A faint trail of golden light, invisible to the naked eye, followed him around as he wandered down into the lounde. Minato gently petted Koromaru as he wandered up to him. Minato's mind felt fuzzy as he sat down, heart in turmoil.
His Evoker rested on the table, drawing his attention.
Would it be the same? He picked it up and glanced at the S.E.E.S. logo on the side before pointing and firing. It still made him flinch, even now. Koromaru glanced up at the form of Thanatos for a second before settling back down to sleep. Minato had called the Persona for little more then company. But he, however, had not expected to feel those chilling, bony fingers gently stroke the side of his face. 'Hmm? What's this?' he looked up. 'Is Death trying to comfort me?'
Minato tried not to fall asleep again as he rested on the sofa, where did he leave his earphones? He didn't think it was possible for him to sleep anymore...
But even as he thought that, his eyelids began to droop.
'Hey, c'mon now, sleepyhead! You can't waste your life away like this!'
A sharp snore and Minato sat up with a start. Did he just hear...?
He slouched back down onto the cushions. Dreams and memories were nice, but right now... He wanted the real one.
Eyes... Drooping... Again...
'Minato...'
'Yes, Ryoji?'
'I have a butterfly here...' he held out his gently clasped hands. 'What colour do you think it is?'
The surreal dreamworld was a place he did not recognise.
'Blue?' he suggested. The answer emerged from a place unknown within his soul.
Ryoji smiled, opening his hands and releasing a swarm of bright blue butterflies.
They swarmed around the two of them, they were in the lounge and he was pushing Minato down onto the sofa, climbing atop him as the butterflies departed.
'This... Is a dream.' Minato realised.
'Yeah.'
'About what I want?'
'Yep.'
So close, faces inches apart.
'Or...' Death incarnate gave a smile 'Perhaps this is a dream about what I want...?'
Minato wrapped his arms around Ryoji's chest and sat up, to mix together and become one again, ready to kiss those soft, warm lips-
The wind slammed a door shut, Minato faced thin air, hugging a cushion tightly to his chest. Such a wonderful dream, wrecked at the worst possible moment. A butterfly watched as he slumped back onto the sfoa with a grunt.
'Well, Philemon, as you've taken the "Grim Reaper" and his boy toy under your wing, it looks like I get my pick of the rest of those saps.'
Nyarlathotep gave another diabolical grin, eyes glinting.
'Before the Fall... I will make Minato Arisato wish he was never born...'
Aigis sat up with a start.
'Hazardous substance detected in port C-' She announced before her eyes turned glassy and she fell down, deactivated.
Nyarlathotep stopped to sneer as he passed by the sleeping Kirijo girl. 'Did I break your robot?'
'I can get inside your mind... Where you can't escape me...' He breathed in Yukari's ear as she slept. A sharp growl drew his attention.
Koromaru stood a few feet away, body tensed and a threatening growl reverberated through his form. Clearly he could see what the humans could not.
Koromaru growled again. The Crawling Chaos became the Moon Howler and roared back, showing more teeth then the Osmond Family. Koromaru whimpered and ran back to his bed.
'Good boy.' The shadow snorted.
'C'mon, Yukari!'
Dressed in a bathing suit, she followed the form of Minato as he gestured for her to do so.
With a grin, she happily followed him through the green, flowery fields, petals dancing on the wind.With a smile on her face, Yukari proceeded to sleepwalk out of her room and down the hall.
Still enjoying the landscape around her, Yukari watched as Minato scaled a small incline and vanished over the edge with a cheer. A splash of water was heard a second later. Yukari followed him, placeing her feet steadily on the hill-Stil asleep, Yukari wandered out onto the balcony, another sleepy grin came onto her face as she placed her feet steadily on the edge of the balcony railing.
'Yukari!'
Her friends waited for her below, swimming about in the warm waters of a sapphire blue lake.
'Hi!' she waved back.
'C'mon!' Ryoji called out.'Jump in...' Nyarlathotep breathed in her ear, perfectly imitating his voice.
She smiled again, wavering on the edge. The folded washing line waited below, sharp prongs pointing towards the sky as they glinted in the moonlight, white snow beneath soon to run crimson...
Still she wavered. Her subconscious had percived the threat and was trying to alert her sleeping self. In that case...
'C'mon, Yukari! Jump in! It's lovely!'
'Ok!' But why did she not? Why would her legs not move? What was holding her back?
'C'mon! Jump!' Still he beckoned her.
Yukari was beginning not to like this...
As though picking up on her unease, he became more insistent.
'Yukari! In! Now!'
'I... I...'
'JUMP!'
She gave a short scream as his form changed, turning from sweet teenager into a towering shadowy creature, great black wings spread wide, taloned hand seizing her and forcefully dragging her to the boiling water below. She pulled free and fell back with a scream.She continued screaming when arms pulled her away from the balcony in the cold world of reality.
'No! NO!' Kicking and screaming, she fought against her captor.
'Yukari! Yukari, wake up! It's me!'
'M-Minato...?' She slowly settled down.
'Yes. It's me.' he nodded. She hugged him.
'I... I had a h-horrible nightmare...' she sobbed softly.
Admittedly, being asleep for last night and the vast majority of the day had it's advantages. When night had fallen again, Minato lay in his bed, not the least bit tired. Listening to the sounds of people sleep. Footsteps creaking up the stairs. Something glared at him from the doorway, but he could see nothing. Then it moved on. He only began to worry when he heard Koromaru give a frightened whimper, then, a few moments later, Yukari sleepwalked past, muttering and smiling. She wasn't usually a sleepwalker...
It was lucky he had decided to follow her, otherwise things could've been a lot worse. He had caught her just on the verge of falling off! The next morning, things had taken a bizzare twist.
'What is that stuff?' Minato wondered, looking at the vicious black goo that was all over Aigis.
'Don't know.' Mitsuru shrugged. 'She's full of it...'
-
Corruption: Caused when Nyarlathotep brushes against the physical plane, the Corruption is a physical manifestation of pure human evil, it is foul smelling and dangerous to living beings.
-
It was unlike anything Mitsuru had seen before. The goo smelt horrid and couldn't seem to decide if it wanted to be a goo, liquid, or rubber. Cautiously she scooped some of it onto a finger. Immediatly she hissed in pain and hurried off to wash her hand.
'What's the matter?' Minato wondered.
'Don't touch it! It's corrosive!' she called back.
A loud thump in repeition proceeded Junpei hopping into the lounge, his eyes were haunted and he was dressed in a sleeping bag up to his neck.
'M-Minato... Sweet, k-kind, Minato... Ya gotta help me!' Shuddering, he looked around as though paranoid.
'Junpei, what's wrong?'
'Don't you feel it? He's after me...! Death is after me!' he hissed.
'Right...' Minato took a moment to think. 'Well, just come over here and sit.'
He put the paranoid Junpei next to Yukari, who was still pale from her near death experience last night.
Akihiko entered, looking bleary eyed and tired. 'What's wrong with the dog? He's curled up in his basket, trembling like he's had the fear of god put into him-'
His eyes fell upon Junpei. 'Oh, God, what's he doing?'
'That's it... That's it...' Junpei was now cradling and attempting to breast feed a plastic baby doll. 'Shhh... A mother can't die, and I'm a mother! See?'
'Where are you going?' Minato wondered as Mitsuru rushed past, one hand bandaged.
'Hospital! Toxic aftershock-!' She passed out short of reaching the door.
This place had gone to hell fast.
Nyarlathotep wanted to see if his work had been wasted. He wanted warm fuzzies and he was going to get his warm fuzzies. Making a few last minute adjustments to his image, he reached out to ring the doorbell.
Minato felt like the only sane person in the house as he opened the door. His sanity quickly left him when he saw who it was.
'What do you want, Ryoji?'
'Well, isn't that a pleasent way to greet someone.' he snorted, pushing past Minato and into the lounge. A frightened squeak came from Junpei, who quickly tried to hide himself completely within the sleeping bag. Yukari narrowed her eyes in hatred and watched him closely.
He smirked deeply.
The day was rapidly approaching, and Philemon's little troop was in shambles! Jumping at shadows! Everything was falling nicely into place...
It took therapy, a lot of therapy in a short space of time. Admittedly Akihiko still dropped things whenever Nyx was mentioned, but the party came triumphant at a great cost...
Weakened, and verging on disembodiment, Minato Arisato sat on his bed, piecing together blurry memories. There was a photo on his bedside table it was a photo of him and... And... He didn't know. It had been taken at the beach... But... When did they go?
They kept asking if it was his brother...
He couldn't remember.
'Uh...?' he rubbed his eyes suddenly, why was he crying? He had almost no strength left, but he promised... He had promised his friends...
Two figure, one light, the other dark, stood together in an ethereal gazebo, watching the scene unfold. They watched in a solemn silence as the physical body of the cobalt haired teen gave up on life finally.
'Well...' Nyarlathotep spoke finally. 'You won. Again. Happy?'
The masked man shook his head slowly.
'What's the matter? Guilty conscience finally caught up with you? Do you feel disgusted, Philemon? You should do... Was it worth it? Sacrificing the life of a boy so young so this petty little race could continue on living? Hmm? Lose one, save billions?'
The Crawling Chaos left him to his musings.
Philemon watched the scene for a moment longer.
'Sleep now, Minato Aristo. Just go to sleep... He's waiting for you...'
He watched those eyes close for the last time.
Elizabeth approached the petrified form of the cobalt haired boy, clutching books to her chest.
She could save him. She would save him.
Sadnened, the S.E.E.S. members returned to their dorm, Yukari and Junpei stared at the empty room that would never be filled again, the window had been left open a crack and a few cherry blossoms had flown in. A yellow scarf rested on the bedpost, blowing gently in the breeze.
I made myself sad now... T-T This was only supposed to be a short story, but it sort of... Took on a life of it's own. Minato will be back eventually, he has to be, he's mentioned in my newest fic; "Shadow over Brightwinds", he gives Alexander Green Ryoji's scarf... Scarf + Death Arcana = Very happy human-looking Thanatos (Pharos is an adult now)