Hi everyone! So this is just a monologue of Erik's after learning that Christine Daae, the love of his life, is engaged to be married to Raoul, Vicomte de Chagny. Hope you enjoy it! :)

No! How could you do this to me? Why would you even consider doing this to me – your Erik, your Angel of Music! Does all I have given you mean so little? My sweet, innocent, perfect rose, my Christine…

But no, it is not your fault. He has poisoned you against me, filling your mind with fairy tales of ghouls and ghosts and false imaginings. To him, I am nothing but a dream; a fancy invented by your own head. Perhaps he has even managed to convince you that I am not real at all, and that you should merely forget about me, this nightmare created by your mind.

Well, come and face me, Monsieur! I shall prove to you that I am the Phantom of the Opera! Come to me with your petty rapiers. Erik shall come to you with machines, and visual tricks, and illusions so horrific you will wish you had never ventured so close to me! Come to me, when I rip my mask off and show you this face!

The fear will be so great it shall paralyse you, and then my work with you will be done! All that will remain of you is your sorry corpse, lying broken and rotting at the bottom of my lake. And then…only then…will you realise how foolish you were to cross the great Erik Destler!

And then Christine will know that she truly loves and belongs with her little Erik: her Angel and her Phantom. We will be married – yes, married, like a normal couple – in the little church on the green. You will wear that beautiful ivory dress that is waiting for you…just in that cupboard over there. And we shall be wed! I will slip the gold band onto your finger, and you to me…and then I shall kiss you! And you will not shy away in fear, you will accept my affection, and in time…you could even learn to love me in return.

Perhaps we will live in a small cottage out in the country, far away from Paris. I shall compose and you can sing for me, just like usual. And perhaps in time, there will be a new generation of Destlers, and we could even set up a small opera company. You will forget you ever even knew of a man named Raoul de Chagny.

…But there were never any objections from her. She even looked happy when the Vicomte proposed and suggested eloping. But…what does he give her that I do not? He cannot possibly imagine how wonderfully Christine sings for me. He knows nothing of the arts!

I've given you all I have. I gave you my music…taught you to sing. And now…this is your repayment? Denial and betrayal? Why would you do this to me? Is it a game, is that it? Do you somehow find some strange and twisted love of tormenting me so? Is it fun to torment poor, disfigured men?

How could you do this to me?

My Christine!

Reviews appreciated, but not urgent - it is only a one-shot! Thanks for reading! :)