The Art of Manipulation || Phantom of the Opera & Loki the God of Mischief ||

5. The Old Managers

She had slept soundly that night, a smile on her face as she dreamt about her performance, and of her Angel. She hadn't dreamed of Raoul; he wasn't worthy enough to appear in her fantasy world. She had been excited to see her childhood companion after so many years but she never took to liking him the way he liked her. I could tell this by the lack of faster breathing, faster pulse, whenever Raoul was around her, trying to court her. That rapid breathing and heart rate only appeared when Erik came near and spoke to her. Much like me.

"Do you think she could like me, Alouette? Do you think she could ever love poor, unhappy Erik?"

Love.

There was no more denial after Erik had uttered that word, his green eyes staring into mine, desperate for an answer in his favor.

"I'm sure she will, Erik."

He had hastily put down my answer, waving his hands by his head and sulking away, "No, Alouette. Not with the past Erik has. Not with Erik's face. That boy will surely win her heart. Good men always win. And Erik is a bad, bad man."

I had heard Erik speak of himself in third person only once before that night. It was when I had asked him about his past, what he had done, why he lived in the catacombs. He had said, "Erik has done many things to deserve the life he has." And we had left it at that. Up until then that is. Or up until tonight.

"Erik is a bad man. Erik is a murderer, a demon. A man too evil for someone as pure as Christine."

A murderer. I had thought, perplexed that the man standing before me had committed murder in his life.

He was a sweet man, a man striving to be good. A man running from his sins, hiding from them like Jonah, praying in the stomach of the opera house and hoping to eventually be let free. I knew that then and I know that now. I know now that Christine was his redemption, as I have said before. Christine is the woman God sent to command the evil stomach of Erik's past to vomit him out, to let him free.

And to answer a question that you may be asking me: No, I haven't seen Erik's face; the face he kept hidden behind a mask the color of purity. I had wanted to ask him many times, and then after the night of Christine...it was no longer my place to ask him.

And now, for the second time around, I kept to myself most of the day, already knowing what parts of Hannibal needed fixing for opening night. I lifted Piangi's flat notes, prevented the pianist's finger from slipping like it had before. Now, after reassuring Christine she would be fantastic in her debut, I sat on the top of the stairway that led to the lower catwalk above the stage. I kept my head in my hands, holding tight to trap my sanity within my head. My mind kept flashing to what had happened the day after tomorrow. Erik had been anxious, worried about the young man who courted his new found love. So he had taken new steps at making Christine his own...

"I had seen him, Madame Alouette. He brought me to him." Christine had trembled like I am right now; her eyes wide, her lips pale. "He is not an angel, he is a man. He is the Opera Ghost." She had cried; cold, heavy tears falling from her chestnut eyes. She told me of the lair, the lake, the bed that looked like a swan. All the things I have seen so many times. She told me of Erik, the man who wore a mask.

I had held her small form close as she wept, comforting her, assuring her, "Your Angel of Music is a lot like your father. Like your father he keeps hidden and in solitude because he is homesick for a home he never had." She had held onto my dress, her tears wetting my hair, "You can give him that home, Christine. And he will love you with every part of his soul." I had pulled back and brought her forward, cupping her soft cheeks with my hands and wiping away her tears. "He has so much love to give, and no one to give it to." I felt my voice threaten to break, "I promise you he will not hurt you." Her crying calmed, her sobs becoming no more than a quiet whimper. "Beneath that mask he wears is one of the kindest souls that has ever lived, he only needs someone to be kind to."