If they felt emotions, they would say that they hated Death. Not in the same way a living being hated dying; they were not afraid of the unknown that followed life, for they understood neither the concept of being afraid, nor the concept of being alive.

They understood Order with a capital 'o' which was heaps above mere ordinary order. They understood gravity, and mass, and void, and if they had emotions, they would admit to liking these things; they were constant. A void was a void, and if you left it alone for a million years, it would continue being a void.

It was Organized.

Life wasn't. Life was messy, uncontrollable, and unpredictable. The only thing worse than life were emotions, because no matter how much they studied and observed, emotions made no sense, and they hated not being able to understand what it means to hate.

And they hated Death, because Death was part of life, and Death was created by emotions. A mere lack of life, a last breath and then becoming unmoving, these things were not Death. Death is what you got when a bunch of smelly apes got out of their trees, started howling to each other until they had a language, saw a skull in the ground and began wondering; what happens when the darkness behind my eyes has no eyes anymore to which hide behind? What is it to disappear, and to not be? How do we call it when we do not move anymore?

And that was Death; more than a simple lack of life, it was the unknown, the unrelenting, something to be feared or a gateway to end the suffering. Death was created by life, because without living beings to understand and emotions to give them imagination, there would be no need for the idea of Death.

Yes, they hated Death. But they kneweven Death would disappear one day, once the last breathing thing in the universe was no more, and Death reigned absolute, he would fade along with the last life to which oppose.

They hated Death, but they could use his nature against him. Even against his will. Even if it were another Death entirely.

Minato felt glad that his body could become the seal which would save the life of his world. And that is when he realized something was wrong, because he was glad. He shouldn't be able to feel, nor think, now that he thought about it. Or feel what he realized was a rather comfortable chair he was sitting on. He could not yet open his eyes out of fatigue; he felt as if he ran for a whole lifetime nonstop. But despite that he could still think, and dread started to wash over him. If he was now sitting in a chair, what happened to the seal? Had Nyx…?

"Ah… I see you have awoken."

The voice was familiar, and despite feeling groggy, he mustered all the strength he had to open one eye.

"Welcome back… to the Velvet Room." Said the long nosed man in front of him, holding the grin he always held, as if he knew much more than you ever would. Igor. Besides him, he recognized a slim woman holding a brown tome. Elizabeth. She gave him a small smile and a nod.

Despite himself, and slightly ashamed that the fear for his world was momentarily replaced by idle curiosity, Minato noticed is that the Velvet Room had changed; they were no longer in what appeared to be a giant lift, but rather a long corridor, with bookshelves on both his sides instead of walls. The bookshelves seemed to go on forever, both horizontally and vertically, and were filled to the brim with books. All the books had pristine blue covers, and aside what he recognized as being the Persona Compendium which Elisabeth held, none of them seemed to have been read even once. There were piles of blue books here and there scattered on the ground as well.

Only, at the same time, he noticed despite the bookshelves and the library theme, he was also on a very long street. The ground was made up of uneven cobblestones (which were also slightly blue), and all light came from Victorian styled lampposts which were scattered at random intervals.

Both the man and the Fool were sitting on opposite the ends of a long study table with blue chairs. Elizabeth was standing, however. He glanced up. There was no ceiling, and a giant light blue moon greeted him in the space between the gigantic bookshelves. It was nearly full.

After taking all of the room in, the teen just looked back at Igor. With all the strength he could gather, and his voice coming out a little hoarse, he said all he was feeling succinctly;

"Put me back."

The words were almost monotone, as were most things the teen ever said, but there was an edge to it.

The man closed his eyes and hid his smile behind the two hands he had intertwined in front of him, resting his shoulders in the table.

"You need not worry. Your presence here does not endanger that what you fought for."

Minato was still far too weak to properly protest, but did all he could;

"…Nyx…"

"…is not threatening your world anymore." The impish man answered, closing his eyes.

A strange feeling washed over the teen. Was it relief? Hope? Could he go back to his old life? See his old friends? …see Yukari…?

How much time had it passed since he became the seal? Would they even recognize him now?

But then again, Nyx was far too much powerful a being to be simply stopped permanently. And Igor was, for once, not smiling. Something was wrong.

"…how?"

Igor said nothing. Of course he wouldn't. The teen rolled his eyes annoyed, but then Elizabeth started to speak.

"Nyx has been moved."

Minato just blinked twice.

"…by who?"

Igor kept silent. Elizabeth looked at him, still smiling, despite her next words.

"That, we do not know."

"…where?" By now, the teen's strength had already returned almost fully, but he was never a man of many words. Especially not with Igor or Elizabeth; despite befriending the girl ('Was she a girl? Obviously feminine, but human, I mean…?') last year, he always felt short answers and questions were the best way to talk with them. Either they answered cryptically anyways, like Igor always did, or they just had a long one-sided conversation and didn't really bother to think about your explanations past face value, like Elizabeth did. He especially liked answering Elizabeth's questions about the world with short lies just to see the confusion on the girl's eyes.

Elizabeth smiled more broadly and, bringing one arm to her right side at shoulder height, she gestured to his left.

"Here."

A door appeared out of thin air on her right side (his left). It was blue. Of course it was.

"Where is that?"

"That is there." She pointed to the door. Yup, cryptic. He didn't know why he had bothered.

"...what will happen to those behind that door?"

Igor chuckled.

"It is not our place to say what the future holds."

Minato knew what he meant. Unlimited potential, nothing was written in stone. At least not for a Fool.

"You wish me to go stop the Fall again." It wasn't a question.

Igor rested his nose on his hands again and said nothing. Elizabeth took over. She held her right hand again, this time to her left (Minato's right). Another blue door appeared, identical to the one on his left.

"Behind this door lies Gekkoukan High."

Minato's usually stoic face immediately flew towards it.

"It leads to barely a week after Nyx was sealed."

Barely a week… his whole life back, all he needed to do was walk through that door. He could meet everyone again. But then…

"What will happen to those behind…?" he looked to the left door.

Igor had his eyes closed again.

"I repeat; that which the future holds, it is not our place to say." Igor opened one eye and did a lazy wave with his right hand. A piece of paper appeared out of thin air and floated up to Minato. The teen recognized it.

'I chooseth this fate of my own free will.

-Arisato Minato'

He knew what it meant. He got up and walked to where Elizabeth stood, between the two doors. Igor did not bother to turn around and look at him.

Minato took another look at the door to his right. All his life, all his friends, all his memories… and Yukari…

It was an easy choice.

He put his headphones on, and walked through the door to his left.