Say You'll Share With Me | Phantom Oneshots

POTOber Day 25 - The 5th Cellar

day 25 prompts: hiding/secrecy/labyrinth 

~ 

Nadir jolted a bit and looked up from his book when he heard frantic knocking at his front door. He frowned, removing his watch from the pocket of his waistcoat and opening it to look at the time as he tried to guess who could be at the door at that hour of the night. He didn't really have the chance to question it, though, as the knocking only continued and seemed to grow even more fervent, so he got to his feet to make his way to the foyer and confront whoever it was that was disrupting his quiet evening in.

He waved Darius off as he went, deciding to simply handle it himself, and once he opened the door, he realized that that had been the right decision when he saw who was on his front step.

"Erik?" he asked, frowning deeply as he took in his old friend's appearance. Most notably, Erik was without both his mask and wig, but his clothes were dishevelled, he only had a cloak thrown over his shoulders, and pain, what seemed like heartbreak, and...and fear were painted all over his face. All of that was enough to tell Nadir that something was very wrong.

"Please let me in. I'll explain in a moment because you're not going to like it," Erik said quietly, and Nadir noticed that he was wincing and speaking through gritted teeth.

"Are you hurt?"

"I said I'll explain in a moment," his friend replied. "Please. If they find me, they'll kill me."

Nadir's eyes widened at that, but he quickly stepped aside to let his friend into his home. "Get in here," he said, and once Erik was inside, he walked onto the front step to scan the street for anyone who might have been following his friend. As he did, though, he felt his stomach drop when he looked towards the Opera House and caught the faintest glimpses of flames licking out of the windows, and that was when the severity of the situation began to truly set in for him.

He swiftly closed and locked the door, trying to take a breath to slow his pounding house, before he turned to find his friend and get to the bottom of everything. "Darius, if anyone else knocks, do not open the door until I say. If I say, that is," he said when his servant stepped out of the kitchen.

"Yes, sir," Darius said softly, then nodded towards the sitting room. "I'm going to fetch your first aid supplies, sir. I suspect he's been injured; shot is my first guess, but I cannot say that for certain."

"Yes, I thought the same. Thank you, Darius," Nadir replied with a sigh before he stepped into the sitting room and found Erik on his sofa, leaning heavily against the arm and taking noticeably laboured breaths. "You had better start explaining right now."

Erik nodded slightly and opened his eyes to look at his friend. "I...I stole Christine away after the opera. I took Piangi's place and performed with her, but she pulled my mask and wig off at the end and I took her below," he began. "The...the Vicomte followed, I...had him in the lasso while I demanded that Christine choose one of us, but..."

He trailed off then and Nadir noticed that he had started to cry, though he turned his head to try and hide it. "She kissed me, Daroga," he finally managed to say, though his voice was thick and broke at the end of his sentence. "Twice. I knew I couldn't keep her after that, so I let them go, but the mob was after me. I barely had time to stay when Christine came back to...to say goodbye before I had to run. I came here, I couldn't think of anywhere else to go."

"And they shot you on the way out," Nadir said with a sigh, sitting on the sofa and gently untucking his friend's shirt from his waistband to inspect the wound on his side. "At least it only grazed you. Having a true bullet wound would just be the perfect addition to all of this, hm?"