From He Who Helped Usher In The Fog:

This couldn't be happening.

That single thought wouldn't stop ringing in my head, over and over again. I look down at the dead body of the guard, eyes staring lifelessly up in the air. My eyes slowly move over to the gun that killed the man that was now pointed directly at me. My heart couldn't stop beating as I stared down at what would probably be the end of me.

"Why… I thought we were…" I manage to get out as my eyes manage to focus on the brown eyes of the person pointing the gun at me.

Akechi just gives me a cocky smirk before pulling the trigger on the gun and I didn't know which hurt more in that moment, the bullet currently ripping the insides of my brain or the betrayal of someone who I thought was my friend.

I jolt awake from the nightmare I found myself in right at that moment, panting heavily at the vividness of the dream. I wipe down the cold sweat that I found myself in and move to sit up from the cot that I woke up in. I tried to gather my thoughts and calm the racing heartbeat of mine into something more manageable. I did my best to focus on what I knew. We found out that Akechi was planning on killing me by placing a bug on his phone, we used that knowledge to trick him into thinking that he killed me, taking him to a Palace without him knowing about it and killing a cognitive version of me. The plan went off without a hitch as I am now lauded as a dead terrorist and Akechi and his conspirator were none the wiser.

Thinking back on the events that happened help calm my nerves down and I find myself thinking more clearly. I let out a breath as more of the rational emotion starts coming back with it as well. The fear that I was this close to death had I somehow not managed to convince Sae to help me, the anger and confusion I felt when I woke up in the interrogation room, drugged up and beaten by guys wanting answer my addled mind can barely remember, and finally, the most prominent one out of them all, the feeling of loss and betrayal from hearing Akechi's recorded voice saying out loud his plans to kill me.

My eyes spot a weird object placed on top of the toilet bowl. Leaning in to pick it up, I frown when I see that it was a black glove, specifically, the one which Akechi threw at me when he declared that he wouldn't lose to me anymore. I find myself falling deeper into the sad thoughts plaguing my mind. His cold and callous way of saying that he would kill us all still sends a shiver down my spine.

"We could say he stole the guard's gun and committed suicide during his imprisonment… how about that?" I remember his words while gripping the glove in my hands tightly. I then shake my head to try and clear my thoughts, focusing back on the cell that I found myself in.

This has been a regular enough occurrence that waking up in a strange blue covered cell didn't faze me at all anymore. I have gone back to and forth from the velvet room both while I was awake and while I was asleep to have gotten used to the whole thing by now. What was strange with this whole situation is that Caroline and Justine weren't berating me at this moment. I would have expected them to get angry or at least annoyed that I am taking too long to address them. I stand up to my cot and make my way over to the bars holding my cell closed to see what is going on.

Surprisingly, the Velvet Room was empty. There were no signs of Caroline or Justine and even the chair that the mysterious and creepy long nosed proprietor of the room lies empty. To top it all of a small fog tinted with a light shade of red seemed to be seeping from somewhere.

"What… where is everyone?" I ask to myself as I take a step back from the bars when I notice the fog, remembering the ominous one I experienced before when meeting Narukami. I half expected the strange Silhouettes to appear at any time now as more and more of the fog seems to creep in. A shadowy silhouette seems to start forming right at the center of the room, where Igor usually sat, and I brace myself for whatever monster would suddenly show up but is taken back when I hear laughter instead.

"What's got you all tensed up over there? You gotta learn how to relax some more, kid." A voice comes from the shadow and the fog seems to start clearing up enough so that I could see who the voice belonged to. A man sits on the chair that Igor usually sat in, he had black unkempt hair and gray eyes and he was wearing a black suit with a white long sleeved shirt, a crooked red tie hangs loosely underneath his neck and on his feet, which were propped up on Igor's desk, was a pair of brown boots.

"I guess I can't blame you, seeing that you're currently behind bars at the moment." He says after taking a look at his surroundings and letting out a low whistle at what he saw. "So kid, what are you in for." He says after he finishes and looks back at me, giving me a disarming smile.

I look at him wearily, not trusting the strange man at all and sensing my distrust just makes the man laugh. "What's the matter? Cat got you're tongue? No need to be scared kid. I used to be a cop, believe it or not... before getting kicked out and locked up in prison though… so imagine my surprise when I see some kid locked up behind bars and I'm the one on the other side."

I frown at his words, reminding me subconsciously of the cops who got me arrested on Shido's word. Before I could stop myself, I found spitting out a retort. "Not everyone in the force is good!" I say before zipping up, not wanting any more of emotions getting out.

The stranger just looks at me, unperturbed by my sudden anger, before letting out a chuckle. "That's right. Not all of us are in it to serve and protect… other's are more inclined to be bought and could be made to look the other way around… provided the money's good enough… so kid, just what kind of bigshot did you piss off to get yourself in this situation." He says with a knowing smirk.

My eyes widen at just how close to the truth that the stranger got. I immediately glare at him, not wanting to say any more as well as letting him know that I don't trust him. The man just pulls his head back and starts roaring in laughter at what I do.

"Ah geez, learn to relax a bit more kid. I was just messing with you. It's been a while since I had any kind of fun and I just wanted to poke you a bit." He says disarmingly but I keep my mouth shut and continue to glare at him. "Suit yourself. I don't care either way if you tell me or not." He says with a shrug before reclining back on Igor's chair.

We soon find ourselves in a bit of aa lull as he continues to recline on Igor's chair and I refuse to provide him any more information about myself. I soon find myself sitting back down on the cot and stare at the black glove in my hand. My mind continues to mull over it's thoughts of Akechi and trying to come up with how to handle that situation when I am interrupted by the guy letting out an annoyed sigh. He stops reclining and places his feet back down on the floor and givens me an annoyed look.

"Look, you're obviously set to just mope around in your cell and bring down the mood for the two of us. But some of us don't want to deal with crap like that so just spit out what's eating you already. Besides, I have a feeling the two of us wont be getting out of this place unless you get whatever is eating you up out of your chest." He says while putting his elbow on the desk and propping up his head with it. I give him and annoyed look and before I can put forth my retort he stops me with his laugh again. "If you are worried about my telling what you tell me in the outside world, then you don't have to worry. As I said, right now I'm in jail… nobody out there would believe a word that comes out of my mouth. Besides… didn't you know? Snitches get stitches inside jail." He says before letting out a small laugh.

I ignore him as I mull over his words. I did have an inkling as well that I needed to talk about my thoughts on Akechi. It became apparent to me as soon as I found his glove on top of the toilet. I look back at the stranger who was continuing to look at me with his creepy smile before letting out a small sigh, thinking what do I have to loose.

"I have this… friend of mine," I start out, wanting to keep things anonymous for the most part just in case it turned out that I couldn't trust this stranger. It flowed from there and I practically told him my would dealings with Akechi. How I formed a bond with him, how that bond transformed into rivalry between the two of us, how he did his best to seem to push not only me, but anyone else that wanted to get close to him the whole time, how he inevitably betrayed me and my group of friends, how I still wish, despite his betrayal, to connect and understand him, and how scared I was with how my friends would react to me wanting to connect with Akechi.

I soon stop once all of it were out and, to my surprise, it felt a bit good to let it all out. That good feeling was soon dashed away by the uproarious laughter coming from just past the cell. I gave the man a frown as he continues his laughing fit, feeling just a bit angry at myself for sharing that much to a jerk like him.

"Ah… sorry about that… don't worry I'm not laughing at you, kid." He says after his laughing fit has died down. He soon stands up and the ominous red fog seemed to coalesce into him and quickly clear, leaving him gone from his spot. "I'll tell you in on a little secret, for taking the time to tell me your sappy story." He says from behind me and I jump in surprise and quickly turn around to see him lying down on the cot.

"You're story kinda reminded me of something that happened to me a while back." He says as he pulls out a revolver and lazily twirls it above him. "But I wasn't the one who tried to connect with someone… No, I was the one pushing everyone away from me." He says as he sits up from the cot and looks at back at me. "You know, you kinda reminded me of the guy who was stubbornly doing everything to make me come to my senses and connect with me."

"What… what happened between the two of you?" I soon find myself blurting out, unable to hold myself back. In response, the man just smirks and raises his gun at me, pointing the barrel directly to my head. I tense up at the action, wondering just what he is doing and my eyes subconsciously move over to his.

"Heh, so similar it's not even funny." He says before lowering the gun. "But as similar as you two may be, it just makes the difference between the two of you stand out all the more." He says as he shrugs and a being suddenly materializes behind him. The form was similar to Izanagi but it's stance was more wild than regal and black shadows with red veins seem to cover his entire being. Before I knew it, I let out a pained gasp as the being pushed me right at the bars of my prison and help me up against it with a hand on my neck. I find it hard to breathe in that position and my hands go up to try and pry the twisted Izanagi's hand off of my neck. Unbidden, Izanagi Picaro comes to my mind and materializes in front of me, pushing the being off of me and holding him in bay.

"That's a new one…" The stranger says as he observes the Izanagi that came out from me. He holds his hand out in a placating gesture and the shadowy Izanagi slowly disperses into red fog. Izanagi Picaro just stands there, barring the way between me and the guy, giving the stranger a stern glare all the while. "I promise to play nice with him… I just wanted to check something out." He says while stating right back at my Izanagi. It gives a nod before disappearing back into my consciousness.

The guy walks over to me and moves me so that I am sitting down on the cot. I would have pushed him off, but I was busy still trying to get my breath back.

"Back on topic, as similar as you two are… you lack the guy's unwavering diligence. Once he set his mind on something, nothing will stop him. You want to know what to do with your wayward friend? Listen closely then because I don't like repeating such sappy crap. Keep on reaching out to him. Chances are, this guy is just stuck in his own head, thinking that he is all alone… that the shadows in his mind are all that he has. You just gotta show him that there are people like you who do care about him… and if he is being stubborn, then just go ahead and knock some sense back into him." He says giving me a smirk.

I try to give him a reply but find that I couldn't as my mind starts going hazy.

"Looks like we're running out of time… here… remember what I said… keep on… reaching… to him…. I will give you… the strength to get through to him…" I try to focus on the stranger's word but it was getting more and more difficult to stay awake. He pulls out something and shoves it in my person before everything goes black. I soon wake up in my room at Leblanc's attic, an ominous red card clutched in between my hands.

I walk out from the Velvet room, Justine following right after me and giving a bow as she closes the door for me. The scene of Shido's distorted Palace greeting me after coming out of the Velvet Room still can't stop the awe I feel whenever I see it. To think that a man that promises to bring a new vision for Japan's future and seeing that this is what he means always helps my resolve to want to change his heart.

"Hey man, you done with your meditation sesh yet?" Ryuji in his thug like Metaverse outfit calls out while running over towards me. "Meditated any cool new personas you want to show us? Come on don't keep me hanging man. It's always cool seeing you dish out new ones with awesome abilities." He says grinning wildly at me.

I just smile as I head on over to the entrance of Shido's Diet Building Palace, unable to not get excited with him. "You'll see when the time comes." I say with a smirk as Ryuji moves right next to me. "Where are the others?" I ask after seeing that no one else besides the two of us were at the front deck of the ship.

"Hm? Oh they said they're heading on up to the first safe room, said they wanted to get this whole thing done with as soon as possible." He says with a shrug and I just nod at his words. We reach the doors leading into the palace and I would have gone through had Ryuji mot called out to me. "Ren… can I have a minute?" his words make me pause and turn to him, wondering what he is about to say.

"It's about Akechi…" he starts out and my hand suddenly clamps up at his words, wondering just where this would lead to. "Look… me and the others… we know how close you were to the guy…" he says kicking his feet out while trying to get his thoughts together. "Look, I want to tell you to just forget the bastard… he's gone and killed others and would have gone and killed you as well had he had the chance… but I know you care about him so all I'll say is… be careful." He says, his words shocking me as that was not what I was expecting. "The others wanted me to tell you as well that they'll defer to you on your decision on Akechi… even Noir said that she'll settle with what you decide… after blowing him up once with her grenade launcher rather than lopping his head off." He says laughing to himself.

I would have laughed with him had I not been surprised by him words. He just walks up to me and clasps his hand on my shoulder. "I know the bastard is smart… guy will probably figure out what we did soon and will confront us before we can deal with Shido… just know that me and the others have your back…" He says giving me a thumbs up and walking past me.

I just smile to myself and nod, following after him while whispering to myself. "Thanks… everyone."

This couldn't be happening.

The thought crosses my mind again as I summon the persona who was at the forefront of my mind at the time. Hanuman leaps towards the enemy swing his sword towards it but was blocked by a large golden bow.

We had just finally secured the fifth letter of introduction and were on our way to get out when Akechi showed up. I had done my best to try and convince him to side with us but my words just seemed to anger him. He summoned two shadows and then turned them psychotic and it was quite a testament to their new state how dangerous they were as it took the rest of the team up leaving me to deal with Akechi myself.

My eyes straw over to where the said fight was going, Seeing Ann summon Hecate to conjure a large wall of flame, only for the lion like shadow to pass through it and try to pounce on the persona regardless of the burnt skin clearly dealing damage to it. The other one looked more like a knight and when Yusuke's Kamu Susano-o and Ryuji's Seiten Taisei's combined might of swinging their weapons directly at it, it was able to stop both of them with it's spear and push the two away from him.

"Joker, look out!" Futaba's voice rings through in our comms and I manage to dodge the swing of Akechi's sword, thanks to that.

"You insult me Joker… after all the effort I took to remake our last one on one, you'd rather worry about your friends rather than focus your attention on me! Am I that insignificant to you!" His words were followed up by his persona, Robin Hood, grabbing Hanuman and throwing him through a pipe. The pain of it makes me desummon my persona and Akechi takes the chance to rush me again with his sword. I manage to bring my knife up to block his blade. He brings the burning blade closer and closer to my face and I manage to maneuver myself to land a kick at his midsection, causing him to pull away from me.

"Joker! I'm on my way!" Futaba's desperate voice calls out as Prometheus trues to fly closer to me only to have Robin Hood stave her away by shooting a large arrow at her.

"Don't you dare interfere! No on will stop me from killing him with my own two hands!" Akechi screams as he focuses back at me.

I shake my head and tell Futaba that I would be fine and that to focus on supporting the others through the comm. I hear her reluctantly agree before I turn all my focus back on Akechi.

"Finally decided to be serious with me Joker? About damn time. Let's pick up where we left off then. Let's see which one of us is truly superior!" He says with a manic smile as he readies his sword. I look at his persona and frown a bit, wondering just how I would deal with it. Hanuman was one of the best personas I currently have and he seemed to deal with it no problem.

"Looks like the kid ain't listening to reason… have you made up your mind?" The familiar voice of the stranger from my dreams drifts into my head.

Looking at directly at Akechi and his smiling face, I couldn't help but nod to myself. Words wont be getting through to him at this state anymore. The only way right now was to beat some sense into him. With that thought in mind, I pull out the red card that the guy gave me in my dreams.

"Heh, good choice. Careful with using my power now. If you're not careful, you just might end up hurting yourself with it." He warns in my head as power starts emanating from the card in my hand.

Red fog seems to seep from the card, pooling at the floor around me. Dark thoughts start to fill my head as Hanuman recedes from the forefront of my mind and the new persona takes it s place. I shake my head of these thoughts and look back at Akechi, seeing him stare at the card in my hand.

"What… what is this" he says as he takes a step back and I just smirk in response.

"It's time to let loose… Appear! Magatsu Izanagi!" I call out in response and crush the card in my hand. The form of the dark Izanagi appears behind me, looking ready to tear up my enemies. The weapon in his hand, which was similar to the one the original Izanagi had, was held in reverse. The sheer power of the persona appearing was enough to cause Akechi to take a step back.

"So… neither of us had shown our true strengths, huh...?" Akechi mutters before smiling. He and his persona ready themselves. My smile mirrors his before me and Magatsu Izanagi charge at him.

With my new persona's strength amplifying mine, the battle which would have turned into a one sided massacre was now an equal battle. Robin Hood couldn't just simply overpower Magatsu Izanagi and had to actually fight the dark persona. He tried to keep my persona at bay by shooting arrows at him but Magatsu Izanagi either deflected, blocked, or dodged those with ease. Magatsu Izanagi swing his blade and powerful gusts of wind start buffeting the archer causing him to stop his assault. Magatsu Izanagi takes this time to rush towards the archer, bringing the fight to a close quarters combat where Robin Hood had to use his bow to try and block Magatsu Izanagi's wild and powerful swings.

Akechi and I were also busy fighting each other. His deadly laser blade kept swinging it me and it took all I had to either dodge or deflect his blows with my knife. I had to be extremely close to the guy to be able to do any meaningful damage to him. Akechi had the advantage of the length of his sword but I was always more maneuverable than him. Dancing past one of his sword swings, I use the opportunity to try and swing my blade towards his face. He manages to duck his head away and use his sword to push me off by swinging it at me, making me jump out of the way. We soon resume our clash, all the while the smiles on our faces didn't go away.

The fight continues like that for a while with both the two of us as well as our personas. None of us dealing any lasting damage. That all changed when Robin Hood tried hitting Magatsu Izanagi with a darkness empowered arrow. The dark persona took the blow seeming to not be affected by it at all. They only realized their mistake when it he took the power of darkness for himself and take full control over it. He guided it towards his hand and powered it up even more with his own powers before shooting it at the archer. The intensity of the attack caused the persona to disappear and the damage relayed to Akechi made him stagger. The brief moment of distraction was all I needed, landing a solid punch on Akechi and causing him to fall down on the floor.

"Damn… it…" Akechi pants out after managing to get back on his knees.

"Joker! We're here!" I look over and see Ryuji and Morgana running over towards me. I saw that only the raging knight was left meaning that my friends could now come and help me with Akechi. Which was just a tad too late for them as they stop when they see that Akechi is down in front of me.

"Whoa, nice going beating him up, man." Ryuji says with a smirk and I just nod in response. I turn to him still at the ready in case he pulls out anything else.

"So he's able to turn people psychotic…" Morgana starts while looking at Akechi. "I thought it was some special thing like the Nav, but it seems to be his own power."

"I'll kill you… You're all gonna die!" Akechi says as he starts trying to stand up only to fall down on his hands and knees. Inside his own mind Akechi falls deeper and deeper into the darkness unable to hear the words we were saying to try and reach him.

Akechi was always an undesired person. First with his father, leaving his mother and them off on their own. Followed by his mother, dying while doing her best to take care of him. Right there and then, on her grave, he swore that he would get revenge on his father.

-Take Your Time-

He'd always been smart, even when he was young. That intellect seemed to drive others away from him, but that didn't matter to him. All he cared about was finding out more about who his father was.

-Take Your Time-

He cursed himself as he stared at the picture in the newspaper. The face of his father blankly staring back at him seemed to taunt him. He balled up the paper and threw it at the wall, at a loss at what to do. His father was already a high ranking official and there was just no way he could safely approach the man as a nobody. He had briefly thought about revealing his lineage to try and get close to him but he wanted to save that information until he finally got what he wanted. He tried to think of other ways to try and get close to him and stopped when he saw a newspaper article regarding Naoto Shirogane. "A detective prince huh…" He mutters to himself, plans starting to form and he smiles. Yes, he could definitely do this, especially with the powers that he had received.

-Take Your Time-

"Let me through! I want to talk to him!" he said while trying to get past the man blocking him from reaching his father.

"Get lost, kid. Can't you see that Shido is a busy man?" he says while pushing Akechi back. He growls as he sees his father get inside a car, not at all perturbed about the small commotion that he was making.

"I know about the Cognitive Psience research! I know he's been having problems and I could help" He blurts out, not knowing what else he could do. The man continues to block him but is stopped when Shido calls him out.

"Let him through… he and I have much to talk about…" Shido says as he gestures towards the other side of the car. He looks at him inquisitively, wondering just who the young man was and what their angle is. The man moves aside and lets him pass, giving him a nasty look as he gets inside the car with his father.

The first part of the plan was a success.

-Take Your Time-

"You're… you're going to agree to Shido's proposal…" He says, having tired myself out after the fight with the palace's ruler. He saw himself as a pilot of an aircraft and the difficulty lied in finding a way to board his place. Shido tasked him with changing this guy's mind about a proposal as a test of his skills. In order to get close to him, he had to change his cognition, no matter what.

He lets off a warning shot, hitting the console that was next to the pilot and causing the plane's cargo doors to open. He then grabs the man and hold him before the door, letting him dangle and see how high the plane currently was. "Swear it!" he says pushing the guy a bit more past the doors.

"Okay! Okay! I'll accept! Just let me in already!" The palace ruler pleads to him and he takes that as affirmation. He throws the guy back inside of the place and letting him drop to the floor, breathing heavily himself.

"Good… remember our deal…" he says as he turns his back to the man, wanting to head back out to the real world. Another step closer to his ultimate goal.

"Foolish kid…" He hears the man mumble behind him and he turns just in time to see the man rush him with a baton in his hand. Everything happened so fast that by the time he realized just what happened, he had his sword sticking right through the man's chest.

He didn't know if his face mimicked the shocked look of the other guy.

-Take Your Time-

"Did meant for this to happen?" Shido says as he looks at the man who just seemed to shutdown in front of him. His personal researcher was already busy taking notes on the body of the corpse.

"No… to be honest, I never expected him to be more resilient to my methods. I do hope that this doesn't change your opinion in me. I swear I can still be useful." He says, trying to keep his voice even while his mind was raging with thoughts.

"Not really, to be honest myself… I was planning on disposing him if he continued to deny my proposal. This just speeds things up. But regarding your skills, let's just say my mind is opening to new possibilities." He says before letting out a laugh. He does his best to hide his disgust when Shido turns to finally face him. "So, what's your angle? I want to know just what it is that you want from me."

He holds back the angry thoughts that were raging in his head and focus on keeping his voice calm. "I don't know if you've heard of me but my name is Goro Akechi. I've been helping solve some cases that the police are having difficulty in solving. Good as I am, in order for me to be more well known, I would need better connections."

"I see. Yes, I could make this work… you can go and make more of these… mental shutdowns… happen for me… and I'll let you improve your image with my connections in the media." He says after mulling my words for a bit.

He dismisses him and tells him that he will contact me as soon as he has my new target and he quickly makes his way back to where he was staying.

He plops down on top of his bed and closes his eyes to get some rest but as soon as he does, the image of the man writhing in front of him as he slowly died would never leave him. He does his best to try to ignore and get some sleep but his dreams still haunt him with that image.

The next he wakes, a new power was made available to him.

-Take Your Time-

Even as he got more famous, people seemed to continue to keep their distance from him but instead of looking at him with scorn or jealousy, they knew viewed him with adoration. He tried to crush the small sad feeling he got in his chest at the thought of how not one of them really knew him.

He stops when he sees a familiar face, walking the streets of Kichijoji. He was some guy who didn't seem to be distracted by the fact that he was a huge celebrity and freely shared his own thoughts. He was charming and charismatic with how he presented his beliefs on the Phantom Thieves and it shocked him even more when after the show, he seemed more amicable to hang out.

Wanting to know more about the guy, he called out to him asking if he wanted to join him on his break.

-Take Your Heart-

It wasn't fair. It simply wasn't. He tried so hard to be where he got and yet the guy before him seemed to just have it better. He swung his sword at him letting his persona distract his while their duel is happening. He let out all of his anger at how unfair everything was as he attacked him, having asked him to follow him to mementos for a friendly duel, wanted to somehow assert to him that he was better than him.

In the end it turned out to be a draw, they were both too tired to go on without it becoming dangerous and he still needed him for his plan. He took solace in the fact that he wasn't using Loki and if he did, then he would wipe the floor with him.

He still couldn't let that be the end of it though.

"I'm going to be entirely honest with you: I hate you." He says honestly, feeling a bit better after keeping that to him for a long time. He hated that he seemed to take that declaration in stride and eventually threw down the proverbial glove to let him know that he wouldn't lose to him next time.

-Take Your Time-

This was it. This was the moment he wins. He says pointing the gun at the shocked face of the leader of the Phantom Thieves. He was happy that shock seemed to have overcome him and he was unable to say anything. He was a bit afraid of what would happen if he tried to talk himself out of this situation. He blocked that thought out by focusing on his anger and jealousy and before he is given the chance to, he pulls the trigger.

He tells himself to ignore the small painful feeling that was welling up at the bottom of his heart.

-Take Your Time-

He was all alone in the darkness. No matter where he goes or what he does, this is where he was supposed to be. Nothing will stop him from achieving his goal, he has put too much time and effort for this to come to fruition. As he let himself slide deeper and deeper into the darkness, he tried to block out the one voice that kept calling out to him.

"Akechi."

Damnit, even now. Just when he wanted to just sink into the darkness. Why does he keep still trying to reach me.

"Akechi!"

A small light starts forming among the vast grayness and try as he might, no matter what he does, nothing seems to block it out.

"Akechi!"

He told himself that he didn't want to be brought out, that everything would be for nothing if he does so, yet the person still keeps calling out to him.

"Shut up Ren!" he finally snaps back as he stares back at the light, not hiding from it anymore. He would have reveled more in the satisfying feeling of letting the light in had his return to sanity not been heralded by a fist coming straight at his face.

I stare in shock as Akechi summoned a different persona. With his new persona came a different outfit. Gone were his princely and regal clothes and with it a black and blue striped outfit replaces it. A black shadowy cape flowed from his back and his hands were covered in clawed gauntlets. On his face was a distinctive black mask seeming to be sneering at all that looked on it.

"You're going down… I'll destroy you!" he says while grasping wildly at his face. "Go down with me!" he yells out before the strong power that seemed to be surging from him got even more powerful.

"That bastard… he made himself go psychotic!" Ryuji says as we watch him start laughing out loud like a crazed madman.

"Now! Let's see you drop dead one at a time, in front of your precious friends!" he says while moving his limbs wildly.

"Damnit, he's lost it! Here he comes!" Morgana warns a before Akechi jumps straight at me.

"Die!" He yells out loudly as he quickly approaches me.

"I don't think so, you bastard! Seiten Taisei!" Ryuji calls out his persona to stop his advance. The monkey atop the cloud swings hole overhead and we are shocked when it was stopped by Akechi's own hand.

"Is this all you've got?" He says before lifting the pole himself and throwing the summoned persona off to the side. His new persona floated towards it and swing it's sword at the downed persona but it was intercepted by Magatsu Izanagi's own weapon.

"Damnit. Akechi! Listen to me!" I call out to him but while he seemed to just ignore my earlier calls to him, my voice doesn't seem to reach him this time at all.

"Haha I can't believe the kid actually went and lost it. Don't think he'll be hearing you anytime soon." The voice of the stranger taunts me in my mind. I ignore it as Akechi is now before me, swinging a new sword straight at me. I block the blade with my knife but that seemed to be a bad idea as he easily pushes me away with his sword, causing me to fly for a bit with the sheer power behind the swing and stopping when my back painfully hits a pipe.

"Damnit…. Akechi…" I try to call out to him but he just laughs maniacally.

The pain soon disappears as Zorro is summoned and used one of his potent healing spells and I nod to Morgana as he moves to my side.

"Got any idea's Joker?" He asks as he watches Ryuji try and fight with Loki, supporting him with powerful healing and wind spells whenever he can.

"I might have an idea, but I'll be honest with you. It isn't going to be pretty." The voice says in my mind as I engage Akechi with Morgana. I learned my lesson with trying to block his wild swings and do my best to avoid them as he hacks at me with reckless abandon.

"If it's going to save him, then I don't care!" I say as I land a kick on Akechi when he presented an opening but he just laughs it off and pushes me away from him.

"I like your attitude kid. Keep it up and maybe you'll just be able to save him." The voices says as I get up from the ground. "Okay here's the deal. I might be able to connect your mind with his… but it ain't going to be pretty. You'll be bombarded by the same madness that he is currently going through and who knows, maybe you'll finally get through to him in that state of his." The voice explains as I watch Morgana distracting him with his sword and failing to do so as Akechi just shrugs the attacks off with a crazed laugh.

"I think I have something." I tell morgana as he moves to my side after Ryuji takes over with distracting him. "It might be a long shot but I need you and Skull to buy me some time."

"Just make it quick. I don't know how long we can stand up to him at this state." He answers with a nod before charging back in to support Ryuji.

I call back Magatsu Izanagi and he turns back into the red card that I summoned him with. "What do I do." I call out to the voice in my mind.

"Accept this power as your own. Then you can finally use his full potential." His words make me stop as I remember the thoughts that fill my head when I first summoned Magatsu Izanagi. I brace myself for the worst as I bring the red card up to my mask, fusing his power with mine.

My mind is soon swarmed with dark thoughts. Making me remember every dark thoughts that crossed my mind. The feeling of betrayal as the ones closest to me in my hometown turned their backs on me. The feeling of anger when I remember Shido's face. The shock of learning that Akechi was planning on killing me. I would have succumbed to those dark thoughts had my friends not called out to me.

"Ren! You doing okay back there?" Ryuji ask while in the midst of his battle with Akechi.

"Don't get distracted Skull! Focus in Akechi! We need to buy Joker enough time to pull off whatever he is planning." Morgana says as he helps Ryuji push back the madman.

Their words made me remember that I was not alone, that I have friends with loads of people throughout this terrible year. Focusing on my bonds helped lift the darkness that was covering both my mind and my heart. Once that has passed, a new mask has formed on my face. It was only half a mask that fully covers the right side of my face. It was a deep black color with white stars covering it's surface. It had half of a Jagged creepy smile for a mouth and both it and it's eyes were glowing an ominous red color.

"Heh, almost lost you there for a second kid. Be careful though, that was nothing compared to what you're about to do." I nod as my answer as I step closer to where Ryuji and Morgana were fighting Akechi.

"Get back and give me some space guys!" I warn them as I place my hand on my new mask. "Let us end thus… Magatsu Izanagi Picaro!" I call out as I pull the mask away from my face. The new Izanagi takes form behind me, whose cloak is now covered in a similar pattern to the one o my mask. His face was covered in a full version of what his mask was and his weapon turned from having two curved blades at both edges of the weapon.

Hearing my order, Morgana and Skull moved away to give me and Akechi some space. Once he wasn't being assaulted by the two, he turns towards me and quickly makes his way to me. It was too late for him as Magatsu Izanagi Picaro was able to finish casting his ability.

"Magatsu Mandala!" I yell out as both me and Akechi were covered in darkness.

Ryuji couldn't believe what he was seeing. Somehow, someway, Ren was able to turn himself Psychotic. He would have been more worried about it had Ren told him that he was still okay and to try and keep away from his attack lest we end up caught in them. It quickly turned into a slugfest between the two psychotic people where the two of them were going at each other with reckless abandon. Ren somehow lost his knife when he tried to block Akechi's serrated sword with it but it was soon equalized when Morgana sniped off the sword Akechi was holding in his hand.

Didn't stop the two of them from duking it out with their fists though. And through it all Ren never stopped calling out Akechi's name.

"What… what do we do?" Morgana asks as he watches the fight continue between the two of them.

"Right now? The only thing we can do is believe in him and be there for him when he comes back." He says while gripping his hammer tightly. It didn't seem that the fight would last long as the two seemed to finally start winding down. Ren pulls his hand back for a powerful blow and Akechi does the same. They both charge at each other and for the first time, Akechi finally calls out Ren's name.

"Shut up Ren!" Akechi screams out before both of their fists connect with the other's face, cracking a part of Akechi's black mask and sending them both flying back away from each other. Where Akechi landed hard on the ground, him and Morgana were ready to catch Akira as he flew towards us.

"You ready to call it quits?" he asks Akechi once he saw that the two were no longer in their psychotic state.

Akechi watches as the bulkhead blocks him off the other, leaving him in the side surrounded by his cognitive version in Shido's Palace as well as a number of elite guards and dogs.

"Akechi!" a voice calls out and I hear banging coming from the bulkhead.

"Hurry up and go." He tells them through ragged breaths, still cannot believe that they would try and stay with him after everything he has done.

"You fool! Are you trying to get yourself killed!?" the artistic one calls out from the other side and he couldn't help but laugh a little at his words.

"The real fools… are you guys. You should have just abandoned me here a long time ago… y

You would have all perished… if you had tried to face these guys with me weighing you down…" he says before coughing in pain.

"Let's make a deal, okay? You wont say no, will you?" he says doing his best to keep conscious wondering just why he is even bothering at the moment.

"Why at a time like this!?" the artist asks and he would have given him a snippy retort had he the strength to do so.

"Change Shido's heart… In my stead… End his crimes." I say instead, wanting to keep these fools focused on their objective. "Please!" I end it, entrusting the whole reason I started doing what I did to them.

He jumps a bit when a particularly loud bang crashes into the bulkhead and the voice of Ren comes across loud and clear. "I'll hold onto your glove."

He couldn't help but pause at those words, surprising even him that that would be what he brought up. "Heh… After all this, that's what you have to say? Seriously, you really are…" he stops as he finds it hard to find the right words to say to the guy. Unbeknownst to him, a small smile found its way under his mask. He couldn't help but bask in the solid bind that he feels with Ren.

In that moment Loki suddenly stopped raging inside of his mind as his heart finally feels free. Ever since he got that particular persona, he had a bit of trouble controlling it. Had he let it, it would go totally wild and didn't care if it hurt him with its actions. Therefore he had always kept that persona an a tight leash whenever he uses it. But right at this instant, for the first time ever, he felt that he had full control over Loki.

"You Bastard…" he was brought out of his musings by his cognitive version of himself getting back up and pointing his gun at him.

"So, my final enemy is a puppet version of myself…" He couldn't help but state out loud the irony of the situation. "I…!" he says while pointing his gun at the man. Unknown to all, fog starts creeping in from out of nowhere, pooling at the original Akechi's feet. Akechi notices when the fog starts coalescing in front of him wondering just what exactly is happening.

"What kind of trick is…?" his cognitive version asks himself before shooting at the fog, surprisingly the fog shoots him right back, causing his cognitive version to die. Before he can react he finds himself pulled into the fog.

He finds himself dumped on a lifeboat with the person who threw him into the fog. He turns to glare at the guy but stops when he sees who it is

"You are... Tohru Adachi…." He says, recognizing the man from the news and reports that he has read.

The guy just gives him a smile and sits down on the edge of the boat. "Huh, didn't know that anyone from outside Inaba would recognize me. I must say, I feel quite honored that you do."

"I… was a big fan of Naoto Shirogane's work…" he blurts out in response, still trying to process what the man was actually doing in here.

"From that confused look in your face, I guess you want an explanation?" He says while he looks over the railing as he spots the group of Phantom Thieves making their way through Shido's Palace. "Let's just say that I made a connection with a guy…" he says while pointing to the distant figure of Ren leading the others. "When his powers peaked with forming a tight bond with you, it allowed me to use a bit of my powers to save you from that scrap."

"… Why though?" he asks after getting his thoughts together.

"Wouldn't you like to know." He says with a shrug and Akechi frowns, knowing that he wont get much out of the guy anymore. "Anyway, aren't you going to tell your friends that you are alive and well?" he says gesturing to where he last saw the Phantom Thieves.

He just sighs and shakes his head. "Not now… I need to think of some things, sort out my thoughts." He says in response.

"Whatever, I don't really care either way." The man says dismissively. "Need me to take you to the hospital?"

Akechi just shakes his head again in response. "Gonna lay low for a bit. Have a couple of safe houses I can use." He says still unsure about what is happening.

The man just looks at his hand to see that it is turning transparent. "Looks like my time is up, try and be a good boy now… or don't. Doesn't really make a difference to me." He says as his form slowly starts turning I to fog. It doesn't take long for him to completely disappear leaving hum all alone in the lifeboat but for the first time in a long while, being alone didn't seem to bother him as much as it did before.

Author's note:

Uodated on: December 30, 2020.

Just fixed up a few minor mistakes I found while rereading this as well as adding a small omake at the bottom.

And there you have it. Bet ya didn't expect Adachi to be the second guy in this chapter. Anyway I couldn't seem to stop once I started going at this. I didn't expect that little dive Into Akechi's past to take up as much as it did. I also changed the way magatsu mandala works so that Joker would have a way to better connect with Akechi in his maddened form. Anyway I hope that you all enjoyed this part of the story. Also wanted to put in my own alternate reality version on how he was able to survive his death battle. I haven't written fight scenes I a while so I felt clunky doing so these past few days. I also cut off some scence where I felt like not much change happened compared to the original so there's that as well.

Feel free to comment your thoughts and ways I could improve this. Hope you all have a happy holliday!

Here is the ability list of my Magatsu Izanagu Picaro to carry on what I wrote down in the first chapter.

Magatsu Mandala

Debilitate

Curse Amp

Curse Boost

Drain Nuke

Victory Cry

Invigorate 3

Regenerate 3

Omake: Crow's Contributions to Joker's Release.

Adachi woke up with a groan at the sound of someone banging on his cell loudly. He looked over at the watch hanging nearby to let the prisoner's know about the time and curses when he sees it's way too damn early for him to be getting up.

"Get up, you have a visitor. He's pretty important and insists on meeting you." The guard at the other side of the door nags at him, making bim pause.

It hardly wasn't anywhere near visiting hours so he wondered just who had enough pull to make this all happen. He walks on over to the cell bars and let's the guard place the cuffs between his hands in the slot that was meant to deliver his food before he unlocks the cell door.

He was escorted quickly over to the visiting area and he would have made an annoyed quip at how the guard was trearting him had he not been so damn tired. Getting escorted into the visiting area, he wasn't surprisd to see that, aside from the guards, only one other person was there.

He was made to sit in front of the person with a glass wall and he let's out a small chuckle at who he sees.

"Long time no see, ace detective Akechi." He says with a smile wondering just what the guy was doing over here.

Akechi pulls out some files and he frowns at what he sees, pictures of his victims from the Inaba Murder Cases were shown at the top of the pile.

"Forgive me for using my connections to look into these more. It would seem that, as was written in the reports, you were happy when the prosecution finally went through. I'll make sure that thjs case isn't reopened so I decided that the best way to do that was to hear directly from the lerson involved about what exactly happened in the Inaba Hangings." He says as he places his elbow on top of the table and laces his fingers in front of his face.

Adachi let out a small breath that he was holding at his words as he relaxes into his seat. "You sure you want to hear what happened there? let me warn you right now, it's pretty long and is really boring." He says dismissively.

Akechi just looks at the guard at his side of the visitor's room and nods at him. At the signal, the guard leaves followed by the guard that was inside Adachi's side of the room. He also noticed the camera tucked at the side of the room, whos red light was beeping every now and then as it slwoly sweeps the room, stop and turn off. Adachi let out a chuckle at that and he couldn't say he wasn't impressed.

"We have all the time we need, Adachi-san." He says once we were alone.

He smirks at him and leas in closer to the glass wall. "It all started with this crazy rumor. Ever heard about the midnight channel?"

Akechi walks out of the building with a lot of thoughts inside his mind. He came looking for more concrete information regarding the case with Tohru Adachi as the more he looked into it, the more things started to get weird. When he saw that the murder was reported to have been "thrown inside the television" he knew he had to knkw more to sate his curious spirit.

He shakes his head as he tries to focus on his next task, there were plenty of time for him to go over what Adachi told him back there.

He pulls out the last set of files that he had picked out for the day, a copy of the police record regarding Ren Amamiya's assault case. It didn't have much predictably, as Shido has been thorough in keeping his name out of the reports, but it did contain a location of where it happened as well as the woman who testified against Joker.

He also found the perfect person to give the files to, a woman that he and Joker met during their visit to the aquarium. She was an up and coming journalist who was getting famous for writing these sensational pieces regarding the Phantom Thieves back at the height of their popularity and notoriety. Some of his sources in the police let him know that she was trying to dig up information regarding the case that he had on hand.

It didn't take long for him to deduce that both she and Ren had some form of partnership going on meaning that both him and her shared the same goal and with her journalistic sense, would be able to better find the person mentioned in his files.

The problem now lay in the fact of delivering the information to her without implicating himself. He pulled up his phone to look up directions to the bar that she was known to frequent and he stops when from out of the corner of his eye, he slots a blue glowing butterfly flitting through the air. Turning to look at it he frowns at seeing nothing and decides that he was probably just seeing things with how tired he is. He starts making his way towards the station, preparing to head on over to Shinjuku.