History Fanfic / BlackenedMasks

** "Chariot, Crashed and Crumbling": [[spoiler:Ryuji is shot and killed by Shido's cognitive perception of him, but holds back a Shadow hoard long enough for Joker and the others to escape their confrontational arena. Ryuji dies, and Ren comforts his grieving mother while noting that he was never as alone as he thought he was.]]

** By virtue of the fic's premise, Akechi is not the Black Mask and/or the culprit behind the mental shutdowns in any of the AUs.

** In canon, Akechi hated Ren's guts since he found it unfair that somehow, Ren was able to make meaningful connections despite his stained reputation, and saw Sae as a means to an end in his quest for revenge. In "Lovers", Akechi and Ren are genuine friends [[spoiler:to the point where he has Ann agree to take the heat for Ren's crimes as a Phantom Thief just to protect him]], and has pure respect for Sae as a partner. However, the author notes that he still has some of his asshole-ish traits from canon, he just now has a PositiveFriendInfluence, thus making him a JerkWithAHeartOfGold and a downplayed TokenEvilTeammate.

** Ann is so far the worst out of all [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity thanks to her putting]] RevengeBeforeReason, turning her into a mass murderer that puts ''Canon Akechi'' to shame, as her notoriety completely eclipses the Phantom Thieves' existence.

** "Emperor of an Empty Domain": Yusuke killing Madarame is what leads to his StartOfDarkness.

* CreateYourOwnVillain: Black Mask Ann is unique in that she truly starts her killing spree after the Phantom Thieves become active. Okumura's change of heart is what drives her to decide that the world needs to be purged of its scumbags.

* WhatIf: Each of the Phantom Thieves were the culprit behind the Mental Shutdowns plaguing Japan?

** Yusuke's SelectiveObliviousness means that he won't consider that he had been wrong about some of his stances until it's shoved right in his face.

* PetTheDog: Black Mask Ann makes the completely conscious decision to leave Shadow Makoto in peace after hearing her HiddenDepths.

* DarkIsNotEvil: Akechi still wears his old Black Mask colors as a genuine member of the Phantom Thieves in Ann's chapter.

* {{Patricide}}: Black Mask Ryuji's first victim is his own abusive father.

* AdaptationRelationshipOverhaul: Naturally, any character that's put in the Black Mask role will go through this, but while Ryuji still sees them as companions and Yusuke considers them {{Worthy Opponent}}s, Ann straight up hates them for {{Kill Steal}}ing her targets.

** Akechi in canon hated Ren's guts since he found it unfair that somehow, Ren was able to make meaningful connections despite his stained reputation, and saw Sae as a means to an end in his quest for revenge. In "Lovers", Akechi and Ren are genuine friends [[spoiler:to the point where he has Ann agree to take the heat for Ren's crimes as a Phantom Thief just to protect him]], and has pure respect for Sae as a partner. However, the author notes that he still has some of his asshole-ish traits from canon, he just now has a PositiveFriendInfluence, thus making him a downplayed TokenEvilTeammate.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: The title's for each story gives a good look to how the Black Mask's ending would look like. [[spoiler:Ryuji dies, Ann received a life sentence and isolated from her family and Shiho, the latter of whom she started her murderous rampage for, and Yusuke is forced to face that his initial ideals about HumansAreBastard had amounted to nothing and turned himself in.]]

** Ann in "Chariot, Crashed and Crumbling" remains a regular human and did not become a phantom thief due to Kamoshida being dealt with early.

** "Lovers, Seperated": [[spoiler:Ann was able to weaken Yaldabaoth enough for the Phantom Thieves to land the killing blow, saving the world. However, that still doesn't stop Akechi from giving Ann a life sentence, and while she does get the occasional visitors, her parents and Shiho refuses to see her.]]
** "Emperor of an Empty Domain": [[spoiler:Yusuke [[HeelRealization realizes that his nihilistic worldview was wrong the entire time]], and ends up agreeing with Ren that HumansAreFlawed. Though still getting imprisoned, Sae agrees to pass on to Ren his last art piece before getting locked up, which is a recreation of Joker and the Phantom Thieves standing up to Yaldabaoth.]]

* DiedInYourArmsTonight: [[spoiler:Sae suffers from her Mental Shutdown as Makoto gives her one last hug before falling asleep together. What made it worse is that Sae didn't even know she was dying. Thankfully, Akechi's Samarecarm on her shadow was able to save Sae, albeit, barely.]]

* FatalFlaw: The story explores on how each of the character's own flaws gets turned to worse without the PositiveFriendInfluence in their lives when they found the metaverse.
** Ryuji, when angered, lashes out easily and doesn't control his temper as well as he seemed. Ryuji also targeting only those who wronged him or annoy him made it easy for Shido to track him down to use him.
** Ann is the most emotionally driven and easily falls under BlackAndWhiteInsanity when she managed to kill Kamoshida, and continues to employ RevengeBeforeReason before analyzing the situation beforehand. Ann was nearly about to actually kill Makoto for the fallout of Kobayakawa's stolen heart where Ann confronting Makoto's shadow made her realize that she assumed about Makoto too soon... [[spoiler:though unfortunately not enough to stop her from trying to kill Sae]].
** Yusuke's SelectiveObliviousness means that he won't consider that he had been wrong at some of his stances until it's shoved right in his face.

* HeelFaceTurn: Black Mask Ann immediately tries to fight Yaldabaoth upon meeting him, and softens him up for the Phantom Thieves.
* HeroOfAnotherStory: The Phantom thieves activities are only alluded to due to the stories focusing only on the Black Mask version of each story's focus character.

* InSpiteOfANail: The author outright states that Sae still has a palace in "Emperor of an Empty Domain" despite Akechi [[DemotedToExtra being a non-factor]] and Yusuke nipping The Conspiracy in the bud.
* LoneWolfBoss: Black Mask Ann fits the mold as she has no alliances to Shido or Yaldabaoth throughout her murderous career.

* PrecisionFStrike: Sae delivers a massive F-bomb [[spoiler:when she accidentally ends up in the Metaverse with the rest of the Phantom Thieves in "Emperor of an Empty Domain".]]

* SayingTooMuch: Each of the Black Mask gets found out in one way or another due to a minor mistake they make, as a CallBack to Akechi's canon "Pancake" moment:

** Yusuke was [[spoiler:close to being able to get away with his killings unscathed, but had made the mistake of unmasking himself in front of Sae's Shadow.]]
* SelectiveObliviousness: Yusuke, as the antagonist [[spoiler:finds himself challenged about Futaba and Sae's palace and briefly ponders if he had killed those who had palaces but were actually innocent and formed them due to turmoil in their lives, but he had come too far as a killer to consider that he had been wrong.]]

* TarotMotifs: Subtle, but the Role swap elements means that the canonical arcana's that the thieves had are swapped to something different. Akechi in Yusuke's chapter took his place as Ren's Emperor confidant while Black Mask! Ryuji is Ren's "Tower" confidant in his focus chapter according to the author, for an example.
* ThrowTheDogABone: Due to the RoleSwapAU element, Akechi often ends up in a better position mentally and emotionally in some of these stories. In "Chariot, Crashed and Crumbled", for example, the author mentions that Akechi was taken in by Yoshida instead of Shido.

* DemotedToExtra: Akechi, in “Chariot, Crashed and Crumbling” is a non-entity with little to no mention of his presence, though the author mentions that Akechi in that story had lucked out and was taken in by Yoshida, Ren's Sun confidant. Ann is also similarly in the background in the Ryuji focused story.

* InSpiteOfANail: The Author outright states that Sae still has a palace in "Emperor of an Empty Domain" despite Akechi [[DemotedToExtra being a non-factor]] and Yusuke nipping The Conspiracy in the bud.