Unconditional Love || A Phantom of the Opera Fanfiction ||

Chapter 11

When I took off the mask.

That mask was the barrier between us. Whenever I asked about it, he would grow stiff and silent, so I stopped asking. It didn't look very comfortable. He could never eat very much, or drink without a straw. It looked like it irritated his face. I decided that day that I would see what was behind it. Was it that bad that it had to be covered with a mask?

I reached over and took it off. I stood there silently, looking. His face was deformed. It wasn't a really bad deformity, but it did cover almost half of his face, with a hollow cheek and little crevices all over. It looked like paper thin skin, it was so stretched out. And it was red and irritated, just as I suspected. Slowly, I knelt down and said,

"Erik, you should not cover that up. It needs to be able to breathe."

Erik looked at me, his eyes moist. "You can stand to look at it?" He whispers, then turning his face away again.

"What... Of course I can!" I say, surprised that he didn't have much faith in me. "Why do you ask that?"

"My father could not stand it, so he left me when I was a child. My mother still loved me, but was always sad that my father left. I grew up knowing that it was this that made my mother sad." He pointed at his face, and than grabbed his mask from my hand and placed it on. I took it away again.

"Erik, it needs to breathe. Please, do this for me." I say softly, than I kissed his deformed cheek.

"Alright. Are you sure you can stand it?" He chokes up. I feel tears in my eyes as I say confidently,

"Yes. You are my husband, and I love you. Your face makes no difference whatsoever." I suddenly realized what I said. He forced me to marry him, but I choose for him to be my husband.

"You mean it? That I am your husband?" He says, looking amazed. I laugh and say,

"Yes, you are my husband. And since you are my husband, I will tell you my middle name."

"Okay, what is it?" He said eagerly. I laugh again and whisper in his ear.

"Emmaline. Christine Emmaline Daae. Long, huh?" I say, smiling.

"It is beautiful." He leans over and we kiss. Little did we know that our happy life would go on for another couple of weeks, and would be gone.

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Hi, everyone! What do you think of the ending? Did you like Christine's middle name? Haha. She finally told him! I will post the next chapter soon, but I don't know when since school is hectic now. Thanks again for reading. Vote and comment, please!

Phantom_Christine_5