Chapter 8

Almost two full days had past since Anelle had spoken a word. After her fight with Erik she had withdrawn herself, staying in her bed, refusing food and water. There wasn't a chance that she would listen to Erik about anything now, so he had tried to use Ben to convince her, telling him what to say to her in order to convince her to snap out of whatever mood she was in. But even that hadn't worked; it seemed she was determined to shut everyone and everything out.

Erik knew that he should have been concerned; if she went without food or water for much longer, she was going to get very sick. However, he was still too furious with her. With everything he had done for them, she dared to be mad at him? All he had done was keep her from injuring herself further, and yet she still found fault in it?

If she refused to eat and ended up dying, then it would be just as well; it wasn't as if anyone would miss her, since she was already pronounced dead. Even Ben was young enough that, with time, he would barely remember.

But...no, he couldn't. He couldn't just let her die from her own stubbornness. There was something about her-perhaps it was her fire, her willingness to stand up to him like no one had ever dared to, her dedication to caring for Ben, or maybe just her insufferable charm-that made it impossible for him to just let her seal her own fate in this way. After all, he had done so much already to keep her alive and well, he couldn't let her ridiculous choices lead to her own demise.

On the subject of Ben, Erik could no longer deny that he had begun feeling some kind of fondness towards him. He had never once interacted with a child up close before in his life, so he had assumed that he had nothing but ill feelings towards them. But Ben's ever present positivity and curiosity was endlessly fascinating to him. There hadn't been a moment yet that the boy had shown any signs of negative feelings, at least not since Erik had found him almost a week before.

And yet the one thing that struck him the most about the child was that he never showed any fear towards Erik at all. He had always thought that he struck fear into the hearts of everyone with the misfortune of coming across him, but here was this boy who had been through so much in the past days and had every reason to be paralyzed with fear, and yet all he did was trust Erik completely.

As the former Phantom dwelled on the situation that he never would have dreamed himself getting into, Anelle's mind raced faster than she could process.

In the past day, almost all of her anger had drifted into pure fear. A world without her parents was not something she had ever imagined herself living in. In all thoughts of her future, her parents were always a constant presence. There was still a part of her that didn't believe it was true even now.

What she was going to do next was a terrifying question which she hadn't found the answer to yet. Anyone who had ever known her thought that she was dead, she had no home to go back to, and she was the only one responsible for herself and Ben now. They couldn't stay with Erik forever; every day it seemed closer and closer to the moment he would throw them out. She didn't know why he hadn't already.

All of this fear, doubt, and confusion had been building inside of her since the day she had woken up in Erik's home. Her injury was just the thing that pushed her over the edge from calmness into spiraling fear and anger. Her independence had always held a great importance to her; she had never done well with suffocating rules and obligations. But now, unable to even walk on her own, never mind control her parents' death, where she was staying, or what happened next in her life, she felt like she was drowning. Being trapped in the opera house was like being stuck in the circle that had ruined her life.

She was so deep in her own thought that when Ben jumped into the bed beside her, she jolted in surprise.

"Are you feeling any better?" he asked as he climbed closer to her. Erik hadn't been able to explain to him what was wrong with his sister, so he had told him that she was just a bit sick and that's why she was staying in bed.

"I'm okay," she told him, forcing a half smile and she tucked a piece of his wild hair behind his ear. "Don't worry."

With his blind trust, he seemed to believe her. He easily jumped into a new conversation, his words as joyful as ever. "Me and Erik found a lot of books and stacked them into a tower!" he told her. "It was taller than me, and almost as tall as him! It fell over before we could make it bigger, but he said that we can try again later." It was almost impossible for Anelle to picture the same Erik that she was constantly battling with being so kind to Ben. It was as if they knew two different people. In any case, she was glad that he was good to her brother.

"Why haven't you been eating or drinking?" he asked, his head tilting just slightly in curiosity. His focus was back on her, which she did not want at all.

She hesitated for a moment before answering, wishing he was less observant. "I'm just too tired," she said, hoping that would be enough of an answer for him.

"Then why don't you go to sleep?" he asked, as if it were the simplest solution in the world.

"It...it isn't that kind of tired," she tried to explain to him. She didn't want to lie; his trust in her was something she would protect forever. So she had to think of ways to explain things to him so that he would understand. "It's a tired that I feel on the inside. The kind of tired that is in my brain and my heart."

He was quiet for a few seconds, clearly deep in thought. "When I feel sad like that, I try to think of something very happy. Like the picnics we take in the spring, and playing in the snow when it's close to Christmas. And when I am too sad for that to work, I go to you. When you hold me it always makes me feel better."

Anelle had to fight back the tears that were pricking her eyes, just thinking that he came to her when he was upset and trusted that she could make him feel better. She wanted to find the right words to tell him that he should always come to her when he was upset, because it helped her feel better too. But before she could speak, he wrapped his arms gently around her neck and kissed the side of her head.

From a few feet away, hidden out of sight behind a bookcase, Erik watched the scene between the two. He felt just a pang of pity for Anelle, listening to how she was suffering. The pity stemmed mostly from how he could so closely relate to her words. The exhaustion in her soul that she described was precisely how he had felt, especially since she had left. Despite not showing any of this to Anelle or Ben, his nights were wracked with crippling thoughts of her. A part of his soul was lost, and he could never gain it back.

It occurred to him then that perhaps Anelle was not only upset about her parents death and her own injuries, but she might also be lonely. The only person she felt she could talk talk to was her little brother, who was too young to even really talk to because of his age. Loneliness was certainly something that he could relate to. He decided then that he did, in fact, pity her.

He walked over to the bed the two were laying in, a glass of water in his hand. He cleared his throat to get their attention.

"It's getting late," he said, doing his best to keep his voice neutral so she wouldn't know he had been listening. "It would be best if you both start settling down for a rest." He handed Anelle the glass of water without a word, knowing that she needed to drink, and that she knew it too.

She hesitated for a moment, looking up at him with an emotion so mixed that he couldn't understand what it was, before taking a sip of the water. He nodded slightly, a silent 'thank you', before walking away.

As they settled into sleep, he immediately began working on a new project on the other side of the space, far from where they could see or hear.

xXxXxXx

Anelle woke early the next morning, even before Ben who was usually up and awake before any kind of reasonable hour. As she sat up slowly, stretching her arms out, she noticed something out of the corner of her eye. She turned quickly, hyper-aware of any sort of changes.

Next to the bed there was an odd looking chair that certainly hadn't been there before. In the place of where it's legs should be, there were four wheels-two small ones in the front, and two larger ones in the back. Along with the wheels, there were other small mechanisms attached that she couldn't begin to guess what they could be for.

Laying on the seat of the chair was a note written on a piece of paper. She picked it up and read:

Marie Anelle,

I thought you might be interested in trying this chair. It will help you get around on your own without having to use your legs. If you wish, you may use it while you heal.

I can make any adjustments needed when you awaken.

~Erik

(A/N: I feel like I am always apologizing for updates taking so long, but I really am sorry! I've had some health related issues this past month that have had me in and out of the hospital, so I haven't had much internet time. I pinky promise that I'm going to try to get back into a more regular posting schedule.

There have been a few new followers to this story since the last chapter went up, so welcome to all of you, and thank you for reading!

As always, thank you to my amazing beta, sassinesswithglitter, for putting up with my inconsistent schedule and helping out so much with this story!

I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Remember to review to let me know what you like and what you want to read in the upcoming chapters!)