Oh my gosh! I can't believe it took me this long to write this chapter. I have been so busy with school and summer I haven't had time to write. I hope you guys aren't too mad. Oh and I think I'm going to change my rating to M. Sorry you guys.
Meg walked down the stairs finding her mother and fiancée in deep conversation. When they both noticed she was there, Damien stood up and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "Damien I didn't know you would be coming so late."
"I know, but I needed to make sure you were both alright, after all you having a man in your home could be dangerous." Damien said feeling proud of himself for thinking of them.
"Thank you Damien, but there is no need to worry, for he is a friend of the family." Madame Giry said.
"Yes, thank you." Meg said sitting in a chair by the fire. Damien watched Meg sit by the fire. Her face was glowing which made him want to pull her in his arms and kiss her. He loved Meg with all his heart. He thought he was the luckiest man in the world when she accepted his proposal. But he sometimes worried about Meg. She would always day dreaming or she had a far away look in her eyes. He knew something happened in her past and he wish he knew what it was.
"I think I will retire for the evening, it has been a long day." Madame Giry said standing up. She kissed her daughter good night and left the couple alone in the drawing room.
"Your mother is planning on taking you out tomorrow to prepare for the wedding." Damien said once he was sure Madame Giry was gone.
"That will be exciting." She lied. Meg wanted to stay with Erik. Silence filled the room. They didn't know what to say to each other. Damien walked over to the fire and put his fist to his mouth, he took a deep breath before turning around and looked straight into Meg's eyes.
"Meg, my sweet Little Meg." Damien kneeled down in front of her taking her hands in his. "Are you sure you want this. I don't want you to go into an unhappy marriage. I want you to be happy till the day you die. I want you to not have any regrets. Lately you've been…"distracted" as you have said. I don't want a wife who day dreams all day and wishes she never said "I do"." Damien waited for Meg to respond. She pulled her hand away from his and put it on his face, stroking it lovingly.
Meg knew Damien didn't deserve her. She knew that he should have a wife who would love him with all her heart and soul, but she knew that she had to go through this marriage for all their sakes. She didn't know what Erik could offer her and she knew that it was the only way to make sure her mother and she would be safe and would have a home to live in.
Meg looked at herself in the mirror, not being able to believe that she was wearing her wedding dress. Well the one she would soon be buying. The dressmakers were making a few adjustments to the dress and soon it would be ready. "Meg you look beautiful!" Her mother exclaimed.
"Thank you, Mama. I'm so excited." Meg said. She faked a smile. Meg was anything, but excited. She was dreading each day that was closer to her wedding day. For days now Meg had been gone all day shopping while Erik stayed in his room bitter. She had tried talking to him, but he wouldn't listen.
After they had finished shopping for the day Meg and her went home and ate dinner. Erik of coarse refused to join them. "Should I bring him dinner tonight, Meg?" Madam Giry asked.
"I think so, he has been moody with me lately and I don't know why." Meg lied. She knew Erik was furious with her. She knew he was upset about her marriage to Damien, but Erik had been too late to stop her from saying "yes".
Erik heard a soft knock on the door. He knew it was Meg, but he wasn't sure if he could face her again. Every night he wouldn't speak to Meg, every night when he watched her leave he wished he could just grab her and kiss her. "Erik, can I come in?" Madame Giry's voice broke through his thoughts.
"Yes, Madame" He called irritated. Madame Giry walked in. She had grown older over the years he was gone. Her light brown hair had turned to silver and she had more wrinkles than he could count, but people were still able to tell she had once been beautiful.
"When we noticed you refused to join us for dinner again I decided to bring up some dinner." She said sitting down next to him.
"Where is Meg?" He asked casually acting as if he didn't even cared.
"She has gone to bed. She is exhausted from all the planning and shopping we have been doing." Silenced filled the room. "Erik I need you to tell me something, something that is truly important. It's about Meg. "
Erik took a deep breath, avoiding the old woman's eyes. "What is it Madame Giry?" He asked cautiously looking out the window, watching the rain fall from the heavens. Erik almost laughed. There was no such place as heaven, only hell.
"What happen to her Erik, down there? I know she went there without my permission. I also have a feeling she was with you, during those weeks she was missing. And then the police said that people saw her running out of the opera house crying and then she fell to her knees. What happen down there Erik, please tell me?" Madame Giry asked desperately, putting her hand on his shoulder. Erik took another deep breath. He stabbed his hair with his hands and refused to look at Madame Giry.
"It was a long time before the fire. The day the managers came for the first time. I was so close to having Christine come to me, when your daughter, Meg, came and told Christine she was going to be late for rehearsals. When Meg was about to leave she turned around and went towards the mirror. She put her hand on it. I showed only my mask thinking it would scare her, but she thought it was a trick of her imagination. I had been watching your daughter Madame. I could see her loneliness, I could see how lost she was, I could feel her yearning for notice.
"She reminded me of…me. Though you may not have notice, Meg focused only on getting you to notice her, to praise her more like Christine, she was in the shadows, and she was trapped in the darkness. So I sang to her, pretending to be Christine's angel of music. After Hannibal rehearsals I had watch her go up to the roof sitting in the shadows, silently crying. I sang to her trying to give her comfort and then she sang. Her voice was beautiful. She had said she had taken lessons once." Erik was now growing angrier at Madame Giry. She had thrown her daughter aside like a child's old toy. Madame Giry must have heard his voice growing colder for she backed up.
"She told me how you forbid her from continuing her lessons, but she didn't listen. She continued taking them until the old man died and then she locked up her voice into a box and threw into the sea. Then after I had killed Joseph Buquet I followed Christine and Raoul to the roof, not knowing your daughter had been up there too, hiding in the shadows. She had not only listened to Raoul and Christine sing, but me too. She heard me crying and came to me. She comforted me and sang to me when she could have run for her life. She could have turned away from me for I had lied to her the same way I had lied to Christine. I think that was the night I had begun to fall in love with your daughter, Marguerite Giry." Erik was silent. He was in to much pain. He had once thought he loved Christine, but his loved for her had grown into an obsession. He was truly in love with Meg.
"You fell in love with Meg?" Madame Giry couldn't believe what Erik had just said. It was impossible he only focused on Christine and his music, not her own daughter. Erik's eyes had softened at her question.
"Yes." He said softly. "But I had tried to keep it hidden, telling myself that I loved Christine not Meg, but as the months passed I began to learn more and more about Meg. She was or is smart and funny. She understood me, which scared me more than anything, but then when I saw her at the masquerade ball I couldn't resist dancing with her. She was dressed as and looked like an angel.
"At the time I didn't understand why I was jealous of the men who danced with her, but of coarse me being my foolish self felt that I had to remind her that I was always watching. I danced with her that night. She was breathtaking. For a moment I felt as if I was like everyone else, wearing a mask as a costume..." He stopped. Remembering how people had watch in awe at their dancing. He smiled. Something he hadn't done in a long time.
"I knew it was you dancing with her. I thought something had changed in my daughter. The sparkle in her eyes that she had when she was a little girl came back and then after the fire it had disappeared. Then you return and sometimes I would see a glimpse of that sparkle again. I should have known." Madame Giry shook her head, mad at herself for being such a fool.
"She heard you that night. She heard you tell our tale to the Vicomte. She came running to me crying. She kept apologizing to me as if it was her fault for what happened to me. I held her in my arms, thanking to your so called "god" for giving me a chance to hold a woman in my arms. She asked me to sing for her so I did. She finally fell asleep and I took her back to her world.
"So as the weeks continued, so did our meetings. And then the day of the sword fight between the Vicomte de Chagny and me, I found Meg in the cemetery, singing. I followed her to her father's grave. She collapsed on the floor in front of the grave crying. I went over to see what was wrong. She said it was memories of her past and I knew what she meant. I comforted her again like I did in my lair. Once she was done crying we were both about to go our separate ways, when she pleaded for me to stay, she said for too long she had been alone. I couldn't believe my ears. I had asked her what kind of life she had known." Madame Giry was close to tears, hearing the story about her daughter. She thought she knew Meg better than anyone else, but there were so many secrets that Meg had kept.
"I kissed her that day. It was at first a soft, sweet kiss, but we both needed this. I saw it in her eyes. Our kiss grew more passionate, I held her tight, feeling as thought if I let go of her she would be gone forever. Finally when I had left I couldn't stop thinking of her. It scared me. I tried to make myself regret it, but I couldn't. My heart wouldn't let me." Erik turned around to find Madame Giry crying. "On the night of the performance I found her in an old practice room, practicing. When she began to twirl I swooped in to have her land in my arms. I kissed her again, it had been meant to be a sort of goodbye, but when I looked into her eyes, I saw pure love. I told her to leave, thinking it would be easier for her to leave me than I, her. She ran up to me again and kissed me. I wanted to tell her that I loved her, but I couldn't give her false hope."
"No wonder why she was so eager to get down there. She had wanted to go down with Raoul, but I wouldn't let her. I should have known." Madame Giry said more to herself.
"She found me in my other lair, a knife stuck in my stomach. I don't know what had happen for the first few days she was with me. I was unconscious. Of coarse Meg being stubborn wouldn't let me die. She nursed me back to health, but I grew so irritated being helpless and not being able to do anything on my own without horrible pain, I took it all out on Meg. I yelled at her, making it sound like she was something I had used for comfort. Something I used to forget Christine. Meg had slapped me hard on the face and she began to yell. I used almost all my strength to pin her to the walls that were made of rock. She began crying and then she had said…" A big lump began to form in his mouth. "…she had said she thought that she loved me. I had screamed at her to get out. When she refused I slapped her. I couldn't believe what I had done. I was truly a monster. She left crying. I used the rest of my strength to follow her all the way out to the streets where I watched her fall to the floor crying, looking like a fallen angel. I had watched helplessly."
Madame Giry had finished crying before returning to her room, but as she passed by Meg's door, she stopped. She quietly crept into Meg's room to find her asleep in her bed. She kneeled to the ground next to Meg's bed, softly stroking her cheek. Meg, you are far braver than I ever will be. "My child what kinds of hell have I put you through?" She whispered. Madame Giry stood up looked at her daughter one last time, thinking of the times when she had watch Meg sleep when she was little, and left.
Meg had heard what her mother said. She wondered what had happen between Erik and her mother. They had been talking for a long time. Meg had gone back to sleep only to wake up again, from nightmares. I can't sleep now, she thought. I'l just go down to the library and pick out a book.
As Meg was looking through the different books, she thought she felt a hand touch her shoulder. She turned around to find no one there. She quickly grabbed a book and was about to run out the door when she realized the door was locked. A gust of wind blew the candles out. She turned around to find a man wearing a mask.
Meg had almost screamed from being so surprised. She thought Erik had been asleep. Obviously he wasn't, she thought. "Shouldn't you be in bed at this hour my little blonde angel?" Erik asked with a mischievous smile. Meg gave him an angry look. How dare he scare me in the middle of the nigh? she thought.
"Shouldn't you be in bed as well? She asked coolly.
"That is none of your concern." He said. Meg shivered. His voice made him seem so powerful. He could be a king.
"I came down here for a book and I am on my way back to bed." She tried passing him, but he blocked her.
"Is that an invitation Meg?" Erik now had a wicked smile on his face. Meg's face flamed right before his eyes.
"You're a wicked man. How dare you speak to a married woman that way?" She had now grown irritated, Erik could tell, but he was being distracted by Meg's golden locks that shone in the moonlight.
"Almost married woman, not quite." He corrected her, gently stroking her hair. Meg closed her eyes, not being able to resist him. Her entire body was on fire from a simple thing as stroking her hair. "Are games of make-believe are at an end, Meg. You want me, I know it. I could see the desire in your eyes. And don't try to act innocent about it. Succumb to me Meg, drop all defenses, and completely succumb to me. " He whispered in her ear. He then placed butterfly kisses upon her neck, wanting her so bad.
"Erik, I should…" She was stopped in mid-sentence when Erik kissed her passionately on the lips. Meg succumbed to him instantly. His lips tasted liked heaven. She wrapped her arms around his neck, kissing him deeply. Erik pushed her against the door, cupping Meg's breast. He could feel the sleeping buds burst into bloom.
Meg loved the tingling sensations in her entire body. She loved how he made her blood begin to race, the fire in her belly and between her legs threatening to consume her. "This is insanity." She whispered. He smiled before he began to undo her night robe when she suddenly stopped him, gently pushing his hands away. "We can't do this Erik. I have a fiancée. Plus we have my mother upstairs. I want this as much as you do, but we can't." Meg could see the disappointment in his eyes. He tried to hide it, but he failed. He slowly let go of her and smoothed out his hair. He fixed his mask that had come crooked in the heat of the moment. He then smoothed out Meg's crinkled night robe and fixed her hair. He gave her one last kiss before leaving Meg alone in the library, crying.
