Darkest Passion Eternal

Chapter 2

January 17th

The Paris Opera house, inside her quarters

2:16AM

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The young woman wakes in the early morn, stretching slightly, curled on her side, smelling the pleasant scent of a light, wonderful smelling cologn. She stretches once more, hearing the bones in her back crack softly. She lets a soft sigh escape her lips as she finally opens her eyes, finding herself in a dimly lit room. After a few moments of letting her eyes travel across the room, she sits up, the blankets cascading down her body as she finds her clothes a bit ruffled. She peeks around, like an innocent young child, wondering what to do.

Her eyes were adjusted to the darkness, until she turned up the oil lamps in the room, getting a full look of the room. There was a tall object at the left back corner of the room, draped with a cover. She slips out of bed, tip-toeing softly over to the large object, letting her hand take grip on the draped cover, before pulling it off a bit quickly, the cover looking as if it was falling in slowmotion for a second, before her eyes laid upon a magnificent mirror, bordered with gold. It was a full body mirror, she had never stood in front of one this magnificent in her whole life.

She tosses the cover aside, looking at the framework, running her fingers gently over it, looking straight into the mirror, seeing her own reflection looking back at her. She shivers slightly as a chill enters the room, as if a gust had blown straight through the walls, making her back away from the mirror, where it was warm again. She moves over to the bed once more, looking over the room a bit before turning to the door, moving towards it, hearing a rustle of clothing behind the door, but no footsteps. It was like silk being gently dragged across the floor. She gathers up courage, and opens the room's door, looking out to see no one there.

'I must be seeing things..' she thinks to herself as she tip-toes down the steps, looking around the extremely dark area. She leans against the trailer's wall, finding no one nearby. She shivers, the coldness of the side stage making goosebumps rise across her body. She gasps softly for a second, her eyes had been closed for a moment, and she swore that she had felt silk slip across the backs of her legs, and a soft, almost silken touch run across her lips. Her body stiffens up a bit, and she falls backwards, fainting suddenly, falling to the ground with a soft thud, her body curled on her side slightly.

- 3 hours later -

The lights slowly fade back up in this side of the stage, as Sir M. De Chagny(The 4th, who I will referr to as Sir M. De Chagny or Chagny from now on) walks towards the trailer, stopping suddenly, the man's monocle popping off from his eye as he rushes forward, shouting a bit loudly for a paramedic. As the stout man runs and kneels near the girl, he sees a paramedic rushing with an old fashioned bag near the scene, kneeling down quickly and gently taking the girl's wrist, feeling a pulse. He then turns her gently on her back, finding her merely fainted, and now in a sleep-like state.

"She'll be fine.." the paramedic speaks softly, before his eyes are brought back to focus on the young girl, who at the moment was stirring, her face slightly contorted before she groans softly, jumping as she backs up into the wall and hides her face, looking up from between her fingers at the paramedic, and Sir M. De Chagny, who was looking at her in an almost incredulous manner. Her face flushes faintly as she tries to hide herself, in extreme embaressment as her hair covers her eyes, as well as fans over her shoulders, down onto her chest and upper arms.

She opens one eye shyly as she hears a slightly gruff, and aristocratic voice in her direction. "Mademoiselle..?" Chagny asks as she looks up, letting both eyes open as she lets a bit of her face be seen by him, only her eyes, a bit of her nose, and her forehead. The rest of her face was hidden because she had her head lowered a bit behind her knees, which were drawn up to her chest, her arms wrapped around her schins. The stout, middle-aged man, not but 41 years old, stands, and looks over at the girl. 'Has something freightened her..?' he thinks to himself as he holds out his hand to the young woman.

"Please, take my hand.." he says silently, as she reaches her hand out hesitantly and grabs onto his gently, and he pulls her up, steadying her, as she was a bit shakey. She hadn't spoken yet. 'This is the..supposed diva..?' he thinks to himself. 'Quite...curious..' his thoughts continue on, but not before he snaps back to reality, looking over the young woman. "You are, Knives Van Buren, Am I correct?" he asks in his usual tone. She nods a bit. "Yes..Monsieur.." she says softly, her voice smooth and weak at the moment. "You should bathe and ready yourself...be ready within two hours. You can do this?" he asks silently, in his same, gruff, slightly aristocratic tone.

"Yes.." Young Knives says softly as she gently pulls her hand from Chagny's, turning on her heel gently and placing her hand on the knob of the trailer's door, turning it and stepping into the room, closing the door behind her gently, moving to her bags, kneeling down and unzipping the largest one, pulling out a long, elegant, dark green dress, wich had some black lacing and lining on it. Made of pure silk. It showed her curves off perfectly, she wasn't too skinny, but she wasn't thick, she was just right, and it portrayed her innocence and purity.

An hour had passed, and she had dressed herself up, braided two braids in the front, thread entwining her dark brown hair, her natural, pure white streak showing. She mumbles a few words to a song she used to sing all the time as a child, brushing her hair back, but it always wanted to fall down her shoulders. The dress complemented her eyes, which were an emerald-ish green tonight. She wore a pair of black, lace-up boots, which looked as if they belonged to someone in the army. What a young woman she was.

The last touches: Some black eye-liner, black eyeshadow, a bit below, and more above on her eyelid, making her eyes all the more dazzling. She didn't bother to apply face make-up, because she didn't need it, like all the other diva's, who's faces were so caked with make-up, that if you spilled water on one of their face, the make-up would practically melt off. The lipstick most of them wore was bright red, silver..just bright, annoying colors. This young woman stayed natural, loving the way she looked with eye make-up. In her personal opinion, her best physical feature is her eyes, because of the way they looked, each special shade, either portrayed how she felt on the inside, or depended on what she was wearing.

2 hours had passed, and she hears a soft knock on her door. It was Chagny, comming to escort her to the main hall, unknowing to her, there was a welcoming ceremony in the main hall, plenty of people waiting for her in the large marble palace of a room. As soon as Chagny opened the doors, and the large amount of people on the other side of the doors greeted the young girl, who Chagny gently ushered in front of him slipped behind him, her face flushed as she whimpers in slight embaressment. Chagny makes a soft noise in his throat as he gently pulls the girl beside him by her hand, earning a hearty laugh from the crowd in the ballroom.

"This, my devoted crew and guests to this Opera house, is our new recruit. Her name is Knives, Knives Van Buren." he speaks in a slightly loud voice. Knives stood there, her head bowed as she tries to hide the blush that was evident upon her cheeks. Everyone lets out another hearty laugh before giving her a large applause, some people in the cloud looking awe-struck by the coy diva. Most of the men were the first ones their, gently grabbing the girl's hand, and giving it soft, feverent kisses, each of them. Knives stays silently, still completely shy. She wasn't sure what to do.

After the men had had their turn with her, she was then fawned over sarcastically by the other divas, which disgusted her. One was in the middle of speaking, and she simply walked away, not dealing with these naive and arrogant women. She had gone to the buffet table, grabbing a few things onto her plate, little appetizers, and sitting in a chair over in a chair near a curtain, so she would be partially hidden. After she had finished the small plate, not feeling completely nourished, she sits up straight in the chair, wondering just what was inside this Opera house. What mysteries it held.

She then stands, moving back to the buffet table and getting a few more items, returning to her seat and eating them silently and alone. Her eyes had wandered across the ballroom floor, and they came upon a man. The man who had escorted her here the other night. Her eyes traveled up his body, and met his gaze, making her yelp and hide behind the curtain. He laughs softly to himself, continuing his conversation with a nearby count, who was visiting from Spain with his wife. Young Knives shakes her head, gathering herself back together before standing, and disposing of her plate, turning on her heel and looking behind the curtain, finding a metal barred staircase.

This staircase would lead to the cellar, underneath the opera house, unknown to her where the lake lay. She takes soft steps up the staircase, over the bridge, and over a few more bridges, then down a few, until she came to a foggy area. She looks around, her hands held at her sides in a calm manner. She was cold, and it made her teth chatter softly. She crosses her arms over her chest, hugging herself, as to get some kind of warmth from it. Her breath could be seen before her. After she closes her eyes for a moment, and calms herself, she steps forward, looking down to see water, only slightly though because of all the fog.

'A lake under an opera house...?' she thinks to herself curiously. She lets out a soft gasp as she feels that silk once again run against the back of her legs, as well as the soft caress of silkness upon her lips. This time, warmth came along with the sensation of smoothness...

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Author's note: HAH. HAH. HAH. Cliffhanger. :3 Boy. I am evil. Anyway, I hope that you enjoyed this chapter! Please review!