Disclaimer: Hello all. I take no responsibility for having created
the POTO chars. Of course they are not mine. :)
My Comments: I've been lacking the usual needed inspiration to write something passionate and worth while for nearly a year now, which is why I am so proud to present to you what I hope to be the ending point of this hindering challenge.
The story is not yet aimed for anything specific, like E/C or C/R or O/W. So don't assume anything just yet. The plot line is still needing to be worked out a bit more, and the ending is not yet decided, but that's what makes a wonderful story. Having no idea where it's goin'!! :)
The story will include the usual characters: The most important, of course, Erik, then Christine and what would it be without our own Raoul de Chagny? Meg, Madame Giry, the managers, etc. and maybe some extras here and there.
My muse is hopefully here to stay this time, and to help her remain I would like it if you all would read my chapters and review them, giving me as many positive comments and constructive criticisms as possible. I would also like to hear from you all your comments on what you think should happen in the end. :)
Enjoy.
Prologue:
"Madame Giry! Stop where you are!!" Raoul de Chagny spat out orders at the Ballet Mistress, which was quite opposite to how it usually went.
It wasn't everyday you saw the Vicomte, let alone anyone giving the gaunt, spectral-like figure with her intimidating emotionless attitude instructions at all. She was always the one to give orders. Yet, somehow Madame Giry did not seem at all disturbed by his new display of power. She knew quite well what he wanted from her, and in her mind she could see no reason in keeping it from him. It was about time he knew the truth, and this madness had to be stopped.
"Monsieur, do not work yourself into a frenzy. I will give you answers to your questions and you will be well satisfied with them. I am very much informed when it comes to whom you speak of, and I am not at all with an ill conscience for revealing his secrets." she replied, seeing the excitement on the boys face suddenly turn from an insane urgency to satisfy his curiosity to a calmness that had been gone from him ever since Christine had been claimed by this dark suitor.
The boy swallowed with hesitancy. Now that he was free to ask whatever he wished, he was almost afraid to spark the fury of the one he was interested in. He had to know... He had to understand the story behind the black Angel of Death. Why the treachery? Why the obsession with Christine? What unhappiness had pierced this man so deeply that he took to residing in an Opera House, wreaking havoc on those unknowing of him?
"W-who is he?"
He had hardly found his voice. The vagueness of the question seemed to annoy Madame Giry, but she bit her tongue against a snide remark and approached him with a look of ice settling into her aging features. It was evident that Giry had been very beautiful once, but old age and years of teaching high-strung, prissy little ballerinas had turned her into a sour, mysterious woman. Now, not only was her face unfortunately lined with impatience and superiority, but also her soul.
"Who is he, m'sieur? We all know who he is. I believe 'Why is he' is the question which you truly await to be answered."
"Yes.. I know who he is. He is the Ghost, a man filled with hate and lust and power. He is an Angel, a siren that summons my sweet Christine into his dank underground world of torture. You are right. I know full well who he is and what he is, Madame." Raoul muttered through clenched teeth as he brushed back a pair of sweaty bangs.
Madame Giry lifted an eyebrow, indicating her surprise at his words. Perhaps it still needed to be explained to the boy what Erik was all about.
"Oh, is that so, my dear Vicomte?" she pulled up a prop chair that sat behind the curtains, stage right behind her, "Have a seat."
Monsieur le Vicomte gave her a curious glance but then obeyed with no further reply. She smiled almost evilly as she, too, took a seat on a couch that had also been sitting idly on the stage. Interesting how he was so quick to jump to assumptions.
"He is all of what you say, and then some, monsieur. Yet, you have missed that he is also a -man-. I understand that you hate him for pursuing Miss Daae, but tell me, was she altogether yours from the beginning?"
The woman held truth in her words, power in them, and Raoul was not about to be confronted with reality just yet.
"I think it is safe to say that yes, she was." he bitterly replied, trying to keep his fury at a steady bubbling, and nothing more.
"Oh, really? Then tell me why it is that before you came to the Opera Garnier, he had already come to build a deep bond with her?" Madame Giry asked gingerly, folding her legs and placing her hands atop her knee in a stiff, businesslike position.
Raoul said nothing until he found the perfect answer, "I met her long, long ago when we were children. She was mine from the beginning."
"It sounds to me as if the struggle is not over whom she may love, but over who will get to keep her in the end, doesn't it? Are you so sure that he is also fighting for this reason? Or could he truly love her, monsieur, and only wish to soothe and heal his wounds from long past?"
Raoul lowered his brow into a frown and steadily spoke, "We have wandered far from the original question. I inquired as to his past, and now it is time you live up to your promise of answering me this. It is not the time to accuse me of treating Miss Daae as a trophy."
Madame Giry leaned back slightly and for a moment gave him a look that sent icicles pelting him mercilessly. Then her eyes of gold looked away. It was time to reveal the Phantom that hardly anyone knew but herself and one other.
"He loves her, monsieur. That is where I will begin..."
Now, she had his interest.
My Comments: I've been lacking the usual needed inspiration to write something passionate and worth while for nearly a year now, which is why I am so proud to present to you what I hope to be the ending point of this hindering challenge.
The story is not yet aimed for anything specific, like E/C or C/R or O/W. So don't assume anything just yet. The plot line is still needing to be worked out a bit more, and the ending is not yet decided, but that's what makes a wonderful story. Having no idea where it's goin'!! :)
The story will include the usual characters: The most important, of course, Erik, then Christine and what would it be without our own Raoul de Chagny? Meg, Madame Giry, the managers, etc. and maybe some extras here and there.
My muse is hopefully here to stay this time, and to help her remain I would like it if you all would read my chapters and review them, giving me as many positive comments and constructive criticisms as possible. I would also like to hear from you all your comments on what you think should happen in the end. :)
Enjoy.
Prologue:
"Madame Giry! Stop where you are!!" Raoul de Chagny spat out orders at the Ballet Mistress, which was quite opposite to how it usually went.
It wasn't everyday you saw the Vicomte, let alone anyone giving the gaunt, spectral-like figure with her intimidating emotionless attitude instructions at all. She was always the one to give orders. Yet, somehow Madame Giry did not seem at all disturbed by his new display of power. She knew quite well what he wanted from her, and in her mind she could see no reason in keeping it from him. It was about time he knew the truth, and this madness had to be stopped.
"Monsieur, do not work yourself into a frenzy. I will give you answers to your questions and you will be well satisfied with them. I am very much informed when it comes to whom you speak of, and I am not at all with an ill conscience for revealing his secrets." she replied, seeing the excitement on the boys face suddenly turn from an insane urgency to satisfy his curiosity to a calmness that had been gone from him ever since Christine had been claimed by this dark suitor.
The boy swallowed with hesitancy. Now that he was free to ask whatever he wished, he was almost afraid to spark the fury of the one he was interested in. He had to know... He had to understand the story behind the black Angel of Death. Why the treachery? Why the obsession with Christine? What unhappiness had pierced this man so deeply that he took to residing in an Opera House, wreaking havoc on those unknowing of him?
"W-who is he?"
He had hardly found his voice. The vagueness of the question seemed to annoy Madame Giry, but she bit her tongue against a snide remark and approached him with a look of ice settling into her aging features. It was evident that Giry had been very beautiful once, but old age and years of teaching high-strung, prissy little ballerinas had turned her into a sour, mysterious woman. Now, not only was her face unfortunately lined with impatience and superiority, but also her soul.
"Who is he, m'sieur? We all know who he is. I believe 'Why is he' is the question which you truly await to be answered."
"Yes.. I know who he is. He is the Ghost, a man filled with hate and lust and power. He is an Angel, a siren that summons my sweet Christine into his dank underground world of torture. You are right. I know full well who he is and what he is, Madame." Raoul muttered through clenched teeth as he brushed back a pair of sweaty bangs.
Madame Giry lifted an eyebrow, indicating her surprise at his words. Perhaps it still needed to be explained to the boy what Erik was all about.
"Oh, is that so, my dear Vicomte?" she pulled up a prop chair that sat behind the curtains, stage right behind her, "Have a seat."
Monsieur le Vicomte gave her a curious glance but then obeyed with no further reply. She smiled almost evilly as she, too, took a seat on a couch that had also been sitting idly on the stage. Interesting how he was so quick to jump to assumptions.
"He is all of what you say, and then some, monsieur. Yet, you have missed that he is also a -man-. I understand that you hate him for pursuing Miss Daae, but tell me, was she altogether yours from the beginning?"
The woman held truth in her words, power in them, and Raoul was not about to be confronted with reality just yet.
"I think it is safe to say that yes, she was." he bitterly replied, trying to keep his fury at a steady bubbling, and nothing more.
"Oh, really? Then tell me why it is that before you came to the Opera Garnier, he had already come to build a deep bond with her?" Madame Giry asked gingerly, folding her legs and placing her hands atop her knee in a stiff, businesslike position.
Raoul said nothing until he found the perfect answer, "I met her long, long ago when we were children. She was mine from the beginning."
"It sounds to me as if the struggle is not over whom she may love, but over who will get to keep her in the end, doesn't it? Are you so sure that he is also fighting for this reason? Or could he truly love her, monsieur, and only wish to soothe and heal his wounds from long past?"
Raoul lowered his brow into a frown and steadily spoke, "We have wandered far from the original question. I inquired as to his past, and now it is time you live up to your promise of answering me this. It is not the time to accuse me of treating Miss Daae as a trophy."
Madame Giry leaned back slightly and for a moment gave him a look that sent icicles pelting him mercilessly. Then her eyes of gold looked away. It was time to reveal the Phantom that hardly anyone knew but herself and one other.
"He loves her, monsieur. That is where I will begin..."
Now, she had his interest.