Disclaimer: I only own Delphine Aubade and the few minor characters such as her father, Henri de Chagny, and Robert Lennings. I do not claim ownership of Leroux's characters.
Chapter Four- The Ballet of Four
Delphine
"You have brought me…La la la da da da hum hum hum huh." Delphine sang as she walked about her room. The first day of rehearsal of the new opera was going on today. She had to be in by ten. It was about eight now.
She had awoken early. She had found it hard to sleep the last week. Last night she had spent hours staring at The Overture of Excalibur. She finally decided that she would give it to its rightful owner. He owned it much more than she did. She slipped it into her composing folder. With the overture gone, she wasn't sure how she could finish her opera. She couldn't keep it though. The guilt was biting away at her.
"Delphi, what are you doing?" Her brother asked from her doorway.
"I'm singing." She said with a small smile.
Her brother narrowed his eyes and put a stern look on his face. "All right, who is he?"
"What?" She asked with a laugh.
"Is it a guy?"
"No." She said with another laugh.
"You can't fool me. You little seductress, who did you get wrapped around your finger?" He asked with a playful gleam in his eyes.
"Ah, the King of Spain!" She said with a giggle as she twirled about. "It was magnificent. We ate by candlelight. We danced by the sound of the waves and we sang Don Juan in front of his bed."
Her brother let out a laugh. "A proper story line?" He asked. His face suddenly grew serious. "Delphi, Mariana said she saw you walking towards that clinic across the river. The one where…"
"She must have been mistaken." She said suddenly. "I wouldn't need to go there."
"Are you sure?" He asked.
"I think I would know if I needed the help of those women who help the harlots." She said defensively.
He shrugged and turned around. "Don't be late to the Opera House. I am sure they will need you."
---
Delphine ran toward the orchestra pit. She had the fleeting suspicion that she was going to find something there. On her stand there was a stack of papers. They seemed oddly out of place with the few other things on the other musicians' stands.
She dropped down and picked up the paper. It was a song that looked oddly like her Overture of Excalibur. Had he beaten her to it? She sighed as she set it back down and sat in her seat. She found herself letting her own copy of Overture of Excalibur slip through her fingers.
"What are you doing here so early, mademoiselle?" The maestro's voice called.
She turned to smile at him. "I'm sorry, monsieur. I just wanted to come early."
"That is true dedication." He said with a smile. "Yet, you still have a good hour before the other's even begin to arrive. Why don't you go explore." She nodded and stooped to pick up her own music. Putting it in the composing folder, she climbed out of the pit and walked towards the dressing rooms. The feeling she had had for weeks was gone. She was not dizzy, she could breath in the air without fear of falling over. If only Antoine had known what her trip across the river had been for.
They had promised her that a few days rest and she would be fine. They had not lied. She knew that when Clarice Depadieu had gone there she had almost died. Delphine seemed to be much stronger than that. She had faked a sprained ankle and she was left alone for a few days to recover. No one was the wiser.
Part of her did feel hollow, but what had she expected. The fruit of her love had been plucked away. Had she not been so consumed with horrid thoughts of disowning and shunning she would have had the child. In her position though, that was out of the question.
As she pushed open the door to Christine's old dressing room she saw that it had been cleaned a bit. The vanity was clean. The boxes were gone and the vases had been removed. She wondered if someone had got assigned to the dressing room.
She moved to the chaise lounge and sat there with her composing folder in her hand. As she stared at the mirror she wondered how she would leave it. If someone was using the room she wouldn't want to leave it for someone else to find. She stood and moved to the mirror. Prying it open she looked down into the darkness. She pulled the pink ribbon out of her hair and tied it around the folder. As she placed it on the damp floor she prayed he would be looking at his feet.
---
The group of string players were not having much luck. Whenever they fixed a problem with the tempo there was a problem with rhythms. It was an aggravating process, to be sure.
Delphine had wanted to propose a break for more than an hour when the owners came in. La Fuevre came in first. In his hand he clutched the new addition of L'Epoque. "Have you read this?" He demanded. "Someone thinks that this is funny. Dear people of the Opera Populaire ( and Paris in general), I hope you have found it easy to relax into your old ways. I know, however, that you think I am just biding time until I strike again. I can assure you that is not the case. I would hate to think that I am being used as a ploy to draw in money or that I am the only reason that such people would go beyond their artistic understanding. I found it rather odd that the second performance should be Il Muto. I hope that no one in attendance was hoping for any glimpse of me. So on and so forth. Can you believe this!" He demanded.
The whole auditorium was quiet. Not knowing how she was supposed to react she rose and went to look at the paper. "Maybe it really is the Opera Ghost." She said.
"No, I have already told you, my dear. He couldn't possibly still be here." La Fuevre said with certainty. "This will do nothing for business."
"Were you using him as a ploy." She asked with a hint of anger.
"Delphine!" La Fuevre said. "I thought you knew that it is all about marketing. If people chose to believe that he is still here and they buy tickets in hope to see his capture or anything of the sort…well than I am not one to disprove them."
"You just said that he wasn't here though."
"I know, but you work here. You deserve to know the truth."
"Well," Delphine said as she tried to keep her anger hidden. "If you find this letter to be a complete fake than I am sure the people of Paris will too and your booming business will continue. With no regard for the integrity of art!" She said as she stormed off the stage.
The orchestra members and the maestro looked to La Fuevre. He shook his head. "She's much too opinionated. I was simply trying to flush out the culprit." He said as he turned away. "Oh, when Delphine returns tell her that my business partner will be arriving today. He has decided to make his first appearance."
---
Delphine flung open the mirror with such force that she heard it shudder. She looked down at her feet. Her folder was gone. When had he gotten it? Was he just now lingering in the catwalks?
Not caring to think about having to find him in the Opera House she started down the passageway.
Once she reached the boat she maneuvered it out and helped it glide across the water. He had been right. They were using him as some sort of ploy. Why was such art going to waste? To appease the public desire for death and sadness.
As she reached the gate that had risen for the Phantom she realized it would not do the same for her. She clung to it. She did not know what to call him. "Phantom!" She shouted. There was a rustle of cloak and he appeared on stone shore.
"What are you doing here?" He asked with a hoarse voice.
"Can you let me in?" She asked trying not to burst into tears.
He sighed and pulled a lever. She jumped back as the gate sprang to life. As soon as it was up she jumped from the boat and struggled to meet his outstretched hand. He pulled her from the water and watched her squeeze the water from her skirts. "What are you doing here?" He asked again.
"I couldn't stand to be up there with him."
"Who?"
"La Fuevre! He is just as greedy as the rest of them." She said with a shout. "He has no regard for music. It's all about money. It's all about marketing and people believing their ploys!"
He looked at her with a hint of a smirk on his face. She glared at him before a smile crept across her face. She laughed before she could stop herself.
---
Erik
Her laugh shattered the silence. One minute she had been raging on about the injustice of the real world and the next she had been laughing in his world. A place that had never known laughter.
When she was angry she looked much different. Her face got dark and her words got louder by nature. He wondered if this is what she had looked like up there. "I don't understand it." She said. "Why did I just start laughing?"
Erik was at a loss for words. He shrugged and turned away. She moved along behind him. "I still don't understand why you came all the way down here?" He said as he looked about the mess.
"I don't know why either." She said. "Did you…" she trailed off.
She seemed to want to say something. He looked back at her. She looked like a child that had been told to stand and not touch anything. She had her hands clasped in front of her and her face was one of trying to concentrate on anything but what she wanted.
"Did you get the folder?" She asked finally after a moment's pause.
He nodded and pointed toward the organ where he had placed her composing folder. He did not understand why she would give it to him. It was more her work than his. She understood it better than he did. Besides she had completed it, whereas he had not. She had even created a folder for it. Her unfinished opera. There was a Requiem Mass for the Heart behind the Overture and the start of another song that had no name.
He had looked through it as soon as he was back down in the cellars. Her music was beautiful. She knew what she was doing with it, he had to give her credit. He didn't want to take away from the budding genius of the girl.
He was drawn back to the present when she sighed. "I had thought I got music back from the Gods of the Opera House. Turns out it was just you." After a moment she seemed to realize what she had just said. "I…I didn't mean it like that!" She stammered.
He felt a chuckle rising in his throat but he thrust it back down. She would have to be satisfied with a smirk. That was all he was willing to show her. "Do you still have rehearsal?" He asked, it felt odd and out of place in his speech. He had never asked anyone such a thing. It had never occurred to him that you could ask such a thing.
"Yes," She said. "I should actually be going now. They'll wonder where I am." She turned her head to look at the water that separated her from the boat. He moved so that he was standing next to her. "Why did I jump out of the boat?" She asked with a laugh. "Oh well, I'll just have to get wet again." She started back towards the water. He caught her shoulder.
"I'll carry you to the boat." He said before he could stop himself. Why was he acting so friendly towards this girl? It couldn't possibly be because she had shown him a bit of kindness. It couldn't possibly be because he felt some how connected to her.
She hesitated as if not sure if she should except. Than she smiled. "Thank you."
He scooped her up in his arms and descended into the water. Once she was safely in the boat he nodded to her. She nodded back and stood to begin pushing the boat back. He watched her move away.
---
Delphine
Delphine tried to calm her nerves as she walked back toward the auditorium. It would not do for her to get angry again. As she slipped quietly into the back of the auditorium she saw that La Fuevre was still there, or maybe he had just come back. She tried to move quietly, so as not to alert him of her return. It did not work. "Ah, there she is. Monsieur Lennings, I would like you to meet our genius violin player, Delphine Aubade." Robert had turned around to look at her. Delphine felt the color fall from her face. "Delphine, this is my business associate. He is the other owner no has met yet." He seemed oblivious to the way to two people looked at each other. "We shall introduce him at next week's performance." He had walked off towards the maestro, leaving Robert alone to face Delphine on his own.
His face looked of one full of uneasiness. She brushed it aside and strode down the aisle. She would not let him make her fall apart. Not now, not ever again. She jumped into the pit orchestra and went to her seat. As she sat down she felt that Robert's eyes had never left her. She turned away to converse with a few of the other musicians. Before long he had disappeared and she was left to deal with the fresh pain that had risen in her heart.
---
Delphine was not happy when rehearsal ended and the maestro told her that Monsieur Lennings was going to come to meet her after. "I don't have time for this." She said as she packed up her violin. "I have better things to be doing." The maestro was not listening to her complain. He had moved over to the other side of the stage to converse with a few chorus girls.
As Delphine jumped onto the stage she glanced up at the catwalks. She could have sworn she saw a cloak move to reveal a white mask. She hardly noticed when her heart skipped a beat. She knew how to quickly reach the catwalks. If she did it fast enough she might see if it was him. She hurried toward the edge of the stage but that is where her luck ended. Robert appeared before her. "Delphine," He said with politeness.
"I don't have time for this right now." She said as she tried to move past him. His hands arrested her in her spot.
"Where do you have to hurry off to?" He asked. He looked at her hands for a moment. She found that odd. "What is this?" He asked as he pointed at her finger.
She looked down to see that she had an engagement ring on. The same one Christine had told her to keep safe almost two weeks ago. How had she forgotten it was on her finger. "It's a ring, Robert. What does it look like?" She asked with annoyance.
"Who did you get such a lavish engagement ring from?" He asked. She ignored his question but made the crucial mistake of looking to the catwalks. "Is he up there right now?" Robert asked. "Is he waiting for you to come to him in the catwalks?"
"Don't be ridiculous." She said. "There is no he."
"I find it hard to believe that you bought yourself an engagement ring." He said with a smirk.
"Leave me alone."
"He can't be a stagehand. They don't make nearly enough…Was it a singer? Is it you patron?"
"I was not even aware we had a patron." She said as she brushed his hands off of her.
"Is he a musician? A talented musician?"
"Why does it matter to you?" She asked, suddenly aware that it shouldn't.
He ignored her question. "Should we go for a little walk in the catwalks? To see if he meets you?"
"You're being ridiculous." Delphine hissed. "Besides, what about that ring on your finger. Hardly the one you pledged to me!"
He fingered his gold band on his finer absentmindedly. "Nicole thinks the other one was a bit to gaudy." He said. "Much like the one you're wearing. Is he rich than?"
"Yes, he's rich and he's a genius musician. He's waiting for me in the catwalks. Why? So we can run off to the dormitories and have some fun before papa expects me home." She said with annoyance. She finally succeeded in pushing past him. He followed her. She started towards the catwalk but changed her mind. She went back out onto the stage. Her glance up at the catwalks this time yielded little to her. If he had been there he was gone now. She scanned the auditorium. Her eye rested on box five. There he was. Looking at her. She could see the curious look pressed into his mouth. She looked away before Robert could track her gaze. "Why are you still following me?" She demanded.
With one swift movement he had her wrist clamped in his hand and he was dragging her towards the back of the auditorium. He threw her roughly in a seat. "So, this is what you've reduced yourself to? A whore than? Working in the Opera House along side your lover? Not even a half a year after our split."
"You didn't wait a week before you jumped into that boat." She said angrily. His sudden wealth he had acquired through a dead relative had separated them more than anything else. She had been furious that he had so suddenly picked up that money after convincing her they would have no money to rely on, except that which he made. Now he was wealthy enough to make gossip papers and own half of an Opera House.
"I don't understand you Delphine? I thought I taught you what good women were supposed to act like. Than I find you right back here? Did he tell you he wouldn't make you give up music? Did he tell you that is what connects you two? Don't make me laugh. He will hardly stand by and watch you gain your musical status back while he falls from grace."
Delphine rose from her seat not sure why she was carrying on this false idea that was brewing in his head. "He would never make me give up my music! He understands it!" She shouted. "You never did."
He rolled his eyes. "When he gets you with child he'll be gone faster than you can blink. Than you'll see how foolish you were to believe him." He warned.
Delphine had reached her breaking part. "Oh, you mean like you did!" She shouted. "I am sure you would have come running to help me. You would have left me in front of that horrid clinic while you and Nicole danced away with hideous gold bands on your fingers! You're both horrid, horrid simpletons and I hate you!" She screamed and with that she flew from the auditorium. She did not no where she was going. The Opera House was becoming suffocating again. Breathing was becoming hard. She raced towards the rooftop, the only place she knew she could breath in freedom.
---
When she reached the rooftop she could have sworn she heard quiet footsteps behind her. If Robert had followed her she would kill him. She couldn't face seeing him after her confession. She threw the door to the rooftop open and she fell onto the ground. The sunlight bathed around her. The birds chirped and a small breeze flew around her head.
This happy scene went unnoticed by her. Still laying on the ground, she began to sob. The tears she had kept welled up inside for what seemed like ever finally came out. They drenched her face, fell down her cheeks.
She cried out, as if in pain. A hand touched her shoulder. She looked up to see the Phantom kneeling next to her. Without thinking she pulled away from him. "Go away!" She shouted. "You don't need to see me like this." She was humiliated enough as it was.
She tried to stop the tears from flowing. They wouldn't. The Phantom moved closer to her and pulled her into his arms. She did not struggle. It felt good to know someone was willing to comfort her, not matter who it was. "Why? Why did he have to be here?"
"Shh." He said to her. She let the sobs rack her body as she let out all of the hurt she had kept inside. After her cries had subsided she looked up at him. He had rested his chin on her head and was staring out at the city.
"Thank you." She said. "No one has ever helped me more."
He looked away from her with an embarrassed look on his face. "Sometimes, you just need to cry." He said.
"I thought I already told you that I never cry." She said with a small smile.
He nodded his head and let his arms fall away from her. He stood and held out his hand. She took it and he pulled her from the ground. He brought her to a statue of a horse and sat her at the base. He went and closed the door to the rooftop before joining her. "I think you had better start at the beginning." He said as he lowered himself next to her.
She nodded her head and took a deep breath.
---
Erik
He had no idea what pain she had been holding in. He did not know for sure if she had told him everything, but it felt like she held nothing back. She had told him about how he had said she should give up her music. How his sudden inheritance had split them apart. How she had found herself pregnant and alone, standing before the harlot's special clinic.
He had watched her grow from angry to sad and back to angry. He had watched her face suddenly light up with emotion. He was beginning to see why people like having friends. She seemed to trust him, despite the fact that she didn't even know his name.
As her story ended the sun had moved in the sky a considerable amount. "How long have we been up here?" She asked. He shook his head. She sighed. "I should probably go. I still have to get my violin and take it home. My father wanted me home early so that we could go to Christine's-" She stopped so abruptly that he had hardly heard what she had said. Yet he heard it. She stared at him, as if expecting him to explode.
"Than my story is for another night." He said as he stood. His heart had begun to ache at the mention of Christine, but he didn't want to go into that with her. She might trust him and share her life with him, but his life was a solitary man's life and he preferred to keep some things to himself.
As he helped her to her feet she hugged him. "Thank you." She said.
"Delphine," He said. "you can't keep things like that inside without getting hurt."
"You're one to talk." She smiled. Her smile fell almost as fast as it had risen. "You said my name."
He looked taken back. Had he said her name? He had not meant to.
"Now I feel ridiculous. I don't even know you're name and you're already using mine." She said. He knew where she was going with that.
"Erik." He said.
"Erik." She repeated. Testing it out. She walked towards the door. "Goodnight Erik. Till tomorrow." Than she disappeared beyond his sight.
---
Author's Note: Can anyone feel the feelings growing between these two? What a lovely friendship they have. A bit one-sided but Erik can't hold out forever, right?
Until next time.