A/N: Thank you all for the reviews. I appreciate them.
YAY! I went on Kinda Ka, Nitro, and El Toro, at. Those are the best rollercoasters at Six Flags.
At King's Dominion I went on the Drop Zone which is the best ride I've ever went on that wasn't a rollercoaster. For rollercoasters I loved the Italian Job and the Anaconda. I wanted to go on the Outer Limits, but I think they took it down.
For those who have never gone on a rollercoaster, you should try it. It's really fun. You don't know what it's like, till you try it.
Now, on with the story
Chapter 25
"Bernard! Send for the doctor, quick!" Madame Giry ordered while trying to keep herself calm.
"What is wrong?" he called to her.
"Don't ask questions! Just go!" she yelled back at him.
Bernard didn't need telling twice. Madame Giry heard the front door snap shut. She then heard the pitter-patter of little feet running to her.
"What is wrong?" Christine asked Madame Giry.
'The poor girl is trembling.' Madame Giry thought to herself. 'I better keep calm to keep Christine calm as well.'
"Your father has fallen out of bed. I'm sure he is going to be just fine, Madame Giry explained," not believing what she had just said.
She couldn't pick Gustave up from the floor on her own, so she checked to see if he was alive. His breathing was shallow and his pulse was faint. She checked his head and arms for cuts, but there were none.
Christine's sobs distracted her from checking on Gustave's health. She could see Christine's tears streak down her face.
She then heard the front door burst open and slam shut. Hurried steps came up the stairs. She looked up to see Doctor Rioux and Bernard bustling in the room. They quickly picked up Gustave from the floor and placed him onto his bed.
Madame Giry picked up Christine, as if she were her own daughter, and went to Christine's bedroom. She sat on her bed with Christine in her arms. She was sobbing and clutching Madame Giry close to her.
"He's going to-," Christine cried harder before she could finish her question.
"Shhh. We will find out soon. Just calm down," Madame Giry soothed. She rocked Christine in her arms until her sobs died and her breathing became slow and even with sleep.
Madame Giry placed her hand on her right cheek only to realize that it was damp with her own tears. Christine's sobs had reminded her of herself when her husband Perry died. It felt like the world was closing in on her and there was no way out. A soft sob passed her lips as her tears flowed freely.
"I know how you feel, Christine," she said between sobs.
Her thoughts turned immediately to her best friend, Gustave. The day Gustave proposed to Nicole, the day of Gustave and Nicole's wedding, the day Gustave first held Christine.
"Gustave is like a brother to me. Please, God, don't take him away from
Christine and me," she prayed desperately to herself.
XXX
Madame Giry woke at the sound of the doorknob turning. The door creaked open and Dr. Rioux took a step into the room. "You may see Gustave now."
Madame Giry found she couldn't move her numb legs due to the weight of
Christine on top of them for nearly two hours.
"Would you please take Christine to see her father for me?" she asked Dr. Rioux.
"Yes," he nodded. He picked up the sleeping Christine and walked out of the room.
Madame Giry sat on the bed for five minutes until she stood up. She hissed as she felt the sensation of prickling needles in her feet. She paced the room to circulate the blood to her legs.
She slowly made her way toward Gustave's bedroom to possibly say her last farewell.
All was silent in the bedroom except the occasional sniffle from Christine.
"Is this our farewell?" Christine sang quietly in her beautiful soprano pitch.
Silent tears rolled down Christine's pale cheeks. "Why are you leaving me now? Why can't you stay longer? Just a little while longer? That is all I ask," she whispered to her father. She snuggled up closer to him on the bed.
"It is my time, angel. If I had the power to stay physically with you, I would without hesitation," Gustave said brokenly. "I love you more then anything in the world. Nothing can change that." He wrapped his arms around her as tightly as he could, for his strength was leaving him.
For the first time since his wife, Nicole, died he cried. He did not fight back these tears for he had a good reason to cry.
No more singing lessons…
No more dark stories of the north…
No more music…
No more walks on the beach…
No more warm hugs and sweet kisses…
No more Christine? His angel…
No more…
No more…
"Take care of her, Madame Giry. Love her as your own. Bury me in Paris where I will be close to my daughter whenever she may need me," Gustave instructed. "Good-bye, good friend."
"I will take care of her and will take you to Paris. I will make sure of it," Madame Giry sniffed. She wiped her eyes with her white handkerchief. "Good-bye, Gustave."
"Bernard, my old friend, will you please assist Madame Giry and Christine to Paris? Make sure they arrive safely, please," Gustave asked. His voice growing more quiet by the minute.
"Of course," Bernard promised.
Gustave turned to his daughter's small form, laying next to him on the firm bed.
Christine looked up at him with her glassy eyes in silence.
"I will always be with you," Gustave whispered. "Whenever you need me, I will be there for you. You will never be alone, for I will send the Angel of Music to comfort you and protect you while my physical being is gone, but I will be there in spirit," Gustave repeated finding it difficult to talk threw his tears and the eternal sleep that was setting in quickly.
"Oh Father," Christine sobbed.
Gustave gave her the biggest smile he could muster.
He took a deep breath and whispered his last words, "I love you Christine. You look so much like your mother," he smiled weakly.
"I love you too, Father," Christine sobbed.
He weekly brushed his thumb across Christine's cheek. His head lightly sunk onto the pillow as he took his last breath. He closed his baby-blue eyes and passed on.
"No!" Christine whaled. "Papa!"
Madame Giry swiftly walked to the bed where Christine was curled up into a ball, sobbing. She placed her hand gently on her back and rubbed her.
Christine shrugged Madame Giry's hand off her back.
"Leave me alone!" Christine screamed into her small arms that her face was buried into.
Madame Giry quickly withdrew her hand as if she were bitten by a snake. She looked at Dr. Rioux and then to Bernard, signaling with her eyes that they had to leave the room.
They all left the room silently and made there way downstairs to the living room gloomily.
XXX
Christine felt as if her prayers have fallen upon deaf ears. 'There must not be a god. Nothing that I'd pleaded for has come true,' she thought.
'But Father has spoken of an angel that saved his life,' her mind retorted. 'If that angel hadn't saved him, he would've died long ago. Maybe there is a god. The angel would've never come to save Father if God had not told the angel to do so.
Besides, if I don't believe in God, there is no Angel of Music. The Angel of Music might just be the only thing that will keep me going,' she thought, knowing that she must keep going.
Christine cuddled up closer to her father's motionless body. Her thoughts were only on being close next to her father for as long as she could.
XXX
"Thank you, Doctor, for everything. You may leave now," she ordered, handing him some money for his services.
After Dr. Rioux closed the door, Madame Giry immediately broke out in tears. "I will miss Gustave," she sobbed.
Bernard swiftly took a step forward so that he was mere inches from her. He wrapped his large arms around her. Her body stiffened at his gesture, but after a minute she relaxed in his embrace. She buried her face into his shoulder.
"I will miss him too," Bernard replied quietly
"If it is not to bold of me to ask, will you please stay with me in Paris?" she asked him. She knew that it was wrong of her to accept the comfort of another man besides her husband, Perry, but she needed Bernard at that moment.
Bernard looked down into her face. "I shall if you wish it," he replied.
Madame Giry smiled lightly and Bernard returned the gesture.
A/N: I hoped you liked this chapter. I know most of you will be very angry with me because I didn't keep Gustave in the story. Please forgive me. I am not up for any flamers.
By the way, "Is This Our Farewell" is a song by Within Temptation. If you haven't listened to her music, go and download the song (or any other songs by her) and listen to them. You may come to love it.
When Christine sings the song, she only sings: "Is this our farewell". She doesn't sing the whole song.
PLEASE REVIEW!