Chapter 12: The Gypsy King

I know: Erik has been getting a little bit out of character, especially toward the end. I'll try to get him back in character, but no guarantees…please review! Been a while since I got one…

Meg's POV

Meg lay on the couch, trying to catch her breath and calm her temper. Nothing worked to calm her and when Erik entered she jumped up from the couch and strode over to him, slapping him smartly, his mask falling off, hanging around his neck.

Erik stumbled, but kept his ground, and stared at Meg, regaining from the shock.

"How could you have frightened me like that," Meg shouted her hands resting on her hips. "What in the name of God were you thinking? You could have been arrested! You could have been killed!"

"Ivoire," Incendie cried, trying to console the younger girl.

But Meg ignored Incendie and continued to rant. "Why are you so destructive? Why must you risk your life knowing full well that you might die? Do you not love me? If so, why did you accept the locket? Why?" Meg sat on the couch, trying to calm her bone shaking sobs. Erik sat beside her moments after, and held her close to him.

Erik's POV

"I've faced more than guns, Meg. I could list everything I faced that would be worse than that, but it would take days. I'm not going to die that easily. I wished I could in the past, but now I have a reason to live," Erik explained, stroking Meg's ebony locks.

"It doesn't change the fact that you almost died out there today," Meg choked, laying her head on Erik's lap as he moved from her hair to her back, causing shivers to run up her back. "I almost lost you…"

Someone knocked at the door and Erik gave Incendie a pleading look. She strode over to the door and opened it. Erik could hear the conversation clearly.

"I'm sorry, Mssrs Olivier and Armand, but Le Ossature is preoccupied at the moment," Incendie said harshly.

"Bet he is, lucky devil," Armand's voice carried. Armand was a loud boisterous man whom Erik looked at as a father. He was also good with women.

"Mssr. Armand!" Incenie shouted, sounding quite embarrassed at Armand's statement.

"What?"

"Armand…unlike you, Erik is a gentleman. A gypsy, but a gentleman to the end," Olivier lectured.

"Apart from the murders he commited."

"Armand."

"Oi?"

"Shut up!!"

"Monsiers! You cannot come in here!"

"Hell, we can't!"

Erik sighed, but it was expected. Meg had stopped sobbing and was sitting up, leaning against Erik.

Armand came in first, smiling broadly. "Erik! How have you been?" Armand's once golden hair had become silver, but the mischievious grin was apparent as were the crystal blue eyes.

"Sorry, le Ossature. I told them they couldn't come in, but—"

"Quite alright, Incendie," Erik said, waving her off. "What can I do for you gentleman?"

Armand and Olivier looked at eachother and grinned evily. "You're coming with us," they shouted, then grabbed Erik and dragged him off.

"Hey! What in the name of God the Father Almighty are you doing!" Erik shouted, struggling at their attempts, but Erik had forgotten how strong they were.

"He's gotten stronger…" Armand grunted, pulling Erik out of the house. Apparently, they weren't counting on him having being a superb swimmer grin (AN: think about it, Erik had an underground lake. Also, the called refered to one of his traps as "the siren", now the siren was actually Erik swimming around underwater, using his ventriloquism to make people hear "the siren" and hence, fall for the trap in which he would drown them.)

"Fine, get a good hold on his wrists, Armand," Olivier groaned. He stopped pushing and grabbed Erik's ankles. Erik tried to escape and ended up falling on Olivier once he broke hold of Armand. All was silent, except for laughter coming from the living room.

Erik was about to call for help when Armand grabbed his wrists again and the Olivier had grabbed his ankles. They then carried Erik away from the flat all the way to the staircase when Erik finally agreed to cooperate.

Meg's pov

Meg and Incendie laughed to their hearts content.

"I see you are better Oviore," Incendie giggled. Meg nodded.

"I haven't laughed that hard since Jammes filled Sorelli's makeup box with worms."

"That doesn't sound ladylike."

"We were very young."

Meg relaxed. "I guess that they couldn't celebrate the victory without Erik."

"Men," Incendie scoffed. "But I can't say that you're not lucky to have Ossature."

Meg glanced at Incendie and studied her expression. Incendie's eyes were glazed over and her mouth was curved in a small, sad smile. "I can't say the same for me. I can't go to him and tell him I love him."

"Tell who?" Meg inquired.

Incendie turned to Meg and blushed. "Saphir."

Meg cocked to her head to the side, slightly confused. "Do you mean Jean?"

Incendie's face flushed and she nodded. "I… loved him since I was a little girl. He always cared for me, and yet, I never found a way to repay him for everything."

Meg embraced Incendie. "It's nerve wrecking at first, believe me. I know. But once you tell him, it can only go on from there."

Incendie looked at the younger girl and tilted her head to the side. "How do you know?"

"How do you think I learned to tell Erik how much I cared for him?"

Incendie closed her eyes and nodded.

Erik's pov

What do these idiots want this time?

"Come on, Erik, you haven't had whiskey in ages I bet."

"I prefer vinyard now, Armand," Erik said bluntly. Armand was undazed.

"Is there even a difference between whiskey and wine, Erik?" Arnand asked, a sly smile on his face.

"Knowing Erik, he'll be wanting to get back to his cute little lover," Olivier teased. Erik fumed, but not because they were right. They could barely get him out of the flat. But there was another reason he wanted to go back to the flat. The day had been long and he was tired. But he'd have one drink. Just one…

"We're here!" Armand shouted, pushing Erik through the door.

"Just one drink, that is it, then I go home—" Erik started, but was pulled down into a seat, next to Jean.

"Seth! Get us five pints!"

"Four," Erik turned to the speaker, perplexed to see Daroga. "I don't drink beer. I'll have a Vodka, Seth."

Seth nodded. He was a few years younger than Erik, probably thirties or forties. He nodded and came out moments later with the pints and bottle of vodka.

"Here you are, gents," Seth said. There was no possible way that Seth was French. He was burlier than most of them and his accent was crude.

Once Seth was gone, Jean turned to Erik. "He's from London, brought his family here to protect them from the Ripper."

"Ah, yes," Olivier whispered. "The Ripper."

Erik stared at them, wondering who they were talking about. He didn't recall…but then again, he did. Jack the Ripper, a serial killer in London that had never been caught.

"Seth's family lived in the area that the murders were happening in. His daughter wasn't a prostitute, neither was his wife, but he feared for them all the same. So he brought them to France to keep them safe. They own this 'pub.' His daughter's quite lovely too," Jean continued, his eyes turned to a young woman serving wine to an elderly couple.

She had chesnut hair that fell in ringlets down her back. Her eyes were golden brown and her skin was freckled. Erik wasn't sure what attracted Jean to the girl, but what ever it was, it was not for him to get involved.

Olivier and Armand exchanged glances. "What about Incendie?" they asked.

Jean turned to them questioningly. "Incendie's my best friend. She's like a sister to me."

Armand sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. "Jean, you are hopeless. Especially if you harbor feelings for Seth's daughter…what's her name…"

"Caroline," Jean answered, his face was a mask of irritation.

"Yeah."

Erik turned to Daroga, who leaned across the table. "Everyone knows that Incendie loves Jean, but Jean is too preoccupied with Seth's daughter, Caroline, to notice it."

Erik nodded his understanding and turned back to his pint, taking a sip, then gagged. "Maybe I'll just switch to wine."

"Don't be rediculous," Olivier shouted, slapping Erik's back. "You've been around the real theives a little too long."

"Erm…real theives?" Daroga asked, raising an eyebrow.

"The ones who can afford to go to an opera, caviar dining, and all that junk. Compared to them, we're Robin Hood and his band of merry men."

Erik glared at Olivier beneath the mask. "And who would be Robin Hood in this band of misfits, eh?"

"You of course! You are the king of the Gypsies."

"What of Jean?" Erik asked, looking at the boy, who had stopped staring at Caroline and was currently sulking.

"Jean?" Armand asked, also peeking a glance at the teenager. But he was less concious of Jean's demeanor than Erik. "He's a bright lad! He'll be fine!"

Erik resisted the urge to punch Armand. Idiot, I bet Jean was looked up to until I arrived, Erik thought, How brainless can he be?

"Well, while we're still on the topic of women, Erik, when do you plan to marry Meg?" Olivier asked.

"We weren't talking about women!" Daroga snapped.

"Sure we were: we were talking about Jean's fascination with Caroline," Armand reminded him. Daroga rubbed his temples, but the conversation continued. "Well, Erik?"

Erik sighed, he wasn't going to get them involved, but he might as well. "I'm not sure yet. I haven't really decided on a date yet."

"You already proposed?" Daroga nearly shouted.

Erik shook his head. "No…she actually proposed to me, come to think of it." Silence followed. Erik wondered what he said to silence his…aquaintences. Olivier and Armand started laughing wholeheartedly, and Daroga snickered into his vodka. Jean just stared at Erik as if he was an unidentified creature or something.

"You were proposed to? Shouldn't that be the other way around?" Jean asked.

"This was why I didn't want anyone to know."

"Embarrassing," Jean smirked. "It's cute, but embarrassing. You'd think you'd be Romeo or something."

Erik put Jean in a headlock. "What was that, you brat?" Erik challenged. Somehow that only made Olivier and Armand laugh harder.

"Let go of me, old man!" Jean yelled back. (AN: see the similarities? Both are tempermental! Whee! If you've seen Inuyasha, think about all the times Inuyasha picks on Shippo, might give you a better picture of what is going on at this time.)

"Nothing really changes, does it Armand?" Olivier asked, watching Jean and Erik fight.

"Nope: he's still the same tempermental, little twerp known as Erik, no matter how much he's grown up."

Erik of course, heard this and attacked Olivier and Armand.

"Gentlemen!" The brawl that was certain to start came to a halt. Erik looked at Caroline and gulped. "If you are going to fight, then I suggest you do so somewhere else. This isn't America."

"Alright, Mademoiselle," Daroga said, pushing Erik, Armand, Jean, and Olivier out the door. With that, they headed back to the flat.

"Whether or not Erik proposed, we'll help get things set up, right Armand?" Olivier asked.

"Of course. Jean?"

"Why not, might be fun. Carressa will be happy, that's for sure."

They looked at Daroga, who shook his head. "Not without Madame Giry's permission."

Erik glanced at Daroga. "Erm…Daroga…if I approach Meg's mother, my head is as good as on a platter."

"Then I won't help. Either you ask for Madame Giry's permission, or this affair will end, Erik."

"It isn't much of an affair—" Erik shot back, but Daroga glared at him, sending chills off the other three's spines. Sometimes it was hard to convince Daroga to change his mind. But when you saw the eye, you knew you better do what he said…or else. They didn't say that he had the evil eye for nothing. "Fine, but it'll be Meg you'll have to deal with if I die."


Sorry it's been taking so long to write this. I've been having some roadblocks in the story, so it's gotten rather lame in my opinion. Let me know-NICELY-if there's any problems with thsi chapter.