Her Story by GoldenLyre

Previous disclaimer applies.

Chapter 8

I could no longer stand it. If I did not speak with Erik now, I never would… Or even worse – I'd be too late. He might no longer feel the way I do for him! When Raoul and I had returned to the Opera House, I strode past him without a word, frantically searching for Madame Giry. If anyone would know how I'd be able to find Erik, she would.

She was in her private office, looking over some random documents. I sat before her, my head hanging. She looked up at me, concern and surprise flitting across her wrinkled features. "My dear, whatever is the matter?" She asked. Before I knew it, a sob escaped me and I tearfully replied, "Madame, I need to see him!"

With a sigh, she set down the documents and said, "My dear, you know not of who you are getting too involved with. He is no ordinary man and you have brought him to a rather perilous state…" I interrupted her and looked up at her with blurred vision. "I know that!" I protested childishly. All of a sudden Madame Giry stood up abruptly.

She loomed over me and said rather menacingly, "Christine, do not toy with him. Do not toy with him through me, either. You know nothing of what he truly is, or why he is the way you know him to be."

"Then tell me!" I blurted out. I then looked down in embarrassment.

She turned sharply at me and said, "Why would such a thing interest a child like you?"

I looked up at her again with renewed resolve. "Because, Madame, I think I'm falling for him. I know he's killed but somehow… It doesn't bother me. I think… that I'm falling in love with him." The last words came out in a choked whisper before tears clouded my eyes again.

Madame Giry looked upon me, her gaze softening. She kneeled before me and said softly, "Well then, my dear… Do not speak of what I am about to tell you. Erik, as I have said before, is not a man to be toyed with." I met her eyes and said firmly, "That has never been my intention, Madame."

A ghost of a smile graced her features before she took her seat opposite me again. With a breath, she began her tale.

"It was many years ago… I had just come to this Opera House to train to become a ballerina. There was a fair nearby, held by wandering gypsies. The other ballet girls and I went. We saw many wondrous and frightening things that night. Psychics, magicians, people who could do amazing physical stunts!

Then came the final exhibit – one they called 'The Devil's Child'. We all wandered in out of morbid fascination… Inside, we saw a cage. That cage held what looked like an unhealthily thin boy about our age. He was sitting in the far corner of the cage, playing with a straw monkey. The odd thing about him was that he wore a sack over his head, with eyeholes in them. The young boy was Erik."

A gasp escaped me. What had he done to deserve such a cruel fate? He was just a child! I shakily nodded for Madame Giry to continue. With another breath, she did.

"The gypsy man who was running that exhibition entered the cage with a club in hand. I was appalled at what happened next. He had beat Erik over his head, his back – so much that I was sure I heard his ribs crack. As if that was not humiliating enough, he grabbed Erik by the nape of his neck and ripped the sack off his head.

I don't think I have felt so much sympathy as I had then. The other girls were either laughing or gasping out of sheer horror of his visage. I felt neither. Tears were running down his marred face, his eyes shut, hoping to keep out the horrible jeers that came from the other side of the bars.

He was thrown to the ground, dignity completely stripped from him as coins were thrown into the cage. While he replaced his mask shakily, the gypsy man greedily picked them all up, counting them as he went. The ballet girls were all leaving so I had no choice but to follow. However, as I stole what I thought was one final glance at Erik; he had the gypsy man's throat in a length of rope, strangling him.

I saw that as my opportunity to save him. So that I did. I ran back, took him by the hand and quickly led him out. He was surprised, of course, so I hastily explained my motives. He was so desperately trusting… We ran as fast as we could. I lead him into the side Opera House entrance.

I hid him from the world, and the rest of its cruelties. This was where he grew up, and now it is his artistic domain. He has known nothing else outside that cage and this Opera House. He is a magician, ventriloquist, composer… He's a genius…"

Tears had overcome the two of us at this point as I shakily replied, "I know… He wrote songs for me…" She looked up at me sharply, despite the tears that shone in her steely grey eyes. "I do not want him hurt, Christine. If it is anything he lacks it is emotional stability! He does not deserve any more abuse from what he has had to endure!"

"I don't intend to! If anything, I want to protect him from it just as you had! It's the least I could do…" Before I could continue, she interrupted me.

"So you feel it is your obligation!" She demanded.

I stood up and replied indignantly, "No! I want to protect him because I want to. He means more to me than I care to admit! I meant it when I said that I think that I'm falling in love with him! And I need to tell him so! He does not know. He thinks I'm in love with Raoul…"

Madame Giry put a hand on my shoulder and whispered, "Then I will lead you to him. He deserves to know." I smiled shakily in reply and nodded. "He does…" I whispered.

Madame Giry then stood up and walked over to her bookshelf. I followed. She ran her hand down the wall next to it, and pushed on what seemed to be a loose panel. The bookshelf moved aside and revealed a corridor.

She lit a torch and motioned to follow her. I did, closely.

We walked down what seemed to be numerous flights of steps and took various turns in that massive underground labyrinth. Finally, we reached a dead end – or what was made out to be one.

She looked for a specific brick and pushed. The wall slid to the side to reveal the place I had visited so many times before – Erik's little bit of musical heaven. Speaking of musical heaven…

As we walked into his domain, there he was – clad in his temptingly loose dress shirt and fitting black pants, he sat at his organ, composing something that sounded intensely emotional. He seemed lost in his music, his lithe fingers leaping over the ivory keys with ease.

Madame Giry cleared her throat, announcing our arrival. Erik looked up. Oh God, I wanted to walk over and hold him in my embrace forever.

His eyes were rimmed with red, his cheeks moist with tears. He must've not seen me as he asked Madame Giry shakily, "What is it?"

She replied with composure, "Someone wanted to see you." He seemed agitated and demanded, "Who in this godforsaken world would want to see…"

Before he could finish, I timidly stepped out from behind Madame Giry. His usually brilliant blue eyes met mine. They widened in surprise when they were set upon me. I gulped and greeted him, "Hello, Erik…"

Anger appeared in his blue depths before he looked away and asked menacingly, "Why are you here? I'm sure your precious Vicomte would not approve of your being here."

I answered with resolve, "I had something to tell you, Erik." Madame Giry took it as a sign to leave so she did, disappearing into the blackness of the corridors.

He looked back at me sharply. Desperation etched itself into his expression as well as the same initial anger. "And what would that be, Christine! Whatever do you have to say to some… some thing that you had so carelessly cast aside! Especially when that thing had been so foolish as to fall in love with you…" He choked out the last sentence, and his head hung in surrender.

I was instantly kneeling before him, holding his masked face in my hands. I wiped away his tears and made him look at me.

"Why torture me, Christine? Could you not just leave me be…?" He choked out again. Tears came again to claim me.

I smiled uncertainly and told him sincerely, "No, I don't think I ever can…" He looked up at me again, and I could swear that his tearful eyes held the most immense, heartbreaking misery I'd ever see.

He looked away again. My hand remained on his face, hoping to provide the little comfort that I was capable of offering him at the moment. He whispered brokenly, "I try so hard to hate you, Christine. I try so hard! But no matter how much I try…" He broke off there, staring at the glassy surface of the lake.

I met his eyes again and told him what I had come to tell him. "Erik… I'm so sorry for the pain I've caused you… You were the person who least deserved it! If anything, I do deserve your resentment, I really do… But I think… I'm more thankful with each passing moment knowing you don't resent me... Because honestly, I thought you had already."

He turned sharply to look at me incredulously. "Christine… I never could. I meant it when I told you that you're the only one I've ever cared about!" He shifted his gaze again and laughed bitterly without mirth and added with an equally bitter tone, "and look where it's gotten me. To be reduced to some simpering lovesick half of a man…"

I felt desperate, and childishly whispered to him, very frightened of the response he might give me, "You regret loving me?"

He laughed that awful laugh again and replied, "Sometimes I can't help but do, Christine. You could never understand that ridiculous feeling of knowing you'd never get something that's so beyond your reach – knowing it's all you'll ever want…" His voice fell to that broken whisper that made my heart crack. Without thinking, I embraced him.

My eyes fell shut, revelling the feel of him in my arms. I decided right then that I was not making a mistake. I decided right then I knew who I loved.

My eyes remained shut as I whispered to him, "I came to tell you, Erik… I came to tell you that I don't love Raoul. Not the way you think I do. How can I, when I fell for you first?"

He pulled away abruptly and held me at arm's length. His gaze was wary, unbelieving. His tone was clipped when he spoke. "You jest, Christine." I shook my head shakily and told him, "I do not. I'm in love with you, Erik."

Disbelief, hope, suspicion, all battled for dominance in his features. In his confusion, I reached up and removed his mask. He immediately recoiled and a hand reached up to cover his disfigurement.

At the same time, I pulled his hand away gently and told him, "Your face does not scare me. If anything, it made me realize how I felt about you." With that, I kissed his marred cheek. I planted another on his forehead, anywhere that held his scars.

His arms hesitantly came around my waist, as mine went around his shoulders. They shook with his wracked sobs. I wanted nothing but to assure him of how I felt for him at that moment. I pulled back and his blue eyes met mine again. My heart soared when I saw the renewed hope I saw in them. To ensure that it remained there, I repeated to him, "I love you."

He tightened his embrace around me and buried his face into the crook of my neck and whispered in return repetitively, "I love you too, my Angel… So much… So much…"

I pulled back once more, and gazing into his eyes that shone with love for me, the distance between us closed as my lips met his. He was uncertain and inexperienced, which made my heart swell with affection for him. When he responded in imitation to me, a small moan escaped me. I could feel his lips turn up in a smile.

When I pulled away, a smile had indeed lit his features. I had seen nothing more beautiful. As I leaned my forehead against his, I knew that all was right in our little world at that moment.

TBC

A/n: The first real EC moment in the entire fic – aint it great :D I was especially happy with it. The confrontation was a little long-winded, sure. But hey I liked it nonetheless. Hope you guys enjoyed it as well ;)

To all my readers & fellow EC shippers, this chapter was for you.

Rikku Ree : hello there! (waves) I'm glad you liked my fic! Hahaa.. im glad I had done what I set out to do – express Christine's feelings for Erik as opposed to Le Fop ;) he is rather annoying, isn't he? (grin) And to answer your question – my dear, I am ALL about the ECness. It's gonna end that way.

kristinekat13 : heyy! (wave) my story? Really good? (blush) you're too kind! And yeah, she is rather frustrating. Then again, that's how she was in the movie, remember? Raoul should bugger off. He shouldnt even BE in my lovely story but hey – hes the convenient "oh god I hate him!" character. :P and no, it's not hard to pick the sexy Phantom over Le Fop. (grin) hope you liked the update!

Number 356 : It's really that great? Aww thank you so much! Hope you enjoyed the update!

Kat097 : how could I NOT know you? You're writing one of my absolute favourite fics ever! And you'd send rabid dogs after my flamers? Girl, I so totally have your back too! I'd send a couple of mental gators after em! (grin) we EC shippers gotta stick together don't we? Hahahaa! The EC moment was for you! ;)

Thank you to ALL who reviewed! It's all about the ECness that keeps us 2gether (grins) Hope the update was satisfactory – Cookies to all who bothered to review!