::hugs plushie Erik:: Yay! I get presents! Plushie Erik says hi! Fox of the Nova, whom since I am lazy, I will call Fox if you let me, gave me this Erik cuteness! ::gives you uber-cute Amile plushie with removable Blood Ghost mask and red blankie because you rock:: So, I feel like writing some more. Don't worry, Erik and Amile aren't like, really in love. Erik is just a bit crazy at the moment. And don't hate Erik! He's adorable in his own right! ::holds up Plushie Erik in example:: See? He's a good parent, sometimes. Ah, well. This is a little part in between Buquet's death and the Masquerade, which gives me lots to work with! Which also means father-daughter bonding! Yay!

Chapter 21: Do I Dream Again?

Amile still felt emotionally distraught since the night on the roof. She rarely talked to Erik after figuring out what he was really doing. She was more fatigued as well. Life without her father to at lease acknowledge her was catching up to her. Nights passed and still, nothing came from him. No love, no attention. She might has well not even been born. She tried to make that statement clear to him, but it was impossible. This was Erik. There was no way to put something into his head that he didn't pay attention to. She felt herself drifting from him. A promise had been made that she would never try to commit suicide again, and she would never break that promise.

Much to the teenager's happiness, Raoul and Christine would be gone for awhile. Raoul annoyed her since he thought he was all high and mighty and Christine annoyed her for obvious reasons. It was a relief to have them both gone for a long amount of time. The only problem was Erik became more insane without his love. Without Christine, he was a wreck. It didn't matter if Amile was around him or not. She missed the times when she was around and Erik would just pick her up and take her to the organ and play on it together, or when he would read to her. But that was when she was a child. Now she was older and less innocent.

One night, Amile went up to her father who was writing more little poems about Christine. He did this every night without stopping. "Daddy? Can I ask you something?" He stopped and looked at her. "Yes?" She tried to think of a good way to put it, "Who exactly am I?" It seemed like the question hung in the air for a minute before going to Erik. He had told her about the night he found her, basically what the weather was like and that she was forced to be blind. He didn't know where she came from or who she was before. He had briefly met her mother, and not in a good way either. He sighed and took her hand gently. "Amile, I don't know. I wish I did. I found you when you were only about two-years-old. I only know you were blind and in a pile of rags in an alley. That is it. That's all I know." She obviously looked disappointed because she touched her arm gently. "I wish I knew all the answers Amile, but you have a very complex background." She merely nodded and went to bed.

As she dozed off, something happened that hadn't happened in years. She dreamt. Her dream seemed so real to her. There was a very young woman cradling a baby girl on a bed, singing in German is what it sounded like. Then she saw a lot of fire and people running, screaming, crying. The young woman holding the baby was joined with a young man. His eyes were a turquoise blue much like Amile's was. She knew the color for some reason. He also had the messy brown hair. He took the baby from the woman gently and jumped a fence, only to get shot a few minutes later. "William!" screamed the young woman. She ran to the man's side, some of her dress tearing on the fence. The baby girl was safely in her father's arms too. He was barely alive. He smiled gently at his daughter and sang very softly:

"Hoppe hoppe Reiter
und kein Engel steigt herab
mein Herz schlägt nicht mehr weiter
nur der Regen weint am Grab
hoppe hoppe Reiter
eine Melodie im Wind
mein Herz schlägt nicht mehr weiter
und aus der Erde singt das Kind"

He smiled one last time at his child and laid his head down and died. The woman sobbed as she picked up her crying baby. Looking around quickly, she found a metal stick-like object, probably a part of the fence. She set her daughter down and hit her on the back of the neck with the stick. The baby screamed, but did not die, only went unconcious. The woman hit hard enough, as Erik had said, enough to bend the circuit, but not break it. The woman was crying very hard now and stumbled with the child in her arms. She walked all night, very weak and near death. Then, it was daylight by a road that a young couple was walking down. The young woman stumbled up to the couple. "Please, bitte..." she said, choking on her own words. The man in the couple picked up the baby and looked at the dying woman. The young woman smiled weakly at the couple. "Take, care, of, her." she said shakily. Then she collapsed to the ground and died.

Amile shot up in her bed, sweating, the world black around her as it had always been. The woman who had come to her a couple days ago had not been her real mother, just her adoptive mother. It all made sense. That meant she was really German. And the song that William had sang to her as he was dying, Erik had sang the exact same song! She laid back down, wiping away the sweat. Now she knew who she was.