The mood over Henesys was a melancholy one. The sky was a dark thing, clouds moving ominously and beginning to drizzle rain. It was odd to see the bright town so dark, but there was always gloomy weather occasionally. Phantom grimaced as he looked up and felt the drops landing on his cheek. It reminded him too much of another time it had been raining. With a harsh movement of his gloved hand, the man wiped away both memories and damp hair from his forehead.

The green grass underneath his feet was glistening. Unfortunately, along with it came mud, soiling Phantom's expensive boots. The air tasted of fresh water and cold, and it chilled his delicate skin. As he made it to the entrance of the town itself, he began to hear the plip-plop of rain against the paved ground, with held many a puddle. Predictably, all of the people were inside of their quaint little houses, most likely eating warm mushroom soup and sipping at hot cocoa.

I wonder if your soul is entwined with the rain, Aria... Phantom mused, letting his oddly colored eyes fall shut. It was raining that day, after all.

The falling water began in his mind as a bittersweet symphony, like the exhilaration of late night heists combined with the pain of being alone in those daring times. Like falling in love. Phantom wandered the deserted streets until he came upon the weathered sign denoting the area as the Henesys park. His fingers traced it absent-mindedly until he heard a surprising sound.

A sob.

It wasn't the prettiest of noises, sounding much like a hiccup crossed with a whine. But in his years, Phantom had learned that no one sounded or looked pretty when they cried.

It was none of his business, Phantom knew. If some stranger was crying, he should walk away. But... Something drew him in. And he was nothing if not a man who followed his gut.

With a sigh, Phantom flicked a card up in the air, imbuing it with magic so that it would transform into an umbrella. He spun around and caught it deftly, smiling briefly at his own performance. He had enough applause within him to give himself that it made up for the empty streets.

Phantom gave the umbrella a twirl and unfurled it before making his way towards the crying stranger, who was sitting on a bench. Without a word, he thrust the umbrella forward over the young man.

He was a slender, mousey little thing, looking to be in his teens. He looked up, startled, and met Phantom's eyes with wet, bright blue ones. His hair was brown and drenched; obviously he had been out there for at least an hour.

"You're going to catch a cold," Phantom finally broke the silence.

The stranger swallowed and bowed his head. "Doesn't matter, I'm fine."

Phantom let his scoff speak for itself. Without waiting for an invitation, he threw himself down on the bench beside the brunette and sprawled out.

"Of course you're fine. Just thought you'd sit out here in the cold for the shit of it, didn't you?" The blond murmured sarcastically. He knew he was taking the boy aback with his chafing attitude. "The world's pretty rough. What happened, kid?"

"My name's Evan," Evan grumbled. Several more tears dripped down his cheeks as he leaned forward and wrapped his arms around himself. "He l-lied. I was just trying to help people," Evan murmured guiltily.

Phantom ruffled the teen's hair, going off of what little he had said. "Well, what'd you expect? The world's a whole lot of liars," He replied cynically.

This kid reminded him too much of himself, before... Aria's death. Far too naive.

"I want to go home," Evan blinked. His hands began to shake. He choked on his own breath. "I want to go home."

Phantom slung an arm around the crying dragon master and sighed.

"You're not the only one."

And somehow, Evan found himself trusting this strange man who attempted to offer him some twisted form of comfort. There was something about him that came off as a walking contradiction; an honest liar, but one who meant well. A man who was so tired of wearing a mask that he dropped it in front of a complete stranger.

"Well, Evan... Welcome to the masquerade."

And Evan understood, then; the real world wasn't light, laughter and all things joyous. It was a dark, dark place that he had never truly known from his small place in the world as a growing farm boy in some discreet corner of Henesys.

Phantom stood with an amused smirk curving his lips. "Let's make a pact," He held out his hand to Evan. "Let's kick this stupid world in its ass. I'll help you get revenge on whoever lied to you. You and I? We'll rule the world."

Evan grinned hesitantly at the thief's romantic ideas and grabbed the proffered hand, then shook it.

"Deal."

That pale afternoon, the rain wiped the slate clean for the both of them, lost wanderers who didn't quite have a place to go to anymore.

AN: Hi. I don't really know where I was going with this, it just kind of... Happened.

If you're wondering, one; this story can be construed as an Evan/Phantom thing if you want, but I left it up to your judgement. Two; Mir is hiding somewhere because Evan wanted to be alone and he's getting too big to pass off as 'just a lizard' anymore. Three; the person who lied to Evan is a reference to the Evan questline, if you didn't know. A Black Wing tricked Evan into working for him by convincing him that he was working for a secret organization that helped the world.