Hello! This is my first Phantom of the Opera fan fiction, and fifth written one. Before I start, I am following Susan Kay's timeframe of her novel because it is more accurate than the movie's timeframe. But it's still a fan fiction on that. I know the story's beginning is boring, but it will get better-I promise.

Prologue and Erin 1861-1871 December 1858

A woman of thirty with dark hair and blue eyes had a child-a daughter. The daughter had pale skin, a small tuft of dark brown hair, and bright green eyes.

The woman told her husband,

"She'll be a good performer," she began, "and will display the pride and presence of a singer and dancer, for she is my daughter."

"Oh, Lynette," her husband began, "she's absolutely beautiful."

"She has a lot of the features that I possess and it's strange that she has green eyes and neither of us do."

"What shall we call her?"
"Erin. Her name shall be Erin."

Erin 1861-1871 (Third person POV)

Three years later, Lynette was anxious to start teaching Erin how to dance ballet and sing. But Lynette felt that the dancing needed to be covered first before the singing. She bought her daughter some ballet shoes to learn.

Lynette informed Erin,

"Come here, Erin, I have something to tell you. And I also have a present for you."

Erin ran quickly, at the word present.

"Yes, mama?"
"Today I shall take you to the Paris Ballet Academy. They will show a performance of the experienced dancers and then you'll have a lesson everyday except holidays and Saturday and Sunday. And then in a few weeks, you will start learning voice lessons. And your gift is in the bag. Open it, my dear."

It was a pair of ballet shoes. Small in size and made of the fine material.

"Listen to me, Erin. You must only wear those when you have lessons or they will hurt your feet."

"Yes, mama."

She led Erin down to the Ballet Academy. The ballerinas moved gracefully to a slow tempo song and then a fast song. When they finished, Erin was fascinated.

She thought,

Can I do this when I grow up?

The first lesson was starting to understand how to put on ballet shoes appropriately and powdering the shoes before any practice or performance. And they started off on the importance of flexibility. The ballet mistress had one of the older ballerinas show us the stretching.

In six months, the mistress started teaching Erin and her group how to dance halfway on her toes and halfway on the ground with heels up.

Meanwhile, she began learning vocal lessons with scales and basic concepts and it would take time. Lynette decided before she's find out if she was a soprano.

The years started to fly by and at ten, they started to teach Erin how to dance completely en Pointe. When she learned the first few times, it was awkward for her. But after a year of en Pointe ballet, Erin had a problem with it. Which she should not have.

Every time she has a lesson, rehearsal, or performance, she would feel a sharp pain in her feet. Even with newer shoes or broken-in shoes, the same thing happened. Her feet began to swell. Erin, even at eleven did not tell her family-she did not realize her problem. When she tried to point her toes while en Pointe, she toes and the top part of her feet would bend. So, when she did en Pointe, it was pain to dance ballet.

One day when she was twelve, the ballet class was introduced to a new ballet mistress. The owner of the ballet studio said,

"You will be now taught by Madame Giry. Her daughter Meg and her stepdaughter, Christine will be joining the class. At eight years of age."

Madame Giry began the lesson for the day and she noticed something about Erin's feet. It was apparent she was hurting her feet. And she wanted to know why her feet were hurting.

"Erin, my dear," Madame Giry said, "I have noticed when you go en Pointe that your feet swell up. Why do they hurt, my dear?"

"I…I dance in my toes, and when I do it's a struggle to keep them up. My toes go back and it's not my shoes."

"How long have you been hiding this?"

"A year or so, Madame Giry. My mother would be disappointed in me if she found out I could not dance en Pointe."

"You hurt your feet to dance en Pointe. Show me when it happens."

Erin moved across the studio floor. She was graceful, but she struggled with en Pointe.

"You're a beautiful dancer, but you're not a ballet dancer. Your toes go back. They are double-jointed. And when you dance ballet, you struggle. Some people are born with quirks and maybe you're not meant to be a ballet dancer."

"Madame Giry, you will have to speak to my mother of this, for she is the one that chose ballet for me."

Just then, Lynette arrived.

"Madame Giry wants to speak to you, mother."

"Why?"

"She will tell you."

"Yes, I shall," Madame Giry said, "and you must know Madame."

"What is wrong with Erin?"

"When she dances ballet en Pointe, her feet swell up because she struggles to stay en Pointe. Erin, show her what happens."

Erin pointed her feet in ballet position, and she again, felt the pain of trying to keep her toe en Pointe. Her feet were double-jointed in her toes!

"She can't be a ballerina?"

"I would not recommend it, for she will injure herself further."

Immediately, Lynette ended ballet training for Erin. Now she could focus on the singing of an opera soprano.

Erin had developed a strong singing voice. She could sing high, but could not sing opera style yet. They began training her on that and she was naturally obedient to everyone. Erin was respectful and when she was not voice training with her teachers and her mother, she would spend her days writing. Erin loved to write more than she did in singing or dancing. She realized it was something that she had naturally. She really did have to truly try.

Erin was determined to show her mother a story she had been working on, but her mother always just said,

"Let's work on a song your teacher told you to practice for your recital."
As time went on, Erin grew more into writing songs and stories. She knew to appreciate the music of opera and any other song.

The vocal teacher said,

"We're going to work on a higher style and operatic tone today. If you wish to be in an opera singer, you must be able to."
She played a note on the piano.

"Sing it."
"La…." Erin sang.

"Sing it an octave higher."

"La…" she sang again.

Erin felt herself struggle with it.

"Sing a scale normally."

"La…La…La…La…La…. La…. La…"

"Good. Now go an octave higher."

Erin began singing the scale, but when they were going to the opera tone, she was not getting that.

The teacher said, at first,

"We'll get that in time. But you must practice."
Each day slid into months into a year and half of soprano opera training.

Erin had turned thirteen and she still had a struggle with operatic singing.

Lynette snapped,

"You are not trying enough, Erin. Practice each day until you cannot move!"

Erin forced herself into trying to learn opera singing. But she could not. The singing teacher said,

"She'll not have a future as a successful opera singer. She is a soprano, but not an opera soprano."

"What should we do?"

"Just let her find a part in the opera with little challenges."
A few weeks later, Erin finished her story and her musical lyrics.

"Mother," Erin said, "I have written a story."

Lynette looked over and frowned.

"A writer? My daughter can write, but cannot sing opera. Shameful, Erin."

Erin packed a bag, for she felt unhappy.

"Erin, you should not write anymore. A lady sings and dances. Men write."

"I cannot stop writing, for when I write, I feel something. It is something I'm natural at. Anything else is not natural. I don't want to be an opera singer. I want to be a writer."

"Erin, do not say that. That's not what you're meant to be!"

"No, I'm not what you meant for me to be!"

Lynette grabbed Erin's story and tore it in half. All that work. A year she had wrote it in.

"Go! Just go to your room and think about what you've done!"

Erin grabbed her bag and left. She waited for her parents to fall asleep and walked off.