Disclaimer: not mine

Forenote- It's not my fault this took so long to update. A few days ago I tried to, but FF net was being screwy. Enjoy and be horrified!

Down in the cellars, Antoinette and the boy finally had a chance to stop. They rested in silence, apart from their own gasps.

"Who are you?" Antoinette blurted out suddenly, "Why are they chasing you?"

"My name is Erik," the boy replied, masking his insecurity with a placid smile, "And they're chasing be because I know too much about the Shah-in-Shah's palace." Antoinette raised her eyebrows, and Erik dared to continue. "I designed it." For a moment, Antoinette was silent.

"Why do you wear a mask?" Erik dreaded this question. He turned his face in shame. Any confidence he had attained quickly vanished, and he just wanted to hide.

"I- I dare not say," Erik stammered quickly. Antoinette began reaching over to his mask. Erik snatched her hand. "Don't!" He snarled viciously. Antoinette recoiled slightly in shock, but Erik still held her hand, his grip tightening. Erik's yellow eyes became a savage blaze that made Antoinette try to pull back in fear, but she was unable to. Erik's hand seemed more like a writhing claw, digging into her flesh like five hot knives, heated by the hellish inferno of Erik's eyes.

Then Erik's hands began trembling, and he let her hand slip from and looked away, as if filled with shame. "Forgive me…"

"It's alright," Antoinette said quietly before lapsing into an uneasy silence. She felt guilty at trying to remove Erik's mask- why would he wear if he didn't mind it being off?

The problem with that question is it always leads back to why would he wear it at all. He seemed very hansom from what could be seen of him, and even Antoinette couldn't ignore that…

However, she had little time to consider it anyway, for in the distance she heard the stampeding approach of the soldiers. Antoinette whirled around, and Erik's eyes darted off into the distance over her shoulder.

"Go!" Antoinette whispered, "hide in the shadows! I'll talk to them and divert them somewhere else!" Erik nodded and practically vaporized before her eyes. Antoinette nervously scampered toward the noise of footsteps, trying to intersect the soldiers.

This proved far easier than Antoinette would have liked, but she pretended she hadn't noticed as she skidded to a halt in front of them.

"Madame-moiselle," one soldier huffed, "have you seen a monster come this way?" Antoinette reframed from laughing at the obscurity of the question.

"A monster?" Antoinette asked.

"In the shape of a boy, about your age," the soldier grunted an explanation, "I believe he's adorned a half mask to hide his monstrosities." Antoinette pretended to search her memory, before nodding slowly.

"Yes, I do believe I did," she said sweetly, "He went that-" The soldier grabbed Antoinette by the throat and hurled her against the wall.

"Of course you did!" he snarled, "you hustled him away from that lying bastard's carriage!" The soldier snatched her up and drove his fist deep into her stomach, driving the wind out of her. As Antoinette struggled to regain her breath, the soldier threw her onto the floor. He put his boot on Antoinette's chest, slowly driving the consciousness out of her body.

Dully aware of what was around her, she sensed a change in the atmosphere of the soldiers. Antoinette saw, but did not hear, the soldiers turn around and point at something. One of them loaded a musket, but before he could fire it, was leapt upon by Erik. In frenzy the soldiers attacked Erik, but he was able to dive out of the pile. Antoinette hardly took this in, too unaware to help him or run. She felt no emotion as Erik felled his third soldier, nor when another smashed his mask to pieces and he fell to the ground.