1/31, Tuesday Evening

"My own duties end here as well. You were truly a remarkable guest."

Lights danced within the Velvet Room, obscuring details as they melted away. Before Akira Kurusu's own eyes Igor and Lavenza, master and resident of the Velvet Room, were fading away, their last messages of farewell delivered. Such was the end of this tale.

Except...

"Is that really it?"

There was a moment, a brief pause in reality's dispersal, and a chuckle filled the world. For the short time that Akira had been exposed to the true Igor, so different to the false being Yaldabaoth had posed as, he'd already grown to recognise his voice. A flash, and though the Velvet Room was still dispersing, the table Igor rested at and the Master of the Velvet Room returned. He smiled.

"Are you not satisfied? All has been concluded – your victory already claimed. What more is there left, that you do not wish for this to end?"

"It's..." Akira hadn't expected his words to affect anything, and so for Igor to return and inquire on them had caught him off-guard. He glanced around, the room nothing but white light, himself, and Igor at his desk. The last chance. "You're right, there's nothing left I can do but... I still wanted to ask. I still had questions about..." a wave of the Trickster's hand "everything."

"Hm hm," Igor tapped slender fingers upon the wooden surface of his desk, considering the young man before him. The eternal smile that played out across his face never wavered. "It is not possible in life to gain all the answers, some questions will never be resolved. Accepting that is a challenge we all must face."

To see the face of a man who had overcome the will of a god itself fall with such light rebuke, it would serve as a reminder that he was still a youth to any human. All Igor saw was a desire for the truth. Something he had recognised so many times before.

"However," the youth perked up immediately upon Igor's words, "there are some answers I can provide all the same. Ask what questions you may, and until the time comes that you wake and depart the Velvet Room for the final time, I will answer what I can."

Akira was silent. This hadn't been what he expected at all. In general a complaint or expression of disapproval resulted in nothing ever changing. This though... it was so unexpected for him that he had difficulty thinking up what to say.

Yet the pressing need to say something caused him to blurt out the first thing to come to mind as his own mind rapidly attempted to figure out what he actually wanted to ask. His first question was thus:

"Is this really the end?"

If nothing else, he was not upsetting Igor with his questions – quite the opposite, the master of the Velvet Room chuckled happily to be asked such. Still, his focused gaze never wavered as he stared at and, Akira felt, through the one before him. There was another pause before the being answered.

"Of this story, yes. Of all stories? There is no true ending for that. Whether you will rise up again, and be star or player of another tale, is up to a fate that none can know. If you truly desire to find that path then embark upon a journey to discover it. The Fool Arcana will bless you on your way."

'If you truly desire to find that path'. Akira considered those words deeply. Did he? Did he want to go back, to face off against Shadows once more, fight with his friends at his side against powers no other could stand? Part of him deeply did. Part of him had wished for this to never end. But he'd rejected that part's whispers when Yaldabaoth had offered him the deal before. Akira's eyes were set forward. On a future none could know.

As if reading his thoughts, Igor chuckled again as Akira came to that conclusion. "Good," his smile widened, "you have truly matured under the Velvet Room's guidance, even with my unfortunate absence. It is always a pleasure to witness such growth."

Akira's eyes narrowed. He'd had this thought before, wondering about the Velvet Room. Yaldabaoth itself remarked with surprise at the form the Velvet Room had taken, an expression which spoke of having seen it hold other forms as well.

Thus, then: "Is it always Persona users who come to the Velvet Room?"

If Akira's insight and sharpness impressed Igor, the being gave no answer to that, instead focusing on the question with a nod and a smile. His fingers steepled together as he replied. "Access to the Velvet Room is granted by a contract, and that contract defines the Wild Card you possess. As such, previous guests have also been of the Wild Card. But their truths, and their stories, are not for me to say. Perhaps you will cross paths with others in the future. I have no doubt that should that be the case, grand happenings will result of such an intersection of fates."

Akira nodded. There were others then. Other stories and other people who had held Persona. "Is the Metaverse truly gone?"

"The Metaverse as you know it has disappeared," Igor answered calmly, without a missed beat. "Yet the sea of human souls is eternal, and will coalesce into form again in time. How that plays into both fate and future, and who is called to respond to such an event, is a question impossible to answer."

The sea of human souls... Akira remembered those words, often uttered by Shadows recalling their true origins. The Metaverse then, it was just an aspect. An aspect dispersed, but others had been before and others would be again. It made sense. And, in knowing that, something in him calmed.

It took a moment to figure out what.

"So my Persona are still part of me."

Igor chuckled, thrilled with Akira's conclusion, that his concern was tied to the fate of the masks he had taken on. Yet it was clear that with that question answered, more were now brewing in the mind of the Trickster. There was something truly amusing about the way his thoughts operated, and so Igor awaited what came next. The answers he provided his thanks for this young man's aid.

"About Satanael-"

A raised hand cut Akira off, Igor's smile the same as ever. It seemed he wanted to address this immediately. Akira silently waited.

"The act of overcoming Yaldabaoth was not done by you alone, but by the combined will of the people echoing through you." Igor spoke clearly, ensuring his words were understood. "While you do possess the Persona Satanael, which is an impressive feat indeed, should the opportunity ever arise that you manifest it again it will not be to the scale or power of before. You will be slaying no gods on your own, Trickster."

Akira gave a smile, half-sheepish, half-amused. "Got it," he nodded in response, "no god-slaying."

Another moment for Akira to think, Igor awaiting the next question as the empty world around them floated in nothingness, and the young man's thoughts gathered into another query. "Does the fact I won't be able to change my Persona anymore mean anything? Those I used against Yaldabaoth, the ones at the forefront of my mind, will that affect me?"

"Oho." Igor was pleased by this question, pleased with the depths of this young man's thoughts. Of course he had possessed nothing but time of late to consider his own nature, but to still arrive at such a conclusion, it was admirable. It showed a depth of introspection and flexibility of thought that was necessary to master the Wild Card. Truly, Yaldabaoth had sown the seeds of its own demise when choosing such a powerful Trickster to play its game.

"Though it is through the Velvet Room we provide the means to transform and exchange your Persona," Igor went on to explain, "that is not the sole method behind their evolution – as your transfiguration of Arsene into Satanael shows. It is merely the provision of a vast, flexible, and aggressive system for redesigning your heart. The experiences you have from this day forward, the decisions you make and times you spend choosing your path, you will find those affect the masks you wear as well. Should the day come that you call upon your Persona once again, you will find that even without the Velvet Room those in your possession will have changed. Your Persona will change to reflect you, you will not change to reflect your Persona. That is the truth."

The depth of Igor's explanation was enough that Akira could already be seen falling into thought. It would take him some time to absorb the full meaning of what the Velvet Room's Master had said. But that was fine, even that introspection would aid him in his development. Though the Trickster, Akira Kurusu, was now beyond the Velvet Room's influence, Igor still found himself pleased with leaving some seeds for growth in the youth. One last gift from the master of the Wild Card's cradle.

There was silence, Akira's thoughts racing through his mind now, looking for what was next to ask. Yet something in the air told him that the time for questions was running thin. His own body would soon awaken, and the Velvet Room would be gone. One last question, one last...

It did take some time, but finally it came to him. The one question that had haunted him. The one question that Igor could answer. A light shone in Akira's eyes as he looked up, ready to make his final query.

This had been the question he'd shoved down every time it had risen up in his mind, this past silent month in confinement. The question of fate, and validity. He had to know. Please.

"Am I... am I the Trickster because I was chosen to be? Or was I chosen because I am the Trickster?"

Everything twitched. It was like reality itself suddenly noticed itself askew, and adjusted to cover a bared thread. Igor nodded, paying no heed to the action. He did have an answer for the Trickster, but it was not one he would like to hear.

Nonetheless.

"That is a question impossible to answer. It is not that I keep such a thing from you, but that the interlinking of causality and fate are unknowable things. Are you the Trickster by choice or fate? The answer is both, and neither. My strongest recommendation would be to not let such doubts consume you, and instead focus on the results that have come about of your actions. What hands of fate or coincidence were involved, you rose above all challenges, an act carried out not by fate or coincidence but by your own will. That is the single truth which I can impart upon you."

The fadeout, the obliterating white light, it was finally covering Igor as well. But there was still so much more to say, so much to ask. Akira called out, even as the smiling figure disappeared before his eyes.

"Wait! Did the others transform their Persona because of me or because of themselves? If Yaldabaoth chose Akechi as well was he ever in the Velvet Room? When did Yaldabaoth find me? Before Shido? After? Which came first: the Jack Frost Persona or mascot?"

There were no answers left. No-one to give them. And, as Akira's own consciousness faded as well, no-one to hear them.

When he awoke, within his cell, it was dark and silent once more. The Trickster sighed, and remained where he was, mind still full of thought.

Maybe he should have just asked if Igor knew if he'd ever be let out.