Music of the Night: The Phantom of the Opera Returns (Guile & Melody)

[Saiyan Princess]

She teasingly glared at him. "Phantom of the Opera, how could you forget such a precious promise? You can't forget any promises you make." She smiled with a mouth full of pearls. "Tell me you didn't forget the promise you made to Mommy. The one from your childhood that you would always watch over her." She took a deep breath and started singing softly and in a very off key way as the boat made yet another journey home. "I can't tell you how long I've been waiting for this."

 

[Guile]

Erik laughed softly. "How could I have forgotten my promise to your mother?" But inside, his heart was hurting. He hadn't forgotten, but Lilly had reminded him that he wasn't doing such a good job of keeping it. He kept rowing as his home came in view and he listened to his daughter's off key singing. He tried to hide his smile, knowing she would learn soon and sound beautiful when she sang. However, he still enjoyed listening to her even off key - this was his daughter and anything she did made him smile. When he docked the boat, Erik picked Lilly up and set her down on the ground before getting out of the boat himself.

 

[Saiyan Princess]

"If you want, we can start when you aren't in too much pain about my mother." She knew what he was thinking by now. "You don't have to teach me. I'll understand. It would be too much like having her back again." She hid her tears from him. "I'll only do this if your heart is in it and I can make you happy for the time being until Mommy comes back." She knew in her heart that Christine would return.

 

[Guile]

Erik shook his head, put his hands on her shoulders and comforted her. "Oh, no, darling. No, we will start now." He kissed her forehead. "I love you just as much as your mother and I'm so glad you're here. I want to spend time with you, sweetheart. But, you must forgive me if your mother crosses my mind a few times. I'm just...I'm worried about them, that's all. I was worried about you as well, but now you're here, safe with me. And I'm grateful for that."

 

[Saiyan Princess]

She giggled childishly as his lips pressed against her skin. "I understand. She's your wife, Papa." She wanted to start, but, could she ever be able to focus on her music? "What will you have for me first, maestro?" She smirked as she lifted her chin proudly into the air, having a similar demeanor to Carlotta. "I am ready when you are, my teacher." She stood still, but wanted so desperately to hold onto him.

 

[Guile]

Erik chuckled. "Well, my darling, she's isn't my wife just yet." He corrected her, with a playful gleam in his eyes. "The key word...is yet." He joked, then turned around, thinking about what he could have her sing. "Hmm...well, I think it's best to start with a scale since your mother slacked off on teaching you what she taught your sister." He mumbled the last part and shook his head joking about Christine. Then, he sang the scale for her and asked her to repeat it and to practice it. "You can also practice the beginning of Think of Me. I'm sure you know that song, don't you my dear? The end I'm sure will be a bit difficult right now, so don't fret over it. I just want you to focus on strengthening your vocal cords." He smiled at her - it felt good to teach someone again.

 

[Saiyan Princess]

The child laughed and hid her embarrassment from her father as she crawled onto the piano bench. "I did it!" She exclaimed, referring to making it onto the seat, which was still a little tall for her. Catching her breath, she thought of the notes to the chord and began to sing. When she was finished, she started to panic, for she always confused words and switched them around when it came to singing an actual song. Shaking her head when she thought that a lyric was wrong, she tried to zone in on the task ahead. "Um...Papa?" She whispered. "Um, can I have the first line?"

 

[Guile]

"Of course, darling!" Erik chuckled and sat on the piano bench beside her. "It begins like this: Think of me, think of me fondly when we've said goodbye. Good?" He asked, looking at her to make sure. "If you'd like I can sing it with you, just to refresh your memory. Never be ashamed to forget your lines, my dear. It happens to the best of singers all the time." He kissed her on the side of her head before placing his fingers on the piano keys and playing a few notes.

 

[Saiyan Princess]

Examining his hands as they moved from the first set of keys to the next, her eyes lit up like a kid in a candy store. She had never seen anything so beautiful in her life. "That's good. Thank you, Papa." She remembered the tune now. "Think of me...think of me fondly...." She paused remembering the last part of the small portion of this melody. "Oh, when we've said goodbye... remember me...once in a while, please, promise me you'll try." She breathed heavily. "Dear God! I got it right!" She looked questioningly at him. "That was right, yes?"

 

[Guile]

Erik laughed and wrapped his right arm around her shoulders. "It was, indeed, Lilly. Very nice!" He smiled at her, then asked, "would you like to do the next line? If you don't remember it, I'll tell it to you." He ran his fingers over the keys and played the tune to the next line so that it might jog her memory.

 

[Saiyan Princess]

Out of the corner of her eye, she thought she saw Erik mouth the words, but was he? Either way, it had jogged her memory. "I can do it all by myself, Daddy." She kissed his cheek. "When you find that once again you long to take your heart back and be free...if you ever find a moment, spare a thought for me." To start off, she thought it was wrong, then she mouthed the words back inside her head and nodded once. "I know that's right, Father."

 

[Guile]

"It is, indeed, dearest. My, you're doing splendid, Lilly!" Erik laughed- he didn't know why, he was just so joyful at the moment. He was teaching someone again, and this someone was his daughter. He had forgotten how much he enjoyed singing and teaching someone to sing. "Shall we continue?" He asked his daughter because he didn't want to push her. They hadn't done too much, but she was still little and very new to singing. He didn't want to hurt her voice or tire her out.

 

[Saiyan Princess]

She was red now, proud of herself, but at the same time embarrassed. She could have sworn that her voice had cracked. "Um...I don't know, Pere." She admitted. "I want to do it, but,I don't know if I can." She crawled over one leg and on to his lap. "What do you want to do?" She looked up at him, grinning like a Cheshire cat. "Do you think I can?""I know you can, my daughter." Someone said behind them as female hands covered Erik's eyes.

 

[Guile]

Erik smiled at her, allowing her to crawl up on his lap. He wrapped his arms around his little girl and was about to answer her, but a woman's voice spoke up from behind him and hands covered his eyes. Erik reached one arm behind him - the other still holding Lilly - and felt the woman's arm. He smiled, knowing who it was, but wanting to play a joke. "Oh!...so there you are, Alice." He let out a booming laugh at his own joke. "I've been looking everywhere for you."

 

[Saiyan Princess]

Christine allowed him to touch her arm. "Wi, Monsiuer." She giggled. "It is your beloved Alice!" She couldn't keep her voice as deep as she imagined this Alice to be. "I have returned since that dreadful, two timing, awful little snake left you. Now...sing for me instead of her!" She was on her knees now, laughing herself silly. "Oh, dear...I feel...woozy!" She allowed her whole body to relax and pretended to be asleep. "True love's kiss breaks the spell upon this beauty, Papa." Catherine called to Erik.

 

[Guile]

Erik laughed, whispered something to Lilly about how he was going to pick on her mother, then lifted the little girl off his lap and onto the floor. Kissing her on the head, he went to Christine who lay there pretending to be asleep. "True love's kiss, you say?" He shouted out to Catherine, scratching his head, pretending as though he didn't really want to kiss Christine. "Well, I suppose...if it'll wake her..." He slowly bent down, inch by inch, taking his sweet time. After several moment of hesitation just above her lips, Erik placed a quick little kiss on Christine's lips before pulling back, laughing.

 

[Saiyan Princess]

For the time before Erik kissed Christine, Catherine jokingly felt weak. "Oh, you are awful to my mother, Phantom." She laughed. "Her kiss is not that bad, Papa. I swear." She whispered under her breath. "You do not wish for her to wake?" Christine lay there, pretending to be dead. "There's still poison on the lips of this treasure, Papa." Lilly added. "You gotta keep kissing her for her to wake, that is, if you want her to."

 

[Guile]

Erik stifled his laughter and pretended to be bothered by the fact that he had to kiss her again. He turned to Lilly. "Are you sure?" He sighed. "Do I really have to kiss her again?" He whined like a little boy that didn't want to kiss his mom in public. "Oh, alright, alright. I suppose I have to..." He looked down at Christine again, while fake disgust on his face as if she had 'cooties'. Suddenly, his attitude change and he placed his hands on both side's of Christine's face and put his lips to hers. Erik kissed her continuously for many moments, smiling at the feeling of her lips against his. He suddenly remembered just how much he missed her kiss.

 

[Saiyan Princess]

She still wasn't 'waking up.' "Oh, dear." Alistair chided in. "It looks like the kiss didn't work." He flipped through an old fairy tale book that he remembered reading as a child. "Nope, it says if the kiss doesn't work, you'll have to...oh, God have mercy..." he mumbled. "You'll have to..to..sing to her!" Catherine giggled. "I don't remember that part of the story." Alistair closed his book. "Fine, if you don't want Mommy to wake up, that's fine by me."

 

[Guile]

Erik sat back, his hands on his thighs, contemplating the thought. "Hmm..." he mumbled, "how much do I really want her to wake up?" He looked out across the children and smiled his old devious smile. Then he sighed and clapped his hands together. "Alright...I'll do it for you three!" He said, pointing to each of his children in turn. He waved his finger and jokingly warned, "but I'm not going to like it." Then, he tried to think of what song to sing. "Do we have any song requests?" He looked down at Christine, who was still not moving. "No? I'm not getting any help here?" Her lifelessness told him that he would not. He hid his smile. "Alright, then." Erik decided he would sing an old favorite of his, the first duet he shared with Christine. "Perhaps this will wake you up." Then he started singing their song, from his verse. "Sing once again with me, a strange duet. My power over you grows stronger yet. And though you turn from me to glance behind, the Phantom of the Opera is there inside your mind!"

 

[Saiyan Princess]

She opened her eyes immediately and put on a theatrical face of fright. "No! You can't make me sing with you!" She argued, though she knew that she was about to. "Those who have seen your face..." she sang softly. "Draw back in fear...I am the mask you wear..." she sat up as though his song was making her heart start again. "Please, do not harm them."

 

[Guile]

"It's me they hear..." Erik sang softly as she sat up. He smiled at her and placed a hand on her cheek and kissed her again before she could sing again. A sudden though came to his head, and he pulled back slowly. "How did you...you came back." He started to ask how they had managed to get away from the vicomte, but just ended up stating the obvious.

 

[Saiyan Princess]

"Oh, that..." she whispered. "Well, I insisted that I did not love him and then, when he wasn't looking, I would keep refilling his wine glass and he would keep drinking it to the point of no return." She smiled. "You know, the next time you and I are on that stage, we should sing that one." She kissed him. "I don't recall singing that song in over twenty years! Isn't that awful?" She asked, staring into his eyes like a puppy.

 

[Guile]

Erik laughed quietly and shook his head in disbelief. "You are a clever one, Christine. You always were." He kissed her cheek tenderly, then nodded in agreement. "You know something? I think we should." He smiled at the thought of getting to sing with Christine again up on that beautiful stage. "And by God, that is awful! Such a shame to go so long without singing that song - it's very good, if I may say so myself." Erik had a look of fake pride in his eyes as he raised his eyebrow, recalling that it was he who wrote that song for his Don Juan. He hadn't remembered playing or singing anything from Don Juan in years and the thought hurt him. That was his life's work.

 

[Saiyan Princess]

She was glad that he wished to sing that song with her and wished it came as soon as possible. "So, my glorious tutor, when shall my time of you making me eternally yours take place?" She was referring to their duet, not their wedding day. "I want it as quickly as possible, before your precious little angelou takes you back. What was her name?" She raised her eyebrow. "Please, Master, answer me and hear my prayer."