A/N: Here we go. The moment you've all been waiting for is at last here. All is about to be revealed for Christine.
A day or two had passed since Christine had last seen Erik. He had yet to apologise for being so sharp with her and she had begun to wonder if she had truly made him angry for intruding. She had not meant to, but she was too soft when it came to Noir's plaintive looks and small squeaking. She had asked Nadir if Erik was upset with her, but he had only told her that their masked companion had done it to protect her. He refused to tell her from what, so she simply settled to wait until Erik felt like he could tell her.
That day seemed determined to allude her, however, as he continued to be absent of her company. She wandered the Rose Gardens idly, hoping he would come see her like he used to before everything got so complex. She sat down, watching Petit swim in the pond, now big enough to do so on his own without fear of injury from the other swans. He was growing into quite the handsome cob with his grey down turning ever darker with the growth of his adult feathers. His neck was getting longer and more flexible as he tried diving a few times to get at the vines that grew at the bottom of the pond. He popped up with a good bit hanging from his beak proudly. Christine could not hold in the laugh as he tried to gobble it down, finding it to be more than he had bargained for. Swans will not eat more than they need, but that does not mean they will not accidentally get more than they intended to on a dive.
Christine giggled as the swan tried to eat the longer pieces of the vines, looking much like a child trying to eat spaghetti for the first time. Her laughing continued until she found something catch in her throat. All of her laughter turned to coughing, her hand coming to her mouth with a handkerchief she now carried. Hacking away at her cough, she finally found a bit of relief and free air to breathe.
Cursing under her breath she folded the cloth and tucked it into her pocket again, still trying to catch her breath and get the paleness out of her face. She looked sadly at the cygnet who had cocked his head and come over to her when she had started coughing. She had done this yesterday, too, but not quite as badly. She smiled at the kind little bird, stroking its head gently.
'Miss Daaé,' she heard from beside her. It was the same messenger boy who had come to fetch her and Erik a few weeks previous. 'The Khanum requests your presence immediately.'
'Very well,' Christine smiled at the boy. She knew it was not his fault he was forced to serve the wicked woman, just as it was not hers to do the same. She rose, wobbling a bit as her head spun. It took her a moment to catch her balance before nodding to the now concerned boy to lead the way.
She had hoped that her dizziness would abate a bit the longer she spent standing, but that woefully proved not to be the case. To make matters worse, Erik was in the room when she dutifully arrived. This would make dealing with the Khanum's wit even harder as she now had a distraction as well as a spinning mind.
'Ah, there's my favourite little bird.' The witch cooed venomously. 'I thought you would never get here. Now, sing for me.' She was not in any kind of mood to wait or spar with Christine, especially as unenthusiastic as Erik had been just a few moments ago. She did not appreciate his mild growl at her name for Christine. She would have to do something about that soon.
Christine blinked hard, hoping that the room would just stop shrinking and whoever was drizzling her ears with cold water would just back off. She opened her mouth to sing a string of notes, but got distracted by the little coloured dots that were aggressively flaring in her vision. The last thing she remembered before the darkness swallowed her whole was hitting a sour note and someone, she assumed Erik, calling her name.
Erik had noticed she was acting a little strangely when she had come in, but had refrained from noting it for fear she would get in trouble. He had done enough damage to their friendship as it was, and was not about to put her stance against the Khanum in jeopardy. But God, she did not look well. This became increasingly evident when she started to sing. The notes were as beautiful as ever, but nowhere near as enrapturing as they could be. He watched her sway a little before her voice cracked, which was wrong, and her whole body seemed to go limp.
Without a second thought he rushed to her, just barely reaching her in time before her head hit the floor. She fainted dead away into his arms, her face frighteningly pale and slightly damp with a cold sweat. Putting his hand to her forehead proved she had a fever.
'Christine, please, wake up.' He begged quietly, but she remained unconscious.
'Damn,' came the only half-hearted curse from behind the thin veil. 'I had hoped she'd still have a few weeks left in her.' She lamented indifferently. Rising, she stopped at the look of furious horror on Erik's face.
'What's wrong with her?' He demanded.
'What, she didn't tell you?' The Khanum asked bitterly. 'Hmph, she must think very highly of you to work that hard to keep the secret. Almost everyone in the palace knows.'
'Knows what?!' Erik demanded harshly.
'She's dying.' She told him before brushing him off, turning, and leaving the now distraught Erik holding the limp form of Christine in his now shaking arms. He looked down at her in disbelief. Why…how could she not tell him?
Christine sputtered awake, vaguely noting she was in her own bed, rolling over to cough vehemently into her handkerchief. Lying down made it worse as she propped herself onto her elbow to rid her lungs of the suffocating mucus. When at last she could breathe, she sneered at the crimson contents of her tissue. Wiping her stained lips with the corners of the cloth, she sighed, though it was not as full a breath as she would have liked. Suddenly, she became aware of a presence in the room.
Turning slowly at the shoulders, she found she could not take the suspense and whipped her head round to see who sat in the chair a little ways from the bed. She had a fairly firm guess. She was right.
She stared at Erik for a few moments, not sure of what else to do. His expression was unreadable and he had too many emotions swimming in his piercing black-brown eyes to tell what he was thinking. Finally she gave up, laid back against her pillow with a sigh of defeat, and stared up at the ceiling despairingly.
She took a shaking breath as she realised she would have to speak. 'I had meant to tell you at first, but…' she felt a tear slide down her cheek. 'I just couldn't bear to.'
'Why?' His voice was soft but still indecipherable as to emotion.
'Because I liked the way you looked at me.' She admitted, causing his eyebrows to raise behind his mask and his head to tip minimally to the side. 'I liked not being stared at like some kind of horrid creature. I liked that you stayed with me and didn't avoid me like the plague. I liked that when I was with you I felt human.' Her breath started catching in her throat but with sobs rather than coughs. 'I'm sorry.' She gasped out before giving in to the silent sobs.
Erik sat there in a daze. She had worried he would shun her? She was the most beautiful thing on this whole earth and she was afraid he would not accept her? His head swam at the very thought of him doing anything besides what he had felt the moment he had first laid eyes upon her: worship her. He wanted nothing more than to lunge forward from his chair and scoop her into his arms forever. He would carry her away from this place on foot if he had to. But he remembered that there was something he could not carry her away from.
'How long?' He asked.
'It came this winter, but only really got bad this past month. The doctor says I only have about two months.' She told him, not daring to look at him. She felt the air in the room suddenly grow very heavy and still. 'He says it's tuberculosis.' She finally admitted.
Erik found himself nodding. That was what he had assumed when he had felt her fever and cold sweat coupled with her thinness and coughing up blood. It was a common ailment that had no cure and was rather terrible to watch. She would grow weak, eventually lose her voice to lung deterioration, and possibly die from fever alone.
'You don't have to stay.' She whispered after calming her tears just a bit.
Christine looked at him. That was a mistake. Not for seeing him, but for seeing the expression he wore. Her eyes grew large as she realised what he intended to do.
'No!' She cried, rolling out of bed to put it between herself and him. 'No, no, no!' She nearly screamed through her weeping as she backed into the wall and slid down.
Erik had leapt to his feet at the first cry and now stood looking at her in abject terror as she crawled into a sobbing ball on the floor, trying to get as far away from him as she could.
'Don't, please!' She cried, shaking with her wracking sobs. 'Please don't stay!' She wept, finally answering his silent question. 'Please don't watch me die, Erik.' She pleaded, completely distraught. 'I can see it in your eyes. You want to stay. Please don't. I don't want you to see me waste away, Erik! I don't want you to see me die!' She continued as her sobs grew stronger and stronger until she was having trouble breathing.
He was torn. A part of him desperately wanted to comfort her while the other felt the trap she was trying to save him from. Did he really want to stay and watch this beautiful being he had come to think of as a friend waste away before his very eyes? Could he leave her, though?
As he stood there, debating, Christine turned her face further and further away from him as if shunning all of the world. She wanted to just curl into oblivion. She did not wish for him to feel chained to her and have to endure the assured torture that went with what would be her inevitable death. No matter how much she wanted him to stay, she knew it would be cruel and unworthy punishment to one who had already given her too much of his time.
She looked up, expecting him to still be there, beholding the pitiful mess she had been reduced to by his simple kindness. She was wrong. Where his intimidating but oddly comforting shadow had been was now empty air. He had left her just as she had told him to. This brought her some form of happiness she did not care to name right now on account of all the pain it simultaneously put her through.
Curling her legs even further in on herself, she cried once again at the loss of her friend and the lonely path ahead of her.
Nadir had heard what had happened to Christine and had come to visit her when he was told Erik brought her to her room and after a brief discussion left her there in a broken heap of tears and sorrow. Nadir had silently cursed the masked man for leaving him to pick her back up and vainly put her back together. He had done his best, and despite her pleas that it was for the better, he could tell there would be no coming back from this. She would not last long without Erik to live for.
No matter how much Nadir wanted to, though, he knew he could not interfere. He could not force Erik to come and be with her, but he had to do something before she just…died. Thankfully, his problem was solved for him, much as he had solved Erik's a few days previous.
Nadir had taken Christine outside to sit in the sunlight. He had hoped that being in the warmth would do her some form of good. As it stood, he was hoping for some kind of miracle as she sat, looking at her pale fingers as she wrapped her clean handkerchief through them in her lap. She did not look up at him as he attempted speech. She was hopeless. He sat down next to her, playing with the odd and confused cygnet who could not understand why Christine was not paying him any attention. Then they heard it.
'Christine,' the voice which was soft and electrifying at the same time uttered a few feet away.
She turned instantly at the sound and just sat there staring in disbelief. Erik stood, looking strangely penitent. Nadir had never known the man to feel guilt, but that was undoubtedly what shone in his eyes as he looked only at Christine. Tears rolled down her cheeks until he took a tentative step forward. Apparently this was enough because she threw herself into his unsuspecting arms. He stumbled back a step or two at the force of her embrace as well as the suddenness of her movements.
'Oh, Erik!' She wept into his shoulder. 'I'm so sorry.'
This knocked him out of his gasping surprise at her display. 'Why are you sorry?' He looked down at her as she sunk back to stand firmly rather than on her tip-toes as she had been to reach his shoulder.
'Because you shouldn't have to deal with this…with me.' She stared at the ground, still crying and watching the gravel pathway greedily absorb her tears.
'Christine,' Erik felt something between pity and confusion at her admission.
'No, I want you to know that I won't break my promise.' She told him, placing her hands on his chest as if to hold him back. He felt his own shaking hands come up to them and gently curl his long fingers around her palms. She looked up now, clearly working to hold back tears and her neck flaring and quivering to keep in sobs.
'You don't have to stay. You can leave at any time. I won't stop you.' Her resolve was breaking down now and she felt her knees begin to quake. 'I won't bind you, Erik.' She finally told him.
Erik shook his head at her, pushing past her quickly weakening arms to wrap his own tentatively around her. He felt her head touch his chest before she completely broke down. He glanced up to look at the Daroga with mystified eyes as if he himself did not know what was happening. Erik looked back down to the sobbing Christine and softened instantly.
'Shhh,' he tried, hoping it would comfort her. 'It's all right, Christine. I won't leave you. You're not binding me. I'm choosing to stay.' He was amazed by his own hands as they started to stroke her luscious curls. They felt so soft; like silk. 'You mustn't worry about me, Christine. For the first time in a long time, I want to stay.' He told her, feeling the faint tickle of her hair as he leaned his head down to hers. He gasped faintly as she let him rest his cheek on her. He had never been this close before. He had never really held someone like this before. He was now supporting her as she wept. He realised that she was now dependent upon him to stand and if he were to move she would crumple to the ground. It was a unique feeling to be the one someone else depended upon so completely.
At last she began to calm, wiping at her now puffy eyes with her as yet still clean handkerchief. 'I'm sorry.' She said again, backing up a bit and looking embarrassedly down at the ground as she tried to regain composure.
Nadir watched as Erik looked down at Christine with more than he ever had before. Gone was the beautiful creature he needed to possess, gone was the child he wished to excite and entertain, now there stood a broken yet stunning woman who needed his protection. It was not quite what it needed to be, but Nadir had faith Erik would one day come to look at her the way she deserved and unknowingly wanted him to.
The emotions were there and blooming, but Nadir knew just how thick Erik's inexperienced mind was when it came to such matters. The Daroga found himself in the same old dilemma. To push them together would be right, but to force Erik to realise something he had never felt before only to immediately lose it to a force he could not control would be nothing short of torture. Nadir found himself hoping Erik never got wise to his feelings for her. He prayed to Allah that the masked man would just be able to enjoy Christine's company without delving any deeper. For the sake of the world and the Daroga's own sanity, he hoped that they all could avoid such a calamity.
Until that time, however, he would simply content himself by watching the two as they got to know each other a bit. Christine may have revealed her secret, but Erik still had too many for his own good hidden from her.
A/N: *lets the dust settle* Hope you all liked this. I know some of you were just climbing the walls to find out what her secret was. Let me know what you all thought of it. Was it surprising? Was it sad? I would love to hear from you.
Thank you 1925JazzyFlapperGirl8, ProngsPadfootMoonyCJC, and sasanachs for favoriting/following this story! I greatly appreciate all the support you guys have given this story and I hope that it will continue to excite or at least entertain you.