The Phantom's Daughter

12. Graveyard Battle

After the day's rehearsals were over, Christine pulled Elise aside to talk to her.
"I need you to cover for me" whispered Christine.
"Why? Where are you going?" Questioned Elise.
"I need to go to my fathers grave. There are things that I need to say to him" admitted Christine.
"But I thought Raoul didn't want you to leave the building, especially alone"
"He doesn't. Which is why you're going to cover for me, so that he doesn't find out"
"I don't suppose you would reconsider this plan, if I told you that this wasn't a good idea"
"No, because this is something I have to do. It will be fine, I promise".

"But it's snowing outside, and freezing cold" reminded Elise.
"I'll wear I thick coat. The cold doesn't really bother me anyway" replied Christine.
Elise sighed and nodded her head, "Alright fine, I'll cover for you".
Christine hugged Elise, "Thank you".
"You're welcome. Don't be too long though" replied Elise.
"I won't be, you'll hardly notice that I'm gone" reassured Christine.
"Good. You'd better going get going, before it gets too dark".

After getting dressed into the appropriate clothes, Christine made her way down towards the courtyard, with Elise at her side.
Although Elise didn't really want her friend to go alone, she knew that Christine was stubborn, and once she had decided to do something, there was no persuading her to change her mind.
Not wanting to step outside in the cold, Elise said goodbye to Christine inside, and began making her way back towards the theatre, so that she could practice her aerial tricks, without anyone watching.

Elise didn't get very far though, before Raoul ran into her, with a crazed look in his eye.
"Where's Christine?" He demanded, without apologising for bumping into her.
"Why do you need to know?" Questioned Elise as she patted herself down.
"I need to see her, but I can't seem to find her anywhere. I don't like her being on her own for too long"
"Well she was fine when I last saw her, so you don't need to worry about her wellbeing"
"Where is she then?"
"That's of no concern of yours. You don't own her. She can go wherever she pleases without your approval. So if she wants to visit her fathers grave, alone, then she is entitled to do that".

Elise only realised her mistake, once it was too late.
"I only meant that hypertheticly, she's not actually at the cemetery" backtracked Elise.
But it was too late, as Raoul had already run off down the corridor.
Intent on stopping him, Elise had no choice but to follow.
When they arrived in the courtyard where the horses and carriages lived, they found one of the coach drivers lying unconscious on the floor.
As the approached the man, Elise noticed a large cut on his head, which she assumed had been caused by him hitting the floor, as there was blood on the stones beside him.

"Is he...?" Faltered Elise, unable to finish her question.
Raoul approached the body, and placed his fingers against the coachmans neck.
"He's dead. And I think we know who's to blame" answered Raoul coldy.
Elise's stomach dropped, at the thought of her father killing an innocent man, only a few hours after his heart to heart with her.
"We don't know that for sure" Elise said quietly.
"I know you want to think the best of him, but he is a killer. He killed this man, so that he can take his place and be by Christine's side. Which is why I must go after them" announced Raoul.

Raoul ran into one of the nearby stables, and came out on a white horse.
Elise noticed his sword sheafed in his belt. That combined with the mad look on his face, scared Elise.
"Not without me you're not" said Elise firmly.
"I'm not bringing you" replied Raoul.
"Christine is my friend. I want to help" insisted Elise.
"Even if you weren't his daughter, I still wouldn't want you with me. You're a child"
"I am not. Besides, I think you'll find that I can take of myself".
Raoul sighed when he realised that Elise was not going to back down.
He lowered his arm towards her, so that he could pull her up onto the horse.
The two of them then rode off into the night, headed for the cemetery.

They didn't stop once they were at their location, as they continued riding until they could see the Daae memorial ahead of them.
The lights in the memorial were on, and Christine was stood in front of the steps, slowly climbing them, as if under a spell.
That was when Elise heard her fathers voice echoing out from inside the memorial.
She had heard him sing many times before, but this was different, because she had never heard him sing to Christine before.
She could now understand why her friend was infatuated with the phantom, for he really did sound like an angel of music.

Raoul leapt off the horse and ran towards his lover, leaving Elise to dismount on her own.
She too felt drawn to her fathers voice, and allowed herself to be pulled towards the memorial.
"Christine, whatever you believe, this man, this thing, is not your father" said Raoul, as he placed his arms around Christine, forcing her to look at him instead of the memorial.
But Christine was still focused on the phantom's song.
"Let her go for God's sake. Let her go!" Shouted Raoul as he turned to face the memorial.
This seemed to wake Christine up, as she looked at Raoul.
"Raoul?" She questioned, confused as to why he was there.

The phantom stopped singing, and revealed himself to the group.
He was stood on top of the memorial, looking down at them all.
"I didn't think that I invited you" sneered Erik, before jumping down onto the ground in front of them.
"Stay back" warned Raoul as he withdrew his sword from his belt, and pointed it at Erik.
Erik smiled, and removed his own sword, bowing mockingly at Raoul.
"I've been waiting a long time for this" admitted Erik, before lunging his sword at Raoul.

Elise screamed and jumped back with Christine, as the sound of metal on metal rang through the graveyard.
She had never seen a proper duel before, as the ones done at the theatre were carefully planned out, and only used blunt swords so that the actors didn't hurt each other.
Watching a duel in real life, was very different.
Elise could tell by the looks on the boys faces, that they both really wanted to hurt each other. And were willing to go to any lengths, to win Christine's affection.

Despite having the upper hand at first, Erik began to tire and slip up. Even though had killed several people, he wasn't superior when it came to dueling, as it wasn't something he had done before.
He used tricks and cleverness to kill people, so hand to hand combat was out of his comfort zone.
Eventually Raoul managed to disarm Erik, knocking him to the ground.
Raoul pointed his sword at Erik's throat, and Elise could tell that he wanted to run him through.

Even though Christine was there, and didn't know Elise's secret, she couldn't just stand by while her father was killed.
"Raoul, please don't. Please stop" begged Elise as she ran forward to where the men were.
"Turn around, you shouldn't have to see this" replied Raoul.
"No. Please don't do this"
"This monster has killed people"
"I know. And I know that you hate him. So don't do this for him, do it for me. Please don't make me an orphan. He is all I have"
Raoul looked up at Elise's terrified face, and lowered his arm.
He kicked Erik's sword away, and sheafed his own, before making his way over to Christine.
Raoul placed Christine onto the horse, before mounting himself.

"You'll have to find your own way back, as there isn't room on here" announced Raoul.
"We can't just leave her out here in the cold" Christine said quietly, who hadn't processed Elise's words properly.
"I'm sure her father can get her back safely. They still have the carriage you came in afterall" reminded Raoul, before pulling the reins and riding off into the distance.
"You shouldn't have done that" Erik said coldly as he stood to his feet.
"Well, I wasn't going to just stand by and let him kill you" replied Elise.

"What if they tell someone the truth about who you are?" Questioned Erik.
"Raoul already knew the truth, and Christine is my friend, so she won't want everyone to know the truth. She won't want to hurt me like that" replied Elise.
"I guess we'll find out tomorrow... Come on, I'd better get you back" admitted Erik.
Elise nodded her head, and the pair began walking to the carriage in complete silence.