Chapter Text
No…
Arsene!
Please say something!
The train was uncomfortably empty, without the voice in his head- his beloved persona. To live this existence without him; the mere thought of it felt rather isolating. He shuffled around his pockets for his phone, to do something to take his mind off of how empty it was.
An hour and thirty minutes until the train arrives…
That’s more than usual, no?
He paused.
Oh wait. Right…
Arsene was absent. He would’ve confirmed Ren’s thinking if he was here. Ren decided to recall all that he could of the remainder of Sae Niijima’s palace and all the things that happened in the interrogation room leading up to his death. The notebook seemed two-thirds full this time, he lived long enough to use more than the first 15 or so pages at least. Finishing writing the finale of his previous attempt, he places the notebook back into his bag.
Now he fidgets with his hands, bouncing his leg, staring off into the distance, glancing at the dark screen of his phone to see if perhaps he was watching again. Those silver eyes now saddened him, feeling alone once again. He began watching the time,
86 minutes until the train arrives in Yongen…
85 minutes…
still 85 minutes.
What had his existence turned into- waiting for a sign that his beloved still could sense him, waiting for him to reply to Ren’s pleas.
He needed something to take his mind off of such a thought. Fishing around his bag for a book, he pulls one out; The Great Thief . Must he have pulled this one out, or did fate want to put him down more? He had been holding onto that book since his first death, it wasn’t like he could return it. He just stared at the book, at the details in the cover.
Eventually he snapped out of his trance, feeling the tears at the corner of his eyes threaten to fall down his cheeks. “Oh.” He mumbled, placing the book aside to wipe his sorrows with his sleeves. His vision was still fairly blurred as he went to check the time again. 73 minutes until they- no, he had arrived.
He shakily heaved a sigh, reaching once again into the bag. This time pulling out a small handmade plush. This was a plush he had sewn together behind everyone’s back; a soft and squishy plushie, one detailing all of Arsene without all the sharp edges that he always had to avoid when he would go to embrace his persona.
He never had shown this to people, or even his other self, while he had made it- though he must eventually thank Tatsumi for teaching him how to sew and stitch, likely when he regrettably returns to Inaba- or perhaps it was more proper to say, if he lives long enough to see that day. Ren was sure that if Arsene had seen him with it, he would get quite jealous and lift him into an embrace, pushing his flaming mask into the crook of his neck and whining about how he was neglecting his love- in a joking manner of course, they both knew that.
“You never did show me how to throw your feather like a dart, not beyond that first time in the palace.” He murmured, his brain had been wandering to the past. The playful and silly moments with his persona surfaced his memories, he wished that Arsene was here to reminisce with him, then the more saddened and serious memories showed into his mind again, times that looking back, he wished that he’d apologized earlier and others in which he hoped to never hold such a strong grudge for the better of the week.
He sighed silently, watching the time. Waiting to enter Leblanc, doing something more than reminding how he’s alone again. He squeezed that plush against his chest, hoping that it would manifest into the real being that he had held so dear to his heart.
—
—
Arsene stood quietly in the fogged darkness of the heart. He was, by force, a spectator for and of his beloved. His voice became hoarse from attempting to contact his Ren so very many times. It seemed that ‘Truth Serum's effect had something similar to a forget debuff, something that the two of them never had to face in their time in the Metaverse.
He tried to decode Ren's thoughts in their shared mind. He felt shackled as this watcher over his soulmate once more. Watching Ren gazing at the book, it hurt. Watching Ren holding that plush of him against his chest, it hurt more.
The cotton copy… when did he make it? Arsene wondered. I thought I watched him quite closely. He watched Ren glance at the clock on his phone, 65 minutes until they arrived at Yongen. Arsene hoped that the serum’s effects would end before the day did, for he too felt quite isolated without the shared connection between him and his partner.
—
The time was an hour before arrival. Ren watched the minute turn before his mind was bombarded by countless messages from his partner.
-Ren!
Can thou hear me?
Has it worn off?
Tell me so-
Arsene!
Yes I can hear you!
He put aside the little plush of Arsene, tears of relief streaming down his face. He glanced around to see where his persona would appear on the train, but, this time he didn’t.
Arsene? Are you not materializing?
…
I apologize, I do not think I’m well enough for that.
I’ve been using my strength and energy for a while to contact thou.
Oh…
Okay, I’ll come to you when I get to Leblanc.
— Late Night, April 9th —
Ren placed his things in their proper spot once Sojiro had given him his speech again, which would make it the seventh time he’s heard it now. Waiting in bed, he let sleep overtake him, joining his Arsene in the void of their shared mind. It didn’t take long for Ren to find him. He was lying on the ground, propping his head up with his arms, his wings draping over him. Ren was careful to not accidentally step on any dark feathers as he navigated to the front of his persona.
“I’m here~”
Ren sat across from Arsene, watching the flames on his mask dimly dance across his face.
“I’m glad.” Arsene quietly replied, slowly extending his hand to hold Ren’s.
They sat there like that, replenishing their time from when they were forced apart. Arsene eventually regained enough strength to sit up, against his Ren at least.
“Perhaps we should sleep for the night.” Ren suggests, “you need to be ready for the 11th, so tomorrow is just a rest day for you.”
“Rest well, mon amour.”
“You too.”
— Early Morning, April 11th —
Ren waited for Ryuji while the rain began to stop. He was doing a last minute check-in with Arsene before he heard the voice of the blonde.
“REN-REN!” He called.
Oh? This is most definitely new.
Chariot is already calling thou by thy nickname?
Yeah, this is supposedly the first time we’d meet.
“What happened?” Ren asked.
“Wh- how are you so calm??” Ryuji was already panicking. “How is it April again? Why is Kamoshida back??”
“Wait- you remember?!” Ren was surprised, Arsene too. This was a first. “Okay. Uhm. What happened on your side in November?”
“We escaped just fine thanks to you. But uh, did something go wrong? Futaba went radio silent and Makoto suddenly messaged us in the night that Sae didn’t return with you.”
“Yeah… I couldn’t convince her, and kinda… got shot by Akechi.”
“O-oh…” Ryuji felt bad for asking.
“Well, because you remember; I can tell you now.” Ren glanced at Arsene in the puddle’s reflection. “You know the many notebooks I carry, right?”
“Yeah?” Ryuji nodded.
“Well so, each of those are details of a ‘previous life’ before dying.” Ren clarified, seeing Ryuji’s understandable confusion, “this isn’t the first time I’ve been through this before, Ryuji.” they watched the gears in his head figure out what Ren told him. “I’ll explain more later, then. We still need to save Morgana today.”
“Right…”
“Oh by the way,” Ren’s eyes changed gold, “Kidd, thou may need to learn how to disguise thy human.”
“What.” Ryuji stared blankly at Ren- rather it was Arsene now.
—
They soon arrived at the castle-palace, Arsene and Captain Kidd materialized as they stood near-ish to the front doors. It was fifteen minutes before Ryuji’s thief outfit was properly disguised, they also temporarily combined their mental spaces to serve as communication for now.
They sat in their cell, Ryuji’s aura was wavering a bit at the moment
Okay, we can rest for… about 8-10 minutes. Ren voiced in their communications.
Yes, do take breaks when thou can, Chariots, it was like this when we started too. Arsene added.
Dude, this is INSANE!
Ryuji’s thief outfit was now back on display, Ren also displayed his too.
“So,” Ren started, “I’m sure you have questions.”
“Many. So many questions.”
“Okay, uhm, some things are…” he thinks for a moment, recalling each life glancing at the notebooks, “firstly, this is the seventh life, your recollection would be my sixth. That was the longest we’ve lasted, before then, the longest we had lasted was around the end of June.”
“...”
“Uh, Skull?” Ren waves a hand in front of his face, “you good?”
“I- I dunno what to say, this is insane.”
Oh that reminds me, Arsene started, we don’t have to bother with tomorrow now that Chariot already has his.
“Oh good!” Ren turns back to Ryuji, “so when Kamoshida comes in here, you need to ‘awaken’-” he puts that word in air quotes. “- Kidd again.”
“I- what.” he’s confused again.
“Do you remember how I ‘awakened’ Arsene? Do something like that- but more your style of course- figure something out then, we’ve run out of time now.”
I must say, thy way with explanations has declined. Arsene jokes.
Okay- this is hard to explain. Ren replied, “I’ll hand you the books after school tomorrow on the rooftop.”
They swiftly locked Kamoshida in that jail, walking away with a steady pace towards Morgana’s cell.
“So now, you mustn’t tell anyone about that previous life, think of it like forbidden knowledge, we know what will happen for the next seven or so months, but shouldn’t inform anyone else of such things otherwise it’ll probably change.”
“For real? And you’ve known for a long time?”
“Well, three months compared to seven…” they were now approaching that familiar drawbridge. “Alright quiet down now, Morgana is close- likely within earshot now.”
“Still picking the lock?”
“The locks are bad enough that I just need a hair pin, I think Futaba and beyond I actually needed the real thing.”
“I could help with that, surely thou know?”
“I know, Arsene, I know.”
They obtained the not-cat, and the day went on as normal. Though, the cat was surprised upon seeing two persona users; more so than previous attempts.
— Evening, April 11th —
They returned to Leblanc Coffee a bit later than usual. Sojiro was shuffling things around in the fridge, and it sounded like he was restocking some ingredients. Ren also noticed the notebook left on the counter too.
“You’re lucky I haven’t left yet…” Sojiro grumbled, “see that notebook? Journal your life there.” Ren nodded, taking the notebook upstairs to the attic.
He sat at the workbench, noting down everything of the past few days; all the changes and the fact that Ryuji remembers being the big thing. Arsene listened for the ring of the bell and lock of the door before he materialized beside Ren, recounting his side of November 20th and the first 30 or so minutes of April 9th. One more book to carry around now, he placed it into his bag.
“You said it was similar to the forget debuff? The drugs they put in me.” Ren asked.
“I’m quite sure, it had effects similar to what Carmen and Zorro described.”
Ren begins searching his bag for something, pulling out a small white pearl. “Would this work then?”
“The item we obtained from monsieur Nakanohara?” Ren holds it up for Arsene to inspect. “If it is merely a ‘forget debuff’, then perhaps it shall.”
“Do try to remind me to equip it before November 19th then.”
“Ren, mon amour,” he sighed, “we have half a year and then some, write it down if thou hope to remember for then.”
Ren’s flipping through the now fully updated notebook of the 6th life, skimming over the passages.
“So, what’s required now, since the new changes?”
”Perhaps we should include Chariot in this conversation.”
“Tomorrow then.”
“…”
Ren leaned against Arsene. He reaches up with his arms, wrapping them around Arsene’s lower back, beneath his wings. “I’m glad you’re still with me.” He mumbles quietly into Arsene’s chest.
“As am I.” Arsene pulls his human closer, his claws delicately holding his Ren in place of their embrace.
They embraced for a good while, eventually Arsene felt Ren’s arms go loose around him. Looking down, it seems that Ren had fallen asleep against him.
“Sleep well,” he whispered, “let’s hope to live longer this time too.”
— After School, April 12th —
Finding a spare chair on the rooftop, he begins waiting for Ryuji. Arsene soon later materialized, standing beside him. After eight more minutes of waiting later, Ryuji pushed through the door.
“kept us waiting?” Ren jokes, placing the stack of notebooks onto one of the spare desks.
“Yeah, yeah.” He sighed, flipping through the first few books. “Shit you actually kept track of everything.”
“Yeah…” Ren awkwardly laughs. He watches Ryuji slow down, reading the final passage of each notebook; silently closing the book then moving onto the next. He also noticed the change in handwriting with Arsene’s passages, reading through June 9th of the sixth life and May 6th of the second life especially.
When he finished reading, he deeply breathed in, held it, then released it. His eyes glistened with tears ready to be released. “That’s so horrible to go through!” He pulls both Ren and Arsene into a hug, releasing them after a few moments.
“Something still seems odd,” Ren starts, “we’ve been through this now six times, why only now does someone else remember?”
“Oh yeah. That is weird.” Ryuji nods.
“I believe it has something to do with Kidd.” Arsene suggests.
“Whaddya mean cuz of me?” Kidd now appears beside Ryuji.
“Recall that thy form had changed sometime during the last life.”
“Oh? Like the mythological trickster things that the butterfly mentioned?” Ren wondered out loud. “So because of our ‘blood vow’ we’re now in this together.”
“Wait- this is new information dude,” Ryuji sighed, “I don’t get it anymore…”
“Basically, are you ready to repeat the same months again and again until we figure out what is the cause?”
“Uh sure?”
“Great!” Ren pulls out his phone, checking the time. “Okay, well should we head into the palace today?”
“Mon cher, there is no need. Magician already knows of Chariot’s persona.”
“Yeah but he doesn’t know that we will return again this time.”
Ren is now pacing back and forth, thinking of what to do now. Arsene now took his seat, unresponsive as he’s also figuring out what to do. Ryuji and Kidd are in their usual spot, trying to understand all the information that was just shoved into their head.
“Everything is so confusing now that something so different has happened!” Ren ruffles through his hair while scratching his head. “What do we do now that won’t have too much of a change on the future?!” He paces faster, practically running in circles as his mind is racking for ideas, or some semblance of a pre-laid path to follow…
.
..
…
“-en?”
The voice was quiet, ignored by him as more thoughts filled the void.
“Ren-!”
a bit louder this time, but still drowned out by his thoughts.
“Boy.”
“Hey-”
a couple different voices, louder this time; but Ren shook his head, figuring out plans, plans of plans, and what if they were to go wrong. A tinge of unusual warmth and pain he feels in his head, manageable but annoying; he continues trying to figure out what to do, what won’t affect the future, both the soon and the later.
“Ren-ren!” Ryuji extends his arm, reaching to grab his hand. “I- I don’t understand what’s going on anymore but, maybe you should take it slow.”
He didn’t reply, his mind was occupied; elsewhere. Only snapping back to reality when he ran into someone, one with the red leather fabric, the one he loves.
“Arsene?” He glanced up, seeing the pained expression of his persona.
“Steady thy thoughts.” His voice was strained. “Thy mind. Is spiraling.”
“A-ah…” He glances around, breathing in and out slowly. “Can- can we continue this tomorrow?” He directed the question to Ryuji.
“Ye-yeah.” He starts leaving, stopping at the door, “Uhm get home safe?” He waves back at Ren and Arsene before descending the stairs beyond the door.
— Evening, April 12th —
Ren was lying down in the void of his mind, somewhere between calming himself and distracting his thoughts. Arsene took over control of their body at this moment, quickly and safely bringing him home before he would inevitably spiral again. Every so often, Arsene would remind him to breathe, to calm him down again.
Arsene had rushed past Sojiro as he returned to Leblanc, running upstairs until he collided with the bed. Relinquishing control of Ren, he materialized, sitting beside his human. He seemed to have a bit of a shiver, Arsene wrapped him well into the nearby blankets, then adjusted himself so one of his wings could act as another one.
Thanks…
Ren rotated himself to face Arsene… or he tried to, he was still on his back despite his attempts.
Of course my love.
Do rest for now, we can tackle creating a plan later, preferably when thou is less feverish.
I wish I could do more for thou…
But it’s too early in the day to find things that could help, plus Hierophant doesn’t trust thou enough to go out in the evenings.
Itch shmall,
‘M fine-
Thou art not ‘fine’, thou can barely think replies properly.
Rest.
Arsene turned away, checking through his bag for anything like cold medicine or pain relievers that weren’t as strong as the things that they would use in the metaverse. Unfortunately he didn’t come across any such item. Thinking of what he could possibly do next, he catches the end of one of Ren’s thoughts.
–… with me?
Hm?
What dost thou need?
Rest, with me?
If it shall help, then of course.
Arsene settled onto the bed between Ren and the wall. Draping one wing over Ren and awkwardly slipping the other into the crack between the mattress and the wall, leaning as close as he could to Ren while still being sure that his sharp horns wouldn’t accidentally hit him.
Better?
He hears Ren make a small sound of confirmation, easing his own worries.
Half an hour passes before he’s completely sure that Ren has fallen into a deep enough sleep. He carefully gets up, being sure not to disturb the boy, and delicately pulls out several sheets of extra lined paper and the pen with his feather attached. He also pulls out the cotton copy of him, placing it beside Ren as a double for now; of course it didn’t have the same size nor the same warmth as he himself, but it shall do for now.
He takes a seat at the workbench, writing in the various loose leaf sheets, detailing possible plans and scenarios in their future if they were to go through such things. He also keeps a check of Ren’s phone, watching the screen light up with Ryuji’s messages of concern. Although, unfortunately Ren’s phone has difficulty recognizing his clawed touch as fingerprints or else he’d respond to those texts.
“...Arsene…” Ren mumbled in his sleep.
He froze, then he quietly placed the papers into this life’s notebook. He sneaks back beside his human, looking to be sure that he was still asleep. Ascertaining that fact, he releases a silent held breath of relief. Returning back to the bench, curiosity fills him thinking about what Ren would be dreaming to call his name during his rest… though he learnt of the consequences for prying in Ren’s private corner some time ago. I shouldn’t, I’ll just ask him when he wakes up. He told himself in his own private corner of their mind. He tries his best to quickly finish up the papers before Ren awakes.
He does indeed finish, placing the small stack of papers into the book, not before binding them with an extra paperclip that they had for some reason- Arsene doesn’t know when he had found a small box of them- and placing it on the next page, where tomorrow’s passage would go. Quietly approaching the bed, he swiftly takes the plush of him out of Ren’s grip and places it back into the bag. He then threads himself into Ren’s arms, to rest for the remainder of the evening.
— Early Morning, April 13th —
Ren awoke before Arsene did, a first in a while. He carefully slid out of his persona’s grip, letting him rest more. He saw the orange notebook on the desk, and the feathered pen beside it. That pen was Arsene’s favourite since he put it together, perhaps because it used his feather, but he won’t seem to even touch the other pens or pencils that Ren has in his bag. He flips to the next page, to start the section of today, then he sees the papers that were held together by a paperclip. These papers were of Arsene’s handwriting, Ren could tell from a glance, he gazed back at his persona still deep in his rest on the bed. He must’ve put this together during the night. He smiled at the thought, then began reading through the papers.
Arsene’s mask flared alive. He immediately noticed that Ren was no longer in his grasp. He sat up, stretching his wings- being sure to avoid hitting things like the walls or the shelf. Turning around, he saw Ren reading the plans that he put together last night, smiling at the little notes he had also left in them. He quietly got up, sneaking behind Ren, seeing that he’s on the final page, near the end based on the position of his hands and the angle of his head.
“What art thine verdict?” He asks when he’s sure that Ren finished reading the page.
“Oh!” Ren flinched at the sudden voice, “you’re awake.”
“So I am.” Arsene reaches to feel Ren’s face, cooler to the touch now and no longer could he sense pain emanating there. “Thou've seemed to recover from thy fever.” He released his human from his hold.
“Uhm…” He thinks for a moment, “let’s head into the palace, we don’t know what happened to Morgana yesterday because that’s usually when Ryuji awakens Kidd, but we weren’t there so Morgana could’ve done something else.”
“Thou may want to quell Chariot’s worries now rather than later too.”
“Oh, jeez he messaged us a lot last night.” Ren places his phone back into his pocket despite the messages going unanswered. “We’ll see him today at school anyway, it’ll be fine.”
—
They saw the blonde at the station, running up to him to wait together for the train that was a bit behind schedule because of the derailment cases.
“Morning Ryuji.” He greets.
“Ren-ren! Are you okay?! You seemed off yesterday, sick maybe?”
“Now, now, Chariot.” Arsene pulls Ryuji’s hands off of Ren, “he just had a little fever.”
“Not like you made it out to be ‘little’.” Ren muttered.
“Would that be thy thanks?” Arsene leaned towards his face.
“Yeah, yeah, thanks…” Ren pushes his horns away from his head.
“Okay lovebirds… what’s the plan for today?” Ryuji asks, bringing the topic back. That immediately shut the other two up. Ren’s cheeks were slowly going redder by the moment, Arsene’s flames became warmer and lighter in colour.
“I- uh- Palace. After school.” Ren stammered out.
“Meet in the metaverse.”
”Sweet.” Ryuji walks past them, boarding the train, “see ya there.”
— After School, April 13th —
Ren and Arsene phased into the Metaverse, glancing around for their pirate teammate(s) or Morgana and Zorro.
“Hm, maybe we should’ve checked if he was already in here or not.” Ren paces around the entrance of the vent. It was quite silent outside of the castle walls.
“Shall we check outside it then?” Arsene asks.
“Perhaps not, we might just miss each other.” Ren sits down just beside the vent entrance, just in case Morgana appears from it. It didn’t take long for him to see Ryuji phasing into this realm. He watches Ryuji glance around until he spotted Ren.
“Well, that’s two of us, now where’s Morgana?” Ren goes to stand up.
“Hopefully not in another cell.” Ryuji glances around.
“Tch! Have some faith.” A third, quite familiar voice scoffs.
“Oh. Morgana?” Ren looks around, spotting the not-cat’s head poking out from their infiltration entrance, incredibly injured. “What happened- er, how does it look in there?” He rephrased his question.
“Busy, too busy for an infiltration.” He jumps out of the hole, easily landing on his feet. “Especially too busy for newbies like you.” Zorro appears beside him, seemingly casting Dia before dematerializing again. “So why did you come back?”
“Oh just to give a message to you.” Ren starts.
“Wanna join the team?” Ryuji informs the not-cat.
“We shall be stealing his desires a week from now.”
“Are you dumb?! You don’t even have an infiltration route!”
“Yeah? Well this isn’t-” Ren slaps Ryuji across the face before he could finish that sentence.
“We’ll prepare until the 18th, obtaining the full route that day and sending the calling card on the 19th before stealing the treasure on the 20th.” Ren turns back to Morgana, “a sound enough plan for you?”
“Fine!” He grins, “but just to be sure that rookies like you don’t die here.”
“Great. We shall be back in two days.” After all, we still need to get Ann into the team again.
Their healer nodded, confirming the plan in his mind. The others left for the remainder of the day- despite not really actually doing anything in the metaverse.
“Ren-ren?” Ryuji looked up from his phone. “Why would we wait until the 20th? Why can’t we do it earlier?”
“Uhm… there are things that have to happen I guess…?”
“But we could save Suzui from having to-”
“Ryuji.” He glances around before continuing. “That could have drastic effects, if we were to stray far from what is to happen.”
“We can save MORE people though?”
“... we shouldn’t.” Ren’s mind wandered to his exchange with Igor after he got shot by Akechi, that was a change that he should not have instigated, and perhaps the half hour after was because of that- not the bleedthrough of the serum’s effects, because injuries had never transferred beyond the death.
Thou implies that it was from the Master of the Velvet room?
Would my reasoning be otherwise incorrect?
“Hey dude?” Ryuji waves a hand in front of Ren’s face.
Ren shakes his head, “we still shouldn’t stray too far.”
“Are you okay?” He glances at Ren’s reflection from the metallic details in the alleyway. “Both of you.”
“I’m fine.” Ren looks towards the school building, “we should probably leave before someone says something.”
“Well,” He quickly weighs his funds in his bag, “come with me for some ramen then- my treat.”
“Oh, where?”
“New place.”
“I thought we'd gotten through all the areas previously.”
Ryuji laughed, “Just one place we missed. Just one.”
—
“Oooh~ a private room. Splurging are you?” Ren seemed a bit surprised.
“You need a change, Kidd told me.”
Ryuji took his seat closest to the door, Ren opposite of him closest to the wall. Arsene and Captain Kidd materialized beside them, taking their respective spots beside their humans.
“Kidd, if you could.” Ryuji glances over to the door.
“Righty-o.”
He locked the door with a click. Ryuji sighed, turning back his attention to the two others across from them. “Okay, you two have more problems you should probably unload now.”
“Ya this is becomin’ a real issue now.” Kidd backed up.
“We’re fine, honestly.”
“‘Fine’ isn’t how I would describe thou…”
“At least try to back me up, Arsene…” Ren grumbled, sipping at his water.
“Though, this is a touch… forceful.” Arsene admits.
“Geez, I just want to help a bit.” Ryuji scratches at the back of his neck.
“Okay, therapist.” Ren quipped.
“I’m not-” he sighs, “I guess I might as well be at this moment.”
“Okay, shoot, what do you think is wrong?”
“Me thinks that’s not ‘ow this works…”
“It won’t matter whether this is typical or not, thou shall need to tell someone other than I at some point.”
“Ghh… Arsene please…” Ren turns to face Ryuji again, “the main thing is all the differences that happened this time, alright?” He feels Arsene’s claw wrap around his own; finally noticing the shaking of his fingertips as this talk progressed. “I don’t know if you can recall the very beginning of the previous attempt but, it certainly didn’t happen like this, and-”
“That is not much of a welcome change to us.” Arsene finished. “Apologies Chariots, but this is much too similar to an interrogation in my Fool’s eyes.”
“Oh shit, sorry man.” Ryuji immediately apologizes. Kidd gets up to unlock the door too. “Uh… let’s order?”
“Uh, yeah.” Ren’s nervous tremors seemed to have slowed at least in Arsene’s hand.
They ate in an awkward silence that had enveloped the room, Ryuji quickly slipping away after their meal to pay. Ren quietly passed him, heading back for the night.
He felt his phone rumble upon entering Leblanc, only deciding to check the messages when he sat upon his bed up in the attic.
Skull / Captain Kidd
Status: Online
— 21:04 —
Skull
Hey uhm, sorry about earlier
I really didn’t mean to make it seem like that…
I-
I just felt like there was more troubling you, and knowing you, you won’t admit it.
Joker
It’s okay…
Just follow my lead in the plan.
Joker (Arsene)
> there was more troubling you, and knowing you, you won’t admit it.
My Fool is like that, though he seems to have more issues opening up as we go on.
Skull
I’ll try not to pry then, I don’t want to make the leader uncomfortable.
Joker (Arsene)
Hm.
A plan it is.
My Fool is asleep, thou should consider doing so at this time too.
Skull
Dude, Arsene-
This is so early!
Joker (Arsene)
Consider.
Arsene placed Ren’s phone aside upon sending that final message. Careful not to move too much to accidentally wake his human who was fast asleep on his lap. His claws made it a pain to use Ren’s phone, taking about two or three minutes to type out a message. These claws were long and sharp, annoying at times but, he was, and is supposed to be able to protect his Ren, though most of the ways they’ve died was testament to his ability to protect him. Feeling the calm breathing of his human in the darkness, he’s a bit relieved that he hasn’t developed more nightmares from the previous life. After Lust, it should be returned to relative normality. He hoped as such at least.
— After School, May 18th —
Today they were going into Madarame’s palace again. They were progressing faster than normal too, after stopping Morgana from springing the trap. Their pace was still steady enough to not burn anyone out of their stamina, taking quick breaks at every safe room.
Soon, they arrived at the ‘obstacle’ as Morgana had called it previously, the locked door with the copies of Saiyuri. This was going as usual, or at least it was until they heard the quickened footsteps of a shadow behind them.
“Were we followed?!” Ren turns around, brandishing his dagger.
“Surrounded?!” Morgana glanced around.
“There’s so many!” Ann yelped. “Joker! What’s the plan!!”
“Thin their numbers until you can find an exit. We’ll recuperate tomorrow at the hideout.”
Ann managed to retreat first, then Morgana. It was just Ren and Ryuji, Arsene and Kidd fighting for their lives.
“Joker, there’s too many!” Ryuji’s breathing was uneven, electricity crackled violently around him, “Find another way to escape.”
“Skull,” Ren takes out a small light, dragging the attention of the shadows that were on Ryuji. “Go-”
“I’m not leaving you- JOKER!”
Ren seemed to suddenly fall, blood pouring from a wound by his heart.
“Cover us.” Arsene commanded.
Ryuji and Kidd tried their best to protect their leaders. Ren had felt a sharp pain through his chest, the feeling of a sharp pointed edge and the coldness of the metal or an additional Bufu accompanying it. There was too much pain, Ren knew, to survive tonight- too much blood flowed from the wound, it must have it somewhere important.
“Skull. April 9th Yongen Station, noon.” He called out with his remaining strength.
“Shit- Joker hold on!” Ryuji turned around, seeing Arsene’s pained expression as he shattered into a mass of blue glass-like shards. Ren’s body laid there, lifelessly and still. “Damn it!”
—
So it has happened once again.
Trickster, you have failed once more.
…
Oh? Do you not snap back,
Like last you had?
Hm, very well.
Let the will of the Wild Card carry you forward.
At fate.
At life.
It is yours to fight.
—
Ren felt the vibrations of that same train once again.
Back to the loop, huh.
Most certainly.
We shall see if Chariot maintains his recollection again.
When the train arrives at the station, he should be there if his memory serves.
Ren stood from his seat, stretching and looking around.
You know, it does seem odd how a train as large as this one is completely empty at a time like this.
Being the sole passenger is a bit… isolating?
I would rather it be as such.
Arsene materialized beside Ren, a wing enveloping his human.
It gives us an hour to recuperate.
Alright,
What went wrong then?
Did the alarm that Morgana would trip spread the shadows away? Or were we just too quick?
We were followed.
Thou said so thyself.
Yeah… but that’s never happened before!
Ghhh, well we should try to get Ryuji to stick with the original route this time.
It’s less complicated that way.
Well then,
We have a plan.
Let us hope it goes into fruition.
— Noon, April 9th —
Pushing past the river of people trying to enter the train, Ren spots a head of blonde hair and the tip of a purple hoodie.
So he does remember again.
Ren waved over to Ryuji, who finally noticed him when about half the crowd had dispersed from the platform.
Pulling Ren into a more empty hall of the station, a worried look on his features.
“Dude… you go through this every time?”
“Yeah.”
“This is awful!”
“Well, there’s worse.”
“I-”
“But anyway, Ryuji. We stick to ‘cannon’ this time.”
“Following your lead?”
“Yeah. Meeting adjourned. You can head back to whatever you were going to do.”
They split off, not before adding each other’s contacts into their phones again. It was a pain, getting back people’s numbers every reset, a bit odd how it isn’t kept up to date unlike the contents of his bag.
— Evening, April 12th —
Everything proceeded as normal, Morgana didn’t seem to suspect too much, nothing beyond Ren’s unusual skill in the Metaverse. He did feel a bit bad for having to make Kidd disguise Ryuji for two days instead of one like the last attempt, but it kept closer to the original route that way. Everything should proceed as it did in the sixth attempt. Glancing over the book of that previous life, he ruled it out because of how different it was compared to the ones prior to it. Having a sense of normalcy, albeit twisted- because in what world was everything with the metaverse ever normal, was putting him at ease in his mind.
“The eighth time, huh…” he tiredly mumbled.
“So it is.”
“You think we’ll ever live until next year?”
“Mon cher, of course we shall. Have faith.”