A/N: Never too late to join the Phan/Aria bandwagon! I've been meaning to write a Phantom/Aria fic for quite some time (read: two+ years) but I've always felt I couldn't do them justice. I've finally managed to write something I'm somewhat satisfied with (not totally, of course). If I could rewrite this, I'll definitely write a longer and more angst-filled piece that really explores the nuances and development of their relationship. But without further ado, I hope you enjoy this as much as I enjoyed writing it! :) Also posted on AO3.
Somewhere in the outskirts of Ereve. Present day.
Phantom only hopes he isn't too late.
The conference has gone wrong - horribly wrong - and immediately he's angry at himself and guilty for not insisting and forcing Aria to take him.
He's running as fast as he can, having teleported from the Lumiere to Ereve, and it doesn't take long for him to realise that things have indeed, as he's heard, gone terribly awry. There are people panicking and running about on the palace grounds, fleeing in all directions. The noise is almost too much to bear.
In the chaos and confusion nobody cares about the Master Thief; his pleas for directions to the Empress only fall on deaf ears. He's vaguely aware that parts of the palace are on fire, although the flames are quickly being doused by the rain that's increasing in intensity.
"Aria!" He yells, cupping his hands to his mouth, hardly caring. "Aria!"
A sudden thought strikes him, and his blood runs cold. If the palace is in danger, then the Empress is in even greater jeopardy. Shinsoo, the great divine bird, will come, and - Phantom knows just where to find them.
Aria - the light of his life -
The thought is suddenly too much to bear.
He turns, immediately, towards the private garden he knows she frequents, and runs and shroud walks as if his life depends on it.
Water from the puddles he steps in sloshes up the side of his boots, staining them and his pantaloons as he dashes toward the large tree by the edge of the clearing. He pushes his hair out of the way and his hat falls. He ignores it as he blinks frantically, and his eyes widen as he realises Shinsoo is curled up underneath the tree, and -
"Aria!" Phantom's heart pounds as he sprints toward Shinsoo. "Aria!" He breathes, panicking, as he stops before the giant bird. Aria is lying against Shinsoo, her eyes closed and her face, a deathly pale.
"No - Aria!" His feet feel heavy, suddenly, and it takes all of his strength to overcome the growing surge of panic that quickly gives way to inertia as he makes his way forward.
He can feel his eyes moistening and his vision blurring but he keeps his eyes focused on Aria. On her blonde hair, matted and limp by the rain; and on her pale face, devoid of colour.
"You're here...Phantom." Shinsoo's breathing is laboured, and her words take effort.
"Shinsoo." Everything feels surreal as he falls to his knees before the great bird, his left hand balling against his chest instinctively as if to control the growing pain within.
"Aria", he whispers, almost like a ward against what he knows is the truth. "Aria." Another whisper, this time a fervent prayer.
"Aria-" And now that he's this close to Shinsoo, he can see that Aria's expression is calm, as if she's just sleeping.
"I'm sorry..." Shinsoo says. "I couldn't protect her."
"No..."
Phantom tears off his gloves and all but drags himself to Shinsoo, reaching out with a trembling hand to touch Aria's face. The touch of her skin is cold against his, her lips pale against an even paler face. Her hair is limp and wet from the rain, and Phantom hugs her close as he inhales her sweet scent, barely lingering past her death. He wraps his arms about her, hoping that somehow, somehow, his warmth against her can ignite life in her again.
"Aria-" He mumbles as fat drops roll down his cheeks and mingle with water from the rain in some unholy union of grief and sorrow. At that moment, he's sure that even the skies are crying and mourning for the loss of a sweet, kind, and innocent soul. HIS sweet, kind, and innocent soul. "Aria..."
"She left a message - and something - for you."
He looks up at Shinsoo, unable to tear himself away from the limp girl in his arms.
"Her palms." Shinsoo says tiredly. She's obviously taken the brunt of the damage meant for Aria, but yet it wasn't enough. Shinsoo's laboured breathing reminds Phantom that she has to rest soon, as the divine bird is wont to do when gravely injured.
Slowly, reverently and with trembling fingers, Phantom opens Aria's tightly clenched hands to reveal - the Skaia, gleaming slightly blue amidst the pouring rain.
"For safekeeping. She trusts you, Phantom." Shinsoo's voice is soft.
"And yet I couldn't protect her. Her trust has been misplaced." Phantom mutters, his voice garbled by the lump in his throat. "I do not deserve the Skaia."
"I cannot pretend to understand the depth of the relationship between the two of you, and she has revealed little, but -" Shinsoo takes a deep, shuddering breath. "She wants you to have it."
Phantom looks down at the Skaia in his hand. Memories of Aria, unbidden, rise in his mind. Now that he has the Skaia in his hand, now that she's given him permission to take it from her, she's gone. It's a hollow victory, Phantom reflects, as he cradles Aria close to him.
He hopes against all hope, and yet he suddenly feels as if he's whisked back in time, to a time before all this, to a time when Aria still had a smile on her face. And so, in the pouring rain, with the love of his life limp and lifeless in his arms, he allows himself to remember her.