This story is a non-profit, fan-based work of fiction.
Similarities between characters or events to persons living or dead are purely coincidental.
Sailor Moon is owned by Toei Animation and Naoko Takeuchi.
Persona 5 is owned by P-Studio and Atlus.
Please support the official releases.
The world is not as it should be.
It's filled with distortion,
and "ruin" can no longer be avoided.
Those who oppose fate and desire change...
From time to time, they were referred to as Tricksters.
?/?/?
Kneeling atop of a chandelier, a young man looks down upon the confusion within the massive casino below. The wailing alarm sent the patrons running in all directions, bumping into and tripping over each other's feet. Not helping to calm this chaos are men in black suits, with sunglasses covering their eyes, that have begun to patrol the area.
"It's show time," the young man says to himself as he stands up, smirking as he does so. Within no time at all, he begins to jump from chandelier to chandelier, while never breaking his smirk. The patrons below start to take notice of his presence, but they have a hard time keeping track of where he is going. Almost everyone in the crowd begins to look around the building in fear, trying to find whoever is jumping around.
"There's someone here," one patron says as he looks around frantically, losing sight of the black blur he spotted a second ago.
As the young man keeps moving from one location to another, jumping from chandelier to chandelier, he notices the men in black suits below are searching for him. It's time for me to make my debut. He jumps to yet another chandelier, but he doesn't immediately jump to another. Instead, he stands up, holds a wire with his right hand for support and turns towards the crowd, looking upon them with his dark, grey eyes.
The patrons look up and they see a figure bathed in the light of the full moon. He is no longer a black blur to them. They can see his features clearly. His unkempt, raven hair, his cocky smirk, his black tailcoat with three coattails that almost reaches his ankles, flowing with the breeze, his grey collared shirt, his bright red gloves and his black and white domino mask are on full display.
"Hey, up there!" A patron below yells out, as he points to the young man. The men in black suits that are spread around the casino are now focused on the young man and are beginning to converge on him.
Satisfied with his performance, he leaps from the chandelier and continues his game of cat and mouse. I've got the security's attention, now I just need a safe place for this so the others can collect it, he thinks as he quickly glances to the silver, metallic briefcase he has wrapped in his left arm. He then spots a walkway overlooking the casino, with an entrance to a ventilation shaft on the wall covered with a metal grate. That'll do.
Wasting no time, he runs to the walkway with the briefcase clutched in both hands. He stretches his arms before him, holding the briefcase like a shield, and dives towards his destination. He is upside down by the time he lands, with the briefcase still in his hands. He then somersaults forward to the ventilation shaft's entrance and into an upright position, bringing the briefcase into the air before slamming it firmly on the ground in front of him.
Taking his hands off the briefcase and grabs the metallic grating covering the vent. Taking no effort at all, he rips off the grating and tosses it away. He then takes the briefcase and throws it into the shaft. And my job is done.
He jumps back up to a chandelier, he then places his left index finger on a communication device that is inserted in his left ear. "The security is focused on me and I have hidden the treasure in a vent near my current location," he says.
"Good. Now get running!" Stated a boyish voice coming from the device.
"This is our only chance!" Another male's voice says with a hint of charisma in his voice.
"Stay calm! You can get away now!" Says a young girl in a tone that contradicts her advice.
"How can we stay calm? We can't escape with this place swarming with shadows!" A girl exclaims in a voice so high pitched, it makes the raven-haired man slightly flinch.
"Don't panic Dreamer. We'll get through this." Assured another female with a calm, tomboyish tone.
"We'll retrieve the briefcase on our end." Spoke a serious sounding girl. After she said that, the young man hears a mysterious transmission. He believes he hears a man talking, but the quality of the transmission is so poor, he can't make anything out.
"Hm...? What was that...?" The young girl asks in a concerned tone. It seems his teammates heard that too.
"Ignore it for now. We have to focus on our current situation." Urged an intelligent sounding girl.
"Don't worry about us." The boyish voice says, "Just concentrate on getting away!"
"Right," the young man replies as he starts moving towards an emergency exit on a walkway not too far away. Once again jumping from chandelier to chandelier as he does so.
"But I have to say," says the boyish voice, "showing yourself above that crowd earlier was an excellent move. Nice work as always Joker." The young man known as Joker chuckles at the compliment, while he's still on the move.
"It was completely unnecessary. It was nothing but him stroking his ego." Another girl sneered.
"Lay off!" Exclaims a girl with a voice sounding like the serious girl's voice, but with a more giddy tone. "I don't expect you to appreciate that awesome display of acrobatics. The jumps, the speed and the execution. It was so cool!"
Joker smiles softly as he keeps moving, pleased with her response. "I'm glad you enjoyed it," he replies.
"I bet Skull wouldn't pull it off that smoothly." Says an energetic girl.
"This happens because you have no sense for aesthetics." Replies a boy with a deep voice.
"Nobody asked you, Inari!" Shouted a vulgar sounding boy with a hint of annoyance.
Joker could not help but chuckle at this exchange as he makes a dash to the emergency exit, but he comes to a screeching halt as he sees men in black suits emerge from his escape route. "There he is!" Shouts one of the agents.
"Damn it!" Joker exclaims to his teammates with a look of concern. "My route has been cut off!"
"There is another one you can take." Assures the intelligent girl. "It's to your left. Head there now!"
"Right!" Joker replies, regaining his smirk as he moves towards a series of arcs that lead to his new route. He begins to hop across each arc to reach his destination, with each arc lighting up as he hops on them.
"Ok, the enemy's focus is on him." Says the boyish voice. "Looks like the rest of us can slip away."
"Everyone remember where we're meeting up?" Asks a girl with a hint of elegance in her voice.
"No worries," the young girl replied, "I can guide you all."
After hopping the series of arcs, Joker jumps up and vaults over a railing and lands onto an indoor balcony. He makes a mad dash to a flight of stairs in front of him but once again, he stops dead in his tracks upon seeing more men in black suits. This time the men morph into more muscular forms, with black skin, yellow eyes and blue masks covering their faces.
Joker has a look of concern for a brief moment until another mutated agent jumps in behind him. Joker turns to the muscular monster as he thinks, Looks like I'll have to fight my way out.
"Take 'em down, Joker!" Exclaims the giddy girl, encouraging him. A gesture which causes him to grin like a madman.
"With pleasure!" Joker affirms as he leaps forward to the guard in front of him, landing on his back. Joker grabs the guard's mask and with almost no effort rips it off. He backflips off the guard's back as the guard turns into a pile of black and red goo. Emerging from the goo is a tall, mechanical, Minotaur-like monstrosity.
"Comparing power levels..." The young girl says as a combat knife appears in Joker's right hand. "No threat. Get 'em Joker!"
Joker smirks as he places his left hand over his mask and blue flames then begin to appear over his mask. "Persona!" Joker shouts as the blue flames grow more restless, but the blue flames suddenly dissipate, leaving Joker in a state of fear and concern. "Damn it, not again!" He shouts, "Why now?"
"What's wrong Joker?" The giddy girl asks Joker with concern in her voice.
"My gun jammed!" He lied. Joker couldn't think of a better excuse as he was too busy dodging the mechanical Minotaur's attacks.
"This'll hurt!" The mechanical Minotaur yells out as he raises his legs up, now standing on his tail. Suddenly, a pillar of fire erupts from underneath Joker, being unable to dodge it.
"Ugh!" Joker yells in pain, but since he didn't get burns from the attack, he is able to quickly walk it off. He was used to being attacked with these types of attacks, but he wants to make sure to return the pain back to his foe. "Take this!" He yells, dashing towards the Minotaur with his knife in his right hand. He begins to continuously swing his knife at the monster as his body dances around, slashing him multiple times. Once finished with his attack, Joker rolls backwards, away from the Minotaur and into a kneeling position, pulling out a pistol while he is doing so. Joker aims and fires at his enemy, causing the Minotaur to fall over.
I have an opening. Joker thinks as he stands up. His gun disappears into flames. He once again places his left hand on his mask, "Persona!" He yells once more, with the blue flames reappearing, but this time his mask is engulfed by the blue flames. The flames grew larger, then a large creature emerged from the flames. It was a darkened figure, with its only noticeable features was its crimson face and its large wings. Joker's smirk came back at the appearance of the beast behind him.
"Ravage them!" Joker yells out. Swiftly the creature flies towards the downed Minotaur, and performs a roundhouse kick, using its bladed heels to slice the monster in half, with it disintegrating immediately after.
"Ok, pull out before their backup gets here." The young girl informs Joker. The winged creature then disappears into blue flames, with Joker's mask reappearing on his face as the flames finally dissipating. His knife also disappears into blue flames.
"Good." The boyish voice says to Joker. "You defeated them with ease!"
"More of them!?" Exclaims the young girl. "Be careful!"
Suddenly three more guards materialise right in front of Joker, with one of them wielding an electrified baton. He lunges forward and swings the baton but Joker manages to dodge the attack with a backflip. He briefly glances at the guards, taunting them with a smirk, before jumping up to a higher floor.
"Joker, behind you!" Says the young girl. "Go through that door!" He nods as follows his team mate's directions. He is lead through a staff passageway, with signs plastered all over the walls, the writing on them that alludes to winning and success. Joker sneaks past more men in black suits as he moves towards his destination. He sneaks past a window peering in a security room. One of the people their states that Joker isn't the only one there and to kill them on sight. Joker continues toward his exit, climbing up a few flights of stairs, with more signs placed everywhere on the walls around him.
Joker then exits through a door, coming to a stop on a railing that prevented him from falling to the floor below. "Something wrong?" The young girl asks him. "The exit should be up ahead."
"Through there...?" Joker asks back, as he looks ahead to a massive window, made of stained glass.
"Nnh...! That's just how it is." Answers the young girl, sounding slightly apologetic. "After that commotion, the bottom floors-"
"-completely closed off." Said the energetic girl, interrupting the young girl. "Hey, can you make it!?"
Joker smiles at the question, taking it as a challenge. "Over There!" He hears a man's voice yells out. He turns his head to see that three men in black suits are behind him, aiming their pistols at him. "There's nowhere to run!" The men move closer to Joker, never aiming their guns away from him.
Joker smiles at them, he then hops on to the railing, and runs on it, towards the massive window. The patrons below notice him run, as his trench coat flows in the wind like a cape. He stops in front of the window, looking towards the men in black suits who are running towards him. He smirks at them, "See ya!" He yells out to them, taunting them. Joker then leaps towards the window, placing his arms in front of his head to brace himself. He shatters the glass. He emerges outside of the casino free falling, unharmed from smashing into the glass.
"Hmph... What a show-off." The young girl scoffed.
"You're so reckless. You know that?" The energetic girl scolds him.
"But it's so cool!" The giddy girl compliments Joker.
Joker positions himself upright as approaches the ground. He lands on his feet, followed by a roll to lessen the impact. He gets up from his crouched position but before he could make his escape, he was blinded by a light. Raising an arm in front of his face to block out the light. As he begins to see a little more clearly, he lets out a gasp of shock. In front of him are people in body armour, wielding riot shields and red and blue lights belonging to police cars. They were waiting for him.
"Enemies, here!?" The young girl exclaims before all of his teammates yell over one another, concerned for their cornered leader.
"Capture him!" One of the cops yells out. Joker sprints to his right, with the officers closing in. The spotlights continue to tail Joker. He then sees a fire escape ladder. He jumps up to it and begins to climb it. He looks down to the officers, smirking and chuckling at them as he climbs the ladder. Sensing he is at the top of the ladder, Joker looks up but is shocked to see that more cops are waiting for him. One of the cops smacks Joker with the butt of his assault rifle, causing him to fall off the ladder and into the sea of police officers.
As soon as he lands, the cops waste no time in restraining him. "Suspect secured!" Yells out one of the cops holding Joker down. He hears footsteps approach him. He looks up and sees a man in a suit, looking down at him.
"Didn't expect to find some kid." The man says. He kneels down, then pulls Joker's head slightly of from the ground by his hair. "You have your teammate to thank for this. You were sold out."
Joker gasps aloud at this revelation. But he doesn't get to think about it for long as the cops restraining him move to place him in handcuffs.
"Suspect confirmed! Cuff him!"
November 2016
The leader of the 'Phantom Thieves' is arrested
In a small, dark room, handcuffed to a chair and surrounded by three men in suits, the young man sits unconscious. The suit he had on in the casino has been replaced by his school uniform, dirtied where the men have kicked him. Empty syringes litter the floor around him. Bruises and scratch marks cover his face, and his wrists are rubbed raw where the handcuffs dug into his flesh. There's no doubt he's been tortured.
"I guess the drugs were too strong." Says one of the men in suits, walking up to the unconscious boy. "Wake him up." A second man throws water from a bucket at the young man. The young man then slowly opens his eyes. He looks up and takes in his surroundings while shivering from the freezing water that was just splashed on him. "No dosing off." Says the spook. The young man then feels that his hands are cuffed together. He begins to panic, his breathing becomes rapid and shallow. He tries to free his hands from the cuffs but isn't successful.
"You still don't get it, do you?" The young man stops struggling as he looks to the spook in front of him. "Give it up!" He yells as he kicks the chair over, knocking the young man off it. As he lands on the cold, wet floor; he lets out a shout of pain. Before he could reorientate himself, the spook places his foot on his head, pinning it to the floor. "Come on, cooperate." He demanded. "Or do you want another shot?"
The young man, with his head still pinned to the floor, looks towards the security camera one of the corners of the room. Wondering why these men are treating him this way in front of the device. "Huh?" The spook wonders, turning his head towards the direction the young man was looking at, "What about the camera?" He takes his foot off the young man's head, knees down, and pulls his head up by grabbing him by the hair. "Are you thinking it can be used as video evidence?"
"What do you mean?" The young man asks the spook, struggling to get the words out of his mouth.
"You still haven't figured it out?" The spook replied, annoyed. He slams the young boy's head down to the floor and stands back up. "There are no laws here that will protect criminals like you!" The spook shouts out as he kicks the young man in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him. He violently coughs and wheezes, desperately trying to get oxygen to return to his lungs.
Ignoring the sounds of pain on the floor, the spook walks towards the third man in a suit, who hands him a clipboard that has a few sheets of paper attached. He then starts reading aloud its contents, "Obstruction of justice, blackmail, defamation, possession of weapons." He turns his head to the young man, who is still writhing in pain from the kick, "Murder too, yeah? Talk about the works." He says sarcastically as he turns his body towards the young man. " To think all of those crimes were led by a punk like this. And you seemed to be enjoying every second of it."
I was... enjoying it...? The young man thinks, trying to remember what happened before he ended up here. Every thing's hazy... I can't remember...
The spook shakes his head, "You should know your place." He looks once more at the clipboard. "So, what's your name?" He asks, looking back at the young man.
"Huh?"
"Your name, you little shit! What's your fucking name!?" He yells, demanding the young man answer the question. The young man looks down at the floor in response. "Well, if you're not willing to talk, then your friends will suffer instead."
The young man shoots his eyes up after hearing that, "What?". This response causes the main spook to walk up to him and grab him by his hair once again.
"'He's bluffing!'" The spook sneered, "'They only caught me!' Is that what you want to say, right? That's fine. It's up to you, whether you believe me or not."
I can't put my friends through this, especially her. A blurry image flashes in his mind of a young woman with long, blond hair, tied with a red bow.
"My..." The young man struggles to get the words out of his mouth. "... My name is Ren Amamiya."
The spook lets go of Ren, letting him drop in the puddle of water. He turns towards the other two men in suits and motions his head. They move to Ren with one of them kneeling down and unlocking his handcuffs. The two men then grab his arms then throws him on his arse. Ren rubs his marked wrist with his opposite hand as if he's trying to comfort himself.
The main spook walks up to him and shows him the clipboard, "Sign here, Amamiya." He demanded. "It's a confession under your name." Ren instantly swats the clipboard away from his face. "I see." The spook stands up, "I need your hand to sign this, but..." He then stomps on Ren's leg, he screams out in pain. "... I don't care if you end up losing a leg." Declared the spook. He takes his foot off Ren's leg and hands him the clipboard.
Ren takes the clipboard. The spook gives him a pen to write with. As Ren is taking the pen, the spook moves close to him, invading his personal space. "Don't expect to walk out of here in one piece." the spook threatens Ren. "We're going to make you understand; one must take full responsibility for their actions." The spook moves out of Ren's space as he grabs the pen and signs his name.
The sound of high heels echoes throughout the underground hallway, coming from a young woman wearing a business suit. She walks down the end of the hallway, her mauve red eyes locked on a metal door. She is then stopped by one of the men guarding it; a well-dressed detective.
"Excuse me, but this area is off-"
"I'm Niijima from the Public Prosecutors Office." The woman interrupts.
"The Prosecutor's Office? What business do you have here?" The detective makes no attempt to hide his annoyance.
"Just let me through; it's urgent." Niijima also makes no attempt at hiding her annoyance either. After all, she has a job to do. "There's something I need to confirm with the suspect."
"Niijima-san, I believe this case is no longer in your jurisdiction. Besides-" Before the detective can say anything else, he is interrupted by an older detective, coming from behind Niijima.
"Are you Prosecutor Sae Niijima?" He asks. Sae turns to face him and nods; answering his question. He hands her a mobile phone, the screen showing that a call is on hold. "There's a call from your director. Hurry and get it over with. To be frank, you're being an inconvenience." She held back a scowl as she took the phone from the smug detective. She took the call off hold and immediately heard her boss let out an annoyed sigh.
"I thought I ordered you to stand by." The director isn't hiding his annoyance either.
"I'm responsible for this case, yet I'm not being allowed an interrogation!?" She begins to shout as the last of her patience disappears.
"I'm calling because I knew you'd bring it up."
"I will not be convinced until I confirm it for myself. This is my case."
"I never win when you're like this," the director replies in defeat, "so I went ahead and cleared it with them. Good luck, though I won't be expecting much." She hangs up the phone and hands it back to the smug detective. She begins to walk towards the interrogation room.
"Ah, Prosecutor. I forgot to mention something important." The older detective says, causing Sae to stop and turn slightly to him. "Your time will be cut short. We can't permit you to talk with him for long." She looks down in annoyance at this revelation. "It's for your own safety. His methods are unknown. After all, we don't know if it's safe to simply meet and speak with him."
"I understand." She responds, not being able to argue with that logic. She continues to the door to the interrogation room. The police officer guarding the door opens the door, revealing Ren sitting on a chair, in front of a metal table. He is leaning on the table, groaning in pain. The sight of this slightly disturbs her, but walks in the room, with the guard closing the door behind her, leaving only her and Ren in the barely lit room.
"I didn't expect it to be you." She says to him, walking up to the empty seat in front of the table and sits down.
"Where are the others?" Ren softly asks her as he looks up, revealing the multiple scratches and bruises on his face.
"They weren't caught." She replies to him, as she takes out a large folder from her handbag, that she placed on the table. "You're the only one who's been apprehended."
He lets out a sigh of relief. Thank god, they're safe. His thoughts are interrupted by a sharp pain in his head. He grabs his head and groans in pain. Sae reaches over in concern, only to notice the floor littered with empty syringes.
"Those bastards." She snapped. She looks back at Ren, still grasping his head with his hand. She begins to explain to him, "Can you hear me? It seems you been through a lot. Almost anything can happen here, and I can't stop them. That's why I need you to answer me honestly. I don't have much time either." Ren looks up at her as she continues, "What was your objective? Why did you cause such a major incident? I didn't think it was a prank from the get-go, but I couldn't assemble a case for prosecution. It's because I couldn't figure out the method behind it."
"Of course you couldn't." Ren finally replies, almost whispering his words.
"True," Sae says back. "There's no way I could be convinced of such a 'world' just by reading the reports. Although considering what has happened in the past few years, maybe it doesn't sound as far fetched." She flicks some of her ashen brown hair out of her eyes. "At least you're coherent. When and where did you find out about that world? How is it even possible to steal another's heart? Tell me your account of everything. Start from the very beginning."
"I-" Is all Ren can painfully say before being interrupted but a young, feminine voice.
"You are held captive. A prisoner of fate to a future that has been sealed in advance." Ren looks up to see that everything around him has disappeared, with the only thing he can see is a shining blue butterfly flying above him. "This is truly an unjust game. Your chances of winning are almost none. But if my voice is reaching you, there may yet be a possibility open to you. I beg you. Please overcome this game, and save the world. The key to victory lies within the memories of your bonds. The truth that you and your friends grasped. It all began that day. When the game was started half a year ago. For the sake of your world's future, as well as your own, you must remember."
The butterfly flies off as everything within the room once again becomes visible to Ren. He looks to Sae and begins to tell his story, feeling slightly more energetic to speak.
"Ok Niijima-san, I will tell you everything."
À Suivre
A/N:
This is my first proper attempt at writing fanfiction. I have not written stories outside of school projects so I won't be the best writer when it comes to this, but I do plan on taking writing classes so I can improve. My main goal at the moment is to at least not take 3 weeks to write a single chapter.
This fic will be a retelling of Persona 5's story with the characters and lore of Sailor Moon integrated, more specifically from the manga where the characters and story are more fleshed out. I will be using Crystal's time period as it lines up with Persona 5.
The narrative itself will have deviations from the canon game both minor and major.
I have kept the prologue familiar because it gives me more time to flesh out the story ahead of time.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy this for now and I hope you will leave any criticism for the story you may have in the comments below.
Also big thanks to the guys at the r/fanfiction discord for helping me get my fic off the ground. You guys were a big help.
Crossposted from AO3