Of Phantoms and Thieves

Memory's Grasp

Ren kicked the box and put his hands on his head. He'd hoped that no one would bring it up. He didn't want to remember. He still couldn't get over it. His parents arguing... The truck... None of it. He still couldn't wrap his mind around what made them snap.

Ren sat down on the bed and he put his head in his hands. He'd overreacted. He didn't mean to be rude to his friends. He heard the shop door open and he groaned. What did they want from him? But no one came up.

<><><>

"Oh, finally!" Morgana exclaimed, jumping out of the car. "I was afraid that you might have forgotten me and left me in there to die!"

"Whoa, cat," Ryuji said, scratching his neck. "We didn't forget you. We just didn't know you were there!"

Morgana glared. "Uh-huh. I saw what happened. If you'd let me out earlier, I could have told you not to piss him off!"

"Well, sorry!" Ryuji cried. "We didn't know! I was just surprised!"

Sojiro looked a bit confused. Of course, he was. He couldn't understand Morgana.

Morgana turned his head to the side and he huffed. "Whatever, Sakamoto. I still don't believe you." He looked at Ann. "And, Lady Ann, you look wonderful today."

Ann let out a loud sigh. "Yeah, okay. Let's just bring everything inside."

They finished with the last of the boxes and they all sat down at the counter. Sojiro took his place behind it, as usual.

"I didn't expect something so bad to happen to him," Ann breathed. "I never knew that Ren had it rough. How could we have been so blind?"

"Just give him some time," Sojiro stated. "He'll be back sooner or later. He can't stay up there forever."

Futaba suddenly spoke. Ann had almost forgotten that she was there. "You never know."

"What do you mean by that?" Ann asked.

Futaba shrugged. "You know what happened to me. It could happen to him."

"No, Ren-Ren wouldn't do that," Ryuji said. "He wouldn't do that to us, right?"

Everyone fell silent.

"I wish he'd talk more," Ann breathed. "It bothers me sometimes how often he'll struggle and not ask for help."

"That's just how he is," Sojiro sighed. "You can't really push him to do something."

Morgana jumped up on the counter, and Sojiro groaned and scratched his head.

"Perhaps I should go up and talk to him?" Morgana suggested.

"Like Dad said before, just give him time," Futaba pointed out. "It's not going to help him if we keep on bugging him. He'll open up when he wants to."

"Maybe he'll open up to me," Morgana argued. "He's done that many times at night."

"Just forget it," Ryuji replied. "If he doesn't want to, he doesn't want to."

Morgana ignored them and ran up the stairs.

"Morgana, wait!" Ann shouted. But he ignored her just like everyone else.

<><><>

"Ren, you okay?"

Ren looked up to see who it was. It was Morgana, and he was now walking over to him.

Ren shrugged. "I don't know," he said quietly. "It just... kind of hit me."

"That's alright," Morgana said. "I just really wish that you'd let us know when you're upset."

Ren scratched his head. "I just didn't want to talk about it."

"When do you think you'll open up?"

"When it doesn't hurt so much."

"You ever going to tell them about your parents?"

"I don't know."

"They've been the main cause of the problem."

"Agh, I know that. They've been fighting so much... Ever since I've come back, they just haven't known what to do with me."

"They still think you're a bad person, even though they know it wasn't your fault."

"They're just mad that I got caught up in other people's problems. It's not my fault that Shido chose to do what he did."

"And it's not your fault that the woman was scared and protested against you all because of Shido. In the end, things got set right. And if none of that had happened, you wouldn't have met any of us."

"If none of that had happened, then I wouldn't have gotten arrested for no reason in the first place," Ren retorted. "And who cares now? We're not Phantom Thieves anymore. The Metaverse is gone. We took out Yaldabaoth and restored the Velvet Room. There's no point in trying to steal hearts anymore if we can't do it. You're just stuck as a cat now, Morgana. And I'm just a normal teenager again. There's no point in calling you Mona or calling me Joker. It's over now. And I think I'd like it to stay that way."

Morgana growled and his fur fluffed up. "You want it to stay that way? Do you not think that people don't already think you're crazy? You're talking to a cat right now! You still expect to return to the Velvet Room when you sleep! And even back at home, you were still doing crazy stunts and whatnot!" Morgana shook his head. "I don't think it's ever going to end for you, leader..."

Ren looked down at himself. Morgana was right. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't just forget the events of last year. Besides, he'd made some good friends while he'd been here in Tokyo. How could he possibly forget Haru, Yusuke, Ryuji, Makoto, Futaba, or Ann?

Ren stared at the floor for a long moment. Perhaps... Maybe, just maybe...

"Can you give me a moment?" Ren asked.

"Oh, yeah, sure," Morgana stated. He hopped off the bed and ran down the stairs. He stopped. "I see that Sojiro got the door installed like you asked."

Ren slowly nodded. Morgana ran out and Ren stood up and walked down after him. He then slammed the door shut as hard as he could.

"I can't go back to it..." Ren breathed. "It's not worth it."

He locked the door and heard chatter from outside. Slowly, he turned around and walked back up the stairs, collapsing onto the bed and falling into a restless slumber.