VIII

The snow drifted through down on the streets of Paris as Meg watched out the window with Christine. With a sigh she turned away and noticed that her friend hadn't been paying attention to the grey sky. Instead she had her eyes focussed off on some unseen object.

"Maman and I are leaving tomorrow," Meg sighed, "she says that you can come if you want."

"Hmm?" Christine asked, turning towards her friend, "pardon?"

"On our trip, for Christmas," Meg clarified, "maman said that you could come. We'll be back in time for the masquerade."

"Maybe," Christine muttered, "Raoul will be away until the masquerade…so I guess I'd be here alone."

"It'll be fun," Meg said encouragingly, "its in the country, but not too far. We'll be able to go skating and go for rides in the snow. When was the last time we did any of that?"

"A while ago, I guess," Christine replied, "it would be fine, wouldn't it?"

"Yeah, and maman said that she has an old friend out there," meg replied, "so we'll be staying there. She says he's a priest."

"A priest?" Christine repeated.

"I know, I was a bit surprised too," Meg giggled, "but apparently they were friends when they were younger. I kind of remember someone, from the last time I went."

"When was that?"

"A long time ago, when I was five I think," Meg replied, "but I'm not really sure. Come on, lets go tell maman that you're coming!"

"Are you sure it won't be any trouble?" Christine asked, biting her lip, "I really don't want to be any trouble. Raoul said I could go with his family, if I really wanted, or didn't have any plans."

"Not at all!" Meg exclaimed, pulling her friend off her bed, "come on. Its been so long since we spent time together. A few days will be fun. Please, Christine?"

"Well, alright…come on, lets tell Madame!"

Raoul smiled and rubbed Christine's shoulders, "Are you sure, Christine?"

"Of course," she replied.

"But, Christine, I wanted you to join my family for the holidays," he sighed, "and what about the Bal Masque? We were going to go."

"We still are," she explained, "we'll be back before that and we can spend time together then. I just think it's a bit too soon to be spending so much time with your family, and I haven't spent a lot of time with Meg lately, and she's my best friend."

Raoul sighed, "I understand, just be careful."

"Nothing bad will happen," Christine assured him, "we'll be with Madame, and she would never let anything bad happen to us."

"Have a good time then," he said, kissing her cheek ad squeezing her hands, "so, to supper?"

Christine smiled and nodded her head, "Yes, supper then."

Antoinette double checked that everything was packed, for both her and the two girls. When she was confident that everything was in order she started to take the things down to the carriage waiting in the stable.

"Good morning!" Meg said cheerfully, taking one of the bags.

"So you are ready?" Antoinette asked, "and where is Christine?"

"She's just getting ready," Meg replied, "she said she'd be down in a minute."

"That is good, could you go and get her? We are leaving as soon as you are both ready."

"Of course," Meg smiled, jogging off in the direction of the dormitory.

Christine quickly put on her cloak and nearly ran into Meg as she entered the room. Meg laughed and gave her a quick apology, "Sorry, I'm supposed to be getting you."

"That's fine," Christine assured her, "come on, we should get going. Madame won't be happy if we get there late."

"Certainly not," Meg agreed, "so, was Raoul fine with you coming?"

"Yes," Christine said, "he understood, I think."

"That's good," Meg said with a smile. It will be a lot of fun. We can go ice skating and have a snow fight and then drink hot cocoa and sit by the fire at night. It will be so nice after spending so many years stuck in this dull place for the holidays."

Christine nodded her head in agreement. It would be nice to get out of the theatre for Christmas, they had spent far too many sad holidays in the dormitory. Perhaps going out for the day to stroll the streets.

Still she felt guilty for not going with Raoul for the holidays. But she told herself that it was better not to go. After all his family really didn't like her, she knew that. But that was only half the reason. The other half was the man who was no doubt still in the dark, damp bowels of the opera house. She didn't know why, but she felt so sorry for him, like by spending the holidays with Raoul it would somehow be betraying him. It was foolish, she knew that. She had already done all the damage she could, but he had always been there for her at Christmas when no one else was.

"Oh, was a pretty necklace!" meg exclaimed, "when did you get that?"

Christine blinked and noticed that she had been fiddling with the small gold chain around her neck. She lifted up the small music note charm that rested on it and gave a small smile, "Oh, thank you. I've had it for quite some time now…I guess I just never wore it that much. It was a gift."

"Hurry up!" Antoinette's voce rang through the hall.

"Oops!" Meg and Christine both said, and jogged towards the stable. The coach was already waiting for then, along with Raoul.

"I came to say goodbye," he said, "and give you your gift, Christine."

"My gift?" she asked.

Raoul held out a small box wrapped with a bright red ribbon. Christine smiled and undid the bow, lifting the lip to reveal a small piece of jewellery.

"Its gorgeous!" she exclaimed, pulling out a silver chain with a small charm on the end. When she examined it she saw that it was a small butterfly embedded with tiny diamonds, "Raoul, this is beautiful."

"I had hoped you would like it," he smiled, "do you want me to put it on?"

Christine shook her head and put it on herself, adjusting it so the butterfly sat just beneath the golden music note. She looked down on it in admiration and smiled, stealing a final kiss from Raoul before he helped her into the carriage.

"Have a good trip," he said, "all of you."

"We will!" Meg beamed.

"I love you," he said to Christine.

She nodded her head, "I love you too."

As the carriage began to jostle along Christine fiddled with the small butterfly. It was truly beautiful, more than she thought she deserved. Then she looked at the music not and took off the necklace that it lay on. She looked at the gold chain and ran her finger over the smooth surface of the charm.

"What are you doing?" Meg asked.

"It didn't really fit anymore," she murmured.

"So?"

Christine tucked the necklace away in a hidden pocket of her dress, "I just won't wear it anymore," she said.

"it was a beautiful necklace," Antoinette said, "it would be a shame not to wear it. It did not appear to be too small."

Christine sighed and looked out the window. She didn't want to explain herself and decided to just shrug her shoulders. It wasn't right to wear the necklace with Raoul's, bur she wasn't ready to get rid of it. Not just yet.

"Suit yourself," Antoinette said quietly.

Christine didn't reply again and just continued to stare out the window. She could barely contain a small smile, her new hobby. In two more days it would be Christmas, then she would be staring out the window of a strange house and remembering the last Christmas she had had with her father. It was a kind of tradition.

Erik sighed as he stared at the designs in front of him. Sketched of stages and costumes. Not far off lay the nearly completed opera. All it needed now was a few small tweaks, just the absolute final go over and it would be perfect. So would the sets and costumes. It would all be perfect, as would its presentation.

Over on the table beside him, beside the costume of red death was the unfinished mask. He had, for a very brief moment, considered just not wearing a mask. Yes, that would have been terrifying indeed. Perhaps he could even get someone to faint. But he didn't want to do that, he hated degrading himself and refused to do it. No, the skull-like mask would do well. All he had to do was smear black paint around his eyes to make it work perfectly.

With a heavy sigh he finally got up and stretch, hearing his bones crack and creak. His leg was asleep and nearly buckled when he took a step. With a heavy groan he removed his mask and rubbed his hands over his face.

"God," he moaned as the feeling started to creep back into his leg. It was then that he decided to go to bed. He knew what day it was and didn't even want to bother thinking about it. A day when everyone else was eating with family or singing carols. No, it was best to just sleep through such days. So that was what he did, he went to bed.