Yes, yes, I know. I still have two multi chapter phics waiting to be updated. But I swear, I can handle three at once. Love Shines Brightest in the dark is going to be updated soon and I'm still working on who's POV The Opera's Ghost is going to be from.
This is different from all my other phics, Erik and Christine never met at the Opera House, the events of POTO never happend, that sort of thing. But they have met before...
Anyway, before I give too much away I want to say that this is dedicated to mon ami Reagan. This phic would have never happened if she had not told me to write it and encouraged me.
Sadly, I own nothing....a book and a dvd and that's about it. *Mumbles* Stupid ALW...
"Monsieur, monsieur, would you like some company tonight? A girl to warm your bed?" A prostitute cried out from the side of a street. The man who she had called to looked at her and contemplated.
"How much do you charge?" He growled. She lit up, a customer!
"50 Euros a night monsieur." She replied eagerly. This was her first job, though her innocence would not be taken. It had been stolen from her, years ago.
"Alright..." The man started to say before another voice interrupted him.
"Don't go with her monsieur, this is her first night. You need an experienced woman who can give you pleasure, and I only charge 30 euros a night." The second prostitute said sweetly. He looked between the two, the second one defiantly had the advantage, she was cheaper, experienced and she looked like she could give more pleasure.
He looked apologetically at the first girl and left with the second one. The first girl almost started crying, a potential customer and he had been stolen away like so many that night. Now there were only two prostitutes left on the street, her and another blond haired woman who looked like it was her first time as well. Not on the street, but her first time ever. The first woman pitied this girl, but she at least would have her innocence taken on her own will.
The blond woman came over and looked at the other one, a brunette. She stuck out her hand in a handshake.
"Hi, I'm Meg Giry what's your name?" She asked. The brunette looked at her warily, as if this was another trick but took her hand after a moment.
"Christine Daae, this is your first night right?" She asked. Meg made a face.
"Yeah, a couple of years ago I didn't even know that there were whores in France anymore. Now, I am one, ironic, isn't it?" She asked.
Christine permitted herself a slight grin.
"I know what you mean. I have this job and one at a bar and I can hardly hold up rent! I never thought that I would become a person who sold herself on the street. I thought that people in 2009 were better than that. But I suppose not..." She trailed off looking at Meg.
Meg sat down next to Christine and they both flinched as a car splashed them both with water as it sped by. They groaned in unison.
Christine stood up.
"I don't know about you, but I am going home. I am not sitting here all night soaked in a skimpy outfit like this." She declared. Meg stood up more hesitantly.
"I would go home...if I had one." She muttered. Christine looked at her, shocked.
"What?" She asked incredulously. How could Meg not have a home?
Meg looked down, ashamed.
"I've been going through tons of jobs lately and now this is the last think that I can think of. My mom-the only parent I had left disowned me a couple months ago. I was partying too late and frankly, I was not the innocent people thought I was. After I got pregnant my mom kicked me out. It ended up in a miscarriage and now I have no place to live since my boyfriend dumped me." She shrugged.
Christine looked at her, surprised. Well, I suppose I was wrong about her. She thought, but at least she had her innocence taken by choice... She shivered at the thought of what had been done to her so many years ago, when she was only 15.
Christine had been raped when she was walking home from school in New York.
She had stayed after dark and was walking home alone, her house had not been far away from her school and she decided to take a shortcut through a back alley. Looking back on it now it had been a stupid move, when you lived in New York you learned at an early age that you don't go through back alleys after dark if you valued your life.
In her defence she was late because she was practicing her music and she needed to get home quickly to reassure her father that she was okay. What an irony that turned out to be later.
She had been walking through the alley and all of a sudden a man grabbed her and held her close to him, his hand over her mouth. He had used something to knock her out with. When she came to she had already been defiled and she was left in the alleyway, bloody and broken. The police had picked her up later. They had questioned her and comforted her. Two month later the man had been caught while trying to rape another woman.
He had been sentenced to jail for life. Not only had he raped over 12 women he was guilty of homicide and second degree murder. He was not going to get out of jail.
But where did that leave Christine? She had been raped, in court and broken on the inside as well as out. To make matters worse, two months after the hearing he father died of a stroke. She was now an orphan and had no money. She had gone through many foster homes, most who didn't want her. Then, when she was eighteen she moved to France in hope that she could get a scholarship for a university. That didn't turn out so well so now she was sitting on the streets, trying to sell her body as well as working in a bar. Life was not going well for her. She had been afraid of men and intimacy for a while, but when she learned she had to do this to survive...well, when your life is at stake you learn to overcome your fears.
But back to her and Meg.
"Well...you could stay with me until you have enough money to pay for an apartment." Christine offered. Meg looked wary but said
"Are you sure? I wouldn't want to impose?" What she really meant was 'how do I know that you're not going to murder me?'
"I'm absolutely sure, I need company in my apartment, we can't stay up too late though, the walls are thin and people could hear us if we talk too loud." She reassured her what she really meant was 'people would know if I tried to murder you.'
"Alright, I'll pay you back someday." Meg promised. Christine frowned. She doubted that would be soon but she would have to take it as Meg promised it. They started heading towards Christine's apartment.
Meg was dragging Christine down the road as Christine gave the directions. When they were walking Meg accidently ran into a man. Both her and Christine well and started apologizing to him.
"Je suis désolee, monsieur. Mon amie est très bête." She said.
The man did not speak, but stood there staring at them. Christine had not yet looked up into his face in fear of seeing the malice in it. She tried to speak again in English, maybe the man did not understand French.
"I am very sorry sir. My friend is very dumb." She said. Meg elbowed her in the ribs and Christine squeaked in protest. She heard a chuckle come from the man but did not dare look up.
"C'estt rien."The man finally spoke. Christine gasped and her head shot up. The voice was the most perfect voice she had ever heard, it was an angel's voice.
She looked at the man's face. She was shocked to see that he was wearing a half mask on his face that was white. She immediately looked back down and said
"Est-que vous parlez francais ou englais? Do you speak french or English? » She asked him, translating into both languages. She had learned French in school while in a foster home in Canada. There's a slight difference between French in Quebec and French in Paris but Christine learned the differences quickly enough, and if not she picked up on them fast.
"Both, actually. But I originate from France but I moved to America when I was very young." The man said. Christine flinched, she felt a deep stirring within her, like she knew that voice, but she didn't.
"Well, monsieur, once again I am very sorry." She said as she dragged Meg away. She didn't like the feelings she got from that man, it reminded her all too much of those days after her father died...and the accident. Most of those memories were clouded in darkness, but little things could set them off, a saying here, an action there. The simplest thing. But for now she wanted to get away from that man and forget. She didn't even look back to see what the man was doing.
Erik stared at the woman that had just run into him as she walked away. It couldn't be her, it couldn't be! He had looked for her for almost ten years! Ten years he had looked for her and found no trace.
Christine Daae.
Oh, how he loved her! He had always loved her in the last ten years, there had been no other!
And now, because of a fluke meeting he would have her this time. Not that he hadn't almost had her that time, he had only been seventeen and she was fifteen. He hadn't known what love has like back then, when he had felt it.
He had been a fool, locking himself in his room, trying to get away from her haunting presence. The thing that had bothered him the most about her was that she appeared to be even more broken than him.
All he had known then was that her father had passed away, he didn't know anything beyond that. But later, he had made it his business to know everything about her. And he was horrified about what he had found.
Maybe we should start from the beginning.
You see Erik and Christine stayed in the same foster home for a year. It was her first and his sixteenth. Not that Erik really kept track anymore, he personally didn't care. People weren't kind to him back then, even less so then now. He had worn a full black mask because he had nothing else and his foster parents usually couldn't be bothered with something as trivial as his mask. Some of his homes had tried to force him to remove the mask, sometimes trying by force. He always refused, he would not let someone take his mask off, never.
This home had been one of , if not the best he had been in. He had been there a few months as the only child before Christine had come.
They had told him not to bother her, she was in a delicate condition. That she had lost both of her parents, her mother when she was born and her father recently of a stroke. The way they said this hinted there was more to her condition than just losing her family. At first he had no cared at all, she would probably be a bother to him, interrupting his music and always trying to see behind the mask.
Boy, had he been in for a shock when she had arrived. She looked like an angel, silky brown curls, wide blue eyes and skin that looked like porcelain. But her beautiful blue eyes were clouded over with pain and suffering.
He had gasped when he saw her, he felt something twinge in his heart and he didn't like it. He actually wanted to make this girl smile, make her smile when he himself had never smiled because he had no reason to.
He had fled back up to his , they had not even realized that he had been watching them from the staircase.
He had locked himself in his room and refused to come out, he didn't want to meet the new girl. In truth he was just afraid of these new emotions that she seemed to pull from him.
She didn't see him for a good week after she first arrived. He, on the other hand was always watching her. He had even taken to going into her bedroom during the night and sing softly to her when she had a nightmare. She never woke up thankfully and Erik couldn't help but wonder what she would have done if she had awoke.
Eventually his affections progressed from admiration to love. This intensified when he learned that she used to sing. She was an angel to him and he called her that in private. When they were together though, he ignored her and only spoke to her when he had to. Though, this was only because he was afraid. For the first time in his life someone had a power over him that no matter what they did he would not be able to deny them.
As the months passed he became more and more anxious. His eighteenth birthday was coming up and at that time he could leave on his own and take the money that he had saved up and stored in the bank.
But he wondered how he could leave Christine. To never see her again.
Then, after he grew frustrated with himself he began to try to get her out of his mind. He tried to convince himself that after he didn't see her for a while he would forget all about her. After all, it's not like she had ever actually spoken to him on her own will. She didn't seem to speak to any man on her own will actually. And she flinched from their touches.
He found this quite strange, he wondered why. There was one particular incident that he remembered quite well.
Christine had been climbing the stairs, up to her room. The foster parents were out of the house, shopping and Erik had stood by, watching as always.
Then, she had tripped and started to fall down the stairs. Erik couldn't let his angel get hurt so he dove out and caught her before she landed. She fell straight into his arms and remained there in shock for a few seconds. Then, she screamed and jumped out of his grip. She had her back pressed up against the wall, her eyes were closed and she was sobbing and muttering incoherently. Erik could barely understand a word she was saying but managed to catch a few phrases.
"Please..don't hurt me....no...no! Papa! Help!" She sobbed. He stood there in a state of shock for a moment but then hid and waited. She eventually fell asleep like that and he picked her up and carried her to her room. He tensed when he had picked her up, he was afraid that she might wake up and start screaming again. He wondered what had happened to her.
It eventually came time when he had to leave. He bid his 'family' goodbye and moved into an apartment that he had bought.
He tried to push Christine out of his mind for months. He tried very hard, but he was unsuccessful. Finally he gave up and looked into her background a bit, he was now employed as a composer at the Met and he had lots of money to spare. And he also had his friend Nadir Khan who worked for the police.
He had Nadir get Christine's file and was appalled at what he had found there. She had been taken and raped. Now he understood her fear of him when he had caught her that time and why she had nightmares every night. Now he understood everything.
After that he realized that since he was a legal adult he might be able to get custody of Christine, to have her live with him!
He never saw her again after the day he left. Her foster parents and her moved to Canada and the agency that had previously taken care of her were no longer responsible for her, soon the couple had chosen to adopt Christine legally. Then, the man had died of cancer and left the woman and Christine. That was all he could find out.
He had looked for her for ten long years, and now he had finally found her. And she would be his.
Yes! Go Erik! Yeah, this chapter was all of their past I suppose. Now we know where we are with the story though.
There will be a lot of French in this story,not only because I love French but because my teacher makes us practice for 30 mins each night, so this counts as my practice I suppose. It's better than going on wikipedia and reading through their articles in french, trust me.
Anyway, when Erik says Il est rien, it means It is nothing. Sorry for my horrible french but we're not allowed to use translators...if anyone sees a problem with my french please tell me, I need to know so I can tell madame I learned something...