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Post by Christian Daaé on Jul 8, 2008 12:22:34 GMT -5
*He couldn't stay away forever. He had to know, to see that Erik was alive and recovering. It wasn't enough to have people simply tell him--he needed to witness it with his own eyes.
After putting his rather neglected appearance to rights, Christian hesitantly approached the room where Erik had been settled into. The house seemed oddly quiet for noon, and Christian's knock on the door sounded loud in his ears*
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Post by Erik on Jul 8, 2008 12:39:51 GMT -5
Erik swam out of a morphine haze at the knock. No one came to see him--no one but Megan. And her pity confused him, when he was conscious enough to think about it. He suspected she kept him doped up to avoid his searching gaze, his questions.
His impatience with being ill. He hated it. He hated being in bed, being helpless. Being ugly.
A nurse opened the door, but Erik couldn't see who it was.
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Post by Christian Daaé on Jul 8, 2008 12:45:38 GMT -5
"Oh, hello." He said, sounding strangely timid to his ears.
"I was wondering if I could see him..."
*The nurse blinked at him in surprise, then nodded and stepped to one side*
"You'd be the only one other than Lady Norrington."
*Her tone of voice suggested that she found it inappropriate for the newly married woman to do so. Christian had to resist the urge to roll his eyes at the nurse.*
"Thank you."
*He cautiously moved into the room. Wrapped up in so many bandages, Erik looked like nothing short of a mummy--a living one, to be sure. He paused near the bedside, not even hearing as the nurse left the room*
"Erik?" Came the soft voice.
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Post by Erik on Jul 8, 2008 12:48:59 GMT -5
*He thought he was dreaming. That voice... But no, Christian had left him, like everyone else. But the hallucination was compelling, and his blinked crusty eyes open. Something like a smile, but more painful, ghosted across his face. Not that much of it was visible.*
"Christian," *he breathed.*
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Post by Christian Daaé on Jul 8, 2008 12:54:45 GMT -5
*Seeing Erik like this made his heart want to break. It was almost impossible, that he would be this injured. No, surely being a Phantom meant you escaped such things. He wanted to take Erik's hand in his, but didn't know if even that little bit of contact would hurt the other man. Instead, he moved so that he stood as close as he could*
"I was so afraid...that...that you would be lost, too." His voice wavered, but he somehow managed to keep it from a sob. Only just barely, however.
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Post by Erik on Jul 8, 2008 12:56:59 GMT -5
*Erik wondered if this was just what his hallucination of Christian would say. He'd play along, for now, until it revealed itself.*
"I might as well have," *he grumbled, his voice scratchy from disuse,* "for all anyone cares about Erik. I'd rather be dead."
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Post by Christian Daaé on Jul 8, 2008 13:03:04 GMT -5
"Please don't say that. You have many people that care. That would cry if you died. Some of us thought that you did...and perhaps got too hysterical..."
*He glanced down at his hands. He still felt guilty for losing control and wrecking things in his room*
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Post by Erik on Jul 8, 2008 13:07:29 GMT -5
*That, certainly, was something his hallucination!Christian would say. Cry for him? No one cried for Erik.
Christine had, that one time.*
"But you did not even know Erik was here," *he said.* "He followed you, followed Pina, but no one could see. Until the fire." *There was a bark of laughter, bitter and painful.* "Funny thing, to give me my body back in the same condition it once was. I don't remember how long I've been here. There's been no one. Not my Christian, not Pina, not Julian. Erik is ugly again."
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Post by Christian Daaé on Jul 8, 2008 15:44:51 GMT -5
“Me not knowing you were here doesn’t mean it would hurt me less to learn you’ve gone. I would mourn no matter the location.”
*He so badly wanted to take Erik’s hand in his, and almost did so, but the thought that it would cause Erik pain stopped him.*
“You’re not alone. Everyone is here.”
*Julian, he wasn’t sure about, and it wasn’t something he really wanted to go over at the moment…and there Erik was, back to the subject of his appearance*
“You’re face doesn’t make you who you are.”
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Post by Erik on Jul 8, 2008 15:50:28 GMT -5
"Of course it does!" *he snarled.* "It makes everything. It was the difference between Christine going and you staying. I lived decades with this face, and months with another. Which do you think Erik preferred? You were right, Christian. Erik crouched like a toad in the darkness, unwilling to see the light. Because of what his face meant. You will not say the same when the bandages are gone and the scars remain and you can no longer remember your pity."
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Post by Christian Daaé on Jul 8, 2008 18:36:49 GMT -5
*Christian slowly breathed in and out. He should be used to having this sort of conversation, but it still bothered him*
"I know your original face, and I stayed then. I don't see how burns could possibly do worse."
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Post by Erik on Jul 9, 2008 9:43:37 GMT -5
((I'm sorry. Erik's gonna be a little bitch for awhile.))
*Erik knew Christian was right, to a degree, and tried to calm himself. It should be easy, with the drugs coursing through him; he was still in a lot of pain. But they made him even more maudlin than usual.*
"You came, anyway," *he said after a pause.* "At last."
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Post by Christian Daaé on Jul 11, 2008 13:01:10 GMT -5
"I couldn't keep away knowing that you were hurt. I was afraid, at first, that you would be lost like the other...but I am so glad to be wrong in that case."
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Post by Erik on Jul 12, 2008 12:19:36 GMT -5
Had his face been mobile, Erik would have frowned.
"The other?"
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Post by Christian Daaé on Jul 16, 2008 15:55:48 GMT -5
"That Phantomess," he said softly. "She followed me here, and...died saving me from the fire."
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