'Kay, I fixed the last chapter as soon as I figured out that it wasn't just chapter six, so yeah… sorry about that. :salaams to reviewers, hoping they will forgive her:

Chapter 5 is now 'The Truth unmasked'. Congratulations, Poo:hands her imaginary Erik action figure:

shameless advertisement I've posted a one-shot, In Sleep he Sang To Me. Go read it! (if you want…:blushes:)

Oh, and big, BIG thanks to sbkar for your review, it really, really helped me write this chapter.

WARNING- please observe the rating for this chapter. It'll get pretty intense… maybe not in the way you're thinking, though!

Ok… here's the story!

Erik's eyes widened. Christine was kissing him? Kissing him? Him?

Even as he returned the kiss, his rational mind told him that it was the wrong thing to do, that she could all too easily betray him again… But his heart (and, indeed, his hormones) told him something quite different.

So, of course he was quite confused when Christine suddenly pulled away.

"Christine?" he asked. "What-"

"I don't know why I did that!" she exclaimed, wringing her hands. "Even if I do feel something for you, there's no way that we could ever be together."

"But why not?" he asked. "I can help you get away from him. I can save you."

"Erik, Raoul would never give up on me, no matter what you did. I don't love him anymore, but I'm sure he feels something for me…" she bit her lip.

"Men like that don't love their wives! They only see them as objects that they can use, and then throw away. What will you do when he throws you away, Christine?"

"Raoul wouldn't do that, he's not like the rest of them."

Can she truly be that naïve? He thought. "Stop being so blind!" he exclaimed. "He isn't- Christine?"

He had raised his voice without thinking, but she had stepped back when he did so. She thought I was going to hurt her. He thought. Oh, Christine…

"Christine, I- I would never hurt you, do you hear me? You can trust me." He told her gently.

"I thought I could trust Raoul." She said quietly.

Erik felt chills go down his spine. "I'm not like him." He insisted.

"And how are you so different?" she asked in that same quiet tone.

He didn't know how to respond to that.

"You say you know what it's like?" she went on, "I doubt it. Perhaps you've been through something similar, but this is a thousand times worse. When someone you love betrays you-"

"You never want to love again." He finished. "But you will, in time."

"How do you know?" she was close to tears. "How could you know what its like, when someone should love you… but they don't."

He sighed, closing his eyes. "My mother-" he swallowed. No one but Nadir knew about his mother. But he needed this example. "My mother never loved me. To her, I was only a monster- a demon child she was cursed with raising. Even from the time I was a young child, Christine, I have never been loved by anyone… not once they knew what was behind the mask."

Christine blinked, and two tears fell down her face. "Erik… I'm sorry."

He sighed. He hadn't said that to get her pity! "My point is that I do know what it's like. Like I said, it's hell."

"You're right." She said softly. "No matter what I do, I can't escape him! He's always there… forcing me to do his bidding, through all the day- and all the night."

Erik froze. Did she mean what he thought…?

"It doesn't matter what I want." She was crying again, but softly so as not to aggravate her ribs. "The first time it happened, I was shocked. I told him I didn't want to make love…" she looked up at him, tears staining her face.

He stopped breathing. Shock coursed through him, closely followed by rage. He would kill that man, if it was the last thing he ever-

"But he made me." Christine continued in a choked voice. "My own husband… he- he raped me."

Didn't see that coming, didja? I know, I'm so evil to the characters… but I do it out of love! Not where the fop- uh:coughs: Raoul is concerned though… that's pure malice:evil grin:

Now- I'm debating whether to start a humor phic right now. This fic would still take priority, however, updates would be a bit fewer & farther in-between. What do you think?