Chapter Text
“What are we going to do now? Gramps is locked up and there are cops swarming everywhere!” Ryuji exclaimed, sitting lopsided on the bar stool.
“Ryuji, keep your voice down, but he’s right, what's the plan?” Morgana stated, swishing his tail.
“Well, I believe the first thing we need is to get Zenkichi out of his predicament.” Haru mentioned before looking at Makoto. “Can you contact your sister? She became a defense lawyer, right?”
“I can. Though, I haven’t exactly told her what’s been going on. So, that will be a fun conversation.” Makoto mentioned, pushing hair behind her ear.
Day turned into night. They made do with what they could, sleeping in the bar. Ren had expected for Lavenza to call him, yet he woke up all the same with no interruptions.
The world felt like it was moving sluggishly around him, as the rest of the thieves began to move about and talk. He heard something about Makoto and her sister. Still all he could focus on was how his chest felt hollow, as though something was missing.
‘Panic attack?’ He thought, before blinking, ‘No this feels different.’ As slow as he could muster, he started reaching out to each Persona he currently had stored within his heart.
‘Mithras, Mitra, Kaiwan, Unicorn, Arahabaki, and…’ Ren paused tapping his finger, something he just realized he was doing as he found the hole, ‘Arsène?’
“Yo Earth to Ren. Do you copy?” He snapped back hearing Futaba.
“Sorry, sorry, got weirdly dizzy. What’s going on?” He asked, seeing the concerned look on everyone’s faces. “What?”
“I just got an SNS from Akane claiming that she’s been kidnapped.” Makoto said, her hand shaking.
“Then we need to save her. She’s our fan, what kind of Phantom Thieves would we be if we don’t save our own fan.” Ren said, ignoring the nagging hole in his chest.
“He’s right. We could never live with ourselves if we turned our backs to this.” Yusuke proclaimed.
“Okay. Then, Sophia, please find us the safest route and Morgana please keep a lookout” Makoto directed before they all made their way out.
———
“So, you really didn’t know what they were up to?” Sae asked as she drove.
“Nope. At most, I was keeping tabs on news that could be them.” Goro explained, scrolling through his phone.
“Are you sure you feel up to this, Akechi-kun? I can move you to a new safe location.” She asked, pulling up to a police station.
“No, I'm fully healed and I need to know what has been going on. I need answers.” He said before trying to follow after her.
“No, you stay here until I get this new friend of theirs out. Then you two are going to help them. Got it?” She said, stern but gentle.
“Yes, of course Niijima-San.” He sat back down, eyes back to his phone.
‘Amamiya, did you give up on me?’ He thought, looking at the final messages that they’d sent to each other. As if hit by a strange spell Goro’s eyes closed, falling into a light sleep. When he opened his eyes, he found himself in a familiar courtroom bathed in blue.
“Charlatan.” His eyes fell to the girl standing next to the prosecutor’s table.
“Lavenza. To what do I owe for this visit?” He asked, leaning forward, placing his cheek in his hand.
“The trickster…” She hesitated. Goro immediately sat straight.
“What about him?”
“Something has happened. I attempted to reach out but only silence greeted me. So, I tried to call upon his compendium only for it to refuse to open. I’m afraid something terrible is happening.” Lavenza explained rather hurriedly. “Please, find him and discover the source of his absence.”
“I’ll do my best but what if something has happened?” Goro asked cautiously.
“Then the malevolent force threatening the world will go unopposed.” Lavenza explained. He groaned but before he could get any more answers the room faded and Goro woke up.
They had stopped and Sae was saying something about how the two of them needed to go meet up with the others while she fixed the arrest warrant. Goro opened the door and hopped out now seeing the older man also get out of the car before running towards a vacant looking building. Instinctually, Goro followed unprepared for the coming hardships.