DIO wishes for Akechi to become his new special friend.

He pulled the trigger. The gun fired. The puppet did the same. He should be dead. But he isn't. Why?

Akechi lay bleeding on the ground in an alley near the Diet building, the location itself only raising more questions. The last place he remembered being was Shido's Palace. He never even made an attempt to exit the Metaverse, resigned to his fate after leaving his grudge in the hands of the Phantom Thieves. How could he have made it back to the real world?

He felt a presence behind him. Teeth clenching through the pain, he swung his body around where he lay on the concrete, weakly raising his gun towards whoever had approached him. "You're quite injured," the figure said, the words sending a shiver of fear and ecstasy down his spine for reasons he couldn't quite explain.

"Identify yourself," he ordered, doing his best not to let how grave his wounds truly were show through in his voice or mannerisms.

"A friend, Akechi-kun," he replied sweetly. Taking a step forward, a streetlight cut through the shadows enough to illuminate his brilliant blond hair and hulking yet beautiful frame. The man slowly extended a hand towards the detective's face. "Please accept my help."

In any other situation, Akechi would have shot this man several times now. For some reason, though, his finger couldn't squeeze the trigger, leaving his hand trembling at every attempt. Whether it was the pain, the fear, the exhaustion, or some kind of enthrallment was indecipherable at this point. Unable to escape or resist, he allowed the stranger to caress his cheek.

And, just like that, he was healed. Akechi was at a complete loss for words. Even his clothes were mended in an instant. Whoever this person was, he was no ordinary man. "Much better," the stranger said with a seductive grin.

Lowering his gun, he asked once more, "Please identify yourself." It wouldn't be true to say he trusted this man, though he didn't exactly distrust him after saving his life. His detective instincts were telling him this man might have something to do with his escape from the Palace, as well, making it imperative that he collect as much information as possible.

With a small chuckle, the man lowered a beefy hand to Akechi's shoulder, squeezing it warmly (emotionally speaking, as his actual touch was ice cold) as he explained. "You may call me DIO."

Akechi found it hard to catch his breath despite the fact his lungs and chest were undoubtedly in perfect condition. It was like this man called DIO was robbing him of his senses the longer those golden eyes stared into him. With a quick inhale, he asked, "First and foremost, why did you save me?"

DIO seemed to find this amusing. "Interesting," he said. "You care not for the 'how' and ask me 'why' despite that being such an obvious answer." His smile growing wider, he continued, "It's because you're special, Akechi-kun. From the first moment I laid my eyes upon you, I could tell that we were one in the same. Almost...kindred spirits."

Akechi knew better than to accept these sweet words at face value. He'd been misled by rotten adults his entire life including his own father who planned to execute him after he outlived his usefulness. It would take much more than a few compliments and healing his wounds to earn his trust. And yet…

"In truth, I was curious about how you managed to save me, as well as how you were able to return from the Metaverse without me realizing it. Will you explain that?"

"That would be difficult," he admitted. "I only know so much of how I came to find you. How I came to be in the...Metaverse, as you call it, is a mystery. As for how I saved you, though..." The air around them began to pulse with an energy that felt both foreign yet familiar to Akechi, some sort of apparition seeming to peak over DIO's shoulder.

"I simply used by Stand," he said, the being from before materializing in the form of a glorious golden being slinging an arm over its master's shoulder from behind and placing its head beside his.

"Impossible," Akechi said, stumbling back a few steps. "A Persona? How are you able to materialize it in the real world?"

He merely chuckled as the being disappeared. "I see. That confirms my theory. What you call a Persona seems to be related to Stands. Similar yet different. It's rather intriguing."

"Regardless of what you call it, that doesn't explain how you were able to take me out of the Palace." DIO reached into his pocket and retrieved a cell phone, handing it to Akechi. "This is mine," he said almost accusingly. "How did you take it from me?

"An odd device," DIO replied while dodging the question. "I learned how to use it quickly enough, though. It was a simple matter of pressing a button."

Akechi began to realize he wasn't asking the right question. Pocketing his phone, he focused on what had quickly become the most important piece of information. "What is your...Stand is capable of?"

"Quite the detective," he said with a foreboding chuckle. "My Stand, The World, has the ability to unshackle me from the prison of time. When activated, I can move freely in a world of stopped time for up to five seconds."

"That's absurd!" A power like that couldn't possibly exist. If it did, this DIO would potentially be the most powerful person alive. "You can't expect me to believe something like that, can you?"

"I do," he replied, demonstrating his ability from a position several feet behind Akechi. He had disappeared from his sight in a flash, not even a second passing when he moved out of his view. Even if he had some incredibly speed, there would be no way for him to do something like this, let alone move so far away from where he first stood, without some kind of reaction from the world around him.

Calmly, Akechi turned to face him once again. He was forced to realize that, should this man mean him harm, there was nothing he could do to stop him. There would be no point in struggling; instead, he would simply tackle things head on. Even so, it didn't seem like harming him was DIO's objective here. That in and of itself raised another question, though.

"If what you say is true, then I have to ask again why you would bother saving me. What use could I possibly have to someone like you?"

"I told you before, Akechi-kun. You're special." He walked forward, leaning down slightly to be closer to eye level while still remaining comfortably taller. "You've lived a life of suffering at the hands of those who resent you for nothing more than being born. You even resent very blood that runs through your veins. I know this because we are truly the same."

"What do you mean by that?"

"I, too, was an unwanted child. My horrid pig of a father drove my mother to her death, seeing the both of us as nothing more than a means of funding his addiction to drink. Even after his untimely demise, the world still endeavored to hold me down. But, just as you have, I clawed my way to the top.

"Many have stood in my way and I have overcome them all, though always at considerable cost." He clenched his fist in front of his chest, allowing a small amount of anger to show through as his knuckles became an even paler shade of white. "A certain group of degenerates tried to rob me of what I had built. In the process, they killed my dearest acquaintances. Those scum attempted to do the same to me, but I wouldn't allow it."

Releasing his grip, he forced a chuckle. "I apologize. I've likely said too much." In truth, he knew exactly what he was doing, every word that came from his mouth calculated to play to Akechi's sympathies. Having looked into his heart before they met, DIO's victory was all but assured.

"Maybe..." He paused briefly before saying, "Maybe we are a bit similar."

DIO nodded. "I cherished those friends as much as you seemed to cherish yours. Sacrificing yourself for their sake the way you did… I simply couldn't bear to watch you die such a pointless death after such a heroic action. Akechi-kun, you are destined for more than that."

"Like what?" he asked, inhibitions all but vanishing by this point. Despite his better judgment, everything DIO had said validated him in a way he'd never felt before. All he wanted now more of this praise.

"Akechi-kun, I believe that we can change the world." He smiled triumphantly, raising a hand towards the sky. "We both know quite well just how rotten this world is down to its very core. Alone, we're nothing more than two exceptionally powerful individuals. Working together, though, I believe we can reshape the way things are into a better reality."

As tempting as this idea was, Akechi couldn't accept. "I'm sorry, but I'd be of no use for something like that. I've done far too many terrible things for you to trust me with so much responsibility."

He scoffed. "Nonsense. All my life, I've been hated and feared by those who can't understand my ambition. I've made hard choices along the way, as well. You're no more evil than I am." Extending a hand, DIO continued, "We can make a deal, then. Help me attain my goal of a better world. In exchange, I'll help you work towards something akin to redemption."

Though he appeared to be thinking things over, Akechi had already made up his mind. Something about this man seemed trustworthy despite all logic to the contrary. Even if he wasn't, this was what he wanted more than almost anything else. Not only could he change the world, he might even be able to assuage some of the guilt he felt along the way.

He took DIO's hand and smiled. "You make a compelling argument."

"Excellent," he said, turning around and beginning to walk. "Then let us not waste any time. There's much for both of us to learn about each other and many things to prepare." Akechi followed behind dutifully, feeling a sense of purpose like never before despite having just made the worst decision of his entire life.

"I am thou, thou art I…

Thou hast acquired a new vow,

It shall become the chains of captivity

that breaketh the wings of rebellion,

With the birth of the World Persona,

I have obtained the winds of blessing that

shall lead to ruin and new power..."

Akechi just can't catch a break. Finally tells one abusive father figure to fuck off only to get seduced by another right after.

Couple ground rules here. First, we're playing by my theory that stopping time is not actually The World's ability. What The World actually does is allow DIO to steal the Stand power of the Joestar bloodline, hence why he can manifest Hermit Purple for clairvoyance like Joseph, stop time like Jotaro, heal Pucci's leg like Josuke, and seduce Kakyoin like Holy. It ties into how he's always taken the position of the usurper trying to steal the power and status of the Joestars, so it stands to reason his Stand would be the manifestation of that drive.

Second, while I normally really dislike mixing and matching languages outside of instances where characters are actually speaking a foreign language loan words, I'm being consistent with the Persona games with the honorifics. Also going to keep names in English order for that reason, too. Probably not something anyone would be bothered by, but it would irritate me if I didn't say that.

Third, since there's going to be someone who's That Guy, Personas and Stands are basically the same. We all know it and that's the whole premise of this story.

Also, DIO absolutely knows Japanese. He spent, like, five whole years doing nothing but eating people, traveling, and reading. At least some of that time would have to be dedicated to learning languages. Had to at least be conversational enough to knock up Giorno's mom.

Considering DIO is Akechi's Confidant now, I imagine he'd grant the ability to manifest his Persona in the real world in addition to Mementos. It's never really clear if that's a thing or not, but we'll say it isn't for the sake of convenience. 1 and 2 could and it seems like 3 can, too, but 3 also had the Evokers to help them out.

Don't expect regular updates on this. I'll finish it eventually but it's far from my top priority at the moment, partly because there's some stuff I'm still deliberating on in terms of how I'm going to do some things in here and I need the time to figure all of that out.

While I've trapped you all here, anyone interested in reading a big long custom Persona thing? If you're new to my bullshit, my main thing is a Yugioh deal where I made a bunch of OCs and turned them loose in a setting that's totally disconnected from anything in the actual shows and just watch the carnage unfold. Basically, anyone want to read my take on Persona 6 before it comes out in 2023? Even if no one does, I'll probably do it anyway because that's how I am and I've got at least one idea I'm kind of into, but I'm curious about interest levels right now. Since it's me, it would have both a female protagonist and the option to be gay, the lack of which are basically the only issues with 5 from a story perspective, so it's got that going for it.

Nothing else to say on the matter. Next chapter comes when it comes. Atlus better not make me a liar with that release date prediction. Thanks for reading. Always remember you'll never see it coming.