TITLE: The Angel's Second Chance: Chapter 9
AUTHOR: EriksSylvia
DISTRIBUTION: If you want to put this somewhere else email me first.
DISCLAIMER: I don't own any characters.
RATING: R
SUMMARY: Erik is sent back in time for one last chance. Can he make Christine fall in love with him?
COUPLES: Erik/Christine (Wouldn't have it any other way.)
Okay, this is the second to last chapter. I know I have been slacking and working on two other projects! I'm sorry! Thanks for the reviews though!
Chapter 9
Christine's Confession and Giry's Power
Mme. Giry winded her way down through the catacombs of the Opera Populaire with a bag at her side. She barely blinked, she was blind with panic. She was scared for her friend.
"Erik, please do not be dead."
She clasped her necklace with one hand and continued on down the winding passageways.
Christine had Erik's head in her lap, by the looks of things she had slowed the bleeding and Erik was still breathing. She tried to steady her own breathing but it was useless.
"Erik, please, open your eyes."
She bent forward and kissed his forehead gently.
"Come on. Please, Erik. Angel of Music return to your student."
She felt fresh tears run down her cheeks. Christine watched one drop onto Erik's face, his eyes remain motionless. She closed her eyes.
"God this is all my fault. I thought I could fix this, Erik. Stupid, naïve Christine Daae."
She let out a hollow laugh.
"Little Lotte thought of everything and nothing. Oh Erik, open your eyes. Do you want me to sing to you, Erik? Will my voice lure you out?"
She hardly felt like singing but she'd do anything to get him back, just to get him to show her signs of life.
'Kiss me too fiercely, hold me too tight. I need help believing you're with me tonight. My wildest dreaming could not foresee lying beside you with you wanting me.'
He could hear her, she was faint and far away, but he could hear her. He tried to wake up, tried to open his eyes, but nothing would work. He could only make a low groan in the back of his throat.
She heard him, his voice deep and groggy. He could hear her!
"Oh Erik!"
She took a deep breath, words coming to her from some unknown place.
'Just for this moment, as long as you're mine, I've lost all resistance, and crossed some borderline. And if it turns out, it's over too fast I'll make every last moment last. As long as you're mine…'
His eyes opened slightly, enough for her to see his eyes properly. They were slightly clouded. She kissed his forehead.
"Erik I love you. I love you so much."
He smiled, a rare smile, it made her heart melt. His lips parted.
"Ch-Christine…"
She placed a finger on his lips.
"Save your strength.
He wanted her to sing to him. He wanted the intoxicating sound of her voice coursing through him.
"Sing…p-please…"
He choked out. She nodded.
'Maybe I'm brainless, maybe I'm wise, but you've got me seeing through different eyes, somehow I've fallen under your spell and somehow I'm feeling that it's up that I fell.'
She couldn't explain where it came from, but it just…came. It was the same feeling she'd had when she was first with him. Before Raoul had taken her away from him the first time.
'Every moment, as long as you're mind, I'll wake up my body and make up for lost time. Say there's no future for us as a pair…and though, I may know, I don't care!'
She heard footsteps, she knew who it was. There was only one person it could be.
"Madam Giry, he's awake."
Mme. Giry's eyes widened in horror as she saw Erik, her dearest friend, bleeding to death. She knelt down beside him and gently untied the torn cloth from the wound. She knew, then, it was beyond her healing. Gypsy or no she couldn't do it. She could mend the wound, of course, but it would be infected. She tended to the wound as best she could.
Christine stood behind Mme. Giry and watched her work.
"Erik, I'm so sorry. This is all my fault."
She whispered to herself. She had known, that night, that Raoul was in her dressing room. She'd had it in her head to hurt him, as he'd hurt her so many times. She wanted him to see her choose her true love over him. She wanted the bastard to suffer…but now it was Erik who suffered.
Erik hissed in pain as the bullet was taken out of his shoulder. He looked at Christine and saw that she was crying, was he dying? Erik turned his glance, then, to Mme. Giry, his oldest and dearest friend. She too had tears in her eyes.
"I-I'm going to die…aren't I…"
He managed to choke out.
Mme. Giry began to wrap the wound and looked into his eyes sadly.
"I cleaned the wound as best I could. Chances are it will be infected, Erik. Soon."
He nodded and closed his eyes, from behind her she heard a small scream.
Christine dropped to her knees. She had no choice, she was going to watch him die. She crawled over to him and placed his head gently in her lap again.
"Erik, you can't leave me."
He opened his eyes, they were brimmed with tears.
"There is…an option."
Christine looked at Giry, her eyes wide.
"Anything."
The girl breathed. Mme. Giry took a deep breath.
"I am not powerful enough for this kind of magic. I would have to enlist the help of my relatives."
"What, what can be done Madam Giry."
"Send Erik forward. Send him to the future with hopes that there will be sufficient medicine."
Christine nodded, but she was having difficulty letting it sink in. Another time jump?
"How far into the future."
"Not very, I don't think that even the strongest magic could send him too far ahead."
She stared down at her dying lover. She would do anything for him.
"I'm going too. He's not going anywhere without me. Especially not in this condition."
Mme. Giry nodded.
"I expected that."
The old woman touched Christine's face and smiled.
"I must go talk to the elder women. I must find her, now, and arrange this spell. Take care of him, m'dear."
Christine lifted Erik into a sitting position.
"Madam Giry, help me get him into bed…"
"I…am…not a child…"
Erik said with some difficulty. Christine and Mme. Giry laughed. Erik gave a look that was obviously meant to be a look of hurt. Christine kissed his cheek.
"I know, darling, but you can't walk on your own when you're this weak."
"Weak?"
"Erik, my friend, you have lost a great deal of blood, you'll be lucky if you can stand for long on your own."
The man rolled his eyes. Christine loved his stubbornness sometimes. It was cute but at the moment it was getting them no where.
"Please, sweetheart. Let us move you."
He nodded and he put his arms around the two women, using his own strength the best he could to stand. It took a while, Erik had to stop a few times, to get him into his bed. When he was laying down Mme. Giry took a deep breath.
"Now, I must go. I have to prepare some things. I will be back as soon as possible. Christine, I'll make your excuses."
Suddenly she went very pale.
"Christine? Where is the Viscount?"
Christine sat down on the bed next to her lover and began to stroke his hair. She tried to ignore the pain in her chest when Mme. Giry had asked her about Raoul. Christine pointed out into the main room, towards the lake. Mme. Giry gave her an odd look and turned slowly, walking out of the room. She walked to the edge of the lake and saw the Viscount, dead in the water. She gave a small scream and clasped her hands to her mouth. Christine kissed Erik's forehead and rose slowly.
"Madam Giry…I…"
She didn't know what to say.
"Erik…did you?"
Mme. Giry began.
"No. It was me."
Christine said somewhat proudly. Mme. Giry looked astonished.
"Christine?"
"Yes."
She nodded to the fallen blade she'd used on her husband.
"I knew he'd come. I couldn't take the chance of him trying to hurt Erik…or trying to take me away. I couldn't risk it."
Mme. Giry gasped, Christine had changed so much in the year she'd spent away from the opera house. She could hardly believe it was the same girl anymore. The old woman nodded and took Christine by the hand.
"Don't worry. No one knows the way down but Meg and I and she knows what's going on. She will not let anyone know where this place is."
She hugged Christine.
"I will return as soon as I can. Please, take care of him."
Christine nodded and kissed her old friend on the cheek. She turned as Mme Giry left and went back to her lover's bedside. He opened his eyes slowly.
"Christine?"
He held out the arm that was not wounded and she laid down next to him, her head on his chest. She could hear his heartbeat and secretly thanked God.
"Erik, I love you. Please know that. No matter what."
He nodded and kissed her forehead.
"I…love…you…"
She felt his body drift into sleep and she kept her head on his chest, determined to stay awake in case he needed anything.