Reigned in Freedom

"None are so hopelessly enslaved

as those who falsely believe they are free..."

"What?" the word was whispered in the still of the room. It was soft and filled with disbelieving pain. Gustave Daae sighed as he looked upon his only daughter and told her something he knew would change their relationship forever. Something that broke his heart every time he thought about it.

She was sitting in the chair in front of him, her slim hands grasping the arm of her chair in an excrutiating grip. Her chocolate curls tumbled down her back and framed her suddenly pale face. Her blue eyes searched his and he could not bare to look at her accusing stare. She looked so much like her mother it brought tears to his eyes. His beloved Emma...how he missed her.

"Papa, please tell me what you are saying is not true!" Christine pleaded. She had stood and took his hands in her own trembling ones. The tears in her eyes were almost his undoing.

"I am sorry, bebe, it has to be done," he whispered, looking away from her. Christine pulled away from him as if she had been burnt from what he was telling her.

"You cannot do this, Papa! Please, please do not do this!" she sobbed, collapsing on the chair once more. Gustave tried to take her hand but she flinched and pulled away.

"He is a good man," he tried to reassure her.

"A complete stranger, Papa! You would give me to a complete stranger?" she said, turning to look at him once more. She stared at his beloved brown eyes and handsome features, not believing that he would be so cruel as to give her hand in marriage to a man she did not know. She had thought her father was different from others. Friends she had held dear as a child had been sent away to marry men twice their age and Christine had believed her father would never do such a thing to her. He loved her to much.

He knew how much love meant to Christine. She had always told him that she wanted what he and her mother had been given. Gustave had understood and yet here he was telling her what had to be done! It was not possible!

"If Mama was here she would not make me do such a thing," she whispered coldly, her feelings toward her father beginning to change rapidly. Gustave's face became full of pain and regret.

"Your mother is no longer with us, Christine, if she were she would know what I was doing was right," he said sadly. Christine stood and backed away from him.

"How is this right? You know how much love means to me!" she cried. Gustave sighed, suddenly very tired. Since Emma's death a year before he had felt as if nothing would ever be the same. He was now losing his daughter and he had absolutely no say in the matter. It was just something that had to be done.

The door opened to reveal a handsome man dressed in immaculate black clothing. His brown gaze slowly looked over the two people before him and his handsome features set in a grim frown. He knew all to well what was going on right now. Christine gave a glad cry and flew into her brother's arms. Anthony wrapped his arms around the sobbing young woman and held her close.

"Anthony! You cannot let Papa do this!" she pleaded. The two men stared at eachother over Christine's head, Anthony's stare cold and hard, Gustave's tired and filled with sorrow.

"Christine, do not make this harder then it already is for me!" their father pleaded. Anthony nearly growled in his throat.

"Oh, so it is hard for you, Father? One would think you must feel nothing to give your only daughter away to a man none of us have laid eyes on before," Anthony hissed.

"You know nothing, Anthony, and I would remind you to remember who it is you are speaking to," Gustave said, hating the fact that he was destroying his family over his sense of duty.

"I know perfectly well to whom I am speaking; a man who no longer sees any meaning in life. A man who is giving his child away for his own sick greed!" Anthony snarled. This was not the man Anthony knew and loved. That man, his father, would never have even considered the idea of giving Christine away to a loveless marriage.

Since their mother had died nothing had ever been the same. They had once been close and now were only strained in each other's company. With the exception of Anthony and Christine. Their sibling love would not change no matter what hardships they might face. They loved each other to much. He pulled her closer and backed the two of them away from their father.

"Come, Christine. It appears you are no longer welcome here," he said. Christine pulled away from her brother for a moment to look at the man she loved with all her being. She did not hate him like she should. But it hurt her deeply that he was doing this to her. She could see the pain in his eyes and wished he would tell her the reason why he so willing hurt the love between them.

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