"Look at this place..."
The Thieves stood in the strange long hall full of different colored doors. Futaba stood close to Makoto, almost clinging to her.
"This place is creepier on the inside..." She said.
"Did you ever see inside these rooms, Fox?" Morgana asked.
"No. The two little shadows distracted me, and I was awoken," Yusuke said.
Ryuji was staring at a door that was bright yellow. Either he was crazy or he could hear... crying...
"What's in here...?"
Before anyone could protest, Ryuji opened the door. Inside was a small empty room with a projector screen. They all stepped in as words appeared on the screen:
'Memory of Influence #57'
The screen instantly flashed, now showing a tiny boy, about 5 years old, with fluffy black hair, sitting on the ground and crying. His knee had a bruise on it.
"Is this... one of Akira's memories...?" Ann said.
Another boy with silver hair, that looked slightly older than Akira came beside him and put a bandaid on his knee while singing a little song:
🎶 Baby brother don't be scared,
if you cry I'll be right there,
I will dry away your tears,
and keep you safe from any fear~ 🎶
The other boy finished his song with a hug; by then, little Akira was giggling and smiling brighter than the sun. Then the screen went off.
"That was so sweet..." Haru had a hand up to her mouth.
"It's good to know someone was there for him when he was young..." Ryuji said smiling a little.
"If I had to guess..." Yusuke pondered. "The doors all represent memories. The colors are meant to show what type. Yellow is happiness , blue is depression, red is rage..."
"What could green and purple be?" Mishima spoke up.
"Not sure... those colors can represent many things... it'd be better to see for ourselves..."
Futaba peeked out the room. "Oh! Here's a purple one!"
She hurried across the hall, everyone hurrying behind her, then she pulled the door open. The projector screen already powered up.
'Memory of Influence #34'
The screen showed little Akira, probably only 3 here, sitting on the floor in a bedroom playing with a bunch of stuffed animals while babbling nonsense to himself. A window in the background showed a dark, cloudy sky. Lighting and thunder instantly flashed. Little Akira squealed and ducked his head. He grabbed a funny looking cat stuffie and hid under a blanket with tears pinching his eyes.
"Papa...!"
His little voice went unheard. When more thunder crashed, little Akira hugged his stuffie tighter and scrunched into a ball under his blanket. The screen went off.
"Purple doors are his scary memories..." Mishima said.
Yusuke remembered Akira mentioning his fear of thunderstorms when he was younger. He wished they knew him at that age. He wished he could've gotten under that blanket with Akira, and hug him, and just make him feel safe...
"I'm gonna find a green door!" Ryuji hurried out the room.
"Skull! Don't just run around!" Morgana cried.
The blond ran to the nearest green door he could find. The moment he threw open the door, the projector started.
'Memory of Influence #73'
It showed Akira as he was today, but about a year younger, a girl with long wavy hair was putting a bunch of clothes in front of him to see his size. Everyone else came in by then.
"Who's that girl...?" Yusuke said, almost sounding jealous.
"Dunno, I'm guessing an ex girlfriend. She looks kinda hot!" Ryuji said, getting himself glares from the girls.
The girl on screen was putting another shirt up to Akira's chest, but he pushed her away frustrated.
"Lacy, stop! I don't like these clothes! They look too flashy!"
"Who asked what you like? If you wanna be my boyfriend, you gotta dress the part~!"
Akira looked completely annoyed by her. But then he folded his arms and made a bit of a shy pout face.
"Ok, Lacy-Chan..."
The girl, apparently know as Lacy, smiled and gave him a kiss on the cheek.
"Now, let's see how blazers look on you~!"
Then it went off.
"That girl was a jerk!" Futaba cried, "What did Akira see in her?"
"Who knows... I bet green doors are his annoyed memories. Did you see how disgusted he looked at her?" Mishima folded his arms.
"I remember seeing a door at the end of the hall glowing... what kind of memory do you think is in there...?" Yusuke asked.
"Maybe, his biggest most important memory of all... maybe where his treasure is!!" Ryuji suddenly cried.
"No. I can't sense the treasure around here," Morgana said with an annoyed look aimed at the blond.
"I'll tell you something I sense!!" Futaba had wide eyes. "Two shadows! Close by! Both kinda weak... or strong...? These two are weird as heck!!"
Yusuke felt he knew what she was talking about. He rushed out the room and looked around. For sure, the two little shadows were hurrying away in panic; the little girl and the little jester.
"Hold on, I only wish to talk!!" He called out.
The little shadows hurried around a corner. Yusuke wasn't gonna lose them this time. He instantly sprinted after them—he could hear the others running behind him. The shadows were fast, but at some point he had them cornered. They both cowered in a corner, both whimpering.
"Who are these two?" Haru came up beside Yusuke.
"D-Don't hurt us please!!" The little girl cried.
"We won't cause you any trouble!!" The jester cried.
Yusuke was frustrated, he wanted to end this nonsense. But he calmed himself and spoke softly to the shadows.
"We won't hurt you. We only want to know who you are and why you keep watching us. You obviously know something about our friend, Akira,"
They both looked up in slight interest. Yusuke leaned down to their level.
"He's your prince, right? And he's suffering? We only want to help him. But we'll need your cooperation, ok? Can you please tell us your names?"
They were both silent, then the little girl slowly spoke.
"My... name is Alice..." Her British voice was soft and sweet.
"I'm Jack Frost..." The little jester said.
Futaba was examining them both.
"Oh! They're two of Akira's Personas! No wonder my signals were weird..." She said.
Makoto took a step forward. "If I may ask...where are the others? Akira has a lot of Personas, doesn't he?"
Alice slowly stood up.
"They're all locked in the prison heart..." She didn't make direct eye contact. "When Prince Akira first had us here, his Palace was so pretty... he was so happy... because he met all of you..."
"Y-Yes!" Jack stood beside Alice. "Before he knew you guys, he had so many sad scary memories... we don't like those memories!"
"But when he met you all, more happy memories began to appear! I've never seen Prince Akira smile so much! Not since he was a baby!" Alice said.
"Do you know what is in that shiny door at the end of one of the halls?" Morgana asked them.
"That is the Core Hall. It holds Prince Akira's core memories, the ones that shape who he is," Alice explained.
"We've tried to get inside, but Kitsune-Kun has the key, and he's too scary!" Jack squealed.
'Akira's cognition of me...' Yusuke thought.
"I guess I know why you both ran from me before..." He said.
"We're very sorry!" Alice bowed her head. "Kitsune-Kun is just so mean and strict. He used to be sweet and happy, almost like a little boy..."
"But now, he's gone completely bonkers! He screams, and yells, and he attacks anyone that dares to get too close!" Jack finished.
"So we left the Prison Heart and came here, to the Hall of Memories... we feel safer here!"
"Weird..." Ann had a confused look. "If this... Kitsune-Kun is how Akira sees Yusuke... why did the cognition of him change like that?"
"That just depends on how Akira feels toward him. Fox, how are you around him?" Morgana faced he artist.
Yusuke felt himself blush.
"What do you mean how am I around him, I love him... I care about him more than anything, I'd do anything to protect him, I treat him like a..."
'Like a Prince...'
"Like what, Inari~?" Futaba said.
"... L-Like... like a prince... he's my prince..." Yusuke stuttered.
"Akira knows that, right? It makes sense his cognition of you is strong. The perfect knight to protect the prince," Morgana said.
"So sweeet~" Alice had a dreamy look.
"Alice!!" Jack looked flustered.
"So, is Akira's shadow here?" Ryuji put his hands in his pockets. "We're still in our normal clothes. How are we not seen as a threat by him yet?"
"Prince Akira is very... strange. He never comes to these halls. He lurks around higher parts of the prison, but in the same areas as the demons," Alice said.
"The demons?" Makoto raised an eyebrow.
"We tried to save him from the demons once, but we couldn't do it! He doesn't want to be saved..." Jack frowned.
"The desire of his own death..." Mishima looked down; pain could be heard in his voice.
Ryuji made fists and spoke sternly.
"Take us higher up the prison. I can't take this, I want to help Akira! He's done so much for us, we have to help him now!"
"But it's scary there! We aren't strong enough to—"
Alice held up a hand in front of her friend and gave him a reassuring look.
"Jackie, please. We need to help them. I owe everything to Prince Akira, especially after what happened to my last Master..." Alice faced the Thieves again and put her hands together. "This prison is full of many of Prince Akira's fears, from childhood to today. There are many illusions, and many mirages that may scare you all a lot... I would be happy to help you all... but are you really willing to go through with this...?"
With a few simple looks, the Thieves practically read each others minds.
Nothing was stopping them.