Dhaos: Sailor Phantom of Middle Earth doesn't own The Phantom of the Opera for those idiots who believe she does.
Sailor Phantom of Middle Earth: HEY! I told you to be nice!
Dhaos: Then get your other muse to do this!
Sailor Phantom of Middle Earth: At least finish it nicely.
Dhaos: --x ... Enjoy you humans.


Chapter 10

Erika's POV:
I sat in my study waiting for the day to end the evening to begin. It was only 10:40 and already I was tried of the day. Christopher's face invaded my mind as I tried to occupy myself. Soon I hurried to the drawing/music room and started drawing him once more. First his heart shaped heart. 'Does he have room for me in his heart?' His short sandy-blonde hair parted neatly to the side then his blue-green eyes slowly coming alive as I finished them. A loving gaze that I may only see in these portraits I make. His nose followed by his lips. I paused and gazed at the beautiful lips, a growing longing for them to reach mine. Quickly I turned my thoughts back to finishing the portrait. When it was finally finished, I noticed certain features of his mother in him. They're eyes were exactly the same. Kind, loving eyes.

Memories of my past flooded my thoughts and I sat down in a chair behind me. The woman's smiling face replaced Christopher's. That idiotic woman... Naomi.

Nine 1/2 years earlier...
Laughter from the ballroom where a party was being held reached my ears. Though it was faint, it was clear enough for me; too clear, for I hated their laughter. I grasped the plate in my hands that the woman had given to me at lunch this afternoon. It was now 7:38. The master of the household was holding a party celebrating his new pet – Me. Sold only yesterday by the same greedy idiots who brought me to this wretched place four days ago. They were glad to be rid of me. Though I had brought business to their sad excuse for a carnival, they never had the stomach to be with me for too long.

I was about ready to snap the plate in half when I heard the familiar footsteps approaching the room I was in. As I set the plate down, the door opened and light invaded the once dark room shimmering on the bars of the cage that confined me to this room. The light made the woman's face glow, making her even more beautiful. Her long amber hair shone and strands of it went down her soft tanned skin. Blue-green eyes searched for me as they adjusted to the darkness, compared to outside of this room, and her large rose red lips smiled when she saw me.

She opened the door about half way to let a more light in before coming to me with another plate of food from dinner along with sweets from the party she had come from. The woman wore an orange dress of all things. I may not have seen many women in dresses but I knew orange wasn't a common color one could pull off, yet she was. What I found amusing though that she did not wear matching high heels that most would wear only to take them off after the party begins, but orange and black shoes. She was a most peculiar woman with interesting taste, but she was more unique and sensible I'll give her that.

"Sorry I could not get here sooner." She said and slipped the plate through the hole. I took the plate and began eating. "I wanted to get away with as little suspicion as possible... May I ask you what your name is?" I paused for a moment to glance up at the woman; my eyes met her curious and kind gaze. "I am Naomi." She held out her hand threw the bars.

For a while I stared at her hand while considering if I should answer her. "Erika." I said before turning back to my food. My head still lowered, I glanced up at her smiling face, her hand back at her side as well. She turned to the door for a moment then back to me.

"I should go now or they may start searching for me." I was going to let her leave without a second thought but what little humanity I had left in me called her back. She paused at the door then turned to me surprised that I wanted her to stay, if only for a moment.

"Leave this place or you will die along with everything and everyone else in this horrid mansion." I said almost like I was ordering a servant to clean house. Naomi stared at me, her mouth open slightly, waiting for some reason for my odd command. "Tonight, I plan on killing everyone here, including myself. I'm giving you this one chance to leave; you will have ten minutes to get you and anyone else out." She stepped forward to speak but met my cold golden eyes. With a sad, confused look, she hurried out of the room.

Ten minutes had passed. A small part of me wondered if she left. I took the plate that lay in front of me, and tossed it at one of the lights. The dimly lit lamp fell to the floor and a small fire started. The fire quickly spread along the wall, outside the hall, and down the mansion. Not much later the laughter was replaced by screams of terror. I smiled as I thought of the people who decided to make me their entertainment, their pet. Now they were going to pay, all of them. The de Chagny mansion and all that resided in it were going to die.

Present day
The dream was over when the clock chimed, it was 2:00. My back ached from falling asleep on the chair. I stretched and multiple cracking noise followed. Most people would be very hungry at this point, but I am not like most people. Still, I saw no point in starving myself as I had almost done many times before when consumed my work for days. I went to the kitchen to find something and thoughts of Christopher once again invaded my mind.

Chris's POV:
I was standing outside Mike's room with my hand on the doorknob listening to someone inside singing "Can You Feel the Love Tonight". Now I knew Chris's mom has made take singing lessons since he was 10 along with acting, music, drawing, dancing, and any other thing relating to the arts. He couldn't draw; even his stick figures looked like angry lines. The only instrument he could play was... actually he can't play anything. Not even the "triangle thingy" as he called it. Dancing was the only thing he was good at and remotely enjoyed, along with the acting lessons, though he'll never admit he's even done ballet. Now, about the singing lessons, I've heard him sing once before and he has a pleasant voice. He could get a lot better but he never took it seriously and would drive his teacher up the wall till he or she quit. The only time I heard him sing was when he got his first kiss.

So hearing him sing now meant something really good happened on the date. Then why did I a part of me not want to know? Pushing that thought away, I opened the door to see Mike with a towel on his back like a cape, holding a banana, and singing some silly songs and love songs like "It's the Song that Never Ends", "So She Dances", "Mahna Mahna" and "Iris". Something really good must have happened.

I was holding back my laughter when he jumped on his bed and started doing the Macarena. He did a 180 instead and fell on his bed with a red face when he saw me. After that, I wasn't able to keep myself from laughing. Mike got up form the bed and threw off his "cape" to some part of the room and left the banana on the bed. His color had returned to normal at that point and I had managed to stop laughing.

"So I may assume the date was a success?" I asked with a few giggles.

"Rachael is amazing!" He exclaimed. "We had an actual conversation that I was interested in." Usually when Mike goes on a date, the girl does all the talking about what would interest her girl friends more than him and Mike would end up daydreaming or thinking of an excuse to leave. "Did you know her house burned down 10 years ago?"

The smile I had quickly faded as I remembered that day. I may not have been there but my parents and Rachael were. Sure they all survived but a lot of people died and Rachael had to move away. The cause of the fire was never found out so the police called it an accident. Blamed one of the guests, who was probably drunk. It was also because of that fire that my mom had gotten sick to save little Rachael and someone else who was never identified.

"Chris?" Mike woke me from the daydream and looked at me confused. "You really got to stop doing this to me. I'll end up talking to yah for 5 minutes before I realize you've left for dream world."

"My bad." I laughed, feeling a little bad for how many conversations I have zoned out on. "So what were you saying?"

"I think I really like her. She's different than most girls and she's not one of those spoiled rich people."

"So far you've told everything I already know." I teased and was tackled to the ground. Mike grabbed a sock nearby and dangled it in my face. "Oh gross! That stinks!" He grinned as he dropped the old sock on my face. I was able to throw Mike off and quickly tossed the sock in his face, starting a dirty clothes fight.

"A dirty clothes fight?" Erika sat at the piano in the music room with a quizzical look. I laughed as I explained to her Mike's room and how we would often fight with his dirty clothes. At the end of each fight we would end up with a large pile of clothes surrounding us along with trash, shoes, a couple magazines, some old toy we haven't seen in years, and smelling like we had just came out of a trash can. Of course Mike's mom would freak and send us to the shower and start cleaning the spots where we had walked. Erika shook her head obviously wondering what would make anyone do a, dirty clothes fight.

"Well, the lesson is over and we've had a very interesting conversation." She got up from the piano bench and grabbed the dust cloth for the piano. I looked around and noticed a new drawing on a desk. Erika was distracted with what she was doing so I went to get a closer look. It was another one of me, though it looked to good to really be me.

"Do you like it?" Erika asked now next to me. I turned to her with my mouth open but unable to speak. "I'm afraid they are only by memory, so they are not as good as I would like them to be."

"Not as good?" I began, finally able to get words out of my mouth. "These are amazing!" She sighed quietly and gently took the drawing from me then gazed at it. We were quiet for a while until I got an idea. "Why don't you don't one now?" Erika turned to me with the same serious look she had painted on her. Mostly because of the mask she wore but her eyes showed some curiosity. "That way, you'll get it how you want to look."

A small smiled crossed her pink lips. "Alright, sit over there." She pointed to a stool not far from the covered piano. I nodded and hurried to the stool. Erika searched the room for a white sheet of paper then grabbed a stand for the paper. Now holding a pencil in her hand, she glanced up at me. "Relax." She half ordered. "I want you to look normal, don't do any silly pose." I nodded and got in a more relaxed and natural position. "Good." She said and began drawing.

After a couple minutes I wondered how far she had gotten, but was afraid to open my mouth and ask so I wouldn't ruin the drawing. "I finished your head so you may speak if you wish." My eyes widened, amazed how she answered my question without me asking. 'Mind reading too? How many talents does she have?' I thought teasingly. "I do not read minds, but I do read eyes." She glanced up at me once more. "Eyes can tell you more than a mouth can."

"So maybe that's how my mom knew I was up to something." I joked and hoped for at least a chuckle but got nothing. 'So much for a two-way conversation.' I thought.

"Christopher, there is something, I would like to ask you." She seemed a little hesitant as she spoke, as if she was unsure of whether she should ask this question or not. There was a long pause before she finally asked her question. "Would you like to stay here, with me?" I tried not to look too surprised so I settled for gawping at her like an idiot. "You will have your own room and you may leave when ever you like... I understand if you do not-."

"It's not that. It's just a big decision and you threw me off guard there. I'll think about it."

Now you must understand. When the Giry's offered me to live with them, refused since I didn't want to leave my dad's house, even though it was a way to leave Charity. I did visit them a lot more since their offer. But ever since the angel- err, Erika came into my life, I wanted to spend my time here, also because I spent more time here with my mom than anywhere else. The thought of living with an older woman who I didn't know that much about is a little weird, but at the same time, I felt like I could trust her. It didn't mean I could answer right away though, it still meant leaving my old home, with Char- maybe this decision isn't that hard. The question is; who would I rather live with, Charity – a selfish middle-aged woman trying to hold onto her youth and doesn't care if I even exist – or Erika – the phantom of an opera house who lives beneath said opera house is who knows how old and is curious about my day?

"So yah can go move into the opera house but yah can't come live with me and my family?" Mike asked following behind me both of us carrying a bag of my stuff as we walked away from my house to his mom's van. It would have been Mike's car but his mom took away his driver's license after the dirty clothes fight.

I turned to him with a thoughtful look. "Mmm, pretty much."

Mike paused for a moment before running next to me. "Do you think I can move there too?" We had reached the van and were in Mrs. Giry's hearing range when he asked so she answered him with a frown. Mike shrugged it off as he opened the door to put the bag in. I was about to put mine in when Charity came running out of the house.

"Wait! Little Chris can't leave." She said in the sweet tone she could manage along with a sad smile. "If he goes-"

"You'll lose my dad's money, yeah, I know." I smiled slyly. Mike suppressed his giggles as best he could while his mom kept a serious face.

"Why you little…!" She raised her hand to slap me but Mrs. Giry quickly opened the car hitting Charity in the stomach. Mike and I stared in amazement at Charity now holding her stomach and groaning. Mrs. Giry got out of the car, closed the door, and stood in front of Charity.

"Don't you dare lay a hand on him." Charity put her hand on the hood of the car to help herself up and looked at the now towering woman before her. "The only reason he didn't leave you sooner is because he's a good boy with a big heart. Now, I'll help you inside but I better not hear or see you conversing with him again."

Charity gritted her teeth as she was helped back inside the house. We watched the two in awe and waited for her to come back. Mrs. Giry walked back to the car, got inside, waited for us to get in, and then took off to the opera house. At that point, Mike's awed expression turned to a large grin.

"Alright mom!" He exclaimed. "That was awesome!"

A small smile came though the serious look in her eyes never changed. "I've wanted to do that for a long time. But I never want to see you two do that to anyone unless you have no other choice but to defend yourself." We nodded, now both of us grinning all the way to the opera house, my new home.