Disclaimer: I never have and never will own Phantom of the Opera. Although this plot is mine so please do not steal it.

Sorry guys!My cousins were overall last week so I could not update my phic. Please do not be too mad at me.This one is a bit of a filler by the way.

I thank all of my faithful readers and especially my reviewers. You guys are the best.I feel so unbelievably happy when you guys review my work and evengive me tips on how to improve it because without you guys helping me, I wouldn't be able to know what my flaws are. I thank you from the bottom of my healing heart.

Kagome-chan (Kagome1514): I hope this one is a bit longer than before. I tried to make it longer. If you still want it longer, please tell me. --

Though a Rose May Fade…

Chapter VIII- Sleepless Nights

Erik tossed and turned in bed. He thought sleep would come easily. He had what he desired. He had Christine. So why did he feel so guilty about it? She needed him didn't she? Wasn't that what he had wanted so badly? Didn't he want Christine to need and stay with him? Of course he did. He knew that perfectly well, but something was still bothering him. Something he couldn't exactly pinpoint. He tried so much to grasp it. The little peeve was keeping him awake. What else did his heart yearn for? He wanted nothing more… or did he?

What if Raoul would find her and ask her to leave with him? Would she agree and leave him at the time when he needs her most like how she did that night? Would she even remember him when she would leave? Would he be arrested then and be killed? Would she even care? Would she even know? Of course she would know. She would be the Countess then would she not? She wouldn't care. She never cared. Then why did she come here? This probably was her last choice anyways. Then that meant that Madame Giry knew what had happened? Did she know where Christine was at this very moment? He trusted her yes, but after that chandelier incident it would be quite generous of her to be keeping his secret still. Of course, if she did know then she probably would've kept it not for his sake but for Christine's.

Did she once think of him after she and Raoul fled? Did she think of her Angel of Music? Erik shook his head at the thought. Of course not. Why would she have reason to? Her precious Vicomte would be occupying her time and thoughts. He shuddered at even thinking that she would waste such time on him. Why would she waste so much effort for him when he had treated her like scum? Then it hit him. He had once done the same. In that Opera house he had brought a young soprano to his lair, revealing himself to her, doing whatever it would take to get her just to look at him. He had opened up to her and to everyone else in his blinding efforts to the "point of no return." He knew why she probably had done so. She loves him… just like how he loves her.

"NO! I meant loved not loves. What the hell is the matter with me?" he groaned. He pounded the bed sheets in frustration. This was not how he wanted to his first day of glory and triumph to end up as. This was not at all good. He groaned in annoyance.

"Since when does being at the happiest period of my life right now just seem so… superficial? I mean, I have the only girl I could ever want. I have Christine with me… she needs me… so why do I feel so guilty, so unhappy about all of this?" he asked himself. "Great, now she even has me speaking to myself."

This was going to be one hell of a long night.

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Christine couldn't sleep, though she tried. She couldn't stop thinking about what had happened, about how Raoul and her parents made her look like a fool. She hated what they thought of her and how they thought about everything that meant something to her, everything except their precious Raoul of course. Tears rolled down her cheeks. She had been crying every single night although the reason why was still unclear to her. She hated his parents with a passion yet still felt some remorse towards them. She knew they didn't deserve it but she did and that almost broke her every single night. It was because of them that she had begun to doubt everything about her and her life. It was because of them that she had been forced to be played a fool and ended up as what they called a prostitute. She had doubted herself that day. She believed for a moment that she indeed was filth, that she had been living the life of a whore.

She rubbed her temples frustratingly. She wasted so much on him all because she believed that he would come back to her and love her like he did in the Opera house. She wanted him to just realize that she loved him so and would then spend every moment with her. She knew it was a silly thought but deep within her she always hoped. She knew in her heart this would never come to be and learned to adapt to it. She never really expected much from Raoul. She just wanted him to be there for her when she needed him. She just wanted him to be "Raoul the husband" because when she moved in with him, "Raoul her knight in shining armor" became "Raoul the Vicomte." She also thought he would stick up for her no matter what the cost. He had done that so many times before but when she hoped he would defend her most he just let her slip away from him. He just let her be insulted and rejected. He allowed it. How could he even betray her like this?

Her mind wandered to her angel. It was quite queer that she still called Erik "angel." He was far from an angel, yes, but his voice was definitely a voice from Heaven. He loved her so much, more than she could handle. She did everything in her willpower to destroy him. The funny thing is that she never truly realized how much she had scarred him and wounded him until that infamous night. She regretted it. She never wanted to hurt him. She wished she could take it back. Things would've be a hell of a lot different. If she chose him, would things have been better? She always thought these before sleep would engulf her. Would he be the prince she was looking for? She snorted at the thought of Erik being a prince. She pictured princes as being the epitome of the word "handsome" or "gorgeous." But as she thought more of it the more she realized, Erik was one of the closest men to ever be her prince. The other, well, he turned out to be more of a frog than an actual prince. It really proved to her about not judging a book by its cover.

She still found it hard to believe that Erik would have the heart to let her stay with him. She felt so ashamed then. How much more could she possibly ruin for him? She sighed inwardly thinking about how beautiful someone truly could be if you take time to get to know them, not just know them but know them. She was too immature to let him in. She was too shallow to see there was beauty beneath the beast, man behind the monster hidden in that mask. Though she had grown up immensely now. She experienced the real world ever since that day she fled with Raoul. She never knew how sheltered she really had been. Now, she experienced more and knew so much more. If he wished to let her back into his world, she would let him into hers. Although at the moment it seemed impossible. He loathed her, but loathed her enough to let her stay? Her feelings were mixed and unreadable. But one thing she did know she felt was gratefulness and that was all it took to allow her into a dreamless slumber.

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The sun shone dimly through the room. Christine rubbed her eyes and got up from bed, half asleep. She walked aimlessly into the incredibly small kitchen and sat down. Then everything registered into her mind: Raoul always being gone, his parents display of their disgust towards her, Raoul doing nothing about it, her heart breaking, she fleeing to Erik's lair, and his bountiful generosity by allowing her to stay in his house even after all the things that had occurred in the past. Her eyes stung with tears once more but before they escaped her, a voice interrupted her thoughts.

"I have some business to attend to. I will be back shortly. Food is in the pantry. I have some spare outfits you may wear. They are in your room. I expect you to stay here and don't cause trouble." Erik told her before descending through the halls of the lair. He was wearing his white mask which was now dirty and a slightly sickening cream color. He wore a cape and formal attire. His eyes were bloodshot with bags beginning from his lower lid (she could only see one lid because the other was hidden beneath the mask). Christine nodded at what he said and sat down. She had nowhere to go, so she wouldn't be running off causing more trouble than she had already brought.

She found a loaf of bread from the pantry and stuffed a chunk of the pastry into her mouth. She hadn't realized up to that moment how hungry she was. She drank some water after, felling the liquid slide down her throat. Never in her life had bread tasted so delicious. When she was finished, she washed her cup in the water and headed to her little room to change.

Her room was small, hardly to be called a room. It was more so thought of as extra space. She found a few outfits lying on top of a small chest. She searched through them. Some looked oddly familiar. Then she recognized them as costumes used in several plays. She even found the dress she used in Hannibal. After pondering on what she would wear, she decided upon a simple pink dress that looked similar to the one she wore at the masquerade, only less elegant. She loved the color pink. It was one of her favorite colors. It fit her perfectly.

She searched for something she could do to pass the time. She didn't want to let Erik down, not after the generosity he has shown her. Her brain racked with ideas but none seemed to be able to be put to use in such a small space. Her thinking was postponed because she sneezed. It wasn't a loud sneeze but a soft held back sneeze. Then she figured out what to do. Erik could use a bit of cleaning. She snatched a dirty cloth from her room and began to scrub and dust. She missed cleaning. She had done it countless times in the Opera Populaire after they finished a show or a practice. At Raoul's she would sit down idly. She was glad she remembered how cleaning was to be done.

Without warning her thoughts roamed to Erik. She wondered what business he had meant to take care of. Obviously it wasn't any of her business to know, but she still wondered. She would not ask him though. She had no right to and wouldn't dare do something to him she would regret.

"Whatever it was, it was probably for a good cause." She thought and then got back to her dusting.