Wow, so everyone really loves this story! I posted this up quickly because of all the reviews I have been getting. Please keep them coming. Some new characters coming in….hope you like!


Gustave's POV

I was scared, never had I ever been so scared in my entire life. A punishment was coming my way, but god, who knew all about punishments coming from a Phantom? If his hands had blood spilled on them, then God only knows what lay my way. When we arrived back at the lair, he built a fire, and draped his cloak around Reneasia's soaking wet body. I stood there in the middle of the room shivering from my wet clothes, and fear. My father however, just gawked at me with those eyes that were hiding behind his mask, and ordered me to go right to my room and change.

Without hesitating, I did just that, and pulled the journal out of my pocket. It had gotten wet, but the inside was still dry. I placed it underneath my pillow to hide it from my father, and undressed out of my wet clothes just in the nick of time, for when I slid a new shirt over my body, my father came barging in my room full of anger.

"How dare you!" he growled. "How dare you have contact with another human being within the opera house!"

I took a few steps back towards the bed, and snapped right back at him.

"We're friends…..she won't tell on you…"

"How can you be certain! She's a human, she'll….she'll rat me out just like any other! What makes her any different than any other human being?"

"She's kind…."

My father grabbed me by the collar of my shirt, and pulled me to him, his fist clenching so tightly around the fabric that it turned his knuckles white.

"Kind! Kindness isn't going to save us!"

"You had mother!" I cried out. "Wasn't mother the same way? wasn't she kind? Did she ever tell on you? No!"

"Your mother was different!" he shouted. "How? How was she different? She was a human too! I'm a human!"

"You will not speak to me in such a way!" he growled, pulling me back into the main room where Reneasia was still seated. And then he slapped me…..nothing drastic, just a slight slap that stung on my cheek…

"Please, monsieur, let me go back to my mother….I won't tell…."

Erik stood over her, and took a few breaths to calm down his rage.

"Did I ever tell you the story of the little gypsy girl who came down where she shouldn't have, and disappeared forever more….."

Reneasia gasped in horror, but I wasn't going to have this. He wasn't going to harm her…..

"No! if she goes missing, all the people from the opera house will come down here looking for her. We're more likely to be discovered that way, rather than her telling on us….."

My father stood there for several seconds, realizing that I was right.

"My son has a point…" he growled. "So let me make things perfectly clear…" he pulled the girl to her feet, and knelt down so that he was face to face with the terrified child.

"If you ever breathe a word of my existence to anyone of those sniveling monsters that lurk above ground, even your own mother, I will come up there and haunt you forever more….."

"Yes, monsieur phantom…." she cried. "Never, I promise."

"So when your mother asks you why you're soaking wet…."

"I'll tell her I fell into the underground lake….."

He patted the girl on the shoulder, and gave her one of his famous evil smiles.

"You've got smarts, girl…you're not stupid at all…."

My father grabbed a key, and was about to leave with Reneasia, when I tried to follow. Though, my father only glared back at me and snapped once more…

"Not you! You're grounded, young man….."

"I want to come with you…"

"No! and since you destroyed my gondola, you can have the privilege of helping me repair it….."

"But…"

"Go to your room!"

I looked at Reneasia, and sighed.

"Goodbye, Reneasia…"

"Bye, Gustave…."

My father pulled the girl to his side, and pointed to the hall.

"To your room!"

I turned my back, and did as I was told…I wouldn't let my father shun me away from Reneasia. She was different than other beings, and I enjoyed her company. I was going to see her again, and soon. She and I made a deal to find the letters, and I was going to do just that…The following morning however, my punishment only worsened. When I decided to crawl out of my room, my father was there waiting for me….

"And where do you think you're going?" he growled.

"No where…" I said.

"Exactly, because you're grounded, remember?"

"She's not a bad person, Erik….."

"I didn't say she was, but one slip, and we could be in some serious trouble….."

"You can't keep me from being friends with her…You had mother….and I have no one besides her.."

"You have me!" he shouted. "Am I not good enough for you, you sniveling brat!"

I gasped at my father's words, and ran back into my room, slamming the door in his face.

"Open up!" he pounded against the door.

"No! go away, Erik!"

"You have until the count of three to come out of that room, or so help me god, I'll break it down!"

I stood there against the door, not moving a muscle.

"One…two….two and a half…..GUSTAVE! Open up!"

I stood back, and opened the door, only to have my father barge in and grab me by the arm….

"Let's go! You're helping me fish out my gondola from the lake! And then, young man, you are going to help me fix the hole in it…."

My father drug me out into the dark catacombs, where he led me down a passageway to where he had saved me just hours before. The water had long since stopped twirling, and my father was able to jump in the water and pull what was left of the gondola out of the murky liquid…..

"Look at this mess!" he groaned, inspecting the hole within the front of it…. "It'll take me months to repair."

"We wouldn't have had a problem if you didn't have your traps running…." I sneered.

"Those traps are for mine and your protection!"

"From what!" I screamed. "No one even knows we're down here!"

"That's not the point! It's for our safety…now help me pull this back to the house…."

I grabbed an end of the gondola, and helped my father carry it back down the passageway. When we were home, he sat it up on the stone dock he had, and began to tear apart the broken planks of wood that had snapped….

"Your mother once rode in this….and now look at it…ruined!"

"It's not unfixable…" I stated. "Just needs a new plank of wood."

"Don't tell me what I need, boy!" he growled. "Supplies are hard enough to get within this damn opera house…."

I sat down, and watched as my father began to dry out the soaked gondola. I knew he was mad at me, but I couldn't help but want to apologize to him. Not for seeing Reneasia, but for using his gondola.

"I'm sorry…I shouldn't have…."

"That's right, you shouldn't have…..but saying you're sorry isn't going to turn back time, now is it?"

"Reneasia isn't going to tell anyone about me, Erik…please don't make me stop seeing her."

"Do you know the first thing your mother called me when I first saw her?" he asked.

"No, what?"

"Angel, she called me an angel…" a smile formed across his lips, and I even heard a sweet sigh escape him. "Funny how one could miss the slightest of things."

"I know…I miss her too."

"I'm not an unreasonable man, Gustave…I just care for you, that's all. I'm willing to give you some freedom….."

"What do you mean?"

"Let's just say that tonight the traps won't be turned on…..and let's just say that you can go up to that chapel, if you promise to stay in the chapel…."

"Really?" I asked. "You'd let me…"

"If you stay in the chapel….."

This was my perfect chance, I would be able to see Reneasia again, and I would be able to go to the estate to find the letters…..

"Yes, I will…."

"No place other than the chapel…." he instructed….

Quickly, I threw my arms around him, and thanked him over and over again…..I hated having to lie to him, but what was I to do? Raoul had something that belonged to my father….. I knew I had still upset Erik for my previous actions, and he demanded to be left alone for the remainder of the day. He locked himself inside his bedroom, and I could hear him playing soft yet beautiful music on his violin as I prepared for the night's events. I knew how to crack into the estate without Raoul knowing, hell, I had done it a thousand times over again. When I lived there, I often slipped out at night to watch the stars. What my parents didn't know, was that I slipped back in during the night through a basement window that was always kept open. Tonight, Reneasia and I would sneak in through the same window, and search for the letters. That night, I threw on my cloak, and went knocking on my father's bedroom door to tell him that I was on my way…. When I didn't get a response, I opened the door to find him hunched over his bed, still dressed in the same clothes he had been working in….but the good part was that he was asleep. Quietly, I shut the door, and ran down the passage way with the journal in one hand, and a lantern in the other. When I arrived at the chapel, to my surprise, Reneasia was already there…praying…

"Hello…" I said, my voice almost a whisper.

She stopped praying, and looked over at me.

"Please don't tell me we're doing this? Your father is going to get awfully angry if he finds you gone…."

"He's asleep. Besides, we'll be back before he even wakes."

I climbed up on the ledge of the chapel, and cracked open the window so we could sneak out.

"We'll, are you coming or not?" I asked, extending my hand out to her…

She accepted, and I pulled her outside. Once we were there, I inhaled the chilly air, and sighed…..it sure felt good to be outside again.

"So, where are we headed?" she asked.

I held the lantern out to light my way, and began to walk with her at my side.

"So tell me, how is that you're Christine's son, and his at the same time? The story goes that she married another man, and they lived happily ever after…"

"Well they didn't did they? My mother wrote in her journal that she never wanted to marry anyone other than my father."

"Your father scares me…"

"I know, he scares me too, but anything is better than living with the man I've been calling father for the past ten years. My father's heart is in the right place, I assure you…."

"So what letters are we looking for?" she asked.

"In my mother's journal, she wrote that she had all these letters that she wrote to my father…..I want to find them, and give them to him….I feel as if perhaps my mother would have wanted it that way…"

"But what if we're spotted?" she asked.

"We'll be fine…."

We passed street after street, heading up to the DeChangy estate….When we arrived, I noticed that the iron gates were closed. This didn't stop me, for I was small enough to slink through the bars with no problem at all, and Reneasia was able to do the same. The only problem was that the lantern was too thick to squeeze through….so I had to extinguish it and leave it at the gates.

"Where to now?" she asked.

I grabbed her by the hand, and led her through the yard and around the corner to where the basement window was….and of course, as always, it was open. I warned Reneasia to stay where she was until I slipped through incase there was any danger. Once I was inside, I held out my hand to help her through as well.

"What if your old dad is walking around the house?" she questioned.

I motioned her to be quiet, and took her hand to lead her up the stairs quietly. Always at this hour, the maids had long since gone to bed, leaving the hallways empty and dark. I knew my way around like the back of my hand, and began leading Reneasia through the hallways and up the staircase to my father's room. I crept along like a child trying to sneak past his parents on a late night to get out, only this time, I was sneaking in. Once we were up the stairs, I pressed Reneasia against the wall in order to hear if Raoul was around, but the hallways were silent. Carefully, I reached the bedroom door, and opened it slowly incase Raoul was inside sleeping…..I sighed, when I realized that the room was empty…..Where was he? At the bar? That was a possibility…

"All clear…" I whispered, motioning Reneasia to follow me inside.

When she was beside me, I closed the door without making any sound, and began rummaging through my mother's drawers.

"What should I do?" she asked.

"Just keep watch…..if you hear anything at all, let me know…"

Drawer after drawer I rummaged through everything, keeping a clean path along the way. When I found nothing but clothes, I went on to her over sized jewelry box, opening every little secret door it had…

"She had to keep them someplace private…" exclaimed Reneasia.

"Why would you think that?"

"So her husband would never find them….."

The girl was right…..but I didn't know where else to search…..

"Let's try the closet…" Reneasia suggested.

I agreed, and jumped down from my mother's vanity, and scurried across the floor to reach the closet where my friend was standing…but stopped when I ran over a makeshift rug laying near my mother's side of the bed and heard a squeak….. I stopped, and ran my foot up against the noise, and found it quite funny…..and then I realized what the squeak meant; a loose floorboard! And where there were loose floorboards, there were hidden objects. I pulled away the rug, and knelt down to notice a board that didn't look like all the rest…

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"I think I found them…"

Reneasia rushed to my side, and helped me pull at the board….

"Pull harder." I said…

At the same time, we both pulled, and finally managed to pry it away from the floor…..I then reached my hand inside the dark hole, and felt around until I felt a bundle of paper, and pulled it out…..And there in my hand was a thick bundle of fading parchment bound in a black ribbon…..I dusted them off, and smiled when I realized that the bundle was not just a bundle of paper, it was a bundle of sealed envelopes with my father's name written across the top one….This was it! I had found them.

"Is that what you were looking for?" she asked.

"Yes, I believe so…"

"Well untie it…let's have a look…"

My fingers pried around the black ribbon, and were about to pull it loose, when I heard the muffled sound of several men talking and approaching the room. Quickly I threw back on the floorboard, and covered it with the rug before darting to the closet. I opened it, and pulled Reneasia in with me….and just in the nick of time…. Moments later, the door opened, and the lights were turned on… I peeked out from a hole in the door, to see Raoul entering with a bunch of thuggish looking men. He approached his side of the room, and took out a map before spreading it over his bed.

"He has traps, you see…..they're set up all within the water. You must stay out of it, or else who knows what in God's name they'll do to you…."

All I could ponder at that moment, was what in the world Raoul was going on about.

"Right here, in the beginning…" I saw Raoul place his finger on the map. "And right here…"

"And when we reach his home, what do we do to him?" asked one of the men dressed in a red shirt and brown trousers.

"What ever the hell you want…Stab him, drown him, do what ever….Just bring me Christine's will….Turn the place upside down…"

"So we should kill him?"

"Do what you must…Just bring back her will, and everything that belongs to her. That monster deserves nothing!"

"What about the boy?"

"That creature's spawn? Kill him too….."

"A child?"

"Kill him, and I'll pay you double of what you're all getting now…"

I gasped, they were talking about me! They were talking about my father…..I needed to get back! I needed to warn him.

Raoul handed the map to one of the men, and they went walking out of the room, shutting the door on their way out. When the coast was clear, I came out of the closet, and ran over to the window…. And when I looked down, I was terrified at what I saw. There, near the gates was a mob of twelve or thirteen men in a wooden cart, ready to pull out…In their hands they had torches and pitch forks and god knows what else….

"We have to warn my father…" I said, grabbing Reneasia's hand.

"They'll get there faster than us…" she stated.

"Not if I can help it…."

I snuck back to the basement, and crawled out of the window, pulling Reneasia with me. I once again told her to be quiet, and snuck towards the cart…..

"What are we going to do?"

I placed my hand over Reneasia's mouth, and crawled underneath the cart and motioned for her to hold onto the railing underneath…..I wasn't going to risk loosing my father. Once she was situated, I did the same, and held on tightly as the cart began to move towards the opera house…..To secure the journal and letters, I placed them into my shirt and kept an eye on my friend as the bumpy ride continued towards the opera house….. When we arrived, I waited until all the men were gone, before dropping myself, and helping Reneasia off from where she was holding onto. The men were over at a side window, trying to bust their way in, but I had a quicker way.

"Come on…" I said, pulling Reneasia with me to the chapel window. I quickly snuck back through, and opened the secret passageway towards home.

"We need to warn my father…" I reminded her, as I pulled her arm.

But just as I made it to the stone passageway that my father had walked along earlier that day, I heard the sound of angry men marching their way towards my home…I wasn't about to give up on getting to my father, but I only hoped it wasn't already too late…


Ok, More action to come soon! If I get a lot of updates, I might get it up faster… Please review! Thanks! In the next chapter, I'm bringing Reneasia's mother into the story…..sorry that she didn't make it into this one….