Endless Longing Version 2 Chapter 1: In the Begining, a phantom of the opera fanfic

A/N Okay Well here is the beginning of my improved version… I hope. MY writing has improved and I didn't really like it the first time so without too many plot changes and the SAME ending. Here goes.

I had to write this one. I HAD to. It may seem stupid or out there to you, but my fantasy, for the longest time has been to be a part of that great and wonderful story of the Phantom of the Opera, my Muse tells me this is a good idea… So now without further ado, I give you my new and improved story...

Chapter One: In The Beginning

Gwenivyre Igraine Chanay (pronounced Shaun-yay, French, not chain a like the American's say) sat on the dusty, decrepit old stage, staring in awe at the once beautiful chandelier that now lay shattered before her. How was it that the legend that had haunted her for years had been true?

She reflected on the events that had led her here. The main factor being her huge obsession with the Phantom, whose voice she heard with every breath. Gwen sighed and thought back to the moment she had first heard his voice. That fateful moment had occurred when she was eight and first heard her grandfather's CD, The Phantom of the Opera Original Broadway Cast Recording. She loved Michael Crawford's portrayal of the man whose soul was dark, even darker than her own had been the summer of her thirteenth year, when her father had taken his own life. That summer she'd gone out and bought the book and since then had worn its pages out by reading it countless times, that book had fueled an obsession with the Phantom, the Angel of Music, and it had filled the void which her father's death had left. She'd gone through several CD soundtracks from the movie and Broadway production and several DVD copies of the movie. She'd spent vast amounts of money on her obsession, and many people thought she was crazy. She'd researched the myths and cursed Christine Daaé innumerable times for being so foolish as to deny the Phantom's love. This trip to the very place that the Phantom, one Erik L'Ange according to legend, had been a senior gift from the over indulging family, who had been so good to her since her father had died. Gwen wiped a silent tear that fell down her cheek as she was overcome the sadness that still possessed her when she thought of he beloved father.

This trip had been wonderful; she'd even found the DeChagny family cemetery. She had seen the graves of Christine, Raoul, and their descendents. Gwen sighed and resigned herself to the fact that she could never travel back in time and win Erik's heart and save him from the eternal darkness that followed his dangerous obsession (yes Gwen had realized that she was being completely nonsensical, but she had loved Erik and all his deformities since she'd been old enough to know what love was.)

Gwen looked around at all the dust and dirt that diminished the beauty of what had once been the most glorious venue in all of France and quite possibly the world. Often Gwen had compared the Phantom's story to that of King Arthur's, Erik being Arthur, Christine her own namesake Gwenivere, Raoul Lancelot, and the wondrous Opera House the Camelot that the dangerous love triangle had destroyed. Gwen sighed as she pulled her weight up and moved to the center of the stage. Overcome with desire to sing on the very stage where Christine had made her debut and won the heart of both an Angel and a Vicomte, Gwen lifted her voice in song.

"Angel of music guide and guardian, bring to me your glory," her voice was pure and sweet, but it was also deceiving, as soft as candlelight, but with an edge that was as hard as lighting, as Erik might so poetically put it. "Angel of music hide no longer come to me strange angel!" A tear slid down her check (again) as she sang the words that would never come true, so she sang something else instead. Something more true, something to honor Erik's memory… and maybe Christine's too, you can't help you love after all.

"Pie Jesu, Pie Jesu,

Pie Jesu, Pie Jesu,

Qui Tollis peccata mundi;

Dona eis requiem,

Agnus Dei,Agnus Dei

Agnus Dei, Agnus Dei

Quit Tollis peccata mundi;

Dona eis requiem,

Sempiternam, sempiternam requiem..."

Gwen sang the song well, though not half so well as Sarah Brightman did. She took a breath as she repeated the translation in her head.

Lord have mercy,

You who take away the sins of the world;

Grant them peace,

Lamb of God, Lamb of God

You who take away the sins of the world;

Grant them peace,

Peace everlasting, everlasting.

Gwen sighed and then remembered something one of her science teachers had told her on a rare day when she had actually been paying attention and not day dreaming about Erik.

"Some scientists, the radically outspoken ones," Mr. Matthews said, "believe that people can create rifts in the time space continuum by sheer force of will or an over flow of emotion..." and then he went into equations that supposedly proved the theory and Gwen drifted back into her dream world.

Gwen smiled sadly, she certainly had the will to go back and her emotions were flowing in rampant rage. She wasn't sure how the scientists had proposed to get through the supposed rift but as for her, she would merely jump from the stage. After all it couldn't hurt to try could it?

"Pitiful creature of darkness...god give me courage to show you, you are not alone!"

Gwen's voice soared as she ran across the stage She closed her eyes as she leapt from the stage or rather tried to. Just as she reached the edge of the stage and began to jump she lost her balance and slipped, or that's what it felt like.

I am your angel, come to the Angel of music...

The haunting sound filled her head as she fell for what seemed like all eternity. It was a strange feeling. Every nerve in her body tingled with a fuzzy pain as she fell and feel and feel. It seemed as though millions of lights spun around her as the millions of voices talking at once filled her eras. As the feeling of falling sped up the pain in her body intensified until she could stand no longer and let out an earsplitting scream that echoed through the now silent room.

The falling feeling stopped suddenly, as did the pain in her body and her scream. She landed flat on her back as her head slammed against the cold stone floor with a resounding crack! She lay there for a moment stunned as the pain shot through her head. God I'm an idiot and this is the price, what was I thinking jumping from the stage like that! Oh yes, Erik and Time Travel.

When Gwen opened her eyes she found her self staring into the concerned eyes of three women who looked very familiar. Though not exactly as she remembered them.

This is odd, she thought, there certainly wasn't anyone in the room when I jumped…but Oh my god I know these people!