NewWorldFool: Hello, everybody! NewWorldFool and CloudStrife07 coming at you with another chapter of The Royal Strikers!

CloudStrife07: Before we begin, we have something we'd like to discuss. As some of you may know, or may have realized, some of the scenes in this fanfic are inspired by a certain YouTuber by the name of Kagato The Final Boss. Kagato The Final Boss is mostly known for his Persona Lets Plays. He's done Persona 3 FES (and will do commentary while his fiance plays Portable later on in the future), Persona 4 (OG and Golden) Persona 5 vanilla (he and his fiance are currently playing and recording episodes for Royal at the moment), and Persona 5 Strikers.

Kagato The Final Boss is, in me and NewWorldFool's opinions, a very entertaining YouTuber. However, Kagato unfortunately isn't getting as much of an audience as he's really hoping for. He's only barely passed 20,000 subs, and he really wants to at least hit the 100,000 mark. So if you all would be so willing to help spread the word of Kagato The Final Boss and help hype up his channel, or even go check out his channel for yourselves and consider subscribing, that would be a huge help to Kagato and would mean a lot to both me and NewWorldFool.

NewWorldFool: Indeed it would. Kagato's Persona 5 let's play, or more specifically his reaction to certain scenes in Persona 5, was actually how I discovered him, truth be told, and it was through Kagato's Discord that CloudStrife07 and I met. So, if it weren't for Kagato, this project would be taking a LOT longer to come out and wouldn't be anywhere near as entertaining. Furthermore, the edits Kagato does in his P4G and P5 let's plays are nothing short of a riot, and even his comedy in the episodes/series he streams is pretty solid. So please, go and give the man some support and be sure to spread the word about him, he could really use it.

Also, just a reminder that I do have review moderation set up for both Ao3 and fanfiction: Any reviews or comments that try to get me and my co-author to hurry up and update the story, especially if it's multiple reviews that try to get me and my co-author to hurry up and update in a short period of time, or any complaints about the usage of Persona 3 characters and settings (which we will still be using), will be deleted and not see the light of day. We will update this story on our time, and pestering us about updating just won't make us want to work faster. We will still do our best to update as much as we can, but we just ask everyone to understand that we do have our own lives outside of writing this story.

Oh! And one more thing… HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY TO JOKER'S PHONE DAUGHTER, SOPHIA AKA SOPHIE! Her birthday/activation day was on August 28, in case anyone was wondering… God, we were so late for that one. However, since this was only just recently, HAPPY BELATED 18TH BIRTHDAY TO NANAKO! Little Nanako-Chan is all grown up now, and she'll be graduating high school in Spring 2023.

Well, I don't think either of us have anything else to talk about, so let us start the game!

Chapter Nine

Mad Rabbit Alice

Attic of Cafe Leblanc; Ren's Room - Evening

Ren and the rest of the group had all gathered around the big square table that stood in the middle of the attic of Leblanc. The time had finally come for the group to discuss how they were going to write and send out the calling card for Alice Hiiragi.

"Okay, all that's left is sending the calling card." Ryuji said casually. "What should it say?"

"Well, we are after the desires that Alice is seizing from the men whose hearts she changed." Futaba said, addressing one of the important factors of the situation at hand.

"Then perhaps, instead of it saying something like 'We will be taking away your distorted desires and changing your heart', it should be more like 'We will take back the Desires you've stolen.'" Sumire added to the conversation.

"Yeah. Using the same tactic for when making Treasures appear, but in a reverse method, is probably our best bet." Ren said with his eyes narrowed.

"Once the Desires take form, we can steal them back and bring them back to their rightful owners." Makoto added to the conversation.

"Everyone should return to normal afterwards." Haru said, concluding the main topic at hand.

"Right, but…" Ann paused with a look of concern on her face. "What'll happen to Alice then?"

"Well, she should be havin' a change of heart and confessin' soon after." Ryuji responded positively.

"Actually, now that Lady Ann mentions it, we don't really know that for sure." Morgana said with his eyes narrowed. "What we're stealing this time are the Desires that Alice seized from others. This isn't anything like her own Desire or ambition, or like the Treasures we found in Palaces."

"So… Even if we do end up rescuing her victims, nothing will change if she doesn't end up changing her ways and confessing everything she's done… It'll just be an endless cycle of men getting their Desires stolen." Sumire said with a look of large concern on her face.

"But if the calling card works, and the Desires in her birdcage will manifest, that creates a high probability that we'll encounter Alice's Shadow there." Yusuke spoke up with certainty in his voice.

Ren's phone pinged as Sophia popped up onto the screen.

"We did cause quite a scene destroying the lock." Sophia added to the conversation.

"Whether it be through words or fists, we'll more than likely be able to get Alice to change her ways via her Shadow." Yusuke suggested.

Suddenly, Ann stood up from her seat. A look of absolute seriousness was plastered on her face.

"Then let's do it. Let's take her head on!" Ann said with gusto.

Ren and the rest of the group all looked at Ann in surprise in her sudden declaration to face Alice in combat. Most of the thieves were also visibly confused at it too, to which Ann seemed to have taken notice of. Ann's facial expression softened.

"Oh… Sorry…" Ann said quietly before sitting back down in her seat. "I know that's the dangerous approach, but… I want to rescue Alice too, not just her victims. Alice said that she wanted to be a ray of light that could inspire people suffering through life."

"You're referring to what she said on TV yesterday, aren't you?" Akechi asked with his eyes still as stoic as ever and with his finger underneath his chin. "She was more than likely just simply saying all of that just to gain sympathy from her audience. I do not believe anything she said was actually genuine."

"Well I do." Ann said firmly to the shaggy brunette. "And I get why she said it too. It was because of all the bullying in her past. I mean… Doesn't it seem like we all saw part of Alice's trauma in the secret room?"

"Trauma?" Sophia asked with her head tilted over to the side.

"Trauma is something like an invisible scar within a person's heart. It comes from living through painful experiences." Sumire explained to the bright redheaded AI.

"A scar in a heart…" Sophia said softly with her eyes looking solemn.

"Truth be told, a lot of us around this table have our own fair share of traumatic experiences, Sophia." Ren further explained. "We've all gone through some things that still trouble us to this very day, even though most of the pain has probably faded away already."

Ann's facial expression became solemn too.

"Maybe that trauma was the reason why the Jail formed." Ann hypothesized.

"Trauma is what distorted Alice's heart, giving birth to the Jail…" Morgana spoke softly. "That is rather similar to how Palaces are made. I gotta say, it's possible."

"That honestly sounds rather similar to how Dr. Maruki's Palace was formed." Ren said softly with his eyes darted down at the table in front of him. "The pain he went through with seeing Rumi in such a shattered state of mind, and feeling powerless to do anything to help ease her suffering, was what distorted his heart."

"But how is that trauma even relevant to Alice's current behavior?" Yusuke asked a more appropriate question.

"This is just a hunch, but…" Ann said softly as she began her hypothesis. "I think that Alice sees what she's doing as some kind of revenge against the kinds of girls who treated her badly."

"Stealing someone's dude right in front of her is revenge to Alice? That's pretty sick…" Ryuji said with a disturbed look on his face.

"But that still no excuse for the fact that she is now taking men away from women who never even had anything to do with what she went through in high school." Akechi said with his eyes narrowed and his arms crossed.

"Right, Alice just has way too many victims already." Futaba confirmed.

"What if she simply kept escalating because no one was there to stop her?" Haru asked the group. "Becoming a Monarch must have created an awful amount of distortion…"

Suddenly, Ann's mind thought back to what Alice said in her interview yesterday, about how she didn't have many friends in school… It felt like that actually was a part of Alice's interview that wasn't genuine. From Ann and everyone else could see, Alice didn't really have any friends at all. She was just always bullied and always alone…

"Hey Ren, Sumire…" Ann said to her couple of friends from across the table, gaining both of their attention. "Do you guys remember when Alice tried to befriend me through EMMA yesterday?"

"Of course." Sumire said while Ren simply nodded in agreement.

"Well, even though Alice was really just trying to lure me into a trap, and I know I refused to be her friend because of how she's treating people now… I honestly can't help but feel a little guilty knowing that I just bluntly rejected her." Ann said with a sad look on her face. "Had I known exactly why Alice is doing what she is, and all of the torment that Alice had gone through when she was in high school, then maybe I wouldn't have just refused to be her friend… Maybe I would have decided to try talking to Alice some more and try to help her come back to her senses. And maybe… maybe we could have actually been friends…"

Ren, Sumire, and most of the other thieves had found themselves astonished by Ann's outstanding sense of kindness. Most people wouldn't really care much about what Alice had gone through and just label her as a horrible person who deserves to be punished for all of her sinful acts. But Ann is capable of understanding where Alice is coming from.

"I, too, know how painful it is to be bullied in high school and to be treated like you don't belong anywhere. But even despite all I've been through, I still had Shiho, and eventually the rest of you guys with me in my corner… I was lucky to have friends who helped me feel like I was cared for and that I had a place to belong, while Alice didn't have anybody. She had to suffer through all of that mistreatment all by herself."

Ann took a deep breath as she continued on with her resolution.

"If Alice's heart really has grown that distorted because she was all alone, then I want to become for her what Shiho and the rest of you have been for me… I want to become Alice's friend." Ann said softly, but still with determination. "I want to be a ray of light for Alice, one that can help her feel like she has someone to come to whenever she's feeling down and to help lift her spirits, one that will remind Alice what it feels like to be a ray of light for somebody else and to give them hope."

"You're willing to just forget everything that Alice has been doing up to this point and excuse her actions out of some sense of pity towards her?" Akechi asked in a disapproving tone with his eyes still narrowed.

"No, of course not!" Ann snapped at Akechi with her eyes narrowed. Ann took a couple of deep breaths before continuing. "I know what Alice is doing is wrong and that she still needs to be punished for it… but I don't want punishment to be the only thing that Alice knows once all this is over. I want Alice to know her dreams are worth holding onto and that it's not too late for her to stop what she's doing and have a new, fresh start… Is she beyond saving at this point? I don't know. But there has to be someone who at least tries to help her. And if that someone ends up being me, so be it. I won't just abandon Alice!"

This was something Akechi had a real difficult time understanding. For as long as he lived, he always had a rather black and white mindset based on a person's character when judging them for their actions. To him, a person's history doesn't mean anything. If they are doing horrible things, then they are automatically bad people and they deserve to be punished. Akechi never really fully understood the mentality of knowing of the Phantom Thieves. They always knew that the Palace Rulers were awful people and they all deserved to be punished, and it seriously irritated him when they were all acting sympathetic towards Dr. Maruki for wanting to create a world that frees everyone from their pain and suffering, despite meaning that they'd all be the doctor's puppets for arguably all of their lives. And now again, with Alice Hiiragi, Ann specifically was acting sympathetic towards someone who he viewed as a bad person and who deserved nothing more than to be punished. All Akechi could do was huff as he looked over to the side. Akechi had no way of understanding how many of the brains of any of the other thieves functioned. To him, he really was surrounded by absolute fools.

The other thieves, however, they all couldn't help but smile in admiration towards Ann's resolve and determination to help Alice see the light and give her a sense of hope that she can turn things around for the better for herself and many others too.

"Ann-senpai…" Sumire said with a soft smile on her face.

"You truly are a kind soul, Ann." Ren spoke up with a sense of pride in his voice.

Ann's eyes darted down towards the floor as a look of embarrassment was plastered onto her face.

"Well, don't speak too soon." Ann said in an embarrassed tone. "I am still really gonna lay into her for all she's done."

"I'm with you, Ann." Makoto said supportively. "Let's do it."

"No objections here either." Yusuke spoke up. "However, should we engage her in combat, we must avoid taking her life at all costs."

"Absolutely. That's out of the question." Ann said firmly.

"Best case scenario, we can just talk her out of it." Ryuji said optimistically.

"Alright, we now officially have two objectives. Save Alice's victims and help Alice come to her senses." Ren stated to the whole group with his eyes narrowed.

"Guys… Do you think I could write the calling card this time?" Ann asked in a very wishful manner. "There's something I need to tell Alice personally."

Ren fully understood why Ann would want to write the calling card. Since they were dealing with someone who Ann had such a personal understanding with, it makes sense why trying to send a message out to Alice would mean so much to her.

"It's all yours." Ren said while smiling at his platinum blonde friend.

"Thanks. It'll be great, I promise." Ann said while smiling.

"Writing a calling card? Need any help?" Sophia asked.

"Ooh! You can help me with the phrasing, Sophia!" Ann said excitedly.

"Awesome!" Ryuji cheered. "Now, all we gotta do now is figure out the delivery."

"Mweheheheheh…" Futaba laughed with her signature gremlin styled laugh while smiling mischievously. "I may have a plan for that. This is a special return of the Phantom Thieves. We gotta do this right."

The Shibuya Crossroads - Evening

June 19th, 2017

The nighttime streets of the Shibuya Crossroads were as crowded as ever as pedestrians were all walking left and right. There was even a news report on one of the big TV screens in the crossroads, with the reporter talking about the Maddice founder, Akira Konoe, announcing a joint project with one time rival company called "Pineapple".

Suddenly, there was an interruption with the news broadcast as sounds of static were interrupting the audio. It wasn't just the news broadcast that was being interrupted. All of the screens in the Shibuya Crossroads, and even the TVs outside of the crossroads too, were all being affected by this strange interruption. Everyone within and even outside of the crossroads were finding themselves very confused by this strange phenomenon. Not long after the interruptions started, a brand new image appeared on all of the screens. The image was none other than the iconic Phantom Thieves logo, complete with the phrase "Take Your Heart" written underneath.

"Okay, folks, listen up!" A distorted voice came from the audio of all the TVs surrounding the crossroads, a voice that sounded like an energetic young man.

The people all started to whisper amongst themselves in confusion and/or curiosity as to what was going on just now.

"Good evening." Another distorted voice came through, one that sounded a very feminine, lady-like kind of voice.

"Been a while, huh?" Another distorted feminine voice came through, one that sounded rather chipper.

"Perhaps you remember us." Another distorted male voice came through, one that sounded calm and sophisticated.

"We are the Phantom Thieves." A new distorted female voice came through, one that sounded serious and full of authority.

"And we're back in action with a new heart in our sights." The chipper female voice came through.

"A wicked witch who treats men like her submissive toys and breaks the hearts of innocent women… Alice Hiiragi!" Another distorted feminine voice came through, one that sounded rather like a young gremlin.

"You're a pathetic coward who hides behind a facade of this so-called great idol, one who talks about being a ray of light to people." A new distorted male voice came through, one that sounded rather rude and cold hearted.

"You have allowed yourself to become the very thing you've always hated, and you've resorted to hurting innocent people to indulge your own darkness." A brand new distorted feminine voice came through, one that sounded like a cheerful yet very mature sweetheart.

"You're a bad person, and it is our responsibility to make sure that bad people like you are stopped." Another brand new distorted feminine voice came through, one that sounded almost very child-like.

Amongst the crowd, Zenkichi Hasegawa was looking up at one of the big screens, watching and listening to the Phantom Thieves' announcement about Alice Hiiragi. Zenkichi felt a small smile form on his lips.

"And, for all those Desires you've wrongfully stolen…" Another distorted male voice came through, one that sounded almost like a little boy.

Suddenly, the Phantom Thieves logo transitioned out as a new image appeared on the screen, or more accurately, something that looked like a live broadcast. All that remained was Joker hiding in the shadows in front of a white background, with his mask just barely visible.

"Tonight, we're taking them all back!" Joker firmly declared as he moved his arm up to the camera screen, flashing the Phantom Thieves' signature calling card with the message written directly for Alice Hiiragi on the back for everyone to see.

Good Morning Japan TV Studio - Backstage

Alice Hiiragi was walking down the hallways of the backstage area of the Good Morning Japan TV Studio, all while looking down at her phone and viewing a schedule of all of her upcoming interviews.

"Okay, next I'm scheduled aaat…" Alice said to herself before her phone's ringtone started going off and her manager's name popped up on the screen. "Oh, it's the manager."

Alice pressed her thumb on the 'Accept Call' button and placed her phone close to her ear.

"Hello?" Alice asked politely.

"This is bad, Ms. Alice! Look at the email I forwarded you!" The Manager exclaimed in a worried tone before immediately hanging up and ending the phone call.

Alice stood there with her eyebrow cocked in confusion as to why her manager would be calling her like something really terrible was happening. However, despite her confusion, Alice decided to listen to her manager's instructions and look at her email. Once the list of emails and social media updates were shown up on her screen, Alice felt her breathing suddenly come to a halt when she saw the headline for the email that her manager had just sent to her. The headline read: "Phantom Thieves Calling Card for Alice Hiiragi".

"What in the… Phantom Thieves?!" Alice exclaimed in disbelief at what she was seeing.

Alice opened up the email, and her eyes widened once she saw the photo of the written message addressed directly to her on the back of the Phantom Thieves' signature calling card. This message was calling her a wicked witch, a pathetic coward, and a bad person. The thieves said that they are going to be taking back all of the Desires that Alice had wrongfully stolen.

Unbeknown to Alice, another being hidden within Alice's subconscious was reacting to the calling card in a much more freaked out manner.

"They're taking… my Desires? All of the Desires I've collected?!" Shadow Alice shrieked in a panic. "No, they can't! I need those! They're what make me the Monarch! …Without them, I'll…"

Shadow Alice took a few deep breaths, attempting to regain her composure.

"...Alright, I'll wait for you." Shadow Alice said to herself in a scheming tone. "I don't want toys that don't do as they're told… I'll smash you for certain this time."

Attic of Cafe Leblanc; Ren's Room.

"Mweheheheheh." Futaba laughed mischievously in her signature gremlin laugh. "It's The Return of the Futaba Cannon. Hope it was a blast."

"Oh most definitely." Ren confirmed Futaba's hopes. "Shibuya is officially in Phantom Thieves frenzy, just like back in December. I'll bet the news of the calling card has officially reached Alice by now."

"Then all we have left to do is confront Alice, get her to come to her senses, return the Desires back to all those men, and we'll officially be finished." Sumire said with a positive smile on her face.

"Awesome! Once this is all over, we can finally get back to our summer vacation!" Ryuji exclaimed excitedly.

"Alright, everyone, let's head into the Jail and finish this job once and for all." Ren declared firmly with his eyes narrowed, as all of the other thieves nodded their heads in agreement.

The Jail of Lust - Alice's Castle Rooftop

Upon entering the Jail and reaching the front of Shadow Alice's castle, the group of thieves have all noticed that the gigantic chain that was surrounding the giant birdcage at the top of Alice's castle tower was now laying down flat on the ground, now that the giant golden padlock that was keeping the chain in place was no longer there. The chain led all the way up to the rooftop of the tower and inside the birdcage, thus creating a very convenient pathway for the thieves to get to the top of the roof without running into anymore enemies.

Once they all reached the rooftop, after climbing the gigantic chain to get there, the thieves all looked up to the top of the birdcage. To all of their surprise, the stolen Desires had all officially manifested into one ginormous floating pink emerald. It was so big, in fact, that it nearly covered up the entire top of the birdcage.

"Whoa! That is…" Mona started saying out his thoughts in surprise.

"GINORMOUS!" Oracle loudly exclaimed, finishing Mona's sentence for him. "Why's it so big?!"

"Pretty sure this just goes to show how busy Alice has been stealing Desires from men all this time." Joker said rather calmly.

"At least they materialized for us. Thank goodness." Noir said in a more positive, cheerful manner.

"Yes, that is a relief." Violet agreed with her floofy haired senpai. "I was rather worried whether or not our standard Palace procedures would work."

"One problem, though…" Panther said with a look of concern behind her mask. "How do we steal something that big? It looks really heavy."

"I hate to say it, but I think Panther's right." Mona spoke up. "Even if we managed to get that thing down, It would probably still take all eleven of us just to try carrying it anywhere, and that alone would be very difficult."

Suddenly, the sounds of gears turning on machines came over from where the big, colorful podium stood, in the very far end of the other side of the birdcage.

"What's that?" Queen asked rhetorically as she and the rest of the group ran towards the podium.

Once the thieves all reached the front of the podium and stopped, it wasn't long after when a large, red, luxurious throne had ascended from a hole in the middle of the podium, and sitting in the fancy throne was none other than the Monarch of the Jail herself. Shadow Alice sat there with her legs crossed, her right hand fingers underneath her chin, and her left hand holding onto her pink flamingo cane.

"Alice!" Panther said aloud in suspense.

"So the coward finally shows herself." Crow said as he placed his hand on the handle of his sword, ready to draw it at any given moment.

"Oh dear, you thought you'd just sneak in like that?" Shadow Alice asked as she rose from her throne and slowly walked up towards the group of young thieves. "And what exactly do you plan on doing with those Desires?"

Joker could only scoff in response to Shadow Alice's question.

"Do you even need to ask?" Joker asked the dominatrix queen. "We're here to give those Desires back to their rightful owners. You have no right holding onto something that isn't even yours to begin with."

"Not even mine?" Shadow Alice asked devilishly. "Joker, my sweet sweet Joker, every one of those Desires became mine the moment all those men said they love me. It's not my fault that I hold ownership of what they all have given me… That's why you came back, isn't it Joker? You came back because you wanted to be mine?"

"You wish." Joker bluntly shot down Shadow Alice's question. "I already told you before that I do not, nor will I ever give my consent for you to step on me. I am already happily taken by another girl."

Joker slowly reached his left hand out to grab hold of Violet's right hand, which caused her to look at him with a bit of surprise. Joker smiled softly at the girl he loved so dearly, which in turn caused her to smile back at him. Joker then looked back at Shadow Alice.

"And that girl is none other than the one I am holding onto right now, and she is the one that I will never let go of." Joker firmly declared to Shadow Alice, which made Violet blush from behind her mask.

"Joker-Senpai…" Violet said softly as she brought her left hand up to her mouth while blushing behind her mask.

Shadow Alice was now glancing over at the crimson haired thief who was dressed in a rather similar fashion compared to Joker. It looked like Shadow Alice was eyeing every inch of Violet's physic, like she was making some internal judgements.

"Is she supposed to be that Violet girl you mentioned before?" Shadow Alice asked before she suddenly scoffed and gave a very disapproving look. "Joker, I cannot believe how low your standards in women are. They're honestly just so pathetic, that it's sad. You could do so much better than her."

Joker felt his entire body tense up. Hearing Shadow Alice just say something like that… Actually, the fact that Joker heard anyone at all say something like that, hearing someone talk Violet like she's not worth his love, his care, is affection, like she was just the bottom of a grand scale of women that are worthy of dating and women that aren't… It made Joker very angry. What reasons did anybody have to talk about Violet like she's just a low standard type of girl? What about her would make anyone think that she wasn't girlfriend material? Was it the shape of her body? Was it the way she behaved? Was it the kind of history that she had?

…No, none of that mattered. None of it ever mattered to Joker. Joker knew the kind of girl Violet was and she was, to him, the kind of girl that could only ever come out from his wildest dreams. Joker loved everything about Violet. He loved how kind and thoughtful she was, he loved how polite she always was to people, even when some people didn't deserve her politeness. He loved her for how considerate she was for other people's feelings, and he loved her for how much making her personal dreams come true meant to her… Joker loved Violet for all that she was. She was the absolute world to him, and nobody… NOBODY gets to have the right to tell him that she is anything otherwise.

Joker wanted to clench his fists very tightly in his growing fit of anger. However, he suddenly felt a tight grip on his left hand. Joker looked over to Violet, who looked like she too was glaring from behind her own mask. Unbeknownst to Joker, Violet was also feeling very unhappy over what Shadow Alice just said. Hearing Shadow Alice call her a pathetic standard made Violet think back to all of the times that people would just simply address her as Kasumi Yoshizawa's sister, or as the lessor of the twin Yoshizawa sisters. It even reminded her of when the vice principal of Shujin called her a waste of effort last year, back when Violet's cognition was warped to make her think that she was Kasumi…

If this was said during the time where Violet's self-confidence was at her lowest, she most likely would have actually believed it. But Violet has grown beyond her own self doubts and insecurities since she came to remember who she truly was again. She learned to be more confident in her own abilities as a gymnast, she found her own self worth as a person, and she even found herself to be someone who was worthy of being loved by someone else and giving that love back… Violet felt like the happiest young woman on the planet when Joker helped her find her self confidence and gave her all of his love, and she grew to believe that she truly was deserving of it all. And it made her so angry to hear Shadow Alice talk down on her like she didn't deserve Joker's love.

"Excuse me?!" Violet asked in an aggressive tone as she glared up at Shadow Alice.

"Alice Hiiragi, we know all about the horrible things that you've done." Mona said while also glaring.

"You seized the Desires of countless men by force and turned them all into your puppets." Fox added to the conversation while also glaring.

"You've toyed with men's emotions and made them mistreat the women they loved as well as many others." Queen added to the list of crimes that Alice had committed.

"You even opened up your own stores just so you milk all those brainwashed men dry of their money and make yourself grow as an idol." Oracle further added to the list.

"We can no longer overlook the wicked changes of heart you have forced upon countless innocents." Noir boldly declared.

"The Phantom Thieves are about to beat the distortion out of you!" Panther firmly declared with her eyes narrowed.

Shadow Alice looked over at Panther, whose appearance seemed to have made a pretty good impression on the dominatrix queen and caused her to smile.

"My my, you're such a beautiful girl." Shadow Alice said to Panter. "Girls like you could never possibly understand the struggle to find boys who love you. You have no clue what I've been through."

Panther's eyes softened at that last comment.

"...You mean all of the bullying at Shujin?" Panther asked in a sympathetic tone.

Shadow Alice felt herself gasp as her breathing suddenly came to a halt and her eyes shot wide open in surprise at Panther's response.

"Where did- How?!" Shadow Alice stumbled over her own question, confused as to how Panther could possibly know about what happened to her while she was in high school.

"We know all of it." Panther continued. "How you were bullied, how it was torture for you, and how miserable your life was because you had to endure all of that pain and suffering alone…"

Panther narrowed her eyes at Shadow Alice once again.

"But I still won't allow you to continue doing what you're doing." Panther declared firmly.

Shadow Alice was now glaring down at Panther. Her body was now shaking at the humiliation of her past being discovered by this group of thieves and the anger from being lectured over what she can and cannot do.

"So, you found out…" Shadow Alice said in a shaky voice. "No matter how much I hide it, the past still comes back to me! How pathetic… What a mess!"

Shadow Alice was clearly losing her composer now. Her shaking body, her shaky voice, and her little tantrum just now were all clear signs that she was close to snapping. However, Alice tried one more time to show that she was in control. She smiled at the group.

"But that doesn't matter now…With this power, I can have everything… Everything I've always wanted… Mine! And now, I'm gonna make you mine! All mine!" said Shadow Alice as she became enshrouded by an alarmingly familiar red and black energy as she began to transform.

Within moments, Shadow Alice had transformed into a purple-skinned rabbit girl around four times the height of all the young thieves, wearing the same provocative clothing as her human form, although her mouth is stitched shut at and she had fangs as teeth, her tail resembled a Hablerie Shadow with "eat me" written on it. Her high-heels were replaced with fishnet stockings and two carrots wearing BDSM masks tucked into them. Suddenly, the area around the Phantom Thieves transformed into something that resembled a concert stage, complete with Shadows filling the stands and cheering loudly like a loving audience.

"What in the… She turned into some kinda rabbit!" Skull cried out, bewildered at Shadow Alice's bizarre transformation

"So this really is Alice in Wonderland…" said Queen.

"Hey… Is it just me, or is anybody else getting a sense of deja vu?" Joker asked his fellow Phantom Thieves and Crow. "Like, doesn't it feel like we already faced off against a giant rabbit somewhere?"

All of the other thieves looked at each other in confusion at Joker's question. They all felt very sure that this was the first time that they were fighting against a giant rabbit, so all they could do was shake their heads in response.

"No? Only me?... Alright then." Joker said as he drew his attention back over to Shadow Alice.

"Oh, my! I'm late! I'm late for a very important date with a hot stud in a white mask and dressed all in black!" said Shadow Alice, causing Joker to feel very uncomfortable. "Come along! Come along! I have so many wonders to show you!"

Sophie tilted her head in curiosity. "What kind of wonders?" she asked.

"Ignore her, Sophie, you don't wanna know!" Joker said.

"Huh? But why wouldn't I-" Sophie started to say before Violet spoke up.

"Just trust Joker-Senpai on this Sophie, dear. You really don't want to know about such things." Violet said.

"Besides, more than likely she just wants to torture us or something." said Oracle as she summoned and hopped into Necronomicon.

"Alice… I'm gonna make you see the light!" Panther vowed as she and the rest of the thieves all launched themselves into the frey.

"Aw, you Phantom Thieves seem like best buds!" Shadow Alice as she swung her flamingo cane at the group like a sword, just barely missing some of them. "Joker and Violet aside, any of you happen to be dating?"

"Wha-?" said Panther as her face flushed pink as she summoned Carmon and sent a fireball that missed Alice by a wide margin, likely due to having been caught off guard by Shadow Alice's question. "How would that be any of your business?!"

Shadow Alice let out a mischievous giggle as she continued swinging her cane around. "Hmm… that's an interesting response… I wonder who you've got your eye on?" she said. "Me personally, I've got a thing for Joker, and once that little redheaded skank Violet is out of the picture, he'll be all mine!"

Shadow Alice's insult caused the rage bubbling within Violet to further increase in intensity as Skull cried out, "Dude, she is freaky! Joker, Violet, you guys better watch out!"

Crow surged forward. "Time for a test run! Manifest, Bandersnatch!" he cried as his new Persona materialized in a surge of crimson and black fire before it lunged at Shadow Alice, slashing at her with its claws, although it didn't really seem to do much damage.

"She's tough…" Queen noted. "See any weaknesses yet, Oracle?"

"One sec… analyzing…" said Oracle from within Necronomicon. "She is weak to… fire! Burn that smirk right off her face!"

"I have a better idea… how about you Feast Your Eyes!" said Shadow Alice as she leapt onto the pole in the center of the stage and proceeded to pole dance, while throwing out blasts of what everyone recognized as Psi attacks, which the group of Persona-users managed to avoid, only for Shadow Alice to lose her grip on the pole and get flung halfway across the stage and land on her side, causing some of the Shadows in the stands to back away for fear of Shadow Alice landing on them, and leaving Shadow Alice wide open to a barrage of Agi attacks, courtesy of Crow, Panther, and Joker.

Shadow Alice cried out in pain from the barrage. "Ow! That burns! Do you really wanna piss me off?!" she snarled in anger as she pulled herself up off the ground.

"Honestly, considering everything you've said about Violet, yes." said Joker as he got in close and slashed Shadow Alice a couple of times with his dagger before being forced to pull back when Shadow Alice used Mapsio. "Watch out, everyone! She's using psychic attacks!"

"Alice, why are you doing this?!" demanded Panther as she got in close and delivered several fire-infused lashes with her whip to Shadow Alice. "You've hurt so many people!"

"Huh? Don't blame me," said Shadow Alice innocently. "It's not MY fault everyone's in love with me! What can I do if they say they only have eyes for me?"

"What?! No one who's saying that actually means it!" said Panther. "You're just manipulating them!"

"Oh? So you know about all that, huh?" said Shadow Alice as she once again leapt onto the pole and started spinning around on it again. "I suppose I should have expected it from the infamous Phantom Thieves of Hearts! You know, to be honest, I've never really understood the attraction to men who were dangerous and broke the rules, you know, bad boys… but now that I've met Joker, the most dangerous rule breaker and baddest boy of them all… well, it's making my rabbit hole all wet!"

Just hearing that was enough to make Joker's face turn green with nausea as he held his open hand up to his mouth, feeling a sudden need to throw up. Violet's anger increased even further, evidently by the increased intensity of her attacks.

Skull, meanwhile, had caught sight of a rather large party popper. "Hey, check out the party popper!" Skull called out to his allies.

"I think we'll have a chance to use this when Alice goes for the pole! We'll blast her off of it." Mona suggested to everyone.

Fox chuckled. "Raining confetti upon the stage… that would be quite pleasing, aesthetically speaking," he said.

"Not the time, Fox!" called Skull as he dove behind one of the party poppers and gave it a whack with his weapon, causing a blast of confetti to erupt from the business end of the popper, the blast from which singed Shadow Alice and sent her flying off the pole again.

"Owwwww! Hey, what the Hell?!" Shadow Alice cried angrily before eating one of the carrots at her side and burping clouds of a pink gas that Skull was unfortunate enough to get a faceful of, causing his expression to turn vacant and his body to start glowing pink as he came out from behind the party popper and started taking swings at the other Phantom Thieves.

"Watch out! Skull's been brainwashed!" cried Mona.

"Must… protect… Queen… Alice…" Skull droned on robotically.

"I got him! Come, Milady!" cried Noir as Milady appeared behind her, and a green glow surrounded Skull as he came back to his senses.

The fight continued into something of a pattern from there. Shadow Alice would try to use her Feast Your Eyes attack, someone would use the party poppers to knock her off the pole only to get afflicted with brainwashing, which would then be cured by either Noir or the timely use of an item, with Panther and Violet being the ones dealing the most damage to Shadow Alice.

Shadow Alice's anger had finally reached a boiling point. She had had just about enough of these Phantom Thieves. "Why are you being like this? I was finally able to find some happiness…" she said, her voice becoming unstable sounding.

"By ruining other people's happiness?!" said Joker.

Shadow Alice growled in rage. "Are you here to take everything I have? Just like she did?" the dominatrix rabbit growled. "JUST TRY ME!"

With that, Shadow Alice took her cane and broke it over her knee and got on all fours, a look of pure demented rage on her face.

"Something's changed, stay on your guard!" cried Oracle.

No sooner had the words left Oracle's mouth than did Shadow Alice unleash a series of very powerful and very fast swipes with her claws in Joker and Skull's general direction.

"Whoa, holy shit!" cried Skull as he dove out of the way of Shadow Alice's frenzied attacks.

"She's gone feral!" exclaimed Joker as he likewise dove out of the way.

"Joker's right! She's so fast now! Sheesh!" exclaimed Mona.

"IT'S TIME TO TAKE YOU ALL TO SCHOOL!" snarled Shadow Alice as she continued her frenziec rampage, against which the Phantom Thieves could do nothing but try to stay out of her way and take potshots at her with elemental magic.

"She refuses to give up…" cried Panther. "Alice, what made you like this?"

"YOU'D NEVER GET IT, YOU LITTLE BITCH!" roared Shadow Alice as she began doing blazing fast cartwheels that was effectively a buzzsaw blade headed right at the group of Persona-users, forcing them to scatter. "I'VE BEEN TREATED LIKE SHIT ALL MY LIFE! I HAD EVERYTHING TAKEN FROM ME! YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT ANY OF THAT IS LIKE! THE FURTHER UP THE SOCIAL LADDER, THE SHITTIER THEY WERE TO ME! EVEN IF THEY SAW ME GETTING TORTURED, THEY'D JUST SMILE AND KEEP ON WALKING LIKE I DIDN'T EVEN MATTER! HOW COULD TRASH LIKE THAT NOT DESERVE IT?! AND I'LL SHOW YOU THAT YOU'RE TRASH TOO!" Shadow Alice continued to rant as she unleashed her fury upon the Phantom Thieves and Crow.

"ONCE I'VE GOT A MAN IN MY GRASP, THERE'S NO LETTING GO! I'LL TURN HIM AGAINST YOU, THEN YOU'LL LEARN TRUE DESPAIR! SOON, I WILL BE LOVED BY ALL THE MEN IN THE WORLD, AND TRASH LIKE YOU WILL HAVE NOTHING!" snarled Shadow Alice.

Violet, for her part, had heard just about enough. With a well-timed Kouha attack, she managed to break through Shadow Alice's defenses, knocking her flat on her ass.

"Bring on the mass destruction!" Oracle cried from Necronomicon as Violet and the rest of the group delivered a tremendous walloping on the vulnerable Shadow Alice with their All-Out Attack, which somehow caused a large explosion to appear from seemingly nowhere and knock Shadow Alice down to her last legs.

"Ngh! Why are you…?" groaned Shadow Alice as she stumbled around for a moment. "I'm not doing anything wrong!"

"Alice is getting weaker! Just one more big push! Keep it up, guys!" Oracle called from Necronomicon.

"All those girls who looked down on me… they'll see!" said Shadow Alice, sounding like she was somewhere between tired and on the verge of tears. "They'll see how every man is mine!"

"Is that really what you want, Alice? Don't be stupid!" yelled Panther. "I remember your real answer! You have to remember too, Alice! Tell me! What do you really want?!"

"I… I…" Shadow Alice started to say, her voice wavering, before a feral, desperate gleam entered her eyes. "I'LL BREAK YOU!"

With that, Shadow Alice lunged at Panther. However, Shadow Alice was suddenly stopped in her tracks when Violet summoned Cendrillon and unleashed a Cleave attack onto Alice, knocking her back a little bit.

Violet then pulled out a Sleep Vile S that she had bought from Sophie's shop earlier today before they sent out the calling card, and used it on Shadow Alice, causing the giant feral rabbit to fall to sleep. Violet took this opportunity to unleash another attack, this time a Swift Strike skill, which resulted in Shadow Alice getting hit four times and greatly damaged due to the extra technical damage from being asleep.

Shadow Alice was now down on her knees, clearly in a lot of pain. Violet looked at the giant rabbit, her eyes narrowed behind her mask.

"Let me get this one thing straight, Alice." Violet said firmly. "There may have been a time where I would have actually believed everything you said about me… but I don't believe any of it, because Joker-Senpai made it very clear to me that he loved me regardless of whoever I was or whatever I've done. He told me that he didn't want to live a life without me in it, even when I originally thought that everyone's lives would have been better if I wasn't around."

Violet couldn't help but think back to January 9th earlier this year, when Joker told her the truth of how he felt about her and how much he truly wanted her in his life.

"I have already proven that I am worthy of Joker-Senpai's love long before I was even capable of loving myself." Violet continued to talk firmly. "You hear me, Alice? You are not the queen in Joker-Senpai's life… I am."

Hearing this, Shadow Alice growled angrily as she slowly attempted to rise back up to her feet.

"And, as the queen herself always says…" Violet said softly before she turned around to face Panther, her hand raised up in the air, ready to pass the baton. "Panther-senpai… Off with her head."

Panther felt a small chill run down her spine at what Violet had just said to her. However, Panther quickly realized that Violet didn't literally mean to end Shadow Alice's life, she just simply meant to finish Shadow Alice off and finish the fight. Panther nodded her head in response before she raised her hand up in the air, allowing Violet to clap her fellow thief's hand and pass the Baton.

Shadow Alice tried once again to lung an attack towards Panther, but Panther reacted quickly.

"Showtime!" cried Panther as she and Carmen leapt up into the air, spun back to back together, before unleashing a devastating blast of fire, rising from the ground up, and severely damaging Shadow Alice, causing her to scream in absolute agony.

A moment later, the Phantom Thieves and Crow got their answer as the concert stadium faded away into nothingness and they were greeted once more with the interior of the birdcage.

Shadow Alice slowly pulled herself up off the ground and returned to normal before stumbling backwards and collapsing onto her knees. She breathed heavily from the exhaustion and the physical pain from such a long, and hard fought battle… but in the end, despite all of the power she had, she was no match for the combined power of the Phantom Thieves and Crow.

"No… How can I still not be strong enough?" Shadow Alice asked herself in disbelief as she slammed her right fist down onto the floor. "Why can't I change?! I'm not supposed to be the victim anymore!"

"Enough, Alice…" Panther said with her eyes soft. "If you keep going like this, you'll just make yourself feel even worse."

"How would you possibly know what being the victim feels like?!" Shadow Alice shouted at Panther with glaring eyes.

Panther took in a deep breath.

"...Because I too have suffered through bullying." Panther answered honestly, making Shadow Alice's eyes widen in surprise. "You may think that my looks have made my life easier and they made me get love and affection from any guy that laid their eyes on me… You're wrong. A lot of the girls at my school hated me for my own looks. They often treated me like I was just some fat slut who would willingly sell my own body to any guy who wanted it. Some of the girls even talked about me like I didn't belong anywhere in Japan because of the fact that I'm partially White. The boys at school didn't really treat me all that better either. They all talked about me behind my back, about how good I could probably be underneath the sheets. None of the boys ever really talked about me like I was a human being instead of a sex toy… Even one of my own teachers did the same thing and more."

Panther found herself shivering at all of the unpleasant memories of Kamoshida trying to convince her to get into his bed and allow him to have all of her. Unbeknownst to Panther, Skull was looking down at the floor; his eyes filled with immense guilt. All Skull could think about was how he treated Panther for most of their first year of high school, and the beginning of their second year, when he wrongfully accused Panther of having Kamoshida's back during the time Skull and Joker were trying to get some evidence of the abuse that Kamoshida was inflicting upon the male players of the volleyball team, thinking that she and Kamoshida actually were having an affair with each other. It felt nauseating to remember how much of a jerk he acted towards her without even considering the discomfort Panther was going through all because of Kamoshida.

"Although, despite all that I went through… I still had my best friend with me." Panther continued. "She was always there with me whenever I felt like I was struggling and when I could no longer take any of the mistreatment that everyone was giving me. And eventually, I made friends with Joker, Skull, and everyone else here amongst the Phantom Thieves. They all helped me get through the hardest parts of my high school life, and they made it feel like life at school could actually feel a little more bearable."

Shadow Alice looked back down at the floor. Her eyes were filled with much grief and sadness.

"Panther, was it?" Shadow Alice began softly. "You are very lucky to have friends… I just can't compare to someone like you. All my life, I've never been a match for the real winners… I tried SO HARD to change! I just wanted SO BADLY for people to not treat me like I'm just nothing! But no matter what I did, I was still made fun of, still bullied… I just wanted to stop being miserable. I poured my heart into fashion and singing, and worked so hard to get so far!"

Shadow Alice closed her eyes tightly while also clenching her hands into fists.

"But then… She showed up again, and ran her mouth about my past… She told everyone what a pathetic little shit I was!" Shadow Alice shouted, loads of emotional pain coming from her voice.

Panther, Joker, and all of the other thieves felt their breath get caught in their throats at this new revelation. Apparently, Alice's biggest bully got into either the fashion business or the idol business too, arguably just to tear Alice down even more. Most high school bullies actually grow a conscience by the time they reach adulthood and see what living in the real world is like. They usually allow themselves to reflect on all of the terrible things they've done to other kids, and some of them even actually try to make amends towards the people that they've hurt… But the fact that one particular bully from Alice's past still had it out for her and wanted to ruin her more, even as an adult, was just absolutely revolting.

"That's why, when I discovered what I could do with EMMA, I took all of it away from her. Her boyfriend, her social circle, everything!" Shadow Alice said loudly as her voice started to shake again. "…But it wasn't just her. Everyone that talked behind my back, all the people who just stood there while I was getting…"

Shadow Alice paused in the middle of her sentence. At this point, it just hurt too much to talk any more about what she went through. Panther and the others could only ponder on whatever Shadow Alice was referring to. Was she referring to when she was getting publicly humiliated, was it when she was getting mercilessly assaulted, or was it perhaps both? Whatever the answer was, it was still unbearable for her to ever endure.

"I'll destroy every single one of them!" Shadow Alice shouted in distress before whimpering a couple of times.

Sophie could only watch as Shadow Alice's spirit was shattered severely at the memories of all the torment that she was forced to endure during her school years and even as an adult. To see a human being this emotionally hurt over something that happened a long time ago, it was becoming clearer to Sophie that this was what trauma looked like.

"So this is a scar in a heart…" Sophie said to herself quietly with a sad facial expression.

"This power lets me get revenge…" Shadow Alice said softly. "So I-"

"You already got your revenge." Panther interrupted with her eyes narrowed. "You already used EMMA to hurt back the bully that hurt you, but revenge against her just wasn't enough… You saw a lot of other women who had something you didn't, and it made you jealous. That jealousy only reminded you of how alone you were when you were in high school, and when your bullies stole that boy you liked away from you. So you decided that it was necessary for those other women to experience what you went through and to take their boyfriends away. You have allowed yourself to become swallowed up in this intoxicated sense of jealousy, that you ended up hurting thousands of women who didn't even have anything to do with what happened to you in your past just to make yourself feel better, and because of that… You became the bully."

"I… But they…" Shadow Alice stumbled upon her words, trying to think of something to further justify her actions.

Panther clenched her fists tightly as she glared down at Alice.

"You idiot!" Panther shouted angrily, causing Shadow Alice to flinch. "What good does hurting and controlling countless innocent people do?! Now you're just as bad as the people who made you suffer!… Is that really how you want to live your life? Constantly putting people down, like your bullies did to you?"

Panther took in a few deep breaths in an attempt to collect herself again. Her eyes softened after a while, and knelt down onto her knees while still looking at Shadow Alice.

"Didn't you want to be something else?" Panther asked softly. "A ray of light for others, and for yourself."

"...I…" Shadow Alice's voice cracked.

Shadow Alice felt tears forming in her eyes.

"...I… I can't do it…" Shadow Alice choked on her forming tears.

"Yes you can, Alice!" Panther raised her voice.

"No, I can't!" Tears were now streaming down Shadow Alice's eyes as she cried out. "I only went into fashion and became an idol because I just wanted people to actually like me. I thought that fashion and singing would finally get people to look at me like I was actually worth seeing… But I still can't do it! People still make fun of me for my taste in fashion. People criticize me for my style of music. Everywhere I go, I am met with people telling me I don't deserve to be an idol or a fashion designer… If only I ever actually had a friend, just one friend, maybe I wouldn't feel so worthless… But I am worthless. Nobody ever came up to me and said they wanted to be my friend. Nobody has ever said that they wanted to go out with me. Nobody has even ever bothered to protect me from any of my bullies when I needed it the most… Nobody will ever want me! Nobody!"

Shadow Alice was now sobbing hard into her hands… Seeing Shadow Alice so broken like this was just heartbreaking to watch for Panther and the rest of all the other Phantom Thieves, even for Crow. Seeing Shadow Alice cry like this somehow reminded him of when he was hiding behind the facade of the charismatic Detective Prince. He too wanted so badly for someone to actually care for him, to treat him like he was actually wanted ever since he was practically orphaned when his mother took her own life, and he was constantly moved from foster home to foster home because none of the foster parents ever wanted him. It made Crow feel nauseated, seeing how he and Shadow Alice were so much alike in regards to wanting to actually be wanted by someone, but never having it.

Joker himself was actually feeling a strong sense of guilt right now. Hearing how Shadow Alice was still getting very hurt from having her sense of fashion mocked or criticized by others made him think back to when he went into a full ranting frenzy over Alice's dress, how he said that her dress didn't make her look cute in any way, and that it only made her look so utterly stupid, and seeing Shadow Alice on the ground, sobbing her eyes out just made him feel like a total jerkass.

Violet herself was also feeling sad at the sight of seeing Shadow Alice in such an emotionally broken state. Despite the anger that Violet felt towards Alice for talking like Violet was not good enough to be Joker's girlfriend, Violet still felt sympathetic towards Shadow Alice's low self esteem and her beliefs that she will forever be worthless. It reminded Violet of how worthless she used to feel when she always came in second place, just behind Kasumi in their gymnastics competitions, and how it made her so upset that she wasn't able to live up to Kasumi's public image as a true gymnastics star. Violet knew very well how painful it felt to believe that one will always be worthless no matter what they do.

Not being able to stand watching her sobbing her broken heart out any longer, Panther let both of her knees collapse to the floor as she slowly reached her arms out for Shadow Alice. Panther placed both of her hands on Shadow Alice's shoulders, and then she pulled Shadow Alice in for a soft and gentle, but warm and loving hug. Shadow Alice slowly moved her hands away from her eyes in surprise by Panther's sudden action. Her breathing was shaky due to tears still pouring down her cheeks.

"I do, Alice…" Panther gently and sweetly whispered into Shadow Alice's ear. "I do want to be your friend."

Shadow Alice's eyes widened a little in shock at what Panther just said.

"...You… You do?" Shadow Alice asked, her voice still shaking.

Panther slowly pulled away from the hug, her arms still holding onto Shadow Alice's shoulders.

"The last time you asked me if I wanted to be friends with you, I refused and said that I'd never be friends with someone who treats others so horribly… I shouldn't have just said that to you." Panther said in a regretful tone.

"The last time I asked?" Shadow Alice said in confusion, just a few moments before her eyes widened in realization. "Wait, you wouldn't be-"

Panther removed her right hand from Shadow Alice's shoulder, and took a hold of the front of her mask. Panther then slowly removed the mask from her face, revealing her true self to the other.

"...Ann Takamaki…" Shadow Alice whispered in surprise.

"I wish I had known exactly what you had gone through all those years ago and why you were doing all of this. Had I known, I wouldn't have just refused your request." Panther said gently. "I would have wanted to talk with you more and help you come to your senses about everything you've been doing, and remind you that you can be a ray of light of other people, that you can give hope to other girls and boys who are suffering from bullying, that you can tell them you understand their pain and want to help heal their wounded hearts, that you don't have to feel all alone anymore… because I really do want to be friends with you."

Panther gave Shadow Alice a genuine, caring smile.

"I love Alice Hiiragi and what she wants to do for others." Panther said happily.

Shadow Alice sat there, utterly speechless from the kind and caring warmth that came from everything that Panther just said to her… There were, in fact, no words to properly describe what she was feeling right now. For the very first time in her whole life, someone actually came up to her and said that they wanted to be her friend. Shadow Alice almost wanted to pinch herself in a sense of conviction that she was just dreaming, that this was not real… But, she didn't. She didn't want to let go of this sense of hope that Panther had just given her… Finally, for once, Shadow Alice finally felt like she was actually wanted by someone. It made Shadow Alice form a smile on her face as her eyes filled up with more tears, but this time… They were tears of true, genuine happiness.

"Takamaki-san… Thank you, Takamaki-san." Shadow Alice cried out as she reached out for Panther's arms and pulled her in for a hug.

Shadow Alice cried happily into Panther's shoulder as Panther gently embraced Shadow Alice with a hug of her own. Most of the other thieves couldn't help but smile at Panther's success at the new blossoming friendship between the two girls in front of them. Seeing Panther give Shadow Alice the one thing that she always wanted, that she always needed truly was a heartwarming thing to witness. Joker looked over at Violet who was standing right beside him, and gently wrapped his arm around her and pulled her in close. Violet looked up at her senpai and couldn't help but smile at him. Violet leaned closer into Joker's chest as they both and the others continued to watch the heartwarming scene before them.

Crow, on the other hand, was turning his head away from the sight of what was happening before him. Truthfully, Panther's kindness towards Shadow Alice, despite all that she has done, was making Crow feel… conflicted. He honestly couldn't help but sort of see a bit of himself in Shadow Alice. He saw that both Shadow Alice and himself had done horrible things to other people, and neither one of them were ever truly deserving of anyone's forgiveness or pity. However, the heartwarming sight in front of him… He couldn't help but imagine himself in Shadow Alice's position, being held onto by someone and being forgiven for all of the horrible things he's done. But, of course, there's no real way he could ever possibly be forgiven for all that he's done. He's already caused so much damage that can never be undone, and it's damage that he's going to have to live with for the rest of his life.

After a while, Shadow Alice finally stopped crying and pulled away while she was still smiling. However, her smile quickly faded away when a disturbing thought crossed her mind.

"Wait… My victims, all the people that I've hurt…" Shadow Alice said worriedly. "How can I possibly-"

"I think you already know what you need to do, Alice." Panther said softly, cutting Shadow Alice off. "Return to your other self in the real world. Put an end to this whole brainwashing scheme, and confess everything you've done to the public."

Panther then smiled kindly again.

"And I promise, that no matter what happens afterwards, I will be right there for you in your corner." Panther said positively.

Shadow Alice once again found herself astonished by Panther's genuine kindness and her promise to still be there for her, and she felt herself smiling once more.

Shadow Alice slowly reached her hands for the crown sitting on top of her head, removed it, and slowly sat it down on the floor.

"I… I will confess all that I have done." Shadow Alice said. "I want to apologize to all of the people I've hurt, and start over."

"That's a very good place to start, Alice." Panther said while smiling proudly. "I'll be rooting for you."

Shadow Alice's smile grew brighter as she closed her eyes.

"I will go back now, to where I belong." Shadow Alice said softly.

Tiny specs of bright blue light started to surround Shadow Alice, and her body suddenly began to glow in the same color. The Phantom Thieves, apart from Crow, Violet, and Sophie all knew this was what happens whenever a Shadow reunites with its other self in the real world. The light surrounding Shadow Alice's body grew brighter and brighter until all of the thieves were blinded by the light, not being able to see anything else but white. Not long afterwards, the light faded out, leaving nothing but the fading specs of bright blue light.

Shadow Alice was officially gone.

Panther slowly stood up from her kneeling position and she then placed her red cat-like mask back onto her face. She turned around and saw that almost all of the other thieves were smiling very proudly at her.

"You did an awesome job, Panther." Skull said enthusiastically, causing Panther's cheeks to turn a little pink.

"Thanks…" Panther said, feeling a little embarrassed.

Suddenly, the whole birdcage began to shake violently, alarming all of the thieves.

"What the- What's going on?!" Mona asked in a panic.

Joker looked around the birdcage to see exactly why the birdcage was shaking. Suddenly, he noticed a large piece of debris fall down from above. Joker looked up and noticed that the top of the birdcage was crumbling apart.

"Everyone, get back!" Joker commanded as he and the other thieves moved backwards to a safer distance from the falling debris.

As the birdcage came falling apart, the ginormous collection of stolen Desires started to fall down and crash land onto the floor of the roof. The large collection of Desires began to crack apart as they all started to grow very brightly. Almost immediately, the large collection of Desires formed into a giant beam of light that shot straight into the sky and pierced the heavens. It wasn't too long after that the thieves saw all of the stolen Desires come slowly raining down from the sky, all separated into their own individual forms. From the looks of it, it seemed like the Desires, once they touched the ground, were all floating into the directions of where the Prison Keeps were located, back to the bodies of their rightful owners.

Joker had to admit it to himself; seeing a bunch of glowing gems slowly rain down from the sky of a starry night was actually a very beautiful sight to see. Joker felt a pair of arms wrap around his rib cage, causing him to look to his left and see that it was Violet holding him, smiling happily. Joker smiled back at her as he held her by the waist pulled her in closer. Most of the other thieves were all simply watching the scenery in awe while Sophie was holding her hands up in the air like she was wanting to touch the Desires as if they were little flakes of snow, with her electric blue emote eyes showing two upward pointing arrows showing that she was feeling very joyful.

"This is effin' amazing!" Skull exclaimed ecstatically.

"Are we witnessing the Desires returning to their rightful owners?" Fox asked.

"Yeah, that's what it looks like to me." Panther said softly.

Suddenly, Oracle pulled up her virtual monitor screens. She seemed to be scanning the maps of all the locations of the Prison Keeps.

"I can confirm that Fox's assumption is correct." Oracle pointed out. "The Shadows of Alice's victims are all disappearing one by one."

"I hope this means that their real-world counterparts will all be turning back to normal." Queen said.

"Well, we'll know for sure once we leave here." Joker spoke up with confidence.

"You're right, Joker-Senpai." Violet said.

After a while of watching the show of slowly raining Desires returning to their rightful owners, the thieves all decided that it was time for them to leave the Jail and put this crazy chapter behind them. They all had climbed back down the giant steel chain that they used to get back to the roof, in order to get back down to the surface. However, just as the thieves were all crossing the crossroads.

"Wait!" Crow cried out, grabbing everyone's attention.

"Something wrong, Crow?" Joker asked with his eyebrow cocked behind his mask.

"The Jail… It's not collapsing." Crow pointed out in a curiously concerned tone.

Surprised from Crow's words, Joker and the others all looked around at their surroundings. It was true that despite defeating Shadow Alice, sending her back to her real world self, and making all of the stolen Desires return to their rightful owners… The Jail was still intact and was not crumbling away into nonexistence like the Palaces always did.

"Yeah, you're right…" Joker said in disbelief. "We did pretty much everything the same as whenever we'd steal Treasures from Palaces, so why isn't the Jail disappearing?"

"It would appear that this certainly solidifies that this Jail is different from Palaces after all." Noir said.

"There's a chance we haven't actually resolved the issue yet." Fox added to the conversation.

"Do you think Alice may know why the Jail isn't disappearing?" Violet asked.

"I hope we can try asking her about it once we get back to the real world." Noir said.

"Have you all seriously already forgotten?" Crow asked with his eyes closed in annoyance. "People in the real world are incapable of recalling what kind of experiences their Shadows have. Alice will not be able to recall any of what has happened here."

"That's true." Joker admitted with his arms crossed. "...I guess the best we can do right now is just simply return to the real world and see if our actions have made any real changes."

"I'm sure they did." Panther said positively. "I genuinely believe Alice will confess to everything she's done and do everything she can to make things right for her victims as well as herself."

"Fascinating…" Sophie spoke up suddenly.

"What is it, Sophie?" Violet asked the little bright redheaded AI.

"Just as the Phantom Thieves predicted, Alice Hiiragi appeared to change her logic." Sophie said in intrigue. "This would not be possible had we just simply defeated her… How did you predict the outcome?"

"We didn't." Joker said calmly. "We all just simply had faith that she would be able to come to her senses and try to be better. Being able to change how one thinks and feels about something is all part of what makes someone human."

"Someone is human… because they can change…" Sophie said with a mixture about both curiosity and confusion.

"The human heart is much more complex and complicated than you originally thought it was, isn't it, Sophie?" Violet asked, to which Sophie nodded in response.

"The human heart is indeed difficult to comprehend. It's filled with mysteries." Sophie said honestly.

"Well, you're pretty high up there on the mystery charts yourself, Sophie." Oracle said.

"No, I'm humanity's compa-" Sophie said before being cut off.

"Will you stop saying that, already?!" Crow said aloud, causing the young AI to look alarmed.. "We already know what you are. You do not have to keep repeating that same annoying phrase."

"I… But I'm…" Sophie stumbled over her words, confused as to why Crow would tell her to stop saying the very thing that she is.

"Being a mystery doesn't make you any less of being humanity's companion, Sophie." Joker said in a reassuring tone. "Just like how a human is capable of change, a companion for humanity, like yourself, is capable of being more than one thing."

"He's right, Sophie." Mona added. "You're humanity's companion, but there is still a whole lot more to you that we still don't know about, and that also makes you a mystery."

"...I can be more than just one thing?" Sophie asked curiously.

"Of course you can. Everyone in this world is capable of being multiple things." Queen said kindly. "So there's no need to feel like we're denying your primary role. We accept you for all that you are."

Sophie felt a warm smile form on her face.

"Okay, I will accept being both humanity's companion and a total mystery." Sophie said positively.

"Well, with that said, let's head back to the real world." Panther said eagerly. "I want to see if Alice truly does change her ways and confess to everything."

"Yeah… Come on, everyone, let's head on home." Joker said softly, causing everyone to nod in agreement.

With that, Joker and the others all continued walking across the crossroads, making their way back to the exit portal of the Jail. While there were still some mysteries remaining about the Jail, specifically why it was still standing despite sending Shadow Alice back to her other self in the real world and returning all of the stolen Desires to their rightful owners, there were still more important things for the thieves to worry about. Will Alice truly have a change of heart and confess all of her wrongdoings? Only time will tell. For now, all the Phantom Thieves and Crow knew was that, after all they've been through this past week, they all deserved a good night's rest.

NewWorldFool: FINALLY! THE ALICE ARC IS COMPLETE! HOORAY! I cannot tell you how good it feels to finally be done with the Alice arc, or at least the bulk of it… feels pretty damn good, I must say. In any case, if you liked what you saw here, be sure to fave, follow, review, and join us next time as we bear witness to the fallout of Alice's change of heart!

CloudStrife07: I gotta say, it's been quite a ride to get this far in this story… even though it isn't very far in the long run, but it's still an accomplishment to actually complete an arc. I am honestly very happy that we are finally finished with this arc and how this arc turned out to be when we were writing it. I am most particularly proud of this specific chapter. I honestly wasn't really impressed with how the final parts of Alice's arc was written since there was so much more that could have been done with it, and I really wanted to do my pat in making sure that the finale of Alice's arc got more love and care for Alice's character and growth than what was given to her in the original game. And now that it's all over, I think I can personally say that I am very proud with how it all turned out in the end.

Anyway, thank you all so much for sticking around with this story up to this point for so long. We promise to do our absolute best with the following chapters for the upcoming arcs, and we hope you all will enjoy all of the interesting surprises, twists, and humorous moments we have planned for the future. Until next time, everyone, stay safe and take care of yourselves. Adios!