Minato had figured that Kurusu was going to be angry. He figured that Narukami was going to be angry. His dreams of this place reminded him that Kurusu was almost always angry and Narukami never kept his mouth shut. So this dejectedness was out of the ordinary, and Minato felt bad about hating them. He couldn't deny the depression in himself either, but he was almost certain that sacrificing themselves so their friends could get away was the right choice. Still, being stuck in this cell wasn't optimal either. At least the damn cultist had untied them once they were inside, though it felt like she was taunting them at this point.
The nightmares had been increasing in frequency and intensity up until last night, the last one leaving him still feeling the cold steel in his chest and the warm blood in his hands when he woke up. These black and white walls taunted him, almost begging him to lash out at the two others. To let out his anger and hatred towards them. He sat there though, and while he had thought rage would burn through him, instead he felt the cold claws of fear.
He had been sulking to himself when the door swung open to their prison. Minato only turned his gray eyes up, not caring enough to give these Acolytes his full attention. To his surprise, Kurusu and Narukami barely moved too. He could at least give them respect for being so frosty towards their captors. The Acolyte in charge, Zurui, Minato remembered, pulled a table from the corner as well as a chair. She sat down and placed her chin so delicately on her wrist, staring down the three with her sly glare.
"We only intend to kill you if you don't cooperate. Oh, and if you lie to us. We'll kill you then too." Zurui laughed in a fake way, as if she was trying to make light of the horrible situation they were in. Minato would have almost found it funny if his life wasn't on the line. "And don't even think about summoning your Personas. We know how you damn people are, relying on that power." Minato didn't argue. They had taken away his Evoker along with Kurusu's mask. Narukami was the only one not restricted, but there was no way he'd be able to defeat this many Acolytes by himself.
They had no choice but to comply.
"I'm going to ask you a series of questions, and your choices will determine if we get to kill you." Minato's hands twitched. Nervous and scared weren't even close to how he was feeling, but his defiance was the only thing keeping him from completely giving in. He looked up at Kurusu and Narukami, noticing for the first time how all three of them had gray eyes. "I take it you are as close to an agreement as you'll get. Lovely. First, what are your names?"
"Kurusu Akira." Kurusu's eyes were dark gray, only a small bit of light kept them from being black. They really were quite striking, especially with his outfit, though his mask tended to hide them. He could understand why people were so attracted to the sultry color.
"Narukami Yu." Narukami's eyes were light and soft, completely contrasting his intimidating personality. If Minato liked him more, the color would feel warm. While he didn't have the mystery that Kurusu did, they were rather enticing.
"Arisato Minato." His own eyes were like a mix of the two, not deep and dark like Kurusu's but not soft like Narukami's. There was a small lick of blue within them, reminiscent of the power off his Persona. Minato felt like his eyes matched him wonderfully, mysterious and cool.
Zurui smirked. "Excellent. You pass the first test. Second, how did you access this world?" God her smile made Minato want to throw up.
"There's a window in the dorms at Hashi High that, when smeared with blood, opens a gateway to this realm." Minato felt no need to lie at this point, clearly Zurui knew all of this already. She was simply toying with them, seeing how far she could push them. That's what really scared him.
"Correct. Third question, well, questions really." There was a devilish glint in Zurui's eyes, one that knew that this next question would be much harder for the group to answer truthfully. Minato's heart ran cold. "Who are your friends, and where did they go?"
There was a slight gasp from all three of them, though Minato knew it was going to be bad. The three looked at each other with panicked looks before Zurui chuckled softly. "It seems you need time to discuss. I'll be a little merciful and let you hash it out. Try not to kill each other." With that she left the room, leaving the three leaders to talk alone.
"No. I don't care-"
"Shut the hell up, Narukami. She'll kill us if we lie." Minato hadn't meant to snap, but his anger and fear had been so pent up he couldn't help it. His dream flashed across his mind. He ignored the warm smell of blood that flooded his senses. He was shaking and he hated it. He hated showing weakness in front of these two. "She'll kill us and without our Personas we can't do anything to stop her." God, even his damn voice was shaking.
Kurusu snarled. There was his anger and frustration, but perhaps there was a note of fear in his words. "I'm not on board with selling out our friends. I don't care if we die, selling out my friends is something I'd never do. I thought highly of you, Arisato." His eyes glimmered bright red. So much for that deep dark gray. "I thought you were above selling out your friends." His voice was filled with so much poison Minato flinched.
"I don't want to sell out my friends either, but for once just think about what we're up against! You damn Phantom Thieves always charge into fights without thinking first and then we end up in situations like this!" More blood. The ring of steel and the sharp crack of bone. It made him want to curl up.
"You're always thinking about yourself, Arisato!" Minato hadn't expected Narukami to be on Kurusu's side. He glared at the larger boy, his resentment abundantly clear. "You always badger everyone about thinking so we don't end up like this, but now that we're here, what? You just want to give in? Betray our teammates like they've done nothing for us?" Narukami shook, his voice filling with...with fear! "And for what? So they can go die while we live? What kind of compromise is that?"
Kurusu glared at Narukami, though Minato was unsure why. "You aren't any better! You do all this shit for your friends, but never do you do anything for your damn self. Sacrificing yourself doesn't help if they're going to kill our friends anyway!" Kurusu seemed beside himself with anger. There was an edge to his voice that made Minato feel like he wasn't just mad at Narukami. "Think about what's right in the situation before you act!"
"If you had let me think before charging forward to sacrifice yourself, Kurusu and I wouldn't be stuck here trying to clean up this mess. It doesn't help that you attacked us and tried to take Zurui on by your damn self!" Minato was yelling, he couldn't control himself at this point. "You could have gotten yourself killed for all I care, but don't drag other people into your mess!" The smell of blood was so strong it brought tears to Minato's eyes. He could feel the cold knife pressing into his chest.
"You fucking take that back." Minato was used to hearing Kurusu swear when he was mad, but never, never did he say anything like that. He turned to snarl at Kurusu, but was taken aback by the flickering of yellow in his eyes. It flooded his vision, bringing the dream back like a blade piercing his flesh. "You attacked him just like I did, so you're just as responsible." He towered over the short boy. "You're so damn arrogant, Arisato."
Minato fell to his knees, though whether it was from the pain of being yelled at or his recurring nightmare was undetermined. His hands dug into the ground, his entire body shaking. "You're both so full of yourselves. Open your damn eyes for once and see how hard it is for me to leave my friends behind! You don't know the soul crushing fear I have when I pull that stupid trigger on my Evoker!" Tears bubbled out from his eyes, anger and fear racing through him. "You know nothing about me!"
Narukami and Kurusu opened their mouths to say something, but Minato just clamped his hands down on his ears and screamed.
"I don't want to kill my friends!"
Minato looked up at Narukami and Kurusu. He could have sworn they had said the same thing. Narukami had tears rolling down his cheeks, the first time he's ever really seen the large boy show weakness. Kurusu was crying too, and shaking, unsteadily standing. With a strangled sob Kurusu fell to his knees, placing his head in his hands. Narukami slumped against the wall, covering his mouth with his hands. He would have relentlessly teased them for being so weak. So, so weak. He was so weak.
And scared. Minato was so damn scared he couldn't stop shaking. The last thing he wanted was for people to die because of him. He sniffed and wiped his face with his sleeve. "Dammit, I didn't mean to-"
You're allowed to be scared.
I know, he thought. I'm allowed to be scared.
I still have to act though.
"We got off to a bad start, I think." Kurusu managed to compose himself, though his voice trembled. "I'm Akira. I got too upset because I felt that we were making wrong decisions left and right." His gray eyes were back, but they had stopped looking so angry and resentful. In fact, there was fear and sadness in them now. "I've always stood by my justice, even if it's the last thing I do. It's what I'm afraid of losing the most." Minato hadn't expected him to be so open like this. It made him feel bad about yelling at him. Kurusu, er, Akira was afraid of losing his sense of justice, what a strange thing to be afraid of. While he wouldn't have pegged Akira for it, it fit for whatever reason. It's no wonder why he was so quick to sacrifice himself for his teammates.
"Just, call me Yu. No need for the honorific." Yu cleared his throat awkwardly and used the collar of his shirt to wipe the tears from his face. When he wasn't angry, the way he composed himself was almost cute. "I was upset because I'm scared of losing my friends. Abandoning them like that and then turning right around to kill them, it just didn't sit well with me." He chuckled a bit. It was a pathetic sound. "I guess if we're admitting things, I'm deathly afraid of loneliness. Abandonment issues, you could call them." Even the big, tough, intimidating Yu Narukami was afraid of something as terrifying as loneliness. How admirable. We're all selfish in the end.
"R-right. I'm Minato. I never wanted to betray my friends, but this horrible fear got to me. I'm afraid of death, funny enough." He laughed. This isn't funny. "Interesting how I'm scared of death and yet I willingly point a gun to my head." He laughed again. This isn't funny, why am I laughing? "I guess we really are alike, huh?" Minato laughed, tears still dripping down his face. Dammit, stop laughing! "If we're being completely honest, I'm jealous of you two." He didn't look up to see their faces. They were laying everything bare after all. Might as well admit that he was a bad person. The tears still spilled down his face. "Akira, you're so agile and graceful, you glide over land and through air alike as if it's nothing. Yu, you're so strong and powerful and just, so sure in every swing. Confident that you always land the finishing blow."
"Minato…" Akira pulled all three of them into a hug. Just ten minutes earlier, Minato would have killed Akira for the gesture, but it felt right for whatever reason. "I was jealous of you too. I don't know how the hell you're so smart, you just figure things out so fast that even I can't keep up. You're so smart it scares me."
"I feel the same way…" Yu chuckled. "Were we all just jealous of each other?"
Minato just sat there in the hug for a moment. He felt like the three of them were missing something. He closed his eyes, that horrible nightmare washing over him. Screams and weapons and blood, so much blood. Blood will be shed… Blood will be shed… Blood would be shed if the three of them couldn't work together. His eyes snapped open.
"That's it!" An idea of cosmic proportions crashed down upon Minato. He pulled away from the other two, light dancing in his eyes. "We were jealous of each other because they had skills we didn't have, right? Then what the hell's stopping us from getting out of this mess if we have all three of us?" Minato was shocked at how he hadn't figured it out sooner. He watched as the realization hit both of them. Of course, if the three of them were going to get out of here, they'd have to be crafty, strong, and agile.
"You have my full attention." Akira smirked at Minato, but for the first time it wasn't filled with malice. It was mischievous and wild, and his eyes were full of pure determination and willpower.
"I'll back you up with whatever I've got!" Yu gave Minato a smile of sincerity and trust. He made Minato feel ready, no, like it was his time to shine.
"Here's the plan…."
…
"Alright, your time is up. I hope that you have come to a sensible conclusion-" Zurui stopped as soon as she walked into the room. Minato almost laughed, but that of course would have ruined the illusion. The lady looked around at the crazy scene in front of her. Minato lying facedown on the floor, looking like he had, at the very least, been knocked unconscious. Yu standing with the most intimidating look he could muster, which Minato had to admit was pretty scary, especially with Izanagi towering over the three of them. Akira struggling in vain as Yu had a solid grip on his coat, a deep fearful cry coming from him. "Looks like I came in at the right time to see you guys do my job for me. Guards, come clean this up when they're done."
A few Shadows spilled into the room, and Minato could see exactly what he was looking for. One of the Shadows had Akira's mask, and another had his Evoker. My precious Evoker! It was up to Akira to grab his mask and get Minato's Evoker to him, so at this point all he could do was wait.
With a shout, Yu flung Akira through the air hard. Akira twisted in the air gracefully, planting his hands on the table to aid in redirecting the momentum. He slammed his foot into the Shadow with his mask, pulling the white mask free from the Shadow's grip and summoning Arsene with a shout. While his Persona dealt with that Shadow, Akira kicked the gun from another's hands. Minato hopped up and caught it, wasting no time in pointing it to his head.
"Orpheus!" Minato felt power rush through him as his Persona blazed to life. Yu and Akira stood back by him, their Personas exploding with power. Sure, they were strong by themselves, but together, they shared the strength. Zurui was beside herself with shock, unable to move after the absolute speed that Akira was able to move. Minato smiled, a full, wide smile made of joy. "Now if you would kindly let us go before we rip this entire prison to tiny, flaming shreds."
"How? You were supposed to be killing each other because of that question, you all had such conflicting interests and ideals, there should have been no way in hell that you could have become friends!" Zurui clearly didn't know what to do, facing down three angry Persona users.
"Don't misunderstand." Akira smirked. Minato used to hate that signature smirk of his, but it was so fitting for him. "We aren't friends, we just figured out it was a lot easier to take down you and your master if we stopped trying to kill each other."
"We each have our own strengths, so it was obvious we should just stop hating each other so much." Narukami chuckled at the panic in Zurui's voice.
Minato pointed his Evoker at the Acolyte. "You run off and tell that bastard of a master of yours to stop messing with us." He couldn't even recall the last time he had felt so victorious. "If he doesn't, then expect to see the whole of S.E.E.S., the Investigation Team, and the Phantom Thieves to come and destroy your entire realm!"