This was a dream.

It had to be.

Yu blinked as he stared at the familiar blue drab of the interior of a limousine. Everything was how he remembered it, even down to the expensive bourbon bottle in the small mini-bar. Yu had never really paid much mind to the mini-bar in his youth however now that he was a grown man, he felt a bit uneasy. The bourbon that sat on the top shelf was not only a familiar brand to him, but it was his favorite. The shelf below held a rum he also very much enjoyed along with a few other familiar liquors. Same brand, same special brewing method… How did they already know his favorite drinks when he was still in high school? Who made this velvet room? It had to be Igor but seriously what information did Igor have on him?

The room was empty and the limousine didn't have the normal back and forth sway of a vehicle in motion. The frosted glass windows didn't give away anything to where the limo was currently parked. Yu moved towards the door only to find that it was locked. He was locked in his velvet room. A long sigh escaped his throat before he reached for the bourbon and a glass. Yu poured himself a shot before returning the bottle to the shelf. After finishing off the stiff drink, Yu moved deeper into the limousine.

Sliding to sit in the position Igor normally sat, Yu leaned forward and crossed his hands under his chin. For a long while, Yu just stared across the limousine where he normally sat. Glancing to his right where Marie had always sat, Yu quickly started to grow bored. Another shot of the bourbon was poured before Yu started to explore the limousine. Sometime between the first drink and the second, Yu could feel a slight buzz. He wasn't super great at holding his alcohol even Rise could drink him under a table. This was something only Naoto, Rise, and Yosuke knew. Drinking only made Yu bolder and a bit looser in morals, but it was enough that he could easily get into trouble if someone didn't have his back.

Emboldened by his new libation and the sheer boredom of being trapped in a tiny limousine, Yu began to explore his little confines. All the bottles in the bar were of brands he recognized and liked, only one he didn't recognize. And that was on the stand next to where Margaret always sat, it appeared to be some sort of fancy red wine. Something he could see Margaret drinking. Yu gave it a taste test; a dry-aged wine, which indeed reminded him of his attendant. Setting the bottle down, Yu sat down in the seat Margaret normally sat in. His eyes shifting to the blue light at the top of the limo as he put his feet up on the table.

The buzz was starting to hit him now.

Yu sat there for a long while staring up at the soft blue lights. As he moved to get up his hand hit something that wasn't the soft fabric of the seats. His eyes moved to investigate as he pulled forth a familiar heavy book. Across the front of the blue book the words "Le Grimoire" were written along with the logo of the Velvet Room. Even with his level of inebriation, Yu recognized the book as the one Margaret always had on her. The bigger question was, what was it doing here without its owner? Yu placed the tome down on the table before he began to search the area around where Margaret sat. He vaguely hoped he'd find some other clue that could tell him where the errant attendant could be. After a couple of minutes of searching nothing was uncovered, so Yu turned his attention back to the tome.

Picking up the heavy book, Yu idly flipped through the pages. The book appeared to be written in a language he wasn't familiar with. It looked French or some other European language as everything was in Latin script. Flipping through it, nothing stood out to him as it was just page after page of the Latin alphabet. Yu sighed and tossed the book back onto the table. Nothing made sense at the moment but as the alcohol was starting to more heavily affect him he couldn't help but think that maybe it was his fault. Intoxication wasn't a good way to solve a case even if he was a professional detective. Leaning back against the blue seat, Yu ran his hands over his face before out of the corner of his eyes he saw it. A small note tucked a few pages into 'La Grimoire'. Reaching out Yu pulled the note free. It was simple white paper folded over and inside was an immaculate script that could only be Margaret's handwriting. The problem was as Yu read it, goosebumps ran up and down his arms.

'Don't trust Igor. Something has happened to Lavenza.'

Don't trust Igor? What did that mean? As far as loyalty goes, Margaret had always seemed to be very loyal to Igor, even more than Elizabeth. What had happened to make her turn against the man she called master. This note was a clue but it leads to more questions than answers. Also, who is Lavenza? This note had to be for him but then why did it mention someone he didn't know. Or did he? Did he know Lavenza? If the note mentioned Igor, then Lavenza could be another attendant. Who were Ren's attendants…? Caroline and Justine. Maybe he could ask them about this Lavenza person. Then again they were tied to Igor and the note was very clear that Yu couldn't trust him…

Suddenly there was a rumble across the whole limousine as the vehicle lurched forward. Yu got to his feet suddenly knocking his head against the top of the fancy limousine interior. Yu fell backward as a blinding pain shot through his head. This wasn't a simple head bump, this felt like something else. Darkness began to creep into Yu's vision as unconsciousness started to claw at Yu's mind. Yu tried to fight against it, to get himself back to focus but slowly Yu started to drown in a sea of unconsciousness. He collapsed upon the blue décor of his personal room.

Yu awoke with a start as a bucket of cold water was sloshed upon him. Yu gasped for air as he jerked awake. Instantly all his movements were met with resistance as the fuzzy world Yu was in started to sharpen. The first thing his eyes were able to focus on was the small blue-clad girl in front of him. It took a moment for the fog that encompassed his mind to click on and identify the girl in front of him as Caroline. The twin held a silver bucket in her hands and was giving him a very monotone look. As Yu's eyes came into focus a bit better, Justine could be seen behind her sister clipboard in hand. She wore a look almost akin to sadness.

Yu shifted slightly as he tried to get off his knees only to realize he was chained to the wall. Heavy manacles secured him to a cold dark blue brick wall. The sudden realization he was a captive snapped his mind into overdrive as he looked around the blue jail cell that now held him. With a horrifying realization, he realized he was in a velvet room. Not his velvet room but the oppressive prison-like one Ren had described to him and the two twins in front of him confirmed exactly where he was.

'Don't trust Igor.' He could almost hear Margaret say those words to him as they repeated over and over in his mind.

"He's awake master." Justine proclaimed as she stepped out of the cell.

Caroline sneered at him before exiting out of the cell with her sister. As they both moved, Yu could finally see the large wooden desk that sat in the middle of the prison. Sitting down tapping his fingers in an almost bored manner was Igor. He eyed Yu from his location as Caroline and Justine took their places at either side of his jail cell. Yu felt a knot grow in his gut as the man got to his feet. With a stiff walk, Igor stepped before him. Yu shifted to try and get to his feet but his shackles didn't allow for much movement.

"You have become quite the trouble maker of my game," Igor remarked.

That sinking feeling Yu had been feeling suddenly became more intense. That voice, that didn't sound like the Igor he remembered. The man before him looked like Igor. That was for sure. However, Yu had the sudden realization that the reason Margaret didn't want him to trust this Igor was because this man before him, wasn't the real Igor. Yu tested his chains that firmly held him to the wall as his gaze sharpened at the impostor before him.

"You're not Igor." Yu deduced as he surged forward but was held back. The rattle of chains filled the jail cell at his effort.

"Silence inmate! How dare you speak to our master like that?!" Caroline growled as she slapped her baton upon his cage.

"Our master has always been our master inmate, you don't know what you speak of." Came the softer voice of Justine just beyond the door.

Igor gave a chuckle, his bulging eyes fixing upon Yu as he laughed. "I have removed you from the game, luckily this place seems fit at holding wildcards. After all, there can't be more than one or the game would become unbalanced. You shall remain here until the game is over. Only then can I execute you, as I am still bound by the rules of this game. Silence him… We can't have the other one know he is here, or else… The game can't be completed." With that, the impostor turned and headed back to his desk.

"I don't like this Caroline." Justine sighed.

"Well, it's his fault for messing up our master's game!" Justine sneered.

Caroline walked into the cell quickly shadowed by Justine. Yu looked between them. For a moment he could almost sense a bit of apprehension as the twins exchanged a look with their one good eye each. A solemn second past before Caroline stepped up to Yu and raised her baton above his head. The next second Yu was once again embraced by the darkness that being unconscious brings.

Yu was getting sick of all this fading back and forth between consciousness. This time as he came to, he was greeted by far more friendly faces. The world around him was nothing but a blank void. It in a way felt similar to the space Rise pulled him into when she used her Persona's powers on him. The main difference was when Rise did it the world seemed warm and full of light, this place was a void, dark, and unforgiving.

Yu looking towards the two that stood before him barely illuminated in this darkness. Margaret sat before him on an elegant wooden chair. The chair appeared to be some sort of dark wood carved chair with blue velvet backing. The arms of the chair had lion heads carved into them and for as stiff as the chair was it was fairly comfortable. Standing next to Margaret was the tall figure Yu recognized as Theodore. As soon as Yu looked at him, Theodore put a hand to his chest and gave a slight bow. Yu nodded to the other man before returning his gaze to Margaret.

"Hello, Yu." Margaret greeted.

"What happened to Igor? And where am I now?" Yu looked around.

"You are back in that jail cell, your consciousness, however, is here in the small realm between dreams and reality that my bother and I have escaped to," Margaret explained.

"How did I get here? Last I remember I was falling asleep next to my fiancé." Yu asked.

Margaret seemed hesitant to respond. "As you have seen our master has disappeared and an impostor sits in his place. We realized what had happened far too late to prevent what happened to Lavenza. We escaped here before we shared her fate but have been stuck for quite some time, as the only one we can contact is our guests. As Theodore's guest is gone and you are mine, that left our only option to contact you. This task was easier said than done. I needed three things in place in order for me to find you again. The first being I needed you to touch that otherworld where the corruption was, you did this when you went to investigate Lavenza's guest. This allowed me to put a tag on you and track your location. Next, I needed you to return home and enter the other world near the location your Velvet Room is located. The impostor's net is wide, so pulling you in Tokyo would only have seen you get captured quickly. Even now I was surprised how fast he acted when he learned of my involvement. The last thing needed being for me to contact you with information that would put the impostor's game in jeopardy, you did that when you found my note."

"I appear to have been captured, so…" Yu started.

"Yes, but while he managed to grab you, I have you here with me do I not?" Margaret let a smile play on the corner of her lips. "Forgive me, I have used you to set other plans in motion."

"What other plans?" Yu leaned forward.

"I understand the bonds you have with your friends and with you captured it'll spur them to action. The note you read from my book was switched for your physical body in the real world. The impostor of my master has no way of knowing this switch took place and knowing your bonds they won't stop until they have you back." Margaret explained.

"So you're using me as bait to get a force against the impostor?" Yu figured out quickly.

"Correct!" Theodore nodded. "Please forgive us Narukami-san but we are out of options and it was a very painful decision for my dear sister to start to put this plan in motion."

"If there is blame to be placed on anyone it should be me. Please accept my apology." Margaret bowed her head as Theodore mirrored this action.

"How long have you two been here for?" Yu asked getting the feeling this isn't a plan they both tried to pull lightly.

"I couldn't tell you, time passes differently here. Poor Lavenza, a shadow of her former self has suffered as she has all that time." Theodore lamented with a deep sigh.

"Who is Lavenza? You said she is Ren's attendant but he has two and their names are Caroline and Justine. Are they impostors as well?" Yu inquired.

Theodore shifted uncomfortably as he looked to Margaret. Margaret just tapped her fingers along her chair, a look of both sadness and annoyance playing across her face. "Caroline and Justine are Lavenza… The impostor split our dear sister apart into two halves to make her forget exactly who she is and to manipulate her into following him. It was a gruesome process, and a fate that awaited myself and Theodore had we not escaped here."

Margaret's eyes wandered off into the darkness around them as they stared relentlessly forward, clearly, this was a bad memory for her. Even Theodore seemed to shift behind her, averting his gaze. Yu wasn't entirely sure the relationship between all of the velvet room attendants, he did know there was a bond between all of them. To have their youngest sibling violated so badly she was split in two was something that weighed heavily upon them. Yu could only say if something like that had happened to Nanako he'd do anything he could to help return her to how she was, possibly even do things completely out of character for himself.

"So what happens now?" Yu leaned back against the chair getting comfortable.

"Unfazed as always I see. Your conscious will stay here with us, time will pass differently for you as this is a place so close to the land of dreams. Your body will remain unconscious in that cell until your friends find you, as the impostor would never let the other wildcard learn of your location within his prison. As the impostor thinks of this all as a game, we have our own little game we'd liked to play as well. Theodore..?" Margaret looked towards her brother.

Theodore pulled forth his book and opened it with a wave of his hand. The pages fluttered as if hit by a strong gust of wind before a small dark blue piece of something levitated from Theodore's book and into his waiting hand. Theodore held it out and it appeared to be the frame of an old-time film reel. Though Yu had never seen it before, something in his soul seemed familiar with it. Yu got up from his chair and was on his feet as he stared at the blue film cell.

"Do you remember this object?" Margaret asked. Yu said nothing which only seemed to bring a smile to Margaret's lips. "You don't but you do at the same time, correct? This is an object is from a reality that played out but its effects were wiped from everyone's mind. You may remember deep down but the memories, unfortunately, will never come to you. Our memories from the events were washed, but we knew they happened. We hold a tentative grasp but this object also allows us to remember some of what happened. Once it is used all memory of it will fade. As we have dragged you here without consent we can at least offer you this one penance…"

"This film can store a Persona, and because of your connections to other people, it is possible to reach out to one of them and give them one of your Personas. This object isn't all that powerful of a bind and once you touch the person who has the Persona you will acquire it back. This means until you are rescued you can send one of your Persona to any one of your friends until they find you again. Even if they do not hold the wild card ability with the help of this film they will have two Personas until you touch them again." Theodore explained.

"Anyone of my friends and anyone of my Persona?" Yu confirmed already feeling he knew exactly what he was going to do with this opportunity.

Within his sea of soul, Yu reached out to his most familiar Persona telling it a silent message. There were no words exchanged between the two of them, only feelings. Izanagi-No-Okami innately understood what Yu was trying to convey. As much as Yu wanted to have Izanagi just explain everything to his friends on the other side, Yu didn't know how exactly that would work out. Izanagi understood some of the details of his situation, but when he was transferred would he remember them all?

"Correct." Theodore nodded.

"Rise Kujikawa and give her Izanagi-no-Okami," Yu called to the two siblings.

Margaret and Theodore exchanged a set of looks before they both nodded.

The light from the windows was making it impossible to sleep any longer. Consciousness slowly bubbled to Rise's body as she turned away from the offending window. Yu's place just didn't have the same blackout curtains her place did. Then again her place was in the heart of Tokyo and Tokyo just blazed light directly into her condo 24/7. Rise knew she was fighting a losing battle to continue to try and sleep, she was going to get up. Sighing Rise threw her arm across the bed, finding nothing but empty air instead of Yu's body.

Alarmed Rise opened her eyes to find Yu's spot vacant. At first, Rise figured he must have gotten up before her. Or maybe he was plagued by those bad dreams again. Waking up without him next to her wasn't something uncommon but Rise couldn't stop the foreboding feeling that was rising up in her chest. Getting up, she spotted his phone on the nightstand where he had left it the night before. Nothing about the room seemed out of place and Rise strained her ears listening to the house. There was no clatter of pans or the sound of the TV in the front room. Everything was just silent.

Rise threw off her blanket, the chill of the house hitting her as she did so. Shivering slightly Rise reached for the blanket again and wrapped it around her before venturing from the room and into the house proper. What Rise didn't see was the note sitting on the bed where Yu had once been sleeping. Stepping out into the living room, all that greeted the young idol was silence. Panic started to grip Rise's chest.

"Yu?!" Rise called into the house.

No response came.

"This isn't funny!" Rise's voice was much louder this time.

But just as before no warm familiar voice returned to her. She was met only with silence. Panic took full hold now as Rise started going through the house looking for her lost fiancé and finding no clue to his whereabouts. His shoes and jacket were in the hallway next to the front door where he had left them when they came home last night. Everything was where they had last left it last night. It was as if Yu was suddenly taken from the bed.

Rise didn't know what to do as she was quickly becoming hysterical with panic and her breathing had become rapid and intense. The only thing her mind could contemplate was to get Naoto. Naoto would figure things out. Rise raced to the bedroom and picked up her phone from the charger on her side of the bed. She quickly found Naoto's contact information and dialed her best friend.

One ring….

Two rings….

Three rings….

"Rise…?" Naoto sounded out of it and if Rise wasn't panicked she might have remembered how Naoto was by far not a morning person.

"He's gone!" Rise erupted onto the phone no longer able to hold back the tears now that she had spoken those words out loud.

Yu was gone and she had no clue where he was and this wasn't like before.

Naoto seemed to realize the panic in Rise's voice as her voice dipped to her far more serious masculine tone. "Who?"

"Yu… He's not here! His shoes are here, his phone is here. Naoto, his jacket is still here but he isn't!" Rise sobbed into the phone as she collapsed onto the bed. She was beginning to feel light-headed.

"Rise, listen to me. The first thing I need you to do is start to calm down. Give me some deep breaths." There was some other noise on Naoto's end of the line as if she was doing something as she spoke.

"Okay.." Rise whimpered before she broke out into full-on sobs. She couldn't help it, something was wrong and now Yu was gone.

A sigh on the other end of the line. "Alright Rise listen to me, I'll be there in 10 minutes. Is the front door unlocked?"

"Yes, Naoto I'm sorry but I…" Rise cried.

"Don't worry about it," Naoto swiftly cut her off. "I'm on my way, sit tight for me. Goro-Kun is coming with me, with two detectives we'll figure out where he is." Naoto affirmed to the distraught Rise.

"Thank you…" Rise managed between sobs.

"I'm going to hang up now, Rise just wait for me please," Naoto instructed her friend.

"Okay…" Rise whimpered as she reached behind her and grabbed Yu's pillow.

There was a click on the other end of the phone as the room was suddenly once again enveloped in silence. Which only made things so much worse. Rise curled in on herself clutching the pillow to her chest. She didn't understand what was going on but the love of her life was missing and she was currently helpless to do anything about it other than sob into his pillow.

I nitpicked this chapter probably more then I should have. I don't like how it turned out but after 3 days of solid throwing out ideas and rewriting some parts, I give you this... I don't want to waste any more time on it. I might go back and tweak it again later but I hate this chapter the most currently.