Her Story by GoldenLyre

Chapter 11

Previous disclaimer applies.

Panic shook me to my very core. I had acted carelessly on impulse when I had removed Erik's only sanctuary, and now I pay the price – the man I so loved has returned to his violent self. And at this point, he was past the point of all rational thought. He had my hand in a vice-like grip as he dragged me back down into his world of eternal darkness…

He seemed to be muttering darkly to himself, completely lost in the pain and rage that I myself had caused. Pain shot through my arm as he retained his tight grip, and I struggled to remove myself from it. He would not have it, however. He tugged at my arm suddenly and demanded in angered song.

"Why do you ask am I bound and chained

To this cold and dismal place!

Not for any mortal sin –

But the wickedness of my abhorrent face!"

I grew frightened of him once more. I tried to repress it from overwhelming me, as I knew that was what caused our first misunderstanding, but I found that I could not! I fought to remove my hand from his but to no avail. I was at the point of tears, and that only caused Erik's rage to intensify. He had roughly put me in the gondola and rowed me to his lair which I once regarded as a musical heaven.

But through my fear-clouded eyes I only saw my prison.

We reached the dreaded destination… Erik roughly pulled me out and shook me by the shoulders, demanding why I had done what I did. Desperation was read clear in his eyes and I felt my fear dissipate once more. And when it did I wondered, was I going to fear him every time he got this way? My hand seemed to have a mind of its own as it rested its palm on Erik's marred cheek.

I saw the briefest glimpse of tears before Erik's enraged façade regained dominance on his features. He grabbed my arm painfully and dragged me to my bedroom. A shocked gasp escaped me as I realized that the wedding gown that the mannequin was wearing was spread across the bed in its pristine white glory. Made of shimmering duchess satin lined with pearls, crystals and lace, it looked like it was picked right out of a fairytale.

But this was no fairytale.

"You're mine, Christine. Don't you ever think otherwise," Erik growled from the doorway. He knew that I knew what he had in mind for me. His eyes which used to shone with nothing but tender affection for me now bore straight through me with a frightening sharpness, sending shivers up my spine. Tears burned my eyes again when a sudden thought struck me like a bolt of lightning – was I ever going to have my Erik back again?

The man in his place strode out purposefully with all the grace of a feline predator, leaving me to change. I did so as quickly as I could, praying for the courage I needed to confront Erik about what had just occurred moments before on the stage before the whole of Paris.

When I went out clad in the luxurious gown, I could see Erik hunched over something at the foot of the now-naked mannequin. I looked at its dead face and a cold shiver slithered up my spine as I did so. The thing Erik was hunched over glinted in the candlelight before I realized what it was – it was the engagement ring that Raoul had given me, that Erik stole during the Masquerade.

I regarded the man before me for a moment. Why had he kept it? Is he going to keep me underground the same way he has that ring? Anger surged through me at the thought of being kept away from everything I once knew and loved. As much as I knew I loved Erik, I did not want to be kept as if I were some animal!

The words that flowed from my mouth were sarcastic, mocking. "Are you going to keep me down here Erik? Only to sate your yearning for flesh? Has your lust for blood finally been satisfied!" He looked at me coldly, my ring still in his grasp. He stood, and he towered over me. "My fate has condemned me to nothing but bloodshed, Christine. And I had never had the pleasure of a woman's touch. Ever." He whispered the last word in longing and melancholy.

His hand reached out to stroke my cheek and I was all too willing to give in to his caresses. But they never came. He had turned his face away from me, lost in his miserable musings of how his face had been the one to blame for anything that had gone wrong between us. He spoke of how his mother had spared him no love… Then he grabbed me by the shoulders and snapped fiercely at me.

He condemned me to spending an eternity with him and his seemingly horrifying visage. Sympathy slowly crept into my heart once more – it had, after all, led me to love this man in the first place. The first time that I ever saw his face – I'll never forget that day. Quite strangely, as if by fate, a sombre, melancholic song made its way to my lips.

"This haunted face…

Holds no horror for me now…

It's in your soul –

Where the true distortion lies…"

His sapphire eyes seemed to be fighting tears, and his angry walls seemed to be crumbling. I shakily tried to smile at my progress – but once more, my dear, extremely foolish fiancée had to make his appearance. At that precise moment, no less!

Erik was being smug and sarcastic; as if I were a prize he had just won just to spite Raoul. This irritated me. So much so that when Erik had me in his tight embrace, I tried to break out of it – the man infuriated me sometimes, and one of those times just had to be now! He sneered dryly at me, "your lover makes a passionate plea!" I turned to Raoul and pleaded, "Please, Raoul, it's useless!"

Then he made yet another mistake – he spoke of compassion to Erik. Was he blind! Did he honestly think that Erik would respond to such tactics? He did not, obviously. Raoul then begged to let him see me. Erik, with a rather frightening sneer on his face, pushed the level to raise the portcullis, granting Raoul access into his domain.

He was now like a mouse trapped in a cat's claws.

Erik strode out to "greet" his "guest". I watched him carefully, praying that he would not do what I think he was going to do. Erik was rather unpredictable at this point – all one had to do was presume the worst for his victim. I proved to be correct, unfortunately.

Erik had whipped out a lasso from the murky depths beneath him and had landed directly on its target – Raoul's throat. As the portcullis descended back into the water, Erik tied Raoul to the grill with terrifying precision and efficiency. He yelled out to me with finality, "Start a new life with me, buy his freedom with your love! Refuse me and you send your lover to his death – This is the choice! This is the point of no return!"

I stood, stunned, looking back and forth from Erik to Raoul and back again. Anger and desperation fought for dominance in my racing heart. Without thought, the most bitter of words came forth from my mouth – cursing my teacher and the man I supposed I loved till that very moment, when he had my childhood friend's life in his grasp, threatening to take it if I were to refuse him.

"The tears I might have shed for your dark fate…

Grow cold, and turn to tears of hate!"

Raoul begged for my forgiveness, for his failure of being able to save me. Erik retrieved another lasso, a hangman's noose. He slipped it around Raoul's throat and tightened it roughly, choking him. A gasp of terror escaped me as I saw my friend's life dangle in the balance. It all depended on me… Erik dangled him like a prize to be won, to be earned. My thoughts were swimming in desperation to come to a decision, only to find that I could not!

I did not want to condemn myself to a life with Erik as he is now, nor do I want Raoul to lose his life because of it. I looked upon Erik, finding only a man desperate for love… my love… and then I knew that the desperation had driven to the edge. Perhaps over it, and maybe the man I loved, my gentle Angel of Music I so trusted and cared for, may not return.

I sang what I thought was my sympathetic farewell to him - to any possibility of us in my ideal retrospect happening ever again. No. From that day forward, I would only be his servant at his beck and call to his emotional needs in exchange for my friend's life.

"Pitiful creature of darkness…

What kind of life had you known?

God gave me courage to show you –

You are not alone!"

I had waded out to him during the short song, and I stopped in front of him. Then I brought his lips down to meet mine, a kiss of surrender. I could feel him stiffen, as if he were unsure of what was happening. When I pulled back, I could have wept with joy – his walls had crumbled, and there my Angel was. Tears shone in his beautiful eyes but I could have cared less.

I kissed him again with vigour, leaning further into his embrace - hoping that he'd acknowledge that I wanted him as he was at that moment. No anger, no sadness, only us in our little world as we were on stage. He responded to me sweetly, his tears gently spilling over to wet my cheeks. He returned my kiss like it was our first, and my heart overflowed with passionate love that was once more recovered.

When I pulled back, I smiled at him softly. He did not return it, however. A frown replaced the smile on my face. His shoulders wracked with broken sobs as he whispered to me the words I never expected, nor did I want to: "leave me…!"

TBC

A/n: hoohoohoo! Aren't I just evil? You didn't think it was gonna end so happily so easily, did you? moohaha! Course not.. :P im probly gonna get flames for the ending. Hehehee! Ok then – explanations! The whole split personality thing? Don't you think that Erik does have two different sides to him? The Angel of Music as opposed to the Phantom of the Opera? The man who loves Christine and the man who hates society for making him what he is?

Think about it guys:P besides, it matched Christine's intentions so I don't think it turned out too badly. Tell me if it did though!

Rikku Ree: I LOVE YOUR LINK! I sat there beating Le Fop up at least 13 times straight and I was cackling like some whacko. My mum looked at me funny and left me be. Lol! I know, but Erik had to go mad – it's important to the story! Haha! Well, hope ya enjoyed this one, and hope ya don't flame me too badly for the cliffy ;)

Anawye: hello there! Glad you're enjoying it! Hope this chapter was to your liking ;)

LostSchitzophrenic: I did well? Yay! I was so nervous bout working it so that it doesn't alter the ECness of it all coz I adore the ECness of it all :P haha! Don't we all, huh? Hehe! Sorry I couldn't post sooner, I've got my GCSE exams starting this week!

WildPixieChild16: well yeah. I wanted to justify why Christine removed his mask! I mean, c'mon I wasn't gonna let her remove it to go along with Le Fop's plan! So I chose to put Erik's life in danger instead. Lol! Hope you likeys.. thanks for reviewing!

obsession is love: ur review, quite frankly, confuzzled me. And yea – Le Fop crying kinda emphasizes his sissy personality. Cmon lets face it – he hired several teams of police officers to capture ONE MAN. How much more of a coward can you get?

Kat097: my fave author of all time! Look! RC shippers! releases hounds and gators moohahahahaha! Feel the EC shipper power! We should also go after EOW. i really hate MarySues. I believe there's nothing more annoying. And uhh.. I hope I sorted it out? Hehehee.. I don't want a disaster beyond my imagination to occur! I don't want a disaster within my imagination to occur! Actually, It'd be lovely if no disaster occurred at all ;P haha! Hope u enjoyed!

kristinekat13: hello again! Wasn't that a sweet greeting? It kinda makes us all go "I want one!" don't we? Lol! Well hope ya enjoyed this chappie – don't hurt me for the cliffy! hide

tiny dancer: hellooo! (waves) glad u think I did a good job – of course you're cool! Listening to PONR is cool! So that makes me cool too.. hahaha! And how can I not luve you specially? You give kickass reviews! Which, once again, I'd like to thank you for.. :)

p.s. guys I know that I've been sloww at updating and im sorry! Exam time right now, but as soon as june 10th comes, I'm all yours okay:P till then, enjoy the chappies I manage to fork out!

Cookies and Gerry plushies for all!

GoldenLyre