“Oh, Erik…” Christine whispered, and she took him gently into her arms. “Oh, Erik--I’m sorry.” She gently placed a hand under his chin and raised his face to look at him properly. This time she felt no fear; this time there was only love. She tenderly kissed the right side of his face, her lips tasting the salty tears that streaked the marred flesh. Then, she placed another kiss on his lips. “Oh, Erik, you are beautiful. Inside and out. I love you—I love you more than anything else.”

He looked up at her, almost like a dog, ready to die for her.

“You…you…love me?” the last words came out as barely more than a whisper.

“Yes, I can’t explain it. I’ve known you less than a month, but I love you. You have made my spirit soar. You have shown me what it is like to lose your soul to someone, to get tangled up completely in someone else. You are incredible…and beautiful,” she finished, smiling at him softly.

Fresh tears started down Erik’s face, but this time they were tears of a different kind. He pulled her close to him.

“You are an angel, Christine, an angel. I never dreamed I would ever know what heaven was like, but now I do. You are heaven, Christine.” Erik kissed her tenderly. “I love you, angel.”

From Empty Spaces, Chapter V
~~~~~

Awww, kissies

Gift art/request art/thank you art for . She requested that I do some fanart for her modern-day Phantom phanphic, Empty Space, which I highly recommend reading (even if you're not a phan of modern-day phics). I've been wanting to do some art for her since I started reading it, but her request drove me to get it done. It's also a thank you for her, since she agreed to be the beta of a phic I'm in the process of writing.

When I first started to draw her request (only one of the two pics I ended up stetching while in Pittsburgh, seesh), I had something different in mind; something a little more cuddly. Then while browsing through some of my old save files, I came across a scan from an Inu Yasha doujinshi that I thought was really cute, so it became the referance. That's probably why Christine looks so much like Kagome with brown hair. Or Hermione from Harry Potter. But it's Christine. Take my word for it. Erik's hair could have been more exciting. Sorry about the smuginess of the paper; it's a real low-quality print paper compared to what I usual use (laser paper is much smoother), so the grays and blacks on Erik smudged something aweful. I also think this is the first time maskless ES!Erik has been drawn; the mask just got in the way otherwise.

Anyway, hope you enjoy sweetie!

Empty Spaces (c)
Phantom of the Opera (c) Gaston Leroux et al