Author's Note: This story was inspired by a suite of sources, most notably the film "One More Kiss" starring Gerard Butler and the 2004 film version of Phantom, though there are also several obvious nods to Leroux, Kay, and Love Never Dies, etc. Because I have borrowed from so many different sources, I will not list them all here in the introduction, but for the most part I have tried to give credit where credit is due for sources that Phantom fans may not necessarily be familiar with. Long story short, I OWN NOTHING!

This is my first real attempt at tragedy, so I'd appreciate your input. I will probably be posting once a day, but no promises.

Happy reading! :)

~CaptainHooksGirl~

Song of the Nightingale

'Death is a great price to pay for a red rose,' cried the Nightingale, 'and Life is very dear to all…Yet Love is better than Life, and what is the heart of a bird compared to the heart of a man?'

~Oscar Wilde~

Prologue

She stood on the precipice with a surprisingly calm look on her face—eyes blissfully closed, head tilted back, arms open wide in the wind. Paris was quiet now, the golden flicker of the streetlamps the only sign of movement in the darkness. There would be no one to see her fall, no one to watch as she dropped like a stone more than a hundred feet from the top of the abandoned opera house. Briefly, she considered what it would feel like to jump, to step off the edge and into the air caught up in a free-fall with nothing but the breeze between her and the ground. Was that what it felt like to fly, she wondered? She imagined the brush of angels' wings against her skin and the rush of the wind in her ears as the sheer ecstasy of weightlessness overcame any fears of falling, the winged figures on the roof suddenly come to life and carrying her away. She smiled peacefully at the thought, envisioning eternal rest in one particular angel's arms. She could almost hear his voice calling her name on the breeze.

A year ago she'd stood in this very spot, marveling at the stars and making promises of love to a childhood sweetheart she realized too late she'd long outgrown. A year ago, the choice had seemed simple and she'd thought she had forever to live.

But forever is an awfully long time, and life is often short.