OMG I feel like such a scummy Authoress... I'm so sorry, you guys! I didn't mean to leave you all hanging like that! It was just... exams... and I waited a while to get this chapter beta-d (Thanks again, Dani! Owe you a million!)... but those are no excuses. And you guys don't want them. You want the story, am I right? Okay, then. On we go!
Disclaimer: I don't own PotO.
Many hours later, Alyssa woke up at last, this time without any of Erik's prodding. She felt her head throbbing painfully, and cradled it in her hands. She laid there for nearly another hour, her hands over her eyes and her fingers massaging her temples, before sitting up.
As she bent her body forward, she heard a familiar but unexpected crumpling sound, one made by paper. She rubbed her eyes to more fully rouse herself, then let them open.
To Alyssa's bewilderment, there was a newspaper lying over her legs, held down by a rose with a black ribbon. She angled her head to the right and picked up the red flower, knowing who it was from.
But why would he give me this? she wondered, shuddering slightlyas she turned her attention to the newspaper. It looked new and freshly printed, but Alyssa noticed that all the pictures were in black and white, and looked old-fashioned. What scared her the most, though, was the date.
September 20, 1871? Oh god, that can't be right! But it was. Alyssa searched through the paper (which was undoubtedly on the kind of paper that newspapers were printed on), but every date was the same. To be sure that she wasn't being fooled by a clever printer, she read through almost the whole thing. There were articlesin the paper that surely would not have been written by anyone from 2005.
"Oh my god," she breathed, feeling panic ensnare her mind. "Oh my god..." Alyssa bit her lip, trying her best to stay calm and not lose her head. Fortunately, there was something that could help her do that.
"Nighttime sharpens, heightens each sensation
Darkness stirs, and wakes imagination
Silently the sense abandon their defenses..."
Alyssa raised her head, but she didn't see Erik anywhere. Is that even him singing? she asked herself asshe swung her legs out of bed and stood up silently. That voice.. it's so... beautiful... Alyssa walked to the opening of the room, and suddenly something behind her draped a blanket over her shoulders.
Surprised, Alyssa turned around to see Erik standing behind her. Strangely, though, she didn't feel frightened anymore. His eyes had none of the anger in them that they'd had the night before. In fact, they were glimmering with sadness and regret, and it almost broke Alyssa's heart to so much as look at them.
"Slowly, gently, night unfurls it's splendor
Grasp it, sense it
Tremulous and tender
Turn your face away from the garish light of day
Turn your thoughts away from cold, unfeeling light
And listen to the Music of the Night..."
Erik extended his hand, and Alyssa, feeling extremely peaceful, took it. He began to lead her into the main room, never once breaking the gentle stare of their eyes.
"Close your eyes and surrender to your darkest dreams!
Purge your thoughts of the life you knew before!
Close you eyes, let your spirit start to soar!
And you'll live as you've never live before..."
Now Erik had let go of her hand, but still his fingers lingered inches from her body, as though he was caressing the air around her.
"Softly, deftly, music shall caress you
Feel it, hear it, secretly possess you
Open up your mind, let your fantasies unwind
In this darkness that you know you cannot fight
The darkness of the Music of the Night..."
His tone became a little harder, and Alyssa continued to gaze at him withentranced eyes.
"Let your mind start a journey through a strange new world!
Leave all thoughts of the life you knew before!
Let your soul take you where you long to be!" -Alyssa gasped at the intensity of his voice and put a hand to her chest, enraptured-
"Only then can you truly be free..."
Erik had changed thelyrics that he usually sang then, thinking that Alyssa would like these ones better. She merely let her eyelids slide half-shut in an almost lazy manner.
"Floating, falling, sweet intoxication
Touch me, trust me, savor each sensation
Let the dream begin
Let your darker side give in
To the power of the music that I write
The power of the Music of the Night..."
Slowly Erik started to back away from her, yet Alyssa never looked at anything but him. Her face was expressionless, but he noticed that she took a small, however hesitant step toward him.
"Feel the power of the music that I write
The power of the Music of the Night," he finished, again changing the words because the original ones wouldn't have fit the situation. Alyssa blinked, her features somehow softer and her eyes expressing a slight disappointment at the ending of the song. Erik smirked to himself, glad that his voice had worked. If he hadn't put her in the trace-like state that she was in, he was sure that she wouldn't listen to what he had to say.
"Mademoiselle," Erik began, "I apologize for what I did to you last night. I don't know what came over me." He knew that it was best for him to keep his apology short and simple, before she came to her full senses.
Hearing his normal voice made Alyssa slowly come to reason with herself. Her first instinct was to inflict some sort of pain in Erik, but she remembered something just in time that stopped her.
"I'm so sorry." Erik had actually apologized to her before, right after he'd threatened her! Alyssa was torn apart by her impulse to snap off a smart-mouthed remark and her conscience, which reminded her of what she'd done to him as well.
"I... guess I'm sorry, too," she murmured at last. "I did... try to kill you. I mean, I just thought that I'd been kidnapped, you know? But..." Alyssa's breathing became more frantic and heavy. "...It seems that, crazy as it sounds, I'm suddenly in the year 1871!"
Erik put a finger under her chin and tilted her face up. "Mademoiselle, calm down. What do you mean, 'suddenly'? I don't understand."
Scared and desperately trying to keep control of herself as the weight of this unexplainable knowledge was put onto her shoulders, Alyssa whispered," I'm from the year 2005."
All of the sudden, everything about the past few days made sense for Erik. That was why she didn't know about him, and why she'd gotten angry when he had told her the date a few days before. It was, as Alyssa put it, crazy, but it fit the puzzle.
"Oh god. Mademoiselle, I thought that you were some Parisian, maybe a dancer in the opera house. I didn't let you go because I figured you would alert other people in Paris of where I lived."
Even though she was still quite shocked, Alyssa was beginning to accept her theory and the fact that she was over a hundred years in her past. The way she saw it, she would be stuck there whether she liked it or not.
"Well, this was one hell of a misunderstanding," she commented, her tone casual and even with a tinyhint of amusement in it.
"I see what it must have looked like to you, mademoiselle."
"I must have looked pretty weird, too, just kinda showing up here in a nightgown..."
Both of them turned inward to think for a second. They both thought afterward that it must have been a pretty comical situation, though neither thought so at the time.
"I'm still sorry about what I tried to do, mademoiselle," Erik apologized again.
"Me, too," she replied. "And, if you want, you can stop calling me 'mademoiselle'. It's a bit too formal for me. My name's Alyssa."
Erik let out a small breath. "Alyssa..." His voice trailed away softly.
"And since you aren't saying anything, I'm going to assume that you... don't have a name...? That whole Opera Ghost thing was a joke... right? I mean, you... do have a name, don't you?"
"Forgive me, mademoi- ...Alyssa. I suppose you could say that the Opera Ghost is my title. My real name is... Erik."
Alyssa nodded. "Okay, then. Cards on the table, Erik. The way I see it, I'm kind of stuck in this unfamiliar time zone without anyone I know and no place to stay. I mean, if you did let me go, I wouldn't tell anyone where you lived, but I don't really have anywhere I could go, so, I mean..."
"I... suppose you could stay here..."
"...Alright, then. I don't want to be, like, too imposing or anything, but thank you. Since it looks like I'll be staying here, I guess, it might be a good idea to skip the acquaintance stage. I still don't know you that well, but if we're going to be..." She paused for a moment, then took on a hesitant air. "But then again, after last night..."
Erik sighed. "Like I've said before, Alyssa, I don't know what came over me. I have no desire to harm you, but last night I just-"
"Snapped?" Erik nodded, and so did Alyssa."It's okay... I guess. I did try to kill you." The casual way she said that almost made Erik want to laugh. "You've been all right with keeping your word true, except for last night, and I guess I don't have much of a choice, so... I'll give you the benefit of the doubt."
Alyssa looked at Erik, and she noticed his mask again. She was tempted to bring it up, but luckily decided against it, thinking that it would be better to ask about it when they were more comfortable with each other.
"I'm glad that you don't hate me, Alyssa. There are already too many people in the world... but never mind them. What do you think... we should do? Well, of course, not now, but tomorrow?" Erik looked at Alyssa, and was surprised to see that she was staring at him with a suspicious expression.
"That was a curious thing to say. Too many people in the world who hate you? Why is that? What did you do?" Alyssa asked.
"Perhaps tomorrow, my dear." Alyssa gave him a curious look.
"You called me 'my dear'. Why?"
Erik stopped short. "I'm sorry, Alyssa. I'm not sure why I did that." And it was true. He didn't. He then shook himself and suggested that Alyssa go to bed. She didn't argue with him, but instead headed into his room, nodding to him once.
After a few seconds, Erik decided that maybe he should rest as well. He peeled off his coat and laid down on the small, uncomfortable chaise lounge again. He'd only been awake for a few hours, but what a few hours they'd been!
This had been a very enlightening day, he thought. I can hardly believe what must've happened to Alyssa. She... also wants to live with me! Hmm... perhaps she may become more that just an acquaintance, like she said. Alyssa may be my first friend.
Even though he knew how funny that sounded, Erik couldn't help but hope that it might be true. He had never had what he could really call a friend before.
Maybe that's why Alyssa feels like my last hope. She may not even be a "last hope", but instead perhaps a first friend...
There you guys go at last... I'm anxious to see how these reviews will be... Oh, adn before I forget, I'm thinking about changing the title of this story, too. Septermber 17 just sounds too... I'm not actually sure. But I'm gonna change it sometime soon. Perhaps after I post the nest chapter. Just to let you know.
Oh yeah, and his is a bit important. If there is anyone who would like to be a beta for this story, please let me know! I lost at least one, and I like to have two to get a little extra critique. So if there is anyone who would like to be a beta, please let me know!