There is no chance, no destiny, no fate, that can shift and bind ones tainted heart, lusting for desire, not even the leader of the infamous Phantom Thieves group, Akira Kurusu. Having been through so much trauma in the past and changing countless h...
[ Note: thank you for 300 reads! ] - short chapter
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While the Phantom Thieves followed through the bronze door beyond them, Yusuke couldn't help but feel eerie, unknown to him that this would continue for a long time as he and the rest of the group continued to journey across the mansion. Dodging skill attacks left and right, summoning Personas every second on the battlefield, yelling continuously. It was tiring yet the Phantom Thieves marched on, dashing down the dark hallways at the speed of light. As time went on, they began to run low on energy from summoning a stream of Personas.
The Phantom Thieves narrowed their attention to an oddly spacious room, metallic red curtains decorated the overlay large framed window within the centre of the room. A wooden piano strayed to the side, collecting dust as the candle lights illuminated the area by a fair bit. The carpet had changed once they explored more into the room, displaying an extravagant design, mainly in the flora sense. Makoto was the first to have her eyes caught onto the abnormally large framed painting above the curtain windows within the middle.
"Is this another one of those scenario memory paintings?" Ryuji questioned, viewing the canvas with confusion and curiosity, his figure slumped down from the fatigue that started to affect him. He was correct about the painting being another one of Akira's memories. Although being fairly big and surrounded by candles, the picture itself made the Phantom Thieves frown slightly. It was the same house again, this time even more messier than before, almost looking like a home that was affected by an extreme natural disaster as the walls peeled off, almost touching the rubble and newspaper mixed floor.
The first thing that caught their eye was a faintly grown up Akira, still looking young, standing behind his father, cowering his head with his arms, almost looking as if guarding an upcoming attack. His father stood in front of him, one of his arms shielding Akira in a protective manner as his gaze looked towards the direction of his wife, another unknown figure standing beside her.
This made the group question the scenario even more. They knew why they needed to activate the picture, to set it into motion and battle of the next upcoming shadow but they didn't quite know how to get up to touch it. The room was fairly isolated besides the fact that it was inhabited by many candles and a single wooden piano. A few chairs were scattered around the area but none high enough for them to reach the picture that was frustratingly placed at the top of the windowed curtains. The Phantom Thieves were at a lost for what to do.
Yusuke explored his eyes around the room one more time before his eyes sparked with an idea, although he didn't know if it were to work. He walked towards the wooden piano and kneeled down to the footing of the instrument. As expected, there were small wheels that were built into the piano, meaning it was moveable.
"The piano could be moved towards the large window of the painting and then we could use that small counter table holding that flower pot on top of it, almost creating an odd staircase" Yusuke explained, "With that, we should be able to reach the painting."
Ryuji's mouth formed into an 'o' shape expressing his understanding as the rest nodded.
"This staircase might be a little wonky." Makoto said with concern, "Be mindful that we only need to tap it once for the figures to come out of the painting. One big jump towards the painting should be enough, I don't trust the stability of our makeshift staircase, so be careful." Makoto turned towards the Phantom Thieves and crossed her arms around her waist in a thinking matter, "Now, who is capable enough to jump and reach towards the painting?" She questioned and Ryuji was the first to raise his hand and wave it around excitedly, "I got this!" He exclaimed and without a thought, Makoto agreed along with the rest of the Phantom Thieves.
They watched in awe as the obnoxiously loud Phantom Thief excitedly positioned the piano and counter table upon each other, creating a makeshift staircase filled with possible hazards if anything were to mess up his jump. Carefully but swiftly, Ryuji climbed upon the piano and then onto the counter table, stabling his balance as to not be foolish and fall off.
Steadily maintaining his balance, he eyed the rest of the group and they nodded in approval as to jump now. With excellent and almost perfect stance, Ryuji took a large jump, latching his right arm as wide as it could go, reaching with all of his strength before he felt the palms of his hand collide upon the corner of the painting, a white glow appeared beneath his hand as Ryuji savoured his jump with ease.
The painting released a pure white of light as the room began to glow and the candles blew out all of a sudden. The silhouettes began to escape once again, positioning themselves in front of the Phantom Thieves, becoming alive and animated.
"Nice job, Skull!" Haru exclaimed with a cheery smile as Ryuji displayed a smirk of pride, feeling like he helped the Phantom Thieves direly. The silhouette began to move and the voice emerged, the group shut their mouths, paying their utmost attention to the event that would play in front of them, another part of Akira's past that they didn't know about but would soon and unknowingly find out. They didn't know what the feeling was nor what was left in store for them, yet they stood united and watched the scenario play by.
