Show your true form @nomasksneeded-blog - Tumblr Blog

Ryuji x Reader: Broken Wings

A/n: This is my first Persona 5 imagine and on top of that my first Ryuji imagine, so please forgive me if anyone is out of character.

Warnings: None

Words: 3,963

Sometimes I feel like I can’t do anything right. That no matter what I do different I’ll always make the same mistakes. Because of those feelings I often get depressed and wonder why people stick around. I’m just a failure, why would anyone spend their time, that they can never get back, with a screw up like me? Often I feel like I’m trapped, held captive by my self-depreciative thoughts.

I feel as though I’m a bird being kept captive in a metal cage. Not only that but a bird with broken wings, who even if she did manage to escape would never be able to freely fly in the sky ever again. I have felt that way many times before but I’ve never been in a situation like this before.

I grasped the cold metal bars and looked as far out as I could. I got dizzy from how high up I was and scrambled back, causing my cage to swing back and forth. That definitely didn’t help with the dizziness. This is absolutely ridiculous! I’m quite literally being held captive in a large bird cage, which is suspended in the air from the ceiling of a room. The ballroom to be exact, taking the place of the chandelier. I just so happen to unfortunately become queasy at heights, the fear I have for heights literally make me feel sick to my stomach.

This is all my fault. Such a stupid mistake that lead to this. I’m such a failure. I really shouldn’t have let my emotions get the best of me. I shouldn’t have stormed off and I should have listened to Akira. He tried to warn me, he really did, but I wouldn’t listen to him. Honestly, this is just my rotten luck. You’re probably wondering how I got here. Well I suppose I’ll tell you.

Infiltrating palaces can be difficult, securing a path to the treasure even more so. We, the Phantom Thieves, have been working away at this palace for a few days now and Morgana has a feeling that we’re getting close to the treasure. If that’s right all we have to do is find the treasure, secure a path to it, and send out a calling card, stealing the treasure the day the ruler sees it.

Somehow during the process Ryuji and I got cut off from the rest of the group. It had been a sliding wall that cut us off from the others. We had ensured that we’d find a way to get through and meet up with them later. Before we went our separate ways Akira warned us to not split up no matter what. Guess what. We split up.

“Do you think there’s even another way?” I asked whispered as we came to another corner. “I don’t know, I hope so.” Ryuji responded, cautiously peeking out behind the corner. He hissed under his breath and turned back to me. “What? What is it?” I asked.

“Soldiers.” Was all he responded with, his attention wasn’t even focused on me. “Soldiers, how many?” I asked in alarm. If it was two we can probably handle them but any more than two... “A handful, way to many for us to take out.” Ryuji answered, finally focusing on me again. Great, what are we going to do about that? What a pain. I could now hear multiple sets of heavy footsteps. Ryuji wasn’t kidding when he said there is a handful of soldiers, I could hear at least four sets of feet.

My heart rate picked up. What are we supposed to do? We can’t fight them and there’s no where for us to run. This is not good, not good at all! “Oh!” Ryuji exclaimed quietly, his caramel-like eyes sparkling. He reached behind me and proceeded with roughly shoving me backwards I let out a sound of surprise as I flew backwards. With a thud, I landed in a heap on the floor. I heard shuffling and what distinctly sounded like the shutting of a door.

I groaned as I pushed myself into a sitting position. As I opened my eyes I realized everything was dark, there’s absolutely no light. “Ryuji, what the heck?” I grumbled, rubbing my sore behind. I let out a shriek that was cut short as I was pulled to my feet unexpectedly. A warm hand covered my mouth muffling my shriek. I struggled a bit, not appreciating the sudden change of events. Ryuji’s not even saying anything about what’s going on.

“Shh~” Ryuji hushed softly. I wanted to protest, voice my agitation, but logic prevailed. For once, he had a good plan, I have to admit it. Hiding might work. Still though, did he have to shove and shush me? He could have alerted me somehow but he didn’t. I can’t stay too mad at him though, maybe. When Ryuji gets a plan he doesn’t really think about the effects of his actions, he just gets the job done.

My heartbeat sped up as I could once again hear the consisted marching of the soldiers. My breath became shallow, I could barely even hear it anymore. The two of us waited in silence, not moving. I hope the soldiers didn’t hear any of the ruckus we made, that they didn’t hear my exclamations or shrieks. We are doomed if they did. We’d be lucky if we were just taken captive and roughed up a bit. With my kind of luck though we’d end up killed on spot. We are intruders and thieves after all who are trying to find and steal the treasure.

The moment came to pass and the silence between us stayed long after the steady and in sync marching of the soldiers faded away. Now that I think about it, why is there so many of them? Could they perhaps be aware that we, the Phantom Thieves, are here?

I slowly reached up and removed Ryuji’s hand from where it was over my mouth. Now that the soldiers are gone there is no reason for it to be there. “Ryuji, what the on earth?” I asked, glaring up at him. By now my eyes have adjusted to the darkness and could faintly see my comrade in front of me.

For one reason or another I’m just now realizing how close we are. Our noses are practically touching. I silently hoped and prayed that Ryuji could not see the redness of my cheeks as they burned with an intense blush. Even if he’s a bit dense and has a bit of an anger issue I’ve managed to form a deep rooted crush on him. Which sucks. Why is he so close?!

“What do you mean?” He asked obliviously. “You could have warned me or been a bit more gentle.” I said with aggravation. “There wasn’t a lot of time to spare, the soldiers were pretty much on us at that point.” Ryuji reasoned. Now that I’m thinking back on it I realize he was right, but I had just been so angry and my flustered state had only added to the anger. I was probably only so upset because I had become flustered. So the fact that I had never been that physically close to Ryuji extremely flustered me. So I ended up blowing up at him and then running off, not caring how stupid and reckless to do that. Ugh, I’m so dumb sometimes. I ended up getting caught by the very soldiers, I previously hid from and put here.

I let out a groan and leaned up against the bars, the coolness of those bars seeping through my black dress shirt. “I shouldn’t have run off.” I sighed out, my eyes cast heavenward. “You are very correct, Sweet Child.” A young woman’s voice said, hints of a French accent in her voice. I looked down and in front of me to see my persona, Marguerite Blakeney, sitting there. She was wearing a black dress in the style England had during the time she would have lived. Her petticoats had undertones of crimson and there was a design of a red flower atop her left breast, a scarlet pimpernel.

My outfit is much like her own. I wear a long black button-up dress shirt, a scarlet pimpernel on my left breast. I have crimson skinny jeans, my shirt tucked into them, and black combat boots. On my hip rests a sheathed dagger. I’m basically just wearing a more modern formal casual version of her clothing.

“You know, it’s not very comforting to hear you say that.” I mumbled. “Don’t mumble, Dear, it’s unbecoming of a lady.” Marguerite sang, a childish smile pulling on her light blue lips. That’s another thing I’m just starting to get used to. Instead of her skin being it’s normal color when she became a persona, even though technically a fictional character, her skin turned blue. I clenched and unclenched my hands covered by my crimson gloves.

“Marguerite, why did you chose to become my persona?” I asked, breaking the deafening the silence that had settled between us. “I’m not sure what you mean.” She replied, her voice laced with confusion. “What I mean is: why did you choose? There was probably many better candidates than me. Why me of all people?” I asked, folding my hands together.

I waited in anticipation for her answer. It’s been something on my mind for a long time, probably ever since I became a persona user, but I have never had the courage to ask about it. Marguerite was silent for a few moments, think over her answer. I played with the sleeves of my shirt nervously.

“You are right, there were many more candidates, some may have been a better choice than you but... You’re spirit is what drew me in. You were done with being trampled on by people with more power than you, you were done with the adults using your talents for their own greedy desires. What caught me the most though is that deep down what your main desire was and still is to protect those you love. You reminded me of myself because in the end all I cared about was protecting my two loved ones.” Marguerite explained, her tone soft and kind.

That was an unexpected answer. I didn’t think I’d get an answer like that. She didn’t choose me because I am the best or strongest and frankly I’m not. She chose me because of who I am, what my heart is like. All this time I’ve been worrying over nothing.

“What should we do now?” I asked, hoping she might have some insight on our, more like my, unfortunate situation. “Fight back, use that beautiful mind of yours.” Marguerite answered, amusement hidden in her voice. With that she faded away into my mask. Momentarily I removed my mask and stared down at the at the typical party style dark red mask with black flower design lace on it. I watched it as though waiting for it to give me the answer I need but I realized that I can’t do that, not anymore. I can’t wait for someone to give me the answers, I have to find them myself.

I looked up when I heard the steady marching of one soldier. He was marching down the hallway above the ballroom’s floor, the upper flooring that encircles the ballroom and gives space for people to observe those down on the floor. This floor was at about eye level with me. I quickly put my mask back in its previous place and scrambled to the other side of the care to get as close to the hall as possible. Wrapping my hands around the bars once more, I watched intently as the soldier got closer.

He started pacing back and forth on one half of the hall and the one before it, never quite reaching me. Seems like he’s been give rounds to guard the area around me along with a few others in various locations around the spacious room. Why would they put so much effort into guarding me though, unless they aren’t guarding me specifically but the treasure instead. That’s the only way it would make sense for so many to be guarding this area.

If only I could get out of this cage, then I could confirm my suspicions. If my suspicions are correct, like I think they are, I could find the rest, tell them the treasure and we’d finally have a path secured for the treasure. Then all we’d have to do is send out a calling card. We’d finally be done with this job and not one person would have to worry about the target destroying their life ever again. Our target would finally confess his crimes and he would have no clue that the Phantom Thieves were ever here.

How am I possibly going to get out though? One of the soldiers have the only key to my cage and i don’t have even the slightest idea which one it might be. I wish I had a lock pick on me but the one I had I gave to Akira to use if we as a group came across a locked chest. He’s always been better at picking locks than me anyway.

I actually have one idea that might work; I’d rather not do it though. The way things are going now though it’s the best chance I’ve got. How embarrassing. But I suppose it won’t be terrible. The only ones who will remember are these soldiers, Marguerite, and myself. The soldiers won’t be a problem, the won’t exist any longer after we clear this palace. The problem would be Marguerite; she’ll tease me relentlessly about this.

With a scream, I fell into a heap on the floor of the cage. I thrashed around violently, causing the cage to start swinging back and forth. The swinging made me nervous but I kept the act up; I have to catch the attention of some of the guards. I put effort into making the screams as painful and panicked as possible. Surprisingly, it was quite easy to pull off.

“What’s going on?” One of the soldiers questioned, forgetting his rounds. Soon enough there was a small group of soldiers surrounding the balcony closest to me. “What’s going on here?!” A voice boomed and heavy footsteps followed it. The sudden voice surprised me so much that I almost let up my whole act but somehow I managed to keep up with the act. “W- We don’t know. She just suddenly started screaming. Poor thing sounds like she’s in pain...” One soldier meekly answered. Obviously this new comer is powerful and in charge; that might mean he has the key to my cage!

“I don’t care if she’s in pain! Serves her right for attacking our Master’s palace along with those damned Phantom Thieves! Just do something to shut her up!” The soldier in charge growled. “W- Well, maybe if we could take her out and move her to one of the medical rooms we could take care of her and shut her up. I could take her, it’s not like I could loose her. She’s in no condition to run or fight.” The same meek soldier from before said.

The soldier in charge groaned and walked over to a candle stick holder and pulled down on it. Suddenly the cage swung forward until it was exactly at arms length away from the balcony. So that’s how they got me in here. I continued to thrash and scream. “Fine, but you’d better make sure you shut her up.” I heard the jingle of keys which were followed by heavy footsteps of the guard in charge. I stopped thrashing so much and let my screams die down to pathetic whimpers. “The rest of you get back to work!”

The keys jingled some more as the other soldiers walked away and then the door opened with a creek. I stayed still as the soldier reached in and grabbed me. I continued to whimper pathetically as I was thrown over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and he started to walk away. He walked for what felt like forever until he suddenly just dropped me on the ground. I moaned in pain as I sat up. That’s when something I never expected happened. The soldier just turned around and walked away.

“What?” I whispered, watching as the soldier steadily made his way back to where we came. I know I should take this chance to book it in case the soldier changes his mind but I can’t. All I can manage to do is watch the retreating form in mesmerization. What just happened? No, it doesn’t matter, it’s just a good thing it did happen. With new determination I stood to my feet.

Surprisingly it didn’t take long for me to run into the others and it would appear that Ryuji had regrouped with them not too long ago. “Scarlet! You’re okay! Thank goodness!” Ann exclaimed, using my code name. She ran up to me, giving me a bone crushing hug. “Panther, please, you’re going to kill me.” I gasped, frantically patting her back. “Oh, sorry.” Ann apologized, quickly releasing me from her hold. As I caught my breath I looked around the group. Everyone looked very relieved but the one thing that surprised me was Ryuji was relieved but looked guilty. For a moment our eyes met but the he looked away. What’s that about?

“Are you okay? What happened after you and Skull split up?” Akira asked calmly. He doesn’t seem upset at all surprisingly. Even though I willed them not to my cheeks flushed lightly. “I, um, got caught by the soldiers that Ryuji and I had hid from previously.” I reluctantly answered as my cheeks heated up even more as my blush increased. “Wow Scarlet, I’ve only ever really known you for being cool headed and logical, smart even, but that was really dumb of you. Like, really dumb.” Ann said, her tone a bit teasing. “Thanks, Panther. Honestly, I was expecting that from someone else.” I answered, my tone teasing as well. “How did you get away?” Akira asked. “Do we have to talk about this here, right now? It’s not safe here and I’m tired. Let’s talk when we get home.” I said, realizing once more where we are. “Alright, let’s go then.”

“-That’s how I got away.” I said as I finally finished recounting my story. “That’s very strange. I’ve never heard of a shadow doing something like that before. What could this mean?” Morgana said, hopping onto the table. I’ll admit it, I’m still not very used to Morgana being a talking cat and I’ve been around for almost as long as the Phantom Thieves have been together. We must look insane when out in public, talking to a cat, seeing that only people who have been in the metaverse can understand him.

“What do you think it could mean?” Makoto questioned, her expression thoughtful. “Who knows. I‘m just thankful it happened. Some things should probably just remain a mystery, after all unless something like that happens again we’ll never be able to or need to figure it out.” Morgana replied. He’s probably right, I’m still surprised and curious why the shadow just let me go though; why he even cared I was in “pain” is a mystery as well. I wonder why. Oh well, I guess I’ll never know.

About a half hour later everyone was getting ready to leave. “Good night, Akira. I’ll see you at school tomorrow.” I said as I grabbed my bag. “See you then.” He replied and with that I turned around, descended down the stairs, and walked out of Leblanc. I was surprised someone else was still here beside me. I thought I was the last to leave seeing that I stayed behind to talk to Akira about something.

“Wow, you took way longer to leave than I thought you would.” A voice that could only belong to Ryuji remarked. I looked up in surprise to see him leaning up against the wall opposite the entrance of Leblanc. As usual his hands were stuffed in his pockets making him seem even more laid back than he already is. “I’m sorry to have kept you waiting.” I said but it came out more like a question that I thought it would.

“Did you need something from me, Ryuji?” I asked as I snuggled a bit more into my jacket. Tonight it seems to be a bit colder than it has been previously. “Oh yeah I do!” Ryuji answered, pushing off the wall he was leaning against. “Okay, what is it?” I asked, an eyebrow raising. “Well, um.... I- I just wanted to say I’m sorry.” He said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck. “Sorry? About what?” I asked in confusion. What could he be apologizing about?

“About earlier. I don’t know why you got so upset at me but I realize that I bothered you. So, I’m sorry. I should have done things differently.” Ryuji explained. He seems really sincere about it too. I let out a sigh. This is ridiculous; he shouldn’t be apologizing. I should be. “You don’t need to apologize, Ryuji. In fact, I should be apologizing to you. I overreacted, so I’m sorry. I had become embarrassed and flustered from how close we were and because I have a crush on you I overreacted.” I said, starting to blush once more.

For a moment it was silent. I felt tense as I waited for some kind of response. With how quite Ryuji has become I would be happy for any kind of response. Even if I get rejected. Anything would be better than waiting here in silent suspense. If I do get rejected at least I can then move on.

“Are you serious? Do you really mean that?” Ryuji asked, finally breaking the silence that had settled between us. That wasn’t the type of answer I had been searching for but I can work with it. “It depends,” I answered a bit hesitantly. “It depends? On what?”

“Whether or not you like me back.” My response came out like a whisper. “Huh? What was that?” Ryuji asked, leaning in to hear me better. “I said, it depends on whether or not you like me back.” I answered, speaking just above a whisper this time around. Ryuji stared at me for a second then a wide smile appeared on his face. Aww~ his smiles are always so cute! Often times he reminds me of a puppy when its owner is playing with it. He can just be downright adorable sometimes!

“That’s great! ‘Cause I like you too!” Ryuji exclaimed, his cheeks tinting pink. “Shh!” I hushed, quickly placing my hand over his mouth. “We have to be quiet! It’s late, remember, some people might be trying to sleep.” I whisper-yelled. Ryuji slowly removed my hand with a soft-chuckle.

“Looks like the tables have turned.” Ryuji said with a little laugh. It took a moment for me to process what he said before I started giggling myself. “I guess you’re right!” I exclaimed. This feels great, being able to laugh with the guy I’ve been crushing on, with the guy who returns my feelings. It’s kind of amazing when you think about it. If I hadn’t have overreacted we might have never gotten here.

“Come on, we’d better get going. We’ll miss the last train if we don’t.” Ryuji said. “Yeah, we should.” I agreed, grabbing his hand and lacing our fingers together. What a beautiful way for this to end.

Trending Blogs

Recently Viewed Blogs

Show your true form