A.N. Here you go another chapter :) Please bear with it and i promise that their is Erik Raoul interaction. So without further ado here you are lady's and gentlemen. O and please do review, it helps encourage me to write...
Words: 2,108
Rating: T
Warnings: language, slash and sexual implications
Disclaimer: well Christine still counts as a cannon character so...no I do not own it...yet *shifty eyes*
Chapter three
It had been a couple of weeks since the gala and Raoul had been exceptionally busy, and had therefore not been seen at the opera house since the night of said gala. Erik for his part was getting angrier and angrier at the world. There were many reasons for this; the managers were ignoring all his orders, Carlotta had been re-hired, and Christine was doing her best to ignore him. Unfortunately for the managers they were blissfully unaware of these things.
"Another of these blasted notes! The hooligan who keeps sending them must really think us stupid!" Firmin growled tearing it up. "We have never taken orders from a ghost, and we never will!" he finished with a flourish.
"But what about Il Muto, he revealed himself then. And there have been a lot of accidents recently" replied Andre, the more cautious of the two.
"A trick, just like all the notes! All of the accidents were just that, accidents!" Firmin said firmly. Andre didn't argue this time.
Erik glared at the two idiots through the wall. If they refused to take a hint he'd have to give them a clue. It was time to really show theses managers whose opera house this was. How to do so however was a problem. Perhaps he should try giving them his orders verbally instead of in note form he thought. Scare them a bit, and they'd be putty in his hands; Erik smirked.
It was fortunate perhaps that his was the day Raoul chose to finally make his appearance. The blond walked calmly into the opera house, Henri at his side as always. His manner was impeccable as always, no emotion showed through. Underneath his calm façade however he was steaming.
Like another member of the opera house, Raoul had not been having a good few weeks. His brother had been pressuring him once again to find a nice young lady to marry. That was not unusual, and would not normally have caused him to be so irritable, but when combined with all of the other things that had gone wrong this week it was definitely enough. As for the other contributensts he's had a couple of business ventures run amuck. One had been an honest ending, the man in charge had died, and the company had fallen into ruin. The second had been a fraud, a couple of young men thinking they could fool the blind patron. Raoul had sensed their intentions immediately, but eh whole mess had cause him a lot of paperwork. Completing that had taken him quite a few days, he however had a bad feeling that this venture was about to cause him just as much grief.
"Aa Viscount" Firmin cried as he spotted Raoul, or more specifically spotting a victim for all his complaints. "Thank goodness you've returned. There have been many accidents these past few weeks." He took Raoul by the arm and began leading him towards his office. Raoul for his part could feel a headache coming on.
Erik had during positioned himself just outside the entrance to his tunnel leading to the managers' office. The moment he heard the door open he threw his voice to the other side of the room and bellowed "You dare to ignore the orders of the opera ghost? I have been kind to you; however should you continue to disregard my demands things will get much worse!" Satisfied that his message was as clear as it could be he sat back to watch or well hear the show.
During Erik's announcement Andre and Firmin had developed identical looks of horror that, had anyone been present would have sent them into hysterics. Luckily the only other person there was Raoul as Henri had been requested to wait outside. Raoul had developed a sense of foreboding dread. Not about what the phantom was planning, but about exactly how much clean up he was going he was going to have to do for the weeks he was away. 'Three weeks' he groaned silently 'how much damage can these people do in three weeks?' Quite a lot apparently.
"If you gentlemen wouldn't mind I'd appreciate an explanation of what just happened?" Raoul said plainly.
"Er...well...that is...you see we" Andre stuttered trying to find some way to say it that didn't reflect too badly on the two of them.
"The phantom has been sending us notes with his ludicrous demands and we refused to have our money, resources, and time on a fraud or madman" Firmin said haughtily. Erik narrowed his eyes, how stupid were these men? Raoul twitched; he was of a similar opinion at the moment. He however had to be polite about it.
"Yes I can understand your sentiments monsieurs, however as he had just proven; ghost, madman, or whatever else he can get inside the opera house! Have you even begun to think about the danger he could be to our employees?" Raoul demanded. Erik smirked, it was nice to see that at least one other person in the opera house who could actually use their brain. Andre and Firmin simply shook their heads, looking quite abashed.
"Now then, it would probably be best for you to just show me all of the notes" Raoul requested, although all of the people present could tell that it was more of demand.
"Right away Mr. Viscount" the terrified managers squeaked, and hurried away to do just that. Erik had to bite his lip to keep from laughing; although underneath that he was slightly annoyed. These idiots brushed his demands away with barely a second thought, and yet they almost religiously obeyed the viscount. Something would have to be one about that. Erik twitched; these new managers seemed to be getting more irritating by the second.
The managers had by this time managed to find the notes and were presenting them to the blond. Raoul took them and carefully placed them inside his carrying case.
"I will examine these very carefully with my reader, and then carefully decide on the best course of action. For now pay the ghost one salary in the way he had instructed" Raoul ordered as he left the office. Erik grinned, he would let this patron live then he decided.
The moment Raoul exited the room Henri appeared at his side. One look at the viscount told him everything he wanted to know.
"The meeting didn't go as planned I see" Henri stated.
"Yes, I fear that this may very well end up being a mistake" Raoul replied, talking about his choice to act as a patron for the opera house. "Those two are bumbling idiots who should have stayed in the scrap metal business."
"What did they do this time viscount?" Henri asked.
"They completely disregarded the safety of everyone living here by ignoring the phantoms notes because they believed him to be a madman! Madman or ghost he can still harm and kill!" Raoul stated. Henri made a noise of agreement. He knew that Raoul put peoples' safety above all house.
"I will need your help to examine the notes once we are back at the manor" Raoul informed him.
"Of course viscount" Henri replied.
~Two days later~
Everything around the opera house had been relatively calm these past few days. Erik had been lying low, waiting to see what Raoul would do. The managers had given him his salary, and were now also waiting for instructions from Raoul.
Raoul for his part had had Henri read out all of the noted to him, and he had been compiling lists of the demands he thought were reasonable, and the ones he thought weren't. Some of the ones he was willing to follow included the ghost's salary (he had more than enough money), keeping box five empty, and not hunting for him (that wasn't exactly in the notes, but he doubted the ghost wanted it to happen). The things that weren't reasonable (mostly because he couldn't do anything about them) were Carlotta, Christine, and firing people.
Walking into the opera house Raoul turned left and with Henri at this side as always headed straight for the managers' office. The managers themselves jumped up and rushed to greet him the moment he walked in. Erik; who was once again watching the proceedings from the shadows could see how anxious they were. He smirked, no matter what happened he would win.
"Aa Mr. le viscount, how nice to see you" Mr. Firmin said politely.
"Please gentlemen, we have been working together for quite some time now, I do not believe that these pleasantries are really necessary. And so without further ado to business" Raoul said sitting down. He quickly laid out all of the papers from his brief case on the table in front of them. "Now I have spent the past couple days looking over the notes we have received thus far. I have made some decisions about them all of which will be followed." At this he gazed sternly at both Andre and Firmin. Erik felt his smirk growing wider. After having said this Raoul passed them his lists of what he considered reasonable and what he considered reasonable.
"I have no control over who you cat, but it is my opinion that his casting may have some advantages. Now that that has been said I have agreed to pay his salary" here both managers began to protest, but Raoul held up his hand. "It is my money, and it will help guaranty the safety of everyone in the opera house, so I consider it money well spent." He then went down his lists outlining his reasons for each item. The managers said nothing, and simply accepted his choices because they could tell that nothing was going to change his mind. Erik was a bit miffed that the two idiots who ran his theater weren't obeying all his orders without protest, but on the other hand he was glad to see that Raoul at least seemed to genuinely care about the opera house.
"If that is all gentlemen, I will take my leave" Raoul said. "I expect all the measures we discussed to be put into place immediately" he added gazing at them sternly, an unnerving thing with his unseeing eyes.
"O-Of course viscount" Firmin stuttered, trying and failing miserably to sound confident. Satisfied Raoul and Henri left the office.
"If you don't mind meeting me in box four, I believe that a walk around the opera house will do me some good." Raoul told Henri who gave a positive answer, and wandered off to wait for the blond. The truth of the matter was that Raoul was fairly certain that the ghost had been listening to his conversation with the managers, and probably wanted to talk to him.
This assumption proved to be quite true. Raoul had barely taken two steps when Erik made himself known.
"It's nice to see that your head actually does do something more then hold your hair." Raoul smiled, he was not surprised at the man's snarky remark, and in fact he was beginning to enjoy them. They were after all the sorts of things no one else would say to him.
"Likewise it's nice to know that you spy on our business meetings" Raoul shot right back at him. Erik smirked, this kid had spunk.
"But of course I do, I must after all insure that my opera house is run properly" Erik replied easily.
"Of course you must, forgive me for ever thinking otherwise." Raoul muttered sarcastically.
"I may one day" Erik stated.
"Now shall we get down to business, since I believe that's why you sought me out?" Raoul asked. "But first I would appreciate it if you could tell me your real name. After all if we are to be having business discussions regularly then knowing your name would be an asset." Erik had to admit that the viscount had a point, and he supposed that acquiring an ally in the blond might be beneficial.
"You may address me as Erik" He informed that blond.
"Erik, it suits you" Raoul said surprising even himself. To hide his embarrassment he quickly steered the conversation to business. The two discussed the relevant points of the opera house's running, maintenance, expenses etc. Finally after about two hours Raoul decided that they had accomplished enough for one day.
"I believe that that that is all that really needs to be converted today; but shall we have another meeting say this time next week?" Raoul asked. Erik gave his consent, and so the rocky partnership began.