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

-Whose Is The Face In The Mask?-

I don't want Loki as a lover. I don't want any of those Asgardians as a lover. I don't feel anything for them, even though they had feelings for me. They are all attracted to me, for who isn't attracted to music?

A string of notes weaved their way through the many layers of floor and ceiling, traveling to my ears and causing my eyes to flutter shut. Who isn't attracted to music?

All of those Asgardian suitors and who do I genuinely become attracted to? A mortal. A breakable, unstable mortal. A man that will die centuries before a wrinkle will ever crease my skin.

But, oh, that music.

I have never heard such sweet music. Never in the one hundred plus years of my life. My ears will never be the same. No other sounds from Earth or the other Nine Realms will sate my needs any longer. Not now, not after hearing Erik's music; the music that puts all other music to shame. Even music I myself have written. If other composers heard Erik's music they would surely gather up all of their work and burn them, too embarrassed at their attempt to make music. Too embarrassed that they had the audacity to think they knew what the word "music" even meant, for they obviously didn't.

I ran down the empty hallway, my hair falling over my shoulders every time I slowed down to round a sharp corner. I lifted the hem of my sherbet colored dress to keep it off the floor and away from my frantic feet. I made it down the many levels in record time, my heart beating fast not because of the running, but because of the music it followed.

I looked across the underground lake at the man sitting at his organ, his seat of sovereignty. My bosom rose and fell, heaving for breath. My hair was a tangled mess that I didn't bother to fix, or didn't notice to fix. The candlelight reflected off the water's ripples, the scattered light moving across my dress.

I stared at the man's back, his torso leaning forward and swaying side to side as he put his body and soul into his music. The sound rose, my own soul rising along with it until it was lost in the clouds and drifting back to my homeland. Just before it touched ground in that golden city in the sky, the music came to its end, the notes dying away and fading into the stone walls surrounding us. I opened my eyes that had involuntarily shut, struggling to find the breath he had robbed from me.

He sat calmly, his arm raised above the keys to write on the sheet music splayed in front of him. I quietly appeared at his side, too eager and impatient to walk the distance around the lake to get to him. My breathing still fast and my face still overly giddy, I said, "Hello." 

The masked man jumped, leaping from his chair and whipping around to face me.

I raised my hands to show him I meant no harm, my eyes darting to the coiled up lasso hanging from his waist, "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to frighten you!"

"How did you find me again?! I closed off the doors and changed the traps!" His eyes were alive with a fiery furry. He kept his hand on his lasso, ready to attack me should I made the slightest suspicious move.

Licking my lips, I kept my voice low and harmless, "I just...found you."

"But how?!"

"I don't know! I just did!" I shrugged my shoulders and raised my hands a little higher, "I promise you I mean no harm."

He stared at me long and hard, those striking green eyes evaluating every inch of me. After a long while he relaxed, his fingers twitching before moving away from his weapon, "Is this going to be a normal thing now? Am I always going to randomly find you in my domain?"