you wasn't the only one I found." Jose detaches his hands and reaches into his pockets. He pulls out two stars, identically with the exception of their color. "I think they're linked. Whenever something happened to you, something that I knew wasn't right, I would wish for it to change.

"But one day you got to the point where you were at the end. And I disappeared." Jose's hands were shaking, his voice wavering and dipping with the weight of tears. "It was so dark and lonely and I didn't know what to do. I couldn't find my way out and I wished and wished to be brought back. And I was."

"That was the first run I remember." Akira takes Jose's hands in his, holding onto them.

"I can't even stop them now! I'm brought to the darkness and I can't think about anything else." Jose drops the stars to the side, rushing into Akira's embrace. "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry."

Akira rubs Jose's back in large circles. "It's okay. This isn't your fault."

"But it is!" Jose sobs, tightening his grip on Akira's chest. "I caused all this!"

"You were scared and alone. No one wants to be like that."

"I don't want to go back there." Jose admits between taking in heaving breaths. "Please don't make me go back there."

"I won't." Akira pushed all the doubt he had away. He was going to find a solution that doesn't have Jose falling between the cracks. "I promise."

He could practically hear Akechi sneering at him for making promises he wasn't sure he could keep. But he couldn't leave Jose here without anything to hold on to.

Jose pulls away from Akira, looking to meet him in the eyes. "Really?"

"Really." Akira looked up, scanning the surrounding area before settling his gaze back to Jose. "Where's your car?"

Jose blushes and glances over to the train tracks. "I might've crashed it." At Akira's concerned look Jose continued frantically. "Everything's fine! I was so focused on getting to you that I forgot to watch out for the turns."

"Will you be fine on your own?"

"Yep!" Jose stood, brushing off his clothes and picking up the stars from the ground. He pocketed one of them and shoved the other in Akira's direction. "Don't forget to take this!"

Akira grabbed the star and held it gingerly. "I won't."

Jose took off in the vague direction he pointed out earlier, turning to wave. "Bye! I'll see you later!" He turned and didn't look back.

Akechi watched Jose's retreating form with a thin layer of suspicion. "Do you think he's telling the truth?"

"There's nothing else we can do but trust him." Akira glanced down to the star. It still held that unexplainable pulse of power. The one that grants wishes.

Akechi frowned, glancing over to the star. "It seems that is all we can do."

—

After making their way back to Akechi's apartment, Akira slipped off his shoes and followed Akechi over to the island. He took the barstool next to Akechi's and leaned onto the counter. Traversing through the Metaverse was far more draining without a Persona.

Akechi sat down beside him, still frowning. Akira lifted his head. "What's wrong?"

"I've met Jose before." Akechi says, opening his briefcase and pulling out a few papers. They looked like case work. "It was before the cycles, just when I had first gotten my Personas."

"He's been in the Mementos for almost two years?" Akira knew that Jose had gotten there before he had, but he thought it was close to when Morgana did, maybe a little after. Not two years ago.

"It seems like it." Akechi pauses, putting down the pen he was using. "But he didn't appear to recognize me."

"He's trying to learn more about humanity." Akira says. "He believes those flowers floating around Mementos will teach him that."

"They're strange. They're a cognitive being but not one from Mementos."

"How can you tell?"

"Each Palace, including Mementos, has a certain signature. It is subtle but I can use it to detect which Palaces you guys had been in or where particular items came from. It also helps to see how long a Palace has been around. The smaller the traces of Mementos, the more developed it is." Akechi stops, narrowing his eyes. "Despite residing in Mementos, those flowers have no traces of Mementos within them."

"They're from another Palace." Akira says. "How long would a Palace need to exist to no longer have any traces?"

"Years at least." Something flickers across Akechi's expression. "I've only seen it twice."

"Could Jose be from the same Palace?"

"I think they're from his Palace."

"How can he have a Palace if he's a Shadow?" Confusion rests in Akira's expression. "Can a Palace even survive without its host?"

"I've never seen a Shadow abandon its Palace like that. They always stay with it, even if it's an alcove in Mementos."

"That's assuming that Jose even has a Palace." Akira cuts Akechi off before they start speculating too far. "We can't be too hasty."

"It isn't something that's too hard to test." Akechi pulls out his phone and opens the MetaNav. "Jose."

The app chimes robotically. "Candidate found."

Akechi looks back at him. "Well, that problem is solved."

"Now all we need are the other two keywords." Akira says, unable to help the feeling of uncertainty bubbling within his chest.

—

When I first started planning out this chapter over a year and a half ago, this was actually supposed to occur near the end. But it slowly started expanded more about the story and it fell at a little over the halfway point. Check out my tumblr for any updates!