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The Phantom Thieves were unable to steal Maruki's heart.

Forced into an eternal slumber, for many years, Ren was left in the attic of LeBlanc, kept alive by Maruki's god-like powers, while the world around him changed into the 'perfect' reality. His friends forgot about him, and as far as the world was concerned, Ren Amamiya did not exist. All was well, in Maruki's mind; nobody had to suffer anymore.

Then, the Demi-fiend arrived into his reality, and after finding Ren, the only lingering spark of something other than obedience left in this world, 'gifted' him Marogareh.

The very same Magatama that turned Naoki Kashima into the Demi-fiend.

After a horrific transformation, Ren was turned into a demi-fiend, and with little explantion from the Demi-fiend, let loose into a world that was no longer his own. He had instincts he didn't know what to do with, a brand-new temper to put Call of Chaos to shame, and a modified body that felt foreign and wrong, like someone had taken every cell inside him and moved it slightly to the left. His Personas didn't answer to him anymore, despite feeling a speck of their presence. Demons roamed the street, invisible to the happy masses, some of whom'd occasionally get killed and eaten in broad daylight- though every time it happened, the world adjusted as if that person were never there in the first place. Nobody could see him, either, as a newly-formed fiend, not until he'd physically grab them, and even then, people were hazy and dreamy. Not quite all there.

After he accidentally pissed off, and subsequently defeated a group of demons for 'hunting' on their turf, a Cait Sith took pity on him, and decided to appoint himself as Ren's guide in the new world (or rather: he saw Ren had potential, and didn't want to become an enemy of a future Fiend). When they ran into the Demi-fiend once more, Ren and Cait Sith decided to seek out his old friends (though Ren had been planning to do so anyway), and hope to find answers. What they found instead was devastating; none of them remembered Ren in the slightest, and in fact, became hostile when he tried to help them remember, fleeing towards offshoots of Maruki's Palace. While the main Palace was still in Odaiba, it appeared that new branches had appeared all over Tokyo (and presumably, the world), to spread his influence further.

All Ren could do was follow after his friends, hoping to talk reason into them when backed into a corner, but it was no use; with every new encounter, it became apparent that they were completely under Maruki's control, and would fight to the death to defend his reality. At first reluctant, but increasingly more numb and determined, Ren was forced to slaughter them all in order to set them free from Maruki. The only allies in this world he had left were Cait Sith, the various demons he managed to recruit, the Demi-fiend, and, after he appeared in this reality by summons of the Demi-fiend in order to 'test' Ren, Dante Redgrave, proprietor of the demon-hunting business 'Devil May Cry'.

Regardless of the hardships, Ren managed to persevere, hoping to somehow regain control of reality, and reset it back to what it was supposed to be, though he grew increasingly weary of it with every step of the way. Every new victory brought with it another friend lost, another ray of hope extinguished, and a bitter acceptance of his newfound instincts and body. Murdering people stopped being something his instincts craved but he abhorred; it just became another part of his new, wretched existence. Demons were both the enemy and his allies, given the right words to butter them up. If he tried really hard, it almost felt like negotiating with Shadows in the Metaverse, surrounded by his friends rather than a rag-tag group of demons that just barely listened to him, though by the end, he stopped pretending it was even that.

All of this culminated into him storming Maruki's Palace together with the Demi-fiend, Dante, and the posse of demons that had dedicated themselves to him, more powerful than he'd ever been, even as a Persona user. He confronted Maruki, asked him why, why would he do this to him? To the world? How could he let it get this far?

Instead of answering, Maruki sent his final trump card after Ren; Goro Akechi, undead and untouched by time, but completely under Maruki's control. A husk of his former self, here only to be Maruki's guard dog. That, in itself, was enough of an answer, wasn't it?

It would be kind to call it a battle, but in reality, it was a massacre. Maruki had counted on Ren's reluctance to kill his former rival, his former love interest, and indeed, it hurt. It hurt, to murder him again, this time by his own hand.

But Ren had no reluctance left inside himself. All this did was fuel his anger, boiling over beyond what he'd felt before; he reawakened Arsène, and utterly destroyed what was once Akechi Goro, now just a mindless puppet of Maruki's creation, with a combination of demonic and Persona powers.

Maruki was soon to follow.

...


The nice thing, the thing that storybooks would tell you, is that the world went back to normal. That Maruki's spell was undone, that everything that had happened didn't actually happen, and that teveryone was alive and well and it was all sunshine and fucking rainbows.

Reality wasn't that kind.

The only thing that happened is that the veil was lifted.

Mementos had fused with reality, and thus, fiction and reality had become one; the very reason demons roamed the streets in the first place. They were former Shadows turned into reality, except now, instead of being invisble specters, they were tangible, sentient beings.

And people could suddenly see them, the red sky of Mementos, the perpetual rain of blood. Chaos erupted. Everything went to shit.

There are no perfect outcomes. There is only action and inaction, making your own choices, and having to live with the consequences of those.

Ren made the choice to set the world free, in hopes that it would rebuild itself.

But at what cost?

Now, Ren travels alongside the Demi-fiend in his journey to destroy YHVH and eventually, Lucifer, unable to stand staying in the broken remains of what was once his world. They, too, aim to control humanity, and do so, in many realities.

The person who was once Ren Amamiya had become Ren, the Fiend. Ruthless. Angry. Apathetic to all but his closest companions, and a burning hatred for all those who would control others, regardless of intentions.