A/N: I half expect you guys to totally abandon the story by now, since I haven't updated in so long... I'm soo soo sorry, if you knew how busy I was you'd understand (Weeps like a little baby) I'm so afraid of not getting into a good University that homework is all I can think about... but nevertheless, I've got a new chapter for you here, I hope you like it... please Review, (I just know I"m going to get some hate mail for being away so long)
Disclaimer: I do not own the Phantom of the Opera, or any of it's characters.
"Rest now, Kristen," Erik whispered softly into her ear, as she lay exhausted in the beautiful swan bed. When they returned to the underground shore, Erik realized just how tired she was. So she had fallen asleep with her secrets, her secrets about Christine. As she drifted off into peaceful slumber, he just watched her with such admiration, he wondered if he had ever felt so strongly about another person before. He gently traced her features with soft devotion. He would not tell her, and he hoped she would never ask, when and where he'd managed to acquire that engagement ring.
He could never tell her about how he left the Populaire that one evening. With so much hesitation in his heart, he adorned a long black cloak, which also shielded the ghastly mask, and ventured out into the shadows, into the alley ways, and nearly scared the poor young woman who stood behind the counter in that jewellery shop, but she followed orders without error, and was paid handsomely for her silence. Many a night he spent contemplating how to propose to Kristen. Ultimately it was fear which kept him from asking her to marry him, fear that she would say no. How relieved he was when she gave him the opportunity to do so in the gondola.
Now as she slept before him, only with his strongest willpower could he keep himself from weeping. It had become quite apparent to him many years ago that he would never know love, never could he have ever imagined being proven wrong... when he was never wrong about anything! He leaned over to her and gently kissed her brow. Kristen. The name would call his attention with more power than his own. How he hated to leave her alone to sleep, he wanted to crawl into the bed beside her and allow himself the pleasure of holding her, but whatever she'd been doing above the dungeons, it had taken most, if not all, of the energy away from her.
Reluctantly, he stood from her bedside, and walked out into the main realm. What could he do for her to make her more comfortable here? He'd done everything he thought he could... but still he did not feel that it was at all good enough. Nothing would be good enough for Kristen... Good God, he thought. He was never given a last name... throughout the time he spent with his mother... she had never told him his last name! How were they to be married if he had no name to give her?
He moved towards his organ, and sat before it's line of gorgeous ivory keys. If this was the biggest problem he faced concerning his wedding to Kristen, then he considered himself lucky... extremely lucky. But still... something must be done.
"Erik!" A distant voice travelled through the cavern until it met with Erik's alerted ears. What was this? he questioned as he walked down the stone steps towards the water. "Erik! You must open the gate!" The voice called, "It is urgent!"
As this mysterious presence advanced even closer, he realized it was Nadir, rowing towards him with extraordinary rapidity.
"Back so soon?" Erik enquired smugly, "I thought you hated it here." he forcefully pushed down the trigger which would allow the portcullis to rise.
"Don't fool yourself, friend, I still detest this loathsome... God have mercy Erik... what have you done to the place?" Nadir's eyes opened considerably as he viewed this new lair. "I cannot believe it" he said.
"Then don't" Erik shot back, obviously a bit annoyed at the Persian's return.
"Stop being so stubborn and listen to me!"
"What is it Nadir, make it quick, I don't have time for small talk."
"I was on my way out of... here... I heard them... in the alley way!" he seemed to be out of breath, as if he'dswam through the murky waters, but obviously it was his nervousness which caused this panting.
"Them? who?" Erik demanded
"I cannot be sure completely... Erik, prepare yourself... this will not be easy for you to hear."
"Just say it" he hissed, growing increasingly annoyed at the Daroga's inability to express himself.
"I think it was Raoul!" he shouted, so quickly it was evident that he knew he was about to get the noose. Erik snorted as he watched the man lift his hand to his cheek. He honestly thought he was about to receive the simple strangle of his rope?
"Youbest be sure of your words." Erik walked as close to Nadir as he could get before falling into the waters, "You are certain it was Raoul... Raoul de Chagny?"
"Listen to me, that is not all. I heard him speaking. He is planning to hire the navy on you Erik, he wants you dead."
How could this have been happening? Raoul? Back in Paris? Then... as if struck by a bold of lightning, it hit him. Christine. Raoul would go nowhere without... Christine. Suddenly it became a challenge just to stand straight, and things were becoming increasingly blurred. She could not be back... she just could not be...
"Erik? Erik wake up!" He heard the voice of his lovely bride to be, and as he opened his eyes, he could barely see her hovering over him, with her hand to his forehead. "What happened to him Nadir?" She asked the Persian, as her fiancee came almost into consciousness, but once more drifted away. The moment he had waken her from her sleep, she ran to Erik's side, removing that god awful mask, and yelling at Nadir when he turned from the sight. "Tell me now! What was it that you did, or said, to make him so delirious?" She gently placed a cold cloth to Erik's brow, and remained with him, her eyes not leaving him for a second. Constantly she watched his chest, to make sure his breath would not cease to be.
"I told him what I must now tell you," Nadir said. "Raoul de Chagny has returned to Paris. He is here! I heard him in the alley near the Rue Scribe, talking to men about hiring the navy! He wants to kill Erik. Kristen, if I were you, I would get him far away from here! You cannot stay."
"Raoul is planning to destroy... Oh Erik, you must wake up! You must!" Kristen shook at him fiercely, trying desperately with all her power to draw from him a reassuring stir. She did not succeed. "Oh dear God" she whispered to herself. He must have put together the pieces the very instant Nadir mentioned that wretched de Chagny. He would, no doubt, with his genius mind, have figured out that Christine was back as well. She could feel the tears stinging her eyes as she watched him, in this senseless condition. The very thought of that woman's return made him pass out? Suddenly she became very glad that it was not she who told him.
"We cannot just leave!" She told Nadir, "This place is our home... and it is his home most of all. He has spent too many years here to just be able to pick up and leave without being affected in some unimaginable way. No! We will not go... I have grown too fond of this place to abandon it now, because some weak little man wants to run us down! Let them come..." Kristen stood slowly from the now carpeted floor, and looked towards the tapestries which covered Erik's secret room, "You will help me Nadir," she said. "You will help me make sure they do not get here alive."
All colour vanished from Nadir's olive skin as he heard the evil, ghostly tone in this woman's voice. GREAT, he thought, She was the perfect match for the Phantom, another psychotic lunatic "You are mad!" The man told her, "If you think I will help you assemble any form of..."
"You will help me... or you will be sorry!"
"No! No! I don't think so!" Nadir, with a very shaken voice, made a run for the mirror passage, but just as he thought he would be escaping so easily, it flung open, and bashed him square in the face. It was a miracle that the glass didn't shatter, and he felt as if he would pass out from this unintentional blow.
Meg... innocent little Meg stumbled through the door and onto the Persian carpeting. "Oh My Goodness!" She yelped, kneeling down to the man who had fallen upon her entrance, "Oh... forgive me! forgive me!" She helped him to his feet, though he staggered a bit before regaining balance.
"You women are crazy!" he held his head with a pressure that could only signify pain. Kristen ignored his immature statement, and continued her pursuit of Erik's consciousness.
"What has happened?" Meg asked, carefully moving towards her friend, and kneeling beside her, and before Erik.
"He knows" She replied softly. "He knows that Christine has returned... Nadir heard Raoul in the alley way, he came back andtold him everything... just look at how she affects him. Oh Meg, what if they meet again someday, what happens if he still loves her?"
"He won't" Meg tried, "He won't, because he loves you now."
"But I'm not her" Kristen painfully withheld her sobs, just torturing her throat in the effort. Meg sought to comfort her by wrapping her arms around her in a friendly gesture,
"Kristen, she's married. He knows that. He also knows that he hasyou now." Kristen closed her eyes, and allowed those familiar drops of sorrow to creep down her rosy cheeks.
"I cannot live without him Meg" she whispered, "I would rather die now if I knew he would go back to her."
"But he won't go back to her!" Meg repeated.
Nadir watched this scene play out before his unbelieving eyes. It was almost unreal, such a beautiful woman crying over such a loathsomely ugly man... he turned his head away. If his wife had been so scarred... before her death, that is... he still would have loved her. Still, he could not relate to this situation, not only was Erik disfigured... but he was a dangerous man. She was brave, he thought. She was so brave.
"Kristen." There was a soft whisper, which came from neither one of the girls, and Nadir was sure he had not uttered that noise.
"Erik?" Kristen parted from the young ballerina to tend to her one and only. "Erik, please wake up, Erik, please? ... I love you." She thought those last words were the only ones appropriate. As he began to rouse, she could feel her heart rate skyrocket. What was to happen now?
"Kristen," He whispered once more, his eyes slowly began to open. Meg looked down at him with an uncontrollable pity. She could not believe it herself that the fear she felt towards him, and especially towards his unmasked visage, was dwindling.
Kristen leaned down to him and kissed his brow, "Everything will be ok" She told him... but truly, did she even believe that herself?
"Where is my mask?" he whispered to her.
"I've removed it from you. You should not wear it any longer, especially when you are sick."
"I am not... sick." He looked up at her, then realized it wasn't only Kristen who gaped down at him, but Meg as well. His eyes closed. Perfect... once more he was a spectacle for all to look at! "Where is that man, I will kill him!" he threatened emptily. Kristen felt herself begin to giggle,
"He's standing over there..." She said, pointing. He slowly rose from his horizontal situation, and turned his head to see Nadir, standing in the shadows by the mirror passage.
"Did he tell you..."
"Yes," Kristen interrupted, "He told me everything." Her intonation grew exceedingly mournful with every word she conveyed. This would either be the makings of disaster, or trust. He looked into her eyes with worry. He knew what she was thinking, and he could not bare it. She found herself unable to return his stare, her glance averted towards the lake, and instantly he realized just how severe this could be. She remained on her knees by him until he finally stood, and helped her to her feet. Looking down at her while she looked up at him, he knew what she was feeling. He knew the feeling of that deathly suspicion, that his whole world was about to come crashing down, consuming him until demise. To watch her go through that was unendurable.
She looked down at her lovely engagement ring. Meg gasped quietly. He had proposed? She thought. Why hadn't she noticedthat before? She held her hand up into view, as gentle tears rolled down her lovely features, "You don't want this back... do you?" She asked, hardly capable of governing her whimpers. Erik frowned at her, and took her left hand,
"You must be out of your mind..." he murmured to her lovingly, and gently kissed her hand. Meg turned from the two... as if she were a child, tortured by the sight of parents and their show of affection, or perhaps it was growing harder for her to watch this at all. He was the Phantom, but even so, Kristen was the luckiest woman Meg had ever known. She began to even question what in the bleeding hell Christine had been thinking when she chose Raoul over Erik.
Erik warmly embraced Kristen, and gently rocked her in his arms. "I don't want it back," he whispered to her, completely oblivious to the presence of Meg, and the Persian.
"What are we going to do Erik? Raoul is coming for you... for us! If they take you, they're taking me as well."
"They won't succeed, understand? They will never outsmart me, never."
Meg moved passed the two, and approached Nadir, "Did you hear which way Raoul went, after their conversation was over?"
Nadir looked down at the lovely young ballerina, and replied, "He moved towards the street. Why?" He asked.
"Because Christine and I searched this theatre inside out, time and time again, and still, we were unable to find him." She sighed. "I should leave. I've left Christine up there all alone, God only knows what will pass if she meets up with Raoul and he reveals to her the things he is planning." Without another moment wasted, she crossed through he mirror passage, and shut the glass behind her. Nadir starred at his reflection as the door shut, was that not the daughter of Madame Giry?
...(scene shift)...
"Christine?" Meg moved silently through the hallway, whispering the name of her now lost friend. "Christine? I thought I told you to stay put!" she whispered once more. She could not have gone far, Meg reflected, as she hurried through the passages. She was so very relieved to find Christine, sitting curled up on the bed in the room she shared with Raoul, but of course, Raoul was no where to be found.
"Christine?"
"Oh Meg! Did you find him? Please tell me you've found him!"
Meg sighed, "No, dear, but I have some rather disturbing news concerning him."
Christine's wide eyes filled with instant tears, and she ran up to her young confidant, "Oh my God Meg, is he dead? has he died? Oh please tell me that nothing has happened to him." She basically clawed at the young girl's gown, to the point where Meg had to pry her off.
"No, for goodness sake he is not dead! But he is concocting the most horrendous plan."
She sighed, calming down a bit, and slowly began,"Oh no..." The former diva stated, "He isn't going once more to pursue the Phantom, is he?"
Meg sombrely nodded, "He's getting the navy, just like the night of Don Juan, he's hiring his military connections."
Christine seemed to turn to ice at this disgusting news. "How could he..." She puled, "How dare he? After all this time? We have been here long enough for Erik to create trouble amongst us, but he has not laid a hand on Raoul or me. Why must he be doing this?"
"Erik didn't know you were here, until moments ago. Christine, if I were you, I would stay far away from both Erik and Kristen. I don't mean to be rude by saying this, but they truly love each other... you could ruin that."
"I would not think of denying him happiness..." Christine whispered, tears rolling down her eyes.
Meg frowned, "Well, that's not entirely true, is it?"
Christine's eyes burned as she glared at Meg, "You think I so readily left him down there? You think it did not kill me to leave him all alone? At the mercy of a chasing crowd? I agreed to stay with him! I almost wanted to..." she covered her eyes, trying to dry her tears, but it seemed she would only succeed at making it worse, "He let us go... I had to leave, Raoul was still tied to that God awful gate, I didn't know what to do, he gave me no time to think."
Meg was astonished. "You're not going near him!" she argued.
"Of course I will not." She said quietly, "My place is not with him... my place is with Raoul... if he does not bloody well get himself killed before dawn, that is." Her voice was the very pitch of agony.
"Christine, you must vow that you will do nothing to sway Erik. It is not only him that you will ruin, but it will devastate Kristen as well. You should have seen her. When Erik came to know of your return... he faded into unconsciousness. She cried, Christine. She cried because she thought that he would want you still, and would abandon her. She told me she would rather die than live without him."
Christine starred at Meg as she spoke, and Meg was unable to understand why the countess began to smile, until she said, "She loves him that much?"
Meg nodded.
"Oh, this means so much to me," The young lady said,
"And they're getting married too!" Meg added. Christine's smiled the brightened, her eyes suddenly void of all harsh tears.
But her smile soon faded, "He cannot do this! He cannot ruin this for them... Raoul... that bastard! I must stop him!" Christine slowly stood from the bed, and beckoned Meg to follow her, "We will search until we find him!"
"Are you sure you are willing to go against your husband? Such a scandal could make the paper you know, amongst gentry such as yourself..."
"Do you think I care Meg? Erik did me the greatest favour in allowing me to go free... I cannot turn my back on him just as he has found the one thing he has had to live without through his whole life!"
"Scandal is not all that could happen." Meg further added.
Christine sighed, "If Raoul divorces me over this... which I doubt will happen, then I know Madame Giry will permit me to live here again. I have a place to go... I am not afraid."
With that, the two girls left the bedroom. They walked like lightning to the main hall, where to their horrid dismay, they were confronted with the very man they searched for, and three hundred armed soldiers of the French Navy.
