Chapter Text
“Difficult, yes, but possible, therefore certain.”
― Maurice Leblanc, Arsène Lupin versus Herlock Sholmes
Ren Amamiya was getting really sick of waking up in prison.
It all started so similar to his past awakenings, the hard cot beneath him, the swinging chains above his head attached to impossibly soft cobalt colored velvet, and the sounds of beautiful but always unseen singing that wafted throughout The Velvet Room; That was where the similarities ended however.
As Ren sat up reflexively, he had expected to feel the tug of those heavy chains around his ankles, but he was unbound. He glanced down and found himself wearing his normal clothes, the same black tee and sweatpants that he had fallen asleep in. Finally, he turned to the bars of his jail cell, the one where he had spent countless hours conversing with Caroline, Justine, and eventually Lavenza.
The cell door was wide open.
Ren felt a pang of confusion and then fear, the only time he had ever stepped OUT of his cell was when he had been forced to confront what he thought had been Igor, but was actually Yaldabaoth, the God of Control in disguise. This prison, whatever it was, already felt too different from the one he’d come to know, even if he was hardly missing the chains or itchy pinstripe prison garb. After a moment, Ren rose from his cot and walked over to the cell door, looking towards the center of the room.
Igor’s wood desk was missing, but the comfortable looking leather chair remained in its place. The chair was turned with the back towards Ren, leaving him clueless to who, if anyone, was sitting in it. His bare feet felt colder than usual on the stone floor of The Velvet Room, who was going to be waiting for him? He exhaled, before calling out.
“Igor?” He guessed, bracing himself. There was another moment of waiting.
“Fear not Trickster, I can assure you that I’m more than capable of replacing even my great master!” A chipper voice replied, spinning the chair around…and then around again an extra time for good measure.
She looked like she belonged in The Velvet Room, no doubt about it, the woman’s clothes reminded him of an old fashioned airline attendant, colored the same shade of blue as his attendants of the past would wear. Ren could even see a familial resemblance, she had the same platinum blonde hair and yellow eyes as Lavenza did, albeit those eyes sparkled with something more…mischievous.
“Welcome home trickster! Am I correct that my younger sister would refer to you as ‘inmate’ as well?” She asked, cocking her head to the side with an amused expression, like she was the last person in the room to have understood a joke, but was still happy that she had gotten it at all.
“I-I…yes, she would call me that when she was…in a bad mood.” Ren sputtered out, figuring that was the most diplomatic way to describe being torn in two with your memory scrambled. He had vaguely recalled Lavenza indeed mentioning siblings of hers, so he figured that airing on the side of respect would be a good idea.
The attendant clasped her hands together and smiled even wider somehow, rising out of her seat. “But of course! I imagine having your consciousness split by a scheming false god would be enough to make anyone ornery, wouldn’t it?” She asked.
“Makes sense to me..” He replied cautiously, though the woman didn’t seem particularly dangerous to him, just impossible to get a bead on. Ren glanced up at the rows and rows of cells above them, wondering how their voices didn’t echo in a space this large. When he looked back towards the stranger, she was right in his face.
“Oh! Where have my manners departed? I have failed to even introduce myself to you. My name is Elizebeth, and I am one of the attendants of The Velvet Room, though we have not had the pleasure of meeting until this very moment! Exciting is it not?” Elizabeth beamed and stuck out her hand, Ren shook it in turn, this definitely wasn’t how he was used to these encounters going.
“Um, nice to meet you Elizabeth, so you ARE related to Lavenza then?” Ren asked, pulling his hand away, Elizabeth seemed to wrinkle her nose at the question.
“Oh yes, Lavenza is the youngest in the family, I have an older sister and younger brother that you are yet to meet as well, Trickster. Though I must admit, things have remained strained between myself and them…” Elizabeth lamented, sighing and beginning to walk around Ren as she gesticulated.
“Despite my innumerable contributions to this Velvet Room, and the assistance to my Wild Card guest-”
“Wait, you knew another Wild Card?” Ren cut her off, turning around to see Elizabeth now thumbing through a massive blue tome, though admittedly it fit her frame better than Lavenza’s. He wasn’t sure where she had gotten it, but now he had more pressing questions.
“I thought The Wild Card was a special power, like, only for me and…Aketchi.” Ren almost trailed off towards the end of his sentence, trying to remember the last time he had said his friend’s name out loud. Had it already been more than a year since he’d been lost to them, lost to HIM? Throughout all of that, had a single day passed where Ren hadn’t thought about the detective prince at least once, how’d they’d been able to save everyone but him?
He hadn’t even clocked that Elizabeth was looking at him again, her head cocked in that dog-like way as she searched for something in his expression. To Ren’s surprise, the attendant reached out to him again, placing a gloved hand on the side of his arm and rubbing it. Maybe a little clunky, but it was a sweet gesture anyway.
“I apologize, it was not my intention to upset you in this way Trickster, however I can still answer your question, as well as any others you may conjure, if you wish.” Elizabeth said, removing her hand from Ren and gesturing back towards Igor’s chair, as well as a second chair that had seemingly appeared while his attention was turned. He just nodded, taking a seat down in the new chair. It had a backrest that reminded Ren of a harp. Elizabeth sat opposite him, wearing that smile that he still couldn’t parse through.
“Oh how I wish I could create some tea for us to enjoy! Nevertheless, to answer your first question, you are not the only Persona user to gain the power of the Wild Card, nor were you the first such user. While some with the potential could not take full advantage of their abilities, such as your friend Goro Aketchi, others became capable of feats most powerful indeed!” Elizabeth said that last part almost giddily.
Ren watched as her book magically opened up on her lap and rapidly flipped to a new page. The pages shimmered with an ethereal blue, before new shades began to rise out of the activated ink. It all floated up, filling the space above her head with glowing blobs of various colors, it reminded him of visiting the planetarium and seeing images of nebulas for the first time. The globs slowly arranged themselves into a shape, a humanoid, no…a boy his own age, lanky, with blue hair and an expression more unreadable than Elizabeth’s. He was looking forward, in the direction of something unseen.
He pointed upwards, and the illusion vanished shortly thereafter in a hypnotic spray of color.
When Ren’s attention was drawn back to Elizabeth, she was still staring at that space the boy was no longer occupying. For once, he was able to perfectly guess what was on her mind, she was trying to quietly digest her heartbreak. There was a long pause before either of them spoke again.
“Your Wild Card, that was him?” Ren asked, trying to meet her gaze, she nodded wordlessly.
“His name was Makoto Yuki, and most tragically, his fate involves something far worse than death.”
Elizabeth began to tell Ren the story of how the Makoto boy became a guest of her velvet room, of his rise to power, she alluded to him having a group of friends much like Ren did, teammates who helped him become who he was. Now there was no more flair to her speaking, her words seemed careful, like saying the wrong thing would dishonor Makoto’s memory.
She spoke of a powerful god that wasn’t of this world, which sounded familiar enough to Ren, and how her beloved Wild Card user was able to save the world by creating a powerful seal…at the cost of his own life.
“I must clarify Trickster, he did not just form the seal, Makoto Yuki BECAME the Great Seal. His soul remains there to this day, holding back Nyx and preventing her from reuniting with Erebus.” Elizabeth rubbed her thighs absentmindedly, her voice was mournful, but there was pride there too, pride in Makoto and everything he’d achieved. Ren listened silently, at a complete loss for words. The idea of someone choosing to suffer forever in the defense of humanity, to save their friends, would Ren have been able to do that? He had put himself in harm's way sure, but the only person who had sacrificed everything was-
“It was not proper of me to form such a bond with my guest, but I did, and thus the pain of his friends became my pain as well.” Elizabeth concluded, pulling Ren out of his thoughts and back to their conversation. It was quiet in The Velvet Room now, even the singing had stopped, which he didn’t know was possible.
“I…truly apologize, she’s taking her union mandated break…” She sniffled, dabbing her eyes with a beautiful handkerchief before tucking it away again. Ren had to push down the urge to inquire more about THAT, and tried to focus.
“Elizabeth I’m truly sorry for your loss, really I am, but why are you telling me all of this?” He asked, and that seemed to bring Elizabeth back into herself as well, her brilliant yellow eyes returning to his.
“Of course, I swear that under typical circumstances I am not this emotionally compromised Trickster. However as I’ve gotten closer to my goals, I find myself more wracked with fear! Fear that I’ll fail and doom Makoto to an eternity of torment, if my macadamia do not bear fruit!”
“Wait, are you trying to say machinations?”
“Maybe so trickster, though I do find them delicious.” Elizabeth stroked her chin and nodded thoughtfully, as if she had stumbled into a breakthrough. Ren was fairly certain she had done no such thing, and kept attempting to steer the conversation.
“Elizabeth, what does that have to do with me? Why did you summon me here to tell me about this, about your machinations?”
He really didn’t want to come across as disrespectful to the woman who was easily the most human resident of this place he’d ever encountered, but Ren knew that waking up in The Velvet Room after a hiatus always led to a new threat, he needed to know what it was. Part of him had wondered if The Phantom Thieves would be allowed to retire after their summer dealings with Ichinose and Demiurge, but being lucky wasn’t really his thing.
Elizabeth looked at Ren, before slumping back in her chair and waving her magical tome closed effortlessly. She looked suddenly despondent, like she already knew and didn’t like Ren’s response to a question she had yet to ask.
“The truth is, ever since I lost my guest, I’ve been working to…free him from The Great Seal. I have traveled this world and worlds beyond, I have met many wonderful and strange people, all in an effort to acquire the necessary power to destroy that seal and allow Makoto the freedom to step out and live his life anew.” Elizabeth raised two fingers up and twisted them, revealing a card from nowhere that Joker knew very well, the Fool.
She went on. “Sadly, despite my best efforts, and my understanding of specific rituals, I lack the power of a true Wild Card user to do what needs to be done. However much I wish for Makoto to be unbound from his cruel fate, I cannot risk unleashing Nyx upon the world again, nor would he ever allow me to do so.”
Somehow, Ren found himself understanding the direction of this conversation. “You need a way to reseal Nyx after you free Makoto.”
Elizabeth’s eyes lit up, and she almost fell from her seat as her whole body leaned forward excitedly. It was definitely more enthusiastic than Kawakami had ever been when he got the right answer, that was for sure.
“Precisely!” Elizabeth clapped, giving Ren a round of applause that he felt went on for a bit too long.
“Through my research, I’ve been able to devise a means to reseal that troublesome Nyx without having to trap anyone in the barrier. It will be a more complicated spell than what Makoto created, but I’ve had time to perfect it, and all it needs is a caster with the necessary strength. Along with a handful of ingredients that I haven’t been able to acquire yet.”
She made it sound so simple laid out like that, but Ren knew this wouldn’t be easy by any means, Elizabeth wouldn’t have taken such a long walk through this conversation if this was an easy mission. He frowned, and she seemed to sense his trepidation, that despondent expression returned to her face.
“I must be honest with you Trickster, I am requesting you and potentially your friends to risk much in the process of doing this, and for once the fate of the world is NOT in the balance. You would be stepping into dangers both familiar and unknown all to save a single young man whom none of you have ever met. This is not a mission of self preservation, it is one of true altruism at the request of a stranger. However, before you give your response, I have a query for you.
“Have you noticed that you’re no longer a prisoner in this space?”
That question was something that had been gnawing at the back of Ren’s mind for this entire…dream? Visit? Whatever these were called. Yet Elizabeth seemed to have plucked it straight from his brain. All Ren could do was nod for now.
“It is because your heart is free, Ren Amamiya. You are not the only potential candidate, but truthfully, you are my first choice. I trust your courage, your strength of will, and most of all, I trust your sense of justice. You know that Makoto did not deserve such a cruel fate, nor did your friend Goro Aketchi. What would you have done had you the opportunity to save the Detective Prince?”
Ren was grateful to be sitting already, otherwise he figured Elizabeth’s words would’ve knocked him flat. She KNEW him, and she knew his answer without Ren needing to open his mouth.
Before he could respond. Elizabeth held a finger in the air to silence him as she furrowed her brow and looked upwards towards something unseen. Ren began to sense something behind him, like a draft rapidly gaining strength.
“Oh dear, it appears that our time together must be cut short my dear Trickster. Such a pity, but I think it would only be fair to give you a day or so to make your decision, it isn’t an insignificant one.” Elizabeth said to him, but her voice was already beginning to sound more distant and strange. Ren squinted as her face distorted, he could feel the very gravity of The Velvet Room shifting as he began to slide back in the direction of his open jail cell. Elizabeth’s eyes remained fixed on him as she receded from his vision, but her last words still sounded like she was whispering right in his ear.
“I eagerly await your decision Ren, I know you will do what’s right.”
Ren was falling faster now, he was going to splatter against the back wall, he just knew it. There was a pressure building on his chest, desperately, he tried to suck in the last breath he knew he’d ever get-
He hit his bed hard enough to knock the wind out of him as his eyes shot open, his attic bedroom frighteningly dark around him for a few moments before his eyes adjusted. Ren immediately tried to prop himself up on his forearms, before the weight on his chest shifted to grasp his shoulders firmly. A wave of relief washed over his body as two crimson eyes peered at him from the low light, wide with worry.
“Hey! Hey…you’re okay now Ren, please breathe, for my sake?” Makoto Nijima whispered to him, almost straddling Ren’s body as she held onto his shoulders, like she was trying to keep him from hitting the ceiling. Ren allowed himself a shaky exhale, and the fear slowly drained out of his body. Still, he was drenched with sweat and wild eyed, eventually settling on the vague shape of Makoto’s concerned face to look at.
“You had another nightmare.” She said matter of factly, reaching out and sliding her hand down to rest against the side of his neck, her callused palm was cool and soothing to the touch. Ren nodded immediately, sitting up further and resting against the wall, Makoto adjusted herself so she was sitting next to him. For a moment of healing stillness, he finally allowed himself to take in the environment (gravity worked normally here), guess the time (probably 4am), and feel his girlfriend’s presence. Still, Ren’s body was coming online in rapid time, his hands began to move quickly and he leaned over the edge of his quaint bed to grasp for his charging phone on the floor.
“This was different. Listen, do you know what everyone’s plans are tomorrow?” He asked, rapidly typing in his password, his phone unlocked. In the rush though, one of his fingers misclicked and Ren was surprised to hear his music player app kick into shuffle play.
Tear up your fear
The end is coming near
Spit it out like a spear
I’ll burn your dread
Burn my dr-
Huh, hadn't heard that one since he was a kid. Ren paused the song right as Makoto grabbed onto his right arm, she sounded more firm when she said: “Ren, you’re scaring me.”
He looked back at her in the darkness, and took another breath.
“Makoto, I have so much to tell you.”