Erik (mybrokensoul) wrote in landofatlantis, @ 2011-10-09 13:22:00 |
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Entry tags: | christine daae - sleepingbud, the phantom - mybrokensoul |
WHO: Erik and Christine; sleepingbud
WHEN: After their arrival
WHERE: The beach
WHAT: Reunion and revelations
RATING: Low
STATUS: Complete
Erik's mind was in a whirl from the bombardment of information since waking up in this strange place. Part of him was still sure he was dreaming. He dreamed of Christine so often, it wouldn't come as much of a surprise. Still, how could he not go to her when she asked, dream or not. He of all people knew that not everything in life could be explained and that you must grasp every scrap of happiness as it presented itself.
His stomach twisting into knots, Erik made his way down towards the beach, following signs on the unfamiliar streets. As the azure blue sea came into sight, he involuntarily lifted his hand to his face, making sure the white mask that covered his disfigurement was securely in place. His eyes caught sight of a figure a little way along the stretch of sand and suddenly the world around him seemed to melt away and there was only her. In a trance, he crossed the distance between them, each yard seeming to slip away until he was close enough to smell her perfume on the air.
By now, in her very short life, Christine was sadly used to being kidnapped. It was like a common place occurrence for her. So to find out that her kidnapper was a fellow kidnappe was rather surprising. However, it was not unwelcome. Erik, despite everything he had done to her, was a large part of her life, a large part of who she was. She did not think that when she was a little girl that Erik’s lie was meant to be spiteful or cruel. She did not think he had meant to fall in love with her. He just…saw another lonely soul and reached out giving her hope and a kindness and friendship her father had promised he’d send to her. Everything else that happened had been by chance.
Her life had not been easy since the night of the disaster at the Opera Populare. When she had found Erik, it had been her intent to stay with him. She had chosen him. When she awoke after giving him her virginity to find him gone, she had been heartbroken. It had left her no choice but to marry Raoul. She felt bad that she did not love her husband as much as she should, but…there was something about Erik, despite his temper and homicidal tendencies that she loved. Their passion for music was so strong it was as if they were meant to be together.
Her marriage had not been happy. She could not be sure if Raoul knew about Christine’s tryst with Erik. She could not be sure that he knew that their son was really she and Erik’s son. All she knew is that shortly after their marriage, things fell apart. Raoul had become a drunk, a gambler and his temper was rather violent. He was not the boy that Christine had loved. He was certainly not the boy who Erik left to take care to Christine. In short, her marriage was an unhappy one. She was trapped in a hell she could not escape.
But perhaps she could if she was here. Erik was right. It couldn’t be coincidence that they were here together. Perhaps they could be together at long last.
She turned her head. She felt as if she was being watched and her face lit up. There he was. Her Angel of Music.
She was older than he remembered, but still more beautiful than words could describe. His lip quavered slightly as he tried to reach for something to say. "Christine," he murmured, his deep voice cracking. "My Christine..."
"Hello, Erik. It's been a long time..." she gently cupped the good side of his cheek with her hand. She wasn't cruel enough to cup his mask. She had betrayed him when she had removed his mask to the crowd. She would not, could not betray him again. She leaned up and kissed his cheek gently. "It is good to see you."
The sound of her voice sent a shudder through him. After years of imagining the sound of that voice, he was shocked to find it was even more beautiful than he remembered. His head tipped slightly as he leaned his cheek against the soft skin of her hand, his emotions reeling so that he didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Tentatively, he reached out his hands, lightly resting them on her shoulders. "I don't know how we came to be here but perhaps there really is an angel of music watching over us."
"Everything here is so strange. The technology is beyond anything I have ever seen...Not all of us can be geniues like you and adapt.." she said with a smile. Her eyes closing slightly in relief when she felt Erik's strong hands resting on her shoulders. "Perhaps he is. I have often prayed to find you..."
Erik couldn't help but be surprised by her words. He had imagined she'd have forgotten him when he left. She'd married Raoul, after all. True, he'd heard that the Viscount de Changy was a less than perfect husband, but as far as he could tell Christine had never tried to find him, even with her elevated status and connections. He had assumed that she was content in her pairing and that the night she had spent with him was a long forgotten mistake. To hear that she had missed him and thought of him was almost more than he could take. He shook his head. "The angel of music is cruel for taunting me with you. How am I supposed to let you go again?"
Christine had tried to find Erik, she had truly tried, but Raoul watched everything she did. If he suspected, even for a moment that she was searching for Erik, she feared what he would do to her. Or her son. She had often prayed that Erik had been watching from the shadows, had prayed that he'd take her away from Raoul. She wanted so desprately to tell Erik about his son. It was Erik's son. The child had musical talent that only a child of Erik's could possess. "You don't have too. Even if Raoul shows up...I have no intention of leaving you."
Erik's lips parted in disbelief. He couldn't believe it was so easy. After all this time, after everything he'd done, she wanted to be with him? The sceptical side of him didn't believe her and expected her to betray him at the first opportunity, but this was his Christine and he'd promised himself that he'd make her his if he ever found her again. He was building an empire for himself. He could provide for her and keep her happy and safe, the way he couldn't all those years ago when he'd fled from her with the light of day. "You mean it? You will give yourself over to me?" he ventured, trying not to sound as nervous as he felt in anticipation of her answer.
"In Gods eyes, I have already given myself over to you, Erik...I was fully ready and willing to go with you. You once begged me to lead you and save you from your solitude, but now it's I who needs the saving. I'm so lonely and miserable back home. The only good thing in my life is my son...and he's not here..." She looked up at him with big, sad eyes. "I don't blame you if you don't trust me. I betrayed you in the worst possible way and I'm so sorry, Erik. You have no idea how sorry I am. If by some miracle you still want me...then there is no place I'd rather be."
A frown creased the visible half of Erik's brow as he looked down at her. He remembered the exact moment he had asked that of her; the moment before she betrayed him and revealed his deepest shame to the world. He gulped before taking a deep breath, his eyelids fluttering shut for a moment. Despite her betrayal, he had never stopped loving her. All he wanted was for her to say she wanted him with her, beside her, and here she was, telling him exactly what he'd longed to hear.
Opening his eyes, he moved one hand to caress her cheek. "Christine..." A small smile graced his lips. "One love? One lifetime?" Could all his dreams really be coming true, here on this foreign beach, miles from anything that was familiar? Could this other world have given him back the key to his song - the key to his soul - his Christine?
"Yes. One love. One lifetime..." It was then that she started to cry, she knew how badly she had hurt him that night "Erik, you have to understand I had to find a way to get you off the stage," she whispered as tears fell down her face. It was important that he knew her motive from that night. "You were so furious afterwards and rightfully so that I never got a chance to tell you why I did it. I never wanted to go along with Raoul's plan, with the managers plan. I never wanted to hurt you or for them to hurt you. They had so many policemen there, ready to shoot you. I only wanted to get you back to safey. I'm so sorry.:
Erik watched her, stunned. He had never understood why she had done what she had done, but now it was becoming clear. He thought perhaps he really had got her all wrong. All these years, he'd been convinced she couldn't truely love him but what if he'd been wrong and she really had been ready to go with him, wherever he led? He'd made the biggest mistake of his life by leaving her.
Slowly, tentatively, carefully, he dipped his face to hers, tipping his head to one side to avoid the edge of his mask, and gently pressed his lips to hers. He had never initiated anything with her before, always waiting for her to make the first move - make her choice - but he was quickly deciding that he'd been an idiot all along. Now was their time and he would make sure to seize it.
Christine sighed, closing her eyes and kissed him back. This felt right, this is where she belonged. Where she should have been all along. She pulled away who looked at him gently and stroked his cheek. "Erik there is something else you need to know. Something you have the right to know. I have a child. A young boy I named after my father. He's five Erik, but I know, with 100% certainity that he is not Raoul's child. He composes his own little songs from his head on the piano. It's your child Erik. Your son. Our son."
Erik could feel his whole body turning numb. He had heard that Christine had become a mother, but not until years later. He'd just assumed she and Raoul had become parents after being married a while but, if the child really was as old as five, the dates matched up and what she was saying really could be true. Still, he shook his head, his mouth hanging open.
"It's true," Christine promised. "I see so much of you in him, Erik. Maybe that's why Raoul's so abusive, maybe he's figured it out. I don't know. I know that the child is not him, and besides you, he is the only other man I've ever been with. He's perfect. He'd kind and sweet and has a passion for music. I only pray they bring him here. I so desprately want him to meet you. For you to be in his life. I would have hired a private investegator to help me find you...but Raoul watches everything I do. I don't even dare mention your name around him..." she cringed slightly, "and if anyone got word you were still alive...they'd bring you to justice...so I had very little choice...I had to keep quiet..."
With a shudder, Erik slipped his arms around Christine, pulling her close to him in a tight hug, his lips resting on her forehead. "I... do not know what to say," he murmured, his glassy eyes staring into the distance over her head. "I didn't know..." He never dreamed he would become a father, never dreamed that anyone would even give him the oportunity to become one. He didn't know how to feel about what she had told him. All he'd ever wanted was her, and now he was learning there was a child that was part of him. In some ways he felt sorry for the child, but in others he wanted to prove that he could be a good man and father and give his son everything he could ever want for.
He pulled back slightly, looking down at her with serious, dark eyes. "That was all once upon another time. All I need is for you to tell me what happens now. That's all I ask of you. The truth."
"If you're asking me what the future holds, I don't know. I know that I love you. I know that if Raoul was to show up here that I would not go with him. I choose you. I chose you a long time ago and I should have been more adamant about my choice. As long as we are here, since I've been told we can't go home, my every intent is to stay by your side. My intent is to give you the happiness and the love you deserve. But there is one thing I feel I should tell you. Do not ever feel you need to hide yourself from me. I love you Erik. All of you."
Erik realised what she was talking about and instinctively turned the masked side of his face away from her. When he was with her, she made him forget what an abomination he was, if only for moments at a time, but as soon as he remembered the shame came flooding back. "You don't... have to say that, Christine. Your love is enough for me. I do not need your acceptance."
"You may not need it, but you have it. I love you, To me, you are perfect, you always will be perfect," she kissed him again, softly and pressed her forehead against his to smile at him. This felt so right. She was where she belonged, with Erik. Her Angel of Music. Guide and Guardian. "I already promised you no lies. I'm not going to say anything I don't mean."
Erik kissed her back, the frown still creasing his forehead. His mask shifted slightly when she pressed her forehead to his and he lifted a hand to keep it in place. However, when he was sure it wasn't coming off, he moved his hand to caress her cheek with the backs of his fingers. "And you're sure I'm not dreaming?" he murmured with a soft laugh.
"If you are then I am too, because there is no place I'd rather be then right here with you," she closed her eyes in contentment when he stroked her cheek. Whatever force had brought them here. She was truly thankful."I love you, Erik."
He let his eyes flutter shut for a moment, just drinking in her words, before smiling down at her, his fingers still lightly brushing her cheek. "We're be living in sin - in darkness... I never wanted that for you."
"Was it not you who told me to let my darker side give in?" Christine teased. She remembered those words, as if in a foggy haze. She had been so spellbound and captivated by him that she could barely speak. His words had been so tempting in it's plea. "I know you never wanted it for us, but God will forgive us. Surely he can see we have no other alternative but to live in sin. Besides in His eyes, you are my husband. I laid with you first, I gave myself to you fully."
Erik smiled, looking down. Let the dream begin, let your darker side give in to the power of the music that I write. He remembered saying those words to her as though it was only yesterday, not five long years ago.
He raised his eyes to gaze down into hers. "This is everything I ever dreamed of," he admitted. "And now... I don't know what to do."
"Me either. This world we are in is so technologically advanced. I have no idea how to survive in such a society. Walking towards the beach the women were wearing pants and shirts. Pants and shirts! Such a thing is unheard of unless it is a costume back home..." Christine shook her head. "In our attire, we stick ot like sore thumbs.. I think our first order of business is to find shelter somewhere."
"I will help you," he told her. It hadn't taken him long to work out the computer, even if he didn't understand the science behind it. But he had worked with electricity recently and he understood the basic principles. He thought he could makes sense of the advanced technology with time. The outfits were strange, to say the least, but that was the least of his worries right then. "We will work it out. Together." He reached out and took her hand in his, closing his other hand over the top. "I have been given a room. You... could come there with me, should you wish."
"I too have been given a room, but I would feel safer if we lodged together. I will come with you," Christine said with a smile. "Besides, I believe you made mention of the desire to hear me sing again?" How nervous she would be to sing for him! She had been so long without his tutalge!
Erik nodded, returning her smile, if a little awkwardly. He had never lived with a woman before, especially not a woman of Christine's calibur, and he wasn't sure exactly how to behave but the offer of hearing her sing again made him forget any fears he had. Breathing shallowly, he held out his arm to her to escort her back towards the room he'd been given.