"Once this war is over, we're never going to be in the same universe ever again. What's the point of victory?"
Blue eyes scanned the room before him. Black, noiseless and lifeless; that was his grave. His physical body was six feet down below in the mortal realm and it was probably devoured by the very creatures tasked to make way for new life.
There was no heaven. Just hell. This was where his soul laid, in a realm between sleep and awake.
He wasn't sure if he was even in hell. Born and raised up in a quiet little suburban town somewhere in Indiana, America, he was clearly educated in the Christian upbringing in which there was clearly two places the soul will go to depending on how good or bad the person was when they were still alive.
But this...this was not what he had expected.
"You and I both know of the paths we thread along. You were never meant to be mine."
The distant sound of chains greeted his ears. He could tell that he was wearing clothes. A shirt. It was long sleeved and damp with something heavy - blood - and even through the fabric, he could feel the cold metal of the very chains digging through his flesh.
It was technically not his flesh. He was dead. This was just a manifestation of his human form. He was but a ghost, a soul, a guardian who made sure that the door he was chained to, would never ever open.
How much time had passed since the battle against Nyx...?
How long had he been dead?
"You want me to be independent just because I'm a fucking squad leader? Is that all our relationship is going to be based on?"
He shut his eyes and leaned back against the door. His memories still haunted him. Who was he having a conversation with back before he died?
"Don't make me do this. I'm tired of having to fight."
He did remembered that he was tired of being everyone's savior. He was tired of fighting for the sake of everyone. It wasn't fair. Josei had Junpei to lean on and in times of need when the war against the shadows got far too bad, Junpei would had Josei to cry on. Josei knew what to do.
"I...I don't even know where I'm going, I...I just know that I'm doing this not for humanity.."
Josei wasn't her.
Who was...her...?
The clock before his throne; prison; grave ticked with accurate precision and yet none of the engravings on it's face made sense.
Everything was in ancient Greek and he had no idea what kind of significance did that held. Was he in the Underworld with Hades?
"I never did this for humanity. I never fucking cared what befall of humanity's fate, God damnit."
His memories was getting fuzzier. He was losing track of reality and dreams, having spent so long in sleep, chained up to the door. Sometimes, the shadows would pound at the door, howling for a way out. He had no idea how long can he keep them all under lock and key.
"You were the only reason why I fought. Pretty stupid considering the fact that we'll never ever go anywhere past dating each other, eh?"
The ability to portray emotions had died along with him the moment he was bound to the door but yet, whenever that particular memory haunted him, he was never able to stop that sickening gut feeling.
The memory left him with a bitter taste of remorse and loss. It left him screaming and crying in a language unknown to him.
"I ...will..."
Pain tore through him as he recalled his ultimate demise.
"...st...stay here...stay here...hold the door down..."
He vaguely remembered making promises to a maiden, bidding their time together, trying to outrun what Aphrodite had cursed them with. Rage and sorrow welled up within himself all over again. His lips parted and an angry, sorrowful scream filled his chambers, echoing throughout the underworld, interrupting the song of Orpheus.
The reaction was immediate. Eyes from a thousand souls gazed up towards his direction and had he been sane, he would've noticed that they were eyes that held a look of worry, awe and fear.
He remembered succumbing to his death in his sleep without even a single fight.
After all, there was nothing left for Minato Arisato to fight for. He was biggest Fool of them all.