[Phantom of the Opera] In Praise of Iris

How does it feel to turn your birthday into a death day?Irene said irresponsibly: that feeling is... At a certain moment, I feel that my soul is infinitely close to heaven.

Yes, heaven, the warmest and lightest place in that impression.It seems that what she is about to go to is no longer the feast of death, but a fairyland, a fairy tale, and the habitat of all beautiful and peaceful souls.

"Snow, snow, may you be pure, may you be ruthless..." The girl rhythmically tapped the snow that was gradually freezing under her body with her red knuckles, and her tiny murmur pierced her lips and tongue, It has dissipated in the aftermath of the wind and snow before experiencing the chaos of the world.Irene smiled wryly, her emerald eyes barely glowing with a little clarity.Rand rolled over her with difficulty and let out a slow gasp from his nose and mouth.

"Rand, did you hear that?" Irene felt a little lighter in her body.The girl is lying on her side in the snow, with one leg stacked on top of the other. The parts above the knee joints of both legs are unconsciously curled up inwards. At the same time, one arm is bent to support the head. The hands wrapped in dark cloth A small half of the elbow is deeply sunken in the snow; the other is loosely placed on the chin, and the long platinum-blonde hair soaked in snow water is tied into lighter-colored locks, hanging messily on the back of the hand against the cheek On the top, just covering the unsightly knuckles, the whole person presents an overly flamboyant coquettish attitude similar to the snow scene behind her, just like... like a mermaid stranded on a white sand beach!Rand frowned at his ominous metaphor.

"Ah, yes, of course you can't hear that extraordinary song—it's the whine of my dear mentor to guide me." Irene's voice was very soft, like the natural down feathers of a young bird; Her only eyes that have never lost their color are no match for the silvery white sky, her vision is blurred, but countless disturbing images are ups and downs in her eyes one after another...

The not-so-good first encounter in the prayer room, the five years of teaching, the hasty escape, the game on the Loire River, and then the big dream in the villa, escape, amnesia, return, reunion... and finally , it was the wand that was broken by her all-out effort and Rand's sacrificial "forget it all"...Irene finally understood where the whine that echoed in her heart all day came from—the singing was so beautiful, it called She couldn't help trembling all over when she heard it...but it was too confusing and lonely, definitely not the absurd fantasy that a heartless little girl could derive in her sleep.

"Your sensitivity to ghost singing is beyond my expectation." Rand was still lying on his back on the snow - he was far weaker than Irene.But there was an undisguised evil smile on his frozen pale face, "But what's the use of it? Anyway, you will forget it again sooner or later."

Yes, sooner or later she will forget all the memories of the past again, from the first time Rand used "Forget Nothing" on her until the last time he used "Forget Nothing" on her-this is the sacrifice The privilege of casting spells.In order to maintain this privilege, even the system she had clearly requested before consciously kept silent without giving any reminders.The girl felt her heart constricted, bursting out in a trance with a deeper sorrow than walking alone in time.

"Your despicable stupidity is really beyond my expectation!" But Irene still managed to stand up, and even forced a sneer from the corner of her mouth, "The mentor always sings to me, and you... After reading 'The World is Established Obediently disappear!" The girl's emerald-colored pupils were still carefully hidden under her eyelids, and she could only hear most of the contempt, hatred, and subtle pain of being betrayed by someone close to her heart from her tone of voice. .

"As a fellow countryman, I wish you not to be crushed into ashes by the 'established trajectory'." Rand's eyes flashed a look of being stung, but his voice was still lazy, because of the obvious trill due to the cold , "Ah, even if you want to be cannon fodder, at least you have to persist until you reconcile with the protagonist." But Irene has found the right direction and stumbled away.

His eyes seemed to have a lot of grit in them, his eyes were swollen and painful while weeping, his legs were bone-piercingly cold and numb, and even the vague whining had long been silenced.But Irene was still walking stubbornly in the snow, with her eyes closed and her thoughts empty. She seemed to be a tireless puppet, faithfully following the lead of the fate line in the dark.

"呵—" There was a very short abnormal sound, probably the spurs on the heel of the knight's boots brushed against something hard, and it was not noticeable mixed with the sound of the snow being crushed.Irene froze for a moment, squatted down slowly, endured the biting cold and groped in the snow for a while, and took out a long and narrow object.The girl's fingers, which were not yet completely numb, carefully climbed up to the surface of the object, and finally gradually outlined a familiar pattern in the back and forth rubbing - it was the iron box that she complained about many times!Irene hesitated for a while, held the box in her hand, straightened her body and continued walking, a strange expression of crying and smiling appeared on her face, which had been covered with many small scars in the wind and snow.

The second time Irene made an unusual sound under her feet, what she touched was the ghost's cold mask and the uneven but very familiar face under the mask.

Sure enough, you and I have never been far away.The body under Irene's hands was colder than her skin, she still closed her eyes, but cautiously bent down to embrace the cold body.With the only warmth remaining in their hearts, both of them burst into a reassuring smile from the bottom of their hearts.

The wind and snow have stopped long ago, but the temperature rises quite slowly.Since Irene does not plan to go to the underworld with her Mr. Ghost for the time being, the girl "breaks free" from her lover's embrace with great perseverance, and starts to grope around carefully.

"Bet on the dignity of my phantom fan girl for two lifetimes! My dear, you will definitely not leave yourself a way out, right?" Irene said to herself to encourage herself, and finally survived the desperate situation before her physical strength was exhausted— —She raised her foot and kicked a clump of "wild fungi" that was almost completely hidden between the roots of the tree, and heard the sound of a piece of snow being pushed away under the tree.Irene cautiously stretched out her hand and probed forward, the slightly raised masonry under her hand and the faint smell of wax oil in the air seemed so lovely.

"Sure enough, it's me who never dies!" Irene was shaken, turned her head and hugged the phantom tightly, hesitated, touched the ugly iron box with her hand, and threw it down against the bottom of the dark passage. ——At this time, she obviously didn't have enough ability to investigate possible dangers in the secret passage.

There was no unknown gas, no sound of arrows raining down or flames blazing.In the silence, the sound of the iron box falling to the ground seemed a little far away, and it simply extinguished Irene's thoughts of using the remaining physical strength and willpower to slowly move an unconscious person through the secret passage.

"Very well, there shouldn't be any mechanism that will kill you... It's only been a year since I first returned to Shani's house, my dear ghost, please don't tell me that this new tentacle has been taken by you. Equipped with even more vicious and hidden minions!" The girl's murmur carried a lover's unique lingering.Gritting her teeth, she carefully took off her wet coat—a plain long skirt that matched breeches and boots; she also tore at the revealing bodice, but immediately found that its long, narrow sleeves were tightly glued It was on her own skin, because she heard a faint sound of tearing flesh - her feeling was already very numb due to the long-term cold.

But how is this enough?Irene thought of the few masonry steps she had touched before - each of them was not too wide, and together they formed a more unfriendly slope.

This is really a severe test for our weak body.Irene sighed, and suddenly missed the complicated clothes that Miss Shani wore every day without exception-she always disliked them as not conducive to the various exercises she loved, but now think about them, those layers How lovely are the soft ribbons, petals, and large bows!If she hadn't seen Rand's clothes and changed them for the convenience of the horse race, she wouldn't have to worry about how to protect their fragile heads and necks at this moment!

Thinking of Rand, Irene couldn't help grinding her teeth—God knows what that lunatic is thinking!But... there is a rare fellow here, and I hope Philip can save him in time.At this time, she even thought with disrespect: I wonder if Christine's mood is the same as hers at this moment when she thinks of her mentor?

The habitual wandering of thoughts doesn't affect the girl's action of taking off her lover's robe at all - anyway, she has already made love, and this is not enough to "meet each other sincerely", right?While comforting herself, Irene wrapped the heads of both of them carefully with the clothes in her hand. The black robe was inside, and the spacious long skirt was outside, but she had to be careful not to let the elegant little decorations on the black robe that showed the Phantom's taste get in the way. Weakness of the back of the head, nose or eyes.

In fact, not only Irene's long skirt was wet, Eric's black robe was also soaked in snow water, and it was even more thoroughly wet because he was almost buried in the snow—even when Irene wrapped his head She had already paid special attention to leaving room for breathing, but the two layers of damp cloth still gave her a sense of suffocation that was gradually becoming clearer.

"Well, up to now, we have no choice but to hurry up and gamble! Dear Mr. Ghost, please wish us good luck!" Limited to the cramped space for activities, the girl replaced a lingering kiss with a slight rub on her cheek.Finally, she hugged her lover tightly, turned over, and rolled down the stone steps without hesitation.

"Bang bang bang... bang bang..." There was a continuous muffled sound echoing in the dark passage, and the slender and dense steps were infinitely elongated by the uninterrupted dull pain caused by the collision with the flesh and blood.When the two finally rolled to the bottom in embarrassment, Irene didn't want to know how many bruises and scars would be added to her body.What's more troublesome is that even with the cushion of the wet clothes, the continuous shocks at the back of the head will inevitably arouse a strong sense of dizziness...

After an unknown amount of time, the secret passage that Irene almost thought would never end finally came to an end.Regardless of enjoying the phantom brand meat pads, Irene tried her best to tear off the wet clothes wrapped around her head, gasped for a while, and finally relieved the oppressive feeling in her chest a little.

Compared with the reflective snow, the sparse candlelight in the dark passage is obviously darker.Well, there is a sense of security that Irene is familiar with from the Phantom.Waves of extreme exhaustion suddenly came to her heart—she moved her fingers, wishing she could just sleep like this for a moment.

"Irene, get up, one of your feet is still on the door of hell!" But she immediately reminded herself in her heart, biting the tip of her tongue hard at the same time.A smell of rust that she disliked immediately spread in her mouth, and at the same time brought a brief clarity.So she put her hands on the masonry on either side of Eric's body—the cold masonry gave her another powerful stimulus.Then, she straightened her upper body with difficulty, and even managed to open her swollen eyes.

Fortunately, the light here was dim, and her eyes, which were on the verge of strike, could barely do their due duty—she slowly turned her neck, and soon a vague and familiar outline appeared in her vision.

"This is... the handle of thorns that I praised for its shape? Is the torture chamber nearby? Well, how can you really become a kind little sheep... If Christine is here today, you will be finished !" The girl had fun in her bitterness, "But this has saved me a lot of trouble—our little hope, it probably falls on it today."

"Well, if the inside hasn't changed, it should be turned like this to let the temperature rise gradually?" After confirming the position of the wrench, Irene closed her eyes again, the words on her mouth seemed to be entangled, but the movements of her hands didn't show the slightest bit hesitate.

"Pa-ta--" The sound of the mechanism starting to operate was extremely soft, but it was very reassuring to Irene's ears.With the last burst of willpower, she dragged her lover into the empty "torture chamber" that no one had visited yet, and it was obviously not well-repaired, and finally passed out from exhaustion.

The author has something to say: Well, this chapter made them meet, so it should be regarded as sweet abuse? (to finger)