Chapter Eight! Finally! So sorry!

Penelope Zozes: Thank you! And I'm most familiar with the stage version, so..you know. *shrugs*

Durna: Continuing.

Darkgemwildcat: So sorry for the long wait…updating now :3

Wesailattwilight: IKR, that biatch…jk!

MusicalLover17: THANK YOU!

Rating: T, because I'm paranoid.

Characters: Christine, Erik, Raoul (as a girl), Andre, Firmin, Carlotta, Piangi, Meg Giry, Madame Giry, etc. etc. and some minor OCs.

Summary: Instead of Raoul, Renee. Instead of a boy, a girl. Instead of an unhappy ending for Erik, a happy one. What the musical may have been like if Raoul were a girl. Erik/Christine. Mostly musical verse, some book-based ideas and concepts.

Disclaimer: No, I don't own the freaking Phantom of the freaking Opera.

Thanks to all the follows and faves. This chapter will be a slightly similar format to "Masquerade."

This might be the second to last chapter, I'm not sure, though.

Christine stepped out of the carriage, her hair falling gracefully to her shoulder. She sniffed at the crisp air and stepped towards the familiar city of tombs.
This was where her last relative was buried, her last family. Her father.
She wound her way around the too-familiar gravestones, passing by carved angels and heartless stone.

You were once my one companion
You were all that mattered
You were once a friend and father
Then my world was shattered

She remembered the walks by the beach—that was how she meet Renee. She remembered the long days of playing violin in their little house, with her singing. Her voice was a bright, clear soprano back then, but she had let it fade into a croak after his death—until she met Erik. And then the sickness happened. Her father had wasted away, terribly so, until nothing was left except a shell of the man he used to be. And then, there was nothing, and Christine was alone.

Wishing you were somehow here again
Wishing you were somehow near
Sometimes it seemed if I just dreamed
Somehow you would be here

Wishing I could hear your voice again
Knowing that I never would
Dreaming of you won't help me to do
All that you dreamed I could

Christine missed him, so, so much. She would have given anything—the last twenty years of her life, all of her possessions, hell, even her voice—to have him back. Anything.
He was her everything. Losing her father wasn't like losing simply a parent for Christine—it was like getting the ground ripped out from below her feet.

Passing bells and sculpted angels
Cold and monumental
Seem for you the wrong companions
You were warm and gentle

Christine sat down on a cold bench by her father's grave, tracing the fine outline's of an angel's wings nearby. How cold they were, how unforgiving. Weren't angels supposed to be warm and full of golden light? Christine could hardly believe an angel had anything to do with this cold creature, standing by her father's grave as if guarding him from life, from love.

Too many years fighting back tears
Why can't the past just die?

Christine stood. Tears, hot and boiling, slid down her cheeks, and they fell to the ground below. She wished she could forget him, could accept he was gone, but that was impossible. How could she ever forget the man who gave her everything? She didn't really remember her mother, and her other relatives were just blurs—her father was the only constant she had ever had in her life.

Wishing you were somehow here again
Knowing we must say goodbye
Try to forgive, teach me to live
Give me the strength to try

She knelt on the ground, the dampness soaking through her cloak. And still she wept, the tears staining her cheeks as she remembered the man who gave her life. She couldn't let go of him, couldn't let him leave her. His presence was still there, his influence still prominent. He was still very much alive to her, and unless she accepted he was lying under the cold, dark ground, seven feet underneath his daughter, his last living relative (Not counting his third cousin twice removed, who lived in Sweden, but he had barely known him anyway) she was going to miserable.

No more memories
No more silent tears
No more gazing across these wasted years
Help me say goodbye

The chill was driving into her bones. She shivered. Was it simply a draft, or was there a ghost or phantom here? She dismissed the thought.

Help me say goodbye…

A strong gust of wind came up as she turned to go back home, chilling Christine to the bone. She thought she heard her name being called out, and turned around. Seeing nothing, she turned to leave, but heard a voice again. "Christine!" This time it was clear. She whipped around again and saw Erik, rushing toward her side.
"Erik!" She cried, and he grinned lightly.
"Christine, what are you doing here?" He asked.
"Visiting my father." She said. A look of worry hushed over Erik's face, but disappeared as quickly as it had come. "And you?"
"I was looking for you. Everyone has been frightened Christine, they even think I might've kidnapped you."
Christine raised her eyebrows. "What? Why would you kidnap me?"
"Don't ask me, ask your 'friend'", He spat the word as if it were a curse, "Renee."
Christine inwardly rolled her eyes.
"Christine!" Another voice shouted, a distinctly feminine one. "CHRISTINE!" Christine recognized the voice. Renee.
"What, Renee?" She called out. "What are you doing here?"
"Looking for you!" Renee came stumbling up the hill. "Are you—" she stopped as she saw Erik. "Oh," she said, her voice sounding disgusted. "It's you."
"Yes, it's me!" Erik blustered. "I have every right to be here!" He grabbed Christine's arm. "Come one Christine, let's go."
"No!" Renee shrieked and pounced on Christine, grabbing her wrist. "Leave her! You have no claim on her! Leave her! Your words are wasted -Can't you see she'll never be yours?"
"Renee!" Christine tried to twist her arm out of Renee's grasp. "Stop it!"
"Ha!" Erik turned to leave. "Bravo, young girl, such spirited words!"
"Oh, do you have more tricks up your sleeve, Monsieur?" Renee sneered.
"What tricks?" Erik asked, truly bemused. "Let's see how far you dare go, girl."
"What are you even capable of?" Renee yelled, her eyes glazed over like a mad man's. "More deception, more violence?"
"I haven't done anything!" Erik shouted, frightening Christine, who was cowering by the statue of an angel.
Renee bit her lip and turned around, walking away. "That's right, keep walking, good girl!" Erik shouted after her, his voice filled with venom.
Renee paused, then turned around and shrieked, "You can't win her love by making her your prisoner!"
"She's not a prisoner!" Erik bellowed, his cape flapping in the wind.
"Oh, she's not?" Renee taunted. "You're not the Angel of Music then, are you?"
Erik shrank back, his features contorted with anger. "What?"
"Ha, Angel of Music," Renee sneered. "More like Angel of Death!" She spat.
"Leave." Erik hissed. "Now."
"Fine, then!" Renee stamped her foot onto the ground.
"And don't stop!" Erik shouted after her as the girl walked to a waiting carriage.

"You understand your instructions?" Averell said, looking over the group of firemen and soldiers that had assembled. It was the opening night of the Phantom's Opera, "Don Juan Triumphant," and this was the night the Phantom's reign would end.
"Yes, sir!" The firemen shouted.
"When the whistle blows, take up your positions. Close the doors. Secure them." He walked among the men, glaring at each of them. "It is essential that all of the doors are properly secured."
The men nodded.
"Are you sure we're doing the right thing?" A nervous Firmin asked Andre.
"Do you have a better idea?" Andre hissed, surveying the stage.
"Should I give the order?" Averell asked.
Renee nodded. "Do it." Averell blew into the whistle. Renee covered her ears. "God, I hate that sound," she muttered.
Averell ignored his wife. "You there, in the pit, do you have a clear view of the stage?"
"Yes, sir."
"Remember," Averell cleared his throat. "When the order comes, shoot. Shoot to kill."
"But how will I know?" Cried the boy in the pit.
"You will know." Renee said, and was surprised at how small her voice seemed.
"Excuse me," Firmin stepped forward. "Are you sure this will work, that Miss Daae will sing?"
"Trust me." Renee smirked. "I know."
"Alright." Andre seemed pale and frightened. "Our fate lies in your hands."
"Are the doors secure?" Averell shouted.
"Secure!"
"Secure!"
"This one's secure!" They heard shouts from the men at the doors.
"Ha!" They heard a shout from above. Renee froze, the blood boiling in her veins. "I'm here—The Phantom of the Opera.. I'm here, the Phantom of the Opera…"
"What?" Firmin shouted, his face a ghastly shade of white.
A gunshot sounded.
"You fool!" Renee shrieked. "Only shoot when you get the order!"
"But.." the poor boy seemed panicked.
"No buts." There. There was the voice again, the voice of the invisible Phantom that seemed to control them all. "For once, Miss Renee is right. I hate to cut our fun short, but the joke is wearing thin.. let my audience in, let my opera begin!" The voice seemed to echo across decades, millennia, eternity. Then it was gone.

"Here the sire may serve the dam, here the master takes his meat! Here the sacrificial lam buttersone despairing bleat!" The chorus sang. For once, they sounded perfect. Erik smiled lightly to himself in his place in the rafters.
"Poor young maiden! For the thrill onyour tongue of stolen sweets you will have to pay the bill -tangled in the winding sheets! Serve the meal and serve themaid! Serve the master so that, when tables, plans and maids are laid, Don Juan triumphs once again!" Carlotta sang. Erik felt like covering his ears, but refrained from doing so.
"Passarino, faithful friend, once again recite the plan!" Piangi sang. At least he was getting the notes right, Erik thought wryly to himself.
"Your young guest believes I'm you I,the master, you, the man!" The chorus boy playing Passarino sang.
"When you met you wore my cloak, with my scarf you hid your face. She believes she dines with me, in her master's borrowed place! Furtively, we'll scoff and quaff, stealing what, intruth, is mine. When it's late and modesty starts to mellow, with the wine!" Ah, Don Juan's triumphant plan, Erik thought.
"You come home! I use your voice slam the door like crack ofdoom!"
"Poor thing hasn't got a chance!"
"H
ere's my hat, my cloak and sword. Conquest is assured, if Ido not forget myself and laugh.."
And there she was, there was Christine, looking beautiful, nearly like an angel.
"No thoughts within her head, but thoughts of joy! No dreams within her heart but dreams of love!" Christine sang, her voice crystal clear and beautiful, filling the opera house.
A look of worry crossed over Erik's face as he prepared himself for his descent to the stage.

"You have come here in pursuit of your deepest urge, in pursuit of that wish, which till now has been silent, silent ..." Erik sang from behind Christine. She started slightly as she recognized the voice of her Angel, but continued to play Aminta.
"I have brought you, that ourpassions may fuse and merge -in your mind you've already succumbed to me, dropped all defenses, completely succumbed to me -now you are here withme: no second thoughts, you've decided, decided .."
Erik circled around Christine. "Past the point of noreturn - no backward glances: the games we've played till now are at an end ...Past all thought of "if" and "when" no use resisting: abandon thought, and let the dream descend ...What raging fire shall flood the soul? What rich desire unlock itsdoor?"
Erik paused slightly. Renee would probably give the command to fire as soon as the song ended, but Erik wouldn't let himself be caugh. "What sweet seduction lies before us ... ? Past the point of no return, the final threshold -what warm, unspoken secrets will welearn? Beyond the point of no return…" He let the final sentence fade off.

"You have brought me to that moment where words run dry, to that moment where speech disappears into silence, silence ...I have come here, hardly knowing the reason why..In my mind, I've already imagined our bodies entwining, defenceless and silent - and now I am here with you: no second thoughts, I've decided, decided ..."
Christine sounded slightly nervous, though she grew more confident as the song went on. "Past the point of no return - no going back now: our passion-play has now, at last, begun ..."
She was now madly thinking of an idea how to fool Renee into letting Erik go, and nearly missed the next note.
"Past all thought of right and wrong one final question: how long should we two wait, before we're one ... ? When will the blood begin to race, the sleeping bud burst into bloom? When will the flames, at last, consume us ... ?"
Erik crossed over to her and took her hands into his. Their voices rose and melded into one, the harmony seeming nearly unearthly.
"Past the point of no return, the final threshold -the bridge is crossed, so stand and watch it burn ...We've passed the point of no return ..."
The last note rang out to a silent hall. Then Erik grasped Christine's hands tightly in his.
"Say you'll share with meone love, one lifetime ..." He continued by himself. Christine was watching her carefully, her large eyes full of fear of what was about to happen.
"Lead me, save me from mysolitude ..." A single tear dripped down Christine's cheek. Erik took his hand from hers and wiped it away, softly, tenderly.
"Say you want me with you, here beside you ..." Christine was growing more and more panicked by the second. The song would end in a moment. Erik would be shot. The curtain would go down. "Anywhere you go let me go too -Christine," That wasn't the character's name, but at that point Erik really didn't care.
Christine gulped slightly, then wrung her hands nervously.
Erik continued, seemingly oblivious to his looming doom, "That's all I ask of-"
Christine looked into Erik's eyes, then out at the audience. She knew he would die if she let the song end without bringing him to safety. She needed a diversion.
Her eyes fell on the smooth porcelain mask, and she moved her hand up to his face.
"I'm sorry," she whispered, and ripped the mask from his face, unleashing a chain of events that would set her entire world in motion.

I'm sorry for any screw-ups in this chapter, message me or review with the problems and I'll change them.
Anyways, I'm sorry for the delay. I had it ready a few days ago, but my power decided to go out, courtesy to Hurricane Isaac. (Gee, thanks.) Well. I hope y'all liked the chapter!
See you next time!
Panda
(please review! Reviews get a blaze on my "Phantom" candle! It's amazing, if I may say so myself.)