"Yumekishi...Ryoko..." The name rolled off of his tongue far too easily for his liking, as if it were a part of his core. Her explanation only complicated the now seething vortex of thoughts within his mind. He wanted so desperately to remember, but something was fighting his recollection, pushing his memories further down into the recesses of his subconscious. It wasn't until she made the point about their journeying through dreams that a rush of emotion flooded up into the conscious, a grey, destructive wall of macabre standing between him and the sudden implosion of the dreams of mankind. 

[i]He attacked it furiously, whipping and lashing with his dagger, firing off his pistol, unleashing every possible ounce of magical energy he could from the Personas that served him, yet the wall continued to regenerate, to reform and undulate forward. Joker could feel the hunger seething out of the creature, the outstretched arms of those consumed hoping, wishing that he too would join them in the belly of the beast. It was at that moment when he felt a twinge of familiarity, a loud shout of triumph as bolts of lightning cascaded down onto the wall, followed by the crackling of ice and the burning inferno that only hellfire could produce. His teammates, his friends had come to help him, just as they said they would next time Joker encountered the devourer of dreams. It retreated, temporarily, only for-[/i]

Breathing heavily, Joker's line of sight returned to the present, where Ryoko sat, her eyes seeming to wonder whether or not he had remembered. Regardless of his perceptions, he had indeed remembered...something. Something dreadful, that he truly wanted to forget. He sighed, looking at the soft, lapping waters of the canal, pleasure boats cruising past lazily in the stifling August air. 
"You were the one who told me about the...devourer? Dreamer?" He shook his head.
"I don't remember what it was called, but I remember what it looked like, the threat it represented to people not just in Japan, but everywhere around the world." He slumped back in his chair.
"Ryuji, Ann, Yusuke...they were there, too. I found them in their...something, somehow, and they came to help." He tilted his head.
"But our relationship goes deeper than that, doesn't it?" Morgana's ears were perked straight up, eyes locked on Ren. 
"Why didn't I know about this?" He asked a bit too loudly for their current surroundings, but Ren chose to ignore the comment, willing to explain to Morgana how he was excluded from this particular adventure of his past life. 
"Regardless of our past...affiliation, why are you coming to me now? If you know as much about me as I believe you do, you know that the Thieves are a relic of the past." It stung for him to describe his former team that way, but they hadn't been a "team" in seven years. Life tends to dissolve bonds very quickly.