"That thing… is creepy." Ryuji could barely keep himself from shivering at the sight before the group.

A red and black vortex that was perpetually sucking in rubble and debris. It had even ripped the train tracks from the ground, twisting them into spirals. This was what V had mentioned seeing before and according to Morgana, it was what the Phantom Thieves were looking for.

Lynn eyed the vortex apprehensively. "So… Do we just walk through?"

"Yeah! I… think…" Mona chimed with one of the most unpersuasive responses he could have come up with. "Nakanohara's Shadow has a budding Palace just beyond this door. We should be able to walk in, take the developing Treasure and leave. Simple!"

The Thieves all looked at each other. Their expressions all said the same thing.

Nothing was ever simple.

They had to push on ahead, however. Working up the courage, Lynn stepped forward. With each step, she felt a growing sense of dread. She swallowed it down as best she could and finally put her foot into the swirling red vortex.

Before her senses caught up to her, she was standing on a crumbling mote of land about the size of her attic room. Before her was an endless void of dull red and swirling black particles. Looking back, she saw the vortex floating just on the edge of the platform.

One by one, each Thief emerged from the opening followed closely by V, River and Judy.

"Where's the treasure?" Ryuji asked, taking a quick peek over the edge of the land mote. "I hope it ain't down there." He stepped a little too close and a small chunk of stone broke from the floor. The rubble fell into the void and disappeared.

Mona began to sniff the air.

"It's up there! Definitely!" He pointed upwards. Sure enough, a fair ways away was another much larger floating island. Circling it were chunks of a wall, giving the impression of a fractured room. The group could only catch glimpses from their current angle, but each chunk of wall seemed to have a painting hung on it.

From way up high shone a sourceless spotlight down on the island. They couldn't see what it was shining on, but it was a safe bet to assume it was the treasure.

Only one problem remained.

"How do we get up there?" Asked Lynn. As far as she could see, there were no platforms or other paths leading to their destination. They were stranded, as it were. Morgana rubbed his chin in thought. "I don't fancy finding out what happens if we fall off."

"This is a fledgling Palace. So there has to be some trick to it."

"Who are you!?" An unfamiliar - slightly distorted - voice caught everyone off guard. Whipping around, each and everyone of the thieves drew their weapons. Before them stood a plain looking man dressed in a standard business suit. He floated down from the large island on a small little platform of his own. It was a Shadow. Nakanohara's Shadow to be exact.

Ann stepped forward with a frown. "Are you the stalker? Have you ever considered how your ex feels?" Her tone was already aggressive and the stare she was giving him was filled with fiery anger.

The Shadow scoffed as he looked down on the group. "She's my property! I can do whatever I want with her!" He stomped a foot causing the floor of the thieves' platform to ripple like water. The group could barely keep their footing. "It's not like she didn't treat me like a play thing! What's wrong with me doing the same!?"

The sound of Ryuji's Remington cocking cracked through the air. The blond snarled. "You can't treat someone like shit just 'cause they did it to you!" Everyone was gearing up for a fight. Even Shiho stepped forward. Fury began to coalesce into energy. With the hell they had all gone through with Kamoshida, this runt of a man dared lay claim to someone as his property. Lynn felt anger of her own begin to bubble.

"We're going to change the heart of all the bastards like you!" Shiho yelled with an authoritative tone Lynn hadn't heard before.

The Shadow furrowed his brow. Gleaming yellow eyes stared back at Shiho. His gaze then studied each person. He shook his head and stomped once more. As he did so, the larger mote of land began to lower itself. Rock, wood and marble materialised from the void forming floors, cracked walls and pillars.

Moments later, there was now a long and fractured path leading to the island. Surrounding the path were similar floating slabs of wall bobbing up and down in the air. Adorning each slab were paintings all of the same woman. All painted in the same style and all in different poses. Some were more provocative than others. Some were downright smut.

It brought back memories of Kamoshida's Palace and the gallery they found within.

It made Lynn's stomach turn.

"There are millions of people worse than me!" The Shadow snarled. Dark energy began to flare around him. "What about Madarame!? He stole everything from me… but you're letting him off the hook!?"

Everyone took a moment at that. "Madarame? The hell is this guy goin' on about?" Ryuji scratched his head, lowering his aim for a moment. It seemed the Shadow took that opportunity to move. There was a brief squeezing feeling in the pit of Lynn's stomach as everything began to warp and shift.

They were now in the centre of a large room reminiscent of a gallery or museum. The walls were lined with the same paintings from before. Pillars stood in regular intervals across the room and most notably of all, Nakanohara had grown in size considerably.

"Watch out! Here he comes!" Mona yelped just in time. A ball of fire streaked through the air, barely missing the cat. It exploded on impact and sent globules of cinder across the floor.

"Now that I finally have what's rightfully mine, I'm not going to let you take it away from me!" The Shadow bellowed. He stomped once again, sending another ripple across the floor. This time, inky forms began to squirm and writhe up from the floor. Lesser Shadows. Nakanohara had somehow gained control of a small force despite not having his own Palace.

The Shadows collected themselves, forming humanoid figures wearing white masks.

From the looks of them, they weren't fully realised. Weak. They doubtfully had a true form. Even still, there were a lot of them. And more were coming.

"Look, it's a winner-takes-all kind of world! Come and fight me and I'll show you what I mean!" Nakanohara laughed and threw more fiery orbs at the party. They scattered and took cover as best they could. To very little effect. The lesser Shadows were already advancing.

Lynn looked around trying to get her head straight. Things had happened way too fast and like always, she took a back seat while her friends led the confrontation.

Frustration was a bit of an understatement.

But now was not the time to dig into self doubt. She needed to collect herself and take charge. Looking across the room she could see an advancing group of Shadows approaching Ryuji and Ann. Meanwhile, Mona and Shiho were doing their best to fend off Nakanohara's fiery barrage. Lynn's heart began to pound before she felt a very firm shove, pushing her just out of the way of an exploding orb.

V grunted and stared. "Stop fucking around. You're the leader here, so fucking lead!"

The thief nodded.

"Panther, Mona! Try to split the lesser Shadows up! Draw their attention!" Lynn finally called out over the slowly growing sounds of battle. Both Mona and Ann called back their acknowledgement and broke from cover. Ann let off volley after volley of rapid fire, peppering a group of the shadows. Mona fired pellets at another group. "Skull, Hunter! Thin down the herd as best you can."

Her attention then drew back to Nakanohara.

"V and River, you're going to help me keep his attention. Judy, you can hack people, right? I saw you do it to that… uh… Cyberpsycho guy."

Judy shook her head. "That was Quickhacking. I can only do something like that to someone with cyberware." She explained, eliciting a sinking feeling in Lynn's chest. Even still, she pleaded to the techy to at least try. Shrugging, the woman looked up at Nakanohara. Her eyes flashed a blue glow before her brow perked up. "I can connect? He… doesn't have any chrome, though."

Mid battle, Mona called out to them. "It's the Metaverse adapting to your abilities! Don't question it, just do it!" His voice was quickly drowned out by blasts from Ryuji's Remington.

Judy ducked behind a pillar. "Alright… well it's going to take time. Keep his attention until you hear the music."

Lynn wasn't exactly sure what she meant by hearing the music, but for right now, it didn't matter. She broke from cover and began to fire back at Nakanohara. The bullets hit him but he shrugged off the impacts with frustrating nonchalance. He retorted with throwing a fire orb, sending it straight for her. She pirouetted, facing her back to him. "Arsene!"

A burst of red and grey curse fire erupted from her back. Instantly, the spectral thief emerged and deflected the attack away with a beat of his black wings. [Now, Trickster. Let us dance and run wild!]

What followed was a flurry of graceful movements as combat ensued. Arsene and Lynn ducked and dodged fire and shadow as though they were amidst a waltz. Nakanohara tried his best to keep up, and to his credit, the Shadow proved quite adept at following along. He demonstrated a keen eye and almost caught the duo up in their tracks occasionally.

Thanks to V and River's covering fire, Nakanohara couldn't land a solid hit.

"Stand still you little pest!" The shadow bellowed in growing anger. He threw an orb which burst on the ground right where Lynn's foot was about a second ago. She returned fire, striking him square in the stomach. "That hurt!"

"It's winner-takes-all. You said so yourself!" Lynn retorted.

Arsene chuckled with a maniacal chorus. His form flared with blue fire as chains rattled against each other. [I shall make quick work of the fool! Unleash me and we shall destroy him!] Lynn pulled hard on a nearby chain with a grunt. As if being yanked by a leash, Arsene jerked downwards. [Very well.] The thief uttered with a tone of despondency.

Arsene was far too unpredictable to be let off the chain. Especially when emotions were running this rampant.

He was a reflection of Lynn's own heart, after all.

Given the recent feelings she was having, there was no telling how he'd act.

In response, Arsene retreated back into Lynn's mask. "V, take over for a moment!" Lynn called back and retreated from the front. For a moment, the mercenary looked both puzzled and irritated, but did as ordered. She charged forward and opened fire with her new AK-47. As Lynn explained earlier, it was now a real weapon.

The transfer student took cover behind a pillar on the opposite side of the room to Judy. Grunting and huffing, she took off her mask. Arsene was clearly pissed off and for now she couldn't feel his presence at all.

Then music began to ring through the room. Loud and boisterous music that would have been at home in some seedy nightclub.

Its beat pounded through the air as if mimicking a heart beat.

Judy smirked and gestured to Nakanohara. He was clutching his head and jerking his body in unnatural directions. "Got 'im, kiddo!" The techy yelled. Nakanohara was well and truly enraptured in whatever Judy had done to him. It almost looked like he was dancing to the strange music.

At the very least, he was distracted.

Taking the initiative, Lynn called upon another entity within her heart. Though she wasn't completely comfortable using her Wildcard ability, it seemed now was rather appropriate. "Berith, come forth!"

The distant neighing of a horse grew louder as the mask burst into red flame.

She threw the mask like a discus and as it spun through the air it burst into a large ball of light. Out from within the explosion a horse galloped forward. A knight rode astride it with a trident in hand. [Hail, Trickster! You call upon the demonic commander Berith!] The knight's voice pierced the air with sharp rasps.

Using the momentum, Berith charged with their trident out ready. Speeding past V, the knight impaled Nakanohara. The man squealed in agony as black ichor sprayed from his wound. With the knight's target hit, the horse reared up and turned back towards Lynn. Nakanohara was still struggling atop the trident.

He had been completely run through.

Despite that, he was still very much unceasingly angry. He launched searing orb after orb down at Berith. The demon knight could only cackle in amusement as the fire harmlessly bounced off his armour.

"Berith, throw him up!" Lynn ordered. As commanded Berith spun the trident in one hand and swung with all his might. The momentum forced the Shadow off the trident's point and sent him sailing into the air.

Nakanohara could only curse and shout profanities as he was lit up with gunfire from below. His body was held aloft by the hail of bullets.

As this was happening, Ann and Morgana were busy playing pied piper with the lesser shadows. Both taking opposite sides of the battlefield.

They were numerous and at first overwhelming. But as things continued, Ryuji and Shiho's strategic picking off of larger shadows helped bring the horde down to manageable levels.

What the part-time model failed to notice was a lurking creature with an impossibly wide grin. Its tail curled up and poised itself ready to lash out. The stinger was like a needle and dripped with foul smelling poison.

Ann stepped into its path and like a viper pouncing on prey, the tail snapped through the air.

It struck its mark, sinking deep into Ann's outer thigh. She yelped in pain and looked down at the creature. It was an Incubus. She tried to jump away, but the poison had already taken effect. Ann's joints froze in place. She felt each muscle tense up in agony.

She was paralyzed.

Everyone else seemed far too distracted to notice and she couldn't call out to anyone. Her throat had sealed shut and she could no longer breathe.

The Incubus drew closer with its claws raised. Its lecherous smile only grew wider as it fully took in the prey that it had caught. With all her might, Ann fought against the paralysing poison. She could barely even manage a squeaking sound. Frozen solid and in complete agony, she finally unsealed her throat long enough to utter a single word.

"Car… men…"

A roar of flame consumed her feline mask. Out from the raging fire emerged the form of Ann's Persona. Carmen gave a condescending and haughty laugh as heels clicked against the tiled floor. Flame danced around slender legs. The long burlesque dress seared and blazed as she walked forward. [My, my, little sweet. You've found yourself in quite a reversal of roles.] Her voice was like smoke and ash as piercing eyes glared down at the now stunned Incubus.

She gave another laugh, throwing back her head in sheer amusement.

[I must admit that I do prefer things how they should be.] With a flick of a wrist, a burning whip of pure fire formed itself mid lash. With a crack as loud as a thunderstorm the whip coiled itself around the Incubus. It tried to retreat with a desperate scramble but was caught regardless.

As an ambush predator, the Incubus was incredibly dangerous if it caught someone unaware. A normal person would likely have been slain then and there. All it would have taken was a claw to Ann's defenceless throat.

Carmen huffed at the Incubus. [Struggle as you might, little worm, you are now my prey.] She growled and yanked hard on the whip. The Incubus jerked forward and its squealing maw was met with a needle sharp heel. It let out a sickening yelp and black ichor and shadowy vapour erupted from the back of its head.

The Persona stamped down on the impaled Incubus, crushing its head completely.

Its form quickly evaporated into the same shadowy smoke, returning back to the Well of Souls. Ann was - however - still very much paralyzed. Carmen turned with all the nonchalance a woman of her stature could muster and smiled down at her ward. [Must I clean everything up after you, my little sweet?]

Ann could only stare back.

She wanted to retort, but the toxin had stopped her.

The horde of lesser shadows hadn't gone away as this happened. They had only drawn closer. Ryuji could only do so much alone. The blond boy had finally noticed Ann's predicament and charged forward.

He shoulder barged an advancing shadow just before Carmen could set it ablaze. Emptying a slug into the entity's head - or whatever counted as its head - Ryuji quickly poured a foul smelling liquid down Ann's throat. Almost immediately, the tensing muscle pain relaxed. As the medicine worked through her body, her limbs became animated once again.

"Jeez! What took you so long!?" She yelled, huffing and spraying down another Shadow with gunfire. "I almost died!"

[The boy clearly wishes to make an entrance. Though I suggest he work a little harder. In all senses of the word.]

The not too subtle innuendo was definitely not lost on Ann. Ryuji, however, had let it sail completely over his head. He gave Ann a confused glance as her cheeks flushed red. She shot an accusing look back at her Persona who simply giggled before fading back into her mask. "What was that all about?" Ryuji asked with naive innocence.

Ann's blush only grew alarmingly redder like a tomato. All she could do was bashfully smack the boy's shoulder. "Gross, gross, gross!" She stammered before running back into the main fight. She left behind a solidly confused Ryuji who looked on with a dumbfounded expression.

To add insult to injury, Captain Kidd's rattling cackle resonated from within his heart.

"I'll never understand girls…"

"I… was wrong." Nakanohara panted as he knelt and clutched his chest. He stared down at the ground and with a long exhale, the room around them shifted and morphed into its original state. The far off island still had a path leading up to it and the slabs of walls still held the paintings of that woman. "Please… forgive me…"

The dark, swirling energy that had surrounded the Shadow had calmed itself and was now nothing more than a gentle trickle of vapour.

The fight had lasted only a few minutes but each of the Phantom Thieves were worn out. Lynn noted that Ann in particular seemed quite agitated. The model glared down at Nakanohara with the same anger from before. Meanwhile, V and her two friends held Nakahohara at gunpoint, pressing the barrel of a thick silver and gold pistol against the back of his head.

"That evil teacher used me, then threw me out on the streets. That's why I developed a fixation on… her." He gestured to the paintings.

Lynn could only scowl. His vague allusions were starting to get annoying. She wanted to yell at him and tell him to stop blaming others, but now that it was the second time the subject of a larger issue got brought up, she had to ask. "What evil teacher?"

"He mentioned somethin' about some dude named Madarame before, right?" Ryuji scratched the back of his head.

The shadow nodded. His expression turned to something akin to a kicked puppy. "Yeah. I just didn't want anyone to throw me out again…" He muttered. Shiho took a step forward and put a hand on Ann's shoulder. At first, Lynn assumed the raven haired girl was going to yell at the defeated shadow. But then she smiled with sweetness and empathy.

"So you were suffering too? We might have gone about this a little too hastily."

Ann huffed. "Still! You shouldn't have dragged an unrelated woman into your mess." Her words seemed to slap the Shadow in the face. He jerked as though she had done just that. V pressed the gun harder against his skull but the man made no attempt to resist.

"Yes. I know that now." He breathed. A wistful smile briefly tugged at his lips. "I'll put an end to my love for her…" He paused as silence filled the void. He then looked up directly at Lynn. "You can change people's hearts, right?" His eyes were desperate and he choked a little on his words. The pitiable man was almost in tears. "In that case… won't you change Madarame's heart? Before more people fall victim to him!"

Before anyone could respond to his plea, his shoulders relaxed. A shining light sparked to life in the centre of his chest. It slowly consumed his entire body and within a second, he dissolved into glistening white energy.

"What the fuck?" V retracted her pistol and stepped back from the spectacle. "I didn't do anything!"

Mona hummed in thought. "I think that was the Shadow returning to its true self in reality." Everyone then looked up at the distant island. The spotlight shining on it grew brighter and something on its surface pulsed with energy. It was then that Mona's mouth stretched into a large, goofy grin. "Treasure… hehe! Treasure!"

Immediately, he lunged forward and lept from platform to platform along the fractured path.

"Hey, wait! Mona!"

With some difficulty, the group followed. The motes of land that formed the path were only large enough to allow one person through at a time. So by the time everyone made it over, Mona had already pounced on and was clinging to the chest area of a large marble statue. It was the same woman in the paintings.

Completely naked.

Shiho calmly approached the velvet rope that surrounded the piece and with all the innocence of a mother smiling at her child, she grabbed the cat's collar and yanked. "Mona, dear, it's rude to touch a lady without permission."

Though her words were sweet, her tone was dripping with venom.

For a moment, Mona struggled against Shiho's grasp. His eyes fixated on the statue with only a single need pushing him forward.

He then abruptly stopped and let himself dangle from her hand. "What? What was I doing?" He looked around in confusion before the full weight of realisation hit him with the force of a freight train. "I'MSORRYIDIDN'TMEANTODOTHATPLEASEPUTMEDOWN!"

For what felt like an eternity, Shiho did not put him down.

She was smiling sweetly, but her eyebrow twitched and her free hand clenched into a fist. Eventually, she let him go, allowing him to fall to the ground hard.

"Y'know Shiho… you're terrifyin'." Ryuji muttered under his breath before swiftly - and wisely - moving the topic forward. "So… I'm guessin' this is his treasure?"

Mona brushed himself off and shook his head. "No, this is… well… it's Nakanohara's cognition of his ex. He thought of her as a work of art to be owned and admired." The group stared at Mona in disbelief. With the added context of what Nakanohara had supposedly gone through, confliction was an understatement.

On one hand, this whole thing was disgusting and rotten to the core. On the other, it was just a result of something even more rotten, corrupting the man and warping him into a monster.

Still, that begged a question. "So… where's the treasure?" Lynn asked and tried swallowing what felt like a football sized lump in her throat. She already knew the answer. And she hated it.

"It's… inside the statue." Mona confirmed with a meek gesture.

"I know this is heavy shit, but maybe we should get a move on. I don't want to get trapped on this fucked up island." V had - up until now - kept a distance from the group, along with River. "If whatever you're looking for is in that statue, I can bust it open for you."

There really was no other way. Mona was right. The treasure was indeed firmly inside. Each thief looked at one another as if conversing without speaking. Finally, Lynn nodded. "Do it."

A blast of deafening thunder shook the area as V fired a single shot at the statue. Its top half was immediately blown to dust and debris. Although Lynn would have preferred V do it a little more respectfully, shooting was probably the most efficient way.

As the dust settled, the rest of the statue began to crumble and dissolve into black ichor.

It revealed a floating, glowing paint brush. It pulsed with energy and its form shifted every so often. Along the ivory white handle, Nakanohara's name had been engraved and inlaid with gold. It was a beautiful item to be sure. And likely worth quite a bit.

Lynn gently took it and immediately, the island they stood on began to rumble.

The floating slabs of wall began to crumble and fall into the void. Bits of marble tile fell off from the platforms that formed the path. To top it off, wind began to howl, whipping up debris into a whirlwind of stone and marble.

Mona yelped "It's just like Kamoshida's Palace! This place is collapsing!"

Immediately, everyone took the hint and funnelled themselves along the crumbling path. In a mad panic, it looked like they weren't going to make it back to the vortex. As Mona landed on the larger island that held the vortex, he transformed himself into his Bus form. One by one, the thieves leapt into the vehicle and with a lurch, Shiho hit the accelerator as hard as she could.

A second later, they were outside and back in Mementos proper.

"Everyone alive?" Lynn called out as she found herself mangled and sprawled across one of Mona's back seats.

"Define alive." Replied V who was now standing outside and hunched over. She was breathing heavily and from what Lynn could see from her limited line of sight, the mercenary was shaking. "Fucking shit. Is that what you call a change of fucking heart?"

V then began to cough violently.

Immediately, Judy bolted from the bus and joined her partner. She gently stroked V's back as V emptied her stomach all over the tracks. The two women mumbled to each other. Lynn couldn't hear them from where she laid but they were definitely not happy.

The thief sat up and looked everyone else over.

No one was missing and everyone looked in decent condition. If not a little roughed up.

"We really need to work on our exit strategies…" Lynn mumbled.

Author's Notes

Writing this chapter was a lot of fun. I especially enjoyed expanding on Mementos' budding Palace concept. I likely won't detail every Mementos request, but more major ones will get a bit more spotlight. To answer a question in my reviews, Lynn is famous in the sense that Shido used her to further his reputation as a merciful and kind leader. So media that try to follow Shido also follow anyone involved with him. It's like how real life media likes to follow particularly well known criminals. Thanks for the comments