(A/N: Thank you so much, everyone! I can't believe I already have six reviews... I'm thrilled! I didn't expect it to get too many, so thank you so, so, so much everyone!!!!!

dragon-miko: Thanks, I'm glad that you like it! :)

Mel: Yes! No Raoul! The way the story should have been written...lol!

NorthAngel27: Thanks for reading, I'm glad that you like it! Here is more, right now. Hopefully I'll update every day or every other day, but sometimes I just don't have time.

draegon-fire: Muahahahaha! No fop, no fop, no fop!!!

littlecherub5: Thank you! I'm glad that you liked the end of the chapter. Hopefully the Phantom will be in them more in the upcoming ones...

MOey: You're anxious? (points to PG rating) Feeling better now? And I mean to keep that rating, mind you... lol. Don't worry, the chapter should get longer as I go on and get more into the story. First chapters are always a little bit hard.

Everyone: I'm really sorry if I stick more to the play than the book, but my guess is that most of the people on here know the play better. I will, however, be including a lot of the things that the play didn't include...Like what happened to the Persian man, Nadir? Oh well... Anyway, I'm sure all of you fans will realize after reading this that I've changed just a few of the events...Well, it is going to be a bit different...)

Chapter Two: Music in the Night

Christine awoke the next morning to someone shaking her.

"Christine! Christine! Where you up here all night? You could have caught a cold!"

Christine's eyes fluttered open to see Meg kneeling beside her. She smiled. "I'm fine, Meg. Honestly, you worry too much." She stood, and something slid off of her onto the ground. Frowning, Christine bent down and picked up an elegant black cape.

"Where did this come from?" she asked softly, half to herself.

"Hmm?" Meg looked at the cape. "Oh, I don't know. It was with you when I came up here. Why? Isn't it yours?"

Christine shook her head slowly. "No..."

Meg's eyes clouded. "That's odd...Where did it come from, then? The sky? Did angels come down from heaven and put the cloak on you so that you didn't get cold?" she laughed.

Christine smiled. "It's probably just a person's stage prop. Someone must have come up here during the night to overlook the city, and saw me here."

"Not many people come up here during the night." The two girls made their way down the stairs, back into the building.

As they were walking, Christine suddenly remembered the beautiful music.

"Meg? Do you know anyone here that plays the violin?"

Meg frowned. "No, I don't. Why?"

"I just thought...never mind. It was probably just my imagination."

"Well, you do have a pretty wild one." The ballet girl agreed teasingly, "What are you saying you imagined?"

"Last night, when I was going to my room, I heard... Oh, Meg, just forget about it. It's ridiculous."

"What's ridiculous?" Meg stepped in front of Christine, blocking her path.

"It's just...well... last evening I thought that I heard violin music. It was so beautiful and haunting... But like I said, it was just in my mind. You know how much I miss father."

Meg, for some reason, was flushed with excitement, her blue eyes bright. "Christine! Is that why you were on the roof? You were listening to violin music?"

The chorus girl laughed. "It's really dumb of me, isn't it? But I could have sworn..."

"You did hear music, Christine!" Meg cried dramatically, "The Ghost plays the violin!"

Christine stopped dead in her tracks. "Meg! Oh, what's this, now? This 'ghost' of yours just happens to play the violin as well? When will you girls stop?!" She side-stepped her best friend, but Meg would not be dismissed.

"Really, he does! Other people have heard his music as well, and it was always in late evening or night! You're the only one I know that has actually gotten close to it, though." Suddenly Meg's eyes widened. "Christine! The cape!"

"What about it?"

"The Phantom! He always wears evening dress! I bet that it includes a cape...We'll have to ask Buquet!"

Christine laughed. "The lengths you girls go to! And don't you go telling Buquet a thing about it. He'll probably say yes to whatever you ask."

"He won't! He really did see the Ghost once, you know. He didn't make it up."

Christine shook her head in amusement. "Okay, Meg, whatever you wish to believe."

"How much proof will you need before you'd believe in the Ghost?"
The chorus girl appeared to think about this, then said mischievously, "I'd have to meet him."

Meg rolled her eyes. "You know that you can't meet a ghost. But don't worry, I'll prove he's real yet! Can I borrow the cape?"

"No. I'm returning it to the costume room."

"Christine, how dare you throw away such perfect evidence? The ballet girls would love to see it, and it would make everything so much more dramatic!"

"You're too dramatic, Meg."

"Only when I want to be. I know that that's the Phantom's cape, though, and I want to show the others!"

The two girls passed the costume closet, and Meg looked at her friend curiously. "I thought you were going to put it in there."

"Not anymore. You'd probably steal it and use it as 'proof.' I'm going to put it in my room for now, and give it back when someone asks for it."

The two walked in silence for a few minutes, and they finally reached Christine's room.

"I'll see you at practice." Meg told her happily, and then bounced off back down the hall.

Christine sighed, knowing that the story of her hearing the music and discovering the cape would be all over the Opera House in no time.

Gently, she folded up the cloak and set it on her bed. Then she slipped into her costume for rehearsals and left the room, locking the door behind her.

As she made her way to the stage, she thought about the music she had heard the night before. It had been so sad...so lonely. For a moment Christine wondered if there really was a Phantom. Surely if there was, that was what the music he played would sound like...

Christine silently scolded herself for thinking such useless thoughts. Of course there wasn't a Phantom! It was all hokum that the girl's had made up...wasn't it?

Suddenly Christine stopped dead in her tracks, staring off to her left in the shadows. She could have sworn that a moment before she had seen a pair of golden eyes, watching her...

The chorus girl shivered and moved on, a little more quickly this time. Her imagination was acting up a bit too much for her liking, lately.

xxxxx

None of the ballet girls could concentrate during the rehearsal. They kept casting curious glances at Christine, who pretended not to notice. She knew that as soon as the practice was over, the girls would be all over her.

About half-way through, four men appeared on the side of the stage. Two Christine recognized. They were the managers, Debienne and Poligny, but the other two she couldn't identify. Catching Meg's wink, she guessed that they were the two new managers.

Carlotta, their 'diva,' was just beginning to sing one of her many lines in the opera"Hannibal" when she noticed them. She smiled broadly and began to sing more elaborately, (Therefore worse), than she usually did.

Christine winced and tried to tone her out. The new managers, however, applauded wildly when she was finished. Carlotta beamed.

Behind her, Christine could hear Meg making gagging noises and Little Jammes and a few other girls giggling. La Sorelli scolded them, and they giggled all the harder.

"Bravo!" One of the new men shouted enthusiastically, "Well done! You will stun the audience once more with your amazing voice, but I will remain your biggest fan."

The gagging noises from behind her got louder.

"My Prima Donna, would you grace us with another song?" the man begged, "I believe you have an excellent aria in act three?"

"I would love to, if my director approves..." Carlotta glanced at Mr. Reyer, the director of the play, who nodded grudgingly.

"Very well. Will two bars suffice?" he asked, turning to the piano.

Carlotta nodded smugly, then started her singing when he finished the introduction.

"Think of me-

Think of me fondly

When we've said

Goodbye!

Remember me,

Once in a while,

Please promise me

You'll try!
When you find

That once again you long

To take your heart back-"

Carlotta cut off with a gasp as one of the backdrops fell from above, nearly hitting her.

She just stood in shock for a moment, and then pretended to swoon. At the last instant, Piangi, the lead tenor, rushed up and caught her in his arms, fanning her.

"It was the Phantom!" One of the ballet girls cried excitedly. "The Phantom did this!"
"Yes, it was the Opera Ghost!"

"What ghost is this?" the other new manager demanded. Debienne and Poligny were now looking a shade paler than normal.

"It was nothing." Debienne assured him. "Just the chief of the flies, Buquet. I'm sure there was just an accident..."

The two retiring managers led the two new ones away as the ballet girls twittered on.

"Christine! Is it true? Did the Phantom actually give you his cape?"

Christine sighed. She had been expecting this. "What nonsense is Meg telling you now? Of course not, it was a stage prop!"

"It was not, Christine Daae, and you know it!"

"Girls, girls, hush!" Madame Giry interrupted. "Meg, what have you been telling these girls about the Phantom? Don't spread rumors, child!"

"I'm not, really! He gave his cape to Christine, because she listened to his music last night and fell asleep and-"

"Meg!" Christine hissed, lightly trodding on her friend's toe.

Madame Giry gave Christine an odd look, before going off to make sure that Carlotta was okay.

Quite frankly, Christine thought, the diva was over exaggerating the event. She was now shouting something about quitting.

The two new managers had returned by this time, and the one who had prompted her to sing for him was distraught. "My good lady, you cannot quit! It's the eve of the show, and there is a full house!"

"I'f had enouf' of dees...dees...accidents!" she yelled in her thick Italian/Spanish accent.

"Accidents do happen, my lady, but that is no reason to-"

"Si! Accidents do happen! That 'tis why I am quitting!"

With that, Carlotta whirled around and strode off of the stage.

The new manager moaned, turning to his college. "We're ruined, Firmin, ruined! A full house, and we'll have to return all of the money!"

"It is, indeed, a horrible loss, my friend. Isn't there any back up for the part?"

"No, there is not!" M. Reyer cried unhappily, "The production is new! There was no time to train an understudy."

"Well, you will find one before tomorrow." Firmin demanded. "We are not canceling. Surely at least one of the chorus girls knows the words and can sing decently! Find out which, and we'll use her until our Prima Donna gets back."

With that, the two new managers swept off of the stage.

"We're ruined!" M. Reyer said hopelessly, wringing his hands.

"Christine! You know the words...you can sing it!" Meg said excitedly.

Christine laughed, shaking her head. "No I can't, Meg. My voice has no training. And besides, I gave up all hopes of singing solo when my father died."

"But why? Christine, you have such a pretty voice-"

"Oh, Meg...I just can't. Please don't say anything?"

Meg frowned, but nodded.

xxxxx

That night, Christine had trouble getting to sleep. She tossed and turned, before sitting up and staring around her room.

It was the first time that she noticed something strange- the cloak had disappeared. She was sure that she had put it at the foot of her bed...

Carefully Christine stepped out from the warmth of her bed, lighting a candle. She searched all through her room, but there was no sign of it. Just when she had given up, she heard something-

A soft, tragic melody was floating through her window, presumably from above.

Without even thinking, Christine threw a robe on over her nightdress, and crept out of her room.

The candle cast flickering shadows through the hallways, and several times Christine thought that she had lost her way. Through it all, though, the haunting music guided her, until finally she stepped out onto the roof.

The melody was softer, now, almost a lullaby.

Christine sat where she had the evening before, listening quietly. A few moments later, the music stopped.

After a moment, she whispered, "It's so beautiful...please, keep playing?"

Obligingly, the violin started up again. This time when the tune was ended, Christine remembered something that her father had said.

"When I die, child, I will send to you the Angel of Music..."

"Angel?" Christine's whisper was barely audible, "Are you my Angel of Music?"

At first, only silence greeted her words. Then, after a pause...

"Yes, I am your...Angel." The words were soft, and the voice beautiful.

Christine shivered, frightened and excited at the same time. "Please keep playing, Angel. The music is so wonderful."

There was another hesitant pause. "Would you sing with it, child? I wish to hear your voice."

Christine bit her lip, then nodded. This time, when the music started up in a familiar tune, she sang the notes as well as she could. A few minutes later, the song ended.

Christine shivered as a cool breeze started up. "Angel?"

"I am here."

"Won't you keep playing? I won't be able to sleep tonight without your music."

In a few seconds, the music started up again. Christine closed her eyes, and lost herself to the beauty of the sound. In just a few short minutes, she was asleep.

The music, however, kept playing late into the night...

(A/N: I know, all of you want Erik to be in it more. I'm sorry that he's not in it too much in these first chapters, but either the next one or the one after is in his point of view.

I know that I completely messed up the whole beginning, I'm so sorry! I only realized that the rehearsals shouldn't come until later when I had already put up the first chapter. I know that Christine supposedly started training with Erik before this part. I'm really sorry, and I hope I haven't ruined it too much. Please R&R.)