4"You idiot Joker."
With a start, Amamiya Ren sat up in bed, breathing heavily. The voice in his dreams belonged to Akechi Goro, a former Phantom Thief ally-turned-traitor, and the famed kid detective of Tokyo. Even now, several months after the Phantom Thieves final triumph, there were very few people who knew the truth behind his death, or even that he had died at all. To the public, he was simply taking some time to himself.
Morgana, hearing the noise from Ren's bed, shifted slightly from his own sleeping spot. Lazily opening one eye, he glanced up at the teen. "Ren, it's still nighttime….." His voice held a tinge of complaint, although it diminished when he saw the look of distress on Ren's face. "Hey, you OK?" Concern replaced his earlier attitude, and he watched for any subtle changed in Ren's expression.
Ren steadied himself, his breathing slowly returning to normal. He nodded to Morgana, and responded, "Yeah, I'm fine." Although his body language said otherwise. He was shaking slightly, and every few moments his eyes would blink, then look around the room, as if searching for something.
"Ren, c'mon, don't lie. We're Phantom Thieves, remember? We should trust each other." Morgana jumped onto Ren's bed, stretching his front paws out to help wake himself up enough to listen to Ren's troubles.
"Former Phantom Thieves." Ren reminded softly, a brief frown crossing his face. "And I never said I don't trust you. But really, Morgana, I'm fine." As if to drive his point home, Ren laid back down, closing his eyes.
"Ren…." Seeing no other choice, Morgana padded over to the black-haired teen, and curled up on his chest. Slowly, deliberately, he swished his tail in front of Ren's face, and smirking (as well as a cat could, anyways) when Ren reached over to brush it away.
"Morgana!" In as scolding of a tone as he could manage, Ren berated the cat, "I was trying to go back to sleep."
"I know." Morgana stood and made his way over to the foot of Ren's bed, laying down, but keeping his eyes locked with Ren's. "But you have some explaining to do first. And no trying to get out of it. Something was bothering you, or you wouldn't wake up like that."
Ren sighed, knowing that there was no way out of it. As much as his friends said that he could be persistent once he set his mind on something, (as Joker anyways), Morgana could be equally as persistent. "It was Akechi." He admitted quietly.
A look of realization crossed Morgana's face, and he nodded. "I see…..."
"I feel so horrible about it, Morgana." Ren leaned forwards, and Morgana could clearly see his face. Surprisingly, there were tears threatening to fall. His usual stoic, calm expression was morphed into a distressed, broken one. "We could have saved him."
Morgana sat up, and gently, without any force behind it, (and keeping his claws in), he smacked Ren across the face.
"Morgana…..." For a moment, Ren's face held a glint of annoyance.
"Ren, I understand how you feel." Morgana never stopped watching Ren's face, which quickly fell back into a sullen expression. "But there's no use thinking about the past. What's done is done."
"But he died, Morgana!" Ren slammed his fists onto the bed, which produced a soft 'thunk' against the bedsheets. "And we could have prevented it! But instead, we treated him as our enemy, and look what happened!" A choked sound escaped from Ren, and he continued, "He was just as broken as any of us, maybe even moreso, but we ignored his pain, and for what? For justice? What kind of justice allows a broken teen to die, whether he's an enemy or not!?"
Morgana gave Ren a worried look, and shook his head. "Ren, you didn't let him die. He chose to close that door."
"But if we had tried to help him, tried to get him to see things in a different light, then maybe he wouldn't have!" Ren argued, his voice raising slightly. "And even if he still would have chosen to close the door, I wouldn't feel as guilty about it, because at least he wouldn't have died feeling like he was alone!"
Morgana was surprised by the fierce determination in Ren's voice. "Ren…..."
"He called me an idiot, Morgana. And I deserved it. Well, he called Joker an idiot, but it doesn't matter. When it all comes down to it, we're the same person."
"Ren, stop blaming yourself!" Morgana raised his own voice, which to anyone unable to understand him would simply sound like a series of distressed meows. "We're all equally to blame! We worked with unanimous votes, remember?!"
"But all it would have taken was me suggesting that we try to help him! If everyone agreed….." Ren placed his hands over his face, emotion overcoming him in a way that it rarely had before. "But I didn't say anything. All I saw in him was an enemy. It was heartless of me…."
"So what, you're gonna call the entire Phantom Thieves group heartless?! Is that what you're saying?!" Morgana realized that his words would probably hurt Ren, but at this point, if it would pull Ren out of his depressive thoughts, Morgana was willing to take that risk.
"No!" Ren spoke forcefully, then quieted down. "No. Of course not. I don't think it really crossed anyone else's mind."
"Then why blame yourself? If it didn't cross anyone's mind, your own included, then either no-one is to blame, or we're all to blame. But we're not heartless, you got that?"
Ren smiled softly, and nodded. "You're right, Morgana. Thank you. I'm sorry I got so worked up."
Morgana jumped down from the bed, curling up in his original spot. "No problem. Now go back to sleep for real this time."
"Even without being a Phantom Thief, you're still reminding me that it's bedtime?" Ren spoke in a teasing manner, before pulling his bedsheets back up, and closing his eyes.
But Ren did not rest easy. Despite Morgana's best efforts to calm him, the nightmares flooded his mind, just as they had earlier. Akechi's face taunted him endlessly, tormenting his dreams the entire night.
A/N: This is my first attempt at a Persona 5 fanfic, so I hope y'all enjoy it! This is also one of my first fics to end on a bad note. I tried to throw some humor in here and there, but it's overall just supposed to be angsty.
As always, any comments are loved and appreciated, even criticism (as long as it's constructive, please no "OMG I hated this fic!). Even just saying that you liked it is enough to make my day :)
