If Even A Chance
Chapter 10: Into the Sunlight
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"Talking"
/Thinking/
After they had avoided all contact with anyone on street, keeping Erik hidden, they made it to Madame Giry's home that she seemed to make as far away from the Opera house as possible.
Grace went up to the door, being hidden herself in a cloak with the hood up, and knocked on the door. A few seconds passed and the door opened revealing Madame Giry's stern expression. Grace took the hood off and smiled at Madame Giry, shock covered her features as she ushered them into her home.
"Grace, is that really you? You look so-" Grace interrupted her
"Different, yes I've been told" she said, mentioning Erik and Nadir with her head. "I said I would explain what happened one more time, so here we are…"
M. Giry mentioned them all to sit down in the small living space that was her home.
"Right! We all know that when I was here last I was thirteen, so to all of you it's been a couple of months, but to me it's been seven years". Nadir and M. Giry stared at her with wide eyes.
"Why did you wait seven years?" Nadir finally asked, making Erik look up at Grace
"I have my reasons" she said hoping they wouldn't press any further, they didn't and she mentally thanked her expression skills.
"So what have you been doing all this time?" M. Giry asked
"Um" Grace went over the events that had happened in her life and realized she didn't have much to tell them "I graduated college and I tutor some students at the university" she said staring at the ceiling trying to think of more things
"Um… That's about it" she finished looking sheepish, M. Giry shook her head and stood up.
"Well I have some news for Erik" she said, he looked at her with a raised eyebrow
"Some one has bought the Opera Populaire" Nadir's, Erik's and Grace's eyes widened.
"Who" Grace finally asked, M. Giry looked somewhat nervous
"Raoul De Changy"
The silence in the room was deafening, that was until Grace started laughing. She had to hold on to the end of the lounge to stop her self from falling to the ground.
"That Doofus?!" Grace asked incredulously, she covered her mouth in an attempt to stop herself from laughing but the simple thought of it had made her start giggling. Nadir looked nervously towards Erik, but as always he was emotionless but he did not speak.
Grace looked at him too.
"Aww diddums, I think a bit of his soul just died" she said directing the last comment towards M. Giry and Nadir.
"Erik?" Nadir asked "Are you alright?"
Erik stood up quickly. "NO I'M NOT ALRIGHT!" he yelled, Erik went into one of biggest fits Nadir and M. Giry had ever seen, Grace just giggled at the sight in front of her, but she couldn't blame him, his life had been altered by the one man who now owned his entire home.
Erik slumped back into his seat and held his head in his hands, and growled at the thought of the fop freely walking through his domain, but decided he would not interfere; confronting the man would only cause more problems.
Sudden realization hit him as looked at Grace.
"What?" she asked
"Did you know this was going to happen?" Erik asked
"What this? Oh Hell no! I only knew about the events from when Christine first sang up to the Don Juan Triumphant" Grace explained, M. Giry and Nadir were confused.
"You weren't even here when it happened" Nadir said, Grace looked at him with annoyed look.
"I'm from the future remember, I know everything" she elongated on the last part
"I still don't understand how" M. Giry said, it was time to tell them how she knew of every one and what had happened, at least Erik knew that she knew.
"In the future the Phantom of the Opera is a fictional story" Grace started, "as you can tell I absolutely fell in love with the story and Erik" she nodded her head towards him "became my favorite character; anyway I did a load of research on the subject and found that some of the events had actually happened, for instance a diva being kidnapped and the fire on the 29th of October"
That settled it. She knew what she was talking about.
"One day I went into a new store, it had that somewhat magical feeling about it, yet it seemed normal enough" She couldn't really find the words to describe the shop she had entered that day. "That's when I came across the watch; it had a banner over the top with the words 'Watch as your Dreams Come True' it was a special offer and it got my attention"
"So you bought it?" Nadir asked
"Yes, but I didn't know of what it could do until I was late for class one day and I was checking the time, so it was accidental" she said, "It really did change my life though, otherwise I wouldn't be here" Grace chuckled and awaited there replies.
"That, in a way, explains everything" Erik said suddenly, Grace let out the breath she didn't know she had being keeping, in relief. She mumbled something about the tension being thick and they decided to conjure up a plan.
They decided it was best if Erik stayed with Nadir so no one would search his home and find the miraculous Phantom still alive and that Grace should stay with Madame Giry, and at that Erik and Nadir left.
"Meg should be home soon" M. Giry said while they were fixing up her room "so you won't be alone here" Grace froze.
"What are we going to tell her" Grace was starting to freak out.
"I'm sure you'll come up with something" M. Giry assured her, the front door opened and Meg announced that she was home. Meg came up the stairs and was surprised to find a familiar stranger in her home.
"Maman?" Meg asked her mother, "Who is this?" Grace put on a fake pout
"Aww, don't you remember me" Grace said, feigning hurt. "All those times we played tag down the halls of the Populaire, and scaring Carlotta with our pranks that included buckets of water, and may I remind you it was cold water, were for naught"
Meg's eyes widened
"Grace!?!" she asked, "Why do you look so different, why'd you leave, what happened" she was suddenly bombarding Grace with questions.
"Whoa, calm down, breathe Meg breathe!!" Grace said laughing at her old friend, who she towered above.
"Well tell me I want to know!" she said, practically jumping up and down with excitement
"Alright just stop being so indignant on me" Grace said, "You see what happened was that I wasn't really thirteen back then, I was really eighteen" Grace lied, Meg's eyes seemed to have widened even more "I was going though a stage were I didn't grow as much and then I had this huge growth spurt and here I am"
"But that doesn't explain why you left" Meg said
"Yes it does, I was so embarrassed by it that I decided to leave for a while" Grace said making the web of lies larger.
"Wow, you missed out on the big disaster" Meg said and Grace cringed
"I heard" Grace replied, Madame Giry took this moment to interfere
"Meg! You shouldn't speak of that" she said grabbing Meg's wrist, she then turned to Grace "We'll see you tomorrow morning"
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Grace awoke to the sunlight streaming through the window.
/I don't remember leaving the curtains open-... Oh yeah/ Grace opened her eyes revealing plain walls and furnishing of her room. A knock sounded at the door and Grace replied with a sleepy "Come in"
Meg entered and laughed at the state of her old friend, Grace's hair seemed to stick in an odd angle on one side and when she yawned and stood up in her 'Punk Princess' pajamas Meg couldn't stop herself from falling into hysterics.
"Yeah, yeah very funny" Grace said annoyed as she used her foot to prod Meg in the side "get up or else I'll kick you… I mean it Meg" Grace said seriously and Meg got up and pushed her hair back before giggling at her friend again.
"I'll meet you down stairs in five minutes" Meg replied before going back downstairs. Grace went into the supplied bathroom and fixed her hair and changed into a black skirt and a green short sleeved shirt.
When she made it downstairs she got the surprise of her life, Christine stood in the hallway along with Raoul and Meg, Grace inwardly groaned and put on her best face, Today was going to be hell.