A/N-Chapter three is finally here! And Susan Kay's Phantom is going for 73 on Amazon, so until I can get that much money, I'm not exactly sure how to characterize Nadir… I'm basically going off people's fics, since Leroux doesn't give us much about his character…
And sorry that this chapter is so short! I thought that this would be a good stopping point, and the next one should be long, anyway, so yeah.
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"There you are. You know, I was beginning to think you weren't coming." Nadir remarked as Erik entered his sitting room.
"I was delayed." He said shortly.
"By what?" Nadir wasn't about to let the subject go that easily.
"I ran into someone." He said, sitting down in an armchair across from Nadir. "Actually, she ran into me. Quite literally, in fact."
"Who was it?" his friend persisted.
Erik looked at the floor for a moment. "Christine." He said finally, looking up at Nadir.
The Persian gaped at Erik. "And you, of course, let her go along her way without engaging her in conversation?" his tone implied that he expected otherwise.
"No." Erik said. "We talked."
"Erik!" Nadir exclaimed. "Why? Why did you have to talk to her?"
"You know I don't explain myself to anyone." He reminded his friend.
"By Allah, Erik! This isn't a game!" Nadir seemed exasperated.
"If life isn't a game, then why do I keep loosing?" he asked cryptically.
"Erik, are you turning into a philosopher?"
Erik shook his head. "No." he said, sighing.
Nadir noticed his preoccupied mood. "What is it now?" he asked.
Erik sighed again. "She was different, daroga."
"What do you mean?" he asked.
"She changed… she was all fake smiles and eloquent words, designed to put people at ease, I suppose, but it unsettled me."
"So she was acting like an aristocrat?" Nadir seemed unperturbed.
"Yes, I suppose so."
Nadir sighed. "She's a Vicomtess, Erik. What do you expect?"
Erik glared at him. "I expected her to remain the same person. That boy's changed her."
"And what if she changed herself? She could have done it to fit in."
"She wouldn't do that!" he exclaimed.
"I don't know Erik. Maybe she did, maybe she didn't." Nadir shook his head. "These nobles… they're experts at hiding their true feelings. Whenever something too serious comes into the conversation, they just hide behind their perfect, smiling, mask."
Erik laughed bitterly at Nadir's use of the word. "You really hit the nail on the head there, my friend. She had this fake smile…" Erik trailed off, remembering something his friend had said.
'Whenever something too serious comes into the conversation, they just hide behind their perfect, smiling, mask.'
Erik nearly stopped breathing.
' "How is your husband?" he asked….
…the fake smile was back upon her face. "Oh, Raoul's fine, just fine." She told him…'
He tried to recall her, the exact way she had looked. Her face… Mentally, he compared her face as it was today to it's appearance the previous year. Her skin was lighter now. Not all of it though. It was cleverly blended in with the skin, but he now remembered that concealer had covered a large patch of skin on her left cheek.
Why had she needed to wear concealer? He remembered her as a teenager; she had never had bad acne. He could think of no reason why she would have anything on her face to hide. So why…?
But even as Erik asked himself the question he knew the answer. He knew the reason she wore concealer on her face. He knew the reason she had gone blank when he mentioned her husband.
"He hurts her." He said out loud.
Nadir looked at him strangely. "What?"
"Her precious husband!" Erik snarled. "Why else would she wear makeup covering only her left cheek? Why else would she hide her true emotions when I brought him up?"
"Erik…" his friend seemed worried. "You're jumping to conclusions. I'm sure that there's a perfectly logical explanation-"
"There's no other explanation, daroga!" He exclaimed, leaping up. "I have to go." He headed for the door.
"Where are you going?"
Erik didn't look back. "To find out if it's true." He exited the flat, slamming the door behind him.
Nadir sighed. "By Allah, I hope he doesn't do anything he'll regret."
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I'd like to say thank you for all the reviews. Special thanks to Aylah, who pointed out that I spelled monsier wrong in the first chapter. (I think that this is right!)
But seriously people, all your reviews mean so much to me! So thank you for reading this and thank you in advance for reviewing it:D
