A/N: Thank you to everyone who's reviewing…it's inspired me to continue with this. Still not entirely sure where it's going, hang in there! Love all of you.
Chapter 1
September, Paris, 3 years after the first and only performance of Don Juan Triumphant
Wake me up when September ends. – Green Day"Good morning, Raoul," Christine said, stopping in the doorway to the room he was sleeping in.
"Is there something you need?" he asked curtly, never even getting up to look at her.
"No, I was just…" Her voice trailed off.
"If it's nothing important, then please go find something to do. I have no need for you right now."
Hurt, Christine retreated from his room. Three years after their wedding, Christine and Raoul de Chagny's marriage was falling apart. True, he had once loved her, but that had long since evaporated.
Christine was now four months pregnant with what was hoped to be the Viscount's heir. In a pitiful attempt to win Raoul back, she had agreed to bear his child.
She aimlessly strode down their extravagantly furnished hallway, not taking in a speck of what was around her. This is the life I chose, she thought bitterly. I must make this work.
Christine still had nightmares of that night in the bowels of the opera house. She would see Erik's face, the hurt in his eyes as she pulled away from him. She had nightmares that she would return to Erik and he would not take her back, telling her that after that night that she chose Raoul, she had died to him. She dreamt of Heaven, sometimes, and she would be falling asleep wrapped in his embrace, instead of two rooms down from her husband who loved only himself.
Christine wanted to leave so badly. She hated the life she had chosen for herself, a life full of simpering maids who would listen to your secrets and tell them to all their friends, ensuring their eventual spread around Paris. A life with an unwanted child and an unloving husband who probably had many, many mistresses.
As Christine reached the top of the staircase, she felt a hand roughly grab her shoulder and spin her around. She looked into the handsome, cold features of her husband.
"I thought I told you to find something to do?" he asked, a sneer creeping across his face.
"I…just…" she faltered, praying that he would just stop at that.
"This doesn't look like you're doing anything. Do you consider yourself useful? Do you know what useful is, Christine?"
"I…yes, I…" All Christine could do was babble when faced with his anger.
"Would you rather have not married me and been a maid in a house like mine?"
"No…I just…"
"God damn it, why can't you ever answer for yourself? Why do you just splutter and stand there an imbecile!" Raoul shouted, slamming his fist against the mahogany-paneled wall.
Christine said nothing, tears seeping from her eyes.
"ANSWER ME!"
Still she didn't reply, wishing him away from her with every fiber of her being.
"Then leave! Get out and leave right now. You know what, Christine? I knew this would happen. I knew you would turn into a zombie after the Don Juan fiasco!" he stopped, breathing heavily. "I saw how you looked at that…that freak," he spat the word, "after you kissed him." Raoul's voice quieted, a weakness creeping into it that Christine had never heard before. "You never once looked at me like that."
"Raoul, I–"
"DON'T EVEN START, Christine. This is the end. After you have my child, I want you gone." He saw the look of shock on her face and laughed. "You didn't really think I still loved you, did you? Do you have no perception? You'd think that our sleeping in different rooms would clue you in. The only reason I've kept you around so long is because I want an heir!" He reached towards her and slapped her across the face.
Something inside of Christine snapped. She was done.
"STOP IT, RAOUL!" she shrieked, and he was so shocked that he actually obeyed. "You are so right. I did love that, what did you call him, freak. The only reason I chose to go with you that night is because it was the easy thing to do. I hate you," she struck out and hit him squarely in the nose, "I hate this house," she grabbed a painting off the wall and put her foot through it, "I hate this life!
"Oh, and you know what else, Raoul? This heir means so much to you. Want to see how much he means to me?"
She turned towards him with an insane smile, and her eyes rolled as she closed them briefly. Raoul could only watch, a look of pure horror contorting his face. Christine laughed an insane, mirthless laugh and approached the top of the staircase.
With a final look at Raoul, she spread her arms out and fell forwards, sickly reveling in the way her lower abdomen hit the edge of every single step on her descent.
