Chapter Text
“Get up… We have to get up,” Mona groans, trying to pull himself out of the pile of Thieves.
They can all hear Kamoshida’s sick laughter. “Trespassers and Thieves? You four are truly hopeless,” he then turns to his army of Shadows; Pixies, Bicorns, Kelpies, Succubi, Incubi, and a bunch of other monsters give him their full attention. “Send them to the dungeons in different sections and in different cells. Make sure they can’t see or talk to each other.”
The Shadows all move at once toward the Thieves as Kamoshida leaves the secret room. A variety of different sized hands grab at hair and limbs as horned and hooved pushes force the Thieves onto their feet and continually pushing them through the hallways.
“Hey! What do you think you’re doing!?” Panther cries as an Incubus starts getting a little too handsy.
“Don’t touch her!” Skull screams, trying to break free of the grasp of the two Andrases that held him. He thrashed and kicked, finally able to kick off his mask. “Captain Kidd!” He yells out as the great pirate manifests in his full glory. Skulls keeps his head ducked low to conceal his identity from the Shadows. “Mazio!”
A shower of sparks rained down from the ceiling, striking several Shadows and even knocking down a few Bicorns. The Incubus let go of Panther giving her the time she needed to rip off her own mask.
“Come, Carmen!” She screams, using her hand to block her identity with Carmen standing elegantly behind her
A Silky that had been restraining Mona let go and blast a Bufu at Panther. Not expecting a retaliation from the stunned Shadows, Panther was knocked off her feet from the blast and Carmen once again became a mask on Panther’s elegant face.
The Shadows started dispersing to separate parts of the dungeon, keeping their respective prisoners with them.
“Joker!” Mona cried out as he was the first to be pulled away. His arms were being restrained by some Succubi that prevented him from ripping off his mask or going for one of his weapons, they also giggled at his pitiful attempts of fighting back.
“Joker!” Skull screamed as his friend was dragged into a cell by the winged seductress.
“We’ll come get you! We’ll save—” Panther tried to say before she was dragged into a new direction across a river via a drawbridge. “Stop, let me go!” She screams against the Cat Saiths and Incubi that dragged her to an open cell.
“Panther, no!” Skull yells. In a fit of adrenaline, he roundhouse kicks one of the Andrases holding him and bolts towards his partner.
“Not so fast, Thief!” Out of nowhere, an Angel appears and puts a bless attack between Skull and Panther. Skull is forced to watch as Panther is dragged into her cell.
The Angel sends another blessed attack towards the stunned boy, hitting him square in the chest and sends him plummeting into the rushing water below.
“SKULL!” Mona and Panther yell as they watch their friend being taken away by the rough current. The two Andrases take flight in an attempt to catch the boy, but the current is too fast and sweeps him under the grates in the walls and into the sewer system.
“He won’t survive. He’ll drown down there. Be a waste of time to fetch him,” one of the Andrases say as they fly back to the hoard of Shadows.
Mona is dragged off to his own cell by some Silkies. There’s no strength left in him as they literally throw him into the cage and slam the door. Back in a cell, once again, in this cursed Palace. Except now he was separated from his only friends and soon to be executed. And on top of that, he just watched one of his friends already be sent to a watery grave before his very own eyes. Morgana curls up in the corner of the cell as silent tears hit the dusty, stone floor beneath him.
---
Skull was tossed about on the water like a barrel in a raging storm in the sea. Several times he was crushed against walls and pipes he couldn’t see thanks to the vicious current. His body tossed about every which way before finally falling from a great height and landing in a pool of water.
It’s too dark to see and his air supply is little with his head under the water. Skull kicks and swims in a direction he hopes is up. He runs out of air and begins to choke on water that is quick to fill his lungs. Then in a miracle, the water lets him go and his head is above water. He coughs and spits out water as he struggles to keep himself afloat. He can’t see anything in the dark sewer and can only hear his coughing fit and the waterfall he fell from. Still coughing and gasping for air, Skull swims in the direction away from the pounding waterfall.
His hands hit something solid and he pulls himself up to a dark surface. He drags his waterlogged body out of the murk and rests on his back, continuing to spit up water and take in air. His head pounds from hitting so many objects on his way down.
“Guys,” Skull sputters, pitifully rolling onto his stomach and elbows. “Guys, are you al—” he stops himself, then he remembers. He’s alone. All of his friends were imprisoned and he escaped only by accident.
He rests his head on the hard surface that made up the floor and groaned. How was he going to get back to his teammates? How were they going to escape? What if they couldn’t make it out? What about (Y/n)? Locked away into the bowels of the castle with Kamoshida himself.
Skull tried not to cry. To stand up and thrash about in a fit of rage. But he did pound his fist against the floor and screamed. “Damn you, Kamoshida! Damn you! Damn you and all you’ve ever done!” He yells, not caring who hears his anger.
It takes him a few minutes to return back to earth and mellow out. “They’d be so disappointed in me,” Skull mutters, remising on his teammates. With shaky balance he stands back up onto his feet. Thankfully his bum leg was doing pretty okay for what he just endured. “Now how do I get out of here?”
The room was nearly pitch black, but thankfully Skull’s eyes had adapted to the dark. He was on some kind of dry zone in the sewer. If there was say a flood, then the whole area would be covered in water. But with their being no influx this little part of the sewer was revealed. There was trash piled up in places with other things he didn’t want to look too deep into. But off to the side was another grate.
He walked over to it, and shifting his balance onto his bad leg, he used his good leg to give the grate a mighty kick. It budged and scuffed against the stone, but didn’t open. Skull kicked it again, and again, then finally the grate flung back into the darkness. If he just hunched a bit, he could crawl into this hole and hope it took him up. He didn’t really have any other choice as this seemed to be the only way out.
“Be careful,” Captain Kidd warned inside his head.
“I’m gonna try my best,” Skull mumbled, not really feeling all that confident in his ability right now.
Getting onto his hands and knees, Skull dove head first into this little hole in the wall. The tunnel smelled like rot and death as he was forced to crawl in the dark, feeling for any new passages like a blind animal. The gunk staining his gloves and knee pads could only be one thing, considering this was a sewer, but Skull really did not want to think about that right now.
After crawling for a few minutes in the dark, the texture of the tunnel had changed. What was once stone had seemed to become wood. Skull felt around him, a full 360 degrees, and sure enough, the tunnel had turned to wood for whatever reason.
“I hate this,” Skull complained to no one as he continued to push forward.
But with a creak that left no time to react, the old and wet wood under Skull groaned before splintering and dropping the boy. He screamed and thrashed as he fell. He fell what could have only been two seconds before becoming aquatinted with the hard ground, belly first. The air was knocked out of Skull as he lied there, simply just trying to breathe.
Slowly, he twitched each limb. Starting with his fingers, to his writs, to his elbows, then to his arms. Then to his toes, to his ankles, to his knees, then his legs. Thankfully nothing was broken, but his bum leg was out of commission, he wouldn’t be able to run or escape from any danger in this condition. Just his luck.
Skull finally opened his tired eyes, and right in front of him just a few paces away was a small little vent. Without daring to stand and possibly smack his head on a low ceiling, Skull crawled to the vent and peaked through the bars. Inside looked like a dimly lit dungeon, but thankfully the pink torches continued to glow. Broken suits of armor and tattered banners were caked in dust. Smashed crates and dead roses covered the floor with small bones and layers upon layers of dust and other dirt.
Bringing back his arm, Skull formed a fist and punched the vent with all he could muster. His pitiful strength did nearly nothing, but the iron on his knuckles of his Thief uniform was coming in handy. Again and again, he punched the vent. It took several attempts, but finally the vent was weak enough and gave away. Skull put his hands on each side of the opening and pulled himself through. Despite the beyond dusty and surely hazardous breathing space, it was so much better than the sewer.
His body ached and his muscles burned as he forced himself through the tiny crawl space. Despite being a lean teen, Skull’s hips get stuck in the tiny crawl space, partly to do because of the plating of his Thief attire.
“You’ve gotta be kidding me,” Skull grumbled as his head hit the floor. He’s exhausted, and though this was just a very tiny inconvenience, the burden felt heavier than it should have been.
Putting both hands to the wall, Skull uses the remaining of his dwindling strength to push himself out of the wall. Once his hips finally scrape through, he drops back to the floor like a pitiful worm, with his boots still in the wall.
”Come on, get up,” Captain Kidd urged. “The others need you.”
Skull groaned against the floor, his noise being muffled by the filthy tiles before finally pulling his feet through the vent and rising to his sore and tired legs. He rested a majority of his weight against the wall as he walked, his bum leg completely useless. There were some stairs in front of him to the left, down a short hallway. Skull limped his way over and struggled up the stairs, practically pulling himself the entire way with the rail.
At the top of the stairs, he arrived in an entry and exit way to the dungeon. He was on the right track, but Kamoshida loved keeping prisoners, so therefore, he had a very large dungeon. The Thieves could be anywhere. As tempting as it was to call and yell for his friends to find their location, doing so would be suicidal. Guards would get to him immediately and surely kill him, as Skull was in no condition to fight.
So, he snuck through the shadows, just like Mona had showed him when they first met. He never took to it immediately like Joker did, but he was at least decent at it. And it was much better than just walking out in the open. However, his safety in the dark had not lasted long. His way had led him to a down drawbridge. Which had no shadows on it. He’d have to cross it in the open and risk being seen. But there was no other way around the rushing current that separated Skull from his friends. And he really, really, really did not want to get caught in that current again.
Checking to see if there were any Shadows around, Skull bolted across the bridge. Or at least he tried. It was really just an awkward and hasty hobble to safety. But Skull was too hasty, and instead of elegantly becoming one with the shadows once again, he accidentally crashed into a barrel full of swords, causing the weapons to spill and clatter loudly onto the ground. The crashing of metal against stone echoed loudly through the dungeons, swiftly followed by the pounding footsteps of living steel.
Skull bundled himself into a ball in the shadows and put a hand over his mouth to prevent any sound from escaping, hoping the Shadows wouldn’t notice.
Two knights appear from a corridor and investigate the fallen weaponry. “How did this happen?” one asks.
“I don’t know. We don’t have another roaming prisoner, do we?” the other asked.
“We shouldn’t. That blonde thief got caught in the river earlier and was dragged down to the sewer. But there’s no way he could have survived, let alone get out of the sewer.”
“We don’t know for certain though. Go down to the sewers. If you find him, kill him. I’ll stay up here and patrol. But no matter what you do, don’t let him get to the Southern corridor. King Kamoshida does not know that one has escaped imprisonment.”
“Understood,” one suit of armor speaks before going across the bridge and down to the stairwell Skull had come from. The remaining suit of armor goes back the direction it came from.
Is it going to the Southern corridor? They sure made it sound like that’s where the others are, but how can you tell what’s North and what’s South in this labyrinth of a place?
Trying to be as quiet as possible, Skull follows the Shadow from a distance in the shadows. It takes several turns before coming up to another exposed bridge. Unfortunately, it crosses. Skull waits until the Shadow has walked away from the bridge before awkwardly hobbling over himself. When he makes it to the other side, he’s realized he’s lost his guide, but it’s better than getting caught.
He walks through the shadows for an unknown amount of time, checking prison cells that might contain his friends, but all searches come up empty. Skull growls in frustration as he approaches yet another drawbridge. How many of these has he crossed? How long has he been searching? What if he’s been going in circles this entire time?
”Do not yet give up,” Captain Kidd continues to try and motivate.
“I won’t, I won’t,” Skull quietly mumbles. “I don’t have the option to quit anyway.”
So once again checking for any guards, Skull hobbles across the bridge and takes a right to find exactly what he’s looking for. A few cells to his right is none other than Joker, shackled by his wrists and ankles to the wall. His head is ducked down in defeat, his messy black hair draping into his eyes. Skull swiftly hobbles over in the darkness to his leader.
“Joker!” He says excitedly, but quietly. At least quiet for Skull.
Joker whips his head up and his facial expression turns that to one of beaming hope. “Skull!” He returns with as much enthusiasm.
“Hang on, I’ll get you out of here,” Skull says, getting ready to charge at the cell door.
“Don’t,” Joker instructs, and Skull stops to look at his leader for guidance. “Get as close as you can, and hold your hands out.”
Skull does what he is told, pushing his face into the bars and trying to squeeze his shoulders through as well. Joker’s facial expression contorts and his cheeks puff awkwardly and flex.
“Dude, are you okay?” Skull asks out of genuine concern.
He doesn’t get a verbal response, but soon, Joker pull out a lockpick into his front teeth that he’s been hiding in his mouth. “Do noff droff phish,” Joker says sternly, the lockpick distorting his language.
Skull nods and Joker whips his head from the side to send the lockpick flying. It’s hard to see the black pick in the dark and damp of the dungeons, but Skull feels it bounce right out of his open palm. He sees it clearly against the yellow of his gloves as it bounces and dives for it again. He hits his head hard against the bars but is able to catch the lockpick before it clatters to the ground.
“Okay! I got it! Now how do I use it?” he asks.
“Put it in the lock and gently move it around until it feels like it’s traveling a path. You might have to turn it and adjust it some. But be gentle, that’s the only pick I have,” Joker warns from his iron binds.
Skull nods and puts the pick into the lock, a nervous cold sweat dripping down his forehead. If he broke this pick, things would be so much harder for all of them.
Skull tried to do exactly as Joker had told him, trying to guide the pick in a path in the lock. He got stuck a few times, but with some gentle wiggling and twisting the pick he got it past the blockade until an audible click was heard. The door squealed on its hinges as Skull removed the lockpick and ran into the cell.
“Good work, Skull,” Joker compliments as his friend runs to his side. “Now do the same to one of the wrist shackles.”
Skull nods and puts the lock into one of the large keyholes of Joker’s shackles. This lock was more difficult. Skull had to have his hands high above his head, making it difficult to see the lockpick, which meant he had to go even slower to feel for any blockades. Going too fast would surely break the pick now more than ever. And to make things worse, this kind of lock was different. It required what looked like a skeleton key, and this tiny lockpick felt janky and loose in the giant lock.
Skull cursed in frustration as his arms were getting sore and the lock still hadn’t come undone yet. “I can’t find any path,” he complains to Joker.
“Did you put the pick in deep enough? It’s a larger lock, you’re going to have to push more of the pick into the lock than the one on the door.”
Skull tried just that, and sure enough, the pick had managed to find a path. Except now he was holding onto the pick by his fingertips and standing on his toes. Skull took deep breaths to calm his pounding heart and try and stay focused as he guided the pick inside the lock until the sweet sound of a heavy click rung through the cell.
Joker pulled his hand free and the now empty shackle hung helplessly against the wall. Joker, using his now free hand, retrieved the pick from the lock. “Good going Skull, but I’ve got it from here.”
Skull was more than happy to take a step back and watch his leader miraculously pick the remaining three locks in record time without breaking the pick.
Joker stretches his limbs and pops his back against the wall followed by a sigh of relief. “Have you found any of the others?” He asks.
“No, but I saw where they took Panther before I got swept into the current.”
That made Joker pause. “What?”
“Oh yeah! Dude, I fell into the water and like fell into the sewer system, but I totally crawled out to come save you all!” Skull says, puffing his chest out in pride.
Joker looks at him in a mix of surprise and awe. “Are you hurt anywhere?”
“Yeah, I fell pretty hard onto something solid. I can’t run, and I definitely can’t fight.”
Joker then notices how his companion is supporting most of his weight against the wall. Sure enough, if they got caught, Joker was going to have to do all the heavy lifting in combat. “Come on then, I’ll help you,” Joker says as he walks over to Skull and slings one of the boy’s arms over his shoulders. The two walk out of the cell and into the safety of the shadows as Skull guides Joker to Panther’s prison.
“Across that bridge,” Skull instructs as they approach a drawbridge to their left.
Joker squinted, and sure enough, Panther’s bright red Thief attire made her easy to see. Only problem was, the drawbridge was up, and the switch to lower it was on the other side of the current.
“Hold on tight!” Joker instructs as he wraps his arm around Skull waste.
“Dude, what are you do—” Skull didn’t have time to ask his question as Joker shot his grappling hook from the mechanism attached on his wrist.
The hook sank into wood of the drawbridge and Joker leapt across the current. Skull put a hand over his mouth to stop him from screaming as their boots dipped into the water as they swung across the gap. They landed on the other side without a scrap, except some possible PTSD for Skull. Panther, being alerted to the sound of two sets of boots hitting stone, looks up to see her fellow Thieves.
“Guys!” She says in a quiet, excited yell, running up to the bars of her cell. “You’re here! How did you get out?” She then looks over to Skull. “How did you even survive!?”
“We’ll explain in a little bit,” Joker says as he swiftly pulls back his grappling hook and starts using the single lockpick on Panther’s cell. “We have to hurry before someone finds us. Do you know where Mona is?”
“No, I don’t. I didn’t see him when they—”
“Halt, Thieves!”
The three Thieves whip their heads around and see three suits of armor down the hall, approaching them quickly. With Skull out of commission, Panther still in her cell, and Joker trying to bust her out, they were no more than sitting ducks.
“Get out of the way!” Panther yells, her hand to her mask.
Skull grabs Joker by the shoulders and they both duck to the side of the wall.
“Show us your strength, Carmen!” Panther yells as a flash of blue light emerges from her cell. A fireball is then shot out of the cell, bursting and melting the bars. Panther elegantly walks out of her cell, with her mask on her face and her whip in her hands.
“Why didn’t you just do that earlier!?” Skull yells.
“Because we weren’t being pursued earlier!” She yells back.
The Shadows approach and contort in painful ways. The grinding of their steel suits and the breaking of bones can be heard until an explosion of black and red reveal who they truly are. In the middle is a mighty Berith with two Bicorn minions. This would not be an easy fight.
Joker is quick to come to the front lines, his white mask beginning to glow blue as he sorts through his Personas. “Genbu!” He cries out, finally ripping off his mask.
The turtle with a dragon tail stands behind Joker, its face turned into a deep scowl. “Bufu onto Berith!” Joker cries.
The Persona manifests small ice particles around the Berith that shatter and splinter, hitting the beast’s weakness and knocking it down.
“Come on! Now’s our chance to run!” Joker yells as he turns to fetch Skull.
One Bicorn is desperately trying to get the Berith back onto its feet as the other Bicorn charges at the Thieves in a fit of rage. Panther, thinking on her feet, uses her whip to grab the Bicorn by its horns. Using her body weight, she flings it over the side and into the rushing current. The Bicorn, having lost its momentum and balance, plummets into the water and is quickly taken away by the rushing river, it’s terrified and angry screams echoing off the stone.
The Thieves run away from the remaining Shadows and hope they can find Mona before the Shadows catch up.
“Mona!” Panther yells, trying to get him to call back.
“Mona where are you!?” Skull joins in.
A small ‘over here’ can be heard down a corridor and the Thieves run down it. There a few cells down is their trapped companion.
“What’s happening? How did you all get out? What’s with all the commotion?” Mona asks in a blur of questions. He too also looks at the injured Skull just like Panther did. “You’re alive!?”
“There’s no time!” Skull says, bracing his knee. He’s in a lot of pain.
“Stop there, Thieves!” The pounding of hooves resonated off walls with the cry from the Berith. They were almost here.
“Move Mona!” Panther yells, having already called Carmen.
The cat-like creature barely has any time to scramble out of the way as a large fireball completely decimates his cell. Mona is quick to run out with his bandana on fire.
“A little more warning would have been appreciated!” He yells, patting out the small flame on his bandana.
“Just shut up!” Panther yells, grabbing him by the bandana and running off with Skull and Joker. Mona let out a distressed cat sound as he was suddenly pulled around like a sack of potatoes.
“How do we get out of here, Mona!?” Joker yells, the anxiety finally breaking his cool and collected façade.
“Let me go first!” The cat yells, jumping out of Panther’s grasp and onto his own feet. “Such amateurs,” he mutters under his breathing before focusing his inner self. “Come, Zorro!”
A muscular man who has skipped leg day appears behind Mona with his fencing sword in hand and his cape waving valiantly. Both Persona and Persona user stare down the enemies coming straight for them.
“What are you doing cat!?” Skull yells from the background.
“Blow them all back with Magaru, Zorro!”
Zorro whips his sword around, summoning small tornadoes and sending them straight towards the enemies. The suits of armor and the bicorn get blown back a good distance but the Berith only staggered, quickly resuming its charge at the Thieves.
“Never mind! Fall back!” Mona yells as he rejoins the Thieves to continue their fleeing.
The Thieves run, picking random directions and praying they’ll find a flight of stairs. The Berith is only getting closer to them and carrying Skull around is massively slowing them down.
“Over there!” Joker yells. To their right and down a long hallway is exactly what their looking for, some stairs going up. Problem is, it’s blocked by a guard holding fast.
“Get out of our way!” Skull screams at the knight, ripping off his mask. “Lunge, Kidd!”
The mighty pirate flaring to life charges right at the knight head first. Though the mask of the knight has no facial expression, you can practically feel the surprise the Shadow might be feeling as it swiftly raises its shield in a pitiful attempt to protect itself. Captain Kidd knocks the Shadow right off its feet in a hearty shove, sending the knight over the edge and swept away into the current. Captain Kidd then returns right onto Skull’s face as a mask.
“Nice thinking, Skull,” Joker compliments as they rush up the stairs.
“You won’t get away! You can’t escape!” The Berith threatens as it too reaches the doorway. But it’s too large to fit through and unable to chase after them.
The Thieves climb climb up the long, winding tower of stairs, each step more exhausting than the last, before finally running into the main foyer.
“We made it!” Panther cheers, huffing and puffing all the while.
The Thieves run to the little back room past the foyer and escape to the outside via the open vent they used to get in. They cross the castle bridge before finally collapsing in a fit of exhaustion. No one speaks as every Thief attempts to catch their breath.
“We made it,” Mona says in a deep sigh.
“Can we please leave now?” Skull asks, cradling his bad leg.
That’s when Joker’s eyes go wide and he realizes something, not everyone escaped. “Wait, no, we can’t leave yet!” Joker says in a rush, sitting up. “They still have (Y/n)!”
“Yeah, I thought that was her,” Panther comments, also sitting up. “But how did she get in the Metaverse?”
Every Thief looks to Mona for an answer. “I don’t know. But unfortunately, we can’t rescue her. Not today anyway. We’re too tired to fight, Skull is injured, and on top of that, the security level is too high. It would be suicide to go back in after that. We’ll have to wait until tomorrow.”
Joker’s heart sank. His friend, trapped and left behind in the Metaverse. All inside Kamoshida’s Palace no less, for a whole day. And there was nothing he could do about it. What would he tell Sojiro? How would (Y/n) even fare inside the Palace?
“I’m sorry dude,” Skull mumbles, seeing the sullen and downtrodden face of his friend. Joker lets out a deep sigh.
“We really don’t have a choice, do we?” He asks, looking to his companions. They don’t answer him in any fashion, but he knows what that means. He sighs again, standing onto his feet. “Come on then, let’s just go home. Rest up for tomorrow.”
Silently, the other Thieves follow after him and leave the Metaverse in absolute silence.
---
You rested against one of the walls in the Treasure room. Your tired body silently groaning in pain even as you breathed. Despite all the glitter and gold around you, you could only feel despair that was as cold as the gold coins. The white, illuminous blob that would one day be a Treasure floated beautifully about in its little corner, but you had no interest in it. There was no point to be interested in it. So you mostly just watched the Kamoshida cognitive version of yourself across the room somehow sleep peacefully in this prison.
It was not as unpleasant as you had anticipated when arriving in Kamoshida’s personal chambers. It was still very much unpleasant, but not nearly as much as you were anticipating it to be.
Once the guards had left you on your X in Kamoshida’s chambers, they just left. They didn’t secure your post to anything, or even stay to guard the door, they just left. Even something as soulless as Shadows knew there was nothing you could do to escape, and this time, no heroic Thieves were coming to your aid. But that didn’t stop you from trying.
Again, you pulled at your restraints, ignoring the stinging pain in your still dislocated shoulder. But with your X secure to nothing, not even leaning up against a wall, you had only managed to have the X fall onto the floor. Well, on the bright side, at least you were on your back instead of on your stomach with the X right on top of you. And this was slightly more comfortable than having the X upright.
You were stuck in this pitiful position for a few minutes until Kamoshida eventually walked into the chamber. He walked over to your form and loomed over your pathetic self, his eyes full of boredom and disappointment. “Are you truly that helpless?” He asks in a tone that isn’t even teasing or sarcastic, just genuinely disappointed.
He snaps his fingers and a guard quickly rushes into the room. The guard picks up your X back into its upright position and just as quickly leaves the room, shutting the doors behind itself.
“Now what should I do with your first,” Kamoshida says in his usual, disgusting, ill-intentioned voice. One of his hands lightly stroked up and down one of your hips. You were certain it was over for you. You were certain he’d do things to you that would only show up in your nightmares.
But he didn’t. Or at least not yet, anyway.
Kamoshida chuckled darkly to himself, his golden eyes seeming to glow brighter. “But first, we’ve gotta find out what kind of slave you are.”
This made you genuinely pause and process his words. What does that mean? There were different kinds of slaves? You wanted to ask, but at the same time you didn’t really want to know the answer.
Kamoshida takes a step back and whistles, and like eager pets, cognitive versions of both Ann and Shiho practically burst through the door and bounce into the room, giggling as they do so. The sight was disgusting and disturbing. Knowing one was fighting to stay alive in the hospital while the other was rotting away in a prison in this very castle. Just the sight of how Kamoshida depicted women nearly made you sick to your stomach. The way the two girls had practically nothing to cover themselves for everyone’s visual pleasure was unnerving and made your skin crawl in unease. It did not do your mind any favors that you were wearing just as much clothing as they were.
The two girls stride up to Kamoshida and rest against his shoulders, acting all cutesy as they do so. “Now, what kind of slave can we turn you into?” Kamoshida coos once again.
Then just like that, the girls are right on top of you. You knew they were cognitions but their touch and their body heat felt so real. The way they dragged their hands across your skin and licking random parts of your body, trying to see what made you tick and twitch for Kamoshida’s visual pleasure. It was revolting.
You had tried your best trying to swing yourself out of their touch but it did nothing except made them giggle. When they got close enough you even tried to bite at them to get them to leave you alone. You had actually managed to bite Ann by the back of her neck. But your attack had only made her moan out in ecstasy and you quickly threw away the whole biting idea after that.
“Enjoying yourself? Having two pretty women adore you?” Kamoshida asks from across you, definitely pitching himself a tent under his heart cloak.
“Fuck you!” You snarl at him.
“In time, my dear,” he says with a cat-like mischief in his eyes. “That’s enough girls, we have what we need.”
The cognitions whine in disappointment before practically crawling back to Kamoshida. “I think she’s ready now,” he says, puffing his chest out slightly.
You were expecting the worst. You braced yourself, tensing all your muscles and readying to fight back in any way you could.
But Kamoshida never approached you.
Instead, a small head poked itself out of the doorway that Ann and Shiho had busted through. The pair of eyes looked at you then darted over to Kamoshida. “It’s alright my dear, you can come out,” Kamoshida says, sounding like he’s talking to an animal rather than a human.
The person stops hiding from behind the door frame and enters the room, deciding to keep a few footsteps away from you and closer to Kamoshida.
It was you.
Somehow, someway, Kamoshida had already managed to make a cognitive version of yourself. Whether that was from watching you with the cognitive Ann and Shiho or his impression of you in the real world, or maybe a mix of the two or maybe even something else entirely, it didn’t matter. Because only a few feet away from you was a near identical version of yourself, acting all shy and ignorant. The other you was just as scarcely dressed as Ann and Shiho, but instead of cat or bunny ears, the cognitive you had on a maid’s headband, fit with a matching bra and panties made to look like very skimpy maid’s attire.
“Oh my God,” you mumbled to yourself, unable to look away. This was somehow you. A distorted, imperfect, inaccurate representation of yourself.
“Do you like her?” Kamoshida asks, lifting an arm. The other you is quick to dart to Kamoshida’s side and be wrapped in his embrace.
Yeah. You’d much rather take death right now over this shit.
Kamoshida puts a hand under the other you’s chin, forcing her to look up at him. “Be a dear, and get her ready for later? I want her to be ready when I come back.”
You don’t know what he means, you’re certain you don’t want to know, but the other you eagerly nods her head and approaches you to undo your bindings. She had pulled out a key from one of the pockets on the excuse of a skirt that she wore. Right when your last binding had been unshackled you bolted to the unguarded door. You made a hard right and dashed down the stairs. You looked behind you, no one was following you, excellent.
Everything was excellent until you crashed into something so hard the force knocked you back to where you were flat on your back on the cold, stone floor. In front of you were two golden knights guarding the door to the way out of this tower. They had their shields up to prevent you from escaping and you flat out ran right into them like an idiot.
One guard grabbed you by your forearm and literally dragged you back up the stairs, into Kamoshida’s chamber, and into the back room; the Treasure room. You were flung into a pile of gold and jewels, the shiny gemstones digging into your now aching body. The other you slunk into the room with her arms behind her back before the knight closed the door. You heard a click and assumed either the knight or Kamoshida had locked you in here.
The other you pulls out whatever she was hiding from behind her back; a velvet red collar with a golden chain leash.
“Oh, absolutely not,” you say, looking at the copy of yourself dead in the eyes.
“Please do no make this difficult,” she quietly speaks, using your own voice. It was uncanny, unnatural.
You stand up as she approaches you. When she gets close to you, you shove her back and dart to the other side of the room until the wall prevents you from going further. The copy of you stands up, completely unfazed and continues to gaze at you with that pitiful expression.
“Please, this would make our King happy,” she says.
“I’ll put that on when I’m dead,” you remark, frustration obvious in your voice.
This whole shoving and running around the room goes on for a long but undetermined amount of time. And in the end, the copy of you is able to get the collar around your neck and have you chained to the wall like a dog. She even tried to touch you in ways that could be considered novice foreplay, but kicking her several times in the face had managed to get her to leave you alone, at least for now.
And that’s where you are currently, chained to the wall with the other you sleeping on the other side of the room. You’re certain she’ll try to get you aroused again once she’s rested for whatever Kamoshida wants. You’re certain Kamoshida made himself wait from having his way with you for his own kind of sadistic foreplay. No doubt he was executing the Thieves in this very moment, and when he returned, all aroused from the executions, you would be the next target in his lustful, power-hungry endeavor.
You let your head hit the wall as silent tears roll down your cheeks. “Please, please anybody, somebody, just get me out of this Hell hole.”
---
Akira rode the eerily silent and empty train home. His phone told him it was nearly one in the morning. Their little escape attempt in the Metaverse had not only costed them to leave someone behind, but also take up a lot of time in the real world. Sojiro was going to be beyond furious.
When the Thieves had appeared back on the roof, Ann and Ryuji genuinely tried to help Akira out. It was hard for everyone, knowing they’re leaving somebody in a place as horrible as Kamoshida’s Palace. But (Y/n) was his friend first and therefore, brought him the most distress.
But Akira just shook off all the comfort and apologies his friends tried to give him. Just saying that they’re going back as soon as classes end the next day. Everyone silently nodded their heads in agreement.
So here he is by his lonesome. Stuck in a train with only a few other passengers, left to ponder his thoughts and his guilt. Even Morgana was eerily quiet for the usually chatty cat.
Akira let his thoughts drift. He didn’t have the energy to try and fight them off anymore. How did (Y/n) even get into the Metaverse? Is she okay right now? What’s going on in the Metaverse at this very moment? Could Kamoshida be doing something to her as he just leaves her to Kamoshida’s bidding? He tried not too, he knew he shouldn’t, but he couldn’t help but imagine the worst scenarios. What if they showed up too late tomorrow? What if you were already broken in by Kamoshida, or worse, dead?
Tears stung at the edge of Akira’s eyes but he refused to let them fall. He had to tell himself that things will all work out in the end. They had to. There wasn’t any other choice.
The train finally called the Yongen-Jaya station and Akira was more than happy to leave the all too silent train. The walk back to Leblanc felt longer than usual as his feet dragged against the cement. He tried not to think about the previous night, when you were right by him, safe here in the real world.
Akira lifted his glasses and dragged his hand down his face in a physical attempt to push everything down. He considered getting up extra early in the morning to try and save you himself, but it was too risky. He wasn’t strong enough to face the whole castle by himself. And on top of that, he wouldn’t even be at full strength. He hates to admit it, but he needs to rest and refresh if he even hopes to have a successful rescue mission.
Once at Leblanc, he fishes out his keys and unlocks the door. Instead of turning on the lights, he uses his flashlight on his phone to get to his room and prepare for the night.
“There you are!” A very angry voice booms.
Sojiro stands up and places himself right in front of Akira. He slept in one of the booths until you got back. His face was in the deepest scowl Akira’s ever seen from the man, even more so than when he just moved to Tokyo.
“Do you know how late it is!? What were you thinking!? What were you doing!?” He booms, not caring if he wakes the neighbors. That’s when he realizes there is only one child in front of him and not two. “And where’s (Y/n)?”
“She made a friend today. They’re having a sleepover tonight,” Akira lied. All while he spoke, he could feel this bitter knot tighten his stomach.
Admittedly, Sojiro did soften up a little bit, but not by much. “Well good for her at least, but no sleepovers on school nights, understand?” Sojiro instructs in a way that is supposed to mean that Akira needs to relay that information onto you the next day. What Akira would give to have that actually be the case.
“I understand,” is all Akira says, nodding his head.
“Now where were you off to then, young man?” Sojiro asks, not letting Akira off the hook.
“I was at the gym with a friend.”
“For that long? I don’t believe you,” Sojiro slams his fist onto the counter. “Don’t lie to me and just tell me where you were!”
Akira sighs, he hates lying but he has no choice. So, he shrugs off his bag and puts it in a booth seat, being careful with it so he doesn’t hurt Morgana. Then he starts unbuttoning his school blazer.
“What are you doing!?” Sojiro yells.
Akira shrugs off his blazer as well to where he’s left in his white school shirt. The bruises, burns, bumps, scratches and scars on his arms from the Metaverse are on full display for Sojiro to see. The older man takes an audible breath as his eyes go wide, looking at all the injuries.
“Did your friend beat you up? Did you get jumped on the way home?” Sojiro asks out of nothing but concern.
Akira shakes his head and starts pointing at random bruises. “Someone got made at somebody else and threw a dumbbell, and it hit me here. This one appeared because I was going too fast on the treadmill and tripped, sending myself flying. And this one—”
“Okay kid, I get it. Just go upstairs,” Sojiro says, dragging his hand across his face, heavy and dark bags under his eyes.
Akira does as he is told, quickly grabbing his blazer and bag then shuffling up the stairs. He can hear Sojiro mutter that he needs to get him a watch.
He puts the bag in its usual place in his room and Morgana crawls out. “Nice thinking on your feet back there,” he compliments.
“Thanks,” is all Akira says as he grabs his toothbrush and pajamas. He really needs a shower, the sweat from the Metaverse sticks to him like a second skin. But he doesn’t have the time. The sooner he can get to sleep the sooner he can rest to rescue you.
He sulks down the stairs to the bathroom to take care of his business before quickly shuffling back up the stairs into his room. Morgana is already asleep on the cool window sill when Akira emerges from the stairs. Akira is swift to join his companion as he crawls into his own bed. He is grateful that sleep takes him almost immediately from his exhaustion, but all he can dream about is the terrors you could be going through in the bowels of Kamoshida’s Palace.