Freakstar: You just may be the best reviewer I have ever had! (I've been doing this for about 7 months!) Thank you for all your reviews, they mean alot to me! I'm flattered:)
Erikmysweet: Are you on PFN with the same name? If so, I'm Phanphicwriter14 on there (writer of Paradox and Secret of Rouen). Just wondering if it was a coincidence or not...
All the rest: Thanks SOOOO much for your sweet replies! love to you all...and another chapter!
Christine had
ran down to the lair, only to find it empty. Erik was not there,
which only made her stomach churn. Surely the papers couldn't be
true...could they? No, of course not! Just because he wasn't there
now didn't mean she should doubt her trust in him!
She was soon
pounding on the door of the Vicomte's house, or rather, from the
looks of it, his mansion. A servent opened the door and gave a slight
bow. "Yes, Madam?" She said in a timid voice.
"I'm here
to see Vicomte de Changy immediately." Christine panted.
"We
do not accept-"
"My name is Christine Daae - I am a very good
friend of Raoul's! Please, let me see him!" Christine was reduced
to begging now, but she didn't care.
The little black woman
nodded and let her in, then indictated for Christine to be seated
while she confirmed the situation with Raoul.
Christine couldn't
help but stare. He did have such a beautiful house. Everything had
amazing detail. All this for one man? Christine felt a pang of guilt
as she let her mind wander as far as thinking that all of this could
have been hers.
She rose from the ivory colored davenport when
the servent came back.
"This way, Ma'am." She said curtly,
then led her up a flight of cream colored stairs. All the while,
Christine kept looking all around her, soaking it all in. Finally,
she reached the door to the room that Raoul was in. Taking a deep
breath, she prepared to see the man, her ex-fiancé, that she
hadn't seen in what seemed like an eternity.
She opened the
door and saw Raoul laying in his bed, looking quite pale. He was
without a shirt, only large amounts of bandages across his chest, so
only oneof his shoulders stuck out, the rest the sheet over him
covered. His eyes were not open when she entered the room, but as she
drew near, his eyes not only opened, but widened in amazement.
"Sarah told me a Christine Daae was here to see me...but I
thought she must be mistaken. Christine, after all this time, can it
really be you?" Raoul asked. Christine's heart wrenched, the
memory of how badly she had hurt him coming back to flood her. Truly,
she still loved him as she always would. Just, for some reason, her
love for him and his for her just was never enough in her eyes. But
seeing him now made her start to doubt.
Christine ran to Raoul's
bedside, sitting on the wood floor as she grabbed his outstretched
hand and kissed it.
"Raoul, you look terrible!" She cried,
emotions overwhelming her.
He grinned slyly. "Why thank you -
just the compliment I've dreamt about you giving me the next time I
saw you." He teased. But Christine was in no mood to be jovial
with.
"Was it really him, Raoul? Truly? You saw him...you're
sure?"
Raoul gave her a sympathetic look, knowing what she was
going through.
"I'm sorry Christine, but I saw his
mask."
"You're sure?"
"I'm sure."
Christine
looked down, feeling her heart break. Why? Why would Erik try to not
only keep his old habits of murdering to get what he wanted, even
after he knew she loved him, but to attack someone that was so dear
to her; that's still dear to her!
Raoul sighed, tightening his
grip on her hand. "I'm sorry, Christine. Although I can not
understand why you torture yourself with trying to love a man such as
he, I do understand what this means for you. I grieve for what you
will inevitably put yourself through because of this."
Christine's
piercing brown eyes looked painfully into his blue ones as her heart
felt like it was being ripped from her chest. Raoul put his hand
gently on her cheek to comfort her, old feelings for both of them
rising. Just then the door burst open again and a little girl with
long curly golden hair and big blue eyes running in and jumped on the
bed, making Raoul wince from pain.
"Are you alright?"The
little girl asked, her face inches from his, her eyes like
saucers.
"Yes Katie, I'm fine. Didn't your mother tell you
that?" Raoul replied.
"Yes...but I was afraid she was just
saying that. You're really okay, Daddy?"
Christine's heart
stopped as she sucked in her breath. Daddy?
Raoul side glanced at
her with an unreadble look on his face, then ran his hand through the
little girl's wild hair. "Yes honey, I'm alright. Really, I
am."
Christine sat on the floor, feeling suddenly like she
didn't belong here.
'So he had moved on. He doesn't love me
anymore...' She thought.
She had begged him to move on from her
the last time she saw him. Why did she feel like he betrayed her when
she saw that he did what she asked?
She felt another presence in
the room. Christine turned to see a tall, very elegant looking woman
standing in the doorway. Her brunette curly hair was pinned up in a
loose bun, and jewerly seemed to adorn everywhere possible. Her dress
was of class. The woman looked over the situation and frowned deeply.
She looked like she was a bit older than Raoul was, but Christine
knew who she was immediantly. His wife.
It was only then when
Christine became very self concious under the woman's hard, icy
gaze. Looking down, only then did she become aware that nothing more
than a cloak hid what she wore underneath still - her nightgown. Her
hair was messy, the curls seemed like they were in a frenzy. Raoul,
when they were still sweethearts, would have said she looked
beautiful and innocent as a pure white dove, but Christine was
positive that wasn't what the woman in the doorway was thinking.
Anything but!
Christine gulped, trying to still her heart as she
flashed Raoul a worried glance. She knew now that she shouldn't
have come! What had she walked into; what had she stirred in the
woman's thoughts?
Christine rose from the floor and tried to
smile, pushing her loose hair back with her left hand as she neared
the woman; neared Raoul's stern wife.
"Hello, I'm Christine
Daae - I was Ra-...the Vicomte's dear friend when we were young.
I'm sure he told you of me-"
"He told me nothing of you. How
do I know your story is true?" She asked coldly. Christine was
taken aback, though she wasn't sure what she was more shocked about
- the fact that this woman questioned her intentions here, or that
Raoul had never even uttered a word of her to his own wife! It
saddened her deeply to know that Raoul thought so little of her. She
glanced back at Raoul, who's cheeks were considerably
reddened.
Christine sighed and decided to do what she must, even
though she wanted so badly to talk to Raoul.
"Forgive me,
Madame de Changy, I can see that I am not wanted here. I'm sorry I
intruded upon your home." And with that, Christine walked out of
the room, looking dignified, but not looking back. What did it matter
now, anyway? She had gotten what she came for - the truth. She knew
now, though her heart wrenched in trying to believe, that Erik had
indeed done what she thought he would never do - hurt her deeply.
Both of the men that she had dearly loved at one time or another had
both betrayed and hurt her within the same day. As soon as Christine
was out of sight from the de Changy's house, her shoulders slacked
and her head bowed - she no longer felt very dignified. She no longer
felt a lot of things.
