Opening
Disclaimer: I don't own phantom of the opera. But if I did, it would be great. Rated for language and sexual themes/content.
Twas the opening night of the newly remodeled opera house, and it was packed to the brim with loyal patrons. The new managers, M. Leroux and M. Webber had taken it upon themselves to bring the opera house back to its glory, and had also tried to hunt out the opera ghost that had destroyed it to begin with.
But they never found him.
It was said that the opera ghost had died the night of the fire, but its ghost still haunted the opera house. But they only kept that in the confines of the opera house, no patrons were told about the ghost still inhabiting the opera house.
It was raining the night that the opera populaire was opening again, rain beat against the building, creating a rhythmic, hypnotic, soothing tap tap tap against the building. Every once in a while, a loud boom of thunder could be heard, and a yellow rip in the sky could be seen. It was the rainy season, and that weather would probably last a long time; but that was OK.
"Over under around," Lily repeated to herself as she laced the white silk laces on her ballet slippers around her shin. She hated when she had to lace strings up her legs, but she did like the ballet. She and Meg loved the ballet, just not the long laces having to go up their legs. Lily preferred the slippers that just went to her ankles.
"Come girls!" Madam Giry called from the doorway, and almost immediately all the ballet girls got up. But Lily was still tying the laces around her left shin, trying to hurry so she wouldn't be late for the performance. It took her a minute after everyone was gone, but immediately she dashed out to follow everyone else, but unfortunately stepped on a loose lace and fell on her face.
"Shit" She muttered to herself, standing up, putting her foot on the wall and rapidly tying the laces in hopes that she wouldn't be late for the performance. Madam Giry was already cross with her for falling so much during rehearsal; in fact- she fell almost all the time. Lily was very clumsy. Quickly, she tied the laces into a bow and joined the other chorus girls out on stage in just enough time to see the curtain go up. Even though she was clumsy and perpetually late, she always seemed to make it to where she had to go in the nick of time.
As she danced to Allegro non troppo Lily was praying that she wouldn't fall. It wouldn't be the first time she fell; it just would be during the performance. It was hard for her to stay on her feet for any length of time; sooner or later she knew that she'd fall, either on stage or behind the curtain.
Erik didn't enjoy watching the performances, so he never did. It was too heartbreaking to know that Christine wasn't going to be out there on stage anymore, either soaring with the music he'd given her soul, or flaunting her flawless body out on the stage as a chorus girl. He had no one to admire as she sang or danced, he didn't have his darling Christine.
Heaving a sad sigh, Erik sat at his organ, tapping the keys, producing staccato sounds as his mind reeled with the memories of his beloved. He should have known better than to love anyone, because he could never be loved back. He was a monster, a horrible, ugly, inhuman ogre that could not be trusted to be with the women of the upper world. He would remain in his solitude, trying to learn to be lonely.
Late at night, he would dream of her. Of his Christine, in his mind he held her in his arms, in his dreams he helped her create a beautiful little girl who he would love more than words could say. He loved Christine, and without her, his life just wasn't worth living. Somehow, he hoped that he would die and become the ghost everyone thought he was. At least in death he would not feel the sting of Christine's memory.
But as he mulled the idea of suicide over in his head, he knew that he would never be able to go through with it. Suicide was the coward's way out, and he was far from a coward. If he had no one to prove that to, then he would prove it to himself. He would make himself believe he was no coward, but he was very sad and very alone.
He knew that in the opera above, it was opening night for the new opera populaire, and he knew that they were putting on the production of Swan Lake. A play he rather enjoyed, for the ending had a truly ironic twist that he never got tired of seeing. What he enjoyed most about the ironic twist was that the main character basically got screwed, and not in the sexual sense of the word.
Would it kill him to go see how the production was going? It might. But then again, being killed wasn't suicide, so it wasn't the cowards way out now is it? Nope, so that was his objective. He went to get his cape and suit, he would drop in on Swan Lake, and hope that someone saw him and wanted to kill him, he'd nothing more to live for, what difference did it make if he died or not?
Lily was proud of herself, she hadn't slipped once! Well- she did before she got to the stage but after that she didn't. She had a proud smile on her face as she twirled in unison with her group, trying to keep her mind off the audience watching them. She had terrible trouble with stage fright, and if she just kept her mind off the audience; then she would be fine.
She spoke too soon actually, because as she span, one foot got tangled in a loose lace and wrapped her legs together, causing her to fall flat on her face, and take two or three other ballerinas with her. She growled, looked up, and saw the whole audience laughing at her.
As she scrambled back onto her feet and stood frozen in fear, she felt a blush creeping up her neck and warming her face. She glanced around for someone to tell her what to do, but Madam Giry was trying to figure out what to do. Mortified and humiliated, lily did the one thing that came to mind. She ran off the stage, her face hot with embarrassment. She only fell over the laces four times before she found a place to hide out until the moment and the humor had passed.
It was the dressing room with the elegant looking mirror that seemed to escape the damages from the opera house fire four years ago. Once she was in the room, she hid safely behind the changing curtain, and hugged her knees to her chest.
Normally she'd laugh at herself for falling, but it was in front of all the patrons, and more or less all of Paris. The whole city saw her fall flat on her face, and she would probably be the laughing stock of the entire capital.
Erik had seen the little red head chorus girl fall on her face, and it was the only thing that had stirred a laugh in his throat. Everyone else was howling at her too, and when the tears of laughter cleared from his eyes, he saw she was gone. He could hardly control the laughter in him, even though he wanted to. He'd never seen a ballet girl fall on stage before, they always made it a point to keep themselves from doing that.
He didn't see what caused her to fall, but she fell none the less, and it was as entertaining as it could have been. Nothing could be funnier than seeing a ballet rat fall on her face, except maybe Raoul searing and writhing in pain in boiling oil. That would be the most entertaining thing Erik could ever wish for. In fact, if he made a Christmas list, that would be at the top.
But he did wonder where the little tart ran off to. Surely no one in the opera house would allow her to forget her little slip any time soon. If they did they were kinder than Erik remembered, because he surely wouldn't fail to remember it.
Lily sat in the dressing room until long after the performance, and her friend Claire had come to find her. Claire was one of the very few friends Lily had in the opera house, and she was like a big sister to her. Claire always knew the right thing to say, even if sometimes her actions were a bit off. When Lily would get into fights with the other girls, Claire came to the rescue.
Claire had come in, her long brown hair falling over her face as she peeked into the "Haunted" dressing room and found Lily huddled up behind the changing screen. Smiling sympathetically at her friend, Claire took a seat beside her. The haunted dressing room was always cold. So that was why they knew that the opera ghost haunted it, it had been the dressing room of his love, and he could never leave it. Or so the legends said.
"Hey Lily" Claire said gently, looking over at her mortified friend. "Listen, everyone who matters forgot all about it, it happens to the best of us you know."
"Name one time," Lily snapped at her friend, her bright green eyes flickered with shame. Claire turned her gaze from her friend to think, and finally, after a short while of silence, simply smiled and said,
"You" but she was the only one on the list of ballet girls who fell down during a performance. Even the younger girls didn't, and they ranged from 14 to 6. Lily groaned and buried her face in her knees. "Listen, in time people will forget all about it. Trust me; remember that time in practice when I went out on stage and half my boob was falling out of my leotard?" Lily snickered, she did remember. That was a funny time, because Claire had no idea that her breast was exposed. Though she had a white bra on, it was still embarrassing for her. "And everyone forgot all about it eventually." Lily nodded with her friend, if something like that could be forgotten, so would her slip. "Besides that, everyone knows you can't walk and chew gum at the same time. You're uncoordinated, and people know that." Lily stood up and stuck her middle finger up at her friend. But it was OK, they flipped each other the bird all the time, it was part of their friendship.
Claire and Lily left the dressing room to go to the cast party, where everyone mocked Lily for her little slip. She just laughed off the embarrassment, something that was easily learned for the clumsy and uncoordinated.
I like this idea for a fic better. The two 'Deep within the Blue' stories were REALLY bad ideas. But this one I have the utmost confidence in. I thought about it all day and its better. I swear.
