Author's note:
This fic has multiple endings. Each chapter is not a new chapter, but a repeat of the same story with a different ending. Please note that this is my first real attempt at phanfiction, and therefore it may contain not-that-great characterizations and/or it may be not that great overall. Please enjoy the multiple endings and review with your favorite! :3
"You're safe now," Raoul assured her as they fled the Phantom's lair. Christine knew he wouldn't let any harm come to her, yet she couldn't keep from looking back. The pained sounds that her angel was making… She couldn't bear to keep hearing them. She stopped and Raoul made it another few steps before he began to drag her.
Realizing that she'd stopped, he turned to see why, ready to fight for her if need be. "Christine? What is it?" he asked, more loudly than he intended.
"We can't just leave him there, Raoul," she replied. In the flickering light of the torch he held Christine could see his pained expression. "I can't," she said, tears welling in her eyes. She pulled against his grasp, but he didn't let her go.
"Christine, he's a monster. You said it yourself! He barely let us go! He won't extend that courtesy to you a second time," Raoul protested.
"You can't be certain of that, Raoul!" she cried. "Please. I have to go back." She tried to pull away a second time and this time she succeeded. She watched Raoul's hand slowly fall to his side, then looked up to his face and saw nothing but heartbreak.
"I'll go with you," he said. It sounded almost like he was begging her. He'd go with her because he wanted her to return with him. Christine drew a ragged breath and slowly shook her head. "Christine, please." Now he really was begging. Christine closed her eyes and turned her head, finding the sight of his pleading eyes too much for her to bear.
"I'm sorry, Raoul." She turned and started back down the way from which they had come, back into the darkness.
"Christine!" Raoul cried, but it only caused her to hesitate a moment before quickening her pace. She hadn't realized that they'd gone so far already. She wished she had taken him up on his offer to go with her if only so she would be able to see where she was going.
Her angel had been right. The darkness was deep as hell. It was maddening. She felt like she was going in circles even as she hugged the wall, following it back. Christine felt as though she had been walking forever when she finally made it back to the lake, to the boat. It didn't help that her angel had fallen silent. This worried her as she struggled to push the boat along and keep her footing so she wouldn't pitch over into the water.
When finally she reached the other side, she gasped in horror at what she saw. Papers scattered across the floor, candles and other things sprawled everywhere. And there, in the middle of it all, lay his mask. Tears streamed down her face as she took it all in, her hand flew to her mouth to stifle the cries that clawed their way up her throat.
Christine carefully stepped out of the boat and tried not to step on what she was certain was a composition that her angel had worked so hard on. She walked slowly, carefully along, her voice catching in her throat when she opened her mouth to call for him.
"Angel of music, please forgive me," she finally managed to sing, her voice shaking, "come to me strange master." Her voice echoed around her for a moment, but she was soon greeted by the same silence she'd met when she'd returned.
She knelt by his mask, tracing the outline of the hole that had allowed him to see with her fingertips. "Angel of music," she continued, "please hide no longer, come back to me, forgive me."
Christine waited, straining her ears for even the slightest hint of a sound, anything that would assure her that her angel had not disappeared for good. She didn't know how long she sat there before she could no longer contain the tears that threatened. She bowed her head and wept, clutching the mask to her chest.
"I'm sorry," she whispered. She had come too late. Her angel, brokenhearted, had given up on her.