Amme was facing two very serious dilemmas. On one hand, she very much wanted to go back to the sewers and cut out that annoying Phantom's tongue. On the other hand, she really didn't want to see him again. She also didn't want to hurt him any, but that wasn't something she'd ever admit.
The other dilemma was Josh. She suspected he had paid that poor dead man to take off the Phantom's mask, and she also suspected he knew that poor dead man would be killed because of it. The problem? She didn't know how to say this to Josh.
Having two confusing and unsolved problems did not in any way put Amme in the best mood. She became rather snappish to Madame Giry, the managers, and Carlotta, and even Meg and Christine found themselves on the wrong side of her temper a few times.
Josh, however, got none of it because Amme was thoroughly ignoring him, much to the Phantom's delight. When circumstances did force her to talk to him, her answers were short and rude, also to the Phantom's delight.
But that was not to say Erik had the better end of the situation. True, Amme was not outwardly rude to him, nor was she snappish. But she ignored him just as completely as Joshua Eddison, despite the amount of notes he sent to her. Each one became a tiny pile of ashes in some fireplace.
"Alright," He finally said to Laetitia. "This plan isn't working. She obviously wasn't serious with her threat."
"Most people aren't," Laetitia informed him.
"True." He glanced down at her notes she had written to him. "I'm going to talk to her tonight. Right after rehearsal gets done."
The mermaid snorted. "Better you than me."
-
Amme returned to her dressing room with some reluctance. Every night, without fail, the Opera Ghost had been slipping a note in there. While she had stopped reading them, it showed he hadn't forgotten about her. She wanted him to forget her, simply because that would make it much easier to forget about him.
Opening the door, Amme went inside and let out a shriek. There was not a note from the Opera Ghost in there, but the Opera Ghost himself.
"Calm down!" He snapped. "I'm not going to kill you!"
The elf crossed her arms and frowned at him, tapping her foot impatiently.
"I just wanted to talk to you. Is that alright?" He asked the last bit rather sarcastically. It really didn't matter to him if it was all right with her or not.
She didn't respond. Instead, she continued to scowl and tap her foot.
"Fine." The Phantom took a deep breath. "I have no idea what your problem is. You knew before I killed people. Hell, you saw me kill that…Erland. So, why are you making such a bloody big deal out of this?"
"Because," Amme replied coldly. "There is a world of difference between you killing Erland, and you killing some random stranger."
"He was not some random stranger! He took off my mask! I told you, I don't like that!"
"That is not reason to kill him!"
"It is to me!"
"Well, you desperately need to get your morals straightened out!"
The Phantom ground his teeth together. "We're never going to see eye to eye on this, are we?"
"Certainly not! Because you don't seem able to admit I'm right and you're wrong!"
"Trust me, mademoiselle, I would love to admit that, if only you would care to explain how you're right and I'm wrong!"
Amme stopped her foot tapping. Instead, she became completely still; she didn't even blink. Then, very slowly, still without blinking, she said, "Killing is wrong, no matter the circumstances. But to kill someone because they just took off your mask? That's worse than wrong: that's evil. And that's the point I'm trying to make!"
"Okay. You made your point. I understand it. Can you come and live with me again?" Once he said this, he knew it was a mistake.
Amme's eyes flashed, and her mouth tightened into a thin line. The air in the room got dangerously hot, to the point Erik thought he knew what it was like to be burnt to death. Amme didn't appear to have noticed the extreme heat. She was too busy fighting to keep what little control she still processed her on magic before the room burst into flames. That didn't make one very aware of the temperature, even though she was actually the one causing the heat.
It didn't take long before Erik's magic kicked in. Without thinking, he conjured up buckets and buckets of water, and dropped it on Amme.
…
…
The stunned silence continued.
…
…
All that could be heard was the dripping of water from Amme's hair and clothes.
…Drip…drip…drip…
The room had cooled down dramatically, but not in a pleasant sort of way.
…Drip…drip…drip…
Amme's mouth was opened in shock, but all that came out was a tiny meow-like squeal.
…Drip…meow…drip…meow…
Finally, the elf started screaming. Her eyes were wide with surprise and horror as she stared at the Phantom.
"Amme! It's just water!" He tried to tell her, but it was unlikely she heard him over her cries.
She ran over and grabbed his cape, trying to yank it off. The Phantom made a choking noise, and quickly untied it. Amme started to dry her face, arms, legs, and torso off with it.
"You're getting my cape wet," he said in a poor attempt to be funny.
She rolled it in a ball and threw it at him, hitting him squarely in the chest. Hard.
"Hey!"
"'It's just water!'" She shrieked. "You say it's 'just water,' but oh no! You're damn cape can't get wet, can it? It's alright if I do, but your cape can't? I hate getting wet! I hate it, you stupid human!"
"There's no need to bring species into this," the Phantom said, backing away with both hands raised.
Amme stepped forward, fury glowing from her beautiful features.
"You—are—the—most—selfish—creature—I—have—ever—meet—in—my—life!"
"Fine!" He snarled. "So I'm selfish! Great we've got that settled! But I didn't mean to get you wet!"
"Get—out—of—here!" She shrieked. "I wish I never, ever saw you! I never want to see you again!"
"Because I got you wet?" He asked in disbelief.
"Because you think it's funny!"
"I do not!"
Amme made a grab for a dagger, or a weapon of some kind she usually had on her, but found nothing. The Phantom, noticing this, drew his sword. Smiling, he placed it against the back of her neck. Once again, Amme froze.
"You can't tell me to leave you alone, my dear. You lost that ability long ago." Gently, he rubbed the flat end of the blade against her skin.
"I think I still can. Leave me alone!" She hissed, trying to back away without getting her throat cut.
"I'm afraid, angel, I cannot oblige that wish," he chuckled.
Amme started again to feel around for a weapon of some kind she could use. And again, Erik saw this.
"What's the matter, darling? Did you forget your knife?"
She finally settled on a hairbrush. Faster than his eyes could see, she whacked him on the head with it.
"Ouch!" He stepped back.
Amme ran to the door, but before she left, she turned back around. Holding the hairbrush threateningly, she said, "I swear, if you come near me again, I'll kill you. This could be called harassment, you know, and that's illegal."
"So is killing people!" He retorted, rubbing his head. "And I have no problem doing that!"
The elf very quickly scooted out the door.
Just outside the door, she ran into someone. "Oh! I'm sorry!" She said quickly. "I didn't see…" But then she trailed off, because what she did see was more than enough: a man with two different colored eyes; one was red with a black pupil, the other black with a red pupil. He smiled, showing teeth sharpened into points.
And then everything went black.
-
Joshua Eddison was not happy. No, not one little bit. He wasn't happy because his hair was getting split ends, but there was no one in Paris he trusted enough to cut it. He wasn't happy because the weather in France was not at all to his liking. But most of all, he wasn't happy because Amme Eledhwen hadn't talked to him in days.
That didn't mean he missed her conversation, because, really, who wants to hear a girl talk all the time? The only reason why he listened to her was so he was able to form a good response and impress her greatly. But Amme refused to be impressed. Even when he proved to her he was right about the Phantom and his obsession with masks, she never admitted it. Of course, she didn't actually know he was the one to hire that dolt to take it off in the first place. At least, he hoped she didn't know.
Did she?
Josh was contemplating this when he saw a large puddle of some red liquid on the floor that lead to Amme's dressing room. Cautiously, he went forward to investigate, and the liquid sparkled light blue. Leaning down, he poked it. It was a very thick liquid, rather like melted chocolate. Only, red melted chocolate that sparkled blue in the light.
The puddle had a trail coming out of it, so Josh followed, curious to see where it lead. And then he froze.
There was a figure dressed entirely in black, bending over something. The figure seemed to be a man, but it was hard to tell, nor could Josh tell what it was crouched over.
Josh cleared his throat. "Um, excuse me, but…" he stopped. The figure was suddenly gone.
Still careful, Josh crept towards the thing only to find out it was Amme.
She didn't look good, though. There was a long gash on her forehead, and the strange red liquid was trickling out. Her eyes were closed and her skin was paler than usual; she was barely breathing.
"This isn't good," Josh murmured, coming closer. Tentatively, he put a hand out on her forehead. It was burning hot. He quickly removed his hand.
"What did you do to her?"
Josh jumped up and turned. For one who had never actually seen the Opera Ghost before, he recovered remarkably well. "I didn't do anything! You did this!"
Erik stalked nearly, holding his lasso in a threatening manner. "I did what? Excuse me?"
"You were bending all over her!" Josh snapped, waving his arms as if that could explain everything. "You knocked her out and put some strange liquid on her forehead!"
Erik leaned in. "That's blood, you imbecile."
"Oh…" Josh blinked. "I knew that…"
"Of course you did," Erik muttered. He reached out and brushed a few strands of Amme's hair away from her face. Then he pressed his hand deeply onto the gash.
"What are you doing?" Josh shrieked. "That could give her an infection!"
Erik ignored this. Instead, he pushed his magic out into the wound, healing it completely. When he was done, he sat back on his haunches, waiting.
He didn't have to wait long. Soon, Amme opened one brown eye, and then the other. The first face she registered was Joshua. She tried to spring to her feet, but she had lost too much blood, and fell back down weakly.
"What are you doing here?" Her voice was not nearly as weak as her movements. It was also very rude.
"I just saved your life." Josh said proudly.
Erik snorted.
Amme turned to him. "Then what are you doing here?"
He grinned. "I just saved your life, too!"
Amme raised one eyebrow, and then the other. "Really. You both saved my life. Hmm."
"He did not!" Josh snapped. "He was the one who knocked you out and poured some strange liquid on your forehead!"
Amme touched her forehead, and then looked at her hand. "That's blood, you imbecile."
Erik sniggered.
"How was I supposed to know that?" Josh asked, hurt. "It doesn't look like blood!"
"It's coming out of the veins in my head. What else could it be?"
"I don't know!" He cried. "Your brains?"
Amme shook her head. "You are one sad, sad creature."
Erik's sniggering got louder.
Her head snapped up in his direction. "Shut up! I don't think you did any more 'saving' of my life than he did!"
"Oh, I did," He assured her. "I healed the gash that had the 'strange liquid' coming out of it."
"Thank you," She said grudgingly. "But I think I would have been fine without you."
Erik watched her as she managed to stand up and stretch out, testing all her limbs. "You're still angry with me, aren't you?"
"Of course I am." She replied. "I am at you, too," she informed Josh before his smug expression got too sickening.
"What?! Why me?"
"Oh, I don't know! It might have something to do with you paying to have that man take off the Phantom's mask when you knew perfectly well that he'd be killed for it!"
Josh's mouth formed an o, but no sound came out.
"I knew you would figure it out!" Erik said delightedly.
"Don't think that makes me any less angry with you." She snapped. "I feel the exact same as I did at our last meeting, which was, oh, let's think, fifteen minutes ago?"
"Approximately." Erik agreed.
"But, Amme!" Josh said, confused. "I just saved your life! You don't know what that man could've done to you! You should be thanking me!"
Amme's eyes hardened. Turning to the Phantom, she said, "You've saved me twice, correct? Well, that will no longer have any meaning with me, because I will no longer need any 'saving.' I was surprised this one time, and it will not happen again." To both the men, she said, "I will not, repeat, will not be the type of girl who constantly needs to be rescued. If I can get myself into trouble, you can bet I can get myself out as well."
And that, as they say, was that.