"Wait! Erik!" Meg called out as the mysterious man got farther away from her. She had learned his name through the stories her mother had told her as a child. The Phantom stood still, no one had called him by his real name for so long that he had almost forgotten it, he was taken by such surprise that he turned around to see who it was. Although he wasn't expecting her he was disappointed to see it wasn't Christine. He was going to turn back around and continue on his way until he saw the familiar blonde hair of Madame Giry's only child Meg. The only reason he recognized her hair is from the amount of time he spent watching Christine dance and Meg had come into focus. He decided to stop, only because of his attachment to her mother. He realized that was all he ever need do for Madame Giry. She had brought him to the Opera Populare and abandoned him. Meg caught up with him, slightly out of breath.
"Erik. Wait. Where are you going?"
"I'm leaving."
"Why? Where are you going?"
"Christine is with Raoul, Meg."
"Is she the only thing keeping you here?"
"Yes." Eric looked at her like her question wasn't even worth asking.
"Wh-What?" Meg was at a loss for words, but she didn't want Erik to leave. "What about my mother?"
"I have repaid my debt to your mother." Erik's voice was stern.
"Where are you planning on going?" Meg wanted Erik to know that she wanted him to stay, but she knew that his heart was somewhere else. Somewhere far away.
"Life at the Opera Populare will be better with out me there." Spoke gently and touched her arm softly.
"No! No it won't!" Meg protested. "Please, you must stay."
"Meg!" The Phantom could not believe that Meg seemed not to remember that the reason they had left the opera house through the tunnel was because he had just killed a person. "If I went back the mob that came would find me, they would kill me, and you protesting me leaving would all be in vain."
"I will protect you. I'll keep you safe." Meg knew that begging him to stay with her eyes was not getting her anywhere so she decided that she would make it obvious. "Where could you possibly go? Where will you be safe?"
"I'm leaving."
"Where!" Meg shouted abruptly, maddened that Erik hadn't given her a straight answer yet.
"Away!" Erik shouted. He just wanted to be left alone, Christine was gone and he had no idea why this girl who had only heard bedtime stories about him wanted him to stay so bad. Meg flinched slightly when he shouted. He hadn't meant to startle her or hurt her feelings. "Versailles. I'll go to Versailles."
"What if Christine comes back. What if Raul and Christine break up." Meg didn't want the reason he stayed to be for another woman, her best friend no less, but she say a twinkle of hope in his eyes.
"Meg, what am I supposed to do? Go back to the opera house, and hide, they know how to find me now. They are mad at me. Meg I've killed people, they want revenge, they will kill me if they find me."
"Eric I don't know how to make it any clearer to you. I want to stay. Forget the people. They weren't why you stayed in the tunnels all those years, and they weren't why you left. You would have stayed if she hadn't left, you did not live for them, and you were only there for Christine."
"And now she's gone! Meg can't you understand. I love her, but new she's gone and if I go back I'm just going back to open arms of the people who want me dead."
"What if you remain in my arms?" Meg didn't care anymore; she had to let him know. The Phantom was caught off guard. He had no idea that this was the reason that Meg had wanted him to stay.
"Meg." He said gently grabbing her arm to turn her around and send her away.
"I deserve your love!" Meg shouted, turning the head of many citizens wandering around. "I love you! She never did!" Meg didn't want to say this, but she knew it would help her in her attempts to get the Phantom to stay. She saw that her words had wounded the Phantom, but she kept going, before he could say anything more. "She was horrified by you, she only submitted to you because you ensnared her! She fled once she could, you were always there with her, watching over her, teaching her, but the day after a new man came she completely submitted to him! She didn't even think you were real! Whenever you were near speaking to her she thought it was her father. I looked for you! I came for you! I don't care about what's behind the mask. My mother may have left, so did Christine, but I, I will never leave you. Erik can't you see I love you. Can't you see this is true?" Erik pulled off the mask, keeping his head low, but high enough that Meg could still see his infection. There was fear in her eyes, but only for a second.
"I love you." Meg whispered. The Phantom put the mask back on and looked away from Meg.
"Christine."
"She is gone," said Meg, "but I am here, right now, always. I will fill in where she never was. Erik." Meg spoke gently. "You were alone all that time, all those years, an outcast. I understand. Of course I don't know exactly what it felt like, but I saw my best friend rise to stardom, I was passed up with out a second thought, by my own mother, I wasn't even good enough for her."
"Meg you don't want a life with me." The Phantom had run out of things to say and he did believe that Meg wanted to be with him.
"Erik, this is so unfair to me. I love you, I have loved you and the only reason you won't give me a chance is because you're in love with some who will never love you back. I deserve you. Please."
Erik grabbed Meg by the arm and walk with her away till they got to where Erik had always designed to go. An old abandoned hotel. Erik explained to Meg that Christine had left that night; he could not start thinking about a new woman so soon. He had been in love with Christine with so long, he needed time. Him and Meg did talk for a while, it wasn't the kind the couple laugh while drinking champagne and fall in love as they stare at each other while the other isn't looking and laugh into the next morning. It was just deep and affectionate. The Phantom was gentle with Meg spoke strongly, to show that she was not as weak as the Phantom thought. Eventually Meg fell asleep, the Phantom carried her to a room not to far from his, he layed her in the bed and put the blankets up over her. As he was walking out of the room he knew that her mother was probably tearing up the opera house looking for her, but he put in the back of his head, with all the other problems that he would find solutions to, tomorrow.