Author's Note: Ahh.. I'm sleepy. Five chapters straight and it leads to.. PLOP. Bah, I need some thinkin' time in Pooh corner or something.

wanders off in a Pooh Bear costume thumping her forehead

Think.. Think..

Review this please, let me know what you think so far.

Music for chapter: Happy Ending by Avril Lavigne

Chapter 5: Gifts come in many forms

Something very hairy and stiff landed on Erik's outstretched fingers.
Although he gave it no heed while his sobs still wracked his frame, it
continued to be lifted and dropped repeatedly on his fingertips. It wasn't
until something faintly sharp nipped the end of his fingertips that
he looked sharply up, pulling himself up into a defensive position in a
flash.

Two large green eyes stared back at him with a shine of wonderment and worry
behind the carcass held firmly in it's mouth. Erik pulled back and let his
eyes adjust to the light in the small cabin and realized that his hands were
covered with blood. He pulled back and checked himself over to make sure
there were no open wounds, he then found none. The cat on the end of the bed was
however growing impatient and waddled cautiously over to him and dropped the
rat at his knees. Letting out a soft meow, it sat back on
it's haunches and watched him carefully as it did so.

The rat was roughly the width of a man's thigh and the length of a man's
forearm, and smelled of rot. It's blood continued to seep from the tear in
it's gut. Such sights would have been normal to Erik from so many years
underneath the opera house and seeing a rat of this size wasn't particularly
common. However, in the fragile state Erik was in, he was not feeling particularly gracious. He sharply tossed the carcass off the bed with a flick of his wrist, and turned his back to the feline.

As he did so, he heard a hiss. Erik then felt an incredibly sharp pain along his
shoulders. Screaming out in pain, he reached around to find that his
hands had fresh blood upon them this time, this time this blood was his own.

Swirling around to catch the cat, he managed to swat one of
it's legs as it jumped off the edge of the bed to retrieve the carcass.
Cursing under his breath, Erik jumped off the bed and almost caught the
feline, however his body was curiously weak. His usual responses and
swift reflexes were completely thrown off, leaving him staggering and as
graceful as a drunken elephant. Shaking his head, he attempted to recover and
corner the feline.

"Beast.. how dare you strike me.." Erik said in a searing whisper as he
closed in on the animal.
The cat looked incredibly apprehensive and angry as it continued to back
itself into the corner. It's ears were pulled back, fur on end, and back
arched to appear larger and more of an opponent to match Erik's looming threat. Having already dropped the rat, the cat was preparing itself for an attack. Erik was about three
feet away, the anger resonating in his amber eyes, as he slowly closed in the
space step by step.

"I never would have imagined a man of your magnitude reduced yourself to taking
revenge upon a feline." A familiar voice rang out behind Erik.

The sudden noise completely distracted Erik, he turned to respond. The cat
took full advantage of the turn of events and struck out, slashing Erik
across his good cheek.

"AHH! God!" Erik cried as he fell to his knees, holding his bandaged hand to
his cheek. The cat quickly made it's way out of the corner and behind the
legs of the intruder.

Erik lay in his position, on all fours with one cheek held with his
hand, blood dripping from between his fingers. He shook with the pain that
coursed through his cheek, however remained completely silent. His golden
eyes looking through his clutched fingers over at the beast between Nadir's
legs. The feline was looking out from it's fleshy fortress, apprehensively at Erik and hissing. His ember eyes flashed
with unimaginable hatred as Erik slowly reached out to the bed and pulled
himself up.

Nadir simply stood back watching him. Within his hands he held a silver tray
with several different containers. His tall figure patiently remained in the
same position, the feline interweaving amongst his legs in a purring
euphoria, occasionally looking up at Erik and hissing.

Placing the tray to the side, Nadir finally broke the silence and offered
his hand to the fallen man. Erik quietly took it in appreciation and
struggled to a standing position. His other hand still holding his bleeding
cheek and his eyes still burning with anger as he reached over and sat on
the bed.

Nadir walked silently to the other side of the room to a plain dresser and
retrieved some clean linen from one of the drawers and placed them on top.
Along the surface of the dresser was a porcelain water basin and pitcher, from which he
poured some clean water upon the linen and soaked it through. His back to
Erik, he noticed the rat carcass on the floor as the cat moved to retrieve
the precious prize. As the cat graciously fed on it's feast, Nadir finished soaking the bandages and made
his way over to Erik.

"Please remove your hand, and your shirt."

Erik voicelessly complied and did as he was told. Cursing aloud as the
fabric was removed from the scratch. However, he kept his hand to his cheek
as the Persian moved over to him and touched the wet cloth to his flesh wound
draped down his shoulder. A new wave of pain washed over Erik as the water
was pressed against the newest tear amongst other scars lining his back.
He remained silent despite the pain, his eyes remained riveted upon
the cat blissfully eating at his prize.

Nadir stared across the back of his friend. The criss-crossed scars were
even worse then he remembered. Some as thick as his thumb and others so
small they could have been mistaken for a white hair. The only other man
that he had witnessed having such cruel reminders of punishment was a man that had
stolen from the street markets of his homeland. A loaf of bread had earned
him a lifetime in prison, with daily lashings. Erik however, was simply
born with a face that had earned him cruelty beyond almost anyone's
understanding.

"I see that Shiva brought you a gift." Nadir commented on lightly.

"A gift?.. That ROTTING corpse is a gift!." Erik spat.

"I also see that you rejected it, and received another gift.. or two."

"I am no mood for your jesting Nadir, please tell me how badly I'm injured
and allow me to clean the wounds myself." Erik moved to take the washcloth,
and Nadir sharply pulled it away.

"That rat happens to be quite the prize in her eyes, and your rejection of
what is most valuable to her has created great pain in her heart. So she
shared that pain with you as well." Nadir noted. "You might also want to
take care not to hurt her feelings any further. A cat capable of catching a
rat of that size, and is also known to claw through sails like a baby, would
through tissue, is quite capable of scratching quite deeper than you
assume."

Nadir continued to soft pressure of the cloth to his wounds.
"Though this feels deep, she actually only scratched you slightly. She has
become quite the master of inflicting wounds, a genius at her art if you please." Nadir had finished with his shoulder and moved to touch his cheek. Erik turned sharply away from him and sat defensively.

"Please allow me to see your cheek," he said sharply as more of a statement then a request. Nadir's hand reached up, and
Erik quickly slapped it away. Nadir however, was not amused and quickly
grabbed Erik's wrist and held it away. "This scratch is not nearly as
superficial.. She apparently felt incredibly threatened when she created
this one."

The flesh wound extended from the side of his ear and down his jaw line. The
wound was deep, but only enough so that it would leave a hairline scar.
Erik on the other hand hissed in pain when it was touched. "God.. has
cursed my other cheek" Erik sighed in pain with a heavy coat of cynicism.

"On the contrary, it will only leave a small scar", noted Nadir as he
cleaned the wound and rested the bandage on the cheek. Nadir then pulled Erik's own
hand up to hold the cloth stationary. He then took a seat in a small chair
across from the bed and watched Erik calmly. "I have brought you food, you
haven't eaten in quite a long time." the Persian then indicated to the tray
he left on the far side of the bed.

It was at the mention of food that Erik noticed how horribly hungry he
really was. His stomach twisted in agony upon smelling the steam rising
from the various dishes upon the tray. Without his mental consent, his hands
automatically reached and pulled the tray to his lap. Gingerly fingering
the various utensils he removed the lids from each container and ate rapidly. Not really even stopping to taste, but simply consume. There
were many exotic dishes; some that Erik knew from European styles to
some similar to Persian cuisine, even some Erik never thought could exist delighted his taste buds for as long as he would allow them to savor the flavor.

Nadir remained still, watching Erik before a soft tuft of fur brushed past
his fingers. Realizing that Shiva was still present and apparently done
with her meal, he walked to the door and promptly opened it far enough for
the cat to escape.

"How can you help that creature after what it did to me?" Erik had finished
and was watching Nadir release the cat. Nadir smiled and walked calmly back
to the chair, "the cat has done nothing to me to merit that
I should harm it. You hurt her as badly as she hurt you".

"How? I never touched her." Erik snapped back, placing the tray to the side
and replacing the cloth to his face. "She has marred the only part of my
face that I almost considered worthy of this world, and then she runs to
someone I would assume would know exactly what to do with such wild
creatures."

"And what would that be Erik?" Nadir stated calmly.

"Well. Kill her." Erik stated flatly with no emotion.

"Kill the animal? After she watched you toil in fever and agony for three
weeks? Tossing and turning, you remained in pain, and she slept by your
side almost every single night. I tried to remove her, locked her out so
many times I couldn't count. She, however, somehow found her own secret
passageway into the room and refused to leave your side." Nadir stated in a
slightly elevated voice, "Upon seeing you awake she recognized you hadn't
eaten, so what does she do? Searches out the entire ship for the largest
and most prized piece of food she can find, and promptly delivers it upon
hearing your heartfelt sobs. And what do you do?.. Toss it, disregard her
efforts and her love because it didn't come in the form you wanted. That
all of her efforts and love were not enough for what you expected. Is this
the man you've become Erik? A man no more shallow than the wound on your
face?"

Nadir's voice became stronger and stronger in Erik's mind, but in actuality
his voice had never raised nor changed much tone. Erik's face grimaced in
anger as his own voice rose. "My FACE has no place in this conversation and
I wish for you to never speak of it again!"

"I spoke of what the cat has done to you.." Nadir sighed.

Silence reigned in the room as both sat in contemplation.

"I... I'm sorry Nadir." Erik sputtered as he leaned back upon the bed.

Nadir sighed and sat back more comfortably against his chair as he looked
over his friend. It had been three weeks since he had brought him on board
as he had noted. His 'walk' in the rain had caused his entire
body to be consumed by one of the fiercest fevers Nadir had ever seen in
his life. Each port they had stopped off at along Spain and Portugal, he
had retrieved a doctor to administer as much as he could before they moved
on. Each one had given the prognosis of death and suggested to giving up. But Nadir
refused and continued forward. Now as they were barely leaving the ocean
territories of Portugal and entering the Cape Verde Plain of the North
Atlantic Ocean, Nadir knew that he had done the right thing in finding his
friend.

"You have fresh clothing in that dresser behind me. If you feel you would
like to get fresh air, please let me know by knocking three times on the
wall behind your headboard. It is located directly beneath my own room and
I will be able to hear it and come to get you." Nadir continued, "If there
is anything you should need, I will come if you knock. If not, I am
attending to the needs of the ship, and simply knock at the end of each
hour."

"Why are you keeping me down here?" Erik sighed, thinking back to his
captivity by the gypsies and twitching at the thought of his own friend
keeping him from his freedom.

"Because my crew.."

"Ha.. They fear me.. Correct?" Erik snorted and sat back sharply against the
plain headboard, making it thump the wall.

"No" Nadir continued, "Because they will frighten you."

His words struck Erik funny, his golden eyes searching Nadir's deep brown
eyes for expression of mockery or jest. But there was none to be found. He
was completely serious.

With that said, Nadir quickly gathered all of the dishes upon the silver
tray, and left. Quietly locking the door behind himself.