Fears Within a Dream...

On hearing Christine's name, Meg turned quickly to face the person who had called it. Upon seeing Erik, Meg stepped back, surprised. She gathered she would have recognized his dulcet voice, though it held a much more careful, tender tone, than Meg had become used to. Inwardly Meg quirked a questionable brow at Erik, before remembering that she seemed to in possession of a different physical body. It then hit her; she was in the body of Christine! Meg almost laughed at the idea, though this faltered with Erik's strange air. "Erik, I'm not Christine." Meg corrected, with the same look she had given him moments ago. Though, it seemed Erik could not hear, or rather, that Christine's lips did not allow her words to be heard. Instead, Meg now felt as if she was a spectre to the two persons, and was observing them, with no distinct body of her own.

Christine sighed heavily, in what seemed like a mixture of displeasure and pity. "Hello, Erik." Christine greeted evenly, and stepped closer to him, taking his hand lightly with an empathic expression. "What are you doing here?" She inquired, and shook her head, as if Erik had a bad habit of returning to where he stood. Erik appeared somewhat confused by Christine's words, and looked down at Christine's hands, then up to peer around at his surrounds. His wavering gaze returned to Christine, and he opened his mouth to speak but Christine cut him off. "Erik," Christine began, with another sigh, and a subtle smile, "I though I had made it clear to you last time. How many times must I tell you? You and your persistence." Patting his hand, Christine withdrew from Erik, and frowned at him. "I am happy, with Raoul. Erik, this is how it is suppose to be…you keep hurting yourself by coming back."

"No, Christine...I was not coming back, I was…" Trailing off, Erik appeared completely lost, and strangely weak, under Christine's gaze.

"I do not want…to see you again, Erik. What right do you have of intruding?" Christine informed, closing her eyes, and sighing again.

These words straightened Erik, and he glared at the young woman, as if she had slighted him. Christine noticed this promptly, and she returned his glare, stepping backward, as if she was now the one afraid.

"Do not start that Erik. You will not sway me by taking advantage of my pity."

"Not your pity, Christine, but your guilt!" Erik snapped back, suddenly vicious and irked.

"I am not guilty!" Christine insisted, holding her ground now, and giving Erik a distasteful look. "Trust me, I have heard it all from you, and Erik, I have reprimanded myself in the same way. I have called myself shallow, but Erik, I am not! I didn't only leave you because of your face, God Erik that is not why. And I have always appreciated what you have done for me, but you're no victim."
"Careful, Christine." Erik hissed threateningly, though she paid no heed, and continued.
"You've killed people, Erik! Not in self-defence, but for someone's entertainment! They had done nothing to you! Above that, you are cruel! You kidnapped me, Erik! That is nothing to be taken lightly! Against my own will, you took me, and you cannot begin to understand how it feels to have your freedom stripped from you."
"I only had done that because-"
"Because why? Because you love me? How do you not get it?" Christine cut off Erik sharply, and was to Erik, uncharacteristically intimidating. She began to march toward him, and Erik, at a loss as to what else to do, moved back to avoid her. "That isn't love, Erik! That is mania, which is completely different! You stole me because you are selfish, completely selfish! And love is about sharing! Love cannot be one sided!" Taking a deep breath, she jabbed a finger toward him angrily. "I know you were hurt Erik, and that your life has been wrought with difficulties and sorrows, but that is no excuse for what you have done. To me and to everyone who has suffered because of you- because other people have, Erik!"
"Be quiet!" Erik cried fiercely, and in the manner of a child, pressed his hands to his ears, despite how this did nothing to mute Christine's voice.
"And you still do not see! Take responsibly for your actions, Erik, they are your own, no one made you do any of the cruel things you have done! Call me merciless, but no one should be able to tell you that they do not care what you have done in your past, because that does matter Erik...it matters, a lot. Your past is a part of who you are."
"Shut up!" Erik cried, though the demand sounded as a plea.
"If you were stronger, you would have been able to save yourself from the animosity which ruins you." With those dying words, Christine appeared to dissolve, and in her wake, was left Meg. Erik had turned completely away, when Christine had been speaking, his breathing was irregular, and Meg could not decipher if it was because of angry, or sorrow.

Though Christine's words were obviously not from the woman herself, Meg still felt they were justified, though if not a little harsh. It was true, anyone could play Erik to be a sufferer, sculpted by an unforgiving society. However, in the light of Christine's rant, knowing Erik had murdered, in circumstances that Christine had said were not justified, Meg could find no pity for him. It was, in any case, his own imagination, which had been reproaching him, so Erik unconsciousness must not be accepting it. Thinking that that was well, Meg stepped forward toward Erik, and voiced his name. At the sound of her voice, Erik groaned, as if terribly annoyed to know she was standing behind him. Scowling, and childishly feeling snubbed, Meg turned away from Erik. "Fine, I was just going to be nice." Shrugging a shoulder, the petite woman sat on the ground some feet away from Erik, who fell so silent, Meg would have expected him dead, if he had not been standing.

The silence between them had to begun to annoy Meg, though, she fought to keep from speaking. Her concerns however, about their surrounds, rose, and she looked back to Erik, outstretching her legs and placing her hands on the ground behind her. "Erik...you still love Christine, don't you?" Meg inquired thoughtlessly, and was surprised, when Erik responded.
"Yes." With a long sigh, Erik glanced down to Meg, who tapped the tips of her shoes together absentmindedly. "I will love her perpetually." This only made Meg smirk, at the thought of someone loving someone else so fervently. If it was love at all.
"Do you think you could love anyone else, like you do her?" Meg queried, stilling her feet, as a short period of silence pasted between them.
"Never." Erik assured finally, and while his tone was flat, and terribly sad, it held a certain strong sense of conviction, which sounded imperishable.