** This solo was written a long time ago, but for plot purposes is being posted now. It takes place during a week of Ren's second year. **


He had a phone call to make, and he had spent the past twenty minutes just staring at his skellyphone debating whether or not he actually wanted to make it. But it was a necessary call, unfortunately; one that he couldn't avoid no matter how much he wanted to.

With a sigh, Ren picked up the phone again, pressing in an all-too-familiar number. Holding it up to his ear, he sat on the bed.

And waited.

He didn't have long to wait.

"Hello?"

A pause. Ren swallowed.

"Hello, Mother."

Silence.

"Hello, Renaissance."

He didn't want to do this. And he especially didn't want to do this alone. Where was LW or Gabrian or Alessa? Since they had all broken up, lately Ren felt strained. Falsely cheerful. He spent more time with Gabrian out of the others mostly because he was still a little ashamed to even look at the ghouls. But right now, he would have given anything to have one of them beside him.

"Mother, I - "

"Renaissance."

A different voice, one that sent chills reverberating down Ren's spine. His mouth opened and closed, the words dying in the bottom of his throat.

No. I don't want to do this.

"...hello, Father."

Loki was silent for what seemed like an eternity. Then he said "Why are you calling us? This is unusual; had a change of heart, perhaps?"

The sarcasm was heavy. Ren rubbed his forehead tiredly. "No, Father, I'm calling because I - "

"Are you coming home?"

The interjection caught him off guard. "No," he said, shaking his head though he knew they couldn't see it. "No, I'm not, I'm - "

"Then why are you calling?" Loki sounded unamused now, his words sharp and biting. Ren could feel the frustration welling in his stomach. "Because," he said. "I'm trying to tell you - "

"Renaissance," his mother said, and her voice was weary. "We do not wish to play any games. Kindly do not call us unless you wish to apologize for how you have treated your father and I - "

"I'm trying to tell you that I died!"

The shout echoed throughout the empty room, loud and unnerving. Ren's teeth were clenched together, his hands fisted as he trembled. There were no words, no signs to tell him how exactly he felt right now.

His voice was shaking. There was silence on the other end. "I'm trying to tell you that I died," Ren said, barely above a whisper, a note of desperation clearly audible in a thin voice. "I'm trying to tell you...that i died, on that field trip. Stabbed through the back by someone in a cloak. I was sent...somewhere, I don't know where. Somewhere that I didn't have a body, somewhere that I could only watch. I died, but somehow...somehow I was brought back, but I..."

His voice broke. Ren's vision was blurry. He pressed his free hand angrily to his eyes. "I'm not the same. It's not the same. I'm trying to tell you that I died and I'm not the same as I used to be."

Silence. For nearly a full two minutes, Ren sat there, just listening to the sound of his parents' breathing.

Say something. Prove to me that this isn't just a game to you; that you care.

Say something.

Another beat passed. Then -

"Unless that change involves coming home again and quitting this ridiculous nonsense, then perhaps it would have been better for you to have stayed dead."

Beep beep beep.

Ren sat there, the phone still pressed against his ear. After a moment he stood, slowly lowering it, looking down at the slim cover, the sleek design. It was small, and fit into his palm nicely.

Then he reared his arm back and threw the skellyphone at the wall as hard as he could. It shattered with an explosion of metal and plastic, pieces littering the carpeted floor. Rhys gave a startled yelp, looking up at his owner with wide, stunned eyes. His nose twitched, and then he dove under the safety of the covers, a small, huddling lump.

Ren's chest was heaving. His hand had started to ache again; a strong, searing burning sensation that made his head spin.

No more.

I don't want this anymore.

Without bothering to change, Ren turned and swept from the room, tail flicking behind him like a snake. Phantomhive watched him leave, letting out a plaintive mewl, but Ren did not look back.

I don't want this anymore.

Any of it.