The Phantom of the Opera: A Beauty and a Beast (Guile and Melody)

[Saiyan Princess]

Christine let go of Erik once more, a stern, semi-frustrated look on her face. "You will stop talking in such a way this instant!" She kissed his hand. "He is beautiful, exquisite, yes, because we did this together." She forced the man to look at his baby. "He is our son, not mine, not yours." She picked up the bear and held it out to Gustav again. "You see? Look what Daddy brought you." She whispered, as if afraid that Raoul was close. "What's this?" Gustav did not move, he didn't even flinch. "It's hopeless." Christine chuckled.

 

[Guile]

Erik was taken aback by Christine's sharp words. His eyes widened in shock, but he did not protest when Christine forced him to look at Gustav. Oh, yes...he was extremely beautiful. And though, Erik's stubborn side refused to believe her, his rational side knew that Christine was right. I...we...Christine and I created this beautiful little boy. It was every man's dream, was it not? To have a child with the woman of their dreams. Erik was overwhelmed that this dream had become his reality. It was just a shame that she was married to another man. "It's alright, Christine. I am much happier knowing that he takes to music like his parents." He chuckled, finally getting over the shock of Christine's outburst, and a smile came to his lips again as he watched his son.

 

[Saiyan Princess]

"Very well." Christine stood and brought the bear to Gustav's nursery. "Come, you must see it, Erik." She called from down the hallway. "It's quite lovely. You might want to turn his toy off if you want him to come with you." She hid her laughter. "I'll show you around the home, if you want."

 

[Guile]

Erik watched her leave the room, wandering where she was headed off to. However, he heard her voice just moments later and smiled. "Of course!" He called to her before turning to Gustav. "Alright, son, forgive me for doing this to you." He hesitantly reached over the crib and picked up the toy, fumbling with it for a few moments before he figured out how to stop it. Placing it back down, Erik smiled at his boy and reached out to pick him up. "Okay, Gustav. Come to Daddy." He ever so carefully lifted the small child into his arms and held him tight to his chest. "Now, let's go see what Mommy has to show me." Erik smiled warmly down at the precious life in his arms before making his way down the hall. It took only a few seconds to find which room she had been calling from, and he stepped inside.

 

[Saiyan Princess]

Gustav immediately let the worst wails erupt from his lungs, as if he'd been hurt, badly. Christine knew Erik wasn't harming their son, other than emotionally, of course. "I had a feeling that would happen." She spoke loudly. "That's why I left that task to you." She wanted to laugh, but Gustav's crying was far too heartbreaking. "At least we know what his future will be like." She waved her hand around the nursery. "Well, here we are. I wanted you to see where he lived, how he was cared for."

 

[Guile]

Erik cringed, once again, at the sound of his son's crying. "Thank you for that, Christine. I love being the reason for Gustav's tears." He also wanted to laugh, but was now looking down at their son, trying to decide how he was going to get him to stop crying. "Hush now, Gustav. It's alright." Erik instinctively began to sing softly as he cradled the boy in his arms. It was only the first verse of Music of the Night, and yet, Erik prayed it would silence him for now. "You don't need that toy to enjoy music, child." It was then that he glanced around the room before smiling at Christine. "Thank you, Christine, but you know it was unnecessary. You are a wonderful mother, as I knew you would be, and I don't fear for Gustav's wellbeing so long as you're with him. However, I will say that his nursery is lovely."

 

[Saiyan Princess]

"Well, I thank you, Erik." She came back to him. "Now that you've seen where and how he lives, you can tell me why you are really here." She kissed his cheek. "Tell me why you've come to American soil. Why did you feel the need to follow me." She sounded sad, as if she truly missed her angel. "I want to know what you were thinking. Were you thinking that I would serve you again?"

 

[Guile]

Christine's sudden questions caught Erik off-guard, causing him to blink a few times as if trying to bring himself out of his stupor. "I-I came here...I came because..." Erik stuttered because his thoughts were failing him. Why did I come here? He, himself, wasn't even sure. So, he began telling her all that he could - starting with the day that they set off. "I read in the paper...I saw you marriage to the Vicomte." Erik's words were already starting to sound pained, as if he didn't want to believe them. "It was the same day as your wedding that Madame Giry and Meg took me along on the ship with them. I didn't plan to go anywhere, but they pulled me along...and I didn't stop them. As far as I was concerned, my life was over. You were marrying him and I had no reason to stay in France anymore. My life there had come to an end. I suppose that's why I didn't fight to stay. I let myself be pulled away to America because I thought that perhaps I could drown out my memories of you if I didn't stay in the Opera House - the very place where thousands of memories of you lived in the walls, on the stage, even in my lair." Now, the pain was visible in Erik's eyes. "You must believe me when I say I did not know you were coming to America as well. However," he paused before adding, "I must admit that I am not necessarily upset to see you here. I am shamelessly glad you are." Erik did his best to keep his eyes from watering. "I got to see the birth of our son because of dumb luck." He let out a sudden laugh, in spite of the aching in his heart.

 

[Saiyan Princess]

Christine couldn't help but laugh as well. "Well, I never knew you to be coming back for me." She smiled, also in spite of herself. "Well, I guess 'for me' isn't the proper term." Christine laughed again. "You witnessed something that you deserved to witness. Yes, it was painful, but I wouldn't give that up for anything in the world." She looked over Erik's shoulder at the baby in his arms. "He's told me how much he misses you, my dear." Christine traced her finger over Gustav's lips. "They're yours." She whispered, even softer.

 

[Guile]

"It nearly killed me to see you in so much pain. And to know that I was upsetting you with my presence hurt even more." Erik confessed what he had been feeling at that time. "Still...I am glad I was there. I thought I would never get to see him, or you, ever again." He looked just over his shoulder to see Christine standing there, looking down at their son and tracing his lips with her finger. I would know her lips anywhere, but for her to know mine so well...does it mean that she might still...no. I can't get my hopes up like that. I'll just be crushed when she returns to her husband. Despite his thoughts warning him to be cautious with his heart, Erik turned to Christine, just enough to place a kiss on her cheek. Though, it wasn't really her cheek - it was more like the corner of her mouth. He just barely felt her lips and yet he still longed for them. But he couldn't...he couldn't bring himself to kiss her on the lips despite how much he wanted to. She probably won't even forgive me for that kiss. She's a married woman.

 

[Saiyan Princess]

Christine was lost in her own thoughts when Erik turned around and kissed her. "Oh, Erik, please don't." She was as calm as she could be. "Please, don't make me kiss you again. You know I want to, but I can't." Tears stung her face. "I want to, so badly, but,..." she wiped her face. "No. I'm sorry, but no." She backed up. "I can't...I'm sorry." She ran down the hall to her bedroom. "God, forgive me." She prayed. "I love someone other than my husband."

 

[Guile]

"Christine..." Erik whispered helplessly as he watched the inner turmoil she was suffering through because of his kiss. Before he knew it, she was running out of the room, leaving Erik with Gustav and an enormous sense of guilt. What have I done? Christine is married...I can't do this to her. He took Gustav back to his crib and turned on his toy so that, hopefully, he would remain quiet while Erik spoke to Christine. He knocked on her door lightly. "Christine? Christine, forgive me, please. I didn't come here to hurt you...I am sorry for what I've done. Please, let me come in and speak with you. Please." His last 'please' was a soft whisper, an almost silent plea for her to grant him permission to come in and apologize to her face-to-face.

 

[Saiyan Princess]

Christine got up from the bed and shuffled toward her door and unlocked it. "You can come in, Erik." She opened the door and threw herself on him. "Erik, forgive me. Please, forgive me." She begged. "God, I love you so much, but I can't leave Raoul." She shivered in his arms. "Please, understand that I want to go, but I can't. I cried that night." She continued. "I cried when I left Paris for America, for I knew that I would never see you again." She kissed his cheek. "That's all I can do, Erik." She kissed his forehead.

 

[Guile]

"Oh, Christine." Erik pulled her close, trying desperately to hold her as tight as he could, without hurting her, to stop her quivering. "I cried too..." He confessed to her in a whisper. "But I am here now. You are here. We have seen each other and we can continue to do so." Erik went back to the matter at hand. "You are not happy, Christine. I can tell. You pretend to be, but I see the loneliness in your eyes. You love Raoul, and I understand you are married to him. I know that I could never come to you and just ask you to walk away from him as if you never shared anything with him. And yet, you are upset. Where is he, Christine?" Throughout all of this, Erik kept his voice soft. He did not want to hurt her anymore than he already had. "Where has your husband gone?" Erik pleaded with his eyes for her to tell the truth. "Why is he not here, with you? That's all he ever wanted, right? He fought so hard to take you from me - I let him take you because I thought he could make you happy. Now I see that he has left you here with Gustav - the same as he did the day you gave birth to the child. You cannot possibly be fully pleased with this life, Christine."

 

[Saiyan Princess]

"I know, I know!" She exclaimed, not intending for her words to sound like a yell. "God, I loved you and you knew that, you loved me." She cried. "That's why you freed me. I understand more than anyone how you feel now." She held his face. "He gained this confidence after I left with him. He found that I was pregnant and that just added to the chaos." She kissed his forehead. "He's probably at the bar, Erik. He goes there to gamble and drink." She cried. "I don't know when he's coming home." She couldn't stop. "I loved you "

 

[Guile]

Erik felt tears coming to his eyes as Christine confessed to understanding his actions on that fateful night. "I thought...I feared, for the longest time, that you would have misread my actions. My biggest regret was that I wasn't clearer to you that night. I was afraid that you would think I was angry with you - that I wanted you gone." He took her hands in his, placing a tender kiss on her knuckles. "Forgive me for sending you off with him. Surely it was better for you than staying with me could have ever been, and yet, you have been condemned to live a life of loneliness anyway. You don't deserve this, Christine. When I asked Raoul to take you and leave I had hoped he would not take it for granted - that he would cherish you and give you the life you deserved. The life I could not give you down beneath the Opera." Erik began to choke on his words, but forced himself to regain some composure before continuing. "Why? Why would he ever wish to leave you to gamble away his fortune and drink away every scrap of dignity that he once had? What husband does such a thing? He always was a fool." He started to feel that familiar feeling of contempt for the Vicomte, but remained calm for Christine's sake. One could only hear the bitterness in his words when he spoke of the man. "The Vicomte could be home, here with you and Gustav - living a life I could only ever dream of. Instead, he wastes away at the bar while you sit here, alone with the child. This is not the life I wanted for you when I freed you, Christine." Erik couldn't hide the feeling of guilt that he got. It was as if he felt responsible for her unhappiness. "I love you far too much to just stand by and watch your happiness drift away like this, and all because of that drunken fool." Unable to stop the aching in his heart, for that's what her current state of misery was doing to him, Erik pulled her into an embrace and held her tight - as if he could wash away her pain with his touch.

 

[Saiyan Princess]

Christine listened to him. "Still, I want to thank you for my freedom, Erik." She felt his lips on her knuckles and smiled. "Erik, I do have love for you. You are the father of my-our little one." She kissed his cheek. "I remember that night quite well. You were so very handsome and I felt awful standing next to you." She couldn't stop her grin.

 

[Guile]

Erik looked into her eyes, surprise glazing over his own. She had confessed to having love for him a few times before, and yet each time was like the dawning of a new day - filling him with temporary ease and false hope that perhaps this time it would count for something. He did not doubt her words, nor did he take them lightly - they meant the world to him. Never in his life had he ever thought he would hear words of love come from another's lips, directed at him. And yet, Christine stood before him with another man's ring on her finger. "I think of it often." Erik confessed, still looking down at her pale hands resting in his. "That night...it was the best moment I have ever lived to experience. You were so beautiful...as you always are." He whispered as the corners of his lips drifted up into a small smile. How could he not smile when thinking of that wondrous moment?

 

[Saiyan Princess]

"You were even more so." She, again, brought her lips close to Erik's, hovering over his. "Gustav needs you so badly, my Erik." She sighed. "Raoul has made mistakes. I won't say that he hasn't. He is lost. That much I can say. So very lost." Christine's words were soft. "Please, I know that I've also made mistakes and I ask that you forgive me." Christine held his shirt. "Please, forgive me." She hated being left like this, all alone without an answer. "I know you loved me and I you, but there is no way we could go back to that. You're a wanted man." She reminded him. "Raoul will be home soon. You can't stay here." She finally kissed him. "Little Gustav needs you, but you must be quick."

 

[Guile]

"I've been called a great many things, but 'beautiful' has never been one of them." Erik finally looked up into her eyes, his heart beginning to race in his chest. Her lips were so close to his, oh so close - he could almost feel them against his. With each syllable she spoke, Erik felt a new wave of hot breath come from her, causing his body to quiver. He longed to press his lips to hers, but dared not, because of her earlier plea. "I forgive you, Christine. I forgave you long ago. I only ever wanted you to be happy with your choices. I had hoped you would be, and therefore had no hard feelings against you for your actions...or your words." Christine's declaration of hatred towards him so long ago rang in his ears as he said this, leaving a bitter pang of sadness in his heart once again. "Perhaps I am a wanted man." He confessed with much regret in his tone. "All I ask is that you be careful, Christine. I know where my heart lies. I would never to anything to put your life or wellbeing in jeopardy. The one you need to be weary of is your husband. A lost man sometimes does desperate things, my dear. Ask yourself this: do you know where his heart truly lies? I make no insinuations, but be careful. I do not want you hurt because you put your faith and trust in the wrong man." Erik took her warning to heart, knowing that he could not stay and risk being caught by Raoul. He did not fear that swine, but he did fear what the Vicomte might do to Christine if he even had the slightest doubt about her faith in their marriage. Erik didn't want her to face the possible consequences of being caught alone with another man. Her kiss was a blessing, to say the least. It brought him out of his dreary thoughts and sent him into a blaze of emotion. When it ended, Erik looked down at her in partial surprise, but full of longing. His eyes begged for her lips again, but he knew he could not ask such a thing of her. Instead, he went to his son and said his temporary goodbyes. "Daddy will see you soon, Gustav. I love you more than you will probably ever know, my son." He whispered to the small child before placing a kiss on his forehead and returning to Christine. "I am never far away, Christine. Promise me, no matter what the reason, you will come to me if you need to."

 

[Saiyan Princess]

"Well, that is because no one other than myself and the Girys have ever bothered to show you any kindness." Christine whispered. She knew that their time was short. "You came to my first performance. I shall come to yours." She promised him. "I will convince Raoul to come with us, though, if he isn't so drunk." She added. She hated lying to her husband. "I trust Raoul with my heart on a daily basis." She confessed. "He loves me." She watched as her son smiled up at Daddy. The baby laughed as he laid his head on the teddy's leg. "I promise that, should the need arise, I will come to you immediately." Christine heard footsteps behind her.

 

[Guile]

Erik looked into her eyes and saw the guilt of lying to her husband already showing. "Thank you, Christine. I do not take your presence at the performance tonight lightly. It means the world to me that you would come." He smiled, his eyes shimmering with all the gratitude in the world. She would get to see the changed man he was - the symbol of his new freedom. He was no longer a trapped animal, living in a lonely room below the Opera. He was a business man - the mind and power behind a, hopefully, successful circus. "If you believe in Raoul this much...then I will not doubt the truth in the words you speak of him. Just keep what I said in mind." He whispered, hearing the footsteps approaching as well. With her promise, he could leave satisfied that she would do what he asked - should anything happen. Erik prayed that it wouldn't. As much as he longed to have her by his side, he did not want to see her hurt by the man that she trusted. "I believe you, Christine. Goodbye for now,...my angel." Knowing he couldn't possibly leave out the way he had come in, Erik slipped out onto the balcony and had disappeared before Raoul could see him...hopefully.

 

[Saiyan Princess]

"Master, you're welcome. I will always come back and you know this." Her heart hammered as she heard footsteps, but she couldn't let Erik go just yet. Time seemed not to move when she was around the man that helped her in.times of greatest turmoil. She wasn't ready to let him go yet, but he was already gone before she could say or do anything. "Christine?" Raoul called to her, sober now. "Christine, why is Gustav crying?" Christine hadn't noticed that the child had started crying again. "He's probably needing a change." She picked him up and walked toward her bathroom.

 

[Guile]

Safely out of the house, Erik sighed, unable to do anything about the sinking feeling in his heart. He hated that feeling worst of all and, unfortunately for him, it came around every time he was torn from Christine. Still, he tried to cheer himself up for now. Christine would be at the performance and, even if he wouldn't get the chance to speak to her, he would be able to take comfort in just knowing that she was there. Feeling a bit better because of this, he allowed himself to smile as he made his way back into Phantasma.

 

[Saiyan Princess]

"Are you feeling alright?" Raoul asked her, watching over her shoulder as she tended to the child's needs. "I'm perfectly alright. What would make you think otherwise, Raoul?" Christine asked him. "Well, I haven't been around much to help y-..." he saw Christine freeze when he said that, for that was exactly what Erik had said not twenty minutes ago. "Christine?" Raoul repeated, but the woman was cleaning up her son's mess. When she was done, she set him down in the crib and turned the music box on. "I'm alright. I can handle being alone."