Thanks for the reviews - I am sure Erik will make Lucille feel more happy. Finally I also had time to finish the chapter and upload it, so here it is. Please R&R... Atrice
Part 11 -No longer nameless
She had promised to return… she ought to be here now, it was an hour after nightfall, but no Lucille to see in the alley behind the Operahouse. The moon kept rising, and Erik had a strange feeling about it all. Why hadn't she come? Didn't she want him anyway? Would she rather want that man, with whom she was engaged… that man, who couldn't sing her beautiful tunes like Erik could? Could he bring tears to her eyes, just by the sound of his voice? Erik doubted it. He had let her see his emotions, he had cried and she had stayed until he was done. He had told her the story of his life, and she had listened. Listened… he never thought anyone would listen. No one would listen – except for Lucille - his light. She promised! Erik mounted the horse he still kept in the old stables, and in hasty gallop he was on his way to her house.
Lucille had dinner with her parents, who still wanted her to marry Artus. The day after their fight, he had sent her a lot of roses, with a smell so sweet that it turned her head. Artus really did love her, but she had a feeling this was getting out of hand. And she should be there now… her Phantom must miss her! It was now 3 days ago, and she had promised to return tonight. But her parents had decided, that she was not to leave the house in the evenings, unless they came with her – or Artus. She sighed.
"It is for your own good… Coretta says she's worried too, and she's your friend." Her mother finally said, but Lucille didn't answer right away.
"Shouldn't I know best, what is for my own good? I'm a woman now, not a child!" Lucille said – she had sent lots of biting commentaries to her parents the last days. Suddenly she didn't want all the love they gave her, she wanted to be treated as an adult, but they refused.
"We know that… a woman who are engaged. You don't just cancel a wedding, Lucille." Her father tried, but it was no good.
"What if I don't love him… should I live my entire life with a man I don't love?" she could bear it no longer, and left the dinner table to go to her own room again. She felt that the darkness she saw, was all around her. Like a cloud, filled with depressing rain. Her parents had talked with Coretta about it, and she had told them what she knew. Lucille didn't talk with Coretta anymore either. She didn't want to talk with anyone, she just wanted to listen to a voice that cared… that voice, so sweet and gentle, it caressed her without touching her physically. A voice so wonderful, that she wanted to stay with it forever… a voice like… like… like the one coming from the balcony outside her room, just now!
"Lonesome light, so lost so helpless, yearning for my caring… 3 days you wandered in darkness, far from my heavenly voice…" Lucille jumped up from her bed.
"Angel and lover, friend and Phantom, is it you there, singing?" she sang back to him, tears of relief streaming down her chins. That evening below the Operahouse, she had learned how to respond to him – he preferred to sing, and she caught his tune easily. She found the door, and opened it. She almost fell into his arms, crying, and he embraced her with the strong arms she loved, kissed her forehead.
"Lucille… why didn't you come?" he whispered in the darkness on the balcony.
"They wouldn't let me… but you're here now…" she explained, finally managing to pull herself together enough, to take his hand and lead him into her room.
Erik looked around in her room – it was small, but pretty. Soft blankets and furs on the flood, the walls covered with soft tapestry too, should she walk into it. The bed, a four-poster, covered with white and blue sheets, that she would never see. And in the middle of it all, Lucille facing his direction, tears in her eyes and on her chins, not happy at all.
"Lucille… Lucille… no more talk of endings, forget this lonesome feel. I'm here, noone will harm you, my song will warm and calm you…" he took her into his arms again, suddenly she was the one who needed him and not the other way around. He continued his song… "Let me be your one love, let beauty dry your tears. I'm here, always beside you, to guard you and to guide you…" and he felt those words have so much more meaning in them, than when he once heard a young boy sing them to his love, a love that could never be. To guard her and to guide her… he would show her the world, although she could not see. Guide her through it. He smiled and looked down at her – the tears had gone, and she smiled to him. Lucille decided to answer him with her own song, and found the words to it like she had always known what to answer.
"All I want is freedom, a world with streaks of light. And you, always beside me, to hold me and to guide me… Phantom, I…" but he put a finger on her mouth, stopped her from finishing the sentence. This was too good to be true, she may care for him and feel for him – but love him? Christine never loved him, at least not the way he wanted her to. She loved the Phantom, a legend, a mask. She never loved the man, Erik… did Lucille?
"My light, I will return soon! Wait for me, do not fear…" he whispered carefully, and suddenly he wasn't near her any longer, she heard him on the balcony.
"Don't…" she called, and she heard him stop, look in her direction. He had to find out, if she really did love him as more than a friend. He wanted to say something, something that she had to remember him for, as a man and not a Phantom. One moment later, he knew what he had to tell her, but he would not stay to see the look on her face.
"Lucille, when I return, please… call me Erik." She heard the swish of his cape, jumping down from the balcony – from first floor! But he obviously did it before, for Lucille soon heard a horse ride fast away from the house again. Lucille smiled, but had a strange feeling, like she just learned the truth behind a mystery. Erik… he had a name, and it was Erik.