It was almost weird staying in a fancy estate; like I'm staying at some high class hotel that had medieval showers that, finally, I don't have to bother myself turning on. It was pretty great being able to wake up every morning in a soft bed instead of the hard bed in the Opera dormitories. The servants took care of everything and I hardly had to do a thing, though that quickly became boring. So I decided to do something to entertain myself.
I snuck around through the halls of Raul's estate trying to not be seen as I made my way to his office. I peeked in through the cracked doorway to see if he was inside. He was. Raoul had his back to me. Perfect. I pulled up my skirt and crept into the room, stopping right behind Raoul's back.
"Boo!" I screamed. Raoul yelped and jumped a foot in the air, clutching the area over his heart and saying a string of words in french that I couldn't understand but could guess where curses.
"Danielle! You nearly gave me a heart attack!" I smiled down at him and stuck my tongue out before running out of the room in hysterics. I heard Raoul's chair scrape the floor as he finally caught of and gave chace. "I'll get you for that!" He yelled after me.
"You'll never take me alive!" I shrieked behind me. I was glad that I'd been building up muscles these past few months, or Raoul'd gotten me immediately. I was able to hold my skirts up and dodge in between the few servants here and there and run faster than he could catch me. I burst through the door to the parlor where Christine spent our time reading and talking while Raoul worked, keeping up his estate and business; I didn't ask what the business was, I didn't really care, I was pretty sure it had something to do with trading; it would explain why he was so rich.
Christine looked up as I burst into the room, eyes wide and hand over her chest. I grinned and her and pulled her off of her chair and out into the hallway and began to run again. "Danielle, what in the world-"
"Raoul's it!" I yelled behind me. Christine giggled at the game and ran with me, Raoul soon turned a corner and caught sight of us running together around another. He groaned.
"Now I'm up against the two of you? The odds are not in my favor." I could hear the smile in his voice; no matter how he moaned about it I knew that he was having fun. No telling how long it had been since he could act like a kid instead of an adult. How boring, I couldn't stand the thought of growing up, I mean, where was the fun in it? Where was the joy? That's why I had promised to act like a kid for as long as I could. That's why I decided to act as childish as possible for as long as possible. Like now.
I didn't really know the house that well, so Christine and I got cornered pretty fast. I looked around, but it seemed like it was one of those weird halls that get cut off immediately with no way to get around him. We were cornered.
"Christine, on three tackle him." Christine looked ready to laugh, but she hid it behind a smile. "Shit's about to get real." Raoul came around the corner with a look of triumph on his face. He stalked towards us, trying to use his height to make his seem scary, raising his arms to the level of his head like a mugger. Oh, he was going to get the surprise of his life. When did tag get so serious? That's what you get when you put me together with a game, everything gets really competitive. Sports were almost impossible, thank God I could never play them because of my heart excuse; I could have played, I just didn't want to; let alone watch wrestling, I always came out with the urge to pile drive someone. Ha, now I could without getting in trouble. "Ready Chrissy?" I whispered. She nodded slowly; she had the most intense look on her face, it was almost comical. "One, two... three!" We rushed forward and jumped on him, effectively knocking him down.
After a minute of struggling, Raoul had to accept the fact that he wasn't going to win against us. "Alright, alright, I give up, you win!" Christine and I rolled off of him and allowed him to get up. I lifted my hand into the air towards Christine. She just stared at it blankly. Oh, the high five hadn't been invented yet.
"Handshake in the sky Christine!" Wow, nice covering my ass there. Handshake in the sky, what the fuck? Christine burst into a full blown laugh and took my hand.
"Do you do that in the future too?" I couldn't help but laugh too, at my own horrible choice; I'm not going to live this down, I could tell that right now.
"No, I just made it up." Raoul helped us to our feet since it was stupidly hard to move in these medieval dresses.
"Even for you that was pretty strange," she said. Yeah, I knew. This was going to be one of those things that was going to be brought up every time we were together and laughing. An 'oh, do you remember the time when...' moment.
"yeah, yeah it was." We moved into the drawing room where Christine had been reading before and sat, trying to catch our breath. It was nice to have friends who would just go with it when you decided to so something strange. Blaise would've thought this was hilarious. Blaise. I miss him. Those days when it was me and him and Henri going down to the pub for a drink were wonderful memories. Going to that gay bar with Blaise, sneaky little bastard, getting me to go in with him; the shit I saw that day. Man on man action all over the walls and corners, men in dresses and weird shit you just don't expect to see in 1872. I mean, I don't have a problem with it, I live an hour away from San Francisco for God's sake, it's just it's so frowned upon in this era, you don't expect it. At all. I hope Blaise was happy, wherever he was now; heaven or something better be good to him.
All I can say is that he better not come around me again, or I'll knock him one like I should've before he died. Who am I kidding, I'd hug him and cry if I saw him again. That butthead, how dare he get killed? I rubbed my temples, don't talk like an idiot and don't speak ill of the dead. It wasn't anyone's fault Blaise was dead, and I needed to stop thinking about it. He's with Der Tod now; Der Tod will keep him safe. I looked up and tried to rejoin the conversation.
RAOUL
I watched Danielle go inside of herself, she wasn't paying any attention to either Christine or I or the conversation; we could've been speaking in tongues and she wouldn't have noticed. Her sudden arrival had shocked Christine and I; she had only posted the letter a few days before and suddenly there she was; two stuffed bags by her side and a lopsided grin on her face; I could tell she loved the surprised looks on our faces. Sometimes it seemed like she enjoyed doing things without thinking them through first, but that didn't really seem like Danielle. She did make strange decisions, but never ones that were as rash as this.
What could have possibly Made strong, sure Danielle act so strange? She had never acted like she was in risky company. I couldn't help but think of the time I had met her in the cafe and found her bruised in pain. That was the only time I saw her cry. When I had brought her here she told me one of her boss' had beaten her, I had assumed, after finding where she worked, that it had been the previous owner of the Opera Populaire, but he seemed to kind a man to raise his fist against a woman. When I had spoken about it to Christine when she first arrived, she had told me it had been the Phantom who had given Danielle those bruises but that couldn't be true. The Phantom was a myth, wasn't he? When I brought Christine here she had worried about the Phantom as well, she even went to far as to say that he had kidnapped her the night we were going to go to dinner but that was ridiculous, there was no such thing as a ghost or a phantom or what have you.
Was someone dressing up as the alleged 'Phantom' and terrorizing the people of the Opera? None of this was making any sense. Who would do this? The average madman could not pull off what the rumors have said. I shook my head; this was madness, there is no Phantom of the Opera. There has to be some logical explanation to this. Danielle must have just wanted to see us and decided to make it a surprise. That must be it. I was thinking about this too much, it was making me paranoid.
"We should begin to prepare for the Masquerade ball," I said. They turned to look at me. I knew that both Christine and Danielle wanted to go but Christine had no ideas of what she wanted to wear and Danielle had told me she was too lazy to think about it immediately. The ball was next week and none of us were ready.
"Oh yeah; I forgot about that." Danielle shrugged her shoulders and rolled onto her stomach. "Why don't we just skip it?" I looked at her as If she were mad.
"I am the patron of the Opera, how could I 'skip it'?" Danielle pushed out her lips and rolled her eyes.
"Doesn't mean we have to go," she said. Really now, she was acting ridiculous.
"Yes, but you are one of the stars of the Opera and it is expected of you to show up. Come on now, I'll have the horses prepared to bring us into town." Christine got up and went to her room to prepare for the journey. Danielle groaned but did not move.
"I don't feel like it, I don't want to go to some stuffy ball with a bunch of stuffed shirts." She reclined with her hands behind her head, an uncaring look on her face. I could hardly believe she was being so defiant over going dress shopping to an event at the place she called home. I was growing tired of her attitude.
"That is regrettable; but you are going to come whether you like it or not." I lifted her easily off the couch and threw her over my shoulder, walking out of the room.
"What the hell Raoul? Put me down." She didn't kick or scream, but lowered her voice dangerously.
"No." I opened the door and passed Christine in the hall, I knew she was giving us a strange look, but chose not to say anything.
"Raoul, don't be difficult." I almost laughed, I'm the one being difficult?
"I think I am the one that should be saying that to you," I said, dropping her on her bed. "Get ready, you'll need a warm cloak and thick shoes." He huffed out a sigh and began to pull her shoes on. "Why don't you want to go?"
"If you knew what I know, you wouldn't want to go either," she said, not even bothering to make eye contact.
"What do you mean?"
"I'm from the future, I know everything that's going to happen." She shook her head, "I know I shouldn't talk about it, but you know, it's hard not to." What was she talking about?
"Danielle, if something bad's going to happen, you need to tell me, not hide it." I could see her contemplating everything as she slipped her other shoe on. Suddenly she let out a frustrated gust of air.
"I don't even know anymore," she looked up at me with a weary grin on her face. "Things have changed, Raoul. I'm not sure what's going to happen anymore."
"Then you need to face this, see it through; you know Christine and I will be there for you, no matter what." She smiled, finally.
"You're right Raoul. Sometimes you're too good." She got up and went to the closet and pulled out a heavy dark blue cloak. "Let's go look at dresses, it can't be that boring." Finally she was joking, it was upsetting seeing her act so lazy; now we can finally try to prepare for the ball.
DANIELLE
Why was I acting so stupid? How could I have almost told Raoul about Erik? Well, it's not like he'd believe me, He's too stubborn. Really, what did he think Christine was doing every time she told him about him? Lying? Maybe he thought he was crazy? How the hell could he think her crazy when he believed I was from the future? I had too many marks against me now, I had to make sure everything played out as it is supposed to; Erik desperately trying to win Christine's love and ruining the place he called home for so long. I almost couldn't wait to be out of this place, it just seemed to love giving me shit to worry about; I'm probably going to go prematurely grey.
I wish Blaise was alive to help me now, I could really use him. It makes me wonder what he'd say to all this. I wonder if it'll ever get better, the needing him even though I won't see him for the rest of the time I spend in this world, however long that is. I pulled on the ends of my hair absently; I hoped the shopping went fast, I wasn't really in the mood to go out; I haven't been sleeping well the past few nights, I've been having nightmares, about the ball, about the ending, about Erik. They never ended well. I was sleep deprived and irritated from sitting in the carriage for an hour with the lovers across from me. They looked at each other like the entire world was in their eyes. God, I almost jumped out of the carriage and walked back to Paris, I definitely would've perfected it. I reflected on how Christine had so horribly rejected Erik because of how he looked and not because of how he acted. Surely she remembered he was the only friend she had after her father died, how he took care of her and showered her with love? But she threw that away because of how he looked.
What am I thinking? Why should I care what happens to Erik anymore? He fucked up, and I'm not going to talk to him anymore. But the looks Raoul and Christine gave each other had me almost gouging my eyes out in disgust. None too soon we got to the dress shop that sold dresses for this occasion. I guess this time was good for something, they actually had dresses in abundance that fit me easily, since most girls were my height more or less.
"So, now what?" I looked over the rows and rows of dresses, not knowing where to start.
"I will call a few attendants over to help you find a few dresses to try on," Raoul said and motioned to a woman behind the counter to come over and help us, she called a few others and we were whisked into the dressing rooms.
"Where are you going to go?" Christine called behind her.
"I'm going to go to the men's shop a few blocks over, I'm sure my fitting will be done in no time and I'll be back shortly." He ducked out of the store, undoubtedly happy to get away. Lucky.
Christine and I holled up in the dressing room while the attendants took our measurements and brought in the most festive party dresses. They were almost nauseatingly colorful. They stuffed me into dress after dress. I felt like a life size doll. Christine was loving it, she eventually picked out the pink dress she would wear in the movie.
"I'm going to be a fairy, all I need to add are wings and a crown," she said happily; I guess she hadn't gotten enough of that stuff as a kid. I had to admit though, it was really Christine. "Do you have any ideas for your costume or are you going to just wear a mask?" That was a good question, what was I going to go as? There's no way I'd just put on a mask, where's the fun in that? Besides, it was the Masquerade. How many chances do you get for this? One. Not even. I needed to make this costume stick out, it needed to be solely mine. "Danielle?"
"I don't know yet, but it has to be interesting; not something that everyone else will be doing. No idea what that's gonna be." I browsed the rack of dresses that I hadn't tried on. One of the attendants tried to pull me away to try on a green dress I knew would look horrible against my skin tone. "I want to look on my own for a bit, I'll call you when I need help; why don't you go rest your feet?" The attendant nodded and went to sit down. "I hate looking for dresses, it takes too long and I get bored." I stopped, looking at a blue dress; I could be the ocean, get a mask with waves. Nah, that was stupid. I might as well put a boat on top of my head. I didn't want to be a deity, the might think it was blasphemous. Ha, as if I cared. I quickly flicked through the gowns until I came to a beautiful dark red one.
It had nice, off the shoulders sleeves, tight around the body with a skirt that flared out dramatically and ruffles making it look like the layers of a rose. A rose! That's what I'll be! "I got an idea, Chrissy!" I called over my shoulder, signaling to the attendant that I needed help getting into the dress. I pulled it on over my ridiculous underwear, I'd started wearing the pantaloons since it was getting cold, and headed out to meet Christine to get her opinion. "What do you think?"
"It looks good on you, what was your idea?"
"I'm going to go as a red rose; it means passion and love," I spun in a circle, "wild, hot passionate love." Christine got a weird look on her face, I can only guess that she was thinking of Erik and his roses. "Lets go find some accessories and get out of here."
"Alright," she said; I knew she was trying to act normal, but she was slightly off. I went over to the hair bobbles and browsed through them, looking for something that would go with Christine's pink dress.
"Do you think we could get a crown here?" I asked, rummaging through a bunch of hair clips before I gripped the edges of the perfect tiny tiara for Christine; light purple and intricately designed. "This looks cute." I placed it on top of her brown curls and held my fingers up as if to judge the camera angle. "Perfect." Finally Christine gave me a real smile. "Raoul's paying for this, right?"
"Why yes Danielle, he has so graciously offered to have the cost of these dresses taken care of by the De Chaney estate." She gave me a wide grin, bordering on mischievous; I'm such a bad influence.
"Then let's find some nice new shoes to go with our dresses." We skipped off to the shoe section where I quickly picked out a pair of emerald green low heeled boots that laced up gracefully in the front with gold stitches. I looked around for earrings until I found a pair with a large green stone in the shape of a beetle with folded gold wings and edges, I added them to the pile of things I was going to get. I decided to not get a new necklace and wear the one Raoul gave me even though it clashed with the color scheme I'd worked with. To complete the ensemble I pulled a matching pair of emerald green gloves from the shelf and laid them across the dress in the arms of the attendant that had followed us and boxed the things we wanted.
"Will you need any clips for your hair, Miss?" The attendant asked, respectfully. I guess I needed to do my hair up a bit for the ball.
"Lead the way," I said.
"Oh, I've got just the pin set in mind." She led me back to the counter and brought out a box of beautiful gold pins with green stone ends, I had no doubt that they were read emerald. Right down the center of the bauble was a swirl of gold, completely beautiful. "I'll give you the set at a discount if you buy this clip." She indicated to a realistic looking blood red rose that pinned into the hair. How could I resist?
"Discount is half price." She looked ready to object. "Take it or I walk." She weighed her options before consenting. While she was calculating all of the items Christine and I were going to buy Raoul walked in.
"Raoul, we're over here!" Christine called from the register. I could see Raoul close his eyes briefly at the sight of our purchases.
"Come on Raoul, we can't pay for this ourselves!" Raoul silently walked up and paid the cashier.
"Will you please ask someone to help us with our bags?" He asked. The cashier summoned two attendants to help us carry out the stuff and packed it all in the carriage. We climbed in and set off for the Estate.
"Did you have a good time shopping?" Raoul asked.
"Oh yeah, it was great; the best part was that it was over quickly, I can't stand long trips." It proved to be just what I needed, after doing a lot of nothing for the past few days besides write to Meg and walk around the gardens, I needed something active. "Wait! Can we stop by the cemetery?"
"Oh yes, I would love to visit my fathers' grave." Christine spoke up beside me. Raoul gave a nod and signaled for the horses to turn around, it was lucky that we hadn't gone too far off route.
The cemetery was lit in a cheery yellow light that looked so strange for what it was, the place we lay our dead to rest. We didn't talk as we walked to the graves. I stopped at Blaise's grave and let them make the short walk to Gustave Daae's alone. I brushed the leaves off and rubbed the few dirt stains away, trying to make the grave as clean as possible.
"Hello there my glorious rainbow friend, how's it going?" I knew I wasn't going to get a response but I still waited an appropriate amount of time before going on. "It's still so strange to think of you sitting in this grave, cold and dead." I rubbed the tears out of my eyes. "I miss you, so much. I have so much to tell you." I told him, in a low voice, what happened between Erik and I and what was happening now. I sat with my back covering the description and looked out over the grave yard. The snow had begun to fall and the unseasonably warm weather had made the snow mushy water sludge. I missed the rain back home, when it came down my little town by the sea seemed so perfect, so heart wrenchingly beautiful. The ocean would churn and bubble, the waves rising high sand crashing definingly on the shore. I described my home town, Clementine, to him.
"Small and perfect, the place I want to spend my entire life. Everything's in walking distance, even the ocean; you'd love it, I know." I heard someone walking up the path in the same direction Christine, Raoul and I had come.
"Danielle, what a nice surprise." It was father Oliver. "I thought you'd be back to visit again."
"Yeah, I was in the area and thought I'd drop by, you know, to make sure you weren't mistreating them." Oliver laughed at this.
"One cannot mistreat the dead," he smiled. I rolled my eyes. "I must admit, I thought you would be back sooner." He sounded like one of those gossipy old ladies.
"I'm staying with my friend Raoul for a bit, until the Masquerade." His eyes widened and he clutched the ever present bible hard in his hands.
"That is a scandal!" He stood straight as a board, I almost laughed.
"Hardly," I motioned for him to sit next to me, "you see the girl over there he's with? He's planning to propose."
"How do you know?" He asked curiously.
"I'm a girl, girl's know." What else could have taken him that long while we were shopping?
"I've heard of feminine intuition but I have never put any faith in it, you must tell me if your intuition is right." If he was betting, he'd lose.
"Alright, but you'd better get ready to be proven wrong." Although I'm not really using 'feminine intuition' it wouldn't hurt to play with a priest.
"Danielle, Raoul and I were wondering if you were ready to leave; it's going to be dinner time soon and we want to make it back in time." Christine walked over, arm in arm with Raoul. "Hello Father, it is good you see you." Oliver stood and bowed his head.
"Good evening Madame Daae, it is good to see you are well." He looked at Raoul and repeated the gesture.
"Good afternoon Father, I'm sorry we seem to be taking your conversation partner away." Raoul apologised like it was an actual offense. I stood up and brushed the back of my dress that had been touching the ground.
"We should get going, I'm hungry already. Goodbye Oliver." I curtsied, only jokingly because I couldn't hug him goodbye or shake his hand without it being scandalous or something. Oliver reached out and grabbed my hand, my eyebrows went into my hairline and his head dipped gracefully and lifted my hand to his lips and pressed a kiss against my knuckles.
"May God keep you," he lifted his eyes to mine, an amused smile on his lips. "Whatever your views might be." I smiled.
"You too, Oliver, you too."
The ride back was quiet and not nearly as bad as the ride there; it was almost half an hour before anyone spoke. Quite frankly, I was surprised that anyone had anything to say.
"You seem to be on good terms with the priest." I looked at Raoul who was looking at me intently. Oh no, he was not implying what I thought he was. That was sick, twisted and against his religion or something, I mean, I'd never seen him go to church, but then I wasn't up until nine most days.
"You tryin' ta say somethin'?" I could feel the 'bitch, please' look getting pulled out of the closet and dusted off. "I guess we're friends, what's wrong with that?"
"The way he looked at you-"
"You're imagining it, dummy!" I made sure that my voice told them that was the last word I'd listen to of it. I was glad they didn't bring it back up. What's with these fictional characters and their need for drama? I looked out the window for the rest of the time, not in the mood to talk.
Dinner was almost as quiet, but Christine made an effort to keep us talking, bless her. It was mainly talk of the ball in a week that she spoke about, but she also started talking about Hannibal and how wonderful it was to finally be able to play her dream role of Elissa.
"You were incredible, Christine," Raoul said and took her hand.
"Yeah, you kicked butt." Christine blushed; Due to praise or my choice of words, I couldn't tell. It was still funny how she reacted to the things I sometimes said.
"You also, ah, kicked butt." I threw my head back and laughed out loud until I started having trouble breathing. God, I shouldn't let Christine say any of the shit I do, but God damn it was funny. I finally puIled myself together enough to look over at her. Her face was beet red.
"Sorry, sorry, it's just so weird hearing someone from around here say something like that." I wiped a tear out of the corner of my eye. The conversation got easier after that. Pretty soon Raoul suggested we 'retire' to the parlour. I still got a kick out of some of the things they said. The conversation seemed light and relaxed, but one look at Raoul told me all I needed to know. I contained my inner squealing kid and excused myself. "I need to pee, be back in a sec." I quickly left the room, walking all the way down to the bathroom and waiting five minutes before heading back.
Christine stood, wrapped in Raoul's arms, I wish I had a camera, this was a sweet sight. I politely cleared my throat and Christine spun around.
"Danielle, it's the most wonderful thing, Raoul's proposed!" She was practically vibrating with excitement. "I accepted." They looked at each other fondly.
"Called it!" They both looked startled and pulled out of their reverie. "Really, what man takes as long as us to pick out a costume?" Raoul turned pink and I laughed. "Don't worry, I already knew it was going to happen before the costume shopping. Future, remember?" I pointed at myself and laughed. "Congratulations."
The rest of that week was filled with them mooning over each other and wedding planning, Christine wanted to get a head start. It was really sweet seeing her fuss over every little detail. She stayed away from roses of any color and decided on lilies for her bridal bouquet. So this is it, now she's pretending like Erik was never in her life, like he was not the one who was always there for her, no matter what. Even though I was mad at Erik, this seemed just as bad as the betrayal of Jesus. What a bitch move. I guess she'll be paid in kind one day.
The week was up and we were getting ready for the Masquerade tonight, I was almost a wreck. I took deep breaths and tried to look on the positive side of things, maybe the whole scene won't happen and Erik'll realize how creepy he's being and not go through with Don Juan and trying to force Christine to be his wife. Maybe they could sit down and talk things out (yeah right). I knew it wouldn't happen, but I hoped.
The maid that helped me get dressed did my hair into an elaborate up-do, giving just enough hair to frame my brows before using all the pins to push my hair to the top of my head in a bun, letting it fall down my back in intricate braids and curls and clipped the rose to hold the bun together beautifully. I hardly looked like myself anymore. She tied the green and gold etched mask to my face and I was ready to go. I walked down the stairs to meet Raoul and Christine for the carriage. Neither wore masks, but they both looked stunning in their party clothes. Raoul was a military man and Christine was a fairy princess complete with a crown and pink ballet slippers.
"Ready to go?" Raoul asked.
"Let's rock this shit!" Christine giggled. "Don't repeat that." She smiled and nodded. We piled into the carriage and set off for the Opera. My nerves were doing backflips.
The ride seemed to last for minutes instead of hours.
I walked in, feeling a bit out of place with Christine and Raoul wrapped up in each other so, I was kind of jealous that I was there alone.
"Surprise!" A man in a white wig and a sun costume jumped out in front of me with his arms raised in the classic 'surprise' look.
"Jesusfuckonastick!" I jumped backwards and thanked whatever deity was there that my profanity had come out too fast for anyone to understand it.
"I'm sorry Danielle, I didn't mean to scare you!" The man lifted up his mask and I saw just who I suspected it would be: Henri. I let out a breath and went up and smacked his arm.
"The hell, you nearly gave me a heart attack!" I smiled up at him, I wasn't really angry, just a bit upset. "It's nice to see you."
"You too," he said and beamed down at me. I caught up with Raoul and Christine and told them who it was.
"It's nice to see you again," Christine said, "how are you doing at your family's business?"
"It's alright, I just wish my father would get better so I could come back to the Opera, I miss being able to practice on the stage, the only place there is there in on the grocery floor and that's not the cleanest place to practice the splits." We walked out onto the dance floor and Henri offered me his hand and pulled me into a strange waltz, Christine and Raoul spun around next to us, blissfully happy in each others arms.
We had been dancing on and off for hours and, just ten minutes before midnight, the iconic song began to play.
"Maquerade! Paper faces on parade
Masquerade! Hide your face so the world will never find you
Masquerade! Every face a different shade
Masquerade! Look around, there's another mask behind you." We sang along and danced, laughing the entire way.
"Flash of mauve
Splash of puce
Fool and king
Ghoul and goose
Green and black
Queen and priest
Trace of rouge
Face of beast
Faces!
Take your turn, take a ride
On the merry-go-round
in an inhuman race
Eye of gold
Thigh of blue
True is false
Who is who?
Curl of lip
Swirl of gown
Ace of hearts
Face of clown
Faces! Drink it in, drink it up
Till you've drowned
In the light
In the sound
But who can name the face?" Christine went to sit down, she had danced more than me and her feet were tired, Henri and I danced close to the hallway where the resting seats were incase they needed something.
"Masquerade! Grinning yellows, spinning reds
Masquerade! Take your fill, let the spectacle astound you
Masquerade! Burning glances, turning heads
Masquerade! Stop and stare at the sea of smiles around you
Masquerade! Seething shadows breathing lies
Masquerade! You can fool any friend who ever knew you
Masquerade! Leering satyrs, peering eyes
Masquerade! Run and hide, but a face will still pursue you." I watched Meg, Madame Giry, Andre and Firmin, Piangi and Carlotta walk down the stairs, I wasn't within earshot, but I knew what they were singing. Meg was dressed as an angel, all in white, Madame Giry dressed, as usual, in a black dress but wore a cobwebby shawl, I guessed she was a witch or a spider. Piangi was a sultan and Carlotta was just in a matching dress. All the managers had were capes. Talk about festive.
"What a night!" Madame Giry.
"What a crowd!
Makes you glad
Makes you proud
All the creme
De la creme." Andre and Firmin sang together
"Watching us, watching them." Carlotta said snobbishly.
"All our fears are in the past." Meg had a sweet voice.
"Three months" Andre.
"Of relief!" Piangi cried.
"Of delight!" Carlotta sang. They deserved each other.
"Of Elysian peace!
And we can breathe at last." Only for a bit, managers.
"No more notes." Carlotta spat the word.
"No more ghosts." If only you knew Piangi.
"Here's a health." Madame Giry raised an invisible glass.
"Here's a toast
To a prosperous year
To our friends who are here." The managers hung on the arms of the girls they were with. Gross.
"May the splendour never fade!" Why couldn't Erik've gotten rid of the both of them?
"What a blessed release!" They patted themselves on the back.
"And what a masquerade." Madame Giry spun the fan and masked her face. I waved Meg over and we began to catch up. I heard Raoul and Christine come back to sing the second half of the song.
"Think of it
Our secret engagement.
Look, your future bride.
Just think of it." She played with the ring around her neck, looking nothing short of elated.
"Why is it secret?
What have we to hide?
You promised me." He tried to kiss her, but Christine turned around, searching the shadows, trying to spot Erik.
"No, Raoul,
please don't,
they'll see."
"Well then let them see.
It's an engagement, not a crime.
Christine, what are you afraid of?" She shook her head. They began to sing and overlap.
"Let's not argue(Let's not argue)
Please pretend (I can only hope)
You will understand in time (I'll understand in time)!" Soon they were spinning again with the crowd and blended in. Raoul managed to snag a kiss just before the crescendo of the song and we all went to do the group dance number, the end of the song.
"Masquerade!
Paper faces on parade
Masquerade! Hide your face so the world will never find you
Masquerade! Every face a different shade
Masquerade! Look around, there's another mask behind you
Masquerade! Buring glances,turning heads
Masquerade! Stop and stare at the sea of smiles around you
Masquerade! Grinning yellows, Spinning reds
Masquerade! Take your fill, let the spectacle astound you." We held our hands to our faces, blocking it from view and taking steps here and there, lunging out at the people who did not know the dance. Together we pretended to hide our faces from the world. We lifted our arms in the air, ready for the grande finale when there were gasps and pointing to something behind us. The easy smile on my face dropped. There was only one thing that could make everyone go silent.
The Phantom of the Opera.
I spun around and backed away like Christine and Raoul and everyone else smart enough. Our eyes locked for a minute before I looked away. Erik was dressed in all red with the exeption of his black belt and boots. He wore a skull mask that covered his deformity completely and scared anyone who looked at it and a sharp silver sword at his hip. He was truly the Red Death.
"Why so silent, good monsieurs?
Did you think that I had left you for good?" He slowly descended from the stairs, building the tension in the room. I could feel my hands begin to shake. Heri put his hands on my arms, trying to comfort me.
"Have you missed me, good monsieurs?
I have written you an opera." He held his masterpiece for us all to see.
"Here, I bring the finish score.
Don Juan Triumphant!" He drew the sword and threw the score at the feet of the managers who hastily picked it up in terror of what he would do next.
"Fondest greetings to you all
A few instructions just before rehearsal starts:" Raoul ran off from Christine's side and patted her the know he had gone, she seemed frozen. Where was he going at a time like this?
"Carlotta must be taught to act
Not her normal trick of strutting 'round the stage." Carlotta gasped in indignation and terror as he fiddled with the feathers in her hair. Piangi, bless him, ran to defend her but was met with a sword to his stomach.
"Our Don Juan must lose some weight
It's not healthy in a man of Piangi's age." Piangi looked down, he almost looked like he was about to cry.
"And my managers must learn that their place is in an office
Not the arts." Both of them looked sallow and about ready to pass out. All in all it was pretty funny. He looked to Christine who flinched under his gaze and beckoned her to him. Too scared to disobey she walked forward until she was in front of him staring at his boots.
"I can see your loyalty is lost." He hissed and pulled the ring from her neck and brandished it before her eyes.
"The part of Aminta,
Sweet and delicate,
Shall be played by our lovely
Danielle BellRose." I felt my stomach drop to my knees and my heart launch into my throat. What? Everyone began to whisper and all the eyes turned to me.
He turned his gaze to me, and willed me to come forward. I was shaking on the inside, but I threw my shoulders back and walked as gracefully as I could until I stood right in front of him.
"Each song of hers,
More graceful yet,
Than that of our aspiring countess.
A spirit not so willing to betray
As that of Christine Daae!" He spat the words at her and she shook and flinched.
"So sing,
My sweet soprano,
Sing!" I felt his voice put me in a trance like state, but strangely I didn't care. All there was was Erik and me and the strangely familiar song.
"Cantero' per te il mio angelo,
E solo per te.
Guidami verso il trono della musica
E mi tengono al sicuro" I hugged my body, remembering his warm hugs.
"Nella tua luce oscura." I looked up at him and smiled; why had I been mad at him in the first place?
"Sussurrando tuo potere mostra
Dammi una eternità della tua canzone
Una vita con la tua voce.
Abbracciami e non lasciarmi mai andare." He held out his hand and I took it. He pulled me until our bodies were touching.
"Your voice shall forever be in my favor.
I know your secrets,
I know your soul.
Your talent in burning
Like an inflamed coal." He delicately brushed a loose strand of hair from my eyes.
"So sing to me my soprano,
Sing of the truth you see,
Sing of your hopes and dreams,
Sweet soprano sing of me!" He spun me around to face the crowd and I put my arms out to sing the beautiful Italian lyrics.
"Angelo della musica,
Toccare mi.
La mia passione si raffeloza
Mi e' stato monstro i mostri di questo mondo
Eppure io voglio le tue mani insanguinate ad accarezzarmi," I ran my hands from my face down my body.
"E passare il punto dinon ritrono con voi."
I held the last note as long as I could. This was how singing was supposed to be. Everything was so perfect. I could hear Erik breathing behind me and feel his warm breath on my shoulder. Everything was perfect in the world for that one minute.
Christine pulled me out of my trance and away from Erik. I looked around, eyes wide and alert. There was a rush of someone coming down the steps from above. The spell was shattered. Erik pulled me in close to him and whispered "You belong to me!" before turning and disappearing into the trap door beneath the staircase in a puff of red smoke and Raoul jumped in after him. He had gone to get his sword and tried to sneak up on him! That was a great idea, but it hadn't worked and now Raoul was under the Opera in Erik's mirror maze and I was standing there with all eyes on me and only half an idea of what had happened.
Of all the eyes in the crowd Carlotta's were the largest and full of knowing. What had just happened?
This chapter took me forever but it's done! Finally done! These chapters are usually only seven pages in google docs and this one is seventeen. SEVEN FUCKING TEEN. I DON'T EVEN KNOW. It's 3:10 in the morning, I'm going to bed. Everyone belongs to their rightful owners, Sweet Soprano belongs to me, name the chapter it's first mentioned in and get an internet cookie! Review! I expect lot for this chapter. Seventeen pages, goddamn.