A/N: I do not own the Phantom of the Opera, but I did get a really nifty souvenir pin from the stage show.

Yay! A short chapter. Debating if I should continue the story on it's current path for one more chapter or to move on to the second half. Hmm, I think I'll go have some lunch and dwell upon that.

Her voice echoed up through the catacombs and reached his lair. Erik paused at his work for an instant, long enough to hear the clunk of machinery and the sound of rope being dragged out of water. So she had stepped into the gondola.

The little boat seemed to propel itself through the water. Katerina sat in the beautifully lacquered gondola and stared at the carvings of the tunnels that she had found herself in. It seemed to be another building, some place that the opera had been built over that had sunk into the lake beneath it. Gothic carvings of strange gods greeted her and as the little boat was pulled steadily forward she heard music.

Strange, sweet music, it wasn't anything she had ever heard and yet it was strangely comforting. Familiar, like someone she had met before. It took her a bit longer to realize that singing accompanied the music, a rich vibrant tenor the filled the tunnels. Katerina smiled, this was what his soprano must have felt like, like stepping into a dream. Nothing seemed real; yet the boat beneath her was solid and her heart was beating in her chest in time to the wonderful music.

The gondola turned a corner in the tunnels and Katerina saw light, the brilliant light of candles and gold. There were even candelabras in the water! The little boat led her under a portcullis and into a little grotto. It was Erik that made the music; he sat with his back to her playing amongst the gold and silk. Red velvet and rich lace filled her eyes and candles seemed to shine everywhere she looked.

The music ceased and he turned, almost striking the pose she had painted and his eyes leveled with hers.

At that moment she didn't care if he was a madman or a monster. In her eyes he was the most strikingly handsome man she had ever seen. He had to have been a genius to have made a world like this out of nothing but stone and icy air.

He stood and offered his hand to her, "Mademoiselle, your presence honors me."

If she had a weaker constitution she would have fainted dead away.

Erik didn't have words for how the look on her face amused him. She took his hand as he helped her from the gondola. She seemed amazed at all that was around her. It gave him heart to think that someone still found this place as beautiful as he once had. Before he had truly known that it was his prison.

"Monsieur Erik, this is a wonderful place. I fear that I shall wake at any moment."

"One gets used to it," he said quietly.

She didn't seem to pay him any mind as she flitted through his lair. Like some little hummingbird in her blue cloak and gown. She seemed to be trying to see everything at the same time. Her eyes wandered across his desk and her fingers gently brushed the model of the theater as she passed it. She was a beauty to watch. Every time she saw something new she smiled and his lair seemed to glow all the brighter for it. She stopped finally, at the wall of paintings and drawings that he had made. After a few moments she laughed,

"Monsieur! You paint light like I paint shadow! How do you do it?"

He walked up to her, carefully keeping his distance from her. She was staring at a rather large painting of a garden in the sunlight. Roses bloomed everywhere and a lone woman sat on a stone bench with her back to the viewer. The sun caught her light airy dress and lit it with gold.

Erik had only imagined what this scene had looked like. He had never truly seen a garden like this, or seen the sun light up a woman's gown. He had only read of it and tried his best to imagine what it could look like.

Katerina's fingers hovered an inch from the canvas and she frowned, "Everyone is sad Monsieur. In every painting they are alone."

It was true, in all the paintings, all the sketches there was no couple. No pair of people together. He supposed one lone figure was all that he could fathom. Anything else was beyond his knowledge and beyond his skill. She turned to him and he thought her eyes glittered for a second before she blink and banished her emotion.

"You have a very wonderful home, Monsieur."

She had said it so shyly, as if she were an intruder that did not deserve to be there. He swallowed and closed his eyes. He had to ask her. He had to have some hope for his future; if he didn't then he had no reason to live. Not without hope.

"Would you like to stay the evening?"

Her face flickered as if she was trying to find the exact nature of what he meant. Her silence threw him into despair in a matter of seconds. He should have know, he should have never…

Katerina walked up to him and gently took his wounded hand between hers. She did not look at him and he did not look at her, but her sweet voice broke the silence,

"Monsieur, your offer honors me."

Good?Oui or Non?You tell me. Fixed it afterwards, some a review told me that I may not have made my wording as clearly as I thought I had. I think thid does a better job of conveying me meaning. Stay tuned for the next chapter and a big change in the story.