Chapter Text
It had been four and a half months now since Ren moved back home.
This was supposed to be a good thing, Morgana had thought. Sure, a tough thing, but overall good. Ren was reunited with his family and could start living his life without a criminal record. He could thrive.
That's not exactly what happened, though.
Ren's parents had not been there to pick him up from the bus stop, leaving him to navigate home alone. They only said one thing when he arrived. Not that they were happy to see him or glad he is back, but that they knew the truth. Despite what the records said, despite what Ren had managed to convince them to say, they knew that he was a criminal and always would be.
Interactions only got worse over time. Morgana wished he could unhear the things they would say. Even more, he wished there was something he could actually do.
School wasn't much better. Morgana had thought it would be like Shujin. That yes, there would be people that didn't accept Ren, but that there would also be people who did. That he could make friends, or reconnect with old ones, or find a mentoring bond with a teacher, or just anything. Instead he was treated like everyone had already given up on him, and nothing would change their minds.
In the beginning, at least Ren had his friends. They would video call and text and just keep in touch. But as things continued, as Ren was worn down by day after day, week after week, of the neglect and abuse that was thrown at him, Ren began to shut down. He stopped answering calls, stopped reading texts, and retreated into himself. He spent more time in his bed each day, but less time actually sleeping.
Morgana did his best to stay by Ren's side during this. He'd try to talk to him, to encourage him. Try to convince Ren to get out of the house, get some fresh air. Make a routine, something like they'd had back in Yongen-Jaya. When none of that worked, Morgana would curl up beside Ren in bed for hours, doing anything he could to make sure Ren wasn't alone during all of this.
It had been another day like usual. Ren dragged himself to school where no one believed he would amount to anything, and only his mistakes were acknowledged, never any of the things he did right. He'd come home to an empty house, something that was a mercy these days, and gone to his room.
"So, what's the plan for today?" Morgana asked, tail swishing as he jumped up onto Ren's desk. his paws made tracks in the dust along its surface. "Maybe we could head to a diner to work on that assignment you need to make up?" Ren had been falling farther and farther behind in class.
Ren shook his head, sitting down on the side of his bed. He kicked his slippers off and shed his uniform jacket which he tossed on top of his unopened backpack where it sat on the floor. Morgana's tail stilled as he deflated. Yet another one of these days.
Instead of getting straight into bed, through, Ren patted the mattress next to him, indicating for Morgana to come. This was the most initiative that Ren had shown in weeks, and Morgana did not hesitate before leaping off the desk and sitting beside Ren.
"What's up?" Morgana asked, looking up at Ren expectantly.
Ren didn't speak at first. He listed Morgana and settled him into his lap, idly petting him. A few months ago this would have Morgana puffing up and demanding to be taken seriously, he wasn't a cat after all! Now, though, he simply leaned into it, headbutting Ren's hand. They stayed in silence like this for a while before Ren spoke.
"Morgana," he said, speaking the first words Morgana had heard from him in days. "If you needed to, could you make it back to Yongen-Jaya by yourself?"
Morgana froze at that question. "Why would I need to?" He asked. "I'm staying with you, no matter what."
Ren continued to pet him as they spoke, but when Morgana looked up, his eyes were distant.
"Just, hypothetically," Ren said, almost absentmindedly. "If something were to happen to me. Could you make it?"
The trip back there was a long one, with multiple transfers on trains and busses. There was almost no possible way a cat was making that trip alone. Although Morgana was special. If he needed to, he could probably make his way there, eventually at least. But there was just something so… off about this question.
"Is something going to happen to you?" He asked worriedly.
Ren didn't say anything to that, just petting Morgana while looking out with that thousand yard stare.
"Ren?"
"It's nothing," Ren finally said, shaking his head. "Just, forget I said anything." He picked up Morgana, cradling him against his chest like a teddy bear as he laid down in bed. "Let's just take a nap."
He closed his eyes, settling in. Morgana couldn't relax, though. Even as Ren drifted off to sleep his mind was racing as he processed this interaction. What would happen to Ren? Did Ren think his parents or someone at school was going to escalate? That didn't make sense, though. Why would he be telling Morgana to flee in that case? Even in his current state of apathy, Ren could defend himself. And with things wrapped up regarding the Metaverse, there was nothing there to worry about either.
No, right now the only person that could pose a threat against Ren, was Ren himself.
Morgana felt sick to his stomach at that thought. Surely that couldn't be what was happening, right? Ren wasn't actually considering something like that, was he?
Morgana thought hard about the past month or so, when Ren had started getting really bad. Some of the things he'd said, dropping assignments because there's "no point", refusing to leave the house because there was "nothing out there" for him. And now, making sure that Morgana, the final link to life from before, had somewhere to go if he were gone.
Morgana found his heart racing at this, felt himself beginning to hyperventilate. No, no he couldn't let this happen!
He looked over, making sure Ren was asleep. Once he was certain he could do so without waking the other up, Morgana wiggled out of Ren's arms and jumped to the floor with a quiet landing.
No more waiting around for things to get better. He was taking this into his own hands.
He went across the room to Ren's backpack, knocking it over. Ren's phone, which Ren only kept with him these days to activate his train pass, was tucked into the side pocket. The backpack falling caused it to dislodge, and Morgana was able to pull it out so it was laying in front of him. He batted it into Ren's closet, not wanting to wake Ren.
The screen turned on when disturbed, showing countless ignored notifications from the other Phantom Thieves. Even when Ren had stopped replying, they never stopped reaching out.
Morgana pawed at the screen, and a numbered keypad popped up asking for the password. That wasn't an issue, Morgana had seen Ren type it in more times than he could count. However, Ren used those opposable thumbs of his to do so. Morgana was not blessed in that way.
After a couple of failed attempts with his paw, including getting locked out for a minute after too many wrong attempts in a row, Morgana was able to get the phone unlocked using his nose to carefully select each number. He used that same strategy to navigate to the Phantom Thieves group chat.
When the keyboard popped up to type a message, Morgana's heart sunk. These buttons were even smaller, and required a hold and flick motion to type out the characters. That was not something he could do. Besides, he didn't even have much experience with trying to write out his own messages in general. As a cat-like being, literacy wasn't exactly his strong suit.
That didn't matter, though. He wasn't going to stop here. After so long of radio silence, anything sent from Ren's phone was going to be noticeable enough to catch the others' attention. So Morgana swatted with a paw again, sending a message of gibberish. Messages in response came flooding in immediately.
Ren: arekjdfnlfa:SNVJk
Ryuji: REN!!
Ann: omg!
Futuba: but what the heck is he saying?
Makoto: It's nice to see any message at all, but I agree, I can't understand him
Yusuke: Even for Ren, this level of unintelligibility is unusual
Haru: Do you think it was just an accident?
They were here! They were so close! Morgana just had to make sure to keep their attention.
Ren: sjafbhla;sjnk vkladn;k
Ren: alkdfaljfnak
Ren: ldfnkjalkjfnaklfnapoinlaknlka
Ryuji: Dude, what's going on with you?
Ryuji: you ghost us for weeks and then start sending gibberish?
Futuba: this isn't funny, Ren :(
Ren: sjnlfakfdjlk;agmk;anbjd
Haru: this is starting to get worrying…
Makoto: I'll call him, see if I can find out what is going on
Yusuke: good idea, Makoto.
Ann: tell us what he says!
The group chat was replaced by a new screen as the phone vibrated slightly. A green button was at the bottom and Morgana tapped it with his nose. The vibrating stopped, and after a click, Makoto's voice could be heard.
"Ren?" She said, "Are you-"
"Makoto! Thank goodness!" Morgana cried at the sound of her voice. A wave of relief rushed over him now that he had gotten in contact with one of the others.
"Morgana?" Makoto asked. "What is going on? What's wrong?"
Morgana filled Makoto in on what had been happening with Ren.
"That's awful," Makoto said, her voice filled with emotion. "We didn't know… we just thought he's been getting busy with his life out there."
"It's worse," Morgana said, his voice wobbling with tears. "Today he asked me if I could get back to Yogen-Jaya alone, if something were to happen to him. It's like… it's like he's planning…" Morgana couldn't bring himself to actually put it in words. Makoto was in shocked silence on the other end of the line as she processed what he was saying. "Please, you guys have to help him! We have to get him out of here."
"I agree," Makoto said. There was an edge of determination in her voice, like her planning mode was already being activated. "I'll talk to the others. You just take care of Ren until we can get there, alright?
"I will," Morgana promised. "Please, be fast."
"As fast as we can," Makoto assured him. They ended the call after that, the phone going quiet as Makoto moved back into the group chat to update and rally the others.
Morgana left the phone as he went back to Ren. The other was still sleeping, although Morgana wouldn't call it a peaceful sleep. It was fatigued, like energy was draining from Ren even now as he slept to replenish it. He had shifted to be sleeping on his back, and Morgana jumped up and curled up against Ren's chest. Feeling the rise and fall of his breath and the gentle beat of his heart was comforting, a reminder that it wasn't over yet. There was still time.
"Hang in there," Morgana said quietly, resting his head against Ren's chest. "Just a little longer. They're on their way."