The gunshot and sound of breaking glass echoed for miles. Yaldabaoth's angelic glass form hung in the air for a moment after Satanael's bullet had pierced it's head, before the sound of steal and glass began to scrap together as Ren heard Yaldabaoth speak once more, "What power… It surpasses my own… a god born from the wishes of the masses…"

The wind howled as Yaldabaoth turned its fractured head to Ren, the sound of glass chipping laced it's voice as it spoke, "So this… is the power of the true Trickster… Damn you, Igor. It seems you weren't spouting nonsense after all…" and in a flash of light, Yaldabaoth was no more, golden ash in the whipping winds miles above Shibuya. It began to rejoin and Ren felt his heart jump to his throat before a golden chalice materialized and clinked to the ground. But Ren wasn't paying attention.

"Morgana!" Ren dived to the ground, now holding the beaten and bloodied body of his cat, his friend and confidant. His blue eyes were lidded as he smiled at Ren.

"We did it, Joker," Morgana mumbled, his eyes closing as he winced in pain, "I'm glad I could save… the humans I admired for so long."

"No! Shut up! Don't talk like that," Ren begged before reaching up and tearing off his mask, "Cybele! Mediarahan!"

Ren felt the demonic woman with purple skin and two blades dance behind him as the healing skill fired off, but watched as Morgana simply smiled, "It's okay, Ren. We all knew the risks go..."

Ren felt his heart stop as Morgana went limp, "Don't worry. I'll save yo-"

"R-Ren!?"

"Makoto! Yusuke!" Ren gingerly laid Morgana down before scrambling not ten feet away to where Makoto and Yusuke had been fighting side by side.

"We did it? We won right?" Yusuke asked as Ren snatched his and Makoto's hands and clung to them for dear life.

"Yeah, we won." A content smile graced Yusuke's lips as he used his spare hand to slowly tug his mask off, looking at the sky that shined like molten gold and ivory.

"That's a relief." Makoto spoke around the dried blood that covered her face, wearing her small smile before looking at Ren, "Can you take off my mask?"

Ren complied, releasing her hand to do so, "You hate that thing."

"I do," Makoto's vibrant red eyes closed as she finished, "Don't blame yourself for this Ren, you did your best and we all know that."

"Truly. You were the best of us." Tears finally welled in Ren's eyes as Yusuke spoke and Ren once again ripped his mask off; summoning Cybele to heal his friends, once again to no avail.

"Trying to save everyone? That's so like you, Re..." Makoto's voice died in her throat as her hand went slack in his.

"Makoto!"

"Keep your head high, my friend…"

"Yusuke! No!"

"Futaba! Haru! Ann! Ryuji!" He scrambled body to body, Futaba small form was twisted and battered as she clung to Haru, her own hair stained red and her legs in a position that shouldn't have been possible. Ryuji and Ann were holding hands as Ren scrambled to the sides of his friends, Ann was already gone like Futaba and Haru but Ryuji once again proved he was made of tougher stuff, "Hey, Leader."

"Fuck! Ryuji, no!"

"Not like you to swear, Ren." Ryuji admitted with a smile, flashing bloodstained teeth.

"This isn't the time for jokes man," Ren swiped an arm over his eyes as he smiled down at his friend, "I'm so sorry…"

"I'm not… I died with my best friends, saving the world… that's probably the coolest way to go out." Ryuji let his head fall back as he close his eyes

"I couldn't have asked for a better friend."

"Me either." Ryuji's grip on Ann's hand went slack and Ren knew that death had just taken his last friend from him.

Ren sat for a moment. Surrounded by the bodies of his friends… his Phantom Thieves… the family that had taken him in after his had got rid of him. Items weren't working. His Personas weren't coming to his call due to how drained he was and even then, they hadn't helped.

"I love you guys. So much." Unsurprising to Ren, the bodies around him didn't answer. He could hear the cheers from below. People who didn't know that he had just lost nearly everything. Sojiro, who didn't know that his daughter died like a hero. Sae, who didn't know that Makoto's last words had been lightly chastising Ren for the exact same thing she herself wanted to do. Shiho, who was now, once again, alone without her best friend in Ann. Ryuji's Mom, now without her son as well as his father.

"DAMMIT!" Ren screamed at the sky.

"Come down now, Trickster," A soft voice drew his attention as a blue butterfly passed by his face, "Take the chalice. Staying up here will not change the outcome or help you grieve."

"Lavenza…" The butterfly dissolved and he stood, and a thought crossed his mind. Along with a single name.

"IGOR!"

Ren closed his eyes and screamed, his voice carried by the wind as he drew the name out as long as possible, only stopping when he realized the wind had disappeared and his voice now had a slight echo. Opening his eyes, Ren Amamiya found himself in the center of the Velvet Room; only feet from Igor's desk where the man himself sat, Lavenza standing beside the desk with her grimoire in hand as the aria that always played in the Velvet room filled Ren's senses.

"You have prevented Ruin, Trickster. Truly an outstanding job." His reedy voice still jarring, seeing as how for nine months "Igor" had a voice a deep and thick voice that reminded Ren of wet sand if anything.

"'Outstanding job?' Are you stupid?!" Ren shouted.

"The loss of your allies is… unfortunate and regrettable but they knew the risks of fighting a god as well as you, Trickster."

"You lead them well, my Trickster. But the game was rigged against you from the start, it's a true miracle that you succeeded at all." Lavenza added.

"I can't let it end like this, Igor. I can't! They're my family, Igor! Please tell me there is something more!"

"I'm sorry, but their fate has run its course this cannot be-" Igor was cut off by a sound Ren never expected to hear in the Velvet Room, the dinky electric ringing of an old telephone.

True to Ren's suspicion, Igor reached into his coat and pulled out an old cell phone and pulled out the antenna, "Excuse me for a moment."

Ren was silent as he stared at the phone.

Is that… bone?

"Hello, sir."

...

"Yes."

...

"Oh? That's quite the risk."

...

"I see. As you wish."

Igor hung up the phone and slid the antenna back down before sliding it back into his pocket, "I have wonderful news, Trickster. Our mutual benefactor understands your heartache and thus wishes to offer you the chance to extend our contract."

"What does that mean?"

"As dear Lavenza said, the game was rigged heavily against you. Yaldabaoth did everything in his power to see humanity fall to ruin, and while he failed, it seems our benefactor realizes that your victory is bitter to you. Thus, he is offering a… rematch." Igor swept his hand wide as he spoke.

"A rematch?"

"A fair game. The game as it was meant to be played. With you as my champion and with my full assistance this time. He has even allowed you to have access to your current Persona Compendium and physical skill level."

"That sounds almost too good to be true, what's the catch?" Ren shoved his hands in his pockets as he regarded the big eyed, long nosed man.

"The same as before, even with these benefits, the game is weighted heavily against you. The possibility of failure due to negligence or missteps is as present as before if not more," Igor folded his long spindly fingers in front of his face. "I understand if you need time to contemplate this decisi-"

"Let's do it."

Lavenza giggled before Igor spoke, "I see… You have saved humanity and you would risk subjecting them to ruin for your companions? Even though the odds are still heavily weighted against you?"

Ren felt his resolve waver, he was risking all of humanity… for seven people. Seven, ultimately, unnecessary people. Ren raised his head, determination in his eyes as he looked Igor dead in the eye, "I've saved humanity once, I will do it again."

I don't care if they're unnecessary to the universe or any of that! They're my people and if I'm humanity's savor, I'm going to take this one opportunity to be selfish!

"Your resolve is stunning and your spirit of rebellion is stronger than ever. You've rebelled against the God of Control and now you wish to rebel against death itself, I truly selected a magnificent Trickster!" Igor laughed as he snapped his fingers and with two large thunks, two of the guillotines flanked Ren as they landed on the stone floor, "Allow me to give you this one gift before we begin."

A persona appeared before each guillotine, on his right, Arsene was slowly walking forward with a chuckle, "It seems you wish to push your sacrilege even further, all in the seeking of your true justice, that where none of those who have followed or served you are done harm. A breathtaking sight. I will give you my power once more."

To the left, a much, much smaller Satanael, his six blackened wings pushing him forward, "You wish to slay gods and defy death, all in the pursuit of your justice. I will give you my power so that you may due so."

Igor snapped his fingers and the Personas were wrapped in blue sheets and wrapped in the square shaped links of the Velvet Room's chains, though neither struggled as the both situated themselves beneath the blade, "Trickster, I encourage you to be careful during this affair. No one can know of what has happened in the nervous game and if you wish to make changes aside from that which is most obvious, I ask that you be careful."

"I will, Igor." Ren said with a nod before a smirk painted Igor's face.

"Let us begin then." A snap. The sound of the blades rolling and falling down. As the blades struck, Ren blinked and found himself sitting on a familiar train as an announcer spoke over the intercom.

"Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for riding with us today. We will be arriving in Shibuya shortly, this is the last stop for this line, please transfer here for all subway lines. The doors to your left will open."

Ren raised his hand as the sun streamed through the window in front of him before reality slammed into him and he realized just where he was and just what was happening. Digging out his phone, his suspicion was proven right as he looked at the date.

April ninth.

The day he first arrived in Tokyo.

AN: Quick thing, Hi, I'm Logic and the entire concept of this is what if a New Game Plus ready Joker from base P5 went into P5R instead if that interests you, I encourage you to drop a follow or favorite. I'm aware this isn't the most unique idea for a Persona story so I understand if interest isn't massive. This is my first foray into Persona so I'm excited, if you want a little bit of backstory on me and my feelings about writing something this different for me, feel free to read below. If not, I don't blame you. Have a nice day/night.

Sooooo, this felt weird, I'll fully admit that. I've been writing on here (on and off admittedly) for about five years and that whole time I've written RWBY content, though I haven't really been in the "fandom" for about three years and since then I've always wanted to write outside of RWBY but never felt confident or comfortable enough to write about something else. Which in retrospective is silly because Persona has been a part of my life longer than RWBY. I remember playing P3: FES during summer break when I was twelve, convincing my grandparents to buy me a Vita for P4G when I was fourteen, then early buying P5 before I even had a PS4 as a 16 year old junior and never actually beating it due to high school burning me the fuck out as it does and now I'm working on my second playthrough of P5R as a 20 year old who isn't as burnt out but still doesn't know what to do with life but has an abundance of time due to quarantine/social distancing. Anyway, I don't know how this is gonna go, but I can only hope well, keep it real guys.