Hey, I won't be able to upload two chapters or whatever I usually do everyday, so sorry about that. School is starting for the week again, and of course I spent time writing this story instead of doing homework. So, like the procrastinator I am, I left all me homework to the last day before school started. So sorry, BUT I'M STILL CONTINUING THIS STORY, so check back for new chapters. :) Thanks! And none of the lyrics or characters are mine *sigh*.
Christine woke up a few hours later. She almost fainted again when she realized where she was. She was on his swan bed, and he was seated just feet away, writing something.
She silently got up, but his well tuned ears still heard her, and he turned around to face her.
"Angel-why?" she asked him innocently. She came up to cradle his face. He thought he was forgiven, and pressed into her grip even more.
Relaxed and vulnerable, she took this as an opportunity. She peeled his mask away from his face, and stood, horrified by what she saw. She stumbled back, not only out of surprise, but because he knocked her over.
"Damn you, Christine!", he screamed at her, covering his face with his hand.
"Didn't I ask you to not do that? I specifically did! And this is how you repay your Angel?" he demanded.
"Do you get pleasure out of killing, though?" she got up to courage to ask him.
"Go, Christine! Go now, go now and leave me!" he screamed at her. "Go back to your precious Vicomte. You'll live a happy life with him! Go away, Christine!" he yelled some more.
Christine, who was still in her pageboy costume, ran out, rowing the boat as fast as she could. She just wanted to get away from this monster-this creature. He was not her Angel of Music. Her Angel probably was just a dream.
As soon as she reached stable ground, Christine ran blindly to her room, crying the whole way. She collapsed on her bed with a moan.
Someone knocked on the door. She tensed up. Was it Erik? "Who is it?" she timidly asked.
"It's Raoul. Oh, Christine! I was so worried about you", he said, rushing in and hugging her.
"Oh, Raoul. I need to tell you so much. I need to get dressed first. Wait for me outside my door-I'll be as quick as I can", she said to Raoul. Christine made up her mind to tell him about Erik. But not all of it, of course.
She dressed into a pink skirt and just threw on a thin blouse over her corset. She grabbed a red cape off a hook and tied it on.
Taking Raoul's hand, she led him to the rooftop. "Why have you brought me here?" he asked her, confused.
"Can't go back there", Christine said, shutting her eyes at the memory of him, his face, and when he murdered.
"We must return", Raoul insisted.
"He'll kill you. His eyes will find us there", Christine sang as she led Raoul to the rooftop.
"Christine don't say that".
"Those eyes that burn".
"Don't even think it", Raoul continued.
"If he has to kill a thousand men".
"Forget this waking nightmare".
"The Phantom of the Opera will kill and kill again", Christine sang, glancing back at Raoul who was trying to keep up with her.
"This phantom is a fable, believe me. There is, no Phantom of the Opera", he kept insisting.
"My God who is this man", they sang together.
"Who hunts to kill", Christine shook her head.
"This mask of death", Raoul added.
"I can't escape from him'.
"Whose is this voice you hear?"
"I never will".
"And in this labyrinth. Where night is blind. The Phantom of the Opera is here, inside my mind", they sang, and finally reached the rooftop.
"There is no Phantom of the Opera", Raoul said.
"Raoul, I've been there. To his world of unending night. To a world where the daylight dissolves into darkness...darkness", Christine closed her eyes, but all she could see was her Angel's face.
"Raoul, I've seen him. Can I ever forget that sight? Can I ever escape from that face so distorted, deformed, it was hardly a face in that darkness... darkness", she continued to sing.
But then she remembered his voice, and his hands wrapped around hers, and how well their bodies fit into each other. "But his voice filled my spirit with a strange, sweet sound. In that night there was music in my mind. And through music my soul began... to sooaaar!" Christine sang.
Erik, who was listening and watching from behind a nearby statue closed his eyes as he listened to her last beautiful note. Her voice was so wonderful...
But she continued. "Yet in those eyes; all the sadness of the world. Those pleading eyes, that both threaten and adore", Christine sang. She wrapped her arms around herself to keep away the cold.
"Christine", Raoul walked over to her and put his arms around her waist. She sank into him, thankful for his comforting, strong grip. "I can take you away from this monster. I can help you escape from his grasp. Please, just let me try. I love you, Christine, and wherever you go , I want to go to. That's all I ask of you. Please, Little Lotte", he told her.
Ha! She would never say yes to him! Didn't she hear how much he sounded like a child? Besides, she belongs to me, Erik thought, painfully watching their embrace.
She smiled at him. "That would be nice, Raoul. I love you too", she said, and nuzzled her nose with his.
His heart shattered. His mind went blank. Those four last words caught him. He closed his eyes in anguish and hurt.
"Then Christine, come into my life with me. Will you marry me?" he asked her, holding out a ring.
Christine smiled and hugged him, which was answer enough. He held her and spun her around, her cape billowing in the breeze. She looked so beautiful... but she was in the hands of Raoul.
"It's late, Little Lotte. About midnight. But will you still come with me, for a late supper, to celebrate?" he asked her, pecking her on her lips. She did the same and answered him.
"Of course Raoul. Anywhere, you go let me go too. That's all I ask of you", she sang gently to him. They left the rooftop.
She had once sang like that to him. But that seemed like so long ago...
Erik looked at the ground. There was one of the roses he had given Christine. It must have dropped out of her cape. And he had dropped out of her life.
He clutched the rose, trembling. "I gave you my music. And made your song take wing. And now, how you repay me. You hide me and you hate me", he sang into the rose.
He crushed it between his fingers, petals falling off one by one.
Anguished, he ran to the edge of the statue, looking at the city from the top of the opera house. "You will curse the day you did not do-All that The Phantom asked of YOU!" he bellowed, partly hoping she would hear. But she didn't.
Instead, he saw them walk out of the front door of the opera house, hand in hand, and smiling, just like an engaged couple would.