While the group was exchanging information, a member of the Rebel Corps rushed back into Leblanc. This was the first time anyone else was actually laying eyes on other members of the resistance. What they saw was not what they expected. A short creature, identical to Morgana in height appeared. They wore a hat, although with their appearance it looked as if it just their face, and they donned a red coat as well. "I've returned! I've returned with my report!"
Morgana and the rebel locked eyes. "Hey, what's with him?"
The Rebel, however, was fully shocked to see Morgana. "Egads!? Who's this unfamiliar furball!?" Morgana gasped and took offense to this. "Marie must've sent you. Very well, have at you!" The veteran rebel charged at Morgana, but before he could make it too far, Erina grabbed him by the scuff of his neck.
"Haha, no need to 'have at' anyone!" Erina replied with a grin. "You can stand down - these are our new comrades."
"They look so similar..." Sophia said while looking between the Rebel and Morgana.
"Could they be long lost siblings?" Ichinose said with a giggle. The thought amused her.
"Don't joke about that, we are so different!" Morgana huffed.
"Why does everything in this world look so weird except for her." Mika pointed at Erina. "God, I hate it here so much."
"I don't want to get into our situation right now..." Morgana said with a wistful sigh. "You can fill him in on it later, Erina."
"Sure." Erina nodded, before returning her attention back to her companion. "You went on Recon, right? What did you find?"
"I did! And your intel was right on the money!" The rebel exclaimed. "Multiple unknown people have recently been moved into the prison near Marie's castle!" This was news for the group.
"Unknown people..." Zenkichi stroked his chin. It was obvious who these new prisoners were. "Considering the timing of everyone's arrival..."
"It could only be the others." Ren said firmly.
"It's no surprise Marie sees you and your compatriots as a threat." Erina looked to the Phantom Thieves. "Despite being brainwashed, her more powerful puppets usually get locked up when not in use. Not only that...but I can't imagine she feels very comfortable with the level of resistance they've shown as well. However, we won't know for certain whether or not these are your friends unless we see for ourselves."
"As quickly as I would love to save them, I understand that this means diving into the lion's den..." Hifumi frowned. The safety of Ann and the others was weighing heavily on her mind, but she knew more than anyone that they couldn't leap in with a half baked plan.
"Don't worry, this is when I start to uphold my end of the deal." Erina said with a grin. "If these really are your friends in there, it will give us a boost in our forces when we spring them."
"While this is true, please do not refer to them as pieces of a chessboard." Hifumi looked at Erina. She knew Erina meant well, but...
"Ah, right...of course." Erina nodded. She understood what Hifumi meant. "We'll save your friends, and we'll work together to bring down Marie. You guys can rest up a bit more. I'll draw up a plan of attack, it won't take long." With that, she went off with her rebel companion to speak over things.
"..." Akechi was a bit doubtful. Even though Erina did save them, that didn't mean he was obligated to trust her and her ability right off the bat. That sort of thing had to be earned. "Well, this is a fine mess we've gotten oursevles into."
"No kidding..." Ren sighed.
"I want to break Marie's manicured nail." Mika stated, bitter from how that previous encounter went.
"...Speaking of Marie." Hifumi looked to Zenkichi. "You met...a Marie earlier, did you not?"
"I know what you're about to ask, and I've been wondering if it's the same person." Zenkichi said while crossing his arms. "We're clearly in some kind of Metaverse, but it's not a Jail...or a Palace is it?" He looked to Morgana, who shook his head. "Right, so in that case...I can't say for sure right now. The name lines up, along with a few other things, but I actually haven't seen this bride to be."
"Someone made a drawing of her." Mika held up a piece of paper that was coincidentally not too far away from her. She held it up, and there was a rather detailed drawing of Marie, although some aspects of it were embellished; such as the devil horns on her head, and her twisted expression of glee. "These rebels really don't like her. I totally get it, though."
"That's not a bad drawing...they're pretty good." Ichinose remarked. Hifumi glanced at Mika, but she turned away.
"...Huh. That might be the same person...if this is her Shadow, anyway." Zenkichi could see the resemblance, minus the devilish additions, that is.
"It's a Metaverse where Marie is in control...I wonder if defeating her will free us." Ren had a lot to think about.
"We don't even know if this is a Shadow or if she's a cognitive being." Morgana pointed out, which was the most important fact to discern.
"That only means we may need to refrain from lethal force depending on the situation." Akechi said.
"The first thing we should do is take one step at a time. We cannot even think about confronting Marie until we've rescued everyone else first." Hifumi spoke up, and she had a point. "We were scrambled, and...I still feel that sense of weakness plauging me."
"You guys feel it too?" Sophia tilted her head.
"...I've been feeling a bit weighed down since I got here, admittedly." Zenkichi added. "But I didn't know if it was just me or not." He was a little too old to be doing all this...but if even these kids were feeling it, something greater was at work here.
"I don't know what you guys are feeling. I feel just fine." Ichinose remarked. "And if I'm the only one who feels this way, maybe it's something only you Persona users can feel."
"Erina doesn't seem like she has a Persona either, so I doubt she feels anything." Morgana said. Although, before they could actually discuss the topic in more detail, a blue butterfly drifted past them. "Huh?"
"Was that..." Ren blinked, making sure he was seeing things right. The blue butterfly drifted past them and vanished, only for a familiar door to appear in its place.
"...You guys saw that too, right?" Zenkichi was trying to make sure he saw that correctly. "That's a door, right?"
"Maybe it leads out of this hellhole!" Mika said excitedly and rushed to the door.
"Wait, that's not...!" Ren tried to stop her, but it was too late; Mika rushed into the Velvet Room. Because of this, the others were to follow.
.
.
Zenkichi, Sophia, Mika, Ichinose, and Akechi never stepped foot into the Velvet Room before. Since it reflected the Guests' heart, they never would've known that this was a reflection of Ren. However, what was normally a prison cell, was instead an armory. "What the heck!? There are a bunch of machines all over the place. What happened?!" This was a far cry from what he expected.
"...I regret stepping foot in here." Not only did Mika have her hopes dashed, but this was just an awful place to be in.
"It's been a while..." A familiar voice spoke out to the group. Lavenza approached them, but she was wearing some kind of heavy duty apron on top of her usual attire. She greeted the group with a smile. "Welcome to the Velvet Room. This realm exist between dream and reality, between mind and matter."
"Lavenza..." Hifumi was happy to see a familiar face.
"Oh, she's here too..." Mika wasn't unhappy to see Lavenza. She had a lukewarm opinion about the Velvet attendant.
"Uh...who is this and where are we." Zenkichi had his eyes wide. Just when he thought he got used to the concept of the Metaverse, here came...this.
"Oh, right...you never actually met her, did you?" Ren rubbed the back of his neck. "This is Lavenza. You can think of her as a friend and an assistant. She's helped us out a few times. This room is where I usually came to strength my Personas. Although I'm still stuck with the one just now..."
"I see..." Zenkichi kind of understood. He looked at Lavenza, who just gave him a friendly smile. Despite her short stature, his instincts told him that this girl was not one to be messed with.
"How fascinating...!" Ichinose exclaimed suddenly.
"Based on your reaction earlier, I suppose this place has undergone some sort of transformation?" Akechi questioned, having never stepped foot in the Velvet Room before. "Is that what brings you here?"
"In a manner of speaking, yes." Lavenza replied. "The Velvet Room's interior reflects the guest's heart. In the case of the Trickster, Ren, it took the form of a prison. But in this case...it appears to have been affected by the same guidance of fate which has claimed yourselves. And this guiding hand...must be wielded by a being with significant power. However, I regret to inform you all that I do not know which being is responsible, nor their intentions."
"I'm rather sick of guiding hands." Akechi scowled.
"All I can say for certain is that our current situation deviates greatly from the natural course of events." Lavenza then frowned. "I admit that my carelessness led to being caught in this aberration and pulled from my master's side."
"Whoever this being is, they are also responsible for the chaotic state of this room." Lavenza looked to Ren. "It's as if...some force of negation has infected this place. This force has unfortunately affected you all as well, deepening the issue you currently face."
"Well, I have been feeling pretty off since we stepped foot in here." Ren admitted.
"Wait, so you're telling me this place is part of his heart or something?" Mika pointed at Ren.
In response, Lavenza nodded. "That is correct."
"Ew." Without a word other than that, Mika turned around and walked out with great haste.
"So, this force of negation is what's dragging us down." Akechi was taking note of that. The nature of this strange Metaverse was weighing down their ability to summon Personas. This was obvious, but now they had actual confirmation of it.
"A woman named Marie is in charge, and she called this place a Kingdom, or something..." Morgana sighed.
"Then I shall henceforth refer to that realm as a Kingdom." Lavenza simply stated. "Returning to our reality will be no easy feat. If we were to wait, it would be for an eternity."
"So our only option is to fight our way out." Hifumi said.
"This is nothing new for us, right?" Sophia looked to the others, and she did have a point.
"She's right. We've never given up before, and we're not going to now." Ren was glad everyone was at least on the same page there.
"And I will continue to assist in my role of aiding you all." Lavenza spoke with a smile. "But that is going to take a little bit of time. I'm afraid I'll have to ask you all to depart for the time being, as I still need to prepare some things in this room."
"Yeah, no problem." Ren said.
"Oh, wait! Before we leave..." Ichinose gestured at the additions to Lavenza's outfit. "That's a unique outfit you have there! Do you always dress like this?"
"Oh, no." Lavenza shook her head. "With the state of this room changing, I believed it would be prudent to wear something that fits the atmosphere." She turned around for a moment, before putting a welding mask on her face. "Does it suit me?" There was a long, awkward pause at how ridiculous Lavenza looked in this outfit.
"Y-Yeah, lookin' cool...!" Morgana said quickly.
"It pleases me to hear that." Even though it couldn't be seen, Lavenza was smiling from behind her mask. "We will meet again soon."
.
.
The group was out of the Velvet Room now. Unfortunately, the appearance of Lavenza currently did nothing to bolster their combat abilities. Morgana was really thinking about this. "We're weakened because of this strange Kingdom, and it's going to be harder to fight..."
"Yeah, I hate this place with every new bit of information we get." Mika sighed. This Kingdom was awful.
"Unfortunately, we do not have access to the expedited delivery service here." Sophia frowned. They could get anything they needed in the blink of an eye like that!
"Everyone, I have news!" The veteran Rebel from before hurried over. "While we were discussing our plan, someone in a mask approached and said they had something for you!"
"Someone in a mask?" Zenkichi furrowed his brow. That didn't sound suspicious.
"Over here!" The rebel gestured to the table nearby, where a multitude of guns were resting on it.
"Oh?" Akechi lifted a brow. "Weapons."
"Finally, now we're talking!" Mika excitedly grabbed the two twin machine guns. She wasn't going to fire them, but the look in her eyes did briefly worry everyone. "Ooooh...I can already tell these feel better than what I started with."
"Huh...the quality of these aren't bad at all." Zenkichi noted.
"It came with a letter, too." Erina said, opening the letter to read it. "It says... "Dear All, I have a solution regarding your current situation. I believe you are wondering how you may acquire additional weapons. However, the type of weapons you need are special. Ones that operate based on the cognitive nature of your abilities. It is nearly impossible to get your ands on such weapons in the Metaverse. For this, I have a proposition: allow me to make and prepare weapons for you."
"That's nice of them." Hifumi could already tell who the mysterious masked deliverer was.
"There's more." Sophia said.
"I believe you have something called 'online shopping' in your real world." Erina continued to read the letter, although some of these words were completely lost on her. "Following a similar system, you can place an order with me and I shall deliver the directly to you. P.S: Please note I will require payment for this service."
"WHAT!?" Mika gasped. "We have to pay her? Why!? What does she even need money for?!"
"That is how deals work. If you do not...I will unleash the flames of the apocalypse and they will consume you whole...leaving no ashes in their wake...!?" Erina gasped at the intensity of the words she was reading. "Hah! That's pretty brutal!"
"Geez..." Ren barely had the words. Nobody knew what to say to that, really. The sender of the letter was extremely serious.
"Wow. I should take notes." Ichinose tilted her head. That was one hell of a note to hear.
"Where are we supposed to get money here!?" Mika pinched the bridge of her nose.
"Oh, don't worry! I can show you my secret stash." Erina waved a hand. "It was meant to be the Rebel Corps War funds. But since we're in a partnership, I can see it would benefit everyone involved to let you have some of these funds."
"Thank you, Erina. We'll make good use of them..." Hifumi was grateful for this. Everyone was.
"But first!" Erina laid a map out in front of everyone. "Allow me to go over the current plan! Take a look at this map." This revealed that the entire city was surrounded by a large wall.
"The whole city is surrounded by this wall?" Hifumi asked.
"Yes." Erina said, pointing to the first circle on the map. "The hideout is marked here. We're in the part of the city that's a fair distance away from the castle. And here..." Her finger moved once more. "...Is the prision where Marie is holding your friends."
"How do we get there?" Sophia asked.
"Unfortunately, we can't just take the streets." Erina answered. "Security has gotten much tighter. They've been after me for ages, and now they're looking for all of you as well. You all don't exactly constitute as a small group either. So, I think the safest course of action is to make our way there along the castle's outer walls."
"Business as usual? Got it." Ren said with a small chuckle.
"But that's so reckless!" The veteran rebel gasped. "Just imagine what were to happen if you fell!"
"Don't worry about us. We're used to this sort of stunt." Morgana said confidently. "We don't call oursevles Phantom Thieves for nothing."
"You might be." Zenkichi quietly muttered. It wasn't that he wasn't used to parkouring in his Phantom Thief attire, but considering his age, it wasn't exactly the most enjoyable maneuver.
"Good!" Erina beamed. "It looks like this plan will play to your strengths, then!"
"I'll just stay here. I don't want to get in your way." Ichinose was curious to see how things played out...but she wasn't a fighter.
"Our rescue operation begins." Akechi leaned against the counter. "I hope you're all prepared to fight the others. I don't know how we'll break them free of Marie's control, but I'm already expecting every encounter to get ugly. You all need to as well."
"Mmm...I know..." Hifumi said with a slow nod. The others acknowledged this as well. "Hang in there, Ann. I'm coming to save you..." Ann sacrificed herself...if it wasn't for that, Hifumi wouldn't be here right now. So she had to repay her and return that favor.
.
.
Within Marie's wedding hall, she was growing impatient with the lack of news regarding the escaped Phantom Thieves. "Well? Have you found those rats for me?"
"Not yet, ma'am." A loyal Legionnaire shook his head. "But we have every last man combing the map for them!"
"Oh, I see!" Marie flipped her wedding veil. "Then every last man...IS ABSOLUTELY PATHETICI want those people at my feet, NOW!" She yelled, her rage evident.
Shaking in his boots, the legionnarie quickly ran off. "YES MADAM!"
Marie was still trembling in rage. "I swear, how can they be so USELESS!" With a groan, she takes a deep breath. "Just when the ceremony was falling into place, the vermin start crawling through the walls...All I need is the perfect wedding - then everything I've ever wanted will finally be within my grasp! And until that moment comes, anyone in my way is sure to regret it! Besides, it hasn't been allllllll bad." She looked over at the Phantom Thieves, who were not standing obidently in front of her. Even now, they continued to struggle. They had no idea how to break free of her mind control, but they weren't taking it laying down. "Ooooh playthings!"
"S-Screw off...!" Skull grunted, one eye clenched shut. Much like the others, Marie's voice was mixed in with his own. "We ain't...doing a damn thing you say...agh...!"
"That's not what I wanted to hear!" Marie scowled...but her lips then shifted into a sinister smile. "But that's okay. If I need to break you all a little more in order for you listen, that's perfectly fine with me! Either way, you will listen to me one way or another." And as she spoke, the intensity of her domination over their minds.
"AGGGGGGGH!" Everyone cried out in agony.
"Ohohohohoho!" Marie laughed at the suffering of the Phantom Thieves. She would stamp out their defiance and take great joy in every second of it! "I'm in the mood to try out my new toys!" She looked to Panther, Oracle, and Violet. She'd try them out first! "Those defiant brats who escaped...you are to find them and bring them to me. I want them alive, got it!"
"..." Panther shook her head. Hifumi was on her mind and she didn't want to hurt her. She couldn't.
"Got. It?" Marie repeated herself.
"Your wish is our command, Great Lady Marie." The Phantom Thieves all said in unison. Every second they spent in Marie's thrall, was another second they were losing their own minds. But even now, they were still trying to fight. Marie was just in their heads.
"Good toys!" Marie laughed. "You all know your positions! So get going right now. Do not come back to me unless you've got one of those brats!" The Phantom Thieves then fanned out as instructed. Once they did, she thought back to those defiant looks that Joker, Dragon, Mona, Crow, and Viper had. It irritated her to no end. "And this time, I'll crush them all in front of their friends! Then they'll learn to never defy me again! Ahahahaha...ahahahahaha!" Marie's sinister laugh echoed through the halls of her castle.
Nothing would stop the perfect wedding she had in store.