Disclaimer: I do not own Erik...but I own his true love and everyone he cares about. Mah ha ha...i'm okay now.
Agent Alexandra Paris: Lol, i'm not sure precious is what I was going for with that particular kiss but okay. :smiles: i'm just happy no one flamed me for it I thought it was fun to write.
Miranda de la Costa: I missed you! I'm glad your back on Veronica, and I loved your new chapter. I'm glad you liked mine. Don't leave again any time soon its no fun without your input.
MickeyP: I'm glad to hear you like mine. And its awesome to finally hear from a fellow Texan. I usually play Magic Island up there so I hopefully do real magic as well as I write. Thanks for the awesome compliment I hope you like the rest. And if Phantom's Lair ever opens you'll get an invite like all my reviewers would.
xxXGoddessXofXdeadXloveXxx: Everything has to eventually come to an end, even this story. There are still two more guaranteed chapters left though so don't worry. I'll make them worth while.
Count Orlok: Thank you monsieur, i'm glad you liked it.
Nemi Jade: : looks at Nemi Jade cautiously: I'm not sure we should let you have one. Happy punjab lasso wielders only mean bad news and i'd like to live through this story. Thanks for the review.
Author's Note: Thanks everyone for wishing me a Happy Valentine's Day! I was all alone on the holiday so it meant allot to me. This chapter won't start off with the musical but i'll get to it soon enough so don't worry, though your probably happy the story will be a chapter longer then intended. First we need a cameo by Malcolm. Yeah! And how about some aerial acrobatics by Erik and Ariel: evil smile:
aerial is the name of acrobatic tricks done in the air like flying trapeze, high wire and the spanish web. You learn allot of strange knowledge after being with a circus for twelve years so stick with me on this.
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Chapter 19: I'll Sweep You Off Your Feet
A few days had past and Darius was completely avoiding Erik unless they had a scene to practice together. And due to Anthony's careful planning those scenes weren't brought up often saying that they didn't need much practice anyway.
By now at least three more songs had been added to the script and most were sung by Ariel so the cast was spared more lyrics to memorize. But they were given plenty of entertainment by watching Ariel and Erik perform their numbers together. Electricity sparked whenever they sang or were even on the stage at the same time.
At the same time, Anthony and Giselle were training two of the understudies to play them for the musicals full month run. The Carters had made some time to at least perform the first two shows before they were dragged away for the official 'Phantom' stage production. And everyone else planned for Anthony and Giselle's farewell party which was to be the night before the musicals opening night.
Ariel had just finished typing up one of the musicals last scenes on her laptop while rehearsals were in full tilt on stage. Not many of the cast could actually read Erik's handwriting so Ariel had taken it upon herself to transcribe the entire script to make it easier. It was only one of the last scenes because Erik had not produced the very last scene yet. There's a party tonight, the new production tomorrow and the man won't give me the last scene or even the story's title. Ariel thought with a small growl. Her fingers typed unnecessarily hard on the laptops keyboard and Veronica flinched. Deciding to talk to the theater owner later.
No one seemed to share Ariel's feelings about the unfinished, nameless musical. Leading her to believe that she wasn't being allowed to see everything, again. She looked up from the table set up in front of the stage where she was working to see Erik without his cape on today, tugging furiously at a rope attached to the rafters instead of the fly bars for some reason. Ariel, her brow furrowed in confusion looked around to see no one was in the auditorium. She groaned, Veronica must have come to tell her that everyone was taking a lunch break. Which led to the question.
Why was Erik still working?
Ariel left the laptop behind and crept onto the stage while Erik's attention was on the line he was still fighting with. She felt strange because this wasn't usually that easy, Erik always caught her long before she even attempted to suprise him. She had to conceal a giddy laughter at being able to sneak up on the phantom for the first time.
Ariel came up behind Erik and quickly wrapped her arms around his waist held tight just incase he tried to throw her off on impulse before realizing it was her. At the same time Erik had given the rope one last viscous yank and Ariel saw a weight finally come loose and make its descent to the stage. " Hold on!" Was the only warning she got from Erik as he held onto the rope and they were both quickly lifted off the stage floor. Ariel tightened her hold and screamed before they came to a stop halfway up. With their feet dangling above the ground Ariel looked at the sand bag hanging parallel beside. With both of them hanging on one end of the rope they were the same weight as the sand bag, meaning they weren't going anywhere unless one of them let go. Erik had put enough weight on the other end to take him up to the rafters at a dangerous speed. Looking down Ariel saw they weren't that high off the ground that a drop would kill them, but it would sure as hell hurt.
" Erik, what the hell were you thinking. Rigging a line to the top without a spotter, are you crazy!" Ariel yelled at him though having the front of her body pressed into his back to keep a hold on him was muffling the volume of her words.
Erik chuckled. " Only as crazy as you were to grab hold of me mon amie. I I've done this for years as a means of escape." He said and Ariel tightened her grip intentionally to drive the breathe from him. Erik coughed for a moment and started to sway on the rope. Ariel screamed again. " Don't do that!" She yelled. " Then don't do something that might make me lose my grip." He warned, meaning her unnecessarily constricting hold. " Fine." She said. " Now how do we get down?" She asked frantically.
Ariel hadn't been on a fly line since the performance of 'Angels Prayer' when Anthony had the brilliant idea of using a fly line like this to lift them both up like angels going to heaven in one of her more tragedy/romance scripts. She had refused to use a fly line since. And they had been wearing rigging harnesses then. Not dangling freely like she and Erik were.
" Erik?" She asked again when he didn't answer right away. He was studying how far up they were and how far the rafters were. Ariel didn't like this at all.
" Have you ever seen a circus Ariel?" Erik asked, she just stared at the back of his head in disbelief. " What does that have to do with this?" She asked. " Just answer me, have you ever seen the aerial acts. Flying trapeze, high wire, web...anything?" He repeated and Ariel could see that he was slowly loosing his grip on the rope. " Yes. I remember the web, where the girl does tricks on the single rope..." She paused then panicked.
" There is no way i'm getting up there."
" Your going to have to Ariel, I can't hold on much longer with both of us on here. And I can land better then you can at this height. You'll go up quickly once I let go but it will only go up to the catwalk. When you stop, swing yourself to the catwalk and i'll be up there as soon as I can." Erik said and Ariel knew that if he lost his grip, both of them falling together would be more dangerous then Erik just letting go.
Ariel told herself to stop acting stupid and do what Erik said. He probably knew better then her at the moment anyway, but she couldn't help the frightened whimper that escaped her lips.
" I wouldn't let you do this if I wasn't sure it would work mon amie, just trust me." Erik said gently and Ariel sighed.
Yeah, remember trust. It got you two together, this should be nothing compared to that. Ariel thought sarcastically. She took a deep breathe and wrapped her legs around Erik's waist so she could put her hands on the rope above his. She released her legs and she dangled in front of Erik, he smiled at her as his grip started to slip beneath hers.
" Are you ready?" He asked, Ariel shook her head immediately. " Good. On three then. I'll be at the top, so don't worry." He said and Ariel closed her eyes. " One, two, three...I love you." He said in a teasing voice, Ariel opened her eyes at the last one and Erik let go.
Erik landed gracefully on the stage below but Ariel didn't have time to register his safety as she was pulled higher up at a breathtaking pace. When the sandbag hit the stage she was stopped again, jerked around violently like a rag doll on a string. Ariel gritted teeth and held on. Erik's feet banged against the ladder as he hurried up to where she was.
Ariel's breathe was coming in gasps and she didn't even have the courage to look down. Being the owner made it need to know information on what the height of her own building was. Ariel's hands were sweating and making it hard to hold on, so she took a breathe to steady herself.
Ariel started to swing forward, towards the catwalk as Erik had said to do. Her heart was ready to give out each time she swayed, she felt her hands inch down lower on the rope. She pointed her toes and managed to hit the railing twice. One big swing and she managed to hook the back of her ankles to the railing halting at an odd vertical angle while she still held the rope.
" Yeah this is great." She mumbled as she slowly shimmied her foot forward until she had her knees bent around the railing. The question now was if her legs were strong enough to keep her on the railing if she let go of the rope? " Okay on three then." She said, repeating Erik's words before. She squeezed her eyes shut and let out a little prayer.
" One, two...ahhhhhh!" Ariel screamed when arms wrapped around her waist at the same time she let go. She reached out and grasped Erik's shoulders for balance so that she didn't fall backwards. He pulled her off the railing and held her, Ariel didn't physically protest the comfort but she did vocally.
" When the feeling comes back to my legs i'm going to kill you!" Ariel said in an attempt to sound angry but it was hard to do between terrified gasps. Erik chuckled and stroked her hair to calm her. " I'll let you strike me once you regain your strength. Lets get you back to the stage for right now." He said and before Ariel could protest he gathered her in his arms and made his way down the more convenient staircase.
Once on the stage they decided to leave the fly line out of the musical and not mention it to the cast either. Erik wanted to until Ariel threatened him with her complete artistic takeover of the production if he did. He brushed her hair aside and kissed her in amends. " I managed to sweep you off your feet after all." He said and Ariel finally hit him upside the head without knocking his mask off.
Chapter 20: Our Informal Goodbyes
Malcolm Amos was fidgeting with his tie as he walked in Phantom's Lair's back door. The stage was filled with cast, crew and guests talking and laughing around him. He'd been invited to the Carter's farewell party, but he was worried because the invitation wasn't signed. He brushed his black curls back from his eyes in a nervous gesture, there was no swagger to his step. This theater always seemed to strip that overconfidence from him each time.
" Punctual as ever Malcolm."
Malcolm turned to the familiar voice and saw Ariel standing behind him. Instead of fear he felt a surge of happiness fill him at the sight of her. He was taken aback at the pure beauty of her that he had somehow forgotten in the last year. Her green eyes glittered and Malcolm was reminded of their last encounter a few weeks ago when anger had been in those jewel eyes.
" I was invited." Malcolm said quickly, producing the invitation as proof before she could yell at him.
Ariel smirked. " I know, that has nothing to do with you being late though. The party started at five and it's almost six now. Honestly how do the producers at Phantom actually deal with your constant tardiness. It always bugged the hell out of me." She said and winked before walking off.
I'm in a time warp, that's what's going on. Malcolm thought to himself as he watched Ariel walk away and talk to a very sophisticated, pretty, young woman with short auburn hair. Malcolm noticed his ex was pointing at him while she spoke to the woman. Both women smiled and the young woman came over to Malcolm.
" Hi, i'm Veronica Smith. I took over Felicity's role as Carlotta last year. It's nice to finally meet Phantom's Lair's first Phantom." She said cheerfully, smiling genuinely at him. Malcolm was suprised to find someone in the cast who he didn't know. They shook hands.
" I'm Malcolm Amos. Its nice to meet you too Veronica. You must be the only one here who doesn't want me dead so even nicer to have met you." Malcolm said and Veronica laughed, she had a deep laugh that turned out to be very contagious.
" That's true besides Darius. He's glad to know your not on the black list anymore. He keeps telling what a wonderful voice you have at least i'll get to hear it during the new production." Veronica said.
Malcolm had received a message from Anthony a few days before saying that Erik wanted him to come in and sing the song ' She Used To Be Mine' for the new musical. After it was guaranteed that
1. Ariel was all right with the whole thing and
2. She wouldn't try to kill him, Malcolm agreed.
Erik and Malcolm practiced the scene together while Ariel was out buying supplies for the party and they decided not to practice the audition scene so it would be fresh. Malcolm wasn't sure if he liked that part.
" How is Darius, is he still chasing anyone who wears the mask?" Malcolm asked, sending a teasing smile in Darius direction who was with his boyfriend Jeremy.
Veronica laughed again and Malcolm liked it. " Oh god is he! Erik nearly killed Darius twice for trying to lock lips with him. At least he's smart enough to keep his distance from Erik since he got what he wanted."
" No way, Darius's whole dive and kiss thing finally worked." Malcolm asked with an expression of utter shock and utter amusement. " I can't believe Jeremy has stuck with him all this time."
" Oh Jeremy takes Darius's antics lightly. Their going up to Canada in the off season to get married and they want the whole theater company to go with them. " Veronica said and smiled at the happy couple who were talking with Erik who had finally gotten over the entire incident.
" Come on, we better get something to drink before Ariel starts in on her speech. I get parched just listening to her." Veronica said with a evil smile and Malcolm followed the woman without much persuasion. Veronica was definitely different.
Ariel went in search of Erik after her little matchmaking scheme and didn't find him with Jeremy and Darius where she had left him. In fact he wasn't anywhere on the stage and she needed him before she could start the speech. Ariel stood off by the wings in hopes to spot him in the crowd. She didn't see the figure creep up behind her until he wrapped his arms around her waist from behind. She was startled for a moment, when she saw who it was she sank back in his embrace.
" I take it that that is your doing." Erik whispered in her ear and she felt the cool porcelain of his mask brush her throat. " Hmmm?" She asked and looked in the direction Erik meant, seeing Malcolm and Veronica talking at one of the stage tables and laughing. Ariel smiled. " Maybe just a little friendly matchmaking and revenge mixed in one."
Erik chuckled and kissed her bare shoulder. " I knew there was a reason I loved you." He said and Ariel couldn't help but laugh. " Did I manage to tell you how beautiful you are seraph?" He asked.
" Almost twelve times now Erik." She said and turned in his arms so she faced him. Ariel was wearing the dress she and Giselle had bought the day of Meg's sudden appearance. She was hapy that it had had the intended reaction on Erik. " And did I tell you how handsome you look?" She asked and Erik scoffed. " You've obviously been telling someone else that." He said.
Ariel frowned and backed Erik farther into the shadows. When she knew no one would see them she deftly untied Erik's mask before he could protest. He gave her an annoyed glare that was harmless when she bared his full face. Ariel smirked. " No monsieur, I meant you. The most handsome man here and I wouldn't want anyone else." She said and Erik shook his head.
"You are strange mademoiselle." He said with a smile before kissing her which Ariel happily returned. She pulled away and handed him back the mask before stepping away. " Now come on, we have a couple of friends who are waiting for out speech." Ariel said.
Erik and Ariel walked into the middle of the room to call everyone's attention to them. " Madame's, mademoiselle's and monsieur's." Ariel called out. " We are here tonight to officially say goodbye to two of our most wonderful actors. Though they will still perform with us for the next four days, tonight was their last performance of Christine Daae and Erik Destler the Phantom. Anthony, Giselle if you two would over here."
There was a large applause as the two came to stand beside Erik and Ariel in the center of the room. Erik and Anthony shook hands while Ariel and Giselle hugged each other.
" I'm told that there is a tradition called the passing of the mask between the past and future actors to play the phantom." Erik said and Anthony nodded. " As well the past actor is asked to sing one last song to his leading lady." Erik continued and gave Giselle a small bow. " You have both become great friends to me since I first arrived and I hope that friendship will last beyond your stay here." Anthony and Giselle were happy to hear Erik's confession. Anthony pulled his stage mask out of his suit jacket and handed it to Erik who took it humbly.
Ariel ran back from the apartment with a small white box. She opened it and inside was a music box, a mask and rose gracing the lid. " We had a specially made music box for you two. We hope that you'll remember your times here at Phantom's Lair Theater whenever you play it." Ariel said and handed Giselle the music box. She opened it and inside was figures of there characters dancing to 'Music of the Night' while in the lid was a picture of Anthony in Giselle in costume, kissing each other on stage.
" Oh you all, this is wonderful!" Giselle said tearfully and she hugged both Ariel and Erik again. " This is so beautiful !"
" We'll I should hope so, it took forever for us to get that thing to work." Darius yelled indignantly and everyone laughed. Ariel pulled Anthony and Giselle over to the piano.
" All right Anthony, I hope you have a song ready. Cause its time for you to sing." She said and sat the actor down on the piano bench. The man just smiled and Giselle sat down beside him. Anthony kissed his wife. " I know exactly what to sing." He said and started playing a tune that made everyone cheer before joining in.
It was hours before Erik and Ariel made their way up to the apartment, both tired and ready to go to their respectful beds. They were both laughing when they reached the door and were greeted by Ghost.
" Oh my god, it only took a few drinks and they were kissing. That was too easy." Ariel said, trying to regain her breathe.
Malcolm and Veronica had been found during the parties end making out behind a set piece. No one let them live it down all night and they stuck together through the rest of the night. Ariel had no idea where they went afterwards.
Erik looked at the woman he loved as she laughed, her eyes glittering from the few drinks she had had herself. She was absolutely beautiful in the white gauzy dress she had come downstairs in earlier that evening. The way she looked had made his heart stop and he had wanted nothing more then to gather her in his arms for the second time that day and never let her go. It was amazing to realize that she loved him just as much as he loved her.
Ariel's laugher sobered under Erik's silent gaze. She turned her head to the side in a thoughtful way. " What?" She asked with a childish grin. Erik shook his head and took her into his arms. " Nothing, I love you that's all." He said. Ariel raised an eyebrow. " That's all?" She asked. Erik nodded.
" That's all."
" Good." She said with a smile and kissed him. " Because I love you too."
" Then that's how it ends." Erik said. Ariel pulled away before he could kiss her. " What do you mean?" Erik smiled. " The last scene of ' The Love I Only Knew.' This is how it will end. Just like this..." And Erik leaned down, kissing her so deeply that Ariel sighed into his lips.
Finally...one good end to a night and the end to our musical. Ariel thought as she wrapped her arms around his neck. I love my life...
Author's Note: I just had an urge to write that chapter for some odd reason. My god it took forever to write it though. Some cute moments with Erik and Ariel and tying up some loose ends. Some of it was a bit rushed, and the song Anthony sings to Giselle will be in the musical ' The Love I Only Knew'. And Erik really isn't going to end the musical as he said, that man is so crafty. The musical is next this time. Tell me what you think of this one though, I know there's allot of you out there reading this so let me hear you guys. Review. I love new people. :smirks: