I woke up to soft music playing, a song I had known for some time. I started singing softly along.
"Masquerade!
Paper faces on parade . . .
Masquerade!
Hide your face,
so the world will
never find you!" I sat up in bed and pushed aside the lace curtain, looking for the source of the music.
I walked down the stairs to the pipe organ and saw Erik sitting there, playing. I smiled faintly, not much, but enough to be called a smile. "Good morning." My voice was raw from crying yesterday, but loud enough to be heard.
Erik turned and smiled, well, what I could see of his face smiled. "Good morning mon ange."
I blushed, faintly, nothing brought a very large reaction from me lately. "I'm no angel Erik."
"Ah, but I can guarantee you're more of an angel than I am." He rose and crossed to me, extending his hand. "Would you like to sit?" He indicated a soft chair a short way away from the organ.
I took his hand. "Alright, sure." He sat me down and took the chair opposite. We sat in silence for some time, neither of us wanting to break it.
After a while I spoke. "What did you mean earlier Erik? About me being more of an angel?"
He sighed. "I have done things in my past mon ange, things that I am not proud of. I...I hurt the woman I loved. I have killed people before. And so I am alone, doomed to solitude for all my life."
"For something you did?"
"No..." He paused, clearly hesitant to speak of it. "For how I look."
"What do you mean?"
He smiled dryly. "You do not think I wear this mask for a fashion statement do you?"
I immediately saw my error, I had touched his sore spot. "Forgive me...I...I did not mean...to...to offend you in any way." I looked down, I couldn't do anything right. Dammit.
I heard him stand and kneel next to me. "Forgiven mon ange. All I ask is that you not remove my mask without my permission."
"Yes, of course, just...just please don't throw me out."
"I would never do that." His voice sounded hurt. "You are safe here with me." He wrapped his arms around my shoulders.
I leaned into him and let myself cry. I cried for my own stupidity, for his loss, his pain, and my own loss.
When my sobs were reduced to hiccups he tilted my head up. "Are you alright now?"
I nodded, "I'm hungry."
He smiled and left, coming back with some eggs and toast. "It's not much."
"I don't eat much any way, it's alright." I ate slowly, eating the toast and picking at the eggs till they were gone. I looked up at him, he was smiling.
"Shall I play you something?"
I shrugged, what did it matter really?
He sat down at the organ. "I find that music helps the pain." He began to play something I didn't recognize, but it did make me feel better, I began to nod off in the chair. I heard the music stop briefly before he covered me with his cloak again.
The music changed to a slow song, almost a lullaby as I fell asleep, exhausted by tears and pain.

I woke up and groaned, I had a huge crick in my neck. Before I opened my eyes I knew I had fallen asleep in a chair again, and I knew that I was still there. I sighed to myself, thinking that any moment she would walk in and laugh at me for doing this yet again.
All this before I opened my eyes. Then, well, then I opened them, and everything came rushing back. The pain, the tears, the hiding, and Erik. I set my feet on the floor, bent over, and started crying. I had so hoped that it had been just a dream, a nightmare, but no, it had been real.
I heard footsteps and buried my face deeper into what I realized was Erik's cloak, again. My shoulders shook with tears, the pain tearing a hole in my chest. I felt Erik's hand on my shoulder.
"I'm so sorry mon ange. I would take the pain away if I could, you do not deserve it."
I gasped and coughed through my tears. I looked up at him. "Neither did you."
He frowned, "I am unnatural mon ange, a monster."
I smiled wryly. "I too am unnatural, so who are you to say that I do not deserve it?"
Erik looked at me strangely but did not ask. I was grateful for that. Instead he moved over to the organ.
"Shall we begin your lessons?" He turned and indicated that I should sit next to him.
"Uh, sure." I went and sat down on the bench. Before he turned back to the keys he pulled the cloak tighter around me. I looked at him questioningly.
He smiled slightly. "I do not want you catching cold, it does awful things to your voice."
I smiled back. "Thank you." He nodded, turned to the keys and started to play. I knew the song, I had heard it a few years ago at the opera, sung by a beautiful young soprano named Christine Daae.
I cleared my throat softly, and hummed to get in tune. Then I began to sing.
"Think of me, think of me fondly,
when we've said goodbye.
Remember me once in a while - please promise me you'll try.
When you find that, once again, you long to take your heart back
and be free - if you ever find a moment spare a thought for me ...
We never said our love was evergreen,
or as unchanging as the sea - but if you can still remember,
stop and think of me ...
Think of all the things we've shared and seen -
don't think about the things which might have been ...
Think of me, think of me waking, silent and resigned.
Imagine me, trying too hard to put you from my mind.
Recall those days, look back on all those times,
think of the things we'll never do - there will never be a day, when
I won't think of you ...
Flowers fade, the fruits of summer fade
They have their seasons so do we- but please promise me, that sometimes, you will think of me!"
I stopped, gasping for breath a bit at the very end, the crescendo always left me breathless. Erik was looking at me strangely and I feared that I had done something wrong.
"What, what is it?"
"Your voice...I haven't heard a voice like that since...since Christine." Erik's face clouded with sorrow and I, on impulse, wrapped my arms around him.
"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." I didn't know what I was apologizing for, just that I felt that I needed to for some reason.
"You are forgiven mon ange." He grasped my arm with one of his hands, which went all the way around the thickest part of my forearm, I've always been bird-boned. "You are most forgiven."

~Erik POV
I had left the main area of my home earlier, after finishing playing a lullaby for Zoe on the organ. I had wandered up to my room after covering her with my cloak and started looking for a song that I had started to write after Christine left but had stopped when the pain had made it impossible for the music to come.
It took me longer to find it than I would have liked, there were dozens of half-finished songs scattered across the floor of my room. I put them all in order, together, only then did I find the one I was looking for. I tucked it under my arm and went back to the organ.
As I exited my room and began to descend the stairs I heard Zoe crying again. I frowned and put the song on the organ. I walked over and lay my hand on her shoulder. "I'm so sorry mon ange. I would take the pain away if I could, you do not deserve it."
She gasped through her tears." Neither did you."
I frowned, "I am unnatural mon ange, a monster."
She looked up and smiled wryly. "I too am unnatural, so who are you to say that I do not deserve it?"
I looked at her strangely, how could such a lovely young woman be unnatural, but did not ask what she meant, something told me that that was too personal a question just yet. Instead I moved over to the organ.
"Shall we begin your lessons?" I turned and indicated that she should sit next to me.
"Uh, sure." She sat down on the bench, my cloak falling off her. Perhaps I should get her one that fits her better. I thought and before I turned back to the keys I pulled the cloak tighter around her. I laughed to myself as she looked at me questioningly.
"I do not want you catching cold, it does awful things to your voice."
She smiled back, it was very slight, but it was good to see her smile after all those tears. "Thank you."
I nodded and turned to the keys and began to play Think of Me. I don't know why, it was just the first thing that came to my mind, fortunately she knew the song by heart.
Her voice was beautiful as I had noticed on the first occasion I had heard it. She infused the song with a sadness and suffering that I recognized from my own singing. Her skill was so similar to Christine's that it was almost impossible for me not to cry.
After the crescendo at the end of the song she gasped a bit for breath and I looked over at her. She must have seen something in my look because she asked me what was wrong.
"Your voice...I haven't heard a voice like that since...since Christine." I felt my face cloud with sorrow and she wrapped her arms around me.
"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." I didn't know why she was apologizing, only that she seemed to need my forgiveness, which I most certainly could not deny her.
"You are forgiven mon ange." I grasped her arm with one of my hands, it went almost the whole way around her arm, she was so delicate. "You are most forgiven."

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