"Beauty sometimes goes unseen, we can't all be like Christine." Meg flinched. It was still all about her, still all about Christine. Erik's words meant nothing. He didn't see her beauty.

"Christine. She breathed. "Christine!" she growled, she was suddenly blinded by hurt, rage, frustration. "Always Christine!" A shot rang out and Meg's vision cleared, Christine fell. There was a gasp from everyone.

"No!" Meg screamed. "No I didn't mean to!" Suddenly it hit her, what she'd done. She'd killed her dearest friend, she'd destroyed any chance she'd ever had, she'd become a murderer. She realised now she'd gone mad, driven mad by the pain of what she'd gone through, become obsessed with Erik. In one brief moment, she'd managed to take from the man she loved the only thing he'd ever wanted. How could she have not seen? She looked over at her friend, slowly dying in Erik's arms, her child, their child, begging her to live. She saw the love between them, saw Erik's affection for Gustave, saw the family she'd destroyed in her selfishness. Christine drew her last breath and closed her eyes. Meg closed her own, it was over now, her madness had cleared. She saw what she had become, saw what she'd done and saw her only option.

"God forgive me." he breathed She turned the gun, felt the warm metal against her temple. A shot rang out.