Chapter Text
He would not remember this not-dream, but that didn't mean he didn't experience it.
Mountain climbing was an unpleasant sport. He didn’t care much for the process of it. In fact he found it rather grueling and humiliating work. The only thing that kept him on the mountain was the appeal of the peak. The thought of the glory was enough to keep his limbs warm, his heart beating, and oxygen running through his blood.
He had only just made it to Base Camp, after an already draining climb through the surrounding areas. The camp was barren of life. Perhaps he should be worried about that, there should be someone there- surely? But he wasn’t worried. His brain processed it as perfectly normal. This place was empty, and had always been. The only company available were the long dead corpses of the idiots who came before him, frozen to the mountain and acting as waypoints for his climb.
The mountain was supposed to be gorgeous. Maybe to anyone else it was. He just saw a hunk of rock. The part that was intriguing to him, singing to him like a siren’s song, was the deep blue sky speared by the Mountain’s peak.
It was the most beautiful color he had ever seen, unmarred by clouds, or even the sun and moon. He might be worried that said celestial bodies were missing, but he wasn’t. Once again, he just knew it was normal.
The cold was starting to penetrate past the fat layer on his body. If he sat around in the open any longer he would freeze to the ground as well. He needed to get up, and get going before the frost set in.
Ruka Yokota was an unfortunate woman, even Akechi, standing in her palace ready to kill the woman, could agree. The journalist had peeked a little too close into cognitive psience research, and by extension Masayoshi Shido’s conspiracy, and had thus provoked their ire. Akechi was to act as her guillotine, although he wasn’t Shido’s first choice.
The Cleaner had originally sent some of his lackeys to kill the journalist, the Yakuza killing a reporter wouldn’t raise too many eyebrows after all, but he had failed. It was rare for such a thing to happen, but Yokota proved far more hardy than expected. She got out of the encounter terribly wounded, within an inch of her life in fact.
Such an event is, of course, traumatic. Trauma that could, and in fact, did lead to a palace’s formation.
How lucky for him, he thought as harsh cold wind battered his form. The Keywords- Ruka Yokota, Ruka Yokota’s apartment, and Fortress had not communicated the far below freezing conditions of the palace. He wondered somewhat humorously what temperature would show on a thermometer, before discarding the notion.
Akechi’s red cape billowed in the wind. He would much rather be in Loki’s garb, but Robin Hood’s residual light magic kept his body warm in the freezing tundra, and the gauntlet and helmets of his black garb would surely give him frostbite.
He really hated palaces like these, born of human neuroses, rather than the dark desires. The palaces of truly evil people were dangerous, yes, but they were always very predictable. Just hack and slash through shadows until the ruler made themselves known. With these trauma-based palaces however, getting to the palace ruler was oftentimes more of an endeavor than the boss battles themselves.
Yokota’s palace was no exception. The woman was absolutely terrified, and that of course translated to her shadow, locking itself in the very depth of the fortress. Nothing short of a miracle could coax the ruler out.
Akechi couldn’t even get inside the fortress itself easily. Its tall red-bricked walls that sparkled in the sunlight were surrounded by a fence of wooden stakes, which were surrounded by a deep endless pit, which were surrounded by more spikes. Clearly someone didn’t like the idea of visitors. So he was left rounding the perimeter trying to find any opening.
There was a large gate, guarded by two shadows, but he found that even after killing the shadows no entry was given. No amount of persuasion or threats could get him inside once they reformed either. It was getting to the point that he considered trying to ingratiate himself to Yokota in the real world.
Given his status as a police consultant, her research about the mental shutdowns, and her assault, he could easily contrive a way to meet with the woman in real life. He could possibly even convince her to drop her investigation if…
A little annoyed at such a naive train of thought (Robin Hood’s influence no doubt), he shook his head. No. Yokota needed to have a shutdown. Those were his orders, orders that he had filled out countless times, to countless journalists before her. It was a fool's errand to think otherwise, so he cleanly slipped it out of mind.
He was brought out of his thoughts by a shuffling sound, like the pitter patter of skin against ground. In the distance was a small black figure looking over the endless black moat, its tail swaying from side to side in an elegant motion. Akechi, curious, stalked over.
The creature jolted at the sound of Akechi’s footsteps in the snow, and snapped its head to look at him. In a moment, Akechi felt a strange thrum of power, entirely unfamiliar to him. Robin chirped in his head. Akechi used his serrated sword to tap the ground, just as a threat in case the creature tried anything.
It likely couldn’t, it was level five, in a palace that averaged fourty-five, but he wasn’t one to skip a chance to instill fear into a weakling.
The cat-like monster peered at him with big blue eyes, its gaze darting from the sword to Akechi’s face several times, sniffing the air as it did. Slowly, it stood from where it was kneeling. “You’re trying to get into this palace too?” the cat said evenly, a searching look in its eyes.
Akechi tilted his head. What even was this thing? It clearly wasn’t native to the palace. Despite his instincts telling him that it wasn’t wise to interact with this thing, he couldn’t deny his curiosity. “Is that what you’re doing?” he said, voice light and sweet.
The cat’s eyes narrowed. “Being evasive huh?” it glanced at his sword once again. Now that Akechi was getting a good look, he realized that the cat was in fact wearing a mask. “Well, it looks like we both can’t get inside by ourselves. And you clearly aren’t an amateur either…” it gave him a sly grin. “Unless you have any ideas on how to get in, want to team up for a little bit?”
Akechi ignored the invitation. “What even are you?” He asked, giving the cat another scan. It was just… a weird cat. Nothing special.
“What am I?” Morgana huffed. “That’s pretty rude, I’m obviously human, like you, I just lost my form.” The cat crossed its arms, now taking its chance to circle Akechi, inspecting him. “And you, you’re clearly a skilled Persona user, this must be a meeting of fate.” It muttered. “I’m Morgana.”
Oh so it was a delusional monster as well! He bit back his rude remark. “It’s nice to meet you Morgana.”
“Now back to my earlier offer-” The cat started.
“Oh no thank you.” Akechi said as politely as he could, he got up from where he was kneeling. “I can do this by myself.”
Morgana clearly didn’t like that, his tail swaying as he frowned. “Are you sure? I have an idea on how to get in.” He peered at the most again. “Actually… since you're in human form it'll probably work even better with you.”
“And what do you get out of entering Yokota’s palace?”
“Me?” Morgana didn't make eye contact but he could see his little kitty shoulders tense. “I have something I want to test out while I'm here.”
“And what would that be?” Akechi widened his eyes, putting interest in his voice.
“You don't need to know that now.” Morgana shook his head. “A phantom thief doesn't divulge his secrets that easily.” He puffed his chest proudly.
“Very well.” Akechi stood up. “Well I do need to get in. What's your plan?”
“This palace ruler isn't a corrupt person. I've figured that out. Their need to protect themselves can possibly be overridden by their altruism.” He flashed his teeth in a smirk. “I'm sure an injured bloody little kitty would tug at their heartstrings right?”
“Hm.” Akechi tapped his sword. “You want me to injure you?”
“You don't need to do that!” The cat smirked. “I just need to get bloodied up. But I actually… can't bleed. It's just a quirk of this form. So…”
Akechi for a moment felt very far away, the notion of a talking monster cat asking for his blood being a little too ridiculous even for a palace. “I…” he trailed off.
“Hm. I suppose you will have to injure me then!” Morgana huffed, clearly nervous. “Or…” Morgana hummed. “No, I have a better idea! How about you chase me around and then I go to the gates begging for help. That has to work. Especially since you killed those guard shadows before.”
That didn't sound like a terrible idea, it was tentatively worth a shot.
“Help! Help!” The shadows guarding Yokota’s gate jerked in surprise ready their weapons as Morgana came scuttling towards them, heaving in deep breaths and shaking. “You gotta help me!” Morgana watched as the shadows looked behind him to see his princely companion stalking over, his blood red serrated sword dragging across the ground.
“Oh shit.” One of the shadows cursed. The other one gave Morgana an appraising look from the dark pit under its helmet.
“Open the gate, we have an injured cat running from the intruder.” He heard the shadow say over what was presumably a shadow comms line. Morgana hid a grin, just in time to be scooped up rather jarringly by the shadow.
At the same time he heard gears turning and saw the gate opening.
He squirmed not expecting to be manhandled but was quickly released, rolled like a bowling ball under the small gap, it shut closed behind him.
Inside the fortress were roaming shadows, soldiers protecting their general, or something like that. None of them gave Morgana a second glance, having established himself as opposed to the intruder. He let himself snicker at the thought.
Good. Morgana set to finding out how to open the door.
Akechi was almost convinced that the cat had just played him like a cheap fiddle when the voice rang in his head.
“Hey! I'm opening the gate!” Morgana called in the telltale static of a Persona’s comms line. How interesting. Akechi had assumed that ability was relatively unique to Robin Hood but perhaps not. “Sorry for the wait. This place is big!”
With a mechanical whir the gate slowly opened.
The inside of the fortress was as to be expected. It was dark, barely warmer than the outside, and just terribly drab. Another reason he didn't like these kinds of palaces- they were so despairing.
Morgana came bounding out, hopping down the stairs cartoonishly until landing gracefully on the ground before Akechi.
“I knew that would work.” Morgana snickered. “No one can resist my handsome visage.”
“Perhaps.” Akechi said blandly. “Morgana, I think this is where we need to split ways.” he said, trying to sound sad about it.
The cat peered at him, a dubious look on its feline face. “Hm… but I think you could use my expertise.” He could see the thing’s eyes dilating.
“Your whole five levels of experience?”
“I’m a metaverse native! Aren’t you curious?” The cat said, conveniently ignoring that other part. “There are things you can do in here that only I know about.”
It wasn’t even a consideration frankly. Maybe back when Isshiki was alive he would be overjoyed to share the cat with her. Surely Morgana could provide some insights into the metaverse- and who could resist a talking cat? However, a now seventeen year old Akechi couldn’t begin to make himself care. The pushiness of the thing, its desperation set off alarm bells in his head. Morgana could not be trusted, and more importantly, could not be relied on.
“I’ll pass,” He said, flashing a sweet apologetic grin at the cat, who clearly wasn’t buying it. “I need to get to my business, so again, we must part ways. I appreciate your help Morgana but-”
“I’m coming with you.” The cat declared, crossing his arms. Morgana’s fur was standing on end as he held himself proudly. He stared up at Akechi with those big blue eyes, a certain gritted-teeth determination flashing in them.
He could continue to waste his time and argue with the not-cat but he really shouldn’t bother. He pulled out his gun, black and heavy in his hands, unclicked the safety, aimed, and fired a warning shot right beside Morgana.
The cat jumped a few feet in the air, letting out a surprised “Mreow!” his tail swayed furiously.
“Now if you don’t want to die.” Akechi said in that honey-sweet tone he reserved towards shadows he despised. “I suggest you leave me to my work.” He lifted the gun again, ready to shoot Morgana if he spoke once more.
There was a moment, a split second where he could see something burning in Morgana’s eyes as he looked at him. Despite the fear and trepidation on his expression, he stared hard at Akechi.
And then the cat turned on his foot, and skittered off, deeper into the fortress.
He sighed, holstering his gun. Truly Akechi was relieved. It’s not like he wanted to shoot a cat, metaverse creature or not. As long as the thing didn’t interfere with him, he was happy to coexist far, far away from it. It was just a cat after all, what damage could it truly do?
Nevermind, he needed to do his job. Yokota needed to be dead in the next four days, and looking at her palace it would be a substantial effort.
He let Loki take charge, in a rip of black and red energy his Prince suit dissolved into the black metal bodysuit he was far more comfortable in. Correspondingly, security shot up. Apparently having noticed the armed intruder, or perhaps the cat was off messing around somewhere. That would be annoying, but no problem.
He was swifter, stronger, and tankier than all of the shadows here, and Call Of Chaos provided excellent support when he just wanted to get things over with.
Speaking of the devil, a few shadows bubbled up from the stone floors, barking in surprise at the intruder. Akechi launched at them, excitement bubbling through his veins as he sliced the shell’s heads clean off, they dissipated, bubbling to reveal a snake-like demon and a white fiery wolf.They sent peels of electricity and burst of flame careening towards him, but they were weaklings, especially to Loki. He dodged easily, retaliating with scythes of black and red curse energy that cut the shadows to bits.
God he loved this. Even if they were weaklings, it was a rush like no other to absolutely curb stomp them into oblivion.
He descended deeper into the palace.
Morgana was starting to become glad that he ran when he could. He sat atop the large rafters of the palace, watching this new strange Persona user practically maul the shadows without a second thought. Not even flinching as third tier spells were thrown at him.
How very interesting.
He had come to this palace on a whim, traveling through that indefinite space between Mementos and the Palaces until finding the fortress. And to his immense luck the universe dropped a strong offensive Persona user, (with two Personas!) right in front of him. This wasn’t a chance to be wasted- but Morgana couldn’t play this too hastily, given how hostile the bird-man seemed to be.
Maybe Bird-Boy? Morgana thought. He seems young.
Tailing the boy further into the palace proved easier than expected. His hack and slash method of dealing with the shadows cleanly drew attention away from Morgana. Not to mention Morgana had technically been invited in. So even when the shadows did spot Morgana, they would just ignore him. As well, the high ceilings provided decent cover from the boy himself, as long as Morgana was willing to jump through a few cobwebs to do so.
Maybe this was the benefit of teamwork…? Even if the bird-boy wasn’t aware of it, he was getting Morgana farther into a palace than he ever had before. If he kept tailing him he could maybe even find the treasure. That possibility was enough reason to keep following him despite the imminent threat to his life.
What was his goal though? Morgana wasn’t sure. If this guy had experience in the metaverse surely he knew about its applications beyond changes of heart. When he did get the chance to interrogate a shadow he always asked where its ruler, Yokota, was. Was he trying to do something to her?
Was he trying to kill the shadow? If so, why?
Morgana hadn’t seen a cognition of the boy here, it didn’t seem personal at all. And from Yokota’s palace he could tell she wasn’t the type to piss someone like bird-boy off. So why? The reasoning wasn’t super important, Morgana supposed. Any Persona user would do for his plans, but did need to convince bird-boy to actually help him in the first place. Which Morgana felt would be an arduous task to complete even without the shadow murder.
How versatile was he? Morgana hadn’t been able to sense the boy despite his navigator abilities. But surely now that he was aware of the boy’s presence he could scan him. Morgana felt Zorro thrum within him as he reached tentatively through that matterless space of information to grasp the boy. He felt potential, so much it was practically overflowing, yet confined within two forms, light and dark.
The boy stiffened, halting his movement. And Morgana felt something push back in the sea of information, turning his scan back on himself, revealing his position-
A bullet whizzed through the air that he had been in, Morgana only missed the projectile by an inch or two. He froze, his fur standing on end as he watched the boy put his smoking gun down.
“Come out kitty… kitty…” He practically sang in that poisonously sweet tone. Morgana for a second considered running away, but he was no coward. He dropped down from the rafters, landing on his feet as he faced down the boy.
“You’re a navigator as well?” Morgana couldn’t help but ask. While he had no data to go off of, Morgana just knew that it wasn’t a common ability. Perhaps it was a manifestation of this boy’s potential.
“I don’t understand what the hell you’re talking about.” The boy said, voice low and dripping with a mix of annoyance and apathy. He gave Morgana a shark-grin. “But what the hell are you doing tailing me? Do you really want to die that bad?”
“Obviously not!” Morgana said indignantly.
“I see…” The boy practically crooned, disgustingly condescending. “You haven’t given up that idea of yours to team up. I gave you your chance already to run. And you didn’t.”
Morgana tried not to flinch as the gun was once again aimed at his head. He glared at the boy, a determined resolve settling in his mind. This boy would be perfect for what Morgana had planned.
“Any last words?”
“They won’t be my last.” Morgana said, giving him his best cocky smile. He saw the bird-boy roll his eyes, and-
BAM
And then everything went dark.
With a 45 level difference it was an instant K/O. The cat stuttered, the hole in its head revealing not viscera but a strange ornate marbling, like he was carved from stone, before falling over, dissipating in a bright flash of blue and yellow sparks. He put the gun away. Satisfied that the annoyance was out of his way now, and carried on his work without an ounce of guilt in his heart.
The rest of the foray into Yokota’s palace however was unfruitful. The shadows and cognitions roaming the palace had the same problem he did- They couldn’t find Ruka Yokota despite looking everywhere. Perhaps this was a product of her cognition. If she perceived herself as impossible to find, her shadow would become so. That unfortunately meant actually tracking the woman down in reality, and not the comfortable anonymity of the metaverse.
Whatever, it didn’t matter. He had four more days, and if he skipped class tomorrow he could probably use the time to find something useful.
He couldn’t afford to fail.
With that Akechi trekked back through the palace, although not without leaving a few light magatamas behind the gate, in case it closed again while he was away. He found that just shooting a magatama with its opposite element would cause it to detonate. If he so needed he could always blow the gate up.
Returning back to reality the familiar exhaustion hit, like sandbags had been dropped on top of him. He staggered, getting his balance on the nearby wall and waited for the dizziness to go away.
It was late, around midnight by the position of the moon, and the trains were closed. He’d have to take an hour to walk home. Something he had been dreading the entire day. He didn’t particularly care for walking home alone at night. The danger he posed in the metaverse being absent meant many people just saw him for his outer shell. It was always a bitter reminder to him during these walks to be careful. Despite how well he dressed, disgusting people would somehow always be able to clock him.
The anger at that kept his chest burning hot in the bitter January cold.
Akechi was itching to get back into the metaverse. The entire day at school all he could think of was Yokota’s unmurdered shadow. She stuck in his head like a half finished song, filling his chest with an uncomfortable tight anticipation.
Sae, God bless her soul either didn’t notice or didn’t care how antsy he was that night at the police station. Happily dumping the responsibility of transcribing a 7 hour long interrogation onto him. Truly the police had far too much busywork in proportion to the actual help they did. Sae likely agreed with him on this point, and he knew that because she was petty enough to assign only the most mind numbing and tedious work to him. Truly what an amazing coworker she was.
It was only by eleven at night, on a school night, mind you, that he was freed from his hell of audio, ink, and paper.
“You’re still here?” Sae asked, sneaking up on him.
“Of course I am Sae-san. I tend to like actually finishing my work.” If she heard the spite dripping from the words, which she absolutely did, she didn’t react. “I am nothing if not diligent.”
“I can take it from here, Akechi-kun.” She said, without asking Sae pulled the stack of papers and the cassette player (yes a cassette player, that's how antiquated the police’s equipment was,) away from him, tucking it into her bag. He gave her an airy smile, letting himself relax and stretch his shoulders.
“Are you going anywhere tonight Sae-san?” He asked innocently. “You did make a student work late, again.” He made sure to give her his best subtly pleading look. He was unsure if Sae saw through that particular bit of manipulation, but his chances of getting a free dinner with her were always higher when he used the puppy-dog eyes.
He normally would be far more polite when trying to mooch off of her, but tonight due to the agitation he found he had far less patience to put on the act, especially with her. Sae, at the very least, seemed to recognize that. She gave him a hard nigh-unreadable look, before tentatively offering-
“Seafood?”
Hook line and sinker. “Yes, that would be lovely.” He said in that sweet tone he knew Sae found particularly aggravating, already imagining the lobster he planned to order in all its buttery goodness. He was practically salivating as they walked out of the police station.
Akechi hung back in the lobby for a second to properly put his winter clothes on, God forbid he look frumpy out in Shibuya’s night life. He was buttoning his coat up when Sae stepped back inside, her face as usual unreadable.
“Akechi-kun” she said, a strange glint in her eye. “You should come outside.”
“What’s the rush?” He let himself sigh airily, he picked up his case and followed her outside into the bitter cold to see what the fuss was about, only to be greeted with a tuxedo cat sitting almost… politely on the sidewalks. He looked up at Akechi with large blue eyes, its pupils dilating as it stared at him.
“Thought you could get rid of me huh?” The cat spoke.
He only barely managed to stop the confused sputter that threatened to spill from his mouth. Absolutely bewildered, Akechi glanced to Sae for some kind of cue. Surely she didn’t hear it right? Was he hallucinating or-
The metaverse!
Sae gave him a small amused smile. “See?” She nodded towards the cat. “How do you think he got here? He looks well fed.” Sae squatted down in a manner that could only be described as slick, and reached her hand over to pet the cat. Morgana swatted her hand away with an unclawed paw.
“Hands off lady! I just met you!” Morgana complained. Sae retracted her hand huffing in… disappointment? She stood back up looking towards Akechi, that same glint in her eyes.
Akechi was still hung up on the talking cat. The cat from the metaverse. The one he shot dead with a gun not 24 hours prior.
…Sometimes a small part of him wondered if he was heading down the wrong path in life. He certainly was thinking that now, looking at the bullet-free demonic feline.
“You can’t avoid me in the real world, huh?” Morgana sauntered on over to Akechi, rubbing his fur against. “I hear it’s rather gauche to go around killing innocent people here.” He looked up at him with a perfect shit eating grin, despite being a goddamn feline.
“It’s quite chatty isn’t it, Sae-san?” He chuckled mirthlessly, in lieu of any intelligent response. Surely she couldn’t hear it talk? She would’ve reacted by now- surely!
“He must be someone’s pet.” Sae said in that uninterested tone that suggested she was up to something. “Isn’t it the duty of a police officer to handle lost animals, Akechi-kun?” She turned to him, not even giving him the dignity of a smile.
No no no no no. “Oh I would, Sae-san but I’m actually allergic to cats-”
“That’s a poor lie Akechi-kun, I seem to remember you posting about a cat cafe on your social media, that seems like a terrible place to go to if you have an allergy.”
For a second he was just surprised Sae followed him on Social Media. She always seemed like the type to not engage with that stuff as it was ‘meaningless drivel’ or something. Perhaps he was projecting too much. He opened his mouth to say something, and as he did Morgana circled around and brushed up against his leg with a smug purr, he fought the urge to kick the cat in public.
“I think it likes you.” Sae said with a completely straight face, but he could hear the smile in her words. The wretched bitch, she was trying to avoid getting him his hard earned seafood.
Morgana stopped rubbing up against him, sitting down and shaking his little cat hips. At first Akechi had no clue what the thing was doing, and then it launched itself right into his chest, climbing up him further like a rock wall before settling on his shoulders. He froze, putting all of his self control and mental effort into not committing a horrid act of animal abuse in front of his superior.
Said superior took the chance to inspect Morgana’s collar. (Not to help remove the feral cat from his shoulders, that would be too kind for the cruel Sae Niijima).
“Morgana,” She read aloud. “Return to Lavenza. So he’s someone’s pet…”
“Hey I’m no one’s pet!” Morgana butted in, yelling right in his ear.
“But there’s no address.” Sae continued.
“Do you know who Lavenza might be?” Akechi asked, voice a little strained from the sheer mental effort of not flipping out on this stupid cat.
“Name doesn’t ring a bell.” Morgana unhelpfully informed.
“A foreigner?” Sae mused, letting go of the collar and shrugging. He could see the corners of her mouth tug up into a small and petty smile. “She seems to be comfortable.”
“I’m a he!” Morgana corrected once more. Ever so eager to assert himself despite the fact that Sae obviously couldn’t understand him.
“Sae-san.” He forced out through a gritted toothed smile “Could you please get the cat off me? This isn’t funny.”
Sae looked like she was trying not to laugh, which was impressive considering she wasn’t even smiling anymore, having shifted back to her serious frown. “It’s not funny, I agree. It’s a poor lost cat that needs the help of a public servant.”
“I’m not a cat!” Morgana yowled, letting out a distressed whining noise as the unsympathetic and ignorant Sae Niijima finally did as requested, grabbing Morgana and trying to pull him off his shoulders.
He felt his clothes drag with the cat, and something prick at his skin, realizing with some disproportionate anger that the thing had its claws dug into his jacket. Sae swore slightly, before giving up and leaving the wretched thing alone.
“As my senior, Sae-san, you obviously have better qualifications to deal with this problem-” He started, feeling his already tenuous grip on the situation loosening. At this rate he’d have trouble ditching the thing without looking like a monster of a human being.
“Aren’t you supposed to listen to your seniors though?” She mused, inspecting her nails as if she were bored.
“Sae-san.” He was reduced to pleading with her, that’s how cruel of a woman she was. He regretted ever helping her with any of her work, and vowed at the next possible opportunity to screw her over.
“Have fun with Morgana.” Sae said. “Do you need a ride to the pound?”
On that deathtrap of a machine? He laughed softly. “N-no thank you Sae-san, I’ll bike there.”
“Alright, Goodnight Akechi-kun” She nodded, a satisfied smile on his face.
He was left alone in the cold with a cat hooked into his nice expensive jacket, and fighting every urge to not kill the thing.
You’re in public, you can’t throw a cat down a storm drain. The part of his brain he vaguely recognized as Robin Hood reminded him.
Oh but how satisfying would it be? The other part- Loki, crooned. We could always wait until no one’s looking and drop him into the canal…
“Can you get off of me now?” He spoke in a bitter whisper. Reaching around him to wrench Morgana off.
Morgana resisted for a few seconds before yowling. “Fine!” and jumping down, tail flicking in an irritated manner as he looked up at Akechi. “That lady really hates you by the way. But she’s very pretty…” He seemed to space out for a moment, and Akechi took the chance to head to his bike. It was situated on a bike rack in the back of the building facing a less busy street.
Morgana snapped out of his trance and began following in a trot, his tail curling like a question mark.
“What do you want?” he asked flatly, not bothering to modulate his voice for the thing. “I don’t have all day?”
“Willing to listen to me now eh?” the cat looked like it was trying to smirk, but the expression didn’t communicate well on his feline features.
“I never said that.”
“Whatever.” Morgana sat down primly as Akechi began to load his briefcase into the side bag of his bike. “You and I both have similar-ish goals. Probably.”
“Do we now?” Akechi said in a dubious tone.
“You want to get into hearts to… I’m assuming kill the shadows inside..” Morgana started. “I want to get inside their hearts to do something else. These two goals can be completed at the same time, y’know?” Morgana paused. “You are planning on killing that Yokota lady right?”
“Yokota will likely suffer an unfortunate shutdown in the coming weeks.” He confirmed.
He could see Morgana shiver, and couldn’t help the satisfaction at the sight. Good, the thing should be afraid of him. He was a threat.
“Fine, well… I know you’re experienced in the metaverse, but this is a method that only I know about. As I said before, I know of ways to manipulate reality through the metaverse that don’t involve killing a shadow, nor driving them insane.” The cat gave him a triumphant look, like he had just caught a mouse and was about to start playing with the poor thing.
“If that’s the case then it’s of no use to me.” Akechi said blandly, rolling the numbers on his bike lock slowly. Part of him stalled in unlocking it, slightly curious to the proposal.
Morgana stared at him for a second, his eyes halfway dilated, and tail flickering. “It’s not useful to you? Or whoever's having you kill people?”
Impressive deduction skills for a cat, he had to admit.
“It’s not useful to anyone I know.” He added pointedly, finally unlocking the bike. Gingerly he placed the bike lock into the other side-bag.
The cat considered him while he did this, watching his face like he was trying to solve a puzzle or something. “Fine.” He conceded. “Maybe you’re a bad person or something,” he didn’t appreciate that tone. “But isn't there someone out there who you want to see feel remorse for what they've done? Parents, bosses, teachers, hell even just jerks who push you in the subway. You can make them do it, and it sticks, unlike those breakdowns.”
He paused. “What do you mean ‘it sticks’?”
Morgana’s eyes dilated a bit more. “It’s permanent,” he explained. “The target will spend the rest of their life in guilt of what they’ve done. It’s like if they suddenly grew a conscious” Morgana drew closer, inspecting the bike before casually offering. “It could probably be used to neutralize a few of the problems you’ve been tasked with.”
“I thought you were against my work.” Akechi pulled the helmet out the side bag.
“I never said that.” Morgana blinked. “I would be an absolute fool to give up on a Persona user like yourself over something as paltry in comparison as a few lives.”
Huh. Maybe the cat was a little more morally dubious than he thought. Then he stiffened slightly as some of the words caught up to him. “You’ve seen other Persona users?”
“None except you and I, of course.” Morgana said, a sort of relaxed quality to his body, like he was lavishing the attention Akechi was giving to him. He tried not to show the annoyance on his face at that thought. “But I know what they’re supposed to look like, and you’re really something. Two personas, and navigational abilities is a skillset not to be scoffed at.”
Something warm settled in his chest, a glowing soft feeling at the praise. Yes, he was exceptional, he was very much aware of that fact because of Isshiki’s research. She had told him that there were people with the potential for more than one Persona.
“But all that data comes from the 90s, you’re the first one since then.” She had said, and Akechi had felt that same warm feeling at her words.
“Really?” he said distantly, getting on his bike.
“Yeah, you’re special in some way, I don’t know.” The cat said, apparently not understanding what a bike was, or how it worked, as it didn’t seem to sense his rapidly approaching departure from the situation. “And I must be the luckiest guy in the world. You’d make a perfect phantom thief! Masquerading as a Detective by day, stealing hearts by night…” Morgana chuckled, getting lost in his own fantasy, before haughtily adding- “With my guidance of course.”
“Now when did I agree to do anything you said?” Akechi said, clipping his helmet on and letting himself smirk. “I’m not doing any of that.”
“Wait but-” The cat stammered, a shocked look on his face, which only grew more shocked when Akechi biked away into the night.
“Why’d you leave me in the cold?” Morgana demanded.
Akechi scowled at the bipedal cat sitting cross legged in the safe room’s chair. His facial features seemed to be approximating a human pout. Clearly someone had his little kitty feelings hurt.
He turned on his heel, completely ignoring the cat, and returned into the fray. He’d rather deal with shadows than the little stalker. To his immense dislike, Morgana followed him out, pulling out a cutlass the height of the cat’s body. He wondered how the thing lugged it around, before deciding that line of thought was stupid and decapitating a shadow.
Akechi turned on the cat, sending his sword careening towards its head to decapitate it too, but instead in a burst of blue fire, the cat summoned a Persona sent a wind attack at his sword hand, moving him far enough balance to miss completely. He was still quicker than the cat, so he sent his sword down into the ground next to the ground. The sword pierced the stone, thanks to his cognition of its sharpness- and he loomed over the cat, letting the shadows of the torches cast him in a dark and frightening light.
“Leave.” he growled.
Morgana stood his ground, that annoying gleam still in his eyes. “It seems like you’ve had trouble finding this palace's ruler.” He said, giving Akechi a smug grin. “My method doesn’t require a ruler. You could neutralize her without a fight.”
“You think that will save her life?” He let out a harsh laugh at the idea. “She’ll live her life without fear, and then the cleaner will put a bullet through her skull.”
Morgana had no answer for it, he frowned, eyebrows knit, clearly he was trying to think of one, but Akechi just turned on his heel and continued on his warpath.
The cat followed. Of course it did.
“You can’t seriously want her dead that badly.” Morgana complained.
Akechi was getting sick of this, he pulled out his gun once more, fired and aimed at the cat, who dodged out of the way only barely.
“Hey! You realize how much of a jerk you look like right now? Shooting at a defenseless cat-” He cut the cat off by shooting again, forcing him to dive for cover around a corner of the fortress.
He didn’t comment that Morgana wasn’t defenseless, he too, had a sword. Mostly because a part of him realized that engaging with the thing only encouraged it more.
He turned on his heel, stalking off, or at least starting to- The moment Morgana came out from his hiding spot, he turned and sent his sword careening towards his head,
Morgana apparently wasn’t one to be hit by the same person twice. He dodged out of the way, although Akechi did manage to slice a few hairs off his head. He glared.
“You can’t get rid of me that easily.” The cat said, and the cockiness of the statement was undercut but how out of breath he sounded.
Great. So the cat was just going to leech experience away from him and talk his ear off. For a second he considered casting Call of Chaos, just to get rid of the thing. But decided against it, because no he didn't want to spend the few hours of sleep he could get tonight with chills and aches from the backlash.
He stared at the cat, willing with all the hate in his heart for the thing to get struck by lightning and die. But that didn’t seem to be working.
“You won’t get any help from me.” He said, and stalked further into the palace, trying not to lose focus at the sound of Morgana’s feet pittering and pattering along the stone floor.
Yokota was as evasive as ever. By the time he had mapped out the entirety of the palace, he still hadn’t found her. At that point he had wiped out the entire shadow population of the fortress (unfairly earning Morgana around ten extra levels, not that a level fifteen stalker cat was any more useful than a level five.)
The entire foray was a giant waste of time, the only comfort he got was the hefty amount of loot he had extorted from the shadow’s, and the surety that he’d need to contact Yokota in reality to find her shadow.
He stewed in the bitter taste of his own failure the entire way back. It didn’t feel good to waste his precious time like this, to get so close to the deadline where Shido would barely even be thankful for his work. The thought of even being late made his heartbeat pick up.
The cat either wasn’t picking up on his bad mood, or was purposefully trying to needle him. He really couldn’t tell, nor did he care.
“Why do you need to kill her so bad anyway?” Morgana was really amazing in the ways that he managed to ask the same question in fifteen different ways.
“Do you really intend on following me?” Akechi growled, ignoring the stupid question.. “You're going to get stamped to death by a shadow.
Morgana smiled, “You killed all the shadows.” he pointed out helpfully. “Don’t worry, I won’t get in your way.”
“If you do.” Akechi started, smiling sweetly. “I'm going to bring you to the pound and have you put down.”
“They wouldn’t accept me because I’m human. I told you that.” the cat was still on his heels, following behind like a dutiful hound. “Are you still looking for Yokota’s shadow? It’s been like four hours.”
Akechi was aware of the general direction of the shadow but couldn't seem to coax her out of where she was. “Who knows.” He answered, and took great joy in the annoyed look from the cat. “I'm done for the day anyways.” He was out of SP restoring items anyways and he needed to actually sleep for his interview tomorrow.
He pulled his phone out, and exited the Nav.
The cat landed on the ground gracefully beside him. Looking up at him with blue eyes. “Same time tomorrow?”
“Shut up.” Akechi muttered.
He thankfully managed to shake the cat off his tail by the time he got back to his drab apartment. The place was bare, fashionable in a soulless way. Just a kitchen, a living room with a couch and TV, and down the hall a bathroom and his bedroom. He didn’t waste his money on decorations of any kind, so it pretty much looked exactly how it did when he bought it. It wasn’t a home, and he barely used half of it anyways.
Akechi mustered the energy to take a shower in the tiny little shower, knowing he wouldn't have the motivation to do it in the morning. He took his time as cleaned off the remaining dirt and muck from the Metaverse. There was always a sticky residue left behind by the place, like a microscopic film of slime that stuck to his body from submerging himself in the sea of minds. He changed into his sleepwear, a tanktop and boxers. Akechi always found his body was unnaturally hot, and didn't care for sleeping in heavy clothes, or even with heavy blankets. He more than often slept with just a sheet, his comforter had long been donated.
For a second he just sat there in his bed. His frustration had ebbed enough from the shower to think clearly about the new annoyance in his life.
You can't trust the cat. The darker part of him, Loki, thought, and he had to agree.
There was only one other Metaverse native- or perhaps just Collective Unconscious native Akechi had met- Jose, who he found to be a deeply disturbing creature, so far beyond his level of power that what seemed like a fun game to the thing was a life or death struggle for Akechi. The damn kid was stronger than he looked, and for what?
Jose didn’t interact well with reality either. He once tried explaining the child to Isshiki after their first encounter almost killed him, and she had stared at him, eyes glazed, and then continued on like he had said nothing.
Morgana seemed far too human to be called similar to Jose, and his ability to enter reality corroborated that. More likely than not he originated from some kind of collective cognition. Perhaps even whatever God had bestowed him with access to the Metaverse in the first place. Frankly he trusted neither humanity nor the enigmatic god, and thus he didn't trust Morgana.
Being able to change someone's heart. The lighter part of him speculated. I would certainly like to see a few people beg for forgiveness for what they've done to us. But it's permanent right? How would it be different from brainwashing?
He closed his eyes. Willing his double souls to shut up if they wanted the luxury of sleep. They reluctantly obeyed.
As he lay there, trying to fall asleep, he noted the date.
January 27th 2016.
He needed Ruka Yokota dead in the next two days.
At this point, it was time to try and meet the woman in real life.