A/N: In this story Erika doesn't age but everyone around her does.
"Why hasn't Madame Giry contacted me to tell me that it's safe to see him? I swear I am going to go and find him and nothing can stop me!" A very furious Erika screamed the man who she called father.
"Please Erika calm down before you go to the opera house and also eat some breakfast. I will not stop you from going just I would like you to first cool down and eat something." The man said calmly as he sat down and began eating his own breakfast. Erika sat down hesitantly and decided that it was best to cool off before going anywhere. After a quick breakfast Erika bid goodbye and headed towards the opera house.
As Erika left the managers office she breathed deeply and still couldn't believe that she had gotten a job up in the rafters working with scenes but also helping with lines and much more. As Erika looked up she saw a man standing in front of her and smiling. "Well done on getting the job mademoiselle. I hope you like it here. Please come and let me give you a tour of this opera house." The man said extending his hand towards Erika who gratefully took it without any doubt as to trusting this man.
As the pair walked through the back stage of the opera house the man thought, "Have I met this girl before? Is this Erik from so long ago? No I am going insane this can't be her there is just no way." As he shook his head he realized that Erika had the same look of a person who was in a dream and unable to wake. As he looked closer the realization that the look was directed at him and nothing else which sent the chills running up his spine.
The man than said quietly to Erika, "Is there something that is causing you to look at me in that way mademoiselle?" He then held his breath praying that he had not just insulted such a beautiful woman.
"Do you not recognize me Erik? It's me Erika from the carnival when we worked there together. It has been sixteen years since that time so I…" Erika then felt two gloved fingers pressing on her lips, and silencing her. When she looked up she saw that it was the man who had been so kind as to show her around the opera house since she was new to the place. As Erika's mouth was once more free to move she said, "I'm sorry. I made a mistake there is no way that you could be the man I knew back then. Please forgive me for jumping to such a preposterous conclusion."
The man began to chuckle softly under his breath and then ensued with these words, "Please don't be that ridiculous Mademoiselle Erika. I have never had anyone even come near me and guess whom I am. You on the other hand have guessed my identity to all most perfection except that I have worked in this opera house my whole life. Exactly how you did that I have no idea all though you look like someone I knew that long ago but by now she would be my same age. Let us continue this tour and then I will walk you back to m—er—I mean your house as it is getting late." He than turned around as Erika nodded sadly and continued to follow him until they finally reached a place where he felt more secure about testing to see if this woman truly had knowledge from sixteen years ago.
The man then slowly led Erika over to the edge of the catwalk area and made her look out to what had become his kingdom throughout the years. As he saw her draw back and flinch slightly at the height that she was at he walked over and drew her back to the edge. Once Erika put her hands tightly on the rope Erik wrapped his arms around her waist and slowly with one hand hesitantly began to stroke her long dirty blonde hair and felt her body melt into his body and the same rush of feelings go through his body. Then a scar on his left hand burned and overpowered the more pleasing feelings that were moving through his body. All though in pain he smiled and than said into Erika's ear, "Erika do you recognize this mark on my hand?" He then slowly pulled his left hand away from Erika's hair and opened his palm to reveal the scar and watched as Erika nearly screamed in surprise but was silenced by a gag that came out of nowhere and was quickly tied around her mouth. Erika then heard from behind her, "So you do know what it is. Well then I have no choice but to take you as my prisoner until I figure out how you know about this scar on my hand." Without another word the man moved Erika into the shadows and continued to force Erika down a set of stairs into a small dark cavern. He than assisted Erika into a small boat and rowed across a small lake where an eerie blue light lighted up the shoreline. At last they reached the other shoreline and disembarked from the boat.
The man than slowly led Erika to a chair and sat her down as he untied her gag to allow her to breath properly again and to he prayed that it wouldn't happen, to talk freely again. Yet the moment Erika's mouth could move again she blurted out, "Who are you? What do you want with me and why did you take me? Tell me!" The man merrily shook his head to say 'you'll find out soon' and then disappeared around a corner. This was unfortunately a mistake since Erika's feet weren't tied. She slowly got up and began to run along the shoreline towards the exit. Before long though she felt two very strong hands clasp her wrist and stop her momentum from moving forward towards freedom. As Erika began to try to move in another direction she heard a small but audible pop from her ankle, which made her gasp in pain as she realized that she had just sprained her ankle. While struggling to escape the man's grasps and the rope, which was beginning to wrap itself around her wrist she screamed, "Let me go! Why are you doing this to me I have no valuable information or value to you? Let me go please I have to get home to my father before he begins to worry about me, please monsieur let me go!" Erika than collapsed in tears desperately trying to win her freedom from this hell that brought back the memories of the carnival and the even more painful memories of Erik and the time she spent with him.
The man merrily chuckled and then said in a powerful voice, which made Erika flinch, "I beg to differ Erika. You are the only person that recognized the scar on my hand for what it was. Also you seem to know a lot about my past and me. You hold much value to me in this area and besides I have all ready sent a note to your father that you are with me and that you have a sprained ankle and you will be back in a few days. Now I ask that you follow me back to my place and we begin to talk about what you know." He then lifted Erika up of the floor and assisted her in walking with her injured ankle back to his house and also to a chair. "There we go sit down now Erika and let me see that ankle of yours so that I can ice and wrapped it before you do anything worse to it." The man said as he lifted up her skirt just above her ankle and saw that it was black and blue and swelling quickly. He then got up and began to get a small bag of ice and a wrapping device for Erika's ankle.
As he was getting the ice he heard Erika's voice saying, "If you don't mind me asking but who are you? Also what should I call you?" He than chuckled and finished getting the ice and walked back out into the main room where Erika was sitting with her ankle elevated to above her heart.
"I am known as the Phantom of the Opera in the opera house. For you though I do not wish you to call me that name. Instead call me Erik as that is the name I took by accident." Erik said while he wrapped Erika's ankle lightly and then placed the ice on top of it and watch with great sadness as Erika flinched in pain from the pressure of the ice on her now fragile ankle. Erik than continued after a slight pause, "It looks like a bad sprain to me. You shouldn't put any weight on it for the rest of this week. It could be a shorter time if you abide by my rules okay?" Erika nodded quietly and than began to look around the small living space and noticed two bedrooms.
After a few minutes of Erika getting accustomed to her surroundings she said, "Erik thank you so much for this. Yet I can't think about what I could possibly know about the past that would be of interest to you. Would you mind telling me the first subject or whatever?" Erika then leaned back against Erik's chest and waited patiently for him to speak.
As Erik felt another rush of feelings he said into her ear, "The first thing I want you to tell me is what you know about the scar on my hand. Also so as to help your ankle I need you to lay down in my lap and than relax and talk to me." Erika did as she was told and than went back into her memories and began to recall what her Erik had told her about his scar.
"Well, what I was told is that it is a way of controlling someone's feelings or actions towards something such as love or maybe growing soft for a woman. Also it has to be inflicted onto that person by someone related by blood to him or her while saying certain words while the wound is still open and the blood is falling from it. How am I doing so far?" Erika said while closing her eyes and beginning to relax into Erik's embrace on her shoulder's as he slowly rubbed them to release any tension that was there.
"Who gave you this information about this kind of a mark, which is extremely rare? Also you are doing just fine with giving me simple but informative information about your knowledge on this subject. Anything else that you can tell me?" Erik said looking down and seeing that Erika's breathing was steady, even, and thought that she was asleep.
Just as Erik was about to move and begin to get Erika to her bed for the night he heard a quiet voice saying, "An old friend of mine told me that the last time I talked to him before he in a way disappeared off the face of the planet. As to more information about your scar I do have some. When the person who is inflicted with this nightmare begins to pass into the area of the spell for feelings or actions a pain shoots through him or her, which causes them to draw back from something that is important or beginning to grow on him or her. In my opinion it is more a punishment for not being perfect than a torture just for the fun of it." When Erik looked down again at Erika he saw that her eyes were once more open and looking back at him. Erika smiled and noticed that she still had to answer his second question about who he was and how she knew about it. While breaking her gaze with Erik she said, "As to your identity and how I knew about it, I truly just made a guess about it because you looked so much like my friend who I haven't seen in forever. As to your past I really didn't know that you worked here your whole life so I just went by what I did in my past. Does that answer your question?" Erika than looked up and saw that Erik had been looking at her the whole time she spoke, which caused her to get goose bumps on her body.
"Yes that does answer my question but that does not mean that you can just get up and leave even with my assistance. You are still my prisoner until I say otherwise Erika." Erik said quietly still not breaking his gaze on Erika. As Erika groaned inwardly with displeasure at what Erik had just said she rejoined Erik's gaze with her own. After a moment of the pair staring unblinkingly into each other's eyes they burst out laughing like children until they were crying and their sides were hurting. "You should get to bed now Erika since you have to be tired from today's events. Also I need to rewrap your ankle since the swelling has gone down considerably in a short amount of time so that you don't worsen the condition in your sleep. Okay?" Still wiping tears from her eyes Erika nodded and lifted her upper body off of Erik's lap so that he could move out and rewrap her ankle. Instead Erik moved to Erika's side and put his hands under back and also under her knees and began to carry her to the second bedroom where there was a small bathroom and a bed along with a small closet full of clothes and also a full mirror next to it. Erik then slowly lowered Erika down onto the bed and put his hand near her ankle so that it would not hit the bed hard and cause her more pain. He then gently took off the wrap and noticed that both the coloring and the swelling had decreased to a more normal ankle but was still bad. He than rewrapped Erika's ankle as she looked around the small modest room in awe of how such a modest room could look so elegant with just a few pieces of furniture.
"This place is amazing Erik. How did you get such a modest room to look so elegant? Also thank you again for doing all this for me, you really don't have to." Erika said quietly while finishing looking around the room and than looking at Erik who was still wrapping her ankle before anything more happened to her.
"Just had to get a small salary from the current manager every month and than bought stuff that I thought would fit best in the room. Once again I feel bad about what happened to you and take some of the blame for not stopping you from twisting in another direction and hurting your ankle. This is the most I could do in that situation and besides you are my prisoner so why not heal you for the price of information as to the past. There all done, now come towards me and try standing gingerly on your feet only putting a small amount of pressure on it for me please." Erika nodded and slowly moved off the bed placing her hands gently on Erik's shoulders for support as she placed her foot down and put pressure on it.
As Erik watched Erik put pressure on her ankle he put his hands gently around her waist to catch her if she fell. "Well, it may not be that bad of a sprang as I first thought Erika since you are able to put pressure on it. Now put your arm around my waist or my shoulder and let's try walking on it slowly. Whenever your ready take a step." Erika nodded and put her hand around his waist mimicking his positioning on her waist and than took a slow, ginger step and immediately fell towards the ground but felt Erik's hands catch her from falling all the way to the ground and assisted her in getting back up to her normal height. Erik than lifted Erika back up off the ground and said as Erika laughed, "Well I guess you aren't quite ready to walk yet. That makes it all the more spoiling for you since I will need to carry you everywhere until you are able to walk on that ankle of yours. Now let's get you ready for bed shall we?" Erik than laughed as Erik looked mockingly horrified at him.
"Me spoiled? How can you say that kind of thing when I live a very simple life style? How do you suggest I get dressed when I cannot even stand on my own accord? Do tell." Erika replied in a hurt voice as Erik situated her better so that he could get out a set of pjs from the closet.
"Well you are being spoiled by me as you aren't even walking on your own legs. As to changing into other clothes I will help you but you will have your back to me so that I don't see anything. Does that sound okay to you little one?" Erik said while setting Erika down and allowing her to turn around and begin changing into more sleeping appropriate clothes. After a small struggle with her clothes Erika was finally dressed and ready for bed and was about to mention it when she realized what had Erik had called her.
"Did I hear you wrong or did you just call me little one Erik? Also will you please help me in getting into bed before I fall over with exhaustion?" Erika said hesitantly and was about to try and walk again on her own when Erik's arms wrapped around her waist and lifted her up and than began to walk in the opposite direction of the bed. All though confused Erika began to say, "The bed is in that…" before Erik silenced her once more and shook his head in response to her quizzical look.
At a few moments' silence and Erika resting her head on Erik's shoulder she felt herself being lowered onto a soft object. She than heard Erik's voice saying, "That is not the room you are sleeping in Erika. You will be sleeping with me in my room. As to what I called you, I said little one. Is okay with you that I call you that Erika?" Erika nodded as she felt her head hitting the pillow and slowly began to fall asleep, but unfortunately was awoken by Erik as he put pressure on her stomach causing her to gasp for breath and open her eyes again to look into his eyes and feel a shiver of emotion shoot through her body. Erik chuckled and than said, "Did you think that you were going to sleep quite yet little one? Besides you have not answered my question. Please do answer it than I will consider getting ready for bed and going to sleep."
"It's fine that you call me that name Erik, it's just that well my friend used to call me that name and I guess I was surprised when you called me it. Also you couldn't of found a better way of waking me up than pressing on my stomach like that?" Erika said wearily unable to look back into Erik's eyes knowing that she would once again feel the wave of emotions shoot through her body.
Erik than said after pondering if he could of found of a better way to wake Erika, "Well that's good that I can call you that name because it really suites you. I had many ways of waking you up and I thought about all of the reactions to each one of them and could not think of how you would react to that one so I did it. I'm sorry if I hurt you at all doing that I..." This time it was Erika who put two fingers on Erik's lips and smiled calmly letting Erik know that he was rambling on and that she had gotten his point.
As Erik looked down Erika looked away still not wanting to look into his eyes. It was Erik's turn to smile as he slowly pulled Erika's face back towards him and leaned in and whispered into her ear, "So you do like me little one. Well just to make sure let's try something." As he finished pulling Erika's head he met her lips with his and kissed her at first gently and than slowly more insistently until Erika gave in and let him kiss her lips and steal her breath away.
As the pair finally separated Erika said while gasping for breath, "Well, I would… have to say the…same… thing to you Erik. I think… you also love me… whether you care to admit… it or not. Do you love me Erik?" Erik nodded unable to speak because of how breathless he was from his kiss with Erika.
After finally catching his breath again he looked once more into Erika's eyes but decided against kissing her again. Instead he said while lifting her gently into his lap, "Yes, Erika I do love you. I am going to go and get ready for bed so that we both get at least a little sleep tonight. I'll be right back." He than reluctantly set Erika back down and quickly went to get changed.
When he returned he saw that Erika was all ready underneath the covers but sitting up and waiting for him to return. When Erik finally came around the corner Erika gasped at what he was wearing. What Erika saw was a tight fitting shirt that opened at the neck line and than plunged towards his waist before rejoining again, also nicely fitted pants that Erika guessed were to be used in the Don Juan play if that took place. Erik laughed softly as he went around the bed and than gingerly got in on the other half of the bed before saying, "Trust me if you could see what you were dressed like little one it would come as no surprise that I am dressed like this. Now are you comfortable enough for sleeping? Also if you need anything over night please wake me up and ask me because I don't want you trying anything with that foot of yours just yet. Okay?"
"Yes I am very comfortable and ready to sleep in some ways but I also want to stay up and talk with you but that can wait for another day. I will wake you up if I need anything. Goodnight Erik and sweet dreams." Erika said quietly as she kissed Erik gently on the cheek and than fell asleep almost instantly when her head hit the pillow.
"Goodnight to you too Erika. Sweet dreams and let no nightmare haunt you. I will see you tomorrow." Erik whispered as he stroked Erika's hair one last time before turning over and falling asleep once his head hit the pillow.
A/N: Hey guess sorry it took so long to update but school and everything takes up a lot of my time. Anyway hope you enjoyed this chapter. Next time another memory is unlocked in Erika's mind but this one is even worse than the first. Will this affect her trust with Erik or will she be driven away from the man she was in love with for so many years forever! Keep reading and find out. Also please review and tell me how I am doing thank you.