Morgana has to perform an important mission that will impact the future of his fellow Thieves.

[09/29, The Day Before]

"Morgana, I have a mission that I can only entrust to you."

Right after the latest meeting was concluded and the thieves were enjoying a much earned cup of coffee in Leblanc (or soda, in Ryuji's case), Ren took Morgana aside to ask him a favor. The cat narrowed his eyes at the odd secrecy.

"Mission, and just me? Is this some ploy to make me feel better?"

Morgana was still feeling sorry about what happened a little while ago, but he wasn't sorry they met Haru. She was essential to advance their heist at Okumura's palace, plus she was a really sweet girl.

Ren chuckled, looking amused. "Not at all Mona, I promise. I am just worried about one of our friends." Ren trailed off, discreetly cocking his head in Makoto's direction. "Have you noticed anything amiss?"

"Hmmm" The not-cat took a good look at Makoto.

She seemed like her usual self, serious, reliable and grounded. She and Joker conducted the meeting spectacularly today, going over the details of their heist with great coordination. If Morgana was an amateur, he would say she is fine.

But Morgana was the original phantom thief, and an expert at his field, so of course he knew she wasn't as alright as she seemed.

For one, Makoto had bags under her eyes, as if she wasn't sleeping properly. She also seemed a little pale, and her spine was unnaturally straight.

"Hm I see what you mean. There is something weighing her down."

Ren nodded, concerned. "I think she is hiding something."

Oh.

That didn't sound good. Morgana paused.

"Well, maybe it's something at home? She did mention that her sister is a little… More on edge lately." The cat trailed off.

Ren seemed to consider his words and shook his head. "I hope not, but we can't discard the possibility that her sister may suspect something and is making things harder on her to catch her off guard."

"Shouldn't we just ask her? It would make things much easier."

"I have tried a few times. She closes up and pretends everything is fine. I think she fears disappointing us."

"I see…" Morgana waited a beat and then sighed. "So, where do I come in?"

"I am not proud to ask this of you, but I need you to follow Makoto for me for a couple of days."

"Joker…"

It felt wrong. Regardless of Makoto's own silly stalking episodes, it didn't give them the right to invade her privacy like that too. Ren should know it well, given his romantic relationship with Makoto.

Morgana flicked his tail in a sign of displeasure.

"I know, and I wouldn't ask this of you if I didn't consider this an emergency. We need Queen at her best. And I'm just looking out for her."

Morgana sighed. Ren was so painfully obvious with simping for Queen. He would be a bad friend if he didn't help them out.

"Fine, this better be a good idea, and I want lots of fatty tuna!"

Ren chuckled at Morgana's demands "Deal."

[09/30, The Present Day]

A day later, Morgana was already bored. So far his investigation bore no fruits.

"Man, what is even the point of being here? Makoto is so by the book!"

It did seem that she headed back home much later than usual, but she would go in and stay home all night as expected. Her sister didn't appear either.

Maybe he could watch her just one more day and then report to Ren. It didn't seem like her home life was the problem.

That is, until he noticed a car parked in a rather suspicious spot, and a pretty woman with silvery hair inside it, looking ominously in the direction of an apartment complex.

"Hm talk about suspicious." he chuckled darkly.

He recognized the woman right away as Sae Niijima. He recalled her stopping by at Leblanc a couple of times before she threatened Boss, plus she had an uncanny resemblance to Makoto aside from the hair.

One of the perks of being a cat (or a "not-cat") was that he could come up close and nobody would give him a second glance. It was the perfect undercover disguise.

'I am human after all!'

"Miss Niijima… I wonder what you're doing out here all by yourself, hm?" He muttered out loud as he approached the car.

That seemed to startle the woman "What's that?"

'Oops!'

Morgana backed away from the car, but it was too late. Sae put her head outside the driver's window and glanced at Morgana, rolling her eyes.

"Tch. It was merely a cat."

Morgana hissed at her "Hey, who are you calling a cat!?"

"Be quiet, shoo!"

Morgana narrowed his eyes but complied. He was still learning to control his temper, plus it would be best to not antagonize the woman. Luckily she could only hear whatever he said as meowing, so he decided to stick around.

'This lady is up to no good… I should keep an eye on her instead.'

A few minutes later, they heard someone coming out of the building. It was Makoto.

The woman got out of her car and followed her discreetly.

"Oh no, she is gonna do something to Makoto… I gotta go after them!"

Morgana hurried to keep up with them both, yet neither woman noticed his presence. Makoto seemed distant and Sae was laser focused on following her sister.

Since he didn't want to alert anyone of his presence in the train, Morgana had a hard time reaching Makoto to properly warn her, so he had to stay put. A few train stops later, Makoto left the train, with Sae stalking her, and Morgana went after them.

They arrived at the courthouse.

'What is Makoto doing here in the evening?'

As soon as he saw Makoto going around the building and not inside, a terrible sense of dread hit Morgana's gut.

'Oh no… She isn't gonna do what I think she is, will she?'

'Should I go get the others?'

'Oh but I'd have to go all the way to Yongen Jaya.'

'What do I do!?'

Morgana was broken out of his stupor as soon as he noticed that Makoto's sister was way ahead of him, and that she seemed hell bent on following Makoto.

'Oh No!'

The cat rushed and before he could shout at Makoto to stop, the world changed.

In one second he was a cat, and the next he was in his Metaverse outfit. Quickly so as to not be spotted by either parties, Morgana hid beside a trash can on a building next to the courthouse.

Which was now a grand casino.

'Queen, what have you done!?'

After the coast was clear and he was free to move, Morgana realized he'd have to work fast to get to Queen before her sister did, and alert her of her folly. He started his infiltration, making sure to not alert any shadow.

As he kept traveling throughout the palace looking for signs of Queen, Morgana was sadly musing about the situation. There were too many complications already.

If he left to get backup, they'd lose precious time and by then, Queen or her sister could be in danger, so he had to stay and find an alternative solution.

He was also sure that this was Sae Niijima's palace, because why else would Makoto have been so secretive?

The last and worst problem in the equation was that it also meant that Niijima could end up meeting her shadow self. But unlike Futaba, he wasn't sure about the extent and even the full nature of her distortion, and what the consequences of her facing herself would be.

Hoping for a persona awakening would be foolish since they knew the woman was obsessed with catching the Phantom Thieves. She was more likely to doom them all.

Morgana had many other emotions running through his feline heart, especially sadness that Makoto felt like she had to do this behind their backs. He knew it was hypocritical of him to hold this against her since he too rushed out without thinking of the consequences not too long ago, but he still expected more from the clever and strategic Queen.

Shaking himself out of his musings, the not-cat dashed and found a vent to crawl inside. It would be a tight fit due to his head, but he could make it work.

He came out on the other side relatively unnoticed.

Relatively being the keyword.

"Hello?"

A young girlish voice called out. He froze, unsure of what to do. If he moved any further he would be spotted immediately.

Unfortunately, a couple of shadows dressed as casino staff came out around the corner. He prepared to summon his persona to take them out before he was spotted.

"Zorro! Garula!"

The shadows were taken by surprise, but his magic wasn't going to be enough. They were clearly several orders stronger than what they were currently fighting against in Okumura's palace, coupled with the fact that Morgana was alone and unprepared for an impromptu heist.

It was time to retreat and rethink his strategy to find Queen and her sister before it was too late.

He managed to dash away before the shadows could catch up to him and found a relatively safe spot.

Once they went away, he let out a breath of relief, which was short-lived because the moment he turned his head to the side, he was face to face with Queen.

He let out a startled yelp and put his paws in his own mouth to muffle the sound. Thanks to small mercies however, the shadows didn't come back.

"Oh my goodness Queen! I was looking for you! What were you thinking!?"

"What are you mister? Are you a cat?"

He did a double take. That wasn't Queen. Well, no, it was Queen , but not as he remembered.

She wasn't in her metaverse gear, and she appeared unharmed. And a bit younger than he remembered.

'Oh…'

This was Sae Niijima's cognitive Makoto!

"Uhhh…Wait, no! I'm not a cat I am… Uh… Mona!"

'Idiot, why did you give your codename away so fast!?'

The girl seemed pretty much like the Makoto he knew, sporting a serious look, studying him for any lies or deception.

But then she let out a big smile and whispered excitedly. "I see. You're here undercover, right Mr. Mona? Are you on a mission to help out big sis!?"

'Think Morgana!'

"Ah, yes, that's right! This mission is top secret though, you cannot tell anyone, okay!?"

She nodded frantically. "I understand Mr. Mona, we can't let the bad guys know about it. Here, I know a place you can hide!"

Should he trust her? For all he knew she was a cognition still tied to the palace owner, no matter how nice she might seem.

But she seems so genuine, besides, he has never seen Queen looking so carefree and open before…

'Screw it, it's not like I have any other choice. I'm running out of options!'

"Very well little lady, please lead the way!"

Morgana regretted his choice soon after because the Makoto here was ten times worse at being stealthy than her real counterpart.

They were almost caught by the shadows a couple of times, but his Phantom Thief experience allowed them to escape every time.

At least the cognitive Makoto was being truthful with him because after escaping a close encounter, he found a safe room he could use.

The issue is that, since she was a cognition, he was hesitant to bring her inside the room. He never saw what would happen if you brought a cognition to a safe room, and whether or not it made shadows aware of its location.

"It's okay Mr. Mona, I can't see it, I just know it's around here somewhere. You can hide now, I will distract the staff to help sis with the secret mission!"

Before he could protest she set off and disappeared around the corner.

'Oh well, she's a cognition, she will be fine.'

Entering the safe room to recover and gather his bearings, Morgana considered his next steps.

He had been roaming inside the palace for a while now and still hasn't seen any sight of the palace ruler, Queen or the real Sae Niijima. This was very concerning and made Mona uneasy, because it could only mean a couple of things, none which were particularly good outcomes.

They either got away safely and he was here on his own roaming a palace that was above his skills to tackle alone…

…Or worse, they were still here somewhere with no way out.

"Oh boy, if Futaba was here she would have located them with her monitoring skills by now. What to do, what to do…?"

'Wait, monitoring…!?'

A lightbulb lit up on Morgana's head. This place must have some sort of security feed somewhere. He might spot something!

Not wasting any more time, he set off again.

By the time Morgana had found a way inside the security room, things were looking dire.

As soon as he did a quick search among the CCTV feeds available, he spotted them immediately.

The palace ruler got her hands on Queen and her sister, and was conducting some sort of trial in a courtroom.

Mona studied the feed to determine the fastest route necessary to reach the courtroom as quickly as possible. It was time to blow up his cover, because the situation was an emergency.

'I need to go now before it is too late.'

Not wasting any more time than what was necessary, Morgana ran as fast as he could among the hallways, dodging shadows, using Zorro to clear out pathways and doing acrobatics to get away from his pursuers.

He was getting close. More shadows emerged, hell bent on getting to him. He used all the tricks up his sleeve.

'Almost there!'

Morgana's luck had run out as shadows emerged and circled him, trapping him with no way out. He fought tooth and nail, but was soon overwhelmed.

'So close…!'

And when it seemed like things were going to turn for the worse, time stopped. Morgana saw the shadows freeze mid action… Then dissipate.

Confused, but glad, the not-cat found himself alone. It was eerily quiet for a moment, until a blood curdling scream echoed across the walls of the casino, shaking every table and chandelier in the vicinity.

Startled and apprehensive, Morgana paused at the doors of the courtroom. Was he too late?

'Focus Morgana, you have a mission to see through to the end!'

Gulping, the cat opened the door slightly to peek inside.

Cognitive Makoto Niijima was not like the other cognitions in this palace. Most cognitions here were bitter people with upsetting behaviors, always trying to put Makoto down.

Her big sis would be like that too, but cognitive Makoto didn't mind because she knew the truth.

Big sis was scared, angry and sad because daddy was gone, and she didn't have a friend to cry to like real Makoto did.

They only had each other, and big sis had to care for her real self alone. She didn't want their uncles to take real Makoto away from her if she failed, so she worked hard, day and night.

Big sis was really passionate about justice, and she wanted to help others. But bad men and the cruelty of the world made big sis lose her way. That made cognitive Makoto feel sad.

The first thing Morgana noticed was Queen passed out on the floor. A wave of concern surged through him, but he had to do a double take when he saw the other occupants.

He spotted cognitive Makoto first, rushing over to him with a determined gaze.

The palace ruler was nowhere in sight. Instead, Sae Niijima was sporting a metal mask on her face, and a blade at her hip. The palace started to shake and crumble.

'So that was an awakening…'

He spotted Niijima rushing to Queen, trying frantically to wake her up. It was time to escape.

"Hey, you!"

When cognitive Makoto saw Mr. Mona, she knew he was a friend right away. He didn't put her down or say mean things even when she made a lot of mistakes when they were hiding from the staff.

He was here to help big sis, and cognitive Makoto would make sure he would see it through.

A golden butterfly spread its wings, and cognitive Makoto moved .

"The destination has been deleted. You have now returned to the real world."

Mona was sprawled on the ground, his small feline limbs all achy. He was a little worse for wear, but he'd live.

He rose from the ground and rushed to Sae, who was leaning against the back of a wall, holding Makoto in her arms. She seemed drained and tired, but otherwise unharmed.

The same could not be said for Makoto. She was knocked out cold, already showing signs of bruising on her face and arms. Her even breathing was the only good sign he took from her situation.

Morgana considered bringing them to mementos just so he could heal Makoto, but the metaverse has already taken its toll on everyone involved. It was time to just do things the normal way.

A moment after her rush to escape the nightmarish version of the courthouse, Sae Niijima was leaning back against the wall, still holding Makoto.

She took a deep breath and opened her eyes. The world seemed normal once more. She could hear the night sounds of the city in the background.

Her sister was in her arms, hurt, but still breathing. She was too disorientated to get up but she knew she had to act fast to take her to safety.

"Psst. Miss Niijima!" She heard someone whisper nearby.

Sae was on edge immediately "W-who's there!? Show yourself!"

Frantically looking around, she didn't see anyone suspicious, other than a cat.

…

…Come to think of it, wasn't this the cat she saw earlier today, before she followed her sister into this mess?

The cat looked around first, studying its surroundings. Then: "It's me. I was with you guys just now."

…

'Did that cat just speak!?'

Sae stood frozen for several moments, afraid that she was still in that twisted place that her sister said was her "heart".

It was the feeling of Makoto limp on her arms that jerked her back into action.

"Hey, are you okay?"

Still on edge, Sae let out a nervous chuckle "Just peachy. It's not like I just survived the most fucked up night of my entire life where I saw dead people, body doubles and a talking cat. Nope."

"Look lady, later. Now we gotta get out of here and help Makoto. She isn't critically wounded but we have no reason to worsen her condition by staying out here."

"...You're right. I'm going to hail us a cab and take her to the hospital, just in case."

He nodded, acquiescing with her plan.

Everything after was a blur. Morgana sneaked inside the taxi and hid inside Makoto's supply bag. Sae was quiet the entire ride to the hospital, probably still trying to process what she and her sister just went through that night.

He used that time to consider the outcome of his mission. It was a success and a failure both.

A success because he managed to get to Makoto and her sister in the end, and got them out of the palace alive.

But it was also a failure because he didn't manage to prevent the entire fiasco from happening in the first place. He should have rushed to Makoto and stopped her right then and there in front of her house when he still had time.

In the span of one night, Morgana had discovered some very concerning facts.

One. Sae Niijima developed a palace.

Two. Makoto was aware of it.

Three. Makoto hid this information from the rest of the team.

Four. She decided to go into her sister's palace alone.

Five. Her sister was already suspicious of her and followed her around.

Six. Makoto accidentally brought her sister into her own palace.

Seven. The sisters were ambushed by the palace ruler.

Eight. A cognitive version of Makoto was acting on her own interests instead of following the whims of the palace ruler.

Nine. Judging by that trial taking place, Makoto was probably outed as a Phantom Thief.

Ten. Sae Niijima has awakened to a persona inside her palace, just like Futaba.

Needless to say, Morgana was not having a good time. Ren and the others were going to be disappointed, if not angry with Makoto's recklessness. But, he wanted to be on Makoto's side, since he would come across as a hypocrite after he too went rogue not too long ago.

Either way, he had to stick around the sisters, so his mission was not quite finished yet. The damage was already done, and Sae would need a crash course on the metaverse before they figured out the next steps.

Perhaps he could do something to damage control the situation and preserve the identity of the others, at least until he deemed Sae trustworthy enough.

Ren better give him LOTS of fatty tuna sushi when he was back.

Makoto was going to stay overnight at the hospital. Sae had to feed them the classic "fell down the stairs" bullshit story.

Of course they gave her suspicious looks, as if trying to gauge whether or not this was a case of domestic violence. After shoving her credentials as a esteemed prosecutor down their throats, the hospital staff shut the fuck up and let her sister be treated in peace.

Visiting hours were long gone, so she was forced to go home. The cat was outside the hospital, waiting for her.

She looked around to see if anyone was looking.

"She will be fine. She hasn't woken up yet, but they will keep an eye on her for the night, and she should be released back into my care tomorrow morning."

The cat seemed to relax at her news. While it was still utterly bizarre to see and interact with a talking cat, Sae knew she needed to get over it fast if she wanted answers.

"We need to talk about this situation." She spoke simply, with none of her usual venom, too drained to care about sounding intimidating.

The cat nodded "Yes. There is a lot you should know before you make a decision."

"We should have this conversation somewhere more private. Let's go to my house."

After a short train ride, they arrived at their destination.

Makoto and Sae's home was quite spacious for two people. Sleek and modern, in a nice part of town, with a nice view of the city. Despite all of her bitching about work, Sae was well off.

She never stopped to contemplate this until now. They used to live in a much more modest area back when their father was alive. Her drive to succeed and her obsession of being at the top made her the champion of overtime and overworking. She was paid handsomely for her work as a public prosecutor for SIU and she knew it.

'It was never about money. The pressure to succeed was too much.'

Leviathan… That's right, she had a persona now.

She set Makoto's bag on top of the kitchen counter to let the cat out, not really caring if he was gonna leave some fur around. Makoto would care, but she wasn't around. She was hurt at the hospital.

She threw herself on the couch, hands covering her face, and sighed. The cat approached silently and jumped on the armrest, tail swishing gently.

She hated to admit it, but without her sister here, the cat was the only thing helping her feel grounded after this whole fiasco.

"My mind is all over the place. I don't even know where to begin."

The cat purred, then decided to speak. "I will make it easy for you then, and walk you through what I know of this situation."

"Thank you. I appreciate it".

"You're welcome. Now, first order of business, introductions. My name is Morgana, Miss Niijima. I'm an associate of your sister."

"Associate, huh? So you're a Phantom Thief too?"

He seemed to ponder her question. "Yes, I am. But we will get to that topic later, first I need to run you through the basics."

Sae wanted to pursue that line of question further, but decided against it. As long as Morgana fulfilled his word, she could afford to relinquish control of the narrative for now. Her mind was too drained to start an interrogation.

"Very well, I will hold you to that."

"Good. Now that we have covered our bases, let's begin."

Sae was unusually quiet as Morgana brought her up to speed regarding the metaverse.

Metaverse

Shadows

Personas

Cognitions

Palaces

Treasures.

Change of Hearts

Mental Shutdowns

Needless to say, her mind was spinning with all the implications. There was a lot she had to unpack, but first, there was something she needed to know.

"Morgana, you said that the three of us were inside a palace tonight. It was mine, wasn't it? I saw the courthouse as a casino where I needed to cheat to always succeed and stay at the top."

Morgana looked visibly uncomfortable, but also sympathetic. "I don't think there is any way to soften the blow, miss. So yes, that was your palace, and The Manager was your shadow."

Remembering how far her shadow took things inside her palace with the mock trial, her stomach sank with deep unease and shame.

"God, I really am morally bankrupt…"

Morgana shook his head. "Not necessarily. We never saw your treasure so we couldn't know why your palace formed in the first place. But since you awakened to a persona, I believe you were mostly misguided. We have learned in past heists that not all palace rulers are automatically bad people."

"And is that supposed to make me feel better, how!?" She snarled without thinking.

"Look, I'm just telling you the facts, if you have issues with it, don't take it out on me!" He hissed.

At that, her temper cooled back down and she sighed, rubbing her hand across her forehead.

"Sorry Morgana, I didn't mean to shout at you. It just has been too much... I swear I appreciate you telling me about all of this."

He just nodded at her, tail flicking lazily. "Yeah I get that, I would be pretty pissed off too if I were in your shoes."

They stayed silent for a little while, processing everything said so far. Soon enough though, Sae decided it was time.

"Morgana…"

"I know. I promised I'd get to it, right? Ask your questions."

"How did my sister join the Phantom Thieves?"

"The story is… Quite long and I think it's best if you ask your own sister. She can tell you what drove her to join us better than I can."

"Fine. Are yourself and Makoto the only Phantom Thieves, or are there more of you?"

"We are more than just me and Queen - that's Makoto's codename by the way - but I won't bring up their identities just yet, especially not our leader's." Morgana spoke firmly.

She narrowed her eyes. "And why is that?"

"I need you to reassure me that you will hear both Makoto and our leader out first before you make any kind of decision regarding what you have learned tonight."

'Hear them out before you pass judgment.'

Leviathan's imperious voice made Sae relent. She was too tired to argue anyways. Besides, the cat had saved her and Makoto's lives tonight. The very least she could do was to accept this one request.

"Very well, you have my word then. I owe you one, after all."

Morgana was relieved that his assessment was right and that she agreed to his request. It meant there was still a chance for the team to come out of this unharmed, they just had to do it right.

'I really am the cleverest thief, hehehe!'

"Thank you, I promise that you won't regret it!"

Sae chuckled at Morgana's display of excitement.

"Don't get too ahead of yourself. Remember to hold your end of the bargain as well. I want to meet with your leader and question them myself as soon as possible."

Morgana nodded. "That is fair, but I need to run tonight's developments by our leader and the rest of the team first."

"Fair enough then. Do you have anywhere to stay?"

"Eh, I don't think I will find my way home tonight. I'd need to sneak inside a train for that."

"I see. You can sleep here tonight, just don't make a mess. Makoto would berate me if she found cat fur all over the place."

"Hey, I'm not a cat!"

Sae raised an eyebrow at his protest.

"Besides, I don't even shed that much." He insisted.

"If you say so. Make yourself comfortable then."

The feline nodded at her in gratitude "You have my thanks."

He made himself comfortable on the couch, then looked at Sae. "Now it is quite late isn't it? Why don't you go to sleep?"

Sae scoffed at his words. Was she being ordered around to go to sleep by a cat? Luckily for him, she was too tired to tell him off, so she complied and went to her bedroom.

She didn't even bother removing her clothes. As soon as her back hit the bed, she was out cold.

To be Continued...