By Seraina.
Not mine. Alexei and Caroline are mine, but everyone else belongs to others.
Sins of the Father
"Every day a new deception
Pick your scene and take direction
And all in all I search to connect
But I don't wear a mask and I have no regrets"
"Fly from the Inside" Shinedown
1 - Children of Ledgends
"Erik is Dead"
That was the advertisement in the Époque. Christine watched him die or did she? He could have easily just lapsed into a deep sleep. It served him better to have her think him dead. So that she could be with the Vicomte. The foolish boy who had only wanted to take her away from the opera. Away from Erik.
Erik did not die. Though he was still ill. Nadir stayed by his side and nursed his only friend back to health. And as soon as he was well enough, Nadir took Erik away from Paris. Using Erik's funds, the journey wasn't too hard to arrange. Erik needed to be reintroduced to life. He needed to be saved. They told no one save Madame Giry, who he gave a box of English sweets and twenty francs for treating him so well.
The managers went on with their business, not quite sure if there actually was an Opera Ghost or not. Christine and Raoul had been married shortly after the incident and moved into the Chagney estate. And everything returned into something resembling normal.
That is, normal until MM Richard and Moncharmin stepped into their office one evening, nearly six years after the "incident" and found a masked man in black and a five-year-old child waiting for them.
"Gentleman, I have come to renew my contract," said the masked man.
"And why would we need an Opera Ghost! We've had quite enough trouble without falling chandeliers and disappearing singers!" M Richard said forcefully.
Erik absently turned over a few papers on the manager's desk. "It seems that the popularity of the opera is decreasing. Sales are down, gentlemen. While when I was employed here, it was very popular indeed."
"Times change Monsieur," Moncharmin said, turning over papers so that the "ghost" would stop prying into their business.
With a look at the small boy sitting on the floor of the office, Erik said, "Indeed they do, gentlemen."
*
Nearly twenty years after the "re-hiring" of Erik as the Opera Ghost, the opera was more or less back where they started. Even the promise of a haunted opera house did not sell the seats as it once did. It was the new century, and the opera was becoming out of fashion.
Alexei sat at the large organ in his father's room and played a light piece, which he hoped to surprise his father with. His father, Erik, had gone out for supplies and was due back shortly. Alexei knew that something was bothering his father. He had hoped that it wasn't that woman again. Christine Daaé haunted his father even after all this time and occasionally Alexei wondered if he still loved her. Yes, loved her enough to let her marry the man she loved. Loved her enough to
Alexei didn't finish his train of thought. Unknowingly, he had stopped playing and listened for the sounds that meant that his father was home. The heavy steps meant that his father was indeed home. This particular heavy step meant that he was angry about something.
"I must leave for a while," his father said at once.
"Father?" Alexei called out, stepping out into the study. "Is something the matter?" Fear crossed the young man's face, "Will you leave me here alone?"
"I'm sorry, my beloved, I must do this alone," he said softly. The new Siamese cat sat on the bench beside Alexei. His father stroked the crème colored kitten and gave a soft sigh.
"I suppose so, father. I would not want to keep you from your business," Alexei said somewhat dejectedly. "When do you leave?"
"Tomorrow this will be over," Erik said and packed a small bag of everything he needed.
*
M Armand Moncharmin paced his office. Ever since Firmin Richard had died last winter, it had been hard to manage the failing opera. He was to meet with another candidate this morning and the man was late. He turned around again and started at the young man that was sitting at his desk.
"Alexei! You gave me a start! What are you doing here? Don't you know I have an appointment?" Moncharmin said quickly. He had softened in the years since the "incident" and treated Alexei as his own son. He even introduced the boy as his godson, which was partially true: he did look after the boy when he was aboveground in the opera house. Besides, saying that he's the son of the famous Opera Ghost led to some rather uncomfortable questions.
"Father left on business today," Alexei stated as he vacated the chair and sat on the couch in the corner of the office. "I had nothing to do, so I decided to pay a visit to mon oncle."
Moncharmin smiled at the boy as he settled himself on the couch and turned to the manager and smiled. If only I could hire him as my partner, Moncharmin thought. But no one will take him seriously; a fool cannot carry out all the duties of manager.
A knock at the door startled the manager out of his thoughts. "Come in," he said to the door, noticing that Alexei was no longer in the office with him. Fool or not, he's as slippery as his father, Moncharmin thought as he ushered the applicant into the office.
*
Producing an apple out of one of his coat pockets, Alexei lightly walked down one of the many passages within the walls of the opera. He didn't want to stick around during the meeting; business didn't interest him much. Alexei was a musician, an illusionist and a clown. He was more a child than the little ballet girls in the room on the other side of the wall.
Pushing aside the trap door while holding his half-eaten apple in his mouth, Alexei snuck into the shadows of the little studio where the dancers practiced. He got behind the girls and bit into his apple content to watch them warm up. His amber eyes shone with mischief as he finished his apple and rolled the core under the row leader's feet.
The little girl stumbled over the apple core and fell into the next girl and they all toppled like dominoes. Meg Giry, in charge of the corps du ballet, spotted Alexei on his shadowy perch and put her hands on her hips.
Meg was the only other one who knew that Alexei was Erik's son. The little girls trembled at the mention of the dreaded phantom. "You may take a break girls. But learn to not trip over things so easily," she said to the little pink ruffles as they fled the room.
"Is there anything that I can do for you today, Mlle Giry?" Alexei asked as he stepped from his hiding place.
"You can not trip my dancers for one," she said, looking the young man over. "Will you be going to the auditions today?"
"There are auditions today? Has Oncle Armand finally fired that wailing cow?" Alexei said, brushing black locks from his face.
"Yes, and I think he would like for you to be there," Meg said. It was no lie that Alexei had an ear for talent. He was trained by the best. And the managers always listened to what Alexei had to say. The opera house was his kingdom and he was the crowned prince.
"Tell him that I will be listening, but I have no desire to meet another would-be manager," he stated firmly. He might not be able to restrain himself if his father was brought up in the conversation. The last hopeful was nearly killed for calling his father a fake and a fool.
Meg nodded and the young man she regarded as a cousin or a nephew slipped back into the shadows. "Hey, wait!" she called.
"Yes?" the shadows answered.
"Next time, do try not to get caught!" she called into the shadow.
*
Caroline du Chagney looked over at her mother again. She had been excited for her daughter when Caroline had announced her audition at the Paris Opera. But her mother had become increasingly agitated.
"Mother? What's wrong?" she asked her mother.
"It's nothing, dear. I'm just nervous for you, that's all," she said.
They soon reached the opera house and started inside the beautiful building. Caroline was starting to get nervous as well. She suddenly felt that she shouldn't be there and she just barely suppressed the urge to run back home.
But she couldn't. Her father, Vicomte Raoul du Chagney, died recently and unexpectedly left the family in great debt. He had told no one of their financial troubles and left her mother to take a job as a seamstress. Her older brother, Charles was still in England, trying desperately to find some financial support.
Caroline knew that her mother could probably still out sing any of the hopefuls, but for one reason or another, she refused to sing. But she just thought that it had something to do with her father and put it out of her mind.
"Monsieur Moncharmin?" she asked an older man, holding a pile of papers in his hands.
"Yes? Hello," he said distractedly as he directed scene-shifters to clear the stage.
"Do you not remember me Monsieur?" she asked with a smile.
Moncharmin looked up and adjusted his glasses. "Christine? Christine Daaé? Os that you, dear?"
"Yes, but it is Christine du Chagney now. It's been a long time Monsieur."
"Of course it is. Where is my head? And where is that boy?" he shouted to a dancer.
"He said that he will be here shortly. He said that he will be listening," the dancer replied.
"Sorry dear, since M Richard died, it has been hard managing things. He knew the music and I was the business. 'The boy' I speak of is a genius when it comes to talent. But he is a bit irresponsible at times," he said, leading Christine into the house.
"I'm sorry M Moncharmin, this is my daughter Caroline. She hopes to audition today," Christine said.
"Ah, of course, of course. If you would follow Mlle Giry, she'll take you backstage," he said handing Caroline off to Meg Giry.
*
Alexei shifted his position slightly, trying to get comfortable on the grid above the stage. There wasn't much of a view, but it was a good spot to not be seen. He loosened his collar and shrugged off his coat. It was getting unbearably hot up there. He might have to speak with the stage manager about that.
There were a few possible candidates so far, but there were still quite a bit more girls to hear before he made a decision. But for some odd reason it was getting harder and harder to concentrate. His left hand started to feel numb.
"My name is Caroline du Chagney and I will be singing"
Alexei could no longer hear the separate words. But that voice was so beautiful and he wanted to sleep so badly
The next thing he knew was that he was slipping off his seat into the stage below. His strength leaving him, he grabbed a counter-balance rope and held on tightly. He would have made it, save for the sudden pain in his chest made him lose his grip on the rope and fall the last six feet. He didn't register the screaming girl or Moncharmin kneeling over him.
On the verge of passing out, he managed to say one word, "Her,"
before the blackness enveloped him.