Hey everyone thanks for the reviews… Enjoy the latest chapter. Oh, and some of you have been asking if this was Leroux or an ALW Phantom… I have decided to combine both because I thought it would be interesting. So there will be reference to Susan Kay and a combination of Leroux and ALW.
Christine's POV
After leaving Erik, I made my way back up to the opera house, and found Raoul. When he saw me, he grabbed me by the arm, and growled in anger.
"Where have you been? I've been looking all over for you!"
"I'm sorry Raoul, I couldn't do it…."
"That's because you're a coward…."
Raoul grabbed my arm, and pulled me violently into my dressing room.
"We're leaving Paris tomorrow…." he announced. "We're going to go far away from here and you will marry me…"
"Really, Raoul?" I sneered. "Since when did I become your slave?"
"Since I went down below and killed your precious angel of music…"
I knew he was still alive, but I couldn't let Raoul know…. And so I did the only thing I knew what to do, I cried…
I dropped to my knees, and sobbed…
"Yes, cry…. Cry for your hideous beast…"
It was then that Raoul pulled my hair back violently and forced me to look at him.
"Forget him! I'm leaving now, and will return in the morning…and when I do, you best be ready…"
Raoul didn't kiss me, and left the room, locking it behind him…. Little did he know, that the mirror in my dressing room would lead me back to my angel. I threw some clothes into a bag, and carried it with me as I walked through the mirror and back down to the lair where Erik was….. When I arrived, I placed my bag down, and walked back into his bedroom to see him still laying there in the coffin…. I placed the bottle of brandy into a bag along with some bandages and clean clothes…. When I had everything together, I walked over to the coffin, and helped him up….
"Come on, Erik…."
He groaned trying to stand to his feet, and he was weak, but I couldn't stay here….I carried both our bags in my hand, and supported Erik with the other… Dressing him was difficult, and his eyes stayed close…. I knew trying to see was a painful thing for him after what had happened, and so I let him keep them closed…. The city was dark and cold, and to insure he continued to stay warm, I wrapped his cloak tightly around him as we headed to Calais. Once there, I was able to sneak on board the large ship, and get him to a room where I laid him down on the bed and was able to cover him up….. When the ship left shore, I sighed in relief and was able to relax…..
I sat in a chair by his bed, watching my poor Erik sleep through his pain. After a while, I heard him groan, and put down my book to see him stirring in his sleep… I rushed to his bedside, and placed my hand in his.
"Erik…"
My poor Erik turned within his sheets, and opened his sore eyes, only to groan and re close them… I rushed to his bag, and opened the bottle of brandy, and soaked a cloth in it before placing it over his eyes….
"Tell me where it hurts, Erik…"
"Ev….Everywhere…"
I lit another candle, and placed it on the nightstand.
Erik was delirious, and I knew every fiber in his body was screaming out in agony.
I covered his body up with more blankets, and hummed a tune to him to calm my angel down. I wasn't sure where we were headed, but I knew where ever we were going would be better than Paris…..
I watched Erik for a few more hours, before leaving him for a short time and going to the ship cafeteria and getting some broth off the cooks…. When I returned to the room, I found Erik just as I had left him; asleep…. I sat the bowl of broth down on the nightstand, and gently touched his shoulder…. He slowly opened his eyes, and then closed them in agony….
"I brought you something to eat….."
He didn't answer me, and I lifted his body up into a sitting position, keeping his body propped in front of pillows. I took a spoonful of the golden broth up to his malformed lips, and he tried to open his mouth, but cringed…. I knew that Raoul had made sure to break his jaw…. I quickly pulled out a long cloth, and wrapped it under his jaw, and tied it at the top of his head to keep it in place…When he opened his mouth this time, he was able to open it just enough to accept the broth….. I spoon fed him until the broth was gone, and helped him lay back down….
"Rest now, Erik…."
I returned to my chair, watching him rest for the first day of our journey…. He didn't speak to me, nor did he wake up, and if he did, it was only for short periods of time. At one point, I heard a soft groan escape from his lips when his legs shifted into a different position. Curious, I moved my chair to the end of his bed, and lifted the blankets above his legs, to notice both skeletal legs were bruised from the knee all the way down to his pale feet. He looked like they were causing him a great amount of pain, and my hands began to move from my book, and to his cold feet. I could feel the bones right through his skin, and I pressed the palms of my hands gently over the bottom of them….. His once aching groans turned into a sigh, and I became relieved when I noticed his body starting to relax.
I continued to sit there at the end of the bed, massaging his bare feet, and watching him sleep….I would have expected them to feel disgusting under my warm fingers, but they were soft and looked completely normal…..like any other foot…. His toes were small, and I couldn't help but play with them as if playing with the toes of a new born baby….. But then just as quickly as I had touched them, both of his feet were pulled away, and I heard a loud cringe as he did so, only to look up and see Erik recoiling from my touch. He sat himself up, and pulled his knees into his chest….. He looked so petrified, as if my touch was poison to him….
"Erik, I'm….sorry." I got to my feet, and began to reach out to him, but he turned away to avoid my touch.
"No one….." he nervously began. "No…one has ever touched Erik's feet…"
"They looked sore…..I only meant to make you feel better…"
"Christine wishes for Erik to feel better?" he gasped.
"Of course….. That is, if you let me help you…"
"No one has ever wanted him to get better… The world always hopes for him to suffer."
"No more suffering…" I said. "Never will you ever have to suffer again…"
I removed the blankets away from his body, and gently extended my hand to his leg…..He watched me like a hurt animal, looking upon its rescuer. I took my fingers, and rolled up the pant leg of Erik's sleeping trousers, and cuffed them at his knees. His legs were so bruised that there was hardly any pale flesh left after being covered in purple and black spots…. Gently, I took his left leg, and held onto it with both hands as I bent it in and out slowly to make sure there were no broken bones…. Erik cringed as I did so, and squeezed the sheet of the bed with his fists to hold back the pain.
"Am I hurting you?"
"Never…..Erik is just very sore."
When I realized that no bones were broken in his left leg, I placed it flat on the mattress, and began doing the same to his right leg….. Thankfully, no bones had been shattered in either leg…. They had just been bruised. I picked up the bottle of brandy, and soaked a cloth in it before gently rubbing each bruise on his leg. The alcohol burning into his bruises pained him, but this was the only way to avoid infection.
"Why do you wait on Erik hand and foot, when it is him who should be doing that to you?"
I giggled, and gave him a warm smile.
"Because you are sick."
"And yet, instead of leaving Erik to die like a baby bird who has fallen out of a tree, you mend his wounds and nurse him back to health…."
"You have given me so much, Erik. I don't want a life with Raoul anymore… I want a life with you…."
"And what sort of life could he possibly give you? One which is dark and cold….."
"And yet, you light up my life with music and I feel so alive…."
I finished soaking his bruises, and placed the cloth aside. There was a cup of water placed on the nightstand, and I watched as Erik tried to reach for it, but couldn't seem to find it…. This worried me…. Perhaps he was stricken blind by the wrath of Raoul's beating…
"Can you see, Erik?" I asked.
"His eyes are sore, and his sight is blurry….."
I pushed the cup into his hands, and watched him drink the water that was inside it….. After placing it back down, he tried to push himself up, but only cringed…..
"Does your back hurt?"
"Shoulders, back and arms…."
"Would you let me help you?" I asked.
"How could you help Erik?" he asked kindly.
"Lay on your stomach…."
My poor Erik had a painful time maneuvering himself to lay on his stomach, but once he was, I placed his sore face to the side, and boosted myself up onto the bed. Afterwards, I got into a straddling position and leaned on my knees so that I wasn't pressing down onto his lower back…
"What are you doing?" he asked.
"Could I remove your shirt?"
"Why would you need to remove Erik's shirt? There is nothing beneath it that Christine needs to see….For there is only hideousness."
"You mean the scars?"
I heard him gasp, and I knew he wondered how I knew.
"Please, Erik…. I do not mind them….."
When I didn't get an answer, I moved my hands beneath his shirt, and rolled it off his shoulders…. In the lair, it had been dark enough to where I couldn't see the scars fully… But now that we were in a lighted room, I could see them perfectly clear….. His whole back and shoulders were covered in them…. Long, budging lines that crisscrossed in every direction…. They must have pained him so….
I soaked my hands in the brandy, and placed my palms at the top of his bare shoulders, and kneaded them….. His muscled crackled beneath my palms, and I heard a sigh of relief escape his lips…..
"Does that feel good, Erik?"
"It feels like heaven…"
"Your muscles are so tensed. Have you not ever had your back massaged?"
"Erik has never had his back touched as gentle as this…."
"So you have had your back rubbed before?"
"Not rubbed, whipped….."
I didn't answer him, and continued moving my hands down his back, pressing against him, the crackling only getting worse….
"Oh, harder….." I heard him beg.
"What?" I questioned, not knowing what he meant.
It got silent, and then Erik flipped himself over, and curled himself up near the metal headboard.
"Please, forgive Erik…" he begged. "Erik should be punished for begging Christine to take away his pain…"
Erik grabbed my moist hands, and placed them around his neck.
"Punish Erik…..punish him like he should be punished…."
I pulled my hands away from his neck, and knelt in front of him. This man, this poor man had endured such cruelty. He only wanted his pain to go away, and yet he believed he should be punished for it.
"Why would you think you needed to be punished…."
"Because he asked for something. Erik has learned that he should never ask for anything…"
Perhaps that is why he was whipped….. Had he been punished for asking such simple things?
"Erik, what were you going to ask of me?"
"Oh, poor Erik's wretched back was hurting him so badly. When Christine pressed her sweet hands down on his shoulders, it felt like heaven… Erik only wished for her to press harder on his pain…."
"Erik, could you make me a promise?"
"Erik would grant his Christine anything her heart desires."
"I want you to promise me that if you ever want something, no matter what it is, you will ask it of me…."
Erik pulled his body closer to him, and looked down at his knees.
"Erik is not worthy enough to ask Christine of any favor…"
"But it's what I want, Erik…. You said you would do anything for me, and this is what I want…"
"If it is what Christine wants…."
"Then you promise me?"
Erik shyly nodded, and I smiled…..
"Lay back down on your stomach then…"
And then slowly, Erik uncoiled himself, and laid back down. I then got back into my straddling position, and ran my hands around his back, pressing harder like he had asked me to…. A orgasmic moan escaped his lips as I did so, causing me to smile… I ran my fingers over each scar, causing him to moan even louder….
"Am I hurting you?" I asked.
"No, Christine. Never could your touch ever hurt poor Erik…."
"Just making sure."
"Erik is enjoying this very much…. His muscles pain him so. Erik has never known what it felt like to sleep in a real bed until now. Many years of falling asleep hunched over his organ and laying in a coffin have cramped his back terribly….. If only he could have this all the time…."
He paused.
"Oh, there he goes again…." he sobbed. "Erik should never dream of such things…."
This man only wanted to feel wanted… he only wanted to have things any normal man could have… and yet, he punished himself for just thinking of something that feels good to anyone else.
"Erik, please don't curse yourself." I begged. "If you asked me for a massage, I would give you one…."
"Christine would do that for her monstrous Erik?"
"You are not a monster, Erik….. And yes, I would. The only thing you need to do is ask it of me…."
"E..Erik has a hard time asking anything from anybody…."
"Why does asking for things frighten you so?"
"It does not frighten him….. Erik is afraid of only one thing, but being afraid to ask anybody of something is not his fear…. He is nervous to ask of anything because of what happens to him when he asks…."
"And what happens to you when you ask of something?" I questioned, running my hands toward his lower back.
"Is the appearance of Erik's back not enough to prove his point?"
The scars….. That's how he had gotten them…
"Somebody whipped you when you asked for something?"
"The first thing Erik asked for was clothing. He was whipped for it….. And then Erik asked his master to stop…. Erik was only whipped harder…. On a hot day, Erik asked him for some water, but master only whipped him for asking…..In the dead of winter, Erik asked master for a blanket to warm him from the cold…. Master only whipped Erik harder until he bled…. Asking has only ever gotten Erik whipped….."
I was in tears…. My poor Erik. Who could be so cruel to him?
"Erik, who is the one you call "Master?"
"To tell you, would only cause Erik nightmares about his past…. So many nights he wakes up screaming in his sleep, only to wake and find no one around to tell Erik that everything is going to be ok…."
I finished massaging Erik's back, and rolled off him, handing him his shirt.
"You should get some sleep…."
Erik rolled over onto his back, and pressed his face up against his pillow.
"Would Christine sing Erik a lullaby?"
"Of course…"
I retook my seat in the chair beside his bed, and began humming a soft tune….His voice sighed to the sweet sound of it, and closed his eyes…. I continued to hum, until his breathing was steady making it obvious that he was fast asleep…. I continued reading my book, until I could no longer hold my eyes open, and got myself comfortable enough to close my eyes…. Surely Erik would give up the bed for me to sleep in it, but he needed it more than I did….. I kept the door of our room open for a while to let in some fresh air, and heard a few people talking just outside the room…. They were going on about how great this place called "Coney Island" was supposed to be….. They went on and on about how they couldn't wait to get there and eat hot dogs and watch the freaks perform… And just as I drifted off to sleep, I smiled….. So this is where Erik and I were going to start our new life together…. Coney Island…..Oh, and how wonderful it sounded already….
Ok everyone, please send in your reviews! I'm thinking about keeping this story in Christine's POV…. More to come soon! Thanks again!
