Authors Note; This is my first fanfiction. Huzzah for me. I would appreciate reviews with constructive criticism, but please no flames.
Disclaimer; Phantom of the Opera does not belong to me. Yet. The characters don't belong to me either. Yet.
For a moment, a single moment, I felt our passions meet. I felt a connection with Erik. He seemed more man than monster, and in his embrace I was helpless. We had a connection, and I only wish that it could have lasted forever.
Then, I saw Raoul.
My fiance. The one I truly loved. The one that had tried to save me, and had suffered the worst of despair when he failed. His eyes reflected nothing but misery, as if he would rather die than watch this happen to me.
I couldn't let him die, because I loved him.
Then, there was the other man. The one who had pushed me against my will so many times before, taking my very heart and crushing it between his fingertips. The monster. The Opera Ghost. The Phantom of the Opera. The Living Corpse. Angel of Music. Angel of Death. The Angel of Doom. The Devil's Child.
But at the end of the day, he was a man.
A man named Erik.
But what kind of human could possibly have such a dark soul that they would force me to make this decision? How could Erik possibly be anything other than a beast?
Everything from his face to his heart reflected death. He had no soul. Not a single wisp of light in his dark heart. No hope, no future.
How could something so helpless be able to pull me into a trap so deep? Now, it was me or Raoul. What ever choice I made, I couldn't ever win.
I let the tears fall freely, thinking maybe he would pity me. Maybe, if I showed the torture I was put through, he would let Raoul and I go. We would live contently. A happy ending, where we could all just forget about this horrible event.
Needless to say, it didn't work.
My tears mixed with his, and they fell to the ground in drops reflecting our strange love, yet also our intense hate. I had betrayed him. What other choice did I have? I knew it would end like this. A horrible decision would have to be made in the end.
I never imagined that it would be so damn difficult.
I had been the image of innocence when I was young. Now, I was trapped in a horrfying love triangle. The only ways I could get out of it were the corners. I was one corner, and Erik and Raoul were the others. I would have to destroy one of them so that I could get out.
The path, however, was long and difficult.
I heard Raoul over in the corner, muttering my name despairingly. He had a rope slung around his neck, an instrument that could kill him at any second. To add to the danger, there was a master murderer at the other end of that rope. Yet he still cared for me. I couldn't bring myself to even look at him. I couldn't let him die. Erik would have me instead.
Unless...
I had seen the dark angel many times before, and had always noticed one certain thing.
A knife, strapped onto his cloak.
Why hadn't I thought of it sooner? Well, I had the answer to that. I couldn't murder the Angel of Music.
But did I have any other choice?
He didn't notice as I tore the blade away from the strap the was on his shoulder. Was it shock? Joy? What had made him so unconcious of the fact that I was holding a weapon?
I couldn't bring myself to think of it.
Raoul, unlike Erik, had noticed. He was violently shaking his head. I ignored him. This had to be done.
I took the knife and raised it up carefully, hand shaking like a rattlesnake's tail. God forgive me, I prayed. Please, understand that I must do this.
With that, I raised the knife and plunged it in between Erik's shoulder blades.
I heard him gasp with pain, and he crumpled into a pile on the floor. Tears still fell freely form his eyes, golden elliptical slits piercing the darkness.
I expected to see anger and hate. Instead, I saw love. Intense passion that nothing could ever destroy. Not even murder.
My tears turned from salty water to the blood which had spewed onto my face. My tears, mixing with the blood of an angel.
But angels don't bleed.
No, Erik was a creation of hell. But that gave me no right to kill him.
I can't even say that I did him a mercy. Erik didn't die quickly. He lay on the ground, gasping for breath. My aim had been inaccurate. I didn't kill him quickly. Instead, I had given him a stab that wouldn't let a strong man die for about a half hour more.
I knelt by his side, sobbing freely. He would've said something. I was sure of it.
But he couldn't. My angel would probably never talk, or sing, again.
I instantly longed for the music. "Sing for me," I cried. How stupid could I be? I was demanding a dying man, a man I had just killed, to do something for me. Something that was impossible for him at the moment.
But he tried.
Despite what I did, he still loved me.
It went on like this for an hour, Raoul silent in the corner, me sitting by Erik's side as he took his final breaths.
He kept mouthing the same thing over and over again, and in his last few moments, I finally heard what he was trying to say.
"Christine... I love you..."
The last of his strength was gone. He had used up his last precious moments on Earth, only to say that single phrase to me.
"I'll never forget," I muttered, but he didn't hear me.
He was already dead.
I shakily stood up and walked over to Raoul, who embraced me the moment I came over despite the rope around his neck.
"You shouldn't have done it. You should have let him kill me."
I shook my head and wiped one of many tears from my eyes, leaving a streak of fresh blood across my face.
"I did what I had to," I muttered helplessly.
"I know, Christine," Raoul said tenderly. "But with that memory, I doubt you will ever live freely again."
I shook my head, as if already over it. But I knew in my heart that Raoul was right.
Now, I would always have to live with the knowledge that I had betrayed the man that had no purpose for living but my love.
His innocence had ended a long time ago. Now, mine had as well.
In murdering him, I had become a creature of hell.
He was the Angel of Music. Not the Angel of Death.
The latter wasn't him. It was me.
Authors Note Again;As I said before, please review. I live on reviews.