A/N: A big thank you to GirlyGeek, snapesgirl1313, and Eccentric Storyteller for reviewing the last chaper! I greatly appreciate it, reviews are always a great input for inspiration.
Here's the next one, please do enjoy it and leave a review! :)
to our next update,
-xoxox,
KaylaShadow
CH.3 : A WORD OF CAUTION
The next morning, Erik awoke with the sound of the waves splashing on the lake's shore. Taking a deep breath, he turned around and saw that Shadow was still fast asleep besides him. He recalled the previous night's events and reckoned they had somehow drifted off to sleep after Shadow's telling him about her nightmare.
No sooner had he turned to look at her, that he saw Shadow's eyes switch open, wide and alert. Their azure colour seemed more crystal clear, probably due to her crying. For a moment, she stared at him curiously, as though trying to place her thoughts in her mind correctly, then, her face lit up with a radiant grin.
"Erik!" she called out simply.
He returned her smile.
"Good morning, Shadow. Did you get some rest?"
She nodded, "Yes," then she tilted her head to the side, "Time to get up?"
"I believe so," he answered, rising up and getting off the bed, "I would like to work on my Opera this morning," he stated, stifling a yawn and stretching his arms out above his head. He began to walk to his organ to get started. Shadow got up on the mattress, leaning on her knees, holding the blanket in her hands, and called out, "Erik?"
Erik stopped in his tracks and turned around, quizically looking at the now hesitant Shadow, who gulped and seemed to look for the right words to say.
"T-thank you," she said at last, candidly gazing at him with her crystal blue eyes, "Thank you for yesterday night."
Erik smiled and walked back to the bed, sitting down besides her. He kept his eyes locked with hers, and raised a hand to playfully tousle her hair, "Oh Shadow, you're very welcome," she smiled at him, and he added, "But you musn't thank me," he leaned in closer towards her, leaning his forhead on hers, "You know I'm always there for you, right?"
Shadow had her eyes closed and nodded contentedly, lightly nuzzling her forehead against Erik's.
"Good," he said, breaking the contact and unexpectedly placing a light kiss on her forehead before pulling away, turning around and leaving the room.
He didn't notice Shadow's eyes popping open the second she felt his kiss, nor did he see her reaction: as soon as he had left, a look of awed glee came across Shadow's face, and her heartbeat suddenly quickened. She couldn't understand why her heart was beating so fast, or why her cheeks felt flustered all of a sudden. Ignoring that, she elegantly leaped off the bed with an agile jump and landed with a soft thud on the floor. Getting up, she left the bedroom and found Erik seated besides his organ, ruffling through a big stack of music sheets, which he had all marked with his music. Shadow sigh.
She knew for a fact that now Erik wouldn't be able to pay any attention to her until he was done with his music. He always got entirely caught up with his Opera when he composed. Shadow wondered what she could do to pass the time.
Perhaps she could climb up to the rafters above the stage and watch the performers practicing? She grinned. Yes, she could do that! In fact, that sounded like a wonderful idea to her: Shadow loved to watch rehersals. She could stand for hours at a time watching the singers perform and the dancers gracefully dancing their way across the stage. She would often sigh, wishing she could be able to be down there with them. She had to remain alert though, and be constantly on the lookout if anyone happened to come near her. In that case, she immediately had to flee into the darkness, for Erik had always severly prohibited her from approaching anyone up there. Of course she knew that he only did that to protect her, for she did not belong to that world. Her world was down there, in the lair, with Erik. Not that that really bothered her, of course. But sometimes, it just felt to her as though there was some small piece missing in her life, and she desperately longed to know what it was. No matte how hard she tried, she could not get over the frustration of having a disastrous memory, which barely traced back to the first moment she had met Erik. And even then, her reminiscence remained blurry, not quite sure. All she knew was that, at some point, her memories suddenly became bright and clear in her mind, and they all involved Erik. She smiled as she watched him play.
How many times had she seen him like this, caught up in his own world, oblivious to everything else around him? Shadow loved to see him like this, when he played he seemed to be so free, so carefree, so… happy. And Shadow always loved to see Erik happy.
Deciding not to disturb him, she silently crept away and hurried towards the other end of the room, following a narrow passageway that wound itself around the lake. She swiftly made her way along the path until she reached a big staircase, which led to the upper floors right into the Opera. She had just jumped up the last step, however, when she suddenly bumped into somebody, startling herself and gasping.
"Oh, why hello there Shadow!"
Shadow let out a sight of relief: it was only Madame Giry, the ballet mistress. She was dressed in her usual long dark dress, and her hair was strictly pulled back in a tight bun. She gazed down at Shadow with her stern gaze, but she knew Madame was hardly half as terrible as she seemed. She was the only person in the Opera who knew about Erik's existance and was allowed to visit his lair. Occasionally, she would walk down there to talk with him about the Opera's new events or to check how he and Shadow were doing. Two weeks before, she had gone to inform him about Lefevre's impending retirement. Shadow wondered why she was visiting them now, though she was always glad to see her.
"Madame!"
Madame Giry's severe air left her and she gave Shadow a small smile, "What are you doing wandering around here all alone?" she paused as the most obvious answer came to her mind and asked, "Is Erik composing?" Shadow nodded, to which she demanded, "Would you like to accompany me home?"
"Home?" Shadow repeated, confused. She didn't understand what "home" was meant for.
Madame Giry grinned, "Yes, home…To Erik, of course!"
Shadow suddenly understood and nodded as a bright smile came across her face, and the two of them walked back to the lair, where Erik had just stopped playing to fix some notes on the sheet set out in front of him. Shadow hurried in the room, anticipating Madame Giry's arrival.
"Erik!" she called out merrily, "Madame's here!"
With a light jump, she placed herself on her usual spot on the organ, facing Erik. Erik stopped scribbling on the paper and raised his head towards the door, just as Madame Giry entered, stopping in the doorway.
"Ah, Madame Giry, my friend! Bonjour," he greeted her politely.
"Bonjour, Erik," she greeted him back, with a small bow of her head, "I'm only here for a quick visit, may I come in?"
"Certainly, I'll be right with you," he answered, turning around to organize the messy pile of papers set around him before going to talk with her.
Meanwhile, Madame Giry wandered across the lair to the organ, where she exhanged a smile with Shadow and playfully ruffled her hair, as Erik had done before.
"And how are you today, petite Shadow?" she asked.
"I'm fine," Shadow answered honestly, "I was going to see the rehersals!"
"Ah, so that's what you were doing when I bumped into you," said Madame Giry, "Do you like to watch rehersals?"
Shadow nodded vigurously, "Oh, yes, I do! Very much! They're so wonderful to watch, I wish I could stay and see them every single day."
"Do you watch the ballets too?"
"Yes," Shadow replied, "I always see your Meg," she then stated, referring to Madame Giry's daughter, who was a ballerina, "She is always so good!" she sigh dreamily.
Madame Giry chuckled, "Thank you, dear. Well then, you've seen the rehersals… But have you ever seen an actual Opera on one of the perfoming nights?" Shadow shook her head, her eyes widening with excitement, and Madame Giry continued, "Well, that's even more beautiful, my dear. Erik should take you to see one."
Erik, who had been listening to the wole conversation, immediately stated in a blunt voice, "No, Shadow's not ready for that."
Shadow turned to looked at him and her face fell slightly, but Madame Giry sigh.
"Yes, I…understand what you mean…Especially after last night's events," she said cautiously, not looking at him.
Erik tensed up slightly, as did Shadow. He imagined Madame Giry would have something to say about what had happened, after all she was bound to have been there at the party somewhere when all that commotion had happened. He hadn't meant things to go the way they had, and he wondered what Madame Giry had come to tell him.
"You know, Erik," she began tentatively, still caressing Shadow's hair in a motherly jesture, as Shadow laid her head down on her arms and closed her eyes, "You really ought to control your companion more if you are to pay such visits to our dear new managers. You gave them quite a fright."
"Shadow is not my companion," Erik replied a little too hastily, keeping his eyes glued to the sheets of music as he spoke sulkily.
Madam Giry stopped caressing Shadow's hair and looked at him, walking around the organ and sitting down on the bench besides him. Shadow watched both of them curiously, head slightly propped up from her arms, but she did not speak.
"Is she not?" Madame Giry demanded, then without waiting for an answer, she promptly demanded, "Then what is she, Erik?"
"I don't know…" he shook his head, almost shrugging as he struggled to find an answer and still determingly not lifting his head up, "Shadow's…Shadow."
"Yes, indeed, and you could have no one better to follow you," Madame Giry concurred, lifting her eyes for a moment to look at Shadow and give her an encouraging smile, before adding in a slightly sterner tone, "But remember...you can't get rid of your shadow, Erik."
He looked at her, confused at her last comment, "I'm not going to get rid of her!" he exclaimed.
"No, of course not," she replied with a sigh, getting up and turning to face him, "But remember this, Erik: there may always come a time in everyone's life when one is blinded by a new, brighter light and seems to want to rid himself of all his shadows, only to realize that he has tied himself to them too much to make them disappear. Just be careful that doesn't happen to you."
And with that she left, shooting one last meaningful glance towards Shadow, who stood looking at her with a perplexed look on her face, her head titled to the side, and leaving Erik utterly confused.
When she had gone, Erik returned to rummage through his papers, shaking his head and muttering indistinguishably to himself, feeling oddly uncomfortable with what Madame Giry had said. Him blinded by a new and brighter light? And wanting to get rid of his shadows – no, better yet, of his Shadow? Now that was absurd. What on Earth did that mean, anway? He made a tutting noise, then heard Shadow sighing heavily on the organ in front of him. Lifting his eyes, he saw her looking into the distance in the direction where Madame Giry had left with a worried look on her face.
"You're not actually going to tell me you believe what she said, are you?"
She snapped out of her daze and looked down at him, "What?"
"You know that doesn't mean anything," he said, "She just said that because they must still be upset about our little visit up at the Opera last night, and she was worried and thought well of coming down here to give me a word of caution… A ridiculous one at that, might I add," he shook his head again, "Don't let it bother you, Shadow. I hightly doubt there should ever come a reason for me to even think about leaving any of my shadows – least of all, you."
Shadow felt relieved at hearing him say this, but part of her mind still dwelled with Madame Giry's words. She decided to leave for a walk, hoping it would clear her mind, so she sliped off the organ and began to walk away. Erik, on his behalf, finished setting his papers and was about to start playing again, when a thought struck him.
"Shadow?" he asked curiously, with a slight frown.
She stopped on the doorway and turned to look at him.
"Yes, Erik?"
"Shadow…" he repeated, not quite knowing how to ask her this, wondering how she would respond, "Shadow…What am I, to you?"
Shadow shook her head slightly and shrugged matter-of-factly.
"Home."
And with that she, too, disappeared in the darkness, leaving Erik more confused than before.
A/N: Well, so what d'ya think? You like it? You don't? Something I should change or improve? Just let me know!
xoxoxo,
K.S.
