Not sure how I got the idea for this...

This was a secret project amidst all my others. And gosh, it took me so long to write.

Based on the in-game pet in Maplestory, a reddish/pink dragon that was in turn based on Mir. Her name is Ruby. So yeah.

Any similarities to actual people or things are purely coincidental /grins

Anyway, happy reading!

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'Now hold on,' Phantom spluttered, 'I can't be a Dragon Master!'

The little dragon in front of him looked up and tilted its head, glassy eyes wide with confusion.

'No. No, no nonono. I'm no Dragon Master.'

Phantom scowled as the dragon chirped and unfurled its tiny wings and waved its claws, demanding to be carried.

'No, I will not carry you.'

Hand.

The dragon's voice was high pitched, young and prepubescent. Phantom groaned.

'No hand. I said I won't carry you.'

Hand~

'I will not carry you.' Phantom leaned in close and frowned as fiercely as he could, in the hopes that the dragon would understand that he was not a Dragon Master and everything was just plain wrong. He took a deep breath and said, very clearly, like speaking to a young child, 'I. Am. Not. Your. Master.'

Master!

The dragon brightened at the word and ran to his leg, wrapping tiny claws around his trousers and clutching onto it in the best hug its short little arms could manage.

Gods, that was cute, the little lizard nuzzling against his trousers and so happy — no! Phantom shook his head. Even if it was cute! It couldn't call him Master. No way. He bent down to untangle it from his pants.

'I am not your Master,' he said firmly, reaching out to touch its arm. It whipped its head around to nuzzle into his palm instead. 'I'm the Master Thief Phantooooh my god.'

His hand was glowing.

Phantom pulled his hand away and wrenched the glove off, glaring at the insignia he knew too well.

'What did you do?' he almost yelled.

The dragon grinned up at him.

Master, it squeaked as it raised its tiny little paws.

Phantom sighed and relented. The dragon was all beaming, a wriggly squirming bundle of joy, as it snaked up his proffered hand and coiled in his embrace, settling down with the pearl of its belly upturned.

He tried very hard to resist, but still ended up rubbing its stomach and was rewarded with the most adorable gurgling sounds that he realised was the sound of its laugh.

'I'm not a Dragon Master,' he grumbled, as the dragon latched on to one of his garnet rings with its little claws.

Pretty, came a delighted squeak. So pretty.

He would go and ask Freud about this strange dragon, and see what he said. Freud would know what to do with her.

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'Where on earth did you find her? What are you going to do with her?' growled Freud even before Phantom opened his mouth.

Afrien was towering over them both, fierce golden eyes locked on the tiny dragon in his arms.

So much for that.

'That isn't important!' Phantom hissed, slightly surprised that the dragon in his arms was still wriggling and not even in the least worried about the huge, midnight dragon a short distance away. He cradled the dragon in his left arm and lifted his right hand to show Freud the insignia.

Freud's eyes widened, and then he burst out laughing.

I am not going to call Phantom 'Master', growled Afrien, his throaty rumble echoing around the hall.

'And you won't!' Freud mock huffed between laughs. 'I'm your Master.'

Master, echoed the little dragon in Phantom's arms.

Before Phantom knew it, Freud was in front of him, slightly bent to lean in close to the little dragon, who reached out its claws towards Freud. 'Can I?' Freud looked up at Phantom for permission to carry it.

What was Freud doing? It wasn't even —

'Who's your master?' Freud asked, without taking his eyes off Phantom.

The tiny dragon turned and pointed up at him.

Pan, it squeaked firmly. Pan.

'It's Phantom,' he hissed at the dragon, but he didn't have the heart to be angry.

The dragon tilted its head, tasting the word. It scrunched up its face in concentration, and said,

Pantim.

Oh, what the hell.

'See?' Freud grinned up at him. 'It's your dragon. Can I carry her?'

There really wasn't any getting out of this, was there. 'You can,' he grumbled.

The dragon seemed unwilling but Freud cooed at it until it latched onto his hands, to the slight displeasure of Afrien behind, and then it pawed at Freud's robes.

So pretty, she said, kneading the rich velvet robes with her claws.

'She's adorable.' Gently, Freud scratched a spot under her chin that had her squirming and gurgling in seconds. 'What's her name?'

The tiny little dragon had never said much, much less given her a clue as to her name, but somehow, deep down, Phantom knew what it was.

Without even missing a beat, Phantom answered, 'It's Ruby.'

Somehow, as the name rolled off his tongue, he knew things were going to work out just fine.

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Ruby was different from Afrien. Ruby was, as her name implied, red. She would grow up to become a dragon with scales the hue of the clouds reflecting a gentle campfire.

Afrien, King of the Onyx Dragons, was midnight blue.

Neither he nor Freud had any idea why Ruby was red, but it didn't matter.

What mattered more was that Ruby didn't seem to be growing.

Phantom watched Freud and Afrien train, honing their magic in the glade beside the Ereve barracks. The regal, magnificent form coiled in front of Freud was tonnes upon tonnes of tight muscle, smooth scales and sunfire ridges, spear-like claws and mighty golden horns framed perfectly by vast, powerful wings.

He glared at Ruby, claws and horns still blunt, her wings too small to fly.

'Why aren't you growing, huh?'

Ruby giggled and wrapped her claws, still as tiny as ever, around his finger and pawed at his ring. Pretty.

Freud had told him of Afrien's growth spurts often. He knew the story well. They'd trained relentlessly, day in and day out, and as a result Afrien had grown several meters in the matter of a week.

Phantom's Ruby, however, had remained this size for days, and didn't even seem capable of speaking a single coherent sentence.

'Onyx dragons reflect the mental prowess of their masters,' smiled Freud, coming over as he wiped his staff down with a soft cloth.

Frood, greeted Ruby.

'Hello, Ruby.'

Afroon.

Good morning, Ruby. Afrien blew a wisp of blue magic her way. Ruby's eyes lit up as she inhaled it. And sneezed.

Phantom, on the other hand, bristled at Freud's words. Was Freud calling his mental prowess poor? He was Phantom. He was The Master Thief Phantom, and he was renowned throughout the world.

Hell, he had people pretending to be him and writing stories about him, drawing and painting pictures of him, mimicking his splendid uniform (some of them did quite well, too, even if they were a tad bit too short), even going so far as to go head-over-heels crazy once any news at all came out about him (like that time when there were photos of him with a pierced ear and sent them into hysterics though they would never find out that it was merely a stick-on).

He opened his mouth to retort.

And then he found that he had nothing to say.

Ruby was every evidence of his weakness, and no matter what he said, no matter what he said, his words wouldn't make Ruby grow.

Phantom deflated, looking down at Ruby in his arms before looking back up to meet Freud's eyes. 'As much as I hate to admit it, I guess you're right. I just have some growing to do.'

Pantim. Ruby's hungry. Can Ruby have some milk?

He looked down sharply.

Ruby tilted her head, and then squirmed again. He yelped, partially in pain and partially in surprise, as one of her claws nicked his wrist.

'Ouch, Ruby. That hurts!'

Sorry, Master. She stilled immediately, but carefully leaned over to lap at the scratch, Here. Ruby will make it better.

He and Freud exchanged glances.

Ruby had surely grown, if only just a little.

'Humility,' noted Freud, with slight amusement. 'That's new.'

Phantom glared at him. 'Excuse you! To speak in your academic terms: if we were all fictional characters, I'm probably the one with the greatest character development —'

'Looks like I was wrong about the humility.' Freud rolled his eyes, but he was smiling.

Phantom closed his mouth.

Pantim, urged Ruby.

With one final glare in Freud's direction, he patted the little dragon's head, where a golden insignia shone. 'Alright, we'll get you some milk.'

Be nice, Pantim, mewled Ruby, rubbing her head against Phantom's palm.

'See? Your dragon knows better than you.' Freud grinned, and turned to pat Ruby as well.

Frood needs to be nice too, she said firmly as she sniffed at Freud's outstretched palm before accepting her pat.

'Yeah,' Phantom huffed back at Freud, who was trying to hold back his laughter.

Pantim! Ruby made a squeaky, clicking sound of disapproval at the back of her throat.

'Aren't you supposed to call me "Master", Ruby?'

Not if Pantim isn't nice.

'That's not how the contract words! And it's Phantom, not Pantim!'

Ruby stuck out her tongue. Panty.

'No!'

Phantom hurried away before Ruby said anything more.

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Ruby grew at the oddest of times. It wasn't when he perfected a new card trick, or when he managed to infuse a new spell into the slips of his enchanted cards, or when he finally managed to steal the skills of the gunslinging pirates he had had his eye on for the longest of times.

And it drove him crazy because Ruby was the sign that he should be fixing something, when he clearly didn't want to.

He could be staring in the mirror, trying to fix a stubborn lock of hair that didn't want to fall into its place, and suddenly he'd get the revelation that maybe, maybe just maybe he was being a little bit too vain and he should tone it down a little. He'd turn around and Ruby would be there, hovering in midair with her newfound powers of flight.

He could be in the middle of training, driving his body past reasonable limits, when he was struck with a bout of listlessness and the realisation that it wouldn't be wise if his body collapsed on him at the last possible moment. He'd decide on the break, and turn around, and suddenly Ruby would be there playing with an orb of shiny, silvery magic that Phantom had never seen before.

He could be in the midst of the prank of slipping some multicolored food dye into the pots boiling in the kitchens when nobody was looking. Then his conscience would prick him, and maybe it would be a little too over-the-top and probably bad for someone's heart, and bad for the head chef too. He'd decide to try a less destructive prank next time. And then he'd retire to his quarters and Ruby would be there, waiting for him, green electricity crackling up her growing, golden horns.

She must've learned from him, because she was soon sneaking jewellery from… everywhere. Jewels would go missing from Ereve, rings and pendants and bracelets and they would all appear tucked carefully in the sheets of Phantom's bed, specks of colour on canvas and every one of them was a sacrilegious splatter of paint atop the tabula rasa he had sworn to uphold.

'It wasn't me!' Phantom would protest, 'It was Ruby!'

This cute, innocent, red dragon? How was that possible?, they'd ask, and give him dirty looks.

Ruby, thieving, conniving Ruby, would steal food from him too. He soon learned that Ruby had an appetite for fish. Any kind of fish. But she would steal the best fillets. Somehow, she always knew which were the best bits. She'd leave the bony parts for him, the fins, the head, the tail.

And she was picky too! She'd steal the best meats. She'd leave the sardines, anchovies, tuna. And instead she'd go for grouper, swordfish, yellowtail.

And she couldn't resist salmon. She would do anything for salmon.

Once she had gone so far as to firing a bolt of electricity at the mains of his ship so he would be forced to get up and fix the lights so he could return to his meal… which would be fishless.

Wasn't me, Pantim, she'd purr as she licked her claws clean, a suspicious bulge in her belly.

This dragon was going to be the death of him.

But Pantim, she'd mew whenever as he spluttered indignation, Didn't you want me to grow? And I've grown so much.

'Not enough, cause you don't call me "Master" as often as you used to.'

Pantim has a nice ring to it, she mused.

'No,' he hissed.

Pan Tin?

'Most definitely not!' Phantom growled and shook his cane at her.

She stuck out her tongue at him, pink peeking out through increasingly sharp fangs.

Puffy pants.

And that was when he realised…

Pantim, no.

'Phantom, yes.' He couldn't stop the grin from growing on his face.

Don't do the thing.

'I'll give you salmon.'

She fell silent.

'I'll give you salmon this big.' He held up his hands to show her: a slab as big as his own hands.

He could see her resolve waver.

'I'll even get my chef to prepare it raw,' he whispered conspiratorially. 'You can eat it like they do down in Aqua Road.'

Ruby glanced at the door before gliding over to him. We speak of this to nobody, Pantim.

Sweet, sweet victory.

And that was how he pulled off his greatest running joke of all time: to move every single thing in Luminous' house an inch to the right, regardless of whether they were placed on the table, floor, or cupboard.

Every day.

Even after Luminous got suspicious and watched him.

Pantim, Ruby would click disapprovingly at him when the deed was done. That isn't nice.

But then Phantom would procure his end of the deal, a firm, perfectly filleted flank of salmon, and Ruby's eyes would light up, and nothing more would be said or seen of the fish on the plate.

He never got away with Freud, though. Instead he and Freud would watch the huge, midnight hued Afroon frolic in the grass with magenta Ruby.

Phantom would troubleshoot.

'Whenever Ruby sneezes she'd shoot a bolt of energy out.'

Right on cue, the red dragon squeaked and sneezed a bolt of energy that dissipated over Afrien's hard scales.

'That's new,' blinked Freud.

Phantom grumbled and unfurled his cape, showing a medium sized singe. 'Very inconvenient, too.'

Freud took one look burst out laughing.

'What?' snapped Phantom.

The scholar wiped at his eyes, smiling. 'For once, you're more concerned about the dragon who's firing stray bolts than of your precious tailor-made clothes.'

Phantom blinked at the realisation. Indeed, when the scholar threatened to hurl fireballs at him, he would immediately cease all conversation to whine about his clothes being ruined or of his precious hair burned to naught and it would be so frustrating that Freud would have to manhandle him, still talking, out the room.

Ruby sneezed again, and this time Afrien let out a snort of surprise when a bolt hit him. It seemed bigger this time.

Stop talking about me, Pantim. You too Frood, she glared and scowled at them, golden horns reflecting the amber sunlight.

They waited until Ruby had turned away. Then Phantom urgently hissed at Freud, 'She grew again!'

'So did you,' he smirked. 'Please don't complain about your clothes when I try to shoot a fireball at you next time.'

'You —!'

'You're her master,' Freud reminded him.

'I'm her Pantim,' corrected Phantom.

'You're her Pen Toon —'

'She also can't control her holy magic properly…'

Freud laughed, but said nothing when Phantom glared at him, and for that he was eternally thankful.

Ruby was the only one who got away with mauling his name so many times like that.

As long as Ruby helped to either guard his gems or stay away from them, he was okay.

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Thunder crackled by overhead as he ran. All he could hear was his pounding footsteps, the sound of raindrops crashing against the leaves, the wind whipping at thin skeletal branches as he raged past, a hurricane of frustration and desperation and fear.

Her name died on his lips as he broke past the last line of forests and saw the tattered, feathery frame curled up under a crumbling awning.

And the rain fell like broken diamonds.

A jewel was nestled inside her palm, enclosed in the slender fingers that had touched him, revered him, made him feel like an angel when he was, and could only ever be, a lowly thief.

She was perhaps his greatest treasure, and had helped him believe that he was a gem in the rough. She was the only one who could make him feel that way — make him feel like there was a shard of something precious deep inside the filth that he had enshrouded himself with over the years.

Her frame was lighter than he remembered. And still warm. There was still the faintest whiff of the rose perfume she'd loved so much, lingering about her broken form. Gently prying her fingers away from the Skaia, which was warm too from the last of the heat of her palms, he twined their fingers together and watched as the rain trickled down her arm, a mix of water and blood, to gather where their palms connected.

He used to hold her hand just like this as he held her close, and together they would admire the iridescent pinpricks of light studded against the silky velvet of the night sky.

Over her shoulder, he caught sight of Ruby, carefully approaching the crimson gem that lay in the mud.

Pretty, she whispered, gently cradling it between her claws and wiping away the dirt with her wing.

Two of them, each with their own treasures.

'She is pretty, isn't she?' Phantom whispered back, carding his fingers in the long sandy locks and gently working away a bloodstain.

Ruby nodded, hugged the jewel to her chest even tighter. It's painful to lose something so precious.

Phantom felt rage bubble up inside him. What did this dragon know about pain? She had grown up in a happy place, pampered with the best foods and in good company, while Phantom had slogged it out until he had obtained the world in a beautiful woman called Aria but ended up losing it all.

Ruby would never know pain, or how much Aria meant to him.

He was about to snap at her when he realised that the dragon's eyes were dulled, and her tiny claws were shaking even though she tried to hide it by clutching extra tightly around the jewel.

It really hurts, whispered Ruby.

And he remembered that his spirit partner felt every bit of emotion as he did.

This dragon knew pain because he did. All along she had known.

And now she was being strong, for him, because even a Master thief needed a mask to hide behind at his weakest moments.

'Come here.'

Ruby put the Skaia back on its owner's lap and flung herself at him and Phantom was sure she'd grown again, she was heavier and more muscular but all he did was to press his face into her neck with a sigh. She wrapped her arms around his neck and clung to him, shielding him from the rain with a leathery wing.

'You're really big now,' Phantom murmured, as they both sat in the rain and took their time with goodbye to the gem of Phantom's heart.

So are you, Ruby said, a watery golden eye fixed on him.

They both lapsed into silence, listening to the pattering raindrops against the leaves. And there was no need for words.

Phantom forced himself to grow, hunting down the strongest beasts in Leafre one at a time and honing his skill. Even with his Ruby, Phantom needed an outlet for his anger, and he took it out on things that could afford to be slain. Revenge, cold and bittersweet, stayed fresh on his mind even as he and his dragon tore through one forest and then the next, leaving wild animals dead in their wake.

He would hurl himself against beasts three times his size and not stop until he had brought the creature to its knees, and even then it was not enough.

'This isn't the way to get revenge,' Freud would say quietly as he came home when night finally fell.

'This is the only way,' Phantom would retort, firmly and resolutely and bitterly, and Freud would know that the conversation was at an end.

Of course it was the only way. Did they not understand that the only way to close a void opened by death was by filling it vengeance?

Or did they think Aria meant less than what he was currently giving?

They stayed out of his way as he stalked down the hall with death in his eyes, a walking dead man out seeking revenge for the dead, and no matter how much they pleaded with him, nothing eased the ache in his heart.

Except Ruby.

Because one day he nearly broke her.

They were in the deepest forests of Leafre and Phantom was exhausted but he was not going to give up so soon. They had taken out all the centaurs in a twenty mile radius, and they had stumbled upon the nest of an ancient old dragon. It had a wicked whitened scar across its yellow muzzle. And it struck when Phantom was trying to catch his breath.

And Ruby had taken the hit for him.

He landed on the ground with a yelp, only to realise that Ruby had been flung further into the undergrowth by the force of the monster's magic.

Ice shot through him.

'Ruby!' He shouted and staggered to his feet, gritting back the pain but the beast blocked his way with a monstrous snarl.

It was then that he realised that he had been foolish.

That the only one he was hurting was himself, with his blind quest for vengeance.

That he would only end up losing more of the close ones he swore he would protect.

And that was when Ruby tore out of the undergrowth, breathing concentrated red fire that struck the dragon from behind, clean off melting one of its horns. She was now half its size, a head taller than Phantom, but still she recklessly flung herself at the monster, locking claws and snapping at the weak points in its neck, fangs and wild eyes glinting in the flames that licked around them.

'Ruby!' Phantom shouted, 'Come back!'

I can do this! Ruby shouted back at him as the monster slammed its tail down just shy of her frame. He's almost down —

'No!' Phantom roared. 'Come here!'

But —

'Now!'

Ruby hissed and shot fire in the monster's face, making it howl in pain, momentarily distracting it while she disentangled herself and swiftly glided over to Phantom, who leaped onto her back before they took off over the trees.

'Next time, if I say some back, you come back,' he chided, breathing hard. 'No exceptions.'

But Pantim, protested Ruby weakly.

Phantom glared at her, and she didn't say a word more. He knew she was relieved. Because he was too.

A thief did not use his treasure for battles. A thief protected them.

But a thief was better than taking than guarding.

As he found out, when death caught up with him in the burning forests of Leafre, and when time left him late.

The man lying against his dragon was almost in perfect symmetry to a slender form nestled in soft, rain-soaked feathers. Fate had somehow dealt him the exact same hand, and it hurt no less than the first time.

Perhaps it hurt even more.

Sometimes he really wondered if everything was a game and someone was up there, trying to make things so painfully similar in some torturous, twisted irony.

Here lay the original Dragon Master, and for once his knowledge had done him no good at all.

Finally, sleep had caught up with the damn scholar. Gods knew how he had driven himself to the brink of insanity over and over for a cause he would be too sleepy to stay awake for.

There was no rain this time, no shards of diamond scattering on the leaves. Only the smell of burning trees and a sky the same colour as garnet half hidden in shadow.

He was another of Phantom's prized treasures. He was different from the other Heroes. He was the calm to Phantom's chaos. He treated everyone like they could one day become perfectly cut diamond, even if they were dull or unpolished or a gem that wasn't anywhere near precious at all.

Around him, Phantom didn't need to pretend to be whole. He saw through the veneer of Phantom's lies and understood why he was cracked right down his centre. And he neither treated Phantom like a fragile piece of glass, or made any move to try to reseal the break before Phantom was ready.

With him, Phantom felt he was whole, even if he wasn't.

And yet here Phantom was, already broken once before but almost fit to shatter as he gazed upon the broken body of the friend who had taught him the value of being kind, of being gentle, of being human.

The body was cold, but it still felt reassuring to have something to hold, to run his fingers through the hair even though it was slightly mottled with blood, and to pretend for a final moment that his friend would wake up eventually.

Pretty, whispered Ruby.

He looked up and saw Ruby, kneading her claws gently in the scholar's velvet robes like she had when they first met.

Even with his dragon, he hadn't been able to do a thing.

Choking out a soft laugh, Phantom carefully returned the body back to its original place in the nook of the midnight dragon's arm, before he turned to Ruby.

His dragon, scales now dark as the night with a sheen of ruby over the polished surface, does not move.

'This isn't real, is it.'

Ruby shakes her head.

Phantom laughs and sits heavily on the ground, suddenly finding his head spinning. He knows if he tried to get up, he won't be able to walk in a straight line, and if he tries then he would definitely see two of everything.

You really should stop drinking, Pantim.

'I know.'

Phantom stares at the red dragon, now an adult, as they sit together on the deck of the Lumiere.

'I know, I know. But it's so hard.'

You are funny, Pantim. Ruby clicks her tongue at the back of her throat. Even when you are drunk you subject yourself to such emotional turmoil.

Phantom does not reply.

They both turn to stare at the shattered crystal wineglass on the polished wooden floor and the puddle of red wine that is the same hue as Ruby's shimmering scales.

'You're not as big as Afrien yet,' he muses, before turning to watch the clouds and the skies rushing by. 'Even in my hallucinations you're puny.'

Because you have not grown enough, comes Ruby's simple reply, coiling her mighty form around him. Even in your wildest hallucinations.

Phantom realises, as he fidgets against Ruby's gently rising and falling chest, that the nook of a dragon's arm is really the best place to be for comfort.

'Do you think you'll ever be big enough?' whispers Phantom, peeling off his white glove to stare at the dragon master insignia on the back of his hand. Soon it will be gone, and Ruby will be no more.

I am only as big as you let yourself be.

Ruby rests her mighty horned head in front of him and fixes him with a gentle, golden eye.

Phantom sighs in mock frustration, but puts his hand on Ruby's forehead anyway, and watches their insignias glow gently at the touch, constellations of heaven within reach. 'Dragon Masters really do have philosophical dragons.'

Yet I am a figment of your imagination, grins Ruby, purring gently.

'A self-aware one,' hisses Phantom in reply, tickling her on the nose to make her sneeze.

They both yelp as a faint bolt of magic bursts into the air in front of Ruby's snout, barely missing Phantom's hair by inches.

That was your fault, clarifies Ruby, sniffing.

Phantom chuckles before they lapse into silence again, simply enjoying each other's presence, and the gentle night breeze against their faces.

'Do you know why I had a hallucination of you?'

Of course. Ruby wraps her tail more snugly around Phantom's waist. I am you, in more ways than one. Of course I know —

'Because,' continues Phantom dramatically, ignoring Ruby's bored sigh, 'I always wished I carried the burden of being a Dragon Master instead.'

Yes, yes. So Freud wouldn't need to walk alone.

'That's right. The poor soul.' Phantom sighs. The name still burns a hole in his chest, just as Aria's still does. 'I know that the chance of that happening is so close to zero but still… I can't help but wonder if I could've changed anything, you know?'

Ruby lets out a low rumble. Neither of us will ever know, will we.

'Nope.'

Out on the deck, watching the skies soar by, thousands upon thousands of diamond shards speckled across the skies like rain, Phantom thinks maybe he knows why.

'Hey, Ruby.'

Hmm?

'You know, I think… I think maybe I have beaten myself up for things I didn't have any control over.' Phantom crosses his legs and drapes Ruby's tail over him like a shawl. 'Gods, Freud died months ago, Aria even longer. And now that they're gone, nothing I can do will ever bring them back. I can't change the past.'

Ruby listens quietly, with all the patience of a dragon.

Phantom laughs. 'Hell even in my drunken stupors I can't save them. Because I don't. I don't save them. They're gone, and there's nothing to save.'

Only thing left is to make the best with what you have, Ruby says quietly into the silence that falls between them.

'Yeah. Aria and Freud are really precious to me, but they're just a bunch of bittersweet memories now.'

Phantom smiles gently to himself.

'I'm done with living in the past.'

It's weird, but saying that is such a great weight off his chest that he suddenly feels like he can fly.

The support behind him shifts and he falls backwards, caught off guard and his head collides with the deck, making him yelp.

Popping into his vision is a tiny, bright red hatchling with eyes like liquid sunfire, with tiny wings and blunt horns.

'Hey,' growls Phantom, sitting up and lifting the dragon to his eye level. It wriggles furiously in his grip. 'I thought you said you were going to grow, not shrink!'

But Pantim, protests Ruby with that squeaky little voice, and Phantom melts.

'Stop looking at me like that,' he grumbles.

Then he and the dragon fall still.

'This is goodbye, isn't it,' he murmurs.

Ruby nods.

'Even though you were annoying as all hell, I'm going to miss you.'

The red dragon gurgles happily.

Hand~

Hmm? Phantom blinks as Ruby paws at his right hand.

Hand, she demands.

Phantom cradles her in his left arm and brings his right hand to her. Her eyes soften and meet his once more before she plants a kiss on the back. There, the coiling dragon insignia glows a brilliant yellow for the final time before it begins to fade.

Master, she purrs.

'About time!' huffs Phantom, stroking the back of her head. 'Goodbye, Ruby.'

Ruby's gaze is unwavering and it lends him the strength he never knew he needed.

Keep growing.

And with that, the tiny dragon dissipates into nothing but the vapours from rich red wine, and is whipped away by the wind.

Phantom is about to sigh and let himself soak in the reveries a while longer when Evan bursts up on the deck.

'Mister Phantom,' his voice is quivering. He stops short when he sees all the bottles surrounding Phantom, and the shattered wineglass a distance away from the door.

'What is it,' Phantom murmurs.

He watches the boy scuffle his foot.

'I've done all my homework and practiced all my spells but Mir still isn't growing so I was just wondering if you knew how to make Mir grow more because I really don't want to be a burden any more and you knew Freud best so maybe you know how to make Mir grow a little more too,' says Evan in a rush.

Mir pokes his head out from behind Evan, a dragon that Phantom is surprised to see in midnight blue hues.

Phantom tilts his head, studying the boy, and Evan looks fit to faint on the spot from the silent treatment that Phantom is subjecting him to now.

Once upon a time he would have surged to his feet with anger and given the Dragon Master the lashing of his lifetime for speaking so flippantly about his Onyx Dragon's growth because that was based on the sacred bond between a boy and his lizard.

But now, looking at the scared boy in his crimson tunic, he only sees his crimson Ruby with her watery eyes, each clutching at something red — Evan, at the fast-disappearing robes of Freud, and Ruby, at the colours that she loved so dearly.

Two of them, each with their own treasures.

Now, Phantom isn't quite so sure what makes a dragon grow.

'Evan,' he begins gently, and is somewhat shocked to see the boy recoil. Maybe he really has been too harsh. 'I think there isn't a way to make your dragon grow. Things don't just… grow like that. You're a farmer, you should know.'

'Mir doesn't need sunlight and water to grow,' quips Evan under his breath.

Phantom pretends he doesn't hear it. 'What I'm saying is, maybe you just haven't grown enough as a person.'

Evan looks confused.

Don't worry, Evan, thinks Phantom, I'm confused too.

'You may not have the time to spare now, in the middle of a war, but eventually, once you've seen and understood the world enough, you and Mir will definitely grow —'

Something catches the corner of his eye and he turns sharply back to the skies, which are now beginning to crest over with the scarlet of the rising dawn.

'Did you see that,' Phantom says urgently, trying to make for the railings. Not the wisest of choices, he would realise later. Thankfully, Evan runs up to him and tries to hold him back.

Evan squints out at the horizon. '… No, I don't think so.'

'It was huge, off in the distance,' Phantom insists, 'The size of… um…'

'The Lumiere?' volunteers Evan.

'No, not so big…'

'A house?'

'No.'

Evan gives him a weird look. 'Afrien?'

Phantom falls still, and the mention of the mighty dragon brings a smile to his lips.

'I must have been mistaken,' Phantom says quietly. 'Never mind. Help me inside, will you? I can't walk straight.'

Mir glides over for Phantom to fling his other arm around his shoulders. Phantom ignores the glance that the Dragon Master and his Onyx Dragon share when they think he isn't looking.

They all have a lot of growing to do.

They leave the empty bottles and the shattered wineglass out on the deck. Maybe it is just a trick of the sunlight but for a few seconds, a shadow seems to pass over the deck. The dark puddle of wine reflects the dawn, shattering it into ripples of vibrant reds and crimsons and amethyst.

And for those precious few seconds, the shards of glass, glimmering in the sun like diamonds, turn the brightest ruby red.