- 𝐀𝐦𝐢𝐝𝐬𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐒𝐢𝐥𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞 -

Chapter 18 - Beneath The Mask

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The Shadow screamed out in agony as his mask got brutally ripped off his pale face, causing blood to drip off of it onto the floor. He covered his now unmasked face with his hands again, he's 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 without that mask. And now 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 had it, his 𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦.

Even the crowd of shadows, that the thieves didn't even notice since they were too focused on fighting, has been watching the "show" from all the seats and were truly caught off surprise. Not like the shadows were making any difference now, the fight was over, they had the treasure in their hand.

The corrupted persona of the palace ruler slowly faded away as the crowd then did too after the group got the mask in their hands. The Thieves' personas also dissappeared satisfied, and Crow looked at the stolen treasure in his hand quietly, it was kind of ironic that the noble leader of the Phantom Thieves had to hide under a mask, because that was just the same he had done for oh so long.

The fight was exhausting, if not even the toughest from all. But they finally did it, just in time. When approaching Joker, he was still trying to cover his face from the other Phantom Thieves, but it was no use. He couldn't hide what was beneath the mask anymore, he didn't 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 hide it any longer.

Realizing that, he slowly moved his hands away, sat down onto the floor, and finally smiled a bit genuinely. It was the first smile they have seen in months from him, and with a quiet nod, without saying a word except a quiet "𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶", he peacefully faded away as well.

It was quiet. Not a single sound was there anymore.

After the silence, they looked at each other for a while, some sighing of relief, others just smiling happily. But either way, they were satisfied of their outcome. While they were already celebrating though, the palace started to collapse. They had to get out of there.

Grabbing their stuff, holding tight onto the treasure, the squad started to escape. Running through the now all quiet halls and through different stages, they tried sticking together. Surprisingly; the escape went completely smoothly, nothing bad happened, and they did all they had to.

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When they finally arrived back at the real world, the group looked to see what the treasure was; just a black glove you could get anywhere. But it was way more than just an 𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘨𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦, everyone knew that. Because it was 𝘵𝘩𝘦 glove, the proof of justice and promise they've kept. At that moment it seemed like a promise neither one could keep, but it seems like they were wrong.

Deciding to part ways for today, they gave the treasure to Akechi, since he could keep it best, and went home to rest for the night. Tomorrow they just had one thing to do, go to LeBlanc and see if the change of heart occurred. They were sure it has of course, but seeing that it really succeeded with their own eyes always felt like the best. And on the other hand, they still had to go set their summer plans into motion. They got a new teammate and friend back after all.

𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦.