Seal My Fate•Phantom of the Opera Fanfiction

Chapter 16: We Have All Been Blind

Wow... we're making progress a lot faster than I thought we would.

Happy Saturday, everyone!!

You know, I long for the day when I can say "Your chains are still mine, you belong to ME!" to the whole PoTO story and then explode through the ground, but at this point I've pretty much accepted the fact that that day will never come.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meg

Eve and Cécile chattered away in the corner as always. Christine's bed was covered in little sheets of paper, some blank, some holding a plethora of neat, loopy letters, and some showing musical notes that spelled out melodies I didn't recognize, though I had to admit I'd never had any formal teaching on reading sheet music.

I knew better than to ask questions when Christine was in one of these moods. She would break out of it in a week or so and vaguely explain herself. Everything, for the most part, was in its place in the ladies' dorm room. The one thing that was missing was the intruder telling horror stories.

My attention was seized by a faint sound of footsteps, followed by a gentle knock on the door.

"May I come in?" asked a man's voice.

We collectively looked around the room to make sure everyone was fully clothed and in a more or less proper sitting position before shouting in unison "come in!"

It was Raoul. He looked both nervous and relieved to see me, and he quickly crossed the room and took my arm.

"Meg," he sighed, "may I speak with you?"

"Of course," I smiled, masking my confusion.

Raoul glanced around the room before leaning forward and adding, just above a whisper, "Away from here?"

I nodded and let him out of the room and down the hall a bit, stopping a few times to ask if we were far enough for his comfort. After about the third time, he stopped me.

"Meg," he sighed, still glancing around, "look, it's nothing, really. Would... would you like to go for a walk?" He still looked nervous, like the thing he had meant to tell me was still on his mind, but he waved it off every time I asked.

"Of course," I smiled, "when?" Raoul simply took my bare hand in his properly-gloved one and pulled me even farther down the hall. He glanced down at my knee-length skirt and chuckled, drawing a giggle from me.

"Go change into something you can wear in public, I shall wait for you."

"Very well," I laughed, turning to leave.

"Meg," he called, still clearly nervous. His mouth opened and closed a few times in uncertain hesitation before he finally spoke. "Could you... bring someone other than your mother?"

I stared back at him for a few seconds before I'd fully processed what he'd said, acknowledged him, and made my way back to the dormitories to find Cécile.

"Hi," I smiled at her, "do you know where your mother is?" She nodded without taking her eyes from the paper she was staring at. "Where is she?" I asked, realizing she was only half-listening.

"I think she went to dust the furniture in the private boxes."

"Again?" I asked, surprised, "didn't she just do that two hours ago?" Cécile shrugged.

"That's my mother."

Sure enough, I found Mme Jammes dusting one of the bookshelves in Box 3. Her natural smile widened significantly at the sight of me, which was a good sign that I could ask her for a favor.