Adellade sighed, walking over to softly knock on Christine's dressing room door.
"It's you!" she greeted, quickly pulling her inside.
"I only came once I heard what the managers were planning!" she pointed out. "Going against the opera ghost's wish to have you sing the lead is like asking to be killed with a knife-or worse!"
"Do-do you think he will do something?" Christine asked. "To hurt me? I tried to get them to comply, but-"
"No." She shook her head. "Christine, no. I'm certain he wouldn't hurt you-if anything the managers are the ones going against his wish, not you." She smiled and wrapped her arms around her friend. "I'll come by after the performance, and you'll see that everything will work out."
"Would he harm you?" she asked.
Adellade paused at the door, turning. "Why would I be in any danger?"
"Because of his other demand: to have you return to the ballet, of course!"
"I highly doubt he would. After the performance, Christine. That is a promise!"
She walked back through the halls and slipped into one of Erik's tunnels, finding him where they were supposed to be meeting.
"The opera ghost demanded that I be put back in the ballet?"
He murmured a reply and she eyed him as the lights began to dim for the performance. Erik sighed and opened up the door to box five, motioning for her to enter.
She touched his arm. "You wouldn't hurt Christine, would you?"
"As you said yourself: it was the managers who went against Erik's wish, not Christine."
She shook her head and took her seat, watching as the opera played. Carlotta screeched her notes as usual, and somehow everyone seemed to enjoy such a thing-which had always surprised her during her time at the opera house-something she had presumed was only a habit of listening to Erik's music.
She glanced to the side as he watched, trying to see through that mask he wore. She could see he was still unhappy with everything-the tightening grip on the arm of his chair, the unrelaxed posture…. There was something else as well, though. His eyes. They weren't fully focused on the stage itself.
The lights came on for the intermission as everyone got up to stretch and talk.
"What is it?"
"The new box-keeper," he muttered, pressing the tips of his fingers together. "They invited her to see the performance."
"But, Madame Giry is the box-keeper, isn't she?"
"They have decided to replace her." Erik sighed. "They are lucky to not have rented out the box itself. Why don't you return to the lair? You've seen this one before-and it's only bound to have little excitement in the second act. You'd have more entertainment from your books."
"I-I promised Christine I would see her after the opera. She-well, she was worried that the opera ghost might try to hurt me because I wasn't in the ballet. I knew you wouldn't, but still…. Christine doesn't know that you're the opera ghost."
"I can pass along a message-perhaps a note saying that you felt ill and had to take your leave."
She stood to leave and paused. "Aren't you coming?"
"I'll be there shortly."
He sighed, hearing her leave through the tunnel as everyone began to gather back for the second act. His eyes narrowed, watching as she took her seat.
So you dare to return to the opera house once again, Madeline, he thought to her. You will never hurt Erik's Adellade-and it is time for Erik to ensure that.
The lights dimmed as the curtain rose. He waited for the moment to strike-the moment Adellade would be safely back in the lair once more. He had lied to get her away. He had even lied about only seeing the new box-keeper so as to draw her attention away from Madeline. She had spoken to the woman once and had burned herself that very night out of fear. He didn't want to know what seeing her might induce.
Carlotta began screeching again and he leaned back, throwing his voice so that it echoed around the opera house.
"WERE MY INSTRUCTIONS UNCLEAR?"
Gasps flew through the audience.
"Maestro!" Carlotta commanded.
The orchestra slowly started up as she began singing once more.
"YOU DARE TO HAVE HER SING? BEHOLD HER SINGING! SEE HOW SHE SINGS TO BRING DOWN THE CHANDELIER!"
It suddenly fell from the ceiling as the audience screamed and shrieked, scrambling out of the way as the chandelier crashed into the seats, injuring several people.
He stood and used his tunnels to access the seats below him, easily able to blend into the crowd amongst all the panic. Erik went to inspect the damage, searching for the one face he desired to see lying on the seats in agony. He growled a curse, finding that Madeline had escaped unharmed.
Erik returned, heading back toward the lair before someone saw him.
She stiffened, hearing screams shortly followed by a large crash which shook the lair. Adellade ran for the door, picking up her skirts to travel across the ledge as quickly as possible. She ran into one of the tunnels, scrambling to find a door, following the sounds of shrieks.
No. No. No. No. Oh, Erik. What did you do? Please be alright. Please, please be alright.
They collided and he caught her by the waist.
"I-I heard a-a crash-and-and there were-there were screams-and-and-"
"It's alright," he soothed. "It's alright. The fixture holding the chandelier in place broke, causing it to fall into the audience. That's all."
"I was worried," she admitted as he led her back to the lair.
"You needn't worry. Erik has escaped far worse than a chandelier before."
She stood at the edge of the seats, watching as they cleaned up the damage. Adellade sighed and left, going toward the dormitories to see if she could find any sign of Christine. She paused, though, hearing something from one of the stairwells leading to the rooftop. Was her friend up there instead?
She climbed up, only to be met by Raoul and Christine as they left the roof.
"Christine!" she greeted. "I-I was looking for you, and-I just saw the chandelier. What happened?"
"The opera ghost! He dropped the chandelier on account of Carlotta's terrible singing!" Christine hugged her. "I am glad to see you safe, though. Come, Raoul! Before he finds us!"
Adellade let them go and turned to follow. She found herself stopping, however, compelled to the rooftop. She walked out and wrapped her arms around shoulders, being greeted by the cold night air. She sighed and looked out at the lights of Paris before her, seeing the distant glow.
"You should be in the lair where it's warmer."
She turned in the direction of the voice, seeing Erik sitting on the balcony, concealed within the shadow of a statue. He held something in his fingers, though she couldn't quite make it out.
"I came to see if Christine was alright," she admitted. "Didn't you hear? The opera ghost was so enraged by Carlotta's singing that he dropped a chandelier on the heads of the audience!"
"The fixtures were old," he muttered. "They needed replacing. Does the mademoiselle enjoy the view from her palace?"
"I may never be accustomed to seeing the lights," she sighed, leaning on the balcony. "Persia was always so dark at night-much too dark. The lair's dark as well, but that's a different sort of darkness. What is that you have? In your hand there?"
"A rose for a young sopranist from a vicomte," he murmured. "Seemed a shame to leave it on the rooftop."
"Erik?"
"Hm?"
"Did you-did you teach Christine to sing because-well-because you loved her?"
"I taught her because I saw potential. She had a voice that should not go unwasted." He sighed. "Who is to say what happened after? Ah, but Christine Daae could never come to love Erik after seeing behind the mask. Who could love a face that shamed a mother into locking her cursed son up in an attic until a gypsy came along to offer her a price? The same face that became the last a man ever saw in Persia…. The face of the feared opera ghost himself."
"I have. There is so much more to you than you appear. Your mind alone can dream up palaces and music unlike any that has ever been heard before! Your hands can craft magic and call up melodies from any instrument you choose! How could you ever think that your face is the only thing that defines you? I have seen monsters-I have lived with them-and not a single one ever looked the way you do. Not a single one, Erik Destler! And if you can't see that, then maybe you're not as clever as you think you are!"
She turned and left him, heading inside. She sighed, going toward the main entrance of the opera house instead of the lair. She needed to be someplace other than here. Perhaps she could find a carriage to take her to Nadir's home?
"This is absolutely outrageous!" a woman screeched on the steps of the opera house. "To think that something like this could happen? You are all mad! Every single one of you!"
She stopped and stared, seeing the scene before her as the managers attempted to calm Madeline Destler down. She had been at the opera? How could Adellade not have seen her? Did Erik know?
She looked up toward the rooftop, trying to see where he might be. She couldn't figure out which statue it was that he was hiding behind. Which one?
A rose floated through the air and she ran to catch it, looking up just in time to see the flash of a cloak as he turned to leave his hiding spot.
"What do you think you are doing here?" Madeline demanded, leaving the managers to see to another matter.
"I was waiting on a carriage," she lied. "I do hope he's not late…. Such a panic that caused…."
"You expect me to believe that some sort of lover of yours was able to afford to take you-an insolent little nothing such as yourself-to an opera?"
"My brother, actually." Her eyes narrowed. "And I don't need any sort of title to tell me that I can dance circles around that new ballerina they found! I might not have some fancy name or such, but I have my brother and he's been far more than enough over the years! Now, if you'll excuse me: I'll be going! Best not wait out here seeing how it'll take him awhile."
"You little-how dare you speak to someone of my status?"
"You don't frighten me. What else could you do to me? I've already been released from dancing at the opera house! What more could you do to me? You have no power over me! Nothing!"
"How dare you! How dare you speak to someone like me! Your parents ought to be ashamed to know that you're their daughter!"
"As far as I'm concerned: I don't have any parents. My father's dead and my mother might as well be! She was never my mother! You were never my mother and I can't believe it took me this long to realize it!"
Madeline's eyes widened as her words sunk it. Adellade too realized what she had just said and made to run, being stopped by her tight grip around her wrist. Madeline dragged her toward a waiting carriage, tossing her in and locking the door behind them as the carriage drove off.