Late to the Dragon

Disclaimer: I don't own phantom of the opera. But if I did, it would be great.

Erik kept his façade going as long as he could. He knew that it couldn't last long, since Alex- though thick headed and stubborn- was very smart, and would soon learn that Erik was faking his injuries for weeks.

Not only was he faking his injuries, but he was trying to win her back to his side. He complemented the gowns she wore the days she went to check in on him, and tried to start a friendly conversation with her. But all was in vain.

If Alex wasn't nursing Erik back to health, she was sleeping in his room. It was while Erik was trying to secretly make amends to her, that she realized that Thomas's death wasn't Erik's fault at all.

It was her's.

The guilt rose in her until she couldn't take it anymore. Even in her dreams, her guilt gnawed away at her. She hadn't admitted it to anyone before, but she had been having a reoccurring dream where a dragon was taunting her for killing Thomas.

One night in particular, her dream came to her, and it haunted her just as it always did.

She was standing on a hill in front of her house, charred, but still standing. The ground was nothing but hard rock, and all the trees in the brook were burned up; no leaves or sign of life.

She whipped around, looking for someone- anyone; Bryan, Chloe, Elle, Sophie, or even Erik. The air was hot and humid, making it difficult for her to breath; she choked on the soot in the red sky, searching for someone.

A loud thud caused her to belt back around to see a giant black dragon glaring at her with big, yellow, soulless eyes.

"You're late Alex, have you never heard that punctuality is a virtue?"

"You and my step mother have much in common." Alex snapped at the dragon, no fear in her eyes.

"You're repeatedly late aren't you? Between your dim-witted daydreams and your grooming vanity, the hours just fly by don't they? There is hardly any time for anything else." The dragon hissed before Alex crossed her arms and turned her back to the voluminous dragon.

"Is that the best you can do? Hurl second-rate insults at me? They don't hurt."

"Thomas wondered where you were" The dragon said to her, moving its bulky head so it was right beside her ear. "He was dying, and you weren't there to help him. It was your job as a mother to protect your child and you weren't there. You know that you failed as a mother"

"No!" Alex roared, tears forming behind her eyes. "No I didn't! Erik was the one baby sitting him! Thomas was his responsibility!"

"You don't believe it was his fault, you wanted to take Thomas with you to the market, but you didn't; because you couldn't get him to nap earlier in the day. You kept Thomas at home, thinking that it wasn't a big deal. But when you found out he was dead, you could only blame yourself.

"You childish, useless woman, you had a feeling something was wrong, but you ignored it and went about your day, only to find your son dead upon your return. You only blamed Erik because he already blamed himself, it was easy to pass the blame to Erik, but it was because of you that Thomas died alone. You deserve to have all of your children slaughtered before your eyes."

"NOO!" Alex screamed at him, falling to her knees and sobbing. But the dragon, he just smirked, showing his sharp; pointed teeth.

"How foolish you were to think you could overcome your guilt!" It roared in pleasure at the sight of her swollen guilt, and her self-blame.

Alex sprang up in her bed, tears down her face and her body shaking. The room was entirely black, and completely still aside from her sudden jolt out of sleep. Quickly, Alex got out of bed, threw a robe over her arms, and went down to the living room for some tea to calm her nerves.

Once the tea was boiled, she poured it into a cup, and quickly drank it under the glow of the single candle she'd lit. She choked the tea down between guilty sobs, hoping she wasn't waking anyone.

After a few minutes in the silence, she heard a voice call her name. She turned her head towards the arch that lead to the stairs, and saw Erik standing in the archway, leaning against it and holding his waist in fake pain.

"What are you doing up so late?"

"I could ask you the same thing." Alex said morbidly, hoping her tea would hide the guilt and keep her from having to answer Erik's question.

"I heard you" He admitted. "Screaming in your sleep" But she was shaking her head.

"It's nothing. I just had a nightmare." But Erik, in the dark, could tell she wasn't being completely honest with him, she wanted to admit that it was her fault that Thomas was dead, not his; and that she didn't blame him. But after all the times she didn't believe him, that she insisted that it was his fault; she couldn't just admit that she'd blamed him to get over her own self-blame.

"What was it about?" Erik asked, joining her for tea even though he had not been invited to do so. He didn't need an invitation; he'd done things and gone places where he was not invited.

"Nothing really" She said "I just dreamt that the house was burnt down, and there was no life anywhere. There was only this weird- dragon that kept blaming me for Thomas's death. He kept saying that I blamed you to get over my own guilt."

"It's not your fault Alex" Erik assured her. "I was the one-"

"Stop it Erik!" Alex snapped at him suddenly. "Stop taking the blame, I don't know why you took the blame to begin with, but I want you to stop it. I killed my son by not taking him with me to the market like I'd wanted, I didn't come back home when I had a bad feeling something was wrong, and then I had the nerve to blame you! Why would you take the blame for that?" Erik was quiet, he didn't know why he took the blame, but Alex wouldn't let him reply even if he knew how, because she'd gotten all hysterical and began sobbing in her hands. Erik just went over to her, and grabbed her shoulders.

"Listen, it wasn't my fault, and it wasn't your fault. Even if there was someone to blame, it wouldn't do any good. Finding someone to blame won't bring Thomas back, you know that." She nodded, and hung her head in shame, but she was surprised when Erik gave her a hug. "So don't blame yourself anymore Alex, let go of his death, and remember his life."

Erik was probably OOC right there, but oh well. They needed some time to sort things out anyways. YAY for my reviewers! WOO!