Chapter 7: Matters of the Heart
Marcus was forced to stand watch over Takaya, and had been given the use of his mouth for the purposes of calling Nyx when he awoke. Marcus was almost grateful he couldn't feel his legs, because he had been standing for almost three hours, non-stop. When Takaya finally woke up, Marcus called Nyx, who entered the room looking annoyed and muttering about liking the other one better. Marcus was about to ask her who she was talking about when the black stuff that coated his body repositioned itself over his mouth again. Takaya began complaining immediately, firsts about pain, then about Marcus, and once he found out, about Michael most loudly of all. Eventually Nyx told him to shut up and dragged Marcus out of the room, without Michael's okay not even she could control him, but she did have enough power to coax the black stuff away from his mouth. "Before you say anything, I want you to know that you weren't part of the plan, and if I had my way, you wouldn't be here."
"Well that's swell, but it doesn't change much!" Marcus yelled. "Be quiet. If he finds out I'm talking to you I don't know what he'll do."
"Are you actually afraid of this guy?"
"Well, yes. I mean no, but, well, yes. If I was my old self I wouldn't be, but as I am now, he's stronger then me, so I guess I am."
"Who is he, anyway?"
"The first Shadow."
"What?"
"He is my first creation, its just taken him a while to enter your reality."
"But I thought he was just Michael's Shadow."
"I'm talking about the mind, not the body. The body was just the one he chose to settle in."
"So he isn't a part of Michael's mind?"
"No he is entirely separate, but it would have seemed that way to your friend."
"So is Michael really…?"
"No, he is still alive. With out him Dark could not be, it was a matter of allowing him to take control."
"Dark?"
"It's the name he has chosen."
"Very fitting."
"Thanks, kid."
"Dark! Wh-what are you doing here? I-I thought you were asleep."
"Sure doll, whatever, look, I don't care if you want to chat with the kid, but don't try and do stuff behind my back."
"Alright."
"Who died and put you in charge?"
"Oh look, the glee club woke up!"
"Ha, ha, very funny, you should do standup."
"Shut it, kid, the big people are talking." And with that Marcus was silent once again, jaw clamped shut. "As I said, who put you in charge?"
"Uh, me, that's who, and if you don't like it, tough."
"You, you're just another Shadow. Shouldn't Nyx be in charge?"
"No, so shut up and get in line Takaya, or I'll make you." It was now that Marcus noted that both of Dark's hands were normal, neither was a weapon. "You don't scare me!"
"We'll have to work on that."
"Takaya, please, just back down…"
"No, Nyx. I will not follow orders from this…" Takaya was cut off by Dark planting his heel in Takaya's face. Takaya stumbled back, blood pouring from his nose. He glanced up at Dark with shock and fear in his eyes. "Much better, now, Takaya as long as you do what I saw, you'll be rewarded handsomely. Do we have a deal?"
"Deal."
"Great! Now to the matter at hand, destroying this planet. Any ideas?"
"If I could…"
"No, no way am I letting you get your power back."
"First we must be rid of those stupid meddlers."
"Right! And that fits nicely with what I've promised Kiddo there. I'm gonna make him kill his little girlfriend." Nyx glanced back at Marcus, and he thought he saw sadness, remorse, guilt, but he shook those thoughts out of his mind. There was no way Nyx could feel, she was a Shadow, always would be. "My, you are by far crueler than I thought."
"You sound surprised, Takaya. He is a monster."
"Now, Nyx, if I didn't know better I'd say you were mad at me or something."
"No, nothing like that, I'm just stating the facts, and you are a monster."
"Just like you." Nyx opened her mouth to respond, but fell silent. Dark's focus was off, and Marcus managed to slip his mouth free long enough to say, "At least she has a heart."
"Shut up kid." Dark's eyes glowed with a new intensity. Whether he angry, or just thinking hard, Marcus couldn't tell. "I think we should move as soon as possible, so as to limit their time to recuperate."
"What good will that do, since you're just as beat up as they are?"
"I feel fine!"
"She has a point Takaya; you are in bad shape, which makes you useless in a fight."
"Why do you care?"
"Because I can't very well use you if you're dead, now can I?"
"Ha, ha, ha, for a moment there I actually thought you cared."
"Care? I couldn't care even if I wanted to!" Takaya seemed to understand the new order of things, and had adapted without fuss. He was quick to bend to Dark's will, and always sided with him. Nyx, on the other hand, seemed displaced, and almost uncertain, as if she regretted her actions. Marcus now looked at Nyx, not as a Shadow, but as a person, someone whose whole world had been pulled out from under them, and deep in his heart a pang of pity for her rang. She wasn't evil, Marcus could see that now, she just didn't know of any other way to live. As a Shadow she would have doubtless been forced to demonstrate her power to keep other Shadows in line. If she hadn't they would have torn her to pieces, destroyed her for their own gain. But now she was in a new world, one she didn't understand, and she was trying to live by her old rules, but she lacked the power. Now she was afraid, actually afraid, for her life. Dark was an impressive being, despite his truly twisted mind, he had power, and no inhibitions against using it to his benefit. Ambitious, powerful, power-hungry, insane, and sadistic were all words that fit Dark to a tee. He was, in a word, Evil. Utterly without remorse or pity, he would gladly destroy anything he so much as didn't like the look of. Loyalty was impossible, and trust was nonexistent in his presence. He invariably brought out the worst in a person. His words slid from his mouth like a snake slithers across the ground, and every one was calibrated, calculated to strike just the right note, to inspire his victim to do what ever he pleased. Takaya would later say, "I knew plenty of people who could talk your legs off, but only Dark could convince you to go for a walk off a cliff afterward." In the new light Marcus now saw that if anything was to be done to stop him, Nyx would be invaluable. He devised a plan in his mind, and hoped it would work fast enough to save Mika.
Mika wouldn't stop crying the night Marcus was captured and Michael was killed. Both Matt and Milton were stunned, speechless. They couldn't, or wouldn't, accept that he was dead, it wasn't possible. Ken turned his anger on himself, never allowing himself to forget how helpless he had been. Fu somehow escaped sorrow, although she told no one how until later, and did her best to help the others. All of the other adults, Mitsuru, Akihiko, Junpei, Yukari, Aigis, Fuuka, and even the dog, Koromaru, seemed somehow empty. Akihiko kept muttering, "Not again.", and mentioning someone named Shinjiro. Eventually Ken told Fu that a man with that name gave his life to save his. "What depresses me the most about it is that I was planning to kill him myself. He accidentally killed my mother with his Persona, while he, Akihiko, and Mitsuru were chasing a Shadow. He lost control of his Persona, he couldn't stop it. But I didn't think about that back then. I only cared about revenge."
"Well I'm happy he saved you, even if he died."
"Thanks. He faced death head on, never flinching. He faced it the same way he faced Shadows, never giving in."
"Sounds to me like you admire him."
"Of course, how could I not!"
"Well, just don't get yourself killed, okay? I don't want to be in love with a dead guy!" They both laughed aloud, a truly happy laugh. The next day Ken began demanding that they redouble their training efforts. He argued that if they were ever going to get Marcus and Michael back they had to become much stronger. At first only Fu agreed with him, but a new voice joined theirs. The sleeping man, who's name was finally revealed to be Minato Arisato, fully recovered for his strange coma, and promptly sided with Ken. Matt, Milton, and Mika were slow to accept Minato's judgment, they all thought he lacked any knowledge of the situation and had no reason to want to help. Yukari and the others quickly shot down accusations, but eventually he told them the whole truth. He had been watching, and knew them all very well. In his coma he had gained a kind of omniscience, and because of it he knew everything, including the fact that Michael was very much alive. Eventually only Mika remained hopeless, but even she began to train with a new vigor. When Fu asked her why, she told her bluntly, "Minato asked me if I loved Marcus. I said yes. Then he asked me if I was sure. I said yes. Then he told me he was skeptical because in his experience, people fought for what they loved."
