Disclaimer: I love CCS... but I don't own it. :( Oh, and I don't own Phantom of the Opera either.
Key:
- Dream State - , Flashback , ' thoughts ', " Dialogue "
---- A change in writing style/time/place/whatever (will notate in () which one if necessary)
Rating: T - for language
Summary: A new enemy is trying to break Sakura's spirit in order to weaken her enough to steal her cards from her. Everyone around her seems to be turning cruel... and the only solace she can find is in the arms of a man who doesn't want her.
Pairings: Syaoran/Sakura, Sakura/Eriol
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(Chapter 3: Brains and brawn)
A young man with long black hair that framed his face stared into a crystal ball that served as his portal to Tomoeda. He was replaying events from earlier that afternoon when his brilliant plan to forever trap the card mistress had backfired. He considered her for a while, then chose to rewind a bit further, examining the red headed woman who was also, apparently, trying to make trouble for the auburn headed teenager.
"It appears I am not the only one seeking the powers of the cards… but if she and I are truly like-minded… then perhaps I should lend out the proverbial olive branch. She may well have some powers that I can make use of." He sneered.
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The next afternoon the auditions for the play were held. Each of the students that desired a part in the play were required to pick from a hat where bits of paper with times written on them were to be chosen. These times would dictate to the students when to return to audition. The idea was that when the bits of paper ran out, the day would be over, and so would the auditions. Each student was given fifteen minutes to audition. Five minutes would be for the students to sing any song of their choice to prove their singing abilities, five would involve a dance instructor observing to see if they could handle choreography, and the final five would be set aside for cold reading from the actual script if they passed the first two tests.
The drama teacher, choir teacher, and dance instructor sat in a panel below the stage and watched as one student after another crossed the stage and performed their piece. Some students were immediately asked if they would consider working the stage itself instead of being in the play, the rest were split up between those that would be getting called back and those who would be in the chorus but not a special part.
Sakura found her way onto the stage later in the evening. Her, Syaoran, and Eriol, had all managed to get times one after the other, and Sakura was first of the three. She nervously blinked at the three rather bored looking teachers and squinted into the bright stage lights that were all focused on her.
She shuffled a bit and coughed as she tried to shove her nerves out of her system. A glance to the side revealed Tomoyo with her usual camcorder in hand, giving her a thumbs up. Sakura sweat-dropped but felt slightly more at ease with Tomoyo standing nearby. She turned her attention back to the teachers who were seriously considering asking her to join the stage crew just as she began to sing. The choir teacher rose out of her daze slightly as Sakura's voice slowly filled the small theater, singing a song that Tomoyo had helped her practice only hours before. The dance instructor watched the choir teacher scribble Sakura's name in the call back's column and got ready to get out of his chair to run her through the practice dance routine.
Being a cheerleader was in Sakura's favor at this point because she was very limber and had no trouble keeping up with him. When the instructor returned and checked her name it was the drama teacher's turn to hand Sakura the script and have her read from one of the lead parts.
At the end of the fifteen minutes, Sakura had secured a spot on the call-backs list along with five other girls for the part of Kristine.
Next was Syaoran who, instead of looking nervous, looked annoyed at best. At the very least however, he was less annoyed now than before, hearing Sakura sing had calmed him a little. His slight frown didn't deter the drama teacher from looking interested though. As soon as Syaoran had walked onto the stage the image of the perfect Raoul had appeared in her head. Syaoran's mediocre but flawless performance did not deter her from writing his name on the call-backs list and drawing a small star next to his name despite the choir teacher's objections that there had been plenty of better singers than him previously.
The drama teacher's momentary star-studded haze was immediately cooled when Eriol took his place on the stage. Syaoran was forgotten in Eriol's stage presence. Even before he had said a word the three teachers were thoroughly impressed by him. His short performance left each of them spellbound and even the dance instructor, after his brief attempt at teaching Eriol the practice dance routine, felt he could learn something from the teenager.
After Eriol exited all three of the teachers unanimously decided that Eriol was far more deserving of the part of Raoul. The drama teacher settled for writing Syaoran down as the Phantom instead.
----
The next day at school the results of the auditions were posted up on the wall. Tomoyo cheered happily when she discovered that the three of them had all made callbacks. "Oh this is just wonderful! I can just see it now. Eriol as the mysterious phantom and Syaoran as the dashing Raoul! And Sakura-chan of course will be Kristine!" She squealed happily.
Eriol looked rather thoughtful as he observed the piece of paper. "You do realize Tomoyo… that both the Phantom and Raoul are love interests in this play." He mentioned idly, watching out of the corner of his eye to see what Syaoran's reaction would be. He was not disappointed.
"Wait a minute…! Tomoyo you never told me that!" Syaoran blasted, his face immediately turning red from anger. Tomoyo simply beamed innocently. Syaoran whipped around to face Eriol. "You knew it all along didn't you? You planned this!"
"Syaoran, honestly. You really need to relax." Eriol defended, throwing his hands up in surrender.
Syaoran's face regained its color, but the anger didn't quite leave. "You have to go and tell the teachers that you'd rather be in crew!"
"But Syaoran…" Tomoyo cried.
"No, Tomoyo. There's no way I'm going to be ok with Sakura pretending to be in love with him half the time!" Syaoran interrupted, crossing his arms and giving her a no-nonsense glare.
"But surely, Syaoran… you know that in the end of the play Kristine chooses Raoul over the phantom. In fact… she doesn't ever really love the phantom… but in the beginning she is under his spell and only believes that she does." Eriol explains coolly.
Syaoran chews over this thoughtfully and relaxes his stance a bit. "She chooses Raoul in the end?" He asks for clarification.
"But of course." Eriol beamed.
"Well… alright then." Syaoran caved, deciding that it wouldn't be so bad since Sakura would end up with him and not Eriol in the end.
----
"Absolutely out of the question!" Syaoran stormed after they had received their parts for call backs. Even Tomoyo looked mildly surprised.
"I was so sure they'd choose Eriol for the Phantom…" She muttered quietly.
Inwardly the entire scenario had Eriol laughing. When they had gotten to the call backs the teachers had swept himself and Syaoran to the side, telling them immediately their roles. Syaoran could have literally destroyed the entire theater with his anger if it hadn't been for a quick dose of drowsing magic on Eriol's behalf. He, of course, had a hard time thinking up a good reason why Syaoran had fallen asleep so suddenly, but it appeared that 'a long night of studying' had been good enough of an excuse.
Sakura was too busy trying to help calm Syaoran to be happy that she had indeed received the part of Kristine Daeé, the lead role.
After they'd been given their scripts and excused, Eriol released his spell upon Syaoran as soon as they'd cleared the school and mentally sat back to watch the fireworks.
"Tomoyo, we're going back to those teachers and insisting that they either switch us or that we're not going to be in the play." He fumed angrily.
"Syaoran… if you would only listen for a few moments, you might learn something. Like the fact that I already took care of that." Eriol muttered, wondering if the brunet had heard him as he continued to carry on about how Eriol must have done something to make them choose him.
Although it was in Eriol's nature to be sadistic at times… he'd realized back in the theater that Syaoran would be absolutely furious with him if he'd allowed the teachers to do as they pleased. And although it might have been hilarious to force Syaoran into being the phantom whether he liked it or not, Eriol found the idea of world war III not as appealing and told the teachers that he'd much rather be the phantom than Raoul. Though the teachers had not been particularly keen on his wishes, they'd decided that they'd rather give him what he wanted than not have him in the play at all.
"Syaoran…" Sakura muttered, finally getting his attention. The brunet's fuse ran out at the sound of her voice and he turned to her, setting his anger aside momentarily to hear what she had to say.
"Eriol already told them that he preferred you to be Raoul." She said gently.
"What?" He blinked in surprise, glancing over to the dark mage who was merely watching him with an amused look on his face.
"Why would you do that?" He asked suspiciously.
Eriol shrugged, "I really did want to be the phantom. Besides… even though it is only a play… since it means so much to you to be with her in the end I simply had to oblige you." He replied with a small smile.
Syaoran looked unconvinced but accepted the first statement as a plausible truth and nodded. "Sorry then…" He muttered.
Eriol beamed, "Not at all. My day simply would not be complete if you weren't angry with me at least once."
Syaoran returned Eriol's statement with another glare, and a stuck-out tongue to dig it in further.
Eriol merely smiled in response.
"You two will never change." Sakura sighed in exasperation, causing Tomoyo to giggle.
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rozu