Raoul sat on his bed. Tears ran slowly down his face. He quickly wiped them all away for he didn't like to cry. Crying showed weakness and vulnerability. His head hurt from how hard he was thinking. He thought about Jeffery, his good friend. Jeffery had always understood him. How he felt, how he thought, how he made his decisions. Raoul just couldn't believe the way he finally left the world. A stupid little head wound and some very poor doctors? That was not dieing with dignity, with courage.
He thought about Jeffery for a long time. He knew that he was avoiding thinking about Christine. But he couldn't deny it any longer. The picture of Christine a few hours earlier swam into his mind. She was distraught and upset. He relived the horror in her eyes as he had grabbed her. Yelling at her for confirmation that the love he felt for her was mutual, but it did not come.
Raoul let out a violent sob. Tears began pouring from his eyes. His heart ached. Never had he felt the pain that he was feeling at that moment. For he would never even dream of hurting Christine. Why did he lose control?
His body lurched violently through his heavy sobs. He was disgusted with himself. Raoul desperately wished he could take back all that he had said. For the moment that he slammed the door that separated them both, a sharp realization hit him hard. He was no better then the man he despised above all others. He was no better then him.
Raoul jumped from the bed. His head swam with a million thoughts. All he knew for sure was that he had to find Christine. He had to apologize; he had to tell her all the things he had been keeping inside him for so long. But his heart was weighted with the harsh reality that he may have lost her forever.
Slowly and cautiously he walked down the spiraling staircase. The silence was deafening and this only heightened his extreme uneasiness.
"Christine?" Raoul enquired softly, reaching the bottom of the stairs.
There was no reply.
He walked slowly into the kitchen. The broken glass still lay upon the floor, but there was no sign of Christine.
"Christine?" Raoul called out again, a bit louder then before.
No one answered his calls.
Raoul's heart started to pick up speed as he went from room to room.
She wasn't in the bathroom. She wasn't in her bedroom, the drawing room, the hall, the ballroom, the second bedroom, the third bedroom, the laundry room…
This house is ridiculously large he thought to himself furiously.
Raoul began to run around the house like a madman, yelling her name at the top of his lungs. Checking each room once, twice, three times…
His vision began to fog over. She was gone. She had left him.
He stopped in the middle of the spare bedroom. (Of what seemed like thousands). Raoul couldn't remember if he had checked that room before. Tears began to well up in his eyes again, the sobbing started. He was breathing deeply and harshly.
"Oh Christine" Those two words were spoken with so much feeling. So much sadness, it was more then he could bear.
"CHRISTINE!" He yelled as loud as he could, his voice cracking with emotion. "Christine…I'm sorry….I'm…I...I'm so…" Raoul's voice gave out and he sank slowly to his knees. His body shook with his silent (and not-so-silent) sobs.
Memories spun in front of him. Their wedding, he was watching Christine walk down the aisle. She looked absolutely stunning. She smiled at him and he felt himself melt away. Never before had he seen her smile at him like she had at that moment. Christine hardly smiled anymore.
Their wedding night. Soft, unsure, timid but yet beautiful.
Raoul wouldn't have traded these memories for anything in the world.
God, he loved her.
The sobbing continued on and on without end. He pitied himself for what he had lost.
"Raoul?" A soft voice came from behind him. It absorbed within him and made all of his tears and crying cease to exist. The voice was so gentle, so loving, he dared not interrupt it.
Slowly Raoul opened his eyes and, hardly daring it to be true, turned his head to the doorway.
There stood Christine. Her hair tied up on her head, the pieces that strayed flowing softly down onto her shoulders. Tears welled up in her eyes as she gazed upon the scene that lay before her.
"Oh Raoul" Christine let out a sharp breath and slowly walked towards him.
She kneeled beside him and took him in her arms. She hadn't forgotten how Raoul had yelled at her and grabbed her. But she couldn't bear seeing him the way he was. She didn't think she had ever seen him in that state.
Raoul's breathing got deeper and shakier. She hadn't left. She was right there, holding him.
"Oh Christine" He repeated softly under his breath. "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to…" He trailed off as another violent sob overtook his body.
"Shh…" Christine held him tightly to her and rocked him back and forth. Like a mother rocking her child to sleep. Reassurance flooded Raoul's body. He could hardly believe that she was touching him.
She detached herself slowly from her grasp and gazed upon her husband. A soft smile played across her lips.
Raoul took a deep breath. He knew he had to tell her, to explain his actions. Even if she insisted she didn't need to hear them.
His eyes locked with hers and, hesitating at first, brushed the stray hair from her face and placed it softly behind her ear. Christine did not flinch or make any move to leave him.
"Christine…" his voice was merely a whisper slowly building confidence, "Christine, I didn't mean to speak to you the way I did before….I just..."
"Raoul, please…it's ok Raoul…its ok"
"No…Christine. It's not." He sighed and then began again, "Jeffery's death…his…his death shocked me. I felt…I can't even describe how I felt, Christine. I would never hurt you…I would never dream of…But I heard you singing…you were singing. Oh Christine, you have the most beautiful voice I have every heard. But…But I….in that moment I felt as though I was losing everything. I lost my cousin and now I'm losing you…."
Tears began to softly fall down her face as she listened to Raoul trek on through his speech.
"Raoul, you aren't losing me," her voice was strong. She had to convince him that she meant what she was saying…somehow.
He turned his face away from her.
"Raoul…Raoul look at me," Christine gently turned his head towards her own. Tears were beginning to fall freely from both of them, "You aren't losing me. You will never lose me. I'm right here…I love you"
Raoul stared at her shocked. His eyes never left hers as if he was trying to detect even a hint of deception.
Christine leaned into him and kissed him softly. Raoul responded, wrapping his arms tenderly around her waist.
The kiss seemed to last forever. When they finally parted silence overwhelmed them.
Raoul let a small smile break through his tear-stained face. He sighed and wiped them away before speaking again. As much as he hated the immense understanding and loving vibe that was consuming them he had to set some things straight.
"Christine…I love you. I love you so much."
Christine smiled at him and wiped away some of her own tears. Slowly she began realizing how silly she must look, sitting in the middle of the room with tears streaming down her face.
"Christine…Where did you go? I thought I had lost you…" Raoul stared up at her, awaiting her answer. He had called out in the house so many times and with such volume that he was sure that, if Christine had indeed been in the house, that she would have heard t hem.
Christine sighed and stood up slowly. She was choosing her words carefully as if they could be greatly misinterpreted.
"You have a right to know where I went and what I was doing..." she said more to herself then to Raoul "After I…after you left the kitchen I sat there for a long time. Staring off into space, lost in my own thoughts. I decided to go out for a walk to clear my head. I just want you to know Raoul that I love you, and that I…I know…" Christine closed her eyes slowly trying very hard to force out the words wish she didn't wish to speak "I know that Erik is dead. I know it. I'm sorry. He terrified me Raoul, absolutely terrified me. I had just forgotten how much…"
Raoul sighed heavily. His outburst had reminded her of that monster. Reminded her of what he put her through all those years ago.
Emiliee couldn't remember a time in her life when she had felt such unspeakable pain. Never had her head throbbed so excruciatingly or her body felt so fragile and broken. A sharp and devastating pain erupted through her if she even tried to move a finger. Emiliee's eyes flickered open quickly. Where was she? The room was dreadfully out of focus and it wasn't clearing up either. She quickly learned that so much as trying to sit up or move her head was impossible.
The room was bathed in darkness but shadows loomed over her threateningly. As if they were lions ready to pounce and attack their prey. The room was cluttered and in total disarray. The complete opposite set up as her mothers own dressing room. Emiliee wondered how long it had been since she left the dressing room. Was everyone out looking for her? Did anyone notice? It could have been days…weeks even. Emiliee started panicking. The room she was in didn't bear any resemblance to any room she had ever been in before.
Emiliee tried to lift her head sharply, only resulting in whacking it hard against the headboard. She groaned loudly and lay back into her pillow. The bump and the excessive panicking and thinking were causing the untamable pain in her head to steadily become worse.
The room was still fuzzy; she couldn't make out whole objects. But she did sense movement from the doorway. Emiliee's whole body stiffened. Someone was in there and she couldn't move. She was powerless against this madman's wrath. Her mind swam with a thousand thoughts of what would happen to her; Murder, Rape, Violence…her breathing quickened. Emiliee didn't want to imagine herself in that position. She had never felt so defenseless, so vulnerable. She was trapped in this place where no one knew where she was. They wouldn't hear her scream or struggle; her father wouldn't come to save her or her mother. Or even Marcello. She was totally and completely alone.
Except for that murderous lunatic in the doorway she thought bitterly to herself
Never before had she longed for her parents as much as she did then. Tears welled up in her eyes as she thought about them. They had trusted her to take care of herself and what did she do? She goes walking down a mysterious passageway behind a mirror and falls through the floor and then wakes up in some person's room…
Emiliee didn't want to think of what she did. The irresponsibility that caused her to venture further and further made her feel stupid and immature. Now where was she because of her own bloody ignorance? Facing her death, unless of course she was hallucinating.
Emiliee held onto this thought like it were the most precious thing in the world. Hallucination. Maybe she was dreaming and in a few seconds she would wake up in her mother's dressing room and go and finish cleaning out the boxes for Marcello. Yes, that is what she'd do. Now all she had to do was wake up…
Emiliee became painfully aware that the menacing shadow demon was drawing closer to her bed. She tried to stay calm...
I'm just dreaming…this isn't real. In a few seconds I'll wake up from this nightmare…It's ok...It's going to be ok…
"Who are you?" asked the shadow demon, stopping a ways from the bed so Emiliee couldn't see it clearly. Its voice was harsh, angry, menacing…all of the key factors needed to be a threat.
Emiliee didn't answer. She thought furiously of waking up. Then she had the most incredible idea. All she had to do was pinch herself. So Emiliee drew a shaky hand to her arm and pinched herself hard. Wincing she realized that the pain was all too real.
The shadow demon grew angry when it did not receive a reply. Emiliee couldn't see it but she was sure that it spoke the next words through gritted teeth to keep its composure.
"I'll ask you one last time…" it said threateningly. But before it could finish its sentence Emiliee found her voice.
"I'm…I'm…" At least she thought she had found it
"You're WHO?" The demon asked angrily walking a bit closer to her bed.
Emiliee strained her eyes as hard as she could to get a clear picture. But the haziness did not lift.
"I'm Emiliee…" she began lamely. Her voice giving out before she could say more.
"Emiliee? Emiliee who? I don't know anyone by that name." The voice was getting confused.
"Emiliee de…" she wasn't sure if she should give her name. Would the title cause for death? Or maybe this mysterious "demon" would want ransom money. Maybe the title would spare her life. With this sudden realization she spoke with more defiance then she actually felt "Emiliee de Chagny."
There was silence in the room. Emiliee's eyes darted around trying to find the thing that had been talking to her so harshly before. She could only hear its heavy breathing which seemed to get heavier by the second.
Suddenly the demon let out an angry wail and Emiliee jumped as she heard a heavy object smash against the wall not too far from where she was lying. Without another word the demon stormed from the room slamming the door behind him with such force that Emiliee was sure that he had broken it from the hinges.
Emiliee sat horrified as she faintly heard more destruction from behind the door. Frozen to her spot…she wondered if she would ever see her family again.
Author's Note : Sorry it took so long for an update. I should have the next chapter up as soon as I can. Oh and sorry about all of the R/C to you E/C fans. It's just necessary for the story but try and enjoy it all the same. Oh, and I'm sorry I was making you guys sign in to review. I didn't know that it was set like that so I changed it so…Review! Please…I love reviewers. I'll give you chocolate cookies if you do…-wink wink nudge nudge-
