Too Dark to Even Try (Beneath a Moonless Sky fanfic)

A Broken Goodbye

Disclaimer: I do not own POTO

This is going to be a super short chapter, I am super sorry.  It's my shortest chapter yet--purposely. It is to make it feel abrupt, almost like an unreal haze, as you will see in the chapter. My next two chapters will be much much much longer and will explain much much much more.

Please, comment, vote, and read on!

Erik woke to the sound of breathing in his ear.

Soft, gentle breaths almost like innocent sighs flooded his ear drums.

He opened his eyes and saw an arm laid across his bare abdomen, and a dark haired head lay across his naked chest.

Speaking of naked, Erik was.

Nothing but that old quilt covered him.

In a flash of memories, Erik began to understand what was going on.

Christine....touching...embracing...kissing....she was his lover.

Erik kissed her hair several times, before he realized she was asleep.

The sun had not yet risen, and the sky was still dark and moonless. But Erik could tell it was morning, he could smell it in the fresh air that blew from the open window.

The night before seemed as a dream, a fantasy, yet, there she was, lying on him in all her glorious nakedness. It seem impossible, but the tangible proof lay in his wretched arms.

Oh, she was beautiful. Every part of her fascinated him, he could have touched and gazed upon her all night.

And she had kissed him back, with equal eagerness, and once even, begged him to touch her---to kiss her skin.

His heart beat quickened in memory.

Just then, he heard a noise come from his door.

Erik covered Christine, laying her beside him. His heart pounding in his chest.

The door opened with a creak, and he did not have time to grab his mask before someone slipped in.

A cloaked figure stood facing him in the dark of the room.

"Get out," Erik whispered in a death filled tone. "Now," he added.

The figure reached up and pulled the hood of the cloak down, revealing a head.

It was Camille.

Thank God for the dark, which forbid her to see Erik's unmasked face.

"Erik," she whispered, her voice laced with anxiety and worry. "We must leave now."

"What?" He gasped. "Get out of here, Camille."

"You fool! The lawmen are here!" She raised her voice.

"Be quiet," he whispered sternly. "You will wake her!" For the first time, Camille noticed Christine. She gasped, but quickly recovered.

"A lawman is searching the rooms---his name is l'agent ValJon, and he is looking for you. You have to leave now."

Panic rose in Erik's chest.

"Here, now?"

"Now, Ik," Camille said again.

"I must wake her," Erik whispered turning to Christine.

"No one must know where you are being hidden," she pleaded. "You can go to her after, now hurry!" Her voice was frantic, and Erik nodded.

"Alright. I will go, turn so I may dress," he whispered, and she turned.

Erik slipped out of bed and dressed himself quick as he could, placing his mask on his face. How close were they? How much time did he have?

"Make haste!" Camille's low tone harsh and panicked.

Erik placed one last kiss upon Christine's lips, gentle and soft.

"Goodbye, my love. I shall see you soon," he whispered tenderly. She did not stir.

"Come!" Camille grabbed his arm and pulled him away.

The dashed silently down the stairs, Camille cursing under her breath the whole way.

She brought him out into the street, but instead of crossing it, brought him into an alley away of a sort.

"There is a man whole, just there," she said, pointing to a covered hole in the stone road. Erik nodded, worry and panic flooding through him. They must not find him, not when he was about to have everything he ever wanted.

"Go!" Camille choked back a sob.

Panic seized once more at Erik's heart, and he ran to the manhole, opening in. He turned once more to his friend, his eyes grateful.

"Make sure she is safe..." Erik begged before sinking down into darkness.

He could see nothing, hear nothing. His scenes did nothing for him besides play cruel tricks on him.

Itchy paranoia tore at him. Sometimes he would hear a lawman's voice in his ear--but turn and find nothing but empty blackness staring back at him.

This thoughts turned to Christine. Was she alright? Had the lawmen forced her to answer their horrid questions?

One question pegged him the most.

What would she do when she awoke and found him gone?

Christine would wait for him, Erik knew it. She loved him...he knew. She would be his wife...and they would have a son--Gustave.

Erik tried to keep aware of all that was around him, but he could hardly lift his eyelids. Sleep came like a drug, and doomed him into unconsciousness, the cold, dark world of the manhole swallowing him, and the world of lawmen and lovers disappeared before his closed eyes.