Disclaimer: I don't own Phantom of the Opera
Credit to s/1523143/1/Lonely-Tears for giving me an idea while writing this fanfic.
Erik felt almost giddy as he hid in the darkness, grinning at himself at his achievement. He had successfully granted Christine the role of the Countess. The managers would be absolute idiots to not follow the orders of the Phantom of the Opera again!
As the managers quickly tried to compensate for Erik's interruption with the ballet from Act III, Erik spotted Joseph Buquet moving towards him stealthily. He scowled. He didn't want to start a fight with him, he wasn't sure if he could stop himself from killing him. Erik started making his way towards the roof of the Paris Opera House. Despite being so high up, he would still be able to hear Christine's triumph. The thought of it made him feel proud. Christine was going to be the biggest diva of all Paris!
However, after a few moments of the cheerful and bright sounds of the ballet, there were piercing screams of fright, as if someone had seen a ghost. Erik jolted from where he had been sitting upon the Apollo's Lyre. What had happened? Was his Christine hurt? He was about to make a mad dash back into the Opera House when something stopped him and his heart. Singing! It was Christine's lovely and sweet voice in harmony with… that boy's. It wasn't just any singing, Christine sounded dreadfully door opened and out came Christine. Erik's breath was taken away by the sight of his Christine as it usually did, but something was wrong. Christine looked so frightened! What in the world was she and him doing here in the cold?
"There is no Phantom of the Opera!" the boy was telling Christine desperately. Erik sneered at him. Either Raoul was deaf or he thought that the voice that had interrupted the opera about Box Five was just an early New Year's joke played by the managers.
But what Erik was most shocked about was Christine's reply: her face pale and her tears glistening in the moonlight. "Raoul, I've been there! To his world of unending night! To a world where daylight dissolves into darkness, darkness!"
Erik looked at Christine with disbelief, hardly believing what he was hearing. Had she truly been that frightened by the darkness? Selfish, selfish little Erik! Caring more about how much you love her than to care about her own health and well-being! But what really started to hurt was when Christine started to describe his face, so distorted and deformed that it was hardly a face…had he heard it from his mother or Javert he would've ignored it, but this was Christine! He knew she was frightened by his face, he knew she had ruined it all by her stupid curiosity! Of course she would be frightened, she was the definition of beauty, that beauty which teased his cursed ugliness! He chocked back a sob.
His vision started to blur and he didn't hear what else Christine had said, for her words had already pierced through his heart. When he dared to lift his eyes to look at them again, he saw Raoul's arms around Christine - and Christine! Her eyes were radiating pure happiness, something he had never seen, even when he was still known as her angel!
He heard them sing words of love together, singing as if there was nothing else in the world, as if there wasn't a monster there, his heart shattering and bleeding. Erik wasn't aware of the fact he wasn't even hiding behind the Apollo's Lyre anymore, Christine and Raoul hadn't noticed, their eyes didn't seem to have enough of the sight of each other. Suddenly they kissed, full of passion, glowing with love. It was so obvious they were in love. How Erik started to cry! Tears were streaming down his malformed lips and he realized that the tears were the only sensation that his lips will ever feel, never a kiss from his mother, not from Lucianna or from his beloved Christine.
What had made Christine turn on him like this, betray him right in front of him in the worst way possible? She knew he loved her, and she just betrayed him without a second thought! What had happened? He had done everything for her, he had given her his music, his love, and she had tossed it aside as if it was nothing, breaking and shattering all his dreams and hopes. Didn't she realize how hard he tried to gain her trust, how he didn't even touch her? He had secured the leading role for Christine and it had done nothing but frightened her! Erik collapsed in the snow as Christine and Raoul left the rooftop, still singing that stupid song in his head even though they were already gone. He hardly registered the stinging of the snow in his hands and knees. His heart hurt way more, more than Christine will ever realize. It was killing him.
He blinked through his tears, his eyes falling onto a golden band on the snow. That golden band had been a token of his love! If you wear this, Erik will always be your friend. Erik hadn't actually been sure what would've happened if she lost it. He should've known she'll lose it once that boy started singing to her, shoving his handsome face to her to show he at least wasn't a deformed freak. Franticly, he started clawing at his face, wanting to get rid of this curse that had separated him from the human race, from kindness and love.
His heart throbbing in his chest, threatening to burst out, he scooped the ring in his shaking, half-frozen hand. Looking at his disgusting reflection on that golden ring, he suddenly felt anger surge through his shattered heart. "You will curse the day you did not do all that the phantom asked of you!" She had asked for this! Erik's once precocious mind started to crumble as madness took over, and he knew that no matter what it took, Christine would be by his side, as his living wife.
Several people still claim to hear his maniacal laugh ringing through the opera house after that unforgettable night of Joseph Buquet's death.