Chapter 25: The house by the sea
Christine sat on the deck of the house by the sea, the sun smiling down upon her as she watched the waves. She observed Felix and Marie playing in the waves, as she and Raoul had often done when they were children here. Raoul had gone to the train station to pick up both Arthur, Phillipe, and his parents, so Christine had come up here to ponder her thoughts. It had been three weeks since the incident, and though Christine tried not to think about it, the horrible memories plauged her thoughts. She still couldn't quite believe that they had escaped. But Erik'spromise to return and his final threat still rang in her ears. She was so angry that after all he did before, how he decieved her, that he had hurt her so much once again. She wanted to forgive, but she knew that it would take a while. She just didn't understand how he could have betrayed her this way, the man who had claimed to be the angel of her father for all of those years. How she had desperatley whished for all of these years that he would not come back for revenge, that he had changed after that night. She had been so happy for such a long time, and now he was trying to take that away from her. But, though he had dissapeared in a rage on that horrible night three weeks ago, much different from the first time, when he had told them to go away with angry, but sad tears, Christine hoped that perhaps he would not return. That he would change and perhaps learn some compassion. She hoped this both for she and her family's sake and for his own, so that maybe he could go on with his life. But as shethought all of these complicated thougts, they seemed to tire her and she closed her eyes. She relaxed in the comfortable deck chair, the breeze blowing softly through her curls, and singing her to sleep...
Dream Sequence
She stood in the middle of the Phantom's lair, watching helplessly as Erik put Marie Claire under his spell, and she began to sing the eerie tune of 'Phantom of the Opera.' Christine called her name, but nothing seemed to break the trance as Christine watched her precious daughter hit each and ever high note with ease, her eyes staring and blank.
"Come Christine, sing with us, my angel of music! You must sing!" said Erik, his voice rising with victory.
Christine firmly refused as she looked down with horror to see that she had on the very dress she had worn for 'Don Juan'.
"Come Christine, succumb to your fate! The dear Vicomte and Arthur are gone forever from this world and you and Marie belong to me, your angel of music!" he let out a terrible laugh as he smiled a smile that looked as though it hadn't been used in a very long time.
"You are not my angel of music, my father would have never sent me someone who had hurt me this way!" she said, angrily as hot tears ran down her deathly cold face.
"You will learn to see beyond everything that I have done Christine, trust me." he said as he placed a ring on her finger.
She took it off and gave it back to him as he looked at her with a mixture of anger and sadness. She fell to her knees, her heart shattered. Marie's voice rang through the room, but it sounded sad, and though even through her trance she knew what was going on.
"Raoul... Arthur..." said Christine softly, the thought of them making her want to faint. She looked up at Erik, who was looking upon her.
"Come Christine, sing, help the music of the night come to life!" he said, as he looked into her teary eyes, his very soul filled with music.
Christine felt the song escaping her lips, despite her fight to keep them in. She couldn't stop, though tears streamed down her face as she, Marie, and Erik sang, all trapped in the darkness of the music of the night.
End of dream sequence
Raoul came up onto the deck, hearing Christine's cries of anguish. He came over to her and shook her gently to wake her up.
"Erik, please stop making me sing, you've broken my voice! Marie, sweetie, don't sing!" she exclaimed as she opened her eyes to find not Erik's white mask, but Raoul's worried face before her.
He looked into her eyes, seeing the immense pain that was there, and brushed away her tears with his thumb, his heart filled with worry as she fell into his arms.
"Little Lotte, my darling what happened?" he asked tenderly, hating to see his wife so upset on such a gorgeous day.
"I had a nightmare. It was the worst thing imaginable. Erik had Marie and I and he was forcing us to sing." she said, her voice a fountain of sadness. "And the worst part was..." her voice stopped as she looked into her beloved's eyes. She couldn't even say it.
But she didn't need to say it, for Raoul already knew what it was.
"He killed Arthur and I, didn't he?" asked Raoul, holding her closer as the warm seabreeze blew upon them, as if it were trying to soothe the icy fear that had consumed them.
"Yes..." said Christine, her voice barely audible as she breathed in his scent and wrapped her arms around him, as if afraid he were going to dissappear right from her grasp.
He took her face in his hands and looked into her dark brown eyes, wanting so badly to reassure her. He hated seeing her this way, seeing her in such immense pain. He wanted to get rid of all her pain, her sorrow, her guilt, her doubt. He was so angry at the Phantom for causing both Christine and Marie this pain. It would take a long time for all of them to heal from this.
"Christine, love, I swear to you that as long as I have breath in me, I will not let that happen." he said his voice full of emotion, yet still so warm and comforting to Christine's ears. "I will be here for you and our children."
She smiled at his words, feeling better as she looked into his kind, handsome face.
"I just can't imagine you not being here." she said, her heart wanting to shatter at the very thought. "I love you Raoul, you rescued me from the darkness. Please don't ever doubt that."
"Christine darling, I would never doubt your love, for it is the very thing live for. I count myself the luckiest man in the world for you to consider me worthy of your love." he said, grinning boyishly at her.
She laughed as she leaned in to kiss him. He returned her sweet kiss, hoping that he had made her feel better. He just wanted her to be happy. And in that moment, both knew that whatever came to them, they would always be there for each other. Then suddenly a chorus of playful laughter was heard from the shore.
"I think Phillipe, Arthur, and Felix are having a water battle." said Raoul, laughing as he took Christine's hand and stood up. Perhaps a walk on the shore would make her feel better. "Perhaps we ought to go save Marie before they sneak up on her."
Christine chuckled, her brown eyes sparkling now.
"I think she would appreciate it"
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Marie Claire sat on the shore in her yellow sundress, the cool, clear water running over her feet as she watched her brother, her uncle, and her fiance, splash each other. She laughed at their antics, reflecting on how much she, her parents, and Arthur had needed this holiday, to get away from the bustle of the city and the constant reminder of what had happened to them, even if just for a little while. She felt so relieved that she was here at the house by the sea with the sun shining, rather than in the dark, cold, hell in which Erik lived. But she knew how narrowly she and her mother had escaped being trapped in the darkness of the Phantom's music, and how narrowly her father and Arthur had escaped losing their lives. It was hard for her to get the horrible images out of her mind. She shook slightly as the memories flooded her mind. Seeing her papa and Arthur clinging to life, seeing her mother hypnotized and forced to sing. She herself being forced to sing, the Opera house crumbling down around them. But the thing that haunted her most was Erik's last threat to return. It was very clear to Marie now how desperate he was. So terribly clear. His fascination with her mother, she knew, had gone on for a very long time, even though Christine had always just cared for him as just her teacher, her mentor. But his desperation was immensly frightening. But one thing that she refused to do was to let it affect her singing. She loved singing, it was her passion. But she also knew that Erik would attempt to take advantage of that, for he loved her voice. But though she was determined, she couldn't get the last look that he had given her out of her mind. It had said that he would return, and that she was going to be the key to his victory. But she was not going to let herself fall for his schemes again, she was going to keep her family safe. And if he were to ever return, she was going to force him to change, for both her family's safety and his own well being. She shivered, even though it was quite warm outside. Arthur, who had been in the water, noticed his sweet love's sad face and came up behind her, wrapping his arms about her as her kissed her cheek. She smiled at his touch. She gazed at the ring on her finger, knowing that if she was with Arthur, she would be happy for eternity.
"Hello there. What are you thinking about?" asked Arthur as he brushed his wet, sandy colored hair out of his face, his brown eyes concerned.
Marie sighed as she took his hand.
" I've just been thinking about what happened I'm worried about him returning." she said, her voice so very melancholy. "I don't want to be trapped in this darkness any longer."
Arthur sighed as he sqeezed her hand. He to, was worried about what was to come. He had seen Erik angry before, but never at such a high magnitude. But his own anger to, was very high.
"I'm worried to Marie. But I promise that I will do everything to protect you." he said, wrapping a protective arm around her .
"He was just so furious, and his eyes. I 've never seen eyes like that before." she said shakily, looking up into Arthur's warm brown ones. "They were so desperate, so insane. I'm afraid of what he might do."
"So am I, for I want you to be happy Marie, I want you to be able to sing without fear. But I can only hope that this insanity will change into understanding, and that perhaps that he will have a change of heart. We just have to find a way." he said, hoping that he was reassuring her.
She smiled at his optimistic words, her eyes as blue as the cloudless sky above them. She kissed him, feeling better, and having hope that maybe, just maybe, his idealistic words were true. Then after she and Arthur broke apart, she felt the strange sensation that there was salt water running down her back. She turned around slowly to find Raoul, Phillipe, and Felix standing behind her, grinning sheepishly. And Raoul's hands were covered in salt water.
"Raoul, I thought we came down here to rescue her from this sort of thing." said Christine, trying not to laugh at the look on Marie Claire's face.
"Phillipe and Felix made me do it." said Raoul, grinning at his daughter.
"Don't blame us." they said in unison.
Marie pretended to give him the evil eye, then burst out laughing as she chased him across the shore, the sun beginning to set behind the sea. Soon, all joined in, and the entire group, Raoul especially, were covered in sand and ocean water.
" Well," said Raoul, brushing himself off. "That was indeed quite refreshing."
"It serves you right." said Marie laughing as she gave her father a wet and sandy hug as Christine laughed and winked at her.
Christine smiled as she attempted to brush off Felix, who squirmed. Arthur shook his head, chuckling at the little boy, as he to, tried to get the sand out of his hair. As everyone collapsed onto the sand, and all was quiet, Marie and Christine began to sing, and everyone listened to the beautiful notes, glad at least, that even after all that had happened, the beauty of music still remained unscathed. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A/N: Sorry it took me longer than usual to update, I've been really busy with school because I have to take my AP English test tommorow. Yes, I know this chapter is incredibly fluffie, but I couldn't help myself, I'm such a romantic sap. Thankyou as always to all of my loyal reviewers. It shouldn't be long until the next chapter! By the way, I've started work on the sequal, yay! Oh, and Phantom comes out on DVD Tuesday!
Asia1st- Yes I did think of Steve Barton when I wrote that chapter, good job.
Lynn Angel- I love your RC story! Its so great to have another RC fan! Can't wait to read your next fic.
Samantha- I'm glad you like the chapter, and I've started work on the sequal. Woot!
angel 718: Thankyou for the review. I always try to update fast just for you!
Thankyou to all of my reviewers!
