The previous chapter ended leaving a suspense. But before we proceed with Minato's story, aren't you guys a little curious to know what happened in Tartarus? Then you'll be served! Sit back and enjoy your reading!

IV\ Team Tartarus

~Flashback~

As Junpei was making his way to the common room, he thought about how unlucky he has been the day before: after eating his ice cream with Minato, he tried, once again, to flirt with the number IX of the organization, Chidori. The Goth Girl, however, wasn't the easy type and didn't thought twice before turning him down.

"Man! Why am I called the Don-Juan if I can't seduce only one, single, pink-heard girl?!" he shouted raising his fist in the air. He then heard the sound of someone clearing his throat… or actually her throat since it was 'nobody' else than Mitsuru.

"When you are done speaking to yourself, maybe you will be able to hear what I have to tell you, number VIII," said the red-head in a tone as cold as her element, but Junpei wasn't the kind of nobody who would get offended by such words.

"Oh, Mitsuru. What do you have to tell me, right now? Could it be that you finally saw the man that you've been seeking for ages in me, Junpei, the manliest member of the organi—" Junpei never finished his sentence; Mitsuru cut him right in the middle of it.

"Takeharu-sama is suspicious about one or two members we are sending in Tartarus: it seems they are preparing a betrayal plan. He ordered me to tell you to keep an eye on them and even annihilate every single member involved in this complot."

The master of fire just sighed; he never really liked receiving orders, but what he hated more than anything was to be cut in the middle of a sentence. "Well well, if this is a direct order from the Superior, then I don't have much of a choice, right?" the Ice Queen just smiled ironically

"Glad that you at least know the limit of your options…"

After that, she left and Junpei thought while crossing his arms and shaking his head "Man, will that girl care about something else than work, one day? But, when you think about it; she is younger than me so… Heheh... Anyways, maybe I should tell Minato about the whole thing later."

"Oh and, by the way" added the Ice Queen before leaving "I have a personal request for you: Find ANY excuse to make Jin involved in this mess… And get rid of him!" the man with the goatee raised an eyebrow and replied "I don't think this is part of the Superior's orders." Mitsuru just stared at him

"Do it and you're a tranquil Nobody. Ignore my command and you're a dead one." Junpei just sighed yet again before creating a dark corridor

"I don't think I can be deader than this, but I'll see what I can do…" he then, disappeared in the black exit.

~End of the flashback~

Junpei's POV:

When I think that we were sent here to find some 'room' in this tower: A tower that's so high that it even reaches the ski, if it doesn't go even further beyond this limit. And on top of this, I, of all Nobodies, have to play the role of the spy because 'Someone might prepare a betrayal plan…' my ass! Well, at least I still have Fuuka-chan and Yuka-tan to 'deal' with, hihi! Oh, and there is also a new Nobody with us here… what was he name? Aigis!

We entered the hall of the huge tower and established our first checkpoint there; No Shadows were hanging around these kinds of places, at least.

"We should signal our arrival to the HQ immediately. Then, we must begin the investigation of the place to find any useful clue to locate the room we are searching for. We also have to begin stripping the little boy's memories—"

And here goes Jin with his blabbering, adjusting his new contact device or whatever it was… What can I say? NEEERRRD! On second thoughts, I will kind of enjoy killing him; you can be happy about that, Mitsuru.

"Hey, Stupei! Move your ass you useless imbecile! I swear to god; why are we teaming up with that good for nothing couch-potato?!" as friendly as usual, Yuka-tan. Again, I was standing in front of the stairs so…

"Umm… Yukari…" shyly tried to say Fuuka.

"What is it, Freaka?" she knows no limit, huh?

"First, could drop that nickname, please? Second, we are not allowed to move to the upper level before getting the green light from the Castle." When it came to defend her honor, Fuuka could easily forget a little about her shyness. The 'best Pest' we had in our group just gave her a stare of contempt before turning her head from the Gatherer and going to have some kind of talk with Ikutsuki.

It's weird. It's weird that those two have been spending so much time together lately. I might as well keep an eye on them.

"Hey, Jin. Ya got some news from them?" I asked.

"Yes; they're asking use to split into two groups: one will investigate the upper side of the tower to keep an eye on Aigis at the same time while the other will take care of the basement. The room could be anywhere."

We proceeded to split into two groups: the one investigating the upper levels was made of me, Ikutsuki and Yukari which gives me a golden chance to keep a permanent eye on them. The second group investigating the lower levels has got Fuuka, Koromaru and Jin which, in the other hand, gives me little opportunity to 'take care' of him.

As our trio made his way all through Thebel, the first upper block of the tower, we took every opportunity to investigate all what was around us. Well, actually, I took these opportunities since the two others weren't really into the whole thing.

"So, could it be you guys are tired of being… Tired?" I asked, trying to get them into business… With no success.

"Why should we?! You should do just like us and take it easy: the best way to enjoy your 'life' is to do whatever you want: Everyone knows this!" Yukari ironically pointed.

"Maybe it's just because 'everyone' won't get out of here alive…" I said in a whisper.

"Um? What was that you're blabbering about, Stupei?" curiously asked Yukari.

"Oh! Don't mind me, miss: it is just Junpei being random again." I replied, adding in my mind 'Randomly fatal for you guys…Humhumhum."

The next days were quite… Boring and repetitive: we were spending our days searching for a ghost room that might not exist at all and on top of that we had to play the baby-sitters with Aigis who, to my deception, is about Minato's age…

The girl was as tall as my blue-haired friend, with blond hair and blue eyes that were similar to the ones of an angel; it was one of the reasons that made me regret the fact that she wasn't more… mature for me. She wore a long blue dress and a pair of light blue sandals.

Man… I need to flirt in my life, you know? What would the world be for me without romance and chicks?

Of course, we couldn't investigate the different floors of Tartarus AND keep an eye on the kid, so we decided to divide the work: we would design one of us in turn to guard the girl and the two others would do the day's work.

Today, it was decided that I would investigate with Yuka-tan will Ikutsuki stayed with Aigis. For some reasons, I always thought that guy was weird and that, aside from telling boring jokes, he had a little something for kids… Whatever, he won't live long enough to let me know if this is the truth.

Teaming up with the brunette girl was for me the best opportunity to put my plan in action, the plan I prepared for a moment which consisted in winning the duo's trust to THEN surprise them.

As we were proceeding through a floor of a new zone, Arqua, I slowly turned to face Yukari who was behind me and addressed the most seductive smile I had in my stock.

"Yuka-tan~~"

"What do you want, Stupei? And what's up with that dirty look on your face, you want me to correct you or what?!" I decided to ignore her words and closed the distance between us, causing her to take a step back.

"Y'know? I never really liked receiving orders from a guy who's half blind; I prefer my leader to be a sexy, smart and imposing woman." I hope she fall for this: I'm practically using my 120% here!

She was trying her best to hide the small blush that appeared on her cheeks "W-What do you mean, moron?"

"I mean, why do we have to follow the Superior's orders when we can end his non-existence: you could become the glorious queen that will replace him for the best… and I would be you loyal knight, ready to die for you and to satisfy every single desire you have…" I said while getting closer to her and placed my hands on her shoulders. If, I want to get them to let me in their little plan, I have to play it like I was about to do the same thing as well.

She responded with one of her evil grins and put her little finger on my chin, letting me guess that my plan was proving to be successful.

"You're not that much of a useless idiot, after all," she said before pushing me back, much to my surprise "Get this work done with quickly, and then we'll talk about it more… Tranquilly."

Perfect… Actually, it's easier than I thought! Let's hope that Lady Luck stick with me longer.

After the both of us were done with the searching of the room which, do I have to precise, was unsuccessful, we returned to our last checkpoint where Ikutsuki and Augis were waiting for us.

Yukari didn't wait long before walking toward the Infiltrator and tell him, with her eternal smirk, loud enough for me to hear "It looks like goatee wants to join forces with us. What do you think?"

At first, the annoying jokes creator just looked at me with curiosity, but then, he wore his dumb smile again and said "Well, I don't mind at all. As they say: the more the merrier! Hmhm, excuse me for using this joke right now."

Every single one of us in the room felt a sweat cooling behind their head: can't he tell the difference between a joke and a proverb? Anyways, he didn't just stop here.

"However, we'll need you to prove your loyalty to us first by completing one of our little… works." He said while taking a packet of cigarettes out of one of his pockets and lighter from another.

"Aaaand…? What is that 'work' you're talking about?"

He picked a cigarette from the packet and put it on his mouth while trying to light it "We want you to get Jin alone and then…"

"And then…?" I asked, watching the middle aged man light his fag and take a smoke.

"Kill him, incognito, and we'll let you propose the plan if you have one" He finished while releasing smoke from his mouth. Is it only me, or does everyone has a grudge against this nerd? That aside, it looks like Lady Luck really is one my side today! I get to win the duo's trust AND eliminate Jin. This is what I call: killing two birds with one stone!

"Now that I think about it, I might have a plan to get rid of him," I said, getting the two's attention "You both know how much of a bootlicker that nerd is with the Superior, right?" actually, I had this planed in my head for a moment, but now was the best opportunity to bring it out.

"Uh-huh, so what?" Yukari asked, impatient.

"Well, I'll just have to get to come up here and when he least expects it…"

"Yeah…?" Ikustsuki asked.

"We'll jump on him—" Before ending my sentence, the Pest cut me.

"YOU jump on him, remember: it's your mission!" Ah, Yuka-tan Yuka-tan, I can't wait to finish you off next, you know?

"As I was saying: I'll take care of him myself, since this is what you want me to do, and then, we'll begin planning on how to take the Superior down. But first, I'll send Fuuka and Koromaru back to the Castle so they don't disturb us."

Ikutsuki stopped smoking and looked at me with a puzzled look "And how are you going to get rid of them?"

"Trust me on this one: it's my mission, after all." I said with enough confidence while Ikutsuki resumed his smoke.

At the end of each day of work after that, I would stay near the entrance by teleporting with the access point in our checkpoint, and I would survey if Fuuka was there: the first part of my plan is to talk with her alone and who knows when she will come up here.

Finally, one day, I saw here coming from the basement stairs and that's when I ran to her, using a small amount of fire to help sweat, and I pretended that I was out of breath.

"J-Junpei! What's happening?" she asked concerned.

"*breath* the strongest types of Shadows have gathered and are beginning a rampage from the upper levels of the tower to, maybe, the lowest part of the basement. They got Ikutsuki and Yukari *breath*… call Jin; I'll need his help. And I want you and Koromaru to hide in your checkpoint: If you don't hear ANY news of us by the morning, then report us to the HQ as 'terminated'… and go back to the Castle straight after that!" Ah… I think I deserve an Oscar for my performance, right now.

Anyways, Fuuka tried to protest, but I told her that we couldn't risk too much members for this operation, so she obeyed me without any further trouble.

I waited a short time before, from the stairs, appeared a blue haired man.

"W-What is that Shadow rampage about?!"

"No time to explain! We have to join the two others in our checkpoint, quickly!" we both rushed to the access point, making sure that I was behind Jin so I could experience the fear in his eyes when I finish him.

We entered the room where we established our rest point yesterday, and I left the Nerd look around.

"Could it be that they were killed already? No, there's no mark of fights. Maybe they're—" enough talking already.

"Jin… Jin… Jin… Y'know? Everyone hates it when you release statement after statement in a record time. In an organization, we can't allow a hated member to 'exist'…" I said while discretely summoning my Katana and moving forward.

"The hell are you talking about Junp—" before he could completely turn to face me, I rushed towards him and cut his torso diagonally with my weapon.

*blop* *blop* *blop*

I stared at the red liquid dropping from Jin's injury and from my sword, forming a pool of blood. I raised my head and looked in his eyes full of fear and smiled at him.

"What with the long face? You should be happy, now shouldn't you? Instead of being no one, you can finally be nothing…"

The blue haired man didn't have the occasion to hear most of what I said, since he was already vanishing to nothingness. Only his blood remained.

It's a good thing that I finished him immediately; if I tried to mess around with him, he would have easily used one of his illusions tricks and I would have been imprisoned the rest of the eternity…

My thoughts were interrupted as I soon heard clapping sounds coming from behind me. I think I pretty much don't need to turn to know who it is.

"Good job on this one, Number VIII. I can actually say that you can be in the big leagues, now." These were Ikutsuki's words for sure.

I also heard footsteps approaching me and recognized that it was someone wearing high-heels boots; it was Yukari. She came in front of me and put her hands on my shoulder before saying seductively "Well then, handsome. You aren't as bad as I thought…"

I decided to look away to hide the little grin on my face, I will enjoy killing Yuka-tan. Yeah, I really will enjoy it…

"By the way, how did you manage to get Number X and IV out of your way?" Ikutsuki asked while holding Aigis' shoulder, I almost forgot she was here with us.

She looked kind of confused about all what was happening around her; she isn't supposed to have anything to do with our bloody plans, but she has no other choice than to stay with us, like a prisoner.

I answered Number XI's question, smiling confidently: I told him all what I've been doing to make my plan successful (censoring the part concerning them, of course…). They looked kind of satisfied by my work so far.

What about eradicating them, you ask? I'll let them enjoy a day or two before I reveal my true face.

Indeed, the next day, Ikutsuki decided to send Yuka-tan in the basements so she can make sure that Fuuka and Koromaru are gone; this was my chance to kill them both! It would of course be wiser to start with Ikutsuki who's right in front of me and finish him the same way I did with Jin. Then, I will join Number XII in the basements and do the same.

The brunette went to accomplish the mission she was given, but not before cursing us both, and then, I was left alone with my victim and the blonde haired girl. He talked while having his back turned to me.

"So, Junpei. Now that we're left man-to-man, how about we exchange some jokes?" He proposed, ignoring the kid who was sitting on a chair, drawing as usual.

"…Mmm… Yeah, why not? I've got a particularly funny one for you… it's actually a riddle." he nodded to himself.

"Um-hum… I can't wait to hear it out."

"So, it's about a person who's: not completely a person, not completely a heartless and he will be swimming in a red pool soon." I'm pretty sure he began realizing what I was talking about, but when he prepared to turn to face me…

*blop* *blop* *blop*

I already pierced the spot where he long ago had a 'heart'.

I was beginning to get used to the drops of blood that were escaping my formal partners' bodies. I first killed Jin and now, Ikutsuki was standing before me; I was still behind him, but he turned his face at the moment I attacked. He had the same fear in his eyes that I saw in Jin's, but I could also read anger and hate. His mouth began moving and his lips trembeling.

"C-C-Curse you… T-Traitor…" I released a laugh after hearing his last words.

"Traitor… you say? Aren't you the one who wanted to become the leader by killing the Superior?" I took off of his chest my, now covered in blood, Katana and told him, still smiling.

"You should be grateful, asshole. If you went back to the Castle to execute your plan, your death would have been waaaaay more painful. I'm so nice that I will end your suffering… right now!" in a snap of fingers, the remaining of the Infiltrator's body burned to ashes.

From a corner of the room, Aigis was watching the scene before her with horror, he blue baby eyes were looking at me, terrified. I looked back at her and decided to spare her any more violence.

"Nobody will enslave you again; you're free. Go and do what you think is right." She didn't respond and ran away. That's for the best. Now, it's the Pest's turn.

~Meanwhile, somewhere in the Basements~

Normal POV:

Fuuka was waiting in the last rest point she reached with Koromaru. She was waiting for any of her teammates to come to her and tell her that everything was alright… But deep down, she knew it was useless: as she was sitting on the ground, her arms around her knees, her comrades were maybe all 'terminated'.

When she felt that waiting would not change a thing, she decided to use Jin's device to send the news to the HQ and created a Dark Corridor that lead to the in-between worlds: it will only take them a day to return to the Castle.

After the Gatherer and the Loyal left Tartarus, a certain brunette came out of her hideout, with her eternal smirk on her face.

"Hah! She sure took her time, this Freaka."

While the Number XII was walking around the room, a shadow was discretely following her, holding a Katana. As the shadow approached the girl, she was heard mumbling something.

"Garu…" she quickly turned and released a gust of wind from her palm, an attack that the shadow quickly dodged. The person that was following Yukari was revealed to be Junpei, the responsible of the death of two of his comrades.

"Humph! You really thought I would be as dumb as the others?! I clearly saw through your game: you couldn't bring yourself one damn second to 'betray' your leader… You filthy dog!" she launched another wind attack that Number VIII, once again, dodged.

"Oh… Hm… Uh… Why such hate?" the Don-Juan definitely enjoyed messing around with the brunette who didn't get mad this time. She was looking at him while keeping her evil grin.

"It's kind of a shame: the two of us could have gone really far. And maybe, we would even have some time to have 'fun' together." Junpei reproduced his opponent's evil grin and answered.

"It's only now that you think about having 'fun' with me? As much as this sounds attractive… IT'S JUST TOO LATE!"

The fire-master rushed towards his ex-comrade and attempted slashing her. But, she jumped backward, evading the hit.

"As I thought: A Stupei will always remain a Stupei…" she summoned her bow and two arrows which she shot at the same time while still being in mid-air. The two arrows were easily blocked by Junpei's Katana and he immediately counter-attacked with a fireball attack.

The fireball was deflected by Number XII's bow before she landed on the ground. She joined her two hands and focused a wind spell between them. The Number VIII perfectly understood that he couldn't dodge this one so he decided to block it instead.

As the Pest launched her attack, the Don-Juan tried his best to block the spell head-on. The struggle was tough and Junpei almost gave in more than once but, he successfully deflected it in the end.

I've got to be careful… he thought will catching his breath If I let her use this again… I'm doomed…

Indeed: As much as fire attacks have normal effects on Yukari, Junpei, on the other hand, is very vulnerable to wind attacks, which makes the fight between the two tougher for fire-master than the wind-master.

The goatee man's gaze happened to stop on the ground near his enemy which gave him a small idea. He created a fire wall between him and his opponent.

"W-What are you doing?!"

Before she could understand what was happening, the brunette got a surprise slash in the stomach by the other member of the organization who came out of the fire which was now beginning to spread through the room.

Yukari closed her eyes while holding her bleeding belly, before raising her head and looking at her aggressor, furious.

"W-Why you… SON OF A BITCH!" the infuriated Pest gathered her energy and attacked.

"PANTA RHEI!" she released a powerful wind spell that sent Junpei fly and crash against the wall behind him which collapsed on him by his contact with it. This spell was even powerful enough to extinguish the fire, stopping it from spreading.

As the atmosphere calmed down a bit, the women got on her knee, exhausted and sweating bullets.

But, her breather didn't last long before the blocks of rocks covering her opponent moved and he got out of them, his coat was thorn and he had several injuries and cuts all over his body.

"I won't let you get away with this!" he shouted as he prepared a fire attack made of all his remaining strength.

"Imbecile! You're the one who's going down!" Yukari was also preparing best move.

As the two of them were concentrating their attacks, the ground began shaking and the ceiling was starting to collapse. The two enemies were staring at each other: grayish eyes meeting brown ones. They were both breathing heavily, both were injured and both wanted to survive.

"PANTA RHEI!"

"RAGNAROK TRISAGION"

They both released their respective attacks, making them collide. The struggle between the wind move and the fire move made the ground shake even harder and all what was around them break. The collision lasted for moment before the two attacks created a final explosion that pushed back the two Nobodies and made the ceiling collapse on them.

…

…

Some minutes after the clash, all what remained in the room were fragments of the stones that were once the ground of the upper room. Among all this chaos, a package of stones could be seen moving. They moved for a moment before a person suddenly stood up from them. That same person limped until he reached another package of stones covering another person.

Even if you had all your chances to win this battle, there was still something that made the difference between us… he thought before summoning a traditional Japanese sword in his hand.

This difference is… Our endurances: mine is obviously more important than yours, that single point changed the all the outcome of the fight. He raised his Katana and prepared to give his unconscious enemy the final blow, aiming her throat.

Good night, Yukari, Ikutsuki and Jin…

*SLASH*

After doing what he had to do, Junpei allowed himself to fall to his knees, 'feeling' kind of down. That's it; I killed all three of them…

Even if he didn't share any special bond with his three deceased comrades, it was hard for him to realize he actually killed them by his very own hands: they were all Nobodies like him, searching to be whole, searching for hearts.

He quickly discarded these thought as he got back up and created a Dark Corridor leading to his next destination: Trish's place.

After he got out of the in-between worlds, he found himself in a shining place with a lake in the middle. He also noticed the presence of the mistress of the area; a green-haired fairy dressed all in pink with a captain hat and a blouse. She also wore white gloves and belt that had the red-cross sign on them.

"So, are you here for something, or what? Don't waste my time." She said, addressing the young man in front of her.

"What do you think I'm here for? Heal me already!" the Number VIII demanded, not caring about the manners with that kind of persons.

"Of course I will… As long as you can pay what it costs."

"Who told you I was going to pay anything? Just heal me so I can spare myself the chore of watching your face!" the greedy fairy was highly offended by the goatee man's words; she got near his face and yelled at him.

"Wha— I've got the most beautiful face a man can dream to see! And trust me: I ain't healing you for free, mister!" she her sentence by turning her face away from his while crossing her arms.

Junpei crossed his arms, too and told the fairy with a menacing grin.

"Oh! If you don't do as I command, I'm going to spread the news about the dirty business you've been involved into, y'know: those business only Nekomata knows about…" his words caused Trish to look back at him with wide open eyes.

"What are those businesses?!"

"Don't play the innocent fairy with me: Nekomata told me everything last time I encountered her!" the greedy began sweating and spoke quickly.

"A-Alright alright! I'll heal you, but be sure to shut up about this!"

"Now we're talking…"

Trish used her fairy magic to cure the Don-Juan's wounds, and it was pretty effective.

"That's it! Thanks for the services, lady!" the Nobody told her before vanishing inside a Dark Corridor.

"J-Just get out of here!"

Junpei's new destination was Twilight Town where he expected to encounter his friend: Minato.

He made his way through the town, watching all what was happening around while making sure that nobody was noticing him: curious eyes are always good to avoid. When he arrived in the alley where he could see the Twilight Town gang's hideout, he got a glimpse of a familiar blue-haired teen, walking to a Dark Corridor he just created.

"Hey Minato! How are ya doing?" I asked, getting his attention. He slowly turned to face me, with surprise in his eyes.

Okay, that's it for the chapter 4! I hope you enjoyed it: I did my best to write this one! Anyways, the Poll that I created some months ago is closed now, and the winner is…. Mitsuru! I've got to work hard to put the blue and red haired teens together… See you next time!