Those Who Rule Over Power

November 20th. Time Unknown

Kasumigaseki Precinct Interrogation Room

A paralyzing warmth began to spread through Akira's skull, and he realized it'd been far too long since he'd slept properly. The palm of his hand seemed unnaturally soft suddenly as he rested his cheek against it. Caught up in those sensations, he found his eyelids growing heavy, quickly sinking into the delightful sensations of sleep, hopefully he didn't have that dream again.

"NO!" Sae's voice warped the blissful warmth in his head to a splitting pain, his pillowy hand once again solid, cradling his aching head. "I'm too close to the end of this! You don't get to sleep until we're finished here!"

Akira made a concerted effort to keep from sighing. Sae was just...her sister. Same eyes, same cutting glare, same overzealous outbursts when something caught her interest. "Look Miss Niijima, I get it, you're like me, you hear 'the room's totally soundproof,' and you take it as a challenge. However it's just me in here, you don't need to yell, the only thing you're doing is making yourself go red in the face." Same exact sneer when she took his teasing as a serious insult. "Right, so we were up to October 28th, right? Well if you must know, I made my curry that day with apples. Did you know that despite its spicy profile, adding apples to curry prov-"

Sae's open palm slammed into the interrogation room table with all the fury of a thunderclap, those Niijima eyes seeming a shade closer to blood red now as she bared down on him. "DON'T YOU-" Taking a deep breath as she caught herself proving him right, and squeezing her eyes shut as she caught that sly grin of his as he noticed it too. Collecting herself, she continued at an inside volume, "don't test me Kurusu. Now, let's discuss your next target."

Laying his hands flat on the table before him, Akira schooled his expression to grim seriousness, eyes locked squarely on the prosecutor's. Being the guarded woman that she was, it was doubtful she'd keep it in her case notes where it might slip out, he fully expected her to reach into her suit breast pocket to produce her calling card, the moment he'd been mentally preparing himself for. She spun her folder to face him, surprising him with how nonchalant she was about this kind of an attack. Then she flipped over Okumura's file, and stopped his heart.

"Shit," he blurted out without thinking, fists clenching as he kicked himself.

"Ose Sugawa. Now before I go into anything, care to explain that reaction?"

No, he thought, a defeated sigh passing through him as Sae leaned forwards, eager to see how deep the sudden crack in his collected demeanor lead her. "I remember the important details of this case very specifically," he told her, "seeing as we're short on time, can I give you the abridged version of this one?" He wasn't lying, though for once he wished he was. Of the entire time he'd been in Tokyo, this last month was the one he'd hoped the drugs in his system would wipe away.

"Absolutely not," she responded simply, gutting him. "Up to now I've allowed you to drone on over every asinine detail to help yourself recall the events that transpired, given the effects of the serum they injected you with. Because of that, you've managed to give me a cohesive, though nonsensical, account of the Phantom Thieves' activities. The fact that you do remember this, and want to hide it from me, means I'm going to get everything, or I throw you to the wolves."

Damn. He couldn't afford to start losing her now, he needed her, so she had him by the little personas now. "Point taken," he slumped, not even bothering to negotiate, he needed to tell her, and the sooner he did, the better the chances that she'd trust him. Besides, courage delayed was just cowardice. "What do you need to know?"

Relaxing in her seat, Sae allowed herself to smile, a smug look that Akira knew he sported often, and realized then why people hated him when he did. She had power over him now and she knew it. She didn't even know that her trust was important, she still figured that he was bargaining to lighten his sentence. She just saw him abandon his, to that point, ironclad principles at the first sign of danger, and it delighted her. Her smile came so instantly, so genuinely, that Akira knew that this was something she regularly enjoyed in her interrogations, the feeling of holding power over somebody. I feel like I understand you a little better now, Miss Niijima.

Just as quickly as it had sprung up, Sae buried the sign of pleasure, her lips drawn tight as she adopted a more intense look of thought. She was stumped, as well she should be, nothing about Sugawa lined up with their previous cases. And there was her sister again, trying to maintain that threatening gaze while the fire in her eyes had dimmed, her attention clearly elsewhere as she tried to juggle half a dozen conversations and conjectures in her own head without making so much as a peep. He couldn't help but feel like he'd made these comparisons to Makoto before, but his memory was still too hazy to properly recall. Smiling to himself, and moving before his brain could process how dumb a move this was, he leaned across the table and flicked the prosecutor in the forehead. She blinked, too surprised to even be angry, the same reaction Makoto always had. "You don't need to stop to think about this so much, you have the man with your answers right in front of you."

"You're right," She breathed, "you have a peculiar way of getting people's attention, Kurusu."

"I figured it'd do the trick, it's what I always do to Mako-" Akira bit his lip hard enough to taste iron as he caught the hellish glare Sae was shooting his way, she still wasn't fond of the idea that her sister was his teammate. "-Maaah close friends, of course. And after all this time we've spent together Miss Niijima, I like to think that we've developed the sort of bond that transcends that of the condemned and his law officer, wouldn't you agree?"

She did not, if her utterly unamused sigh was anything to go by. "I need to understand the motivation behind this particular case, after all neither you nor your associates had any connection to Sugawa until he approached you. It would make sense if you had targeted him to protect yourself and your guardian, however one important detail precludes this possibility, you went after him first. You were moving on Sugawa and his organization within the first week of the month, short of you possessing prescience, I can't find anything to explain your preemptive strike."

Akira smiled sadly, any satisfaction he might've gotten from confusing the woman mitigated by thoughts of the month he'd had. "I have told you that we enlisted the services of a psychic, I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss the idea that we could see the future." Seeing the completely serious expression Sae was sporting, he sighed, abandoning the joke. "I wouldn't think too hard about it Miss Niijima, our reasoning is most likely the very first thing you thought of, but dismissed it for being an unprofessional assumption. We were taunting you. If you think that that's unbelievably reckless given the attention on us at the time, as well as incredibly juvenile considering the scope of our actions, then you'd be right on both accounts. However, bringing Sugawa down was a necessary step in the grand scheme of things."

Sae's eyes briefly flickered down, had he guessed wrong? Was the card in her pants pocket? Her head snapped back up, eyes narrowing in suspicion, "'in the grand scheme of things'? What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means you should probably pull out your calling card, Sae, your last two cases didn't happen one after the other, they happened simultaneously." Sae took a sharp breath, though she was careful not to let her face betray any additional shock over the revelation. How cute, she'd wanted to give it a dramatic reveal, a woman after his own heart. Reaching into her suit jacket breast pocket, prompting Akira to mentally high five himself for a successful guess, the prosecutor slid the calling card onto her case notes. "Without a doubt, Miss Niijima, you've been our most unusual target, though certainly nothing beyond our abilities, at least not at first. Our problems really kicked off with you on November 2nd, we were attending a trial of yours that-"

Sae held up a hand for him to stop, pinching the bridge of her nose as she struggled with something. Akira wisely decided to remain silent until she addressed him with a heavy sigh. "I remember, it's not everyday a platoon of high schoolers decide to observe me. To think I believed at the time that Makoto had simply dragged you all along with her while she came to see me, when in fact she'd brought the Phantom Thieves right to my doorstep." Sae paused a moment, her hands tightening as if the mere mention of her sister was putting her on edge.

Then she was all business again, her eyes determined and confident. "Now seems an appropriate time to address this," opening the manila folder on Sugawa, Sae produced a number of photographs, fanning them out over the open table. Akira didn't even have time to properly examine them before Sae began speaking again. "In addition to your actions in this...Metaverse, you've been exceptionally active in the real world as well, accruing several additional charges of various crimes to add to the already extensive list being levied against you. Additionally, over the past month, your mental state has reportedly shown a marked change, leading you to seek harm upon both yourself, and those closest to you. As of this moment, these are only accusations, should we investigate further, that will change. I want an explanation, Kurusu, in your own words, even I don't know the validity of these charges, so we won't skip ahead several days to the trial, I want this story from the beginning."

Akira grimaced, clutching his head in both hands as he sucked in a deep breath. "From the beginning eh? Well Sae, I was born at an incredibly young age-"

"I do not, have the patience for more of your idiotic jokes," she growled, her nails raking over the steel tabletop as her hands balled to fists.

"Fine, fine. Your reports are true, and since you're apparently going to be questioning my mental integrity now Sae, I know just where to start. I'll spare you the 29th, our entire day was scouting your palace, and spoilers, we do return to it later in the week, so you're not missing anything. It's been hell this past month, Sae, and for all intents and purposes it started on October 30th, when I made the mistake of completing part of my rehab."

October 30th. 9:31 PM

Shibuya Central Street

A heavy, relentless rain pelted the busy streets of Shibuya, the water sinking into depressions in the well-worn roads, creating a thousand rippling puddles to reflect the blazing neon that split the evening shade. Akira Kurusu, taking note of the hunched backs and squinted eyes of passerby in flux around him, was once more thankful for the protective screen of his thick glasses as he was merely treated to the delightful view. He allowed himself once again to take in the city around him, so unlike the tranquil countryside and so...alive. Such a busy daytime here, and night saw nearly every street much like this one, bathed in the spectrum of red and gold hues promising any service a soul could desire.

And of course, the one of velvet, of which he couldn't desire less.

The sobering thought snapped Akira away from his sightseeing. Coming to a sudden halt in the middle of the street, he allowed several people to roughly shoulder past him, ignoring their accusatory glares as he regarded the puddle at his feet, glowing that ghostly blue, as if it had personally betrayed him. He stood now at the mouth of his least favorite alley in the city, and a mere cursory glance was all he needed to confirm what awaited him; Caroline, the Inquisitor as he called her, was there.

Absent from her usual perch atop the Velvet Room's door, the Warden instead stood at attention directly in front of the iron bars, a mask of grim contemplation replacing her sadistic smirk. The cold, almost spectral green neon of Untouchable casting a harsh spotlight on her slight frame, throwing her single, golden eye into sharp relief.

Akira wasn't looking to thicken the already humid autumnal air with tension, and so set off towards her at a brisk pace. Yet despite his best intentions, he found that the distance seemed to only grow as he moved, the trek of mere seconds stretching into what felt like entire minutes as the city around him seemed to eke to a halt. The pounding of rain and steady footfalls, the hum of neon and the dull rumble of Tokyo's ever present subways, all seemed to dim, buried beneath the pounding of his heart, which now rang in his ears. He noticed then that the glow of the Velvet Room's door cast a shadow over the Warden that extended all the way to his feet, her actual minuscule height doing little to assuage his fears as he glimpsed the veritable giant that was her shadow.

Trying to combat the lump in his throat, he spoke first. "Caroline." The girl blinked in surprise, as if stirring from a daze. As her eye locked with his she quickly smothered the weakness with a maniacal grin.

"Inmate!" She greeted, a bit too enthused for Akira's liking. "It's impolite to keep our master waiti-" She stopped suddenly, seeming to look through him, her face once more a grim mask of resolution. "So Inmate," Akira shuddered, as the Warden spoke, he felt a sudden splitting ache in his skull. "I see you've brought for us the results of your penal labor," keening to the chilling words of the Warden, Seth broke free of the prison Akira had built for him in the depths of his mind, effortlessly overwhelming the weakened presence of Arsene that Akira always held close.

Reclaiming his dominion over the foolish mortal that dared to bear his mask, Seth glared at the girl before him, snarling at the defiant smirk she offered him, but reigning himself in as he sensed the power she possessed, easily dwarfing his own in this weak body. He felt a strong sense of terror from his host at the child, he lacked courage and discipline to face that which frightened him, and still he refused the gifts that Seth could give him. Seth felt his disdain for the human boy grow further, it was high time that he take the helm for good. With a mere thought he forced the boy back to the depths of his own mind, to that ramshackle prison he'd made in an attempt to bind a god to his will. Seth looked once more to the girl, and as he felt the rich freedom of his mind being clear now of obstacles, he laughed, a deep, rough sound that revealed his sinister intent. Pulling an arm back, he willed the almighty light of that wretch Horus to his palm, he'd bring this kit to her knees!

...

Caroline observed the inmate as Seth overtook him, saw the brute rage that coursed through him, the hate the persona expressed over being bound tickled her. Yet when he took a step back, raising his arms as if to use his power there in reality, she decided to make it known how powerless Seth really was. Raising her baton overhead, prepared to punish the foolish deity, she cackled. Then stopped herself. She watched how his jaw clenched, his open palm balled into a fist, and finally that azure flame spark through those vacant eyes, and her inmate was himself once more. She smirked, angling her hips and offering the once more lucid boy her piercing glare.

"Well done Inmate, that persona was designed to test your control over your arsenal. I'll admit, I thought that it would be a bit too much for you."

"Th...thanks!" He replied, a bit too forceful as he tried without success to appear more in control than he was. Caroline smirked, he never ceased to amuse or amaze, this Trickster of theirs. With a quick crack of her baton against the bars of the Velvet Room, she ushered her charge inside, making sure to deliver a sharp kick from behind to move him along.

...

As Akira tumbled into the depths of the Velvet Room, he pondered the glimpse he'd gotten into the mind of Seth. Both powerful and enigmatic, the god of storms and chaos possessed staggering confidence, allowing not even Caroline, whom he recognized as stronger, to give him pause.

And all my strength can be yours, if you'd only don my mask child.

Feeling the amorphous mass of Seth's will whispering to him, seeking once more to manifest itself, Akira clenched his teeth in a surge of effort and forced the persona back into his prison. He summoned Arsene once more, settling at last as his faculties returned; he was in the Velvet Room, his own spirit of rebellion filling him again, his own mind in control.

"Ah, at last you return to us Trickster," the deep, rolling timbre of Igor's voice instantly set Akira on edge. He was never altogether trusting of the strange man, between the company he kept of his Wardens, and the nigh perverse pleasure he seemed to derive from Akira's suffering. "But I know you didn't come before us seeking my counsel, that pleasure is reserved for another time. Girls!"

As prompted, the Twin Wardens appeared at their place in front of Akira's cell, grinning down at him as he sat before them. Yet this was fundamentally different to all their previous encounters, these weren't expressions of twisted glee at his behest, there was a glimmer of real pleasure in their eyes. Caroline was the first to break the silence.

"To think, this same boy and his worthless personas actually managed this," cocking her hips and jabbing a finger at Akira, she spoke, her grin never leaving her lips, "I guess I can compliment you this once Inmate!"

"You know, you've far exceeded our expectations of you Inmate," Justine affirmed. "And though it may be ill fitting to say this as Wardens, we are immensely impressed with you." Then with a wry smile, she added, "I wouldn't allow Caroline's frigid nature to fool you Inmate, she's been eagerly pacing about waiting for your return since you called forth Seth, seems she's quite invested in you."

"WHAT!? LIES!" Caroline declared, incredulous, going so far in her anger as to strike her baton across the bars of Akira's cell, causing him to jump in fright, but her malice was aimed squarely at her twin it seemed, whose only response was a faint, knowing twinkle in her eye. Glancing between the two, Akira noticed that Caroline's cheeks were indeed flush, embarrassed in her denial, and he immediately felt some of his fear of the strange girl dissipate. Perhaps….Perhaps these girls truly were invested in his growth, perhaps they really did care for him, though it hardly helped to assuage his fear of the tasks they assigned, the acts they asked him to commit…

"Hehe," Igor's low chuckle pierced the din, instantly commanding the room's attention as he changed his crossed legs. "It seems, dear Trickster, that your Wardens too, are quite taken with you," both the girls blushed at the remark, but maintained their composure in the face of their master. "An intriguing development to be sure, but you are to become far more interesting in the coming weeks. You've done well to complete your assignments here, but this is hardly the winter of your life as the Trickster, no, now is merely the spring, for now it is time for your powers to truly bloom. Girls! The reward." The Twin Wardens both turned halfway towards Akira, giving him a haunting side profile of both their golden eyes that made him burrow his chin a bit deeper into the cleft of his knees.

"Inmate, as your reward, we have convened with our master, and convinced him to grant you a special privilege."

"That you may fuse personas that are beyond your power. Your success in binding Seth to you has displayed for us that it is within your ability to tame such beings."

"Hehe," again Igor's chuckle demanded their attention, and something in that deep rumble told Akira that the man had no such faith in his abilities. "Of course, the binding of these personas bears...a price," Akira shuddered at the eerie sense of glee that practically dripped off Igor's tongue as he said this, those bloodshot eyes of his no doubt envisioning some twisted pain for the inmate. "Girls, debrief him on the extent of his newfound power." With that command, the strange man vanished in a blink of shadow, leaving Akira alone with the Wardens, who turned to face him fully now, their arms crossed as their heavy gaze fell upon him.

"So, Inmate, fairly self explanatory," Caroline began, "you need only picture the new persona in your mind's eye, and should it's power exceed your own, well then…" She trailed off then, her brow suddenly creased with a strange look of discontent.

"You must pay the price for that disparity," Justine finished smoothly, eyeing her twin knowingly, "in yen, of course, no small sums either." Justine regarded Akira coldly, ignoring her Twin's discomfort. "Any questions, Inmate?"

After a moment's deliberation of the odd role reversal the girls' had undergone, he merely shook his head.

The girls exchanged a look, both nodding to some unspoken question between them, then both looked at Akira, both releasing a pent up breath, relaxing and allowing those coy smiles of theirs that Akira was taking a liking to to return. Then, the impossible, a slight giggle!

"Well then, now that we've finished all that Master's asked of us…" Caroline remarked with that grin of hers.

"We can get on with the next task we shall be assigning you." Akira gulped, heart racing as he considered the pain of having to create yet more personas. Paging through her clipboard, Justine smiled softly, "there is nothing, you've fulfilled every duty available to you." Akira allowed himself to laugh as he realized that Justine, the ever stiff and formal twin, had just cracked a joke at him. What was with these girls when their master wasn't around? They became almost...normal. Shaking his head as he decided to consider this another time, he turned his attention back to Justine, who was still speaking. "Therefore, as the ones who rule over power, our role is…." Justine stopped, silently mouthing those words again as Akira and Caroline watched her worriedly. "Why did I say that?" She asked herself, a manic tone in her voice now, before she abruptly doubled over, clutching at her head.

Without thinking, Akira shot to his feet, looping his arms between the bars of his cell to catch the Warden as she stumbled. "Are you okay!?" He asked, handling her as if she were made of porcelain as she steadied herself.

Crack!

Caroline's baton cracked across his fingers, shattering his grip on Justine and forcing him to stumble back into his cell, his breathing ragged as he fought back the cry that arose at the blinding pain. The Inquisitor merely regarded him with a hostile glare before slumping down on her knees to comfort Justine.

"I-It is nothing...just...my head," Justine groaned, still holding her head in her hands. "Ugh...these memories…" Her eye began moving frantically, darting between Caroline, her clipboard, Akira, and then finally to the desk where their master previously sat. She placed her head against Caroline's shoulder, dejected. "Just...what are we?"

"Are you okay?" Akira asked again, ignoring the pain in his hand, and the fact that he couldn't even bend his fingers. Caroline shot him another glare that spelled his death quite plainly; he immediately clammed up, simply observing the scene before him.

"Don't worry," Caroline consoled her, running the back of her hand against Justine's cheek. "This has happened to me too." Akira was taken aback by the tenderness in her manner, the readily apparent closeness in the girls' bond.

Panting heavily, Justine rose slowly to her feet with the assistance of her twin. "My apologies," she spoke out loud, addressing both her spectators. Giving Justine's shoulder another comforting squeeze, Caroline whipped around, her baton crashing against the bars of Akira's cell, forcing him to bite his tongue to keep his teeth from chattering for fear of the look his Warden was leveling at him.

"You've upset her now, Inmate," Caroline began, the hand gripping her baton quivering with barely suppressed anger, "you can't just keep that worthless mouth of your shut for five minutes! I'm gonna-"

"Don't shift the blame onto him, Caroline," the warden pulled back her baton as she faced her twin's admonishment, cheeks flush with shame now. The Inquisitor folded her arms, her limbs unusually animated as she tried without success to burn through the furious energy that had just coursed through her; her fingers drumming against her arms, foot tapping a mad rhythm that rang through the now empty prison. All was quiet between them as the air was filled only with the heavy breathing of the still angered Caroline, her eye never so much as blinking as she stared down Akira, obviously quite hard pressed to relent in matters of her twin's well being. "Caroline," Justine warned.

Caroline sighed, defeated. "Fine. You know, time and again I find you're more trouble than you're worth Inmate." Despite her harsh words, a soft smile cracked Caroline's dour expression, "but I guess I can grant you that with everything you've gone through. Heh, we're really going soft, aren't we?"

Contented that Caroline had been calmed, Justine gave Akira a conspiratory wink, then, with a wry grin, added, "Indeed, though it's no great mystery why." Caroline cocked an eyebrow at this, at which Justine snickered. "You're trying, and failing I might add, to conceal how much his concern pleases you."

"Again with this?" Caroline grit her teeth, standing rigid as she stared down Justine, who refused to back down with that smug grin of hers. When she turned her gaze to Akira, and realized she was blushing again for the umpteenth time that day, she growled, tugging her hat down so that its brim covered her eye. "You can talk you know!" Akira jumped a bit as he realized she was addressing him, turning to look up at Justine, who nodded in affirmation, he cleared his throat.

"I'm sorry if what I'm doing is somehow bringing up painful memories, for you. For both of you." Justine's smile widened at the declaration, glancing over at Caroline, who now seemed to be burrowing into herself, she realized she'd have to carry the conversation now.

"Well Inmate, while you are without a doubt a problem child, both for us and your own world as well, you've done untold amounts of good for both as well. Color us impressed Inmate, I believe you truly do have what it takes to stop the ruin."

Akira felt warmth bloom in his cheeks from the praise he was being heaped with. Scratching his head, he responded with a sheepish, "leave it to me!" He caught a glimpse of Caroline's lambent, yellow eye as she peeked up at him, then promptly burrowed her head into her chest, making a peculiar sound that had Justine cackling like a hyena.

"I do believe you've broken her Inma-"

"Enough!" Caroline shouted, her anger back with a vengeance. "Return to your world of waking dreams!"

Akira cocked his head, "wha-"

"OUT!"

All Akira remembered seeing was a bright azure flame burning in the pit of Caroline's eye before he was suddenly tumbling back through the peculiar mindscape between his world and the Velvet Room. He returned to himself with a start, taking a moment to collect his bearings. He was in the Untouchable alleyway, yet oddly the Velvet Room door was now absent. Despite the trepidation he'd entered with, Akira found himself chuckling at the sisterly quarreling he'd witnessed, no doubt the Twins had to work something out between the two of them, so perhaps it was for the best he left for the day. Stretching his arms as he finally stood after what felt like an eternity, he made a quick mental check that Seth was secure in his prison, Arsene at the forefront, and the rest of his personas on standby.

Satisfied, he pulled his phone from his pocket. Seeing the time, he beat a hasty retreat from the alley, he'd need to make it to the station quickly, the final train to Yongen-Jaya was departing soon, and he'd have a hard enough time explaining to Morgana how he took a two and a half hour night time walk just to clear his head. On the bright side, tomorrow was sunday, and he had plans to hang out with some of the Phantoms tomorrow, and it'd be for the best that he didn't show up exhausted.

Stopping one more time at the mouth of the alley, he cast one last glance back to where the prison door normally stood, and said a silent prayer to whoever may be listening that he wouldn't have to return there anytime soon, for no doubt this would be as pleasant as things ever got. With that out of the way, Akira took a deep breath, and rejoined the surging tide of bodies making their way through Shibuya.

...

Hello Everyone, this is my first time posting anything on this site, so I apologize if the formatting is a bit wonky, it's been giving me enough trouble that my spellchecking might not be as thorough as I'd like.

This story is something that I've been working on for quite awhile now, since my brother and I beat the game a few months ago and I expressed that, while I thought the game was incredible, that there were a lot of problems with it, to name the ones I'm actually trying to address, how rarely the game actually acknowledges your relationships, as well as several problems I had specifically with Sae's Palace. My brother told me that if I didn't like it I should try to write something myself that tries to juggle all the elements that Persona does while still being any good, and surprisingly I actually worked up the motivation to do it. What was originally meant to be an intro that lasted a couple pages to get to the actual point of this story, has since turned into an 80000+ word behemoth on my desktop, that I was honestly never planning to post, but at the urging of my brother, who says he's never seen me enjoy writing something as much as I have this story, I'm putting it up.

One of the things I fell in love with in Persona 5 was all the little details that the game is absolutely riddled with, from the way each menu page features a different Joker pose, to NPC conversations following certain Mementos targets, or how Akira's idle animations change with your proficiency level, because having those kinds of insignificant details in anything to me shows a lot of love on the creator's part, which always makes things better. So in writing this, I tried to fill it with as many of those kinds of details as I could, to give it as distinct a character as the game it's celebrating. It's very different from anything else that I usually write, so I'd very much appreciate any time you can take to leave feedback for me, but even if you don't, thank you so much for at least giving this a read.