RAX : Hmm... I got nothin'. You're exact age will forever be a mystery, as will mine.
Now I know how Makoto/Minato feels.
Nightlyy : Death this, death that. Everyone will die! There's a Death Arcana! An evil entity called Death! A goddess that granted Death... So much Death...
Ultimate Kuuga : A dark fic doesn't ALWAYS have a great plot.
MinaxMina : Can't help those who don't think there's a problem/can be helped... No seriously, that's a real life lesson there.
clevernameeh : If Pharos could use a phone, he'd be worried. Luckily for Makoto, he can't.
Nugget O Awesome : ... Please don't say that again... The first part, I mean.. Please, don't.
Mr . Zero51 : Welcome. That's 'bout all I can say.
Also, I've decided to leave who joins me in the AN/s to a poll. I gave 4 options, Makoto/Minato, Pharos, Kotone, and the option to just keep me. I'll leave it up maybe a chapter or 2 after this.
Home (Makoto's Apartment)
"Minato!" Pharos shouted into his friend's ear to wake him up.
With a groan, Makoto very slowly woke up and at an even slower pace, he opened his left eye "I'm up... I'm up..."
The younger looking boy paused for a moment before saying "Minato, there's something important."
The bluenette suddenly went serious as any sleep left his eyes "What is it?"
"Another one of those shadows will appear again tonight," He warned his friend "I don't know where, yet..."
Makoto got off his bed and onto his feet "Let me know when you're ready tonight. I'll tear that thing a-fucking-sunder."
Pharos nodded satisfied. It was a little worrisome to see Makoto this excited over the prospect of killing something, but no one mourns a shadow. Besides, it wasn't because he was excited to kill, he was just happy to do something for his only friend.
School
Makoto did his usual and just sat through classes while zoning out and answering whatever he had to when he was called on. It really wasn't tricky. Oddly, most of the questions were more like parts of a trivia game more than anything, such as asking when numbers were invented.
He honestly wondered what the entire point of school was at this point. He never thought about it when he was still a child, but that was a long time ago.
Now, now he could see how pointless everything was in the grand scheme.
You learn a few things while you forget most of it, even acknowledging that it was a waste of time. That time just so happened to be most of your youth, almost all for nothing.
Besides, isn't living pointless to begin with? You're born, grow up, live for awhile, grow old, then die. Humans tend to live maybe 60 - 80 years, and are overall unimportant in the grande scheme of things really.
People try to make excuses for living, but they're only excuses that're extremely flawed.
Family? All organisms are programmed to try and preserve their genes, but all that does is throw more of them into the chaotic flux.
Happiness? What use is it if you just die anyway? No one will care if you were happy, sad, or bitter. You WILL die, and no one will remember you give it a few decades at most.
Everything in life is pointless if it all leads to the same end. Some may say that it's the journey that matters, but what use is a journey to the same conclusion? Especially since, like stated before, they won't remember you. Everyone forgets and moves on.
Was there something that he didn't know? Was there a concept that he has not yet grasped? Is there any explanation for anything?
Or did that die alongside Minato and the rest of his family all those years ago?
It was a question that had no answer. All Makoto could do was just slog through life as long as he could. Pharos wouldn't let him die, and if living was pointless then there was no harm for Makoto existing as long as Pharos wished it.
Besides, he still had an objective to complete...
That one objective was all he had. It was the closest thing he had for a reason to live.
Someone summoned the Devil and sold their soul that day, and now Makoto was playing the roll of the collector. Once that was done... Maybe he could die, satisfied with the life he had lived? Or maybe then, just then, he'd finally find an answer to his many questions.
Only time would tell... The infamous waiting game.
Home
Makoto sat on a chair and looked out his window from his apartment's living room.
Slowly, day began to turn to night as he just sat there motionless like a mannequin, remaining dead-silent the whole time.
The only sounds that could be heard from the room was the slow, but steady pace in which blood dropped from his left arm which he himself mutilated and into the bowl below to avoid any major mess.
He knew that anyone who saw this would instantly say he needed help, but he was beyond help at this point.
He did try, though... He tried talking to all those 'experts' that claimed to understand, but they didn't know a damn thing. No one knew him, he was nothing to them so they were nothing to him.
He didn't give up on the world, the world gave up on him a long time ago. He'd been left to rot and suffer, it'd reached the point where he was alive simply because he had a pulse, not because he was 'living'.
And so, he regularly did this to himself. He had to experience the pain so he could remember that he wasn't dead or in some twisted after life. And since he had Pharos, there was no risk of him ever dying to this either.
Of course, he always felt very cold when he did this to himself. While the blood was replaced, his body couldn't adjust to the constant loss and resupply quickly enough to keep him as his usual self, instead he just sat where he was cold and motionless.
Despite him doing this to himself, he didn't actually enjoy it. He just desperately needed some form of confirmation that he was still alive, though, neither he nor Pharos knew what answer he wanted.
Eventually, the Dark Hour settled in and the wound on his arm instantly healed, this time fully closing the injury.
As soon as this happened, despite his body still needing to adjust to the massive blood loss/resupply, he just stood back on his feet and nearly fell multiple times as he got the disguise he typically wore when he went out now.
It didn't take long for his body to adjust to the new blood once the wound was closed. After all, technically it was his blood that he was given by Pharos, it just couldn't keep up with the constant drainage.
As soon as he got his disguise on, he turned to Pharos who had been trying all day to avoid thinking about his friend's destructive habits. Sadly, it might've been the few things that kept him functioning, so Pharos kept his objection silent even though he knew that Makoto would stop if he asked
"Where to?" Makoto asked, ready to tear whatever shadow got in his way to pieces.
"A monorail at Port Island Station." The mysterious boy answered.
Tracks
Walking on the tracks, Makoto very easily found the train with the help of Pharos.
Suspiciously, the doors were wide open despite it being nowhere near a station for about another 10 minutes.
"I think it's a trap." Pharos warned as he stared at the train with his friend
"Of course it is." Makoto responded with a sigh. The shadow was in the train, so there was no way to get it without playing by it's rules.
Then, he heard footsteps coming from his left.
"Shit.." He muttered as he used a Garu spell to get on top of the train and receded to lie on his stomach as quietly as possible as he listened in.
Surprisingly enough, SEES decided to stick their noses into this too. From what he could hear from below, Mitsuru sensed the shadow and decided to send Kotone, Yukari, and Junpei to take care of it.
Then, he heard someone start climbing only to stop abruptly "Don't look up." That sounded like Yukari
Makoto nearly slammed his head Why would you go first, you moron?!
After that, he heard the rest climb inside the train... Followed almost instantly by the doors slamming themselves shut.
Makoto stood up "Well... Shit." They managed to walk straight into a trap and now he had to find his own way in.
Considering all the easy ways in were gone anyway, he decided to start running from the rail car he was on to the one in the front where the shadow was.
After running and jumping onto the top of a few of the cars, the entire thing just started moving at full speed.
The boy was caught completely off guard by the sudden speed that he lost his footing and practically bounced on the rail cars as the acceleration forced him almost all the way back before he could get a grip on the edge of one of them.
Barely hanging on, the bluenette knew he had to act fast. He was right by a closed door, he just had to forced the thing open.
Risking his life by letting one of his arms go and allowing a sword to materialize (another great gift from his personas), he jammed it right in between the doors that held it shut.
Using all of his strength, he forced onside partly open and proceeded to let go of the edge of the train and rely solely on the doors to keep him from falling off the train.
With his hands between the doors and his sword having dematerialized, he used everything he had to force those doors open. Whatever shadow caused them to shut, did not have any intention of letting any him in.
But, he wasn't the only one.
Thanatos appeared behind Makoto, and he himself helped force those doors open which let the boy in with ease.
Makoto looked back, smiling underneath his scarf. Thanatos was just another one of Pharos' many gifts and was even a part of both of them in a way.
"You're too big for this place, boy." The bluenette warned, careful to keep his voice extremely low so that no one else could hear him should them be in the vicinity "Don't worry, I got this." With that, The Bringer Of Death faded away.
He was about to simply continue moving forward, but he was stopped when he heard to familiar voices shout
"You!"
He looked back and saw SEES approaching him. Actually, it was only the girls... Where the hell was Junpei?
"How'd you get here?" Yukari asked. Junpei hurt his fingers trying to slightly squeeze through the gasps, so what about him?
Rather than answer, Makoto opted to just stare blankly as a signal that she wasn't going to get an answer.
"We can worry about that later." Kotone dismissed, knowing there were bigger problems "Look, we're in this together. So like or not, we need to work together."
Makoto tilted his head and outstretched his arms sightly to signal that he needed more info
"The train is about to collide with another train!" Kotone screamed, seemingly more angry than scared "To top it off, our teammate Junpei decided to be a moron and charge ahead."
The redhead looked straight into the boy's dimly glowing eyes, her expression was dead-serious almost like she was a different person right now "The shadow causing this is in the front car, so unless you wanna die, you need to work with us. Got it?"
Not seeing any reason to object, he nodded silently. This was a perfect opportunity to see them fight.
"Then let's go!" With that, the three of them began to run as fast as they could through the various cars
"Do you have a weapon?" Yukari asked as they ran
Makoto reached out his right arm and once again allowed a sword to materialize in his hand. She seemed satisfied by that response.
Soon, they found Junpei who was (poorly) fighting 3 shadows all at once.
"I-I got this!" He declared before one of them pushed him back.
Makoto sighed, this was actually painful to watch.
Without saying a word, he walked to Junpei who had just gotten back on his feet and pulled him back.
Then a black flame spread throughout the blade of the boy's sword. Even if he couldn't summon Thanatos, he could still channel his persona's power(s)
Makoto followed this with a single horizontal strike and a wave of black flame incinerated the shadows instantly.
"Hey, I had it under-" This was followed by a slap from Kotone
"In case you haven't noticed, the train is fucking moving!" She pointed out which made Junpei look out
"Holy shit, when'd that happened?!" He must've been so engrossed in the fight that he was distracted to such an extent that he didn't even notice the train started to move.
As much as he'd love to watch them bicker, Makoto was quite aware of the time they had, and quickly stomped his foot to get their attention while tapping his wrist as if he was wearing a watch.
"I'll kick your ass later, let's stop this train" Kotone ordered, not wanting to waste time as they ran for it again.
Makoto had to admit, he was a little surprised that this was the same girl that annoyed the hell outta him in school.
After going through another car, they finally reached the front car where a large shadow awaited them.
This one was very feminine, with the letters B and J on her breast. The entirety of the shadow was black and white, with the roman numeral for "2" on it's face identifying this one was a Priestess.
"What the hell?!" Junpei exclaimed, shocked by the sudden appearance of the shadow
Priestess, however, had no such hesitation. The cold chill of an ice spell known to persona users as a 'Bufu' spell was approaching.
"Jack Frost!" Kotone exclaimed as she fired her gun-like object.
Surprising Makoto, an entirely different persona than the one he had see her use before came out and seemingly blocked the Bufu spell entirely.
The bluenette just stood and watched as SEES attacked.
From his observations, he quickly learned that Yukari was very fragile but an excellent healer and specialized in Garu spells. Junpei was a heavy hitter and specialized in both physical and fire otherwise known as Agi based attacks.
Kotone was... Whatever she wanted to be. She could freely switch personas just like Makoto could, something that piqued the boy's interest a great deal.
His passivity didn't go unnoticed, however.
Yukari looked back and glared "Would you DO something already?!" she screamed before summoning her persona to heal Junpei again
The boy sighed again as he put his sword away, it was time to end this.
He reached his right arm out and glared at the Priestess who took notice of him and glared back.
Die... He thought as a mass of dark energy appeared behind him before taking the form of spike which tore the shadow apart piece by piece. When he said to Pharos that he'd tear it asunder, he meant it quite literally.
Within seconds, the shadow was gone. Even without Thanatos' help, Makoto was still above whatever the shadows could throw at him.
Junpei slouched as he sighed "Glad that's over."
Yukari gasped as she looked out the window "Wait, we're still moving!" she pointed out "We're going to fast!"
Makoto just stood quietly. He'd gotten what he wanted and Pharos would prevent him from dying. Besides, they walked into this trap to begin with.
Yukari and Junpei's screamed filled the air as Mitsuru screamed on the comms (that miraculously worked) that the train was about to collide with another one.
...
...
...
Then, the train suddenly stopped.
Junpei and Yukari looked up and saw that Kotone had pulled the breaks while Makoto just stood there was if nothing had happened.
Not even wanting to hear what they have to say, Makoto left the moment the train stopped and walked away with his hands in his pockets and his head down. They weren't his team, so whatever they had to say wasn't his business...
"Hey!" But apparently Kotone wasn't done with him.
The boy stopped and waited for the girl to reach him, and then let her caught her breath before letting her speak
"I never got a chance to say this before, but thanks for saving me that one time." She thanked, seemingly going back to her usual demeanor
Makoto's eye widened slightly and he blinked rapidly from surprise. He didn't expect that one.
"I.. Take it you know who we are, right?" She asked him, she'd already heard about him from Mitsuru earlier
He nodded silently.
"I know who you are... don't I?" She asked which caused Makoto's heart to sink "That's why you're giving the silent treatment, right."
Makoto tilted his head, slumped his shoulders, and gave a look his eyes that said 'Really?'
Kotone laughed a bit "Yeah, I guess that is a dumb question, isn't it." she acknowledged the stupidity of the question "Well... Bye." Then, she left to regroup with her team.
He shook his head before turning around and continuing his way home. He still had enough time to make it home before the Dark Hour ends.
"Weird ass girl." Makoto said to his friend who was with him wherever he went
"I think she's nice." Pharos gave his honest opinion of the girl
"Whatever." He dismissed. The boy didn't need anyone else in his life... It all ends the same way, after all.
I think I'd like to see her again later.
"Yeah, Yeah, Pharos." Makoto said as he rolled his eyes
"I... Didn't say anything." Pharos said, clearly confused by what he just said
"Huh?" Makoto looked all around him. He knew he heard something, but the only ones there were him and Pharos.
"What the fuck?"
... I got nothing to say. Makoto/Minato is kinda OP as fuck right now. Like I said, Death is at least around god-tier and he's in Makoto/Minato. Deadly combination. Or better yet, it's a Deadly Alliance!
