ANGEL OF MUSIC [CHRIS MOTIONLESS] [✔️]

IX - Papa, Can You Hear Me?

EMMA's POV

~~THAT NIGHT~~

I walked through the graveyard, stopping at the mausoleum hanging with moss, a wrought iron music note on the gate door and the word DAAE engraved over it. My family's grave. I started to speak, hoping my father would hear my prayers.

"Papa...You were once my one companion, you were all that mattered. You were once a friend and father - then my world was broken. Wishing you were somehow here again, wishing you were somehow near. Sometimes it seemed if I just dreamed, somehow you would be with me. Wishing I could hear your voice again, and knowing that I never would. Dreaming of you won't help me to do all that you dreamed I could do."

I swallowed hard, and continued. "Passing bells and sculpted angels, cold and monumental, seem, for you, the wrong companions - you were warm and kind. Too many years fighting back tears. Why can't the past just die? Knowing we must say goodbye. Try to forgive, please teach me to live, just give me the strength to try. No more memories, no more silent tears. No more gazing across the wasted time. Papa, please help me say goodbye." I began to weep, not noticing a figure emerging from behind a stone cross to the right.

A soft, enticing voice reached my ears, filling me with warmth. "Wandering girl. So lost, so helpless. Yearning for my guidance." Bewildered, I looked up, gasping breathlessly. "My angel, or my father? Friend, or spirit? Who is it there, staring?" I called out, and the voice came again as I saw the figure, tall and familiar. "Have you forgotten your Angel?" It called, and I let out a whimper of relief.

"Angel. Oh, speak. What endless longings echo in this whisper?" I called, and I began to walk to the figure, who continued to speak, gentle and hypnotic. "Too long you've wandered in winter, far from my benevolent gaze." He said, and I recognized, with a jolt of adrenaline and excited terror, my Angel. "Wildly my mind beats against you...." I said, and he reached out a leather gloved hand, saying, "You resist, yet your soul obeys." He said, and I sighed. I didn't hear Joshua's voice from behind me, I was entranced by my angel.

"To the arms of her angel, angel or demon? Still he calls her, luring her back, from the grave. Angel or dark seducer? Who are you, strange angel?" He called, but my Angel was louder. "Oh, my Angel of Music! You denied me, turning from true beauty, Angel of Music! Do not shun me. Come to your strange Angel." He called, and I smiled, moving closer.

"Angel of Music! I denied you, turning from true beauty. Angel of Music! My protector. Come to me, strange Angel." He beckoned me, and I moved even closer, a smile growing wider. "I am your Angel of Music. Come to me: Angel of Music." He sang, the velvet voice soothing my frayed nerves.

Joshua suddenly called out, shaking me a bit. "Angel of darkness! Cease this torment!" I continued towards my Angel, reaching for him subconciously.

"Emma! Emma listen to me! Whatever you may believe, this man, this thing, is not your angel! Let her go! For God's sake, let her go! Emma!" Joshua screamed, and I turned to see him slowly. "Joshua?" I murmured, and he ran forward, embracing me protectively. I did not hug him back, his voice grating and rough, unlike my velvet angel.

A flash of flame landed at Joshua's feet, as my angel cried out, "Bravo, monsieur! Such spirited words!" Another fireball. "More tricks, monsieur?" Joshua yelled at him, walking slowly and resolutely towards the sound of the flames. "Let's see, monsieur, how far you dare go!" Phantom yelled back, and sent more fire. "More deception? More violence?" Joshua called, and I tried to speak. "Joshua, no."

"That's right, that's right, monsieur, keep walking this way!" Phantom screamed, and Joshua screamed back. "You can't win her love by making her your prisoner!" I tried to go between them, but my feet didn't seem to want to move. "Joshua, don't!" I cried, and he turned to look at me. "Stay back!" He yelled, and I jumped.

"I'm here, I'm here, monsieur: the angel of death! Come on, come on, monsieur. Don't stop!" My angel screamed. More fire. Joshua was almost to the Phantom, a confrontation imminent, when my legs decided to work. I rushed across to Joshua, shoving him back.

"Joshua, go back!" I turned to the Phantom in terror, close enough to see his white mask. "Angel, run!" I cried, imploring him to disappear to safety, and he softened the smallest bit. "I will go! But Monsieur Vitcome, let it be war upon you!" He called, and disappeared in a burst of flames.

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