A/N: Gonna reply to a review.

To Samjok-o: Expect a lot of OC's. It will be difficult for you to remember all of them, but they will have an appearance in future chapters - relating to...*can't spoil*

Chapter cover: Gaston and Phantom talking to each other in the airship, Lumiere, the first readjusting the monocle while the latter gestured his gloved hands. In the background, several maids with identical dresses running with a cleaning kit in hand. One unfortunate maid had tried to catch her falling kit with a panicked look.

...

Date: 25/10/ X643

Phantom was fanning himself as he watched the one-sided match. It is the fifth time for the day, and the fiftieth time for the unarmed sparring match – and Evan is losing again, thought the thief as he watched Evan failed to guard her kicks. Nearby, was the Onyx dragon, Mir, who was cheering, but snapped its teeth shut when Evan suffered a…painful blow.

Lea did a low kick and Evan collapsed from the blow, clutching his leg as he fell on his back. Phantom knew Evan's right leg has faced the full-blown force of the low kicks several times this match, and it was amazing Evan managed to endure them all.

Until now.

"…Evan, you may be physically strong, but you are seriously weak in it." Lea stated as she retape her fingers, and glanced at Evan, who was wearing lighter clothing for unarmed combat, sweating buckets as he lay on the floor, facing the ceiling.

"You should go easy on him – you kept going at him as if he was an enemy," Phantom said, then lowered his voice to the point Mir couldn't hear it. "Good job controlling your bloodlust."

Lea heard the last sentence and she frowned at him, placing her taped hands on her hips.

It is a surprise – since when Lea has animal senses?

"I heard that mister," Phantom felt hurt and Lea wasn't done yet. "old, shorty, fancypants."

Phantom can imagine Luminous handing a trophy to the girl right then and there with pink confetti thrown in the air.

"Did you just degrade me to old?"

Lea looked really sweet there – poisonous sweet, especially with that smile. Thank god Aran never did that sort of expression. It looked really dangerous…and sinister.

The smile came and went – and Phantom let out a breath he didn't know he was holding.

She shrugged his question casually aside and helped Evan up. The Dragon Master leaned heavily onto the girl and with great effort, the mentor guided him to one of the empty chairs and he slumped onto the chair with a groan gratefully.

Lea exchanged a look with Phantom and he nodded. He understood what she wanted from him and with a brief wink, they began their act.

The girl pulled her the collar of her shirt and sniffed it and made a face – it doesn't look as if she was acting. "I'm going to change." She announced and left the training room, leaving the thief alone with a groaning Dragon Master.

Once Phantom felt Lea is out of earshot, he looked at the Dragon Master, and met his eyes – a shade lighter than Freud's, Phantom noted sadly. Inside them, he can see frustration, stress and also aversion.

His slumped form – was a mixture of tiredness and defeated.

"You hate to lose, don't you?" Phantom asked, quirking an eyebrow.

Now there was surprise in Evan's powder blue eyes, and it was replaced with a faint glimmer of hope, but he was too tired to disagree or agree with Phantom.

And Phantom can relate to that.

"I was fooled by the Black Wings – lost to Hiver, and then…" Evan trailed off, and closed his eyes before gripping his hands together for reassurance. Phantom was an expert in reading body language – it is a necessity.

Phantom waited patiently for the boy to continue. Even if the experienced boy tried to hide it from their keen eyes, he didn't really do a good job hiding his body language. Every emotion they tried to keep will eventually burst out of their bottle and in return, damaged them – every power needs an output.

Evan struggled to explain his emotions, his worries and failures, his sadness and anger. Most of it was negative emotions and Phantom feared it would have the innocent boy at its grasp once more.

At the corner of his eye, he saw the door opened by a fraction and Lea entered smoothly and silently, as if she was a shadow and then stood still, at the corner and listened, her hand on her chin. Mir acknowledged her presence with a huff, fortunately, Evan didn't notice.

"I was really glad to see Lea – she's the first person I know who encouraged me to go on a journey, even before I met Mir. Then, suddenly she became my mentor – it's hard. I'm scared mister…what if I fail her, what if I fail all of you." Evan sounded really paranoid right now, was his self-esteem that low?

"Evan, what was supposed to take years for a mage to even utilize magic, you assimilate them in months." Evan looked skeptical, and Phantom continued. "You have talent in it – and you are an asset, not a liability. If you were, I would have…well, wouldn't bother teaching you now, won't I?" Now Evan looked scared when he faced another possibility.

Lea made a cross with her arms and mouthed: "Not reassuring!" Phantom gave her an evil eye, challenging her and the girl shook her head.

"What that stupid thief is trying to say is, Evan, you are not Freud – and we don't expect you to become one." Lea said and coughed to her hand. Evan stood up and gaped at her.

"How long have you been there?!"

Lea smirked. "Minutes."

Evan completely missed it.

Phantom raised his eyebrows, his jaw opened when he heard her utter the very name of the previous Dragon Master – there was no way she could have known his name.

Especially when there were no records of them.

"How do you know Freud?" Phantom demanded.

Now it was Lea's turn to be perplexed as she looked thoughtful. "I…I…I'm not sure. That's strange…" Her eyes went distant and unless he was imagining things, there was fear in them.

Evan's eyes widened in realization and gaped at her, but Phantom pushed his jaw shut with a snap.

There was an awkward silence between the trio. Lea avoided looking at their eyes – and Phantom knew even if he pestered, the girl herself wouldn't answer as she didn't know either.

"You took the words right out of my mouth." Muttered the thief, feeling there was something wrong with their fated meeting.

Was it really fated?

Or was it calculated?

Those questions will haunt them at the back of their minds.

One as a shadow.

Second as a doubt.

Third as a ghost.

…

…

Meanwhile, the evil which threatened the peace of the Maple World was dreaming of the past.

At first, he was in Edelstein, living a peaceful childhood. Then, eventually, further his studies at Magatia where he rose in power with his newfound knowledge and experiments. It was from Magatia – he questioned himself: 'Why is there no ultimate light?'

Soon, he went into exile by other alchemists, because of envy and fear – and he found another organization, dedicated to protect the light.

It was because of his intentions – he became the Transcendent of Light. How he achieved transcendentalism baffled his followers and himself.

It just appeared suddenly after a dream – where he met a person, holding the delicate light in her arms, looking tired, but smiling and humming to the light as if she was dotting a child of her own.

They met in a dark world, and the woman was beautiful in a dark world. But, her appearance was strange – she had fox ears, a second pair of ears and a bushy tail, which swished back and forth, sometimes curling itself around her waist.

And the woman looked as if she was around her twenties.

If it weren't for the light in her arms, he wouldn't see her, much less be captivated by her beauty.

"Hello…Luxio," she said, her voice had a musical quality to it and the light shone slightly brighter, illuminating the world.

The world suddenly sprouted plants, some he could not identify and there were trees that towered over them, its lush green embraced the woman and the light. Tendrils of ivies wrapped them as the woman laughed cheerily in this world and she released the light and it settled down onto a throne of green ivies.

"Do you want power to protect the world?" asked the woman, blinking her brilliant heterochromia eyes, on her right, was crimson red and the other was ink-black. Her silky hair has three stripes; all braided up to one side. He could see black, red and orange.

Luxio nodded and the light came to him and entered, blinding him.

Then, he woke up, feeling there was another heartbeat inside him, but it was calm and alluring, pulsing with infinite power.

Without his knowledge, he mumbled in his sleep, still trapped in the seal. "I will find you…"