Chapter 1: The Butterfly Gift
Location: Masayoshi Shido's Cruiser of Pride
On a bright, clear night, a squad of people clinging to a sinking yacht are faced with the cold reality of their situation. A lifeboat floats far out of their reach, debris floating in its wake. The group is silent, knowing in their hearts that this is the end of the road.
The one with orange hair falls to her knees, clutching her head in abject horror.
The one in a domino mask frantically glances around in search of any possible alternative to a watery grave as a strange feline at his feet spouts out desperate, panicked suggestions.
The lady and gentleman, with a fancy hat and fox mask respectively, have an air around them that is hard to understand. Is it calm in the face of danger, or resigned acceptance of their fate?
The girls with metal and red masks stare at the lifeboat as it drifts further away, in hopes that it will be brought to them through force of will alone.
And the last one – the one with blond hair and a skull mask…
He has come to a different conclusion than the others.
Closing his eyes, he takes a deep breath, stamps his foot, and steels his resolve.
"I got this." He says, with iron in his voice.
"Huh?" is all the red masked girl can utter.
"Hang tight, I'll nab the boat!"
He jumps down onto the tilted floor of the yacht, assuming a runners' position.
"Ryuji!" The girl in the red mask exclaims.
The sounds of confusion coming from his comrades go unheard by the boy.
"It's now or never. Here it goes!" His muscles tense, and with a loud battle cry, he begins the marathon of and for his life – and the lives of his friends.
As Ryuji reaches the bottom of the slope, he leaps across the water and onto the back half of the yacht.
Suddenly, an explosion goes off nearby. He flinches, but still, he is undeterred from his goal.
Landing on the other side, pushes himself back onto his feet and continues his sprint. His battle cry can be heard for miles.
As he rushes up the way towards the lifeboat, his comrades have climbed up to higher ground. The yacht is descending faster into the icy depths below. The fox-masked one calls out for him, and the red-masked one shouts for him to keep going.
Once he has reached the top, he makes a final leap upwards, successfully grabbing the switch that will lower the boat. Upon his victory, he can see out of the corner of his eye that his friends have reached the boat.
With joy in his heart, he glances at the domino-masked one and gives a small chuckle and a thumbs-up.
The fox-masked one starts the engine after a few pulls, and the domino-masked one shouts out to him:
"HANG ON!"
"We're moving!" his fox-masked comrade calls.
As the boat takes off, circling towards him, their eyes don't leave him.
It is at this moment that Ryuji can say, without a doubt, that he made the right choice, and that they're all going to live.
This is also the moment where he curses his luck, and wonders if he has pissed off any deities lately.
From underneath him, the force of an explosion wreaks havoc – larger than the one earlier. His friends get one last look as he is consumed by the flames, and when the fire dissipates, they stare in abject horror at the distinct lack of Ryuji hanging off the switch.
The rest of the boat self-destructs as chunks of mangled debris fly in all directions.
"No way... It can't be..." The red masked one starts, her voice quivering.
"Come on, what the hell Ryuji?" Her voice grows louder, tears beginning to form in her eyes.
A deep breath is taken as the final shout of a heartbroken woman is heard by all.
"RYUJI!" Her cry of anguish rings out.
It is heard by all except one.
Scene change, beneath the waters of the palace.
Ryuji can say that he's thankful for many things in life: his wonderful mother, who means the world to him, his kickass job as a phantom thief…
His friends who matter the most to him.
But right now, there's one thing that has made a recent appearance, and threatens to take the top spot above all three of those things.
The gratitude that the agony his body must be going through after being run through with all that shrapnel and fire has been rendered into a dull thrum.
He may be underwater, sinking to the bottom of the sea, but there's still enough light shining through to let him see the chunks of metal poking through just about every direction of his body, and the blood flooding out of his wounds, dying the waters around him red.
While he hopes that he managed to save his friends, he is without question, terrified of what he knows is coming.
Whether he likes it or not, he knows that death has come for his next victim.
Without anything else to do, Ryuji forces the last bits of his strength into his arms and manages to straighten his ascot properly.
Thank god Ann taught him how to do that.
He may be about to die, but Ryuji wants to meet his end with as much grace as possible. So considering that his body has been rendered a pincushion, the least he could do is make sure that his precious ascot is tied on nicely.
As he sinks lower and lower, he can tell that it's time.
His body was cold, sure. But now, he can't feel anything, and he doesn't know which was worse. Unfortunately, he doesn't have the time to think about that. As he makes his goodbyes to his friends and family, with words that they'll never hear, his eyes begin to close.
And for the final time, Ryuji smiles.
Scene change, outside the diet building of Japan
With desperate gasps of air being taken, Ann heaves out the thoughts of everyone present.
gasp* "We're back..."
As the realization of what just transpired dawns on her, her voice breaks as she swings her head around to see if this is just a nightmare.
"RYUJI!?"
The fluffy-haired lets out a breathless voice of horror.
"He didn't... make it out..."
The one with orange hair goes next.
"We gotta go back!"
The cat, for some reason, starts to talk.
"That's impossible..."
And finally, the thin-framed boy with blue hair chuckles, but in a broken, hollow voice.
"Ha... haha... This isn't funny at all..."
With sorrow in her voice, Ann doesn't know what to say to help, and frankly, doesn't have the will to care.
"He was our fastest runner too!"
The blue-haired boy leans down and picks up what their friend gave his life for.
"So, this is the treasure..."
The brown-haired one recognizes what it is with a scratchy voice.
"It's a legislator's pin."
At this point, reality comes crashing down on all of their heads, and the orange-haired one is the first to break. Tears of sorrow and agony start to pour out of their eyes, and Ann falls to her knees and sobs.
Their leader, the ever-stoic Joker, can't help himself as a few tears streak down his face. The cat's tails and ears sink, as even he can't help but despair at the fate of their friend.
It is at this point that in another life, Ryuji would've shown up, made a bad joke, and gotten his ass beat, as his friends are overjoyed at his survival.
But not this one.
The tears and wails of the Phantom Thieves are heard throughout the night, with nobody but each other to comfort them.
Scene change, the realm of humanity's unconscious.
With a shocked expression on his face, the observer over all of humanity breaks out into a smile.
The boy suffered a fate that wasn't supposed to have been passed down to him, yet he faced it without fear.
Perhaps he would be a worthy choice.
With a brush of an arm, his form is covered in darkness, and a small, glowing butterfly begins to fly into the sea of humanity's souls.
Who knows how long it spent searching?
Moments?
Eons?
It doesn't matter.
It finds what he's after
The lone soul of a boy departing from life lay before it
With nothing else to do, the butterfly flies into the mist of a fading soul, and moments later, it glows a bright velvet blue and condensed into itself.
With its job done, the butterfly makes its journey back to its viewing spot, eager to see what the trickster will do to combat the false god that plagues the world.
Scene change, Remnant, Vale
In a local hospital, a pregnant woman lays on a hospital bed, screaming her lungs out as she pushes out her child.
"Come on, Ms. Arc, just a little more!" The doctor implores
"I'M TRYING DAMN IT!" She screams in response.
Her husband is slamming his free hand on the ground, as his other hand is being crushed in his wife's gorilla grip.
Outside the room, their kids are sitting around, waiting for their new family member to arrive.
After a good half hour passes, the shouts stop, and the cries of a baby can be heard.
"Congratulations Mr. and Ms. Arc, it's a healthy baby boy!" The doctor cheerfully announces.
With glazed-over eyes, Ms. Arc reaches out for her baby. His soft face and the tiny tuft of blond hair bring tears to the eyes of both parents.
While they're watching their baby wiggle around, another doctor comes forward with a birth certificate and asks the question that will start a new life for the boy.
"Have you decided on a name?"
They look at each other, and nod.
"His name is Jaune. Jaune Arc." The smiles of the parents are as bright as the sun.
When the older siblings meet the new addition, they, unfortunately, have to leave, as visiting hours are over. The father whisks the children away, and the mother is wheeled to the room she's staying in.
Night has fallen, and with it, sleep takes over the occupants of the room.
Under the sky of a shattered moon, a blue butterfly takes its leave.
To be continued in chapter 2: Head in the Clouds
A.N: Hello again to all who dare to read my trash, it warms my heart that you take the time out of your day to read this. I've got a few things to cover, so bear with me. First, the whole scene of the Phantom Thieves escaping Shido's palace was changed to be more emotional, and I hope I did it justice. Second, I hope that you all enjoyed Ryuji's death scene. Not in a malicious way, but in a sorrowful, but satisfied way. Third, Philemon is the one to send Ryuji's soul to Remnant, and I know that in the story, he can't interfere with the world directly, but I'm painting it as him being thankful to Ryuji for saving his trickster so that Joker and the team can go on to defeat Yaldabaoth, and that's why he chose to reincarnate Ryuji into Jaune. And finally, there will be no more from the world of Persona, as this is Ryuji's story in Remnant. I'm not sure when the next chapter will be, but I do know that I should take my time on these, for the sake of them being as good as possible. I don't know when I'll update the other fanfics I own, and I might set "The Phantom Thief of the Clover Kingdom" up for adoption, idk and I'll figure it out later.
Special thanks to oblivioness for beta-reading for me!
I hope you'll review it, and I hope you enjoyed this
Later :)