Warning: This story is not from the perspective of Joker, also it may only make sense to those who are familiar with the Persona 5 Storyline, so if you're only reading this because I wrote it, I'm sorry ahead of time for any confusion.
That being said I thought this could be a fun way to tell the story, I hope you enjoy it.
Still, I hope you enjoy it, tell me what'cha think in a review, and if you have any questions pertaining to the story, PM me.
[Start.]
I thought I could trust it...
"Jack, do you have the case?" Asked a boyish voice in his ear, the figure being spoken to was a tall, lanky fellow in a suit of black armour, fitted with clawed gauntlets, curled, pointed boots and tight - almost to the skin itself - chainmail over his torso.
Covering him from head to shoulders, was a long red shawl with a hood, the shawl itself was tattered and ripped in several places, four long strands fell of his shoulders, an the sleeves barely reaches his biceps, his face was covered by a white mask that seemed to be stitched together.
Around the right eye was a splash of red, that carried up across the forehead and to his left brow, this redness was outlined by a golden coloured seam, as though the mask was not made of porcelain but instead some kind of cloth.
The lanky man had a single hooked knife on his belt, along with a holster holding two heavy duty looking pistols on each side of his hip.
Clutched in his left hand was a silver briefcase, currently the man stood looming in the rafters of a casino, overlooking the several hundred people swimming about, fulfilling their various gambling needs.
"I did, Joker is on the way out with it. I'll make sure to play my part as the distraction… Shockingly I'm the more nimble of the two of us… How is that?" Jack questioned into his radio.
"Zip it you glorified ballerina." The voice of Joker fizzled into his ear, Jack grinned under his mask at the jest of his peer.
"Let me know when you're in vision of the group and I'll start." Jack ordered suddenly, stealing away back into the shadows to avoid the various guards moving about through the crowd.
"Got it, Jack." Joker accepted.
"You're gonna have a hard time getting out, make sure you take all possible precautions." Another male voice entered his ear, Jack smiled and fiddled with the hem of his shawl.
"I got it, Crow… thanks." A warm light filled his eyes as he spoke.
"Consider me paranoid, but I'd rather we all get out of here." Crow defended himself slightly, as though expecting something else, "Ah- yes of course."
"Jeez, who's his girl? You or Queen?" Another voice butted in with a chortle.
"Skull, is now really the time?" Questioned a female voice with a slight snap to it.
"Watch out Skull, Panther does have all those whips. I know you're a hardy guy but-Going radio silent. I see an opening, over." Like a switch was flipped Jack's body language completely changed.
He leapt out of the shadows, "You boys lookin' for me?" He suddenly roared as he sailed through the air onto one of the many light dangling from the ceiling, "Can't catch, Jack!"
"Target found! In pursuit!"
Trust them, him… her, all of it, ya'know?
"Target coming up to your right, slip through the-" Oracle began only to be interrupted by Jack.
"Oracle, I need you focusing on the others. I can get out." Ordered Jack as he ran at a guard and slid into his legs, making the man flip over and groan, Jack leapt back up and continued down the hallway, he came to a room with only a stained glass window and another door leading downward.
Well obviously the only choice is the window.
Rushing towards it he ducked several bullets coming his way before leaping out, calling out into the night he summoned his Persona, "Swift!" A creature made of blue light appeared behind the red cloaked man, the creature had four arms with long cloth-like wings falling from the underside of each arm.
It's face was obscured by a tri-corn hat and pulled up mask, leaving only its ash-pale face and golden glowing, four eyes. The creature appeared to be the macabre fever dream interpretation of an old English Highwayman, truth be told, and from the waist down it seemed quite human, but everything above the hips was a little… sketchy.
As Jack landed his Persona melted away.
"Well done, gotta say that was smoother than-" Suddenly light burned his vision, blinding him, the cocking of guns alerted him, Jack lifted his arm to shade his vision, in a bid to see what it was.
An army of men.
Armed to the teeth, and armoured up like they were SEAL team fucking 6.
"Jack! There's enemies everywhere!" Screamed the boyish voice.
"Jack, can you see a way out?!" Joker asked, sounding breathless.
"I-I-I can't find anything, Jack!" Oracle's sudden voice almost sounded like she was about to start crying.
"Oh… heavens..." Murmured Jack with wide eyes.
He looked anywhere for an escape, spotting a nearby fire escape he made to move only for a shot to ring out behind him and clip him directly in his shoulder blade, downing Jack in a single, agonizing moment.
Pain blossomed in Jack, whatever shot that was it tore right through his armour like it was nothing, his legs gave out in shock and he collapsed against the ground, several men immediately swarmed him, tore off his mask revealing a young man with shaggy red hair and bright purple eyes.
"Huh… didn't expect a kid. Well good on you, you've been sold out. One of your friends gave us this tip. Pick your pals better next time." Suddenly a boot descended on his face and Jack saw no more light.
Nothing hurts more than betrayal. I'd say that the pills I'm on make it better, but if anything else that shit made it hurt even more. Stupid feelings. Stupid me for letting my guard down.
This all sounds pretty dramatic, and I suppose in a way it is. But it all happened so slowly I really didn't notice it until it had already happened.
Jack woke up tied to a chair, his shawl torn down, his face covered in bruises, his left eye being swollen shut, and his lip having long since busted open and clotted.
"So… feel like speaking up yet?" A dark room, several men in suits, one speaking. Holding a clipboard.
Jack could hardly make out anything but shapes, let alone fine details. "Obstruction of justice, possession of weapons, blackmail, theft, assault, even manslaughter... Looks like you had quite the little adventure, but it all stops now. No more games. No get out of jail free cards."
"You should know your place." Someone came up behind him and threw him off his chair, then they unlocked whatever bindings he had and pulled him by his hair into an upright position, a clipboard was shoved into his face.
"Sign here… it's a confession in your name."
Jack groped the air for a moment before the man thrust the clipboard into his gloved hand, his left arm completely useless from the combination of drugs and untreated bullet wound.
Uzumaki Menma
It was messy, but it was his name.
"Don't expect you walk out of here in one piece, you'll understand pretty quickly that one takes full responsibility for their actions." The man took a few steps back as he snatched the document and pen away.
Menma looked to his useless arm and bit his lip, this wasn't part of the plan, none of this was part of the plan. How was he supposed to get out of this? He wasn't the leader he was-
He was the fall guy.
Whether it was planned or not, he was the fall guy and there wasn't anything he could do about it.
The plan wasn't to have Jack get caught, it was to have Joker get caught while helping the others escape, Jack was just a fancy diversion to put an extra layer onto their true intentions.
Oh sweet mother of all that is-He was going to fucking die.
Tears pooled at the edges of his eyes, Menma bowed his head and for the first time in years, he prayed, he didn't let his terror through though, he didn't want to give the world the satisfaction of seeing him at yet another low point.
'Master… surely our comrades shall come to your aid? Will the plan truly deviate so much with you in your leaders place?' The familiar voice of Swift flowed into Menma's ears, the only true comfort at this time.
'That's the thing, Swift. I don't know. The other problem is I don't have all of the details Akira may. So the timing will be that much slimmer, I have faith in the others but…'
'The fear of death does little when one's faith is already shaken'. Supplied Swift, getting a nod from his Master.
Menma's vision swam for a bit and before he knew it he was in another chair, sat at a metal table, his forehead immediately met it, he didn't want this!
He deserved better than this!
He'd joined the Phantoms to seek justice in the name of his fellow students, to show them both in the real world and in the Metaverse that he was their guardian..
Now he'd probably have to get shoulder reconstruction, he'd probably take months to heal, he'd most definitely be raped in prison as the pretty redhead boy.
Fear gripped him once more and he openly wept as the doors opened.
"What in-Menma!?" Sweet Sae, gorgeous woman both within and without, though recent evidence made him rethink the whole 'within' portion of that but gods damned did she look good as a Shadow.
Where was he?
"I'm gonna fucking die…." Whimpered the mighty thief Jack of Blades, he felt himself pushed back into his chair, soft fingers running across his bruised face and bright red eyes looking deep into his single open purple one.
"M-Makoto… oh gods, I was so-no… Sae." For a genuine moment he saw his world, his sun, his stars, his universe.
His Makoto. Not anyone else's goddamn it!
Fuck you he wasn't insecure he was just really stressed right now!
"My god… what did they do to you?" Sae implored, seeing the young man she'd known for two or so years reduced to a mess, the thought of his involvement with the Phantom Thieves completely gone from her mind.
"They drugged me… I think… but I really need some painkillers… Sae I was sh-shot, and it really hurts."
Sae looked at him in horror, "Where!?" A simple, thunderous demand.
"Left shoulder."
Immediately she looked to the wound, still weeping blood through the archaic armour he wore.
"I'll call for a medical team, this… this is inexcusable, you're in no state for an interrogation!" She plucked her phone from her bag only to feel a hand grabbing her shirt, she went to assure him that he'd be fine but her throat ran dry when she looked down at Menma.
He was resigned, he was scared, he was probably in shock.
"J-just, go on with it… i-if all goes to plan I'll m-make it out alive." He assured, delirious. "Where's my phone, I need my p-phone or it won't work…" He groped at his person in panic only for Sae to produce it from her evidence folder, he looked at it, and Sae saw his mind tick away, as though debating whether he should try to snatch it.
"I-if Makoto messages me just tell her… no, you're my i-interrogator, this is fi-ine, I'll be fine." Menma tried desperate to get his mind in order but there was a distinct cloud across his mind that he just couldn't penetrate.
"Right." Sae admitted, chewing her lip. "If I don't make progress they'll get suspicious and probably pull you out before my times up."
Sae unzipped her folder and flipped it to the first case file. "We'll start with the first target, Suguru Kamoshida. I want you to walk me through how you did what you did to him."
Menma bobbed his head for a moment as he gathered himself.
"I never thought the young man I could almost be happy to call step-brother would be the leader of the Phantom Thieves… your future was already so secure? What made you take up a life of crime?" Sae had several thoughts on who the leader was, it was just a… shock to find out it was Menma.
Menma weighed his words in his mind for a moment, tell the truth, or lie?
N-no, he needed Sae on his side. Lying would get him nowhere.
"I-I'm not the leader, I'm the Jack of Blades. I work on capture and pursuit. No… our leader was Joker. As to how we changed Kamoshida-san… that's pretty involved so I've gotta start when I was first… inducted into all of this." Sae nodded and opened her laptop, ready to take notes.
The pain was either becoming easier to deal with, or his mind was just putting it on the back-burner out of sheer need. Either way, his shoulder stopped making him flinch every five seconds.
For me, it started on a day I couldn't exactly predict. We had a transfer student to the school, nice guy. Quiet, but veeerrry sassy when he wanted to be. I met him a few times before that day but they're pretty inconsequential.
The day started much like any other, somewhat.
A dark, endless void. That's where he was, he could feel the absence of all senses slowly messing with his head more and more, the only thing that made it bearable was a single, tiny golden butterfly, it fluttered around him for a moment before landing on his nose, it's glow almost stung his eyes but he observed it.
It's wings had a beautiful swirling style, at the corner of each wing was an eye of some kind.
"I am thou… thou art I, thine own mind remains a confined space. The lock remains shut, you merely require the key." Menma blinked as a masculine voice filled his mind.
His voice didn't come out, but he tried to voice his query, what was this creature talking about?
"When thou finds the key, the power of the Aeon shall be yours. Until then... " The sound of a great howling beast flooded the void, it suddenly felt very cold.
"Put your faith in those around you."
Unbidden Menma's throat unclenched, "Who are you?"
"You may call me, Philemon. I charge you to open the lock, Guardian."
Wake up.
Breakfast.
Shower.
Dress.
Brush teeth, comb glorious red hair.
Take anti-depressants, hide them from outside view.
Ignore weird dream for the moment.
Those first five things had ruled the morning of one Menma Uzumaki for the past decade, since he started taking school seriously at least.
Taking of pills started a few months ago, it was merely to correct a chemical imbalance, as after only a few days of taking them he'd felt better than ever, more emotive, more expressive, hell even more sentimental.
Initially he found no light in life, and wanted merely to fall off the planet. But found solace after speaking with a professional and starting on his 'correction' journey. Suffice to say, it had already gone swimmingly.
At the ripe age of 17 Menma was in his final year of schooling and he'd be damned if he slipped up even once this year.
His goal? To fulfil the promise he made his father to take over the family business and in turn secure it's safe running until such a point that Menma may pass it onto his own child. His father ran a multinational security firm, simply referred to as Apex.
His mother on the other hand ran several dojos within japan, it had yet to meet the outer-state success that Apex had but it seemed to be just on the edge of doing so.
His father used his half-asian status to breach into the market in England and other parts of Europe, most noticeably in Russia. Which in itself is a strange thing to people… apparently.
Regardless, his parents had done miracles for themselves building themselves from pseudo-immigrants to multi-millionaires in just a few years of bone breaking work. The fact that he had any kind of relationship with his familials was something of a mindbender. Considering how hard they worked.
"Good morning, Menma-kun." A voice said as he stepped out of his up-town apartment that his parents owned, seeing as they didn't see the point in owning a big house to waste space.
This voice belonged to perfection incarnate. Menma's purple eyes sparked.
Short brown hair with an almost undetectable headband tucked into the face of the band shaped to look like braided hair, bright red eyes that were filled with the confidence and the stalwartness required to take on the world, fair, unblemished skin and perfectly kissable pink lips.
She wore the female uniform of their mutual school, Shujin Academy.
He flourished slightly taking one of her hands into his own and placing a kiss upon the back of her hand, "All the better with you in it, Makoto-chan."
Her cheeks flushed prettily at that, his flair for the dramatic was not unknown to the Niijima sister but it still took her by surprise that he was so bold with his affections.
After that small exchanged they walked to the station in order to catch the train to reach school, Menma reflected, on how lucky he was. Just in general really. He had a family, he had love, he had a fantastic start in life.
And he had her.
By the gods he finally had her.
The purple eyed teen weaved his fingers into hers as they walked together, Makoto's cheeks flushed and she softly pressed her lips to his cheek, the second those pink beauties touched his flesh it felt like every inch of his body exploded at once.
His heart beat faster.
His blood felt like lava.
Even his thoughts fled in an instant.
They'd been dating for a few months at this point and he still couldn't quite get over just how fortunate he was to have her in his life, in that new and exciting way that only intimate partnerships could be. It was certainly a wonder to find out just how deep the Makoto Niijima rabbit hole went.
She was the prim and proper Student Council President at school, and at home with her sister she was the dutiful imouto, who would make sure everything was perfect when Sae Niijima managed to get any free time to return to sleep, eat or even something as trivial as bathe.
But when it was one on one and Makoto was able to relax, he learnt a lot about her. She loved action movies, she despised anything vaguely related to horror, she - much like Menma himself - was a hopeless sop when it came to romance.
She had an innate love for martial arts, the two of them spent much time together, bonding while beating the shit out of one another in a completely reasonable setting, the two of them agreed from the beginning- when they first met actually - that if they were to spar, any animosity would be left in the ring.
I know you know this, but at the moment I need to keep it all together in my head. And thinking about her makes me happy.
That's fine. Just make sure to leave nothing of significance out. It's quite contradictory to the Jack of Blades persona you parade about as..
I may have been more than a little love-sick.
Menma and Makoto got to the school early enough, it rained a few days beforehand so his paranoia made him carry an umbrella, much to the apparent chagrin of a few passersby he used it as a cane in a bid to amuse his girlfriend.
She shook her head at his silliness.
Skipping ahead slightly, trust me school was just the usual song and dance.
Menma was on his way to deliver a few things to the faculty room for Makoto, just some forms that had to be handed over nothing too interesting. That was when he saw a very downtrodden Suzui Shiho walking towards the roof, something about the situation made Menma's stomach flip.
He rolled up the forms and stuck them into his back pocket, he trailed after Suzui, making sure she didn't see him. When he heard the door open he quickly raced up after her and made sure to catch it before it closed, slipping out he watched her for a moment.
She kept walking until she got to the edge of the roof, Menma's eyes widened, she kept muttering as he quickly stalked up behind her, "I'm just so… tired of it all."
Menma's arms enclosed around her waist just as she was about to drop, he had to over-correct and ended up on his back, a sickening cracking noise flooded his ears and he felt pain blossom on the back of his head.
Suzui immediately began to struggle against him, lashing and kicking against him, his arms fell limp as his body reeled from the pain, she rolled off him and looked at who caught her.
"M-Menma-senpai!" She croaked out, concern shimmering in her eyes.
"Thuzui-san…" He slurred as his sight was filled with spots, "Why, why in gods name would you try to jump?" Slowly she helped him rise, he held her hands in his own as he sat up, the wind howling for a moment over the roof, ruffling the red mess he called hair, Suzui had several dark bruises around her person, specifically on her throat, wrists and on what little her skirt revealed of her thighs.
"..." She was silent in the face of his question, merely staring at his hands.
"Shiho-san." He implored, his heart beating fast, whatever struggles this girl was going through he would not, could not merely be a bystander, not only would it mean he'd dishonour himself, he'd dishonour his very soul.
"I swear to the stars and back, if you wish it I will keep this to myself but you must tell me. I cannot simply let you walk away from me after making this… attempt. I'm not just the Discipline Monitor, I am the guardian of the students at the school. You have clearly been abused but you have to tell me or I can't help you."
"...Kamoshida-sensei, the rumours about him… are true." Confessed Shiho, "Yesterday he-he…"
You're starting at the point when you found evidence of Suguru Kamoshida's sexual abuse?
I figured the two of us don't have a lot of time to spare right now, so I'm trimming the fat. Would you prefer if I kept gushing about how in love I was with your sister?
No… please go on, I know this is all quite harrowing for you at the moment.
I just… look I'll get to it later.
"I need details, Shiho-san. This is going to be hard but I promise you." A fire burned in those purple eyes that almost scared Shiho, "We're going to fix this. Come to my office, I'm not letting you out of my sight."
He stood up, wavering for a moment before nodding to himself, pulling Shiho up and placing an arm around her, as though to shield her from the world.
Just as they were about to reach the door it was flung open, a familiar blonde haired blue eyes girl burst out, along with two others, a dyed blond hair male with brown eyes, and a young man with curly black hair, steel grey eyes and wide glasses.
"Shiho!" Ann Takamaki, the school's resident 'bombshell', she was a well endowed half-breed much like himself, or something like that. Truth be told he wasn't exactly up on his Takamaki lore.
The girl threw her arms around Shiho who was shivering, shock and anxiety bubbling up in her.
"Senpai…" Ryuji Sakamoto, a misunderstood young man with a heart of gold. Unfortunately less than stellar academic scores and overall bad reputation had him a pariah around the school.
"Sakamoto-kun, now isn't the time for conversation. I'm taking Shiho-san to my office. There's been an… incident that I need to find out how to deal with, Shiho-san would you like Takamaki-san to accompany us?" Shiho merely nodded into Ann's shoulder, the blonde girl looking between the two of them, as though begging for answers.
"What in heaven's name is going on here?" Some random teacher had finally breached the roof only to be met with the intense stare of an Uzumaki.
"I thank you kindly not to raise your voice at this moment." Commanded the dagger eyed youth, making the grown man gulp and nod, retreating quickly.
"Damn Senpai, you are one scary dude." Ryuji admitted with a chuckle.
It was quickly discovered after I took them into my office, as for some reason Akira-san and Ryuji decided to loiter, thinking I wouldn't notice. Ann was like fire, she wanted blood and rightly so. Shiho had been abused physically and sexually by Kamoshida. Her chastity was stolen, to put it cleanly.
"Takamaki-san. Please make sure Shiho-san's parents collect her posthaste." Menma picked up his phone and hit his emergency speed dial, "Hello?... Police please. Yes, I've would like to report a… rape, at Shujin High School… Yes ma'am…. No ma'am, this isn't a prank…. Yes ma'am I'm happy to provide evidence… no ma'am I'm sending the witness home but I've recorded an initial interview… no ma'am but I'm close with a prosecutor, so I know the skeleton basics of this stuff."
Menma made a gesture at the two girls to ease, seeing Takamaki soothing Shiho as the girl almost began crying once more, the fear and crushing realisation of the situation slowly building upon her delicate heart, Menma ran a hand over her head in a bid to help her calm down.
"Yes ma'am." Menma answered, "I find it more suitable for the witness to be removed from the situation to avoid potential actions by the perpetrator." Praise greeted him and he gave a bittersweet smile, "Thank you ma'am… Uzumaki Menma, 3rd year student ma'am. If you can't find me I'll be leaving the evidence with one Makoto Niijima, Student Council President. I apologise if this is the case but it would seem two eavesdroppers are-I'm sorry ma'am but please hurry we may have another matter on our hands." Menma hung up the phone and handed his recorder to Ann.
"Make sure Makoto gets this, Sakamoto and Kurusu just ran off and I'm not letting them get themselves into hot water." Ann nodded somewhat speechless as the redhead fled the room, "Shinji watch that door!"
"Yes Senpai!" A young man with brown hair snapped a salute as he stood guard outside the Disciplinary Committee office.
Akira and Ryuji of course, ran to Kamoshida's office in a heartbeat after they heard me on the phone. I remember running out of the damned room like a man possessed, I don't think my feet have ever felt so hot. But by the time I got there…
"-no proof of." Menma entered the room, Kamoshida stood with his arms crossed, towering over the young men in the room, Ryuji looked about ready to knife someone, Akira was hovering between enraged and poised, whilst Mishimia Yuki - Another 2nd student - shrunk in on himself.
"Basically, you're simply making these claims because you can't be a regular on the team, right?" Kamoshida questioned with a scowl, trying to put words into the frail looking boys mouth.
As though suddenly filled with courage, Mishima stood up straight, "That's not what this is about."
"Even if it is as you imagine it to be, hypothetically speaking… what can you do?" Kamoshida leant towards Ryuji for this as though baiting him.
"They may not be able to do much, Sensei." Menma spoke, drawing all eyes to him, his own purple gaze flaring dangerously as he walked past Mishima, making sure the younger male was shielded behind him.
"I on the other hand have a recorded confession of your horrific crime from Shiho Suzui's own mouth, the police are on their way, congratulations. Your life is over." Ryuji and Akira looked at the redhead in shock.
Kamoshida's own face went through several shades of furious red, "You dare!?" Snarled the man, getting face to face with the teen, "You've been nothing but a thorn in my side since you got here, Uzumaki! Always trying to protect everyone especially that little whore Niijima!"
Menma's nostrils flared and his pupils dilated dangerously, "Watch your tongue, you filth!" Snarled the redhead.
"Or what? You're gonna hit me? I'm a teacher you little shit, even if you get one slut to act as a witness against me I've still got dozens of others who will defend me. I'll drag Shiho Suzui through the dirt and break her spirit to the point that one failed suicide attempt is hardly going to be the end of it!" Spittle dripped onto Menma's face as Kamoshida roared in his face.
Ryuji felt powerless and went to lash out, only for Akira to grab his arm, "We'll deal with it." The curly haired boy said quietly, the blond grudgingly admitted his friend had a point.
"I'm going to walk away from this argument, but I want you to know that if this ever happens again, there won't be a god in this universe that will keep you safe." Menma said, "The police will deal with you, Kamoshida-san."
The youth turned and ushered the others out with him, "You'll all be expelled! I am Kamoshida! I have the power here not you!" The man ranted with fury.
"Hey Senpai…" Ryuji said, looking to Akira for a moment, "Come with us, we got something to show ya."
The Cognitive World is… an interesting place, to be sure. Now, I after learning the plan I was pretty sure that we didn't even need to bother with it, because Shiho's testimony was sufficient to pin him for the rape charges, but in hindsight it was good to strip the man of any defenders.
A giant castle was not exactly what Menma expected to be shown, nor was he expecting to see a three foot tall cat monster creature, "Uhh…"
"Is it really a good idea to bring this guy along?" The… cat spoke, sounding boyishly young in fact. He had a little yellow scarf on, a belt with little pouches and carried a large cutlass.
Also its head was weirdly large.
Akira seemed to be dressed like a cross between a street performing magician and a archetypal thief from victorian storytelling. Long coat, vest, pointed boots and bright red gloves. His faces was covered by a white mask with splashes of black around the eyes.
Ryuji looked like a thug, truth be told. He had a black coat with metal down the spine, yellow gloves with metal knuckles, shotgun rounds hanging from his waist, knee pads and heavy duty boots, his mask looked like a human skull without a lower jaw.
"Not to rag on your style choices but…" Menma admitted he was slightly lost here.
"Look, if anyone can help us in here it's this guy, he's been playing defence for the students against Kamoshida since I've known him." Ryuji explained.
"He doesn't have a Persona." Akira pointed out, fiddling with one of his black locks.
"He'll probably awaken one no problem!" The blond grinned, punching Menma in the shoulder, "Senpai is one really tough guy, if nothing else it'll be good to have another set of eyes watching our backs!"
"What the hell is this place!?"
Takamaki got in with us, for some reason I was allowed to stay and she was not. I'm just as confused, don't worry I'm moving on.
The whole place was pretty strange but I got the gist of it pretty quick, distorted desires of grand scales cause Palaces to appear, in turn this begins a feedback loop making people worse and in turn the Palaces more complex. So on and so forth. Kamoshida's palace was a monument to his own vanity, lust, and general filth as a human being.
I found quite quickly how… different my situation was to the others, Philemon still hasn't given me a straight answer.
"Are you simply going to allow them to fight on your behalf?" A voice pierced Menma's mind as Joker and Skull dealt with Shadows whilst Mona watched over him.
"I don't want to…" Menma answered quietly, ignoring the strange look from the mutant cat.
"Then push on! Do not let fear repress you! You are the Aeon! Seeker of Understanding, I am Cerberus, Guardian of the Underworld and Seeker of those daring to escape it! Call my name and cease this mockery!" Demanded the voice, making Menma wince.
Morgana watch as a wave of golden light seemed to seep from the redhead, in a flash he no longer stood in his uniformed.
In its place was suit of archaic armour, chain, layered plates down his arms and legs, clawed gauntlets, pointed boots with curled toes, and a dark red shawl with a hood, four long strands of cloth falling down to his hips.
As Menma inspected himself the golden light slowly faded until it rested in his hands, a mask appeared, along with a long, curved knife. The mask was white, with a splash of red around the left eye-
I think I get it. I'm looking at most of it anyway.
Sorry… I got kinda caught up in the moment.
"Sweet mother of mercy…" Menma whispered as he placed the mask on, held the knife firmly and charged forward, towards the Bicorn shadow, "Hunt them down, Cerberus!"
"With pleasure!" The voice was so much louder, clearer and all around more intense now. It was like whatever was keeping them apart shattered.
A great three headed beast that looked to have been dragged up from the pits of hell shot forward, its skin was made of shining, obsidian stone, each eye seemed to be cut from rubies so rich they could be solidified blood, with tree trunk thick legs the massive hellbeast crushed one of the shadows underfoot before disappearing.
Menma joined the fray aside Skull, "Jack is here to help!" Informed the rogue with a grin beneath his mask.
"Whoa! What the hell!" Skull shouted in awe, Akira smirked before summoning Arsene to Cleave through the remaining shadow, Pixie.
With the shadows gone for the moment the foursome stole away into a safe room, rooms where the Palace Rulers cognition was weakest, or in layman's terms, where the ruler thought of in the least detail.
"Why didn't you say you already unlocked your Persona!" Mona hissed accusingly.
Jack held up his hands in defence, "Look I didn't even know I could do that until Cerberus basically called me a pussy for sitting out on the fights, when he finished yelling at me I was in this get-up and just kind of went with my gut." Jack slid his knife onto his belt and crossed his arms for a moment.
"I did have this weird dream this morning though, something about finding the Key to unlock 'the power of the Aeon'? Does the name Philemon mean anything to you guys?" All around the room he got negatives, "Weird."
"Damn right it is, this guy had to rip his mask off in a cell when I was about to die to get Arsene." Ryuji informed, thumbing over his shoulder to Joker, "Mona already had his so he don't count-" Considering the growl from said cat there was probably some disagreement about that, "-And I got The Captain when Mona and Joker were gonna get killed, but both of us had to have some… awakening and tear off a mask to use our Persona."
"Since when did you become the informant?" Morgana said with crossed arms of his own, frowning at Skull.
The delinquent rolled his eyes, "Oh shut up."
"He's right though, both of us had to have a… rebellious awakening." Akira continued on, "Did you really just… listen to a voice and go with it?"
"Philemon really didn't tell me much, only to find my Key and unlock the Aeon. But as he was finishing up I did hear a pretty distinct roar, I suppose that could have been Cerberus but he's only spoken to me today." Jack informed with a sigh, "This stuff is pretty strange… we should probably write it all down."
"Then maybe we could put it in a way the Skull's monkey brain could understand it." Sniped Mona with a snicker.
"Zip-it before I clobber you, you stupid cat!"
"I'm not a cat!"
Yes they always did that, no Sae I'll not punish you by telling you about it every time.
I appreciate that.
Anyway at that point noises were heard and we went to inspect Kamoshida's fuck hole.
Excuse you?
I mean it literally,
The room was filled with mewling girls, the smell of sex was heavy in the air, many students Jack could recognise, one more importantly was the sight of a blushing, messy haired, Shiho.
"So this beast would use his station to abuse cubs!?" Cerberus roared indignantly, ignoring Jack's wince, "Kill him! Let slip your hesitation, and rip him apart!"
The bad part was that at the moment killing this bastard didn't seem so horrible.
"Senpai!~" Whispered Shiho breathlessly, grabbing his leg and rubbing her face against it, King Kamoshida has thrown me aside, won't you please use me."
A dark storm of thoughts plagued Jakc's mind, he tried not to think about how she looked great with messy hair, or how without those bruises on her face she was so pretty, thankfully all of that came rushing back and he removed himself from her.
"Dude… this is sick." Skull said with a quiet fury, noticing how shaken Jack seemed to be.
"We'll make him pay." Akira swore, their attention was drawn to the end of the room, Ann was pinned to a crossboard, typically used in BDSM-
How do you know that?
I'm 17, I have a rampant sex drive.
O-oh… forgive me, please continue.
We can talk about that if we don't manage to burn through the whole hour.
No. No. Please just continue with the story.
Kamoshida's Shadow stood with a copy of Takamaki, this one in only a pink leopard print bikini and cat ears. It was… flattering but still disturbing given the situation.
Kamoshida himelf wore a waist length fluffy coat with hearts all over it, a small golden crown not sized to his big head, a pink thong, exposing his unshaved legs, and what appeared to be crocks.
I feel like the crocks were the worst part.
….Really?
No, it was the sex dungeon in general, I was just kidding. Jesus Sae, I know I'm a thief but try not to sound too friggen serious when you ask me that.
"Stop right there!" S. Kamoshida demanded as his knights surrounded Ann, "Take another step and I'll gut her!"
"Bastard!..." Skull ground out as everythiing in him demanded he move.
"You damn thieves are just parading around, thinking I wouldn't notice you? And then you have the gall to bring another with you? You're like cockaroaches!" S. Kamoshida spat with venom.
"It's bad enough I had to deal with that rat, Uzumaki. Now sit down and shut up! I'm going to enjoy this!" S. Kamoshida slipped off his coat and began walking towards Ann.
"Are you just going to let him do this!?" Akira demanded, looking at Ann who's eyes snapped to him, before suddenly she reeling in agony.
Now, at this point, apparently Takamaki awakened to her Persona, what I missed out on was some grand revelation that they all went through. Takamaki's initial Persona Carmen reflected her inner desire to protect herself, and I suppose womankind from people like Kamoshida, I read the book Carmen was based on briefly, she's the femme fatale.
Is this going somewhere…?
Huh? Oh… no, not really. Anyway, Ann went full ham on Kamoshida and busted out of her confines, we fought a demon that took a shit every time it attacked us, funnily enough it was weak to fire so Ann and myself were able to knock it down pretty quickly.
This gets more and more fantastical as you go on.
Yeah well, because awakening exhausts you we had to pull out and try again the next day. It was over and done with for that day pretty quickly.
And the date?
The… 17th of March, I think.
Very good, anything else?
I ended up giving a witness report to the police before heading home, I locked my door and spent an hour or so romancing my lower half to blow off steam.
Menma!
You asked.
[End]
Symbolism:
Jack of Blades Costume; As Metaverse Rebels are designed from within the hearts and minds of the Phantom Theives, I figured what more signifies a rebel that ol' Jack from the Fable Lost Chapters Game? Though more along the lines of a Outer-realm Tyrant, Jack is the perfect picture of Roguish antagonist. With Menma's odd connection to the Sea of Souls in place of The Spirit of Rebellion I figured it'd be nice.
Cerberus: Pretty self-explanatory, given his protective nature of the student body and his dogged persistence in following up on said nature, Cerberus made most sense to me. Especially because Shujin could be mistaken for the Underworld at times.
Swift(nick): Although only shown a little, Swift is the persona more in line with the other Phantoms. Swiftnick, a gentleman thief whose many feats were allocated to a few separate people, in England around the 1600's.
John Nevison aka William Nevison, Samuel Nicks and Dick Turpin. I figured from a design point, multiple arms and eyes with a completely hidden face suited this perfectly.
That should about cover the major parts for now, if you have any other questions like I said up top, send me a message or post it in a review!
Raxychaz!