Chapter 9
Kat smirked as Erik arrived for his first dancing lesson; the poor man nearly had a heart attack when she told him he was going to be her new dancing partner. "But it will be a good start," she said to him. "And if you are nervous because of not knowing how to dance I am willing to also be your teacher," she said to him to reassure him that he wasn't going to be forced to be swallowing a boa or make him start being a clown for her act. She already had plenty of them to help her out in the funny business. Erik calmed a bit at her suggestion and agreed to be her partner and also her student.
And luckily for him, today was his first day and it was her free time. Kat smiled as she then lead him to the empty hall that was to be the place where Kat was going to perform, with Marius standing by a record player setting up the music for them. Erik noticed him and raised a brow wondering who he was, but then remembered that he was Marius.
"You know Marius?" he asked softly. Kat smiled. "Yes…he is my adopted brother…who helped me after I ran away," she answered. "I had helped him with his injury he had earlier that day and he said I would be welcomed to his people…" she explained to him. "When I ran away he found me hiding in a small back house in shelter against the thunder storm that afternoon," she added before she slipped off Erik's coat and settled it to the edge of the stage. Erik felt a bolt of recognition when Kat mentioned a back house. "Back house?" he asked softly as a memory of him hiding in a back house some years ago. Kat smiled at his question knowing he was remembering that night they had together, but Erik still doesn't know about her being there.
'Soon either he will figure that out on his own or that I will tell him myself,' Kat thought as she slowly stood before him. "Let's get started shall we?" she asked him before she raised her arms up in a waltz position. Erik looked down a bit nervous and for the first time in his life, shy as he moved one hand to her waist and another to lace with her other hand.
"Like this?" Erik asked softly and with a slight squeaky voice. Kat giggled softly as she thought his nervousness cute. "Very good," she said with an encouraging smile. "But don't be so nervous Erik," she added with a gentle pat on his shoulder where her free hand was. "Relax yourself," she said to him with a serious expression.
Erik looked at her with a bit of nervousness. "Sorry, this is sort of new to me," he said before he took a breath to relax. "It's understandable," Kat said nodding her head in understanding. "You feel relaxed?" she asked him as she raised a brow. Erik nodded his head after taking a breath. "Good," Kat said before she looked at Marius and nodded her head to him. Marius nodded his head back to her before he turned on the record player and settled the needle on the record. "Now let's start with the waltz," she said to Erik before she slowly started to get him to lead.
Erik automatically looked down to watch out that he doesn't step on her feet. 'Bad move, or in this case, bad step opera ghost,' Marius thought as he watched Erik and Kat. He gently bit his lip to fight back a laugh as he saw Erik step on one of her feet.
"Ow!" Kat said with a wince as Erik stepped away from her with worry. "I'm sorry!" Erik said as he looked at her foot that she was gently wagging back and forth. "It's all right," she said with a soft hiss before she took a breath to calm herself down. Kat then looked at Erik with a serious expression again. "This is your first lesson to remember Erik," she said to him.
"Never look down to your partners' feet while dancing, it causes you to be more nervous than before when you started," she explained to him. "That and some people will think you are looking down at her chest," Marius said with a smirk which resulted in Kat glaring at him. "Excuse me, but are you the dancer or am I?" she asked Marius with her hands on her hips. Marius raised his hands up in surrender, knowing that Kat was a better dancer then he was. "You are sis, you are," he said with a smirk. "But my opinion as an audience should be given out right?" he asked her. Kat raised a brow behind her mask as she then knew that Marius had some sort of point. "Your opinion is noted Marius," she said before she looked at Erik.
"Okay, first thing is you need to do is stop thinking," she said to him as she slowly walked around him with her hands on her hips. "And I suppose you know of a way to do that?" Erik asked as he stood still but kept his eyes on her. Kat smirked and nodded her head as she stood next to him. "Indeed I do," she said as she turned to face him by his side. "If I am not mistaken you compose music for a hobby, correct?" she said to him with a knowing smirk on her face.
Erik nodded his head. "Yes," he answered. Kat gave him a smile that Erik thought to be only described as 'angelic'.
"Well that is how we can get you to relax," she said in a cheerful tone. Erik looked at her puzzled. "What do you mean?" he asked her. Kat again smiled at him before she decided to sing to him, knowing it might be able to help him understand better. She then moved her hand slowly over his eyes as if she was hypnotizing him, but really wasn't. "Close your eyes for a minute, listen…Listen to the song," Kat started to softly sing to him and Erik slowly closed his eyes. "Think of nothing on what to do, let your body be in control," she sung to him as she slowly walked around him and stopped when she was behind him. "Listen to the song, let your ears hear the tunes, the music ring in your soul," she went up behind him to gently sing-whisper into his ear as she gently touched his shoulder blades. "Doesn't your body wish to move with the rush? Like your being pulled into the tide…?" Kat sung to him before she stepped away hearing Erik give a shaky gasp.
She smiled at that before she started to walk around him again. "Still don't feel it inside…?" she sung the question before she stepped to his left side, gently brushing her fingers up his left arm. "Listen…Listen to the song, can you feel the singing in your veins? Are your muscles moving on their own? And your heat feel alive?" she sung to him feeling his arm tremble to her gentle touch.
"Listen…Listen to the song," she continued to sing to him, and saw that he was about to open his eyes. Kat stepped before him and rested her fingers gently on his eyes lids. "Keep those eyes closed a bit longer," she sung before she stepped away from him.
"Give it a moment or two…Listen…Listen to the song," she gently sung to him in case she spooked him by her sudden touch. "Let your body dance to its will, listen…Listen to the song," she went on before she slowly stepped away keeping her eyes on his face. She could see that her song was helping him not only relax but also understand dancing a little better. She smirked at this before she slowly walked before him. "Close your eyes for a minute, listen…Listen to the song," she sung to him seeing Erik completely relax to her song. "Think of nothing on what to do, let your body be in control," she went on, knowing her song was now done. "Listen…Listen…Listen to…the…song," Kat finished singing her last lyric of her song.
Erik was surprised as he felt all that Kat was singing. He then figured out that when Kat asked him of his talent as a composer, she knew that he would relax himself and also understand how she dances. Not because she practices the moves, but because she dances from the heart. 'She dances in the way of a puppet, only it is the music that is her strings,' he thought before he opened his eyes and looked at her. "Feel relaxed now?" Kat asked him with a knowing smile.
Erik smirked at her with a knowing look. "Yes, and I believe that you just showed me a way to help me dance easier," he replied. Kat smiled at him again.
"I knew that you would catch on," Kat said as she stepped towards him. Erik smirked at her. "Kat, you knew that I am a composer and that my love of music would help me," he said to her. "Who are you really Kat?" he asked her, wanting to know. Kat looked down sadly before she looked back up at him. "Let's just say that you are not the only ghost that has a love for the arts," she replied. 'She must be someone in hiding like me,' Erik thought as he saw her reaction. 'Guess this is a mystery I'll need to solve when I become the new manager of this place,' he added before he looked down at her and put his hand around her waist pulling her slightly closer to him.
Kat smirked at him as she rested her hand on his shoulder before he took her hand. "Ready to learn to dance?" she asked him with a smirk. "I am the opera ghost, I am always ready to learn a new art," Erik replied with a teasing smirk.
Kat giggled at his reply. "Well then Mr. Ghost, let's get started," she said before their lesson began.
Four months passed for Erik before it was his opening night. He felt nervous as he was getting prepared for his first performance. "I crashed a chandelier and managed to snatch a diva away in front of a live audience for Pete's sake," he muttered to himself as he fixed his costume mask that Kathleen designed for him, as the character that Kat told him he was going to portray as. "Are you nervous?" Erik heard a voice asked him from behind. Erik turned around to see a small boy that appeared to be either four or five years old. "Who are you boy?" he asked as he looked at the child. The boy blinked his eyes that Erik noticed they were the same color as his own. 'Even his hair is the same color as Kathleen's,' he thought before the boy spoke to him.
The boy smiled at him before he giggled slightly. "My name is Gustave," he replied before he walked up to Erik and picked up a spare mask that wasn't Erik's. "I've never seen you around here Gustave," Erik said as he watched the boy slip the mask on and looked at himself curiously in the mirror. "That's because I go to school when my mama works," Gustave said before he tilted his head side to side seeing how his reflection looked in the mirror. Erik smiled at the boy's curiosity. "And does your mother know you are here?" Erik asked as Gustave put the mask down. Gustave looked up at him with an angel's smile. "Yes and no," he replied. "She knows I am here backstage but she doesn't know I am in this dressing room," he added, explaining to Erik his reply. 'He's smart for a boy his age,' Erik thought as he smirked at the boy. Gustave then walked up to Erik looking at his mask curiously.
"Why are you wearing a mask?" the boy asked Erik. "Are you hiding from an evil person too?" Gustave added as if he figured Erik's reason on his own. Erik was surprised by the boy's sudden question.
"No, Gustave, he has a different reason," a voice from the door way of Erik's dressing room. Erik and Gustave turned to the doorway to see that Marius was the one in the door way. Gustave smiled at Marius and ran to the gypsy hugging his legs. "Uncle Marius!" the boy said as he hugged the legs. Erik's eyes widen with surprised as he heard Gustave's words.
'Uncle Marius?' Erik thought as he saw Marius smile down at the boy. Marius smiled at his nephew before he kneeled in front of the boy, resting a hand on the boy's head. "Why don't you go see your mother?" he said to Gustave.
"I am sure she will be happy to see you," Marius added with a knowing smirk. Gustave smiled with joy before he nodded his head. "Okay!" he said before the boy ran out of the room to where he knew his mother's dressing room would be. Marius smiled after the boy as Erik peeked his head out to se Gustave run inside an open door way. "Bright boy isn't he?" Marius asked Erik, looking at the masked man with a smirk. Erik smirked at the question before he stepped back into his dressing room looking at the gypsy. "Yes, he is," Erik agreed before he walked back to put the second mask that he needed for his performance tonight. "Who is his mother may I dare ask?" Erik asked as he tied the mask on.
Erik didn't see Marius look down to the floor sadly before the gypsy looked back up at Erik. "He is Kat's son," Marius said to Erik, who then looked at him with a shocked expression on his face. "What?" Erik asked with a speechless tone.
"The boy is Kat's son," Marius said again looking down to the floor sadly. "Five years ago, when I found her in the back house she took shelter in, she was just waking up after having intercourse with Gustave's father," Marius explained to Erik. "But the man left her while she slept," he added before looking at Erik. "And no, the act wasn't rape," Marius said seeing the question that was popping up on Erik's masked face. "The act was consensual, the man was just either ashamed of deflowering her virginity or he ran off to protect her," the gypsy said before Erik looked at him. "Protect her? From what?" Erik asked wanting to understand more of Kat's story. "From the law that was hunting him down at the time," Marius answered.
"But he should be safe now right?" Erik asked thinking that is he could hide from the police then so can the father of Gustave. Marius nodded his head. "Yes, and we, the Gypsy clan have tabs on him as well," Marius answered. "Does the man know of the boy?" Erik asked softly feeling sad for both Kathleen and her son. Marius shook his head no. "No, he doesn't," Marius answered sadly.
Erik felt his gut twist in pain, anger and sadness. "Has Kat told the boy of his father?" Erik asked. "She has talked to him of his father, even told stories of his father's talents," Marius answered before he smirked at Erik. "They are not horrible I assure you," Marius added before he heard the bell for the performers to be ready.
"Best get ready, and your inventions hopefully work as you say, because the boss will be watching this show," Marius said before he left Erik alone in the dressing room. Erik could only think of how harsh Gustave's father was to leaving Kat while she slept, but then he was one to talk since he did the same thing, only it was with whom he believed to be his love Christine Daaẽ. 'But she was different from before, she wasn't afraid of me that time,' he thought as he remembered that night five years ago beneath a moonless sky. But it still puzzled him of her strange change of heart towards him. Five years ago when she had to choose him over that other pig Raoul, she had chosen Raoul. She even came back and gave him the very ring he had offered to her for marriage back to him. He then heard the bell again and remembered the show. 'Oh Lord, I almost forgot!' he thought as he grasped his cloak and ran to the stage that was under the big top. But thing is for sure to him, if he gets the job as manager then he can use some of his power as the manager to try bring Christine back to his side. Only one thing was puzzling him for the past month: Why was it that when he thought of that night, Kat's face appeared in his mind?
Author's note: In this chapter I have my own 'music of the night' sort of moment with Kat teaching Erik the art of dance. And also Gustave is introduced to Erik!
But will Erik be able to figure out Kat's secret past and who the father of young Gustave is?
Keep reading to find out!