A/N: So here we are at the end, lovely readers! This is kind of momentous for me because I usually have a really tough time finishing the projects I start but I think your responses gave me confidence and luck needed to finish Margot and Erik's story.

I do know, however that there are a lot of unanswered questions in this piece (most notably: "Are you serious? After all those tantrums last chapter, now they're ric-") but I think I'll post another composition of letters and stories when I'm less exhausted.

Thank you everyone who read this, reviewed this, favourited or followed this because it's really because of you I can finish :)

If you have any particular queries you want answered, I'd love to put them in the 'sequel'-type thing I'm starting so leave them here or feel free to PM me with them :)

Much love and adoration for all the readers spending time here,

She.s. .One x

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Spring, 1880
Winter Hall
Annecy, France

To my dear solnyshka,

This will be my last letter to you, I am afraid.

The details of the past ten years are too much to convey over paper, Christine. These are not the stories of Erik and I and how we live our lives now. This is the story of what we did to be together and how we have changed. I am certainly not the girl I was when I arrived at the Populaire, nor the woman I was in Favreau. I have changed, Christine, as everyone eventually does. And, despite everything, Erik is a changed man. He has finally accepted himself and the loneliness that used to crush him is not so hard to carry now that he has me, he says.

I hope you have a found love like mine, solnyshka. I hope that though I find him foul, your husband treats you like a queen as Erik does me. I hope that this will bring you some peace and that through it, you can understand what happened all those years ago.

As I promised, Christine, you know as much as I do about what happened and you know it now without the guise of horror and innocence. Or at least, I pray you do. I pray you simply see a man starved for affection and a talent that he thought would be his only advantage in maintaining such affection.

Margot paused, putting her stylus down on the desk before her, thoughtfully. She had begun writing weeks ago when there was still snow on the ground and now, flowers beginning to rise anew from the earth, she was ready to end it. But how to end such a letter? Indeed, how to end such a story at all! So much had happened and yet she would need more pages than all of France could make to detail every piece of her life so far.

How could she express how much her husband had changed? How much he loved her now? How regretful he was of the atrocities he'd committed? She couldn't. Simply put, Margot knew deep in her soul that Christine would never truly forgive the Phantom, though he no longer existed. She would always consider him a monster and it pained her but Margot knew this letter would be as much for her as it was for her little solnyshka.

After this, Margot would have nothing more to say to Christine concerning Erik.

And that in itself was somewhat relieving.

"What troubles you cherie?" his calm voice asked as he brushed his lips across her neck, gently. "I've watched you pouring over this letter for hours."

"I don't know how to end it," Margot confessed, enjoying his gentle ministrations across her collarbone. "If I even should."

"Would you rather tell her that I died spontaneously to ease her mind?" Erik mocked.

"Perhaps I should!" Margot snapped back laughingly, smacking his shoulder gently. She considered their home and their lives, the way everything had unfolded and how things had finally begun to heal as she pondered the pages before her and what she ultimately wanted for Christine.

"I just want her to understand." She finally said, rubbing her fingers across the hands that clutched her hips. "And at the same time I don't want her to. What if she realises her mistake and comes running back?"

"Cherie, write what you will," he told her, pressing his lips to the nape of her neck. "We've nothing to be ashamed of." Margot was nearly tempted to throw her writings to the ground and drag his mouth to her but restrained herself as the sound of little feet pattered down the hall to her study. "As for Christine 'running back'-"

"Mama, tell Élisa to stop following me!" Sebastian complained as he careened into his mother's lap. Margot settled him immediately, planting a kiss on the top of his head. She could still remember the day they had decided to start their family and the day nearly eleven months later when their little kuznechik, their baby Sebastian Laurent was born. He was a beautiful little baby, his skin the tan of his father but his eyes, smile and hair all his mother's.

"I'm not!" his little sister Élisabeth whined in her little voice as she toddled after him. Erik scooped her up quickly to avoid another fight and she shrieked with laughter, her fine dark hair tossing as he tickled her, grinning. Élisabeth had been a surprise but a welcome one. When she had been born with a birthmark that stretched from her left cheek all the way across her mouth in a bright cherry red, Erik had been disturbed at possibly having passed on any of his genetic defects onto his baby girl. He'd developed a strong bond with both his children but particularly with Élisa though as she grew older, the mark began to fade.

"She's so annoying!" Sebastian growled, ploughing his face into Margot's neck. She smiled at her little boy's frustration, knowing that at just five years old, Élisa was far from the playmate he'd imagined when she'd been pregnant. He'd only been one year old then, just barely big enough to understand another baby was coming.

"Be nice to your sister, Seb," she told him, firmly but not unkindly. "She's the only one you have."

"Might not be." Erik mumbled and Margot shot him a dirty look as she rose from her chair, her swollen belly and attached son getting in her way.

"Don't help me up, I'll be fine." She said, sarcastically. "And it's a boy, by the way."

They had been arguing for months about the sex of their next child. While they'd both been in agreement on Sebastian and Élisabeth's, the gender of Erik's unborn daughter and Margot's unborn son was a sore spot with both of them.

"I don't want another sister!" Sebastian argued, his little handsome face screwed up. "I don't like the one I've got now!" Élisabeth sniffled at her brother's mean words and Erik knelt beside him, his eyes steady as he took in his son who looked just like his mother.

"Sebastian, I want you to apologise," he asked, not unkindly but firmly. "Élisa is your sister and she always will be. She's going to need protecting from people who say such things and how will you do that if you are the one saying them?"

"But Papa-"

"She will always look up to you and need your protection, understand? She will always need you to be her brother and that is not a responsibility to be taken lightly. Do you love your sister?"

"Yes." He responded, sulkily.

"I love you too Sebbie!" Élisabeth squealed, her green eyes bright with happiness. She reached for her brother who took her hug reluctantly.

"Do you see how she looks up to you?" Erik continued, sternly. When Sebastian nodded, he continued. "She thinks the world of you. To her, you are invincible and you are incredible. You shall not let her done, will you?"

"Yes Papa." Sebastian said, his grey eyes solemn. He hugged Élisabeth back in earnest, mumbling an apology before guiding her from the room, hand in hand.

Erik sighed and Margot snorted with laughter. "That was very sweet but don't get any ideas about using Sebastian to buffer between Élisa and boys."

Her masked man raised his good eyebrow, incredulous. "Would I do something like that?"

"All that talk of 'protection'? Of course you would," Margot rolled her eyes, sitting back down in her chair. "You're the most overprotective father, of both of them. I swear, the second Élisabeth brings home a suitor-"

"He'll be intimately introduced to my old Punjab lasso." Erik growled, kissing her again. "I'm sure there's one around here somewhere."

As she returned his kiss passionately, Margot could suddenly envisage exactly how her letter would end.

"I have a feeling Élisa would be most upset if you did." Margot cajoled as she took in her study. It was designed simply, similar to the sun room of Ferrand Manor in Versailles. They had both decided that the room should have wide windows and it was Margot's favourite room in their home.

From her study, Margot could see out onto the wooded grounds and peak at the lake that lay just beyond them. With winter over and spring beginning to bloom, Sebastian and Élisabeth were itching to take another visit outdoors, perhaps to dip their toes in the lake or explore the trees from the tips of their canopies to the depths of their roots. They were adventurous, brave children, Margot pondered, smiling at Erik who was watching her with deep curiosity. Children who were sure to cause trouble when they grew up a little more.

"All these years," he murmured, pressing his lips to her neck. "And you still confound me, Madame Laurent."

"It's my womanly charm." Margot said sarcastically.

"Well you do have that…" Erik agreed in a murmur as he ran his hands further down her shoulders sensually, all the way to her hips and back up, making his wife shiver.

"Behave." She warned just as their butler arrived to inform them of a guest for her waiting in the parlour. Margot's brow furrowed. "I did not invite anyone around today."

Erik too frowned. "Perhaps it's Katarina," he suggested doubtfully though he knew that Madame Dovina had been feeling ill lately and that her daughter had been helping her recover. "You know how she likes to drop in."

"Oh Élisabeth will be so pleased if Gerry's come." Margot said, purposefully mentioning Katarina's nine year old son whom Élisabeth was besotted with. Last time he'd come, Erik had caught little Gerry giving Élisabeth a daisy from the fields behind their home and he'd lost ten years off his life with worrying.

Erik growled again, stalking off muttering about growing up too fast and making a new lasso to wring their scrawny necks with.

Laughing, Margot entered her parlour, prepared to greet Katarina when she came across the last person she had expected to see there.

"Christine?" she whispered, entirely stunned at the pale, stylish figure of the Countess de Chagny. Of all the responses to her letters, she had hardly expected a face to face visit.

"I came as soon as I finished, Margot." The woman before her said, her face pretty but drawn with lines of worry. "I was so worried about you."

"C-Christine, what are you doing here? Why were you worried?" Margot asked, growing confused. Had her husband followed her? Was he here to kill Erik?

"We must leave quickly Margot, before it is too late!" the countess breathed, clutching Margot's hands in her own. The former costumer stared down at the hands which were still long and beautiful as they had been all those years ago but cold now, thin and bony.

"Leave-? Whatever are you talking about?"

"You've been trapped by his spell, Margot!" Christine swore, her eyes staring at Margot's enormous belly with horror. "I have been where you are now, I know how it feels but you must fight it!"

"Fight what?" Margot asked, slowly with a feeling of dread in her stomach.

"Him! The Phantom! Come Margot, I left you behind once, I cannot do it again!" she pleaded but Margot drew her hands back, violently.

"Christine, what are you saying?" she asked, growing colder toward the woman before her. The surprise was wearing off and instead, the offense at the magnitude of what she was asking began to take its place.

"Come away with me, Margot, escape into the light with me, do not allow him to rule over you any longer!" Christine begged, tearfully.

But I like it when he rules over me, a small part of her, a spiteful part, wanted to snicker. But her and her husband's bedroom life was none of Christine's business as was Margot's state of being in her own home.

"Christine-" she began, moving toward the countess angrily.

"Mama, don't!" called a small voice and Sebastian appeared at the door to the parlour, looking frightened as he held a weeping Élisabeth's hand behind him. "Please don't go!"

He saw me moving toward her, Margot thought, making sense of his cries as she opened her arms to him.

Margot needn't have beckoned because in another second, Sebastian had raced toward her and inserted his tiny body between her and Christine who eyed him curiously and somewhat…enviously?

"I am not going anywhere, love." She told him, picking up Élisabeth in her arms to calm her and placing one hand on Sebastian's back to pull him toward her side.

"Mama, please, I'll be nicer to Élisa, I promise!" he whispered, fretfully.

"I said I wouldn't leave, Sebastian." She told him, firmly. "This woman does not know what she's speaking about."

"Margot-" Christine began again, moving toward her but Élisabeth let out a long wail at her actions.

"Please Mama, don't go!" Sebastian cried, clutching at her skirts.

"Sebastian, calm down kuznechik, I'm not leaving." Margot tried to calm him while Élisa continued to wail in her arms. "Shhh, little solnyshka, shhh…" Christine gasped slightly at the nickname that had previously used for her and her alone.

"Margot, please-" she began again, desperate as she took in the children. The tint of the boy's hair was entirely Margot's though the glint of the little girl's green eyes was too familiar for words. These were her children, her illegitimate bastards with that monster who had taken advantage of her and her stomach was rounded with yet another! Granted they were beautiful but Lord knew what horror lay in their hearts?

"Shut up Christine!" Margot snarled, carefully putting Élisabeth into her brother's arms. "Sebastian, take Élisabeth please." The little boy hiccupped but did as he was told and Élisabeth simply kept sobbing.

"Margot!" Christine recoiled at her old friend's reprieve.

"I said, shut up." Margot seethed. "You have offended me beyond reparation. You come to my home, insult my husband, frighten my children and spout nonsense about my life which you know nothing of!" after so many years, Margot studied Christine who visibly wilted beneath the verbal battering.

"Margot, please-"

"Enough!" Margot roared, her children flinching behind her at the tone of her voice. "I had hoped the years would mature you Christine but I was wrong to even consider that someone as superficial, naive and arrogant could change. How dare you come here and try to save me? How dare you assume that I need saving at all?"

"I-I just wanted to help you!" Christine cried out, outraged.

"You can help me by leaving and never returning. You are nothing more than a spoiled child Christine, you and your husband will surely be happy together! Erik is my husband, these are my children. How dare you presume to take me from them?" Margot stared at her, part of her heart broken as she looked upon the woman she'd once considered a sister. "You disgust me. You are not the woman I raised."

"But-" Christine whispered, struck down by her words.

"Leave Viscountess. And if you ever loved me as I loved you, do not come back." Margot's voice had never been colder.

Christine de Chagny took one final look at her old friend and fled the manor, entering the carriage with the Viscount's coat of arms hurriedly, weeping as she did.

"Mama," Sebastian sobbed as Margot, with great difficulty, knelt by his side, letting both Élisa and Seb clutch her tightly. Their shaking reminded Margot of how she'd trembled when Sebastian had first gotten sick as a baby, when she'd been so terrified her little kuznechik would pass from this world to the next without ever saying his first words.

"Margot? What's going on? Whose carriage was that?" Erik's voice entered the room, confused and slightly angry. Margot could not find it in her to respond as Erik's strong arms enveloped her.

"The bad woman wanted Mama to leave with her!" Sebastian stammered, throwing his arms around his father while Margot tucked Élisa into her chest, comfortingly.

"The bad woman?" Erik echoed, his voice tight. "Margot?"

"Christi- No, the Viscountess was here." Margot said, scornfully. "She terrorized my children and insulted my husband and she is never allowed back in this house!" she ended in a scream at the house staff who had gathered at the crying and shouting.

Loyal as they were, the staff nodded, solemnly, never having seen the lady of the house in such agony. The butler looked particularly ashamed of himself for having admitted the Viscountess to the household in the first place. As Erik helped Margot to her feet, children hanging off the pair, the butler sent two maids to go turn down one of the lounges immediately and escort the young mistress and master there with promises of chocolat chaud and marshmallows.

The rest were sent back to their duties.

Watching as Sebastian and Élisabeth clutched each other in sleep, snoozing on one of the large lounges together, Margot felt tears well in her throat again, despite Christine's absence.

She could not help but think of her former sister's haughty, desperate face as she studied her children, as she'd begged for Margot to leave. How could she ask it of me? She thought, weeping. Has she not listened to a word of my writing? Has it all been for naught?

"Calm, cherie," Erik whispered to his wife, running his hands down her sides gently. "Be calm."

"They were sobbing for hours Erik," she murmured back, her voice hoarse with telling Élisa and Seb stories all afternoon. The fireplace burned on, warming the room with a light glow. "She made them inconsolable."

Erik wrapped his arms around her waist and dropped kisses across her shoulders, cursing the former Angel to the deepest depths of hell for disrupting his wonderful family like this. "She is gone." He said simply. "I am so sorry I wasn't there."

"She wanted me to go." Margot told him, sadly. "She hadn't listened to a word of what I said."

"Christine was always a child in a woman's body, cherie," Erik replied, hugging her close and noticing the last pages of her letters in her hands. "What will you do with them now?"

Margot pulled away from him with a kiss and crossed the beautifully decorated lounge room. She let her scarred fingers trace the features of her children, smiling softly when Élisabeth twitched in her sleep. She tugged one of the fur blankets a friend of hers in Annecy had given her, further up to their chins and took the letter from where she'd placed it on the lounge.

Walking to the fireplace, Margot recalled the last words she had imagined to go with the last of her letters…

This will be the last time we correspond Christine. I confess that I loved you like a sister but I know that you cannot forgive Erik, though now, perhaps you may understand him and through him, me. I've never been especially gifted except for my storytelling, which brought me Erik's attention and now it is my story I choose to share with you, since it is a gift indeed that I have his love.

You may think me insane but I see Erik's love and the love of my children a gift, despite their flaws. We cannot hope to be faultless, Christine but at least through these letters, at last, I may be free of the fault of letting you live without answers.

Goodbye solnyshka,

Margot Laurent

With one last sigh of pain at saying goodbye to Christine, she let the pages drift peacefully into the fireplace where they immediately curled in on themselves, the paper darkening to ash. Margot turned away and studied the lovely half-face of her husband and the serene sleeping expressions of her children.

She did not need Christine any longer. She had new sunshine now.

THE END

A/N: Not too disappointing right?

Well in case you didn't like it, here's some of my thoughts for the sequel-thing:

Why they moved to Annecy, France?

What do they do there?

Did Erik build another opera house?

Why is it called La Theatre du Nacre?

Did he decorate it himself?

Who does he employ? Another tempting soprano perhaps?

Do his kids have the same talents as their parents?

What does Margot do?

What ever happened to Uncle Frank?

Will they go back to the Populaire?

...Where did cherie start?

All this questions and more will (hopefully) be answered in Letters to Solnyshka which I may or may not have already started. (Turns out I may or may not have separation issues with my characters hee hee)

Thanks again for reading guys, I've loved hearing from all of you :)

Eva.