'Your Angel Will Be There'
A/N: Hi everyone. Thank you preemptively to those who read this. It is just a short little phantom one shot. I think it is a cute idea and a way more mystical and magical way to go about things, instead of what LND did. It is going to be a mixture of ALW's Phantom and the Original Leroux novel, pretty much the plot of the musical with the disfigurement of Leroux's Erik. If you really want to see how I imagine Erik's disfigurement and un-deformed face check out Muirin007's gallery on deviant art! Thank You and I hope you like it.
"Christine!" The Vicomte de Changy rang out as he pushed through the doors of the girl's bedchamber. Christine had now been living with the viscount for a while ever since the final affair with the Phantom of the Opera. The two escaped from the underground lair passing discreetly by the gendarmes and the mob that went looking for the breathing apparition. Not soon after Christine had told Raoul that she wanted to be married to him immediately. And then, she severed herself from the opera completely, as it held far too many was now a horrible experience for her, she could not hear her voice without remembering him. She was doing this all too finally be rid of the phantom. She thought that marrying Raoul she would finally have all ties severed and really be able to start her life and forget the disfigured man beneath the Paris Opera House.
"What happened to her?!" Raoul shouted at the maid taking care of the brunette soprano. The maid shivered at the man's concern, his vocal strength startled her. She had never heard her master this upset; he was most of the time very soft spoken and quite mannerly, as he was raised to be for polite society. But now the Vicomte was faced with much discomfort in what was playing out. She shivered once more as Raoul repeated himself and ordered her to answer him.
"I do not know Mezieur." She said meekly, ringing her hands. "I was drezing her for de day and she told me zat she felt faint and collapsed Mezieur! Please do not zink ill ov me; I am doing all zat I can!" She motioned to Raoul to look at Christine. The young woman had a cold compress on her head to keep down a blazing fever, despite the rest of her being as cold as death.
"Well what is it… is it simply Catarrh, or could be something more serious like Consumption?" the viscount asked with chilling concern, He, obviously not familiar with the symptoms of illnesses that were common among the people of France these days. He looked at the maid. His blue pools, only a shade lighter than Christine's, shone with great concern for the welfare of his new bride. Looking as if he could burst into sobs at any second. I cannot lose her so soon, not after I had finally freed her.
"No Mezieur! This iz certainly not Tuberculosis! But…" She paused searching for words that would not cause the emotional young man to fear the worst. "… This is caused by something even I do not know."
She failed at keeping him calm.
~Earlier.~
Christine dreamt that night again thinking of her beloved opera ghost and how he had changed her understanding of music and transformed her outlook on the world around her. Erik. Erik was his name, a name that would forever haunt her. Despite how hard she tried she could not escape the disfigured man that haunted her every step around the Opera house. He was her teacher, and her 'angel'. Yes, she was blind to see that he was far more monstrous than she had initially thought, especially when hypnotized by his music, but the man's very memory could not leave her. She dreamt of the night she and Raoul escaped from the catacombs of the Opera house on the boat, the only way to reach the world above for Erik, thus trapping him in his Hell forever. She recalled the phantom's eyes gazing at them as they left – filled with the longing of a thousand broken hearted men. 'Had I tortured him so much…?' the brunette soprano thought, feeling the physical pain his memory creep upon her. The wraith looked upon her with such sadness in his eyes although he was the one that allowed him to set her free. "He set me free…and yet…I cannot escape…"
Christine was sure that she was the only one that knew the Phantom of the Opera's real name. He was Erik, but there was no surname attached. He was simply Erik, that if his life was different and not altered by fates cruel hand perhaps he would have been 'Erik, the famous composer. Erik, the notable architect that had built for the Shah of Persia and the Opera itself. Erik, legendary musician and magician…but in reality he was the nefarious murderer who stalked the halls of the Opera. Christine held this secret of the identity of this man that would always besiege her mind. No matter how hard she tried she could not ever reveal this to anyone, not even her husband, Raoul… something in her heart kept her from doing so, and she was not sure if she could continue to betray the man she believed to be her Angel of Music…a dear friend and guide for some time. After all…she has betrayed him so much already.
Christine woke up from the vision and called to her newly appointed maid to help her dress for breakfast with her new husband, the Vicomte de Changy. She was not used to this new aristocratic lifestyle with hand maids and servants, no, she was used to fending for herself and her fellow members of the corps de ballet at the Opera Populaire, this was a new world for her and it was quite overwhelming.
The maid came to her aid and began her work, but once she got to tighten the corset strings on her mistress, Christine uttered "I- feel…faint…-"and collapsed into the maid's frail arms. The maid called for assistance and soon the house's butler and another servant nearby came to her aid and helped the lady of the house into her bed, and soon after Raoul came rushing with an overpowering sense of concern.
Christine in her unconscious state was filled with pain. No matter how far she took herself away from him, he was still within her every thought. 'If only I had stayed' she thought, 'what would have happened – No! I cannot think of him! I can never think of Erik again!' he still tormented her, and yet she knew in her heart it could never be anything more than a memory and a dream because she felt that the opera's elusive ghost was dead. Be it by the gendarmes or by his own Punjab lasso he was dead. The Ghost was dead.
But at that instant she had realized that she had made a big mistake. In her reverie she was realizing that her choice was more than simply wrong. She chose Raoul over the Opera's resident ghost because she was blinded by childish love. She loved Raoul, yes, that would not change, but it was a love that children had, a foolish game. Ever since the wedding the two have been disagreeing. Though they were both kind to each other, they were both two very different souls.
While now she saw the love the phantom had for her. They both had the same soul, a naivety and passion for music that drew them closer together. Christine had always thought of Erik as her teacher but maybe in reality it was her who was his. She seemingly must have taught him to love and have passion other than in music. He was a man who after all, throughout his life had nothing but misery upon him. He was deformed, thus no one would want him or as he thought could never love him. As she grew to accept him he learned how to love, and love let's go.
Although Erik's methods were far from appropriate, his insistence held that liken to that of a man who knew he was lost without her. And even thought Raoul bared this same insistence, he seemed more independent and less intense than the phantom. She realized that she loved his heart… and his soul. Erik needed her, he needed Christine to survive.
Survive! Dead! The Phantom is dead! Erik is dead! Dead… dead…he's dead…
"I am here, Mon Ange de la musique." A spectral voice rang out. Christine could see him. Erik! She wanted to shout his name but as she tried no words could pass her lips. She sat up in her bed staring at the man before her. It did not look like her phantom.
The world around her had turned to night as this meeting took place. Raoul was fast asleep in a chair beside her bed. She got up slowly, careful not to wake the viscount, afraid that her angel would disappear. She looked confusedly at the man before her. "Erik?" she questioned tilting her head to the side. The man nodded. 'it couldn't be him!' she thought. Instead of yellowed skin attached tightly around a skull so much that it showed the cheekbones, this man's skin was pale white and though his countenance was still thin it held color full of life. This man was not decrepit or resembling that of a rotting corpse, this man was beautiful. If it were not for his voice, he would be absolutely unrecognizable to Christine. But she could tell by the ethereal blue glow around him that he was truly The Phantom of the Opera now.
She tried to hold back her sadness but failed to do so, consumed by her guilt. Somehow I did this…I am a murderer … just like him… Erik drifted closer to the singer and attempted to touch her hand. Despite her belief that he would float right through her she could actually feel his touch. It left in its wake a fiery tingling sensation that shot from her arm and filled her entire body. This was the same feeling when she had heard his voice singing to her all those years ago, this shaking of her very soul. Was this what he meant when her soul would begin to soar? "My angel" He uttered cupping her face in his hands his voice like quiet breathing. "Do not feel guilty for my passing… I am now free from my tortured life"
"But if it weren't for me you…tell me how you-"
"If I did you would…"
"Was it the mob, Erik? Was it your own…" She couldn't even finish the thought.
"It was your kiss…" The looked more confused than ever, but the man before her simply looked into her eyes with his own golden ones and smiled. "It was your kiss Christine,… you freed me…" His voice was barely there and his physical self, began to ebb away "In away one could say I died of a broken heart…but no, Your happiness meant more to me. That single kiss you gave me saved me and freed me from all of my sins. Christine, you truly are my angel!" He took her hands in his. "You released me from my curse… Now I wish to give you something, so I shall never leave you."
She looked at him as he took one of his hands away and rested the slim thing over her abdomen and placed his cool head on her forehead. She shut her eyes feeling the sensation of her angel near her. "Erik…"
"Hush…" he removed his soft touch from her lower body and looked into her dark mystical blue eyes with his own golden ones; Their luster as unreal as his ghostly glow. He ran his fingers slowly through her chestnut brown curls. Seeing himself disappear, he knew his time was short. He was almost fully transparent and saw he was coming closer and closer to not being able to touch her. "Now, Christine, My Angel, My Love, would you grant me this one last request?...Kiss me once more… so that I can truly be free."
And Just as her angel finished the statement, Christine by her own will and not by his sorcery at all kissed the evaporating Spector, with more passion than on the night she had originally left him behind. Once parted, she leaned in and into his ear and whispered so he may hear the words he thought he never could. "I love you, Erik." And with that Erik sighed blissfully, and with a smile on his gossamer visage he disappeared into nothing. The Phantom of the Opera was gone forever, but was now at peace.
At that moment, Raoul awoke. "Um-nah…uhh! Christine!?" He shot up, wiping the sleep from his eyes. The young viscount walked over to the woman. "Christine whatever are you doing up? You were bed stricken – Ill, You were… Are you well now?" He enveloped her in his arms guiding her back to her bed.
Christine's eyes hadn't left the spot where Erik had stood until she felt Raoul push her back to the bed, but then her eyes moved to her abdomen. She lowered her hands to the spot and smiled pleasantly. Raoul had sat her on the bed and had sat next to her rubbing her back in circular motions as to assure her comfort. "Christine…?"
"Hmm?" she turned and looked at him, snapping back to reality from her reverie. "Oh Raoul-" she stopped her gleeful voice for a moment full of thought. She was about to say Oh Raoul, I do believe we are expecting! But as it were it was not really Raoul's child… She was indeed carrying the Phantom's child, Erik's child. She knew it from where her dark ghost had said 'he would never leave her'. This was undoubtedly his, though not conceived in the real way she knew it was concrete. It was Erik's. She felt just like the virgin Mary, not having had any carnal relations with the man, and not having any with Raoul for quite some time to be honest, felt the presence within her, the same feeling of touch she had with Erik. "I do believe I am…"
"Yes…?" He looked at her waiting for her words, not expecting them to flow coherently due to her … state…from being ill the whole day of course, that was it!
"I do believe I am expecting…" she blushed, more embarrassed with those words than she thought…
"Y-you're…- Uhn... Christine, Christine that is wonderful!" He kissed her cheek, and took her hands in his. Unable to say anymore he held her close smiling and kissing her forehead every few moments or so as if in fear that this moment would go away. In fear that this was his dream and she was really dying of some disease. Christine on the other hand held a smile, but for the fact that this would be her Angel's child and not Raoul's. She felt a pang of guilt and betrayal because of that fact. From not being able to tell him, or now be truly in love with him. But despite that she was happy that her Phantom would never leave her…never again…
The cries of a little infant could be heard ringing all throughout the De Changy mansion. On that day the newest addition to the family had arrived and the young couple could not have been happier. Though the day was full of deceit and so would the years to come raising the child, it was still a moment of complete bliss and the only time that the Vicomtess could allow herself to act fully as though this were Raoul's child and not that of the infamous Phantom of the Opera.
The two women who had helped bring the child into the world left the room as to let the Vicomte and Christine Daae De Changy familiarize themselves with their new heir. Christine's hair was sweat filled and pressed against her pale face, though she was still the most beautiful creature to have ever graced the world, not only the stage. She smiled brightly looking at the child before her knowing the secret that she kept. Raoul also sharing a similar smile was lost in the contentment of being a parent for the first time. "So, " He looked to Christine still smiling proudly at the thought that he "helped create" this child – hah- "What shall we name him?"
"Erik" she said in a clipped response, as if her soul yelled it out before she could even think.
"Erik? Why is that, Little Lottie?"
She looked to her little boy with the biggest smile possible. The baby boy cooed in his mother's arms, already aware of the bond that they shared. His hair already appearing in dark tufts, but not a blemish on him, he was the most perfect baby. He eyes opened at his mother revealing golden eyes that could chill and ignite any ones soul. "Because… it is the name ...of a very dear friend …"
A/N: Again thank you for reading. I forgot what else I was going to say so… LALALALALALA LOOK I SING LIKE CHRISTINE! No But in all seriousness I really like this little oneshot. Thank you and look forward to the next Chapter of "You are the Poison that is Killing Me" and more Phantom along with Kuroshitsuji works ^-^ Yep love the fluff. In all truth it hurt me to write this because I hate the thought of Erik being dead- though sorry for SPOILERS but that's how it is in the book, he dies. It's just that I love Erik x Christine so much, I wanted them to create beautiful chilluns! Any way I am rambling.