Chapter Summary:
Ren & Skye encounter one of Ren's variants & Ren proceeds to have an internal crisis.
Author's Notes:
Well... this is going up a bit later than I'd intended. But I ended up being heavily preoccupied on Labor Day & first day back in classes, so... here we are.
Chapter 3 hasn't been finished yet, so I can't really give a specific timeline for when that will go up.
Anyways, this chapter has been co-written by CBJD345 & crosses over with her fic A Shadow Operative Starts Stealing! If you wish to read Akira's perspective on this scene, that will be included in her fic A Shadow Operative Wanders The Apartment. A link to the series will be included at the end of this chapter.
"…and then the version of me that had the Infinity Stones proceeded to get her arm chopped off by Turner & she said "What happened Stark? Need a hand" and caused the rest of us to laugh at how cheesy & ridiculous a one-liner it was. Except the one with the stones. She was pissed that Turner called her Stark," Skye said as she finished relaying a tale of her last multiversal adventure to Ren.
"Damn… Guess I shouldn't be surprised that the Marvel movies are real in at least some universes. Sure do hope we don't have to face anything like that as Phantom Thieves!" Ren said.
"Damn straight we don't!" Skye exclaimed.
A brief silence filled the corridor.
"I've been thinking… That stranger from earlier seemed intimately familiar with other versions of you. But she had no idea who I was. Seemed… surprised… by my existence. I didn't see any other Persona users during my last multiverse trip either. So… it makes me wonder if our universe is an anomaly. A deviation from the expected canon. Where instead of me becoming some sort of spy or black ops assassin or whatever I fight against the established order that other versions of me protect," Skye mused out loud.
"What does it matter, Skye? You said yourself you only encountered about a dozen other versions of you. Didn't Skye Turner say that there are INFINITE worlds out there? A never-ending expanse of different realities where anything & everything can differ from one world to the next?" Ren asked Skye.
Skye simply nodded, clearly unable to speak in the moment.
"Exactly. There's surely other Phantom Thieves out there. Others that, like us, answered the Flames of Rebellion within their hearts & decided to seek justice. Sure, the lineup will likely differ between worlds… but where's the fun in everything being the same? Wasn't that why you & those other Skyes stood against Skynet Nemesis Stark, the Destroyer of Worlds? Also, damn, that is a terrible name, what the fuck was Tony on when he named you in that universe?" Ren responded.
"Yeah… YEAH! That was why! Thanks for that Ren. I'm not sure why this situation is making me so melancholy," Skye acknowledged.
"I guess it's because that multiversal war is so fresh in your mind that being in another multiverse situation is making you think back to that war," Ren mused.
But it would seem their idle musings about Multiversal Wars had attracted the attention of someone else. Fortunately, it wasn't the Grim Reaper-esque stranger they'd met earlier. Rather, this time it was a variant of Ren that turned the corner. Except this Ren was noticeably older, more ragged & world-weary. Even sporting an eye-patch. It made Ren wonder how & where the two's lives differed from each other. Fortunately, Skye learned her lesson from last time and didn't immediately try to kill him.
"Hello… other… me," Ren finally forced out after a period of shock. That Grim Reaper looking woman had all but said that other versions of him were in here, but actually seeing one, let alone one so externally different, was a whole other can of worms.
The older Ren (assuming that even was his name, the Grim Reaper-esque woman threw around the name "Kurusu" as another name many of Ren's variants went by) responded by doing a mock salute & saying "Hey, young me. What should I call you? Best to get introductions outta the way early, I've found," in a vaguely exasperated tone. But it didn't seem to be because of them.
Ren took a deep breath and steeled himself.
"I'm Ren Amamiya, and this is my friend & fellow Phantom Thief Skye Mercer," Ren answered.
The other Ren (Ren & Skye both decided they would just going to call him that in their heads until he gave them his actual name), proceeded to laugh a little.
"Seriously, Skye, how the fuck did you fight an entire war over the fate of the multiverse alongside other variants of yourself? I'm having a hard time not being tense even talking to one of mine?!" Ren exclaimed.
Skye immediately rushed to his side.
"Hey, hey, deep breaths Ren. Deep breaths. I know this shit is weird & I don't blame you for freaking out right now. But just remember that even though he may look like you, he is not the same person as you. Just like you told me that the Destroyer of Worlds wasn't the same person as me just a couple minutes ago," Skye said in a concerned, yet reassuring tone.
Ren took some more deep breaths and eventually calmed down.
"Apologies for him. He's never talked to a variant of himself before. To be honest I'm surprised he isn't taking this well given the pep talk he gave me about this issue a few minutes ago…" Skye said in a way that poked a little fun at Ren.
Other Ren seemed… confused. Presumably by what Skye said about the Multiversal War & the Destroyer of Worlds. But eventually he regained his composure.
"No problem. I'd be more worried if he didn't freak out, honestly. I'm Akira Kurusu, current Field Leader of the Shadow Operatives." Other Ren, Akira, stretched out his hand, offering it to shake.
Ren reached out his hand out and shook Akira's. Skye would do so after her.
"I… just realized that you probably have no idea some of what I just said. I would explain it all to you and give proper context, but we'd be here all day. So let's just say that I'm very experienced with the Multiverse & can probably tell you how it works, but just can't be assed to do so," Skye said.
"Yeah… she explained it all to me before we went in here & it took me a while to wrap my head around all of it. Especially when she explained the fake rules the Destroyer of Worlds made up about it like the whole Incursion thing. Also, you're… not a member of the Phantom Thieves?" Ren added and then asked.
Akira simply winked, laughed & said "I led my Thieves, but should you really be telling that to a government agent?"
"Considering most of my variants are government agents… it wouldn't be the first time I did so," Skye responded.
"Eh, you're not from our universe, so I don't think it's really going to change anything," Ren answered.
Akira glanced between the two teens & said "I'm no snitch, anyways," as he sighed & shook his head.
"So… are there any more of you? Do either of the two of you know about that weird Akechi? Or… uh… Kotone?" Akira asked, with him putting emphasis on Kotone in particular, as if he was still traumatized by something relating to her.
"Akechi?... No, we haven't seen Akechi around at all. But… can you describe Kotone for us?" Ren asked, wondering if Akira had also seen that Grim Reaper-esque woman.
Akira motioned a height that was approximately what Kotone stood at & responded with, "Yay high, orange hair, Shujin uniform?"
Ren and Skye simply looked at each other & realized that, Shujin uniform aside, that description matched that Grim Reaper from earlier.
"OK… she was wearing a Grim Reaper looking outfit instead of a Shujin uniform, but that description does match someone we met earlier. She said she engages in a… very specific kind of genocide? Wears a black & purple ensemble & wields a scythe?" Ren answered.
Akira seemed… even more confused by this. Like he was about to go make one of those conspiracy boards to try to make sense of the variants of this "Kotone" woman.
"Can't say I noticed the scythe. Though I can pretty solidly say that Kotone didn't seem very genocidal." Akira paused, as if he was conflicted as to what he should say... "She was another universe's equivalent to uh… my wife. So I'm not too shocked at this point."
That… Ren could unpack that statement. Akira is clearly older than Ren was, so I guess it makes sense that he would be married. But Ren decided he'd rather not deal with another internal crisis & opted not to.
"For what it's worth, she never gave us her name. So…" Ren eventually trailed off.
Skye, sensing that Ren's mind was trailing back to the whole "Akira is married" thing, decided that they should get going.
"ON THAT NOTE, Ren & I should really get going and get back to trying to find our way back to our universe. Nice meeting you Akira! Hope we meet again sometime," Skye exclaimed as she pushed Ren along.
Over her shoulder, Skye saw Akira simply put his hands in her pockets and laugh to himself as he walked in the opposite direction.
After a couple minutes of this, they stopped and Skye finally checked in on Ren. He still seemed… shell shocked by their discussion with Akira.
"Ren… are you doing alright? You look like you're having another existential crisis…" Skye asked.
"I… I'm not sure why… but I'm just having a brain aneurysm over the idea of seeing myself as a married man," Ren said.
"I… guess that's understandable. My mom once told me that "Marriage is something that most people will never think about until they find someone they love so much they can't help but want to spend the rest of their life with them," Skye explained.
"Have… have you found that someone?" Ren asked.
"I'm… I'm not sure yet. I'll get back to you on that," Skye answered.
Then Skye proceeded to light up like she had an epiphone.
"THAT'S IT!" Skye exclaimed.
"What's it?" Ren asked.
"Ever since we arrived here, I've had this sense of Deja Vu. Initially I thought it was just the nature of this being another multiverse adventure… But I've realized there's more to it than that. It's because this place resembles the apartment building I live in!" Skye explained.
"Really? Where are you going with this?" Ren asked again.
"I think the way back to our home universe is in the room where my apartment would be," Skye explained.
"Oh! Well… lead the way then," Ren replied.
And so the sprint to Skye's apartment began.
Author's Notes:
Link to read A Shadow Operative Starts Stealing & it's prequel fic The Trickster SEES Some Shadows here: /series/2983605
Anyways, I'm going to go play some Starfield now!