The Crystal Rainbow
An Alternate Universe – Phantom of the Opera Story
Nyasia A. Maire
© 2007
DISCLAIMER: I do not hold the rights nor did I create any characters found in The Phantom of the Opera or Phantom, nor have I received monetary compensation for writing this story.
Life is a series of vignettes we call coincidence; in truth, there are no coincidences,
only life leading us along the path of our heart's own desire.
A Fool's Book of Wisdom
Chapter Nineteen – Coincidence
She looked into his earnest eyes and all doubt fled her mind.
"A little training?" She stammered.
A broad smile graced his lips and he bowed.
"Mademoiselle Daae! I would like to offer myself to you …." He paused, allowing his eyes to run up and down over her body, before he grinned and met her eyes once more. "I would like to offer myself to you as your maestro. Please, allow me the pleasure of molding your voice into the perfect instrument I know it is capable of becoming. Please, Christine?"
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Helen sighed and pulled her bare feet onto the settee. She carefully tucked the afghan about her body and then turned to take up her cup of tea. With brooding eyes, she stared into the flames as she thought of the wasted years of her life.
"All of this loneliness because of one mistake … just because I gave in and allowed my temper free reign during the worst moment of my life. Sometimes, I wonder why me, but that is a pointless thought to pursue. And, then there are the 'what if I had …' thoughts. Oh, Nadir! When I think of the life that could have been, I feel so much despair, but this changeling's body could never tempt you. If you could only see past this horrible façade and see the true Helen that lies beneath it …. Enfer! The only person that ever could was Erik and he accomplished that only with the help of the bracelet. Ha! The bracelet helped the boy to see the true me and it was the bracelet which caused me to look this way in the first place." She paused to blow upon the steaming surface of her cup of tea then tentatively took a small sip. She grimaced slightly at the bitter taste. "Ugh! As with all medicines, I guess I must accept the bitter in order to receive the sweetness of relief from the pain." She took another sip. "Diamanté! Please take pity upon me and allow me a brief freedom from this walking prison. There is no one to see. Please? I wish to continue our conversation and hope that you would explain something to me."
The familiar heat emanated from the bracelet around her wrist and the brightness of the firelight seemed to dim before the radiance of the ruby's glowing surface.
"Very well, Helen. I shall take a chance and hope no one notices your transformation. I shall free you just long enough for the two of us to partake in the completion of our earlier conversation, but then you must return to your fleshy confinement. You must remember that I did not devise your punishment. I am simply the executioner of the writ or, perhaps, more accurately, the jailer whom holds the key to your cell. Arise from your prison of flesh! Stand and walk free, Mademoiselle Hélène Manon de Blanc!"
Quiet thunder rumbled far off in the distance and suddenly, a tall, lithe form leapt from the settee. The young woman twirled as her bell-like laughter tinkled throughout the room. After a moment, her hands ran up and down her slender, yet curvaceous form. She hugged herself tightly and sank to the floor where she quietly began to contemplate the fire. The flame light danced deep in the reflections of her deep sapphire-hued orbs, her flawless alabaster skin and curly, raven-black hair meshing seamlessly into the absolute whole of a stunning woman. She sighed and drew her legs up to rest her chin on them.
"Thank you, Diamanté. Thank you so very much! It is an amazing thing to be without pain. Thank you!" She murmured.
"I am not the beast you think me. It truly pains me that I must continue to punish you. Although, I am of two minds over how I feel about the thing you did because of the thing done to you. Yet, I am not the one that decided your fate and I must answer to powers higher than I am. You forget something about me or, perhaps, you never knew this about me. Once, I was a human woman and I am where I am now … here in this stone … as part of a punishment. While, I did not commit murder, I did something for which I could not find absolution. I disobeyed and betrayed my king. I rejected his attentions. I not only refused my king, but I had the audacity to love another. From the moment of my birth, my fate was to become consort to the king. My every whim instantly satisfied, my ego unbelievably coddled. I lived a life of privilege and thought that the king would indulge my every wish. At a young age, the king's wizard determined that my soul contained powerful magicks and he must train me so that I could control them and become a great power to the king. Unfortunately, despite the great difference in our age, my teacher and I fell in love. I first shared my body with the wizard and it was to him that I gave my heart. The king, when he learned of our betrayal, killed my lover by having him drawn and quartered before my very eyes. He then offered me a second chance. If I would willingly come to his bed and deny my love, he would forgive me. I could not. No, that is not true. I would not! In his rage, the king summoned his sorceress. She bound me in chains, which prevented me from summoning my powers. I was alone and I was powerless. The king could not bear the thought of destroying me completely as the power I possess would die with me, so he commanded that the sorceress destroy my body and imbue my power within a talisman. And, that is how I came to reside within the ruby contained in your bracelet. Obviously, this is not my story in its entirety, but it is enough for you to know that I understand what it is to be imprisoned. We are not so different, you and I."
Crystalline tears dripped and rolled from sapphire eyes to land glistening on Helen's flawless cheeks.
"At least you had love. Even if it was only for just a short time. I have never had love. Well, the love I found is destined to remain forever unrequited. At least you had your love. I shall never have mine. At least not during this lifetime. But, never mind this …. I wish to know how you intend to have Erik offer vocal training to Christine. I have often told him that he should take students, but he always demurred. What makes you think he will be willing to teach Christine?"
"You obviously never heard the girl sing. If you did, you would not bother with such questions. Anyway, I sent a thought to the boy that a walk through the woods would be a delightful thing for him to do today. He will be wandering about the woods, thinking about the girl and after I give her mind a small push, she shall feel inspired to sing. As soon as he hears her sing, no further interference shall be necessary. The boy will have no choice, but to offer to teach her to sing. The only way I can think to explain is this … the boy would consider it a sacrilege not to teach her. He will not be able to resist the chance to mold her heavenly voice nor would he want to allow the opportunity to spend more time with her to pass by him."
Helen snorted.
"Yes, he is just a man. And a man in love. So, why are you instigating this opportunity for Erik and Christine? Do you truly believe that voice lessons can teach her what she needs to learn in regards to her powers? I fail to see how singing provides the proper preparation for Christine to wield the bracelet, but I will defer to your obviously better judgment. Now, as our discussion of the love birds is at an end, I need to send a letter to Nadir and I do not wish to wait for it to go through the post. Will you assist me with its delivery? And, normally I would not ask, but if Nadir allows it … I would be truly grateful if you would assist with the … hmmm … personal delivery of his response."
An uncomfortable silence hung heavily in the room and Helen shifted nervously on the floor.
"If you do not wish to assist me, Diamanté, all you need to do is tell me. I will just make do with the standard post."
"No, that is not the reason for my silence. Thoughts of things you spoke about earlier crossed my mind and reminded me of something one of your predecessors read in a book once. 'There are none so blind as those who will not see. The most deluded people are those who choose to ignore what they already know¹.' I believe that you and Nadir's relationship can be defined by those words."
An uncomfortable shiver ran down Helen's spine as Diamanté chuckled at her discomfort.
"I shall be most pleased to lend you aid in transporting your missive and its response. You only need speak the words, Helen. And now, I fear that I must return you to … well, you know that I cannot hold off your punishment forever. It is strange that after all of these years spent together, we never truly spoke until now. Strange that. Perhaps, that is your niece's special power, the gift of clarity or, perhaps, understanding. I shall have to think upon this for a time. It is something unexpectedly new and as old as I am, well, anything new is a good thing. Well, I shall leave you to your thoughts and your tea."
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The young woman sat on the bench and watched with enchanted eyes as Erik strode towards her. She dropped the denuded daisy from her hand and stood to meet him. He rushed the last few steps toward her and placed his hands gently about her waist.
"Well, Christine? Will you allow me to teach you?"
She smiled somewhat shyly.
"Do you really need to ask? Of course, you may teach me! Thank you, Erik! Your offer allows me to fulfill one of my papa's greatest dreams for me. He wished more than anything for me to sing upon the stage. Oh, thank you!"
A delighted laugh escaped her lips as the young man lifted her into the air and giddily spun her about him. After a moment, the sound of his laughter joined with hers as he slowly lowered her to the ground.
"Oh, Christine! Everything that has occurred since we met at the de Chagney chateau seems as wondrous to me as a dream. Yet, I have discovered that my dreams were not dreams, but real. So, now how can I tell the difference between truth and dreams? Pinch me! For I fear to wake from this moment if it is a dream, yet I must know. I must know if you are real for I think I … well, I think that I …."
Christine placed a finger over his lips.
"Shh … you need not say anything until you are ready, Erik. But, I think that I feel the same. We are not dreaming. I am much too happy for this to be a dream."
¹ "There are none so blind as those who will not see. The most deluded people are those who choose to ignore what they already know." The origin of this proverb in English traces back to 1546 (John Heywood,) and resembles the Biblical verse Jeremiah 5:21 (King James Version): "Hear now this, O foolish people, and without understanding; which have eyes, and see not; which have ears, and hear not." In 1738, Jonathan Swift used this proverb in his 'Polite Conversation,' and the first attested use in the United States was in the 1713 'Works of Thomas Chalkley.'