Moonlight Shadow

Obviously I don't own Phantom…but I wish I did. (and this won't make much sense unless you have seen the Phantom of the Opera movie. it starts when the Phantom's got Raoul tied to the gate)Anyways, this is an account of the last events. It's from all three's point of view. It goes Erik/Phantom, Raoul and then Christine. After that, it repeats. Thank you. (oh yeah. in the Susan Kay novel, Phantom, there is a part where he scars his hands on a mirror when he tries to break it as a child)

The last that ever she saw him

Carried away by a moonlight shadow

He passed on worried and warning

Carried away by a moonlight shadow

I couldn't believe how easy it had been! They were both here; here to do whatever I asked of them. I had him, tied to the gate. I had her, standing in front of me, so immersed in her…her…feelings for this—this vermin! She would do whatever it was I wanted to save him. Whatever I wanted! Whatever! Or else he would die…in the, shall we say, the snap of his neck.

"The tears I might of shed for your dark fate," Christine said softly. "Grow cold, and turn to tears of hate!"

She—she hated me? She didn't even know me! I felt my blood beginning to boil. My brain began to work, irrationally, as it does when my temper gets the better of me. Fine! Fine. She wanted to leave…maybe she needed a little persuasion.

Lost in a riddle that saturday night

Far away on the other side.

He was caught in the middle of a desperate fight

And she couldn't find how to push through

I began to calm down; my brain began to work again. I felt the rope biting into my neck, and then a wave of panic overtook me.

"Christine! Christine, please forgive me! I did it all for you, and all for nothing." I nearly wept. I felt like—I had wasted my life. I could not live knowing Christine was in the hands of this monster! I knew I was going to die. Maybe it was a good thing. I wouldn't live knowing Christine stayed with him! I closed my eyes, listening to Christine pleading with him.

"Farewell my fallen angel and false friend. We had such hopes and now these hopes are shattered!"

I opened my eyes again to see Erik coming towards me, with his only weapon in his hand; a punjab lasso. His only protection against the world. Was there nothing to stop this monster?

The trees that whisper in the evening

Carried away by a moonlight shadow

Sing a song of sorrow and grieving

Carried away by a moonlight shadow

"Either way you choose he has to win!" Raoul called to me. I tried to focus on the situation.

"Angel of Music! Who deserves this? When will you see reason?" I begged him to think.

I didn't know what to do! Either sentence the man I loved to a fate I knew he couldn't bear to face, or sentence both of us to what could be considered death. Why couldn't Erik see reason! Why couldn't he let me go? What had happened to him that had made him like this?

Poor, unhappy Erik!

All she saw was a silhouette of a gun

Far away on the other side.

He was shot six times by a man on the run

And she couldn't find how to push through

I slung the noose around Raoul's neck. Pulling it tight, I sang "Either way you choose you cannot win!" I was ecstatic! Exuberant! She was mine! And there was nothing anyone could do about it.

"Pitiful creature of darkness," Christine began, choosing her words carefully. For a moment I experienced misgivings. What was I doing tearing these two apart? Then the moment passed, and I was back to being a madman, my ordinary self.

"What kind of life have you known?" Christine tried to catch my attention. "God give me courage to show you, you are not alone!"

I dropped the rope in surprise. Christine was kissing me! I felt the soft, gentle touch of her lips on mine. I closed my eyes. Savor each sensation… She pulled back, and I opened my eyes. She was gazing at me, with pity. Her eyes asked the saddest question, 'Are you happy now?' But then she kissed me again. Tremulous and tender…

I pulled away from Christine, tears welling up in my eyes. I could never keep here. For the first time I experienced what people might say were human emotions. Christine realized what I was doing. She knew what I was about to say. But her eyes! They said she cared still about me. It didn't matter. I was a monster.

I stay, I pray

I see you in heaven far away

I stay, I pray

I see you in heaven one day

"Take her—take her—forget all of this!" Erik spat at me. "Leave me alone—forget all you've seen."

Was he letting us go?

Christine untied me, and hugged me. I was still in shock. It was a trick! It had to be a trick.

"Take the boat—swear to me never to tell! The secrets you know of the angel in hell!"

I was certainly not going to tell! I was lucky to escape death in the hands of this man. Do you think I was going to risk it again?

Four am in the morning

Carried away by a moonlight shadow

I watched your vision forming

Carried away by a moonlight shadow

He was letting go? Of everything he had worked for? I stepped onto the boat, with Raoul beside me.

"Go! Go now, and leave me!"

Erik! He was afraid of changing his mind. Raoul was about to push the gondola away from the stone flooring of this cave, when I felt the ring on my finger. There was one last thing I had to do.

I walked quietly up to Erik. My fallen Angel… He was singing quietly to himself.

"Masquerade…paper faces on parade. Masquerade…hide your face so the world will never find you," Erik looked up and saw me. In his eyes, all the sadness of the world. I didn't know how true it was!

"Christine, I love you." Erik looked at me, his eyes asking what he had done wrong. In his mind, in his world, he had shown me love. I wondered what kind of life he had known. I handed him the ring, and, turning away before I changed my mind, stepped back into the gondola. Raoul pushed away, and I clutched tightly to him, afraid to let go, lest it all be a dream, or Erik change his mind.

It was going to be okay now. It was all going to be okay.

A star was glowing in the silvery night

Far away on the other side

Will you come to talk to me this night

But she couldn't find how to push through

I stared after them, fighting the impulse to run after them, to pull Christine back. In my head I heard the echoes of their song on the rooftop.

Say you'll share with me, one love, one lifetime

Say the word and I will follow you

Say you'll share with me each night, each morning…

They loved each other! Christine had never loved me…I was to obsessed to see that. But she had betrayed her angel. And for that, she would never hear him again!

"You alone can make my song take flight," I whispered, half wanting her to hear me, and half afraid that she would.

I ran to the mirror, the cruel unfeeling glass! Picking up a candlestick, I yelled to the evening, for everyone to hear, "It's over now, the music of the night!"

On the last syllable, I slammed into the glass. It splintered, and shattered over my hands, not unlike when I was a child. But then my mother's friend, Mlle. Perrault had mended my hands. Who would mend my hands now? No one! No one could. And no one would.

Far away on the other side.

Caught in the middle of a hundred and five

The night was heavy and the air was alive

But she couldn't find how to push through

Carried away by a moonlight shadow

Carried away by a moonlight shadow

Far away on the other side.

Well, uh, that's it. I was so afraid of botching the BEAUTIFUL story, that I had a hard time writing this. Ah well, please R&R.

If you review, can you answer these questions?

Which character's POV was most vivid?

Which was least vivid?

Did I stay true enough to the characters?

Merci, mes amis. Je reste, messieurs, votre femme auteur obidient

-O.G. (heu... I.F.)