I would just like to take a moment to thank you all for your kind words. Thank you. They are very appreciated.
No more.
No more arguing with voices whispering in his ear.
No more cutting into his wrist, desperate to feel anything as the world around him crumbles.
With Pharos having left and Makoto's influence retreating to the furthest depths of his subconscious, he has no choice but to scour the building for any weapon SEES might have left behind.
Minato doesn't want this. He doesn't want to hurt Pharos; once, he would never dream of hurting him. But now…
No. It is far past the time for regrets and deliberation; he will not second-guess himself now.
Eventually, he manages to find something resembling his preference. The sword feels too light in his hand and is just ever slightly too short, but it will have to do.
There's no Evoker, however. The one given to him and the other stolen by him have each been lost since Pharos' betrayal. He cannot imagine that Kirijo would be careless enough to leave any lying around as spares—the fact he was able to keep one despite never joining is surprising enough.
Makoto could summon without one, but can he? Kotone would never bring him on an expedition into Tartarus but it was obvious to everyone that his potential was a shadow of its former self. With Pharos, his power was variable, almost volatile, and able to take on multiple aspects with Death as its source. Without Pharos acting as the catalyst, his powers feel broken.
But there are still lingering traces of what was, somewhere deep down inside just close enough to brush against the tips of his fingers; so close yet just out of reach.
There is one last obstacle he needs to overcome, the same one staring into his back. Neither wants to be the one to initiate the confrontation. Minato turns and his gaze meets Aigis' and the air around them thickens.
Aigis glances down at the weapon in his hand and her expression softens. "I cannot let you leave," she breaks the silence.
"I know," he replies solemnly. "But I also can't let you stop me."
"What are you planning to do?" she asks.
Minato can only shrug. "Try my damnedest to make things right, I suppose."
Make things right. What does that mean? Saving everyone from the monster he unleashed, or trying to save who was once his only friend? Whatever it is, it cannot be done by staying here and watching the world around him burn.
"Minato-san," she calls out his name, "you are not—"
"Did it work when I told you that?" he interrupts with a scoff. "Did all the guilt vanish? Did you even consider it for a moment?"
The android does not respond, telling him everything he needed to know.
"He was my friend once. He probably knows me better than I know myself," he explains with a slight shrug. It feels like forever ago. Pharos would be there with him every moment of the day, a comforting presence in an apathetic, miserable world.
"He was different then," Minato looks down somberly, "curious about the world, eager to do anything I asked. His time with me changed him—I gave him a chance to be something other than what he was, and I twisted it. Polluted by my misanthropic misery, I made him what he is now."
Aigis shakes her head. "That is a burden you never should have bared."
"But I did."
"Yes," she nods, closing her eyes as if contemplating something. "Which is why I must stop you."
She was the reason a seven-year-old boy was forced to carry Death. It was her failure to defeat it that caused all of this. It was her decision to seal that monster inside a child that ruined his life. He may forgive her but she can never forgive herself.
A weary breath escapes from the boy's lips. First Kotone, now Aigis; those around him keep fighting a battle in his name. On and on the cycle of his dolor continues; he makes a choice, others pay, and he tears himself apart for it.
If that's how it is—if he is forever trapped in this hell—his last decision will be spent breaking by any means.
Aigis is taken aback when his demeanor changes.
His haphazard grip on his weapon tightens. The slight hunch in his posture, the same one that kept him the smallest person in the room caused by the weight of the curse she brought on him, fades. When he opens his eyes, the stern expression is no longer that of the young, vulnerable boy she sealed Death inside.
For a moment, she doubts if the person in front of her is truly Minato until she hears a still familiar voice declare, "I lost everything once and spent the past ten years putting myself back together. I will not run away and let her burn again."
Minato Arisato puts one foot in front of the other in a steady march past the mechanical maiden. She wants to reach out to stop him but something holds her back.
She declared that she would accept the role as his guardian. Her highest priority is to protect him.
"I…"
She cannot protect him from himself. Should he remain here, she would allow him to be consumed by his inner demons. Death is his monster now, and one that he must face.
His lips curl into the faintest of smiles when he hears another pair of footsteps following his. No one can change the past, but he can fight for a future—his future.
"I will keep you safe, Minato-san," Aigis promises. "I will never allow Death to harm you again."
The full moon looks down upon Death.
Its transient moonlight, warped by the dark hour into an unsightly green hue, gleams down on it. For the longest time, it could never understand what it was that drew it to the glowing orb that came every night. Night after night, as Makoto slept, it would continue to watch it endlessly as time passed.
Death extends a hand, a gesture not entirely conscious, reaching out to the entity within. The day of reckoning draws ever closer, but it can feel Nyx's presence even now. She rests there, sleeping—waiting—deaf to all the cries for her return approaching her, begging for the cycle to be reset.
It's the cries from some of those mortals that pull its attention away from Nyx and the lunar light. Spinning around with its wings outstretched, Death lingers high in the air, hovering over the pestilent source, and eclipsing the bright light behind it.
Death had become so taken by the moon that it allowed itself to be distracted. The rabble beneath, though Death's current altitude hid their faces, Death could feel each and every one of their glares—a scorching intensity feebly striking its frigid emanation.
Death's wings suddenly retract, wrapping around and hugging its frame until they drape over it like a cloak. Without anything to support it in the air, Death enters freefall.
Why do they fight, it wonders. Why does she fight so hard? Minato left his blood to burn that fateful night, yet she always jumps into the fray. Is that what draws him to her? Her possession of what he lacked?
"Why…" Death vocalizes its confusion, almost impossible to hear over the pierced air. Why did this have to happen? Why couldn't things have stayed the way they were? Why is everyone so impossible to understand?
The confusion is overtaken once more by the boiling rage. Damn her. Damn Kirijo. Damn them all.
Death's blade pierces the floor, sending shockwaves of black around it. Phantom blades oscillate around it, cutting everything in the vicinity into ribbons.
Death surveys its surroundings. The vermin are all scattered, having summoned their personas with the intent of taking swift action. They would not get the chance.
Black and red gather above, the colors swirling into the shape of a volatile sphere with the red desperate to escape the black encapsulating it.
Lowering its hand, Death brings the orb down upon the worms. Sword in hand, Death follows to join the ensuing explosion and chaos. They will die for the pain they have wrought upon Death and Minato both, this it swears.
The trembling in her knees is matched only by that of the ground. Despite the pills given to her in the hospital, Chidori can feel Medea stirring the closer she approaches.
But her concern was not for the emptiness consuming all around it, but for the tiny blips around it. Though her Evoker had been confiscated, she could still feel them throughout the night if she concentrated hard enough.
She hadn't bothered to remember their names. There was only one, in particular, that was of interest to her. Junpei's signature had separated from most of the rest. The comfort turned to woe, however, as the sensation became fainter and fainter despite her approach.
Part of her wants to run—turn the other way and never look back. That way, she'll never have to face it. She'll never have to risk seeing him hurt. But to leave would only be another form of loss. She needs to see him.
The rumbling of the ground grows more intense. Chidori feels Medea falling into total panic when she sees it.
The source of the emptiness stabs its sword into the ground, failing to skewer its target—the auburnette that struck her previously. Death claws the air with its off-hand, sending sprouts of black flame all around them.
The goal of these flames wasn't to kill. The flames surrounding them block all possible exits; the monster refused to allow its quarry to escape.
Her friends were almost an afterthought. No matter how much they followed, Death's concern was with the one that ripped its friend away.
The canine's persona bites into Death's shoulders and sword arm, attempting to restrain the beast. The attempt was met with a low growl. Ripping its arm free from the persona's maw, Death grips Cerberus by the throat of one of its three heads, flipping it overhead and slamming it onto the ground before throwing it into the air, allowing it to fall upon its sword before tossing it at the rest of SEES.
Chidori tears her eyes away from the battle. Something far more important has her attention now.
Junpei lies on the ground with two of his teammates; the short girl and her friend dressed in pink. Her legs are already moving in a full sprint before she calls out his name."Junpei!"
Ignoring the shocked expressions of the others, Chidori kneels beside the boy. The wound is large but nowhere near the size it was capable of being; Death barely pressed the tip of its blade—like a cat toying with a mouse, Death aimed to inflict as much pain as possible.
The others try desperately to heal him but it's no use. A wound this severe, healing would only delay the inevitable—prolong his suffering.
The world around her blurs, becoming out of focus. She can no longer feel the ground quaking beneath. Deaf to the battle, all she can see is the pained expression on the unconscious boy's face. All she hears is his pained gasps, desperately clinging to the life that should have lasted much longer.
He…
He shouldn't be here.
He promised to take her out when she was better. He promised that he would always visit her. He promised that…
It's not right. It's cruel. He had no right getting close to her, making her care only to leave her like this. She is the one living on borrowed time. She's the one that should be dying in his arms.
Why did he have to be here? Why did he have to get so close? Why couldn't he have listened and stayed away?
Her expression remains that of frozen shock but nothing could hide the tears swelling in her eyes and running down her face.
He had no right to get this close to her only to leave her alone again. What greater form of cruelty is there than to give someone hope only to turn to despair?
She cannot tell if the shiver threatening to course through her body was from the boy's cold hand, or the emptiness enveloping her. The same void that forms the heart of all of this.
A glint of light reflects off the silver object hanging by the boy's side, left idle and forgotten.
Having summoned Gabriel, Kotone desperately continued to fend off strike after strike from Death. Its assault was unended, each attack fueled by its seething hatred.
Was it hatred fueled by how she has ruined everything for him? Envy of how she has taken his place by Minato's side? Death knows what he feels for her but insists that this is something that he must do.
Kotone felt the strength behind the blows increases with his frustration. Every spark came another memory—a memory of what he did to his friend and of the wedge that drove them further and further apart.
The persona's sword met Death's in a stalemate, its user down on one knee in exhaustion. From the very start, the most she could do was dodge, avoiding the worst but the damage continued to mount. Her leggings had become torn, revealing various cuts and scratches beneath.
The sweat streaming down her brow mixed with the blood and dirt. Yet, Kotone hisses through the pain. Her bright red eyes betray a will that remains absolute. Her body will break before she does.
"Damn you," Death curses. At her for everything she's caused, or at himself for all the mistakes he made believing he was doing the right thing?
No, there can't be any belief. He has to be doing the right thing. He has to be. Right?
What… what's happening anymore? She wasn't good. She isn't good. She can't be.
She caused Minato to—yet he… what?
Almost as if sensing his confusion, Mitsuru fires off her Evoker. With Kotone in one direction, Artemisia directs a hailstorm of ice shards in the other. The possibility of friendly fire was mercifully negligible owing to the large size of Death's form.
Death's cloak comes partially undone, releasing a pair of his winds to shield himself from the assault. "If you're this vicious to your friends," Mitsuru spat, "I wonder how you plan to treat your enemies."
"Y-You…" Minato. Friend. They are friends. Friends help each other. That's all this is. That's all. "Y-You dare! You who—"
"I know I will spend the rest of my life atoning for my family's sins," her tone is harsh, defiant. She's not speaking to a person anymore; he's just another shadow that needs to be put to the sword. "But you? Arisato forgave you. He loved you. Look what you did. He was hardly more than an animal after what you did to him!"
Animal? He couldn't… he wouldn't do that to him. Would he?
He was making wrong choices. He was hurting himself. There was too much doubt! He had to take charge! He had to save him from himself!
"Sometimes, you have to break a few bones to reset a limb." That's all this was. Sure, this might hurt for a bit, but he'll get better. Things will get better. They always have. They always will.
Minato understands, doesn't he? He has to. It's all for him. Everything has always been for him.
Minato is his. He'll always be his. He belongs to him because everything else in this world only wants to hurt him more!
Another shot pierces the air. Mitsuru looks behind her, expecting to see one of her allies. Instead, she finds only shocked faces.
Chidori had run ahead of her, slipping through the chaos. Kotone on one side, Mitsuru on the other, and now Chidori in the unguarded center.
"You…" her voice is almost impossible to hear over the ice striking his wings and the clash of blades, "you won't take him. I won't let you! And I'll never let you hurt him again!"
Medea leaves a blazing trail behind her, engulfing the monster with everything she has. She used her power to weaken its defenses the best she could. This creature would feel the pain her heart bears.
The shriek of pain does little to dull the ache but it works.
Mitsuru ends her assault, and Kotone takes the opportunity to recall Gabrie. She needs to move. Now! Her legs scream at her for moving despite the adrenaline coursing through her body. She can't do this alone; she needs her team to stand a chance.
Chiodri remains idle, watching the dust settle. Her knees tremble, struggling to maintain her weight before finally buckling. She falls to her knees, the fire that had possessed her now cooled to embers.
"Chidori, get away!"
Chidori feels the emptiness crushing her. Its source remains in the dust, its form slowly being revealed. Death's head peaks between the clouds of dust tilted to the side in either curiosity or confusion.
She could hear its low cackling from all around her. Its mere presence is a taunting anathema to life itself, just as it's taunting her for her attempt to fight against the inevitable. "Interesting," Death muses, "I felt that."
The girl shows no outward reaction. Her expression remains downcast towards the ground.
This was an annoyance. There's no will to resist any longer. A dark orb forms above them, descending upon her and she can only close her eyes.
"Move, idiot!"
Chidori's eyes snap open. Kotone grabbed her, forcing her back on her feet and running. She hears a clash behind her. Looking back, she sees Junpei's friends attacking the source of the emptiness once more.
The orb Death constructed does not stop. It continues approaching where she had been a moment ago until…
Blackness envelopes them.
Is this death? An unending void of darkness, swallowing all in its path and sending it adrift?
No tranquility.
No pain.
Nothing.
Breathing. It's the sound of it that convinces her she is still alive.
Chidori opens her eyes, seeing Kotone by her side, lying on her back. Each breath is labored. She's hurt but alive.
She remembers Kotone, the selfish girl. The blue-haired boy spoke of her frequently, about how she would never stop pestering him yet he could never turn her away. Her desire to bring out his true self culminated in all of this.
She wants to hate her. She should despise her. Were it not for her, Junpei may never have been here. He would be with her right now, telling her another one of his many plans to take her out once she gets better.
Instead, she finds herself gripping the girl's hand, closing her eyes in concentration. A faint aura surrounds them for a moment, and Kotone's breathing becomes less stressed. It wasn't much but it no doubt eased her pain.
Why? Why did she do this?
Is it gratitude for saving her? Does she see herself and Junpei in Kotone and Minato's plight?
She doesn't know. She only knows that the life she has is undeserved.
Chidori forces her aching body to move. She still feels Junpei through the darkness clouding her vision. He still desperately clings to life; there's no reason why someone desperate to live, someone so kind and good, should be lost from this world while one such as her is left behind.
Silence at last.
There had been so much pain. So much noise. And now, it's silent.
Death spots Kotone lying on the ground several yards away, alone.
Are the rest of her friends dead? Injured from the blast?
It doesn't matter. They could last until the Fall, cowering in despair until they can watch their world die.
All that matters is that she dies. Once she's gone, everything can be as it should be.
The girl stirs as Death approaches. Groaning softly, she forces her eyes back open. The red could only stare into black, its eyes reflecting nothing but an endless abyss.
Kotone tries standing, only for her entire body to scream all at once like a shock from electricity. The most she could do is get down on one knee, Evoker in hand and all alone.
"So this is it, huh?" she thought to herself. She wishes she could say she wasn't afraid and would die without any regrets.
She doesn't want to die. She gave her mother a second chance; what use is it now if her life is cut short? She's young, barely had a chance to live.
So many choices she regrets. Hating her mother for as long as she did without bothering to hear her out. The way she tried getting close to people, only to use them just to make herself feel good—because who could love the girl that drove her mother away? And, of course, leaving Minato alone with with this thing—a mistake she stupidly made twice.
She may be afraid but she can't say she doesn't deserve it. She had her second chance and she screwed that up but damn if she isn't going to try to make it right.
Though its metallic face betrayed no expression, the tilt of its head made it appear as if its mouth was curled in a sick grin. Its dark cackles echoed through its jaw and its sword rattled in its grip, unable to contain its excitement at the prospect.
Death watches Kotone ready her Evoker once more. She still have some fight left in her? Good. it didn't want her to die too easily—that would make this all the sweeter.
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
Minato groans, clutching his head. The pounding in his skull only increases in intensity with every step. Is it all the memories flooding back or something else entirely?
"Minato-san," Aigis is concerned. She won't say it but he knows what she wants him to do.
"I'll be fine," he lies. He had to do this. He's already been to Hell; going there again won't stop him.
Aigis' expression is contrite but she makes no move to stop him.
Thump.
Thump.
"Do you believe you can do it, Master?" More words he doesn't understand accompany the incessant pulses of pain.
"I told you, I'm not doing anything. What he does is up to him."
His vision darkens, giving way to flashes of blue velvet. He blinks and he's once more accompanied by Aigis glancing back in worry.
Not now, he thinks to himself. Swallow the vomit back down. Command the stiff protesting legs to move.
He hurt himself every day just to feel alive. The pain he feels now is merely another reminder. He's alive and he will reach them.
Minato keeps pushing, Aigis left no choice but to watch his inner turmoil helplessly. All she can do is watch and be there when he needs her.
This continues until they are met with pillars of black flame barring their path.
"It would seem that Death has put this here to prevent our arrival," Aigis surmised. "No, that is unlikely. Perhaps it was a means to prevent an escape? Scaling the nearby buildings may be possible but…"
Aigis' words become drowned out as Minato stares into the flames. Black with the white edges dancing endlessly. Burns to the touch yet he only feels an unnatural chill around them, inviting him in.
"Minato-san?"
What is he waiting for? He reaches out and the fires welcome him, recognizing him as an old friend. Minato's expression is frozen, eyes glazed over as if he were in a trance.
There's a moment of rapidly approaching thuds but they're quickly drowned out when he takes a step inside. Inside the fires that burn cold.
Everything is dark. All he can see within the flames are particles of white, dancing and gliding in the air like embers. He feels himself moving yet his legs remain still. His body shivers yet he feels a burning pain.
There is no light yet he sees himself clearly. He sees his hand inside another, coating his body in a translucent layer.
"What… is this…?" The voice is his but doesn't come from his mouth. It echoes through his skull yet he hears it around him.
There is something here that compels Minato to turn. He sees a sight so different yet so familiar.
A familiar mask, damaged and broken, little over a third having broken off yet maintains its unnerving grin. Its owner stares back at him, a hood obfuscating their features except a single bright eye staring back at him.
Minato feels a familiar sting in his left arm. There's blood yet he can't find any wounds. The figure is a mirror to a boy that both is and isn't himself.
"You feel, don't you?"
That thread. That single thread.
Without thinking, he feels himself reaching out towards it.
"My soul may be tainted to the core but yours is something more," it speaks, "Death has left its mark on you."
A mark that calls to him—a mark that's as much a part of him as every cell that comprises his body. The threads are all concentrated elsewhere, coating the soul like a blanket yet at the same time trapping it like a spider's web. All that's left for him is this single loose thread.
The tips of his fingers brush against it. There's power inside, power he doesn't know how to use by himself.
"Take it. Grab it. Pull the threads. Make them yours rather than you be theirs."
An abrupt bang snaps Minato out of his haze. He looks down and sees his hands—just his hands. The woundless blood is gone and he's back in Iwatodai.
He looks back and sees the flames behind him. He must have crossed during that daze. Aigis will have to find another way.
Boisterous laughter fills the air, accompanied by the firing of an Evoker. "Pathetic." The sounds of another clash.
A fight? Then he's not too late!
Minato makes haste instantly. Ignoring the intense pounding threatening to split his head open, he pushes on. His pace only quickens when he hears the sounds of screaming. From the past or present?
Images flash before him.
The smell of burning skin. Screams calling out his name.
The feeling of hot metal and plastic. Shards of broken glass cut into him from crawling out of the wreck.
The wreck? The past. Not now.
The source of the cold stands before him with its back turned. It pauses for a moment, humming in confusion before turning around slowly, revealing a familiar redheaded girl. There's a mutual moment of shock between the two enemies?
Then it's there. The familiar look of dread on the girl's face. The red… the blue… blue standing in the fire.
A blue-haired girl stands in front of him, surrounded by flames quelled. In Death's place was a familiar figure with chains around its ghostly form grinning at him.
The girl in the fire is crying yet she smiles. "What now, Big Brother?"
Christ, he's finally starting to work that angsty stick out of his ass. I hope. But hey, we got to hear from Makoto again! I miss the little bastard. What is it with characters named Makoto that I end up liking?
It got really surreal at the end there. A lot of it was spur-of-the-moment. I hope worked out well enough.
