Author's note and a disclamer!
This story was orignaly started by Maxniss Everide (.net/u/2419611/ ) but she has stopped writing it, and I have taken over from where she left off. Chapters one and two are written by her. Chapter three on are written by me, Soprano of the Labyrinth.
Erik's POV
Oh this is despicable, utterly embarrassing!
How can I even assume that anyone would take me in after all that happened, after all that I have done to them? How could I even think that I can just come crawling back to Christine after all that I have done to her? Why oh why cruel fate has this happened to me? Of all the tricks that I have ever done, this one had to backfire on me.
It was quite a simple trick actually. All I had tried to do was turn Raoul de Chagny into a macaw. Yes, a macaw, to show how foppish he truly is since those birds have the most extravagant colors. I had invited him for dinner and put the poison in his food. It was not my fault; that is for certain. The foolish de Chagny had to distract me by playing with my Punjab lasso. He was tossing it around and examining it, pulling it around the mannequin when I was setting the table. I had to finally approach him and take the thing away from him, since he obviously did not know that he could damage one of my possessions with it. Of course I had to threaten him to give it back, saying, "Monsieur de Chagny, I assure you that if you do not hand me what is mine, you will soon find yourself wearing it while hanging from the ceiling."
It did the trick. Immediately, he threw the lasso to me and I caught it one-handed, hardly even moving from where I stood. However, I did have to move when I noticed that he had scratched the mannequin while he was playing with the Punjab. I took my cloak and rubbed the spot with it, hissing at the Vicomte when he came near. He would never touch her again, ever.
It was only after we sat down and finished the meal that I realized that I sat in the spot that he was supposed to sit in. If he had not distracted me, it never would have happened! I silently cursed under my breathe and forced the de Chagny boy to leave my presence (in which I actually am proud to say that he did not suspect a thing and that he seemed utterly confused and afraid by my commanding him to leave). Once he left, I swiftly hurried to where I kept the poison and found the wine bottle in which the powder for it was kept. The bottle was empty now since I had poured all of it into the Vicomte's food, which I had accidently eaten. It wasn't the bird poison, though, it was-
I felt my body being dragged in a thousand different directions before I could read the label. Oh the pain was indescribable but it was over soon enough. My clothes lay on the floor beside me and I fell into a deep sleep.
Hours later, I woke from this slumber and tried to lift myself from the ground. I yawned and stretched, not quite remembering what had become of me. Surely, all of it had been a dream. Why would I invite the de Chagny over to my domain for dinner? How would I be such a fool as to actually consume my own poison…?
I opened my eyes, and to my horror, I found not hands stretched before me, but claws. They weren't a falcon's or an eagle's talons, but they were simpler than that. I walked on all fours and my rough tongue could feel sharp teeth in my mouth. Attempting to stay calm, I rushed to a table and glanced up at it. Without thinking, I leapt onto it and studied myself in the mirror.
My suspicions were confirmed. I had short pointed ears and narrowed yellow eyes. Black fur covered my whole body, for my natural hair color was black. I had the shortest whiskers that I had ever seen on any beast and I curled my long black tail around me as I sat. Naturally, I still appeared to be only skin and bones. I was quite a remarkable thing, though it was not doubt utterly annoying. I had transformed myself into a cat.
I glared at my reflection irritably when I stared into my cat face. To my dismay, this one thing could not have changed. Matted fur covered my face along with scars and lost fur to go with it. My mouth was misshapen on one side and even as an animal, I had no nose. Red flesh could be seen under my right eye. Silently I cursed. Even as a cat, I could not escape my deformity, though as a human, it was much worse than this.
"Now look what you've done to yourself, Erik", I chided myself. Somewhat surprised that I could still speak French as a cat, I leapt back in surprise. I even tried a few other languages, such as German and Persian. I was only a cat in form only, not in mind.
Sighing, I reached with one of my cat paws to the button to one of my trapdoors. As long as I was the size of a cat, it would be the perfect chance to search the little nooks that I could never explore as a human.
The only problem was that I couldn't reach the button. I jumped higher; the button was too high. Curse my cat paws! I needed someone else to open the trap door. Momentarily, I wondered when the potion would wear off. I remembered never making a remedy for this, believing there never to be a need to, since it wouldn't last forever. I shook my head knowing that it would wear off in its own good time and that all I needed to worry about was how to still run my opera while in cat form.
Then it hit me. It was the worst possible idea to ever come into my mind, but at that moment, I realized that I needed outside help- literally.
What of the trap doors? I couldn't escape my lair through those! Another means of escape needed to be taken. With cat poise, I leaped from the table onto the chair beside it and from there to the floor. My eyes narrowed into slits as I considered my options.
Obviously, there was the lake, which seemed so ominous to me now that I was in smaller form.
"It is merely nothing, Erik", I reassured myself, but as I neared, my anxiety grew. Reaching into the water with my paw, I shuddered back, splashing droplets off of my paw back into the water.
"Erik cannot swim in such a huge lake, what was he thinking? MEOW!"
Breathing heavily on the other side of my lair, I stared wide-eyed at the monstrosity that I considered overcoming. At that moment, I realized that many cat attributes were becoming me. I had to fight the beast within.
I crawled back further into the corner until I heard the creak of a board beneath my foot. I jumped at the noise, but glanced back to find what I had been searching for- a passageway.
Relieved, I crawled through the cat-sized tunnel, grateful that I hadn't repaired this hole earlier. Rats kept infiltrating my lair so many times before this way that I had needed to block it. Apparently, they had gnawed through the wood that was supposed to temporarily keep them out.
Stopping in my tracks, I realized that rats could overcome me at any moment. However, I needed to keep on going, so I didn't stop.
Scuttling came from behind me, and my steps quickened. The sooner I got out of those rat-infested passages, the easier my situation would become. A few rats appear behind me, biting at my feet.
Suddenly, I'm stopped by a rat with its ears almost torn to shreds, its tail mangled and beaten by years of hardship.
So the strange creature who tried to block our passageway finally decided to come to our level.
How was I able to understand this rodent? It said nothing, yet it said everything by its movements and noises.
I stand tall and glare at it. It glares back
Do you dare challenge me, monster? Get out of our domain and go back to where you came from!
I try to answer it, but I find that I cannot speak rat. All I can speak are the human languages that I have learned throughout my lifetime. I know nothing of animals.
Catching the rodent off-guard, I swipe my paw at it, tossing it aside to the edge of the passage. I leap over it and run hard on all four paws searching for some opening to escape the rats.
I hear a melody pure and sweet wafer into the passageways, entrancing me for a moment, almost causing me to slow down.
"Daylight
Say that you are the sunflower
And a rose that is fading
Roses wither away
Like the sunflower
I yearn to turn my face to the dawn
I am waiting
For the day"
Christine, it was my angel for certain. Only her voice could sound so perfect, so angelic. I remembered that piece from somewhere… it was by a composer that I have come to despise, but coming from her, it sounded so sweet. I rushed towards the sound.
Come back here, creature of the dark. You do not belong here, the rat threatened me. It was beside me, but I swiftly knocked it out of my way.
You know nothing of the dark, much less of love, I growled at it, surprising myself. Did I just speak in some feline language to a rat? I needed to be around people before I was completely transformed.
Unfortunately, the music was gone, therefore leaving me no trail to find my love. I closed my eyes momentarily. I knew the opera house by heart, so why couldn't I find my way to the stage?
A light burst through a crack and I could hear Firmin's voice praise the new prima donna, "Magnificent, Christine! You have the lead!"
"Bravo!" Andre shouted.
The crack was much too small for me to fit into. The rats still stalked me, still foolish enough to believe that I was still their prey. I screeched at them, sending them to shriek in terror. Many of them ran away, though still a few lingered beside me.
Could they be my temporary minions? I've never had minions before.
Open this crack, I commanded them. They stood there, not doing anything I asked. I've seen you do this a thousand times before, you little beasts! Do it now or I'll claw your eyes out!
Suddenly, the little creatures began scraping at the mortar widening the crack. They opened it much quicker than I would have been able to. When they were almost finished, I pushed my way through them and squeezed through the hole. When I was through, I looked back and stared into the little scrunched up faces. The rats were ugly, but somehow, I saw myself reflected through them. I gave them a look of gratitude and they scurried off.
I turned toward the stage, but my Christine was not there. For a moment, I panicked. Where had she gone? Then I saw the two fool managers that ran my opera.
"No notes tonight", Andre whispered to Firmin gleefully as they packed shuffled out of my theater.
Firmin answered gruffly, "Humph, Andre, you'll catch his attention and he will write us a note. I'd rather we wait until we've left to discuss our luck."
Now if I weren't in cat form I'm sure that I would have written them a note right then. I was planning to write about what my theater's next opera should be, but since my unfortunate accident, I was not able to do so. Actually, I had forgotten completely about it at the sound of Christine's voice, but since these two had reminded me, I resolved to scare them a bit.
"The Phantom sees, the Phantom knows…."
Andre almost jumped into Firmin's arms. I stifled a laugh at the scene.
"Did you not think that I could hear what both of you speak about me?" I once again threw my voice in their direction.
"P-p-please," Firmin stuttered. "We didn't know that"-
"Silence!" I shouted. Then, I thought that perhaps I could have them help me find Christine. "I may forgive you after all. Where is Mademoiselle Daae?"
"She went home", Firmin answered.
"Ahhh, I see. Forgive me my dear managers, but who did she leave with?"
"The Raoul de Chagny."
"Of course, thank you, dear sirs. I assume that my salary will be due in a few days… hmm?"
Andre cleared his throat, "Oh, uh, yes sir… We were just about to pay it."
However, I had a moment to consider this. What would be the point in having them pay me something that I would not be able to receive? I knew that as long as I remained in that cat form, I would not be able to receive it.
"Don't bother with it this month. You haven't done anything to anger me this month, so you will be rewarded. Don't expect this often." I knew that it seemed so out of character for me, but it was all I could do to catch up to my Christine.
They nodded. Firmin spotted me. He shouted at me, though he didn't realize who he was shouting at. "Andre, get the broom! Shoo, you vermin!"
Before I could reason with the situation, I scrambled away from them, meowing with fright. They are going to hurt poor Erik! I thought in cowardice. The very managers that he had under his thumb are going to hurt him!
Finding an opening, I leaped into the bitter cold of the night. My black fur hardly kept me warm and I began shivering. I looked back and saw the lights slowly dim in the opera house. Turning my head, I saw before me were a few street lamps burning. Christine's house was only a matter of blocks away.
I remembered her tender care for animals. When she was younger, she had once owned a cat. It had been a crippled little thing. Her father was about to turn it away, but she was determined to nurse it back to health. Once she did, she had given it to a friend of hers who had desperately wanted a cat.
Perhaps she could do the same for me, except, of course, giving me away.
With that, I stepped away from the Garnier. The light there was dimming, but Christine's lamplight kept burning.
