Chapter 8
Fallen Bloom
A blue butterfly crossed his field of view, a silent reminiscence of the beginning of his journey. His swimming consciousness started out as a blurry concept, but the more he focused on it, the more things he could see clearly. He craned his neck, a dull thud of weakening pain was another thing that his senses noticed. He was laid in a comfortable sofa.
Minato cradled the back of his head. A coagulated smear of pungent blood was the next thing he saw. Bluish gleam different from the malevolent light hours ago gave warmth in his stomach. He stared in horror as his skin and bones patched itself, he saw his own fingers touched by the warm light and regrown.
He cried out, "AGHH!"
Pale arms restrained his movement, soothing singing voice returned his mental turmoil into a deep calm. "Shh," Elizabeth gently wiped his forehead, Minato looked up to see a small Pixie flew cheerfully around him. The warm light surrounded Pixie and the Persona started to hum a tuneless, off-beat melody as the light enveloped Minato once again.
"Shredded internal organs, loss of sense in your right leg, a twisted kneecap, a swollen bruise in the back of your head and you lost four fingers," Elizabeth listed off his injuries without her usual innocent zealousness. Minato shuddered. "That was the condition I found you in,"
His hazy memories of the battle slipped out from his fingers like sands as he struggled to remember the bits. A beautiful dark sphere, Yukari's fear-stricken face, Mitsuru's desperation, and Junpei's shout. Minato heard another footsteps approached them, he had never seen Igor so worried. "I'm afraid we have to intervene Death from taking you so soon, my boy."
"...Where am I?" his hoarse voice sounded different to himself.
"In our Velvet Room, of course" Igor chuckled. The Pixie had finished its work and hopped to Elizabeth's finger. "Thank you, little one," as Elizabeth spoke, the Pixie transformed into a card and disappeared into the air. He tried to sit up, and surprisingly he didn't find any difficulty in doing so.
"I'm... Thank you very much," he was rendered speechless, barely managing to express his gratitude. "No, no. It is our duty to assist our dear Guests," Igor's eyes crinkled shut in genuine kindness and Elizabeth pulled him to stand up.
"What prompted you to take such decision, young man? Surely, you knew that you won't survive Death, am I correct?" Igor joined his hands under his nose, a curious smirk at his Guest.
Minato touched the back of his head with his now five-fingered left hand. "...I was... Hit here by Death's revolver and I..." he wavered. That word frighten him.
"... I remember" he swayed forward but Elizabeth was there. "Not much, but at least it's better than being left with no memories at all," Elizabeth put Minato's head on her shoulder, "Don't force yourself. I'm sure your memories will return to you, sooner or later," the Wild Card nodded and Elizabeth trusted Minato enough to stand up.
Minato's gaze wasn't focused on them anymore, "When I thought that I may witness that, I took the decision to let them escape first,"
To spare himself from the scenario.
"...I'm, in a way, selfish. But I don't regret it." He bended down to take Elizabeth's fallen hat in the floor and put it in her awaiting palm. He gazed to the two otherworldy beings, "I would still take the same decision, even if Death itself wishes their demise," and Igor smiled mysteriously.
"You, lonely soul," Igor outstretched his arm and The Fool's card appeared before him.
"Are ready to accept your own faults, although it slumbers deeply inside you, waiting to be found in your journey," at once, the card shone brighter, bringing an unmountable pain to Minato's head.
"You hold this... Unimaginable potentials, hindered only by your self-imposed limitations, although you are currently unaware of it." Igor flicked his fingers and The Fool's card floated to Minato. He accepted the near-transparent card and the headache was gone.
The singing voice intensified and Minato felt his stirring anxiety being put to sleep.
"How long was I out?" he questioned as he scanned the span of the room. He didn't see anyone singing in the room but the song echoed through this limitless space of small universe.
"I don't know, time is a mysterious concept," Elizabeth's eyes found him. Answers filled them, "It can be a week, a month, a year, or a decade. The Denizens of Velvet Room exists without obeying the rift of time," she gestured to the ever-present clock that hung high in the wall. The hands of the clock moved faster than how it'd be in reality.
Minato strained his ears, sadness filled him as the strength of sincerity within the voice healed his soul. A lost time that he can't even remember engulfed him in a fire of no return.
"There was a Guest before you," Elizabeth's veiled tone approached him.
"She was, perhaps, the briefest Guest we had in this Velvet Room. Even though her journey had ended, her voice lived on within this place and Velvet Room, in exchange, granted her wish."
Elizabeth looked up, there was nothingness in the ceiling. Glowing yellow eyes searched, "The answer she found was..."
The aria took on a gentler note. He imagined a smile free from burdens.
"... To stay by her most important person's side,"
A silent, lone tear escaped from his eyes. A weak, powerless orphan replaced the perfect leader. Compromised his absolute self-control with a swipe of nameless regret and Minato wanted nothing but to bury that orphan six-feet beneath the earth. Far away where the Field Leader of SEES won't be able to look at him.
Being weak killed people.
"One of us have to die, brother,"
Being weak killed Minako and his chance to live a normal life.
So, he did what he must do.
He mercilessly erased any trace of his weakness from his face and stopped his tremors. Happy ending doesn't exist. Minako won't return, so is that orphan. Only Minato remained. He walked out from the Room, the Fool card in his pocket glowed.
" ...I chooseth this fate of mine own free will, huh?" Minato whispered before the door closed behind him.
Author Note:
A chapter born out of breakdown and nightmare. I wish Recarm skill really did exist in real life. Thanks for reading.
· The skill used to heal Minato is Diarahan. Elizabeth's Pixie is capable of it. Ask those who had fought her in the top of Monad for clarification.
· If you play Cytus, you'd get the hint of this chapter's title.
