When Arielette arrived at the party, the music had just been getting started, and people were still flooding their way into the doors. The grandeur of the opera had been reproduced tenfold, and her heart was hammering fast to the surroundings she had chosen. Every color was highly exaggerated, and it was warm despite the chilly outside. She was in awe of seeing the inside of the golden building that hadn't been before her eyes in seven years. Well, the inside anyways.

It was the new year soon, and everyone was anticipating a great, new time for said opera.

Christine Daae had been given the Prima Donna position before the new season began, and once the holiday break was over, and the opera house was rid of its new decorations, she would reign.

It wasn't as if Arielette never talked to her father, she knew very well that Erik was involved with that certain soprano. He had been tutoring her for years, and then their relationship stemmed after the girl's father had died. Truly, she thought the whole idea completely inappropriate, seeing how many more years he had over her. And he had been her teacher, even, watching her grow from small child to young woman. Arielette didn't have any right to judge his actions, she had left him, but that did not make it bother her any less.

The costumes and masks had brought her to the opera that evening, at the age of twenty-six, to hide behind the anonymity of the event. She hadn't really liked masks since Erik, but there hadn't been much that Arielette did like after her first lover. Maturity over the years had given her nothing but clarity on the fact of how much of an ignoramus she had been letting him go. There had been true love between them, something rare, and even her father had been disappointed in her for it. The mask, however, would hide her from Erik's eyes, and with news of his engagement to the blonde Swede, Arielette wanted to see him one last time before she let him go.

"You look darling, sweetheart," her father said to her, knowing her outfit out of the rest because he'd seen it earlier at their home.

Charles had been forced to arrive early to approve of everything from the food to the dances, hence his awfully plain attire. That, and the president of the opera house simply couldn't hide in the crowd behind masks and niceties.

"Thank you, father, was everything up to your standard?"

"Yes," he replied immediately, taking her up on his arm, "Where is your mother?"

"Someone found her the moment she walked in, you'll run into her!" Arielette jested, "I wish Anton was here."

"He has obligations now, to his wife and children. You should follow in his lead," Charles suggested loudly over the crowd, waving as he was easily recognized, his mask never upon his face even often enough to have seen it's facade.

"Father," she scorned him, "I'm still recovering."

Humming, Charles did not seemed satisfied with Arielette's answer.

"Yes, well, Henry was atrocious to you."

"I didn't help," Arielette breathed, but her father still heard her somehow.

"Yes, because you were still attached to Erik, which I don't blame you, but he is no longer an option so you must choose another."

She had no comment for him, her purple mask causing her slight discomfort as her cheeks heated. Arielette allowed her father to work her through the crowd, meeting this person and that person. She boldly introduced herself, pleasing her father until she was eventually running into people she knew.

Marc Terfat and Philippe de Chagny had really never been overly friendly to her, but that day there was a third man there who did not hold malice or familiarity. So Arielette hoped they would be kind for his sake, or else he would learn their malice as well.

"Gentlemen," her father greeted them happily.

"Charles! We were wondering when we would find you," Monsieur Terfat said, shaking the man's hand, Philippe after.

They both did their obligatory duties as men of status to Arielette, and then introduced her to their third. Luckily enough, it hadn't seemed too lost of a cause yet.

"This is my brother," Philippe spoke proudly, "Raoul de Chagny."

"Monsieur," Arielette said easily, giving him her gloved hand which he took appreciatively.

His kiss lingered, but he was so smooth about it she barely recognized it herself. At least he hadn't seemed to have heard anything bad yet, though hearing he was the young brother to Philippe, she wondered why he hadn't told him.

"You are Monsieur Lestat's daughter? I've heard much about you," he said, though obviously regretted it the moment it slipped his lips.

Arielette knew what he'd heard, and now she knew he'd heard it. Philippe was an honest man who Erik spent a lot of his time with, so she would be honest as well.

"I'm sure, my once intended and your brother are very close."

Raoul smiled, attempting to shrug off the fact she looked hurt.

"I speak no ill, Mademoiselle," Philippe said, but it was drowned by his own brother's question.

"And are you again with anyone?"

"Raoul!" Philippe hissed, much to Terfat and Charles' amusement. "How dare you inquire, you are years her junior."

The only thing such a statement did was make her feel foolishly old. She'd be a spinster in no time, her father was right to be scared for her future, but Arielette wasn't worried at all.

"It is quite alright," she dismissed, "Would you like a dance, Monsieur?"

The young man in the blue suit looked more than eager, even if his companions were looking at Arielette with all the disdain they had.

"More than anything," he agreed, offering up his arm as the night suddenly took a turn from the lonely one Arielette had planned.

It wasn't as though she was attracted to Raoul de Chagny, Vicomte and soon to be second chair, taking his brother's place in the opera house, but he was kind. He spoke to her with an enthusiasm that met no other's. Of course, Arielette wasn't overly distracted with his eccentric chattering.

When Erik walked in with the soprano on his arm, she knew exactly when. She could recall the torturous moment she saw it any day in the future as though it would have happened moments ago. Dancing with Raoul made her just another face and costume in the crowd, but Erik certainly was not. He wore the same mask as he always did, but it was dark as night. The black covering only showed his lips and chin, and Arielette envied Christine for being so close to him. Mademoiselle Daae was a sight in her stark white costume, so close to a wedding dress that it made Arielette burn with a rage she thought had been extinguished.

Raoul asked if she was alright, his blue eyes more worried behind that mask of his than a first-time performer.

Not having been in the opera for the past seven years had done something awful to Arielette, but she managed it well enough. Raoul had been speaking of taking her to a show, and sitting in his family's box. It was sweet, but the moment Arielette looked at Erik that evening, she knew there was no falling for anyone else. Whether or not she wanted to let him go, there was no way she ever could. But if there were no other option... the boy in her arms might have to do.

Erik had changed over the years she had been away from him. His suit was pristine, his status higher, the woman upon his arm more deft, and a confidence that was born of pride, not of falseness. Arielette knew that any point before now, Erik's show of cockiness had been fear-instilled, a trait he'd adapted to have to get through his performances and the long nights in the gypsy camp. This, however, was all because of his place in the opera as fourth chair and honored musician.

Raoul picked up her spirits with a joke, but she wasn't as jovial as she was before she'd seen Erik and his fiancee.

Arielette enjoyed dancing with Raoul, for she'd never had a partner so adept at it. He was rather graceful, really, though she was sure that he wouldn't want to hear it. This man had been in the navy, and he was a respected Vicomte of the de Chagny household.

When Erik and Christine had joined the dance floor, Arielette decided to take her chance, and then be on her way. She couldn't fake fancy for Raoul, and her true motive needed to be filled out. Her assumption was nothing to say that the Vicomte was truly enamored with her. He kept hinting at taking her somewhere special, or to one of the operas seeing as she hadn't been in such a long time. He even went so far as to recommend her favorite opera to the board when he was placed upon it, as if Erik wouldn't know immediately that he'd done it for her. She wanted to stay out of his light after this, to forget they had ever happened, no matter how hard it would be, if it came to that.

"Raoul would you do me a favor?" She wondered curiously, her fearlessness blatant.

"Anything," he said a little too quickly, even for his own pride.

"Dance with Monsieur Destler's partner for me?"

His face fell, and since his was a lot less covered by his mask than hers was, Raoul's sadness was obvious.

"I just want to know how he is doing, is all. We haven't spoken in seven years."

Giving him any hope for a relationship between them was senseless, but she needed him to do this for her.

"My brother says you ended things quite badly. I met him once, he seemed very reserved."

Raoul made no comment of the mask, though his remark of Erik's reservation was probably it. Arielette didn't have to afford him any explanation, but she needed to get Christine away from him.

"Who is he with?"

"His fiancee."

"I didn't know he was engaged, Philippe only talks of his brilliant works for the opera," Raoul said as if that eased Arielette somehow.

"Would you dance with her?"

"For you," he agreed, the music taking an end and swirling into a new composition as he kissed her hand and took his leave.

Arielette made her way through the crowd slowly, watching Raoul in his blue suit he interrupted them. Obviously, Erik did not recognize him at all because Raoul had Christine in a matter of moments, charming her, though obviously not as hard as he had been charming Arielette. She knew the look on the boy's face, he was falling for her already.

She walked up to Erik with no fear, not even a doubt that he would not be able to recognize her. Her purple outfit was more than anything she'd ever worn before, and it's style was completely new. It was fashioned like a peacock, her mask adorned with their feathers, and the dark purple complimenting her dark eyes with fervor.

The surprise was not in his acceptance, but his silence as he took her up on the offer and glided her about the dance floor, his gaze of course fading to Christine, even if they'd finally gotten to converse.

It wasn't until she slipped, her false demeanor falling away, that Erik discovered her identity. He had wanted to know before, but her coyness had brought him to the truth.

He broke from her almost immediately, the feel of his warmth on her side, and his hand in hers gone. She mourned it as he stared at her, causing a scene, but she did not cower before him as most would. Arielette watched helplessly as he muttered her name, and he fainted with the nod of her head.

Raoul could not keep Christine occupied as she rushed towards him, the music halted and the crowd now in utter dismay. Now what would she do?