Author's Note

So… apparently you guys hate Richard, soooo here's some fluff with Richard! Yay!

Also, I realized that I never described what Sarah looked like…. So, there's some of that in here too.

Sarah sat on her bed, smiling as Richard braided her hair. His hands were nimble, the effect of forming hundreds of props and sets during his apprenticeship.

"There," Richard tied off the braid with a ribbon.

Sarah looked at herself in the mirror and laughed. "I look like Ana with a veil." The thick brown braids hung out from the black gauze, looking rather out of place.

Richard laughed too, putting his hands on her shoulder. "It's not that bad!"

Ana was one of the other costume mistresses, a fat woman who had a voice like a cat who had been stepped on, a woman Sarah and Richard both openly despised.

FLASHBACK

"Miss Eklund!" Reyer bellowed, his voice piercing the silence. Sarah quickly hitched up her dull orange skirt, running onstage, tripping over Ana's outstretched foot.

Getting up, she tried to hide the blush forming over her cheeks as the ballet girls laughed quietly. "Yes, Monsieur Reyer?" She asked, smoothing her flyaway bun.

"Senora Carlotta was about to deliver a private rendition of 'Think of Me,'" Reyer said rather impatiently.

"Oh, the scarf!" Sarah said, running offstage once again, checking the prop table… it wasn't there. Sighing, she ran to Carlotta's dressing room, where she found it on the dresser.

She retrieved it, running back before handing it triumphantly to Carlotta, who gave Sarah a slightly confused look, and took it as the opening notes sounded for Think of Me.

But Sarah wasn't listening, instead she turned to Ana. "Why wasn't the scarf on the prop table?" she hissed, leering in close to her pudgy face.

"It's a costume." She replied.

"No, it is a prop, as Hannibal uses it as well!" Sarah explained, her fists clenched. "We've been through this!"

"I'm your senior, you insufferable child!" Ana spit, her three chins wobbling.

"Really?" Sarah replied dryly, her eyes flashing. "I'd be surprised, but I could-"

Suddenly Carlotta screamed, and Sarah turned to see a set fall behind her. Pushing through the crowd, she saw Carlotta lying on the ground, crying hysterically. "Senora!" she cried, running to her side.

Sure, she despised the woman, but the last thing she needed was to be demoted to the kitchens or somewhere like that.

Carlotta pushed Sarah away, and so she turned to Ana, who was staring dumbly. "Go get a chair!"

END FLASHBACK

Richard reached onto Sarah's desk, where he picked up some pins. "I'll pin it up," he replied.

Sarah sat quietly as her braids were pinned onto the top of her head; his warm hands making Sarah feel safe.

Oh, she missed feeling safe. Even at the Opera, she didn't always feel safe. She had been born into a terrible family, a drunken father and a sickly mother. She sighed slightly, and Richard stopped. "What?" he asked.

"I feel safe…" Sarah whispered. "I never feel safe."

Richard stopped pinning, letting his hands fall, and grasping Sarah's. "Then I'll stay."

Erik sat in his dungeon, his head in his hands. The seamstress was falling in love. No doubt they'd run off now. He turned to his Christine, who remained silent, but the dress. The dress was a reminder to him. The child was loyal, if anything.

But is she too loyal to run? He asked himself. How loyal is she, really?

Sarah put her head on Richard's shoulder, reminiscing of the times they had shared at the Opera House.

"We could run away again." Richard suddenly spoke, his voice shattering the silence. "Together, and we could start a family, and we'd never have to come back to this haunted place ever again."

Sarah turned her head slightly, the veil now enveloping Richard's shoulder. "I… I don't know."

Author's Note

Alright, any changed feelings? And yes, Ana is based off a real person, the girl who played the other Costume Mistress in the play. She's an incompetent fool… -n-

Read, review, follow, favorite and send oreos, my friendly friends.

-ATLK