Disclaimer: I do not own Phantom of the Opera… much to my eternal dismay

SPECIAL THANKS to dreamysherry whose fic, Left In Darkness, helped inspire my fic.

A range of emotions and feelings went through the head of Christine Daae as she saw the situation in front of her as well as her realization of her role in it unfold. Raoul, her lover and fiancée stood in front of her with a lasso surrounding his neck, slowly taking away the much needed air from his lungs, forcing him to take long, heavy breaths just to get the needed substance there. Not too far from him, the Phantom of the Opera had stood, his deformity brought to light by the multiple candles in his lair, his face looking expectantly at her. Mere moments ago, the Phantom presented Christine with a near impossible choice to make: either spend the rest of her days isolated under the Opera House with him or allow him the pleasure of killing her beloved fiancée.

She thought about an eternity under the Opera House with the Phantom. She thought of her career, which would never be able to soar as much as it could in the outside world. Her lifelong dream of being Prima Donna of the world's best Opera House was in her grasp. How could she give it up? All the music lessons in the world would be pointless if there was nowhere to display the products of them. She thought of her friends, who she would never see again and all the happy occasions, all the Christmas', birthday parties, and balls that she could never go to if she were isolated floors below them. She thought of never going to her father's grave, bearing lilies, and softly singing to him again.

Then she thought of Raoul. What would become of him if I stayed?

She knew that Raoul loved her with all of his heart, as it explained why he risked his life to come down here in the first place. She thought of how miserable Raoul would be without Christine by his side, being left alone in the cruel society he was forced to endure on a daily basis once again, knowing no love that didn't involve his money or his title. She had seen enough of the society that Raoul had lived in during the six months that they were a couple to know that the women where he resided were vicious little vultures, more concerned with their husbands' amount of capital at any given moment than their emotional or physical state of being. She was worried that he would eventually be led to a slow and painful death of a broken heart, a fate which would outdo any death the Phantom could possibly conjure up in his brilliant mind. Could she really condemn Raoul to such an awful fate?

Having closed her eyes and releasing a few tears, her decision was made. She turned to face the Phantom, giving as much hate into her glare as she looked him in the eyes.

"Have you come to a decision, my dear?" the Phantom said, his tone sounding half sarcastic.

"…yes…yes I have" she answered.

Before she could answer, Raoul cried out from behind her, summoning all the energy that his body could spare at the moment considering his position, "Don't give yourself to him! Please don't throw your life away." He probably would have continued, if not for his immediate need to breathe.

"Quiet boy!" the Phantom yelled, and quickly turned back to face Christine, "now what is your decision Christine?"

She closed her eyes, as if trying to hide her shame as she softly spoke, her voice inaudible to Raoul but full of contempt, "Take Raoul and let me go you monster. "

The Phantom eyes widened at her answer. He was truly expecting her to release her lover at her own personal cost. How could she willingly condemn her own lover to death? Did she simply not love the boy as he thought she did? Remembering also that she was rejecting him as well, he could only wonder if the girl loved anyone. In a soft voice, nearly a whisper, he asked, "Care to explain the reasoning behind your choice young mademoiselle?"

Christine roughly responded, "I don't have to answer to you anymore." With that, she turned to face Raoul, whose face had grown paler than the last time she gazed upon it.

"Christine… save yourself…I love you…" He said through the limited breath that was entering his lungs.

"I'm sorry Raoul, I'll always love you, but this is the only fate I can bare to let you suffer. I chose my life, my freedom. Please Raoul, close your eyes and it will be over quickly, I promise."

With that, Raoul motioned Christine to come closer. "Goodbye Lotte," he whispered into her ear. "Leave now… and love life…" She quietly kissed his cheek and began to make her way onto the gondola, and out of the Phantom's lair.

As the gondola disappeared into the mist, Raoul turned to the Phantom, who had been observing the seen in front of him quietly. For several minutes, they looked at each other in near silence, glaring at each other and making sense of the situation; only the sound of Raoul's heavy breath present. Finally, Raoul broke the silence, speaking in a soft voice to reserve his air:

"Well, are you going to kill me now?"

Bluntly, the Phantom answered, "No."

Raoul raised an eyebrow for a brief second before returning to his glare. "Well then… are you going to make me just… suffer before finally killing me?" At this point, Raoul was using every ounce of energy just to talk.

"I don't think you understand Vicomte," the Phantom said as he walked towards the young man, "I'm not going to kill you. Period." With that, the Phantom released Raoul from the deadly lasso, leaving Raoul to collapse on the floor.

Raoul spent several minutes recovering his breath, and gasping for much needed air. He took in the copious amounts of oxygen surrounding him. He instinctively closed his eyes, as his complexion began the slow process of returning. While Raoul was regaining his strength, the Phantom simply looked at him, as if studying him.

After Raoul recovered his breath, he stood and looked at the Phantom, attempting to make sense of his mysterious motives by gazing into his even more mysterious golden eyes, to no avail.

"Are you releasing me?" he asked, hope filling his eyes. But that hope faded just as soon as it came as the Phantom gave his response.

"No."

The Phantom's lack of clarity was beginning to genuinely confuse and annoy Raoul. "Then what are you going to do with me?"

The Phantom smirked. "You are going to stay in my lair for eternity." Raoul looked at him in shock. He wanted to respond, but couldn't find any words to do so. The Phantom took this as an opportunity to continue. "The roles that your lover was supposed to play for me, the non-romantic ones at least, will now be bestowed on you." Raoul's glare deepened, his blood boiling.

"What?" Raoul angrily asked. "Am I to be your servant, your personal slave?"

"I wouldn't term it as that. You are to be my pupil, my protégée, and my companion. You will listen to my music, aid me in my research, and remain at my side at all times, unless I tell you otherwise."

Almost completely speechless at this response, Raoul asked the only thing he could ask:

"Why? Why would you want me to stay with you?"

"Living in isolation for nearly my entire life, I have grown quite bored and lonely. As I prepared to take the stage during Don Juan Triumphant, I at last decided that I would take the companion that I so rightly deserved tonight. I had a strong feeling that my last attempt at fairly seducing Christine towards me would be unsuccessful, and that I'd be forced to bring her to my lair. As I brought Christine to my lair, I knew that you'd be quickly following, and that one of you would be my companion by the end of the night. I put the decision as to who it would be in Christine's hands. Though I'm not entirely pleased by her choice," he said as he sneered at Raoul, "you will have to do. Beggars can't be choosers. Now come this way." The Phantom motioned at a door across the room. "I am rather tired, as I suppose you are after all of tonight's events, and require sleep."

"Monsieur Uhh Phantom," Raoul started.

"You may call me by my real name, Erik." Erik interrupted.

"Erik." Raoul corrected himself. "Don't you find this a bit unreasonable to be keeping me here as your companion? You don't seem to even enjoy my presence, and yet, you are willing to spend eternity with me?"

Erik turned to Raoul and replied "When you've been living in near isolation like I have for countless years, and you have a face like this," he said pointing to the spoiled skin, "you learn to not be so picky when choosing companions" Giving off an indifferent shrug, he added, "It's like I said earlier Vicomte, beggars can't be choosers." He proceeded to enter the room, with Raoul following behind him.

The room they entered was large and white, with a desk, many drawers for clothing and small possessions, and a door which Raoul assumed led to some form of a walk in closet. Candles supplied the necessary light for the room as well some small electric lights. However, what took up a fair amount of space in was the queen sized bed across the room. He looked at Erik.

"I will bring you your own bed tomorrow, but for tonight you will share mine." Erik said, as if answering the question in Raoul's mind.

"We will be sharing a room?"

"I don't put it past you to attempt an escape, as you obviously don't want to be here, so yes. And don't think about escaping in the night either, I am a very light sleeper and I will be awoken by the sound of the door opening or closing." With that, Erik walked towards one of the drawers and took out two outfits, tossing one to Raoul. "This will be your sleepwear. I believe we are approximately the same size. You can change in the closet if you desire privacy."

Raoul clenched his fists and teeth. "Yes, master," he responded as he violently grabbed a candle and walked into the darkened closet. Oh God, he felt like he was in a prison. An eternity? He would have happily taken the noose if he had known his alternative. As Raoul changed into his sleepwear, he made a silent vow. I will get out of here. I will kill the Phantom. And I will get back to Christine. As he changed outfits, he realizedErik was right. They were the same size. Damn him, he thought.

After changing clothing, he walked back to the bed where Erik was already laying down changed into his sleepwear. He went to the opposite side of the bed and laid down , inching himself as far away for his captor as possible, and his back facing him. Without so much as a goodnight, Raoul drifted off to sleep, praying that this would be a dream when he woke up.