A Fated Promise (pt. 2)

[nyandereneko]

Word Count: 8,046

Summary: After waking up from her exciting experience in the other reality, Nova finds herself drawn by some unseen force to understand more about the nature of that place, and the role she’s been fated to fulfill in it.

*Author’s Note*: This technically counts towards the First Meeting prompt for F/O February, but I don’t think I’m going to tag it because I didn’t write it with that in mind. It is a direct follow up to this fic. This is one of the most beautiful things I’ve written in probably over a year. It’s over 8,000 words, and I can’t remember the last time I wrote a single drabble/fic chapter or anything that was this long. I poured my heart and soul into this piece, wrote it in a day, edited it over the course of a week, reread it multiple times throughout that period. I know this isn’t going to get many notes, but I don’t care. If you can, please just read it. Or even just part of it. You don’t even have to comment, but I’m really proud of this, and I would love if people just gave it a look. I enjoyed writing and reading this immensely, and I hope it’s able to bring at least one other person some happiness, or encourage them to create something that means a lot to them, too.

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Nova awoke the morning after her strange, otherworldly experience safe and sound in the comfort of her hotel room. It felt like an eternity had passed. She slowly peeled her eyes open, squinting a bit at the bright sunlight streaming through the windows. How had she gotten back here? No, she remembered that. She could remember everything from that nightmarish episode, right down to the feel and smell of the man that had rescued her from certain doom. She sat up, rubbing her eyes before slowly lowering her hands and examining them. They were trembling; her heart was pounding. She still hadn’t recovered from the incident, and as more memories started to resurface with uncomfortable clarity, she tucked her knees against her chest.

How could she be okay? Without warning, she’d walked right into what she’d been told was another reality, narrowly escaping being devoured by some kind of monstrous beast that resided there. She still didn’t know what had triggered it, what was to stop her from stumbling into that place again? The people that had saved her had said something about a “vulnerability.” If she could avoid those she would be alright…maybe. But how could she avoid them? She didn’t even know what to look out for; when she’d waltzed right out of this reality into another, it had looked the same, felt the same. Well, now it certainly wouldn’t. Nova would be vigilant, scan for any signs indicating she’d reentered that horrid, warped reality.

But what about the man she’d met there? She didn’t even have the chance to see who he was with. She hadn’t asked him his name. But something started to stir in her mind, a defunct, distant memory. If she recalled correctly, he’d been addressed as “Joker.” What could that mean? Was that his real name? Then again, all of this could have just been a hyper realistic dream, a side effect of the medicine she had to take to keep her mental demons at bay. But she’d never had a dream as real as that. She remembered him so clearly; she’d felt him, smelled him…he was real, he had to be. And he had saved her. And he’d promise to protect her if she found herself in the midst of such a situation again. How would he know? Who was he really? She had to find out.

“Joker…Joker…” The name rolled around in her head. She sifted through all the oppressive mental clutter she could in an attempt to remember anything useful about that name. Even an inkling of a memory would suffice, something that would give her a lead, that would put this nagging feeling of recognition to rest. The thought didn’t leave her mind as she forced herself to get up and make herself presentable for the day. As she was getting ready to take the first bites of her breakfast, something clicked into place.

“The Phantom Thieves!” She shouted the absurd, random title in a childish and embarrassing manner, almost spilling the food she held in her exuberance. “The Phantom Thieves of Heart, that band of teenage vigilantes from a few years ago. They traveled between realities, right? At least, that was the rumor…but there’s no way. It was just an urban legend.”

Or…was it? Her brain was getting hazy, almost as if her mind didn’t want her to remember. What good did it do her to recall an outlandish fad from the past? Though her rational side insisted she should let her curiosity die, she couldn’t get the name of that group out of her mind. Their existence was recemented in her consciousness, and she dwelled on what she could remember of them as she finished eating. There was no use getting excited now, especially since her psychological state was still so fragile.

She finished eating and pulled out her schedule for the day, deciding that if she had the time and the conviction, she would stop at a local library or internet café at some point; somewhere she could research her suspicions. She was still at a loss for why she had forgotten them so completely, suppressed their existence from her mind. At the peak of their popularity Nova had considered herself one of their biggest fans. Then again, she was one in a sea of many that saw themselves that way.

“I should have made plans to find out more about them while I was here. I should have remembered that I wanted to do that.” She was talking to herself, and she promptly shut up after regaining awareness of her surroundings. On top of the unrealistic nature of the situation, did it even matter what had happened to her? Again, she reminded herself that it was probably just a dream. She was getting excited, jumping to conclusions, being overzealous. God, it seemed like she would never grow out of such infantile enthusiasm.

But she couldn’t stop herself from hoping. Even if she’d been terrified, even if she’d almost died, even if she never wanted to revisit that dreadful reality again…she couldn’t forget how she felt. It was stupid, really stupid, beyond stupid to fall in love with a figment of her imagination, but hey, it was her specialty. More than that, she couldn’t shake the feeling that what she’d gone through was real. She balled her hands into fists, focusing on every memory she could about the mysterious man named Joker. She remembered now that such a name was the moniker of the rumored leader of the Thieves. Could they really still be at large, still be changing people’s hearts through their mysterious means despite how much time had passed?

Now Nova was starting to think she’d do whatever it took to find them again. She didn’t know why, but something in her heart, in her mind, was telling her that she needed to be reunited with them. Just another side effect of an incredibly impractical crush? Perhaps. But although those specific feelings resided deep in her heart, the feelings in her mind were different. They were desperate.

She diverted her attention back to reality and shoved her thoughts and feelings to the side. No no no, she couldn’t let herself be captivated by such grandiose ideas. She reminded herself that she had a schedule to keep, an itinerary she’d outlined before she arrived. She took about an hour to collect herself, going over her supplies and necessities for the day. If she really was losing her mind, she didn’t want the added stress of leaving behind something she might need later.

She made her way to the nearest train station after collecting herself, barely managing to figure out where she was going in this crowded maze of a city. She was out of her league, but she didn’t really have a choice. As much as being here alone made her stomach churn, she’d been forced to accept this as the opportunity of a lifetime. She had to get as much out of the experience as she could.

Compared to the evening before, her afternoon was quite peaceful. Aside from the stress of trying to navigate and communicate as she went, she spent a few hours enjoying some of the experiences she had actually planned to have for her visit. Everything seemed surreal to her now, though, and she started to feel a creeping itch of paranoia climbing up her spine. She couldn’t let her unrealistic fantasies ruin this for her, she couldn’t allow herself to be her own worst enemy. The bad news was that she didn’t have much of a choice. From the moment she’d entered that magical realm, she’d submitted to a fate she couldn’t escape.

Starting to feel fatigued, and concerned about the distracting wariness she felt, she cut her self-organized tour short and tried to make her way back to her temporary lodging. She got off at what she thought was her stop, realizing after straying a few blocks from the station that she didn’t recognize anything about the neighborhood she was standing in. She checked the signs and landmarks around her, hoping to find something that would indicate where she had ended up on the map she clumsily tried to navigate on her phone. She was so frustrated, so scared, so alone.

Maybe I should just give up and go home. She thought to herself, leaning against a nearby wall as she tried to maintain to her composure. This was a stupid idea, and after everything that happened last night… I’m clearly not well. I’m overwhelmed, I’m helpless. I don’t want to let it go to waste, all the things I could be doing now that I’ve made it here, but what will I be able to get out of it if I’m constantly wandering around like this, waiting for my impending mental collapse to finally catch up to me?

Well, the answer she came to was that it would amount to pretty much nothing. This was so typical, her biting off more than she could chew, knowing full well she wasn’t equipped to handle the situation. She missed her family, her friends…she wasn’t even able to talk to them normally because of the time zones. Once again, she realized how alone she was. She huffed before taking off again, trying to trace her steps back to the station.

Way to give up now, to let all of this slip away from you. She didn’t have the time, energy, or interest to argue with herself, so she just let the mental chastising do its worst. She deserved to feel terrible for getting herself into this mess and not have the backbone to pick herself up. Her head hurt; she was still having blurry recollections of the events from last night combined with tidbits of fragmented memories about the Phantom Thieves. Heh, maybe if she could talk to them, they could help her out. She should have worked out a better deal with them last night. Now she was just being delusional, of course, but her comedic fantasy was the only thing keeping her from breaking down in public.

As if some cosmic entity had heard her plight and decided to grant her something small to brighten her day, she noticed a small black cat lounging near the entrance to one of the neighborhood’s many alleyways. Its fur was pure black except for white markings on its muzzle, paws, and tail that made it look like it had dipped itself in paint. She wondered if she was lucky enough to have come across a friendly feline; it had a collar, so maybe that meant it was used to people? She just really wanted to pet it.

“Hi there, kitty,” she cooed, crouching down a few feet away and extending her hand towards it in greeting. “Cute kitty, pretty kitty. Are you going to let me pet you?”

She realized after the fact that all of her baby talk was useless; it probably didn’t respond to anything but Japanese. But it seemed that the tone of her voice was enough to do the job on this occasion; the cat rolled around in the sun a bit, stretching its limbs before happily trotting over to her. The precious puss purred so loudly it was chuffing, rubbing against her legs and hands and eventually nudging her to sit so it could crawl into her lap. It was so cute, so comforting, she thought maybe she should just sit here and pet it for the rest of the afternoon.

“Hey, where are you going?” she inquired when the cat finally left her lap, flicking its tail in an almost beckoning manner as it turned into the alley. “Hm, guess it was time to go home.”

Just like it was time for her to go home. She got to her feet, stretching herself before pulling her phone out to resume fighting with the GPS. Her attention was distracted as she felt the cat rubbing against her legs again, almost as if it was trying to push her. She chided it a bit before acquiescing to giving it a few more pets.

“What exactly do you want from me?” she asked, although she didn’t expect an answer. She wasn’t that far gone. The cat seemed to understand her, though; its expression conveyed an awareness, a consciousness that she’d never observed in any other animal before. She really needed to get out of here if she was hallucinating advanced cognitive processes in the eyes of a cat. “Okay kitty, I have to go now.”

But something held her back. The cat didn’t speak, it didn’t even meow, but it had captivated her attention with a strength she couldn’t fight. She wanted to follow it…she needed to follow it. She didn’t know where it was going to lead her, but she couldn’t find it in herself to care. All she knew was that she was going to follow it; that was the only thing she wanted to do, the only thing she could do that enabled her to move from the spot.

What was happening to her…did it matter? She was being guided like a pawn by forces beyond her comprehension, at least that was the sentiment she was screaming at herself from somewhere in the recesses of her mind. But she didn’t feel scared, she didn’t feel worried…and in the presence of this strange, enchanting animal, she didn’t feel alone. It was silly, absolutely foolish, she knew, but it was as if she’d entered a different reality. Not one as literal as the place she’d been last night, but a path that she’d been set on without her knowing why or how, and she was going to follow it through. She sure hoped it wouldn’t lead somewhere bad.

On the contrary, the cat led her to one of the most unassuming, quaint, cozy locations she’d ever laid eyes on. There was no way she’d have found this place on her own, but that unseen force had unmistakably delivered her here. The building, which Nova was able to discern from its exterior was some sort of eatery, emanated a force that drew her in. She wanted to walk up the steps, open the door, and…no, this wasn’t right. Why was she here again? She felt scared. She stumbled back, gasping for air that she desperately needed. She was suffocating, it was so hot, so heavy…her vision started to blur.

“Ngh…what’s happening to me…?” She gripped the side of her head, mentally screaming for the pain to stop. It hurt terribly, an ache that easily rivaled the pressure of a migraine. She turned her gaze to the red and white awning looming over the entrance, reading the name that, lucky for her, was in letters she could recognize. “Leblanc.” She’d definitely seen that word somewhere before. Another sting of pain shot through her temples. She curled into a ball, trying to maintain consciousness. God, she’d never experienced any pain this severe.

You can’t fight it. A voice, the voice that had spoken to her from within her mind when she was in that other reality…it was speaking to her again. Why had it come back, was it the unseen force that wanted her to end up here? How was the cat in cahoots with it, was the cat just a vision? Too many questions… You shouldn’t fight it. You’re still weak, and I can’t help you. You have to find it yourself. Your time is running out. Don’t keep me waiting long, Master. I truly despise waiting.

“Help me…please, help me…” She needed help, well yeah, that was obvious. Her head was going to burst open if she didn’t do something about this pain. As the voice faded, the pain in her head ebbed as well, and she breathed a sigh of relief. A few tears leaked down her cheeks, and she forcefully rubbed them away. Another breakdown, more evidence of some sort of split consciousness…yeah, she really needed help.

But how could some secluded café nestled in the backstreets of a random Tokyo burrow do that? After her breathing returned to normal and her vision seemed to stabilize, she lifted her head. The cat was sitting still and silent before her, looking at her as if it understood everything, as if it held all the answers. If that was the case, she wished it would get to the point. She hated feeling like a puppet who didn’t know if she was ever going to regain control of her strings.

“You want me to go in there?” she asked, deciding if it wasn’t going to speak on its own, perhaps it would respond to some prodding. The cat nodded. Nova was momentarily stunned, trying to reconcile the fact that the existence of another world, another consciousness residing deep within her psyche, and her necessity to be here all might actually be real. On top of that, it might all be connected. Oh, and this cat seemed to understand and respond to what she was saying. That was pretty weird too.

“I’m not going to get hurt, or see more monsters, or get kidnapped or something if I do, am I?” Hey, she was still coherent enough to be concerned for her safety. She might as well get a feel for what she was about to enter into. Although before the cat even responded with a definitive shake of its head, Nova felt that this place was a kind of sanctuary. She hoped she would find out why sooner rather than later.

“Okay, well…I’m still scared,” she mumbled, and the cat stepped forward and rubbed comfortingly against her knees. “Can I hold you, just to make myself feel better?”

The cat sat down in front of her, waiting patiently for her to carry through with her request. She stuffed anything she still had in her hands in her bag, adjusting it on her shoulder before lifting the cat into her arms and cradling it against her chest. It continued to purr, and she rested her chin on its head for a moment, soaking in the sound and vibration. The gesture seemed to settle her stomach a little, and gave her the courage to enter the establishment.

A bell rang as she pulled the door open wide enough to set it off. Oh, she really hated that. Even if she wouldn’t have been able to stall being discovered for long, her presence was now undeniably known to any and all inhabitants of the small, intimate interior. She swallowed hard, forcing herself to move through the doorway as she clutched the cat tighter against her. It nuzzled the bottom of her chin, seemingly trying to reassure her.

But her anxieties weren’t that easy to soothe. Walking into the midst of a bunch of strangers, strangers she probably wouldn’t be able to communicate with at that, was not her idea of a place where she would be able to get help for the increasing disturbance of her mental state. How had she let herself be convinced by a really smart looking cat and a voice in her head to come to some hole in the wall café for a health consultation instead of, you know, a licensed hospital or something?

Despite her extreme discomfort at feeling like every eye was suddenly on her, the air in here felt different. Not in the way that it was filled with the heavenly aroma of a variety of coffee blends mixed with a spice, a unique, savory smell that made her mouth water. It felt safe. A haven that really would offer her peace and some semblance of protection from the miserable mental torture she’d been wrestling with since yesterday.

“Welcome to Café Leblanc.”

Nova almost dropped the cat. That voice…she really was going to pass out. She was going to hyperventilate, she was going to over tax her system, her knees were going to give out from under her. God damn, holy shit, what the fuck, and a variety of other expletives suddenly flooded her mind. Her eyes turned to the speaker without her consent, and she was pretty upset about that. She didn’t want to look at him. She wasn’t ready. Calm grey eyes, a voice that she trusted, that had literally held her up, reassured her in the face of yesterday’s debacle. It’s a promise. Well, now Nova was promising herself that she really must be going crazy. There was no other explanation. Had she even left her hotel this morning? Was she still dreaming? Was she still trapped in the confines of that other reality? Who knew? She certainly didn’t.

“Is there something I can get you?”

Stop talking, fuck, for the love of God. And again, she understood him perfectly. It wasn’t unrealistic or impossible that someone his age might have studied and had enough experience with her language to be able to comfortably converse in it. And she certainly did look like a tourist, someone who stuck out from the fabric of everyday life like a sore thumb. It still felt different, though, like she was hearing him through a filter. That didn’t make any sense. But fuck it. Nothing made sense anymore, and if she kept standing around, holding this cat and no doubt looking like a deer caught in headlights, she was going to look even weirder.

“Uh…hm. Is this your cat?”

She certainly was riding the embarrassment train today. She walked over to the counter, setting the cat on it as if she was leaving him a gift. Plopping a cat down on the counter of a food establishment…she couldn’t really be blamed for her incompetence right now. She was barely running on enough cylinders to keep herself standing, and to talk to him in a clear, understandable tone. She kept her eyes locked on the cat, which simply sat down and faced her. She didn’t realize that her face was flaming alongside the rest of the fire searing throughout her body.

“It has a collar, and I followed it here. It kind of led me here. Look, I’ve been having a bad morning, abysmally bad, I can barely think straight, and this isn’t the kind of place I was hoping to end up, this isn’t the place to be saying any of this, but…I don’t know what else to do. Genuinely. And, as unlikely as it sounds, I get the feeling you can help me out with some of that? And if I’m spewing nonsense and you have absolutely no idea what I’m talking about, you can throw me out or something, I don’t care. I’d understand, actually, it would be weird for you to not throw me out.”

She’d used up all of her conversation points. Her mind was buzzing with static, and she was scared stiff. She didn’t want to meet his eyes. She didn’t want to see if anyone else had heard or understood what she said. She just kept staring into the cat’s blue eyes, the color of an endless sea. She couldn’t really ask the cat for help, although she was starting to think that would have been a better idea. No, the best idea would have been to ignore the cat a few minutes ago. She got herself into this mess, but she couldn’t understand what had encouraged her to do so. This was circular questioning now, so she just went back to the static.

“Isn’t that the girl from last night?”

“Shush!”

People were gossiping behind her. People she understood. She didn’t think she could get any warmer, but the blood in her body seemed to be able to boil itself into infinity. She really was going to pass out. She clutched her stomach, feeling the nausea start to swell. She was seeing spots; this was becoming an emergency situation. She finally faced the man at the counter, knowing she was out of options.

“I’m gonna pass out if I don’t sit down, so um, could you just tell me if I should be here or not? Or tell me anything?”

Seeming to finally recognize the severity of the situation, the man stepped out from behind the counter, placing his arms around her shoulders. He pushed on her a bit, wordlessly encouraging her to lean into him, most likely so that he could catch her in the event that she really couldn’t walk. She barely managed, but she didn’t entirely lose her strength, and was able to follow his lead to the table where she’d heard the voices talking about her. She placed a clammy hand over her eyes, giving herself an excuse to not have to look at anyone, and also genuinely needing to feel the cool against her fiery head.

“Whoa, you don’t look so good. At all.” That was the voice of the man who had asked about her. He seemed to be the most engaged, or perhaps the most curious, about her and the situation at hand. “Are you gonna be alright? Maybe we should take her outside, get her some air?”

No one said anything, but the man didn’t continue to talk, so she figured there had been some sort of wordless exchange she didn’t see. She slid down in the seat a bit, trying to keep her stomach from revolting against her. She felt the soft brush of the cat’s tail against her nose; apparently it had joined the festivities. She was sitting on one side of a booth, with people both opposite and beside her. She felt bad for whoever she’d been plopped down next to, but she wasn’t feeling well enough to truly feel self-conscious about being seated next to a stranger.

“Here, drink this.”

That was grey eyes’ voice. She sat forward, focusing on keeping her breathing even. Peeking through her fingers, she noticed a steaming cup of something that hadn’t been there before. It made her stomach lurch a bit; she definitely didn’t want to create a scene like that here.

“I don’t know if I can,” she replied honestly, soon feeling the pressure of a hand softly stroking her back.

“It won’t make you any sicker, I promise.” Oh, goodie, just great. There was no denying this was the man in the flashy mask and shiny leather that had rescued her last night. She gripped the cup and raised it to her lips, downing the contents all at once. The tea was scalding, but compared to all the other physical problems she was dealing with, she barely reacted. She didn’t care if she scorched her insides if the threat of nausea was eradicated.

“Downing it like that should have,” the man across from her remarked, and she set the cup down and forced herself to face her surroundings.

One man and one woman, both blonde, sat in front of her…Nova wondered if their hair was natural. Beside her she had apparently been crammed into a seat with another boy and girl, one with bright red hair and glasses, the other with smooth, dark blue-ish, almost purple hair. Then there was the black-haired man who took her cup when she was done. They all looked normal enough; Nova knew she had created quite a stir. But she couldn’t fight whatever wanted her to be here. Her eyes drifted back to the cat.

“You don’t feel like you’re gonna pass out anymore, d’ya?” the chatty blonde man continued, trying to get some semblance of a conversation going. She figured it would be rude if she kept sitting here being stubbornly silent.

“No,” she replied timidly. “At least, not yet.”

“You came pretty close. I can’t remember the last time I saw someone go that white,” he added, and the woman next to him lightly slapped the back of her hand against his chest. “What? We gotta start talking to her sometime, don’t we?”

“We can have a proper conversation when there are less people around,” she explained, and Nova realized that the group she’d been seated with was in a booth as far from the entrance—and the other patrons—as possible. “We don’t want anyone overhearing, and we can’t have you half yelling everything we discuss.”

“I’m not that bad anymore,” the man replied, giving the girl the side eye. “But I guess it is pretty weird. Extremely weird, actually. Wanna head upstairs?”

“There should be a place for her to lay down up there,” the man, who Nova realized was one of two baristas working at this establishment, agreed. “Haru and I will finish up this shift and join you when we can. Don’t start getting into everything with her, she needs to recover a bit if we’re going to introduce her to…that stuff.”

Oh God, was she going to be drugged? Experimented on? Used as a test subject? She glared at the cat, who had promised her she had nothing to worry about before coming in here. No kidnapping, no harm would come to her, and yet she was anticipating being stuffed in some sort of body bag when she was taken to the nefarious upstairs room. The cat didn’t respond to her disapproving gaze, and instead just hopped off the table and made its way to the back by itself. Nova slid out of the booth, deciding that now that they knew her face, she probably shouldn’t try to run. There was still some part of her that felt comfortable here, too, and she didn’t want to lose that.

She was still wobbly on her feet, though, and she had to brace herself against the table to save herself from keeling over. The two girls of the group, who had been sitting on the booth’s outward facing sides, simultaneously came to her aid.

“Maybe you shouldn’t be walking just yet,” the blonde girl suggested, and Nova just gave a tired nod. She followed the directions of whoever wanted her to be where, almost falling asleep against the back of whichever person hauled her up the stairs. She was so tired now, coming down from her emotional whirlwind, that she could barely stay awake long enough to see the room she was being brought to. It was a little dusty, sparsely decorated, but bearing enough amenities that it could comfortable suit ten people and then some. It would have made a great place for a party.

She felt herself being laid down on something long and soft; she figured it must have been some bed they kept up here. Afternoon light streamed in from the window beside the bed, and she threw her arm over her eyes, floating away into the darkness of sleep in a manner of minutes. She was in her dream world now, and she wondered if when she woke up, she was going to be back in her hotel room.

Quit fighting it. The voice from her mind returned.

“I wish you could just tell me what it is! What you are!”

In due time.

Nova rolled her eyes. She was traipsing through her inner dreamscape, an endless black expanse. She hoped to catch a glimpse of the being that wouldn’t leave her alone. “Why do you have to be so cryptic, why can’t you just tell me what’s going on?”

That’s outside my sphere of influence at the moment. But you’re among friends now, people who will help you. You must let them. You won’t be able to find this place on your own.

“I feel like I already did,” Nova retorted. “Considering the alternate reality I stumbled into last night.”

That was just a trial. A mistake, but also a beginning. It opened the door for your transformation. Now you have to follow through.

“But what if I don’t want to transform!”

Suddenly, a being appeared before her. A huge, spectral woman adorned in what seemed to be medieval dress modified for modern fashion. Her skin was silver, and her hair was as black as this realm. Nova couldn’t help also noticing her distinguishing feline features.

“I am thou, thou art I,” the woman spoke, and Nova felt as if her heart was being squeezed by the words. “But I can’t be with you yet, not the proper way. You must overcome your demons first. You must let them help you. But ultimately, you must be the one to conquer your Shadow.”

In the next moment, the woman conjured a flood of water from thin air, directing it at Nova. She was helpless against its surge; she didn’t understand why this being had revealed itself, what it meant, and why it was trying to drown her. Before she could be completely lost to the darkness, she was thrust back into reality.

Nova awoke in the same upstairs room, but it appeared to be nighttime now. A few stray street lights illuminated the world outside, casting shadows on the curtains that had been pulled over the windows. Nova clutched the sheet that had been laid on her with a death grip, gasping for the air that had been stolen from her in her dream. She was so frightened, so helpless, drenched in a cold sweat and wishing she could escape whatever madness she’d fallen into. Defeat her Shadow? Nova would have been fine getting lost in it if it meant she never had to go through something like this again.

“Calm down, breathe.” It was the grey eyed man again. She was uncomfortable, but not because she didn’t want him there. He was sitting on the end of the bed, and he scooted closer to her as she tried to gain her bearings. He placed a glass of cool water in her hands, which she was very grateful for. “Drink this.”

This was the second time he’d given her a lifesaving beverage in as many, well, they felt like minutes to her. Nova downed the drink just about as quickly as the last, rubbing her face before forcefully raking her fingers through her hair. She had needed that sleep, but it had also been ruined at the end by that unpleasant experience. She looked at the man again, figuring that now that she was here, she might as well ask for the help she’d been promised.

“What’s happening to me?” she demanded, her body weak but her voice strong with a mixture of fear and desperation. “Who are you? Where was I last night? Why did I end up there? Why was I brought here? What the hell is going on?”

“You have a lot of questions, and that’s understandable,” the man began, keeping his voice reassuring. “We’ll do our best to answer them, but I don’t know if it’s a good idea to go at it all at once. It’s a lot to process, and a lot of complicated, confusing answers that you still might not be satisfied with.”

“It’s better than nothing,” she huffed. “Better than what I have to go off of now.”

They started with introductions. There were eight of them in total, four boys and four girls. Ren, the black haired, grey eyed man; Ryuji, the talkative blonde; Yusuke, the tall, reserved looking one with dark blue hair; Anne, the blonde haired bombshell who seemed to bicker with Ryuji a lot; Futaba, the girl with red hair and glasses who seemed quiet but had an electrifying energy about her; Haru, a woman with curly brown hair who had been working with Ren earlier in the cafe; and Makoto, a girl with brown hair and red eyes who wasn’t present when Nova had made her unsightly debut earlier. The boys happened to include the cat, named Morgana, which Nova found a little strange; she was getting used to accepting such things quickly, though.

Since the afternoon all members of their group had managed to congregate, finished with their various real-life jobs and commitments before gathering to tackle this one. One that Nova thought they didn’t get nearly enough credit for, if they had to deal with stuff like this in secret. Learning their names was easy enough, and she could glean small things about their personalities just from looking at them. She was sure they could do the same with her.

“Now, as to why you were brought here…you might need to wait to get that answer,” Ren explained, sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck. “And the place you were last night…that should wait too.”

“Then what are you going to tell me besides your names?” Nova prodded impatiently.

“Well, our cat can talk,” Ryuji interjected. “The one that led you here? He’s the one with all the answers.”

Morgana, who was often simply referred to as Mona, jumped onto Nova following this strange proclamation. “I was going to wait to tell her, Ryuji. That’s another one of the ‘big’ things, don’t you think?”

Nova’s eyes grew wide. Morgana did talk. He spoke words that she understood clear as day. At least her observations of this cat having an unconventional depth of awareness weren’t wrong. She wasn’t entirely out of her mind, although if it was getting to the point that she could easily accept stuff like this, maybe she was?

“Well we gotta tell her something other than our names,” Ryuji pointed out. “And if we’re not gonna tell her about personas and the Metaverse, she might as well prepare herself for all of that by knowing Mona can talk now. She can get used to that so that when it’s time for Mona to explain all that other crap to her, she won’t be hit with two big things at once.”

“I mean, he’s kind of right,” Futaba added. “Plus, things are just a lot easier when Mona doesn’t have to pretend to be silent. It’s one of the comparatively least earth-shattering revelations.”

Morgana still seemed a bit bristled, but he let it slide. He turned his attention to Nova. “Ren’s right, by the way. You’re better off just experiencing most of this stuff, and having it explained afterwards.”

“You don’t have to explain any of that to me yet, I guess,” Nova accepted. “But that place last night, that other reality, it’s called the Metaverse? I need to understand some terminology, recognize a little of what you’re talking about, so I don’t get lost.”

“Yep, that’s the name,” Morgana nodded. “And sorry to say, you’re going to have to go back there at some point.”

Nova’s eyes grew wide as she pictured having to face the monster that had attacked her, or something worse, again. Ren leaned over and touched the back of her hand. Nova clutched the sheet under it. He had promised to protect her, and somehow she still trusted him to keep that promise; at least for now.

“Okay. At least tell me what was up with those outfits, too.”

“Oh, the masks and stuff?” Anne chimed in. “That’s, uh, just kind of a uniform. You won’t have to wear one until some other stuff happens. If it happens. Which it most likely will, but without getting into all that, it’s automatic. We just magically transition into those outfits when we encounter certain conditions in the Metaverse.”

Well, so far Nova was able to determine that the Metaverse was a parallel reality that contained an assortment of unpleasant creatures, but as a tradeoff dressed people in invariably attractive clothes after certain conditions were met. She could live with that.

“And does all of this mean you guys really are the Phantom Thieves of Heart, the same ones from a few years ago?”

Makoto stepped up to answer this query. “The very same. Well, to a degree. We still go by that title, and some things concerning our work at the time are similar. However, due to certain circumstances, our job has become a little different. It’s transformed. I guess in a way it’s changed with time, as most things do. But thanks to what happened a few years ago, most people don’t remember our original run. They may faintly recognize stray sentiments of the Phantom Thieves from the past, but for all intents and purposes we got a fresh start. It was kind of for the best.”

Memories being suppressed, or just fading away due to some undetermined effect…that was why Nova had had such a hard time recognizing them, why she couldn’t place where her reminiscent feelings came from. Some things were starting to come together, but a lot was still shrouded in darkness. She rubbed her forehead, petting Morgana reflexively with her other hand; luckily, he didn’t seem to mind.

“I know you’re not going to tell me, because apparently it’s something I have to experience, but I just…what does all of this have to do with me? What does this mean for me? What…should I do?”

“You’ve already entered the Metaverse, on your own no less, and been altered by its influence; what’s happening here is more than enough proof of that,” Makoto continued, although Nova didn’t understand what she was referring to. “You can speak freely with us, and we can do the same with you, with no barriers of understanding. I take it you hear us speaking to you in clear, eloquent, perfect English? Well, we hear you the same way, but in Japanese. Plus, you can hear Morgana. The absence of those language barriers means that you’re going to end up becoming a persona user, even if you don’t know what that means yet. We’ll have to figure out what it means for you as well, to be honest. We haven’t encountered a new persona user in years, and we’ve certainly never met one from another country.”

“I guess my timing was just spectacular,” Nova lamented, feeling her heart sink a bit. She was going to become a Phantom Thief…that sounded really intimidating. All of this was, admittedly. But whatever she had done to get here, it was settled. This was her fate now, and she was just lucky she was in the right place at the right time to run into a group of people who could and would help her with the transition. “I hate to admit this, also, but I can’t navigate this place for shit. I mean, I guess I made it here because I was being guided or something, but I still don’t know where I am in the city. I don’t have a clue of how to get back to my hotel, and then there’s needing to come back here again, and you guys have lives of your own to deal with. You have jobs and schedules and…? This is all just a lot.”

“It is, but there are ways we can work around it,” Ren reassured her. “It’s pretty great that you ran into us when you did, if it was going to happen anyway. Our living arrangements are a little more accommodating than they used to be.”

He chuckled a bit, gesturing at the room around them. “This is where I lived when I was in high school. We still use it as our Phantom Thief HQ, since it’s hard to shake the habit…and the nostalgia.

“But, back to the point,” he redirected himself, “since you’re going to be spending a lot of time adjusting to all of this, you can stay with me if you want. I have more space than I know what to do with—”

“That’s because you’re the leader,” Ryuji laughed. “Plus, the rest of us felt pretty weird about taking the penthouse. You’re the only one who could stomach it without feeling like you were getting way more than you could handle.”

“That aside,” Ren interrupted, “that can be our temporary arrangement, if you find it acceptable. You don’t have to choose tonight, but if you’d like I can show you where you’d be staying. Although I don’t usually find it important, I am the leader, and I think keeping you under my watch would be the most beneficial to you, especially considering the circumstances. Either way you’ll have to go back to your hotel to get your stuff, so you can think about it and tell us when you’ve made a decision. And also, even though all of this seems like it’s unavoidable, you might be able to walk away. There isn’t a guarantee that you’re locked into this, since your persona hasn’t awoken yet.”

“Mm-mm, Ren,” Morgana piped up, exchanging a look with the man that communicated something Nova was completely oblivious to. “There are few options in her case, and the best one is sticking with us.”

“It’s still her choice,” Ren asserted, stretching as he rose from the bed. Nova didn’t realize until after the fact that she’d been staring. “It’s getting late, though, and you’ve had a hell of a day. We all live in the same building, so we’ll be going together. Is that alright?”

“Uh…yeah,” Nova mumbled, sliding off the bed as well. Morgana rubbed against her legs, and Nova couldn’t help but smile. This cat was sassy, but he was still a cat, and damn if Nova didn’t love those. She was weak to just about every one of them. “I mean, like I said, I need help getting around. I’d trust locals a million percent more than the wonky map on my phone.”

With that decided, everyone gathered their things and funneled down the stairs. Morgana hopped from the banister into a bag Ren carried on his shoulder, and Nova felt a pang in her heart…how fucking cute. Speaking of cute, the guy carrying the cat was still on another level in terms of attractiveness. Of course, Nova realized quickly that all of the members of the Phantom Thieves were unusually good looking; was being beautiful part of the job description? There was no way she would get in, in that case.

Putting aside her pitiable self-doubt, she mentally reasserted just how dangerous the territory she was getting into was. She hadn’t brought up the way he’d helped her last night, the way he’d held her, although it was certainly still running through her mind. Earlier today everyone had been indispensably helpful to her, but she sensed a kindness rolling off of him that made her heart flutter. Hm, that couldn’t be good. She reminisced about the way he’d laughed last night, the way he’d smiled at her, the way he’d vowed to protect her. His arms had felt so strong, his chest had felt so warm, his lips had looked so—hoo boy, today was a rough day. Her brain was really, really fried.

She hurried down the stairs and out the door after the others. She tried to keep her unrealistic thoughts at bay. Ren closed up the shop, and everyone was off. She still wasn’t entirely comfortable talking to everyone, although she was relieved that there was no language barrier, and she considered that another indisputable advantage of sticking around these people.

She shrugged off the chaos whirling around in her mind and played with Morgana a bit as she trailed behind Ren. She poked his nose and scratched his head, and he responded like any other cat. She wondered if this was more of an act he was putting on to make her feel better, or if sometimes he just genuinely lost himself in his instincts.

As they neared the train station, Nova was distracted by a final thought passing through her mind. The pleasant scent of coffee wafting off of the person in front of her…it was delightful. She realized now that she clearly recognized the smell from last night; more proof that she wasn’t living in a dream. She wanted to be enveloped in this smell forever. It was comforting, it felt like home. But would she ever truly feel that way? Did she actually have what it took to become a Phantom Thief? There was no point worrying about the specifics now. If it meant she got to spend more time with this man, got to enjoy his presence and get to know him and the other members of this friendly, tight knit family…at least for now, she felt like she would do whatever it took. That was her promise.