Ahhh...will Christine ever learn what best for her or not? Well I actually wanted to give a personal thanks to Kuroneko13, as long as I know that one person enjoys reading then it's more than enough for me to keep writing, so thank you for your kind reviews because they really do mean a lot.

BEWARE! As much as I hate cliffhangers I had to put one in this chapter...I plead guilty haha. I must also tell you to pay close attention to Madame Giry because she's a very sketchy character in this whole story, (spoiler) including Meg. Enjoy reading!

CHAPTER 6: Prying Pandora

"Let the key guns be mounted,

make a brave show of waging war,

and pry off the lid of Pandora's box,

once more..." -Amy Lowell

Christine's POV

I sat in Raoul's living room with a full cup of tea in hand. I took not a sip from it. I was spacing out in deep thought of Erik. It had been no more than two hours since we left the cellars of the opera house. All I could think about was if Erik was still there. Did the mob find him? Was he dead? Where was he now? Was it really over? Ever since Raoul and I had gotten to his house he hadn't sat down at all. He was running back and forth through his mansion ordering servants to organize his belongings and to start packing.

"Raoul." I called for him. I could hear him ruffling through papers in his office which was the next room over.

"Christine I'm quite busy at the moment, but you should sleep because we've a long journey ahead tomorrow."

"Journey?" I placed the cup of tea one of his servants had given to me down on the table and walked into his office and saw that he didn't even change out of his wet shirt yet and it was stained in blood.

"Yes Christine. We are leaving to England tomorrow. We're getting away from this place." He said without even looking up at me.

"But-"

"But what?" he interjected. "Christine you saw the opera house when we left. It was in flames!"

"But my things-"

"I'll buy you new things, lots of things." He was searching through his drawers pulling out papers and throwing them into folders. Papers of business I presumed.

I was getting frustrated. I had only lived two places my entire life; with my father and the Opera Populaire. Other than that I had known no other land, and of course I wanted to travel but not like this.

"So we're leaving then..." I spoke aloud but tried to tell it to myself. Raoul finally stopped what he was doing and looked up at me to answer.

"Yes Christine. We are leaving, and we are never coming back."

His statement bothered me and it must've shown because he walked over to me and took my face into his hands.

"Christine there's nothing left here for you anymore. I am with you and that is all that matters." He pressed a soft kiss on my lips and then I instantly backed away from him. My rejection had left a look of hurt and confusion on his face.

I didn't mean to back away from Raoul's kiss but it was almost like reflex. The last person who I had kissed me was Erik, and I wanted…no I didn't want it. I couldn't think like this. It was silly for me to want Erik's taste linger on my lips. I had to shove these thoughts to the back of my mind. I made my choice two hours ago and now I had to stay true to it.

"Christine why did you-"

"Excuse me Vicomte." One of Raoul's servants knocked on the office door.

"Yes come in." Raoul sighed.

A short woman with light brown hair came into the room and curtseyed, I don't think I was going to get used to this sort of respect.

"I apologize for interrupting but Madame Giry is here. She requests your help."

"Did she come alone?" I had hoped Meg was with her. I wanted to say goodbye to my only friend if this was my last night in Paris.

"A young blonde woman and an injured man accompany her."

Thank God Meg was safe from the fire.

"What man?" Raoul was now alarmed.

"I do not know sir, but Madame Giry says he has ties with you and that you are to help him."

"Very well."

I followed Raoul to the waiting room in the front of the mansion where Madame Giry stood with Meg next to her.

"Christine! You're okay!" she ran up and gave me a hug. I hugged her in return glad she too was safe.

"Yes I'm fine." I assured her, at least everything but my heart was.

"Who is that?" Raoul pointed at the unconscious man sprawled on his couch. He was completely soaked and his entire left sleeve was stained in blood.

"Lorenzo Trentacosta." Madame GIry answered him.

I was beyond confused. Never had I heard of this name before but when I looked at Raoul his expression had turned into something of grief and dread.

"Who is he?" I asked. Why did everyone know who he was and not me?

"He's from Italy. He applied to the Fine Arts Academy the Opera Populaire agreed to host this year." He answered.

I was still confused on why this man had anything to do with us.

"You cannot leave Monsieur. You have sponsored him and now he is here and injured on your behalf." Madame Giry said.

"But the Opera-"

"The opera house has not burnt down. Monsieur Firmin has quit but Andre remains which means that you cannot leave because of your contract with the managers of being the patron for the Opera Populaire and your contract with The Fine Arts Academy that binds you to this young man."

"But- but the stage! The chandelier Andre couldn't possibly-"

"It's being repaired starting tomorrow. By the time it's done the students will be able to use it for their operas."

Raoul was processing all of this information. Until he finally called for one of his servants to the room.

"Please take Monsieur Trentacosta to one of the guest rooms . He is in need of a doctor, please make contact with the nearest one you can." Raoul ordered.

"Yes sir." I shivered as I saw blood dripping from his body as three servants carried him away.

"So Andre is going to continue The Fine Arts Program?" Raoul asked.

"Yes. I assume all the students will be here for their callbacks in five days." Madame GIry answered.

"Very well." He muttered.

"Wait- we're staying?" I looked up at Raoul waiting for an answer.

"It would appear so." He replied.

"Why? Because you sponsored him? What's the Fine Arts Academy?" I couldn't believe we were staying…especially after what had just happened. What if I saw Erik again? I shivered to think of what the encounter would be like.

"The Fine Arts Academy only accepts fifty people to be given the chance to improve their artistic or musical ability. Out of all fifty students only one of them will be given publicity by the Opera Populaire to become the newest sensation. You're only accepted if you have a sponsor and I sponsored Lorezno."

"Why did you sponsor him?" I was a little irritated that I didn't know anything about this.

"It was suggested that the patron of the Populaire should sponsor at least one applicant, so I did."

"Then why-"

"Christine there will be more time to explain everything, but the Vicomte is needed at the opera house right now…Andre has business affairs and insurance matters to discuss with you." Madame Giry was stern.

"But of course." Raoul sighed. "Madame Giry could Christine possibly stay at your house tonight? I don't want her to be alone."

I was confused as to why Meg's eyes grew wide at Raoul's request.

"I'm sorry but my house is very small and you have many people here already. I'm sure Christine will be fine dear Vicomte. Am I right Christine?"

I nodded at Madame Giry. Raoul went to get dressed and came back down to the waiting room when he was ready to leave.

"Shall we go then?" He asked Madame Giry.

"I will be there later. If you don't mind taking Meg with you could you? I would like to stay here and wait for the doctor, I saw how Monsieur Trentacosta was injured and would like to speak to the doctor myself."

"Very well. I'll try not to be long Christine. I love you." And with that he left with Meg to the Opera Populaire.

As soon as they left an awkward silence filled the room. I wanted to ask Madame Giry if she knew anything about Erik. Just a couple days ago I had woken up in her room and there was a red rose with a black ribbon tied around the stem. She seemed to always know everything, and I wanted to ask her where Erik was. I knew she had to know. But before I could say anything the doctor had arrived. I followed Madame Giry and the doctor upstairs but when we had reached the guest room Lorenzo was in she had told me to wait outside because she had to speak to the doctor privately.

I slumped down to the floor in the hallway. There was absolutely nothing to do. The doctor finally came out of the room, he smiled at me.

"Your boyfriend is going to be alright." He said smiling at me.

"Oh…um, he's not my boyfriend monsieur." I kindly answered as I stood up from the ground.

"My apologies."

Madame Giry came out of the room and thanked the doctor as he left.

"Christine, keep Monsieur Trentacosta company will you?" she asked me.

"Oh, of course. I guess I could."

"His left arm and shoulder is broken. He's asleep now, and it would do him good to have someone there when he wakes up to tell him where he is."

"Yes Madame."

"Oh Christine…" she sighed as pulled the strands of hair in front of my face and placed them behind my ear. "Do not be foolish in love my dear." Then she left.

This statement confirmed to me that she knew of Erik, but I would ask her later.

I hesitantly went inside the guest room. There were two fireplaces and both of them were roaring. The heat was almost overwhelming. There was a chair already set by the side of the bed the man was on. I sat down next to him when I started to realize that he looked very young. He was definitely older than I was, but younger then Raoul. As I stared at him I began to notice how handsome he looked. It wasn't the type of look Raoul had. Raoul's features were very warm and charming, and this man's features were somewhat different from any other man I've seen. His face was youthful in the sense that his skin appeared flawless but his cheekbones and jaw line was very much defined. How unfair of me to compare this man I didn't even know to Raoul! But I couldn't stop...his hair was disheveled and had a dark brown color; it was long but not nearly as long as Raoul's hair. If anything it looked almost exactly like Erik's…he almost looked like he could be Erik's brother, but handsome. The more I realized this the more I couldn't look away from the sleeping figure. I couldn't deny that he was beautiful and looked like Erik...he really did.

Then something overcame me, I stood over him and gently traced his defined cheekbones with my fingers down to his neck. I paused as I remembered all the blood I had seen dripping from his body. Broken bones don't cause bleeding. Did Madame Giry lie to me? She would never, but I know what I saw! He was of course wearing a new shirt. I looked at his left shoulder and could tell there was padding. His left arm was in a sling as well. But if there was blood then there had to be a flesh wound right? It wasn't so much the wound that had interested me, but rather why Madame Giry needed to talk to the doctor alone, lie about the wound, and why did she and Meg reject my coming to their home? I felt as if I had only the border pieces to a jigsaw puzzle.

I moved my hands to his shirt and began to unbutton them, but as I undid the first couple buttons in front of my eyes I could see in the gleam of the firelight a collection of never ending scars across his chest that it looked a complete different color than the skin tone of his face. The further down his chest the more gruesome it appeared! His torso was mangled in almost every direction covered in burns and scars and whatever else that was possible.

But before I knew it the force of a strong arm and pushed me back so hard that I hit the ground and almost had the wind knocked out of me.

"HOW DARE YOU! WHAT THE HELL DO THINK YOU'RE DOING!" a voice so terrible and threatening cracked that it shook the room.

I slowly looked up to see that the man was now awake and sitting upright turned in my direction. Whatever youthful features I saw on his face before had completely disappeared because his now open and raging silver colored eyes melted them away and were now burning with hatred into mine. His shirt remained halfway unbuttoned and his hideous chest was exposed.

"Oh Erik I am sorry!" I began to cry on the floor unable to breathe.

Surprise! Lorenzo has a nasty looking chest! And there it is, Christine is back to square one. The next chapter will obviously be in Lorenzo's point of view. The next chapter will mainly just be Lorenzo and Christine talking...but their conversation is VERY dangerous and we all know Christine to be...I don't want to say foolish or deceitful, but maybe a synonym a little less severe. Also they talk a wee little bit about The Phantom of the Opera and it's Lorenzo's first time of hearing the story so that'll be interesting. Hope you're enjoying the story. Please review! Mahalo!