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Chapter Text

Tokyo, Yongen-Jaya – Japan – April 5 – Sat – 10:30 am 

"...in other news, after the fallout of mysterious disturbances in New York City, sources report that the majority of the city has returned to normalcy, despite the mass panic the population experienced without explanation..."  

The news broadcast drones on in the background of the moving train, the tell-tale rumbling of the tracks could be heard under the vehicle's momentum towards Yongen-Jaya. Few commuters sat and stood at various points of train cars, though a particular raven-haired teenager tried to look as inconspicuous as possible standing by one of the doors. His spectacles at times dropping slightly at a bump of the train, or the suspicious movement from his gym bag, that he would correct upon his nose before frowning down at this bag. As if sensing the disapproval towards it, the source of the bag's movement stilled and whispered, "Sorry!"  

With a shake his head, Ren Amamiya quietly accepted Morgana's apology while giving a reassuring smile to a couple sitting down the train who had turned at what they thought was the sound of a cat. Afterall, he still hadn't paid the pet fare.   

Old habits die hard.  

His mood lightened at the announcement of "Yongen-Jaya!"  over the speaker and the doors opened for him to walk on down the station, into the achingly familiar streets.   

A "Bwah!" escaped from the bag, as well as Morgana's head. "Fresh air! You really need to air out this thing before stuffing me in here!"  

A smirk was all Morgana received in response, though the not-cat wasn't too miffed at the boy. The good mood from returning to their second home for the spring break was difficult to suppress for the two of them. Though, 'spring break' wasn't quite the right term for Ren, as his last year of school had finished last week. This was a crossroads for many graduating students, most preparing for the next academic step at the university their entrance exam scores granted them or a few that would take the year as a rōnin in the event that they didn't succeed in achieving the school they wanted. But the for the former leader of the Phantom Thieves, his path was more flexible.  

"Do you think we'll spend the year at Sojiro's? As great as the attic is, I would think after all we've been through, we would be going to more... exotic destinations..."  

Ren jostled the bag, and hence the not-quite-a-cat, "Don't diss our home. Besides, I've got a couple ideas on where we could travel for a few months before I start at Tokyo U."  

Coming up on the intersection, where the clinic of his favourite doctor sat at on the lane, LeBlanc appeared in the duo's view. Not a single thing looked out of place. Indeed, to Ren, this place would forever be locked in time, his own little getaway from the rest of the world. With a spring in his step in confidently opened the door and with the jingle of the bell looked at the bearded elder manning the counter. "I'm home!"  

Sojiro looked up from the crossword puzzle in his hands and gave the teenager a smile. "Found this place already?" he jested, "It's like you never left."  

Queue the roll of the eyes. "I'm sure you'd keeping up with the customers without me... if you had any."  

"Hey now! I'll have you know that Futaba's actually helping out around here, a few of the customers have taken a shine to the 'energetic' waitress. Sometimes she'll put on that mask for the kids."  

"That's..." Ren trailed off, unsure of what to make of the caricature of a mask that Futaba used for social self-defence, "nice? Wait, she never mentioned that."  

"She wanted to report her progress in person." Sojiro informed with a proud look, "She's still jittery around complete strangers but I think her first year at Shujin has broken down quite a few of her walls."  

Morgana chose that time to leave the confines of Ren's bag and take a seat at the counter as he used to. "She's really coming into her own, huh? We'll see her tonight, right?"  

 Sojiro raised an eyebrow at him, his smile hadn't left while he bent over and petted him on the head, "Well hey there! Still can't understand you, though I think the tuna I have for tonight should make up for that."  

"Aw yeah! Boss still reigns supreme!" Morgana cheered.  

"Traitor," Ren coughed before addressing Sojiro, "He asked if Futaba's attending the party tonight."  

"Of course, all of your friends will be here. Futaba's just hanging out with her friend Miwa at Akibahara." The bearded elder then took on his classic coy look, with one hand under his elbow and the other stroking his beard, "What about you and Niijima? Can't imagine you'd come back without some sort of date lined up with her."  

Ren rubbed that back of his neck and sheepishly replied, "Well, can't tell you all the details, old man, you’ll give tips and then I'll have to give you credit for this date too."  

"Well, that's gratitude for you," Sojiro chuckled, then pointed his thumb to the staircase, "I've cleaned up the dust, everything else is as you left it."  

"Thanks, Sojiro," with that, Ren and Morgana made their way upstairs. Halfway up Ren’s phone began to ring and he answered without delay. “Hey mom, I made it safe and sound… No, no problems…”

Later  

“…there’s been no word from Sophie or Ichinose?”  

Ren had his phone wedged between his shoulder and head as he slipped on a clean shirt. He had been through several calls already, catching up with closest confidants for the dinner party planned for the night. Ryuji had immediately answered yes in the midst of his physical therapy, which had by all accounts progressed to the point he was training on the track team again and preparing for university tryouts. Ann had been eager to celebrate since she also got accepted into a college in America for her studies, the party was the perfect opportunity to enjoy her laurels and reunite with the team. Yusuke had finished at Kosei and planned to expand his horizons with a gap year himself, Europe being his preferred continent of choice for having a ‘varied palette of Western cultures,’ though the team had to advise him to eat every now and then as the money to travel would be worthless if he starved, thus he agreed to consume food more readily for tonight. Futaba certainly wouldn’t miss a reunion with her closest friends, especially since her father was the host.  

Sumire was on an overseas training camp, her status as rising gymnast with sights set for the Olympics had spurred her on in both drive and confidence, though she promised she would visit and pay thanks to her senpai when she finished. The Phantom Thieves most senior member, Zenkichi, had to attend to Akane in Kyoto, as it would soon be his daughter’s first year in high school after the spring break and he promised he’d help her. He also wanted to be at the gate on her first day of school, politely informing the male student body that he was a police detective and had learned how to replicate all the assault offenses he ever handled. Repeatedly.  

Akane had already requested Makoto to intervene.  

Makoto and Haru would arrive together, since they had recently moved in with each other for their second year of university. Haru continued her dream of opening her own café while giving her input at the Okumura Foods company meetings. The company recently began initiatives for more organic and sustainable alternatives for their food products to be readily available in the next few years, to which Haru had pushed hard for with whatever influence she had and was modelling her dream café to be a working example for others to learn from.  

Makoto had been equally driven in the past few months, studying criminology in her usual dedicated focus in achieving the highest marks for her education. Recently, she reached out to several of her father’s old colleagues and requested some practical experience in law enforcement to bolster her résumé, her goal of becoming police commissioner needing as many commendations as possible to achieve. She was also taking reform suggestions, from her university cohort and her sister Sae, in her capacity as a defence attorney. Her time as Phantom Thief had proven to her that policing would need change and improvement in order to address crime and injustices where current measures could not reach. She had support from her sister, her friends and most of all her boyfriend, who constantly encouraged her over the phone, and a few times in person where he travelled over for a night out for help her relax. Haru would be quietly pleased at Makoto’s lightened mood the following day.  

This time Makoto was on the other side of the phone, the sound of her keyboard being used in the background. “Last I heard, Futaba was chatting with Sophie as she and Ichinose were driving to Nagasaki. It’s not usual for them to go silent for a while, both of them are insatiable learners. They can get very distracted by new concepts.”  

“Like creator, like creation…” Ren quipped, finishing with his jacket before affectionately whispering, “I’ve missed you.”  

*giggle*  

Ren raised an eyebrow, as it wasn’t Makoto’s giggle he heard. He knew what that sounded like.  

Somehow, he could tell through the phone that Makoto had blushed. “Ah... Ren, you’re on speaker.”  

A smirk formed, the trickster couldn’t help himself, “Then I’ll see you tonight, Haru… and my Queen.”  

“Hehe!”  

“Ren!”  

*beep*  

Morgana, who had been lounging on the bed before jumping off and landing at his feet with grace, told him in an exasperated tone, “You’re in for it now.”  

Oh, he was counting on it. Without as much as a pause he turned to the stairwell and made his way down. He had reached the first step when he heard Sojiro’s voice from downstairs.  

“You’re earl- oh! Excuse me, young lady. With that hair- I thought you were someone else. What would you like?”  

“Uhh… got anything that’s not so strong? Not much of coffee drinker…”  

‘An American?’ Ren mused, his ears picking up on the accent the new customer held in her tongue. He continued downwards. As he descended the stairs, he could see why Sojiro had mistaken her and for who. The bleached blonde hair, colourful cat graphic t-shirt and blue-red plaid pants almost had him thrown for loop and calling out for Ryuji. On closer inspection, she was clearly a westerner, with vibrant violet and blue eyeshadow that matched the highlights in her bright hair and lipstick, with piercings in her left ear. She sported a black leather jacket, spiked at the shoulders and front sides, and a belt adorned with tartan box poaches, further enhancing the punk aesthetic she presented, though what stood out from the rest her was the combination of black rim glasses, blue scarf with orange and aqua stripes around her neck and that strapped to her back was... a katana!?  

“Put the practice sword down by the door and I’ll set you up with a Jamaican Blue Mountain latte.”   

“Uh... okay! Thanks?” The young woman tentatively took off the holster over her head and placed it in the alcove between the door and the counter, taking a seat at the front.  

“Practice sword?” Ren repeated under his breath, bewildered that Sojiro would let such an obvious weapon anywhere near the café. His first instinct was to call out the girl on carrying the sword in public, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that it wouldn’t end as he thought it would.  

“Psst! Ren!” Morgana’s voice shook him out the reverie over the weapon, he looked down to his leg and saw his companions pointing his paw at the it, “Do you sense anything... weird? About that doll attached to that bokken...”  

‘Maybe because it’s an actual sword!’ Ren thought incredulously, hardly believing Morgana couldn’t see the sword was real, he was often more observant than most humans he’d over met. Spurred by Morgana’s somehow oblivious observation, he spied down on the doll tied to the hilt of the sword in question. ‘Weird’ may have been a less flattering description for the doll’s appearance, ‘endearing’ would have been his choice. The doll dangled from the hilt like a charm, resembling a patchwork toy cat made for a child. But the longer Ren observed the doll, the more he couldn’t shake off the ‘weirdness’ his not-cat had pointed out.   

Deciding that he wasn’t going to get any answers standing in the stairwell, strode towards the counter and took a seat at there as well, one chair away from the mystery girl. He directed himself at Sojiro first, “Hey Boss, can I have a Kenya AA, black?”  

“Straight to the expensive stuff, kid?” Sojiro scoffed without any real annoyance, turning his hands in his apron in preparation, “I’ll make sure you’ll work it off later.”  

Ren merely nodded, not really concerned about the workload he just put on himself. After Sojiro served the girl first, as subtle as he could manage, he tried to keep his eyes on the punk girl to his right. What he noticed, however, made it difficult to be subtle. Out of the corner of his eye he could see that the girl was also watching him, sipping at her coffee without really drinking any, while her head faced straight at the wall, her eyes were trained straight on him.   

He turned slightly towards her, to gauge her response. She immediately turned her head the away from him, nearly spilling her cup in the process. “Oh shit!” she whispered, as she flailed but ultimately succeeded in saving her coffee. She then tried to salvage her subtlety by keeping her face away from his direction, but she couldn’t help turning ever so slightly in his direction every few seconds.  

Ren suppressed the urge to laugh, almost all tension from before dissipated. ‘ She’s... even worse than Makoto was at this...’  

“She’s worse than when Makoto started out,” Morgana mirrored his thoughts aloud from his perch on the one of the booth tables.   

At that, the blonde turned to the not-cat and, from Ren’s observation, genuinely smiled. “Aw! Cute cat!” she cooed as she jumped off her seat and reached out to give Morgana a rub with both hands, “What’s this fella’s name?”  

“He seems like a Prince, right?” Sojiro replied as he laid down Ren’s order on the counter. Ren found himself rolling his eyes again, Sojiro had been introducing Morgana as Prince to every new face that entered the café, hoping one day the name would stick. Morgana, in turn, would glower at the old man and give off his best growl, making it known that he did not appreciate the name change.  

Which was why Ren had to restore his friend’s name every time. “His name’s Morgana.”  

The girl laughed and began rubbing under Morgana’s neck. “Morgana, huh? Somehow, that suits the little guy.”  

“Oh, I like her,” Morgana practically purred as he rolled into the petting and rubbing around his head.  

She stopped soon after and turned to Ren with a disarming smile. “Sorry, you... have a really nice cat.”  

Ren shrugged casually. Now that she was more open, he was sure that there wasn’t really any malice from her. “It’s fine. He likes getting pampered by blonde girls.”  

She laughed, “Hah! Really? He sounds like a charmer.” She pauses, as if thinking, before she gestured to the seat next to him. “Mind if I sit next to ya? I-I mean, if it’s not a problem...”  

“Go ahead,” Ren agreed, taking a small sip from his cup of black coffee.   

She took the seat and pulled her coffee from across the counter. She cleared her throat before starting the conversation again. “Nice to meet cha, the name’s Viola.”  

“Amamiya, or Ren, if you’d prefer the English convention” he offered, “Though, your Japanese is pretty good, even with the accent.”  

“Oh? Oh, yeah!” the girl now known as Viola seemed to be surprised by his compliment. “Guess those Japanese lessons are paying off, huh? Haha...” with a nervous laugh she turned away from him, though he could have sworn she let out a breath and said to herself, “It’s still working...”  

Again, she cleared her throat and turned to him. “So, I was curious... do you work here? Seems like you were coming from upstairs, so I’m just assuming...”  

‘Ah,’ he thought to himself, ‘I guess she was just curious about the guy from the attic...’  

“I do, actually. But I also live up there.”  

“Heh, good one.”  

“...”  

“...wait, you’re serious!?” She half cries, forcing herself to quiet down halfway through her statement.  

‘It’s almost as if she’s a clone...’ Ren mused to himself before quipping, “Trust me, it’s a great place to live, cheaper than most other places.”  

Sojiro coughed from his position in the kitchen alcove.  

Regaining her composure, Viola put her head in both her hands and muttered to herself, “So this is the right address...”  

“Pardon?”  

“Uh-! I said that makes sense!” she blurted, trying cover up her lack of a filter with more unfiltered banter, “It’s uh- it's a great location! I really like that the look of the street!”  

“...okay,” Ren conceded, though the wheels were turning in his head, ‘If she is a Ryuji clone, I could get the reason why she’s here if I keep poking.’ He decided to keep the conversation going for another opportunity to glean information. “Are you a tourist, visiting the sights in Tokyo?”  

“Yeah, I guess you could say that,” Viola replied, nursing her cup between her fingers. She seemed to tense a little in shoulders before breathing out, “Though really, I’m here on a job.”  

“A job?” Ren nudged her along, “If you don’t mind me saying so, but you look like you’re still in high school. What job would bring you out here?”  

Viola lifted her index finger in response, “Okay, first, I’m graduating from high school in the States in a few months.” Another finger from the same hand arose, “Second, look who’s talking, boy ,” and then a third, “And finally, my jobs pay real good, see? If someone has enough payment, I’d jump into a volcano if I had to.”  

Ren raised an eyebrow at that answer, “That seems extreme, even travelling all the way here is a bit much. You make it sound like you’re a mercenary, or a ronin.”  

“Well, there is a name for people like me, though I am willing to settle on ‘adventurer’.”  

Ren shook his head, slightly amused, “And that’s it? You’d jump right into danger to accomplish your goal?”  

The blonde lowered her hand, staring into her cup as she grew more solemn. “Yeah, well, that’s how my mum did things. I just... want to live up to how she did.”  

That raised Ren’s curiosity. He sat up straight before he inquired, “Your mother? She did things like this?”  

Viola hummed and gave a single nod, “She was... the best. Whatever work or obstacle came her way, she would just get things done. And not just done! She'd do it in style! She never faltered, and she was never afraid of what danger she could face, since she could just dance around and through whatever life threw at her. She...” the blonde raised her fist, which was then brought gently down onto the counter, “She was my idol. I inherited her name in her line of work, so now I have to be as good as she was, even if the people that knew her think I’ll never live up to that. I promised to her and myself. Which is why came all the way to Japan,” she faced Ren, looked right into his eyes and smiled. “I’ve travelled a hell of lot further than this before, and I’m willing to do it again.”  

“...I see,” Ren nodded to her, as he really could understand. It wasn’t the truth he was prodding her for, but it was genuine enough to him. Some of his closest confidants were spurred by the family they wanted to make proud but could never talk to again. Yusuke, pursuing art that would inspire the same way his mother’s Sayuri did, which still hung on the wall nearby. Futaba had completed a promise list to overcome her fears in the same manner she had used to with her own mother. Makoto strived to become a police commissioner, not because it was the highest office in the police, but because she wanted to be as righteous and noble as she remembered her father. Hell, even Haru was trying to prove to her own father somewhere that she can make her own way without sacrificing others, or her morals, despite the grievances she had with him. Living up to the dead, it was something he was still had to come to grips with himself, to a rival that got so close to being called a friend...  

“I’m sorry if I brought up a difficult topic,” he conceded, “She sounds like she was an amazing woman.”  

“Thanks, she was,” Viola took a deep breath and gave a small smile, “And I’m the one who should be apologizing, I didn’t mean to dump all that on ya. It’s just, there’s something about you that makes me feel okay to talk to about anything. Anyone ever mention that?”  

“Yes,” Morgana answered bluntly, though to the other two people in the café it just sounded like a meow.  

Sojiro, on the other hand, could be understood clear as day, “Oh yeah.”  

Ren had the decency to look sheepish while admitting, “Maybe a few times.”  

Viola chuckled softly, then took off her glasses and folding them, looking down on them with fondness. “Maybe it’s the glasses. Don’t take this wrong way, but with those you look a lot like her when she had her hair styled short.”  

It was Ren’s turn to chuckle. “And here I was thinking you look a lot like my best friend-” Morgana glared, “-uh, human best friend. He’s got blonde hair and a punk aesthetic too, though not as stylish as yours.”  

“Aw, I gotta meet him then!” Viola perked up, “Always up to meet another rocker! Does he listen to punk rock too?”  

“He’s got an ear for it, I’m certain. Though if you really want to share heavy music tastes you should see the goth punk from across the street. She listens while she works reception at the clinic.”  

“Huh, a clinic receptionist? The doctor must be pretty chill.”  

A smirk. He had been waiting for this. “Oh, she is the doctor.”  

“...”  

“...”  

“...you’re serious.”  

“Completely.”  

“That’s... ha!” Viola took in the news with good cheer, shaking her head in amusement and then nodding it with approval, “This is a great place to live.”  

Morgana leapt onto the counter, putting Viola between him and Ren. “I’d say she’s better than Numbskull already. Ask her if she plans to stick around.”  

Morgana’s voice-but-meowing caught Viola’s attention once more. “And here’s one of my favourite things about this place,” she cooed cheerfully, gently rubbing Morgana’s head area once more.  

As Ren listened to the purring of his partner-in-crime he took another sip of his coffee, enjoying the aroma and bitter taste of espresso and-  

A flicker of movement caught his eye. He paused in his coffee consumption, trying to catch what made such a swift action with his eye. It seemed to have originated somewhere from the area between the door and dial-up telephone, almost as if it came from the sword…  

The sword!  

After all the talking he had completely forgotten about the weapon leaning on the wall. Now that he got a closer look, he was certain it wasn’t a convincing replica, he had seen Yusuke use both real and fake katanas too many times to be fooled. The sword was real, and thus the alarm bells rang in his head. So why couldn’t he bring himself turn call her out on it? Why were Morgana and Boss just being so nonchalant about it?  

Why did he want trust her, when they had just only met?  

THUNK!  

His internal crisis was interrupted when the potted plant by the door suddenly fell down to its side, seemingly unprompted. The four heads in the room turned to it, seeing no immediate culprit.  

“What the?” Sojiro muttered.  

“Oh crap,” Viola nervously uttered. She stood straight up, ruffled through her pouches one by one until she found and brought out a fistful of Japanese bills. She slammed them on the table, while rapidly shooting out her goodbyes, “Thanksforcoffeeitwasnicemeetingyabye!”  

She bolted towards the exit, grabbing her sword and not even sparing a look back as she opened the door and rushed out.  

Ren, feeling as if a rare opportunity was about to literally get away, reached to the power within himself and into his eyes, a trick he had used so many times before that he had learned to call his ‘Third eye’. He didn’t know what compelled him to use his unique ability, nor what he expected to see when he did it.  

What he actually saw certainly wasn’t anything he could’ve imagined at first.  

In the deep blue vision that his eye had cast was a hulking monstrosity that could only be vaguely attributed to the appearance of a purple cat, trailing behind the blonde punk with a black-red smoke enveloping it that lead to the hilt of the katana like a leash. Instead of using its paws to carry itself behind her it simply floated, hovering after her and looking with its two very different eyes, as one was made of blue crystal while the other was red with ringed pupils. Its accessories were more mundane than its physical appearance; a purple and blue scarf around its neck adorned with a silver bell and a smoke pipe held in its forepaw. Though the most discerning trait was its mouth. A mouth that housed two rows of huge, monstrous and pointed teeth and an inside that looked like a vortex of vibrant colours into an abyss.  

In a blink, Ren switched off his unique vision and the world was normal again, the monster cat had disappeared but its presence could now be felt attached to the doll that dangled at the hilt. And once the split second of vision was over Viola rounded the corner to the right with the door chime ringing, leaving the three left behind feeling bewildered, Ren most of all.  

“Hey wait!” Sojiro called after her, “You forgot your cha-”  

A dark blur rushed past him, a second later Sojiro realised it was Ren running after her, the door chime hardly getting any reprieve as he raced out of sight.  

“What’s gotten into him?” Sojiro asked himself. And only himself as Morgana was nowhere to be seen.

Ren rushed down the alleyway towards the clinic before he stopped to twist his head around, searching for the tell-tale black leather jacket and blonde hair. Thankfully the neighbourhood had no one else in its streets, making it easier to search. To his right, past the grocery store and the street of the Sakura residence, he found his mark. Viola was desperately dialling on her phone in her right hand while her left seemingly strangled the hilt of her sword and the cat doll. She had some distance, but she had her back towards Ren and her out-loud thinking could reach his ear as he kept a cautious pace towards her.  

“C’mon, Enzo, pick up the phone! And you!” she turned her attention to the doll, “What was that!? Were you jealous? You’re never this needy in public! What am I gonna do now?! I knew this was a bad idea-!”  

When Ren reached her, he grabbed her shoulder and interrupted her self-tirade so she could face him. “Wait, don’t go.”  

“Shit!” Viola backed away from him, as if his touch burned, “Look, sorry for leaving like that, but I gotta go!”  

“Ren!” Morgana called out as he leapt down a nearby low wall, taking the neighbour’s garden as the faster route. “What’s going on?”  

“You’re going answer my questions first,” Ren demanded, his shoulders tensed in preparation in case she planned to run away.   

Viola did not take his demand kindly, “I don’t have to answer shit! Y’know, you were easy to talk to before but now I just want to get the hell away fr-!”  

“What was that thing?”  

Viola stopped as she processed the question. “Whaddya mean?”  

Ren pursed his lips then elaborated further, “That huge monster cat! It knocked over my boss’s plant, right?”  

“Monster cat?” Morgana quizzed, unsure why his friend was bringing that up.  

The blonde flinched, as if she’d been slapped. She looked down at her hilt and the dangling doll it carried. “You can see him?” she asked, not quite sure of herself.  

“That,” he grabbed her sword hand, brought it up to their eye level and stated, “and the fact this is a real sword!”  

Morgana faltered at that, looking up to him and asking, “Have you gone crazy, Ren? It’s just a wooden sword!”  

Ren spared a look to Morgana, then decided to worry about that comment later and continue his interrogation, “Sojiro’s an old man, but he isn’t blind. He would never let a real weapon anywhere near LeBlanc. And even if this was a convincing fake, which it isn’t, he’d never mistake it for a practice sword!”  

Viola had grown more distressed as he explained his logic, eyes switching between him and the sword in question. After a brief silence all she could say was, “Ah fuck...”  

Ren contemplated being more aggressive, but his gut feeling telling him to dial it back pushed that thought down. Instead, he let go of her wrist, took a step back and said, “I, I don’t think you’re here to cause trouble. I don’t know why I think that, but I do.” He looked straight into her eyes and told her, “You were watching me earlier; I think you came here to see me, not Tokyo, not anything else. Me.”  

Viola broke the eye contact, not wanting give anything else away.  

“Look, I’m no stranger to... trouble” he cautiously reassured her, “I want to trust you, but that’s not going to happen if one of the first things I know about you is that you’re hiding something. Please.”  

She breathed in slowly, taking in his promise and turning over in her head along with what secrets she was holding. Then she made an effort to try and look him in eye to answer. “I, I...” but then her eyes widen “-lookout!”  

CRASH!  

Ren hadn’t expected her to tackle him over, nor the concrete ground where he had been standing to be crushed and splinter from hard impact. Old instincts took over, helping him regain his bearings as he lifted himself halfway off the ground. He looked up and saw Viola was already back on her feet as she waved her hands in a circular pattern and a purple sigil had appeared in front of her. Then a ripple in the air pulsed out from it, and the world somehow felt different to him, despite looking the same.  

“Ren! Get up!”  

Ren turned to where he heard Morgana’s voice while getting back on his feet. Morgana was on the ropes, running and dodging with cat reflexes away from... white winged monsters?!  

‘I thought we were done with ticking off gods!’  

These creatures all bore wings and golden halos over their heads. While some were bipedal, they were clearly more faithful to the biblical descriptions of angels, appearing more alien than humanoid. One even had a centaur form, upper half humanoid while the lower was a horse’s body. And it was having a difficult time piercing its spear into an agile cat.  

Ren reached out for his friend, “Morgana!”  

“Hands off the kitty, you bastards!”  

Viola, in a burst of speed that couldn’t be normal, appeared behind the centaur and cut it down with her katana, now unsheathed for the first time he met her. Morgana looked back to his rescuer; eyes wide on the sword. No denying it was real now.  

She hadn’t even finished, as before the centaur creature hit the ground she reached into her leather jacket, which the insides now revealed an arsenal of throwing darts, clutched several between her fingers and let them fly into an approaching monster, downing it despite the small size of her projectiles.  

The fallen creatures burst into light and rings scattered on the ground where their bodies once were. Ren, having seen similar deaths of monsters, didn’t pay it any mind and took charge at one of the avian headed ones. It spotted him and swung its spear down but with a practiced grace he sidestepped the creature and gave it the best punch he could muster into its face with a shout, “Hah!”  

The creature staggered back from the impact and then from its chest a blade burst out and receded in a single move. When it fell down dead it revealed Viola standing behind it, teeth gritted and body tense. “Stay with me and keep down!” she ordered; having had lost any hesitation from the interrogation.  

“I can help,” Ren insisted, on the look for any more attacks.  

“You can help by not dying!” she barked, then spotted a crowd of avian creatures descending on the street. She pulled back her sword arm and with force threw her melee weapon over and past them. “Cheshire!”  

At her cry, the katana and doll both disappeared in crimson smoke and in their place the monster cat from before landed on its hind paws behind the mob. The creatures looked back to see the large cat don a toothy grin before swiping at them with its claws in flames.  

“Monster cat!” Morgana exclaimed, then immediately looked down in introspection, “Huh, so that’s what it’s like.”  

Ren would’ve found it funny if they weren’t fighting for their lives. He dodged another avian coming at him, this time attacking and evading with a backflip kick to its head. Landing on his feet, he followed up with a swift jab to the sternum and finished with a roundhouse kick, sending the creature flying back. ‘Thanks Makoto.’  

“Rrraah!” Viola, however, was tallying up her kill count with her own fists faster than he could, rushing into the fray and giving out rapid punches to several avian creatures in a group and then finishing them with a dropkick that ended with a burst of red and violet energy. “You want some more!?”  

‘I need to do more, I need...’ With some breathing room, Ren stilled himself, trying to muster the powers that made him a Phantom Thief in the Metaverse. After several attempts resulting in nothing he felt a strange sensation, as if where the power of his soul used to be was still vacant, but he could almost feel it at the edges of his inner self. Muted, smaller, but still there. He latched into that feeling, and like a fish on line he reeled it as hard as he could. When a weight around his eyes seemed to come from nowhere, he smiled.  

He reached up to the domino mask, so familiar and comforting, grasped it at its edges and bellowed his old battle cry, “Perso-!”  

SHING!  

He felt sharp, excruciating pain traveling down his back, the declaration of his return to form cut short by an unwilling shout, “GAH!”  

“REN!”  

When Viola heard Ren’s cry and Morgana’s plea, she turned to see a red armoured avian with a sword and shield standing over Ren’s falling form, stained in his own pool of red. “NO! Cheshire, to me!”   

The monster cat finished the last of its pry with a two-footed stomp, forming into a katana once more and flying in a spin towards his caller. Viola was already running headlong towards the offending creature and caught her weapon midway. She slashed downward and flew past her target, landing behind it as it began to bisect from a vertical cut down its body before exploding into rings. She immediately looked around with a feral look on her face, daring anymore attackers to come at her, but none came. The street was clear.  

Morgana took the chance to rush to Ren’s side, futilely trying to turn him over with his paws. “Ren! Get up! Rnngh! Diego, I need you! DIEGO!”  

Ren, laid on his front and unable move due to the pain of from back, couldn’t keep his eyes open. As he drifted off, Viola came into view, but she receded into darkness as her voice being drowned out as well.  

“Ren! Stay with me, please! Come on! Stay awake! Stay...”  

Chapter Text

??? - Japan - ??? - Years ago  

A door slowly creaked open, giving light way to beam into a pitch-black room. A child poked his head through the gap, looking to see if the coast was clear. Satisfied that no one else was in, he tip-toed into the darkness, letting his eyes adjust to the lack of light.  The contents of the room themselves were not unusual; A king sized bed, a wardrobe, a dresser. But, on farthest wall of the room was another door and thus his destination was clear. The boy reached and turned the knob, opening the second door with the light from the open first revealing a closet space. Hanged coats, shoes and other things of little interest, the boy pulled out what he really came for. A box, made of metal patterned in jagged diamond on all sides. 

This box was a mystery to the boy. He had seen it only once before, when no one thought he could. It had something inside, he knew, he just didn’t know what, or why he needed to see it. With his goal nearly in reach, he probed the box for a latch, a lock, anything that would help him open it. Nothing. 

His height matching his temper, he pounded the blasted thing with the base of his fist. Then again, and again. And another. And one more. 

And then box suddenly gave, the lid flipped open. 

Startled by his accidental success he had fallen back away from the box. Now that he had it open, the boy stood up to see what was inside, just a few more steps and some added height from standing his toes he could almost- 

“Darling! Get away from that!” 

An embrace took him from behind, under his arms were her arms that lifted him up and away from his prize. He was turned to the other side and left at the first door. The woman shut it close behind her, faced him and let out a sigh. 

“You know you’re not supposed looking through my things, my boy,” she scolded him, not angrily, but he could tell she was disappointed that he went against her word. 

The boy was curious, but he hadn’t wanted to disappoint her. “I’m sorry, mom. I just wanted to see...” 

The woman kneeled down and took him up into her arms again, this time with no urgency but gentle all the same. “You will see someday,” she promised, “When you become older and stronger. Just wait, okay?” 

The boy nodded and promised not to look until that day came.

Tokyo, Yongen-Jaya – Japan – April 5 – Sat – 6:34 pm  

“...you’re a doct...-ight?......eeds hel-...!”  

“...close the wound but he’s lost so muc-”  

“...can’t be-!...”   

“...get here on time....”  

“...Doctor! There isn’t any more-!....”  

“...me! I can....-...my fault-!”  

“...don't believe it. He shouldn’t have...?”  

“Ren?”  

“Ren?” 

Ren opened his eyes to a bright lucent light, causing him to squint and flutter his eyelids to adjust. As his consciousness returned in full force, he could tell he was on his back and his eyes could make out a shadow blocking the source of light above, a head of brown hair and loving red eyes... 

“Mako?” he attempted to ask, though his voice came out as more of a croak. 

His hearing was fine, as Makoto let out a deep sigh of relief at his answer. “Yes, yes, it’s me. You’re okay,” she touched his cheek, brought her forehead to meet to his and whispered, “You’re okay...” 

He closed his eyes, feeling relaxed and safe in her closeness. He propped himself on his elbows to sit but Makoto’s hand halted his rising chest, she looked to him gave him a stern stare. He relented, but kept himself elevated up on his elbows. He then felt a shift in the bed that he lay in, someone had joined him.  

Morgana. “Steady now, you got hit bad. Really bad. I-I didn’t know if you were going to make it...” 

Ren shifted his gaze from his friend to his lover, back and forth, then went back down on the bed. His hand rested on his bare face as he tried to recall how he got in this position. 

Makoto began rub his upper arm on her side soothingly and told him, “Morgana told us what happened. Haru and I got here while you were still in surgery...” 

“Surgery?” was Ren’s baffled response. He recalled harder, trying to remember what events would have led to such a to such a drastic measure. The monsters, the painful wound, the girl with the sword. “The girl... Viola?” 

“She saved us. We’re in Takemi’s clinic. You got slashed in the back by one of those... things with a sword and were bleeding out. So much that I tried to summon Diego and-” Morgana stopped, pained expression took hold of his cat features, “Nothing. I know I almost had it but I couldn’t concentrate. So, I got Viola’s attention to the clinic and she figured out the rest, she carried you in.” 

Ren lifted his arm and placed his hand on Morgana's head, “Hey, it’s okay. You did all you could.” 

Morgana shook him off, apparently not in the mood for reassurances. “It was so weird, she must have transported us to some copy of the real world, because when we entered Dr. Takemi wasn’t there. Then Viola waved her hand and all of a sudden there she was! We must have appeared out of nowhere to her too, she got spooked when she saw us.” 

Ren stilled at that, “The Metaverse?” 

“I'm not sure, it didn’t feel like it. We would have changed right away and be able to fight back better than we did. And what’s more, outside there’s wreckage from the fight. The street’s a mess.” 

That was concerning. He’d have to check on Sojiro as soon as he got out. Remembering about the attack, he reached over his shoulder and inspected his upper body. The first thing he discovered was that his entire torso was wrapped in bandages, like a tight vest. The second was that his hand could feel the beginning of a deep scar starting at the top of right back shoulder and, from what he could sense, went down his left middle back. The scar felt months old, judging by the thickness of the skin. He wondered aloud, “How long was I out for?”  

Makoto let her hand join the one his shoulder. “Only a few hours.” 

Ren looked at his girlfriend in disbelief, refuting her, “That can’t be right, I couldn’t have recovered that fast...” 

She shook her head, brought his hand down from his shoulder and held it with both of hers. “I only got here around midday with Haru. I, I wanted to surprise you with some time to ourselves. Haru came along to keep Morgana company. But when we got to street…”

Tokyo, Yongen-Jaya – Japan – April 5 – Sat – 12:34 pm  

“I’m thinking of asking Morgana to be my café’s mascot after we graduate.” 

Makoto blinked at her roommate’s declaration as they walked out of Yongen-Jaya station. Not out of surprise, but out of puzzlement over the logic of such a move. “Do you think he’ll agree to such a thing? I know he would like the attention, but he’s still trying to differentiate himself from a normal cat, even after accepting his circumstances after Dr. Maruki’s actualisation.” 

Haru’s cheer held steadfast against the arguments, she brought her hands behind the back of her summer dress and maintained her smile. “I think I can convince him. He won’t just be a cute face, he’ll have a say in how his image will be used. And I’ll also have a legal aide draw up a contract for his benefits.” 

Makoto nearly lost her step over the information she just heard. Readjusting her handbag, she gave Haru a raised eyebrow, “I-is that so?” 

The light brunette tilted her head and explained, “Morgana wouldn’t be the first perceived animal to have legal representation, or an occupation. I’m hoping that offering him some employee benefits he’ll feel more independent. He’ll enjoy being able to do things himself and I can translate for him for anything else.” Her smile grew a tinge wider, “And, it’ll give you and Ren more time alone together.” 

This time Makoto really did trip. 

“Ha... that’s very funny, Haru-chan” 

“Oh, I’m very serious, Mako-chan,” Haru said very un-seriously as they turned the corner, “I- oh my!” 

They stopped in their tracks when their feet almost met a chunk of concrete debris in the their path. Their gazes moved up to the rest of street and saw further destruction of the pavement, gashes in the sides of the buildings and even a fallen lamp post that had been separated from its base with a clean cut. 

Off to the side street stood Sojiro, still in his apron from the café, holding his phone to his head in a clenched grip. “Come on, kid, you’d better answer. Where are you…?” 

“Boss!” Makoto called out, “Are you alright? What happened?” 

The barista turned at his name, spotting the two girls. “Niijima! Okumura! Have you seen Ren?” 

Makoto heart fell to her stomach. She had just talked to him over the phone, he had been here. And if Sojiro was asking… “N-no.” 

“Sakura-san, what caused this?” Haru asked, still looking around at the damage. 

“Damned if I know! I heard a noise out here and when I took a peek the streets were being torn up! But not a single person was out here, like whatever was wreaking havoc was invisible!” The old man chewed his bottom lip, “And the kid just ran off before all this, chasing after a customer.” 

That didn’t help. Makoto’s breathing paced faster as did the thoughts in her head. ‘ He was out here? Where is he? Did he get caught in this? I thought we were finally done with-!’  

The loud slam of a door opening to their flank brought the three pedestrians to look over to Takemi’s clinic, where a blonde punk woman stumbled out into the street. She was on her own phone, clearly agitated. “What do you mean ‘no units available!?’ The guy’s dying, dammit! He needs an ambulance right-!” 

Sojiro’s expression was sparked with recognition, then with rage. “Hey you!” 

Viola looked up to see Sojiro marching over to her. “Oh shit-!” 

Despite his age, Sojiro managed to grab the cuff of the blonde’s jacket and forced her towards him, demanding “Who’s dying?! Where is Ren?!” 

“He’s-” Viola pointed to the clinic, “He’s in there, but you can't-” 

Makoto rushed past them, entering the clinic. “Dr Takemi!” she called out. 

The waiting room had only one inhabitant, who was pawing at the door to the examination room. At Makoto’s entrance Morgana turned to her. “Makoto! I’m sorry! He’s-” 

She walked past him and banged on her fist on the door. “Dr. Takemi!” 

“I’m dealing with an emergency!” a woman’s voice shouted from the other side, “Please visit another clinic!” 

Not happening. She pushed down the handle, finding it locked. If she had been thinking normally, she may have taken and accepted the hint that no one was allowed in. But her dearest, dearest partner was inside and had been involved in an accident, she wasn't thinking like everyday Makoto, Queen had taken command. With a step back, she slammed the door with her shoulder with controlled force and the handle mechanism broke, allowing her inside. 

And inside, her worst fears became achingly apparent. 

On the floor was what she recognised as Ren’s t-shirt and jacket, both with a gash in their backs surrounded by bloodstains. Dr Takemi was standing over her sole clinic bed, facemask and gloves on but covered in the same red as the discarded clothes. And Ren... 

Ren was front first on the bed, head over on his side to avoid suffocation, with no sign of consciousness. A heart monitor beeped in the back at a rapid pace, its wires attached to his chest under him. His back was dripping with his own blood, pouring out the wound that cut diagonally down his back, revealing the exposed muscle tissue.  

Makoto held her hand to her mouth and tried to hold her legs steady. But Ren was- was- 

“Mako-chan! Is he- *gasp* !? NO-!” She registered Haru’s voice, but she couldn’t stop the horrendous scene in front of her from plaguing her thoughts. 

“OUT!” shouted Takemi, furious at the sudden intrusion to the procedure, “I said get out- wait, you’re-!” 

Makoto clenched her eyes, told herself to get a grip and help her partner. Her father’s old colleagues had taught her how to remain calm in high stress situations, that a clear head could be the difference between life and death. Without the Metaverse, she had no Persona for healing magic. Ren’s life was on the line, she needed to be calm to give him the best chance of surviving. Practically throwing her hand away from her mouth, she spoke with no hesitation, “Dr Takemi, we’ve met before. I’m a... friend of Ren’s. I’ve had training as a first aid responder and EMT from police resources. I can help you.” 

The doctor glared at her, the intrusion still so recent, but she looked between her patient and the intruders. “Damn guinea pig,” she cursed before addressing Makoto, “Fine. Fine! I need another pair of hands anyway! Gloves and masks are on the table, help keep this closed while I prepare for suturing.”  

Makoto wasted no time setting to work. Putting on the gloves and masks mentioned, she went over to Ren’s side and kept pressure on the cut, keeping it together while slowing the flow of blood out of his body. She held her boyfriend’s back together for dear life. ‘Keep it together! He’ll survive! He... has to!’  

Takemi addressed Haru, “Where’s the girl from earlier!? She better have called that ambulance!” 

“D-doctor, there’s-” Haru had trouble finding her voice, but pushed through what she needed to say, “There is no ambulance! The operators say all of them are responding to a bridge collapse in the city! They told us the fastest time for us could be an hour!” 

“Of all the-!” Takemi held back her frustration, her doctor’s training telling her the patient in her care came first. She pointed at Haru, “You! Go to the back. There’s a fridge with blood packets, I need all the ones with O negative on the label!” 

Haru hesitated at the order, never having been in a medical emergency like this. But she faced down the worst the Metaverse had to offer, she didn’t stay still for long. She quickly but carefully navigated around the other two women into the back of the clinic. 

The doctor moved a surgical tray with medical tools onto the bed, as there was no other available space. She set to work on the suture, closing the cut with thread and needle as quick and safely as possible. Makoto kept the pressure Ren’s back, only moving her hands to make way for Takemi’s needle. She explained the dire straits, “I can close the wound but he’s lost so much blood, he needs a transfusion to keep him stable until the ambulance can arrive.” 

Haru came back to the impromptu surgery table, with bad news, “Doctor! There isn’t any more O negative blood!” 

“Dammit!” Takemi swore, “I was hoping I hadn’t used it already. He’s O negative himself, he can’t take any other type. Without it he’ll go into shock. Are either of you his blood type?” 

Haru shook her head and Makoto could only do the same while her insides gave way to despair.  

“I am!” 

A voice from the doorway interrupted their spiralling sense of despondency. Viola stood there; eyes frantic and breathing heavily. She slammed her hand into her chest, proclaiming, “Use me! I can give him my blood! It’s- it’s my fault to start with!” 

Makoto stared at her, wondering on her last few words. “Are you sure-?” 

Takemi cut the thread, finishing the suture as best she could. She turned to Viola and pointed to her office chair. “Sit down! I’ll get the IVs.” 

“What?” Makoto tried to grasp at how fast the situation was moving, “Doctor! She- she may not actually be a match for Ren-!” 

“Right or wrong, if I don’t administer a transfusion, he’ll die for sure. She seems confident she’s a match, that’s good enough for me. If you know how to insert an IV, help me.” Takemi paused, before declaring with finality, “Otherwise, you’re done here.” 

The brunette conceded to the doctor’s reasoning. There was more at stake here. 

The two prepared the transfusion equipment, with Viola and Haru nervously waiting and watching them and the patient. When the transfusion set was fully prepped, Takemi went to Ren’s unconscious form and started with his IV with Makoto doing the same with Viola. As she knelt down beside the chair Viola sat on and gesture her to lay out her arm.  

As she proceeded with the insertion, Makoto glanced at up at Viola, whispering, “Thank you.” 

The blonde glanced back, unsure of herself, before replying, “It’s nothing. I won’t let him die if I can help it.” 

Final inspections of the equipment were carried out. Nodding to herself, Takemi prepared the transfusion. “Alright, it’s as good as it’ll ever be. Let’s start.” 

Crimson red began to flow from Viola’s tube into the machine and filling the IV bag resting at the top of the stand. A few moments later the same red liquid began filling the machine’s other tube into Ren’s direction. As the blood continued to flow, the heart rate monitor kept its constant pace, everyone held their breath as the beeping continued. 

“It’ll be an hour until we know there’s a change. I’ll observe him in the meantime,” The doctor stated, letting herself breath and removing her gloves. She placed her uncovered hand on Makoto’s shoulder, “I'll take it from here, get yourself cleaned and wait outside.” 

Makoto nodded, moving to remove her own PPE when she noticed a small form by the door. 

“Ren?” Morgana hesitantly called in, though only Haru and Makoto understood. She had ever rarely seen the cat so anxious. 

Haru bent down and picked up Morgana with little resistance. She hugged the feline as consolingly as she could. “Oh, Mona-chan...” 

The brunette disposed of the gloves covered in blood. In Ren’s blood. She made her way to the waiting room and headed for the door outside when she met Sojiro, waiting on a chair. The old barista seemed even older, just sitting in in the room and wringing his apron. He looked up at her, stood up and said, “I heard everything. She’s right, all we can do is wait. You did good, Niijima-san.” 

Makoto fought back the urge to sob, she couldn’t break. Not now, not yet. “Thank you, Boss. If you’ll excuse me, I need to go to the bathhouse...” 

As made her way out of the clinic, Viola, left in the room with her blood being transferred to the raven-haired young man, bit her lower lip and rested her head in her free hand. “You’ll live. I made a promise and I’ll keep it...”

Tokyo, Yongen-Jaya – Japan – April 5 – Sat – 1:15 pm  

The clinic’s atmosphere was still tense, albeit not as high before. Makoto, Haru and Morgana had taken up the seats in the waiting room while Sojiro was on the phone, informing the people on the other side of the line what had happened. He had to move the phone away from his ear when it came to telling Ryuji. 

Haru held Morgana in her lap and her phone in her hand, a video streaming with a reporting news channel. 

“...emergency services are scrambling to rescue survivors both under and on the remaining parts of the elevated highway. Authorities have made no comment on what caused such destruction...”  

Makoto clenched her fists her lap. Such an incident couldn’t have come at a worse time. What was going on? 

Takemi sat on the patient’s stool in her examination room, keeping an eye on Viola and Ren and the heart monitor continued in the background. She wrote on a paper pad, keeping logs on their conditions. 

*Beep...Beep...Beep...beepbeepbeepbeep....*  

“Agh...” 

Viola and Takemi grew alert at the shift in the E.K.G machine’s pace. The doctor rushed to Ren’s form and discovered in his face was scrunched up in pain and his breathing became laboured, though he did not rouse. “Dammit!” 

“What? What’s happening?” Viola asked from her chair, panicked.  

“I don’t know! He’s-!” 

A snapping sound cut her off, followed by a multitude more snaps. From Ren’s back the skin where the cut had parted it began to... meld back together, much to the doctor’s harrowed fascination. The sutured threads she had worked on earlier were being torn then disintegrating in front of her eyes.  

“I don’t believe it, he shouldn’t have...?” 

“Dr Takemi? Is everything-?” Makoto called to her, making her way into the exam room. She stopped moving, trying to comprehend the sight of what was happening to Ren. As the last of parted skin merged back together, leaving a thick line of a scar, Ren’s face relaxed and his breathing slowed again. 

*beepbeepbeepbeep...Beep...Beep...Beep...*  

“What on earth-?” 

Viola chose that moment to rip the IV out her arm, uncaring for the pain or the mess, and dashed past everyone without a word. 

“Hey, wait!” Sojiro shouted as she went past him, “Not again!” 

At that moment, another blonde burst into the clinic, this one with a familiar voice, “Boss! Is Ren okay- Shit!” 

Ryuji was barrelled over by other punk, without so much as an apology. From his place on the floor, he shouted after her, “The hell’s your problem!?” 

Haru and Morgana spared him a glance before turning inward to the exam room. Both of them hovered at the door while Makoto and Takemi looked over Ren’s sleeping form. “Is he...?” Haru trailed off. 

The doctor placed her fingers over his back and searched all over him. Unable to detect any abnormalities, despite what she witnessed moments ago, she took a step back and said, “It’s... it’s like he’s fully recovered. But that’s impossible...” 

At the news Makoto let herself sink into the office chair and held her head in her hands, letting out her tears of relief.

Tokyo, Yongen-Jaya – Japan – April 5 – Sat – 6:40 pm  

“...Boss told us Viola’s in the wind. We don’t know where she’s gone.” Makoto finished her retelling, still grasping at Ren’s hand. “Dr Takemi’s on the phone with emergency services, trying to explain why we called them off. After the way you healed like that, we agreed that it would be better if no one else knew about it.” 

Ren ran a hand through his hair before taking look at it, examining himself for the lack of damage. “I... it’s as if I just woke up in my bed as usual. I don’t feel any pain...” 

“That’s a relief,” said Morgana, “The doctor wants to keep you under observation, but she says that physically you appear to be fine. She’s having a hard time believing what she saw, though.” 

Makoto nodded, but then her eyes furrowed and lips pursed. “Who is this girl, Viola?” she asked, “Morgana told me how she saved you, but she didn’t even explain how all this happened.” 

“Or the demon cat,” added Morgana, his tail twirling to reflect his questioning line of thought, “Or even how her wooden sword turned into a real one...” 

“It was never a wooden sword,” Ren answer immediately, “In Leblanc, I saw its real form right away. I didn’t understand how Boss could mistake it for a something else. Or you, for that matter.” 

Morgana didn’t look sure on how that happened either. “I swear! It looked exactly like a bokken. That doll on the end, though, that had me on edge. At least, until we started talking to Viola,” Morgana looked back up and stated, “I don’t think she told us any lies, or wishes us harm, but she’s clearly hiding something.” 

That, Ren agreed with a nod. “I think so too. We need to talk to her.” He made his way off the bed... 

A pair of fingers pushed on his forehead, forcing him back down into a resting position. Ren’s eyes followed the fingers to their owner, who, by the glare in her eyes, wasn’t impressed. 

“You aren’t going anywhere yet, mister,” Makoto ordered, “I know you think you’re fine but I had to watch you get stitched up from a cut that should have killed you. Your doctor wants you to take it easy in case this is only temporary and I happen to agree with her.” 

Oooh, he knew that tone. When his teasing nature got carried away and hit her buttons one too many times, she’d bring out the Queen in her. He had learned that compliance was the best chance of walking away unscathed. “...alright,” He conceded, “I’ll stay put. What about the others? Tonight, we were supposed to...?” 

Morgana had taken a step away from stern mother-figure, answering from a safer distance. “Well, they’re-” 

The sound of the door opening cut him off, soon followed by their resident loudmouth. “Guys! He’s awake!” 

“-already here,” Morgana finished, annoyed at the brash announcement. 

Soon, the room was flooded with friendly faces. 

Ann came in with her pigtails bouncing. “You jerk!” she burst out of more concern than frustration, “First day back and you give us all heart attacks! I mean, seriously...” 

Ryuji clapped a hand on her shoulder, adding, “Yeah, I’m with Ann on this. Can’t you stop making a scene every time you come back?” 

Haru was jubilant, putting her hands together and saying, “It’s a relief to see you up, Ren-chan. We were so worried.” 

Ren looked warmly at the members of the Phantom Thieves in the room. This is what he came back for. “I’m sorry guys, I really didn’t mean our reunion to go this way...” 

Yusuke waved him off. “Your safe return is all that matters. After the news of what happened in the city and yourself, it warms my heart to see you well. I nearly broke my paintbrush when Boss informed me of your condition.” 

Ren was about to reply with wit about how’d this would be an interesting moment to put to canvas when a bundle of red energy came straight at him. He was then caught in a tight but careful hug; Futaba Sakura did not relent it for a moment. “Hey Futaba...” 

“Kid,” Sojiro’s voice sounded from the doorway, he was leaning on the frame with Dr Takemi behind him. Both looked relieved at his awakening. “You scared the hell out of all of us.” 

A sniff came from the redhead, before she looked up at him with worried eyes behind her spectacles. “Don’t do that again, you hear me! Sojiro said you were...that you...!” 

Makoto ran her hands on the girl’s shoulders placidly while Ren placed one of his on top of her head. “Hey, it’s okay,” he assured her, “Everything’s going to be fine.” 

Though with what happened in recent memory, he didn’t want them to know he was saying that to himself as much as anyone.

Tokyo, Yongen-Jaya – Japan – April 6 – Sun – 1:06 am  

A while later Takemi had the crowd vacate the premises, only allowing Makoto and Morgana to be with Ren in the clinic. Sojiro brought the others back to LeBlanc, where they would spend the night, have dinner and keep Futaba company so she wouldn’t feel so worried about their leader. As the night settled in and everyone else decided to turn in, Ren bore his gaze into the darkened ceiling of the exam room. He couldn’t sleep, not a with a thousand questions running rampart on his conscious.  

When he was sure no one would be listening this late, he tip-toed off the bed and scouted the clinic. Takemi was in the storeroom, clinking sounds of glass vials chiming out her movements, while Makoto and Morgana slept on the waiting room sofa. With his experience in sneaking through the Metaverse, he made his way outside without alerting anyone.  

Yongen-Jaya was dark and down one street light, the impact craters from the battle earlier scarred the neighbourhood. A chill could be felt in the air, Ren feeling it more acutely since his upper torso was only in bandages. He pressed the palms of his hands over his face, inhaled and exhaled deeply, and concentrated. He had a feeling that after all that had happened the mystery girl wouldn’t have just upped and left. She was still around, and he could find her. 

He opened his eyes wide, his pupils now tinged gold due to his Third Eye, and scanned the street. His eyes immediately caught a particular set of footprints, highlighted in bright blue light and periodically sprouting off shards of multicolour glass.  They led away from the clinic, down the street and... up a two-story building? 

‘Okay, I guess that's not the weirdest thing to happen recently,’ he thought to himself. He made his way over to the building in question, looking it over for a discreet way up. A water pipe on the side of the wall looked sturdy enough to him. With both hands he grasped it and by pushing his feet off the wall and shifting his hands’ positions he started propelling himself up towards the roof. He couldn’t help but feel a little smug, ‘Oh, the days of pull-ups on the attic beam...’  

At a steady pace he found himself on the flat roof of the building. Bringing himself upright, he turned right and left looking for more tracks. He found more leading to another rooftop, only a step apart from the building he stood on, and saw Viola. The blonde had taken a position on a roof where someone had set up chairs, probably a neighbour who came up here to relax. She was taking peeks around an upright rusted corrugated panel in the direction of the clinic and the LeBlanc, on the lookout for something. Since she hadn’t notice him leave the clinic, she must not have been paying constant attention. 

As a thief, he quietly made his way over to her. Unnoticed as he reached her, he simply said, “You’re not exactly subtle, you know.” 

“AH!” Viola exclaimed at the sudden voice in her ear. She turned, with boggled-eyes saw him, turned back to the clinic and returned to looking at him. “But-! How did you-?! …aw man.” 

She shook herself out of her surprise and then rubbed the back of her neck. “I wasn’t spying or anything! I just... had to make sure you’d be okay. And that the angels didn’t come back.” 

Angels. Of course, the monsters were actual angels. Ren filed that information for later. “I wanted to thank you. For saving my life.” 

Viola hadn’t expected that, she pulled back in surprise but then shook her head. “Well, don’t mention it. It’s my job.” 

Ren picked apart that statement, observing, “So you are here because of me.” 

The blonde flinched back, realising she’d slipped up. “That’s not important. And hey!” She pointed a finger at him, “You should’ve been more careful! What were you doing, standing around like that! I thought you knew how to fight!” 

Ren shrugged. “That’s fair. I was trying to release my Persona, so I could help you fight. I wasn’t sure I could at first but whatever you did seemed to help me reach for it.” 

Viola nodded, placated a little, “Okay... so you weren’t just gawking about.” 

“And you don’t seem surprised that I have powers.” 

Realising she’d been caught out again, she let out an aggravated moan, “Uuugggghh! Will you just-!” Viola then inhaled aggressively before reluctantly admitting, “Yes! Okay! I already knew about them!” She mellowed, turned away from him and crossed her arms. “I know... you’re a Phantom Thief. And so are your friends down there.” 

She looked at him, ashamed, “I swear, I didn’t want you to get hurt.” 

Ren grabbed one of the chairs behind them and brought it to Viola, offering it to her. After some deliberation, she accepted, sitting down slumped forward and head hanging. Ren took his seat, one leg over the other, and asked her, “Why don’t you start with who hired you, and why?” 

Viola crossed her arms in an X shape while shaking her head. “Nuh-uh. That’s against the first rule in my line of work, ‘Don’t talk about who the client is.’” 

Ren tilted his head, prompting, “Viola...” 

“I’m serious! I can’t say anything!” she protested, before scratching her head and adding, “Honestly, I don’t even get to meet who ever hires me, most of the time. This job is weird even by my usual standards.” 

“So, you’ve at least met them...” 

"Yes,” she reluctantly sighed, “They hired me to protect you. Said Paradiso had you in their sights and that you’d need to be escorted to a safe place. And since I’m a witch, I had the means of helping you prepare for this.” 

Ren raised an eyebrow. “A witch, you say? You were casting spells back there? Like the cat and the sword?” 

“I jury-rigged an old disguise spell my mom taught me, to make my sword look like a bokken, which is pretty common here, right? I was never really good at spells but I got enough know-how to hide my roots. The cat...” She took out her sheathed katana and slammed the tip into the roof, the cat doll dangling from the hilt, “...is a whole different story. He’s a demon.” 

The doll and the blade disappeared, with the monstrous cat appearing beside the two humans. Ren didn’t flinch, sensing that it wasn’t hostile, and watched as it took a smoking pipe out of its mouth and start inhaling from it. It turned to him, seemingly grinning while blowing out smoke. 

“...Huh,” was all Ren could really say. 

“He’s a softie, once you get to know him, really,” Viola explained as she reached up and rubbed its patchwork belly. “He’s my demon pal, though we’re not formally contracted. Still beats the shit out of the forces of Paradiso.” 

“And the Paradiso are...?” 

She waved her hand dismissively, “It’s plane of Reality. Where those angels who attacked you came from.” 

It was Ren’s turn to sigh in aggravation. He was basically being targeted by Heaven. It seems he couldn’t be redeemed even in the eyes of the most holy. “Fantastic,” he said sarcastically to himself. 

“Eh, it’s not that bad,” Viola casually informed him, “Though, they’ve never been this aggressive against anyone who hasn’t gone directly against them before...” 

Ren raised an eyebrow, “What about the fact I’ve killed... wait, do you know about that...?” 

She laughed, “Heh! Oh yeah! I was told about that too; you defeated not one but three would-be gods! That’s- haha...” She laughed again, letting her head roll around her neck. When her laughter died down, she continued, “That’s seriously awesome. But nah, those guys weren’t part of Paradiso. Just looked like them.” 

“Then why are they after me?” 

“Dunno. And it’s...” Viola looked away, sullenly informing him, “It’s not just you. It’s also your friends. They’re hunting all the Phantom Thieves.” 

Ren stood up, knocking the chair to the ground. “What?” he questioned sternly. 

Viola placatingly put her hands up and assured, “It’s okay! We killed the scouting party! We should be safe for a while!” 

“How long?” Ren demanded. 

“If we all leave for the safe house before daylight, we should be good. I was planning on taking you there first, but the angels found you sooner than I expected. You got hurt and... then all your friends came here. I didn’t know whether you’d able to move so soon.” 

“Well, I am,” he stated, on edge now that the danger was no longer confined to himself, “And not all of us are here. Some Phantom Thieves are elsewhere and-” 

“We have them covered,” Viola cut in, “I mean, someone else was hired to get the others. I think he was at the bridge collapse earlier.” 

The raven-haired teen brought a hand to his chin, worryingly muttered, “That was the angels too? Who did this other guy get?” 

“I dunno. We’ll find out when we get to the safe house. Which we should be going to.” She then pointedly added, “Like, as soon as possible.” 

Ren shook his head. “I still have questions.” 

Viola jumped out her seat and slapped her hands into gripping his shoulders, looking him dead in the eyes. “Ren, I promise. I promise you’ll get your answers when I’m not looking to sky for a fricking ambush. My client’s at the safe house too, so you wanna know why they hired me? You can ask them yourself. But you, and all your friends, need to come with me. Right. Now.” 

They were done. That’s what they had believed. That there wouldn’t be any more gods, aspiring or otherwise, using otherworldly means to take over society or hunt them down. It hadn’t all bad; the powers, the camaraderie, the adventures in places beyond their wildest dreams. But it wasn’t without cost, and each time they did this they risked their lives. And potentially others who weren’t even involved. Ren didn’t want this to go on forever. He loved being Joker, but he loved the life that he fought for with that name even more. A life where he could go home, surround himself with memories and experiences with his closest companions and... 

Makoto. She wanted to become a police commissioner. She wanted to become a person that everyone could respect and those closest to her could be proud of. To protect the innocent and deliver justice. And she chose him to share that life together. If they kept going like this, how would he be able to give it to her? 

No. That was the wrong order of things. If events such as these kept happening, then they needed to be stopped. Or the life he wanted for them would never be realised regardless. 

Ren took Viola’s wrists and gently brought them down from his shoulders, but his eyes didn’t leave hers. He believed her, when she said didn’t mean him harm. When she said that she wanted to make her mother proud by becoming her successor. There were more things he needed to know, but there was one thing he was certain of, Viola came to help. 

“Let me wake up the others. And pick up a shirt.” 

Chapter Text

Tokyo, Yongen-Jaya – Japan – April 6 – Sun – 4:02 am  

*YYYAAAWWWNNN*  

“Geez, could you at least cover your mouth when you do that?” Ann sighed, not even bothering to get riled up at Ryuji’s lack of decorum.   

It was still dark in the early morning, most of the Phantom Thieves lined up on the side of the main road just off the café street. At this time of day, the road was mostly clear of traffic with only the occasional car and truck passing by.  

Lined up on the side walk were Ryuji, Ann, Yusuke, Makoto and Haru, the first two groggy from waking this early. Ryuji was handling his drowsiness the least.  

“It’s too damn early for this, *haaah* ” Ryuji could barely stifle the second yawn at the end of his gripe. Stretching out his arms and back, he looked around the road. “The sun won't be up for hours yet, are we sure this is the right spot?”  

Heavy boots connecting with the side walk sounded, Viola walked out of a nearby side street towards the five. “I got a driver coming. He’ll be here soon. It’s his ass if he doesn’t show.”  

The Phantom Thieves weren’t quite sure what to make of this new acquaintance. On the one hand, Morgana and Makoto recounted to them on how she was responsible for saving Ren’s life, both in battle and in the clinic, so she already had a head start with the team’s good side. On the other, she appeared just as all the trouble began and hadn’t explained why they all had to move, or even where to.   

Haru, who had witnessed Viola’s generosity in the clinic, decided to be the one to extend an olive branch. “So, you have a personal driver too, Viola-chan?”  

“Huh?” the blonde girl hadn’t expected to addressed by them, “Oh, nah. Enzo just owes my handler a massive bar tab. If he doesn’t do what I say his tab gets called in and he’ll basically be in debt.”  

“Oh,” Haru dampened at learning about the man’s unfortunate predicament.  

Yusuke took his turn to ask, "You're really a witch? The 'Fire burn and caldron bubble' kind?"   

"Ugh, PLEASE don't quote Macbeth at me, I get enough of that shit from my English class. And no, I don't do spells and curses like that. I got something way cooler." She turned around and pointed her thumbs at the katana strapped to her back. “Meet Mabu-Dachi.”   

"It’s a rather intriguing design," Yusuke pondered aloud, examining the blade, “The sword appears ornamental, but its blacksmithing gives it a realistic edge. Form appealing and functional. I question the addition of the cat doll, though.”  

“It’s a family heirloom. It stays.”  

“Ah, very well then.”  

“I love the jacket, Viola-chan!” Ann chimed in, “It just screams ‘rebel!’”  

“Heh, hell yeah! Thanks. I never leave home without it.”  

“And your shirt shows off just enough!” Ann bent down to examine Viola’s midriff, “I can tell you do crunches, I’m almost jealous...”  

“Uh, thanks? I... like your hair. Reminds of someone I once knew.”  

“Aw! Thank you! And I have to say that you wear the punk style better than Ryuji.”  

“Hello? Standing right here...” Ryuji sighed. He tapped his foot before taking note of Viola’s accessories, commenting, “Guess I can’t argue against that. Though, the glasses and the scarf seem a little out place though...”  

Viola tugged on the scarf over her chin. “Yeah, well... they’re also staying.”  

“Woah! Ren was right! She is a Ryuji clone!” Futaba’s voice came out of the side street leading to LeBlanc with Sojiro in tow. She jogged right over to Viola and looked between her and Ryuji, “Finally! Evidence of successful human cloning, right in front of me!”  

Ryuji’s eye twitched. “Knock it off! We’re not clones!”  

“Your denial is only further proof of this conspiracy!” Futaba dramatically cried, acting out her headcanon, “Soon, humanity will come to a crossroads, a war between the naturals and the artificial man will ensue!”  

Viola looked decidedly uncomfortable as she listened to Futaba’s fantasy.  

“Futaba! People are still sleeping,” Sojiro chastised his ward. He held a duffle bag, which he brought up to Ryuji to for him to hold. “Here, I’ve packed her clothes and laptop. Make sure she gets regular laundry.”  

Ryuji tentatively took the bag from him. “You got it Boss; we’ll take care of her.”  

Makoto gave a short bow to the café owner. “I’m so sorry, Boss. I know this is sudden, but if what happened to Ren wasn’t a one-off incident...”  

“I know,” lamented Sojiro, holding his hand on his hip in resignation, “You kids need to go to take care of it, right? I’m... getting used the idea.”  

“Sojiro...” Futaba twiddled with her fingers, “We’ll be careful. It’s just-”  

He held his hand up, signalling her to stop, “I still don’t understand how you kids have done these things and I still think you shouldn’t be concerning yourself with such high stakes.” He brought he glasses down and cleaned them with his shirt, “But you’ve handled serious situations before, better than some my old coworkers at the agency ever did. I... trust that you’ll do so this time too.”  

He had to keep his balance as Futaba gave him full hug. He caressingly stroked her head, then released her. He faced towards Viola and gave her a stern look. “Bring them back. All of them.”  

Viola opened her mouth with some grand reassurance but then decided to simply nod. “You got it, uh... Boss?”  

Sojiro let out a small smile, “Good enough.”  

Ryuji scanned around the street, searching for someone. “Hey, what’s taking Ren so long? Our ride could show up at any minute.”  

Makoto merely tilted her head towards the side street and frankly stated, “I made him go thank his doctor and ask her for... advice.”  

“As your doctor I am informing you that, in my professional opinion, you’re an idiot.”  

Ren coughed uncomfortably under Tae Takemi’s scrutinising glare. He stretched the neck of his new shirt and jacket to imagine the pressure being off him at that moment, not that it worked. “I... will not attempt dispute that-”  

“Good,” Tae interrupted his defence and gently tapped his forehead with the clipboard she held, “Because less than twenty-four hours ago you received a slash to back, got up and healed by magic , and now you expect me to be fine with you going who-knows-where to do more Phantom Thief shenanigans?”  

“That’s a gross simplification, but in essence, yes.”  

The doctor pinched the bridge of her nose. “If you don’t get yourself killed, you’ll certainly be the death of me, someday.”  

Ren glanced down to Morgana, silently asking for advice on how to approach his next answer. The talking feline could only shrug as best as he could.  

A deep sigh from Tae broke the silence before she started listing off her advice. “Watch your back, literally. If whatever stitched you together happens to fall apart, you call an ambulance and then me, in that order. Drink plenty of water over the next few days, the transfusion didn’t replenish everything, so give your body more resources to work with. Finally, and this is most important, don’t get injured at all if you can help it. Understand?”  

“Yes, Dr Takemi,” Ren promised, though he wasn’t sure he’d be able to keep that last one.  

“I guess that’s all I can ask for,” Tae flipped through the papers on her clipboard, “Though, there is one more thing. This Viola, how well do you know her?”  

Both Ren and Morgana gave each other glances at the question. Ren spoke on both their behalf, “I just met her yesterday. And she’s also saved my life. Twice, if you’re counting the transfusion.”  

“I am, but the transfusion is why I’m asking.” Tae held the clipboard to her chest, giving him a concerned look. “After you healed from what should have taken months of recovery, I ran some tests on the blood she left behind. On the surface, there’s nothing unusual; type O negative like she claimed and the cells were healthy. But then, under the microscope, spots of her blood seems to... turn into crystalline glass and shift back again in dark pulses.” She arched her eyebrow at him, “I don’t think I need to tell you that blood is not supposed to do that.”  

Ren bit his bottom lip, his head trying to come up with a placating explanation. “Yeah, that’s... you probably figured she’s not ordinary, right? Well, neither am I...”  

“My point is,” Tae continued, “Her blood is now in you. I can only assume it’s what saved your life, but I have no idea what kind of side effects will come out this. Be careful. I don’t know this girl but just one day after meeting her I’m already questioning all my knowledge in modern medicine.”  

“I will, Tae-san. But I don’t think you need to worry, she’s on our side.”  

She huffed, then waved him away. “You seem to have everything figured out.” Finally, she gave him a nod, “Take care of yourself, guinea pig.”  

Ren bowed in gratitude, headed out of the clinic with backpack in tow and walked down the street. Morgana trotted over to his side; tail arched high as they set off.  

“Are you sure this is best move?” Morgana asked, “Don’t get me wrong, I like Viola, but she’s not telling us everything...”  

Ren stopped and gestured to his bag shoulder, Morgana took the invitation and climbed up to perch on his back and bag. When his companion was safely secured, he continued on. “We don’t have a choice. If what happened here and on the news were because of these angels, then we are facing something we know almost nothing about with no access to the Metaverse. Viola says she came to protect us, and nothing she’s done disputes that. So, I’m willing to meet her client, if only to find out why they hired her in the first place.” He turned his head and gave a sullen look, “And the sooner this is dealt with, the sooner the others will safe.”  

Morgana nodded and scratched his own ear, “Futaba’s got tracking programs locating Sumire, Sophie and Zenkichi. She sent messages warning them of the danger. We’ll need to figure out how to get them to the safe house once we know where it is.”  

“Good, then let’s get going.”  

The duo walked out the side street and spotted a red retro RV parked where his friends crowded. Viola was at the driver’s window, getting blasted with heavily accented English from a short, portly middle aged man at the wheel.  

[“Ya call me up at this godforsaken hour in the morning and you’re telling me you’re not all here! The hell is wrong with you witches, thinking I’m some chauffeur that you can whistle for like dog! Here I am, in the freakin Far East, away from my beautiful wife and kids playing gofer to a couple of teenagers! Geez Louise, those angel schmucks could show up at any second! We gotta book it!”]  

Ryuji leaned over to Ann and in a whisper asked, “What’s he mad about?”  

She shook her head, “I only got bits and pieces from that. New Yorkers are hard to understand, even for me.”  

Viola slammed her hand on the van’s roof, silencing the man, replying back in her own English, [“Cram it, Enzo! You want Rodin to put you and your family in the poor house? Or worse? Just try not talk too much on the trip and I’ll ask him to give you a bonus towards paying off your tab.”]  

The driver, apparently Enzo, irritably grumbled but backed down from arguing further, glaring out the window to nowhere.  

Viola spotted Ren coming towards them and waved him down, “There you are, all set?”  

“Just about.”  

“You’re bringing Morgana? Guess the Boss man can't take care of him while running the café, huh?”  

Morgana whispered into his ear, “She doesn’t know?”  

“Apparently not.”  

Sojiro walked up to him and clasped a hand on his shoulder. “Take care of yourself and Futaba for me, alright? I’ve got enough to stress about while you kids are actually here.”  

“I promise. She’ll be safe, Boss.”  

“You’re not listening. I said both of you. Got it?”  

Ren nodded, “Got it.”  

Satisfied, Sojiro let him go. Ren looked to his friends, everyone of them looking to him in solidarity. “Let’s do this.”   

Ryuji got to hyping up the rest of them, jumping into the van and shouting, “C’mon! Road trip!”  

After all of the Phantom Thieves entered the vehicle, Viola took the passenger’s seat at the front with Enzo. She closed the door and gave it two slaps. [“Time to move”]!  

The engine revved to life and the van moved onto the road proper, speeding away down the road. When he could no longer see it, Sojiro sighed and made his way back to the café, alone.

Tokyo, Minato district – Japan – April 6 – Sun – 4:42 am  

The van chugged along the mostly empty city streets, the majority of the drive taken in silence. They had just exited Shibuya when Ann reached over to Viola at the front, asking “Hey, Viola-chan? Now, can you tell us where we’re going?”  

Viola turned in her chair to face the passengers in the back. “Edogawa district, close to the sea. My handler’s got his establishment set up to keep us hidden and safe from eyes in Paradiso, or Inferno.  

“Inferno?” Makoto shifted in her seat next to Futaba, who had Ren on the other side of her. “I thought angels were hunting us?”  

“They are, but you can’t be too careful. If the angels have their business in the human world, demons may just pop in to steal whatever prizes they can get. Or, y’know, just wreck angel shit.”  

Yusuke held his chin with one hand, deep in thought. “The forces of Heaven and Hell coming down to do battle on earth, a sight I would not object to beholding…”  

Viola looked at Ren with a raised eyebrow.  

“You’ll get used to him,” he told her.  

She shrugged.  

Ren got out of his seat and huddled behind Viola’s. With his voice lowered he said to her, “We need to talk.”  

She looked back to him. “Hey, I already promised to explain when we get there, you need to-”  

“Dr Takemi told me about your blood.”  

She paused then cautiously asked, “What did she say about it?”  

“That it transforms into glass and emits dark pulses sometimes, other than that it’s right as rain.”  

“Ah crap,” she lifted her scarf over her mouth “I seriously didn’t know. I mean, it’s probably because I’m a witch and… something else, but I heal fast. I thought if I gave you a bit it might help. And it did! So, no harm done?”  

“Not so far,” Ren admitted, “but I was hoping you’d be aware of any… side effects?”  

She shook her head, “You can’t catch being a witch. I think that bout of fast healing’s all you gotta worry about.”  

He nodded, satisfied at the explanation, but then narrowed his eyes. “Should I start seeing angels, then?”  

“Nah, when angels or demons go to the human worlds, they stay in the Purgatorio realm. It’s like a copy of the world where you’re invisible to anyone outside of it and you can’t interact with anything with a soul that’s doesn’t have magic. It’s great for avoiding hitting normal people, not so much you, me or your friends. And people on the outside still can see you in reflections for some reason…”  

Ren reached over her and directed to the side mirror, “Like that?”  

Viola followed his hand and saw reflected in the mirror an lone Affinity angel was trailing behind them. Both of them poked their heads out the window and looked back. Sure enough, the angel was up there, keeping up with the moving RV.  

“Viola?”  

“Yeah?”  

“I can still see it.”  

“Shit.”  

The angel screeched and flew upwards with its flapping wings.  

“Shit, shit, shit! [Enzo! Step on the gas!]”  

[“Fuhgeddaboudit! We’re over the speed limit alr-!”]  

A scrunching sound of tearing metal came from the roof of the RV. The girls sans Viola screamed at the sudden small opening that appeared there, growing slightly larger as the penetrated metal bloom pushed into the car.   

“Geez!” Ryuji cried.  

Enzo wrangled back control of the RV as it swerved from the impact. “[Not this shit agaaain!]”   

Viola slammed open her door and flipped up to the roof, casting her sigil in mid-air. A pulse rang through the air and the angel appeared; its spear imbedded in top of the RV. With a cry she cut it down in a single stroke. The lone Affinity angel fell back off the moving vehicle with a pitiful screech. She stood up with the force the wind running past her from behind and looked up, seeing the flock of reinforcements.   

“You gotta be kidding…” She stuck her sword upright into the roof, clapped the sides of her face with her hands and shook herself ready. “Right,” she said as she picked her sword back up, “Let’s dance, boys!”  

The Phantom Thieves inside looked out the windows and saw the mass of flying creatures on both sides as the RV crossed over the Arakawakako Bridge, overlooking the ocean.   

Ryuji gripped the sides of a window, “ Those are angels?! I was expecting something more like, human guys with wings!”  

“They are majestic to the eye, though they seem to be less than serene in their decorum…”  

“Not the time, Inari!”  

Makoto heard the RV roller door open and just caught her partner climb on to the roof of the RV, “Ren! What are you doing?!”  

Ren pulled himself to the top, wind of the moving vehicle buffering him, and steadied himself to stand up.   

Viola, as she cut down a few incoming angels, spotted him. “What the- HEY! Are you crazy?! Get back inside!”  

“I told you before, I can help!” Ren told her over the wind and took a deep breath. ‘Just reach out to that feeling, like before. And...’ A domino mask appeared on his face and he smirked as he tore it off, “Persona!”  

The top of the RV erupted into blue flame; a burning bonfire flared to life that scared back the incoming angels. Viola shielded her face with her off-hand, anticipating intense heat but instead found the flames to be mild, even comforting in their warmth. She lowered her hand to view the epicentre, and watched with widened eyes as Ren’s clothes began to shift, as if transforming instead of burning. As the flames consumed his torso it left behind a black leather tail-coat, red gloves and a high neck dark waistcoat, his legs had donned cinched black pants and brown-black boots.   

Ren whipped out his right hand to the side then waved it upwards, the fire moving in tandem as if following his movements. The blue flames coalesced into a single being that solidified into a red Victorian demon with black wings and a demonic domino mask for a face with a top hat. The Pillager of Twilight, Arsene, had returned to form.  

An Affinity angel rushed at the Persona, spear aimed true, but was caught in Arsene’s hand by the neck. In Ren’s voice but deeper the Persona began to laugh at the angel’s fruitless attempts to free itself, before throwing it into another of its brethren in the air. Arsene flew upwards and then dived into a flock of the angels, slicing them with his talon-like fingers.  

Ryuji, who had popped his head out the window to watch the spectacle along with Haru and Morgana, waved his fist in the air. “HA! You guys are in for it now!”  

Joker, with his mask still off, knelt down and breathed heavily before standing up again. He smirked at Viola, smugly saying, “Toldja.”  

Viola had a weak grin which grew stronger as she nodded at him, “Okay, that’s more like it.” When an angel landed behind her, she twirled and gave it a hard fist to face, knocking off the roof. “How long can you keep the big guy around for?”  

Joker gave a round-house kick to angel trying to find landing space on the RV. “Not sure,” he said before firing his grappling hook from his sleeve, yanking a flying angel towards him and kicking it into the road below, “let’s find out.” And the two fighters went to opposite ends of the RV the fend off the forces of Paradiso.

Ryuji made his way back inside the RV from the window. “This would be a good time pitch in!”  

Ann watched out the window as angels began dropping down beside the moving RV and bursting into light. She turned to Ryuji. “How? We can’t use our Personas!”  

Morgana jumped into the centre of the van and proudly stood on all fours. “Joker can, and I know I can! Every one of us needs focus on what our powers felt to us.” He closed his eyes and dived deep within himself. “It’s still there, just further away, but if you concentrate with the feelings you felt when you first summoned your Persona, you can just reach out and...”  

The rest the team followed his lead, even with the sounds of battle raging around them and the momentum of the vehicle still present. Ryuji and Ann look at each other, remembering Kamoshida’s Castle and the abuses his Shadow recounted for them. Yusuke welled up with the feeling of clarity he felt when stopped turning away from the truth of his master’s cruelty. Makoto remembered when she cast off the resignation of following her lot in life and the freedom of choosing her own path. Futaba closed her eyes and pictured her mother in perfect clarity, as the kind loving woman who patiently raised her instead of the monster others made her out to be. And Haru recalled her resolve to reject her father’s plans for her to be a political pawn in marriage.  

As the Phantom Thieves reached out to their will to defy and rebel, the inside of the RV glowed in blue fire.  

With hapless Enzo in the driver's seat, still frantically steering with the blue blaze behind him. [“WHAT THE SHIT IS HAPPENIIIIINNNNNGGGG?!”]

Joker and Viola continued to fend off attacks on the RV, with Arsene cutting down forces in the air. The two met back-to-back when a break in the offensive occurred, both of them keeping eyes on the regrouping angels.  

“How’re you doing, Ren?”  

“Could be doing worse. Wish I had my knife though, or my gun.”  

Viola patted her jacket down, searching. She settled on bringing out a set of her darts between her fingers and held them behind her. “You any good with these?”  

Joker took them between his own fingers and with a smirk threw them at a group of flyers, knocking them over the bridge to the water below. “Good enough.”  

“Then get throwing,” Viola handed him even more sets.  

He did so for a few incoming attackers. Viola kept the ones that landed on the roof back from him with her sword. Two of them charged at her and she readied her blade at her side when-  

Joker pulled at her scarf hard, “Down!”  

“Hey!” she complained as she tumbled onto the roof with him, “What was that for-!?”  

The two angels were then decapitated by a low road sign the RV rushed under.  

“Oh… thanks.”  

The road started to rumble, the vibrations shaking the RV side to side. The two looked to the road behind and spotted a giant of an angel headed after them. Donned in regal armour and wielding a massive sword with a face carved into the hilt, the most notable feature was its lack of a head. A Valiance.  

“Is- is its head on it’s sword?”  

“I know, freaky, ain’t it?”  

It quickly strode and caught up to the RV and with mighty swing brought the sword down.  

“Arsene!”  

The demon persona flew towards the Valiance and kicked its sword from the side, causing it to narrowly miss the vehicle and into the bridge road. The giant was slowed for a moment but recovered its pace quickly, still chasing them.  

[Arrogance,] an alien voice emanated from its sword, [ You will submit or perish]  

Arsene disappeared and Joker’s mask reappeared. He gave it a once over with his hand. “Did you understand that?”  

Viola was readying her sword as she asked, “Did you?”  

“I-”  

The Valiance angel took another swing of it’s sword, this time sideways.  

Joker reached up to his mask while Viola drew her katana back for a throw-  

In a blue flash a cartoonish muscular musketeer appeared, waved its rapier in a ‘Z’ formation and from the air it cut a blast of wind blew forth. The gust battered the sword back and Valiance let out an aggravated cry as it was denied another attack.  

Right after another blue flash and a hooded man with a cannon for an arm riding a speedboat like a skateboard charged in, ramming the large angel right in the chest and knocking back off its feet.  

Viola ran a hand through hair, “Whoa, was that you?”  

“Heh, no.”  

At that moment Mona, in his Metaverse form, somersaulted onto the top vehicle, landing on his feet and hands on his hips proudly. “Don’t worry everyone, Mona’s here to save the day!”  

“Wha- whaaat!?” Viola sputtered at the appearance of the bipedal cat. “Where did you come from?!”  

“Hey!” A voice from the side of the RV cried, “A little help?”   

Joker turned over to see Ryuji in his Skull costume having trouble climbing onto the top, hanging from the open door.  

As Joker went to pull him up, Mona chastised the blonde, “Skull, you moron! There’s barely enough room up here already!”  

“You ain’t leaving me out of this- Whoa!”  

Viola had grabbed him by the ascot and got him on his feet in one heave. She gave him a once over, snarking, “Scarf’s a little out of place, ain’t it?”  

Skull adjusted the accessory around his neck. “It’s a neck tie! There’s a difference!”  

“Sure, whatever you tell yourself.”  

A blue flash from the other side and a pair of red braided pigtails of hair sprang out whacked a flock of Affinity angels and inflicting sparks of flame on them on impact. The hair retracted towards the emerging sportily dressed woman with a bubble of gum in her mouth as she winked and snapped her fingers. The poor avians exploded into bursts of flame.  

A pink blur rushed upwards, when it stopped midair the figure sported a flamboyant black and white leopard coat with pink feather outlines, holding a comically huge metal cigar, topping it off with a pompadour and sunglasses. It blew out a large, misty breath and several angels froze instantly in the mist and fell out of sky, shattering on the ground.  

“Joker! Yoo-hoo!” Panther waved from the RV’s window.  

“Leave the philistines to us.” Fox declared from her side.  

Falling of out the sky canine angels fell and raced against the vehicle. They kept up on all fours and the closest leapt to take a swipe at the RV side door. Before the blow could land the door rolled open, revealing Queen standing there with her hand grasping her metal mask. “Agnes!”  

A blue flash and a revving of a high power engine later the attacking Fairness angel was crushed under the front wheel of a heavily armoured black and gold motorcycle, squelching between the moving tire and the road. When the angel dissipated in its death Queen hopped onto her Persona and immediately twirled, batting back the other quadrupeds.  

A couple of Affinities saw an opportunity to spear Queen from the air, but she already saw them coming. “Now Noir!”  

“Lucy!”  

A debonair woman dressed in a fusion of brown duster coat and magenta Victorian dress materialised above Queen and off to the angels’ sides. Umbrella in one hand and a masquerade mask that substituted her face in the other, the Persona opened the front of her dress’s bustle to reveal an arsenal of mini guns and cannons at her disposal.  

The Affinities were quickly turned into Swiss cheese after the gunfire started.  

“Geez!” Viola took a step back from the ballistic barrage.  

“I know, right?” commented Skull.  

Inside the RV, Noir simply giggled.  

Joker’s ears picked up a familiar hovering sound and screeching. He looked up to see triangular UFO floating above them, a few angels trapped in it tractor beam.  

“Hey guys!” Oracle called out from within Al Azif, “Check it!”  

She navigated her Persona upwards and the helpless, spinning angels in its hold couldn’t stop themselves as they rapidly approached a high road sign.  

SPLAT!  

The four on the roof winced at the brutality.  

“Mhehehe! The combat difficulty on these guys is easy peasy.”  

“Oracle! Watch out!”  

Al Azif swerved to the side just as a large sword cleaved downwards at it.  

“AAH! Abort! Abort!”  

Queen leapt back into the RV, dismissing Agnes, and opened her arms to the sky. “In here, now!”  

The returning Valiance made for another swing at Al Azif but the Persona deftly dodged and beelined it to the open side of the RV. Its pilot jumped out of an opening the spacecraft made in itself and into Queen’s arms.  

Mona readied himself with gripped fists, “This guy again?”  

Viola stepped in front of the others and brought her hand out to stop them. “Wait, you guys all got to show off,” with both hands she grabbed Mabu-Dachi by the hilt, lifted it up and aimed it downwards, “Now it’s my turn. Just… don’t freak out. Harakiri!”  

And plunged it straight into her sternum.  

Ryuji was freaking out. “DUDE! WHAT THE FU-!”  

A bright flash and Viola transformed into feline humanoid figure; with violet skin, pink fur, and a mask and cloak that appeared to be made out of stained glass but flowed in the wind like cloth. Her cloak then moved like a pair of wings, before she vanished and left trails of light in her path, zig-zagging around and through the Valiance angel, pummelling it at breakneck speed.   

“Mrow! What is that?”  

[ Hgn! This... will not stand! ]  

The headless giant made a desperate downward stroke of its sword but the speedy faerie zipped around it and floated in front of its chest with her fist drawn back.  

“You’re done!” she declared and threw a punch that sent the angel flying back despite its huge size. When the RV gained some distance between it and the general, Viola quickly flew back onto the roof and flashed in bright light, returning to her original form. She stood bent over, holding herself up with hands on both knees out of breath.   

Ryuji ran to her and slung his arm around her shoulder. “Dude! That was awesome! Did you all see how she sent that thing packing?!”  

“Yes, Skull,” Mona replied, “We all saw.” He crossed his arms and gave her an appreciating look, “It was impressive, never seen anything like it...”  

Viola caught her breath back and stood upright, Ryuji’s arm releasing her. Joker approached her and they looked at each other, then he gave her a smile and a nod. “Pretty cool...”  

“Heh, thanks.”  

“Heads up, everyone!” Oracle’s voice rang like a radio in all their heads, “Big and ugly’s not down yet!”  

The Phantom Thieves and Viola looked back and saw the Valiance angel still chasing, foregoing the road and instead flying. It held its sword upright with the face embedded in it over where its head would have been. It pointed its free hand at them. [Wretched witch! Your clan will face extinction this day! Attack!]  

Swarms of angels appeared through portals of golden sigils. And at once they flew directly towards the RV.   

“T-there’s way too many!”  

Enzo shouted from the driver’s seat, [“We’re across the river! Edo-whats-its-name is dead ahead!”]  

Viola sheathed Mabu-Dachi and crossed her arms. “We’re good then.”  

Skull turned to face her and incredulously asked, “Huh? Whaddya mean?! There’s still a-!”  

An angel was about to reach them with its spear when it suddenly burst into light. The Phantom Thieves watched as the rest of the attacking wave suffered the same fate, along bridge it seemed as if they were hitting an invisible wall and dying on contact. When the swarm collectively realised that they weren't going to reach the escaping vehicle alive, they halted in their attack.  

The giant lifted its fist, signalling to its lesser brethren. As the army teleported away and as the Valiance itself began to fade, it directed its voice loud enough to hear, [The Infinite One cannot hide you forever, we will hunt you to ends of the Realities themselves. The Supreme One demands it.] And then it was gone.  

Skull scratched the back of his head, “Uh, did anyone understand what that thing just said? Or what just happened?”  

‘Yes,’ Joker thought to himself, looking at Viola as her back was turned to him. ‘And no...’  

Viola turned to the rest of them. “We’re safe here. No angels will be able follow us this close to the safe house. Let’s- Puah!” She battered her scarf out of her face when it flew up due to the wind. “Ugh! Let’s just get back inside car!”

Tokyo, Edogawa district – Japan – April 6 – Sun – 5:09 am  

The RV managed to ride to their destination without further incident, despite the rough beating it took in the battle over Arakawakako Bridge . It chugged and made pathetic whining sounds from its exhaust pipe until it parked next to building on the corner of a block, where it quietly screeched to a halt. The building itself was unremarkable, as it resembled a low-income apartment complex, but an eerie ornate stone double door on the ground floor stood out, as if beckoning any adventurous patron to come inside. Engraved on its upper frame were the words ‘The Gates of Hell.’  

The Phantom Thieves and Viola all exited the RV in exhausted fashion, Skull and Fox took to leaning on the side of the building for support, the girls sat on convenient bench and chair arrangements posted on the parking lot gravel and Joker and Mona decided to stay by the RV while Viola dusted off her legs. The female punk waved her hand in a circle, casting her sigil and the world pulsed for the second time today. In an instant, everyone’s Phantom Thief attire reverted to their normal clothes and Morgana was a cat again.   

“It seems this ‘Purgatorio’ works in a similar fashion to the Metaverse,” Yusuke observed, “Hopefully no one saw us appear out of thin air just now...”  

“It was quite exciting to be back in action in such a high-speed chase,” Haru managed to comment, seemingly unfazed by recent events, “It was just like in Mako-chan's yakuza movies!”  

Ren chuckled. “Hm, all were missing were some baseball bats and declarations of how they insulted our honour...”  

Makoto clutched her temples as she rested on the bench. “Both of you, please stop...”  

A thud from the RV caught everyone’s attention, as Enzo trudged off the ground from falling from the RV’s driver’s seat. [“That it! All these angels messing up my car! For being servants of God, they are completely inconsiderate of the sanctity of another’s possessions!”] He points to Viola [“You can make your own way around this blasted city! I don’t care how big my tab is already, I’m drinking myself to forget! I... I need to call my family...”]  

As the short, fat, Italian New Yorker trudged away towards the double doors, Ryuji glanced at Ann. “What’s his problem?”  

Ann scratched her head. “Something about his car... and a drink? I still don’t understand New Yorkers...”  

As Enzo approached the entrance to the building the double doors opened outward, knocking him onto his ass. [“Hey! What’s the big idea- oh it's you .”]  

Everyone turned to see who had opened the door, seeing a white robed figure stand in the doorway. The robe itself was inlaid with gold accents and red diamond patterns, along with a hood and golden mask shaped like the sun that completely obscured the wearer’s head.   

The robed figure spotted the small crowd and a young male voice in joyful cheer cried, “Ah! I thought felt someone returning from Purgatorio out here! I see you’re our new guests! [Oh hello, Enzo, I didn’t see you there...]”  

[“Goddamn teenagers and their fucking costumes!”] was the last anyone heard from the hapless schmuck as he went inside.  

The white robed man approached Viola, giving her a bow with his hands together in a prayer gesture. “Ms Viola! I see you managed to bring most of the Phantom Thieves in one fell swoop! And with their leader, no less. Consider me outmatched, I could only retrieve one of them yesterday...”  

“So, that was you,” Viola grumbled, “How did that end up destroying a highway bridge?”  

The robe shrugged and tilted his head to one side. “What can I say? I wasn’t expecting so many angels to target one thief. Though in fairness, I wasn’t the one causing all the destruction.” He turned to the others who were listening in on the conversation in confusion. “Where are my manners? You may call me... Sage.”  

“That can’t possibly be his real name...” Morgana deadpanned.  

Viola jumped away from the cat as if he grew a second head. “The hell!? Since when can Morgana talk?!”  

The robed man tilted his head the other way this time, “Uh, are you quite alright, Ms Viola? I didn't hear the cat talking...”  

“It still works that way, hm?” Ren pondered aloud before explaining, “Morgana’s also a Phantom Thief, Viola. He was that anthropomorphic cat back on bridge, remember? Since you’ve heard him talk, you’re now cognisant of his ability to do so, so you’ll be able to understand him outside of Purgatorio.”  

“Umm... Whaaat?”  

Ryuji grinned. “Heh, I remember when we were all like that...”  

“Oh! This must be the effect of a change in cognition, I’ve read about this!” The robed man dubbed Sage declared excitedly. He then took Ren’ s hand, without so much as asking for it, and shook it vigorously, “I’m so happy to meet you, Mr Amamiya! I’ve already heard so much of you and your companions’ exploits!”  

“...Thank you, Sage...” Ren slowly drawled as he detached his hand from Sage’s. “Though, this meeting would be a lot smoother if you could remove the mask?”  

“Don’t bother,” Viola interjected, shaking her head, “He won’t take it off for any reason, even if he calls us his ‘allies.’” She stuck her thumb in the robed one’s direction. “He’s the other guy my client hired, so I technically work with him, though we only just met a few days ago.”  

“Alas!” Sage cried while bringing one hand to his chest and the back of his other hand to his mask’s forehead dramatically, “Fate has conspired that I hide my face for our acquaintance. It is not out of deceit I do this, but necessity! For I am the last of-!”  

“Gee, this guy’s a bit much...” Futaba said to the rest of them while Sage continued his monologue, unaware of everyone else’s lack of interest. “Can we head inside?”  

The others nodded as headed into the building through the ornate double doors, though Ren and Morgana stayed with Viola and the still talking Sage. Ren directed himself at Viola and asked, “You really know nothing about Sage?”  

“Other than he claims he’s a Lumen Sage, the Paradiso counterparts to the Umbra Witches,” Viola scratched the back of her head, “But they supposed to be extinct. My mum killed the last one, so I know they can't be around anymore. But my client says he is what says he is, and that his aid was non-negotiable. No matter how hard I argued...”  

“And we can trust him? Even with his ties to the angels?”  

“I can assure you that my lineage will not endanger you, Mr Amamiya.”  

Ren slightly jumped and looked a little embarrassed at being called out by the supposed Lumen. Sage didn’t appear to be offended, as much as Ren could tell with the mask.  

“I do not begrudge you of your suspicion,” explained Sage, “Nor do I ask for you to completely trust me while I conceal my face. But know that I will fulfill the mission given to me by our illustrious employer, and that it involves seeing you and the rest of the Phantom Thieves safe and sound throughout this crisis. You may ask your friend who I rescued yesterday to attest to that. He awaits you inside.”  

Ren faced Sage with a querying look. “‘He?’ Zenkichi’s here already?”  

“Zenkichi? The gentlemen did not go by this name. It was the other man in your group.”  

Ren was about to question on who Sage spoke of when Ryuji’s voice blasted from inside to him, “Ren!? You’ll wanna see this!”  

Ren and Morgana looked at each other before they both ran inside. They entered to see the establishment was a dimly lit bar with elegant and mature décor, the sound of smooth jazz playing from a phonograph. Ren also spotted his friends were hovering back from the entrance into the bar’s atrium, Haru had her hand over her mouth in shock, Ann and Ryuji were tense and glaring in. Yusuke had his arms crossed as he cautiously waited at the threshold. Futaba frightenedly hid behind Makoto, who had glanced at Ren and gestured to the figure awaiting at one of the bar’s standing height tables. When he spotted what had set his friends on edge, he froze.  

Stirring a colourful drink in a tall glass was a brown-haired young man in drab prison garb. He turned his head towards the Phantom Thieves and sighed exasperatedly. “Perfect,” spat Goro Akechi, “I was wondering how my week could possibly get any worse...”  

Chapter Text

Tokyo – Japan – ??? (Months ago)  

Darkness. Uninterrupted, unchanging darkness. If anyone could focus their ears, they would almost experience something akin to an echo in the pitch blackness. However, to one in and out of consciousness to this void it was nothing more than constant state existence. Then, one day, or what passes for time in the void, he heard voices.  

“…any change?”  

“Same as last week. We’re not certain if he’ll ever wake up.”  

“…a fine mess, this is. Mitsuru is not going to like-”  

He couldn’t help but let out a groan as his senses informed him via overload that he was gaining consciousness. And alive. ‘Looks like I was hasty in my assessment…’  

His groan caught the ears of those had been talking near him. Blurry vision gave way to clarity. He took in the sight of a bewildered woman in a white doctor’s coat, who then quickly went over to what he assumed was an intercom on the wall. Her speaking partner had turned to him, adjusting the black gloves he wore. He ran a hand through his silver hair and then adjusted his red tie that accompanied his black work suit.  

“Well, that saves me a lot of trouble,” the man bluntly said as he made his way towards the bedside of the waking one. “I’m Officer Sanada, special police consultant. How’re you feeling?”  

“ I… ” the reply came out as a croak, months of non-use had taken its toll, “ …thought I was dead .”  

The older man nodded. “Yeah, you very well could have been. A Good Samaritan found you and brought you to a hospital some time ago. You’ve been in coma for months. Do you remember your name?”  

The younger man contemplated lying, just for a moment, though ultimately decided against it. He forced his name out his throat, which had gotten slighter stronger, “Goro Akechi…”  

The man in the black suit nodded again, this time sighing, “Well, that’s good… though that means I need to do this…”  

Akechi furrowed his brow in confusion, he began lifting himself off the bed when he felt his arm was tugged and stopped. He glanced at his arm, seeing his wrist handcuffed to the hospital bed barrier.  

“Goro Akechi, you’re under arrest for murder and conspiracy to commit murder.”  

Akechi sighed and let his head fall back onto the pillow. “…fine.”  

“Fine?” The officer queried, perplexed at the teenager’s lax attitude to his arrest. “That’s it?”  

“Do you expect me to protest? I already confessed to my crime once before. This time, I’m doing it in the reality I fought for…”

Tokyo, Chiyoda – Tokiwa-Bashi bridge – Japan – April 5 – Sat – 11:24 am (One day prior)  

An inconspicuous armoured vehicle transport drove up the highway bridge. On the inside the driver kept to himself as window barred by a metal grate separated him from the vehicle’s main passenger area. Inside sat three gentlemen, two in dark security uniforms sat across from the third in prison uniform who was in handcuffs that were linked to a chain protruding from the floor of the vehicle and strapped to the wall via a security belt. One of the uniformed men was unfocused, staring at a wall and not at the apparent prisoner, while his partner was doing nothing but keep his disdainful eye on him. Not that the prisoner was making any effort to make it any easier, casually returning the glare with one of his own.   

Akechi sat back against the convoy’s wall and crossed his arms, adjusting for his handcuffs. It had been more than a year since he ‘helped’ with the debacle with the Phantom Thieves and Maruki. His premature conclusion of his return to death being incorrect was, while not unwelcome, a little inconvenient considering his present circumstances. Still, for him it wasn’t the worst position to be in. It had been a while since they moved him anywhere, it was nice for a change of scenery.  

“Cocky little shit…”  

Akechi’s attention was caught by a remark from the glaring guard. He took in stride. “Why Kenchi-san, you seem out of sorts. You’ve only insulted me twice and it is already noon.”  

“You’re too self-important for someone in chains. Why the Ministry intervened in your arraignment is a mystery.”  

“My, you are in a sour mood today. I guess, having your fiancé leave you would be unpleasant for anyone…”  

The guard leapt up. “How’d you-”  

“Your ring’s been missing for the last few days, and you’ve been working overtime till morning for all of them. I concluded that you didn’t want to go home and that it may have had something to do with your bride-to-be, but…” he sneered, “I didn’t really know until you just told me.”  

“Still playing detective?” The guard spat, “We all know you were the culprit in those ‘cases’ you solved.”  

“I haven’t been formally charged yet.”  

“Oh, you will be, Shido. ”  

“Now you’re just being lazy, that name has no bearing on me anymore…”  

The other guard seated in the vehicle sighed, “Will you two knock it off?”  

Akechi put up his hands, retreating from the conversation, but not before taunting with a small, satisfied smile.  

The driver ignored the exchange behind him and focused on the road ahead of him. Traffic was thankfully clear ahead as they continued across the bridge. However, in the distance and path of the vehicle the driver spotted something. He squinted, his focus discerning that the figure he was approaching at high-speed was a man in a white robe and gold mask. When he realised the man confoundingly standing in the middle of the highway, holding a double-bladed golden spear of all things, wasn’t going to move out of the path of the armoured convoy, he twisted the steering wheel to avoid him.  

The passengers inside were thrown around from the sudden sharp turn. The two guards were thrown to the floor while Akechi had been held back by the belt to the wall.   

Realising that he overcorrected, the driver tried to get back on course but was too late. The convoy crashed into the barrier between the opposing roads.  

Again, the passengers inside were knocked about by the sudden drop in acceleration. The two guards flew over to the front wall, crashing one on top of the other. Both of them let out a moan. Akechi, who still benefitted from his belt, allowed himself to sadistically chuckle to himself.  

As the guards struggled to stand up, one banged on the front wall with his fist. “Hey! What was that!?” No response, the driver had been knocked unconscious from impact.  

Akechi took in the recent crash without so much as a panicked breath. “Interesting...”  

KNOCK! KNOCK!  

The guards turned their heads towards the doors at the rear, which had sounded two loud knocks against it from the outside. They drew their pistols from their holsters and readied themselves. The sound of metal striking metal could be heard, the doors flew open inward, and the masked man stood at the opening. His double-sided spear was now split into two separate spears, one in each hand, his right resting the spear it held on to his shoulder.  

“Freeze!” shouted one of guards, Kenchi, “Stay back!”  

The robe man tilted his head to the side, then took a step forward.  

“Fire!” his partner declared; both then pulled their triggers twice.  

Bullets fired out of the chamber and sped towards the intruder, but then they slowed to a crawl, almost freezing in mid-air. The same could be said of the guards, who were frozen in time with their eyes furrowed and mouths strained open. Akechi himself was stuck in his position watching the entire event from his confinement. The robed man, however, moved as if nothing was wrong. He freed up his hand and reached out to the bullets, collecting them out of the air without so much as a scratch, and then let them drop harmlessly to the side before picking up his weapon back up.   

Time resumed its normal pace again. The bullets clattered onto the floor, their intended target already past them, and the three other men blinked, eyes switching from the masked one to where he had, to them, been an instant ago. The robed man then jumped at the two guards in a twirl, kicking one in the chest and hitting the other with the shaft of his left spear in the head, knocking them both into opposing walls of the convoy. They groaned when they collapsed on the floor, not getting back up.  

Landing on both feet without a stumble, the robed one then turned to the prisoner. After a moment of the two silently watching the other, a voice from behind the mask said, “Well, I certainly wasn’t expecting this.” He tilted his head to the side, “You are Goro Akechi, yes? A member of the Phantom Thieves?”  

Akechi scowled. The stranger had been impressing him until then. “I think you’re mistaken. I’ve never belonged to such a group. I merely followed and used them to achieve my goals.”  

“Hmm,” the robed man again rested one of his spear’s shafts onto his shoulder, tapping it up and down. “Unfortunately for you, there are those determined to hunt them down. Your perception of your... non-allegiance won’t make a difference to them. On the flip side...” He swung his other spear upward, slashing apart Akechi’s restraints, “I am here to rescue you. You may call me... Sage.”  

Akechi rubbed his freed wrists and stood up. “Well then, Sage , I do appreciate my newly given freedom. If you’ll excuse me, I’ll be leaving before the authorities realise that I’m gone.” He strode to the vehicle’s open doors.   

Sage barred Akechi’s path by lifting a spear in his path. “I really should inform you that coming with me is your best option. You won’t be able to hide from those who pursue you.”  

The teenage prisoner glowered at his supposed rescuer. “I don’t take kindly to threats.”  

“Oh, I am very much sincere about this,” Sage informed him as he then traced a circle in the air with the spear’s end. A golden sigil appeared, and the world pulsed for Akechi. He could feel a difference in his surroundings, much like his experiences in the Metaverse, though he couldn’t call forth his power as easily. Sage turned, combined the shafts of his spears together into one and reached into the sleeve of his robe. He brought a white peacock feather between his fingers, and as he held it, it started to glow. “And I can get you away from here faster than you can run.”  

“I am not in the habit of making deals for my fate. I certainly don't intend to start.”  

“Oh, you misunderstand. I’m not bargaining for anything from you. I have no bearing on whatever you cho-”  

Rays of golden light shone brightly into the vehicle, causing Sage to stop in mid-sentence. He quickly turned around and muttered, “Oh dear, it looks like they found us.”  

Akechi shoved the Lumen aside to see what the stranger spoke of. When he got enough of a view of the highway, he saw people running out of their cars and past him. Though he had to double take as he saw the people were transparent and some, in their rush, went through him. He still heard their panicked screaming as bright golden rays from the sky shone down. He tried to cast a shadow over his eyes with his arm to see past the light, his half-blinded view revealing angels descending onto the road, crushing cars under their weight and destroying the bridge.  

“Is this some kind of joke?” he growled.  

“I’m afraid not,” Sage answered Akechi’s rhetorical question. He looked down at the feather in his hand, which still glowed and seemed to be getting brighter. “I need a minute to get us out of here. This realm is a little like your ‘Metaverse’, so you may be able to use your powers. I can defend myself, can you...?”  

Akechi scowled but heeded his rescuer’s advice. He reached into his soul and easily found his dark Persona. “Hereward!”  

The blackened Robin Hood appeared in a blue flash as Akechi’s prison clothes changed into his black Crow costume. A slightly deranged look took over Akechi’s face as he ordered his Persona, “Slaughter them!” The Persona brought drew his bow and release an arrow, several Affinities in a line were hit though they were sliced in two instead of pierced. Crow rolled his shoulders, not even turning to Sage to answer, “I think I can manage.”  

“...very well.” Sage readied his double spear, “Remember, one minute, then we leave.”  

“That remains to be seen.”  

They rushed in opposite directions towards other groups of terrorizing angels.  

Crow brought Hereward to bare against several centaur angels, Acceptances, blasting them with darkness attacks from its bow and slicing through Affinities on mass while Sage spun his double spear like a rotor in one hand, cutting through angels trying to attack him, while defending the feather in his other.  

They continued to fend off the onslaught for a good while until Crow felt a tremor growing under his feet. He dismissed Hereward, regaining his mask, and leapt away from the concrete that erupted where he had just stood. A massive angel jumped up from the collapsing bridge it destroyed, it bore a wide torso with an angelic face of an infant and one long and arm that was shaped like tail. A Belief angel. It punched the concrete below it with its disfigured arm, roared and charged at Crow.   

Crow’s mask vanished in blue flame and Hereward reappeared in front of the Belief angel with its bow hung around its shoulder and arms out to stop the beast. The Persona and angel clashed with a loud impact, Hereward holding back Belief while digging its heels into the bridge with only a slight pushback. The Belief tried pushing harder, while continuing to pound on the bridge under it, causing more sections to fall.  

The black-masked one shouted to Sage, “This thing going to destroy the bridge! I’m ready for that exit!”  

“Almost there,” Sage grunted as he dodged an Acceptance’s charge by jumping upward and then accelerating downwards, piercing the angel through. As the angel vanished in death Sage hung by his rooted upright spear and the feather in his hand reached the apex of its glow. “Got it!”  

He then threw the feather away from him. In mid-flight the feather burst into blue light and a cracked man-sized hole appear out of the air. The outline of the hole glowed blue in colour, with cracks extending around the perimeter but it was what was visible through the hole that caught Crow’s attention. Instead of the sight of rest of the bridge on the other side, a scene of a dimly lit bar with the sound of slow jazz music came through. The Lumen beckoned to him, “Through here!”  

Crow wasted no time, running to what he could only assume was a portal. The Belief angel spotted him making a run for it and battered Hereward away, the Persona disappeared soon after. It chased after Crow, its stomps causing the bridge it left behind to collapse.   

Crow made it through to the other side, now he stood in the bar that he had seen. He turned to see Sage ran through after him and the Belief angel still rushing their way, destruction in its wake. Sage snapped his fingers and the portal abruptly closed just as the angel was about to reach them. The Lumen collapsed to his knees and elbows, trying to catch his breath. “ *Hah*...*hah* … I hope... the people managed to get off safely...”  

“Tch!” Crow looked around, uncaring of Sage’s concerns. “So, what the hell is this place?”  

“Ahem,” The two faced in the direction where a deep cough came from. Behind the bar was an imposing, large black man with sunglasses, a hat, blue sweater and a gold chain around his neck. Tattoos were visible on his face and in his mouth was a smoking cigar. “Sage, clean up the rubble you let in here. I told you to open the portals in the training area.”  

“Ah, my apologies, Rodin.”  

“Hmph. As for you, ‘Crow’,” he inhaled his cigar deeply and let the smoke out through his nostrils. “Make yourself comfortable, you’ve got some friends you need to see.”

Tokyo, Edogawa district – Japan – April 6 – Sun – 5:15 am (Present day)  

“You’re alive!?” shouted Ryuji.  

“Stating the obvious again, Sakamoto? It seems you haven’t changed,” Akechi drawled before throwing back his head to finish his drink.  

Ann stamped her foot, “B-but we rejected Dr Maruki’s reality. You actually helped us return reality to way it was supposed to be, with your... sacrifice...”  

Akechi scoffed and put his now empty glass aside, “It seems the assumption of my demise was a little premature, on all our parts. You’ll forgive me if being dead feels a lot like being in a coma. I was found and brought to a remote long-term care facility after my run-in with Shido’s cognition of me.” He gestured to the prison uniform he wore. “I came out of it a few months ago, and the authorities managed to find and arrest me for my part in Shido’s conspiracy. In that time, I was held in a special internment cell, I suppose they wanted to study me while making sure I couldn’t escape until a trial could be held. However, before I could be sentenced, the Ministry of Defence gave the order to defer my trial on behalf of the Kirijo Group.”  

Makoto furrowed her brow. “The Ministry of Defence and the Kirijo Group? But they don’t have any authority over the courts!”  

Akechi shrugged, “My trial was a closed affair, very few people knew about it. It was easy for them to make arrangements with the judiciary for my release into their care. I was on my way to be transferred when he ,” he spat with disdain and nudged his head in the direction of Sage, who gave a friendly waved at everyone when they looked over at him, “broke me out and brought me here. We had to fight these ‘angels’ that destroyed the bridge we were on. Which brings to me to ask...” he walked away from his table and stopped in front of Ren, who narrowed his eyes upon Akechi’s approach. Akechi did the same. “...What the hell have you dragged me into this time?”  

Ren raised an eyebrow, “You can’t act a little happier since you’re free? Or alive?”  

“I am happy. Less so, since you arrived.”  

Viola came between the glaring contest, cautiously glancing from Akechi to Ren. “Hey, fellas? Don’t start a fight in here. Rodin’s offering shelter on the condition we don’t wreck the place...”  

Akechi turned his head to her, “And who are you? Another groupie?”  

She didn’t take kindly to that. “The name is Viola! V-I-O- wait, no, wrong name, I’m-!”  

“Oh, don’t mistake me. I don’t actually care.”  

“You going to care after I-!”  

Haru stepped forward with her hands close to her chest, “Maybe we can discuss this later, when we’ve calmed down a bit?” She turned to blonde punk, “We still need to be filled in on why we’re here, right, Viola-chan?”  

Viola spared Haru a glance, stewing on her anger, before relenting. She gave Akechi the ‘I'm watching you’ gesture with her fingers.  

Yusuke chimed in. “We can certainly discuss Akechi’s return later. The identity of your client is the more immediate concern.”  

Ren nodded, “You said they were waiting for us here?”  

“Indeed, I have, Trickster.”  

That calm, soft-spoken voice was immediately recognisable to the Phantom Thief. He turned around, trying to spot the person he associated the voice with, when she seemed to appear before him in a soft blue light.  

Lavenza, the attendant of the Velvet Room, gave a formal bow to Phantom Thieves. “I welcome you and your companions, Trickster, to the Gates of Hell.”  

“Hey now,” the imposing man from behind the bar put down the glass he was cleaning, “That’s my line.”  

Morgana leapt down from his perch on Ren’s shoulder. He bowed on his forelegs, “Lady Lavenza!”  

“Greetings, Morgana. Thank you for accompanying your charge so diligently.” She turned to rest of them. “Please be seated, we have much to discuss.”

The Phantom Thieves, both current and in-denial, the two hired magic users and the miserable Enzo took up positions in the bar’s atrium. The core Phantom Thieves and Viola sat on a pair of tables that had been moved together. Ren, Futaba, Makoto, Morgana and Viola occupied one, Ryuji, Ann, Yusuke and Haru sat at the other. Akechi leaned against a pillar away from them while Sage and Enzo were at the bar, the imposing man behind it serving Enzo shots of alcohol.  

Yusuke observed the décor of the bar, “How intriguingly grim. Appropriate, I suppose, for a place named ‘The Gates of Hell’.”  

“It feels more mature than the jazz club...” Ann pondered aloud.  

Makoto ruminated. “A bar as a safe house? I’m not sure how I feel about this...”  

“At least it’s bigger than LeBlanc, no offence to Boss but that attic would be way too small for all of us,” Ryuji weighed in.  

Futaba, from her hunched sitting position, lifted a finger in agreement. “Ditto.”  

At the centre of the atrium, Lavenza bowed to all, “I’m certain you all have questions as to why you’re here.”  

A few nods from a few in the room were made.  

“Allow me to explain the major points that are relevant then. First, may I direct your attention to our host.” She gestured to man behind the bar. “I have made arrangements with Rodin, the Infinite One, to provide shelter from your attackers.”  

Rodin brought down several bottle of whiskey and wine onto his bar counter. Giving the gold chain around his neck, he spoke, “Haven’t seen Paradiso in such a tizzy for a long while, though that means good business for me. If you kids keep on killing ‘em, more halos for me.”  

“You collect... halos?” Ann hesitantly asked, “As in the rings above the angels' heads? Those halos?”  

“They’re my preferred currency. You bring them back here and I can supply you with all sorts of goods.” As he explained the shelves of alcohol behind him parted to reveal another room filled with guns on display. “I think you’re gonna need ‘em.”  

“Oh my!” Haru cried, eyeing the grenade launcher hanging in the corner.  

Makoto stood up abruptly. “Okay, now I am definitely concerned-!”  

Ren gently placed a hand on her shoulder. “Makoto, I think we can let this slide until the angels are dealt with...”  

She relented, sitting back down but also crossing her arms.  

Rodin lifted a little smile. “Feel free to report me, little lady, but remember that this place is keeping the angels at bay. They can’t get within a couple of miles of this place without forfeiting their lives... and their halos.”  

Akechi raised an eyebrow, “And just how are you able to ward off these angels?”  

“Easy. I used to lead them. When I got kicked out for rebelling, I made my establishment in New York angel-proof. I’ve kindly given the same protection to this new branch.”  

Ryuji turned to Lavenza. “This guy’s an angel? For real?”  

The velvet blue attendant nodded. “He was, now he is something of a neutral party between Paradiso and Inferno. Which brings me to my second point.”  

She brought out the Persona compendium, holding via levitation and keeping it in a horizontal. “The Trinity of Realities and their denizens. In the time before humanity a conflict occurred that split the single primordial realm into three distinct realms. As you now know, Paradiso is the place where all your angelic aggressors originate from, it is situated at the highest layer.” Rodin grabbed a bottle of golden whiskey and flung it up in the air. It spun in its ascent and descent until it landed upright into the compendium. Lavenza continued, “Inferno, the demonic counterpart, resides at the lowest and is the home to the demons.”   

At this, Rodin filled a glass of red wine and tossed to her. She brought out her hand and it stopped in mid, not even spilling, and brought underneath the compendium. The Persona compendium glowed. “Finally, the human world, also known as the World of Chaos. It is never ending stack of universes that each have an Earth and a different history. Some are to each other; others are so drastically different that they could not even be considered the same as your world. It is where, obviously, you and the rest of humanity reside, unaware of the other realities.”  

Futaba, in a rare occurrence, sat up straight in her chair. “Multiverse theory? It really exists!? I have so many questions!” And with each one she rose a little bit from her seat “Is there a version of me that’s more confident and outgoing?! Is there a universe where we exist as superheroes like Neo Featherman!? What about you!? Are there other Lavenza-!?”  

Both Ren and Makoto gently brought their hands on both her shoulders and set her back down in her seat. Then chair then began to vibrate and give off a clattering sound off the ground.  

“… I cannot answer the first few. As for your last question, denizens that originate from outside the World of Chaos, such as myself and Rodin, are not subject to the infinity of your multiverse, thus I am the only Lavenza across the human worlds.”  

“...I am so lost,” Ryuji moaned.  

Ann rested her cheek in her hand, “You’re not alone there...”  

“Then I will attempt to get to the point,” Lavenza stated, more Caroline than Justine, “A few months ago, an entity under the name of Singularity tried to deconstruct the multiverse into a singular universe, in order to consolidate the World of Chaos for its power to overthrow both Paradiso and Inferno.”  

Viola clenched her fist on the table and growled, “He didn’t win, though. We stopped him... She stopped him...”  

Lavenza nodded. “Your mother was only one who could. Reality, all of it, is in her debt.”  

Ren looked at Viola with concern, as she had told him about her passing, but not the circumstances behind it. She caught sight of his stare and simply nodded at him.  

“However,” Lavenza continued, “After accumulating so much power into itself, Singularity’s demise seems to have left remnants. Its remains have become objects of power, though what they are capable of I cannot determine. Rodin contacted me about the movements of the angels, that they were looking for these Singularity Fragments… and the Phantom Thieves.”  

Rodin snapped his fingers, and his thumb became engulfed in purple flame. He brought it up to light a cigar in his mouth. “I still get word when Paradiso decide to act in the World of Chaos. Cleaning up what was left of Singularity made sense to me, but then I got info that the angels had a kill or capture edict for any members of the Phantom Thieves.” He took the cigar out of this his mouth between his fingers and pointed it at Ren. “You especially.”  

Ren crossed his arms and furrowed his brow. “The angel in charge of that last attack, he said he was hunting us on behalf of the ‘Supreme One’.”  

Sage straightened on his bar stool. “You understood what it said? In Enochian?”  

“Am I not supposed to?”

"...It's an incredibly obscure language. The only mortals of the Lumen and Umbra lines can inherently understand it."

Viola bit her lower lip. “I... gave Ren some of my blood. Just to save his life. I didn’t think it would let him see angels outside of Purgatorio or understand them...”  

“It really shouldn’t,” Sage agreed, “But then again, from what I know of the Phantom Thieves, you defy expectations on a regular basis.”  

Rodin ruminated, putting the cigar back in his mouth and puffing it. “The ‘Supreme One,’ sounds like Paradiso found itself a new Dea, a leader.” He chewed down, “Hadn’t heard anything like that, I don’t like not knowing things...”  

Lavenza shook her head. “Regardless, by the order of this Supreme One, both you and the Singularity Fragments are now targets for Paradiso. In response to this, I set out to achieve the following goals. First, to relocate all Phantom Thieves to a place of safety that the angels cannot reach, hence why I enlisted Rodin’s service. Second, once the first goal is complete, begin the collection of the Singularity Fragments in order to thwart the angels’ objectives and investigate the reason behind these hunts. To that end, I further enlisted the aid of an Umbra Witch,” she turns to Viola, who raises a stern thumbs up, “and a Lumen Sage,” then she faces Sage himself, who cheerfully waves both hands at everyone else in greeting.  

She continued, “These two will be your guides against Paradiso. Sage will be your main mode of transport, as he has an ability unique even among the Lumen, his magic can create portals that travel between long distances.”  

Sage brings out a few white peacock feathers. “I can manage a couple portals every few days. I look forward to being of service to you.”  

Lavenza addressed the Phantom Thieves, “Once again, you are the up against forces beyond human means to confront. Rodin has agreed to provide shelter, there are rooms in this establishment to serve as living quarters. The Witch and the Sage have agreed to investigate machinations of the angels. While I have gathered you all to offer you the chance to combat this threat, it is ultimately your choice to do so.”  

Viola nodded. “Killing angels and kicking gods’ asses is a family tradition of mine, you guys don’t have to fight, y’know.”  

Ren lift a hand to his chin. He took in a look from every one of his friends. “If this is a mission for the Phantom Thieves, we should put it to a vote.”  

Morgana waved his tail proudly, “Heh, you really need to ask?”  

Ryuji cracked his knuckles, “They attacked you, on our turf. No way we can let this go.”  

“We’re with you, Ren,” was Ann’s response.  

“It will be a worthy endeavour,” Yusuke declared.

Haru clasped her hands together. “I’ll see this through, with all of you.”  

Futaba pumped her fists, “Sojiro and I will always have your back!”  

And Makoto brought her hand to his. “As will I.”  

Ren accepted their votes, then turned his head to Akechi. The rest did the same, awaiting his response. Akechi apathetically straightened himself from his position against a pillar. “You still assume I’m one of you?”  

Ren adjusted his glasses. “You voted on our last mission together, and you are involved already.”  

“Only because these angels are after your head,” Akechi countered with no real malice. He ran a hand through his haired and sighed, “I just got my freedom back, I do not want to spend it in here for the rest of my life. I suppose that means I’ll be joining this... adventure.”  

Futaba clapped her hands together. “Then that settles it! The Phantom Thieves are back!”  

Makoto sat up right and adjust her fringe. “We’ll need to contact the others who are absent and get their input. In the meantime, we’ll work on retrieving them and these Singularity Fragments. I’ll also need to call Sis and Sakura-san…”  

As the rest of the Thieves started devising their next move, Viola moved her chair closer to Ren’s. She brought an elbow onto the table, leaned on it and towards him. “So, this is how you guys settle on a mission?”  

He nodded with a small smile, “It has to be unanimous. Everyone’s voice matters.”  

“Seems nice,” Viola concluded, scratching the back of her head. “Also heard you guys using codenames back on the bridge.”  

Ren shrugged. “It’s a Metaverse thing. To hide our identities from the subconscious of our targets. Though, at this point it’s tradition.”  

She nodded in understanding, “Well! Since we’re gonna be working together, when we’re out in the field you can call me by my code name.”   

She reached out her hand, waiting for him, “Bayonetta.”  

He grasped her hand firmly and shook, “Welcome to the team, Bayonetta.”  

------  

Paradiso  

The Valiance angel fell onto its knees onto the marble floor below it, its sword clattering to the ground with the face clenched in agony. Its body struggled to stand as half its left wing had been cut, with other slices all over its body. From the ground the face began to move its mouth. [Mortal! You... forget your place!] 

A split second later a black stiletto heel jammed into the face of the sword, forcing a pained cry from the once mighty angel. A female voice droned out in a dismissive tone, “You forget yours. Your failure demands punishment. The Phantom Thieves’ core members were in your sights, AND YOU LOST THEM!” With a swift gesture from a red gloved hand blue flame arose and a moment later the body of the Valiance angel was struck with dark energy.  

[M-mercy! The Infinite’s One’s barrier protects his domain! None of us can get close! I beg of you! Mercy!]  

There was no mercy. The woman snapped her fingers and black flames engulfed the Valiance’s body entirely. It flailed and fell onto its back, trying to extinguish the otherworldly flames, all the while the head on the sword wailed in agony.  

Then rays of golden light shone from bright skies above, piercing the clouds and illuminating the marble courtyard. As the golden rays touched the poor, helpless general the flames diminished, then eventually sputtered out. The angel’s body staggered its way to stand, clutching its abdomen.   

A silhouette in the form a man with the same golden light shining behind him stepped into the courtyard. In a calm voice he spoke from behind the woman, “His death will not serve us, reign in your anger.”  

The woman slowly lifted her heel off the Valiance’s face, allowing it to relax as the pain faded. Its battered body walked over and lifted the sword steadily.   

The man turned to the angel. “Regain your strength, Valiance. When you are ready, gather your forces and focus on the search for the Fragments.”  

The Valiance did its best to kneel, despite its injuries, [As you wish, Supreme One] . With that, it flew off.  

The woman refused to face the man who had interrupted her administration of pain. The man simply sighed, “You are too harsh on angels of Paradiso, please remember that they are our allies in this.”  

“Most of the Phantom Thieves were right there! The fool didn’t bother to call me in, they don’t trust a ‘mortal’ to help.”  

The man shook his head. “They do not trust you because you still hold such anger in your heart. They respect discipline, not unruliness. As we have previously discussed, you must learn to let go.”  

“I’m fine! I’m not constrained by their ‘Infinite One’s’ defences. I should just slaughter them all myself...”  

“You’ll be outnumbered. The enhancements I’ve given you can only help so much.” The man rested a hand on her shoulder, “This is all for the new world we envisioned. Just be patient, there are more members to locate. You’ll have your chance to find the Phantom Thieves.”  

“...and if she’s there? If she’s with them?”  

“...then you have permission to do as you wish. But remember, bringing their leader to me must be your main priority.”  

The woman walked away, her heels clacking as they stepped in the marble flooring. When the man was alone, certain that no one would overhear, he brought out a blue sphere the size of his own palm. He gave it an unintelligible whisper and it began to glow.   

A voice echoed from the orb, “I hope you bring good tidings?”  

“Sadly, no. The Thieves are under the protection of the Infinite One. Even my authority as the new Dea of Paradiso won’t be able to pierce the protections he’s laid out.”  

“A shame, but we predicted this. It changes nothing, continue with the search.”  

“...”  

“Are you having second thoughts? It’s a bit late for that.”  

“No,” was the man’s quick response. “No... I haven’t changed my mind. This is all for the greater good.”  

“Your efforts will be rewarded. As will hers, remember what you promised her.” The voice softens and fades as does the light from the orb.  

The man tucked the orb away and stared into the white sky above. “I promised...”

Side Story - The Gates of Hell

Rodin reached under the bar and brought out a hefty shotgun, slamming it down for all to see. "If you're gonna take the fight to the angels, I suggest you kids stock up on some firepower," he announced, popping a cigar from his pocket into his mouth and lighting it with a seamless inhale and exhale of smoke. "Shop's open."  

Ryuji leapt up from his table and jogged over to inspect Rodin's merchandise. A wide grin spread across his face as he took the shotgun and tested its weight in his hands. "Hell yeah! Now we're talking!" He cocked the gun and assumed his usual hold up stance, one hand holding the handle and trigger while aiming at a nearby phonograph. "Can't wait to try this one! Ka-Bo-!"  

BOOM!  

In a split second the phonograph exploded in a burst of pellets and shrapnel while Ryuji's gun arm recoiled back and he lost his balance, landing on his ass. For a few seconds no one said a word, only staring at the destroyed, smoking music machine. The instigator, Ryuji, had his jaw dropped as much as humanly possible with only a squeak sounding out.  

Rodin slowly took out his cigar, aimed it downwards and pushed it hard into the ashtray on the counter. With an exhale of smoke through his nose, he growled, "Can't have nice things..."  

"THE FUCK, MAN!" Ryuji snapped out of his shock with explosive expletive, which in turn jumped everyone else out of theirs.   

Ann was next to cry out, "Ryuji, be careful! Those are real!"  

"Yeah, I figured!"  

As Ann continued to lay into Ryuji and Makoto rushed over to put the shotgun away, Viola scanned the stunned faces across the room, eventually turning to Ren. "I thought you said you used guns before?"  

"We did," Ren replied, not taking his eyes of Ann's tirade on Ryuji. He pursed his lips and adjusted his glasses, which had tipped during the moment of chaos. "But only with props, in the cognitive world. Models and replicas act like real guns there because they appeared to be real. In reality, they were just toys, so we didn't have to worry about them going off here." 

"How does that even work?"  

Rodin slammed his fist into the counter, gaining everyone's attention. "Let me tell you how it works in reality . Don't leave the safety off unless you intend to kill something. Don't point it at someone unless you intend to kill them. Even if the safety is still on. And most of all, don't. Shoot. Up. My. Bar." The large, imposing proprietor turned his head towards Ryuji, his glare apparent even behind the sunglasses. "Are we clear... Mr. Sakamoto?"  

" Crystal, Rodin-san, " squeaked Ryuji.  

"Good," huffed Rodin. With crossed arms he flung the used cigar and simply added, "You're going to pay off for the phonograph, and the record that was inside. Along with the gun."  

The blonde could only bow his head down from his place on the floor and whimper, "Yes, Rodin-san..."  

"...not getting paid enough for this shit..."  

Chapter Text

Tokyo, The Gates of Hell – Japan – April 6 – Sat – 8:41 am  

Ryuji, Ann and Haru walked down a straight hall of doors that were dimly lit by blue light. They took in the view of the Gates of Hell’s infernal décor that enveloped the walls and the deep red carpet that marked the pathway.  

“Man, this isn’t a bar, it’s a freaking hotel,” Ryuji awed as he walked with both his hands behind his head. 

“We are here for the long-run,” commented Ann, running her hand along the wall, “Seriously, though, I’m not walking down here with the lights out, it’s already eerie with them on.” 

Hair hummed and tapped her chin with her index finger, “I think it’ll be fine after lights out, I usually just hum a children’s tune to keep me company in the dark…” 

Ann took a step away from her, “Haru, I’m asking you to never do that while we’re here. Ever.” 

Ryuji lifted his hand. “Same here.” 

Haru kept walking, as if she didn’t hear them, and reached to one of the doors. She opened it and peeked inside. The inside of the room differed from the décor of the hall, as the walls weren’t sculpted in demonic frills or shapes but covered in simple velvet blue wallpaper. It had a single bed positioned at the far corner, an off door which led to a small bathroom and slider doors for the wardrobe. Ryuji had been right; it was like a hotel. 

Ann opened another door in the hall to see another room identical to one Haru revealed. “I suppose I can take this one. I need to go shopping again though, I didn’t bring any luggage…” 

“Eh, Rodin can probably cover the money for that after we beat up some more angels,” Ryuji shrugged and then shivered, remembering how Rodin stood over him asking for payment for the stuff he broke. The proprietor had explained he’d be able to pay him back by killing angels and the number of halos he’d get would be immediately tallied onto his soul, so he didn’t have to worry about collecting them directly, though Ryuji was too scared of the man to catch half of what he said. 

Ryuji snapped back to the present and reached out to one of the doors when Ann raised an eyebrow at him. “What do you think you’re doing?” she asked him. 

“Picking my room, why?” 

Ann shook her head and pointed down the hall. “This is the girls' side; you boys can take the other hall.” 

“Oh, come on, it’s not like we’re still in Shujin, we don’t have to-” 

Haru, with a smile and crescent closed eyes, hummed, “I wonder if Rodin will allow me to wander the halls with the axe I bought.” 

“…the other hall’s fine.” 

PING! PING!  

Haru’s phone sounded off, prompting her to take it out and read the new message. “It’s Mako-chan, she says Lavanza-san wants us back in the bar.” 

Ann glanced at Ryuji, “Could it be…?” 

“Let’s go.” 

The three went down the hall in a jog. When they arrive in the bar atrium from the side, they spotted everyone else at the counter. Joker and Crow were inspecting their new weapons, knife and sabre respectively, while everyone else stood around with their own weapons at the ready, sans Oracle since she wouldn’t be fighting.  

Though they couldn’t help but notice that the others were already in costume, while they were not. 

Viola spotted them standing at the atrium’s edge and waved them over. “Hey guys, come over here.” The three made their way over as Viola moved her hand in a circle and the sigil, now about the size of a man, appeared. She gestured at it, “Just go through.” 

Ryuji went first, tentatively stepping over and into the sigil as if he didn’t want to break it. As his limbs made their way past it, the yellow glove and steel tipped boot of his costume took over his regular clothes. When he noticed the change, Ryuji grew more confident and made the stride over into Purgatorio, fully transforming into Skull as he stepped over. 

Ann and Haru followed his lead, walking through the sigil and coming out the other side transformed into Panther and Noir. They each took a look at themselves, inspecting their costumes. 

“Nice!” Panther fist pumped the air happily, “Looks like Purgatario works the same way as the Metaverse for us now.” 

Viola nodded. “Yeah, that’s good for me too, now I don’t have to worry about you guys getting caught off guard by invisible bastards.” 

Ryuji patted down his clothes, “Being able to see things other people can’t, huh? Guess this is what it’s like for Joker and his ‘cheating’ vision.” 

“I think it’s been very helpful, Skull,” Noir reminded him as she went over to the bar. “It’s not nice to accuse him of using it to cheat.” 

“He always wins at cards! There’s no way he doesn’t use those eyes of his to see if I’m bluffing! How else can he keep winning!?” 

“You’ll never know,” Joker claimed as he finished his inspection of his knife and pistol. He turned to Skull, “You better gear up, Sage is opening a portal soon.” 

Panther retrieved her newly purchased weapons from Rodin. “Are we after a Fragment or is this a rescue?” 

Lavenza appeared at the side of the bar in blue light. “A Fragment, if my interpretation of the angels’ movements is correct. They are assembling at what remains of the forgotten isle.” 

Oracle tilted her head; a question mark would’ve appeared above it if it were possible. “The forgotten isle?” 

“The Isle of Thule,” Viola answered. She lifted her katana out from it sheathe by an inch, gave it a once over, and pushed it back in. “It’s an old research island used by the Lumen and the Umbra back when they worked together. Didn’t think I’d be going back there again. Or that anything was left.” 

“No word from the others?” Noir asked. 

Oracle lift a finger to punctuate her point, “Zenkichi’s making sure Akane-chan’s taken care of first, he’ll try to make it here on his own. Sumire-chan‘s on the first flight back. Sophia and Ichinose…” she bit her lip, “I’ve got no clue. No GPS, no messages, nada.” 

Rodin, from behind the bar, handed Fox a rifle before reaching out to the thief’s hand. A golden flash emitted out of Fox’s and then a stream of golden rings flowed from it into Rodin’s. When Rodin was satisfied with the amount, he made a fist over the accumulated pile of rings and Fox’s hand stopped glowing, as did the flow of rings. Fox lifted and inspected his appendage and then murmured, “Intriguing.” 

Rodin went back to sorting his weapons supply on the racks behind the bar. “No need to worry, little lady. I’d hear if the angels found one of your friends.” 

Skull reached out his hand to Rodin. “Will this cover the shotgun and the… phonograph thing?” 

Rodin took his hand and retrieved whatever halos he could. As he inspected the amount he told Skull, “Almost. Just a few more dead angels on your part and we’ll be square.” 

“Just a few, huh? …hey, quick question; since we’ve killed angels, does that mean we’re, uh, damned to hell after we kick it?” 

“Heh. Heheheh…” Rodin started ominously chuckling before walking away to the back. 

“Uh dude? Hey. Hey, come on! You can’t just leave it like that!” 

“Skull, training room! We’ve got to go!” 

Panther’s voice sounded from another corridor out of the atrium. Skull looked around and noted that he was the only one still at the bar. In a jog, he made his way over down the hall and entered the vast room. The room was a fusion of the bar’s hellish décor and a forge, with a large, spacious arena. The rest of the team had assembled in the open space, inspecting their equipment.  

Sage, ever in his mask and robe, held up a white peacock feather between his fingers and charging it to glow. He looked up to see Skull jogging in and cheerily gave him a wave. Skull gave a small wave back while making his way to the weapon rack at the side, picking up a steel pipe for his melee weapon. It was all he could afford after the shotgun incident.  

Joker gave his knife a flip in the air and caught it, testing the weight. He glanced over at Viola, who was adjusting her boots to his left. “This Island of Thule, you been there before?” 

Without looking up from her boots, Viola answered, “Yeah, before the main island was uprooted by an asshole who wanted its multiversal travel magic.” She shook her head while biting her lip. “I didn’t think there were any land left. Not sure how or why a Singularity Fragment ended up there...” 

Joker nodded, not willing to push that line of thought due to her sullen tone. “...are you okay?” 

“Fine. That place just... doesn’t hold great memories for me.” 

“We’ll try to make this quick then,” Joker noted before sheathing his knife. He noticed something missing over Viola’s shoulder. “Where’s your sword?” 

“Huh?” Viola lifted her head and reached back for the aforementioned weapon, only not to find it in its sheath. “Damn it- Cheshire! Where are you!? We’re about to leave!” 

At her call a chime bell rang out from the training room entrance. From behind the forge the demon cat pedalled in on penny farming bicycle comically too small for it. Fox and Oracle dodged around Cheshire as it cycled pass them. Wide eyed, Fox could only let out an “Oh my!” 

“What is that?!” Oracle gripped her goggles, as if trying to focus them on the giant monster cat. 

Cheshire did several more loops on its bicycle before stopping in front of its partner. It lifted its forepaws outstretched, gesturing for passengers. 

“Cheshire, no,” Viola chided, “We’re not taking the airway this time. Now, come on!” 

The demon dropped its paws, and its face in disappointment. Soon after it jumped up and in a dark flash it transformed back into Mab-Dachi, the blade flying into Viola’s outstretched hand, which she then smoothly sheathed behind her back. 

Skull picked up his slack jaw, “Was that a frickin demon?” 

“Huh? Oh yeah, you guys haven’t met,” Viola jerked her thumb to her sword. “Cheshire here’s my partner.” 

Mona put his paws on his hips and puffed out his chest, “Heh, can’t say I’m a monster cat with that guy around now, huh?” 

An outstretched paw arm materialised from the doll hanging from Mab-Dachi and lightly whacked the anthropomorphic cat thief behind the head. 

“Ow! Hey!” Mona rubbed the back of his head while giving a hard glare to the pseudo-doll. As if in response to the stare, a menacing aura could be felt from the it. 

“Play nice, both of you,” Joker playfully instructed. Pulling on his gloves, he turned his attention to Lavenza, who was standing patiently to the side. “Do we have enough time for a fusion in the Velvet Room, Lavenza? May need a new arsenal against the angels…” 

To his surprise, Lavenza became downcast at his request, averting her eyes and her hands tightening into themselves. “I’m… afraid the Velvet Room is unavailable to us at this time…” 

“…does Igor know you’re here helping us?” 

She gave a small, sad smile. “I’m most certain he does. And that why the door will not appear before us.” Lavenza straightened herself, brushing off her skirt. “I approached Rodin for help because the Velvet Room cannot interject in the affairs where Paradiso or Inferno are involved, it is an agreement made between various entities that states we only offer humanity assistance in dilemmas contained to the World of Chaos. When I caught the whispers of Paradiso’s plans for you my master specifically told me, ‘I cannot interfere.’ So, I relinquished my duties. I left the Velvet Room of my own accord.” 

Joker stood at attention as she finished explaining. “That’s-! You didn’t have to sacrifice so much…” 

Lavenza shook her head, “It was a small price to pay, considering that the alternative was to leave you and your companions unprepared for what is to come. And it would not be unprecedented, for a resident of the Velvet Room to leave their post for a calling of their choice. Indeed, I may just be following in my family’s footsteps.” She lifted her hands and the Persona compendium flashed into them. “I still have this; all our recorded Personas are still available for your use. Shall we peruse?” 

“…alright,” Joker conceded, before adding, “And thank you, Lavenza.” 

“It is my pleasure, Trickster.” 

Meanwhile, Sage concentrated on his feather. The white peacock feather glowed brighter every passing minute. If the magic was taking any toll on the Lumen, there was no apparent sign from his posture and his mask hid any exerted facial expression. 

Crow, who was crossed armed and leaning against a wall nearby, silently made observations of everyone in the room, Sage being his current target. “Your last portal didn’t take this long,” he sniped impatiently, “Having trouble?” 

“Precision takes time, especially over long distances across the world,” Sage explained, without even the slightest hint of irritation at Crow’s comment. “My portals can be unpredictable when going somewhere I’m not familiar with. If I don’t get it right, we could end up over the open ocean, or nowhere near our desired destination. Once, when I was distracted, I opened a portal over the opening of a volcano. It is not an experience I wish to repeat.” 

Noir brought a hand over her mouth and worryingly stated, “I think that would be for the best, for all of us.” 

The feather in Sage’s fingers then shone with a brilliant blue-white light. Sage inspected it, bringing it to the front of his mask and then, with a swift flick of his wrist, flung the feather to the centre of the room. Reaching the central space, the feather flashed and opened into a portal. On the other side of the portal a visage of a rocky valley and the ocean could be seen. Lush green grass covered the ground while stone peaks and troughs littered the isle in the distance.  

Sage dusted off his hands and then, with a slight bow, hand gestured to the direction of the portal. “Ladies and gentlemen,” he grandiosely declared, “The Isle of Thule awaits.” 

“Tch,” Crow pushed himself off the wall he had leaned on indifferently. “Enough grandstanding, I want to finish this debacle as soon as possible.” With that, he casually walked through the portal. 

Sage stroked the chin of his mask. “In the little time I’ve known him, I’ve gathered he’s rather... anti-social. Was this always the case?” 

Panther cocked her hip with her fist resting against it. “Akechi used to be rather friendly, though that was mostly an act. He knows how to be nice, but nowadays he just doesn't bother with the pretence. This is as genuine as he can be...” 

“Curious,” Sage pondered, “I wonder what path he had to take to become so jaded.” 

As the exchange came to an end, Lavenza snapped the compendium in her hands close and gave her Trickster a nod. Joker gave her one in turn and turned to the rest of the Phantom Thieves. “We better not lose track of him. All set?” 

Skull and Viola both punched their palms in the affirmative. “Hell yeah!” they both cried, before briefly looking at each other with slight surprise.  

Joker smirked while Oracle snickered and said under her breath, “Observation 1, the cloned subjects seem to have synchronised reactions to Joker’s questions...” 

Skull’s eye twitched as he listened to Oracle’s mock journal. “That’s gonna get old real quick, y’know...” 

Queen holstered her six-shooter and adjusted her knuckle dusters. She had been looking over the team’s equipment to her satisfaction and gave her nod of approval. “We’re as ready as we’ll ever be. Let’s begin the operation.” 

At that confirmation, Joker turned with a flourish of his coat he led the way through the portal. “Showtime.” 

The Isle of Thule –???– April 6 – Sat – 9:04 am  

The team filed out the portal into a grass clearing, taking in the sights of the lush-forested island. A vibrant blue sky with pure white clouds enveloped the air as along the ocean view more scattered islands could be spotted. Ruins of man-made stone structure littered the landscape, none with the look of occupancy as all of them had fallen into disrepair.  

Crow had taken a vantage point on an elevated rock formation nearby, not bothering to look for his ‘teammates’ entrances. He spied along the coast of the island their landed on and those of the other islands nearby. All of them were shaped in an unnatural curve, as if chunks of their landmass had been taken in a circular shape. Jagged rocks the size of small mountains also sprouted from the earth, or into the earth, judging from the destruction of the ground under each of the formations... 

“Whoa...” Skull awed at the landscape, “This is so unreal! I mean, this isn’t someone’s Palace, right? I’m still used to places like this being from someone else’s head when we change scenery like that...” 

“Nope, this is as real as real gets,” Viola chuffed as she strolled to the edge of a cliff to take in the view. From her memory she tried to spy where the main island would have been before Doctor Sigurd... Singularity had taken it. No more sky windows to other worlds, no more floating stones and no more mountain. The bastard had taken almost everything he wanted from the Lumen and Umbra research land. She didn’t what to feel, coming back here.  

Fox had his hands out, snapshotting the landscape into his memory, “Such awe-inspiring scenery... I will have to sketch this later. Sage, you must take us to more places, this ability of yours will do wonders for my inspiration!” 

Sage chuckled and brought a hand to his masked face. “I appreciate the enthusiasm, Fox. Though, do keep in mind that it’s rather tiring to make portals. And that you’re wanted fugitives of Paradiso. We should not be outside of Rodin’s protection for too long.” 

Oracle reached for her phone and inspected the screen. “Wowza! We’re really off the grid, I can't get any signal out here...” She then fiddled with her goggles, statistics and readings appearing in holographic screens before her. “No enemy activity nearby, we shouldn’t be hassled for now.”  

“What about the Singularity Fragment, Oracle?” Queen asked, “Can you detect anything that could lead us to it?” 

Swiping over several of her screens, Oracle perused the data she collected. “There is this weird energy signature I’m picking up. I’ve never seen anything like it, so I guess it’s as good a start as any. Can’t trace the origin though, I’ll need to get closer.” She points in the direction of a mountain peak. 

Mona does a high jump to gain everyone’s attention. “Hold on! I want to try something.” 

As everyone turned to him, he clutched his temples and clenches his eyes closed, concentrating. Then he did somersault backflip, with an enthused, “Ah ha!” A puff of smoke later, the Mona car landed in his place. 

“Yes!” the van with Morgana’s voice cheered. 

Queen let out an approving hum. She went straight for the driver seat, “This should make it easier to get around...” 

Viola, on the other hand, was stunned, “Holy-! That’s sweet!” She raced over to the hood of Mona’s van form and petted the engine hood. “You’re just full of surprises, aren’t cha, Mona?” 

“Heh heh, hmm,” was all Mona proudly purred out. 

The Phantom Thieves all assembled into the van, even Crow, who grumbled about the shrinking amount of space there seemed to be now that their group had two more members. With Joker, Skull and Queen at the front, the Mona-mobile raced over the valley of the island, towards the mountain peaks. 

As the scenery passed them by, Noir, Panther and Fox huddled on the centre seating and observed the island’s various stone architecture. Fox was still taking in the inspiration. “The statues are majestic. The Umbra Witches and Lumen Sages took great pride in their masoning...” 

“I’m surprised that they built anything at all with each other,” Panther wondered aloud. She turned to Viola and Sage, who were both in the back with Crow. “Aren’t you guys on opposing sides? Like, Angels and Demons?” 

Viola waved her hand back and forth in front her face, “Nah. I mean, it’s complicated. For the longest time, we actually worked together on a lot of things, keeping watch over the world and all that. The Clan Wars brought that to an end though.” 

Sage hummed. “A tragedy, really. All over a prophecy that turned out to be more self-fulfilling than anything. Seeing as Viola- sorry, Bayonetta and I are the last of our kind and the wars were long before our time, I don’t see any reason to rekindle old battles.” 

Noir looked concerningly at the two, asking, “Only the two of you?” 

Viola nodded. “Yeah. Pretty much everything I was taught by my mom is the last of the Umbra arts.” She shifted her sitting position, bringing her arms over her knees to lean forward and looked at Sage. “That reminds me, where did you get your training? I was pretty sure you guys were gone for good.” 

Sage lifted himself further upright, “Well, I-” 

“Whoa! Stop, stop!” Oracle suddenly sprang up in her seat. At her outburst, Queen brough the Mona-mobile to a screeching halt, deftly parking it next to a mountain wall. As everyone braced after the sudden deceleration, Oracle brought her screens up again, showing a map of the nearby mountain and a lot of red dots around it. “We got angels, a lot of them, all around the peak.” 

Joker nodded and exited the car. As the rest Thieves followed his lead and Mona returned to his bipedal form, Joker looked up to the top of the mountain. Far in the distant sky, he could barely spot a few Affinity angels flying in a spiral pattern, strafing the side of the mountain. “It looks like they’re looking for a way into the mountain...” 

Oracle zoomed in on her map screen, blowing up the mountain area and focusing on a green marker at the centre. “That’s probably because the energy signature I picked up is coming from inside. Looks like this is it, the Fragment’s got to be there.” 

Panther balked at the news. “How are we supposed to get inside?” 

Rolling his shoulders, Skull sized up the wall in front of him. “WIlliam could blast a way through.” 

“Nuh-uh,” Oracle denied his idea, “We’ve got about a few kilometres of rock between us and the Fragment, we’d all run out of steam before we make halfway through that.” 

Queen brought her hand to her chin in contemplation. “And we’d attract too much attention that way. The angels would be upon us while we tried to dig inside.” 

Joker turned to Sage, who had brought out his golden double-sided spear and was giving it look over. “Any chance we can teleport inside?” 

“That would be ill advised,” Sage replied, “I’m not too familiar with this island, it could take a couple of tries before I can get a portal that doesn’t lead into more stone. And I need to save enough energy to get us home. Otherwise, we would have to wait till the next morning for a return trip...” 

“And we would be open targets for the angels,” Joker finished Sage’s line of thought. 

“Precisely.”

“If you are done with the inane brainstorming,” Crow monotonously interjected, he had stationed himself by a cliff edge overlooking the ocean waters nearby and was crouching down to look over it. He pointed down the side of the cliff, “I can just save us all some time and suggest we use that.” 

The Thieves looked over in Crow’s pointed direction to see that below there was a platform of land that was located a way down from the cliffside that they stood on. Built into the side of the mountain wall where the platform rested what could only be described as a large wall made of metal pieces arranged in jigsaw pieces. 

Skull asked what many of the Thieves were thinking, “What is that?” 

Viola snapped her fingers with a smile. “It’s a door. It just needs the... right touch.” With that announcement, she ran and jumped off the cliff, sprouting crystalline wings from her back and glided down to the platform. Landing without difficulty, she then looked back up at the rest of the team and waved, “Come on!” 

Sage took the next step, hopping on ridges, impaling his spears in and out the mountain wall to climb down to mountain. The rest of the Thieves followed suite with their experience in infiltrating Palaces, except for Oracle who flew down in her Persona. As the team gathered around the strange wall, which towered over all of them by several feet, they watched Viola crack her knuckles and stretch her neck. 

“These were built by the Umbra Witches, they just need a bit of force to open,” She explained before winding up a punch and hitting the wall, causing its individual metal pieces to move out of place, as if magnetised. 

Skull bought into the idea, winding up a punch of his own. “Okay, too easy! Let me just-” 

CLANG! 

“Agh! Sonnava-!” 

Skull clutched his fist after unsuccessfully trying to punch the wall with Panther and Mona looking it over. The cat gave him the diagnosis of, “Nice one, numbskull.” 

Viola scratched the back of her head. “Yeah, as I said, it needs the touch of Witch. Let me handle this.” She brought out her sword with a cry let out a few flaming slashes. The wall’s pieces shifted and moved without difficulty, but the small section that was moving didn’t seem to budge the rest of it. Viola’s exertions became more frustrated as the she continued with no further progress. 

Eventually, she cried out in aggravation. “Arrgh! What the hell?! I never had any this much trouble before!” 

Sage lifted a finger to the forefront of his mask as he suggested, “I think this door requires more power than what you’re giving it. It is rather large.” 

Noir gave the door an analysing gaze, “Is this the only way in? Maybe we could look for another...” 

Oracle, who had not left the confines of Al Azif, communicated to them, “Not likely. My scans show that there’s a clear tunnel behind this, any other side of the mountain we’d have to dig through and we don’t have the time for it. So, if anyone has any bright ideas on how to get it open, now's the time.” 

Viola gave the ground a single stomp as she rattled her brain for an answer. This was the work of her people after all, she should be able to get through. Then it hit her, “Right! We just need a stronger source of Infernal power.” She hefted her sword and threw it back into the clearing. “Cheshire! You’re up!” 

The sword twirled and twirled... and kept twirling until it stuck into the ground, not transforming into the Demon Cat. A few seconds passed with the howl of the wind, and he still didn’t appear. Viola pursed her lips, her embarrassment over the lack of ceremony growing. 

“Well, I see you’re as useful a guide as you were advertised to be,” Crow drawled with deep sarcasm. 

“Shut it!” Viola snapped at him before stomping over to Mab-Dachi and taking a hold of it once more. “What’s wrong with you, Chesh?” 

All she got from the doll was a low growl and without any prompt from her, the doll turned its head away from her. 

Viola’s eye twitched. “Are you kidding me- You're still jealous!? Come on! You can fly on a unicycle!  Just because Morgana can turn into a car does not mean I’m replacing you!” 

All other eyes turned to the other cat that was mentioned, giving Mona cause to be a little defensive, “Wh- hey! It's not my fault the demon has issues!” 

After a heated back and forth between Viola and her companion, she reluctantly sheathed her sword back and trudged over to the group. “Great, Cheshire’s in too foul a mood to listen to me.” 

Sage shrugged his shoulders without too much bother, “Better than the angels of my pact, they refuse to answer since I took on the role in opposing their brethren. Without a demon or an angel strong enough, we may be here for a while.” 

Viola paused mid-pace. “Maybe...” she thought aloud, “Maybe we don’t need an Infernal contract. Not a permanent one. I could summon a demon from Inferno and promise them the angels above as payment. We get it to open the door, then we let it loose on some angels while we head inside.” 

Fox, intrigued by Viola’s idea, asked her, “What would you need for the ritual? A pentagram on the ground? I could spare you my brush.”

The Witch politely waved him off. “Just need to do a summoning dance and a material medium. Could use my hair, or...” 

Crow raised an eyebrow. “A dance? Really?” 

Sage nodded. “It’s the same for the Lumen, a ritual dance and some material to offer up as a medium for the summoned. Usually with an Enochian chant for the call.” 

Joker looked over to Viola as she ran the idea over in her head. “Let’s try it. The longer we’re out here, the more likely we’ll be spotted by some angel.” 

“Right, here we go.” Viola clapped the sides of her face, pumping herself up, “Just like she did it.”  

As the others gave her space, she began her steps. She thrusted combined hands in a zigzag up and down her torso as her legs hopped back and forth to the rhythm of hands. After a few reps of those movements, she twirled on one leg and then smoothly dropped to her knees and reached for the sky, crying out in an empowered voice. 

“CIAOFI BALZARG!”  

A large, crimson glyph appeared in front of her on the ground, pulsing and growing and the atmosphere grew dark. The Phantom Thieves braced themselves, as they could feel power emerging from the glyph, building and building and- 

“Argh!” Viola clutched torso when the glyph suddenly zapped her. She fell sideways to the ground, and the glyph disappeared, with the sky above returning to its bright blue hue. 

Joker, Sage and Queen sprinted to the Umbra Witch’s side, examining her with concern. Queen looked to Sage, “What happened?” 

While Viola moaned and tried to stand back up with Joker’s assistance, Sage shook his head, “Feedback. Her call wasn’t strong enough to reach Inferno, so the attempt backfired. Nothing serious, but it raises a problem. She can’t summon a demon on her own.” 

“I can!” Viola shouted, nearly battering away Joker and startling the rest. Realising her outburst had spooked them, she gave an apologetic look. “Sorry. But I can do this. I’m a witch! I mean...” She sat back down with her head downcast, “What kind of a witch can’t summon a demon...?” 

“One in training,” Sage answered, not unkindly, more in a sincerely reassuring tone. “It’s alright to ask for help.” 

Viola flung her hands to the sky, exasperated. “Sage, have you been paying attention? I’m the last Umbra Witch. There’s no one left to teach me!” 

Placatingly with his hands up, Sage continued to explain, “I myself went through similar trouble, summoning an angel for a contract. I was lucky my instructor taught me how to summon with assistance for the dance, who didn’t need to be a Lumen.” 

Panther pondered on Sage’s explanation, before giving her own conclusion. “You mean, she just needs a partner?” 

“Exactly. While Lumen and Umbra summoners can do this to summon even stronger entities, I did so to practice summoning until I could do so on my own. My partner wasn’t even a practitioner in the Arts, I acted as the prime summoner while she was an amplifier, strengthening my call to Paradiso.” 

“Hm...” Panther tapped her foot but soon after snapped her fingers. “Okay then! I’ll do it!” 

Everyone looked at her in surprise. Noir broke the silence first, “Panther? Are you sure?” 

“We’re not getting anywhere without a demon, and summoning otherworldly beings is kinda our thing. I’ve been practicing some routines to help for my acting, so I can dance well enough.” 

Viola, who had brought herself back up, gave Sage a questioning look. “Is it really that easy?” 

“I wouldn’t say easy, but she is correct, and her part wouldn’t need to be too complex,” Sage answered. “The dance itself doesn’t matter, it’s the empowerment the dance invokes that is important. If you and her can do a small routine that makes you both feel confidant, then that should satisfy the requirement.” 

Viola still looked hesitant, unsure of this new ritual. Then she felt a pat on her back, she turned to see Joker giving an encouraging nod and smile. “If Panther’s willing, give it a go. It can’t hurt, can it?” 

The witch raised an eyebrow and pointed at her abdomen, “It kinda can, actually.” Then she smiled and shook her head. “Alright. Let's give it another go.” 

“Great!” cheered Panther. She brought out her phone and showed to Viola, “So, I think this should do the trick...” 

Joker pulled back with Queen and Sage as they left the two to discuss their plan. He stood next to Crow, who inched away at his approach but didn’t move any further. Akechi had a twisted frown as he processed all that was discussed. “You don’t seriously believe this will work, do you?” 

Joker gestured to the surrounding landscape of the island, “You’re free to look for another way in. Unless you want to try being Bayonetta’s dance partner instead?” 

“Not on your life.”

One busy discussion later Viola and Panther managed to agree on what to do. With the space given to them by their teammates who were waiting to the side, they got into position. “Ready?” Viola asked as she stretched one arm behind another. 

With a thumbs up, Panther gave her a clear, “Ready! 3, 2, 1, go!” 

Panther took the front position as the two synchronised. Panther moved her arms to slide down her form and readily shifted her shoulders up and down allowing Viola to take centre as she mirrored her movements. The Thieves watched in various degrees of enrapture. Fox was furiously jotting down with his pencil on a sketch book he brought, Oracle silently recorded the scene for future entertainment while Skull could not turn away with a slack jaw. 

The routine was only a dozen or so seconds long, they were quickly reaching the end. As Panther and Viola glided to each other, they both twirled. Panther ended standing upright and her hands behind her head while Viola once again transitioned onto her knees in front of her dance partner and shouted,  “CIAOFI BALZARG!”  

The crimson glyph appeared once more, the sky darkened, and power could be felt pulsating from the glyph. This time, however, Viola hunched forward and let out a restrained scream as a wound in her abdomen opened and out pored blood in a torrent.  

Everyone was startled as this development; Panther rushed to Viola and held her shoulders. “Viola! What’s wrong!?” 

“It’s fine! I- ugh!” 

The blood that flowed out of her wound then flew in a torrent into the centre of the glyph, forming a humanoid shape that grew to tower over the group. Then the blood began to solidify and transform, the shape it formed revealing a tall, blue skinned woman with red eyes and a revealing yet intricate black dress. Upon her head an ornate headdress with the colours of a purple butterfly was adorned, matching the wing-like drapes of her dress. The giantess looked down on the mortals who surrounded her and to the summoners. And gave small smile of satisfaction. 

Madama Butterfly had answered the call. 

“Holy cow, she’s huge!” Oracle was shaking in her boots as she gazed upwards. 

“Well done,” Sage whispered his praise, in awe of the result, “Very well done. Blood makes an excellent medium.” 

Viola shakily stood up, despite Panther’s fretting, and addressed the demon. “I... call upon you, Mistress of Atrocity. I seek passage through this door. I offer you the sanctified souls of Paradiso as... tribute. *huff* ” 

As the witch caught her breath and Panther held her up, the demon knelt and brought a single finger forward to them. The two mortals froze as it approached, but then was baffled as Madama Butterfly simply tapped the top of Viola’s head, as if petting a child. 

“[This time, little one,]” she spoke in mystifying Enochian, “[I need no tribute. Consider this a favour for my favourite contractor]”  

With that, the demoness stood back up and approached the wall that had given the Thieves much trouble. She took a step back, lowering into a stance. Then, as fast as the eye can see, she threw a flurry of punches into the door. Each time her fists impacted the wall, the pieces that slotted together shifted and moved, this time with blurring speed. Unable to withstand the strength of Madama Butterfly, the wall tore apart, its pieces unable to reform back into shape. With the wall’s destruction, a large cave tunnel was revealed. 

Her job done, Madama Butterfly’s smile grew wider, and she gave a wink to the crowd before her form began to dissolve back into blood. The blood flowed into a torrent again, returning to where it came from into Viola’s body, sealing the wound in the process. Viola got her breath back and stood up on her own. She couldn’t keep the grin off her face as she turned to Panther, who was very much as proud as she was. 

Noir clapped her hands, jubilation at the sight of the demolition. “They did it! Viola-chan, that was amazing!” 

Witnessing the same scene, Joker took of his domino mask and look down upon it. “I’m feeling slightly inadequate at the moment...” 

Queen pinched his arm. “Not now, Joker.” 

“Kidding,” he replied placatingly. He walked over to Viola and Panther, giving them both a proud nod. “Knew you two could do it.” 

Panther playfully pushed him, “Aw gee, thanks Joker. Viola did most of the work.” 

The witch looked away and rubbed her neck, though Joker could spot the proud smile she wore. 

Fox was enraptured by the sight of the demoness. “Such power! Such beauty and strength personified! I-I need to sketch this right now!” With fervour he continued to draw into his pad. 

“Dude, we don't have time.” Skull told his teammate, “Save it for later.” 

Mona pointed upwards to the sky, “He’s right! We got incoming!” 

Everyone looked up to see flock of angels gathering above them and heading straight towards their position.  

Joker flipped his knife into his grip and readied himself. “Mona! Take Skull, Noir and Bayonetta into the tunnel! We’ll hold them off while you look for the-!” 

Catching his eye in the middle of his vocal order was a winged creature that was too... dark to be an angel. In the centre of the swarm of Affinities floated a menacing large woman with pale skin and black bat wings. The skin was also withered, as if the woman had starved away, which her body had tried to hide over a dark toga with green accents. Her hair was aflame, a deep green fire that blew side to side in the wind as a leather wrap cover the upper half of her face, blinding her, though it didn’t seem as if she suffered from the loss of sight.  

“Oracle, what is that?” 

The navigator of the group summoned Al Azif again and scanned the entity in Joker’s sight. Her eyes widened as she read its stats. “Th-that’s no angel, it’s a Persona!” 

Panther looked to the UFO in startled confusion. “A Persona!? Whose is it?!” 

“Unknown! I can’t pinpoint the-!” 

The new Persona flew at breakneck speed away from the flock, stopping just above the Phantom Thieves. As the gust of wind of her arrival them back, it curled into itself momentarily before bellowing out with a scream.  

GRRREEEEEEAAAHHHHH!!!  

Everyone covered their ears to try and block out the piercing cry, but its sound was too strong, stabbing into their eardrums and their souls. The scream stalled the Thieves, as they tried to stay upright but couldn’t help staggering as the pain crushed them from the inside. 

“M-make it stop!” Noir called out, tears in her eyes.  

Oracle, from inside Al Azif, had better protection against the scream than her friends. Wincing through the pain, pushed hard against the controls of her Persona, causing it to fly forward and crash into the banshee. “S-shut up!” 

The enemy Persona was struck back, and her scream was interrupted, allowing the Thieves to find their bearings again. Though, not before the angels began landing on the land they stood on. 

Crow straightened himself up with a pained grunt, “Ngh! Someone’s going to pay for that! Hereward!” 

At its master’s call the dark archer appeared and took out several Affinities in an explosive arrow attack. The other Persona users began responding in kind, keeping the angels at bay with various attacks from their Personas and their weapons.  

Joker sliced through a sword and shield wielding Ardor, killing it without even looking back at it. His attention was focused on finding the rogue Persona again, which had hidden into the crowd when the free-for-all erupted. He scanned side to side, searching for the tell-tale black wings and-! 

He found it, heading straight towards him from his left side. He couldn’t summon or move in time, suffering a tight grip around his throat as the Persona carried him up and away from the battle.  

He caught Queen’s voice shouting his name as he struggled in the grip of the black gloved arm that held him. With a wincing eye, his mask vanished in blue flame as he called out, “Metatron!” 

A mechanical angel appeared in blue fire behind the banshee and gripped her wings, causing the flyers to spiral out of control. The attacking Persona was forced to let go of Joker to defend herself, leaving him to fall to the island below. Joker, thinking fast, lashed out his hand and launched his grapple hook in the nearby cliffside, swinging into a momentum to curve his descent. Once he reached a high angle, he released the hold and somersaulted onto the earth, mostly unharmed.  

As Joker took in his surroundings, he found himself on a new patch of the island. An elevated valley, quite a distance away from where his friends had been fighting. As soon as he got his bearings and his mask returned, he sprinted back in the direction of the battle.  

However, mid-sprint he spotted out of the corner of his eye the shadow of incoming attack. He dodged to side, narrowly missed being pierced by a pair of daggers. He flipped back away from the area of attack and looked upon his attacker. 

A woman, no doubt about it. With a bronze Corinthian helmet mask covering her head, the openings where her face would be visible were draped in a dark fabric, leaving only her dark eyes visible. Her eyes were unusual, as the typically white sclera was black, her irises glowed yellow against the dark void. Her outfit consisted of a hybrid style of Greek hoplite armour; a dark bronze chest plate fitted over her torso and bracers on each forearm with matching shin guards. Her heels were elevated with sharp points, which to Joker seemed impractical at first but then he caught the glint of metal off the heels and decided that not being stabbed by that unorthodox footwear would be wise.  

The mystery woman flipped the daggers in her hands as her helmet vanished and revealed her black hair tied in a bun while her face was concealed in the dark fabric left behind. The banshee Persona then formed in blue flame behind her, menacingly crossing her arms upwards as if she were a corpse. The new Persona user pointed a dagger straight at him, giving one warning, “You will submit, Joker. The Supreme One demands it.”