(A/N)
ErikaDailmoreThePhantomess: To answer your questions, I really do believe that Erik knew Christine's father on a more personal level because due to Gustave's need for money at the time it would have led him to the one place in Paris that is known for its musical arts: The Opera Populaire, and a friendship between the two men grew over a common passion of music. On the second question, it's more of what I was able to pick up in the movie. These are two very stubborn young men, who know plenty about mannerisms and are very skillful in many fields, Erik's immense hatred toward Raoul and the way he wasn't trying to end his life immediately as he did with Joseph. Well if Erik was a DeChagny, that would make him the oldest and he should be given all titles, hmm?
PhantomFan01: Your reviews always make me smile!
Keep up the reviews! I LOVE them and they've been inspiring me lately to continue updating more often than the majority of authors (I really can't stand leaving you hanging there with such a cliff hanger I left!)
Chapter 15: Revelations
As Raoul was about to move again in the peculiar room filled with mirrors he felt someone place their hand on his shoulder. He gasped before seeing that it was in fact Madame Giry, and he had to reluctantly give up the search in this room of finding the phantom so that he could end the crazy man's life to claim Christine once more.
He followed Madame Giry closely as they left through various secret passageways that he was most curious to know why and how she knew the way through them all. Raoul realized that she has to have some idea of the phantom of the opera seeing as she is the only one that is ever seen to be delivering his mail and correspondences to the managers and to return him his monthly due. On top of all that, she was also the only one, Meg and Christine included, who was not harmed by the phantom in any way. In fact, if anything she was treated much kinder and was awarded more often than not with the Phantom.
He called out to her as he saw that her paces were growing quicker, he couldn't lose her just yet.
"Madame Giry! Madame Giry!" He cried out and saw her glance up to see who was calling out to her.
"Please, Monsieur, I know no more than anyone else," Antoinette said as she began to try to open her door to get space between her and this quite, please forgive her, obsessive man. She had never met someone who was just as determined as him to get a girl…wait, he reminded her very much of someone she knew quite well. But she knew that the man that she thought of would find it incredibly insulting if he should ever hear her profess such a likeness.
"That's not true." Raoul called out. He knew that there was just too many coincidences between Madame Giry and the Phantom of the Opera that it was just impossible for him to overlook everything and believe the lies that the woman was spouting out of her mouth right in front of him! To the patron of the Opera Populaire!
"Monsieur, don't ask, there have been too many accidents," Antoinette begged Raoul not to persist any longer, she couldn't answer his questions that she knew were swimming in her head without betraying the only person she had that was as close to a brother as it was possible for her. He loved him like a brother, and as a noble and valiant sister she was not going to be broke to give anything away about Erik.
"Accidents? Please, Madame Giry, for all our sakes…" Raoul begged the older woman before him. He wanted to be the nice guy, the one that would chat with her on good terms about what was going on at the opera house, evidently what has been going on for many years now, without having anything bad go wrong. But he knew that he could also be the bad guy as well and if he needed to, he knew just how to persuade the older woman to give me all the information that he needed to last him a lifetime with the help of Meg Giry and Christine.
For a while all Antoinette Giry could do was stand there astound at the young man's hand on her arm in a vice like grip. She knew that it was no use to try to fight her way out of him because she was older and her bones were more fragile than they were twenty years ago, and the man in front of her was younger, stronger and he didn't think things through fully as he should where it concerns others and just not himself. But Madame Giry also knew that if she were to anger the patron of the opera house that his anger could be taken out on her daughters and Antoinette knew that he had the power to take them away from her and never let her see or hear from them again and it hurt her older heart knowing that there was a chance of that happening now. Finally she breathed deeply and answered the Vicomte DeChagny.
"Very well," she opened her door and led him inside gesturing towards a chair for him as she went about lighting the oil lamps on her desk and chest of drawers. Finally when it came to the final lamp she looked down at a younger picture of herself that was taken not long before the events of which changed her entire life.
"It was years ago. There was a travelling fair in the city, gypsies. I was very young, studying to be a ballerina. I was one of many living in the dormitory of the opera house. We were led through many different attractions included a woman with a beard, a man with stretchable skin, and a contortionist. Yet none of them were as amazing as the next one, a man with a grizzly gray black beard beckoned us into his tent and introduced us to a boy called 'The Devil's Child'. I didn't see anything evil about him and so I did not participate in the mockery that started and torture that the man had imposed upon the poor soul. I had lingered behind after everyone had left wanting to make sure that the boy was ok, I couldn't stand watching him being hurt. But before I was able to realize anything, the boy had strangled the man while he was counting the money he had earned from his sideshow. I have hidden him from the world and its cruelties. He has known nothing else of life since then, except this opera house. It was his playground and now his artistic domain. He's a genius, he's an architect and designer, he's a composer and magician. A genius, monsieur."
Antoinette did not realize that she was on the verge of tears by the time she was done recounting the tale of her adopted brother. It hurt her tenfold every time she thought about how much he must have been tortured, how much of his humanity was lost through the animalistic way he was treated during those years of which he was in that caravan. All the sickness he must have been subjected to because he was never properly cared for. There was no one there to comfort him and so he had to find his way through the darkness alone. It hurt Antoinette to even think about where he would be now if she had not come that night like she had tried so hard to do with her friends.
"But clearly, Madame Giry, genius has turned to madness," Raoul stated as he was done listening to the tale of the Phantom of the Opera. He had to sit there for a while thinking about what this all meant—it meant that the Phantom was nothing more but just a man, and yet while he lives he will haunt them until he is dead. So Raoul came to the conclusion that it was his duty to dispatch of this man as quickly as possible because the sooner this man is gone from the opera house for good the sooner he and Christine can start a life together.
"Monsieur please, he is not a madman! He is only trying to protect himself from those that mean him harm. Please Monsieur Le Vicomte you must believe me! You need to stay away from him or else you could be the Phantom's next victim! You do not know what this man is capable of monsieur!" Madame Giry begged with the young and utterly foolish young boy. If he continued putting these wrong notions into his mind who knows what will happen to them all when Raoul tries to test the Phantom's patience,
"I must leave and find Christine Madame Giry, thank you for all the time and answers you have given me today. I promise you that you will not come to regret the decision you made by doing so for me tonight." Raoul kissed the older woman's hand before leaving to find the girl of his dreams and to tell her all of which he heard. He secretly hoped this would frighten Christine away from protecting the "Phantom of the Opera" as much as it would with any of the ballerinas. And once his Christine was away from the Phantom then it was his turn to push his sword through the beating heart that he knew hid behind the black cloak of the ghost that has haunted this, his, opera house for far too long.
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Christine awaited for Erik's reply as she watched him think over her only question in his mind. She knew that he would have to think it over thoroughly because it would mean to have them out in public again and if he were spotted it would become an even greater risk because of his mask. She completely understood if he would rather not go at all but to her surprise he slowly began to nod his head.
"Yes, I believe that it would be wise to visit your father…given the circumstances we are in right now." Erik said, weighing each word as he watched Christine's reaction. When he saw a shy small smile tug at the corners of Christine's lips he continued on talking, telling her of the plan that he believes will help them the most in the couple of hours to come as he handed her a small pouch of money.
"I will need you to pay the coach of the carriage with this money. I have put some extra money in there as well in case you see something you need or for any other reason. I will need to take the driver's spot so please do not worry for the coach, I am merely just making him unconscious and putting him in one of the servant's quarters beds while he is asleep," Erik watched as Christine nodded with consent towards his plan. Erik smiled slightly and rubbed her cheek with his thumb as he admired her so much for her strength. He grabbed their cloaks and set off towards the stables to begin their journey.
Once they both got outside Erik stayed in the shadow's embrace as he watched Christine walk into the stables. He knew that she knew exactly what to do in regards to their plan but it still caused a protectiveness of her to possess him whenever she was not in arm's length of him. Christine was such a fragile girl that she needed to be protected—there were too many men in this world that would take advantage of a young woman like Christine and not think twice about doing ungodly and immoral acts to her that would forever taint her thoughts of humanity. So Erik waited, impatiently, in the darkness of a corner nearby the stable house waiting for the stable driver to come out and prepare the carriage.
As Christine continued walking towards the man who was the head of the stables it was obvious to her that he was either extremely tired or drunken. His hair was scattered everywhere and the poor man, in a vain attempt, tried to submit it into flattening down as he saw Christine approached him. Upon closer observation, Christine saw that his shirt held unpleasant looking stains of sweat and others that she could not name for now. The man's portly stomach shyly peaked out from the bottom of his shirt and his brown pants were in no better condition. Christine then decided that the man must have been drunk last night and slept in his clothes.
Nonetheless, Christine still walked up the man and held out the small bag of money that Erik had supplied her with earlier. Christine was unaware of how much it currently held but she was sure that she would be able to borrow proper clothing and some flowers with the amount held inside.
"Monsieur," Christine said to the stable manager as she offered him the bag of money. The stable manager looked at her suspiciously for a second before shrugging and taking it gently from her awaiting hand and inspecting the coins he retrieved from inside. Upon his speculation, the stable manager believed that the little soprano gave him actual gold coins. He thought about informing her of this but on second thought he kept himself from speaking aloud, if the little girl wanted to give him this sort of money who was he to refuse?
"Ou vas tu, mademoiselle?" The stable manager asked Christine as she began walking away. Christine pondered for a second before replying, "The cemetery." With this said the stable hand bowed his head slightly and began to grab the blankets, horses, and reigns that will be necessary for this trip.
The stable manager walked into the stable and grabbed two of his finest horses and walked them over to the carriage to start putting the reins on them. Once the horses were attached to the carriage, the blankets were in seat for the young soprano, and himself, the stable manager went to retrieve his cloak when he felt someone place a couple of fingers on his neck and he fell unconscious.
Erik grabbed the older man before he fell and hit the ground. He knew that the pressure point on the neck would cause him to pass out and thank god he was prepared for the man to fall. Erik looked around to see if anyone had seen what happened, and thanked god that it was still the early morning. But now he was faced with a new problem, just because it was the early morning did not mean that everyone was still asleep inside and if he did pull the man into a room did not mean that it would go as silently as Erik hoped. So now with the new problem established Erik knew that he had to think of a better solution quickly. He looked to the carriage and shook his head, it would be too risky to bring him along the journey…and then he got an idea.
Since two of the horses stalls were empty now that meant that there would be two empty places of big piles of relatively warm hay to lay the man on until he had awoken. Besides it was not uncommon to hear that a stable hand fell asleep on the job and hid in the hay as to not be seen by the managers or other people willing to announce the slack in their working habits. So as silently as he could he drug the man towards the stables and with a, louder than he wished, grunt Erik dropped him in the hay and covered him with a blanket to make it seem like he had fallen asleep on purpose. After Erik was done and pleased by his work he headed back to the carriage and sat in the driver's spot to await for his passenger.
Christine walked over to the modest wardrobe that held outfits that were available for rent and after a while of searching through its contents Christine found a suitable black mourning dress and went into a small changing room to put it on. She knew that even though it had been many years since her father's death she still felt that it would be respectful to wear black in the presence of his absence. After she was done lacing up the back of the dress she walked back towards the carriage, but grabbed a small bouquet of red roses before she made it.
When she reached the carriage once more she saw that Erik had wrapped his cloak around his mask to obscure it from curious eyes in the town and she smiled softly at him before nodding. He held out his hand which she gingerly accepted and allowed him to help her into the opened top carriage. He waited while she arranged the blankets across her lap and couldn't help but notice just how much the color black complimented her pale alabaster skin. Once she was done Erik looked up to her and watched her eyes sadden as she spoke to him, "To my father's grave, please." Erik nodded once more before leaping into the driver's spot and making the horses take them to their destination. He may not have been around the people physically to know where the cemetery was located, but after years of studying maps he knew the town just as well, or even better than, most of the Parisians themselves.
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Raoul had spent the night in one of the smaller rooms that the opera house held because he didn't feel ready to go back home yet. After all the excitement of the masquerade and the new discoveries of this Phantom of the Opera he felt it would be better to stay on the premises so that he would be able to learn more at his own pace.
But suddenly, while he was in a dream of Christine and him performing their first marital act as husband and wife, Raoul was awakened by a loud grunt. He shot up in bed with beads of sweat still apparent on his naked chest and he peered out his window to see someone walking towards a carriage dressed in black. At first Raoul thought this to be the mysterious Phantom of the Opera but as he looked closer at the person Raoul saw it to actually be Christine herself! His feet were planted to the floor as she watched a man, who was carefully not showing his face, help her into the carriage and drive her off.
Raoul thought to himself, that is strange that someone would be afraid to show their face in public, who would do that? Oh dear god it is him, the phantom of the opera! He must have my Christine under some spell that would make her willingly want to go with him somewhere and it is up to me to get her away from this insane man!
So without further thought Raoul pulled his boots on and ran out to the stable house. Once he was there he quickly located the stable manager rubbing his head as if he had just awoken and Raoul ran up to him because he of all people must know where she is going to.
"Where have they gone?" Raoul nearly shouted to the man. The man's eyes squinted, as though he had been drinking very heavily, as he thought about where the young mademoiselle had asked him to take her half an hour ago. For a while he could not remember and he just stood there thinking about all the events. Finally as he remembered he opened his mouth to tell the young man before him but as the stable manager looked into the Vicomte's eyes he saw something that he didn't like there: control. The stable manager himself had a young daughter, close to the soprano's age actually, and he knew that if this young man treated and acted around his daughter this way there was no chance in hell that he would allow them to be together. So the fatherly instincts kicked into him once more as he looked down at the boy in front of him.
"Why do you need to know young man?" Raoul knew immediately that the stable manager was challenging him and Raoul was very impatient at this moment and did not stand for it.
"I am the Vicomte DeChagny, your patron, and you will not speak to me in that way or I will see to it that you are on the streets begging people like me to spare you a franc just so you can live." Raoul stared at the man and watched several emotions pass through him; fear, anger, sadness.
"Oh, the cemetery," the stable manager finally submitted in the end. He hated knowing that he betrayed that young Christine Daae girl because of the power that the boy in front of him held above everyone working at the opera house. He sighed as he remembered the way that Christine would come in and feed and pet the horses as she sang simple little songs to the animals—she was by far one of the sweetest girls he had ever known and he only prayed to God that she would be able to forgive him one day for the betrayal that he showed.
Raoul nodded as the information registered into his mind and hopped upon a white horse that was nearby as he made his journey to the cemetery. He vowed to himself that once he got to the cemetery he would take Christine away from there, the opera house, and even Paris if necessary as to show her that he is exactly what she needs in life—a protector from all the evil that is transpiring around her and seducing her into submitting to the darkness.
Whoever this is that is controlling my Christine into thinking that she would ever desire such a freak as himself will pay for it. He will pay for all the pain and misery I have gone through just to make Christine see that I am all she has ever wanted. She made it quite clear to me when we were younger that she would want to be my bride when we grew up—she even told me so when we were little at my summer house! Yes, when I get her back I will remind her of the promise she made to me when we were children and she will uphold the agreement that we made and she will be my wife and birth the heirs to the DeChagny legacy. I am the only one that my parents can rely on now to uphold the name, I am the only one that is left.
(A/N):
Ohhh! Raoul is very determined to get Christine back from the Phantom! Just to clear it up, even though I know it might be obvious:
'Ou vas tu' in French basically means "Where do you want to go?" in English!
How will Christine and Erik react when they reach their friend and father's grave? Will Raoul make it there on time and interrupt the couple? How will Raoul feel if he ever finds out Christine's true feelings for the Phantom of the Opear?