I made my mind up last night
That heaven just can't have you
They'll find your headstone in the yard
With your black dress and my guitar
I'll carry you back to your grave
Where you and I will always stay
I close the casket it gets dark
They'll find us in each other's arms…
- Kisschasey, Black Dress (by far one of the best songs in existence)
At a time not so very long ago, and in a place no more than 24 hours flight away from anywhere…(depending on changeover times)
Adi was lying on her bed, one foot kicking innocently against her pillow, smiling at Sherlock Holmes with eyes that could only be described as Sueish. Big, wide, innocent, and changing from green to blue. The bohemian detective was steadfastly looking away and turning the pages of Collapse. How civilisations choose to fail or survive and trying quite hard to ignore his Authoress. Erik was leaning rather scrumptiously in the doorway, spinning Adi's spare copy of Lon Chaney's 1925 Phantom of the Opera and The Hunchback of Notre Dame around one elegant finger. "How long has this been going for now?" he asked of the room.
Julian picked up Adi's phone, glancing at the stopwatch, "Three hours fifteen minutes and…twenty nine seconds." He looked at Kolper, sprawled beside him up on the opposite side of the bed, "You're losing you know."
"No' yet I aint." The pirate replied, "I still got half a candle till he snaps."
"You still think Holmes is the one whose gonna break?" Julian asked. Kolper laughed. "Ye haint seen the way she stares at th' drummer in tha' music clip they play at th' bar."
"Which one?"
"Kolper shrugged, "When the light's go down or summut liken te tha'. Th' one wi' all the book characters and that Alice in Wonderland singin'"
"Oh that one." A look of consternation crossed Julian's face, "Oh blood, I'm changing my bet."
"Uh lad," Kolper held up a warning hand, crisscrossed with blue ink tattoos, "A bet's a bet, we spat on it. Two bottles of rum apiece."
"Bat's wings." Julian muttered, slumping back against the bedhead, "I could've sworn she'd lose it at 5 hours. Now I'm not so sure."
"What are you betting on?" Erik asked curiously. Liedro grinned from his perch on the window, new black armour gleaming in the sunlight. "Our darling girl has been reading Irene Adler novels and is trying to get Holmes to talk to her about his," the Elf coughed, "Supposed celibacy. He refused and so she's been Sue eyeing him until he breaks."
"Oh good grief." Erik nearly dropped the DVD, he looked at Liedro, "Why aren't you betting?"
"I did," the Elvish scout shrugged, "I lost out at 3 hours and ten seconds. Tried to tell her Gerard Butler was on television doing a shirtless interview, she didn't even blink."
Erik rolled his eyes, not an especially noticeable feat as they were sunk so far down in his skull, and turned to go back to watching Adi's movies. Taking one step out of the doorway he tripped and nearly stumbled over Adi's youngest muse, Shaun, who was wandering in, hands in his pockets, whistling a nonsense tune. He smiled up at the Phantom, "Allo Mister Erik!" he grinned, showing off the gap in his teeth.
"Shaun," Erik nodded. The small boy walked into the room and scrambled onto the bed, wriggling up to stare at the stopwatch sitting between Julian and Kolper. He frowned for a minute before Julian turned it the right way up and showed him the proper time. The boy's face broke into a grin and he crawled up to Adi's ear, cupping his hands around to whisper her a message none of the other muses could quite catch.
"Zoinks!" Adi shot up grinning, "Yippee!" she sang, and tumbled off the bed, snatching her bag and yelling to her Aunty Julie she'd be home soon as she ran out the door.
Sitting quite happily cross legged on the bed Shaun folded his arms and looked at the other muses. "Free hours twenty one minutes and fourteen seconds." He pronounced. "I win!"
Kolper and Julian glanced at one another in a cross between irritation and shock, "What did you say to her?" Erik demanded, having been bowled over by a very hyper Adibug as she raced out of the house. The look on the other muses faces was priceless as they looked hopelessly at one another then began reaching for their prizes.
"Was easy," the tiny muse shrugged, reaching out his hands to collect his winnings. A miniature bow and quiver from Liedro, a short knife from Julian, and a pirates charm from Kolper. Looking up from his book, Holmes breathed a sigh of relief and handed a small magnifying glass to the young muse, "I'm in your debt Shaun." The detective smiled.
"Wasn't nuffin'" the boy grinned, "All I had te do was tell 'er her Anita Blake book came into the library, she ran like a cat wif its tail a fire." Arms full of treasures he hopped down from the bed and began climbing up into the wardrobe where Adi kept her books, "An' now if ye'll excuse me, I gotta go find Artagel." He pulled out the second Mordant's Need novel and began wriggling into the pages. "He bet me Gart's sword I coundna beat ye's all. Bye!" With a pop and a splearch, the muse disappeared into the book. Rather nervously Julian picked up A Man Rides Through and placed it on the bedside table. "I think we've been a bad influence on that kid."
"Ye right there," Kolper agreed, his black eyes looked anxious, "Adi'll kill us."
Juat at that moment, Jacques burst in, arms full of shopping and several killer dresses. "Hello daaaaarlings!" he grinned, "What'd I miss?"
Back in Paris…
Far below the fight, choking on murky water, not daring to call out and distract Erik, Adriana treaded water. One hand pressed to the slice in her side, staring upwards, outlined in the stars above her, the spider battled to the snake.
(Snake?) She thought, (Hang on, I like snakes, he's not a snake. A panther? No that's Gerry. Wolf? Nope that's Gerry too. Dog? Nah, he's like a pest, a bug of some description, with wings, bird? I like birds.) A flash of gold tunic crashed into her eyes. A wasp, she decided, deceitful and venomous.
A brown wave of muck washed over her head, filling her mouth and nose with dirty Parisian water. Shit.
She had to get out of the Seine, as far as she knew resuscitation wasn't a standard practise yet, and blood loss was making her dizzy. Her heart leapt to her mouth as she saw Erik thrown away by some complicated movement made by Vazhar, Erik stumbled and caught himself on the railing. "Oh God Erik, don't lose, I love you too damn much," her whispered prayer was cut off by another wave, she ducked her head and came up spluttering. One hand grabbed around the flab on her side, holding the slice closed, she struck her legs out for the bank, "Ah!" Each kick sent shocks of pain through her body. Fuck it, fuck it, fuck it!
A second lot of splashing made her stop, "Mademoiselle Ahdriyanah?" Darius's deep Persian accent almost moved her to tears.
"The one and only Darius, here," Strange, a near death experience only made her crazier. Huge muscled arms encircled her, she felt the cold metal of his gold cuffs, slick against her skin, "Mademoiselle, you're bleeding!"
"Ya don't say," she mumbled, the effort of keeping her head above the water was making her feel more than a little woozy. Cradled in Darius's arms, the Theatre Wraith felt herself being swum to safety. "Erik," she murmured, letting her head fall against Darius's shoulder.
Above the water, Erik stumbled slightly as he heard a tiny voice, "Oh God Erik, don't lose, I love you to0 damn much," the voice was fine, weak, trembling with tears, already a seraph prayed for him. He felt himself begin to go cold. His entire focus was targeted on Ondin. He would avenge his Wraith.
Not taking his eyes from the face of the gold dressed man before him, Erik feinted to one side and danced his fingers around his lasso. "You cannot kill Erik Vazhar," he hissed, "You cannot kill a man already dead." He drew himself up to his full height and almost lazily tossed his weapon around Vazhar's unprotected throat. "But he can kill you."
The Punjab closed around Ondin's neck with a wet snap. Crunching through bone and cartilage until it was impossible to get the lasso back out it had sunk so far in.
Erik's hands let the rope drop and Vazhar's body slumped to the ground, a slow cold hollowness began to leech the warmth from his veins, leaving an empty space in his chest. He turned to look at the bloody smear on the white marble. His gloved fingers rubbed over the sticky red patch and brought them close to his bare face. He gazed sightlessly at the dull marks on his fingertips for a moment, then clutching his chest let out a howl of pure agony and loss. He continued to scream, even when his voice grew ragged and his throat ached for breath. No doubt he would have continued to cry until the sun rose and life sprang up again in Paris, but a hesitant voice stopped him.
"Master Erik?" The Phantom's cry petered out and he turned to look blindly at Darius, standing several feet off at a respectful distance. Erik's mouth gaped for a moment until he could croak the words "What is it?"
Darius bowed, "Master Erik…we have her."
Erik closed his eyes, surely it would be easier to simply disappear? To follow his Wraith over the side of the bridge and never rise again? No. She deserved better than that. Like a man with addled wits he gestured numbly for Darius to lead the way.
Nadir was bent over a bedraggled shape, trying a knot in a blinding white bandage. He muttered a soft something to the shape and a dizzy murmur answered him, Erik stood stock-still. Then Nadir turned his head and saw him, he blinked at Erik's bare face, then glanced back at his patient, but Adriana had seen Erik and was already pushing the Persian out of the way.
"Erik!" she stretched out her arms desperately, hair and clothes saturated, and bandages tied around her middle. Erik stared at her, then fell to his knees as if in slow motion, beside her. "Adriana…"
But her arms were already around his neck, sobbing urgently into his shoulder. Erik, to his undying shock, felt warmth flow from his own eyes, joining with Adriana's as his arms flew around her, crushing her in his desperation to know she really lived.
"Don't you ever, ever do that to me again!" She demanded.
"No." he croaked, "I wont, I wont I promise."
Her lips found his face and she kissed his lips, his cheeks, everywhere. She tasted his tears, and they were sweet.
Authoress: Well now, Erik would now like to say a couple of words, my love?
Erik: Thankyou (to readers) The End