Disclaimer: Don't own it. Just holding it hostage for now. )
Alrighty, here's Chapter 5. Sorry for the delay, but this chapter was a hard one. I didn't want to make it too long, but I wanted to get the feelings across. Hope this final version is alright. There's no Erik in this one (sorry, he's in the next one, I promise!) and taking the advice of multiple reviewers, the POV's with labels so hopefully it won't be as confusing anymore.
Thanks again to all my super favorite reviewers that make my day: the-phangirl-of-the-opera, HDKingsbury, LonesomeGurlAngelofDeath, Operatastic Supersop, Miss Ewelina, dark-hearted rose, Rhythmrains, Silvertounge, KyrieofAccender, Broken-Vow, and speedy56.
An extra large thanks to my beta dark-hearted rose, who is amazing. Go read her story Ripped Jeans. Because I insist. She's a wonderful writer, really. She even left you guys a little note:
Beta's note: I take fully responsibility for the delay, good readers! She had this done and sent off to me by the 28th of February, but I wasn't able to go over it until recently. Please file any and all complaints with me, the lousy beta-reader. Thanks!
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Until we meet again, may the sun always shine and my kiss always stay upon your lips…
-Madeline-
The sun had never been so warm, the faint breezes never so relished. Every night I was willing to swear an oath that the stars had never sparkled brighter. It was in this heightened realm of reality that I lived—blissfully happy for the nine months in which the creation Charles and I had made grew within me.
Of course, as summer approached and the months lengthened with the days, my abdomen grew. Yet, however strange it may seem, I was never once tainted with the common pre-maternal frivolities that plagued other women. The dreaded morning illness never came, and the only discomfort I felt was the most singularly strange sensation our unborn child's surprisingly strong kicks. This filled me with an inexplicable pride, and I can still retain the image of Charles laughingly placing a gentle hand on my stomach.
It soon came to the point at which I knew our child was to be due within a matter of days. Charles absolutely spoiled me then, bringing home the finest delicacies he could conjure from the local shops after the working hours and ensuring that I was in the utmost comfort at all times.
Even the servants were all a titter with excitement and kept me in high spirits with their animated chatter—save for Marie. The old woman—I can't imagine why Charles kept her, for she must have been over five and sixty—paced the estate ominously and restlessly. She would take no part in the games of our other servants, refusing to guess the unborn child's color of hair or eyes. I dismissed her actions as irrelevant at the time, but I soon came to hate her…
-Charles-
Madeline's beauty only furthered with each passing day and I had never seen her happier. I could not help but glow with fatherly pride when I held her intimately during dark's reigning hours, feeling her changing body pressed reassuringly into mine.
One day, midsummer, Madeline joyously told me that our child would be born within several days—she said this with such confidence that I did not doubt her in the least. I was sure to provide her with all her heart desired and more to guarantee her comfort and bliss; there was nothing of more importance to I than the health and well-being of Madeline and our forthcoming angel. For the result of an immortal love great as ours could only fashion a creation that was not of this world—our little angel would be special…
-Madeline-
June 13th, 1883—the figure was forever etched in my mind and memory. It marks the moment that my life was to take the most unveiling turn as I finally fell from favor from God's hand. Naught could have prepared me for the horrors of the day; I still live the consequences…
I strongly recall waking in the midst of the predawn morning and experiencing slow convulsions in my abdomen. While not acutely discomforting, my rounded mid-section seemed to pulse with an independent life. It was then that I knew that today I would meet my first child.
-Charles-
Madeline kissed me awkwardly and laughingly, not being able to quite keep her balance with the now glaringly prominent child that was ready to breathe life.
"Could you possibly leave the site a bit early today Charles? Just in case…I'm almost quite certain…tonight…" Her eyes sparkled while she whispered the words to me excitedly—yet I could see an underlying fear as well.
Feeling strangely protective, I immediately gave my affirmative and assured her that I would return by midday. The other workers could manage for a few hours, I was sure…
-Madeline-
Amidst strong protests that I should be in repose, my body would not calm, and I could not quell the sudden, nerve wracking fear that had flared in my breast. I paced the corridors of my home restlessly, and failed at attempting to still my racing heart. This was not a commonplace fear, oh no! What threatened to envelope me was dark, sinister. I could only recall my sudden, aching want to hear Charles' reassuring whispers in my hair and to feel his arms comfortingly wrapped around my waist. For with him by my side, I could fight the worst demons and the darkest evils…
With him by my side…
-X-
Midmorning, a single pained cry was heard, followed by an anguished shout from the far end of the site. Then there was silence. Quickly, the men made their way toward the voices. Small accidents were commonplace in the business, yet this set of despairing cries echoed infinitely more ominously against the unpolished wood and stone.
The men conversed lightly as their hands left their tasks to investigate. As the workers neared the accident, breaths caught and chills ran down their spines. All were in stunned silence. No—surely this could not be happening! Their dashing leader—! The thick black hair, the built frame, it was unmistakable. Yet his visage, ghostly pale, and the moans that were escaping his lips without mastery, this was foreign. At a closer glance, what could only be blood had begun to stain his shirt, leaving bright red bursts of pain inked across his chest.
The other figure, a young fellow, seeing his companions-in-toil approach, raised a tear- and dirt-stained face and burst forth with a strangled cry, "Monsieur Charles is badly wounded…His upper trunk was crushed…Told me he wanted to show me the view…saved me…"
The youth moved quietly out of the way as an older man made to inspect the injury. After nodding assent to the young one's words, he added softly, "Our Mister here won't walk out of this one…may the gates of our Lord be open to him."
It was then that Charles spoke disconcertedly with a definite haze in his eyes. "Madeline…I promised her…"
The older man bent down and grasped his employer's hand. "We'll get you to your ladylove, Mister, if it's the last thing we here do." Charles was seen to nod and then his eyes closed.
-Madeline-
They came here with Charles. My beloved Charles—they had dared to bring him in such a state! Why was there no one present save for the scoundrel youth? I daresay I lay the blame for the death of my love on the wretched boy!
The story amongst the workers as they came in their dirt and dust was that Charles had wanted to show the boy the view from the tallest scaffolding. As the boy walked along the wooden planks, a support beam had snapped, setting off a crumbling block of granite that they had meant to replace. Charles had dived in…pushing the boy out of harm's way—sacrificing himself…
Sacrificing me! He knew I could not live without him! And there, in the presence of all my servants and Charles' men—I gave anguished sobs that no one could quell for the one that could had left me…or soon would…
I grasped his hand and fumbled with my arms around his neck, wanting to bring him back. I kissed him again and again, wanting to breathe life into his lips. My small fists ineffectively pounded his chest—still taught with muscle, wanting to punish him for leaving me. I shook his shoulders and cried his name, but the faint pulse only grew weaker.
There were comforting arms around me, servants and workers mourning together the man that had been so kind, so handsome, so young, so good. It was then, when there was not a face left unwashed in tears and we all believed him truly gone, that the cold hands I still held tightly in mine squeezed in the slightest.
We all listened and watched, amazed, as he opened his eyes and spoke quite lucidly in rasping breath. "Madeline… My darling Madeline, do not weep. I do not wish for my last act on this world to be shedding your tears. It was not the boy's fault—you must know that. I promised I would return and be with you when our child was born. I still shall. My spirit shall live within you, within our unborn angel. Love him Madeline; love him for the both of us. Treat him as a little Prince, and, for me, if nothing else, love him with all your heart. Don't cry, my love, I'll see you again one day… And remember, I love you…"
His voice became inaudible, and his eyes closed. I watched, in agonizing sadness, as Charles brought my hand, still tangled with his, to his lips a final time.
Then, all was black.
-Christine-
I gazed out the window—I found this was becoming a habit of mine as I continued to dwell restlessly in my new home. Today, though, I saw a beautiful bird that was most unusual. The feathers that covered its graceful body were pure white, save for delicate blue-tipped wings. As I continued to observe, it began deftly forming the frame of a nest in the young sapling that grew just outside, weaving twigs and leaves together in a way even the most skilled basket-weavers could only hope to match. I watched in fascination as she continued to build, pulling soft down from her own body to furnish the little home. Imagine such poverty, I thought, that one must pluck from one's own body to build one's home and shelter. I then turned away from the window and gazed a little guiltily at the woven tapestries, the inlaid-ivory desk, and the tasseled embroidery table covers that adorned my quarters.
I always spent a little time each day watching my little songbird as the days passed, enjoying the beautiful tunes that would sometimes permeate my room, and I always kept an eye out for its mate, though I never saw him.
By week's end there were three specked eggs in the nest. To me, they seemed to sparkle as splendidly as gems on the dullest of days. At last, I caught a few glimpses that day of my bird's mate. He was breathtakingly stunning, and I laughed quietly to myself for doting on a bird. He was quite the opposite of her, being completely black. Yet, when he flew, my breath stopped, and I watched as his feathers danced and twirled in the air in a most captivating dance.
I thought, I am a Vicomtess, with all I could ever desire placed on silver platters at my feet. Yet, for one fleeting moment, I wished I could trade places with this beautiful creature, free to wheel through the skies and be forever rich in ways I could not even begin to imagine. I shall not lie, and I know I shall return to this thought again and again.
Would I trade my title for wings, my palace for a nest, and my realm for the sky?
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Tada. Hope you like. Now review, because I know plenty of you are reading! Or maybe I just won't update for months and months and months...-walks away smirking-