Chapter 19

Haunting music filled his dreams along with images of her and only her. It seemed forever until Erik opened his eyes slowly, confused to as where he was. He was still in his dinner clothes from the day before, but for the life of him, he could not figure out why. His body stiffened as he tried to sit up, but at last he managed, curious to discover what happened last night. He could recall only a few things. As his mind struggled to think through the early morning fog, which surrounded all that have just woken from slumber, Erik could hear a distant melody. He turned his head to see black lace draped hanging all around him, as if protecting him from the whole world. He hoped he was still in the Opera House. A tiny wooden table, stood beside the very comfortable, silk bed, in which Erik sat, and a small music box stood on top of it. It was closed, but there was a brass monkey in Persian robes sitting on its lid, holding cymbals in each hand. The money had a sickening grin plastered on its face as it banged together the cymbals in some kind of a weird dance. The music coming forth was pretty and Erik hummed along with it while grasping a rope in order to lift the curtains and explore this new world.

Erik stepped away from the bed and the music box and left through the only entrance there was. As soon as he left the room, the music from the monkey box stopped suddenly, and Erik was startled by the sudden silence. He glanced back to the bed, but then continued one, Erik's curiosity always won out in the end.

As he came to the top of a flight of stairs, Erik stared down in wonder at the scene before him, and the memories came flooding back. He glanced around at the thousands of flickering candles, the dark water of the lake, and the stony ground, which he was standing on. He began to sing in wonder.

"I remember there was mist…" Erik glanced at the mist, which never seemed to end or stop its strange dance. It was thick and it coated the ground, making it impossible to see where he stepped, like some mysterious snow in the winter.

"…Swirling mist upon a vast glassy lake..." Erik's attention was drawn away from the mist only to catch sight of the dark waters, silent now, in between gaps of the mist. He shuddered to think what was beneath them, things he couldn't even imagine.

"…There were candles all around…" In the lake he saw the many thousands of candles reflected in the waters, which returned his gaze to the cave where the walls seemed to move in time with the flickering lights.

"…And on the lake there was a boat…" His gaze fell to where a boat lay half out of the water, like some poor animal that swam too close and got caught on the beach, unable to return to the water.

"…And in the boat, there was a woman…" Erik slowly turned his head towards the organ, afraid and excited that since all his other observations had proved true, this one would too. His eyes met with the back of a head, covered with thick, waist length, black hair and at that moment as if the person sitting at the organ could hear his quiet singing, she turned around.

It was the Opera Ghostess. The Phantomess.

She allowed him a small smile, to acknowledge to him, that she knew of his presence and returned her masked face to her occupation. His eyes focused on her, now he could remember. She had brought him here…

To the seat of sweet Music's throne.

Erik began the decent down the stairs and jumped a little bit as she pounded hard on the keys. A strong surge of music rang through the cave, making some of the walls crumble and fall with a splash into the water. He fought the urge to run, and approached the bench where the Phantomess sat banging on the keys and stopping at strange intervals, in order to write something down onto a blank sheet of music. He approached it quietly and saw the Phantomess' back stiffen considerably, but she did not stop her playing. With an overwhelming sense of curiosity surging through him, Erik stood just behind the Phantomess and began to sing again, more to himself then to her.

"Who was that shape in the shadows?

Whose is the face in the mask?" He placed his hands on her neck and gently caressing it, made his hands move up towards her delicate features on her face. He could feel her responding to his touch, and her hands left the keys and hung limply at her side. She half turned towards him as he ran his hands over her face closer and closer towards the mask. He could feel her body relax and let him touch her. He took in a deep breath and gave a sharp tug and the mask pulled away easily. He leaned forward eagerly to see the front of her face, but it was too late.

She leaped up in fury, knocking him backward in her haste to stand up, sending the mask out of his reach an over beneath a music stand. Pain shot through his body, as it made contact with the rough stone of the floor. She screamed in horror and terror and covered her face with her hands before he could see beneath.

"DAMN YOU!" she screamed in fury, and ran away from the bench of the organ and over towards a wall of red velvet drapes. Erik cowered on the floor, and struggled to move away from her. He crawled backwards, trying to not attract her attention, but not a second later she shrieked out again.

"You little prying Pandora!

You little demon…" With one hand clutching her face, she tore at one of the curtains away from the wall and it collapsed into a heap of mist, dust and fabric to reveal a full length mirror, just like the one in his new room. She stared at herself in the mirror transfixed by her own image as she removed her hand from the right side of her face, but when she spotted Erik in the mirror she covered it quick as a flash and spun around, her eyes flaming in anger.

"…Is this what you wanted to see?" He shrank away from her, scared to death that her attention was refocused on him and he crawled even further away into the shadows. This only seemed to anger her further, something, which Erik had feared, and she sprang towards him fiercely hollering.

"CURSE YOU!

You little lying Delilah!

You little Viper!" She moved closer and closer, all the while he was backing away and he hit something with the back of his head, as he was moving. It was smooth, and made of some kind of metal. He dared not take his eyes off her, lest she did something awful to him. She lowered her voice and glared at him, and he froze in place, as there was a moment of horrid silence between them where they locked eyes.

"Now…you cannot ever be free!" Erik was scared to death by this time. He couldn't possibly imagine how she could be so sweet and passionate before and now how angry and furious she was. He trembled in his skin and shut his eyes, so as to keep back the tears of fright. With his eyes closed, he could hear her frantic panting and her heavy footsteps storm in a rage around her lair. He could hear sheets of music being thrown to the ground and candle stands clanging loudly as they hit the floor. He squeezed his eyes tighter as she threw her hands down on the keys of the organ, making a horrible sound issue forth and making the cave shudder.

"DAMN YOU!

CURSE YOU!" She screamed to Erik and he could hear her footsteps coming closer towards him. He shrunk away in fear, with his eyes shut tight against her angry image. He waited for the anger that he knew would come, the horrible things that she could do to him, as she approached him. He waited, holding his breath, and then the footsteps stopped.

The blow didn't come.

Erik opened one eye carefully and a surprise sight came to his young eyes. He saw his Angel, the Phantomess of the Opera standing just before him staring sadly down at him. Erik opened his other eye, and a change seemed to overtake her very quickly. Her eyes lost their hardened edge and looked at him through completely different eyes from before. She spread her arms before her, gesturing to Erik, but he stayed exactly where he was, in fear that she would yell again. He reached his hand behind him and felt a smooth touch under his fingers, he glanced back quickly and saw that he was underneath the music stand and his hand covered the Phantomess' white mask. He shivered as he saw himself touching it and he picked it up in his hand and he turned back towards her. She still had that same odd look in her eyes, and she still had her arm outspread towards him, but she began to circle him, as a predator would its prey.

"Stranger then you dreamt it-

Can you even dare to look or dare to think of me?" One hand covered her unmasked face and she glanced down at herself and when she looked back up at Erik, he could see self-hatred in her eyes. She shuddered and drew in a deep breath before continuing her chant like song.

"This loathsome gargoyle,

Who burns in hell, but secretly…

Yearns for Heaven,

Secretly…secretly…" Her voice cut off on a serious soft note and Erik regarded her carefully, her attention focused solely on him. His head twisted around as she continued her circle around him and he pressed up harder against the music stand clutching the mask.

"But Erik…" Her voice had lost its hatred, but not its passion. She looked at him anew through the adoring eyes of a mother, teacher and lover. Erik was terrified of her, her quick mood swings made him very uneasy and he tried to make himself as small as possible, but he knew it would not do a thing. He was hers, he knew it.

"…Fear can turn to love,

You'll learn to see,

To find,

The woman behind the monster..." She took another shuddering breath and continued on looking horribly disgusted with herself.

"…This, repulsive carcass,

Which seems a beast, but secretly…

Dreams of beauty,

Secretly…secretly…" Her movements had stopped and she had ended up staring hopelessly at him, and it made his heart ache. She sank down in front of him and extended her hand that was not covering her face towards him.

"Oh…Erik…" She whispered half to herself and half to Erik. Erik stayed silent and gazed at her for a moment or two. She seemed completely broken down and so very alone. Erik regretted trying to see under her mask and carefully place it gently back into her palm. She looked at him and turned away from his gaze to put the mask back on. She stood with her back to him and her hair flowing down her back.

"Come, we must return,

Those two fools who run my theatre will be missing you." She announced without a hint of emotion in her voice, like the whole incident that just happened between them, did not exist.

A/N: Hoped you enjoyed this. Actually I quite enjoyed writing it, because Erik and the Phantomess are connecting some more…YAY! Review please.