Christine
The foils seized each other up. Both had aggressive stances: Erik cocky and Raoul defensive. Raoul spotted me and took a step forward.
I dashed to Erik's side, and he put a protective arm across my front. Danger charged the air with apprehensive energy. How cruel that now, so close to freedom, our escape should be frustrated!
"Christine!" Raoul called. His shirtfront was open and hair was slicked back. Another version of me, at another time, might have found him attractive. But not here and now. "Free her!" Raoul cried to Erik. "Do what you like, only free her! Have you no pity?"
Erik merely tossed his head back and laughed—a sound that was terrible to hear. Raoul should have fled and never looked back.
"Please, Raoul," I said. "Go back! I'm here of my own free will."
"But," he faltered, the struggle evident on his face. It took an enormous effort to process the discrepancy between the fantasy in his head and the reality in front of him. I'd twisted the fairytale and torn Raoul's heroic status away from him. He should have been my Prince Charming, valiantly rescuing me from the monster's clutches; instead, the monster and I were running away together. "I love you," Raoul said. "Does that mean nothing? I love you!"
I tugged the ring out of my bodice and held it up for him to see. "I'm sorry, Raoul," I said. "I love him, not you." I hated breaking his heart, but bluntness was obviously the only way to deliver the message.
Erik listened to this exchange, his eyes fixed on Raoul. "Darling," he murmured to me out of the corner of his mouth, "there's a sword mounted on the wall in the parlor. Run and get it please."
I stepped back carefully, judging same as Erik that even if Raoul charged him now, it would take a while to wade the long distance through the water.
Erik started speaking, keeping Raoul distracted so I could fetch the sword. "You see?" he called. "She's happy here. You heard it from her mouth. Why don't you run along now and find another girl?"
I sprinted the last few feet into the house and frantically scoured the room for the sword. There it was, nearly hidden by a drape: an elegant, old-fashioned rapier. Thank every star in heaven that we hadn't decided to take the sword with us to our new house.
I snatched it and hurried back to Erik, keenly aware that his life could be in danger. I clasped the handle into his hand, and he mumbled his thanks.
Raoul had advanced considerably and was still wading at a decent speed. What did he think would happen when he got to us?
"Raoul," I pleaded, "just go back. Leave me. I'm not right for you."
He ignored me and continued his trek through the water, progressing faster as he entered the shallows.
"Christine," Erik said. "I will attempt to talk to him, but I need you to stand far away. If it comes to a fight, I cannot be distracted by trying not to hit you."
I hated abandoning him, but his argument made sense. I knew there was nothing I could do but get in the way. I did as he suggested and backed up about five yards to the edge of the lake, whispering "Be careful" to Erik as I went.
Erik held the sword at his side and reached a pacifying hand to Raoul. "Vicomte," he said, "you must understand the situation. I would rather not kill you, but if we cross swords, be sure that I will emerge from the encounter victorious. You are distressed—I sympathize—but fighting me won't solve your problem. Christine will not go with you."
Raoul glared at him. "She will when I am the only one of us left alive." He ran the last few steps to Erik, swinging his sword.
Erik parried the attack with ease and stepped back, guiding Raoul away from me.
Raoul took a few heaving breaths and collected himself after the useless headlong rush. "Why would she choose you?" he asked Erik in contempt. "What have you done to her?"
Erik spread his arms. "Nothing," he said. "I cannot fathom it either, but she seems quite insistent that she loves me."
Raoul growled and charged him again. This time they exchanged a few sharp blows that rang throughout the cavern.
It was painful for me to watch, useless, on the sidelines. I wanted to rush forward and help Erik take Raoul down. I wanted to yell at them to come to their senses, that this was a foolish way to settle a dispute.
Raoul advanced cautiously, pushing Erik back. They were running out of ground in that direction. The wall of the house bordered one side and the waters of the lake another. The only place to go was to the little dock where the gondola was moored. Excess rope lay coiled on the dock and would trip the men if they weren't careful.
"Vicomte," Erik warned, catching some glint in Raoul's eyes.
A second later, Raoul attacked, and back and forth they went for the longest bought yet. Swords flashed and clattered as the two men thrust and parried. I clutched my hair, wild with fright.
Erik finally twisted Raoul's sword out of his hand, and it fell to the ground. Erik touched his sword to Raoul's throat, his own eyes burning with sudden malice.
I was sure he was about to kill Raoul, and I did nothing to stop him. Erik had warned Raoul and given him ample opportunity to retreat, but Raoul was bent on revenge and would have gladly killed Erik if given a chance.
To my shock, Erik instead turned to me and met my eyes. "I am not the man in your book," he told me. Then he faced Raoul once more and kicked him in the chest, sending him sprawling onto the dock.
Raoul landed with a thud, the wind knocked out of him.
Erik kicked his fallen sword into the water with a splash and rested the tip of his rapier on Raoul's neck, giving him a look that would make any wise man admit defeat.
Raoul hung his head.
Erik let his sword drop to his side. "Go home, boy," he said, his voice devoid of any emotion but scorn. He turned, walking back to me.
But Raoul was not a wise man; he was a coward whose pride had been hurt beyond repair. He stood slowly and silently, a coil of rope in his hand.
I saw him move, but Erik did not, and I screamed a warning too late.
Raoul kicked the hand holding Erik's sword, and the sudden pain made him reflexively drop it. Raoul wrapped the rope around Erik's neck from behind and tightened it.
Erik grasped at the noose, but there was no prying it off.
I ran toward the two of them but stopped halfway when Raoul shot me a look and yanked even tighter on the rope. "Erik," I whispered, tears streaming down my face.
And so the roles were reversed: Raoul held the Phantom in a death grip. Because Erik had tried to win my trust, he was being strangled in front of me. This was all my fault. I should've made it plainer to Raoul long ago that I wasn't interested in him. I should've told Erik that I'd already forgotten about that character in my love for him.
"Where is all your power now?" Raoul taunted Erik. "The mighty ghost brought to his knees."
My stomach dropped as I recognized what was happening. Raoul sang to the tune of the final confrontation between the three characters, where Christine was asked to make a choice.
"Nothing can save you now, except perhaps Christine." Raoul laughed at my distress. "Start a new life with me. Buy his freedom with your love. Refuse me, and you send your lover to his death! This is the choice; this is the point of no return!"
I was furious at everyone: Raoul, myself, and the mysterious, twisted force that insisted on the plot of the musical continuing. I heard the music in my head and had no strength to fight its prompting. "The tears I might have shed for your dark fate grow cold and turn to tears of hate!" I screamed the end. There was no need to sound pretty. I was in anguish. Raoul may have been heartbroken, but now he held Erik's life in his hands, and there would be no forgiving him if Erik died.
Erik stopped struggling, finding that Raoul loosened his hold just enough to keep him alive when he didn't fight. He looked at me in despair. "Christine, forgive me, please forgive me," he sang. "I did it all for you, and all for nothing!"
Oh Erik, I know, I thought. Don't apologize for anything you have done for me. But I couldn't tell him this except with my eyes, praying he understood the unspoken words. Instead, I turned accusingly to Raoul and spat the lyrics that almost fit, but not quite. "Farewell, my fallen idol and false friend! We had such hopes, and now those hopes are shattered!"
All I wanted was for Erik to be free. I was in torment. Should I leave Erik to whatever fate awaited him at the hands of the mob? If I didn't, he would most certainly die at Raoul's hand. But if I went with Raoul, I would be trapped in a marriage with the man I now despised above all others—if he even wanted to marry me after this.
They both started singing, overlapping with each other until my head ached.
"Too late for turning back," Raoul sneered. "Too late for prayers and useless pity..."
"Say you love him," Erik sang, "and my life is over..." I knew as he sang that he wanted me to kill him to stay free of Raoul. He was saying goodbye with his eyes and I hated it. This was not goodbye.
Raoul slipped into the tune of Point of No Return, mocking the song that not so long ago had been Erik's and my duet. "Past all hope of cries for help. No point in fighting..."
Then together, the man I loved and the one I loathed: "For either way you choose he has to win. (Either way you choose you cannot win!)"
Raoul's grip on the rope tightened. "So do you end your days with me, or do you send him to his grave?"
Erik, arrogant even in the grip of death, turned as best as he could and addressed Raoul behind him. "Why make her lie to you to save me?"
Raoul ignored him, watching my grief-stricken face. "Past the point of no return."
I sunk to my knees in the dirt. I had eyes only for Erik. "Angel of Music..." This couldn't be my goodbye.
Erik could tell that I wanted to free him, and he struggled helplessly against Raoul. "For pity's sake, Christine, say no!"
I looked back at Raoul. "Who deserves this?"
Raoul continued singing as if he barely cared about my response; he just wanted to see me suffer. "The final threshold..."
Erik pleaded with me. "Don't throw your life away for my sake!"
But the choice was not his to make; it was mine. I faced Raoul, knowing if I saw Erik's begging eyes I would lose my resolve. "Why do you curse mercy?" I entreated Raoul.
"His life is now the prize which you must earn!" Raoul said. How had he stooped to this?
Erik saw nothing but me, even as I avoided his gaze. "I fought so hard to free you."
"You've passed the point of no return!" Raoul sang one last line, finishing the crazed, three-way song.
My last shred of hope that he would let Erik go dissolved like my voice in the cool, empty air. "Friend of my childhood," I sang to Raoul, "you deceived me."
"You try my patience," Raoul drawled. "Make your choice."
I stood haltingly in the sudden, echoing silence that filled the cavern even more surely than song had moments before. I cast a final, apologetic look at Erik, who furiously tried to shake his head.
"I'm not worth it, Christine!" he insisted desperately. "Run away now and get out!"
I ignored his plea. This was what it meant to love someone. Love was sacrifice, and I was glad to give myself up to Raoul's whims if it meant delivering Erik.
In the play, Christine would stride to the Phantom like some sainted martyr, graceful and enchanting even in her despair, then kiss him and show him goodness so powerful that he'd let the young lovers go free. I did nothing of the sort; I was a mess, even tripping in my sobs as I made my way to Raoul.
He stood triumphant and smug as he watched me advance.
"Now let him go," I said. "I'm coming with you, so let him go."
"Oh no," Raoul laughed. "We can't have him following us, interrupting us. Tie him to the boat docking—tight now, or I'll kill him right here and it will be your fault."
I obeyed, hiccupping sobs still wracking my body. I used ropes like the one that Raoul still had around Erik's neck. At Raoul's instructions, and under his careful observation, I bound Erik's wrists together behind his back and fixed them to the post meant for the boat mooring. Then I tied his ankles together.
When Raoul was confident that Erik wouldn't escape, he yanked me to my feet. He let go of the makeshift noose, and Erik began to struggle frantically.
"Let her go, you monster," he yelled at Raoul. It was probably the worst insult he could think of.
"I love you," I told him one last time. Raoul dragged me by the arm into a nearby tunnel. I watched Erik's tortured face until it disappeared around a bend.