Christine

As I lay peacefully in Erik's embrace, I let my thoughts wander through all the time we'd been together. I felt myself smile. Our experiences together were so perfect, even the ones that could be considered risky. I didn't know why anyone thought Erik dangerous, especially Mme. Giry! After all she had done for Erik, she thought him dangerous. Did Nadir think Erik dangerous, too? I truly hoped not. Erik deserved so much more than that!

He was the kindest, sweetest person in the whole world.

"Christine!"

I was at his side the second my name left his lips. I looked down at him and discovered he was asleep. I didn't know Erik talked in his sleep...

Erik let out a low whimper and reached for me in the darkness. I scooted even closer, and his arms wrapped themselves around me. "Christine, I know you love me not....Please, though...Do not leave me! Have I truly harmed you?" His voice was broken. I pulled him over so he was in my embrace. "I am not leaving you Erik." I cooed, stroking his lovely hair. I didn't remember who told me; but someone had once spread a rumor that The Phantom of the Opera wore a wig. That simply wasn't true—his hair was very real, and very soft. I twirled a lock of his hair around my finger, and he started talking again. "Angel...Please. Stay with me, I beg you. Please." What type of dream was he even having? It sounded more like a nightmare!

"Erik, I promise that as long as I live, I will stay with you. I'm not leaving you." I vowed, stroking his masked cheek. "But how can you be sure? My love, what if you decide you hate me? What if you fall in love with someone else?" I smiled a watery smile, "Erik I'm not leaving you. That I vow. Unless you make me leave you." I added, hoping he would never force me to leave him. "Christine...Stay with me. I want you here always..." He mumbled, wrapping his arms around me tightly. He mumbled a few incoherent sentences before it was obvious he was deeply asleep.

And then he started talking again. This time, it was worse.

"Christine, if you love an earthly being, I must go away to Heaven and never return."

I remembered him saying that the night after I told him about Raoul...Then it was sad; now it was heartbreaking.

"That is right, Christine...It is true, Christine!...I am not an Angel, nor a genius, nor a ghost.....I am Erik!"

That was not true—Erik was a genius!

I now knew that Erik was flesh and blood, The Phantom of the Opera. However, he was still the Angel of Music. To me, he would always be the flesh and blood Angel of Music. Perhaps, his soul was the Angel of Musics' sent down from Heaven. Then again, Erik knew so many horrors, so why would Heaven do that to one of their Angels'? I wrinkled my nose, and thought more on the subject. Erik was definitely an Angel; no matter what he thought. He was an Angel of Music, that was true, too. But was he the actual Angel of Music?

To me he was. To me, he would always be The Angel of Music.

He was my Angel of Music.

That thought satisfied me to no end. Here was Erik, an Angel. I had his many talents all to myself; I didn't have to share him with the world. I could horde him for the rest of my life and not feel sad for the rest of the world who were deprived of his many talents. They didn't deserve his many talents—He was way too good for them. They would never deserve Erik.

I didn't even know if I deserved Erik.

Perhaps no one deserved him...

"You shall never see Erik's face."

I did not remember him ever saying that...Was he imagining things that were not real? He was dreaming after all....

"I compose sometimes. I began that work many years ago. When I have finished, I shall take it away with me in that coffin and never wake up again."

I gasped and grabbed his shoulders. "You mustn't! Erik, promise me that you will not die on me, simply because you have finished your Don Juan! Please, Erik. I could not bear it if you died!"

"Oh, Christine...You do not mean that!" He mumbled sleepily, as I gently set him down again. "I do!" I replied vehemently. "You cannot! No one would miss Erik if he died." Tears pooled in my unsuspecting eyes. How could he think that, even if he was dreaming! "Oh no, Erik. I would miss you. I would, I promise." I held his hand to my cheek.

".....I will only tell you when you give me leave...."

I coughed, what wasn't he saying to me?

Erik mumbled a few more things before seeming to settle down again. I let my thoughts wander again, knowing that Erik would talk more before the night was through.

Would his future children talk in their sleep? Would I stay up just so I could hear what they had to say? I smiled, then choked; what if Erik's children weren't also mine? What if they were some other woman's'—like Charmaine's. Oh God....

I stroked his hair again, hoping that would never happen. Charmaine did not deserve Erik.

"Look! You want to see! See! Feast your eyes, glut your soul on my cursed ugliness! Look at Erik's face! Now you know the face of the voice! You were not content to hear me, eh? You wanted to know what I look like! Oh, you women are so inquisitive! Well, are you satisfied? I'm a very good looking fellow, eh? I am handsome, am I not? When a woman has seen me, as you have, she belongs to me. She loves me for ever. I am a kind of Don Juan, you know! Look at me! I am Don Juan Triumphant!!!"

Erik was re-living the day I took his mask off.... If that was true, then why did he sound so different; like it was early in our relationship or something like that?

How would I cure him of his night terrors?

"Ah, I frighten you do I?....I dare say!...Perhaps you think I have another mask, eh, and that this, this....my head is a mask? You think this face is another mask, do you not? Well, tear it off as you did the other! Come! Come along! I insist! Your hands!......Give me your hands!...........Know, know that I am built up of death from head to foot, and that it is a corpse that would commit murder for you, that it is a corpse who............And adores you, and will never, never leave you! Look, I am crying for you! Oh, mad Christine!"

I resisted the urge to shake Erik until he woke up. I knew that if he did not sleep well, he would be in a black mood for the rest of the day. Why had I removed Erik's mask when I had? I buried my head in a pillow from shame. Oh, how could I have been so stupid? My poor Erik! I should have known that he would feel betrayed the second I took that mask off. The next time it came off, it would not come of because of my own folly.

Erik shifted restlessly in his sleep for a few more minutes, mumbled a few more things; then settled into the sheets, his arms wrapping themselves tightly against me.

I let myself settle into his chest. I tried to fall asleep, succeeding partly. I was happy, mostly, that Erik was a bit of a heavy sleeper. Then again, sometimes he seemed not to sleep at all. Maybe his sleeping habits differed each night?

He cooed something unintelligible and pressed closer to me. I sighed in his grasp, letting myself fall back to sleep.

A few hours later, Erik woke me again, this time singing in his sleep.

Thankfully, he wasn't depressed or gloomy.

"Take my hand..."

He murmured in that heavenly voice of his. He took my hand in his and squeezed it.

"Take my whole heart, too..."

He purred, pressing my hand against his heart. I felt its steady rhythm beneath his shirt.

"For I can't help..."

Erik hummed a few more notes, words I obviously wasn't supposed to hear.

He fell back on the bed, arms pulling me down with him.

I sighed again, and decided that trying to sleep again would be the best course of action.

"You are my Angel, Christine...Now and always..."