Erik felt his apprehension growing as they walked up to the door of the huge house. He huddled down in his cage, glancing up at Christine who rode on Raoul's shoulder. She was looking ahead confidently, her tail swaying in the wind, this place already so familiar to her even while it was so strange to Erik.

Once inside, several servants greeted the brothers, and Erik squeezed his eyes tightly shut. More people to gawk at Erik's hideous nakedness! He desperately wished he had fur for the sole purpose of being able to pull it all out in his stress.

But the servants didn't gawk - they didn't even seem to notice Erik at all. Raoul carrying a cage with another mysterious small animal was not a new sight to them, and they'd learned long ago that they'd rather not know what kinds of creatures were temporary lodgers in this house.

Even though they took no notice of her, either, Christine politely nodded to the servants in greeting. It was okay that they didn't greet her in return - they were just shy, that's all.

The house was lavishly decorated, but Erik could hardly find it in himself to enjoy his surroundings. He was transported to another room, this one a sitting room of sorts. There were chairs and a table in front of a roaring fire on the hearth.

His heart sank even as his anger rose. So that was it, then! He was going to be thrown into the fireplace! He'd never known such cruelty!

But the cage was placed on the table, not thrown to the fire. Christine ran down Raoul's arm and onto the table as well. Raoul opened up the cage and sat back, waiting for Erik to come out.

"You can come out now, friend," Raoul told him.

Oh, so that was this boy's wicked plan! Lure Erik out and accost him! Well, he would show him! He'd never come out, never!

"Erik," Christine pouted. "Come out."

Erik came out.

Despite his fears, nothing bad happened. He sniffed at his surroundings, taking stock of the room.

"This is your home now!" Christine chirped as she ran in a little circle. "Welcome home!"

It didn't feel like home to Erik. It was new and strange, and he liked his home at the opera house. But Christine was here, and perhaps with time, that would enough.

He crept closer to the edge of the table, nearer to the fire. He felt cold without his clothing.

Suddenly there was a noise behind him, and he jumped, preparing to fight - but it was only the cage being taken off the table.

Raoul left the room a moment, taking the cage to a closet. Erik relaxed just slightly. Christine scooted closer to him, reaching out to pat his paw with her own, not looking at him as she did so.

"I know you're nervous, but it'll be okay," she told him.

He nodded, blinking back tears. Christine was so kind to him, even he was brazenly naked and hideously ugly, and it made him want to weep.

Raoul entered the room, smiling at his two pets. He sat back down in his chair, waiting for the rat adjust to his presence.

Erik slowly got used to his surroundings. From his perch on the table he studied the room around him in the hopes of learning about his new captor. There were books on the shelves, and flowers over the mantel surrounded by framed photographs. Art hung on the walls, and the curtains were made of a rich looking velvet.

Most concerningly, there seemed to be no way down from the table except for a huge jump. This didn't seem to bother Christine, who had sat down to watch the fire as she cleaned her whiskers.

He noticed, not for the first time, that the boy was staring at him in an almost unblinking manner. Erik glared at him from the corner of his eye. He was being judged, he just knew it! Luckily there was a vase full of flowers on the table, and Erik crept behind this, putting it between him and Raoul's horrible gaze.

He stood up on his hind legs to inspect the flowers - perhaps he could use the leaves and petals to construct new clothing - but as he sniffed at a large tulip and pushed it aside with his nose, all it did was get pollen on his head.

He pulled back, offended, and sat on his haunches while he licked his hands and tried to wipe the pollen off of him. To his concern, Raoul had moved and was now watching him again. He felt panic bubbling up with no where to go, and it had it not been for the presence of Christine, he would have thrown a fit.

At this same moment, Philippe walked in.

"How is little Charles Garnier doing?" he asked Raoul.

"He seems agitated," Raoul replied. "But I'm sure he'll feel better by tomorrow."

Philippe came up close to the table to get a better look at him.

"I suppose one gets used to the look of him, eventually," Philippe mused, and lowered his face to be level with Erik.

Erik paused in washing his hands, his entire attention consumed by Philippe's giant face getting closer and closer to him. His red gaze went blank, and before anyone could realize what was about to happen, Erik lost all sense of where he was and acted on instinct alone, suddenly overcome by a bout of wickedness.

He shot forward and bit Philippe on the nose.

Philippe screamed. Raoul screamed. Christine's fur stood on end and she squealed.

Erik jumped back and hid behind the floral arrangement, cowering and trembling. Why was everyone yelling? Erik hadn't done anything wrong!

If that nasty man happened to now have to hold a handkerchief to his bleeding nose, and if that just so happened to occur after he had been far too close to Erik, well, was that Erik's fault? Had Erik caused that to happen? No, certainly not. The two things were not related in the least.

The two humans ran out of the room.

"Erik!" Christine wailed. "How could you?"

"How could I what?" he asked, confused.

"You can't bite people! It's bad!"

Bite people? His brow furrowed, trying to understand.

"Raoul and Philippe are very big, and very strong, but they are always gentle to us, and kind! They could hurt us but they don't! We must be kind in return, too. That means you can't bite them!" she continued.

He tilted his head. What the devil was she talking about? Why, if anything, that only meant he had to hurt them first, before they could hurt him! Christine has such strange ideas, sometimes.

Raoul came back in, looking upset. He reached for Christine, who jumped up onto his sleeve, and then, before Erik could realize what happened, he scooped up Erik in his hand, wrapping his fingers around him just under his arms.

Erik squeaked and wiggled in vain.

Raoul held him up to eye level - but at a good distance from his face lest he end up like Philippe. He frowned at him.

"You're a very bad fellow, Charles Garnier. You must improve yourself," he said firmly.

Erik blinked his red eyes at Raoul. Who was Charles Garnier? Maybe that was who bit Philippe.

Raoul sighed and placed Erik on his shoulder. Erik tensed, wanting to jump but not able to calculate how safe that would be - especially once Raoul started walking. He dug his claws into the fabric of Raoul's coat and hunched down, his tail sticking out for balance.

They passed by the doorway of a room that contained Philippe, a large bandage on his nose and a scowl on his face. Erik stared at him for as long he could, making eye contact as they passed by. The bandage already had a little red seeping through at the edges. Erik shuddered a little. He certainly wouldn't want to run into this Charles Garnier character, personally. He sounded like a fiend.

Raoul walked them upstairs and into another room. Erik quickly surmised that this was Raoul's bedroom.

It was a grand and stately affair, and one large corner of the room was devoted to an enormous dollhouse, where he placed Erik and Christine.

Erik watched him suspiciously as he disappeared into the bathroom and closed the door. He stood there at the edge of the dollhouse balcony, squinting his eyes at the closed door.

Christine, meanwhile, was already beginning to forget about the nose incident - she had too much else to think about now.

"This is my home, Erik," she said shyly. "My other home, when I'm not with you..."

Erik pulled his attention away from the door Raoul had disappeared through. He realized with dismay that Christine's house was far more spacious than his house - while his had been a mere prop for a former show, this house had once belonged to Raoul's sister, and as such it had had the benefit of endless amounts of furniture and decorations for its numerous rooms.

"Oh!" he said, looking at everything. "It's- it's very nice, my dear."

He swallowed back his disappointment at not having the most luxurious house, because this meant that Christine had surely not been very impressed with his living space. Somewhere in the back of his mind he realized that perhaps this meant that Christine liked him even more than he originally thought, because she certainly hadn't been staying at his house for the house.

"Would you like me to show you around?" she fiddled nervously with the end of her tail.

"Of course!"

She smiled widely as she took him around to each room and explained what it was.

"This is where I sit to look out the window, see? And this room is where I keep all my wood blocks - you can have one, if you want - this is the dining room, but I don't eat here. This is the room I go to when I don't want Raoul looking at me - he can't see around this corner right here - and this is my bedroom!"

She concluded her tour of nearly two dozen rooms with the introduction her own room, then she ducked her head.

"But now that you're here," she said. "We might have to change some of them... You can have any of them to sleep in. It's up to you."

She normally slept on top the doll bed in her bedroom, wrapped underneath of a tiny blanket Raoul had given her. She had no objections if Erik also wished to sleep there, but her room was decorated with pink floral wallpaper and she didn't know if he wanted to call such a feminine room his.

At first he considered the room that Raoul couldn't see, but he eventually settled on the attic room. From here he could see Raoul's huge bed, which meant Raoul could see him too, but he also felt that having a broad view of his own surroundings meant he could be prepared for anything that might happen - imagine waking up in the secret room and coming out to start the day only to find the boy or his brother standing right next to house, staring into the rooms without any warning!

So the attic became his, and he tried to settle down as much as he could.

Raoul came out, dressed in his pajamas, and though he glanced in the direction of the dollhouse, he didn't hesitate or pause as he went to his own bed and climbed in.

Once Erik was satisfied that Raoul really wasn't coming over to hassle him, he tucked his back legs underneath of him and rested his chin on his front paws. He closed his eyes, exhausted from his very trying day. Sleep would do him good.

Except-

He was cold. He shivered and opened his eyes. Raoul had a lovely blanket. Christine had her perfect fur. Poor Erik! He had neither of these things. He didn't even have any clothes to wear to make up for it. He wrapped his tail around his body, but it did very little to help.

Christine watched from the floor below the attic as Erik shivered and squirmed. Her heart sank and she quietly crept up the stairs to the attic.

In the moonlight she could see all too well the number of scars and scratches on his bare skin, some of them bigger but many of them the size and shape of rat claws. It was a sight she wanted to look away from, something that frightened her and made her not want to think about it. How easy it would be to simply crawl back to her own bedroom and close her eyes, forgetting all about Erik and his scars!

But this was her maestro, whom she loved, and she couldn't just look away.

He scrunched his eyes shut, trying to ignore how cold he was. It was going to be a very long night, and he resolved that he simply had to find something to use as clothing the very next morning. He wiggled this was and that, trying to get comfortable, but it was a futile attempt. At least Christine had left - he didn't like being looked at when he was like this. But a moment later he opened his eyes, confused as to why Christine had come back and was coming closer to him.

She was tugging her blanket along with her teeth, and she pulled it right up over him. He stayed perfectly still as she went under the blanket herself, and then as she cuddled herself close to his side. She stayed mindful of her paws and kept her movements gentle, knowing that his hairless skin must be terribly sensitive. Once she was settled just so, she closed her eyes.

"Goodnight, Erik."

Erik surreptitiously wiped a tear from his eye. His little Christine! Cuddling with him! She was truly an angel. She was so gentle, too! And he no longer felt cold, not with the blanket overtop him and warm Christine by his side. No one had ever willingly cuddled with him before. His voice wavered as he replied.

"Goodnight, Christine."

Perhaps living here would not be so horrible, after all.