"Damn it Alex I'm not losing you too!" A familiar voice exclaimed. 

I felt something warm and soft on my lips.

And my lungs filled with air.

"Wake up Alexandra!" Erik shouted. 

The darkness struggled to keep me underneath itself.

"Come on!" He begged. 

My eyes slowly opened, adjusting to the candle lit room.

I rolled over on my side and spewed out the lake water.

"Alex are you alright?" Erik asked, his hands ready to support me. 

"Yeah. But what the hell is in your water?" I asked wiping my tongue with my hand.

"You probably don't want to know." he replied awkwardly. 

I looked up at him. He extended his hand to help me up but I ignored him and got up on my own. Eyeing him warily.

"So the Daroga told you." He spoke coldly. 

"I would have figured it out on my own." I replied. 

"I couldn't just let them find you." He argued. 

"Well you can't just go around killing people Erik!" I replied, hands on my hips.

"And why not? They were going to kill you!" He shot back. 

"Murder doesn't solve problems Erik, it just causes more of them!" I exclaimed wringing some water out of my sweater. 

He sighed heavily, pacing the length of the room.

"Erik?" I asked softly.

"What?" He spat, not facing me.

"Erik..."

"Are you afraid of me now? Is that it?!" He asked spinning around on his heel. 

"No! I mean I should be but..."

"But?"

"That's not the problem." I replied. 

"Its not?" He asked. 

"The problem is... well I have to go."

"Go?! Go where?"

"Home... to England."

"No." He bit.

"Yes. My friend will be here soon... I just came to say goodbye..." I replied blinking back tears.

"No." He echoed.

"You can't just-"

"You can't leave! I forbid it!" He snapped. 

"Let's get one thing straight Erik, I don't answer to you!"I scolded. 

Erik turned away from me and began pacing fervently.

I took a deep cleansing breath and sighed.

"Erik...I"

"Silence!!!!" He bellowed. 

I fell back onto the floor.

"You can't leave! You can't..."

He suddenly turned his blue eyes on me. I froze.

"Why did you even come here?
"You know why."

"No I don't. Why did you even come back after the first time?" he glowered. 

"I...I suppose I was curious." I stammered.

"Curious. About me eh?" he snarked, cocking his head to the side. 

I swallowed some air.

"Curious, about the Ghost eh?"

"No. Curious about the man." I remarked defiantly. 

He chuckled darkly.

"You mean curious about this... don't you?" He asked pointing to his mask.

My heart started to pound.

I opened my mouth to speak but had no words.

"Go on then..." He taunted, kneeling down beside me.

"Erik..."

"Go ahead..." he hissed, bringing his face closer to mine. 

"Erik stop." I begged. 

He grabbed my hand and brought it up to his mask. His eyes burning, golden.

I shook my head as he curled my fingers around his mask.

"Do it!" he shouted. 

I slowly took off his mask, looking deep into his eyes.

"Well?!" He spat.

I turned my head away from him.

"Look! You want to see? See!" he shouted, grabbing my head and forcing me to look at him.

The scars mangled one side of his face, twisting like tree roots.

"Feast your eyes, glut your soul on my cursed ugliness! Look at Erik's face! Now you know the face of the voice! You were not content to hear me, eh? You wanted to know what I looked like?" He ran his hands madly through his hair. Standing and walking away from me.

"Oh, you women are so inquisitive!" He turned back to me and shouted,

"Well, are you satisfied? I'm a good-looking fellow, eh?...When a woman has seen me, as you have, she belongs to me. She loves me forever! I am a kind of Don Juan, you know!...Look at me! I am Don Juan Triumphant!" His voice echoed off the cavernous walls.

I stood, my body shaking, both from the cold water and the shock of seeing his face.

He eyed me like a viper about to strike, as I walked ever closer to him. I extended my hand to him reaching towards his face and he scrambled back managing to sit on the organ. The discordant notes rang through the room. I held my hand out and gently caressed the scarred half of his face.

His eyes closed in rapture. 

"Does it hurt?" I managed in a small voice.

"What?" He asked, his voice cracking.

"Your face, does it hurt."

"No." He replied, opening his eyes and leaning into my hand.

"What happened?" I asked softly. 

"I was born like this." He replied dejectedly.

"It's really not that bad." I smiled. 

He looked up at me, his stormy blue eyes full of confusion as a stray tear fell down his cheek.

"Then you aren't afraid of me?" He asked, slipping off the keys of the organ and down onto it's seat.

"No I'm not." I assured him, gently sitting beside him on the bench.

He let out a broken sob and covered his hand with my own.

Without thinking, I wrapped my arms around him and pulled him close to me.

And I let him cry on my shoulder, my heart breaking for him.

"Please don't go." He begged.

"I have to."

He clung onto me ever tighter.

"I have to go... but you don't have to stay." I consoled, stroking his hair.  

"What?" He asked looking up at me in confusion. 

"Come with me Erik. Leave this place and its haunting memories. Come with me. Start over." I appealed. 

He looked up at me, his brows furrowed.

"You would have me, a murder, a Monster. You would have me come home with you?"
"I would." I nodded.

"Why?"

"Nobody should be alone." I murmured. 

"Thank you. Thank you Alexandra, you are an Angel." He whispered, gently stroking my face as I had his. His eyes softened and he looked down at my lips. I felt myself drawn to him, we were inches apart.

Some movement caught my eye. Nadir stood in the corner his eyebrows so high they hardly seemed attached to his face anymore. 

Nadir cleared his throat, "Well I hope I'm not interrupting anything, but we have a situation."

Erik pulled his mask on quickly as the Daroga walked over from behind him.

Erik cleared his throat then asked, "What's that?"

"Somebody just opened the front door." Nadir said with a hardness in his voice.

"Alex stay here." Erik demanded, standing and pulling on his cape.

"No I'm not leaving you." I replied stoutly, standing with him.

"Fine. But stay quiet and stay close to Nadir." he Barked. 

Nadir and I followed behind Erik as he led us to a boat.

Nadir looked at me then the phantom wiggling his eyebrows.

I elbowed him in the arm, hard.

"Ouch!"

Erik silenced us both with a stern look and helped me into the boat, then we were off to face this person together.