IMPORTANT NOTE: I am editing/revising the chapters from 63-68, meaning that the AN/s you see may not actually be accurate. Why haven't I changed them? 'Cause I'm a lazy…

Now, some of the changes I do are going to be minor while some are major. This chapter, for example, has mostly minor changes, until the end where the thing has a drastically different conclusion. Things such as 68, however, are probably going to be completely different. So while you're going to be stuck re-reading a bunch, I'd advise doing it anyway just to know what's different.


*yawns* No matter how much I sleep and when, I just never get to feel like I've slept that long or well. I should probably get that checked out someday.

Why am I even still here? This is getting pretty dull. You stopped trying ages ago!

Hey, I still try!

Please, your motivation for this went down the drain a long time ago.

Got me there.

Thought so.

omegazero2718: I'm writing, I'm writing! I don't get help anymore, so I have to do everything myself.

You did most of the writing yourself anyway…

Fuck off!

DarkRai99: Not my fault my author made me clueless! Fuck you, Grim!

Whatever. Anyhow, I made a scrapbook for DFW and everything! If you want the scene, it's in there!

You know, that scene seriously reminds me of the scene in—

I'm well aware. One of the reasons I stopped reading it was so I could avoid any more parallels.

Drakolf: Don't apologize for not reviewing. It's not something you have to do.

Nightlyy: I went almost a month without so much as a kiss… sorry if I have needs!

Of course he's not better! He's never better! No one ever gets better ever!

Clevernameeh: No matter what I do, this fic's just going to be compared to BL isn't it?

To be fair, the whole Ryoji and FeMC hating each other isn't exactly original, now is it? Then there's the pairing, the fact that Minato/Yuki went bonkers, Minato feeling like shit after—

All right, I get it! You have any thoughts on this?

Not really. I mean, I just had a great night so it's going to be really hard to ruin it for me.

Of course… God help me. Really gotta try to separate the two more…


"Hey, Minako," Minato muttered, staring at Jack Frost doll that he had brought over and was now sitting on his desk, "can I ask you something?"

The entire world just seemed very… still. Likely because of how early it was in the morning combined with the dorm's location, there weren't even the usual sounds of cars or pedestrians from outside. The only thing that could be heard was the slow, steady breathing that Minato heard from Kotone who was still sleeping in his bed. Luckily, the heater for the dorm worked like a charm too, so the temperature also felt rather comfortable despite Minato currently being shirtless.

"Do you remember that time you tried tying your hair back, only to get it tangled up in so many knots that we just had to cut most of your hair?" Minato smiled at the memory, chuckling to himself when he remembered her crying for days about it, "the whole time you complained about looking like a boy. Mom and Dad even got us mixed up a couple of times because of how much we looked alike at first glance."

Minato sighed, leaning back into his chair while looking at the motionless doll. No matter what he said, he wasn't going to get an answer. She was dead, and there was no changing that. Having spent years with a literal god, his belief of something resembling Heaven or Hell was flimsy at best. Still, it there was a way that she was still hearing him, then he'd like to say everything he could whether he'd be able to get an answer or not.

"Whatever happened to those days?" Minato asked, looking away from the doll and out the window where the sun was slowly rising, "me poking fun of how boy-ish you looked, you calling me a scaredy-cat because of how timid I was, both of us being completely terrified of our Mom's wrath when we did something wrong…"

Minato just shrugged, closing his eyes before the traces of a very faint half smile formed, "It's alright though—at least, for now. I think I found someone you can mom would approve of and—"

"Urgh…"

Minato looked back and saw that Kotone was beginning to shift and turn in the bed, slowly waking up until she raised her hands and rubbed her eyes.

"Mm, wakey, wakey Blue," Kotone murmured before reaching out to the other side of the bed, but she was greeted only by an empty mattress.

Fearing the worst given the past few weeks, Kotone's eyes shot open before sitting up on the bed, quickly scanning the room until focusing on a certain blue-haired boy who'd woken up a while before her waving with a smirk on his face.

"Why, wakey, wakey Red," Minato used her words right back at her, "hope you slept well."

Kotone let out a relieved sigh once she saw that everything was still all well and good, "it would've been better if you stayed in bed," she murmured, lying back down, "What were you thinking scaring me like that? God, you're such an idiot."

"Sorry," Minato apologized, keeping his voice low as to not cause to much noise this early in the morning. Getting out of his chair, Minato sat back down of what was his side of the bed, "There, better?"

"A bit," Kotone gave a smile and nod. Suddenly, her expression became sheepish as she looked away and tried hiding her face with the sheets and her hair, "and, about last night… um… about what I said… I was—I mean, I am so happy you're back, and after mentioning everything with my mom, I just ended up saying—"

"It's all right," Minato assured, lying back down, "it's not like I'm going to make fun of you for it."

"But," Kotone supported herself with her arms, "didn't you think that was a bit—okay, really cheesy. Not to mention, a bit too soon to be mentioning?"

"I guess," Minato continued to just shrug it off, "I just want to enjoy the time we have right now. Life's screwed me over in just about every way imaginable, so I just want to enjoy a moment where there's nothing going on for once—just the two of us in this room… with a Senpai who's going to be pissed when she finds out what we did last night."

"Meh, let her say what she wants," Kotone giggled, resting her head, "I'm not the one who's going to be executed."

"Wait, what?" What was that about being executed now?

"Oh, right," Kotone had forgotten to warn him that Mitsuru made it quite clear that she wasn't going to allow her and Minato to do any 'unscrupulous' things under the dorm's roof—leave it to her to act like the team's mom, "let's just say Mitsuru-senpai won't be happy to see you."

"Tch, whatever," Minato rolled his eyes, and without thinking the next words just slid out, "whatever she does, I've lived through worse."

Stupid, stupid, stupid! Why did he have to go on and say that, of now of all times?! The surprised look on her face was quickly replaced with the same despondent look she had just a few weeks ago when she first saw what Makoto had become.

"Hey," Kotone said softly, tracing one of his scars with her index finger, "none of that anymore, okay? We just need to take care of the Dark Hour, and then we can forget any of this ever happened."

"… Right," Minato muttered the first response that he could think of before glancing at the clock. Makoto and Pharos were both gone; he shouldn't be bringing them up so casually. "Hate to be that guy, but we still have school today."

Kotone let out a soft whine, latching onto him tightly. "Fifteen more minutes."

"Five."

"Ten?"

"Seven."

"Deal."

Minato was the first one down into the longue, literally biting his tongue when he made it to the ground floor. Not long ago, he was about to slaughter everyone in this room—now he's going to have to have breakfast with them.

That being said, being greeted by the uncomfortable quick glances he got from everyone didn't make him feel much better. Looks like he was right to be hesitant last night, but at least she enjoyed herself. He's on the right track with everything, right?

Minato kept his head down once he sat down at the table. How exactly was he supposed to just eat breakfast with everyone? Wait, when was the last time he actually had breakfast with anyone? Good lord, he really was hopeless.

"Ahem," Junpei coughed from across the table, unable to bear the silence anymore, "so uh…"

Of course the person he has to deal with first is Junpei. Time to see if he was as dumb as he thought he was.

Minato slowly raised his head, and just gave Junpei a cold empty stare. There wasn't any emotion behind it, it was just a blank stare but still, the single eye focused solely on Junpei made his skin crawl.

"Y-You uh… Um…" Junpei fumbled between his words. This was the same guy who nearly killed him a few weeks ago—what was he supposed to say?

Minato merely tilted his head and even one such as Junpei could understand the unspoken words that he was saying. "Say it," Minato dared him to gamble his life, "go on, say it. I dare you to say it."

Junpei let out a soft whimper and he swore he felt the temperature drop despite Pharos having long since left Minato at this point. Minato's fringe shifted slightly so that his right eye was now peeking out between his bangs making the empty yet somehow intense stare so much more brutal.

"What's wrong?" Minato's unspoken words continued to reach Junpei, "you know you want to say it, don't you? Try it, and see what happens."

Too much! Too much! He couldn't take it anymore!

"W-W-Why'd you smash my laptop?" Junpei quickly changed the subject, unable to withstand Minato's gaze anymore.

"Why wouldn't I smash your laptop?" Minato's reply was instant, almost like he knew that Junpei was going to shift the subject to his destroyed possession, "need I remind you what you made Makoto—and by extension me—watch?"

Junpei winced at the venom in Minato's words, "You ain't gonna let that go, are you?"

"Makoto wanted to disembowel you," Minato answered, leaning forward and lowering his voice to a gentle whisper but this only made his icy-tone worse somehow, "and believe me; he would've, with you being awake the entire time."

Junpei gulped, silently praying to whatever gods would hear his prays to please end this torment right now. It was a mistake! Starting this entire conversation was a mistake!

Luckily for the capped boy, his prayers were answered in the form of Kotone descending down the stairs which caused Minato's gaze to break and instead glance back at the redhead. Ignorant to what had been transpiring and the current mood, she gave everyone a quick wave as she went to the kitchen.

"Want anything?" Kotone asked, hunching over the back of the bluenette's chair and wrapping her arms around him to give him a small hug.

"Toast sounds nice," he answered, earning him a swift peck on the cheek before curveting into the kitchen.

Minato's lips held a slight curve as his eyes remained glued to her back until she was out of sight. First day here, and she already knows how to make it feel like a home.

Of course, then he turned his attention to the capped boy who was still standing looking as if he had seen some sort of horror show.

Nothing wrong with a little teasing, is there? "Something wrong, Junpei?"

"Nope!" Junpei was quick to speak; no doubt feeling like his life was on the line.

When she came back, Kotone couldn't quite understand why, but for some reason, Junpei looked like he had just seen a shadow for the first time in his life all over again.

Before they made their way to school, there was some place that he and he alone needed to go; a place that he hadn't been too for a very long time, and that all sides of him alike had been avoiding ever since they set foot on this island. It was a place filled with more memories than the dreaded Moonlight Bridge.

To the average person, this would just look like the average house. Actually, they're not wrong. This is just an ordinary house. It was a decent place with a few quirks if you knew where to look but that's about it, but again, this is to the average person.

To Minato, however, the mere sight of the place he hadn't seen in slightly over a decade now made his blood run cold within his veins. He didn't know what (if anything) he'd gain by coming here but whatever it was that drew him here was quickly being overshadowed by whatever was left of his soul screaming at him to leave.

Strange, wasn't one supposed to feel like they're… at home? This was his home, right? What else could it be? This was where he grew up for a good portion of his early life, so why? Why did this place feel so empty?

Looking at it from the outside, it was kept in surprisingly good shape e over the years. Legally, the house was his, although whoever was covering the upkeep for this place was mystery to him. He heard his aunt used it as a sort of vacation home before dying of… what was it, cancer? Oh wait, were they different people? How many aunts and uncles did he have? Did anyone actually stay here during that time, or was that just something his uncle said in his drunken state?

Oh, Uncle… he hadn't thought about him in a while. Minato still remembers the day Makoto choked the life out of him with Thanatos, never looking away or flinching at what he was doing. Maybe it was then. Maybe that was when gave up trying to be someone he wasn't and decided to become the Dark Prince.

His body screamed at him: stomach churning, legs wobbling, and mouth drying as chains wrapped around him. The chains tightened around him, digging into his flesh and the bone beneath it.

His body was shivering from the cold sweat trailing down his back. The chain pulled harder, shredding the skin and muscle apart, cracking and breaking apart the bone and allowing its shards to fly free and lacerate anything in their path.

The chains crawled upwards, wrapping around his throat. The harder he tried to breathe, the tighter the chains would wrapped around him, slowly choking the life out of him. He wasn't even halfway to the door before he felt vertigo beginning to set in.

He tried pushing forward, feeling the chains tearing him apart and suffocating him. Darkness began surrounding him as his vision began to fade…

Running away from something never felt so easy. When did he even start running? As his vision was going or after?

He didn't know. He didn't care to know.

What he did know was air felt so much easier the further and further he got. He felt had just run a couple marathons.

He couldn't—he simply couldn't bring himself to go there. He would sooner die a thousand deaths before going back there again.

Catching his breath and shaking his head, the bluenette slowly dragged himself to school.


Fucking hell, that got dark quick. Minato's having a serious identity crisis right now. Although, who can blame him? His soul literally broke ten years ago, one went dormant, and the other fucking committed suicide!

Oh, and a bunch of people were torn to shreds. But eh, minor details. Yeah, motivation is fucking dead as fuck right now. My former co-author Anon suggested I can the fic in general, certainly not helped by the similarities between this and Nightlyy's Bloodlust (some of it is admittedly purposeful, some… not so much). But eh, I just can't bring myself to do it. So, this might go on hiatus at some point. But rest assured… I am finishing this mother fucker. I did not write 60+ chapters only to completely fucking abandon the fic.


Edit: Massive change with the end in light of the revision. Turned down the angsty crap a good bit too.