Working With Phantoms

One Over the Other

August 3rd

Madran arrived in the Velvet Room to see Margaret chatting with Marie and Elizabeth. Philemon was also sitting in the back of the room with Maya.

"Uh, hey, Marie?"

Madran walked up to the small group of chatting attendees.

"Yeah?"

"So, I forgot to let you know, but yesterday, Akira's group and I found out something... odd."

"What is it?"

"So, you know Macabre? Well, Futaba managed to get Macabre to revert into a form that looked like a shadow version of a young Suga, but then immediately after, another Shadow Suga that appeared to be in a nurse's outfit appeared. Do any of you know what this means?"

Madran watched as Margaret, Elizabeth, and Marie all shared confused looks.

"Her shadow was Macabre, but... not?"

"Well, I scanned Macabre, seeing that he had similar signals to Bubonia, like a shadow related to a persona. However, the second shadow Suga happened to appear as well."

"This certainly spices things up a bit."

"Yeah. Suga said that she had been seeing Macabre literally everywhere, while this second one just appeared out of nowhere."

"Well, maybe, she's split over the whole mess that her mom's death has called. Part of her is Macabre, the one who wants to join Wysteria, and the other part... was the second shadow kind?"

"Yeah."

"Hmm. Excuse me for a moment."

Margaret then walked to Suga's door and went through it.

Suga's POV

Suga looked over to see the door to the Velvet Room opening, with Margaret walking through.

"Margaret...?"

"Forgive me for the intrusion. I heard about yesterday, it would seem."

"Oh."

Suga rolled back over in her bed as Margaret sat down on the chair next to her desk.

"Suga, how have you been feeling since the first?"

Suga shook her head. She already had to deal with Macabre, which made Margaret's sudden inquisitiveness rather unwelcome for her.

"Suga, I am one of the four who greatly understand your conflict."

Suga sighed and glared while pulling the covers over her head.

"Suga. You can't hide from yourself."

"Macabre isn't me! He's just... some pissed shadow ruining my life."

"Then, what of the other?"

Suga poked her head back up from under her covers.

"What?"

"Has the other shadow done anything?"

Suga shook her head.

"No. All I've heard and seen is Macabre and Bubonia."

"Ah, yes, Macabre."

Suga watched as Margaret pulled a glowing orb out from her pocket.

"What's that?"

"This is a device that Igor, Yu, and I have all used before. It reveals the truth. The cold, hard, undeniable truth."