Hi friends! Quite a delay, I know, but as of last week I have finished my degree! So more time for writing! Yay!

Thank you for the support so far, and I hope that you are enjoying what you're reading :) Let me know what you think!

Phanty belongs to Leroux and Lloyd Weber. Erik's history belongs to Kay.

"Erik!" Christine called desperately, running out into the night. "Erik, please! Please, come back! I'm sorry!" Where could he have gone? There was nowhere for him to go and surely he was in risk of being seen by someone even in these conditions, and what of his health? She could see nothing. The wind had picked up in velocity and it was snowing heavily. She was about to call out to him again when she was grabbed from behind by Nadir.

"Christine, no! You cannot follow him! It is too dangerous!"

"I don't care!" She struggled. "ERIK!"

"Well have a care!" He said, shaking her slightly. "You will die out here tonight!"

Christine managed to struggle free of his grasp and turn to face him.

"And what of him Nadir? He will die out here!" A shiver ran through her. "I have just found him again and now… now he is gone…" She began to weep. Nadir pulled her into his arms once more, only this time, more gently.

"Shh… Christine, please. Let us go inside. It will all be alright!"

"Tell me how it will be alright!" She demanded, struggling away from him once more. "In the state he is in… he has hardly eaten anything… did he even take a jacket?!"

"…No." Nadir admitted. "Come inside. Please, Mademoiselle."

"How could he do this to me, Nadir? How!? Doesn't he know what I feel for him? How could he be so selfish! If I lost him… I…"

"I know." He soothed.

"No… I must find him! I need to tell him that I love him. He has to know that I didn't mean what I said!"

"He knows that you didn't… now please. We should go inside!"

"He doesn't know that! That is why he left! I have hurt him… so badly… how could I have said those things!?"

"You… you hurt one another, yes. But… Christine he knows that you love him."

"Then why did he leave?!"

"He left because he is Erik!"

"What?!"

"I don't mean to trivialise what he has done here tonight, but he has done this to me before, many times. He will return… he always does."

"But never after an argument like we had just now."

Nadir dropped his head.

"I… suppose not. No. But he will return of his own accord!"

"What if he does not!"

"Well… Christine, if he does not wish to come back then… I am afraid that he isn't someone you would be able to find…" He rubbed his neck uneasily. "Most of the time his prerogative is… not to be found."

"He will return, Christine. He will. He just needed time to think, I'm sure. Some space."

"In a blizzard?! No… Nadir the things that I said, and the things he said. Then finality of it all! I cannot bear it, I have to find him… ERIK!" She called.

"Christine, I will help you search! But we must wait for less inclement weather!"

"He is in that weather! And in nothing more than a dress shirt… Don't you see the dire need that I do!?"

"Of course I do!"

"You are supposed to be his friend!"

"I am! You must calm yourself!"

Christine looked up at him, an expression of consternation across her features. She took a deep breath. Nadir was right. Of course he was. What could be done? She was in no state to search for him and if either of left the house they would likely end up lost at the very least, hypothermic at the worst. But what of Erik? How could she accept that he was outside in this weather by himself and that he may not be coming back?

"I… I don't know what to do…" Christine began to sob once more. "What do I do?"

"Firstly you must come inside, Christine! That is the first step! And then we can decide what we do!"

She nodded solemnly before standing up and with the assistance of Nadir, walking back inside. She glanced behind her one last time before the door was closed for the night.

Erik thought of going back, thought of leaving. Going home. Some lost sense of recollection told him that Paris was home… but that bridge had been burned. He thought of Paris; of his beloved Opera House and his refuge beneath it. So much time had been spent creating that space, that sanctuary. So much love had gone into that cavern beneath the city, love that should have gone elsewhere but had no other outlet. He thought of his organ, it had seemed an eternity since he had played music; the one thing that had kept him sane. He thought of his artwork, his designs, his walls covered with tapestries, draperies and his creations that would never be published, would never see the light of day. His thought of his bedchamber and the comfort it had afforded him when there had been no one else. No one to sew his wounds, no one to see to his fevers, no one next to him when he awoke from his tortured nightmares. That was home… But now that was nothing. He could not return. There was no home. Home was where Christine was but he could not return to her.

Not after all that she had said.

Not after all that he had said.

Would she even care that he left? No. Not likely. Now that he was out of the equation she could once more live a full life. She didn't have to run. She didn't have to hide. These past weeks had been hell for her and it had been none but his fault. He knew that. He had known that all along but selfishly he had stayed with her, allowed her to stay with him. Not anymore. He would find somewhere to spend the night and in the morning he would be gone, just as it was intended. Surely if all she had said had been true it wouldn't prove to be that much of an inconvenience.

Erik knew that his insecurities were getting the better of him. Had Christine been around she would have told him that he was overreacting. They likely would have had an argument but things would have been sorted and back to normal within a few hours at most. But she was not here, and though he knew many of his thoughts were assumptions, he could not stop his spiral. He seldom could.

Erik wandered through the night, branches scraping at him as he went, the biting wind cutting through his clothing and causing him to shiver with such ferocity that it seemed to be coming from within him. He didn't know where he was going, but he was not lost. He was rarely able to become lost, particularly in a town such as this…

Knowing that if he stayed in the cold for much longer he would contract illness, he decided to seek refuge. He wasn't in a particularly suicidal mood tonight and with his broken rib and gunshot he certainly didn't want to add pneumonia to his list of ailments. He knew very well that being who he was in this town, or any town, there was nowhere for him to go. He left in a state such that he hadn't much considered a plan. He could not go back, no. Not to the house… But he could take cover with Caesar until the morning. Then, he would leave. After wandering for several more minutes he swallowed his pride and staggered back to where he had come from.

"You promise to help me search for him tomorrow?" Christine cried as Nadir sat her back down by the fire.

"I give you my word. In fact, if the weather eases up tonight, I will go." He brought his finger up to silence her before she could speak. "I, alone will go. Erik would kill me if I allowed anything to happen to you, and I mean that in a very literal sense."

Christine cringed. She knew he did.

"Alright." She finally nodded in agreement. "Then I will sit by the window and wait for the weather to clear."

"Christine…" Nadir sighed. "I know that you blame yourself for this but you should not."

"Those things I said…"

"You should also rest." He added sternly.

"I cannot rest. I need it. Heavens knows I do, but I cannot."

Nadir sighed once more.

"Alright then, you stubborn woman. You two are the perfect match. I'll make us some tea."

Christine smiled half-heartedly before pulling her chair to the window and sitting down. She gazed out into the night, hoping that every slight movement was Erik returning to her; every snowy branch blown by the wind, every heavy fall of snow, every sound… She glanced at the front door, willing it to open, willing him to walk in, but she knew that no matter how much she stared at it, it would not. He would not.

She had her tea with Nadir over a few words but of course, she was greatly preoccupied. She knew that he was speaking with her, keeping her company in order to distract her from what was going on but in truth she wanted nothing more than to be left alone. Of course, out of courtesy she would never voice such a thing. Thankfully though, after a few moments of awkward silence, seemingly intuitively reading her thoughts, Nadir retired to bed. Several short moments later, in spite of her protestations Christine too fell asleep; susceptible to the tea and the warmth of the fire.

Unable to find proper rest himself Nadir found that after only an hour or so he was awake once more. He trudged downstairs to find Christine asleep where he had left her, hand; limp at her side and cup of tea empty on windowsill. Reaching into his bag that lay where he had left it upon first entering the house, he retrieved a small blanket and draped it over the sleeping Christine. He peered out into the night, pleased to see that the weather had quietened down to some degree.

He knew at once that the time was opportune to search for his friend.

Making a point to keep the noise to a minimum so as not to disturb Christine, Nadir dressed and exited the house. The wind was still considerably fierce but the snowfall had lessened. He took a few steps forward before coming to a halt and looking to his left. The stable… Perhaps he was in the stable? Surely Erik's pride would not allow such a thing but it was a good place to start.

He made his way there, holding the light out before him in a darkness that would not usually be quite as dense if it were not for the heavy cloud cover. The wind harshly pulled at his clothing, threatening to extinguish the light before him with every strong gust. He staggered over to the stable and heaved the door open. It was more difficult than it should have been due to the snow that had built up around it.

Tentatively, he walked in and pulled the door shut behind him. Once inside, he peered around.

"Hello?" His voice sounded flat in the small space.

Caesar's friend made a confused grunt, after which, Nadir heard a movement from his left. He turned around and looked down.

A figure huddled in the darkness.

Nadir walked closer to it, holding out his lamp and narrowing his eyes in an attempt to see further.

"Erik?" He asked softly.

"Keen observation, Daroga." The figure replied. "Do not approach me."

"Why are you so unpleasant?"

Erik couldn't help but smirk inwardly.

"What are you doing here?" Nadir asked, walking closer.

"Excuse you. This is my house."

"You know what I mean, you difficult man! How are you? Are you not cold? How long have you been here?"

Of course he was cold. He was hungry. He was in pain. He was miserable. He hated where he was. He hated himself. He missed Christine.

"Which of those questions would you like me to answer first? Terrible, yes, no, sometimes…"

"Please be serious for a moment. How long have you been here?"

"Please leave me."

"Erik!"

Erik took a breath.

"I came here shortly after I left the house."

"Well, if you are staying with us, you might as well come inside where it is warm."

"I will not come inside and I am not staying here." He said without looking up. "I am waiting until the morning, and then I am taking my leave."

"You will freeze to death here."

"Oh, don't blow things out of proportion. I am hardly feeling it."

"Erik, you are being a child. Will you honestly not reconsider?"

"If you have come to insult me, kindly leave. I am in no mood for one of your speeches, Daroga."

"Christine is devastated! If you really had any affection for her you would…"

Erik shot up and took hold of Nadir's clothing with both hands.

"Christine is everything to me!" His spoke in a voice filled with such rage and frustration, Nadir was immediately sure that he was already feeling regret.

"Then why are you leaving her!?"

Erik loosened his grip and looked down.

"I-I have to. The things she said… the things I said. I could not possibly face her."

"And so your answer is to run away, like always?"

"What is that supposed to mean!?" He tightened his grip once more. "I had to leave Persia, you know that! I had finished the design for their palace and it was only a matter of time before they decided that I…"

"But you ran away and hid for over a decade!" He managed release himself from Erik's grip. "You didn't have to do that!"

"Of course I did, Daroga. You know nothing." He returned to his seat on the ground, his hands resting carelessly on his knees, and he turned away, his gaze resting on nothing in particular.

"You had a life in Persia, and you threw it away… I had a life."

"A life?!" He looked at Nadir, a kind of alarmed disbelief across his features. "Is that what you would call it?! You knew exactly what my 'life' entailed there, and it wasn't any life at all."

"You had an income… you had comfort?"

"Income!" He scoffed. "I was hired as a designer, and then I was paid to kill, if you recall! And not only that! To devise the ways in which they died! So many people! Were they innocent? Who knew! So… many…" He held his head in his hands. "So… many…"

"Erik, I…"

"No matter what I do, I cannot erase them from my memory…"

"What?" Nadir asked apprehensively.

"Them. All of them… the screams… the pleas… I was made to watch. Did you know that?"

"I didn't…"

"Made to watch them meet their end in devices of my own creation." He pointed to his head. "This… twisted thing."

"You are capable of other creations. I have seen them. You are capable of beauty; music, design… and you are capable of love. I have seen that too."

Erik scoffed and ran his hand through his hair in frustration.

"What is this really about, Nadir? I know that you dislike it here, but no one asked you to follow me across the globe. No one asked you to seek me out, to come to Paris."

"No. I chose to. In truth, there was nothing left for me there. Once, it was my home…"

A slight grimace crossed Erik's features as he looked up at his friend. Nadir had lost his family. When he had met Nadir, his wife had already passed. But his son he had known. He had gotten to know him quite well in his last few weeks… and he had been the one to end his life. Not out of vengeance, but at Nadir's request. He had allowed the boy a swift, painless death, when his condition had promised another kind. He had taken the burden, the sin from his friend's conscience, and though it was the only option for the boy and the only recourse for his father, Erik knew that a small part of Nadir would always resent him for it. Nadir would never admit that.

"I came here because there was nothing left for me there, and in truth, I missed my friend."

"Oh, please." Erik rolled his eyes.

"Erik, I was sent to prison for aiding you in your escape."

"I know!" And I am indebted to you… but do not think that…"

"I have never asked you to repay that debt until now."

Erik's eyes narrowed as he stood up once more.

"…What?"

"Do not leave."

"You cannot ask that of me."

"I just have."

"Take it back."

"No. That is the favour I ask. You do not have to return to the house. Not tonight. All I am asking is that you do not leave for another day or so. Think it over… Then, if you still wish to leave, you can, but not before telling me so! You cannot simply disappear, Erik. You owe me that much."

Erik shifted irritably where he stood.

"It seems that serving the prison sentence for you would have been the wiser choice."

Nadir scoffed.

"I think that you and Christine should talk."

"Wait, no! I haven't even agreed to staying yet!"

"Yes, you have. And I think that you and Christine can sort out your differences, surely you mean more to one another than an argument!"

"Firstly, I am not interested in what you think!"

"Yes you are."

"Secondly, it is much more complex than that; our relationship, our history. And… she is as stubborn as I am! She is quite impossible to have discussion with…"

"And speaking with you is easy? Just give it one more day. Please. Do not leave tomorrow."

Erik sighed and once more ran his hand through his sparse hair.

"Alright, can I request something then?" His voice was dripping with the usual sarcasm he reserved for his friend. "Is that allowable?"

"What is it?"

"Do not tell Christine that I am here."

Nadir sighed.

"You are such a child. You are worse than her and you are more than a decade older!"

"Careful." Erik warned.

"Oh, I am terrified." Nadir mocked. "Anything else? Any other conditions?"

"As a matter of fact, yes. Can you bring me my mask?"

"Oh, I had planned to. I was getting quite sick of looking at you."

Erik inclined his head in a way that usually indicated that either his temper building, or that his patience was running thin. These usually went hand in hand.

"Daroga." He warned.

"Alright, alright!" He said with an uneasy laugh. "I will have it for you tomorrow. Christine is going into town for food and I will bring you some of that as well. She was at least, until you went missing. Now I believe that the plan is to search for you."

Erik nodded. He wished that he could accompany her, but in no world would that be possible. He wanted to protect her, yes, but he also wanted to be the first to show her his hometown, even if each corner was filled with tortured memories.

"She is determined." Nadir added.

Erik nodded again with a smile.

"Please tell her to be careful. Will you go with her?"

"I cannot. I had promised to search for you tomorrow. We both had but I think that I can convince her to go into town so that I may do it."

"Well… can you follow her in? Just keep watch?"

"Yes, I suppose so."

"Good." He said, folding his arms awkwardly. Nadir watched him, bemused. Clearly he wanted to accompany her. Clearly he wanted to ask more questions about it. He hated the idea of being excluded from one of her plans.

"There was money in my bag, but that was before the gypsies, so…"

"I will have her check. If not, I have a small amount."

Erik nodded again.

"When can I tell Christine?" Nadir asked after a short silence.

"Daroga!" Erik rolled his eyes.

"It is not fair to keep it from her and while I have agreed to humour you, the longer I keep it from her, the more she will resent me when she discovers what I knew. And I will not have her disliking me because of you."

"Fine, fine. Tomorrow night, perhaps. I will leave just before."

"You cannot do that to her."

"I cannot face her, Daroga." Erik replied, sounding crestfallen.

A noise sounded inside the house.

"I have to go. I think she has woken up."

"Yes, go. I do not want her to wake up to an empty house. And I am tiring of your conversation."

"Do not leave until I see you again, alright? Will you grant me that?" Nadir gave Caesar an absentminded stroke and walked to the door.

"Yes, yes!" Erik spoke, sitting back down and gently massaging his temples. "You give me a headache."

"You give yourself a headache." Nadir shot back before exiting the stable and leaving Erik to his darkness once more.

Nadir was approached by Christine as he entered the house.

"Were you looking for him? Is that where you went?"

"Yes…" I looked at her hopeful, tear-streaked face, and though Erik would chastise me for doing so, I had to say something that would give her hope, lift her spirits. "I did not find him… but Caesar is still here in the stable, so I would say that he has not gone far."

She sniffed and wiped her cheek haphazardly before speaking with a small voice.

"Well, that is something."

"Yes. But it is far too cold outside." He lied in an attempt to discourage her. It was cold, but not cold enough to stop him looking for his friend if it were necessary. Luckily, it wasn't. "I will continue the search tomorrow."

"May I accompany you?"

"Christine…" He began, putting an arm around her shoulder. "Did you not say that you were going into town for supplies?"

"Yes, but…"

"Do that. When Erik returns, he will need food, correct? I will search for him while you get what we need."

She nodded solemnly. There was not much that she could do. It was a helpless situation and the more time she spent apart from Erik the more she missed him and the more she regretted what she had said, not that she did not regret it all instantly… Tomorrow she would have to go into town, she would have to do what needed to be done, and push everything else to the back of her mind.

That night she lay in Erik's bed, a bed that felt particularly cold and particularly empty. She thought of the day ahead, an attempt to keep her mind busy until she fell asleep. She would buy food, clothes, medical supplies, and maybe even a gift for Erik if money permitted. She smiled to herself as she realised that she would also be able to buy some stationery and finally have the chance to write to the Giry's… and to Raoul…

Please let me know what you think!