Disclaimer: Erik isn't mine (wish) but Rhapsody is as are other unnamed characters

Prayer for your Loneliness
Chapter 7

Rhapsody, having spent the past hour lying and convincing(which shefound worryingly easy)now found herself being led down the long clinical white corridor toward the suspect's cell. It didn't strike her for one minute that this might not indeed be Erik. With some persuasion she had been allowed to bring the mask in with her and now it hung by her side as she walked down what seemed to be an increasingly long corridor.

There were bars between her and the suspect who sat, all in black with his back to them, facing the wall, folded up in what she knew without a doubt wasmock-defeat. She recognised his clothes immediately although they did not seem as elegant and spectral as she remembered.

"There's somebody here to see you" one of the men who had seen her in announced. Erik…she knew it was him. He looked up but didn't turn around. Rhapsody knew they wouldn't have caught him easily and tried not to imagine how it had been done. Trying not to imagine of course brought the worst possible scenarios racing through her mind. She bit her lip, knelt near the bottom of the bar and pushed the mask through, sliding it over across the floor. He looked down at it and she nearly caught a glimpse of the side of his face as he reached down and put it on. Slowly he stood, straight backed, his former prescence regained.

Rhapsody's heart raced as he turned, sure that he would be filled with the lethal rage she had learned early tofear. Somehow the metal between them did not serve to make her feel particularly secure. However, as his piercing red eyes set themselves on her he seemed unnaturally calm and paced with an odd gliding quality towards the bars.

"Ah. Little spirit" he said in French. She gave him what she hoped would seem to be a knowing look, praying that he would understand.

Nearly another hour was spent in which Rhapsody explained fairly calmly (as well as she could at least) that Erik was her uncle and that they had been in town and had become separated. He added to this remarkably accurately yet the police persisted that nothing could be done since fingerprints had not yet been taken.

"At least leave me with my uncle to talk"

"Five minutes" she was told and the door was closed behind them.

She pulled up a chair, spinning it so its back faced the cell likea protective barrier and straddled it facing Erik.

"Do you remember how you got here?" she asked, praying that he wouldn't.

"Non…no. I remember a little of being in the illuminated city and my life before that"
The illuminated city? Rhapsody mused.

"You remember me?" she questioned and he nodded. She saw the red of his eyes fading for a second and supposed he'd closed his eyes.

Erik looked back up, scrutinizing her from behind the shocking white bars. She was similar to how he remembered her, young and still fragile but overly sure of herself. She didn't seem so fascinated by him though, as she questioned him, breathing deeply with what he supposed must be fear of a sort. What else could it be after all?

"Is this your world?" he asked of her eventually, glad that she wasn't analysing him as he was her as he stood in front of her, confined like a common criminal. "The world of spirits and lights"

"Erik listen to me" she beseeched and leant forward, taking his hand through the bars. His skin tingled although he was unsure whether it was due to the shock of contact or the unexpected wamrth of her hands "I know you don't remember how you got here" she seemed grateful and Erik wondered why, fully intending to find out at another point in time "but this isn't another world. This is another time. This is…the year two thousand and six"

Erikfelt his heart tighten in his chest. This was not another world after all just another, potentially more dangerous time in a world in which he knew he could not belong.


The wind drifted through Rhapsody's bedroom window as midnight passed, whistling through the window, an eerie parody of a lullaby.

Miles away, through a white corridor the wind ceased to sound and a soft, ethereal melody floated down the hallway, gentle and beseeching. A tired guard, keys hanging loosely from his fingers rose to follow the sound which touched his heart, reminding him of everything he had ever wished.


I know.. I know.. I need to update. Somebody please still review..? Please?