Not in the position of ever owning Phantom of the Opera. But we do own Giselle Leroux, the supposed witness to the Story of the Phantom and partially the plot.

Chapter 4

It was around one in the morning when I felt a hand shake me as I woke up. I looked up to see a lantern and the owner: he had on a turban, Persian robes, and he seemed quite kind in his eyes, yet stern. "A-ar-are you Nadir Khan, the one who sent me the letter," I asked with anticipation. He shook his head. "I am," he replied, "you must be Giselle Leroux?"

"Yes, sir; you say you know the location of one Ms. Christine Daae?" He didn't say much to me, but shook his head in remark to my question. I took out my note pad, ready to take my notes on this strange man. He gently pulled down the notebook, explaining to me, "Don't take too many notes; I wish to not be a part of the story in the papers. I looked at him with a confused look; why wouldn't he want to stop this…this…psychopath? But I respected him only for the subtly of the matters that I was about to understand after all this time being here. I adjusted my hat, saying, "Where is he?" Nadir walked to the mirror, pointing to it. "How can he be in the mirror?" I asked as I wrote a little note down (which was the start of my will incase I didn't make it out alive.) I was confused, how could a man live in a mirror? He didn't say a word as he revealed to me that the 'mirror' was really a door that was also a one way mirror. There was a tunnel on the other side of the door. The cold breeze from the night brought chills down my back as I watch Nadir take a match out and light a torch for me. He led the way with his lantern as we made our way down the tunnel.

The thoughts of the last few weeks brought back the memories of the yellow eyes. That's what scared me the most. Those yellow eyes, and the reason why I would have an ugly scar on my hand, he had tried to kill me and I knew it from the bloody start. Was he watching us and if he was, would we end up like poor Joseph Buqeut, the grimy stage hand? Well, there was only one way to find out, and that was to follow this strange man and understand the person that was the Opera Ghost and Erik. There were then the very questions that I hadn't thought of until now: Where did this Erik come from? Did he have a family or a lover? And what was his connection to the young Christine Daae? I had so much to learn about this man. We were about five feet under the ground when I heard foot steps. I looked around and Nadir, whose guard was up. Our backs were against each others as he whispered to me; "Keep your hand at the level of your eyes." I did as he said and saved the questions for later…if there was to be a later. My dagger was in my hands; ready to kill whoever was after us. There was then a familiar noise that brought a childish smile to my face in this dark world that was the Opera Ghosts. "Caesar!" I whispered as I hugged the majestic horse for the first time in weeks. Nadir petted the horse gently and whispered, "We must continue on our way to Ms. Daae," I was reluctant to leave the horse by itself, so with all the strength I had that wasn't drained by fear, I mounted onto Caesar and whispered back to him, "I'm not continuing without the horse." For some reason of what ever, he knew I felt safer with the horse and agreed to let the horse continue on our trek.

The lantern was growing weaker and I knew that if we didn't relight our only source of light now, we would be forever lost in the darkness of the underground. I clung tight to Caesar's neck; it was my only source of comfort. The darkness was getting more vivid as I tried to remember the way things were when Gaston was my partner. We had gone on many adventures together as brother and sister, being that we were the best. When he wanted to become a writer, it broke my heart to bits and I thought I couldn't do it on my own. "We're almost there," replied Nadir as he pointed to noise; it sounded to me like running water. Where was it coming from? I didn't ask until I saw it: the lake. I saw the boat and beyond was a little house, which looked quite cozy. I gently slid off Caesar and was about to sit in the boat until Nadir abruptly stopped me from taking the rows. "May be I should go," he whispered as quietly as he could, "Erik isn't the most generous man to outsiders." I nodded in agreement and left him to his work. I ran behind a boulder and with as little advantage of light I had, started to write down what had happened. He rowed in the tiny wooden row boat and I looked on with fear in my eyes for I had a strange exhilaration that something bad was to happen next. There was this beautiful sound that came from the bowels of the lake. I wrote down every single event that had happened through out that time.

Then, a pair of hands came up and started to strangle Nadir. I wanted to try but he had told me to stay away from the lake and I knew the reason why now; he was under water, trying to drown poor Nadir. All was quiet then. I moved to a position where I could see what was going on. There was a dark figure that dragged him out and seemed quite annoyed with Nadir. It was about twenty minutes until Nadir came to. "You are starting to annoy me Daroga," said a voice that sounded beautiful and dangerous at the same time. Nadir didn't seem to fear him. "Erik, you beast, where is Ms. Daae?" I finally saw a full view of Erik; he seemed to me like a skeleton in dinner dress, with a mask on. Even though I was about three yards away, I could smell the essence of death. I wrote down my notes and did my best not to scream as the conversation continued. "I saved you're life," boomed Nadir, "if it weren't for my pity for you, you would've been destroyed in Persia."

"What do you take me for, you silly ass? I have told you to stay out of my affairs or you would be one less human to live in the world. Yes, I admit you 'saved' me, but you still interfere with my business. Inadequately, I should've finished you off long before. But, I have one question…"

"If you're talking about one Mademoiselle Giselle Leroux, she is still here."

"Why is the brat still here?"

"I'm not one to ruin another's career, but that is beside the point: the point is you promised me long ago, that you would commit no more murders."

The bastard chuckled gleefully as a child would at Christmas. "Are they murders, or simply accidents?"

"Don't lie to me, Erik, I know you better than anyone else in this country."

"Dear Daroga, simply state to me by what you mean?"

"I know about the death of Joseph Buqeut."

"So does that meddling reporter."

"Erik, she has nothing to do with this."

Erik's eyes then shot out at him. "You listen you silly ass, there is a reason why Andre and Firman had hired her, to expose me and I refuse to have the gendarmes come after me in my theatre. And as for my affairs with Christine, they aren't of your concern. For she does love me and there is a masked ball coming soon. She will be there with me. You'll see we will be married soon." He then left Nadir on the shore and returned to his lake house. What I had told you was only a portion of the conversation Nadir had with Erik. The rest of the conversation lies within his Memoirs. I ran to help my ally and hoisted him up with all the strength I had. "Do you hate him?" I asked. "No," remarked Nadir as he stood up all sopping wet, "if I did, he would've been destroyed long ago."

I felt it best not to ask him of the Ghost's past and simply just helped him back to his apartment on the Rue de Ravioli.

As we continued our journey, I asked, "What is his detestation against you?" Nadir didn't answer; he simply closed his eyes as if to forget the past. And personally, I have to say that if I was associated with a man or monster, I would try to forget the past the best way I could- even if it meant forcing amnesia upon myself (A/N: Ok, for those who don't know what 'amnesia' is, is just a memory disorder when it causes you to forget who you are. Don't bash us if our definition is wrong.) We silently continued our journey to his apartment as I thought of the conversation they had. They were going to a mask ball, him and Christine? Well, I just hoped that they wouldn't mind if I visited the party for a bit. When we arrived at Nadir's home, I gently helped him out of his coat and had his servant, Darius, make us a cup of tea. I sat down by his couch as he told me of the rosy hours of the Mazenderan. Erik was apparently the entertainer for the royal family of Persia. Just to entertain people by torturing them made me sick with fear and anxiety. But on the other hand, it gave me more information of the beast. But we still hadn't retrieved young Christine and there was the problem. They had gone to Perros, said the Vicomte to me, when I had asked of his whereabouts a few days back. He had told me that they had gotten into a fight over the 'Angel of Music'. Around midnight, through the window of his hotel room, he saw her walk to the cemetery where 'Daddy' Daae was buried. I assumed that he knew Daae some how an asked him questions of how he was acquainted with Christine. 'I was only a child of six or so…my governess and I were walking about the beach when I saw this…ravishing …young girl whom was crying out for her scarf. She was about my age. Being the strapping young boy I was, I rushed into the (freezing) waters of the ocean and retrieved the girls scarf. I was repaid with a kiss on the cheek and that was how I was introduced to Ms. Daae. We were inseparable after that. Of course the last time I saw her in my youth was when I was bout twelve and… well, 'interested' in her as you could imagine. Until now, she has been changed. Especially after the night she preformed Faust as Margarita. She seemed like her should was being carried out by angels. Besides that, when we were in Perros, there was a…heavenly…. And quite unearthly sound coming form the violin of Daddy Daae, but no one was playing it… I knew she was probably upset with me when I told her someone might be fooling with her mind. And about as soon as I got there, the music stopped, Ms. Daae was gone and there was this…horrible…death's head. As you could imagine, there was a heavy amount of fear boiling inside of me as I tried to escape the figure. The next thing I knew, I was dodging skulls that were being thrown at me and I woke up the next morning outside my room, and Christine was there, safely and soundly asleep.' His story was indeed the most fearful thing I had ever heard. It had to be Erik and I knew that there was no point in doing anything just yet. I left Nadir to sleep, for I was tired and wished to retire to my bed…and to wear women's clothes again.

As I ventured down the dark Parisian streets at night, I had found a letter; complete drenched in mud. I picked up the object and in pencil, it said, To be delivered to M. Vicomte Raoul de Changy. Without a moment to lose, I rushed to the home of the Vicomte and knocked on the door desperately. A kindly maid found me, had me dried and fed. Along with that, she had the Vicomte personally come to me to speak. "Ah, Mademoiselle Leroux, how have you been?" I had no time for chit chant, so I simply handed the anonymous letter to him to read. About a minute or two later, he said, "She wants me to wear a white domino." I couldn't contain my laughter at the Vicomte's expense. "Well, I guess I'll be attending the ball with you. But since I'm not as kind as my brother, I will not dress in the attire you see me in now," I snorted gaily as I felt the humor of this press on.

I left the home of the Changy's with glee. I finally reached the Opera and retired to my room. There, on my bed, I found a note once again. I was far from being piqued and decided that the note will stayed sealed like the others. I was highly annoyed with the Ghost and I wouldn't be surprised if I went down there with both my revolver and my dagger. Suppressed by anger toward Erik I knew that he might return tonight with his blazing yellow eyes and I knew that I would be ready. I ran to my dresser to get my other weapon, my great grandfather's revolver form the French Revolution. I hid it beneath my pillow and fell into a restless sleep.