This chapter goes out to my amazing new beta...the excellent Gevaisia...Thank you soooo much, you are great. What would I do without you?

Chapter 8 –

Erik felt physically sick. He didn't know what was making him feel worse: seeing his Christine again, knowing he gave her up, or knowing that in seconds he would be found.

"Miss Bennet! Miss Bennet!" screamed a young voice down the hall. The doorknob stopped turning and Erik had an ounce of hope.

"What is it Fredrick?" Elizabeth asked.

"It's Mrs. Hartford, she's fainted!" Fredrick replied.

"What? Oh no! Come, we must go see if Meg is alright." Elizabeth said. Erik heard the movement of shoes, and they were gone.

Erik got an idea to save himself, he peeked out the door and found only little Fredrick trying to catch his breath. "Fredrick, are you alright?" he asked calmly.

"Yes, I just need to catch my breath sir."

"Alright. When you do, could you please deliver a message to Miss Bennet for me?" The boy looked at him horrified. "Don't worry. You won't have to run, you can walk." Erik added with a smile. Fredrick's face lightened and he smiled.

"Alright, you must tell her exactly as I tell you to. Tell Miss Bennet that the vocal teacher was not feeling well and he had to go home. You got it."

"Yes, I'll say that Mr. Erik wasn't feeling…"

"Please don't use my name okay?" Fredrick nodded confused. "Alright, I'll see you later, Fredrick." He nodded.

When Erik was halfway down the hall, Fredrick added, "You are going to be well enough for the concert right sir?" Erik saw the look of pleading on the young boy's face and he knew he could not betray him. He had planned on running, but he just couldn't let his students down. He had begun to care for them so much in the short time he had been there.

"Yes, I'll be there." Erik replied, and then hurried down the hall.

Fredrick went back to Miss Bennet and gave her the message.

"He doesn't feel well?" Elizabeth said annoyed. "Is he going to be back tonight?" Fredrick nodded with a smile.

Elizabeth turned to her guests and apologized. They didn't mind though, as they knew they'd see him that night.

Erik was at the house pacing around his room. He still could leave, he thought, but he couldn't leave his students. They meant too much to him. It would crush Elizabeth too, and as much as he hated to admit it, she did not deserve that. It seemed like only seconds since he had gotten back to the house lost in thought, but soon he heard the voice of Elizabeth from downstairs.

"Where is he?" She screamed angrily and hurried up the stairs. Her damn maids must have given him away. She burst into the room and found Erik standing there.

"You know, I could have been doing something private."

"I don't care! Why the hell did you leave, Erik?" She bellowed at him. He had never heard her swear before and she was almost intimidating when she did it. Not to him though, he was intimidated by very little. "Meg passed out, the instrument teachers were off in the classroom doing last minute tuning, I was trying to tour the new family around the school, but instead I ended up watched 50 bored students. I love those kids, but I cannot handle them all myself."

"I had to go." He tried to reply calmly. She would not understand.

"Had to go, had to go he says. Erik, I needed you there today. Why is it that when I need you, you never seem to be there, but when I'd prefer to be alone, you are right there?"

"Sorry to inform you, but that's the way life is."

"You don't seem very ill, Erik. Why did you really leave?"

"That is none of your…"

"Yes, it is my business! What are you hiding from me? I know you don't want to tell me, but you have to. What is so wrong?"

"You have to understand, my past includes Christine de Changy and her husband."

"What can your past have to do with them?" She spoke slowly as she thought to herself. Then the expression Erik had seen many times appeared on her face. "You're…You…The…"

"Yes, the Phantom of the Opera!" He yelled back at her. Elizabeth dropped her head. She didn't know what to feel. She felt betrayed, she was mad at herself for letting this man near her students, she hated him, and she was frightened by it all. He could easily kill her right there. "See why I didn't tell you?" He added sharply.

"Why would you do that? Why would you come here and work with MY students? What the hell was going through your head, Erik?" She screamed in disbelief.

"I wanted to get away from it, I told you. Now don't worry, before you call the police, or whoever you plan on calling I'll be gone." She watched him leave.

Less than three hours later Elizabeth stood in front of the small group of vocal students ready to tell them the news. She was still very shaken up from what had happened.

"What's wrong, Miss Bennet?" Aurora asked worried. The students at the school were all very confused. One of their teachers had fainted this afternoon, another had disappeared altogether, and Miss Bennet was looking very pale and shaking.

"I'm sorry guys, but Mr. Colvin is going to have to play for you tonight."

"What? Why? Where is Mr. Erik?" They all began to scream at their own time.

"Calm down. calm down, children." Elizabeth started; the students began to be quiet again. "Erik can't accompany you tonight, and he has resigned as your teacher for good. I'll try to find you a new teacher over the break, I promise. I'm so sorry, I know how you all enjoyed his teaching; he just can't teach you anymore."

"Why can't he?" Andrew Billings asked. "Why did he leave? Why don't you or the other teachers tell us anything? I know something was going on today, everything was strange. Why don't you tell us anything?"

"I'm sorry, I can't tell…"

"Yes, you can. You can tell us. You just won't. We want to know. It affects us more than it affects anyone; you owe it to us to tell us why." Hattie replied angrily. All the students were upset, even Caroline, as much as she didn't like Erik; she hated even more having to go back to Mr. Colvin.

"I had to let Erik go."

"You sent him away?" Emily cried, she was not much for talking, but she was upset now. "Why did you send him away? What did he do that was so bad?" The little girl was crying by now, and so were some of the other younger girls. Everyone else was a mixture of anger and sadness.

"He did something really bad before he came here and I felt that it was unsafe for him to be here. That is all I can tell you." Elizabeth was so hurt to see the expressions on their faces.

"But Erik was the best teacher we ever had!" Jimmy yelled pouting. "I'm not going to sing tonight if he doesn't come back."

"Me either." They all eventually said.

"Please students, you have to understand. I couldn't let him stay." Elizabeth replied almost ready to cry.

"I bet that's a lie." Brianna Carlson said angrily. She was a little older than some of the other students. She was twelve and this was her last year at the school. "He probably did something to you! We've all seen the way you act together; you act like a couple. I've seen it, my mum and dad are the same. He never did anything that bothered us. We don't care what he did before he came here. You only sent him away because it bothered you. Don't pretend like you thought about what we wanted! If you had, he'd still be here." Her voice had gotten louder and louder, it had now attracted the attention of the whole room. "Have a good concert; you'll have to cut all the singing pieces out, and we don't care."

She walked passed her teacher and all the students followed. Little Fredrick was the last to go. He loved Miss Bennet, but he wanted Erik back just as much as the rest of them.

The students headed for their rooms, but Caroline lived in the town so she decided she'd walk home. It was dark and cold outside and she was wearing her concert outfit, so she was freezing, but her home was only down the street. It had begun to snow earlier that day and the streets were almost empty.

Erik had decided he wanted to see the results of his students. He knew he shouldn't, but he wanted to see them sing.

As soon as he walked in, he decided to hide out in his classroom. On the way he heard Elizabeth talking to Mr. Colvin. "No, I just don't know what to do. They refuse to sing, and they've actually left. We have to make due with just instrument and ballet."

"Why don't you just get Erik back?"

"I can't. I can't tell you why either, I just can't." Erik realized she was crying. She should be, he thought. She had made his life miserable and he didn't care anymore. She deserved it.

Erik continued on his way to the classroom. Then he thought about what was going on. The kids weren't going to sing because he wouldn't be there. They cared for him that much that they would do that to their beloved Miss Bennet. He knew what he had to do. He had to go find one of his students.

He didn't have to look long. He found Fredrick's bedroom and the rest of the class, except for Emily and Caroline, were in it. They all looked hopeful and happy to see him.

"Are you going to play for us, Mr. Erik?" Aurora asked.

"I am not allowed. I know Miss Bennet told you that."

"Please?" They all pleaded. He didn't want to disappoint them, but he couldn't do anything. He just shook his head.

"All I want is to see you guys sing tonight. Would you do that for me?"

"Well, Caroline went home already." They replied.

"She went home?" Erik asked alarmed. They nodded. "It's freezing out, she wasn't still in her costume, was she?" no one knew. "Are her parents home?"

"No. They are here already." Julie answered.

"Alright, I want you guys to go down, find Miss Bennet and tell her that Caroline is gone, and that you guys want to sing tonight. Do it for me, alright?" They all reluctantly nodded.

Erik rushed down the halls not caring where he was going. When he had walked here a few minutes ago, he had been freezing and he was fully clothed. Poor Caroline was in her thin little costume. He hoped that she had thought to change.

Erik didn't notice that straight ahead of him stood Elizabeth. He ran straight into her.

"You! What are you still doing here Erik? I told you to leave!" She screamed at him. "I don not want to deal with you right now. I have enough problems."

"I assure you, I am not here to make you deal with me. I wanted to hear my students sing, but that, my dear, is not important right now." From behind him, Erik heard a scream. The voice was very familiar and it was followed by the voice of a little boy.

"Mummy, are you alright?" The little voice asked.

Then another voice called out "Christine, what happened?" Erik finally dared to turn around. His gaze was met with that of a furious Raoul de Chagny. The young man stood up and looked at Erik in a mixture of hate and bewilderment. How could the phantom be here then? How could the monster have survived? "What are you doing here? Never mind! I don't care. I am, however, going to kill you now, like I should have six years ago in the graveyard." The man sounded slightly crazy and his words hardly made sense to anyone except him.

"Mr. de Chagny calm down." Elizabeth pleaded; she could sense what was going to happen. "You are not going to do anything in my school. If you plan to attack and kill Erik, I would suggest you take your fight outside in the freezing cold. If that is not to your liking, then tend to your wife."

Erik's mind cleared and he remembered what he had been doing. He rushed passed the fainted Christine, not stopping for a second to see if his angel was all right. He needed to find his student; she could be outside, in the freezing cold.

He got outside and headed the direction of the Henson home. He made it there in record time. The butler answered and Erik asked if young Caroline had made it home already. The old man looked confused and told Erik that she was at the school still.

He didn't wait to hear the rest of what the man had to say. He made his way back toward the school, looking any sign of the little girl. About halfway back, he saw a dark figure in the snow. How had he missed it on his way to the home? There she lay, purple from cold. She was still breathing, very scarcely, but she was alive. He decided to take her to the school instead of back to the house.

He learned right away that she had not changed her clothes and instinctively he wrapped his cloak around her shivering body. Then he ran for the academy.

The guests had begun to arrive, dressed in their finest winter clothes. Erik pushed through them, demanding they get out of his way. He got her into the school, and as he made his way to the ballet room where he knew the fire was on, he ran into Raoul, Elizabeth and Christine.