AN: Hello everyone. Thank you for your views and the review. I appreciate it.

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The odd trio was now on its way out of France and toward Germany. Neither Raoul nor the Phantom had been able to get much sleep. As a result, both had gone early in the morning to secure safe passage out of the city. They had ended up arguing, which resulted in Eloise waking up to try and get the men to stop their fighting. Eventually, Erik had agreed to allow de Chagny to find their transportation.

Sitting in the back of the horse drawn carriage, Raoul was doing everything he could but to look at the former Opera Ghost or at the woman that was with him. It was odd for him to think that the man had been able to move on and find a wife. The last time he had seen the Phantom, the man had lived and breathed for Christine. The woman appeared to be happy, dressed now in a red dress. It seemed like she was not being forced to stay here. She sat close to the Phantom and seemed at ease, trying to converse with the quiet man.

Eloise had been trying to make small talk with Erik. He had only been providing curt answers or a simple nod or shake of the head. She could guess that it likely had something to do with his thoughts of both the past and the future. She could not blame him. In watching him sleep-from what little sleep he did get-she watched him toss and turn, grunt and groan. It appeared that she would not be able to converse with Erik, but she had noticed Raoul continue to sneak glances at her. Perhaps he would like to talk.

"Have you been to Germany?" Eloise questioned, catching the noble off guard.

So, it hadn't gone unnoticed that he had been looking at the two. "Yes," Raoul answered, giving the woman his full attention now. "I have been further north in the country. I speak a small amount of standard German. It should do well enough in the southern part."

"They speak more than standard German," Erik supplied, staring out the window. When he heard the noble utter something in confusion, the former Opera Ghost turned his attention to the fop. This whole situation was becoming more and more frustrating. He had not planned on leaving the safety of his lair to go on some rescue mission. He had not planned on teaching another language. "There are dialects in the country, just as there are here. Would you like to learn?"

"I don't see the point," Raoul answered. "The gypsies speak English. They will know who I am, given my name and reputation."

"Which is a problem," Eloise interjected. She knew that Erik would be none too happy with Raoul rejecting the offer. She would have to do some sort of damage control. "They will know you are Christine's husband. Somehow, we will need to make you look different. That would also mean seeming to be from Germany would be in your best interests. Speaking the native dialect will help."

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Another three hours had passed and Erik was still no closer in teaching de Chagny the new dialect. It was as if the boy were unable to learn, or perhaps unwilling. Time and time again he would go over the conjugation and grammar differences between the standard and the dialect, and yet Raoul was unable to keep up. Though he had been focusing his attention on the boy, Eloise had joined in on the lesson and was now slowly learning the dialect as well. Though she struggled, she was doing quite better than Raoul. It was frustrating to no end.

"Why can you not understand this?" the former Phantom questioned, the annoyance ringing all too clear in his voice when Raoul once again failed in a simple greeting. "If you wish to win your wife back then you will need to appear knowledgeable of the language. You will need to be able to communicate a simple greeting, boy."

"Not all of us are as brilliant as you, monsieur Phantom," Raoul countered. He was growing so tired of these lessons in language. What made things worse was the fact that the man was a slave driver. His "teacher" allowed for no mistakes-only accepted perfection.

"Watch yourself, de Chagny," Erik replied. "It would not bode well for others to hear who you are traveling with. Were I to be discovered, who would rescue your Christine then?"

"It isn't as if that masque of yours is inconspicuous," Raoul replied, crossing his arms over his chest. He did not need to be reminded that he had to go to this beast in order to hope and save his wife. It was likely that she had already been compromised by this point. She would be no good to him then. They could try to keep such an event secret, but it was a secret that marriages forbid.

Eloise sighed. These two had been bickering back and forth for hours now. It was becoming taxing on her nerves. There had to be something the two could talk about without fighting. She didn't know what it could be, though. All she knew was that Erik had a love for music and was a secretive man. She did not know much on Raoul, besides his title.

"Before you two begin quarrelling again like an old married couple," Eloise interjected, "why don't we change the subject?" She watched as both men fixed their attention upon her. Clearly, she was the one supposed to come up with new conversations. She had never been one to speak at length, and she was rarely the one to start conversation. No, she preferred to let others do the talking. "Why don't we clear up the rumors that have spread across Paris?" she suggested. This could be something that they could at least agree upon-the concrete facts of what had happened.

"One needs to know the rumors before they can be disproved," Erik stated simply. "With angry mobs and the Gendarme running about my home, it has been rather difficult to learn of rumors."

"You murdered a man on stage," Raoul protested. "What did you believe would happen? The Gendarme would come down to your lair with flowers and sweets?"

"What?" questioned Eloise, looking at Erik. She had heard tale that he had killed, but she had not truly believed it. She had seen that he was capable of violence, but she did not believe him a murderer. He had said he had killed in self defense. That was different from a public murder. Distantly, she wondered what had happened to her attackers. Erik had prevented the men from harming her further.

"Two men, actually," Erik corrected. "The lady wishes to have the facts correct. Try to stick to them." He turned to look at the woman by his side. There was a look of fear in her eyes. It was something that the former Phantom was used to seeing. Though, it was something that he wished not to be present in her eyes. Clearly, he had made a mistake. "You fear me now," he stated, his voice dark. If she were to come to fear him, who would he have in this world? He could allow himself to grow closer to this woman if he chose to. They had acted intimate before being interrupted…

Eloise made to protest, but she was cut off from a shout from outside of the carriage and the scared noises of horses from the carriage. Something was happening, the trio knew. The halt of their progress was far too abrupt to be anything normal. The sounds of the horses were not typical. There was then a loud thud, and everything became much too quiet.

"You two stay," Raoul stated, making to exit the carriage to find out what exactly was going on. He had hired this driver knowing that the man would keep his mouth shut and get them to their location quickly and efficiently. In seeing the Phantom about to protest, he continued, "It will do us no good if anything happens to you, Phantom. Stay hidden. You are good at that." And, without another word, he exited the carriage to discover what was happening.

Erik sat for a few moments, confused by de Chagny's words. Had the boy actually considered someone else's security before his own? Odder still, the noble had considered an enemy's life before his own. No one had ever done such a thing for him recently. Eloise had been willing to verbally defend him, but now he had someone thinking about his safety. It was something he could not understand.

Still, the noble was not the best in a fight. He could hold his own, so long as the attacker was not in the right frame of mind. That was the only way the boy had bested him before-when the pair had been fighting in the cemetery for Christine. Love had blinded him, but there were no blinders now. He would not let Raoul be murdered. No, if he were to die, it would be at the Phantom's hands. So, without a word to Eloise, he too exited the carriage.

Raoul heard the door to the carriage open and close. The sight of the Opera Ghost put him oddly at ease. He had no idea what had happened. The carriage driver lay dead at his feet, a pool of blood surrounding the body. Raoul had only just managed to calm the horses. He hadn't the slightest clue where the murderer could be.

It was therefore a surprise to him when the Phantom was suddenly pushing him out of the way of the assailant. A knife cut through the thin air that had once been his head. Raoul watched from a few paces away as the former Opera Ghost easily removed the weapon from the attacker's hand and forced the man onto his knees-his own weapon turned against him and at his throat.

"Who are you working for?" Erik demanded, his voice soft. Still, in that voice there was a commending air. It was his voice that could be so easily used to enchant those around him. It was something that had gained him fame throughout Europe, though it had not always proved a positive note.

The man simply laughed as he looked into the masked man. "I do not fear you," he stated with a thick accent that neither Raoul nor Erik recognized. "A man in a mask is nothing to fear. The threat of death? I welcome it."

"You should fear him," Raoul stated as he came to stand beside the Phantom. It seemed so odd to him to be on the same side of this man. Not long ago, the two had been sworn enemies, willing to kill one another. Now, it seemed, they had some sort of awkward alliance. Was that the proper term?

"Show me what's under the mask then," the man retorted. "I'm not fearing some circus freak!"

"Not a circus freak," Erik corrected. He held the knife a little closer to the man's throat which drew a fine line of blood. "A side show. An oddity. The Devil's Child." He noticed the man's eyes widen ever so slightly. "Ah, yes, you have heard my title."

"He's been dead for years," the man spat.

"I assure you, he is very much alive," Erik answered with his anger getting the best of him. He was caring less and less who this man was or why he had murdered the carriage driver. The man didn't seem to even know that much. Perhaps he was simply a distraction? Briefly, he looked at the noble at his side. It seemed odd to him. Raoul had never forced the masque from his face. Everyone else had demanded to see his visage, but not this man. "Show him," Erik stated to de Chagny. "Prove to him that the Devil's Child still lives."

To say he was surprised was an understatement. Raoul had never expected the Phantom to willingly ask to have the masque removed. Though he did not like the man, he had never tried to remove that one thing of dignity from the man. He didn't know what to say, so he merely reached out and removed the masque, though he was careful enough to keep the wig in place.

The man looked in shock for a moment before smiling triumphantly. "I was right," he stated more to himself then anything. He laughed for a moment and then focused on the Devil and his accomplice once again. "You will pay for killing him." And then he began to shout, alerting some unseen persons that the target had been located.

The knife slid across the man's throat, silencing him. Erik briefly looked at the body. Would he never be able to escape bloodshed? Before Eloise had shown up in his life, before Raoul had returned, he had sworn not to murder again. That was all for naught now, it appeared. Still, now was not the time for musing. He pulled his masque from Raoul's hand and quickly jumped up into the driver's seat of the carriage, ready to leave.

When the former Opera Ghost saw the noble fall over, Erik knew there would be no easy escape. He could not leave the boy here, though he could not explain why. Something prevented him from allowing whoever was after him to kill Raoul. His fate would be the same as his own and that of Eloise.

He tried to get to the fallen body, but he felt something stick into the side of his neck. He had time to pull the offending object out and glance at it-a thick needle with some sort of device on the end-before the strong pull of darkness enveloped him.

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