The Lonely Thief
(Persona 5 AU where Akechi is the leader of the Phantom Thieves as part of 'From Metaverse To Multiverse; consider this a prologue of sorts for 'From Metaverse to Multiverse'.)
The sun rises on another day in Tokyo, Japan. Everyone is out and about, ready to get started on their day. Of course, there are always a few stragglers refusing to get out of bed for one reason or another, with renowned detective Goro Akechi being one of them. Even after his alarm clock went off, the now 27 year old 'Second Coming of the Detective Prince' just laid in his bed, staring up at the ceiling. He had no real reason to get out of bed, he had the day off after all.
Just then, the cell phone on his nightstand started to vibrate. He looked and saw that it was a message from Kunikazu Okumura, Okumura Foods CEO and the late Haru Okumura's father. Begrudgingly, he picked the phone up and read the message.
'I'm meeting Wakaba at Hideyoshi's Smokehouse for lunch if you want to join us' - Kunikazu.
Akechi just replied with, 'Sure', before putting his phone down and going to the bathroom to take a shower.
As Akechi showered off, and let the warm water wash over him, he began to reminisce about everything that had happened in his life up to this point…
It was so crazy to think that at one stage in life, Akechi was ordered by his father, Masayoshi Shido, to kill those who stood Shido's way of becoming Japan's new Prime Minister, Wakaba Isshiki and Kunikazu Okumura being two of them. As soon as Shido learned of his son's Persona wielding abilities as well as the Metaverse, he figured he could use him to do whatever he wanted. Akechi, however, quickly disagreed with Shido's intentions as he wanted to use the Metaverse and his new abilities for good; Akechi always wanted to be a hero somehow, and he refused to kill others to do so. So, without missing a beat, Akechi betrayed his father and changed his heart all by himself; just him and his Persona, Robin Hood.
After defeating Shadow Shido, he received the golden helm of a ship; his treasure, which turned out to be a legislator's pin in the real world. He gathered that taking a Shadow's treasure plays a huge part in changing someone's heart.
With Shido out of the picture, Akechi took it upon himself to change the hearts of others across Tokyo, with infamous criminals and gangsters like Kazuya Makigami and Junya Kaneshiro being two examples. Akechi did this for two whole years before his 'heart changing escapades' brought him to Shujin Academy where he was asked by Student Council President, Makoto Niijima, the younger sister of his partner Sae Niijima, to investigate allegations in regards to the school's volleyball coach, Suguru Kamoshida.
It was at this point when he met three victims of Kamoshida's abuse; Ryuji Sakamoto, former track star who had his leg broken by Kamoshida; Ann Takamaki, the object of Kamoshida's affections and someone who he wanted to make his next conquest; And Ren Amamiya, the new kid in school who moved from a small town west of Tokyo for his father's job and Kamoshida's newest chew toy.
When Akechi heard of their respective plights, he told them about his abilities to change the hearts of others and he offered them the opportunity to come with them so they could see him at work. Akechi took the three teens into the Metaverse where they met a cat-like creature named Morgana, who Shadow Kamoshida had trapped in the dungeon of his castle. When they freed him, Morgana seemed to know quite a bit about the Metaverse, so he and Akechi decided to partner up and show Ren, Ryuji, and Ann the ropes.
As they tried to escape the palace, however, Shadow Kamoshida and his guards caught them and that was when the three of them had a sudden change in appearance with Personas of their own too. With the combined power and might of the five masked heroes, they were able to put Shadow Kamoshida in his place and change his heart. After leaving the Metaverse, the five of them decided to go by 'The Phantom Thieves of Hearts', and they gave each other codenames too; Crow, Mona, Joker, Skull, and Panther.
Before either of them knew it, they were taking on an assortment of sordid figures like corrupt painter Ichiryusai Madarame. In taking him down, they were able to enlist his pupil, Yusuke Kitagawa A.K.A Fox, as part of their group.
From that moment on, the Phantom Thieves started to grow
After making friends with Sojiro Sakura, owner of Cafe Leblanc, and his girlfriend Wakaba, Akechi and company made friends with Wakaba's daughter/Sojiro's step-daughter Futaba. Futaba was a very shy girl who had trouble making friends, but one beach trip made the orange haired gamer girl feel right at home with them.
Futaba quickly learned of her new friends' other lives as the Phantom Thieves and told them about how her friend Kana was being abused by her parents. Specifically, Kana was forced to drop out of school by her parents and model in 'weird costumes' to pay off their debts. The group went into the Metaverse and changed the hearts of Kana's parents, with Futaba becoming the new Phantom Thief, Oracle, in the process.
After that was when they went after Kunikazu Okumura, who was accused of overworking his employees and tried to force his daughter Haru into an arranged marriage to Daiki Sugimura, the spoiled son of a member of the Diet, so he could enter the political arena. The gang actually witnessed an altercation between Haru and Daiki which resulted in Morgana getting seriously injured. The rest of the group managed to scare Daiki away, and Haru quickly felt right at home with her new friends. Together they were able to change the heart of Kunikazu and turn him back into the kind man that Haru once knew. As a result, the CEO resolved to crack down on poor business practices in an attempt to create a better work environment, he canceled the marriage with Daiki and Haru, and vowed to be a better father to his daughter.
Kunikazu made good on this vow as he welcomed the likes of Akechi, Ren, Ryuji, Morgana, Ann, Yusuke, and Futaba and treated them like they were one of the family. Haru drescribed Kunikazu from her younger days as a kind man with a welcoming personality, and it was a safe bet that Kunikazu was back to that old mindset.
Meanwhile at Shujin, Makoto Niijima figures out who the Phantom Thieves are and comes to them, looking for their help. She told the group that she's constantly under the thumb of the academy's principal, Kobayakawa, and he ordered her to spy on them for a reason that has yet to be explained to her.
Futaba uses her hacking skills to hack into a Phone Call that Kobayakawa was having with someone who declared himself as 'The New Leader of the Anti-Social Force'. In the phone call, Kobayakawa said something about needing Makoto to spy on Ren, Akechi, and their friends as he believes that they have something to do with the Phantom Thieves of Hearts.
Makoto, understandably enraged, asks if she can join the Phantom Thieves to teach Kobayakawa a lesson. The Thieves nervously agreed and they went into the Metaverse to confront Shadow Kobayakawa. In the process, Makoto awakened to her Persona Joanna and became Queen. When the dust settled, Kobayakawa's heart was changed and announced his resignation as Shujin Academy's principal. Before leaving entirely, however, Kobayakawa got Makoto alone one last time to confide in her about the Anti-Social Force, telling her that they're looking to get Jyun Owada into office as the new Prime Minister after Masayoshi Shido had a 'change of heart'. Furthermore, he tells Makoto that others like Madarame, Kaneshiro, and Kunikazu Okumura were members before they had their own 'change of heart'.
Makoto went back to her friends with this information and Haru decided to ask her father if he knew of other members in this 'Anti-Social Force'. By doing so, Kunikazu pieces together that his daughter and her friends are the Phantom Thieves of Hearts; the same group of people that orchestrated his own change of heart. Instead of getting mad at them, however, he thanked them. He feels truly happy and free for the first time in a long time ever since they changed his heart, and he hopes that he can do the same for other members of the Anti-Social Force.
From that point on, Akechi and the other Phantom Thieves' quest was clear; change the hearts of the remaining members of the Anti-Social Force and stop their evil plans.
After that long bit of reminiscing, Akechi shut the water off to his shower before stepping out to dry off. Once he was all dried, he gave his face a clean shave, and his teeth were brushed, he went back into his bedroom to grab a change of clothes that he could wear for when he'd meet Kunikazu and Wakaba later. As he looked through the clothes in the drawers of his dresser, he looked on top of the dresser to find a picture of himself, Ren, Morgana, Ryuji, Ann, Yusuke, Futaba, Haru, and Makoto at Inokashira Park. Akechi stared at that picture for what felt like hours as his mind wandered into another flashback.
One that documented the day he lost his friends…for good.
At this point in Akechi's life, things were going his way. He considered the eight with him to be the best friends he ever had, and they were well on their way towards putting an end to the Anti-Social Force once and for all. Thanks to Kunikazu, they were able to get a list of names for all of the remaining members of the organization, among them were Daiki Sugimura and the SIU Director, Sae Niijima's boss. Speaking of Sae, they were able to change her heart too, resulting in her ceasing her pursuit of them. The only one left to deal with was Jyun Owada, the new leader of the organization after Shido stepped down due to his change of heart.
Before they went after him, however, the Thieves thought that it would be a good idea to take care of some Mementos targets as a way to get some practice in. They had just gotten done taking care of the Shadow and they watched as its body turned into a ball of light before retreating into Ren's mask. As this occurred, Akechi looked over at Ren, silently wishing that the Shadows power went to him instead of Ren.
Akechi and Ren were regarded as 'Wild Card Persona Users', meaning that they could summon multiple Personas. Everytime they defeated a Shadow, however, they always went to Ren. Futaba believes that this is because Ren was more open with his friends and formed a stronger bond with them while Akechi, who had a harsh upbringing and an even harsher job as a police detective, hardly ever wore his heart on his sleeve the same way Ren did, and he never really shared much of his life with anybody. It's not his fault that he turned out that way, circumstances out of his control made him that way.
Nevertheless, Akechi felt that congratulations were in order as another Shadow was put down and another heart was changed.
"Excellent work, everyone," Akechi said with a smile, "We're doing Tokyo a whole world of good with our actions."
"We'll be doing even more good once we change Owada's heart and put a fork in the Anti-Social Force," Ryuji said with a smirk.
"What do you guys think?" Ann asked, "Are we ready to go after Owada tomorrow?"
"I like to think we've got enough practice in," Ren said before turning to Akechi, "What do you think?"
"I'm ready if you all are," Akechi said.
"Sounds like we're all in agreement," Yusuke said.
"Alright then, everyone," Akechi began, "Let's go-"
Suddenly, the sound of chains approaching cut him off. The group knew this sound all too well. It was the sound of a Reaper approaching.
"Uh-oh," Haru began to worry.
"Aw shit!" Ryuji cried, "A Reaper's coming!"
"We can take him," Makoto said confidently as she readied her revolver.
"Let's do it!" Ren said as he got ready to fight.
As everyone got into a fighting stance, Futaba summoned her Persona, the Necronomicon, and got inside of it so she could provide support to her team. As Futaba awaited the Reaper's arrival, a screen of text with red letters appeared before her, and reading it made her blood run cold.
"Guys," Futaba said from within the Necronomicon, "I don't think this is just any other Reaper."
"What do you mean by that, Oracle?" Ren asked.
"These readings I'm getting about him," Futaba said as she continued reading the text, "They're unlike anything I've ever seen before."
The Phantom Thieves waited for the Reaper to rear its ugly mug, fear slowly building within each and every one of them. A few seconds later, and the beast turned the corner, revealing himself, and everyone gasped at what they saw.
Futaba was telling the truth in that this was no ordinary Reaper. Most Reapers had two chains, a long black coat with a white, blood stained cloth sack covering his face except for one eye, and carried two long barreled revolvers. This monstrosity that stood before them was wearing a torn and tattered white, bloodstained coat with gold buttons, an iron mask covering his whole face with only two red eyes being its noticeable facial feature, four gold chains around it, had it had six arms instead of two. The two upper arms and the two lower arms were holding long barreled revolvers, the middle two arms were muscular and holding nothing. The last standout feature on this new enemy were purple and red dragon-like wings on its back.
The group stared at this new enemy completely petrified, unsure of what to do or what to think. Meanwhile, the monster glowered down at our heroes, snarling letting out low growls.
"What kind of reaper is this?!" Yusuke asked in horror and disbelief.
"It's unlike anything I've ever seen," Morgana said in horror.
The Grand Reaper turned his attention away from the group on the ground and focuses his attention on Futaba and Necronomicon. Without missing a beat, the Grand Reaper focuses his four long barreled pistols at the UFO-like Persona, and by extension the young woman inside of it.
"FUTABA, GET OUT OF THERE!" Akechi screamed.
Inside the Necronomicon, Futaba was scared out of her mind as she saw the Grand Reaper fire a Megidolaon right at her. The orange haired girl just shut her eyes and then…
KABOOM!
When the smoke cleared, nothing remained of Necronomicon…or Futaba! They were both gone.
"FUTABA!" Everyone screamed in horror.
"That…that thing just freaking killed her!" Ryuji exclaimed in horror.
"What is this thing?" Haru asked as all attention was drawn back on the Grand Raper.
"We can't let Futaba's death be in vain," Akechi said.
"Crow is right," Ren said, "We need to do everything in our power to avenge our friend!"
"Let's put this freak in his place, everyone!" Morgana said.
Just like that, everyone summoned their Personas, intending on hitting the Grand Reaper with everything they had.
"Here I come," Makoto said as she summoned her Persona, "Johanna!" Upon summoning her Persona, she fired an Atomic Flare at the enemy.
"Let's go, Captain Kidd!" Ryuji shouted as he summoned his Persona so he could fire Ziodyne at the Grand Reaper.
"Come, Goemon!" Yusuke yelled as he summoned his Persona so he could fire Bufudyne
"Carmen!" Ann shouted as she summoned Carmen so she could fire Agidyne.
"Zorro!" Morgana shouted as he summoned Zorro so he could fire Garudyne
"Milady!" Haru yelled as she summoned Milady, who opened up her dress to fire off a One-shot Kill from her guns.
"Zaou-Gongen!" Ren shouted as he summoned his one of many Personas. When Zao-Gongen appeared, he fired a God's Hand.
"Go! Robin Hood!" Akechi yelled as he summoned Robin Hood so he could fire off Megaton Raid by firing a golden arrow from his bow.
All eight attacks hit the Grand Reaper head on creating a massive explosion as the monster let out a pained roar. The group of eight waited for the smoke to clear to see if they defeated the Grand Reaper.
"Is that it?" Ann asked.
"Somehow I doubt it," Akechi said.
As the group waited to see the results of their attack, they could see the Grand Reaper's glowing red eyes through the smoke as it let out a low, angry growl. This fight was far from over!
"Get ready, everyone!" Ren said.
Suddenly, without warning, the Grand Reaper came barreling out from the cloud of smoke and came flying at Haru. The Grand Reaper had one of its muscular middle hands balled up into a fist, fully intending on literally punching the life out of her!
"HARU, WATCH OUT!" Makoto cried.
Haru was so scared of the beast coming at her that she couldn't even move. Instead she just shut her eyes and waited for the inevitable, when suddenly…
"HARU!" Yusuke yelled.
The blue haired Phantom Thief pushed Haru out of harm's way, meaning that she avoided the Grand Reaper's deadly punch…but Yusuke got hit with it instead. The punch was so powerful that it knocked the mask right off of his face and sent him flying into a nearby wall. Yusuke's body bounced off the wall and hit the ground with a thud. Yusuke lay motionless against the cold ground, his eyes wide open as blood was coming out of his nose and mouth…Yusuke was dead.
"YUSUKE!" The remaining seven Phantom Thieves shouted.
"He just took him out in one shot!" Morgana cried.
"And there's hardly a scratch on this thing!" Ryuji yelled as he looked at the Grand Reaper.
"What are we going to do now?" Haru panicked as she glanced over at Yusuke's lifeless body, tears pouring from her eyes, "Oh, poor Yusuke!"
"We need to retreat!" Akechi said.
"Way ahead of you on that one!" Morgana said as he turned into his car form, "Quick, everyone get in!"
Within seconds, Akechi, Ren, Ryuji, Ann, Makoto, and Haru got into the vehicle. Once everyone was inside, Morgana took off down the tracks for the Mementos entrance. They unfortunately had to leave the body of Yusuke behind as they surely would've died had they stayed in the area any longer. As Morgana and the Phantom Thieves sped off, however, the Grand Reaper was hot on their trail. Ann looked through the back window of the car and gasped in horror.
"He's gaining on us!" Ann cried.
"Can't you go any faster, cat?!" Ryuji screamed.
"I'm going as fast as I can!" Morgana exclaimed as he hurried along, trying to get to the entrance to Mementos as fast as he could.
Once the Grand Reaper got close enough, he took aim with his four revolvers before firing off a series of Riot Gun attacks at the vehicle. Morgana did a great job avoiding getting hit by the Grand Reaper's attacks as the Phantom Thieves inside him were either panicking or cheering Morgana on. Unfortunately, the Grand Reaper got angry and that was when he charged up a Maragidyne. He fired it at Morgana and the Phantom Thieves, who could only watch in horror until…
KABOOM!
The attack hit Morgana, causing an explosion that sent Akechi, Ren, Ryuji, Ann, Haru, and Makoto flying as they land on the ground with a thud. The six of them were okay, but the same couldn't be said about Morgana as the parts of his car form were scattered all over the area; the only remaining evidence of the cat's existence.
"MORGANA!" Ann cried.
"Aw, man, this really isn't good!" Ryuji said, "We're dropping like flies here!"
"We can't outrun this thing," Ren said as he stared up at the Grand Reaper, "And we can't fight it either."
"So what the hell do we do now," Makoto asked in fear.
Hearing Makoto's voice made Ryuji turn in her direction; an idea was forming in his head.
"At least one of us has to make it out of here alive," Ryuji said, "Makoto, you and your Persona are our best bet at the survival of the Phantom Thieves!"
"What are you talking about, Ryuji?" Akechi asked.
"I'm going to stay behind so I can distract this thing while you guys get away on Johanna," Ryuji said as he summoned Captain Kidd.
"You can't be serious, Ryuji!" Ren said.
"It's suicide!" Makoto said.
"We're going to die anyway," Ryuji said, "I might as well go out trying to save you guys. You're the best friends I've ever had, you know that? Of course I'm willing to lay down my life for you guys!"
"Ryuji…" Akechi said in awe as he and the other five Phantom Thieves became deeply touched by his words.
"You're not facing him alone, Skull," Ann said as she wiped away the last of her tears and summoned Carmen, "I'm with one hundred percent!"
"And so am I," Haru said as she summoned Milady, "If you're ready to lay down your life, then so are we."
"You girls don't have to do this," Ryuji said, worrying for Ann and Haru's safety.
"We know we don't have to," Ann said, "But we want to."
Haru turned around to face Akechi, Ren, and Makoto, "You three better get out of here!"
"But, Haru," Ren said.
"Just go, Ren!" Haru yelled, "When you get back to the real world, tell my father I love him!"
Ren just stared at Ryuji, Ann, and Haru as they prepared to face their imminent deaths only to be brought back to reality by Akechi and Makoto.
"We need to go, Ren," Akechi said before turning to Makoto, "Do it!"
"Johanna!" Makoto shouted as she summoned the motorcycle Persona and seated herself on top of it with Ren and Akechi sitting behind her, "Hold on tight!"
With that, the three Phantom Thieves took off down the tracks on Johanna, leaving Ryuji, Ann, and Haru behind to face the Grand Reaper by themselves. The three Phantom Thieves glared up at the Grand Reaper's piercing red eyes, all three of them letting out a battle cry as they used their Personas to fire their strongest attacks at the monster.
Meanwhile, Makoto, Akechi, and Ren are riding through Mementos on Johanna at a breakneck pace to try and outrun the Grand Reaper and get to the exit.
"Keep driving, Makoto," Akechi said.
"What do you think I'm doing?!" Makoto snapped.
Suddenly, a loud explosion followed by the sound of Ryuji, Ann, and Haru's screams caught Ren's attention.
"No!" Ren cried.
"They're gone, Ren," Akechi said sadly, "There's nothing we can do now."
"I know," Ren frowned.
Makoto continued to drive Johanna down the tracks; the entrance to Mementos was in sight.
"We're almost out of here, guys!" Makoto exclaimed.
Suddenly, the sound of a gunshot was heard and Makoto lost control of Johanna, causing her, Ren, and Akechi to wipe out and Johanna to disappear. The three Phantom Thieves got up to find that it was the Grand Reaper who shot his gun at the motorcycle Persona, resulting in the wipeout. The Grand Reaper approached the trio, growling in anger all the while. The three thieves looked behind them to see that the entrance to Mementos was within running distance. It was trying to outrun the Grand Reaper that was the tricky part.
"We've got to run for it!" Ren said.
Akechi and Makoto nod in agreement as the three of them ran for the exit. They ran like they never ran before, but nothing was faster than the Grand Reaper's attacks. He pointed one of his guns at the Thief that was running ahead of the other two, Makoto! They didn't realize the Grand Reaper was aiming at Makoto until it was too late.
The Grand Reaper fired a bullet from his gun, and that bullet hit Makoto through the back of the head, causing her to fall to the cold ground dead.
"MAKOTO!" Ren cried as he stopped in his tracks to see if there was anything he could do to help.
"Ren, what are you doing?!" Akechi yelled.
Just then, they saw the Grand Reaper take aim with one of his guns again. This time Akechi was the target. The Grand Reaper pulled the trigger and before the bullet could even hit Akechi, Ren got between him and the bullet…and it nailed Ren right in the chest. The raven haired Phantom Thief saved his friend's life as the cost of his own as he fell to the ground dead. Akechi, who at this moment was the only surviving Phantom Thief gasped in horror as he watched Rens lifeless body hit the floor.
"REN!" Akechi cried before taking a quick glance at the Grand Reaper then at the Mementos entrance.
Akechi ran as fast as he could for the exit; he ran faster than he had ever ran before. The Grand Reaper was preparing one final shot for Akechi. The monster took aim and pulled the trigger…but Akechi made it out of Mementos and back into the real world before the bullet could even reach him.
Once Akechi made it back into the real world, and he was back in his regular street clothes, he took a look around at his surroundings as he caught his breath. At first he was grateful to be out of the awful situation that he was in, but then he remembered the cruel fates of the rest of his team. He came into Mementos with eight of the best friends he ever had…and only he came back out. Ren, Ryuji, Ann, Morgana, Yusuke, Futaba, Haru, Makoto, all of them…dead. Akechi felt like he failed them all as leader of the Phantom Thieves.
Unable to handle the harsh reality that he was presented with, Akechi ran home in tears. Akechi cried himself to sleep that night, the deaths of his friends and the appearance of the Grand Reaper burned into his mind. From that day forward, he'd never talk to anyone or make connections with anyone for as long as he lived so he would never have to experience loss again.
Akechi went on to take out Owada's Shadow by himself and even went on to defeat the Holy Grail Yaldabaoth by himself. In both battles, however, Akechi could somehow still feel the presence of his fallen friends, almost as if they were by his side cheering him on. When the dust settled, Yadlabaoth was defeated and Tokyo, and by extension the whole world, was saved.
…
But at what cost?
Fast forward nine years later and Akechi not only still misses his eight friends deeply, but he's still keeping true to his personal oath on never forming any other bonds. Sure, Kunikazu and Wakaba would still invite him to lunch outings and they'd talk about 'this and that', but Akechi never really opened up or talked with them more beyond those outings.
After Haru's death, Kunikazu fell into a depression that he's still struggling with to this day. First he lost his wife after she gave birth to Haru, now he loses Haru herself. Even worse was that he lost her not long after his own change of heart and personal vow to be a better person and father for her; so many things were left undone and unsaid between the two of them, and now he'd never get a chance to prove to her that he could be a better person.
As for Wakaba, she was very torn up about the death of Futaba. Sojiro would always try to make things better only to fail every time. As the days dragged on, Sojiro and Wakaba grew further and further apart until one day they ended their relationship and as of right now are not on speaking terms.
Sae was also broken up about the death of her younger sister Makoto. With Makoto gone, she was the only surviving Niijima. With no other friends or any real reason to stay in Tokyo, Sae moved out of Tokyo and into a much smaller community. Last Akechi heard, Sae wasn't even working in law enforcement anymore and settled down with a husband and a kid of her own; a girl that Sae named Makoto, after her sister.
Having stared at the picture of his friends long enough, Akechi put it back down on his dresser as he pulled out the clothes he'd be wearing for his lunch outing with Kunikazu and Wakaba. After getting dressed, the former Phantom Thief left his apartment making sure to lock the door behind him.
No friends, no colleagues, and no love life; Goro Akechi, A.K.A The Second Coming of the Detective Prince, A.K.A The Phantom Thief 'Crow', now has a new title to go by…
…
The Lonely Thief.
Fin.
(Goro Akechi will return in 'Persona 5: From Metaverse to Multiverse')