Okay so... It's Easter weekend... I woke up too late to go to church and now I feel terrible! Perhaps I'll go next weekend... Aww... shoot... I can't... Wait... maybe I have a chance! whooo!

Chapter 5: Happiness and Tears

Erik, alone and cold, sat thinking about all that he'd done over the years. Years bringing sadness and joy. He did not know what the next stage of his life would bring and he hoped it would never last like this to Christine. Thinking of all that happened, his childhood, the Opera, his music; he wondered about his childhood.

Flashback

"Mother, may I ask you something?" Erik asked, filled with curiousity. Now, it was 3 days until his 9th birthday.

"Ah! Erik didn't I tell you to never approach me like that? ...I've had enough... Put this on!" his mother said, throwing him his mask and walking out of the room. Erik stared at it and glanced back up at his mother.

He knew his mother would never answer his questions and tell him exactly how life would be. Life would just be alone.

That night, Erik sat on the last step of the staircase. He felt deserted and hopeless. The thought of running away had never reached his mind until this very moment. All of a sudden, he started to hear is parents talking downstairs.

"I don't know what to do. This is the only child I feel incomplete. I don't love him at all and..." his mother said, sobbing.

"Shh, shh... We'll figure something out," his father told her, comfortingly.

"Should we put him up adoption? There's adoption agencies everywhere."

Erik's heart dropped. Tears flowing down his cheeks like a waterfall, nobody loved him. Nobody. Everyone wanting to abandom him, everyone wanting to run away... he had no chance of living here.

End Flashback

Erik looked out the small window. He saw the deserted day slowly turning into night.

Suddenly, the door burst opened, revealing Raoul.

"Monsieur, you know very well where Christine could be... right?" Raoul said, eagerly.

He stood up and grasped the bars. "I do not. And if I did, why would I want to help you? You're the one who got me here in the first place."

"Then I could get you out! Stay here."

"It's not like I'm going anywhere."

Raoul walked up to the guard and started talking to him. He frantically spoke from what Erik could see and then saw the guards head nod. He handed an envelope to him and walked out with the keys.

"So?" Raoul asked.

"So what?"

"You said you'll help me."

"I never said that. I also said I did not know where she is."

"Well? Are you going to help me look?"

"As long as I'm not seen."

"Correct. Let's go, Monsieur."

Right then, they headed out. It was dusk and Christine still wasn't found. Both of them headed toward the Opera house. The crowd went home after a bit which made it as quiet as a mouse. To their suprise, they saw footprints in the snow.

"These... These are most likely Christine's." Raoul pointed out.

Him and Erik both followed them to lead to the woods. Raoul followed closely behind Erik who lead to a hault.

"What is ...Oh no."

Christine, unconsious, laid on the ground on the other side of the lake. Before jumping in, they both shook hands.

The water was even more cold than before. Reaching to the other side, they were both pale white, but they knew what they had to do. Raoul picked Christine up from the mud and leaves and Erik showed the way out of the woods.

The Next Day

Raoul, sitting on Christine's bedside holding her hand gently, watched the sun rise warmly against the cold winter day. Christine eventually warmed up to the point she gained consciousness.

Erik, meanwhile, sat outside all night, knowing that they wouldn't be pleased if he were there. A couple hours later, Christine awoke grasping Raoul's hand as well.

"Christine?"

"Raoul..." Christine said with a weakness in her voice, "Where's Erik?"

"Erik, darling? I don't know. He left awhile ago."

"What? What do you mean?"

"Shh, shh... Don't speak alright?"

Erik heard every word from outside. He smirked and left the porch outside the door, heading back to the Opera house.

SideTrack:

Raoul looked at Christine's pale face with thankful to God that she was alive. But, he couldn't have done it without... The Phantom? The one he loathed as much as the devil himself?

"I'll be right back." Raoul said softly leaving her side. He went to the door to find nobody there. The snow started to drift softly into his footsteps.

"Raoul," Christine said as loudly as she could, "can I tell you something?"

"Of course," he said walking back to the bedroom, "what is it?"

"I've been... meaning to tell you that... I still love him."

"Who?"

"Erik."

"Why is that? He...I mean..."

"Well, after I saw him, he had told me that he was dying. The reason I was gone was that he wanted me to sing him one last song..."

"...Oh...Well..."

"I'm sorry..."

Meanwhile, when Christine fell asleep, Raoul sat in the dining room thinking about what she had said. She still loved him? It wasn't too hard to hear, as long as she was with him it was alright. He also needed to thank him.

Taking out parchment and a quill, he wrote:

Monsieur,

Thank you for what you have done for me and my wife. I'd also like to say I'm sorry for the trouble that I have caused you.

Raoul stopped. He had nothing more he needed to say so he put it in an envelope and addressed it.

Three Weeks Later

Christine smiled as Raoul as he paced back and forth in the bedroom. Elizabeth asleep in her crib silently as the hours went.

"Don't you think he would of written back, Christine?"

"I'm not sure. It would of been nice though."

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door.

"Ah! Come in!" Raoul said.

It was Meg. She frantically ran to the bedroom.

"Did you guys here? The Phantom's dead!"

Legasp! Next chapter to warn you all, is going to be the last chapter. After a while I didn't know where I was going with this so... I'm starting a new story... hopefully. See y'all later!