A/N:

Here's the next chapter. I'm not sure exactly how many more chapters there are left, but it will be drawing to a close sometime soon. Never fear, however, there's a lot of story left to tell!

Enjoy, and please review! I received many, very thorough reviews for my last chapter, and they were very encouraging. They are what helped me get this next chapter to you so quickly! Please continue to review!

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Chapter 29: Sin By Love Absolved

He heard his name fly from her lips like a whisper, and he dropped every pretense of propriety, becoming in that instant not a noble, but a man.

A man who looked upon the face of the woman he loved, a woman he never thought to see so close to him again.

He ran to her.

"Christine!" he exclaimed, calling her name again and again, the sound of it echoing against the domed ceiling of the grand cathedral, filling the room with his voice, and her name. She rose slowly from the floor and he pulled her into his arms, the wonder of it all consuming him as he pressed his lips to her forehead and held her close against him, reveling in the feel of her in his arms.

And then, she drew slowly away from him, and he knew that, no matter what sorrow had driven her to her knees before the altar of God, she was still not his.

But he lifted his eyes to the effigy above the altar, and he offered a silent prayer of thanks that he had been granted that one moment.

Perhaps it was enough.

-

Giselle looked up at the man who held her tightly by the wrist, saw him clearly for the first time, and an expression of shock traveled across her face and lingered in her eyes. God in Heaven, what had happened to the man? The shock overrode her fear for a moment, as she took in his face, half perfect, half so terribly twisted and deformed that it seemed hardly a face at all.

And then the perfect side seemed to twist as well, as his expression changed from hope to rage in a matter of moments.

"What are you staring at, girl?" he hissed, his grip on her wrist tightening until she was certain that the bones would splinter. "Does my face amuse you?"

"No, monsieur!" she cried, tears of pain leaking from her eyes. "Only please, let me go!"

-

Erik, let me go, please!

Christine's voice rang out inside his head, and his vision blurred as he saw her again, writhing with pain and fear beneath him as he exacted his rage upon her.

He had to find her. He had to have her forgiveness.

He pulled the brunette up against him until his face was only a hairsbreadth from hers. "Where is Christine Daae?"

"I am Christine!" she exclaimed, her voice pleading. She repeated it, her tone and manner begging him to believe her. "I am Christine!"

-

Raoul saw the bruises on her arms and wrists, and his face hardened. "What has that monster done to you!" he exclaimed, releasing Christine, and looking, horrified, over her bruised arms and tear-streaked face. "I'll kill him!"

"No, Raoul!" Christine grasped his arm tightly, as though fearing that he would race from the cathedral this very instant. "It was not his fault."

Raoul laughed mirthlessly. "As it was not his fault when he murdered Buquet. As it was not his fault when he tried to seduce you away from me in the cemetery. As it was not his fault when he nearly murdered Piangi, put hundreds of innocent Parisians at risk by dropping that chandelier and burning the opera house. As it was not his fault when he tied me to a grate, nearly garroted me and then had the audacity to ask for your love in return! And then, wonder of wonders, you gave it to him! It is not his fault! It is his fault, Christine! But as long as you breathe, you will find him blameless, though God only knows why! He is a demon, a beast and a murderer, Christine, and it has been his fault from the day he was born!"

Raoul's tirade was cut short by a stinging slap across the side of his face.

Christine looked up into his eyes, her face furious.

"All that he has ever done was for love of me. All that he has done, I hold myself accountable, and if God dares exact judgment upon Erik when we stand before His throne, I will go myself to Hell before I watch Erik burn for sins that would never had been committed but for me. I cannot judge him, I cannot blame him, and neither should you. It is not our place. If you must judge and blame, Raoul, then judge and blame me, for I take all his sins upon myself."

"You are delirious, Christine. The man has bewitched you. Madame Giry herself said he was a magician." Raoul drew Christine to him again. "Come with me, Christine. I promised you that night on the rooftop that I would love only you, and I hold to that promise. Did I not say that I would never lie to you? I love you, Christine, and I will do all that is in my power to make you happy. Leave that world of darkness behind, Christine, leave all the pain and sorrow and destruction, and be free. Take his sins upon you, Christine. I absolve you of them."

"Are you a priest now, Raoul, that you can forgive sin?"

"You said once that your love might absolve Erik of his sin. Now let my love absolve yours. Come with me, Christine. I'll take you away from Paris, away from those who wish you harm. I will show you the world, Christine! We can be happy."

"Perhaps. But is such happiness worth my soul?"

Raoul looked away, and Christine felt a wash of sorrow for the man who stood before her, a man that she had once loved, a man that she perhaps still did love. The temptation to give in to the promises he offered was strong, but she knew that to go with him was to abandon Erik forever.

Life without her Angel was no life at all.

"Christine, I love you." He looked down at her and laid his hand against her cheek, his eyes so full of pleading that Christine thought her heart would break for refusing him.

"I know, Raoul." Her voice was naught but a whisper. "I know. But I have made my choice, and there is no going back."

"Then you will not come with me?"

"I cannot, Raoul."

There was defeat in his face and voice when he removed his hand from her face and stood back. "Where will you go, then?"

"I will go to Madame Giry in the morning and see if I might stay with her until Erik finds me."

Raoul nodded, grateful for the dim light. He had no wish for Christine to see the tears in his eyes. He longed to lean down and kiss her, but he only embraced her instead, holding her close to him and knowing that he would give anything asked of him if only this moment might last forever.

-

Giselle became suddenly awash with fear when the deformed man's face suddenly hardened.

"You are not Christine." His voice was final, certain. "And you will tell me where Christine Daae is!"

She said nothing.

His jaw clenched, and suddenly he was hurrying towards the gates of the cemetery, dragging her behind him.

"Please, monsieur!" Giselle begged, terrified.

He turned on her, hate in his eyes. "You look like the kind of woman who attended church as a girl. I'm sure the priest must have told you many stories of demons and devils, no? Did he ever tell you that they lurked here on earth, in the guise of men?"

Giselle only stared at him.

He headed for where his horse stood, and mounted the creature gracefully. He reached down to pull Giselle up behind him.

"Please, monsieur, where are you taking me!"

His face twisted into a mirthless grin, and he yanked her up behind him onto the horse.

"To Hell."