Ah! The long-overdue update. I'd usually start on some long ramblig excuse now, but when it all comes down to it, I just didn't update soon enough. My sincerest apologies, I will try to get better as the summer progresses.
Disclaimer... Oh, forget it. This is the last one I'm typing. From this chapter on, bear in mind that I just don't own Phantom of the Opera!
Later that night, Erik sighed as he sat alone on his chaise lounge. He stared aimlessly into the darkness, not really seeing what he was looking at, with his shirt half-open and still fairly damp from Alyssa's tears. He had long since put her to bed by singing a soft, rather meaningless lullaby to her in graceful Italian, letting the words slip off his tongue like water. She had allowed him to sit beside her as she fell asleep, listening to the words she didn't understand. Erik could have sworn that the tiniest hint of a smile had been on her lips as she lost consciousness, and he had continued singing even after he knew she was dreaming.
Poor Alyssa, he thought, adjusting his position on the lounge. She loved him, and that stupid boy just used her. Erik sighed. He hated people like that, people who used words of love to get something exceptionally different. But... she let me hold her. Alyssa let me sing her to sleep and stay beside her as she dreamt. No one has ever let me do that before. Well, at least not willingly. Christine... passed out after she saw my figure of her. That's different. Erik chuckled in spite of himself at how much those thoughts sounded like something Alyssa would say. He had to admit (however unwillingly) that she was definitely rubbing off on him.
After a minute, Erik stood up, since he felt rather unable to sit still. He quietly walked to his room, being careful to not wake Alyssa. Slowly he crossed the room to stand beside the bed.
The barest hint of a smile graced his expression as his eyes took her in. He stood in a dignified silence as he watched her sleep, hardly even blinking. Eventually his gaze settled on the curves of her chest, and as he observed how they moved as she breathed, Erik found himself absentmindedly imagining rather... interesting things.
Suddenly he shook himself violently back to his senses as he realized what he was doing. He looked at Alyssa's sleeping form with wide, horrified eyes, then mentally cursed himself violently and quickly left the room.
What the hell was I thinking? How could I possibly dare to imagine... How could I think of her so indecently? I'm a Devil's Child! I'm a monster, a demon! How dare I imagine such things? ...I'm forgetting what I am. I'm beginning to think of myself as a normal person, deserving of such things!
"...But I'm not. I don't deserve... anything. Only a painful, slow death. I'm worthless. A corpse. A demon. The Devil's Child..." Erik's eyes grew hard. "God, I need to get out of here." He took a deep breath and gave his room one last longing glance.
Stop it! Don't think about that, just leave and find yourself a painful death, you demon! "You demon," Erik repeated, cursing himself harshly afterword. He shook his head in both frustration and agony, then, knowing that he was more likely to change his mind altogether the longer he delayed, he strode purposefully over to the covered passageway and pulled the velvet curtain aside. He stared for a second into the blackness of the corridor, then walked into it without a moment's hesitation.
Something was wrong. Alyssa could sense it immediately as she sat up straight in bed. A nagging feeling tugged at her heart, refusing to let go, and after a minute she worriedly threw the covers to the side and stood up. Being careful not to make any noise, Alyssa crept to the opening of the room. She looked around cautiously, in case Erik was half-naked or something, but he was nowhere to be seen.
Where'd he go? she wondered to herself, and as she pondered for a moment, something moved in the corner of her eye. The curtain covering the labyrinth was swaying slightly. Since she knew that there was obviously no breeze underground that could have disturbed it's stillness, she ran over to it.
"Erik?" she called, not too loudly because of some strange fear deep within her. Her eyes cautiously attempted to penetrate the labyrinth's darkness, but she could see nothing. Needless to say, that did naught to calm her nerves.
...Well, he did say that nothing in the labyrinth could ever hurt me... so... I guess it's okay... Without a second thought lest she also change her mind, Alyssa entered the labyrinth.
The silence was almost deafening as she walked, as though an invisible pillow was pressed over her ears. That in itself was almost enough to drive her insane, but she was determined to find out where Erik had gone and if he was okay. It was too dark to see anything, either before or behind her, and yet even that was not enough to steer her away from her mission. However, it suddenly hit Alyssa after a few minutes that she was... inevitably lost.
"Oh, shit!" she cursed, striking the wall beside her helplessly with her fist. An intense feeling of terror set in quickly, and a tremor shook through her. "Shit! What the hell was I thinking? ...Didn't even bring a stupid candle, god dammit! What the hell am I doing here?" She sank to the floor, leaning her head despairingly against the wall. "Erik!" she yelled. "Erik, answer me, dammit!" There was no answer to her cries, and Alyssa felt a single tear of panic slide down her cheek, one which she wiped away angrily.
Erik hurried through the corridors, trying hard to purge his mind of all thought. Whenever some kind of rational thought threatened to enter his mind, he dismissed it swiftly and sped up, until he was nearly sprinting. At last he slowed to a relaxed walk, once he was assured that he wasn't going to turn back.
Suddenly he stopped walking altogether, his mind a blur of confusion. But I've... left her all alone, he thought. In my home. Not only that, but even if she somehow managed to get out, she doesn't know much about Paris or this era. ...Have I... comdemned her to death? By leaving her, have I somehow indirectly killed her? Should I go back after all?
"No," Erik whispered darkly, shaking his head. "She'll be better off. I don't deserve to be around her, and she deserves better than to be around someone like me. She'll be better-"
"Erik!" He jumped as the cry echoed violently throughout the passageway, and turned around, half expecting to see Alyssa behind him. But no, it was merely the acoustics of his labyrinth. In his mind, he knew that she was actually far away. Oh, God... she sounds like she's in pain! All thoughts of running away now forgotten, Erik began sprinting in the other direction, back toward his home.
"'Cause I struggle with forward motion,
I struggle with forward motion.
We all struggle with forward motion...
'Cause forward motion is harder than it sounds
Well every time I gain some ground
I gotta turn myself around again..." Alyssa softly half-whispered, half-sang the lyrics to herself, feeling eeriely calmer as she did so. Dried tear streaks covered her face, which was pressed harshly to her knees as she huddled on the ground. It was such a childish thing, to be scared of the dark, yet the pitch-blackness that surrounded her was enough to make anyone terrified, she was sure.
"...Erik..." she breathed, shivering in both fear and loss of heat. The only thing keeping her from going utterly mad was the thought that he would come back for her, the fantasy that he wouldn't let her die in this horrible labyrinth. However, as the minutes ticked by without sign of him, her thoughts became darker and more sinister in nature.
"Alyssa!" She started and gasped as a pair of hands grasped her forearms tightly. Her head snapped up upon reflex, and it collided rather forcefully with Erik's chin. He moved away quickly, a hand cupping his chin, and she massaged the crown of her scalp, the realization that he was there hitting her slowly.
"Damn it, Erik..." Alyssa tried to keep her voice steady, but she knew it was going to crack. The moment it did, she threw her arms around Erik's neck. "You... you b-bastard! What the he-hell were you thinking?" Erik gave her shadowy figure a quizzical look for a moment, yet found that he enjoyed immensely the way she held him. His right hand moved involuntarily to the small of her back, and he pulled her a little closer.
She trembled softly in his arms, which he took as a signal to hold her tighter. Her body heat was inviting in ways that he tried to control, yet after a few seconds he felt a fierce lusting take hold of him, and pushed her away, perhaps a little less gently than usual.
"Erik, what the hell?" Alyssa bumped back against the wall slightly and eyed Erik's dark figure with a disbelieving glare.
"Listen, Alyssa, I need you to go back. Don't question me, just go."
Alyssa scoffed, angered by his commanding tone. "No, I'm not just going to go back and leave you. What's the matter? Seriously, if I did something, I'm sorry, but I have no idea what it is! Come back with me... and, I don't know, we'll work this out, okay? Please?"
She moved forward and touched Erik's arm softly, but he shrugged her off. "Damn it, Alyssa," he cursed, his voice sounding strained and full of hurt. "I'm not asking you to leave, I'm telling you! Go back, now! You... deserve better than to be around someone... like me..."
"And what makes you think that?" Alyssa asked, feeling a little relieved in spiteof herself at the fact that he was sharing his (rather ridiculous, in her opinion) concerns with her.
A sudden rage took hold of Erik, mixed with panic and fear. He whipped a single match out of his pocket, and struck it against the wall. "You want to know why, my dear? Well, do you? All right, then!" Staring at Alyssa's curious eyes in the flickering light of the tiny flame, he reached up and tore his mask away from his face.
Ooh, dun dun dun! Cliffy!
Don't worry, as long as you review, you'll get an update in a day or two, I promise. PhantomAngel will make sure of that, right my friend?