Chapter 2: The body in the box

Erik had seen many girls during his residency as the Opera ghosts. The weedy and wild eyed ballet rats, the prima donnas who wore heady perfumes and the latest fashions. He also knew what modern women looked like, thanks to the Mary Sues who claimed they had time traveled from the 21st century as well as the hoards of Phangirls who now swarmed that opera house. Yet he had never seen such a strange female in his life when it came to appearance. Her hair was wavy and a peculiar shade navy blue, almost the color you would get from a pen. The girl's skin was a white as a sheet and you could see all of her blue veins that where spread over her body. She wore a simple white shirt and dark blue pants, but of course that was the contemporary fashion in the 'real' world, he mused. Erik didn't know what to do with this possibly dead person. What if she had accidentally drowned when Daroga had carted the crate across the lake?

He reluctantly reached down into the crate and was about to check if the girl still had a pulse when her eyes shot had rather large eyes. They were the same dark blue of her hair he noted before she blinked and then gasped for air, yelling, "Shit!"

Erik stumbled back, startled by her awakening. There went his menacing first impression... not that many people found him menacing anymore.

The girl swore again in a quieter voice and then started to get halfway out of the box she was still in. Her limbs were flying everywhere, as she struggled to regain the use her legs.

"Parlez-vous français, oui?" she yelled amid her attempts to stand.

"Oui, mais je peux aussi parler anglais. Do..." Erik tried to find his composure, "Do you need assistance?"

The girl grunted which he presumed to take as a 'yes'. Erik, being the gentleman he tried to be, gave her a hand which she took with a curt nod of appreciation. Her hands were cold and shaking, Erik realized as he clumsily helped her out. As soon as she was out of the box, he dropped her hand and stepped backwards, wanting to assess the situation. Her first few steps were wobbly, as if she was just learning. The girls face was twisted with frustration when she almost fell. After a couple steps though, she was fine whereupon she rummaged though a pocket until she found a crumpled piece of paper.

"Sorry about that entrance. Traveling by box is not ideal, but you know... budget cuts. Anyways, are you Erik, from the Phantom of the Opera?" she asked expectantly in a flat tone.

"In the flesh," he said dryly at her recognition of whom he was and he straightened up, trying to look a little more put together and impressive.

"Okay... good." She put the paper away and nodded, " I'm your M.S.K., by the way. The name is Ink, Ink Blot. And this is where I hold out my hand for you to shake."

"But you're a person."

"An apt observation," she retorted. "Now shake my hand."

Erik sputtered, "Yes, but if I had know that they were merely going to send me a person -a girl with a ridiculous name- I would have just started killing off these damnable Mary Sues by myself! I am aware that in the modern times, a girl can be whatever she wants to be, but am I truly suppose to believe that you are my Mary Sue Killer and that you are capable of exterminating hoards of flimsily written female characters?"

"Yes, indeed I am and I-" Ink faltered, her eyes darkening. She crouched and narrowed her eyes, looking at something behind Erik. He turned around to see a pretty girl in a white dress holding flowers wandering around his lair, absentmindedly humming

It was a classic Mary Sue.

Ink sprung like a cat onto the girl with a dagger she had pulled from... Erik didn't even want to know. The Sue shrieked in surprise and struggled as Ink tried to pin her down. Ink hissed in pain as she was scratched by the Sue's sharp, perfected manicured nails. Erik, frozen to the spot, watched the whole scene unfold in front of him. After only a moment, Ink had completely pined the wailing Sue to the floor. Holding her down with one arm, Ink brutally slashed the girl's throat. Erik had never heard such an awful noise since his time in the rosy hours of Mandrin as an assassin when the Mary Sue died. She sounded like a banshee that was gargling rocks. Then, with a puff, the Sue then evaporated into pink glitter and scraps of paper.

Ink coughed lightly as she swatted away pink glitter that clung to her clothes, creating pink sparkling clouds. Erik looked at her in mild shock as well as interest as she put her dagger in her pocket. She had just killed a Mary Sue right in front of him. Erik had seen (and killed) many things in his life as a fictional character but never had he seen someone from the modern world kill a character as if it were a fly that was bugging them.

"Are you alright?" He finally asked.

"Fine," She said in that toneless voice of hers. Erik frowned at her.

"You have a cut on you face," Erik reached out to touch the part of her cheek that got scratched by the Sue but Ink recoiled away right before he touched her. It was rather surprising to Erik since everyone had liked or pitied him on that FanFiction site and wanted his attention, which he had over time gotten use to and expected after so many girls had fainted into him.

"Way worse has happened to me, Sir. I am fully capable of attending to it myself."

"Very well then," then he paused for a moment as give wrap his head around this entire situation. "Do you have lodgings prepared."

Ink shrugging, "A living space is not of importance."

"Why ever not?"

"I have to be on duty at all time. It's part of my contractual obligations as your Mary Sue Killer."

If Erik had a nose, he would be pinching the bridge of it. Contractual obligations? Life would be so much easier if this blasted M.S.K. had merely been a machine that the size of a toaster! Now it appears he would be stuck finding this girl a place to stay?

"Alright, girl. Could you possibly join me in my library then so we can speak more about these obligations that pertain to your work?"

"Of course, Sir," she replied as he led her down a hallway that led off the main drawing room.

"You are fully capable of calling me Erik and that is what I prefer."

"Well, then you are fully capable of calling me Ink instead of merely 'girl'," Ink retorted as Erik opened the door to his home library, an elegant room

He strode across the room, selecting a book and then sat down on the settee. Ink though, stood warily in the doorway. Erik gave a soft sigh and motioned for her to come in. Eventually, Ink sat in the chair adjacent to him, her posture rigid.

"How long will you be here?"

"Contractually, I am obligated to stay until, and I quote: 'all Mary Sues pertaining to specified character are exterminated'."

Erik thought about the absurd amount of Mary Sues he ran into a a day to day basis, "And what is the duration of time you believe that take?"

"Well, due to the fact that new Mary Sues are created constantly, it could be years. Perhaps even longer."

In a flash, Erik stood up, seeing red, "Years?! Erik may have to deal with you for years?! Out of the question!"

The Mary Sue Killer looked cooly up at him, giving no reaction to the Phantom's bust of rage, "Do I honestly have to say the phrase 'contractual obligation' to you once more? I would prefer not to."

"Where are you going to live during this extended period of time?" He asked with gritted teeth.

"Not here, I assure you. Now, if we are done talking business for the time being, perhaps it would calm us both down to take a breath and read a bit, yes?"

With that, Ink fetched a book off the shelf for herself and sat back down to read without saying another word. Without realizing he was obeying her wishes, Erik did take a course, as he was breathing and was also thinking of how he could strangle this freakish girl with his punjab lasso, but that was besides the point. Every once and a while, Erik would glance up at her from his book. He didn't realize until now that she was rather scrawny and small all curled up as she read. Erik didn't really know what he thought about this Mary Sue Killer named Ink. At least not yet. He had to keep an eye on her and learn more about her, but how?

Ink looked out of the corner of her eye to see that Erik was looking at her, again. Ink slowly put down her book, bookmarking it with her finger and stared back at him. Ink was admittedly surprised now that she got her first good look at him. Just like the french novelist Gaston Leroux had said, he was tall as well as skinny as a rail and menacing but she found him also rather stoic looking. The white mask that covered almost his entire face besides his thin lips and chin was perfectly sculpted to his face and contrasted against his dark hair. This is why the Mary Sue Killer Academy gave her this case though. Ink was the best of her class, strong, smart and wouldn't fall for the charms (or tantrums) of a character. The Academy wanted to see how well she would do with a character that she couldn't easily relate to in most aspects, was popular with the Mary Sues and was quite appealing to the eye.

They both continued to stare at each other until Erik broke the silence, "If you are going to be my Mary Sue Killer, then I will expect you to both live here as well as do other other tasks for me such as cleaning, checking the traps, and some spying upstairs the opera house."

Ink process this for a moment, "What time is it?"

"Mid-morning, I believe? I don't see how that relevant to what I just-"

"Then I better make breakfast since I am going to be your live-in Mary Sue Killer. Now we shake hands on it."

Erik sat speechless as Ink then shut her book, grabbed his hand, firmly shook it, and then left the room. Breakfast? He wanted solitude and isolation that she promise to make after killing off the Mary Sues, not a mid morning meal!

Little did he know that both he and Ink were thinking about what on earth they had just gotten themselves into.