#once again i dont expect any reactions but this phantom pain is worse than it has been any other year i can genuinely already feel

[frighthouseofalighthouse]

.

[ramblingsofa-crazedauthor]

A World Too Late - Chapter 1

Summary: Goro Akechi never slipped up. They never figured out he could understand Morgana at the TV station, and they never anticipated what he was to do. Akira Kurusu is dead. He died for real, and the whole world believes it was a suicide. Even the Phantom Thieves don't know what happened and are terrified of the possibility that he actually took his own life. But they aren't as weak as they were expected to be. Instead of going into hiding, they make plans on their next move and make a bold retaliation in an effort to show they are not defeated. While they try to find out what actually happened to Akira, more and more of the world they never really understood starts to unravel.

Content Warnings: Assumption of Suicide, Murder, Guns, Betrayal

Relationships: None

Also on AO3: http://archiveofourown.org/works/11895276/chapters/268693

Chapter 1: Today’s Breaking News

Phantom Thieves Group Topic: Last Night

Futaba: we need to talk about this

Ann: God…

Yusuke: I still can't believe what happened.

Haru: He'll be okay, right?

Makoto: The police surely couldn't force him into anything…

Ryuji: How the hell do we know?! They're corrupt, remember?

Makoto: There would be a video camera…

Haru: Could Futaba hack into it?

Futaba: its not that simple, it would take me way too long even if i tried

Yusuke: Could we recover the footage in another way?

Futaba: then youd have to actually get into the police station

Ann: All of this is just guessing, too…

Ryuji: This is effed up.

Makoto: I think my sister will be questioning him…

Haru: Can we plan some sort of escape?

Ann: It'll be fine if he hasn't confessed, right?

Makoto: They already know his name and face… If we free him, he'll have to go into hiding.

Yusuke: This is going nowhere. We should talk in person.

Futaba: i guess youre right…

Makoto: This afternoon at the hideout?

Ann: I’ll have to cancel plans, but okay.

Haru: See you guys there.

(End of chat log.)

Futaba Sakura put down her phone, staring up at the ceiling. Her wide array of computer screens were laid out before her, but she wasn't interested in what any of them were displaying. One of them showed a continuous news broadcast, and she was waiting for a certain person's name or face or even existence to show up on it. She wondered bitterly when they would announce the brave apprehension of the leader of the Phantom Thieves, parading around their 'justice' as worse things went on below the surface. There was something else on one of her monitors - the Phantom Aficionado website. She glanced at the poll, consistently going down. She wondered how it would fare once the news about Akira became public. It didn't even seem possible for it to go lower, but people always surprised her.

Futaba jumped when there was a knock on her door, and she heard the distinct voice of Sojiro, "Futaba, please tell me what happened. Where's Akira? Do I have to call the-" "No! Don't call the police," she replied, knowing she would have to tell him soon. She could just let him find out from the news report, but it felt rather cruel and impersonal just to leave it to that. Though he didn't show it all that often, Sojiro clearly cared about Akira more than he would admit. Futaba had been putting it off because she was scared of his reaction, but he needed to know. She nervously got up, and opened the door. He was looking at her with a stern yet somewhat worried expression.

Futaba sighed, "Last night… We were doing a mission for the Phantom Thieves." The name clearly made him tense up, and when she didn't seem eager to continue, he asked, "Is that it? What happened?" Steeling herself, she said, "Um… We were doing a mission. And we made a mistake, so he distracted the people trying to catch us, and, well… He got caught by the police." "He what?!" Sojiro exclaimed. "We don't know anything except that he's being questioned right now, we just need to wait and see what happens…" she said. After the initial shock, he frowned and sighed, "You've really screwed yourselves over, you know that? ...Do you think he's going to reveal your identities?" She shook her head, "There's no way. He's Akira."

Sojiro understood. He said, "Are the rest of you coming over?" "Yeah. This afternoon," she replied. His expression was troubled, "Be careful, okay? I don't want you getting into the same situation… Is he going to show up on the news? They may keep his identity a secret or even not announce it at all." "I don't know, none of us know. I've been keeping my eye on the news all day, they'll have to say something about it." Futaba looked down and started to close her door again, but not before Sojiro said, "Don't get arrested, kid."

---

Phantom Thieves Group Topic: Boss

Futaba: i told sojiro what happened

Haru: How did he react?

Futaba: ok… he's not angry or anything

Ryuji: That's good, at least.

Ann: I don't think Boss had any chance of reacting badly.

Futaba: well, i wasnt sure. when he found out about us being phantom thieves, he wasnt too impressed

Yusuke: At least this is one victory.

Futaba: nobody asked you, inari

Makoto: Anyway, this topic made me wonder…

Makoto: Is there any chance Akira would reveal our identities?

Futaba: sojiro mentioned this. i dont think so, hes not that kind of person

Haru: Agreed.

Ryuji: There's no chance in hell.

Makoto: They could do something to force it out of him… It's the same with a confession.

Makoto: I know a few of the things they do, and it's not pretty.

Yusuke: I think he has enough willpower to pull through…

Ann: I trust him. He'd never do that.

(End of chat log.)

---

When the afternoon came, the Phantom Thieves began to arrive at Leblanc. Instead of going up into Akira's room as they usually did, they sat in one of the booths. There was something a bit uncomfortable about it, now. Besides, there were no customers at that moment so they didn't have to worry about accidentally revealing their identities. Morgana had gone to Haru's house for the night, though Futaba did offer for him to stay at Sojiro's house. The man had made coffee for his daughter exclusively, remarking that there were too many of them and none were paying. The TV was louder than usual, and they could all hear the everyday news. It still seemed that it wasn't going public, which only made them feel more tense, as if something terrible had happened and the officials didn't want to tell the masses about it.

Ryuji was making short, stiff movements, "Can't they just announce it and get it over with?" Biting her lip, Makoto replied, "We can't rush it. They might announce it now, or announce it in a week. Maybe they want to question him first, or get a signed confession." "They don't have anything without a confession, right?" Morgana jumped onto the table. "Well, they caught him in the act, but the whole story is still a little hard to believe…" Haru noted. Morgana said, "Well, that's been bothering me - the whole catching him in the act thing. How did they know what to do? Is there someone in the police force with access to the Metaverse? Why haven't they used it until now?"

Makoto frowned, "Well, there's another option, isn't there? It's possible, but I don't really want to believe it. ...What if we were betrayed?" The possibility hung in the air, an unwanted, uncomfortable weight. The idea that there could've been a betrayal - that somebody among them weren't who they said they were was disquieting. But despite it being painful to even consider, it was a needed possibility. If they didn't regard it, then they might not be able to discover why Akira Kurusu had been caught by the police. Yusuke said, "How would we find out who did it?"

Morgana was pacing across the table, "Well, I have a bit of an idea of who it could be." When nobody replied, he continued, "I might as well just say it… Where's Akechi?" Everyone had been preoccupied, and completely missed the newest member's absence. It was a fair point, considering he had only just joined and hadn't contacted any of them since last night. "I'll contact him now," Makoto brought out her phone.

To: Goro Akechi

Makoto: Akechi? Where are you? Why aren't you at our meeting?

Makoto: We have reasons to suspect you as a traitor.

Makoto: They're not much, but please reply so they can be eased.

When Morgana pointed out that speculating without evidence wouldn't end well, they sat in tense silence for a few minutes. This was broken by the newcaster announcing that the police had released a statement saying they had apprehended the leader of the Phantom Thieves. Their heads immediately whipped up, needing to take in every detail that the police were willing to make public. The broadcast described what they already knew, how he was caught in the act last night, he was a student, and he currently on probation. As it went on, everyone relaxed a little, the tension of awaiting the announcement gone. "I guess now we'll just have to wait for more information," Yusuke sighed.

Sojiro seemed to be glancing up at the monitor every few seconds while washing dishes. As the news went on, there was more and more misinformation. They were talking about how the Phantom Thieves had been the ones to kill Kunikazu Okumura (they hadn't) and how they had caused all the mental breakdowns (which they definitely hadn't). Though they were used to the rampant assumptions, it still was annoying to see them so widely accepted by everyone despite the little basis they had. Futaba checked her phone, then told everyone, "And yet again, our 'innocent ranking' has gone down." The way she said sounded like it was trying to be humorous, but there was a slightly agitated undertone. That was how most of them felt, wanting to keep the mood up at least somewhat, but really not able to.

At least there was some good news - he hadn't yet revealed the identities of any of them, or any other accomplices like Takemi or Iwai. They hadn't expected him to in the first place, but there was mild relief in the fact that whatever horrible torture methods they were using weren't bad enough to get him to confess their identities. He was staying strong, as they Joker they knew. The man on the TV announced there was 'breaking news' once more, and they all looked up to see whatever he had to say. It was quick, matter-of-fact, and completely emotionless. They went on to another segment to discuss it almost immediately. There were no condolences, explanations, or apologies. After all, wasn't it all so simple?

Akira Kurusu, the leader of the Phantom Thieves, their friend, had committed suicide.

There was terrible silence that first took hold of the café when this was announced. There was no way it was true, they didn't know themselves! It had just been announced on television, and they hadn't actually seen his body hit the ground, or heard his final words, or been told by him that he was to die. This was probably some elaborate trick to fool the public into thinking the 'threat' was gone so they could complete palaces without being watched by the police or the public eye. "T-This can't be true," Ryuji said. Ann muttered, "Of course it isn't. H-He wouldn't do this. There's no way he…" Morgana said, "They're lying! He could never do something like this." The program continued on. It talked about how this probably was because he didn't want any information to get out about how he did it, or who he was working with. They said that he had stole the guard's gun, shot them, then shot himself. Someone from a hastily-constructed interview said that he was a coward and had deserved to die for the terrible things he had done.

Sojiro stared up at the screen, "This has to be a joke." "What if he tricked them?! What if he faked his death, so he could go off the radar, and now…!" Futaba offered hurriedly. She hastily took out her phone and stared at the screen, waiting for a phantom message. Haru was shaking, her eyes were affixed on the television, "He planned this, I know it…" Going almost completely pallid, Yusuke whispered, "Someone like him… Would never do that." Makoto simply held her hand over her mouth, unable to talk.

They all had to believe that this was just another one of his over-the-top ploys. Soon, he would turn up, smiling, safe and sound, and without a hole in his head. They knew him for his unprecedented plans, his unreadable mind, his unexplainable ideas. But there was something brutally simple about what had happened, something that didn't exactly fit into strategies of his calibre. Despite his wild tendencies, there would always be a word to them, assuring them not to worry, that he had it all figured out. Where was it? Even if he hadn't been able to communicate it, he was Akira. He found some way to do things that wouldn't make his teammates stare in shock and horror without any explanation. Maybe they were overestimating him for what he was, maybe there was no genius way to get out of this situation other than a bullet to the head. But there was a single question left. How could he do this? How could he do this to everything they had stood for? How could he do this to himself? How could he do this to them?

---

To: Akira Kurusu

Alibaba: You're alive, right?