This is what happened in between this chapter and the last chapter that I'm skipping. Christine performed in Hannibal and was asked to become permanent star of the Bolton Theater. She declined though, wanting to wait until Valerie was older. She agreed to one performance every other month. The theater hosted a different play every month. This way Christine would still be able to perform, and spend time with her family. Erik and Christine had decided to move closer to Bolton. So when Christine did perform, they wouldn't have to stay in an inn. And now we switch to the present.
"Come here Valerie. Come to me." Erik coaxed.
Valerie had just learned to walk a few days ago and Erik and Christine were overjoyed. Valerie had turned two a week ago.
Valerie made a noise and walked slowly to Erik. Erik praised her and kissed her on the cheek. Valerie made a happy noise and smiled. Erik picked her up and took her into the kitchen. Where Christine was busy making dinner.
"Well Christine, it's safe to assume that our child will become a world famous dancer in no time. She walked a total of two feet!" Erik said, jokingly.
Christine laughed. "Dinner will be ready soon."
"Thank you dear."
Erik walked back out to the living room and set Valerie on the floor. Then went to get their paper from Paris. Christine had wanted to stop subscribing to it, but Erik wanted to keep getting it until the search for him was over. He picked it up and looked at the headline.
OPERA POPULAIRE FIRE! ARTICLE ON PAGE THREE
Erik's eyes grew wide. "Fire?" He thought. He quickly turned the page.
The Opera Populaire caught fire yesterday when the massive chandelier collapsed during performance. A/N: Talk about irony… Lead singer Carlotta killed as well as many others. Here is the list of the deceased…
Erik searched the names frantically, hoping not to find Annette Giry's name. He sighed in relief, she wasn't. He looked at the list of names. Most of them were people watching the performance. There was some ballet brats mixed in too. Erik laughed at them. He had always despised those ballerinas… He read on, something had caught his eye.
Also identified among the deceased was the masked man who murdered Raoul De Chagney. His body was identified by one of Raoul's former henchman.
Below was a picture of a man, badly burned by the fire. He looked nothing like Erik except for the fact that a white mask was on the left side of his face. Erik looked at it and laughed.
"He can't even get the side right. Stupid mental escapee."
Now this wasn't the first time this had happened. All the time men escaped from hospitals and ran to put a white mask on. Then went around town screaming that he was the Phantom and threatening to kill people if they didn't do the things he wanted.
Officials tried to get the mask off, but the heat from the fire cemented it to his face. So, we have it very safe to assume that the murderer is dead. And we can all rest easy. The De Chagney case is now officially closed.
Erik smiled. "Finally…" He muttered. Then ran off to tell Christine the good news.
"Christine! They closed the case!" He shouted.
"What do you mean Erik?"
"They closed the De Chagney murder case! We're finally free!"
"That's wonderful! But why? Did they give up?"
"There was a fire and they found a psycho in the wreckage that the henchman were stupid enough to assume was me."
"A fire? Where?"
"At the Opera Populaire." He said calmly, and then it hit him. At the Opera Populaire.
Erik stared at the floor. His home, his world, gone…everything he had known before Christine was in that building. Christine's eyes grew wide.
"The Opera House! Are Madam Giry and Meg all right?"
Erik held up a hand and nodded. "They're fine."
"Oh thank goodness!" Christine sighed.
Erik looked up at her. His eyes glistened with tears. Christine looked at him and frowned.
"Erik? Oh…" She suddenly realized. That place meant everything to him. All those hard years he had worked, building passages. "Erik. I'm sure they will re-build it."
This made Erik angrier. "No Christine! I don't want it re-built."
"I understand how you feel. But we can't un-do the past."
Erik took a deep breath. He realized also that the Opera House might have been better burnt down. Full of memories yes, but not all were good. That place was also filled with torment. Long years of sitting in the darkness, in shame. Erik soon accepted that it was gone and looked up to Christine and nodded. She hugged him.
"I'm glad you accepted it. Now come, dinner's ready."
Okay, there ya have it. Next chapter is going to skip ahead six years to when Valerie is eight. I have some stuff planned for her…