(Disclaimer: I do not own POTO, Leroux does. But my friends and I own Jamie, Kaitlin & Jlee since they are us. A/N: Bold and Italic words are spoken in French.)

The figure watched from a gilded window as the tourists below gazed up at the golden dome high above them, sparkling like a jewel in the sky. The figure's eyes continued to watch the group throughout their tour. He watched with satisfaction as their gasps of wonder could be heard throughout the Opera House as they viewed the sight within the grand doors. The growing anticipation could almost be felt in the air, like a heavy blanket being held upon the scene. As the group ventured onto the stage they viewed the grand masterpiece of engineering with wide smiles and eyes. Some blushed at the golden statues that adorned the theatre, twisted amongst some of the pillars in both theatrical and sometimes sensual poses. Throughout the tour, the guide spoke of the Opera's history and its legends, one of which many knew by heart; thus the guide kept close watch making sure none strayed searching for clues to the reality of the infamous legend.

The eyes of the one viewing the group caught three distinct individuals that throughout the whole tour seemed to be restless, as if just waiting for a chance to get off the tour or sneak off. He gripped the letter that he held looking down at it once more and reading its contents; he looked back at the three stragglers, it seemed they were the ones the opera had been waiting for, for over one hundred and twenty years. He was surprised they actually came, all the times he read the letter it seemed just a prank; a well calculated prank made a century before, but a good one. The only thing he couldn't understand was what made them special, he had seen many so called "phan girls" in his days as the manager of the opera, what made these three so special. Why was their coming to the opera foretold? The letter he held in his hands was a century or so old, crinkled despite being well taken care of by each generation of managers that took responsibility of the opera.

As the tour came toward an end, he watched as the foretold events in the letter continued to happen.

The older one of three turned towards her two friends, eyes gleaming with excitement, "We better escape soon, the longer we wait the more chances we'll get caught by the time we finally do."

The one she specifically spoke to answered with a hushed urgent whisper, "Ok, do you think if I pretend to pass out and you guys help me out, it will be enough of a diversion?"

Still the third turned exasperated towards her two friends slightly chiding them with her voice, plainly showing she disapproved of the whole plan, "That will never work, it's far too cliché. Plus they'd probably have someone come with us to escort us to the first aid." Thus they once again went back to listening to the tour guide finish up her discussion on why the Opera House was one of the grandest of all attractions in Paris; that was until the leader of the bunch (the one who suggested passing out) turned towards both of her friends and whispered her plan. The elder one smiled and nodded while the other merely shook her head.

The three then separated themselves from the group, with the excuse of having to find restrooms; the tour guide saw through their disguises, but with a sign from the well-hidden manager she allowed them to leave. As the manager slipped through the secret passages that the letter had mentioned, that all managers throughout the generations had learned under oath, he felt much like the Opera's infamous legend, the Opera Ghost. Unlike most they did not head for the dormitories or even Box #5, no they went a whole different direction. They ran silently down the hall afraid of being caught.

"We shouldn't do this, who knows what they'll do if they find us trespassing." The voice came from the most skeptical of the three, a young woman of medium height whose fathomless brown eyes were very aggravated, she would glance every few moments around just waiting for someone to jump out and catch them.

The darker one smiled, "Well technically we haven't trespassed…yet."

The other excited one, a tall young woman with shoulder length blonde hair that swayed as she walked, turned towards the girl lingering behind. Her smile was perhaps the brightest of them all and her eyes twinkled with nearly uncontained glee. "Plus, I'd never forgive myself if I didn't try to investigate my most favorite book setting while I had the chance. I'm sure Jamie here would agree with me." She winked at her older friend, while she answered with a happy nod.

As they turned down another corridor, thankfully oddly enough vacant, the leader continued speaking in excited hushed tones, "We won't be able to go to the places I originally hoped we could like the Prima Donna's dressing room or the 2nd entrance to the undergrounds; which I kind of expected would happen. So we are going to just have to check out the last thing on the list. Jlee, it won't be too dangerous or anything, I promise; and if it starts to be then we can always go back."

"Just a little bit obsessed, yeah right…" Jlee mumbled underneath her breath.

"Heard that!" Kitty laughed, and continued on, "There might not be anything at the place I want to check out; but it is worth trying; after all we are already here in Paris its worth a shot."

"Alright fine, but if we get caught don't say I didn't warn you." Jlee began to relax a little bit and a matching smile that was on her two other friends' faces started to shine through her worried looks.

"I'm surprised; I thought you had a sense of adventure, my dear friend." Jamie looked at Jlee with a mock look of shock, her hand to her chest in a dramatic pose.

"Yes, for we are on a perilous mission we must fit the part of the infamous 3 musketeers!" The other young woman gave a sweeping bow towards her other friend.

Jlee looked at both her friends with a raised eyebrow, "My sense of adventure, huh?"

Before their comedy routine could continue they arrived at their destination, the stables of the theatre.

Jamie turned toward Kitty, "The stables?" Her disappointed tone was not missed by Kitty.

"I know it may not be the most glamorous or exciting of places on the outside but I was thinking about it during the tour. I think we might be able to find a trap door leading to either the underground lake or the spring, or perhaps even both." Her friends looked at her with blank stares. "Oh, come on think! If the Opera Ghost existed as the many facts seem to show he most likely did. Jlee, I'll let your eye rolling pass just this one, since I'm on a role." The girl called Kitty looked briefly at the other blonde before continuing on with her thoughts. "As the tour guide brought out, there was actually a horse named Caesar that fitted Leroux's description that lived and performed during the time period that was marked with the mysterious happenings of the Opera Ghost. So O.G. had to have had a way to transfer the horse to the undergrounds without being noticed by the stagehands that kept watch over the animals 24/7. My idea is that there is in fact a trap door either at the end of Caesar's old stable, or maybe even under it."

For the first time since they had split off from the main tour Jlee actually looked excited, "Sounds like a definite possibility, only one question how are we even going to get that close to the stall with the attendants watching over it right now?" They had come into the courtyard of the stables and already had begun to draw unneeded attention to themselves from the various stable hands.

Jamie turned looking straight at the other eyes looking at her and her friends, and then her eyes landed on the person she sought for. "Well there is always the direct approach." With that explanation she marched herself over to the man in charge of all the others, while her wide eyed friends watched and then followed behind her. "Monsieur?"

The man was tall and burly and would have been quite intimidating if it weren't for the sparkle that lit up his coal black eyes as he saw the girls come forward. "Oui, Mademoiselles?"

"My friends and I have come a long ways and we were hoping to get your permission to look at some of your stables." The man's eyes crinkled and his laughter lines become visible as he tried to cough down a laugh. The sight he must have seen, three well dressed young women standing before him asking if they could inspect his stables.

Kitty seeing why he would think the question would be funny, stepped forward and continued what her friend had started, "You see my friends and I are convinced that if the Opera Ghost truly existed he would quite possibly have had a trap door in one of the Opera's stables."

The stable boss raised an eyebrow questioningly, "And why might I ask do you think there would be one here?"

Kitty continued, "Simple because Caesar existed. We believe that there had to have been a trap door of some sort that the Phantom would use to transport the horse down to his lair without drawing the attention of those who looked after the stable."

This time the man's smile and eyebrow raise was for a completely different reason, "I'm impressed; I've seen many of you kind of girls around this Opera House over the many years I have been here, but never have I had one come here in search of proof of the Opera Ghost. I am truly honored. You may look through the stables if you wish; only problem is shortly after the mysterious events of the Opera, there was a fire that destroyed many of the stables. The horses were saved, all but one who seemed to have made it out but disappeared shortly afterwards. Caesar himself." He began to walk the girls over to the stables, which thankfully for them were currently being cleaned out and didn't hold horses. "The names of the horses before the fire were always carved elegantly on the post outside the stall…but in this case I believe someone told me once that in front of Caesar's stall there had been some strange writing carved into the stone floor."

"It was probably in Persian or the dialect of Persia at the time…that seems to have escaped me at the moment…" Kitty began at the farthest stall while the others began at the other end and the middle.

"I'll leave you three to it, as long as you promise not to get in trouble." The man smiled and left after the promises followed his statement. The manager of the opera who had been watching them from the very beginning watched them curiously as they meticulously began looking for the writing carved into the large stone floor of the stables. They seemed very diligent not missing an inch, looking even on the new walls of the stable briefly just in case an earlier set of eyes had found the markings. He was also impressed at the way they had learnt to speak French before arriving in Paris, instead of just assuming as many tourists did that there would be people that could speak their home language no matter where they went. His thoughts were interrupted as the girl named Jlee shouted for the others to come to where she was.

"It's in Arabic writing…it's a name; let me see if I can read it." (Later on when the the manager looked at the carving this is what he saw غرامة قيصر; he was surprised she was able to read it, but by that time though he had realized that the three girls were not ordinary.) Jlee excitingly looked at the stone sounding out the syllables, "Good…Caesar…no…I think it means Fine Caesar."

"You found it, Jlee, good work! Jamie could you help me look at the wall for a trigger while Jlee can you help clear the floor of the hay a bit?" They got to busying themselves again, a newfound energy in their efforts, but soon their energy began to grow week as the time went by.

"I don't think we are going to find a switch Kaitlin." Jamie looked at the other with a sad look on her face, while the other still searched frantically.

"No, it has to be here…I was so sure of it…" Kitty looked down at the stone floor underneath her feet seeing not even a hint of a trap door.

"I think Jamie is right Kitty…if there is a trigger it would be on the other side of this not actually in the stall."

"But he had to have had a way to…to…" Tears sprung unwillingly to Kitty's eyes and she turned away from the others so they wouldn't see her getting emotional. All her life she had believed Erik truly existed and yet now her last chance to prove that he did was ruined; she had failed. But then it wasn't as if she could change his past, merely by knowing that it indeed did happen; if he did exist, he would have died a century ago…and there was nothing she could have done about that. "I was just so sure that I'd be able to find something of his…" She leaned up against the back of the stall, before sliding down to wrap her arms around her knees and hit her head on the wall of the Opera; but before she could say, "Ouch," she fell through the wall and landed on her back. As she lay stunned, she heard her surprised friends' cries as the tumbled down the ramp that the trap door had opened up from the stall's floor. She leaned over the edge to look at the tunnel below the stall, "Are you guys still alive?" Some laughing oks were all she got for a reply before she made her way down the ramp only to have it closing on her and so she had to jump to the unknown floor below. "Should have just used my head in the beginning, after all." She laughed as ramp closed above their heads, Kaitlin hurriedly spoke to the others, "Wait, don't move until I get you guys some light." She fumbled through her bag until she felt the long cylinder shape of her non-battery powered flashlight. "Hope this works, or we are sunk." She shook the flashlight vigorously and then pressed the button turning it on. "It's not a strong light but its good enough as long as we stick together."

"There was actually a trap door after all." Jlee looked about the cobwebbed corridor with a look of amazement on her face.

Jamie sneezed and then laughed, "So onward?"

"Well it all depends on what Jlee says. So what do you say my friend, go forward or find a way back?"

"Oh…to H-E-double hockey sticks, as you often say Kitty; lets do this thing!"

Their laughs echoed through the vacant halls as they moved forward following the very faint sound of water running; what they didn't know was that they were being followed by the one who had been watching from the very start. Soon enough they came to a more open area and the flashlight didn't give off enough light.

The dark haired woman went over to the farthest wall and touched it, "Kitty there seems to be engraved spaces running along the walls, like troughs and they have something in them. Let me see…its gunpowder, I'm sure of it…but it's been used before which is odd. I think it's used for lighting not for explosives." Kitty came forwards and smelled the powder as well.

"Well there's only one way to find out." In the dim light Jamie and Jlee could only barely see the eerie grin that suddenly swept across their dear friend's face before the whole room burst into light. The "troughs" lined each wall that surrounded them and each met up at the same spot a beautifully mosaic fountain spring. The light from the flames sparkled off the gold and glass used in the mosaic that depicted a scene from an age old folktale; and yet the tale had been twisted to fit the legend each girl knew all to well. "It's the spring! We've actually found it!"

Each girl made their way around the room with gasps of wonder as they viewed the arched ceiling high above them painted more beautifully than the Sistine Chapel, none of them doubted who had painted it.

Kaitlin stood standing in front of the spring with fresh tears in her eyes and this time she let them fall, "It's so beautiful."

Her two friends appeared beside her both with strong emotions etched deeply in their faces. "Yes it is." They both agreed.

"I wish…I wish Erik could have had a second chance, just one I think would have been enough." The tears on the young woman's face continued to spill down her cheeks much resembling the spring that still flowed despite the one who had helped it flow freely being dead and gone.

Jamie looked at her friend with true remorse and whispered in reply, "Yes, I wish he did too."

Then even Jlee who had never been quite in favor of the story of the Opera Ghost, she as well said, "Me too."

Just as the last two words were spoken the three girls disappeared in a flash of light, and the open area became pitch black once again and spring stopped gurgling forth; as if the girls had never come; as if the girls had never existed. The eyes that watched the events still stared blankly out in the darkness shocked at what had happened and for once began to think that it all had not been a prank after all.