Let me reiterate: this is an alternative ending to a longer story. You technically could read it as a standalone one-shot, but it diverges from canon and you might find yourself lacking some context.

Yaldabaoth was dead. Killed by Ren Amamiya vel Akira Kurusu vel Joker, who was assisted by his friends and empowered by the collective desires of the people of Tokyo. With the god dead, the Metaverse began to dissolve. The Personas couldn't be called for, the spells couldn't be cast, the items weren't empowered by the magic of the place.

Which is a problem when two of your teammates have just collapsed from exhaustion, and when you've checked their vitals and one of them doesn't have a pulse.

After Morgana failed to cast Samarecarm and the revival items didn't work, Makoto started performing CPR on Goro. She didn't know if that would've worked to begin with, she just had no better ideas. Thirty presses, two breaths, repeat ad nauseam.

The world around her turned slowly and gently turned mundane. The pieces of ground floated down to the surface, the fossils dissipated, the costumes turned into normal street clothes, the sky lost its unnatural red colour. The group found themselves back in Shibuya, as if nothing had happened. As far as the bystanders were concerned, those two bodies must've appeared out of nowhere.

Makoto was startled by someone tapping her on the shoulder.

"We'll take it from here," a paramedic gently nudged her aside. Her colleague picked up where she left off, and another one checked Joker's vitals. "What happened here?"

"Uh…"

"Did you see that… thing in the sky?" Ryuji butted in.

"Who in Tokyo didn't?" the paramedic replied.

"Yeah, when things came back to normal, those two just appeared outta nowhere," he went on. "One of them was breathing, so we left him alone, the other… wasn't."

"So you don't know anything that'd help us?"

After asking herself if 'they were hit with a beam attack by a malevolent god' would help a paramedic, Makoto shook her head.

"Dammit," she cussed. "Well, move along then, you've done all you could."

The president tried to protest, but Ryuji grabbed her by the wrist and led her away.

"Everybody else has disappeared in the crowd already," he muttered once they entered the Shibuya station. "We won't gain anything by revealing ourselves."

"Didn't this platform fall apart last time?"

"Yeah, it did. I tried to put it back together for the symbolism. It's kinda duct-taped together, but it gets the point across."

"…I'm not getting another do-over this time, am I?"

"Unfortunately. It is out of my hands."

"But they're gonna stop him, right?"

A subway train rolled over to the platform and stopped with a brief squeal of the breaks. You couldn't see anything inside, there was just light. Similar to how the trains looked in Mementos, but white instead of red.

"Of course they will. Do not worry about that."

One of its doors opened in front of the two.

Goro sighed. "I don't know, this feels like a cop-out… Like I could've done more…"

"More? You have literally sacrificed everything you had, what more could you possibly do?" He put his hand on the detective's shoulder. "And now nobody can influence or manipulate you for their own ends."

"I suppose…"

Goro hesitantly took a step forward, into the light.

Chapter 29A: Redemption Equals Death

Mishima was sitting by his computer, watching the upload progress bar. "Didn't he ask you to drag his name through the mud if he dies?"

"That was before he saved Boss and died fighting alongside us," she replied, pulling out the USB stick and sticking it in her pocket. "And before it turned out that a goddamned… uh, god was involved in this whole mess."

The two sat in silence for a moment, before the Phanboy spoke up: "I don't expect you to know, but… was Goro like that because that Y guy picked him to spread chaos, or did Y pick him because he was like that?"

"He claimed it's the second option," she replied, "but I think he wasn't fully honest." Beat. "Y'know, before we forcefully dragged him to our side, he attacked us in a murdery temper tantrum."

Mishima shuddered. "I will never get used to your nonchalance about this."

"We outnumbered him eight to one," she shrugged. "And here's the thing: he tried so hard to look intimidating, it wrapped back to being silly. I mean, he shrieked at the top of his lungs that he's gonna kill us one by one so the others could watch. 'Ooh, I'm a dangerous tough guy, give me attention.'"

"You know, when you put it like this, he sounds…" the Phanboy tried to find the right word.

"Pathetic?"

"Relatable."

Ann glanced at him.

"Insecurity-wise, not mass-murder-wise." He averted her gaze. "I've been unremarkable most of my life and ended on a power trip because I ran a fansite for actual heroes."

"Cut yourself some slack," Ann replied. "Sae mentioned how you got your street preacher on to rally the masses when we were fighting Y."

"I also slapped her in the face before that." Beat. "In my defense, she was strangling Goro at the time."

The video consisted of a still image of the Phantom Thieves' emblem with a black ribbon across it, and an anonymized voiceover:

The Phantom Thieves are now disbanded.

As a side effect of the events of December the 12th, we have lost the ability to steal the hearts of criminals. We had to relinquish it to stop a malevolent presence from enslaving the Japanese people. It is now up to you to make this world a better place.

And to address the elephant in the room: Goro Akechi was found dead in Shibuya on that day. He had fought the aforementioned malevolent presence alongside us. What he did, he did of his own free will. We have done everything we could to save him, but unfortunately it wasn't enough.

In the coming days, in the aftermath of Masayoshi Shido's arrest, you will hear a lot of accusations thrown at Akechi. Some of them based in fact, some of them an attempt to pin the blame for the events of the past few years on a man unable to defend himself. The one comment we are willing to offer is thus: he has caused us a lot of unearned grief, but he died a hero's death. Everything else is irrelevant in comparison as far as we're concerned.

Me:
akira pulled some strings and dad can organize a funeral for rootkit
were gonna lay him in his mothers grave
it seems fitting
everyone will get invited once we have a date

Inari:
Thank you for the information.

Me:
also call him akira now
morgana called him joker and he threw a hissy fit that the thieves are disbanded and to call him by his name
i asked 'akira or ren' and he stormed away in a huff

Inari:
Still grieving, I assume.
And how are *you* holding up?
Between one and ten, where one is another Palace and ten is nothing out of the ordinary.

Me:
eight point eight
i miss goro and im sad that hes gone but i still operate as usual

Inari:
Hm.
You know, all things considered it was an inspiring death.
He perished, yes, but he perished a free man, fighting alongside friends for his own and our freedom.

Me:

do you actually believe this?

Inari:
…truth be told, no.
I am romanticizing his passing post-factum in an attempt to lessen its sting.
A vain attempt, I must add.
Apologies.

Me:
everyone has a coping mechanism i suppose

Shido hated the Phantom Thieves.

Not for stopping him - as far as he was concerned at that point, someone had to. A man like him and his associates given any sort of power would then no doubt abuse it, and they did the right thing by preventing it from happening.

He hated them because for the first time in ages he felt remorseful about all the things he had done to get where he was. He wasn't used to that feeling, and being forced to experience it in enormous quantities was driving him nuts. But even in the all-encompassing sea of regret, Akechi's passing was sticking out.

He couldn't understand why, precisely, that thing was bothering him so much. Was it because he was young? He never cared about that. There was a guy his age that 'commited suicide' in police custody on his orders. Because he planned to get him killed after the exit polls? He was as disposable as everyone else in his inner circle. Maybe that was it - for all it was worth, he owed his entire rise to power to him, and treated him like garbage anyway.

He wouldn't have been pondering that if he didn't have to, but unfortunately, his cell was under constant surveillance after a botched suicide attempt. The bloody tie just went trrrrr.

"A word about the deceased, if I'm allowed."

Nobody protested, and Haru stepped forward.

"This is the second funeral I'm attending this year. A few months ago, I buried my father, Kunikazu Okumura. By any metric you're willing to apply here, he was an evil person. But…"

Arrangements were made to keep the funeral private, and there were only a few people present. The Thieves, Boss, the Phansite boy. The older Niijima sister couldn't make it because of professional obligations.

"But I was certain that with enough of a push, he would've become better. Not necessarily, good, just better. Atoned for his past, mended fences with me and other people he had hurt, lived a better life. But I never got the chance to see that for myself, as he passed away. And I will spend the rest of my life wondering what could have been."

A pause.

"I… didn't know Goro for long. The real Goro, not the harmless, hm, persona he presented in public. But from what I have gathered, he would've appreciated me to say what I actually think about him, without sugarcoating. So…"

A tear rolled down her cheek, and she wiped it off.

"Screw you, you miserable bastard, for hurting me like that a second time."

"This is the part where I pretend you can hear me."

The Akechi family grave was relatively unassuming. A simple pillar with a family name written on it in large characters, and below it, two forenames. Two sotōbas behind it, and a discreet inscription on the left side, near the base: From Sakura Family and Friends, 20XX. Haru and Sojiro chipped in the most money for a new gravestone, but she didn't want her name attached to it, finding the idea gauche.

"Heck, maybe you can. I can't really discount supernatural stuff after all that has happened, can I?" Pause. "I'm sorry for missing the funeral, I got swamped with work. Dealing with the multi-layered mess you've helped set up."

The prosecutor felt obliged to visit Goro's grave, and decided to do so early in the morning, so that hopefully nobody would've been around. She didn't want witnesses.

"Should have been a stalwart warrior of justice," she went on, "but was mostly interested in furthering their own goals and ambitions, until the Thieves dragged them back to the right path." Sigh. "Yeah, my sins didn't leave behind a trail of bodies, but I also didn't have to lay down my life to atone for them."

She stood there for a moment in silence, then sighed again, turned around and marched towards the graveyard exit.

"Pity we never got a chance to have an honest chat or something," she muttered to nobody in particular.

Akira was lying on his bed, staring blankly at the ceiling, when the window creaked open.

Morgana silently walked in, shot the boy a glance, and marched towards the staircase to the cafe.

"You're avoiding me," the boy muttered.

The cat stopped dead in his tracks. "The last time we spoke, you chewed me out for addressing you incorrectly, Akira."

"Yeah, yeah, I fucked up," he turned his head to him. "I'm sorry, want some apology tuna?"

Morgana turned around. "I don't want tuna, or even an apology. I want you to stop being miserable."

"I'll put it in on the 'to do' list." He returned to looking at the ceiling. The cat trotted back to him, jumped on the bed and on Akira's chest, and stared him down with his big blue eyes. The boy slowly lifted his hand and scratched Morgana behind his ear, more gently than the cat expected.

"It's not your fault," said the cat.

"What isn't my fault?"

"Whatever you're blaming yourself for."

He sighed and continued scratching. "Look, I've been empowered by humanity's collective hope, I could've done more. I could've saved him. Hell, maybe-"

"The final blow to Yaldabaoth left you completely drained," Morgana pointed out. "If you tried to do more with that power… who knows, maybe we'd have a funeral on our hands one way or another." Akira's hand moved to the cat's back. "You can't blame yourself for that," he went.

"Can't I?" he countered. "I let some mad god pull my strings for the past year, shrugged off Goro showing his hand in fucking July, and instead of talking him down I went with an overcomplicated plan that almost got me killed."

"You were a teenager with a criminal record put against a deity empowered by all the people of Tokyo. All things considered, you dealt with this quite well."

"I'm sure Goro would agree," Akira snarled.

Morgana tilted his head slightly. "Yeah, knowing him, he would."

"You know what I meant."

"Knock knock knock." The two turned to see Sojiro marching up the stairs. "Am I interrupting something?"

"Nah." Akira grabbed the cat and sat up. "What's up?"

"You've got guests."

He placed Morgana next to him. "Guests? Plural?"

"Yeah. The whole team is standing on the stairs."

"We wanted to hang out with you," Ryuji's head poked from below the floor on the staircase. "We could just sit around in the cafe and have some drinks if you don't feel like going anywhere."

Akira gestured at himself with his free hand. "Do you really want this abrasive bitter mess of a human being?"

"Duh, of course!"

"You're a friend of ours," Makoto's head poked out next to the athlete's, "your sour mood doesn't change that."

Cue a pause. The boy felt everyone's eyes on himself and let out a weary sigh. "I'll join you in a moment."

"You don't have to if you don't want to."

"I kinda should though, for my own mental state." He stood up and glanced at his PJs. "Just let me change into something more presentable."

The teens nodded and marched downstairs.

"I've heard a bit of your conversation with the cat," Sojiro said.

"'Course you did," Akira marched to the shelf and started rummaging through it, searching for a clean T-shirt.

"There's a small crowd of people waiting downstairs for you," the barista went on. "You've changed their lives for the better through hard work on your part. They all owe you a lot. Hell, I owe you a lot."

The boy tossed a black shirt on the couch and began looking for trousers.

"I won't forbid you to grieve, but… give yourself a break, kid. You've done more good before twenty than most people will do in their whole lives."

In response, Akira let out a weary sigh. "Thanks, Sojiro. I dunno if it helps, but I appreciate it anyway."

"No problem." He patted him on the shoulder and smiled. "And remember, if you need anything, speak up."

"Anything?"

"Anything."

Akira lowered his head. "…I think I need a hug."

Without question, Sojiro embraced him. For the first time in a long while, he felt like he could actually help the kid with something. The two just stood there for a minute before letting go.

"Okay, I'll let you change now. You want some coffee?"

Akira nodded vigorously. Sojiro marched downstairs, followed by the cat. The former Thieves were all waiting in the booths, looking at him expectantly.

"He'll be with us in a bit," he said, reaching for a clean cup.

Morgana jumped on the counter. "He's gonna get better, isn't he?" he asked.

"With time."