Raoul would go to hell and back for Christine. Actually, he did.
Hell was believing that the woman he loved was seeing another, was having to hear her lies and her sudden rejections. Hell was watching Christine grow distant, not knowing what he did wrong, not knowing what he should do.
Hell was the fear he felt for her sanity when she first started speaking of voices and angels. It was the growing look of disappointment his brother showed him everyday. It was knowing that him and Christine couldn't be together because of damn social conventions, but still being willing to fight for it.
And all of it hurt, but it couldn't prepare Raoul for what would come next. Walking to the cellars of the opera house was like walking down to hell, to face the devil that was Erik and save Christine. All he had on his side was a man he didn't even know, that he had no other choice but to trust. Hell was surely at the end of the dark corridors, beyond the secret doors.
But the hexagonal chamber was certainly the closest any mortal could be of hell before dying. That place, where time seemed to bend, where all the senses were defied and deceived, the place where Raoul almost died, burning in impossible heat. Hell was hearing Christine crying, and knowing that just a wall was separating them, but being trapped, unable to help her. Hell was in Erik's voice, in the threats he shouted, a sound that would certainly be in Raoul's nightmares for the rest of his life.
Christine would go to hell and back for Raoul. And she did.
Hell was having in her heart feelings that she knew could never be. Hell was loving a man that would be always beyond her reach.
Hell was being under the threat of an insane and obsessed man, a man that stole from her her innocence, her dreams, and her voice. Hell was hearing him in every wind that blew, seeing him in every shadow that passed, and not being able to spend one calm moment with Raoul without feeling that danger was there. Hell was having to lie to the man she loved, was being unable to deny his accusations because she knew he would never believe her story.
Hell was looking at Erik's bare face, was accepting his terms without questioning, afraid of what he would be capable of if she displeased him. Hell was knowing how much she hurt Raoul, but also that it was the only way to protect him.
Hell, the real hell, was in Erik's lips. It was the feeling it gave her, the sudden realization that even after all he did that night she still couldn't hate him. The realization that even after all was ended and done, even after he let her go, he would still be in her.
Hell was there, living with Raoul, the man that loved her, and, despite loving him as much, knowing deep inside that she also loved a monster capable of the most horrifying things. Hell was the guilt she would feel for the rest of her life, but knowing that she didn't regret anything. She didn't regret her feelings nor her choices.
They would go to hell and back for each other. They did, and now it was heaven that waited for them.
