Summery: I'm in 1870's France and have a few problems, as well as make some. :p
Warnings: Raoul and Christine bashing, bad grammar and craziness. And very minor swearing. Deal.
Phantom's Angel
I so did not intend to sprout wings. Or fall into the 1870's and the Opera Populaire. Not that you see me complaining. About the wings. Yes I was an inveterate Phantom of the Opera fan, yes I hated Raoul and Christine. And yes I loved the Phantom, madly. That was why I was so happy, except for the wings. It was just a normal day for me, walking to the bus stop when I curled over in pain. Not anything pretty but horrible back wrenching pain. My long brown hair falling into the spring mud as I fell to my knees. This was so not going to be my day, I could tell already. My head whipped back as I screamed and everything blurred. No one heard me. I was screaming like a banshee and no one heard. To top it all off the other three people who caught the bus at my stop were four feet in front of me. My eyes squeezed close as my back pack fell to one side. I so hope I don't look like Raoul right now! You know the scene, where he's tied to the gate. Letting out another heart wrenching scream I felt my back burst open and what I now know as my clothes changing. When I stopped holding myself and whimpering I looked up.
And I was so not at my bus stop anymore. I was in a cobbled street that was in front of a very recognizable building. WTF? The Opera Populaire? FRANCE??? Oh I am so dead. I'm going to not make the bus! I'm going to miss school! I CAN'T SPEAK FRENCH! Well, I was in Paris now and was not about to leave one of the only familiar places to get myself lost. I was about to step onto the street when a horse and carriage rolled by. Now I know that America is not that advanced, if we are advanced at all. Looking around I noticed quite a lot of things missing. Like skyscrapers as well as cars. Oh and no stop lights or telephone poles or wires of any sort. Nothing with a motor and nothing that looked modern. Looking down at my feet I noticed something. My sneakers were no longer on my feet and I couldn't even see my feet over my skirt? Since when did this happen? Certainly not when I was looking! That's when I saw my friend Catt huddled in one corner of the front stoop of the building I was taking shelter in. She was dressed in what looked to be a hoop skirt and was in the middle of bawling her eyes out. I ran to her and tripped over my own hoop skirt and landed on my butt. Which was when Catt looked up and started to laugh as well as cry. Great, she was hysterical. I sat there and blinked as my friend, a Meg/Erik shipper, left the huge stone building which turned out to be a store of some sort.
Marie? Her dark red hair contrasted with her creme hoop skirted dress that she moved around in with a level of familiarity. She would know how to walk around in this thing. But how in the world did I end up here? I mean how did we end up here? I remember that Marie missed school yesterday and missed her cousins senior project but what was she doing here? Oh well, who cares at this point? I just wanted to get back to the bus stop. Slowly getting up I made my way over to Catt. Folding her in my arms I sat next to her to quite her sobs. Looking at Marie I raised my head and blew a wisp of loose hair out of my face. Wait... My hair is up? Taking stock I realized. I had wings?? I had a set of gray feathery wings sprouting out of my back. I was wearing a deep purple dress with a hoop skirt that was made of silk. My hair was piled on top of my head except for a few curls that fell around my face and I was wearing a corset that was pushing against my body. How I missed the fact that I was wearing a corset I will never know. My feet were in slippers, or if what I felt was right, they were. I wasn't trusting anything anymore.
"Do you know what we are doing here?" I asked with my head tilted to one side.
"Not a clue." She responded. "But I'm glad you got here. I've been here for a month. Has anyone missed me back home?"
Needless to say I was more than confused, I was flabbergasted! It was only yesterday she went MIA. What on earth was I supposed to say to her being here a month? Even being here was way weird. I suppose the truth couldn't be any weirder.
"Um... You just missed yesterday?" I said tentatively.
"But... You mean time passes differently when your in the past?" She replied, obviously as confused as I was but in way more possession of the facts than me. What else is new?
"That would make sense. How long has she been here?" I answered, while nodding at Catt who was still crying and hugging me.
"As long as you I suppose. You two have just got here right?" She looked at Catt with concern while she was speaking. I just nodded as I heaved us up off the brick. Catt had reasonably calmed down now and was just sniffling while looking around with big sky blue eyes.
"Where are we?" She asked softly.
"Paris, France. In front of the Opera House and I'm guessing that it's sometime around 1870." I looked at her as I said this hoping she wouldn't go into overload.
But she did. And she fainted. I don't mean anything so soft as swooned. She was headed for the brick and fast. It was a dead faint and I was the only one who could catch her seeing as how the chances of Marie booking it over here in a hoop skirt was nil. Acting quickly I caught her before she hit the pavement? Well, it was a brick... cobblestone thingie that would have hurt in anycase. Hefting her up, with no muscle (because I am such a weakling) I look at Marie. She just looked right back at me.
"You'll find that people are more likely to faint in this time, including yourself. And put your wings away before anyone sees them. Oh, and bring Catt this way. I work at the Opera and live there, so we can put her in my living quarters." The last was said with a grin as she headed across the street.
"Wait," I huffed while taking as many steps toward her as I could. "I don't know how to put my wings away! And do you really work in the Opera House?"
Marie turned and looked at me. Dropping her basket she got behind me and tried to push my wings in. "While this is inconvient! Mine went right in when I accidentally fell against a wall. And yes I do work at the opera, its like a mini town in there."
My eyes widened in alarm. "You mean that I'm stuck looking like some deranged form of cupid!?! That their supposed to retract but mine just don't work? That you have a pair too, but that yours just hie themselves right into your back?" I was working up to a good round temper tantrum now. Nothing was going to stop me! I was going to fix this and I was going to do it by yelling my head off like a fish wife. Slap! Or not. Marie just grabbed me and Catt and started to drag us up the steps to the Opera Poplaire. She looked around frantically to make sure no one had heard and/or seen my little fit and dragged me and Catt right through the Opera House door.