A/N: This chapter took a little longer to write than I'd hoped, due to a combination of length, time and health problems. But thank you to those who have been favouriting, following, reviewing, and reading this fanfic. Your support is greatly appreciated. We're finally starting to get into the nitty-gritty of things, but the real action won't occur until the next chapter. Probably. I don't know. XD In the meantime, I hope this sates your hunger.

Chapter 5: Down the Rabbit Hole

16th April 20XX [Morning]

It had taken me until the end of the week to muster up the courage to return to Shibuya's Central Street and stand in the entrance to the alleyway face to face with that blue, glowing, barred door. Aside from school and errands taking up a lot of my time, I still found myself hesitant in confronting this anomaly for a second time. I'd continued to walk by the alleyway on the way home from school whenever I was alone (or made-up an excuse to stop by the convenience and drug stores for Yuuma's sake) just to get a quick glance and make sure the door was still there, and each time had never failed me; it was there in the same spot with no difference.

When Sunday had finally rolled around, I saw it as my opportunity to put this restless paranoia of mine out of commission. After changing into something causal and much more comfortable than my school uniform (consisting of a dark green jacket on top of a white polo shirt, white leggings, and green boots), I left my home for Shibuya without alerting either Mom or Yuuma where I was going. The last thing I needed was the two of them getting nosy regarding my business, especially since it was uncommon for me to wander out of the house on my own. Not to mention they probably wouldn't have believed me even if I did tell them the truth…

So one stealth mission and one train ride later, I found myself back where I was just under a week ago; standing at the entrance to the alleyway with the weird-looking door staring right back at me, and the large crowds of people passing behind me without a single glance in my direction.

'I should be surprised by this point that it's still there. But considering the app has yet to disappear from my phone, I didn't expect the door to, either…'

I'd barely been standing there for more than a minute and already I was beginning to feel the chest pains from before returning, prompting me to cover a hand over the area and sigh in dismay.

'Here comes the anxiety. But this isn't going to turn out like last time. I'm going to make sure of that.'

Curling my fingers into the front of my jacket, I closed my eyes and took a quick deep breath in before exhaling and opening my eyes seconds after, giving myself a moment to mentally prepare myself for what I was about to do through the only way I knew would keep me calm; singing in my head and humming quietly to myself. As I started to sing the lyrics to 'Windmills of Your Mind' in my head while humming along with the tune, I forced myself forward one heavy step at a time. I didn't shuffle or take large strides to either speed-up or slow down my approach. I just took ordinary steps. With the amount of times I'd listened to the song in the past, I knew the tune and lyrics like the back of my hand. I didn't need my earphones or phone this time.

I'd managed to get halfway through the alleyway by the time I'd gotten through the first part of the song, with my chest pain slowly dying away and my anxiety somehow remaining at bay. But from my current vantage point I now had a clearer view of the glowing door and the black circle that was stuck in the middle of it, even as I continued to get closer. The sight was more than enough to make me forget about my current anxiety and allowed my curiosity to take over, causing me to pick up the pace in my walk until I came to a stop with only a small gap between me and the door, my humming stopping.

There appeared to be six, small, white glowing indents of varying shapes around the outer corners of the circle, but each of them was blocked by thin green lines that made the shape of an 'X'. The only one I could make out clearly enough was the lone white indent in the middle shaped like a leaf, which seemed oddly familiar…

'What is this? Some kind of fancy-looking lock mechanism? I mean… I'm not actually sure if that's what it is. But considering the shaped indent…'

Placing a hand to the back of my head to give it a scratch, I quickly glanced behind me to make sure no one was looking or coming down the alleyway. After staring for a few seconds and seeing nobody paying attention to me, I focused back on the door and took a step forward, slowly raising my left hand towards the door's bars to touch them.

'Alright. Before I go any further with this, I need to be sure this door is real. That way I know I'm not going crazy.'

However, when my fingers were only inches away from touching the bars, I turned my eyes to my left wrist when I felt my bracelet slide down towards my hand. The next thing I knew, the green leaf shaped charm attached to it began to glow a bright green, which in turn caused the matching indent in the middle of the circle to do the same.

'…! What the heck-?!'

I gasped loudly and stumbled backwards away from the door at the sight and sound of the 'X' shapes covering the other indents breaking and vanishing into thin air, with my hands flying to my mouth as the barred door swung forward and opened towards the left. I had naturally not been expecting any of this to happen.

'Oh my god-!'

Lowering my hands away from my mouth still gaped open, I held out my left arm in front of me to stare between the charm on my bracelet and the matching indent on the door multiple times as the green glows surrounding both quickly died down, trying to process what the heck was going on.

'They're exactly the same! The size, the shape…'

I shook my head in disbelief and closed my mouth as I looked behind me towards the entrance of the alleyway for a second time, only focusing back on my charm again when I saw that everybody was still minding their own business. At least I hadn't drawn any attention to myself with my horrified reaction.

'What the hell…?! This can't be right! My Dad found this thing in a jewellery store! It's never had freaky supernatural powers! So why…?'

My gaze focused on the now opened door as I let out a groan of frustration, closing my eyes and reaching my other hand to my forehead to give it a rub.

'I knew this was a bad idea. I only wanted to see if the door was real and I've wound up opening it by accident. I suspected this would happen. I should have just stayed away. Why did I listen to Mom?!'

I could already feel my anxiety beginning to creep back up on me when my body trembled, prompting me to open my eyes again and stare ahead at the eerie blue light surrounding the inside of the doorway. A feeling of déjà vu was soon washing over me, making me feel as if I'd been in a similar position before at a different time; not in front of this exact door, of course. But another doorway concealed in darkness in my former home, of which I'd already vaguely remembered…

It was this prompt of memory, though, that reminded me of Mom's advice from a few days ago, causing me to look behind me briefly before focusing on the door again with a frown despite my trembling body.

'… No. This isn't the time for regrets. Both that app and this door have been lingering around and won't go away no matter what I do. They both seem to be connected, and they both keep getting in my face. If I continue to run away, it's possible a third thing might pop up.'

Lowering my hands to my sides and balling them into fists, my frown deepened as I forced myself to walk forward, closing my eyes tight as I did so.

'No more running away! I'm going through this door and getting my answers!'

When Joker and his teammates had first entered the Depths of Mementos and walked down the blackened, spine-built path to the mysterious shrine hidden below on that fateful day, they were all naturally horrified at its surroundings and questioning just how twisted society must have become to create such an awful place as this. But as he traversed down this path alone in the present with his hands in the pockets of his trousers and stared ahead with no regard to the horrors that lurked around him, Joker realised just how much he'd changed over the last few months.

It had taken him almost the rest of the week to finally find the time to journey to see Yaldabaoth, as Ryuji had done well in using his whole 'party-planning' scheme to keep him and the others occupied, on top of school and Sojiro needing his help around the café. Realistically, he could have come here any time he'd wanted, but he knew he would have drawn suspicion from his friends if he'd tried to use a fake excuse. They weren't stupid, after all, and their continued activities as the Phantom Thieves had made them stronger and sharper in ways none of them would have expected. Joker had been anxious of leaving this unaddressed for so long in the likely case Verity turned out to be a threat to him and Yaldabaoth. But he'd reminded himself of the lock Yaldabaoth had provided for the door of the Velvet Room, and that regardless of her being able to access the Metaverse she couldn't get past it without the necessary key; something which he had.

As Joker started to enter the mysterious shrine and locked eyes with the glowing red lights lingering behind the many bars to the cells of the public's shadows, his gloved hands tightened into fists at the brief recollection of the Phantom Thieves' first encounter with the Holy Grail; the cries of the slothful who hid behind the bars and had begged them to spare their 'saviour', the giant black cup that had continually thwarted their efforts upon using the public's wishes to recover… Despite having walked this way many times since then, Joker still retained the same feeling of dread at the deathly silence that lingered around the shrine.

'The public's palace never fails not to be eerie…'

Of course, that recollection was brief the moment his gaze focused on the centre of the room; his initial destination. Where the giant golden cup once stood hovered 'Igor' with glowing yellow eyes and his arms stretched out to the sides palms up, surrounded by thin swirls of black and red that coincided with the colours that made up Mementos and its depths. Joker straightened out his posture as he gained closer, his poker face remaining behind his mask. His current form clearly suggested one thing for Joker based on the few trips he had made since agreeing to the deal with the demiurge…

'He's been expecting me.'

His suspicions were quickly confirmed when Yaldabaoth spoke in his deep, distorted voice just before he'd reached him.

"Welcome, Trickster."

Joker said nothing in response as he came to a stop a small distance away and watched the being occupying the form of the original Velvet Room proprietor continue to hover before him, remaining rather casual with his stance despite being in the presence of a technical god (even if he was false). Upon being met with silence, Yaldabaoth let out a small but deep chuckle of amusement.

"You say nothing, and yet your silence still speaks volumes in my presence. You are truly an intriguing human." Yaldabaoth allowed a malevolent grin to appear on his face before he continued. "You seek my knowledge on the girl you suspect is rivalling you as a Wild Card, I believe?"

Joker nodded, prompting Yaldabaoth to close his eyes and lower his head a little in contemplation, his smile fading.

"You were right to suspect that I had not bestowed her the Metaverse Navigator. Since the contract between us was formed, I have relinquished myself from interfering in the lives of humanity any further. How this girl came into possession of the Metaverse Navigator is beyond my knowledge…"

Joker huffed quietly and glanced down towards the floor.

'That isn't very reassuring. If not even Yaldabaoth knows how Verity managed to obtain the Nav-'

"However," Joker returned his gaze to Yaldabaoth just as he opened his eyes and interrupted his mental rant. "… she has yet to awaken to the power of Persona and enter the Metaverse. She is still oblivious to the world you and your allies have been exposed to."

Yaldabaoth smirked as Joker relaxed his shoulders and loosened his fingers' grip within the pockets of his clothes.

'At least something positive has come from this.'

"Still… being able to perceive the entrance to the Velvet Room does suggest she could possess abilities that rival yours. It is possible that the original proprietor of the Velvet Room is responsible for this, but that has yet to be proven."

"Then what do you propose should be done to tackle this problem?"

Joker blinked in surprise when he heard Yaldabaoth chuckle darkly, watching in silence as he raised his head back to stare above him.

"Of course a child of man would become inflicted by his own fears… You need not worry, Trickster. Whether she awakens the power of a regular Persona user or a Wild Card, it will not be enough to harm the contract we have made. The humans have chosen their fate, and you have sealed it. She has little power to influence the masses now."

Yaldabaoth lowered his head to face Joker when he failed to respond, prompting his smirk to widen.

"But should you feel so strongly about her becoming a possible obstacle in the future, I will leave the decision of what should be done with you. I did allow you such freedom when it came to the Velvet Room's former attendants, after all. It would certainly be interesting to see just how well the Trickster fares against an unexpected opponent…"

Joker said nothing aloud in front of the false demiurge hovering before him, choosing to instead nod and bow his head a little to display his acknowledgement and gratitude for the decision. But his thoughts contradicted his outward appearance.

'… He's arrogant. Undermining any foe is something not even a god should do. Shido never undermined the Phantom Thieves. Even after we'd defeated his shadow, he still found a way to destroy his palace in a last-ditch attempt to finish us off and prevent his change of heart.'

"I look forward to seeing how well you will handle this new adversary, Trickster."

With those final words from Yaldabaoth, Joker turned around and started to walk away from the shrine without another word, giving the god no further acknowledgement as he frowned behind his eye mask.

'I will deal with her before she becomes a problem. But only should she enter the Metaverse.'

Within the confines of the Velvet Room that morning, silence persisted amongst the empty cells and desk that stood still. But this was occasionally disrupted by the sounds of moving chains that came from the only occupied cell: Cell No.0. Under the dim lighting offered by the lit lamp hanging from the ceiling were the twin wardens, lying on the floor back to back with their eyes closed. Justine was on the left whilst Caroline was on the right, coincidentally lying on the same sides where they'd once stood whenever guarding the cell during the Trickster's visits. But both had removed their hats and placed them under their heads to act as a pillow, giving them some comfort against the stone and their shackles as they tried to get whatever rest they could.

This is all the two spent their time doing these days when the Trickster wasn't present to torment them, or – as they had done at the beginning of their imprisonment – when they weren't trying to find a way to escape from their confinement. But with their wills to escape slowly fading over the last few months, sleeping and napping became much more frequent. The two weren't granted breaks whenever the Trickster gave them their useless jobs to do, so the pair often found themselves greatly exhausted by the time they were done and locked up again. They may have lived as 'Lavenza' for many years, but even beings like them had their limits.

However, compared to Justine, Caroline was finding it difficult to settle down and sleep for a long enough time. She was constantly moving in and out of consciousness, her mind refusing to let her body have the proper rest she needed and craved. The thoughts currently swirling around in her head wouldn't leave her alone, replaying Joker's taunting remarks as he'd rubbed the news of his betrayal in their faces.

'You should have seen the hurtful look on your face. Lavenza must have felt so betrayed and useless… that she just gave up.'

'You should be thankful. I was going to let my master erase you. But why should I pass up an opportunity to get my revenge?'

'Don't look so mad. You should be grateful I know mercy.'

Closing her left eye a little tighter, Caroline let out a quiet whimper and rattled the chain holding her shackles when she raised her hands to cover her ears, trying to block out Joker's voice as best as she could even if her actions were pointless.

'Stupid Inmate! How dare he make me feel like this!'

Caroline's breathing grew heavy as she gritted her teeth, her intakes of breath becoming sharp and loud. She had spent so much time in between the Inmate's visits to the Velvet Room trying to find ways to impress him and show – in her own way – just how much she respected him for the progress he'd made during his rehabilitation. He'd helped change her and Justine for the better, and realise the deceit staring them in the face for so long. He'd shown them a side of him that had convinced them he was the one who was going to free humanity from the ruin. But instead he'd chosen to doom his own kind because he thought that was the best way to reform society. Caroline wasn't sure if the Inmate had been planning this from the beginning or had become lost somewhere down the line. But just like Justine, she couldn't help but question if this had been their fault. Had they been the ones responsible for leading the Trickster astray under Yaldabaoth's manipulation?

Thankfully for Caroline, though, a distraction was underway to pull her from her thoughts.

The faint sound of slow approaching footsteps coming from the entrance to the left of their cell caused Caroline to open her eye and lower her hands away from her ears.

'The inmate…!'

Pushing herself up into a sitting position out of instinct amidst the rattling of her chains, Caroline turned to Justine and reached out a hand to grab her closest shoulder, roughly shaking it in attempt to rouse her.

"Justine!" The malicious girl called out to her in a loud whisper, pausing with her shaking when she saw Justine hunch her shoulders and heard her let out a small groan in response. "Wake up! He's returned!"

As Justine slowly blinked to try to get her bearings, Caroline moved her hand away and reached for her hat still on the floor behind her, putting it on her head and turning to face the bars to await Joker's appearance and his usual greeting of 'On your feet, inmates.'

However, by the time Justine was sitting up and putting on her own hat, Caroline was left gaping at the sight of an unfamiliar back of someone else entering into the Velvet Room; a short human with blonde hair and who looked nothing like the Trickster at all. The malicious warden gasped quietly and widened her eye as she watched the new arrival glance around in shock and awe at the cells at the back of the room and approach the empty desk with cautious steps, wondering for a moment if she was either seeing things or dreaming.

'What the…?'

Whilst Caroline was left confused and speechless, Justine remained oblivious as she glanced the former's way at hearing her gasp, her brow furrowing with confusion and concern.

"… Caroline? What's-?"

"Shut up!" Caroline hissed in a whisper and turned to glare at Justine, tilting her head slightly in the direction of the newcomer and prompting Justine to follow with her gaze.

Her lone eye widened as she reached a gloved hand to muffle the sound of her own gasp escaping her, watching alongside Caroline as the girl came to a stop in front of the desk and placed a hand on it.

"Hello?! Is anyone here?!"

But neither Justine nor Caroline answered her. They both stayed where they were currently sat as still as a pair of statues, deciding to merely observe the newcomer for now and not draw attention to themselves. That didn't stop them from whispering between each other, though.

"You're seeing what I'm seeing, right?" Caroline asked, keeping her eye on the girl all the while.

"… Yes."

"I haven't seen her before."

"Neither have I. I don't recall her being a contractor of the inmate."

"Then how did she get in here? Only the inmate has access to the Velvet Room!"

The twins paused when the girl spoke again, watching as she turned her gaze towards the left to get a better look at the room.

"I didn't mean to intrude! I came upon this place by accident! I swear!"

"It seems like she doesn't know where she is," Justine eventually whispered, her brow furrowing in thought as she saw the girl eventually glance at the desk. "And yet she still somehow found her way in…"

"Does that mean she just wandered in here?! The inmate must have been too careless with whatever lock mechanism he chose to use!"

"I disagree."

Caroline raised a brow and turned to Justine with a confused blink, just as the girl picked up Justine's clipboard and turned her body a little in their direction when she started reading the attached paper.

"Huh?"

"Access to the Velvet Room is limited. Regardless of the inmate's capabilities, only the ones chosen by our master can perceive the doors."

Caroline's eye widened in realisation as the girl continued to skim read the paper in the clipboard, flipping each piece over when she was finished with it and remaining oblivious to the pair's whispers as they stayed concealed by the dim lighting of their cell.

"Then… does that mean…?"

When Justine remained quiet and deepened her frown, Caroline focused her gaze back on the girl just as she paused on one particular page stuck to the clipboard. The girl furrowed her brow as she looked it over, even choosing to make vocal remarks about it in the belief she was the only one currently present.

"Per-so-na Compendium…? What's that?" The girl paused briefly in her mumbles to flip the next page over, her brows raising as she continued reading and remarking aloud. "And there's this weird list of words I have no idea how to pronounce…"

Justine and Caroline continued to remain quiet as they observed the girl turning yet another page over. The pair of them recalled that despite the last pages attached to the clipboard getting muddy after they arrived in the real world, the inmate had replaced all of them with copies as he still needed to make use of the information Justine had kept on them. So it was no wonder this girl was reading through everything with ease. Yet Caroline mentally noted that Justine had been right with her earlier remark based on her reactions to what she was reading; this girl was clearly oblivious to the Metaverse and the Velvet Room itself before having arrived.

However, Caroline's eye was soon widening in alarm when she heard the girl mention a certain 'notes' page she never knew the Trickster had actually bothered to copy.

"… Care-o-line's notes? Does this clipboard belong to-?"

"Don't read that!"

At Caroline's yell and sudden movement to stand, the girl cried out in shock and stumbled backwards into the front of the desk upon being naturally startled, causing the clipboard to slip from her grasp and land face down on the circular rug with a loud thump. Placing a hand to her chest and breathing heavily to try to calm herself down from her brief scare, she glanced in the direction she'd heard the voice in, her eyes widening at the sight of the twin wardens in the dim lighting of the cell. Caroline, on the other hand, scowled the girl's way and balled her limp hands into fists at her front, prompting Justine's eye to droop in dismay as she made to stand and join her.

"Also, it's pronounced 'Care-o-lean', intruder! Get it right!"

"That shouldn't be a main concern at this moment in time…" Justine muttered, but this only resulted in the single-braided warden being glared at by Caroline.

Meanwhile, the girl was silent as she gave herself time to recover from her shock, her gaze flitting in between the two identical girls upon noticing the strange uniforms they wore and the shackles around their wrists. She wasn't able to see much else past the dim lighting from where she stood aside from outlines and such, and yet there was still so much that had happened to her since entering this strange room that she didn't even know what to question first. What this place was, who these strangely-dressed children were, why they were locked up and shackled in that cell…

But when Caroline glanced her way again alongside Justine, it prompted the girl to stand up straight and drop her hand back to her side, finally helping her find her voice.

"… S-Sorry. Where I come from, it's pronounced 'Care-o-line'."

With Caroline still glaring at her and Justine staying quiet in favour of observing for now, the girl dared to take slow and cautious steps in the direction of the cell. Her eyes widened in shock as she finally saw the black eyepatches across one of each of the girls' eyes, leaving her to glance the two up and down as she came to a stop just in front of the bars.

"… Is… this supposed to be some kind of film set? Is that why you two are dressed like that? And why you're locked up in there?"

"Hey! We're the ones who should be asking the questions here!" Caroline yelled, causing the girl to lean back in alarm when she moved a step closer to the bars, whilst also being mindful of the ball and chain attached to her ankle.

"I agree," Justine added, frowning towards the girl in disapproval when the latter glanced her way. "This place exists for the purpose of our master. You're not supposed to be here."

"So tell us; how did you get in?!"

The girl briefly frowned in confusion at the names mentioned, but was soon deepening her frown out of guilt and raising her hands in front of her in surrender.

"I-I just happened to see this glowing door in the alleyway in Shibuya and unlocked it by accident-! I-I didn't mean to-"

The girl fell quiet when both Justine and Caroline interrupted her with loud gasps, their eyes widening in shock.

"You unlocked it?!"

The girl flinched at the twins' synced yell, slowly nodding and frowning in confusion.

"… Yeah. But I did say it was an accident-"

The girl was interrupted a second time by Caroline moving for the bars as fast as the ball and chain would allow, with her gloved hands reaching out to grab them with a tight grip.

"Tell us how you unlocked it!"

"Huh?"

"The door! How did you unlock it?!"

The girl frowned out of caution at this, taking a step back away from the bars.

"… Why do you want to know that?"

"That's none of your business! Now tell us how you got past the lock!"

The girl's frown deepened out of suspicion, prompting her to fold her arms across her front.

"I don't know… You two look like you're supposed to be in there for a reason. Not to mention you're dodging my questions."

Caroline let out a growl of frustration and lowered her head towards the floor a little, with Justine slowly dragging herself forward to join her at the bars of their cell.

"Look. We don't have time for this! We need to know how to get out of here before he comes back!"

The girl raised a brow.

"… Who?"

"It doesn't matter 'who'! Just let us out!"

"But how can I let you out if I don't know what's going on? I don't want to get involved in anything that'll get me into trouble!"

When Caroline snarled and started shaking the bars back and forth in front of her, the girl gaped and backed up a further two steps, her eyes widening in shock at the display of anger coming from the child.

"Stop dodging the topic-!"

"Caroline." Caroline turned her head to Justine when she addressed her, her brow relaxing as she heard her out. "This isn't getting us anywhere."

"What else are we supposed to do, Justine?! If this human found her way past the inmate's lock on the Velvet Room, she might be able to get us out! She's the one not co-operating!"

"…"

Justine focused her gaze on the girl as the latter stayed still and silent in favour of observing the twins' interactions, her brow furrowing in thought.

"It's clear you want something from us. While I think that's presumptuous of you as an uninvited guest, the norm has forced us to adapt to… unorthodox methods." Justine paused to deepen her frown out of displeasure at what she was about to suggest. "… So how about we make a deal, then?"

"Wait, what?!" Caroline yelled and stared at Justine with her lone wide eye, unable to process what Justine was suggesting. "Why should we have to make a deal with her?! She just needs to stop being so sceptical!"

But Justine chose to ignore Caroline, keeping her focus on the girl for the time to await her answer. The girl straightened out her posture and dropped her arms to her sides.

"… What kind of deal?"

Justine raised her right hand and moved it to indicate between her and Caroline, causing the chains of her shackles to rattle around a bit.

"We'll give you the opportunity to ask us one question, which should allow us to dispel your suspicions of us. But in exchange, you have to tell us how you accessed the Velvet Room."

Caroline blinked in surprise towards Justine at this.

"Huh. I suppose that isn't a bad deal, after all, as much as I hate to admit it..."

"Does that sound fair to you, intruder?"

After a moment of silence and glancing back and forth between the twins in the cell out of contemplation, the girl shrugged her shoulders and reached a hand to the back of her neck.

"I suppose so. Everything up until this point has been crazy enough for me already, so I might as well jump on the bandwagon and take this a step further…"

Justine nodded towards the girl with satisfaction whilst Caroline smirked, letting go of the bars and allowing her hands to dangle at her front.

"You heard what she said, intruder! One question. So, you'd better choose wisely if you want the right answers!"

"That's Verity to you. I do have a name, you know. But anyway…"

Taking a moment to think things through, Verity turned her gaze towards the desk behind her in the middle of the room, leaving both Caroline and Justine watching her in silence. It was only when her gaze locked with the clipboard lying on the ground face-down that Verity blinked in realisation, addressing the pair when she began to make her way towards it to pick it up.

"I'm going to guess this clipboard probably belongs to one of you, since one of your names is mentioned on it."

Caroline raised a brow at this as she watched Verity pick up the clipboard and walk her way back to the bars, flipping through the pages as she did so.

"What has that got to do with anything?"

Verity stopped before the bars and held the clipboard up so the twins could only see its blue back, an amused smile appearing on her face as she stopped on the page she was looking for.

"I don't know a lot about your current situation, but it's obvious based on your uniforms that you're probably not supposed to be in there. Which is why, just to be safe, I've decided to base my question on the contents of this clipboard. Because if your notes are on it, that must mean you're not a prisoner." Verity paused to glance down at the list in front of her. "So Caroline, without looking at the clipboard, can you tell me one thing that's written from your notes?"

Caroline's eye went wide at the question, prompting her cheeks to flush pink out of embarrassment and her head to shake repeatedly in response.

"W-Wait a minute…! C-Can't you pick something else-?!"

Verity's smile widened.

"I'm afraid not. I'm only allowed one question, and you told me to choose wisely. You have to give me my answer if you want me to help you."

Feeling the heat rise to her face, Caroline clenched her hands into fists and brought them up to cover her cheeks out of embarrassment, leaving Justine watching the situation beside her in silence.

"A-Argh-! T-This isn't fair-!"

"I don't see what the problem is here," Verity said, her amused smile turning into a smirk. "I mean, I already know what's written on it anyway. It's not gonna make much difference if you say it-"

"I don't care! I'm not saying it!" Caroline yelled and interrupted out of retaliation, closing her eye as she did so.

Justine let out a quiet sigh of defeat and closed her own eye, waiting a few seconds in silence before choosing to speak on Caroline's behalf.

"… 'Compliment him after he finishes the next task'-"

"Justine, no!"

Caroline was quick to react and move for the quiet warden when she realised what she was saying, placing a gloved hand over the other's mouth to stop her from saying anything else. The sight soon prompted Verity to start laughing, followed by Caroline glancing her way with a narrowed eye and her cheeks still flushed. Unlike Verity, she wasn't amused at all.

"Hmph! For a human who doesn't know who we are, you're real gutsy, huh?! That answer had better have been satisfying enough for you!"

Taking a quick breath to stop her laughter, Verity nodded and moved closer to the bars, closing the distance between them and pushing the clipboard through the gap for one of the girls to take. Justine was the one who raised her closest hand out to grip it, with Caroline letting her go and stepping away from the former as she secured it under her right arm with a satisfied huff.

'It feels great to have this back.'

"Yeah. That reaction was more than enough to make me believe you. So I'll keep up my side of things."

Using her hand to pull the left sleeve of her jacket down her arm a little, Verity exposed her bracelet and leaf charm and raised her arm for the twin wardens to see. The pair let out surprised gasps as their lone eyes caught sight of the latter.

"There was this weird circle thing in front of the door with seven funny shaped indents. I couldn't see six of them, but the one I could see matched the shape of my leaf charm. When I raised my arm close to the door, both the indent and my charm started glowing green. And that was when it opened on its own."

Justine quickly turned her gaze between her shackles, the leaf charm, and then the chains stretched in front of the cell bars, eventually resting it on Caroline just as the latter turned to look at her.

"Caroline…! They're the same colour!"

"Don't tell me… Has the inmate been using the same key for both the Velvet Room and his cell? Ha. What an amateur!"

"But don't you know what this means, Caroline?! We might be able to use it to leave both the Velvet Room and this cell!"

Gaping at Justine's words, Caroline turned her gaze back to Verity with a frown.

"Hey, intruder!"

Verity's eyes drooped in dismay.

"… Verity."

"Yeah, whatever-!" Caroline pointed towards the bracelet. "We need to borrow that charm of yours to get out of this cell, so if you could-"

Verity cut Caroline off by retracting her arm to her chest and taking a step back, causing the twins to blink in surprise at her actions.

"No way. This charm has a lot of sentimental value for me. I'm not just going to hand it over!"

Caroline's frown deepened.

"Well, tough! We need it! Don't be difficult and just- Hey-!"

Caroline was cut off again by Justine grabbing her closest arm and pulling her away from the bars, moving the two of them further into the cell before briefly glancing at Verity with a nod.

"Please excuse us."

Verity remained silent as she watched Justine turn around again with a raised brow, leaving the twin wardens to whisper amongst themselves for now.

"Justine, what was that for?!" Caroline said in a low but angry tone, prompting Justine to scowl at her in disapproval.

"You were being too reckless."

"How was I being too reckless?! She's the one refusing to co-operate and just give us the key! We don't need her! We can get out of here on our own!"

"And then what, Caroline?"

Caroline fell quiet and blinked in surprise at Justine, whose frown deepened as a result.

"We don't have our Personas or control of the Velvet Room. And even if we do escape and make it to the real world, what will become of us then? We're just as powerless there as we are here." When Caroline's eye drooped, Justine let out a frustrated sigh and turned her gaze away to stare at Verity for a few seconds. "It is upsetting for me to suggest, but we don't have any other choice. We're going to have to temporarily team up with this human."

"WHAT-?!"

Justine raised a hand to cover Caroline's mouth when she yelled before returning to their whispering, not even bothering to glance Verity's way to see her blinking in surprise at the sudden outburst.

"I don't like the idea as much as you, Caroline, but we have to stay with her. At least until we definitely escape. And besides…" Justine paused to briefly side-glance Verity for a second time. "… I sense something special about her."

Caroline raised her hands to grab Justine's in front of her mouth and pull it away.

"You can't be serious! After everything that's happened with the inmate, you're going to willingly put your trust in another human?! What if she betrays us like he did?!"

Justine blinked in shock at Caroline's rebuttal, causing her brow to relax out of guilt. Normally, this situation would have been the other way around. But it seemed to Justine that she and Caroline had switched roles since falling under the imprisonment of the Trickster.

"… Our master would have."

"…!"

Justine closed her eye and moved her right arm so her clipboard was pressed against her chest.

"Our master has defended his belief in humanity, only for Yaldabaoth to imprison him. Despite this, however, he used the last of his power to create a guide for the one who he believed would save them." Justine paused to open her eye again. "Yes, we feel as if our master's trust was abused. But when we stood against Yaldabaoth and the Trickster on the day of his betrayal, did we not do the same, Caroline? Did we not continue to defend our master's ideals in the face of the Trickster, despite befalling the same fate?"

Caroline was silent for a moment as Justine's words made her speechless, leaving her to gape at her in shock before she found the will to speak.

"Justine…"

It wasn't long before the malicious warden found a cheeky smile appearing on her face, her spirits having raised.

"Stop stealing my lines!"

When Justine gave a small relieved smile in return, Caroline didn't even give her confirmation regarding the idea. Instead she turned around and walked back to the bars of the cell, prompting Justine to follow once both of their smiles had vanished again.

"Hey, intruder!"

Verity huffed in annoyance as she watched the twin wardens return to standing in front of the bars.

"… You're never going to say my name, are you?"

"We want to make another deal with you."

When Verity raised both brows out of confusion, Justine took over to explain.

"We need your key so we can leave here. But instead of us borrowing it from you, we request that you unlock our cell and the door to the Velvet Room yourself."

"… Unlock everything myself?" Verity repeated, causing Caroline to smirk in amusement.

"I'm afraid you don't have much choice! You obviously don't know where you are, and coming back the way you came won't return you to the real world! You're going to need our help to guide you!"

"And all we ask in exchange is for you to use your key. Do that, and we shall return you to your world. I think that's a fair compromise."

Verity turned her gaze away for a moment to glance down towards her bracelet, falling into thought for the time being.

'… I suppose they're right. I got into this place by accident. I don't even know where I am. So how am I supposed to find my way out?' Verity raised her gaze to Justine and Caroline as they awaited her answer. 'These two aren't supposed to be in there, and they seem to know more about this place than me. I don't think I've got much choice but to co-operate with them for now.'

"… Alright. I don't have much choice, after all. Looks like we have a deal," Verity finally responded, focusing her eyes on the green chains crossed in an 'x' shape across the front of the bars of the cell. "So how do I unlock this door?"

Caroline gave a shrug of her shoulders.

"Ha! If we knew that, we wouldn't still be trapped here!"

Justine furrowed her brow in thought as she stared at the chains in front of them.

"Hm… Normally, Caroline would use her shock baton to remove them. But our captor currently has it, and it probably wouldn't work seeing as he changed the lock."

"We've seen him punch the chains off, but I don't think that'll work with you," Caroline added, giving Verity a quick glance over. "You don't look or sound like a Persona User."

Verity frowned in confusion.

"A what-?"

"Why don't you try doing what you did before for the Velvet Room?" Justine interrupted Verity with her suggestion, prompting Caroline to blink in realisation her way. "The same method may work twice."

Verity nodded in agreement, taking the steps necessary to close the gap between her and the cell.

"It's worth a try."

Both Caroline and Justine were quick to move backwards when Verity lifted her left wrist as close as she could to the chains in front of the cell, only for their eyes to widen out of shock when both the chains and the charm started glowing a bright green. Their gazes soon switched between their shackles and the balls attached their ankles when they started to glow a bright green as well, causing them to gasp in surprise alongside Verity when they quickly dispersed into thin air in motes of green light.

"What the-?"

Caroline became distracted along with Justine as the cell door before them dispersed in motes of blue light when the chains did the same in specks of green light, prompting Verity to gape and stumble backwards away from the cell. The twins and Verity stared each other down in silent shock with the gap now in the doorway, but both for different reasons; Verity because she couldn't believe what the heck had just happened, and the twins because… well…

"Just like the inmate…" Justine mumbled out of shock.

"… Who are you?" Caroline asked with her tone full of disbelief.

Their remarks brought Verity back to her senses, causing her to droop her eyes in dismay.

"Can we talk about this later? I thought you two were in a hurry."

The twin wardens blinked in realisation upon remembering they were free now, prompting Caroline to take the lead and start her dash out of the cell.

"Right! It's this way!"

Verity watched as Justine dashed after Caroline towards the doorway that she recalled having come through to get here. There were still so many questions she needed the answers to. But for now, with a sigh of annoyance, she decided she had no choice but to follow these two girls, proceeding to run after them before they got too far ahead of her. On the plus side, her anxiety regarding the situation had been completely forgotten for the time being.

'What fresh hell have I fallen into?'