Chapter 7

December

Ashley was very excited. December was finally here and that meant that Christmas was upon her and then came New Year. It's funny, as she thought about the Masquerade Ball coming up, she began feeling thrilled. The thought of seeing the Phantom in all his Phantomy glory was making her as giddy as an otaku at an anime convention. But she was also nervous because of the same reason. He was indeed an intimidating person and she had a feeling he would not be happy about her random performances the past few months. But it was worth it.

At the moment, Ashley was sitting on her bed with some paper in her lap and a pencil in her hand. She was currently sketching her ball dress from Alice in the Country of Hearts. She had even taken down her own measurements just for the hell of it. She had little tabs pointing to different parts of the dress saying what colors they would be and what they'd be made from. She also put in big bold print: Blue! Not Pink! Ashley wasn't a big fan of wearing pink. It was about a week until Christmas and she was more than eager to celebrate with Christine and Meg.

"Ashley, what are you doing up here by yourself?" Speak of the devil; Meg came into the room still in her costume. Ashley quickly threw her drawing under her pillow.

"Um, nothing." She said hastily.

"Christine and I were about to do some shopping. Why don't you come with us?" Ashley thought about it for a while. She has spent just about all her time at the opera house since she arrived, going out would be a nice change.

"Sure, why not." Meg squealed and hugged her.

"Great! Now, we're going to leave in a few minutes, so be ready to go when I come back." She said and ran from the room. Ashley sighed then pulled her drawing out from under her pillow. As she stared at the dress, a funny thought entered her mind.

"I wonder what would happen if he saw me wearing this." She shook her head then folded the paper and stuck it under her pillow again before reaching under her bed to grab her cloak.

"Ashley, ready to go?" Meg asked returning to the room.

"In a second. Just need to grab…" She stuck herself under the bed to get a better reach. Meg approached the frustrated girl and chuckled. She quickly glanced towards her pillow and saw a piece of paper sticking out. She quietly reached over and picked it up then carefully unfolded it to see the drawing of the dress. She looked down at Ashley again and the wheels in her head began turning.

"Say, Ashley. Have you thought about going to the Masquerade on New Years?" She asked.

"Uh, I'm not sure." She called out. "I'm not really comfortable at such events. Besides, I don't even have something to where." Meg smirked at her last statement then quickly tucked the slip of paper into her dress just as Ashley had pulled herself out with her cloak. "I'm ready when you are."

The three girls spent a good amount of time walking the streets, every now and again peaking into the windows of shops. At a couple jewelry stores, Ashley would stop and stare at the beautifully crafted rings and necklaces until either Meg or Christine would pull her away.

"Sorry, I had a knack for looking at all things shiny." She admitted feeling a bit embarrassed.

"You're a girl, you can't help it." Meg said and they continued on their way. After a little while more, they stopped in front of a stand that sold various accessories from necklaces to hair pins. Ashley decided that she would do a little browsing.

I still need to find Christmas presents for Meg, Christine, and Mme Giry. She thought. She had saved a substantial amount of money from her work as Mme Giry's assistant but didn't accept any money from her singing.

"The only payment I need for music is to share it with the world." She told them.

After a few moments, she managed to pick out some items. She got Christine a silver necklace with a treble clef charm, Meg's was a beautifully crafted bracelet that had little flowers, berries, and leaves carved into the design, and for Mme Giry, a silver clip with a lovely intricate design with gem stones and a black stone right in the center. She wasn't exactly sure of her gifts, but she knew that she wanted to get them at least a little something.

"What did you buy?" Christine asked.

"It's a secret." She said holding a finger to her lips.

"Can't you tell me?" Ashley shook her head.

"It's a surprise."

"Fine. Anyway, Raoul said he would like to meet us for lunch in a little while." She took her hand and went to find Meg. They found her coming out of the tailor's shop with a large grin on her face.

"You ready to find Raoul?" She asked cheerfully.

"I don't like that look on your face Meg." Ashley said warily. "What were you doing in there?"

"Oh, nothing." But before Ashley could question the blond any further, she began walking in the opposite direction. "We don't want to be late!"

As they arrived at the restraint, Raoul was sitting at a large circular table looking around every now and again for the girls. When he finally caught sight of them, he came up to them.

"You made it. I decided to wait for you all to arrive before I ordered." Ashley giggled.

"Quite the gentleman you are monsieur." She said slightly teasing him.

"It's rare to see you out and about Miss Ashley." He said and took her hand and placed a kiss on it. Ashley made a very uncomfortable face. "Is something wrong?"

"It's nothing; just I'm not use to this sort of thing." She said. "You don't see this kind of genteel in the twenty first century."

"It's been over six months and she's yet to adjust to her new lifestyle." Meg said.

"That and the fact I haven't left the opera house once since I came here." Ashley added.

"That can be a problem." Raoul said. "But, we can continue this conversation once we've sat down." He led the three girls over to the table he was at. Christine sat next to Raoul on his right and Meg on his left and Ashley in between the girls. "So, Ashley, your monthly performances seem to be getting a lot of attention."

"I suppose." She said. "The only reason I agreed to them was because I love to sing. I'm not sure how much longer this will last so I want to make the most of the time I've been given."

"What do you mean?" Christine asked.

"Well, I just have my whits about me at the moment. You know, it's just that feeling where you know something will happen but you don't know when or where." She took a sip of water before continuing. "For example, there may be a chance I do find a way back home and I decide to go. I want to share the music of my world with this one as much as I can."

"I guess there's some logic there." Meg said. "But if there was a way back to your world, wouldn't you have found it by now?" Ashley looked down at her hands in her lap.

"Yes. But, it's strange. The more time I spend here, the less I think of my home. Now whenever I think of the life I use to have and what I almost had, I realize just how unhappy I've been for the longest time. I want to go home because I have my friends and family there and everything is familiar. I'd live the life that I was going to take on." By now, she was just rambling to herself, vaguely aware of the others around her.

"But do you really want to go home?" Raoul asked. Ashley thought for a moment. Did she really want to go home? Back to a world that has caused her pain but has also great joy? For the longest time, Ashley has only looked back on the worst times in her life from the divorce of her parents to the present. But she noticed that since she arrived in this world, there was something telling her that she didn't want to go back. Some niggling feeling in the back of her mind was telling her that she needed to stay.

"I… I'm not sure." She answered. "I know I should go back… but… at the same time… I don't want to." She turned to look out of a window on the far end of the room. The sun was bright and people were happily walking the streets. "My mind is just feeling…"

"I'm sure when the time comes; you'll make your decision." Christine said touching her hand. Ashley smiled and nodded to her friend. "For now try not to think about it. Just enjoy the time you already have."

Ashley decided not to give a show this month because of all the preparations for Christmas and the Masquerade Ball. She said that she might give a little show at the ball if there was time. Days flew by and before she knew it, it was Christmas Eve. For the first time since she arrived, Ashley felt the loneliness of her situation begin to sink in. She had no family to celebrate with and it would be the first time she spent Christmas away from home.

"Say, why don't you come stay with us for Christmas?" Meg said. Ashley looked at the girl feeling a bit confused.

"Are you sure? I mean, I wouldn't want to impose on you." Meg just laughed.

"You're too nice, do you know that?" Ashley quirked an eyebrow at her friend. "Maman would be glad to have you over. Besides, you don't want to be here all alone, would you?"

"No, I suppose not." She said in defeat. "I would love to spend Christmas with you and your mother."

By Christmas morning, Ashley had felt a new swell of joy come over her. She felt somehow overjoyed to be waking up in this world and spending Christmas with the Giry's.

"Christine said that Raoul wanted to spend the day with her so we might not see her today." Meg explained.

"Then she'll have to wait for her present until tomorrow if I don't see her." Ashley said.

"Speaking of presents, what did you get me?" Ashley just shook her head.

"You just have to wait until your mother gets here." And, as if on cue, Mme Giry came in holding a tray of tea.

"I know you're both eager so just get started on your presents." The two girls squealed with delight. Ashley gave the Giry's their presents and they both seemed very pleased with what they received which gave Ashley a bit more closure that she hadn't failed in her gift shopping.

"Now, about your present." Meg said with a mischievous glint in her eye. "This one is for you." She handed Ashley a large white box. The twenty year old eyed her present for a moment then looked back at her friend cautiously.

"Should I be afraid?" She asked.

"No, you should be really excited!" Said the young blond. Ashley sighed then made to open the box. And as she opened the lid, she was greeted by a blue dress. More specifically, the dress from her drawing. She looked at Meg then back at the dress. There was even a matching mask sitting on top.

"Meg… is… is this-" But before she could finish, Meg held up the picture.

"I remembered how you said you didn't have a dress for the Masque, and when I found this drawing I thought maybe this dress would be suitable for you to wear." Ashley pulled the dress from the box and gave it a once over. Every detail was to a T and as she looked at the mask, she knew Meg had gone quite a ways to have this done for her. Ashley felt tears stinging the back of her eyes and she dropped the box with the dress and hugged her.

"Thank you so much!" She cried. Meg hugged her back and let her have a moment.

"Merry Christmas Ashley." She replied.

A few more days came and went, and before anyone knew it, the day of the Masquerade was only one day away. Ashley was beginning to feel her stomach doing back flips from how nervous she was. Because tomorrow was the night that the Phantom, dressed as the Red Death, would make his presence known once more and rehearsals on his upcoming opera would commence. She went over to the hook by her bed that held her dress and sighed. She had been feeling so confident before, but now with the awareness of how everything was going had caught up to her.

"Tomorrow's the big night." She said to herself. "Let's just see how things turn out." She figured she could use some fresh air so she grabbed her cloak and made her way to the roof. As she stepped out, she looked up at the cloud covered sky for some time. Then her eyes began to widen and her face shown a look of amazement.

"It's snowing." A light snow had begun to fall. Ashley just stood there watching as the snowflakes fell. Suddenly, her fears, her worries, her terrible feelings all melted away. She began feeling a sense of peace once more after so long.

wasurenai...
ima wa mou choppiri setsunaku
mata aeru ne, to nan ni mo utagawazu ni ita

terekusai kara
kaidan no kage machiawaseta

ano hi wo, wasurenai
suna ga mau hi ga ochiru
nagaku nobiru
futatsu no kage mi nagara waratta yo ne

omoi wa wasurenai
nido to modorenai kedo
HAJIMETE NO ITOSHISA
dakishimete ima demo

mou ichido aeta nara
tsutaetai koto ya kikitai koto ga
takusan aru kigasuru kedo

"sou aritai" to negaeta
kimi no yume wa ima wa?

ano hi wo, wasurenai
okujou de kiita kyoku
hitotsu no IYAFON
shi no imi mo wakarazu ni naiteta yo ne

omoi wa wasurenai
toki wa tomaranai kara
yasashisa to itoshisa
dakishimeru Good-bye, My days.
dakishimeru Good-bye, My days.

As she let the last note fade, she couldn't help but think back to her world. Is anyone still looking for her? Do they think she's dead? Maybe she was kidnapped? Did she run away? All these questions were swirling around in her mind. But, at that moment, nothing really mattered to her anymore.

The song used in this chapter was My Days by Rika Komatsu from Tokyo Mew Mew.

'Nother chapter I left alone. But next we have the Masquerade chapter!