A/N and Disclaimer: I own nothing, and I haven't written Phantom in a long time, so please bear with me!
"Christine?" Raoul de Chagny called.
"Yes?" Christine replied.
"Why aren't you ready yet?" he asked impatiently. Christine laughed.
"Patience, Raoul. We have ample time to get to the church! Besides, it's bad luck for the groom to see the bride before the wedding." she called back.
"I've never heard of that--who invented that?"
"A bride who wasn't ready yet!" Meg Giry laughed as she tightened Christine's corset.
Soon, however, Christine was ready and Raoul departed with his brother, Phillipe, for the church. Christine, Meg, and Madame Giry followed in a separate carriage. Once they had reached the church, Madame Giry and Meg left Christine to herself in a small room near the chapel.
Not two minutes after Meg and her mother had left, Christine felt another presence in the room with her. "Hello, Erik." she greeted him flatly.
"Hello, sweet angel." Erik stepped out of nowhere toward her. "You have lost your touch of knowing when I am with you."
"Erik," Christine asked, "why are you here? Surely not to wish Raoul and me the best in our marriage." Erik half-smiled, bemused.
"No." he agreed. "I suppose I'm not. Why are you marrying that arrogant fop? Church mice are less afraid of me than Raoul is."
"You haven't tried to kill those mice, have you?" Christine asked, obviously reminded of the horrific night that followed the one and only performance of Erik's opera.
"No, Christine, I haven't. I didn't really want to kill Raoul that night, either." Erik admitted.
"You didn't?" Christine asked disbelievingly. Before he could respond, she continued sarcastically, "Oh, yes, Erik. Six months ago, tying a man to a portcullis and half-stranglng him while he is fighting for the woman he loves definitely did not qualify as wanting to kill him."
"Christine, will you forgive me for that night?" Erik asked, looking pained.
"Yes." she said simply. "I forgive you. The question is, will Raoul forgive you? He's the one you nearly killed." Erik nodded. "He's in the foyer, I believe." Christine prodded gently. Erik nodded again and departed, apparently for the foyer.
As Erik entered the foyer, he spotted Raoul right away. "Vicompte," he threw his voice so it whispered directly into Raoul's ear. "Come to the altar room." Raoul looked around, but could not see Erik. He knew the bone-chilling voice could only belong to the masked man, but he couldn't spot him. "Vicompte, I urge you. Come. You will not be sorry." Erik whispered, disappearing into the altar room by way of the room he had left Christine in. Raoul, fearing for Christine's safety, excused himself and dashed to the altar room. "I am glad to see you, Vicompte." Erik greeted Raoul. Raoul drew his rapier.
"What do you want?" he demanded. "Where is Christine?" Erik smiled as if Raoul were a young child, fighting for his favorite toy.
"Would you rally like to know? I don't think you would. Don't worry about Christine just yet. I came to offer an apology."
"An apology?" Raoul's curiosity was aroused, and he had caught Erik's words about Christine, how he shouldn't worry "just yet." What did Erik have planned? "An apology?" Raoul repeated. "What, for almost killing me and suffering Christine unspeakable heartbreak? Are you here to finish the job?" Erik didn't look surprised.
"I may have to if you continue to stand between me and the object of my affections."
"Oh, Christine is an object? I thought she was a person. And does she love you in return?"
"In time, she will." Erik said determinedly.
"Does she love you now?" Raoul pressed.
"Why don't you ask her?" Erik stepped away from the tall chest he had been standing in front of. He opened the door. Inside, Christine was suspended by a rope around her neck! Erik smiled as Raoul gasped, dropping his rapier.
"Christine!" Raoul choked out. Christine's eyes filled with tears. She was truly in no danger; it was an illusion.
"Why torture him so?" she screamed at Erik. "I am not in harm's way!"
"One false step, Christine," Erik said, aching to pull the rope he held in his hands, "and Raoul will be." He pulled the rope, and as it released Christine, a rope he had tied around Raoul's hands tightened. In the blink of an eye, Raoul was suspended over the floor, hanging by his hands tied behind his back.
"Christine!" Raoul cried, trying to fight the rope. Erik placed another rope around Raoul's neck. He tightened it.
"If you bend your elbows," he hissed at Raoul, "the rope around your neck will hang you!"
"You wicked beast!" Christine screamed at Erik.
"Come with me, Christine!" Erik begged. "I don't want to do this!" Christine snatched up Raoul's forgotten rapier and cut him free.
"Then don't do it!" Christine cried, clinging to Raoul. He embraced her tightly. Erik stepped back. If they loved each other enough to risk death twice to be with one another, then they deserved to be married, and he would leave them in peace.
His heart fell to pieces, and as he turned to go, he said, "Go. Be happy. I will die in my misery." He exited the altar room, expecting Christine to follow him and apologize.
"Erik!" Christine called, indeed following him.
"Why do you have to torment me by coming after me every time you break my hear and deny me the one thing I need to live?" he demanded, hoping that his words would tug at Christine's heartstrings. "You have one another again; you've won! Good has triumphed over evil, and I simply wish to die in peace."
"Erik," Christine said quietly, "do not do this. I know what you are trying to do. Indeed, I feel sorry for you, but I cannot go with you and pretend to love you. It isn't fair to me, or you, or Raoul. Do you understand?" Erik nodded. "From this day forward," Christine continued, "you need to leave us be. I do not want to see you again. Ever. Can you do that?" Erik hesitated. Christine looked straight through him, it seemed, and he finally agreed.
Christine and Raoul were married that day. True to his word, Erik stayed away from them. Neither de Chagny knew it, but Erik secretly watched over them day and night, for many years. After the de Chagnys had been married for twenty happy years, Erik came to Christine and Raoul.
"I am dying. I am old. I know you are living your life now, and I shouldn't ask, but I must."
"What do you want?" Christine asked cautiously.
"I simply wish to hear you sing, Madame de Chagny." he smiled at her, hoping she would see his use of her married name as a final gift to her and Raoul. Raoul and Christine exchanged a look.
"What would you like to hear?" Christine asked Erik. "It is your choice, Monsieur le Fantome."
"Please. My surname is Larsson."
"Monsieur Larsson, your choice?" Christine smiled.
"I would like to hear 'Think of Me.' And I would ask that you would think of me." Erik seated himself on a settee. He was not as nimble as he had been all those years before.
"Think of me..." Christine began. "Think of me fondly, when we say goodbye. Remember me, once in a while, please promise me, you'll try. Then you'll find, that once again you long to take your heart back and be free, if you'll ever find a moment, spare a thought for me." Tears came to Christine's eyes. "We never said our love was evergreen, or as unchanging as the sea, but if you can still remember, stop and think of me. Think of all the things we've shared and seen, don't think about the way things might have been. Think of me, think of me waking, silent and resigned, imagine me, trying too hard to put you from my mind. Recall those days, look back on all those times, think of those things we'll never do. There will never be a day when I won't think of you." Tears had now crept into Erik's and Raoul's eyes. "Flowers fade, the fruits of summer fade, they have their seasons, so do we, but please promise me that sometimes, you will think of me." As Christine finished the song, all three wiped the tears from their eyes.
"Thank you, Christine." Erik Larsson smiled, closed his eyes, and was gone.