Disclamer and A/N: I do not own POTO. This chapter was up a bit sooner than the last one, i think up in 1 1/2 weeks, im getting back on schedual. It would have been up sooner but I was sick over the weekend and didnt have the strength to type, or write. Also school has been getting hectic. (just so you know I'm posting instead of studying for APUSH, you should be grateful)
Also many thanks to my reviewers, you make me push on, (even though i would write this anyways) Most of you enjoyed the Angry Erik, which i'm trying to write more of, to bring him back to the Leroux verson. And i never did mention why he was mad, it might come up later. (basically he was just mad) Big thanks to: Kay Blue Eyes, Naomipoe, eriksangleofvoice, clyobaby, nicole, and Queen of Perfectionism. (my beautiful reviewers!) Also a note, watch Phantom in French, its so pretty (even if you cant understand it, like me)
"Erik?' Aslynn quietly asked, looking the man in the eyes. He didn't show any sign of answering soon. His eyes were glazed over like he was in another world. She didn't think that such an easy question would send a man to never-never land, but apparently it had.
It had been a few minuets since she asked Erik if he would take up Monsieur Garnier's invitation to dinner. The first reaction she could read from the masked face was shock, but after that he went into a trance.
"Erik?" she asked again, this time leaning over a bit, touching him lightly on the arm.
Almost instantly he came back from his deep thoughts. He grasped Aslynn's wrist and started into her eyes. The woman tried o free her arm but his grasp was too strong.
"Erik, please let go." She pleaded, again trying to break away.
Realizing that it was only the young woman, Erik loosed his grip. He slowly slid his ungloved hand down her wrist and over her hand. Her hand was soft, and his ice-cold fingertips enjoyed the radiating warmth coming from her.
Chills were sliding up and down Aslynn's back. There was something about Erik's touch that made her feel like this. Something about how he would go from being so fierce to such a gentle touch. When he finally let go of her hand Aslynn pulled it to her bosom, even though part of her still wanted to feel his cold fingertips against her skin.
Looking into her eyes, Erik finally spoke. 'So this man wants both of us to come to dinner?" Aslynn nodded. "No. I'm not going."
Even though Aslynn's gut had been telling her that he would say this, she was shocked by his simple answer. "But you haven't even met the man. Why not go?"
"Because, I don't want to." Erik simply said, his eyes glistening with the reflection of the fire.
"Why not?" she questioned again, since he seemed to be holding something back.
"I already told you woman!" he said raising his voice.
"I know you did, but you didn't give a good reason why." She slumped back into the chair, afraid that he was going to unleash his wrath again. Maybe I should just leave it.
"Look, do you think anyone would want to eat dinner with me! Look at me! The whole attention of the dinner would be drawn to this," he spat in disgust pointing to his bone white mask.
"I would," Aslynn whispered, lowering her gaze from his face.
"What did you say?"
"Nothing, it's not important." She said, turning to the fire, and watching the flames seductively dance on the logs.
"Tell me what you said," he growled, now becoming impatient. She shook her head, still staring into the flames.
"If it wasn't something you wouldn't have said it. Tell me what you said." He snarled.
"I said I would." She turned to look at the Phantom. When she met his eyes, color quickly rose to her cheeks. Lowering her gaze she brought a hand to her cheek, trying to hide the blush.
"You would what? You would have all of your attention to this?" he said, pointing again to the mask. "So is that all you can think of when you think of me?"
"No. I meant I would want to eat dinner with you." She turned away as soon as she said this. By this point her cheeks were bright red. What am I saying? Only that I enjoy being with him, that's it. It doesn't mean anything else. No, it doesn't. He just the only one I really know, that's why. But what if there is something else?
Her thoughts were confusing her, as well as this knew feeling that was starting to grow. If anything she didn't want to give into it.
Erik was dumbfounded by her response. This time she clearly admitted to want to spend time with him. How could she though? How could anyone want to spend time with a beast? Especially a woman as beautiful as her, like being with him? He couldn't think of anything to say back to that.
Finally he was able to form words, "I'll make you something to eat, you must be famished."
He started to rise when Aslynn turned to face him. The redness that earlier had filled her blue eyes was now placed upon her cheeks in a crimson blush.
"Wait, I want to come with you." She said, getting up. The Phantom nodded as she walked over to the bathroom and lit the lamp in there.
His green eyes followed her until he realized that she wasn't closing the door. Turning away from the room Erik heard the sound of water. A little bit later the splashing stopped, and he turned back around to find Aslynn walking out of the washroom, drying her face.
She hung the towel on the hearth to dry, and then lowered the wicks in the oil lamps. When she turned around to look for Erik in the chair she was startled to not find him there. Quickly she scanned the room and found the Phantom standing in the doorway.
"I didn't heard you get up." She said as she walked to the door.
"Being able to move as silently as a shadow is very useful." He remarked with a small grin sliding across his face. He waiting until the woman was thru the doorway to leave. He let her lead the way to the kitchen. After following the young woman down one dimly lit hall, thru the well lit room on the lake, and back into another dim hall they made it to the kitchen. He picked up speed so he could pull a chair out from the table for her.
Thanking him, she sat down in the chair and watched the masked man hustle about the kitchen. The silence that filled the room was interrupted by a loud popping sound. Aslynn jumped a bit when she heard it, and her heart went racing. She was relieved when she saw her host walking over to the table caring a glass and a dusty bottle. He set the glass down in front of her and poured out a red, bubbly drink.
"What are we celebrating?" she playfully asked, accepting the drink from the man.
"It's not champagne, so we aren't celebrating anything. It's an effervescent red wine out of Prussia." He told Aslynn. "I haven't had this particular kind in a while."
"But I don't see a glass for yourself." Aslynn stated, swirling the wine around her glass.
"I'm getting one. I wanted to see what you thought of it first." With a smile Aslynn took a sip of the bubbly potion.
When the day came for Aslynn to go to work she was ready. The past few days Erik had been very moody. One minuet he would be furious, then later he would be calm. The young woman was beside herself for what to do. She would be talking with the Phantom about something and suddenly he would loose it and go stomping off yelling something along the lines of "Blasted woman!" She was ready to do something else to get her mind off of Erik and his moods.
She lazily made her way to the kitchen to make some tea and grab something to eat. She planned on stopping by the bakery on the way to Monsieur Garnier's, so she was just grabbing a pre-breakfast snack now. While waiting for the water to boil Aslynn listened to Erik play a haunting melody on the organ.
He had been playing a lot recently; almost every time she left her room she would hear him at the organ. She even heard the music in his dreams. If she did not hear the music she would find him hunched over the organ scratching out notes onto a sheet of parchment.
The young woman didn't mind the music, especially when she was trying to go to sleep. She had come to the conclusion that Erik's music was his way of expressing his true feelings.
As the whistle began to grow, Aslynn got a pot ready. Carefully she poured the steaming hot liquid into the pot to fuse with the tealeaves. The leaves were strong so it didn't take long for the tea to steep. After sweetening the tea with honey the woman picked the porcelain cup up and headed back to her room to bathe.
The music stopped when she entered the open room overlooking the lake. The man didn't turn to notice her, but bent down and scratched some notes onto his composition. He was too submerged in his music to take notice of the young woman's brief presence.
Shaking her head she continued down the other hall to her room. Closing the heavy mahogany door behind her, she set her teacup on top of the stone mantle. While turning the wick up on one of the lamps she hummed the melody she has been listening Erik hammer at for the past days. She liked the tune, and when she had asked him why he kept on working on it he became furious.
While she drew a bath the young woman finished her tea. Once the room was steamy from the hot water, she slipped off the pants and shirt she was wearing. After washing and relaxing she got out and tried her self off. As she let her hair dry, she struggled to put her corset and dress on. Finally after several attempts she was dressed and ready to go.
The Phantom was playing again when she entered the room over looking the lake. She carefully walked over near the organ, but remained far enough away so he could reach out to touch her. Again he either didn't feel the presence of the woman or just chose to ignore her. When the beautiful melody was nearing its end Aslynn finally spoke.
"Can you take me up to the city?" She asked, watching the strong hands glide across the organ.
The music that enchanted the candle lit room abruptly stopped. The musician turned around on the bench and found the woman standing a few feet away from him.
"Why do you need to go out?" he questioned.
"Today is when I start work, remember?" she cautiously replied.
"Oh yes, I recall that now. Are you ready?"
"Yeah," she replied, thankful that he wasn't mad. "I feel like a kid again."
"What do you mean by that?" Erik curiously asked, raising form the bench.
I said that out loud? "When I was younger I would always ask my parents to take me places, until I could go by my self." She said laughing to herself.
The phantom raised an eyebrow, but didn't say anything. He then made his ay down the old steps to the mourned boat. Aslynn followed and got in to the bat while the phantom untied it.
As they made the journey across the lake Aslynn thought about her family. Am I really dead there? Does life go on for them, like I never existed? Or do they wonder where I am? What are they doing now? She must have spoken the last part since Erik asked,
"Who is 'they'?"
"My family. My mom, dad, brother and sister." She replied, watching the oars ripple the black water.
"Do you miss them?" He asked in a whisper after a few moments of silence.
Aslynn nodded, "Yeah, a lot. I never thought I would miss them this much."
Erik didn't say anything else. I wonder how good of a relation ship she had with them. She hasn't really shown that she misses everything from where she came. Maybe she does and I just don't notice. Even if I did notice, how would I be able to tell that she was showing signs of separation? It's not like I've ever dealt with that. My mother was barely motherly, and I never really had any real family to miss. But I have missed Christine.
Oh, Christine, why did you have to leave? Why did you have to love him? Yes, I miss her; I've missed her since the day she left with him. I miss her voice, her doe like eyes.
Now that I think about it, I haven't missed Christine as much now that Aslynn is here. She had kind of filled Christine's spot. Well, not like that. I don't lover her like I loved Christine, if you can even call what I care for her love. I do like having her here though, even if we do get into fights.
Erik' s thoughts were interrupted by the extra rocking of the boat as it collided with the dock. He tied it off and then turned to help the young woman out. This time she accepted his hand and let him pull her out of the boat. He let go once she was soundly on the dock. Taking the lantern off the bow he started up the windy path, waiting for the woman to follow.
Remembering what she said earlier, about holding his hand when they descended the steps, he figured it was ht same for going up. He gently reached out and pulled the young woman closer to him, enlacing her fingers into his. He looked down at her face when doing this and saw her bright blue eyes smiling up at him.
The rest of the journey went by fast, and the hand in hand couple soon reached the door to the outside world. Letting go of her hand Erik asked,
"What time do you want me to meet you?"
"I don't know, maybe around four-ish?" she replied, tightening her cloak around her, getting ready for the clod blast of outside air.
"Four it is. I'll meet you in the usual spot." He said, opening the door and letting in a cool spring breeze.
Aslynn walked out, and when she turned to say goodbye he had vanished into the shadows. All that showed he was with her was the door slowly shutting. "See ya then." She said to the closing door.
It was around the middle of April and plant life was starting to show. Window boxes were in bloom with multicolored tulips and the trees were leafing out. The cool breeze ruffled Aslynn's hair as she walked to her first stop, the bakery. After getting what she wanted she soon went on to the Garnier Manor.
The drive to the house was full of color from the flowers and shrubs. The gardens around the front of the house were 'springing' into action and starting to show their full beauty. A sound drifted to Aslynn's ear that she hadn't heard in a while, the sound of birds happily chirping. Smiling she inhaled a deep breath of the spring air before ringing the bell.
The door creaked open and the Butler peered out. Seeing the young woman he opened the door all the way.
"May I help you?" His asked in a deep, rough voice. His accent wasn't French.
"Yes, I'm Aslynn O'Neil and I'm here to see Monsieur Garnier. I start working for him today." She said in a strong voice.
"Oh yes, he is expecting you. Please come in." The Butler showed no emotion when saying this, nor did he seem to care.
The woman walked thru the doorway into the front hall. There was a smell of tobacco smoke in the air, which caused Aslynn to cough.
"If you would wait here, Monsieur Garnier has a guest at the moment. I will inform him of your arrive." With that the Butler left the room, leaving Aslynn waiting by the door, her thoughts drifting off to a certain masked man.
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