Hey, so I feel bad. Lots of sulking and not much going on besides sulking, and it's kind of boring. I guess I'm just trying to drag it out, since I've decided this is going to be the last Erik/Natalie story and I don't want to let it go. So I have decided this and the next chapter we're going to have a lot of fun at Erik's expense (Erik don't look at me like that). Then after that, we're going to get this show on the road, and really get this story moving. Just remember, everything comes with a price, and things will need to get even worse for them before they get better. Isn't that the rule of the world? But for now, we tease the Phantom mercilessly!

~nibblesfan


"No, no, absolutely not!" Shelby shouted.

"But why not?"

"Because that would cost an arm, a leg, a lung, a kidney, probably an eyeball, PLUS my soul! I know you don't have that kind of money and I sure as hell don't! And if I did do you think I'd spend my days answering a phone?" she asked. "Because I wouldn't! If I had enough money that I could afford to pay for a fictional character to get facial reconstruction, I'd use it to quit my job and live in a mansion on the beach!"

"Is there any way at all?"

"Erik, I've been telling you since last night, NO!" To put her point across, she grabbed a book off a nearby shelf and flung it at his face. "And that's not going to change!"

He deflected the blow. "Very well, message received," he mumbled, obviously still disappointed with the answer. After picking the red hardcover book off the ground, he studied the cover. "What's this?"

"I dunno what is it?" He flipped the book around, and Shelby burst out laughing. "Of course it was that book."

"What is it?"

"Susan Kay's Phantom. It's one version of your life."

Erik flipped through the pages, his brow furrowed. "One version? There are others?" She held up a finger, signaling him to wait a moment. She scanned the bookshelf for a few seconds before pulling another book down and tossing it to him. "That's the original," she said before walking into her bedroom.

"Gaston Leroux's Phantom of the Opera," he muttered, reading the title aloud. He had just opened it and scanned the first page, when Shelby walked back in with a box, which she dropped on the table. "What on earth is that?"

"This used to be mine and Natalie's. Once upon a time, it was our Phan box."

"Your what?"

"Just look. It's all about you."

He pulled out a small black box. "'The Ultimate Classic Horror Collection'? Why is this in here?"

"Open it."

"ACK! WHAT IS THAT THING?!" he shouted, dropping the box.

At that, Shelby burst out laughing. When she finally got control of herself, she began to sing menacingly in his ear. "Like yellow parchment is his skin. A great black hole serves as the nose that never grew."

"That thing is supposed to be me?!"

"I'm pretty sure Lon Chaney would take major offense to that. Besides, that movie's like ninety years old. You've gotten much better looking since then." She handed him another box. "I don't have all of the movies. I don't have the forties version or the sixties cartoon."

"So which is this?"

"1987. You sell your soul to the devil so you can become immortal so your music will live on. This one is the 1990's version. And in the eighties, Phantom became a hit musical that's still running today."

Erik pulled out another box. On the front was his mirror image. The man looked exactly like Erik, and it unnerved him. "What…?"

"That was our favorite. The 2004 version based on the musical starring the ever-delicious Gerard Butler. Oh my God, he is so gorgeous, I swear, the first time I saw this movie, I nearly swooned."

"Shelby, I…I look just like him. I mean, he looks just like me."

"You…you do?" she asked, not meeting his eyes. "I don't see it."

His jaw dropped. "Are you…are you…I mean, do you I'm…?" he sputtered, unable to get the question out.

Instead of answering him, she tossed another box over her shoulder. "Love Never Dies, yuck. Ben Lewis totally creeped me out. I swear he never blinked that entire performance." After rummaging for a few more minutes, she handed him yet another box. "Here we are: Natalie's favorite. The 25th Anniversary Edition. She loved Ramin. He could go from incredibly tender to completely unhinged in the blink of an eye, and she thought that was so cool."

"I hope I'm her favorite now. If I'm getting upstaged by some imposter, then I don't think I could face her again."

Shelby checked her watch. "Oh shoot! I've got to go! Did you want to watch these while I was gone?"

"Might as well," Erik shrugged. "I can see how much you really know about me and how much is fiction."

She gave him a thirty second lesson on how to work what she called a 'DVD player'. "All right I got to go. Behave yourself. You know the rules. If you break my TV or the DVD player, I'll break your face."

Realizing she never answered his question, Erik stared at the door long after Shelby left. He loved Natalie with all his heart, but he had never met a woman besides her who could quite possibly think he was attractive.

After a while, he shook his head. Not his problem, he still wasn't planning on staying. He popped the silver circle (which he was assuming was a DVD) with his lookalike on it into the DVD player. It was time to figure out what these people really thought of him; although he wasn't quite sure he wanted to watch that first one.