A/N: Forgive me - I've been spending so much time on Everything I Do that I fear I have started to neglect this story. Well, no longer!
"Well how would that be bad? You design buildings all the time just for fun. This should be simple, should it not?" Nadir said in a desperate voice.
"You have forgotten of whom you speak of." Erik replied, his own tone very grave.
Nadir chided himself. "You're correct, I have. The kharum will make this anything but easy for you."
"I have yet to begin and I already have a problem that will no doubt explode on me at a later date."
"And what is that problem, Erik?"
"Christine is not being sold to me. She is to be a gift."
Nadir's eyes filled with terror. "If she is a gift...oh Erik, this time they surely will kill you if you release another after the Kharum gave her to you! You nearly were dead last time from it! They tracked down the servant that was assigned to you and put her in the torture chamber! Oh... what would they do if-"
"Nadir!" Erik suddenly yelled, full of malice. "I must ask you not to entertain such thoughts in my presence. It's not exactly...ideal working material for me."
"Of course." The Persian agreed, then slowly made his way to his bedroom to give Erik his peace that he needed to save Christine.
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Christine fretted in her room, biting on her lip and staring at her reflection in the mirror, trying to come up with a plan on how to get out. She was on her own now, with Erik angry at her, Nadir preoccupied, and Raoul still away on business.
It was the dead of night. She quickly slipped on a pair of quiet slippers and padded down the grand staircase. Trying to navigate through a large palace in the pitch dark was not as easy as she had planned. She had tried to memorize the pathway in her mind, but still she had bumped in to a considerable amount of objects, her poor toes aching. But if she got out of this, losing an arm would be well worth it. All she knew is that she'd have to escape if she ever wanted to return to France...respectably.
"Why'd you leave me Raoul?" She whispered before catching herself. Her hand went over her mouth in surprise. No, Raoul was not to blame for this! He had never traveled with a woman before, he didn't know the customs, especially in such strange countries as this.
She closed her eyes a moment to will the tears away, then kept going until she came to a stop - she had to either go left or right. Oh, which way? She couldn't remember! Being closest to the right hand side, she decided to go that way, just to feel her foot snag on something hard. Her slipped got stuck on it, making her trip and fall unmercifully upon the floor with a unstoppable scream. She soon felt strong arms roughly grabbing her to stand up, light filling the room until she could see guards surrounding her, one holding her tight so she couldn't run. Not that she'd be able to run now anyway...
"That's the Christine Daae girl. Back to her room!" The guard that had spoken her broken language quickly said, and she was soon being forced to go back.
After the dozens of steps, he threw her roughly in to her room and shut the door, this time locking it - from the outside. She let out another cry, partially for her ankle, and partially for the fact that the click of the lock meant that her freedom was out of her reach. She was stuck. Trapped. No way out...
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