Hey everyone thanks for the reviews and adding this story to the favorite lists. Anyway, sorry that I haven't been updating this story as much as usual. Work and finishing my other story for publishing purposes has been keeping me extra busy. Here's the next chapter so enjoy but don't forget to R&R I love hearing everyone's opinions.

Early the next morning, Christine awoke to notice that her angel of music was not lying next to her. They had fallen asleep in each other's arms the night before after making love and Christine wiping away Erik's tears. She couldn't understand why making love to Erik had made him so upset. As Christine lied her head back down on the pillow she began to hear the soft sound of piano keys being pressed down. After rolling over to the other side she spotted Erik sitting at the piano with his mask intact and white crisp shirt buttoned to his satisfaction. He was playing a sad tune that she had never heard before and just couldn't understand why.

"Erik?"

He didn't answer her, and kept playing the piano as if he hadn't even heard her.

"Why are you being so unhappy? Are you unhappy with me? With the way I act around you?"

Erik immediately stopped playing the piano and rushed to her bedside before pulling her close to him with a violent grasp.

"Don't you ever say that you little Viper! You are such a little Vixen that you can't even see what you have in front of your own eyes that you blame yourself for my unhappiness."

"No Erik, I do make you unhappy. Last night you cried after making love to me, you've never done that before."

"Does that make you hate me Christine? Hate me because I hate myself for even lying with you!"

Erik loosened his grasp on Christine, and looked away from her beauty as the tears ran down his cheek. Christine lifted his head up with her soft fingers, and removed the mask before wiping the tears away with her thumb. She couldn't understand why he was so upset.

"Erik, I love you more than life itself how could I ever hate you?"

"Look at how hideous I am Christine, how could you even want to bed with such a hideous monster?"

"You're handsome Erik, and I love every part of you. The world might show no compassion to you, but in my arms lies all the compassion you shall ever need. Every morning I wake up and the first thing that puts a smile on my face is having you kiss me."

Erik immediately grabbed his mask, and placed it over his face before slamming the door shut on his way out. Sometimes dealing with Erik's self-esteem wasn't the easiest thing in the world, but she loved him and was willing to do anything for her angel. She felt a little bit better, and decided to take it easy and wait for Erik's return. Down in the room where everyone met, Erik stormed in and immediately started to fill his plate up with some scrambled eggs and ham before taking a seat to devour it. Clorinda was sitting across the way from him, and slowly made her way over to the seat next to his and sat down. Erik ignored her, and just ate his breakfast as if nothing had happened which made Clorinda a bit angry.

"Monsieur Kire?"

"What?"

"I noticed that you haven't spent anytime with me in the past couple of days. I was wondering if maybe today we could do something together like old times."

"These aren't old times anymore, times have changed."

"I was just thinking that maybe we could….."

"No! do you listen to me at all? I'm not your father and it irks me to no end when you get attached to me like this. Monsieur Kire this! Monsieur Kire that! Let's go ice skating! Let's read a book! Teach me the organ! No Clorinda! No! You are nothing more than a little Vixen that pushes a father figure off on me! I don't have any children and I especially don't need you thinking that you are! Your mother is just as bad as you! She wastes her time with a no good like me when she could have had Raoul or any other man on this planet!"

Clorinda was in tears at this point, and just stared at Erik in such confusion as to why he was yelling at her.

"Monsieur Kire…..I….I…"

"Wipe your eyes this instant and stop crying! Crying gets you no where in life! It certainly didn't get me to where I am now! You of all people should be afraid of me, not loving me! You are a sorry excuse for a child and I'm glad that you're not my child! I would be so ashamed of myself for conceiving the likes of you!"

At that point, the room fell silent except for Clorinda's tears. Madam Giry seemed to be the one most shocked at what Erik had said to his daughter. The last thing that Clorinda did was wipe her eyes and run towards the door.

"I hate you Monsieur Kire! You won't ever have to worry about me bothering you ever again!"

She then ran away, as Erik glanced around the room at everyone who was staring at him. In anger, Erik flipped over his plate and also headed towards the exit.

"What are you all looking at! Show's over!"

After yelling at Clorinda and Christine, Erik couldn't show his face around either of them for the remainder of the day. Instead, he found a quiet spot and began to write his music to pass the time hoping that they would forget all about it by the time he returned. It's not that he hated Clorinda or Christine, how could he? He loved the both of them with all his heart, it was just that he hated himself for ever conceiving Clorinda with his horrid gene and causing Christine so much pain.

Back in the attic, Christine who was lying in bed resting, heard a knock occur at the door. Before she even got up, Madam Giry appeared from behind it and gave Christine a hug.

"Oh Christine, I am so glad to see you again! How are you feeling?"

"Oh Madam, I'm doing so much better now that you're here with me again."

"I just couldn't stop myself from coming up here to pay you a visit. It has been so long since the last time I've gotten to speak to you."

"I do have one question Madam, have you seen my daughter? She hasn't been up here all day."

Madam Giry lowered her head, and knew that something bad must have happened to her after Erik had yelled in her face that morning.

"Not since Erik shouted cruel things at her."

"What?"

"Erik came down stairs to eat and Clorinda sat down next to him, begging him for his company this afternoon. He went mad and shouted such cruel things to her, things that I would have never thought Erik knew. Clorinda immediately got up full of tears and shouted that she hated him and ran off. I surly thought that she would have came up here to see you."

"No Madam, she hasn't been up here all day. I haven't seen Erik either, which is starting to bother me."

"I'm sure they'll turn up soon."

All Christine could do was start to worry. The two loves of her life had not shown their faces to her in hours, which wasn't a good sign. Madam Giry gave Christine one final hug before turning towards the door to leave.

"I shall check with everyone else to see if they have seen her or Erik."

"Yes, thank you."

Just then, Petri ran into the room out of breath as if her ran a million miles.

"I…have….something to ….say."

Christine immediately sat up and wondered what was going on.

"Clorinda…..she….ran away…I watched her run from the gates and out into the city. I tried to stop her……but she was so upset."

Hearing this had caused Christine to immediately get out of bed and throw on her cloak. How? How could her daughter leave and go out into the dangerous city that would soon be corrupted by war? Madam Giry tried to get Christine to lie back down, but she couldn't, not with Clorinda wondering around the city.

"No Madam Giry, I need to find my daughter."

"We need to find Erik."

Erik had lost track of time and his heartache had long since left him. As he sat alone in his quiet corner, he thought about what he had said to Clorinda. He knew that tonight when he tucked her in that he needed to apologize to her for his anger. He knew that she was probably with Christine telling her what had been said that morning. Erik also knew that Christine was probably mad at him for even saying such cruelties to his daughter. As he continued to write, he heard his name being called. As Erik took out his pocket watch, he knew that it was probably dinner time and everyone was looking for him.

"I'm in here!" yelled Erik as he began to gather up his music and quill from off of the small desk.

Then from the doorway came Madam Giry and Christine with Curtis and Kasdon right behind them. Erik got to his feet and stood in front of them wondering what was going on.

"What are we having a dinner party?"

Before Erik could even say another word, Christine stormed over and slapped him straight across the face barely missing the mask. He touched his skin, and held his hand in the place that she struck knowing that Christine knew about what he had said to Clorinda.

"Yes, I deserved that. I know that my anger gets in the way of things sometimes but I assure you she'll forgive me. Just let me have a word with her and let me apologize."

Madam Giry waited for Christine to answer and when she didn't, she stepped in.

"Monsieur, I'm afraid she's not with us."

"What do you mean?"

"Monsieur, she's run away into the city."

Hearing that sent a stake straight into Erik's heart. He had caused Clorinda to run away into the dangers of the city, making what she had said true. She was telling the truth when she said that she would never show her face around him again. The room fell silent, and Christine came forward once again, furious with his actions.

"Are you happy now Erik! Happy that she's run away! You know what I'm glad that I lost our baby because you know what! You can't even show compassion for our daughter! I hope you burn in hell for what you've done! All you care about is yourself and your music."

With that being said, Christine stormed out of the room with Madam Giry at her side. In anger, Erik immediately tore his music pieces to shreds an stormed out of the room with Kasdon and Curtis at his side.

"We need to find her before the army does."

"Italy is huge Monsieur, how are we going to do it?"

Erik turned to Curtis and Kasdon, and took the lantern out of Curtis's hands.

"I'll take Nadir with me, Kasdon you have a family and Curtis this is too dangerous for you. Go keep everyone company until I return and don't come looking for me no matter what."

Curtis and Kasdon did as they were told, and after throwing on his cloak, Erik walked to the entrance where Nadir was waiting for him. It was pitch black outside with only the distant sounds of guns being set off.

"Come on, we need to find her before the army does."

"Yea because I'm sure she'll be glad to see the man who cursed her off earlier today."

"I swear if you don't hush Nadir I'll shove this lantern down your throat."

"Hey, I might be a homosexual, but I know that the last person children want to come save them is the one who cursed them off."

"For the last time Nadir! Be quiet and keep your eyes out for her!"

As the night grew later and later, Erik thought that he would never find her. He felt so stupid to say such things to Clorinda. He wished that he could take everything back and just say sorry to her. After walking almost all night, Erik and Nadir had made it to a field at the end of the city.

"What's this Nadir?"

"The end of Italy. We're crossing the border now which would lead us back towards where ever it is you came from with those gypsies."

"What about the field?"

"A death trap no doubt. Alex told me that the Belgians came along and set up traps for people trying to escape the city."

Just as Erik and Nadir turned around, they heard the far distant crying of a little girl. Erik immediately stopped Nadir from walking any further.

"Do you hear that?"

Again they heard the crying and turned back around to notice that it was coming from the field.

"It's coming from the field Nadir."

"Are you sure it's Clorinda?"

'I'd know my daughter's cry anywhere, she could be hurt. Should I yell her name?"

"No! are you nuts! If one of those soldiers hear you we'll all be dead. This could be a trap you know! Those bastards love playing the game of hungry fox."

"Hungry fox? What on earth is that?"

"The soldiers take someone like a child and wait it out with them until someone dumb enough comes to save them. It's just as if a rabbit were to make a dying sound out in a field. The Fox comes running but not to save it either."

"I don't care, we need to save her."

Nadir and Erik began to walk quietly into the field, towards the crying sound. They walked as Nadir inspected the ground before taking each step to make sure of any traps. When they finally got to the source of the crying, it was from down inside a steep man made hole. As Nadir shun the light on it, they both spotted Clorinda lying inside of it. She was scraped up and dirty, but unharmed. She looked up at them, and kept crying.

"Monsieur Nadir, get me out of this hole!"

Nadir handed the lantern to Erik, and took off his cloak before lowering it down into the hole.

"Grab hold of it Clorinda."

Clorinda held onto the end of the cloak tightly as Nadir began to pull her up. After getting her halfway up, she lost her grip, and slipped back down into the hole. After lowering the cloak again, Clorinda grabbed hold of it and pulled her up again. This time she slipped again, and landed back into the hole hurting her ankle along the way causing her to scream louder. It was then did Erik see something moving out about the field. About ten soldiers were headed their way and would be at their sides in seconds demanding answers.

"We don't have time for this Nadir."

Quickly, Erik jumped into the hole with Clorinda and scooped her up into his arms and passed her to Nadir. The soldiers were getting closer, by the second as Erik tried to get himself out of the hole.

"Hurry up Erik! They're getting closer!"

As Erik grasped onto what ever he could, he couldn't get himself out of the hole. Time was running out and he knew any second from now their lives would be over. He knew that he couldn't have that so did what he knew was right.

"Go! Go Nadir run and get Clorinda to safety!"

"What about you?"

"Go! Leave me now!"

Nadir took one last look at Erik before running with Clorinda in his arms. Erik finally grabbed onto a root that was sticking in the side of the hole, and struggled to pull himself up. Once out of the hole, he plopped to the ground and gasped for breath when he heard the safety of a gun being pulled back.

"Don't make any sudden moves."

Erik knew just by the sound of the voice that there were Belgian soldiers behind him. He had no idea how he was going to get himself out of this one but needed to do something quickly. He knew that what he was about to do was stupid but it was either life or death. In a flash, Erik scrambled to his feet, and began to run with the soldiers chasing after him. As he ran into the field, all he could think about was seeing his daughter again. Then suddenly as he was almost clear of it, his foot landed in a small pot hole causing him to twist his ankle and plummet to the cold ground. Pain, so much pain filled his leg as he grasped it in agony. Within seconds, the soldiers were on top of him pushing Erik's face down into the dirt, causing it to get into his eyes and mouth. It was over, he was sure his life was over when he heard a gun shot and horses galloping towards him. From his one good eye, Erik looked up and spotted the French soldiers getting close scaring the Belgians away. He thought that he spotted Alex running towards him, but before he could absolutely be sure of it Erik blacked out.

More to come soon!