"Welcome aboard!"

As Luminous climbed the stairs up to Lumiere from the Ellinia airship port, he glared at the extravagant thief, who merely flourished his cape wryly. Phantom quite often wasted his time with pointless endeavours, and the monk doubted that this meeting would be particularly productive. Well, not that I can do much about it, Luminous thought with a mental sigh as he felt a lurch, and Lumiere began ascending into the sky. The only way he could get out of this was if he jumped off the airship, and not even Luminous could survive that.

"What did you summon me for?" the monk growled irritably, careful not to get too angry lest he lose control over his darkness. Letting his dark side take over when he was on a floating vehicle several hundred feet probably wouldn't end well for anyone involved. "If all you want is tea and a chat, I request that you leave me alone."

"Ah, it's a surprise," Phantom said with a grin. Luminous arched an eyebrow at Phantom's expression. Something was… off. There was something very, very different about the thief. Normally, his smiles were irritatingly smug, and never failed to make the monk annoyed. Phantom seemed to find amusement in causing him grief, although it thankfully never went beyond teasing. But this was different. For the first time since they had met, Phantom seemed… genuinely happy. There was a strange glint in his eyes, as though he had found some treasure he had lost along the way.

Somehow, the thought that the world's greatest thief had found a treasure that made him display such a gleeful expression made Luminous uneasy.

The monk shook his head to rid himself of those thoughts. As much as he detested the idea of working together with a criminal, Phantom was a comrade that had been instrumental in the defeat of the Black Mage, and he still played a big role in their efforts to rid the Maple World of the Black Mage for good. Phantom annoyed him, but the Black Mage enraged him.

Luminous hoped that Phantom had not called him here for something trivial like a tea party.

"Well," Phantom escorted him through the bow, his footsteps lighter and more excited than usual. "I'll give you a hint – we're gonna have a tea party."

Luminous resisted the urge to smack his head into the nearest wall. "…wonderful," he muttered.

The thief clicked his tongue, waggling his finger as he led the way. "Why the long face, friend?" he said cheerfully. "I think you're going to have a blast! I even invited all the others, too. It's like a reunion party of the fabled heroes of the Maple World!"

"You invited the others too? Aran and Mercedes?" A certain dragon master's name hung on the tip of his tongue, but he managed to stop himself from uttering his name.

"Yeah, and they were hardly as stiff as you when I invited them here, so relax!" Phantom gave Luminous a slap on the back, which made the monk grit his teeth in anger. "After all, I want all of you to meet an old friend of ours–"

An old friend? Thoughts of Freud flashed through his head, but he forced down the hope that suddenly rose in his gut. "And who might that be?"

"You'll see in due time, friend… oh, hello, Gaston." Phantom waved at his butler, who said nothing in response. However, the manservant stared directly into Luminous' eyes…

Something was wrong. Gaston was deathly pale, and beads of sweat rolled down his aged face. Luminous locked gazes with him, and the butler's eyes were glazed over with terror. Gaston said nothing as the two heroes passed him by, but Luminous knew that the butler was trying to warn him. But why?

His grip on his rod grew a little tighter.

As they entered the waist deck, it hit him. A horrible stench that Luminous was unfortunately familiar with. It was the smell of death, the dreadful scent of rot that followed Hilla the necromancer around like a putrid cloud of perfume. It was a smell that was ill suited to an airship as gaudy as the Lumiere. Luminous covered his nose with his free hand, eyes narrowing as they began to water from the stench. "You'll have to get used to the smell, I'm afraid," Phantom said with a laugh as they walked down the stairs. "I know it's pretty strong, but I'm sure you'll find it in your heart to appreciate the fragrance after a while!"

"You must be insane to find such an odour appealing," Luminous replied in disbelief.

Phantom merely smiled in response as he opened a door. "Ladies first," he said with what could only be called a shit-eating grin. Luminous resisted the urge to smack him and walked through the doorway, feeling a sense of apprehension as he stepped through the entrance-

Immediately, the smell got ten times worse. But the monk wished that the smell was the worst of his worries. There was a round table, set up neatly with silver cutlery arranged properly on high-quality napkins. Cakes and teapots were served, and a porcelain vase housed a withered looking rose plant. Only two out of six seats were occupied, and in one of them sat a very pale boy Luminous vaguely recognised.

Evan, the successor of Freud, looked like he had witnessed a massacre. His eyes seemed bigger than the plates on the table, and tears had left redness around the corners of his eyes. His gaze was firmly set on the piece of cake before him, not even looking up as Luminous entered the dining room, yet his focus seemed to not be on the dessert – as though his thoughts had wandered far away. Or maybe he was trying not to look at something else. The farm boy was visibly shaking, and his sobbing was audible even from halfway across the room.

Luminous noticed a puddle of vomit on the seat next to him.

"Oh, come on, Evan…" Phantom's disapproving voice rang through the hall, like a teacher lecturing a student. "You're still crying? I know it's a great honour to meet her, but you're making a fool out of yourself right now! Didn't your ma and pa teach you how to leave a good first impression on others?" The thief strode right past Luminous, who felt like his boots had been frozen to the floor. While his fingers had steadily tightened around his rod, right now it was all he could do to prevent his grip from slackening in disbelief.

"Not you too, Luminous…" The thief sighed, shaking his head in disappointment. "It's been a while, but shouldn't you be smiling right now? Especially since you knew her, back in the day. And here I was thinking that a stoic monk like you would be able to take this better than the others."

Luminous just stared. In the seat across of Evan, sat Aria.

"Phantom," he whispered, a lump forming in his throat, "what have you done?"

When Aria was killed by the Black Mage's forces so many years ago, the world had mourned the loss of their empress. She had been mummified, as was the custom, then placed in a coffin and laid to rest in the Erevian catacombs, where no evil would ever disturb their final sleep. Yet, right now, Aria was sitting there, her robes still the same after all these years thanks to enchanted fabric.

'Aria' was sitting there. But she was definitely dead. Her flesh had been preserved due to mummification, but it was a disgusting brownish black compared to the pale complexion she had in life. Her eyelids were closed over sunken sockets, and her dehydrated corpse still had several strands of her beautiful blonde hair remaining. 'Aria' was motionless, her lower jaw hanging open slightly and revealing a row of yellowed teeth, her tongue long since rotted away. It was a miracle that not a single fly was buzzing in the air around her.

"Sorry, she's still a bit shy," Phantom explained nonchalantly as he took a seat next to 'Aria'. "She's still a bit disoriented, but weren't we all when the curse of ice wore off?"

"Phantom." Luminous' voice trembled slightly. "Have you completely lost your mind?"

The expression of glee he had worn earlier. How could he not have noticed? The glint in his eyes… it was the spark of madness. It was the same look that he saw when he was consumed by darkness and looked in the mirror. The grin plastered across his face reeked of insanity. For the world's greatest thief, stealing a mummified corpse was far from difficult. Phantom, the man who joined the fight against the Black Mage because of love, had been driven to the breaking point by that same love.

For the first time, Luminous noticed a tiny crimson stain on his white shirt. Dread pooled in his stomach like lead.

Phantom's expression changed suddenly. While the thief had seemed cheerful earlier, his face was contorted with fury right now. "Luminous," he spoke with a silent threat, "surely you're not like them?"

"Mercedes. Aran." The monk lifted his rod, which had begun to hum as it lit up with magical energy. "They were here, weren't they?"

A sigh. Phantom got up from his seat, his hand brushing Aria's shrivelled shoulder as he walked past her. "Forgive me, love," he apologised. "Luminous must be overcome with shock. On his behalf, I apologise for his rudeness…"

"You… Really…" Luminous' disgust was surpassed only by his fear. "Phantom. Surely this is some sort of jest."

"I thought you'd be different." The thief calmly walked towards Luminous, a perplexed expression adorning his features. "Aran and Mercedes… they said the same thing. I don't understand. Why aren't you excited to be reunited with an old friend?"

"Aria is dead!" Luminous bellowed. His red eye flared up with pain, but he barely took notice of it. "Of all people, you should know that the best – you were the first to know! What are you doing?"

Phantom's footsteps stopped. His cane was suddenly in his hand, his gloved fingers clenching tightly around the weapon only he knew how to use. "I will not allow such disrespect to Aria." His voice was threatening now, and Luminous could sense the murderous intent dripping like venom from every word he spoke. The cold expression in his eyes… they were the same as the eyes all those years ago, before the final skirmish in the Temple of Time. Eyes of a murderer out for revenge.

Except back then, that killing intent had been directed at someone else. Right now, Luminous was on the receiving end.

"Snap out of it. Aria is dead." Luminous stated firmly. "Phantom, I'm bringing an end to this delusion of yours."

The cane struck the floor loudly. Evan whimpered, his eyes squeezing shut as tears began to roll down his face. His shivering grew even more intense.

"I can't believe I have to kill yet another narrow-minded buffoon today," Phantom remarked with some sadness in his voice. "Even this kid here tried to disrespect me – in my own home, nonetheless – but he learned some table manners after I put a hole through his reptilian friend's head. I'm still tired from fighting the other two earlier, but you shouldn't be a problem…"

When Evan opened his eyes again after what seemed like an eternity, Phantom was once again seated at the table, happily tucking into some red velvet. "I spared no expense, you know?" he beamed at 'Aria', his fork stabbing into the expensive dessert on his plate. "I remembered how much you loved red velvet, so how could I not get the best for you, my dear?" The thief's delighted laughter echoed off the walls of the dining room. "I'm so happy to be reunited with you again, my love," he sighed dreamily, gazing lovingly at 'Aria'. "I can't wait to go find Freud! Then we can have another reunion party… right, Evan? Aren't you excited?"

Evan noticed the bloodstains that now covered half of Phantom's face and dirtied his coat, and promptly vomited again.