Title: This is the Choice
Rating: T
Summary: Christine makes her choice. EC, ALW with Leroux hints.
A/N: Well, second chapter cause this thing wouldn't leave me alone. sigh Oh well, I'm not complaining. Enjoy.
Disclaimer: I own nothing to do with The Phantom of the Opera except the 2004 DVD, the 1987 soundtrack, and a rather unhealthy obsession with Gerard Butler. I am in no way profiting in this beyond the good feeling I get from giving Erik a happy ending. That said, on with the fic!
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The Business of Erik
Two months later, Raoul de Chagny was getting tired of waiting. After his return above ground- without Christine- he had become sick, and now he had heard that Christine had been sighted.
His brother had refused to let him go look for her.
Flashback
"You forget, brother, that you are at the moment incapable of such activities! Not only that, but think of the disgrace to the de Chagny name! The whore of the Opera, that woman has been called, running off to her precious ghost. You will have nothing to do with her, Raoul Vincent de Chagny, nor anything to do with that damned place again!"
"Phillippe! I need to see her! Let me go find her-"
"So you can have another run-in with that freak? For the last time, Raoul, no, you will not go gallivanting off looking for a girl who decided on a monster! You will stay in that bed until the doctor pronounces that you are capable of getting up, then you will stay here at the estate until society's demands dictate otherwise!"
End flashback
Sometimes Phillippe just had the worst ideas. Raoul knew that he was healthy enough to go look for Christine and convince her to come with him; he also knew that Doctor Ryan's weakness was money and that Phillippe had bribed him. He wasn't getting out of this bed anytime soon. Unless...
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The man sitting beside him now was someone he had seen around the Opera. A member of high society, as well, or so it would appear; Phillippe had had no problem letting him through the door to see his brother.
"Monsieur, I have heard rumours that you know the man behind the Opera ghost."
His companion shrugged. "Rumours are not always true, sir."
"Are they, in this case?"
"I know of him, monsieur le Vicomte, and I would advise you not to meddle in the business of Erik. If you have no other purpose for me than to get to him, and through him the lady Christine, I will take my leave." The dark-skinned man stood to leave.
"Wait! I must get to Christine, monsieur, take pity on me!" Raoul called to him desperately. The dark eyes stared darkly at him from behind a carefully guarded exterior.
"Pity, sir? Perhaps you must remember who you are dealing with. Monsieur Erik has seen horrors that you cannot begin to imagine; the lady Christine chose him, and rightly so, it seems, and I suggest you resign yourself to that decision and find yourself a woman more open to society." The word was dripping with malice, and it hit Raoul like a shot. This man was quite willing to protect the monster he called 'Erik'. Is that what Christine is calling him now? he wondered. Getting lost in his thoughts again, he didn't even notice as Nadir Khan shook his head and took his leave.
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Two days later...
"My friend, I suggest you leave Paris immediatly." The words hit Erik like a tonne of bricks.
"Leave Paris?" He eyed Nadir carefully. "What on Earth are you talking about, man? Disappear for two days and return to tell me this?"
"The Vicomte has heard tell of Christine. Only Wednesday he had me up at his bloody mansion, asking about you."
"That infernal nuisance!" Erik roared, standing quickly and pacing around the sitting room in an attempt to calm himself. Nadir had offered his services, letting Erik and Christine stay in his home until the uproar had died down enough to permit them to leave.
"Erik? Is everything alright?"
Nadir looked on in amusement as Erik's attitude changed immediatly at the sound of his fiancée's voice. His whole stance eased, and he paused long enough to wrap his arms around Christine.
"I'm sorry, chéri, but Nadir has just given me some news that I was not too happy about..."
"I gathered that much," Christine replied with a smile, reaching up to brush a strand of hair from his eyes. Nadir coughed and began to explain.
"Monsieur le Vicomte-" he was cut off as Erik snorted. Christine gave him a dispproving look and whispered something in his ear. "As I was saying. Monsieur le Vicomte called me to his home and proceeded to ask me several questions of a most ridiculous nature. Practically accusing me of being in league with the Opera ghost, can you imagine!" The Persian finished this with a wink,making Christine laugh and Erik glower.
"Get on with it, daroga, I do not wish to be here all night," he said, voice low and threatening.
"Calm down, Erik," Christine said, pushing him lightly into a chair before settling herself gently in his lap. "Let him tell his story." Grumbling a little, all he did in reaction was pull her closer. Nadir had to suppress a smile at the two; who, back in Persia, would have ever imagined that Erik could have been tamed at all, much less by a woman half his size?
"As I was saying. The Vicomte seemed not in his right mind. His brother had confined him to his bed, with good reason, he was raving like a lunatic as I left." Let's leave out the fact that he was raving about Christine... he thought to himself. "Apparantly he has not been well. I actually spoke with Phillippe who complained about 'that bloody Opera' and what 'prolonged exposure to those lunatics' had done to his brother. Quite wellspoken man."
Christine frowned. "That sounds like the Phillippe I knew as a child. He's a good twelve years older than Raoul and never had a taste for music or the arts, he used to yell at us if we practised the exercises Father gave us where he could hear."
"Lunacy must run in the family, then."
"Erik!"
"Sorry, darling," Erik said with a grin.
"I'm sure, my friend," Nadir said with a laugh. "Well, it all boils down to the fact that the Vicomte will want you back, Christine. He was talking about going to find you. You and Erik were planning on leaving Paris without a doubt?"
She nodded in reply. "Yes, to somewhere else we can perform." Nadir didn't miss the stressed 'we'. "Erik is quite adamant about my performing, so we made a deal that he must try to get some of his work performed as well, the obvious exception being Don Juan."
"Yes. Well, decide where you wish to go...I take it I will be going with you, my friend? It seems you cannot go for long without getting into trouble and I would really rather not have to commute. every time you need help."
"If you wish," Erik agreed grudgingly; in truth, he was glad that the Persian was coming. Annoying as the man was, he was an asset.
"Now, off to bed, children, we will finish this discussion in the morning," Nadir said as he rose. "And Erik- no midnight snacks, I heard you the night before I left!"
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He needed to save her. Everywhere he turned, she was there, begging him to save her, save her from that monster. Everywhere he turned, she was just out of reach, with that beast right behind her, beside her, holding her or entrancing her, or touching her like he had that night on the stage.
"Let her go!" He screamed at this man, this Phantom. "Give her back to me, she's mine, she's always been mine!"
Standing outside his younger brother's door, Phillippe sighed. Raoul's fever had taken a turn for the worse; Doctor Ryan had had to sedate him earlier, but obviously that was wearing off. Raoul had taken to yelling for Christine in his sleep, or rather yelling for the Phantom to let her go. His waking hours weren't much better. He would torment the staff asking to be let up, and whenever Phillippe himself was there, he would yell and throw things. This Christine was more trouble than she was worth, Phillippe decided, and he wished fervently at that moment that his brother had never met the girl.
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A/N: Good? Bad? Tolerable? The little purple button that says 'Go' is calling your name. --hint hint--