Paradise Lost

Chapter 1, The Fall of the Fool

I do not own anything relating to either series. Seriously. What a shocker.

This story contains spoilers for Persona 5. If you haven't beaten the game or reached the 11th boss, at the least, I'd recommend not reading any further. If you don't care or have beaten the game, you may proceed as you please.

While I am unsure if posting this on FF is even a good idea any more, I don't want to wait another two weeks before getting this story out there for folks to enjoy. If you are reading this, know that Exalted, Struggle and Strife and Tigerlily will all continue on, mostly.

Exalted will be completed, as far as the first arc goes, though I doubt I will be working on either part 2 or 3 for a long, long time.

If not for the wonderful reviews you all left me upon my departure, I wouldn't have come back to writing, let alone consider posting this. I feel stupid, writing after convincing myself to quit, but I am willing to swallow my pride and continue working on a few ideas so long as I have people who wish to read my stories.

So here you go, folks, I hope this will eventually become as enjoyed as my Magnum Opus.

Waking up alone in a world that didn't know his name or past, Akira Kurusu didn't know how to keep going after his steep fall from grace. Forgotten, defeated and without either comrades or confidants, the fifth Fool must come to grips with his failures while carving out a place for himself once more. It's a crying shame this version of Humanity disliked him even more than the last.

[PL]

Akira took a deep breath as he stared at the massive tower rising from the depths of Mementos, surrounded by a wave a spiraling, crimson dust. Massive veins rose from around the tower and through the center, each stretched taught and pumping what appeared to be blood from the central point of the tower.

The feelings of dread and hopelessness grew stronger the closer the group of teenagers walked to the massive tower, causing their hearts to pound in their throats as their nervousness skyrocketed.

Coming to a halt before the edge of the long pathway leading to their final destination, the leader of the group of rebellious teenagers couldn't help but stare downwards at the massive rib-cage like set of stairs that would lead them into the strange temple.

While he could certainly admire avant garde artwork, such as the pieces created by his friend Yusuke, something about Mementos was just too disgusting and twisted for Akira to find any sort of beauty within its depths. Everything was either mechanical, demonic or even organic in nature, with structures created with materials that shouldn't, and couldn't, exist within the real world.

Far past the Path of Iweleth, the Phantom Thieves had fought their way through the depths, dealing with powerful enemies, imprisoned souls and mind-numbing puzzles alike until they reached their final destination. Akira couldn't help but feel a bit sad, knowing that this was the final time the Phantom Thieves would be needed before their jobs were officially done.

Here soon, he would be nothing more than just a normal kid in a normal world with normal friends, living a dull, normal life with a dull, normal job. The thought of having to go back to being a nobody, a nameless face in the crowd made his stomach clench in the most unpleasant way possible, though he knew that it was a needed sacrifice.

Glancing over his shoulder, Akira made eye contact with his comrades one final time, judging their reactions to the strange, temple-like structure that contained the Treasure of Everyone's Hearts.

"The hell is this?!" Ryuji shouted in shock, taking a singular step backwards as he reached up to remove his skull mask. Rubbing his eyes with his sleeves, the former track star couldn't seem to force his jaw to snap shut as he continued to stare at the massive tower before them in disgust, "Holy shit, dude, this... is this place Hell?"

"No, but it may as well be... It's so big! I can't believe there is something like this all the way down here..." Makoto trailed off as she took a step forward to stand shoulder to shoulder with Akira, "Do... do you think this is it?"

"Yeah, that should be the case," Morgana placed his small arms against his waist as he waddled to stand behind Akira, a fierce look on his otherwise adorable face, "This has to be it."

"How ominous... it could almost be likened to a temple of sorts..." Yusuke spoke lowly, an uneasy expression crossing his fox masked face as he continued to stare, "I can't even find inspiration in this, it's so grotesque."

"There's no damn point in freakin' out now! C'mon, let's go!" Ryuji decided he was sick and tired of waiting, stepping forward to swipe his hand through the air before clenching said fist tightly, "We're gonna snatch that treasure and get home before dinner!"

"Calm down, Ryuji," Morgana attempted to calm down the fiery pirate themed member of the Phantom Thieves, only for his words to fall on deaf ears as Ryuji bolted down the strange set of stairs leading to the temple, "Good grief, I swear he has attention deficit disorder."

"I think you might be onto something, Mona," Makoto giggled lightly at the exasperation of the cat-boy, "Either way, Ryuji is right. Let's go steal that Treasure!"

"You know it, Queen." Ann took a step forward to walk beside Makoto and Haru while Yusuke, Morgana, Akira and Ryuji took the lead, "So, what do you think the Treasure is going to look like?"

"Something as twisted as the rest of this place, most likely," Akira spoke up from his spot near the front of the group, "I can't be sure, though. What do you think, Mona?"

"...I don't know," The sad expression that crossed the face of the humanoid cat was strangely out of place for the situation they found themselves in, "I can only guess until we actually get there. This is different than the rest of the Treasures we've stolen."

"I guess we'll find out," Akira assured his smaller friend while reaching out to place a crimson gloved palm atop his head, "Don't worry, we got this."

"Yeah, I guess so," Morgana trailed off, the uneasy feeling crushing down on his body only growing stronger the closer the Phantom Thieves got to the massive shrine, "I... I don't know, I just can't shake this feeling."

"We have your back, Mona," Ann sped up her gait to come to walk beside the smaller being, "Thick through thin."

"Thanks... you're the best, Ann!"

Akira didn't say it, but Morgana wasn't the only one with the sickening feeling of dread forming a bottomless pit in his stomach.

[PL]

Entering through the strange, escalating gap in the shrines walls, Akira was the first to walk towards the edge. As he stared into the depths, he could make out what appeared to be a massive cauldron with pulsating, crimson veins hanging from the ceiling and into the device. Around either side of the massive, veined machine, two hands of stone were carved and placed.

Lining the walls around the entire shrine were prison cells, filled with victims that had grown to love being entrapped within the structure known as Mementos.

"Is that the bottom?" Ryuji leaned over the edge slightly to get a better look, his face set into a firm, yet tense scowl, "This place really puts me on edge."

"Yeah, me too," Morgana replied almost sadly as he continued to glance around, "This has to be it, let's go."

"Yeah, let's." Akira was the first to take the leap unto the next level, leaving the people in the cages where they sat. He knew it would just be the same type of rhetoric, should he try to speak with them.

'Please... Save us all... Make all our dreams reality...'

'It will grant all our wishes... We'll be free from everything...'

'Just give me what I want... Just end it all...'

'My wish is actually going to come true... I can finally... Be happy...'

Their voices, so listless and hollow, followed them as they passed. It was the same for every being they had come across, including those whose Hearts had been stolen prior to their incursion into Mementos.

Haru was the most visibly bothered, being the most affectionate member of their entourage by far. It hurt her to hear the apathy in their voices, or their desires to be enslaved and thrown into a cell. None of it made sense to her, nor any other member of their merry band of thieves.

No one attempted to comfort her as they descended, because despite their stony faces, they felt the same. That was the meaning behind their presence so far into the Palace created by the Will of the People.

It was hard to comprehend just how disgustingly twisted everything was the further they traveled into the physical representation of the mental state of the people.

Level by level, the group descended until they came to the ground floor. Despite how ornate the massive chamber appeared, it was far more eerie than grand due to the prison cells lining every section of the spire.

"The hell am I looking at?!" Ryuji was as eloquent as always as he squatted forward to get a better look, unable to comprehend just how large and complicated the mechanical looking chalice in the center of the room really was.

"What is that thing, Joker?" Came the voice of Futaba from just beyond their range of sight, having been watching their backs from the entrance through her own means, "I can't understand what this thing is trying to tell me!"

"I don't know, Futaba, but I want to deface it before we leave, if this isn't our last stop." Akira admitted, disliking how grand the disgustingly complex chalice was. The pulsating veins ending inside of the bowl of the chalice made for a disgusting image, and Akira wasn't sure any amount of brain bleach would ever remove this scenery from his memory.

"Whatever it is, it's disgustingly grand..." Ann trailed off while taking an involuntary step back away from the monstrosity in the center of the room, the feeling of dread around it being almost too much to bear, "Is... is this what we're here for, Mona?"

"Yeah..." Morgana shook his head to clear away whatever was plaguing his mind, his eyes opening with determination, "There's no mistaking this presence. If we get rid of this thing, the public will come to its senses!"

"Something that large will be impossible to carry out of here ourselves..." Yusuke lamented in his usual fashion, easily one of the most emotional people that Akira had even encountered in his life, "What do you propose we do?"

Ryuji stepped forward with a large smile on his face, seemingly ready for war with the way Megido Fire was held in his hands. "We just gotta make it disappear, right? If we can't move it, we destroy it!"

"Of course you would suggest that." Ann rolled her eyes while resting her weight on one leg, "I don't see any other way, though."

"Yeah, that will work..." Morgana nodded his head firmly, seemingly intent in the same thing Akira and Ryuji had settled their minds upon.

"But... if we destroy that thing, won't the entire Metaverse collapse or something?" Ann was not exactly keen on trying to destroy the massive structure if it would destroy the parallel dimension they were dwelling upon at the moment, "Do you think we would have enough time to get out of this place?"

As Ann spoke, the sound of an ominous, blaring siren that sounded suspiciously like chanting choirs erupted from far above, echoing downwards and reverberating within their minds.

The voice of Futaba once more cracked into existence as she forced her way into the network of the Metaverse to impose her will around her party. "It's no surprise that we've been discovered, so there's no need for me to state the obvious here. That thing isn't going to sit back and let itself get destroyed."

Yusuke span around slowly, peering through the cages around him as the inmates within the cells began to try and rise from their seated positions. The veins that had pierced the necks of those trapped within the cells began to pulsate with a glowing, eerie yellow light, moving away from the cellmates and towards the massive chalice the Phantom Thieves stood before.

"The inmates are even starting to liven up... How eerie, are they planning something?" The fox masked thief questioned, one hand resting upon his sheathed katana while the other held his assault rifle at the ready, "Let's not get caught flat footed here."

The sirens continued to blare and only seemed to grow louder and louder as the light shining through the massive hole in the tower bled an angry crimson, bathing the occupants of the massive temple structure in its glow.

"That must mean this things the Treasure, they just saved us the trouble of checkin'." Ryuji was rearing to get the whole ordeal over with, putting on a face of strength to hide just how unnerved he was by the entire situation.

"Hold on, something's off..." Makoto spoke loudly to get her friends attentions over the blaring speakers and chanting voices, "Shido said that the masses were allowing themselves to be held captive here... could they really be operating this entire system that eliminates intruders all on its own?"

"The prison guards and soldiers were very organized, too..." Makoto couldn't think of the words to finish what she was saying, allowing her sentence to die on her lips.

"Are you trying to say that someone else rules this place?" Yusuke turned his attention away from the grotesque chalice that took up a large portion of the room and towards his teammate, "Is it not the public?"

An ominous laughter rang out, easily heard above their voices and those of the crowds of inmates, cutting them off from further speculation. It continued for all of a few seconds before disappearing, falling silent once more.

"This is it," Akira shouted to his teammates, "No holding back, we're going to free those people whether they like it or not!"

"Right!" Haru was quick to agree with her leader, feeling that the best course of action was to use violence. She liked it when the best course of action was violence and this time was no different.

The group quickly scattered from their positions, slowly circling the massive chalice while preparing their melee weapons and ranged weapons alike. Haru was the first to start, firing a round from her grenade launcher, causing an explosion to slam into the structure before them.

It did nothing but scuff the surface, not even chipping the material it was crafted from. The feather-like appendages that curled around one another beneath the metal bands surrounding the chalice bound tighter, preparing for an attack. The massive jewel in the center of the metal band glowed white before firing a blast of light towards Haru in response, which she dodged just in the nick of time.

"Good shot, Noir," Akira called out while pulling his own firearm from his inner coat, firing three shots at the jewel in response, "Can we get another?"

"Coming right up, Joker!" Haru had certainly cheered up upon entering combat, blasting the jewel targeted by Joker with another explosion, "Ah, how therapeutic."

Ignoring the battle-lust that their fluffy haired teammate seemed to fall into, Ryuji and Ann were side by side as they unleashed their own spray of bullets as they circled wide around the chalice. The buckshot rounds used by Ryuji were known to shred most beings they ended up fighting within a few rounds, but the strange Treasure they fought ate them like they were nothing. Ann had the same problem with the weaker rounds her Chicago Typewriter used, not dealing enough damage to be noticeable.

"This isn't working, hit it harder!" Akira called out as he put his firearm away before reaching deep within the pool of energy hiding within his body, "Come, Kaguya!"

Behind him, a semi-mechanical woman formed from blue flames, becoming something more than a phantasm as she drew upon his internal strength. A set of ornate robes covered her lithe frame, while a trailing set of sleeves hovered around her body while being connected to her headdress. Her hands fit through large holes in the sleeves with slender fingers meant for finer things in life than combat.

From her fingertips, glistening blades of light were flung, piercing the central portion of the chalice deeply. After firing off her attack, Kaguya faded once more, leaving Akira to dodge to the left of the counterattack of the Treasure.

"This is pretty crazy looking on my end, guys, how are you holding up?" Futaba's voice crackled into existence, dripping with worry so thick they could feel it from where they fought, "Everyone doing okay?"

"Yeah, so far so good," Ryuji was the one to answer her as he drew his large staff, Ruyi Jingu Bang, backwards before slamming it into the base of the Treasure, "This thing is made of damn strong stuff, jeez!"

"Just keep it up!" Akira shouted as he once more called upon Kaguya, allowing her ethereal body to manifest into reality behind him. Her shining arrows of light were once more flung from her fingertips, piercing the chalice in the same spot Akira kept targeting while chipping the white jewel severely, "Finally!"

'No, take my strength...'

'Not... don't touch my Holy Grail!'

'That's right, the Holy Grail shall never perish!'

The voices of the inmates grew louder and louder, chanting their discontent with the treatment of their Treasure. A low, moaning voice was heard over the din of their voices, drawing the attention of Akira back towards his opponent and not those he was trying to save from themselves.

Golden light began to travel down the grotesque veins pooling into the chalice, flooding their sights with light as all of the damage incurred by their opponent was healed instantly by overwhelming healing spells.

"No way... what the heck?!" Futaba was more upset with their opponent healing than the rest expressed, though the sentiment was silently shared, "What was that?!"

'What are you doing to our Holy Grail?!'

"Don't tell me... are the inmates giving it their strength?!" Futaba seemed to figure out just how their opponent had healed, "That.. That's cheating!"

"Damnit! This is never gonna end!" Ryuji seemed tired of wacking away at the mighty Treasure, his arms having finally given out after a good five minutes of constant swinging.

"It seems hopeless if there are this many inmates supporting it..." Yusuke was quick to point out, sheathing his blade and straightening his stance to conserve his energy, "How bleak."

"You fools. Human, yet wishing to eradicate the desires of Humanity. Repent."

"What was that?!" Ann was the first to speak after the booming voice echoed out, taking over the chamber completely with it's sound, "No way!"

"The Treasures talking?" Makoto was incredulous, aiming her revolver at the massive construction representing Humanities Heart, "How?!"

"I am revered as the Granter of Dreams for all who behold me. This Prison of Regression, my prison, is representative of the collective desires of Humanity."

The voice once more spoke, drowning out the noise created by the riled up inmates as they slammed into their bars violently.

Akira couldn't help but take a step away from the massive structure, the ominous feeling that settled upon his shoulders upon reaching the depths of Mementos only growing stronger.

"They wish to be chained down, to surrender their cognition and neglect the world around them... These feeble minded commonfolk with make your so called 'social reform' all for naught."

The Phantom Thieves all gathered behind Akira as he took a step forward while swiping his hand through the air.

"Be silent! They have lost their way, but we can show them how to live for their selves again! Release them!" Akira shouted, his voice carrying over the din just as easily as the godlike voice that emanated from the Holy Grail.

"The shared heart of the masses has fallen into an excess of indolence and thus, transformed into what you see before you. Thus, the only suitable option is to allow them to perish in this prison they have created for themselves!"

"Get ready, here it comes again!" Morgana shouted while calling upon the abilities of his Persona, Mercurius, "Garudyne!"

A pillar of wind began to churn around the chalice, cutting miniscule grooves into the surface of the now glistening, golden Holy Grail. It was not enough to make a noticeable dent, but they could all feel the presence diminish ever so slightly.

Akira dashed to the side of his feline partner and shoved him out of the way of a blast of light that he almost didn't notice, too busy celebrating a good hit on his opponent. "Pay attention, Mona!"

"Sorry, Joker," Morgana sounded displeased, but it was to be expected after being admonished, "I'll keep a better eye out, thanks."

A tree began to sprout from beneath the chalice, curling around the chains attached to the bottom before shattering, courtesy of a magic spell by Yusuke. Ann quickly followed it up, calling upon her Persona, Hecate, before blasting the Holy Grail with a surge of fire by using an Agidyne spell.

The rapid attacks accumulated quickly and soon, the Holy Grail was forced to heal once more.

"It healed again?!" Futaba growled, her voice as static-filled as always from the confines of her Persona, "Darn it... try this out for size!"

Hacking through the network of the Metaverse, Futaba was able to increase the strength, defense and agility of her teammates using her ultra charge skill, allowing them to attack harder than before.

"Thanks, Futaba," Akira called out as he once more called upon Kaguya to stab the Holy Grail with her light arrows, "We wouldn't be able to do this without you."

"Aww, stop, you're making me blush," Futaba drawled without missing a beat, having grown used to Akira and his way of keeping morale, "Just keep trying to crush this oversized sippie cup so we can get this over with!"

"Yes ma'am!" Ryuji grinned as he called upon Son Goku before the two were barreling towards the Holy Grail, each smacking the massive chalice with their staves as hard as they could.

After a few more minutes of fighting and dodging around beams of light, the Holy Grail healed itself for the final time.

"This is quickly getting old." Yusuke seemed to be losing his patience, if the strange grin on his face was to go by, "I say we go for one last all out attack."

"Oh, man, Inari is getting his panties in a bunch," Futaba called out, already knowing that Yusuke was a better fighter when mad, "We better watch out!"

Their banter was cut short as once more, the crowds of inmates began to chant, this time louder than ever before.

'Get out of here. Get out of here. Get out of here. Get out of here. Get out of here. Get out of here. Get out of here.'

The droning chanting continued on and on with what sounded like hundreds of voices chiming in.

"If this is how the people really feel, we'll never be able to steal their Hearts..." Morgana lamented lowly, glancing downwards as he tried to ignore the chanting voices, "Did we come all this way... for nothing?"

"This is horrible..." Haru brought a hand to her mouth to stifle the sound of her sorrow, knowing that they continued to fight a losing battle, "What do we do?"

"You imbeciles, drunk on your perverted, so called 'Justice', this is the will of the Children of Man who have fallen into spiritual decay. My lustrous shine is proof of their worship of my image, and as long as Humanity yearns for me, I shall never perish."

"Is this what everyone really wants?!" Makoto shouted while rising her head to stare upwards at the inmates around her, "To give up control so badly that they would throw away everything we have done, all to stop thinking for themselves?!"

"We all know we can't accept that," Akira called out while jabbing a finger towards the Holy Grail, "To do so now, after everything we've done, would be spitting on the graves of those we've lost. We promised a change, and I'll be damned if we can't deliver."

The Phantom Thieves knew he wasn't just speaking of their failure to prevent the death of Kunikazu Okumura, but the very man who caused the death of their target in the first place.

"I know... I'm just so frustrated I feel like I'm going to cry..." Makoto trailed off as she continued to glance around the room, the feeling of hopelessness only growing as the chanting grew louder.

"The humans I look up to aren't like that!" Morgana shouted, drawing attention back to himself as he tried to lift the spirits of his squad, "No matter how painful reality is, it's only over if you don't try and change how things are! You taught me that, Akira, and it's a lesson that I'll take with me everywhere I go!"

The noises of agreement made by his team allowed Morgana to continue, stopping even the Holy Grail from speaking until he was done.

"We don't want to turn back into the people we used to be," Morgana waddled forward to stand toe to toe with Akira in staring upwards at the Holy Grail in defiance, "That's why we risked our lives coming here!"

"Mona..." Haru came to stand beside Morgana while placing a hand upon his masked head, drawing his attention towards the fluffy haired axe wielder before he gave her a pleased smile, "You've always had a way with words."

"He's right!" Ann piped up as she and Ryuji stepped forward as well, "We've come to far to just give up now!"

"Humanities desires have already started to actualize, I am merely the focal point for their distortions to bleed into the Real World. Now, behold as I take my place as God of the World and encroach upon Reality itself!"

A massive, blue aura of strength began to flow outwards from the towering, golden chalice, causing the ground beneath them to rumble strongly. The tower around them, too, began to shake and sway under the intense wave of pressure pressing outwards against the prison cells.

"What a load of shit!" Ryuji reached out and grabbed ahold of Ann before spinning his back to the Holy Grail, preventing his childhood friend from being buffered by the forces of gravity baring sideways upon them, "Gah!"

"Ryuji!" Ann shouted in worry, watching as quite a few stones of stray rubble from the fighting impacted his back, "Are you alright?!"

"This is nothin', don't worry about me," Ryuji gave her a weak grin, though the wince on his face did little to ease her worries, "Mind patching me up?"

"Of course not, you idiot..." Ann whispered under her breath as a glowing, green light washed over his body thanks to a Media spell cast by the blond whip wielder, "There, that should do it."

The gears on the face of the Holy Grail began to spin around the structure faster on their tracks while swirling, white energy bled from the ground and added to the glowing, blue aura around it. The pressure once more increased as the Phantom Thieves were pushed back further and further from the strange increase in strength of their opponent.

"I don't know what you are, but you can't keep arbitrarily deciding things on your own," Morgana grit his teeth and attempted to move forward against the pressure, once more grabbing onto the coat tail of Akira as if flapped before him, "The humans I know aren't as stupid as you make them out to be!"

"Hmph. Indolent, foolish Humans... You shall offer your Hearts to me."

A beam of light tore from the center of the glistening Holy Grail and traced along the ground before them. Everything faded to white for Akira as he heard the pained cries of his teammates fill his ears.

[PL]

Akira was the first to rise to his feet as he looked around, able to make out the world a bit quicker than his fellow thieves. The sounds of civilians passing by alerted him to the fact that they were no longer within the depths of Mementos.

'What the hell?' Akira questioned himself for what seemed like the thousandth time that day, taking in the forms of his kneeling team, 'What happened, did we... did we lose?'

"Is everyone okay...?" Ann rose from her rather lewd position on the ground, scowling in Ryuji's direction as he seemed to mewl in discontent of her rising from his laying body, "Well, at least this pervert is fine."

"Pfft, you're the one who fell onto me!" Ryuji defended hotly as he rose and got a better look around, "Holy shit, how'd we end up back in Shibuya?"

"Wait, why are our clothes back to normal?" Futaba gasped as she took in her form, realizing that no one was sporting their usual thief gear when diving into the Metaverse, "No way..."

"The Holy Grail must have driven us out," Morgana meowed in discontent, having been reverted to his usual feline form when dwelling within the Real World, "We didn't come back ourselves."

"Did... we lose?" Makoto turned her weary gaze towards Akira, as if he would have the answers she was looking for. It took him a moment to reply, but he eventually reasoned out what happened.

"We can't give up," Akira began, making sure that each member of the Phantom Thieves was listening before continuing, "We must gather our strength and prepare a second attack."

Makoto looked as if she wanted to retort, but was promptly cut off by a sudden rain falling from the sky.

"Huh...?" Futaba intoned as she held out her hand and leaned over to get a better look, finding that the sky wasn't raining water, but a pinkish red slime. "What the..."

Any other words were cut off as a puddle of crimson appeared next to her feet, forcing her to leap closer to Yusuke as a large, bone protrusion erupted from the puddle and raced towards the sky, growing thicker and thicker at the base as it rose.

More and more of the grotesque scenery that they had come to attribute to Mementos continued to make its presence known, changing the entire landscape of Tokyo within scant seconds. No longer did the spacious and crowded city feel like a metropolis paradise, but instead a hellish landscape more fitting of Yusuke's demented mind and not reality.

"Mementos, here in Shibuya?" Makoto couldn't believe her eyes, speaking her thoughts aloud without even realizing it, "Is this what it meant by encroaching on reality?!"

Morgana leaped from the ground and onto the shoulder of Akira before using him as a springboard, finally landing upon the large retaining wall behind them to get a better look around. "To think this would happen..."

"No way man, you've gotta' be shitting me..." Ryuji was as eloquent as always in his denial, taking an involuntary step back before colliding with Ann's shoulder, "Are you seeing what I'm seeing?"

'Man, what great weather... want to go for a drive?'

'Hello? Yes, it's about tomorrows preliminary meetings.'

'The announcement for the new smartphone's tonight! I'm so stoked!'

'What were those Phantom Thieves all about, anyway?'

'Aw, man! Hearing that name brings back memories! I feel so dumb for ever believing those guys existed!'

'It was fun news, though! I doubt anyone still believes they're around anymore.'

"Why isn't anyone noticing these abnormalities?!" Yusuke was incredulous as he spun on his heels to get a better look at the mulling crowd around them, seemingly ignorant of the heavily modified world they dwelled in, "Are these people blind?!"

"It's probably because they don't feel that it's odd..." Makoto winced as she delivered her words, finding nothing more to say that made any sense.

Makoto didn't seem like she wanted to continue, not when her gaze was forced to snap towards Futaba after she collapsed to the ground while holding her head. "Futaba!"

"What's wrong?!" Ryuji quickly knelt to the smaller girls side, his arms curling around her shoulders to prevent her from hitting the ground, "Oh man, you look so pale..."

"Oh... I feel so woozy," Futaba murmured weakly while trying to glance around, "Nrgh!"

Grunting in pain, Futaba grasped her head tightly as Ann attempted to lend her a hand to help her rise, only to collapse to her side as well.

Haru was the next to drop to her knees while clutching her head in pain, her voice whining and closely resembling a wounded animal from how much distress was laced in the noise.

Akira felt as if someone stabbed him in the brain with a few bullets, forcing him to clutch his head in one hand as he dropped to his knees. First, the ache spread from his mind and down his spine, slowly infecting her entire nervous system with flames of angry venom. His heart began to beat in his throat as the pain grew further.

He almost didn't notice as Yusuke and Makoto dropped to their knees lastly, followed by Morgana curling into a small ball before his downed form.

"Is this... by the Holy Grail... too?" Makoto panted out her words, unable to formulate an entire sentence due to the pain, "Are... we going to die?"

Ryuji slammed his good leg into the ground in a stomp while clenching his fist, trying to ignore the spiking pain in his body. "That son of a bitch.. What's this creepy ass shit abou- ah! Ah, my hand!"

He collapsed to the ground after his weight gave out, causing him to groan loudly before attempting to rise once more. Glancing at his hand, Ryuji's face bleached into a pale white as if he had seen a ghost before he let out a terrifying scream of horror.

Akira couldn't believe his eyes.

The hand of his best friend was completely transparent and by the looks of it, his body was slowly starting to fade in the same way.

Ann looked back from her kneeling position, her face slowly becoming the same, ghastly shade of white as the blood rushed from her face. "Ryuji...?"

She was cut off by collapsing under her own weight as her oldest friend had before she turned her attention to her own body.

Akira watched with wide, horrified eyes as one by one, each member of the Phantom Thieves displayed the same symptoms as Ryuji, each slowly fading away as if ash in the wind.

"This... can't be real, right?" Makoto tried to laugh it off, but the horror in her voice belied her true emotions.

"What is happening to us?" Yusuke clasped his right arm around his rapidly fading left arm as if it would help slow the fading. His usual dramatic speeches were drawn short by his horror and pain.

Haru lamented almost violently as she stared at her faded hands, feeling her body breaking away into dust as it flew away from her position in reality.

"Don't... tell me..." Morgana whispered weakly as he attempted to rise, only to collapse unto his stomach once more. Akira reached out and placed a comforting, non-fading hand upon his constant companion as both reassurance and to prevent him from hurting himself further.

The ominous laughter of the Holy Grail rang out through the air, though it seemed only the rapidly fading Phantom Thieves could hear it.

"Indeed, this is not my doing. You imbeciles are about to disappear completely from the people's cognition. Mementos, and Reality, have become one... Thus, those who disappear from cognition cannot exist anywhere."

"Disappear my as- AAAAAAAAGH!" Ryuji's back arched as he let out his final scream before what appeared to be black flames consumed him completely. As the flames grew, his image vanished entirely at once.

"Ryuji!" Ann screamed in horror, tears in her eyes as she watched her oldest friend disappear before her. Soon, the flames consumed her and she, too, disappeared from the cognition of the people.

"So... this is it...?" Yusuke looked upwards and laughed loudly as he disappeared, having one last laugh at the world that forgot he existed.

Futaba faded next, clutching her head while attempting to wake up from a nightmare. "No, NO-"

"Akira... where did we go wron-" Makoto couldn't even finish her sentence before she, too, faded from reality in a gust of ashes.

Haru was hyperventilating and sobbing at once as her body faded, her eyes wide and filled with tears. Akira kept his eyes locked with hers as she faded, filled with anger, sorrow and defeat. It was only fitting that he be her last sight in the world, with how close the two had become over the previous few months.

Tears spilled from the eyes of Akira as one by one, his friends vanished before him until only he and Morgana remained. Feeling his existence fading away more and more quickly, Akira scooped up the struggling form of Morgana within his hands ad clutched him tightly to his chest.

As he felt the pain in his body increase, so too did his pull on what was once more hiding beneath the surface of his thoughts when in reality. Upon the fusion of Mementos and Reality, it seemed that the limits of his ability to summon Persona and cast spells had been blurred.

Massive, blue flames erupted around his body as Akira struggled to remain alive, pumping his energy into his own body and that of Morgana as he clutched him tighter, more desperately than before.

"Is this all my fault?" Morgana stared into space as he felt his body begin to fail, a tear falling from his eye as he hung his head, "Because I brought you all into this...?"

"It's not your fault!" Akira hysterically whispered as he drew the fading feline upwards slightly to look him in the eyes, "Please... please save your strength!"

"Sorry, Joker... look's like this is a mission we couldn't finish." Morgana whispered weakly beneath his breath as his body nearly finished vanishing all together, "I may be dying, but... I won't let you fade, too!"

"Morgana, wha-" Akira was cut short as the feline within his grasp began to shine brightly, golden light erupting from his form and engulfing the body of Akira as the flames of blue around his feet rose higher.

Throwing his head back and screaming in both defiance and pain, Akira felt his entire frame shake as he was torn apart, piece by piece.

With a swirl of golden light and blue flames, Akira Kurusu, leader of the Phantom Thieves, disappeared completely from the Cognition of the People, and the world knew Ruin.

[PL]

His entire body felt as if he had been flung through a meat grinder when he awoke next. Lurching upwards while clutching at his chest, Akira gulped in as much fresh air as his lungs could handle as he hacked and coughed up globs of pink gelatine.

Rolling over, Akira emptied the contents of his stomach unto the uneven and disgusting ground beneath him, causing him to crinkle his nose in revulsion before blinking back the dense fog that settled over his vision.

Akira tried to rise from the ground, only to collapse onto his knees as his body spurned his desires to stand without remorse. Eventually, Akira returned to his laying position on the ground before rolling onto his back to stare at the sky, his mind foggy and his body lethargic.

He attempted to remember how he came to ache as badly as he did, but each time he felt he was close to remembering, it would escape his reaching grasp and leave him in pained ignorance.

'What… happened?' Akira struggled to push past the fog of his mind, though it proved almost impossible, 'Did… did I get mugged or something?'

Shaking his head, Akira pushed away that theory after a few seconds of scanning his body by moving one limb at a time. Despite how achy he was, there was no immediate wound that would indicate just why he was in the shape he was in.

After a few moments, his memories began to return on their own. He remembered going into the depths of Mementos with his friends and partners on a mission to… to do what?

Akira furrowed his brows as he once more forced his memories to the surface, ignoring the splitting headache that came with pushing himself.

He remembered eventually reaching the lowest point of Mementos, and the shrine that society had built around their treasure, made of nothing but prison cells filled with willing and loving occupants. His eyes widened in shock as he remembered the fight between his group and the Treasure of Everyone's Hearts, the Holy Grail. The awakening after their sound defeat by the unwilling to change public had been bittersweet while the series of events afterwards had been anything but.

Akira felt tears spring up in his eyes once more as he remembered watching each of his friends fade from the minds of those they tried to save so vehemently, erased from existence completely. Glancing down at his hands, the black haired former leader of the Phantom Thieves attempted to rationalize what he saw and what he was feeling inside, but he couldn't, no matter how hard he tried.

Despite all of his comrades fading into dust, here he was, awakening under the afternoon sun once more. If not for the final words of Morgana, Akira would have hoped against hope that he wasn't the only Phantom Thief to regain their form.

No matter how much he attempted to convince himself otherwise, he knew that he was the last one left standing. A gut feeling was all he had to go on, but he never failed to listen to his instincts, no matter how much that he wished they were wrong this time.

A sob escaped his lips, so pained that it tore through the night sky like a knife. Those passing by the alley tensed and glanced into the depths between the two buildings, only to snap their gazes forward once more upon coming to rest upon his laying form.

He wasn't sure how long he laid there, nor did he care. The anguish he felt clutching his stomach and heart were too much for him to bear, causing him to howl harder as the tears continued to fall.

After everything he had done to prove himself to society, they would toss him away so casually? They would willingly choose ignorance and a life of slavery over the sweet taste of freedom?

The thoughts swirling through his mind eventually became a blur after what felt like an eternity of tormenting him, allowing his tears to dry and his sobbing to eventually come to a halt. Hiccuping under his breath, Akira removed his large glasses and wiped his eyes with his grungy sleeves, ignoring the feeling of grime grinding into his skin as he took in a shaky breath.

While his friends may have paid the ultimate price for their, his, failure, Akira still lived and breathed. Realizing that it wasn't quite over just yet, the leader of the Phantom Thieves steeled his gaze and readied himself to track down the Holy Grail once more to enact his revenge. If Mementos and Reality had truly become one, then the location of the Grail should have changed from the depths of Mementos to somewhere else in Tokyo.

A fire burned in his stomach as the thought of crushing the massive, golden chalice filled his mind, renewing his energy and filling him with a driving force easily as powerful as the pursuit of justice.

Akira snapped his head to the left to get a better look at his surroundings, having somehow found himself in an alleyway sometime in between his fading from the Cognition of Humanity and his reawakening, wherever he was. Nothing but a dead end filled with trashcans, folded cardboard boxes and rotten refuse filled his vision.

A low groan escaped his lips as he forced his body to roll to the right instead, this time allowing him to be able to look outwards from the alley and beyond.

The sight of passersby caught his attention, much more clear than it had ever been before. If it wasn't for the glaring street light across from the alley, Akira would have almost been convinced it was daytime with how well he could see.

Straining his ears to listen, Akira could make out the words being spoken by the strangers far more clearly than ever before despite their distance, though they spoke exclusively English the entire time he listened.

'Where in Tokyo am I?' Akira questioned almost frantically as he forced his body to stand again, this time ignoring the knives and daggers of pain racing through his nervous system, 'Are they having some weird foreigner convention in Shibuya today?'

Finding the situation more and more eerie as he continued to watch and listen to the strangers passing his alley, Akira staggered and limped his way to the entrance of his current location and poked his head outwards.

He had obviously been unconscious for quite a few hours, as night had fallen and the moon had risen over the cityscape. Akira shivered, though not due to any feeling of cold. Something was very, very wrong.

Looking up at the night sky, Akira could immediately make out three things wrong with what he was seeing.

First, he couldn't make out a single structure tall enough to distinguish his location within Tokyo, and he had become quite adept at navigating the impossibly large and densely populated city. Secondly, there was no longer the looming, skeletal structures forming from the fusion of Mementos and the Physical World.

Last of all, the moon of Earth, Luna, was not shattered, nor usually quite as close as the moon he was looking at seemed to be. Akira didn't know where he was, and that terrified him more than anything else. Wherever it was he had awakened, it was clearly not Tokyo, and with this realization, any sense of energy he gained from thoughts of revenge fell flat.

Akira grasped his head as a spike of pained laced through his brain, weaving agony deeply into his grey matter. His body almost gave out beneath him as he struggled against the agonizing headache, eventually prevailing against whatever ailment had befallen him. Beneath his hands, he could feel something pressing against his fingertips almost uncomfortably, hiding amongst his wild locks almost perfectly, triangular in shape.

The increased sense of touch, hearing and sight only further increased his feeling of sickness, as if his body had been supercharged with no way of coping with the sudden influx of new sensations.

Glancing down at his body, he took in his appearance as if it would provide him answers, only to find his casual outfit resting upon his frame like he wore in the Real World. His pale blue hoodie with an extra large hood rested beneath his black blazer while faded slim fit jeans and cuban heeled boots completed his outfit, just as he wore before he entered Mementos for the final time.

The last item he wore was an unneeded but much loved accessory, his non-prescription glasses that helped hide the intensity of his gaze. Wearing them allowed him to become an unassuming figure in the crowd, usually by tilting his head downwards and hiding the majority of his face with his hood as he had for the past few weeks. It wouldn't do for people to recognize him, not when he was supposed to be 'dead'.

Over his shoulder rested his messenger bag, still filled with illicit goods and thief tools gained from diving into the depths of Mementos time and time again. Akira remembered that he was supposed to make a trip to Iwai to sell off a lot of the valuables, but he doubted he would be able to now if his gut feeling was correct.

"What am I looking at…?" Akira questioned aloud as he stepped out of the alley, glancing to his left and right as he nearly fell forward from the wave of vertigo hitting him once more, "Excuse-, Excuse me, ma'am?"

"Don't speak to me so casually, freak. Know your place!" Spat the strangely dressed woman viciously as she increased her pace to put more distance between herself and Akira, causing the black haired teenager to draw his extended hand back towards his chest as if burned.

"Damn it," Akira cursed under his breath as he took a deep breath to push away the anger he felt, closing his eyes briefly before opening them once more and trying again, "Excuse me, sir, please... can someone tell me where I am? My phone isn't working right and I need to find my way back to Shibuya!"

"The fuck is 'Shibuya', pussy-boy? Some kind of new drug you Faunus keep bringing into our good Kingdom?" The gray haired male Akira attempted to stop growled out while shoving both hands into Akira's chest, sending him sprawling into the wall behind him, "Get the hell off my block or I'll cut those ears of yours off and hang 'em on my wall as a trophy!"

Akira gasped loudly as his skull impacted the wall behind him, causing his vision to blur and haze once more while knocking his glasses from his face. Hunching forward while trying to regain his breath, Akira tensed his weakened body and got ready to defend himself, slowly raising his head to glare at the silver haired man that dared put his hands on him.

The silver haired stranger took a step back in fright upon seeing the glowing, crimson eyes ringed with gold that stared back at him from a fringe of ebony hair. "W-what the hell?!"

Akira wanted nothing more than to reach out and punch the foolish man in his throat, but refrained from doing so before slowly leaning down to retrieve his glasses and putting them back on his face. When he glanced up, his eyes were once more a strange, dark shade somewhere between ash gray and coal black, not to mention far less intense.

Getting the message, the silver haired man tucked tail and ran when he had the chance, seeing that the strange, frizzy haired teenager wasn't going to be fighting back.

"Are you alright, Brother? I saw him man-handle you... good on you for not hitting him back," Began a voice from Akira's left, causing the weary teenager to turn and face the newest arrival as quickly as his lethargic body would let him, "I know his type, the moment you hit back he would have called the cops and played the victim."

"I take it that happens a lot around here...?" Akira questioned lowly, not really caring either way but finding it better to ask anyway, "Where is here, anyway? I... think I'm lost?"

"You think you're lost?" The man with black mutton-chops questioned, "You're in Vale, kid, just outside the industrial district, how do you not know that?"

"I... where...?" Akira gasped out the question upon hearing the name of his surroundings, "Vale?"

"Yeah, the Southern Kingdom? One of the only four Kingdoms on Remnant? Just... how hard did you hit your head, kid?" The man was far more concerned now than he was before, going as far as setting down his bags before slowly stepping forward to get a better look at the eyes of the lost teenager.

From the light of the streetlamp behind him, the casually dressed man was able to get a much better look at his eyes than otherwise. "Hmm... your pupils aren't contracting and retracting in time, you might have a minor concussion... Here, you think you'll be alright to follow me? I've got a few pain pills and a bag of ice with your name on them, if you'd like."

"...Yeah, I think I should be good," Akira glanced down at his hands as his mind tried to process the new information provided by the man, not wanting to ask further questions and make himself seem like a lunatic when it became clear he wasn't sure what the man was talking about, "Lead the way... mister...?"

"Tukson," The charcoal haired man with black mutton chops extended his hand for Akira to take without a second thought, "Just Tukson, proud owner of Tukson's Book Trade, home to every book under the sun."

"Akira Kurusu..." Akira took the offered hand and winced upon feeling just how tight the mans grip was, "Do you know which direction Shibuya is in?"

From the information provided by Tukson, little as it may have been, it was becoming apparent to Akira that his gut instinct was proving correct, even when he wanted it to be wrong. Names like Vale, Southern Kingdom and Remnant were keywords that alluded to him no longer being on Earth, as did the shattered moon hanging in the sky above him. As things were, having a conversation in his second language on a street he didn't recognize made him more weary than his thoughts of failure already did.

"Shibuya? Is that one of the smaller villages on the outskirts of the Kingdom?" Tukson questioned with a tilt of his head, leaning down to retrieve his bags once more before gesturing with his head for Akira to follow, "Can't say I've ever heard of it, Brother."

"Ah... thanks," Akira murmured lowly while falling into step with the brown haired man, "For stopping and helping, I mean. I have no idea why they..."

Akira allowed his sentence to trail off, the morose look on his face only growing as the reality of his situation seemed to finally start to set in once more.

"Humans hate us here just as badly as they hate us everywhere else," Tukson growled under his breath, not turning to look back at the teenager that fell in step with him, "You might want to put up your hood and hide your ears, at least until we get to where we're going."

"Hide... my ears?" Akira didn't understand the mans line of reasoning, lifting a hand to rest upon his lobes while tugging lightly in concern, "What's wrong with my ears?"

"Nothing, Brother, at all. I know a lot of Faunus don't like hiding their traits, but sometimes it's a bit easier to get around without drawing attention to them." Tukson turned and gave Akira an almost apologetic expression, one mixed with what appeared to be sadness, "I know it's hard swallowing your pride, but blending in is better than sticking out, especially 'round these parts."

Tukson seemed to be glancing at something atop his head, causing Akira to slowly bring a shaky hand passed the ear he was gripping. Upon reaching the top of his head, the former student of Shujin Academy felt something that he only felt when petting Morgana.

Specifically, he felt a pair of triangular ears resting atop his head as well as the set of human ears he was born with in their normal position.

Akira was glad that Tukson was facing forward once more and thus unable to see the horrified expression that crossed his face.

The more Akira saw, the more he was convinced. Call it Vale, Remnant, whatever you will. To Akira, the world around him could have only been Hell, and here, he was alone once more.