The palace was a mix between the Bastille and Alcatraz. The building was a pile of rubble and the sea was red and smelled of iron. The air burned their skin and their meta world costumes. It was alternating between burning hot and icy cold. The sky was red, which was normal for the meta world, but the sky was on fire, which was bizarre. Smoke danced in the sky, a bastardization of clouds.
Amamiya sighed. "Tatsuya was telling the truth. This guy has a castle."
"Lying was never that boy's fatal flaw." A male voice spoke. It was higher pitched, but not unfriendly. The group turned and looked. A door appeared out of nowhere.
Amamiya walked through the door without doubt or fear. The group scrambled behind him and they all passed through the door.
"Igor." Amamiya smiled in greeting.
The room was not the jail that Amamiya knew. It was warm, with couches and had a minibar in the corner. The room was a warm purple instead of the harsh blue of the previous room. Paintings that Yusuke had made were on the wall, bringing color to the room.
"My boy." Igor's warm grin got bigger. "I'm sorry, I wish I could help you more, but you already built yourself up so high. I'm both proud and saddened that this has happened. I can slowly strengthen this world, but the damage in yours will not fade so quickly."
Lavenza looked sadly at the group. "We vanished for a while, but now we can build it back up. However, I fear we might be too late for some people."
"Akechi?" Anne asked.
"Yes, among others. The two of them can be pushed towards the right direction, but ultimately the road to redemption, even if the sin is only in their eyes, must be done by themselves." Igor sighed. "But they need not be alone. I would suggest you leave now and find others that can help you, others that Tatsuya knows."
"Before we leave, why is this room so different than the one I received?" Amamiya asked looking at the paintings while the others took drinks from the minibar.
"Oh, I was hoping that by bringing Tatsuya's Velvet Room back, it could bring some comfort to him. Your wishes edited it minutely to make it yours as well." Igor answered.
Amamiya nodded and looked at the yellow flowers residing on Igor's desk.
"Those are something that means the world to Tatsuya." Igor touched them sadly. "It would be wise to bring the person who gave him these in the first place here."
With that, the group was forced out of the room, the door slamming behind them.
"Let's see if this area has any clues as to who means the most to him." Makoto said, leading the group. They followed her in near silence.
"So, why were my paintings on display?" Yusuke asked, with his head cocked to the side.
"The room I wanted was one that showcased who we were and the things we liked. Since I guess Tatsuya had things covered for the most part, all I needed to add was a minibar and some art." Amamiya shrugged.
Yusuke made a small noise.
"So, we should probably look around and see if we can find any names." Amamiya said.
The group walked around for hours but they saw nothing. The landscape was dry and barren, with the occasional gust of wind blowing sand at them.
There was an aura bringing the whole team down. Sadness pulled at their souls and made their darkest sorrows pour out.
The team was brought to their knees as tears fell out of their eyes, wetting the clay earth beneath them. Despite the water only being tears, the ground surrounding them became soaking wet. It formed around them and began to pull them down.
"Guys…?" Anne asked as the sand began to pull her in.
It was up to her thighs and sucked her in faster and faster. Soon it was up to her chest and then her chin. As she looked around several of her teammates were pulled through. Futaba was screaming in her ears as Ryuji was pulled under, then Haru, with Morgana and finally Anne being swallowed up by the sand.
Joker grabbed at his members, but was only was able to pull Yusuke and Makoto out of the sand.
He collapsed to his knees and began to dig his hands into the mud and pull out sand.
"It's no use, dumbass." A woman's voice rang out.
Amamiya looked up to see two women looking at him. One of them had an obvious wound, with blood pouring out of it onto the sand and it somehow flowed into the red sea surrounding the island. The other one's body made a clicking noise every time she moved. Her head rested at an odd angle, but her eyes were rolled up, exposing the white and red backside of them. Black and red ooze dripped from her mouth as she walked on all fours, her joints all backwards and she had her face locked in an eternal smile.
"A-Joker, I've just identified these women. We can leave...but.." Futaba cried out, her voice cracking through his ear piece.
"Joker?" the one still upright laughed, causing blood to gush from her wound. "Well that's interesting. Lemme tell you something, just because your little codename brings me back, Ren."
"How-" Amamiya gasped and Futaba was silent, but he could hear the shock from her silence.
"Your friends are still alive. We're just gonna let them stay with us, so you truly understand what we're going through." The woman that had the white eyes cackled, the sound muffled from the liquid.
"They won't be hurt, if you leave right now." The bleeding woman spoke stepping forward, kneeling on one knee. She gave a smile that should have comforting, but Amamiya stared at her wound.
He felt the woman place a hand on his shoulder and could feel himself and his remaining friends alongside him.
They landed in the alleyway across the street from the cafe.
"Futaba-" Amamiya sighed, sobs building in him as he could see all his teammates pulled to safety. Yusuke placed a hand on his shoulder and squeezed comfortably.
"Already working on it." The redhead said, typing away on her phone.
When the remaining Phantom Thieves called the real life women of the versions they saw, the four only expected the two women. What they got was something else. Five people showed up. There were the two women, a blond woman speaking Cantonese on occasion, an adult male rocker that smelled of ramen, and another male with a yellow flower in his chest pocket. All of them were tense. The man with the flower had ordered a coffee, but he didn't touch it.
Hours passed and they sat in silence.
"How bad is it?" The man with the flower asked.
"...It's bad. I was thinking that we could team up to try to talk him down." Makoto sighed.
"...Does he still carry that lighter around?" the man pulled the flower out of his pocket and stroked it's flowers.
"...Yes…?" Akira raised an eyebrow in confusion.
"It's a long story. Not one easily shared with strangers. Speaking of: aren't you interested as to what kind of people you are bringing along?" The blond woman asked.
"We really only expected Maya and Yukino." Amamiya admitted.
"Well you know Maya and I." Yukino said, and the group could recognize Yukino as the woman with the white eyes and Maya as the bleeding woman." the Phantom Thieves nodded mutely, ignoring the mental images that were flashing in their heads.
"Jun." The man with the flower raised his hand.
"Lisa." The blonde spoke up.
"Eikichi." The rocker nodded.
"Well now we're all acquainted. So, how are we doing this?" Maya spoke.
"I don't have the ability to summon my Persona" Yukino supplied.
"I do." Jun replied, sipping his now ice cold coffee and wincing.
"I was thinking three from each group." Amamiya said. "Yusuke, Makoto and I"
"I'll go." Jun said, leaving no room for discussion.
"I'll go with you guys as well." Maya piped in, "Maybe I can convince him that I wasn't stabbed."
"I'll go." Lisa said.
Eikichi nodded sitting down in the booth. "Good luck. He carried a lot of weight on his shoulders, I bet this palace is only a pale reflection of the loneliness he felt."