Hey. New chapter already. Yay.

Disclaimer: Don't own Phantom, or the Romeo and Juliet opera. Ideas in this chapter have come to me through the Hidden Plot discussion, Research of a certain site(closed down though), and a fic that already dealed with this idea. So in some ways they get a part in the disclaimer. I don't want to give away too much though.

Preview: Erik is teaching Christine again, Raoul finds out about his father's life in his 20's, Christine finds out more about Erik.


Family Matters

Erik and Christine were in the chapel later that night for practice. Erik stood in front of her with a paper of the opera.

He started to pace around the room and Christine noticed he still had that confident walk, like he owned the Opera House and he was in complete control. He wore all black, like usual. With a very sophisticated shirt and long tailor made coat. He still wore his cape which had a golden color on the inside of it. His look and charisma almost demanded attention from everyone. It reminded her of when he crashed the Masquerade Ball and how as soon as he walked into the room all eyes were on him. Everyone was silent and mesmerized by his presence.

"Ok, how about we do scene number 8 from act one?" Erik asked the young soprano.

"Ok." She replied. "Are you to play the part of Roméo?" Christine almost started blushing.

"Yes, I guess I will. But you must start off with your part."

Christine started to sing the part of Juliet.

"Alas! To hate him?
Hatred - blind and barbarous!
O, Roméo, why is this name yours?
Deny it, this fatal name which separates us,
Or I will abjure mine.
"

Christine finished her part and Erik picked up as Roméo.

"Is it true? Did you say it?
Ah! Dissipate the doubt
In a heart which is too happy!
"

Christine continued as Juliet.

"Who listens to me and surprises my secrets
In the shadow of the night?
"

Erik as Roméo replied, "I dare not, in naming myself."

"Are you not Roméo?"

"No! I do not want to be he anymore,
If this detested name separates me from you!
In order to love you, let me be reborn
In another self than mine.
"

Christine continued with an angelic voice,

"Ah! -you know that the night
Hides from you my face!
You know it! If your eyes
Saw the blushing of it,
It would bear witness to you
Of the purity of my heart!
Farewell vain evasions...
Do you love me?
I'm guessing what you will respond:
Make no sworn oaths!
Phoebé, with her inconstant rays
I imagine, illuminates the false oath
And laughs at lovers!
Dear Roméo! Tell me loyally:
"I love you!" and I believe you!
And my honor has trust in yours,
Oh, my lord,
As you can trust in me!
Do not accuse my heart,
Whose secret you know, of wantonness
For being unable to keep silent...
But accuse the night whose indiscreet veil
Has betrayed the mystery.
"

Erik smiled before singing his part and added, "Very good, Christine. You did a good job of getting into character."

"Thank you." She said.

Erik continued the final part of the scene.

"Before God, who hears me,
I pledge you my fidelity!
"

"You would make a very good Roméo." Christine commented.

Erik laughed and said, "Not in a million years. I'm not right for the stage."

"But you're very good."

"I'm not right for it, and it's not about my abilities…I'm not right for public performing because of my face." He said in an almost angry way. Christine felt bad; talking around him was always a hard thing to do because you never knew when something you say might be misinterpreted by him.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that." She replied.

"I think we're done with practice for today." Erik said ignoring the conversation they just had.


The Next Morning, June 3rd.

Raoul was back inside the family library reading from his father's journal. He read through his father's childhood and recently got to the part when he was in his late teens and early 20s. Those pages were filled about a woman his father had romantic relations with. Apparently he dated a woman that was born with no noble blood. "The irony!" Raoul laughed.

He read on and found that the farther he got into the book the more serious his father was about this woman. Raoul was shocked to read that they were even married! 'Well that explains the blank spot on the family tree.' He thought.

The next couple of pages talked about this woman being pregnant.

"October 31st, 1841

Today my beautiful wife went into labor! I have been waiting for this day for such a long time. I dream of holding my precious son or daughter in my arms! I am praising God Almighty for the many blessings in my life.

The baby should be due within hours, and I simply can not wait! I will write in here when the baby is here. I hear the nurses and doctors running around like crazy. I'm going to go see if she's having the baby already.

Until next time,

Frédéric"

After that entry there was another but this was from 1845, and this time it was about Raoul's mother. He looked over the entries to find the woman's name…

"…Madeleine." He read out loud.

Raoul ran down to the kitchen to find his father. He brought with him the journal. Sure enough his father was sitting at the table eating toast.

"Who's Madeleine?" Raoul blurted out.

His father dropped the bread and became alert. His eyes searched around in a nervous fashion.

"I'm sorry. I don't know who you're talking about." His father said.

Raoul handed him the journal. "Here."

His father stared at the journal like he had forgotten what it was. He lost the book a long time ago and never thought he's see it again.

"Where did you get this?"

"It was in the library." Raoul answered. His father just stared at the book some more like he was expecting something to happen. Raoul grew eager to know what happened.

"Well?"

"I don't know what this is." His father lied.

"Father, don't lie to me!" Raoul nearly yelled. "What happened to this woman and the baby?"

After moments of silence his father yelled, "The baby died and I divorced her, ok?"

He became extremely angry and threw the book against the wall. The maids ran in fear of the loud sound that echoed throughout the manor.

"I just wanted to know." Raoul said with surprise.

"Well now you know. You shouldn't have read my personal journal anyway."

"I'm sorry." Raoul eventually said.

"It's fine. Just don't do anything like that again."

"Does mom know about it?" Raoul continued to ask questions.

"Yes she does know about it." His father started to become frustrated.

"How come you never told me?"

"I don't know son, can you please just leave me at peace? I just want to eat my breakfast and then get ready for the day."

Raoul nodded and left the room without another word. His mother soon after ran into the kitchen.

"What on earth is going on?" She asked.

"He found this." The Comte said and then handed his wife the journal.

The Comtesse stood in shock. "Did he read about…?"

"Yes." He cut her off. The Comtesse said nothing in return.

The older man picked up his toast from the plate and began eating again. The Comtesse walked out of the kitchen with the book.


Five days later, June 8th.

Erik continued to teach Christine every night. It really started to become like old times. Christine would normally talk about her day after the practices and they would have long conversations about everything from opera to everyday life. They seemed to gain that connection once more. Christine made an effort to try to get to know more about Erik by asking him questions. Unlike when she was little. Back then he would ask her all the questions like "how was your day?" or "what's the latest gossip from the ballet girls?" Not like he actually cared about gossip but he thought it was a good topic for a young ballet girl.

They were sitting down in the chapel room after the lesson. Today's lesson was early since Christine didn't have ballet practice. It was around 11:00 in the morning.

They only had five lessons since he started teaching her again but she was already doing great. Christine was more interested in finding out about Erik rather than relearning things he already taught her.

"Was Don Juan the only opera you composed?" She asked.

"Yes, but I have written tons of songs. Just no operas… well besides Don Juan that is." Erik said.

"Where were you born?" Christine continued to question.

"What? Do you want to know my whole life story?" He laughed. "What's with all the questions?"

Christine laughed with him. "I'm just curious."

"I was born in Paris." Erik replied.

"When?"

Erik laughed some more. "Yes, I'm old."

"That's not why I asked! And I highly doubt you're old." She said.

"I'm 30." Erik stated.

Christine rolled her eyes and playfully hit his shoulder. "You are not old. My God!" She laughed.

"Well, are you planning on writing a book about my life?"

"I wouldn't be able to… I barely know anything about you." Christine replied with a more serious tone.

"Let's keep it that way." Erik said.

"I just wanted to know who you are. You're not an angel, you're a human. And I would like to know you more." Christine explained.

"It's ok, Christine. If you want to know me more…than be my guest."

"Ok…I want to ask you something but I'm afraid you may get upset." She said hesitantly.

Erik thought for a moment and decided it would be ok. He told himself not to freak out over whatever it is she asked. He prepared himself for it.

"Go ahead." He said.

"You always told me about…your mother." She started.

"No, I'm sorry. I won't answer anything about… that woman." He said with disgust.

"What did she ever do to you?"

"Never mind, Christine. You were right…I rather not talk about it."

"Sometimes it's better to talk about things." Christine looked into his deep green eyes. She immediately regretted her decision to do that. His pain was almost empathic, and anyone could feel what he felt. It was like a psychic connection he had with anyone who bothered to care. Just looking at him caused her heart to shatter. She saw the tears forming in his eyes.

Erik let out a sob. He tried his hardest to not cry but it was inevitable. Christine felt bad for bring up the topic of his mother.

"It's not what she did that hurts me." He started. "It's more what she didn't do."

Erik paused to gather strength and whatever dignity he had left. "She never hugged me…never kissed me…she never…" Erik stopped talking. Christine began to cry with him.

"She, she…when I was born….she…made a mask for me." He said. "And for as long as I can remember I had to wear it around her."

"I'm sorry." She said softly to Erik.

"Why couldn't she love me? Why?" He was nearly screaming 'why' over and over again. Christine hugged him to her like she did before. He was like a child who needed to feel the comfort of his mother. Christine wasn't his mother, obviously, but like any other woman she had a motherly instinct that told her to soothe him and comfort him. She became angry at his mother, what woman would do such a thing to a poor child?

To this day it still surprised Christine to see Erik like this. Before he was so confident and powerful and in the matter of seconds he is crying and defenseless.

"On my fifth birthday I asked for a gift from her. I asked for a kiss. And she went hysterical. Later that day she left me with the gypsies." Erik eventually said.

Christine let go of him and stared at him in shock. "What?"

Erik didn't reply to her questioning. He was too caught up in crying and sobbing. Talking was hard for him at the moment.

"That's how you wound up with the gypsies?" Christine questioned. Erik replied by shaking his head yes.

"Oh my God! How could she?" She said with anger.

"She just didn't love me enough to put up with me." Erik replied between sobs.

Christine and Erik sat by each other for a while with no one talking. Christine kept thinking about this evil woman and Erik's past. The more she learned the more she wished she never even asked.

"Why? Christine, why couldn't she love me?" He became hysterical. "Why won't anyone love me?"

Christine let out a sob. "I love you." She whispered to him.

He just remained quiet and kept his head down. She knew he must have been exhausted from all the crying, within those couple of minutes he just completely let go of everything.

"You've faced more tragedies than a soul should ever see." She said to Erik.

"I am destined to live a lonely life." He informed her. "And over the years I had to learn to be lonely. Just like the song said."

"What song?"

"The song my mother sang to me all the time when I was little. It became my lullaby and now my reality."

He started to sing the ending of the song,

"So laugh in your loneliness
Child of the wilderness
Learn to Be lonely
Learn how to love life that is lived alone

Learn to be lonely
Life can be lived, life can be loved…

Alone."

Christine grabbed his hand and squeezed it. "I've already told you that you are not alone."

Erik cried a little bit more and Christine leaned up against him. "It's ok Erik..." She said.

After a while she realized something. She said out loud, "Erik…"

"Yes?"

"No, I wasn't asking you something. I was thinking, is that all of you're name? Don't you have a last name? Or do you just go by Erik all the time?" Christine asked him once he began to calm down a bit. She wanted to change the subject of his mother anyway. Christine waited for his reply but he seemed to think about it. She started to wonder if she said something wrong again since he wasn't answering.

Erik finally replied, "I went by the surname of 'Destler' for a while. When I was traveling around Europe and Asia I used that name. Actually, even Antoinette and Nadir both know me by that. And a lot of my enemies know me by that name too. But that's not my real surname."

"Then what is it?"

Erik pulled out a paper he had in his inner coat pocket. That paper was apart of the files that he retrieved from his vault when the mob tried to invade his home 4 months ago, after the Don Juan Triumphant disaster and fire. The paper was his birth certificate. It was crumpled up a bit, but was readable. He handed it over to Christine so she could read it.

"You carry you're birth certificate with you?" She said with a little laugh.

Erik smirked. "No, actually I wore this coat that night after our last encounter 4 months ago. I retrieved some files from my vault and put it in my pocket. I lost my coat once I returned to my lair and after all the chaos I forgot I had the papers in there. In fact, I forgot all about them. But this morning I found it again and just recently noticed my papers were in the pocket."

"Ok, well that explains it." She replied.

"Go ahead and read it." He said.

Christine looked over it. Erik was born in 1841 on the 31st of October to a woman named Madeleine and his father's name was Frédéric…

Christine read it and her jaw dropped.

"………De Chagny?"