1. Aria

:She tried to defy the law of power and died:

Warning: Death at the very end, Phantom x Aria (mentioned), and the author ignores canon to make the story fit.


Aria wanted a world of peace. A world where people were content and evil did not exist, where the very air was sweet and no one shed tear in pain.

She was empress, wasn't she? She had the divine bird at her side, the spell of slow-age activated in her blood, the world at her command. Who would deny her of the opportunity to build this utopia for her people?

Her advisors disagreed. She shook her head and tried –tried so hard her throat nearly bled – to make them see that there was, in fact, sense in decreasing violence, even the pettiest ones. That there was, in fact, more to life than simply sending her people to die fighting a foe they had never even tried talking to. More than becoming a tyrant to her people.

Her grandfather had taken the throne after a bloody war where thousands of innocents had died. Her mother had overexerted herself trying to repair the damages, her sister had died leaving behind a daughter too young and now, when Aria was the only one left she couldn't just let this beautiful, fragile world fall back into chaos and despair again. She had the power. Her family had stained themselves in a mistake and she had a duty to make it clean.

Her advisors disagreed and clenched their blades and clashed their shields, the blood of the battle burning within their veins for more, more, more.

More what? More blood of innocents spilled upon grounds? More unhappiness and hatred festering away in the air to rot like carcasses not picked clean?

They don't understand, she whispered to a flamboyant thief one day when he tried to slip in and steal her favourite gem yet again.

He paused, his gloved fingers twitching slightly just a small distance from the displayed jewel, and softly asked a question to her. Who?

Everyone, she said, and that may have been a gross exaggeration on her part but she just didn't care. I refuse to become a bloody tyrant who climbs to power on the steps created out of innocent lives, and yet they tell me that this is the only way to truly exert my power.

Something tells me I will not gain the treasure of Ereve tonight, he sighed and leaned on the windowsill ever so casually, like the phantom with the flashing gold decorations truly belonged there. Perhaps he did belong there as the companion of her heart, the night-time guest that was a delicious rush of fresh air to the stuffy palace's prison of politics.

Perhaps she didn't. Perhaps she had aught to scream. She didn't and they stood in comfortable silence for a long time, each pondering and waiting for the moment when the right words struck the mind and lit up the darkness like the morning sun.

You have visited many places, she said suddenly. Tell me, is it like this everywhere? Is power truly worth innocent lives and lies? Worth the blood that will paint and stain my feet forever?

He tipped his head and looked at her with eyes hidden by the strange cap he donned, and just as she thought he was mocking her he spoke softly, his voice on the verge of a quiver. Yes, he said. But I wish it weren't so.

Oh, she said. Oh.

He left her, but not without another rose and a promise to return for the jewel falsely claimed to be the treasure of Ereve.

In the day, under the light of the sun that was supposed to dispel the false spells of the dark and mist she returned to the lies, the tiring dance of politics and false courtesies and it was all she could do to not drown in the ruthless waves of heavy subtlety and attempts to undermine her authority.

Was there no peaceful way to solve this?

When a messenger came from the organization called Black Wings to arrange a talk between the two sides she jumped at the chance. Negotiations, peace talks, yes, she could do this, she could take the chance and prove that there was a way of co-existing.

She loved this world more than anything. She would have given anything to protect its peace and innocents.

~Aria died, and Shinsoo was helpless as yet another empress failed to fully take use of the Divine Bird's Blessing~


Personal Maplestory Headcanon: The emperor/empress of Ereve blessed by Shinsoo gets a no-age kind of spell that lets them be immortal as long as they're not killed or sick. I like to think that Cygnus is Aria's direct niece and still lived all those years as a child, which will be covered in the next chapter.

Also, I emailed the ff staff and asked them to add a bunch of characters to the category. The list now appears twice its former length.