Erik dragged Christine firmly by the wrist down to his lair, fury erasing his better judgement.
Christine tried to yank out of his grasp, just like Elaina had done when he had also forced her down here, but he held onto her tightly, refusing to let her get away.
Why couldn't she just realize that the only reason he was doing all this was because he loved her? Why couldn't she find it in her heart to love him?
Elaina saw Madame Giry lead Raoul away. No doubt he was going after the Phantom to find Christine. Raoul was nothing if not protective of her. But the passages were a complicated labyrinth filled with traps. How was Raoul ever going to survive the trek down, assuming he even found the lair at all, without someone to guide him around the deadly traps Erik had waiting for intruders?
She started to follow, desiring to do some damage control after Erik's little stunt, but everyone was panicking and scrambling about trying to escape the opera house and the fire.
Erik would have to wait. She needed to help here first.
She firmly grabbed one of the ballet girls.
"Who are you?" the girl asked when she recognized her as the woman playing Chryssa. "Have you been conspiring with the Phantom? Why else would you show up at the performance without any prior rehearsal?"
"It doesn't matter who I am or what I've been doing or how I got the role. We need to get everyone out of here. This place is going up and fast."
The girl looked at her skeptically.
"Look, you can hate me as much as you'd like, but do it after everyone is safe!"
Seeing that she only had good intentions, the girl assisted her in getting both the cast and audience members out of the blazing theater.
Elaina looked over and saw Carlotta weeping over Piangi's body, frantically trying to wake him up. She went over to her and pushed her out of the way.
"Do not touch my beloved!" Carlotta screeched.
Elaina ignored her and tried to think of some way to awaken him. The growing fire caused sweat to begin rolling down her forehead. She ripped off the lace sleeves of her dress and the lower portion of her skirt. Taking some of the excess fabric, she raced to the edge of the stage and dipped it in some of the oil used to light it.
Then she went back over to Piangi and put the drenched fabric directly under his nose. After a few brief seconds, he coughed and sat up.
Elaina helped him stand again. "You both must get out of here," she said quickly.
"This is all your fault!" Piangi growled.
"If it wasn't for me, you would be dead. If you want to blame someone, blame the woman who took off the Phantom's mask and humiliated him in front of everyone! Now get out of here now!"
Breathing heavily and coughing, Elaina quickly scanned the theater. It looked like everyone was out.
She couldn't believe that the place she adored so much had been reduced to this, and she didn't know who to blame more: Erik or Christine. Erik had been the one to drop the chandelier, but he'd only done it because Christine had ripped off his mask in front of hundreds of people. How could the girl do something so cruel to him? What did she think was going to happen when she did that?
Just as she was about to leave the stage and get to safety, she heard soft crying…
After Erik had forced Christine into the wedding dress he had used for the wax doll of her, she came out of the room that had previously been Elaina's 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 utter hatred in her voice. Elaina had never had that kind of loathing when she spoke to him. Sometimes she got angry with him, but she never expressed outright abhorrence for him.
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. Did he honestly believe that they shared any kind of love at all after everything that had happened and all he had done?
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 the lair 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. She had spent nearly an entire year down here with him and had returned despite several opportunities to run off.
He briefly wondered where she was at the current time. Was she okay up above? Had she been injured during his untimely exit? Had anyone attempted to hurt her?
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.
He wasn't so sure that statement was true. He had heard her firsthand as she expressed fear to her lover about how horrifying he had looked when she had unmasked him. His face terrified her.
As for his soul? She didn't know the things he had done in the last several months. She hadn't seen him take care of Elaina when she fell ill. She hadn't seen him save her from being assaulted. She hadn't seen him coach her to become a better singer and more confident in herself. She was utterly clueless about who he really was.
He suddenly realized that had been exactly Elaina's point when he had told her about how he had first met and fallen in love with Christine. Christine didn't know him like he knew her. He'd been so afraid that she wouldn't accept him as he was that he thought it better to simply hide himself from her. Could he really expect her to return his feelings when their relationship was so lopsided?
Erik heard splashing and found himself hoping it was Elaina. Her being here right now wouldn't be very ideal but at least he would know she was all right.
He saw with great disappointment that it was the stupid boy coming up to the portcullis, drenched in water and sweat. Erik smiled, knowing he must've have fallen into his trapdoor on the stairs. He was fortunate to have escaped. Most people died in that trap.
"Raoul!" Christine screamed, realizing who was there.
Erik calmly sang to him and pulled Christine close to his body to prove his dominance to both of them. He could feel her trembling fiercely in his hold.
He remembered Elaina shivering against him at the cemetery as he shielded her from the cold with his cape. She had been cold. Not afraid. She wasn't afraid of him.
No, why couldn't he 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.
Horrified, 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.
But what had he even been expecting? That he would sing alongside Christine during his opera and she would just decide that she loved him instead?
Another heat-of-the-moment decision…
Desperate for anything to make Christine stay, Erik gave her 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 once against another human being and that had been to save Elaina.
…Now he was using it in cold blood.
What would Elaina say if she could see him now?
Why did he care?!
"You try my patience," he growled. "Make your choice."
Christine looked at him and Raoul, tears in her eyes at the impossible decision before her. Then she sang ever so softly to Erik as she slowly approached 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.
His hands softly caressed her back as she pulled away, looked him in the eyes, and then kissed him again.
He…didn't feel anything.
How long had he waited for this one moment? To feel Christine's body against his, her passion showing through her lips? How long had he wished to be held like this?
But there was nothing in this kiss from either of them. No passion, no affection, no love, nothing.
Christine didn't love him. Despite the affectionate action, there was nothing in this kiss or in her eyes. Even if she stayed down her with him, she would never love him the way he thought he loved her.
He had to let her and her lover go free.
Christine once again pulled away from him and looked at with eyes full of pity and pleading.
Erik felt confused, hurt, angry, and ashamed all at once. How could this woman kiss him after everything he had put her through? Why had he tried to hold onto her for so long when it was clear she would never be his?
He took a candle and went over to Raoul before breaking 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. What was it like to have someone love you so much they were willing to give up everything to save you?
"Go now. Don't let them find you! Take the boat, leave me here. Go now, don't wait."
His voice grew louder and louder as he could feel his heart ripping in half at the thought of losing everything he had ever wanted. "Just take her and go before it's too late! Go! Go now! Go now and LEAVE ME!"
Erik retreated to his desk covered in notes and unfinished sheet music. It all seemed so meaningless now.
The monkey figurine he had built as a reminder of the only solace he had found as a prisoner to the gypsies 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 a few feet away from him. He didn't understand why she'd returned until she placed the ring he had given her into his hand.
With one last cry, he sang:
Christine, I loved you.
Christine's eyes watered and she began to cry as if she knew his love and was honestly sorry that she could not return it. She lightly kissed his hand and turned to leave.
For a brief moment, she turned to give him one last look. He simply nodded, silently telling her he understood her decision and that he would no longer pursue her.
He heard her and Raoul singing to each other in the distance as they left him behind forever. He faced the lair and belted out:
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 and confusion.
Why didn't that kiss mean more to him? Why didn't he feel something when her lips touched his own?
Once more, his mind went back to Elaina.
He knew the reason.
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 he couldn't say that he felt the same way for Christine now as he did when he first brought her down here what seemed like a lifetime ago.
And Elaina…
What did she feel?
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 Elaina…where was she? What if she was in trouble?
Something didn't feel right. He needed to find her. He didn't care if she was gone or if she had decided to leave the Populaire. He just needed to know that she was safe.
After grabbing one of his masks in order to guard Elaina from the horror he was if he found her, he made his way through the passages and away from the mob.
