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The door blew open and with a rustle of skirts and flying cloaks, the door was sealed again.
“Well,” a tall man said through a breathy voice, “that went better than I thought it would.”
“Indeed, my dear Erik,” a petite woman asked, still trying to stifle her giggling, “What did you expect? Something a bit more mellow-dramatic?”
“Quite the opposite, my dear Christine,” Erik smiled, turning to lock the door to his secret home, “I wasn’t expecting you to follow me willingly. I was actually afraid you wouldn’t go along with my little... kidnapping.”
“Kidnapping? I wouldn’t call it kidnapping if the person wanted to be by your side.”
Christine smiled as Erik returned to her side, grasping her hands in his gloved covered ones. As he looked down at her small hands in his large bony ones, she looked at his mismatched eyes hiding behind the black mask he always wore.
Erik was silent; as he began to pull his hands away, Christine tightened her grip on them. He looked at her, confused.
“I like it when you hold me, especially my hands,” she explained. Christine took one of his hands in both of hers and removed the glove, revealing a long white bony hand. Dropping the unwanted garment to the ground, she took the cold hand in both of hers and kissed each finger, smiling as he sighed.
“You could tempt an angel to fall from heaven with your kisses and smiles, Christine,” Erik sighed, finally pulling both of his hands away from her. As he turned toward the music room, Christine followed him.
“What are we going to do now?”
“First off,” Erik said, not turning back to her, “go into your room and change. You must be very uncomfortable in that stuffy costume. After you’re done, meet me in the sitting room. I... have something for you.”
Christine nodded, although Erik didn’t see it, and she scurried of to change into a night dress for the evening.
***
Several minutes later, Christine perched on the couch. As the fire in the hearth dance, she wondered what was going on above. What did the managers think? Was Raoul looking for her?
Raoul! She had completely forgotten about her supposed fiancé!
Christine jumped up, but before she could look for Erik, he entered the room, watching her with those haunting mismatch eyes.
“Erik-”
“I’m well aware that you think your dear Raoul is looking for you,” Erik answered, his grip tightening on the door handle.
“Erik... please-”
“I’m not letting you go, Christine,” his voice was thick and harsh, “So don’t think I’m going to let you scamper off upstairs to tell your betrothed your monstrous teacher’s plans for you.”
“No! I wasn’t going to do anything like that!” Christine begged quickly.
“Well then,” Erik hissed, stretching to his full height, “what, if I may ask, were you going to do?”
“I thought to ask you what we were going to do,” Christine answered truthfully, “If the Persian can get down here, he’d have no trouble bringing Raoul down here.”
“And, yet, you are forgetting something.”
Christine cocked her head, slightly confused.
“Christine,” Erik came and took her hands, pulling her to sit with him on the couch, “I would do anything to protect you and myself. Here, in the fifth cellar, are thousands of traps that your dear saviors must pass in order to get to my home. There is no way that daroga would attempt to travel down here, and your Raoul has other women waiting in the wings to full fill his needs.”
He caught her chin and brought her face to look up at his masked covered one, “Do you understand now?”
Christine couldn’t help but smile. Of course! Erik had practically lived his whole life here in the darkness of the cellars, all the while waiting for her.
He smiled at her before putting his hand in his trouser pocket. Christine watched him as he pulled out a plain gold band. The ring she had lost that night on the rooftop.
“Oh Erik! You found it!”
“I did,” he smiled and stood. Christine gasped as he knelt before her.
“Christine Renee Daaé,” Erik began, “I once gave you this ring to you, asking for a friendship and a promise to return to me that first day I returned you to your world. I know I cannot give you as beautiful of a face as other men can, but I can give you the splendor of music and everything else you desire. I only ask you to share with me one love and one lifetime together. Christine, would you do me the highest honor of becoming my living wife?”
Christine pressed her hand to her mouth, tears filling her eyes. Erik was still on the ground, watching the tears spill onto her pink stained cheeks.
“Christine? Oh, my Christine, please don’t cry! You know it hurts me terribly to see you cry!”
“No, no!” Christine caught her lover’s hands as they went to wipe the tears from her face, “These are tears of happiness, Erik. Happiness! I love you and I promise to be your wife!”
Erik couldn’t help but smile as he slipped her ring back on her fourth finger on her left hand.
As she gazed at the plain ring, Erik returned to his seat on the couch and clutched her close in his arms, kissing the crown of her head. His darling girl gazed up at him, her hand moving to cup the back of his head. Her fingers tangled in his soft hair as he moaned, bending his head low to kiss her strawberry lips.
A bolt of electricity shot down their spines as both of their lips met again and again. Erik breathed in her ear, gasping as Christine kissed down his jaw. She turned so she could face him, placing her hands over the black mask. As she pulled the mask away, Erik ducked his head and closed his eyes so he didn’t have to see the horror in Christine’s eyes.
Christine’s soft blue eyes gazed at the distortion that made up Erik’s face. Skin stretched tightly over the bone, sunken eyes, a hole where a nose should have been... yet, it all made up the man she loved. The teacher and the angel, all in one.
She smiled and pressed her fingers into the sunken skin. Erik gasped at the sensation of her fingers on his hideous face and opened his eyes to see the love and adoration that filled hers. He smiled and pressed his bony hands over her tiny ones, feeling the connection between their souls.
As the two lovers continued onward with their exploration of their two different bodies that harbored the same souls, two sets of eyes watched from behind a glass, hearing the coos of an angel and the growls of a demon.
Fin.