A/N: Hello! I want to clarify that Minato and Minako are OBVIOUSLY not a couple. I thought I made it pretty clear they're friends with benefits?

Also, what's brilliant mind? I never heard of it.

(1/16/11)

Wednesday...

I woke up with a start. Just what was that lunatic up to? Killing an entire monastery is bad, but doing it for power is even crazier.

At any rate, I decided to go to school and forget about Elder. After another mind breaking round of reviewing, the gang and I decided to head to Pinky's. It was me, Rio and Minako.

Inside, Fuuka and Naoto were drinking tea, Quan and Kenji were mauling on burger steaks with hot gravy and Junpei was playing with his PS Vita.

Pink was working with Hwoarang, who was a waiter as well. Lili helped by cooking.

Quan and Junpei were arguing loudly from across their table.

"Man, I can fight as well as Minato, man, I'm telling you!" Junpei jumped when he saw me, "Hey, Minato, wassup?" He stood up and gave me a high five.

"Fool, what you been saying about me?" I said as I shook Junpei's hand.

"Hey bro." Kenji greeted.

"Sup man?" Quan greeted.

"What's up, gang?" Minako greeted.

Fuuka and the girls went in one table and we boys sat in one table, except Lee, who was tuning something under a table.

"We were just talking about what happened last year. At the Hot Springs." Kenji said.

"And what were you guys talking about?" I asked.

Quan became excited, "When Mitsuru-san shot herself in the head with a Ruger Mk. III semi, then this giant thing appeared behind out of nowhere and her froze us!" Quan said excitedly, "It's true! It was big, wore a black dress with golden spikes and it had this wicked whip-"

"Hahaha, that story gets more ridiculous every time you say it, Quan!" Kenji laughed.

"Hey, it's true!" Quan cried, "Lee, tell them!"

"Huh? Oh, yeah, yeah, whatever he said..." Lee said, obviously distracted.

I narrowed my eyes and went to Lee's table while the boys began to argue about Quan's claim.

Lee looked up, "Hey, what you doing here? Waddya want?" He asked busily.

"I'm here to see my friend. What's going on with you?"

"Yeah, yeah, it's cool to see you too, bro." Lee said, still distracted.

"What, no brotherly love? No hugs?"

"Oh, for sure, for sure, sorry bro, my bad..." Lee apologized and gave me a hug, revealing a pistol he was tuning underneath the table.

"Dude, what are you strapped for?" I asked with a hushed tone.

"Oh, this?" Lee said, motioning the gun, "Some asshole keeps bombing on my murals with some voodoo sign. That piece was beautiful. This'll teach them a lesson."

"What did it look like?" I asked.

"It was a mural of me, except I looked like Bruce Lee-"

"Not the mural, the voodoo sign!" I cried.

"Eh? I can't describe it, but why don't I show you? I might even catch the ass who vandalized my vandalization?"

At the risk of being an accessory to crime, I decided to go with Lee. Junpei tagged along at the last moment, since Pinky began her singing Pink again, making Junpei mutter, "She memorizes all those lines, yet can't remember to not to put regular milk in my latte..."

I followed him to a nearby deserted alley. There were two people in black hoodies, spraypainting over what seems to be a rather well painted mural of Lee's head in Bruce Lee's body from 'Game of Death'.

"Imma pop these clowns..." Lee muttered as he cocked his pistol.

"Yeah, yeah... Do the killshot!" Junpei cried, miming the sideward hold of a pistol.

"Wait up, let's not smoke them first and ask questions after, let me talk to them first." I said.

Junpei complained loudly while Lee seemed hesitant, "Fine. But quickly!" Lee cried.

I approached the tagger. He stopped to look at me.

"Uh, excuse me, I'm from the N.W.A..." I began.

"Which one are you? Eazy-E? Ice Cube? M.C. Ren?" He asked.

"Uh, no, I mean the Neighborhood Watch Alliance."

"Jibun o korosu iku... Bakayarō!" He muttered and went back to work.

"Yeah, get out of here before we cut your heart out!" His friend cried.

I ground my teeth and went back to Lee, "They're all yours."

Lee took out a baton and clicked it open before sneaking up to the hoodlum.

"C'mon Lee, get him! Yeah, yeah, get him!" Junpei amd I muttered.

Lee swung the baton and it hit the tagger in the skull.

"Dammit!" His friend cried before running away.

"Skull-Crushing 'Bruise' Lee! Remember that name!" Lee shouted to the running thug.

He grabbed the downed thug and raised him up and pointed the gun at his chest, "Tell me why you had to ruin this work of art and I will ease your passing!"

"Ow..." The thug moaned, "Alright, fine, I only did that because of this groovy new cult!" He points to the mural.

To my shock, it was a graffiti of a withered tree with a skull and 666 at the roots... Elder's Damned symbol in the form of a tattoo.

"Cultist scum! I ought to fill your ass with lead!" Lee threatened, "But wasting my bullets on you would be stupid, considering the fact that you could be run over by a truck and it'd save me the trouble of writing the paperwork. Get the hell out of here, and I better not see your dogface again!" He cried. The thug made himself scarce and ran away.

"Shit..." I muttered and looked at the symbol. It was exactly like Elder's tattoo.

"I know... That mural was a masterpiece..." Lee said, while tearing up.

"Nyx all over again..." Junpei whispered to me.

"Not that..." I said.

A new cult...

Minako and I went home after a few rounds of tea. It was around twilight by then. Junpei and the others left ahead with Quan, Kenji and Lee. Rio and Fuuka went home early with some of their friends

I was brooding over the latest happenings. If it wasn't bad enough Elder was getting stronger, he also has fanatical loons in his every beck and call.

"Something wrong?" Minako asked me.

"Huh? Nah, nothing's wrong..." I mumbled.

"Minato, I know when you're feeling distressed. Tell me now."

"Nothing... I'm just... sad." I said.

Minako bit her lip, "Is it me?"

That was substantial to wake me up from my brooding, "What? No, it's not you, Minako..." I muttered, "It's something else..."

"Minato, can you tell me?" Minako asked with patient anger, "I really don't want to be kept in the dark."

I nodded, "Yeah, sure..."

Suddenly, I was aware we were being watched. I heard sounds coming from the road, "Its not safe talking here... Let's head to Narda."

"No, I want you to tell me now." She said angrily.

"Minako..." I said, suddenly feeling scared for Minako's safety, "I think we should get off the road..."

"Minato, I want to know right here, right NOW." She said angrily.

I felt them getting closer, "Get off the road! Quickly!"

"Yeah..." Minako said, suddenly aware of us being watched. We backed away slowly, but ran when something made a shrill shout.

We ran like hell. As usual, Minako outstripped me and I was almost left behind. And we arrived the house earlier than usual.

We were panting and caught our breath after a few seconds.

"What... what was that?" Minako panted.

"I don't... know..." I panted.

"Well, someone... Or something, is after us. Minato, please, I'm asking you to tell me!" Minako pleaded.

"I will. Come inside." I said.

We went inside and found Akihiko, Kenji, Lee and Junpei playing scrabble.

"Gimme 16," Kenji said.

"Wait, okay? I'll write it in a second, I'm not gonna pistol-whip you with this pencil, fool." Lee said whilst writing down the score.

"Oh, hey!" Akihiko greeted.

"Greetings!" Quan said.

"Sup?" Junpei greeted.

"Lookie, lookie, MinaSquared came back!" Lee said mischievously.

"Who's winning?" I asked nervously, to change the topic.

"Who do you think? Me." Quan said. It did make sense, his dad being the English teacher and all, but Lee disagreed.

"That's bullshit! 'Beginning' has only one G, you illiterate prick bastard!" Lee cried.

"That book report you passed? I talked dad into passing it!" Quan shot back.

"That's horseshit, my shit was brilliant!" Lee cried.

"Your 'shit' was shit!" Quan countered.

"This is Jerry Springer coming to you live from Japan, where two yaoi lovers are fighting over a book report." I said with a Jerry Springer-esque voice.

"Quan ain't my boyfriend dammit!" Lee cried angrily.

Quan handed him a pint of root beer from the kitchen, "Here you go, extra foam on the top like you want it."

Lee took it graciously, "Thanks babe."

"See!?"

They began arguing and Minako took the time to drag me upstairs.

"Hey, they were having a Jerry Springer moment there!" I protested.

"Minato! Focus!" Minako cried and dragged me into Narda, "Now, Minato... I dare you..." She took a seat in my mahogany table and I took a seat at the opposite end, "Lie to me."

"You want to know the truth, Minako?" I asked.

"Yes. About what happened last year." Minako said firmly.

"Fine. It will shock you, but..." I braced myself, "Last year, I would go outside at a secret hour in the night and fight our sworn enemies, called Shadows... My team mates were Yukari, Mitsuru, Akihiko, Junpei, Koromaru and a few others you don't know... We went out at an hour between 12 and 1 AM, to fight monsters."

After a moment of silence, Minako spoke, "Well, how do you fight these, um... 'Monsters'?"

"With a sword, of course... A special Holy sword from Heaven, passed down the bloodline of David... That shed the blood of countless Shadows... If they even have blood. That very same sword you were holding not so long ago." I said.

"Annnnnnd, how many do you think you've killed?" She asked overly sweetly.

I was excited, ecstatic even, that she took an interest with it, "Oh, thousands. Maybe even millions." I thought about it hard, "Definitely a million."

"My goodness!" Minako said with shock, "Minato, you ice cold killer... And here I thought you were a good boy."

"That I am not. If you'll follow me..." I opened the door and took out a few weapons, "I once brained a Musha with this glove, and killed several Ice Mothers with this flail and-" I noticed Minako was gone while I excitedly showed her my world, "Minako? Minako?"

I saw her leave Narda in wrath. As a caution, I took something from the closet with me.

"Minako! Minako, please wait!" I caught up with her and she angrily turned around, "What's wrong?"

"I told you to tell the truth with me, yet you chose to make fun of me, you scumbag!"

"That WAS the truth! The truest thing ever! I'll even say that I died on January 29 fighting a malevolent entity and came back to- Wait!" She ran off while I explained.

"FINE!" I shouted, "I didn't want to do this, but..." I pulled out the pseudo-firearm.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, chill, chill!" Minako pleaded, "O-Okay!?"

"I'm not gonna hurt you..." I said, pointing the gun on my head.

"Minato, don't kill yourself!" Minako cried, "W-We can find you a nice asylum! Or a shot of heroin! Don't pull that trigger!"

I pulled the trigger.

"No!" Minako cried.

"MESSIAH!" I cried at the same time.

Messiah appeared behind me, enveloping the tunnel with bright lights.

Minako fell back, "HOLY SH- I mean cow!" Minako cried"Believe me now?" I asked smugly.

Minako only nodded.

"What a story..." Minako sighed after I told her of the complete events of last year, "I never realized it..."

"I know... Hard to believe." I said, "But it's true."

"Must be tough..." Minako said, "Dying for people who don't even know about it!"

"It's a thankless job, yeah, but I need to do it."

"Then why didn't anyone say anything? It should've been on the news!"

I smirked, "People prefer legends to men. They prefers blood over peace, inspirational leaders to quiet mem. They remember the battle, but forget the bloodshed. Whatever they remember, if they even remember anything, it shall only remember a fraction of the truth."

"That's really deep, man." Minako said.

"Nah, the Dark Hour mechanics."

"Oh yeah..." Minako mumbled, "That's just so... hard to believe."

"Truth is stranger than fiction... fanfiction, to be precise." I added.

"And now some wierdo named 'Elder' wants to kill you?" She asked.

"Hence the nightmares and attacks on me," I said, "Luckily, the Personas helped me."

"D-Do you think I have one?" She asked, "A Persona?"

"I hope and pray to God you don't." I said.

Minako went to her room. I, on the other hand, studied and went to sleep, and had another bout of disturbing nightmares...

It was set in a different place... I wasn't sure, but it was likely on the top of the Astronomy Tower.

Elder stood at the top, gazing at the sea. A frightened thug wearing a black hoody stood in the staircase. He turned around to see Guardian, who pushed him and pointed at Elder.

He nervously went forward, "L-Lord Elder...?"

"Shhhh..." Elder hushed him, his gaze still at the horizon, "Look..." He points to the sea.

"It's beautiful, my Lord." The punk said syncopatically

"It won't be pretty when the Shadows get done with it..." He snaps back to reality, "You have news for me?"

"The runaway shadows were corralled, but quite a few of them are loose." He reported, "Also, some members have fled, but some were caught and fed to the Shadows."

"That's good news." Elder said huskily, "It's only a matter of time before they serve me again." He then came forward, "And what is this I keep hearing about some of our acolytes leaving?"

"Ah, yes..." The punk said nervously, "They fled after hearing of the Messiah's wrath. They are convinced of our defeat."

"That's impossible..." Elder said with a singsong voice, "I wield the powers of Darkness."

"Yet they fear the Messiah, and the powers of light he holds... They even named him 'The Dragon' and 'The Paladin'. Some even claimed he is a Golem!" The punk said audaciously, "An avenging angel who was conjured up by a vengeful priest, and smites down the nonbelievers!"

"No one actually believes that dogshit," Guardian muttered, biting his shadowy nails, "Just old wives tales by Persona users, told to them by their superstitious Personas."

"Why shouldn't it be real?" Elder said, "In fact, he could be a demigod."

"Its true... He even attacked a few of my boys who were spreading the news... They were terrified of the Dragon."

Elder's eyes lit up, "Henceforward, no one will refer to him by titles other than 'Messiah'! We must cease this underhanded moves to demoralize the men!"

"Yes milord." He said and turned around.

"Wait." Elder commands. Guardian pushes the punk back, "You personally stalked the Messiah, correct?"

"Y-Yes..."

"Were you intending to kill him?" Elder asked.

"Oh, yeah, the boys thought it'd be a hoot and a half." The punk said with a smile.

"Then where... is his head?" Elder asked with a dangerous voice.

"I..." The punk stammered, "I don't have it!" He cried.

Elder smiled. A bolt of black lightning crashed down to smite the punk. He lay lifeless on the shale floor, charred and fried. Guardian snickered darkly.

"Such a waste..." Sensei's voice echoed from the halls below as he went up in his wheelchair.

"He angered me, Master." Elder said quietly, his gaze returning to the sea, "If he fails, he dies. Simple as that."

"Wasteful indeed," Sensei said sadly, "Some of the men don't care for you."

"Let them be driven by hatred and fear." Elder declared, "That's all they're good for. People die."

"Some die."

"No... All die."

"Alde sai makato, Elder, just the same... I like you. You killed the first Lord for me." Sensei said, "And I know you'll kill the others."

"The Lords don't matter." Elder said, "They'll die anyway."

"Of course they do, you fool." Sensei snapped, "I trust you found the Lord of Space?"

Elder smiled, "Yes. He knows of my legend."

"Then go." Sensei said, "Sow fear and unrest in their hearts."

Elder nodded and disappeared with a pop.

I woke up again. Minako was inside my room.

"Hey, Minato... Did I wake you?" She asked.

"Hey, no, I was just resting my eyes- of course I was sleeping!" I cried.

"Sorry!" She winced, "I just wanted to ask... Can I borrow that spear? Just until I'm sure that I'm safe?"

"Go right ahead and take what you want." I said, "Pinaka, if you want it."

"Thanks Minato!" She squealed, "Good night."

"Wait..." I stopped her, "I know that... You have tons of unanswered questions, so let me five this to you..." I went to Narda and unwrapped something swaddled in soft linen, "Here." I gave her a leatherbound tome.

"Thanks..." Minako said gratefully, "What is it?"

"The Tome of the Elders." I said, "Not 'our' Elder, but the Elder Messiahs... A compiled and revised edition of all their experiences... One of the few things my father bequeathed to me when I came of age."

She looked at the list of owners, "Wow! Martin Luther King is here! So is John Dillinger... And... Abraham Lincoln?"

"They were Messiahs, in their own way... Anyway, you should go now. You need to read that, I know."

"Right." Minako smiled.

"Good night..." I said as she left.

I took a deep breath and looked at the moon.

Minako... I hope you'll forgive me...

Forgive me, for dragging you in my crazy world.

A/N: Done! I hope you'll enjoy! I'm done with exams, so updates will flow like a river, so to speak, so crank up the reviews and I'll show you the updates! Anyone with secret questions, feel free to ask!

Q/A:

Aaronvang: I'll still call you Vang. Minato MIGHT get help from his friends and he still retains his Personas *wink*

Also, Minato does, in fact, train secretly. In Narda.

Vince: Thanks, but what in the world is a Brilliant Mind? I never heard of it.

FES: Uh, no, it isn't a running gag... But seems like it, right?

Gin: Probably the last time. Ad yes, Elder will probably, more or less, drag everyone's families in it.

Thanks! The exams were okay-ish. Chem murdered me, but luckily, I did have some... help.

Darkened Dusk: They're NOT a couple yet. It was stated in the previous chapters that they're doing it as 'friends with benefits'.

Dr. Franken Stien: sigh... *facedesks* sure, 'Kanji'...

Hoshi: thanks! I only followed your advice!

Uh, no... Christopher as in 'Lucy' and 'Christopher' combined to make Lucifer. I chose Lucifer, but if Elder did have a gf, it'd be Lucy.

Iron Wasp: Oh man, how I've been waiting for someone with a sharp eye!

Thanks!

Yeah, I was generally dissatisfied with my most hated character getting the main role. I avoided The Answer altogether.

Yes! Finally, someone who sees like I do about Aigis being a robot! Your idea of her being a SpecOps is so brilliant, I'm putting Aigis in DoW, except as a nonandroid...

I guess you can call Minato's recollection problem as something 'psychological'? Because memories are painful, for me, and I'd rather not talk about stuff like that, if I went through what Minato went through...

Don't worry about that. I'm not offended at all, in fact, I was actually planning on including Minato's friends and family when Elder strikes next. He's already shown as a devious bastard, I think it wouldn't be below him to strike Minato's loved ones. And yes, Koro will have a bigger role. I'm actually thinking of adding a special collar that allows him to talk, like that dog from Up.

Don't worry about ridiculously long reviews, and an even bigger treat seeing one so insightful. I find those delightful, and I do hope you write another one like this!

CQS: A what? What is Brilliant Mind?

DeathArcana13: dude, thirty something chapters of MinaMina isn't good enough for you? Ako lng bla bahala sang storya ko. Basa kalang, ako ma sulat. Okay? So start hoping nalang kay ako ang ga sulat. Claro?