Christine grasped the phantom's ring in her hand and kissed it, closing her eyes so tears wouldn't fall out. Shuddering with a choke sigh, she stepped into Erik's room for the last time, and felt her stomach drop as she saw him there, staring at his monkey music box dressed in Persian Robes. Her heart broke as he looked at her with his distorted face in agony and sorrow.

"Christine I love you."

She said nothing, for she knew she was going to cry if she spoke. I must stay strong for him and Raoul! I must! she thought in dismay. Stepping forward she dropped the ring into his hand and felt her heart go with it too. He stared at her as if a invisible lifeline was connected between them, and she felt as if she was being pulled closer to him. To be his prisoner once more. She hung her head and the lifeline was gone as quickly as it came. She let the tears fall then, turning so he wouldn't see and ran out the room, wanting the sadness to leave when she left, but it only grew worse.

Raoul was waiting for her as he had always been. She ran into his arms and kissed him half-heartedly. "Come, darling, we must get out of her fast," he murmured. Christine could tell that he was unerved by Erik's lair. By the unending night. He took her hand and helped her up on the gondala.

They were halfway down the tunnels of the cellar of the Opera house populaire, when Christine felt as if her sould was draining at of her body. She felt ill, lonely, and lost. It was if she was dying. No! No! No! her mind screamed, This is all wrong!

She burst then, sobbing hysterically, and Raoul looked at her in worry. "Christine, my dear, The Phantom is gone now. You are free."

She looked up at him and she felt light sink in to her skin. That had never happened here in Erik's lair of darkness and sorrow. "I am free," she repeated.

"Yes, we can get married now and move out of the Opera House!"

"I am free!" she cried again, stopping the boat, "I am free! I am free! I cannot marry you Raoul, I'm sorry, but I am in love with another man!" She jumped out of the boat, ignoring the numbing cold grip her legs. She heard a splash behind her and she ran as fast as she could through water.

"Christine! Wait come back! You are not well!" She sighed my she heard Raoul's dismayed calls. "Christine! Christine! What are you doing!"

Candles soon came into sight and she laughed, because she had never felt so much joy. She saw then Erik, standing in piles of shattered glass. He has broken all the mirrors, Christine thought, He thinks I turned away from him because of his face and he now knows that if I hated his face, there was no chance that any other girl would. Her heart went out to her tortured angel. Erik turned his head to Christine because he heard the laughter. He looked ill as if he couldn't bear the sight of her. Maybe he thought he was hallucinating. Maybe he hated her now.

It did not go as Christine had planned. She ran to him crying "My angel! My Erik!" while he stood there petrified.

"Am I dead?" he said in his capturing deep voice that was like a drug to Christine, "Has the mob killed me yet?"

Christine cried and kissed him all over his deformed face. His cheek, his forhead, his lips, but he was like unresponsive stone. "You are not dead," she answered, "You are alive. With me!" For a moment she thought that he was going to take her into his arms and say that he loved her, but he pushed her back. Christine looked as if she had been slapped.

"Go back to your precious Vicomte, child," growled Erik angrily, "I do not appreciate cruel jokes! Just leave me, you are free!"

"No!" Christine shouted at him, "I didn't just tell Raoul that I was in love with another man and that I didn't want to be married to him to just be rejected from the most unloved man in the world!" Erik flinched. "Why can't that man just accept my love and be happy and live in light for a few minutes with me instead of living in intoxicating night!?"

"That man loves the night because he's been hurt too many times," he answered gravely. Christine touched the tortured side of his face and looked straight into his green eyes. He cried then, his shoulders shaking violently. "You love me," he sighed.

"Yes... yes!" she cried and jumped to him and this time he opened his arms to her and kissed her curly brown hair lightly. "I love you, my angel. Don't deny me! I'm yours! Every waking moment." He kissed her in a mouth crushing kiss, and she was consumed by his black cape.

"Never," he growled, "Trust me."

"I do."

"Christine!" called a feminine voice from the entrance.

They broke apart and Christine's eyes shot up. "Meg!" she gasped, "You are unsafe! You must leave now!"

"You had Raoul Christine!" cried Meg, "Why do you leave him for Erik?"

"I do not love Raoul!" answered Christine.

"Everyone will be your enemy now, my dear sister... they will kill you as well as the Phantom," sobbed Meg, running up to her and wrapping her in a hug. "I want you to be safe. Which way, Erik? Through the mirrors?"

"Through the mirrors," agreed Erik. "Now run before the mob finds us! I shall go another way. Madame Giry will be waiting for me. You two go through the mirror covered by the blanket and take a right. We shall meet up outside the stables. Run, my dear! You have chosen the darker side. I can't say I approve."

"We shall make it out alive," said Christine passionately, touching his face gently. Taking a deep breath, she stepped into the dark corridors of Erik's escape routes. Her mind instantly went to the first time he went through her dressing room mirror and took her hand, leading her down to his lair.

"This way, Christine," whispered Meg, quietly tiptoeing down the icy stones.

She almost hesitated, but stopped herself. This was the path she chose. It was the path she was going to follow.