Memories of Us

The New Messiah

"Makoto?" Came a light squeak inside and soon, embracing his hands against the Evoker, he stood through the brushing wind knowing that he was crossing between flashbacks to the present but like all realization, he took it in stride. He could almost hold Komaru and apologize then, but the sins were everlasting, weren't they? He never could expect her smiles through the tribulations he seized on and with the memories spilling, he didn't dare himself to take and mold it; Not to the ways he once believed and when Komaru could ever forgive him.

"Nagito! My answer is...I refuse to be blissfully ignorant."

No response and steadfast in diction even if it were worth betraying the fright in him if only to hum along with it.

"I will stop you! I will...I will never want to forget those people-"

"Stop your sentimentality." Hajime sneered with a hand perched on his own Evoker, all aimed upwards-the signal of a harsh battle yet to be embraced. Just on time. "You've wasted enough time."

"I've wasted nothing!"

"You're the bait, aren't you? Well, let me propose that you come out."

"No..." Now faltering if slightly, Makoto gained some words creeping out of his throat but was it the eternity that he fought against and not death?

"Yes."

Death. Death, how glorious it could be.

"Granted."

"PERSONA!"

"Come to me! Persona!" Hajime yelled as the Evoker shifted to his fingers and as the essence of self all came crashing forward meeting Makoto's resolve that funneled more into his determination. Their gaze momentarily searing through the haze but as the chaos only fueled the rebellion and even organized chance, out sprang the mythological bird Suparna, with its even wings graciously slicing against the ripples the air made.

Makoto found the skill necessary as if ripping the eyelashes off soaked eyes, and outward the heavy wind damage shook and battered Hajime and his own Persona, nearly indescribably off his toes. There would be no sunlight, but would that matter in these dire times? The Dark Hour and the Tartarus were beckoning and twisted with cruelty and malice in an abundance. Infinity was most likely black and bottomless.

"Is the bait faltering, now?"

"Hajime. You and Fuyuhiko..."

"He's led me to greatness, but I digress, and you will come to me."

"PER-"

"Didn't think the bait would fail so easily."

"MAKOTO!"

Komaru.

Komaru.

"Don't tell me you're slacking now that Byakuya is watching you. I never should have let him be in charge."

Kyoko Kirigiri.

Why was she blocking his eyes? His visions of her, so stoic and yet, never demeaning others but like before, she was the same sans the blood, and spilling over was a slight toss of her hair but why? Why have these visions? Was death being extracted from his body?

"..."

"Makoto, you need to wake up."

Kirigiri.

"Don't die, big brother."

Komaru.

Why couldn't he just wander back to those carefree and innocent days? Why die now? Why suffer through the agony of death? Why couldn't he...? Blood was wiped with a single brush of his sleeves but where did it go other than to soak back into his skin? His clothes weren't enough of a barrier.

"I'm sorry for everything, so sorry."

"Persona!"

The shattering of ice repelled Makoto faster than he anticipated.

"PERSONA!"

"Persona."

More swipes and clashes and yet, nothing was gained by this. Nothing was sustainable but practicing his own obstinance and the fizzling of his state of mind imploded and no matter how many times he...

"Persona...P-Persona."

Did he lose the truth in his mind? Did this distraught cloud that very sanity he always kept locked up? And fearing he might never blossom again and not feeling the endless sky above, what did his heart offer now? Where to go? There wasn't anything worth searching for, yet, the cost was his body, however fragile it could be.

"MAKOTO!"

Then his body...

No, this light...

This blue light, it spoke, it beckoned and soon with everything falling into disrepair but tensing no more, Makoto was there in that same room with Igor and his assistance Elizabeth. Was Makoto...? Where was Hajime? Where was anything?

"I see that your progress has gone smoothly but one must know the importance of Social Links and it is through these that you grow ever stronger."

Igor said even more cryptically although there was a double meaning to his words, the fact was that Makoto had crafted the links as needed and before him was a moment to breathe, a moment that held onto him.

"Yes, I see that you've amassed quite a number of Social Links and soon, we'll be arriving at the destination that eventually you seek."

Again, Makoto was mute but knowing what it meant somehow, he gathered the remaining words as flashes of light filtered into the room. They were still going up-an elevator of sorts but what destination was Makoto seeking? A resolution? A meaningful end? A truce? No, not with death and forward he'd embrace that same death in him.

"...."

"It's almost time."

No. No. No.

Being dragged away, Makoto could only extend an arm out with palms open yearning, yearning for the sweetness of any embrace, any semblance of normalcy in his world; Yet carrying death for so long, he was the messiah of this new death. This permanent moment.