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"Are we gonna do another request, Ren?"
You're not alone, he keeps having to remind himself. And not in a sad, 'don't give up" way, but in a 'there's always someone watching you' way.
There's always someone looking over his shoulder, or in Sophia's case, always watching his phone. Not that he doesn't love their company! They're his best friends and valued teammates, and are also sometimes little megaphones that spoil any of his attempts at being sneaky.
He quickly looks up from his phone to the other Phantom Thieves. All conversations have halted to a complete stop and expectant stares pierce into him.
His plan was to run off by himself and find a lost desire in the Okinawa Jail. Everyone's tired and on edge and he thought it would be nice to give them some more time to rest before heading back into the Tower. His plan relied on Sophia, who's in her physical form, being too busy talking to Ryuji and Ann to notice him perusing the request app. Whenever he'd use the app in the Metaverse he'd just call her over to talk about the requests. He didn't expect her to still be aware of what he did on his phone while she was in her physical form. That's what he gets for trying to keep something secret from the others…
"We still got some requests left? A little detour before we head back inside the tower doesn't sound bad to me." Ryuji excitedly asks.
Ren nods his head and opens EMMA.
-
"That was rough… Everyone okay?" Zenkichi picks his hat up off of the floor, glancing at the mountain of bodies piled up in the middle of the room.
"...Help" Morgana squeaks out, his head poking out from underneath everyone.
"Skull, watch your hands!" Ann hisses out.
"W-What!? Why're you assuming it's me!?"
"I'm so sorry, Panther! I didn't realize what I was holding onto…" Haru quickly puts her hands up in the air.
Zenkichi is very glad he decided to stay a little ways away from everyone when they started up EMMA.
-
"So, what the hell was that? Has this ever happened to you guys before?"
Morgana shakes his head. "Nope. Usually it's our exits that are the-."
"Hey, where's Joker and Sophie?" Ryuji interrupts him.
-
It's oddly breezy for an underground research lab, and oddly noisy for an underground abandoned research lab.
"Joker, are you okay?"
Ren opens his eyes and is met with Sophia's visor.
He nods and sits up.
"I'm not sure what happened, but we've been separated from the others."
"Are you okay?"
Sophia nods back and her visor slides away, revealing her eyes. They're a little shaken, but still calm.
He looks around to take in their surroundings. Tall buildings and dark skies loom over the alley they're tucked away in. Small teeth-like objects are sticking out of the ground. Red veins stretch across them and connect back into the ground, like roots.
The breeze and noiseness make sense now. They're definitely not back in Okinawa.
A man on the main street runs past the alley, crying and screaming. A gooey creature, who looks strikingly like a Shadow, follows close behind him.
"A human? Maybe we're back in Tokyo, but where are the others?" Sophia asks.
Ren shrugs. He doesn't know what's going on but he knows that whatever it is, it's not good.
A noise startles the both of them and any thought of the man and Shadow-like creature are pushed out of their mind.
Ren scrambles up off of the ground and places himself in front of Sophia. They cautiously walk towards the source of the noise, an open dumpster. The sight of a ghostly pale woman slumped against the dumpster makes Ren flinch. Her eyes are wide, black voids, and incoherent mumbles spill out of her mouth.
Sophia slips under Ren's arm and kneels down next to the woman. He wants to stop her, but with the current state of the woman she's not much of a threat to them, so he relents.
"She's still alive, but…" Sophia has a pained expression on her face.
"Let's move on." It hurts him to leave the woman there, but something in him knows they can't do anything to help her. They need to focus on figuring out where they are and where the others are.
"I think that's for the best."
Ren whips around. One hand outstretched to cover Sophia and the other hovering over his mask.
There's a man at the entrance of the alley. He's leaning against the wall and staring at them with a bored look in his eyes.
"But we need to help-"
"You can't help her, kid. She's done for." The man interrupts Sophia, her mouth clacking shut.
"Who are you?"
He tears his eyes away from Sophia and meets Ren's.
"Nobody important. Now answer my question. Who are you two, and what's with the get up?"
Oh, yeah. He's still in his Phantom Thief attire.
"Nobody important. Got a problem with our outfits?"
The man squints his eyes.
"You're a snarky one aren't you?"
Sophia nudges his shoulder.
"If we really are in Tokyo, he doesn't seem to be under EMMA's influence. We should ask him where we are."
He really doesn't want to. He thinks the man's suspicious and ready to explode at the drop of a hat, but they have nothing else to work with, and walking around doesn't seem like a good idea either.
"Where are we?"
The man's eyes light up.
"Oh. I get it. Come with me." He pushes off of the wall and starts to walk onto the main street.
Ren and Sophia glance at each other.
"We might be in unfamiliar territory, but I still think we should follow him. We have no other plan."
Ren nods in agreement and the pair trail after the mysterious man.
-
"They weren't in the research lab…"
"We didn't find anything in the experiment area either…"
A somber silence fills the Jail's entrance room.
Morgana sighs. Everyone has worried looks on their faces and the composure of the team is quickly falling apart.
"Oh! What if they somehow got sent back to reality? If they had a nasty landing like us, they might be incapacitated!" Haru blurts out.
Morgana nods his head. It doesn't sound entirely impossible and it's the only plan they've been able to come up with.
"Let's do it. Better safe than sorry."
Light returns to everyone's eyes as they gather up close to return to reality.
Morgana notices Zenkichi keeping some distance between them and his eyes light up. That's probably how he got away unscathed from their chaotic entrance! He takes a couple steps back and nods for Makoto to start EMMA.
-
"God, you guys are creepy. Didn't even notice that you decided to follow me." He inserts a key into a rundown door's hefty lock.
"I think sneaky is a better word." Ren takes a look at the rundown house the man led them to. It looks like it's ready to come crumbling down at a strong breeze…
The man snorts. "Whatever you say, kid."
He leans against the door and pushes hard with his shoulder. The door slams open and Ren feels Sophia flinch behind him.
The man walks in and fades into the house's darkness. "Close the door when you come in."
Sophia grabs Ren's hand and squeezes. He didn't think he'd be the one being comforted in this situation.
He squeezes back and enters. Bright lights suddenly turn on, blinding the two.
"Oh. Sorry about that. Forgot to warn you."
Ren lowers his arm and opens his eyes. The inside of the man's house is a stark contrast to its exterior. It's well kept and tidy and lacking in blood splatters. Though, it is a bit empty with what seems like only the essentials filling it up. A table with one chair, a small couch and a bare hallway leading to other rooms.
"Uh. Take a seat anywhere." The man scratches the back of his head.
Ren gestures at the sofa for Sophia to take and she obliges. He watches as the man pulls up the one chair and tiredly plops down on it.
"Why did you bring us here?"
The man sighs and puts his hands up.
"Look, kid. I'm not gonna hurt you, okay? Believe me. I'm in no state to be a threat to you two."
Ren looks him up and down. He's lanky and his hair is even messier than Ren's. His clothes are too big and seem to engulf him. With the bright lights shining down on him he looks a lot smaller than he did in the alley. But more importantly, he looks as if he's on death's doorstep, so Ren can relax. Albeit only slightly.
"Where are we?" Ren asks again.
"Tokyo. Or at least what's left of it."
What's left of it? Is he talking about the merger between the Metaverse and reality? The teeth-like objects they saw outside do support Sophia's theory.
"How are you not under EMMA's influence?" Sophia suddenly asks.
The man gives them a weird look.
"EMMA? What's that?"
It's impossible to not know about EMMA. Even if he didn't use it, he would still know about it with how popular it's been.
"Do you know who the Phantom Thieves are?" Ren tests.
"What the hell are you guys talking about?" Look, enough with the questions. Lets get to the important stuff. I know why you're both here. Well, mostly.
Ren squints. Here?
The man lifts his finger to cut off Ren's impending questions.
"Let's introduce ourselves first."
Ren tightens his jaw. He's given them shelter, so he can't reject him something as small as their names.
I'm Sophia and this is my friend, Ren." Sophia beats him to the punch.
The man nods. "Name's Keisuke. Welcome to my home."
"What's with the attitude change?" Ren can't help but bite. There's something off about Keisuke.
"Calm down, kid. I already told you I wasn't gonna do anything to you. Will you calm down if I cuff myself or something?"
Ren thinks about it for a little too long and Keisuke sighs.
"It was a rhetorical question. I'm not gonna cuff myself in my own home. Anyways, that's besides the point! You two are Persona users, aren't you?"
Sophia gasps next to him.
How does he know about Personas?! Igor and Lavanza have mentioned other Wildcards like him, but he's already met them before. It may have been in the heat of battle, but he'd never forget them and Keisuke looks nothing like them.
"How do I know? It's obvious. You both didn't even flinch at the Shadows, and when you noticed me your hand went straight to your mask. That's how you summon your Persona isn't it? A little different than how I used to, but I can still tell."
Used to? So he doesn't use his Persona anymore… Ren would like to think that the reason is because he's had no need to use it anymore, but from what he saw outside it doesn't seem likely.
"You said you knew why we were 'here'. Can you explain that more?"
Ren needs to get it together. Sophia's been the only one making any progress here He's just so put off by Keisuke that he can't act straight. He still hasn't been able to figure out what exactly is bothering him…
He feels Keisuke's gaze on him and reluctantly meets it.
"Do you know about other Persona users? Besides your own little group of course."
Ren's breath catches in his throat. He forces himself to nod his head.
"Now do you know about other Persona users in other 'worlds'?"
He remembers. He had forgotten Igor's words to him, that other worlds and universes besides his own existed, in the chaotic midst of rebelling against society and running from the law. He only ever thought about it when it would come to his aid.
"We're in another universe?" It sounds stupid when he says it outloud, but it's the only possibility he can think of. What looks like the merging of the metaverse and reality matches the description of their own world, but the chaos happening outside Keisuke's home doesn't. It reminds him of what happened last year, just this time there's a lot more blood.
A small perverted smile grows on Keisuke's face and he gets up from his chair and walks to his fridge. "Our worlds, that are filled with millions of malevolent gods and our psyche's taken form, work in strange ways."
"You guys want some beer? I know you're probably still minors and all but there really isn't anyone here to enforce the law anymore, so no harm no foul." His eyes turn bright yellow as he uncaps a beer bottle with his bare hand. The yellow quickly fades away and the emptiness previously painting his eyes returns.
Ren and Sophia stare at him with shock coloring their faces.
"Neat, huh? Our Persona's don't just make us stronger mentally. This is all I've been using my Personas for recently. I've found some other pretty cool stuff you can do with them."
He grabs another and points it at Ren and Sophia. They both shake their heads and Keisuke shrugs.
Wait. What did he say?
"Personas?"
Keisuke's smile grows even larger.
"Yup. I'm a wildcard. Well, I have the powers of one anyways. I don't think I qualify anymore for the honor of one. You on the other hand? You reek of it. The Velvet Room's smell rolls off of you in waves. It makes my head hurt."
Keisuke scrunches his nose and sips his beer.
His other comments make more sense now. Keisuke would've never been able to know about the other worlds without Igor. Unless he was just an alcoholic genius. Ren shakes his head to clear his thoughts. So, Keisuke is a Wildcard from another universe, where Ren and Sohpia have somehow been transported to through EMMA. Now his head hurts too...
"If you're a Wildcard, what happened to your world? Were you not able to save it?"
Keisuke's smile droops. He finishes his beer and places it on the kitchen counter.
"I got tired of it."
"What?"
Sophia stands up. "What do you mean?" Her face is laced with fear and sadness.
"I got tired of it. Why would I continue to risk my neck for a world that always longs to be enslaved? You're probably going through this right now, Ren. How many times have you 'saved' humanity from killing itself? How many times have you beaten a god that rambles on about 'doing the best for humanity' just for humanity to latch itself onto another god a couple years later?"
"You got tired of it?"
"Yeah. I did, and don't start lecturing me about a bunch of righteous bullshit. I've heard it all before. I didn't invite you here for that."
How can he act so calm!? Everyone and everything around him has fallen apart and he had the power to prevent it!
"Then why did you?" Ren hisses.
He can tell Keisuke's getting angry, maybe if he riles him up some more he can get a little more out of him.
"I invited you here so you two wouldn't get killed by Shadows."
"Why didn't you just leave us to die? Why start saving people now?" Sophia grabs his hand. He glances at her and she stares him down.
calm down
Ren looks away but he squeezes her hand and nods.
Keisuke's fists tighten.
"Well, I'm definitely regretting it now. You don't know as much as you think you do, kid. Yeah, you might know about the other Wildcards, but do you know what that really means? It means that this shitty cycle of saving humanity from itself has been going on for a long time. You think it's gonna end with you because you finished off some god? No. It won't. It'll never end."
"So, your solution was to give up and let your world succumb to evil?" Sophia questions. A lot more softly than Ren has been doing.
"It's better than letting them endlessly bring about their end. This world isn't mine anymore. It hasn't been mine for a long time.
He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath.
"It's late. Get some rest for tonight. You can go look for that stupidly bright blue door when you wake up. Igor will probably know about something to get you back to your world."
He walks into the maze of hallways leading further into his home, leaving Sophia and Ren alone. Silence fills the room, with the occasional scream coming from outside Keisuke's home. Ren stares at where Keisuke was standing. Will this happen to him? Will this happen to the other Wildcards in his own world?
"Here. It's not the best, but it's gonna have to work." Keisuke wanders back into his living room and tosses Ren some blankets and pillows.
He walks away before the pair are even able to thank him.
Ren looks at Sophia. She's visibly tired and he can see the cogs turning in her head. They should go to sleep...
-
He's ripped out of his sleep by a particularly loud scream. His heart's beating uncontrollably and everything Keisuke told them is spinning in his head.
What about the other Wildcards? What about Keisuke's friends? From what he said, Keisuke has at one point used his powers for good and the only way a Wildcard can flourish is through their bonds, so where are they?
He glances at Sophia. She's still fast asleep, or turned off? Ren's not sure if Sophia is able to actually 'sleep' or not…
He slowly gets up from the floor and walks towards where Keisuke vanished into. He hears voices coming from a room with light spilling out from under its door. It's not completely closed so he tries to peer in.
"Are you always this creepy?"
Ren flinches hard and quickly backs away from the door, holding his breath.
"I already know you're there, kid. Just come in already."
Ren gapes. He made sure to be as quiet as possible! He leans his head back against the wall. Should he really go in? Whatever he hears, he knows he's not going to like it. He shakes his head. If he doesn't find out the whole story he won't be satisfied.
Ren slowly walks in. Keisuke's sitting on a chair facing an old TV. There's a movie playing on it.
"Take a seat." He lazily gestures to the bed behind him.
Ren reluctantly accepts. The floor wasn't as good of a bed as he thought it would be, and his back is killing him.
"So, what is it? Can't sleep? I can read you a book if you want." A cheeky smile appears on his face.
Ren stays silent. Keisuke looks so much calmer than he did before. He looks almost at peace. Earlier it looked like he was fighting something within himself. Something besides the urge to slap Ren.
"Where are your friends?" Keisuke's smile drops instantly.
Ren watches the movie playing on Keisuke's old TV. Keisuke remains silent, his eyes are distant.
"I don't know. Dead. Probably."
Ren tightens his fists. "You don't know?"
"We grew apart. They didn't like my decision. Y'know, it's pretty funny when I think back on it. I did it for them. You of all people know how hard it is to see your friends get hurt. I couldn't stand watching them go through hell to save this world just to have to do it all over again. Anyways, they ran off and kept fighting. Don't know anything about them now."
"You left them to fight by themselves?" The Wildcard is powerful. Ren doesn't know who or what Keisuke was fighting, but the wildcard can turn the tide in any battle that looks doomed to be lost. Ren knows this and he knows that Keisuke does too.
Keisuke shakes his head. They sit in silence for a little longer. Ren starts to tune into the movie with nothing else to do. He sees a group of people in costumes fighting a large monster. He can faintly hear the monster doing a monologue.
"There were two other Wildcards there. It felt a little awkward at first. They were so much younger than us. One of them was still a teenager." He laughs
"When I saw his and his friends' eyes something grew in me. The fear that this cycle would never end. Our opponent was another god of course, and when I saw everyone so full of hope, I thought, for one second, that maybe we could end it. That maybe I could quell that fear."
Ren can feel the dregs of hope seeping out of Keisuke the more he talks.
"I was wrong of course. I had ventured into the Velvet Room with hope running through my body. I knew Igor wouldn't give me a concrete answer, so I asked his attendant. Will this finally end it? You wanna know what she said? She said some vague bullshit about the outcome was up to me and the other guests, but that she'd never forget about us and how remarkable we were."
Keisuke's tone is getting angrier and angrier. No one is paying attention to the movie anymore.
"That's when it clicked. It clicked that Igor and his attendants are here to stay, and that we'd never be able to truly save humanity. Once we were done with our malevolent god more Wildcards would pop up and continue the cycle. It was stupid of me to even think we could save the world in the first place…" An empty laugh escapes him.
Ren wants to laugh. Not at Keisuke, but at himself. He thought he would be the one getting angry here, and that Keisuke would be the one calmly dealing with him. But he knows now. He knows why he had such a bad feeling about Keisuke. He had thought the reason not too long ago.
Will this happen to me?
Keisuke's just like him. Along with his general appearance, he's a Wildcard and feels strongly for his friends and teammates. Keisuke started out as a valiant hero with loving friends surrounding him. Just like Ren. What happened to Keisuke could happen to Ren. But he knows why it won't, and it's probably the same reason why Keisuke succumbed to his despair.
"Did you care for your friends?"
Keisuke quickly turns around, an angry expression painting his face.
"Wh-What did you just say? I've had enough of your damn questions, kid. You think I didn't care for my friends?" Keisuke gets up from his chair and stares at Ren. His hands are balled up into fists and Ren's glad Keisuke has enough restraint to not beat him up right then and there.
"Did you ask them what they thought?"
Keisuke let's out a strained laugh.
"Did I talk to them about their feelings? Yeah. Of course I fucking did. They didn't agree."
"So why did you leave? If you knew how they felt why didn't you try to understand them? Did you even understand them in the first place?"
Keisuke opens his mouth but nothing comes out. Ren really hopes he doesn't get punched right now.
"Did you? Igor tells us over and over about how our bonds strengthen us. We live difficult lives, Keisuke, and it is hard to manage everything."
It seems he's calmed down a bit. His fists have loosened and are hanging limply at his side.
"What about their Personas? Did they evolve and gain ew power?"
Keisuke gives Ren an odd look.
"...Oh. I know what you're talking about. The other Wildcard's friends did. I think. They grew out of their original Personas thanks to their Wildcards. I thought that maybe they were just lucky and we weren't."
Keisuke limply falls back into his chair.
"So, I didn't understand them, and they never grew to their full potential. Is that what you're telling me?"
Ren looks away and shrugs.
Keisuke scoffs. "Okay, but what's that got to do with anything? Even if they were at their full potential, that still wouldn't have let us end this damn cycle!"
Ren sighs. He thought this was going to be easier.
"Live with it. Live with the fact it'll never end. But do it with your friends by your side. They are our lifelines."
Light starts to peek in from outside Keisuke's window. How long have they been talking? Ren gets up and stretches. Whatever else he says won't be able to penetrate Keisuke. He has to figure it out by himself from here on.
"Thanks for the help, and I apologize for blowing up at you."
Keisuke laughs and covers his eyes from the light beaming in through his window.
"Keisuke?"
He turns and meets Ren's gaze. His eyes are hazy and he seems to be more relaxed than before.
"You still have time. Our bonds don't wear down that easy."
Ren exits the room, leaving a pensive Keisuke behind.
-
"I can't belive they're not here either…"
Morgana's staring to panic now. Ren's a weird guy and he does sometimes wander off, but never nearly for this long.
It doesn't help that the rest of the Phantom Thieves are starting to crumble as well. They searched the Okinawa Jail from top to bottom and found nothing. They even went back to reality and looked through the Tower. Nothing.
They need Ren. Not just as their trump card, but as a friend and as a leader. He's the heart of their ragtag bunch and losing him andSophia would be too much for them to handle. Especially at a crucial time like this.
Morgana looks up to the sky and closes his eyes.
If only they could just fall frrom the sky and appear in front of them…
He slyly opens one eye. Nope. Nothing. His shoulders sag in defeat. He knows it wouldn't be that easy, but he still had to try, just in case.
He jumps off of the bench he's sitting on and starts the short trek back to the RV.
"Watch out!"
Huh? He looks up and is met with Ren's happy face quickly getting closer and closer.
-
Why does this always happen to him…
"Ren! Sophia! You're back!" He hears Ann yelling. He also hears the rest of the Phantom Thieves noisily clambering out of the RV.
Oh, yeah. They're back. He tries to squeeze in a 'welcome back' in between everyone else's rapid questions and crying but all that comes out is a squeak.
"Sorry, Morgana."
The pressure on him disappears and he feels himself being lifted into the air.
"Wow. You're heavier than I thought…" Ren mumbles.
Morgana opens his mouth to retort but he closes it after Ren pulls him tight to his chest. Ren mumbles something but everyone's voices drown it out.
"What did you say?" He wants to back away to look at Ren's facebutt he's scared if moves away from Ren he'll disappear again.
He was being pretty calm about Ren and Sophia's disappearance on the outside, but inside he was a complete mess. When he would start to think about Ren being gone, slithers of despair creeped into the back of his mind and whispered to him about a life void of the one who helped him learn how to live and find himself.
Morgana closes his eyes and stretches his short arms as far as he can around Ren's torso. Those thoughts are silent now. Replaced with warmth and hope and laughter.
He's glad Ren can't read thoughts. If he could hear Morgana's, the teasing would never end…
-
"Kei-Keisuke?!"
"What the hell do you want?"
"Look, at least let me explain-"
The door's abruptly shut and Keisuke leans his forehead on it. It's cold. For a second he forgets about everything as it cools his hot face.
Voices arguing penetrate through the thick door and remind him of what he came here to do.
He knocks again and prepares himself just in case Kaito decides to punch him the second he opens the door.
"Keisuke, please come in." Airi opens the door wide. Her eyes are full of hurt and sadness.
"You're really letting him in?!" Kaito shouts.
"Kaito, calm down. Now isn't the time to be fighting."
Kaito sputters out some protests but shuts his mouth when he sees Naoki's death glare.
Keisuke always knew Naoki would be the one to step up for the team. His backseat leading always annoyed him, but when the situation got messy he was always there to back him up.
Keisuke walks in and thanks Airi. She smiles and closes the door behind him. He can tell she wants to tell him something. She only opens her mouth and closes it after a moment.
He hears whining from across the room and sees Naga trotting towards him. She sits at his feet and sniffs him.
"Hey, girl. Sorry I've been gone for so long." He wonders if Ren also has a dog who can wield a Persona. He probably has some sort of animal. Naga licks his outstretched hand and walks away go lie back down on her bed.
"What do you want Keisuke?" Naomi grumbles from her seat next to Naoki. Both of those twins were always on his nerves…
"Where's Ryota and Yoshiko?" He looked around the room when he came in, but he couldn't seem to find them.
"Out with the youngsters. They're scouting out Ahi's base of operations."
Ah. He remembers now. The Shadows around Ahi's 'castle' are usually weak to Zio and Agi skills. Ryota's and Yoshiko's specialities.
He nods his head and looks down to his feet. He's glad that damn kid isn't here right now. He'd probably start asking him a bunch of stupid questions like 'why are you hesitating?'. Keisuke can feel himself getting angry. He'll show that imaginary kid whats he made of!
"...So, how have you all been?"
The room falls silent. Kaito and Airi's bickering abruptly stops. Everyone's eyes feel like knives peircing into him.
Damn. The kid was right. He does sucks at this stuff.