(open) bet you thought you'd seen the last of me

[forethinking]

Who: Ren and YOU!!
What: His return to the Void after his canon update
Where: Everywhere, we know how I roll, I'll probably update this forever
When: OOCLY, around the 10th of December!
Content Warnings: 100% Persona 5 Royal Spoilers will happen BUT I will put it in the comment subject if anything comes up.

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[forethinking]

(After Akechi left Heavenly Blanc, Ren attempted to find the girls first. Ann herself, he couldn't find anywhere, or at least, nowhere where he expected she would be. He decided to take a break from his searching, think a little while his head was still swimming in memories, both from this place and of the past few months.

He's staring at the Heart as if he's talking to it inside that thick skull of his, but the conversation is one-sided and not enough to make him not hone in the steps that come behind him. She doesn't speak, but Ren always is in a defensive position in Mementos, and by the time he turns, he already has the knife in hands, as if he was waiting for an enemy.

It's not one. It's his best friend, looking angry, upset, all the emotions he too feels staring at it. The weapon is lowered, retreated to the pockets of his jacket before he speaks, an arm open as it usually is so that she can come to his embrace as always.)

I know, it wasn't my decision. I'm sorry for worrying you.

[menaretrash]

[ Ann's been fortunate these last few weeks, to have the other girls here. To have Seto and the other friends she's made, too -- it's been so weird not having Ren and Akechi around. Especially Ren; is this what life would have been like when Ren went home... AT home? That's not something she'd been particularly looking forward to, either, and it's not something she will linger on now, either.

What matters is that Ren is here again, looking relatively safe, even if she can tell that something... has changed.

As soon as his weapon is lowered and returned, and his arm is open, her pace turns from a walk to a jog to a full on sprint, and once she's close enough, she tosses her arms around the poor man and buries her face into the crook of his neck. ]

You idiot! [ There's no heat or bite to her words, though, if anything she sounds relieved. ] What happened? Where did you go, where is Akechi-kun? Are you alright?

SPOILERS ROYAL SPOILERS

[forethinking]

(He was fully expecting the impact, so he barely moves aside from his wrapping both arms around the girl, tight as he could. Can he love the pain away?

Thin, small hands of his caress her back, not taking offense to the name-calling. Once more he makes Ann upset and once more she might cry because of him, not to mention what he had just done at home. He breathes in for courage, and he goes.)

We were taken home somehow. Akechi is at our apartment now, I've met him already.

(He allows a hand to touch the back of her head, as to encourage the contact.)

We defeated him.

[menaretrash]

[ She can't believe that he's back, honestly. She'd really thought that he was gone forever, banished off to some horrible other... Void place. Or a beach. A beach would have been preferable, it had been in her mind at least, until she'd thought of everything that could go wrong there, too.

She squeezes her eyes shut and remains close, giving him a light squeeze as well. He's real, and warm, and solid, and he's here.]

....Maruki? How? [ ... ] You guys did that... all on your own?

[ That must be the case, because Haru, Yoshizawa, and herself have been here. Ren and Akechi must have been down three members, but at least they still had the others. ]

[forethinking]

No, you were there too. Time doesn't seem to work the same.

(And this is something Ren and Akechi had theorized a while back. Perhaps they never truly left, their respective selves being frozen in time for them until it was time for them to return. Or perhaps it's just a parallel instance of events, happening at the same time.

He doesn't even know. Ren doesn't have all the answers, unfortunately, all he can do is comfort her right now.)

You just picked me up and I was on the train home. Now I am here again.

[menaretrash]

...That's...

[ Different. Because she doesn't recall any of that happening. All she recalls is being depressed and frantic and numb before acceptance had started settling in. ]

....What about Akechi-kun?

[ Is he alive at home, then? ]

[forethinking]

He says he is from the same date now.

(Ren is still a little lost on the details, he still hasn't had the chance to go home yet, to ask and get on the same page, because really, to Ren, he has lost him again.

Taking down Maruki meant so. Apparently, they were wrong.)

[menaretrash]

...Wait, really?

[ Ann doesn't draw back from the embrace, but she does lift her head to peer up at Ren, blinking and probably looking very akin to a Hot Mess™. ]

That's... that's great! Right? [ Because it means he's not dead! She... she thinks. She hopes. ]

[forethinking]

I met him briefly.

(If she's crying, he's quick to gently wipe her tears with his index finger, soft and kind.

It is a good thing, even if he doesn't understand it.)

I don't know the details, I am on assumptions.