Disclaimer: I don't own any Sly Cooper characters; they belong to Sucker Punch. The idea of Phantom of the Opera belongs to its rightful owner(s).

Claimer: I own all of my original characters.

Alright, here's chapter 10. I would have updated yesterday but I wanted to keep the suspense going for a little while. ;) I do have maybe…two or three chapters after this and it'll be wrapped up. and I do appreciate all of the reviews and I hope you will read and review and keep leaving reviews and letting me know how I'm doing and what you think!

Chapter 10: A Heart is Broken

"Angel of music…you deceived me…" she stopped singing, "I gave you my mind blindly. I gave you a chance in the beginning."

"You're trying my patience, make your choice!" he pulled the rope again and I stood on the toes as best as I could. It was getting harder and harder to breathe.

"For the last time Ramona," I gasped out, "say no and save your life! Just say no!" I tried to use my paws to move the rope but they were unfortunately bound to the gate behind me. Ramona made eye contact with me, tears in her eyes, and shaking her head. I didn't know if she was saying no to me or the phantom. I listened as she opened her mouth to answer and I hope she would say no to the phantom and let herself go free. I didn't care if I was sacrificed for her freedom; it wasn't right for her to marry this maniac when she has such a productive future ahead of her. Tears were streaming down her face as she said her final answer…

She mouthed the words 'I'm sorry', before turning her attention to the phantom. She wiped her tears away before stepping towards the phantom. She strode into the water, allowing her dress to touch the water while her feet got wet. Ramona and the phantom kept their eyes locked on each other while I was left dumbfounded on the gate. The noose around my neck was loose now and I no longer had to stand on my toes in order to breathe.

"Pitiful creature of darkness," Ramona softly sang, "What kind of life have you known?" I knew what she was doing; she was giving herself to the phantom so I could go home alive.

"Ramona!" I shouted, "Don't you do it, Ramona! Don't! Just say no and go home! Don't throw your life away! You'll regret it if you do! I know you will! Just refuse him! Ramona, listen to me!" my shouting had no effect on her. She wasn't listening and wasn't going to listen.

"God give me courage to show you, you are not alone." Ramona's voice cut me off and I listened. The two were nearly nose to nose and I could only stand there and watch as the phantom leaned in and passionately pressed his lips against Ramona's. He dropped the rope that connected the noose to my neck and placed is paws on Ramona's neck. Ramona had no choice but to go along with it, but it was hard for me to have to witness. Watching a woman you've had strong feelings for have her face pressed against the face of another man, especially one who stalked her, wasn't easy. He eventually pulled away from Ramona and looked at her briefly before leaning in again and stealing another lengthy kiss from Ramona. I struggled against my restraints and wanted nothing more to do than get free and punch the phantom in his disfigured face.

Again, he eventually backed away from Ramona but lowered his head. Everything was silent except for the sounds coming from the phantom. I couldn't tell from my position, but it sounded as if the phantom had just burst into tears. It was only confirmed when Ramona glanced to me and slid a finger from her eye to her jaw line. The phantom pushed Ramona to the side before heading for dry land. The sound of a squad of police came from the staircase above me and I could only imagine that the police had forced him to stop his plans. Ramona had turned and we both stared at the now emotional phantom.

"Take her, forget me, forget all of this. Leave me alone. Forget all you've seen. Go now, don't let them find you. Take the boats and never tell the secret you know of the angel in Hell. Go now! Go now and leave me!" he shouted and sang before entering another chamber in his underground home. Ramona wasted no time in lifting her dress so she could dwell deeper into the water. She walked as best as she could through the water and quickly ran her paws over my face before trying to get the ropes away from my neck.

"Please tell me you had that planned." I said after my neck was free. She nodded quickly before trying to free my wrists. After one of my wrists were free, we worked together to get the rest of me untied. After I was free, I quickly hugged her before we made out way out of the lake.

"Where are the boats? All I see is the lake and that chamber." I asked her after we were out of the water.

"Oh!" I thought deeply, "We came in on a boat and then came here…Behind the mirror!" she pointed to our left and there was a tall, semi-dirty mirror attached to the wall, "You'll have to push the glass away and there should be a little corridor or whatever you want to call it behind glass." I nodded as we made out way through the dimly lit room. There was no electric light whatsoever and everything was lit by candles or candlesticks mounted on the wall. I pulled out my cane and tried to pry the glass back. It was difficult to do since it was securely locked in place and I was dripping wet. Since I was still in the masquerade costume, with no jacket, the puffier shirt soaked up more water than my normal thieving outfit. And the fact I had fallen in the lake through a trap door didn't help. I smirked when the glass started to slowly slide to the side as I applied more force. I stopped and glanced to Ramona to see her start to make her way towards the phantom's chamber.

"Where are you going?" I shouted towards her.

"I've have to return the man's ring, Sly! I can't get it off and I think of him every time I look at it! Just keep working on the door, I'll be back in a minute!" she shouted back. I groaned and couldn't see how this could end well.

"I can get Bentley take it off for you then just throw it away! We've got to get out of here before the police get here!" I pushed on my cane again.

"Look, I'm returning the ring right now! Unless you want to get married right now, I'm returning the man's ring!" she started to huff up the stairs.

"I'm perfectly fine with that!" I shot back.

"Cooper!" she shrieked and I smirked. Even in situations like this, it was still fun to push her buttons. I returned my attention to the mirror and pushed the glass far back enough to where Ramona and I could squeeze through.

Ramona met back up with me a moment later and I allowed her to squeeze through the opening first. I grabbed one of the torches off the wall before going though myself. We slid the glass back into place and realized it was a one-way glass. We could see out into his underground lair but we couldn't see in through the glass from the outside. We stood at the mirror and watched as the phantom walked down the stairs with a candle stick in his grasp. The sounds of the police got louder and Carmelita's voice was the loudest of them all. We watched the phantom walk up to one of the many other mirrors in the room.

"It's over now, the music of the night!" he sang with hurt in his voice before smashing the largest mirror with the candlestick. He beat it over and over until the glass was gone and another passageway was revealed. I stepped through and pulled the drape over the now broken mirror. And that was the last I had even seen from the mysterious phantom of the opera. We started to walk down the passageway when the police finally burst through the doors. I led the way while Ramona stayed closely behind. I used one paw to hold the torch in front of us while Ramona had a death grip on mine. The sounds of the flickering flames of the torch, the sounds of my wet clothes sliding against each other, and the sounds of Ramona's extremely long wedding dress rubbing against the floor, combined with out footsteps were the only sounds around us. We had wondered far enough from the police but there was still a long trail ahead of us.

"You said this is how you got in, what's after the boats?" I asked her after spending too long in silence.

"Stairs, lots and lots of stairs. We came in a different way tonight but this is how he got my down here when this all started. I don't remember all of it but I have a pretty good idea of where we go. There are so many paths and tunnels down here it's not funny." The smell of the sewer hit me like a brick wall and I figured we had to be close. After we had walked another few feet, a small gondola boat came into sight and it was resting on the sewer water. I helped Ramona climb into the boat before handing her the torch. She sat and placed the torch in the holder towards the front of the boat.

"Ready to go?" she nodded as I climbed into the boat. I stood in the gondola in order to steer it and found out I had to move it slowly to avoid the flame on the torch going out.

"You know," Ramona stated after we had been drifting for a while, "I always wanted to go on a gondola ride in a wedding dress," she turned her head to stare at me, "but this isn't what I had in mind." She shook her head and giggled softly.

"Are the sewers not romantic enough for my fiery little thief?" I lifted and eyebrow before using my tail to nudge her.

"Not really," she sighed and her voice grew quiet, "Thanks, I owe you one."

"Not a problem," I paused and started thinking about the kiss that she and the phantom had shared and could only wonder if she really wanted to stay there, "Did you plan for that kiss or was it forced?" I needed to find out and I wasted no time getting to the point.

"I had an idea that the phantom would attempt something so I asked Carmelita if she would get a squadron ready to swarm in if something happened. And I needed to by some time to you wouldn't die but I didn't expect him to do that. And the fact he cried afterward doesn't ease my nerves one bit." She lifted an eyebrow in thought, "Were you…jealous…of that kiss?" she lifted an eyebrow. I shrugged my shoulders, brushing off the question, and she rolled her eyes. I sighed and realized Bentley was right, if she didn't know how I felt then I might never have the chance to tell her. I knew the way I felt but she didn't.

"Alright, I was jealous. Very jealous in fact," she looked up to me quickly with a surprised look on her face. I was sincere and I guess that threw her off. The boat hit the edge of the beginning of the stairs and we both eventually got out of the boat. I groaned at the amount of stair ahead of us.

"That is a ton of stairs," I moved the torch and looked up again.

"I know," she muttered, "What are the chances of you carrying me?" she nudged me with her elbow and I chuckled.

"Not likely," she scoffed playfully.

"Can't say I didn't try," she muttered as we started to work out way up the stairs.

Alright…it did somewhat end like the real musical but…it did have a slight twist on it(: