AUTHOR NOTE:

Hello my beastly awesome readers! I am in such a good mood today!

1. THANK YOU TO ALL WHO REVIEWED! -ahem- once more my first shout out goes to PrimadonnaKate because she reviews all the time and kept me going from the beginning. Yes I am lame for typing every name of the people who review, but that is my thank you.

More to: OG- O.o sooo mysterious, Lady Wen, and last but not least Mademoiselle Christine Daae

2. Enjoy the chapter, I'll see you at the bottom.

TheDragonEye

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Seclusion

"Erik?"

Silence

"Erik, please. You have been so distant as of late."

Silence

Christine nibbled on her lower lip in a worried fashion towards Erik's behavior. It had been three days since Erik's fever had broken and with each day he grew stronger, but back up to his recluse self. Or at least he would be if Christine was not constantly by his side and asking what was wrong. In Christine's own opinion she blamed his surroundings, though Erik had lived in his under ground home for twenty years even he could not deny that the conditions were best for him.

Erik didn't care about the sanitary conditions though. They weren't filthy, in fact it was over expectations of a underground home. However, Christine for the past three days seemed to constantly be reminding him that without her he would not even be here anymore and was in no state to debate the fact that his home had been a factor which contributed to his illness.

He knew what she was playing at and he would not give into it. She had been dropping hints the entire day about leaving. Even when she brought up the fact of Raoul and the entire gendarmes force knowing where his home was he had refused to listen to her about that. He had been a good little boy and stomached the food she had given and nearly forced down his throat.

"Erik! Just. . . answer me! I know you do not like the idea of leaving the 'safety' of your home but it is for the better. Think about it, it's for the best, and you will be able to live in regular conditions as any human being should. Not like. . like a . . a. . ." she trailed off, once more biting down on her lip in nervousness when Erik turned his gaze back to her.

"Like a beast." he finished for her coldly. "You think I have not heard that comment and comparison about me before?"

"That is not what I said, Erik." she spoke as if she were to a small child.

"But you were going to. Don't be afraid to say what is true." he grumbled.

"Erik, you know that is not what you really think."

Once more there was another lapse of silence between the two of them, and Christine gave a huffy sigh as she sat down next to him on the bed, her arms still crossed.

"Will you not even consider it? You are making a decision before you even think about the consequences of what could happen should you not leave. I have not been home in over five days and Raoul surely must be ready to summon up a search party to raid your home." She put a hand on Erik's shoulder and her grip tightened as he tried to stand up. "Stop walking away from it, you are acting immature." she hissed.

"Funny, I am the one acting immature, but you are the one diving in on matters that don't even concern you." that reply from Erik earned him a throbbing shoulder as Christine's nails dug into his skin before she stood up and walked away.

Did Erik not realize the danger he was putting himself in? Her mind tried to come up with a reasoning to help him see past that, and her mind tried to formulate an idea as she walked down one of the darkened passageways.

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Erik rubbed at his shoulder and glared after Christine as she walked away. He hated her for not letting him leave the world, yet somewhere he knew he still loved her. But those feelings were masked with self-pity and anger. A lovely stone barrier around his heart to keep all unwanted feelings of attraction from entering and leaving.

All the while when he was conscious enough to talk and argue with Christine he was pushing her away. She was to be married, as much as she said she would rather not. He didn't want to fall in love with her again to have things ripped away from him once more.

As he stood up he mused over such thoughts once more. He should apologize for how much he was ignoring or trying to ignore her. He just couldn't leave his home like this, and she would ramble on and on about there being a place out in the country where he could live or that he could start a new life else where or. . . it just went on and on. It made him realize how young Christine was and how much she did not understand where his thoughts were coming from.

With a heavy sigh he walked down to the edge of the lake, flopping down on the half soaked rock in a undignified matter. As sprawled out on the ground and stared up at the ceiling under half glazed eyes he wondered why Christine was taking everything so personally. He would have killed anyone else who pestered him like that- except for perhaps Nadir.

He closed his eyes, wondering where in the world that man had gone off to anyways. He would very much have preferred someone who would take his side in this matter and be able to calmly explain to Christine why it was a bad idea. But he hadn't seen that man since the night of the fire, and it made him believe he had lost the only one whom might be considered a friend in his life.

Five hours later

Erik's eyes opened and glanced about. Stretching out like a cat he wondered how long he had been there, figuring he had drifted off to sleep. Erik stood up and brushed at the wet rock and dust that had settled on his black clothing making it look like a grey instead.

"Christine?" he called as he headed back up to the home in the cavern. He resisted all urge to call out and ask if she was still sulking, but when he received no answer he figured she was avoiding or ignoring him like he had to her.

In a few short minutes he had walked about his home. Calling for her and a short apology at the same time, asking for her to come out. As time wore on though he realized she was not here.

His home was empty.

Erik shifted uncomfortably and sat down at the organ bench, his head in his hands. "I knew it." he muttered to himself. He knew Christine would leave eventually, but that had been what he wanted. Right? It had been what he was now trying to convince himself. 'It was for the better.'

Erik stood up, more thoughts ringing through his already troubled mind. No note? No sign that she was going to leave. Just like that? That didn't seem like Christine at all.

"ERIK!"

Erik jumped and looked about his home as the distressed call echoed all about him. With his ears long used to the cavern, he was able to pin point the main source of the call to one tunnel and almost instantly he was sprinting up it. Had she fallen into one of his traps? No there weren't many traps in this tunnel and he was certain they had long since been activated and never reset.

"Christine! Christine, where are you?" he called, as he continued his way up the tunnel.

He was soon near the entrance of the tunnel, a couple yards more and he would be near the surface world, and still there was no sign of the brunette.

"Christine?" he called quietly, afraid he wasn't the only one in the tunnel at the moment. "Say something!"

He didn't get a reply as he would have wished, at that moment he felt a weight crash into his back, and legs kicking at his knees to drive him to the ground. A cloth swiftly covered his mouth and nose as he frantically tried to buck his body to get it away from him and the person off of him.

He couldn't breathe and eventually he was forced to give a sharp intake of breath, the intoxicating and nauseating smell of some form of chloroform overcoming his senses.

Before he was completely lost to the darkness that threatened to submerge him in that welcoming embrace he weakly called out for Christine, only to have it fall on deaf ears and cut off as a piece of cloth was shoved roughly into his mouth.

Then he was out cold.

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Ending note:

Muahahahah hate me all you wish, just make sure if you do then put it in a review. I write off of the reviews. Hope you enjoyed it even though it was short and I will meet you back in the next chapter.

TheDragonEye