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About the last two chapters and this one: I just thought that Erik appearing to me in my dreams was just a very good dream. Phoenix's secret is still underwraps since that chapter stank to high heaven. We're moving towards more MelissaxMat action here, but I'm still looking for love; I know Flotsam loves me, but I'm not sure I want to accept his affections. Honestly, I'm scared about betraying my Phantom master if I act upon them, not to mention Melissa is nowhere to be found on helping me get through this. What will I do? Read to find out.
One day and one night past, and on the morning of the second day, I went into Melissa's room to see her. There had been a big meteor shower last night and Mat had taken her to see it. I knew she had been tired when Mat brought her home, but I didn't expect her to look this bad in the morning, or feel for that matter. She felt as if flames were coursing beneath her skin instead of blood.
"Ana, just leave her alone," Mat said, pushing my hand away.
"No I want to tell her something," I replied. I turned to Melissa and said, "Melissa, you look awful."
"Gee, thanks. Girls love being told that," she shot back sarcastically. I was about to laugh and say something to show I cared, and then Jetsam had to go and say something totally random. "You must feel like s**t Melissa cause you look it too."
Melissa threw her alarm clock at him, and, for once, I took her side. Jetsam shouldn't have said something so tactless; he knew better, and I knew that he knew that I knew it. "I'll go get a thermometer," Flotsam said. ( whee He's always so sensible.) Glancing at Jetsam's swelling forehead, he added, "and an icepack."
Flotsam left the room and I made to ask the details of what went on last night. (I know I seem like a mother hen when I do this, but I can't help it. I'm just starting recover from losing Melissa once, and believe me when I say that I never want to go through it ever again.) Melissa cut me off, as usual, and Mat made her laugh by reiterating Jetsam's comment. Strange that one person's insult is another person's witticism.
Jetsam hid behind Mat when Flotsam came back with the things he had set out to retrieve, holding the icepack to his throbbing temples. I put the thermometer under her tongue (From the way she looked at me, you'd think I would have shoved it under there, but really I didn't push that hard.) and took her temperature. "101 degrees," I annouced when I took it out a minute later. No going out on adventures for her today, thank Poseidon.
After a few more checks on her, which I know she'll appreciate in the future (She gave me a look that said something like, "If you don't leave me alone, I'll tell my dad you're a sea-witch." If looks could kill I tell you.), I left the grotto for work. I had made the change into Mei Li so many times that I could make it between two steps without much effort; even still, I kept to the shadows when I changed so as not to arrouse Lelouch's suspicion.
I strolled into the operahouse and set to work practicing. "Il Muto" was coming along nicely. The costumes were ready, the sets were painted, but the music was far from ready. The woodwinds, my section, could hold their own (Many of them were surprised that Jareth had allowed such a young protege into the orchestra.), and the percussion weren't too bad with their own parts, but the strings and brass needed sooooooo much work.
It had taken us the good part of two weeks to get where we were, so I saw that as an accomplishment. 'My old orchestra would have taken at least two months to do this,' I, or rather Mei Li, thought. Both of us, however, were bored and agitated through-out the whole rehersal. The conductor kept stopping us because a horn had blown too loudly or a violin wasn't playing fast enough; eventually, the session dissovled and we were told to practice individually until we met again in three days. If the music wasn't ready by then, he had threatened us, the show would be cancelled.
"You think you can run the show?" Mei Li said as she quietly packed up my flute and climbed up onto the stage. "You don't know the first thing about how to treat your musicians, let alone anything about musicality. Lelouch could do so much better than you."
"I'm glad someone thinks so," said a voice from the shadows. Mei Li yelped but a black-gloved hand stifled her shriek of fear. "Don't pop out of nowhere like that," she said as Lelouch pulled her behind the curtains. "You've seen how scared I get."
"Come on," he said, taking her by the hand. "I want to show you something." As he pulled her along the dark passages, I realized that this was the first time Mei Li had seen him since Melissa had returned home. I felt excitement, fear, and... was that love I felt coursing through her as we got closer to our destination? (Not romantic love, but loyalty towards a mentor-figure, which is really servile love when you think about it.)
This wasn't good; such feelings would complicate my life at the operahouse even more. As if a dictator maestro, a lethario manager (Jareth had broken the hearts of many girls before me.), and an Opera Ghost weren't enough. I could only hope these feelings would not grow stronger to the point where Mei Li would give me away.
"Look," Lelouch said, gesturing with his hand towards the place he had brought her to. In my musings, I hadn't even felt the twists and turns of the journey. Mei Li looked around her and saw roses exploding everywhere. "I've wanted to show her this place for sometime, but since that accursed wolf took her away, I've been far too busy to even think about my delicate blossom."
He turned to a rosebush and whispered something to it. To Mei Li's astonishment, it extended a thorny tendrill towards her. A grapefruit-pink rose bloomed directly beneath her nose and when she inhaled its scent, I was almost intoxicated. "She wants you to have it," the New-Age angel told her. "Think of it as a good-luck present for the work ahead."
"I shouldn't be here," Mei Li said. Finally something we agreed upon. "This is her place isn't it? The girl you love so much."
"It will be soon, Mei Li. It will be soon."
"What do you mean?"
"I intend on proposing to my innamourata on the night of your first performance with the orchestra." He produced sheet music from his vest pocket. "The piece is called 'The Lover's Waltz.' I was hoping you could prepare it for when I make the big announcement."
Mei Li glanced shiftly around her, fear running through her like a wave breaking onto the shore. "If you feel pressured by the extra music, you can refuse me. I just feel that your musical ability is great enough so that you can handle such a small favor for me."
"It's not that," Mei Li said after a long moment of pensive silence. "It's just that the orchestra master will cancel the show even if we do prepare our music in time. Sometimes I just wish he... wish he-"
"You wish he could disappear right?"
"Exactly. He makes the slave-drivers of the Roman Empire seem merciful and puts good-natured musicians to shame."
"Tell you what," he said as he came over to her. You prepare this piece and I'll make him "disappear". How's that sound, Mei Li?"
He pushed her purple hair back behind her ear as he looked down into her face. Mei Li nodded after a moment of silence. "Then it's settled. I shall hear from you on the night of "Il Muto". Until then," he paused to pick the magic rose and offer it to her, "pray for me."
Later that night, after Lelouch had disappeared and left Mei Li in the grand foyer, I was out staring at the moon on the operahouse rooftops. (I had turned back into myself after 9:00, the time when the last of the staff went home, and had come up here to think.) I had been thinking for hours, thinking about Mei Li's life (I had scolded her for feeling love towards that awful Lelouch.), thinking about Melissa's life (She had two boys at her heels, each vying to be her alpha male, whereas my romance life was zilch.), thinking about my own.
"As turbulent as the waters that supply my power,' I mused. 'I have the insane descendant of my mentor chasing after my best friend, another boy chasing after her who can run a mile faster than I can blink, not to mention I'm friends with the Goblin King, who broke my heart without even knowing it.
"That's not even counting the fact that I have the former henchmen of Melissa's enemy at my beck and call now. (I certainly hadn't foreseen this when I cast my first spell about 5 months ago. It seemed longer though.) Maybe their the reason why she's so reluctant to trust me now; then again, she didn't trust me to begin with. No faith in me, no support for me, even though I give her a firm shoulder to cry on at all times, not even a simple "I'm sorry" for all the crap she gives me.
"Maybe she really just doesn't care about me. Mat would leave me in the dust if it wasn't for her, not to mention Jareth sees love as only a game. I thought for once in my life, even if just for a little while, I would find love with him, but he just wanted to relieve my sadness by kissing me. The only person who I could ever love..."
I trailed off and gazed at the moon, not wanting to face the end of that sentence. The heavenly mistress of the night was so bright and beautiful tonight that it made me think of a song. I sang it in order to distract myself, just for a little while:
Well I'd like to visit the moon
On a rocketship high in the air.
Yes, I'd like to visit the moon,
But I don't think I'd like to live there.
Though I'd like to look down at the Earth from above,
I would miss all the places and people I love.
So although I might like it for... one afternoon,
I don't want to live on the moon. Yes, I loved many people but no one loved me. My friends, my boys, even the person I realized I now loved more than anyone, had all turned a blind eye to my emotions. Even so, I continued.
I'd like to travel under the sea.
I could meet all the fish everywhere.
Yes, I'd travel under the sea,
But I don't think I'd like to live there.
I would stay for a day there if I had my wish,
But there's not much to do when your friends are all fish.
And an oyster and clam aren't real family,
So I don't want to live in the sea. I almost laughed at this verse. I lived really close to the sea and most of my "friends" were actually fish, or half-fish in Melissa's case. I say almost because I sang as if I was in a daze, not stopping to think about even trivial things like this.
I'd like to visit the jungle, hear the lion roar.
Go back in time and meet a dinosaur.
There's so many strange places I'd like to be
But none of them permanently.
So if I should visit the moon...
Well, I'll dance on a moonbeam and then
I will make a wish on a star,
and I'll wish-
As if on que, a star streaked across the sky. I quickly made a wish before it faded, also as if on que. However, unlike the next part of the song where I would return home, I knew for certain that my wish would never come true. The Angel of Music had disappeared from my life and he was never coming back.
I had known this from the moment I found the picture of us together on my pillow a little over a year ago. I had searched everywhere for him, even in my dreams, but he had disappeared without a trace. Strangely though, only now did I realize the reason I missed him so much: I loved him, and not just as a student loves a mentor but for the person that he was, underneath all the darkness and despair that surrounded him.
One girl for my dream I came back to myself, startled by the sudden sound of a man singing. I flinched nervously as I thought of the last time I had been like this; I had lost my memories because I let my guard down. I stayed where I was though, pretending not to have heard it.
The voice continued undeterred:
One partner in Paradise,
This promise of Paradise-
This nearly was mine. I felt the words enter my heart like needles. They described the feelings I hadn't realized I had had for my Angel until after he had left me perfectly. It hurt to listen, but listen on I did.
Close to my heart she came,
Only to fly away,
Only to fly as day
Flies from moonlight! That was how quick he had gone away from me, cry and how close he had come to my heart. cry
Now, now I'm alone,
Still dreaming of Paradise
Still saying that Paradise
Once nearly was mine. I wiped the tears from my eyes as I stood up and turned around towards the source of the voice. It was coming from the statue of Pegasus on the far side of the rooftop where I was. From where I could see, there was someone sitting on his back, hugging their knees and gazing up at the moon, the pale light reflecting out of their golden eyes. Golden eyes?! rolleyes Why was that so familiar?
"Phoenix!" I called out. The pale figure looked in my direction, his honey-colored orbs gazing at the lady in white. "Anastasia, I didn't see you there," he said as he dismounted the heavenly steed and walked towards me. "You shouldn't be up here. If you don't slip and fall off the roof, you'll either freeze or be caught by the Operaghost."
"I have something to ask you," I said as I walked over towards the angel statue looking out over the square, its arms reaching towards the heavens.
"Go on."
I hesitated before continuing. I had to ask him what had been plauging my mind for at least a week now. "Was the friend you met on your travels the Phantom of the Opera, the original one I mean not Lelouch?"
He merely inclined his head to me in reply. I had been right but why was he reluctant to admit it? What did it matter to me though? "I thought so. If you see him-"
"Yes?" he cut in.
I sighed. "Tell him I'm in heaven."
"What?! What on Earth are you saying?!"
"Living on Earth without him is like dying a thousand deaths in hell." I looked towards the moon, pale and pure against the dark and imposing sky. "Erik, I'm coming to you," I said, and then I threw myself from the roof.
I didn't feel any pain when I impacted from the pavement. They would blame my death on Lelouch I knew, but he would be glad that I was gone; 'One less thing to worry about,' he would say. That's all that I was really. An insignificant thing that nothing and no one cared about.
Wait a minute! If I was still thinking, and I could feel a slight breeze on my face, did that mean...? "Don't you scare me like that," said a voice I knew all too well.
"Me? Scare you?" I scoffed haughtily without opening my eyes. (I had closed them as I had begun my descent.) "Don't be foolish. I know full well that you would want me dead, that you most of all would be better off without me. If I'm what's preventing you from getting to Melissa, why are you trying to prevent the inevitable?"
"Because I wouldn't want one of my favorite muses to suffer as I do, for the sake of unrequitted love, now would I?"
I opened my eyes and stared up into my master's face. Where had he come from and where had Phoenix gone? And... *gasp* were those wings beating the air behind him, connected to him at his shoulders? This was new; they looked like a raven's wings, black with bluish purple tints.
Perhaps I had really died and he had come to retrieve my soul, but if I had died, how come I didn't see my corpse below me? I would have been scared to see my own body, but the sight of it not being there made me even more afraid. I started panicking and tried to squirm my legs out of his grasp (I was laying down in his arms.), but his grip on me tightened and I was held fast. "Don't struggle," he told me. "Otherwise, I might actually let go and let you plunge to your death."
I didn't struggle anymore after that, but I shuddered at the thought of him actually doing that. "If you really are here master," I said, addressing him as I had when last we had met, "where's Phoenix Rose? It looked like he wanted to tell me something before I flung myself off the roof."
He turned his back to the place where I had come and began flying higher into the sky. I clung onto his neck in fear, for I was afraid of heights. "You still haven't answered my question," I said quietly, my voice little more than a whisper, after we had gained quite a bit of altitude.
"Phoenix Rose?" My master sighed as he said this. "One of many people I present myself to be. One of the better ones too I must admit."
So this was what Flotsam had meant on the night I had kissed my master in my dreams. Phoenix Rose and Erik Legrange were not friends at all but one and the same. "I can't believe it," I said, voicing my thoughts. In order to be funny, I added, "After all these years, my Angel still wears a mask."
Erik smiled as he looked down into my face again. "I have been called many things over those many years," he said, "but that is the first time in a long time that anyone has called me Angel."
"So you always were, still are, *yawn* and alway will be," I said sleepily as my arms began to sag around his neck. I sank back into his arms as sleep came upon me but before I drifted off, he planted another one of his marvelous kisses on my lips. *contented sigh*
 srs diva 2011 xxl · Mon May 25, 2009 @ 01:53am · 2 Comments |
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