A/N: And another update! Just so you know, this chapter has had a bit of a face lift, so please read it again if you have in the last thirty minutes as things have changes slightly. As for our disclaimer, well, I'll be stating it today!

Me: I don't own this. If I did, well… the imagination kinda runs wild….

Chapter Fifteen: How to Ruin Christmas

I was beyond afraid as I got even closer to the lair and Erik's form became noticeable through the wall of smoke that emitted from the clear, glassy surface of the lake. He looked mad; like nothing in the world could've made him angrier.

The curtains were pulled down, and the bookshelf was overturned, with all of its contents spilling out onto the wet floor in a horrible mess. Everything was everywhere and sheet music was all over the floor. Some of it was from Don Juan Triumphant, some of it was blank, and either way, it covered the floor and would be absolute Hell to clean up. The Phantom himself was an absolute mess, with his eyes narrowed in anger and his fists knocking over pretty much everything.

My stomach twisted around with my heart as the boat reached land and I took a shaky step onto the shore. It was then I noticed a piece of paper clutched in Erik's hand. It took me three seconds to put the pieces together before I fumbled around with my purchase and put a hand in my pocket. I gasped when I realized that the rather rude apology note I wrote for the night of Ill Muto was no longer there.

"Oh no." I whispered. I saw that Erik hadn't seen me yet, and a small part of me wondered if I even wanted him to, but I eventually made up my mind and stepped out into the limelight.

Good luck. Shock whispered in my head and I nodded to myself, standing perfectly still in front of the boat, no expression on my face as I waited for the very angry Opera Ghost to notice that I was there. It took a while, and I stood there shaking in my boots the entire time, fighting off the urge to cry.

"E-Phantom." I finally said after getting rather impatient. It was loud enough for him to hear and he slowly turned to look at me. My breathing became quite shallow and impossibly rapid as he stomped down the stairs of the lair and came closer to me, his mouth set in a firm line. I wanted to tell him that he could rip his stitches by doing all of this if he already hadn't, but I held my tongue; I was in enough trouble as it was.

"You…you…" Erik stuttered out. He was fuming and he seemed to be having a lot of trouble finding the right word to describe his feelings for me right now that was insulting enough. I winced and closed my eyes, not wanting to find out what happened to those who messed with the Phantom. He sighed, his shoulders relaxing before giving me a horrible, dirty glare that could probably rust metal. "Explain." He commanded and I took a shaky breath.

"I- I went out i-in to the city today." I told him slowly as his anger began to build. "I-I didn't leave a note telling you where I was going because I thought you were going to be sleeping for a long time. That note was the one that I wrote on the night of Ill Muto when I escaped, I kept it in my pocket and it sort of fell out." I told him as his gaze didn't soften. If anything, it grew even harder, even more piercing.

"I woke up to a silent home, and when I tried to find you, I found this instead." He un-crumpled the note that he had clutched in his fist and held it to his eye-level so he could read it.

You're in for it now, girl. Sixty whispered to me from inside my brain and I resisted the urge to smack my forehead. He didn't sing as Mme. Giry did, but it was still really, really weird.

"Phantom,

You're stupid to think you can keep me here. I'm not that stupid so by the time you read this, I will be gone. Did you really expect me to sit quietly while I waited to die? I bloody well think not! Goodbye, good luck, and good riddance to you!

-Annika Walters"

Erik spat out the last words and I flinched again. I sighed quietly as he threw the newly-crumpled note across the room and glared down at me with such a fiery hatred that I thought I would be dead in around six seconds. I waited for his lasso to grip around my throat, and it never did. I slowly opened one eye, and then the other, which was oddly strange, as I never even realized I closed them, and I found Erik still in the same place, except the anger in his eyes had dulled to disappointment.

"Listen, I'm sorry I wrote those horrible things, but I was angry, and I did have a very good reason for leaving today." I told him, straightening my back and squaring my shoulders, although Erik did not look convinced at all.

"And what is this 'good reason'?" He asked and it was my turn to glare.

"I can't tell you!" I exclaimed with maybe a little bit too much confidence for a few seconds later, the glare returned and I shrunk a little bit. "What I meant to say was; it's a surprise." I told him.

"Whatever this 'good reason' is, it came from my money box!" He shouted and again I winced as he turned and raised his hand to hit me. Again, the blow never came for he exhaled and lowered his fist, calming down for the time being.

I knew that I'd have to tell him the truth, I was treading in superbly dangerous waters as it were, I couldn't afford to add lying to the already long list of reasons why he would decide to kill me. "I got you a gift to make you feel better, I didn't have any money so I took it from you. That's why I left and I had every intention of coming back. As for the note, well, I was angry." I caved told him. I took a breath and closed my eyes.

"You intended to return?" He asked skeptically and I nodded.

"Of course I did, I couldn't leave you alone down here." I told him the gentlest possible way. Erik's shoulders sagged a little bit and it seems as though my reason for returning didn't fly with him.

"You returned because you pity me?" He asked, sounding somewhat hurt and I sighed, shaking my head.

"Hell no. You don't need pity, you need compassion" I paused to take a breath. "And leaving you here without any implication of where I had gone was not very compassionate of me. I apologize." I was never very good at saying sorry because deep, deep down inside of me whenever I'd done something that required an apology before, I was never very sorry.

When I scratched the shit out of Jeremy's face when I was five, they made me apologize, but I never meant it; to me, the bratty little boy got what he deserved. When I tried to kill my physical therapist; they made me say I was sorry, again, I didn't mean it because to me, and more specifically to Sycamore, the bitch had it coming to her.

But what was odd was that I genuinely felt bad for deserting Erik, even if it was only for a few hours. I didn't know why, as I knew that he was a horrible, murderous kidnapper, but I really did feel bad for doing that to him. I didn't pity him, as he didn't need it, but I did feel bad for putting him through more Hell.

"Anyway, I came back, and I did get you something." I said as happily as I could and Erik seemed a bit intrigued.

"Why did you do this?" He asked in a skeptical vice and I shrugged.

"I thought that what with my crappy job as a surgeon, you might feel better if I brought you a little something." I said coolly. Erik, who seemed to have calmed down a bit from his rage, seemed a tad surprised at this.

"That's very kind of you." He said in a voice that sounded border-line odd coming from him.

"You're going to rip your stitches." I told him out of nowhere and he looked at me for a few seconds like I was off my rocker. "Your stitches, you've been moving around so much that you'll rip them if you already haven't!" I said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world which, in my defense, it was. "Oh, come on!" I exclaimed; grabbing his arm and leading him back up the stairs to the bed room. He was slow-going, which made sense, and I had to remind myself to be gentle with him, as even though he had probably already ripped every single stitch I made, if he hadn't, rushing him would not be a good way to make sure that stayed that way.

Actually, the gaunt look that accompanied Erik the days he was asleep was gone, which was encouraging to see, and he sure as Hell didn't give off the sick puppy vibe anymore, which was awesome, as it felt really, really unnatural to see Erik as a human being who could in fact be brought down by a stab-wound. I didn't really understand then, but I found it really hard to see him as human, as the man was so engrossed by his 'Opera Ghost' façade that he literally almost was one.

He didn't look as ill as before, and although no colour was present in his cheeks, and I had to face the fact that there never would be, his eyes weren't as glassy, and he didn't wince as often. I allowed myself to dream that maybe I had done a good job sewing him up and he could possibly be healing.

I was relieved to find out that Erik hadn't ripped his stitches as all by pulling a Godzilla, a fact that made me breathe a sigh of relief as I told myself that I wouldn't, no, couldn't go through that kind of stress again.

He claimed that he wouldn't go to sleep again, as he had been doing so for the past few days, and so I merely agreed and made sure that he was comfortable. He sat down beside his bed, sighing and leaning his head back on the wooden bed frame behind him. I wondered if he wanted to take off his mask and curiosity gripped me once more. I just had to ask, how could I not? And so, I took a deep breath and readied myself for the plunge.

"E-Phantom," I began but he cut me off.

"You are free to call me by my name." He said and my eyes widened a little bit. Christine never even knew the Phantom's name, but in her defence, she never hung out with him long enough to find out what it was exactly.

"Okay, Erik." I said, trying it out. It felt kind of weird to say it in front of him, but I went with it, after all, I was trapped in a parallel universe based off of a book. "You can call me Annika or just Ann if you like." I told him as casually as I could.

"Ann" he said, breaking eye contact with me for a moment. "It is a beautiful name." He finally decided and I couldn't help it, I blushed. I'd never really been complimented before, and the fact that Erik was the first one was shocking. Of course, he had to kill it. "But, it is improper for a man of my age to address someone as young as you so informally." I knew he was bull-shitting me for some reason, I didn't know why.

"Erik, I'm the same age a Christine! Besides, I've seen you topless, let's face it, we're there, and we've reached that point!" I exclaimed and he still seemed a bit like he was on pins and needles.

"I believe you wished to ask me something?" He asked and I sighed. He was trying to change the subject. Oh well, I did want to know so I let it slide.

"Erik, would you… ever consider letting me see what your face looks like?" I asked, instantly realizing that it sounded much, much better in my head where awkward pauses that follow immediately afterwards do not exist.

Erik didn't freak out as I expected him to; in fact, he handled it like a real gentleman.

"I would show you my face, but I find myself if an unfortunate predicament." He said coolly and I raised an eyebrow, sitting down on the floor.

"And what's that?" I asked skeptically and Erik's stony face turned up into an odd sort of smirk, like he had this sick private joke with himself.

"I don't have a face!" He exclaimed, his twisted smirk morphing into a demented laughter that sounded a bit like he was being choked. It was ghastly and scared me a bit, but it was also short lived. When Erik regained control of his teetering sanity, I had to go and fuck things up further.

"Yes you do!" I said, trying to blow off his previous claims as silly. "Come on, it can't be that bad." I said in a tone that was a tad to cheery. Erik sobered and looked me right in the eye, regret and seriousness that I hadn't seen before on his face.

"My dear, yes it is." I couldn't argue with that. It was his choice, I promised myself I wouldn't be like Christine and force him into something he wasn't ready for; I knew he had his secrets and it almost hurt that he wanted to keep them from me, but it was really no surprise.

"Okay then." I caved, not wanting to push the subject anymore. Erik seemed grateful that I backed off and after a few minutes of solid silence, I stood up to leave. Strangely, Erik stopped me.

"Would you stay, if only more a moment?" He asked as I reached the door. I looked back to him, my mind blown, but instead of questioning him, I gave him a small smile.

"I don't see why not." I replied, returning to my space on the floor. It was then that I realized that the man sitting before me was just that; a man, not a ghost, not a Phantom, just a man, a man named Erik.