RAX: Hey, seeing a high/drunk Makoto was my co-author's idea.

Wonder what that's like.

Wait, you can't get high or drunk?

I'm not human; my biology doesn't allow it.

Nightlyy: Yes, let the guy who probably hasn't slept anywhere near the amount he should deal with the October full moon... Let's see how that goes.

He's mine... mine... MINE!

Shut up already!

Raze Olympus: Uh... After what happened at Yakushima, he doesn't really have much of a Mara anymore.

Tch, go kiss Kirijo's Arioch.

Why couldn't he be this much of a smartass in my world?

Blahblahblech: For some reason, I doubt the soda cans would be intact after everything Sakuya does to them.

Clevernameeh: There's not a lot to say about it. It was a filler chapter, really.

In regards to the profile pic, BEHOLD MY GLORIOUS FACE!

You look like a Minato who's been bathed in bleach and then had the inside of his asshole torn out.

Nah, I think he looks little worse than that.

For once, we agree.

Assholes…

This is probably going to be a short one, but uh… Yeah.


Dorm

Makoto's mind was still hazy from the pills he had been taking, but he was still able to recognize his surroundings.

Right now, he was in the room had been staying ever since he temporarily moved in with SEES. He way lying on his bed, but rather than use a pillow, he was using something a bit more comfortable.

"You know what today is, right?" Kotone asked as she brushed the hair out of his eyes.

"Mm-hmm," Makoto nodded slowly, "still not happy about it though."

"Come on, I'll be fine," She assured him, still having the smile on her face that he had grown to love over their months together and even more during these past few days, "Even if you're not there, I'm pretty tough, too, yanno?"

"Still…" A loud groan escaped Makoto's lips as he dreaded his current state due to Pharos, "I wish I could do something."

"Actually, there's a big thing that only you can do." She said beaming down at him.

Makoto let out a chuckle as he pieced together what she meant, "Love you lots with hugs and kisses?"

"Love me lots with hugs and kisses." Kotone lifted him up slightly and held onto his frame tightly as he rested his head on her shoulder.

Makoto closed his eyes as he felt the effects of the pills begin to kick in a full force. Before he could fall asleep, he nuzzled against her shoulder and took in everything he could; the warmth of her arms, the sound of the quiet humming she made, the feeling of her fingers combing through his hair, even the heartbeat he felt from their close proximity.

Even though they only knew each other for just a few months, it oddly felt as if they had known each other for much longer. Their relationship was just a few weeks old, but their bond made it feel as if it had lasted for much, much longer (some of which was likely due to the complicated months of their relationship).

Oddly enough though, Kotone's link with him had not managed to reach rank ten yet. She's told him things that no one else on this planet knew, he told her about his sister, his real name, and even about the demon/shadow that was inside in him. If that wasn't enough, they had even slept with each other, but there was still more for the link to develop?! It was at this point that Kotone was beginning to wonder if she had managed to break her social link powers or something.

Kotone's eyes glanced at the clock. It was almost time for the Dark Hour and with it, the next full moon operation. It would technically be their first operation without Makoto or Minato, but they fared decently last time, so they probably would not need him now, especially now that they were a lot stronger than they were when this whole thing first started.

"Time for me to get ready," Kotone said as she put the boy down onto the bed, "I'll see you, Blue."

"See you… soon." Makoto barely managed to get out before his consciousness drifted off to sleep.

"Hello," Makoto opened one eye and saw the last person he wanted to see sitting on the edge of his bed, "It's been awhile, hasn't it?"

"Fuck off." Makoto was not even going to give Pharos the time of day now. Knowing that he would not be able to sleep now, the boy got out of the bed and stumbled his way out of the room.

Pharos had been mostly silent for the past week now. With the pills clouding Makoto's mind and thus affecting the 'boy' as well, he was unable to interact with the world like he was before. He was, however, still able to appear and interact with Makoto himself as much as he wanted.

When Makoto turned the corner out of the hallway, Pharos was there again, smiling innocently as if nothing had ever happened.

"That's not a good way to greet a friend, you know." Pharos said coyly, making it seem like he was almost mocking him now.

"Neither is throwing them into a wall." Makoto retorted before simply walking through the ghostly boy and descended down the stairs.

There was very little that could infuriate Makoto as much as Pharos could right now. Even after everything he had done to him before, Makoto still befriended him and even loved him like the sibling he lost, but he only stabbed him in the back. Now, he finally found someone else that he cared about and wanted to be with, finally was one good terms with Inheritor, and might have even had something to actually live for. But now, now Pharos wanted to come in and try and ruin it all like he had done before.

The stairs creaked as Makoto stumbled and held onto the rail tightly to avoid falling and breaking his neck or something. Even though the lights in the dorm worked during the Dark Hour, the illumination they gave off was still a bit weaker than usual, so Makoto's eyes were left to adjust to the slight darkness as well.

When he finally reached the bottom of the stairs, Pharos was there sitting on the sofa, his childish behavior and appearance ironically making him seem more unsettling than anything else.

"Tch, leave me alone." Makoto muttered as he walked past the 'boy' and headed to anywhere he could find that Pharos would not instantly teleport to. No matter where he went, Pharos was always going to follow him like the parasite he was.

Much to Makoto's chagrin, Pharos simply reappeared in front of him again, "Oh, but you forget, you've never been alone once in your entire life. I'm always with you."

"Yeah, thanks for the reminder, jackass." Makoto scoffed as he simply turned around. It was still too early to take more of those pills and knock him out again, so he was forced to simply move around trying to get the brat off his mind for now. But alas, that was proving very difficult.

As Makoto was walking past the table in the center of the room, something caught his eye.

Makoto… Sitting there on the table staring at him was the same mask that he had created the day he killed Ikutsuki, complete with the disturbing smirk that went from ear to ear, the soulless black eyes that seemed to lead to a never ending abyss and contrasted with the rest of the mask's pure white color.

He had only worn it for maybe a minute or two at most. During that time, he was doing nothing but simply laughing as he satiated his need for vengeance. It was not just some mask, but it was a symbol of everything he was and everything he was going to be.

Makoto was so transfixed on the mask that he did not even notice his legs beginning to move, his motor functions seemingly no longer being impeded by the pill that were still a long way from wearing off fully. His eyes were beginning to glow a dim blue as if reacting to the object in front of them.

Slowly, his hands reached out towards the object and lifted from the table. He could not tell before because his hands were gloved, but now he could feel just how strange it felt. The material of the mask did not feel like anything he had ever felt before and merely holding it for just a few seconds made it feel as if his fingers were about to become ice cubes.

All of Makoto's thoughts just began to disappear along with Minato's shouting that was beginning to become drawn out with nothing. All of his focus was on the mask that was whispering… calling… pulling him to towards it. He had already worn it before, maybe it would not be so bad if—

Stop! Makoto, goddammit! Think of Kotone! Minato screamed as loud as he could in a desperate effort to snap his other self out of his trance.

Kotone..? Makoto blinked as he realized that he was holding the mask just a few inches away from his face. As soon as he regained his sense, the bluenette quickly threw it across the room where it impacted with the wall with a loud bang.

Was he… Was that… What just happened?

"I think you've forgotten something, Minato." Makoto turned to see Pharos sitting there, still smiling, "As the year's gone on, I've only gotten stronger. Think about what I'll be able to do next… Or rather, what you will do next."

Makoto's vision began to darken before a mass of colors began to swirl around in his vision before taking the form of recognizable shapes and forms.

The place he was seeing was somewhere in the streets of Iwatodai and it looked like it was during the Dark Hour. Also there, littering the streets were the countless bits and pieces of the members of SEES with Yukari having her spine torn out and her head with it, Junpei having all of his limbs dismembered and rolling on the ground in pain, Akihiko having his head completely split in half, Koromaru horribly disfigured by broken bones, Ken hanging on a lamppost, Shinjiro having his chest completely ripped open to expose his lungs and missing heart, Fuuka having been severed in half by the waist, Aigis who was had been reduced to nothing more than a few pieces of scrap and bolts, and Mitsuru who had ice crystals originating from inside her own body which were now sticking out and dyed crimson.

There, standing in the center was Makoto in his Thanatos-esque garb with that twisted mask on his face standing in front of a bloodied Kotone who was hunched over trying to regain her footing and breath.

"Minato… please…" Kotone whimpered out a last plead when she lost all strength and dropped to her knees. After all the fighting, there was no way she could go one anymore. All she could do now was whisper pleads and try to get through to him, "Minato, please… I know you're in there…"

Suddenly, Makoto dash forward and grabbed her by the throat and lifted her back to her feet.

At almost inhuman speeds, Makoto jabbed her in the ribs as a loud cracking sound pierced the air. Immediately after, Makoto followed it with an uppercut to her jaw with enough force that she was lift slightly into the air.

Before she could even hit the ground, the Dark Prince grabbed her by the shoulders and threw into a nearby car.

Kotone screamed and another loud cracking sound pierced the silent air as even more of her bones broke upon impact. It was a struggle just for her to breath, never mind fight. Now, all she could do was pray that Makoto would be able to break free of whatever he was in.

Makoto grabbed the redhead by the collar and looked into her tear filled eyes, "Minato…"

Not even hesitating for a moment, Makoto slapped her across the face with enough force that blood splattered onto the ground.

Makoto brought his hand to the back of her head before forcing her face-first into the car's window which shattered on impact. Not even giving her time to recover, he reeled her head back and forced her into the next window causing the broken glass to cause several lacerations all over her face.

Reeling her head back one more time, Makoto forced Kotone to hit the hood of the car which left a large, bloody print all over it.

The hooded boy turned her around to look at the bruised, cut, and broken mess of a face that was left on the only other person he ever cared for in his entire life.

Kotone coughed up an entire cup full of blood, "… I love you." She tried one last time to reach out to him. Her breathing was nothing more than soft whimpers and she could feel her broken ribs moving every time she tried desperately to avoid drowning in her own blood, but even then she continued to whisper pleads and declarations of love in the hopes that something would get through to him.

Makoto merely shrugged before tossing her into the street where she landed with painful thud. There was nothing left of the boy she loved now, and all she could do was cry as the husk that was left raised his hand.

With a snap of his fingers, Kotone was suddenly completely engulfed in fire which caused her to scream loud enough that the entire city would have heard even outside the Dark Hour. The Prince merely watched as the woman he loved rolled on the ground in pain as she died the most painful of deaths until eventually all of the movements simply began to stop and she was reduced to nothing but ashes.

Everything began to swirl into a mass of colors again before Makoto saw that he was in the dorm again.

Makoto was forced to take steps back before his knees failed him and he fell while leaning against the wall.

That was a hallucination… but for how long? He almost gave into the mask's trance just a few second ago, and that could have easily led to him doing the very things he had just done.

Because of him, she was in constant danger as long as she was around him. As long as he was here, then she was in constant danger.

Even now, she was in extreme danger. She had taken it upon herself to make sure he wakes up, eats, drinks, and do almost everything because of how much he had to sleep. The entire week she had this aura of paranoia from the constant fear of the pills failing and Pharos lashing out again.

All it would take was one… Just one mistake and he could easily put that thing on and kill her. With how much power he has when he stops holding back, he would be the greatest danger SEES had ever faced before.

If he wanted her to be safe, then there was only one thing that he could do.

Kotone and the rest of SEES came in after a long operation. Shinjiro and Ken had been absent the entire time and Akihiko had decided to go search for them, meanwhile the rest of them had decided to go home and maybe they would be there.

Time to check on Blue. Kotone thought before climbing the stairs and knocking on her boyfriend's door, "Minato~, are you—"

When the redhead opened the door, she only saw that Makoto/Minato was nowhere to be seen. Instead, there was writing on the wall saying, "He's mine"

"No…" Kotone whispered as she realized what had happened. She never should have left him here alone. The moment he was all by himself, he…

Kotone quickly dashed to the rest of her teammates that hadn't even had time to discard their gear yet before exclaiming, "Guys, he's gone!"

Everyone looked at her before Mitsuru asked, "What?!" First Shinjiro and Ken went missing, and now Makoto was gone too?

"Minato, he's gone!" Kotone repeated, "Look, ask questions later! Fuuka, can you find him?!"

"R-Right away!" Fuuka quickly agreed before summoning her persona. The Dark Hour has not ended yet, so there is no way he could have gotten far in his drugged state, "I… I can't find him! Wait, I sense something… It's Shinjiro-senpai and Ken!"

"What are they doing together?" Junpei asked, having wondered why the two have been absent the entire night like everyone else.

"I don't—" Mitsuru stopped herself as a memory slapped her across the face. She had been distracted by the moon that she had forgotten about something extremely important, "We need to get to them right now!"

"What?!" Kotone questioned at the mere suggestion, "What're you talking about?! What about—"

"Wait, there's… A member of Strega is approaching them!" Fuuka warned everyone which caused everyone's hearts to sink.

Makoto sat quietly in an alley after running as far as he could from the dorm.

This was the only way he could be sure that Kotone would not be harmed by him. If he had stayed there any longer, then he would have put her at much more risk than he was worth.

He had already lost someone dear to his heart ten years ago, and he refused to lose someone like that again. She was the kindest person he had ever met, and he was not going to let her suffer the same fate as his little sister.

Makoto sighed to himself, preparing for the lonely days that awaited him before a loud gunshot echoed throughout the city.

"What the hell..?" Makoto questioned before another pierced the air. The only person who had a gun during the Dark Hour would be Takaya, and the only person who he would target tonight would be…

"Please… be safe." He silently prayed for his lover as he took a few more steps into the shadows. He had to do whatever it took to stay away from her, even if she was the one who was harmed by Takaya.

All he could do now was pray that he had enough strength to resist the pull that the mask and Pharos had on him, and that something would stop him if he failed.


Gee, kept you guys wait for over a week, huh? Sorry 'bout that, but shit happens.

So... Is Shinjiro dead or alive here?

Let's assume Pharos tossing him around broke his watch so he didn't have it, so he's dead. He's not relevant to the plot, so he's dead and buried here.

WHERE IS HE?!

He's in my domain now, bitch.

I'll kill you!

Pf, come at me, bro!

You guys are too much.

Have fun with what happens next... I'd tell you what, but even *I* don't know wtf is going to happen next!