Shade: I know, I know! I've been a bad authoress! I'm sorry I haven't posted sooner! Anyway, this chapter is short too unfortunately. And it has a bad cliffhanger, so I'll post the next chapter ASAP. But school is tough for me this year, so just know that I'm doing my best. I would never abandon this story. Just to put that out there. The next 2 chapters are very emotional. Just a warning, and this one sets it up a bit. And sorry, no shoutouts this time! Next chappy, ok? Enjoy!

"Silently the senses

Abandon their defenses

Helpless to resist

The notes I write . . .

For I compose

The music of the night . . ." –Music of the Night

Chapter 30: To Forsake the Music of the Night

"Erik . . . my darling . . . I am with child," Nasrin said weakly, crumbling under my gaze. As soon as she choked the sentence out, she broke eye contact with me and focused her attention on her hands, which lay calmly in her lap.

I felt myself weaken and I fell to my knees before her, thousands of conjectures and accusations blurring my thought process and numbing my tongue, leaving it incapable of forming speech. For a long few moments, I couldn't move, couldn't speak; I couldn't respond in any way possible.

"Erik, please say something," she whispered, her breath shuddering.

I looked up at her, half expecting her to faint from the sound of weakness in her voice. Instead, I found her with tears streaming down her face, and I knew that my inability to react had hurt her. I forced my leaden limbs in motion, sat beside her on the bed, and welcomed her into my arms. She fell limply against my body, as if emotionally defeated by my reaction.

"Erik, please. Speak," she whispered into me, her warm breath gently caressing the cool flesh of my neck.

"Whose child, Nasrin?" I whispered softly in her ear. However, Giry had heard me, and her eyes widened with concern. I had forgotten that she did not know of Jean's actions and I silenced myself by chewing on my lower lip.

Nasrin looked up at me with her glassy blue-green eyes. "You said that I was near dead when you returned to me. I slept for a long time without nutrition enough to feed both a growing child and myself. It surely cannot be Jean's child within me."

As the realization that what she said was true, I sighed and pulled her tighter, feeling her heart beat against mine. Nasrin pulled away and kissed my forehead.

"I have only lain with one man since Jean. What grows in me is ours." She paused as her eyes analyzed my expression. "So, why do you still look so unhappy?" She touched my face, her slender fingers tracing the ridges of my deformity. She furrowed her eyebrows and examined every inch of my face with a faint frown on her lips.

"Nasrin," Madame Giry breathed. Immediately, by the tone in her voice, I knew what it was she was going to ask.

Nasrin reluctantly turned from me and faced Giry with her head raised. I bowed my head and chose to listen instead of watch her facial expression change. Instantaneously, the image of Nasrin lying tied up and beaten bloody surged into my mind and I instinctively pulled her tighter in my arms.

"Yes, Madame? Undoubtedly you are going to inquire about Jean de Lamarier, am I right?" Her voice was dark, completely contrasting the pleading tone she had acquired while talking to me. I pressed my face against the side of her head, holding her firmly in my arms.

"Yes. You said you lay with him. Why would you do that?" she asked, aghast. I growled up at her, warning her against inquiring further.

"It was not of my volition, you foolish woman," Nasrin spat, far harsher than I had ever heard her speak to Giry. "Do my scars tell a story to you? If they speak of voluntary adultery, speak now." Her body had tensed and she had begun to shake, undoubtedly from rage.

Giry had fallen silent and had resigned herself to examining the scars on Nasrin's chest. Her eyes darted over the pale marks quietly, and the truth began to manifest in her eyes. Her expression blurred together the emotions of curiosity and horror.

"Is that why he's dead?" she ventured gently.

"It is why I murdered him," I interjected venomously. "Madame, if you had seen what he did to her, you would have killed him as well."

Giry bit her lip and fell silent, looking down at the ground. I turned my attention back to Nasrin, who nuzzled into my neck, hiding herself in the protection I had subconsciously offered her.

"Nasrin," I began, pulling her away from me and cupping my hands under her face. She was silent, but her gaze beckoned me to continue. "You are really with child?" I placed my hand on her warm stomach, feeling for any sign of a child stirring beneath my touch.

She kissed me softly, her warm tongue briefly brushing against my teeth. "Is it truly so hard to believe, Erik? I knew, after all the times we lay together, that I would eventually conceive." She pulled away from me and placed a protective hand over her abdomen.

I knew her to be correct. Thinking back on the past few months, it seemed impossible for her not to become pregnant unless she was incapable all together.

"But you knew that you were with child?" I conjectured, with slight irritation in my tone.

". . . Well, I had suspected, but I did not know for certain," she offered meekly, her eyes making every effort to avoid mine.

"For how long? How long had you suspected?" I continued.

She shrugged. "A month, two months, I believe. I have not bled since I first lay with you, so perhaps I am three months with child." She lay back on the bed and, for the first time I saw a small swell in her stomach.

"Where will you go now?" Giry asked. "A child raised in the darkness is not healthy if they know nothing else. You two must leave Paris immediately. You must start a new life somewhere else and forsake your names and identities."

Nasrin reluctantly nodded, already knowing she would have to; she had been proclaimed dead months ago, and only fairly recently shown me otherwise. But for me, the chance at a new life away from my cursed past seemed almost too great a gift. I didn't deserve a second chance; but someone had seen it fit for me to have one. I nodded in agreement as well.

"Yes, we must leave this place. Immediately, I believe. Erik, we must find a new home in a new town in less than six months. I am not having this child on the streets." The severity in her voice was to ensure that I was not to say otherwise.

"All right. We will gather our belongings now, and leave tonight," I reassured her, standing up and putting a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"You understand that you are leaving everything behind the only home you have ever known, right?" Nasrin asked, testing my devotion.

"Yes," I answered, my voice not faltering. In truth, I was very unsure and frightened to say the least. However, Madame Giry was correct; a child doesn't belong in a desolate solitude rank with gloom and despair. Nasrin and I were no longer the most important people in our lives; and surprisingly, it was a rather refreshing concept.

"All right, then let us go." She stood up and embraced Madame Giry, who wrapped her arms around her as well. "Farewell, Madame. I don't think we will ever see each other again."

Madame Giry sighed. "Farewell, my dear. Do well to take care of the child; promise me that."

"Of course I will promise that," she answered, pulling away.

I stood stock-still, uneasy at the thought of embracing Madame Giry, though I owed her so much. I shifted from foot to foot and slowly bowed my head to her, manifesting my respect as much as my pride would allow.

Madame Giry smiled warmly, and in her eyes I saw her spirit embrace me, just enough to show that she respected me. I bowed my head to her again.

"Good-bye, Erik. I believe it is about time for you to leave this life behind and start anew. I wish the best of luck to both of you; I will keep you in my nightly prayers." She bowed to us and motioned to the mirror. "Now go, before some one hears us and suspects the worst."

I ushered Nasrin into the mirror and closed it behind me, looking sullenly once more at the sad, yet cheerful face of Madame Giry. There she was; the first person to ever show me any compassion. I smiled at her from behind the glass, knowing she couldn't see me.

"Madame," I said quietly; she raised her head to the mirror, searching its surface for any sign of me.

"Yes, Erik?"

"Remember, but pretend to forgot," I said softly, though it was a command I had issued to her.

"I will," she answered just as softly, bowing her head and smiling slightly.

From beside me, Nasrin nudged my arm. "Erik, come on. We must get moving if we want a quick start."

I turned from Giry and followed Nasrin into the darkness, my mind not processing that this could be the last time I would ever see it…

When we reached my lair, Nasrin began gathering the small amount of belongings she arrived with, stringing it together in a spare afghan. She wrapped her black one around her body, hiding all bare skin from her neck to her feet. She grabbed her wig, thrown carelessly across the lair, and fitted it over her head, tucking the rest of it under the cloth before adorning her veil and hiding all of her but her eyes. If I were passing on the streets, I would hardly recognize her but for the color of her eyes.

I began gathering up scores of music, long since abandoned, around my organ and shoved them in a dark sleeve. My other two evening suits were strewn by the bed, and neither of them managed to stay on my body long enough to get dirty in the first place. I carefully put on the evening suit meant to cover my loose white shirt. When I was fully clothed, I pulled another white mask from the table as well as a wig and placed them carefully over my deformity.

"Nasrin, is everything on straight? Is it covered?" I turned my head to the right so she could see. She walked up and slightly adjusted my mask.

"There, now it's fine. Do you have everything you need?" she asked, anxiety dripping rank in her tone.

"Yes, I only need my clothes and some music. The rest I can replace," I assured her.

"What about this?" she asked, holding the stuffed monkey in one hand, and paper mache musical box in the other. She looked up at me, urging me to take them. "They mean something to you; we cannot just leave them behind."

I took the stuffed monkey and put it in a bag I recently acquired. "The new baby might like this. The other can stay; it represents a part of my life over. I never want to see it again."

Nasrin nodded mutely and put the music box back down by the swan bed, in which lay so many wonderful memories. I smiled at it subconsciously, dwindling for a few more moments and trying to store every inch of its magnificence in my memory; I never wanted to forget. She followed my gaze and pressed her head against my neck.

"We shall find another bed, Erik. The sooner we leave, the sooner we can. Come on, I have a bad feeling about staying here now." She urged me in the direction of the secret passageway.

"All right; come, my little Fire Rose."

She stopped me in my tracks. "You cannot call me that anymore. We are not Erik and Nasrin any longer, right? You shall be Delano and I Sadira. Our last name can be something like 'Morel' if that's all right with you."

I shrugged. "It matters not; a second chance in a false identity is still a second chance. Delano and Sadira Morel we shall be from now until the day we perish." I nodded solemnly at her and she smiled at me from underneath the veil. She was just as beautiful fully clothed as she was completely nude and locked in my arms. I found myself smiling slightly back.

Suddenly, the sound of angry men filled the lair and my head shot up. Footsteps pounded on the rock, sending a roar of thunder barreling down from above. There was roaring and chanting and I knew immediately; someone had heard us talking with Madame Giry. We had given ourselves away.

I looked at Nasrin, whose eyes were wide with fear and her hand clutched fast to her stomach. I slipped down her veil and kissed her as the mob grew closer, their feet splashing down in my lake.

"Get out of here, Nasrin. Get out while you still can," I hissed.

"What about you?" she asked. "If you stay, then so shall I."

"You are the most important one right now. Go to the passageway. I'll follow you."

"I'll stay by your side as any loyal wife would," she spat back.

I growled and my hand glanced across her face. "Do not be so ignorant! The child needs to survive, and you are its vessel. Get out. I'll hold them off long enough for you to escape safely. Then I will join you. Just go."

She was frozen in her spot, her face locked in shocked horror as she rubbed her face free of pain. In a moment, she took a step back… two steps back.

"RUN!" I roared angrily, frantic for her safety. She nodded, tears welling up in her eyes and fled, vanishing behind the curtain just as the mob reached my entranceway.

I turned to greet them, moving towards the lever to allow them in. If they wanted to destroy the Phantom, they would be distraught, for he was already dead. Erik was all that remained. And, if they wanted to destroy all that remained of me, of Erik… I would make certain that if they took my body, that they would never harm my child's.

I raised the portcullis…