She's still unconscious…-Victor

oo0o0oo

Tori ran to the entrance to the stairs, crying all the way. Any hope of security with him had been shattered; after all, she had just seen him kill a man! And with his bare hands, too!

She zoomed up the stairs, burst through the door, ran to the other edge, and collapsed on the ground, letting the tears go. The sobs were loud and choking, loud enough so that she didn't hear the door push open a little more. (Tori had left it open in her rush.)

A few more steps, and Erik was above her. He felt an enormous need to comfort her, but he doubted that she would let him even touch her hand. For this reason, he felt extremely awkward.

Erik let her cry for a little while longer, then he asked hesitantly:

"Tori…?"

She whirled around to face him, her tearstained face turning angry, then nervous, then fearful as she noticed the lasso, still sitting in his hands.

He followed her gaze, and it dawned on him that she thought he was going to kill her too. (-pokes Barkis-) With what was clearly meant to be a careless gesture, he tossed the rope aside, letting it fall peleriously close to the edge.

Tori looked up slowly from the discarded lasso up into his eyes, and saw the same mixture of feelings in his gaze as when they had first met, although this time, there was sadness in there, too.

She breathed deeply for a moment, and then turned away, staring out at the lights of Paris. Erik knelt down next to her and turned her face gently toward his.

The full fledged apology that he had thrown together on his way up the stairs dissolved immediately, and he could only manage to choke, "I'm sorry."

Tori gently pulled free of his grasp and stared at the ground, tears still falling from her eyes. Then she looked back up at him.

"It's fine."

"I don't believe you."

She sighed and stood, resting on the edge of the roof. Erik stood as well, but kept a little bit of a distance between her and him. She looked back up at him, tears starting to well in her eyes again.

"Please believe me."

He simply looked down at the ground, sighed, and started to leave. His better judgment told him to leave her alone until things settled down. It sounded quite stupid, but he had a good feeling that time would work out the tension.

Tori, on the other hand, ran up to him.

"Wait…"

He turned to face her, and she backed up again. The last thing she wanted to do was make him unhappy. I think I already failed.

"Where are you going?"

He shrugged, again trying to seem as if it were unimportant, but his eyes still held hopelessness. "Home."

Erik started to walk away again, but at the door, he was stopped by Tori's voice.

"I'll go with you."

He whirled around to face her, shocked.

"Tori, you don't need to-"

She shook her head. "Three months. At least until the masquerade ball. I think we need…"

She swallowed and looked down. "A little more time together," she whispered.

"Don't cry again!" Erik ran over and swept her up in his arms without even thinking. Unlike before, she welcomed the gesture and rested her head on his chest.

"Besides…" She managed to grin. "I said I would come back."

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A/N: -shoves Victor out of the way-

I regained consciousness, yay!

Anyways, this is where all the good stuff comes up! Plus, I don't need to write the next chapter, because I already did it. That's my sample writing that I'll put in here.