The phantom's daughter

Chapter Four

Victoria woke up in her own bed to an unnatural silence. There was never a morning where she didn't wake up to the sound of her father playing the piano. Alarmed, she looked around frantically for her father. He never left her alone, he would always inform her if he had to leave and would invite Madame Giry to come keep Victoria company while we was gone. She knew she'd be in trouble if she left to find him, so she ran to her fathers bed to see if he at least left a note. Yet, she tripped and scraped her knee, causing her to let out a loud cry of fear and pain. She crawled under his desk instead, staying there until she heard the sound of boots on the rocky floor.

"Victoria?" He called to her once he noticed she wasn't in her bed. "Where are you, child?" He asked worried. He then heard a soft sniffle coming from under the desk and followed the sound to find her. He looked under it to find Victoria sitting there, her knees pulled to her chest with tear-stained cheeks. "What are you doing under there?" He asked worried, he crawled under the desk with her.

"I didn't know where you were, I got worried," She wiped her tears with the back of her hand. "I fell trying to find you," She sniffled, gesturing to her scrapped-up knee. "Where were you?"

"I'm sorry my angel, that is a surprise," He let out a soft sigh. "I should have left a note to tell you I had left," He sighed again, looking at her scraped knee.

"I forgive you, Papa," She smiled softly. Once he was sure that she was alright, Erik tried to move but couldn't.

"Can you do me a favor, Victoria?" He asked, trying to get out from under the desk, but failing.

"Sure, what kind of flavor, Papa?" She asked plainly, making Erik realize that her hearing comprehension skills may need more work than he thought.

"Flavor? No, I said favor," He said confused.

"I know, that's what I said," She replied with a straight face. He opened his mouth to say something but decided it wasn't worth fussing over with her at that moment.

"Can you give me a slight push. I'm stuck," He chuckled, realizing the humor of the situation. She gave him the best she could, managing to get him out from under the desk. He took her hand and helped her up.

"What about my leg?" Victoria picked at the scab that had already started to form.

"Well, Madame Giry is visiting later this evening with some necessities." He mentioned as he took off his cloak and put it on the back of a chair. "She can take a look at it then."

"Take a look at what?" A voice spoke from behind them. They both turned to face the source to notice it was the woman they were talking about. "My goodness, what happened?" Madame Giry exclaimed in shock when she noticed Victoria's knee.

"I fell and hurt myself," Victoria looked down, embarrassed.

Madame Giry looked at Erik suspiciously, but didn't say anything else about it. She put down the two baskets she was carry by his feet, before turning her attention to Victoria once more. She offered her hand to Victoria and lead her away and helped her sit on a stool to look at her leg. She wiped it clean with a clean rag dipped in some cool water, then bandaged her knee to keep the wound safe. After she was done she went back to pick up the basket, knocking into Erik's shin as she did so.

"I've brought you a gift, little flower." Madame Giry smiled, squatting to be eye level with Victoria. "Would you like to see it?" She smiled even more when she saw how excited Victoria had become.

She pulled a new pale blue dress from the smaller basket. The dress had grey ruffles on the bottom of the skirt, around the front of the corset of the dress, as well as the ends of the sleeves. There were also grey buttons that didn't seem to serve a purpose other than for decoration that were of the same color.

"Made from the finest fabrics in all of Paris" Madame Giry boasted as Victoria ran her fingers over the soft fabric. "Why don't you go try it on?" She helped Victoria off the stool. Victoria quickly ran to her room to try on her new dress.

"What are you doing?" Erik whispered in an angry tone.

"What do you mean?" Madame Giry responded calmly, her voice not wavering. "She's a growing young lady, she needed a new dress."

"Who's going to see it?" Erik hissed. "She never leaves," He kept his voice quiet as to not alarm Victoria, but his tone was anything but kind. "Are you trying to hurt her feelings? I just got her to stop talking about going out,"

"I only want what's best for her, you know that to be true," Madame Giry's voice showed a hint of annoyance, but she quickly cleared her throat and tried to keep her temper. "Watch your tone when you speak to me," She spoke as she smoothed out the wrinkles that had formed in the skirt of her dress. As she did this Victoria came back smiling ear to ear in her new dress.

"I love it, thank you," Victoria beamed as she spun around for them to see the dress. "It fits me perfectly," She wrapped her arms around Madame Giry and squeezed her tightly.

"Of course, Flower," She smiled and returned the hug. "Not too tightly now, Child," She chuckled a little under her breath. "How are your lessons going, your father isn't working you too hard now, is he?" She raised an eyebrow and made direct eye contact with Erik as she said this.

"Papa has been teaching me a new aria," Victoria revealed sheepishly. "We rehearse it at least twice a week,"

"Is that so?" Madame Giry smiled proudly.

"She is learning faster than I can teach her some days," Erik joked, walking toward his piano. "Victoria, why don't you sing a little of what we've been working on for, Madame Giry?" He gestured for her to stand next to him as he sat on his piano bench. Victoria nodded excitedly and joined her father by his side, soon followed by Madame Giry.

He fixed the sheet music above the keys and motioned where in the song they were starting. Then he began by playing the instrumental of the song before the lyrics were supposed to begin. Victoria definitely had the voice of her mother, something that brought a tear to both her father and Madame Giry's eye. Not only did she have her mother's voice, but she inherited her father's musical genius. If she were born into any other family, she would be considered a child prodigy and could make a name for herself based on her talents.

But sadly the world would never know of her talents, at least not yet.