Chapter 9
The New Opera
Meg gave a grunt of frustration as she waded through the cold water under the Opera Populaire. She had long since abandoned any hope of keeping her long cotton dress dry. At first she had held the garment up to her knees, but as the water got deeper and deeper, finally stopping at her waist, she knew it was pointless. Not only that, but she couldn't hold the skirt up high enough to be able to keep Erik's clothing out of the water.
As she felt the water begin to lower slightly, Meg smiled in relief. After twenty minutes, she had finally made it back to Erik's home. Happy to see that he hadn't lowered the gate, she climbed out of the lake and onto the equally cold floor. Sitting her small bundle off to the side, Meg wrung her dress, trying to get as much water out of it as she could. The now slightly darker dress was still soaked and clung heavily to her curves, but at least it was no longer dripping.
Taking her shoes from the top of the pile, she slipped them on to her ice cold feet and bent once again to retrieve the things she had brought with her. Meg immediately jerked upright as she felt her hair being pulled tightly. She already knew who it was before he spun her around, but what she didn't expect was the cruel anger displayed in his burning green eyes.
"I thought I made myself clear when I told you never to return here!"
"Erik, you're hurting me," Meg said softly, determined not to let him intimidate her.
"I'd get rid of that fearless attitude if I were you, more than likely it will get you killed one day," he said as he disentangled his fingers from the soft blonde hair.
"I'm not fearless; I'm just not frightened by you."
"Then you're extremely foolish."
"Maybe, maybe not."
Sighing heavily, Erik stepped away from her. "Why are you here Meg?"
"I had to return your things," she said simply as a small shiver ran through her body. She wrapped her bare arms around herself, though it didn't do much good.
"Here, take this," he said as he handed her his cloak.
Meg accepted the garment gratefully and slipped it over her shoulders, immediately feeling warmer.
"I thought that had been destroyed."
"What?" Meg asked as she turned to see what he was talking about. Her eyes followed his to the small pile of clothes, his white, porcelain half-mask sitting on top.
"I found it when I came down here looking for you and Christine-"
Meg's eyes widened as she realized what she had just said. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-"
"Its fine," he said with a dismissive gesture. For some reason, hearing her name didn't bother him like it once used to. "Thank you, for bringing my things."
"You're welcome," she said softly. "I can turn around if you want to put your other mask on."
"Of course, go on and turn around. You wouldn't want this image burned into your innocent little eyes," he said bitterly as he snatched his mask off the floor.
"That's not what I meant and you know it! I'm not Christine! I'm not Jammes! And I'm certainly not some delicate little thing that's going to faint at the sight of you! The only reason I said I would turn around was to respect your privacy!" Meg yelled, her face flushed and hazel green eyes full of anger.
Taking a moment, she let her breathing calm before addressing him again. "You'll get your wish now. I won't come back. You won't have to be bothered with me ever again." She took the cloak off and threw it at his feet. "Good bye Monsieur Phantom."
Meg turned away quickly and began to wade through the underground lake once more. Even as the hot tears streamed down her face, she didn't make a sound. She couldn't let him hear her cry; she didn't want him to know what she had been reduced to.
Wiping her small hands furiously across her eyes, Meg felt frustrated. She didn't even know why she was crying. Normally things like this wouldn't get to her. No matter how mean and cruel the other ballet dancers were to her, she had never cried. But somehow Erik's words hurt more than anything Jammes and her friends had done. He didn't trust her. She'd given him no reason to doubt her intentions, but yet he still didn't trust her.
And this hurt far more than she cared to admit. She had begun to think of him as a friend. But now it was painfully obvious that he didn't return her feelings. Taking a deep breath, she pushed herself forward, never looking back.
…
"No! I will not do it! Have you seen the lyrics to this…this…trash!"
Meg glanced up from tying her pointe shoes. Isabella was having a tantrum over something or another, Meg wasn't really sure. She hadn't been paying attention and the managers were doing their best to keep their voices quiet. Obviously Isabella didn't care about how her now screeching voice seemed to carry all over the theater.
'I bet Erik can even hear her,' she thought with a smirk, before suddenly remembering how things had been left between the two of them. Drawing in a shaky breath, Meg rose delicately to her feet.
Two weeks had gone by since she had seen Erik, but even now when she thought of him, it was enough to make her want to run back to her room and cry. She missed him terribly, which in her mind she knew was silly. She didn't even know him, not really. He took care of her for a few days when she wasn't well, it's not like they had been the best of friends for years.
But yet she was drawn to him, for reasons completely unknown to her. Losing him felt like she had lost a small part of herself. She knew it sounded crazy, but it was the only way to explain the sadness in her heart.
Her mother had always told her that somewhere in the world, everyone had another person that they shared a soul with. Christine had found the other half of her soul in Raoul, and Meg thought that she had found hers in the mysterious Phantom. They were both so lonely and desperate for friendship and love, that Meg was sure Erik had the other part of her soul.
Now she knew better though. Erik turned her friendship away on more than one occasion, wanting absolutely nothing to do with her. He couldn't have her soul, not when he despised her so much.
"This is vulgar! I will not sing garbage!"
"Oh come on Izzy, it's not that bad," Sebastian said as he joined the diva's side.
Meg looked on curiously, wondering what could possibly have the Prima Donna so upset. After all the fits she had thrown about doing Hannibal, she was surprised Isabella wasn't delighted at the chance of doing a new play.
"I told you not to call me that! My name is Isabella, not Izzy. And it is that bad, though I wouldn't expect you to complain. You get to run your hands all over me. I will not play a whore!"
"Madame, I assure you, you are not playing a whore," Firmin said, trying desperately to calm her down.
"You are playing his lover, they're hardly the same. It's basically the same part you did in Hannibal," Andre spoke up.
"I hated that part! And no one even recognized my talent! All the papers could talk about was 'The Amazing and Beautiful Marguerite Giry' and what a discovery she was. Those critics don't know true talent when they see it."
Meg stared on, slightly taken back. Had the papers really called her amazing? She had never taken much interest in what the newspapers said aside from the front page headlines.
"Just think though, now you have a chance to show them all if you do this opera," Andre said, appealing to her vanity.
"I do not care! I will not do it! Whose idea was it anyway to perform this…thing?"
"That would be me."
Meg looked sharply behind her, hearing the voice. Cecily smiled brightly as if nothing was wrong and looped arms with Meg, walking the short distance to where Isabella was standing.
"Do you have a problem with the opera to be performed?"
"Yes, I do. This actually implies that my character goes off to sleep with him," Isabella said, pointing an accusing finger at Sebastian, as if it was his fault.
"I'm well aware of what it implies, but that doesn't change the fact that I am interested in seeing this play. Now, will you be performing it or not?"
"No, I won't. So you can find another opera for me to perform. Perhaps Faust? Or Hamlet, I believe I would make a charming Ophelia."
"No, we'll be doing this one still. Everyone will have a week to rehearse and then it will show for two weeks, just like Hannibal. So that will give you three weeks of vacation time, enjoy it. And when you come back, I would be prepared to sing in the next opera, because if you turn down another one, you will be fired."
Isabella looked indignant, but didn't dare to try and argue back. "Fine, I will see you in three weeks then." She spared a cross glance at the managers before storming offstage, not in the least bit happy.
"Ok, who's her understudy?"
Sebastian gave a short bark of laughter, while the managers looked at each other uncomfortably.
"What's so funny?"
"Nothing, but you'll find no understudy for Izzy," Sebastian said, a slight smile still present on his face.
"And why not?"
"She finds it to be an insult to her talent that we would have anyone else prepared to go on for her."
"There has to be someone that can sing for her."
"Unfortunately," Firmin began. "After the accident, many of our talented singers, dancers, and musicians left. We had a hard enough time as it was hiring new people. There really isn't anyone that has the voice or the presence to sing for her."
"Yes there is!" Cecily said excitedly, her bright grey eyes wide.
"Who?" Andre asked, unable to think of any girl under their employment.
"Meg," she said simply as she pulled the startled girl forward a little.
"What? No, I can't-"
"She's a dancer, not a singer," Firmin stated.
"You used to be a chorus girl, didn't you?" Cecily asked, ignoring the taller manager.
"Yes, but-"
"And wasn't that other girl that sang here sometimes, Christine Daae I believe her name was, wasn't she a chorus girl?"
"Yes, she was, but that doesn't mean-"
"If she could do it, then I'm sure you can."
"I'm not a soprano though. I'm an alto, and not even a very high one at that."
"That doesn't matter, I'm sure the range of the score can be lowered slightly."
"I don't know…"
"You must be able to sing, otherwise you wouldn't have been in the chorus. Besides, you're so passionate when you dance that if you use that same energy for singing you'll be great. I'm sure of it."
"Why didn't Isabella want to do it though? Is it really that bad?"
"Some of the lyrics are a little suggestive, but I don't find them as horrible as she makes them out to be."
"I don't even know what opera we're doing?"
Cecily gave a big smile, her eyes shining. "I've wanted to see it ever since the articles in the paper, so we're doing Don Juan Triumphant."
Meg felt all the air leave her body in a rush. Erik's opera! They were doing Erik's opera! And not only that, she was to play the lead role. The part Erik wrote especially for Christine.
"Well, I'll leave everyone to get the arrangements taken care of. You have a week, that should be plenty of time for the costumes and the learning of lines."
Cecily gave a small wave of goodbye and left, happy that everything seemed to be going so perfectly.
"There's no way I can do this," Meg said firmly, turning her attention to the managers.
"You have to, Mademoiselle LaCharite specifically wants you," Andre said.
"After what happened last time though, do you really think the tickets will sell?"
"It doesn't matter if they sell or not," Firmin said, though Meg could tell it was hard for him to get the words out. "The important thing is keeping Mademoiselle LaCharite happy. If we don't do this opera, there's the very real possibility that the Comte will remove his patronage. And if that happens my dear, I'm afraid we're all out of jobs."
"But what about the Phantom? Aren't you afraid that he'll be upset that we're performing his opera? And that I'm the lead and not Christine?"
"Don't you think that we tried reasoning with her? She wouldn't listen. She's determined to see this opera even if the Phantom is unhappy with it."
"She even told me she hopes to see the Phantom on opening night! Can you believe that? I'm beginning to think that the girl might not be all there," Andre said, gesturing to his head.
"No, that's not it. She's just looking for a little adventure," Meg said, defending her friend.
"Well I wish she would find her adventure somewhere else."
"Now, Mademoiselle Giry, Monsieur Aucoin, if you would go see Madame Delacroix she can help fit you into your costumes. I only hope she can get them fixed in time since you're a great deal thinner than our old Don Juan and you are a good five inches shorter than Miss Daae. Go on now, go, go. We certainly don't have all day," Firmin said as waved the lead tenor and ballerina turned Prima Donna off the stage.
…
A/N
Hey guys, sorry it took so long to get the next chapter up but my work schedule has been crazy. I've had no free time and I've only been able to get on the computer long enough to check my emails. I hope everybody enjoyed this chapter and I'll try to have the next one written and up soon.
CelestialGlowEquivalence: I'm glad you like Cecily being Meg's friend. I thought Meg needed someone around that she could talk to. She still has Christine, but Meg was so lonely that she needed another friend. And don't worry, Cecily won't force everything about the Phantom out of Meg, and even if she tried to, Meg wouldn't betray Erik that way.
Captain Oblivious: Cecily and Gabriel, they're quite the interesting pair. As far as being able to trust them and Gabriel being Meg's future love interest, we'll just have to wait and see. Even though he wasn't in it much, hope you enjoyed the little bit of Erik in this chapter.
MidnightPrincess: A cocker spaniel, lol. I couldn't stop laughing when I read that. I'm glad you like that Meg doesn't pity Erik, he has too much pity already, he doesn't need anymore.
Kchan88: The good thing about the movie never really getting into Meg's character is the fact that I have a little bit of creative license to make her how I want to. Although I honestly think she would be curious and spunky, sort of the opposite of Christine. I'm going to try to put some more Raoul/Christine moments into this phic in addiction to the Meg/Erik moments. I'm so glad you like my story so far, please keep reading.
erikslove16: Thanks for the review, I hope this chapter will satisfy you.
avid reader: Thank you for reviewing and enjoy the chapter.
Thanks so much for all the reviews you guys, it makes my day. As a side note, has anyone seen the new Star Wars movie yet? I've already seen it twice and all I've got to say is that it's absolutely amazing. Although I did embarrass my friends when I started bawling at the end of the movie in a crowded theater.
