I'm using the name Ren in this fic because it was the first name I associated with the P5 protagonist, so I hope you all understand. Ironically enough, when thinking of dialogue in this story before writing, I would often use the name Akira unconsciously. Likely due to the fics I've read where they use the name Akira instead. Anyways, enjoy.
Disclaimer: I own nothing
A single year is all it took to change the world. After his unjust conviction, Ren Amamiya was sent to Tokyo to ride out his probationary sentence. Viewed as a criminal, he hardly expected the year to pass by quickly or easily, but any and all expectations were thrown away when he was introduced to the metaverse. Discovering a way to change the hearts of the wicked and truly reform society, he stepped forward as the leader of the illusive Phantom Thieves. Though the group started with only four members, more joined as time went on. By the end of his time in Tokyo, his group consisted of nine members in total. Throughout that year, the group changed the hearts of dozens of people, all corrupted in one way or another. By the time he had to leave, it no longer felt like he was returning home, but rather leaving it.
Leaving behind nearly twenty people he had come to love deeply saddened him, but he was comforted by the knowledge that they would one day meet again. Returning home, he was greeted by his parents, both of them crying with joy over seeing their son again. As they held him, he could feel anxiety well up within him. Not once did he tell them what he had been doing in Tokyo. He could not possibly anticipate how they would react if he were to tell them that he was the leader of the group that was being hunted down by the highest levels of government. He ultimately decided that he would wait until a more opportune time to let them know everything. A time when they were finally used to their son being back in their lives.
A month before his summer break, several of the confidantes he had made contacted him, revealing that they were suffering from nightmares of a red sky with giant bone-like structures reaching all over Tokyo. Though all of the people who contacted him knew who he was, they had no clue as to how he and the other Phantom Thieves changed hearts. He couldn't say for sure, but he figured that this was due to his strong connection with each of them. At what was supposed to be the apex of their careers as Phantom Thieves, he and his teammates banded together to fight the God of Control, Yaldabaoth. When all hope seemed lost, he could hear the cries of the masses, cheering them all on, but the loudest voices among them were of the people he had grown closest to during his time in Tokyo.
After contacting the two people outside of the Phantom Thieves that knew of the Metaverse, he discovered that they had no such nightmares, and in fact remembered the day Yaldabaoth rose to power. Discussing his findings with the only Phantom Thief that came back home with him, Morgana, the two concluded that the ignorance of the Metaverse was what caused these nightmares to take place. Knowing what he had to do, he messaged all of the former Phantom Thieves, stating that he would soon be returning home to Tokyo.
This chapter is short, but that's mostly because it's the prologue and I thought it was most fitting to end here. I don't have any idea how long the other chapters will be, but they'll certainly be longer than this. That aside, I hope you all enjoy this work.