Of Phantoms and Thieves

Subdue this Pain

Ren laid on the hospital bed. Makoto’s words troubled him. How could the Metaverse Navigator suddenly stop working? As far as Ren knew, it worked perfectly fine for him. He wondered why, out of all the Phantom Thieves, that it worked for him only. He was the palace ruler, after all. Was there a hidden meaning behind it?

Ren tried to ponder why exactly things were like this. The last time that the Nav was given to him, it was through Igor. And through Ren, the Nav was given to the Phantom Thieves. If that was the case again, why were the Phantom Thieves not given the Nav? It may have been due to the fact that the Metaverse wasn’t supposed to exist anymore. Perhaps there was someone like Igor who was forcing this to happen.

But what was the reason behind his distortion? What had caused him to become corrupted? Ren couldn’t fathom what was wrong. He cared for his friends. He loved them like they were his brothers and sisters. So why did he have a palace...?

He tried to think of what he’d done wrong. Was it wrong to be a Phantom Thief? Was that it? Ren felt that he was getting there, but that wasn’t the reason. It had to be something to do with the Phantom Thieves... Something...

Ren thought over his previous time in Tokyo. The Phantom Thieves... What did they mean to him? He thought over each palace. They’d been confident as a whole and they believed they were doing the right thing. What had caused Ren to break?

Akechi. It was the only thing that came to Ren’s mind. They’d lost Akechi. Sure, Akechi had tried to kill him, and in the end Akechi had made his own choices, but... Ren still felt a huge chunk of him was missing. He recognized the feeling all too well. Guilt. He felt guilty for what happened, that perhaps there had been another way out. Ren thought that perhaps after they had defeated Shido, that would be the end and set an example big enough to sway the public.

But then Yaldabaoth had come in and revealed his plans, giving the Phantom Thieves no choice but to rid the world of the god of control.

The work of the Phantom Thieves was too dangerous. Ren realized that once Akechi had died. Never again would they be put in a situation like that. It pained Ren to have someone die, and it reminded him that the Phantom Thieves could die just as easily.

And he hated it.

Ren hated how the Phantom Thieves weren’t invincible, that without a doubt they could potentially fail. Each palace became more corrupted the higher up their target was. And more dangerous at that. If that were the case, Ren’s corruption was... caring? How could caring be a distortion?

It then smacked Ren in the face. He cared too much for the Phantom Thieves. So much that it was impossible for him to discern if he loved or hated them. The “Phantom Thieves” weren’t the same as his friends. They were different people in reality compared to the Metaverse. The Phantom Thieves were the ones who put his friends in danger. He had directed them into battle, showed them how to play their parts and familiarized them with their roles. Ren had managed to alter the story how he wanted to, until Akechi left. Improvisation had made the story crumble, and there was no way to rewrite the act. What was done, was done. The Phantom Thieves had seen what they had interpreted as the entire story, no flaws in the spaces between.

A day had passed since he’d vowed to himself. Two remained until...

It wasn’t too late to rewrite the act. To make up for his loss. No more pain. Another companion would not be lost because of the Phantom Thieves. He would put an end to his palace. There was only one person that he knew of who could possibly help.

“On the bridge,” he told himself. “I’ll see her on the bridge. If my dreams are correct, she’ll be there for me...”