You Must Love Me
Gustave sat, staring into the dancing flames in the hearth, when he heard the knock on the door. With a heavy sigh he rose from his chair and shuffled towards the entrance of the small house. There was another knock before he opened the door to find a familiar man standing before him.
"Good afternoon, Monsieur Daae," the man began.
"What do you want?" Gustave asked, it was the man from the castle.
"You may not remember me but-"
"I remember you," Gustave cut him off, "from the castle, where my daughter, Christine, is being kept captive."
"Yes…I am terribly sorry for your loss," Nadir said, "but I have a bit of good news. I have with me a letter from your daughter. Here you are, Monsieur Daae."
Gustave took the letter and glanced down at it. On the front it said Papa in Christine's writing. A small smile graced his lips, at least now he would know how she was doing.
"Thank you," he murmured, glancing up at Nadir.
"Have a good day, Monsieur Daae," Nadir said, giving a small bow, "au revoir."
Gustave closed the door and made his way to the seat by the fire before tearing open the envelope. She seemed fine, happy almost and wrote of how amazing the castle was, how it had a huge library with hundreds of books and how she was being treated very well. This allowed him a sigh of relief. She was fine and she was happy, but she wasn't free.
He wanted to write back, but he had no way of sending the letter. After all Nadir had left and he was the only way to get a letter back to the castle. He gave a small moan and picked up the letter again, reading and re-reading it until it was almost memorized.
"Hello?" Raoul called.
"I am in here," he replied, laying the letter down and turning to greet the young man.
Poor boy, after that night so long ago he hadn't been the same. He seemed to despondent now and had dark circles under his eyes most of the time. It seemed that Christine's imprisonment had been harder on him than even on Gustave.
"I received a letter from Christine," Gustave said, holding out the piece of paper.
Raoul's eyes widened slightly and he quickly took it. He read it quickly, then once again more slowly and carefully. At the very bottom there was a small note that asked Gustave to say 'hello' to him.
"Hello," he repeated, almost bitterly, "is that all?"
"Do not fret," Gustave sighed.
"How can't I?" Raoul asked, slumping into a chair, "I love her and all she has done is sent me away and even now…just a small note to say 'hello'.
Gustave sighed, "I know…"
"Do you?" he asked miserably, "I love her, I love with all my heart and soul and she will never return that love. I wish that I could go up to her and say 'you must love me, Christine!' and that she would, but she won't…she would just laugh and tell me that she does love me, like a sister loves her brother, or as a dear friend.
"Perhaps that isn't a bad thing," Gustave suggested.
"Perhaps," Raoul spat.
Time passed slowly in the small village, and without Christine at the house Gustave figured that it almost stopped. She had always been so lively, the one who knew when they needed something, the one who went to buy that something. Two whole days passed since he had received the letter and he barely even registered it, until he heard the door creak open one night and a very familiar voice call out.
"Papa, are you home?"
Gustave leapt from his chair, "Christine?"
A/N: Yes I know this is a very short chapter, but at least its a chapter right? Sorry for the long time between updates but I have been having a bit of computer trouble...and been spending a fair amount of time watching the olympics (two pairs have done figure skating to POTO songs!).Hope you enjoyed and please review.
