Chapter Text
Falling
That was the last thing Ren remembered before landing in the dumpster outside of LeBlanc. Fighting a foe called Destiny, the physical manifestation of the timestream giving the rest of their lifeforce to Ren, and an hourglass. Hurling himself out of the dumpster, Ren brushed himself off and pulled a chain out from his pocket. Green dust swirled around inside of a medium sized hourglass attached to the chain.
“Right,” he thought to himself, “The hourglass of chaos. Destiny wanted this to reset the timeline.”
He then looked around and saw only himself in the alley. His mind flashed back to the field where the Nexus, the collection of the pasts, presents, and futures of the entire universe was recorded. Destiny had managed to collide the main present and future timeline together thereby bringing the Nexus into reality. He then remembered the rest of his team and the adult Phantom Thieves were stuck there.
“I need help,” he said to himself out loud.
“Perhaps it’s best if you explain yourself inside and not out here,” a gruff older voice spoke to him.
Turning around, Ren saw a familiar face in that it was the man who cared for him over the past year: Sojiro Sakura. Despite this not being Ren’s timeline, this Sojiro looked the same as his Sojiro.
“Sojiro?” Ren said very confused.
“Get inside already,” Sojiro said holding the door open, “Probably not the best thing to have the leader of the Phantom Thieves be found alive and wandering the streets in December.”
It was at this point that Ren finally began to gain a feeling of numbness in his fingers. The air was colder due to it being December it seemed. Walking past Sojiro in LeBlanc, the air warmed Ren up as he sat down at the cafe’s counter.
“Ren will be down in a bit,” Sojiro said, preparing two cups of coffee, “I assume you’re something relating to the Phantom Thieves if you share his face.”
As Sojiro prepared the coffee, Teen Ren looked at the hourglass turning around in his hands. The sands swirling and sparkling inside of the glass.
A couple minutes passed until the ceiling began to creak. The sound moved from the ceiling to the stairs until a familiar young man came walking down the steps wearing a hoodie and holding a bag with another familiar face inside.
“What the–!” the other Morgana shouted, “Who the heck is that!”
“I’m Joker,” Ren said, “Well…a joker. Not your Joker of course. That’s him right there.”
“Of course,” the other Ren said, “I assume this is something relating to the metaverse.”
“Kinda,” Ren said, patting the seat next to him, “Take a seat and I’ll explain everything. We can explain it all to the other Phantom Thieves when they get here after school.”
“So there’s this guy who calls himself Destiny and your team of Phantom Thieves and adult versions of you all from your future are fighting him,” the other Ryuji said, “And there’s a version of Akechi there from another future where Dr. Maruki took over the world?”
“Yes,” Ren said, “Anything else?”
“Yeah,” the other Morgana said, “And you can access personas that you shouldn’t be able to access due to a large amount of time energy being absorbed by your body.”
“Yes”
“Come on you guys,” the other Makoto says, “It’s clear that this Ren needs our help.”
“Yes actually,” Ren said, pulling out the hourglass from his pocket, “I used this to briefly escape the fight and arrive here. I’m gonna try and get as much help as I can from as many Phantom Thieves as I can.”
“Shouldn’t you have just gone back by now,” the other Ryuji says, “Wouldn’t Destiny have beaten your team by now?”
“Not necessarily,” Ren said, “Destiny combined my present and my adult counterparts' future into one time. Therefore, I believe that even though I am in this timeline, the time in that timeline isn’t relative to this one.”
“Meaning?”
The alternate Ann groaned before slapping Ryuji, “Meaning that even though he already spent a couple hours here, it’s like he was only gone for a split second over there.”
“Oh! I get it now,” Ryuji said.
“Of course we’ll help you in this fight,” the other Ren said, “It sounds to me like this Destiny fellow is a very bad dude and wants to destroy our world too.”
“Yeah,” Ren said, “Thank you.”
“Can you help us with something first though?” the other Ren said, “We’re heading to mementos today and need to change the hearts of some targets. It would be a huge help if you helped with them.”
“Of course.”
“Great!” the other Haru said, “So we’re off to mementos then!”
The other Ren took out his phone and tapped on the metaverse navigator app logo. Looking at his counterpart's phone, Ren could see the faintest glimpse of what this meta nav looked like. Rather than a red logo, this version carried a yellow design.
The air began to swirl and change until the group found themselves outside mementos. Ren looked at himself and found himself wearing his standard Phantom Thief attire. Looking at the alternate Phantom Thieves, he saw something very different from what he was used too.
While all the outfit’s designs were the same, the color scheme of all their outfits were different. Rather than a black coat, the other Joker wore a yellow one. Ryuji’s outfit was colored mainly green rather than the standard black and gray. The alternate Ann and Makoto’s outfits seemingly were colored closely with Ann’s Panther attire being purple instead of red and Makoto’s biker outfit being red. Yusuke’s phantom thief attire was orange and Futaba's outfit was the only one not changed. Haru’s outfit was pure black with Morgana’s metaverse form taking on a bright light blue hue.
“This is strange,” Ren said, “Your clothing is different colors from my team,” he said then pointing to Futaba, “except for you Oracle. Your outfit is the same as my oracle’s outfit.”
“Well I guess you can’t change perfection now can you,” the other Futaba said, “But look at this guy Joker. His outfit is so different from yours.”
“I know,” the other Ren said as the two looked each other in the eyes, “Before you guys got to LeBlanc, the two of us talked and compared notes about what was different between our timelines and seemingly, this is the only difference.”
“Really?” the other Yusuke said, “The only difference between two completely different timelines is that our outfits are different colors? That’s so completely spiritless.”
“Well there are said to be an infinite number of timelines,” the other Futaba said as she activated Necronomicon’s ability, “Some worlds are going to be more different than others. I’m sure this Joker will find a world wildly different from his own eventually.”
As Futaba searched mementos for the targets, the other Morgana transformed into his bus form which retained the same color scheme as Ren’s mona bus. As they all climbed inside, the alternate Ren took the wheel with the main Ren sitting behind him. Pressing down the pedal, the mona bus zoomed down the tracks of mementos off to the first target to change their heart.
“So uh Joker,” the Ryuji said, speaking up as the bus drove deeper into mementos towards the second target of the day, “Your Ryuji…is he like me?”
“Yeah pretty much,” Ren said, turning around in his seat, “In fact, all my friends are pretty much like you guys.”
“That’s good to hear,” Mona said before the bus stopped in front of the second swirling vortex, “Alright! We’re here.”
As they got out of the bus and walked forward, Ren could see the body of a person standing in front of them slouching their body forward and hanging their head.
“I think I should help in this battle,” Ren said, “I’m getting strange readings from this guy. Who is he?”
“Seems he is responsible for going online and downloading fanfiction,” Morgana said.
“That doesn’t sound so bad,”
“And then binding them together and selling them as physical media without paying the original author.”
“That fiend!” Futaba said, “Make him pay Joker!”
As Ren, the other Joker, Yusuke, and Ryuji stepped towards the person, they could hear him muttering something to himself.
“Hello?” Ren said as he stepped forward, “Excuse me?”
“Huh? What do you want?” the man said standing upright, “Oh let me guess. You’re here for my books right? Well I got a bunch right here. You all look like those Phantom Thieves the kids don’t shut up about. How about some nice wholesome pairing stories. I hear Joker x Panther is really popular. Although this story of Skull and Noir has been selling quite fast lately.”
“We’re not here for any of that!” Ren said, “You need to stop ripping the original creators off!”
“Yeah!” Futaba shouted from the side, “People put their heart and soul into making these stories and you’re just stealing them! ”
“Stealing? STEALING?!” the man said, getting more agitated, “Is that what you think! I’ll show you what I’m doing!”
At that moment, the man leaned backward as he faded into black goo. From that goo rose a shadow form resembling that of the persona Atropos.
“Come Raoul!” Ren shouted, ripping off his mask to bring forth the newly awakened persona. Having used the strange time power to regain access to his personas, Ren was able to gain the persona Raoul. According to his future self, Ren would have gained this persona early on in 2017.
“Woah!” Morgana said before turning to the other Ren, “Can you summon that persona Joker?”
“No,” Ren said as the main Ren had Raoul send a blast of dark energy at the shadow, “It feels stronger than what I can handle at this time.”
Suddenly the shadow roared after the attack landed. The sound echoing throughout mementos. It was able to slash at the main Ren when the alternate Joker shouted, “Ryuji…now!”
“Right!” the other Ryuji said, “GO! CAPTAIN KIDD! ZIODYNE!”
Ripping his mask off, the other Ryuji brought forth his persona. As both of them extended their arms towards the shadow, a ball of lighting gathered on the end of Captain Kidd’s cannon. Once the energy had built up, the persona fired it towards the shadow.
“JOKER!” the alternate Ren shouted, “Move out of the way!”
Ren turned around to see the ball of lightning flying towards him. He had a split second to react when the lighting hit the shadow and exploded on contact.
Coughing as the dust flew up and around the area, the other Phantom Thieves ran forward. Summoning Zorro, Morgana used a gust of wind to push the dust away. When the clouds lifted, they could see Ren standing there with another persona standing over him. The persona known as Yoshitsune held its swords in front of Ren before returning them to their sheaths and vanishing.
“Whew!” Ren gasped, “That was a close one. Thank goodness for Yoshitsune.”
“Yeah!” the alternate Ryuji said, “Sorry about that. Joker just told me to attack the shadow, but I couldn’t stop the attack with you still there.”
“It’s all good Ryuji,” Ren said, “Where’s the shadow of the guy?”
Turning around, the Phantom Thieves looked at the shadow. Now having returned to his human form, he was hunched over and kneeling on one knee.
“Ugh,” he said, “I love these stories so much. I just want people to see them how I see them.”
“So you’re a fan of the Phantom Thieves,” Yusuke said, “That still makes selling other people’s work wrong.”
“Yeah,” Futaba said, “There are other ways of spreading the word about great stories besides selling them. Try using social media to spread the word.”
The shadow stood up and sighed, “You’re right. I realize now that what I did was not the right way to show my love for these stories. I go now with a changed heart. Thank you.”
Upon finishing his sentence, the shadow began to glow before vanishing in a flash of light. On the ground where the shadow stood laid a single card. Walking over and picking it up, the other Ren looked at it and put it away.
“Well done guys,” he said, “On to the next one Mona?”
“Yep!” Morgana said, transforming back into the mona bus, “All aboard!”
Upon finishing the last change of heart, they all left mementos for the day. As the other Phantom Thieves went back to their homes, Ren, the other Ren, Morgana, and Futaba stayed behind in LeBlanc.
“So do I have your help in this coming fight?” Ren asked as the four of them ate the curry Sojiro made. Sitting in the attic wasn’t that comfortable, but it was safer for the Ren of this timeline.
“Of course dude,” the other Ren said, “This is pretty cool, right Futaba!”
“Of course it is!” Futaba said, “I always thought the idea of alternate worlds and timelines existed, but to actually see proof of one in this guy just makes it awesome!”
“Sheesh, there she goes geeking out again,” Morgana said before turning his attention to the main Ren, “So how is this going to work? Do we come with you to the next timeline or do we wait for you to come back to us?”
Ren looked at the others and then took out the hourglass. Turning it over in his hands, he felt a tingle emanate from it. He hadn’t thought it fully out just yet, but a plan was beginning to come together inside of his head.
“I don’t think that is necessary,” Ren said, “This hourglass is some kind of special artifact from the Nexus. I assume it has some special power that will let me bring you guys to me when it's time. So when that time comes, you’ll know.”
“So where are you heading off to next Ren?” Futaba asked, “OOO! Are you going to a world where we’re all steampunk? Or what about a world where we’re all the opposite gender? What about a mermaid universe!”
“I honestly don’t know,” Ren said as he took a bite of curry, “This was my first trip using the hourglass. Maybe if I had time to learn I could figure out how to navigate to a specific world, but I don’t.”
“Right,” Futaba said curling up in her seat, “Your own friends and family.”
The other Ren moved closer to her and put his hand on her head giving her a soft pat on the head. This seemed to bring some comfort to Futaba who relaxed, smiled, and went back to her food.
Upon finishing the food and cleaning up, Ren stood near the exit of LeBlanc holding the hourglass in his hands. The sand seemed to be moving around inside the casing more than usual since he arrived in this timeline. The other Ren, Morgana, Futaba, and Sojiro stood nearby watching him.
“I dunno where you’re off to next kid,” Sojiro said as he held out a baggy full of small snacks, “But take this for the road. Can’t save the world on an empty stomach, now can you?”
“Thanks Sojiro,” Ren said, taking the bag, “Thank you so much.”
“So how does this work?” the other Ren says, “You just walk out the door?”
“I think something like that,” Ren said before extending his hand, “I knew I could count on you.”
“Of course,” the other Ren said as the two of them shook hands and stared each other in the eyes.
Turning around, Ren looked at the door and grabbed the handle. Taking out the hourglass, he could feel it pulsating in his hand, seemingly gaining more power. Bringing it in front of him, Ren whispered two words into it.
"The World"
As the words were spoken, the door began to glow a bright blue then green. As he opened the door, a bright light shined through blinding the others in the room. As quick as the light appeared it vanished. Moving his hands from his eyes, the other Ren looked and didn’t see the main Ren anywhere.
“So now what?” Morgana said.
“Now Mona,” Futaba said, “Time for a bath for you mister grumpy pants!”
“I guess it is time for Morgana to have a bath,” Sojiro said, “I’ll get some water ready.”
“NO! I do not need a bath!” Morgana shouted as Futaba carried him outside, “I AM A FOUNDING MEMBER OF THE PHANTOM THIEVES! I refuse to be treated this way! NOoooooo!”
As Ren chuckled to himself as he walked upstairs, he thought about the other Ren. This year was quite the strange set of circumstances and they were going to have a long road ahead of themselves. Hopefully the other Ren could find enough alternate Phantom Thieves to help him take down this Destiny character. If he wanted to destroy all timelines, then that included this one.
As he began preparing some explosives to use in the metaverse, Ren vowed that he would be ready when the other Joker made the call.
Earth PR-13
A bright flash of light appeared in the alley behind LeBlanc and a door appeared. As it opened, Ren stepped out to see a bright sunny day. Looking up, he put his hand over his eyes and smiled.
“Huh, this timeline seems nice,” he said before looking around to notice he was in the same alley as where he arrived in the previous timeline, “Guess I entered from the same location this time.”
Suddenly the sky grew dark causing Ren to look around.
“What the?” Ren said looking up, “Don’t tell me it’s going to rain?”
As he looked upward, Ren saw a giant lizard walking through the city. Its footsteps caused shockwaves throughout the city and its sheer height was able to block out the sun at brief points. In the distance he heard sirens and people screaming.
“What in the world!”
Alternate color Phantom Thieves recruited!