Disclaimer: No, I do not own Erik. He is simply borrowed for my own purposes.

AN: Thank you to all those who have reviewed/favorited thus far! It's your constant support that keeps me putting up another chapter! I'm trying not to rush Erik and Anne, though it's getting hard since I just did a rough draft of their first kiss. Several chapters away, but I wanted it written down! Black ribbon roses to all those who review and favorite!

Chapter 15

A pounding headache greeted me when I awoke the following morning. I had slept very little, nightmares plaguing me during my sleep and tears while I was awake. Jane brought me a pot of chamomile tea which I greedily drank. I had made my decision not long after Erik left me and it haunted me like a spirit not at rest. The choice was mine, of course, but I knew the consequences it would bring to me in the end. I was torn between to obligations…two loves…music and family. While one made more sense than the other, choosing between them was unlike anything I had yet faced.

Jane and I talked that morning, and she cried her tears at the news. She understood my decision and supported me, but I knew the pain it caused her. I accepted her offer to pack my things and make the preparation for the move to my new residence and we spent the early morning talking and laughing over old memories we shared. Aunt Giry and Meg came in to hear my decision and there were mixed reviews by them both. Meg, in her naivety, understood the sacrifice I was making, and Aunt Giry did her best to smile. Both were more than willing to let me have the rest of the morning to myself so that I could prepare myself for the sudden change. Erik, I didn't see all day and Aunt told me that he was making his usual fuss with the managers and would leave me entirely alone. I was unsure how I felt about not seeing him. I wanted to tell him the decision I had made. It would be best, coming from me.

"Oh, miss, you never opened this!"

I was going through my piano music when Jane took down a brown wrapped parcel from atop my wardrobe.

"What is it, Jane?"

"The package your mother gave you when we left England. I put it in your wardrobe thinking you'd find it eventually."

I wiped my hands on my apron. "No, Jane. I forgot all about it." I had tried hard to wipe as much from my mind of that day as I could.

"Do you want to open it?" Jane held it out to me and I took it from her hands.

"I might as well." Jane and I sat down on my bed and I took the brown wrapping off and marveled at the Kingwood box inlaid with brass. I held my breath and opened the box. Amidst the beautiful burgundy velvet lining was a thick envelope which I took out and read its contents. I nearly fainted dead away with what I read and what laid underneath the envelope.

"Oh, miss!" Jane gasped, putting a hand over her heart.

"Jane…" I whispered. "You mustn't say anything about this."

"But your grandmother…"

"Don't worry. I'll tell her. But for the time being, put the envelope in the small carrying box and this box from my mother goes in the hidden compartment in my trunk." What was in the box, didn't change my decision about going, but it made me feel a little easier about my future.

The ride from the Opera House to my grandmother's Parisian home, was surprisingly short. I had no idea that they lived so close. It was probably so that they could keep an eye on me if I had done something they had not approved of. As I descended from the carriage, I took note of the iron gates that surrounded the house. I couldn't tell if the gates were to keep someone or in. For a moment, the entire place looked like a prison. Grandmama's carriage journeyed to the stables and I made my way to the front door. I didn't even need to knock as the occupants of the house were already expecting me. A butler greeted me and I was taken to see my family.

"Ah, Anne, darling. So glad that you could come."

I was ushered into a grand formal sitting room where it was painfully obvious that this was where Grandmama received her less than important guests. "It seemed as if I had little choice in the matter." I sat down in the appointed chair and was served tea by one of the abundant maids.

"Oh, Annie, everyone has a choice." Elizabeth smiled lazily from where she had draped herself in an overstuffed chair. She was munching on a piece of chocolate and I didn't dare comment on how inappropriate it was to speak with food in her mouth. "It's whether or not you can live with those choices that's the problem."

I smiled politely, and took a sip of my tea. "What sort of plans do you have for your stay in Paris?"

Elizabeth laughed. "Well, my fiancé, has paid handsomely for me and we are spending every last bit of it on my trousseau. My wedding gown is to be made of the finest silk and lace and I will be the talk of the fashionable world. I will be every man's dream and every woman's envy."

"My, you seem to have done quite well for yourself. And this soon to be husband of yours? How did you meet?"

"Oh, Annie I told you! We met at my debut! He is such a darling man and is quite partial to me. He asked for the first dance and I couldn't say no. I barely gave anyone else a second glance as long as he was with me."

I smiled, thinking that it would take a man of some strong constitution to put up with Elizabeth. "What does he look like?"

"He's ever so handsome! Fair hair and brown eyes, and such a strong physique! Even without the wedding, I'm everyone woman's envy. He was the most sought after during the season, swearing that he would be a confirmed bachelor, and then he met me. It was love at first sight."

I wondered at how much of Elizabeth's tale was true. She kept using her left hand, that sparkled with a ridiculous rock, to fiddle with her hair or do anything that would draw attention to it. I found the entire display to be quite silly…just like her.

"The wedding is less than a month away. A long engagement is quite hard on a couple so in love."

"Of course," I smiled politely. Better the two of them marry before this Earl realized just what he got himself in to.

"We have secured a marvelous seamstress who is quite proficient. I believe she owns a shop not too far from the Opera House. La Marguerite, I believe is the name."

"Yes, Grandmama. She took care of my dresses when I first arrived in Paris. She is quite handy with the needle and thread."

She continued as if I hadn't even spoken. "You'll of course be expected to go with Elizabeth everywhere as her chaperone and to make sure everything is done just as it's needed to be."

"I'm sorry?" I put my tea cup down and stared at her as if she'd taken leave of her senses.

"You'll see to all the invitations, the guest list, everything. You'll make yourself available as needed, so that Elizabeth can have a smooth wedding."

"There'll be no need to put yourself in the wedding party as I'm having some friends from school take care of that."

"I…I'm sorry, Elizabeth. You two seem to be under some sort of misapprehension."

"I beg your pardon?" Grandmama looked at me, eyes blazing fire. My courage did not fail me.

"I'm staying at the Opera House. I'm not returning to this family."

The opera for the new season was to be Gounod's Romeo and Juliette which if done properly would have every chance of being a very successful production. Madame Carrolton had the ability to play a convincing Juliette and of course the Opera House had procured an exemplary tenor from Italy, Signor Alessandro Matteo, as Romeo. Preliminary work was already being begun on how rehearsals would run, when costumes and sets needed to be finished, when lines need to be learned, and all of the other minute details that made a production come together. Madame Giry was focused on the ballet corp rehearsals and there was such a bustling about that no one paid any attention to the masked man that sat in Box 5.

Too often he had sat in his usual seat, watching the rehearsals from the shadows. As a man of talent, modesty something not in his list of character traits, he knew when talent was wasted. He knew it when Christine left, though it had taken him some time to realize it. He knew it now when Anne left. Why did God see fit to bless people with talent and they not share it with the world? They settled for more common and conventional life that required no sacrifice and no push to a person's character. Erik had given up any sort of hope for a life but he had a solace that was as unchanging as the rise and fall of the sun. There was always some comfort to be gained from composing, or from sculpting, a rare thing he did when the first love of his life brought no ease to his pain.

After he released Christine to live forever in the light, music brought only glimpses of a life impossible to attain. He had taken time to work through the hurt and to find relief in the only thing that truly mattered. Erik promised himself that he would never make such a mistake again. He would never get close to another human being as he had to Christine ever again. Anne was no exception, despite the ever present display of the pure gift she possessed.

He could have opened such doors for her and she could have been placed upon the stage the likes the world had never seen. Yes, it was highly improper for young ladies to perform in public, especially if it was some sort of occupation. But, now, Anne would never know. She had made her choice and she would now have to live with it.

"The world keeps turning, even if you insist on living in the past, Erik."

Madame Giry's voice was just above a whisper and Erik was surprised to find that everyone on stage had dispersed. How long had he been sitting here? How much time had passed?

"You'll make yourself ill, dwelling on events on long past. You must find a way to live in the present and find a way to live for the future."

"I thought I had. Your niece…"

"Anne? You hardly know her. All you saw was a talented girl with beauty and kindness. There's a grown woman there who has lived a full life filled with more sorrow than a woman of her age should."

"What happened to her?"

"That is not my story to tell. And speaking of stories, you were with us all those months ago when we returned from having tea with the Prima Donna, weren't you?"

Silence was the only answer she would receive.

"You were surprised that she didn't ask for your tale, weren't you?"

"I was surprised that her curiosity didn't over power her. Curiosity is a dangerous thing in women."

"You see, there you go, making judgments that are based on the past. You'll never be able to live if you do that."

"And what makes you think that I want to live in the here and now."

Madame Giry smiled. "Anne has returned."

"What?! I thought she…"

"Was leaving? So did I, but I guess she changed her mind during the night. Something or someone might have had something to do with that. I know you went to see her last night."

"Rest assured, I had nothing to do with whatever decision she made."

"Maybe…maybe not."

AN:: And scene! Guesses on what's in the box? I might just take your idea(s)! Oh, and it was unconsciously done but I made Anne and Elizabeth very much like Anne and Elizabeth from Jane Austen's Persuasion. Anne's unfailing devotion to her family, and Elizabeth a spoiled little rich girrl. A reviewer, bL00D pRINC3SS to be precise, made a comment on how Elizabeth was like Lydia Bennet from Austen's Pride and Prejudice. Chapter 16 is in the works as we speak!