A Phantom and His Family

Chapter 22: A Matter of Life and Death

Evangeline's POV

The two of us ran towards the children and Madeleine, our carriage in plain sight filled with our belongings. I got in, waiting for Erik to hop in after me, when he stopped suddenly and looked at the fighting that was happening before speaking again, determination gleaming in his eyes.

"Evangeline, stay here with the children. I will be right back, I promise!"

I sat back, stunned at what I heard.

"Erik? What are you doing?! Get back in here!" I yelled, trying to get him to look at us.

Ignoring my pleas, he went to the back of the carriage and took out two swords and the old Punjab Lasso. He handed me a sword, and with a final kiss, ran off to save a crippled woman from an angry Romani. Madeleine and I looked at each other in silent agreement as she took up her rifle and my grip tightened around the sword's hilt. We each took a corner of the white sheet that we had packed inside to cover the carriage over since we had no roof over it.

"Kids, lay down in the back of the carriage and do not move, talk, make noise, or come up until I come back. " I ordered.

"But mommy-", Osmand said, a fearful expression clouding over his face.

"Now. Both of you."

Without any more objections, the twins laid down on the carriage floor and we covered the entire thing over with the sheet, hiding them. Just as we finished and were stepping away from the covered mass, we were met with members of Javert's posse, their weapons drawn and rushing towards us.

In an instant, a feeling of adrenaline kicked in and soon, I was waving my sword wildly, slashing at them, cutting their flesh and parring their blows while my mother-in-law began to fire at them, dwindling their numbers. Erik had taught me how to sword fight during the first year of our marriage, but all technique went out the window. All I could think of was the need for survival as more men came towards us, malicious intent gleaming in their eyes.

Suddenly, I heard the all too familiar sound of a bullet wizzing towards me, followed by a pained howl. I quickly turned around to see that my husband's captor was holding up a smoking pistol, an evil-looking smirk spread across his face.

Immediately, I checked to see if I had been shot yet again or, God forbid, the carriage was shot instead.But when I didn't see blood gushing from me nor saw any holes near where the children hid, I knew that it could mean one thing.

Madeleine had been shot and we were all in deep trouble.

Erik's POV

The skirmish I caused had turned into an all out bloody battle as I maneuvered my way through, slashing and punjabing Gypsies and helping my fellow freaks escape from their clutches while tracking down Javert. His cronies seemed to multiply out of thin air as we defended ourselves against them left, right, and center, but in as fast as they appeared, we were faster at dissembling them. Soon, it seemed as if we would finally win our freedom.

With some renewed strength, I climbed to the top of one of the cages, looking out to see all of what was happening around us and trying to see where Javert was hiding, determined to fight him face to face. In looking above the fighting before me, however, I began to notice that though some of the Gypsies were siding with Javert, there were others that were coming to our aid. There were some who were fighting alongside us and even gave them some of their own weapons while others were trying to get the incapacitated and wounded out of the area to take care of them.

I then decided to look towards my family, only causing my heart to drop into the pit of my stomach as I saw my darling wife and my mother on the ground and Javert holding a smoking gun.

No. Not again!

I swiftly jumped in front of him, sabre pointing at his chest and a snarl on my lips, which caused him to give a slight flinch in surprise,covering it up with a wicked grin.

"Well, look what the cat dragged in. I suppose that you are oh so protective of your brood if you were so anxious to stay and fight rather than flee like the first time."

I said nothing, my focus directly on him as my grip tightened around the sabre pointed at him.

"Now Living Corpse, how rude of you to not speak to your superior. I suppose I still need to teach you a lesson you'll never forget."

Suddenly, we were surrounded by his men, all of them cackling as one handed him a sabre and we began to duel. Our swords clattered with each swipe and parry, sparks dancing from the blades with each contact. I blocked and slashed in an earnest effort to live to see my children grow up, to not leave Evangeline a widow, and to protect my loved ones from ever seeing him again.

In a moment, however, I heard the scream of one of my children. My resolve quickly vanished as one of his men held onto my daughter, a gun to her head as she began to cry in fright. At that moment a hot, searing pain flashed onto my already injured arm, blood flowing from a newly aquired slash from Javert's blade. He had taken the opportunity to injure me when I was distracted. I then found myself on the floor, my jaw throbbing as he had punched me to the ground, causing my sabre to be kicked out of my hand.

Javert stood over me, glee written all over his face.

"Bravo, Living Corpse. I must admit that you've grown into an expert swordsman. But now it's time to end your little game and get back into your cage. And this time, you will not have any way of escaping. Or at least, any reason to."

He then stomped his foot on my chest, pinning me down as his men began to close in around us. I struggled, tears of rage and panic distorting my vision as he continued to laugh. I wasn't strong enough to defeat him and now my family was going to have to pay the consequences.

All was lost.

But then, a single gunshot was sounded, stifling him mid-laugh. Then, with a thud, he fell backwards onto the ground. There was a moment of complete silence before his men began to run away in a retreat. With Javert's body weight off of my chest, I painfully got up to see what happened, astonished at what I was to find.

My mother was standing up straight, a smoking rifle in her hands, throwing it away from her as she suddenly swooned to the ground.

A/N: Hello my fellow Phantom Phans! Missed me much? ☺

I am so sorry that I haven't been updating as much as you guys wanted as a lot of stuff has been happening over the past few months.

I just graduated from high school a month ago and I have been busy with cleaning out my room and packing stuff up to take with me on campus.🎓🎉

But thank you guys so much for the 25.5k views and the 1.75k votes! You guys are awesome! 😁

So, Madeleine has killed Javert, but it seems as if she's not far behind death's door.

What will happen to her?

Will she live?

Vote, Comment, and Share and I'll see you guys next time.

M'kay, bye! 🌺