Trust

Erik stepped out of the water and onto the rock floor that was his home. He almost called out to Amelia, but saw her curled up in the soft chair. She was beautiful. Her dress was all black except for white buttons and a bow, both on the back. The black ribbon in her hair was slowly sliding out.

He walked over to the chair, and kneeled down in front of her, so their faces were inches apart. His eyes studied her face; she looked content. What should he do? Wake her up, and probably surprise her with his new look? Or wait till morning and still surprise her? He decided to wait till morning, she was probably exhausted.

The following morning, Amelia was the first to wake up. She looked around groggily, then found Erik lying on the ground near by, his back to her. He was wearing… a white shirt, and new black pants? And she could see his dark hair… She frowned in confusion and curiosity. She got up and walked slowly towards him.

"Erik?" she whispered softly. He rolled over. She gasped quietly at what she saw. He had a white mask on. It only covered the right side of his face, so she could see the left side. Amelia had forgotten how handsome he was, after all, it had been quite a while ago when she saw his face.

Erik's eyes slowly opened, but Amelia didn't notice because she was too busy exploring his features. "Mia!" he said, sitting upright. She backed up a bit. "What… happened?" she asked, puzzled.

For the first time in long time, Erik felt himself flush. "Marie went to the market and bought… this," he said, hands gesturing to his mask, then his clothes. Amelia's eyes looked at his mask for a while, and then down at his clothes.

"You don't think it's terrible, do you?" Erik asked, hoping for a positive answer.

"No, no. I – I like it," she told him, realizing how much she did like it. "It'll just take me a while to get used to it," she added truthfully. A sweet smile graced her lips.

"You know what I think?" she asked innocently.

"What?" he said, a little unsure.

"If your hair would just lie down…"

He sighed, "That's what Marie said."

"Oh, come on! It won't be that bad. Just let me wash your hair and I'll leave you alone." Amelia smiled at him. Erik sighed in defeat and she giggled with excitement.

Erik had on his old trousers again, but also his mask. He had a reluctant look on his face. Amelia pointed at the water sternly. She wasn't going to back down. He stepped into the cool water and waited for instructions. "Get your hair nice and wet," she said. Erik hesitated; should he take off his mask, or get it wet? He turned around, not facing her, took off his mask, and dunked his head under the water.

Amelia looked down at her hands, almost sadly, when he went under the water. Didn't he trust her enough to show her his face? But she made sure that she didn't try to peek and respect his privacy. As soon as Erik came back up, he put his mask on and looked at her.

"This isn't going to work."

She sighed in agreement. If he wouldn't show her his face, this would be difficult. Then she got an idea. Amelia picked up a small towel.

"Wear this. I won't look," she said.

Erik took off his mask as she turned away and held the towel to the right side of his face. "Okay, now sit," she said, returning to the task. He did as he was told. She took some shampoo that she had used once and sat behind him. Amelia was about to put the soap in his hair, but she suddenly felt shy. He turned his head to the left to look at her.

She flushed, but lathered it into his hair. Amelia stood to make it easier for her to reach the front. All of his hair was covered in shampoo, and it looked rather funny. She smiled as she made some of his hair stick up.

"Are you done? Or am I interrupting something important?" Erik bantered.

"Okay, rinse," Amelia said, nearly laughing.

He dunked his head under the water and foam came to the surface. When he stood up out of the water, he saw Amelia looking the other direction holding out his mask to him. He dried his face and put the mask on. She took a different towel and dried his hair with it.

Erik sat in front of the chair, while Amelia sat in it. She slowly combed his hair back. "There, doesn't that feel better?"

"Sure," he said, not wanting to admit that it did.

Amelia sighed and sat back into the chair. "It's going to be so boring today; we don't have rehearsals for a few days since the last opera was performed."

"I can show you some really amazing passageways I found," Erik suggested as he looked back at her. She shrugged.

"Ouch."

Erik had led Amelia down a passageway that they had to crawl through. As Amelia was coming out of it, she bumped her head on the top.

"You okay?" Erik asked, taking her hand to help her up.

"Yes," she sighed.

They stood in awkward silence for a moment. Amelia looked around the space they were in. The ceiling was high and it looked as if it hadn't been used in over a decade. "You can see the kitchens from here," Erik offered, walking over to a corner.

Amelia followed him and looked through a crack in the wall. Sure enough, they could see cooks preparing food at the stoves. The heavenly scent of fresh baked bread lured them closer to the opening. "That smells so good," Erik whispered. They both inhaled the aroma once more.

Amelia looked over at Erik. "Do you want one?" He looked back at her. They both knew that it would be easy for Amelia to get food; but it may be a little harder for Erik. He nodded. "Want to make it fun?" She smiled mischievously. "Sure," he replied.

"Okay, you see that basket of bread?" They glanced through the crack to see a basket containing rolls. "We'll see if your passageways are quicker than the regular way. You use the passageways to get to the kitchen, and I'll use my own little short cuts. First one to the kitchen or basket gets the first bite. Deal?" Erik smirked, "Deal."

They shook hands for a moment, and then Amelia ran towards the exit of the room and crawled out. "Good luck finding your way out!" Erik called, moving towards another exit. Smiling, Amelia rolled her eyes at his comment and kept on crawling.

Eventually, she got to a main hallway. It took her a moment to realize where she was. She needed to go past a few more halls and down a few flights of stairs to get to the kitchen. Just to shorten the trip, Amelia cut through a practice room.

He could still smell the bread as he crawled through the passageway. So if I go left, that will take me to the North Wing, but if I go right I'll be in the South Wing. Erik turned right and exited the tunnel into a practice room.

Just as Erik entered the room, he saw Amelia departing through another door. "Mia," he moved his voice right in front of her. He saw her jump and look around. She turned around just as the door closed and saw Erik smirking.

Amelia scowled frivolously. She turned on her heel and walked swiftly down the hallway. The kitchen was only two flights of stairs away.

Erik thought quickly. There was no way he could beat her using a passageway now. It was a foot race. He would just have to keep on distracting her. Erik opened the door in time to see Amelia turn a corner. It was lucky that this hallway was scarcely used.

"Amelia," he threw his voice in her direction. He ran towards the end of the hallway, but made sure no one was coming before he turned. After he rounded the corner, Erik saw her going down the stairs. He hissed her name one last time, hoping to slow her down.

Amelia got chills when she heard his voice echoing off of the stone walls. In fact, nearly every time he said her name, her body responded some how. Her heart would speed up, she would shiver, or she would smile.

The sound of footsteps took Amelia from her thoughts back to the game. Then she realized how hungry she was, and how hungry Erik must be. She looked back to see that he was only a half a flight behind her. Amelia squealed in childish delight as she got onto the floor that the kitchen was on.

She sauntered into the kitchen slowly, basking in her lead. When she heard him jump onto the floor, Amelia hurried to get to the basket. Once Erik came into the kitchen, he knew he was defeated. Amelia was standing by the counter biting into a piece of bread.

She smiled at the look on his face. He smiled sarcastically back at her. Amelia tossed him a roll and the two went back to their home.

A few days later, Amelia was lying on the ground studying music that she was to perform in the next opera. She closed her eyes when she felt the tingle of Erik running his fingers through her hair. "What's that?" he whispered, continuing what he was doing. "Music," she sighed. "You want to go upstairs?" Amelia rolled over onto her back so she was looking up at him.

Erik's heart began to pound. She was so beautiful. Her eyes bore into his and he nodded. He stood up and held out his hand to help her up. She took it and stood. They didn't let go of each other's hands, though. When they reached the water, Amelia was about to take off her petticoats, but Erik lifted her.

"What are you doing?!" she asked, surprised. He didn't answer at first. He wasn't sure why he picked her up, and he was surprised that he actually could; Erik wasn't necessarily that strong.

"I will get us a boat," he told her after a few moments.

"Well… I could get used to this," she replied. Smiling, she placed her hands around his neck.

The two went up the many flights of stairs and wandered around the dark hallways. Amelia looked behind them to make sure nobody was around. She took Erik's hand and went onto the stage. Their hands stayed in one another as they walked towards the piano.

She let go of his hand after they sat on the piano bench. He began to play a section from the opera that she had performed. Amelia looked over at him when she recognized it.

"How did you learn that?" she asked, amazed. He pointed to his ear. "By listening, I guess. I heard you play it all the time." She smiled.

He played a little more while Amelia stayed silent. When he was finished, she hesitated, and then asked, "Erik, do you trust me?" He looked over at her, a little confused. "Of course I do." She fell silent, and looked at her hands in her lap.

"Amelia, why –"

"We've known each other so long, yet you are so afraid to show me something."

He sighed. There was silence for a moment, then he said, "You must promise me that you will not scream." She could see fear in his eyes. "I would never do that to you."

Erik's heart pounded painfully in his chest. Slowly, he closed his eyes. Then he took off the mask that covered his deformity. The full horror of his face was revealed to her, yet she didn't even blink. A small smile appeared at the corners of her lips.

Amelia had seen his face before. She didn't mind seeing it, but she wanted to know that Erik would let her see it. His eyes were squeezed shut, afraid of her reaction. Amelia wet her dry lips and slowly leaned toward him. She gently pressed her lips to his marred flesh. Erik's eyes burst open after the unnatural feeling on his cheek.

Her lips curled upwards a bit from the look of shock on his face. "Told you I wouldn't scream," she said softly. His dark brown eyes looked all over her features, almost fearfully. He couldn't let himself believe that she had just kissed him.

She watched him, not letting herself look away. Erik stopped searching for answers and looked back into her eyes. Slowly, he leaned towards her. For the first time in both of their lives, they kissed each other on the lips.

As the pair pulled away from each other, neither said a word. Amelia just took Erik's mask from his hand, placed it on the piano, and waited for him to play. He looked over at her and smiled slightly, and then he played.