~Phantom~

By: Shannon K. O'Brien

Love Never Dies

"Beneath A Moonless Sky"

Erik:"Light"

She was kissing me.

My perfect, angelic specimen of earthly beauty was moving her lips with as much fervor as my own. It was not a dream; for the sensation of her gossamer lips entwined with mine could never have been fabricated. Tears glided down my face and collided with our tangled mouths.

"Please, don't cry my angel." She broke away to wipe clean the tears, not flinching at the marred skin beneath her touch.

"Christine, you must go. Leave me. I'm begging you! Do you have any idea what will happen if you stay? I know you think me a monster, but I am only a man."

"I do." She answered unphased.

"Do you not care?"

"On the contrary, I care very much."

I was stunned into silence. Could it be that what I had dreamt for so many lonely years was now a reality? Could she truly want me, as I wanted her?

It didn't matter. For I could never let it be. She was better than that, better than me; it was the certainty I had realized that night she first laid her lips upon mine. The night the great Opera Populaire stood burning above us.

"No, you must go! Now!" I leapt to my feet, pulling her with me. If she did not have enough sense for her own preservation, I did.

"Erik, what are you doing? Release me! I want you, I have always wanted you!" Again her eyes welled and overflowed with tears. Each tear that fell was a knife in my already splintering heart.

"Christine, for the love of Christ, you have to leave! You do not want this!" My temper was getting the better of me, as it always did. I shook her fragile frame violently, pointing towards my face, the source of all my woes, causing her to trip backwards and land upon the unforgiving floor below. As she fell onto the rocky ground, I heard the tinkling of something hit the floor.

In the dark for near three days, my eyes had long ago adjusted to the ever-present night. It was not too difficult to see the white key or the gold band which she had secreted away in her gown. They lay on the floor exposed beside her crying form, like beacons on a black sea. I knelt slowly; grasping both items in my hands, then fell upon my knees alongside her. The mangled, broken shard of the ivory key tore at my heart more so than the ring.

"You kept this? Why?" I placed the gold band on the floor, yet held tight to the ivory; a buoy of life in my personal Dead Sea.

She sat up, leaning against the cold stone wall, and wiped the tears from her face. She answered, annoyance staining her response. "Of course I did. For what else would I have left of you, once you are gone?"

I did not know what to say, or what to think. I sat dumb and numb, twisting the key over and over again in my hand. And before I could muster a response, she was there, halting my maddening rotation. Her hand upon my own was softer than newly spun silk. I closed my eyes, bent into the sturdy structure of the rock, and contemplated the significance of what was clutched in my hand. I held my breath as her gentle hand eased from my arm to lovingly cup my hideous face. She was the only human being who had ever touched it, even my own mother had not. I could have died happier in that moment than in all the long years of my pitiful existence.

"Can you not see the affect your absence will have upon me?" Her eyes gazed into mine with a beseeching need for understanding.

Of course I did. How could I not? If placed in the same role as the lovely creature before me, I knew that I would unquestionably replicate her actions. There was no way that I could sustain my life without some visual fragment of her to keep me breathing. After all, I still carried with me the yellow ribbon she had given me so long ago. . . .

She was a mere fifteen when the yellow ribbon had been gifted to me. It was a warm, windless spring day. I had spied her running with the Giry girl through the sunlit corridors of the opera house. And as she passed each clear pane of glass, light danced across her coffee curls, suffusing the ribbon with an unearthly glow. I had never seen anything like it.

Later she came to the chapel for her daily vocal lesson, so young, yet no longer a mere child. She danced down the steps in a graceful bound, the canary colored bow still shimmering in her russet locks.

"You are late." Always concealed out of sight, I used the secret chamber just beyond the chapel to dictate my lessons. It was perfect, I could easily be heard, and I could see her, thanks to the miniature two-way mirror I had added to the room for that sole purpose.

"I am sorry, Master. Meg and I were roaming the grounds and I lost track of the time."

"It is alright, my girl. I am glad that you were enjoying yourself, but always remember that punctuality is an important trait for one to posses. From now on I do expect you promptly for our lessons."

"Yes, of course."

"Now, where did we leave off yesterday?" And so the hour of tutoring went on, until at last I knew I would have to let her go, for soon it would be supper.

"That is all for today. Remember to practice your scales tonight."

"I will." And with that she was off, once again a graceful bird of flight.

"Christine.'

"Yes?" She halted her stride and turned.

"That ribbon in your hair looks quite lovely."

A flattering blush rose to color her little face. "Do you really think so, my angel?"

"I do, indeed."

"Well then, I shall leave it for you, and with it you will remember me."

"Thank you, my child, but I could never forget you."

She placed the ribbon on the altar all the same, smiled, and left. I had kept it with me ever since. . . .

"Erik?" Her warm inquiring touch pulled me from my reverie.

"Christine, you do not know what you say, what you feel. Your emotions are deceiving you. You know as well as I, that my presence has a rather curious effect on you." I needed to make her see why she should run, why she should flee that very moment.

"Yes, I do know that."

I sighed, exasperated by her calm. "Why, Christine? Why would you want this? Why in God's name, would you want me?"

"I don't."

"But you just said–" I rattled on baffled, unable to finish as she interrupted me.

"I said that I wanted you, yes; and make no mistake, I do. But..." Her hand fell from its place upon my face, back to her side as she heaved a sigh.

"I need you far more than I want you." She was caressing me, and once again I could have died satisfied.

I wanted her. Oh, how I wanted her in that moment! For I knew precisely what she was getting at, I had always needed her more than I had ever wanted her. It was a need so primal, that I knew I could never live the rest of my life without her; the sole reason that I was currently where I was. Life, for me, meant naught without her. But this was too much to bear. I had never, in all my years, in all my grandiose delusions, imagined such a response from her. I had prepared myself for rejection, denial and hatred, but never this.

"I do believe the gods are on our side." She cooed as she stroked my bared neck, causing the tendons beneath to stiffen in restraint. "I do not know what would have become of me if I had found you gone. I was already resigned to bury away half of my heart with you tonight, and the notion was killing me. Not too many people are given a second chance."

"This is not a second chance, Christine, it is a mistake; the fault of a man. If Nadir had only listened to me! He was too early, and knowing that infernal man, it was deliberate. Yet, whatever the case might be, you made your choice already, and it was not me."

"Am I not allowed to change my mind?" She was angry; the emotion was obvious in her retort.

It was final. I was the only one who could save us. It was now or never. If I had her, even just once, I feared I would never let her go. No matter the number of years which passed, it would make no difference. Death its self would not free me.

"No, I cannot allow it!" Once again, I yanked her to her feet and just as before, she stumbled backward out of my hands. This time, however, to the right, and all but over the precipice of my pre-dug grave.

Instantly, my arm shot out to take hold of hers, but I was just out of reach. I knew I would have to get closer. "Christine, stay very still."

The tone of my voice had her grasping that the situation was indeed serious. She stood there frozen as a look of realization filled her eyes. The heel of her shoe hung precariously over the edge, the ground was approximately ten feet below; a fall that if committed, was bound to injure.

"I want you to take my hand." I inched toward her slowly; careful of the uneven earth, not wanting it to crumble under my feet which would then in turn cause her to plummet downward.

She angled her ringlet covered head so that she could look over her shoulder at the cause of my current behavior; I watched as recognition dawned on her face. It took a few moments before her eyes could discern the gaping hole just behind her, but the moment that she had, those petite chocolate orbs grew as wide as an owl's. She turned back to me horrified.

"Erik, oh my God!" Her voice was a whispered hush, yet I heard the unmasked panic in it all the same.

I was making my way towards her, only a fraction of space left before I could take hold of her, when I saw the loose ground beneath her left foot give way.

"No!" I flung myself forward and grasped hold of her right hand; the force causing me to fall chest down on the ground. I quickly righted myself, pulled her up and out of the hole that I was so eager to be one with only moments before.

"It's okay, my angel. I've got you now. I've got you." She sobbed in my arms, and a part of me wanted to join her; so damn grateful was I that I had made it to her in time.

"Please, please say that you will not leave me!" She was again that small, frightened child of eight who had wept every night in her first month of life as orphan at the opera.

"Christine . . . ." I didn't want to lie to her.

"I cannot live without you, Erik. I know that now. Please say that you will not leave me. Even if it is only for tonight, just do not leave me!"

That promise was one which I could keep. There was no hesitation within me as I answered, "I promise. I will not leave you tonight."

It must have been enough for her, for I felt her warm breath of relief upon my face, and her cashmere tongue caress mine. I knew then that I had found my light; at long last I had found my way. I expelled all rational thought from my mind as I unfastened the stays of her gown, and gave into the dream I had never dared believe would come true. . .

*Author's Note: Thank you all so very much for your encouraging reviews. I read and appreciate each and every single review more than I can say. I hope you like this 'non-edited' new chapter. I had my bff, who is a special education teacher (and now the amazing Grayskies29, who is my 'official' beta now), edit my last chapter, but this one was done yesterday, and it's had zero editing, lol! I only have a 9th grade education, so being that most of the reviews yu guys have left have, "Well written!" somewhere within in them, is a compliment I never thought I would receive. THANK YOU! It's the reviews which inspire me to write ;) Anyone out there willing to edit? . . . .

Now . . . Do you guys want the next section from Christine's POV, or Erik's? And how much . . . uhmhmm . . . detail do you want? Lmao! Let me know in the reviews =)*