"Erik? Erik, come out! I know you're here somewhere."
At the sound of Christine's voice he stopped pacing. She had come to the ballet room sooner than he had expected. He quietly squatted down to look at her more closely. Ah, she was still the same, still wore her hair in rings that highlighted the beauty of her face. He still loved her, he had no trouble admitting that. But he hated her too. Hated her for tearing his mask away, hated her for leaving, and he hated her now for returning.
"Please Erik! What do I have to say to make you listen?"
"Nothing you say will help Christine. You made your choice a year ago. Now you have to live with it. You are no longer of any concern to me," he said suddenly, surprising himself as well as Christine. He hadn't planned on revealing himself again.
"Erik, please, just talk to me," Christine begged.
"I will have to ask you, mademoiselle to refrain from using my name."
"Eri-"
"I told you not to use my name!" Erik yelled, forgetting to throw it so that Christine would not know where he was. He quickly stood back up and moved to exit the room, but couldn't quite bring himself to do so. Instead, he moved to a new rafter. "If you use it again, I will have to insist you leave."
"Well, what should I call you then?" Christina asked, barely able to keep herself from screaming her frustration.
"Well, the Phantom of the Opera always had a nice ring to it," he replied with a smirk, "but I suppose that is too long, isn't it? And Angel of Music is definitely out. I suppose we will have to stick with the formalities. You may refer to me as Monsieur. Or M. Phantom if you so feel."
"Fine, monsieur. Will you please come out now?"
"No, no. I don't think I shall. You see, Christine, I do not much care for your company any longer, and it is only as a courtesy that I have continued to converse with you this long. I think I shall be leaving now. Do feel free to call again." Erik said.
"Fine then, monsieur. If it is just basic courtesy I shall be leaving then."
Good. Erik thought to himself. But then an idea hit him, and he hurried to his lair, hoping to make it back before Christine left.
"That jerk" Christine murmured to herself, "I cannot believe him! I come to apologize, and this is how he treats me? I shall not have it!"
Christine continued murmuring to herself as she made her way to the exit. "I can't believe he wouldn't even listen to me! I thought he cared about me." And that was what really annoyed her. The fact that he had said that he did not enjoy her company.
Christine had just reached out to open the door when something fell down in front of her. She quickly looked up, but she could not see anything. Then her attention shifted to the item in front of her. And she couldn't help but gasp when she saw it was a dead rose, with most of the petals already wilted off.
Then something strange happened, she started to laugh, even though she didn't find it funny at all. "You think you have me beat, don't you? Well you are wrong. I'll see you tomorrow, Erik."
AN: Eep. I know, I've been bad. It's been too long since I updated...but this part is hard for me to right, because I have to try and stay true to the characters, and that's slightly difficult. Hopefully you guys like. Constructive criticism is appreciated.