Chapter 7: Clara's Farewell
Erik was composing whilst Clara was admiring the detailed pieces of an antique chess board that sat upon a coffee table before the fire place... Erik suddenly stopped playing and frowned in puzzlement before looking around the cavern chamber of his home and the sudden silence caused by him no longer playing his organ caused Clara to look towards him curiously,
"What's wrong?" she asked gently, watching as the masked man stood and looked around,
"I'm not certain... The sudden feeling that I've forgotten something just came over me and I'm trying to recall what it might be" he grumbled in a grumpy manner due to his dislike of forgetting anything and he frowned thoughtfully before looking at Clara,
"What day is it?" he pressed,
"Errm... Thursday." Clara answered after thinking for a moment,
"Thursday... Thursday... Thursday..." Erik grumbled, repeating himself as he tried to recall what he might have forgotten and he eventually threw his hands up in frustration,
"Urrr Forget it!" he grumbled before storming off into a secondary chamber that served as his kitchen area in which he intended to brew himself some Persian tea and Clara rolled her eyes in amusement at his grumpy nature before going back to admiring the different chess pieces but she looked up quickly when she heard the shattering sound of porcelain come from the kitchen which was followed by Erik suddenly storming back into the main chamber,
"The auditions for next season was yesterday" he stated,
"If you just broke an item from my aunt's favorite tea set then she will murder you" Clara warned,
"Never mind that! How did your audition go?" Erik demanded,
"My audition?... Don't you mean Christine's...?" Clara pressed in confusion,
"Couldn't care less" the phantom interrupted simply causing her to become surprised,
"Oh... Erm... Well... I never actually attended..." Clara admitted bashfully,
"What?" Erik demanded,
"I decided that I didn't want to audition" she explained but Erik scoffed,
"Oh absolutely not! I will not let this stand. I am securing you another audition right now" he grumbled before moving to collect his cloak but Clara was quick to rush and stop him,
"No, Erik. I don't want to audition" she insisted,
"I am not a fool, Clara. Singing is your dream and I will not let you throw away your chance just to try and make me happy" Erik insisted firmly but watched her shake her head causing him to become confused,
"No, Erik. I chose not to do the audition because I don't like the pattern of how it has made the women of this opera house become completely vain and selfish" Clara explained and Erik found himself calming down from his state of determined frustration,
"But... it was your dream..." he stated in confusion but saw her smile gently,
"And it was a lovely dream but I realized the reality that it wouldn't truly make me happy... It's nothing to be sad about because now I'm excited to start the journey of finding my new dream" Clara assured him gently and Erik couldn't help but smile down at her gently and she looked at him curiously,
"... What?" she pressed,
"It just seems that no matter how much I get to know you better... You never cease to amaze me, Miss Du Bois" he praised with a bright smile and Clara blushed gently before smiling up at him gently,
"... You should know that... Despite your claim of not caring... Christine obtained the position of the Opera's diva for next season" Clara informed him gently and watched him frown before turning away and headed back to his organ,
"Good for her" he grumbled,
"Erik... It's ok if you're pleased" Clara assured him gently,
"Of course I'm pleased... I have prayed for the day that someone with actual talent would sing on my opera's stage" he confirmed but Clara raised an eyebrow knowingly,
"I meant that it's ok if you're pleased for Christine in general" she corrected... She smiled sadly at the silence that Erik allowed to fall between them as he sat down before his organ and Clara soon made her way over and sat beside him,
"... I shouldn't be happy for her" Erik grumbled quietly,
"... She was your student. She never would have reached her level of talent without your teachings... Technically this is more your triumph than it is hers" Clara told him gently,
"Plus there is also the matter of your... admiration for her beyond the status of being her teacher" she continued delicately and watched Erik sigh sadly,
"... I was a fool. I thought... Hoped that perhaps she would grow to love me... Perhaps even become my wife one day..." he murmured,
"... But I was just fooling myself... The only thing she ever loved in regards to me was the talent and path to fame I established for her" Erik concluded sadly before moving his gaze towards the leather edged binder of compositions and he picked it up,
"... I had hoped that she would star in my opera... My life's work. Don Juan Triumphant" he explained, standing from the stool,
"The story of a handsome man with a blackened heart capable of winning the desire of any woman he wanted... He's finally saved when an angelic woman named Aminta truly comes to love him..." he explained as he approached the fireplace and proceeded to toss the leather bound folder into the flames causing Clara to look horrified,
"Erik!" she cried, rushing forward in hopes of saving the masterpiece but looked upon the burning music scores in vain,
"You didn't... Why on earth would you burn your life's work?!" Clara demanded, horrified but he looked at her with a gentle smile,
"... Because... Now I can look forward to the excitement of starting a new journey that will lead to me finding a new dream" he stated causing Clara to look at him surprised before moving forward and hugging him tightly which Erik happily returned as his smile grew brighter.
Clara had insisted that Erik tell her more of his stories regarding his times as a magician in Persia and he chuckled at her curiosity... He left many of the not so pleasant details out but he was happy to share some tricks with her... he had used a pack of cards, getting her to take one before 'reading her mind' in order to name the card she had chosen and he chuckled at her smiles and laughter of delight,
"What else can you do?" she asked curiously,
"I can conjure things from nothing, I can make things vanish... Well everything accept my face of course" he joked halfheartedly causing Clara to frown sadly,
"Erik..." she tried,
"Please don't ask to see it" he interrupted causing Clara to sigh gently,
"I wasn't going too. I was simply going to say that... No matter what lies behind that mask of yours... Whether you ever choose to show me or not... It will not change anything" she assured him gently before taking his hand in her own,
"... I could never inflict such horror on you" Erik admitted sadly,
"I do not believe there would be any horror... Christine told me that she had seen your face and the way I see your reluctance to show me tells me that you didn't show her your face willingly and I am so sorry she took that choice away from you, Erik... I give you my word that I will never attempt to take the choice from you just as I shall never request you to show me as I want you to show me only when you are ready and when you decide you want too" Clara assured him gently earning Erik's surprise as he allowed himself a moment to process her words and he looked down sadly,
"... I can only imagine how Christine described what she saw..." he began,
"You can imagine but I will not repeat it because I don't repeat lies" Clara insisted,
"You don't know that they're lies" Erik insisted weakly,
"Considering everything you did to help her and the way she threw it all back in your face... I refuse to believe anything she says" Clara replied before giving his hand a gentle squeeze and a soft smile as he finally looked at her but she saw how he soon looked at her in confusion,
"... What?" she pressed as he slowly removed his hand from her own,
"It would appear... That you have something behind your ear..." he whispered, slowly moving his hand towards her ear and Clara was frozen in place due to fear that it might be a spider but her fearful expression became one of awe when Erik withdrew his hand gently to reveal a stunning blue butterfly perched on his finger,
"I suppose I can't blame the creature's mistake..." he stated,
"What mistake?" Clara asked curiously,
"... It most understandably mistook you for a stunning rose" he provided and smiled at the sight of how Clara blushed softly before watching with a bright smile as the butterfly took off, fluttering around the chamber happily.
Erik was tinkering with one of his inventions when Clara picked up his pocket watch with a curious expression,
"I'm still astounded that you were able to create a watch that plays music" she praised,
"I didn't make the watch... I added the music box mechanism later" he explained as he continued his tinkering with various cogs and springs as Clara continued to admire the pocket watch before she noticed a small engraving on the back... Charles Destler... Clara developed a sense of curiosity and was about to look in Erik's direction,
"... My father" Erik said suddenly causing Clara to look at him surprised only to find he had been watching her examining the pocket watch,
"It was my father's watch" he explained before going back to his tinkering but he sighed and looked back at her once again,
"... He died before I was born and... My mother refused to ever tell me much about him... I told you of my ability to make things vanish and so one day... I made his watch vanish much to her furious reaction... I liked the idea of keeping something of him close to me as... When I was a boy I liked to imagine that if he had been alive when I was born then... Perhaps he would have loved me..." he explained,
"... The tune I added was a lullaby I made up in my head... Another fruitless fantasy from when I was a boy... A fantasy I told myself that it was a tune my mother would sing to me as a lullaby..." he murmured with a sad smile before looking around the chamber at the various pieces of furniture,
"... I took most of the furniture here from the house I was born in... A small village outside of France to the north by the name of Boscherville..." he recalled with an exhausted tone before sighing and he stood from his desk before heading off towards his organ to compose for a while and Clara looked down at the watch in her hands sadly knowing that he needed some silent time to think.
It was a fairly quiet morning that found Erik tinkering once again whilst Clara handed him various tools and different sized cogs and springs whenever he requested them but their peaceful activity was soon interrupted when Antoinette rushed into the chamber with her daughter, Meg by her side,
"Erik we need to leave! Now!" she insisted causing the phantom and Clara to frown in confusion,
"Christine informed authorities of your existence and they're on there way here! we need to leave now!" she yelled and Erik instantly sprung into action, grabbing his cloak and some flint and steal from the drawer of his desk after wrapping the cloak around his shoulders,
"You know the route" he stated, watching as Antoinette nodded before rushing off with Meg down one of the corridors as Erik moved to flip a lever that brought down the portcullis that guarded the entrance to his home,
"That will buy us some time" he grumbled, grasping Clara's hand before leading her down the corridor her aunt and cousin had fled through before turning towards a wall that a fuse hung down from the ceiling,
"... And this will stop them following us entirely" he continued, gesturing to the barrels of gunpowder secured to the cave roof, that the fuse was attached too... He used the flint and steel to spark the fuse causing it to ignite,
"And now we run!" he insisted before he and Clara began running but suddenly Clara stopped,
"Your father's watch!" she yelled before running back into the lair,
"CLARA NO!" he yelled, rushing to retrieve her just as she had grabbed the watch and moved to rush back to him but the gunpowder ignited causing the cave to collapse in on itself...
Erik coughed as the smoke cleared before looking towards the impenetrable debris that sealed himself away from Clara whom was trapped on the other side,
"CLARA!" he yelled, rushing towards the pile of rubble and banged his fists against it in vain,
"CLARA!" he yelled again,
"... I'm sorry... I... I thought I would have time..." Clara called back to sadly,
"Don't worry. I'll find a way to get to you" he assured her,
"THIS WAY!" voices of the mob echoed throughout the caverns and Erik felt himself grow numb... He watched Clara's hand make its way through a parting in the rubble that was unfortunately too high for Erik to see through awkwardly,
"... It's too late. They're coming. You need to go now" she insisted whilst offering him the pocket watch but Erik clasped his hand around her own,
"I am not leaving you. They will kill you" he growled stubbornly,
"Erik... I don't want you to see what happens to me..." she begged shakily,
"Clara I'm not going to leave..." he tried,
"Please... Just... Take care of my aunt and cousin for me." she begged as Erik could hear the echoes of the mob getting closer
"... No... No, Clara. There will be a way... I... If I just..." Erik tried, looking around helplessly,
"... I wanted to start the journey to find a new dream with you..." he whispered, tears escaping down his masked face as he pressed multiple shaking kisses to her hand,
"... We already started that journey together Erik... And I am so sorry that I have to let you continue that path alone..." Clara whispered sadly as a tear fell down her own cheek,
"... Find a new dream for me" she begged as Erik wept, pressing her hand to his smooth cheek tightly,
"... Now run" she insisted,
"GO!" she yelled and Erik very reluctantly released her hand, taking the pocket watch she had retrieved for him and he ran... He had just reached the exit where he saw Meg and Antoinette waiting when the echo of gunshots rang throughout the tunnel,
"CLARA!" Antoinette cried, instantly understanding what had happened and Meg covered her mouth, shaking her head in horror as Erik closed his eyes tightly before forcing the former ballet mistress and her daughter into the carriage that Antoinette had collected for them and they soon rode off.
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QueenOfDisney96