by LiltingBanshee
A/N: Just a short one to get you through the rest of the weekend:)
He awoke after a restless night, thoughts and tears had kept him awake and he felt no joy at the rays of early morning sun that shone through his window.
He sat up and ran a hand through his hair. Slowly he got dressed while thinking about how he was going to face Adora this morning. He felt so bad about hitting her. The hurt look in her eyes had plagued his dreams all night and he wished with all his heart that she would forgive him.
There was no getting around it; she was probably already downstairs cleaning so he thought he would go down and help her and hopefully get things talked through.
The dance hall was empty and there was no sign of anyone cleaning up. He sighed; she had probably overslept if she had returned home late after having run from him last night. He went to the kitchen to boil some water, he would go wake her up and then help her with the cleaning.
No one answered when he knocked on the door. Thinking she was still sleeping he carefully entered the room. The bed sheets were rumbled, but there was no sign of her anywhere. Feeling his heart sink he placed the teacups on the table and looked around the room.
"Adora, are you in here?" he asked to the empty room, already knowing he would receive no answer.
"Good morning Erik." He whirled around to see Rosa standing in the doorway, yawning and scratching her tangled hair.
"Good morning Rosa, have you seen Adora" he asked.
"Isn't she downstairs doing her chores?" Rosa said and leaned against the doorframe.
"No, I just checked. I can't find her anywhere" he said with concern in his voice.
"Maybe she has gone to see her mother, she sometimes does that early in the morning" Rosa shrugged.
"To see her mother?" Erik was puzzled.
Rosa nodded and yawned again. "In the cemetery, you should try there."
Erik was on his way to the stairs nearly before she finished her sentence, but then suddenly stopped.
"What cemetery does her mother lie in?" he asked.
"Cimetiere de Montmarte Erik" Rosa said with a little smile.
He walked among the gravestones for a while, it was a rather large cemetery, but there weren't too many visitors in the early morning hours.
Then he saw her, sitting in front of a little gravestone. He carefully walked closer, trying not to startle her. She seemed so small as she sat there, the blue satin dress she was wearing hung loosely on her body and he could hear her crying.
As he came closer he could hear her speaking in between her sobs.
"I'm so sorry Maman, I made a terrible mistake. You told me never to touch the mask and I still went ahead and did it. Please forgive me Maman, let him for give me…" she cried.
He was standing only a few feet from her. He didn't know if she could feel his presence, but he didn't care. The only thought in his head was about what he had just heard her say. His eyes traveled from her back to the writing on the gravestone.
She could feel him close behind her and she knew what he was looking at. It was only a matter of seconds before his reaction would come.
"You're Christine's…" he gasped.