TW: Mentions of Abuse
Chapter 74: Stella's Palace
October 3rd.
We were together at Cattleya's apartment as we discussed what had happened.
"Octavia is in good care now with Bernie." Arthur said to us, "He'll look after her until the drama dies down."
"How long are we expecting that?" Selene wondered,
"Until we changed Stella's heart!" Cattleya replied,
"Do we really know that it's Stella?" Willow wondered,
"Seems likely." Arthur replied, "I mean, Octavia did mention that her mother was emotionally and mentally abusive towards her and Stolas."
"And she was physically abused by her mother and was kicked out…" Boris said in disgust, "That bitch… Why would she do that to her only child?"
"It's a mystery for us to know." Astrid replied, "And we gotta find out why!"
"Right!" Cattleya said, "Because we're The Phantom Thieves!"
"Right!" The rest of us said,
October 4th.
Today was the day that we decided to go and find Stella's home and see if she has a palace in The Cognitive World. Before we do so, me and Arthur went to check on Octavia at his house. She was alone as Bernie was in work, but Octavia can handle herself being alone in a safe house like Bernie's.
"Hello Octavia." Arthur said, "How are you feeling?"
"Slowly recovering from what happened…" Octavia replied softly,
"Good, glad to know."
"...It was hell in there…"
"Are you telling us what it was like there?"
"Do you want me to?"
"If you're comfortable talking about it." I replied,
"At least you're honest."
"Proceed, if you're comfortable." Arthur said,
Octavia sighed.
"All I can tell you is that she was acting like some sort of… drill sergeant to me and Dad…" She said,
Arthur thought for a moment.
"A drill sergeant…" He wondered, "Anyways, we should be heading out. Tell Bernie that I was here to check on you."
"Got it." Octavia said, "Take care."
"You too." I said,
Octavia smiled at us and waved goodbye to us as we left.
Later, the team and I were going to what seems to be the royal house that Octavia used to live at.
"Octavia sent me a picture of her house and it's at." Arthur said,
"Good." Cattleya said, "When we get there, let's find out if Stella has a palace in The Cognitive World."
When we get there, it was so elegant and fancy up close.
"Wow, what a house!" Selene said,
"What a house indeed!" A familiar voice said to us,
We turned to see Darnell next to us.
"Darnell!" Arthur shouted,
"What are you doing here?!" Cattleya shouted,
"Just wanting to see what you're all doing, that's all." Darnell replied,
"This is none of your business, so get lost!" Willow said,
Darnell rolled his eyes.
"Come on, we all got something on our sleeves, don't we?" He said to us,
"You got something, most likely!" Boris said, "So spill the beans first!"
"Alright, alright, whatever you say."
Darnell stretched his arms a bit.
"I'm a Phantom Thief." He said,
We were surprised.
"Really…" Cattleya said, "As in a solo Phantom Thief?"
"Yeah…" Darnell said, "But that was a while until I decided to infiltrate a possible palace in The Cognitive World, and that being Stella's potential palace."
"Have you ever infiltrated someone's palace in The Cognitive World?"
"Nah… Always around Mementos and stuff."
"Yeah, well we don't believe you."
"Really?"
Darnell then showed us a metaNav app on his phone.
"How about now?" He asked us,
"...Fine." Cattleya replied,
"Ok, now we believe you." I said,
"Good." Darnell said, "Now, you're all gonna go see if Stella has a palace, huh?"
"We are, until you show up." Lars replied,
"Hey, make me feel welcome here, I have a Code Name, a Persona and everything."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, let's just go to the metaNav app." Cattleya said,
I pulled out the metaNav app as we started to see if Stella has a palace.
"Stella Of Ars Goetia." Arthur said,
"Hit." The metaNav app said,
"Wife of Stolas and a member of The Ars Goetia royal family." Astrid said,
"Hit."
"Abuses her husband and daughter emotionally and mentally." Boris said,
"Hit."
"So, what's next?" Darnell wonder,
"Now we gotta fill in a word or two on what Stella's palace looks like." Cattleya replied, "Arthur, got anything?"
"Well… Octavia did say that her mother was like a drill sergeant to her." Arthur replied,
"A drill sergeant…" I said, "Like a military?"
"Huh, do that." Cattleya said,
"Military."
"Results found." The metaNav app said,
"Well, she does sound like a drill sergeant after all." Darnell said,
"Well we never met her, so let's get in there and teach her a lesson!" Boris said,
"Beginning navigation." The metaNav app said,
We were then teleported to The Cognitive World. There, we were outside of a military base as the main building that used to be the royal house Octavia and her parents lived at, is now Stella's Palace.
"Here we are, and it's a warzone out here!" Darnell said,
"Huh, what a look." Selene said as he looked at the palace,
We were hiding behind boxes as we then heard an explosion.
"Jeez! That was sudden!" Boris shouted,
"Shh!" Selene said, "We don't want any of them to know we're here!"
"Right, right… Sorry…"
We looked at Stella's Palace.
"So, this is Stella's Palace?" Darnell wondered, "Interesting, it looks so different from the usual Ars Goetia house that Stolas and Stella lived at."
"Well no time to lose." Cattleya said, "By the way, Darnell, what's your code name?"
"Fossil."
"Got it, welcome, let's go and change Stella's heart."
We went closer to Stella's Palace as we then changed to our Phantom Thief outfits. Then, we went into the palace from a window as we rushed through a hallway. There, there was a fully armed security guard watching another hallway.
"That guard is packing." Boris said, "We gotta be careful, don't we?"
"Oh we definitely are." Cattleya replied,
We looked at Darnell's outfit as he was a Phantom Thief now.
"So you really are a Phantom Thief." Willow said,
"Of course, I would never tell a lie to you all." Darnell said,
"Uh-huh, sure." Cattleya said, "Anyways, how are we gonna get through that guard?"
"I have an idea."
"And what is your idea?"
Darnell then got out his pickaxe and started to hit the wall with it. The guard then heard the noise of it and went to wherever it came from.
"You idiot! You're going to get us killed!" Cattleya whispered loudly to Darnell,
"Don't worry, this is part of my little plan to get by that guard!" Darnell said, "And when I mean by getting by, I mean using my Persona!"
Darnell then took off his mask to awaken his Persona.
"Come forth, Dakuwaqa!" He shouted,
Dakuwaqa, Darnell's Persona, has appeared.
"Woah." Cattleya said, "So Darnell does have a Persona, or Fossil going by his Code Name."
Dakuwaqa then shot out Bufudyne ice magic at the guard, destroying it.
"There, easy!" Darnell said as Dakuwaqa was recalled,
"Huh, that guard was weak to Ice." Astrid said, "It's almost as if I didn't need Jingu to check that guard's weak spot."
"And it was a killer robot packing heat." Boris said,
"Well it's not packing heat anymore." Darnell said, "Shall we continue onward?"
"Suppose we should." Cattleya replied, "Come on."
While we ran through the halls, cameras were watching us.
Inside a room, some Cognitive Goetia demons in military uniforms were on the computers, watching us through then.
Then, someone in a general uniform was walking by the demons.
"Well, well, well, what do we have here…" She said, "A couple of fucking brats trying to run through my palace without a care in their fucking little worlds…"
The general turned out to be Stella, but with yellow eyes. She's Stella's Shadow.
"Increase the security and guns around here!" She shouted, "And make sure those fucking brats won't make it out here alive!"
"Yes ma'am!" Everyone else shouted,
Back to us, we were running through the halls when an alarm went off and missiles started to lock targets on us.
"Missiles?!" Boris shouted, "Why does this bitch need missiles?!"
"Probably to try and kill us!" Arthur replied, "Come on, let's get out of here!"
As we tried to leave, another guard stopped us.
"Another guard!" Selene shouted,
"And they're blocking us!" Arthur shouted,
Jingu appeared to feel Astrid's head.
"That guard is weak to Physical attacks!" She shouted, "Pirate, get 'em!"
"Gotcha, bestie!" Cattleya said as she took off her mask to awaken Anne Bonny, "Let's go, Anne Bonny!"
Anne Bonny uses her two swords to come at the guard with an Assault Dive and slice the guards to pieces with her swords.
"Alright, let's get out of here!" Cattleya shouted, "Back to the real world we go!"
We exited Stella's Palace as the missiles fired at us. Then, we exited The Cognitive World as the missiles shot the ground instead of us.
Back in the real world, we were outside of Stella's royal house as we were out of breath.
"Well, that was scary…" Astrid said,
"Fucking missiles…" Boris said, "That palace is probably highly secured by many weapons and packing guards."
"Oh, it definitely will when we dig deeper." Cattleya said, "Let's get out of here before–"
"--Hey!" A voice shouted,
We turned to see the real Stella.
"What are you brats doing here?!" She shouted at us, "Get the fuck out of my private property!"
"It's that wicked bitch!" Boris shouted,
"Speaking of Satan, there she is!" Cattleya said,
"Let's get out of here!" Darnell said,
We left her area in fear. Stella crosses her arms.
"Brats…" She said,
Another Goetia demon appeared.
"Dear sister, where do you think Octavia would have gone if you kicked her out?" He asked her,
"I don't know, Andrealphus." Stella replied, "Just don't worry about her. She's not in our presence, at least for now."
"Do you think someone else must have had her?"
"...Maybe, but it doesn't matter! Come on, we got something on our minds!"
"Alright, alright."