Chapter Ten
It was nearing dinnertime when Christine next woke. She rolled over in the bed, reaching for Erik and finding only empty bed. Her eyes opened widely and she searched the room. "Erik?"
"Surely you aren't planning to lie around all evening," his beautiful voice reached her ears, though from where she wasn't quite sure.
"Where did you go, my angel?"
"To get dressed," the Phantom answered as he entered the small room, buttoning the last button on his shirt and then turning his attention to the cuffs. "As you should."
"Are you feeling that much better?"
"For the moment."
Christine sighed as she pulled herself from the bed, running her hand through her tangled curls and trying to make herself look presentable. Erik did look better, she had to admit. What little colour his sun-deprived face did have had returned and his shakiness had subsided. She smiled as he crossed the distance between them and pulled her close.
"Erik?" she murmured into his shirt.
"Hmm?"
"If I ask you something, do you promise to hear me out and not become angry?"
His long fingers, which had been slowly running through her hair, suddenly stopped their motioned and he pulled just far enough away to look her in the eye. "What is it, Christine?"
"Promise."
He gave a small groan of exasperation. "Please, Christine…"
"Very well, I'll take that as a promise," she announced with a smile and kissed his cheek. "I went to talk with Madeleine."
Erik stumbled back away from her, giving a small cry. "Oh Christine! Why?"
"I had to know, Erik," she answered him truthfully. "As I told her, I do not need to know the past to love you in the present, but I want to love all of you, even your past, no matter how dark." She reached out a hand to him and he took it, pulling her close once more. "We talked a few moments and I would like it – if you would do it for me – if you and I could perhaps meet her and Marie for luncheon tomorrow. We'll be here for a bit, Erik. You cannot avoid her the entire time."
"I'm quite good at making myself scarce."
"Please, love."
"Christine, you do not understand what you are asking of me." He caressed her face and kissed the top of her head. "Love, we hate each other."
"She was cruel, even from the little she told me. Horrible and does not deserve forgiveness, but Erik, I truly believe she does not hate you, and perhaps never did. Erik, even if you never forgive her – and you have a perfect right not to – please give it one chance to see if you might."
"Why?"
"Because she seemed so… broken." She turned her eyes up to him. "Like someone else I once knew."
"You pieced me together, Christine."
"Is there not still one piece missing?"
Erik shook his head. "No. Everything I was missing was long ago filled with love for you." He sighed. "And for that reason, I'll do as you ask, but let's make it dinner. It'll give me an excuse to avoid your former suitor."
Christine laughed at this and hugged him close. "Are you well enough?"
"For the moment."
"Will it come back?"
"I… don't know. Perhaps it is over, but I highly doubt it."
"I'll be here with you."
Erik smiled down on her. "Thank you. That is what gives me the will through it."
Raoul was not surprised to hear that Erik and Christine would not be joining them, but his interest was peeked with he heard that they had made plans with Marie and her quiet friend. The servant that had given him the news shook his head sadly when asked to give more information. He could no give what he did not have.
They took dinner in the music room. Erik's eyes lit up when Christine mentioned it and she had not gotten him to sit since they hat entered. He was pacing the room, running his beautiful hands over the old piano, testing the strings of a violin, and flipping through several pieces of music. He looked up at last when the door opened and Marie poked her head in. "Are we late?"
"No, we have not been here long," Christine assured her. She watched Erik replace the music, his eyes trained first on Marie and then his mother who followed the younger woman.
Madeleine pushed a strand of grey hair back fretfully and smiled in Christine's direction, a silent thanks emitted from her eyes. "Erik," she greeted.
"Mother."
Marie seemed to light up with that single word as she scurried further into the room. "Oh Erik, dear! It's been so long! We thought you were dead, surely!"
Christine watched her as she moved closer, hands clasped over her heart. Erik had explained several things to her before they had come. One being the plain Mademoiselle Marie Perrault. She had been his mother's closest and only friend for the longest time after his birth. She had called him "Erik dear" as if it were the name that had been given to him at birth, though she shied away just as much as Madeleine did from physical contact with him. Though her words had always been kind. The diva found herself with a soft heart towards Marie that she could not yet give to Madeleine.
"Terribly sorry that I could not oblige," Erik growled, glaring ever so slightly.
Marie blushed a bit. "Oh my, no! Please don't say such things, Erik dear! It was the furthest thing from what I meant!"
A smile teased the very ends of his lips and he turned away from her, back to the music. Away from her and away from the elder woman who had said no more than his name.
Madeleine moved forward, each step as if she were pulling a great weight behind her. She knew as well as Christine did that it was taking all of his will to stand in place as she approached her son and took one of his thin, almost skeleton-like hands in her own and gripped in fiercely. "I'm sorry," she cried softly. "We came here for a civilized dinner, did we not?"
"We did." His cold tone made her shiver and let go of his hand.
"Well then," Christine said, clearing her throat to gain attention, "shall we have dinner? Then perhaps some music?"
"Music would be lovely!" Marie exclaimed with all excitement. "Did you know Madeleine was nearly an opera singer? Quite a lovely voice she has."
Christine turned questioning eyes to Madeleine and smiled. "So that's where Erik gets his talent, hmm?"
Madeleine shook her head. "No. I may have been able to sing long ago, but I don't think he got it from me."
Dinner began and ended in silence. Uncomfortable silence that reigned down around the four of them and smothered them to such an extreme that they ate hardly a thing and the wine kept coming. Erik shifted in his place, catching Christine's eye.
"Perhaps we should move onto the music now?" Christine offered as she stood.
Marie nodded her agreement. "Do you still play, Erik dear?"
"Yes."
Christine followed the Phantom to the piano that stood by the window, the dying sun playing on his features and leaving half of his face shrouded in the darkness of shadow. "What shall we sing?" she asked, touching his shoulder lightly.
He ran one hand over the ivory keys and, without warning, they began to dance across them, the notes drifting into the room. Christine smiled as she recognized it. The music that had been playing over and over again in her head the last few days. "Sing with me," she whispered into his ear and he looked startled.
"Night time sharpens, heightens each sensation. Darkness stirs and wakes imagination.. Silently the senses abandon their defenses, helpless to resist the note I write. For I compose the music of the night."
The music swayed them together as Christine joined in, her voice in perfect harmony with his. All else was lost to the music of the night. Madeleine was not standing mere feet from him, the shah was not after both of them, and they were not in Raoul de Changy's house with the possibility of death hanging very closely over the Phantom's head. They were in the darkness of paradise, the notes the only light they needed.
Christine closed her eyes and felt her soul soar as it had not in a year. The music slowed and she looked at him, their eyes meeting and Erik stared at her intensely. "Only then can you belong to me…"
As the song dwindled to the end she knelt down next to him, putting a hand on his knee and resting her head on it. Marie's quiet sigh was the only sound they heard as the music of the night's magic washed over them and finally left them to dry on the shore.
"That was truly beautiful," Madeleine said at last.
Erik seemed to startle out of a trance. He stood suddenly. "If you'll excuse me, I'm feeling ill and I shall take my leave."
Before anyone could say anything, he was gone, taking every bit of his music's magic with him out the door. Christine sighed from her place on the floor and stood. "I should go with him."
"Thank you, my dear," Marie said with a bright smile. "You don't know what you've done for two old women today."
Christine nodded, not sure of quite how to answer, and followed after her Phantom, longing for the music to return and stay.
LostSchizophrenic :Yes, I would consider that an arm and a leg, but the 300 would be considered perhaps the other arm and an eye thrown in… That's jut insane! Too expensive! I saw some twenty dollar ones… why not buy those:never understands:
Clever Lass:Yes, that is a good point, isn't it:giggles: I like the idea of a diary. That's something I haven't thought of, and a very good idea!
Allegratree:Ah now, I really enjoyed your review! Thank you very much! I'm sorry that I've confused you, but I'm glad that my notes have helped. You see, when I started this, I had gotten the impression from other fics that "The Phantom" was very widely read by other authors, but since then I've discovered not as many as I first thought, so I've been trying to add notes where I think that the story won't cover what's being talked about. I totally understand not being able to afford the book! Wow, I got mine from the library thinking "yeah, this is hard-covered, that's why it's so expensive," but I've seen some soft covered versions for more! It's ridiculous. Thank you very much for your suggestions. I'll really try to take to heart what you said about using a wider range of descriptions. About the lyrics, I'll most likely lessen them quite a bit, but my goodness! Do you not like them in the play? Or have you not heard them put to music? (didn't quite grasp what you were saying if you just didn't like how I was twisting them or them in general) If you haven't heard them on the CD or something, I highly recommend you get to your nearest library and check out the CD. The music will take your breath away like nothing else. Overall, thank you very much for your review. I do plan to write for a living, so critique on my general style is always appreciated so that I can better it for the public, Much thanks :)
Lynx Ryder:I nearly cried in the book when Madeleine wouldn't kiss Erik. She started sobbing and shoving him away and screaming at him that he must never ask that again. It was terrible! Poor Erik…
