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Emptiness	By : Josephine1881 Category: M through R > The Phantom of the Opera > Slash Views: 8257 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own The Phantom of the Opera, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
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Author’s note: I’d just like to remind you that even though my description of the torture chamber is like in Leroux’ book, this story is still mainly based on the ALW stage show. So Raoul has never been inside the torture chamber before.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Erik either didn’t realise that my mounting panic was real or he didn’t care. I strongly suspected the former. His eyes were shining with anticipation, and his hands were shaking slightly as he opened the door completely. I actually tried to hold onto the door frame, but he loosened my grip with ease and pushed me into the room.

For a moment, I was still able to delude myself that maybe he hadn’t led me into the torture chamber after all, that maybe he had only been making a joke. This dark and seemingly completely empty room I had just staggered into bore no resemblance to the dreadful place I had heard about. Who knew whether those storied had been true? Chorus girls and stage hands weren’t the most reliable sources.

My heartbeat had just slowed down a little, when the room was filled with a sudden, dazzlingly bright light. I brought a hand up to my face to shield my eyes from the brightness. After the initial darkness, it felt as if the sun were shining directly into the room. It took me one or two minutes and a lot of nervous blinking till I was able to see more than light. Yet once I had realised what I was looking at, I instantly wished I could have gone back to the state I had been in before.

I was standing in a strange room. Instead of four corners like normal rooms, it had six of them. Yet although that was rather peculiar, it was not the shape of the room which astonished me most.

There were trees growing in the room. I knew it was not possible for trees to grow out of a smooth floor without as much as a little earth in sight, but they did. They surrounded me, huge trees with greyish trunks and green leaves. Had I perhaps stepped into a forest without realising it? No, I couldn’t have done so. But I saw the trees all around me…

I walked forwards a few steps, uncertain what to do. Tentatively, I stretched out a hand for the nearest branch. Yet mysteriously, my hand only encountered a smooth material of some kind. I tried again, more firmly this time, rapping the material with my fingers. I grew angry. Why couldn’t I touch the trees? One could easily touch the trees in every forest, so why wasn’t it possible in this one? Was the tree mocking me, hiding behind the smooth material? I’d show it…

“Raoul, stop!” someone yelled.

Was it one of the other trees, trying to protect its friend? I was pulled back roughly by the shoulders and turned around. The trees were trying to get me, to drag me behind the smooth substance into their strange forest. I was to become one of them… I struggled, desperate to free myself from the branches’ grip, but they didn’t let go.

Then I was pressed forcefully against something that wasn’t hard and cold and smooth, but soft and warm. Strong branches… no, strong arms were holding me close. And suddenly, there was music in the air. A gentle, soothing melody filled the room. It seemed to glide into me with every breath I took, caressing both my body and my soul.

Very slowly, I lifted my head and looked up. Erik was there, pressing me against his chest. Erik was gazing down at me with those amazing golden eyes. They were shining even more than they usually did, and I realised that they were filled with tears.

“I’m so sorry, Raoul,” he whispered, ending the song. “So sorry… I didn’t mean for this to happen, I swear it. I just forgot what could happen. I was so delighted by my idea to bring you here, to… to love you here… that I forgot the lights would be switched on automatically once we’d be inside. It’s a mechanism in the door, you see. When I realised what was happening to you, I tried to undo it at once, but I couldn’t find the switch right away. I haven’t been in here in months…” His voice trailed off as he gave a dry sob.

Even if he had been talking slowly and clearly, not in a feverish whisper, I doubted that I’d have understood him. His words didn’t make any sense. What did the light have to do with the forest?

“You saved me,” I mumbled weakly. “From those trees… They would have tried to grab me, wouldn’t they?”

“But no!” he assured me, looking shocked. “No, no, no. They couldn’t have attacked you. They’re not real.”

“But I saw them,” I argued, the memory making me shudder. I was very glad that at the moment, I could see nothing but Erik. “I saw them with my own eyes. They are right there, behind those strange walls. What are they made of – glass? And how could the trees grow behind them?”

Instead of giving a verbal reply, Erik let go of me and stepped aside.

Now that he was no longer standing in front of me, I noticed that the bright light had vanished. A soft glow came from a candlestick on the floor, but apart from that, it was quite dark again. And the trees…

“They’re gone,” I breathed. “They’re all gone. How did you do that? How did you make them disappear?”

“They were never there in the first place,” he explained. “It was nothing but an illusion. Look!”

He pointed at something behind me. I turned around quickly and let out a gasp. One of the trees was still there. It looked oddly out of place without its companions, and somehow, that fact made it less intimidating.

“Can I touch it?” I asked, not sure whether I wanted the answer to be yes or no.

“Of course,” Erik replied readily. “Touching something can take away the fear.” I knew that he was refering to his face, of course. The main difference was that his face had never tried to attack me. But then, the trees hadn’t tried to do so either… or had they? I was confused, but determined all the same. I’d find out the mystery of this place.

Slowly, I walked towards the tree. Something very strange was happening to it. The closer I came, the less real it looked. Why hadn’t the grey colour of the trunk struck me as odd before? Why hadn’t I noticed how flat the leaves were? My mounting suspicion was confirmed when I touched a branch. It was smooth and shining in the candlelight, not rough like a normal branch.

“It is made my metal,” Erik said, before I could even open my mouth to ask. “The leaves are painted onto it.”

“It looked so real,” I muttered, now running my fingers over the trunk. “Why doesn’t it look real anymore now?”

“It’s a matter of the light,” he told me. “Once the light is switched on, it looks much more realistic, mainly due to the fact that when all the other trees appear, the whole scene becomes so strange that one can’t think straight anymore. You didn’t doubt they were real trees, did you? But I can assure you they’re just illusions, reflections of this one tree. You see, the walls are covered in mirrors…”

The word reminded me of something Mme.Giry had once said, months ago, when I had asked her to give me at least a little information on the Phantom. She had told me about something he had supposedly built for the Shah of Persia.

“A maze of mirrors,” I breathed. “A maze of mirrors…”

“Not a maze, just a room,” he corrected me softly. “But it is a room that would have driven you insane if you had stayed in here too long. The trees were only the beginning. I can also raise the temperature till it’s as hot as in a tropical forest. A man trapped in here could die of thirst or kill himself because he doesn’t see a reason for going on living. Years and years ago, I built a similar room, and like everything I build, it… it worked very well.”

I turned around to face him.

“And why did you bring me here?” I wanted to know. My voice shook slightly.

“Because I am a fool,” he answered calmly. “I didn’t think straight. I was so immersed in that little game of ours that I didn’t pause to think about what would happen once I opened the door. In the dreams I had while you still were with Christine, I locked you – or rather, the person you used to be at that time – in here so many times. It seemed logical to take you here in our game as well. But then I saw how it affected you and…”

He seized my right wrist and pulled my hand towards him. It was only now that I noticed my fingertips were red and slightly swollen from pounding against the mirror. If I had gone on, they’d have surely started bleeding. Now I knew why I had instinctively used my left hand for exploring the metal tree. Erik brought up my hand to his lips and kissed each fingertip in turn.

“Forgive me…” he muttered. “Please, Raoul, forgive me…”

“Has anyone ever… have you ever taken… has anyone ever died in here?” I asked. The question made me feel slightly sick.

“No!” he exclaimed, still holding my hand. “Never. I’ve only built it for my own safety. You know how many enemies I have. But I’ve never tortured anyone in here, and I never will. I’ll lock the door, and you’ll never have to go into the room again.”

He opened the door and led me through it, locking it behind me.

“Do you despise me?” he asked quietly once we were standing outside. “Now that you’ve seen what I’m capable of?”

´I’ve seen what you’re capable of before´, I wanted to argue, but the words didn’t leave my mouth. It was true, I knew that he was capable of murder. I had seen two of his victims with my own eyes. I had nearly become one of his victims myself.

And still… I now realised that I had made a grave mistake. I had tried to talk myself into believing that all those crimes had been committed by the old Erik and that the new one, the one who loved me, would never do such things. What I had failed to understand was that the new Erik, no matter how much he had changed, still contained traces of the old Erik, and that would never be different.

But all that didn’t change the fact that he loved me and I loved him. Yes, he had accidentally activated his torture chamber, but he had also saved me from it. He had held me and comforted me, and it had felt so very good. In that moment, I understood that I’d always be able to come to Erik when I’d be scared or miserable. Perhaps he’d be a little cynical about my problems, but he’d never be cruel or taunt me.

There was still much I didn’t know about him, and I doubted I’d like all of it. But just now, I didn’t want to judge him by what he had done. I wanted to judge him by how good he made me feel.

“I don’t despise you,” I told him softly. “I love you.”

He stared at me, as if looking for something in my appearance to contradict my comforting words. He didn’t seem to find anything, for a tentative smile spread across his face.

“I love you, too,” he whispered, embracing me and kissing my lips gently. “What would you like to do now? I’ll do anything you want.”

I thought about his offer for a moment. I’d have liked to be held in his arms a little longer, to hear how sorry he was a few more times. But looking up at him and seeing the concern in his eyes, I realised that it would have only increased his guilty conscience. I knew there’d be a time when we’d have to talk about what had happened in that room, possibly approaching a few of the less pleasant parts of his past. Yet I didn’t want to do so now. I wanted us to enjoy ourselves, and I knew just the way to ensure we’d do so.

I freed myself out of the embrace roughly.

“You know perfectly well what want,” I snarled. “I want you to set me free!”

It didn’t take Erik long to understand what I was up to. I was delighted to see the concern vanish from his eyes, to be replaced by the old fire.

“You will be free, Vicomte,” he said coldly. “Just not now. I haven’t even started with you.”

He seized me by the upper arm and dragged me away, away from the torture chamber and to another room. I didn’t care which one it was, as long as there wouldn’t be a single tree in it.
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Emptiness