Chapter Text
Prometheus had stolen fire from the gods.
It was fire, but symbolically, it was more. Forbidden knowledge. Knowledge of things humans were not meant to know or have. And because of that, he was chained to a rock, and a bird pecked his liver out every day, and it grew back every night.
The ancient Greeks believed the liver was the seat of human emotion, or so Futaba had read. That fit. She felt like her heart was being pecked out every day, too. And the cause? Feelings. She was bad with those. They were illogical, difficult to understand, and there was no way to quantify them and be certain if she'd arrived at the right answer.
Futaba had wondered, from time to time, why Prometheus was her Persona. How did it represent her? Necronomicon, forbidden knowledge, was obvious. Prometheus, though… Well, it was also obvious, now. She’d realized something- She’d realized something about herself. Something forbidden. She’d found she had a crush on someone… A girl. Forbidden. And the rest? Well, that was obvious. If the liver was the seat of emotions… The heart in modern metaphors, hers was going crazy whenever she looked at the one she liked. It was turning into a problem.
And the source of this problem was staring her in the eyes right now. With burning red eyes behind an iron mask that did nothing to hide her emotions, spikes and leather and a figure that looked way too good and the open concern on her face. The kindness, and toughness, everything that made her amazing... As she cradled Futaba in her arms, on the dark ground of Mementos.
"Oracle!" Makoto's concern was clear in her voice. "Oracle, are you all right?"
"I... Ugh..." Futaba- No, she was Oracle right now. That's right... They'd been in Mementos. They'd been chasing someone's Shadow. And Makoto... Queen... There had been an attack, a Psiodyne, and Futaba... Final Guard wouldn't activate in time, so she....
"You're alive!" Makoto hugged her tightly, eyes screwed shut in relief. "I was so worried- That was so reckless!"
"I'm not sure now is a good time for this, Queen." Akira- Joker, looked around. "Oracle's never taken a hit like that before... Let her recover, first."
Her head started to clear. She had panicked. She had done the only thing she could think of... She had deactivated Prometheus, and thrown herself into Makoto, knocking her out of the way of the attack... And taking it herself.
“I- I’m okayyyy…” She tried to say, but her voice made it obvious that it wasn’t true. Her voice was weak, and exhausted. Of course it was- Like Joker had said, she had never taken any hit from a Shadow before.
“She can’t go on like this…” Queen frowned. “But we can’t let that Shadow get away, either. Mishima-kun already posted the calling card…”
“Mona, are you okay to navigate us again?” Joker looked down at their smallest member, who puffed himself up with pride.
“Of course!” He patted his chest. “Just leave it to me!”
“Okay.” Joker let out a long, slow breath through his nose. Futaba watched him- She knew that habit. He was weighing options, planning what to do next, deciding on their Thief obligations versus his caring for his friends… Futaba was about to speak up with an idea, until Joker beat her to it.
“Queen, take Oracle back out to the lobby.” His eyes were hard below the mask. “We’ll take down the Shadow and meet back up there. No more exploring today.”
“I understand.” Queen answered. And Futaba… Though she wanted to protest, she couldn’t. She had already caused trouble.
~*~
The walk back up was almost crushing with its silence. Even Prometheus’ usual whispers in her ear were silenced. Futaba was too exhausted to summon to navigate them out, but fortunately, Makoto had power to spare. She had healed Futaba, of course, but that didn’t help the exhaustion.
They didn’t say a word all the way back up to the top. They fortunately hadn’t encountered any Shadows on their way back up to the rest area, and then the shortcut brought them back up to the top immediately. And once there…, the first time Makoto started to speak, it was simple. “Here, lie down on these chairs…”
“I- I’m okay, really!” Futaba tried to sound strong, but she did end up sitting down, at least, lifting up her mask to sit on her forehead. “I’m…”
Makoto, surprisingly, sat down next to her, and took her hand. Despite both of them wearing gloves, Futaba felt like she could feel the warmth of Makoto’s hand.
“Are you okay?” Makoto lifted her own mask with her free hand. Futaba wanted to shrug it off, pretend she was fine, but somehow, the fear on Makoto’s face made it harder… She couldn’t just brush it off. She couldn’t say anything at all- She was practically paralyzed by that expression.
“I... “ Futaba hung her head. “I’m not hurt anymore, thanks to you…”
“Why did you do it?”
“I didn’t mean to…” Wait, that sounded bad. “I- I saw you in danger, and- I just moved without thinking…”
“Fu- Oracle…” Makoto’s grip on her hand was soft. “I appreciate it, really. But you’re our navigator. We need you to stay safe, no matter what, okay? We’d be totally lost without you.”
“But…” Futaba couldn’t help but protest. “I- I want to help- I want to protect you!”
“I want to protect you, too.” Makoto pulled her closer. “When I watched that attack hit you, I was scared you… I thought…” Her voice cracked, and trailed off, and for the first time, Futaba was scared of what had happened herself. Not out of fear for herself, but out of fear for seeing the always-strong Queen so… vulnerable.
“I... “ Futaba’s voice wavered. “I’m sorry.”
“No, that’s…” Makoto furrowed her eyebrows, conflicted. And suddenly… Futaba found herself being pulled into a tight hug, buried into Makoto’s shoulder. And despite the spikes less than an inch to the side of her head, despite the hard leather… Somehow, it felt comfortable.
Prometheus had stolen fire from the gods, and was punished by birds pecking out his heart. (His liver, but metaphorically, equivalent to his heart.) And Futaba understood. She had gained knowledge, advancement, an understanding of herself and cognitive psience… And the girl who had shielded her in her own Palace, who had protected her, who held her so gently...
She had fallen in love. With a girl.
She, the former world-famous cybercriminal Medjed, who stole forbidden knowledge and gave it to the world to bring justice, had fallen in love with the most morally-upright woman she knew, dreaming of being a police commissioner.
Her heart felt like it was being pecked out.