YOU GUYS! I'm so glad you commented and liked it! Yay!I feel all warm and gushy inside...tear Heh...Anyways...Yeah! Must post more now. :) This chapter is a little longer than the last. Hope you like!
Elsa's eyes fluttered opened again-this time for real, as she had just woken up from a seemingly long sleep. She was lying on a bed. A very soft bed, she noticed. With red velvet sheets.
"Ah, Christine's bed," Elsa muttered.
A veil was drawn around the bed, keeping in the darkness of the room.
"This is insane...Next thing I'll do is start singing about..." She got up and lifted the veil, walking out onto a stone 'lanai'.
She couldn't help herself. Something about this place filled her with longing. She started singing:
"I remember there was mist...Swirling mist upon a vast, glassy lake...There were candles all around and on the lake there was a boat..."
But she stopped herself and looked to her right. There, sitting at his piano was Erik. When Elsa closed her mouth abruptly, finally realizing what she was doing, and clapped a hand over it, he turned his head.
"Crap what did I do?" Elsa thought. She remained standing in her spot, her hands dropped limp from emabarrasment.
"Mademoiselle," Erik called, still softly, from his piano. "Come here, will you?"
Elsa bit her lip. But she walked slowly towards him, afraid she might be an idiot, continue singing and rip off his mask just because she had seen Christine do it 8 times in the theater. She vowed not to though, and clasped her hands behind her back.
She stood beside his piano nervously, waiting for him to speak again.
He studied her, thought for a moment, then played a piece of music on his piano. "You know this melody?" He continued on to play 'Think of Me'.
Elsa nodded. She loved that song. She could play it on her violin at home.
"Sing," he commanded.
It wasn't a harsh command, but Elsa felt inclined to do so. And she did. She sang, along with Erik's piano:
"Think of me, think of me fondly when we've said goodbye...Remember me once in awhile, please promise me you'll try...When you find that once again you long to take your heart back and be free, if you ever find a moment, spare a thought for me..."
She looked at him as he played a musical 'break'. He looked up at her, still playing and nodded, asking her to continue.
"We never said our love was evergreen, or as unchanging as the sea...But if you can still remember, stop and think of me...Think of all the things we've shared and seen...Don't think about the way things might have been...Think of me, think of me waking silent and resigned...Imagine me trying too hard to put you from my mind...Recall those days, look back on all those times, think of the things we'll never do...There will never be a day when I won't think of you..."
He continued quickly, skipped a few bars of music and came to the last part of the song quickly, taking Elsa off guard, but she caught the music just in time to sing:
"Flowers fade, the fruits of summer fade, they have their seasons so do we...But please promise me that sometime you will think..." She continued, to her ultimate surprise, the operatic notes at the end of the song. Then: "...Of me!"
Elsa took a breath and thought, "Wow."
Erik looked at her in what she found to be astonishment. But was it a good astonishment? Please please please be good so he wouldn't have to kill her.
"Your voice," he began after a long silence, "is truly amazing. No real lessons though, I take it? No, not from a real teacher. Your voice is good...What you could do with a real Master..." he trailed off. He stood from his bench and walked towards her.
"Don't faint again," was all Elsa could think. She focused on his face. Perhaps not the smartest thing to do. He was so very handsome...
"Another Margaurita?" he pondered. "A fresh face after Miss Daae?"
Elsa gulped. Too loudly.
"Don't be frightened, mademoiselle. No, indeed; be joyful. I'll be taking you on as a new student. What is your name?"
"Elsa."
"German."
"Bianca."
"Italian."
"Severijn."
"Dutch."
She smiled. Never had anyone known her nationality by her name alone. Erik was truly a-
"Genius," whispered Elsa, clearly astonished.
He smirked. "No, mademoiselle Severijn. Just a man...Now. Tell me where you're from, and why you are here," he said, sitting back down at his bench.
"...And I love to sing!" finished Danielle. She had been telling Christine and Raoul all about the future and her life. They were very enthusiastic and asked tons of questions about everything.
"Sing?" Christine asked. "Will you sing us something?"
"Uh...Well," Danielle stuttered, turning slightly red, "Ya see, I don't have any music and erm..."
"Nonsense," Raoul laughed. "You and Chrstines can sing a duet. Come now!"
"Yes, let's. You start."
"What song?" Danielle asked, still a little nervous to be singing with a Prima Donna.
"Hmm...Oh I know. 'Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again."
"Alright!" Danielle said.
"You start. Whenever you want."
Danielle paused a moment, readying herself, then sang softly:
"You were once my one companion...You were all that mattered...You were once a friend and father...Then my world was shattered. Wishing you were somehow here again...Wishing you were somhow near...Sometimes it seemed if I just dreamed, somehow you would be here..."
Christine smiled and sang:
"Wishing I could hear your voice again...Knowing that I never would...Dreaming of you won't help me to do all that you dreamed I could...Passing bells and sculpted angels...Cold and monumental...Seem for you the wrong companions...You were warm and gentle..."
Danielle, having more confidence, finished the song as Christine harmonized in the background.
"Too many years of fighting back tears...Why can't the past just die? Wishing you were somehow here again...Knowing we must say goodbye...Try to forgive...Teach me to live...Give me the strength to try...No more memories, no more silent tears, no more gazing across the wasted years...Help me say goodbye...Help me say goodbye."
"Brava!" cheered Raoul, clapping. "Very good! And I mean it Mademoiselle. You have a very beautiful voice."
"Yes; now I have competition!" laughed Christine. "You were wonderful."
"Thanks," said Danielle humbly.
"We should cast you in our plays," suggested Christine.
"Really?"
"Mmhmm. We're showing Hannibal again, it was such a hit in the fall."
"Brilliant!" exclaimed Danielle. "Wait...Is Carlotta still here?"
Raoul scoffed.
"Yes," answered Christine rather bitterly. "But perhaps she'll take sick and have to cancel."
Danielle smiled and muttered, "Hope so."
Raoul laughed. "We should find you some clothes Mademoiselle-"
"Just Danielle."
"If you insist," he smiled. "Christine, you have a spare dress don't you?"
"Of course I do. Come along back this way. I'll help you with it."
"Ok cool."
"And we'll go shopping tomorrow afternoon!" said Christine, excited.
"Oh, COOL!"
"But first," said Raoul, "to supper, with our new guest!"
"America?" asked Erik, frowning at Elsa, who nodded. "Hmm...Intersting...Well, no matter." He got up and looked at her again. "Clothes. You need clothes."
"Darlin' this is all I've got," said Elsa. She rethought ever calling the Phantom of the Opera 'darlin'' ever again. It was a habit she should probably kick, at least while she was here.
"No matter. I'll go out and buy you some," he decided.
"Oh no, don't do that. Save your money. Use it to buy another candelabra. Lord knows you could use another one," she joked. There were a million...
"You can't go parading around Paris in those," he pointed out, tugging at her jeans.
She sighed. "I like ze jeans, sank you," she muttered in a French accent. "Anyway. I mean it. Just gimme a pair of your trousers and a fluffy shirt. I'll be good."
He frowned. "You'll be good at what?"
"Oh sorry. I meant I'll be...fine. With wearing your clothes. Come on, Erik. Can I call ya Erik? Come on Erik," she said again. I told you I'm you in my lifetime. And trust me, we're more alike than you care to think," she winked.
"Indeed." He placed a hand on his hip and pondered a moment.
"Alright then. If you insist..." He disappeared into a back room, and after a moment came back out with a pair of black trousers and a white ruffly shirt.
"Thank ya sir," she said as he tossed them to her. I'll be right back." She ran back into her room and switched into the clothes, then ran back out. "Where's the mirror? Must adjust hair and make sure I don't look like a complete idiot." She looked at him. "No that I think you look like an idiot. I just mean me looking like one because I'm a girl and a tad shorter than you and...yeah." She smiled and unveiled a mirror, examining yourself.
"If not for your long, curly, blonde streaked hair," he said, "and your tan skin of course, you'd resemble me."
"I'd need a mask..." she said, hopeful.
"Use Don Juan," he said, coming back from his room for the second time, mask in hand.
"Only if you'll allow me," she said, taking it hesitantly.
"You intrigue me."
"Ah," she said in reply and settled the mask onto her face. He had a slightly larger head than herself. Thank goodness for elastic or it would've slipped off. "By the way, interesting trousers you've got Erik," she said, adjusting them.
"You didn't expect them to fit did you?"
"No not that. These." She pointed to the buttons on the side. "Interesting. Yet very snazzy. You may not get these back."
To her surprise, he laughed.
"Whoa," she muttered, staring at him. "You laugh!"
"Yes...I haven't for a long while now..."
"Well, I will soon change that!" she said, taking him by the arm. "Let's go. We have to find my friend. The one I was telling you about? The one who's here in this Opera House somewhere?"
Erik nodded, a little taken aback by the sudden physical contact.
They started walking towards the gondola.
"Hey have I mentioned it's kinda drafty down here?"
"That's what the cloak is for."
"Hmm..." She spotted one hanging on a rack. "May I?"
"By all means," he smiled.
"Brilliant," she said, 'swooshing' it over her head and positioning it carefully. Hopping into the boat, she said, "Love ya man. I owe you one." She smiled up at him. She looked at the little gondola. "Did you build this?"
"Yes," he said, getting in himself and pushing off the little dock.
"It's amazing. I highly admire your craftsmanship. Especially all these candles. It's gorgeous down here..." she went on to say how much she loved the place, and how she must draw it when they got back.
Erik listened to her with amazement and thought, "No one's ever appreciated my work before...Ever..."
I shall post more, do not fret! But you guys gotta gimme ideas for stuff to happen next!Review:) :) :)