A/N: As I wrote, I listened to 'Adagio for Strings' composed by Samuel Barber. You've definitely heard it, even if you think you haven't. If you don't remember, I highly recommend that you remind yourself… it's an absolutely stunning piece of music, though possibly the saddest I have ever heard.

Thank you for the reviews, I'm going to try to get around to replying to them individually at some point. Know that they're appreciated.

I was tempted to leave this as a 'Lost in Translation' moment (those of you who have seen it will know exactly what I am talking about by the time you finish the chapter) but I suspect I will clarify in the following chapter.

I think the next chapter might be the last, though there is a chance I will do more. It depends how it turns out. Anyway, enjoy.

'There's things I might have said
Only wish I could
Now I'm leaking life faster
Than I'm leaking blood

Tell the repo man
And the stars above
That You're the one I love' - The One I love' – David Gray

Chapter 62- The One I Love

Raoul and Laurent burst out into the morning sunshine and, once clear of the barn door, finally turned to look at one another properly. Raoul quickly noted the massive quantity of blood soaked down Laurent's left side and the pallor of the other man's face.

There was a large rip in his once white shirt. 'Were you shot?'

Laurent glanced down at his own arm, as if suddenly realising that he was injured. 'Uh, yes, I was,'

'Who did that?'

'One of the guards,' Laurent said, as they both began to move swiftly around towards the front of the building. Silence quickly dropped between the two. They had met briefly once before and all that Raoul knew of him was that he was Madame Giry's younger, once estranged, brother.

Still, Christine had seemed to like him. As the sun dried the earth Raoul began to feel horribly dizzy and needed to steady himself by placing a hand against the side of the farm building.

Laurent stopped and looked at him. 'Are you alright?'

Raoul winced but nodded anyway.

'Your brother is around here somewhere,' Laurent announced for the first time. 'I sent him to check the outer perimeter,'

'Philippe is here?' Raoul asked, surprised.

'He insisted on joining the pursuit,' Laurent shrugged and then closed his eyes in pain. 'I shouldn't have done that,'

Raoul managed a weak smile. 'Probably not,'

Laurent looked up and nodded his head. 'There he is,'

Raoul turned to see his older brother bounding towards him and had only just registered what he was seeing before his Philippe was upon him, wrapping him up in his strong arms as if he were a child again. He squeezed him tight and Raoul felt sharp pangs of pain throughout his whole body.

Philippe moved away. 'Look at you,' his face was a shade paler than he remembered. Raoul shrugged him off.

'I'm fine, brother,' Raoul said, as he stepped to the side and continued around the building. 'I need to find Christine, did you see her?'

Philippe shook his head and followed with Laurent.

Raoul frowned and stopped walking. 'You checked the perimeter and you didn't see her?' he asked, to which Philippe replied with simple shake of the head. 'I left her right by the front…'

With that he found some lost energy once again and began to run around the building until he was finally at the front. He looked up along the hill towards the woodland where they had begun their escape but there was simply no sign of her. He turned and turned, trying frantically to spot her, as if he thought she would be in the distance somewhere.

A hot panic washed through him. 'How many guards were there?'

'Only the ones we left in the barn,' Laurent answered.

'You're confident of that?'

Laurent nodded. 'Absolutely,'

His brother was also nodding his agreement. 'We checked before we went in,'

'Then why were you checking the perimeter again?' Raoul asked.

'To be sure,' Philippe replied. 'And I am,'

'Me too,' Laurent added.

'So where is she?' Raoul asked, his heart beating wildly, as if it was trying to escape his chest.

'Perhaps she went up into the woods to hide until you re-emerged?' Philippe suggested, which would seem reasonable under most circumstances but not in this instance, not with Christine.

'She isn't the running and hiding kind,' Raoul said simply.

Philippe thought for a moment, 'We should definitely check, just in case,'

Raoul was shaking his head. 'No, she wouldn't… I've only just got her back, I told her to stay where she was…'

'Strong head,' Laurent said, looking back towards the barn.

'Sorry?' Raoul asked, puzzled.

'Christine,' he clarified. 'She has a strong head, she's strong minded,'

'Yes…'

'Why would she listen to you?'

It was Philippe who answered. 'Because she is his fiancée,'

Laurent lifted his eyebrows. 'Oh…'

'What do you mean 'oh'?' Philippe asked.

'Well in your world I suppose that's actually the case,'

'What are you talking about?' Philippe asked and Raoul looked on, the panic within him not being eased by the seemingly endless debate.

'What I mean is,' Laurent went on to explain. 'In your world, a fiancée might do as you tell her,'

'Christine is in our world,' Philippe insisted, but Raoul knew what Laurent was trying to say, he understood perfectly and a cold dread swept through him as he listened.

'Yes,' Laurent conceded. 'She is now but she's her own woman… she's needed to take care of herself. She's no-ones property,'

Philippe shook his head. 'I wasn't suggesting that she was,'

'Look, all I'm trying to tell you is that it's plausible that she wouldn't have listened,'

Raoul sighed. 'And followed me instead,'

Laurent glanced at him and Raoul registered the concern in his eyes.

Raoul turned and began to run back into the building just as the pistol shot echoed through the walls. He stopped, eyes wide, staring at Laurent who was standing with him. It felt like an eternity before his legs would function again but in actuality it was probably less than a second.

Laurent was behind him, Philippe not too far back either, as they ran towards the door to the barn. He had hope, let her be alright… please God, let her be alright…

When he heard her scream, for a moment he was pacified, she was not shouting in pain, she had not been shot. The cry came from the barn and was high and loud… his respite lasted brief moments as he burst into the barn to find Christine kneeling over the Phantom, blood on her hands as sobs racked her fragile body.

She had screamed, 'Erik,'

Now he knew for certain that she was not the one shot, he actually felt no relief at all, instead all he saw was her utter despair as she knelt by her friend's side and tried to save his life. The crimson that flowed through her fingers was dark and raw and mingled now with her own.

Raoul could do nothing but watch as the woman he loved repeated another man's name over and over and over again.

'Erik,' she cried, her body shaking, trembling with anguish. 'Erik… Erik… Erik…'

He wanted to step closer, he wanted to lift her into his arms and pull her close and make all of the mess just disappear. Instead, he stood frozen to the spot, too heart broken by her pain to move from where he was standing.

He thought that seeing her attacked by Gabriele had hurt him, he thought that her dying would be painful but now he knew… that the most painful thing in the world was not his own pain, but Christine's and as she cried all he could think was that he had let her down.

Laurent was the first to stir and he moved towards her quickly.

'Please Erik,' Christine murmured as she placed her ear near to his mouth. Finally, as if only just noticing that they were there, she turned and looked up at Laurent. 'He's breathing,'

Laurent reached his hand out but she would not take it, instead she placed her hands back over the Phantom's wound and pressed down.

Laurent spoke, 'Miss Daae,'

'He's breathing,'

'Let me help him,'

'I'm trying…'

'I know…'

'I can… I can help,' she was nodding as she pressed his wound and at the sight of a glimmer of one of her teardrops, Raoul felt his heart crack again.

'It's best if you go,'

She began shaking her head violently. 'No, no, I can't… I can't leave him, how can I leave him?'

'I can take care of him,' Laurent attempted to assure her.

She turned again and looked up at him, brown eyes shimmering with a thousand tears. 'He's bleeding,' she said, softly.

Laurent nodded his head.

'I can't leave him bleeding,'

Laurent turned and looked helplessly at Raoul, who finally managed to find the power within him to walk forwards. He ripped the sleeves from his shirt as he moved and handed them quickly to Laurent, who nodded his head and then looked back down at Christine.

'Will you let me help him?' Laurent asked, holding the material out to show her his intentions.

Tears spilled from Christine's eyes. 'He's bleeding,' she repeated and Raoul swallowed hard.

Laurent knelt at the other side of the Phantom and looked down at his wound. Raoul could see slight movement in the older man's chest, air still flowing in and out of his lungs.

Raoul gingerly placed his hand on Christine's shoulder. 'Come Christine,' he said softly. 'Let Laurent help,'

She glanced back and shook her head, sending her tears dripping to the floor. 'I can do it…' she caught her breath, placed her cleaner hand over her mouth and squeezed her eyes shut. When she spoke again Raoul was unsure if she was speaking to him or to herself, 'I don't want him to be alone,'

Raoul took a deep breath, 'He won't be alone,' he whispered. 'Laurent will be with him,'

Laurent turned to Philippe. 'Go back to the cottage, get help,'

Philippe did not argue, for the first time in his life he had been given an order and he took it without question. As he left, Raoul turned his attention back to Christine, his hand still resting on her shoulder. 'Please come…'

'He needs me,' She whispered.

'I promise to do everything I can to make sure he is alright,' Laurent said as he pressed the sleeves from Raoul's shirt onto Erik's wound, finally displacing Christine's hand.

Another tear shed and Raoul closed his eyes, almost unable to see her pain any longer. When he opened them again Christine was leaning forward her face close to the Phantom's. To Raoul's amazement when the older man forced open his eyes and fixed them upon Christine he actually smiled.

'Christine,' he whispered,

'Erik…'

The Phantom's hand found Christine's and rested on it momentarily before dropping back down to his side as he winced in pain. 'Be safe, Christine,'

'I am safe,' she whispered back, 'I'm safe here, I'm safe with you… you saved me,'

His smile somehow broadened. 'Oh no…' he coughed, winced again. 'Oh Christine, I have not saved you… it is you who has saved me,'

'You're ill…'

'It appears so,'

'I need to help you,' she was nodding.

The Phantom looked at Laurent and then said, softly, 'Laurent can do that,'

'I want…'

'Now's not the time,' The Phantom said.

'I need to be here, with you,'

He smiled again. 'You need to tend to your own injuries,'

'Yours are worse,'

'Merely a flesh wound,' he joked and Raoul could barely believe what he was hearing.

Laurent was looking paler by the second. 'Vicomte,'

'Please Christine, will you come with me?' he asked, his heart feeling duller by the second. Her wide brown eyes stared back up at him, telling the story of her torment with unashamed clarity.

She looked back at the Phantom lying on his back, his eyes opening and closing, as if he was fighting even with himself.

'Erik,' she said, softly.

He swallowed. 'Yes, Christine?'

'I don't want to go,'

Erik's smile was brief and pained, 'Oh Christine, I don't want you to see me this way,'

She squeezed her eyes shut and when they reopened fresh tears had formed and begun to flow down her cheeks. 'Promise me…'

'Anything,'

'Promise me you'll remember me… every now and then, when you're well again… promise me that you won't forget me,'

'I'll remember you always, Christine,' Erik said, but his voice was weaker, his face paler. 'I love you,'

She leaned down and pressed her lips to the corner of the Phantom's mouth, and as much as he wanted to, Raoul could not force himself to look away. She touched her cheek to his and grasped his hand with her own, whispered something into his ear and finally, reluctantly, moved away.

She looked at Raoul. 'I'm ready,'

Laurent looked up at them both and said, 'I'll do what I can,'

Raoul nodded. 'Come Christine,' he held his hand out for her but she did not take it, she walked past him and was out of the door before Raoul had even begun to follow. When she was out of earshot he turned to the Phantom and said, 'Thank you,'

The Phantom's blue eyes focused onto him. 'I did nothing for you,'

'I know,' Raoul nodded. 'I know that,'

With one last glance behind him, Raoul too, walked out of the barn but as he got to the door he heard the Phantom say, 'Laurent, let me die,'

'I can't,' Laurent returned.

'Let me die,' The Phantom said again. 'I am, for the only time in my life, at peace… let me die this way,'

Raoul closed the door behind him and vowed to himself that Christine would never hear those words, as long as he breathed in and out, Christine would believe that Laurent had saved the Phantom's life.