Resistance and inevitability.
[ When he had told the others not to look for him, it had been for a reason. The moment he left after New Year's... that had been his last opportunity.
Minato had made the wrong choice, he felt, but it was his life and he could do with it as he pleased. That was it, in the end. He would try to make him see reason, but it was his choice.
Part of him had seriously wished he'd killed him though. But how could Minato possibly understand what he would become, despite that he'd told them he would call Nyx? They didn't have a single idea.
The last vestiges of his humanity were... waning. It was painful--literally painful, and if he had a choice, he would not do this. But he never had a choice to begin with... he simply provided one to them... to him, because... it was all he could do. And he helped prepare them.
That was truly the best he could do.
Even now, as he stood on top of Tartarus, waiting for his time to run out... he still had hope. Hope they would, somehow, win, despite all odds. Even now as his form started to change to that of the Avatar, he held out hope and silent wishes for them to win.
It felt as though his body was... melting. Searing, intense pain, that he fought with all he had. He'd managed to fight off the transformation until New Years... that long. For a month, he had searched for some way to STOP this, but come up short. This was it. He would cease to exist. He could feel his body slowly changing, dissolving from flesh to a black mass... like all Shadows were made from, but he felt this far more because of his human form. Slowly the blackness spread into feathers of pure darkness, and wings--how laughable. Weren't they usually a symbol of freedom?
... If angels wore the purest of white feathers, then he was a devil, with his raven-like wings. And it was something he knew he would have to accept. Accept... by force. Nyx would not let him stay this way. ]