ex parte; a decision reached, or case brought, by or for one party without the other party being present.

I'll explain anything that might be confusing to you guys at the end of this chapter. ^^

Glaz

'KURUSU'

The group read the sign with mainly half-hearted expressions, this was Akira's home. The last time they saw it was when they picked him up over winter break, which was a surprise for him and a treat for them. They were all smiles back then, jolly and perhaps a little naive of what their future really held for them. It would never occur to them that they'd come back to it in this manner.

They went up to the door and Makoto gently rapped her hand on the door, which promptly opened to a frantic looking Masami Kurusu. Her expression fell to shoot them a feigned calm expression, it was hard to be convinced with how her eyes looked. "I'm sorry, I thought you were the detectives." They bowed their heads respectfully. "Come in, come in. Don't worry."

Her voice sounded hoarse, almost as if she had been crying for quite some time. They tried to leave their emotions at the door and exchanged a few words with her. 'I'm sorry' and 'we'll do our best' were often said, but they seemed reluctant. Even Masami could see that there was something else that they were holding back. But she didn't pry and cleared her throat when she stepped away from the group. "Yuto! They're here."

Their home was clean, well organized, and well kept, what stood out to them were the pictures idly staring at them. Memories that Akira's family shared were immortalized in a very serene set of photos placed on a small shelf, they showed stages of his life. However, the group of friends could see that there was a gap.

Between his first and third year of high school, there clearly was a missing piece of the school. They understood why it was missing though, it was the year they met Akira during his probation of course.

"Hey, hello kids." Yuto greeted. He seemed tired and forlorn, both of them shared a similar sadness that was too strong to not notice. "Where were you guys!?" Morgana's voice rang through the room as he darted from the kitchen.

"Hey!" Yuto reached out for him, but Mona stopped and leaped into the arms of the nearest person there. Ryuji held the small cat and sighed before he handed him off to Futaba. "I'm sorry, he's been so skittish the whole time that I can't control him."

Some frowned at the cat, who tucked his ears down out of shame. "Mona, you know better than to give them a hard time." To the two parents, it only seemed like they were playfully telling the cat off.

But the rest of them knew that he could understand him and Mona only hung his head as he tried to stay quiet for now. There didn't need to be any more questions raised about why they were talking to his cat in a certain manner. All of it was just arbitrary, right now there were more pressing matters.

"Come sit down, we were just finishing dinner." Masami wistfully smiled at them as she beckoned them to follow. They looked at one another and trailed behind to avoid being rude to both of them. "Thank you, really."

"Yes, we appreciate it so much. How can we re -" Haru tacked on.

Yuto shook his head and waved a frantic hand. "No, no, please. We're always welcome to have any of you over. Akira talks so fondly of you all, I can't imagine asking for anything more."

They shared some smiles as idle chatter loosened some of the tension in the air. Naturally they asked how the likes of Ann and Ryuji were doing with Shujin; that moved onto Yusuke, Makoto, and Haru at the end. For a brief period in time, Akira's family and friends shared a reprieve of the tension that hung over them.

Gentle laughter filtered from the kitchen and the gentle clatter of some dinnerware sang from the kitchen. For a moment, they forgot that he wasn't missing and simply going to knock at that door at any moment. There wasn't a seat unfilled, if anything, they needed more seats to the table as they shared the meal.

Morgana had grown a little restless, but largely curled up on Futaba's lap as he did so.

"We have a set of -" Knock, knock.

Masami's gaze snapped towards their door and her voice faded all the same. Yuto frowned and got up to go get the door this time, assuring his wife with a gentle smile to continue her story. She simply nodded and turned back to the rest of them, who were already watching Yuto leave.

"Here, let me take your plates." she offered, standing up.

"Oh, no it's okay." Ann quickly spoke, picking up her plate. Makoto, Yusuke, and the others did the same with their own. They crowded the woman slightly to take her things in her stead. "We can take care of this, please, it's the least we can do for you." Yusuke assured. On the other side of the house were Yuto and a few unnamed individuals. Their voices were low and with the lack of enthusiasm or energy, a growing feeling settled among the rest of them.

Nevertheless, Masami seemed stunned but simply let a small smile grace her lips at the politeness they exhibited. Just as they were about to say anything else, Yuto's voice rang through the house. "Masami." She turned and followed the voice to the living room area.

The Phantoms felt discomfort in Yuto's voice and went on to clean the dishes in meek silence. Clearly they were all trying to hear bits and pieces of whatever conversation was going on beyond them. The sink hissed softly in the background as the clatter of dishes created enough of a ruse for their investigation.

A choked sob came from the living room, it struck a chord in the hearts of the Thieves as they all seemed to almost freeze in place. Quickly, they cleaned their dishes to try and catch the rest of what the authorities were talking about. Ryuji completely forgot about his share of the work, but was grabbed by the belt loop by Makoto and yanked back.

"Stop." she hissed. "Wait for all of us." The blonde boy shot her a glare before he gripped the edge of the counter. None of them would have to come over as Yuto came in to get them. The lines on his features were harsh, almost discomforting to bear.

"I think you all need to hear this." His voice sounded raw, his eyes clearly were a little wet from tears he was trying to hold back in front of them.

'... I don't.' Ann felt almost sick and wished she wouldn't have to listen to something that she didn't want to hear. She held her wrist, hand still barely dry as she avoided meeting Yuto's eyes. The others also seemed just as hesitant. However, they slowly filed over to the living room with a gravitational pull they were trying to resist. The rest of the dishware was left unattended.

It looked to be two detectives and they introduced themselves rather briefly. A lot of it fell on deaf ears though as they held up Akira's high school photo taken this year. There he was, smiling at them as if nothing would ever happen. But something did happen because what they held with it was his torn and singed bag.

Along with it was the other half of his glasses, missing the other half. Ann sat down, her legs were giving way and the others nearly did the same too. Ryuji looked away in abject contempt as if he was refusing to believe what they were even saying. The others tried to listen, but a clear show of pain was written on their features.

Masami wasn't at the scene, but the movement upstairs indicated that she probably decided to be there in peace. Yuto sat stiffly on his chair, hands digging into his pants as the detectives ran through the story. It didn't take long for the man to press a hand over his face in frustration as the same thought was on everyone's mind.

Akira Kurusu perished in the train crash.

[...]

The shadow perished with a horrid screech, disintegrating into what seemed to almost be ash as his bladed weapon was retracted. Joker smiled from underneath his messy bangs, turning over to Arsene as he awaited. "Do you feel anything?" he asked again.

"No." Arsene ushered for him to move on.

"Arsene, I have a question."

"Go ahead."

Akira made his way up the flight of steps rather slowly to conserve energy. "Can you come and go as you please? I don't have to call for you?"

"Yes, but we are bound. There is no reason for me to come and go."

"I see." He sheathed the cane and continued on. "You have come out of yourself." That caused the raven-haired teen to look up at his companion as they roamed the so called 'Palace'. "What do you mean exactly?"

Arsene merely floated on by like a ghost attached to his hip. "You are engaged, grounded, rather than daydreaming."

"I was always focused on fights."

"In the moments between each fight, I mean. You are quite different now, Akira."

"In a good way?" he quickly asked, hungry for meaningful opinions.

The gentleman thief turned his head to the young man. "In a good way, you've seemed to root yourself in something greater." His red gloved hands slipped into the pocket of his pants as he headed down a torn corridor. The windows were shattered, light slipped in like thin strands to illuminate the ripped carpet.

"When we were the Phantom Thieves, I was held down by my past." Akira admitted. He stopped at a corner and peeked it to see for any shadows. None.

"I was myself, but when I was out of the Metaverse, I felt trapped still. Like a criminal." Arsene let out a deep hum. "Society can only dictate so much."

'Be honest to yourself.' Akira had begun to get used to the labels, the titles, the names, whether it was good or not. But he felt isolated in some sense, his friends were a temporary relief. But when they weren't around and he was left to his thoughts, his mind wandered.

"That's true, labels were labels. But in the current time, I just felt …" A hand came out to tug a lock of hair near his face. "Lonely." Arsene finished.

Yes, like a sinking feeling of something - 'something - something' he wasn't so comfortable with yet. At the time, even in that quiet attic and the prison of the Velvet Room, it was all too lonesome.

"Yeah, something like that. It changed though."

But here he was again, alone, not entirely, but maybe he was welcoming that feeling again like an old friend. Akira's footsteps echoed the large and empty halls; so, so, so empty. They looked like they were made for so many people, for people who no longer existed. 'I'm here though.'

His hand came upon a large wooden door as he came into a large hall with a throne at the center, it seemed to be on fire, but none of it melted away. "I don't know what I'm looking for if I'm going to be honest with you." Arsene nodded at that statement.

"We are not here to steal treasures anymore, I believe that's already been stolen. This Palace is not truly a Palace, but what is left over of someone else's."

Akira stopped and shifted his weight. "Someone already came in here and stole something?"

"Yes, a so called thread that will help this person navigate the Metaverse." The figure stopped as soon as he got into the light and turned to Akira. "Are you familiar with the tale of Theseus?"

"It rings a bell, vaguely." They walked on till they came upon the courtyard, where there seemed to be shadows littering it. Aimlessly, they wandered and seemed like they didn't have much direction to their path. "The Labyrinth."

The teen quickly nodded as if it rung a sudden bell. "Guarded by the Minotaur. But the Mementos is a labyrinth itself, so why is this person trying to navigate something like this? It's fractured."

Akira got his gun ready and drew the cane's handle from the stealthy 'sheathe'. "The Labyrinth is not part of the Mementos, but an extension of it as far as I understand." That caused the user to stop for a moment. "The Labyrinth spans horizontally, ever-changing and ever shifting, while the Mementos digs downwards and manifests only the people of Japan's distorted desires. The Labyrinth is for … everyone."

'Everyone in what way?' It was a little nerve-wrecking to sort of understand what responsibility he was shouldering right now. "In the world?"

"Yes, that's why it is imperative that we find its entrance and seal it from this person."

"I understand what we're looking for now, it's not an item, it's a place."

"And an item actually, Ariadne did not just give Theseus a ball of string. She also gave him a sword to kill the Minotaur with, I assume this person is also looking for a similar object if this place holds true to the myth. Once they find both and gets inside, there is no telling what this will do."

"He can change the world, similar to how we changed the cognition of the people in the Mementos." Akira silently readies himself for battle, finding a new sense of motivation to find this so-called 'sword' and 'Labyrinth'. With Arsene by his side, they took on the shadows in the courtyard.

They worked in synchronicity, like two of the same dancers whose hands were outstretched not to prolong the dance but to end it instead. With no gun, Akira was forced to touch on his hand to hand combat again, while relying on Arsene's prowess. The shadows here were far weaker than he imagined, but he kept his guard up regardless.

A few moments sent him nearly tumbling painfully, but he caught himself and dug his heels into the ground. "Let us not lose momentum, GO!" With Arsene's words of encouragement, he threw himself into the fray once more.

The Persona stayed close, covering his back as he took on the shadows in the front. The air was thick with the sounds of hollow cleaves, painful wails, and the burst of energy from the gentleman thief's infernal attacks.

Akira took a deep breath and sat on one of the broken steps, rubbing his arm as he hung his head. "I feel tired, even hungry, and thirsty." The black wings gently fluttered, casting a shadow over the user.

"You are in the Metaverse after all."

"What am I then, Arsene?"

"How do you mean?"

"Am I a shadow?" He looked up, his brows furrowed as he felt an identity crisis set in. "No, you're far from one."

"So, I'm a spirit."

"No, you are not that either." The thief seemed patient and he couldn't help but thank him silently for how sagely he's been the entire journey. But the answer clearly struck a chord with him. "You said I died, I'm starting to get confused as to what I am exactly."

"You are yourself, there is not much more than that."

"But I'm not a spirit?"

"You perished on the train from your hometown that night, Trickster. Your body was never found and the train reappeared four evenings later. As far as you're concerned Trickster, you currently do not exist in reality."

Joker stood up, his brows knitted and his expression a little hardened. "What happens when I try to leave the Metaverse?"

"I do not know exactly, I do not know the state your body is in, but in this cognitive world - you are alive. Perhaps you yourself are a cognition in the last few moments of your life."

"So, I just thought myself up in this world? I can disappear at any moment? I'm not even real." It came out almost like a frantic outburst, uncanny of him to do so, but Akira felt the need to dig for answers.

A low hum came from the thief. "Do you bleed, Trickster?"

Akira drew the blade and tugged his glove off, before gently pressing the blade against this skin. As deep as crimson, blood trickled out. "Then you are real."

"I need the MetaNav to get out. But that was given to me by Yaldabaoth, I wouldn't … shouldn't have it."

"You entered somehow, so there is a way out. But you do not possess a phone at this current state, neither do we know the means in which you've entered here. However we do have a task at hand."

"I should just ... focus." That was it, suddenly the noises faded and his eyes seemed to hone in objects in his surroundings. He still had the third eye. The teen headed down the steps towards a ruined garden, seeing what looked to be a broken pedestal. He headed over to it with a curious look in his eyes before he picked up what was on the floor.

"It's a book." Without much hesitation, he opened it, flipping through the pages unceremoniously. The binding was strong, the book was small enough to fit in his inner coat pocket. "It's blank."

"But it is of importance?"

"Yeah." Akira was about to close it when he saw something on the page, so he opened it a little more. "Wait."

Curiously, he stared at it. "It's pointing me somewhere, but I don't know where. We should follow, but carefully." The two of them headed out of the garden, past the courtyard, and in the direction in which the book was exactly pointing them to. It felt like a compass, but instead, the signals cast shadows towards a direction on a page.

Akira closed the book for a moment to look at the front, he saw one thing and it simply said: I.

"I?" he muttered, opening it again. It led him to a new platform, the wings of Arsene providing him the visibility he needed. Slowly, he was taken to another platform where he saw a train car waiting for him. "I'd quote Inferno, but I didn't pay attention very well in English class."

"That is to be expected, you always seemed rather far off."

Akira stepped onto the train and held onto the handle above. "I was there and sometimes I wasn't, I don't know, I kept asking 'what if'. But she made it better, I stopped asking."

"She. She is quite nice, is she not?"

"She's more than that. I miss her."

[...]

The van roared to life as they said their goodbyes to Akira's parents. They were rather short and brief with their words, but that was to be expected. Masami and Yuto looked almost ghastly, pale, and pretty upset in their own silent manner.

But the ride was even more silent, no one, not even Mona, spoke a word over the hum of the vehicle. Most of them were tired, ready to sleep at a moment's notice, but Makoto and Ann seemed to stay awake. The rest slept in the back.

"You have us."

Ann's glassy gaze moved from the mirror to the corner of her eyes, where it crinkled a little at a very forced smile. "You guys have me too, you know. I'm not the only one hurting."

"But you're hurting a lot." Makoto's voice faltered softly as she turned down an exit. The blonde's lip quivered a little before she pressed the sleeve of the jacket to her eyes. "It's hard, but we'll be okay."

Morgana's head dipped as he closed his eyes, trying to form something to say. But he knew they could speak about matters later when the atmosphere is different. The van pulled into a late-night diner, where they all got out, despite the exhaustion ridden on their features.

Shuffling inside, they headed for a booth to sit in, Ann took a few minutes outside before heading in. Morgana popped his head out of the bag for a moment as the music above them played loud enough to drown his 'meowing'.

"I'm sorry everyone." They looked at the cat, Haru and Futaba gently stroked his head. "Don't be, why else would we come to get you."

Mona shook his head. "It's not just that. I -..." His ears tucked as a clear look of guilt was shown on his dampened gaze. "I was supposed to protect him. He would've done the same for me."

"We didn' know this was gonna happen, Mona." Ryuji mused, pulling his tracksuit to himself. "None of us could really know." Yusuke drank the coffee with a hint of disdain, it wasn't like the one that Akira made for him back in Leblanc. "We don't know for certain that he is … you know, as they say, gone."

A murmur of gentle agreement moved through the lips of the Phantom Thieves, some opting to look out the window to avoid making a scene. Morgana curled up on Futaba's lap once the food was set down. "He's out there, I know he is."

"What makes you so sure?" It almost sounded annoyed, like Ann was having a hard time believing it. She gently stirred her coffee and leaned her chin on her palm. "Before all of this happened, I got dreams, flashes of the Mementos. But it wasn't the Mementos." Their heads perked up at the mention of it, some glanced at one another warily.

"Yeah, but Morgana, didn't the Mementos vanish with the MetaNav over a year ago? Along with the Metaverse too?" Makoto made a solid point.

"I know, it did, at least that's what I thought it did. I don't know if what I'm seeing is real, but it's a very fractured looking Mementos.

"What do you mean exactly, Kitty?" Futaba gently scratched his head, causing him to purr. "Yeeeooo - I didn't see the dark and veiny look of the usual Mementos. I just saw pieces of it floating around, connected by rails. It's like someone took the Mementos and split them into floating islands."

"So ya think this could be where Akira is?"

"I can't know for certain, I saw black wings overhead and they looked familiar."

"Black wings? Like a dragon or perhaps a bird?" Yusuke inquired.

"Bird-like and I noticed how familiar it looked, when Akira summons Arsene, I saw those same wings like the ones in my dreams. I felt like I saw Arsene."

"But how would that prove Akira-kun's existence in the Mementos?" Haru tilted her head and engrossed herself in the next answer.

"It doesn't but it's our best shot at him possibly being alive, Arsene is connected to Akira and the Mementos with all of us. We might as well look into it, we should try anything right?"

They nodded in unison and try to eat a little bit of what they've decided to order, some of the idle chatter seemed to fall flat until Ann spoke up again. "Hey Morgana, what did Akira say to you before he left?" she asked, stirring her now cold coffee.

"He just said he had to take care of something, he left really … late." He yawned and rubbed his eye with the side of his paw. "It wasn't like him but I thought he was just maybe out of it? He grabbed his bag but I went to sleep and woke up the next day, he was gone."

"Was he acting weird by any chance?" Yusuke chimed.

"No, he seemed fine, he seemed pretty normal."

"Thas' some weird -"

"Actually, I know he woke up with a nightmare once, like two days before he disappeared."

"Did he ever tell you what it was?" Futaba leaned in and rested her chin on her palm.

The cat shook his head at her, "No, he just said it was a nightmare and went back to sleep."

Ann nodded before she slipped out of the booth. "I'm going to wait in the van." She took out money for her food and placed it on the table in exchange for the van keys. "I'm kind of beat, so I need that beauty sleep." The blonde forced a smile, turning on her heels as she headed straight for the van, his friends saw the lack of energy in her step though.

"She's certainly soldiering through it." Yusuke pressed the cup to his lips, taking a few sips.

"She is, we'll have to be there for one another," Makoto assured. "For our sake and his."

"Agreed."

Ann slipped inside and closed the door, making her way to the back where she sat in the booth. She pressed her hand to his mouth and clenched her jaw, sitting in the sad silence that the vehicle provided for her. Soft hiccups came from behind her hand before she sharply inhaled and pressed the sleeve of her jacket to her eyes. "Okay, no … no more crying."

She cleared her throat and opened her phone, what greeted her was the both of them. Causing her to dry her eyes a few more times. "We'll find you." Ann sharply inhaled and closed her eyes. "I just need to be patient." That was the hardest part, it was the waiting for something to happen and the truth that she was finding hard to accept. The student pressed the phone to her chest, replaying an old voicemail he left on her phone.

Just like that, she felt grounded again by the voice. "... be there soon, we can get lunch." There was a pause as the sound of the overhead speakers in the voicemail picked up, then with bated breath, he said it. "I love you, Ann."

"I love you too." she softly mumbled, turning the phone screen off eventually. She felt better and found herself eager to look for Akira. Whatever Morgana had in mind, she was certainly more willing to try now.

Ryuji's voice snapped her out of her world. "Ready?" He's wearing a grin and she firmly nodded back as the others filed in. "Let's find him. Right, Mako-chan?" Haru smiled.

Her reddish-brown eyes meet Ann's, full of gentle mirth as they exchange a smile.

"Let's go."

This new 'Mementos' is just called the Labyrinth. I got the idea when I was looking at the Mementos art, where it spirals down deeper and deeper. But the Labyrinth instead is kind of a larger one, it's huge and spans as a collective of everyone's cognition. It spans horizontally instead of vertically. But it stems heavily from the myth of Theseus, with a few twists I'll reveal along the way. Thanks for reading!

Glaz