Note: Here it is, I may be cruel, but I am not cruel. For those of you waiting to see something spectacular, all I have to say is those Phans that love Erik as much as I do, will be happy. And maybe in the next chapter, I'll make you guys even happier! Enjoy this, and please REVIEW!
Chapter 16
Erik smiled as he watched the girl move silently behind the scenes to her room. Deciding to meet her there, he slipped into a secret passageway and had just activated the spring mechanism when Ana opened her door. He gave a sly smile as she gave a small yelp of surprise, clutching her chest. The rose that he held in his fingers was for her and her magnificent performance.
"Bravissimi my dear. You did wonderfully well," he started to say when another cough possessed his body. He felt as though he couldn't breathe, his head getting lighter by the second as the cough worsened. He barely heard Ana ask if he was okay before a thick blackness enveloped his mind.
Ana rushed forward when she saw him collapse onto the ground. She knelt down and checked his pulse. His heart was still beating in a fast way, but at least he was still alive. She plucked the rose out of his fingers and placed it on the floor near his body. She placed her hand to his forehead and drew it back quickly when she felt the heat pouring from his head. He was running a fever, and a very high one if at that. She then caught sight of his sleeve where the fresh blood from his cough sat.
Ana's eyes widened with horror. That only meant two things: inflamed lungs or bronchitis. Either way, both would be dangerous to cure. She looked around, knowing full well that she had no idea where he resided at in the Opera House and that if she should fetch a doctor or the managers, she would dearly regret it. So the only thing left to do was to attempt to get his body into her bed. She studied from all angles, the white mask touching the ground while the other part of his face was exposed to her. She gave a heavy sigh and bent over. Then, with a painful process, she began to move his body. It was slow work, he was a good five inches taller than her and most likely weighed twice her weight. She carefully dragged his body closer to the bed and then draped his arms and head onto the bed. Then, scampering down to his feet she picked them up and attempted to place him on the bed. She had almost succeed when she noticed that she would need another pair of hands to place his torso onto the bed. A thought popped into her head and she balanced Erik's feet with her knee and then placed her hand onto his torso and shoved. He went onto the bed with little difficulty and she let out a sigh of relief. Now came the hard part and she wasn't sure she could do this. She had to get him down to just his trousers. The amount of clothing he was wearing would only increase the body temperature and to fight this sickness, whatever it may be, he would need to be in a lot less clothing.
She began to undo his jacket and waistcoat keeping her eyes on the rising and falling of his chest, which seemed to grow more shallow by the second. When she had successfully removed those two articles, she worked on the cravat her fingers working as nimbly as they could. A soft whisper came as the cravat fell to the floor. Now was the tricky part, to take off his shirt. She was thinking of leaving it on, but should she need to examine his breathing by listening to his heart and to bring his fever down, she would need him to have no shirt on. She would keep his trousers on for the respect of privacy. Her fingers trembled as they undid the buttons and the white dress shirt fell open, revealing to Ana a well formed and well sculpted chest. She bit back a gasp and her eyes widened as she pulled the shirt out of his pants and tossed it behind her. Her eyes were still attached to his chest and she had to will herself to rip her eyes away from his tan skin. She then looked at his face. If she was going to be putting cold compresses on his face and chest, she would have to remove the mask. Slowly, she moved her fingers up to his face while reasons flashed through her head about why she shouldn't remove the mask. His anger was one that kept popping back into her mind. She firmly pushed it aside and slid her fingers under the cool leather mask and lifted it up.
Erik's face, the horrible part of his face that Christine had feared, was exposed. Ana looked at it, stared at it, and drank it in. This was horrible for him? This is what caused him to go into a rage when Christine was exposed it to the whole world? It was nothing, nothing at all compared to what she had on her stomach or to what the servant had to bear. This was meager, a nothingless deformity that didn't scare her. Unlike his scars, Ana's was beyond hideous and knew it every time Alex had glanced at her. She placed the mask on her night stand and went to her small basin that had once contained warm water. Now the water was freezing cold and Ana took two small washcloths and dipped them into the water. She dragged them out of the water and squeezed them to make sure the water didn't drip. Then hurrying back, she placed the one cold compress on Erik's forehead and then did the exact same thing to the other washcloth, placing it on his chest. The next thing she knew that she had to do was she needed to find Mme. Giry and ask for some laudanum. It was the only thing that would fight off the disease and make him feel a little better, especially if it was an inflammation of the lungs. She tucked the covers around Erik's unconscious body and slipped out of her room, taking care to lock the door behind her as she left.
Silently she made her way down the hall making sure that no one spotted her. The last thing she needed was someone stopping her in the hallway while Erik could possibly be dying in her room.
'How long had he been sick?' she wondered as she made her way to Madame Giry's room. She stopped when two ballet girls came scampering down the hallway towards her. She pushed herself against the wall praying that she would blend in. The two girls were too interested in their conversation to notice Ana at all. When they had passed, Ana continued on her way. She had to hide three more times and each time the person who passed her were too interested in what they were thinking or saying to another to notice her. She had finally reached Mme. Giry's room and gave three sharp raps on her door. Movement within the room came through the door and then Ana found herself staring into Madame's Giry's grey eyes.
"Yes Ana?" Mme. Giry asked her as she pushed a lock of her hair out of her face.
"May I come in? I have something of importance to discuss with you." Ana said, glancing over her shoulder.
"Yes of course." Madame Giry stepped back in to her room and allowed Ana to enter. When Ana had come fully into the room, Mme. Giry shut the door and locked it.
"What is the matter?" Mme. Giry asked the young woman.
Ana thought about how much she could tell the older woman. Then decided on a plan. "I have a...friend who is sick and is in dire need of laudanum. Unfortunately, this friend is currently unconscious and wouldn't want to be seen by a doctor. I am afraid that they might have an inflamed lung or bronchitis. Please, may I borrow some laudanum?"
Ana saw Mme. Giry understand who her 'friend' was. She just gave her a look that she understood who Ana was talking about and Ana wondered how she knew it was Erik.
"Yes, I have some. Although I am glad you are not going to order a doctor. Your... 'friend' may not like the idea of having a doctor there. Hold on while I get it." Mme. Giry said and walked to her dresser. She opened the large doors and pulled open a drawer. Shifting some stuff around, she yanked out a large bottle.
"Here it is my dear. Do take good care of your friend. And if you need off tomorrow because of your friend's sickness let me know. Don't let anyone in your room no matter what, do you understand?" Mme. Giry said it with such seriousness that Ana could only nod.
"Thank you Madame. And I will let you know about that early tomorrow morning. I bid you good night." With that said, Ana let herself out of the room and hurried back to her room. She was halfway there when a hand grabbed her arm and spun her about.
"Hello Ana. Where are you off to in such a hurry? To comfort your lover perhaps?" Alex said his words dripping with loathing.
"It is none of your concern of what I do. I am no longer married to you and therefore wish that you would leave me alone. I have a friend who is quite ill and is in need of this medicine. If you would excuse me, I must make sure that they are still alive. Good evening." she said icily and pulled her arm out of his grasp.
"Well I expect you to accept that invitation to the next Bal Masque. Otherwise, your way of living here may be disrupted." he turned around and started to walk away but stopped. "And as for no longer being married to me, you'll find that you'll always be a part of my life no matter how far you run." He left Ana standing there with fear and anger coarse through her blood. Ana snapped out of her current mood when her thoughts wondered back to Erik. She turned and sprinted the rest of the way down the hallway. She unlocked her door and found Erik still in her bed. He hadn't moved and the compresses were lukewarm. She re-wet the compresses and stuck them back on smiling slightly as some goose flesh appeared then disappeared as suddenly as they had come. She searched around her room and drawers until she found a spoon that she had kept from the one breakfast. It was clean and had never been used. She twisted the cap off the medicine and poured some onto the spoon. Then walking carefully as she could towards the bed, she sat on the edge of it facing Erik. She picked up his head and placed it on her lap.
"I truly am sorry for this Erik, but it's going to make you feel better." she whispered and pried open his mouth. Tipping the spoon into his mouth, she made sure he swallowed the whole spoonful without choking on it. When that was successfully completed, she laid his head back down on her pillow and left the covers down by his feet. She notice that his feet were still in his shoes and made quick work of taking them off. Picking up his clothes that she discarded, she folded them and laid them in her dresser. Then, walking behind her changing screen she quickly changed into her shift and sat down in the chair that was still pulled near her bed when Erik had sat to make sure she didn't hurt herself.
She pondered on Alex's words and looked around. There, sitting on the floor as though it was waiting for someone to find it, was a letter. She got up out of the chair and went over to where it laid. Bending down and picking it up, she felt her hands shake as she looked at Alex's neat handwriting. She tore the letter open and found an invitation to Madame Aliane's Bal Masque. Beneath it was a letter from Alex, saying that if she didn't come he would spill her secret to the whole Opera company and her aunt and uncle. She had no choice she realized. She was being pulled in two different directions. Two different men were blackmailing her, one with what he believed to be the truth, and the other twisting her words into something that could ruin her horribly. The only option for her was to accept the invitation. So, sitting down at her desk, she wrote back to Madame Aliane and said she would be in attendance. Then, returning to the chair, she took the black throw that Erik had given her and settled down into the chair for what was to be a long night.
Okay guys, here's the next chapter. I finished it last night at around 11 and didn't feel like posting today. Thanks to Ella, I now have an idea as to where to take this! Ella, I am loving you. The next chapter may take a while because me and my friend Brandy are working on it together because I have an idea and she has another fabulous idea so we're combining them. I'll be working at it here at my home and at musical practice while I wait. Let me tell you, the next chapter will definitely wet your appetite. Once again, thank you oh so much Ella, I will follow your idea well. Now, off to sleep! Whee!
Milady Midnight- I thank you very much for the critiscism. And thanks for the little mishaps on bronchitis and inflammed lungs deal. Also, the cutting wasn't my idea. Actually, it came from a friend, because I wanted Ana to have a horrible past that was so bad the only way she could treat it was to injure herself. But I had no idea how to do it until one of my friends mentioned cutting herself. And her arms really weren't all that damaged. When Madame Giry mentioned she had beautiful arms to display, I was referring to her upper arms where you can see the toned muscle( I know about it because I take jazz, tap, and irish step dancing. Your upper arm muscles get really toned and you can see your biceps and triceps v. well). Ana more along the lines of injures her wrists where the metacarpals meet. It's the area where you can see the blood vessels really well. I am sorry if I offended anyone by making Ana a cutter, but I didn't know any other way one destroys one's body.
Note to EVERYONE- when I say nothing can break my magical bubble I mean it! NO ONE CAN BREAK THE MAGICAL BUBBLE! lol, it contains all anti-magic shields mwahaha!
Moon Avenger- I totally agree with your plan. I accept your proposal. Just touch my hand on the bubble and we'll call that a shake.
