The Fallen Soul

As Nathan became aware of his senses he knew where he was, The Velvet Room. When he was able to open his eyes and looked around, nothing had changed, save for a chair a ways away from him had been marked with XIX. Currently it was unoccupied, Igor sitting in the middle of the room at the table. Nathan got up and walked to Igor, ready to ask questions.

“Our other guest shall join us soon…” Igor’s words were very straight to the point. “The Trio should be arriving shortly, please refer to them any questions.” Igor’s voice started to become choppy, still unaccustomed to being used.

“Ah, Nathan…” Belladonna’s voice boomed throughout the room, startling Nathan. “Ah, yes…” her voice got softer, ”I forget about the acoustic properties of this room.” She led the Trio to the table, it slowly elongating to fit the 5 off them.

Nameless took a seat on the other side of the table away from Nathan. “It seems that Tiffany has yet to join us… Akuma put them down…” Akuma had started to place 3 figurines on the table.

Nathan recognized the first figurine as Minotaur. The second figure was of the Cat woman that had been at the bus crash, although it felt as if it was fused to the table. Nathan could easily move and pick up Minotaur and the third figurine with no hassle. As he looked at the third figurine he realized it was Atlas.

“You probably noticed that you couldn’t move Bast but the others you can move the others.” Nameless smirked, “because Bast is Tiffany’s personal Persona only she can manipulate her. Just as Atlas can only be moved by you, and Minotaur can be moved by anyone.” Another foundation was placed on the table by Akuma, “and that will be the Persona you call out… Or someone got excited and crafted an extra foundation…” Akuma glared at Nameless as Nameless chuckled.

Nathan looked over to the chair that had been marked with the XIX, a blotch of red and orange had appeared and slowly Tiffany materialized. Her outfit was plain pajamas with a red top and orange pants with flame design. Her hair fell loose behind her back, reaching about halfway down. Nathan had never looked down at himself; he was wearing loose fitting pajamas as well. The design was simple black and navy waves with golden ropes sprawling out from the arm and leg openings. He knew he did not own such an outfit, so he was curious.

Tiffany rubbed her eyes sleepily, “uh…” she looked around the room dazed by the details. “What the?” she got out of the chair and looked around more. She eventually saw Nathan and the others and approached them. “Nathan? You’re here? What is this place? It feels so real…”

“Dr. L called it The Velvet Room… so I assume that’s what we should call it as well… I came here the night after that incident at lunch…” Nathan looked to the others for help explaining the situation.

“Oh yeah, that was cool” Tiffany saw the look of confusion on Nathan’s face. “What? It was! All of a sudden you’re running towards us and that giant appeared and caught the bomb and safely exploded it…” she was way too giddy to be describing a near death situation, bouncing as she walked towards him.

“WE ALMOST DIED!” Nathan was shocked, he knew she was quite optimistic but this was a whole new disturbing level to him.

“Oh…. WAIT WHAT?” Tiffany grew red as she realized the actuality of what happened, stopping in her tracks. “But then what about the Bus? It Was out of control but everything turned out fine… Well there was that bull thingy and the cat lady…”

Nathan was stunned, he had never dealt with anyone so positive, “if it wasn’t for Minotaur the bus would have killed us and probably everyone else on board…” Nathan shook his head, eyes closed; when he opened them again Tiffany was at the table playing with the Persona figurines.

“Oh so this one is Minotaur…” she had picked him up and spun him around looking at the features, ”oh, then what about this one? She was there… she put this weird goo on your head and went into the bus…”

Belladonna gently pushed Nathan down onto a chair by the table, “That is Bast, she was awakened from within you…” Belladonna moved to where she could see Tiffany’s face clearly. “She was born your desire to help people and your sheer optimism that pain is temporary.” She smiled softly, “You may call me Belladonna outside of school, you know Akuma and Nameless as well…”

Nameless stepped forward, “this room exists between Dreams and Reality… so while you are asleep at home, your consciousness is here, thus the feeling of everything being real… Nathan, you may return to sleep…”

“Okay…” Nathan was glad he could let them explain to Tiffany, but then he remembered he had a question. “Oh there was a flash of orange and light blue before the Bus spun out of control…”

Akuma put up his hand to stop Nathan from talking and held up two figurines. One was mostly white with blue boots, hat and a collar. It smiling brightly, almost friendly but had a mischievous look to it. The other floated above the foundation, a smiling Jack-o-lantern with a blue floppy witch hat and cloak holding a lantern. Akuma placed them on the table and there were two clicks that echoed in Nathan’s head.

“Ah, the Jack Brothers… We managed to contain them after you left… they’re not usually so mean spirited, but they were fresh demons…” Belladonna looked at the figurines, “the bus must’ve drove a hellhole and they hitched a ride… and well, got bored…” Belladonna smiled, reassuring Nathan everything would be fine.

As Nathan sat down and closed his eyes he started to fade into a dream. The last thing he could make of The Velvet Room was Igor’s voice, “ Third card The Death…”

Nathan shot up in bed, a Jack Frost flying into the wall; it got up and sat on the corner of Nathans desk. His alarm clock was thrown across the floor, he picked up the doll of Jack Frost, the cold air of his room freezing against his sweat drenched skin. The doll flopped lifelessly even though Nathan saw it move on its own. The door of his room flying open and Akuma standing with a clock that threw Nathan into a panic, he had barely enough time left to run to school if he left.

Nathan and Akuma ran out the door and were stopped by a brand new red Ford Thunderbird, the passenger door flew open and Jubi motioned for them to get in. They sped off to the school, “well you are up late… A nightmare it seems? Belladonna couldn’t reach you through the Dream Song…”

Nathan was still shaking; he had managed to put a green T-shirt and jeans on. “Yeah… it…. Was bad…. I… I don’t even…. Know what happened…” He tried to look back on it but all he did was shake more and want to vomit. The car slid into a parking space and Nathan’s stomach lurched.

Jubi put her hand on his, “don’t focus on it, everything will be fine…” With her words Nathan’s mind was at ease, he also stopped shaking as well. “If things get bad again come to the office… everyone is worried since you awakened first…”

Nathan nodded and stepped out of the car with Akuma and headed to his homeroom. He could tell it was going to be a long day, and the nightmare would haunt him. Belladonna had caught him on his way.

“Oh you’re here… good, did Akuma’s doll help?” Belladonna’s voice was full of concern, but she calmed down as Nathan nodded. “If you have problems waking up the doll will wake you up. Don’t push yourself, you need to relax, let your friends help you…” Belladonna walked him to class and rushed off. Nathan took a deep breath to collect himself before entering the classroom, he had to stay strong.