Okay, so here is the last finished written chapter I have. Geez, can you believe that? Well, I hope you enjoy it. Updates should be more quicker now because I have recently decided that it'll be a good idea to focus on one unfinished story at a time. So, I decided to put all my other stories on a hiatus, until this one is finished. Yeah, that's right my little angels of music, I have picked this story out of four to not put on a hiatus. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy the new chapter and thank you to those who have reviewed, alerted, and favourited this story, it means a lot to me! :)
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Chapter XIV: To Stay Away
She waited until Madame Giry returned with word from the managers. She was gone for much longer than Theresa expected, maybe she didn't realize that they would be messes once she arrived. Madame Giry wasn't going to go to them in the first place, but Theresa insisted that she should and deliver the note for her. It took much persuasion on Theresa's part, but Madame Giry soon left with the note before she got to say what she needed to. So a half hour ago, Madame Giry took the note and even Theresa's music (she was going to get the music for Despina for her as well) and left her. The only thing that she had left was a cup of tea, that was untouched.
Nor did Theresa want to touch it, but her mouth was dry. Theresa drew in a breath, she needed something stronger than tea, but it would have to do. She slowly reached for the cup, however when she picked it up her hand started to shake uncontrollably. Theresa shook her head quickly and in a flash placed it back with a small splatter coming from it on the red table cloth. "Fanculo." Theresa muttered so low so she wouldn't hear her mother's scowl in her head.
She grabbed a cloth and pressed it down where it splattered. Then she rubbed it in hope that some would be absorbed onto the cloth, but when she removed it the spot on the table cloth grew bigger and more noticeable. Theresa sighed and put the cloth aside. She put a hand to her forehead as it ached and then leaned over the table. When she heard a door opening Theresa's head snapped up to see Madame Giry coming in and closing the door behind her.
Theresa watched in silence as Madame Giry crossed the room to her with her chin up and her back strictly straight. When she was in front of Theresa, she held out the new part for her. A smile crossing her lips as she stated, "Congratulations." Theresa raised her eyebrow before slowly taking the part out of her hands. Madame Giry then sat across the small table. The beams of sunlight coming from the window in her room made her pale skin even paler. She continued, "You have secured the role of Despina in the coming opera."
"Secured?" Theresa inquired, unsure if she heard correctly. Madame Giry nodded curtly to her. Theresa parted her mouth in disbelief. "How, though? Monsieur André told me that I would actually need to try out to secure any role."
"A man like our Phantom has many ways. One of them is, to frighten the wits out of the managers to do what he says," Theresa pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes confused at where this was going. She continued, "You could thank him, maybe, if you want to. It was what he written in the note to them." Theresa didn't control her eyes from widening and her heart swelling in her chest. He did that for her?
Theresa gulped. "That was indeed kind of him," was all she stated and Theresa looked down to her lap, her fingers were suddenly playing with it each other. Theresa sighed before looking up at Madame Giry. The fact that Giry saw her broken down like that before on the ground bothered her a great deal. She loathed the idea that someone, anyone, would have the opportunity to see her like that. "How did Firmin and André take the note?" Theresa asked curiously. Madame Giry raised her eyebrow at her, "When I was going to see them, they seemed stressed..."
Giry nodded. When she had come into their office, she had to say that the sight that she came into was something that she would never want to see the managers in. They were pacing back and forth, muttering under their breath, and from down the hall she could hear them arguing at each other.
She told her, "When they saw me with it, they weren't happy at all, and they were even preparing to leave here. But," the 'but' lightened Theresa's nerves a bit, "I talked them through to staying, saying if they follow what the Phantom says this time and do not go to the police about him, they wouldn't be bothered."
Theresa gave a sigh of relief, "That is good then. I am glad to hear that they are staying." Now, if they remain sane, she would be immensely glad.
"I take it then that you know him?" Madame Giry asked her. Theresa cast her eyes downward at the table immediately.
"Know who?" She asked her quickly. Madame Giry furrowed her brow at her in disbelief and Theresa sighed. She wasn't a good liar as it was with some people now. She barely knew Madame Giry surprisingly since she was her good friend's mother, but they never talked to each other. However she heard stories, that Madame Giry was very observant. "Erik?" Madame Giry nodded to her with a small smile. Theresa pursed her lips and retorted to her, "Then I take it that you know him as well?"
"Yes, I do." She answered. "Him and I go back when I was a young ballerina training in the Opera House. How long have you known the Phant—?"
Theresa cut her off quickly, correcting her, "Erik. His name is Erik." Madame Giry raised her brow at her curiously and Theresa felt uncomfortable suddenly. She cast her eyes downward as she took her tea in her hand and took a quick sip out of it. When she put it down, she looked up at Madame Giry, admitting to her, "I've known him since... well, our formal meeting was the night of the first performance..." Madame Giry pursed her lips, the eyebrow that raised before fell as she folded her hands on her lap. Theresa gulped, seeing that on her face and she made it seem like she was not happy with that answer. Theresa quickly added, "I came to him though, the mirror in my room... it was open for several weeks and then... it closed. So I... I—."
She was cut off by Giry, "You are a curious girl. You travelled through the labyrinth? Alone?" Theresa nodded slowly. She would never forget how much courage she had to muster up for that journey. She did so many twists and turns to get down below and she remembered that she almost fell in a trap on the way. She heeded his warning, to never do that again, she doubted that now she would ever see him again. "You did what most dare not to. You are a brave and curious girl."
"And naïve." She admitted, but mostly to herself. Madame Giry didn't hear her however and Theresa prided herself on that. Madame Giry heard many things. Theresa debated if she should tell her what had happened between her and Erik for the last couple of weeks, or at least a month. But instead she told her, "Don't turn him in, madame." Madame Giry furrowed her brow. Her eyes perked interestedly. She just find the girl broken on the floor because of him and she wanted to protect him still. Who wouldn't be interested by that? "Please, he didn't do anything wrong to be turned in... he's a good man, I can swear by it."
"You care for him, do you not?" Theresa's face fell as she nodded slowly to Madame Giry. She never thought of it as being caring toward the man. Madame Giry found this intriguing. "Even after you—."
"That's in the past, madame." She said again quickly. "I met him after that."
"It at all did not disturb you what had happened at the Opera House before the fire?" Madame Giry asked her curiously. Giry knew about the managers' intentions on keeping this quiet from Theresa, but she knew that Theresa would find out from the workers' mouth. From her experience, the gossip in the Opera Populaire went around faster than it would in all of France. Theresa remained silent as she looked down again at her tea. Or maybe, she didn't understand it all.
Madame Giry didn't question her on how much she really knew. She only remained quiet and folded her hands on the skirt of her black dress. Theresa closed her eyes for a moment and then looked up into Madame Giry's eyes. Theresa... was apprehensive about what she knew. She didn't know if what she knew was the actual truth. She didn't know the relationship between Erik and Christine at all, only that he was obsessed... but the origin of that obsession... she had not a clue. She wasn't horrified about the murders in the Opera House, she might not have known the full detail to it at all.
Hesitantly, she admitted to her, "I actually... don't know to the fullest of what happened." Madame Giry only blinked and she nodded to her. That didn't surprise her. She didn't expect to hear anything other than that and if she did, then Madame Giry would be surprised. There weren't many men and women who worked there, not even her own daughter, who was a good friend of Christine's, that knew what happened. "I..." Theresa sighed, "I asked your daughter about it and she didn't know much about it either."
"I am not surprised. What happened six years ago took a toll on all that worked here, such a toll that many were enraged when there were only a handful of people who knew what truly happened and wouldn't give them the answers that they had asked plenty of times for. Marguerite, including."
"And which one of those two types are you, madame?" Theresa asked her curiously. "The type that truly knew what happened?"
Madame Giry shook her head no, but she stated to Theresa, "However, I know most things." Theresa stared blankly at Madame Giry. How many things did she exactly know? She began to wonder. But the two didn't say a word to each other, not one after that. The silence wasn't comfortable. Theresa felt awkward sitting across from her, so awkward that she wanted to leave. But she didn't want to be rude, she stayed in her seat. Theresa slowly picked up her tea and took a slow sip out of it as well. Theresa pursed her lips as she put it back, she didn't know what to say to her.
"I..." Theresa closed her eyes for a moment. This was her chance for answers! Why wasn't she asking what she wanted to know so badly? Like, why Christine? What was so special that the Phantom... Erik had obsessed over? His face... did Madame Giry knew about what he truly looked like? When she opened her eyes again, she tried to say something, though a cold touch from Madame Giry touched her hand.
Theresa found Madame Giry's eyes looking at hers with concern. Out of instinct, she gulped and Theresa went to take her hand away from her, but Madame Giry held it down tighter. "Theresa," her voice was gentle, just as gentle as it sounded since she found her on that floor. "What was Erik doing that upset you before?"
"He didn't... he didn't do any—."
"Do not lie to me, Theresa." Her tone was motherly and stern at the same time. So stern that it gave Theresa chills up her spine. "What was it?"
"It wasn't him," Theresa said to her. She tried to remain her ground, it wasn't him. He didn't do anything to her, it was her that started what had happened. If she hadn't... done what she had done than it wouldn't have happened... would it? "He didn't do anything..."
"Are you sure?" Madame Giry inquired sceptically, her eyebrows knitted together with her eyes narrowed at Theresa. She didn't believe her at all. Madame Giry knew better than that because she knew Erik, and she knew that Theresa was there with Erik because of the note. Did Theresa actually think that she could get this past her? Theresa didn't answer right away, instead her jaw tensed and she cast her eyes to the floor to avoid Giry's narrowed eyes. She repeated, "Theresa, are you sure?"
"I'm... I'm positive." Theresa hardly looked up at Madame Giry. It wasn't because she was lying like Giry had thought, but it was mostly because she was going over what actually had happened. "I'm... absolutely sure. What happened was..." she looked up at her, "it was my fault, Madame Giry. Erik didn't do anything." Her eyes looked genuine, but Madame Giry didn't quite believe her still.
"Then what happened?" She asked her then. Theresa frowned, her jaw tensed even more. She didn't want to tell Madame Giry but the narrowed, brown eyes that belonged to her were staring right into Theresa's. Theresa felt the words coming down her tongue, she felt like she was being interrogated to get the answer was. But the only way Madame Giry was practically interrogating her was with her eyes.
Theresa drew in a deep breath. She admitted to Madame Giry, "What happened... was that he... gave me the note and I didn't want to give it to the managers." Half the truth was good enough for her. But Madame Giry's eyes narrowed at her even more, and Theresa now really wanted to just leave. "I, uh," Theresa gulped, "Him and I got into a minor argument... of which, I," Theresa closed her eyes as she felt her throat coming together, choking her almost. Her eyes behind her closed lids began to water and tears slipped out underneath them, rolling slowly down her cheek as she recapped.
Theresa opened her eyes and she saw a dismayed expression coming on Madame Giry's face, her look softened once Theresa started to tell Madame Giry what had happened. She even let go of her hand. Theresa took it back and folded them both on top of her lap. Her eyes moved away from Madame Giry's to the cup of tea. Distantly, she continued, "I slapped him, but his mask..." Madame Giry's face fell once she mentioned his mask. She hoped that the worst for her hadn't happened.
Theresa never stated what had happened to his mask. Instead, she touched her face, the side that on Erik's face would be distorted. She ignored the tears that fell on her fingers as she had done this. Theresa said to her, "His... his face. I... I hardly expected what was behind that mask. I... I-I didn't even think about it." Madame Giry pursed her lips and then looked to the tea on the table.
Theresa's leg was starting to shake uncontrollably under the table. The tea was shaking along with it. Theresa didn't notice until Madame Giry got up from her chair and took Theresa's cup off of the table. Theresa looked over at her and Madame Giry touched her arm lightly, another motherly touch, "You do not need this tea like I thought you would need it." With that, Madame Giry walked off, leaving Theresa in her seat. Madame Giry placed the tea cup on another table.
Soon, Theresa stood up as well, flattening her dress of any wrinkles that might be there from sitting. She waited a moment, Madame Giry was standing by that other table with her back turned away from Theresa. Without any control, Theresa said to her, "Madame Giry," even standing behind her, facing her back, Theresa could see the woman purse her lips, her eyes being cast down onto the black wood of the table.
"I know you know about it," Theresa wiped the tears away now. She didn't need any more of those tears being wasted on something she didn't know why she was crying about it. She didn't pity him. She didn't pity him at all, and if there was an ounce of her feeling bad for him it would be what he might have gone through because of it. It wasn't his fault. Theresa believed that if he received the right kind attention, he wouldn't have done what he had done in the past. Madame Giry didn't turn to face her.
She finally gained the courage to ask what she wanted to ask. "What happened? I mean, how did it start... with Christine?" Theresa gripped her own hands tightly as she asked that. She didn't realize how much she really wanted to know about this. Theresa never felt so nervous to receive an answer about Christine and she knew that Madame Giry would be the one who knew more about this, though she tried to say that she didn't know most, Theresa didn't exactly believe her. Madame Giry still had her back facing Theresa.
Though Theresa could see her contemplating to tell her. She tried to peer over her shoulder from where she was, and she saw Madame Giry's eyes close. Theresa stood there waiting for Madame Giry to say something, anything that could be mustered from her mouth. "If I am to tell you, I might have to start from the beginning, Theresa. Sit back down and I will tell you." As Madame Giry turned slowly on her heel, Theresa frowned and then quickly took back her seat.
"I have told you before," she started with, her eyes on the floor with her hands folded on her lap. "I have known the Phantom for a long time, since my ballet training here, in this very same Opera House. I was a ballerina." Her eyes began to water as she looked back up and directly in Theresa's eyes. Theresa felt her chest tighten as she looked into them. Madame Giry crossed the room to the table again and took her seat again, across from Theresa. "There was a travelling circus in town... gypsies. There were tumblers, conjurers, and human... oddities.
"I remember, and I shall never forget, a man... calling us over to him. There... there was a boy locked up in a cage." Theresa's eyes widened when she heard that. Madame Giry continued, though Theresa wished she hadn't, "They had called him 'Devil's Child' and he had a sack over his... his face. He was filthy, as well and looked to be almost starved by them. The man went into the cage and took off that sack and... and it was nothing like I have ever seen. It wasn't of man... his face. It was... it was—."
"Deformed?" Theresa asked her.
Madame Giry nodded to her quickly her eyes growing more distant as she spoke, "From birth it seemed. The man that brought us to him started to whip him and some actually found entertainment out of that... the abuse of the little boy. I felt sympathy for him. When the man threw him on the ground and everyone left, I stayed there for a while. How could someone treat a boy so badly because of how he looked, I have no idea, but what I didn't notice was... was Erik making a noose out of rope and... and right when I was about to leave... he... he murdered the man that kept him in that cage.
"What was I supposed to do?" Madame Giry said. Theresa looked to be horrified by what she was hearing. But she continued to listen, "Leave him to be caught for murdering a man that caused him so much... humiliation? I helped. I helped him escape before he would get caught and hid him away in this Opera House. And he remained here since then. He is an artist, a magician, architect, composer, a genius." Madame Giry wiped a tear coming down her cheek, both of her cheeks were wet, too. Theresa didn't say anything yet.
"What happened in the years that I left and married, I do not know. But when I came back to be a ballet mistress he was here and I became his... as you may know it as, a middleman for him and the manager, delivering notes and bringing him food.
"Christine Daae came a few years later into my care. Her father died when she was seven, so I had taken her in as a ballerina in training. Then... then that was when it started, I knew the beginning of it, yes, Erik began to teach her how to sing, so she could become Prima Dona herself in the future. It was never intended for what was to come later on, but along that time... Erik had grown fond of her... and soon he found that he... he loved her by the time of her first performance in Hannibal." Theresa sat there, not speaking a single word. She gave Madame Giry her full attention.
"That night, I knew what he was planning and had me deliver a red rose to her..." Theresa looked downward at the wood, that was why she was suspicious of Theresa's rose. But hers wasn't red, it was white, the both of them. "And he brought her down to his lair, I don't know what happened there and he returned her the next morning and he wrote notes to everyone, the managers, the former Prima Dona, La Carlotta, and the Vicomte de Chagny, who was fancying Christine. He ordered the managers to have Christine as the lead and Carlotta as the silent role of Il Muto.
"But despite the warnings my daughter and I gave, they didn't listen to us, and they made Carlotta the lead even though he threatened to ruin the performance." Madame Giry actually chuckled lightly with a smirk, Theresa didn't see what was funny about a threat. "And he followed through with that threat like he did with many and gotten Christine to play the lead lady. Though, you might know this, it was the first incident that followed many and this one Erik murdered the chief of the flies, Joseph Buquet. The reason, I do not know, but he disappeared for three months. We hadn't heard word of him. Not even I. The notes stopped coming and there was no havoc that was around the Opera House.
"That was until the Masquerade for the new year. He made his appearance there, though he was in a mask we knew it was him, we all knew it was him. He came to deliver the opera he wrote, Don Juan Triumphant and he saw Christine with a ring around her neck... she... she was engaged to be married with the Vicomte. He disappeared, taking it off her neck before he did, and Raoul, the Vicomte de Chagny, went after him, I got to him before he could be killed. But soon he came out with this irrational idea.
"To use Christine to capture the Phantom. She didn't want to do it, it was the last thing she wanted to do and with much persuasion by Raoul she continued on it." Theresa looked back up at Madame Giry with a frown on her face. What was the plan though? "They were planning to perform the opera and they barded the doors with the authorities to make sure he didn't escape. Erik was a smart man though. When the opera started, the usual tenor Ubaldo Piangi started as Don Juan. The audience was displeased, the opera was nothing that they had heard... ever. Not many were fond of it, not even the performers.
"Sometime during the beginning, he swapped himself with Piangi and took the role as Don Juan himself. Most of the audience and the people backstage hardly noticed until it was too late and he sung with Christine. I watched this myself and I knew that it was Erik the moment he stepped out onto that stage and how they both sung that song it was... you could hear the emotions through the music. When it was over, he asked Christine to spend her life with him and in response, she took off his mask and wig, which revealed him to everyone.
"There was chaos everywhere on stage. Piangi was murdered by him and Erik took Christine for himself and dropped into the stage, bringing the chandelier down with him. The Opera House went into flames and I helped Raoul to find where he resides." Theresa pursed her lips as she quietly listened to this, but she didn't want to listen to any more. The problem was she didn't know what to be bothered of more. The fact that what everyone said about Erik was really true or the fact that Christine betrayed the man that taught her everything about singing and loved her?
"Meg knew as well where he was and she led the authorities and other performers to him. I wouldn't go... I wasn't going to dare to see him like that. Though, Erik wasn't found there all that was left of him was his white mask and all of his belongings. Christine and Raoul had gotten away and he took her away from Paris for a long time to forget what had happened and now... here we are."
Theresa sat there speechless and she suddenly felt her head ache after what she had been told. This is a lot to take in, she thought to herself. Theresa mouth was dry and she began to wonder what she wanted to ask Madame Giry then. Did she leave the Phantom for Raoul? Obviously, she did, but what had happened in his lair? Theresa suddenly had the notion in her head that Christine chose him over Erik, but the reason she didn't know. The silence that occurred between Madame Giry and Theresa was never so loud, Theresa sat there with her thoughts running wild.
Why would she leave him? She didn't love him... was it because... was it because of his face that she left him? Theresa gulped, Erik had gone through so much in his life because of how he looked that it was almost sickening. She only couldn't get over how the gypsies treated him, from what she was told by Emile it was accurate with what she knew, and until the ending it didn't come as surprise.
He didn't think that... she thought that he was a monster because of what happened between them now, did he? Theresa's face fallen as that thought went through her head. "I have to talk to him," she said finally. Madame Giry only looked at her incredulously as Theresa brought her eyes to hers. "I... I have to talk to him now." She stood up quickly and went to leave the room.
Madame Giry stood up and just as quickly grabbed her arm tightly in her grasp to stop her. "No, Theresa, you cannot." Theresa turned her head sharply at Madame Giry. "You have to stay away from him now."
"Stay away?" Theresa asked her in disbelief. She shook her head no quickly, "No, no, I can't do that."
"You have to do that." Madame Giry insisted. "He is not himself right now and if he sees you he would be even more angry than he was before." Theresa stared at her and gritted her teeth aggravated. No, she had to go see him and talk to him at the very least. Not stay here and listen to this. Theresa shook her head no defiantly and went to walk away when the grip on her arm only became tighter. Theresa was brought to Madame Giry again.
She said to her, "I can't stay away from him, madame." Her voice was edgy and determined as well. Madame Giry almost didn't think that she could drive Theresa away from what she was thinking. But then she remembered that she was just as determined as this girl. "It's not something that I intend on doing now or ever. And even if he doesn't like it then he has to deal with it."
"Theresa, you have to stay away for now." Madame Giry told her sternly. Theresa's face fell once she saw something in the blonde's eyes glimmer. "He is not himself and he has to be beside himself. He is not the best to anger and he is hard to talk out of that anger if you put him in that state. If you want to talk to him, you will just have to wait, but not now, Theresa." Theresa stared hard into Madame Giry's eyes for a while before she thrashed her arm out of Madame Giry's grip. Madame Giry narrowed her eyes at her.
That was what seemed to do the trick. Theresa closed her eyes for a moment and then looked up at the ceiling in exasperation almost. She couldn't just stay away from him... could she? Maybe just for a little while. Theresa asked her, her voice cracking, "How long?"
"A month, maybe two." Madame Giry replied. Theresa looked down at the floor before she nodded slowly in agreement. Madame Giry breathed in slowly and then went to get the music she had retrieve for her off the table. Theresa watched her as she did this. "You cannot forget—."
"Did you see him at all?" The question caught her off guard and she looked at Theresa almost in surprise. Theresa repeated it to her, "Madame, did you see him since... you know?"
Madame Giry hesitated for a moment before nodding to her. "Y-Yes, yes, I have been to see him the night of the first performance in his box."
"Did you..." Theresa trailed off with her question, unsure of how Madame Giry would actually respond to it. "Did you have any intent on giving him to the authorities?"
Madame Giry arched her brow once she had heard this. What had brought Theresa to ask this to her? She inquired back, "Why are you asking that?"
"I am... I am only curious." She said to her.
Madame stared at her for a moment before closing her eyes. Did she want to bring him to the authorities? She only warned him that if he had gotten near Theresa that he would, but did she really want to do it when he would? Madame Giry opened her eyes and shook her head no to her. She would have a hard time doing that to Erik now and even before. Madame Giry then handed Theresa's music, which she slowly took out of her hands and into her own. Theresa pursed her lips and nodded before she actually left the room this time, leaving Madame Giry to her thoughts.
Thank you for reading and to the feedback I have received. It is all appreciated :). I hope you all enjoyed the new chapter! And hopefully next update will come soon. It's already 75% done and it will be out by next Friday, I have decided to update it every Friday as well. And I think... this story will actually have only ten chapters left with an epilogue. Hope you enjoyed and see you next time!