"Aria!"

Phantom skidded to a stop before Shinsoo. The great bird-dragon creature raised its head slightly.

"Phantom... They were... too powerful..."

The thief's gaze was fixed on the empress, huddled under Shinsoo's shadow. Her eyes were closed, her form unmoving. Shinsoo had not been able to protect her, and Phantom had been too late...

He stared blankly at her, a memory running through his mind.

"I have invited an envoy from the Black Mage to Ereve... I hope to negotiate terms of peace."

"Phantom..." Shinsoo's voice brought Phantom back to the present. "You must take the Skaia... You must protect it."

Phantom looked at the jewel, shining in her limp hand. A glimmer of an idea came to him. "No," he murmured.

"Pardon?" Shinsoo had not quite heard.

"No... It belongs with her," Phantom repeated, louder.

Shinsoo blinked at him, puzzled. "But she-"

Phantom took a few steps back, drawing a card out of thin air. "The world she believed in... isn't dead yet." He held the card up; on its face was an hourglass. "I won't let anyone bury her dreams."

Shinsoo shuffled its feathers uneasily. "Time magic has a harsh price for mortals like yourself."

"I know," the thief replied. "It's a price I'm willing to pay... and more." He flicked the card and it rotated above his hand. The opposite side of it also bore an hourglass, and as the card began to spin faster, the image began to move. The sand at the bottom slowly drifted upward, returning to the top.

When all the sand had traveled against gravity, the card suddenly froze, its image completely still. Phantom clenched his fist around it, and a bright flash of light lit up the garden. He closed his eyes, feeling a strong, almost unpleasant pull as he was dragged back to where he had been an hour ago.

Then he opened his eyes and wasted no time in racing to the empress's side once more.

Aria didn't want to believe that she'd been fooled, that the Black Mage had never intended to negotiate with her. But the twins standing before her were deaf to her pleas.

"Lotus? Why are we doing this, again?"

The boy ignored his sister. "So weak... You're no fun to play with," he grumbled, aiming another spell at Aria.

"If you kill her, we can't play with her anymore."

"So? I'm bored."

Orchid shrugged. "Then why don't you just finish her quickly?"

"Maybe I will," Lotus said in an ambiguous tone, letting the spell fly.

Aria shut her eyes tight and waited for the pain, but it never came.

"Aria..."

"Phantom?"

She found the thief's face barely inches from her own, his arms braced against the ground on either side of her. Above his shoulders, she saw the light of his Mist Mask skill fading away after it had deflected Lotus's attack.

"You're here... How did you know?" she whispered.

There was an unexplainable agony in his eyes as he answered. "I didn't... I was too late... So I came back..."

An irritated Lotus grabbed Phantom's collar and tossed him aside. "Don't interrupt," he said before facing Aria again.

Aria was heedless of the spell Lotus was preparing. Her eyes were only for Phantom, who was slumped over near Orchid. He looked worn out, which didn't make sense to her. What had he been doing to get so tired?

"Can I play with this one?" Orchid asked curiously, pulling his head up by the hair. Lotus ignored her again. "Oh? What've you got there?" She reached toward Phantom's hand.

The thief jerked away. There was a small flash of light from his hand, and then he drew his arm back and tossed something to Aria. She caught it instinctively.

"Skaia?" When had he managed to snatch it from her? This was all so confusing...

The next moment, Lotus attacked her. Phantom couldn't get out of Orchid's grip to save her this time... so why did his Mist Mask flare in front of Lotus again? She stared until it faded, then looked toward Phantom.

"I'm... sorry..."

"Sorry? What did you do?" Lotus scowled at Phantom's words and marched over to slap the thief across the face. "Stop getting in my way!"

"Wasn' talking t' you," Phantom snapped, his words slurring a bit. "Not sorry t' you. Won' let you ever hurt her again..."

"You're annoying," said Lotus flatly. "Fine, I'll kill you first." He readied his magic, and Orchid hastily stepped out of the way.

Aria waited for the Mist Mask to stop Lotus a third time... but it didn't.

"Phantom?!"

Lotus scornfully kicked the thief, sending him rolling across the ground. After a weak cough, Phantom lay still where he landed. A pool of red spread slowly under him.

"No... Phantom, get up!"

"Shut up." Lotus spun around and threw another spell at Aria.

First her vision was blocked by the Mist Mask, then her own tears as it faded. Why was Phantom's magic protecting her instead of him?

Aria was devastated, but not stupid. Her blurry gaze drifted down to the Skaia in her hand. She folded her delicate fingers around it and squeezed tightly, then tucked it into her bodice.

Phantom... I won't let your sacrifice be in vain.

Freud heard a gust of wind. The air was very calm tonight, so he looked up toward the window, expecting to see the master thief there. Instead, he saw the empress of Ereve. Her cheeks were tear-stained and her dress was streaked with brownish-red smears.

Freud stood up, but didn't move toward her. He wasn't sure how to react. "Your... Highness?"

A moment of silence, and then Aria spoke quietly. "I've already informed my retainers. They can manage Ereve on their own, with just me checking in once in a while..." She paused before lifting her forlorn gaze to Freud's face. "So... will you let me join you?"

Freud took a second to answer. "Why do you want to join?"

"I want to help you defeat the Black Mage. I want... to keep him from taking anyone else's loved ones." She held out her hand to him, and a card appeared over it, a card depicting herself and the master thief with angel wings on their backs.

Freud thought he could guess what had happened. "You don't want... revenge?"

"I already had that," said Aria. "It doesn't make the pain go away. I don't think anything can... So I want to keep anyone else from having to go through this."

The calm, offhanded way that Aria informed him she'd already taken revenge shocked Freud more than anything she had said so far, but he tried to keep his expression neutral.

Aria spread both hands, producing a fan of shining cards. "He... he passed his magic to me. So I have all his skills, though I'll need some time to get used to them. And I already had Shinsoo's powers..."

Freud approached her and gently set his hands on top of hers, stopping her before she began rambling. He pushed her hands together and the cards vanished. "It's okay, you can join us."

"Really?"

"Really. Even if you didn't have any powers or skills, even if you weren't an empress... If you were just an ordinary person who wanted to stand against the Black Mage, I would still be grateful for your help."

Aria nodded. Then she started sobbing. "Why did he do it? Why did the greatest thief in the world give away all he had?"

Freud hesitantly opened his arms to her. She fell into his embrace, and he gave her what comfort he could. But he had no answers for her, nothing to say to make everything all right.