A/N: Welp, I'm skipping things again. That's nothing new, I know.

This chapter was where I got stuck until yesterday. It's nice to get this chapter out, but to be honest, everything after this would be challenging for me to write. I really, really just don't have any plan. I never have.

During and after the meeting in the command room, the only thought that went through Minato's head was 'How have I not suspected a thing?'

His social link name was 'death'...

Deep down, Pharos knew his purpose well.

Always so eager to 'be free' and acts like he regrets, like he feels sorry. Thanatos claiming every single Arcana Shadows on full moons, Minato losing consciousness every time…

That's what Pharos wants.

That's what Ryoji wants.

And Minato never suspected a thing. He was here, sitting alone in the lounge, checking the calendar and the time on his phone, and he still couldn't believe it. Now he's not too sure what he could believe.

He sure has his way with words.

"No wonder why you're so popular…" Minato growled as he saw Ryoji's face.

"I'm sorry," Ryoji whispered.

"No you're not." Minato wasn't looking at him. Ryoji moved closer to the couch, but he didn't say anything until Minato continued, "I thought I could trust you." Minato frowned. "You didn't tell me." Back then, on the bridge, when you were still my imaginary friend. "You knew."

Ryoji opened his mouth and closed it. True, he remembered right after the Twelfth Arcana Shadow was stabbed by Thanatos, right on the bridge. It was such a short time. Memory was fleeting. "... I was afraid there's not enough time to say goodbye."

"I don't need a goodbye," Minato said slowly. "I need the truth."

"You wouldn't take it well," Ryoji said. "Even me leaving did that to yo-"

"That's because you did something with my head!"

Ryoji widened his eyes. When's the last time that Minato shouted? Or glared at someone? "... It's not intentional. Also, you're the only one who could hear me, Pharos, remember? No one would believe you back then. They would think you're crazy."

"I don't care..." Minato's anger faded a little. "Ten years and I've never treated you any different, or let other's opinion stop us from being friends… Pharos' friend, I mean." His glare was back. "Aigis was sent to the lab last night. They don't know how long it'll take until she wakes up."

"No one can stand up against death." Ryoji knew it's not what he wanted to hear, but it was the truth Minato wanted so much. "I can't prevent that. I have also warned her. Anyone who dares defy death will feel the gravity of the inevitable."

"No one can ever touch you? Great." Except me hung in the air. Minato clenched his fists, clearly thinking about Ryoji's offer earlier.

"You'll have to… kill me."

Ryoji knew they couldn't handle it now, not in a few days, or a few weeks, especially when they could still see his face like he's a person. He knew he's not included here anymore. "This is why I should go…" Ryoji took a step backward. "You won't see me until-"

"You can't."

Ryoji stopped.

"Don't you dare," Minato snapped. "Don't make the same mistake as Pharos... Ryoji." A bitter laugh. "You can't just go and let us deal with… that."

"But I'm not needed-"

Minato looked at him in the eye. "Tell me where I can find you after today."

"I should just disa-"

"Where can I find you?"

Ryoji let out a sigh. There's no need to make Minato even angrier, even if Ryoji didn't want to do this. He didn't want to be here, to simply exist as if to mock them. "Somewhere that people died… and there's nothing you can do about it. You know where."

As Minato was taking a shower, the meeting earlier tonight ran through his head again.

"Nyx is the mother of Shadows. In ancient times, she bestowed 'Death' to this world. If she is awakened, darkness will once again cover the land, and all life will vanish."

"I'm The Appriser… The Appriser of Death… My existence is the affirmation of the Fall."

"I'm afraid you will not live to see spring."

"Defeating Nyx is… impossible. It has nothing to do with strength, ability, or power. Just as all living things die and the flow of time is continuous… Nyx cannot be defeated."

He felt sick and dirty, so he turned the water temperature to be slighter higher, scratched his head a little rougher, scrubbed his skin a little harder.

The feeling was still there.

Death was in his skin.

In his soul.

Corrupting his mind.

"I'm a tool…" Minato stood under the hot water. "I'm living… I can't die. I can't even get sick."

He caught a cold when there was a typhoon. Still, that was only once, getting sick, only once, in ten years. Or the fact that he could faint and become unconscious when some strong Shadows attacked him, and it's always just that. No hospitalization. No strong medicines other SEES members used.

The bearer of Death couldn't die, of course. Ironic that Death itself was keeping him alive and happy, but only because it was depending on him, of course.

"If I were to disappear, all memories of the Dark Hour would disappear with me, as would any recollection of the fate that awaits you. You won't remember anything."

What a selfish creature.

"The coming of the Fall will be instantaneous, and you will not suffer."

Minato wouldn't feel sorry for people like that. Ridiculous…

Ryoji couldn't bleed, couldn't get hurt, couldn't die, and he knew that. He also couldn't sleep. But he could pretend to be asleep or unconscious.

It worked, on the bridge. They didn't need to know everything right after Aigis was down… and Minato was so… They couldn't handle any more truth right there at the bridge.

So Ryoji had faked to be unconscious for a day. Like inflicting death on himself. After all, death never rest. Death itself can't die, it was eternal and would continue to exist, always.

He needed the time for himself too, a day to compose himself and accept his memory as a fact. Memory, always a fragile thing to him. So precious, so rare.

That's why he was giving them a choice! They wouldn't make a good one if he still existed, but Minato asked so it can't be helped. Fuuka would still be able to sense him. Minato knew where he was. Ryoji hoped they were okay.

Minato entered his room and leaned against the door. He knew he was too restless to fall asleep. The sight of his own bedroom was disturbing. It was supposed to comfort him, now it started to make him feel sick.

While Ryoji forgot his time with him as Pharos until yesterday, Minato had always had a mini memory loss of his own. The moment everything went wrong ten years ago...

Minato couldn't remember what they did that night, or why they headed there, or headed out of? There was the record at Yakushima, but he wanted something that he could trust completely, which was his own memory.

All he had left of them was his nightmares. Just a vague dream of fire and smoke and black and white. If someone asked him to recall it in more detail, he couldn't. There was the smell of thing burning, the sound of gunshots and explosions, the feeling of dread and confusion, and a smile, his mother's smile. Those were what he barely recalled and he wasn't sure which part was real. Which part was a made-up fantasy in his own head trying to make sense of the incident? All of that could be real, but he can't be so sure.

I don't even know if I remember the real you…

Minato closed his eyes.

Why are you smiling...?