Disclaimer: Fate and Persona are owned by different companies and I hold no ownership and all that jazz.


7/6

Hakuno was ready. Yesterday before heading over to Futaba's room to warn her that they were planning to come, she and Yusuke worked on the Calling Card and got it ready for today.

School went by in a flash as they all met up in Leblanc.

"Everyone ready?" Hakuno sat down on the bench by Yusuke as they all were calming their nerves in their own way.

"You got the calling card ready?" Ryuji sounded hurt and Hakuno didn't know why.

"He's just a bit bummed, this is the first calling card that he didn't write." Ann said as she flipped through her magazine.

"Shut up!"

"It does make sense for Hakuno to write it… It's her friend after all."

"Once Futaba opens the door and sees the Calling Card, we'll need to head straight into her Palace."

"I can get the key to the Sakura family home." Hakuno said as they looked at her in confusion, "Boss gives it to me whenever I head on over, safer than leaving it unlocked all day."

"I see… that certainly makes things easier. But…" Yusuke paused as he put down his sketchpad, "How will we convince Futaba to let us into her room? Even Boss is forbidden entry."

"We should be honest with her." Akira said, "It would be the best way. She trusts Hakuno."

"I agree, with Hakuno with us she should be amicable to listening to us, plus with Hakuno giving her a warning she should be prepared."

Hakuno nodded, "Yesterday, when I was here, Futaba came out of her room."

"For real!?"

"Yes… it was only for a brief moment, and I had my back to her. She should be ready for us." Hakuno hoped she was ready, she trusted Futaba to be strong.

"It's not as if she knows the full picture of how to steal her heart… When we tell her we've come, she'll surely open the door and let us inside." Makoto was calm.

"Everybody ready?" Akira asked as everyone nodded in agreement.

"All right, Lets believe in Futaba! Let's go!"

The thieves shuffled out of Akira's room and out of Leblanc, Hakuno paused for a moment the café was void of any customers as Sojiro polished a few mugs, "We are going to go see Futaba."

Sojiro paused, put down his mug and cloth as he eyed her, "I'm not sure Futaba is ready…"

Hakuno shook her head, "Futaba is ready. Believe in your daughter."

Sojiro sighed, "She… is just like Wakaba you know? Wakaba talked a lot about you when you kids were little. You were always by her side. So if you think she is ready…" Sojiro passed the house key to her. "Just make sure the boys don't do anything stupid."

"I promise that nothing bad will happen to Futaba." Stealing her heart, changing her viewpoint on the world… breaking her out of the shell of lies she has constructed… That isn't bad, right?


Futaba Sakura had heard every bit of the conversation between Sojiro and Hakuno, crouching on her seat as she fiddled with her phone as she heard the bell of Leblanc and Sojiro continue his cleaning.

"An eyeball? When did it get on here?" She was sure that her phone wasn't hacked, and she knew it wasn't from a phone update. So… she pressed it.

Red flames erupted from the floor, a perfect copy of her wearing wraps as bindings and a long white dress with striking yellow eyes.

Nobody can get in her room! "Who are you!?"

"I am the other you." The voice was so similar to hers but wrong.

The hallucinations never got this bad before! "It's different from usual…"

"How long will you continue blaming yourself and shutting yourself away from the world? From the girl who tried to help you the entire time?"

Blaming herself?

"But…"

A flash of disgust passed along her doppelganger's face, "Don't you think it's time you grasp the truth of that moment? What happened in front of your eyes, what happened to your mother?"

… "The truth?" The truth was She Killed Her.

"Why did you ask for help? Why rely on the girl you shunned for two years?" Because Hakuno can help. She was always the strong one. And she is a real Wizard.

"That's…"

"Are you simply going to shut yourself in and do nothing? Are you going to continue averting your eyes from the absolute truth?"

She already knew the truth… Didn't she?

Her doppelganger sighed, "If so… I will kill them in your world. I will watch their final moments and you will know they died to try and save you."

In a flash of crimson the doppelganger left, "I… what should I do?"

"Boss has a lot of trust in you…" Makoto muttered as they walked up the steps. It is true… He knew they were close two years ago… and all he knew of her current situation is that she was friends with Akira.

Maybe he did trust that Akira wouldn't be friends with someone actually bad? "There's no mistaking it. This is the same door as in the Palace." Morgana said as they reached the door.

"Futaba, you're there, aren't you? Please answer us."

Akira's phone chimed.

Alibaba: So fast!? I'm not mentally prepared!

"Taba, don't you remember? You can do this. Deep down, the you in your heart also wants you to open your door."

Alibaba: The… other me? Give me some more time.

Makoto shook her head, "Ten seconds."

Alibaba: At least a few minutes!

"That's fine…" Hakuno glanced at the others, "It's not like we broke in or anything."

Akira nodded, "We did have to the day before though…"

"But not this time." Ann pointed out, "Hakuno is our key."

"I felt bad for Boss for breaking in… Maybe we should get him something to make up for it?" Makoto suggested. Perhaps some fancy coffee beans?

"I know! Let's get him some fatty tuna!" Mona chirped.

"You just want sushi… buttttt we do have to have party to celebrate clearin out Kaneshiro!"

"We could go to the fancy Sushi place in Giza." Ann suggested. Sushi did sound nice…

"I would love to experience fine dining." Yusuke said, "It would certainly be a worthwhile experience."

"Yeah, though… is the house always so dark?" Akira asked, it was true that the lights were all off… and the curtains were blocking out most of the sunlight… Maybe they should turn on some of the lights?

"Why did you have to say it…" Makoto mumbled. Hakuno glanced to the side and flicked the light switch that failed to turn on.

"Looks like Boss forgot to change the lightbulbs…"

"Futaba, are you ready yet?" Makoto knocked on the door as she did the door slowly creaked open.

"I think you should go in first." Akira said as he gently pushed her towards the door, "You're her friend aren't you?"

Hakuno nodded, Futaba's room was cramped, newspapers littered the floor, bags of trash were resting off to the side. Her bed was completely unmade, the one window held a blackout curtain… The only 'clean' part of her room was her desk and computer monitor.

But… No sign of Futaba…

Hakuno sighed as she knocked on the closet.

"Taba, this isn't helping." The rest of the group barely fit in, the room was a bit too small for their large group.

"Y-You just said I had to open my door!"

"She'll shut herself in, to the bitter end hmm?"

"Yes…" Hakuno glanced at Akira who spoke up.

"Your inner world is blocking us from going near your heart, your cognition has to change."

"I highly doubt she will understand even if you explain it to her…" Yusuke mumbled.

"So… my cognition is being a hindrance, keeping you away from the core of my cognitive world?"

Wait..

Hakuno just put the last piece, Wakaba was the one who studied and researched about the Cognitive World. Her Mom worked with Wakaba… could they have left any information could she call them and ask? But would they be able to say anything?

"And… have you guys been talking to a cat?"

"I am not a ca- oh forget it… it's not like she can hear me." Morgana mumbled.

"He is… a person trapped in a cat's body." Hakuno stated.

"Pretty sure he is just a cat." Ryuji was not helping.

"More magic stuff?"

"More magic stuff."

"Futaba, open the closet… Or else Hakuno here can tell us embarrassing stories." Ann had a smile on her face as Hakuno looked at her confused.

Something fell in the closet.

"You wouldn't!"

… "Remember when we were five? You came over one day to play video games? You got so mad when you lost that you threw a controller into the wall? You cried for a solid hour as my mom scolded you."

More things in the closet fell. "Hakunoooo!"

"Or that time when we stayed up late to watch a premier and you fell asleep and fell face first into your ice cream?"

The closet door slammed open. "H.A.K.U.N.O!" Futaba's hands were balled in rage as she glared at her.

"It worked!?" Ryuji said, sounding surprised.

Hakuno slowly raised her hands, "Long time… no see Futaba." Futaba froze as she glanced around her, the gaze of each Phantom Thief focused in on her.

She jumped back into the closet.

"That should have worked right?" Akira asked as he glanced at Morgana.

"It should have she did open the door of her own free will… even if it was out of embarrassment…" Morgana nodded, "Now we just need her to read the calling card."

Futaba made some shuffling sounds, "How do you do it? Enter the cognitive world?"

Hakuno paused… "We use a smartphone app… that's why they took my phone for a few days."

"Yes… as long as we enter the required information, we can enter the cognitive world. How much do you know about the cognitive world?"

"Our Parents worked on it…" Hakuno nodded, "I just remembered that they did work on Cognitive Psience."

"All ya need is a name, a place, and a distortion- those three."

"Can you take me with you too?" Hakuno could hear something in Futaba's voice… she wasn't too sure what it was.

"Futaba…" Hakuno did want to bring Futaba into her Palace, while it would be dangerous it would guarantee that Futaba would be able to see the truth of her distortion… But as it was a group decision she doubted that the others would see it that way.

"No." Akira said as he looked right at Hakuno, "It would be too dangerous."

"Gotta agree, Just leave this to us."

Hakuno placed the calling card on her keyboard, "Make sure you read this…" Hakuno paused, Futaba couldn't see her and now was snickering, "It's on your keyboard. We won't be able to do it if you don't." The group exited out of the room hearing shuffling from inside.


To Futaba Sakura who has committed a great sin of hiding in sloth.

We are the ones who will guide you from the depths of your solitude. Your heart's cries have reached us, and we have come to shatter the illusionary chains that bind you.

Know that the truth can be both a source of pain and liberation. You will be made to bask in the light of the sun.

Look forward to that time.

From Your Friends,

The Phantom Thieves of Hearts.


The Palace was strange in a way that didn't match Kaneshiro's when they sent the calling card. Waves of crimson surrounded only the Pyramid mixed with the inability to teleport into the previous safe rooms made it stranger.

Hakuno could faintly hear the shadows attacking something in each of the passages they passed, almost as if they were in a frenzy…

"This… is strange." Mona mumbled, "Could it be because we were asked to come here?"

"We will just have to stay on track. Luckily this path doesn't have Shadows…" Hakuno did only encounter the one Shadow on this path, apparently the rest of the thieves never did encounter it.

Hopefully the door is unguarded. She did doubt that Futaba's Shadow would get in their way…

As they approached the door the tape disappeared, the green blocking light flew up revealing an elevator. The ascent to the summit of the Pyramid was full of green symbols flying around them.

The summit was surrounded by floating islands connected via stone staircases; a small handful of Shadows walked aimlessly around the edges of the islands. Walls of code surrounded the entire overly large room.

At the very top, a slight haze emitted from a door. "Up there!" Panther shouted.

The Shadows almost looked afraid as they made their ascent, they filtered down to smaller and smaller islands as they avoided the group.

"Concerning…" Hakuno wasn't sure why the Shadows would be afraid… The security level is as high as it could possibly be, the Shadows should be trying their best to stop them.

"Man, I could get used to this! If only all Palaces were like this." Skull did a wave with his hammer as even a few jumped off the islands.

"This… isn't right." Mona said even their resident Metaverse expert was confused…

The group reached the door, even Hakuno could feel the aura of the treasure behind it, they quickly ushered into the door as a coffin stood in the middle of the room.

"H̷̰͚̑ạ̴̥̌l̶͉̈́̇t̵̹̟̎" A voice pressed down upon the group as black ink erupted from the ground. Her Circuits responded immediately as the warm blue glow covered her skin. A quick glance showed she was the only one to resist the spell. Each other thief had spectral chains binding them in place, after only a few moments the chains shattered.

A thin female adorned in a dark blue and gold flowing robe stood in front of them. On top of her head stood a miniature throne with a large circular symbol serving as the back. Large blue and red wings came from her shoulders as she held a golden scepter with a hook on its end.

"You thieves shall not take another step."

Dull bronze stared into dark brown.

Was… that supposed to be her?

"Why do we keep having to fight you Magus!?"


"If I use this I can change my heart? Vocal Input?" Name, Place, Distortion. The three things the boy with dyed blonde hair said.

"Fu- Futaba Sakura… Sojiro Sakura's house." She was terrified. "And then… distortion…" How she sees this place… her… other self, showed up in Egyptian styled clothing… She can't leave this place. "Tomb…"

She felt a presence as the voices returned, "MURDER! YOU'RE THE ONE WHO KILLED HER!" She rushed outside the room looking frantically around "IT'S YOUR FAULT YOU'RE THE ONE WHO KILLED HER! SAY SOMETHING!

Input accepted, searching for route to designation.

"I can… go in now?" The voices returned in full swing, she clutched her head in pain, "I can't take this anymore!"


The room exploded as something smashed into the side shattering the stone walls, revealing that they were at the top of the pyramid, "FUTTTTABBBBAAAAA!"


Author's Note: Cognitive Guard Hakuno! Hakuno really shouldn't have let it slip that she can use magecraft. Did I intend for Hakuno to appear in Futaba's Palace?
Somewhat
Did I intend for her to appear as a boss? Not until about ten chapters ago…