Author's note: Chapter 3 is up. Near the end of this chapter we will see the main conflict in this story. No, it wasn't just Christine's conflict between the right man and Raoul!
Disclaimer: The Phantom of the Opera is owned by Gaston Leroux & Andrew Lloyd Webber.
Erik was here! Christine stared at the familiar figure, watching her in the box, and sang her heart out. She could feel her voice tremble with emotion as she sung this light song. When she finished the song with a loud tremolo, she suddenly noticed everyone staring at her in disbelief.
"Uh, mam'selle," began the conductor, "'Poor Fool, He Makes Me Laugh' is a light piece meant to be full of humor and frivolity. I appreciate your enthusiasm, but Il Muto should not be sung like Lohengrin. This is not Wagner. It truly does not require that much passion."
Christine blushed, and glanced at the figure who she knew to be Erik, who she could almost feel smiling. "I am sorry, Monsieur, I simply…lost myself for a moment."
The conductor gave her a quizzical look, than said, "Very well. Let's continue."
When the rehearsal was finished, Christine made her way back to her dressing room, exhausted. After she had finished that first song, Erik had disappeared, though she felt sure that he was still around, listening to her: this gave her heart. She was confused nonetheless. Why was it so important for her to have Erik around/ She was to marry Raoul, and Erik was gone from her life now. Shouldn't she be worried? Shouldn't she tell the managers immediately about this apparition, to warn them? No, she didn't want to. She actually wished she could talk to him one last time.
She turned the doorknob of her dressing room and walked in. There, facing away from her, was a man who was looking at something on her powder table.
"I'm sorry, monsieur, is there something you wanted to ask me?" she said tiredly, throwing aside a muff she had been handed as a prop.
"There is, in fact," a sinister, silky voice replied. The man turned, and Christine started. He looked like a clone of Erik, but with no face deformities and slightly older. "My name is Mathieu Destler. Erik Destler, your Phantom, Angel, what have you, is my brother. I would like you to aid me in finding him."
Erik had a brother? She inspected Mathieu, and realized how, if not for his face, Erik quite possibly could have become a well loved socialite, for he looked almost the same as Mathieu, who was very handsome. There was something off-putting about Mathieu, however. Where Erik gave off an aura of desperation, sadness and unrequited love, Mathieu somehow seemed more sinister than the man who she knew had killed people. Perhaps it was something about those steel grey eyes, much different from the expressive blue eyes of Erik.
"I am sorry, monsieur, but you do realize that, your…brother has disappeared, leaving neither me, nor Raoul, nor anyone with an idea of where he is now," she said coldly and politely.
Mathieu took a few steps towards her, until their faces were only inches apart. "I know you saw him today while you were rehearsing," he hissed. "I saw you looking up at Box 5 of this theatre. I saw that figure as well as you did, and he saw me, so I know he's not in this room. He'd know I go here." Suddenly he shook her shoulders. "Where is he now!"
"He's right here," said a voice to the left of Christine. She turned. There was Erik, resplendent in his black cloak and white mask, glaring at Mathieu. "Hello, brother, it's been a while."
"Indeed." He paused. "Djali sends her regards. She hopes to see you soon."
Erik frowned. "That is not amusing,' he said, and in a blur, he rushed towards Mathieu and somehow had him tied up in an instant. "You terrible, terrible person." He shook his head slowly, then turned to Christine and gazed at her steadily, then turned away and murmured, "I would not have forced myself into your life once more, if it had not been for Mathieu here. I knew he would come after you, trying to find me, and I couldn't let him get away with that." He gave her a side glance.
"Erik…" she began, but suddenly saw Mathieu stand up behind Erik. "Erik!"
"What?" She gestured behind Erik, and he began to turn, but it was too late. Mathieu held a wicked looking knife to Erik's throat.
"Surprised, brother?" he hissed. 'You shouldn't be: I was in the sultana's palace just like you. I learned her tricks just as you did. And now, sleep." And with a movement as fast as Erik's had been earlier, he hit Erik over the head with a candlestick that had been on a table. Erik slumped, knocked out, and Mathieu let him fall to the ground. Mathieu then turned to Christine, who let out a yelp.
"Don't worry, mademoiselle, I wouldn't do anything to give that beloved head of you're a lump," he said, and walked over to her. She knew she wouldn't be able to fight this strong man, but to her surprise, he took her neck in his hands. "Such a pretty neck."
She felt pressure from his fingers, then fell unconscious from pressing of her pressure points. (A/N: yes, that's awkward, but I want to make it clear that he's not trying to kill her…at the moment)
Christine woke up some time later to Raoul's face, of all people. He was standing over her, a concerned look on his face. She sat up a little and found that she was still in her dressing room.
"What happened?" she whispered.
"I was hoping you could tell me that," Raoul responded. "I came in here when you were late in meeting me after your rehearsal, and I found you lying on the floor, knocked out. Do you know how that happened?"
Her eyes widened. "Erik! We have to help Erik!" she cried, remembering the recent events.
Raoul frowned. "Erik the Phantom?" he said.
"Yes, of course," she said in frustration. "His brother took him away somewhere- oh, maybe to Persia! He mentioned a sultana."
"Wait, I missed a step. Why would you want to help the Phantom?"
She paused, and looked at this man, a few years older than her yet so much younger in how he acted. He looked at her in eager confusion, with no idea of how many thoughts and confusion she had in her head. For the first time, she openly wondered why she had chosen this innocent fool over the passionate man who, for all his quirks, was much more similar to her.
"Raoul, Erik made my career for me, and did everything it is possible for any person to do in order for me to succeed as a singer. He did deceive me, combining the memories of my father with himself in order for me to trust him, but can you blame him? After being shunned for his entire life, he couldn't very easily just walk up to me and ask me to dinner. I want to help him, because it's the one thing I can do to repay him for what he's done."
"You know I cannot condone this, Christine. The Phantom is a murderer and a madman. You know as well as I how quickly he would have killed me, without any twinge of conscience," he said. "Don't go looking for him. Where would it take you—Persia? You know nothing about that land—it would be terrible." Suddenly his eyes sparked with an idea. "If you go, I shall break the engagement. I would do it, Christine." He looked at her enigmatically.
She nodded. "I believe it, and I accept it." She walked close to him, and took off her engagement ring. Lifting up his hand and placing the ring in his hand, she said, "Consider it broken off," then turned away from him.
"Christine!" Raoul's voice broke with emotion.
"Good-bye, monsieur," she said in a cold voice, still not facing him. She heard him breathing heavily, than heard the door open, then close. After a minute or so, she turned around, and Raoul was gone.
She was free—free to find Erik, and she knew where she'd be going, and she knew who to go with. But first she had to find the Persian.
I wonder where she's going…anyone know the name of the Persian? I don't have my copy of POTO the book with me, and I'd rather give him a name than constantly referring to him as 'The Persian'. Anyway, review please! I love reviewers, thank you to those who have already done so. Till next time- au revoir!