It wasn’t like Archie Andrews remembered stepping into Pop’s Chocolate Shop or sitting down at the bar. He had no idea how long he had been there. Then again, he knew it wasn’t Pop’s. This place looked enough like the real deal. The neon glow of violet, blue, and red signs caused the air to glow purple in the space between the booths and the tiled ceiling.
A smell like fresh burger grease, melting cheese, and buttered buns wafted through the air, but it felt perfectly replicated. Artificial. There was no draft of movement in the air. A haunting, operatic tune played from the jukebox, it was the same music that played in this otherworld version of Pop’s all of the time on a loop.
That natural charm that the little old style diner usually oozed from its very pores was absent.
Archie leaned forward, clasping his hands together to rest on the bar as he let out a sigh. He was in his letter jacket, though he didn’t feel the yellow leather against his arms. It didn’t really feel like he wore anything at all. The proprietor of this place had been less than clear in what was really going on here. The lacquered wood creaking to his side alerted him to someone leaning against the bar. He looked up to see the bug eyed, long nosed man.
The man interlaced his long fingers resting his chin on top of them. “Welcome to the Velvet Room!”
Archie nodded. “Mister Igor—I don’t understand why I’m here,” Archie said, frustration brimming just beneath his words.
Another voice came from across the room. “Our place is to assist the patron in their journey—to make sure that they have the tools they need to face the challenges that they face.” The woman who spoke to him looked like his Miss Grundy—but her hair was silvery white and pulled back into a haphazard bun with golden clips holding it in place. Her skin seemed paler here, more plaid. And her eyes were striking yellow.
“All of your questions will be answered in due time, but for now you understand the basics of the power of this?” Igor produced a huge ornate card, the kind fortune tellers used. In the corner was a zero and the darkened figure in its center was labeled as ‘the Fool’.
“You said something about me being…a void?” Archie asked.
Igor nodded. “This is not to be taken lightly. The Fool is the number zero and it is the void from which all other things come to be.”
“Is that why I can summon others. I mean, more than one Persona?” Asked Archie.
A sharp smile appeared on Igor’s face. “The Fool is jack-of-all-trades. You’re able to convert the shadows you find in the valuable allies.”
“And my Jug and Cheryl? They can’t do this?” Archie asked.
The other Miss Grundy was behind the bar now, next to Igor. “He’s talking about the Devil and the Emperor,” she explained to her master.
Igor held up a hand to silence her. “Their destinies are intertwined and shaped by yours.”
“But—“ Archie started, but a sharp whistle cut him off. He blinked and he was sitting on the bleachers in the gym. Coach Clayton jogged backwards in front of a group of Bulldogs running drills.
“Archie Andrews.” Cheryl Blossom was sitting next to him on the wooden bench. When he didn’t answer this time she drilled a pointy nail into the side of his neck. He swatted her away. “Did you hear any of what I just said?”
“Sorry, my head was somewhere else.”
“I don’t know how. You and Jughead got me wrapped up in your…Disney Channel Presents drama hallucination. What was all of that?” She asked.
“I—I can’t explain it.”
“I can feel her; I can feel Lilith inside of me,” Cheryl whispered. “What did you do to me?”
The same words that had echoed through his mind in those desperate few moments before those creatures ended his life in that other version of Riverdale High bellowed from somewhere deep down inside of his gut, spoken by the voice of the one that called himself Robin of Loxley. “I am thou, thou art I...”
“I didn’t do anything,” Archie said finally. “She’s part of your, I think.”
Brushing a tendril of red hair away from her cheek, she leaned closer to Archie. “What does that mean? You don’t know, right? Well you better figure it out.”
“We have to figure it out. Together. You, me, and Jug—we have to go back to that place.” Archie explained. “You want to find out what happened to Jason, right?”
“More than anything.”
“Then just trust me, Cheryl.”
Submitted March 14, 2019 at 05:10AM by cardboardtube_knight https://ift.tt/2XVgwVm
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