a/n: thank you all for your patience, i was sort of... unwillingly... delaying this update, but i really am sorry!
Bastet Starwind: even i laughed at Erik for being so childish, so laugh away!
anne: here you go!
Jaded Sapphire: lol! Yeah... he succeeds 9 out of 10 times. That deserves a round of applause claps
inkie pinkie: i'm glad you liked it, thank you bery much!
phantomfreak258: yes! he is!
Lize Radcliffe: I'm glad to hear that appples are no longer boring to you! Thanks for the hug!
and now that i'm sure you all want to read the actual chapter, here it is!
RAOUL POV
I hold him close to me, and reach for my own apple. His breathing seems less labored than before, and the thought calms me slightly. I would rather have him comfortable; the thought of him in pain is like a knife in the dark, waiting to stab me in the heart, advancing with every wince. I don't know what would have happened if I had lost him.
Then I realize how close I came, and I hug him tighter.
Taking a bite out of the apple, I try to think of something else, like the sensation of him, here close to me, his color still pale, but only adding to the beauty of his angelic form. After all, angels are supposedly quite pale skinned, the more fair the better with them. But my angel is more beautiful than any other is, but with this he pays the price of being much more fragile.
Finishing the apple, I slowly lower his head to the pillow and stand, making my way back to the kitchen to clean up after myself. Throwing the rinds into a trash bin, I wipe the knife clean and sigh. Looking around I see how well he has managed: a fair stock of food, though it seems hardly touched, inventive means of storage, including a small pool of chilled water as a refrigerator, and silver ware with very fine china. In other words, he did not allow himself to live in the slums that he makes this place seem to be from the outside.
Walking into the main room, I see the organ, a towering giant, taking up the entire back wall, along with many passages and doorways. Knowing I shouldn't, and not really caring that I shouldn't, I walk through the pathways, leading back to many doors.
The first one I hit would be a guest bedroom, easily a guest bedroom by the lack of all but a bed, on which my angel rests. Next is a bathroom, which I already know is beautiful and quite large, and then there are only two doors. The first one holds behind it, an even grander bathroom then the last, with great tile floors and beautifully laid out decoration. Leaving me with one door. Knowing this must be my angel's room; I pause before I can open the door. Should I? I have no right! And yet, I would love to see it.
And so, going against every bit of trust I have built with my angel I open the door. I stop, stunned into awe at the first glimpse. The walls are jet black, and the only real color I see are the papers piled high, musical notes written on them, and then the red roses, lying on the table next to something else, hidden by shadows. When I approach the object it takes everything I have not to scream. It's a coffin! Is this my angel's only bed? I open it and see it is accommodated with comfortable sleeping pillow, and then a thin sheet of fine silk. That's it. My poor angel! He sleeps in a coffin! How? Why?
I run out of the room in horror to see my angel's waking face, staring at me as I return.
"You look, Raoul, as though you have seen a ghost," he sneers.
"I think that I've seen something far worse," I comment.
He turns away, "You were not invited to go snooping through my house."
"I know, and I'm sorry," I turn away in shame.
"You saw my bedroom," not a question, a fact.
"Yes," I will not lie.
"What did you think?" he laughs.
The sound nearly tears me down, I nearly cry, "It's a sad sight, my angel, very sad indeed. I prefer seeing you in here."
"You've never seen me in there though. And who says that I prefer it out here?" his tone is mocking.
"I don't know, no one I guess. You are much more beautiful out here, but still," I turn back to him, "There is no way that you could not be beautiful."
He stops, frozen, fear welling in his eyes, "You're lying."
"What?" I ask incredulously, "Never!"
"Of course," he screams, curling in and covering his head with his hands, "This is all just some sick joke that you're playing on me."
Is this what Madame Giry meant by show him I meant no harm, "I wouldn't make such a lie, I couldn't."
"Every man can and I know you can too," he hisses, "Don't lie anymore!"
"I've never lied to you," I kneel by the bedside, "Look at me."
"What?" he doesn't look me in the eyes.
"Look into my eyes, Erik," he does and his emotions are laid before me, he is terrified.
Looking back into his eyes I hold his shoulders as I comment, "I have not and will not ever lie to you or betray you. I vow now that as long as I live, I will not lie or betray you, you have my word, my promise."
His eyes break from me as if holding my gaze burns him. Burying himself once more, I wrap my arms around his shoulders, and sigh in silent relief as he collapses into my arms.
"I'm sorry," he whispers, and these words tell me I have his trust, which means he has mine as well.
I kiss his hair, and whisper back to him, "Don't be. You have every right to question people, and their trust, the world has let you know nothing but betrayal. I am not the world though, I am different from them, and while I can't prove that to you, you must believe that I am truly different. I will not abandon you like the rest of these people; I know what a hard life is. You used to have to live up to expectations and now you make your own. I, on the other hand, am ruled by a brother and by my own title, going here and there and having to present myself. I hate it. When I met you, when I first saw you, I could tell you didn't see me because of a title or my presence and now I know that you don't love me for my title, because I know that you will never be able to inherit it, it would be against the law. If I am a fool for saying this then call me one to my face, but something tells me what I have said is true."
He nods his head in my arms, "All of it! All of what you have said is true. And while at first I did not love you, for we were rivals, something always was there with me, a twitch in my thoughts, a numbness in my head that told me that there was something better out there for me, that I was making the wrong choice. Now I see how wrong a choice Christine really was. No matter how much I obsessed with her, you were always in my thoughts."
Hearing this from him, hearing him say these things to me, brings tears to my eyes. I let one fall silently as he clutches to me. Then he gasps and cries out. He pulls his wrists into his body, but does not move from my arms.
"Erik?" I rush out on a sigh.
"I'm fine, I just held on too hard for my wrists," he admits.
"You need to take it easy," I whisper to him.
"You're asking a lot you know?" he laughs.
"No more than your safety," I whisper.
"I am safe, now that you're here. I trust you to protect me," I feel his smile more than I see it.
I frown, "You know this means you can't play your music for a while."
"I can still sing though," he comments.
"Yes," I nod, "You can."
And so he does:
Night-time sharpens,
heightens each sensation ...
Darkness stirs and
wakes imagination ...
Silently the senses
abandon their defenses ...
Slowly, gently
night unfurls its splendor ...
Grasp it, sense it -
tremulous and tender ...
Turn your face away
from the garish light of day,
turn your thoughts away
from cold, unfeeling light -
and listen to
the music of the night ...
Close your eyes
and surrender to your
darkest dreams!
Purge your thoughts
of the life
you knew before!
Close your eyes;
let your spirit
start to soar!
And you'll live
as you've never
lived before ...
Softly, deftly,
music shall surround you ...
Feel it, hear it,
closing in around you ...
Open up your mind,
let your fantasies unwind,
in this darkness which
you know you cannot fight -
the darkness of
the music of the night.
Let your mind
start a journey through a
strange, new world!
Leave all thoughts
of the world
you knew before!
Let your soul
take you where you
long to be!
Only then
can you belong
to me ...
Floating, falling,
sweet intoxication!
Touch me, trust me,
savor each sensation!
Let the dream begin,
let your darker side give in
to the power of
the music that I write -
the power of
the music of the night ...
You alone
can make my song take flight -
help me make the music of the night ...
The song ends, and I smile, "You have a voice greater than the angels."
He doesn't acknowledge that he heard me, instead his arms snakes around my waist.
"Erik?" I move one arm around his back.
"I love you," he whispers into my stomach.
"I love you too," I smile, not seeing where this is going.
"I want you," as his hips move to rest on my leg I feel him pressing, against me.
I stop, seeing now where this is going. I move away a little from him, but his arm holds me within his range and he takes full advantage of this fact, moving so that he is pressing my back onto the bed.
"Erik…" my voice trails.
"I won't hurt you," he comments, "I only want a taste."
He clamps his lips down over mine and I feel myself moan into his lips in delight as his tongue makes its way into my mouth. His tongue roams my mouth until he pulls back and cries out my name.
Looking down I see that his pants are slightly moist where his hips are and that there is a sticky thin line that connects where he was lying on top of me to his pants. He blushes and turns away.
"I needed that, I'm sorry," he comments.
Without another word I pick him up in my arms.
"Raoul?" he questions.
"We need to get you washed up," a grin spreads across my face.
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a/n: yes... and before i say anything else, i am warning you all, the next chapter is incredibly short! but i will still ask for 6 reviews, please?