Author's Note: Standard disclaimer. I assume you all know this one by now.
56
Erik stalked towards Raoul, rope slithering, snakelike, between his elegant fingers. "Monsieur, I bid you welcome…" he cooed. "Did you think that I would harm them? Why would I make them pay for the sins that are yours?!"
Too fast to know how he did it, Kayla and Christine started back in shock as the rope circled Raoul's neck. "Order your fine horses now!" he roared, wrapping the Vicomte's wrists with furious jerks. "Raise up your hand to the level of your eyes! Nothing can save you now, except perhaps Christine!" He turned back to shore, wading through the water as he pointed at the soprano. "Start a new life with me; buy his freedom with your love!" Splashing back to Raoul, he tugged on the rope and the nobleman choked, blue eyes bulging. "Refuse me and you send your lover to his death!" Christine made an indignant noise in the back of her throat that only Kayla heard. "This is the choice: this is the point of no return!"
Words drifted from Kayla's mouth like smoke. "And I found love where it wasn't supposed to be…"
"The tears I might have shed for your dark fate –"Christine's glistening eyes blazed, her hand tightening around Kayla's. "Grow cold, and turn to tears of hate!" Pain flashed across Erik's face.
"Right in front of me…"
"Christine forgive me, please forgive me…" Raoul struggled uselessly against the ropes. "I did it all for you and all for nothing…"
Stepping forward, closer to the water's edge, Christine stared grimly at her former teacher. "Farewell, my idol and false friend…"
"Talk some sense to me…"
"Too late for turning back, too late for prayers and useless pity…"
"Past all hope or cries for help, no point in fighting!"
"Say you love him and my life is over…"
"Oh, and I found love where it wasn't supposed to be, no-"
Erik and Raoul's voices overlapped in a dark harmony, desperate and dangerous. "For either way you choose, you cannot win…"
"He has to win…"
"Now do you spend your days with me, or do you send him to his grave?"
"Why make her lie to you to save me?" Raoul snarled.
"Right in front of me-"
"Angel of music, you deceived me!"
"Talk some sense to me-"
"Past the point of no return… The final threshold!"
"Don't throw your life away for my sake!"
"His life is now a prize which you must earn…"
"I fought so hard to free you," Raoul moaned, blue gaze flickering between Christine and Kayla.
"Past the point of no return…"
"Angel of music, you deceived me…" Christine's eyes welled up with tears. She clutched Kayla's hand like a lifeline. "I gave you my mind… blindly."
"You try my patience. Make. Your. Choice."
"Erik, please…" Kayla whispered.
Christine stepped into the water, the lace of the wedding dress floating around her legs like a halo. "Pitiful creature of darkness, what kind of life have you known? God give me courage to show you, you are not alone!"
And she kissed him.
Kayla bit her lip, hard. Christine kissed the Phantom with a fervor Kayla had not expected from the young soprano. Her pale fingers slowly traced up his chest, resting gently on his shoulders. The Phantom's hands hovered over her waist, shaking but never touching. Jealousy coiled in Kayla's stomach, a drop of blood beading on the curve of her bottom lip.
You should be in her position, her mental voice muttered.
Kayla rolled her eyes. Dear god, is this really the time?
It's always the time.
Nope. It's not. This is going to help shape him as a person in the future. Look at him, he loves her. Christine is accepting him.
Christine's fucking up a perfectly good Opera Ghost, is what she's doing. Look at him. He's got anxiety.
When she finally drew back, Christine looked up at the Phantom with lidded, wondering eyes. Behind their entwined forms, Raoul stared on in abject horror. Kayla almost laughed. For a few seconds, the opera ghost did not react, his gaze locked on the soprano's face with a motionless intensity. Nothing reached Kayla's ears but a distant melody, the Phantom's quiet exhale, and her own heartbeat.
Slowly and shakily, Erik began to smile.
His green eyes blossomed with love and awe, the tension and rigidity of years of loneliness melting from his harsh features. His happiness tore a hole through Kayla's chest.
It didn't last.
Tears trickled down his cheeks, and his shoulders began to quiver. His hand rose timidly towards Christine's cheek, but it immediately dropped to his side as he turned away, letting go of the rope which held Raoul. Water splashing gently around his calves, the Phantom of the Opera waded towards the stairs. Music swelled, and the distant sounds of angry shouts echoed through the tunnels. Spinning back, Erik roared across the cave at the completely baffled nobleman, his hands balled into fists, shoulders hunched. He looked more like a beast than ever before, eyes wild, chest heaving, teeth bared. "Take her! Forget me! Forget all of this!"
Wasting no time, Christine rushed across the lake and tugged hard at the ropes around her fiancée, being none too gentle with their removal, if the grunts of pain from the nobleman were any indication. The soprano did not appear concerned; if anything, judging by the fearsome scowl on her face, she could not care less about Raoul's comfort at the moment.
Erik staggered up the stairs, waving his arm frantically behind him, his movements jerky and weak. "Leave me alone… forget all you've seen . . ." Christine finally removed the rest of the ropes, and Raoul lunged to embrace her. To Kayla's unfathomable surprise, the younger woman shoved her fiancé away, chocolate eyes blazing. Shock plastered across his face, the Vicomte staggered back, hitting the gate with a loud clang. The Phantom, however, was not paying attention. "Go now - don't let them find you! …Take the boat - leave me here - go now, don't wait..."
That was new, Kayla noticed distantly. Musical lyrics. Interesting. Unfortunately, the way Erik's wet shirt was slipping off his chest as he stumbled closer to her was quite diverting…
No. Not at the most dramatic part of the movie. No.
"Just take her and go…" Erik moaned, "…before it's too late... Go..." He nearly tripped, and Kayla lunged forward to grab his arm. Holding him steady, she wrapped her hand around his forearm, pulling him the last few inches up the stairs. Then she let him go, even though everything in her was screaming to hold on.
She expected him move away, not reach back and clutch her wrist like a lifeline.
"Swear to me, that you'll never tell…" The Opera Ghost pulled Kayla behind him as he limped up the steps to the organ. "…The secrets you know, of the Angel in Hell…" His pleas became more frantic, the notes harsh and snarled, pain seeping through every crack in his voice. When Christine made no move in response, despite the frantic Vicomte trying without success to drag her away, the Phantom's voice deepened, his scream more demonic than angelic. The pressure around Kayla's wrist increased. "Go now - go now and leave me!" Letting go of her wrist, Erik walked away from Kayla, collapsing on a chair beside the organ, staring at the papier-mâché music box sitting on a ledge, surrounded by the dripping wax of flickering candles. The tinkling melody began to drift from the box, the turbaned monkey softly tapping his cymbals together. His voice was gentler than a sunrise, the quiet notes almost drowning out his singing.
"Masquerade...
Paper faces on parade...
Masquerade...
Hide your face,
So the world will
Never find you..."
"Christine, let's go," Raoul pleaded, reaching for his fiancé's arm.
Christine smacked his hand away, prodding him in the chest with one sharp finger warningly. "No. This is what will happen: you are going to take me back upstairs. Then you will call your bloody carriage and leave."
"Yes, my dear, we will go home together –"
"You are not hearing me, Raoul. I am staying with Meg and Madame Giry. You are leaving, as soon as you lead me upstairs."
"Christine, you are obviously very upset, and – Ow!"
The girl poked him hard in the sternum. "Take me. Upstairs. Now. I will not repeat myself."
"Of course, my love, but we shall be sure to speak more of this when we are…"
Christine hissed. "We are currently not anything, Raoul. 'Them', you said. I may be young and naïve, but I am not a brainless fool. We were engaged, but I saw how you looked at her. I know the difference between the platonic and romantic."
Raoul opened his mouth, but Christine cut him off sharply. "You don't get to say anything. Get in the boat. I have goodbyes to say."
Wary of the tense atmosphere, Kayla forced herself to hold back the cheer bubbling up in her throat. Christine practically glided through the water towards the stairs, stepping up them gently, the wet fabric slipping across the ground without a sound until she was standing in front of Kayla. "Come with me, Kayla."
Kayla snorted. "I don't think that you want me anywhere near you. I inadvertently seduced your fiancé, after all."
Laughing, Christine shot a smirk back at Raoul, who was standing beside the gondola, completely befuddled. "I don't believe you had anything to do with it. I should have known… I'm not the only fool of a ballerina to have thought a nobleman in love with me."
"Historically speaking, yeah, you're right."
"He does not deserve either of us. He was going to make me give up my career anyway… I love to sing, and I will not give it up. Maybe if he changes, our relationship can work. But not if he ogles other women when I am not paying attention."
"He does love you, though. In his own way."
"It does not mean that I do not deserve better."
Kayla wrapped her arms around the young primadonna, squeezing her tightly. "Don't ever change, Miss Daäe."
Christine returned the embrace fondly. "We need to go, Kayla. The Populaire must be in an uproar."
"The Populaire needs you," Kayla agreed, tightening her hug before letting go and stepping back.
Realization dawned on Christine's face. "You are not coming with me."
Kayla shook her head. "No."
"Do I get to know why?"
"It would take quite a long time to explain."
There was a moment of silence, but Christine nodded. "Will I see you again?" The young girl's voice shook only slightly.
"I hope so, baby."
Pale hands angrily swiped tears off even paler cheeks, and there was an audible sniffle. But when Christine looked back at Kayla, her chin was raised and her gaze firm, even as drops hung glittering from her eyelashes. She held out her hand expectantly. Kayla took it, and they shook hands, pouring every wish of luck and happiness for the other through their fingertips. "You were too outlandish for the Populaire, anyway," the young soprano stated offhandedly, a smile tugging at the corner of her rosebud mouth.
"Very true," Kayla agreed. "Tell the crew I said goodbye?"
"Of course." She hesitated, but then stepped forward and hugged Kayla again. "Goodbye, Kayla. You will always be one of my most treasured friends."
It was so cliché that Kayla almost laughed, but it turned into a sob as it crossed her lips. "Bye, Christine. Don't do anything I wouldn't do."
"Wouldn't dream of it." With that, the soprano stepped away, holding her gaze for a moment more before she approached the huddled Opera Ghost.
His lips were still moving along to the melody as Christine stood behind him, hands fidgeting. Slowly turning around, the Phantom gazed up at her, sad and hopeful. With a firm tug, she slipped the blue-stoned ring off of her finger, taking his hand and placing it in his palm, gently coaxing his hand closed around it.
"Christine, I love you…"
A small, sad smile hovered around her mouth, and she nodded. Leaning forward, she pressed her lips to the top of his disheveled head. Turning, she walked back into the water and clambering confidently into the gondola. Raoul, standing in the stern, pole in hand, reached out a hand to help her, but was ignored as she climbed into the bow. The visibly upset Vicomte steered the boat away, the pair floating away down the canal, the only sound the lapping of water against the hull. Rising to his feet, Erik gazed after her, fist still clenched around the ring. "You alone can make my song take flight…" Walking past Kayla, he moved weakly down the shallow steps and towards a large drapery, which he tugged out of the way, revealing a gold framed mirror much taller than he was. Picking up a large metal candlestick, his green eyes turned to steel, and he raised it over his shoulder, teeth bared and muscles flexing. "It's over now, the music of the night..."
With a yell, he slammed the candlestick against the mirror, the glass shattering, black spider web cracks skittering across the silvery surface. Yanking away another curtain to uncover another mirror, Erik repeated the action, his movements ferocious, and again, and again, and again…
A red velvet curtain rippled to the floor, scarlet pooling around Erik's feet. Glass fell with a crash to the stone floor, crystalline shards crushed like sand beneath his boots. An open maw of darkness loomed behind the jagged edges of the broken glass. That was the door. It was over.
The candlestick clattered to the floor, and Erik's arms dropped limply to his sides, shoulders hunched, defeated. Metallic clangs echoed around the lair, even as the shouts of angry men echoed down the tunnels.
"All stories must end," he muttered. "All angels must fall."
"But you didn't leave an inferno behind you, I'll give you that."
Erik turned his head just enough that Kayla could see him looking at her out of the corner of his eye. The undamaged side of his lips quirked. "I did tell you, after all, I could not bring myself to destroy something that means so much to you."
They stood in companionable silence for a moment.
"Is this where my story ends? In your world?"
Lowering her gaze, Kayla stared at the stone floor. "I don't know. There's a gap… years where everything changes and I don't get to see any of it. It's been changed already. There's an epilogue, of sorts…"
"In the empty shell of the Populaire?"
She nodded. "An auction. And you're still a presence there. I don't know what I've changed anymore…" She took a deep breath, trying to settle her breaking voice. "I feel like I ruined everything."
When she looked up, he was standing over her, hair wild, eyes pained. His hands were reaching out, hovering over her shoulders. "You ruined nothing, my little magician. You let the light in when my world was dark, and I will never repay you for it."
Letting out a sob, she lunged forward and threw her arms around his neck, burrowing her face into his shoulder. Shaking, he wrapped his arms around her waist, holding her gently. She pulled away after a couple of seconds, sniffling. Catching her cheeks with his palms, he drew her back, letting their foreheads rest against each other. Kayla's eyes drifted shut. "I'm going to miss you."
"No matter what happens after this, Kayla, I will try my best to be a better man. I will use you as a focal point, so I do not lose sight of what I want."
His singing voice drifted against her ear like silk. Smiling, she slowly sang back. "I've moved further than I thought I could, but I'll miss you more than I thought I would."
Her husky alto and his velvety baritone overlapped in a melancholy harmonization, the final line drifting through the air like a goodbye. "And I'll use you as a warning sign, that if you talk enough sense that you'll lose your mind…"
His mouth was temptingly close to hers. Before she could lose her nerve, she leaned forward and brushed her lips against his waxy cheek, distantly noticing the ridges and bumps as surprisingly soft. He exhaled shakily, and she ghosted her fingers across the large, musical hands over her cheeks. It took everything in her to force herself to step away. "I love you. You know that, right?"
Erik's chin quivered, his perfect lips drawing his entirely stunning face into a beaming grin. "I do now."
She let a laugh bubble through her chest. Grabbing his hand, she led him towards the yawning mouth of the tunnel. As they reached the entrance, he pulled her back into him, resting his chin on the top of her head. "I don't want to go," he said, his voice childlike.
"No one does. Come on, follow me. We have lives to start, you and I." She took a step into the tunnel.
When she looked back, torchlight framed his silhouette in wisps of scarlet flame. "What happens to you?" he asked.
She snorted. "I have no idea. You?"
His hand merely tightened over hers.
Taking a deep breath, and tugging the Phantom after her, she strode into the darkness.
Meg reached the lair first, wide eyes darting frantically over the shadows before she realized that it was empty.
A pale hand squeezed her shoulder comfortingly. The ballerina turned and smiled at her best friend, the blonde and brunette instinctively taking each other's hands as they walked on.
The two girls splashed through the dark water, clambering up onto the stone steps. Unable to contain her curiosity, Meg darted forward, kneeling down next to a table by the organ. A little papier-mâché monkey kept a silent rhythm with its tiny cymbals, candlelight sending sparkles of bronze over the porcelain mask next to it. Sliding her small hand under the curves of white, Meg lifted the mask closer to her, peering at it quizzically. Christine knelt reverently beside her. The two girls were casually peering about when the rest of the mob emerged from the canals, and no one cared enough to notice the porcelain mask clutched tightly in the soprano's hand. With the music box still tinkling away, the hunters searched through the lair, and no one but Meg and Christine paid attention to the sketches layered over a desk, papers fluttering down to the floor. A dancer, a stage, a shy beauty in a diamond dress, a skeleton draped in red, and a blonde in a top hat. "Good luck, Kayla," Meg whispered.
Christine nodded, her gaze caught by charcoal markings of two laughing faces, one masked in black, and the other in white, the sketched eyes fixed on each other. "Au revoir, angel. Au revoir, magician."
Behind them, the red velvet curtain trailed elegantly over shards of glass.
Do you guys hate me yet?
I'm sorry it took so long to get this chapter up, I had so many papers to write, and then I was in Victoria for a training camp, and... yeah. Excuses, excuses, I know. But I really appreciate all the love and concern guys, and don't worry, after all this work, I am not giving up this story until it's done.
Thanks to LeaAthena, nursherri, hannah2088, and MusicIsMyStyle1 for the follows/faves, whom I couldn't PM, and to AvidReader, Guest, Liandra2428, and Guest for their guest reviews. And to everyone else who read, faved, followed, etc, thank you as well.
It's not over yet.
love Tierney