A/N: Hi all! Thank you so very much for all your wonderful reviews (I think I could be accused of glowing with the happiness!)

It's great to see reviews from some new readers (Hi new readers!) & just as wonderful to see reviews from some familiar readers (Hi familiar readers, delighted you're still here with me!).

So, this chapter is Madame Giry's POV entirely. Nadir is in there too but no POV from him. If you're a fan of his, don't worry I'm sure there'll be more from him later ;-)!

As usual with my story, Madame Giry is a blend of the books, musical & movie. So I hope you like the interpretation.

This chapter is rather internal, not much dialogue. But we needed to return to see how the others are fairing and I thought it would be interesting to devote a chapter to someone who approaches the situation more sentimentally but still as an outsider.

She doesn't know the full story, she can only hope, and she is more ready to hope than Nadir but less, well, delusional I suppose you could say, than Raoul.

I want to make sure and cover all aspects of the effect E & C's departure had before, well, the chase begins...(",)

So enough from me. Read and enjoy! (",)

Chapter 9

The Chase Begins

There was something different. I had felt it all day. Something different, but I could not decipher if it was something wrong.

Practice had been postponed for some time to give the young girls of the ballet some rest before the dances for the new season would need to be rehearsed. A waste of time in my opinion…

Perhaps that was the root of my unease. I was not accustomed to being idle. Perhaps I was merely restless…

Yet there seemed more to it than that. I had remained in my quarters for almost the entire day trying to convince myself that I was doing so because I needed to rest. I am not sure that I always believed myself.

I often prided myself on being a rather sensible woman. I was not prone to panicking nor to believing in superstitions - certainly not since living here. The Opera is a breeding ground for outrageous superstitions, and unfortunately my dear Marguerite seemed to revel in it. After all, it seems that all performers are prone to being overly superstitious. I suppose they love the drama of it all.

But not I, not anymore. A long time ago I forced myself to leave behind such inherent, yet ignorant, thinking. I suppose Erik had a lot to do with that. Through him I have seen so much, heard so much, that it was impossible to remain unchanged.

When I was younger, I learned of the world listening to the broken tales of a lonely Ghost.

We had been friends, Erik and I, or as close to friends as he ever allowed.

Things had changed after I had my Meg…Things had changed after he discovered Christine…

But I was still bound to him in such an incomprehensible way.

No one could ever forget Erik once they knew him…

And so there I was, friend of the Ghost, sensible mother, hiding in my room from a rather ominous…feeling. Why could I not shake the notion that Erik was involved somehow? When had I become so superstitious, afraid of a vague, bad feeling?

I was almost relieved when Monsieur Nadir came to inform me that something was indeed amiss. At least I then had the comfort of knowing that I had been right to feel ill-at-ease. This feeling of satisfaction did not last long…

He had come asking for my help.

I knew instantly that something had happened with Erik, Nadir would not visit uninvited otherwise. We were not close really, Nadir and I. In fact, were it not for Erik, I suppose we would not have known one another at all.

He would have remained known to me only as the Persian and I would have been only Madame Giry to him. Or the worthy Madame Giry as he so often referred to me as.

I never felt the need to dissuade this flattering title.

No, we were not close, not really. But only those who knew Erik could understand the strange mix of emotions that bound us all together…How knowing Erik is anything but simple. This has, over time, forged us a bond that allows us to be not quite close friends but so much more than mere acquaintances.

I listened avidly as Nadir explained everything as he knew it to me; I felt my heart grow heavier.

Oh Erik, what have you done?

Christine, my sweet innocent girl…Was I a fool to have allowed the Angel of Music to take you under his wing? Could I have stopped it?

I had feared this from the very beginning but I had so wanted to believe that finally Erik had found some measure of happiness. Perhaps even redemption? Never was there a soul in need of it more!

And now he had disappeared off into the darkness with his beloved protégé.

Was he really capable of hurting her so?

I knew that Nadir feared the worst. I could see it in his anxious features…but I knew he did not want to. I knew he had reason to doubt it as much as he had reason to believe it. He had told me as much while recounting his trip to Erik's home with Raoul.

I think, even had Nadir not told me of these reasons for doubt, I still would have been hesitant to believe that Erik had taken Christine forcibly. I so wanted to believe that she had gone willingly, despite how it pained me somewhat that she had not said goodbye…that he had not said goodbye…

I had watched them flounder before they encountered one another. He had been drowning in his darkness and she had been suffocating in her grief.

They had clung to one another after they found each other. Both had denied it, but I wasn't such a fool that I didn't notice.

I saw the good that they did one another, so much goodness! I saw a young girl blossoming, clawing her way out of misery, and a cynical man finding beauty in the world again.

And I saw the bad…The pain of a love made seemingly impossible by fear and lies.

It was love, I knew that. Love changed everything for them. Erik had never really known love, he did not understand the harm he caused…And Christine, she was in love with an Angel, it was difficult for her to come to terms with the man…

So much changed so quickly between them and I was powerless to stop it.

I watched in agony as they pulled one another apart like the terrified, lost children they had never truly stopped being. They had been unable to face reality and so they had run from it, blaming one another for their own mistakes.

Christine had turned to her childhood sweetheart and broken Erik's heart.

Why that dear young man had had no idea how to handle the tales that Christine told him! And now here he was meddling in affairs that he could not possibly understand! He could not find Erik and Christine first, not if this was to end peacefully.

Just how much did she love the boy? Did she love Erik more, the man and not the Angel? I had never gotten the chance to ask her these things, never gotten the chance to reason with Erik. I suppose I had been just as frightened, just as lost…

Were we all just children playing at being adults? Was this the truth of love, of the world?

I had to find out. I had to find my lost children and see the truth for myself…whether I liked it or not…

I felt, as I always had and probably always would, like I had to protect them. Even if that meant protecting them from themselves.

I could feel the guilt that threatened to consume me building up to form a lump in my throat as Nadir and I sat in silence in the living-room area.

We were both probably tormented by the same thoughts.

Perhaps there had been more we could have done to prevent all the pain that had arisen from this seemingly doomed affair.

But, alas, in this world there is little time for indulging in sentimentality or even self-pity, not when one is needed.

And we were needed, Nadir and I.

There would be time for regret later…but hopefully no need for it.

Yet, as we looked at each other, I knew we both felt that unbearable weight.

The weight of the world.

It was up to us now, lives hung in the balance. I felt so old in that moment, so weary.

Why did I feel like I had spent almost my entire life searching for Erik and yet never truly finding him? I could only pray that perhaps Christine had.

There had always been more to their bond than simple need.

Raoul would be relentless in his search but so would we, and we would find Erik first.

We would rectify the situation if that was what was required of us.

We would return Christine to her young man if that is what she wanted, though we would derive no pleasure from hurting Erik so.

But I had to know that they were alright, both of them…

I would help Nadir, whatever that entailed. Fear was unwelcome guest in my heart at the thought.

However, I was not afraid for our own sakes, our fates had been sealed the moment we met Erik. No, it was the others involved in this private opera of ours that I feared for.

No one remained unchanged after knowing Erik…Not Nadir and I…Not Christine or Raoul…Not even Erik…

Leaning forward I took Nadir's warm hands in mine. We smiled sadly at one another.

We really were getting to old for this.

"You will help me then, Madame?" He asked out of courtesy, I knew. He had known what my answer would be as soon as he walked in.

"Of course, but we must get to work, Monsieur. I shall cover for Christine's absence by having a word with my dear managers. We must be very careful in our search. Erik cannot know we are looking for him, and neither can Monsieur de Chagny."

Nadir nodded gravely. The tragic fate awaiting Raoul if he found Erik hung in the air between us but remained unspoken. Silence seemed safer somehow.

"Do you have any suggestions of where to start?" He asked quietly.

"Oui, we will talk to Monsieur Jules Bernard. He will know of many, if not all, of the places we should look."

Instantly Nadir understood the logic of this.

Jules was, what one could call, Erik's assistant. But then again, he was really rather more than that. He was another soul irrevocably linked to Erik.

He was Erik's connection to the world beyond the walls of the Opera House. That world above ground that mere mortals inhabited.

I knew this because I had often had to deliver messages to Monsieur Jules on Erik's behalf in times gone by.

Jules handled any business Erik needed tending to. This I hoped would include the buying of property. Erik was no longer living in the Opera it seemed but he would have to be living somewhere, especially if he had Christine.

"Ah, of course, I had not thought of that! It is a much better plan than mine…You are as worthy as I always believed Madame."

I was so unused to flattery these days that I almost blushed, but I am not prone to such school-girlish behaviour and so I merely nodded curtly.

Nadir did not hide his grin well enough.

We were to begin our quest at dawn. What a sight we would look! A Persian and a Ballet Mistress roaming Paris…tracking a Ghost. If the situation weren't so grave it may have been funny.

But there was no time for humour. No time for anything really. We were needed.

We were the keepers of the secrets of the Ghost, and the friends of the man known only as Erik, though his has had many names.

Now, we found ourselves searching for him to unravel more of his terrible secrets.

How could we prepare ourselves for how this would end? How much horror could one heart hold? How much pain?

How could we have known that as we finalised our plans just outside my door that a dark figure was lingering nearby. Listening.

I caught sight of it as we parted but the shadowy form disappeared too quickly for me to recognise it.

Still a shiver passed through me and I hurried off to find my Meg.

The chase had begun…

Okay, so I know that there was no actual E & C in this chapter, but they were mentioned a lot...So please review and let me know what you think.

E & C next chapter I promise, but don't forget to review my dear readers.

x Restless And Tempted x