Part 1

The day was bright and the sun shone through the window. There was a light breeze through the air and birds were heard from a far. The young child sat at the window with bright eyes, watching as the birds did their dance over the tree that sat in the front yard. Back and forth her eyes went watching as the wings of the cardinals went from one side to the other. A strand of light brown hair blew lightly in front of her face, but she did not mind it. The twittering was music to her ears. She leaned her head out the window, though only enough to where her forehead lightly touched the iron bars that were set in front of the window. Standing on her tip- toes and grasping the bars, she continued to watch in amazement.

"Darling, what are you doing by the window?" The child turned to her mother in the chair, reading from a book. The woman's glasses were sitting on the end of her nose as she turned her head toward the child for a moment to see what she was doing. Her hair was pulled up in a bun like fashion with a few flowers placed inside.

"Watching the birds," the child answered in a happy tone. "They make such sweet music. It is almost as if they are singing a birthday song to me." The woman laughed at her child's comment. Placing the book down, she removed her spectacles and strode over to where the child was. She crouched down and watched the birds along with her daughter. The little girl's eyes danced with the birds and soon a sound was coming from her. She began to hum the birds little tune along with them. Her mother grasped her daughter's shoulders and looked slightly away to the clock on the wall. It read 11:30am.

"What is taking him so long?" She thought to herself. After a moment, she began to hear her daughter evolve her humming, into singing. It was as sweet as the bird's tweeting. Quickly she turned back to her daughter. "Darling, do you not think the birds would like a chance to sing?" The child stopped her singing and turned to her mother with a concerned and confused look on her face.

"I was only joining their song." Her mother smiled slightly and closed the window. At that moment the door to the parlor opened to reveal a man in a well-made suit and long hair. "Father!" She ran to the man with open arms. He embraced the child happily.

"Oh my dear child," he spoke happily, releasing his embrace. "I have a wonderful surprise for you." The child gave a wide smile.

"What is it?"

"A trip! A trip fit for a birthday girl." The child clapped in a happy response. The mother gave a concerned look in response. "We are going to Paris!" The little girl squealed with delight and embraced her father once again. Her mother sat down in shock of the surprise and placed a hand on her forehead. The man looked up and saw this response, then looked back to his child. "We will be leaving soon. Go and retrieve your hat and coat and meet us by the door." Without a moment of hesitation, the child ran out the door. Her footsteps were heard rushing down the hallway. The man then turned to his wife who still had her head in her hand.

"Paris Raul," His wife exclaimed, looking up at him? "You could not have asked me whether it was a good idea." He walked over to his wife and placed his hands on her shoulders and ran his fingers through her hair.

"My darling Christine, it has been seven years since we had been in Paris." She looked up.

"For a good reason Raul. There are too many memories and many of them painful ones." She explained, walking away towards the barred windows. "I know you are doing this for our daughter, but what if something happens? What if he is still there?"

"Nothing will happen my love. I can assure you of that." Raul explained, coming up behind Christine and placing his arms around her. "Do not worry. She will be fine." Christine turned around to face her husband. "Besides there is business I must attend too in the city. I requested that it be taken care of here but they would not hear of it," he tried to explain. "Plus our daughter would love to see the city." Christine dropped her head and walked towards the window. She looked down to see her child waiting patiently, watching the birds and she could see her singing along with them.

"I know the opera house is still standing. What if he is still living down there?" She asked. "He could come after us again."

"My dear, he is long gone." He kissed the back of his wife's head and held her close from behind. Christine turned around to her husband. "I promise." They held each other for a while, and then heard a little voice from the door.

"What is going on?" They turned and saw their child wearing her bright red coat and a smile that could bright up the room. "Paris is calling my name." The two adult's laughed and walked towards her. She led the way to the door and attempted to reach the lock. "Oh, it was open a second ago!" Christine took her hand and Raul went to unlock the door. After all three locks were opened, the door swung open, to reveal a carriage waiting. They piled into the passenger seats as the driver took the reins.

"Are we ready sir?" He spoke with an affirmative voice. Raul closed the door and opened the window.

"Yes. You may press forward." The driver cracked the reins and the horses began the journey to Paris.

The whole journey, the child watched out the window to see if they were any closer than they were. She was bubbling with excitement and her heart was racing. Christine just sat facing forward during the carriage ride. She was silent. The only times she spoke were if her child asked her questions about the city. Her answers were usually short and to the point. Raul would usually explain it again but in a way where she would become more excited than she was.

After another hour had past, they had arrived in the city. It was bustling with people in suits and beautiful gowns. Shops and restaurants were seen on every corner. The child was in awe of it all. She looked to the tall buildings that towered over the streets. The carriage finally stopped and the driver opened the door. The child was eager to get out and see everything, but before she could get her foot out, her mother grabbed her arm.

"Honey, you must be careful!" Pulling her back, she looked out to see if it was safe to come out. It was, and led the way out of the carriage. The child stepped onto the pavement and gripped her mother's hand tightly. People walked by and smiled to them.

Raul stepped out of the carriage and told the driver to come for them at 9pm. The driver nodded and the carriage went away. He then turned to his wife and child and they began to walk down the walkway through the crowd.

They took the little girl to see the museum of art. She was fascinated by the many paintings and statues that were there. They even went into a history museum where it told much of the city's history. They reached an exhibit for Paris's music when the child saw a grand painting of a huge beautiful building.

"Come mama!" She pulled on her mother's hand and dragged her through the crowd to see it. Christine did what she could to keep her grip on the child's hand. They reached the painting and Christine stopped.

"The opera house," she spoke under her breath. Every detail of the building from when it still stood gloriously was in the painting, the windows and the grand doorway. She looked to other parts around the painting. Play Bills that were kept by former audience members, and old posters. She saw one of Carlotta from 'Hannibal'. Her body stood in glory as she held a skull like figure in her hands. Next to it was a portion of the poster that stated:

Making her debut in 'Hannibal',

Christine Daae

"Momma," the child exclaimed. Christine looked down and saw her child pointing to a news article. It spoke of the tragic chandelier crash and the terrible fire that happened because of it. The article stated that the chandelier fell due to it not being stable, but Christine knew exactly why it fell. The child looked up to her mother with a confused face. "Are you alright?" Christine looked down to the child.

"I am alright." She gripped her child's hand again and they went for the exit. Raul was standing there talking to someone.

"My dear, look who I have found." He exclaimed, and presented a woman with red and grey hair. Christine stopped and smiled a bit.

"Why Carlotta, it is good to see you." The woman smiled and embraced Christine.

"Oh Christine, you have not aged a day." Carlotta spoke in a happy but at the same time sad tone. She looked down to the child and smiled. "This must be your daughter!" Carlotta knelt down a little to become face to face with her. "I am Carlotta. I performed with your mother so many years ago."

"You performed with my mama?" The child asked brightly. Carlotta nodded and stood back up.

"Your mother dazzled audiences with her voice." Christine gave a weak smile. It was true but those memories of being on the stage were overshadowed by the terrible events.

"You had your share of adoring fans as Carlotta." The woman smiled a confident smile.

"But those days are over. I have not sung since my poor husband died. He was a lover of the opera as I was."

Raul stayed quiet as the women talked about and then consulted his pocket watch.

"Ladies, there is business I must attend too." He spoke up, kissing his wife and child on the cheek. "I will see you at dinner." The child watched as her father kissed her mother again and began to walk away and disappear into the crowd. She looked up to the two women conversing and became bored.

Looking around to see if anything interesting was going on, she noticed something across the street from where they were. She squinted her eyes, but she still could not tell what it was. It was small and looked to be moving from side to side.

"I wonder?" She thought to herself. Looking up, she had realized that her mother had released her grip on her hand. "I am sure I will make it back before she notices I'm gone." With that thought on her mind, she made her way through the crowd. Looking back every little step to make sure her mother was there, she was half way there. "I wonder what I was seeing." She made it across the street. Feeling accomplished, she looked over to where she thought what she was.

Too her disappointment, it was gone. All that sat there now was an old teddy bear and stuffed bunny.

"Oh dear," she thought. "Oh well, I should get back to mama before she notices I'm gone." Turning back around, she noticed that the crowd got a little larger then it was before. She politely made her way through and back across the street. "I do hope she hasn't noticed. She would be ever so worried." That thought went through her head when she made her way to where her mother was talking to that woman, Carlotta, but to her surprise. Her mother was gone from the spot. All that stood there were guests of the museum waiting for their carriages or were talking to one another. "I wonder where she is."

Going back into the museum, she looked around and even asked people if they had seen her. No one had seen her. Becoming worried, the child left the building.

"Maybe if I go where father went, I can find him." Deciding this, she made her way in the direction she saw her father go in.

The sun had begun to set and the hours ticked away. People walked along the streets, making it hard for her to locate her father or her mother. Lanterns were being lit and soon it would be too dark for her to see anything at all, even with the lanterns lit.

Barely anyone was walking the streets and she was alone. To keep herself calm, she began to sing a tune to herself that her nanny had taught her not too long ago. It was very light, but sung in a loud enough tone where someone walking nearby could hear it. She did not care if anyone heard her sing. Her only objective was to find her parents.

"Little girl!" A voice boomed. Her head popped up. "You little girl!" She turned her head towards a group of young boys who were much older than her. There were three of them and they looked filthy. "You have a nice singing voice."

"Thank you." She spoke politely. The boys came closer to her. Frightened, she backed away a little, almost backing into a wall.

"Sing it again for us!" The leader yelled out. "We want to hear it again!" In fear she shook her head no. The boys walked up even closer. "I said, sing little girl."

"Please leave me alone." She spoke. "I'm trying to find my momma and papa." The boys laughed at her meek voice.

"Oh mama, papa!" They began to cry in a mocking way. After a moment, they stopped. "They left you! They abandoned you!" The little girl hung her head.

"They just lost me, and I'm looking for them. They didn't leave me! I'm sure they are looking for me too!" She cried. The leader of the group of boys came forward and grabbed her by her jacket collar. She began to shed tears. "Please leave me alone."

"Not till you sing for us!" He demanded. The girl tried to let out a note, but she was too scared to let one out. "Just one little song, and we'll let you go. It's that simple."

"That is enough!" A voice boomed. Everyone turned and say a cloaked figure of a man standing behind the boys. His face was covered and towered over them all. "Leave her alone. If she chooses not to sing, then you should not force her."

"This is none of your business! Get out of here!" The leader of the group of boys said and turned back to the girl. "Now I will ask you one last time, sing for us!" Tears had become waterfalls that fell from her eyes.

The next thing they all knew, the man had grabbed a hold of the boys arm that had a hold of the little girls jacket. Holding it tight, he got into the boy's face. Even though his face could not be seen because of the cloak, the boy was terrified.

"I told you to leave her alone." Releasing his grip on the boys arm and watched as the group ran off into the darkness. He turned to the little girl. "Young lady, are you alright?" She nodded and walked forward.

"Thank you for sending them away." The figured nodded and looked around them.

"You should not be out at this time of night. Let me take you home." He held out his hand for her to take. She took it but then gave a saddened face.

"I do not live near here. I come from the country. I lost my parents today and have been looking for them." The man sighed as he firmly gripped her hand.

"Then let us see if we can find them for you." He led the way through the dark street, holding her hand.

For almost an hour, they searched and asked anyone if they knew where her parents could be. Just like before, no one knew where they could have been. The man grew concerned, for the child was becoming tired and was walking slower and slower with each step.

"Shall I carry you?" She held her arms up and he lifted her up. Holding her on his hip, he walked further down the street. The lanterns were lit brightly, but soon there was no one on the street. The man did not know what to do. He knew that people would become suspicious of a cloaked figure walking around with a child. He did not want them to think he kidnapped her.

When he began to think of what to do, he began to hear singing. Looking to the child, he noticed that it was coming from her. It was one of the most beautiful voices he had heard for quite some time. She was singing a light tune.

"That song, where did you learn it," he asked. She stopped and looked to him.

"My mother taught it too me, but she doesn't like me singing at home. I do not know why." The man nodded and began to ponder a moment.

"What if I were to make your voice even lovelier?" The little girl shot her head towards him. "I could do that. With the right lessons, your voice could entrance everyone with your voice." She smiled.

"I do not know what that means sir, but it sounds wonderful." He looked to the child.

"Then you will live with me and help me in my home and in return I will teach you the glories of music." She smiled again and hugged him. He was in shock by this reaction but hugged her back.

He led them to an abandoned building not too far from where they were. From one of the doors, he led them inside and showed her where he lived. She was in amazement, but also was tired from that day's events. The rest of the way, he carried her down farther and soon they reached a lake and found a boat. Placing her in the boat, he began to navigate it towards their destination. The tunnel was only lit by a few torches that hung from some of the tunnel walls.

"This will be our home child."

"It's dark in here," the little girl spoke sleepily. "I can barely see a thing."

"You will get used to it, but there is something you must promise me my child." The girl nodded.

"Yes sir. What is it?" She let out a large yawn. "I can keep promises; I am very good at that." She said this as her head began to lean down on the side of the boat and her eyes began to fall. The man spoke,

"You must never ask to see my face. It is of great importance my child." He turned to see if she was listening, but noticed that she had fallen asleep. Turning back around, he docked the boat. They had reached his home.

Lifting her out of the boat, he carried her to a small bed and laid her there. She breathed lightly and her hair fell in front of her face a little. The man placed covers over her and lightly stroked her hair.

"You remind me of someone I loved very much." He spoke this softly, removing the cloak. His face was now only covered by a white mask and had black hair. "You sound just like her as well." He smiled a little and stood up. Pulling a string, a net came over the bed. The child slept deeply. "Goodnight, my little Christia."