I'm sorry for those who closely follow my story! I had to go on a small hiatus in order to refresh my brain to write more brilliant chapters for my Christine/Erik fanfiction! Plus to help myself write this story I have ordered The Phantom of the Opera sheet music for me to play on my piano so I can get in the phantom mood.
Thank you again for following/favoriting/liking this story, it means so much to me that you read my work! I already have plenty of ideas for different stories to come even though I never want this one to end!
Chapter 8: The "Bal Masque"
Christine, who was ready for the night to come, was waiting in her dressing room for Erik. Thinking about the rooftop rendezvous they just had made a shiver go down her spine but she could not tell if it was from the lingering frost hanging to her sodden red cloak or if it was from the excitement that awaited tonight.
Christine walked up to the mirror and covered the right side of her face with her hand, she didn't mind covering it all in fact. Actually, she wouldn't mind a little secrecy every now and then. After a while of waiting she sat back down on her chaise lounge and removed her cloak for a different one. The new one was a dark gray with black and deep, dark, red roses covering every inch of the gray fabric. On top of the roses laid a cover of black lace with white trimming. Yes, this will do nicely in the impending coldness of winter. Christine thought to herself as she wrapped it around her and tied the mandatory bow around her neck and released it to feel the slight pressure on her neck that told her that she was keeping it from falling.
She looked at herself in the mirror and removed the black ribbon from her hair to allow the wild dark brown curls fall all around her heart shaped face and slowly began to remove the makeup that was from this evening's performance earlier. The performance, the body…oh dear god, I never got the chance to ask Erik about that. I know that he had no part in the death but I cannot help but be curious. Dear God please let him not get mad at me, I have heard of his legendary anger and I do not wish to be subjected to it.
Christine continued to clean herself as much as possible before her love arrived to return her back to the world of music but no matter what she could not get the image of Joseph's body out of her mind. His bloodshot eyes and purple bloated face kept continuing to resurface to the front of her mind. Those piercing green eyes that burned into her soul caused Christine to go pale. Yes, Christine decided, she was going to have to ask Erik about this sooner or later and she much rather it be sooner than later.
As she looked at the clock sitting on her mantel she saw that it was half past nine and wondered what could be taking her Angel so long to get her. Surely he could not have lost his way? He always made it clear that he knew every passageway in the opera house by now and he could not be stalling. No, he looked much too excited on the rooftop to be nervous about her coming back down to his house again. Why would he not show himself to her Christine wondered silently as she began to pace around her room. Then the idea struck her, maybe he wants to play our little game again, Christine thought aimlessly with a mischievous smile.
"Come to me strange angel…" Christine sang hauntingly to the dark mirror and awaited for the Phantom's usual way of escorting her to his home. She watched the mirror curiously hoping to see a glimmer of light escape through the mirror's edges but to no avail, nothing appeared. Christine sighed, almost musically, as she sat back down and awaited for her knight to come rescue her from her impending doom of complete boredom. When Christine was about to give up and try to fall asleep she heard a light, but audible tapping at her door.
She immediately bolted straight up on the chaise wondering who in their right minds would be up at this hour. She could not go to receive the door because she was far too incident for any visitor this late at night and even began to think about yelling at the persistent knocker. After a few minutes of constant knocking Christine's curiosity overrode her sense of propriety and she went to open her door. Before she started walking she looked at the mirror and quietly promised Erik that she would be right back right after she went to see who was there.
As she walked silently to the door's handle she began to wonder of who it could be on the other side. It surely could not be Raoul because if he had any mind at all, any sense of how she truly felt of their relationship, then he would know that it was not the best time to see her.
Christine shook her head and decided that whoever it was on the other side would get a mouth full from herself as soon as she identified the person who intruded on her speculations of Erik on why he was so late to receive her after such a romantic time up on the roof.
Christine latched her fingers around the door handle and pulled it down to swing it open. She saw that she caught the man in a mid-knock and Christine laughed when she saw Erik's surprised face staring at her. After Erik's shock melted away as he heard Christine's wonderfully beautiful laugh he softened his gaze and returned a very heart felt smile and kissed his Christine's hand.
"Why mademoiselle I do not recall telling a joke," Erik mumbled slightly embarrassed to Christine as she hugged him tightly to her. Christine stayed in that position for a few moments before answering Erik as she tried to compose herself.
"Why of course you did not monsieur, it was I that I was laughing at! Here I was expecting my knight in shining armor to walk out of his enchanted mirror and I hear this person knocking on my door, most likely frightening my knight away. I come here to yell at whoever is knocking on my door at this late hour and find none other but the knight himself!" Christine laughed a little more before blushing at what she had just told Erik. She just confessed that she was waiting for him to come retrieve her, she was always told that woman should make the men wait. But why would Christine want to spend time away from Erik when it only made her want him more.
Suddenly as her face blushed a deep crimson she heard the deep hearty laugh that Erik produced from the depths of his chest. Erik knew that Christine was waiting for him, he had been watching her from behind his mirror and saw all her nervous tendencies being done thoroughly. She had fixed her hair, removed her makeup and paced. Pacing was always something he had seen Christine do before something nerve wracking. From a performance to an audition to telling any secret of hers to Meg or himself. Erik found it really cute in a way.
Christine looked up to find Erik smiling at her and she impulsively kissed his cheek, causing Erik to come out of his small trance. He shook his head slightly and grabbed Christine's hand. "Come Christine, the fine horse awaits for our return," Erik said as he guided her through the mirror through the tunnels that lead the very much in love couple back down to the realm of music. The hallways were much more glamorous this time compared to the last time that Christine had visited Erik. The walls gave off the look of gold and in each candelabra hanging on either side of the hallway was a small bundle of roses encompassed in a thick black ribbon.
On the floor were hundreds, if not thousands, of roses that seemed like they were of every shade of red from the palest pink to the deepest and boldest red. Christine could not help but be touched by the romantic notion and deep thought and preparation that Erik must have gone into to make this such a success. It was obvious with each rose and black ribbon that Erik was telling Christine that he loved her and Christine couldn't help but want to show such love in return.
As they finally went down the last hallway and reached Cesar, Erik grasped Christine by the waist and gingerly mounted her on top of his horse. As custom, Erik held the reins and led the black horse to the boat as to keep Christine dry and not tired from the excessive amount of walking that Erik had grown used to. Every now and then Erik snuck peeks at Christine and could not stop himself from watching how her hips swayed gracefully, even sexually on top of the horse.
Erik averted his eyes from the sight—anything but a terrible sight—and returned his gaze once again out of spite to his self-control. Now, not only were her hips swaying but her nightgown had opened for Erik to openly gaze at the creamy white flesh of her upper thighs that were exposed above her stockings.
Erik clenched his jaw as he felt his lower regions tighten ever so slightly, he could not allow himself to lose the dignified self-control he had been able to maintain this long, and god damn it he would not allow it to ruin their evening! He started thinking of everything to reduce the pressure of the region below his stomach. Nothing worked until he thought of Carlotta's singing, singing worthy of a toad, and the pressure immediately went away.
Thank you God, thank you so much for giving Carlotta at least one useful job in this world. Although I am sure that she would be of some use as a cheap swindling whore at the brothel down the road. I know far too many men would spend a couple of francs on her body rather than hear her sing. I, unfortunately, know she already uses the prior skills much too often on the managers. Erik shivered from the horrible thought and looked up to see that they had just reached the boat. Thank god for his impeccable timing, as always.
Erik released his grip on Cesar's reins and gripped Christine's waist to help her down from his horse. As he lowered her he looked up to her and saw a flame in her dark brown eyes, a flame of a deep passion that he didn't realize that Christine possessed in all the years that he knew year. Well, yes, he knew that she had a passion of how much she loved those in her life but never did he once believe that she would hold that same kind of love for him as well, and now that he saw it he vowed to never let her down ever again.
He guided Christine back to his boat for another journey to his home and made sure she was comfortable on the pillows that laid on the bottom. Once she was seated he wrapped a blanket around Christine's cloak to make sure that she was warm and only when she nodded in consent did he start rowing the gondola through the lake that led them home.
Christine busied herself with the journey by trying to memorize the way back to Erik's home as she made mental notes of the different ways to go through the maze to reach the prized destination. Left, left, right, straight for two hallways, and then take another right. After a while of concentrating on the different turns she decided to talk to Erik so she turned around and faced her company.
She was surprised that he was already looking at her with the intent to talk to her as well and she smiled to see the similarity of the situation. She waited for him to begin talking to her but instead of talking his left cheek began to blush slightly and she saw him look back up as he continued rowing.
Christine let her mind wander to thoughts of the upcoming masquerade ball that the Opera Populaire was hosting that was tomorrow night. She bit her lip to keep the years at bay as she realized that she had no costume to wear for such a grand occasion and wished to God to help her in some way to have one fitted for her in the impending week ahead, adding that her Angel of Music should attend the ball as well. After the prayer was done, Christine did the sign of the cross and kissed her fingertips before placing them over her heart so that the prayer would be sent quicker, her father taught her this method when she was little and it has worked ever since.
After she was finished with all her thanks to God, Christine opened her eyes to see that they were almost to the edge of the lake, and to Erik's home, and became giddy once again. As she leaned over the edge of the boat as it reached the middle of the lake Christine lost her balance and fell into the black darkness of the icy waters. The coldness cut through all the layers of skin and went straight to her bones causing her body to thrash less and less to succumb to hypothermia's grip on her.
After a while Christine stopped her attempts to swim and accepted her fate. She watched the dim lights that reflected upon the surface of the water from above and saw a dark form enter the lake after her. She could not see or understand anything but all she knew was that there was a white mask that grasped her attention, and it grasped all her attention firmly before passing out as soon as they resurfaced.
As Erik cradled Christine's limp, but barely alive, body to his bed he prayed to her God that he will help him get Christine safe again. He laid her damp body against his red satin pillow and blankets and began removing the cold, wet, garments that restricted his Christine from becoming warm. As he carefully removed each one to ensure that it was still in perfect condition, Erik laid a thick wool blanket over Christine's practically naked form and gently opened her mouth.
Erik recalled from the medical textbooks that he had read about performing a procedure called mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, an emergency procedure used when a person is barely, or not, breathing at all. He closed his eyes and began rereading each and every word on the specific page that documented the detailed steps that were involved when performing the routine: first, you tilt the victim's head at an angle as to ensure that air can reach into their lungs. So Erik gently caressed Christine's head and tilted it at a small angle for her comfort, but large enough to do the job perfectly. The next step for him to do was to check to see if there was anything blocking Christine's throat that would restrict her breathing, so he did as the medical text told him to do and he gently probed his index finger in her mouth to see if there was anything in her throat, and there was nothing. Erik continued on with all the steps until he reached the final one, pressing his mouth to hers.
Slightly shaking, Erik bent down and press his lips against Christine's soft ones and blew air into her throat. He watched her chest rise and fall with the air he had supplemented her with and he continued the treatment by pumping his fists against her chest. After ten reps of pumps he poured air into her body once more to only have it have no effect.
"Come on," Erik growled to her as he continued pumping her chest to restart her heart. Erik knew that she had to wake up, oh dear god there is so much for her to live for and he knew that he needed her more than she would ever know! Erik never once stopped that night and continued on for what seemed like hours on end. By the tenth blow into her mouth Erik grew desperate.
"Please Christine, please come back to me, please baby, please," he pleaded and begged the lifeless body that laid before him. Erik had to find a way to bring this woman back to him or else he would never forgive himself, there would be no other point for him to live!...and suddenly there was a small coughing sound that protruded from the swan bed.
Erik looked at the bed to see Christine's body beginning to bring back the color it had, her cheeks became flushed and her lips became red. Everything about the woman before him was alive, and healthy, and perfect. Everything about Christine shined with perfection and Erik could not find it in himself to stop the downpour of tears that fell out of his eyes as he threw his arms around the woman he dearly loved. "Oh dear god Christine don't ever scare me like that again!" Erik shuddered as he held onto her by her waist and didn't stop until his crying subsided with the gentle ease of Christine's caresses and humming.
Christine continued to wait for Erik to subside the tears but also embraced each one for it was part of the wall that Erik was breaking that stood between the two. Yes, each tear showed that he began to trust her more and more and Christine would cherish the moments when they truly felt like a couple, and in those moments Christine loved Erik more than she had before.
After Erik finished crying he looked up at the beautiful pale angel before him smiling kindly down upon him. He was in awe to how she was able to stand to be near him when he felt her fingers gently remove his mask and dab his tears away with part of the blanket in her hand. Christine, forgetting or not knowing that she was naked underneath the blanket, exposed her left breast as she wiped away Erik's tears. Erik instantly saw the sacred piece of flesh that his eyes were graced to see and he gently raised his hand.
Christine saw the entire scene happen, she saw her breast become exposed to the chill in the air and she saw Erik's eyes shift to her naked form. She begged that he would not be different from any other man and pleaded that he would do the gentlemanly thing. As she watched his hand lift and move towards the breast now perked in his direction Christine watched with anticipation. But as soon as she saw Erik remove the blanket from her hand and replace it over her chest without inappropriately touching her at all Christine gazed up at Erik and blushed intensely.
Erik smiled at Christine and knew exactly what he would give her. He was going to make her a masquerade costume for the ball tomorrow night, it will be a pink dress the shade of her blush. She will be Juliet, if she pleases, and Erik will have it done by tomorrow—sleep is not worth anything compared to the joy in his heart when Christine will see her costume made specifically, and only, for her.
Shaking himself out of his reverie, Erik looked back down at Christine who laid contently on his bed and he could not help but smile and kiss her on her forehead.
"Get some rest Christine, you have had a very trying day and I recommended a full night's rest. Then once you awake tomorrow I will have a warm bath prepared for you and a surprise afterwards if you are good," Erik ended the request with a little chuckle.
At that point Christine was so tired all she could do was nod and as she did, she laid her head back down on the pillow and fell asleep immediately. Erik watched as his beautiful angel slept and kissed her forehead one more time.
"You alone can make my song take flight, help me make the music of the night."