Christine stirred, one eye opening to look out the window and see the sky still dark. So it was not yet dawn, but she was now restless.

A light rustling could be heard, and she lifted her heavy head towards the faint sound coming from the kitchen.

She saw that the sound originated from Erik, apparently already making his morning breakfast.

On first impulse, she wanted to call out to him, to get his attention and come to talk to her. After all, their time together was too little.

But just as her lips parted to speak his name, the memory hit her hard. He wasn't on her good side anymore. In fact, he was the one person she hated right now, despised even. And upon remembering, her mouth closed.

Yet her eyes didn't. They stayed open, observing his every move. His stride was sure and steady, each gesture had a purpose, never moving in vain. He seemed like he always did to the untrained eye, but living here for such an amount of time had let Christine in on Erik's privacy - she knew everything about him, or at least felt like it. She knew the way he normally carried himself, and there was something missing in his normalcy now.

It was in his shoulders, his spine. He was usually so assured of himself, but he was slightly slouching now, giving away that his self confidence in everything was currently void. There was something that bothered him, rocked him to his core. Something that was hurting him.

Was it the same thing that made her heart ache, her whole body shudder in pain? Was his thoughts haunted by what had happened?

Surely not. If it was, why did he not try and make it up? Why did he not fix it, make it all go away? Instead, he continued his slight racket in the next room, not even heeding her presence.

She continued to watch him for a few moments more, then let out a slight cough, only loud enough to alert his senses.

His ear perked at the sound and his back stiffened, but nothing more.

He was trying to avoid her. That was fine...but she wanted to see how serious he was about that.

So she began to hum. At first, it was nothing much, but then she started to sing, very lightly, one of his old lullabies until he turned and walked towards the foot of the bed.

"Your fever broke an hour ago." He informed her.

She nodded. That's right, she had been sick. She didn't feel like it anymore though.

A soft blush appeared on her cheeks, imagining him coming in from wakening to worry about her and check to see if she had become better.

No, she was thinking her old ways. When she thought he was an Angel, or even just a wonderful man. No longer was he either to her. No, much worse than anything she had suspected.

"Is Raoul awake yet?" She purred happily with a flutter of her eyelashes.

By the look on his face, she knew she had succeeded in jolting his normal thoughts.

"No." Came his gruff, unnatural voice before spinning on his heel to go back to his work in the kitchen.

Soon enough though, Erik heard the back door open and the man he so despised came walking through, ignoring him completely to go to Christine's side and kiss her good morning. Thankfully, Nadir had come out of his own room, and now took the long cutting knife out of Erik's hand.

"I'll finish breakfast. Why don't you go and buy us something for dinner awhile? Give yourself some time." Nadir whispered, patting his companion's shoulder.

Erik's whole body was dead stiff, aware of the scene in the room towards his back, and suddenly he knew he had to get out. Without bothering to grab his cloak, he hurried out of the house and as far away from it as he could manage, skipping the market all together. He'd get dinner on his way back.

XXXXXXXX

Since Christine still wasn't feel up to par, Raoul was forced to leave for to go make arrangements to leave the country and get back in to France.

Nadir had gone to the back yard to care for the garden Christine had been tending to.

And Erik, he was pacing on the porch outside while Christine watched him from her place in bed. Watched as he closed his eyes, his whole face scrunched up in physical pain.

Finally, he turned and their eyes locked in a hard, aching gaze. Her eyes grew wide when she realized he was coming close to her. Walking in and towards the bed.

"You're leaving soon." He said in a soft voice.

She nodded. "As soon as Raoul makes the arrangements. "

"In that case...I must tell you I can't allow you to leave under the current circumstances. You may hate me forever - but I at least want you to know why you hate me. Define what kind of monster I am. For indeed, I am one in too many ways, but different from what you think. Christine, I didn't-"

"I don't want to hear it." She said suddenly. "For so long I've been lost in your lies, hiding behind your mask just as much as you do...just because I so desperately wanted to believe it. But I know the truth now. Your mask of lies have vanished, and now your left with nothing but the ugly truth. I know who you are inside now...and I see that you'll never be able to understand how deeply you've betrayed me. You may have everyone fooled here, but not me. Not any longer. You're not my Angel or my savior anymore. I know what you really are..." She shook her head, tears squeezing from her eyelashes. "And I don't love you anymore." She whispered.

Erik stared at her blankly at first, as if in shock of her words. Slowly he walked back a few paces, and if her words were still rushing towards him, pushing him away from the bed.

"Christine..." Was all he managed to get out of his strangled throat, his voice tight and full of disbelief that his delicate, sweet angel just filled him with such nasty words.

But then he stopped, regaining his dignity, or what was left of it. With a curt nod, he turned from her. Christine, no longer caring about how she felt physically, walked out of the house, her scabbed feet bare as she hurried down the street.

Nadir had just walked in to the kitchen with a handful of food picked from the meager garden and staring at Erik, not knowing what he walked in on.

"I'll give you a fraction of a minute to get out of here." Erik growled, his temper flaming beyond his control.

Everything about his body reflected his turmoil. His eyes were glowing in rage, his chest heaving heavily. His control was quickly slipping, and soon nothing would get in his way of destroying whatever he had to so that his fierce anger would drain.

Nadir ran.

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