Hey everyone! We have a little party going on here as Destiny has now officially reached her 100 review barrier, yahooooooo! (tosses in the cake and pops open the champagne) Thank you so much to all of you who are reading and reviewing this, you cannot possibly immagine how special this is for a first time author like myself to see people enjoying the read as much as I love writing this!

Secondly: Sorry, sorry, sorry for taking such a long time to update! I'm still very busy with several job interviews (yay!) and the heatwave that has hit Holland these last two weeks hasn't really helped either. It seemed to have melted my brain accordingly, setteling another bout of writer's block on me. So after I wrote chapter 34, completely deleted it again and started over, I hereby present the final result. Not my best ever I know, and quite a shorty, but it will be the the final link between Venice and Paris. After this, the Opera Ghost will return full force! And he brings junior along! Ha!

Enjoy! -x- Lotte.

A bump in the road made Erik jump in his seat, confused for a minute of his surroundings until he recognised the interior of his carriage and the stoic countenance of his son opposite of him. The boy raised a brow and lowered his book cautiously.

"Father? Are you alright?"

Erik nodded vaguely, wiping his forehead in an absent gesture. "Yes, yes, I'm fine. I was just dreaming, it's nothing to worry yourself about."

Luca sent him a scrutinising look before smirking and returning to his reading.

"And what, pray was that smile about?"

Luca shrugged his shoulders. "Mother was right, you are a bad liar. I am your son though and you therefore have no obligations towards me to confide in me the way you do in her."

Erik sighed, his son knew him too well and he had a strong feeling Christine had implored the boy to look after him during their trip. It had proven impossible to leave the house without waking the entire household. He had meant to only wake Christine, to beg her forgiveness for his absence and to tell her of his plans. But as it was, Giulia had curled up beside her mother for the night and she had in turn awoken her siblings, thinking it would be a nice gesture to see their father and brother off on their journey.

Aurora had been quite calm, apparently familiar with Luca's intentions from the start. Matteo had been eager to join them on their mission, but Luca had managed to convince him the house would need a man to look after the women, an explanation he had proudly accepted. Giulia had merely beheld the spectacle with wide eyes and rosy cheeks, quietly asking her father to bring home Céline, without the evil Monsieur DuChamps if possible, and if he would perhaps bring her a souvenir. How he had ever managed to raise such angelic children he did not know, it must have come from marrying an angel…His Angel had only looked at him worriedly but proudly before kissing him warmly and begging him to be careful. Christine knew all too well how much he loathed to return to Paris, to the Populaire of all places…

"These dreams…they are the images I had sworn to walk away from, as your mother had taught me to. I suppose such things can only be repressed, but never fully erased. My argument with Céline…"

Luca nodded. All doors to his father's past had been thrown wide open.

Now it was Erik's turn to smirk. "Explain to me again why I am doing this? Am I really such a masochist that I must continue to travel back and forth to that hated place to rescue generations of silly de Chagny women?"

"You may also anticipate the look on Roger DuChamps face when he encounters you, I suspect it will be a more amusing picture."

Erik fell silent for a while, studying the fleeing landscapes in the early sunrise. "I am not sure it will be Luca. If things go bad…There is no easy way to say this, there may be a chance I have to kill him. If he refuses to let go of Céline, to send her to ruin…God knows I had sworn never to kill again."

Luca pondered his words for a while before carefully forming his reply. "I believe when you made that vow you would have been referring to the lives of innocents father. Monsieur DuChamps however, is far from innocent. Indeed he does not strike me as a man who would frighten away from murder himself. We can only hope to resolve this matter peacefully, but if not…I for one shall never think ill of you should such an unfortunate thing take place."

"No, I had not immagined you would. But what of God Luca? What would I say to him when my day of final judgement should arrive?"

"That you spent your life doing his noble work by guarding his beloved children from evil, and seeing them safe on returning to their rightful path in life, granting them forgiveness for the errors in their ways."

No more was said after that, not in words at least. As Luca picked up his book once more he noticed his father drifting back to sleep, not to wake again until the changing of horses five hours later. They still had a long way to travel before reaching the first place on their list: The Valmont residence.