Hello, the four chapters I have already published have been re-edited to make them easier to read, on the advice of a very busy but wonderful lady.

Thank you FantomPhan 33 for your advice.

I do not own any of the characters from The Phantom of the Opera, those belong to the Family and Estate of Gaston Leroux and to Andrew Lloyd Webber and Susan Kay respectively. All other Characters that are mentioned in this story that are not from the above works are my own creation.

Any similarities to other works of Phantom fanfiction are accidental and I apologise to any author if there is any confusion to the originality of any ideas. It was and is never my intention to offend or plagiarize.

This is my first ever publication so please be gentle. Thank you.

Exorcising the Opera Ghost

Even as Christine followed the Phantom's instructions to leave him and go with Raoul, it did not feel right. Raoul was shouting for her to follow him. The sound of the mob was getting closer. Then through her blind panic, Christine recalled the scolding Madame Giry had given her just before she stepped on to the stage for that final scene as Aminta.

"Stop being a child," Madame Giry barked at her as the wardrobe mistress put the final touch to Christine's costume. "You have played the coquette to perfection and taken all that you want from that poor man, without any thought of reciprocation." Madame Giry whispered harshly in her ear, as she leaned close to Christine,

"I have behaved in no such way!" Christine indignantly responded, "I have behaved appropriately at all times with the Vicomte de Changy!"

"I was not referring to the Vicomte," Madame Giry snapped "I was referring to your Angel of Music!" Christine looked shocked, "Oh, do not give me the wide-eyed look," Madame Giry remarked "It does not work for Meg either, it is not Raoul you call for when asleep in the dormitories it is your angel!"

"How can I be thinking of him?" Christine asked, "He has the face and temper of a monster…" "And a heart that will adore you until your very last breath and then beyond."

Madame Giry countered "Stop being a stupid vain little girl and…."

At that point, the Vicomte de Changy's voice was heard shouting through the corridors. Madame Giry placed her finger to her lips and opened the dressing room door, just a crack so they could hear Raoul and the Commissioner of the Surete clearly talking.

"Monsieur Vicomte, it will soon be over," the ladies heard the Commissioner remark to Raoul,

"Yes and my beautiful prize for killing that wretched creature is to be able to parade Mademoiselle Daae around as my wife," Raoul chuckled darkly, "A fine filly fit to be seen on the arm of a Vicomte…" Christine strode over to the dressing room door and silently shut it. Flushed and embarrassed, whether Raoul had meant it in a vein of ownership or he was showing bravado before the enemy Christine was not sure, the one thing she was sure was that Raoul had promised her that the Phantom was going to be sent to jail not hunted and killed like some prize stag.

Madame Giry looked at Christine, "What do you want to do Christine?" she asked, "I do not want my angel killed!" Christine plaintively cried, "Right choice!" Madame Giry answered, "So this is what you do…"

Christine was rudely brought back to the present, suddenly as Raoul shouted her name, "Christine, we have to go now! Leave that Creature to die!" Raoul spat. At that moment something inside Christine snapped, she recalled Raoul's words and promises he had made, the fact that Raoul had already planned to break one of them by having the Phantom killed, how many more would he break, there was something about him she no longer recognised, he was not the friend she had known so long ago, he was changed, he had grown up, maybe she should do the same; in that moment she changed her mind set and realised Christine grown up, was tired of society, she did not want jewels and fancy clothes she wanted to be with someone who would respect her, love her and keep his promises, she shuddered when in those few seconds she realised; she wanted to be with her angel. The voices of the mob were getting fainter as they moved away, all part of Madame Giry's plan.

Christine made her choice, this time without threats and again her choice was her angel, she walked towards Raoul resolutely and as he tried to take her hand to pull her into the boat she pulled her hand away.

"I am sorry Raoul," Christine said barely bothering to hide the disgust in her voice "I made my choice, I am not a trophy; a mere prize you have won for allowing a mob to kill a man, it makes you no better than the Phantom you claim to be saving me from." With that Christine shoved Raoul with all her strength into the lake and dashed back into the Phantom's house, slamming the front door behind her closed. Raoul climbed out of the lake and rushed to the door, it was shut fast and with no means of knowing how to open the door, since it had already been open when he first arrived that night. He hammered on the door until his knuckles bled, slowly acknowledging that if he was caught by the mob he could be killed, Raoul realising that he had lost this round gave up and left the cellars got into his carriage and returned to his home alone.

Christine ran back into the sitting room, and saw her angel bare faced and curled up in his shirt sleeves his jacket thrown to the couch, he sat on the floor by his throne like reading chair, the Persian Monkey musical box playing softly beside him, he was weeping like a devastated child. Suddenly Christine's eyes saw not a frightening Phantom but merely a disfigured man broken hearted, nearly completely destroyed and almost waiting for death.

"Angel?" Christine called out to see him look up almost like he was hallucinating, "Chris- Christine?" He responded, "I am seeing things in my grief," He said to himself in a daze as he shook his head,

"I have to ignore this grief and follow the plan," He said quietly. Almost as if he expected Christine to vanish into thin air. The Phantom slowly stood up and picking his mask up from the table he placed it on the seat of his reading chair, and walked away from Christine, pressing a panel on the wall he opened a door way next to the music room entrance Christine had never seen before, she rushed after him just getting inside this new room as the doorway shut.

The room was not very big and as the Phantom turned around to secure the door he bumped into Christine.

"You!" The Phantom exclaimed as he grabbed her by her arms "You are real, and in grave danger!" The Phantom seemed torn between being happy Christine was there and annoyed that she was there.

"I am real and I made my choice," Christine retorted "Madame Giry told me of the plans that she made to help you, knowing tonight would end in disaster and that I had to decide what I wanted!" Christine explained, "I know that Meg was to lead the mob to the old communard dungeon and that something was set up there to imply you died just before the mob arrived and you would be hiding in a secret room here in the house in case the plan failed and that Madame Giry would come to find you later once the furore died down.

"You told your Fop none of this?" The Phantom asked puzzled

"No," Christine answered truthfully, "I had an angel talk sense into me about saving my Angel," Christine replied cryptically.

The Phantom laughed cynically, "I think then it is time the mask came off figuratively speaking since the actual mask, you tore off in front of thousands;" the Phantom gestured to his face, "I am no angel or devil…" "Or monster, or Phantom" Christine interjected, "I am Erik, just Erik," and with that his cynical bravado failed and he began to cry again.

Christine found her newly developed resolve and with tears of her own in her eyes she placed her arms around Erik holding him gently as he sobbed, she reached her hand up and guided his head to her shoulder, as he brought trembling arms up and his hands held her by her waist.

"Where is the Vicomte?" Erik whispered, "Last I saw of him he was trying to drag himself out of the lake," Christine replied,

"The lake?" Erik asked puzzled,

"Yes," Christine replied, "He called you a creature and I snapped, so I shoved him in the lake and ran back here to you."

Erik chuckled soft tears still slowly falling from his eyes, "You seem to be an enigma my dear, a frightened girl one minute and a tigress the next, what brought this about?" he asked,

"I decided to grow up." came Christine's simple reply, "I have a suspicion that I am going to have to get to know a whole different woman from the girl I was once used to calling me her angel," Erik said with faint disbelief in his voice, as he and Christine became comfortable in their embrace.

Christine could just about make out Erik's real face in the light that came from under the door it was no longer as terrifying as it was that morning, long ago when he erupted in a flying rage as she took his mask, Erik was unique, his overall facial appearance was that of a skull with two deep set beautiful amber eyes that glowed in the low light. Deep pigmentation around his sunken eye sockets gave a ghastly appearance and he had no nose a very short bridge and just two wide open holes that looked like someone had removed the soft bit of his nose from his face. Erik's lips were thin on the left side and widened and thickened on the right side. His cheeks were sunken so his cheek bones stood prominent and this was all covered in skin so pale and so thin you could see all the blood vessels underneath, except for just above his right temple where a patch of scalp muscle had not formed and the thin translucent skin covered the bone and his skull was clearly seen through it. Erik had very little real hair just wispy strands of grey dotted in small patches and although Christine could feel as she embraced him, he had strong prominent muscles, his body was thin almost skeletal and the skin on his hands, long fingers and face was a pale faintly jaundiced yellow, he looked no different to the madman Christine had unleashed when she had torn off his mask that first morning in his music room. In fact, the only difference was that now she recognised and saw the soul and heart of the man beneath and realised she loved all of him with all that she was.

After what felt like an eternity, there was a knock on the secret door behind Christine that made her jump. Erik dug his hand into his waistcoat pocket and pulled out a handkerchief, handed it to Christine, who wiped her eyes with it and looked at him scared. The knock resounded again she gave the handkerchief back to Erik who wiped his eyes and stuffed it back in his pocket. The door opened, and a gasp was heard.

"Erik!" Madame Giry's voice rang clear, "That is not appropriate, shutting yourself in a confined space with a young lady!" Madame Giry scolded him "And you, young lady!" Madame Giry turned pointing her finger and her indignation at Christine "should not be going into confined spaces with a man!"

Meg giggled, she was sitting on the floor by Erik's reading chair holding his mask in her hand. "It worked Maman," Meg declared as Erik and Christine both blushing furiously came out of the small room and back into the sitting room, and Meg handed Erik his mask and as he put it on, noticing the front door was open just as another man arrived, a beggar in a tatty black suit and top hat with the brim covered in candle stubs, sticking his head through the sitting room door he said,

"All done monsieur, worked like a charm," the man grinned toothlessly. "I dropped the sack of sand just as the mob leaders got to the door and I used that trick you taught me…" Here the strange man made a noise, it resembled Erik screaming as he fell down a deep hole and it sounded like it was coming from Erik himself, Christine shuddered.

"I was at the front of the mob when it happened," Meg said proudly "I screamed, 'He has fallen down an old shaft trying to flee!' and then when the sandbag hit the bottom of the shaft with a thump, the leaders looked at me and said to everyone, 'Well boys we have done our job, the opera ghost is dead!' they all cheered and left I think they have gone to an inn to get drunk and celebrate!" Meg finished.

"Thank god!" replied Madame Giry.

"I best be going!" the strange man in the tatty top hat said, "Rats to catch," and with that he vanished back out the door, to be replaced with a dark skinned foreign man waving a handkerchief who came barging into the sitting room and sneezed.

"Erik!" the foreign man shouted, "What the hell have you done now?" Erik sighed,

"Come in Daroga, anyone else due to join the party?" Erik finished sarcastically.

"No!" the man Erik called Daroga replied as he blew his nose then turned around and shut the front door and walked into the sitting room. Ignoring everyone else in the room the Daroga continued waving his right index finger directly at Erik, "Every time I turn my back for five minutes you get up to something deadly and daft! I decide to not attend a gala night and you kidnap Mademoiselle Daae only returning her the following morning, then when my servant convinces me to have a few days away from you before you drive me insane, you humiliate the prima donna, hang a man and drop an eight-tonne chandelier into the stalls, you are lucky only one person was killed by that." The Daroga continued shaking his finger at Erik who just stared at him,

"I…" Erik started to say,

"Do not interrupt me!" the Daroga barked, "I have a quiet night at home for New Year's Eve and you turn up at the opera house masked ball dressed as a lethal plague, terrorise everyone and scare an entire opera house into doing your opera, then finally..." Here the Daroga sneezed blew his nose and continued, "I am supposed to be at home in bed since I have caught wretched influenza and should not be out, however tonight, which is your operas premier you celebrate by hanging the lead tenor and kidnapping Mademoiselle Daae again!"

"Whoa wait a minute!" Erik exclaimed, "Piangi is dead?"

"That is the normal result of swinging around in the back of a stage a foot off the floor with a rope around your neck," the Daroga testily replied.

"Oh no, do not blame me for that, I left Piangi alive, yes he had a noose around his neck, but he was left standing on a stool, I told him not to struggle and wait, someone would rescue him, since he was not happy about letting me take the lead in my own opera." Erik replied, "I cannot be held responsible if the man did not follow instructions and fell off the stool." Erik finished defending himself.

"He should not have had a noose around his neck to start with!" the Daroga pointed out. "And what about Bouquet?" the Daroga asked, Erik looked around the sitting room to find that Christine, Meg and Madame Giry had sat down and were all listening with interest.

"Daroga, might I suggest we make tea for the ladies and continue our conversation in the kitchen?"

The Daroga begrudgingly followed Erik into the kitchen, Erik turned and pulled the kitchen door closed.

"You see Madame Giry's innocent daughter out there?" Erik asked,

"Well yes but what has that got to do with Bouquet?" replied the Daroga,

"Well apart from caring for Christine I have also over the years looked after Meg for Madame Giry, Meg used to know me as her Uncle Erik, until she grew older and it was too dangerous to be Uncle Erik one minuet and the Opera Ghost the next," Nadir sniggered at the thought of Erik being anyone's uncle.

Erik narrowed his eyes at the sniggering Persian, "Anyway, the night Bouquet met his demise I overheard him telling a couple of his chums that he fancied a young pretty blonde and so, Meg was going to enjoy the post Il Muto first night party because he was going to show her a real good night with him, before he could carry out what he was going to do to her, he had to go."

"Too right too!" came Madame Giry's voice, Erik turned around as Madame Giry walked into the kitchen, "I have to say in that case he got what he deserved. Erik there is a young lady out there being comforted by my daughter who really needs to be comforted by you, I suggest a gentle embrace would not go amiss either, the Daroga and I will finish the tea and bring it out."

Erik walked back into the sitting room shaking, Meg was sitting on the couch watching helplessly as Christine was pacing in front of the fire wringing her hands.

"Christine?" Erik called, Christine turned and ran to him throwing her arms around his chest and burying her face in his shirt and waistcoat. Meg stood up and feeling like the proverbial gooseberry headed into the kitchen. Erik brought his arms around Christine and held her against his heart. "My Angel," Erik whispered, "Why did you come back? I let you go, I gave you what you most loved and I let you go!" Erik stated sadly,

"You gave a foolish child what she thought she should love, what the world expected her to love, she learnt just in time to listen to what her heart loved." Christine whispered in return, Erik sighed as he held Christine tightly to him.

"What does that child's heart love?" Erik asked nervously, dreading the answer as much as longing for it.

"The child's loves are no longer important," Christine declared as she stepped back ever so slightly to look up into Erik's tear filled amber eyes. "The woman, the child has suddenly realised she has grown into, the woman's heart loves a grumpy perfectionist musical genius with a mask."

Erik smiled and tried some humour "Well it cannot be me you love, I am not grumpy!" he teased, smiling at her hopefully.

"You are grumpy!" Madame Giry said smiling, Erik and Christine turned to see Madame Giry standing at the kitchen door, "Nadir has made his introductions to Meg and I and tea is ready when you two are she said as she turned and went back into the kitchen. Erik and Christine turned back to face each other.

"I told you, you were grumpy," said Christine smiling gently, "However I love you any way!" she declared.

Erik just stared at her, tears now coursing down his cheeks some finding their way underneath his mask. "You… you… you love me?" he stuttered.

"Yes, I love you Erik," Christine laughed gently "With all my heart." Erik took a deep breath and brought his lips to hers softly kissing her. Christine's arms wrapped around Erik's neck and she kissed him back. As they parted breathing heavily, Erik just stared into Christine's blue eyes.

"I have always loved you, Since I first saw you," he sighed reaching a hand into his waistcoat pocket for his handkerchief and wiping his eyes with it as Christine giggled, "However, I still say I am not grumpy," he chuckled.

"Yes you are!" said Meg, Nadir and Madame Giry, as they came back into the sitting room Nadir carrying the tea tray Meg and Madame Giry sat on the couch and Nadir took a seat in Erik's reading chair taking his astrakhan hat off and dropping it on the table beside him.

Christine, trailed her finger along Erik's jaw line, "Maybe you will not be grumpy anymore," she softly cooed "Or at least not as often,"

"Humph! I still do not think I am grumpy," was Erik's reply.

When is the wedding? Can I see the ring?" Meg asked excitedly,

"Meg, have I not taught you any manners?" Madame Giry asked her daughter, "Sorry Maman, but this is so romantic, proposed to during the premier of an opera" sighed Meg as Erik and Christine broke their embrace.

Coming to sit between Meg and Madame Giry, Christine smiled, "The wedding will have to be after my dress is cleaned," Christine grinned indicating that the wedding gown Erik had insisted she wear that night was more than a little dirty.

Nadir raised his hand to his mouth, coughed and looked pointedly at Erik who had stood by the fire leaning his elbow on the mantelpiece.

"What?" said Erik looking directly at Nadir, who with his hand still over his mouth coughed out the words "Best man,"

"Pardon?" said Erik a little confused, "Please remove your hand from your mouth, I do not speak garble!" Nadir blushed, but said nothing.

Madame Giry had had enough, "Erik, I believe that Nadir was trying to ask if he could be your best man," Madame Giry supplied.

"Oh, Erik that would be a wonderful idea," Christine gushed as she held up her left hand to show Meg and Madame Giry the beautiful engagement ring Erik gave her during Don Juan, a gold band held an unusual bright golden yellow stone surrounded by a halo of flawless diamonds, as Christine moved her hand a band of light like a flame moved across the stone as the diamonds sparkled.

"The stone is a yellow chrysoberyl cats eye, I chose that because…" Erik started,

"Because it reminds me of your beautiful eyes my Erik" Christine finished as she smiled at him, as Erik blushed underneath his mask and stood like a statue by the fireplace staring at Christine, looking to all the word like he was dreaming.

"Erik, are you feeling well?" Nadir asked snapping Erik back to reality, "What happened to the gold band You gave Christine initially? Nadir pushed, Erik smiled and reached into the pocket of his trousers,

"I still have it," He smiled sadly at the memory of the night Christine betrayed him to Raoul, pulling his hand out of his pocket the ring held in his palm. "I found it on the roof where…"

"I was a heartless, thoughtless harlot," Christine interrupted him softly, the pain of the memories of the hurt she had caused Erik made her look down at the floor.

Madame Giry saw where this was going, "Those painful days are behind all of us now, now all there is, is happiness ahead,"

Erik walked over to Christine and reached out his hand to her with the wedding band in it, Christine tried to take it but Erik pulled his hand back,

"The next time this is placed upon your finger will be when we take our vows." Erik breathed, as he placed the ring back in his pocket.

"Can I be your bridesmaid?" Meg asked bouncing on the couch, as Erik looked at Christine with all the love he had in his eyes, as she looked up at him and smiled, the same love reflected in hers.

"I think this calls for a celebration!" Exclaimed Nadir as he headed off to Erik's wine cellar,

"Hey! Make sure you grab the champagne!" Erik yelled after him.

After champagne and a round of hugs and kisses; even Meg surprised herself, when her mother informed her that the Opera Ghost was the man she had once known as Uncle Erik who looked after her when she was very small, she gave the former Phantom, a hug and a kiss on the cheek of his mask and forgave him for scaring her with his tricks, as long as he became her Uncle Erik again. Erik blushed underneath his mask, little Giry was one of the most easily scared ballet rats and once she had grown up Erik had spent hours terrifying her and her friends in the Corps de Ballet. He now felt quite guilty since she had helped save him from the mob, and now, was so happy that her friend was going to become his wife. Meg and Madame Giry left and Nadir stood up and walked over to Erik slapping him on the back and wished his friend all the happiness in the world.

"Oh, just so you remember, I am still your conscience." Nadir smirked as he walked out of the front door and shut it behind him.

Erik suddenly found a Christine wrapped around him, bringing his arms around her and holding her close Erik sighed, "What did I ever do to deserve to keep my beautiful Angel?"

"You loved me enough to break your own heart to give me what I thought I loved," Christine whispered as she nuzzled into his chest. "And now my heart knows you are the missing part of it, I shall ensure that I never risk losing you again." Christine continued, pressing herself against him.

Erik's eyes widened, and his arms automatically tightened around her, Christine emboldened by Erik's reaction pressed herself fully against his body, she did not know where these actions stemmed from, all she knew was that she needed to be closer still to her Angel. Erik for his part was in a bit of a conundrum there were parts of him that were far more sensitive than he had ever noticed before. Once upon a time Erik knew that there was no way he was going to get that type of attention from Christine, now he was pretty certain that he would.

Christine pressed herself tighter to him still and as Erik looked down into her eyes they held a strange glow of their own, one he had only seen once before when she was under the spell of his voice the first night he brought her to his home. That was more than enough to give his needs a very physical presence. Erik suddenly realised that his very tailored evening trousers were becoming uncomfortably tight, which only got worse when Christine decided to press herself tightly against him. There were two ways out of this scenario before his trousers cramped his style. Erik felt Christine's breathing quicken, soon she was almost panting and he noticed she was staring up at him, that glow in her eyes growing stronger by the second, 'To hell with propriety!' Erik thought as he brought his lips down to press against Christine's. Christine grasped him tightly and returned the kiss with just as much fire, Erik trailed one hand gently up Christine's back to her neck and under her hair and found the first button of her gown and undid it, then the next and the one after it.

"Oh, Angel," Christine gasped, against his lips as she brought her hands to his chest and started to undo the buttons of his waistcoat...

Their moment of passion was rudely interrupted by a sneeze, Erik looked up and sprang back from Christine, as he saw Nadir standing in the sitting room door way blowing his nose.

"Did I interrupt anything?" Nadir asked innocently as Erik scowled at him. Christine, who was a lovely shade of beetroot, looked at Erik, then at Nadir and then the floor started walking hurriedly towards her bedroom

"Erik," She said softly, "It has been a very long night and I think I shall retire, I shall see you in the morning," Christine said as she opened her bedroom door, "Good night my Angel." She finished, blew him a kiss as she entered her room and shut her bedroom door behind her.

"You…You!" Erik seethed, as with his hands raised to throat height, he stalked towards Nadir, who was suddenly realising that his life might really be in danger and was backing up to the front door. Nadir was used to dealing with an angry Erik, but an angry and sexually frustrated Erik was a new creature entirely. "What are you doing back here?" Erik growled,

"I… I… I forgot my hat," Nadir said trying to cover his throat with his hands.

"Your HAT! Erik roared, "You interrupt one of the most longed-for moments of my life for a HAT!"

Christine's bedroom door opened just as Erik was seriously considering ending Nadir's life and Christine's head popped out, "Erik, why are you shouting about hats?" Christine asked with a worried expression on her face,

"Erm, I err," Erik stuttered lowering his hands,

"Erik, it is late we have all had a very trying day, please try to get some sleep Angel." Christine said gently as she went back inside her bedroom and the door closed.

Erik turned to a visibly pale and shaking Nadir whose nose was running, "Daroga, you look like me," Erik growled gently.

Nadir blew his nose, "That is what comes of having influenza and trying to save your best friend," Nadir responded.

Erik ran his hand over what hair he had and made up his mind, "Wait here Daroga," Erik said as he went to his bedroom and came back with a pillow and some blankets. "You are in no fit state to walk back to your flat, you will stay here until you are well, I will get a note to Darius in the morning." Erik threw the pillow and blankets on the couch and turned to Nadir, "Good night," and with that Erik stropped to his bedroom and slammed the door shut.

Nadir sat down exhausted on the couch and blew his nose again, "Madame Giry," he said to himself, "You own me big time for acting as Erik's chastity belt!" With that Nadir settled down on the couch pulled the blankets over him and went to sleep.