A/N Hello Everyone

I am a week late on this, had to take a few health days off, my carpal tunnel came back with a vengeance and then I was feeling a bit under the weather, nothing serious just a little overworked from my job. I'm excited about this arc. This is mostly a setup chapter as things will be rapid pace real soon. I've also in my spare time (whenever those come around) working on my outline for my two other persona 5 works after this one. I've mention them before.

So please be excited and thank you again for sticking with my story this far. Feel free to review.

Chapter 45

Present Day, 1885

The many hills and ravines that littered their path cause the traveling thieves to travel through the rough mountain passes. The late-month brought early cold air. A single breath created a short white cloud in front of their faces.

Blankets, clothes, and anything else they had to keep them warm from the weather. Ren stuck some hay meant for Arsene's food later under his shirt for insulation. His bandana was wrapped around his lower face to keep that warm.

Others found varying methods, tighten clothes, wrapping scraps cloth around expose hands, and neck.

"How much farther do we have to go, I'm freezing," Ann complained expressing her concerns.

"This is the fastest way around the ravine, we got to keep moving before snowfall. It's easy to get buried up here, we'll need to be further down when it snows."

"It's also the country around here Lady Ann, we don't want another incident with Ryuji."

"Hey! You soil your pants too if a bear came up behind you pipsqueak."

"Is this normal banter I'm going to have to deal with?" Akechi was riding up front with Ren already annoyed. Annoyed with the cold, with the constant bickering behind him. Annoyed over the entire scenario SIU put him in.

"That's a typical conversation between Ryuji and Morgana, I've learned to tune them out," Makoto noted.

"With all this wind up here, it shouldn't be too loud. But Morgana is right, some bears roam around here. I've only seen Mountain lion though when I came up here with my Father years ago," he says calmly.

"First wolves. Now mountain lions!?" Makoto was almost second-guessing living at the Amamiya Ranch house.

"How can you casually be calm about encountering a mountain lion as a child. Adventurous you are, Amamiya"

"Maybe I've always been one for adventure, or adventure finds me."

"Let's not get too adventurous, we still need to iron out the plans."

"I'm aware," Ren told Akechi," But I don't want to set up camp too soon, I prefer we find better ground. Let's continue riding."

Leading the group, they had formed a single ling to cross over a narrow patch of rocks. Ren took Arsene over first cautiously followed by Akechi, Morgana, and Makoto. Ann made sure to keep Carmen calm as the horse didn't want to cross initially. After some goading, the mare walked across with no further issue. Once Yusuke and Ryuji crossed with no problem, it was time to get Dr. Takemi's carriage over.

"Move very slowly Doc, we don't know what the weight will do moving fast."

Haru held on tightly to her seat as Dr. Takemi directed her horses carefully through the narrow, fragile path. "Keep it coming, keep it steady, you're almost through," Ren directed.

The horse's touch ground on the other side shortly followed by the carriage. The harrowing nature made bridge was completed, allowing them to be on their way.

"Um, I'm not sure if I have voting powers but I vote we find another way on the return trip. I don't want to do that again." Haru meekly said.

"I second," This time it was Makoto speaking, raising her hand. Yusuke and Ann followed.

"We'll find another route back home after this mission, but we need to keep moving the clouds are getting thicker." Ren wanted to make sure they were using every bit of daylight to get through the worse of the rough terrain.

When they got to the path of decline, small flurries fell on them. The white powder was small at first before picking up speed covering the top of their hair and shoulders in a light dust.

"This was what I hope to encounter further down. Be careful everyone, the road might get rough."

"I think it looks majestic if only I can draw and ride."

"Well, it's a pain in the ass to me. It's making my jacket wet, and I'm already freezing."

"Ryuji, I told you to grab some extra clothes before we left!" Ann scolded him.

"It slipped my mind, sorry."

"Not the first thing to slip your mind…"

"What you say you little—"

"STOP IT!" Makoto yelled behind her. Her icy glare shut the two men up. Shivers ran down their backs not from the cold but from the intimidation radiating off their brown-hair teammate.

"Who's idea was it to make her Queen of the group," the blond gunslinger mumbled.

"Thanks," Ren said, appreciative of Makoto stepping in for him. He wanted to keep the focus on the path they're taking to make sure they didn't end up lost. The snow was causing a problem with visuals.

Arsene didn't seem to bother by it as the cold clung to his mane. Each huff produces more white clouds in the air. Only so little daylight left before nightfall. The clouded forecast was making it darker than normal.

"Hang tight everyone, we're almost at our checkpoint." He continue to encourage them to move on, he could see the fatigue set in from the long riding and weather effect. The rocky terrain was leveling out now with little steepness. They'll have some way to go but this would be a good spot to retire for the night.

"Alright everyone, we're setting camp up here. Try to keep the horses together and dry. Find as much dry wood as you can so we can get a fire started.

With the steady pace of snow, the group had a hard time finding dry kindle, the wet wood would make it too smokey and alert nearby animals or persons of disinterest.

A campfire was lit just as the sun dip beneath the horizon, everyone huddle around to warm quickly while nibbling on dry food or cans. Ren personally prefers to eat the last bit of dried out meat he carried on him for emergencies. It was a touch chew but constant movement meant generating warmth.

Makoto sat down next to him trying to open up her own can of fruits.

"Here, give that to me." Ren takes the can and pulls out his hunting knife stabbing the top. He carves into the edge a half-circle motion before peeling the top-up. Thus allowing access to its contents.

"T…thanks" Her own can opener was quite getting anything open of late, but she was glad to down her pineapple. "I'm going to have to get one of those."

"What? A hunting knife? I'll have to track down Iwai, he made this one for me. But he'll make other stuff too."

"I should probably learn another weapon outside my Father's revolver."

"Mmm…" Ren thought, "Lasso is more Ann's specialty, Ryuji would just grab anything nearby to swing if he's out of bullets. Yusuke's not giving up his throwing knives, he loves them too much."

"Get her some brass knuckles Ren, Miss Makoto has a brawler mentality I've learned." the weathered Detective Goro Akechi butted in sitting on the other side of Ren, "If you're anything like your sister, she's feisty."

"She always seems calm and collected at home?"

"Wait till she's under-pressure like now. Even I've been snapped at a few times. And I didn't appreciate either time."

"And Makoto and I will handle it Akechi. Now let's discuss planning, what are we looking at with the building?"

Akechi grabbed a stick and carved a slopping design of a building in the dirt, "I'm afraid my art skill isn't as refined as your artist. But if you look here, we have 4 floors to work with," the detective pointed out to everyone around the fire. "The money would be on the manager's floor which is inaccessible from the roof. The first floor is the lobby, 2nd would be the General Members floor with the 3rd being high rollers floor."

"You've been inside this before?" Makoto asked.

"Once or twice, I just recall the vault is on the manager's floor, it can only be accessed by a 3rd-floor hallway. There are no windows and one entry and exit. The 3rd floor does have roof access. We will have to balance our way on the rafters."

Yusuke was sketching his own interpretation of the building based on Akechi's description, it would serve better than the Detective's drawing attempts.

"Whose apart of the 'we' you speak of?" he asked out loud.

"I've already broke that down Yusuke," Ren already knew this would require two team mission, "Team A will be Ryuji, Ann, you, and Morgana. You four will scour the floor until it's time to create a distraction once we're in.

"You won't be coming Ren?"

"No. Akechi and mine's face are too recognizable, we'll be surrounded in no time. I'm part of Team B with Makoto and Akechi. Akechi mentions a sewer system that covers underneath the city. There should be some man covers nearby we can sneak out of. Isn't that right?"

"That's correct, we'll have to go to one further away and traverse to the ledges should keep us out of the sludge. As long as we have no rain, the water levels should be low as well."

"So if you three are Team B, how does Team A get in?" Ryuji asked him a question.

"You'll take the front door of course. But they won't let you past the lobby if you don't sign up for a membership card. You'll need to present it to enter the poker and craps tables."

"But do we have to?"

"Yes, Ryuji." Akechi tried to keep his annoyance down, "Refusing to present could cause suspicion. Now, shall we review?"

"Yes," Ren continued, "We ride to the outskirts of the city off the main road, where we'll split up into Team A and Team B. Haru will be staying with Dr. Takemi as the rearguard, I trust you will shoot down and threat that comes near?"

"Y..yes."

"Ok, We'll break off into two groups, Team A will stroll into town, and find a way into the Casino. AVOID any suspicion until the time is right. Team B will take the underground route coming up by the alleyway. There, we'll climb the ladders to the 3rd flood and sneak into the building via the roof. Once we have the money, raise some hell."

"That's when we'll reconvene for the handoff during the chaos?" Morgana said.

"Yeah, we'll meet the second floor as that would be the most populated, a few warning shots will do to draw out the cops in our vicinity. I'll stay behind as plan, while Akechi and Makoto go back to the 3rd floor and escape through the ladder and tunnels."

"Then we wait for Captain to initiate phase 2. My trust in SIU is wavering, I believe they will still follow through with the normal procedure, you're too good of a catch to ruin this opportunity. Give them half-truths, lies, whatever you can to prolong the 3rd day. We'll jailbreak you."

"Good, are there any objections to this plan?" The elder Amamiya looked around the camp. No objections were heard beside Makoto's frown. "Alright, we got a few more days of travel, everyone gets some rest and stay warm. Ann, Yusuke, you two have first watched."

Ren wrapped his duster coat further in to keep the cold out as he got ready for bed. He was about to head into his own tent when he sees Makoto struggling with her's to no avail.

"Ahem!" Coughing into his hand to get her attention, "If you need a place to sleep, mines is already set up. It should also be warmer." He suggested, he was thankful the nervousness used to carry around her was evaporating.

"Sure." She had been fighting with her tent for awhile that night anyhow. Bringing her bedroll with her, she uncurls it next to Ren's in his tent. She was tired and sore from riding all day down the mountain. Makoto could hear Ren unbuckle his gun belt, placing it beside his bedroll as he laid down.

"Hopefully the weight of the snow doesn't bring the tent down," He brought up

"That would be unfortunate." She curls up next to him as he was warmer. She swore the shiver was from the cold and not the intimacy.

"If it wasn't snowing, I would've love to show you the constellation, but you probably learn that in school."

"Actually they never taught us that, but that would be nice. On our way back once we rescue Sis." She gripped his arm tighter at the mention of her sister. She had to worry about getting both her and Ren out safely.

"What's wrong?"

"Just my worrying, it will go away once all this is behind us. I'm also concern over Akechi's help."

"You don't trust him?" Ren said propping himself on his elbows.

"No, it's not that, he has no reason for betraying us after. No one left in his corner either, he surrounded but outlaws with no chance of escape."

"The guy was a former enemy, but he's willing to work with us. If it makes you feel better, I think his concern to help your sister is genuine."

"Then maybe I'm jealous. He gets to see a side of sis I never saw. She always spent long trips at work. Probably why she sent me to boarding school for women. It was that or be stuck at home by myself for weeks." Unshed tears littered the corner of her eye. She thought Sae would be more willing to work closer after their Father's death but she had a look in her eye one day, putting her all into her work.

Wiping the tears with his thumb, Ren wrapped her in a full embrace.

"I...I don't want her to die, I don't you to die."

"I know. But just like everything before, we will get through this." He waited for her hiccups to calm down, she had reason to worry, Ren was sure similar thoughts ran through Morgana's mind. But the younger Amamiya learned to suppress it from his face.

"How about we talk about something different. You won't get much sleep if you're upset."

"What would we even talk about?"

"You mention being in school when you first join us. What was it like? I've only been homeschooled."

"It was stuffy, they mostly taught us basic education, math, English, history. I had to go to the library to read more about the subjects. Somethings were omitted as they believe there was no reason for women to learn this knowledge. Archaic truly. It was strange hearing about the girls and their fiancees or lovers. How wonderful a date went or party, I never understood it. I just stuck to the books."

"We can always arrange a date, I guess the play doesn't count since we weren't together then."

"It was still a wonderful time." Makoto thought back to that day.

"Maybe next time we'll stroll through the park, find a calm place to eat lunch, perhaps by the water."

"That sounds nice so far Ren?"

"An evening under the stars, I owe you another dance since the storm cut the prior one short. Then depending on the mood, we…may or may not retire for the night."

"Sounds like you had some thought put into this?" Makoto absolutely loved the idea and hoped it comes true.

"It's a start…" Ren said leaning down brushing his lips with hers testing her reaction. She replies with her own intimacy and cups her hands on his warming face. She reaches back to grasp his sleek black hair, combing her fingers through it.

He holds her tight as he rolls on top, breaking for short breaths. His hand roams along her side where the hem of her shirt meets her pants, burrowing his rough hands under her back. Makoto jumped breaking apart their kiss."

"I'm sorry, I….ugh." Ren thought his rushing things cause her to jump.

"It wasn't that, you don't have to treat me like a delicate teacup….but your hands are cold."

"Oh…"

"Maybe we should take your earlier advice and get some sleep. We have more days to continue this." She told him with hints of a promise.

Sleep would come easily for the pair through the night, Ren waking up earlier before the sun to cover his shift. He had to be careful prying Makoto's arms off him before reapplying the blanket on her. Her sleep was undisturbed.

Ren walks out of his tent to join Ryuji on a watch. The blonde gunslinger had a cup of coffee in his hands. His shotgun was strapped on his back as normal.

"Anything to report?"

"Other than my ass freezing, it's been quiet. You're up early. Thought you spend the morning being cozy with your lady."The man jokes at his friend. "Yusuke and I had a bet going about you two."

"Do I want to know?"

"I lost the bet anyway, your tent was quiet all evening. Thought heading into the jaws of death would inspire a last hooray."

"It's too early for your nonsense Ryuji." The blonde thief laughed as Rens' face went red in the night.

"But…I know where she's coming from, I would be heads over worried if Ann was in your position as I'd be in Makoto's. I'm afraid I lack your confidence and cunning."

"I just do what I can to help others," Ren mentions.

"But that's your calling Ren, it's your niece."

".…you mean Niche?"

"Is that what it's called?"

"Yes. I found my niche. Thanks for the pep talk Ryuji, I appreciate them."

"Of course, what are best man for. I am your best man right?"

"I think I like to court her first before I think of marriage. I have to solve this mess before then."

"I think you courted her long enough with all the times you've been sweet on her. Whenever you're together, you got this emphatic smile on your face."

"Expanding your vocabulary are you?" this time the elder Amamiya brother teased.

"Hey! Shiho slides me in on a few lessons, I am becoming bright she says."

"You are street smart than scholarly, nothing wrong with that."

"Well my watch time is up, I'm feeling tiresome. Yell if you need something." With that, Ryuji left his friend to take his place on duty. Ren would still feel a bit of a bite in the air until the sun warms up the land in a few hours.

As the early morning chill set in, maybe Ren should've taken Ryuji's advice. He could still be in bed, cozy next to Makoto. The shared body heat kept the shivering at bay. He enjoyed the feeling of her curling upon him, his head above hers. It was wonderful. What would he give to wake up every morning with her beside him?

"Dammit, I'm supposed to be patrolling not daydreaming."

The morning brought a few inches of snow on the camp, damping the campfire to little embers. Snow shimmy off the horses as they were feed for breakfast, preparing for another long journey. They should be able to make it to the bottom by today, continuing the trek east.

"We're moving out in 20, don't leave anything behind, "Ren shouted out orders to everyone. Some were still waking up as they took down the tents. Ren waited till the last moment of his watch, allowing Makoto some extra minutes.

"Why didn't you wake me up earlier?" Makoto walked up to him with a hot cup of coffee, the last batch before they tore that down too.

"We're still tearing down camp, thought you could use the rest. We did talk late."

"I guess thank you then. Though in exchange, I take watch tomorrow and you sleep. Fair." She suggested she wish he wouldn't always try to put everything on him.

"Very well, finish your drink, I'll help the others." They separated to tend to the morning duties. The elder brother checking on his mare.

"Ready for some more Arsene?" His companion every loyal snort back as he packs up. "Good."

The trip required a few more days, towns became more frequent the further they went. Force to skirt around the properties as more Wanted posters were found. The grass was a welcome sight compared to the snowy ridges they left behind. Late fall would give way to winter in the coming weeks, Ren hopes all would be well by the time they make it back to the Amamiya's Ranch House.

Just as Makoto suggested, Ren would switch off with her every other night for watch, but not before locking lips like teenagers at night in his tent.

4 days in, they were sitting in the tree line as Ren and Akechi were went over a rough map of the area. A lunch break amongst the Phantom Thieves was taken.

The map is displayed fully on a rock as the two men examine above.

"If we take this route south and then come back up this way, we'll avoid the base," Akechi suggested.

"That will add almost half a day to our journey, I say we stay the course, travel in the night avoiding the patrols. We won't lose time."

"There won't be a plan if you're caught early, we'll be better going around this town to head back North again. Our wanted posters have been spreading like wildfire in this area, it's best we stay low."

Ren knew Akechi made a good point, they've run into their first roadblock. They needed to figure out if they should take the detour around a populated town to avoid suspicion. But his way would keep them closer to the town, on pace, but they'll be crossing patrols with a bounty hunter base.

"I say we leave this to a vote," the elder Amamiya mention, "Let the others decide what they feel comfortable with."

"You're in charge Ren."

Gathering the remaining gang around the leader and Detective, each explains their side to the group over the next course of action.

"I believe we should avoid the aggressive approach. We'll lose time but it's the safer option. " Yusuke expressed.

"We're on a mission to save Makoto's sister, she's already in deep shit. I say we take the chance. "

"But Ryuji, what if we all get caught by this patrol, it's a lose-lose situation. I'm siding with Detective Akechi."

"I can't believe I'm siding with Blondie over Lady Ann but we gotta hurry. We can't afford to lose time."

"My carriage would be a giant target, I think a detour is best."

Haru stepped up in the circle voicing her opinion, "I have to also agree with Dr. Takemi, we are too close to fail now. A safer option is the better option."

"There's no point for my vote, as you're already outnumbered Ren, but I will have to go to the others. We have a plan to break you out with SIU, not with bounty hunters."

Accepting his defeat, they all agree to take the detour, avoiding the town altogether but longer travel. This would also have to be calculated in their travel time back if they wish to avoid the same patrol.

"The decision has been made, breaks over, let us move out."

Back roads were what they had to take, the winding road that seems to go on forever. Morgana's compass would keep track of their location, they didn't want to veer too far south.

"If we keep up the pace, we could hit the city tomorrow evening. If not, we would need to stay hidden till the next nightfall." Ren was riding in front with Akechi on his right and Ryuji on his left. Makoto had fallen back to converse with the Okumura heir.

After the extra half-day was tacked on their journey, they have arrived outside their destination. The building you could see for had to get off-road again to avoid travelers to and from.

"If anyone has any last-minute preparations, do it now. Come sundown, we start."

A/N So this like I mention earlier is kinda a filler set up chapter. I was back and forth on if I wanted to heist to be included but I felt the emotion settle better with the capture/interrogation scene. A scene we will get very...very soon. Obviously things are going to be a bit different as there's no metaverse, no phones etc. Writing Makoto in this arc has been a little difficult I'll admit, I don't want her to make her sound whiney but just concern. So I hope I was able to present her in a better light.

THank you all again for reading. Feel free to review.