#also nyarly will play a slightly bigger role than originally intended but nothing too big

[princekirijo]

very interested in black mask!riku if u have any lore you'd like to share about him!! unless it's spoilers :0

Now that I've revealed his design I can finally talk about it, so glad you asked!!! I'll keep most of the details under wrap for now because again I'd love to do something with this but we'll see. 

The AU actually starts off the same as Captain. So the Thieves meet Riku, he awakens to his persona in Hatanaka's palace and they try to change her heart. However, something goes wrong. I haven't had much time to really think about the ins and outs of Hatanaka's palace yet, but I'm thinking there might be some puzzle they can't solve, or a block in the real world. Either way… they fail the deadline. Hatanaka successfully goes through with her assassination and Riku dies. The end.

SIKE Riku actually wakes up again at home (Port Island home), in his bed. And he's super confused. He very clearly remembers getting shot, he shouldn't be here right? He's dead right? He gets out of bed and looks in his bathroom mirror to find that he's actually 14 again. Now he's really confused. It takes him a couple of minutes to adjust but it seems that he's travelled back in time to when he was 14, before he moved to Tokyo and met the Thieves. He goes downstairs and finds his moms there and he kind of indirectly asks them what year it is. They're a little confused but they tell him it's 2032, two years before the events of the captain au. If you haven't figured it out already Black Mask AU also doubles as a sort of NG+ AU :]

He takes time to adjust and tries to go about his days as normal just as he did before. He's been having very weird dreams though, twisting darkness and a deep voice encouraging him to use this new start to his advantage. He mostly ignores it and passes it off as some weird nightmare - a byproduct of this weird timeline reset. Mitsuru is summoned to Tokyo to speak to the government/public safety/something like that idk about her request for the Shadow Ops to investigate the strange shadows nest in Tokyo (the Metaverse - this also happens in Captain). The family all decide to go and make a sort of trip out of it. While they're there, Riku decides to take this opportunity to check out the Metaverse and see if he can figure out wtf is going on as he still has the app. He still… sort of has access to Pimpernel. He can hear and speak to him but he can't properly summon him. Anyway he sneaks off and goes into Mementos, where he wanders around for a bit. 

Eventually a few levels below he finally gets cornered by a shadow (he's able to avoid them up until now thanks to Pimpernel). This shadow happens to be the shadow of a very annoying CEO of a largish tech company - one who is very vocal about his hatred of the Kirijo Group. He recognizes Riku, having met him at a few business parties. This guy starts going off about the Group saying some really horrible stuff about Riku, the group in general, and ofc Mitsuru herself. It's when he starts saying shit about Mitsuru (I'm sure you can imagine what a sleazy businessman like him would say), that something inside Riku snaps. He's been so confused and upset about everything that's happened (I mean you would he's literally reliving his life but being painfully aware he died it's gonna mess you up) and in that moment it all kinda comes to the surface, and he lunges for the shadows throat. Now Riku is very strong for a 14 year old and he caught the shadow off guard so he manages to actually snap the shadow's neck, killing it instantly (I should warn that in general Black Mask is much darker than Captain and there's a lot more gore so fair warning). Riku stumbles back realizing what he's done, vaguely remembering the Thieves telling him the consequences of killing a shadow. 

He doesn't have much time to think however as he's ambushed by a bunch of lower level shadows. Just as one of the shadows is about to attack, Riku feels a surge of power within him and a blast comes out of nowhere to knock the shadow back. Then he hears a voice, a voice that's not Pimpernel but feels the same. This is a very rough draft of what it says:

Poor child, beaten and trodden on by society… hated by those who should be cowering at your feet, scorned by those who should bend to your every whim! What a pity full sight indeed… This is no way for a KING to act!!! I ask you boy… will you sit back and be trampled on by these fools? You've been given such a unique gift… the gift of foresight… use it to your advantage… make those who ridiculed you bow before you in fear and reverence! I can give you that power… do we have a deal? … Yes. I hear you, COME TO ME! AHAHAHA VERY WELL! I am thou… thou art I… let us join forces and show these pathetic bastards who the REAL KING IS!

Then he rips off his mask and summons his new Persona… who I won't reveal yet cause I have two ideas I can't pick between. Regardless, he defeats the shadows with ease and escapes. Thankfully no one noticed he went missing but from that point on Riku changed. His parents begin noticing subtle things about him, he's much more quiet, always lost in thought and seems to be muttering to himself. Mitsuru (well Artemisia) senses some strange dark aura around him, but only for a second before it fades (she's sensing both his persona and the influence of Nyarlathotep). Ultimately, she puts it down to her worrying too much, and says nothing (big mistake on her part 😕). 

Riku, now equipped with a persona he can use (still can't access Pimpernel) and the Metanav decides to see if Port Island has any distortion - which it does. Goaded on by his persona he decides to take advantage of the Metaverse and starts off kinda small, using it to neutralize small enemies of the Kirijo Group before slowly building up to much larger foes. He also decides to still move to Tokyo, like in Captain and with Hatanka. This time though, Hatanaka doesn't actually abuse him, instead he uses her for her connections as he aims to go after the person who ordered her to kill him in the original timeline. 

I just realized I can't actually go into anymore detail without spoiling some stuff from Captain (I might have mentioned this stuff already I actually can't remember but for now I'll treat it as I haven't). So this is where I'll stop the summary for now. The main big changes to the AU happen in the Hatanaka Arc and the Shido Arc plus an entirely new palace being added after Shido's (who's you ask? You'll see 😏). Another big thing to mention is that Akechi is also still Black Mask as well. He pretty much does the same as he does in P5 but he actually gets saved in Shido's palace by the Thieves. I haven't quite decided if he knows what Riku is up to directly or if he's simply just aware of him. If you have any other questions feel free to ask and I'll do my best to answer without any spoilers. Thanks for showing interest!! Black Mask AU was really fun for me to come up with so I'm glad you're intrigued :]