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Akechi ran through the hallways of the Palace, leaving a trail of destruction behind him. Shadows ran towards him, drawing their weapons, only to turn around and run away as Loki materialized and cut them down like a hot knife through butter. The plain terror in their masked forms as they dissolved to nothing went unheard as the pattern repeated itself, over and over again. The security level would rise, only to fall just as quickly as the Shadows that swarmed Akechi met their quick ends.

Meanwhile, Akechi was hardly paying attention to the hell he was raising around him, as his body moved on autopilot through shortcuts he knew so well. Skipping past certain rooms, taking a path meant for employees that wouldn't be found on any map, made it all too easy to avoid annoyances like turning into a mouse. He checked all of the areas the Phantom Thieves might be in, remembering from past visits where they would be able to find each letter of introduction.

As expected, they've already gotten one from the dining hall… Next I'll need to go to the pool… Akechi turned on his heel, his shoes sliding through the carpeted flooring and tearing up fibers. The burning in his lungs felt good as he ran through the hallways, not having to exercise caution as he used to do when he trailed after the thieves in the past. Just as he had been planning, he was the hunter, and they were the prey, and he wasn't going to let them see him sneaking around like he was anything less.

With the first location checked, and his blood pumping, and his heart pounding with anger, Akechi felt exhilarated. He was enraged, and it only made him run harder and faster, attacking his enemies with more ferocity than was necessary as Loki cut them limb from limb and stabbed the Shadows through their masked faces. They were nothing more than faceless minions for him to take out this aggression on.

However, these puny demons weren't what he wanted to take his anger out on. Akechi forced himself to run forward, only killing the Shadows when they dared to block his path. They were useless distractions, keeping him from his dreams and goals and wants. The only dream and goal and want for him that he had left. He reminded himself of it over and over, clenching his fists together until the claws on his gloves began to tear through the fabric. Thinking of that dream and want was all he could bring himself to focus on, reminding himself over and over again of the revenge he sought. The fire in his heart burned bright as memories fueled it like a star.

He was running over the carpeted floors of the Palace, and the next, he would be running on the grassy lawn, a feeling of lost playfulness reminding him of that bitter end on that last day. Hardly anything stood in his way that was worth mentioning anymore. He could sense it as the Shadows barely tried to fight him anymore as he reached the pool. Knowing that, it was all too easy for memories to roam free through his mind as Akechi observed and processed outside information, but never found anything that was enough to break him out of his malaise.

And so Akechi ran, and he ran and ran and ran…


He ran until he had to slow down and stop, leaning over his knees and panting. The muddy grass was soft under his feet, and the air that normally only smelled like car fumes now smelled like rain. It was nice to have the entire yard of the apartment he lived at to himself, though he still didn't know why he was suddenly allowed to do this, when all of the other kids in the building had gone to school like normal.

Before he could question it anymore, his mother came from behind and scooped him up, holding him tightly giggling as rain bounced off of their raincoats and onto each other's skin and hair. It had been too long since Goro remembered seeing his mother smile like this, and he didn't want to think further into that train of thought, wondering if there had ever been a time his mother had been so happy. He knew there must have been, but she had been sick for so many years…

"Hey, my special boy, it's your turn to chase me now!" The woman said, setting Goro on the ground and walking away, not wanting to run and leave her son in the mud. Presenting him with the advantage of speed, Goro took the bait and stopped his sad thoughts, racing at full speed towards his mother, who in turn took off, her skirt dragging and splashing up mud behind her.

Her special boy… It was a new nickname she had seemed to come up with for him that morning when she had woken him up early, yet had shaken her head when he had hopped off of the bed and began getting ready for school.

"Today is a holiday, so you don't have to go to school," the woman explained, smiling sheepishly. Her precious son was smart, and had pointed out that there were no holidays coming up that would let him miss school.

"Well, that just goes for other kids! You see, today is your day, Goro… No, it's our day, that we're going to spend together from start to finish! You… You're the only one that gets a day like this, because you are special to me, and I deserve to spend a special day with my special kid, and you deserve a day off from being special to everyone else!" Finished with her speech, the woman put his backpack on the back of the chair.

Their special day had begun with breakfast together. Goro sat over a plate of pancakes, noticing how incredibly… perfect they were. His mother was not a good cook, and whenever she made something like this, they were always in an imperfect shape, with some being burnt and others runny in the middle. Yet, each of these pancakes were perfect circles, with not a single imperfection, topped with whipped cream and chocolate chips and other things his mother had never been able to afford in the past.

Goro had felt a little bit sick looking at them, glancing up in concern at his mother. Before, she had always worried about money, and last week she had gotten hurt trying to get more. How had she managed to get all of these things?

Yet, his mother had smiled, as though everything were suddenly fine and she had money to spare on things that weren't a necessity. Goro stared at the plate, tempted to push it away because of the queasy feeling in his stomach, but one look at the proud smile his mother wore at a job well done, and the hopeful glint in her eye as she waited, he couldn't bring himself to do it.

Much later, Goro would treasure that breakfast, even if in the moment he felt nervous and uneasy the whole way through, remembering the finer details of his mother's smile as she watched him eat every last bite of his breakfast. His only regret would be that he hadn't gone slower, savoring every last moment of that meal together.

After that, the day had begun to get better, that queasy, uneasy feeling in Goro's stomach going away as his mother didn't bother with dishes, carrying her son to the bathroom and getting out their toothbrushes, and then hairbrushes. She ruffled his quickly growing hair playfully as he spit out toothpaste foam, before brushing it for him.

"You really will need to get it cut one of these days… Mine is so unmanageable like this," the woman commented.

"No… I like it like this. It reminds me of you," the boy replied, testing and waiting for any sign of distress from his mother. When he made comments like that, normally her eyes would water and her lip would start to quiver. Yet, this time there was nothing like that. She only smiled and closed her eyes, before walking out of the room and watching as the skies outside began to light up as it was finally daytime, yet the sky was still gray and heavy with rain clouds.

After Goro had stared with wide longing eyes as droplets started to coat their dirty window, the two had found themselves out in the rain, running and splashing and chasing each other through the muddy weather. In a way it felt like they could finally breathe. Most of the other residents at the apartment were either at work, asleep before their night shift, or at school. They had the entire outside to themselves, with practically no passerby to give them dirty looks. The two were uncaring, and only went inside when the mud in their hair started to dry and make them both feel itchy.

When that happened, Goro's mother picked him up out of the mud puddle he had been kicking into, sending muddy water flying into the weeds. That had been out of boredom, and he hardly put up a fuss as his mother carried him inside. She grabbed a towel and soaked it in hot water, before taking off the Goro's muddy raincoat and boots and wiping off his face, neck, arms and hands. She did the same for herself, and then washed Goro's hair out in the sink, then taking care of herself. That was the routine, until they were as dry and clean as they could be without a lengthy visit to a bathhouse.

Afterwards, Goro played around with his Featherman gun as his mother watched while making something for their lunch, along with a sweet surprise. She didn't have the skills to make the food herself this time, but managed to heat the food up and make it pretty enough that she counted it all of the same.

The two enjoyed a quick lunch of rice and sushi, before feasting on strawberry cake rolls that Goro's mother had purchased the night before. It was nice and filling, and the two spent a couple of hours watching a movie together, before they started a more involved game of superheroes with the toy gun Goro loved so much.

That day had been full and happy, and the mother ran around, hoping with all of her being that her son would remember this day fondly. She laughed as he hopped on the floor and pretended to shoot an imaginary foe.

"Bang!" he shouted.


Bang!

The laser gun made real in the Metaverse shot through the chest of a Shadow, making it dissolve outward as it screamed in agony. With that Shadow out of his way Akechi charged forward, kicking open the door to the pool area and checking for any sign of the Phantom Thieves. He found none of them, and so he turned around and reviewed the steps he had to take in order to check on the slot machines.

Quick and calculated, he never stopped, not letting the Shadows already behind succeed in catching up. It was easy, and already he knew which hallway he would need to go down, and which window he would need to climb through. It was a routine he had memorized, and there were very few things that could cause him to delay.

However, as if to spit on the already low amount of luck that Goro Akechi had, one of the few things that could trip him up occurred just as he rounded the corner of a hallway. One moment he was making steady progress as he stayed close to the wall and turned, and the next he was seeing vague outprints of stars and bright lights layering his vision as a lucky, high-enough level Shadow managed to be fortunate enough to be hovering just around the corner he was turning. It raised it's weapon and brought it down hard on Akechi's head, making the boy lose focus and balance as he collapsed to his knees like a punk.

It was humiliating, and Akechi shook with hardly contained rage as he tried to regain enough focus to stab the stupid Shadow through its stupid skull. Yet, before he could try the Shadow transformed, casting a sleeping ailment on the false detective that immediately made him start to lose consciousness.

As he fought off the drowsiness, images and sounds from that same memory he had been having came in full force, trying to lull him in with false promises of happiness and security. On his knees and nearly sinking into a lying position, Akechi tried to fight off the urge to sleep like a bratty kid that didn't want to, as a happier moment of laying safe and warm in bed, resting against his mother's side, pounded into his skull with ferocity.

After what felt like an eternity, Akechi gave in.


"It's bedtime now, Birdy," Goro's mother cooed, picking up her son. The little boy tried to protest, but a loud yawn interrupted any attempts at whining, causing the woman to giggle.

"How about a story before we say goodnight to each other?" she asked, setting Goro down on the bed they shared. The little boy gave a tired yawn, exhausted after everything they had done that day, as well as going through a very obvious sugar crash. He almost fell entirely asleep while his mother made sure they were both comfortable.

Unexpectedly, the woman lightly shook him, until he forced his eyes open and stared intensely at her, not really able to focus enough to glare. Unaffected, his mother smiled. "Goro, don't go to sleep, yet. I need to ask you… Did you have a good day… with me?"

"Mhm," the boy mumbled with a tired nod. "I hope we can have a day like this every year, since you said it was a holiday."

His mother nodded, though her smile stiffened. "Of course… You can do this as many times as you want, Goro. It makes me so happy that I could be a good mother for you today."

"You've always been the best mom, Mama!" the little boy insisted, snuggling into her side and resting his head against her shoulder. "Are you going to start the story now?"

His mother chuckled and nodded, resting her head against the back of the wall, closing her eyes and thinking. "Let's see… This is the story of… The Lonely Prince and the Dragon…"

Goro settled down and listened intently as the story began, imagining a big snarling beast, and a knight-like figure, with the only thing showing that he was a prince, a crown that somehow never managed to fall off of his head.

"Once upon a time, on the very edge of… a wicked king's territory, a tall tower with no exits stood proudly, made of concrete, the outside lined with sand and stone, and surrounded by a heavy fog. The only way one could hope to enter was through a window at the very top, and everyday, a lonely child peered out of that window, gazing out at the world, wishing to be a part of the crowds of peasants that passed by his tower everyday. Normally… a tower like this would be hidden away in the deepest parts of the thickest patch of woods, yet this tower stood among the common farm and apartment and shack like any other building, displaying for all to see the poor child that was trapped in there… And yet, no one ever lifted a finger to help rescue him… Because always by the prince's side was a terrifying dragon…

"All of the people would look up to that window and see the child peering out of it, and when they considered the idea of rescuing him, they could only think how it would benefit them to rescue the lonely prince. They would look into his longing eyes and see only the possibility for riches… And then they would take a look at the large fearsome dragon that skulked around the corner of the building and run away in fear. No one wanted to be around the prince, and none wanted to save him from his loneliness… Eventually, they would even throw rocks through the tower's open window when they saw the prince peering through. Every day this cycle repeated, and the prince became more and more lonely as time went on, his wails drowning out even the beastly dragon's roars as it tried to chase away those that were more afflicted with hatred for the prince, than fear of the beast that was chained to the tower.

"All the while, the dragon had never meant for any of this to happen, only wanting to scare away those that would hurt its beloved Treasure. Yet, in scaring away those people, it also scared away the ones that could have rescued the treasured prince from his loneliness. Hot fiery tears spilled down its face as it tried to think of a way to make the prince finally happy, and no longer alone…"

The woman paused when she felt her son's head drop fully against her, falling asleep right in the middle of her story, as usual. She tried to smile and laugh as she kissed Goro on the top of his head and settled him further into the covers, though tears began to flow from her eyes, dripping into her son's hair and making him stir, so she covered her eyes with one hand, and bit into her other one, not letting a single hint of sorrow slip through the cracks that continued to form in the foundation of her mind. All day, this aching feeling had been squeezing her heart, as though trying to get a firm enough grip on the organ so it could better rip it from her chest. It all made her decision for the end of that day throb with a sense of finality.

Even as a feeling of guilt so heavy spread through her entire body like poison, she looked at her son with longing. She hated herself for wanting to stay in this moment… She had already overstayed her welcome… In this apartment, in this world… and in Goro's life.

"I promise, Goro… After tonight, you won't ever have to suffer because of me again… But still, I want to take these last few minutes of your time, no matter how selfish it may seem…"

Goro Akechi had already fallen into a deep sleep, and so he didn't notice as his mother settled down beside him for the last time, and neither did he notice as the digital alarm clock in their small apartment reached midnight…

And even after he awoke minutes after that, he did not notice as, for an hour, that clock did not change, too captivated by the changed environment he had woken up into.


Akechi woke from the story, in the hallway of Shido's Palace, with that same Shadow standing above him, looking as if it were just preparing to give the final blow. Had he really been asleep for only a second? Every detail of that memory… of his mother's story, had seemed so vivid and real, seeming to happen over a matter of minutes or hours instead of in a single second.

Yet, he didn't waste any time thinking over that, ripping off his mask and causing Loki to appear, lunging forward and spearing the enemy Shadow through the chest. The Shadow's arms dropped and its hands went limp, dropping its weapon, before disintegrating into black and red matter, fading away into nonexistence.

Akechi stood up from the ground and dusted off his suit, gathering himself. He used his hands to comb his hair back and push up his mask, though in the end there was hardly a point. It was more to avoid the frightened stares of the Palace's "guests." Hardly any of their actual faces were visible behind their gaudy party maks, yet their identical golden eyes stood out to him.

There was no time for him to linger among these crowds, so he ran away from them, trying to avoid the pestering of more memories and more pain, but in the end he knew there was no point. He was suffocating in these memories, so why not just drown? He still had to check the slots, and then the private room. If he hadn't found the thieves after that, then there were only two places they could be. Keeping this in mind, Akechi continued to run through the halls, feeling nothing at his surroundings, and yet everything at his memories.


Goro woke up, his body starting to feel sore, as he realized that he was no longer sleeping in his bed, but on the cold stone floor of a round room that seemed to have no ceiling, yet there were no stars or moon above him, so he couldn't be sure. The air was dense and thick with silver vapor, making it difficult to see what lurked in the mist.

"Where am I?" he asked himself, standing up and walking around, tired and still fatigued from the day he had spent with his mother. Wait… Where was his mother!?

The boy looked behind him to where he had been laying, yet there was no one there. His mother wasn't there with him in this big scary place… In this big scary… dark room. Goro was alone… and it sent spikes of crippling fear through his heart. He sunk to his knees, looking around the dark, fog filled room for any signs of anything familiar. Yet, it was completely pitch black around him.

He began to sob, not understanding at all what was going on. Where was his mom? Had she gone to work? But then where was he? He would have been taken to the bathhouse if that were the case, but there was nothing like that here.

Tears began to pour down his cheeks, forming dirty trails in the dusty room as fear and anguish caused him to freeze in place. What was he supposed to do? His mother had always said that if he ever got lost, then he had to stay where he was and wait for her to come find him, but how could she find him when he was completely boxed in like this?

With tears stinging his vision, the boy began to stand up, wanting to look for a better place where his mom might find him, when the sound of something scraping against the floor from behind him caught his attention. The boy whipped around, tensed and twisted into himself as a pair of red eyes stared at him, hidden in the dark mist. The eyes seemed to multiply, until all around him were those same red glowing eyes.

First out of the shadowy corners came a white lion, snarling at the boy and sizing him up like a piece of meat. The boy backed away, running into a thick thing made of metal. He looked above him to find out he had run into the armored legs of a black-haired man with a spear. The man looked down at him with soulless eyes, and any hope Goro had that this man might be his savior went out the window.

Before he could try to scoot away from the man, back into the center of the room where he had once been, a large blaring alarm rang through the circular room, echoing high up above Goro, which let him know that maybe there really was no top to this place.

The hairs on the boy's body began to raise in fear as the red eyes began emerging from the fog, and more and more scary beings surrounded him, leaving their hiding places in the Shadows to sniff at the boy like the prey he obviously was.

Goro felt his heart beating out of his chest as the white lion suddenly snarled at him, as the black faceted tail the child only just now noticed it had suddenly stood straight up as the creature crouched. Even though he was only a child, Goro had seen the stray cats wandering around in their streets enough to know that the creature was going to pounce. Scared beyond the point of rational thought as the creature growled and roared, the boy covered his eyes and crouched on the ground as he felt a sudden wind as the lion leapt towards him, followed by the other roars and screams and battlecries of all the other terrifying beings in the room.

Suddenly from above him, a hot wave of air made the boy begin to sweat, and it was only a second later that he noticed that the roars had started to quiet, before dying away completely. He trembled in his spot, too afraid to look up and see what had changed, until a cool hand rested on his head and combed through his sweaty hair, soothing him. Then a voice he knew and loved finally spoke, though now it sounded different somehow, rougher and slightly deeper, yet still calming.

"My little prince… What were you doing out of your room?" His mother asked, and Goro finally sat up, looking up at… His mother?

"Mama… What happened to you? Why do you look like that?" He asked, hugging himself as he studied his mother.

Instead of her plain white button up shirt and blue skirt, the woman now wore an impressive black gown with a scaly pattern, which somehow seemed to blend in with her skin. She wore black glittering, clawed gloves up to her elbows, and a crown that seemed more like she had two goat horns rested on her head.

The most strikingly different feature of Goro's mother, however, were her eyes. No longer were they a warm brownish-red, but a bright golden-yellow color as she inspected her son for any injuries, her pupils narrowing into slits when she noticed he had been crying.

"Were they scaring you, my prince? Don't worry… I chased them away, so they won't bother you anymore…" The alarms that had once been blaring in the room suddenly stopped as soon as they had started, and the woman picked Goro up in her arms and nuzzled her cheek against his. Goro couldn't get over how dry his mother's skin suddenly felt.

"Let's head up to your room, okay? I'll even tuck you in one last time…" his mother said, before looking up to the ceiling and smiling. Before Goro could even process any of what had already happened, two black bony wings flared out from his mother's back, nearly touching wall to wall of the circular room. The child screamed and cried as his mother suddenly rocketed up from the ground.

Alighting on a platform that jutted out, the woman carried her son to a soft looking bundle of pillows and blankets. In the corner, Goro saw a closet of strange costumes, including a red, white, and gold outfit that stuck out in the dark room. At the very least, he could finally see the ceiling, and there was no fog up here.

Before he could find any relief about being on solid ground again, Goro's mother placed him on the bed, chuckling as he sank into the plush pillows like a stone in water. She closed a gate behind her that led to the narrow staircase that circled around her tower. That must've been how he had gotten out, she figured.

"Now, my little prince… I believe I never finished my story from earlier," the woman said, settling in beside Goro, who was now too frightened by what was going on around him to be able to go to sleep or rest.

"As I left off, the dragon knew she needed to find a way to save her beloved Treasure from his loneliness, and as she rested on the top of the tower, watching from below as people passed by, an idea formed in her head that she knew had to work…

"In every single fairytale where a dragon guards a princess, someone always shows up and slays the dragon, before rescuing the Treasure held within the tower. The dragon loved her prince more than anything, and knew that with her gone, there was no way he would ever be lonely again, because she wouldn't be around to scare others away from him. So… she waited to die.

"Yet, as days, and then weeks, and then months passed with death never coming, the dragon began to worry. Her prince was so lonely, and everyone on the outside continued to hurt him. Everyday, the thought of things continuing on like this became more and more unbearable. So eventually… the dragon made a new decision…

"If no one will slay the dragon and save the prince that she guards… then the dragon will do so herself."

Goro cried out as his mother suddenly laughed until tears ran down her face, dripping onto his arms and burning like boiling water. Yet, the pain was hardly noticeable as his young mind finally began to connect the dots together.

"Mama… No… No please don't! I need you!" Goro shouted, standing up and wrapping his arms around the woman, even as her boiling hot body pressed into his skin and made tears come to his eyes involuntarily.

"Goro… I love you… I love you too much to let you continue to suffer because of me," the dragon said, her yellow eyes vibrant as she pressed her forehead to his, smiling with a mouth full of jagged and sharp teeth.

"I love you too! Please don't go, please! I still-"

"Things will be different for you… I know they will. You won't have to suffer… everyone will love you. I bet you won't even notice that I…"

"No!" Goro screamed, standing up on his mom's lap and grabbing her shoulders in his small fists. "I don't want anyone else except you! I don't need anyone else except you!"

"Goro… My love… My little Birdy… My prince, please don't cry. I know it may hurt now, but things will get better. I will always love you, Goro, even after I am gone. Don't let anyone take that away from you… If anything, go outside of this tower, and find the people who will give you this… Who will love you as much as I always will… Who will stay with you, and give to you… my love, and theirs…" The dragon smiled as the boy continued to cry. "You are my everything...You are my reason for waking up and getting out of our bed in the morning… But I can't justify holding you back like I've been doing."

"You don't…"

"Go to sleep now, my prince. No matter how tied to your mother I may be, I am only a reflection of her. Convincing me… Won't change anything, and you'll only wake up thinking you succeeded, which will give you more grief in the end. So go to sleep, and enjoy the last night you have with her…" the woman suddenly said, combing her fingers through his hair as he froze, confused and not understanding at all what she had said.

"Go to sleep…" The dragon cast the ailment on him, and with no seconds spared, the boy instantly fell asleep. In his dreams, a blue light reached out for him like a cloud, carrying him out of that horrible nightmare of his mother's story, and back into his bed.

Goro Akechi woke up, alone in the bed of his apartment.


Akechi watched as two Shadows walked down the halls, patrolling as was their routine. He had just walked out of the private room that should have held Shido's hacker, but no one had been in there. It was suspicious, making him uneasy as he tried to think why one of Shido's most valued customers was suddenly completely gone from his Palace.

Yet, the Cerberus and Cu Chulainn Shadows that were patrolling so intently made him aware that something must have happened. Those two Shadows… With the memories of that dream from so many years ago fresh in his mind, they looked exactly like the beings in that tower that had frightened him so. Realizing this, Akechi felt the sudden urge to cackle.

"So… it seems that both of my parents had a Palace…" The boy smiled with good humor and walked up to the two Shadows, casting a mind control ailment on them. They bowed to him and then trailed after the boy dressed in red, gold, and white. He was a prince, wanted and loved and acknowledged by others, just as his mother would have wanted. Yet, that wasn't enough for him.

As Akechi made his way down to the lower parts of the ship, those two Shadows following behind and scaring guests to the sides of the hallways as he made his way through, he thought of all that had happened after his mother's death. Child protection service workers had come to her apartment the next day to take him away, offering meaningless condolences and asking questions he hadn't felt like answering, feeling insulted by the meanings behind them.

He remembered walking by neighbors as they whispered and gossiped about how they had both stayed home the previous day, theorizing that Akechi had thrown a tantrum until he had gotten his way, or that he pulled his mother's hair or bit her so hard that she had to go to the hospital. None of these things were true, and yet they had planted the seeds of self loathing that would begin to fully bloom at the short funeral ceremony that had taken place the week after that.

His mother's picture on the butsudan was of a woman much younger and happier than he had ever known, often accompanied by family members she must have been much happier with. There were no photos of her and Akechi on the shrine.

Supposed family members that he had never known, and never gotten acquainted with, had arranged the service, and even though he had only been seven at the time, Akechi knew it had been an uphill battle just to let him come to the service. He had been the only one to cry or care, with everyone else offering emotionless prayers to the altar, glaring at him, and whispering the same hateful things over and over again.

It had made him angry at the time, even as their words stung his skin like thorns and dug themselves into his skin like splinters. They had claimed it had been all his fault his mother had died, that he was a cursed bastard that had killed her… Yet none of them had ever lifted a finger to help her in the past. Unlike Akechi's beloved mother, none of his "family" wanted to take any responsibility for abandoning the woman in her time of need, when she was vulnerable and alone, having to fend for herself and her son, just because she had no husband.

Akechi had stormed out of the service before it officially ended, unable to handle the dark looks all completely focused on him. He had never wanted to see any of these people again, and he was almost happy that they all had shared the same sentiment, as none of them had wanted to take Akechi in afterwards.

Yet, as angry as he had been at all of his relatives, their words cut into him, becoming the seeds for a new truth alongside what the dragon in his dream had said, eventually overshadowing that message completely. He hated those relatives because they were right, he supposed, as he went from foster home to foster home, each family only using him as a servant, using him for the child support money, or using him as a punching bag for their own brats. He remembered one night he had gotten angry at his mother, and then had immediately felt guilty and cried himself to sleep, feeling that he really must have been unloveable if she felt so strongly about leaving him the way she had.

Above all, he found that he was angry at the world… He was angry at the relatives that didn't want him and had made his mother hate herself… At society for the same reasons, and at whoever his deadbeat father was for not sucking it up and helping his mother deal with Akechi's cursed existence.

Most of all, when he thought of his mother, Akechi thought of what had been written as part of her obituary.

"Suki Akechi: beloved daughter, taken too soon."

Akechi had been completely left out, and it hurt that his existence could be so entirely meaningless and insulting to everyone. He didn't matter, and it was painful to realize how much of his memory of his mother had been ripped away from him over the years. He couldn't even hold onto the thought that she loved him…

That knowledge… that feeling that nothing had ever changed, and that he was still alone, even now, was what continued to fuel his desire for revenge. Shido had taken everything from him… Ever since Akechi had first been conceived, Shido had done everything he could to rip away Akechi's loved ones. First his mother… and then himself, and then Sayori… and it would keep going until Akechi was gone… or until Shido was knocked down a peg.

So… Akechi would do that and more. He would have everyone that had ever looked at him with scorn and hatred finally acknowledge him…and then he would make their lives a living hell.

And it would all start with the Phantom Thieves.


Meanwhile, the Phantom Thieves were being begrudgingly herded along by a small army of Shadows to the Engine Room. The air was heavy between all of them as the Shadows around them walked leisurely, cocky about having captured the troublesome Phantom Thieves. The teens had no idea what was going on, and why they were being led down to the bottom of the ship. Why wasn't the Akechi Cognitive trying to kill them immediately?

None of the Phantom Thieves had an answer for that, and curiosity was part of the reason that they didn't try to fight back and escape, aside from being so heavily flanked by enemies. In truth, the thieves had all come to the silent decision on what to do. They would either wait until they were in the Engine Room to see what these Shadows had planned for them, or when they got to an open area in the ship, Mona would turn into his car form and run all of the Shadows over, then the group would make a break for it.

The Cognitive, however, was more clever than he seemed. Ever since he had caught sight of them, he had been thinking of the best way to trap them, and the most simple solution was honestly the easiest. He kept to the narrowest hallways, or went into rooms that would specifically turn the thieves into mice. Escaping that way wasn't an option.

So, unless the thieves felt like using a Goho-M to escape, and lose all of their progress, only to come back the next day to a much more heavily guarded Palace, they had no other option than to wait for their curiosity to be satisfied.

Still, even though the thieves had these backup plans to get them out of this situation, they were all scared and worried. They had no way of figuring out what the Cognitive was planning, as he had stuck himself in the front of the horde of Shadows and blatantly ignored the thieves whenever they tried talking to him.

Valiant herself felt guilty for causing this predicament by asking unnecessary questions. The Cognitive of Goro hadn't even bothered the question he said he could answer in the first place. Still, it was a foolish and unnecessary question to ask in the first place. In what way had Goro been working with the IT Company President? It didn't matter. The Cognitive probably knew this as well as Valiant did, and was refusing to answer just to rub how stupid she had been in her face.

The worst part was that it was working. Ever since they had begun their march down to the Engine Room, she had felt hot tears of embarrassment at the back of her eyes, threatening to spill over. But she was too upset at herself to cry. Even though the Cognitive already knew it, she didn't want to give him more proof that he had won.

So Valiant stayed at the back of the group, away from the Cognitive's line of sight, attempting to calm herself down as the weight of this situation continued to press down on her. Oracle stayed in the back too, comforting her and trying to convince Valiant that she wasn't to blame, since Oracle had been the one to start asking questions. But Valiant knew better than that. Anything the Phantom Thieves did was part of the game's script, or the player's actions. Anything Valiant did was unscripted, unnecessary, and could have kept them all from getting caught if she had just not spoken at all.

Maybe it would have been better if I…

"Hey… I feel like we're going in a… weird direction to the Engine Room?" Oracle said quietly, bringing up a display of a map for Valiant and her to both see. "Valiant… Don't you think this way is kind of… roundabout? Going this way would lead to what looks like…"

"A garbage chute, maybe?" Valiant said, observing what the map displayed. It looked like one was meant to leave a pile of waste in a certain spot, close a gate, and then open a hatch on the ship so that the waste could float out to sea. Valiant was almost positive that this too was meant to be some metaphor for what Shido was going to do to Japan when he became prime minister, but she was too worried to follow that train of thought, as another worrying possibility occurred to her. "Maybe this is how that Cognitive is going to get rid of us. He'll leave us behind the gate, and then open the ship's hatch so that we get washed out to sea."

Oracle went pale, quickly but quietly relaying the theory to the other members of the team over their communication channel. Among themselves, they quietly began to discuss what they could do to escape, and maybe get the Cleaner's letter of Introduction on their way out. Perhaps if they could even break away, they could fight back against the Cognitive?

The Phantom Thieves continued their quiet planning when the horde of Shadows suddenly came to a halt. At the front of the procession, the Akechi Cognitive was speaking to a guard that had just walked up to the group. The Shadow, despite being blank faced and masked, looked particularly worried. The Cognitive put his hand to his chin in thought, before the smallest, stiffest smile any of the thieves had ever seen appeared on his face. Fox could barely catch it, even with his observant eyes.

After a few moments, the Shadows continued to push them forward, and the Phantom Thieves had no choice but to oblige. Soon enough, they were at the very edge of the hallway that would lead them to the room with the gate. It seemed that Valiant's theory had been correct. However, when they peeked into the room from outside, a hatch to the outside didn't exist. The thieves were all confused, getting a bad feeling about what was going to happen. Joker took a Goho-M out of his pocket, preparing for the worst case scenario.

However, before any of them could begin to attempt to get away from the Shadows, now that they were close to an open room, they were suddenly pushed forward. The Shadows in front of the teens parted to the sides, while the ones behind pushed them towards the entrance to the room. Such an open space had been exactly what the Phantom Thieves were hoping for, yet as they saw the slight smirk on Cognitive Akechi's face, they knew something none of them could ever have predicted was going to happen. The Shadows suddenly pushing them away was a clear indicator of that.

However, Joker wasn't going to let the Shadows push his team around. Even if they were being forced forward, with no other options, the Phantom Thieves would move forward on their own. Quickly, he signalled to the thieves to run forward, and everyone was quick to follow the order, running the rest of the way down the hallway and into the room. Behind the group, Joker heard the distinct sound of the hallway sealing itself behind them. He still couldn't figure out what the Cognitive was playing at as the teens ran across the room.


From above the Phantom Thieves, standing on a rafter in the room, Akechi watched as they ran across the room. His breath nearly caught as, for the first time since their betrayal, he laid eyes on all of their faces. A surprising amount of pain bloomed in his chest when he saw Sayori running with them. He ignored it though, in favor of the cold pit of hatred that screamed in his mind when he saw the rest of the thieves' faces. The feeling made him feel so cold, and yet it burned him at the same time.

It wouldn't take long for Oracle to realize he was there, with her irritating scanners, so Akechi acted while he still had the element of surprise. He took off his mask and summoned Robin Hood. While he internally wanted to use Loki to finish the job already, Akechi was at heart, a dramatic. He didn't want to kill the thieves yet, just scare them and play with them for a little bit. It was with this same logic that he used Robin Hood's Kougaon, to fire a warning shot, aimed directly at Joker's head.


Joker felt the hairs raise on his arms before he even saw the bolt of light heading straight for him. He quickly dove out of the way, as the rest of the Phantom Thieves caught onto his movements and scrambled to get out of the way. The attack struck the floor of the ship, making a deafening sound, as though a bomb were going off, right in all of the Phantom Thieves' ears.

"What the hell!?" Skull shouted, anxiously looking at the spot where Joker had been standing… Where their leader had almost gotten hit.

"That could have killed him…" Panther said, her voice faint. She was about to ask where the attack had come from, as it was the question on everyone's mind, when a voice spoke from above them.

"That was the point… Though it was meant as a warning shot. I am happy that in my absence you haven't grown to be disappointing, Joker." Crow stood up on the rafters of the ceiling, smiling at all of them with his same pleasant boy smile, though now every breath that the boy took was laced with acid, corrosive and dangerous. He jumped down and landed in front of the group, crossing his arms. "That means it will be even more fun to rip you limb from limb."

The Phantom Thieves all stared at him, gaping mouths hanging open like fish gasping for air. As was to be expected, Sayori was the first one to really react, stepping to the front of the group and looking… hopeful. Though, in that moment she was disappointed in herself, feeling even more afraid. If she truly had been hopeful, and not afraid, she would have run up to the boy immediately. Still, she could pretend like she wasn't afraid… Like Akechi hadn't just sent a lethal attack towards Akira, and the rest of their friends, as a "warning shot."

So, she tried to smile, and she knew it was convincingly real… Because it had to be. She didn't want to make him feel unwelcome. So she smiled at him. "Goro!" She called out. "I'm glad to-"

"Don't you fucking dare call me that…" He snarled, causing Sayori to shrink back slightly. "And don't pretend like you're happy to see me. God, it's like insult to fucking injury!"

"I… I didn't mean to…" Sayori shook her head. "Okay… Akechi-kun. I'm sorry for stepping over my boundaries. It's just… Before we fight, please hear what I… what we have to say."

"Why should I!?" Crow snapped, yet he made no move to attack.

That's not a no, then… Sayori felt better about that, so she took a deep breath. "Because I am happy to see you! We need to explain what happened that night, because this is all a big misunderstanding! They're… We're all sorry for what we did, and I need you to know that before things get out of hand!"

"Things got out of hand the second all of you decided it was a good idea to put a fake Akira in a Metaverse jail cell!"

"That… That's fair. I agree with you… but… but," Sayori struggled for words. She didn't know what to say. There was so much she needed to explain, and they were starting out with the topic she was the least familiar with, having never been present for all of the meetings to trick Akechi.

"But don't yell at her about it," Haru spoke up. She took her hat off and bowed her head, closing her eyes. "Sayo- Valiant didn't know about that until it had already happened. She had nothing to do with the scheme, so don't group her in with us…"

"She felt just as betrayed by us as you do," Queen asserted. "Valiant… she isn't even a Phantom Thief anymore…"

"And yet… there she stands, with the rest of you!" Akechi shot back. "If you're going to lie, then at least don't try to make something up that can easily be disproved by looking two centimeters to the left!"

I just wanted to talk to you… the girl thought to herself sadly… But she didn't want this to devolve into her crying and begging and looking pitiful. So she cleared her throat and wiped at her eyes, trying to make the feeling of tears welling up go away. "They all went behind my back that night. I thought… I thought that Akira really was dead! And I was worried about you, too, because you had gone there to rescue him. I didn't find out until the next day that Akira was alive, and then the truth came out! I only learned about their plan then!"

Akechi made no retort, and Sayori was starting to feel hopeful again. She shivered, not really knowing how to continue this. If he was listening to her, then he had to understand she had meant him no harm, right? But what about the Phantom Thieves? They were the real issue right now…

"Valiant only wanted to come with us because she wanted a chance to set things right again," Fox explained. "That day, too, she insisted you had been on our side for a long time. We didn't know if that was true, or not… But she was still right. We never let her have a chance to take responsibility for her decision to let you onto our team…" The artist looked down at his feet, thinking of what to say next.

"We know… about a lot of the things that you did…" Panther admitted. "Valiant didn't want us to have any reason to doubt her, or you, so she told us everything…So, I'm not willing to give up! If you're willing to forgive us… or at least not let what we did get to you, we would be… happy to have you back on the team!" Part of what she was saying made her feel sick. All of the things Akechi had done, it horrified and disgusted her. Still, she had to try her best to help Sayori achieve her goal when she had decided to work with the team one last time.

"Come on! Please!?" Oracle begged. "You've been moody and silent for too long, and we need you to give us an answer already!"

"Yeah, come on, man!" Skull added. "We can change your shitty dad's heart together!"

Mona was about to add something as well, when Akechi jerked back, tense. He looked almost… scared.

"What!?" Akechi looked back and forth between Skull and the rest of the thieves, his head flicking towards each of their faces, over and over, until he finally rested his now burning gaze on Valiant, who had gone pale. He went pale as well as her refusal to meet his eyes confirmed the anxiety induced thought that caused dense fog to build up in his brain, locking away any rational thought that he may have once had.

"You… you told them!" He screamed, his voice suddenly shrill as Valiant turned her head away, her face burning with shame.

"Y-y-yes… I did," Sayori admitted. "I'm sorry… It felt wrong the moment I told them, but I couldn't stand lying to them about why you were-"

"Shut up!" Akechi screamed again, and the Phantom Thieves were all terrified at the look of pure rage that threatened to crack the boy's teeth as he grit them together. He grabbed his face with his hands, his gloved fingers somehow drawing blood as he spoke incomprehensible words to himself. His heart felt heavy and strange… cracked in his chest. He could have accepted anything else Sayori might have told them. That he was a bastard? They already knew that. That he was a horrible murderer that had killed Wakaba Isshiki and almost Kunikazu Okumura? He had been planning on confessing that all himself not that long ago! But why… He couldn't understand why she would tell them something like that! Any secret about his disgraceful lineage was his secret to share, and he had told Sayori about all of these things because he felt comfortable with her knowing…

She just wanted to give them all another reason to pity you, so they would have no choice but to let you back on… They don't even want you with them… and why would they? There's no reason besides the fact that you're just a pathetic, parentless brat that they feel needs saving…

Sayori was frozen stiff, unable to move as the spotlight was suddenly on her. She had wanted to tell Akechi about what she had done much later, when she could be sure he would understand that she had only done what she thought had been best at the time. She wanted to be mad at Skull, for opening his big mouth like always, but how could she be? It was just another fact of what had happened, and if she couldn't give Akechi the facts in any order, then what she was doing wasn't any better than manipulation…

"I… I'm sorry… I know it was wrong, but I didn't know what else to do…" Sayori said, feeling sick to her stomach. With Ann's encouraging words, she had hoped that Akechi didn't hate her… and yet she was the one setting him off. The only thing she could think to do was apologize. She didn't know.

"What… what can I do to fix this…?" Sayori asked, tears beginning to pour down her face.

"Get up, get out of this Palace… and never speak to me again…" Akechi said, his voice barely a whisper as he stared at her, his eyes full of an unholy fire that made all of the Phantom Thieves cold just to look at.

Sayori felt her heart freeze in her chest, and she almost fainted in that moment. That response… Was he seriously asking her to do that? If she did, then Shido… they wouldn't be able to steal his heart.

"Didn't you hear me!? Sayori, go away! I don't care what you do, just leave me alone!" Akechi shouted again. His view of her was suddenly cut off as Skull and Noir stood in front of her.

"I understand that you're mad at her, but she came with us for a reason other than trying to talk to you!" Noir shouted. "We're going to steal Masayoshi Shido's heart… and you're going to come with us, too!"

"You think I don't get it at this point!?" Akechi yelled. "You all don't even realize she's playing you, do you? You're only trying to get me back on your pathetic little team because Sayori wants it! I don't need your pity!"

"No… We want to do it because we know how Shido treats you!" Joker exclaimed now. "This is our choice! We've seen it in here… Exactly how he sees-"

"Stop. Talking," Akechi snarled, dragging his hand down his face, feeling as his gloves became damp from the blood that was starting to ooze on his forehead and cheeks. "I've had enough of your lies and manipulations… your betrayal…" He chuckled at that. "How ironic, right? But I don't care… I don't care about this shoddy performance, or dragging this out for my own enjoyment…"

The Phantom Thieves could feel static building in the air as Akechi reached a hand up for his mask. They all backed away slightly, preparing to fight as well, though realizing how they truly paled in comparison to Goro Akechi.

"The only thing I care about… is killing all of you!"

With that, Goro Akechi ripped off his mask, no longer wanting to hide anymore. This princely outfit… Wearing it now was just an insult. Even as the thought occurred to him, the white and red and gold coloring burned off, turning into an ashy black that spread across his clothes, falling away to reveal his true form. Loki sprung out from the blue flame, holding his flaming sword and sizing up all of the Phantom Thieves like pieces of meat. They were all terrified, but Akechi could sense that Sayori had told them who he really was, too.

Cerberus and Cu Chulainn stepped up behind him, obedient and waiting. Akechi smiled viciously at the monsters that he had recognized almost fondly. Not so long ago, he had felt so nostalgic that he had wanted to bring them along like pets to watch him destroy the Phantom Thieves… Now though, that wasn't quite fair to them, was it? The Phantom Thieves would no doubt destroy them easily… But they deserved to have a little fun, too. Akechi barely hesitated to give them a powerup, watching gleefully as all of the color and life was bleached out of their eyes, as any notion of mercy or morals was ripped from their heads.

"Akechi, stop! Please, I don't want to have to…! We don't have to fight! I can't fight you!" Sayori screamed, her throat aching as she put all of her breath into screaming. She felt any chances she might have had slipped from her hands, but desperation clung onto her like a vice, forcing her to scream and yell and protest. It hurt so much, feeling the failure weighing down her body like an anchor. It hurt even more to see Goro like this… She had hurt him. They all had, and instead of making it right, things had only gotten worse.

I… I have to keep trying… Right? Sayori asked herself, sucking in a deep breath and preparing to scream again.

Joker's hand clamped down on her shoulder, and he stepped up to Valiant's side as the Shadows got into positions to lunge towards the thieves.

"Did you mean it when you said that you can't fight him?" Joker asked, looking at Valiant in concern.

"What…? Yeah, I meant it. I can't fight him… I can't…" Valiant's eyes went wide as she looked at Joker in horror. "No, you can't either! Please!"

"Valiant, sit out of this one, and just be ready to talk to Akechi when we have him subdued. He'll have no other choice than to listen to you when he can't fight anymore," Joker said, his tone firm and leaving no room for argument.

But Valiant argued anyway, grabbing onto Joker's hand and holding it so tightly that the leader cringed, wondering if she was trying to break his hand.

"Please… Please don't… I don't want to force him to listen to me… I-"

"He doesn't want to listen to anyone right now, Valiant. I understand how you feel, and I know that he must be hurting, but we need to make him calm down before I let anyone try to talk to him again!" Joker exclaimed, managing to wrench his hand out of the girl's iron grip.

"But we can't just beat him into submission!" Valiant screamed, guilty tears welling in her eyes as she knew she was losing her edge in this argument.

"We don't have any other choice right now, Valiant… Listen, I believe in you. You know what you're doing when it comes to arguments like this, and Akechi will listen to you. Just sit out of this battle, and do what you think is right, okay?" Joker said, smiling at Valiant, trying to look assuring.

"But… But-"

"I'm not your leader anymore, okay? You're not a member of this team, so don't fight on this team. Just do your own thing," Joker finally stated, now unable to ignore the fight that was about to happen. Oracle was preparing extra health and boosts for their fighting, and all the while the Shadows were frothing at the mouth, waiting to receive the order to attack. Joker stepped up to the front of the group, thinking through the current options he had for Personas. The team would need a good way to defend themselves. Joker could see Valiant back away from the thieves, taking Joker's advice and staying away from the fight. They would need a different method to defend themselves then.

"Mona, Skull, Queen, you're with me!" Joker shouted. The three thieves he had called upon nodded nervously, stepping up beside their leader and taking battle stances, taking their masks off of their faces and preparing their attacks. They all looked bitterly towards Akechi, who was hanging back while his two minion Shadows snarled and frothed at the mouth.

"Be careful!" Oracle shouted. "Whatever he did to those Shadows made them way more powerful than normal!" Her warning did not fall on deaf ears, as Mona quickly readied himself for healing everyone. Oracle herself began to hand out boosts, making sure everyone would be well guarded. Each felt slightly nervous, as they all knew this was going to be a tough fight that Valiant had decided to sit out on.

But she was counting on them to be able to handle this without her, and if it came to it, they knew they could count on her as well. So with that, Skull was the first to attack, swinging his weapon at the Cerberus Shadow, with all of the others offering their support. Makoto ran up to Chulainn and delivered several swift, hard punches to his face, before kicking him backwards, and quickly retreating back to the group.

When the two Shadows attacked, they were vicious. The only consolation was that Akechi wasn't wasting his time healing the Shadows, and the Phantom Thieves realized nervously that he didn't expect the Shadows to win. Why else would he not even bother to heal them?

With that revelation, everyone began to really pool their strengths together in order to defeat the Shadows. Oracle also focused her attention on making sure everyone stayed alive and energized enough for the even tougher battle that lay ahead. Akechi's power levels had raised to a frightening new level, which she knew none of the other teens could match alone.

Joker attacked next, brandishing his knife and slashing at Cerberus's throat with lethal intent. Electricity crackled in the air as Skull took his turn, striking the enemies down with enough force to make their fur and hair respectively stand on end. Everyone cringed as the scent of burning hair and flesh filled the room. Only Akechi didn't seem bothered, ignoring the smell as he watched the fighting continue with an unamused expression.

On and on the fighting went, with the thieves and Shadows going at each other like rabid animals, tearing and cutting and ripping away clothes and skin and fur. The thieves were lucky that their armor was strong enough to protect them from any injuries that would have required attention. Yet, that hardly made the fighting any easier, as the Shadows continued to desperately scrounge to do as much damage as they could, as their lives were slowly but surely being chipped away at.

It felt like an eternity was spent, as the fighters received one more healing spell from Morgana, that they finally managed to knock the Shadows onto the floor, as they were now so close to death. Joker, Queen, and Skull ran forward, attacking the Shadows with all the energy they could muster in that moment.

The Cerberus and Cu Chulainn each let out agonized cries as they faded away into nothing, slumping onto the ground as though they were real living beings that had just died. The thieves Joker had called on to fight all backed away, being healed by both Oracle and Mona. Winning that fight had done nothing to relax anybody, as now there was no one else but Akechi to face now.

The boy himself stepped into the metaphorical spotlight, taking out a long serrated sword as he stood where the Shadows had once been, with an almost bittersweet expression on his face. "You seem to know already, but I never expected those two to kill you… I honestly prefer it this way. Why would I pass up my chance to massacre you with my own hands!?"

Akechi didn't even wait for the Phantom Thieves to fully prepare themselves, summoning Loki, who sent a deadly attack in Mona's direction. The cat managed to shield himself just in time, but the attack still left him dizzy and out of focus. Akechi wasn't even done yet, as he charged Queen and briefly clashed with her, before kicking her in the stomach and making a wide slashing motion at her, leaving a large gash across her arms.

The Phantom Thieves grunted as they were sent back, their healer too dizzy to do any healing, and Queen's major method of fighting now severely limited by the wounds on her arms. Oracle was quick to do what she could, but it was hardly enough as now it was only Joker and Skull that could effectively fight. The two kept their distance, as Akechi's attacks had proved very damaging when he went after them so directly.

Valiant had already told the thieves everything, from the mental shutdowns to the psychotic breakdowns, so it was surprising how shocked they all felt at seeing him act so savagely. Now they questioned themselves, asking how they hadn't expected this. However, Joker was skilled at getting his team to adapt, evolve, and overcome, making it slightly better to navigate the fight. He ordered Queen to grab Mona and get behind him and Skull. Once that was done, Queen quickly snapped Mona out of his stupor. The cat quickly got to work on healing her.

Once again, the Phantom Thieves were ready to fight. Oracle worked to raise everyone's attack and defense, and Joker and Skull summoned their Personas. Each worked to lower Akechi's abilities, though it hardly mattered when Akechi had expected that trick.

"Pathetic…" He hissed, summoning Loki to charge. As Loki performed the command, Akechi dodged all of the attacks that were sent his way, watching as one by one, all of his opponents paled. He then took his chance, sending an attack straight for Mona. The hit landed, sending the cat onto his back, groaning weakly.

"Mona!" Panther shouted in panic, running up to check on him.

Joker paled as he realized he didn't have the necessary items to revive the cat, and so he nervously looked over to Panther. "I need you to get him to a safe place, and then take his spot!"

The blonde nodded gravely, grabbing the small mascot and carrying him over to where Valiant sat on the floor, having gone white as a sheet as Mona was put beside her. "Should I-"

"No, don't worry. Mona's fine… He just needs to rest," Panther assured. "Stay where you are, because we've got this!" She tried to give the nervous girl a reassuring smile, before running up to take Mona's spot, healing Skull and Queen, who had just attempted to attack Akechi once again.

Oracle gave Joker a charge of his own, allowing the leader to land a decisive hit on Akechi, who grumbled and stumbled back. It was like a desperate struggle now, with each side trying to claim No Man's Land. It was only a matter of which group would come out on top. Would it be the one with the advantage in numbers, or the one with the advantage with enough willpower and rage to murder his opponents?

The two groups clashed, over and over, back and forth as they each worked at trying to defeat the other. Akechi had the advantage of not having any reason to hold back, striking with the most lethal of shots that the Phantom Thieves barely dodged, Oracle having to step in multiple times to protect everyone. However, with as much damage as Akechi was doing, the Phantom Thieves managed to progress as well. They managed to stay far enough away from him for a time, using their Personas as their main way of offense.

Akechi coughed and groaned, feeling as though his skin were on fire as Panther glared at him. He felt weak, and knew soon enough that the thieves were going to win. The thought alone angered him, sending spikes of adrenaline through his brain. I refuse to lose against them! Never… Never… Nevernevernevernever!

Loki crawled out from behind him, emerging like an insect out of an egg, gripping his swords and spinning rapidly. Akechi was barely aware of how much power he put into the next shot, only that he just wanted to cause as much damage as possible.

Loki fired his shot, sending a streak of red light flying towards Queen. Skull ran forward, leaping in front of his teammate, only for his actions to backfire on both of them. Skull took most of the initial damage, absorbing the force of the hit as it sent him flying into Queen. However, just like Skull's lightning, Akechi's attack now needed an outlet in order to escape. It found that escape in Queen. She screamed in pain, as both her and Skull were sent flying back.

The two were down for the count as soon as they hit the floor, groaning in agony as Akechi's attack ravaged their bodies. Everyone looked at the two in horror, until they were suddenly brought out of their stupor by Akechi chuckling to himself.

Joker gritted his teeth, more angry than he first thought. "Noir! Fox! You know the drill!"

The two nodded hesitantly, glancing back towards Valiant as she cautiously checked on Queen and Skull's condition. She moved them over to lay beside Mona, sitting through her bag for any medicine. Judging by her frantic searching, she wasn't having much luck.

Joker wasn't paying attention to what was going on behind him anymore. Rapidly sorting through his Personas until he landed on the perfect one. He smirked, ripping off his mask and sending his own attack against Akechi. The boy wobbled a bit, but refused to stand down.

"Fox and Noir, you're good to charge him,"Joker shouted.

The two nodded. Fox swiftly drew his sword, sprinting towards Akechi and swiping his sword decidedly along his joints. Meanwhile, Noir barreled forward, dragging her axe. The faster she moved, the more momentum she gained. When she was mere centimeters away from her opponent, she raised it up, and brought the butt end of the blade down, slamming hard against Akechi's shoulder.

Akechi dropped to his knees like a tent, rage simmering beneath his skin as he gripped his shoulder. He coughed and sputtered as shock gripped his mind, barely able to move as his body protested to any sort of motion. "Damn it!" He managed to get out, glaring down at the ground as the Phantom Thieves that remained conscious gathered a few feet away from him. They looked nervously at each other, and Akechi hated how he could differentiate one particular person's light footsteps as they crept up to join everyone else.

"A...Akechi…? Could you listen to me now?" Sayori asked, walking up to him cautiously. "I… I don't like… Do you really want to... " She hesitated , her thoughts jumbling until she finally found something slightly more suitable to say. "...Can't we please stop fighting!?" Even as she spoke, her thoughts were louder, yet unheard by everyone except for her. I don't like fighting… Do you really want to kill me so much…? Do you really hate me…?

"I'll kill you… You're all gonna die…!" Akechi wasn't paying attention, the pain in his arm intense, and his anger at losing even more so. I can't… give up yet! How disgraceful would that be… Abandoning goal after goal just for these pathetic people? We only ever seem to betray each other anyway...

"Will you please stop!? You're fighting the wrong people!" Panther shouted, stepping up to Sayori's side. "We both hate the same guy! Why do we have to go against each other!? I… I don't want to fight you, anymore! I want to make up for what we did!"

"Killing us won't make you happy," Noir said, looking over at where their injured friends were resting. "Please… I don't want things to escalate to a point where none of us can ever… go back!" She felt like crying, because she still didn't know… Could she really trust that Akechi hadn't killed her father. Even if not she wouldn't forgive him regarding the things he had done, but that didn't mean she couldn't hope to move forward…

"But… I…!" Akechi could barely process anything. Their words were barely above gibberish in his head. He could only keep thinking how angry at himself he was… Why was he so pathetic?

"This isn't about what has happened in the past! All of us have made mistakes, and done things we can never take back! We've done it to ourselves, to each other, and to other people! You can't let your past rule over you! You must realize that!" Fox exclaimed… closing his eyes as he watched Akechi struggling just to move. He sheathed his sword, feeling rotten inside himself.

"Damn it…!" Why does everything keep going wrong!? Why can't I just be the one to win for once? Finally, someone else other than me messed up… Finally, I don't have to be the one who always feels like a traitor. I'm tired of losing everything!

"It doesn't matter where you start over!" Oracle shouted, her own thoughts jumping out of her head and into the air, as she spoke without thinking. "It doesn't matter if… if you hate us, and can never forgive us, and the same goes for how we feel about you! But… if you're so obsessed with acknowledgement, then acknowledge what we're saying!" Everyone was frustrated, knowing innately that Akechi wasn't listening to them. But none of them would claim that was his fault, either.

"And… you don't really hate us, do you?" Joker asked, looking back at where the injured members of their team were laying. "You talk a big game about killing us, but so far, how many of us are only injured? You've been holding back!"

Akechi felt his throat closing up, being able to process at least what Joker had said. His expression went dark, and he stared pointedly at the ground.

"Why is that? Is it because you don't hate us…? Do you even realize you're doing it?" Joker questioned, looking at Sayori, who always seemed to have a hopeful stare aimed at Akechi, even though Joker knew that with her recent feelings, she must feel worse than dirt with him ignoring her. It made him so unbelievably frustrated. "Or is it because there's someone among us who you actually still care about? She refuses to fight you, but she can tell you how much it hurts to see us hurting each other!"

Sayori swallowed, before looking down at Akechi, who she was practically right next to. "I… don't want it to end like this…!" she whispered, holding out her hand in front of him. "Please, Akechi! Let me help you up! You're hurt! We need to-"

"Shut up, shut up, shut up!" Crow screamed, lashing out, causing Sayori to tremble a bit, watching as fresh blood leaked from his wounds. He never once met her eyes as he stared at Joker with hate in his eyes. "Teammates!? Friends!? To hell with that! Why am I inferior to you…!? I was extremely particular about my life, my grades, my public image, so someone would want me around! I am an ace detective… a celebrity!"

"Akechi-kun…" Noir mumbled, staring at the ground uncomfortably. Please… I know it's hard, but you need to meet her eyes!

"Is that what this is really about?" Joker said, his voice stiff and disapproving. "For an ace detective… you're very determined to ignore the person who's standing right in front of you!"

"Shut up!… you're just some criminal trash living in an attic! So how…!?" Crow dug his clawed gloves into now scabbed areas on his forehead. He didn't even seem to be able to notice Valiant reaching out, before freezing as he continued on his rant. "How does someone like you have things I don't!? How can such a worthless piece of trash be more special than me!?"

Joker shook his head. "That's not the case." He turned towards Sayori, hesitating for a moment, before sighing in defeat. "Valiant… Unless you've changed your mind about fighting with us, come back over here, now."

Sayori trembled, before shaking her head slightly. One last time… Please let me try… Try to help you… She wanted to touch Akechi… hold him in a tight hug and never let go… but she knew he didn't want that right now. So, one last time she would try to talk.

"Akechi… Please listen to me…! Joker… Joker really isn't that great! You don't need to compare yourself to him… I'm sorry that in the end, I have to stand on his side… But I don't want there to be sides anymore! The only sides that should exist should be… me and you against the rest of the world… and the Phantom Thieves against Shido, and we would be against him, too… Just like how it was supposed to be! That can still be possible!"

"You're… missing the point! Why don't you get it!?" Akechi shouted back, never turning to look at her. All the time, he kept his eyes trained on the other thieves. "This is hardly about who betrayed who… Just what it means… Despite the pretty things those pieces of trash say, things between us won't change! None of you will ever be able to accept the things I've already done! I… I don't want to spend my life trying to be someone I'm not! I don't want to always feel like I'm in debt, because I've stolen… stolen lives that can't ever be brought back!"

"It won't be like that!" Sayori shouted, her heart and mind and entire body hurting as it felt like she wasn't even speaking. "We want to fight with you! Not against you! And… I won't let anyone or anything hurt you!"

"Your claims are meaningless! How can you still not understand?" Akechi shook his head, his voice getting lower, "Leave me alone…I'm done…"

I don't want to… "I… I'm sorry…" Sayori apologized, bowing slightly. Please don't make me… "I really… let you down, didn't I? I disappointed everyone… Again, I'm sorry…" She felt her legs start to move, and all of a sudden she was back with the other thieves. It… hurts so much… I don't want to… leave… Yet, at the same time she wanted to keep walking, away from this situation, and back through time, until things were simple again.

"So… this is the choice you made," Fox looked down at Akechi in disappointment. "What are you proposing we do, then? Do you still want to fight in that condition? I don't see things ending any other way than us dragging you back…"

"I'm not done… Far from it... this is great…" Akechi felt himself beginning to laugh as he forced himself to stand. The pain in his shoulder flared, and the cuts along his joints all burned, but he pushed through it. There were worse feelings than this. "I'm surprised… This is actually a first for me. I might even have to try my hardest against you." As if spurred on by his pain, Loki's presence seemed all the more present in his head, screaming to be used. But wasn't that just like Loki… always looking out for his wielder, watching out for his happiness, wanting to cause chaos to bring it… Now, he sounded so…

Desperate.

Akechi felt himself chuckling once more, trembling from pain… Maybe blood loss, too. "You know… I just came up with a fun little idea… I wonder how far I can go with this…" He reached his hand up towards his mask, letting his arm rest after the strenuous movement by hanging it off of the edge.

"Fun…?" Panther questioned. Everyone was constantly aware of their injured friends behind them, and became suddenly worried for their own safety. What was Akechi talking about?

"You wanted to see my powers, didn't you?" Akechi asked, smiling so hard that his cheeks hurt. "Fine… I'll show them to you!" A laugh escaped him, shaking his chest and shoulder, and oh god, his shoulder hurt. "You were right… I was holding back before, but then I remembered… All I care about now is killing all of you! It's the only reason I have to come here! To keep up the pointless charade of my life! I'll… prove that I'm better! Better than all of you!" He began to tear at the edges of his mask, grin splitting his face.

"Here… I'll show you who I really am. Come! Loki!" The mask was torn free, and Loki emerged once again, casting the spell that Akechi had decided on a long time ago. Desperation.

Sayori ran forward, watching as the boy's back seemed to arch back painfully. She barely even realized she was screaming. Her lungs and throat burned, but she couldn't stop the words from coming. "Goro! Please don't! Stop!"

"Valiant! Stay back!" Panther grabbed her as a red haze seemed to surround Akechi, reeking of evaporated blood as a sick sounding cackle echoed from the boy at its epicenter.

"What's going on!?" Noir asked, panicked as she coughed on the red smoke. Loki lit up the walls with red light, and everyone felt their anxieties rise.

"Don't make me laugh!" Akechi screamed "Justice!? Righteous!? Keep that shit to yourselves! You and your teammates piss me off!" His hands passed over his face, revealing a smile and lost eyes, somehow so clear, yet so foggy, too.

Sayori was terrified, staring into that uncaring, unsmiling face. Was Goro okay? Where had he gone… "Goro… Please…Somebody…"

"You're going down… I'll destroy all of you!" Akechi screamed, as power seemed to explode out of him. If he was in any pain, then he ignored it. "Go down with me!"

"No way…!" Panther gasped, stiffening as she felt Valiant practically collapse into her. Utter sadness and despair seemed to ebb off of the girl, unable to deny what was happening now.

"He made himself go psychotic!" Oracle shouted from her UFO, noting the similarities between himself and the Shadows he had made fight them earlier.

"Stop!" Please!" Sayori screamed, feeling her body lunge forward, even as Panther kept her back. The blood in the air… His arm moving so freely when he had been limping with it earlier… "You're hurting yourself!"

"Now! Let's see you drop dead one at a time, in front of your precious friends!" Akechi shouted, brandishing his laser sword, now a deep red. He charged forward, headed straight for Joker.

"He's coming! Get ready!" Oracle shouted, preparing a shield.

"Diediediediediediediediedie!" Akechi screamed, barely slowed down by all of the things Oracle did to put him at a disadvantage.

Joker was hardly paying attention as Akechi got closer and closer to him. Instead, he turned towards Sayori. "Valiant… Do you want to fight him like this…?"

"No! Yes…? I don't know!" Valiant cried, barely able to balance herself as sorrow wracked her body, watching as Akechi got closer and closer. "I don't want to hurt him… I want to stop him from hurting himself… I… I can't decide!"

"...Stay back for now…" Joker said with a sigh, knowing he would have to decide for the grieving girl now. "Only act when you're certain… I promise that we won't hurt him… Not anymore than we already have."

Valiant nodded hesitantly, dejection spreading through her as she began to walk back towards where the injured Phantom Thieves were resting. She could at least do her best to help them. "You had better keep your promise!"

Sayori ran back to where she had been earlier, trying once more to find medicine to revive her friends. It seemed however that Mona and Panther must have had all of those. Sayori could hardly call herself a healer, so she wouldn't even be sure how to properly use the medicine. Normally, she had instructions, yet she was the only one on the sidelines right now.

"I'll kill you, destroy you… Crush you!"

She tried to tune out Goro's voice, and tried to stop calling him Goro… Like he had asked. But it was hard… In her mind, all she could see and think about were him. She hated this entire conflict. Everyone got hurt by it in the end. Here they were, trying to fight and overpower the other, with the Cognitive of Akechi waiting on the other side of this room.

This is probably what he wants… Sayori watched as her friends clawed and slashed at each other. He wants us to destroy each other… Then he'll finish off whoever is left. I bet he's hoping that Goro will win, just so that he can kill him. Those dark thoughts clouded her head, and she glanced at the door where she knew the Cognitive was waiting for them. What was taking him so long.

If he had just shown up later, when Goro wasn't hurt, maybe Goro would have let himself be on our side again…

Maybe the Cognitive knew that…

Sayori looked back at the progress of the fight, and grimaced. Neither side was looking good, with Fox and Noir almost ready to fall unconscious themselves, and Goro looking more and more like a wounded animal, licking his own wounds and lashing out whenever he got the chance.

It hurts so much to see him like this… It hurts so much… that I can't even call him Goro without disrespecting him… It hurts because I know that he must hate me, when all of this time I-

Fox was suddenly knocked back harshly, a heavy slash from Loki's weapon sending him flying back and sliding across the floor. Sayori screamed a bit, before standing up and going over to Fox. She looked down at his chest, and was relieved to see it continuing to rise and fall. She could feel his breath on her hand when she held it above his face. Yusuke is still alive, too. I should put him with the others!

Quickly, Valiant grabbed Fox by his shoulders and dragged him back towards the others, well out of reach of the fight. She tried to keep her eyes off of the battlefield as a very nasty cut on Fox's chest immediately stood out to her. I may need to patch that up somehow. That could help… She took off her long jacket and tied it around Fox's chest as tight as she could get it, trying to put some pressure on the wound and stop the bleeding.

What a mess… We may all need to visit that doctor Akira and Futaba mention sometimes… Valiant tried to keep herself optimistic, even though the battle was currently scaring her, as she didn't at all know what the consequences of this fight were going to be, with Akechi so out of his mind. Trying to guess what things would have been like if she weren't here were tough for her, but she could guess that Akechi wouldn't have found out about the trick until much later, and…

He probably wouldn't have been actually trying to rescue Joker, either… Valiant tried not to think of what that could have done to make Akechi like this. Would he have been more tame if she hadn't convinced him to join the thieves… If he hadn't come over to their side? Questions like that weren't worth answering, because Valiant couldn't change anything in the past.

Besides… is it okay for me to be making excuses like this when he's become so savage?

"You're just… pieces of shit… who lick each other's wounds…!"

Akechi's words startled Valiant, making her freeze as she thought at first that he was addressing her specifically. She was attending to her injured friends right now, after all. Feeling slightly more confident than earlier that Fox would be alright, Valiant chanced a glance back at the fight, only to see that Akechi hadn't been looking at her at all, but at Ann. The blonde wasn't looking very well, but everyone could tell that Noir and Joker were suddenly doing much better.

He must have said that after she healed them, then… Valiant thought to herself, about to get back to her self assigned task, when Panther let out an ear shattering scream. Valiant covered her ears and looked behind her, seeing as Panther fell to the ground.

"What happened?" Valiant shouted, running over to grab Panther now, too.

"She tried to fire a spell at Akechi, but he reflected it back on her!" Oracle reported, wobbling unsteadily in the air in her UFO. "He's been firing on my Persona, too… I think some of my systems are damaged or something!"

"He's been targeting you, too!?" Valiant shouted, picking Ann up as the smell of burning fake leather invaded the air. How is that even possible? Oracle is our navigator. Barely anything has even been able to touch her in the past…

"I wouldn't really call it targeting. He's lost all sense of control and limitations, so he's just firing at anything in reach," Oracle reported, as if sensing Valiant's unease. "I'm sure he still feels those injuries we've given him, but he doesn't even care… I'd get out of here with Panther before he hurts her even more!"

"Okay…" Valiant responded, picking Panther up by her shoulders as well and dragging her so that she sat next to Fox. The burn itself didn't seem too bad… Just shocking and painful enough to knock the girl out.

There's only Noir and Joker left to fight… I'm going to have to join the fight soon, Valiant thought to herself, a queasy feeling forming in her stomach as dread filled her. It's not like I would make much of a difference at this point… All I'm good at is defense… and I can't exactly defend the team when they've already fallen in battle.

She would do it, though, if she needed to. Akechi needed to be stopped before they could try to reason with him again, and she wouldn't be so blind and naive to run away and be a coward if Akechi actually killed her friends. I wouldn't forgive anybody… Not even him, for killing the people I care about.

But there I go again… being a hypocrite. Still, being hypocritical is not worse than not caring if my friends are dead…

Valiant absentmindedly took out her shield, studying the design, running her gloved hands across the intricate metal work. Joker had bought the best looking model he could find for her, but had made it very clear he didn't expect to buy her forgiveness. Still, the gesture had been kind. Even though it wasn't what she wanted, it was nice to be welcomed as though she were still on the team.

I just wish we could be a complete team again. I'm selfish for wanting all of them as my friends I guess, but… just what would it take for me to have it all?

"DIIIIE!"

A scream tore through Valiant's ears as everything happened in an instant. At the same time that she turned to face the fight and see what was going on, Noir was sent flying back, landing harshly on the ground not too far from where Valiant was standing. Before Valiant could think about going to check on her, the wings on the circumference of Oracle's UFO had a gaping hole through them. It careened through the air, before crashing into the floor of the ship. Oracle barely managed to withdraw her Persona a moment later, groaning on the floor. Luckily, the craft had broken her fall enough that she was only unconscious.

Valiant gasped at all that she saw, beginning to run forward to help Noir, who was closest to her, when an even worse sight sent her legs nearly buckling.

Joker was still standing, but barely. He was on his last legs, and would probably pass out soon enough…

But Akechi was pointing a gun at him. It wasn't his toy gun, but a very real pistol, aimed right at the Phantom Thief leader's head.

"I hate you… so much!" Akechi said, breathing heavily as the fight was finally starting to tear at him. "I can never make it clear… how much!" His finger tightened on the trigger, and a breathy chuckle escaped him. "I'll be so… happy… after you die… After I kill you!" He wasn't even hanging onto his sanity even more, but in the deep recesses of his mind, Akechi knew that he wanted to finally tell that truth. He had hidden it for so long, and now like everything else, the Phantom Thieves knew everything…

Valiant felt as though she were on another plane of existence as she watched the exchange. She heard the words but didn't process them, only knowing one thing. Akechi was going to kill Joker. Akira was going to die. And if Akira died…

Then the game would be over… I would have to go through this entire nightmare again, with nothing changing.

"So Joker…"

No…

"Rest easy…"

I won't allow any more fighting!

"REST EASY AND DIE!" Akechi screamed, before pulling the trigger.

"Psyche!" Valiant screamed. In an instant, her Persona burst out of her, rushing forward and casting a protective shield around Joker. Before anyone could have a chance to do anything after that, Sayori ran forward, dropping her mask in the process and pulling out her shield.

Akechi rushed forward with his sword, charging at Joker, only to instead clash with Sayori's shield, the girl straining against the force he was putting into trying to get to Joker.

"Get out of my way!" Akechi screamed, backing up, and then charging once more. He tried to go around and get at Joker once more, but Sayori would not let that happen.

"No! I won't go through this again! You need to stop!" Sayori shouted. Her mask materialized on her face again, withdrawing Psyche momentarily.

Akechi quickly saw his chance. "Loki!" He screamed, summoning his Persona. He didn't even need to take off his mask, sending his Persona straight back again at Akira.

Psyche shot up again, her gloved hands grabbing Loki's wrists and fighting with the demon for his flaming orange sword. Sayori felt herself become slightly dizzy as Akechi tried to get past her again. Every time he slammed into her, or her shield, it somehow felt like he was actually hitting her. Sayori couldn't even understand how that was possible, but she never for a second paused to contemplate it. As long as she kept resisting, Joker wasn't dead yet. Akechi hadn't crossed the line with her, yet.

"Akechi… Goro… Please stop! Please… I don't want to fight!" Sayori shouted, heaving as her shoes started to screech against the ground.

"No!" Akechi's grin widened once more into a creepy split, seeing that he was making progress towards his goal.

Sayori gulped, deciding to take a chance and use Psyche for something other than keeping Loki back. The Persona quickly increased her speed, and the girl stepped back, before charging forward and slamming into Akechi again. She forced herself forward, pushing Akechi back, centimeter by painful centimeter.

It's getting… hard to breathe? Sayori looked up to see that Loki had gotten the upper hand, wrapping his spindly hands around Psyche's throat, squeezing the wiry formation like tin foil.

The girl could feel herself beginning to choke, coughing and struggling to get air back in. She looked up at the two struggling Personas, feeling as Akechi finally started to push back. "Please… stop!"

Loki glanced down at her briefly, his glowing red eyes seeming to take in everything below him. Sayori swore he could see her struggling to breathe, before looking back up at Psyche. Even stranger was that a few seconds later, the Persona's hands released the wire frame that was Psyche's throat.

Air flooded into Sayori, and she coughed even harder. For a second, she thought about thanking Loki, before being promptly reminded of her current objective as Akechi tried to get to Joker once more.

"No… you don't!" Sayori used her increased speed to go around and block his path once again, much to the boy's frustration. He screamed and threw himself forward, no longer able to form complicated thoughts. Once again, Sayori felt as though she had just gotten hit. She could tell that her health was getting lower… But how could that be?

Don't think about it… Just keep pushing back! Sayori glanced back at Joker, slightly confused as she saw him remaining frozen. It was though he was zoned out, unable to even react to what was even happening.

Well… If he's really the player character… maybe that makes more sense…? Sayori didn't spend time focusing on it, even as she worried that if Joker wouldn't… or couldn't do anything, then he wouldn't be able to heal himself and fight back. Would that make this a pointless effort on her part.

Sayori refused to give up, though. Over and over they clashed, and she could feel as her health drained, but she wouldn't stop. She would never stop until the thieves won… Until she won.

Her health was less than half now, and her arms burned and shook as her legs tried to buckle.

Sayori could feel it getting lower. She was so dizzy that she felt like she was going to fall, but she was still a teenage girl… She just had to lean into her shield…

"You're almost out of health…" Akechi said after long. "Get out of the way so I can finish this!"

"No," Sayori huffed, shaking her head. "You'll have to get through me if you want to kill."

"I already have gotten through!" Akechi shouted at her, making her cringe.

"No, you haven't!" Sayori screamed back. Akechi went still, and the constant force against her shield subsided for a brief moment, before starting again. "Goro… Killing Joker won't end this! Just trust me when I say that it will only start again. It will keep starting… until you really do lose! I don't want to go through that! Don't make me go through that!" The girl felt tears well in her eyes at the image of it, watching as everyone got hurt over and over again. Akechi driving himself psychotic, laughing even as his body had been in so much pain that he couldn't move only seconds prior to that… over and over again.

"I don't care! I just want to kill him! Let! Me! Through!" Akechi screamed, increasing the force against her shield and causing Sayori's shoes to begin sliding against the floor.

I don't want to see this again, I don't want to see this again, I don't want to see this again, I don't want to see this again!

"Then kill me first!" Sayori screamed back, not truly processing what she had just said until the pressure against her shield stopped entirely, now only feeling as though Akechi were slightly leaning against it. She chanced a look up, for the first time in what had felt like forever seeing Akechi's eyes… and they were looking right at her. She hadn't noticed until now how he hadn't even been looking at her this entire fight until now. Sayori looked back, and felt tears starting to fall down as she noticed how cracked and red Goro's eyes were. Had he burst a vein?

"Goro… I won't give up… I'm not going to give up… Not on protecting my friends, and not on protecting you, too. So… if you really hate Joker that much… if you really hate me that much, then kill me! Kill me first… because I don't want to see the things you'll do afterwards," Sayori said, holding eye contact, never wanting to look away. He hadn't looked at her all night until this moment… and if she was going to die…

"I… I deserve it, don't I?" Sayori asked, trying to smile. "I don't know what I did, but I had to have done something. You got so hurt by everything that happened, and I never even got to talk to you before now. I've been letting all of my friends fight for me tonight… They got hurt because of me, and I barely did anything except drag their unconscious bodies around. No matter how angry they made me… they don't deserve to die… not nearly as much as I do!" She was rambling now… Ugly thoughts that she had kept promising herself she wouldn't think about anymore. But she supposed it was to be expected. Between her and her friends dying, Sayori would always choose herself to die.

"Goro…?"

Akechi was frozen, feeling as though he were going to throw up. The pain that throbbed through his body was suddenly much harder to ignore as the adrenaline from the fight immediately left his mind. He refused to let his body move, yet it remained stiff and tense, prepared to strike. In his current mental state, he had lost track of how much time had passed. Had he been fighting the Phantom Thieves for a few seconds, or a few days? It had felt like forever so he went with the second option.

So he had been trying to kill the Phantom Thieves for days, then? It was difficult to struggle against that sort of instinct. Inside his head, he was screaming at himself to take the girl up on her offer.

Wait… "the girl?" That's Sayori… What am I even thinking…? Akechi shook his head trying to clear away heavy cobwebs that made his head feel like putty. It felt like his vision had been red this time and…

They hurt a lot, actually… I have a splitting headache, too…

Sayori bit her lip, considering glancing down for a bit, but decided against it. Goro didn't seem well, looking like he was going to throw up several times as he closed his eyes. Was he seasick or something? The rest of his body refused to move, and the girl worried that he would spring forward any moment in an attempt to surprise her.

So she kept her eyes locked on him, once again able to hope for a miracle.

The fog in Akechi's head was still there… He could feel it in the corners, blurring morality and making him want to keep fighting to kill Joker, but he meant it when he said it was in the corners. Because in his head, his own ethics were getting louder and louder. If it hadn't been for the fact that he remembered recently thinking about it this past week, Akechi began to fear that the state he was in would have meant he would have taken Sayori up on her offer.

Sayori thinks that I hate her, but I never will… and I won't kill her! She must still be scared, even now, right? He could barely remember how she looked, or how she might have felt, but her words remained in his head. She wanted me to… kill her.

Akechi's teeth were chattering, his eye was twitching, and his body and mind fought with him, but his promise managed to speak louder. He released his clawed gloves from the edge of Sayori' shield, before taking a step back. Sayori tensed up for a moment, raising her shield a little higher, expecting him to charge her again.

Akechi shook his head, horrified that she really was this scared of him. It shouldn't make sense, as he had come here fully intending to kill all of the other thieves tonight… But right now the thought of Sayori seeing him as a monster was real and terrifyingly large. So he continued shaking his head, unable to bring himself to speak. He had been screaming so much earlier, his throat hurt and he knew it would rasp when he spoke. Would that scare her, too? Akechi couldn't think clearly enough to reason with himself.

Sayori watched as Goro shook his head rapidly, his face pouting and miserable looking, like a toddler trying to refuse being fed. Aside from being worried about what Goro had done to his mind, Sayori was relieved, because she understood. Goro was quitting now, wasn't he? He was surrendering!

"Goro…?" She asked, lowering her shield and glancing at him quizzically.

He opened his mouth as if to respond, before coughing and shaking his head, pointing at his throat.

"Oh!" Sayori ran over to the bag where she had been looking for medicine, pulling out a bottle of water and a few other things that she thought could help, before running back. She was glad to see that in the few seconds she had gone, Joker hadn't moved from his spot, and neither had Goro. It looked like the battle was no longer going.

She gave the water bottle to Akechi, who ripped the top off of the bottle and poured the contents into his throat. Sayori was still concerned, watching as he handled things with none of the careful composure she was used to. He could have just twisted off the cap…

"Sayori… I could never hate you..." Goro asked after a moment, looking as though he had just come up for air after holding his breath underwater for too long. "Never would hurt you… either…"

"Then why did you want me to go away…? Why were you fighting us?" Sayori asked, her voice cracking. Goro groaned, clutching and shaking his head, and she immediately felt bad. "No… No tough questions, actually. Nevermind…"

"Because I… I hate all of these guys… and I wanted to… I… didn't want you to have to see it," Akechi choked out, shaking his head.

Sayori cast her eyes down, suddenly so frustrated. "I know what they did hurt you… But I wish you could have talked to me about everything before you got murder happy!" He winced, and she frowned, shaking her head. "I guess you just really weren't in the best mental state, though. I realized it earlier this week, when I still felt so betrayed. I knew you were probably going to try to murder them…"

"I'm sorry… I couldn't- When I saw that Shadow version of Akira… I thought…" The detective squeezed the empty water bottle in his hand, feeling the clawed tips of his fingers break through the claws of his glove. He paused for a few moments, before squeezing his fists even tighter.

"Goro" Sayori noticed the clenched fist and shook her head. "I get it… I really do. When I found out, I felt so upset, and when I tried to picture how you must have felt… I immediately started thinking you would murder them! What is wrong with me!?"

"What's wrong with me, you mean? You just know me too well," Goro grumbled, shaking his head. "I still feel so angry at them… Like I'm going to crack any second… It was nice to snap out of it for a moment though…" I missed you…

Sayori nodded and cleared her throat, stepping up closer to him and taking his hand. "Goro… You said you don't hate me, right?" She separated his fingers, forcing his fist into a relaxed position. She cringed at the blood seeping through cuts in the fabric.

"Yeah… I'll never… do that," Akechi confirmed, nodding his head as the girl stared at the ground for a moment.

Then… you'll forgive me for this eventually, right…? Sayori wondered to herself, before ramming the entirety of her body weight against Goro. She sent him falling to the ground, stopping him from hurting himself too much by pulling on his good arm.

Goro looked up at her, stunned, but seemed to be stubbornly refusing to look sad. Honestly, I know that from her I deserve a lot worse after what's happened tonight… It was the most clear, moral thought he had come up with in a long time.

"The fight is over," Sayori said to herself, feeling as Akechi's health went to zero. The battle with him had never stopped, but paused when she had protected Joker. By finishing the battle this way, she could stop Goro from hurting anyone, including himself. "Thank you for losing this way," she said to Goro, trying to smile at him before going to Joker, bringing medicine and something for him to eat.

With the battle won, Joker luckily earned an ability on one of his Personas to revive others. He quickly went to the other Phantom Thieves, helping them regain consciousness as Sayori handed out more medicine.

Goro watched them from the ground, the last of the sensation of Desperation slowly leaving his body. The unfortunate after effect of this was a heavy feeling of depression and sadness, now that he had lost. Still, at the very least he would be able to hold a more coherent conversation with them now. I should have listened earlier, his mind berated him.

One by one the Phantom Thieves walked up to stand in front of him, looking down at him somberly as they thought of what to say. Feeling an embarrassing sense of self consciousness, Goro forced himself into a sitting position. His entire body ached and throbbed from the effort, and Goro almost cried out as he had to use his bad arm to balance himself for a brief moment. Sayori tried to come over and help, but he stubbornly did it himself. He didn't deserve any more of her help or sympathy right now.

When he was finally sitting up, Sayori smiled, even as she wondered what was going to happen next. After that fight, she suspected that any attempts at reconciling would be awkward at best, and impossible at worst. She felt awkward herself, as the Phantom Thieves glanced at her in confusion and amazement. Sayori supposed it made sense that they were curious, wondering if she really had put a stop to the fight like Akira had told them.

Still, there were words to be said, and things to do, and an emergency waiting for them outside to deal with. They still had to get the last letter of recommendation, too. Knowing this, the Phantom Thieves each took off their masks. After saying "Sayori"and "Akechi" so much in the Palace, all of them had decided to resume calling each other by their code names, but they wanted to be able to talk to Goro with some level of connection and no hostility, hence the masks coming off.

"So…" Ann began, grimacing a bit. Her wounds were mostly healed, but they hurt as though they were still there. The clear cleared her throat and put on a more blank expression. "So what happens now?"

"We figure this out," Akira said, closing his eyes as he thought of how best to actually start the conversation. "Valiant, you've already had your chance to talk to him. Could you let us do most of the talking? We're the ones who need to explain ourselves."

"Oh… Okay," Sayori agreed, before looking down slightly. "I don't mean to throw any of you guys under the bus, but I just want to make sure… G… Um, Crow? You know that I never was in on their plan, right? You accept that answer, right?"

"Yes… I do. I know that you were as clueless as I was… The Phantom Thieves just forced you onto their side, and I blocked you. So…" Goro trailed off, looking at the ground with an odd feeling of lingering hostility for the thieves, as well as humiliation and shame for what he had done to cut off communications.

"So basically… Valiant doesn't deserve blame from any of us," Oracle finished. "Honestly, she was trying to help everybody by getting you on our team. With the way you were fighting earlier, we could have gotten through this Palace way easier."

"You wouldn't have had to 'go through' this Palace at all, actually. I already have my own letters of recommendation," Goro revealed, causing all of the thieves' eyes to widen.

"Dammit!" Ryuji stomped the ground, before a combination of chuckles and grumbles left him. "We really jumped the gun on that one… I guess that's a form of karma, right?" When no one laughed, the blond looked down and tried to pretend as though he hadn't said anything.

"So… you've already been in this Palace a lot, haven't you?" Haru inquired, looking down stoically.

"You must have met the president of the broadcasting station I assume… You may have already found out, but he was broadcasting when your father died," Goro revealed. "I am sorry for what happened to him, by the way. Back then, I really had thought he was going to be alright… I didn't kill him, after all, and he was fading away by the time I left that Palace."

"So… you were considering killing him when you were following us in that Palace, then?" Haru asked, looking up at him and gazing at him from behind her mask.

Goro actually hesitated, remembering that the girl had a tendency to be quite menacing, but he knew now was the time he had to tell them absolutely everything. "Yes… I was about to, actually, if not for the interference of something else…"

While everyone else wondered what this "something else" that Goro talked about, Haru clenched her fists for a long time, eyes suddenly trained on the ground. Despite how enraged that made her… How much she hated the hitman that sat before her for that moment in time… She appreciated his blatant honesty. At the very least, she had a bit of a clearer image of his last moments in that Palace.

"We can discuss my father more later… I'm honestly not quite sure how I feel about it right now, because I hate knowing this, but I'm grateful that I can tell you're being honest," Haru said, sighing sadly. "I am sorry for my involvement in the plan to deceive you. There is no excuse I can give for doing that to you, and doing that to Valiant. I feel especially bad for keeping her away from you before you went to rescue Joker. That was unnecessarily cruel of me." She took off her hat and bowed slightly, closing her eyes.

"You thought I was dangerous to be around," Goro argued, looking at his black outfit and chuckling humorlessly. "You were definitely right about that, honestly… Thanks." It was weird how numb yet warm he felt at this odd sense of gratefulness he felt towards Haru, but he still knew why he felt that way. You were trying to keep Sayori safe like how she tried to help you with Sugimura, weren't you?

Futaba stepped up next, slouched over and looking sheepish. "I have a lot to apologize for, too. I programmed and implanted that app on your phone, which made this entire trick possible, and also… that call you made to Shido about killing Joker was faked. Valiant told me that you told her about it, but that was one of the conversations I overheard that made us all really believe you were going to betray us… Sorry for hacking into your phone, recording your private phone calls with your not-really dad, showing them to everyone without permission, not talking to Valiant about anything, sending you to the fake interr-"

"I get it… and it's… not really fine… but honestly I understand why you would think that…" Akechi tried to laugh, his voice faltering due to his fatigue. "I'm a pretty good actor, wouldn't you say? I tricked Masayoshi Shido and the Phantom Thieves all at once."

"You don't get the right to brag. You still killed my mom," Futaba snapped, looking away for a moment. "That was a serious apology, too, so don't make me feel angry at you when we're supposed to be talking civilly."

Akechi froze, before nodding his head solemnly. "You're right, and I'm sorry… for the bragging, and especially for your mother. Her death is probably the one I regret the most." The one I actually really can feel enough to regret, anyway… I supposed I started ignoring the guilt to the point that I didn't feel anything for a while.

Futaba looked down, looking solemn, and then pouting. "I don't even know if I want to hear this, knowing what you did to her, but I feel like I have to know, so I can know more about her… Why do you feel that way about my mother? Make sure you say it and don't spray it, because I don't want to feel sad for you when it comes to this."

Akechi nodded. "I believe I can do that." He made his voice as stoic as possible. "Well, I didn't remember this until very recently, but your mother actually knew mine, and she also used to babysit me at some point before my mother took a turn for the worse. Aside from that, your mother was my first target, before I understood what would actually happen to a person who experienced a mental shutdown. Afterwards… well the fact that she was the first innocent I killed made me feel trapped in that situation for a long time."

"Well, you kind of were," Futaba said, schooling her voice into one of reason. "Yeah… I understand now. It helps a bit to know how my mother's death affected another person, aside from me and… Boss in this Palace I guess. Though, it also kind of makes me frustrated that my mom was used like that… She was already being used for Shido to steal her research… He really had to go even lower and use her to trap a teenager into an assassin contract?"

Futaba groaned, putting her face in her hands and shaking her head. "This sucks for both of us, I guess… But… you still were the one who killed her. So it's weird that I have to do this all at once, but I still hate you for that-with the wounds being reopened again and everything-and I'll never forgive you for it… But at the same time, I'm sorry again for helping to trick you, and I hope you'll forgive me. Valiant told us you were going to confess everything after Sae's Palace, so I guess I would have gotten that explanation either way. So…" The girl sniffed, before groaning. "Ugh, why do I have to feel like crying my eyes out now of all times!?"

"I suppose… I did a lot more to you than you did to me," Akechi sighed. "I still don't think I'm ready to forgive you yet, either, but the same goes for everyone here. It's just nice to fully understand what happened."

Futaba nodded, sniffling as she hid behind Haru and waited for the next thief to take their turn.

Ann walked up next, twisting one of her pigtails and her hand, looking down guiltily. "I… I'm sorry for being in on it, too. I didn't really do a lot to help, besides keeping the lie up until it was time to put the plan into action, but I know after that I did quite a few things wrong. I already apologized to Valiant for it, but you deserve an apology for that, too. One thing I am still ashamed of is deleting the notification on Valiant's phone that you blocked her… and then I didn't tell her Joker was still alive, so she didn't know until we all met at Leblanc. A lot of chaos occurred after that. Valiant ran away and hid in Mementos for three days, when we could have used all of that time to actually search for you and fix everything… It was all a mess, and I only made it worse…" Ann felt her eyes burning with tears, too, and she wiped at her eyes before they could fall.

"So… I am so sorry for causing such a mess… and for being such a hypocrite, too. I should have believed in Valiant, but I didn't, and everyone got hurt because of that. And-"

"Panther, why do you think you're a hypocrite?" Akechi asked, reviewing everything in his head and finding that this didn't make much sense to him with the context he was given.

Panther sniffed and closed her eyes. "Ever since I found out that Valiant liked you… in that way, I was the biggest supporter of you two getting together, and I worked hard to help you in that direction. Then, when things started not looking good… I did so many things that basically sabotaged it. I should have gone with my gut and talked to Valiant! But instead…"

"You were trying to do what you thought would help her in the end… I wouldn't call that hypocritical, since you've been doing that for a very long time, right?" Akechi asked, his voice a high-pitched, now gravelly tone that Ann interpreted as him trying to ask a rhetorical question. She nodded in agreement, even as she still felt terrible.

"Like I said to Oracle, I still haven't forgiven you for the things you all actually did, but… thanks for doing what you thought would be best for Valiant," Akechi said sincerely, before chuckling. "And considering the situation we're in, I'm the one whose been a hypocrite. First I wanted to get revenge on Shido, then I wanted to help all of you, and then I wanted to kill all of you… I didn't even care about Shido, because I knew revenge was pointless… I only wanted to hurt everyone here," he admitted.

Ann was quiet for a moment, before letting go of her pigtail. "...Not Valiant, though, right?"

"Never," Akechi confirmed, causing Ann to sigh with relief. He didn't really want to tell her that the only reason was because a fresh memory in his head was of him promising never to hate Sayori no matter what. Let Ann believe in the power of love or whatever else that she wanted. Akechi honestly too felt worn out from the memory of nearly killing Sayori to care.

"Well… It's good to finally get that off of my chest again," Ann said. "I'm glad that you seem to understand, too."

"Likewise."

Ryuji cleared his throat and sighed. "Sorry for being involved, too. All of us knew it, and thought we were only lookin' out for our teammate… But we should have been looking out for our teammates. Honestly, I was a cocky asshole about the entire plan, too. No wonder Valiant got so mad at us. I wasn't makin' it easy, makin' it seem like we were hotshit for pullin' a fast one."

"You didn't even pull it off, either," Akechi replied, snarky as ever.

"Yeah, and that's what really bugs me. We should have given you the benefit of the doubt somehow. Maybe a way to let you out of the trap or whatever if it turned out you were actually tryin' to save Joker. Instead, we just left you alone to figure it out, and it was so easy for you to figure out, right? You weren't tryin' to kill him, so of course you would notice!" When Akechi nodded to confirm, Ryuji sighed. "If you're mad at anyone, be mad at me. I may not have done anything special, but I still egged everyone on, and we all made a big mistake."

"I don't care about your shitty insults, Skull, or your attitude. Anything I could have said just now applies to you. No matter how stupid and idiotic you are, you believed you were doing the right thing, and you should feel proud of yourself for doing that. There's no pride in meaningless cruelty," Akechi said, short and stiff.

"You seem to be pretty annoyed with me right now for someone who 'doesn't care.'"

"You've said what you wanted to say… Expressed your regrets," Akechi dismissed. "Who wants to go next in this weird… weird group counseling session we seem to be having?"

"Come on, man. I mean it when I said that those jeers were a step too far," Ryuji said. "No matter what your aim used to be, when you were on our team you wanted to quit workin' for Shido, and we forced you back in. I have a horrible dad that I hate… and I'm glad he's leavin' me and my mom alone. I couldn't even begin to imagine workin' for a parent that I hate like you did… Much less doin' the things he told you to do… He must have filled you with a lot of hatred to keep goin,' even after all these years, yeah?"

"Is that really how you're trying to change the subject?" Akechi asked. "You and I are completely different, then. I don't have parents anymore, and I sought Shido out of my own free will. You have the decency to decide to leave your father to his demons."

"Well… I mean my dad's not someone in politics. If I saw his face everyday on the news, boastin' about how he's hot shit all of the time, I'd be pretty pissed off, too… Especially when things got bad, like my leg last year. I wouldn't say I'd go on a killing spree, but I know how it feels to hate someone like that. Sorry that you got pushed so far," Ryuji shook his head. "I probably don't know what I'm even talkin' about… Just pullin' shit out of my ass, so you don't have to take any of this to heart. I guess the only thing I can really say is… Sorry for makin' you feel like you had to go back to that."

Akechi was silent, and Ryuji got the feeling that he didn't want to dignify his lame apology with a response. So the blond walked over to where the girls were waiting, though he did think he heard Akechi shudder a bit. A big, guttural sigh that made Ryuji think that maybe Akechi knew what he was trying to say.

Morgana hopped over, frowning sadly. Akechi didn't really know what kind of apology to expect from the cat, watching as the short creature shuffled his feet nervously on the ground, looking like a child that was afraid of getting scolded.

"So… I basically helped come up with the entire scheme to trick you. Oracle may have put it all together, but I came up with it. Sorry about that. Also, I'm sorry that we jumped to conclusions… over something stupid like pancakes."

"Huh? What do you mean?" Akechi inquired, and Morgana sighed, before explaining exactly what had happened to lead them all to suspect him. By the end of it, Akechi felt a well of shame and humiliation building inside of him, even as Morgana looked even guiltier.

"We went through Valiant's Palace not long after that, and right before I began thinking about the pancakes comment, you mentioned that you got access to her Palace, so we shouldn't have been so quick to judge you because of such a small time difference. I mean… we all probably would have been happier for it in the end… At the very least we should have asked about it first before making a decision like that."

"It would have been foolish of you to not pursue the truth," Akechi replied, shame building in him. "I only wish the trust wasn't as… humiliating as that. Caught because of pancakes… How ridiculous."

"Sorry. I know it's a ridiculous feeling, but after Valiant got mad at us about everything, I started feeling really guilty about it at one point. Like, if only I were human, or not a talking cat… Or if I just hadn't said anything back then…"

"It is ridiculous. What's done is done, and feeling guilty for something as stupid as that is only going to undermine everything else you said. You helped to mastermind the plan based on mere speculation, and because of that the past week of our lives have been hell. That's the only thing that should be making you feel guilty," Akechi said, putting his hand on his forehead. Between pancakes being my supposed downfall, and the absolutely awful ones that Sayori made that night, I don't think I can ever enjoy the food again.

"I… guess," Morgana replied, looking down. "I don't know what I was expecting, but I didn't think you would be this stern… You almost seemed comforting to everyone else…"

"I'm not babying you… Especially when you're trying to guilt trip me by shaming yourself… You jumped to a ridiculously far conclusion based on my comments, but because of that, you found the truth. Simply ignoring it wouldn't be the behavior I would accept from a Phantom Thief," Akechi said, wanting to reiterate the clearly comforting thing he had said earlier.

"Well… I'm glad you have that viewpoint," Morgana replied, before making way for the next Phantom Thief that wanted to apologize.

Makoto was very stiff as she crossed her arms and closed her eyes to think, pondering what exactly she wanted to say, before shaking her head and sighing. "I apologize for everything that has happened that has led us to this fight tonight…" It was vague and general, and Akechi got the sense that Makoto hadn't been able to think of anything better to apologize for.

"Yeah… You and everyone else here…" Akechi closed his eyes and considered, too. Makoto was holding herself very pridefully, and he got the sense that she felt like there wasn't much for her to apologize for.

"And I'm sorry for the fight," Akechi responded, raising his eyebrows at her. "At least I can be specific about what I did, which was beat you and all of your teammates to a pulp. If you can't even explain what you're apologizing for, then why are you apologizing?"

Makoto's temper flared, and she looked away angrily. "Frankly, I get that what we did was wrong… We tricked Valiant and caused her a lot of distress, but you still insisted on keeping everything about being Black Mask to yourselves, and decided to only tell us later, when we already were supposed to be enjoying having you on our team. If that's not manipulation, then I don't know what is… And you still did hurt people, including all of us tonight… I won't forgive you for making me scared for my teammates' lives tonight, and scared for mine, too!"

"I understand that," Akechi said, looking down at the ground silently after that. There wasn't really much that he could say to Makoto about this. He had wanted to hurt all of them, after all, and there was no saying otherwise, and no nice, apologetic way of explaining how badly he wanted to murder them not even a few minutes ago.

"Yeah, of course you understand that now, because Valiant was able to pull you back from your murder rampage before any of us were actually murdered!" Makoto shouted, before shutting her mouth and looking away angrily, enraged tears burning at her eyes. "I hate that part, too, because of how it looks. Valiant was seriously the only way to stop you from killing us… Killing other people like the SIU Director? I hate the fact that she wants to be anywhere around you right now… She can want to save you as much as she wants, but I don't think I can ever be supportive of your… relationship again, after this…"

"It's not up to you, you know," Akechi replied. "I admire your resolve to protect your friend, and I am happy that this friend is Valiant, but your opinion isn't the only one that matters here. Don't you think that this entire controlling attitude you still have right now is why Valiant got so upset at all of you in the first place!? You helped keep her away from me in the Palace, like some kind of blockade, when all she wanted was to stay. Did you not notice how many times she kept looking back at me? You can hate me as much as you want… You can be as unapologetic as you want towards me, but you can't hate me for something that has to do with Valiant!"

I thought Makoto was so smart… but how idiotic can she be when it comes to relationships…? I thought I was the one who was terrible at them, but still… "I think one of the things that hurt most of all that night was that… after discovering that whole trick, my last memory was of leaving Leblanc, thinking all of you had faith in me to rescue our leader… and then Valiant was crying and screaming like she thought I was going to die… And I was terrified of that possibility, too honestly. We barely got any time for goodbyes that night, too. All that time, you were all planning to pull that trick on me, too…"

Makoto had frozen up at his entire tirade, shaking and shivering. Akechi feared she was going to start arguing with him all over again, but that turned out not to be the case as tears started pouring from her face.

"I already apologized to Valiant for all of that… I never even paused to consider how anyone else felt… Least of all, you," Makoto admitted. "We went too far… I admit that. I'm sorry that we tried to separate you two so much… Before we were even starting our plan, too. Even Panther had that all figured out before me… I just… I can't even begin to apologize."

"You already have apologized. It was a bad apology, but it still was one… You're allowed to have your own opinions, too," Akechi reiterated, looking away from the girl. "Just learn your lesson, like the kind of 'goodgirl type of pushover' that you are."

Makoto's head shot up at that, but she sighed. "I deserve that right now, I guess," she said, grimacing at the cheeky smile Akechi was giving her. She walked away now, too. Even though her feelings were still so mixed about Akechi, at least she felt that she understood him better now.

Next Yusuke went, awkward and shuffling. He thumbed the edges of his mask a little bit, almost wanting to hide under it again, but he valued the principle of sincerity too much to do that. He put one hand on his chest, and the other behind his back, giving a deep a bow. Akechi tried to not roll his eyes at the display.

"I am terribly sorry for my hand in the scheme we pulled on you. As an artist, and as someone who tries to be a decent person everyday, I should have trusted the intuition I had all this time before your secret was uncovered that you were on our side. I ended up panicking, unable to tell if I was only seeing you as what I wanted to see you as," Yusuke apologized, looking down.

"Let me guess," Akechi responded. "You were worried that this would be like Madarame, again, right?"

Yusuke nodded, sheepish, but relieved that Akechi understood. "I would never want Valiant to experience what I went through with that man. But I should have trusted my intuition… I have gotten better since learning my lesson with Madarame… and I should have trusted Valiant, and gone to her about this… She's always been patient to explain the relationship that the two of you share, so I know she would explain this."

"There wouldn't have been any other choice, anyway. If you asked about the lie you caught us in, you would corner us and leave us with no choice. We were determined to tell all of you the truth eventually," Akechi restated, beginning to get tired of these apologies. Yet, he knew there was only one left, and it just so happened to be the one he was looking forward to the least.

"Precisely," Yusuke replied with a deadpan voice. "I had a hand in separating the two of you as well. I suppose I was just afraid of making a friend suffer for a mistake I had repeated, but it was wrong. So again, I apologize."

"Again, I hate what you did, but as I am now, I would hate you if you didn't try to keep Valiant safe," Akechi stated. "Again… Everyone, thanks. I despise what you did, but hearing so many of you mentioning Valiant over and over makes me feel a bit better about the shitty week I've had."

Yusuke nodded, and went to stand with the rest of the group. Finally, it was Akira's turn. The leader stepped up and closed his eyes, too. Thoughts of the previous battle echoed through his mind, making him think of all the things Akechi said. Akechi said that he hated Akira, and Akira believed it, after everything that happened.

"I already know that you won't forgive me for a long time. I also helped come up with the plan to trick you, and I let myself get arrested because I thought that was your intention that night. If I hadn't thought you were behind all of that, we all would have left the Palace together, either chasing that signal on Oracle's map, or escaping with the Treasure. Instead, you went through hell that night, and Valiant experienced hell the next morning, and it was because of me being a terrible, hypocritical leader. I haven't even gotten a chance to make it up to Valiant, either," Akira lamented, looking down sadly.

Akechi was silent, absolutely refusing to respond to the leader at all now, and Akira felt his stomach twist.

"I'm sorry, for not following our own rules and making a unanimous decision with Valiant's input, for tricking you and pushing you back into Shido's grasp, for making you feel inferior," Akira took a deep breath, knowing the list could go on of all the things he had done wrong. "I have a question, though. You said you hate me, and that I have things you don't like friends and companions… And that made me wonder… Did you think I was trying to steal Valiant away from you?"

"No!" Akechi immediately shouted, before realizing how quickly he had responded and bowing his head in shame. He bit his lip, before looking up at Akira, giving him a murderous glare that Akira had no doubt was genuine.

After they got out of this Palace, he knew he was going to have to start sleeping with one eye open. Akira was fine with that, as it meant he wouldn't have to visit the Velvet Room when he didn't want to. Recently, he had only gone in to fuse Personas, and then immediately left without even talking with the twins, still frustrated with them and their master.

"I will admit," Akechi began, "that before, when we were all on the same team, that I was worried about your intentions with her sometimes. After I discovered your fake in the interrogation room, I got this awful feeling that my worries weren't completely unfounded… That Say- that Valiant had betrayed me… All because she liked you better than me. Before, when I first told her the truth, I was content with the idea of her turning me in, either to you thieves, or to the police, but when I discovered the deception in the interrogation room…"

"There's no chance of that ever happening," Sayori replied. "There never was any. I have no interest in Joker… and I think that's what hurt when we were arguing before the battle. I want to be that someone in your life, Crow. The someone… that always wants you around. I do always want you around! I've missed you so much, worrying that you hate me, when I only ever wanted to explain what had happened now that I knew!"

"Oh… I see," Akechi looked down, not liking the lighthearted feeling in his chest at all when he was supposed to be giving Akira hell.

"Yeah," Akira replied, giving a humorless chuckle. "Trust me, there is never a chance of there being a thing with me and Valiant. I messed up with her too badly to even be friends…"

"What makes you say that?" Sayori asked. "Joker… I haven't forgiven any of you… But you're still all my dear friends that I care about so much. Unless you do something really bad, then that will always be true."

"I'm starting to wonder what counts as 'really bad' in your eyes, Valiant," Akechi commented. "You still love me, even after knowing all of these horrible things I've done, and you still consider everyone here your friend, even after such a horrible betrayal? What won't you forgive?"

Sayori smiled, though it turned into a grimace. "I don't know how to explain it… Just that I feel like you guys could have done something much worse to me, I guess? I mean, I know how we all feel about each other is complicated right now, but at least we can do our best to pick up the broken pieces from what we had before and try to fix them, right?" She frowned now, eyes shining with a sadness none of them could interpret. "Some things can't be fixed…"

None of them really understood what she was trying to say, but they all decided to drop it for now. Sayori noticed Goro giving her an extended worried look, but neither said anything to each other.

"Anyway," Joker continued, "I understand how you feel about us, and we all have our gripes with you too, Crow, but we all agree… after what we've seen in this Palace, that you don't deserve to be working with Shido any longer. If it's alright with you, we want to give working together another try. Would you want to be a member of the Phantom Thieves again. It could only be temporary, like what Valiant is doing right now, and then after Shido the two of you can spend time together before… Well…"

Akechi went pale. "After Shido confesses… I'll be exposed too. I knew that already, but now…" He laughed. "As recent as early today, I thought I was alright with it because I had nothing to live for, but now you just had to remind me of Valiant again? Honestly, that's cruel, Joker."

Joker went tense, before waving his hands as if to negate what he had said. "No! I mean… Ugh, why did I bring that up!?" He slapped his hand against his face, shaking his head.

Akechi chuckled good naturedly, and all of the Phantom Thieves got hopeful looks on their faces. He supposed that it felt… good that they hoped he would join up with them again.

"We've already discussed it earlier," Joker finally managed to say. "We're going to protect you from any harsh sentence you could receive."

"Honestly, when we brought it up to Valiant, she got really scary," Skull said. "I thought if you got the death penalty, she would prolly break into jail and break you out, yandere style."

"I wish I could have seen that now," Akechi commented, causing the Phantom Thieves that knew what "yandere" meant to start choking on air. "Anyway, your explanation makes sense, except for one part I don't understand. What did you mean by 'what you saw in this Palace,' that made you think I don't deserve having to work with Shido? Just his general views of the guests in this Palace?"

All of the Phantom Thieves went still as panic gripped their hearts. Joker looked over at Oracle, who was checking her map of the Palace. "Um, Oracle?"

"Yeah?"

"Is he still waiting outside?"

Oracle nodded grimly, and Joker immediately went into action. "Okay! Someone, find a Goho-M! Valiant, get Crow onto his feet. We can see how he feels about joining us when we're all-"

"Did you really think it was going to be that easy?"

Joker cringed as everyone turned around in panic, with Crow in confusion, as Shido's Cognition of him finally entered the room. In the cognitive's arm, he held a bundle of Goho-Ms that must have been the Phantom Thieves' at some point.

"For as useless as he was at killing all of you, he did manage to knock away all of those Goho-Ms that you all thought you were cleverly hiding on your persons," the Cognitive said, dumping them all onto the ship's floor and smashing them. "Now… for what I came for."

Saying nothing further, the cognitive pulled out a gun and aimed it at Akechi, who had been sitting hunched on the ground. "I'll deal with the rest of you later," Cognitive Akechi said, looking at the rest of the thieves with soulless eyes.

Goro looked at the situation with shock and horror, remembering that the Phantom Thieves had tried to warn him about this earlier. He felt ashamed as he watched all of the thieves struggle with what to do.

"Captain Shido's orders…He has no need for losers that can't even kill a few bothersome thieves…" The Cognitive continued after no one said anything. He turned to look back at his target, only to have his attention drawn back to the thieves as they all seemed to immediately flare up in a fit of righteous fury.

"You don't get to decide what happens to him!" Sayori screamed, hand on her mask as she reviewed how much energy she had left.

"Well… this just moves the plan up a little. He was going to get rid of you after the election anyway," the cognitive replied, sounding incredibly bored with the whole situation, before glaring at Goro with a menacing expression. "It truly is disappointing though… My job would have been so much easier if you had just finished what you came here to do."

"Hey, asshole!" Ryuji shouted. "He's not on your side anymore! He hasn't been for a long time, so he'll be comin' with us!" The boy took off his mask, Seiten Taisei shooting out of him like a bolt of electricity.

"What authority do you even have to say that? Once again, this failure has spelled out his own demise. All of you are far too weak to stand against me right now. Why not extend your life a little and let me finish my business with him?" Cognitive Akechi asked, gesturing with his gun at Goro, whose face was trained on the floor of the ship.

The Cognitive was suddenly smug as he kneeled right down next to the boy and began to mock. "Did you believe you'd be spared after all the murders you undertook?"

"No… Of course not…" Goro muttered after a moment. The Cognitive had obviously overheard him talking about how he had realized revenge was pointless, so Goro didn't want him to get a reaction for the mockery. The boy turned his head away.

"Really? Hm, how long ago did you figure that out? A month ago? Maybe two?" Cognitive Akechi, with his other hand, grabbed Goro's face and turned it to face him. "Even now, I can see hope is still dying in your eyes. Don't tell me you thought someone saw any worth in saving you… or relying on you?"

"Shut up…!" Sayori yelled, her voice trembling as she watched Goro, who wasn't even fighting back. "Get away from him!"

The cognitive didn't even react, only letting go of Goro's face to wipe his hands off, satisfied with himself as many of the Phantom Thieves were practically frothing at the mouth with rage. "Oh by the way, the captain says it's time you receive retribution for causing the mental shutdowns."

"What the hell, man!? That bastard's the one who put him up to it!" Ryuji shouted, and his Persona twirled its staff, trying to be as threatening as possible. In reality, the blond didn't think he would be able to pull off even one spell, but he wasn't going to let the Cognitive see that.

Ann put her hand on the blond's shoulder, putting her other one over her own mask. "We're not going to just stand here and let that happen! Even as weak as we are, we could take a Cognitive like you!"

"We didn't just go through all of that for a Shadow to tell us it was worthless!" Haru shouted, pointing at the Cognitive with well practiced dramatic flare. "I don't care how many enemies you throw at us!" The Phantom Thieves were all trying to intimidate the Cognitive with similar moves, but the Cognitive only stared, unimpressed.

"Really…? I think all of you are actually not only outmatched, but incredibly outnumbered," Cognitive Akechi said, his voice menacing as many of the Shadows from earlier materialized behind him. The Phantom Thieves jumped back in shock.

"They seem even more powerful than before…" Futaba mumbled to herself, feeling quiet and discouraged. She put on a brave face though, not prepared to give up their act too soon.

"G… Goro!" Sayori shouted, taking off her mask and running to stand among the front lines of the thieves. Psyche appeared behind her, and Sayori felt like all of her energy was being drained right out of her just with that. Still, her plan would have to work. "I'll put a shield over you! Just run!"

Goro looked up at her, and then up at the rest of the thieves, taking in the sights before him almost hungrily. The room of the ship around him, the brown dinginess of the engine room of what was supposed to be a refined ship. The silver line between him and everyone else, and at the gun pointed point black at his head, along with the Shadows that surrounded him. With his own third-eye ability, he could immediately tell that Sayori's plan wouldn't work. All of them were too tired, with barely any energy to make it out of the Palace alive… Much less save him.

The Phantom Thieves would only get hurt.

Sayori would only get hurt.

Goro stood up, watching as the cognitive's gun rose to meet him, aimed right between his eyes. He could see the thin vapor of a weak shield beginning to take form, and knew one flick of his finger could shatter it like glass. He refused to meet anyone's eyes as he suddenly slumped forward, his body aching as his body was hunched in on itself.. He let out a weak chuckle, and watched with relief as the shield around him faded away, Sayori coming to the realization that he wasn't going with her plan, releasing a cry of protest that he ignored. "...I see," Goro turned towards the cognitive and looked at the clone of himself, ashamed at how much of a mirror image it had once been. "I was wondering how he'd protect himself if I used my power to tear through his Palace. Turns out you're how. So he's making a puppet kill me… Sounds like something he'd do."

"That's right. I'll do anything," Cognitive Akechi confirmed, before making a show of looking at Goro himself. "But look at yourself… You're the true puppet," the cognition leered at him, his head never turning away, but his eyes darted out, towards the loudly protesting group adjacent to them. They both knew that the only thing holding the thieves back from charging was the gun barely a few centimeters from Goro's face.

Goro was shocked, and scared about what this Cognitive could possibly be thinking. It was the version of how he thought through Shido's eyes, after all.

"You wanted to be acknowledged, didn't you? To be loved? At least for me, I never needed a loved one to be threatened to do what I'm told. I'm a far more dignified servant. I saw your infatuation as what it truly was from the very beginning… A nuisance… A hostage… A treat for a good dog," the cognitive said, before turning his head and looking directly at Sayori now. Goro felt his insides curdle with bitterness as he heard these words being said by his own voice, and suddenly revenge on Shido regained some of its meaning for a moment.

"You've been nothing but a puppet from the very beginning, pulled around by red strings."

That was a slap to the face of everyone in the room, as Sayori clutched her head, hot tears stinging her eyes as memories of her Palace seemed to choke her.

"You little-!" Ryuji hissed, and he could feel his Persona try to power itself back up again, but to no avail.

"If you know what's good for you," Haru said, her voice low and deadly as she put her hand on the holster of her axe, "You'll stop talking before I come over there and rip your throat out…" Her legs actually began to move forward, before Akira and Makoto grabbed her arms and held her back as the high-level Shadows growled.

Meanwhile, Sayori was also dealing with the humiliation of this new knowledge. Hostage… I was a hostage this entire time? She wiped at her eyes angrily, hating the fact that was so helpless when she only wanted to help others… Hating the fact that she was only now realizing how useless she was.

"So this… Is how Masayoshi Shido thinks of Goro Akechi…" Makoto said, her voice faint as she looked at the Cognitive Clone, alike in all except for personality. They all had known it since setting eyes on the Cognitive when they first entered the Palace, but watching as Goro hid his eyes beneath a layer of disheveled hair made the feeling a million times worse.

"It doesn't matter what his views are!" Sayori shouted, looking at Goro in sorrow, but still holding onto her determination. "Goro, I'm sorry… for causing you so much trouble! But Shido is wrong, and you have to realize that, right?" The boy was silent, still hiding his eyes, and Sayori felt like crying again, but shook her head, trying to banish the sensation. "Goro! Please believe me when I say that even if you felt trapped…Just being able to realize you feel that way means you freed yourself from Shido, even if it was only a little bit… You connected with me, and with everyone else, and... I don't want that connection to fade…So please, don't ignore me! I just want to help you!"

"It's still not too late!" Haru encouraged, watching as Sayori shakily took off her mask again.

"Yes!" Yusuke agreed, his hand going to his scabbard. "Come over here, Akechi!"

"It doesn't matter what Shido had to do with you in the past!" Akira shouted, too. "We'll change his heart, and then he won't be anything to anyone ever again!"

The encouragements were brought to a halt as the cognitive raised his gun up in the air and fired, a loud bang silencing everyone.

"What's all this nagging about…? Want me to take care of you first?" Cognitive Akechi asked, eyes scanning the group from the corner of his eyes as he kept his face, body, and gun turned in Goro Akechi's direction. An idea came to his mind as his eyes landed on Sayori Matsu, a smile stretching over his face as he watched her continue to fight off tears. "You know what? I'll let someone volunteer to take his place. Who knows, you might delay his death." He raised his gun away from the boy, who looked up in turn, shock and confusion plain on his face as he didn;t process what the cognitive said right away.

That confusion turned to panic and horror as familiar, light footsteps quickly started heading for him.

I… I don't know how this is going to turn out… Sayori thought to herself, running forward towards Goro, her shield raised to her side to block the bullets that the cognition would no doubt bombard her with. She only had one goal right now.

Whether it'll be me and Goro, or just Goro… I've never felt so certain about anything. I don't want to die, but I want to live my life without him, so I'll take my chance!

"Sayori!" Futaba shouted as soon as the girl began to run. "Someone, grab her!"

The girl's words were followed by immediate action, as all of the others grabbed her by her arms and legs and pulled her backwards, struggling to keep her away from the cognitive.

Sayori felt her lungs burn as she screamed against them, frantically trying to separate herself from the group. "Guys, stop! I thought you were going to respect my choices!? Let me go or I'll never speak to any of you again! I need to get to him" She began to kick and claw at her friends, becoming rabid and frantic as her heart felt like it was going to explode out of her chest. She had to save Goro… It was all she wanted at that moment. It was the choice she needed to make, wanted to make, and would always make! "Let me go!" she screamed again, against all odds managing to force her body forward, practically lunging even as she had no control of her legs or arms.

The cognitive smiled, watching as the thieves fought to keep her back, even as it was clear protecting her would be a pointless effort. Her front side was exposed, and as the girl continued to struggle forward like fighting against a tide, her chest, stomach, and head were clearly visible. He raised his gun and tightened his finger over the trigger. "Too easy."

The next few seconds were a blur.

A loud gunshot rang through the air, and everything after that was a blur. The Phantom Thieves let go of Sayori, checking her for any gunshot wound, only for her to scream out in panic. The bulkhead door was quickly rising, with the Cognitive's aim at the group quickly being blocked.

Before that though, there was another gunshot, and the thieves saw as Goro fell from the gunshot wound in his waist, the Cognitive walking towards the boy menacingly before the door blocked the groups' view.

Sayori ran forward, fear and panic carrying her as she flung herself at the door, just barely too late as the door was now too high to even jump over. There were two gunshots… Goro shot the panel first… and then the Cognitive shot him... Why didn't he shoot the Cognitive!?

But the answer was obvious, even as she rammed herself against the door and screamed and cried.

Goro had made the choice for her…

Goro saw what was about to happen. In that moment, every cell and fiber of his being had suddenly screamed the same thing. Protect the thieves and Protect Sayori replaced every thought and regret and memory. There was no notion of dread or fear, but that single objective. It would take only a second for the cognitive to pull the trigger, but Goro knew he could go faster.

Keep Sayori and the thieves safe… on this side of the door, there were multiple Shadows ready to attack, and a mindless puppet with a gun, and on the other, was everything that mattered to him. Goro barely had a second to react, yet he used that time wisely, able to protect everyone with a single shot.

Even as the bullet struck him in the side and introduced him to new levels of pain, relief filled him.

The thieves looked at the closed door, stunned and horrified. One by one they all ran forward, pounding on the door and trying to think of any way to get it open. All anyone could hear was the sound of Sayori screaming and crying, in hysterics as she threw herself into the door. She had to fill the entire ship with the dreadful sound. It would be better than hearing the sounds Shadows roaring and tearing Goro apart, or…

A third gunshot split the air, and everything on the thieves side of the door went quiet. Sayori wailed and bit her fist, sinking against the wall.

Futaba looked on her monitor frantically, only to sigh in relief.

"Sayori…" A light voice said from the other side of the sealed door."

The girl immediately perked up, going to the exact spot against the wall that she heard the sound coming from and pressing her ear against it. "G-Goro!? Are you okay?" Sobs wracked her frames still, and she tried to keep them quiet, yet that only made it harder to breathe.

"Yeah… but not for long. I shot the cognitive, so I bought a little bit of time-" A painful sounding cough was heard, and everyone went pale.

"Okay… We'll get you out of there then…" Morgana began. Looking around the room with his ears drooped, not knowing what they would even be able to do. "D-do you think you can move? Is there any sort of vent?"

"No… I wasn't buying time for that…" Goro's voice was stiff and resigned, listening as Sayori continued to cry. "Are you alright, Sayori?"

"N-no…! Why would you do that? I was going to save you…" the girl said, her voice wavering as guilt filled her for sounding so annoyed.

"Even if you did manage that... you would just get killed in my place. My life will never be worth more than yours... Sayori. Not to me... anyway…" He was panting and breathing heavily, and everyone worried as Futaba kept her eyes glued to her monitor worriedly.

"Goro… Why would you do this?" Sayori asked. "Why would you do this to me? I couldn't even imagine living without you… I don't want this to be happening. Tell me it's all a bad dream." This isn't real… This game is a work of fiction… Goro… He can't die! So why does it hurt so much right now…?

"I'm selfish… Sayori. I couldn't imagine living until tomorrow without you… So I'd rather not. But you'll be okay. You still have something to live for. You have to get home… and I know you'll be able to find your way back. Sorry I could never help you get home… I was selfish then… too-" he coughed again, and Sayori shook, anger and sadness and grief and fear twisting her mind in painful contortions that she couldn't comprehend.

"My only home is one with you… I don't want to go anywhere without you… Don't make me!" Sayori cried, banging her fist against the door as though she could reach through it and pull Goro back to her, but of course she wasn't strong enough to make even a dent.

"Sayori… Earlier when we were fighting, you thought I hated you, right? I don't… Not at all… Never. You gave me something I never thought I would get to have… You were stubborn with your kindness, and always wanted to help me, to make me happy… and you succeeded. Thanks to you, I have almost no regrets. I can be happy for myself a little now… I can like the parts of myself that I didn't just make up for other people. Thank you for being there so much…"

Sayori felt dizzy, her dehydration and desolation making her feel empty and desperate. Something inside of her was struggling to get out, yet she could only wait for whatever it was to come. So she talked, trying to fill the silence a little bit more.

"Thank you for all of the support, Goro. Without you, I could never have gotten this far… I don't think I would even be alive right now. But… you took care of me, made me happy, without ever really feeling guilty about it. Even when I felt guilty for liking you so much… I could tell that you and I are the same in a lot of ways. It makes me happy when I can make others happy… and making me happy… it did the same for you, right? I couldn't be sad, then, because I want you to be happy so much… I just want to help you… Goro…" Sayori sobbed.

"Hey… you did. I'm so happy that you're safe, Sayori. I'm so happy that soon enough, you'll go home… and it's selfish, but I'm also happy that you'll be happy to remember me… even if it also makes you sad," Another deep, hacking breath was taken, and Goro spoke once again.

"Sayori… I love you."

Sayori's head ached, but she made herself smile, knowing that in a few moments she would go right back to screaming and fighting against something she had already lost. "Goro… I love you, too."

"Things are going to be okay… You believe me, right?"

"Of course, Goro," Sayori said. Not even for a second did she doubt his words, believing in him with all of her heart.

The voice started out small, and Sayori almost thought that Goro was saying something even more quietly, as she heard it coming from the other side of the wall, and yet it didn't sound like him…

It sounded like a little girl?

"I am thou, thou art I…

Thou hast sealed an everlasting bond.

Thy bond shall become the wings of rebellion

And break the yolk of thy heart,

Thou hast awakened to the ultimate secret

Of the Aeon, granting thee infinite power…"

Sayori's head felt light, and her heart felt full. She barely noticed as Psyche rose from her back, curled up into a ball as vines and leaves grew from her core and engulfed her body, forming a flower bud that quickly bloomed. Pink petals became a layered petticoat skirt, green vines became the legs and arms, with a healthy green stem forming a new bodice. Finally, the face formed, blue glowing eyes peeking out of a green bulb, pink hair and flowers exploding out of the top of her head and flowing down over her bare shoulders and chest.

The thieves stared in shock at the newly evolved Persona, which floated lazily in the air for a few moments, waiting for its wielder to give it orders.

"I am thou, and thou art I. I am Kore, and I will lend you my everlasting strength to fight for you and your heart's desires."

Sayori looked up at the Persona for a few moments, processing that this Persona was really hers to wield. She felt new strength and energy return to her, and along with it Sayori felt new determination form inside of her. She stood up and looked at the bulkhead door, eyes narrowing.

As one, the girl and her Persona threw themselves against the door. Sayori rammed herself into it and pounded her fists against it, while Kore slashed at it with her vines, thorns growing on the sides. Yet, despite the newfound strength, the Persona's cuts on the thick metal door were only superficial at best. With her own body that was merely human, Sayori's attempts weren't much better, banging her fists and body against the door, ignoring the pain that came with each hit. It didn't matter anymore. She refused to accept it. Her Persona had just evolved, so it had to be useful for something! This had to be the purpose!

Her hands burned, and something wet began to trickle down her knuckles as she kept smashing her fists against the door, even as Kore suddenly disappeared with her head bowed, Sayori kept on, screaming angrily as though the door would suddenly start bowing to her will.

Strong arms suddenly wrapped around her shoulders, and Sayori bucked and tried to pull away from whoever was trying to pull her back. Joker grunted as she rammed her head against his chin, beginning to scream angrily once again.

"Let me go! Not yet… I can't stop trying, yet!" Sayori yelled, pulling against Akira's iron grip angrily. "Stop! Stop pulling me away from him! Not yet!" The girl changed her approach and began to blindly claw at the leader, her eyes going dull as tears traced old paths down her cheeks.

"You're hurting yourself," Akira said simply, dragging her about a meter away from the door. Sayori continued to kick and scream, and Akira felt horrible, but the blood that leaked through the tears in the girl's gloves was proof enough that he needed to put his foot down.

"Akira?" Goro asked. "Was that you that pulled Sayori away?"

Akira hesitated for a moment, before sighing. "Yes. It was me."

"... Thank you. I know that she knows… that things are going to be okay, but she still never stops… Never gives in, and I don't want her to get hurt because of me. Why won't she give up…?"

"None of us want to give up on you," Akira answered, holding onto Sayori tightly. Whatever adrenaline high the girl seemed to be on wasn't going away just yet, and he found it challenging to keep her in one place. "None of us want this to be the end for you… You deserve to live your life… I think it's so hard for Sayori to accept it because she wanted to be with you for it." He felt bad speaking about Sayori instead of to her, but he didn't think the girl was paying attention to anything anymore.

Goro coughed once again, hacking a lot, and the Phantom Thieves' reactions were instant. The girls cried out and yelled for Akechi, while the boys yelled as well, lips trembling. Akira felt Sayori struggling even harder, and suddenly a bolt of pain travelled through him as her nails suddenly dug into his arm, leaving behind deep scratches that began to form red droplets.

"I… don't have much longer… and I know it goes against everything I've felt these past few days, but could you guys do something for me?" Goro asked weakly.

"Yes, of course…" Makoto said immediately.

"What is it?" Yusuke asked.

"Tell us. We'll do all that we can," Akira finally said.

"You were already planning to do this… But please change Shido's heart… Do it for my sake as well as everyone else's. Do it for your own sakes… And also... help Sayori get home… if there is any way that you can…" Akechi said, listing off his thoughts calmly.

"I promise," Akira pledged. In an attempt to comfort themselves, each of the Phantom Thieves tried to focus on how relaxed he sounded… How calm he was. Goro didn't resent them for being unable to save him.

I sense a solid bond between me and Akechi… Akira thought to himself, and once again he heard the strange little girl's voice recite the familiar poem to him. As soon as it was finished, Sayori broke away from him, going back towards the large door in a bout of insanity. Thankfully, instead of pounding against the door, she clung to it, crying and screaming even then.


The Cognitive finally stood up, grunting and spitting as he pointed his gun at Goro Akechi. "You bastard…!" he spit, once again pouring more salt in the wound.

Goro took in another shaky breath, needing all of his strength just to stand up and face his enemy. He lifted up his gun as well, and groaned as it felt like his arm was about to break just by lifting it up. "So my final enemy is a puppet version of myself…" he said, voice uneven, and he noticed he was slurring. He wondered to himself how long he had been doing that... "Not bad."

"Akechi-kun!" Someone shouted from the other side of the sealed door, but Goro didn't really care.

Sayori was still screaming and crying, and it seemed like she was only getting louder and louder, and Goro wanted nothing more than to comfort her more, knowing how helpless and guilty she must feel. How many times had he felt that way? Sayori had to know she wasn't to blame, right? Goro was about to say something once more, but then stopped himself.

Don't make this harder on her than it needs to be… She already has to deal with the knowledge that you love her, right before she loses you forever… Truly a bastard's way to go out…

"There has to be some way to open this, right Morgana?" Someone else asked, just as Goro saw the Cognitive begin pulling on the trigger. Goro closed his eyes, letting his arm fall to his side. He was ready… He didn't have many regrets that were worth grieving over.

Sayori was still screaming and crying, and one of the last thoughts Goro had was that he wished he could hear something happier from her… Her laughter had always been a sweet sound...

Cognitive Akechi fired his gun, and suddenly everything went silent…

Goro opened his eyes, vision blurry and filled with tears, expecting death to feel different. He hadn't even felt any more pain than he was already in, and all of the wounds he had recently sustained were still throbbing painfully, annoyingly present. He thought death was supposed to feel different.

Goro's vision cleared, and his eyes widened at what he saw.

The bullet the cognitive had fired was hovering right in front of his face, a few centimeters away from hitting the bridge of his nose, and yet it was stopped there, as if an invisible wall were standing in between Goro and the bullet. Goro looked away from the bullet, looking for Shido's Cognitive of himself, wondering if it had any explanation.

There was a girl with them in the sealed off room.

She was standing in the middle of the cognitive and Goro, turned away from the boy so that all he could see was her coral brown hair, which was tied back in a loose ponytail with a white ribbon. She looked intensely at the cognitive, who seemed to be convulsing violently.

os . remove ( "shadows / akechi . cgn" )

akechi . cgn deleted successfully.

Goro's eyes widened. Suddenly, the Cognitive was no longer there, and the girl had turned around, staring at him with intense emerald green eyes. The calm, confident smile she gave the boy made him think she was responsible for the Cognition disappearing…

And he was afraid he would be next.

Goro turned towards the sealed door, panicked and freaking out as his resolve to be silent crumbled. He needed to get the thieves' attention… Get Sayori's attention. This girl standing in front of him was dangerous!

"_̶̻̣͚̹̿̈́̀͠_̶̨̥̐̿͊_̵̥̦͇͉͊̿̒̄́_̶̧̨̻̱̖̐͘_̸̧̳̗̙͕̾̀̒̋͒_̶͕̼̟̳̐̀́̈́͊_̸̼͖̦̝̎̂̌̂̄_̶̛̹̰̐̀̕_̴̮̟̈͜_̵̹̩̔̀͑̕_̸̞̺͕̑_̸̤̯̟͓̔͛͌̏_̸̻͙̙͋ͅ_̵̧̬̫͔̐̊̀̽͘_̸͓̔̑̾̕_̷̝̂̋́̀_̵̭̯̻̌͂̚_̷̪͌̑͐́_̶͕͉̗̈́͋̽̕͝_̶̨̥̺͒̂͋_̷̣̫̗̑͆̒́͜͝_̸̯́̀̈́͒̚_̴̦̹͋́̈́́̕_̴̛͙̯̂_̵̫̗̣̥̜̒_̸̿͌͜_̵͖͍͍̩͑̂͂̓_̸̛̬̝̝̗̅̆ͅ_̵̱̮̊̃ͅ_̸̘̓̅̃_̷̧͚̬̺̐͋͌͛͠_̵̧̣͚̉̄̈́͠!̸̡̀̂͊̐̕" Goro shouted.

His eyes widened as he opened his mouth to scream, yet still no sound came out.

The mysterious girl was suddenly standing in front of him, smiling sheepishly. She put her index finger over her lips in a silent gesture for him to be quiet, yet he had the distinct feeling that she was responsible for his sudden muteness, and knew he had no other choice than for him to be quiet.

The girl walked over to his side and wrapped his good arm over her shoulder, holding his wrist with her hand, and wrapping her other arm around his waist. Goro tried to fight and struggle as she began to walk through the army of motionless Shadows, smiling calmly as she walked through them.

Goro felt so weak... His side was bleeding heavily from the bullet wound, and it was a struggle to stay standing and fight against this girl that was dragging him along. His vision blurred and his knees buckled, and he wondered if this was because the girl was doing something else to weaken him, or it was just the after effects of the gunshot finally catching up to him. Goro's head rolled, and suddenly his head was resting against the girl's shoulder, who was somehow having no trouble practically carrying him all on her own.

The girl smiled as she looked back briefly at the bullet still hovering in the air… The last remaining proof that the Cognitive of Goro Akechi had ever existed, and deleted it with barely a second of thought. She walked to the wall of the ship, a door appearing that led nowhere, and yet would take her wherever she wanted.

I told you I would always have your back… the girl thought, glancing at the sealed bulkhead door, where on the other side, Sayori was waiting. After a second, the girl stepped through her portal and disappeared, leaving no trace of her or Goro Akechi.


"His signal is… gone…" Futaba said, her voice somber. "I'm only getting… the weaklings…"

"No…" Ann lamented quietly, before a scream ripped through the air.

As soon as they had heard the gunshot, Sayori had gone quiet, quivering and shaking, unable to breathe as she had waited for the outcome. Now with the confirmation of Goro's death, her hysterics had started again, more intense than any of the thieves had seen before.

She pounded and punched and scratched at the door, wanting in that moment to just get through. Sayori's heart felt like it was going to pound out of her chest, panic and fear and anger and grief running circles in her head in a never ending cycle. So many thoughts were born and dying every second that the only thing she could focus on was how much she just wanted to open that door. She wouldn't be able to stand the sight of his body… and that's what she knew she would find, yet her body hadn't caught up yet, just wanting to save him save him save him.

Blood flowed down her sleeves in thin rivulets, and each second her hands and fingers seemed to be burning more and more. Sayori had reopened scabs and self inflicted wounds she didn't even know she had gotten… not even when Joker pulled her aside the first time… and she didn't care now either.

But everyone else cared, watching her in fearful silence for a while as Sayori went right back to what they had tried to stop earlier.

Once again, Akira went over to her, latching onto her waist and tugging her away from the door. She struggled and screamed incoherently, until Akira sighed and took a hold of her hands, wrestling her arms up until her hands were in fuel view of her face, letting the girl take in the bloody scrapes that had peeled away the first layer of her skin, red and ugly and wet and sticky. Sayori stared at her hands for a moment, before trying to pull away, still fighting… Still struggling as if there was even a point anymore.

The Phantom Thieves were based around change… They believed in it and struggled and fought for it… But they also knew they couldn't change this. No one could bring back the dead. The only thing they could do was support the people that were left behind.

Sayori felt as Joker suddenly pulled her into a tight hug, yet didn't really process it right away as she continued to pull away, grasping at his arms and trying to pull away. He whispered apologies and condolences over and over again, but they only made her cry even harder. She didn't want to hear them… yet she knew she needed to. She didn't want to hug him, still trying to claw and struggle her way out of his grip, yet she also wanted any sort of comfort she could get as she buried her head in Akira's chest and continued to sob uncontrollably.

After a few moments, she felt as more pairs of arms joined Akira's around her, the rest of the thieves joining the hug, trying to give her as much comfort as they could while she continued with her pointless fight. A smaller, thinner pair of arms wrapped around the girl's legs, and she stopped kicking out, yet kept trying to push everyone away, despite needing them close.

The Phantom Thieves held Sayori through it all, never ceasing even as she struggled and shoved and scratched against them, shaking like a feather in the wind the entire time. Eventually, she sniffled and buckled under the pressure, and the Phantom Thieves sank to the floor to accommodate her, tears running down their own faces as they waited in silence for the girl to come to terms with her new reality.

A new challenger has appeared... I wonder who it could be? Also, a note I had about this chapter is that the apology scene, with the thieves and Akechi talking dragged on for a bit, but I felt like it was necessary to include everything that I did. Also, I get that it's a long chapter, which I worked really hard on, and I've been looking forward to writing for a long time. This is the chapter I've basically been imagining writing since coming up with this story over two years ago. I'm not going to beg for reviews, but reminding you that it's possible for anyone, even guests, to do so.

Anyway, I REALLY hope you liked this chapter, and I'll see you all next time!