Red, White, Black, Yuki, Yellow

(This is the best way I could keep the title of the series, with Makoto's name being what it is.)

(Also, narrating in Agent Washington's voice makes this story much better.)

Makoto Yuki was never one to be reactive. His first experiences with the supernatural, after the death of his parents, consisted of him walking through a street filled with coffins at midnight, and not dwelling on it too much. He was always aware of his lack of emotional output, but chalked it up to trauma, from being alone for so long.

And while he had gone through a lot, it was on his own silent affirmation that he chose to never let anyone else in, lest he lose them again. But even that would change in time.

Makoto had a routine that he stuck to every day, like he was following a guide for a video game. Wake up, go to school, try his damndest not to fall asleep in class, gather gear, SOCIAL LINK GET!, and explore a skyscraping, horrifying, cursed, haunted, and dangerous tower of death, destruction and demise - Tartarus - with a bunch of other high schoolers who are all related in some way or another.

He never strayed from this, unless the situation demanded it. A leader needed to be calm and collected. A leader didn't need to be breaking down at every new revelation of the Dark Hour. Of course, he would always be there to comfort or confront his teammates - his friends - but he wouldn't speak too much about himself, or always dance around the topic.

After all, it wouldn't do so well for the studious, industrious leader of S.E.E.S. to have baggage of his own, now would it?

But with his death, his time had not yet come. His heart may have been shaped by the bonds and time spent with his friends, but no matter how my lives he changed for the better (or worse) he always felt something empty in his own heart. This was something that even the Arcana of the Universe wasn't able to change.

But he was aware of what was at stake, deciding that the lives of his plentiful friends were more valuable than his in the end. So he closed his mind off to everything except the final choice given to him. And he accepted it with his whole heart, mind, and over abundant soul. He fought the incarnation of Death itself on the Moon. Alone. He sacrificed himself so that all of the memories that he had made would still mean something, that he wouldn't just go out a brainless, emotionless zombie without the knowledge to distinguish his head from his ass. He became the Great Seal so that others may live, regardless of leaving behind a legacy.

But it was that nagging willpower to see his friends one last time, to know that his final sacrifice wasn't in vain, that let him live that borrowed time, until passing on in the arms of his future successor. After a solid year of emotional rollercoasters had by all, he could finally get some rest.

And so it was how one Makoto Yuki found himself in the Abyss of Time, a large expanse of white as far as the eye could see and surrounded by the most beautiful and/or powerful facades of his soul.

He's had a lot time to himself, not being spoken to unless inquiring or bothered unless bothering. The fact that his Personae could speak to him only threw him for a loop the first couple of years. He spent most of his time meditating on events that could have been, if he had taken the bullet for Shinji, if he could have seen through Ikutsuki's deception, if Chidori could have been saved. But he never wished to change a thing. Besides, you know, his death.

Because, for all of his self deprecations, he knew that the events that happened and the choices that were made were ultimately the ones that needed to happen. Makoto, to this day, doesn't curse his fate, no matter how morbid it may seem.

Chained and crucified, a huge slab of stone, he can open his mind's eye and see everything. All of the evil of the world, counterbalanced by the good. Maybe Nyx was right and all humans do desire death, but it is the moments filled with kindness: a mother and her child, a man and his wife, two best friends punching each other in the face to solidify themselves as equals - it was these frames in a universe of pictures that would bring a smile to his face and remind him that his choice was right.

And so he fades out of consciousness, wishing his friends a happy life, and the world to be peaceful in time.

He's heard the voices of his soul many times to the point where he could pick out one in the crowd of 170.

So it surprised him too hear the voice of one higher than Apsaras, but lower than Pixie. Makoto cracked one eye open to see an uncommon sight.

There was a girl. Here. In this humanity-forsaken place. Where he retreated to upon becoming a piece of rock, left to dwell on memories and futures.

She was tall, although not more than him. Her hair was a midnight black; unkempt yet clean, and shining in the light of ... Whatever the light source was in this place. He couldn't exactly venture out into the emptiness of the seal.

Whatever.

She wore a bow that, combined with her very poignant eyes, made her almost feline. The long ribbon flowing from the weapon on her back helped with that image as well.

She also wore clothes that were very out of place, even taking into consideration where they are in right now. It wasn't like any school uniform he'd seen before, but seemed more... old fashioned, even regal if he squinted.

She's surrounded by 170 creatures of all shapes and sizes, and a boy chained to the door of humanity's end, and she's wasn't taking note of it. It's probably because she can't see them, or him. There's a sort of fog here, but he's able to see through it, due to him... being him.

"HEY!" Makoto yelled, trying to get this strange girl's attention.

And he succeeded.

The girl stopped dead in her tracks, and slowly turned towards the sound of the voice.

Her eyes widened at the sight of him, a boy chained to door, floating in midair.

And then she looked down and realized she's (also) floating in mid-air.

Makoto heard a slight gasp and saw the tensing of her whole body.

She lifted one foot up and set it back down just to test the fact that she could stand. As satisfied as she could have been, she looked around again, not taking note of the beings surrounding her.

She walked forward, miraculously in his direction, and and at about a car's length away she noticed the gigantic stone door, with a stone boy crucified on it.

She looked behind her, probably to solidify that she can't see anything.

A puzzled look on her face, she walked up to Makoto.

"Who... are you?"

Her voice was faint, a whisper in the large chamber of the great divide.

She walked closer to Makoto and, standing on her toes, touched one of the chains.

This, Makoto thinks, can't possibly be good.

And he stared on in amazement as the chains turned to liquid, and dissolved as if a strong acid was poured on them.

The girl took a step back, eyes wide at the deed she'd committed.

And she stared on as the boy chained to the door started to turn from stone, starting with his head.

An unruly mop of blue was the first to regain its life, followed by the face of one bewildered Makoto Yuki.

Gasping for the air he hasn't had to breathe for years at this point, he looked down at the girl, eyes wide with shock.

"You... you freed me..."

And the last of his body that was held to the stone turned back, and he fell off of his place on the door.

Blake Belladonna was not someone easily surprised.

(Or amused, for that matter.)

But even she knew a messed up situation when in one.

So, she looked upon an endless expanse of white fog.

"What?" She wondered out loud.

She could still sense things, but it was muted here. Not a lot to go off of, or compare scents to. She felt as if she was surrounded by... something out there. Big. Powerful. Something. She didn't know.

She spent a few minutes wandering aimlessly, doubling back just to make sure she knew where she started from.

Hey!

A voice rang out.

She turned to the left.

With her heightened senses, she was able to locate the point of origin in this endless expanse. Blake slowly started to walk toward it, putting one hand in front of her in case the fog slightly cleared, and the other on her blade.

And she stopped in front of a huge door, chained shut with a stone boy in the middle of it.

"Who... are you?" She asked, not really expecting an answer.

And then she looked down and had the whole "floating in mid-air" realization, but that's not important right now.

She didn't know what drove her to do it, and her instincts screamed at her to get away, but she walked up to the chained boy, and ever-so-gently touched one of the chains, examining his prison.

Imagine her surprise when it started to melt beneath her fingers and dissipated into nothingness.

His blue hair was what struck her first. Dark, messy, like he'd just woken up and left in a hurry. It fell down over his right eye, framing his face yet hiding it all the same.

And his face looked pale, as if he were suspended in disbelief. It looked similar to her own, as smooth as porcelain.

You freed me.

The last of his body turned to flesh and he fell from his position on the door. Managing to catch himself on his hands before his face hit the ground, he slowly stood up.

He dusted himself off and eyed Blake once over before he stuck his hand out in a friendly gesture.

"Good day... Or afternoon... Or eve-" At this, he sighed. "Whatever. Yuki Makoto. It's nice to meet you."

Eyeing his hand in uncertainty, Blake slowly extended her hand out to meet him halfway.

He had a strong grip for how fragile he looked.

"And now I have to ask- what's your name? And how are you here? You can't exactly find a map to this place, y'know?"

Before Blake could answer, she was suddenly hit by a dizzy spell and stumbled forward, fortunately right into Makoto.

Catching her, he slowly lowered her to the ground, using his thighs as a pillow for her head.

"Hey, hey, hey- don't go fainting on me just yet. How were you able to free me from the door...?"

His eyes slowly widened in realization. "And why am I... no. NoNoNoNo NO! SHIT! The door! The SEAL! What the hell?" He looked down at the confused and somewhat frightened eyes of his black-haired companion. "Do you have any idea what you've just done?"

And so the Earth's greatest defense falls.

Oh shit. Makoto looked at the direction the door was facing, only to find what he had spent the last few (insert measure of time here) defending against.

Erebus. Dammit to Tartarus.

Blake managed to sit up from her position on Makoto's lap, trying to see what he had seen, only to met with fog.

Until a huge black thing appeared. Thing meaning something that shouldn't have existed - shouldn't have been able to exist.

It had two heads, sharing one torso, and two sets of legs for each head. One head had horns pointing upwards, the other head had horns pointing downward, equally as terrifying.

And it started to advance, slowly, towards them.

Makoto stood up and brought his hand to his hip, grasping at the area where his Evoker was usually holstered, only to find it wasn't there. His sword wasn't there either, leaving him with no way to defend himself.

Erebus let out a deafening roar, instilling fear into Blake and nearly inducing Makoto into a state of panic.

However, the force of the roar blew away the fog surrounding the two humanoids and the manifestation of humanity's negative emotions.

Blake was left wide eyed at the clarity of what exactly she was surrounded by. One hundred and seventy beings of great power.

And that was the moment Makoto realized he didn't need an Evoker.

Calling forth his most trusted persona, Orpheus Telos, he sent out a Megidolaon worthy of Elizabeth. The Almighty magick forced Erebus back a few steps, and served to give some breathing room.

It also served to enrage said manifestation.

Letting out a cry of agitation and desperation all the same, the two heads of Erebus bowed their heads and charged forward toward the pair.

Blake pulled out her Gambol Shroud, uncertain if it would have any effect on the hulking being before her.

Makoto, however, had a different idea in mind. He mentally cycled through all of the personae in his mind, searching for one that had a certain skill.

Thanatos - no.

Mokoi - no.

Quetzalcoatl - no.

Pixie - no.

Dammit. Why didn't he have a single persona that had learned - oh wait.

"TITAN!" A large, golden armored soldier dropped in front of Makoto. He raised his blade in preparation for a spellcast.

"TRAESTO!"

And Makoto and Blake disappeared from Abyss of Time, not a trace left of either.

It should be noted that all of the Personae had gone, as well.

Erebus let out a shriek of outrage.

"Master Igor, are you sure that this is good idea?" A woman dressed in blue turned to the sitting man.

"Margaret, when have you ever doubted me? Hopefully, this will be a chance for Master Makoto to find what he is searching for. Let it be that this chance shan't go to waste."

A lone, bloodshot eye opened.

"He only has one year until Erebus attempts to pervade his world as well."