There had been a formal dinner scheduled between the first chair's family, and the second, and the hopeful patrons. Erik was none too pleased with this occurrence, but he did very much trust Arielette to do as she may and be solid in her decisions. But if that de Chagny boy ruined her reputation in the slightest, Erik would have terribly frank words with him.

He had no clue as to why all of the board members weren't invited and why the cut had been at second chair, but he did not question. Charles seemed to think the two families more than enough, but Erik refused to believe that he was not necessary to the dinner. He remained uninvited even after having this talk with Charles, however.

Another question was why every blasted family member must be in attendance yet he could not accompany his fiancée.

"Oh, how I wish I could go with you," Erik moaned at Arielette as she walked out in one of her finest dresses.

"I know, darling, and how I wish you were attending, yet fate is always so cruel it seems."

She walked over to the chair he was seated in and laughed as he embraced her waist, placing his unmasked face into her stomach.

"Do not go."

"I must."

Erik sighed, letting her go and placing a kiss to a hand he had snatched from her side.

"Well, then please do watch out for the Vicomte. I have had a lengthy conversation with Philippe over these past few months, and he cannot corral the monster. Just do be careful."

"I will," Arielette said sweetly, leaning down and placing a kiss on his lips.

It was sweet and warm, and Erik pulled her down to him, crumpling her dress most likely as she landed in his lap.

"You incorrigible man! I don't want to go, but it will look bad on father, Erik. I will be back later, I promise."

She placed a final kiss on Erik's cheek then simply got up and left, leaving him to his misery. He felt rather bereft of her presence, and wished slightly for a goodbye.

Not but a moment later, she came back through the door and smiled at him with her sultry grin.

"Sorry, I forgot to say goodbye."

"You did," he said, standing and letting her come to his arms, giving her an innocent kiss which turned to much more as she let her hands roam over his chest and back.

"Goodbye, Erik, I will see you later. I love you."

"I love you, Arielette. Goodbye."

He felt in much higher spirits now.

The evening was yet early, and Erik planned on composing to ease his anxieties about the supper happening above him. They were dining in the atrium of the opera house and the catering was going to be fantastic apparently, and Erik loathed the whole idea. His music was even showing it as the notes were loud and somber, each one more succinct than the next.

This was possibly why he didn't hear the rapping on the door until it was rather loud and rather aggressive. Erik knew it was not Arielette, for she had a key and would merely enter. So, he stood, knowing only a few people knew how to get below and into the bellows of the opera.

"Christine," he greeted the young woman at his door. She looked very distraught, as though the events of the current supper were upsetting her as well. Erik imagined they would, she clearly had a burning flame for the younger de Chagny, and the only thing that boy had his eyes on were his Arielette.

"Erik, I'm sorry to bother you, but I knew where Arielette was. And I needed a friend, I suppose."

"Well, I suppose it wouldn't hurt to offer you a little bit of friendship when it wouldn't hurt me to have it."

She smiled warily as he moved out of her way, gesturing to the couch.

She kindly took up on the sofa and tucked her legs beneath her, looking rather sad. Erik felt obliged to console the poor thing, and so he sat beside her, hand tentatively stroking her shoulder.

"Are you alright, Miss Daae?"

"No," she replied quickly, looking at him with watery eyes. "I'm not. Raoul wants nothing to do with me, and you're blissfully happy. I just want someone to care for me the way you and Arielette care for each other. I love her so much, and yet she has stolen all the love I once had from me. I do not resent her, but it angers me to no end! I simply want to be loved."

She collapsed in his chest and began to sob, and Erik deeply understood the stark feeling of loneliness that Christine was currently experiencing. Even with Arielette, he felt the lone presence of the opera suffocate him sometimes, and as he gently stroked Christine's head he empathized greatly. He'd been alone almost up until Arielette had found him then tossed him away again in which he endured most loneliness until the woman in his arms had scooped him back up.

Loneliness was a physical pain, it hurt from the chest out and while Erik hadn't cried over it since he was a child, the tears were immensely painful. The feeling burned, and no amount of consolation fixed it sometimes. There was a constant void, filled only by pain and darkness which sometimes was not fixable. It festered and became worse, and loneliness was an enemy Erik never wished to encounter again.

He felt terribly for Christine who shook like a house in a windstorm. She faltered, pulling back a moment to probably find him deep in thought about how wretched a thing loneliness was. And she kissed him.

Erik did not register it immediately, in fact, he sort of leaned in, his thoughts completely scrambling his brain until he opened his eyes and saw blonde hair instead of his love's brown.

"Christine!" He proclaimed, pulling away and standing frantically, feeling as though he was once again threatened with the idea of loneliness. Arielette would not stand an unfaithful man, why should she?

"I'm sorry!" She exclaimed, jumping up as well, holding up her hands to him in surrender, "I don't know what happened, I was caught up in my emotions, and I didn't think properly! Erik, I'm so sorry, I don't want to cause strife between Arielette and you! You must know that."

As Christine pleaded with him in tears, he walked up to the poor suffering girl.

"You're fine, Arielette will understand, but I must tell her."

"I know, and I do hope she understands, Erik. I really meant nothing by it, despite my residual feelings, I wouldn't ever hurt her like that."

"Don't fret, Christine." He kissed the top of her head and pushed her back, distancing themselves so that way nothing torrid happened again.

They talked for a long while after that, discussing this and that, and Erik comforted his friend, hoping that she could maybe try to get pass Raoul and himself and onto someone worthy of her grace and beauty. She left once it had gotten late, Arielette explaining how she'd run into the blonde on her way down.

"I'm going to kill that de Chagny!" She also informed him, throwing her cloak at the coat-hanger.

"Are you now?" Erik said through his music, not daring to leave a piece unfinished.

"I am! Do you know what he had the audacity to do this evening? Father nearly threw him over the table, but I'm almost sure Philippe would have done it first if everyone didn't think it a jest!"

Turning to his fiancee, Erik raised his eyebrows, encouraging her to continue.

"The fool decided he would ask if I would go out with him for an evening! And then, he attempted to kiss me on the cheek when the night ended, to which Philippe apologized endlessly. But he asked me such a thing at dinner! I am plighted, for heaven's sake, you cannot ask a woman who is nearly married if she wants to attend a date with you! The nerve!"

He agreed wholeheartedly, but he just needed a few more stanzas of her ranting before he could as well be furious with the boy. Something needed to happen, and it needed to happen soon.

"Erik! Aren't you at all angry over this? You don't intend to leave me to deal with that... idiot alone, do you?"

"No," he said, letting the final note of his composition ring out and then he released his piano and decided instead to take his fiancee in his hands. "I intend to teach him a stern lesson. The things he has done to woo you are completely unacceptable. The fact that he's trying at all is ludicrous. I shall handle him, darling."

Arielette sighed, leaning into his embrace as they stood in the middle of the sitting room.

"What was Christine doing here, anyways? She looked rather upset."

"She was lonely, aggressively so, at that. The poor thing was very distraught. She even kissed me on accident."

"She what?"

Erik chuckled, "It was an honest mistake, I believe. She really is frantic and anxious, I think that she merely lacks friends."

"And what am I?" Arielette wondered into his chest, "She comes and kisses you then claims to have no friends--"

"No, dear, it really isn't that, I don't think. She is someone who has been in a meaningful relationship with a man for years, whether it be her father or a suitor, or an old friend, and now all of them have betrayed her. Christine merely lacks a man's presence."

"So you're saying a suitor will fix her?"

"Not fix, but that's who Christine is. She relies upon a stronger presence than herself."

Arielette squeezed Erik tighter.

"Well, you shan't be that presence, not any longer. You're mine to kiss, Erik Destler."

Erik smiled pulling away from the embrace slightly to look into Arielette's beautiful face. She smiled at him, looking happy regardless of the terrible evening she'd had. He kissed her softly, holding her as they began to sway to music in their hearts.

"I might need your help in handling Raoul, is that acceptable?" Erik asked her eventually, their arms in a lazy dancing position.

"Yes, plenty fine. As long as he leaves me alone," she told him with a darling purse of her lips.

"You know, Christine is quite smitten with him. From what I gathered they were rather affectionate young ones."

"Yes, he made chance friends with the poor girl down the street, and then they sang together and played for months. Christine said it had been some of the best few months of her life, even if she was rather little when it had occurred."

Arielette leaned into Erik who was feeling rather warm with the lovely woman pressed up against him. Never did he tire of such a divine thing happening to him. Oh, he wondered how soon he could truly make this woman his wife. They had barely begun the planning yet, so his hopes were squashed within seconds.

"I thought I had been the best few months of her life, but I suppose I was wrong--" Erik said, and he supposed that he deserved the smack on the arm.

"Men," his fiancée sighed, rolling her gorgeous eyes, eyelashes fluttering gently.

The world had to be moving in slow motion, for no one was that beautiful and time had to pay respect if she were. Erik was reverent to his Arielette, and them being together was above anything else int he world. Besides an unfinished piece, of course.

Maybe... maybe he could consider leaving the piano with something unfinished if she were his wife but for now he held an excuse and she never asked him of it. One of the many reasons he loved his fearless Arielette.

"Do you have a plan yet?" She asked as they began to slow down their dancing again, her words tired and heavy.

"I might just have an inkling of an idea, but you'll be fit to hear it tomorrow. For now, bed."

Erik carried Arielette to bed, and for that evening, he solidified his plan to keep Raoul from ruining himself or the de Chagny name. And that thought was only for his poor, suffering friend Philippe.