Well, I've officially started classes at college! Which means I have less and less time for writing fanfiction :( BOO! There is one more chapter of this one, and thank you to all my beautiful followers! Enjoy the second to last chapter!

Erik dragged Christine firmly by the wrist down to his lair. It reminded him of how he brought down Elaina so forcibly. But this was a woman he loved. And she had betrayed him…twice!

Christine tried to yank out of his grasp, just like Elaina had done, but he held onto her tightly, not letting her get away.

Why couldn't she just realize that the only reason he was doing all this was because he loved her, and yet she couldn't find it in her heart to love him?

Elaina saw Madame Giry take Raoul away and she knew that he was going down to the lair to find Christine and get her back. Elaina wanted to follow, but everyone was panicking and scrambling about and she knew that she needed to help.

She grabbed one the of the ballet girls, and recognized her immediately as one of the former chorus girls she used to work with.

"Elaina?" the girl said surprised. "Where have you been?"

"It's a really long story. Listen to me. We need to get everyone out of here. This place is going up and fast. Help me get everyone away from here."

"Okay!"

Together, the two girls grabbed everyone they could and got them to the exit.

Elaina looked over and saw Carlotta weeping over Piangi's dead body. Even though she hated both of them, she couldn't help but feel sorry for the woman. She went over to her and lightly touched her shoulders.

"Madame, you must get out of here," she said softly.

Carlotta looked up and went to slap her. But Elaina had had enough of everyone trying to harm her and she grabbed onto Carlotta's wrist.

"This is all your fault!" Carlotta growled.

"If you want to blame someone, blame the woman who took off the Phantom's mask and humiliated him in front of everyone!"

"You and Christine are doing everything to ruin my career!"

"You're not going to have a career anymore if you don't get out of here now!"

She gently tore her away from Piangi and led her in the direction of the exit where her friend took over from there. It looked like almost everyone was out. Then she heard crying…

After Erik forced Christine into the wedding dress on the wax doll of her, she came out of the room that Elaina had used and demanded:

Have you gorged yourself at last in your lust for blood?

Am I now to be prey to your lust for flesh?

Erik listened to the hatred in her voice. It was something Elaina never had. She only had fear in her voice, despite her attempts to hide it.

Erik shook his head, trying to get Elaina out of his mind:

That fate which condemns me to wallow in blood

Has also denied me the joys of the flesh.

This face, the infection, which poisons our love.

Christine looked at him like he had lost his mind, but Erik continued to sing, trying to make her understand:

This face which earned a mother's fear and loathing

A mask, my first unfeeling scrap of clothing.

Pity comes too late!

Turn around and face your fate!

An eternity of this before your eyes!

Erik forced a bridal veil onto her head and pointed angrily at himself so she knew that this was her new world. She looked around and at him with disgust and pity. He knew she hated it down here and didn't want to spend the rest of her life here. Yet…Elaina would have. It seemed like she had already spent an eternity down her as it was. Where was she anyway? Had she truly run off this time? Could she not find the lair on her own? Had she gotten hurt by one of the traps?

Wait, why was he even thinking about her? This was not the time or place.

Christine sang quietly to him:

This haunted face holds no horror for me now.

It's in your soul that the true distortion lies.

Erik heard splashing and found himself hoping it was Elaina but saw with great disappointment that it was the stupid boy coming up to the portcullis, drenched in water and sweat. He smiled, thinking how he must've have fallen into his trapdoor on the stairs.

"Raoul!" Christine screamed, realizing who was there.

Erik calmly sang to him and pulled Christine close to his body. She was trembling fiercely. He almost felt bad for her. He remembered Elaina shivering against him at the cemetery as he shielded her from the cold with his cape.

No, he had to get Elaina out of his thoughts!

Erik slowly lifted the portcullis and allowed the boy to enter into his domain. Without warning, he threw his Punjab lasso over Raoul's neck and pulled tightly, noticeably cutting off much of his oxygen supply.

Christine sang softly to Erik:

The tears I might have shed for your dark fate

Grow cold and turn to tears of hate!

Erik remained speechless for a second. Did she really hate him that much now? This hadn't been what he wanted! What had he even expected? That he would sing to Christine and she would just decide that she loved him instead?

His thoughts one again traveled to Elaina and how much she had helped him and not shown the hate towards him that he was receiving now. Why was he still thinking about her?

Erik gave Christine a choice: Stay with him and he would let Raoul go free, or she may leave but then Raoul would die.

He looked at the boy tied to the portcullis. While at the Opera House, he had only used his Punjab lasso three times now. Both times, he was saving Elaina. Now he was doing it in cold blood.

But he couldn't wait for Christine anymore. "You try my patience," he growled. "Make your choice."

Christine looked at him and Raoul. Then she sang ever so softly to him:

Pitiful creature of darkness

What kind of life have you known?

God give me courage to show you

You are not alone!

She turned him around and kissed him hard and full on the lips. Erik's eyes widened at the sign of affection. Was she actually choosing him and not her lover?

His hands softly caressed her back as she kissed him again. But she didn't love him. There was no feeling in this kiss or in her eyes. Even if Christine stayed down her with him, she would never love him the way he loved her. He knew what he had to do. Because he loved her, he had to let her and her lover go free.

Erik took a candle and broke the lasso. "Take her. Forget me. Forget all of this," he said quietly. "Leave me alone. Forget all you've seen." He watched as Christine and Raoul shared a tight embrace, a feeling he never knew. "Go now. Don't let them find you! Take the boat, swear to me never to tell." His voice grew louder and louder as he could feel his heart ripping in half at the thought of losing his love. "The secret you know of the angel in hell! Go! Go now! Go now and leave me!"

The monkey figurine he had began to play the familiar tune he knew so well. He began to sing along quietly with the little cymbals:

Masquerade. Paper faces on parade.

Masquerade. Hide your face so the world will never find you.

He turned and saw Christine standing there. His eyes perked up. Had she come back for him? Did she actually love him?

His hopes were shattered as she placed the ring he had given her into his hand.

With one last cry, he sang:

Christine, I love you.

Christine's eyes watered and she began to cry. She kissed his hand and turned to leave. She turned around to give him one last look, and he simply nodded, saying she was allowed to leave. He heard her and Raoul singing to each other and cried:

You alone can make my song take flight!

It's over now, the Music of the Night!

He collapsed onto the ground of his lair in despair. He had lost his one love forever. Once more, his mind went back to Elaina. Where was she? He assumed she had made the getaway she always truly wanted.

But perhaps…

He had felt his love for Christine slipping away each day and being replaced with love for another. He had denied it, desiring to be true to the woman he had loved for years. But honestly, he couldn't say that he felt the same way for Christine now as he did when he first brought her down here. Maybe, just maybe…

The voices of the mob coming after him rang out across the labyrinth. He had to get away from them. He had to get out of the lair. But where was Elaina? Something didn't feel right to him. He needed to find her.