Persona 5 x persona 4

chapter 46

It had been a long journey but the subway car suddenly lurched to a stop. Those who had fallen asleep were quickly woken by the sudden jarring motion. Joker was instantly on his feet as a new sight greeted him from the window of the subway. This was not normal for Mementos. Outside of the subway car looked more like a twisted subway hub then the normal Mementos corridor. The subway car's doors opened with a creaky swishing sound to allow everyone out.

"What the hell is this?" Skull was the first to ask as they all stepped outside onto the platform outside of the subway.

"It's some big, fossil-looking thing. I believe the treasure lies beyond it." Futaba informed them as she slid her goggles down over her face.

"Wait. Look on the side. Our car's not the only one that runs this deep." Fox pointed out. "So this is where those crowds were trying to reach?"

"More than likely," Naoto replied as she rolled her shoulders.

"People are walking in and out of there, so Oracle must be right about the treasure being on the other side of the wall." Queen took a few tentative steps towards the large wall. "It's not a wall but a door!"

"Well let's get goin' then. C'mon, let's stay focused here." Skull's new maturity was starting to shine.

Joker had to admit he was proud. Skull always had it in him and Joker was glad other people were starting to realize it too. Skull was more than the hot-headed blonde he pretended to be.

"After you guys," Rise adjusted the guitar on her back.

With that, everyone moved towards the large imposing skeletal door. The closer they got, the utter magnitude of the door became clearer. Joker put a hand to it as it quickly became clear that even if this was a door, there was no magic switch to open it. He glanced back at his friends to see if they had any idea of what do to next.

"Is this thing seriously a door? How're we s'posed to get past?" Skull cocked his head as he examined the door with a frown.

Just as he said that the door started to ascend up into the ceiling opening a path more than wide enough for everyone to travel through. Joker let out a sigh of relief, thankful they didn't have to do much more than that. In the rest of Mementos there always seemed to be someone guarding the door that they had to fight before they could get down.

"It opened straight away." Mona was the first to cross the threshold before looking back at his companions. "I bet that means we now have access to the inner depths."

"Hold on!" Oracle called out before anyone else could cross to the other side. "The door only opens from this side."

"You mean...? That's just great!" Yosuke sighed, looking downcast.

"Are you sure Oracle?" Aigis glanced back.

"Well, I took a quick peek at the mechanism inside the door and it looks like you can only open it from here. We can get in, but nothing can get out." Oracle explained.

"It's as though whatever lies within has been locked away." Queen stared off beyond the door.

"Wait, so you're saying that the people going in there are choosing a life of imprisonment?!" Noir gasped.

Something about that statement rang a little too close to home for Joker's liking.

"We could leave someone here to open it for us." Naoto quickly suggested.

"I have never felt such eeriness before. Would it be safe to leave someone behind?" Fox asked.

"We don't know, we are all in this together. I think we should head down together." Ken advised.