Angel of Music

Meg ended up spending a lot of time under Erik's care.

After Antoinette had been given approval, and Meg was old enough for her to not have to spend the day by her side, she went back to dancing. Sometimes she would have one of the older women take care of the baby while she spent the day dancing but more often than not, Erik would watch over her. It had taken a while to get used to being around a baby but he eventually got the hang of it.

Apparently, Meg liked music and he would spend the days playing his softer creations for her.

She was an honest critic at the very least.

She spent so much time with him that her companion had shape changed into a coyote.

Antoinette had not been impressed with that.

Erik had been ecstatic.

Meg had been three when it had happened and she had woken up from her nap to find Leala, her companion, in the other form.

She had screamed and both Erik and Antoinette had rushed into her room.

Upon spotting the baby coyote, Erik had laughed and Antoinette shook her head in dismay.

"Oh come now Madame! Coyotes are not only known for their trickster personality!" Erik attempted to soothe the older.

"That is what they are mostly known for!" Antoinette grumbled and explained to Meg why her companions form changed.

Erik thinks that was what made Meg a little prankster over the next few years. All of her pranks were harmless and would prank anyone at any time if she was given the opportunity. At one point, it had gotten bad enough that all the pranks and tricks were now being blamed on her instead of the opera ghost.

Not that Erik minded, he found it amusing to watch Meg grow in her cleverness at pulling her tricks off.

Antoinette drew the line though.

"Erik, take back the opera house." She had told him one night as Meg was asleep. "At this rate, people will forget about the ghost and we cannot have that."

"Alright." Erik conceded and pulled a dangerous trap on one of the singers in the chorus.

The fear of the phantom returned and people began to encourage Meg to stop her pranks lest she draw the ghost's attention.

Meg already knew that the opera ghost was her uncle Erik who lived underneath the opera house, but Erik and Antoinette talked to her and she stopped the mischiefs.

Not completely though, Erik would sometimes allow the young girl to come with him when he pulled off one of his own as the ghost and would supervise Meg if she wanted to do one as the ghost as well.

However, as she got older the pranks naturally got smaller and then Leala changed into a pelican around her tenth birthday. She would visit Erik and Farren down below often and if she needed to, play up the rumors of the opera ghost just like Antoinette.

Antoinette had retired as a dancer seven years after Meg was born and took on the role of the instructor after the former had died. Erik could tell she loved teaching the young girls to dance ballet and Meg began her own lessons under her mother. Sometimes, Erik could not help but feel saddened by his friend's circumstances.

If she had not married, she would not have had a child and would probably still be dancing.

He never mentioned this to her for he did not have a death wish, and he loved Meg, he did, but that did not stop those thoughts from coming forward every once in a while.

The life of a brilliant artist cut short because of romance. That was something Erik did not think he could ever understand.

Life went on and the three of them had formed a small misshapen family, but it worked for them.

Especially after Antoinette had found out that her husband had died at sea when Meg was eight.

That had been a long night for Erik, who tried to comfort his longtime friend, but he was never good at such things. Farren did most of the work in the end. Meg was not too heartbroken over her father's death as she has only seen him a few times through the years, but she was sad for her mother's sake.

Either way, it was when Erik was twenty four that something happened that changed all their lives.

Erik had been roaming the tunnels with Farren for the sake of people hearing the sounds of footsteps with no one around. Erik had found this method to be useful when he needed to return a fear into the employees of the Opera Populaire.

He had finished and was heading back to his home, taking a route that hardly had anyone walking above him. He was singing a melody almost unconsciously, no words, only the sound of the music as he walked.

He was just pasting the chapel in the opera house when he heard it.

"Angel?"

The weak voice had almost been softer then Erik could hear, but he did and paused.

"Angel is that you?" the voice said again louder and Erik could tell it was a girl.

With a puzzled frown as to why he would be hearing a girl's voice that late into the night in the chapel, he went to the space that allowed him to look into the room. Inside, he spotted a young girl that Erik would guess was around Meg's age. She was kneeling in her night gown in front of a lit candle, her long curls falling over her shoulders like a curtain, her wide eyes glancing around the room as if waiting for something.

"Angel please! If you are there, please give me a sign?" the child begged, her clasped hands becoming tighter.

Erik shot a look at Farren.

"Who do you think she is talking to?"

Farren shrugged. "I think you. You were singing and she probably heard it."

Erik felt a sense of panic and began to back away from his viewpoint.

"Wait! You cannot leave her there waiting!" Farren protested.

Erik turned back to her. "What would you have me do? I cannot speak to her!"

"Sure you can!" the coyote argued. "Just pretend to be an angel and reassure her so that she can go to bed!"

"You are not serious" Erik hissed. Farren stared at him expectantly in return. Eventually, Erik threw up his hands. "Fine! I cannot believe I am doing this!"

Farren grinned in reply and he sent her a glare before moving back to where he could see the girl. When he spotted her, he realized she was crying.

"I hope I do not regret this." He mumbled before projecting his voice to surround the girl.

"Do not cry my child." He instructed, the sound soft but echoing in the chapel, giving his voice a more ethereal tone.

The girl immediately perked up, and Erik could see a porcupine shuffle from behind her and crouch from nerves.

"Angel?" the girl whispered in awe, looking around as if to locate where he was.

Erik shot a look to Farren, who nodded encouragingly, and he turned back to the girl.

"Yes, my child." Erik confirmed reluctantly, but did not let that seep into his tone.

"Christine, this is scary." The porcupine stated low enough that if Erik did not have great hearing, he would not have heard it. But he did and now knew the girl's name.

"Hush Nada." The girl, Christine, scolded the porcupine. She stood up for her knees and faced the lit candle. "I knew that father would send me the angel of music if I believed! And now you are here!"

"Yes, Christine, you father has sent me to you." Erik soothed, focusing his voice to come from the flame she was looking at. "But my child, you should not have sought me when you are supposed to be asleep."

Christine blushed and looked away from the flame as if ashamed.

"I cannot sleep. Father's death has kept me from sleeping." She mumbled.

"Do not fear sleep, for tonight child, your dreams shall be pleasant ones." Erik reassured. "Now off with you, you must return before someone realizes you are missing."

"Madame Giry, would be angry if she were to find out." Christine nodded, taking Erik by surprise at the mention of the Madame. "When will I hear from you again?"

Erik shot Farren a desperate look but the coyote only shrugged.

"Time works differently for angels Christine." Erik ended up saying. "I cannot give you a specific time but I can say that I will be here when you need me."

Erik wanted to bang his head against the wall. He had just told her that he would see her again, no matter how vague it was.

Christine instantly brightened and picked up the porcupine, Nada, in her arms.

"Goodnight Angel!" Christine blew out the flame of the single candle and walked out of the chapel with no backward glances.

When Erik was sure the girl was far enough, he sank to his knees in dismay, mentally calling himself an idiot.

"Well, you made her feel better and she is going to bed now." Farren remarked hesitantly.

"That girl is going to come back and want to speak to her angel again. When he does not show up, she will be heartbroken again." Erik growled at her.

"Then continue to be her angel." Farren recommended. "We can tell when the chapel is being used from our house. We will go when she comes."

"Why did you think this was a good idea in the first place?!" Erik interrogated her. He stood up and brushed himself off.

"Because she looked upset!" Farren argued as she followed him through the tunnels. "She reminded me of Meg."

"Yes well, now I got another set of expectations along with my duties as the phantom and helping Antoinette." Erik grumbled. They got to the boat and Farren jumped in as Erik untied it.

"I am sorry Erik. I wanted her to not be sad anymore, that is all." The coyote apologized.

Erik sighed. "We will see what happens. For now, I guess I should add 'angel' to my list of disguises."

The next day Erik had gone to Antoinette and confronted her about the girl.

"Christine?" she had looked bewildered when he asked about her. "She is an orphan. She turned eleven a few months ago and I took her in because she had no place else to go. Her father was a known violinist and she is supposedly quite the singer herself. Why do you ask?"

Erik told her about the meeting the night before. She let out a snicker when he was finished and he gave her a scowl.

"It is not funny." He growled.

"It is a little funny." She replied with a grin. "Only you could go around singing within the walls and be mistaken for an angel."

Erik rolled his eyes and slouched in his seat. "The child recently became an orphan, of course she is feeling more spiritual at the moment."

"What are you going to do?" Antoinette asked.

Erik sighed and let Farren answered.

"He is going to be her angel, at least for now." She answered in place of Erik.

Antoinette raised her eyebrow at the two of them. "Really?"

"Really." Erik sighed, slumping in his seat more.

"This can go wrong in many different ways, I hope you know." Valere told him.

Erik pointed at Farren. "Blame her, this was all her idea."

Farren gave him an offended look at that.

That very night, Erik heard a chime that indicated that someone was in the chapel.

Erik and Farren's eyes met and they made their way to the small room. To Erik's lack of surprise, Christine was there again, kneeling in front of the lit candle and had her eyes closed with her hands clasped together in prayer.

Erik began to sing the melody he had sung the previous night and Christine straightened, opening her eyes with a sweet smile.

"Angel, are you there?" she asked.

"Yes, child, I am here. Your angel of music." Erik replied softly.

Like yesterday, Erik was able to get her to go back to bed with some ease, it did not seem like she was expecting anything from him yet, but he figured that could change.

When she had left to go back to bed, he stepped away from his viewpoint and turned around to go back with Farren.

He froze upon seeing her.

"Yes, I know. I should have expected something like this would happen." Farren announced, hopping in place a couple times, her wings extending then drawing them back in.

Farren was no longer a coyote but a black eagle.

Erik shook his head. "I thought your forms settled around the time your human becomes an adult."

"That is mostly true, but sometimes it can change if something life changing has happened, or in response to your emotions. I would say this is a life change shift." Farren explained.

Erik closed his eyes and forced himself to take in a deep breath through his nose and let it out slowly.

From Farren's form changed, it seemed that Erik would be seeing this girl Christine for a while yet.

I wonder if any of you have noticed something going on about the chapter names. Can you guess it? This latest title was probably a big hint, but we'll see. Anyway there you go! Here the list of companions:

Meg Leala (Fr-Faithful/Loyal)

Pelican-Resilient, unselfish, rising above, friendliness, responsible, safety, camaraderie, bounty.

Christine Nada (Scandinavian-Hope)

Porcupine- Innocence, companionship, trust, curious, imagination, good-natured, non-interference.

Erik Farren

Eagle- Creator, teacher, loyalty, integrity, strong, brave, and insightful

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