A/N: Hello my darling readers! Thank you for coming! Okay, so definitly not my best effort, I'm sorry. I took a break from writing an essay to do this and my computer is a piece of... well... maybe we won't go there. Anyway, reviews are extremely appriciated! This is only going to be two or three chapters long. I doubt any more unless there is an overwhelming desire for more. This is based off of Susan Kay's book, but you do not necessarily have to have read her work to understand what is happening here.

Of course, none of the characters belong to me. I'm just borrowing them for the time being. I did rate this M for the chapter following, so do NOT read if you are underage! I don't want to be responsible for polluting young minds. :-)

Enjoy!

Darling I listen; and for many a time

I have been half in love with easeful Death,

Called him soft names in many a mused rhyme,

To take into the air my quite breath;

Now more than ever seems it rich to die;

To cease upon the midnight with no pain,

While thou art pouring forth thy soul abroad

In such an ecstasy!

Still wouldst thou sing, and I have ears in vain -

To thy high requiem become a sod.

Ode to a Nightingale

By John Keats

"If you won't take me," I said unsteadily, "I shall go by myself."

I sat stunned in a chair in my apartment that Raoul had procured for me. He had brought me flowers as he often had the past few weeks. I think it was his way to try and cheer me up from the melancholy mood that I had slipped into.

I could still see his face, it was always with me. That horribly disfigured and utterly hideous face that I had come to love beyond all my comprehension. If I closed my eyes, I could still taste our kiss as it lingered on my lips.

We had promised him to return before the wedding to give him an invitation. I had thought it a strange request, as did Raoul. Erik said that he had been often invited to weddings and parties and though he never attended, he always kept the invitations. Now I stared at the remnants of the invitation, torn into a dozen pieces by Raoul who had been thrown into a fury by my simple statement that it was time for us to return. After all, we were due to be married the very next day.

He tried desperately to dissuade me, but my mind was already made up. Raoul said that if I were to return to him, there would be no wedding. I knew he meant because Erik would never let me go a second time, but I think he also suspected that I would be the one that was unwilling to leave him and return to Raoul's arms.

So I waited until the night fell and the large de Changy manor was fast asleep. An inconvenience that rarely afflicted me anymore. Sleep was torture for me as all it did was serve to remind me of the man that the world had shunned and that my heart burned for. I would awake sweat dampened; my face on fire with the shame that came from such dreams.

Raoul had slammed the door and left in a fury of self-pity. But I could not being myself to love him any less. Oh, there was no mistake, I did love Raoul. That was plain to me, but what was also painfully clear was how I loved him. He was the memory of my father, the remembrance of happy childhood days, the brother I never had. But I did not love him as a devoted soon-to-be wife should.

I stole away silently with the keys Erik had given me long ago. It was quite simple to find the proper path to his lair. I had traveled it many times before. If not in flesh, then in my thoughts.

Nadir was there. Good Nadir was always there. He looked surprised to see me and I had to admit that I had not expected to see him in such a state. He looked ragged and worn, seemingly increasing ten years in age since I had seen him last. Erik's home was in shards around me. Nothing remained in one piece as far as I could see. No words were needed to explain or express. I had known a long time that Erik was dying. And my leaving him could do nothing but further his final journey. He turned and with a nod led me not to Erik's room as I had expected, but to my room. It was a stark contrast from the rest of his dwelling. It remained untouched, just the same way as the day I had left.

My heart contracted until it burst. He still wore the mask, as I heard Nadir explain quietly that Erik had not allowed him to remove it. Everything fell away except the skeletal figure on the bed and myself. For a moment I thought that he was already dead, his breathing was shallow and his body unmoving, his eyes closed.

As if sensing my presence, he woke and looked at me. I noted the surprise in his mismatched eyes and I tried to force a smile to my unyielding lips.

For a moment we were suspended in time. As if we were both trying to force ourselves to wake up or else to believe that this was truly happening.

He attempted to speak, but was sent into a fit of coughing. In an instant I was at his side, holding his trembling hand and willing him to be alright. Nadir was also now by the bed and appeared very awkward. He made to move, but I asked him to remain for just a moment.

Carefully I removed his mask and handed it to Nadir.

"You came back," he said weakly.

It was my undoing and I could not stop the flow of tears as they suddenly began to cascade down my pale face.

"Of course I did. I said I would," I said softly. I reached out to gently brush away the tears on his own face and he closed his eyes again, as if cherishing the feel of my touch. Without hesitation I leaned down to replace my fingers with my lips, kissing first his forehead and then each closed eyelid in turn. I couldn't stop. I was driven to somehow try and show him the love that he never knew before he left me forever. His face held no fear for me and after I had covered every inch of his beloved face, I kissed his lips. I nearly gasped at their coldness. It was like kissing Death.

I sat up and looked down on Erik, our eyes a mirror of sorrow reflecting in the other's depths. I still held his hand and carefully he turned it palm upward, bringing his other to cover mine. I felt a small weight drop lightly into my open hand and as I looked down was surprised to find not the diamond engagement ring that was supposed to be a symbol of love but had turned to a sign of regret and pain. Instead I looked on a small, plain, solid gold band...

... My wedding ring.