A Disregarded Palace

Remembering Rebellion

When I closed the trapdoor, I finally took a good look at the area we were in. It looked much the floor with Change. It had an enormous empty prison cell in the middle, but unlike the second floor, the cage was all there is.

"Where is the treasure?" Morgana asked, "And where is Katsumi's shadow?"

I looked around, and the cat was right. This floor was empty. I looked around and noticed a crack in one of the walls.

"Hey Futaba, is there anything beyond this wall right here?" I said, patting the wall.

Futaba typed away at her computers, "There is! It's a whole other room."

And just at that moment, a door appeared in front of where I was standing, and I opened it.

When we first walked in, everything was dark. As we navigated the twisting, turning corridors, it started getting lighter. Finally, we stepped into an open room that was an exact copy of the first, but this time, a cognition was there.

It turned around, and what stared back at me was my own face. This cognition was younger, I could tell because its hair was longer and tied up. But it was also wearing prison clothes.

It smiled at us. A smile I knew all too well, a smile with bad intentions behind it.

"Welcome to the holding place of the Inmate." It spat at us, "I've heard you would come, but I'm not going to let you take me away."

"Take you away? What do you mean? We're here for-" I stopped before I could finish. The origin behind Katsumi's palace was me. I was the one who broke his heart. I was the one who killed his father. I was the one who ruined his life.

That's when I saw him, Katsumi's shadow. He was the one in the prison cell, waiting for death. Aethena was in there too, but she looked bloodied and broken again. They both looked to be almost dead.

"You know, you aren't the only ones who have been able to enter this place." the cognitive being said, "The real Katsumi used to come in here all the time. This is where he discovered Aethena."

"Guys," Futaba interveined, "There is another reading coming this way." She sounded a little nervous.

I turned around just as whatever this reading was entered the room. It was Katsumi. He was holding one of the calling cards we left for him.

His face looked rather peeved. Katsumi threw the card to our feet, and he shook his head at us.

"I appreciate the sentiment, but you don't need to save me, Goro." He said, his gaze was fixed on me. It was cold.

"Katsumi. Listen to me!" I almost screamed, "I still care about you, even with all of the horrid shit I have done to you."

His stance changed. He went from tense to confident, "Then you should have thought about that before you ruined my life."

The shadow Katsumi looked at the real, "You don't have to do this..." it whispered.

Inmate laughed, disappeared, and reappeared at Katsumi's side, "Don't listen to them. They just want you to keep tolerating this horrible world."

Katsumi stared down at the ground, seemingly listening to what the toxic cognition was telling him.

"If tolerating means you get a second chance, shouldn't you keep going?" Katsumi's shadow reasoned.

Katsumi glanced up at the version of him who wanted to keep going, then he looked at the feathered beast that was Aethena.

The cognitive Akechi grabbed Katsumi's chin and forced Katsumi to look it in the eye, "You already made up your mind, remember? Your rebellion is weaker than it has ever been. There is no way you can regain control of her now."

I saw Katsumi glace at me yet again. I noticed he clenched his right fist before staring right back at the toxic cognition again.

"I won't let you control me anymore!" He screamed in its face. Katsumi swung his fist, punching the Inmate in the jaw, sending it to the ground.

Just then, a scaled mask appeared on Katsumi's face. He smiled down at the cognition.

"You were wrong. I STILL HAVE THE SPIRIT OF REBELLION WITHIN ME!!" He screamed at the top of his lungs. It sent shivers down my spine.

I heard rattling from the cage behind us. We all turned around in time to see Aethena stand up defiantly, showing the same rebellious nature as Katsumi. And in one fell swoop, she shattered the bars of the cage, like they were glass.

Katsumi's clothes quickly changed to a simple yet immaculate outfit after that. He pulled out a revolver and shot the toxic cognition in the head.

Katsumi then looked over to the rest of the Phantom Thieves and smiled as the palace started rumbling, "Let's get out of this place, shall we?"

We were all too shocked to anything but nod and start running out of the building.