Chapter 6: Of Thieves and Royalty

Phantom's POV

Damn… how did I end up fighting this guy again? It wasn't my job to protect the Empress; I was trying to steal from her in the first place! Those knights need to learn to do their job.

Here he comes with another attack, can't dodge, time to counter!

"Mille Carte."

And as the stream of one thousand cards blocked and blinded my opponent, I swapped out myself for a puppet.

Luckily he had fallen for it, and as he blasted through my distraction, he found my cards flying at him from multiple directions.

"Calling Card!"

There was a giant cloud of smoke that obscured my vision as they all impacted.

~~~~~~~~~~Some Hours Prior~~~~~~~~~~

All POV

"The Skaia you say, well Freud would be mad but… it's worth it." Phantom's eyes gleamed with anticipation at the new challenge.

Gaston simple rolled his eyes at the immaturity his Master showed.

"Master, if you go to steal something every time valuables show up, why did you even bother to make the promise to Sir Freud in the first place?

"Come Gaston, this is the Skaia, the treasure of Ereve. No doubt it's a trap to lure me in. However that just makes the challenge all the more fun!"

Gaston sighed in exasperation. "Master, what if you are caught." Even if he was fighting a losing battle he might as well try.

"Then I just won't get caught Gaston!"

Of course…

"In any case, Collette, where is the Skaia!"

"Master Phantom, it's being put on display in Ereve.

"Well then why are we not on a course to Ereve? Gaston, I'll need you to do the usual for me please.

Collette went to inform Renault of the course change, while Gaston went to prepare the needed supplies, robes, cane, cards, and battle equipment in general.

This time he would acquire the Skaia without fail, for he was the Master Thief, Phantom!

~~~~~~~~~~In Ereve~~~~~~~~~~

"Gilehart, when are we putting the Skaia on display again?"

A reply came from a man in the corner with green eyes, and even more strikingly, icy blond hair.

"We are planning to display it from about 11:00 A.M. to about 7:00 P.M. Empress."

The young woman with straight platinum blonde hair who had posed the question seemed slightly miffed at the formality.

"Gilehart, I thought I told you to stop calling me, "Empress" and to just call me Aria."

"But Emp-" She shot him an annoyed look, "my apologies, A-Aria." the complete opposite of his sovereign, the man called Gilehart seemed pained at the lack of formality.

"In any case Gilehart, I must get ready so if you would be so kind as to leave the room for moment..."

"Of course Emp- er Aria."

~~~~~~~~~~3 hours later~~~~~~~~~~

Nervously, the young woman called Aria was walking out onto the large stadium that served as Ereve's stadium for large events.

"Ladies and Gentleman, Lords and Ladies, I present to you... Empress Aria!"

And she walked on to the stage.

Aria's POV

As I listened, waiting for my name to be called, my heart started pounding. What was I thinking, walking out into a stadium filled with people!

'Ok Aria' I thought to myself, 'calm down, it's just people… a gargantuan stadium filled to capacity with over 2000 people watching you, waiting for you to slip up, just wanting pounce… oh! This isn't helping!'

As I paced around I accidentally bumped into someone… Scratch that, a very very attractive someone…

"Are you alright Miss?"

Messy blond hair much like my own hidden under a hat. Regal formal clothes befitting one of my position. But most of all were his eyes. The mischievous glint in the blue eyes topped off his look.

I quickly realized that he had been staring at me awaiting an answer while I gave him what I liked to call, "An Empress' once over."

"Yes of course, and yourself sir?"

A silly question to say the least, he hadn't even swayed at my crashing into him

"If you don't mind me saying Miss, your figure is barely enough to topple a pile of pillows much less a grown male human."

Well he didn't have to be so rude about it! Unfortunately I didn't have time to give him a piece of my mind before my name was called, but who was this guy anyways?

~~~~~~~~~Aria's Speech~~~~~~~~~~

All POV

"Citizens of Maple World. I am ecstatic to be standing before you all today."

No response so far.

"Now there are much more important things to exchange here other than greetings. The economy for one of the world is dropping…"

And so the typical drabble was given as the speech took to its end.

"And so we arrive at a more pressing subject today, the Black Mage."

The crowd seemed to draw a collective breath as the words came out of the young Empress' mouth.

"I have volunteered to enter peace talks with one the Black Mage's commanders."

The stadium seemed to have all at once exploded with different emotions. Disappointment, betrayal, surprise, outrage, confusion, and most prominently, anger.

"You cannot be serious Empress."

"It is no more than a trick!"

The protests persisted and increased until a loud crash interrupted them.

Phantom's POV

Ha, peace talks with the Black Mage, what kind of crazy Empress did we have these days? Especially when there was that suspicious looking hooded person in the corner? A wonder how criminals always think black clothing would hide them, even in a WHITE STADIUM.

In any case, my eye told me that the one with the Skaia was… the Empress?

Well this complicates things a little bit, but no matter.

More importantly that guy is now rushing down towards the floor, obviously planning to attack the Empress. Damnit, I'd rather not get involved with this, but he could damage the Skaia! Or at least that's what my head told me.

I then sent out a wave of mana towards where the Empress was.

"Magic Guard!"

'Thank you Freud.' I thought to myself*

~~~~~~~~~~Back to present time~~~~~~~~~~

And as the smoke cleared, I found him rushing at me with a blue sheen around him, Magic Guard…

"Darkness Stream!"

I leaped back as he fired a wave of dark energy.

"Get some more creativity, that's all you villains do, fire darkness!"

He didn't seem to appreciate my advice as he started striking at me once again.

Dodge, jump, duck, dive, fire back. My mind was on auto-pilot as I fought. Whoever this person was, they were good, I could barely keep up!

Couldn't keep this up for long, I could feel my arms turning to lead.

"Getting tired?" he taunted.

I gritted my teeth, 'just ignore him.' I thought while dodged a stab of his sword that nearly impaled me.

Despite my best efforts, it was obvious that a long fight would not be in my best interest. He could decide to attack the, at this point, defenseless Empress at his leisure, and I wouldn't be able to do anything about it. Time to end this.

I started up my final attack, first to get my attack power up, my cane changed into a dagger as I prepared to use a skill I had stolen from a fellow less talented thief the other day.

Mystic symbols decorated the air behind me, "Channel Karma."

And as I charged forward, I marked my opponent with my symbols.

"Blason Phantome!"

And I had won, thank goddess. My enemy was blown away by my attack, multiple cuts appearing on his body as he retreated. I would be so caught up in my victory in fact, that I didn't notice the chain of dark energy as his last attack, stab into my side.

The last thing I heard before I slipped into unconsciousness would be a scream and many footsteps.

~~~~~~~~~~End~~~~~~~~~~

A/N

Yeah… sorry Phantom is invincible fans, it wasn't meant to be. On the other hand there was some PhantomxAria in this one; if you squinted…

I know there were A LOT of POV changes in this one, I just noticed that as I as writing, sorry but just bear with me here. .

Besides that, yes Phantom's crew is the same, I'm working under a creative license here and saying that they were frozen with him. Think elves frozen along with Mercedes type deal.

Read and Review Please! =D

-Lunarfeather