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kiaroscuro · 5 months ago

Text

Title: as the world caves in

Warnings: descriptions of violence, major character death

Rating: Mature

Main Pairing: Ren Amamiya / Arsene

Main Tags: post-canon, zombie au, angst, hurt / comfort, road trips

Warning: attempted grooming, sort-of cannibalism

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"Don't forget your supplements," Takuto says, smiling easily. He hands Ren the vitamins, and Ren takes them, easily. He and Sumire are supposed to go hunting into the city ruins again today, and he bids the brown-haired man goodbye before setting out. Kasumi can't come with them that day, other obligations keeping her up.

Ren eats dinner in the company of Takuto and Sumire, the redhead leaning against the older man's side easily, tipsy from the fermented drink they've had the chance to try first before it will be shared at dinner tomorrow. "You really fit right in, Ren," he says with soft smiles, hands brushing against Sumire's bangs. "Sumire really needed some friends her age, she's such a wallflower, always."

Ren hums, feeling soft in the dwindling light of early autumn, insides like cotton candy.

Ren goes hunting with Sumire and Kasumi.

Ren goes hunting with Sumire and

Ren goes hunting with Sumire.

Mifune and Jean greet Ren as always, and Ren smiles back as the old woman hands him wrapped jerky for his excursion to pick out berries and fruit with Takuto, their dried herbs running low. He hurries up towards those soft brown curls and the easy smile, lets Takuto brush the back of a hand over his cheek before they're off. They run into a shadow, an enraged mithra that has adrenaline flood Ren's system before he takes it out, breathing heavily and -- wondering. About something missing.

Takuto has them take back the mithra to the settlement, where others come to stare at the kill, and then everyone cheers before they start a feast for the night. Ren is swept up in the activities, gets roped into decorating the main hall with Sumire, the autumn weather a gentle breeze. Kasumi smiles wanly at him when they pass each other, and they end up sitting at a table with Sumire and Takuto, easy smiles all around. Sumire hugs his arm, tightly, while their food is served -- some sort of roast, with the berries that Ren's picked today, and he feels warm all over.

Takuto gently tugs at Ren's chin, brushes a kiss against the side of his lips, all warmth and soft skin, Sumire smiling next to him before she hugs both of them close--

Ren's brain is all cotton and soft velvet, and he separates reluctantly when the food arrives, and he takes a bite of the roast before his stomach vividly dislikes the aftertaste of the thing. Ren feels like heaving, but he refrains, aware that it would be rude. He keeps eating, each bite worse than the previous, brows furrowed as to why -- usually he likes the food the settlement prepares, so what's wrong with it today? The meat is as tender as always, seasoned perfectly and smooth as butter in his mouth. Kasumi is staring at him with furrowed brows, but Ren doesn't notice as he watches the people around them, sees how they enjoy the food as someone a table over jokes about how they'd enjoyed the jatagu much more, and the insides of Ren's mouth turn to ash as he stares at his roast with horror. He doesn't notice Takuto call his name until a soft hand touches his shoulder, and Ren turns towards him only to be offered a fork full of roast, and Ren opens his mouth as if in a trance before the fork is pulled away, Takuto's soft smile making him unable to do anything but chew and then swallow the piece, even as he feels it sink heavily into his stomach.

Takuto smiles even softer, closes the gap between them to lick the juice off of Ren's lips, and then he turns towards Sumire and offers her a fork as well. Ren, still frozen, ducks his head to stare at his food, thoughts muddled for the rest of the evening. Ren retires to his cot, stares unblinkingly at his still-packed bags and tries to understand what had happened. The feast -- everyone had eaten-- the mithra that Ren had killed-- murdered, it hadn't even attacked him, had it? It's flesh had been served as dinner. He'd--

how many times had that happened...? The little omamori that Akane had made catches his eye, together with Mona's collar that he's stopped wearing sometime in the last few days, and the little custom PTofHearts button that Mishima had pushed into his hands before he'd left Tokyo.

Ren zeroes in on the button, cold washing over him.

"...Arsene...?" Ren tries, suddenly aware that he's stopped hearing his persona's voice after the first handful of days, after that one dinner in the past where he'd remarked that it had... tasted strange. "Oh god," Ren whispers, broken. Arsene? Pigeon, are you there?! I'msorry-forgiveme-where? He tries, unsuccessfully, lost in thought and a swirling of panic until footsteps register and Ren lunges for his dagger and turns it towards--

Kasumi.

They stare at each other, before the dark-haired girl breathes out in relief. "...you snapped out of it." She mutters, intruding in his personal space and making Ren scoot back. He stares at her, remembers all of her little tight glances and pursed lips.

"What is going on...?"

Kasumi's eyes are haunted. "Takuto Maruki has brainwashed every single member of this settlement. Sumire, Cendrillion and I had arrived with a different group three weeks into the cataclysm, but by then he's already had this cult going. It didn't even take him two weeks to enthrall us." She clenches her fists, and Ren stares at her in horror. "I don't know how they do it, but Takuto and his council managed to extract poison from the plants surrounding us. Mixed with berries and food, or even as those 'vitamins' -- they make people forget. And the shadow-based food is addictive."

Now that Ren's mind isn't cottoned over, he can see the truth of her words, can notice how even now his mouth craves the varying dishes he's eaten, finally figured that he's been feeling sick because the mithra's affinity was bless. He stares at Kasumi, wan. "...who is... Cendrillion?"

Real grief enters her eyes. "She was our protector -- a persona from Sumire's soul. You should know about them -- I saw you glance over your shoulder the same way Sumire used to do, before she forgot that Cendrillion existed. Before you forgot." Kasumi shakes her head. "Listen, Ren -- I know how to get you out, but you have to hurry. Snow's going to fall soon, and if you wait any longer you'll be stuck her for who knows how many months. Please."

He stares at her, tries to reach for Arsene again, fingers clenching. "...what about you and Sumire?" He asks at last, tries to not think about how Takuto-- "oh god, he's grooming her," Ren whispers, things slotting into place. He still remembers Ann and Shiho and Kamoshida, remembers how worried Kawakami-sensei had been about doing the same thing to Takase after being pressured by her late student's guardians.

"Sumire isn't the only one that Takuto has been trying to groom." Kasumi whispers, and Ren feels sick all over, remembers how he'd gotten closer to the older man over the past few-- weeks. "You have to leave. He noticed how uncomfortable you were at dinner, it won't be long until he increases the dosage of the poison."

He stares at her, at her resolve, and feels his heart crumble. "What about you and Sumire?"

Kasumi sighs, bitter. "He thinks I'm influenced and I won't leave without my sister, but she's too lost in Takuto's ideologies to leave. I had hoped that talking to you could snap her out of it, but instead you got pulled in-- I'm sorry. Now follow me."

There's a gap in the fencing close to the crops, and Ren is laden down with his backpack, shoulderbags and fanny pack -- just how he'd arrived -- still unable to feel Arsene's presence. It's the first week of November already. He's spent over a month inside Takuto's settlement and hadn't even noticed. Kasumi is hugging him tightly, shivering because the air was becoming colder now. Ren hugs back, just as desperate. "...there's a hidden radio broadcast at 13.8 HZg set up by Zenkichi Hasegawa and his daughter; tap in if you ever need help, and tell them that Ren and Arsene sent you." He murmurs, mind running. He didn't want to leave Kasumi and Sumire behind, but he can't stay any longer.

Ren steps through the gap, eyes his friend over one last time. She's given him a ribbon to remember them by, and Ren's wound it around his arm right now, the same one that Arsene had cauterized weeks ago. It smarts, and that reminds Ren of something. Now that his own mind isn't that addled anymore, he's been able to think again. "...go on a hunting party into the city; look if there are vending stations or stores left with any Amrita Soda, it can heal forgetfulness. Or try to bake strawberry daifuku, it has the same effect -- only on persona users though, to my knowledge."

Her eyes are big. "Thank you," she whispers, and then closes the gap from her side, leaving Ren alone. He takes in a deep breath and hurries away, not even daring to take out his light in fear of alerting the night guards. He stumbles over vines and plants and discarded weapons, runs deeper into the forest the opposite of Nagoya, past the markers that the settlement had put down to mark the end of their territory.

Ren continues onward until his legs and lungs are burning, until the woodlands become sparse and he can hear the soft noise of the mutated shuffling around. Ren stops, hands on his thighs as he bends over and starts dry-heaving, shuddering. He's disoriented when he stands back up again, and there's a mutated shadow in front of him, a shiisha that's crackling zio with empty eyes. Ren tenses, unclips his handgun from his side, and fires. There's plants sprouting out of one of its eyes, green and yellow veins running over its neck and front legs.

He misses, whole body shuddering, and then the shiisha lunges at him and Ren curses. He manages to wrench it away after it bit into his leg, takes the second where it's stunned to get his dagger before he plunges it into the infected shadow, doesn't let go until he can hear it's skull crack. Once that is over and done with, Ren breathes out, left back to the stillness of the forest.

...Arsene? he tries again, and curses. Eyes the corpse of the shiisha.

...he has to find a shadow that knows Salvation or Me Patra or Amrita Drop if he wants to be able to contact Arsene again, doesn't he?

(Ren doesn't even entertain that Arsene could be lost to him, doesn't think he could keep going if the persona was gone after everything they'd endured. Ren still has to apologize to the pigeon, after all.)

...the only shadow he knows that exists in the region with the correct skills is garuda, which is a bother because encountering them is difficult.

Still. Ren takes a deep breath and sets off, pushing every other worry to the side until Arsene is safe and sound.

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#persona 5 #ren amamiya #ren x arsene #fanfic #zombie au #arsene #my writing #myart #hahaha ooops #don't you just love accidental cannibalism?#it's fun for the whole family!#yeah I kinda hate Maruki in this Au #even more than usual I mean #The Road Home

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