Author's Note: Please enjoy my story…Honest reviews are greatly appreciated! And I don't really know where Raoul is at this moment…I'm trying to figure that out. I'll do a bit of research of the time period and see if there are any wars he could have becoming missing in action in or something along those lines…
Disclaimer: I don't own any of this. –sob- Why must they rub that in?
Chapter Two
Music of the Night
"Night-time sharpens, heightens each sensation. Darkness stirs and wakes the imagination. Silently the senses abandon the defenses…"
Christine's clouded eyes fluttered open as that voice filled her senses. From behind Christine's mirror Erik continued to sing, waking up his angel more with every powerful word.
"Slowly, gently, night unfolds its splendor. Grasp it; sense it, tremulous and tender. Turn your face away from the garish light of day. Turn your thoughts away from cold, unfeeling light – and listen to the music of the night..."
The singing stopped once more as Christine groggily lifted her head. "Angel?" She questioned, her voice soft in the silence. "Angel?" She called out again, sounding very much like a needy child. When she glanced up she saw her Angel before her, standing where her mirror should be. Her world faded to black.
When Christine came too she found she was all alone. Sitting up with a start, she was surprised to find yet another rose lying on the table among the powder brushes and heavy stage makeup. The signature black ribbon was tied securely around the middle, the two loose ends pointing in opposite directions. One pointed towards the open doorway and the promise of freedom, the other towards the mirror and the knowledge that she would be seeing her Angel again.
"This is the point of no return." Her Angel spoke once more. "Make your choice."
With one last fleeting glance towards the light that filtered in through the wide doorway, Christine turned her head full of untamable caramel-hued curls away. She knew what she wanted. She wanted Erik. Memories of the night that Erik had sung Music of the Night to her filled Christine's mind and she let the words travel from her heart to her lips.
"Close your eyes and surrender to your darkest dreams. Purge your thoughts of the life you knew before. Close your eyes, let your spirit start to soar and you'll live as you've never lived before.
"Softly, deftly, music shall caress you. Hear it, feel it, secretly posses you. Open up your mind; let your fantasies unwind in this darkness you know you cannot fight. The darkness of the music of the night.
"Let your mind start a journey to a strange new world. Leave all thoughts you knew before. Let your soul take you where you long to be. Only then can you belong to me. Floating, falling, sweet intoxication. Touch me, trust me, savor each sensation."
She paused as he appeared before her; although Christine didn't faint she did fall into his arms where Erik held her tightly without question. She allowed herself a closer look at his face. He was wearing his mask but even so, he looked sickly. There was no longer a twinkle in his eye and the side of his profile she was allowed to see had been greatly reduced to skin and bones.
Their voice combined together with seamless ease and Erik's comforting arms calmed Christine's shivers. Her fists beat against his chest as she sang; her racking sobs frequently interpreted the beauty of the song. Erik tolerated the pain that her small fists created as they struck against his malnourished body again and again. It seemed like a small price to pay for what he had gone through without her for two years. He would have tolerated a most painful death if she was by his side.
"Let the dream begin; let your darker side give in to the power of the music that I write – the power of the music of the night. You alone can make my song take flight. Help me make the music of the night."
As their singing slowly tapered to a stop, Christine's tears poured even harder onto Erik's silk vest and white ruffled shirt. Suddenly she began to speak to him.
"What did I do to you?" she whispered, "how could I have left you? Oh Angel. Raoul was fine, I loved him, yet I couldn't stop dreaming of you. Every night I dreamt of you and how I wished for you to leave me, yet I must not have wished hard enough for as soon as my eyes closed you were there, singing songs in my head. I came back to bury your corpse, as you asked, but the whole journey I was praying that you were somehow alive. And you are. I was so afraid that you had left me Erik." Her head rested serenely against his chest, her breath came out in ragged gasps as she fought to regain her composure.
He said nothing in return to her tearful confessions. Every fiber of his being was concentrated on the absorbing even the simple things about Christine – the smell of her hair, the warmth that their bodies created together as they embraced one another, the realization that she had come back to him and that yes, he was very much awake, and most of all, how she still had his ring on her finger.
