Author's Note: Rewritten chapter one. Hope you like it :D Remember to review. Constructive criticism welcomed.
Aria
This was probably her greatest heist yet. Time and time again, she had that habit of outdoing herself - but now? Now she's done it. Not only did she easily infiltrate the Ariant palace, but she did so on a very special day. When security was the tightest and and when crowds gathered either to cheer on or for the free food - she specifically picked today because it was the Queen's birthday.
Aria quietly paced onward, taking note that there wasn't a guard in sight. They were probably all outside, preventing anyone from entering the quaint palace grounds. The crowds were - at an event as large as this - quite crazy due to the fact that the Queen had allowed commoners into the inner walls of the palace. It was nothing but a recipe for disaster since practically anything could go wrong. Aria herself wasn't sure if the Queen had a death wish or was just plain stupid since - obviously - everybody knew the people of Ariant hated her. Even the master thief wasn't spared of this irrational hatred that she had for the Queen. The only difference, however, between the crowds and her are that the crowds can't even come within five feet of the Queen's throne room - Aria could. Stopping at one of the many hallways within the palace, she scanned her surroundings. The palace had always awed Aria. With its majestic designs, huge walls and Arabian-styled columns, she smiled as her mind seemed wholly taken up with reminiscences of past experiences. She was fond of this place for a number of reasons - one of them being the first place that she'd ransacked.
Aria was looking for something though. She had a mission to do. Now that she was here, she might as well ransack the whole place again - repeating something that she'd already done in the past - or she could do something different this time. Make sure the Queen never forgets this birthday party for as long as she lives. Doing a quick review of today's activities, didn't she hear about all the kings and queens, celebrities and those-who-are-famous being invited to the event? What if - let's say - she took the thing that was most dear to the Queen on her very own birthday. A thought passed through Aria's head as she grinned crazily. What if she took her birthday presents? Snatching it right in front of everyone for all to see and then proclaiming the Queen's birthday as the master thief's grocery shopping day? Yes, now that would be spectacular.
As if on cue, several guards seemed to walk towards Aria's direction. Hearing their footsteps, she ran towards the nearest column and nimbly climbed up in order to hide herself away from the guards' field of vision. Peeking at them, she wondered why two guards - one thin and scrawny, the other big and burly - were still lurking around in the palace. Had she been found out or were they just slacking off from work? The guards the Queen hires never cease to amaze her. Both of them passed by Aria, not noticing how a girl was perched up on one of the columns. They seemed to be engrossed in their conversation - all of which Aria couldn't quite make out. She definitely needed to do some detective work.
Carefully taking out her cane, she ambushed both the guards, not taking more than a few seconds to knock the big guard out cold with a whack from her cane. Turning to look at the thin one, she lashed her arm out at him, grabbing him by the collar and pointing her cane at the base of his neck.
"Now then, I'd like to know why the both of you aren't doing your duty by guarding the palace outside?" Aria asked. "Or have the guards of Ariant became so good that they don't need each and every guard member to help?"
The guard stared wild-eyed at Aria. "N-No," he stuttered. "The Queen had asked for two elite men to aid in protecting her," he gasped. "We were just following orders. Please don't kill me."
Aria smiled softly. "Why would I kill someone who I've never even met."
At that, she loosened her grip, whacking him with her cane. The guard crumpled onto the ground, unconscious. Aria had a plan now. She dragged them both behind a column, and then proceeded to strip the scrawny guard's clothes off, only leaving his undergarments intact (She would NEVER touch undergarments that don't belong to her). Sighing, she put on the guard's uniform, taking off her hat and tucking it into her left pocket. She couldn't lose the hat, it was way too important. Turning to look at the larger guard, she took his turban from him and proceeded to cover her face with it. She wanted no one to recognize her until the end of her master plan. She had to admit, though, the uniform was slightly too loose for her. "This'll have to do," she sighed.
Casting aside her worries, she continued on, breaking into a light jog and keeping vigilant of her surroundings. If her memory still served her right, that means she probably hasn't forgotten the complete layout of the Ariant palace. This was relatively good news since there was a trick built into the palace's infrastructure with the purpose of misleading any intruder that had infiltrated the palace in the first place. Aria recalled that the only way to maneuver around the palace's complex hallway placement and get to the Queen's Royal Chambers was to only pick the best looking hallway out of all the other hallways. That means picking the hallways that were filled with the most jewellry - or anything that sparkled in comparison. Aria did just this and had no sooner arrive at the largest diamond encrusted door she'd ever lay eye on. She snickered. It was cute how they had replaced that door since Aria's last "visit". But Aria wasn't here for the door. Not this time. Adjusting her clothes, she took a deep breath and knocked. "The guard you had ordered for has arrived, my Queen."
"It was about time you insolent idiots arrived!" The Queen screamed. "Am I not paying all of you enough to the point where you delay yourselves on this very special day of mine?" She said as she opened the door.
If Aria were given the choice to pick the winner of the most-angriest-expression-a-person-could-make contest, the Queen of Ariant would probably be called the Queen of Anger by then. Staring at her with the most piercing eyes and pained expression, she scanned Aria from head to toe. "You are going to be my protector? You who is wearing a uniform that is slightly too loose for your own good? You who has better skin complexion than me!?"
Aria stared completely poker-faced. At least she didn't recognize her. Although the first phase of her master plan had worked, it took every bit of courage and self-control to not run back to the Lumiere and tell Renault to leave immediately and never come back. It was one thing to see the Queen from afar but it was a completely different experience all together to see the Queen up close. Sure she was beautiful, to say the least - she was completely covered in gold robes, had jewelry covering almost every part of her body and wore a crazy amount of make up. But what got Aria's attention was the Queen's hat. It looked so... so stupid. Aria's own hat was about a hundred times more better looking than the Queen's.
"My apologies," Aria started. "But every guard is busy trying to protect you from the dangers of the crowds. They could just barely work with one less guard around."
"I ordered two guards, didn't I?" The Queen snapped back. "Where is the other one?"
"Please understand tha-"
"No! You understand that I ordered two guards to begin with. Now where is the other one?"
Aria was completely speechless. She wanted to punch the Queen in the face. Sure she asked for two guards on her special day but if one guard couldn't come - or got knocked out - did she have to make so much of a fuss about it?
"Um well, the commanding officer said that the Queen would only need one guard to escort her because each and every other guard will protect the Queen with their life from outside the palace," Aria answered.
"They would?" The Queen asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Yes! Before a threat could even become a threat, the guards would already be there to put a stop to it."
The Queen started to smile. "Hmm yes, now that is pleasing to hear."
The Queen walked pass Aria, gesturing her and a couple other servants to trail after her.
Aria and the servants were led to the magnificent main entrance of the palace, walking across the red velvet carpet that was laid there explicitly for the Queen's use. Immediately after the Queen had walked out of the palace gates, the crowds raged on and cheered loudly. They even gave her a standing ovation as she climbed up the few steps leading to the huge, well-built stage. It sort of annoyed Aria to see how the Queen strode around the stage with her arms raised triumphantly, exulting in the worship. But what puzzled her was how the people were reacting. Aria always thought they hated her. Either the Queen had upped her game from last year's experience and was threatening the people to use her guards in order to harm their families or the people were just being paid to do it. It was not possible for the Queen of Ariant to be genuinely loved by her own people. That's how it was here in Ariant.
Despite the sun blazing brightly, and the fact that it was usually super hot around these parts. Aria had felt unusually cool. She attributed it to the magicians, who were probably cooling the area's surrounding temperature through the use of some kind of magic. Out of the corner of Aria's eye, she noticed a group of people sitting on classy chairs with palm shades over their heads and servants tending to them. She figured that they were probably the famous guys who were invited. Just the perfect audience for her performance.
The Queen raised an arm, signaling the silence of the applauding crowd. "I thank every one of you for being here today. It means so much to me when I see my people here cheering for my most special day of the year. And let us not forget the nobles who were invited to celebrate with me," she said as she pointed to the group. And the crowds cheered on, indicating the start of the celebration.
Aria managed to sneak away from the servants and the Queen. She waited patiently for the right time to make a dazzling entrance. She wanted her plan to be perfect. What she didn't know was that her perfect plan would have to first wait for the conclusion of several cheesy speeches and a lot of standing around doing nothing. However, the worst had yet to come. Once the party had finally really begun, Aria was forced to take cover from crazy hooligans dancing about, eating, singing and most of all, drinking of the repulsive drink known as wine. Aria just hated wine.
The master thief figured that avoiding the crowds was the best solution. Intent on keeping a low profile, the plan proved much more easier than she had expected - with the band of musicians blaring their music all around and everyone getting drunk on wine. It was easy to sneak past burly men and their traditional native dances. It was tradition to dance on celebrations they kept on saying. Aria automatically presumed that they were crazy.
She finally found a good spot to stand, right under a shady tree and away from the party. Waiting patiently, the dancing went on for hours. Aria had nearly fallen asleep while standing. Her feet were aching and she was starting to wonder if it was really worth pulling this stunt off. And eventually, her waiting paid off. The ridiculous "present ceremony" had officially started. It was some crazy ceremony that the Queen of Ariant always held in order to make sure she receives gifts from each of her noble guests. This sent Aria into immediate action, pushing through the crowds in order to get closer to the Queen. The nobles were all lined up on stage, each giving the Queen a present as well as a handshake. Aria noticed that all the presents were jewelry. It was obvious that the Queen of Ariant just loves jewelry. Everybody knew that.
After receiving her gift, the Queen would place it on a beautiful table next to her. Aria reckoned that she should get to there first. Nimbly slipping through the crowds and guards, she managed to end up behind the stage, where all the servants stood by watching.
"And I finally thank Emperor Phantom of Ereve for this wonderful sapphire brooch. Emperor Phantom, everyone!"
The crowd clapped and cheered as the blonde guy, maybe slightly older than Aria, turned to leave the stage. Something about that guy had piqued her interest though. Aria couldn't help but gaze into his amethyst colored eyes. For a moment, Phantom turned to look at her, raising his eyebrows. Aria broke away, turning to look elsewhere. It was finally time, she couldn't afford to get distracted.
Reaching into her front shirt pocket, she slowly took out a card, caressing it gently before taking her aim. Expertly throwing it at the direction of the table, the card pierced its corner, causing a distinctive "thump" sound to be heard. This got the Queen's attention - as well as everyone else's. Immediately after that, the palm of her hand grew hot, shining brightly until a gold dagger-shaped object was formed. In turn, her other palm formed some sort of grenade. Not giving anyone a chance to react, she lobbed the grenade, making it land right in the middle of the stage. Instantly, the whole stage was filled with smoke. The Queen screamed as all hell broke loose.
Everywhere there was screaming. Guards were swarming around to the Queen's aid and servants were running amok, blinded by the smoke screen that had started stinging their eyes. Aria ran towards the table, dodging the running servants and attacking guards. In a frenzy, she frantically picked up all the jewelry - placing them into a sack - as the smoke had started to clear. By the time the smoke had dissipated, she was already standing on the table sack in hand with everybody staring at her.
For at least five seconds, nobody said anything. They all just stared at her. Then the Queen bellowed.
"My personal guard!?" The Queen screamed. "A lowly guard dares betray me?"
"Wait. What?" Aria muttered. Everyone was supposed to be in awe at the sight of the master thief. Where's the screaming? The recognition? Someone should be yelling, "It's the master thief!". Instead she was called a lowly guard.
That's when Aria realized what she was wearing. Aria shuddered. She wanted to scream. She always knew she was bad at remembering things but forgetting to change back into her master thief outfit was on a whole new level. And among all the days she could mess up in, she just had to mess up on this specific day. Gaston's definitely going to want to hear this one.
"No! Wait, everyone I'm not a guard," Aria protested. A couple of confused chattering could be heard from within the crowd. "Just one moment please."
At that, Aria quickly stripped off the guard uniform, taking off her turban, revealing her long blonde hair and pale skin complexion. Again she heard a couple of even more confused chattering. Without the guard uniform though, everyone started to realize just who she was. Calmly taking her hat out, she put it on, confirming everyone's suspicion. Smiling, Aria waved. Then everything started happening at the same time. The guards charged at her. The servants wailed. The crowd gasped. The nobles stood up, waving their hands in anger. And one cried out, "It's the master thief Aria!"
"Indeed it is, good sir!" Aria exclaimed excitedly as she took out a card. Just seconds before the guards could even touch her. Aria vanished, a cloud of cards surrounding her before disappearing, leaving no traces of her behind but the very first card that she threw - still attached to the table where the jewelry used to be. And everyone knew why she left it there.
After all, the card bears the insignia of Aria herself, the master thief.
Disclaimer: I don't own Maplestory or its characters, Nexon does.
