The Children of Thieves

Keeper of Lust

This is probably my longest chapter yet, because I don't think it would have worked as two separate ones. For those who wish to read the complete version on AO3, just note that I made a major change in this version to that one, because I didn't like what I'd done when I originally wrote this. Also, a warning, this chapter contains discussions of Suicide and sexual assault.

Cho awoke in the Velvet Room again that night. She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes to be once again face to face with Igor and Lavenza. "So," said Igor in his usual high pitched voice, "it seems you've got an ally on your journey. How very interesting." "Yes," Cho replied impatiently, "But, could you finally explain to me what is going on?" Igor sighed, then said, "In truth, I do not know much either. The Metaverse's return is a great mystery to me as well. However, I'm sure you will be able to figure it out. Let me bestow something upon you, so as to help you on your quest to avoid ruin." At that moment, Cho felt like some sort of strange bond was formed between her and Igor. then, she heard Lavenza's voice whisper in her ear, despite the girl's mouth not moving.

"I am thou, Thou art I,
Thou hast acquired a new vow...

It shall be the wings of rebellion
That breaketh thy chains of captivity

With the birth of the Fool Persona,
I have obtained the winds of blessing
That will lead to freedom and new power."

After that weird speech, the voice faded, and Igor spoke again. "I have granted you the abilities of the Wild Card," he said, "Use these to your fullest potential as a Trickster." At that moment, bells echoed in the distance. "It seems that our time is up." said Lavenza. "Indeed," Igor replied, "Go. Return to your world. We shall speak again when you have made progress." Cho tried to stop them from leaving. She wanted to know why she was chosen for this. But before she could open her mouth, the stage faded into bright light, and she awoke in her room to the sound of her alarm blaring.

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Cho left home rather quickly that morning. She wanted to get to school as fast as possible, in order to be able to have as much time as was necessary to convince him go into the Palace. But, she probably should've left earlier. Due to another accident on the roads, the subway was packed full of people. Cho just about managed to hop on the train before the doors closed. She had barely enough room to breathe as she stood, waiting for her stop. She looked around the carriage at the other passengers, when she noticed a girl wearing the Shujin uniform. She was sitting on one of the seats, and was looking guiltily at an old woman who was standing in front of her. Eventually, the girl stood up and offered her seat to the woman.

But before the woman could say so much as a thank you, a man standing nearby quickly swiped the seat. "Hey!" Cho called out, "She was offering it to her!" "Oh, no it's ok" the girl assured Cho. Cho just shrugged and went back to thinking. It was clear the girl didn't want to start a fight, which Cho could understand. But as she walked off the train to meet up with Mubo, the girl caught up with her and tapped her on the shoulder. "I just wanted to thank you" she said, bowing her head. "What for?" Cho asked. "For standing up for me," the girl replied, "Even if it didn't do anything, I still thought it appropriate." "Don't worry about it," Cho replied, "it was nothing." She was about to leave, but then she decided on something else. She turned to face the girl and held out her hand. "Cho Amamiya" she said. The girl took it and replied, "Yuri Asurito." The two of them smiled at each other, then parted ways.

Cho met up with Mubo on the roof again like they had discussed that morning. Despite what he'd said the night before, he was still a bit unsure about going into the Metaverse. Cho tried to point out how much easier it would be to get him to confess if they used it, but Mubo was still concerned about the risk of killing him. Cho knew that if she told Mubo what Hana had told her, he'd be all for going in there all guns blazing. But she promised Hana that she wouldn't tell anyone, so she kept quiet about it. Eventually, they decided to stop with the pointless back and forward that this conversation had become, and decided that if they were no closer to figuring anything out by Monday, they'd use the Metaverse. With that settled, they headed downstairs and headed to class.