The Universe's Mixer

Sedation had been key while Erik set the stage for Enigma's reconditioning. She slept dreamlessly, a blank slate for his work. It had taken time -- but he knew his art well. And now, the sleeping young woman lay deep underground in the lowest of the Opera House cellars, surrounded by a midnight garden. The grass, the nighttime crickets, the pale brightness of the moon -- all captured in bits and props... an imaginative wonderland through which his diva would now play her part. He stayed hidden, still the master of the realm, conducting the latest symphony of his own creation. The strings, the crickets.... he drew his bow gently across his violin.

A music box played constantly, hidden as well as he, a tinkering undertone for a romantic setting. The girl would wake soon. The first step was to bring her to the sense of love, the truth of the emotion. If she could feel that, then the rest would fall into place. But Erik knew that it would be a long and arduous chore to strip her of her selfishness. To show her the meaning of love.

9:30 p.m. never carried such weight. It'd taken Beauty nearly all day to convince herself that it was a good idea to return to the bookstore, and the sun had gone down before she'd managed to call the cab. On the ride there, she restlessly smoothed and smoothed midnight silk with her hands. The tremulous jangle of the metal on her wrist mirrored the fluttering in her stomach. Dread. She'd never felt this when knowing she was going to see Errol. As the cab pulled up to the closed bookstore, she nearly asked the driver to take her back to Ted's. But no -- no. She looked at the glass of the front windows, faced the terror of her memory, and set one foot outside. Then the other.

She didn't quite run behind the building, but it was a near thing. Finding the space between the wall and the great trash bin full of cardboard boxes, she all but hid herself, grateful for the shadows. Just in front of her, the back door of the shop where she still technically worked... and before her, then few minutes wait until closing duties were finished.

Shifting her weight nervously, hand on her wrist to keep the bracelets silent, she waited with rising anxiety, lips moving in frank and desperate prayer. Please hurry. Please hurry.