Before the Phantom

A Plea

Nadette ran through the tunnels after Meg's arrival back into the opera house. She had barely come to when Meg announced to her mother that there had been no sign of the man, but that Christine and Roul had been found safe.

"This is all he knows," Madame Giry mused, "Wherever he has gone, I dread to think of what he may have planned for himself."

That was enough for Nadette.

"I have to find him, Madame." She told her firmly, "I cannot leave him alone again."

The older woman looked at the pianist carefully, so this is what Erik had been hiding from her.

"Yes, Nadette. I believe you are right." She turned to her daughter, "Help Mme. Martin change her clothes. I fear she will need to move quickly."

Only minutes later, she was running, ignoring the pounding in her head. The dark feeling in the pit of her stomach growing more intense as she drew closer to his home.

She slowed when it came into view. It had been utterly destroyed. So much had been taken or broken. Papers were strewn all over the place. It would take Erik ages to re-organize everything.

But where was he?

Just then she heard a sound like air escaping from the river behind her. Her eyes widened when she saw more bubbles rise to the surface just a little ways off shore.

"No," she whispered, "Please, God, no!"

Nadette ran frantically into the dark water reaching the spot where the bubbles had only recently stopped and reached down.

Nothing.

She took air into her lungs and plunged herself fully underwater. She had been a wild little girl, of course she learned how to swim.

When she felt the hem of his shirt beneath her fingers she nearly choked from the relief it gave her, and she pulled the man out of the water, dragging him to the bank with a great deal of effort.

"Please!" She begged, "Please!"

Was she asking God or Erik or anyone else who could hear her? She did not know, nor did she care.

"Don't you dare leave me now." She spoke to Erik now, determinedly, "You made me a promise, now keep it!"

She took him in her arms then, holding him, and rocking him back and forth, willing him to give her some sign that there was still life in him.

Her hand brushed his hair back, ran down both sides of his face, settling on the right. Her thumb brushed his cheek gently, going over the craters of his skin.

"Erik," she whispered, nearly out of hope, "Come back to me."

Nadette then heard the most beautiful sound she had ever been exposed to. The man in her arms coughed once, and then again. She wiped away the water he expelled, and wiped away her tears, relieved laughter bubbling from her chest.

Erik began to squirm, but someone was holding him tight against them. Was that laughter he heard in the distance? It was a lovely noise whatever the reason for it.

He forced his own eyes to open, and the first thing he saw was a pair of tear-filled, icy blue eyes, gazing down at him. The woman was smiling too. He assumed that's where the laughter was coming from.

He blinked a few times, his vision clearing, and realized where he was. He realized who was holding him.

"Nadette?" He questioned, still a little unsure.

She laughed again, nodding gently.

He tried to raise his head up then, but found he didn't have the strength to.

"You are here?" Erik asked her quietly. Why had she come? Did she not despise him?

"I'm here, you fool of a man."

"You're all wet."

"So are you."

He recalled then why he was soaked to the bone.

"Oh." He mumbled.

Nadette once again brushed his hair back, "You were going to leave me, Erik."

"I did not think you would have ever wanted anything to do with me again. After all I've put you through, why on earth are you here, Nadette?" Erik's voice has begun shaking. He was cold yes, but everything had become so overwhelming to him. Now, he was in the arms of a woman he thought would hate him forever.

She raised an eyebrow at the man, giving him a small, gentle smile, "I could not leave you alone again. Even though to spoke to me horribly that night, I love you far too much to abandon you."

Her eyes widened a little when she realized her own confession, and she continued a little more quickly, "However, I understand that your love for Christine is greater than what you have for me. It hurts me, of course, but it's understandable. She is young, and beautiful and tremendously talented, and I believe she has a kind heart in truth and-"

Nadette rambled on, trying to cover up her slip. Erik, however, has found the strength to sit up a little, and heard none of it.

"...You love me?"

The question stopped Nadette in her tracks, and she looked at Erik. He sounded so shocked. He had so much disbelief. Of course he did.

She sighed. Her hand falling from his cheek to her own lap, and said quietly, "More than I could ever express."

Something warm hit her hand. Then again. When she looked back up at Erik, she saw his tears falling freely down his face. She was quick to bring her hands up to wipe them away, but he grabbed her wrists gently, and leaned in to take her lips with his own.

Nadette pulled back in shock, "But Christine-"

"I let them go, Nadette. I had let myself mistake my obsession with her voice with love. I did not know what love was until you came back to me."

Nadette searched his eyes, tilting her head, "Do you mean it?"

"With my entire soul, damned as it may be."

Nadette grinned at him, though she made a mental note to convince him that he was not, in fact, damned.

Erik was taken aback as she kissed him again with a new intensity.

The pair were soaked and freezing cold, and they each earned their own scars that day, some emotional ones they knew they would have to work to overcome. Still, in their hearts there was bliss.

Erik was struck with a thought as he pulled away to study Nadette's features, shocked to find to trace of repulsion.

Perhaps, he decided, life may be worth living after all.

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Dearest readers,

We are approaching the end of our time together. There will likely be one (maybe two) more chapters and an epilogue.

Thank you for sticking with the story, I'll be honest, I hit a major wall with it, but I love the idea for it and I love Nadette too much to stop completely.

You make me want to keep writing.

Thank you, and at the time of my writing this, Merry Christmas.

Yours,
Kate.