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

[Saiyan Princess]

"Oh, just the simple torture from when I was the twins' age. You always would cut our lessons short, after only two hours!" She pretended to be disappointed as they made the short trek home. The boat had stopped and she faced away from him, eyes closed, nose in the air, arms across chest. "That's why. You wouldn't even remember what you would say when our lessons were finished. You would simply hush me. Do you remember how you said it? You would tell me to shut my mouth and that you were glad to leave." She giggled. "Remember?"

 

[Guile]

Erik laughed. "You know, Christine, just because I'm getting older it doesn't mean my memory is failing me." He teased back, stepping out of the boat and standing in front of her, not allowing her out of the boat until he let her pass. "In fact, my darling, I think that perhaps your memory is failing." He crossed his arms in front of his own chest. "I remember our lessons quite differently. I recall loving the way you sang, loving every minute you were near. And, when you had to leave I wanted to cry - I never wanted to part from you." Erik stole a kiss form her lips.

 

[Saiyan Princess]

She didn't return the kiss. "Nope, I distinctly remember you saying that I was a nuisance and Meg was better suited to be your student, my tutor." She walked inside and kissed each child in turn. "I was a prisoner then and I am now still. I can't go anywhere without you and then, after we're finished eating, you forced me back under the Opera Popular." She sighed, disappointed.

 

[Guile]

"Meg?" Erik laughed at the very idea. Though he loved the Giry's and owed them his life, he could never picture Meg as his student. "You were always the perfect student, my love! And you are no prisoner...I just, well, I like to go everywhere with you. I never want to be separated because I love you more than life itself!" He started acting dramatically, holding his hands over his heart. He heard Christine's sigh of disappointment and went up to her. "Christine?" He drug out her name, wrapping his arms around her waist, a smile forming on his face. "Now, you aren't really mad at me, are you darling?"

 

[Saiyan Princess]

"Oh no...no, no, no." She laid back against him. "I only wish that I would be able to explore the world above..." she raised her hand up to the ceiling dramatically. "Alone, sometimes. A woman needs her space." She forced herself not to grin. "All I want is freedom, a world with no more night, and you, with me, beside me, to guard me and to guide me." And I still expect that scene on stage. She rips his mask off.

 

[Guile]

Erik held her close, listening to her. He sighed dramatically. "Well, I suppose you're right - everyone needs their space. I just...I thought you'd want to spend time with me." He teased her, a smile on his face, as he held back laughter. When she ripped his mask off, Erik was startled for a moment."Good Lord, my love." He said, dramatically trying to slow his breath. "You have to warn me when you're going to do that!" Laughing, he kissed her on the cheek.

 

[Saiyan Princess]

"Oh, like you did when you nearly killed me when you froze me?" She smiled and nuzzled into his neck. "You spend all your time with me that you are ignoring your children and their lessons." Alistair woke up when he heard his father coming home. "Pere." He crawled to the edge of the bed and held his arms out to Erik. The baby started screaming.

 

[Guile]

"I warned you I just...never gave you any time to protest." Erik chuckled and saw Alistair crawling to the edge of the bed. "I blame you, Christine. Your beauty entices me. How can you blame me for becoming distracted by you?" He placed one more kiss on her lips before going over to the bed and greeting his tired son with a soft voice. "Hello, son." He picked Alistair up in his arms and embraced him. "Did we wake you?" Erik heard the baby start crying and, carrying Alistair, went over to him and started to try and sooth him into silence with soft words.

 

[Saiyan Princess]

She wasn't happy about this at all. "Erik, you may fool others, but you do not fool me." For the time being, she would refuse his advances and refuse his love. "You know, just telling him to calm down isn't going to work. You have to sing him back to sleep or...." she stopped and hoped that she didn't have to continue. "He may be..." she giggled. "Well, go on, Grandfather. Do it." Their son giggled as he listened. "He's just going to get louder and louder. He is a Daae after all and those lungs can go on for hours and hours." Christine went on.

 

[Guile]

Erik had a horrified look on his face - partly over-exagerated, partly real. "You can't mean..." but he knew she did. He shook his head and poked Alistair gently in the chest with a finger when he started laughing. "You better not laugh!" He chuckled, teasing the boy. "Or I'll make you do it! Whose side are you on anyway?" Looking back at Christine he narrowed his eyes and glared at her. He put Alistair on the ground hesitantly, dragging out the moments where he didn't have to change the baby. He kept throwing death glares back at Christine - he was teasing, but he hid his smile. Pointing a finger at her he growled, "I won't forget this anytime soon..." He turned back to the baby, but then had one more thing to say to Christine. He turned around and pointed at her ring - still stalling. "I may just take that back for how cruel you're being to me." Erik joked before letting out a long sigh, then setting to work. The whole time he pretended like he was in agony, but he was faking it. Though, he wasn't enjoying himself either. He had never had to take care of a baby before, so he struggled immensely. When he had finished, cleaned everything up and washed his own hands - several times, for he felt disgusted - he prayed that the baby would stop his crying. "There, are you happy?" He asked Christine, jokingly. "You got to giggle away over there while I suffered. I hope you're satisfied. Maybe you'll be able to sleep peacefully again after a few weeks of staying up all night thinking about the torture you put me through tonight." He didn't laugh, but his smile started showing now and he was unable to hide it.

 

[Saiyan Princess]

When he was poked, Alistair laughed, despite his father's warning. "You gotta change him! You gotta change him!" He danced and sang in a circle around the crib. The baby continued his horrific song that it was a miracle the girls didn't wake up. "You gotta change him!" The girls stirred a bit. When at last, the baby was cleaned, Christine breathed a sigh of relief. "My goodness! I thought he'd never get quiet!" She teased her mate. "I mean, I heard him crying and thought of changing William myself, then, I thought, my big, strong husband to be has already missed his chance at that pleasant experience three times!" She held a hand over her mouth and gasped. "Oh, dear!"

 

[Guile]

Erik tried his best to ignore his son's constant taunting. When he had finished, Erik hit Alistair - gently - over the head with the palm of his hand. "That's what you get for being a nuisance - just like your mother used to be!" He teased and winked at Christine. When she started teasing him, he glared at her. "As I said, I'm not going to forget this." When she held her hand over her mouth and gasp Erik sighed and hunched his shoulders. "God..." he grumbled, still playing, "what can it be now, Christine?"

 

[Saiyan Princess]

He stopped and stared up at his father with puffy eyes. He wasn't hurt, but he was upset that his father was so mean to him. He stuck his tongue out of his mouth and furrowed his brow, then went to his mother and cried. "H-He's very me-mean to me, M-Mummy." Christine rubbed his head, soothing him. "Erik, that wasn't very father like. Apologize now, or you can have your ring back and give it to whatever her name was." She smiled softly. "What can it be now? Nothing, nothing at all." She started to remove her ring.

 

[Guile]

Erik felt his heart start to break when his son started crying. He hadn't meant to upset him, he only meant to pick on him. He went to Alistair and got down on his knees behind him. Placing his hand on his son's shoulder he started to talk to him softly, petting the back of his hair lovingly. "Aw, son, I didn't mean anything by it. I was only picking on you..." Slowly, Erik tried to turn Alistair around so that he could look at him. "You know I love you, son. Do you not?" Erik didn't even notice Christine was starting to take her ring off.

 

[Saiyan Princess]

At his father's touch, Alistair flinched. He wasn't used to kind treatment from men, only cruel treatment. "Papa, I'm f-fine." He tensed up a little. "I was just upset, that's all. I'm fine." He turned to face his father and kissed his cheek. "Just, please don't leave me." He got closer to whisper something in his father's ear. "Promise that you won't let Raoul take us back. He's beaten us before." Ali stopped his crying and climbed back in bed between his sisters and was soon asleep. His mother slipped her ring off only for the night, so that she could sleep without fear of losing it.

 

[Guile]

Erik hugged Alistair close to him when he finally turned around. "I won't leave you, ever, I promise." When his son whispered in his ear, Erik felt like searching for Raoul and killing him. He hugged his son even tighter. "I will never hurt you, and he will never touch you again." That was all he could say. When Ali finally went back to sleep, Erik turned to Christine, tears forming in his eyes. "Oh, God..." He shook his head, trying to stop the tear, but they kept coming. He put his hand to his face in shame, inside he burned with fury. "God! He hurt them?" He looked at Christine, not blaming her, but blaming himself. "He hurt them and I did nothing! I didn't even know! If I had known..." He wasn't yelling, but he wanted to - not at Christine, just in general. He couldn't believe that he had sat by in his misery while his children were being beat by some man. "I want to kill him..." Erik whispered, finally stopping his tears. He looked back at Christine. "I am sorry. I just can't believe I let this happen to my children!"

 

[Saiyan Princess]

Christine allowed her guilt to consume her. "I would let Raoul put them in the corner or spank them on their rears, but that was all." She explained. "I never, never, allowed him to beat them until they bruised." She was fighting tears, but, seeing her husband break down, she stopped and broke down herself. "Don't let him get you put away. Don't do anything to take you away from us! The kids need you and if you get caught, I'm not sure of what to do!" She embraced him. "God, please, Erik! Don't blame yourself! You did nothing wrong and didn't know about them!" Her face was white. "Please, hold.back on that old murderous Phantom business."

 

[Guile]

Erik held Christine close to him, apologizing for making her think about it again. "I won't, Christine, I won't." She nearly had him in tears again, seeing her cry tore his heart apart. "I'm not going after him. Even if he showed up I wouldn't do anything rash. I just...God, I want to hurt him." He shook his head. "But I won't, I promise. If I did and got caught it would affect you all as well, and I'm not about to stupidly mess up your lives because I'm holding a grudge. I still feel like it was my fault. If I had stopped you from leaving, or even came and took you away sooner maybe it wouldn't have happened. I don't know, I just...I feel guilty." Erik wiped the tears from her face with his thumbs. "But...he never beat them? He never abused them, is what I'm asking. If he did, I'll let it go - I promise. I just want to know...I want to know what he did to my children." Tears formed again in his eyes, but did not fall - he wouldn't let them.

 

[Saiyan Princess]

"I never allowed it. That doesn't mean that he didn't do it when I wasn't around." She paused. "I mean, you saw him grab Catherine or tap her on the leg or something when she was little. He was never abusive toward her." She prayed that was the truth. "She would upset him as she got older, but never to the point of severe injury." She took a deep breath. "You won't go after him, will you? What if you get hurt? He's probably targeting Ali because he looks just like you." This made Christine cringe.

 

[Guile]

Erik hung his head, ashamed that he had let this happen. "No...no I won't go after him. The last thing we need to be doing is antagonizing him. If I go after him and, well, if he recovers from what I would do to him he would surely seek us out. Hell, he might seek us out anyway, but if I go out looking for him then I put all of you in even greater danger." Erik held Christine closer, feeling himself wanting to get even with Raoul - to make him pay - and becoming afraid of these feelings. As long as he held Christine, he felt like maybe these feelings would subside. "I wish I had been there." He whispered to her. "I promised all of you that I'd always be there, and when I wasn't...this happened. I'm ashamed of myself. What kind of a man targets an innocent, little boy because he looks like his father?" The rage was growing again, but he did his best to hide it so that he wouldn't frighten Christine.

 

[Saiyan Princess]

She listened to him talk and stifled her own sobs. "I don't know. A monster would. I only blame myself for not noticing it before. This is why Alistair never showed emotion. He was too scared of his stepfather to do so. "Please, just stay calm. The morning is here, my dearest prince and we can finally be happy and protect each other." She hugged him once more and went over to the piano to play the children awake. "Night time sharpens...heightens each sensation...darkness stirs and wakes imagination...Wake up, children." She kept playing as the kids turned over, groaning.

 

[Guile]

"Do not blame yourself. You knew just as little as I. What could you have done?" Erik kissed her on the cheek. "I will stay calm." He promised as she hugged him, going over to the piano and playing to the children so that they could wake. "Come, children!" He called to them, not too loudly - waking up to loud things was always obnoxious - but loud enough for them to hear. "It is morning. We don't want to waste one second of it, do we? Life is short - too short to lie around in bed all day." He teased as they all groaned themselves awake.

 

[Saiyan Princess]

I could have killed him to save my children from him. She thought to herself. Ali pulled himself out of bed first, groaning still. "Why is today so important, Father?" He reached over and shook Catherine, but she tossed a pillow over her head and pressed it down. "The pressures of motherhood allow me to sleep when I want as long as the baby doesn't cry." She muffled her explanation, making it hard to hear her. Lilly shot up immediately and pulled on Cathy's arm. "Cathy! Cathy! Come on, our lesson!" She begs, still pulling, but only manages to frustrate her sister. "Look, I can sing as well as anyone. I don't need lessons at six in the morning!" Her voice was still muffled by the pillow.

 

[Guile]

Erik laughed at Catherine's explanation, then turned to Alistair. "Every day is important, my son. But...that isn't a real answer, is it?" He teased, knowing how kids wanted straight answers. The look on his son's face proved that point. "No, I didn't think so." He said with a laugh. "Well, to be honest, I'm not sure it's all that exciting to you children but," he walked over and lifted the pillow gently off of Catherine so she could hear perfectly well, "your mother and I have some news." He glanced at Christine with a smile and winked, as if they shared some deep secret that Erik was about to share. "However," he said, playfully throwing the pillow lightly back at Catherine, "if your sister doesn't wish to know, then we'll just tell you two." Erik said, smiling at Lilly and Alistair. "And if Catherine doesn't want her lessons, then I guess we'll just work together, Lilly." He bent down and whispered in the little one's ear. "If she doesn't practice and you do, that means you can get better than her!" He joked.

 

[Saiyan Princess]

When her father lifted the pillow, she tried, in vain, to hold it to her head. "No! Mine!" She screeched. "Please!" She hated being woken up, and this was just annoying to her. "Come on, Father." Then, being impulsive, she kissed him, not on the cheek or the forehead, but his lips, then, blushing, quickly turned back over. "What news! What news!" The seven year olds chanted, Ali clinging to his shirt. "Tell us!" Christine giggled. "Well, I guess we can, can't we?" She searched Erik's eyes. "Tch, like that's gonna happen, Daddy." Cathy smirked when he had offered to make Lilly a better singer. "But, I'm always fine with being a chorus girl." She added. "Hopefully, I'll meet my own dangerous tutor." This sent her into hysterics as she tried to get back to sleep. Her face was scarlet with laughter.