Edited: 07/09/16
Everything in him burned. With the heavy rise and fall of his chest, heat crawled up his nostrils, and dripped from the lips of a lusting predator. His blood boiled with dancing fervour. He tried to stand. Every twitch of his skin and hair against the cage of his clothing was made acutely aware to him. He glanced downwards, now picking up on the thundering heartbeat consuming the thoughts whirling about his head.
His mind raced to remember what his purpose was over the growl of the pain below. As it ran, it encountered a haze, making it difficult to discern anything from the flaring silhouettes of memory within the fog. What was he doing here? Such a simple thought was muffled by the furnace of his body.
"Embrace your desire…"
What was it? As he thought, the mist in his vision formed into three images, surreal as they danced in the air together. "I am the voice of your inner self. Enjoy the moment…" The visions became clearer the more he gazed, silently connecting two solitary thoughts. "That which cannot be felt is merely a dream. The present… is all we have."
His ribbon became loose. The itch in his fingers as he undid the buttons on his shirt died down only for a moment. He wanted to protest against the voice's whispers. "The future is but a fantasy, memory a fabrication… Let your desire free you from your shackles… Such is my wish…" But he couldn't help shedding his blazer.
Despite all the effort he spent trying to keep them away and trying to shut down his own cravings, he knew what he wanted. "Pleasure is what you truly want."
Wait, what?
"You stand before the doorway to bliss. You cannot deny your instincts… Embrace your desire…" No, that wasn't…
Minato shook his head. "You've got it wrong… You don't know me!" The bestial play of carnal embraces was dispelled. "So get out of my head." His vision became clearer, focused not on pleasure, but a certain fleeting comfort. He sighed, then smiled in relief.
He wondered now, despite his end goal, and the way that he'd been playing out his life since the accident, whether wanting to be close to anyone was such a bad thing. Minato's eyes drifted to his hand and then to the compendium sprawled across the bedside table. Pursing his lips, he started doing his shirt back up.
…
"It's Arcana is Lovers. It has no weaknesses, nor resistances," Fuuka called.
Polydeuces darted into the Shadow's jelly-like flesh, its pointed arm tearing open a gash. The scene exploded with sprays of ichor and Arcana Lovers' shrill scream. Akihiko rolled away from its summoned volley of pink arrows.
As he skidded from the grazes on his person and uniform, ice reared back, hissing with clammy breath. Mitsuru had taken the moment of opportunity to open with a Bufula, which struck near the Shadow's mask. "Arisato, heal Iori!" she commanded.
He'd been unlucky and didn't get out of the way of the arrow now in his leg. Junpei gritted his teeth as he tried moving despite the pain flaring up from the wound, hobbling along with his katana. "H-Hey…" Minato placed a hand on Junpei's chest to halt him. "Don't move yet."
Frustration fuelled his actions, the simmer under his skin coming to a dangerous boil. How dare he touch him? "Get off. I can take care of myself," Junpei snarled.
That was debatable. Minato had half a mind to do as he'd suggested but… "I'd like to leave you alone, but Mitsuru's orders." He didn't lose grip on his tension while he paused for Minato to do his work. "This'll hurt a little, so hold still."
Luckily, the arrow made full penetration with the head sticking out. The glow of its magical energy spelled trouble, but Minato didn't hesitate to break the end off anyways. He slid the shaft out the wound, ignoring the burns it was giving his palms. The remains of the arrow dissipated upon removal, and with it, most of the acrid pain.
"Pharos, find one with Diarama," he muttered under his breath. From his compendium floated out a page.
When the realisation about Minato's action slowly hit him, his eyes widened. Junpei blurted out, "Wait, you're not seriously going to use one of those to heal me, are you?" Minato gave him a narrowed look. "No way! What if it does something to me?"
To be honest, it was because Minato didn't have a Persona with any strong healing spells, let alone Patra or Charmdi. It was left up to the Shadows that he'd been collecting. "Do you really think I'd let it hurt you?"
Junpei opened his mouth to retort, struggling to recall any times when Minato intentionally used his Shadows to hurt anybody on the team. However… "Even if you don't mean it, something could still happen, like when those Shadows fused together."
The Shadow, in gelatinous form, lunged for Junpei's wound, seeping through the fabric of his clothes. "Then trust me, if you can."
Every waking moment, Minato felt like he was counting down to his downfall, like the ticking time bomb he was: Would he be able to control his powers? Would he end up hurting everyone else if he didn't? All he could do was hope and trust, the same way that Junpei could at that moment.
A pulse of energy jolted through Junpei's body, not unpleasant—in fact, akin to the sensation that occurred when Yukari or Mitsuru oft healed his wounds. He wanted to glare at Minato, if only for a moment, but he couldn't exactly deny the results. "Thanks," Junpei muttered.
He couldn't put his finger at first, on whether Minato had a smug smile because he'd been proven wrong (thus far). "Tarukaja," Minato whispered to the Shadow.
Caught in a motion and too close to Arcana Lovers to dodge, Mitsuru only hoped to lessen the amount of physical pain that she would sustain. Before Akihiko could cry out a warning, a spray of flames fanned, bolted across the room. Penthesilea took the brunt of the Maragion before it was shredded apart, slamming Mitsuru into the ground, unconscious.
His eyes widened despite the heat licking at his vision—Mitsuru could be seriously hurt, and he couldn't do much about it. "Yukari, heal Mitsuru!" Akihiko yelled. Of course, she complied.
It was when the warmth of humming energy—centred from his previously raging wound—spread through the whole of his body that Junpei thought he was at least on the cusp of understanding Minato's smile. "Junpei, get back in here and distract the Shadow with me!"
Akihiko nearly had to break his sentence off as he was interrupted by a volley of arrows raining down from above. Streaks of white and pink flashed into sight, barely giving enough leeway to avoid them to anyone that had noticed.
A yelp came from Yukari as the deadly storm managed a wide enough radius to be able to hit her. Pharos gasped and Minato's heart dropped; Yukari was forced to defend herself last minute with her Persona. "Pharos!" Minato whispered while attempting to provide momentary protection with his—oh god, his Personas were the weakest he could've picked out.
He'd known exactly what he needed, so he was already on it before Minato even had to say anything. Pharos scrabbled through the pages in a blur but there was no way that there was enough time.
"Minato-kun!" Yukari's eyes widened as a pink arrow burst through his Ara Mitama Persona, shattering it into millions of blue shards, and lodged firmly into his left forearm.
Hearing Akihiko's call and noticing the distressing sounds of the arrow fire as they whipped downwards, Hermes burst from the shot of Junpei's evoker. It zipped through lethal rain, cutting what arrows it could to pieces with its sharpened wings before shimmering out of sight.
A thick, hot haze numbed his sight and sense of touch. The visions of the team swirled into ashy clouds. The only thing he could feel was heat engulfing his nerves. "Minato-kun's been charmed!" Junpei and Akihiko both turned to assess Minato's situation, eyes widening in horror as they saw the tell-tale pink, blank look of charm.
Sigh. "Charmdi." Io, who had been assisting Yukari in healing Mitsuru, channelled a pink pulse of energy, the fog in his eyes dissipating into its normal gunmetal. "Looks like that skill came in to be more useful," she thought aloud as she attempted to rouse her senior with a revival bead.
However, as the warm fog cleared away from his vision, Minato was borne witness to yet another horrid spectacle.
Just as the pill had entered Mitsuru's mouth, a series of pink Holy Arrows burst onto the scene. Junpei and Akihiko each attempted rudimentary protection using their Personas to take the brunt of the sharp spray if they couldn't counter them, but with Minato still recovering and a pre-occupied Persona, Yukari's shoulder was struck square with a pink arrow.
The contempt that Minato could sense on Arcana Lovers' face seemed to capture time in a sick silence: A taunt teetering from the Shadow's masked imitation of a smile; the smallest vow of rage and vengeance beginning to stir in fear's cauldron.
"Arisato! Restrain Takeba! There are Dis-Charms in her bag of supplies!" he heard Mitsuru bark.
His eyes darted from his senior to Yukari's wobbling frame. Mitsuru obviously wasn't going to take no for an answer, especially as she'd turned to partake in the fray. Minato steeled himself to face his new opponent, point trained on him.
He leaped to close the distance between them. After all, it would be harder to get a clear shot once Minato was close enough. One darted past his shoulder. Next, he had to figure out how he could best restrain her and get rid of the ailment that the stupid Shadow had inflicted upon her.
As she watched her quarry approach, Yukari knew that she couldn't take appropriate steps to get away from Minato in time. She knew one thing about him: He was a quick, agile fighter. Minato could catch up to her, especially if he bothered to use some sort of skill to enhance his speed.
Well, whatever it took, she couldn't let them hurt Arcana Lovers further. "It's been a while since the last time we fought," Yukari spoke aloud.
Minato halted for just a moment, but shook his head and continued, attempting to ignore her words. "Don't you feel bad?" She nocked an arrow, still backing away. "Letting us hurt one of your friends?"
What the hell was she talking about? Wait, Yukari couldn't be talking about—
"Argh!"
"Minato!" Pharos yelped as one of her arrows lodged in his chest, wedged into the bone of his ribcage. "S-She's just trying to distract you! You can't let her get to you!" How else could he help Minato?
Growling to block out the sensation of pain, he knew that what Pharos was saying was right. Focus was what he needed. "R-Right," he murmured to himself.
"Oh, wait. You don't have any friends! Not even the Shadows think you're worth their time," she prodded.
She couldn't seriously be—
He tried to keep moving. "Like your dear, sweet aunt. But hey, I guess it's just something you've gotta accept, you know?"
"I suggest you stop," Minato snarled. He lunged towards Yukari, and with long, quick strides, they were face to face. A ruthless cold ran through his veins, crying out for her blood. The times when he'd felt he'd wanted to hurt another person like this were few.
With a grin painted on by inflicted infatuations, she swung her bow downwards for his head. To dodge, he crouched low, and Minato swept Yukari's legs from under her with a swift kick. "Remember, it's the Shadow's fault," Pharos urged, placing a hand on his friend's shoulder.
Light and dark protests warred in Minato's mind as he reached to restrain Yukari and get at her bag of supplies. "Aw… Gonna go crying back to mummy? Mum, dad, save me!" He knew that what Pharos was saying was right. "Oh, but you don't have any, do you?"
His free hand struggled to grasp at any of the items as she struggled in Minato's grip.
Pharos winced at the words, deciding to rummage through the bag himself. Seeing this, Minato murmured, "You need to shut up for a bit and stop struggling," with a bitter scowl. He aimed his fist for her temple.
He knew very well that just one punch from someone who wasn't Akihiko wasn't going to knock Yukari out, but it would hopefully give enough time for Pharos to find that Dis-Charm they needed. However, flashes of fury began fuelling a black flame around his fist as it careened through the air.
A sickening crack paraded through the room, catching the attention of all. Pharos and Minato's eyes widened to his hand, black goo and flame exuding as he tightened his fist. "P-Pharos," he stammered. His limbs were shaking too much to be able to administer much of anything to the unconscious, if not dazed Yukari.
He felt Junpei, Mitsuru and Akihiko's eyes level on him. Although it was just a glance, it felt like an eternity to stare into the abyss of betrayal he'd stumbled into.
"Isn't that what you truly wanted? Your true desire?" A sweet, low voice echoed in his mind.
"R-Right…" He fed a tablet to her while Minato tried to get her to chew. "Minato, what just…?" Pharos pursed his lips as Minato fell silent, doing all he could not to speak to the taunts pounding the barred walls of his skull.
"Minato-kun, what just happened?" Fuuka too whispered.
In the roars of struggle, shattered glass and the elements, Minato could only curl up within himself to say, "Maybe I can't be trusted."