I remember reading and loving this story on AO3 but I can't remember if I left a review or not. So, I thought I'd leave one now hehe! I just adore this. Such an original premise and so well-written! I'm a sucker for ghost stories and you've really made this an atmospheric, sensual piece. ALL THE KUDOS!

Holy crap that was hot

Oh wow what a wonderful story! Strange but beautiful. They will have a difficult road ahead of them for sure, but I suppose if ghosts exist in that world then many things could also be possible. Thank you for this story!

Oh my gosh, I love this. Just beautiful.

best au ever

I thought I had reviewed this earlier!

I loved this, loved the time period setting and the Ghost being truly a ghost here, Christine's midnight forays into the attic and Erik's fury at her being with Raoul. The whole story is so nicely textural-I can see thehouse and the favrics and her hair. The idea of capturing him between mirrors so he could become more substantial was brilliant. I feel badly for poor Raoul here, but prefer the ending you've given us. I would love a sequel, but this is utterly perfect as it is.

So strange and wonderful!
Edda

Damn she really boned a ghost, didn't she? mood.

I love this, it's really good and I'm glad it didn't end with some angsty split between them and a sad ending

I really enjoyed this story. I found your writing style elegant and flowed beautifully. You must definitely keep this up.

I feel you had a lot of great and interesting ideas, but I think you didn't do much with them. This was a short story that did not allow much exploration of these ideas.

For instance maybe exploring Raoul's PTSD, or how Christine will cope loving a literal Ghost, or how ghosts could be summoned.

I think you are a great writer with a lot of potential, but I think exercising your ideas would be a good idea.

Keep up the good work

Beautiful. I hope you continue?! I want to know what happens!

Wowww, this is incredibly good! For some reason I was expecting a Ouija board, but the mirror makes so much more sense, and it's part of canon after all, and it's just so damned romantic and also creepy (I've seen things in mirrors, but never things that I would want to talk to! ). Christine is smarter than me (and therefore so are you), because I couldn't figure out how she was going to get him corporeal. I think the story reads better without the seance, though. I like the idea of her exploring the attic, which was locked when she was younger, and discovering him as she did. I don't think the seance added anything, and took me longer to get to the actual story. Which, by the way, was so awesome when I finally got there! I know, grad school is taking your time… but holy cow I hope you write more chapters!

CHAR I'm glad I didn't review right away because it gave me an excuse to reread, even though I don't need one beyond it being AMAZING and WONDERFUL and SEXY and ugh how dare you. I'll tell you a million billion trillion times how creative you are and how much I love the way you twist AUs around to make something so uniquely your own. I'll tell you even more times how much I love your pacing. This would make such a wonderful multi-chaptered fic, but on its own, it flows so naturally that I'm super satisfied with what I was able to have. You feel the progression of their relationship so nicely, even without the 'in-between' scenes, which I think is a testament to how well you know the characters when you write. It's natural and wonderfully-done and ugh, glue this to my eyeballs please.

On to my favourite bits!

'It is a beautiful house in the neo-Gothic style, on a tree-lined street on the edge of Manhattan, though the trees are sparser these days and Manhattan has grown wider and consumed it.' - Such a deceptively simple statement, but paints the picture perfectly in my mind (and I want that house).

'The woman wears a cloche over fire-red hair arranged in sleek finger waves. The fur stole draped around her shoulders envelops her torso, and below that, a fringed hem dangles teasingly above slim stockinged legs.' - *Fabulous*

'A woman screams and tugs away from the circle, and yet the spell is not broken: the air has thickened or tightened, Christine can't be sure of the sensation, only that breathing is different now. Half of the candles extinguish as one.' - This bit had me all giddy and excited. So delightfully dramatique, and I especially love the 'breathing is different now' bit. It leaves the imagination but is so evocative at the same time.

'"Undress me, Christine."

"You're perfectly capable," she says, and leaves him to drunkenly struggle with his cravat.' - We've seen contention between them up to this point, but I feel like this particular sequence just illustrates it perfectly. It's cold and brusque and quietly seething in just a couple lines.

'There is an urging in her fingertips to divest the mirror of its veil, and so she does, the sheet sliding to the floor in a whispering tumble of fabric, raising another cloud of dust. She steps back to avoid the worst of it, and it is odd, how between blinks the dust swirls in such a way that it resembles the frame of a man, just barely, in the mirror behind her before resettling…' - I dunno what to say about this other than the fact that it's such a lovely and clear visual. Spooky spook.

'No one, nothing, save for the old detritus of lives past.' - Good good turn of phrase!

'"That's not tweed," she says of his suit, without thinking.

"No," the thing says, sounding offended. It does not elaborate.' - I love that he's talking to her through a gd mirror and still has it in him to be offended that someone thinks he would wear tweed. (He wouldn't be caught dead in it, after all.)

'"Do you only respond in one-word answers?"

It takes some time to reply. "No."' - He's an ass and I love him.

'She supposes that while she has never been particularly superstitious, some part of her—the part that longs for solitude and must-smelling books and seeks to find out a house's secrets, to get lost in the rafters—the part of her that hungers for music, now more than ever for how it can bring her father back to her—has by necessity contained a previously untested capacity for accepting such realities as ghosts in one's attic with minimal fuss.' - I love this characterization of her. She's just like, "Well, I can roll with it." I appreciate her acceptance lmao

'Before the close of the first act, Violetta sings an aria about a man, a suitor who has loved her from afar, and wonders if he might be the one for her. It is halting and tentative and yearning, and the orchestra produces a sound like two lovers engaged in a cautious waltz, until suddenly the melody unfolds and Violetta sings her heart into words.' - How do you manage to describe music so beautifully? jfc

'"I don't care much for Wagner," she says, turning to face him, and he looks at her with some quiet intensity and replies, "No, I know you don't," and then there is a tense minute in which she can't tear her eyes from his.' - I know he's in a mirror but she oughta smooch 'im.

'After that, she brings out the Stravinsky and laughs as he gleefully whips through the pages.' - I adore the image of him being excited, especially after the earlier conversation. You really get the sense that he's been disconnected, and if there's anything that he would be happy to reconnect with, it would be the music he's missed. A lovely moment of characterization.

'Early evening already, and the sun has melted down behind the rooftops and she has turned up the old gas lamps in the parlour. ... "My God, Christine," he says—breathless—' - Perfect banter, so much romantic tension, had me all wigglyyy. The little moment of joy is so palpable, and the following bit is a great contrast in its heaviness.

'...as though each hole and nook and hiding spot are part of him, like the crease of his elbow or the hollow of his throat.

Parts of him that she has never properly seen, that she wants to, every time she looks for him in a mirror and finds him there. And she thinks with a start, Oh, so that's what this is.' - Such a soft moment of revelation, and it feels so appropriate for them and their relationship here. I love it.

'"I am a monster!" he roars, and she fears the windows might smash but abruptly he quiets, the wind seeping from the air, little twisters of dust settling back onto the floor. "And cursed twice over, covetous of what I can never possess."' - I love this for two reasons. The first being that it's a beautifully tragic show of his emotional state, going from the furious to the sad. The second being the hint at his former life and the implications of it. It adds an extra little dimension of context to the story and to his character.

'A chill gust of air, and the candle blows out. She breathes, and that is the only sound until his voice in her ear: "Show me."' - Kill me.

'"To touch your lips with mine…" He pauses, and his voice when he speaks again has roughened. "You would kiss a ghost, Christine?"' -Kill me.

'The air stills and now it is into her ear that he speaks, not for the rest of the room, intimate and smooth and her toes curl and she catches her breath and makes that sound, again, sharp and needful.

"Show me how to touch you," he breathes.' - KILL ME.

'Time shudders and speeds up as she looks at him and fills her memory with the dips and ridges and twists, and he is still with horror but his eyes—

It's you. It's you. I would recognize you anywhere.

"Come here," she says, "and touch me."' - sjdkfgjhvjc WHAT AN ENDING and the IMPLICATIONS and HAJKSLDFGKJHYTRDJ

I'm probably totally incoherent but hhhhhhhhhhhhh I love this story so much and I love your writing so much and ugh. How dare you (ily)

A very original concept, and great writing! I agree with other reviewers: you create a very atmospheric depiction of the house, Erik has the romanticism, breadth of knowledge, selfishness an fury of the original novel (as well as a bit of Kay in looks), and as for your Christine, I love her fearlessness and the way she holds her own with both men.
In other words, great story.
PS: I never knew I would write these words, but poor Raoul.

Absolutely amazing! I love how you describe the evolution of their relationship. And, truly, I'm happy of the end, I was afraid for a moment

This was a really unique premise, and the writing is fantastic! Sad this is only a one-shot! Excellent job!