Brava, a splendid work. So nice to see someone avoid the current romanticised version of this particular loon. Not that he can't have his tender moments, I'm sure... but so much more to him than that. Excellent.

kinda sad but good anyway...

"For that was all that was required of her."

What a terribly sad truth. Aren't all women supposed to support and nurture their relationships even when the partners do not want it? Women wish to change the men they love, and men say they want to keep the woman as she was. We fall in love with what we 'think' the future will be, when we simply should stay where we are and open our eyes.

Christine learned too late. Great job on this cautionary tale.

An excellent story. I'm not a "phan" so I have no notion the differences between Eriks, but this was an excellent peek into what might have been. I thought you captured Christine's faith perfectly, and the ending was suitably tragic.

Wonderful writing - thank you for the great fic.

This was an absolutely beautiful story, aurens. You portray Leroux's Erik as I have imagined him to be had he been a real person.

Throughout phandom, we have been changing Erik from the "psycho-stalker" that he is in his original incarnation into someone nicer, someone we can love and pretend to be loved by. ALW started it, Susan Kay encouraged it further, and the '04 movie propelled this transformation to the point where Erik has gone from being a freak of nature, a corpse-like being with no conscience, to a handsome sex god.

I'm not saying this is right...or wrong. When I wrote my story, I could not bring myself to write Leroux's Erik, and that is why my own is called Variations on a Theme of Leroux.

Leroux's Erik is a fascinating character. He can be pitied, empathized with, but I truly don't think he could ever know or understand romantic love.

Excellent story! This is Leroux Erik at his finest, I always said he was a twisted, manipulative control freak.

Christine got a huge dose of reality here, have to have a little sympathy for her though, daddy filled her head with a few too many fairytales.

What a refreshing change from all of the E/C happy ending stories I`ve read. Not that I don`t enjoy those also, It`s just nice to read a darker, more realistic side of the Phantom

I'm so glad I found this story. It starts with its own fey quality, but as the truth of her situation finally dawns on Christine, it turns into a horror story.

You told it with complete control and meaningfulness. Every word mattered; take one away, and the impact would be lessened. Add one, to the same effect. That shows a master's hand at work.

You "had" me at the title, by the way.

~ML

Mature and well-written.

Wow... That was really well written. Very powerful stuff.

Sure... love redeems all. Right... Good stuff!

A welcome relief from "Leroux!Erik as your first boyfriend." You peek under the rock and a lot of Erik's inner darkness crawls out - his controlling nature, the always-simmering threats of violence, his "what kind of woman could sleep with a monster like me?" issues. Poor Christine, she's in for a rough ride...

This is awesome. I expected her idea of the 'fairytale' to die at the end, but instead of her realizing that fantasy can't be fulfilled, she only realizes that her own fantasy isn't universal. I like the implicit idea that reality is still, in the end, a fantasy--just that it's usually someone else's fantasy and it might not be the one you want. It's a twist to the traditional "grow up, open your eyes" tale, and you used it to great effect. Thank you for this story.
--tkp

Oh. V. good. I liked it.

i would like this to continue

Whoa. That was excellent -- completely chilling! I love the way you subvert the whole fantasy of redeeming another person with love: of course it is not possible, and you manage to get the whole horror of it perfectly here. Change has to come from within.

Straight to favourites!

Tango

very Leroux-ish, dark Erik. cool!