The misty white void came as no surprise.

"It's good to see you again," a voice, sweet and smooth as honey, said, and Souji's eyes darted to his side, up into Margaret's warm face. The blue-clad woman sank to the ground, flipping her dress out from under her and settling comfortably into the swirling, hazy fog. "Come. Sit with me. There is much that you should know."

"Yeah," Souji said, growling around the dryness in his throat. "No shit." Even in his subconscious, he was sore and tired, and he climbed wearily to his feet, swaying just enough to throw out his balance, in order to make his way over to Margaret. With a huff, he collapsed by her side, his eyes sliding sideways to take in her slight profile and silver-blonde curls. "I thought you had left me," Souji said, and he knew how petty it sounded, but at the moment, he really couldn't give a damn.

"My master knew that you would have questions, questions that he could not answer. We concluded that it was better to let you make your own choices."

"Yeah, and look how well that worked out," Souji said, dragging a hand down his face. "I don't understand, Margaret. We defeated Izanami last time. I summoned Izanagi-no-Okami. The other world reverted back to its natural state…we won. I don't- did something happen on that train?" he asked, voice dropping and skin turning clammy. "I…I remember saying goodbye to everyone and getting on the train, but everything after that is gone. Did I…what happened? Did the train crash, or-"

"Nothing happened on the train," Margaret said, her head tilted slightly so that she could take all of Souji in. "The train arrived in Tokyo just as it was scheduled, and you disembarked at your destination, perfectly safely."

"Then, why-?"

"Humans are…fleeting. In everything they do. During your last attempt at defeating Izanami, you used the strength of your bonds to convince her of your sincerity and of the power of your faith, and she believed you, and made a pact with you. For as long as you truly believed in your convictions, she would believe too. You left Inaba and the Velvet Room, and you proceeded to live your life."

"Are you saying that I stopped believing? I would never think that the world isn't worth saving, no matter what happened."

"It is human nature to adapt one's beliefs, Souji. You live life, and over time, the world changes. I will not tell you of the future, but I can tell you that it is folly to believe that your opinions are carved in stone. You are human, and because of that, you are capable of greatness, but even if you held onto your ideals for the entirety of your life, at most that would buy the world eighty years."

"Before I died," Souji said, softly. "God, that's why-"

"Yes. You did not destroy Izanami last time. You talked her down from the metaphorical precipice, just as many did before you. This cycle has repeated itself again and again throughout history. For as long as humans have spun ever-expanding lies through creation, have painted and sung and written beautiful falsehoods in order to show the desires in their hearts, Izanami has risen up, each time to give humanity what it wants."

"Every fifty years…"

"Approximately, yes. Souji Seta, you were a marvelous guest, and you were the first and only wild card to appear in this cycle, which made you unique, but in the end, you are mortal, and no matter how strong you are, you will eventually fade from this world. It is a difficult truth, but a truth all the same. You bought the world several decades, but it was borrowed time."

"So what happened? If this has been going on for so long, wouldn't it have continued?"

"It should have," Margaret said, and Souji had never seen her in anger, had never witnessed the way it turned her eyes sharp and cool like cut amber, but the effect was bone chilling, "but things did not go they way they were planned. The next group of Izanami's chosen…underperformed."

"Did they not-"

"Suffice to say, they failed in any effort to pacify the goddess. They treated this world as though it were a game, all three of them, and things spiraled out of control."

"And you didn't interfere?"

"We could not," Margaret said, regret painted across her face. "We do not choose the Wild Cards. We cannot play with the world at will. Such is outside even my master's ability. We can only intervene when somebody special already exists."

"So you had to watch. Was it like Adachi described?"

"Fog flooded the world. It started in Japan and crossed mountains and oceans alike, spreading relentlessly until the entire world was consumed. Some fought against it in much the same way your friends faced their shadows, but over time, all resistance proved…futile."

Souji buried his face in his hands, massaging his brow with his thumbs. He didn't want to hear this. Hell, he could hardly stomach it, because if Margaret's words were true it meant…

"Then every choice we've made, every person we've lost, every battle we've fought was for nothing?"

"No, not nothing," Maraget said, eyes earnest. "You protected all of your loved ones. You fought for yourselves, and you saved yourselves. There is much to be said for that."

"You make us sound so selfish," Souji groaned.

"Much of what drove you on was selfishness," Margaret said. "I do not see that as a fault, simply as a fact."

"Shit," Souji said, scratching at his temple.

"And so, we were forced to be abstract. Creative, if you will. My siblings had been looking for you for…quite a long time, at that point. Of course, they knew where you were, but they had no idea how to free either Arisato without endangering the world, let alone both. However, as you might imagine…"

"That stopped being a problem, once there were no more people to save," Souji said, bitterly. "But how could I - they- help? If humans aren't the answer, then what was the…oh god. Oh, Margaret, I-I am the most self-centered, egotistical…it was never…"

"About you? I think that is oversimplifying things. Had my younger brother and sister not cared so much about you and had they not been looking for a way to save you, the thought of…well, really, undoing much of their best work would never have occurred to them. The Seal was very effective at what it was made for, but the fact that Nyx's avatar willingly trapped himself within it as well, keeping him controlled and docile? It was almost perfect."

A part of Souji raised its hackles at this description.

"But with humanity no longer fueling Erebus, there was no need for the Seal, and it was possible to take the three of you down, and by that time, my master, my siblings and I had developed a plan. There is a key that can be used to move through time. After each previous failure, we reset time, which led to the creation of completely independent timelines, but bringing Death back along with your other two incarnations while still maintaining the Seal required that we revisit a history that had already happened. We did not want to change the lives or the choices of the Arisatos, but we could not relocate Death without bringing them with him, so we used the key to-"

"I'm sorry, but hold up for a second. You're trying to tell me that your master plan was to pit Nyx against Izanami in some…monster death-match?"

Margaret sighed. "It would be best if I didn't skip around during this story."

"I get it. It had to be me, Souji, because I was the last Wild Card to be involved. I was the only point that you could change, so you dropped all your baggage on me, because it was convenient, and while that pisses me off, that's not what I'm concerned about. You aren't rushing me like last time, which means…the battle's long over, isn't it? It's..." Souji said, trembling as the fear that comes with certainty washed over him. "Ryoji's…he's…"

"Death is not human, Souji," Margaret said, and at Souji's poisonous look, she laid a gentle hand against his cheek. "No, listen to me. He is not human, and, you must realize, neither am I. That does not mean that we are evil or incapable of trust and love and all of the things that you humans value, but it does mean that we think differently. As I said, human opinions are transient, and because of this, they would never be powerful enough to convince a goddess for long. For those of us, however, whose lives have neither a clear beginning nor an obvious end, our worldviews might as well be carved into the mountains and chiseled into the ground like canyons. To change our opinions…it requires events of such magnitude that they could never be predicted, and that is what makes both Izanami and your friend, Ryoji, so remarkable.

Izanami was a goddess of creation, and she gave birth to the goddess of the sun and the god of the moon. It was not until the one that she loved with all her heart betrayed her that she became a creature of malice and revenge, craving only death for all that holds life. The opposite is true of Ryoji. He is death, yet he desires life. He loves the world and longs for its endurance despite everything that he is. The years he spent with you rocked him to his core. The fight between the two was not so much a battle as a negation. A positive negative against a negative positive. Their powers being equal, they simply canceled each other out."

"Yeah, and for you guys, it was like killing two birds with one stone," Souji said, furious. "You permanently got rid of both Nyx and Izanami."

"I suppose," Margaret said, tender regret woven into her words. "I must point out that you had the same idea."

Souji glared. "Like hell I did."

"Then why give him your evoker, if not to unleash the monster that you knew lay within him?"

Souji's stomach churned. The worst part was knowing that there was no way to deny it. He drew his knees up to his chest and leaned over them, arms crossed.

"What gave you the idea?" Margaret asked.

Souji sat quietly for a moment. "His wings," he said at last. "At first, I thought he might just be plain, old Ryoji, without being the Appraiser and all of that, but none of Ryoji's forms had wings. Thanatos didn't, and the image of Death that Aigis described from that night on the bridge didn't either, but…"

"Nyx did. Or, at least, her avatar possessed them."

"Yeah. I just thought…if we were all going to die, anyway, it was best to drag that witch down with us," Souji hissed against his knee.

A warm hand rested gently on his back, and Souji leaned into Margaret's comforting embrace.

"On principle," Margaret said after a while, "We of the Velvet room do not believe in saving individuals when the greater good is at stake, and we are not supposed to see small victories as successes, but you might find comfort in some of what I have observed."

Souji said nothing, waiting for her to continue.

"I heard your thoughts as you arrived here, and you believe this time to not be any better than before, but I feel you are not seeing things clearly. Because you caught the primary killer before you targeted Taro Namatame, your cousin and uncle were saved a great deal of pain. Then, there are your friends from SEES. I do not enjoy speaking of a future that will no longer come, but I can assure you that giving Sanada his thirst for life back will drastically alter his remaining days, and taking a bullet to the shoulder might have been the best possible outcome for your Magician, Iori. You have renewed links that had faded and corroded, and in them, you bring vitality to those who had lost it. Do not think of this path as a rough alternative to what you had. This is the truth, now, the truth that you sought, and you have a chance to live within it."

"So I'm not going to die on the train?" Souji asked, sullenly.

Margaret chuckled. "I guarantee that your train ride away from Inaba will be a safe and pleasant one."

Souji huffed against his knees.

"In time, you will understand," Margaret said, rising smoothly. "And, luckily, you have plenty of that to spare. If you ever want to talk, come and see me."

When Souji looked up, Margaret had offered him a hand, and he took it, noting the cool shape of a key that pressed against his palm as he was pulled to his feet. Margaret smiled, smoothed his hair back and, in a breath, was gone.

Souji stood in the void, turning the faintly glowing key between his fingers. He wished he could hear his Social Links talking, egging him on, but he knew they would not speak, because, for this, he did not need them.

And yet, it was times like these where he almost missed the not-voice. As annoying as it had been, it had served the very important job of telling him when he had done something right or something wrong. In the quiet, the part of him that was Minato shrugged his shoulders and the part of him that was Minako straightened her back, and while Souji hoped this was meant as a sign to urge him forward, but he missed words, even the abstract ones. Words could push him, goad him, and without them…he…

He really didn't want to go back.

Even as he thought it, the fog around him began to clear. His feet, which had appeared to be resting on nothing, sank into earth that gave easily beneath his weight, toeing through tall grasses as the first glimpse of blue shone through the cloud cover. The dense, white fog dissolved into low hanging wisps of cloud that hugged along hilly edges of the valley in which he stood. A stream chattered on either side of Souji, plowing down the slope between rocks and greenery to crash brightly into the large lake that pooled between the hills and mountains.

"The fog's all gone," Teddie said, breathily, and Souji jumped, turning in place to see his friends crowded on a rocky outcropping that stood a bit above him between several tongues of the stream.

"It's…pretty," Chie said, eyes wide as she looked out over the lake and to the side where tall trees cast one of its banks in shade. "It feels kinda…nostalgic, don't you think?"

"Hey, Partner!" Yosuke called, catching everyone's attention, and they all turned to look at where Souji stood, various shades of relief coloring their faces. "Holy hell, do you have any idea how worried we've been? When we all came to, we were still at Izanami's stage thing, but you weren't anywhere to be seen. We thought-"

"I'm fine. Are you all okay?" Souji asked, clambering up the rock-face so that he stood with the rest of his team.

"Yeah, fine," Akihiko said, gruffly. "That gave us all a bit of a scare, though. So, that's…what? Four out of four times now that I've been knocked silly in here? I swear, I should have just retired while I was on top."

Yosuke chuckled. "Well, in your defense, we all got sucked into that hell hole. Did they get you?" Yosuke asked, turning to face Souji.

"Yeah," Souji said shortly.

"Then why are we alive?" Yukiko asked. "Unless…did you somehow make your way back and defeat her, leader?"

"Ryoji did," Rise said, her voice small, and Souji had not noticed that she was standing apart from the rest of the group, her shoulders hunched and her gaze glazed, but the moment he did, he understood.

"She never got you," Souji said, and Rise flinched. "You were there for the whole thing, weren't you?"

Rise seemed to draw into herself, her muscles flexing and her jaw tightening, and when she turned to look at the group, her eyes were bright, almost crazed. She nodded, crossing her arms across her middle and hugging her waist.

"Ryoji took that chick on all on his own?" Akihiko asked, his expression sagging.

Rise nodded slowly, flicking her eyes forward. "Souji gave Ryoji my evoker before she got him, and then it was just me and…and Feathers…and he looked up at her and then looked at me, and…and he looked so sad. Like…blue eyes swimming, and everything was still. All in slow motion or maybe that's just how I'm remembering it. He swallowed, and his eyes never left me as he raised the…the…to his chin and…he told me to get back, please, and…to-" Rise bit off, tears rolling silently down her cheeks, "to close my eyes. To not look until everything was quiet. But I didn't look away, and he knew…and he fired and I watched as his eyes…they went red and hollow and then the red faded to black…and his wings…and his voice…"

"Nyx," Mitsuru said, her voice shuddering.

"He was all I could see, even without my Persona," Rise said, sniffing, and brushing a thumb along her cheek which did not so much clear her tears away as it did spread them. "Whatever. It doesn't matter. It doesn't…"

"Rise," Yosuke said, gently.

"He's gone. I'm sorry, Souji. I'm so sorry. I couldn't do anything. They kept fighting, and he kept talking, and even though he was huge and scary, he was so…tender. Calm. Like he was trying to teach her something."

"He was," Souji said, sitting down with his back to the group and staring across the lake. "It's okay, Rise. There was nothing you could do."

Rise hissed furiously. "Yeah, thanks leader. I figured that out pretty quickly all on my own."

"Rise, that's not-"

"She didn't even bother dragging me under. I wasn't worth the time," Rise said, eyes glistening and rimmed in red. "Ryoji…"

"It's over," Souji said, staring at the dappling of light that made its way through the trees on the lake's far bank. "For now, that's all that matters."

"Dude, what-" Yosuke began before Souji cut him off.

"You know, this is what this world used to look like, before people's hearts became cloudy."

Everyone stood silently for a moment, not sure of how they should react.

"Yeah," Teddie said at last, waddling his way over so that he could sit beside his sensei. "This was home, for me. I had forgotten, but it's nice now that I remember. Everywhere used to look just like this."

As if they had all been given the same silent orders, the rest of the team settled, either sitting down or leaning against the cragged wall. Akihiko flopped down on Souji's other side, closing his eyes and leaning against his clasped hands.

"Akihiko?" Souji asked, and though Akihiko's face colored, he did not open his eyes. "What are you doing?"

"Just…" Akihiko said, embarrassed. "Hoping for a miracle. For what it's worth."

Souji's chest hurt. "I don't think that's going to work this time."

"I know," Akihiko said, flicking his eyes open and towards Souji's grey ones. "But, it's worth a shot."

Souji hummed noncommittally, closing his eyes against the wind.