CPOV

No.

My heart was pounding in my ears. It sounded like someone beating a drum within my own head.

He couldn't have done it... That's what my heart said. But my mind knew the truth, try as I might to ignore it.

I had to talk to him, but I didn't even know where he was. Primal fear told me to flee like everyone else, but above that was my heart anxiously fluttering with worry. Where was he?

Panic rose inside me as I raced around with the others looking for an escape route. Except, I wasn't trying to leave. I was merely trying to separate myself from the crowd and figure out what was happening. The mob pushed against each other and plowed others over like a herd of startled cattle.

"Christine!"

The sound of my name caught my attention more than it should have, but it was instantly followed by disappointment. The male voice was not the one I was searching for.

"Christine! Are you alright?" Raoul shouted at me over the frenzied thespians, his eyes wide with the same fear as theirs.

"I'm fine, Raoul. Please…" I went to step around him but he grabbed my arm firmly.

"Christine, it's not safe! Quickly, we must go!" We were being run into by hundreds of people and I wished he would just leave. It would be much easier to navigate this crowd without him latched to me! And if he was so worried about it he could leave with the rest of them. But like the gentleman he was, he would not leave a lady by herself when a murderer was on the loose.

Fantastic….

He turned to lead me down the hall with the others.

"Raoul, really, I just… need to be alone" I tried to give him a damsel-in-distress look and apparently it worked all too well.

"I'm not going to leave you!" he said vehemently.

I growled softly and jerked my arm from his tight grip. I spun away, not really caring if he followed me. I half-wished he would be swept away in the current of people, but I heard him behind me calling my name, proving no such luck.

My feet met the spiral staircase and I bolted up not waiting for him. Where I was going, I wasn't sure but away was always a good start.

His voice told me that he had caught up and was pursuing me to wherever I was going. I wished I knew where that was.

Why have you brought me here?

Brought him here? That's a good one. He was the one following me like a lost puppy! But my thoughts were hardly on Raoul at the moment.

I can't go back there!

We must return!

Why?

If I went back my resolve would waver.

I knew at this moment that I didn't care about anything else but being with him. If I went back I may realize what a fool I was being, running to make sure a murderer was okay. That's why I couldn't look back.

He'll kill you! His eyes will find us there…

Christine, don't say that.

He would do whatever it took to have me. If that meant killing Raoul then it would be done, even though Raoul was certainly no threat in this case.

I'd had many suitors over the years but I had turned most of them down. They had all been the same vain, money laden aristocrat that was right behind me. That, and my angel had gotten very jealous.

It sounded very conceited to say that he would do anything to have me but I believed it to be true.

Those eyes that burn.

Don't even think it.

Those green eyes were incredible.

They could make me feel so many things. The passion, hatred, fear, and kindness…it was amazing how well those all fit into one man. Those eyes could practically melt me with one glance.

And they would forever haunt me.

Was it possible to long for and fear a person's eyes? They knew things about me that no one knew. No one, including myself.

Been hunted by a thousand men!

Forget this waking nightmare!

The Phantom of the Opera will kill and kill again!

This phantom is a fable! Believe me! There is no Phantom of the Opera!

Clearly he hadn't been there when Bouquet fell from the ceiling with a noose around his neck! No matter what I said, Raoul didn't seem to want to believe me. Not that I really needed to prove anything to him but it hurt all the same.

I did not believe Erik to be a cold-blooded murderer.

Well…I only mean that I did not believe him to be the horrifying killer that was on a rampage, as everyone believed.

He was different, as cliché as that sounds. They didn't see the same side of him that I did.

My God, who is this man?

My God, who is this man?

Who owns my will?

I shivered a little at the thought of that.

I realized just how much that man owned me. Even though I no longer saw him as a deity, it changed nothing. He was still the same to me.

I would do anything for him and he very well knew it.

I belonged to him.

This mask of death?

I can't escape from him. I never will.

Whose is this voice you hear? With every breath?

I wish I knew the answer to that question.

Erik was no angel, not physically. But he had in fact been my angel.

Why did that have to change? He didn't seem to know what he wanted from me anymore than I from him. It seemed he was just as confused as I was.

No matter what we did, there would always be that bond in us. I would never be without him nor him without me. No matter how hard I tried.

I almost felt a …protectiveness of him.

I wanted to make sure no one ever hurt him again. I had hurt him once. That had been an accident. Seeing his pain when I had removed the mask made me feel pity for him and had made me hate myself.

I was going to make sure it never happened again.

And in this labyrinth where night is blind!

And in this labyrinth where night is blind!

The Phantom of the Opera is here inside my mind.

The Phantom of the Opera is there inside your mind.

And with that last frightening and comforting revelation, I felt the cool winter air hit my face as I flung open the door to the roof.

*R&R please! Constructive criticisms appreciated!*