Title: This is the Choice
Rating: T
Summary: Christine makes her choice. EC, ALW with Leroux hints.
A/N: First off, thanks to all my reviewers! I've had little to no time over the past few days so I think I've only responded to one or two reviews, but I'm grateful for every one! Even the death threats for Raoul ;)This chapter is pretty much Erik/Christine centered. And before I hear more death threats for Raoul, I'm going to ask a question: Something happens to Raoul before he gets on the boat, while he's on the boat, or when he gets over to Canada? I'm gonna be taking a vote. And
Disclaimer: I own nothing to do with The Phantom of the Opera except the 2004 DVD, the 1987 soundtrack, and a rather unhealthy fixation on Gerard Butler/Erik. 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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"It's getting late, darling, would you rather unpack tomorrow? I know you should probably get some sleep." Erik almost laughed out loud at the look on his Christine's face at that suggestion.
"Erik. It is five o'clock. There is no way I'm going to bed now and letting you and Nadir mess with the unpacking, I know you won't wait," she pointed out. Nadir snorted; Christine was right, she would never be able to go to sleep and leave the two men to organise. It must be a woman thing, he mused as he watched the two bicker goodnaturedly about where things would go. He hated to ruin that(nice try, said the voice in his head), but he knew he'd have to tell them about the feeling he'd had on the train. His premonitions were rare, but when he had them, they were to be heeded. He knew there would be a need to keep the couple hidden; the Vicomte, however much Erik adamantly refused to see it, was a problem that could quite possibly become worse.
"Children, behave. There is a matter I feel I must bring up, however much it pains me to do so." Smiling in the face of Erik's glare and Christine's elegantly arched eyebrows, he cleared his throat and began. "Erik, you remember, in Persia, that I used to get those premonitions once in a while?" He paused, waiting for Erik's nod. "Well..." another pause, as he tried to think how to say it in a way that wouldn't upset Christine.
"You had one." Or, Erik will say it for me. For it had been Erik who spoke the three words unemotionally.
"That would be a yes."
Christine looked from one man to the other, and back. "Premonition? A premonition of what?"
"They're hard to explain. They run in my family, apparantly," Nadir explained. "They're generally a sort of feeling...as I said, hard to explain. But they can be for good, or for bad, or any range of event. I only get them once in a while, but they've increased over the last little while. How do you think I was awake, waiting, the night you came for me? Erik knows of my sleeping habits."
"Early to bed, early to rise, yes, I did find that night strange," Erik admitted. "But this premonition, Daroga, was it something to be worried about?"
"It was not a good feeling, my friend. Therefore I must suggest that the two of you take precautions to conceal who you are."
"We have already decided on Leroux as a last name, as I never had one," Erik mused. "I suppose you mean that we must use different names?"
Suddenly, Christine, who had been silent throughout most of this exchange, suddenly broke in. "You think it could be Raoul, don't you? That's why you want to change names, because he might be trying to find us."
Nadir hesitated; he did not want to tarnish Christine's image of Raoul, no matter what Erik's opinion was. Raoul had been her childhood friend, and her memories of him should remain mostly as such.
"It is possible," he admitted, sending an apologetic glance at Erik, who seemed to be conciously forcing his hands to stay at his sides. "It may not happen right now; it may not happen for days, weeks, even years. But I assure you that it will happen, and that precautions must be taken." With a sigh, he looked Christine in the eye. "Mademoiselle...Christine...I know that you still see Raoul as the sweet little boy from your childhood, the dear friend you were reunited with who tried to save you from inevitability. But he has changed. I have seen him, both at the Opera and after. He is not the boy you knew, Christine, he's gone mad, if you were to listen to Phillippe talk."
She bit her lip and nodded. "I can understand that," she agreed with a heavy sigh. "He seemed changed even during our time at the Opera, though at the time I thought it was merely that he was older."
"He will not rest until he gets you back, Christine, or until Erik rests in a grave, whichever comes first. That is why we must hide. I know a man here who will marry the two of you, and I think you should as soon as possible."
"Hence the changing of our names. I will stay as Erik, as he never knew my name. Is there one you would like to use for yourself, ma chère?"
Christine thought for a moment. "Maria. It was my mother's name."
Nadir nodded. "Then it is decided. Tomorrow, we will go see my friend, and you shall become Erik and Maria Leroux."
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That night, after Christine and Nadir had both finally admitted defeat and retired to bed, Erik was still awake. Sitting outside their new home, in a new country, surrounded by unfamiliar sights and sounds, it surprised him that he'd never felt more at peace. Yes, he'd had to leave everything he knew behind; he was a wanted man in France; but here, nobody knew of the famed Opera Ghost, he had his Christine by his side...
Ah, Christine; his Angel. Every feeling he'd had for her over the past few months could still be felt deep within his heart, as if every little change had imprinted itself so deeply into his flesh that it would never disappear. There had been times when he'd been so angry at the world, he had wanted to give up, but he always held on to the hope that she would, in the end, choose him. He remembered that last night at the Opera house, that turning point for everything he had ever known. He, who had never known the touch of a woman, had gotten up there on that stage and bared his heart to her; the opera, in essence, had been written for that very purpose. He had lost it when she tore his last refuge from him, every shred of pain and hurt in his life coming back to haunt him as he dragged her back down to his world.
A broken man he had been, that night, broken to the point of insanity...and it had all come to a head with that foolish Vicomte rushing down to save Christine. He had seen the fear in both their eyes, had seen something in Christine's that he did not recognise, and yet thought he should, and the idea of that scared him enough to tell her, tell both of them to leave. How surprised he had been when she returned to him! He had begged her, telling her to leave if it was merely another trick; but she had stayed, and he had brought them out to Nadir, and now, they were in Canada, ready to start a new life.
Amazing, he thought to himself, that everything I have ever wanted has been found in one person...
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A/N: Yes, short, I know! I'm trying to get everything started and the ball is pretty much rolling. As I mentioned in the above author's note, what would you prefer(whichever way, something will happen to Raoul:P): Before he gets on a boat, while he's on the boat, or in a port in North America?
As always, reviews are much appreciated!