Prologue

Six Years Earlier…

It all happened so fast. An explosion went off somewhere on the stage and the room was filled with smoke. Everyone was coughing and trying to clear the room of the large cloud that they hadn't noticed a dark figure running towards the young girl on the stage, taking her by the wrist and fleeing the scene. This was not the original plan they had, but he had to think of something when they said that she could not stay in Paris. He would not let them take his Angel from him. Not after all they worked for and the time they shared. He led her away to one of his hidden passages down into the catacombs of the Opera Populaire and continued down the dark passages, the winding stair cases, and across the glassy lake to his lair. Now here they stood beside the large swan shaped bed, holding each other.

"I promise, I will never let you go." He vowed to the young girl.

"No matter what, I will always love you." She said leaning her forehead against his chest. He didn't care of her age, whether she was fourteen or twenty four, she loved him and he loved her. They may have only known each other a few weeks but she was everything to him. He took her chin and lifted her head to look at him before lightly pressing his lips to hers. The kiss started becoming more passionate, so much that they fell down onto the bed right behind her.

Her eyes opened suddenly and her body was covered in sweat. Her eyes darted around the dark room then released a very long sigh and bent her head back further onto her pillow.

"Only a dream." She closed her eyes and let a stray tear fall down the side of her face. "That really sucks." She reached under her pillow and pulled out her cell phone. She pushed the center button and let the screen light up revealing the home screen with the date and time. She started chuckling. "April first. With the dream I had, I really am an April fool." She chuckled mirthlessly before flinging the sheets from her body and getting ready for the day ahead of her.

March 31 2012…

Ashley sat in her room just typing away on her computer, furiously finishing up her Chemistry assignment. She had spent a good chunk of her time going over the revisions her professor had made to her first copy and fixed them on the file on her computer before making some new revisions of her own. After about an hour, she pushed back the screen and admired her work.

"Finally, it's finished." She hit the save button and closed the word document before pulling up an internet browser. "Now I can relax." She looked over towards her roommate's bed and was glad to see it empty. She enjoyed her privacy, being very much a reclusive person for as long as she could remember. She checked some of her favorite sites for anything new. Since there was nothing new, she decided she would do something a little different. She reached into her computer case and pulled out some sheet music before jumping from her bed, slipping on some shoes and leaving the room, remembering to turn off the lights on her way out.

She went down to the "living area", as she would call it, in her dorm building and went over to the piano they had in the corner by the window and took a seat. She began arranging her piano music preparing herself for some practice. The pieces she had with her were fairly simple pieces, but to her, she had to work twice as hard while working on them since her coordination wasn't that great. She started with Treasured Memories from Kingdom Hearts since it was the easiest piece she had. As her fingers moved across the keys, the music was sort of melancholy with a hint of a hopeful air to it. She also tried her best to stay as quiet as possible, since she wasn't fond of the thought of people hearing her. When she finished the piece, she placed it to the side and began working on her next piece, Nana del Laberinto del Fauno or Pan's Labyrinth Lullaby. The only trouble she had with this piece was the notes she played with the left hand. She really had to work on stretching her fingers to the right keys which was not easy for her. She was also still uncomfortable playing the melody along with it at the moment since she only just got the music a little while ago, so she just practiced working on the notes in each measure before trying to put them together.

After going through her pieces, she looked down at her key-watch and noticed it was 6:15.

"I suppose I should get to the dining hall." She said to herself and picked up her sheet music and made her way to her room to get her sweatshirt and a hat.

When she got there, the room was a bit crowded but not as bad as it would have been about half an hour ago. She found an empty table situated right next to the window so she could look out towards the forest. Her school was pretty big and was safely nestled in the mountains. It got a little chilly but she loved the scenery and had a great view of the sunrise if she was up early enough. But, she had to admit, she was a bit lonely too. Even though she was at school and she was meeting people every day, she had a hard time making friends. She was a shy girl by nature and felt awkward around people, feeling like she as imposing on others. But when she joined some of her clubs, she was able to relax and interact with some of the people.

When Ashley finished her food, she made her way to the exit. She once again listened to her music as she walked towards her dorm building. She looked at her watch and it read 6:50. Even though it was Saturday night she really had nowhere to be. She sighed heavily as she walked through the almost empty streets running through the campus.

"I really need to get a social life." She said once again talking to herself. "And I have to stop talking to myself." She smiled a bit at this last thought. When she returned to her room, her roommate was still out. Not that she was complaining. So, she jumped back into her bed and picked up her Phantom plushie that sat on her pillow. "It will be six years this night Monsieur le Phantom." She said to the plushie and kissed him on his masked face.

She spent the remainder of her evening on her computer. She looked up any phanfiction she has yet to read, checked her email, and went on DeviantArt for any new works she would like, the usual. She looked in the corner of her screen at the date and time and saw it was thirty minutes to midnight. She had the incredible urge to go out on a walk. She was still dressed in her day clothes so she didn't have to worry about that and grabbed her coat and made for the door.

As she walked around the campus, she began thinking back to that night six years ago when she had that dream. It had been the very first dream she had of the Phantom of the Opera, the dream that sparked her undying love for the masked man. Since then, she would wish every night for another dream to come to her so she could see him again. She looked towards the sky and saw a light streak across the sky.

"A shooting star!" She whispered excitedly and quickly brought her hands together making a wish.

I wish I could go to his world…

RING!

RING!

The giant clock started to chime the hour. Ashley began on her way again, but there was something wrong. As she continued walking, she began feeling dizzy. The world around her began spinning making it hard for her to keep herself going. Finally, she collapsed, still listening to the chiming of the bells.

They there everyone! So, as promised, this is the second version of my recent FanFiction. I've made some changes to the story so if you prefer the first version I will be keeping it up. There will be a bit more drama and a bit more excitement as well. So, I hope you enjoy it!