Author's Note:

Dear Readers,

Here is Part 3!! I'll probably have a part for of this night because, why not? I'm looking for fluff not story so, cuteness will abound! I hope y'all like this!

sarahlet2999

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The people were stifling, whirling, dancing about him and the white angel tucked against his side, thinking nothing of the mismatched pair. They slipped through the crowd, waiting on the edges of the dance floor.

Women laughed all about them, leaning back and placing hands over gasping bosoms as men flirted with them, propositioned them, and all but took them in the shadows of the columns.

Glancing about them, he discreetly moved to cover the child's ears, keeping her innocent of what surrounded her. She wandered through, as he kept close by, his blood cloak a safe shroud for her from the wickedness that cavorted about them.

Why had she wanted to come here?

But, one look at those eyes hidden behind the white mask, he understood that she knew nothing of the debauchery and only saw through naïve eyes the wonder and beautiful of her evening at the Opera.

When the music quieted and many couples left the dance floor, a waltz started and Christine lit up, turning to him and pulling him towards the dance floor.

"Dance with me!" She cried, unashamed of being accompanied by the most dangerous of all the Opera House's fiends.

"I...do not dance...often."

"Just this one time? Please?" Those pleading blue eyes...

"Of course, Christine." He replied, allowed himself to be led onto the dance floor by tiny hands and nimble feet.

He wouldn't lie that the first few turns were awkward, she was so short, so small. Her neck bent awkwardly to look at him. Her eyes showed her happiness and he put aside the awkwardness, the feeling of being watched by everyone.

This night was for her.

He couldn't grant her everything she desired, but he could grant her this.

The dance moved on, fewer and fewer partners drifting across his line of sight as he blocked them from his mind, preferring to watch her, enjoying her first dance.

I am sorry your partner isn't more presentable or appealing, my child.

But, despite his guilt at taking something special from her he refused to deny that she didn't seem to mind and he was enjoying every moment.

As the dance wound to an end, he realized everyone on the floor was simply staring at them. All the revelers had abandoned the floor and mostly silence covered those close enough to see the odd pair.

He wrapped his scarlet cloak about her, hiding all but her white-masked face in the yards of red cloth. A shift of a foot, a pressing of a series of hidden levers and the floor gave way beneath them, swallowing them in a whoosh and a squeak of terror from Christine.

His feet hit the ground first, knees bending to take the force of the landing while holding her against him so she wouldn't feel any pain on impact.

"What was that?" She shout-whispered to him, turning inside his red cloak and pressing herself close to him, her eyes fearfully flitting about the dark of the tunnel they stood in.

"They were staring at us."

"Yes." She shuddered. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked to go. I didn't want to get you in trouble!" So much like her, to think of others over herself.

"No, if anything, that was good for my reputation. A show of power will usually do the trick." She giggled, stepping out of his arms and examining on of the cold stone walls.

"Are we going back to the party?"

"Would you like to?"

"I don't know. It seems like such a grand exit; we'd ruin it if we went back and left again." She rested her hand against the wall and gathered the trails of her skirts into her hands to keep them off the dirty floor. "But, I don't want to go back to the dormitory."

"We...could go to my house?" He didn't know why he offered, he really shouldn't have. She trusted him and wouldn't turn him in but that didn't mean he showed her his secrets and his home.

She probably wouldn't like it anyway.

"Under the Opera? Five cellars down?" He couldn't mistake the thrill in her voice.

"Yes. It's perhaps not the best place...certainly not as beautiful as up above but, there will be tea and I believe I could find something for a late supper?" The last part was debatable but he would find something, even if it meant leaving her for thirty minutes to raid the Opera kitchen.

"As long as it wouldn't be an inconvenience?" Her blue eyes looked up at him, hope warring with propriety.

"Not at all. Come with me." He offered her his hand and led her deep into the bowels of the opera.