Disclaimer, I do not own any characters or places in this story except for the original characters. This story is written for fun and may contain spoilers.

Chapter 23

Don't Fear Death

Two battles raged in the tower, Shelke, Train, Rise and Kanij vs the creature known as The Reaper. Kanij left the battle as due to having formed a Pact with Etna and her activating it. Meanwhile the battle between everyone else and Takaya resulted in Takaya's death however out of no where came the new challenger, Nyx Avatar. The creature that stood before them proved to be a worthy foe as it easily withstood their attacks however hope appeared with the appearance of Minato and Soji, who will win the battle of Tartarus. Lucas and the others pondered over the appearance of the two boys wondering as to who they were exactly. The two unarmed boys charged at Nyx and together punched it into the ground, it was impressive considering that they were unarmed and managed to hit Nyx. They immediately joined the others who were shocked with amazement.

"Sorry we're late" said the silver haired boy named Soji.

"What took you so long, how on earth did you even get here Soji?" asked Youske.

"We have Minato to thank for that, he came and got me, he told me about what you were doing and that you were in trouble so I decided to help" said Soji.

"Minato" said Yukari surprised.

He turned to look at them with a smile across his face, what he didn't expect was for Yukari to punch him in the face.

"You moron, I thought you were dead" said Yukari with tears in her eyes.

"…...sorry" said Minato a bit emotionless.

"That's not going to cut it, where the hell have you been?" asked Junpei.

"The last we saw of you was on that fateful day, the diagnoses was loud and clear, you were gone, I saw your body" said Mitsuru.

"So this must be the guy who sacrificed his life to save everyone" said Snow.

"Yes, allow me to introduce Minato Arisato" said Fuuka.

"Nice to meet ya, name's Lucas" he said.

"Nice to meet you" said Minato with little emotion.

"This guy is Soji Seta, the guy who moved away after solving the Inaba case" said Chie.

"Well it's great to see that your both okay but we have a problem at the moment so save the comedy act for later" said Mir.

"Nyx...so you have returned" said Minato.

"This is that thing that you were talking about huh, reminds me of Izanami" said Soji.

"How is it that you can exist, you gave up your life to become the Great Seal, it's impossible for you to be here" said Nyx.

"I thought you were smart, when the seal was broken by that man not only were you released but so was I, it took a while but I managed to find my way back to earth" said Minato.

"However he told me that you had gotten stronger since you last met, meaning he needed a little back up and so he called SEES, my friends and the Gauntlet users here to help, however it wasn't enough and he had to pick me up and bring me here at the last minute" said Soji.

"I haven't been able to enter the world since now, however I have been watching over all of you, even when you defeated that malice, I was really impressed, thank you by the way for not breaking the seal" said Minato.

"Of course you idiot, we couldn't go and destroy all your hard work" said Akihiko.

"So you've been watching us, well I'm glad to say that you will see that we have gotten stronger too" said Ken.

Koromaru barked with joy, for his eyes you could tell he was overjoyed to see Minato.

"Minato" said Aigis.

Aigis threw an Evoker and a short sword to Minato, he caught them and prepared to battle, Soji pulled out a Katana and also prepared to battle.

"Let's hope you remember how to do this, it's been a while since you've had to fight old man" said Soji with a smile.

"I'm more worried about you, think you can handle him" said Minato with a smile.

"Of course, I haven't had this much fun in a while" said Soji.

"Good, well let's go, Messiah" said Minato as he used the Evoker.

"Izanagi no Okami" said Soji.

Two Personas then joined the battle, there was something weird about these Personas, indeed they were the most powerful Personas Lucas and the others had seen. Everyone charged at Nyx Avatar, Lucas, Minato and Soji both attacked with their swords but Nyx blocked them with his own. Everyone dodged as Nyx sent fireballs at them; Ikuto then snuck up behind Nyx and slashed him down his back. This wounded him but cause Nyx to turn around and strike at him, an attack which Ikuto barely dogged. The Persona attacked Nyx with magic one after the other however he was able to destroy all of their spells. What he didn't notice however was Ken and Etna who under the cover of the smoke left by the spells jumped into the air. When he noticed them it was too late and the two of them put their spears though Nyx's head. The two pulled out their spears and jumped back as yet again a card appeared, this time when it changed all of Nyx's wounds healed and it was then absorbed by Nyx.

"What the hell" said Rita.

"Don't worry, Nyx needs to be beaten a certain amount of times before he will go down, he tried this trick the last time" said Mitsuru.

"Don't fear him, if you fear death that will make him stronger, we can beat him, focus" said Minato.

Lucas, Rita, Yukiko, Sakura and Syaoran attacked Nyx all at once; he blocked all of their attacks however they quickly backed off on the assault. Mint had used this time to prepare an attack and when Nyx turned round she shot a laser at him that she had summoned from her ship. It hit Nyx dead in the chest and left a hole through it, the attack was followed up by Maria cutting Nyx's legs causing him to fall to his knees and then Akihiko and Snow punching Nyx in the head sending him into the ground. Nyx of course got up and healed his wounds before changing to another card, this time Mir tried to blast him with a spell, oddly he let the spell hit him. Smoke filled the area and everyone watched carefully, Nyx then emerged from the smoke with his sword, he tried to attack Mir and if Flynn had not reacted in time he would have slashed his sword right through her chest. The shear speed and force alone had left a few scrapes across her arms and chest even though it had never even touched her. Flynn blocked the sword with all his might, they all noticed that Nyx was getting stronger as he ran out of lives, Fuuka kept on telling them about the strengths and weakness of Nyx as it got stronger and stronger. Yukiko and Koromaru both attacked Nyx but he broke off from the attack and managed to block both or their attacks. Mana opened fire on Nyx distracting him and so then the group moved in and it was due to the combination of Junpei, Lucas, Minato, Youske, Soji, Husky and Lyner that they managed to chop off both of Nyx's arms. Amu then shot a spell of her own at Nyx making him go blind, Makie then shot her ribbon at Nyx, somehow the gauntlet had given her great power as her ribbon when straight though Nyx's head like a sword, it seemed when she used her gauntlet's power anything she touched became a blade while maintain its normal abilities and form. Makie pulled her sword out of Nyx's head and yet again it healed and got ready to fight yet again, the battle itself seemed endless. Meanwhile Train and Shelke fought the Reaper, the creature continued on blasting them with it's powerful pistols. Shelke tried to get in close to strike however the Reaper continued on teleporting away from her and smacking her across the room with an ice spell. Train constantly fired at the Reaper, the two gunmen fired at each other blocking their opponent's bullets with their own. Rise was looking after the unconscious Kanji, he had just entered a Pact with Etna and although he had gained a large amount of power and damaged the Reaper he was know unconscious due to it. Train was starting to get desperate, he wanted to get up to the roof to help everyone as fast as possible, he sent Etna to help but it seemed that things were not going well even with her help. He had to finish it here and now or else it would be all over but to do that he needed the help of Shelke, the two regrouped to come up with a plan.

"We need to end this now" said Shelke.

"I know, I have an idea, we'll end it in two strikes" said Train.

"How?" asked Shelke.

"I'll channel all my power into a single attack, it may not damage him but it will leave him open for you to finish him off" said Train.

"That plan should work, we'll have to put it to the test" said Shelke.

The Reaper opened fire on the two, Shelke protected Train as he powered up his attack, he directed all of his magic into his gun and then pointed it at the Reaper.

"Chaos Burst" said Train.

Shelke dived out of the way as Train opened fire, the shot was like a wave of energy that the Reaper tried to block, it hit him dead on and slowly pushed him back. The shot itself sounded like a thousand chaotic cries as it vaporised everything in it's way. The shot finally dissipated and the Reaper stood their with his guns braking apart and his clothes scorched, Shelke had to be quick or else this would never end. She ran up to the Reaper as fast as she could and held her swords up into the air while channelling all her power into them.

"Psychotic Strike" said Shelke.

The swords became huge beams of energy, Shelke drove the swords down and smashed the Reaper into the ground with them, this cut the Reaper in three and caused him to scream as he faded away defeated. Shelke and Train regrouped with Rise and Kanji, they then all agreed to head up to the roof with Train and Shelke carrying Kanji up the tower with his arms around their shoulders. Meanwhile everyone was fighting Nyx and had managed to get him down to a card known as the Hermit. Nyx was getting stronger and faster now, he was now able to dodge many of their attacks however both Soji and Minato seemed to be able to keep up with him no matter how strong he got. Soji and Minato used their Personas to make Nyx fall to the ground and then Mana shot him in the head taking it clean off. Everyone backed away as yet again the card changed and Nyx regenerated and yet again got ready to fight. Aigis unloaded on Nyx while Teddie attacked him with his claw, Teddie was immediate knocked aside and Nyx was actually fast enough to grab Aigis and throw her against a pillar, damaging her.

"AIGIS!" shouted Youske.

Nyx then smacked Youske into the ground however he was protected by Mint's shield which lessened the blow. Snow punched Nyx away from Youske and Akihiko followed up by punching Nyx into the ground, it however got up and sung it's sword sending both of them flying. Chie then appeared behind Nyx and drop kicked him into the ground, it got up yet again but this time it received Yukiko's fan to the head which pushed Nyx to the edge of the roof. Sakuyamon finished it this time by slashing it in half with her staff however yet again it regenerated and switched it's card. Nyx grabbed Sakuyamon by her head and slammed her hard into the ground. Aigis who had recovered jumped into the air and slammed down hard on Nyx's head with her fist, Koromaru followed up by slashing Nyx across the head with his knife. Nyx then had it's arm cut off by Makie and was shot five times in the chest by Mana, finally the combination of Flynn and Rita finished it yet again by cutting it in half and then setting it on fire. However Nyx recovered quickly and the card changed yet again, Lucas not wanting to waste time attacked Nyx with Dante and managed to cut off his head, Nyx Avatar fell to the floor and seemed to finally be defeated. As everyone backed off they were shocked to see the card return yet again.

"It's the last time, this is the end if we defeat it here and now" said Soji.

Nyx Avatar picked itself off the floor and regenerated for one final time as the card switched to Death, the true Nyx. Oddly Nyx covered itself with it's wings for a second or two, there was a flash of dark light and Nyx returned to it's original stance, it seemed to be inviting them in, asking them to attack it.

"Wise guy, this ends now" said Lucas as he charged at Nyx.

"No, wait" said Fuuka.

However it was too late, Lucas attacked Nyx but the sword stopped before it even touched Nyx and what was weird was that it seemed Lucas had been cut by something even though no one, not even Nyx made a move.

"That barrier has the power to reflect attacks, we can't get past it by normal means" said Fuuka.

"Damn" said Snow.

Lucas was then knocked into the air by Nyx however he managed to recover and land on the ground without a scratch. It was at this time that Minato and Soji steped forward and forbid anyone else form interfering.

"This is why we're here, let us handle it" said Soji.

"Ready Soji?" asked Minato.

"Of course Minato" said Soji.

Train and Shelke reached the roof in time to see Nyx and Soji and Minato who prepared to summon their Personas, the four of them rejoined Lucas and watched silently as Minato and Soji prepared the final blow and Nyx welcomed it.

"Now, power of the wild card, activate" they both said.

At that moment they both screamed as their Personas appeared and shot a wave of energy at Nyx. It was deflected by the barrier however the wave of energy got stronger and stronger as more and different Personas appeared around the two of them. Soon the barrier began to crack as Soji and Minato screamed even more, finally after the appearance of over 200 Personas the barrier gave in and the wave hit Nyx. The wave destroyed half of Nyx Avatar's body and as the creature fell to the ground for one final time Minato and Soji breathed a sigh of relief as the Personas disappeared, everyone relaxed, dismissed their Personas and Pacts and smiled.

"What was that?" asked Fuuka.

"A new power Minato learnt, it allows the user to shoot a powerful attack at an enemy and the power is doubled by each Persona the person has used" said Soji.

"It takes two wielders of the Wild card to use and it is extremely painful and can lead to death if over used which is why it can only be used once" said Minato.

"So that's it then, Nyx defeated, crisis over" said Mir.

"Unfortunately not" said Mitsuru.

"What do you mean?" asked Rise.

"We defeated that thing, we beat it to a pulp god knows how many times" said Rita.

"Yes but, that wasn't Nyx" said Minato.

Everyone looked at him confused but then the ground began to rumble and the sky turned read as this huge creature that looked a bit like a giant eye appeared in the sky and began to slowly descend to earth.

"That is Nyx" said Minato.

"Mother F..." said Etna.

"The thing is huge" said Amu.

"It's been fun but now the fun is over" said Minato.

"What do you mean?" asked Ken.

"Nyx needs to be resealed" said Minato.

"You mean...you're going to go again" said Teddie.

"No" said Yukari.

"Unfortunately I must at least this time I get to say goodbye" said Minato.

Everyone was saddened by this news however it made Youske, Pan Lucas and Yukari a little angry. So angry that the four of them all smacked Minato on the head while shouting Idiot at him.

"Moron, have you forgotten you have us Gauntlet users here" said Lucas.

"So" said Minato.

"So if you channel the power that you used to Seal Nyx into a gauntlet then no one has to die" said Pan.

"Yeah you dumb ass, let them help you cause I sure as hell am not letting you go again" said Yukari.

"We did come here to help you after all you idiot, we're not going to allow you to sacrifice yourself again, right" said Youske.

"Hell yeah" said everyone else.

"See, I told ya they just won't accept it, we're your friends so why don't you let us help" said Soji.

"…..alright" said Minato.

Lucas stood in the middle of the roof with Minato next to him, he pointed his gauntlet at Nyx as Minato placed his hand over it an channelled the power of the world into the gauntlet. A beam of light shot ut of the Gauntlet and hit Nyx in it's eye, at first it looked like nothing happened however Nyx gradually began to slow down and soon parts of him would brake off and turn to dust.

"I know all about you and your friends" said Minato.

"Huh?" questioned Lucas.

"I would like to help as much as you have helped me" said Minato.

"If you want to help form a Pact with one of us" said Lucas.

"I intend to, beware of that man" said Minato.

"You mean Michel?" asked Lucas.

"He is the past and the future, don't let your guard down" said Minato.

"Trust me I won't" said Lucas.

The beam continued and Nyx let out a roar as it continued to fade away, soon Nyx exploded and a white light emerged engulfing everyone. Lucas felt his consciousness slipping as he fell into what felt like a bottomless pit. Lucas soon found himself facing three flames that were sitting on a throne. One flame went out while another burned dimly and seemed about to fade, when Lucas looked at the third flame all her heard was hysterical laughter from it. Lucas then awoke with a shock, he jumped his head up only for his lips to touch something soft, he opened his eyes full and soon came to several realisations. One he was no longer in the Dark Hour or Tartarus for that matter, two he had been laying on the roof of the building they had crashed on, his friends were all away and were all crowded around him, and three when he woke up he jerked his head forward to much and had accidentally kissed Maria who had bent down to make sure he was alright. Lucas broke free with his face as red as a peach, the same could be said for Maria who was shocked while Mir and Etna chuckled. Maria having regained her senses smacked Lucas in the ground with her fist in an angry and embarrassed fit. Makie had seemed this, her face had gone pale, oddly she was the most shocked of them all. Lucas got up and rubbed his head where Maria had hit him she may be a girl but she had a mean punch.

"Looks like the idiot is awake" said Maria.

"That's harsh coming from you" said Amu.

"Seemed like Maria is embarrassed" said Etna with a grin on her face.

"So what the hell is wrong with you?" asked Ikuto who poked a shocked Makie.

Makie quickly returned to her normal self with everyone's curious eyes on her.

"Nothing, just didn't expect it" said Makie.

"Could it be that maybe you have a..." began Mis.

However before he could finish the sentence Makie had grabbed him and chucked him into the ground to shut him up. This hurt him a lot and he moaned and moaned as he floated up off the floor.

"So what happened?" asked Kanji.

"Well it's like this, Lucas and Minato managed to defeat and seal Nyx away which caused the Dark Hour and Tartarus to cease, however we can't be somewhere that doesn't exist so we we teleported here by the light and because of several of us sleeping up here the hours flew by" said Mis.

"That is is the most logical explanation" said Pan.

"If you call that logical" said Rise.

"I've finished repairs on the ship thanks to Mitsuru, we can leave at anytime now" said Mint.

"That's great to know" said Flynn.

"Hey, all of our wounds have healed" said Rita.

Lucas looked at his arm, she was right, the wound he had received from a Shadow was gone completely.

"Of course, we received all of our wounds in the Dark Hour and seeing as it doesn't exits anymore then neither do our wounds" said Mis.

"Right, of course" said Mitsuru.

Minato and Soji then stepped forward and stood in front of Lyner and Maria.

"We would like to offer our assistance in any way possible, we would like to form a Pact with you two" said Minato.

Everyone except Lucas was shocked by this development but Lyner and Maria agreed and Lyner formed a Pact with Minato while Maria formed a Pact with Soji.

"Amazing, this power" said Lyner.

"Thank you" said Maria.

"No problem" said Soji.

"We'll get going, we have better things to do" said Ikuto.

"Got it" said Lucas.

"Oh and by the way, one day I want to have a match against you Lucas, I would like to see your Pacts vs ours" said Dante.

"You mean..." began Lucas.

It was too late however as they had already vanished, Lucas knew that he would see Ikuto, Rita, Makie and the others again, there were really hard to lose.

"We should follow their example and leave" said Shelke.

"Right, it was fun, we'll see ya around" said Mir.

"Yeah, see you later" said Fuuka.

"We'll meet again someday" said Ken.

Lucas and the others entered the ship and departed for the next world leaving everyone else on the roof.

"So your staying this time right?" asked Yukari.

"Yeah I am, thanks to them" said Minato.

Meanwhile

Michel informed Murder of the news, they had found another one of his siblings and they had everything they needed to brake the seal.

"Is it true, you found he?" asked Murder.

"We're confirming the location now but yes" said Michel.

"It won't be long now dear sister, we'll be together again soon" said Murder.

"Vulcanus is causing enough Chaos in his world to supply us with all that we need to restore you three to glory, however re have lost Takaya" said Michel.

"I know, Yagami killed him under my orders, he had fulfilled his purpose" said Murder.

"I understand however Nyx was also defeat by them, they are getting stronger" said Michel.

"I see, you are to go and make sure she is resurrected properly and if anyone gets in your way, friend or foe kill them" said Murder.

"Understood sir" said Michel.

Unknown to them was that Matt had been spying on their meeting and had heard every word.

"I see you're true motives now...so Light did it" thought Matt.

Aftermath

Hi I'm Joy

and I'm Project H, welcome to the Aftermath

So yet again we have an interesting chapter

Seems so" said Mitsuru.

Allow us to introduce this chapter's guest Mitsuru Kirijo from Persona 3

So any ideas as to what is going to happen next

The only thing I am allowed to say is that in the Next chapter Lucas will at some point dive with Mir" said Mitsuru.

Dive?

"You'll see, anyway the answer to the riddle is an Apple a day keeps the doctor away, huh funny" said Mitsuru.

Sure if you say so

"Anyway this chapter's riddle is what brakes but isn't breakable" said Mitsuru.

See ya next time