The death of Christine Daae

In the dark I heard a voice, sweet and gentle. I did not know that the man I love was calling to me. There was a light and then I floated upward. The doctor said that I had only a few minutes left to live and I could hear him vaguely speaking. The man next to him was my husband Raoul but I could see that he was not looking at me. I looked to him and found him kneeling down at my side, his voice was soothing as he murmured words of love to me in French. I held his hand as I gazed at the newborn baby in his bassinet. Raoul sang to me softly, "Say you'll share with me, one love, one lifetime. Let me lead you from your solitude." Raoul's voice was broken as he sang on, "s-s-s-say you n-n-n-need me with you h-h-h-h-here beside you. Anywhere you go let, m-m-me go too. Chris...tine that's all I... ask of you." As he finished, he began to sob.

I raised my hand from his as much as I was able and stroked his cheek weakly. The doctor held my daughter to my face and gave me a small smile as if to comfort me in my last moments. I breathed deeply and fought to keep my eyes open, knowing that if I closed them they would never open again. Raoul took the baby from him and looked at her. Showing her to me, he dropped a tender kiss on my forehead. I smiled and said, "Erika." And Raoul would have protested but the look on the doctor's face silenced him. As the doctor showed me my son I smiled again and said, "Erik." And thus was what they were named. My head snapped up suddenly and my eyes grew wide. I smiled and whispered, "he is singing."

Raoul grimaced, and the doctor looked at me with confusion. I smiled and shallowly began to sing one last time. "Close your eyes and surrender to your darkest dreams. Leave all thoughts of the life you knew before. Close your eyes let your spirit start to Soar! And you'll live as you've never lived before." And with that my eyes closed and I Christine Daae De Chagny was no more

Change in POV

"Christine!" cried Raoul collapsing as he held her lifeless body to him. He sobbed on her chest and rocked her like a child. He set her in a chair and sat down with her body next to him. He looked at the twins in their double bassinet and went to it. He looked at his children. He could raise the boy but not the girl.

It was not that he was prejudice to children of the female gender, nor that he would not love his daughter. It was just that the baby looked so much like her mother that he found it very difficult to look at the child now without breaking down into tears. And what kind of father would he be if he could not look at his own daughter? He breathed deeply and took the girl in his arms singing to her softly. What had his wife called her again? Oh yes, Erika. He decided to name her Erika Christine as a name sake for his beloved. He cradled her as he sat down in a chair. Looking at his wife's body he felt more tears welling up and as he left the house he muttered a good bye to the woman he loved.

He knew where to take Erika and so he took her to the opera where she was left in the care of Madame Giry. The old woman looked down at her and took her to the man that she knew would take care of her. When she arrived she smiled at what she saw. Erik was playing with his children and smiling as his wife nursed the littlest one. He and her daughter had been married for years now and had three children. His sons Charles and Jaden are twins and the youngest Marian was still an infant.

"Ah, Madam." he said and she handed him the babe, the woman began to cry as she told them what happened. How Christine had died at birth and in a final breath sang the song of the love that Erik had once shown her. How she had named both little ones for him and not for the family as they had originally planned. Erik was so touched by this that he accepted the child without hesitation and on the eve of her eighteenth birthday this announcement was published.

"Raoul De Chagny is dead."