We took on Kamoshida, Madarame, Kaneshiro, Okumura, and Shido. We changed their hearts and exposed them for how corrupt they were and how much they walked over everyone around them. We outsmarted the second coming of the Detective Prince and tricked Japan into thinking I was dead. And yet all of our efforts didn't change anything. It seemed like everyone thought we were fake.

The world as we knew it was in danger. Something deep within that other world had its grasp on the people of Japan. That…Holy Grail… It controlled the masses, bending their desires to its own will. We tried to stop it, together, as a team. And yet, it wasn't enough. My team… The Phantom Thieves… My friends… They're gone. We're all gone. Erased from the memories of the people. Mementos and the real world became one, and no one can tell the difference.

I had failed my "Rehabilitation", and so I was sentenced to execution by the Twin Wardens. Or so I had thought. The Twins remembered who they were. Caroline and Justine were two halves of a whole person. Lavenza, an attendant of the Velvet Room who was meant to guide me in my journey. Now it was time to find out who…or what he was.

Rehabilitation

Saturday, December 24th, 2016 (Evening)

Ren "Joker" Amamiya

The Phantom Thieves of Hearts

The Velvet Room

Taking a step back with her large book underneath her arm, Lavenza shot an angry glare towards the long-nosed old man. "And to the scoundrel who has swindled my master's name… Your lies shall work no longer now that my sight has been restored…!" I turned my gaze from her towards what I used to call Igor, my hands in the pockets of my long coat but still ready for a fight.

"The game isn't over yet." The fake Igor grinned at us as his eyes began to glow yellow and his body hovered into the air with his arms out. "Whether the human world left as is or destroyed and rebuilt, it is all a sport to me."

"Be careful…" Lavenza said as glanced at me for a moment then back at the fake.

My arms came out of my pockets as I breathed in and I asked, "If you're not Igor, then who are you really?"

"If I were to put it into words you can comprehend," It answered very condescendingly, "I am the Holy Grail that grants wishes…" As it noticed my shocked expression, it quickly corrected itself. "No… It may be more accurate to say that I am a god who responds to desire and holds dominion over man. I hoped seeing a righteous thief vanquish evil would spur mankind to change their own indolent hearts. However…" This self proclaimed God of Control shook its head as it went on with the speech. "The result is as you know-the masses have made it so none of it has transpired. Humans should be met with ruin: you brought forth that answer. But to be frank, Inmate, I believe it may be worth reevaluating you. A human has reached the Holy Grail and has seen through my true identity… You've surprised the god that I am often enough. That cannot be done by a foolish commoner. You truly were a prisoner that did not bore me. Perhaps observing you a while longer may prove amusing. I shall grant you an opportunity to make a deal with me."

Pausing for a moment, I stood upright with my hands back in my pockets as I inquired about his offer. "What do you mean?" To say I wasn't interested would be a lie. I felt almost curious about this deal.

"Should you wish it," It replied, "I shall return the world to its prior state-one rampant with distorted masses." Revert the world? Could it be telling the truth…?

As I contemplated this, Lavenza was quick to rush to my defence. "You forcefully dragged him into the Metaverse and imposed an ordeal he did not deserve…" Her rage became more visible as she snapped. "Yet you still intend on toying with him!?"

"The Phantom Thieves will be praised and gain fame." The god continued pitching its offer to me, "The world will escape ruin as well. What say you?"

If I agree to this, the ruined city will return to normal. I thought to myself, looking at the ground as my eyes went shut. However, the people will remain trapped, abandoning their ability to think for themselves… Is that really how the world should be? "Not a chance in Hell." I answered with more of a glare. "I refuse."

"Well said." Lavenza added with approval as she straightened up her posture.

"Such irredeemable foolishness…" The god said, rather annoyed, "You choose death for yourself? Very well. I have no need for you." A dark energy surrounded its body as it held out a hand, causing me to be lifted into the air. Looking around the Velvet Room, I thrashed my arms and legs around.

"No!" The petite attendant took a step forward, opening her large tome only for it to be knocked out of her hands as she was sent to the ground by a blast sent from the god's other hand. "G-ugh!" She grunted as she slid back a little ways away then sat up.

"If rehabilitation could not fix you, then perhaps some solitary confinement would be a better solution, Inmate." It said almost mockingly as with one swipe of his hand, some sort of glowing blue vortex opened up behind me. "Farewell, Thief. You won't escape alive." It said to me before I was tossed into the portal.

"TRICKSTER!" I heard Lavenza's voice fade away as I flew through the air. Watching as the portal closed as quickly as it opened, Lavenza stared with wide eyes then narrowed them as she turned around to face the false Igor. "You monster! Where did you send him!?"

"To a dimension far from here. One neither you nor your siblings could ever reach without disregarding your roles." Chuckling to itself, the doppelganger of her master put its arms together and turned its gaze towards her. "Unless you go against your master's wishes, you have no hope of saving your precious Trickster. Oh, but don't worry. He won't be alone. His friends will suffer with him as well, like the criminals they are." It laughed at her look of despair as it soon vanished into a swirl of black and red, leaving the small attendant alone in the Velvet Room.

I yelled on my way down until I landed with a thud, groaning as I found myself laying on a wooden surface. Dazed as my ears were ringing and my head spinning for what felt like forever, I slowly pushed myself up to see where I was. My vision was blurred for only a moment as I noticed I was standing on a very old looking dock. "What…is this place?" I mumbled to myself as I stood more straight. "Where am I?" I reached into my pocket for my phone to see if I was still in the Metaverse only to notice I was no longer in my Phantom Thief outfit, but in my casual attire. "Huh? But…" Pulling out my phone, I checked for any signal only for it to be completely dead and the Meta Nav seemed to be glitching out when trying to find my location. "When am I…?" I looked up at the foggy ocean in front of me then turned around to gaze upon the large prison complex as thunder clapped and lightning flashed in the storm above me.

Taking in a deep breath, I slid my phone back into my pocket as I felt something else in there. It felt like one of the model guns I carried, yet a little heavier. Drawing it in my hand, I took a step back for a moment to stare at it. This isn't what Iwai gave me. The handgun in my hand looked less like the replica of the Desert Eagle hand cannon and more like one of those 1911s. The weight of it seemed to make it out to be a more detailed model, but when I pulled the slide back very slowly, my eyes went wide. It…was real. A bullet was in the chamber. Holding it up a little more, I pressed on the magazine release with my thumb and caught the mag in my hand, looking to see it was in fact loaded with real bullets. .45 ACP, if I remembered correctly. Seven in the magazine and one in the chamber.

My time contemplating alone was short lived as I heard some footsteps coming towards me. Quickly turning myself around, I instinctively held the gun behind my back and faced the figure that made those steps. My mouth was open and ready to speak to the stranger when only silence came out. "...?!" Stumbling in his footsteps, what looked like a man in an old prison guard uniform stepped closer to me until I got a clearer look on his face. Or what was left of it.

Looking completely dead with glowing red eyes, the "guard" let out a low groan with most of his skin either torn off or decaying away from his skull. It then let out a snarl as it swung its hand at me.

I backed away quickly and held out my gun towards it. It was clearly a zombie, if not someone in a costume. Seeing as it didn't react to my weapon out of fear, it let out a loud yell and charged at me. Taking another step back, I quickly took aim and fired as it stumbled back with a shriek and part of its head flying off. Seeing as it screamed at me, I didn't take another second to hesitate and fired another round into its head, making it explode in red chunks while the body finally fell over. Lowering my gun with a shaking hand, my eyes went wide. I used many guns while in the Metaverse, but Shadows never reacted this way upon getting shot. I was definitely somewhere else. Somewhere closer to reality, but still...not. My thoughts were once again interrupted as I heard the same kind of yelling from a distance.

That sounded like more… I should get out of here, or at least far away from here. I quickly turned around and ran off, sprinting away from the docks and up a stairway towards a taller platform where a lone gondola sat all by itself. Hearing the screams get louder, I turned around and saw more of those zombies in both guard and prisoner uniforms running up the same path I went to get here. Many of them looked just as dead as the one I shot. Some even had barbed wire draped all over their bodies or even shards of rusty metal sticking out of their clothes. Climbing inside, I quickly pulled the latch to activate it, which also closed the doors. Using this to block them from getting to me, I took a few more shots at the undead, only taking a couple of them down before the slide of my gun jerked back and stayed in place, indicating I was out of rounds.

As the gondola slowly lifted itself away from the platform, I stared at some of the prisoner zombies. They wore something very akin to what I used to wear in the Velvet Room. The black and white striped clothes, even with broken shackles around their wrists. Igor, or whatever that god was supposed to be, sent me here. From one prison to another. This time, instead of being subjected to a pair of brainwashed twins and their master, it was a prison full of undead.

Was this my fate all along? I stopped that woman from being assaulted and ended up with a charge on my own record. I went out of my way to help all of those victims of those corrupted adults, just to end up trapped on an island with no way out. Feeling the gondola stop at the top, I looked ahead and stepped off as the door opened up. Walking further inside, I glanced around and gazed at the rooms around me. This was a cellblock, just like the Velvet Room, only red with blood, rust, and flames instead of the calm and soft blues. And without that pianist and the opera singer setting the mood for this prison, I felt very unnerved. Even more so as I heard more zombies in the distance.

Looking at my empty handgun, I felt around in my pockets until I felt another magazine in the pocket of my jacket. Dumping the spent mag from my 1911, I slid the new one in and released the slide. Now reloaded and ready, I aimed it up at more undead guards and prisoners that ran towards me up some stairs before shooting most of them in the head until I had to reload again. Taking some of them down with headshots, I began to back up until I felt myself stop against a railing that went further down the cellblock. Quickly reloading again, I aimed at the zombies who suddenly all stopped in place. With their glowing red orbs staring at me, I lowered my weapon for a moment only to bring it back up as I heard stomps and felt the ground shake each time.

A chuckle came from around the corner until I could see a very tall figure in the outfit of a guard with extra pieces of armor and a cracked face shield that did little to cover his zombified face. "So, this is what he sent me…" He mumbled with a demonic voice, much like that of a Shadow or a Palace Ruler. Stopping a few feet away from me, he stood at least seven or eight feet tall as he patted a wooden baton in his hands. "Hmmm… Fresh meat. Wonder what a kid like you would've done in order to be sent here, in my domain."

"My domain"? Is this place actually a Palace, then…? I gulped but stood my ground with my weapon in hand. My grip tightened around it as I twisted my feet around. "What…is this place…?" I asked, keeping my gaze firmly on him instead of the zombies around him.

He just laughed at me, leaning his head back with his eyes shutting briefly. Just as he stopped his laughter, his arm swung around as the baton struck the side of my face then he jabbed the end of it into my chest, causing my breathing to halt for a moment. Leaning over to breath in, he raised his right foot and kicked in my left leg, making me yell as I let go of my gun and fell over on the ground. For a very brief moment, I saw a pair of men in suits and the cold steel room in the Tokyo police department. The image of them soon faded away as I saw the tall zombie staring down at me. "Can't you tell?" He finally replied to me, "This is a prison. My Prison! My own island, where I may torment the prisoners in this world as much as I please!" He laughed once more while I glanced over at my gun. Seeing this, he stomped on my right knee, to which I let out a pained groan and curled up as he kicked the weapon towards one of the zombie guards. "Contraband.", he ordered with a humorous tone, "Lock it up with the rest."

Seeing the normal sized guard pick it up and take it away, I shook a bit on the ground as I could feel like I was back in that interrogation room, only without the help of Niijima to get me out, and thankfully without all those chemicals pumped into my system. Swallowing in my throat, I tried to push myself up with my hand just as the giant guard turned back to look at me. Grinding my teeth together, I glared through my glasses which somehow managed to only get tilted on my face. "Why…am I here?" I let out while catching my breath.

"Oh, you've committed multiple crimes, young man." He said as he stepped around me, patting his hand with his baton a few times. "Thievery, breaking and entering, unwilling to obey authority figures, social reform, and being an overall menace to society." He stopped and knelt down, picking me up by my jacket. "You owe debts, Phantom Thief. And you shall pay them…for the rest of eternity!" He held me up and then tossed me into a pair of zombie guards who held me up by my arms. "You will suffer dearly!" He pointed his baton at me then raised it up in the air. I quickly shut my eyes just before he brought it down, then I felt nothing afterwards.