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

[Saiyan Princess]

With trembling hands, she picked up the note. She did not need to read it. All notes of being replaced looked the same, written on parchment and sealed in red. She handed it to him and went back to her depressing cries.


Dear Madame Christine Daae,


It has come to my attention that you have chosen to, yet again, try and have your daughter, Catherine Elizabeth Daae, be the center of my theater. It may have worked with you, because of your connection with the spirit of this place, but it shall never work again. She is not suited for the part of the star in this theater, for she is far too much of a hassle in my Opera Popular. She needs to start from the bottom and earn her way to the top. It will not be given freely. My predecessors have already made that mistake with her mother twenty years ago, but it will not happen now.


Kindest regards,


Alphonse Tremaine.

 

[Guile]

Erik took the note gingerly form her hands, opened the seal, and read it. He could genuinely feel the anger growing inside him as he read the words of Alphonse Tremaine. They sickened him. When he finished reading he crumpled the note up furiously and threw it on the ground, balling his hands into fists and forcing himself not to haul out and hit the wall. "Son of a..." Erik cut his words short, not wanting to curse in front of Christine, but his face was bright red with fury. "What is wrong with him? Catherine is the best they have right now. Other than you, Christine, I'd say she's one of the best they've ever had!" He ran his fingers through his hair and let out a breath of air, trying to calm himself. "He is pathetic, that Tremaine - forcing Catherine to work her way up from the bottom, not because she doesn't have talent, but because he holds a grudge against this family!" Unable to stop himself, he reached out and cracked his fist against the dresser, causing a loud smacking sound to fill the room for a brief moment. Erik shook his head and focused on breathing - getting violent with inanimate objects was not going to solve anything, and he knew it.

 

[Saiyan Princess]

"It's not fair. This is going to break her poor little heart." She put her face to the desk and cried as she wrapped her arms around herself in a hug. "What will we do? What will we tell her?" She balled and unballed her fists and breathed deeply. "My poor, sweet, fragile little girl." She stood and headed for the door. "Stay hidden, my love. Do not let him see or hear you." Her eyes were pleading with him to do as he was told. She hurried up the spiral staircase and to the manager's office and knocked. "Enter." Alphonse called from the other side. She kissed her husband to be and took a seat in front of his desk. "Why are you doing this?" She growled, no longer that precious angel. "I have my star, Christine. My daughter is the countess in the play, Il Muto, the very play that you were supposed to portray the page boy in. Your daughter will do the same." He sighed.

 

[Guile]

Erik tried his best to console Christine, but in mere moments she was headed for the door. He followed her and heeded her warning. "I shall, darling." Erik promised her before waiting in the shadows outside Tremaine's office and waited, listening intently. What the manager said sickened him. Oh, so this isn't personal - not entirely. It was either our daughter, or his. That's why Catherine has been denied so easily. Anger grew inside him, but he kept it just like that- inside him. If Tremaine knew he were listening in, Christine would have an even worse shot at helping Catherine.

 

[Saiyan Princess]

"Honestly, Madame, you are lucky to even have your daughter have any part. I did not have to give her one." He laid back in his chair. "Any more out of you and she will be dropped completely." He sighed. "You can't do that!" Christine slammed her hands on the desk. "Very well, she is out. Leave my office or I will drive you out of this building." Tremaine continued. Christine left, trying not to show any tears. Catherine already saw the note and was standing out in the middle of the night, alone, to think. "William, I need you." The party was the very next day.

 

[Guile]

Erik listened behind the door, furious. He could hardly keep himself from bursting into the office, but he did mention to contain himself because Christine had asked him to. When she came out and the door was shut behind her, Erik walked a little ways away from the door with her. He wrapped his arm around her shoulder, hugging her tight, and kissed her on the forehead. He understood how upset she was. A drastic idea came to Erik's mind as he was searching for one last hope to cling to for his daughter. "What if I speak to him - face to face?" He suggested in a low whisper so as to not be heard. Erik knew it was an insane idea and that he could be endangering them all, but it was the last suggestion he had left. He didn't know what to do if not this.

 

[Saiyan Princess]

Christine was startled by this change in attitude from him. "Monsiuer, I don't know. I do want to see her succeed, but what if it doesn't work?" She raised her brow. Her face was red with fury and sadness. "He is not an easy man to persuade." She thought of her performance in Il Muto and sighed. "You will do the very same thing you did then. You'll just threaten them?" She asked. "Then, they will not listen and they shall continue to get what they want. They're baiting you."

 

[Guile]

Erik took her words into consideration. He sighed, knowing she was right. Shaking his head, Erik felt himself being torn. "I want to do it - I want to speak to him, reason with him. But, what man would give up his daughter's chance at stardom simply because an enemy decided to talk nice for once? You're right, Christine. He will never listen. We must come up with another plan if we are to help Catherine." A part of him still wanted to rush into Tremaine's office, rip the prick from his chair, and show him who had the musical knowledge around here - who was more fit to run this Opera. However, he couldn't no matter how much he wanted. It would solve nothing and only have them sought out and driven from the premisses. Or killed, possibly. Sighing, Erik forced himself to calm down as he wrapped one arm around Christine to do the same for her. "We will think of something. For now, it's probably best to lay low. The ball is tomorrow - we should focus on that, relax a little bit. After that we can figure out what to do for Catherine." Erik whispered, taking her hand in his and starting to walk home. "Come, let's get back."

 

[Saiyan Princess]

Feeling that she needed this, Christine started to tease. "Again, you lock me up as soon as we have no business above. Well, what if I told you that I'm not going back?" She grinned as they made it into her dressing room. But, instead of going through the portal in the mirror, she sat on her old bed. "I'm staying right here!" She crossed her right leg over her left and did the same with her arms and slid backward into the wall. "I'm sorry, Prison Warden, but you are experiencing a prison riot." She felt much better as she teased like this. "You already have one escaped convict on the run and now, you have two." She refused to be goaded into the world below. "Your trick worked all those years ago, but they won't do now." Catherine needed her air as she was now on the balcony three floors above, dancing alone and smiling. She started to sing Wishing you were Somehow here again to her deceased lover.

 

[Guile]

A smile started to form on Erik's lips when Christine began to tease him. "Not going back, huh? But it's your home, my love!" Well, he was going to tease her back. "I knew you were ungrateful of the home I've tried to provide for you. I knew you'd come to hate it and want to leave one day!" He glanced over at Christine from where she lay on the bed, a sly smirk forming on the corner of his lips. "Well...I won't let you!" He ran to the bed, grabbed her wrists, and held them tight to the mattress - as if she were handcuffed there. "If you wish to stay here, fine. But I stay with you!" He threatened as he hovered overtop of her, grinning down.

 

[Saiyan Princess]

Again, Christine's heart almost escaped her body as she felt it come up her throat and try to make its escape. "No, I said that I was not going back." She tried to push him off, but they were a 75 pound difference, making escape impossible. "Phantom, I said get away from me!" She teased, hiding the fact that this may have been going too far. "Let me up. I won't continue under your guidance if you continue longer." She meant it too, this tease was almost scaring her. She was fine with anything else but this. "Erik, please. I don't like this." The way he was holding her down scared her.

 

[Guile]

Erik stayed over her, but when he finally realized that she was truly frightened he got off right away. "I'm sorry," he said, the tease leaving his voice. "I-I didn't intend to upset you." There was a silence between them and Erik thought of what he had said earlier - why she left to come up here in the first place. "I apologize for earlier as well. I've been quite inconsiderate as of late, haven't I?" Erik asked sheepishly as he hug his head in shame and embarrassment.

 

[Saiyan Princess]

She moved away immediately. "Look, I want space right now, Erik." She pointed to the mirror. "Please, just go home." She needed to think about all of this, think about her child and her husband, her career and her life. "Give me an hour or so." She needed fresh air to breath. "I'm just going to go out for a walk and think about this." She grabbed her cloak and journeyed away from Erik and into the dark night. "I don't know what to do about him." She told herself as she rounded the corner.

 

[Guile]

Erik nodded in agreement. "Alright..." He wanted to protest, but how could he? She had a right to go where she pleased, when she pleased. Erik recognized this and wanted to respect this, but something made him feel uneasy about her going off alone. However, he agreed and muttered a quiet, "I'll see you soon." When she left the room, Erik made his way back home, thinking about Christine and mentally cursing himself for being such a fool. When he got home, all he could do was sit up and wait for both her and Catherine - to see which one came back first.

 

[Saiyan Princess]

Christine headed off in the direction of the very same dress shop that Erik had been banned from and searched the dresses, just to have something to do. Catherine finished her singing and hung her head over the balcony to watch her mother leaving. As Christine left, however, Catherine felt the sudden surge of fear that a child would have when experiencing separation anxiety. "No!"

 

[Guile]

Erik sat in the quiet of their home, his heart tearing and his guilt eating away at him. He hoped that Christine would come around, and figured that she would eventually forgive him, but he also had to watch what he did and said from now on. He let himself get carried away too often, and needed to be careful with it. Erik wanted to go to Catherine, despite the fact that he didn't know that she was aware of her mother leaving, but decided against it. He feared that she would push him away too - just wanting to be alone for a while.

 

[Saiyan Princess]

"Something's not right." The daughter said as she made her way downstairs and into the cellar. Lilly and Alistair curled up together with their father. "Daddy, she's just going out for a walk. She'll be home in like, twenty minutes, tops." Alistair assured Erik. "You need to calm yourself." He almost pleaded as Cathy came through and immediately sat down at the piano and played to keep herself from going crazy. Christine, finally ready to go home, left the shop and went back.

 

[Guile]

Erik smiled at his two youngest, wrapping one arm around each of them. He was surprised to find that his son's words were actually comforting, if only just a little. "Thank you, children." Erik placed a kiss on top of each of their heads. "I know, I-" his words were cut short by the sight of Catherine coming home. Erik opened his mouth to speak to her but she sat down at the piano and started playing before he could. Better left alone right now. He thought to himself.

 

[Saiyan Princess]

Catherine realized that her father was trying to speak and she stopped. "Oh, I guess that was rude." She teased. "Wow, you really should have thought about teaching me manners when I was little. I spit on a woman's dress, for God's sake." She joked. "Make that another lesson plan, along with my singing." She got up just as Christine came home. Catherine turned away and hid behind a curtain with William and fed him. "My children!" Christine opened her arms for them. They got excited. "Mommy!" They exclaimed together and tackled her. "Mommy!"

 

[Guile]

Erik laughed at Catherine's words. "Ah, but that particular woman deserved it!" He joked back, feeling relieved that she had done something to lighten the mood. Unfortunately, the mood got suddenly heavy again as Christine entered. Erik tried to relax and treat it as if nothing had happened, but a part of him still felt guilty. He grunted as the children climbed off of him in a hurry to get to their mother. Their excitement and enthusiasm at seeing their mother made him laugh and shake his head.

 

[Saiyan Princess]

Catherine grinned devilishly at her father. "Do you really think so?" She chuckled. "A lady should never ever disrespect her elders." Catherine argued. "It's very un ladylike." She watched Christine for any signs of stress, but saw nothing that would make her think that her mother was in a bad mood. Christine seemed to be doing the same, for she walked toward the Phantom slowly and paused at the end of the bed. "Erik, are you alright, my love?"

 

[Guile]

Erik chuckled, his daughter starting to amuse him as always. "I do think so. But," he added, grinning, "you're right. A lady should never disrespect her elders...unless her elders disrespect her." His laughter dying away, but the light still shinning in his eyes, he glanced over at Christine. "Oh, yes," Erik assured her, keeping his smile and forcing away thoughts of earlier, "I'm just fine." Clearing his throat and looking up at Christine curiously he asked, "are you?" She seemed to be perfectly fine. Erik assumed that her walk had been normal, but he wanted to make sure.

 

[Saiyan Princess]

Catherine hid her smile from the masked man. "Oh, hello, Mother." She addressed Christine. She was not angry about being replaced in Il Muto, she saw no point in continuing under her father as far as lessons go. Christine stood tall over Erik. "Hello, my dearest." She spoke to her daughter without even looking at her. She took Erik's hands. "My fiance, why are you so sad? Why is there a frown here?" She cupped his chin in both hands.

 

[Guile]

Erik took Christine's hands and pulled them off gently, deciding that he would much rather hold her hands in his, and shook his head. He had tried to pretend that he could move on from earlier, but he could not. It still haunted him - the way he drove Christine from him. Yes, it had been a minor thing - she had only gone for a walk - but it still bothered him. Perhaps, had she left under better circumstances, he wouldn't have minded at all. "I'm sorry," he confessed, "I don't wish to keep you here all the time. You are a free person, even when we are married, and I understand that. It's just hard for me to watch you leave, even for a short time." Erik looked down at where their hands locked together, his head hung in shame. "Forgive my petty troubles. I don't want you to be afraid to marry me because you do not wish to be tied down. I don't want to tie you down, Christine."

 

[Saiyan Princess]

"My sweet, sweet love, you need not fill your head with thoughts of what happened. It was a game, I understand that now." She was silently crying. Did he really think that she did not wish to be married. "Erik, I..." she choked. "I don't like seeing you like this. I will never be scared of you when we marry. You have never left me, not since my father did." She kissed his hand in sadness and despair.