Aria, hurry up!" hissed Satoshi. "And turn off your iPod!"

"But Satoshi," I whined. "I want to go to bed. I'm tired. What are we doing here, anyway?"

Satoshi looked at me as if I was an idiot.

"It's the Hikari destiny," he said. "To protect our artworks…from Dark."

I gasped. "The Phantom Thief? The one…from my dreams? Is it the same person…the one who steals from the world?"

Satoshi nodded. I was filled with uncontrollable anger.

What kind of person…steals artwork that's supposed to belong to the world? I wondered. I hope we meet him. I'd like to tell him a thing or two…

I felt a hand on my shoulder. "Calm down. Have you seen Dark before?" Satoshi said.

"In almost every dream I have," I said softly. "He's always after…me."

Satoshi looked at me, a quizzical expression on his face. "You…hmm…you're going to valuable, little sister. He won't attack a female. I'll show you what we're guarding."

Satoshi led me to a long hallway, lined with masks and scores of old plays and musicals. At the end of the hallway was a score in a frame with a label: The Phantom of the Opera.

I stepped up to it, gasping for breath. "S-Satoshi…it's the original score. I've wanted to see this my whole life!"

Satoshi sighed exasperatedly. "Aria! Turn around! The painting is on this wall!"

I turned, and there was the painting. It was a beautiful painting of the masquerade scene, right as the Phantom appears.

I could hear them…their voices breaking into song. So beautiful…

"Guard it with your life," Satoshi said seriously. "I'm going to see if they've spotted him.

Satoshi turned and left the room. The music in my head was getting louder. I began to hum along with it, and then softly sing.

"I expected to meet you here, Aria Hikari," said the voice from my nightmares.

"Dark," I said. "Get out of here. You can't have this painting."

"I'm not going to hurt you," Dark said. "You aren't a real Hikari, not yet anyway, and you don't really know what you're dealing with."

"I'm dealing with a sick person who has nothing of his own, and so takes what doesn't belong to him!" I yelled in anger.

"And you're a Hikari who knows nothing of art!" Dark pretended to laugh at me, but I could see I had struck a nerve.

He says I know nothing of art…but that painting on the wall has made an imprint on my heart before I even saw it!

Something possessed me then. I came close to Dark, and gently touched his face with my hand. "This haunted face…holds no horror for me now…" I sang in a soft, clear voice. Dark looked taken aback. "It's in your soul…that the true distortion lies!"

I don't believe it…either she awakened it, or it awakened her…or both…Dark thought, as a beam of white light shot from the painting and engulfed the already glowing Aria. And…how did she see through me like that?

Is she like us, Dark? Asked Daisuke desparately. How do we stop this?

It…depends on if she's doing this…or if the painting's got control…

Suddenly and violently, Daisuke was thrown up in the air…separated from Dark, and they were both engulfed in the same white light. It was pulling…getting harder to resist. Daisuke could hear music.

He faintly saw Satoshi enter the room. Would he be separated from his other half as well? Daisuke watched as Krad separated from Satoshi…and suddenly combined with Dark!

Weren't Krad and Dark originally one and the same? Came a last nagging thought.

The light at last pulled them in…Aria, Daisuke, Satoshi, and the strange combination of Dark and Krad.