Cracked Porcelain...
A/N: Dear readers...how long have you waited for this update? I give you all permission to form mobs and come after me with pitchforks and torches...my inspiration left me for a while, but thank god it has returned. Just to catch you up on this story so you dont have to browse back: Jack is currently running for his life after being discovered roaming the streets in the last chapter, Monica is out of the coma and currently staying with the Phantom...and as my friends like to say...This is sort of the calm before the storm. Things will get complicated in the next chappie as we go back to Jack and Lucy! On a side note Kiri and the Phantom will finally meet like some of you have been wanting for a while now ;D So read on mein freunde, and once more...my sincere apologies!...P.S :D at the beginning of the chapter Monica dosent believe that she's still alive, thats why she's so negative and delusional at first, after a three month coma I would probably feel that way too! DX
Masquerade…paper faces on parade. Masquerade; hide your face so the world will never find you….
The familiar tune floated throughout the lair, the music box playing without fault. Monica slowly opened her eyes but closed them soon afterward. She was sure that seeing the Phantom had all been a dream, perhaps she was still at the hospital. Perhaps she was dead already.
She rolled over grimacing while burying her face into the pillow. She was probably dead, why else would her resting place feel so comfortable. She brought her hand up slowly to cover her face as she rolled over once more.
Why did her life have to end so suddenly? Why now, when she had so many things to take care of, to finish.
She fought with herself and decided to get up anyway. Slowly but surely she stood up, her hand still covering her face. Her hair stuck out in different directions, some strands defying gravity. She dropped her hand halfheartedly and opened her eyes completely.
She looked around; she recognized the place well by now. It was the swan room back at the lair. She looked over to her nightstand to find the music box that had woken her. A monkey dressed in Persian clothing sat upon the finely carved box, its beady little eyes staring back at her sadly.
Her grimace only seemed to grow as she swung her legs over the side of the bed. Fate was being cruel to her; after all of the pain she had endured with Jack, even in death God seemed to get a kick out of taunting her with such cruelty.
She arrived to the conclusion that she had never opened her eyes back at the hospital, the Jackals had never invaded her territory and she hadn't come back to the lair. It was all a cruel illusion. It seemed surreal, but she shook the thoughts off.
Her eyes took a darker shade as she stood up and walked out of the room. How did it all come to this? Her eyes wandered over the lair, everything was just like before and yet…she didn't get the same feeling of warmth that she had before.
"Was it a dream…?" she whispered to herself running her hand over the keys of the organ. They felt real enough…but where was the owner of said instrument. Perhaps he could help clear her mind and set her straight.
A sharp pain on her abdomen caused all of the thoughts pertaining to the Phantom and her memories to be dashed away only to be replaced by a searing pain. Her hand shot up instinctively to the area where Jack had left a permanent mark hidden beneath bandages.
She backed up against the organ and placed her free hand upon the keys causing the notes to emit from the instrument and flood the lair. A hiss escaped her lips as she bit her lounge to hold back the pain that plagued her body and mind.
"I see you are awake," a voice commented causing her eyes to drift upward. She would have smiled upon seeing the familiar figure had she been in a better mood. She lowered her gaze from the man and fixed it firmly upon the ground beneath her.
"Am I dead…?" she asked quietly, scared of what his reply might be. Instead she earned herself a questioning glace from said specter followed by the raising of his eyebrow as he looked her over making sure she hadn't hit her head or fallen into the lake.
"Why would you ask such an absurd question," the man replied remaining in place, neither making a move to get away or get closer.
"Because I think I am, why else would I be down here with you," she explained, "last time I was awake I was being beaten to death…thrown down the stairs and nearly maimed with a knife…I don't know about you, but I don't think I survived that," she added laughing slightly as the pain began to creep away.
An eerie silence filled the lair; her heavy breathing was all that reached their ears. Monica looked up, and she could have sworn she was looking at the devil himself. Her eyes dilated slightly as they met with the metallic blue of the Phantom of the Opera.
She would have ran had she been able to.
"What?" he snarled dangerously, his jaw clenched tightly.
"If you didn't know…then," she paused slightly regretting what she had just let slip out of her mouth, "I'm not dead, and I'm back at the opera house," she whispered, her voice shaking as she realized her mistake.
"What happened to you…" the Phantom asked once more, his whole body tensing up as his nostrils flared warningly. He looked like a bull ready to charge and extremely unlucky matador.
"N-nothing…I fell off of my bike," Monica added quickly, much too quickly realizing that this was real life. Jack was still out there, she had the Jackals to deal with, Kiri to take care of, and now she had made the Phantom extremely upset.
His temper snapped, he stormed over to her and seized her by the neck while pressing her up against the organ. The keys being hit once more as she choked and held back a panicked scream, the notes echoing around the pair.
Tears clouded her vision as his cold gloved hand started to constrict her neck. She pleaded silently with him, her hands shook uncontrollably as one seized his wrist and the other clawed desperately at his vest.
"You did not fall from your motorcycle, do not lie to me," he growled shaking her as she choked out a sob.
The Phantom couldn't even control himself anymore. His mind was too busy running over all of the possible scenarios that could have happened to his muse. But the thing that hurt him the most wasn't related to the event that took her away from him. No, the thing that got to him was the fact that she refused to tell him who had done it.
He wanted to know who it had been; he wanted to hear them scream for laying a finger on her, for hurting her. And as he stood there with her delicate neck in his grasp he slowly realized what he was doing, her tear streaked face caused him to step back and drop his hand.
She coughed and rubbed her sore neck staring at him with accusing eyes.
He stayed away from her in fear of losing control of himself again, why couldn't she just see that the mere thought of another man laying a hand on her in that manner enraged him?
"I'm sorry," she murmured looking down. His eyes shot up; honestly he would never understand the woman in front of him. He should be the one apologizing; he should be on his knees begging for forgiveness. And yet she went ahead and apologized to him, to him of all people.
"I should have come sooner," she commented before coughing. A sound so harsh that it made him wince inwardly, "but I couldn't," she continued laughing once more.
She looked up at him, and saw nothing but confusion and regret in those beautiful blue orbs. She shook her head smiling at him and looked down once more.
"I shouldn't have lied to you, I apologize," she said before hugging herself nervously. She was past the point of no return; she had to tell him what had happened. She couldn't lie to him; she didn't think herself capable of it.
"Truth is…I was stuck in a hospital for three months, in a coma," she paused sneering at herself for being so weak, for not being able to control what had been going on throughout the period of her absence, "I was sent there because of Jack…you can probably guess what happened," she commented standing from her place at the organ and shedding her jacket to reveal her sleeveless black shirt underneath.
Numerous small scars were scattered along her skin, some larger than others. She looked down ashamed to have ended like that before rolling her shirt up slightly and wincing to reveal the bandages she had wrapped around her stomach to hide the worst part of her body.
She slowly undid the white material and dropped it revealing the large gash Jack had created with the piece of glass from her house. The scar was still fresh; it went in a curve from her mid rib cage all the way down to her lower abdomen.
The Phantom couldn't believe his eyes as they scanned over her once flawless skin. His hand reaching out instinctively as he brushed his thumb over the large scare analyzing it carefully. Monica stood still the whole time, ashamed of what she had become and to have let the Phantom find out. She had planned to keep it a secret, to never let him or anyone else find out.
"Look at me and tell me who I am, why I am, whatI am…" she sang as she looked at the Phantom's blank face as it scanned over the rest of her. She didn't know what she was anymore, she was Jack's rag doll, the face of the Bastards, Kiri's new mother…god, she didn't even know what do to with herself.
The Phantom couldn't even begin to fathom what had been going through the boy's head when he decided to harm his muse. He couldn't wrap his mind around it, and that bothered him greatly. She was ashamed of the scars, he could tell easily, but that was nothing compared to what he had to deal with.
She was still beautiful, a porcelain doll in his eyes with the tiniest of cracks in places that could easily be covered. He, on the other hand would always be a monster no matter what he tried to change. His cursed face would always be with him.
A ring broke the silence as Monica glanced over to her phone. She couldn't have asked for better timing. She moved away from the Phantom and picked it up before putting it on speaker.
She sighed as she heard the familiar voices on the phone.
"Boss, were at the front of the Opera House, come open up," Judas ordered, she could hear his teeth chattering and could already tell he was probably freezing outside.
"Judas…you know I can't," Monica reminded him.
"Don't worry boss, it's not me that wanted to come here-"he replied before his voice cut off and was replaced by another.
"Fraulein!" Kiri's voice echoed through the phone as the Phantom glanced over at her questioningly, he could have sworn he had heard that voice before. He just couldn't place it.
"That's what I was trying to warn you about," Judas replied before Monica smiled to herself. She distinctly remembered Logan telling her Kiri wouldn't quit talking about the funny man with a mask and violin. She now knew who Kiri had been referring too.
"I'll be up in a minute," Monica replied before hanging up and turning to face the Phantom. Her reason for getting up every day had just showed up, and it was about time that she met the man she had been talking about for days.
"It's time you two were properly introduced," Monica commented looking at the Phantom as he glanced over at the edge of the lake where the gondola was and then at the exit leading out into the city.
"You know what my priorities are," he commented starting to leave her before she reached out and grabbed his hand impeding him from leaving.
"Please, leave it be…it's not that important," Monica pleaded knowing full well what the Phantom meant. He wanted to find Jack, and for some odd reason she didn't want him to leave. She didn't want him to hunt down the man that had caused her so much pain, right now she just wanted to enjoy the little time she had with him.
"How can you say it is not important?" he snapped turning to face her, his expression calm, his eyes however proved otherwise.
"Just let it die for now, this is more important to me than Jack," she pleaded desperately giving his hand a squeeze as he calmed his nerves for the second time that day.
"Do not expect me to let this go unpunished," he warned her as she smiled at him gratefully. His rage was locked away for the moment as soon as she smiled at him. This woman had him wrapped around her finger without even realizing it.
"Thank you," she said before pulling him over to the curtain that lead to the upper levels. The Phantom allowed himself to be led by her, she hadn't let go of his hand, in fact she had probably forgotten she was holding it in the first place. As they moved throughout the catacombs however he allowed himself to hold her hand as well instead of just denying her touch.
Such a simple gesture really, and yet to him it meant the world.
He knew she was taking him to meet the child she had been left to care for, and that was the only reason he had agreed to go. The renovators had left long ago; the Opera Populair would be empty at this hour. Had she wanted him to meet with anyone else he would have said no, but how could he say not to her.
There was nothing she could ask that he could ever refuse.
He wouldn't be forgetting the name of the bastard that would soon meet his fate however. The name Jack wouldn't be forgotten by the Opera Ghost, and as soon as he could he would have the boy's head. He didn't care what it took; he would make him suffer what his muse had gone through. By the time he was done, he would be begging for death.
All the Phantom had to do was wait, and enjoy the time he had with his muse before fate decided to tear her away from his hold once more.
Review! Let me know what you think so far, any lovely ideas that you might have or what you want to see happen, dont be afraid! Review!
*For those of you interested, the little portion of song that Monica sings is from the musical 'Jekyll & Hyde' which is extremely good, I highly recommend it! The song is called 'No one knows who I am'