A/N: Here you go. More to read and I think the chapter title says it all for this one. Hope you enjoy and please R&R!

Chapter Fourteen

Revelations

"My Father?" Maria choked on the question.

Erik nodded. "I knew you father."

Maria felt her head spin. She slowly slid from his arms and stood up. She walked down the stairs over to the lake. Erik watched her, knowing that he had said too much. He got up and walked into the room where he had been sleeping.

Maria turned at hearing the curtain move. She felt tears stream down her cheeks. She wasn't angry; yet, she knew Erik thought she was. She sat down on the rock and ran her hand over the water. The distorted reflection seemed all too familiar. She let out a heavy breath and stood. She walked back to the bedroom and laid down on the bed. She felt cold and empty. She closed her eyes when she heard the soft murmur from the chamber next to hers. She sat up, listening. The sounds stopped. She got up and walked into the small chamber.

Erik was stretched out on a small cot, sleeping. Maria could see that he was dreaming. She went in and sat down on the corner of the cot. She reached out and touched his face. He grunted and rolled away from her. She shook her head and walked out. It was close to morning.

The new light of day started to fill the cavern. The first chill of winter also floated into the liar. Maria quickly dressed to keep warm. She looked around, hoping to find Erik, but he still slumbered. She sighed and walked over to the organ. She looked at the music with a small smile.

Suddenly a harsh yell echoed off the rocks. Maria looked up horrified. She rushed into Erik's room. He was flaying his arms and yelling. Maria quickly started to shake him.

"Erik, Erik, wake up!"

Erik's eyes flew open. He jumped up, almost knocking Maria off the cot. She looked up at him.

"Are you alright?" She asked, gently touching his face.

Erik turned away from her. He was shaking all over. It was probably from the cold and whatever he had just dreamed. He sighed and put his head in his hands.

Maria watched him, not sure what to say or do. She reached out and pulled his hand away. He looked up at her as she pulled him closer.

"What did you dream?" she asked kindly.

Erik sighed. "Things I wanted to forget."

Maria knew the feeling well. After her father's death she had had dreams of it. She had longed for them to leave her, and they had. Only now they had been replaced with dreams of her beating. She took Erik's hand and held it lovingly. He looked at her and turned away again.

"Erik," Maria said. "You can tell me."

Erik let out a defeated breath and looked at her. "I saw my childhood." He felt tears welling in his eyes as he thought back.

"I was in this traveling fair, the main attraction. I'm sure you can imagine why." He pointed to the masked part of his face.
He paused. Maria watched him. Things were starting to make a little more sense.

"One night I had enough and killed the man who ran the place."

Maria's eyes widened in horror. She knew that Erik was a force to reckon with then he was angry, but she couldn't see him kill anyone. She turned away; she didn't want him to see her doubt. He suddenly rushed to her side and took her hands in his.

"Maria, you have to understand. He was a horrible man."

"Who are you to judge?"
Erik stood and pulled off his shirt, revealing scars made by countless beatings. Some were small and barely noticeable. Others were long, jagged, and heartbreaking. Maria held in her gasp and stood up, walking toward him.

"I'm sorry," she whispered.

Erik pulled his shirt back on with a forced breath. "I was saved and brought to the Opera House."

"Who saved you?" Maria asked, following him as he paced.

"It's not important," he stopped pacing. "I meet your father in the chapel one night. I was playing, and he came down there, trying to find you."

Maria felt her heart skip. She couldn't believe that Erik had been so close to her. She sat down and looked at him.

"I used to play in the chapel when Father came for a rehearsal or a performance," she admitted.

"I know," Erik said. "I used to watch you. That's why I came to you after I heard you sing. I knew it was you."

Maria smiled. So many mysteries were starting to be solved. She felt relieved and not so alone.

"Your father spoke to me and come to see me when he would come," Erik said, snapping her back to the right time and place.

"Did you wear a mask?" Maria asked. When she saw Erik's hurt look, she regretted the harsh question.

"At first," he said with a small gleam in his eyes. "Then one day, like you, he pulled it off and looked at me without fear. He took me in as a friend and student. He even asked me to come to live with him."

Maria knew her heart stopped. Erik had been so close to being in her life all the time. But she had never heard about this. Her father had kept no secrets from her.

"What changed?" she coughed out.

"He got sick and never came to get me. Then you left. I felt that I had been forsaken all over again."

"But I came back," Maria said lowly.

Erik knelt down in front of her. He touched her hands to his lips. Maria bent forward and kissed the top of his head. She gently rested her head on top of his and wondered if she would have loved him the way she did now if he had lived with her. She also pondered if God had led her back to the Opera House to save him.