Disclaimer: Pretty sure ALW doesn't write FanFiction, so no, I do not own Phantom of the Opera :)
A/N: Okay! So I just bought a copy of the Phantom of the Opera 25th Anniversary Show and I watched it last night and...bawled my eyes out. It was my first experience with the actual show (I own the 2004 movie and the Austrailian production of LND, but that's it) and I was simply blown away. I started BAWLING when Christine came back to return the ring and began the reprise of "All I Ask of You" like she was singing it to Erik, and then stupid Raoul came in and ruined everything. So in THIS fanfic...well, what if Christine had been singing to Erik? :) Enjoy and don't forget to review!
Thrust once again into despair and darkness, Erik crumpled into a heap on the floor. Losing Christine again brought forth a pain so ubearable that Erik wasn't sure how his lonely heart was still beating. The steps on which he was sprawled were as cold and unforgiving as the world Erik had known for so long. Was this his fate, then? To wallow alone in self-pity for the rest of his horrendous existance? It seemed only appropriate, he decided, with a face as undeserving of love as his. From behind him, Erik heard the taunting sounds of his Persian monkey. The melody played slowly, the same melody to which the imbeciles had sung of hiding their faces at the masquerade. What did they know of hiding? What did they know of seclusion? They were mocking him!
Even so, Erik crawled like a child over to wear the monkey slowly chimed the symbols, and he touched a shaking hand to the monkey's fur. He softly sang out in time with the tune:
"Masquerade...paper faces on parade.
"Masquerade...hide your face so the world...will never...find you..."
As he sang, Erik gently covered the monkey's face with his palm. There...now it was like him; making beautiful music, yet hidden from those who desired to listen to it.
He had not heard her approaching, but when Erik turned around, Christine was there again. There was pity upon her face, and she was staring at him like a petulant child who was purposefully doing herself harm. Oh, yes, laugh Christine, Erik silently begged. He wanted nothing more than a reason to loathe the woman before him, yet he could not. He loved her to his core, and he knew that he would do anything for her. He gazed up at her brokenly, begging her with his eyes to just give him a chance. He knew he had lost her already to that Vicomte, but he had to hold onto hope. He had known Christine for years...would she just look past his ugliness and see the man yearning for her beneath?
Slowly, ever so slowly, Erik stood from the ground. Christine looked down, as though she was ashamed, and she began to remove the ring from her finger. Erik came towards her still, knowing that if he didn't say the words he wanted to then he would forever regret it. His eyes bored into hers, and he sang with all of the passion and love in the world:
"Christine...I love...you."
Erik clasped his hand around hers, needing her to keep his ring. His beloved began to cry, tears pouring down her porcelain cheeks at a steady rate. Erik's heart broke a little bit more knowing that he had caused her such pain, but he could not coddle her now. His Christine was no longer a child...she had to learn to be a woman and make her own choices. He could only hope that her choice now would lead her to a new life with him. He would love her...he would tell her every single day how much he cared for her! She would be safe, she would be protected...
Gently, Christine placed a kiss on Erik's hand. Erik felt the immediate need to break away from such intimate contact, but he stood his ground. If his Christine was to stay with him, he would have to get used to such displays of affection. His heart swelled for a moment; was this it, then? Had she chosen him?
No...no! She was walking away again, leaving a cold ring of gold where her lips had met Erik's fingers just moments before. She turned from him, and - still sobbing heavily - slowly began to ascend the marble staircase once again. So this was it? Erik's pathetic life was finally over? His glass heart shattered all over again, and his lungs constricted. Was this what it felt like to die? Was this what it felt like to have your heart ripped from your chest?
Erik watched her leave; what else could he do? If this was the last he would ever see of Christine Daae, he wanted to remember every one of her features; her eyes, her hair, her nose, her teeth, everything. He found that there were so many small details of her face that he had overlooked before, things that he would no longer have the time to appreciate. The knowledge that he would never see his Angel again was daunting, and Erik's pain only increased further.
And then...something impossible happened. Christine turned around, her gaze meeting Erik's once more. She gave him the most distressed and anguished look that Erik had ever seen, and he wondered briefly if she was hurting as badly as he was. But she turned away again as quickly as she had looked back in the first place, and she began to climb the stairs once more. Just as Erik was turning his back to her in despair, her clear voice rang out through the night:
"Say you'll share with me one love, one lifetime."
Erik wondered for a moment if the Vicomte had returned for her, and was going to answer her with that sickening tune of theirs. It was nothing, it was nothing compared to the beautifully seductive tones Erik had taught to her! It was nothing compared to his - their - music of the night! That vicious creature would never be good enough for Christine! Why couldn't she see that? Why couldn't she understand?
There was silence below the Opera Populaire. No Vicomte answered Christine's declaration, and reluctantly, Erik turned his head back in Christine's direction. He found her staring at him, a strange and foreign emotion in her eyes. It was not pity, yet it could not be...hope?
She slowly descended one of the steps, her eyes never breaking contact with Erik's, and she sang out again:
"Say the word, and I will follow you."
Erik would not answer her, especially not with the same melody that she and the Vicomte shared. He wondered for a moment if he was perhaps dreaming, for reality had never been so kind to him in all of his life. Deciding not to care for the time being, he stepped forward as well, introducing a new tune to his Angel of Music.
"And I love you...yes, I love you.
"I will follow anywhere you lead.
"I shall be what you wish...
"I shall be what you need."
A small smile played at the corner of Christine's tear-stained face, and she ran to Erik as quickly as she could manage in her large wedding gown. She thrust herself into his arms, and for a moment Erik could not move, for he was compeltely frozen with shock. He barely heard her response of:
"Angel of Music, I denied you!
"Turning from true beauty!
"Angel of Music, my protector!
"Come to me, strange angel!"
"I am your Angel of Music." whispered Erik incredulously, placing a foreign kiss ontop of Christine's mane of curls. The action, however new to Erik, felt more right than anything in the world. He pressed his forehead against Christine's, breathing in deeply as though she was all that was sustaining him. She closed her eyes in pleasure, and relaxed into him. She was utterly exhausted.
"Come, my dear." whispered Erik hoarsley, taking Christine's hand. He began to lead her towards his throne, where one of his many escapes was hidden beneath artifice. "I fear the mob is not far now; we must leave."
"But where will we go?" asked Christine tiredly, trying to block from her ears the sounds of the angry citizens of Paris who shouted after them. She held onto Erik more tightly.
"I don't know," admitted Erik. "But I will always protect you, Christine. That much I swear."
Christine smiled broadly, her tear-swollen eyes brightening. "I love you, Angel. I realize now I always have."
Erik was almost sure he was dreaming when he answered his angel, "As I have always loved you."
Who knows when love begins? Who knows what makes it start?
One day it's simply there, alive inside your heart.
And that's that! I realize it wasn't much, but I really just wrote it for my own peace of mind. I was so upset over the ending that I just had to make it right. Even if other authors have done something similar, I hope you enjoyed my take on what could have (cough, cough, should have, cough, cough) happened. It's fun trying to get into Erik's head :) Review if you liked! Thanks guys!
*PS: If you liked this, check out my multi-chap "Finding A Place Next To You", in which Christine finds Erik again after seven months of believing the fire at the Opera Populaire killed him. Well, she's returned as the prima donna, and her Angel of Music surely wouldn't miss that! :) Okay, enough advertising - see you guys later!*
Oh, and one last thing - the tune Erik sings to Christine at first is from LND (Beneath A Moonless Sky) and the last lyrics are from LND also (Love Never Dies), and I don't own any of that. Okay? Okay :)