Sigh, final chapter. A ton happens in this one...
Raoul hurried out of the hospital and looked around for Erik. He thought he saw a cloaked figure with its hood up turning down an alley, but he decided not to pursue it. If Erik wanted to find his own way back to the inn, fine. Raoul secured a carriage back to the inn. Once he arrived he figured that Erik wasn't back. It would take him at least half an hour, Raoul figure, if he was walking. The inn keeper was delighted to see him, and apologized for leaving him at the hospital.
"The doctor came and said you were staying the night," he explained. "I hope you didn't have to stay there just because I left." Raoul said that they had stayed to make sure his fiancee was safe. The inn keeper looked relieved when Raoul said that Christine was fine. "I'm glad she's recovering," he said, "it would be a shame if the world lost a beauty like her."
Raoul smiled. He half suspected that the man was just trying to please his customers, but he really didn't care. Raoul ordered a bath, and breakfast. Once had persuaded the maid that, no, he did not want her to scrub his back, and yes, he did want his breakfast left in his room, he allowed himself to relax.
Christine was healing, she would soon be safely back in Paris with him, and then... Raoul frowned. What would Erik do? Raoul blinked in surprise. He had just thought of him as Erik, not as "the phantom" or something else. He sighed, what did that mean? It was true, what he had said to the doctor. Raoul knew that he could never order Erik committed to an institute. Not now, not after their alliance. He scoffed. Christine would call it "male bonding" or something equally silly. They hadn't been "bonding" they had been fighting and arguing, nonstop. Though Raoul had once heard that some people showed their friendship by fighting.
Hesniffed in disgust. A friend? Never! They were rivals, both after the same woman's heart. And, Raoul thought, Erik was old enough to be Christine's father!
Suddenly a new thought struck Raoul. Perhaps he was like her father! Fathers never wanted their daughters to get married, to leave home with someone, unless it wassome diplomatic pairing. Perhaps Erik was just feeling that: he didn't want her to give her love to someone else. Raoul pondered this as he finished bathing and then sat down to breakfast. Nonsense, that was what it was. Just like the possibility that he and Eri - the phantom were friends. Though he had managed to survive.
Raoul figured he should get a medal. "Most time spent in the company of The Phantom of the Opera without getting killed, current record holder - Raoul, Vicomte de Chagny, with a total of - " Raoul stopped. How long had it been? His sense of time was horribly off track, with all of his getting up at unusual hours to try and help Christine. He figured that it had been only a few days.
"Yes, it has been," he said out loud to himself, "I received the note, I spent the night in the cellar, then the train ride, then the half-night here, then the rest of the night in the hospital, and now here I am," Raoul was astounded that so much could have happened in just two days.
Erik turned down an alley once he had left the hospital. He wanted time alone. Time to think. After walking a ways through the city he saw a bridge over a river. Erik walked over to it, and ducked down under the bridge. He sat on the bank of the water and tried to sort out his feelings. His angel was safe, that was what mattered. Soon they would all be back in Paris. He frowned. "All", he supposed, included the Vicomte.
What would happen when they reached Paris. No doubt he would want to take Christine back to his own house. Erik picked up a rock and skipped it out across the water. What would Christine want to do? He watched the ripples slowly spread and disappear.
"We are all rocks," he said to himself, "thrown into the stream of time. Some of us make a splash and disappear," he tossed a rock into the water, "and some of us touch lightly, changing, affecting, and then disappear, only to re-appear again." he skipped another rock, watching as it flew lightly over the water, barely touching before becoming airborne again.
"Who will Christine go with?" he asked himself. If only one of them were out of the picture... If only that boy would just disappear, or die. Erik sighed. It did not do well to obsess over possible futures, he told himself. Simply wait for events to unfold themselves. Erik settled himself down more comfortably.
He was patient.
He could wait.
Raoul only left the inn room once, to get paper and pen. He then began to try and write a letter to the chief of police in Paris. Raoul had never known quite how interesting looking out a window could be until he tried to write the letter. He twirled the pen between his fingers and succeeded in splattering ink all over his paper and the table. Raoul sighed and pulled out a new sheet of paper, crumpling the other up and tossing it into an empty corner. When there was a knock at the door, Raoul jumped. "Come in," he called over his shoulder.
Erik entered and Raoul surreptitiously covered his attempts at a letter. "Are you ready to go?" Erik asked. Raoul nodded and stood up. They went outside to a coach that was waiting. Erik gave the address of the hospital and then they were on their way. Once they had arrived Erik paid the coachman very generously, and the two of them entered the hospital. Christine was glad to see them, and she said that she had been terribly bored during the day, with no one to talk to. Raoul and Erik sat on chairs on either side of her bed, and tried to entertain her as best they could.
Christine was rather at a loss. Which way should she face? With one on one side, and one on the other, whom was she to look at? She tried turning to face the speaker, but to much shifting began to hurt her arm. Eventually she said that she was rather tired, and Erik and Raoul both said that they would stay until she fell asleep. Christine snuggled down into the bed, but she found it hard to sleep with the obvious tension in the room.
Erik and Raoul glared at each other from opposite sides of the bed. It was well enough with Christine awake to talk to, but once they weren't distracted, their attention returned to each other. Erik settled back in the chair with a sigh that clearly said, "You are so beneath my notice that I consider it an insult to be in the same room as you".
Raoul could not possibly fail to catch the tone of the exhalation, and he sniffed in disgust, turning his head away. They both focused on anything but the other, though they both watched carefully to make sure that neither of them went closer to Christine. Erik heard the doctor leave after a while, and he breathed deeply with relief. If the doctor was gone, it was more likely that they would be able to spend the night.
Much later that night Erik glanced across the room. He saw that the boy was asleep, and he decided to go and think some more. Erik stood and silently exited the room. He walked quietly down the long hall, wondering what would happen. They couldn't both stay with Christine, he knew that. They would begin to tear each other apart and, of course, he would win. Erik sighed, if only there were two Christines in the world. Or if Raoul fell in love with someone else. He scoffed. That boy could no more fall in love with someone else as he could. Their hearts were set… but where did Christine's lie? Erik turned and started back up the hall. She loved him, he knew, but did she love Raoul more? Erik closed his eyes. Who could tell what was in a woman's heart?
Suddenly there came two screams and the sound of glass shattering. Erik bolted back up the hallway. That had been Christine and… Raoul? He burst in the door to see the window's glass strewn across the floor, and Raoul struggling with someone amidst it. It only took Erik a second to recognize Noir. Christine was sitting up in bed, petrified with terror. Erik started forward and then there came another cry from the hallway.
A second man, armed with a gun and knife was running up the hall. Erik saw a figure lying on the floor, a pool of blood spreading around it. He darted out of the doorway and attacked the man when he came through. Noir flung Raoul off and pointed his gun at Christine, who was still staring in shock.
"One move and she dies!" He cried. Raoul froze, but Erik leapt at Noir, grabbing the gun. Raoul dived over to Christine as she scrambled out of the bed to hide behind it. He crouched on the end of the bed and was preparing to defend Christine to the death, when a gunshot rang out through the room. It had been fired by the man Erik had released when he had attacked Noir.
Everyone froze and Raoul looked down in disbelief at the red stain on his shirt. He fell forward slightly onto his knees, putting his hand to his torso. He looked at it and saw blood. The world was becoming hazy around him. He heard Christine crying his name and felt her hand on his shoulder.
Yes… Christine… with a final effort, Raoul turned to Erik. "Save her…" He choked out. "Christine…" The world faded to black, and Raoul slumped down to the floor.
Without wasting a second, Erik released Noir and darted over to Christine, scooping her up in his arms. He then ran straight to the broken window and leapt out of it. Despite it being the second story, and Christine's extra weight, Erik landed lightly. He sprinted off down the street, turning down alleys and side roads.
When he came to the middle of a bridge he stopped, and set Christine on her feet. He could already hear the police whistles in the distance. Christine clung to him, weeping into his shirt.
"He's dead, he's gone!" She cried. Erik smoothed her hair.
"My angel, please, don't weep," he begged her. Despite what he had pondered, about Raoul dying, and Christine being free to love him, Erik hadn't wanted it to end this way. Christine sniffed. "He's with your father now, Christine," Erik said. "He'd want you to be happy. That was his last request. He asked me to save you. Keep you safe so you could live." Christine nodded and Erik took his cape and draped it around her shoulders.
Erik remembered his thoughts of that afternoon, as he sat under the very bridge upon which they were now standing. It was time to be the skipping rock, he thought. He had made his change, it was now time to fly, time to disappear.
He led Christine slowly forward and they vanished into the night.
The End
The end! I can't believe it! Er, there might be a sequal. Depending on whether I write it or not. I have some ideas scribbled down, but not enough for a whole story.
So, people who root for E/C, heh, happy ending. And people who root for R/C, happy ending too!
See, in the origional story, two of the characters (R and C) go off together, their future seems assured. Yet almost all phans are E/C shippers. So there's a ton of E/C fiction.
So here we have E and C going off, future seems assured, so it stands to reason that then everyone would want R/C. Am I making any sense?
So, in the origional story (book, Leruox and Kay) two characters go off and leave another dead/dying. Heh, see the parallels? I actually didn't intend it that way, but there are more before that, too! Oops...
So, how 'bout Erik's philosopy stuff? The rocks, yeah. Odd, normally when I haveconsumed copious amounts of chocolate weird parody junk comes out of my keyboard. This time it was the rock stuff.
o.O
So, I hope you liked the story, and I hope even more that you aren't dissapointed with the ending.
And - I shall be putting up some humor and parody stuff soon, so if you want to read some of my crazyness, you should keep an eye out.
Valete! (At lease, Ithink it's valete, and not vale... review and prove me right!)