It was just a routine trip into Mementos: get in, deal with the phansite requests, and leave. This was not suppose to happen; this monster had appeared nearby, bringing along with it the sounds of chains rattling. The Reaper, Morgana called it, had shot at the bus and any time they managed to get away, the shadow would just reappear in front of them. It got to the point where Akira ordered them to split up, knowing that the shadow could only attack one of them. Now, Akira was regretting that decision as he ran though the maze like layout of Mementos, calling the codenames of his friends. The teen stopped at a section of the maze, gray eyes switching rapidly between the three paths before him. Akira cursed as he weighted his options, he jolted as a pair of wings appeared in his field of vision.

"Arsene?" Akira turned to face his persona. "I didn't summon you."

"You didn't need to." The thief commented, flying over to the left path. "We must hurry."

"What?" The teen followed the winged persona down the left side. "Who do you sense?"

"Kidd and Ryuji are in dire trouble." Arsene sped up, "It appears that Reaper has found them."

Akira felt his blood run cold and broke into a run, following Arsene closely as the persona guiding him through the maze. They turned the corner just as Kidd was violently pinned to the wall by The Reaper, one of the guns was pressed against the center of his skull. Ryuji sat leaned up against the wall, clothes torn from what Akira could guess was a series of garudynes, and bleeding heavily from a severe gash on his side. Several other wounds marked the blond's body, varying in size and intensity. The electric user held his right side and was panting heavily, beside him lay Kidd's ship, Adventure Galley. The blond's mask sat nearby, next to Ryuji's bent discarded pipe. The other gun of the shadow was trained on the electric user and Akira could hear the distinct sound of the safety being pulled back.

"Don't touch him!" Akira and Arsene said in unison and rushed forward.

Arsene flew into The Reaper, slamming the monster into the ground where the winged persona used Brave Blade repeatedly. Kidd slid down to the ground besides Ryuji, body fizzing in and out of existence as he called over Adventure Galley to his side. Akira ran to Ryuji's side and pulled out one of the stored items.

"Ryuji." The black-haired leader handed the item over to the blond. "What happened?"

"Ran into some smaller shadows when that asshole showed up. Tried to get away but my leg gave out..." Ryuji responded after taking the item, the gash on his side slowly started to heal. "It hit me with a garudyne and threw me against the wall... Probably would've killed me if Kidd hadn't stepped in..."

Akira looked over towards the named persona. Kidd stood up top of Adventure Galley, red and black eye trained on Arsene and The Reaper as they continued to battle. The shadow batted the winged persona to the side and trained one of the guns on him. Kidd grabbed Arsene before he hit the ground and brought Adventure Galley to block the bufudyne aimed at the curse persona.

"You don't touch my winged devil." Kidd growled, training all of Adventure Galley's cannons on The Reaper and firing off a Megaton Raid.

The beast flew back and it's back hit the wall, it barely had time to get up before Arsene cast a Eigaon at it. The bonded personas threw spell after spell at the shadow while their other selves watched on.

"That's never happened before."

"Dude... Kidd's tearin' it a new one."

The Reaper disappeared under the combined efforts and personas floated down to the ground just as the Mona bus rounded the corner. Akira helped Ryuji to his feet Arsene and Kidd disappeared into blue flames as the others exited the vehicle. Ann healed off the rest of Ryuji's injuries, although the gash had faded into a less prominent wound. They returned to the real world and everyone parted ways, only after Ryuji had reassured them that he'd be fine. Akira all but dragged his boyfriend back to Leblanc, Sojiro was just closing up as they arrived. He took one look at Akira's expression said nothing, and took Futaba home. Morgana made himself comfortable on the couch as the black-haired teen shoved a pair of extra pajamas into Ryuji's arms.

With a sigh, Ryuji stripped and put on the pajamas without a word. Dark gray drawstring pants hung fairly loose around the blond's thin hips despite the pants being tied up. Ryuji forgoed the shirt and laid on the bed, Akira settled in next to him once he had put on his own pajamas. He watched as Ryuji texted a quick message to his mom before wrapping his arms around the blond's chest, careful not to touch the now healed wound. Ryuji turned to face him, quiet brown watching stoic gray, and hid his face in the teen's chest. Akira held him tighter and buried his nose into the blond locks, breathing in the faint smell of Ryuji's shampoo.

"I almost lost you."

"'M sorry."


"He has not let go of him since we've arrived."

"I don't think Kidd minds."

Goemon and Carmen watch Arsene as he wraps his arms around Kidd's right arm, but the former captain makes no move to brush him off. The ice and fire personas look at one another before leaving to find the others.

"You said 'My winged devil.'"

"Ay."

"You never say my."

"Ay."

Arsene knocked his head against Kidd's skull, making sure his horns didn't catch on the skeleton's hat. "I thought I lost you."

"I'm sorry."