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

8/27

Akira frowned as a lockpick broke, for the first time he failed at picking a lock. Sure, he had never tried doors in the past and never had a real reason to, after all, but he did not want to deal with a blood-red Shadow for Haru's first time with a regular fight.

His bond with Hakuno improved his Magic Eyes, and he gathered that the Shadow was almost as strong as his strongest Persona at least level-wise. Thinking that he had sunk a good amount of his funds into it was a terrifying prospect unless they got lucky in it being strong but frail.

But.

He was Joker, their leader.

"Alright, let's swing back and check out that guard room." God, it irked him when he knew he could do it. Just a few more picks…

But that was their last lockpick, the stupid materials to get the 'unbreakable' one Morgana knew was almost complete, although he had a feeling Hakuno had been squirreling away a few of the items he needed.

"Told ya, Joker," He rolled his eyes at his gremlin of a sister's voice, "Behind that boss I'm Ninety Percent certain is the train terminal. It would be terrible game design for that door to be picked."

Akira shrugged, it was worth the shot though.

"Alright, reserve team, eyes on the Savage Shadow?"

"Sniping positions set! Ready when you are!" At least Morgana listened to his advice, his favorite cat has been growing antsy when he doesn't have a task lately. He tries to hide it but Akira can see through him easily.

But if his not-a-cat cat didn't want to talk about it, he wouldn't push it. However, he could do without the claws digging into him in the middle of the night.

His frontal team quickly jogged over to where the Shadow stood guard, no point in trying to hide and get an ambush, he flicked his mind to his current strongest Persona. Without knowing what they were up against it's best to rush it with Almighty.

"Alright, team…" Futaba's voice crackled over their earpieces. His eyes flicked towards Haru, who was holding her gun weirdly, but he didn't have a clue how to use a grenade launcher.

"Go!"

"Morgan!" The Goddess's blade flashed as the Shadow Ticket Inspector used his clipboard to dull the attack before dissolving into black goop and a torso inside of a tree took his place, and was quickly bombarded by the back team's guns… And Hakuno's digital magic.

"Hehe!" Necronomicon flickered from green to red as it scanned the Shadow above them, "Temp name, Tree of Life! Expect it to have heals and light skills! Probably!"

As soon as the gremlin spoke over her speakers, swords of light flew toward the snipers and himself. His backflip let him dodge the swords and embed them into the ground. He felt a few small explosions and a slight laughter that made him slightly wary, but a glance behind him showed it was Haru blasting the swords with her gun.

Alright a battle maniac, he can work with that.

A green light emerged from the roots of the Shadow as Akira clicked his tongue, "It seems immobile Fox, begin chopping! And Panther keep firing!" Although the manic glee in Ann's eyes easily told him he didn't have to tell her.

"Pers-" A shriek emitted from the fluffy-haired girl, not one of fear but of pain.

"Noir!?" Akira could only spare a glance backward, Haru was clutching her head and her grenade launcher was on the floor. He clicked his tongue as the Tree of Life fired half a dozen lightning bolts giving him no time to help. He so wished he got rid of this weakness of his Persona but he didn't have the right cards, but… he knew who could help.

"Queen aid Noir!" He wasn't sure what was happening back there but Queen could figure it out, she was one-third of the brains of their operation and a fantastic healer. He needed to keep the dang Shadow focused on him then. A torrent of curse energy near him burned the Tree of Life Shadow which shrieked as he stood in front of it slicing at it with increased agility, his dagger slicing through the Shadow alongside Yusuke whose dance was covered in frost. Green light flickered around the Tree as Hakuno's Curse spells ignited with an increased fury.

Blades of light came soaring at him but he didn't need to worry, "Neko Shogun!" Purple energy blasted the blades from soaring past him and he just took the blades that were aimed at him.

Neko Shogun was his Anti-Bless Persona after all.

Huh, this was going easier than he thought. A torrent of flames roared from underneath the Shadow, the Shadow flashed green once more but the combination of red and black fire burnt the Shadow to dust.

A lot easier, maybe they should only limit them all going out on bosses, Calamity Shadows aren't that deadly anymore, they had a lot better coordination and if worst came to it, Futaba could shift the battlefield in a way to help them.

He turned around, Haru was clutching her head, a slight amount of blood leaking from her nose, which… was new.

"Are you alright?" Hakuno kneeled beside her, and another one of her strange magics flowed into Haru who was taking deep breaths.

"I'm… fine… I can keep going. My Persona just didn't respond." That… how was that even possible?

Hakuno frowned at Haru's utterance, seeing her collapse clutching her head was honestly terrifying. The fluffy heiress was putting on a brave face as Hakuno wormed her Code Cast and checked the damage.

The scariest part?

She couldn't find any.

From her understanding the Core, being her Persona was still ice cold not showing any signs of activity. It was almost like she didn't have one. But that would be impossible, as Hakuno herself was in the same boat and Avenger still responded to her commands even if their contract was a bit different than everyone else's. Hakuno needed more data but they just didn't have any way to test these sorts of things.

"Alright, we will keep going." Akira's order caused Hakuno to slowly nod as she helped Haru stand. She wasn't happy about having an injured party, but hopefully, as long as Haru didn't try and summon her 'Persona' she wouldn't fall to the floor again.

"Thank you." Haru smiled up at her, "I'm sorry I'm dragging you down aren't I?" Haru's voice was soft, and she was sure that only the four of them near her could hear. Before any of them could speak up Morgana walked up to her.

"We all have problems in the beginning." Morgana patted her hand, "Well except me, but I just know you'll get the hang of it!" Probably the best the not-cat could think of.

"Awe thank you, Mona." Haru patted the not-a-cat on the head, "Please keep helping me." Morgana saluted in the most adorable way that Hakuno wanted to pet him.

"I want to learn everything about how you guys figure this stuff out! It's so exciting!"

But, she held it in to let her mind ponder, Hakuno for a moment thought she saw a large being appear behind Haru when she tried to do a summon, mimicking the action that Hakuno did, but she only saw it for a brief moment.

Perhaps she hasn't signed a contract with a Servant? This… honestly is too confusing for her.

In the time it took for them to take a breather, Futaba walked out of the room the Shadow was guarding with a large, adorable, smile on her face. "Got the keys! We can keep going!"

Good, she was looking forward to entering the Palace proper, this has to be the first time they've entered a Palace and had such a long time actually getting into the main distortion. Half the Palace being an old western town and a train station made it just annoying.

Backtracking to the locked door Hakuno kept a closer eye on Haru, but the brunette was just smiling and speaking lowly to Morgana, the not-cat doing exaggerated movements with a large smile on his face.

She was happy that the two were hitting it off, and maybe this could help Morgana from opening up about what's been troubling him, she doesn't spend a lot of time with the faux feline but he has been upset to the point she can figure it out.

And according to Akira, she was pretty dense at that stuff.

The previously locked door opened without a problem and the entire team filed in and honestly, Hakuno was impressed. The train before them was sleek and shiny completely futuristic to the point that she wouldn't have been surprised to see it in one of Futaba's Sci-Fi movies, they couldn't see the end of the train but they could see what she hoped was the majority.

The light blue energy filtering through the cables attached to it was strange and gave her a vague remembrance as it was the same light blue from her previous life, but even Yusuke had a painting or two with that color.

She could faintly see a run-down train on the other side of the futuristic train, but she had an inkling they needed to go on the future train and not the one that only had the frontal cab thing.

"Huh, this looks like the model my dad has in his office…" Haru's utterance made Hakuno remember that the guy was involved with Haru's father, an older connection but one that might still be impacting him. But… Hakuno could faintly make out a few strange words flowing through the cabling pulsing on the train, sadly not able to read them but enough to notice they existed.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Ryuji shrugged, and Hakuno agreed with him, the sooner they were out of this Palace the better, it felt like they'd been dealing with this Palace for months not a single week.

The inside of the cab they boarded was wider than it was on the outside, somehow, and distinctly lacked any seating. The cabling interesting enough seemed to snake inside and now that Hakuno could see them closer they appeared to be… words? Hakuno wasn't sure enough as they moved too fast for her to focus but distinctly got that feeling. Hakuno felt a shift as the train car started moving.

Well, that made things possibly harder… But that's for future them to worry about.

"Alright, Oracle and Mona sense any Safe Rooms or the last Will seed nearby?"

Mona rubbed his face. "We are pretty close to the Seed, not sure where it is though."

"Nah, no Safe room." Futaba rocked on her feet, "Ceilings a bit low for Necro, might make giving support a bit hard but I'll try."

"Alright, the Advance team will enter and give the all-clear, Noir until we figure out what's wrong with your Persona stay in the backline and focus on your… grenade launcher, Magus can give you some hand grenades that she has." Hakuno only needed a moment to bring out a small selection, a pair for each element except for Almighty. She only had the lone bomb and wanted to keep it for… reasons.

"Thank you." Noir put them... Somewhere, Hakuno wasn't sure in a blink of an eye they disappeared.

The first two train cars didn't have anything worth noting, the cabling continued and there were a few empty boxes that had blank poster paper but that was it. She did notice Yusuke pocketing a few packets and putting them… somewhere. Pockets were really weird in the Metaverse...

"Hey, why are their kids on this train?" The entire team froze as the door to the next car opened and standing in a full pure white train conductor's uniform stood Hyouma Sagara, or at least due to the dull yellow eyes of his Shadow, and he was flanked by two Ticket Operators in Riot gear.

"My liege!" One of the ticket operators saluted as the Palace Ruler clicked his tongue.

"Get rid of these pests, they are not allowed to continue into my future."

"At once!" The Shadows turned into goop as Two Ravens wearing an old uniform wielding swords appeared alongside a lion man riding a kelpie with a snake for hindlegs.

"Stay back we got this!" Akira's voice resounded through their comms.

Hakuno nodded as she ushered the three others back into the previous cab, "Wait!" Futaba's voice reached them too late. Hakuno felt herself frowning as she spotted a trio of winged wolves in sight and growling.

"Noir, focus on range, stay close to the door! Mona, Fox focus on melee!" Hakuno ripped her mask off as Avenger's Claws elongated as he dashed forward.

The wolf's teeth bared down at Yusuke who flicked his blade to counter, beside him, Morgana was like the wind his scimitar spinning almost comically as he blurred with a green tinge slashing into the same wolf.

Hakuno felt her energy drain as Avenger's claws raked across one while Haru blasted the other with her grenade launcher before tossing a hand grenade the wolf lightning up as it got an impromptu bath of fire.

Hakuno concentrated and Avenger blasted the terror-struck flying wolf with cursed flames, and a large ice spike jutted out of the ground lancing into both the one Hakuno and Haru were dealing with turning them into ash.

Hakuno huffed as she blew a strand of hair out of her face, "That was…"

"Exhilarating!" Haru's statement made Hakuno only pause for a second before she shrugged her shoulders. It wasn't the word she was going to say but it could be worse.

She glanced behind them and saw the Advanced team was already wrapping up their own combat, with only a lone fancy raven left that Akria was talking to. Hakuno released a breath she didn't know she was holding as she decided that it might take a few more minutes before Akira could convince the Shadow to join him and decided to look closer at the strange digitalized blue cabling, and could make out a single word that flowed.

Himari Sakamoto

Hakuno frowned, was that Ryuji's mom? The kanji was the same as Ryuji's but Hakuno had never asked his mother's name before so she couldn't be sure… and asking during a Palace was something they didn't do so she filed that thought away for later.

"Passage is clear, let's keep going."

Hakuno motioned for Haru to follow, she really should make an earpiece for the brunette soon, "How are you holding up?"

Haru gave Hakuno a small smile, "Oh, I'm fine a bit tired but I can keep going… how do you know what time it is? I tried my cell phone but it wasn't working right…"

Hakuno shrugged, "Oracle keeps track of it now before that Joker did… somehow. I think the Twins told him whenever he encountered them."

"Twins?"

"Two small wardens protecting and empowering our Leader's heart." Yusuke nodded, "They are as fierce as they are caring… I believe Skull mentioned that they are

'Tsune?"

"...Yeah, they might show themselves eventually." Hakuno was surprised she hadn't seen them in this Palace but perhaps they were having a day off to do… whatever they do when they aren't busy.

Hakuno made a note to ask them about it.

"Alright…" Haru grimaced slightly.

The next train car seemed to be a sort of… printing press, at least the start of one, maybe this is where the posters from before were made? Strange that it was so close to his heart.

A Palace was usually a representation of what they saw the place of distortion was…

Hakuno hummed as she helped Haru hide from a Shadow that respawned, they didn't need to fight it as long as they dashed and hid behind a crate.

Perhaps the train represented him leaving the MEXT? But if so where was he leaving to? He keeps mentioning 'His Future' is he using it as a springboard for something else?

"Come into the next cart." Hakuno frowned at the sigh that came from Futaba as she spoke.

The next train cart didn't have a door at the end and seemed almost slightly dilapidated compared to the pristineness of the previous cars.

"Huh…" Hakuno frowned at the clear indentation of where a door should be but wasn't. "Is this a mental block like Oracle or Kaneshiro's Palace?"

"Nope…" Futaba muttered, "I don't think so, not that I was there at that time but there is a door to this room on the other side that might open this side…" Hakuno glanced out of the nearby clouded window just… maybe…

The window slid open without any resistance and Hakuno could finally see that somehow they were leagues above the ground flying in the air. With a mental flick, Avenger sprung to life outside, somehow keeping pace with the moving train at least until he turned back into her mask after a few moments.

"I might be able to do this."

Futaba frowned as she analyzed the statistics of Hakuno's Persona, it might work… or might get them killed she wasn't too sure but she trusted that Hakuno wouldn't recommend this without believing in herself.

But then again, Morgana's a sort of cat and can turn into a car to survive the fall, by far is the lightest one of them and he is super good at hiding. So if any of them could be brought over it had to be him.

"...Are you sure this is going to work?" Morgana's ear twitched as he held onto the rope, Hakuno pumped her fists and practically had stars in her eyes as she nodded in response.

She was so dang-

Focus Futaba, Focus.

"Ok, the next window's already been opened and is just within Avenger's range we need you to get in there and give us the all-clear before we bring more people in." Hakuno mumbled as she tied the rope around Morgana, "He can only last a few seconds after he shoves you in. If you need help I'll try and melt through this door with his skill."

"...Alright. Oracle, keep an eye on me ok?" Morgana swallowed deeply before looking up at her with his big ole eyes that she couldn't help but want to smoosh but she knew better than to do it now.

That will be for after the Palace.

Mwehehehe.

Hakuno's Persona/Servant was summoned and picked Morgana up by the scruff of his neck "Waittt!"

Author's Note: Well, was going to try and finish the Palace in this chapter but couldn't as I felt it was well long enough and there is still around two-thirds of a chapter left for it ;.;
Anyways, hope ya'll enjoy it!