"Erik, do you love me?"

He stared into her grey eyes, wondering what was the right answer. What did she want him to say? Hopefully she wanted him to say yes, and he wanted to say yes, but he was terrified she'd reject him. But she was waiting for an answer, and he couldn't lie to her.

Erik gently put his hand on her cheek, his reply on his lips. Ella turned her face into the caress and looked up at him with questioning eyes. He leaned in, so his breath was tickling her ear. He took a deep breath and was about to whisper his answer, when suddenly, "Ella!"

They both looked up and saw the patron coming towards them. Ella's face turned ashen, and Erik could see that she had forgotten about him. He put a hand around her waist and led Ella through the crowd, away from Archer. "What are you doing?" she whispered.

"Trust me," he answered. "That's a conversation you don't want to have quite yet, I can tell." Keeping his hand on the small of her back, he led Ella to a side door that would lead her back to the dormitories. She hesitated, so he gave her a gentle, but firm push. "Go," Erik urged. "It's fine."

She had just disappeared through the door, when Archer managed to work his way through the crowd. His eyes widened in surprise when he saw Erik alone. He started towards him, but Erik had one advantage that the patron didn't. Erik had mastered the art in disappearing years ago. With almost no effort, he melted into the crowd once more. As the patron blundered about trying to find his new rival, Erik smirked. There was a war beginning once more, and this time, he didn't intend to lose.

Stupid. Stupid. Stupid, Ella thought with every step back to the dormitories. Everything had been perfect, absolutely perfect, and then she went and blew it. What was she thinking, asking Erik if he loved her? For a moment, it looked had like he was going to say yes, but then he went and pushed her away. Of course he didn't love her. Why would he?

It didn't help that Archer had found them together. She had completely forgotten that he was even there. Ella felt awful. He had been nothing but kind to her, and this was awful repayment. But Erik made her knees weak, and Archer just didn't hold a candle to the way he made her feel. In fact, her head was still spinning from the kiss they had just shared.

Lost in her own thoughts, Ella didn't notice the footsteps behind her. She shrieked in surprise when a hand grabbed her arm and whirled her around. "Are you mad?" a feminine voice hissed.

"Excuse me?"

The woman let her mask drop to reveal Christine de Chagny. "Do you know who that was?"

"Madame, it was just a friend of mine," Ella half-lied.

"You don't need to make things up," Christine replied. "You never forget a man like him. He's been teaching you to sing hasn't he?" Ella didn't answer, but that was all Christine needed. "Don't you understand how dangerous he can be?"

"But he's not dangerous!" Ella protested. "He's not."

"Have you even seen him?"

"Unlike you, he's been honest with me, he's told me everything," she countered. Ella had never been this aggressive before, but she couldn't handle Christine insulting her bond with Erik. "I know who he is, but he doesn't scare me. He wouldn't hurt me."

"I thought the same thing," Christine confessed. "And then he lost his temper. He's so violent when he's angry, it's terrifying. It's like he's a completely different person. He's killed people. Don't you understand that?"

"Please, you don't understand how much he's done for me. He's helped me so much, and he's asked for absolutely nothing in return."

Christine shook her head and started to walk away, but called over her shoulder, "Not yet. But he will. Are you going to be willing to pay the price?"

"Yes," Ella whispered even though there was no one to hear her.

Early the next morning, there was a knock on Ella's dressing room door. Before she could open it, Archer let himself in. "Ella…" he said softly.

She felt her stomach sink with dread at the sight of him. "I...I…" she stammered, but couldn't give him an explanation, an apology, anything.

"Who was that man last night?" he asked, getting straight to the point.

"It…it was no one," she lied, staring hard at the floor.

Archer cupped her chin with his hand and tilted her head up so she was forced to look him in the eyes. "It didn't look like no one." She pulled out of his grip and returned her gaze to her feet. "Ella, did he threaten you?"

"What?" Ella cried. "No! Why would you think that?"

"Ella, he snatched you away in the middle of the party. He dragged you off when I finally found you again. I saw him with you, Ella. I saw him force you to kiss him."

"He didn't force me to do anything!" she protested.

"Then what happened?" Archer demanded "Ella, tell me!"

"Archer, there's nothing to tell."

The look in his brown eyes made Ella want to cry. "I know you seem to think it's none of my business, but Ella, I want it to be my business."

"What do you…?" Before she could finish the question, he gently caught her face and kissed her tenderly. She immediately tilted her head up and broke away. "Archer…" Ella could feel tears forming. The last thing she wanted to do was hurt him, but it looked like that was her only option.

He instantly picked up on her distress and tried to pull her into his arms. "What's wrong love?"

"Please, don't make this harder than it is," she whispered, backing away.

His brow furrowed at her remark. "Make what harder? I don't understand."

"Archer, you've been nothing but wonderful to me," she started, a tear slipping down her cheek. "More than I deserve. But I think it would be best for you if we stopped seeing each other."

"So that's it then?" Ella could hear the pain in his voice.

"I'm so, so sorry," she said, trying hard not to cry. "Truly, I am."

"No, I'm sorry," he snapped. "Sorry I cared about you." He stormed out of the room, slamming the door shut behind him. Ella felt awful. Archer had been so kind to her and she had hurt him badly.

Still fighting back tears, she turned away and started to walk to the chair in front of the vanity, but slammed into something hard and solid. She looked up and saw something that could always make her feel better. "Erik!"

Something wasn't right though. He looked so upset, so angry. It wasn't like him at all. Without saying a word, he grabbed her wrist tightly and began dragging her towards the mirror. "Erik, what's going on?" she asked in fear. To her amazement, the mirror opened like a door, revealing a secret passage. "Erik, what are you doing?" The only response she received was angry silence.

After pulling her through the doorway, the mirror swung shut behind them, plunging them into total darkness. As her sight disappeared, Ella realized what a fool she was for not heeding Christine's warning.

HA! You guys totally fell for it! No, I'm making you wait for the big "I love you" moment. And now the big question, I'm having a hard time deciding what to do from this point. Well I do, but I want some imput from you guys. Do I keep Archer as the well-meaning but doesn't always thinks things through kind of guy, or should I have him go the LND route and have him do a total 180-personality change and become super mean? Let me know what you guys think I should do (Let the record show, I may not listen to you anyway). Anyway, read and review and give me your thoughts.

~nibblesfan