#phantom thief rumi au

[thebigpapilio]

so everyone knows my ASAU of Persona 5 Royal, A Righteous Rebellion. right? And we're all also aware of @scruffyturtles' Adult Confidant AU?

well I sorta fused them? tldr: i made a (mostly) Adult Confidant AU for ARR! Details below, if you're interested - and if you have any questions about it, please ask @rollthedice-playthecards or this blog here!

WARNING: MAJOR SPOILERS FOR ARR! CANON-STANDARD TRIGGER WARNINGS!

The Fool and Strength (i.e. Igor & Caroline/Justine/Lavenza) are the same. Otherwise, everyone's changed.

The World (i.e. Protagonist) is Tae Takemi!

Her parents were abusive shitheads to her, and she got into a program that helped her escape for Tokyo.

Her first Persona is Merit-Ptah, a fictitious woman purported to be a chief physician of an Ancient Egyptian pharaoh and thus one of the oldest known women in medicine and science.

The Magician is Sadamu Niijima (transmasc!Sae)!

The home invasion that killed Mr. Niijima also led to his death, but Igor came upon his soul and reincarnated him into a hound (because of Shadow Sae's tattoos) for The Yaldabaoth Game™.

His first Persona is Turiddu, a Sicilian bandit whose gang was "legally held responsible" for a massacre, although the entirely of their role in it is disputed.

The Priestess is Sadayo Kawakami!

She was a member of Student Council, but when she brought up Kamoshida's abuse to Principal Omon "Bael" Kobayakawa, she lost her seat. Kobayakawa actually replaces Kaneshiro as the third major target.

Her first Persona is Elissa, legendary founder and queen of Carthage... oh, and I will be shipping her with Tae for my Kawakemi agenda. :)

The Empress is Chihaya Fukurai (Mifune)!

Yuichi "Mammon" Fukurai, her adoptive father, runs Fukurai Foods (Big Bang Burger's owner and more). Chihaya was setting up to inherit the business when Yuichi "changed his mind" and prepared to sell her off in an arranged marriage to Rikio Sugimura.

Her first Persona is Lakshmibai, an Indian rani who rebelled against the Bri'ish.

The Emperor is Sojiro Sakura!

He's a culinary prodigy studying under his adoptive parent (I haven't decided who yet, but they're Azazel) - a TV chef who runs a kids' competition a la Chopped Junior. They definitely abuse some of those kids.

His Initial Persona is Hamlet, the famous Shakespearean Prince of Denmark.

The Hierophant is Makoto Niijima, owner of Cafe Bianca.

She's been looking for her estranged younger "sister" for years now.

The Lovers is Munehisa Iwai!

Munehisa is Shujin’s star athlete. Excels in every sport in Shujin except volleyball, from which he was banned after standing up to Suguru "Asmodeus" Kamoshida.

Kaoru, his younger brother here, takes the role of Shiho, and Akimitsu Tsuda and Masa replace Nakaoka and Takeishi.

His Initial Persona is Barrow, a Great Depression-era criminal who robbed small stores, funeral homes and banks with his partner Ms. Parker.

The Chariot is Ichiko Ohya!

Leader of the photography club. She caught photos of Kamoshida’s dirty deeds in the past and is trying to find a way to expose them anonymously. Oh, and she has a long-distance girlfriend named Kayo.

Her Initial Persona is O'Malley, an Irish pirate queen so violent Elizabeth I considered sending the Royal Fleet after.

Justice is Toranosuke Yoshida!

I sort of split Goro's two roles in this AU. Toranosuke plays the Detective Prince trying to solve the case of mental shutdowns (+ the Phantom Thief case), but his brother-by-choice Benzo Kuramoto plays assassin and mental-shutdown-inducer for Masao Kuramoto, his grandfather. Tora joins the team in Oda's Palace, and they fight Benzo in Kuramoto's Palace - that's where Toranosuke achieves his Second Persona.

Speaking of Personas, his Initial one is Greenlefe, Robin Hood's second-in-command and the only one present at his death.

The Hermit is Takuto Niijima (Maruki)!

Makoto had a brief stint as a police officer, but after a influential asshole (Kuramoto) drove drunk and killed one Tomoyo Rumi, she attempted to dig into the situation and was dishonorably discharged. Soon after, she met Rumi's boyfriend, Takuto (an orphan with one shitty relative), and took him in.

He would be a third-year if he was still in school. He’s wasting away as he grieves Rumi's death. He can’t bring himself to kill himself, but he also doesn't want to be alive anymore.

His Initial Persona is Popol Vuh, a religious text of the mythology and history of the Kʼicheʼ Guatemalans.

The Fortune is Hifumi Hibino (Togo)!

After Mitsuyo disowned Hifumi for coming out as lesbian, Hifumi moved in with her wife Haru (they both end up with Makoto later). Hifumi took up busking/street shogi, not wanting to be reliant on Haru.

The Hanged Man is Akira Kurusu!

Not much for this guy right now - like Canon!Munehisa, he's an ex-yakuza who runs Indomptable, an airsoft store. Ren is his adoptive son.

Death is Sumire Yoshizawa!

A medical misdiagnosis (by her biological mother Yui, not that she knows it) left Sumire's sister in a coma. Ever since, Sumire can't see anyone unconscious without thinking of Kasumi.

Temperance is Ryuji Sakamoto!

An orphaned man who teaches PE at Shujin and moonlights in an escort service to take care of himself and his son Morgana.

Just after his college years, his mom's ex-husband killed her and then killed himself to escape the police, so he has no support system. Thus, he got himself into trouble with a duo of loan sharks so he could look presentable enough to replace Kamoshida.

He, Ann and Shiho were friends in high-school, but he never saw them again after graduating.

The Devil is Ann Takamaki!

An up-and-coming actress working hard to make it big. She's keeping her sexuality (and her girlfriends Shiho Suzui and Mika Abe) under wraps from everyone, including her manager.

At the end of the Confidant, she moves in with her old friend (and future boyfriend) Ryuji after Tae mentions him.

The Tower is Goro Shido (Akechi)!

Goro is a very temperamental young man with no methods of healthily and safely letting out his anger at the world and his shitty, abusive father.

After Shido's heart is changed, Ryuji (and Ann and Shiho) take Goro in.

The Star is Zenkichi Hasegawa!

Even if Zen doesn't know it, he's the best player in the shogi club at Kosei. It's discovered their "team" has been fixing matches, and Zenkichi is determined to find out who's cheating.

Jyun Owada, his senpai and club president, is jealous, and is trying to cause strife between him and his girlfriend Aoi to weaken him.

The Moon is Sophia Ichinose!

Sophia is a Greek immigrant who moved to Japan for work opportunities. She's Tae's science teacher, so Tae really likes her. Her daughter Kuon, however, has fallen in with a HORRIBLY nasty crowd - a bigoted group who hates (among other groups of people) Kuon's adoptive mother. Kuon, naturally, is conflicted, and this leads to conflict between her and Sophia.

The Sun is Haru Hibino!

A young politician whose bold eat-the-wealthy mentality does not sit well with older generations - for example, her father Kunikazu, who disowned her and silently smeared her campaigns so she'd waste her inheritance and never expose his criminality.

In the end of the whole story, Haru legalizes polyamorous marriage!

Judgement is Shinya Oda!

Uses they/them pronouns here.

After Shinya's mother Hanae was killed in cold blood, they joined the SIU to find the killer. She did something to piss off Kuramoto, though, so he and the director do everything they can to keep Shinya away from that.

The Faith is Wakaba Isshiki!

Daughter of Shujin's new counselor. A science prodigy.

I don't have much ideas for her yet, never mind her Personas.

The Councillor is Futaba Isshiki!

Shujin's aforementioned new counselor in the wake of Kamoshida's arrest. Believing the world to be "without life" without her deceased fiancee Kana, her Palace becomes a Graveyard, where she "raises the dead" by fixing their problems.

She only has one Persona - Chac Chel, an important Maya goddess of many things, most prominently both creation and destruction.

The Hope is Yuuki (Mishima)!

His ranged weapon is eye lasers. They use both he/him and they/them.

An A.I. made by Katsuo Akiyama, a regretful high-school bully who caused one of his victims to commit suicide.

Their first Persona is Thyrsus - a giant fennel staff that Yuuki uses like a weapon alongside the Persona aspect of it.

The Apostle is Yusuke Kitagawa!

The only original Phantom Thief to keep the power of Persona.

Ordered by Madarame Ichitaro (the killer of his mother and Police Commissioner) to investigate the Phantom Thieves after a series of mass heart-changings occur again.

Akane has a brother, Natsuhiko, and they share the Jail. Their mother, Takayo (Yusuke's beard) is still dead.

His Persona is Enjolras, and he later gets with Akira.

Lastly, a unique Arcana - The Actor, Morgana Sakamoto!

A theater prodigy at his school (not Shujin or Kosei) and Ryuji's son. He has no clues to his past before Ryuji, and he wants to know, but he also wants his dad to be happy. At the end of the Strikers arc, Lavenza becomes human, and he and Goro get the Sakamotos to adopt her as well.

Reminder once again to post any questions about this AU to @rollthedice-playthecards!

#thebigpapilio #adult confidant au #arcanaswap #arcana swap #arcana swap au #arcanaswap au #persona arcana swap #A Righteous Rebellion #Persona #Persona 5 #Persona 5 Royal #taewakami #kawakemi #makoharufumi #sojiro x wakaba #ichikayo #ryuannshiho #mikannshiho #sumire x sophia

[artekai]

Tagged by @banukaihelpme to do this picrew!!! :D (sorry I took so long to get to it but here I am!)

Tagging @wildcard-rumi, @yushandholder @daz4i, @almightyrozenidiot, @nicxan, @meep-m33p, and @soliscital just some friends who I know have lovely OCs :D Hope it's okay to tag but absolutely no pressure to do it if you don't feel like it!!!! And if you're not tagged but you see this and wanna do it feel free to tag me as your tagger!

From left to right:

Horizon Zero Dawn/Forbidden West

Artekai (he/him), self-proclaimed Chosen One, best (and most annoying) archer in the Cut, and Aloy's long-suffering comedic relief sidekick!

Fross (we use he/him for him but he doesn't really care), Artekai's boyfriend, lowkey yandere damsel-in-distress, and fourteenth secret Zenith. You know how it is.

Dailah (she/her), Carja noblewoman with her sights set on the stars and experiments that defy the will of the Sun! One day she will make a huge scientific breakthrough and show them all ❤️

Bartenak (he/him), Artekai's adoptive older brother who's trying so hard to be cool but he's actually really sad and feels overlooked :'( Doomed by the narrative.

Tess (she/her), Fross's bio mom and Elisabet's in-law. A repressed lesbian in a comphet marriage, who always wanted to pursue a science career. Doomed by the narrative.

Raesh/Raeki (they/he/she), high ranking Eclipse kestrel and Artekai's self-proclaimed archnemesis! (if you've never heard Artekai say a word about her... yes, exactly lol)

Persona 5 Royal

Kaito Maruki (he/him), Takuto's fifteen year old son, thirteenth(???) secret Phantom Thief, and basically just Artekai's P5R AU self ❤️ I would've given him his signature high ponytail but this is the first picrew I've seen with ombre hair options so I had to go with that lol.

Fandomless

J (they/them), Vampire who's obsessed with Christianity aesthetically, like in a cultural appropriation way. Yes they kill vampire hunters but are otherwise chill and dopey but isolated.

Jane (she/her), People pleaser girlboss with tons of expectations on her shoulders, a competitive, perfectionist streak, and a hidden cynical, perhaps even self-serving side.

#oc tag #oc: artekai #oc: fross #oc: dailah #oc: bartenak #oc: tess meijer #tag tba #kaito maruki #oc: j #tagged for me #image #undescribed #deni's stuff

[chronicbeans]

Persona 5 Royal Maladaptive AU

Okay, I got this idea in my brain that I wanna write down before I forget. Basically, Persona 5 Royal, except Maruki doesn't have a persona and, instead, is a maladaptive daydreamer (haha not me projecting onto my personal fave character-). Sumire never got brainwashed into believing she was Kasumi, due to Maruki never having the power to do so. Shibusawa is Maruki's roommate who helps him take care of himself, but is going to be moving soon, due to getting married soon.

Okay further info down below I guess.

Idk when Maruki's palace would take place, but I think it would be interesting to have it before Shido's. I'll get into that later. He isn't the school counselor anymore, instead being just... Some guy who wants to do great things, but just can't. He'd rather IMAGINE doing great things, because that is so much easier than actually going out and doing it. He'd rather imagine helping others, imagine continuing his research, and imagine what his life would be like if the attack never happened. Especially the last option.

He often visits Leblanc in order to have a place to sit in quiet. Sure, some people come in and talk, but it is rather quiet compared to other places. He just orders some coffee, puts on some headphones, and spaces out as he begins daydreaming about a better life. At home, he'll pace around as he daydreams, with those daydreams going on for hours if uninterrupted. For Maruki, these incidents only seem to last for a few minutes, when in actuality, hours have passed.

This is exactly why Shibusawa moved in to help make sure he takes care of himself. Maruki will forget to eat, drink, or really do anything if Shibusawa doesn't remind him. He'd even forget to sleep if no one reminds him. Due to Shibusawa getting married soon, he plans to move out. He is worried about Maruki, however, which results in him posting his request onto the Phantom Thieves Website. At this point, Akiren has probably already seen Maruki at the cafe a few times, but doesn't know him by name.

For his palace, I have a few possible designs. My favorite one is just having it be a bit chaotic, like an actual dream or daydream. Like liminal spaces all mixed together, with one door leading to a completely unrelated room to the last, a bit like how Maruki's daydreams just switch around. There is one end goal, however, which is a beach side wedding with Rumi, with a large cruise ship sailing by far off in the background (as a bit of a reference to, if the palace takes place before Shido's, to Shido having a palace and with him being involved with Maruki's past). Another design I like is based off of Alice in Wonderland, simply because of how Wonderland is usually seen as a form of escapism. The final design is just like, some sort of paradise on the surface, but if you look close, it is an elaborate set. You can move set pieces aside, exposing some sort of recording studio and revealing that everything is fake.

My version of his shadow self has a few quirky behaviors. He will repeat himself, trying to get a better version of his line, much like how someone will replay parts of their daydream because they thought of a better idea. An example would be if a phantom thief confronted him. He might say something like this:

"Who are you? Wait... What are you doing here?! Wait... Who... are... you...?"

He also is very vocal about how, yes, he knows his daydreams are fake. He will get very confrontational if people accuse him of being delusional or of believing his daydreams are real, because he really isn't. He just finds that his daydreams are too good to give up. There are a few more things he does, but he is great at hiding them.

His treasure would still be the newsletter, but in the palace it would be a wedding ring. I don't know what his keywords would be, simply due to not knowing what his palace would be.

Anyways that's my Au ramble of the day.

#persona 5 royal #p5r #p5r maruki #takuto maruki #Persona 5 royal au #P5r au

[pryntery-moved]

Been ruminating over my old Wildcard Kawakami au. Rumi's a party member and took on Shiho's role as Kamoshida's prime victim. Basically if Shiho was a phantom thief.

Codename Theseus. Idk her persona yet, but I've considered Psyche, Eve/Eva, and Pandora (I know the last is a Persona in P5S but, shush)

#persona 5 #p5r #persona 5 royal #her social link would be about her recovering from kamoshida's abuse and beating maruki at arm wrestling

[its-coda]

Are there any Maruki fics that you like?

Hell yeah!!

My absolute favorite is the Takuto Is Ren's Dad AU series by @wildcard-rumi !! I really love both maruki and ren so a family au with both of them??? Yes please!! This AU genuinely lives in my head rent free. Honestly at this point maruki being ren's father is a default setting in my daydream scenarios.

If you haven't already, read the hell out of that entire series. I have a chrome tab dedicated to that series. Shibusawa and Rumi shows up a lot too and i rly love them!! We honestly need to see more of them in fics..

Next we have Wilting Sage by @inkpens-coffee !! It contains phantom thief maruki and also hacker!maruki. I just.. really love the concept of hacker!maruki...

Speaking of phantom thief maruki.. Borne in the Shadow of the Son of Dawn by XiontheDragon has them and he is FERAL. He's just. a teeny bit more Done after royal. I've also just been thinking about maruki in strikers a lot so this fic is giving me that sweet sweet content I've been craving.

This one makes me Sad but it's so. It's so good. The Man at the Hospital by @denizen-of-dreamland . I have so many emotions about this fic :(

Last but not least, A Few Minutes Late by jellojello! It's takurumi fluff featuring takuto being an absolute mess :)

Those are the ones i can think of rn!

#persona #p5 #asks #fic recs #p5r spoilers #dew.txt

[inkpens-coffee]

Chapters: 1/?
Fandom: Persona 5
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Maruki Takuto/Rumi, Maruki Takuto & Persona 5 Protagonist
Characters: Maruki Takuto, Rumi (Persona Series), Amamiya Ren (Persona Series), Sakamoto Ryuji, Takamaki Ann, Morgana (Persona Series), Kitagawa Yusuke, Niijima Makoto
Additional Tags: Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Mental Health Issues, Gaslighting, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Abusive Relationships, Phantom Thief Maruki, Rumi Palace AU, Psychological Trauma, Angst and Hurt/Comfort
Summary: Ever since she witnessed the murder of her parents and her boyfriend nearly dying with them, Rumi’s been descending into a paranoia filled nightmare. Terrified she’ll lose Takuto too, Rumi stops at nothing to keep him safe, even if it means scaring him and hurting the people around him. Running out of options, Takuto turns to the Phantom Thieves for help to save Rumi from herself.

#takuto maruki #p5r rumi #persona 5 royal #takurumi #rumi palace au

[renxamamiya]

The Sins of Your Mistakes Weigh Heavily On My Soul

A03 Link Here

My half of a tradefic with @wildcard-rumi. This is based on my Theatre of Mirrors AU and her Takuto is Ren's Dad AU, specifically on her 'Buried Memories' series.

Go have a read of her AU, it's amazing and I love it. As for people waiting for Theatre of Mirrors don't worry, I've been busy/exhausted with other personal projects and life that I haven't really got the time/motivation to write it. But I will hopefully put something out before March!

Sumire: Hello, Dr. Maruki-San Sumire: Can you come to Leblanc today? There’s something we need your help with. Sumire: It’s about Ren.

---

Takuto stared at Sumire’s message on his phone, his fingers awkwardly tapping against the hardwood that made the Leblanc counter. It had been a while since he’d met the rest of the thieves; more than a year had passed since he’d tried to force a false reality to the whole of humanity, one where there was no concept of pain, only placid happiness in which the wildest dreams had come true. It came with a price: the stagnation of humanity, one where no one had to struggle, had to fight for what they wanted. He did it out of kindness, of course; to save everyone from the pain he experienced, from the pain his son had to endure... Looking back upon his mistake, he found it ironic that his sole reason to plunge humanity in a reality of ignorant bliss was the one who unravelled his plans at the seams.

It wasn’t as if Ren didn’t have his share of anguish, yet Takuto was too aware he had condemned his son to nothing but suffering. A clumsy night in the early hours during his time in college, Ren having to grow up without a traditional, nuclear family... Him having to witness Rumi’s death, traumatized, only then to have his memories wiped... Takuto still found the memory of Ren in the hospital room hard to swallow, the time where he’d used his Persona’s powers to alter reality, to make him happy. Reflecting upon it with his changed heart, he now realised that his good intentions would have led humanity into a Hellish existence; though he didn’t regret it one bit as he wouldn’t have reunited with his son in the first place.

He nestled the cup of coffee he had close to him, taking a sip from it, savouring the complex flavours intertwined with the tangy bitterness of the roast. Sakura-san had kindly brewed a cup for him to enjoy before closing the shop temporarily for his meeting with Ren’s friends, Takuto graciously accepting the cup and paying for it, waiting anxiously for the group to arrive. A ring of the bell caught his attention, Takuto whipping his head to see Sumire’s eyes peering from the frames of her glasses. She smiled upon seeing him, rushing into the quiet cafe followed by the other thieves before giving him a quick bow, “Good morning, Maruki-sensei,” she greeted, and Takuto laughed at her extreme politeness.

“You don’t have to be so formal, Yoshizawa-san,” Maruki laughed, “I’m not your teacher anymore, and I did come here because you asked, after all,”

He looked over to the rest of the group, the thieves minus Sumire sitting in the booths, their faces solemn as they looked away from his gaze. Takuto frowned; he had spotted Morgana quietly curled on Haru’s lap, the girl running her fingers in his fur absent-mindedly, looking worried at the cat with worry. Another sweep of the room with his eyes, distress welling inside him. Before Sumire could even speak, having noticed his panicked expression he asked out loud to the room: “Where’s Ren? Has something happened to him?”

“That’s... what we want to talk to you about,” Makoto said, yet she found it hard to look Takuto in the eyes. The feeling of unease between the thieves grew between them, the worried glances they exchanged only made him more anxious.

“What happened? Is he okay?” he stuttered, jumping from his seat, “Did he get into some sort of trouble? Is he in danger?” Each time he asked them the group winced, Sumire’s cheerful expression evaporated as she watched Takuto beg for any sort of information, each question curling the corners of her frown deeper on her face, “I need to know, please tell me: what is going on?”

“It’s... hard to say,” Ann replied to his plea, “It... he...”

“Ren’s gotta Palace,” Ryuji huffed, stoic at Takuto’s shocked reaction, “We’ve been infiltration’ it for some time now,”

“He has a Palace?!” Takuto’s eyes widened, shocked at this revelation, “W-when did he get one? Does that mean that world... the Metaverse came back? How-”

“We don’t know,” Makoto tried her best in answering him, her voice understanding at his floundering confusion, “We don’t know when the Palace had been formed, but when it did fully form it brought back the Metaverse with it,”

“And Mementos too,” Futaba added, “The whole thing, and his Shadow has been manipulating it too for his own goals,”

“Just like...” Takuto swallowed, still bewildered at this newfound knowledge, “But why? Do any of you know?”

“He has mentioned a performance of some kind,” Yusuke said, “One ‘of a lifetime’, it isn’t wrong to suspect his plans with Mementos had something to do with it,”

“Have you noticed something with the public, Maruki-san?” Haru asked him, her expression curious, “We’ve been noticing ourselves the renewed interest in the Phantom Thieves out in public, even selling Phantom Thief merchandise again,”

“I... I have,” Takuto swallowed, loosening the buttons of his coat, his hands shaking in the warm air of the cafe, “I’ve heard things on the radio about the Phantom Thieves; passengers would always mention about them to me, but I always thought it was because of the anniversary of your first heist that brought interest back. Kamoshida, right?”

Ryuji and Ann cringed at the mention of Kamoshida, Takuto immediately regretting his words, “S-so anyway, where is Ren? He has a Palace, but I assume-”

“He’s trapped inside of it,” Takuto whipped his head to look at the cat, Morgana, rising from his listless nap upon Haru’s lap to talk to him, “For some reason his shadow’s keeping him in there. No idea why, but what we do know is that he’s kept at the top floor,”

“Trapped inside...” Takuto repeated under his breath, rolling the words on his tongue as he tried desperately to even comprehend the situation. Heavy silence soon fell amongst the group. Takuto bit his lip, was he the one who caused this?

Makoto cleared her throat, snapping the room back into attention “There’s a vital area of the Palace he refuses to open up for any of us, Takuto. Anyone but you, that is, according to his shadow,”

Takuto looked at her in thought, contemplating her words, they churned in his mind. He looked at the polished floor of the cafe, his lips pursed. He curled his fingers into a fist, his chest tightened, Takuto blinking the tears from his eyes as they arose.

He looked back up at the thieves, their eyes filled with hope, pleading for him to assist them in saving his son.

“Alright, I’ll go with you to his Palace; Ren’s Palace,” he said.

---

“Is this?”

Takuto gazed at the foyer before him, watching the humanoid cognitions before him, all of them chatting to and fro, paying no mind to the thieves, all of them wearing masks. Light from the scarlet day of the outside shone wonderfully through the stained-glass windows. He gazed uneasily at the statue that nestled itself between the two ascending stairs, gulping down the stress and anxiety he felt, staring at an uncharacteristically pompous statue of his son.

“The Palace is becoming more unstable with each trial we complete,” Goro informed him, Takuto still bewildered by the mere fact that he was alive, and more importantly, helping the thieves with their infiltration, “I’d advise you to keep your wits and do whatever the shadow wants you to do, we can’t risk it prematurely collapsing,”

Takuto nodded, intimidated by the former detective, barely hiding the disdain he felt towards the former councillor. He had almost condemned the entirety of reality to one of false bliss, forcing his wants onto the entirety of reality. He also understood Goro still felt bitter towards him with erasing Ren’s memories, making him suffer, the infallible leader a mess in the confrontation of his recollections, having no way to cope with any of them. Sure, he had come out on top of them, able to power through his relieved anguish of losing Rumi, of losing his father, of having to witness her...

“It certainly has seen better days,” the bespectacled man sighed. He could still see signs of grandiose and luxury in the untended chaos of the tatters and scratches that accented each curtain and carpet, as if abandoned and allowed to rot with time. A part of him still wanted to deny the sight before him, still rationalised that nothing about this was real, that his son was back in reality, that he was safe, that this was some sick prank conjured up by his friends.

All those wishful thoughts Takuto had mustered quickly dashed when he saw the figure stood before them. Waiting.

“-And remember, refer to him as Joker, not Ren,” Goro hissed in his ear, “All we can do is appease him unless... well, I don’t suppose you’d like to end up as a corpse, would you?”

“I- Thank you, Akechi-san,” Takuto gulped, nodding in acknowledgement of Goro’s warning before turning towards his son. Though they were meters apart it felt like they were looking across the maw of a canyon. With a step, and then another, Takuto walked towards his son.

“Hello, dad,”

“Hello, Joker,” Takuto responded to the shadow’s greeting, already unnerved by his eyes, no longer grey but golden. Was this a shadow his friends constantly mentioned about, the dark, repressed side of the individual? Takuto had never gotten a chance to meet such a being, the ruler of his own distortions, he was the one who sat atop of his warped heart, ruling them with a gentle hand. He had his familiar outfit on, his will of rebellion, Takuto recalling seeing it when the thieves confronted him to change his heart. Though it was the differences that unsettled him: his dapper vest shining in scarlet red, his mask, black and golden, greatly increased the eerie glow of his eyes, “You wanted to see me?”

“Of course, why wouldn’t I want to see my own father,” Joker said, words dripping with sarcasm, “It’s been a while since we last sat down and talked, I’m really starting to miss it a lot,”

“Likewise?” Takuto said cautiously, fearful of what the shadow’ll do to him if he misspoke, “I would like to spend some time catching up with you, if that is your reason for summoning me of course,”

“It was! You know me so well, father,” Joker smiled, and hand raised and the click of his fingers, a door swung open among the foyer, “Come, come with me, we have a lot to talk about I’m sure,”

---

The theatre room led him into nothing but a featureless void Takuto discovered, empty as if he was transported to another world. The Phantom Thieves, Ren’s friends, did warn him about the possible dangers that he had to face, Takuto still willing to plunge into whatever trial Ren - Joker - wanted him to face. The shadow unnerved him yes; he reasoned that anyone would be uncomfortable with the confrontation with the shadow of a loved one, their dark, inner thoughts giving shape in a distorted environment. A ‘Palace’ the thieves called it. Walking in the directionless void he hoped deeply his knowledge of the Metaverse could aid him in whatever Joker wanted him to endure. He had to save his son from himself, and this time he wasn’t going to run away from him, Takuto told himself.

“Daddy?”

Takuto’s heart jumped in his throat, him turning instinctively towards the sound of a child whimpering in the darkness. The voice was familiar, too familiar, a beacon that guided Takuto in the dark, or a lure to ensnare him into the jaws of his doom, Takuto rushing towards it with haste all the same.

“Daddy? Where are you?”

“Ren!” Takuto shouted, clambering toward the terrified child, tripping on his own feet with every other stride he took in a desperate, maddened haste to reach his crying son. He didn’t consider the possibility of the apparition of his crying son to be a trap, only instinct carried him forward until he approached the small cognition.

Grey, watery eyes full of innocence stared back at him, the small form of Ren clutching tightly onto a distinct plush of a cat. Takuto’s heart melted as he knelt to his level to address the boy, to show him that he meant no harm, the boy shying away into the fur of his toy.

“I’m here for you, Ren,” Takuto cooed, reaching out his arms towards the frightened boy. The young Ren stopped his crying. He looked at Takuto’s inviting, outstretched arms; and then at him, Takuto gave him a smile that radiated safety and love.

“Who-who are you?” from the stuttering, fearful cognition was the reaction that Takuto did not expect, his face falling in confusion, his bemusement matched with the smaller Ren that stared blankly back at him. Takuto tenderly brushed the mess of hair away from Ren’s eyes.

“I-I’m your dad,” Takuto said reassuringly, yet the cracks of his tone betrayed the melancholic feelings that welled inside of him. To see those grey eyes gaze upon him, wide and curious and with wholly innocence broke his heart, “There’s no need to be scared, Ren. I’m here now, I’ll protect you,”

Young Ren looked at him, slightly backing away from the unfamiliar, familiar man in front of him, “I... I don’t... I don’t remember, if you’re my dad I don’t remember you! I don’t-”

“Hey, calm down,” Takuto said, yet he respected the distance Ren had put between them, “It’s alright to forget sometimes, which is why we need others to help us remember,”

“I-”

“Do you trust me, Ren?” Takuto asked the frightened child. Young Ren looked at him hesitantly, clutching the stuffed toy in his arms closer against his chest. He looked down onto the floor, pausing in contemplation.

“I... Guess so,” Young Ren mumbled shyly, eyes flickering between the floor and Takuto that reminded the bespectacled man so much about Ren in his younger years. He gestured for the child to sit down in front of him, Young Ren doing so obediently, the both of them folding their legs as they sat cross-legged on the murky floor.

“Now, do you remember anything about your father?” Takuto asked, adopting a more professional persona with inquiring the boy, “Anything at all?”

“Well, I think he wears glasses,” Young Ren started, curling his small thumb and finger before holding them up to his face, peering into the holes he had made with his hands, “They’re really big on his face. He wears them a lot, and I barely see him take them off,”

“That’s good, what else do you remember?” Takuto asks, amazed at Ren’s recollection, the boy knitting his eyebrows in concentration.

“And... He had brown hair,” Ren recalled, his hands moving to his head, “Brown hair that was really long and wavy, but not too long like a girl’s. He also had brown eyes... and...”

“And?”

“He would watch Featherman with me,” Ren said, “Every Saturday, he would wake up just to watch Featherman with me. I would always ask which Featherman he liked the best a-and he would ask me who was mine, and it was-”

“Featherman Red,” Takuto finished, Young Ren’s eyes widening, “I remember. I’ve always remembered,”

“A-and,” Ren continued, his cheeks slightly flushed against his skin, “I remember whenever he came home he would always bring apples! He’s not good at cooking them, but I didn’t mind eating them anyway, because he would always bring home the really tasty ones,”

And the child continued his recollection, Takuto’s small smile that sat on his lips grew a little wider with each detail Ren managed to recall, the excitement in his eyes growing more and more, and Takuto wondered if the child was even aware of how much he recalled. Yet whenever Takuto asked for the child of his father’s name he merely blinked at Takuto.

“I don’t remember my daddy’s name,” Young Ren shook his head, his disappointment reflecting Takuto’s, “I’m trying really hard, I am!”

“I know you are,” Takuto sighed, resting a hand upon his shoulder, giving the small child a reassuring smile. Yet, as defiant as his grown-up self, Young Ren shook his hand away.

“But, there’s one name I do remember.” Young Ren mumbled under his breath. Takuto’s eyes widened, a sudden drop of water dropped upon his head. Carefully reaching over the moist patch of his hair he looked at his fingers. Nothing. He looked up. Only the black that characterized their surroundings present. He turned to look back at the boy.

“What name is it?” Takuto asked, Young Ren squeezed his eyes shut.

“I... it’s someone close to dad,” he mumbled. More droplets of phantom liquid dripped upon him, “Someone... I.... don’t remember,” The child began to panic, “I... I can’t remember it anymore. I can’t, I’m-”

“There, there,” Takuto cooed, brushing away Ren’s tears, ignoring the storming of the invisible rain on his person that only increased in ferocity, “It’s okay. Just do like what we did with your dad, okay?”

“O-okay,” Young Ren said, trying hard to salvage a mask of bravery, looking at Takuto with red, blotched eyes “I mean... I don’t have a lot of memories of her...”

“Her..?” Takuto feared he knew who the young boy was referring to, the invisible storm now pouring magnitudes onto him, unrelenting, the liquid thumping hard against his frame, his hearing starting to be muffled by the roar of rushing water, “Ren, maybe we should-”

“She had big eyes-” Young Ren began to recite, Takuto grabbing tightly onto his shoulders, his pleas for the boy to stop falling on death ears.

“-and she was smart, and nice-” Young Ren continued, oblivious to the panicking Takuto that desperately pleaded with him to stop.

It smelled. Everything smelled rancid, like something rotten, something foul, something metallic. But it was as if Ren was painfully unaware of the speckles of red splattered on his face.

“-and, and she had red hair!”

Takuto recognised the expression the young boy suddenly snapped into, grey eyes once filled with ignorance now watered with fear and distress. The memories of the break-in, the blood, the red. The child stumbled back away from Takuto, both of them shocked that the ground seemed to ripple under them.

“Ren!” was all Takuto could utter until a shrill shriek spilled from Ren’s lips. More blood dripped down from the sky, the child turned and tripped against his feet and fell onto the ground. Takuto reached for Ren but stopped.

Rumi. Rumi was in the reflection, so many copies of her, eye wide and afraid, blood gushing from her red locks, Takuto speechless, the only sound coming from his lips were the terrified whimpers that bubbled up from his tight throat. He too soon stumbled onto his knees, his own distressed reflection mirrored back at him, Takuto’s traumatic expression staring back at him among the mosaic of Rumi’s last moments. He dared not to look at the scene above him.

“Subject one is asleep and well, Dr Maruki,”

“Was the actualisation successful?” his voice rang in his ears. Takuto blinked his watering eyes, adjusting his vision to the spotless white tiles that made up the room. The familiar, sterile smell of disinfectant stung his nostrils, Takuto barely making out the sweetness of forgotten flowers in bouquets that splashed colour among the featureless wall. He allowed himself time to collect himself; he looked at his hands, bloodless yet he swore he could still feel the liquid staining his hands.

“Yes, Dr Maruki,” the unfamiliar voice rang out. Takuto swallowed the bile that rose from his throat, allowing himself to collect his composure and strength before he stumbled onto his feet with great effort.

Suddenly he found himself in a chair, gazing at the two figures looking over a sleeping child. One was a faceless nurse, writing on a clipboard as she talked. The other was himself, “There seemed to be no complications with the procedure,” the nurse continued, the reflection of Takuto reaching down absent-mindedly to stroke the sleeping Ren’s hair, “He should be waking up at any moment,”

“Thank you,” the other Takuto smiled, “You may go now,”

The nurse nodded before dissipating into a thin cloud of smoke, the other Takuto sighing before turning to the sitting Takuto, looking at him soberly.

“It was...” Takuto croaked, the guilt of his past mistake tightening in his stomach, “I just wanted...”

“I’m sure he’ll understand,” the other Takuto said quietly, turning back to the sleeping form of Ren, white-gloved hands coiling around strands of black hair. Flashes of memories flickered from within Takuto’s vision. How his son’s face contorted in anguish at the recollection of memories, how desperate he was to forget, willing to battle his friends to preserve his own ignorance, the lingering gazes, hauntings of his own psychological pain that echoed from within his own eyes, “He’s such a strong child, even when staring at the face of danger he still puts on a brave face,”

“Yeah, he really-” he feels something wrapping tightly around Takuto’s wrists. He looked down; blackish-blue tendrils slid across his skin. Panic rises from his chest and tightens his throat; he struggles against the grip of the monster binding him.

“There’s one more thing I need to get rid of,” the other Takuto murmured, Takuto futilely thrashing against Azathoth’s hold. The cognitive double approached him; eyes unblinking under the thick frames of his glasses as he watched Takuto struggle against the cognitive Persona. A click of his fingers, and the tendrils encompassed all of Takuto’s body other than his face, “This is for my patient, for my son,”

“You’re making a mistake!” Takuto’s voice cracked, his appeals to his cognitive double fruitless as he saw him snap his fingers. He felt himself pulled down by the otherwise unseen demon, his feet slowly sinking into the floor, the cognitive Takuto watching him disappear with a blank face.

“This is for his own good,” the cognitive Takuto said absolutely, his expression unmoving while he watched Takuto sink into the ground, “He needs to forget, he needs to be unburdened by the memories of her death, and that includes removing you from his life,”

“But-”

“It’s the only way,” the cognition repeated to him, the scenery around him going monochrome, the doubles skin growing paler before everything started to fade into white “We both know it’s the right way,”

“We...” Takuto croaked through the tears that started to well in the corners of his eyes, trying desperately to blink them away, tearing his eyes from his cognitive double in shame, “I was... I was foolish to think that. All it did was cause Ren and I suffering...”

The cognition said nothing.

“I should have been there for him...” he choked, the tentacles that wrapped around him grew ever tighter, “But I was a coward. I-”

He turned his head to see nothing. Featureless white. His throat tightened. There was nothing; he was stuck, yet the tendrils continued to drag him down, deeper and deeper, his breaths quickened, he was panicking, fidgeting against his bonds. It was too much, he was growing increasingly fatigued, he needed to escape, he-

“Daddy?”

Ren’s confused voice rang out, and Takuto quickly lost consciousness, his vision turning black.

---

“-he the next patient?” a voice rang out from the fringes of his consciousness, so familiar to his ears. His eyelids were heavy. Takuto wanted to sleep.

“Yes, Dr Am-” another voice accompanied the stranger. His mouth was dry. He felt sick.

“-ki, Takuto,” the first voice chuckled, Takuto dragging himself from his uncomfortable slumber, wincing in pain at the bright light that assaulted his vision.

“Who... who are-?”

Takuto jolted awake in alarm. The voice... was Ren, the grey eyes of his son looking at him, tired and heavy. His hair was slicked back neatly, his outfit a white, spotless suit, his shirt collar propped neatly around his neck. “Where am I?”

“You’re in good hands, Mr Maruki,” Ren smiled at him. It unnerved Takuto; Ren’s eyes shimmering yet empty, the curl of his lips rehearsed and forced, his voice too calm for the situation they both found themselves in, “Don’t worry. Soon your troubles will all disappear,”

Ren’s words did nothing to soothe Takuto. He looked down to where he currently sat, a white throne under him. Takuto paled.

“Patient seems to be distressed due to the loss of his son,” Ren spoke, snapping his fingers to the same featureless nurse from before, who then handed him a clipboard, “unforeseen circumstances; it seemed that the little one had died during a failed robbery-”

Ren fiddled his hair in thought, tucking a stray strand  behind his ear before continuing, “Patient seems to be in great psychological pain. Advisory procedure includes amnesia brought upon by actual-”

“Ren, please don’t,” Takuto cried, shaking his head furiously, “Please stop this madness, you’re making a-”

“Nurse, please make sure our patient here is secure!” Ren ordered the cognition, it nodded its head before lunging towards Takuto, its limbs sprouting from its form before pinning Takuto on the throne.

“Please, Mr Maruki,” Ren begged the thrashing Takuto, “Just calm down. I don’t want to cause you any more distress, the redhead was already enough trouble to treat,”

“Ren wait plea-”

A snap of his fingers. The entire amphitheatre rumbled violently, a great figure rose from behind Ren’s determined form, its golden skin and green eyes glowing in the light. Takuto sat there petrified, his mouth hung agape, his body quaked in fear, eyes wide as his forehead perspired with sweat, his mouth dry, his heart thumped with sickening speed, only able to hear it thrash in his chest as he gazed up upon the Persona who stared back at him with its unmoving face.

“Adam Kadmon,” Ren uttered his name, “You know what to do,”

A click of his gloved fingers, and Takuto’s vision was once more engulfed into black. ---

His brown eyes flickered open once more. Takuto rested his head on the featureless floor. He was back to where he started, the weird ethereal voice that Joker- no- his son had sent him to face the trial he so desperately wanted Takuto to endure. He wanted to go home, he wanted this madness to stop; he rose from the blackness, seeing that he was now palming wood, the walls surrounded him painted black while fluorescent light hung above his head.

“Was this...” he mumbled, yet the clicking of familiar heels made him snap to attention, hastily scrambling up to his feet, the shadow of his son walking towards him with hands in his pockets, golden eyes transfixed intently, emerging from the shadows of the empty room, him using his will upon the Palace they were currently in to convey his dramatic aura with persistent intimidation.

“Did you have fun, father?” Joker seethed, tongue rolling with each syllable as if the words were bitter to the taste. He looked pleased with himself, claiming his victory over his father, looking down at him with scorn, yet Takuto could see the agony that brewed in him by the quiver of his bottom lip, “I sure did, watching you flounder like that,”

“Was all of that how you truly felt?” Takuto meekly asked, watching how Joker swaggered towards him, avoiding the rhetorical inquiry from the shadow, “Everything I put you through... did you suffer that much?”

Takuto didn’t like how the corners of Joker’s mouth tugged higher, how his smile grew wider, thinner, his golden irises quivering in delight, how the white in his engulfed everything. Joker said nothing, his strides widening, Takuto’s feet firmly planted onto the floor.

“I-”

“The things I had to endure,” Joker roared, his expression unmoving yet his voice quaked with rage ill-fitting of the mask he wore, “The fights between my adopted parents, the stares and whispers I’d get from my classmates, the anguish I had to endure once I remembered. I kept-”

Joker’s facade slightly cracked, lines on his face, as if it were porcelain.

“I had nightmares” he cried, voice breaking, yet he betrayed no tears, “Nightmares from that day, seeing things that I couldn’t explain, seeing her dead, the blood... I always woke up in a cold sweat, never remembering why I was crying, I-”

Joker inched his face closer to Takuto’s with each word, stretching himself further upward, standing on the soles of his boots. What he didn’t expect from his rant was the arms that wrapped around him, the shadow pulled from his taunt into a comforting embrace, Takuto’s hand snaked to comb the strands of his unruly hair. Joker’s expression transitioned one from hate into befuddlement, feeling something hot drip down onto his grand, black coat.

“I’m sorry,” Takuto choked, bringing him in closer, undeterred by the mask poking painfully in his neck, “I’m sorry,” he repeated, grasping his son’s hair, palming it with long, tender strokes, “I couldn’t bear to look at you, you didn’t move, didn’t speak, I wanted you to get better, I thought-”

Takuto swallowed the bile that rose from his throat. He felt Joker’s body in his arms slump slightly, his head resting on his shoulder, “I’m sorry,”

The shadow said nothing, merely allowing himself to be held, his body limp, small heaves escaped from his throat every so often.

“Please, let us help you, Ren-”

The shadow snapped to attention, a hand around the scruff of Takuto’s jacket collar, tearing him away from the embrace they were locked in. In his shock, Takuto tried to escape from the grasp of the invisible assailant, only able to by slipping from the article of clothing, stumbling forward and running back to the hunched shadow, Joker’s gloved hands hiding his face. Yet as he got closer something stopped his advance; he collided into something, hard, yelping in agony as he clutched his nose, blinking to see that there was nothing in between them.

“You don’t get it, do you?” the shadow laughed while Takuto pressed his hands at the unseen barrier between them, the sound hollow, no joy in his words, “None of you do,”

The sound of trickling water filled the room, red swirled below Joker’s boots, Takuto confused and scared at the sight before him. It was like... It was like... “I’m going to make everything better,” Joker continued, peaking through the gap of his splayed hand on his face, “Heaven is nothing but a lie; I’m going to make a place where desires can truly be realised,”

“Ren, you don’t have to do this! Please,” Takuto begged, the red liquid rising rapidly up towards Joker’s hunched body, the shadow glaring at Takuto’s fearful form, “You’re making a mistake, Ren, don’t make the same mistake I did,”

“Of course I won’t,” Joker smiled as he stood up straight, the waters still rising, his facade perfect yet again, the calm on his face appearing so sudden that it terrified Takuto how easily Joker was able to slip back into calm, “I know a way to make them obey, all of them,”

“Is it true? Are you using-” the water was now up to his waist, Joker unfazed by the liquid slowly drowning him.

“A trickster never reveals his tricks,” Joker laughed, licking his lips while he watched Takuto squirm, “Not like I’ll tell you... any of you. You’ll just make everything more complicated, you’ll ruin all my plans, and the worst thing is the realisation that none of you care,”

“You’re destroying yourself in the process,” Takuto begged, his hands pressing against the glass, “Your friends have told me everything, each day your mental state is decaying further, this place is collapsing in upon itself. You’re losing yourself, Ren-”

“DON’T CALL ME BY THAT NAME,” Joker screeched, banging two of his fists onto the invisible barrier between them, Takuto clumsily stumbling back with shock, “I am not Ren, I’m not him, I am better, HIS better!” the red was now at his neck, the room shaking with invisible fury, “I will never go back to being him, Maruki, and you should realise that by now,”

“Ren-”

But it was too late, the shadow fully submerged in the red liquid, seemingly gone. Panic engulfed Takuto, him now thumping against the glass with his hands rolled into fists, desperate to save his son from the other side, “Ren!” he called out to no avail, continuing to pound against the barrier before him.

A subtle crack, and then another, then another. Takuto heard the trickling of water before he saw it, red liquid now bursting through the dam separating him and his son, the cascade of water spilling out like dominoes, and it wasn’t long for the barrier to completely break, the red torrent sweeping everything in his path up in its tide, taking Takuto with it.

---

A low rumble came from behind the theatre door, the thieves emerging from another one of Joker’s trials pitted against them, it swung from its hinges with Takuto being thrown outside of the room. He landed with an ‘oomph’ onto the carpeted floor, the group running towards him in shock and worry, though they could barely see a visible scratch on him.

“Maruki-san!” Sumire was the first to rush to his aid, kneeling next to the dazed brunette, blue flames dissipating her mask while her hands glowing with the familiar green of Diarahan, “Are you okay, are you hurt, what happened?”

“I’ll, I’ll be fine,” Takuto assured her gently dismissing her, trying hard to amass the strength to stand up on his own two feet, “I just... I just need a moment,”

“You don’t look fine,” Haru pointed out softly, “Are you sure you don’t need to rest? You look like you’ve been through a lot,”

“If it’s anything like the trials we have to endure, I’m surprised he came out unscathed,” Yusuke mumbled out loud, “Though then again, Ren is his son...”

“I didn’t do anything too taxing, haha,” Takuto weakly laughed, giving the thieves an unconvincing, weak smile, “It was... it was...”

His smile faded, his facade melted, looking down at the faded carpet below him, “I... I didn’t realise fully the pain I put him through,” he said, almost whispering, “He was suffering all that time. It’s my fault-”

“It isn’t your fault though,” Ann said earning perplexed looks from the thieves and an unamused glare from Goro, “I- I mean, it’s not just you who’s at fault here, Dr. Maruki,” she clarified, “I think we each all have something to do with making Ren’s Palace appear. We’re at fault too,”

“Yeah, it’s not like you were doin’ it for bad purposes too,” Ryuji interjected, “I mean, you did what you thought was right, right?”

“All of you are too forgiving,” Goro muttered.

Without warning the Palace started to quake, everyone thrown off from their feet as the walls started to shake, the chandeliers suspended above their heads rattling amongst the thundering rumble that consumed the premises.

“W-Why is the Palace acting up now?!” Morgana squeaked before falling onto his back, the others struggling to keep their balance, “I thought-”

“Ren’s not looking too good!” Futaba squeaked, fiddling and adjusting her headset as she looked over the information displayed by her Persona, “His vitals are falling fast!”

But Takuto didn’t pay attention to the panicked chatter of the thieves, looking down at his hands, mortified how the dull colour of the red carpet below his hands faded even further into a rotten brown. Lights flickered around him from above. It was a nightmare, the cognitive patrons screaming. He felt something small and dust-like trickle against his back.

The quake went as sudden as it came, the roar fading into deathly silent once more. Takuto peaked out from under his huddled hands that shielded him from above, eyes darting from side to side in a panic.

“W-what happened?” he asked the thieves who were trying to regain their footing, though he already suspected the answer.

“Ren’s getting worse,” Makoto answered his rhetorical question, and Takuto’s face flushed with dread. She looked at him, her eyes sympathetic behind her mask, “You should get out of here, it isn’t safe for you,”

“You’re... you’re right,” he sighed defeated, aware that if he had accompanied further than necessary, he would be nothing but dead weight. He didn’t have a Persona, no way to support the rest of the group within or outside of battles, sure to get in their way. He hung his head in defeat, carefully picking himself up from the floor, “Just... just make sure you do everything you can to save him... alright? He’s... he’s all I have left,”

The thieves nodded in response, yet their expressions conveyed the apprehensive outcome of their endeavour.

---

Ren said nothing, merely watched his shadow wandering throughout the grand space of the dressing room. His path was directionless, absent-mindedly walking in loops, circling the furniture, his stare unfocused and distant.

“Why?” was all Ren could ask, baffled by his own shadow, “Why do you keep lashing out?”

“He deserved it,” Joker reasoned, continuing his purposeless pace, the other cognitions that normally served him purposely out of sight, “They all do, Ren, why don’t you see that?”

“They don’t, they don’t, Joker,” Ren said, and Joker laughed bitterly, “You’re hurting them. You’re hurting the people I- we-”

“Did WE deserve what happened to us!?” Joker snapped at Ren, turning to him, venom in his expression, “Did WE deserve to forget Mom? To get carted off to someone else just like property, to have to endure our adopted parents and their wrath to only be thrown by the wayside, to have our father, LIE to us, to be USED by him for his actualization? DID we!? DID WE?!”

“Joke-”

“HE ABANDONED US!” Joker shrieked; the walls of the Palace quaked around him. His golden eyes welled with tears, pulsating with anguish and bitterness, “HE USED US AS A- A- A SICK GUINEA PIG! I am SICK of being used as a- as a- a- an OBJECT! Like I’m NOTHING!”

“Joker-”

“Stop denying that you feel this way,” the shadow squeaked, his red fingers intertwined in his black, dishevelled locks, “Stop it! It’s hopeless, Ren, you know that deep inside you don’t want to understand, you don’t want to forgive. That bastard-” another sob escaped from his throat, Joker choking on his tears and disgust, a familiar swell of power coursing through his being. Another shaky sigh. He could feel Ren finally coming to his senses, his lips curling upwards from the corners of his mouth, yet he barely felt any joy as he continued, “He’ll soon pay. They’ll all soon pay, and I’ll make sure that they’ll regret what they did to us.”

---

“Are you sure there’s nothing you can’t help with?”

Takuto looked at Sumire, she and Goro the only ones escorting Takuto onto the edges of the Palace’s domain. A weak, tired smile he wore as he shook his head, “I’ll be nothing but dead weight, Yoshizawa, and it looks like you all have everything under control,”

“At least we agree on something,” Goro hissed, arms crossed as he leaned his weight on one of his legs, “No Metaverse Powers or any standout physical strength. All you’ll be to us is a liability. Deadweight. A sitting duck-”

“I wonder why, Senpai,” Sumire pondered, “I mean, he should have his Persona at least, right?”

“I-”

“Regardless, I hope that I was able to help in some way,” Takuto interjected, tearing Sumire and Goro from their pondering, “But please... please save Ren,”

“We’re doing everything we can, Maruki-san,” Sumire nodded, “And if there’s any way you can help we’ll tell you, right, Akechi-senpai?”

“Actually, there is a way in which Maruki can help,” Goro mused, as he looked at the bespectacled man, “There something I was wondering about Joker’s plans,”

“You have my attention,”

Goro turned to look at the theatre before them. A moment passed, before he gazed back into his brown eyes, “I want you to see if there’s anything suspicious going on in the outside world, any changes at all in the public cognition. If you do, contact Yoshizawa, and she’ll contact me, am I clear?”

“Why? Are you suggesting-”

“Just do it,” Goro snapped, and without another word he turned on his heel, making his way back to the Palace. With an apology and a quick bow, Sumire too left Takuto alone at the cusp of the ethereal realm.

He watched them leave, disappearing into the Palace in front of him. His eyes trailed upwards. Towards the top floor of the accursed building, to where Ren was held against his own will by his own distorted thoughts.

“Hold on a little longer, Ren,” he croaked under his breath, unwilling to leave as he blinked the tears away from his welling eyes, “Just hold on a little longer, please.”

#persona #palace: theatre of mirrors #ren amamiya #takuto maruki #takuren au #dan's log #png #mine* #myfanfic #mywriting

[mysticmansionzone]

For my Roleswap Persona AU

Fairy Godmother Rumi and her ‘Phantom thief’ outfit.

#chelly's art #Persona 5 #Persona 5 Royal #Persona 5 Royal Spoilers #Rumi #persona au #Persona 5 Au

[artekai]

Hey if a Greek mythology themed phantom thief’s codename were Amazon, would you guys be too distracted by the company or would you be able to focus on the tall Greek MILF with a Persona?

#ramble #phantom thief rumi au #i stumbled upon the perfect codename but then i remembered the company... #dammit

[artekai]

Wait just saw ur pinned post and now I HAVE to ask how maruki is being inserted into p4 ABDHDJFJ

SO GLAD YOU ASKED

ASDFSHFG OKAY where to start?

I must have some kind of curse because whenever I try to write a fic I cannot physically resist the urge to put Maruki in it. So every time I start writing a P4 fic it feels like the how do you do fellow kids meme except it’s Maruki going “how do you do, fellow Persona 4™ characters?” This is funny in my head.

I also have tons of crossover ships involving Maruki and P4 characters (okay, they’re only three, but three crossover ships are three sources of pain too many), so it makes sense to put him in P4 so he can interact with them, right?

Usually, the way I put him where I want him to be is very basic. I just say that, after P5R, he moved to Inaba to get a fresh start in life. There, he meets Dojima and falls in love and gets married and becomes Nanako’s father and has a family of his own and they LIVE HAPPILY EVER AFTER. 

(Hi there, hello, I’m the CEO of Dojiruki, nice to meet you :] )

But, well, using a post-canon setting ensures that neither him or the P4 characters can interfere with the main plot of the games.

HOWEVER, one of my fics, Tristitia, takes place during the main plot of P4 in an AU where everything is the same except Maruki is there and is dating Namatame. Well, they’re not dating, but it’s not really platonic either, it’s complicated. To be fair, though, Maruki doesn’t really affect the plot there, because he’s not close to any of characters (besides Namatame) and the whole fic is basically just Maruki reacting to Nanako’s kidnapping, combined with a bit of a character study and comparing and contrasting him and Namatame.

So, moving on. I do have an AU where Maruki plays a huge part in the plot of P4 and that is the Adaruki Roleswap AU, which is exactly what it sounds like. Maruki and Adachi are swapped, so Maruki is Dojima’s partner and the Inaba murderer while Adachi is Shujin’s counselor and can bend reality to his whim during the third semester. It’s the most elaborate AU in this list but it’s pretty half-baked, mostly because I cannot figure out Maruki’s motives for murder and Adachi’s motives to NOT murder the Phantom Thieves during the third semester.

Still, it’s a fun idea to toy around with, and I’ve written two fics about Maruki interacting with the P4 setting in this scenario, Credit Where It’s Due and Pink Alligator in a Forest of Green. I don’t consider any of those as strictly “canon” to the main plot of the AU, because that was just me playing around and seeing what I could do with the idea of Maruki being Dojima’s partner, but he gets to interact with six year old Nanako in the second one, so that’s nice :3

A similar AU that I haven’t talked about but that has been on my mind for a long time is the Dojiruki Roleswap AU. That one doesn’t change much in P4, only the Hierophant SL, but it’s also half-baked because I have no clue what to do with Nanako’s kidnapping since she’s not in Inaba but in Tokyo with Dojima. And, when it comes to the P5R side of things, Dojima’s reality bending shtick is a whole other can of worms. He should be easier to figure out than Adachi because at least he cares about people’s wellbeing, but that doesn’t mean it’s not gonna take a lot of planning too.

Maruki is still a counselor in this one, but I was thinking that Dojima could maybe be Akiren’s probation officer? We’ll see.

Oh, and I know we’re talking about Maruki and not Rumi, but I thought this might be relevant since we’re talking about P4 x P5R crossovers. In the Phantom Thief Rumi AU, the plot kicks off when Rumi moves out of her grandparents’ and moves to Inaba. But this AU is in its very early stages so I probably shouldn’t say much because else I might end up spoiling the whole plot :)

Anyways, I guess I just have a thing for putting Maruki and Rumi in Inaba and seeing how they interact with the setting and the other characters. Probably because P5R came out right in the middle of my P4 phase, haha :)

#ask tag #clouiis #dojiruki #takutaro #adaruki roleswap au #dojiruki roleswap au #phantom thief rumi au #should i put this in the main tags? #takuto maruki #persona 5 royal #persona 4 #persona 5 #mine #okay that's everything i'm gonna tag #p5r spoilers #p4 spoilers #THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ASKING T-T #maruki in p4 is one of my main obsessions right now so it made me really happy to receive this ask!! :') #i got very excited about being able to ramble about this bc i usually hold back #since i know crossovers and especially crossover pairings aren't everyone's cup of tea #SO THANK YOU SO MUCH ILY <3 #it always makes me happy to be able to talk about my aus and my fics and my rarepairs :')

[artekai]

Updates about the Phantom Thief Rumi AU, if anyone’s interested:

- Styx has undergone a significant rewrite, and although her character still touches upon the themes of life and death, I’m not sure I’m gonna keep her Persona, so I might have to change the code name to match. We’ll see. Personas are hard to come up with.

- I gave the axe to one whole ass party member because they weren’t serving a purpose in the overarching narrative, but since I added both Jose and an additional party member, the total party member count has gone up by one.

- I changed my mind on Mamakechi. Oh, don’t get me wrong, I still think she and Wakaba should get together, I just changed my mind on her personality. Uh... stay tuned, I guess?

#ramble #phantom thief rumi au #here's your periodical reminder that this au is nonsensical and even more self indulgent than all of my other aus #so i don't recommend expecting anything from it #anything at all #except protagonist rumi #maybe

[artekai]

For a moment I thought I would have to make up a mascot character for the Phantom Thief Rumi AU, because otherwise how would she know how she’s supposed to steal hearts?

But then I thought...

Jose is right there... 🤔

#can you imagine that? #oh now i really want to include him #and nanako is also there! #so she can be jose's big sis! #wouldn't that be wholesome? :') #phantom thief rumi au #ramble

[artekai]

I've been thinking a lot lately and because I've always imagined Rumi as cheeky, sarcastic and pretty confrontational when the need arises, I think that if she regained her memories post Royal, she'd probably really like Goro. Like, she'd be a mixture of a good and bad influence. One minute, she's helping him find healthier methods to deal with his problems, then the next she's helping him plan a scheme to get back at Ren for embarrassing him.

OH MY GOD ANON HOW DID YOU KNOW?? Rumi’s Arcana is Justice in the Phantom Thief Rumi AU I still haven’t revealed???

Well, technically, she starts off as The Fool, but when she recovers her memories she pulls an Adachi and turns out to be of the Justice Arcana. I’ve been building her design around being a foil to Maruki, so it made perfect sense, especially considering the meaning of the arcana.

And, yes, anon, I totally agree with your interpretation! I see her as very caring but also very playful person, so she’d definitely be both a good and a bad influence. But I also imagine her mood would change at the drop of a hat, so don’t make her angry or she won’t hesitate to give you a piece of her mind, haha.

#yet another example of great minds thinking alike! #thank you for your input anon :D #ask tag #anonymous #p5r rumi #persona 5 royal #persona 5 royal spoilers #p5r spoilers #persona 4 spoilers #p4 spoilers #phantom thief rumi au #i need a more specific name for this au because it includes a lot more detail than that but this is fine for now

[artekai]

If her codename was Styx and considering her character and story, wouldn't a good persona for her be Persephone?

Yes, Persephone would be thematically appropriate, though I had already settled on a initial Persona for her, which is Medea. I wanted to convey the idea of her breaking free from her responsibilities as a wife and a mother and searching for her own path in life. Sure, Medea is not the best role model because, um, child murderer, but I picked her because of what she represents (breaking the status quo, going against what’s expected of her by society), and it’s something that she (the Persona user) is going to have to come to terms with throughout her social link. If I manage to write it correctly, that is :(

But, now that I think of it, Persephone would be great as her ultimate Persona! It would be a nice way to represent her character development, how she’s become stronger and more outspoken, and how she’s accepted that she can balance her family life with her ambitions and her spirit of rebellion, that she doesn’t have to pick one or the other (like Medea did), but that she can act as a mediator between two worlds, while also acknowledging that she’s come to terms with both her life and her death and with the role she plays in both worlds. And, the more I think of it, the more fitting Persephone sounds to represent the culmination of her storyline! It’s perfect, anon, thanks a lot! :D

#i know this sounds like a very ambitious character arc #and IT IS #i don't think i can pull it off #but i can try #it's hard to explain it without mentioning any plot points but i think you get the idea #ask tag #anonymous #phantom thief rumi au #by the way #this au is still in its early planning stages so nothing is set in stone #feel free to keep sending suggestions for anything even if i have already have something in mind #bc you never know when i might have to change things up again

[artekai]

Maybe the codename could be Styx? Like the River Styx because she carries the shadows to their deaths?

Whoa... O.O That’s such a great idea, anon!! I love how ominous and unforgiving it sounds... She carries the shadows to their deaths... god, that’s so good...

But wait. the River Styx is the boundary between the Underworld and the world of the living, right? Oh god... That fits her character arc... The foreshadowing! I love it!

#phantom thief rumi au #anonymous #ask tag #thanks so much for the contribution #it's a great codename and it fits her arc so well :') #death mention

[artekai]

Guess who got ahead of herself and wrote the first party member’s Persona awakening for the Phantom Thief Rumi AU before even fleshing out all of the characters? :D

#i should've waited until i finish the character sheets but i got excited #and i like how it came out! #it's not canon awakening quality but i really care this party member... #not saying who it is yet because it's a surprise lol #also #does anyone wanna help me design metaverse outfits? #i have no idea what to do with those :( #ramble #phantom thief rumi au #i still need a better name