Minato knocked a few times on Nyx's door, and then he rubbed his temples. He was going to have to explain the plans that they had to Nyx again. Better to keep her well informed but he couldn't help but feel a bit frustrated talking to Nyx. The last time that he did, he ended up sleeping on the roof since he was so tired.

"Minato?" Nyx asked. She could already guess who it was.

"Yup," he replied with a sigh. With his reply, he could hear the subtle click of the undoing of a lock and the squeak of a turning doorknob.

"What is it?" Nyx sighed with a blank expression, cutting right to the chase.

Minato flinched from her bluntness, but pushed on. Why did it feel like he was Nyx and she was him? "I was going to tell you about the plans for hopefully, the final counterattack," he explained, starting to feel awkward with Nyx's stagnant gaze.

"Oh alright…" Nyx nodded before moving aside and opening the door fully. She sat on her bed, leaving Minato open to the chair in front of the study.

Minato bit his lip and tentatively made his way to sit down, still feeling Nyx's eyes on him. How was it that it could feel so awkward? "So, is there anything particularly important that I need to know?" she asked.

"Well, the gist of it is that everyone's going to be attacking this time around, and I'll tell you when we're going to go," Minato said succinctly, not wanting to stay under Nyx's scrutiny for much longer.

"I see. So you're going to leave me behind?" Nyx said as she grabbed a mug from her bedside and took a sip from it.

"…I was thinking about it. But I'm not quite sure," Minato replied. "If we leave you at the dorm, you'd be kinda defenceless if anything actually went for the dorm while we were away. I was more thinking that we could take you along to the tower, but you'd stay behind with Fuuka, Aigis and Yukari. You'd be closer to danger, but they could protect you if anything went wrong."

"I see. Is that all?" Nyx asked, taking another sip from the mug.

Minato wanted to say, that it was all it. But he couldn't help but ask the other question that had been on his mind. "I guess, but…"

"But what?" Nyx sighed.

"Why is it that you seem so… quiet, I guess?" Minato asked.

Nyx glanced at Minato, and for a moment, he thought that every bit of him was frozen under that simple glance. "I don't have anything to say to you," she said simply.

"That's not it," Minato said stubbornly.

"Hmph. Whatever you say 'messiah'," Nyx said, venom lacing her tone.

"Messiah?" Minato blinked.

"That's all you are Minato," she replied. "To me, you're just a messiah, the person that sealed me away from the world for a few hours."

"W-What?"

"Just get out Minato," Nyx growled, and by then, Minato could feel SP emanating and stirring around her.

Minato stood up slowly and stepped towards the door. "Just tell me why," he said.

Nyx looked at Minato with the iciest of glares that he had ever seen. It was so intense, that her eyes actually seemed to be glowing with cyan light. Her heart was pounding fast with adrenaline as she tried to keep her anger down.

Minato took a deep breath as he tried to calm himself. It had been a while since anything had scared him like this. Not even before when he was fighting against Nyx before sealing her away did he feel this scared. So why was it? He could feel the anger racing through Nyx, but he also felt something else at the same time. And it was surprising him.

Come to think of it, he never really asked why Nyx asked about what she was feeling before anyways. That time when he had to explain sadness.

"N-No! You wouldn't believe me anyways!" Nyx yelled, raising her hand at Minato with a bright light emanating from her pointer finger. "Just go away before…"

"Believe what?" Minato mumbled.

"I-I… I… fire this Megidola at you…" she stammered. "Just get out!"

"Why wouldn't I believe you?" he asked.

Nyx bit her lip, and tried to stop the trembling that was coming through her voice full force, but it wasn't working. "Because why would you believe the goddess that caused the Fall!?"

Minato blinked. That was right. He hated Nyx.

She growled and the SP on her finger seemed to cover her whole hand instead.

Minato couldn't find anything to say to her.

"You wouldn't." Nyx punched Minato hard in the chest, sending him flying towards the wall opposite and out of her room. She slammed the door behind her and locked it.

Minato coughed as he wiped off the blood that was trickling down his mouth, and silently cast a Diarahan on himself. He was still able to hear the lock on her door clicking shut. He groaned a little as he felt the pain in his chest go away, but yet, it still felt like the wounds were there. He mused that Nyx could hit really hard with that God's Hand attack that she pulled on him.

Minato pulled himself up to his feet, although he was still trying to recover from the blow that Nyx gave him. "'You wouldn't', huh?" he thought aloud. That hurt.

And he couldn't even find anything to say to her. Well Minato. You've gone and done messed that up, haven't you?

He briefly wondered whether it was connected to why she was afraid of Minato, but then he shook his head. He needed some rest. Note: Maybe he should do what Nyx says before he gets his lungs ripped to pieces from the inside with a hard punch from the outside.

"Dude, what happened to you?" he heard Junpei ask as he hobbled down the stairs.

"Ugh… I got punched by the goddess," he mumbled. "Junpei, if she tells you to do something…"

"Yeah man?" he asked, pulling Minato over his shoulder.

"I think you should do it. You unfortunately don't have a healing spell," he sighed.

"I'll do that man," Junpei nodded. "But I think you should get some sleep or something. It looks like she hit you hard, if you still look like that after you healed up."

"Yeah, thanks Junpei," Minato chuckled a little.

…

Nyx pulled back her fist, and looked upon it anxiously. She didn't feel any better by punching Minato at all. It actually made her feel even worse than before.

She lay back down onto her bed, and buried her face into her pillow. Was it these human emotions that were making her more and more aware of the fact that she knew Minato hated her?

Upon learning more of sadness, she couldn't help but feel tugs of pain at her mortal heart whenever Minato showed signs of the fact that he didn't like her. It only reinforced the fact that she knew painfully well.

Whatever denial that he had felt? It still hurt when he stayed silent to her words. He couldn't decide, or maybe he really did actually hate her. That was all that she could see. Was that why?

Nyx lifted her face so that she faced the wall on her side. She closed her eyes, and when she did, she found something warm and wet bead at the sides. The water trickled down across the contours of her cheeks and nose and onto her pillow as she breathed in and out; finding her sinuses clogged with a stubborn something… She could only breathe through her mouth.

Nyx raised her hand to look at the water, finding that it spread out and almost disappeared once it had touched her finger tip. Were they the tears?

She understood why she was scared of Minato, but she couldn't figure out the reason behind it.

But the first why behind her sadness was that she was scared of Minato not caring about her. She didn't know why she was scared of something like that, but thinking about it made her heart and chest feel heavy with something that she was sure she hadn't felt before.

The word that came to mind was: alone.

She was lonely?

Was that a kind of sadness?

But it made sense. Humans didn't feel any one kind of sadness, even though there were many kinds that could be put under the umbrella called 'sadness.'

Minato's friends, when they found him dead must have felt something of a sense of something called grief. They mourned for his loss. Many humans must have felt grief after they lost someone that they liked. Or cared about.

However, what Nyx felt was not grief. She felt sadness because she was alone with no-one that actually cared about her. No-one close. Loneliness.

That made sense. It came from the word, 'lone' which meant being isolated, being the only one. Being alone made her sad. So she felt lonely.

And she felt angry because Minato made her feel lonely. He was probably the closest to her, but he didn't care about her. He only cared enough about her to hate her. That was it. She knew well the reason why he didn't like her. It was a fact that had been hammered in like nails to a cross every time that he showed signs of the fact that he didn't like her.

The next problem on Nyx's list was figuring out why she cared enough to want Minato to think of her as something else; something other than a goddess. She obviously couldn't be a human. The powers she had proved it.

Why did she care?

Was it because she felt that the other people that she had known before didn't, or regarded her little? Everyone was scared of her. Her powers could bring death if she so chose.

…no. That wasn't it.

The reason why she had even been tempted by Minato's offer before was because she was curious. Minato could sate her curiosity. He was the one who taught her. She depended on him to satisfy her curiosity.

…but by now, she thought that she cared about him because of a completely different reason; perhaps even a reason that she simply did not want to admit because of her pride, and because of her vows to darkness.

AN: You know, first time around when I was writing this AN, I was going to go on an introspective rant like I wanted to a few chapters ago. But eh… never mind…

Please box meh yo thoughts, and imma see ya guys later.

Yoshikunitsu: Haha, well, the action starts in chapter 45, which is the next chapter. I will.

Law77: No, that's not what he said. Thankfully. He said that he had detention with a bunch of other people, and one of those people, was a super prissy princess. THAT was who he made out with.

Raidou: I kept TELLING ya, this guy's badass. But now you believe me. *cheers* But yes, with his insanity, he is also wise at the same time, in his own twisted way. Thanks!

Nights: I was just basing it off some stuff, but okay.
Well… no duh. He holds no bars on what people think of him, so he can do whatever the hell he wants. And yes, but I suck at THOSE kinds of spars.
Mmhm. Well, you might be surprised. Or not.
Scuffle wuffle.
Sure will.

Q/A SECTION

(Minato) Convo 1: To Technodude.

Minato: Oh yeah? Why don't you tell me? *growls*
Makoto: *pats him on the back* Man… *sighs*

(Yashiro, Kanashi and Kurow) Convo 2: To Yoshikunitsu.

Yashiro: *sighs* Maybe. But anything I may have gone through still hurts.
Kanashi: … *scoffs* Hah. Maybe, but then again, everyone calls me an asshole anyways, doesn't matter to me. *sighs*
Kurow: …Eh, maybe. Screws fall out all the time; the world's an imperfect place.

(Nyx) Convo 3: To Yoshikunitsu.

Nyx: Maybe. And I don't know who Maiko is. I doubt Minato would want to tell me at the moment and right now, I really don't care anyways.

(Minato and Makoto) Convo 4: To Yoshikunitsu.

Makoto: Man, you mystify me by how much you know about me. *rubs back of head sheepishly* I mean, that story was like a bedtime story when I cut out the blood and fighting, and I told it to my kid. I know I can't escape time all the time.
Minato: Wait. Bedtime story?
Makoto: Oh, you wanna hear? Well, it's a pretty long story. But I'll tell you the gist of it.
Minato: Oh okay.
Makoto: Well, when I was younger, I was a pretty powerful Persona user. Now I'm pretty awesome.
Minato: Wow, no holding bars on the compliments.
Makoto: Hey, I told the parts of this story, one at a time, because I wanted my kid to grow up with courage. He's growing up to be pretty awesome.
Minato: I see… WAIT, YOU HAVE A KID?
Makoto: Uh yeah. His name's Kodenko.
Minato: So why are you here?
Makoto: Dude, to tell you the truth, I'm kinda dead. Fo real, and I'm just floating around the dimensions to see if there's anything interesting. Nyx knows that spending time in complete and utter paradise can get boring after a while. So, now I'm a ghost. Whoooooo.
Nyx (2): *poof* … Shut up Minato. *bonks Makoto on the head* He didn't need to know that.
Minato: …what's happening? *blinks in confusion*