Disclaimer: I do not own the Phantom of the Opera, or any of it's characters. I wish I owned Gerard Butler thought :'(
Chapter 35
Erik starred at the mask resting within Kristen's hands, the reflection of a nearby candle dancing over the delicate porcelain.
"I wouldn't suggest it." he told her silently. Kristen's brows knitted in worry, she looked up at him, to see him turn away. "I have an opera to work on, this will have to wait."
She put the mask down. What on earth must she have been thinking? She asked herself. "Erik, this is ridiculous. Come with me to talk to Madam Giry, please?"
"No, Kristen," he told her, it was only with every last bit of self will he had left in him to be able to tell her this without frightening her with his maddening temper, although, he saw the way she countered his glare during the debacle of whether or not he would teach Christine, it seemed where Kristen was concerned, he had lost all power to scare her.
"Still, after everything, after me and you, after our child, you will still consider yourself unworthy of the daylight?" She put the mask down onto the nearby chair, and walked towards him with dignity. "Well your self inflicted pain is harming me more than it is harming you now." She told him, nearly choking on her words for the tears threatening to burst through their burrier. She could stand it no longer, but she would not cry before him over this. She brushed passed him, passed the organ, and through the curtained passage, and left him to work on his opera.
Standing there, watching her leave, he knew he'd made a grand mistake.
That stupid Opera, she thought, compared to everything they were supposed to be sharing, this was insignificant.Is this the price of marrying the infamous Phantom?She asked herself, crying as she made her way to the surface,To be alone along with him, but not with him?She had never imagined a relationship with the loneliest man on earth would make her the loneliest woman on earth. She was supposed to save him, not fall victim to his sorrow.
Bursting through the last door, she fell into the hallway, and cried. Sitting against the wall, knees to her forehead, she cried. She was never this weak, she told herself, never so weak as to give into this kind of self pity. But she knew the tears she cried were more for the frustration she now experienced over Erik's lack of will to come into the sunlight, than for her own position in this mess. After minutes of sitting, and trying to come to terms with what was going on between them, it dawned on her that she was not the only one in the theatre who was undergoing severe crisis, and she stood from her place on the floor, and rushed towards Madam Giry's quarters. The old lady was probably dying of a broken heart.
Kristen softly knocked at the wooden door before her, hoping that Antoinette would permit her entrance. The tears in her eyes would have stained her face by now, Great, she thought, now along with the burn scars on my forehead, my crying has scarred what is left of my skin.
She didn't expect to see the door open so soon after her first knock, but there she stood, Madam Giry, dressed in her normal black instructor's uniform, crying as well.
"Madam Giry, I heard about everything…" Kristen offered.
"Yes, I do suppose the entire theatre knows of what has happened to Meg. Come inside quick, before someone passes by and finds that I really am in here."
Apparently, Giry had been ignoring visits all day. It was only after peering through the tiniest hole in her door and realizing that it was Kristen, did she open the door to let her come in.
"I cannot begin to tell you how startled this situation has me. I want to be happy for her, but.."
"Go on Kristen, you don't have to pretend to be against the situation just to appease me, I know you were friends with my daughter, and I know you saw all of her sadness, just as I had seen it." The elderly woman explained. "Meg was just naïve enough for something like this to influence her. She took off, ran away with the first man she's ever been with, Kristen… she didn't even know him." Giry said, fear flashing through her experienced eyes, "She's putting herself right into the arms of death by going with him."
Kristen sat, at Madam Giry's request, and listened carefully as the ballet instructor spoke.
"He's been a mystery to me and everyone else who knew of him all while he's been here. For years he's assisted Erik in his distorted inventions and plans. The man is capable of evils I am not even familiar with, and she went with him because he offered her some sort of security. She should have waited." Giry pleaded, looking to the ceiling as if searching for a God, "The season will be starting shortly, someone would have come for her, I'm sure of it."
Kristen wiped away tears, now not for her own state of affairs, but for the truth in Madam Giry's speech.
"We all feel this at her age, lonely, scared, frightened that we will be condemned to solitude forever because of simple curiosity. She is not so different from what I was when I was her age…"
Madam Giry continued talking, but now Kristen was beyond the ability to listen. Lonely… Scared… Frightened that we will be condemned to solitude forever… Erik. Meg's fear was so strong that she leapt into the arms of Nadir, whom she hardly knew… but Erik's lived the fear his whole life. Of course he would not come out of that with ease. Kristen, sitting there, soon realized the horrible mistake she'd just made by leaving him down there in the shadow of her anger, just because he acted upon the treatment he'd received through his horrible tortured life.
"Kristen?… Kristen? Wake up" Madam Giry motioned her hand before Kristen's eyes, quickly coming into the knowledge that the young bride and mother to be was no longer listening to her.
"Madam, I'm sorry, it's just…"
"You were crying when you came to me. Something's happened, what is it?" she asked.
Kristen sighted, unsure of whether she would be able to elaborate. "It's Erik. He's…" she waited too long to finish.
"He is what?" Antoinette asked softly.
"He is behaving, just as he always was, although, it is beginning to hurt me, I cannot explain this, I love him, I need him, but I also need him to be here for me."
"Kristen, I can assure you that what you seek is nigh impossible. Erik is a creature, a man no doubt, but the world was cruel to him. You can not expect him to yield into your wishes so quickly. Much must change before he finally becomes willing to ease into your expectations, and even so, even after all the required years have passed, do you think society will have changed for him?"
Kristen knelt her head in grief. "I love him so much," She said, and sniffled as more tears rolled down her cheeks. "I will never understand why he hates himself the way he does."
"It is difficult to explain." Madam Giry began, but wasn't allowed time to complete her words.
"Those two fools, Armande and Firmin, what place do they have here of importance?" she inquired. Madam Giry's eyes widened with wonder, where on earth did that come from?
"They… sit in their office and… they… work… I suppose."
"No they don't." Kristen said, "I set eyes open them in secret just this day, and I saw them, sitting there in their office, talking about the newest cast, that you yourself put together, and then they heard you scream and they left. I went into their office after they were gone." Kristen would not go on to mention that she had stolen the blueprints, "And I found nothing but books beneath the cover of dust, no doubt the consequence of years of neglect, and I found their lunch. They are not working, yet they reap the benefits of every show you put forth. It seems to me, Madam, that you are doing their work, and quite well, I might add, and so is Erik. We should get rid of them."
Madam Giry's eyes fell upon Kristen with a new light. "What scheming has he taught you that you would spy upon the management, then run to push them out of office?" She asked, with intrigue.
"Enough to know that it would be easier to put their bottoms to the cement outside this very theatre than to watch them thieve away the money from everything you've worked for." Kristen boomed.
"You have a valid point, I will admit." Madam Giry stated, "But…"
"But nothing… When Meg returns here with a husband and a child someday, do you not want to be able to provide for her the riches which she has always deserved?"
Giry Frowned, "a husband and a baby?"
"I assure you Madam, your daughter is in no danger. I've become familiar with Nadir through Erik, he was Erik's assistant only because he is a loyal and faithful man, and nothing more. Listen, Meg will be back as soon as she feels that there will be safety waiting for her. Erik did all of those horrible things and you do not have any concerns over my having his child, or marrying him? Please, try not to worry for her."
Madam Giry sighed now. "Kristen, everything you tell me is quite reassuring, but I am old enough to know the dangers of this world, and to know that there are two paths for the young girl. The one you have just laid out before me, and the one that entails death."
"I know you will worry, but we will have more worries if Armande and Firmin are allowed to claim leadership over our theatre. I say, we kick them out."
Madam Giry smiled for the first time that day, "You are a funny young woman, I must give you that. Alright Kristen, let's go talk to them. But wait… Kristen, their boss is…"
"Christine" Kristen replied. And just like that, everything came together in Kristen's brilliant mind.
"It doesn't open any more." Kristen entered Christine's old room to find her toying with the old mirror. She expected to find the young diva in all sanity, but now it seemed, she must have been going mad.
"Of course it no longer opens, it's been broken since… you know when. Christine, what do you wish to accomplish by playing with this thing? If you even think you will come near the lair, you are walking on thin ice with me."
"Kristen, I would never think of doing what you are accusing me of. I know that you and Erik have a love stronger than most loves, I would never dream of ruining that. This mirror, I was only remembering and nothing more."
Kristen decided there was no use fighting with the young singer, not right now when it was her favor which she would need to gain. "Christine, I have to speak with you over matters of the opera house."
Christine frowned, "Is there something wrong?"
"Yes, there is something quite wrong. The management, Armande and Firmin, are useless imbeciles, who will do nothing more for us but take our money." Just then, Madam Giry entered.
"Raoul left you everything in his will…Christine, you own the Populaire as soon as you buy it. You've paid for everything already, all that is need now, is the purchase of the land surrounding the Populaire, and you will be our owner."
Christine's eyes widened, "Raoul had a will?" she asked.
"Of course he had a will, those who are wealthy are required to take care of their fortune."
Christine looked back to the mirror. She closed her eyes, and tears slowly presented themselves. "I will do this." She said. Kristen frowned, what was going on through the young girl's mind?
"Christine, you're crying." Kristen stated quietly,
"I'm feel so… lost." the young woman said, and covered her mouth with a trembling right hand. "I'm so lost Kristen, I don't know what I'm doing."
Madam Giry nodded at Kristen, then left them both while she went to file papers through the bank.
"I see what this is." Kristen said in friendship, once more she could not believe how quickly she could feel pity over someone she hated. "Just because you do not have a husband, doesn't mean that you do not have a path to follow. Listen, once the Populaire is yours, and Madam Giry is the manager, and Erik is our composer, everything will be perfect. There will be no more phantom scares, no more loneliness, you will find another to love, my dear, trust me in that, you are young and beautiful, and famous. Everyone will want to hear about the woman who was abducted by the Opera Ghost!
Christine looked up through watery eyes at Kristen, "I'm sure everyone will want to hear about the woman who married him." She said. Kristen frowned.
"No, Daae, Erik will never be mentioned as the opera ghost again. The phantom was announced dead in the Paris news paper long ago. Once people think he still remains they will want to watch his blood spill."
Christine nodded, "Kristen, you are so brave." She said.
"Let's get out of here, this place is burdening you with your past."
The two left the old room, all the while Erik playing on Kristen's mind. She'd left him down there, what must he be thinking?
