*Yawn* Goddamn, I need to sleep more.

Is sleep all you care about?

Well, there's pizza.

You're unbelievable.

What's Pharos up to?

Hmm... So her choice of color is white?

Oh, come on!

Is that ALL you do?

... I also to play board games.

Well, that's something, right?

clevernameeh : Alright, here's something for everyone : To ask me to do something isn't pressuring me. If you ask for longer chapters, i understand. There's no need to worry about pressuring me, alright? Just relax guys.

nobodyreallyimportant : Guess what? You're an important example.

To leave a request/suggestion is alright. As long as you don't insult/threaten/demand anything, it's alright. That is the point of reviews, is it not?

See? Even Death itself understands... I really hope that didn't sound dick-ish of me. Anyhow, the reason I tend to put the actual numbers instead is because you can't misspell the symbol for a number, but you can misspell the word for a number.

MOR the Divine Being : There's a reason, just trust me.

Nightlyy : Too bad Makoto's hormones are either broken/non-existent. He'd have quality fap material in no time.

What's fapping?

That's... some R rated stuff there.

But aren't you younger than me?

Chronologically? Yes. Mentally? No, not even close.


Home

"Hmm, hmm, hmm-hmm-hmm, hmm..." Makoto hummed to himself as he disassembled his spare Evoker. Now that he had a spare, he didn't need to worry about breaking the thing should he be forced to fight during the Dark Hour undisguised.

The thing may have looked like a gun, but it sure wasn't assembled like one.

"Are you making any progress?" Pharos asked as he lied on his back on the same table

"Casing's being a real bitch." Makoto replied before cracking his knuckled and trying again. "Almost... And..." There was what could only be described as a popping sound as the casing finally gave way.

Finally. Makoto thought as he felt the strange sensation he felt from the 'gun' amplify by ten. When he checked to see what was inside, he saw a small feather-like crystal inside of it.

"Whoa..." Makoto whispered as he found himself almost being mesmerized by the glowing crystal

"I remember this..." Pharos said as he moved closer and examined the crystal as well "I believe it's called a... Plume of Dusk."

That so..? Makoto thought as he continued to look at the crystal. Slowly, he reached out for the feather-like crystal and grasped in with a finger and thumb.

"It... Feels weird." It was hard for him to describe what it was like to actually touch the Plume. It was as if he was touching nothing at all, yet somehow feeling something solid between his fingers at the same time.

Then, there was a knock on his door.

"Who is it?" Makoto looked at his old friend who nodded before walking through the door.

"It's her." Pharos answered from the other side, his voice always finding its way to reaching Makoto and Makoto only.

"Come in!" Makoto shouted as he put the crystal back where it previously was.

"Hello~" Kotone greeted as she opened the door and stepped inside "What're you doin'?"

"Seeing what's inside one of those Evokers of yours." Makoto answered as he stared at the exposed components. Outside of the crystal, there wasn't all that much noteworthy about the thing. It had some sort of mechanism that triggered the plume to allow the summoning of personas, but even that on its own wasn't too much.

"Ooh, let me see." She said as she walked over and looked down at the table next to the boy. Kotone never really question what the inside of an Evoker looked like before, only caring about its use to summon personas "Um... Okay, I don't have any idea what I'm looking at."

He pointed at the crystal "That right there, from what I can gather, is what makes the whole thing work." He explained "It's called a Plume of Dusk."

"And you know this because..?" He was saying things even she knew nothing about. She knew that he must've had some sort of way of getting inside information, but how?

"That's for me to know." He avoided answering the question as he put the casing back where it was supposed to be.

"Fair enough." It only made sense that he wouldn't want to share all of his secrets so soon. Especially since Mitsuru was probably trying to find out for herself.

Makoto yawned and stretched his arms before standing up and facing the redheaded girl "Alright, what do you want to do?"

"I dunno." She answered with a shrug. Once again, finding places to go was more of something her links decided rather than her

"Too bad, your choice this time." He said as he leaned against the table. He picked last time, so naturally it was her turn now.

"Game of fairness, eh?" Kotone asked as she thought to herself "Uh... Wanna grab a bite?"

"Fine, but I'm not making anything." He said with certainty which caused the girl to make a pouty face "What? Even if I wanted to, I don't have anything."

"Never in my life have I heard anything sadder." She muttered to herself while crying inside as the two (plus Pharos) left, Makoto scratching the back of his head in confusion as Pharos sighed woefully at the fact that Kotone was wearing shorts beneath her skirt again.


Iwatodai Station

Deciding to go to a place called 'Wild-Duck Burger' the two (once again, plus Pharos) sat down at a table as Pharos did his usual crowd watching.

Kotone was digging into her fries not noticing Makoto smiling. He wasn't smiling at her, but rather a distant memory that had happened a very long time ago, but refuses to leave his mind in its entirety.

She eats so much like you, doesn't she Minako? He thought, she always liked to stuff her face. Not that he could blame her, especially when their mother made something for them ; If Minato was a master at cooking, then his mother was god-like in comparison.

But none of that mattered anymore. Minako was gone, and so was their mother and their father. They'd be gone for a very long time.

"Whoa..." Makoto shook his head and snapped out of his daze as he looked at a seemingly flabbergasted Kotone "Y-You just smiled... Not one used to mock people either. You actually smiled for once... At me?"

"It wasn't you." Makoto denied as he looked away "You... You remind me of someone I knew from a very long time ago. She liked to stuff her face too."

"Ooh, did the mean, mean Makoto-kun have a crush?" She teased as a smirk formed on her face

"No, it was nothing like that." He denied again, knowing full well she had no idea who he was talking about. And how could she? He'd found a way to edit his file a long time ago after biological relatives stopped wasting their time on him so that no one knew about her, something that was easy to do since he was a nobody so no one could catch on.

Of course, he kept the fact he was an orphan in for obvious reasons. It was still enough to allow rumors to circulate from whatever school he attended to the next, but he was beyond caring at this point.

"Change the subject..." He said as he looked back at her. This was different from last time when he was possessed by an uncontrollable rage. He seemed to actually be pleading with her, as if he was being put through some sort of torture so horrible that he couldn't even get angry anymore "Please, change it... Anything, Anything else. Anything but this."

Kotone instantly nodded her head as her smile faded away almost instantaneously. She may have wanted to know more about him, hell, maybe even convince him to join SEES some day if he's willing, but she wasn't going to torture him.

"You decide." She decided to play it safe. If he was the one who decided what it was, then there wasn't a lot of room for an error like her last screw up, right?

Makoto hunched over slightly and looked at his arms that were crossed on the table.

"What was your first time during the Dark Hour like?" He asked as he looked back at her "Judging by how you walked through it easily when you got here, I'd assume it wasn't your first time."

"Not much to say... One night I stayed up late and freaked out for an hour until it went away..." Kotone laughed nervously before something he said caught her attention "Wait, you were there on the train when I arrived?"

"I arrived on the same train." Makoto admitted, not seeing much of a reason to hide it. He already shared that he'd known about the Dark Hour for about 10 years, so there wasn't much to be afraid of "To be honest... I thought you'd die."

Makoto seemed to look off into the distance as he looked very confused "Is... That bad?" he asked "I expected you to die as soon as a shadow found you, and I didn't care. To be honest, I don't even get why death is so terrifying to people. It's just as much of living as actually living is, right?"

"That's two questions in one, which one do you want an answer to?" Kotone asked back as she looked at the boy with a dead-serious look in her eyes.

"I don't know." He knew this was wrong. He shouldn't be talking about any of this, but the voice's whispers just kept him going and his will to resist continued to wane.

"Answer this : Do you actually want to die?"

"I can't kill myself if that's what you're thinking." He dismissed the thought. In truth, he'd tried when he was still a boy a few times, but Pharos refused to let it be "My regeneration is automatic, it'll heal me not matter what I want."

"That's not an answer."

"It's the only answer I know how to give." Makoto didn't sound like his usual self, either. His tone wasn't the same as yesterday which gave off an oddly calming aura in a way, instead he just seemed... Lost for some reason.

"Are you okay?" She asked, honestly starting to be extremely concerned for his state of being.

He looked down again and said nothing. Over and over, she just kept asking questions he didn't have an answer to. Did he want to die? Did he want to live? He knew he wanted to kill anyone involved with what happened, but what then?

What was it that he truly wanted deep down?

"Can I go?" He asked, still looking down as his arms "I'm sorry, but... I just can't stay here. I-I... I have to go, please..." Once again, he seemed to be pleading with her again. It was seeming like he'd been locked in a torture room that only she could let him out of.

Without hesitation, Kotone nodded "Yes." She couldn't say no to that. She didn't care about anything else, she just wanted to stop tormenting the poor boy. He may have been a dick at times, but that wasn't an excuse to torture him.

"Thank you..." He thanked as he virtually ran out of the restaurant and likely back to his home

"I'm sorry..." Kotone whispered as she looked down. She'd hoped that doing this would help him, not hurt him even more. She fully expected her link to reverse again or shatter completely, but instead it seemed to get even stronger as did her understanding of him.

Did that mean, Makoto wasn't angry at her?


Home

"ARGH!" Makoto screamed as he slammed his head against the hard kitchen counter as hard as he could. He felt his ears ring as a concussion undoubtedly formed, but was promptly healed by Pharos as the latter sadly watched his friend's breakdown.

"DAMMIT!" He screamed as he slammed his head again. His blood was boiling in anger again, he was even more furious than what had happened during Kotone's little screw up a few weeks ago.

This time, however, his ire wasn't directed at her. Instead, it was focused purely on himself for everything he'd just said to the girl.

Why did he say any of that?! All he had to do was say enough to indulge her and be done with it.

But no, he went off and ran his mouth. Fortunately, he didn't say anything that could've called into question anything he'd previously said at the moment, that that's was just it : At the moment. How long would it be before his screw up lead to actual problems?!

Then, Makoto took of his shirt and threw t across the room before marching off into the bathroom. After all, blood doesn't wash out of clothing very well.

Makoto glared at his reflection from the mirror. His eyes were glowing dim blue from his emotional stress, his face wasn't just one of ire but of pure disgust, and his lip had traces of blood from times he had repeatedly bit his lip.

The boy lifted his right hand which had been brandishing a knife the entire time.

Taking one last look in disgust of himself, he jabbed the knife into the left side of his chest. Then, he pulled the knife out and stabbed his chest again, and then one last time. In doing so, he completely severed all the arteries that were connected to his heart. If he was normal, he'd have died a slow and agonizing death.

But Makoto was far from a normal person.

Now holding his knife in a reverse grip, he continued to repeatedly stab his arm over and over as his blood sprout and gush blood which poured down the drain of his sink. One he stabbed the limb so much that he completely lost feeling in the limb even with Pharos' healing, he turned his attention back to his torso.

Over and over he stabbed his himself and caused multiple laceration as penance for his stupidity.

By the time it was all over, Makoto was almost completely covered in his own blood.

Pharos stood on the other side of the wall in the other room. This was far, far worse than anything he'd ever done to himself before. Over and over, Makoto continued to hurt himself on the assurance that none of it could possibly kill him.

At which point, Pharos began to wonder, was he even helping him anymore? What else could he do?

He knew that Makoto would do anything he'd ask, but what was the right thing to do? If he didn't do this, then what else would he do? Go to Tartarus and essentially do the same thing?

The little boy lowered his head and kept his silence. He made a vow to protect Makoto from any threats he faced and help him achieve his goal, but was that even the right decision anymore?

What was he supposed to do?

...

...

"We're heading out." Makoto who had cleaned himself up and dressed himself in a new set of clothes said.

"To Tartarus?" Pharos asked as he blinked, this was everything he was afraid of. He knew that he shouldn't let him and that he had the power to stop him easily... But no matter what, he just couldn't bring himself to do it.

"Pretty much, not like I have anything to worry about as long as you're with me." Makoto said confidently as he left his apartment with an Evoker in his pocket.

SEES knowing he had an Evoker and knowing that he was a persona user made things easier for him.

If he was caught by SEES without his disguise, then he was simply visiting Tartarus despite them telling him not to. If they weren't or SEES was running late, then he simply don his disguise and explore Tartarus with Thanatos.


Streets

Makoto walked silently down the streets with his head down and earphone on as the world continued as usual.

Of course, it being late night meant that some of Port Island's more unsavory inhabitants came out to play, but none of them concerned him. After all, anything they dished out would be returned one-hundred fold as soon as they became coffins.

Still, for the most part he was able to get away during the normal hours without any trouble.

But, as the Dark Hour set in and Makoto continued, he began to hear footsteps that weren't his. From the sound of it, it was a group of multiple people but too small to be SEES which now had 6 members.

"We're being followed." Pharos warned as he glared behind the bluenette

"I know." Makoto replied as he stopped walking and waited for the footsteps to approach him. And from the shadows came a group of persona users that he hadn't seen ever since April.

"Greetings." Takaya greeted as he held his five-shot revolver in his hand.

"What the hell do you want?" Makoto asked using his normal voice which was different enough from the voice he used when talking to them before to avoid any suspicion.

"I suppose we really should get down to business..." Takaya said as Jin walked forward and held up something "This is your name, is it not?"

Makoto squinted as he looked closer, true to what he said, that was him. He'd heard about some revenge site where someone could simply pay money and give a name, and vengeance would be theirs.

Perhaps letting all those punks go when he destroyed one of their faces wasn't such a great idea. One of them must've done some digging and coughed up enough cash to get pay back against him.

And, as annoying as it was, Strega might know more about certain topics than SEES does or an amnesiac Pharos. Meaning, he had to keep them alive even though they now sought to kill him.

Furthermore, due to the duel personas of his, he had to stick with Orpheus to fight them without killing them.

Makoto quietly glared at Strega as one thing came to his mind.

Well, shit.


Is it just me, or did the punks never seeking any form of vengeance feel a little annoying? I know empty threats are a common thing, but come on! Anything?

Oh, I remember them! Didn't I break the legs of one of them before setting him on fire? God, that was a legendary moment for me.

You're rather violent.

Yes, yes I am.

Anyhow, hope you enjoyed Kotone getting closer to this fucked u bluenette... Followed immediately by his breakdown and self-punishment. Yeah, there's something deeply wrong with him, more than any of you know.

By the way, I don't know if I've said this before but holy shit! Goddamn this fic has gotten popular fast. Did I make a deal with Satanael? Holy shit, this is already my 2nd most viewed story (though, that's not saying much now that I think about it) and it already has 43 favs and 74 follows! What the fuck did I do to deserve this?!

P.S, you guys are awesome. Please, continue to be awesome and review since I'm a review hound.