The Perfect Solution
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.
O Gather Me the Rose
O gather me the rose, the rose,
While yet in flower we find it,
For summer smiles, but summer goes,
And winter waits behind it.
For with the dream foregone, foregone,
The deed forborne forever,
The worm Regret will canker on,
And time will turn him never.
So were it well to love, my love,
And cheat of any laughter
The fate beneath us, and above,
The dark before and after.
The myrtle and the rose, the rose,
The sunshine and the swallow,
The dream that comes, the wish that goes
The memories that follow!
William Ernest Henley
Chapter Forty-One – O Gather Me the Rose
The man's eyes lit up with his understanding of the young man's silent question. He walked to Erik's side and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.
"I have about four months before I die and that should be just about enough time …."
The man's voice trailed off and Erik turned to look at him curiously.
"Time enough for what?"
A genuine smile caressed Gustave's careworn features as he met Erik's eyes.
"Why, time enough to teach the two of you to sing properly, of course!"
♥ ♫ ♥ ♫ ♥
Weak sunlight streamed through her open curtains, causing the small lump in the bed to groan and awaken as the light burned into her closed eyes. She rolled over in an attempt to avoid the inevitable, but a sudden thought brought her mind to full consciousness.
"Erik!"
Smiling brightly, she leapt from her bed and without a thought, ran from her room. Frowning as she entered the small sitting room, she turned her head to inspect the kitchen, but a soft sound halted her mid-turn. She returned her eyes to scrutinize the sitting room. Her smile spread across her features once again as she located the cause of the sound. Impishly, she tiptoed to the settee and reached out her finger to poke at the source of the quiet snoring.
"Boo!"
She let out a shriek and jumped nearly a foot off the floor before landing on the blanket covered young man. Her little fists pounded on his chest as she giggled madly.
"Oh, Erik! So, you think that you can scare me just like that and get away with it? Oh, no! I am not that easy to frighten and now, you shall now feel the torture of my tiny, tickling fingers! There is no escape!"
The two on the settee dissolved into a tangle of flailing arms and flying hands. Rich tenor guffaws rang throughout the room interwoven with the bell-like tones of a young soprano's giggles. The man watched in awe at the two wrestling on the settee.
"Even in play their love outshines everything around them. Not even Christine's mother and I found such a love as this with one another. They are a match made in heaven and I feel more at ease seeing this. Lilith does not have the slightest hope of luring Christine into her web. Not this time, not with Erik here. The only truly difficult undertaking for me is dying. How am I to take leave of my daughter's embrace again? This time I do not even have the thought of rejoining her mother to comfort me. After this, I am to spend eternity as an angel. Ah!"
The man sighed quietly.
"Well, if it means that my child's soul shall be safe from damnation, then this sentence of exile from humanity is well worth it. For, what parent would not gladly forfeit their soul to save their child? To see her smile is reward enough."
He straightened and placed his arms across his chest then cleared his throat.
"Excuse me, children. There was someone else in the house trying to get some sleep."
The pair was so engrossed in tickling each other that they did not hear the man's dry comment, so he tried again.
"Bonjour! Could the two of you possibly be any louder?"
As fate would have it, he yelled his question just as the two paused to inhale, which caused the house to become momentarily silent. His thunderous words stunned the two on the settee and they sat up gasping with surprise.
"Papa?"
"Monsieur?"
The startled pair spoke at the same time, causing their laughter and tickling to begin all over again. The man rolled his eyes and shook his head. He moved into the kitchen to begin making breakfast.
"Christine, chores! Come now! We have a busy day ahead of us. We need to air out the spare room for Erik and make up a bed for him. Hurry now! No dawdling, ma petite ange! If you and Erik can ready the room before dinner, perhaps we can have a music lesson before supper."
From the kitchen, Gustave saw a small, curly brown head pop up and peek over the back of the settee.
"Music?" The voice squeaked.
"Music …." The older man repeated.
"Music?" A young man's voice inquired.
"Oh, yes! Music!" The girl sighed happily. "Come on, Erik! Trust me. You want music!"
She leapt from the settee and hurried to begin her chores, the first one being setting the table for breakfast. The boy followed uncertainly, pausing in the kitchen's doorway.
"Bonjour, Gustave."
Erik bobbed his head.
"Is there anything I can do to help?"
The man chuckled and pointed to the small stove.
"We always need wood. Can you fetch me some from outside?"
"Of course."
The man smiled as he grabbed a bowl from a shelf and proceeded to crack a few eggs into it.
"This is working out better than I ever hoped or imagined it would."
♥ ♫ ♥ ♫ ♥
"Look! Look what I found! Is it not beautiful?"
The small hand waved excitedly in the cool autumn air.
"Be careful! That rock is very slippery. There is moss all over it. What are you trying to do? Break your leg? Your father will have my neck if you hurt yourself. Come on, Christine. Get down from there."
He shook his head as he watched her pretty lips form a dramatic pout.
"It will not work with me, you know that. Come on! Get down from there and come show me what you found. I am exhausted chasing after you. I am sitting down here and I am not moving for at least a half an hour. You have to come here if you want me to see whatever you have found."
"Aw … you are no fun sometimes, Erik. This is great! Look at all these little crabs! There shells are so beautiful. I want to collect enough of them to make a necklace. What do you think?"
The young man suppressed a smile and replied with mock weariness.
"Christine Daae! Do you really plan on evicting crabs from their homes just so you can make yourself a necklace? I think that is rather cruel …. On second thought, we do not need to remove them from their shells to make a pair of earrings for you; we can simply allow them to pinch onto your earlobes."
Feeling rather amused with the imagined sight of the crabs as earrings, Erik chuckled softly. He closed his eyes and stretched, only to have his eyes snap open at the sound of a large splash.
"Oh no! Christine!"
The girl's brown head had disappeared and Erik leapt to his feet. He ran toward the tide pool where he had last seen Christine. He can hear nothing, but the sound of the waves rhythmically crashing against the rocky shoreline. His feet carefully climb and he leaned to steady himself with his hands as he climbed the precipice. He swallowed hard and blinked as he mentally prepared himself for whatever he may find in the tide pool. His head crested the rocks and he immediately scanned the area for the little body.
"Boo!"
She screeched and he started backwards. She then burst into an uncontrollable fit of sniggers.
"I got you!"
Her voice, triumphant. Suddenly, she shrieked and began to scramble out of the tide pool in a mad dash for the beach to escape from her would-be rescuer. The little feet and short legs were no match for the lanky young man who quickly overtook her and scooped up her wiggling and giggling form, carrying it to the sand. There, he dropped her and proceeded to thoroughly tickle her.
"I give up! I give up!"
She gasped in between her breathless cries of laughter, tears streamed down her cheeks.
"I surrender, Erik!"
♥ ♫ ♥ ♫ ♥
"Papa?"
"Oui, ma petite."
"I have decided something."
The man turned to look at the little girl sitting in the window of his bedroom.
"This sounds most serious. Too serious for such a silly, little girl."
"Papa! I am serious! I will not be eight years old forever you know!"
The man cleared his throat to hide the sudden lump of emotion that just formed there.
"No, ma ange. You will not be eight years old forever. Tell me, what have you decided?"
She hopped down from her perch and scrambled up to sit on the bed beside her father. He placed an arm around her shoulder and drew her warm little body close to his increasingly frail one. Gustave breathed in her scent. She smelled of cinnamon and nutmeg from her earlier lesson with Erik in the kitchen. He rested his chin on the top of her head and swallowed back the coughing fit, which attempted to overwhelm his body with its wracking waves of pain. He closed his eyes and after winning a temporary reprieve from his lung's urge, he cleared his throat and sighed. He repeated, this time more gently.
"Christine, ma chéri, what monumental decision have you reached?"
She snuggled closer and took his hands in hers, making a show of examining his fingers in order to avoid looking up into his eyes.
"I have decided that I am going to marry Erik when I am grown."
With those words, Gustave lost the battle and gave into the spasm of coughing.
♥ ♫ ♥ ♫ ♥
"Really, you two! I have been teaching you now for three months and you both still forget breath control? What am I to do with you?"
The thin, ghostly pale man spoke in his most stern voice. The girl and the young man sat in stunned silence before Christine hesitantly spoke.
"But, Papa …. I thought we sounded good …."
The frown, which creased his brow furrowed deeper.
"Christine …."
He growled her name in warning.
"But, Papa!"
"Hush, child! Let me finish!" He spoke quietly before chuckling as he continued. "Actually, you were perfect. Congratulations!"
Erik looked up from his hands and smiled sadly at the once strapping man. Christine's eyes shone with pleasure at her father's words, but also with unshed tears. She turned her head away and blotted her eyes with the back of her hand. Erik held the man's gaze and began to speak earnestly.
"Gustave, provisions are running low. May I have your permission to borrow your violin tomorrow so that Christine and I can earn some money to go shopping?"
The man nodded, and then pointed to an envelope sitting on his bedside table.
"Erik, please take that letter and post it. It is of the utmost importance. I am sending for a friend of mine. Her name is Antoinette Giry. She will be Christine's guardian after I am gone and my time grows close. Please make certain to send it to her right away."
"But, Papa … why can I not stay here with Erik? He can look after me just as he is now. And, then when you are better, I will still be here and you will not have to travel all the way to Paris to bring me back to you."
Erik stooped and picked up the envelope from the table.
"I think it might be best if I retired for the evening. Bonne nuit."
With a small nod of his head, he left the man and girl to their long avoided conversation.
Author's Note: A nice, peaceful chapter … the prelude of calm before the proverbial storm. Next up … Lilith! Egad!
As always, please feed the kitty ... read and review!
--ny