Disclaimer: I don't own The Phantom of the Opera.
A/N: My first PoTO fanfic. Just a little musey oneshot, nothing too hard. :) I'd appreciate a beta on this if any of you would be so kind as to help me!
Erik was a singer.
He knew it the moment he first heard those majestic voices carry from the stage of the opera to his ears. The beautiful sound drew him in, intoxicating, passionate, gripping, harmonious, heavenly. Mere words could not describe the sensation of first hearing the opera in all its majesty.
But with this came a longing, a hunger, a craving that he could not suppress. He had achieved nothing yet. His voice was not yet made smooth through years of training, his ear could not yet pick up the nuances of the melody. Yet.
Erik was a natural learner, a genius in his own right. He learned the words to the arias and the choruses; he observed, listened, watched, and pondered, putting a hundred times more thought into each note than any of the singers themselves ever had. He mimicked their tone, forcing his own voice into submission until its quality surpassed those of the opera's greatest. Finally, one day, all his hard work, all his effort, all those days practicing alone in his lair culminated into the greatest experience of his life.
That day, he sang along with the chorus.
He sang quietly, humbly, far too low for any ears (no matter how finely tuned) to hear him. He sang along, not with a solo, but as if he were simply part of the chorus. His voice was a tiny sound, pathetic compared to the echoing din of the opera. No one knew he was singing but himself.
But, oh, what belonging he felt.
Never before had Erik experienced such an emotion, such acceptance, as when his voice joined dozens others, each just a part of a larger entity, presenting to the crowd a work of beauty. The song itself didn't matter; the opera had become a living thing as each singer offered his or her voice to the great euphony that is Art. He was no longer Erik, the outcast, the phantom. He was Erik, the singer among many.
He belonged.
Never before nor again did he feel such acceptance as at that moment, when his voice was a member of the body of incarnate Music.
Well. There was one other time, with one other singer, a duet in the most extraordinary sense of the word.
But that is quite another story.