[o5] ♪ Death's icy breath.

[fractus_animus]

Characters: AU Minato Arisato & people, then later AU Jin Shirato and more Persona users.
Setting: Early Afternoon on July 3rd, toward the afternoon/early evening; all over-ish -> cathedral.
Format: Action. Prose will be far too slow for this, sorry.
Summary: Minato goes crazy thanks to finding his sister gone and falls victim to a certain Cerulean blood's mind control.
Warnings: If you confront Minato after a certain point, your character WILL have a VERY HIGH CHANCE of dying! Here is the OOC info post. Feel free to backtag into forever if you like once I get this up.

[ The floors he visited had begun to ice over. Anyone who wandered near where Minato was would find it almost unbearably, bone-chillingly cold.

In fact, the walls froze around him as he walked, searching.

For what?

People. People he thinks he can... 'fix'. Or save. Perhaps his inability to do so during their time in the Pods had gotten to him.

... He had Thanatos, didn't he? Why not listen? Why not let him go? After a month of enduring Thanatos and Samael's persistent voices, he no longer had any desire to be what he now viewed as cruel. Killing people was a niceness, here. Surely, it was nice. A kindness. They'd thank him. Even if they didn't realize it. Dying was better than that. It would be better to die. If he killed them, with Thanatos, then perhaps they'd stay dead. Perhaps they'd no longer suffer...

... He was prepared to do it by whatever means, and however much pain had to be caused. Pain was good, too. Pain told them they were people, you see? That they had personalities...

Yes, he did like people.

He liked them enough to freeze them slowly and let his Persona rip them apart... ]

[ OOC: LET ME GET THE COMMENT HEADERS UP for the sub threads first, then you can reply. POSTING DONE, go reply to the sub threads and have fun. :) Be sure to verify a location on the first one! Some responses may be from deatharcana, by the way. ]

Comments

[pitiedthefool]

[...Yu can't look when the order is given, instead turning his attention to Jin and picking up the sign he'd dropped at some point. It's nearly effortless in both hands has he walks over to him, not even caring to stop when he hears the gunfire behind him.

'I'm sorry.'

But what he isn't sorry about, however, is what he is about to do.

Izanagi-no-Okami stays behind him as he stares down at Jin, gaze cold and hardened since he knows; it'll either be suicide or suicide-by-proxy by this point... wouldn't it. Somehow, this one didn't seem too able to do much other then spout curses and words of destruction now. Yu hated it on principle, considering his own other self's legend. So to see someone he'd suffered alongside in the pods like this...]

After all of this, you can't stand up on your own, huh.

[He tsks, and like Naoya... he slips into their native tongue-]

可哀想に

[-before lifting the sign and smacking Jin with the familiar bus stop sign in the face like it was (almost) nothing. At least, it would have been were it not for the pain hidden deep within his gaze.

'That was for Shinjiro and Minako, you idiot.'

...

Vengeance never was sweet. The sign leaves a mark in the floor and ice as he lets it smack against the ground mere inches from Jin's form.]

[morituramfides]

[His eyes went wide as he saw Tatsuya grab Minato and Naoya turn the gun on him. No way, this wasn't how things were supposed to end, this was not happening-- and at this point, instead of anything else, his vision already swimming from his injuries, everything he was feeling just turned to angry.]

Minato--!

[He reflexively took a step forward to go towards them, but was blocked in his path by Yu. He didn't are for Izanagi-no-Ookami, simply fixing his glare on the persona-user before him.

What Yu was saying however seemed to visibly shake him-- both making him a bit shocked, and just making him more angry.]

What... What the fuck are you--!

[His listless protests were quickly cut off however, when bus stop sign slammed right into his head. There was more than one cracking sound at the impact; one was the sound of his glasses breaking, the frames snapping and the lenses shattering, a few pieces flying away and to the ground, and a few more lodging themselves into his face and eyes.

Another crack was the sound of the bones of his face making contact with the metal of the sign, breaking his nose and at least one cheek bone under the pressure.

One more, final crack was the sound of his neck snapping from the force with which the sign hit him. Despite the rest of his gruesome injuries, it was death on impact.

Moros disappeared in an almost spastic and violent flurry, and Jin's empty fell to the ground beside the sign.]

[mysteriousvoice]

[Well you all went head and beat them.]

[pitiedthefool]

[...Goddammit guys he didn't hit THAT hard.]
[...]
[]

[pitiedthefool]

[No really, he grimaces internally when Moros vanishes... turning to the others.

'I'm sorry... Jin.'

...What do they do, now? Because he's not interested in any of this crap. In fact, his emptiness probably just increased because they were both...

...

Nope. What is being able to handle behind the mask when Izanagi vanishes?]

[evokingfool]

[There is no words from Minato, as he stare at the fallen forms of the other Minato and Jin.

There is only an dulled feeling of regret and disappointment.]

[vvvroom]

[Well Tatsuya, you guys did it. You defeated the dudes who tried to kill your Big Sis and actually killed your lover. They'll be alive again tomorrow, but you actually managed to kill two human beings.

Do you feel any better?

The way he suddenly lets go of the hold he still had on Minato's corpse and remains eerily silent suggests that no, this has done nothing to make him feel any better.

Nyarlathotep is laughing at him. He can feel it.]

[imperialsun]

[Maki, what would you say right now?

The silence after the battle causes his ears to ring. After his gun is lowered, he quietly goes over to Minato's corpse and closes his eyes, taking his coat and using it to cover him, before doing the same to Jin, despite how badly damage the latter's face is.]

Minato's eyes were an odd shade of blue. Almost glowing.

[He speaks clearly, without emotion. Regret and disappointment can come later, he needs to share this information. ]

He didn't even look at me when I confronted him. His gaze was lost. Considering the insanity he displayed, I think he was under a spell. Even Thanatos unleashed could not have caused this.

[There was anger in that tone; something...or someone had caused all of this in the first place, and they could currently do very little about it.]

[pitiedthefool]

...Can't say that kind of spell is unfamiliar, either.

[There is... something off about his voice, but not even he can exactly pinpoint it. Hell, he probably wouldn't be talking at all if he could help it. Yet... his other self would hate him for it, if he hid the truth they'd sought for so long. Wouldn't be able to face the others if he said nothing.

Because he could still see them all, their bodies being controlled in his mind's eye.

Yu bends down, gently removing the remains of Jin's glasses so he can close his eyes. It's simple, but this death... both of them... was meaningless if they didn't-]

Arisato wasn't in his right mind last night, lost in his grief over last month and losing someone precious to him. ...I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm not going to stop until I find the truth of why it had to be like this. Why anyone had to die because of this-

[If that's all it was. Yu's fists were clenched tight. He could almost hear Adachi's laugh in his mind as he stands again, picking up the street sign again.]

...It'd be a betrayal, otherwise.

[evokingfool]

[The puzzle slowly fall into place in his mind, but there are still some missing pieces. Who cast such a spell (or ability) on Minato?

They need to find out, if only to prevent any more tragic and meaningless incidents like this.]

...We have to find the cause behind this "spell". Whoever, or whatever, gave him that push into this.

[Would Minato forgive them if they investigate? He don't care, Minato of SEES doesn't want to turn his eyes away from this.]

[vvvroom]

[On the one hand, this would probably absolve Strega Minato of what he did and he didn't like that idea, no sir.

On the other hand...if this involved taking advantage of someone mentally...well, he knows all about how that goes and...what if it happened again? To someone closer to him.

(it's Joker all over again causing havoc in the tower of all places no no not again)]

...Yeah. [He has idea of where to start looking too. Assuming that tentacled asshole is still around.]

[imperialsun]

[It seemed that Naoya's thoughts were like Tatsuya's because his next words were about the Crawling Chaos.]

His grief...might had led to despair. And I know all too well an entity that thrives on that emotion...Nyarlathotep.

[He pauses, thinking.]

However, he is more the type to brag about his accomplishments. Had it been guilty, it would already be here, taunting us about what we did, as he did during Kandori's defeat.

Unless he's switched strategy.

[He can't just quite remove the possibility either...]

Getting answers may take a while, and I doubt either of them will want to speak with us once they return. But I am in agreement; I want to know what caused this so it doesn't happen again.

[pitiedthefool]

And if it's set in motion again, we can prevent another repeat of this.

[Nyarlathotep... He almost doubts it, but nothing can be ruled out so soon; not without more evidence.]

...Izanami hadn't for centuries. [True, not all deities are the same, but aren't they similarly stubborn? He pauses before speaking again.] ...We're missing something.

[Even if it takes months to get closer to the truth... Yu doesn't mind. He can't give up on this. Not when others could be used in similar manners.]

[evokingfool]

We're missing a piece of the puzzle.

[Minami's disappearance is a factor behind Minato's behaviour. The other him obviously cares about her. That's unmistakable.]

We need to trace back his steps, before he was under a spell, and figure out what happened.

[vvvroom]

[That...was actually pretty accurate. Yeah, Nyarlathotep was the type to brag...but only at the end, when he thinks he's already won.

Cowardice was just as much of an awful human trait as every other terrible thing. But still...]

Hmm. Yeah, that seems like the better bet.

[imperialsun]