History Fanfic / ForewarnedIsForearmed

** And on the other side of things, Yu not talking to Akira about the TV World's existence to Akira causes Yu to become worried about this strange "Trickster" that Teddie meets, which means that by the time Lavenza finally understands that Igor thinks there's nothing to worry about from letting the two Wild Cards meet, Akira believes that Yu will hate him if he does tell the truth. And Teddie's own extremely vague descriptions of Akira in the TV World contribute to the ominous air the Trickster gives off that puts Yu on edge, especially when the Trickster's name seems to imply that he's plotting something. The sad thing is that the residents of the Velvet Room are the only ones who know what it means, and their characteristic vagueness only exacerbates the problem. [[spoiler:The truth finally comes out after Nanako is kidnapped, and though it's initially uncomfortable, it takes a mercifully short time for them to move past any frustration, and all is well again]].

* ChainsawGood: [[spoiler:Lavenza]]'s melee WeaponOfChoice as a Phantom Thief. Akira is intimidated by this fact.

* DefiantStoneThrow: Daiki does this a lot [[spoiler: while he's trapped in a Palace]], doing this to protect himself and his friends. Even after [[spoiler:awakening his Persona Fezzik and becoming a Phantom Thief, rocks are still practically his WeaponOfChoice]].

* SignificantNameOverlap: When Akira talks to Yu about Alice Hiiragi in Chapter 4, Yu notes that her last name sounds familiar for some reason. Nobody's figured it out yet, but he's probably remembering the enka singer Misuzu Hiiragi, whose estranged husband Taro Namatame was one of the key players in the Inaba murder mystery. Futaba does some digging, and it turns out that Alice Hiiragi is indeed their daughter - which adds another layer of complexity to Alice's Jail situation.

* TheAce: Much like how Yu was the leader and strongest of the Investigation Team, [[ExperiencedProtagonist Akira's several year headstart]] in the Metaverse and abilities as the Wild Card make him by far the strongest and most experienced member of the Phantom Thieves. By Christmastime, however, Yu acknowledges that Akira has caught up and even surpassed him.

* OutOfCharacterAlert: Although Akira has never spoken to Igor personally, he knows that Igor's eccentric appearance belies his benevolent and courteous demeanor toward guests of the Velvet Room. So when Akira finally does wake up in the Velvet Room, he's immediately on edge by how deep and threatening Igor's voice is, as well as his referring to Akira as "inmate" rather than "guest" and the coming events as a "game".

* SignificantNameOverlap: When Akira talks to Yu about Alice Hiiragi in Chapter 4, Yu notes that her last name sounds familiar for some reason. Nobody's figured it out yet, but he's probably remembering the enka singer Misuzu Hiiragi, whose estranged husband Taro Namatame was one of the key players in the Inaba murder mystery.

* SignificantNameOverlap: When Akira talks to Yu about Alice Hiiragi in Chapter 4, Yu notes that her last name sounds familiar for some reason. Nobody's figured it out yet, but he's probably remembering the enka singer Misuzu Hiiragi, whose husband Taro Namatame was one of the key players in the Inaba murder mystery.

[[folder: Foreshadowed]]

* KidHeroAllGrownUp: Akira grows from a cute, if gangly twelve-year-old into a TallDarkAndHandsome {{Bishonen}} by the time he turns sixteen. In the ''Persona Q'' story, the Investigation Team from 2011 is quick to notice this, especially with the "dark and mysterious" air he gives off while hiding his eyes behind his glasses. [[spoiler:This is particularly noticeable given that the Akira from 2011 is present, prompting the girls to coo about how cute he used to be while Yu tries to shake him out of bed.]]

The story is clearly written with the mindset that the reader knows the stories of both ''VideoGame/Persona4 Golden'' and ''VideoGame/Persona5 Royal''. All spoilers pertaining to those games will be left unmarked.

* TheAce: Much like how Yu was the leader and strongest of the Investigation Team, [[ExperiencedProtagonist Akira's several year headstart]] in the Metaverse and abilities as the Wild Card make him by far the strongest and most experienced member of the Phantom Thieves.

** Akechi still comments on pancakes during their encounter at the school trip to the TV studio. However, this time Akechi and the Thieves already know of each other, sp the reaction is much different, with the Thieves being mostly relieved that he only caught them talking about pancakes instead of them knowing Akechi is the traitor, which they were doing shortly before that.

** Futaba is also worth mentioning here, shes the first Phantom Thief to join beside Yusuke and is part of the team, even without her Persona, exploring her own Palace from the start, before even Yusuke's official reintroduction.

** As part of the "ideal" reality that takes hold in the new year, several people are revived and brainwashed into believing that they never died, including Wakaba Isshiki, Akira's parents, [[spoiler:Chisato Dojima, Ryotaro's wife...with whom he's had another daughter in this reality]], and even [[spoiler:Minato Arisato, as the desire for death has decreased drastically, freeing him from the Great Seal]]. Akira does his absolute best to find a way to keep them alive while still reclaiming the true reality. [[spoiler:He succeeds, resurrecting 43 people, including his parents and Wakaba...but it costs him his life.]]

* AndIMustScream: Apparently being the Great Seal is an unbearable agony, because [[spoiler:as soon as Minato appears in Maruki's reality, he invokes this trope directly:]]
-->[[spoiler:He finally has a mouth to scream with, and so he does.]]

* AllYourPowersCombined: In Chapter 99, all of Akira's confidants come together to [[spoiler:bring him back to life]], save only for [[spoiler:Ichinose]], and even they take part subconsciously.

* ArmorPiercingQuestion: In Chapter 97, in the final battle against [[spoiler:Maruki]], the fact that it's [[spoiler:the Awakened Rumi]] asking the question makes his resolve to fight crumble to nothing.
-->'''[[spoiler:Rumi]]''': Tell me the truth, [[spoiler:Takuto]]. Why did you do all this? Was it for our pain? Or for yours?
* AttackReflector: One ability of Murasaki Shikibu, [[spoiler:Nanako's]] Persona, is to absorb enemy elemental spells that would knock down an ally, and send it back at another Shadow.

* BecomeARealBoy: [[spoiler:With Lavenza's help, Morgana is able to take on a human form, albeit temporarily. The original cognition of his cat form is still strong, as a result he can only hold human form for a few minutes after leaving the Metaverse. He slowly grows capable of preserving it for longer, able to be human more than cat. And when the real Igor finally returns to the Velvet Room, he makes the transformation permanent at Morgana’s request]].
* BigLittleBrother: [[spoiler:The Elizabeth and Theodore of 2009 and the Margaret of 2011 are astonished to see Lavenza grown to the size of an adult, as they last saw her in her original child-like form.]]

** In Chapter 72, the day before they take Shido's treasure, aware that Lavenza will be leaving and returning to the Velvet Room when the Thieves' work is done, she and Akira each gave each other a little part of themselves. This plays two vital roles after [[spoiler:Maruki]] takes over: Akira returning the part of Lavenza that she had given him [[spoiler:allows her to finally reclaim her true self through Maruki's actualization]], and much later, Lavenza realizes that using the part of Akira that he gave her, [[spoiler:they still have one last chance to bring him back from the dead]].

** Kasumi Yoshizawa, who in ''Royal'' was a Confidant who became a Phantom Thief, barely appears in the story enough for Akechi to realize that [[spoiler:Maruki had brainwashed her into forgetting she was actually Sumire]].

** [[spoiler:Thanks in part to Akira having a hearing to get his record cleared and his probation lifted, and having to miss the Hawaii trip in order to go to it, the Phantom Thieves reach Shadow Kobayakawa moments before Akechi. This is apparently the last straw for Shido, who decides that Akechi is [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness now more a liability than an asset]].]]

** [[spoiler: After being [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness cut]] [[DeadlyEuphemism loose]] by Shido, Akechi takes refuge in Kaneshiro's Palace, convinced no one will find him. [[ForegoneConclusion Guess what happens]].]]

** [[spoiler: Akira picks up on the fact that the Igor he meets in the Velvet Room is fake partway through the events of ''Persona Q'' (which happens right before Okumura's Palace) and confronts him about it after Okumura's death. As a result, Yaldabaoth decides to seal off the Velvet Room and shatter Akira's soul across the Sea of Souls - and if not for Elizabeth and Jose, it would've been fatal]].
* FutureMeScaresMe: Inverted. In the story's adaptation of ''Persona Q'', [[spoiler:Akira runs into his future self. After getting over the initial confusion, both Akiras think it's awesome and the younger Akira is eager to ask all kinds of questions about the future, only to be dismayed when Lavenza informs him that he's likely to forget everything since the older Akira doesn't remember last time.]]

* GreenEyedMonster: Surprisingly, Yusuke actually fits this trope; after being Akira's best friend for six years, Akira started growing more distant from him due to the Phantom Thieves, Lavenza, and all that they had to deal with. And he loses the chance to be able to talk about it with Akira [[spoiler:after he dies]]; after two months of depression, he clears the air with Lavenza, and possibly gets another chance to do it with Akira [[spoiler:if they can bring him back]].

* ImmuneToMindControl: Precious few people escape the mass-brainwashing that the "ideal" reality causes. Akechi is one. Daiki is another, as his ideal reality was the one that he already had; [[spoiler:Maruki]]'s RealityWarping had nothing to offer him to make it better.

* TakeAThirdOption: In Chapter 80, Akira fully grasps the SadisticChoice foist upon him: accept [[spoiler:Maruki]]'s new "ideal" reality that will slowly choke all free will out of humanity, or shatter it at the cost of [[UnPerson erasing several people who wouldn't be alive outside of that reality]]. He has to choose the former, but in Chapter 81, he resolves that he's going to try as hard as he can to invoke this trope instead: reclaim the true reality, but steal whoever he can take with him from the "ideal" reality. The only problem is that he has no idea where to begin. But after destroying [[spoiler:Maruki]]'s Palace in Inaba, he finds that [[spoiler:wishing hard enough with the remnants of Yaldabaoth's power, while an extremely unpleasant experience, is enough to warp reality permanently: Chisato is brought back for good]]. So he resolves to do that with the Palace in Tokyo as well, even with the warning that it will be dangerous. [[spoiler:He succeeds...but he dies for it, and it takes four months to find a way to bring him back.]]

** Chapter 42: [[spoiler: it turns out that Masayoshi Shido, in addition for being responsible for the situation Akira found himself in with the false charge and the worsened situation he found himself in in this story, was also responsible for Akira falling through the cracks of the foster system back when he was a junior politician. Instead of managing his parents estate until Akira was old enough, [[EvilIsPetty he stole and embezzled the inheritance for himself after they died, not even bothering to look for any inheritors]].]]
** Chapter 58: [[spoiler: Futaba realizes that someone else has been keeping tabs on Akechi's phone, and possibly even copied it, ''metanav included''.]]

* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: After his idea to incriminate the Phantom Thieves via Medjed falls flat, Akechi gets in hot water with Shido, [[spoiler: and his failure to eliminate Kobayakawa's Shadow is his last chance. Shido's goons shank Akechi in the middle of a crowd, and he only manages to escape by ducking into Kaneshiro's Palace]].

** Two months later, [[spoiler:Lavenza realizes that the part of Akira that he gave her in Chapter 72]] can be used to invoke this trope. An unprecedented situation with a lot of guesswork involved, but what difference does that make to a group of determined Persona-users?

* SupernaturalGoldEyes: Both the attendants of the Velvet Room and Shadows possess bright golden eyes, indicating their supernatural nature and abilities. The Phantom Thieves also briefly sport these while awakening their Personas. [[spoiler:Akira's eyes begin to flash gold in the Metaverse as a sign that he may not be fully human anymore following his time in the Sea of Souls.]]
* TakeAThirdOption: In Chapter 80, Akira fully grasps the SadisticChoice foist upon him: accept [[spoiler:Maruki]]'s new "ideal" reality that will slowly choke all free will out of humanity, or shatter it at the cost of [[UnPerson erasing several people who wouldn't be alive outside of that reality]]. He has to choose the former, but in Chapter 81, he resolves that he's going to try as hard as he can to invoke this trope instead: reclaim the true reality, but steal whoever he can take with him from the "ideal" reality. The only problem is that he has no idea where to begin. But after destroying [[spoiler:Maruki]]'s Palace in Inaba, he finds that [[spoiler:wishing hard enough with the remnants of Yaldabaoth's power, while an extremely unpleasant experience, is enough to warp reality permanently: Chisato is brought back for good]]. So he resolves to do that with the Palace in Tokyo as well, even with the warning that it will be dangerous. [[spoiler:He succeeds...but he dies for it.]]

'''Akira:''' So hypothetically, what kind of arguments might have helped to convince you that I was NOT evil\\

* KnifeNut: Akira purchases a pair of cheap daggers from Daidara Ironworks because they're the only things he's able to afford from the meager amount of cash he's scrounged up from beating up Shadows in the TV World. They soon become his preferred weapons and he continues to use them well into his teenage years.

* BackFromTheDead: As part of the "ideal" reality that takes hold in the new year, several people are revived and brainwashed into believing that they never died, including Wakaba Isshiki, Akira's parents, [[spoiler:Chisato Dojima, Ryotaro's wife...with whom he's had another daughter in this reality]], and even [[spoiler:Minato Arisato, as the desire for death has decreased drastically, freeing him from the Great Seal]]. Akira does his absolute best to find a way to keep them alive while still reclaiming the true reality. [[spoiler:He succeeds...but it costs him his life.]]

* ChekhovsGun: While all of the Phantom Thieves have the usual Metaverse Nav app with the red eye, Yu has a different Nav app with a blue butterfly, [[spoiler: provided by the remnants of Lavenza's power. When Yaldabaoth decides to end his game early after Okumura's Palace by shattering Akira's soul and damaging the Velvet Room, the red eye Nav is removed from all of the Thieves' phones, leaving them at a loss on how to get into the Metaverse until Yu shows them his different app, which can then be installed on everyone's phones through the usual means.]]

The story is clearly written with the mindset that the reader knows the stories of both ''VideoGame/Persona4'' and ''VideoGame/Persona5''. All spoilers pertaining to those games will be left unmarked.

* BackFromTheDead: As part of the "ideal" reality that takes hold in the new year, several people are revived and brainwashed into believing that they never died, including Wakaba Isshiki, Akira's parents, [[spoiler:Chisato Dojima, Ryotaro's wife...with whom he's had another daughter in this reality]], and even [[spoiler:Minato Arisato, as the desire for death has decreased drastically, freeing him from the Great Seal]].

* DefiantStoneThrow: Daiki does this a lot [[spoiler: while he's trapped in a Palace, doing this to protect himself and his friends. Even after awakening his Persona Fezzik and becoming a Phantom Thief, rocks are still practically his WeaponOfChoice]].
* DemotedToExtra: Hikari is originally a major character in ''[[VideoGame/PersonaQ2NewCinemaLabyrinth Persona Q2]]'', but most of her role in the events is replaced by Emi, a completely amnesiac girl [[spoiler:and Akira's mother]] (with Doe's identity being [[spoiler: Kurusu Ryou, Akira's father]]), while Hikari herself is apparently off in her own theatre. However, she does make a minor appearance at the end of the [=PQ2=] story presenting her film, and is [[SmallRoleBigImpact integral to the Phantom Thieves remembering the events of the labyrinth]].
** Ultimately Subverted as the Forearmed: Inaba side story covers a trip into the cinema labyrinth with Hikari returned to her role.

** After being mistaken for a murderous "Black Mask" by Ryuji, Akira texts Yu and asks him how he was eventually convinced that Akira wasn't a mysterious "Trickster".
--->'''Yu, over text:''' Uh oh

* TakeAThirdOption: In Chapter 80, Akira fully grasps the SadisticChoice foist upon him: accept [[spoiler:Maruki]]'s new "ideal" reality that will slowly choke all free will out of humanity, or shatter it at the cost of [[UnPerson erasing several people who wouldn't be alive outside of that reality]]. He has to choose the former, but in Chapter 81, he resolves that he's going to try as hard as he can to invoke this trope instead: reclaim the true reality, but steal whoever he can take with him from the "ideal" reality. The only problem is that he has no idea where to begin.

* ThrowTheDogABone:
** After the events in Inaba and [[spoiler:Ishikawa retracting her false testimony]], Akira is scheduled for a re-hearing about his probation and eventually gets it terminated, allowing him to officially see Nanako and Dojima again. The only downside is him having to miss the Hawaii trip - which is also a blessing in disguise as it [[spoiler:allows him and the remaining Thieves (Nanako, Futaba, Morgana, and Daiki) to save Kobayakawa's Shadow from being killed by Akechi]].

** Lavenza is only introduced at the end of ''Persona 5'' as a huge reveal. Here, Ren runs into her by accident after falling into the TV World.

* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: Makoto, who is LockedOutOfTheLoop about the Phantom Thieves and their activities at this point, mentions to [[spoiler: Akechi]] about a conversation she overheard from Akira and Haru, about palaces and flamingos. This makes [[spoiler: Akechi realize that Akira and his group are on to him and are trying to finish Okumura's palace without him, allowing him to follow them in and kill Okumura's Shadow]].
* WellDoneDaughterGal: [[spoiler:Lavenza desperately wants to still be accepted by her siblings and Igor after becoming more human, and her fear that she won't be is part of why she initially refuses to accept her Persona Psyche.]]

** Chapter 29: [[spoiler:Makoto, via a vague overheard conversation, lets Akechi know that the group thinks he's a traitor and are planning on finishing Okumura's Palace without him, and he follows them in and kills Okumura's Shadow. Haru's father dies on live TV, and Akira confronts Fake Igor that he knows he's an impostor, leading Yaldabaoth to shatter Akira's soul across the Sea of Souls, putting him into a coma in the real world]].

* MoodWhiplash: In the ''Persona Q'' story, Akira, Yu, Lavenza, and Margaret are having a laugh about the song Elizabeth wrote about Igor's nose. Lavenza then mimics Igor's high-pitched voice telling them not to sing it again. Yu and Margaret say that she's on point, but Akira doesn't, telling her that she's completely off before giving an impression of the booming voice of the Igor he knows. It doesn't take long from there for everyone else to realize that he's been dealing with an imposter, leaving Akira to wrack his brain about how to remind himself of this with the impending LaserGuidedAmnesia. He finds a way after seeing that [[spoiler:his 2011 self got a scar that carried over into reality, and decided to cut "Igor Fake" into his own skin with a knife, lightly enough that it wouldn't be permanent but strong enough that it would carry over.]] And it works.

** In the ''Persona Q'' chapter, [[spoiler:the Akira from 2011]] is dismayed to learn that he'll forget ever meeting [[spoiler:his future self]] when all is said and done. But things get more complicated when Akira [[spoiler:from 2016 recalls a distinct memory of Zen informing his younger self that Rei is dead]]. He does end up forgetting the whole thing by the end, but not before [[spoiler:scratching "Igor Fake" onto his own arm]]. And he eventually regains these lost memories after [[spoiler:recovering his own soul from the Sea of Souls]].
** [[spoiler: Similarly, Haru and Makoto awaken their Personas during the events of Q, but forget them when they return to their time. It does make it easier for them to reawaken them after, though.]]
* MoodWhiplash: In the ''Persona Q'' story, Akira, Yu, Lavenza, and Margaret are having a laugh about the song Elizabeth wrote about Igor's nose. Lavenza then mimics Igor's high-pitched voice telling them not to sing it again. Yu and Margaret say that she's on point, but Akira doesn't, telling her that she's completely off before giving an impression of the booming voice of the Igor he knows. That's when Yu, Lavenza, and Margaret realize that something is ''very'' wrong, leaving Akira to wrack his brain about how to remind himself of this with the impending LaserGuidedAmnesia. [[spoiler:He decides to cut "Igor Fake" into his own skin with a knife, which carres over after seeing the scar his 2011 self got while fighting Shadows in the labyrinths.]]

* TakeAThirdOption: In Chapter 80, Akira fully grasps the SadisticChoice foist upon him: accept [[spoiler:Maruki]]'s new "ideal" reality that will slowly choke all free will out of humanity, or shatter it at the cost of [[UnPerson erasing several people who wouldn't be alive outside of that reality]]. He has to choose the former, but in Chapter 81, he resolves that he's going to try as hard as he can to do this: reclaim the true reality, but steal whoever he can take with him from the "ideal" reality. The only problem is that he has no idea where to begin.

** [[spoiler: After the events in Inaba and Ishikawa retracting her false testimony, Akira is scheduled for a re-hearing about his probation and eventually gets it terminated, allowing him to officially see Nanako and Dojima again. The only downside is him having to miss the Hawaii trip - which is also a blessing in disguise as it allows him and the remaining Thieves (Nanako, Futaba, Morgana, and Daiki) to save Kobayakawa's Shadow from being killed by Akechi]].
* TookALevelInBadass: [[spoiler:Nanako and Daiki]] awaken their own Personas - Murasaki Shikibu and [[Film/ThePrincessBride Fezzik]] respectively. Much later, Murasaki Shikibu, a Navigation-type Persona, gains combative abilities by necessity.
* UnconventionalFoodUsage: From his previous adventures in the TV World, Akira learns to use the wheat that grows in Nanako's garden as a makeshift lockpick in the Metaverse. Morgana, who uses conventional lockpicks for his endeavors, is flabbergasted when Akira pulls out a strand of wheat to pick the lock to his cell.