A/N: I am soooooooooo sorry for the long wait for the update. But here it is, short but sweet. I am really sad about how few reviews I have receieved with the last two chapters of Shadows of the past. It really does make it harder for me to write since I gain so much inspiration from reviews. So please, even if it is constructive critiscim, just hit that button and give a little review. It means a lot to me.
Twinkle22:I do hope that you will continue to read even though it has been so long since my last update.
peachi padwan: I am glad that you enjoy it. To be perfectly honest I find it hard to write this story since I am not sure where I want to go with it. But we'll see.
thePhantom'sEvenstar: Call me shallow, but after meeting Michael Shawn Lewis, the gorgeous and talented man who plays Raoul in the Braodway musical I like Raoul a bit more and I feel guilty about making him out to be so horrid in Shadows of the Past. I plan on writing another fic where he is a good man :D And of course he will find someone...everyone will.
micheped: It has been so long!
primadonnakate: I hope you haven't given up on me!
Cat: Why thank you!
amanda: Please continue reading dear.
Caitlin: Thankies! I am glad that you like it and I do hope that you will continue reading.
Erik sat in his basement for the first time in months. Since Christine had come to live with him he had rarely had to opportunity to slip away unnoticed. Now he said on his chaise and looked over the many compositions he had written in his anger and despair.
His life had changed since Christine had come back into his life. He no longer felt such anger. In fact he now felt happier than he ever had. Christine would soon be his wife and they would start a new life together.
As he looked through the sheet music he happened upon Don Juan Triumphant. He frowned, he thought he had destroyed all the copies of what he had once thought would be his masterpiece.
His eyes scanned the lines of "Past the Point of no Return." The song was dark, passionate and sensual and although it had been written in anger it still held such love behind it. But that love had become dark and possessive as Christine began to slip out of his grasp.
He desire for her grew when he knew that she might no longer be his. He put all his lust and passion as well as his anger and love in that song and it created a song that he was sure no one who had heard it would forget.
"For old times sake." Erik murmured as he took the piece over to his piano. He began to play the first notes and felt the world around him fade away.
XXX
Christine was just about to close her eyes when she heard the notes of a song she knew all too well begin to play.
"It can't be." She whispered, sitting up in bed. She scrambled out from under the covers and grabbed her robe. She had no idea where the music was coming from since there were only two floors to Erik's home. Yet she had only heard the music when she had her head resting on her pillow, which led her to believe it was coming from below.
She cautiously walked down the hall. As far as she knew everyone was asleep. She had told them all earlier that night about her engagement and after that everyone had been exhausted.
She softly knocked on Erik's double bedroom doors and when she didn't hear a reply she swung the doors open. She didn't see him inside and knew better than to go into his room uninvited.
As she continued walking down the hall the music seemed to be drifting towards her, yet sometimes it would be silent. She eventually wound up in front of a suit of armor and realized at this point the music was at its loudest.
Knowing Erik there was bound to be a hidden room somewhere in this large house. In fact there could possibly be a whole other floor she never even knew about.
She frantically scanned the door and armor for anything that might trigger the secret to reveal itself. Nothing seemed out of place or at all peculiar.
Christine was about to give up when her eyes landed on a faint marking on the breastplate of the suit of armor, leaning closer she saw that it was a rose. With a slightly shaking hand she brushed her fingers over the engraving and jumped when she heard a rumbling noise.
The wall was moving….
XXX
"Damn it Erik." Christine swore under her breath after tripping once more in the darkness of the tunnel she was now in. She could hear the music getting louder and louder the closer she came to whatever room Erik was hiding.
The walls around her were cold, but thankfully not slimy and damp like those of the opera house had been. She also was glad to find that she didn't see or hear any rats about her shuffling feet.
Finally she came to the end of the tunnel, at first she thought it was a dead end but when she felt around with her hands she felt a cold metal handle. She pulled on the handle with all her strength and the door swung open.
When she stepped inside she was once again the same Christine that the mysterious Phantom had taken to his lair. She looked in the direction where the music was coming from and saw Erik sitting in front of a massive pipe organ, swaying to the music he was playing. Should she approach him or turn back.
Although Erik had changed a lot since his days as the Phantom, his anger could still flare up without much warning. But the music captivated her…that song captivated her. She couldn't help but to walk over to him, she looked at his face and could see the passion and pain reflected there.
His eyes were closed and Christine hoped he wasn't envisioning what had happened that night. When the song ended, Erik took his fingers off the keys and looked down at his hands as if they had played that song without the rest of his body's consent.
He then turned around to look at Christine. "Erik…that song…" She couldn't explain what she felt. That song brought so many emotions to the surface, some good and some bad.
"I do not know what came over me Christine." Erik stood from his seat on the bench and took Christine in his arms.
"It's beautiful Erik, but every time I hear it I think of the past. I don't want to remember the past. All that matters to me is right before me." Christine gazed into Erik's eyes, hoping that together they could overcome the ghosts from their past.
Erik kissed Christine's forehead and took her hand. "Come, let's rest. We have a wedding to plan."
XXX
That night Erik slept with Christine in his arms. They both knew it wasn't appropriate to sleep in the same bed, or room when they weren't married. But this wasn't about making love, this was about loving each other.
Both Erik and Christine had gone through so much in their lives, and that song was living proof of how far they had come; together. Christine found peace in Erik's arm and vice versa. That night Christine and Erik had slept in their hidden chamber below the rest of their house.
Erik had recreated another gorgeous bed, covered with plush red and black pillows and soft red blankets. The headboard was carved to look like music notes on various bars of a sheet of music and Christine was amazed at the detail. Right before she fell asleep she could hear Erik softly humming, that and the sound of his steady heartbeat lulled her to sleep.
XXX
"Christine? Christine are you in there?" Meg knocked on her best friend's door repeatedly. When there was no answer she just assumed her friend was already up and about. Not that she could blame her, if she was about to be married she would find it hard to sleep as well.
When she was almost completely down the hall, she heard the creaking of a door and turned around. Both Erik and Christine were leaving Erik's room together. When Christine saw Meg she blushed deeply, she could only imagine what was going through Meg's mind.
"Good morning Christine, Erik." Meg said with a slight bow of her head before she left them alone in the hall.
"Oh no, I hope she doesn't think…" But Erik silenced her with a finger to her lips.
"Shush. You can explain to her later." Erik was right, she could tell Meg what really happened later. Besides, Meg should know her well enough to know that she wouldn't sleep with Erik before they were married.
That morning before breakfast Christine asked Meg to take a walk with her through the garden. Meg agreed and once Christine was sure no one would overhear she set about explaining what had happened last night.
"Meg, I didn't…"
"I know you didn't Christine." Meg said with a kind, genuine smile. Christine embraced her best friend, thanking God for sending her a person who knew her better than she knew herself.