Sarah came up to
fetch Christine no after too long. Since she knocked, Christine had
just enough time to quickly dry her tears. Then she followed Sarah
down to the dining room. When Erik saw her, her smiled brightly, then
stood up to pull out her chair. She looked at him in surprise, but
then felt ashamed. Why would she be surprised that Erik had manners?
Of course he did. He just...never showed them...ever before.
She
sat in the indictated chair and he pushed her in, then sat across
from her. Giovanni sat diagonal to both of them, sitting at the head
of the table.
"Giovanni, I'd like to introduce you to Miss
Christine Daae." Erik said after an awkward pause. Giovanni put out
his hand. "An honor to meet such a fine lady as yourself." He
said, but Christine just blushed and nodded.
"So Erik, now tell
me about what you have been up to all these years. What have you
done? Did you continue to design buildings at all?" Giovanni asked
as the meal plates were put before them.
Erik cleared his throat
and sat up. "I...designed a Persian temple. I was the head of
building it as well."
"A Persian temple?" Giovanni asked in
amazement.
"For the King."
Christine looked at the man
across from her in surprise. Never would she have guessed that that
laid in his past!
"What did you do after you finished
that?"
"Nothing. I stopped after finishing the temple. I
returned to the Opera House, where I had lived...nearby for some time
before venturing into Persia. There, I became a singing tutor for the
woman whom sits before you."
"Miss Daae was your
student?"
"Indeed. And she became quite the soprano
diva."
"Really?" Giovanni's amazement was now directed
upon her.
Blushing, she shook her head. " It was only for a
very short time."
"Come, she is being modest. Her voice was
better than any diva there. And even a short time is still a time
when she ruled above the others. I'd have her sing for you,
Giovanni, if I didn't fear her weariness and the cold night's air
damaging her vocal chords. In time, I shall have to get them back
into shape."
"There is no point now, Erik. You do not have
to." Christine said softly.
"Nonsense. Just because we are not
near an opera house does not mean you should altogether stop your
singing. You love to sing, do you not?"
Christine sighed as she
nodded, but said nothing.
"Anything else you have done since
you've been away, my son?" Giovanni asked after a slight pause.
"Nothing worth mentioning, I assure you. My life has not been
terribly exciting."
"No? What about Miss Daae here. It is
obvious now that she is not just a fellow traveler. What is she to
you? Are you two wed?"
Christine was sure she was crimson after
that question! She was surprised, whoever, that Erik remained calm
and not thrown off beat in the slightest.
"It's not
quite...something we can talk about at this point of time." He
answered.
"So you have no children, then. If you do get
married, do you plan to have children?"
Oh why, why did she have
to sip wine at that moment? Christine never had tasted such bitter
wine before, and accidently took a gulp of it. It stung her throat,
making her convulse with unstoppable coughs. The more she tried to
hold them in, the harder she coughed. But why did it have to happen
when he asked such a question? What must they think of her? She dared
to look up at them, and saw that both were looking at her in
surprise.
"Strong wine." She finally managed to utter.
Erik
looked back at Giovanni. "In this situation, it would be quite the
impossibility. And something also tells me that I wont have to worry
about that." He said, side glancing at Christine. She slid farther
into his chair, now upset that she gave him the wrong impression.
Conversations went on, talking of trifle things such a the
weather and conditions of the road at this time of season until
dinner was through and Christine returned to her room, claiming she
was quite exhausted.
Christine tried, really she
did, to remain in her room. But knowing just half of the story of
this young girl named Luciana had her perplexed and curious. There
would be no hope of sleep until her wondering mind was put to rest.
Therefore, she crept down the stairs a bit, peeking out of the
railings, while trying to remain mostly covered by the wall that
blocked a few feet of the staircase.
"Come, sit beside my chair,
my boy." Giovanni said as he settled into his rocking chair. Erik
did as he was told and sat down beside the elderly man. "Do you
remember the days when you were just a young lad, and I'd come up
with any excuse to get you to trust me enough to sit beside my chair
each night?"
"I do." Erik answered softly, as if he was
being transported back in time. "Those were some of the best days
of my life."
"Mine as well. You were a true highlight to my
life. I thank God each day that he brought you to my life, if not
just for a little while."
"Giovanni...no more small talk. We
both know what separated us, and I think it's time we come to terms
with it."
"I agree. I'll go first in saying how terribly
sorry I am that I ran you out."
Erik looked up at him in
confusion. "Christine is no longer here with us. You do not have to
act like this. I'm serious, Giovanni, and I want you to be as well.
Don't act like this is your fault. We have just one night. Let me
make my amends."
"Erik...Erik, my dear boy...ow many years did
you needlessly go on to blame yourself for the death of my daughter?
I tell you now, in all truth, that not for a moment did I ever blame
you for it. Not even I n my darkest, loneliest hours did I blame
you."
"How could you not?" Erik exclaimed, not
understanding. "The reason why she fell to her death was because
she ran from the horror of my face! Because I agreed to show her the
nightmare that I myself was scared to death of. How could you be to
blame for my horrid features?"
"I am to blame, Erik, for the
reasons of why she acted as so, and why she saw at all. Never should
I have forced you to take off the mask that night. She told me of her
love for you just hours before, but I knew that it was simple
infatuation. Yet I could deny her nothing. She told be she could not
fully love you without seeing what was under the mask. I knew from
the beginning I should have sent her back to her boarding school, but
I could not face her tears and screams of disagreement. Never should
I have allowed her to stay under the same roof as you when I knew of
her nature. She demanded the world, and I readily gave it to her. So
when she demanded you take off your mask...I am so terribly ashamed
to admit that I was more willing to ruin all the trust you had built
up in me than to deny her. It was my fault, I take every ounce of
blame; I always have. You never did anything wrong. Can you help what
you were born with? Can you help but to obey your master's command?
I beg of to forgive me for the wrongs I've done to
you."
Christine's mouth was agape as she saw Erik's face
turn to Giovanni - tears were streaming down his face! His shoulders
were heaving from the sobs caught in his chest. Leaning forward even
more to see, she accidently went to far and slipped down a step,
making a terribly loud bang. She gasped and scrambled back up to her
room, praying that no one heard
her.
Though
she laid on her bed, stiff as a board, Christine could not go to
sleep. She opened the window in her room and listened to the sounds
of the night. Finally, after what she reasoned to be hours after she
ran up to her room in retreat, did she hear footsteps coming up there
stairs. She listened to them as they stopped at her door momentarily,
then kept going into Erik's room.
But, going to his room did
not mean sleep to Erik. Christine listened to him pace back and forth
without stop. She'd drift off into a light slumber, just to awake
an hour or so later, and still hear pacing. It was obvious that he
would get not a wink of sleep tonight.
Come morning, Christine
awoke one final time. She found her dresses washed. Reluctantly, she
shed the nightgown that she had been given to wear, and put on her
peasant outfit and black dress.
She hurried down the stairs,
knowing that Erik would be there already. She was right; Sarah was
just putting a dish heaping with food in front of him. She flashed
Christine a quick smile, then went back into the kitchen.
Christine
sat down across from Erik as he piled food into his mouth
unceremoniously. No manners in eating like last night; he must have
worked up quite the appetite as he paced through the night.
"So
I'm not too late? I thought you would have eaten breakfast already,
not just starting." She said, feeling better about taking so long
to get ready.
"Starting? This is my third dish!" Erik said
proudly. Christine looked at him with mouth agape as a plate was put
before her. "Eat up so we can leave."
"You never ate that
much. What's wrong?"
"Giovanni told me last night that if we
don't eat enough to his satisfaction, he's not going to let us
leave. I think he thinks he'll be able to keep us...obviously his
memory is slipping. I can skip quite a few meals in a row and be just
fine, but I can also out-eat a horse."
Christine laughed. "But
is it right to take so much from an elderly man that is not very
rich?"
"I'm already taking care of it. Once we leave, he'll
find a handsome sum of money in a leather pouch by the door to repay
him twice fold."
Again, Christine felt her body shiver when he
mentioned the money. Still, the question of how he managed to obtain
that money plagued her.
"Good night sleep?" He asked to break
her out of her daydream.
"Hmm? Oh, it was fine. It's just...I
kept waking up to hear pacing."
Erik ignored this. "Nightmares,
at all?"
"No, none. Why do you ask?"
"Wondering, is
all. What you heard last night is probably enough to give grown men
nightmares."
She opened her mouth to reply, but he did it for
her. "Do not try to deny it. You made much noise on those steps.
I'm starting to find that it is good fortune we are no longer in my
lair; you would have fallen victim to my torture chamber many times
by now. You're too curious, my dear."
"You told me once that
you planned to have me with you as your wife long ago. Why would you
keep a torture chamber down there if you know of my...curious
nature?" She asked with a sly smile.
"To keep out intruders,
is all. That and, it wouldn't hurt if I could switch from being the
horrid phantom to being the hero that saves the damsel in distress
every now and then, would it? Oh, but that is beside the point. You
know I have the sharpest ears that anyone has ever had. Do you, while
lurking on the steps, try to make me hear you?" He said, the last
part sounding more of an accusion.
She hung her head. "I fell."
She whispered.
"I suppose you did. Are you shocked?"
"About
what?"
"That perhaps I have such dark pasts?"
"No. I
still don't know very much, but..."
"You know enough to
gather an idea of how dark my young life was. Either that, or you
think that I am less than a man."
"Why would I ever think such
a thing?"
"What grown man cries like that if he has nothing
real to cry about? None, I assure you."
"So...because every
once in a while you show that you are human - that you hurt and feel
too - that makes you less of a man? Tell me, Erik, do you consider
yourself less than a man because you love me? Is that not showing a
sign of weakness, after all? That you can not bear to live alone,
that you need someone with you?"
Erik smiled sadly. "I did not
mean in it that way."
"But do you?"
He was silent a
moment, then spoke. "Once I did. Once I wondered why I felt I
needed someone. After all, I am the great Phantom of the Opera; the
Opera Ghost; the amazing magician; the all wise genius. But I now
know that being a man is part of that list, and men can not live
alone all their days. So yes, I've changed my thinking, and no, I
do not believe such any longer."
Christine nodded.
"Good...because you're the strongest, most wonderful man I ever
knew. I wouldn't want you thinking any less of
yourself."
