Just a couple of notes here: Mama Valerius is in a wheelchair here so she has means of transportation, and Fred is what I call the guy in Leroux's book who Nadir wanted to avoid when he was leading Raoul down to Erik's place. Not the Ratcatcher, the other guy.

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Madeleine looked up from her knitting at the sound of a very violent 'ahem'. There, standing in the front yard of Rouen's Old Folks Home, were a couple of women and a man. The women were glowering at her, and the man glanced around curiously.

The two women looked as she had when she was younger, and with a jolt she realized who one of them must be. And it would explain their angry looks. But the other one shouldn't be this young . . . not if it was who she thought it was.

They had stared at each other for a few moments when one of Madeleine's friends rolled onto the porch, carrying a basket.

"Yo, Madeleine, wanna go have a picnic? I've got everything we'll need and we can invite that cute guy you've had your eye on lately." Her friend winked at her as she blushed and wished her friend wasn't so forward speaking all the time.

Especially not right now, since a family reunion of sorts was about to take place.

When Madeleine didn't answer, Mama Valerius followed her gaze down to the yard and saw Mina, Morwenna, and Philippe.

Mina waved to her . . . erm, step-grandmother of sorts.

"Why, you're Erik and Christine's little girl, aren't you?" Mama Valerius beamed. "Mina, was it?"

Madeleine's mouth, as well as Mina and Morwenna's, hung open in surprise.

"Wha . . .?" they all said together, though for obviously different reasons that happened to be exactly the same.

Morwenna recovered first, being slightly more used to this sort of thing than Mina.

"How do you know that Erik and Christine got together in a different Universe?" asked Morwenna.

Now Mama Valerius looked slightly startled. "They're not together in this 'verse?" she asked. "That's unusual . . . but you're still their little girl, aren't you?"

Mina nodded. "Just in a different reality," she answered. "Mom is married to Raoul in this one."

"Then why are you here?" Mama Valerius asked.

"Book report," said Mina.

"I'm here to watch her," said Morwenna, "but mostly I'm on vacation."

"Ah," said Mama Valerius, who knew that sort of thing well. "I visit Pern from time to time. Dragon-riding is very soothing for the soul."

"Do you really?" asked Mina, whose eyes suddenly took on that shiny anime-ish look. "I've always wanted to do that!"

"I'll take you with me next time I go!" Mama Valerius's face seemed unable to shed that happy smile.

"Awesome!"

Madeleine finally gathered her senses together. "I . . . have a granddaughter?"

"You've got a couple of grandsons, too," said Mina bluntly. "But one of them we never talk about, since he came about under very . . . bad . . . circumstances and a really crappy book, and the other isn't very popular, due to circumstances as well." She shrugged. "So technically, I've got a couple of brothers if you blend the different versions, but just consider me an only child." She grinned. "Though I've got some rather odd circumstances surrounding me, too, according to Aunt Siren."

Madeleine stared, uncomprehending. And stared some more. When she finally did speak, she sounded quite like a Wookie. She cleared her throat to try again.

"So Erik is alive?"

"He has to be, or I wouldn't be here," said Mina.

"How is he?"

"He's doing really well, no thanks to you," Morwenna butted in. Madeleine turned to look at her aunt and as she did so, felt an odd feeling of apprehension that she couldn't explain.

"Where have you been!" Madeleine demanded of her aunt.

"Trapped in the Bermuda Triangle," said Morwenna, who gestured to herself. "That's why I'm younger than you." She grinned evilly at her niece. "Of course, I'm sure that the me in this Universe is still trapped there, since I'm from her 'verse." She indicated Mina.

Madeleine stared again.

"Would you like to come on our picnic with us?" Mama Valerius suddenly invited.

No! thought Madeleine. NOOO! You fool!

The two magical people exchanged looks, glanced back at Philippe, and shrugged.

"Sure," said Mina.

"No thanks," said Morwenna at the same time. Aunt and great-grandniece stared at each other in a brief battle of wills before Mina nodded.

"Sorry, we can't," she amended.

Madeleine let out a quiet breath of relief. Good.

Mama Valerius looked overly disappointed. "Oh, okay . . . then we'll have to reschedule!" And the smile was back.

"Excuse me," demanded an orderly, suddenly appearing in the center of the scene and glaring around at everyone in general. "What's all this? There are no visitors permitted on the grounds today!"

"Shove off," said Mama Valerius brightly. "They're relatives of Madeleine's."

"And they're here to kick your butt, you know," said another woman, leaning out of the doorway of the Old Folks Home. "I told you that you shouldn't have treated little Erik the way you did."

"No, no, no!" cried the orderly, waving his arms around in an overly dramatic way. "There won't be any butt-kicking! Not on my watch!"

"Go away!" everyone present except Philippe and Madeleine snapped, including the quickly forming audience.

The orderly glared around at them all.

"Morwenna, what does she mean we're going to kick her butt?" asked Mina. "I thought we weren't going to do that yet. You said we were only going to talk to her!"

"And we are," said Morwenna. "After we maim her."

"You can't maim one of my charges!" piped up the orderly. "All of you, GET OUT!"

"PIPE DOWN!" screamed everyone, including Philippe and Madeleine this time.

The orderly glared.

"What do you mean, they want to kick my butt?" asked a slightly worried Madeleine. After all, she wasn't as young and pretty as she used to be, and therefore couldn't use her Mary Sue-like beauty to charm everyone she came across.

"I mean, they want to kick your butt," said Marie Perrault. "And I'll be dead and sent to the deepest circle of hell before I'll help you."

"Does that mean she's a mutineer and betrayer?" a couple of the bystanders quietly wondered.

Mama Valerius looked between the two elderly women. "Why would they want to hurt you, Madeleine?"

Marie answered before Madeleine could even open her mouth. "You see, the distinguished lady here treated her only child lower than a sack of manure, just because he happened to be born the ugliest child on Earth."

She seemed to have had that reply ready for some time and was quite eager to say it.

Mama Valerius' kind face suddenly grew dark and menacing. Madeleine wanted to leave. She wanted to leave right now

"You mean," began Mama Valerius, "that the reason Erik has such an inferiority complex is because of his mother! He didn't want a normal wedding because of you!" She began raging a bit. "My Christine was almost denied the lavishness she deserved on the most important day of her life because of you! My daughter almost gave up the most important day of her life because of you!"

Madeleine shrugged. She suddenly began to feel even more apprehensive, being surrounded by all these vengeful women.

Even the obnoxious orderly just stood there, staring. Philippe backed away cautiously.

"Um . . . ladies?" Philippe managed to say. "It really wouldn't be wise of you to resort to violence in this matter. It will only get you into trouble."

"Right!" the orderly piped up again. "I wouldn't want to have to call up the Inspector and have him come arrest you. He's not easy to deal with."

"He's right. Don't want to have to deal with the police. Especially not that policeman. It'd be difficult to explain how we're here," Mina said suddenly, not wanting another run-in with Inspector Javert. Last time that happened . . . she didn't finish the thought. "Besides, I don't want to be responsible for accidentally killing Grandma. C'mon!" She took off across the yard, heading towards Philippe's carriage.

After a final withering glare, Morwenna reluctantly followed her niece. Philippe trailed behind. Madeleine sighed.

"Damn," said Marie. "I was hoping this would be Judgement Day for you, Madeleine. Oh well, maybe tomorrow." She went back inside, followed by Mama Valerius who had some questions to ask.

The orderly wandered away to sniff out any more trouble and Madeleine picked up her half-done sock to study. If she made a few slight adjustments, it could be altered to fit a grown man's foot . . .

She got to work.

— — — —

Erik looked around the room he'd stumbled into. Normally he knew the Opera like the back of his hand, but because Mecha-Ayesha crushed it, rooms weren't where they were supposed to be.

He'd never admit it, but he was lost.

Lost, in his own Opera! He laughed at that. And then, because it felt good, laughed again.

"Would you shut up already?" snapped a foreign voice, a voice that sounded like it desperately wanted to get back to sleep. "Jeez, a guy needs a simple rest and then some fool has to come along to interrupt it by laughing like a maniac!" There was a sound like someone rolling over and then silence.

Erik walked towards the voice. "Fred? Is that you?"

"I thought you would have – Erik!" The form of a humanoid person leapt up and rubbed his eyes. He moved forward a bit and used the bit of light that came through to see Erik's dark form, somehow recognizing him. "Erik! What are you doing here? I thought you were fired!"

"I am," he replied sadly. "But that doesn't really matter now."

Fred tilted his head in a quizzical way. "What do you mean?"

Erik made some vague gestures with his hands. "My phans blew up the Opera. I'm surprised you're alive, really."

Fred said something that's not fit to print. "I knew those phans of yours would do something stupid one day."

"They were doing what they thought best," replied Erik, who was shocked at this sudden feeling of defensiveness for his phans.

"Even so," retorted Fred, beginning to look around. "How bad is the damage?"

"The place is shattered."

"How'd they do it?" asked Fred, who had a strange fondness for explosives.

"Built a giant metallic Ayesha. It went out of control and stomped right through the Opera. That's why I'm surprised you're alive."

Fred looked proud. "It's gonna take more than one little robot to get rid of me!"

"You haven't seen the size of the thing," Erik pointed out. "Would you happen to have any rope down here?"

Fred looked thoughtful. "Maybe. Look over there." He pointed to what looked like a footlocker sitting in an angled position in a corner as he began looking through the random objects he'd been sleeping on.

Erik cautiously opened the locker, not knowing what in the world might be inside.

His cautiousness paid off, for no less than three rats, a Gremlin, Experiment 395 from Lilo and Stitch, a snake, and twelve Muppets looked up from their card game, jumped out of the box in a hurry, and took off.

"Oh, nice," complained Fred. "You let out my collection!"

Erik turned around. "You were collecting Muppets!"

"They were ones Jim Henson didn't want." Fred shrugged innocently. "I offered them a home."

"We didn't know you were planning on collecting us and keeping us locked up in the Luggage!" shouted what could only have been a Muppet voice from far off.

Fred shrugged innocently again. Erik rolled his eyes and turned back to the footlocker.

And fell to his butt in shock.

That box had teeth!

"What is that!" asked Erik, scuttling back a safe distance. After all, he couldn't Punjab a box. At least, he didn't think he could . . .

"I was wondering when the Luggage would make itself known," said Fred, walking over to it and patting the wood fondly. The teeth disappeared and the box gave off the distinct feeling of happiness.

It suddenly sprouted about a hundred little legs and scurried off into the darkness.

"Don't go too far!" Fred called after it.

"What is that thing!"

"The Luggage," said Fred. "Well, not the Luggage. More like a Luggage. If it were the Luggage, I'd have the PPC hot on my trail to get it back. Not that I blame them, of course, because that would just be wrong anyway. Nah. I went to Discworld and got some of my own sapient pearwood to fashion my own Luggage. It was easy." He stared off in the direction his Luggage had gone. "I think I did a rather good job, honestly."

None of this made sense to Erik and he had the feeling he was in the dark again, both literally and hypothetically speaking. Either that, or Fred was rambling nonsensically again. He wasn't sure which.

So he remained silent, which for Erik was perfectly normal.

Fred looked back at Erik, as if suddenly realizing something. "What are you doing down here?"

"Fell down a hole."

Fred looked up. "Wow, you're lucky you weren't hurt. You must have the reflexes of a cat."

"That's not entirely true," Erik pointed out. "Ayesha doesn't always land on her feet."

"How is she doing, anyway?" asked Fred, going back to digging though a pile of junque™(1).

"Okay," said Erik and, realizing a deeper implication, added, "I hope she doesn't think I've been neglecting her. We've just been busy over the past few days."

"Like playing paintball and not inviting me," muttered Fred, pulling a long rope out from underneath a buried chair.

Erik immediately felt a teensy bit guilty. "I'm sorry, Fred. I didn't know you'd be interested in that game."

"The Siren knew," he snapped. "She promised me she'd invite me next time she went."

Erik made some vague gestures of uncertainty. "Sorry," he repeated. Fred tossed him the rope.

"Take that while I pack," he said.

Erik tested the rope. It seemed strong enough. But not as strong as his Lasso, of course.

His Lasso!

He pulled that out from under his cloak and stared at it. Why hadn't he remembered that he had it before?

He compared it to the rope and was relieved that his Lasso was the shorter of the two. At least then he hadn't quite been stuck down here for nothing.

Fred finished loading things into his suitcase and snapped it shut. "I'm ready to go," he said. "But we've gotta find my Luggage first."

Erik shrugged and tucked both ropes into his cloak. "Where are you going to go?"

"To a local hotel," he replied, "until I get a way to get my stuff out of here. Then I think I'll go to Canada."

"Canada?"

"Always wanted to see Niagara Falls."

"Ah."

"Do you remember the way back from where you came?"

"Yes," said Erik confidently, hoping he was right. After all, there were hallways where there hadn't been hallways before . . .

Fred took off down a side tunnel.

"Where are you going!" Erik yelled after him.

"I heard my Luggage!" he called. "I'll be right back!"

Erik stared into the darkness for a second, yellow eyes glinting, before turning and walking in the direction from where he was sure he'd come. Let Fred find his own way if he was going to chase after a freaky box with legs.

Besides, he had the rope.

— — — —

Christine and Raoul soon returned with the requested item and quickly left again after handing it over to the phans.

The phans tossed the rope down and began calling for Erik.

"Maybe one of us should go down there and search," a phan suggested.

"No way!" said a number of other phans. "What if we got lost down there?"

"Anyone got a good sense of direction?" asked the first phan. Everyone else shook their heads.

"Then anyone got anything to use as a trail?"

"I've got some trail mix," offered Nadir, showing the bag to them. The phans laughed.

"I wouldn't have imagined Nadir eating trail mix!" giggled a phan.

"Me neither!" came the nearly unanimous agreement.

Nadir put the mix away and looked insulted. The Girys patted their pockets.

"I've got M&Ms," offered Meg.

"How many?" asked a phan, trying not to sound too eager at the sound of chocolate.

Meg held up an unopened large bag of peanut butter M&Ms. The phans drooled appreciatively.

"Hey, you can't have them if you're going to eat them," she warned.

As one, the phans shook their heads. "No, M&Ms are too holy to simply be used as a trail, even if it means rescuing Erik sooner."

They turned back to the hole and began their calling afresh as Meg put her M&Ms back in her purse.

She was secretly relieved that the phans had rejected her candy, but she would have felt guilty not offering it as well.

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(1) Junque™ (junk) n. 1. A fancy word for junk that my Mom and I came up with. 2. Used to mean those things that you want to keep, but have absolutely nowhere to put them. 3. Can also mean all of your stuff, including your computer, bed, Yu-Gi-Oh cards, Van Helsing doll, books, Syndrome plushie, CDs, chainsaw, etc.

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