Author's Note: Hooray for everybody who reviewed! You're all the best and here are free cookies for all of you! Take as many as you want (but don't get sick) and if you review this chapter I'll make more! I'm hoping to average ten reviews a chapter so come on people, don't let me down!
Disclaimer: I own all non-book characters, enough said.
"Alright, I've got a whole list of things for you to explain so start talking."
"Where would you like for me to begin?" Erik still sat, perfectly calm, and with an amused smile on the visible half of his face.
"Well, let's start with the easy stuff and work our way up. Why didn't you say goodbye to Christine?"
"Hmm, I think we'll file that one away for a moment and move on to something simpler." He looked serious so I choose to believe him, but if he thinks I going to forget that one, he needs to get out more. Then again, maybe not.
"Fine. Why did she seem afraid of you earlier, when we first came in?" Don't think about the popcorn. Don't think about the popcorn.
"That's really the same issue, so what's next?"
"Why didn't you want me to hear what Marcel said about you? Why did you have to tie him up in a sack? Why in the world did you even pick him!" Yeah, so what if I'm frustrated, you deal with these people for a while, and see how crazy you get!
"Not asking for much are we?" Erik taunted. "For the second question, after I took the liberty of giving him some sedatives, which made the journey much easier for everyone involved, I realized that I could hardly go gallivanting around with a comatose young man slung over my shoulder. So I simply placed him in the bag to maintain a normal appearance."
"You drugged him and then you kidnapped him!" Yeah, I'd guessed he had been, seeing as he was tied up in a sack, but suspecting Erik kidnapped somebody is totally different than knowing he kidnapped somebody!
"You could put it like that, though I would certainly prefer less inflammatory terminology." Smug as ever, Erik simply watched as I paced the room.
"I'll bet you would. So why him? What made him so special?"
"Well this morning, while you were still sleeping, I came over to umm, to do some stuff on the Internet and I found a lovely email from him. At the time he seemed like a perfect match for you."
"Wait a minute! What exactly were you doing on the Internet Erik? You weren't sending threatening emails to fanfiction writers again were you?" A month ago I caught Erik trying to "convince" a fellow author to kill Raoul in any number of horrific ways or be killed in his place. Needless to say the ensuing argument was heard by most of the block and Erik didn't come back for a week.
"After the last fight we had about that, are you kidding! I'm insane not suicidal. No, now I go to the library to do that." He stretched his long legs out, nearly tripping me. "Do you really have to pace so? It's giving me a headache."
"So what were you doing?" I asked as I dropped down to the sofa across from him.
"I signed you up on an internet dating service."
"You did WHAT!" Instantly I was back up on my feet. "How dare you!"
"It said you'll find true love within a month. Isn't that wonderful?" he smiled up at me as I glared at him.
"It's about as wonderful as a root canal!" I screamed at him. "Are you sure about the whole "I'm not suicidal" thing? Cause I can't think of a better reason to kill you!"
"Look, clearly you failed to exhibit sound judgment and good taste when you picked Tom and though he hasn't been gone very long, I didn't want you to feel alone." His insane mood swings kicking in again; he switched from a tone of chastisement to one of begging for forgiveness. "Until I found Marcel, I thought this was the best way I could come up with somebody for you."
"Okay, okay. I'm sorry for shouting; I know you were trying to help. But you will unsubscribe me from that site immediately and you will never do anything like that again, no matter how sweet a guy you are."
"Very well, if that is what you want." Though his feelings were hurt by my lack of appreciation for his thoughtfulness, the "sweet guy" part put a smug smirk on his face. I still wanted to pace about but plopped back onto the sofa just to keep him happy. Why do I do such stupid stuff for him?
"What did you write about me anyway?" I asked sullenly.
"I simply wrote that you were looking for your Mr. Right"
"Not good enough tell me exactly what you wrote."
"I can't remember it exactly, but I believe it was something to the effect of 'engaging lady seeking charming gentleman willing to put up with verbal abuse and infuriatingly senseless logic."
"Yeah that ought to do it. No doubt I'll be swamped with offers," I retorted sarcastically.
"Well that is the general idea."
"Do you have any idea about some of the wackos that sign up for those things! Seriously Erik, this was one of the worst ideas you've ever had."
"Oh you needn't worry so much Mandy, this is a very… selective website."
"What do you mean?" Suddenly suspicious I watched him closely through narrowed eyes. "It filters out the dangerous maniacs so you only meet the harmless ones?
"Hardly" he snorted in amusement. "It is a website for people like myself."
"Oh you mean for only slightly dangerous lunatics who look good in dark clothing?" I interrupted.
"No. Lets just drop it and I'll see to it that your profile is deleted in the morning."
"Fine." We battled silently for a minute, till he glanced away. Letting it drop I resumed our earlier conversation. "So, back to the main topic. Next question, why were you acting so weird earlier?"
"To what are you referring?" he smoothly replied, looking genuinely confused.
"Well you don't usually shout "Red Death!" and randomly throw around bizarre comments. Plus, your eyes were funny looking."
"I'm afraid that was a side effect of the issue dealing with Christine. Are there any other questions you have before we go into that?"
"Umm…" why does it seem that there is something I'm forgetting? There was something he didn't answer… "Ah ha! You tried to skip over it but now I remember! Why didn't you want me to hear that Marcel thinks you're a Sex God?"
Erik groaned. "Do we really have to discuss this? It is embarrassing, that's all."
"I think there's more to it than that based on the way you were acting. Spill it buster!"
"Think about it Mandy! Christine is now terrified of me and other than Nadir, who would probably still be my friend even if I killed him, you're all I've got. Suddenly this crazy little Frenchman thinks I'm a Sex God! I didn't want you to get the wrong opinion of me so of course I didn't want you to know!"
"The wrong opinion of you? What does that mean?" he was bright red and still cross but I couldn't help but tease him a bit more. "Do you have some secret double life where you're a calendar boy? Oh I can see it now! You're Mr. December right! You're sitting on a Persian rug in front of this roaring fire with a glass of red wine…"
"Oh, grow up Mandy!" he shouted. By now he was a wonderful purple color and wouldn't look at me.
"And like any good sexy beast your shirt is hanging open and…"
"Please, I'm begging you to stop!" he leapt from his chair though he kept his head shamefully down.
"Fine, just admit that you are one hot phantom."
"Never!" his head jerked up and his eyes flashed like lightning.
"And you're wearing skin tight black leather pants…"
"Fine!" he snapped. Striking a dramatic pose he conceded, "I seem to be one hot phantom or a sex god or whatever and am incredibly desirable to women everywhere with the notable exception of the one I want. Are you happy now!" he crashed back to the chair in defeat.
"Pretty much, yeah." I grinned at him as I walked over to his chair and perched on its arm beside him. "You liked that, admit it."
Erik couldn't help but grin back. "You are a very strange girl."
"I know, but you put up with me anyway so you must be pretty strange too." We sat enjoying the friendly silence that followed our little tiff. I wished I didn't have to ruin it but I had to find out what was going on between him and Christine. "Erik, about Christine…"
He sobered instantly. "You have asked what happened at the opera house so I will tell you."
"Hey, you don't have to if you don't want to. I was just upset with all the secrecy stuff." Ha! Reverse psychology in action! Watch me go people!
"No, you deserve to know. Besides, if I don't tell you someone else will, and then you'll come after me."
"I'm not going to come after you, its not like you killed…" his expression of impending doom cut me off. "Oh, Erik you didn't!" Well, that sure put a kink in things.
"Yes I did, and for that I have lost nearly everything."
"Hey no matter what, you've still got me." I promised, trying to lighten the mood. I would have had better luck with a knock-knock joke.
"You say that now, but once you know then you'll change your mind." He muttered gloomily.
"Do you honestly believe that?" I asked totally shocked. He nodded gravely. "Fine, then you're not going to tell me."
"But you deserve to know!" he protested weakly.
"And you deserve a friend. I trust your opinion of me enough to know that if you seriously think that telling me this will be then end of our friendship, then I don't want you to tell me." He looked totally stunned. "I don't want you to destroy this relationship which I highly value simply because you feel compelled to inform me. Unless,"
"Unless?" he echoed softly.
"Unless you change your opinion of me enough to see that I really do care about you and really will stick by you forever, no matter what you do." Good lord I have to stop sounding like a hallmark card, or a sappy song heard while traveling in elevators.
For a moment he just stared at me incredulously. Then the tears came. Unending tears running down his cheeks as I reached out and hugged him. Holding me tightly, he brokenly told me of murdering Buquet, overhearing Christine and Raoul on the roof and the destruction of the chandelier. I sat quietly, almost too stunned to speak but knowing that he needed to tell me without any interruptions.
"And now she's gone! She'll never love me now!" he wailed as his tale drew to a close. "All I ever wanted was to be loved!" Part of me wanted to smack the moron and cover him in kisses, but thankfully the other side won out.
"Shhh Erik, everything will be okay. I promise."
"But will you keep your promises?" he sniffled.
"I promise I'll keep my promise." He snorted, slightly amused as I had intended. Leaning back I saw how exhausted he was. "Look, I don't want you to go back to your labyrinth alone tonight. Stay here with me."
"No, Mandy. That would be highly improper." He looked away, embarrassed again, but also desperate not to be alone again. "I would not tarnish your reputation."
"Oh shut up. Nobody cares if you crash on the sofa. And besides I said you couldn't leave till I said so, so you're staying."
"Really, I could not impose upon you." Seeing my glare he changed tactics. "Besides I did not bring my nightclothes." Instantly he sensed he'd erred. My insane grin must have made him slightly uncomfortable because he began fidgeting.
"Your point is?" Still grinning wickedly I let him sit and sweat for a minute before letting him off the hook. "No, don't worry about it, we'll just go and pick some things up for you to sleep in and to wear tomorrow."
"This isn't necessary, I will be fine by myself…"
"Erik, do not make me threaten you."
"Ready to go when you are my dear."
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"Hey Erik, this place looks different," I noted as we entered the house by the lake. The place was much cleaner than the last time I was here and far more romantic than I remembered.
"Your powers of observation are always so astounding. It is truly a wonder that Scotland Yard has not sent for you seeing as Inspector Holmes is away so often."
"Smart-aleck." I muttered as he went to his room to grab his stuff. "So when did you decide to become the official sponsor of the Paris Candle Company?" I shouted to him as I surveyed his extensive collection. There didn't seem to be two inches of free space in the whole house there were so many. I know that candles set a certain mood, but it's got to be hard to be passionate when you're trying to locate the nearest fire escape.
"I won't be much longer if those incompetent managers don't give me my salary soon."
"Yeah, it's got to be hard living on only twenty thousand francs a month. I can tell you're barely getting by." He snickered in amusement. " You ought to sue them or something."
"I think that after tonight's disaster they will be more than willing to comply with the small additions I made to their job descriptions." He shifted moods again, turning melancholy on me. "Though I suppose it doesn't matter anymore."
"Come on, its been a long day, you'll feel better in the morning." I coaxed him, taking his hand to lead him back towards the boat. "Don't make me break into a certain happy song from Annie that happens to drive you nuts."
"Anything but that!" he cried as he faked abject terror. "I'll do anything you want but don't sing that song!"
"Good. Now come on, lets get going. I'm tired."
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Returning from the labyrinth we stepped through the mirror into the now wonderfully warm room. The clock on the wall chimed three times as I hung our cloaks in the closet. The midnight blue cloak had been my first gift from Erik and I only ever wore it to when going through the labyrinth. Yes, I'm weird but not weird enough to wear it in broad daylight on a city street!
"It's very late, Mandy. You should have been in bed long ago."
"I was actually, but I had some unexpected company."
"Perhaps you will sleep undisturbed this time."
"Well I should hope so. There's blankets and stuff in that chest and you can hang your clothes in the closet over there." I said, directing him to my "office". No sooner was he gone than I began struggling to drag my ancient but sturdy bookshelf in front of the mirror. Erik wouldn't dare go out the front door as Nadir did and I didn't trust him not to sneak out during the night.
"What are you doing?" he asked as he emerged to the cacophonous screeching as I pushed it into place.
"Gee I don't know. Take a wild guess." Panting I rested leaning the side of the very heavy shelves that was now blocking his exit.
"You were suddenly overcome by an irrepressible urge to redecorate?"
"That's amazing! You could make quite a living doing that, just like those people on late night television! Just get a really phony accent and possibly a turban…"
"Goodnight Mandy."
"Well let's not be subtle or anything, goodnight Erik."
Grabbing a quick hug, I trudged of to my room to change into my pajamas. Just before I jumped into bed I decided to steal one last look to the sofa where Erik lay. Just to make sure he was all right…
"Hey!" I cried, seeing that he had somehow moved the bookshelf back to its original place without making a sound and now lay snuggled up in the covers on the sofa.
"Go back to bed Mandy," he chuckled. "And no more redecorating."
AN: Aren't you all just so excited! Yet another chapter finished! Who knows what might happen next or where our bizarre duo might end up? (I do! I do!)
PS. The party chapter received the least amount of reviews of all my chapters, was there a reason for this? If so how can I avoid that problem in the future? Are there any requests for later chapters you'd like to put forth? Come on just review please!