Chapter 15: Things to do With a Thief

Phantom was bored and, in his opinion, there were few things worse than that. It was the morning after the rather unfortunate incident of being caught in the act of sneaking into the palace by the elven queen. Now make no mistake, with his skills the master thief could have easily gotten out of Ereve and back to the Lumiere by now. Unfortunately that would be counterproductive to his original goal, not to mention Freud happened to be in a rather chaotic emotional state at the moment. Despite his rather lackadaisical lifestyle, Phantom did care for the few friends that he managed to make, one of which was in the other bed in the room. And even if he was much more aware of himself in a normal setting, Freud could make the dumbest decisions possible when he wasn't in the right mind.

Deciding that it would serve little purpose to keep brooding about his current situation, Phantom decided that he would be proactive and proceeded towards the door after taking care of his morning needs. As the door creaked open however, he was greeted by the delightful sight of two knights in full battle regalia, all for him! The pair started as if they had been close to sleep which, considering it was around 5 in the morning, was not surprising at all. Unfortunately for them, that was all it would take in order for Phantom to slip past them; he didn't even have to use any of his specialties to completely dupe the sleepy guards.

With pure physical skill honed over years of thieving, Phantom dove around the pair and proceeded to disappear into the dim morning hallways of the Empress' dwelling.

It would of course, be a happy coincidence that Mercedes was also venturing out at this time, having spent the night in Aria's quarters. Seeing as how it was still early morning and there was little chance there would be any other people in the hallways at this time, she decided that it would be the perfect time to head out without being noticed. Placing her dual bowguns in their holsters, she quietly opened the doors to the room, taking care to avoid waking up the Empress.

Mercedes was light on her feet, the sounds of early morning birds louder than her footsteps. Even so, they were loud enough to catch the ears of a certain thief who was wandering the hallways. Of course one could only find a hiding place so good within seconds of hearing footsteps in an empty hallway, an all but impossible task to find one good enough to hide from the eyes of the elven queen.

"Out now thief, before I start shooting." An audible click was heard as Mercedes readied her bowguns. A second passed. One. Two. -Squee-

"Wait, wait, hold your fire elf." Stepping out from behind the rather gaudy suit of armor he was using as a hiding place, Phantom held his one of his hands up as a sign of non-aggression. And yet, something about Phantom's greeting didn't sit well with Mercedes.

"Elf?" She replied in an almost incredulous voice. For the longest time she had been referred to as, "your majesty."

"Yes, elf. Seeing as how you see it fit to refer to me as 'thief' instead of my proper name, I see no reason to pay any respect to yours." The experience was almost jarring for Mercedes who unconsciously lowered her weapon as she spoke to Phantom, someone she had never imagined not attacking, much less having an, albeit strained, conversation with.

"You're quite insolent... but not completely wrong; apologies." No matter how much she disliked Phantom, she could at least do him the service of referring to him as a human being. Otherwise, she would be no different than the tyrant she fought to overthrow.

Phantom smirked; something that irked Mercedes, but not enough to start a fight over. "Now if only you would admit the same about your actions in the past 24 hours."

He had done it; stepped on the landmine that even Aria hadn't dared to go completely over. Mercedes' response was, in a word, predictable. She gritted her teeth as her previously calm demeanor raised to an almost fever pitch.

"What would you know about that thi- Phantom?" She almost slipped into calling him a thief again, but restrained herself for the moment.

"I know plenty seeing as how I was there. I saw you acting like a spoiled child because your friend was keeping a secret from you." Though his tone was teasing, the meaning behind Phantom's words was anything but.

"I put my trust in Freud because of our experiences together and was deceived. I have no reason to forgive him for this transgression." Equally determined to no give in, the proud ruler of the elves shot back a reply quickly.

"Learning to be a ruler means learning to cut yourself off from personal feelings when a decision has to be made."

Phantom sighed deeply as he adopted a disgusted look on his face. "And that is why I hate you royals. You're either all trashy and corrupt or have some inconceivable addiction to become a martyr. Why is it so difficult to comprehend that the existence of your race doesn't depend on you alone?"

Normally Phantom wasn't one to care about such (in his eyes) trivial matters. Politics and nations after all, meant absolutely nothing tot he thief. Unfortunately for him, his closest friend that wasn't his employee happened to be one of the most politically connected people in the world. That, and Phantom happened to care quite a lot for the few companions that he managed to make.

"You... you ridicule my dedication to my people?" Her temper, which had slowly been fading, flared up once again in an instant. Everything Mercedes did was for her people, this was an immutable fact.

"No, I ridicule your borderline insane need to overreact to anything that has anything to do with your race. What kind of long-lasting effects did Freud not telling you about me have?"

"..." In spite of herself, Mercedes found it difficult to find any holes in Phantom's argument which was admittedly, quite sound on a logical level.

"You simply condemned him." The words came swiftly and without mercy. "You threw away all reason like a child simply because you were lied to, and for what good reason? None."

The air was teeming with tension, like a geyser about to erupt, when all of a sudden, Mercedes seemed to relax with a disappointed look on her face. Turning away and heading towards the exit and the gates, the elven queen seemed resigned to whatever criticism had been laid upon her. She was but a small figure in the distance when he felt a weight on his shoulder.

"Who...?" Turning around quickly, he was greeted with a head of blonde hair. "Empress?" Somehow Aria had managed to sneak up behind him, something that most people couldn't fathom. It might have had something to do with the fact that she was currently barefoot, as opposed to the usually loud shoes she had on. Or maybe it was that she was wearing only a light tunic instead of the heavy day clothes that she was seen dragging around in public.

"Thank you Phantom." Well, no matter what it was, this was certainly unexpected. Whatever his experiences had taught him, the master thief of maple world had certainly not expected the Empress to react favorably to his presence. He was however, socially aware enough tor recognize what Aria was referring to.

"For what? It's not like she forgives him and she's still heading out alone." Ignoring that fact that Aria had somehow been able to eavesdrop on both himself and Mercedes without them realizing, Phantom still returned to being the pragmatist of the situation.

"Yes, that is true. You did manage to make her realize something though."

Skeptical, Phantom let out a disbelieving noise. "Really? And what was so important that I so kindly reminded her of?"

"You reminded her of her common sense. That she doesn't always need to be the cold queen of the elves." She let a bright smile slip onto her face. "And for that I thank you greatly, for accomplishing what I couldn't."

And just for a moment, it seemed as the weight of the world had lifted off her shoulders as she turned back around; heading to her room to get ready for the day ahead, and leaving Phantom staring at her retreating figure.

"Honestly that Empress..." Pinching the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger, Phantom decided that he would never completely understand Empress Aria.

~~~~~End~~~~~

A/N

Sorry this took an extra week. Had a little trouble working out the specifics for what would happen in the interaction for this chapter. Hope you all enjoyed.

-Lunarfeather