Okay, I just saw The Phantom of the Opera (need I remind you that Gerard Butler as Phantom is the hottest thing I've seen so far in my life, besides the LOTR men cast....) and I got this wild inspiration. What if I took one of my obsessions and twisted it into Phantom? Why do this, you ask? ? Shut it. So I got to thinking: which obsession to choose? My very first thought was Legend of Zelda. Where can you go wrong???? (I also thought Harry Potter, but....Harry as the Phantom, Hermione as Cristine??? Whaaaaaat? Maybe...when I have time. I'd probably do like, Severus as Phantom, Lilly as Cristine, and James as Raoul....or, I could do AYA as Cristine, Remus as Raoul, and some other character as Phantom....when I have time). Thus, I am doing Zelda first, then maybe (if I'm that obsessed, I'll probably go all the way to Inuyasha and Gundam Wing, most likely...) I'll do others. So, here we go.

I don't own The Legend of Zelda. Anything that sounds like it did not come from my mind, but from the minds of the geniuses who thought of them first. I also do not own the story and musical score to The Phantom of the Opera. THAT, I'm afraid, belongs to its creator, Mr. Webber. If he'd like to give the rights to me, I'd be very honored. But that's not important. Also, welcome, my loyal readers, to another darkness in the dark corners of my rather twisted mind. Enjoy this story, and review if you dare. (disappears in a flash of smoke) AHAHAHAHAHHAAAA....sorry.

Author's note: if something is in quotes and is italicized, too (like "hi"), it is sung. Normal italics means, normally, thought, unless I have designated if it is sung or not. This is a musical, after all. If you need help with the music, just look up Phantom (preferably, the movie music).

Dedication: To the real Angel of Music, wherever he may lie in my heart.

THE PHANTOM OF HYRULE'S OPERA

Another madness by Ara Laothen

Ch. 1: Prologue

The carriage wheels creaked and groaned as they turned with a rather forced effort along the cobbled streets. Wind blew without a sound, but it was cold, colder than any could have thought possible considering the time of year. The clop, clop of the horses' hooves added more of an eeriness to the scene than they had just moments before. And as the sun still spilled its rays on the rather bustling streets of Hyrule Market, it could only shred a bit more of shadows onto the building that loomed off to the right of everything, secluded and towering high above the tallest buildings of the Market. The garden in the front of this gothic-style building, which had once been beautiful, now held an ominous tone to it, as if the weeds and withering tulips would latch themselves to the carriage and hold it back, keeping it from the building and the horrid secrets that lay within. The only color that made itself known to any creature was the red...the blood-red of the roses that fought with the oppression of the dying garden.

As if undaunted, or choosing not to notice, by the presence of the garden, the horses continued on to the steps leading to the building, pulling the carriage along with them. Slowly, softly, they slowed to a halt before the steps, the carriage easing to a stop just behind. With a grateful sigh, the coachmen released his hold on the reins and, with a creak of his aging bones, swung his legs over the side of his seat and leapt rather ungracefully to the ground. Standing and straightening his tux, he moved towards the door of the carriage and, putting an arm behind his back, opened the door. A nursemaid, most likely a care-taker of some sort, stepped out, white hat and all, with a religious necklace of the Triforce dangling around her neck. Turning, her face solemn, she held out a slender arm to take the aging hand of a man enshrouded in the shadows of the coach.

He stepped out into filtered sunlight, his blue eyes smarting a little in the change of light. With a nod from the nursemaid, the coachman moved to another part of the carriage to withdraw a wheelchair that he wheeled forward for the old man. Sighing out of exhaustion and disdain, the old man lowered himself into the chair, his faded, green tunic shifting around his body. The old man stared down at his hands. They seemed so naked without his golden gauntlets. But he had lost his original strength two years before...the day that she....

He shook his head, trying to keep the ache out of his heart. Nodding to his caretaker, he was wheeled towards the gothic-style building, then wheeled up the ramp that had been set in preparation for his arrival.

-PHO-

It had already begun as the old man was wheeled towards the platform on the creaky, almost dying stage.

"Now, lot 663, ladies and gentlemen. A poster for "The Triforce" by the famed Twinrova. Do I have any rupees?" the auctioneer said, his head raised high over the platform. Those accumulated for the auction began to raise their numbers to play the auction game. "Five then. Five I am bid." Someone raised her hand. "Six, seven." The old man signaled for the nursemaid to raise his number for him. She obeyed in earnest. The auctioneer nodded. "Eight. Eight once. Selling twice. Sold, to Sir Link of Hyrule."

And so he continued on, auctioning off several different assortments to the highest bidder. Link himself would've felt disgusted at the spectacle of seeing little pieces of history (his history) being sold off to strangers who probably could care less about the sentimental value of these precious pieces of the past. Yet, here he was, playing their little game. But, all for her...all for what she had asked him, no, begged him to do for her if she....

Again he shrugged off the ache in his heart.

The auctioneer continued. "Lot 665, ladies and gentlemen: a papier-mâché musical box, in the shape of a barrel-organ. Attached, the figure of a monkey in Persian robes playing the cymbals. This item, discovered in the vaults of the theatre, still in working order." He held up the music box, the small monkey clearly worn away by time, but which clearly, and without any doubt, held a mystery to it all its own. Link started. That was it! What she had asked for. What she wanted him to get before...

"Do I have any takers?" the auctioneer called out, drawing Link from his morbid thoughts. An aging woman raised her number. Link looked towards her. His blue eyes widened in surprise. "Madame Impa...twenty rupees? Agreed." It truly was Impa. "Do I have thirty rupees?" It truly was. How she lived now...unless...unless it was Madame Impa's daughter, young Malon. Yes, that had to be it. Link narrowed his eyes at her. Yes, past the grey hair and the stern complexion of old age was the young, red-haired girl withsoft, browneyes. The friend of....

Link shook his head.

"Do I have thirty rupees?" the auctioneer asked again.

Link motioned for the nursemaid to raise his number. The auctioneer acknowledged the movement with a nod.

"Thirty rupees for Sir Link," he said with another nod. He looked to Madame Impa...Malon. "Anything above that?" Madame Impa...Malon....hesitated....then she shook her head. "The music box is therefore sold to Sir Link. Congratulations, sir." Madame Impa...Malon...glanced at Link. Did she understand?

One of the workers at the auction brought the strange music box to Link's hands. He took it shakily and placed it in his lap. Link was drawn into his thoughts again.

(Sung): A collector's piece indeed . .

every detail exactly as she said . . .

She often spoke of you, my friend ....

Your velvet lining, and your figurine of lead...

Will you still play, when all the rest of us are dead?

The auctioneer resumed his purpose as he pointed to a large object covered by a dust-filled cloth in the center of the room. "Lot 666, then: a chandelier in pieces. Some of you may recall the strange affair of the Phantom of Hyrule's Opera: a mystery never fully explained." Link looked up from the music box towards the covered chandelier. He shivered inwardly. "We are told ladies and gentlemen, that this is the very chandelier which figures in the famous disaster. Our workshops have restored it and fitted up parts of it with wiring for the new electric light, so that we may get a hint of what it may look like when re-assembled. Perhaps we may frighten away the ghost of so many years ago with a little illumination? Gentlemen?"

As the covering was removed, and all those present beheld the chandelier, so beautifully ominous and glimmering with its own light, Link was again drawn back into the past. Indeed, it seemed that, as the chandelier was raised to the ceiling of Hyrule's Opera House, the winds of time seemed to add more color to the room, as if the past was mingling passionately, forcefully, with the present....as if the Opera House was reviving itself with the awakening of its center ornament....

-PHO-

Well, there's the first chapter for you. Yeah, many of the stuff spoken/sung will be direct quotes from the musical/movie. Please review, though! I might give off a cast list of everyone in the next chapter…I'm not too sure yet, but if it gets confusing (my Phantom character already poses a problem for me) I definitely will. It all depends.