Raoul could be an idiot at times, but he knew something was not right the next morning. He knew what the tension coming from Erik was all about, but Gustave was also very quiet. He kept staring down at his plate, and wouldn't eat or talk. Perhaps something Erik had said the night before had upset him? 
 
 Of course, all three knew what day it was. It had been six years since Christine's death. Things were always very quiet and somber between them on that day, but Raoul sensed something else was not right.

 "How is everyone this morning?" Raoul asked cautiously.

 Erik gave him an incredulous look. "Really, Chagny? After last night's conversation?"

 "Which one?"
 
 "Both of them! Did you really expect me to be in good spirits?"
 
 Raoul wisely did not reply, instead turning his attention to his stepson. "Gustave, you've barely eaten. Are you feeling well?"
 
 "Don't you know what today is?" the young man replied. 

 "Yes, I do," Raoul sighed, "And I wish it didn't have to be, but it is." 
 
 There was silence for another thirty seconds. Then Gustave suddenly put down his fork and cried, "How could you do it to her? First you fought for her and caused a perfectly fine opera house to close down, and then ten years later you bargained for her as if she had no thoughts or feelings of her own!"

 "Well, it isn't my fault Christine kept changing her mind," Raoul protested, "and besides, everything that happened was really his fault, anyway." He pointed to Erik as he said this. "He was an obsessed lunatic. He knocked a chandelier into the stage during a performance because he was angry! And the bet was his idea!"
 
 "But you agreed," Gustave scowled. "My mother deserved far better than either of you." He got up and stormed out of the dining room.
 
 Erik threw the first thing he could grab at Raoul, which was a fork. "ARE YOU A COMPLETE FOOL!? NOW HE HATES BOTH OF US!"

 "I was being honest!" Raoul rubbed the side of his face where the fork had hit him. "It really was your fault, when you think about it."

 "And you think I don't know that? I'm ashamed of what I did! And you were the one who said last night that he was old enough to know!"
 
 "Well, if you didn't tell him, he would have just found out on his own, and that would have made it worse. Imagine if he heard stories of the Phantom of the Opera, and he realized it sounded just like his own father? What would have happened then?"
 
 "I suppose you would have made me out to be a monster as you just did," Erik replied dryly. 
 
 "You did act like a monster! I was there! And you think it never made me angry that Christine betrayed me with you on the night before our wedding? The only reason she married me was because you left her!"
 
 "And here I thought you wanted to be friends," Erik retorted.
 
 "I said that because I do want to put the past behind us," said Raoul. "And now that Gustave knows everything, we can put it behind us for good now."

 "Do you honestly think we can do that, Chagny?" 

 Raoul shrugged his shoulders. "Shouldn't we try? But first," he got up from is chair, "we have to go to the cemetery. I believe we have some apologies to give."