Hey! Well, I don't have a lot to say this time, so I'll just say my apologies to any of the Will Solace fans that were reading this story, and other than that, I own Darla, Jordan, Brandon, and a couple of others, and other accounts own other characters! Anyway, on with the show – enjoy!
As the crowds above panicked and tried to escape the burning Opera Populaire, the Phantom pulled Darla furiously behind him down below. Darla knew that he had given control back to Christine – she could feel it – and she struggled to get away from him, but his grip was too tight. He was angry. Very angry. He waved a torch around in front of him for light, which gave everything in the dark and damp halls a dark and terrifying glow. "Down once more to the dungeon of my black despair! Down we plunge to the prison of my mind! Down that path into darkness deep as hell!" he sang, before he whipped around and stared back at her. "Why, you ask, was I bound and chained in this cold and dismal place? Not for any mortal sin, but the wickedness of my abhorrent face!"
"Track down this murderer! He must be found! Track down this murderer! He must be found!"
The Phantom lifted her off the boat and into his lair, and he pulled her into the small room where he had created her wedding dress. "Hounded out by everyone! Met with hatred everywhere! No kind words from anyone! No compassion anywhere! Christine… Why, why…?" he demanded, staring down into her terrified light green eyes, which almost seemed to make him calm down. Almost.
. . .
Brandon and Piper hurried down the long forgotten and darkened staircase, which was adorned with old and tattered banners from the Opera's previous shows. "Your hand at the level of your eyes!" Piper hummed.
"…at the level of your eyes…" Brandon repeated, raising his hand.
"Your hand at the level of your eyes…!"
Piper suddenly seemed to become very nervous, and she retreated a couple of steps in her quickened pace. She looked down the staircase hesitatingly, before she looked back toward him. "He lives across the lake, monsieur… This is as far as I dare go." she informed him.
Brandon looked down below them, before he nodded back to her. "Madame Giry, thank you." he said, before he turned and continued down into the darkness. Piper watched him for a moment, before she took a breath and turned to return back up to the Opera. Brandon eventually came across the large lake, and he paused for a moment, before he ripped off his coat and plunged in.
The Phantom focused down at the small ring in his palm – the very one that he had stolen from around Darla's neck, back at the Bal Masque. "Have you gorged yourself at last, in your lust for blood? Am I now to be prey to your lust for flesh?" Darla sang, appearing from her room. She was wearing the wedding dress he had designed, and he had to stop for a moment, admiring her. She had grown up to be so beautiful…
"That fate, which condemns me to wallow in blood, has also denied me the joys of the flesh…" he said gently, stepping toward her and raising his hand to touch her face, but she turned away. He looked down for a moment, before he continued, with sadness hidden thick in his voice. "This face – the infection which poisons our love… 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!"
He reached over, taking the bridal veil from the mannequin which had worn her wedding gown for so long before then, and placed it on her head. He then took her hand in his, and placed her wedding ring back in it, closing her fingers around it. She looked back up at him for a moment, before she stepped past him, slowly taking off the veil as she walked toward the large mirror, which he had had covered with a blanket.
"This haunted face holds no horror for me now… It's in your soul that the true distortion lies…" she said softly, and she slowly pulled the blanket down from the mirror and looked back to him. He looked down, taking a shaky breath.
Suddenly, from behind the portcullis, Brandon appeared out of the water. The Phantom's eyes shot to the new movement, and he smirked. "Wait! I think, my dear, we have a guest!" he said.
Darla looked over to the gate, and saw that it was indeed him. She was horrified that he would've followed her down into a place like this. "Raoul!" she gasped, running down to the shore.
"Sir, this is indeed an unparalleled delight! I had rather hoped that you would come. And now my wish comes true – you have truly made my night!" the Phantom said, walking back down to Darla and pulling her close into his arms, which he knew would make Brandon angry, not even just as Raoul.
"Free her! Do what you like, only free her! Have you no pity!" Brandon sang, grasping and pulling at the bars of the portcullis, as if it would allow him entry.
The Phantom looked down at Darla with a smirk. "Your lover makes a passionate plea!" he said dryly.
"Please, Raoul, it's useless…" Darla said, looking sadly back at him.
"I love her! Does that mean nothing? I love her! Show some compassion…" Brandon pleaded.
"The world showed no compassion to me!" Jay snarled.
"Christine… Christine… Let me see her…" Brandon begged.
The Phantom shrugged, smirking as he turned and pulled a nearby lever. "Be my guest, sir…" he sneered. As the portcullis slowly began to rise, Brandon rushed inside. The Phantom walked out in the water to meet him. "Monsieur, I bid you welcome! Did you think that I would harm her? Why should I make her pay, for the sins which are yours!"
Brandon turned only slightly, glancing back nervously when the portcullis closed behind him, but the Phantom took the opportunity to strike. He threw a lasso over Brandon, and Darla gasped in horror. The Phantom pushed him back against the portcullis, tying him to it. "Order your fine horses now! Raise up your hand to the level of your eyes! Nothing can save you now – except perhaps Christine…" he sang furiously, looking back to her. "Start a new life with me – Buy his freedom with your love! Refuse me, and you send your lover to his death! This is the choice – This is the point of no return!"
Darla stared at him as her eyes began to fill with tears, and Brandon saw that she was truly horrified… but it was not just Christine. She seemed truly horrified, at whoever this man was – that he had done this to begin with, not even just as himself. "The tears I might have shed for your dark fate… grow cold and turn to tears of hate…!" she sang, as the tears began to run freely down her pale cheeks.
The Phantom decided to ignore her, going back into his lair and gathering more rope. "Christine, forgive me, please forgive me… I did it all for you, and all for northing…" Brandon sang sadly.
"Farewell my fallen idol and false friend… One by one I've watched illusions shattered…" Darla sang, looking over to the Phantom.
"Past all hope of cries for help: no point in fighting – " the Phantom snarled, walking past her and back over to Brandon.
"Say you love him and my life is over…" Brandon sang hopelessly, as the Phantom pulled the noose around his head and pulled it tight.
"Either way you choose, he as to win…!" "For either way you choose, you cannot win! So, do you end your days with me, or do you send him to his grave?"
The Phantom gave a sharp tug to the rope, and Brandon winced in pain. Darla stood helplessly on the shore, watching them in disbelief. "Why make her lie to you to save me?" Brandon spat, but the Phantom ignored him, walking back toward Darla and giving another pull to the rope. Brandon coughed, and his face began to flush.
"Angel of Music…" Darla sang quietly, stepping forward toward him. "…why this torment?"
"Past the point of no return – " he sang.
"For pity's sake, Christine, don't throw your life away for my sake!" Brandon shouted, his own tears beginning to form and run down his cheeks.
"His life is now the prize which you must earn!" the Phantom taunted.
"I fought so hard to free you…" Brandon sang gently, and with all honesties, that broke Darla's heart. She cried, looking back and forth between the two men.
"You've passed the point of no return…" he sang, slowly fading as she began to sing again. She began singing quietly, as if she were only a timid child, which made him freeze in his tracks.
"Angel of Music…" she sang. He took a shaky breath. "…you deceived me – I gave you my mind blindly…"
"You try my patience – make your choice." he replied, pulling the rope again. She looked over to Brandon, who was now having real troubles breathing, and she stared at him through her teary eyes, and he looked back. She took a shaky breath, looking back down at the Phantom.
She slowly stepped down into the water, and the Phantom stared at her, waiting for an answer. "Pitiful creature of darkness…. What kind of life have you known…? God give me courage to show you, you are not alone…!" she sang quietly, at first, before her voice grew with emotion. She met him in the water, looking up at him for a moment, before she leaned up on her toes and kissed him. Their embrace lasted a long minute, and when they broke apart, she leaned up and kissed him again.
When they broke apart the second time, she looked up into his light blue eyes, and watched as he slowly began to crumble and as he began to cry. As they heard the angry mobs – the ones that determined to kill – approach, the Phantom handed her the ropes that held Brandon's life at their end. He stumbled back into his lair. "Take him – forget me – forget all of this… Leave me alone – forget all you've seen… Go now – don't let them find you!" he sang, and Darla rushed over to Brandon, quickly removing the noose. He gasped for air, and she began working on the knots that held him to the gate. "Take the boat – swear to me – never to tell – of the secret you know, of the Angel in Hell…"
Darla finished with the knots, and they shared a long embrace and a short kiss. There was a safety in his arms that she truly hadn't felt in a very long time. The Phantom turned, noticing that they were still there. "Go now! Go now – go now and leave me!" he ordered.
As the mobs approached closer and closer, he went back into the bed chamber, resigned to his fate.
. . .
The Phantom sat in front of his little music box, with the small monkey sitting above it. His mask sat mockingly to the side, and he watched the music box with an almost childlike wonder as the music played, but a few tears slipped out also. "Masquerade… Paper faces on parade… Masquerade… Hide your face so the world will never find you…" he sang softly, smiling slightly at his little creation, but his tone was still filled with sadness. He looked up suddenly, sensing another presence in the room. It was Darla. "Christine, I love you…."
Darla did not speak, but instead she walked silently toward him, and looked down at the ring on her finger. He looked down at it also, and she slowly took it off, before she gently placed it in his hand. She stared at him sadly, knowing that the dream would be over very soon. Would he be gone once again? She turned, leaving silently, as the Phantom looked down at the ring. He started to cry.
"Say you'll share with me, one love, one lifetime…"
Brandon and Darla began to leave on the boat, and the Phantom walked out and watched as they slowly disappeared. Darla looked sadly back to him once more. "Say the word and I will follow you…"
"Share each day with me… each night… each morning…"
"You alone, can make my song take flight…" he sang, turning to look back at his lair. "It's over now, the music of the night!"
He turned, taking a candle holder in his hands, and walked down to the various mirrors that littered his lair. He smashed them one by one, before he finally arrived at the mirror which he had brought Darla through oh so long ago. He paused, before he smashed that too. As he hit it, the glass fell away, and it opened back into another passage. He took a shaky breath, dropping the candle holder, and taking one last look at his lair. He then turned, ducking into the massage, with the curtain falling behind him.
The angry mobs arrived, with Sarah out front, and she looked around in amazement at the lair. She wandered back into the bed chamber, finding the music box, and his white mask. She carefully picked it up with her small hand.
Fin
~Batman's Favorite Daughter~