We Meet Again! (C. Giselle)

[Raoul Edouard de Chagny]

The gazebo was visible in the distance, but it was a shorter walk than it seemed, especially with the lovely weather. "I hope the weather stays warm for a while. I do so enjoy these walks on the grounds."

Edouard laughed when Giselle mentioned all the Eriks, Christines, Raouls and Megs. "You become accustomed to it, Giselle. And since we call each other by middle names, it hasn't become a problem. We have similarities, but those fade into the distance when you see how different we all are. You could like the four of us up, the Raouls and none of us are alike at all. And the Christines. I can't even count how many of you there are. Eriks too, although we could probably use less rather than more of them...

"Yes you will learn which one is which. The Eriks tend not to have middle names., just different last names. "

Giselle commented on the flowers and Edouard smiled. "Thank you,, I shall tell her you enjoy them."

They continued the walk to the gazebo, passing a lovely little lagoon with weeping willows dragging their fronds in the water. "The pond here looks like a nice place for a skating rink in the winter, if the ice freezes solid enough."

They reached the gazebo and Edouard let Giselle go in first. Edouard sat down and closed his eyes for a moment, savouring the warm breeze, perhaps one of the last warm days the season would have.

[Christine Giselle Daaé]

Arriving towards the Gazebo with Edouard she smiled a bit. "For those who have middle names. Most people don't..." she told him. Entering it she stepped up and placed her hand upon the rail and looked at the view the manor held. Her eyes closed feeling the warmth of the sun upon her face and she closed her eyes feeling the warm fall breeze.

"I do hope so, I won't stand a chance on being cold this year. I don't have much stuff here at the manor. But hopefully it will provide us with something when the winter time comes" she said in a small voice. Turning her direction over to Edouard when he mentioned that most Erik's didn't have middle names she tilted her head in curiosity. "I'm sure that would get confusing" she said with a light laugh.

Smiling a bit Christine said nothing and she nodded her head. "Their beautiful, she has a talent for things like this" she said eyeing the beautiful flowers around them. Then she touched one and said nothing for a moment. Christine enjoyed Edouard's company.

When Edouard talked about the pond, she looked over at it as she remained inside of it. "It does! Does the waters get gold enough here to freeze so we can go on it?" she asked looking over at Edouard. "I've never done ice skating before" she told him in a small embarrassed voice. It was true, she never had been. No one ever taught her.

[Raoul Edouard de Chagny]

"The breeze is lovely today, Giselle." It caught his blond hair and ruffled it a bit. "And I would not worry if you have no winter clothing. You can always borrow from one of the other ladies and they also have clothing in the village. Even though some of it is not much to my liking, some of the ladies have taken to it. Some of the younger ladies like yourself. If you don't care for any of the clothing, they sell yard goods there I expect. You or someone else could easily make something lovely and warm, I am sure."

"So Giselle, what's your favourite flower? There are many unusual ones in the garden. There were more during the spring and summer. The lovely fall flowers have begun to bloom, asters, chrysanthamums and others. It makes for a very colourful walk."

"And the lagoon, I expect if it becomes cold enough, that it will freeze hard enough to skate on. But I don't know. I have not spent a winter here. I have been her since March. The air was becoming warmer then, and the gardens were in very bad shape, over grown with weeds and such. Perhaps next spring you would like to join my wife and the other ladies in planting and making the place lovely again."

"So do you skate at all, Giselle? I am sure that there will be a skating party here at some time, if conditions are right." He smiled and touched her hand lightly. "I am enjoying this time with you. I do hope you make many friends here. And, remember my advice. stay away from Lenoir."

[Christine Giselle Daaé]

A small smile appeared upon Giselle's face as he spoke about the women in the town to make her a few things to keep her warm for the winter. "Oh that does sound rather fun! I will make sure to go down there once it comes around" she explained. "I have yet to be in town anyways since I've been here. So far I've only been in the garden and the manor" she told him in a small voice as she wondered around the gazebo.

Giselle looked over at Edouard as he questioned her upon her favorite flower. "Hmm, I don't think I have a favorite flower to be honest with you. If I had to chose what flower would be my favorite, I think it would be the Lily, because its very beautiful and they can last forever at times if one takes care of them properly" she said looking over at him.

Her eyes darted everywhere within the gazebo they were in. She wanted to take everything in. Everything was so beautiful at this time of year and she was loving every minute of it. Giselle turned her attention back to Edouard. "Oh, no I don't know how to skate unfortunately. I fear that i may fall into the water or something" she told him. Then she nodded her head. "Of course, Edouard" she told him. "Thank you.. for the warning..." she said blinking and then she looked down then she looked back at him.

[Raoul Edouard de Chagny]

"The first time I visited the village, I had a strange experience." Edouard's eyes became a bit far away as he remembered the strange experience. He frowned. "I saw a school play in the village with the lady I had accompanied to the village. It was odd, for it told the story of part of my life...and Christine's and ... that fellow Lenoir I was telling you about...the play was a musical. The actors were young, of school age, not children mind you , but teens. They were very talented in acting and music. The whole play was beautiful. If I had not lived it myself, I would have thought it a lovely and enchanting story. As it was, it brought back memories of a difficult time in our lives, my wife and I, before we were married. It was quite frightening. And yet it ended well, at least for us. It was one of the strangest things I have ever experienced." He came out of his reverie, then smiled at Giselle. "Sorry, you probably didn't want to hear that odd story."

"Skating. We would not skate unless the ice were very thick. It is too dangerous to walk on thin ice, for it could easily break. Of course you could fall onto the ice, if you are learning, but if someone is teaching you, they would surely show you the right way. I imagine it must be lovely here at Christmas, the snowfall covering the branches and the ground, the cold breeze making your breath show and tugging at the ends of your scarf. Yes, we must certainly at least go walking in the snow when it comes. By that time surely you will have some warm clothing to wear. I can see you in a pretty fur hat and muff. Would you like that?"

[Christine Giselle Daaé]

As Edouard started speaking, she tilted her head a little and was intrigued upon hearing his first visit to the little village. Christine said nothing and she listened intently to it. Giving a light chuckle she looked down and brushed away a stray hair on towards her ear and she smiled a bit. "Its alright Monsieur Edouard" she told him giving a small smile still. "Don't worry about, its perfectly fine really. I enjoyed the tale though" she said nodding her head to him. "I don't think I have ever had any strange experiences. Okay, I suppose that's a lie." she said laughing a bit. "But it was that all strange. .. " she told him looking off into the distance. "No, it was actually kind of exciting for me" she informed.

Turning her direction back to Edouard she looked at him. "You are kind Monsieur Edouard" she said smiling coming over to him. Placing a hand on his shoulder. "I would like that for the winter. After all, this is the only thing I have really. The only thing I, well would say , be abducted in" she told him. "Skating does sound like a fun thing to try at least if its hard enough" she told him. "If not its perfectly fine, I'm more than comfortable of walking than skating" she said with a light laugh. "So....uhm..." she backed away and looked around some more.

"You said your wife, planted these?" she said touching a flower. "They are beautiful" she told him still staring at it and not making eye contact with Edouard for a moment. Memories of her father came to her for a moment. Then she shook the feeling off and smiled a bit.

[Raoul Edouard de Chagny]

"Really though, you don't understand. It was not just a tale, not just a story or a lovely play, it was the telling of a reality that Christine and I had lived through. And that horrid man, Lenoir. He kidnapped Christine, did you know that? He wanted to force her to marry him. He of the frightening, disgusting countenance, actually wanted her to marry him! Can you imagine? He is frightening to anyone who gazes upon his face. He wears a mask which covers that fright, but underneath... and Christine was brave enough to unmask him in front of the whole opera house! Yes, that's what she did."

"He was going to force her to stay with him forever, as a punishment for having ripped off his mask and gazed upon his fearful countenance. Then she kissed him out of pity. I don't know how she could bear to do it. But she did. It must have sparked a bit of humanity in his dark, evil heart, for he told us both to go. I whisked Christine away from that place of horrors as fast as I could. But the worst was yet to come."

"We married and everything was lovely, on the surface. But his shadow was always over our marriage. While we had moved far away from Paris, it seemed he still had a hold on Christine's mind. It seems she actually wanted to stay with him, to marry the black-hearted monster. In the ensuing years, we grew further and further apart. The birth of our son, I had hoped, would bring us together, but unfortunately, it didn't as much as I had hoped."

"When we were suddenly brought here, we were separated. I wandered about for a while, trying desperately to find Christine and Gustave, hoping to start all over again. And then I discovered that he's here in the mansion too. And he's taken to chasing after Christine. I have threatened him and given him an ultimatum, spoken to Christine, but all in vain. The man must be intent on ruining my life. He even tried to kill me once."

"Then I thought if I changed my attitude toward him that he would change. Alas, that hasn't worked either. So the moral of this story is ...stay away from Lenoir. He is dangerous and looks like your worst nightmare."

Then Edouard smiled. "Sorry. I got a bit off the subject with my narrative. But mind you, it''s all true, not a story by any means. If it were merely a story, I should not believe any of the remarkable details myself."

[Christine Giselle Daaé]

As Edouard continued telling his interesting tale to her she became intrigued upon who this mysterious person was that his wife was with all this time they were on their little vacation. Though, Giselle kept to herself and she said nothing else and she looked at him. "I'm sorry you had to go through that trouble Monsieur Edouard" she said placing a gentle hand upon his own and she looked at him. Squeezing it reassuringly.

Giselle nodded her head and she obeyed his words. Then she sighed softly for some reason. "Something tells me this Lenoir fellow is dangerous from the way you've put it..." she said looking upon him. Giselle then pulled her hand away from his and she tucked back her stray hair behind her ear and she looked around then back at him.

"Oh, please I don't mind it.. I actually liked the story" she said looking upon Edouard. Kissing his cheek for a moment as she pulled back. "You're a wonderful story teller Edouard" she said smiling a bit. "I believe it.. " she told him in a small voice.

[Raoul Edouard de Chagny]

Edouard liked it when Giselle touched and squeezed his hand. Perhaps a bit bold on her part, but still he liked it. He squeezed her hand back. Finishing his narrative, Edouard expected that Giselle would say she would definitely stay out of Lenoir's way. No sense in him taking an interest in another young, innocent girl. Not that Emilie was young and innocent any more, but she had been. And he had ruined Emilie by confusing her mind so that she thought she loved the Phantom more than Edouard. How could it possibly be? Edouard had been the young, handsome and rich suitor, a man Emilie had known since childhood. They had been friends for years when it turned to love. But the jealous Phantom had turned Emilie's heart to him, an aging, deformed and demented man who could offer Emilie nothing, save perhaps music lessons.

Giselle said she liked his story. "I see. You don't believe a word of it , do you? You think it's just a story, something I made up to amuse you. Rest assured, it is completely true." Edouard put his hand to his head and closed his eyes momentarily. "Would that it were only a story. I wish this man would have stayed out of our lives, for he has virtually ruined us. Emilie is so taken with him, she cannot stay away from him. And despite my threatening him, he simply keeps it up."

"So, Giselle, believe what you will. If you venture to see the fiend and he hurts you, I cannot be put to blame, for I gave you fair warning. I do wish you would reconsider and stay out of his way." If not, you may well regret it.." It was clear to see that Edouard was considerably disturbed by the thought of another lovely girl being taken in by that hideous creature...

[Christine Giselle Daaé]

Something within Giselle had come to a liking towards Edouard. She liked his voice and everything about him. He was kind, sweet and friendly. There weren't much men in the world like that aside from her Erik. Giselle looked over at him and smiled a little. She saw goodness within both men she had in her life now. But she would just remain friends with Edouard. Letting go of his hand she set it back on her lap and she listened to his words.

The young soprano tilted her head to the side as he spoke to her. "Oh, Monsieur. I believe you, I promise" she told him. "Forgive me if it doesn't seem like it but I do believe every word you say." she said again. "Perhaps you shouldn't threaten him?" she asked raising a brow to him. "Maybe that's why he keeps coming after you two. You keep threatening him and he tries to come and get Emilie." she explained trying to help him out. "I know it isn't my place, but maybe you should see what happens." she said softly. "I'm only doing what a friend would do, and that is helping" she said softly to him. Giselle looked at him still. "I don't want to ruin your relationship by coming in between this. I'm just giving out ideas and such. My advice usually works, but..." she trailed off and laughed lightly. "Sometimes they don't" she told him.

Hearing his words she looked at him lightly. "I understand, Monsieur" she said in a small voice taking his hand again in hers. "Thank you for your words" she told him in a small voice. Giselle looked at him for a long moment and said nothing. Keeping silent and staring at him. "I uhm.... " she began to say as she slowly stood up. "So.." she breathed shaking the feeling off her. "What should we do now? There are many other rooms within the manor that should be discovered yes?" she asked softly looking over at him and looking around her surroundings.

[Raoul Edouard de Chagny]

Giselle said that she did believe every word he said about Lenoir. Then she said, Perhaps you shouldn't threaten him... "Yes, it's true that I threatened him and gave him an ultimatum, but he simply ignores me as if I were an annoying fly and comes and takes what he wants. And what he wants is my wife. I have all rights to her. She doesn't belong to him. When he let us go, he gave her up at that moment. And now he wants her back. He sees that he has her heart." Edouard looked sad and rubbed his forehead. He sighed."I don't know what he did to her...perhaps the mesmerization as he was bringing her to the lair. The kiss was certainly pity on her part. But since then, it doesn't seem like that. He has some hold over her that I cannot understand."

He smiled at Giselle. She didn't understand the hold that Lenoir had on Emilie and how she seemed to be drawn to him, unaccountably. There was no way he could explain this to Giselle without her meeting Lenoir. And even so, he didn't care to expose her to that danger. However, there would be many chances for an encounter, considering they were both living in the mansion. Edouard could hardly protect Giselle all the time. The only thing he could do was warn her to be careful. He had told her the story, which he felt showed how dangerous the man was.... What more could he say?

"I realize you are only trying to help the situation, Giselle, and I do appreciate that. And certainly you would not be ruining any relationship of mine. It's Lenoir who is purposely trying to do that." Giselle took his hand again and squeezed it again. It felt very nice and he gently squeezed hers back.

As Giselle stood, she asked about other rooms in the mansion. "Yes there are many more, Giselle. I doubt that I have even seen every one of them. And there is something else strange. Some of the rooms appear or disappear very suddenly or change. I first heard Lenoir say such a thing and I of course thought he was telling some ridiculous lie just to annoy me and frighten the others. But I have experienced it myself. It is quite the phenomenon. So, let me take you first to the library. I understand some frightening things have happened there, but I have not experienced anything out of the ordinary. Come, it's this way..."

[Christine Giselle Daaé]

Remaining where she was she said nothing for sometime and watched him for a moment as he spoke about Lenoir and his wife. Giselle inside felt terrible for Edouard. A small frown appeared and she said nothing else as he spoke to her. "I'm sorry to hear that Edouard" she said sighing to him. Keeping where she was she stared at him. "I wish there was something I could do to help you" she informed him as she watched him. Seeing how sad he was she wasn't sure upon what to do to help him.

As he spoke to her she looked at him and she nodded her head. "I understand.." she said in a small voice. Feeling the squeeze on her hand she smiled and said nothing else at this point. "I'm sure everything will work out in the end, just give it time.." she said nodding her head a little and saying nothing else.

When he spoke upon the other things within the manor she smiled and she looked at him. "Lead the way.." she said in a small voice and she followed him to where he was headed. Giselle looked around and came up beside him and walked around the outside of the manor. "So where are we headed?" she questioned as she walked along side of him.

[Raoul Edouard de Chagny]

"The library is this way," Edouard said again. They walked down a long hallway and pulled open a large carved wooden door. There were rows and rows of books in the windowless room. Between the many bookshelves were paintings of dour looking people, frowning down upon anyone who cared to look. They were undoubtedly ancestors of won of the owners of the house. Edouard was glad none of them were his ancestors. ....

"Giselle, this is a quiet place you can come to read. There are many subjects here. All sorts of fiction, biography, history, classical works, whatever you could imagine. They are mostly in French, but there are books in English, German, Spanish and Italian also. And a few in some of the Eastern languages. I have even found several in Farsi, which is the language spoken in Persia. Why that would be here, I wouldn't know."

Edouard had never examined all of the books in the library. He pulled out a few of them that had published dates that looked to Edouard as if they would be in the future. But he had been at the mansion long enough to know that they were living in the future, 2013, to be exact,. So the dates did not surprise him anymore. However, he wandered around a corner and saw a huge bookcase with many shelves upon which were, not books, but something else. He pulled one out. It looked like a thin case with a picture on the front. In the corner were the letters DVD. He opened the strange little box and there was noting but a disk in it. Nothing anyone could read. He had never seen such a strange thing. What was it for?

Edouard put it back, but continued to look at the titles. Suddenly he saw one that made him pull it out of the shelf. He wasn't sure why. It was entitled Love Never Dies. Why did that sound familiar. He put it in his suit coat pocket and turned to see if Giselle had found anything of interest.

He saw her across the room and walked toward her. But on the table, a book caught his eye. Le Fantome de L'Opéra, (The Phantom of the Opera.) The author was Gaston Leroux. Did this have something to do with Lenoir or one of the other Phantoms? Perhaps all of them? He picked up that book also and showed it to Giselle.

"Have you ever heard of this book?" he asked her.

[Christine Giselle Daaé]

Once inside the Manor again, she followed Edouard towards the library. Giselle followed him silently and she walked alongside of him. Upon coming the large wooden doors, she looked up at them and then she entered the room with him. Everything inside was glorious in every way shape or forum. There were thousands of books on each subject that you couldn't even imagine. Giselle was bewildered upon how many books were within inside this place.

Walking along the aisles of books and music and dvd's, she was very intrigued by everything. How did they even fit this so many books and entertainment under one roof? Giselle didn't know. "Everything is so delicate and beautiful... I'm afraid to touch them!" she said with a soft laugh. "Afraid, I'll ruin something" she said moments later merely to herself of course. Giselle then emerged out of an aisle and she came towards him.

Tilting her head she wasn't sure what this book was. "No I've not. I usually don't have time to read, though it does look rather interesting" she said taking the book from him. Giselle flipped through the book carefully and then she paused on one certain page. There was her name. 'Christine'. Giselle blinked. "What is this..." she said suddenly. "My name is in a book... surely this must be a different Christine..." she said softly. "Very strange.." she said placing it back to him to hold.