Waha! I be back! Anywho, I decided just to write insanely because I'm bored as heck and my head hurts. And I don't have to go to bed for three more hours. Also, the Legacy of Kain fan people, I'm writing a tri-fic, which in other words, means I'm writing three fics that come together in the end. Fun, fun! This chapter is another Amile and Erik being cute chappie! Woohoo! Well, I don't know much else to put here, so, read, or...something...meep.

Chapter 30: Snow

Amile had noticed it had gotten very cold, even up in the regularly warm opera house. She sat on her bed, drawing as usual, with her red blanket draped around her shoulder. Erik watched her happily. Ever since their day together, the two had never been closer. He watched her, very content and happy with himself. But he too had noticed the temperature change. It had dropped somewhat drastically. He wasn't sure if it was the heating in the building or something. Then he remembered, it always got this cold before it snowed.

"Amile, I'm going to go upstairs for a little while." He expected a remark something along the lines of, 'What, is Christine back?'. But it never came. It actually came as "Okay then." He was a little bit surprised. She usually was very sarcastic if anything had to do with Christine. Then he wasn't so surprised. She had been so much more sweeter and more gentle since their day together. She acted like her younger self again.

Creeping upstairs as quickly and quietly as he could, Erik got to the main hall. He looked out the window and smiled. It was snowing. Amile had never seen snow before. It hadn't snowed the night of the masquerade and other than that, she had been in the lair. She had always told him that she had wanted to see it. Just to see what he had found her in. She apparently had heard that is was one of the most beautiful things in the world. Glittering and shining brightly. But she had never been given the chance to see it. He smiled as he saw the white sparkles fall from the sky. Amile had to see it. It seemed vital to her, but was probably more vital to him to see her happy.

He practically ran downstairs, but strolled in casually. Even though Amile was his daughter, she had always been given the impression that her father was the most elegant and sophisticated man in the world. Not some lunatic running around the opera house, all excited over some snow. She looked up at him from her latest drawing. He smiled at her.

"Amile, you've always wanted to see snow, right?"

She nodded enthusiatically. "Ever since you told me about the night you found me." He grinned at her.

"Well then, I guess you might want to know that it's snowing right now?"

Her eyes widened. "Really?" He nodded. She dropped her drawing pad and stood up abruptly, her eyes shimmering with the same excitement that he had just moments earlier.

She followed him through the maze that was the opera house to the roof. That was where she would be able to see all of Paris in the winter. Erik felt excited again, knowing the expression on her face would be priceless. For some reason, he got an amazing feeling whenever she was happy. Her happiness was contagious basically. Right before they got to the door to go to the roof, he went behind her and placed his hands over her eyes, giving her the feeling of being blind again.

"Are you ready to see this?"

She nodded happily. "I've waited years for this." she responded. It was true, she had waited for so long. Then she placed her hand on the door and opened it.

When Erik removed his hands from her eyes, a gasp came from Amile. "Oh my God..." she whispered. He smiled. He walked to her side and looked at her. Her turquoise eyes were wide with wonder and amazement. But above all, much to his joy, they were filled with happiness. She grinned. "This is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen!" she exclaimed. She scooted next to her father and placed her arms around his waist.

"Thank you so much. You really don't know how much this means to me!"

I think I can guess, he thought. It probably did mean the world to her. It was, in a word, symbolic. This was how it was when he found her, in those rags in a dirty alley, as a blind child. The snow just basically symbolized the closeness between the two. It was in this kind of weather, this light snow, where they first came together.

They stayed on the roof for hours until the winter darkness set in. The sat on the side of Apollo's Lyre for awhile, just staring at the endless white landscape. Amile seemed so calm and relaxed, two things she rarely was. They talked for awhile about anything that came to mind. They were so relaxed with eachother, which was strange for both of them. For the past few years, they had seperated themselves from eachother. Amile blamed it on Christine, and she was right. Christine had taken most of Erik's attention, leaving Amile with nothing but a memory of her father's former self. But they had forgotten all of that completely as they sat together. She looked at the snow happily, her head on Erik's shoulder. He had his arm around her shoulders, pulling her closer to him. She sighed deeply, taking in everything around her.

"Daddy?"

He looked down at her. "Hmmm?" She smiled up at him. "What do you remember about the night you found me?" He looked at her with a confused expression.

"Haven't I told you enought about that story?"

She shook her head. "No, I love to hear it."

He let out a drawn sigh.

"Oh fine. I found you one night in December because I had been kept up in the lair too long and decided since no one was out, I would just take a little stroll. I walked behind the opera house and into an alley. Then I heard a shriek. I didn't know what it was until I looked down and saw a pile of moving rags. Then I pulled them back and there you were. This confused infant. I took you into the lair and wrapped you up in your blanket. That's when I found out that you were blind because you couldn't focus on anything, then I saw the mark on the back of your neck. I don't think you liked me very much when I first found you. Once or twice, you tried to bite my hand for some reason. So I had Madame Giry help me take care of you. Thank God she did. But ever since then, I always think about what would have happened if I had never gone into the alley or found you."

She laid against him by the time he finished. For some reason, she loved that story with all her heart. He looked down at her and smiled. He loved it too, maybe not as much as she did, but he loved it. It seemed so strange and ironic to think that around the time he found her, he needed someone. He had felt the years of lonliness and isolation crash down on him. Then she appeared. A blessing in disguise. Amile was so beautiful even as a child. He always remembered her messy brown hair and her pure blue eyes. He had hoped and prayed that she would never see him. But then he thought how selfish that seemed. Being blind was probably not easy. Then he remembered the reaction he got when she saw the real him for the first time. She hugged him. Not screamed, not ran away. Yes, she had gasped slightly. But no matter. She treated him equally to anyone. She explained that no matter what, he was still her father. Now he looked at the angel for a daughter that he had. She deserved better than this. But she still had him and wouldn't trade him for the world.

Covering her up in his cape, he picked her up like he had the last night they had spent together. He went back down to the lair, relieved that no one was around to see him. He layed her on her bed and looked back at her sleeping figure. As he turned away, a smile came over him. His own true smile. Even though he had been rejected countless times, ridiculed, beaten, torn apart mentally, he was the luckiest man in the world. And the girl on the bed was living proof of this.