I was curious, can you do a one-shot with the Phantom Thieves entering the Palace of an S/O (Futaba's Boyfriend or an S/O with Crush in Futaba), but who is so isolated and self-sabotaging, that his Palece is a tower, a tower that is completely infinite in size, with each floor of the tower being an infinite multiverse of its own, and every floor sees the floor below it as fiction, and the S/O itself is at the top of the tower that has infinite floors (Yes, I've been playing a lot of tabletop RPGs)
Futaba discovering your palace
Pairing:futaba sakura x male reader
A/n:I actually really love the idea of the boyfriend of one of the phantom thieves girls having a palace so that is why this is long. Also sorry if I didn't put all of the stuff you said in the request
Futaba groaned as the game over screen appeared on her switch, she turned around on her bed and sighed
"Ugh! I'm getting bored, when is he gonna come?"
Her complaining was answered when she heard a notification sound coming from her phone, the specific one she had for your texts, so she quickly grabbed it and unlocked it only to be very disappointed when she read your text
"Sorry futaba, I can't really come play with you today"
Futaba wanted to say she was surprised but she hated the fact that she could see this coming
"Really? Why?"
"I'm just not feeling in the mood"
"That's what you said last time too....and the time before that"
"I know and I'm really sorry, It's just not the best period"
"You know you can tell me if anything's happening right? You've been acting weird lately"
"Don't worry I'm fine, I'm sure it will pass"
"If you say so, remember that I'm here if you need anything ok? And that I love you"
"Yeah"
That last message made futaba pout and sigh for the third time, she couldn't hide her disappointed at the fact that you didn't say you loved her back
After standing still for a few moments she opened the chat app again, this time typing in the phantom thieves group chat
"Hey do any of you guys know what's up with y/n lately? He's been acting so weird and distant"
"Who?"
"Her boyfriend, don't you remember him?"
"Oh yeah, sorry, my bad"
"What do you mean by acting weird?"
"He refused to come to any of our dates for the past 3 weeks"
"Seriously? That's messed up"
"Hey don't say stuff like that about him"
"What? I thought you were angry at him"
"A little bit, but I think there's something more going on. He's not a bad boyfriend. He's never been, sure he's always kept to himself, but this is different. He'd never say no to a date, especially one with videogames snacks and board games"
"I see, isn't he in Ren and Ann's class? Do you know anything about this?"
"To be honest he hasn't been coming to class for the past couple of weeks, we actually intended to ask you about that"
"Really? A couple of months? Then it's been going on even longer than I thought"
"You knew about that?"
"Yeah, when he first started ditching our dates I went to his house to check on him but his parents told me he hadn't come out of his room in days"
"Sounds like someone I know"
"Hey!"
"Anyways, I'm starting to get worried about him too, that can't be normal"
"Exactly"
"Do you guys......think he has a palace?"
"What? No way, he's not a bad guy!"
"You don't need to be a bad guy to have a palace, remember yourself futaba?"
"Oh......yeah"
"Now that you mention it, this instance does have a lot of similarity with futaba's"
"But futaba's was caused by....her mother, wouldn't something traumatic like that have to happen to y/n for a palace to form, it would have to be pretty recent too"
"Yeah, if something like that happened he would have defined told me"
"Well there is one way to make sure"
"What is it?"
"Let's just put his name in the metanav and see if something comes up"
"Oh yeah nice idea makoto"
"You really wanna do this?"
"Why not? If nothing is wrong then that will put your heart at ease, and if something comes up then we know we'll need to act"
".....alright"
"Great, then should Ren do it?"
"No, can I? Please, I want to see with my own eyes"
"Of course, let us know how it goes"
It took a while for futaba to gather the courage to go to the metanav app and say the vocal imput it asked
".......y-y/n l/n"
She gasped once she saw she did indeed get a hit
".......dammit, y/n......what happened?...why wouldn't you tell me that?"
She wasted no time in texting the other thieves about the result
"I got a hit"
"For real?"
"Looks like we'll have to act then, do you have any ideas what his distortion might be?"
"Hang on, right now? I'm not mentally prepared"
"I agree with futaba, it is her boyfriend, we should wait until she's ready"
"Very well, tell us when you're prepared to start"
"This must be so tough for you so take all the time you need, we'll be here for you whenever"
"Thanks guys you're the best"
With that, futaba went to bed shortly after. It was one of the first times in which she couldn't fall asleep easily as her mind continued to think about your palace, she should have helped you, she should have been there for you.......then maybe this wouldn't be happening
"Futaba you already sent the calling card right?"
"Y-yeah, even if it was kinda hard"
"Alright, so any of you got any ideas what his keywords are?"
The next day the phantom thieves assembled at Leblanc to discuss about your situation
"We know the name and the location has to be his room since he's not coming out of there"
"It's just like futaba"
"........yeah"
"So all we're missing is the distortion, what does y/n see his room as?"
"Oh, maybe it's the same as futaba, what was it again?"
"Tomb?"
"No luck"
"That's good though, at least that means he doesn't feel like he has to die in there"
"Yeah I guess"
"Then maybe it's somewhere where he feels trapped, like.....try prison"
"Nope"
"Ugh! For real? This his hard, you got anything futaba?"
"Why me?"
"You're his gf ain't you? You gotta know something"
"I already said he didn't tell me anything"
"Then try to guess, you know him best after all"
"......a guess......."
Futaba stayed deep in thought for a while before gasping and coming up with an idea
"Oh! What about tower?"
"Tower?"
"Yeah, try that"
"O-oh it actually worked"
"For real? How did you know that?"
"It was just a guess....w-well actually it's something from our campaign but that doesn't matter"
"Well looks like we're ready to go, should we start now Ren?"
The leader nodded and so makoto said all of the keywords required to enter your palace
"......so this is how y/n sees his room"
Futaba looked around and saw a giant tower who she couldn't even make out the top of if it even had one
"Alright we should start going in, are you ready oracle?"
The navigator continued to look around seemingly ignoring queen
"Oracle?"
"O-oh yeah, navigating right? I got it"
"Are you sure? We can do this another day if-"
"No I have to do this, I wasn't there for him when he needed it, the fact that this palace exists is also my fault, the least I can do is change his heart now"
".....futaba..."
"So let's start, if you need any help I'm here"
And so with that, the phantom thieves started making their way through your palace, defeating every shadow that blocked their way
They went up about 15 floors before they started getting tired and finally found a safe room
"Finally! Geez how many floors before that guy shows up!?"
"You're one to talk, aren't you supposed to be a fast runner?"
"There's a difference between track and walking like 20 flights of stairs y'know?"
"Anyway oracle do you have any Intel on the layout of the tower for now?"
Makoto turned to see futaba slumped over one of the couches breathing heavily and wiping sweat off her forehead
"*pants* that's.......the most *pants* amount of exercise *pants* I've ever done"
".......ok...."
"Don't look at me like this! There are like 10 shadows every floor and so many stairs! You have any idea how much you start sweating wearing a tight costume like this!?"
".....so any Intel?"
"Oh yeah, didn't joker find a map of the place?"
The leader pulled out said map and looked at it with everyone else
"Looks like we still got tons of floors to go through"
"And still no treasure in sight"
"NOOOOOO! MORE STAIRS!? Was this palace made to torture me y/n? Is this because I didn't let you touch my action figures?"
The thieves continued their walk through the palace, clearing every floor nonstop, until around floor 44 they encountered a figure in a knight armor, it was weirdly petite to look the part of a knight but the group still raised their guard
"A knight! It's different from the other shadow. It has to be a strong one"
"No wait, the reading I'm getting from it....... it's not a shadow!"
"What? For real?"
Suddenly the knight spoke, a feminine and strangely familiar voice coming out of the mask
"......You're.....not his guards"
The knight figure took off its helmet to reveal......futaba, orange hair, glasses and everything, the only noticeable difference in the face was her yellow eyes
"Huh? It's me!?"
"This must be futaba's cognitive variant"
"So this is how y/n sees me.....I look so cool!"
"It's been so long since I've run into other people......w-wait those outfits! Are you the phantom thieves!?"
"Y/n doesn't know futaba's a thief so his cognition of her doesn't know either huh?"
"Yes, and we're here to steal y/n's heart"
"Steal his heart? You're not gonna hurt him are you?"
"Of course not, we actually want to help him"
"Speaking of, would you be willing to explain what's going on over here?"
"You mean this tower?.......It's y/n's prison"
"Prison? What do you mean? Then who imprisoned him?"
".......himself"
"W-what?"
"One day without any warning he came to me and said he didn't deserve me and that I should leave him, when i tried to reason with him he just locked himself in the tower"
"Really? He locked himself away? Why?"
"I dunno, it literally came out of nowhere, and I'm here to talk to him and figure it out"
"So you're here to save him too"
"Of course, what kind of wife would not want to help her husband"
"....w-wife!?"
As soon as her cognitive counterpart said that futaba started blushing intensely even if it was partially covered by her visor
"S-so in his image......w-we're already married?!"
"But that means he actually loves you, enough to want to marry you, so he doesn't want to break up"
"Yeah I guess.....but that also means he thinks he doesn't deserve me.....how stupid can he be? Of course he does!"
"We're trying to get to y/n too"
"Well you're not going to get far if you continue this way"
"What? Why?"
"This tower is infinite, you're never going to reach the top"
"W-what! That's impossible, we found a map that sai y/n's room is close, we can reach it if we keep going"
"Well there is one, but you won't be able to reach it, even if you go through the door of his room, you'll just be teleported to the first floor, that's what happened to me many times"
"S-seriously? That's just unfair!"
"So we can't even get to him no matter how much we try.......that must mean he really thinks no one can help him"
"T-that can't be possible, we have to save him! There's gotta be some other way!"
"How about trying to not go through the door?"
"Huh?"
"If we can go in his room another way, then we won't be teleported, is there a window or anything there?"
"There is one but you can't go in from the inside"
"But it is open yes? So we could go from the outside"
"I.....guess....but you can't climb the tower, it's way too big"
"Who said anything about climbing? We're going to fly there"
Exclamation points appeared on each of the phantom thieves' heads when they heard that
"Uh....queen you sure you alright? A shadow didn't bonk you on the head too hard didn't it?"
"Of course not"
"You do remember Mona can only turn in a car correct?"
"Maybe I phrased it wrong, only one of us is gonna fly there"
Makoto turned to look at futaba who was still lost in thought thinking about what her cognitive counterpart had told her
"Oracle, we're going to need your help"
"H-huh? Me?"
"More specifically, your persona"
"Oh yeah, she's got that ufo thing, she could totally fly over there!"
"Y-you mean using necronomicon to just go over there, but the only one who can go inside it is...me"
"And that's why we need you, you want to save y/n right?"
"Of course, but I can’t fight his shadow alone"
"Then don't, fighting isn't necessary, we just need to make him have a change of heart"
".......y-you this he'll listen to me?"
"If he's going to listen to anyone it has to be you, he loves you after all"
Futaba stayed silent for a while. She felt guilty for not being there for you and was ready to do anything to make you realize there was someone who could help you and that was going to be there for you no matter what, but could she really do it alone? She always had the other thieves by her side and never really confronted another shadow by herself........was she truly ready for this?
"Alright, when am I going?"
"H-huh? You really wanna do it?"
"Obviously. You guys helped me when I was at my worst and made me see the truth, you and y/n helped me so much and made my life so much better, I'd be a terrible girlfriend if I just left him like this and not do anything"
".........."
"I'm going to save him, no matter what I have to do!"
"You're really brave"
"Thanks, soooo am I going or what?"
"Of course, remember to contact us if anything goes wrong"
"And if the worst situation happens then just escape and return here, there's no shame in that"
"No way I'm gonna run, I need to change y/n's heart no matter what"
Joker gave her a thumbs up and smiled along with the other thieves as they saw futaba summon her persona and get inside it exiting the window and going up the tower
Once necronomicon reached the top floor futaba got out of her persona and landed inside, the floor looked miserable, like a prison, there were cracks in the walls and drops of water coming out of the ones in the ceiling
"Is this how y/n sees his room?....it's terrible"
"Who's......there?"
Futaba yelped and looked towards the voice, she saw.....you or your shadow at least, it looked like you, with the hair that she liked to sniff while cuddling and the skin she liked to kiss and caress. The only real difference in your face was the yellow eyes but your body was another story, your shadow had a prisoner outfit on, and only now she could see that your hands were chained to the wall with handcuffs. You looked so miserable malnourished and pale, even your voice was weak, even if it wasn't the real you, futaba's heart still sunk knowing this was how you viewed yourself
"......y/n..."
"How do you know my name.....wait that outfit....are you a phantom thief?"
"H-huh? O-oh yeah and I'm here to steal your heart!"
".......what?"
"N-no wait, can we redo this? That was way too cringy"
"......why would you want to steal my heart? Is it like what happened to futaba?"
"....y-you believe m- I mean her?"
"Of course, she got her heart changed by them and healed from her wounds......I don't need or deserve that kind of treatment"
"What are you saying?"
"I deserve to be here, just leave me alone, I'll stay here alone......that's what I deserve"
"Of course you don't you-"
"Spare me your hollow words, you know I don't deserve to be saved too don't you? I don't know how you found out about this or entered here but leave, please I don't deserve to be freed"
"......stop it"
"Huh?"
"Stop talking like that. You don't deserve to be saved? Are you kidding me? You're amazing and kind and loving, and need to continue being like that"
".....who are you to talk? You don't even know me, all the people who told me that I didn't deserve to be here....that I didn't deserve futaba....that I didn't deserve to live....they knew me at least.....don't think the half baked pity of a stranger who's probably only doing this to get more famous is gonna magically make me change my mind, leave me here.....it's what I deserve"
".....so people were bullying you......it sounds so harsh no wonder a palace was born from it.......if only I noticed before"
"Harsh?....it was just the truth and I'm thankful to them, now I can rot here and stay away from the lives of people who I don't deserve....especially futaba....I feel so sorry for her.....having to put with me for all this time"
".....you think she'll be happy if she sees you like this?"
"......maybe....at least I know she'll be glad to not have to pretend to love me anymore"
"......You're even more of an idiot than I thought"
".....what?"
"I-futaba loves you, I'm sure of it, she loves you more than anything in the world, and if she saw you like that then she'd want nothing more than to save you"
"....Eh.....You're talking as if you know her"
".....because I do"
".....what?"
Right before your shadow's eyes the phantom thief took off her vision to reveal the purple eyed glasses wearing nerdy girl that you loved
".....fu....taba?! What are you-....you were a-"
"Do you believe me now? Y/n I love you, and you need to stop talking like that, you seriously think I've been faking my love all this time? Why the heck would I do that?"
"................"
"See? Even you can't come up with an explanation, you're just using it as an excuse to justify your self hatred.....you love me too and you've created this lie to refuse my help"
".....I......i-"
"I'll admit I'm not fully blameless, I should have seen the problem and helped you before this palace was born......but I didn't so I'm sorry for that.....but you also need to apologize"
"For what?"
"For refusing this help. Your distorted heart created a place where no one could reach you because you thought you didn't deserve to be helped by anyone.....You're wrong so open the door to your heart.....and accept this help"
".....but-"
"I know it will be hard...but I'm here....I'll help you every step of the way so please....I need you to accept this help"
".........futaba......t-thank you"
The hacker saw that you were starting to cry now so she approached you and gave you a hug, not caring about any soot or dust getting on her suit
"......there's no need for thanks, so.....will you start opening up?"
"......I think I'm ready"
"Great so-"
Before she could say anything else futaba saw that you started to glow and the tower was crumbling
"S-shoot the palace is getting destroyed already? I-i guess it's good"
She started to run towards the windows and summoned necronomicon again before turning to you one last time, happy to see a smile on your tear soaked face
"Hey....You're gonna be OK.....I love you"
"......I....love you too"
Futaba smiled and waved at you before jumping into her ufo and regrouping with the other thieves who quickly ran away from the palace and returned to the real world
"So....you managed to change his mind"
"Yep, I convinced him that I could helped him and that he deserved to be helped and so he had a change of heart"
"That's good, it's nice to clear a palace without fighting the shadow once in a while"
"Speaking of, did he tell you why the palace was created?"
"It seems like some guys were bullying him and saying he didn't deserve me...they also sent him death threats and other horrible stuff"
"....that's terrible"
"Yeah....don't worry I'll find out who they are, he said they knew him so they're probably classmates.....how could they do something like that? I'll hack their phones and reveal all their embarrassing search history mwehehe"
"...wow!...remind me to not mess with y/n"
"...you were thinking of doing that?"
"N-no of course not!"
"How did you convince his shadow?"
"Oh yeah....about that....I....might have revealed my identity to him"
"What? Are you nuts!?"
"I-it was the heat of the moment and he wouldn't have believed me otherwise"
"Don't worry it was just his shadow so the real him shouldn't remember"
"....oh.....yeah....still sorry"
"It's fine"
"When's the change of heart happening?"
"I don't know we just have to wait"
"......are you sure he's going to have one?"
"Well everyone did so far so there should be no problems"
"I..... see"
"Hey futaba, you were really brave....I'm sure he'll turn back to normal in no time"
".....thanks, I'll check on him"
"Good luck and tell us how that goes"
"For sure, see you guys and thanks I couldn't have done it without you"
[Timeskip]
Futaba stood in front of the door to your room, two large bags in her hands, she took a deep breath and knocked
"Hey y/n it's me futaba, I thought we could hang out"
She waited for a bit but no answer came and the door remained closed
"Sojiro made your favorite curry and I brought it here. I also have all your favorite games"
She sighed when the door still didn't open and was ready to walk away and wait more but was stopped by your figure opening the door and standing in front of her
"Hey-"
"Y/n!"
She tackled you in a hug and after a while you wrapped your arms around her too
"I was so worried about you"
"R-really?"
"Of course...you didn't come out of your room for so long"
".....thank you"
"No I didn't do anything"
"You just being here is a great help"
"I'm glad and don't worry I'll help with everything, first thing first teaching those losers who said all those horrible things to you a lesson"
".....how....how did you know about that?"
"O-oh hehe....g-girlfriend intuition you know? I could just tell"
"Oh...yeah I guess that makes sense, you are really perceptive"
"Yeah exactly but stop thinking about that for now, tonight I just wanna play videogames and binge anime with the best boyfriend in the world who deserves this and much more"
".....thank you so much.....really i love you"
"It's nothing, I love you too, so let's start!"
