*continues to hide in cover*

Pf, weak.

Nightlyy: Congrats, I defied all expectations!

You asshole!

Hehe...

Blahblahblech: Uh... Okay, that's uh... Ew.

Least someone here has some decency.

Guest: Shit happened... Also, I heard scrolling down to read helps.

Hey, don't be a dick!

You made the last chapter, shut the fuck up.

Raze Olympus: Fuck you, fuck-face!

I'm starting to wonder if I was as insane as I thought back in AT.

T. E. K. 1996: Who knows? Ai-chan is Ai-chan.

Heart-chan: That makes him... hot? I... Don't know how, but I'll just do myself a favor and not question it.

The power of love better prevail!

The power of love is bullshit!

Agreed. Now the power of swords and violence, that's where the money's at!

omegazero2718: Who's that?

...

...

A bitch...


Home

With her legs moving faster than she even knew they could, Kotone rushed over to a familiar building until she was greeted by a familiar door.

Just like the rumor said, the entire door looked frosted despite it still being September never mind inside an air conditioned building. Even with the door acting as a barrier, she couldn't help but shiver as she felt the cold air leaking from the cracks that felt like what someone would feel during the coldest of blizzards.

Right when she was about to reach for the knob, Kotone heard a loud "STAY AWAY!" Before an invisible force suddenly pushed her so hard onto her back that she slid on the tile floor from one end of the room to the other, and only stopping when she hit the wall.

"Argh, dammit..." Kotone muttered curses as she slowly got back on her feet. "What're you doing to him, you bastard?"

"Reminding him of something he's forgotten because of you." Kotone looked back at the door and saw the frost begin to spread from the door to other parts of the building, but even with all the spread it was focused on spread towards her.

Being wary of how slippery the floor must be now, Kotone carefully placed her steps to avoid falling over as she made her way towards the door.

"I. Said. NO!" Another sudden push flew Kotone into the wall on her left. It was at this point that she began to wonder if the neighbors were gone or if their doors had frosted shut or something.

Kotone shook her head as she tried to regain her bearings, but a sound she would never forget for the rest of her life echoed in her ears "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

That wasn't just a scream... It sounded like someone in perpetual agony.

People don't just scream like that when they were in pain... What was that thing doing to him?!

"Minato!" Kotone rushed over to the door as fast as she could which caused her to fall forward more than a few times to the slick frosted floor, but eventually she managed to make.

The moment she touched the doorknob, Kotone's hand instinctively recoiled in pain. The knob wasn't just frosted; it was so cold that her nerves made it feel like it actually burned.

As she shook her hand to shake off the pain, she heard more thrashing from inside and what sounding like thrashing and whimpering. There was also a banging sound that was beginning to repeat over and over... Was he hitting his head on the wall now?!

"Ah, fuck it!" Kotone exclaimed as she bit her lip and tried to push the pain in her hands to the back of her mind as she tried to open the door, but found it stuck.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Kotone muttered as she attempted to force the door open by ramming it in.

BANG!

BANG!

Over and over she rammed her shoulder into the door, slipping and hitting her head on the door frame more than a few times.

"Leave..." Pharos demanded again after Kotone slipped on the icy floor again and her entire body hit the ground with a thud.

"Go fuck yourself..." Even still, the redhead got back on her feet and gripped the doorknob again despite her burning sensation that was surging throughout her hands. "I am not leaving him!"

Kotone rammed her shoulder into the door one more time and the door finally gave way.

The moment the door finally opened, the forward momentum that she had built caused the redhead to fall to the ground.

If the air outside felt like the coldest blizzard, then inside felt like it was almost absolute zero. Just being here for just a few seconds left her shivering and her breath leaving a crystal clear trail every time she exhaled and her lungs screamed at her in irritation every time she inhaled.

She looked up and finally saw him.

Blood covered the walls like a new coat of paint, the floors were stained a deep crimson, and the room was a complete mess as if everything had been thrown around.

But none of that compared to the boy himself.

Like the room itself his clothes and skin were either stained red or covered in the crimson liquid, he still had several unhealed lacerations from the torture that began as soon as the sun rose, his body was so badly damaged he looked like he was on that thin line between life and death.

Despite the wounds, he remained bundled into a ball slowly rocking back and forth while covering his ears and muttering words under his breath.

Upon seeing this, Kotone quickly began running to the boy again. "Minato!"

The moment she approached him and touched his shoulders, just like with the mental assault by Lovers he whimpered and began to push her away like a child "No more! No more! No more!"

"Minato, stop! Stop it!" She pushed away his weak flails and kicks as he brought himself to the corner of the room.

The boy's weak protest and resistance continued as Kotone continued to try and reach out to him. In his current state, it was impossible to even tell if it was Makoto or Minato in control.

"It's me! It's me!" Kotone tried desperately to reach out to him. She forcing her way past all of his weak attempts to push her away and cupped her hands around his face which caused him to squeeze his eyes shut.

"It's okay. It's okay." She whispered softly to the trembling boy. What did Pharos do to him these past few days?

Minato/Makoto slowly opens his eyes and look at the girl in front of him. All he saw was an image of Kotone with her left eye gouged out, blood trickling down both sides of her face like tears, her skin looked grey as if it had begun to decompose, and there were various patches of exposed muscle and bone all of which were bleeding heavily.

With another scream, Minato/Makoto closed his eyes again as he felt arms wrap around him and brought him to the only source of warmth he had felt for the past week.

Can't... can't take it anymore. Makoto's thoughts repeated throughout his mind. Pharos knew just the right buttons to push and just where his pressure points were.

He... He dared... Minato's felt anger replace any pain he may have felt inside. After what just happened he wasn't strong enough to do anything right now, but he knew where his stance was with Pharos.

Makoto was never his friend; he was his obsession under the guise of friendship. Whether he knew it or not, Pharos' biggest priority was making sure Makoto stayed his and his alone now.

Kotone reached for her phone, but just like the lights, her phone had stopped working due to Pharos' supernatural presence.

"Dammit..." Kotone cursed as she grabbed his school blazer that was luckily on the floor next to them and forced it on Minato/Makoto before zipping it up to conceal the most obvious blood stains.

"Come on, we're leaving!" Kotone grabbed his right arm and wrapped it around her shoulder to help him stand up. Whatever Pharos did to him, it left him a complete mess.

"He's right there..." Minato/Makoto warned, though his voice was only coming out as a whisper now. He opened his eyes and turned his head in the direction of where the boy stood glaring.

Kotone followed his gaze, but she still saw nothing, but she could still something in the center of the room. She suddenly felt a strong feeling of pressure begin to settle throughout the entire room and she could swear that it was somehow getting colder with him as the source.

"I will kill you."

Kotone scoffed as she carried Minato/Makoto out. Bringing him to a hospital would make him a living health hazard, so there was only one place she could think of...

"Want me? Come and get me, you little bastard."


Dorm

After sticking to the many alleyways and moving only when the crowds were mostly dispersed, the two juniors finally made it to the dormitory.

Like the loyal friend he was, Koromaru came to the entrance as soon as the door opened with his tail wagging until he saw Minato/Makoto's condition.

"Yeah, bad things happened, Koro-chan." Kotone explained vaguely "I'm gonna bring him upstairs, alright?"

Naturally, the dog didn't raise any objections, but even the canine felt something... off. Most of SEES' members had left for school while Shinjiro had decided to shop for some of the dorms essentials, but...

Koromaru titled his head in confusion. Why did he feel like there was another person here?

...

"There..." Kotone gently set Minato/Makoto on her bed. It was better to keep him close now more than ever.

The boy lowered his head for a moment to indicate a personality shift before raising his head again "You shouldn't have brought me here."

"Huh?" Was he serious? Did he want her to leave him there in that frozen hell? "What else was I supposed to do?! You would've d—"

"Died? Pf..." Makoto chuckled weakly while shaking his head, sounding almost as if he was completely neutral about his current circumstances "He won't kill me. Actually, maybe it'd be more appropriate if I said he can't kill me."

Makoto sighed as his blue-grey eyes met her crimson red ones. "If I go, then there's a chance he will too. And even if that isn't the case, he still wouldn't."

Kotone frowned as she moved forward and unzipped his jacket to reveal his blood soaked shirt with freshly healed cuts—

Wait, what?

Makoto chuckled again when he noticed the confusion evident in her eyes "Told ya, he won't let me die."

Kotone unbuttoned his shirt to confirm what she was seeing, and true enough, the only marks there were the scars that he had gained during his scuffles with Sakuya.

"B-But, how… Why would he…"

Makoto sighed as he relaxed his back against the wall adjacent to the bed "I did tell you that he didn't like you." He reminded her before chuckling to himself "Funny thing is that he was supporting at first, but I guess he couldn't stand me not having him as the center of my world."

Makoto kicked off his shoes before curling into a ball "I don't know what to do now."

"Hey, don't worry, alright?" She spoke gently as she scooted next to him to the point their shoulders touched and she wrapped one arm around him "I won't let him hurt you."

"That's not what I'm worried about…" Makoto shook his head that remained buried beneath his arms and legs "… He's going to hurt you. He'll hurt you just like he hurt them."

"What are you talking about?" Makoto raised his head again, but kept it hanging as he couldn't stand to look at her lest he risk losing his nerve.

"He's the one that killed my family." Makoto explained "He's not a demon by the way, he is—Or maybe it'd be was—A shadow that was sealed inside my guts."

Makoto closed his eyes as he remembered that fateful day "I hated him… I hated him for a long time. But at the end of the day, he was all I had left. Pretty pathetic, right?"

Rather than answering, Makoto felt a sudden tug from the arm wrapped around him which forced him out of his little ball and into a full blown embrace.

Kotone held onto him tightly with her arms squeezing him like she was afraid that he would somehow disappear if she let go. "Don't ever say that again!" she demanded "God, you're such an idiot! You'd just lost everything; Of course you wanted someone with you. If only I had met you sooner, I…"

Makoto wanted to say something in response, but he instead opted to rest his head on her shoulder. He had spent almost a week in a freezing room, so it was nice to have something warm next to him again.

Kotone kept holding onto him unwilling to let go no matter how tired her arms may have gotten. She knew that he had been left cold for a long time…. A cold she only felt by one other person.

"You're the hooded boy, aren't you?" She asked bluntly, but still kept a tight hold on him.

"And I'm the one that killed Ikutsuki…" Makoto admitted any alarm in his head had gone silent in his mentally and emotionally weakened state "… He wanted to betray you, you know?"

"Huh?" Kotone finally pulled back to look at him in confusion, but the look in his eyes told her that everything he was saying was as true as the fact that he loved her.

"Had a recording on my phone too, but I guess I can't show it to you now." He chuckled weakly, remembering the fact that his phone had been left back in his apartment. "I used it as blackmail to learn a few things. Turns out, he was the one that handled Strega's and Sakuya's projects."

Kotone took a few moments to blink and process this. Ikutsuki was the one who had told them to eliminate the full moon shadows as well as the one who supplied them with most of what they knew on shadows, but now he was telling her that he was not old planning to betray them, but also the one who was the head of some of Kirijo's most immoral projects?

At the same time, how did Ikutsuki learn everything that he knew? Whenever he said something as fact, he never explained himself as Mitsuru trusted him seemingly more than anyone else on the team. More so, he always seemed to get excited whenever another shadow appeared and he didn't even seem to care too much when Junpei was captured by Chidori.

"Alright, I… I trust you." Kotone slowly nodded as the boy kept his eyes locked on her "But… Why were you so brutal?"

"It happens whenever I use too much Pharos' power." He answered as he began to hear growling from the back of his mind "I haven't even used a tenth of what I can really do. Hell, if it wasn't for the two-man lock we have I never would've even come close to dying that one time."

Makoto's eyes drifted off to the side as he spotted the date on the calendar "Heh, funny…"

"What about this is funny?" Kotone asked, genuinely starting to wonder if Makoto was losing whatever was left of his mind now.

"September twenty-fifth." Makoto pointed out "That was the day they died, but something else too; don't you remember?"

Kotone let out a small and short titter the moment she understood what he was referring to "Happy seven-teenth birthday, Minato."

Seeing the clear exhaustion in his eyes, Kotone laced her fingers at the back of his head and pulled him forward onto her chest "I'd offer another long night, but I think you'd like this more."

Makoto groaned weakly as he settled his head on her bosom and closed his eyes "You know, considering I'm a borderline sociopath at time; I think you might need to work on your taste in men."

Kotone giggled again "Oh, shut up and go to sleep." She whispered as she began to comb his hair with her fingers.

"Promise me something…" Makoto bit his lip almost sounding afraid to finish that sentence.

"Whatever you want, Blue."

"… Don't die. Just… Don't leave me here alone again."

Kotone tightened her embrace as much as she possibly could as she also closed her eyes "Heh. The only thing that'll kill me is old age with you beside me."

As much as he tried to fight it, Makoto couldn't help but let out a snicker "Lot of confidence for someone you've only been with for a week."

"Call it true love." Kotone claimed as she leaned her head forward until she was right next to his ear "Minato, I love you."

Pharos watched silently in the corner of the room as his friend drifted off to sleep in the arms of that redheaded bitch.

Makoto wasn't in the right state of mind anymore because of her, and thus she must pay the price. Once, he thought a non-violent approach to stopping Makoto's suffering was preferable, but now he sees that doing this the way they had originally intended was the only way that it would end with Makoto's true self intact.

All he had to do now was to wait for a few hours. As soon as SEES returned, then it would be time to end this once and for all. One way or another, Makoto was going to be his and only his.


There! Last chapter's end was just Makoto hallucinating! Christ, no need to threaten me guys!

THE POWER LOVE!

I WILL KILL YOU!

Bwahaha! Someone! Grab me some biscuits! Imma be here for awhile.

Anyhow, I created not one, but two sociopaths! Makoto's gotten better in that regard, but Pharos... Welp, he's fucking lost it. I guess that's what happens when your human side is based off of someone who is obsessed with something and is... Well, a sociopath.

For the record: A sociopath and psychopath are similar, but also pretty different as well.

After responses

clevernameeh: Shit, I see the clever part of your name isn't a joke... Fuck! Eh, don't underestimate me though. I can be cruel if I want to.

Considering he made a rape scene once... Yeah, take that threat seriously.

Lightlyy: Well, Nightlyy's long lost brother, I saved my husbando with the POWER OF LOVE!

STOP SAYING THAT!

Come at me, you little bitch!

Grrr... You fucking whore!

WHAT DID YOU SAY!

They'll be at this for awhile, won't they?

Knowing them? Yeah, they probably will.