The Choices of Raoul de Chagny — Coda

I've been asked what Erik's reaction was to Christine's failure to arrive at Phantasma: so here are a few of the 'unseen' parts of this story in note form.

Erik didn't give up easily when Christine cancelled her engagement: not being stupid, he worked out that she would still be on the boat whether she was going to sing for him or not, and sent his henchmen to the docks with instructions to bring her back anyway. However, Raoul's inspiration of using Célestine's talkative tendencies to distract the attention of the Press (since they couldn't very well shut her up, having sacked her) coincidentally happened to throw Squelch, Fleck and Gangle off the scent as well, and the little party managed to slip off the ship and reach the shipping office to trade in the tickets in privacy, without the slightest idea how narrowly they'd avoided a reunion with old friends...

Erik was furious at this incompetence; but by the time he'd tracked down what had happened, Christine had gone - they were lucky enough to switch to a sailing that very evening (at the price of having to travel back via Liverpool rather than direct to Cherbourg), and didn't even spend a single night in New York.

However, he did have all this music, and he did have a resident leading lady, and she did have song-and-dance possibilities that Christine had never offered - and inspired by the recent success of shows such as "The Merry Widow" with its string of lyrical hits and "Florodora" with its innovative dance routines, he had an Idea...

He is definitely not over Christine yet, however. Give it (and Meg) a few years, and a fond reunion may be on the cards: but if Christine Daaé were to walk in the door right now there would be angst all round, and I wouldn't be liable for the results. Christine's instinct to keep her family as far from him as possible is entirely correct: he would see them at best as hostages (he is not terribly pleased with her just at the moment; he is quite capable of combining this with an ardent desire to possess her all the same) and at worst - particularly in Raoul's case - as directly culpable in her 'flouting' of him.

So better to keep all parties well apart for a while and let things settle. Meg is very happy; Erik will be, if she has any say in the matter (and the current public success of his music is doing a lot to ease his troubled soul: he finds he can express himself without Christine, after all); and Raoul and Christine are enjoying a second honeymoon :-D

Raoul, after some initial hesitancy, has settled down into a cheerfully ruthless and affectionate relationship with Gustave with which both are tacitly and undemonstratively very happy - a healthy Edwardian father/son set-up, in other words :-D
Christine hasn't quite got over the sheer pleasure of watching them together yet... and as I hinted earlier in the story, romping around with Gustave on occasion is actually very good for Raoul, both physically and mentally.

I'm not sure if they will ever tell Gustave of his true paternity (assuming it is true... Christine isn't certain, and can't ever really be). I rather suspect not; it will only hurt him and put him into a legally dubious and morally scandalous situation. These things happened, but one didn't talk about them; you wouldn't necessarily tell a child he was adopted, for example (given the almost inevitable implication that he was the discarded result of some maidservant's indiscretion, rather than a valued member of a respectable family).

I also suspect Christine of angling for another, 'accidental', pregnancy - which would scare Raoul stiff, possibly with entirely justifiable reason, and would certainly have him dragging her off pellmell back to Europe as fast as possible. But that is getting too far into badfic territory... ;-)



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