Diamonds and Emeralds (Revival)

Chapter 8: Worries and Blossoming Love

The day of the Don Juan rehearsals came and everyone got together on the stage, as the managers said they had a huge announcement. "Ladies and Gentlemen, as some of you may have know, there has been a rumor going around that an old favorite is coming back, Ms. Christine Daae is here to stay with us." Monsieur Firmin smiles and everyone claps. Rosaline looks up when she heard the words 'Old favorite.' Thinking that she could be replaced at any given moment, And then without a second thought, she looks down at her feet. "Furthermore, she will be the understudy for Amnita should Rosaline be sick on leave, or something else. That's all we have for now. Now, let's get to work." Monsieur Andre says and everyone got into places. Rosaline's mind almost sighed in relief at the thought of not being replaced, but her surprised look from earlier caught the attention of Christine as she had began to worry about what might be wrong. Everyone opened up their books with the score clean as ever, and began to go through the first verses.

After practice, Rosaline began to get a bit frustrated. She never really was a great fan of the term 'old favorite.' As her childhood memories of that term were terrible. Being the middle child of 7, Rosaline never really was given attention as much and only found love with the older children, twin brothers Peter and Dimitri, and sister Anya. They treated her as one of their own. Soon enough after looking over the costume, She heard a knock at the door, and asked "Who is it?" Response, "It's Me, Christine. And Raoul is here too. Could we talk with you for a second?" Hesitantly, Rosaline called back with a "Yes" and opened up the door for them, then she closed it behind her and sat down on the new love-seat she bought.

Christine looks at her and shows the concern she has for her. "Rosaline, we noticed that you looked kind of worried during the announcements earlier today. Is something the matter?" And Raoul spoke along with her "Take your time, we have all day here." His soothing voice says to her. Rosaline collected herself and exclaims rather subtly "I thought I would have been replaced hearing the words 'Old favorite'."

Christine looked at Raoul who almost looked surprised at what she said to them. A feeling that she would be replaced? After a brief moment of silence, Christine looked back at her and responded rather surprised with "Good heavens, of course not. I would never replace somebody that was a close friend of mine. Only snobbish goody two shoed people would do that." She told her, then sat down next to her, placing a hand on the armrest. "Say, have I ever told you about the Prima Donna that was here before you?" Christine asked her and she responded with "You are talking about Carlotta, correct? Oh yes, I have heard from Meg plenty of times." And we share a laugh.

Christine continued on with "She even accused me of being behind the whole Phantom madness.. Some stuff I didn't do. I was kind of jealous about her rank too, and to be honest with you Rosaline, I kinda got over it with time when I heard about what happened to her." Rosaline gasped and asked "What? What happened to her?" Raoul sighs and shows an article from a month after the disaster about her passing and tells Rosaline "After the death of her Piangi, she wallowed in guilt, and died of a broken heart. Some say that her tears were still warm on the cold and frigid body of hers." Rosaline sighs and looked at her hands, knowing that her words mean too much to handle. "I feel bad now for feeling jealous earlier. I am terribly sorry." To which Christine placed a hand on her shoulder and whispered "You're okay. Just know that Rosaline. I would never hurt your reputation and be a backstabber at all. You are literally like a new sister to me." And the three share a group hug before they left. Rosaline puts her costume back and heads through the mirror, calling out "Hello?" To the Phantom. She gets on the boat and rows to his lair where he was waiting for her.

Erik finished putting together the personal opera for Rosaline and he hears her voice call out to him. Quickly, He hid the script and standed at the organ when she comes in on the boat and says "There you are Monsieur. Say, why haven't you told me your name since we met? I have said mine." Looking away, Erik tried to keep my composure and told her his name. "It's Erik Destler." Her eyes almost light up as bright as the stars above and gives out a compliment he never thought would be told. "That is a really sweet name for a man like you." Hearing that, he held her close in an embrace and never let go until she whispers "Я люблю тебя." Confused, Erik gives her a bit of a strange look until she giggles and rubbed her neck. "Oops. I'm sorry. That means 'I love you' in Russian." "Well, then je t'aime aussi." He spoke back and the two of them both looked at each other in the eyes.

Rosaline leans in and kisses him for the first time to which he freezes up for a moment but soon relaxes as this was genuine and it was okay, not from before where it was used to free Christine. They pull away and embrace each other once more before Rosaline goes home for the night, waving goodbye to him.

(I actually really like this. Thanks for reading Chapter 8 of Diamonds and Emeralds.)