CONEY ISLAND

*janice voice* oH MY GOD

Neither of them fully believed in the other's presence. They just stood there, frozen, their minds processing the image and trying to carve it into their minds so they'd never forget it.

"Erik?" Christine asked carefully and quietly and took a step forward.

All it took was one word for him to be sure that she's really there. It was only his Christine that knew his real name and it was only his Christine that could say it and make his heart jumping up and down. He couldn't take it anymore. Those two days of no sleep, water and food caught up and as he made a step forward, his knees bent weakly and he fell down.

Christine gasped and ran to him. She kneeled down and saw how her once powerful Angel now looked half dead. Starved and thirsty, barely awake.

"Christine..." he whispered weakly and she leaned in, took his head and pressed it to her chest.

"When was the last time you ate?" she asked him and in his mind he replayed the last few days. He said nothing but it was enough to answer her question. She gently put his head back on the floor and ran to get him a glass of water. She watched him as he drank it down. "I'm getting food," she said and got up.

He quickly shot up his head and ran behind her. "No! D-don't leave me..." he stuttered. Not again, he added in his mind. If she leaves she'll never return.

Somehow she knew what he was scared of. She took his cold hand and squeezed it hard. "I'll come back. I promise." A tear escaped his eye as he unwillingly let her hand slip through his fingers.    "You rest," she told him and ran up to the Opera.

She slipped through the mirror in her dorm and down to the Opera kitchen. She used to sneak in it when she was young and had bad dreams, so she knew exactly where everything was. She grabbed a wooden basket and filled it with different foods, not knowing what Erik liked. Just before she left the kitchen she looked at the time. It was almost midnight.

She started running back to her dorm. She was almost there when she ran into Madame Giry. "Oh! I'm so sorry Madame!" she said, her voice high-pitched. She really couldn't afford to lose time now. She tried to hide the basket behind her dress, but Madame noticed it. She raised her eyebrow, demanding an answer.

"What's that for?"

She blushed very hard, remembering the old times and her old excuses. "I couldn't sleep Madame," I told her.

"Ahh, like the old times," she said and half smiled at her. Christine smiled back and started walking away. "And Christine," she said quietly wbackshe was opening the door. "Not everything's gonna be like the old times, you know that right?"

Christine knew Madame was referring to Phantom's faked death and wondered if she was a part of the act or if she really thought him dead as the rest of the world did, as Christine did moments ago. Still blushing, she nodded and quietly slipped into her dressing room. She looked at her reflection in the mirror, remembering the first night she met the Angel of Music face to face.

She quickly pushed all thoughts of those dark nights aside and entered the mirror. It had taken her so long to find him, curled up on the cold floor sleeping. She didn't have the heart to wake him up, so she put the basket next to him and sat down.

She stared at the sleeping man for a long time and with every moment more and more memories came back to her.

She softly touched his cheek and brushed the tears off. She never thought to see him cry. Some people would say it was weird or childish but for her it was just a confirmation of being alive. Still though, when his cheek was dry, she did not lift her fingers. The electricity and fire that burned in her heart by just looking at him was unbearable. And yet she wanted to see more. Her fingers traced his face and locked on his mask, as she slowly started pulling it off.

It was almost brought down, when his hand grabbed her wrist roughly, startling her. They eyes met. "Christine," he breathed. "Is it really you?" He slowly got up, not breaking the eye sight. She got up too and started slowly moving away.

"Yes," she said, so quietly even she didn't hear herself properly. Yet he somehow managed to. A smile creeped on his face and disappeared almost the same moment.

"What are you doing here?" he asked. "You... You shouldn't be here."

"I... They said you were dead," she said, a tear escaping her eye. "I had to make sure."

He looked around, not knowing what to say. "I'm alive," he said after a few moments.

She couldn't stop herself from running into his arms. Startled from the sudden touch, he stumbled a few steps back. She wrapped her arms around his chest tightly and pulled him closer. For a few moments he didn't know what to do, but then he stopped thinking about right or wrong and hugged her back. She buried her face into his chest, his hands were tangled in her hair as he tried to carve the image into his mind forever. The smell of her hair, the feeling of touching her, the way his heart was beating along with hers.

They stood like that for a few moments in silence. Then his mouth moved down to her ears and he didn't care if it would ruin the moment, he didn't care if she'd run away from him, he had to make sure she knew.

"Christine, I love you," he whispered.

Her head slowly turned away from his chest and her tear-filled eyes looked at his. Then she put her hands on his cheeks, pulled his face down to hers and crashed her lips to his.

HOPE YOU LIKED THIS PLEASE COMMENT AND VOTE LY ALL BYE GOOD NIGHT