Foggy Nights and Phantom Flights is a Persona Alternate Universe fanfiction series created by Dorked (yes, the creator of Inverted Fate) that was first published in 2023.
It follows the story of Goro Akechi, a young boy who was born an illegitimate child to a sex worker. Orphaned by his mother's suicide at the age of 5, Akechi spent years being cycled through orphanages and neglectful foster homes until a chance encounter with local hooligan Kanji Tatsumi changed the trajectory of his life forever. After being rescued from an abusive foster home by Kanji's intervention, Akechi is adopted by Detective Ryotaro Dojima, giving him a chance to heal and a fresh start in life. As Akechi gradually learns to put his trust in others, the change in his fate gives him the opportunity to help change the world...
The first installment adapts the plot of Persona 4 with the added presence of Goro Akechi. A second installment which adapts the plot of Persona 5 is planned.
- The Crow Cries at Midnight
- The Crow Flies at Dawn (Title pending and subject to change.)
The series can be found on Archive of Our Own.
This fanfiction contains examples of:
- Adaptational Early Appearance:
- Goro Akechi is introduced one week prior to the events of Persona 4, six years earlier than his appearance in canon.
- Kanji Tatsumi first appears in Persona 4 talking to Naoto Shirogane after Yukiko Amagi was rescued. Here, he's the first member of the Investigation Team to be introduced, kicking off the plot by discovering Akechi's abuse and contacting the authorities, and he remains a main character from that point onward.
- Sae Niijima makes her first appearance shortly after Yukiko's rescue, about five years before her debut in canon.
- Adaptation Expansion:
- Saki Konishi gets more characterisation prior to her death. Notably, we actually get to see her confront her Shadow before meeting a brutal demise at the hands of said Shadow.
- Mitsuo Kubo is given no reason in canon to target Morooka beyond him being a target of opportunity. Here, Kubo rants about Morooka's hypocrisy, fleshing him out a bit.
- Adaptation Origin Connection: Flashbacks reveal that Lala Escargot was acquainted with Akechi's mother and Akechi himself during his childhood.
- Archnemesis Dad: Akechi despises his birth father Masayoshi Shido for abandoning his mother after impregnating her. Incidentally, Shido would later form a conspiracy with the intent of supplanting the government, setting him up as the Big Bad of the untitled sequel.
- Call-Forward: In Chapter 11, Nanako makes the childish assumption that the weather lady controls the weather. This weather lady doesn't, but once Marie gets the job at the end of Golden...
- Commonality Connection:
- Akechi and Kanji bond over their shared status as societal outcasts.
- Naoto and Sae bond over the struggles they've had to endure in order to climb the latter of law enforcement despite not fitting people's preconceived notions of how law enforcement should be.
- Darker and Edgier: Due to the plot exploring Akechi's Dark and Troubled Past, the tone of the story is noticeably darker than that of the original game and more in line with Persona 5, with references to child abuse, neglect, prostitution and suicide.
- Didn't See That Coming: The Investigation Team only ever encounters Shadow Selves who represent repressed negative traits, so Akechi is naturally thrown off when he meets his own Shadow and realizes that Shadow Akechi is born from repressed positive traits (his desire for friendship and growing affection for his new family and friends).
- Fostering for Profit: Akechi's previous foster parents took him in solely for the welfare checks and were otherwise extremely abusive and neglectful towards him. Akechi lampshades this in the first chapter, outright stating that he's "a living welfare check" which his guardians have no intention of giving up. When police detective Ryotaro Dojima offers to adopt him for far more altruistic reasons, Akechi immediately assumes that the man has ulterior motives for taking him in, noting that the added financial support would be beneficial for a single father such as himself. However, rather than squandering the money on lavish vacations, Dojima transparently uses it to provide for his newly-adopted foster kid, making it clear that he genuinely wants to give Akechi a loving home.
- In Spite of a Nail: In spite of the Investigation Team's efforts to locate Saki Konishi upon the latter's disappearance and Teddie's attempts to help her when she gets thrown into the TV world, Konishi still becomes the second victim of the murder case. The author's notes acknowledge that if she were to be Spared by the Adaptation, it would completely derail the story since she could identify her attacker.
- Metaphorically True: Akechi explains to Nanako how he came to be a part of the Dojima household by saying he was held captive by villains and that her father rescued him. It's a childish simplification of the events that transpired, but it's not exactly untrue and it gets the message across.
- My Greatest Failure: Akechi, Yu, and Yosuke consider the death of Saki Konishi to be their biggest failures since Akechi had already connected the dots about the Midnight Channel and realized she was going to be the next victim, and Yu and Yosuke completely failed to do anything about it while Akechi was completely powerless to actually stop it.
- Named by the Adaptation:
- The Gas Station Attendant eventually reveals his name as Izaya Sagiri.
- The Niijima sisters' unnamed father is given the first name Akihiro.
- Not in Front of the Kid:
- Akechi sarcastically responds in horror when Dojima says the F-word during their first discussion before admitting that he's numb to the adult language due to the shitty living circumstances he's been put through for years.
- Kanji accidentally saying the word "shit" in front of Nanako. This quickly earns him a glare from Akechi.Kanji: Crap! I mean, uh. With all the stuff you've put up with.
Nanako: Akechi-kun, what does "shit" mean?"
Akechi: [Face Palm] That... is a grown up word. - While Yu is teasingly flirting with Yosuke, Nanako assures Yosuke that Yu said that boys can do that with each other. In response to that plus Yu deviously confirming that he did tell her that, Chie joins an already howling Yukiko and exclaims "Holy shit! What've you been telling her?" Yosuke tells Chie to watch her language around Nanako, but later almost makes the exact same mistake when exclaiming how good the fish Nanako offered him was and only stopping himself when he sees Chie smirking at him.
- Only Friend: Aside from Nanako and Dojima (the latter of whom he still has uncertainties about), Kanji is the only real friend that Akechi makes during the first part of the story.
- Point of Divergence: A young Goro Akechi is bailed out of an abusive foster home by Kanji Tatsumi and is subsequently adopted by the Dojima family, thereby saving him from his fate as an assassin six years later.
- The Rival: Personal clashes with Yu and Yosuke and a feeling of being disrespected lead Akechi to declare himself a rival to the Investigation Team.
- Running Gag: After being told what testosterone is, whenever the boys' unusual antics are brought up, Nanako asks if testosterone is to blame.
- Samus Is a Girl: Discussed. Akechi points out that for all they know, the culprit could be a woman.
- Scheherezade Gambit: Akechi leans into the entertainment factor of his disruption of the current serial killer situation when trying to convince the gas station attendant to bestow his favor upon him.
- A Shared Suffering: Akechi bonds with Saki over their shared trauma of discovering a dead body - Akechi found his mother's corpse and Saki found Mayumi Yamano's.
- Speak of the Devil: Several days after a particularly intense argument between Yosuke and Akechi, Yu and Yosuke are eating at Aiya's, and Yu notes that the next thing they know Akechi could walk through the door. He doesn't even finish the sentence before Akechi walks through the door.
- Tarot Motifs: Par for the course. Akechi shares Yu's Social Links with Nanako, Kanji, the Fox, Dojima, Marie, Yukiko, Chie, and Teddie, and has his own Link with the Moel Gas Station Attendant as Death.
- Tarot Troubles: Igor does a reading for what was supposed to happen to Akechi before Kanji interfered. He notes that lack of direction in his life (reversed Chariot), isolation from the world around him (reversed Hermit), and bad luck (reversed Wheel of Fortune) would have led to his own sense of justice being warped (reversed Justice) and led him down a very dark path.
- What If?: Goro Akechi got adopted by the Dojima family prior to the events of Persona 4?
