Chapter 6

Time To Go

Meg woke sometime later, not quite sure how long she had slept for. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes and got out of bed, her legs much more sturdy than they had been. Testing her limits, Meg walked steadily to the main room, where Erik's organ sat. There was a constant dull ache at the base of her skull, but other than that she was beginning to feel back to her old self.

Now she just had to find Erik. Then he could take her back to her mother and she could perform in Hannibal. She just hoped her mother hadn't worried too much, she'd have hated to put her through that.

"Erik?" Meg called softly, glancing around the room for any sign of the man.

She tried calling his name a few more times, but got no answer. Walking down the long hallway away from the main room, Meg began to search for the Phantom. The first few doors held nothing that concerned her; a storage room, the bathroom she had used before, and a small library.

Meg smiled at the sight before her as she opened the door to the next room. There Erik was, spread out on his bed and sleeping peacefully.

'He must have been exhausted,' Meg thought to herself as she noticed that he had not changed out of the clothes he had been wearing before. In fact, he hadn't even pulled the covers up around his body.

Quietly she crept over and sat on the edge of his bed, careful not to disturb him. For reasons that escaped her, she was fascinated by watching him sleep. There was an innocence about him that she was sure no one ever saw when he was awake.

Unconsciously her fingers traced over the mask he wore, the porcelain cool to the touch. Her eyes widened slightly as she realized what she was doing, though she did not pull away. Instead she moved away from the mask and began to gently rub his left cheek.

Not for the first time she wondered what exactly the mask concealed. Meg knew he had been born disfigured, after everything that happened she had managed to convince her mother to tell her the story. Even though she had been there the night Erik was unmasked by Christine, she didn't have a clear view of his face. His back had been to her and although she could not see him, she was in the perfect spot to the expressions of horror on the faces of those in the audience.

It was at that moment she had felt an overwhelming sadness in her heart for the man that lay tranquilly before her. All those people frightened simply because he was different than them. Even with all the stories going around among the dancers and stagehands, she had never feared the Phantom. She couldn't even fear him when he brought the chandelier down, creating chaos and panic among all those around her.

"If you would ever let me see your face, I promise I wouldn't run from you," she said in a barely audible whisper. "I wouldn't leave, I wouldn't cry, I wouldn't scream. I'd see you for who you are, a man, just like everyone else."

Once again she brought her fingers to the mask; her hand straying at the very edge. It would be so easy to remove it and take a small look. But she couldn't do that; she knew that if she ever saw his face it would have to be Erik that did the unmasking. She could never do something like that to him, especially after Christine had done it to a full house of people.

Faster than what seemed possible, Erik had her tiny wrist locked in his tight grip. She stared startled into his eyes.

"What do you think you're doing!" he hissed.

"Nothing, I was just watching you sleep. I'm sorry, I know I shouldn't be in here. It's just, I was looking for you. I'm feeling much better so I thought you could take me back. When I found you sleeping though, I didn't want to wake you."

"You didn't want to wake me but you thought it would be fine to try and remove my mask, didn't you?" he questioned angrily as he let go of her arm and got up from the bed.

"No, I would never do that! You don't deserve to be treated that way. I am curious to know what you look like, but I wouldn't take your privacy from you like that."

"Well I'm sorry that you missed the grand spectacle during my opera, but there will be no repeat performances," he said sarcastically. "Now leave for a moment, I need to get dressed and then I'm taking you back to your mother."

Meg nodded and left the room, thinking not for the first time that this man deserved so much better than what he got.

Erik shuddered as she closed the door behind her. He was frightened by the emotions she was making him feel. Especially after her little confession. He had awoken just in time to hear her speak. But instead of letting her know, he just laid there and feigned sleep. He so wanted her words to be true, even though in his heart he knew that the moment she saw his face, she'd forget all of what she had said.

When he felt her hand move from his face to his mask, he panicked. He hadn't meant to scare the girl, though he supposed it was better this way. If he remained cold and cruel, perhaps she would keep her distance.

Determined not to have another repeat of Christine, Erik dressed quickly and left his room. In the hall, on the floor, sat Meg. She glanced up and gave a small smile after hearing him shut the door behind himself.

Grabbing her arm roughly, he hauled her to her feet. "Let's go, I've already exhausted far too much of my time watching after you."

He didn't give her a chance to respond as he pulled her along behind him. Meg tried her best to keep up, her little bare feet padding after him.

"Get in," he said as he climbed into the boat.

Knowing that he wouldn't help her, Meg carefully walked into the cold water of the underground lake and pulled herself into the boat. Not wasting another second, he began to steer the boat through a series of canals, Meg keeping a watchful eye on exactly which ones he took.

After a few minutes of complete silence, save the splashing of the water, Meg couldn't take it anymore.

"Have I done something wrong?" she asked, her soft voice sounding louder than usual.

Erik considered the question for a moment. Of course she hadn't done a thing to warrant his foul mood, but he couldn't tell her that. He needed to push her away, and the truth might draw her closer. "Yes, you have," he answered simply.

"Then will you please tell me what it is that I've done? If I did something wrong, then I should know so I can apologize and try not to make the same mistakes in the future."

"You disturbed my peace! I would have been better off if I had left you where I found you!"

"Then why didn't you if I've been such a bother?" she retorted angrily.

"Because it was the least I could do for your mother. She helped me once and I couldn't betray her by leaving her only child trapped and injured."

"Well thank you, I appreciate what you did for me."

"There's no need to thank me, I didn't do it for you Mademoiselle. I did it for your mother. Had it been anyone else, I would have left her there," he said coldly.

"I don't believe you," she said softly with an air of defiance.

"Oh no, believe that should you ever come here again, I won't show you the kindness that I am now."

"But what about Maman?"

"My debt to your mother has now been paid. She helped me and in turn I helped her child. I owe her nothing now."

"What would you do?"

"Excuse me?"

"If I came down here, what would you do?"

"I'd make you regret it, now shut your mouth!"

Meg heeded his advice and stayed quiet. She wasn't quite sure if he had meant the things he said or if he was only trying to scare her, but she knew it wouldn't be wise to try his patience at this point. Besides he couldn't stay angry forever, and when he calmed down she could see him again. Plus, she had the perfect excuse. She would need to return the clothing that he had lent her after she got a chance to wash them, and she could also give him back the mask she took from his home. She still had it, safely tucked away under her bed in a little locked box that held all of her valuable trinkets.

"Get out."

Erik's steely voice broke through her thoughts and she looked out at the shore-line in front of her. Slowly standing, Meg turned to look at him, but he would not meet her gaze.

"Now that I know you're still here, will you be making yourself known to the others?" Meg asked as she climbed out of the boat and onto the hard stone that met the water.

"By now everyone in the opera house will be aware of me."

"Why is that?"

"I sent a small note the Mademoiselle Jammes and I'm sure she has told anyone that she has run across."

"Why would you send her a note?"

"Because I do not allow childish games like that to go on in my theater!"

"Well if everyone knows, will you be making demands again?"

"It depends. I'll first have to see if my salary had been paid by the end of the month."

"And if it's not?"

"Than my managers will be receiving notes of their very own."

"Where should I tell everyone I've been?"

"If Jammes still runs her mouth like she used to, then everyone knows where you've been. I told her to tell your mother that you're safe and that as soon as you were well I'd be bringing you back. All you need to tell them is the truth without going into much detail. Now get going, I'm sure your mother's been worried."

"Thank you Erik, for everything. Even though you don't see it, you're a good person and I know you wouldn't have left me down there. You wouldn't have left any girl down there, not even Jammes," Meg said as she gave him a friendly smile before walking away.

Erik stood there, not sure of what to do. After a moment of wondering why the little ballerina did not fear him, he turned his boat around, using the tunnels to return to his home.

A/N

Well, that was Chapter 6, hopefully everyone liked it. And I'm sorry if Meg seemed a little out of character, but I think after everything Erik has done for her, she really wouldn't be scared of him. If he got really really angry with her, he might be able to frighten her a little bit, but not to the point where she would fear him for long.

And I know Erik must seem like he's got a really bad case of PMS because of all of his mood swings, but I figure he just doesn't know how to act around Meg. He lets his guard down without being aware of it, but then when he realizes what he's done, he's back to being short-tempered and cold to her. Plus he's also slightly confused as to the things she makes him feel. Could it be lurve? Who knows? Well, I do, and I'm sure most of you do, but our poor, sweet, dumb Erik is after all just a man and of course has absolutely no idea.

Oh, I went to the library and borrowed Phantom by Susan Kay. I'm already on page 197 and I love it! I'm not sure if I'll add any of that into the story or not, but if I do, it will only be up to his time with the gypsies. And even that would have to be changed slightly to accommodate what happened with Erik and Madame Giry in the movie version. If anyone really wants some elements from Kay's Phantom added in, let me know and I'll see if it can be worked in. It wouldn't be anything major and certainly wouldn't take away from the plot of the story, but it could be little things about his mother and such.

Ok, now onto individual responses!

TheatreAngel: I'm glad you liked the part with Jammes getting scared by the note, after all the things she did to Meg, I think she deserved it. And obviously Erik did too!

CelestialGlowEquivalence: Hmmm, Forbidden City Style sounds interesting! But you're right, I don't think Erik would do that. I checked out Kytten's page, and while Raoul and Erik might at some point develop a certain understanding, and by understanding I mean they won't try to kill each other every time they're in the same room, I don't think they'll get along quite as well as they do in her phics.

Captain Oblivious: Thank you for your review but I'm afraid I don't speak any French and therefore have no idea what you said except maybe the word history and of course Erik/Meg. I guess this is what I get for taking Spanish in High School, though the only things I can say in that are: Hello, Goodbye, Bathroom Please, and I have my pants today, though why my teacher thought that would be a useful sentence I'll never know.

dancing-by-moonlight: I'm glad you liked Raoul defending Erik, I was afraid people might think that because of that, Raoul is now ok with everything Erik has done and might even like him. He still can't stand Erik, and probably never will, but he knows not to trust Jammes so he really has no choice but to believe the other man. I know that Christine knowing Erik's name does seem a little strange, but in the book she knew his name for a while. For some reason, I always thought that when Christine was told to sing for Andre and Firmin and they asked her the name of her tutor and she didn't know, that she would want to find out. I think that would have happened somewhere in the missing time during her singing for the managers and going on later that night. In my mind, she would have went down to pray and Erik might have congratulated her on getting the lead. At that point I think she would have asked for his name. As far as her still being traumatized and scared, I debated that for a while before finally going with this. In many Erik/Meg phics that I've read, Christine always seems to either be scared to death of Erik for the rest of her life, even if he's only mentioned in conversation, or completely hateful towards him. I wanted to do something a little different, and I also think that she pities him so much that she can't be that frightened of him. She'd still be scared if he tried to take her again, but she wouldn't turn into a sobbing mess just by stepping foot into the opera house. I'll try to put in a little Raoul/Christine because for some reason my twisted little mind actually likes them as a couple. They just seem to be made for each other, much like how Erik and Meg go perfectly together, well to me anyway.

avid reader: I'm glad you liked the part with Jammes.

PhantomPadfoot: Thank you so much for the review and for recommending Phantom. As I mentioned earlier I already love it and I can see how you would say it's twice as good as Leroux's novel.

Since everyone seemed to like Jammes getting a taste of her own medicine so much, I'll have to think of more ways to frighten/possibly torture her. Maybe not painful torture, but definitely some sexy Erik with his threatening notes torture. Thanks again for reading and I'll try to have the next chapter done quickly.