When the team finally made it to the roof, they emerged into a swirl of black and green clouds that clung to the falcon crested columns and hugged the tower's sides. The moon, which had already seemed large on street level, sat monstrous above them, its hulking mass blocking out all glimpses of the sky beyond.

The clouds and the moon combined to successfully bleach out all color, and Yosuke found the bleak grayness disheartening. The others must have agreed, because they all huddled together, casting suspicious looks across the final stage.

Despite expectations, the platform appeared to be empty. Wind swirled in the thin air, and Yosuke shivered.

"I thought those two downstairs said there would be somebody up here," Kanji said, yelling over the gusts.

"Maybe nobody's up here because you haven't decided who you think should be up here, yet," a new voice said, caught on the wind, and unlike the previous two, this one sounded clearly human. "I must admit, I find that a tad insulting. I know you didn't mean it that way, but even unintended blows can sting, especially after I've been waiting for such a long time."

Yosuke didn't know what reaction he had expected, but Souji breaking out into a wide grin and laughing just wasn't it.

"Oh, wow," Souji said, and the guy was actually grinning, teeth bared and eyes thinned with mirth, "I really should have seen you coming. I didn't realize you were this much a dick."

The wind swirled, and with a sound like flapping wings, an angel stood before them. Brilliant, blue eyes glowed out from under tufts of short, black hair, and the smile on the angel's face was downright serene. He flapped his black wings twice then furled them at his side.

"No, you have me all wrong," he said, cocking his head playfully. "I would never toy with my dearest person like this. I'm sorry to say it, but you did this all to yourself. Well, with a little divine help, of course."

Souji stared at the angel. "What are you doing here, Pharos?"

A breathtaking smile lit up Pharos's face. "You remember me," he said, happiness seeming to stunt his ability to talk.

Souji began to circle the angel, and, smiling, Pharos circled back, mirroring Souji's movements with glee.

"I remember," Souji said. "But I don't understand."

"That's fine," Pharos said, his wings ruffling. "In answer to your question, I suppose that's what I'm here for. My purpose is to…clear the water, if you will, but I'm sure you realize there's more to it than that. The main reason I'm here," he said, gesturing around the rooftop, "Is because I'm your shadow."

"You are not my shadow," Souji said simply.

Pharos's soft smile turned into a smirk, and in an instant, the angel was taller and broader, his black hair suddenly long and slicked back away from his forehead. Yosuke started. The angel looked just like the statue from the floor before, but his clothes were entirely different. A tattered yellow scarf cloaked his neck and fell from his shoulders in a billowing wave.

"I kind of am," the angel said with a tilt of his head, voice deeper and smooth in a way that lingered in the air.

Souji stilled and closed his eyes, a look of concentration marring his face. When he opened them again, he looked puzzled.

"You were there," Souji said, his voice disbelieving. "The whole time."

The angel's smirk turned back into a smile. "Yep," he said, huddling down in his scarf. "Keeping you company really was the least I could do after everything, even if being brain-buddy's with a statue for a couple hundred years was kind of the sleepover from hell. There was no one I'd have rather been with, though. Besides, I'd already hollowed out a place in your soul for myself when you were growing up, so it was kind of nice to move back in. It was sort of like going home, you know? It got a little strange after Elizabeth and Theo showed up, but what can you do?"

"A couple hundred years," Kanji said, grunting from where he stood next to Rise.

"Huh. You're group's kind of small this time," Pharos said, scanning the crowd then whistling. "Wow, though. I think you might be exceeding your attractiveness quota. Hey," he said, waving nonchalantly at Rise and Yukiko. "I'm Ryoji." The angel bowed, looking up through his eyelashes seductively. "It really is a pleasure."

Souji was on him in a second, fisting a hand in the angel's scarf and yanking him back so he stumbled, wings flapping. Pharos or Ryoji or whatever-his-name-was just laughed, the sound ringing above the wind.

"God, you better not be my shadow," Souji said, dodging away from one of the angel's wings as it flailed in his direction.

Ryoji snickered, "You just don't want to admit that you're easy."

"I am not easy," said Souji, snarling.

"Oh, don't deny me, Souji. I wouldn't want to go berserk on you," the angel said, trying and failing to replace his cat-like smile with something more innocent. "All you have to do is admit it!"

Souji just popped an eyebrow at the angel, utterly unconcerned, and Yosuke felt the anxious tension seep out of him. He didn't know what the hell was going on, but it seemed like Souji wasn't too worried about it.

"Gosh, you are just absolutely no fun to mess with," Ryoji huffed. "How did I put up with you for so long?"

"You managed. Besides, after the first while…"

"Yeah, I totally don't remember much," Ryoji chuckled. "I guess I blocked it out."

Souji finally let his threatening smile emerge. "You're in high spirits."

"Of course I am. I'm free again, and I'm talking with my favorite person."

Souji sighed. "I'm not sure I can be who you want me to be, Ryoji. I remember certain things, but I'm a different person now. I'm a happy person now, believe it or not, and I don't really want to be who I used to be. Either of them, really."

Ryoji's smile didn't fade. "That has got to be odd."

"You have no idea. I was a…" Souji trailed off, and, for the first time in Yosuke's memory, looked flustered.

Ryoji grinned. "A chick?"

Souji didn't seem to agree with Ryoji's amusement.

"Damn, you were a fine woman," Ryoji said, head tilted back in blissful recollection.

"Please stop," Souji said, groaning. "I really can't deal with this right now."

Ryoji seemed to sober up. "I'm sorry. I'm being horrendously callous. You aren't even OK, yet, are you? Tell me what's going on up there."

"It feels like…like there's a huge dam in my head that's holding everything back, but I kept poking and picking at it because I thought that knowing what was going on would always be better than not."

"Allow me to act like your shadow for a moment. You really have a problem with that."

"What, picking at scabs that are better left untouched?"

"Pretty much."

"Whatever. I just…I cracked the dam or something, and now its all I can do to hold back the tides. All the memories that I've recollected so far have been nothing more than run-off, but behind those walls…that's people's lives, Ryoji. It's not just memories, its consciousness. It's everything that they were."

Ryoji moved to Souji's side, pushing his grey hair back and looking him in the eyes. "You have to let go. It'll be OK."

"I can't," Souji said weakly. "I don't want to."

"I hate to say it, but you're too far along now to just back out. This isn't happening because you scratched at some mental barrier on Tartarus's lower floors. This has been happening for months, and you know it."

"But what if, when the waters wash back out, I'm not here anymore?"

Ryoji looked almost nauseatingly fond when he said, "You're an idiot. This isn't an invasion," he said, his eyes darting across Souji's face, "It's a reunion. You need to stop playing the fool, Souji."

Souji snorted. "I am the fool."

Ryoji tapped Souji's forehead. "Not anymore. You're the Judgment, now, and it's time you started seeing things clearly. Where do you think we are?"

"We're on top of Tartarus."

"Which, during the day is…?"

Souji frowned. "The roof of the school?"

"Exactly," Ryoji said, his smile serene once more. "The Dark Hour is over, Arisato. You can't let it haunt you anymore."

The clouds parted, the moon shrunk, and before Yosuke could even breathe, he found himself standing, not on the 263rd floor of some crazy tower, but on the roof of a school building at nighttime, overlooking the ocean.

Souji stared out across the vista until he let his gaze settle on a simple bench located near the fenced-in edge of the roof. He looked at it for a long time then lifted a resigned gaze to the rest of the team.

Yosuke had been struck dumb and motionless by the whole scene, but he suddenly felt the ability to move flow back into him. This was real. Souji was about to surrender in whatever mental battle he had been fighting, and Yosuke had no idea what to do about it. This angel-shadow thing thought he could just show up, manhandle Souji and then convince his best friend to quit? Yosuke wasn't going to have any of it.

And then Souji caught his eyes, and somehow Yosuke knew it was all going to be all right. He refused to blink and watched as the dam broke and the roaring tides swept his friend away.