The Demon's Child and the Phantom

Chapter 19

Rosella's POV:

Meg and Madame Giry had been a mixture of outraged and upset over hearing what happened to me over the years. Some of the outbursts were done in French though, so I didn't know what they were saying exactly. Daroga had come in after we finished talking and I think he had been listening at the door at one point, but decided not to say anything to any of us. We had gone home in silence and he didn't ask me anything else about what had happened today and I was grateful. All I wanted to do was sleep and pretend that today had never happened at all.

Erik's POV:

I had found myself frozen in the passageway by Daroga's office as I heard what sounded like someone falling. Then I heard her start to sob, the sound unnerves me as I have never heard her make such a broken sound before, nor have I ever seen or heard her cry before. I listened in to Madame Giry asking her what was wrong and then I listened to Rose's answer.

"I've never been pretty. Every owner I've ever had said as much. I'm the Demon's Child through and through."

I found myself enraged with the thought that she had been told she wasn't pretty, she's the most beautiful creature to ever walk the Earth. She is no more a Demon's Child than I am an Angel. I tune back in to hear what Giry is telling her to comfort her, prepared to burst into the office if it isn't good enough.

"Rosella, you are beautiful."

"No, I'm not. If I was maybe he could love me like I love him but he doesn't."

"Daroga?"

I feel my blood begin to boil at the thought of her loving Daroga, though I can't name exactly why. Are my feelings for her so strong? Do I love her or am I simply trying to protect her from being hurt again? I hold my breath as I wait to hear her answer and it finally comes out in between her sobs.

"No! Erik!"

"You....you think you love Erik?"

"Yes, I kissed him but he didn't return it or say anything. If I was beautiful like Christine maybe I would have a chance but I don't! And it's all because of my curse!"

I find myself sliding down the side of the wall after I hear those words. She....she thinks she loves me? But I'm a monster, a murderer, a deformed demon of the night. How could she even think of me in that sense? She thinks she doesn't deserve me? She thinks she doesn't have a chance with me? She couldn't be more wrong. It's me that doesn't deserve her. I'm......an inhuman horror and she's.....she's an angel. Even if she was cursed, I would walk through hell and back to simply be near her.

She may not look like Christine but she is more than beautiful enough inside and out. She is not like Christine in the slightest, she is the most pure and amazing woman I have ever met. Yet she claims to have the ability to love me? I hear Giry comfort her in hushed tones and I force myself up off the wall as I start walking back to my lair. Thinking softly of her and her words about me.

Could she love me without the mask? Christine couldn't but she had never truly loved me, she was just entranced by my music. But Rosella, she knows my story, knows who I am. She understands the horror that was and has been my life. Our pasts are so similar in the pain and the sorrow that is entangled in them. She has accepted that my past is muddy and bloody even, but she still says that she loves me? Yet I cause I her pain even now, I can only give her ugliness not beauty. Why does she love me?

I find myself sitting at my piano in my room, next to my coffin and I wonder how she would react to the fact that I sleep in a coffin. I start playing the tune that I had been writing for her, and close my eyes as I think of her. In the second bar of the music I realize with dread what I would feel if she left, never to return to me. In playing the song that I wrote for her, I realize I love her more than I ever did Christine.

I need to tell her I love her, but will she still love me without the mask. Could she? She's the first woman to hug me, to allow me to touch her and to carry her without screaming out in fear or cringing away in disgust. Will that remain unchanged after I show her? Will her mask of emotionless finally shatter when I take my own off?

I feel myself sigh as I stop playing and lay my head down on the piano. I hear a soft voice calling for Phantom, and it's not Daroga or my Rose, or even Madame Giry. I shoot up and rush up a side tunnel to come up behind the person on the stone steps facing the lake. I have my lasso in hand ready to deal with this intruder however I may need to.

"Who dare disturbs my hell!?"

"Monsieur, it's me...Meg Giry! I'm sorry, I-I had to come see you."

"Why is that? Have you no regard for your life?"

"I...I just wanted to tell you that....I think you are a fool."

"What did you say you little ballet rat?!?"

"You are a fool for not seeing that Rosella loves you!"

"I.......I know."

"Well you sh---wait you're agreeing with me?"

"Yes, I am. Now if you will excuse me, I have a composition to finish for my Rose. I would suggest you return to the surface and quickly before my insanity gets the better of me."

"If you have any feelings for her, tell her soon. She's been through a lot, and shouldn't be forced to wait if you have or don't have feelings for her."

I give her a sharp nod though she can't see it in the dark shadows I inhibit right now, as she walks back up the stone steps. I turn back slowly as I realize what I need to do the next time my Rose comes to me. It may be a few days before she returns but I know that eventually she will return or I will have Daroga bring her. And then I will be ready for her. Today I heard a woman say she loved me, but I need to see if her answer will stay the same once she sees the monster under the mask.