Chapter 14: Death and Dawn

1919

Meg walked towards the grave and saw the kneeling figure. She waited for him to stand so she may see his face, but he turned as he got up." There are many stars in the sky, we were only two," the man said

" Heaven's light shines upon us both," Meg said

He turned around and Meg saw the half face mask upon his face and breathed deep.

" Do you fear me little Giry, do you falter when you see me?" he said

Meg looked at her granddaughters and then walked over towards him.

" I don't fear anyone, especially the infamous Phantom of the Opera," Meg said

" Then you are foolish little Giry," he said

Meg wrapped her arms around Erik and he kissed her head.

" Gentle Meg, how it has been so long, I have seen the world with so many wonders, but I return to where I am needed," Erik said

She looked at him and Erik lifted his left hand, revealing the ring and Meg did the same.

1899

Meg looked at Ombre and took his hand, he looked at his mother.

" Forgive me mother," he said

" Ombre, your strong you will pull through with this," Meg said, " You did all the other times, why would this be different?"

Ombre coughed and Meg looked at him, it was different. His body was failing from a type of illness, that medicine could not cure.

" It's just cold," Meg whispered

Anne looked at her husband as she stroked his head, his unmasked face showed signs of weakness. Caroline held her brother's hand and they looked at their father. Meg kissed her son and then walked out, Meg looked at Gabriel and Coeur. They hugged her and she began to cry after holding it in.

" He will pull through, he's showing no signs of truly giving up," Gabriel said

" He's so young," Meg cried

Gabriel continued to hug his mother, then the door shut and both Erik and Madame Giry came in.

" How is he?" Madame Giry asked

" The doctor said three months," Meg said

Erik looked at Meg and felt weak in the knees, she looked at Erik as he stumbled to a seat. She walked over to him and knelt down by his side, she grabbed his hands seeing pain had truly claimed his eyes.

" My son is dying, he's ill and I can't save him," Erik whispered

Meg wiped the tears away from her face and tried so hard not to cry.

" Oh, Erik," she cried

As the months went by Meg, Erik, Gabriel and Madame Giry stayed at Ombre's home. They were not leaving his presence, Anne did not leave his side at all, from morning to evening she was there. Meg stayed with Erik as he tried to cope with his son's illness. He would go in there to talk to him in private and Meg would listen.

" Papa," Ombre whispered, " play it for me."

Erik knelt down to his son's side and lifted the violin and began to play it. Meg watched her son listen to the music. Anne walked in with Meg and began to sing the song Erik played.

" Your way of playing is just like mine," Ombre whispered

Erik sat the violin down and Ombre sat up weakly and reached over. He handed something to Erik and Erik looked at it. He undid the leather sheet music holder and saw the official scores of Don Juan Triumphant. Erik looked at Ombre and he once more reached over and grabbed a long skinny box. Erik opened it and saw Ombre's finest conductor's wand.

" Papa, conduct it for me, it will be presented tomorrow," Ombre said, " I want you to be there in my place…live the dream you never got to live."

Erik looked at his son and hugged him and Meg began to tear up. It was Erik's promise that he would conduct the piece.

The next evening, at the performance, Erik looked at the full house. He looked at box five where Meg, Gabriel, Coeur, Ombre, and Madame Giry sat. Erik walked out and the house stood up and applauded him as he walked to the pit. Erik looked at Ombre's musicians and played the Overture of Don Juan Triumphant. Erik began to play and the curtain rose and he watched as once more his piece came alive again…this time he was the one presenting the music. Ombre looked at Meg and grabbed her hand and she smiled and then looked at Erik as he fully opened up to the living notes.

By the end of the play Erik played something else and the audience looked at him. Ombre looked at his father and Anne walked out and began to sing 'Think of Me'. Erik looked up at box five and saw Meg smiling. Ombre looked at his father seeing he had more planned.

Erik played all the songs that Ombre remade from his time and a song that Ombre knew and one other person new, but she was not present. Anne sang all the songs and looked up at Ombre. Erik walked on stage and with Anne bowed and he presented the musicians. The audience roared with applause and Erik looked at them as they just applauded it.

That night, Anne kissed Ombre good night and walked out.

" Perhaps this is the cure, is his music," Anne said

Erik was playing the violin for Ombre as he fell asleep and the others were sitting down for tea.

" Music cures everything and Ombre will be cured," Gabriel said, " His life supply is music."

Meg sighed and heard the door open and Erik walked out. He looked at them and told them that Ombre was asleep. He joined them for some tea and then went out to play the violin as he did, since he came to be with his son as he died. Meg watched him and sighed and soon went off to bed

1900

Meg and Erik looked the grave stone as they placed Ombre's body to rest. They tossed the red roses into the grave and bid their son goodbye. Anne sang a song of mourning, but welcomed light as new life. She looked at everyone as they bid Ombre goodbye. Her tears were the hardest to bare, the tears of a mourning wife. Meg fell into Erik's arms as he held her tight. Gabriel was taken into Coeur's arms, as they mourned together. Ombre's 20 musicians and the opera company came to bid him a final goodbye.

There was mourning that year and it continued for three years. Ombre became a legend those years. Anne, Caroline, and Charles moved away from the house by the sea and moved into her father's summer home in Paris.

Meg and Erik stayed together for awhile until Gabriel and Coeur's children, Catherine and Nathalie, were born. Erik disappeared for the longest time, a letter came every once and awhile, to Gabriel and Coeur, but never to Meg. It was as though he didn't want her to know where he was. Meg would often think of him and she would fall ill thinking of him too. Gabriel and Coeur took Meg in to allow her the chance to see Erik when he returned. Meg spent many days and night trying find out where Erik was. She would leave for certain amounts of time and visit Anne and the children.

By the end of 1912 Meg was reconstructing her life again, without Erik in it. She was a grandmother of four and happy to be just a grandmother. Erik would return, he always did and she would meet with him again.

" Mama, why don't you take the girl's sometime to the Opera Populaire," Gabriel suggested

" There's to much history there Gabriel, something they wouldn't truly understand just yet," Meg said

" I see cause your history with Papa," Gabriel said

Meg laughed a little and said, " Why are you suddenly calling him Papa?"

" I've always, though I'm not in a professional setting. So, why can't I relive my youthful days around you?" Gabriel stated

Meg smiled and hugged Gabriel and she told him a story about how she use to not let Erik see him. It was then that Gabriel understood why Erik favored him over Ombre, though loved his younger son. Gabriel had been stolen from Erik's fatherly love because Erik didn't marry Meg. The love hate relationship played on for 8 years, but four years was over Gabriel. He laughed at his mother and father's youthful anger and found it was pure love that made them come back to each other, though never married.

1919

Meg looked at Erik and then looked at her granddaughters, she told them to come over. Catherine and Nathalie walked over and looked at Erik as he stood there.

" Is that 'Him'?" Nathalie asked

" Him?" Erik asked

" Yes, it is," Meg replied

Nathalie and Catherine walked over to him and hugged him tight.

" Grandfather it's been so long," both said

Erik looked at the two girls and then knelt down and hugged them. He lifted Nathalie up into his arms and smiled. Meg smiled and kissed Erik and he looked at her. They walked back to Ombre's grave and then walked down to the other side, but then noticed someone entering the grave yard. Meg looked at the old man in a wheel chair and looked at Erik as he walked on.

" It's Raoul," Meg said

Erik looked over from the distance and saw him place the music box on Christine's grave, Erik smiled then walked on. He still watched as Raoul looked about after seeing the rose.

" Who is he?" Catherine asked

" He's the Vicomte de Chagny, your grandfather's old rival," Meg said

" Oh," Catherine replied

Meg smiled and caught up with Erik as they walked into the setting sun and got into the car. Meg looked at Erik and kissed him once more.

" Death and Dawn, two different worlds, which come together as one," Meg whispered, " Erik, you and I are really not all that different."

The End