Welcome! This is my first fanfiction for Phantom of the Opera! (Yay!)
This is definitely more of a fast pace chapter. This chapter especially will draw some comparisons to Beauty and the Beast, but future chapters will not draw nearly as many comparisons.
I hope you like it.
Chapter One
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Nestled in the North of France was a small village just on the outskirts of Paris. Although small in numbers, the town thrived. Shops lined up the center of the town, glistening from years of being well taken care of. Brown cobblestone lined the walkways as people bustled around, from shop to shop.
Tucked into the corner of several stores was a small music shop. A place very easily missed unless someone was specifically looking for it. Inside the quaint little store, instruments of all kind lined the walls and floor. The walls were painted a soft blue and stood out against the dark wood floor. A glass display case stood along the left side of the room, holding the more valuable and harder to find instruments. And behind the display case with her nose buried in yet another book was a Miss Christine Daaé. A young woman of twenty and one, she was average in height, with long curly chestnut brown hair, dark blue eyes, and a smile that was never perfectly straight.
So absorbed was she in her book that she failed to hear the chime of the door opening. It wasn't until the gentleman cleared his throat that she finally looked up from her book. Gustave Daae gave her a knowing smile. "If you practiced as much as you read, you would be a true aficionado by now!"
Christine let out a small chuckle. "I wished I had the patience to improve. Five years of lessons and I still have a hard time telling the treble and bass clef apart."
Gustave smiled, his eyes wrinkling in the corners. He was a tall, thin man, with curly grey hair and eyes the same shade as Christine's. "At least you have the voice of an angel. I don't know what I'd do if my only child didn't have a love of music as I do."
Christine placed a scrap of paper in her book before setting it down on the counter. "It's your love of music that makes me love it so. You are truly playing for God when you play the violin. You're going to do well at the audition tomorrow! I just know the Royal Opera will hire you! They'd be a fool not to."
"You flatter me child." Gustave said. "It's starting to get dark and I say it's time to go home." They made a quick job of closing up the shop and slowly made their way to the small cottage at the edge of the village.
xXx
.
It was early afternoon when Gustave Daae left for Paris. They hugged and before he left, Christine presented him with a scarf. "For luck," she said, standing on her toes to wrap it around his neck.
Gustave kissed his daughter on her forehead. "I'm certain to do well now. I'll miss you."
Christine stayed outside until her father's horse disappeared over the hill.
Although overcast, it was still a lovely day. Gustave wrapped his cloak around himself as the cool October breeze nipped at his face. His journey was slow but steady. He only stopped twice, hoping to make it to Paris before dark. Unfortunately as the day progressed and the hours ticked by, he found himself coming upon a dark realization.
Gustave sighed into his palms, he'd been riding for too long. The darkness had crept up on him sooner than he'd expected. He hated to admit it, but he was lost. He'd been to Paris years ago, could the woods really have changed so much since then?
Thunder rumbled above his head as he meandered through the narrow pathway. He felt small droplets of rain on his shoulder and then the sky seemed to drop, soaking Gustave within seconds.
He spurred the horse on, searching for a tree large enough to find shelter under. It was then that he saw it. In the distance. A castle.
How very odd, he thought. The last time he'd been to Paris he hadn't seen a castle. No one in the village had ever mentioned it's existence. Surely they would have...
It was a mixture of curiosity and the need for shelter that he followed the winding path up to a large wrought iron gate. Rusted with age, it towered above him as he dismounted his horse. He pushed hard against the gate not expecting it to budge, but it swung open easily, almost causing him to fall as he tumbled past the gate.
He walked slowly across the path, holding the horse's reins in his right hand. There were no lights directing his path as he blindly walked towards the large wooden doors. Fumbling for the knocker, he gave it two raps against the door. No one answered- he tried it again.
With a creaking sound, the door slowly swung inward to reveal a tall, thin woman. She wore all black, the same shade as her hair and her wide hazel eyes stared at him in shock. "Monsieur, how did you find this place?"
"I found myself lost in the woods when I came upon your palace." He coughed, "I know this is an unwelcome intrusion, but I find myself asking for shelter from this bitter weather. I do not have much but I will pay you what I have." He coughed again.
The woman's frown deepened, her eyebrows knitting together. "I'm sorry Monsieur, but it's forbidden by the Master of this estate. You must leave now and tell no one of this place."
She started to shut the door, but Gustave shoved his foot into the frame. "Madame, please! I am lost and have nowhere else to go for the night."
"I'm truly sorry Mons-" she started, when a much younger voice sounded behind her.
"Mother! Can't you see he's freezing to death." A short blonde girl peaked her head around the woman's shoulder. The girl grabbed him by his coat sleeve and ushered him inside, against her mother's wishes.
The girl ignored her mother's protests as she pulled him into the dimly lit sitting room. A fire in the center of the room was the only light in the room. It was a large golden room with three large plush red sofas placed strategically around the room. The girl took his cloak, guiding him to one of the sofas.
"Meg, this is completely unacceptable! He must leave at once. Think of the consequences if he finds out about this!"
Meg stared at her mother a few seconds before speaking. "You would let someone die? You'd let an innocent man freeze to death?"
The woman sighed. "No I wouldn't do that." She let a tiny smile escape for a split second. She turned, addressing him. "You are not to wonder from this room. I'll have the servants fetch you something to eat. I'll get a-"
There was a sudden chill in the room as the fire died, bathing the room in darkness. Gustave heard a low growl in his ear and then suddenly something grabbed him by his throat and hoisted him high into the air.
"What an unwelcome surprise." The voice growled, deep and guttural. "What are you doing here?"
Gustave gasped against the hand. "I got lost in the woods. I needed shelter from the storm."
The man gave a low humourless chuckle. "So you thought you'd take advantage of my hospitality?" The hand squeezed tighter on his throat. "I don't take kindly to intruders. I'm afraid you'll have to be my guest….permanently."
The hand dropped Gustave to the floor. He barely had time to take in a breath before the same hands grabbed his arms and roughly dragged him through the palace. "You foolish, stupid man."
The man led him deep down into the cellars of the palace, through the still dark halls, and into a small wrought iron prison. The man shoved Gustave inside, knocking him to the ground and shut the door tightly behind him.
"You're a monster." Gustave said through clenched teeth as the man started to walk away.
The man chuckled darkly, lighting a torch on the wall. Taking the torch in his hand, he walked up close to the bars of the prison, his face illuminated by the flickering flame. Looking upon his captor for the first time, a cry of horror rang through the hollow room. "Indeed I am."
xXx
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Christine paced nervously inside the police station. It had been more than three days since she'd seen her father. Surely he would have been back by now or at the very least received a letter saying he was alright.
One of the officers approached her. "We've just heard from the Opera House. They said your father never showed up for his audition."
She felt tears spring to her eyes. "He wouldn't have missed his audition for anything officer. Something must of happened to him on the way there. There was a storm that night."
"I've talked to some of my boys and we're planning on putting together a search party for the morning. It's going to get dark soon and we'll need daylight to search properly."
She sighed, forlornly. "Thank you for taking my case." Christine took her time getting back to the cottage. If only they'd known about the storm, maybe he would have been able to postpone his trip for the night and then perhaps he never would have gone missing.
So focused was she on her thoughts, that she didn't see her father's horse until she smacked directly into his flank. "Sorelli? What are you doing here?" Dread surged through Christine. Sorelli was a loyal horse, there was no way he would have abandoned her father - - unless something had happened to him.
Damn the search party! She thought. I'll find him myself. She pulled Sorelli into the small barn out back, unsaddled him and made sure he had plenty of hay before grabbing her own horse and saddling her up.
Inside she changed into her riding boots and threw on her cloak, then grabbed a small satchel, filling it with things she might need. Once she was set, she mounted her horse and rode off towards the woods.
She watched the ground carefully as her horse treaded lightly through the mud. It hadn't rained since her father had disappeared, so she hoped she'd be able to find some hoofprints.
Christine did find hoofprints, several in fact, which caused her mood to plummet. She had no way of telling which were the right prints to follow. How could she possibly be able to distinguish the prints apart? She wasn't a detective or an officer; she didn't know how to track someone. What made her think she'd be able to find him.
Then, out of the corner of her eye, she noticed a set of hoofprints that ventured off the path. She moved the horse closer to the hoofprints and saw more prints leading down a non existent path. Spurring the horse forward she followed the prints for at least half an hour before she spotted something hanging off one of the lower branches. She reached up in the saddle and pulled down a long red scarf….the scarf she'd given her father.
He had to be somewhere nearby! She started calling out to him, looking carefully through the foliage as she made her way further down the path. He was close, he just had to be nearby.
The sun was setting when she noticed the palace at the end of the non existent path she was on. It was large, several stories high and in the dying light of day the palace almost looked gold. She neared the large wrought iron gate and dismounted her horse.
Grabbing the horse's reins, she walked to the closed gates, noticing part of the iron in the center twisted into a rose. The gates creaked loudly when she opened them. She walked down the long stone path to the large wooden doors.
Reaching a tentative hand out towards the door, she gave three quiet knocks on the door. The door cracked open slightly and a blonde girl close to Christine's age peaked her head out. Her face drained of color when she saw Christine. "You're related to him aren't you?"
"Who?" Christine said, hopeful. "Was he several inches taller then me and did he have a head full of grey hair and a blue riding coat on- like this one?" She pulled her cloak up for the girl to inspect.
The blonde girl licked her lips nervously. "Yes."
Christine's face flushed with relief. "Oh thank god! Is he alright? Can I see him?"
Looking over her shoulder, the girl made sure the hallway was clear, before ushering the girl inside, hushing Christine's protests about leaving the horse unattended.
"Be quiet, mademoiselle! He'll hear you." The girl led Christine down the hallway. "You won't be here long, your horse will be fine."
Christine tried to speak, but was hushed again by the girl. The blonde girl opened a set of doors that led down to the cellars. The cellar had a low ceiling and were covered in a reddish-brown walked for several minutes before coming across the last door at the end of the hall. The girl pulled out a key and twisted it into the lock, pushing the door open for Christine.
Eying the girl nervously, Christine walked into the dimlit room. The first thing she noticed was the iron bars that protruded out of the corner of the walls, creating a crude prison. Then she noticed the figure hunched in the corner. "Papa!" she cried, throwing herself against the bars. Gustave's head snapped up, staring up at his daughter with a mixture of disbelief and horror. He stood and rushed to her, grabbing her wrists through the iron.
"Get out of here!" He said hurriedly, shaking her wrists.
"What ha-." he cut her off.
"Christine listen to me. You need to leave now. Hurry before he comes back," he cried.
She stared at her father, tears covering her face. "No! I won't leave you. I'll get you out of here!"
"Christine go! Now, before he finds you."
"I believe it's already too late for that." A voice growled behind her. Christine whirled around, hitting her back sharply on the metal, hissing in pain.
"Get out." He growled, stalking towards her.
"W-what?" She whispered in shock.
He grabbed her wrist roughly, pulling her away from her father. "I said, get out." Looking up at his towering frame in horror, she noticed a white mask covering the right side of his face. His gold eyes almost looked yellow in the light.
Christine struggled in his grasp, reaching for her father. "No! I won't leave him. Let me go!"
He grabbed her roughly by her forearms and pulled her closer to him. "Get. Out. Now." He shook her with each word. "Don't make me change my mind." He shoved her towards the door and she tumbled to the floor, losing her balance.
"Wait!" She cried as he reached out to grab her. "Wait!" She took a deep breath, glancing briefly at her father before staring up at the masked man. "Take me instead."
"Christine, no!" her father cried.
He stopped reaching for her, a look of surprise on his face. ""You would trade your freedom for his?" The masked man asked, his voice losing its threatening tone. "You would do that?"
"Yes," her voice barely above a whisper. "If you let him go and promise not to hurt him, I'll stay."
Christine looked away from her father, ignoring his pleas.
"Deal." The man said, his expression unreadable. He turned to her father and unlocked the gate, pulling him outside. "You must leave and never return! Do not speak of me or of this place do you understand? If I get word that you're trying to plan some sort of rescue mission and believe me, I have informants everywhere, then I will find you and ki-"
"NO!" Christine yelled. "You said you wouldn't harm him."
The masked man growled, his face a foot from her father's. "If I find out that you are trying anything of the sort, then I will resort to unpleasant measures. Just remember that your daughter is here with me and what you do there, will reflect how she's treated here."
Gustave stared at his daughter, silent tears rolling down his face. The masked man leaned in, whispering in his ear. "It would also be wise to remember that I do have certain male desires and if you act against my wishes, I may not be able to hold those desires back. Do you understand?"
Horror washed over Gustave's face at the masked man's words. He nodded his head, unable to speak for fear of what he might say.
"Good," the man grumbled, shoving him out the door.
"Wait!" Christine cried as the door slammed shut in her face. "No!" She hit the door, yelling into the wood. "I didn't even get to say goodbye!" She banged on the door until her knuckles bled and then banged some more, until finally she fell to the ground, her hands covering her crying face.
Panic and dread gripped her body, causing her to shake. She let out a loud gasp, unable to hold back the tears. She was going to spend the rest of her life in here. Never knowing what happened to her father and she would never fall in love or get married. All her dreams about singing at the Opera house were shattered. She was going to die in this prison and no one but a monster would know.
:) Thanks for reading!