I LIVE!

See the end notes as for an explanation on where I've been and what's happened, as well as an update on the fate of Phantom Memories.

Every time the world resets itself, we end up at the same place.

"Today was brutal, huh?"

And every time, we say the same things.

"Look! You're as tall as I am now!"

I keep hearing her cry for help.

"You'll never understand how I feel."

And I keep trying to stop her.

"Look where you're going! The light's red!"

And every time, I perish, trapped in limbo for a whole year, until the cycle repeats itself once more.

But this time, things were different.

I was trapped in darkness, as usual, but I could move. There seemed to be nothing there, except a gray hallway in the distance. When I got there, it looked like… a lounge? What was this place doing in a void of seemingly nothingness? There didn't seem to be anyone there for now, so I decided to explore the place.

A table with a deck of cards, some statues of weird monsters. Nothing too interesting at first, but then something caught my eye.

A folder containing a bunch of videos, I looked through them for anything interesting. One of them had the names of me and my sister on it. Is this about us? I need to know.

It was the scene of my own death. But from my sister's perspective. It was pretty interesting to see a routine I've gone numb to from a new perspective.

But there was more to that place then just those videos. Everything that a bunch of people I don't know will do. All here in this place.

I spent the entirety of the year studying up on these documents. Starting with figuring out what a "Metaverse" is, and working my way from there. Constantly coming up with new ways to make sure anything doesn't go wrong to these people, as they all seem important to what's going on, but most importantly, what to do to survive the next loop.

Eventually, the time comes, that bright light that I'm all too familiar with at this point shines through, and I'm back on the sidewalk.

I see her running towards the street, just as she always does, but now that I'm no longer restricted, I think to myself.

"Not this time."

Instead of pushing her as I always did, I grab her by the collar.

I did it, I broke the cycle. No more car, no more blood, no more dark limbo.

She hugs me with tears in her eyes apologizing for getting herself in danger. As I hug her back, as happy as I am to be together after so many deaths, there's only one thing on my mind now that I've seen everything that will happen this year.

"I'm free… I'm finally free. This time, we do things MY WAY."

So, it's been a while, hasn't it? A lot's happened while I was gone. First off, someone impersonated me on AO3 and insulted an entire discord server and my friend's fics, as well as others. I lost all my co-writers for Phantom Memories, so I decided to write this one-shot as practice for writing on my own. As for what's going to happen to Phantom Memories itself? Well, I kinda need a little help in order to bring it up to the quality standard I want from such a passion project. If you want to help with it, be my guest! I could use all the help I can get! Be sure to DM me on discord @MushroomFusion245#9591. Also be sure to read the conditions in the link below on what I expect from a potential co-writer for Phantom Memories.

https/www.castingcall.club/projects/persona-5-royal-phantom-memories-co-writer-search-2-ef6309a2-a2ea-4a33-b578-09e677caf4a1