CONEY ISLAND

FINALLY THE CONCERT

The next day, the Phantom was all healed up. Raoul apologized to Christine, stating that someone told him that the Opera Ghost has kissed his wife. "As you know I am extremely protective of you and I couldn't hold myself back," he said. He seemed genuinely sad and ashamed of his actions and he even apologized to Erik himself. Of course that didn't go as smooth as it went with Christine.

Erik said, "PFFFF," flipped his cape and walked away.

Christine had her dress rehearsal, but Erik wasn't there. He was probably too scared that listening to her voice would be too tempting and he wouldn't handle it.

That night, she went to sleep early. She wanted to be well rested for the concert and the journey. Gustave woke her up quite early and they spend the day together preparing for the concert.

About half an hour before the performance someone knocked on the door of her dressing room. The door opened and Raoul stepped in. "How lovely you look tonight, Christine," he said.

"Gustave, would you give us a moment?" Gustave nodded running out and closing the door behind him.

THEN A FEW MOMENTS OF RAOUL CONVINCING CHRISTINE NOT TO SING WHICH I DO NOT FEEL LIKE WRITING RN SORRY PEEPS BUT WE ALL KNOW WHAT HAPPENS HE SAYS "GO HOME FORGET THE DEBTS" SHE SAYS "OH RAOUL REALLY?" HE SAYS "IF YOU LOVE ME" SHE AGREES YADDAYADDA WELL IB MY STORY SHE DOESNT REALLY AGREE YET

Raoul left the room and Christine stayed alone, wondering what to do. She couldn't deny the temptation of a happy life with Raoul, but she knew that if she wouldn't sing, Erik would have never hear her ever agaib and she couldn't do this to him. Or to herself.

Why couldn't Raoul just let her sing and then leave?! He seemed okay with it for the last few days, especially after the 'accident' with the knife! What in God's name changed his mind now?!

Christine was mad, no she was furious. HE HAD TO GO AND DESTROY EVERYTHING!

She didn't know what to do.  Now it wasn't just a choice between Raoul and Erik. It was also a choice between what she had to do and what she wanted.

For a few moments she stood there, thinking and then before she even made up her mind, the curtain started rising.

The orchestra started playing and Christine, completely stunned by the music, stopped thinking about that and got lost in the music. That was until her cue was coming up. Her hands started trembling. She looked to her left and saw Raoul with a heartbreaking expression, surrounded by ballet dancers warming up, with Gustave in the background, watching somebody's trumpet, very fascinated by it. And on her right, lurking in the shadows she saw Erik, with no one but the Persian, whose hand rested on Erik's shoulder around him.

When she made the choice she knew what she was choosing. She knew all the positive and the negative stuff. She knew that even with the negatives, she still made the right choice, as she opened her mouth and sang.

Love never dies.

She started singing with her soft, angelic voice and somewhere in the middle of the performance she saw Raoul leave. She wanted to run of behind him, to stop him, but then she realized that she didn't need to kiss up to him, for now she had another man to guard her.

So she focused on the song, not noticing anything else. When she finished and bowed, a loud applause echoed. She had never heard an applause so loud, not even in a proper theatre. As the curtain fell, she wasted no time. She ran off to the backstage on her right, jumping directly into his arms, her lips crashing onto his. Her hands cupped his face and he held her by the waist, lifted her up.

"Ahem," somebody coughed behind them. They broke the kiss to find the Persian, standing there. "Congratulations," he said, kissing Christine's hand and she wasn't sure if he was congratulating for her performance or her choice, but she didn't care. She smiled at him and they started talking about the orchestra. Erik, however was looking around at the others who performed today until his eyes found the one he was looking for. He started unfolding their fingers, but Christine tightened her grip, thinking he's about to leave again and turned around.

Erik smiled at that, lightly kissing her hand and saying, "Just a moment, darling."

Then he started walking towards Meg, who was caught up in a conversation with Gustave ans Christine turned back to see Nadir there, grinning like a drunk animal.

"Miss Giry?" Both, Meg and Gustave quickly stood up straight as if they were in army. Erik took Meg's hand and kissed it awkwardly, not used to showing affection to anyone but Christine. "Your performance was wonderful," he said. "I really enjoyed myself and I regret not seeing it before," he told her with an awkward smile. Meg's eyes widened and started tearing up. She jumped to him and hugged him, then ran out to find Madame Giry.

Aww I liked writing this chapter^^ ALSO THIS IS GETTING CLOSE TO END SO I HOPE Y'ALL ENJOYED IT