Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or any content from the Megami Tensei series as a whole. I do not claim to own anything. All contents' right belong to their respectful owners. Once again, I do not claim to own anything.
DOUBLE-FEATURE UPLOAD! Uploading two chapters at once due to the fact that due to Mothers Day plans this week as well as various school final papers and projects and etc conflicting with my writing schedule I decided to give you a double-header so to speak because to be fair I easily could've melded Chapter 17 and Chapter 18 together into one single one but I like to end on even numbers. For the record, primary perspective is Nao, but I WILL HAVE THE THOUGHTS OF OTHERS MOSTLY KEI AND MASAO. With that aside, welcome to Persona: Be Your True Mind, Chapter Eighteen.
Chapter Eighteen: Mai
"Are you kidding me?" Is all Naoya thought as they arrived at Mai's home, directed by the Jack Bros. "I'm beginning to think we're all sharing an acid trip instead of a battle to save the world."
Naoya was commenting on the structure of the house and how it was built. The entirety was constructed of gingerbread cracker. The spacing of the four walls and rooftop were bonded with frosting, sequined with sprinkles and gumdrops. Peppermints were glued to the shingled bread of a roof with more frosting as paste. Red and black licorice ropes loosely draped the diagonally slant of the home, also secured with frosting. Engraved in the cookie were window shapes and a door small enough for a seven year-old to walk through. The house itself was not a tower and was not a mansion. The height and weight were on-par with a tent.
"Great, now, I'm hungry for a cookie. I remember Maki used to love making Gingerbread houses as a kid. She'd…put the peppermints and licorice on the roof and gumdrops on everything else…" Naoya was perplexed. "Just like this house…"
"This world is more than ass-backwards, Nao. It's wacky too." Masao stated.
"Indeed, Masao." Kei replied, though he the sentence was directed at Naoya. "I can say it is a putative presumption to understand this gingerbread house is Mai's."
Jack Frost leaped to Kei's shoulder. "You bet, amiho!"
Kei, disconcerted with the demon on his shoulder, swatted him with his hand to "shoo" him away. "Yes, thank you! Off me!"
Pyro Jack encircled him with his floating. "You-hee see, this house is ours."
"These Jack Bros live with Mai?" Naoya thought, watching Kei push away the two brothers with his hands. They went back to Maki.
"Yep, you two lived her with Mai and Aki, right?" Maki asked, matter-of-factly.
"Yep-hee, Mistress Maki-ho!"
"Sonomura…how do you…" Kei questioned.
"Not to sure. All I know is I remember the four of em' and I can feel that Mai is here."
"The puzzle has matured into a whole other echelon of convolution." Kei thought, trying to piece the jigsaw together to show the clear picture.
"Hey, what are we waiting for? Why aren't we headin' in?" Brown asked.
"Like, yeah, why? The forest is given' me the creeps." Ayase complained.
"If we enter, we'll meet Mai, gain this compact key and head out hopefully. That depends on if she wants to give it to us. Also she might elaborate on details that are spinning my brain. Probably spinning Kei's too." Naoya thought, stepping to the door, crouching to grasp the tender, crumbling doorknob. "Here we go…"
Persona: Be Your True Mind
"Wh-who's there?" A child spoke, panic-stricken. She was whimpering and sniveling, hiding in her gingerbread corner with a teddy bear in her choking-snug arms. Her brunette hair framed her pale face a red ribbon tied into it. She was wearing a pure white mini-dress.
Naoya was as silent and disarming as his feet allowed on the floured bread flour. He and his friends did not want to scare her out of her wits. She was a child, no less than seven, and they were the big bad boogeymen who invaded her halcyon and innocent forest, breached her cozy and sheltered sugar-sweet fantasy house. They were invading her territory and to any kid that is a nightmare-inducing experience.
"Nao," Masao hissed. "isn't that the ghost who showed up at the Historical Society?"
"Yes, Masao, she warned us of Seiryu when we took the Expel Mirror." Eriko replied.
"Then, Yosuke told us a Mai, a white angel, safeguarded his course to the Black Market to meet with Chisato." Yukino added.
"She has been helping us this whole time." Naoya seriously said.
"Todo, this Mai also bares resemblance to a certain other ghost we've encountered before. The Persona Game, before the lightning strike…the crying girl in white asking for help…this has to be her." Kei explained.
"We can deal with it when we win her over, Kei. Maki, can you and the Jacks talk to her?" Naoya suggested.
Maki affirmatively nodded. "Ready, boys? Let's show her we're friends."
"Hee-ho!" They replied.
"Pyro Jack…Jack Frost…" She lamented. "You two went with them! WAAAAAH!" The shock of the Jack Bros being on the side of the invaders, broke her heart and made her wail in sorrow.
Maki kneeled as she did with the Jack Bros. "Hey, now, sweetie, don't cry." She said genially. "Are you little Mai?"
Mai sniffled. "Yes…" She waved her free hand at Maki and the Jack Bros, it was a half-moon shaped red compact.
"Whoa! She has a half-moon shaped compact! It looks like mine…" Maki retrieved her own green full-moon compact and compared it with Mai's.
"Yep-hee!" Jack Frost cuddled with Mai. "That's Mistress Mai-ho's half of her and Mistress Aki-ho's compact!" Pyro Jack playfully landed on her head. She giggled, not as scared as when they entered.
"That must be the castle key for the gates. But who are these children?" Kei asked.
"Mai, you know Aki, right? She's a friend of yours and the Jack Bros, right?" Maki asked.
"NO!" Mai snapped. "She's not my friend! She's the bad Mai!" She proceeded to wail again, the stress taking her again.
"What?" Maki was surprised at the falseness of the memories. "What does that mean?"
Mai sniffled. "Aki came out of me…" She tapped her heart. "I was lonely and Aki came out of me and then…"
"The bad-hee guy showed up." Pyro Jack finished, a frown played on his cut-out mouth.
"And Mistress Aki-ho left with-ho him." Jack Frost added, upset, matching his brother's grief-filled expression.
"His name…was Kandori and she left with him even though she knows he isn't our real Daddy…"
"Kandori came here to take Aki, but why and how? I don't understand and where exactly do these Bros come in?" Naoya was ready to ask when Kei decided to ask his own question.
"Hmn…so Aki must be a separate personality that split off from you. What is that compact?" Kei questioned.
Mai held her compact and her teddy to her chest. "It's my treasure. It grants wishes." She warmly said.
"Hee-ho!" The Jack Brothers exclaimed proudly.
"I used it to make this town…and Jack Frost and Pyro Jack for me and Aki…"
Everyone gasped, Maki backing away. "NO way! That's…"
"A twist I wasn't expecting…she created this world. With that compact…where the hell is this world anyway?" Naoya thought.
"Yes, it seems this little girl is the creator of this world." Kei explained. "This discovery is a major piece. The compact as well. When we entered this forest maze I was unable to even guess as to the solution of this mystery, but now it's sooner to completion than I original believed."
"Can't you use the compact to catch Aki and Kandori?" Eriko asked, curious.
"Or, like, send us home?" Ayase pleaded.
"No…Aki took half of it with her. I know she's using the other half to do mean things."
"Yeah, she's been creating these demons to block our progress." Masao commented. "Each of which sure as hell felt real, just like this place, just like those brothers."
"With the other half with her, my wishes get cancel out. That's why I'm hiding her."
"But we can't get to Kandori without it." Masao said. "Can't we borrow it for a while?"
"No you can't! That's what Kandori wants!" Mai whined the Jacks sticking to her side.
"Mai…" Maki whispered. "You shouldn't hide like this. That's why you were lonely to begin with." She spoke, relating to the young girl's position.
"Why not?" She asked. "Won't I be safe if I hide her?"
Naoya heard those words and reacted. "Stop hiding…" He kneeled to her; making it a one-on-one; him and her. "Maki used to think the only way to avoid trouble was to hide in the corner of a room until the days end. Then, Aunt Setsuko brought her to our residence and we became friends. She stopped hiding and embraced the day until she got sick, trouble-struck again. At least she wasn't lonely. Mai reminds me of her. This connection is…familiar…I can't place my finger on it, but I'm gonna tell it to her straight, up, down, inside, out, whatever way she wants it."
"Nao-kun is right, Mai." Maki said, standing abreast to Masao, both with sadden expressions. "Hiding from your problems won't solve them. You have to meet them head on!"
"Why?" She sniffled. "Why are you all trying so hard? I've tried to stop you because you'd all be hurt by Kandori!"
Jack Frost and Pyro Jack moved to Naoya's feet, letting the ebony-haired boy stare directly at the white-wearing girl. "We're trying so hard, Mai, for everyone's sake."
Reiji slammed his foot. "We don't have time for this philosophical bull-crap, punk!"
"Reiji's right, Nao." Masao agreed. "We gotta beat Kandori and get back to our world to save someone." Masao lightly shoved Nao aside and got down on his knees, folding his hands. He was begging. "C'mon please let us borrow that thing! From the looks of it, Maki's…"
"She's…already dead?" Mai asked, her interested-peaked, and her tears dried.
Masao violently shook his head. "Hell no! She's alive for sure! Look, anyway…" Mark was at a loss for words, his plea had not beget her trust.
"What are you all living for? Isn't…isn't it painful?" She suddenly asked, as a child did when they didn't understand.
Naoya's eyes broaden. "She asked that question? Maki asked me the same question when we were kids."
Naoya looked to his friends. Kei remained silent. Reiji turned away. Masao and Maki stammered. Eriko was culminating an answer. Yukino was in a thinking stance and Brown and Ayase were conversing amongst themselves to find their answer. "No one can answer, huh? No surprised. Back then I hadn't had one."
"What about you, mister?" Mai asked Naoya. "What are you living for?"
He smiled, ready to share. "I live Mai..." He hesitated, formulating the right words to explain his response to a seven year-old. "To find my own reason to live. There's a sweetness to life, like candy, Mai, and a deeper sweetness to living it. Finding your reason to live is a part of living, Mai. In order to find it you have to live your life out to the fullest, you can't hide in a corner. I know you don't want to, because since this all began you've been asking for our help and hinting us to safety and helped Yosuke along safely. You've helped us this far so, let us help you. I promise we'll stop Kandori, we'll make things right." He extended his arm, opening his right palm.
Mai was plain, Naoya's answer require her to think until she chose to give her own response to slice through the deadly silence. "Okay…Nao-kun, right?" She asked, having heard Maki refer to him as such. "Just for you, I'll let you borrow my compact." She handed him the red compact half willingly.
"Thank you, Mai." Nao put it in his pocket, returning to a normal posture with Masao and the others.
"Let's wish right now for it to send us to Kandori, Nao!" Masao yelled.
"You can't. Only I can use it." Mai replied. "And the castle is Aki's home so my wishes won't work on it."
"Ugh! I knew it seemed to good to be true!" Masao groaned.
"Todo, we should head back to the castle now if we want to make it before sundown." Kei informed.
"Let's head out then."
"Wait-ho!" Jack Frost yelped, leaping on Naoya's shoulder. "I wanna come to!"
"HUH-HEE!" Pyro Jack snapped. "Why-hee?"
"Mistress Aki-ho was my amiho!" He countered.
"Maki, Mai what is Jack Frost referring too?" Nao asked.
"When we wished for the Jack Brothers, we each wished for a friend and the compact created Pyro Jack for me and Jack Frost for Aki."
"When Mistress Aki-ho left I wanted to go with her, but I couldn't leave my bro-ho, and Mistress Mai-ho. But if you amihos are going after the bad guy, I wanna go-ho too! To bring back Mistress Aki-ho!" The snowman had a glint in his eyes. He had a friend that had in reality made him and he did not want to let her go. "So, I wanna go too!"
"But-hee I don't want you to!" Pyro Jack cried, afraid for his brother to leave his side, to leave the forest for the first time, afraid that he won't return.
"Pyro Jack…" Mai said softly. "Jack Frost will be back. He's found a meaning to live, right, Nao-kun?"
Naoya laughed. "He has Mai. You can come Jack Frost."
"Then, I want Mistress Maki-ho to make the pact!" He stated.
"The pact!" They all exclaimed.
"The pact, amihos! You guys have Persona-hos, right?"
"How'd you know?" Maki asked.
"I'm a demon-ho! I can feel your alignment, amiho!"
"Then, how do I make the pact?"
Jack Frost waltzed to her feet. "You need a spell card."
"I think I have a spell card." She vaguely remembered the cards Igor gave to them way-back-when.
"Then, you offer to me, the demon-ho, the pact to be one of your Persona-hos and we negotiate."
"I offer you, Jack Frost, to become one of my Personas." She announced.
"Good-ho, Mistress Mai-ho. Now, I accept the pact to be a Persona-ho of Mistress Mai-hos."
"That's it?" A blue card emerged from Maki's sternum, flagged by a velvet light cloud emanating from her chest. "Huh?"
"I have no need to negotiate-ho, Mistress Mai-ho! I'm gonna jump right in! HEE-HO!" Jack Frost leaped into the miniature card, his tiny body consumed into the empty card, designed with a mask on the backside. He filled the blank flat with an image of himself giving a peace sign with two of his four fingers.
"Jack Frost has become your Persona, Sonomura." Kei explained.
"It seems." Yukino added, noticing the card vanishing into her breastbone again with the velvet blue light. "Didn't expect we actually use those cards Igor gave us."
"I didn't expect the process' work like that." Brown admired the simplicity.
"Bye-hee, brother-hee…" Pyro Jack waved goodbye with Mai.
"Bye bye, Nao-kun! Maki-san!"
"Bye Mai!" Maki waved. "Bye Pyro Jack! I'll take care of your bro, for you."
"Thank you, Mistress Maki-hee!"
They exited the gingerbread house, soaking in the final remnants of serenity of the Lost Woods. Soon they'd leave, return to the castle with their key item needed to proceed. What be behind they gates, they would not know until they return. If it was a trap, a diversion, or Kandori himself, it didn't matter. They were ready to confront the odds. Jack Frost accompanying them with a new insight to bring Aki back if he could. His sheer existence and his brother, the baring on the mind of a young girl extremely similar to Maki creating the very world they traversed was more then unnerving, more than impossible, it was a unexpected turn in the wheel of fate churning in both Naoya's and Kei's mind. The Persona-Users, the real leader and the secondary leader to keep everyone else on-track. They both scrambled to fathom this worlds realism and how it came to being based on the clues and evidence laid before them. The injection of Mai who created, added-on, changed, manipulated this world into existence with a mere compact and the spawning of Aki from her being and Kandori's involvement was the remaining unsolved section, smudged and mucked with doubt, misinterpretation, bewilderment, and esoteric shields buttressed with Kandori's machinations and evil intentions. Unlocking the gate with this magical item was a stepping stone to unlocking the factual veracity.
Persona: Be Your True Mind
I can't say anything. Just can't describe the bad feeling that's hitting me hard now. I hate these chapters at post right now. I haven't proofread and edited in doc manager yet, but I'm still going to hate them. My brain has shutdown for this month. I need to take a break. These two chapters added with the other three is five total chapters I've banged out over the course of I think two and a half months and it's one o'clock in the morning right now, my head aches, I'm tired, and I need a break for a couple weeks. I appreciate the feedback both positive and negative. I appreciate the favorites on everything. I know this isn't a long project, but I need to take a break for my schoolwork. I'm not saying that you'll have to wait until the summer. Just give me until the end of May and I'll hopefully be kicked back into gear. I just need a break. Either way, I can't say anything about this chapter of Persona: Be Your True Mind, and I guess I'll see you next, whenever that may be, in Chapter 19: Mana Castle Part 1: Suzaku.