Without Knowledge
(?)Community Member
- Posted: Wed, 03 Dec 2008 06:43:30 +0000
Dreaming of Beauty
-
-
“This repulsive carcass who seems a beast, but secretly dreams of beauty...”
-
-
“This repulsive carcass who seems a beast, but secretly dreams of beauty...”
New Year's Day of 1873 reveals a frost-bitten Paris, still barely recovering from the loss of a crippling war. The members of the unfortunate opera house have fared no better than the city itself, and the only one among them who found her happily ever after was Christine Daae. The former star of the stage now lives with her dear Vicomte in the countryside, away from the gloom of Paris, awaiting the birth of their second child after bearing a son - Charles - within a year of marriage.
Though she attempted to bring the ballet mistress and her whimsical daughter into her fairytale life, it was not to last. Not yet three years after the premiere of the doomed Don Juan Triumphant, Antoinette Giry's health started to fail her. Young Meg, now barely an adult, left behind her dear friend and beloved godson to get her mother to a specialist doctor in the city, but there was nothing to be done – she died in route to the city, and Marguerite Giry was left to pay not for a doctor, but a funeral. And there was only one other attendant who came to pay unseen homage, decked in a dark cloak and wide hat that hid his face.
Erik, despite all expectations, survived the horror and heartbreak of that horrible night, and went on with life, though he showed little motivation or interest for it. He continued on the simple instinct to survive, living in the mansion on the outskirts of the Paris, bought and built with the finances of unexpected inheritance. And it was right by this mansion that the Giry carriage pulled over when the Madame's life ended. Having heard of this from a servant, Erik took it as a sign and went to pay his respects to the one person in the opera house he had considered friend.
This should have been the end of it, with Marguerite struggling to get back to the Chagnys and look after their children until she found some way to support herself, and Erik returning to his self-proclaimed prison until his time or patience with life finally ran out. And this is how it would have gone, had her father's lawyer not approached Marguerite with Antoinette's will right at the grave, giving both attendants a shock with her final testimony.
While I wish I could leave what is left in this world to my only living child, my husband's prenuptial agreement stipulates all that I have must go to him. Given this fact, all I can give now is a reminder to someone who will probably never hear it – 'Do as I say without question, and your daughter will become an Empress.' It was by this promise that I served you for so long, despite the suspicion it put upon me - to help the daughter I had done so little for when I should have. I could not expect you to find her a prince, sir, but I must ask you to try, in memory of the service I provided, to look after her and find someone worthy of her that is willing to care for her as I no longer can.
The short, strange letter left the Phantom utterly shocked, called out on an old promise he had forgotten in his sorrow, threatening to wound his pride if he reneged on it now. Thus he took the younger Giry away, despite her protests, to his mansion with a promise to himself that she would be married as soon as he could find a proper spouse for her.
Now Meg lives in the abode of the infamous Phantom - the confused, underfoot ward to her disgruntled, matchmaking guardian. Welcome to an odd twist on the classic Beauty and the Beast, where the Beauty has a father that certainly isn't going to rescue her, and the Beast is already in love with another 'Belle' out of his reach. Is there even a 'Gaston' in this twist? Will Christine play a role of her own in this tale? And what happens if Erik ever does find Marguerite a 'prince' to marry? Would either be happy to see this promise kept?