I don't know when Christine's father died, but I am going to say it was in the winter just for the sake of convenience. Also, I think you will enjoy Stalker Raoul. He creeps me out… Anyways, sorry if I don't have all the facts right, but I hope that I'm pretty much accurate. Anyways, I hope you like this chapter!

Wandering Child

It was the anniversary of my father's death. He had died exactly seven years ago. To honor him, I went to the graveyard where he was buried. It was raining hard, but that didn't stop me. Dressed in a black blouse and a black pair of pants, which contrasted to my ghost-white skin, I looked like death itself. I carried with me two roses, one crimson and the other white. I placed the pure, white rose on my mother's grave, and I placed the blood-red one on my father's. My salty tears mixed with the bone-chilling rain. Why couldn't it just snow? I saw a fork of lightning touch earth, not too far away from where I stood. I silently prayed to God that another bolt would strike me down, erase me from existence. I pointlessly wiped my face off with my sleeve, and the sleeve rode up on my arm. I quickly pulled the sleeve back down, out of instinct. Even though there was no one around, I didn't want God to see the scars criss-crossing my arms.

I slowly roused myself from sleep. I could feel a few tears make their way down my cheeks. It was the anniversary of my father's death as well. Quickly I threw on a black mourning gown and went downstairs. Hopefully a cab would be waiting for me like I had requested.

I was surprised to find that it wasn't even light out yet. I had probably only slept for a total of five hours, but I felt as though I had slept for an eternity. The memories of last night cruelly swamped my brain, even though I was only on autopilot. My brain never has and never will function at five o'clock in the morning. I remembered my rejection of Raoul's proposal, and the accusations of Erik, and the party. And how could I forget about the dress? That had been the highlight of my day! How sad… No, wait, getting a new dress would be the highlight of any woman's day, at least when they don't go to a party. Then, the party should be the highlight of the day. My brain needed to stop babbling. I was giving myself a headache.

I went down to the stables, and, sure enough, there was a carriage waiting for me. I told the driver, a wizened old man with a silvery beard who was missing half his teeth (A/N- Mere, its my grandpa!) , where my destination was. Then I went to retrieve a cloak and a bouquet of red roses from the cloakroom. When I got back, the driver was in the front seat of the cab. Hmm, strange, the person driving the cab was definitely a different person. Ah, well. I just never knew that Erik could drive a carriage.

When we were on our way, I finally spoke. "I didn't know you got up so early, Erik," I said wearily. Yep, it was definitely too early in the morning! For some odd reason, he seemed shocked that I recognized him. Like it was that hard!

"How did you know it was me?" he questioned, mocking hurt in his voice. I guess he liked the idea that he could go wherever he pleased without being discovered.

"Well, let's see. First of all, you are very tall. Also, you move more gracefully than most men do. And third, you aren't sixty years old and you don't have a white beard. Oh, and you have all of your teeth. I think." I replied jokingly.

He recovered from his shock (why should he be shocked?) smoothly (sort of) and asked me, "Did you sleep well, Christine?"

"Yes, for the grand total of five hours that I was actually asleep. And you?" I questioned.

"Uh, no… not really," he responded looking away from me and paying far too much attention to the road in front of us. He seemed to be studying it, probably only so I couldn't see the expression in his eyes. Hmm.

"Um, Erik, can you pull over when we get out of Paris?"

"Why?"

"Because I want to sit next to you," I whined in a childish voice that I had perfected over the years. Erik chuckled, the slight awkwardness of before gone, and clucked to the horses. I was thrown back in my seat as the large black horses pulling the carriage leapt into a gallop. I could feel tears streaming out of my eyes because of the bitter, freezing wind. We were probably going at a faster pace than I had ever traveled in my life! It was exhilarating! I let out a whoop of excitement, and Erik looked back to me, smiling broadly. This was fun! I needed to take up horseback riding!

All too soon we were in the rural countryside of France. I exited the carriage and hopped onto the driver's seat. It really wasn't so much a seat as it was a plank of wood. A small plank of wood at that. A really small plank of wood. I. Was. Squashed. Ah, well, at least I was scrunched against Erik, and not a grubby old man with knobby teeth.

Once we were on our way again, I asked Erik innocently (I think…) "Why couldn't you sleep last night?" After all, if he was sick or something I wanted to know about it!

Erik coughed uncomfortably, and then replied, "I'm an, uh, insomniac." Hmm, why was that? But wait! He had more to say! "I always have been ever since- Oh, look! We're here!" He exclaimed cheerily, quickly changing the subject. Damn. He suddenly remembered that the whole point of my early morning excursion was to visit my father's grave, so he quickly sobered up and drabbed down. Ah, well, time to put my gloomy face on.

I walked slowly up the flagstone path towards my father's grave. Erik went to turn the carriage around for when I decided to leave, so I was all alone. All alone, with only dead bodies to keep me company in the dark. I had always been afraid of the dark, not so much because I despised darkness itself, but rather what horrors lay unseen. A tear- from sorrow or from fear, I could not tell- fell down my cheek and hit the frozen ground, where it crystallized immediately into ice. My breath steamed in the cold air, and I could see the first rays of sunlight peek out over the horizon line. I thanked whatever listening deity for that little bit of light.

I finally reached my father's grave, to find that I was no longer alone. The muffled sound of footsteps on snow met my ears, and I turned around to see Erik walking up behind me. When he stood right beside me, I firmly grasped his hand in my shaking palm. I had never been calm when I visited a graveyard while it was still dark. Looking up into his deep golden eyes, I felt so…right. Nothing could scare me, not when my angel of light was protecting me.

I leaned into Erik's body for both warmth and protection, and then returned my gaze to my father's grave. I could have sworn that I saw a flicker of movement in the shadows, but I didn't pay it any heed as it was probably just a leaf…

"I miss my father," I replied quietly.

"I never knew my father," Erik muttered, almost inaudibly. That startled me. I turned around and looked into Erik's eyes, and I could tell he was about ready to open up and tell me of his life. I already knew most everything from my dreams, etc, but Erik needed to get some things off his chest. Since I figured that his story would be long, I sat down on the stone steps, dragging Erik down with me. There was no one around, so I took off Erik's mask and stroked his cheek gently. Erik closed his eyes and let his cheek be caressed by both the wind and my fingers. How long had it been since he had last felt the wind on his face?

"From the moment I was born, I was a curse. My mother hated me, an I could not go out in public. I didn't understand why I had to be different. After all, I could always see other children out in the streets playing, but I could never join them. Then, on my birthday, I asked for one simple thing from my mother. I only wanted one thing. Do you know what it was?" he asked. I shook my head, staring intently at his face. "I wanted a kiss. Just. One. Kiss. And, of course, even my own mother wouldn't give it to me!"

I was crying more than I had in a very long time. The last time I had cried so hard had been when my father died, years ago. Erik seemed unable to continue, as he was choking on tearless sobs.

There was something I needed to do. I said, "I will give you what your mother would not." With that, I kissed him. What did you expect me to do? Just leave him hanging? I think not! All the other kisses up to this point seemed meaningless in comparison to this one. I knew the second my lips touched his that I would go through the hottest fires of Hell and back just for Erik.

Remember that movement that I had cast aside as insignificant? Turns out, it wasn't a leaf. Figures. Before I knew what was happening, I heard a furious scream and an arm wrap around my waist. I was being dragged away from where Erik lay, dazed. My captor must have hit him on the head. Hard. Damn him.

I turned my face to see none other than Raoul pulling me away from Erik. "Raoul, what the Hell are you doing?" I screamed furiously. To Hell with proper, polite conversations!

"I'm saving you from that monster!" he replied vehemently. I had no time to reprimand him as I was thrown forcefully onto the back of a horse. Raoul jumped up in front of me, and I was forced to wrap my arms around his waist lest I fall off when the horse bolted. I looked back to see that Erik had recovered and replaced his mask. He was running full sprint towards us, and, though he was quite quick, a horse can gallop much faster than a man. I mouthed the words "don't worry" to Erik and focused my mind on thinking up a plan. I got it!

When we were galloping on a narrow path through the woods, I subtly changed my position. I saw my cue. A large log in the middle of the path. We would need to jump over it. As soon as the horse left the ground, I pushed Raoul to the side. Since he had been rather relaxed, certain that I wouldn't fight, the sudden change of balance threw him off the horse. I took a certain satisfaction in knowing that Raoul hit his head on the log. Ha! Serves you right!

Now I faced another dilemma. I didn't know how to horseback ride! Well, it couldn't be too hard… Ow! I didn't know that riding on horses was so bouncy… Forget what is said earlier about wanting to take up horseback riding!

I finally found my balance and pulled on the right rein to turn us around. I had seen Raoul steer the horse, it couldn't be too hard. I only had a little trouble keeping my balance with the sudden change of direction.

My curly brown hair had, by now, fallen out of its pins, so it was streaming out behind me. I just hoped than no respectable person saw my hair in such an indecent state! Ah, well, I had more important things to worry about.

We, that is the horse and I, finally reached the cemetery. The horse was blowing hard, and both the horse and I were streaked with sweat. I saw Erik and hopped ungracefully off of the horse. I stumbled and would have fallen if Erik hadn't rushed to my side and caught me in his arms. Surprisingly, both of us started laughing, for no apparent reason. I guess that my excuse was that I was high on adrenalin, and Erik was allowed to be a little loopy as he had been bashed upside the head.

"My hair fell out," I commented stupidly, stating the obvious. I started giggling harder. Is this what adrenaline did? It was like a drug! Not that I've taken drugs…

"You're hair looks gorgeous just the way it is," he commented, suddenly serious. I saw, in his deep gold eyes, a look of gratitude, as well as one that I was becoming more familiar with. I could almost identify what it was…

"You flatter me, kind sir," I said, curtsying as graceful as I could (which wasn't very graceful and elegant at all…) The I flung my arms around Erik's neck, giggling even more uncontrollably. Poor guy, he was in the company of a crazy little girl.

Tee-hee! That was fun! Sorry if you didn't like it, but I had fun writing it!