Y'ALL ARE GETTING HIT WITH A WAVE OF KI5 UPDATES IN CELEBRATION OF ASHLEY'S BIRTHDAY AND IN CELEBRATION OF THE DAY WE MET. WISH HER A HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

~Joker's POV~

I was waiting outside my house as I noticed cars rolling up in almost perfect unison. I knew that would work. I thought, snickering to myself. Karma was the first one out of his car marching over to me. "So do you always summon your team like that? Should I get used to this?" He questioned. I smirked. "Nope. Not always. I just got them all to come by adding you to the chat to make sure they'd come." I said with a wink. "So you used me." He said. "Used is a strong word." I said. Pretty soon the rest of the Metaverse team was running up to us. Itona, Flame, Rio, Kayano, and Asano. "What. The. Hell." Rio said pointing at me at Karma. "Someone better start explaining." Itona growled. "Relax guys. Relax." I said. "No. Not until you explain him." Kayano said, pointing at Karma. Asano and Flame walked up closer. Flame shot me a smirk before pulling me off to the side. "So. You never mentioned he already got his Persona." She said. I smirked back at the raven haired female. "You never asked." I told her. "Do you want me to introduce myself?" Flame questioned. "Knock yourself out." I told her. She walked over to Karma. "So. I've heard a lot about you." She said. "You must be Flame then." Karma said nodding to her. She smirked. "And you're Detective Karma Akabane. Yeah Joker talks about you a lot. You'd be surprised." She said. "And that's enough of that." I said covering Flame's mouth glaring at her slightly. I sighed. "This is Flame Draco. My right hand. She's the head of my War Division. Don't let that cheerful tone of her's fool you though. There lays peril in that." I said, breaking out into a cold sweat. The others all nodded. "Yeah no. Flame scares all of us. Even Joker sometimes." Asano said, sweat-dropping. "Just as insane as Joker too." Rio agreed while nodding. "She's the head of the War Division for a reason." Itona said. Flame pushed my hand away smiling brightly. "Also what the heck is with that smile? Aren't you an anti-social psychopath?" Asano questioned. "Normally yes." She said with a shrug. She then smirked more backing away slowly muttering something about 'her ship'. She pulled Rio to the side and started conversing with her. I sweat-dropped. "But anyways, does this mean he's on our side? I'm confused." Kayano said. I shook my head. "No, no. Karma is still a detective and everything. It's that he just so happened to strike a second deal with me." I said, shooting him a smirk as he looked away from me. "So now he has to take down the Palace. Or at the very least help with it. So I thought it'd be a good idea to get the gang together and have him get some experience." I said with a bright smile. "And you aren't worried about him catching you because...?" Itona said, making a hand gesture. "Terms of the deal." Karma answered for me. I smirked over at Karma. "Remember how I mentioned that certain people are represented with Arcanas?" I questioned. He nodded. "Everyone here has an Arcana. See if you can guess what they are." I said. Karma hummed to himself a little eyes traveling around. "I already know that Asano is the Priestess, as funny as that is. I'm gonna say Rio is the Chariot. Flame I think Magician. Itona...I think he's the Emperor. And Kayano, I think she's the Empress." He guessed. "Ding, ding, ding! All of the above!" I said. "Wow. He's good, I'll admit." Flame said. "Freaking sadistic honor student." Rio mumbled. "Well there was a reason for him being my rival back in Jr. High." Asano said, sweat-dropping. "Anywho!" I said, clapping my hands together and getting everyone's attention. "Enough questions. It's Palace time." I said, taking out my phone. Everyone else did the same and Karma followed soon after. "Beginning navigation." The female voice of the Meta-Nav said.

The world around us started shifting and pretty soon my house was now a large prison. I looked back to see everyone already in their Metaverse attire. "Why am I wearing this again!?" Karma questioned. I smirked. "Better get used to it. It happens every single time." I said, rolling my eyes.

A/N: Here's what everyone looks like, or at least close to what they look like. Rio is in a pirate outfit. I wasn't able to work something out with her. Lowkey cringey I'll admit.  

Joker is in her normal uniform. All black clothing with a black tailcoat jacket over it and (F/C) gloves. She's also got on her pin. Her mask is (F/C) with black outlining. (if your favorite color is black then change the outlining to silver.)

A/N: Anyways, back to the story.

"So Joker. Who's going to be your team this time?" Dragonheart asked. "First. A quick temporary code name for him." I said, jabbing a thumb at Karma. Silver hummed slightly. "Scarlet?" He offered. Kitsune shook his head. "Too easy." He said. "How about Ruby?" He offered. I shook my head. "We've already got an Emerald and a Topaz." I said. "Do I get a say in this?" Karma questioned. Topaz looked deep in thought. She snapped her fingers. "How about Akai?" She tried. "Then his would be the only Japanese sounding one." Dragonheart said. "What are you guys going on about?" Karma questioned. "I've got it!" Emerald said. "Let's call him Devil!" We all shot eachother looks. "No." We all deadpanned while looking at her. "I thought it was clever." She grumbled. I looked at Dragonheart. "Please tell me you have something." I said. She shrugged. "Why don't we call him by the code name he already has." She said. "I mean, these are only temporary code names. Why should we put so much work in them when they aren't even going to be the ones we use for every Palace?" She questioned. "You mean, we call him..." I trailed off. "Crimson Dragon." She finished for me. "I mean. We all use our code names from the Real World." Silver pointed out. "But don't we already have a Dragonheart?" Emerald questioned. "Doesn't matter. I like it." Topaz said. "Yeah. That suits him better than anything we could come up with currently." Kitsune agreed. "But still it's going to get annoying saying Crimson Dragon the entire time. Let's shorten it." Silver said. "Alrighty then!" I said brightly, looking back over at the red head. "From now until we come up with real code names, Karma will henceforth be referred to as Crimson when inside the Palace or Mementos." I declared. "....I'm so lost. Can someone explained what just happened?" He asked. "Your code name." Kitsune said. "Inside Palaces we always use code names." Silver picked up. "Joker, Kitsune, Silver, Topaz, Emerald, Dragonheart." I said, pointing to each person. "And now we'll be referring to you as Crimson. Get it now?" I questioned. He sighed. "Yeah. I'm following. But why do you use code names?" He asked. "You don't want your real name to get inside the head of a Palace ruler. Because if it does it can end up with them tracking you down because they'll know you're screwing with their head." Dragonheart explained. "Typically Palace rulers have no idea what goes on inside their Palace. But anything that happens in a Palace directly affects the ruler. And if something happens to the ruler's cognition, that'll change the Palace." Topaz continued. "Even if it is my Palace and it doesn't really matter I make it a point to get into the habit of doing things like this so that everyone is prepared when we do another Palace, if it's ever necessary." I explained. Karma nodded slowly. "Okay, I'm following. But how do any of you know this!?" He shouted. "Joker." Everyone deadpanned pointing at me. I just snickered. "So it's settled. From now on you're Crimson!" Emerald said cheerfully. "I didn't agree to any of this!" He shouted in protest. "So anyways, who's going to be on your team this time?" Dragonheart questioned. "Hmm..." I hummed, thinking. "Since he needs the experience, and so he can show off a little, Crimson will be with me in wave one." I said. "Then....Kitsune, since he's got a few healing skills...." I trailed off. "And then Dragonheart." I said. Silver snapped his fingers. "D*mn!" He cursed. Dragonheart smirked in victory. "Ha!" She said, laughing in Silver's face. "Alrighty then. Wave one has been decided. Don't wander too far incase I need to switch someone in." I said. Silver, Topaz, and Emerald nodded. "Rodger." They all said in unison. "As for you." I said, looking at the red headed detective. "Learn by observation and doing. Follow our lead, but make your own discoveries. Keep in mind, being a Wild Card means that you have more than one power." I mumbled. I kept my voice down so only he could hear the last part. He nodded. "I'll do my best." He said. "Great!" I said. My smirk grew. "But now. It's time for Palace infiltration." I said. "Pop Quiz." I said. I looked at Karma with a smirk. "True or false, when entering enemy territory you use the front door?" I questioned. "False." Karma said, glaring at me slightly. "What are you playing at?" He questioned. "Oh nothing." I said with a smirk. "But if your answer is indeed correct, then how do you enter enemy territory?" I asked. "The most basic of basics." Karma responded, pointing to an open ventilation shaft. "Find an infiltration point. Whether it be an open window or through the roof." He said. "Ding, ding, ding!" I said excitedly. "I knew you were a natural." I said. "You're catching on a lot faster than the rest of these idiots that's for sure." Dragonheart said, jabbing a thumb at the others. I just snickered when they started barking protests at her.

~Time Skip~

After we had entered the Palace we had followed our previous infiltration route and got to the safe room further in, avoiding any conflicts. I had been observing Karma and he was definitely good at this. Probably because of his assassin experience. We left the safe room and began exploring unknown territory. "Shadow!" I hissed, hiding behind the corner. The others following suit. The Shadow in the guard uniform walked past us before I jumped on it's shoulders and ripped off its mask. The guys flanked my sides when I jumped away and two enemies now faced us. "More Pixies?" I questioned. "What has security here gone soft?" Dragonheart asked. I pulled out my gun. "Oh well. Easy fix." I said shooting each one as they both fell to the ground. We surrounded them, each of us pointing our guns at the two Shadows on the ground. I smirked. "Hey Crimson." I said. He hummed in response. "Watch and learn." I said. "All Out Attack!" I barked as the other two smirked. Us three back flipped away before jumping into the air and rushing the enemies with a flurry of attacks. "Shows Over." I said, landing first. Kitsune landed next. "The Elements Have Come." He said. Dragonheart landed last. "You Can't See A Shadow." She said darkly with a smirk. Crimson stared at us for a bit. "You all have a flare for dramatics, don't you?" He questioned. "Also, Kitsune, dude, was that a f*cking Shotgun!?" I snickered again. "Yeah. If you think that's scary just wait until you see Emerald's gun. She's got a f*cking Grenade Launcher." I said. "Nope. Nopety, nope. Nope. Nope. Not happening." Crimson said, walking away. We all chuckled to ourselves. We continued forward for a little bit before we came across more Shadows. Quickly ambushing them and getting into formation it was time for a real fight. "Persona!" Kitsune yelled, going first this time. Johanna rolled in and Kitsune hopped on.

"Charge Johanna!" He yelled using a nuke skill and blasting all the enemies. Johanna left. "Holy s*it he does have a nuke bike." Crimson mumbled. "Taste my rage!" Dragonheart roared, charging in with her knife and slashing at one of the enemies. She back flipped dropping to one knee and shooting the enemy causing it to be knocked down. "Nice!" I said to her. Dragonheart baton passed to me. I ran up and slashed the enemy that was knocked down, killing it. I then shot the other enemy twice. "Crimson, you're up!" I told him. "Persona!" He roared, Arsene making his grand appearance. "Time to die." He growled lowly using a curse skill and knocking the enemy down. "Nice we found it's weakness!" I said excitedly. "You get another turn since you hit its weakness, it's called a One More. Finish them!" I said since there were two enemies left. "You got it." He said, nodding using a dark skill on the other enemy as well, knocking them both onto the floor. We surrounded them and used another All Out Attack. This time Crimson joining in. We continued forward finding another safe room and a few treasure chests. We rested in the safe room and I called a small meeting. "Dragonheart, how's our progress?" I questioned. She hummed slightly. "I can't say for certain, but we're getting closer to the solitary confinement cells." She said, pulling out the map. "Wait, you guys had a map?" Crimson questioned. "Yeah, we snatched it from the wardens a while back ago when we first started exploring the Palace." Silver said. "We need to get Joker over here to Shadow (Y/N). That's the end goal." Topaz said. "The wardens guard Shadow (Y/N) though. So getting to her will be really difficult. We may have to fight our way through." Kitsune said. "The solitary confinement cells are here." Emerald said, placing her finger on the map. "That's where Shadow (Y/N) is kept." She continued. I nodded slightly, my face turning serious. "Yes, they are underground cells, and yes, we are moving upstairs further away from it. But there's a secret passage that the wardens don't know about that leads straight down into solitary confinement. That's what we're aiming for so if we do end up fighting the wardens, we can at least have the element of surprise working in our favor." I said. I smirked. "Surprise motherf*ckers. They'll never see us coming." I said. "How do you know about the secret passage? And why is there a secret passage!? Geez...nothing in this Palace makes even a lick of sense." Crimson grumbled. "This is my Palace remember? I can sense these kinds of things. And duh. It's my Palace after all, remember, you're talking to a person that is literally insane. And yeah, maybe if we just fought our way through it wouldn't take as long and it wouldn't be as tedious. But we gain lots of things from exploring the Palace. Money, items, sometimes even new Personas." I said. I looked him in the eyes. "The end goal may be to take down this Palace so I can be free from whatever is still holding me back. But we all gain something from doing this. And we all have our own reasons for being here." I explained. "Call it being selfish on my part since I'm only here to fix my problems. But when I do so much for the others in the Organization, it's okay to be a little selfish here and there." I said. Kitsune and the others nodded and hummed in agreement. I yawned slightly. "I think it's getting late. We've made some progress today and hopefully we'll be able to make more soon. Good work everyone." I said. "Let's get out of here." Kitsune said. "Last one out has to spar with Void!" Dragonheart called rushing out the door. "OH HELL NO!" Everyone else shouted except for me and Crimson, rushing out the door after her. I couldn't help but laugh at them and smile warmly. "Well I better get going. I don't want to spar with Void either." I said. I was about to rush out the door when Crimson caught my wrist. "Hey. Once we get back to the Real World we need to talk." He said. I smirked at him. "Alright. Oh wait I have a spare GoHome. Duh Joker." I said to myself. I pulled out a small bomb and threw it on the ground. And just like that me and Crimson were right in front of the Palace. "What the hell...?" He mumbled, looking at me. "Infiltration tool." I said, just as Dragonheart poofed next to us. "I see you had an extra too." She said. I nodded with a smirk. "Well we aren't sparring with Void that's for sure." I said. We both started laughing, leaving Crimson out of the loop. The others pushed past eachother and the last one out was Kitsune. "Looks like the fox over here is going to face the dragon of destruction." Dragonheart said with a snicker. He paled. "Oh I'm gonna die." He said starting to panic. I laughed. "Relax man I'm not going to make you face Void." I said. He glared at me. "C'mon Joker! You and Dragonheart are so mean!" He shouted, then proceeded to pout like a child. "Why am I always the butt of your jokes?" He questioned. "You aren't." I said. "He is." Dragonheart finished for me, pointing at Silver. "HEY!" Silver roared.

~Back To The Real World~

Once we were back in the real world the others all slowly walked back to their cars and went to their homes, leaving me and Karma alone. He yawned. "Why am I so tired all of a sudden?" He questioned, walking with me back inside. "That's another thing with Palaces and other things dealing with the Metaverse. Once you get back to the real world you become drained." I said. "A good majority of the others have to go to sleep directly afterwards so they go home after a Palace trip. Me? I typically just work on things online or do something inside the house until I pass out. I can still get some stuff done but most likely I won't make it to my bed. I wake up totally snappy sure but its worth it in the end." I said. Karma shot me a look. "That's not healthy. How late do you typically stay up?" He questioned. I hummed a little jumping on the couch and laying on my back. "Depends. Sometimes I go to bed at 9:00 in the evening, sometimes I can't get to sleep til after midnight. Not much I can do about though. Being honest last night was the best sleep I've had in a month or so. But then again I'm more used to pulling all nighters." I explained. I heard him mumbling under his breath, seeming to be doing math from what I could tell. "No wonder you look so tired all the time and fall asleep in trees." He grumbled. I heard him walking over to the couch. I cracked an eye open to see him glaring at me slightly. "Are you just an insomniac or is it because of those nightmares you mentioned?" He questioned. I raised an eyebrow opening both my eyes. "It used to be the nightmares." I said honestly, yawning. "I would force myself to stay awake because I didn't have the stomach for it back then. My nightmares were always about the people I killed. When I was first going insane. Those nightmares were always indescribable gory." I explained. I shivered. "My twisted mind would make it all look so much worse than it was when I actually killed my targets. And like I said, I didn't have the stomach to handle stuff like that back then. It would wind up with me vomiting for....a while." I trailed off, shivering again. I rolled over turning my back to Karma. "So, I would force myself to stay awake. Keeping myself distracted with work, using coffee, anything at my disposal to keep myself awake. After a while murder became easier, blood became beautiful, and my nightmares got normal. I still have them. They just don't effect me in that way anymore. It's still rare for me to have a pleasant dream. But when I do sleep it's mostly dreamless because I only get like four to five hours of sleep. The longer I sleep the more likely I'll get a nightmare. But because they've become normal, now that I've gotten used to them, I can control my nightmares just as I do with everything in my life. But because I got into the habit of staying up, sleep became harder to come by. My mental clock is broken. So to answer your question, now it's because I'm an insomniac." I said. My eyes widened slightly. "Wait...Why am I telling you this!?" I questioned. Karma snickered slightly. "Well I'm going to change into something more comfortable and probably pass out at my desk. Later." I said, pulling myself over the couch and sprinting upstairs. After changing into my night clothes and sitting down at my computer I started thinking.

"It's been a while since I've thrown a party...I should plan one." I said to myself. There was a knock on my door. "Come in." I said, typing away at the computer the glow illuminating my face in the dark room. The door opened but my eyes never left the screen. "What is it detective?" I questioned. I felt myself being picked up. "HEY!" I shouted, starting to thrash around. "Bed." Karma growled tossing me over onto my bed and shutting the lid to my computer. Leaving the lamp by the bedside the only source of light in the room. "But I'm not tired!" I said. "Really now? What was all that about being tired when coming out of the Palace? And don't think I didn't notice you yawning." He said. "What? Are you gonna stay there until I go to sleep? That's creepy. And I can pretend. I can act y'know. How else do you think I double as (Y/N) half the time?" I questioned, getting up. I was walking for my door when Karma wrapped his arms around me and dragged me back to bed. "NOOOOOO!!!!!" I whined. "What is with you and the whining?" Karma questioned. "No bed! I still have work to do!" I protested. "(Y/N) I'm concerned about your health. Maybe if you sleep more you won't look like a walking zombie half the time. Bed." He growled. "I AM AN ADULT D*MNIT!" I yelled. "Then why do you act like a child? You need to sleep more!" Karma argued. "YOU CAN'T MAKE ME! I'LL FIND A WAY!" I shouted. I yelped, feeling myself getting yanked onto the bed. But before I could launch back up again I noticed Karma's arms were still around me. "Let. Me. Go." I growled. "Not until you sleep." He growled back pulling me closer to him. "Why are you so concerned about my health!? I'm suppose to be your enemy!" I argued. I felt Karma tense up slightly before sighing. "Well how can you be my enemy if you aren't in top condition? I want you to challenge me understand? To do that I can't have you falling asleep in the middle of the day and getting yourself captured by someone else from the Agency." He said. His grip tightened slightly, surprising me a little. "Only I'm allowed to take you down. I want to be the one to do it." He growled lowly. I tensed up slightly, hearing the seriousness in his tone. But there was something else in his tone. Possessiveness? Was that what it was? Karma sighed. "Just rest for now. Even if it's just for a little while." He said, pulling the blanket over us. I scoffed slightly before turning to face him and burying my face in his chest. "Shut up. Fine I'll sleep. But only because this was right after a Palace raid, and I'm not in the mood to argue with you any further. But d*mnit don't try this again or else I'll stab you." I hissed in annoyance. He chuckled to himself. "Noted." He said, turning off the lamp. For once I found it hard to keep my eyes open. And I wasn't even tempted to try and wait him out. That...feeling rose in my chest again. That warm fuzzy feeling that I didn't understand at all. I wasn't a fool. I knew that there was something wrong with me. I mean. Duh. Obviously. I'm Joker for crying out loud and have murdered tons of people because I was bored. But there was another reason. Because I didn't understand most of the emotions of humans. I could understand some, but those were only because I could feel them from time to time. Sadness, joy, and anger. I could understand those, they made sense to me. When you're sad you want to cry, when you're happy you want to laugh, when you're angry you want to kill something. Those I can understand. I can understand fear, because I've felt it before when I was younger. But those are the only ones. Everything else, doesn't make sense. I know what they're called. But I don't know what they feel like. I don't feel things properly. And I rarely felt things before. I was able to pretend. I'm good at acting. But actually feeling things was different. But...after my first encounter with Karma, I've been feeling things again. Some of them, new things that I didn't know nor understand. D*mnit, what's happening to me? And why do these feelings only appear around him? I thought, tensing up a little bit. Karma must have sensed my slight distress because he brought one of his hands up behind my head and gently pulled me closer to him, nuzzling the top of my head. I felt my face heat up at his touch. Why...him? Why does this only happen around him? I thought. There's that fuzzy feeling again. I growled mentally. But... My thought trailed off. Just like last night...this is nice....Why do I feel so safe with him holding me like this? I started to relax slightly, letting out a small sigh. This...This is fine. I'm going to find out what this emotion is. And I'm gonna find out why it only appears when the detective is around. I thought nodding slightly to myself. But for now, sleep does seem pretty compelling. My eyes slowly started to drift shut. But my mind continued to wander. And it eventually wandered back to the possessiveness in Karma's tone. It caused my face to heat up again. And...another thing....What's this feeling I get when I think about that tone? Is he possessive over me? Do I like that he's possessive over me? I shook my head slightly. "Joker are you alright?" Karma asked, a little drowsy. My face started heating up more. "Y-yeah. I'm fine. Just...thinking." I responded. He hummed a little before I sensed him slowing down his wavelength. I was slowly enveloped in a calming warmth. "What are you...*yawn*...doing?" I questioned eyes drooping. He didn't respond. But my own wavelength started to smooth down. Thinking slowly became impossible as my eyes drifted shut. "Detective....what....are you....doing?" I questioned slowly. The feeling left but I was still in the small trance. "Just a little trick I learned as an assassin to help calm myself before a mission." He responded. His voice seemed more smooth and deep than it was before. What was...going on? "Rest easy (Y/N). Good night." He said, nuzzling the top of my head again. I tried to fight the overwhelming sense of calmness that tried to lull me to sleep, whatever he did it wasn't natural and I didn't like that whatever he did was overpowering my consciousness. But I couldn't summon any panic or fear in my mind to help break out of the small trance. And I couldn't help but feel serene and calm. Eventually any resistance soon faded, and my mind and body finally allowed themselves to sleep.