A/N: So, my friend and I wrote this story (kind of) as a joke. Please forgive any spelling or grammatical errors. Hopefully y'all will like it! :D And we do not own Avatar or the Phantom of the Opera OR Hamlet. The summary explains just about everything else.
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Once upon a time, there was a hideously disfigured musical genius named Erik who lived in the cellars of an opera house. He was nutso to begin with, so when his true love totally rejected him, he went AWOL. On a totally unrelated note, in a different universe, a 12 year old gay bald kid named Aang was the only hope for the safety of his world. He had the hots for his companion, Katara, even though everyone knew she would be better off with a smokin' fire prince *cough*
On ANOTHER completely different note, in ANOTHER universe, an Evil Queen was trying to make everything terrible for all fairy tale characters by sending them to ANOTHER universe. Anywho, the Evil Queen succeeded in sending her people to the alternate universe. However, when she sent the fairytale characters to an alternate universe, it knocked the balance of all the other universes. Needless to say, the opera universe somehow managed to get caught in the avatar universe.
So, one day, as the Opera Ghost was sitting alone and angsty in his underground home composing music, he heard a KA-SPLOOSH! come from the lake. His glowing yellow eyes darted to where his punjab lasso was hanging on the wall. He grabbed it and silently hid behind a column. There was a pause, and suddenly, Erik heard a bunch of coughing and splashing as the intruder made his way out of the water. With amazing cat-like reflexes, he jumped out, located them and tied the lasso around their neck faster than you could say, "Love shack."
"HURK!" said the intruder.
'Hurk?' Erik wondered to himself. 'What sort of wimp says Hurk?' So, he went to where his lasso had fallen and gasped when he saw who it was. There were 6 random animated characters standing before his feet. So he burst into a song that sounded a little like this:
To kill or not to kill-that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles
And by murdering end them. To die, to sleep-
No more-and by a sleep to say we end
The heartache, and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to.
To sleep-perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub,
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause. There's the respect
That makes calamity of so long life.
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
Th' oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely
The pangs of despised love, the law's delay,
The insolence of office, and the spurns
That patient merit of th' unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin? Who would fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscovered country, from whose bourn
No traveller returns, puzzles the will,
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all,
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,
And enterprise of great pitch and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry
And lose the name of action. - Soft you now,
The fair guests in my lair -
Be all my sins remembered.
The cartoon characters then stared at the Phantom in shock. One of them even made a little circle around her ear, but OG had no idea what she meant. He then made a loud, insolent *HUFF* and asked in a not so quiet voice, "WHO ARE YOU AND WHY HAVE YOU DISTURBED ME? CAN YOU NOT SEE I AM GRIEVING THE LOVE OF MY LIFE?" An while he said this, a single tear slid down his marred cheek. Then there was a boy dressed in red (who also had a marred cheek) quietly came up to him and said, "I know how you feel, buddy."
As Erik looked at these people more closely, he saw that they were just teenagers! Before his already wounded ego could be hurt that a bunch of weird juvenile delinquents found their way into his top-secret lair, the scarred boy in red continued, "I'm Fire Lord Zuko. This is my friend the Avatar-"
The strange bald kid grinned, waved, and interjected "Call me Aang!"
"- and these are our companions. Toph, Sokka, and K...Katara."
Erik, being something of a genius, immediately notced how the boy- Zuko- stuttered on the pretty girl's name, but other questions flooded his mind before he could dwell on it further.
Advancing on them menacingly, he said, "You still haven't answered my question. HOW did you GET in my HOUSE? And what in the world is an Avatar?"
Aang stepped forward. "Well, I'm an Avatar..."
"Yes, I gathered that," Erik said drily.
"I can control all four elements. Like this."
The boy began making complex martial arts motions, and the Phantom watched him, nonplussed. However, when the lake began to stir and wind started whipping back and forth, Erik looked around and took a few steps back.
Aang rose a few feet into the air as rocks rose out of the ground and surrounded him. The water covered his arms like long tentacles while a ring of fire danced at his feet.
"Show off," Sokka said and rolled his eyes. Toph snorted.
Eriks eyes were wide with shock. In all his years in Persia, he had never come across any magic trick that could make this happen. He shuffled back and bumped into the table at which he composed his music. "How..how...?"
Toph began, "Yeesh. The way his heartbeat is pounding, you'd think he'd never seen anyone bend before."
The group lookerd at Erik curiously. "Umm...Sir? Are you alright?" Katara asked. Erik noted painfully that her long brown hair was not unlike Christine's.
"How was that possible? What...Where did you learn how to do that?" he asked in disbelief.
"What, bending? We can all do that," Zuko said. "Except Sokka. He has the power of 'boomeraang'," he said sarcastically.
"HEY!" Sokka whined.
"Wait...Are you telling me you've NEVER seen anyone do that before?" Aang said slowly.
"I've never even heard of it!" the Phantom said, beginning to regain some of his composure.
"Huh..." Aang turned to the rest of the group. "I thought we might be in the spirit world, but that can't be it. I still have my bending."
"How did you say you got here?" Erik asked again.
"We're not sure how we got here exactly...We were flying to the one of the Earth colonies to check how the Harmony Restoration movement was going...And suddenly, we were falling into your underground lake here," Aang replied.
The Phantom let out a large sigh. "It's not an underground lake. You have no idea how this room even came to be like this," he said bitterly.
The so called avatar averted his eyes away from the Phantom toward Katara. Katara looked back and shrugged. Quietly, she cleared her throat and asked, "So, what's your name?"
Erik looked at her menacingly. "Why do you want to know? I still don't even know who you are! I've never even seen a bald child with an arrow on his head! How do I even know you're not just trying to rob me?" he screamed.
The strange children all shrunk back to the wall. Except for the boy dressed in blue... Sokka, Erik remembered.
"Mister person, sir?" The boy asked. "I think you might need a therapist. Would you like a therapy session?"
Erik looked at the boy. Was he serious? The Opera Ghost? Need therapy? Erik laughed loudly. "I need therapy?" he asked. "I don't think I fell through the sky into an underground LAKE. Ask yourself again who needs therapy, and I'll talk to you when you figure it out."
The bald kid shrugged and said, "You know, he does have a point, Sokka. We still don't know how we got here, and it's not like we know how to get back. It's crazy, even to me. And I've been through a LOT of crazy things over my 100 some years. Maybe we should all have a therapy session!" he said brightly.
It was then that both the teenager named Zuko and Erik both let out a large groan. Zuko spoke before Erik though. "Sokka. Your therapy sessions are a million times worse than your sword fighting skills, and you KNOW how painful that experience was for me. I can't take another one of your stupid, pointless, ridiculous, CRAZ-"
Sokka interrupted him before he could go on. "Mr. Sir, this guy doesn't know what he's talking about. He doesn't know how helpful I can be." His chest puffed out with pride.
Erik sighed. "I will not be subjected to this childish form of entertainment. Now. If you'll excuse me, I have better things to do than cater to the needs of children who don't know anything about anyone or anything. I'll ask a friend of mine to take you somewhere and figure out where you belong."
"! Sokka yelled. "We are going to have a therapy session first. So everyone, let's find a table and talk about our feelings!" He smiled goofily.
Zuko sighed. "I guess there's no getting out of this now." He gestured to a seat for Erik. "I suggest you take a seat. When Sokka makes up his mind there's no stopping him."
Erik couldn't help but think today was worse than the day when he saw Raoul kissing Christine on the roof.
Grumbling loudly about 'teenagers these days' and making no attempt to hide it, Erik made his way over to the organ. He sat down, and with more enthusiasm than you'd think an opera ghost would have, introduced his forehead to the organ keys. This let out a rather sour chord that caused the Avatar and his companions to jump.
Well, all but one, anyway.
Erik looked up with a dead pan expression to observe that Sokka had donned an extremely fake looking beard and had begun to stroke it.
"You look like the Daroga at one o'clock in the morning," Erik said.
"And how do you feel about that?" Sokka replied.
Erik looked at him, then to Katara, who was standing next to her brother and rolling her eyes.
"Is this 'DaroGAH' a friend of yours?" he continued.
Erik scoffed. "As close of a friend as I've ever had."
From the corner of his eyes, Erik saw Toph look up and frown. He did a double-take, however, when he noticed the milky color her irises had. Was the girl...blind?
Sokka went on, "So, Mr. Sir...wait. What IS your name anyway?"
Erik grimaced. "I don't have a name, but there are a few things people call me." He rose menacingly from his seat by the organ. "Trap-door lover, king of stranglers, prince of conjurors...Some have even dared to call me a ghost or an angel..." he took a step toward Sokka with every name he said. Sokka didn't shrink back, but Erik did notice that Zuko cleched his fists, ready to defend his friend. The Phantom realized that the Avatar may not be the only one with outrageous powers, so he thought it best to lay off the intimidation tactics for now.
"...But for all intents and purposes, you may call me Erik."
"All right, Erik, is there any particular reason why you're wearing a mask?"
Erik growled. "WHAT IS IT WITH YOU CHILDREN AND YOUR RIDICULOUS QUESTIONS? DON'T YOU ALL HAVE YOUR OWN LIVES TO WORRY ABOUT? HAVE YOU EVEN THOUGHT ABOUT HOW YOU'RE GOING TO GET OUT OF HERE?" he screamed relentlessly.
The bald kid smiled. "But we have, Erik! We couldn't think of anything, so we might as well make the best of it!" he said.
"Stupid go with flow hippie types," Erik muttered.
"What's a hippie?" Toph asked.
In one fluid motion Erik's hand connected with his face.
"It's like those nomads!" Sokka whispered loudly.
"What?" Zuko asked.
Katara shook her head and put her hand on Zuko's arm. "I'll tell you later, okay?"
Zuko's face managed to turn a light shade of pink. Erik rolled his eyes. 'Kids these days...' he thought silently.
"Okay. Enough of this. You all need to leave. Right now," Erik growled.
"But where are we supposed to go?" Aang questioned.
"DOES IT LOOK LIKE I CARE?" Erik bellowed.
"No..." Aang replied.
Erik was tempted to cry. Zuko, sensing Erik's discomfort, decided to do something. "Erik. We can't leave because we don't have anywhere to go, but we can go elsewhere in this building. Is there a spare room anywhere?" Zuko asked.
"First door to the left after you pass the dungeons," Erik said, exasperated.
The kids looked at each other and simultaneously asked, "DUNGEONS?"
"Yes, the dungeons. But as far as I know, they're empty. The last occupant was that fop, but he left when..." He stopped short and inhaled painfully. However, Erik realized that while the children were there, he was no longer thinking CONSTANTLY about Christine. Though he would never admit it, it was slightly...refreshing.
Zuko was already ushering the rest of the gang out. Before he knew it, Erik was alone again in the solace of his underground home, his only companion the sound of dripping water echoing off the walls.
"Well. That was interesting," Aang said as he lit a flame and held it in his hand to light the dark, cavernous hallway. Back behind him, Sokka stumbled and yelped.
"He was awful sensitive," Toph snorted.
"He seemed like he's been through a lot. He had a beautiful voice, though," Katara put in.
"Yeah, which TOTALLY makes up for the fact that he practically lives in a sewer," Sokka said as he dusted himself off.
Katara continued, "Do you guys really think he has no idea how we got here? It's pretty unlikely that we were just transported here for no reason..."
Aang realized that Zuko hadn't said anything. He looked back and saw the Fire Lord frowning in contemplation. "What's wrong, Zuko?"
He started and came back to earth. "What? Oh. It's nothing."
"You're lying," Toph said in a sing-song voice.
Zuko glared at the blind earthbender and sighed in resignation. "Fine. It's just that...he sort of reminded me of how I acted when my father first banished me. Like he's lost everything...Except when I had Uncle, it seems like he's down here completely alone."
The friends meditated on this silently for a few minutes. Finally, they reached the dungeons.
"Wow." Sokka's voice echoed off the walls. This cave was three times as big as Erik's room, except it was almost completely untouched. Stalactites and stalacmites were everywhere, and the water that dripped off them seemed to create a music of its own.
"Gosh, when he said 'dungeon,' I was expecting stretching boards and chains. But this is just cool," Aang said.
Zuko inhaled sharply. The dungeon looked vaguely like the crystal caves in Ba Sing Se. Why was it that this whole experience was linking him back to his past?
Katara seemed to notice that the dungeon looked like the caves as well. She did her best to avoid eye contact with her friends as she quietly reflected on how much everyone had changed since that dreadful day.
Lost in thought, she completely spaced out until there was a piercing screech coming from her brother's mouth.
"What happened, Sokka?" Katara called.
"I'M STUCK TO THE WALL! TOPH EARTHBENDED ME UP IN THE AIR, I TOUCHED THE WALL, AND IT'S STICKY! NOW I'M STUCK AND I CAN'T GET DOWN!" Sokka wailed.
Katara's shoulders slumped. "How do you expect us to get you down, Sokka?" she asked.
"I don't know! Bend! Or get that Erik guy and see if he knows. OH! And ask him why the walls are so sticky!"
"Why don't you ask him yourself, Sokka?"
"I'M STUCK TO THE WALL!" Sokka shouted. Katara sighed as her palm connected to her forehead.
She tried to bend Sokka out of his sticky spot, but the water wad no match for whatever was holding Sokka to the wall.
"It's not working, Sokka," Katara said flatly.
"WHY DOES THE UNIVERSE HATE ME?" Sokka wailed.
Meanwhile, Toph and Aang were laughing like complete lunatics. Sometimes, Sokka was just so ridiculous, it was hard not to laugh.
Zuko, though, wasn't laughing. Katara noticed, gave him a quizzical look, and walked over to him. She put a hand on his shoulder and quietly asked, "Are you okay?"
Zuko's eyes burned into hers for a moment so brief, Katara wasn't even sure it happened. After he broke eye contact, he sighed. "I'm fine. I was just thinking that it might be wise to find Erik so your brother will stop whining," he said.
Before Katara could respond, he was already out the door and on his way to find the troubled Phantom.
Erik heard someone's footsteps coming down the corridor that connected the dungeons to the main foyer. Strangely enough, Erik was actually somewhat happy to see someone coming. He was usually alone after Christine left, and he became lonely most days.
But he quickly exchanged the feeling of happiness for a feeling of dread. 'What have they done now?' Erik asked himself.
Zuko came into the room where Erik was seconds later. He looked both sheepish and troubled. 'Strange,' Erik thought.
Zuko opened his mouth to speak, but before he could, Erik asked, "What happened?"
Zuko shook his head. "I don't really know how, but let's just say Sokka managed to get himself stuck to the wall of your dungeon."
Erik gave him a funny look. "How is that even-"
Zuko threw up his hands. "I'm only telling you what I know. If we don't get back to our world, you'll soon learn how difficult Sokka can be. He can be a handful."
"Stupid, good for nothing, idiotic, ridiculous children intent on ruining my sanity..." Erik mumbled to himself.
Zuko cleared his throat. "I'd really rather not bother you with this, but we can't get him down. Aang is too busy laughing to bend, Katara couldn't get Sokka down. Do you happen to know any way to get him down?"
Erik wordlessly went into his piano bench and grabbed his Punjab lasso, a dagger, and some chocolate.
Zuko's eyes widened slightly when he saw what Erik had picked up.
"We're going to have a liitle fun..." Erik said as an evil grin slowly dominated his face.