Meg closed her eyes. "Christine…Christine, always Christine!" she screamed.

The phantom in one swift moment placed his fingers in front of the gun's mouth. The shot fired. Blood and pain seeped through him. Christine screamed, Gustave cried and pushed into his mother in fright. The phantom gasped rugged breaths and pulled the gun away with ruined fingers from Meg's frozen grasp.

"No… No! I didn't mean to!" she screamed

She threw herself to the ground weeping. Madame Giry stared horrified at Meg and the Phantom's bloodied hand. She knelt to the ground.

"Meg… What have you done?" she whispered with each word soft and distinct.

The crimson liquid poured from the wounds and floated through the boardwalks cracks into the sea and dissolved. Christine breathed in sharply and glided to the Phantom kissing his wounded hand. He winced.

"Erik?"

"My Christine, I assure you I will live."

He disappeared into the fog. Christine knelt to Meg's side. Meg wept and screamed and mascara ran down her face.

"Christine! Christine, no don't touch me! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to! Gustave…I never…" Meg cried

Christine put cool soothing fingers on her face and wiped away the tears.

"Dear old friend, don't cry. It's okay… Meg. Meg, we'll start over."

Meg looked up at Christine's beautiful face and thought of her own bruised and pale skin under the layers of makeup. She cried. Yearning for Erik overpowered her. How she despised and loved the being Christine whom claimed his heart. She reached for the gun.

"No!" Madame Giry cried, "Oh Meg!"

But Meg just tossed it into the sea where it sank beneath the waves leaving a single ripple.

Slowly Christine helped her stand. She shook with fear and pain, it was days later when she woke in the hospital the pain eased enough for her to recall the events. And she called for Erik. He came once. His mask was gone. The abhorred face was grotesque and disfigured, but Meg reached out to touch it. He knelt beside her bed.

"Meg."

She shivered in the formidable presence.

"Meg, let us redeem the past and sins. I leave you Phantasma." He whispered

And then he was gone. His voice, his touch, his words. Gone. Meg wept. The nurses gave her sleeping pills daily. She was restored to health. Madame Giry went to her daughter.

"Is it true then? Have we really Phantasma?" she rasped wrapping her arms around Meg

Meg nodded. The women embraced.

"He's gone isn't he?" she asked quietly

Madame Giry turned sober, "Yes. They left the day you recovered, Christine, the boy, and him. They disappeared."

Silence passed between them.

"But it doesn't matter. Meg, we have a fortune on our hands. He has left us his creation!" she whispered

"No. I don't want it." She said

"But of course you do. We have our lives returned. All the money we'll ever need. All the fame…the glory."

Meg smiled at Madame Giry strangely, "It doesn't matter."

Madame Giry frowned, "Meg-

"I don't want it anymore. I'm going to sell it. I never want to see this place again."

At last the meaning became clear, Madame Giry gasped. "But why Meg? Why after all the work, the hours, the effort?"

"I'll use the money to buy a ticket back to Paris. Then we can both start over." Meg whispered.

Meg turned on her heels and walked away. Surely somewhere on the dark world, Erik, Christine, and Gustave were alive and happy. Maybe they'd write to her. Doubtful. She knew she'd never see them again. But perhaps that was what new beginnings were for. Leaving the past and pain behind. For the first time in ten years, Meg Giry was happy.