Chapter 21: Visions of the past
About a week after the reopening of the opera house, there was to be a party celebrating the grand opening of a concert hall named after Gustav Daae. Raoul's parents, the Comte and Countess de Chagny were hosting it, and all of the prominent musicians in Paris were going to be there. Christine's father had been quite the violinist, his music spreading from Sweden to France. Christine was finishing getting ready, while Raoul was downstairs with Felix, waiting for Marie Claire and Arthur to arrive.
She was quite excited at the prospect of a concert hall named in honor of her father, and yet it still brought to reality the fact that he was gone, and that hurt Christine still. She would be glad when they left for Lucien's house in two days. It would be a nice vacation from everything going on in the city. She gave a little sigh as she pulled one side of her hair up with a lovely lavender comb that matched her dress.
"I just wish that I could see him one more time..." she murmured softly.
Just then, a bright light filled the room, taking Christine aback. Then a figure, a most familiar figure, appeared in front of her, a slight glow emanating from his tall build and dark curly hair.
"Papa?' asked Christine, her brown eyes wide.
The ghostlike image of Gustav Daae smiled. "Yes my darling girl, it is me."
"Are you a ghost?" she asked, dumbstruck.
"No, just a messenger, an angel of music perhaps. I've just come to check on you." he said, coming closer. "I wanted you to know how glad I am that you found such happiness. I have watched over you my girl, and waited for you to find it."
Tears of happiness sprang to Christine's eyes. She didn't care if this was a dream or if this was reality. "Oh papa I am so happy. The only thing that is missing is you."
"I am always with you in a sense Christine, watching over you. But I must say that Marie Claire and Felix are beautiful children and I could not be more ecstatic to see that you and Raoul found each other again." said Gustav, bending down next to his daughter.
Christine smiled brightly." I love Raoul so papa, I simply couldn't be without him. He is my light."
"I knew that the two of you were meant to be the moment that you met. Tell him that he has my love and my blessing." Gustav said as he touched Christine's cheek.
The touch felt strange to Christine. It didn't feel solid, but it didn't feel like the cold touch of death either. It felt pleasantly warm and soft.
" I am so glad to see you papa, I have missed you so much." said Christine.
"I've missed you too darling. But I must go soon. But there is one last thing." he said in a serious, yet comforting tone. " I am so proud of your singing career, I can see that music has never left your life. But I am going to give you one piece of advice. The man who claimed to be your angel of music, he will find his way. You shall keep your happiness that you have found, and he shall find his." said Gustav.
"What do you mean papa, is something going to happen?" asked Christine desperately. Any mention of Erik made her worry frantically about her loved ones.
"Just trust me that no matter what may happen, everyone and everything will be alright. I must go now, give Raoul and the children my hellos. And I love you Christine my girl." he said touching her hand fleetingly and then dissappearing, and leaving things as if nothing had happened.
"I love you too papa," she whispered into the thin air. She shook her head. Was she going insane? Although she had heard of people having supernatural visions, she had never expected it to happen to her. But still, whether or not she had been dreaming, her heart was filled with a pleasant warmth at seeing if only for a few moments, an image of her father. Then she heard a knock at the door, and Raoul entered, a smile on his face.
"Marie and Arthur are here dear," he said, looking at his golden pocket watch. "Are you ready?"
"Yes, I'm quite ready." said Christine, picking up her silver evening bag. She had to figure out a way to tell him what had happened.
"Are you alright Christine, love? You look like you've seen a ghost." he said, taking her hand.
Christine looked up into his bewildered face and tried not to laugh. "Raoul, I know you're going to think I'm insane, but as I was sitting here a moment ago, I swear that I had a vision of my father." she stopped, and waited for a reaction.
Raoul's blue eyes widened, but he too had heard of people having visions, having grown up in the Catholic Church. He was surprised for sure, but Christine wouldn't make something of that nature up, and besides it made a bit of sense considering the occasion.
"Well,"said Raoul, his expression bemused, but pleased. "What did he say?"
Christine laughed as she came to embrace her husband, relieved that he didn't believe her to be insane. "I shall give you the details later, but he told me to give you his love and his hellos."
"This was unexpected ," said Raoul, "But I'm glad to hear it. I've really missed him, and I know that you have too my darling. It must be a sign from God." said Raoul, squeezing her hand. "Speaking of that my beautiful Vicomtess, would you care to accompany me to a party in his honor?" he said playfully, offering her his arm.
Christine smiled as she kissed him, overcome with a sudden rush of love for him. "Why of course my handsome Vicomte." she said, taking his arm.
The two walked down the spiral staircase, both contemplating what had just happened. When they reached the living room, where Marie, Arthur, and Felix were awating them, they noticed that the young couple both had rather excited looks on their faces. Felix, who was sitting between them, looked like he had been trying to pry the information out of them for several minutes.
"Is there something that you two would like to tell us?" asked Raoul curiously.
Marie Claire and Arthur smiled slyly. "Well, Felix has been trying to pry this out of me for quite a while, but I wanted to wait until you were all together. Arthur and I went to the doctor yesterday, and he thinks that I may be carrying twins."
There was silence in the room for a moment, until Christine, Raoul, and Felix all spoke at the same time. "Twins?" they asked.
"Yes," said Arthur, smiling happily, though he looked a little overwhelmed at the thought. "I believe that I had that very same look on my face when I heard the news."
"I just thought I would tell you before we tell Grandmother and Grandfather tonight." said Marie, blue eyes sparkling. "I imagine that they will be rather shocked. Speaking of that we had better go, or we shall be late."
So the family gathered into their carriages, all still slightly dumbfounded at the announcement, but thourougly excited nonetheless. And later that night, as Christine waltzed across the floor with her Raoul, consumed with thought, the comforting, yet still cryptic warning that her father had given her was at the forefront. He had said that Erik would find his way, and that everything would be alright. That happiness for all would occur. But, she wondered, what would they all have to endure for that to occur? She couldn't help but worry about it. She moved a bit closer to Raoul as they danced, wanting to be near him. She looked over at her daughter and son in law, thinking about the twins, a smile on her face. And as the music played she thought of both her father and Erik, and she hoped that what her father had said was true. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
At around the same time that night, Erik sat in front of his fire, scanning the newspaper. He saw on one of the social pages an article about the new concert hall, and the celebration for the grand opening. He saw with a slight shock to the system that it was going to be named after Christine's father. He knew that Christine had, and still probably did miss her father, and Erik had often wondered what the man was like. A lover of music obviously, but that was all Erik knew. That he was an exceptional violin player. He knew that the Vicomte and Christine had both loved the man dearly. And that he had promised Christine an 'Angel of Music.'
He purused the the article further, and saw a picture of Gustav, and saw where Christine got her curls from. He looked quite young in the picture, and Erik realized, that he must not have been too terribly old when he had passed away. Erik sighed. He had been that angel of music for a while, until Christine realized that he had decieved her. And he still felt a bit guilty about that, for he knew that had hurt and dissapointed Christine greatly. He wondered again, why it was that he had been denied the pleausure of a happy life. He looked down at the article once again, almost ready to up his vendetta against the vicomte and Arthur and listen to Madame Giry, until he looked down at a picture of Raoul, Christine, Marie, and Arthur standing in front of the new building, and felt the rage and sadness build up again. He threw the newpaper into the fire, eyes burning.
He wouldn't give up yet, he couldn't. He pushed all of Madame Giry's warnings and advice from his head, even though he still didn't like that he was betraying her again, but he simply couldn't help it. He stood up, making the preparations for Lucien, who would be here in few minutes. He still couldn't believe how he had decieved the man. He laughed slightly at the thought of the look that would be on Lucien's face when he found out who Erik really was when he brought the de Chagny's over next week. He stepped outside into the cool evening air, humming the tune from his new opera softly, and he could feel the Phantom inside him fighting to get out.
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A/N: Hello everyone, I hope that you like this chapter. I know it seems a little out there, but I have heard of people having visions of people that they were close to that died. In fact in happened to someone I know. I'm Catholic so thats really where I got the idea from. Anyway, it ties into something in a later chapter. So please read and review! The next chapter will hopefully be up soon, but I just started my senior year in high school, so it might be a bit slower than usual. It will be called Chapter 22: Meeting the neighbor. Thanks also to all of my readers and reviewers, I really appreciate it!
I am the Angel of Music- I am sorry that you frowned at the RC comment, I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree on that one. And I promise that my cry of happy endings for everyone will come true. I want everyone to be happy. Just please keep reading friend, I really value your opinion! Oh, and sorry about the two author's notes, my computer is stupid. Thanks!
Guitarprincess- I'm so glad that you like my story so much, I really love to read your reviews, they are so encouraging! Don't worry there will be fluff in store. I hope that you like this chapter. RC forever!