Before the Phantom

A Farewell

Three months into the hiatus, and not much had changed.  Christine finally approached Nadette, asking if she had heard anything of the masked man. 

Nadette had promised Erik that she would remain oblivious.  As far as anyone aside from the two of them knew, she was as clueless as everyone else.

Christine seemed to accept her white lie as truth.  If her Angel was ignoring her, why wouldn't he treat Nadette the same?

In reality, Nadette had been visiting her friend around twice a week, and the two had been having a nice, though somewhat awkward time together.

Both of them had been feeling the gradual change in affection toward one another. For Nadette, it was confusing. Erik had always meant so much to her, but why was he suddenly becoming more than her friend?

For Erik, it was frustrating. He had dedicated his whole existence to the angelic soprano who had hypnotized him the very night she arrived in his domain. Yet, he was beginning to see her for what she was: simply a girl. Young, naive, and still learning.

His opera was suffering for his uncertainty, and that frustrated him more than anything. 

Nadette watched him as he balled up what must've been his tenth piece of paper and tossed it over his shoulder in frustration.  She watched him as he got up roughly from his organ and stalked off to wander the corridors in an attempt to calm himself.

After she could no longer hear his footsteps, she slowly approached the organ, humming the incomplete duet to herself.  She was slightly shocked at the boldness of Erik's work, but she could not deny its beauty.  It seemed he had created the rather scandalous verses, but stopped there.  Now, it seemed he was at a loss as he was attempting to create a chorus. 

"... In my mind I've already imagined our bodies intwining, defenseless and silent.  Now I am here with you.  No second thoughts.  I've decided...decided..." Nadette sang softly to herself.

She knew it was meant to be a...passionate opera, and so, uncertainly, she began experimenting with the next few lines.  Erik had seemingly been trying to lighten the piece, perhaps to reflect on the young Christine's innocence, but Nadette thought that this was no time to sing a child's piece.  Christine's character was meant to be becoming a woman.

So she began, using a darker tone than her friend had been considering.  She did not hear him approach, nor did she notice him watching, listening, from across the room.

"...Past the point of no return...no going back now.  Our passion play has now at last begun.  Past all thought of right or wrong, one final question.  How long should we two wait before we're one?"

Erik watched, mesmerized at the woman as she continued his work.  She was not ashamed to be singing such things?  He did not have time to consider as he listened to what she sang next.

"When will the blood begin to race, the sleeping bud burst into bloom?  When will the flames at last consume us?"

Nadette turned sharply as Erik's voice joined with hers, and the pair created music, neither of them noticing how close they were to each other.

"Past the point of no return.  The final threshold.  The bridge is crossed so stand and watch it burn.  We've passed the point of no return..."

The pair stood in silence, both equally hypnotized by the other until Nadette caught sight of a sketch of Christine resting on the arm of a chair.

"I'm sorry.  I thought perhaps I could help you write." She said softly. Erik could not understand why Nadette could suddenly no longer look him in the eye.

Why did he want her to?

He cleared his throat, suddenly feeling quite anxious, "Ah.  I suppose you will continue surprising me.  I fear I shall never truly know you."

"No," she answered softly, "Sometimes I feel I hardly know myself."

Erik watched as she turned, moving past him gently, and began tidying up the paper scraps he had thrown away in his frustration. He wondered what he would do without her here. Surely he would be pining over a girl who saw him only as a teacher. He would be driven to madness.

Christine's angelic voice was the instrument of his creation, but he wondered if she would be so willing to assist as Nadette.

And as he thought about the two of them, an unsettling question came to mind. If he could only have one, which would he send away? The answer, of course, was automatic.

And it terrified him.

"This won't do." He muttered quietly, mostly to himself.

Nadette looked up from her task, "What won't do?"

"I am distracted."

"Distracted?"

"Yes! You are distracting me."

Nadette straightened, turning to face him, "Oh I'm sorry, I didn't realize I was making so much noise."

She watched Erik shake his head, "No, Nadette."

"Oh. I see."

Erik's heart sank as he observed Nadette's face go from confusion, to understanding, to sadness. With great difficulty, he kept his apology from pouring from his mouth, begging her forgiveness, pleading with her to stay.

Instead, his eyes met hers and the two said goodbyes without words, each questioning the other's resolve.

Nadette could not bear to think of herself as a distraction to him, and so, before her welling tears spilled from her eyes, she turned and began her journey back to the surface, knowing that she would not return to her childhood friend, nor hear from him, for some time.

To Erik, it seemed all he could to not to chase after her, and he wondered if the drumming of his heart matched her own as he watched her form fade into the blackness of the corridor.