Chapter 15
The curtain closes as the boy playing Firmin rushes to the stage. Once at the center, he placed his hands out, trying to calm down the 'alarmed' audience.
"Ladies and gentlemen, please remain in your seats. Do not panic. It was an accident, simply an accident!"
He ran off the stage then, ironically he was in a 'panicked' manner himself.
The curtain tears itself open again, revealing a city background bathed in twilight with a statue of Apollo towards the side of the stage. Emma and Daniel rushed out, with the former holding on tightly to the latter's hand.
She ran to the center, then stopped, releasing him.
"Why have you brought us here?" Daniel asked.
"Don't take me back there!" Emma begged, her head searched the area to see if there were any 'unwanted guests.'
"We must return!" Daniel stated.
"He'll kill me!" She screamed, hugging herself for comfort.
"Be still now," Daniel soothed, placing a hand on her shoulder.
"His eyes will find me there!" She gasped, staring into the distance.
"Christine, don't say that!"
"Those eyes that burn!"
"Don't even think it!"
Emma shuddered, "and if he has to kill a thousand men-"
"Forget this waking nightmare," Daniel coaxed.
"-the Phantom of the Opera will kill,"
Daniel rolled his eyes, "the Phantom is a fable, believe me."
Behind the statue Jax snorted, Daniel wishes he was merely a fable.
"-and kill again!" Emma finished, looking completely terrified.
"There is no Phantom of the Opera," Daniel stressed.
"My God, who is this man?" Emma began.
"My God, who is this man?" Daniel repeated.
Emma noted it just didn't feel the same as when she was singing with Jax. It all felt real then, now, it is like she is just acting, even though that technically is what she is doing.
"-who hunts to kill?"
"-this mask of death?"
"I can't escape from him," Emma continued.
I just came to see how you are, I feel like you've been avoiding me.
Emma slightly shook her head as she sang her next line, trying to get Jax's voice out of her mind. She had to concentrate!
"And in this labyrinth, where night is blind, the Phantom of the Opera is here, inside your/my mind." They both sang.
"There is no Phantom of the Opera!"
"Raoul, I've been there-to his world of unending night. To a world where daylight dissolves in darkness...darkness...
Raoul, I've seen him! Can I ever forget that sight? Can I ever escape from that face? So distorted, deformed, it was hardly a face, in that darkness...darkness..." Oh, but Jax wasn't deformed at all, Emma thought as his face popped into her mind, his lips twisting up into that infamous smirk that made her knees weak.
She smiled and sighed, almost in a trance-like state, "but his voice filled my spirit with a strange, sweet sound. In that night there was music in my mind. And through music my soul began to soar! And I heard as I'd never heard before." Indeed, it felt like she heard as she never heard before. His voice was absolute perfection! It reminded her of honey; it was thick and rich.
Daniel's eyes narrowed, "What you heard was a dream and nothing more."
A line from Christine later and Raoul started to comfort her, saying her name. However, the Phantom echoed, "Christine..."
Emma's head snapped up. "What was that?"
Daniel shook his head, "No more talk of darkness, forget these wide-eyed fears. I'm here, nothing can harm you-my words will warm and calm you. Let me be your freedom, let daylight dry your tears. I'm here, with you, beside you, to guard you and to guide you."
Emma smiled, she was being silly. How could she have these conflicting emotions with Jax, when Daniel was right in front of her? He was her boyfriend after all, so what if he doesn't really like her witch side? We all have flaws.
Emma sang, "Say you love me every waking moment, turn my head with talk of summertime. Say you need me with you, now and always. Promise me that all you say is true -that's all I ask of you."
Daniel grinned, "Let me be your shelter, let me be your light. You're safe; no one will find you, your fears are far behind you."
"All I want is freedom, a world with no more night, and you always beside me to hold me and to hide me."
Jax looked on with an expression of hurt and anger. Daniel was merely repeating lines from a play and Emma was believing it all! He could tell she wasn't acting.
Daniel smirked, almost in a cunning way. Emma didn't notice. Holding out a hand, he continued, "Then say you'll share with me one love, one lifetime. Let me lead you from your solitude. Say you need me with you here, beside you. anywhere you go, let me go too -Christine, that's all I ask of you."
The witch was starting to tear up, even if they were just lines in a play, she thought that Daniel meant them; that she was safe with him and he was right for her. She had to stop thinking about Jax, Daniel is all she ever wanted...right? Right. She got rid of the dressing room memory from her head.
...
Emma smiled, "Say you love me."
Daniel returned it, his face inching ever so closer, "you know I do."
"Love me, that's all I ask of you!"
Daniel pulled Emma in for a kiss, even picking her up and spinning her around. She felt happy enough...but, at the same time, unsatisfied? This was such a romantic kiss, shouldn't she have felt fireworks?
She decided not to dwell on it as he set her back on the stage floor.
"I must go, they'll wonder where I am. Wait for me, Raoul!"
"Christine, I love you!"
"Order your fine horses, be with them at the door."
Daniel's lips curled up, "and soon you'll be beside me."
She took his outstretched hand, "you'll guard me, and you'll guide me."
They hurried off to the side of the stage, then walked to the backstage area. Meanwhile, Jax emerged from his hiding place, looking heartbroken. No one knew that he wasn't acting.
"I gave you my music, made your song take wing. And now, how you've repaid me: denied me and betrayed me. He was bound to love you when he heard you sing. Christine, Christine..."
Just then, Emma and Daniel's voices sounded from backstage, it was almost as if they were mocking him. "Say you'll share with me one love, one lifetime. Say the word and I will follow you. Share each day with me, each night, each morning-"
Jax's eyebrows furrowed, his hands curled into fists and slightly shook, his teeth clenched. "You will curse the day you did not do all that the Phantom asked of you!"
Making a sweeping gesture with his cape, he stormed off the stage, in the opposite direction that Daniel and Emma took.
Jax was able to unleash his pent up anger with some maniacal laughter, as he kept using the rope to swing the fake chandelier set up back and forth. Everyone in the audience stared up in awe, as it slowly descended upon the crowd. People who were under it gasped, some even ducking their heads. Fortunately, it only landed a couple feet from Emma on-stage. Daniel came to the stage and swept her away, just as the curtain closed. Act 1 was over.
The various parents, family members, and friends of the student actors all stood and stretched, some going to get various kinds of food and drink, more were going to the bathroom; it was Intermission.
Jax scowled as he put on his Red Death coat, but not before the corners of his lips turned up deviously. If Emma believed that she could just forget her obvious attraction to him, then she was sorely mistaken.
After pulling on her last boot, Emma heard a knock on her door. "Who is it?" She called.
"It's Andi! Are you dressed, 'cause I'm coming in!"
Emma rolled her eyes with a smile, "yes, I'm decent."
"Good," Andi walked in, shutting the door behind her. She sat down in a chair on the other side of a mirror. "So, how's it going Emma? You like playing Christine?"
Emma beamed in the mirror, "yes! It's amazing Andi, I'm so glad I got the part!"
Andi smirked, "are you happy with our Phantom?"
The smile dropped, "I'm okay with it."
Andi matched her expression, "what do you mean by that?"
The young witch sighed, "its complicated."
"Emma, I'm your best friend. You can tell me anything," she urged.
A corner of her mouth turned up, "I know, thank you. Well, it's just that, lately I've been feeling these strange...things for Jax, but I'm with Daniel. But after All I Ask of You, I realized that he is right for me; he's a good person. I'm light, he's light, but Jax is dark. Not evil of course, but a rebellious, not to mention mischievious, wizard. I don't think we could work."
Her best friend stood, "how do you know Jax isn't right for you? Why don't you humor these new feelings and give him a chance?"
Emma tilted her head, "since when do you like Jax? You've always hated him!"
She crossed her arms in front of her chest, eyes guarded. "I didn't hate him, I just disliked him immensely. However, now I see that you and Daniel...well personally, I don't think he's right for you."
Emma opened her mouth to object when Andi interrupted her. "Emma, he hates your witch side, if you use your powers he won't talk to you for a week! Jax understands you, and what's more he-" she stopped.
Emma's eyes widened. "What? Andi, he what?"
The zombie-lover shook her head, "it isn't my place to tell, I feel that he should tell you himself." She rose out of the chair, starting for the exit. "Oh," she paused at the door, "in case you haven't realized, Jax doesn't give up easily." With a smirk she was out the door.
"Once he gets into her heart, there's nothing she won't do for him."
"You're crazy," Daniel snorted, "Emma loves only me, I won."
Diego's solemn expression didn't change. "Remember when he lost his powers last year? And Emma did all those spells for him?"
"Yeah, but she stopped after I came back into the picture. I could treat her like crap and she'll still come crawling back to me."
The Kanay narrowed his eyes, "maybe not this time."
Daniel turned to gaze at his friend, "what do you mean?"
"Have you seen how they've been looking at each other lately? Jax is slowly wooing Emma, and she's falling hard. If you don't wise up, you're going to lose her forever." Diego walked away, wanting Daniel to think about those last few words.
"Diego!" He called, holding out a hand, but he was already gone. Daniel rolled his eyes, "when it comes down to it, he's just another magic freak, I'm not afraid of him."
He turned around to go get his forgotten Masquerade mask from his dressing room, however, he was met by a pair of amused brown eyes.
Jax's lip curled in a sneer, "not afraid of me, you say?"
Daniel took a shaking breath, "stay back or I'll kick you I promise you!"
The wizard chuckled, "of course. As you say, you've beaten me before." The smile fell, "but that was a long time ago, Danny-boy. And we were playing a different game."
Daniel found the courage to roll his eyes, "she's my girlfriend. Your magic may speak to her, but her heart will always follow me."
Jax regarded him with an amused grin, "you think so? You really think so? Follow you? With all your...charms?"
"I won her with my charms!"
He snorted, "like making her walk in the rain? Not accepting her for who she is, and the fact that you won't talk to her for a week if she uses her powers?"
"I'm trying to bring out her human side, something that you don't have," Daniel retorted.
Jax took a threatening step closer, "We're both humans, we're just special. Something that you aren't."
The human's eyes narrowed, "where are you trying to get with this? Emma loves me, and only me. I win, you lose."
"You may have won the first round, but I always win in the end," Jax smirked, only this time it wasn't the playful one he usually wore. This one was clever, with a cunning undertone. "Since you're so confident in Emma's supposed love for you, how about we make a bet?"
Daniel tilted his head, eyes calculating his form, "what kind of bet?"
Jax knew he had him, Daniel wasn't known for making careful decisions. "If Emma kisses me in the Final Lair scene and breaks up with you, you'll leave us alone." Ms. Allen gave Emma the option to not kiss anyone for real, if she felt too uncomfortable. All she would have to do is make it look real.
"And if she won't, if I win?"
"Then I'll never speak to her ever again."
Daniel thought it over. Jax finally out of his life? How could he say no to that? Emma was already infatuated with him, he had nothing to worry about. "Deal."
Jax grinned, "thank you for your blessing."
A/N: This was supposed to be finished and posted yesterday as a Halloween gift, but I ran out of time since I had to go to a friend's Halloween party. I'm sorry, I hope the Daniel/Jax confrontation was worth it! ;D
Btw, the confrontation was inspired by 'Devil take the Hindmost' which is a song from Love Never Dies, the sequel to Andrew Lloyd Webber's Phantom of the Opera.
Oh, and another thing. Last chapter, when Jax mentioned that Daniel had a Shakespearean middle name, that came from the play 'Hamlet.' In the play, Hamlet's best friend was named 'Horatio.'
multishipper123: Thanks!
lovethatignites: I loved writing that scene, Jemma is so passionate while Demma is bleh. But I was laughing when I was writing all the 'hawt' qualities of #mbm XD
CelestialTitania: I think someone should call him that in the show, I think it'd be pretty funny XD As for Daniel Fenton, I'd be so pissed if someone called him that, Danny Fenton/Danny Phantom is a man! XD
delightisadream: #dattrottho XD Thank you for the Jemma compliment, I worked pretty hard on it :) However, we return to the asshole-ness that is Daniel Miller in this chapter. Lol the bunch XD
Daddy Directioner: Thank you! And I don't think I'm ever going to like Daniel.
silencyghost: Thank you! Yeah, there's too many hawt qualities to remember sometimes XD
Guest: Thanks!
magisak1617: Thank you, that compliment means so much to me :D
ILoveEWW: Spongebob can apply to all kinds of things XD
Guest: Hmm, I'm thinking the opposite might've happened...uh oh.
funlove109: Thanks! I kinda wished she did kiss him, but that would've been too soon ;D
Guest: Aren't they? ;) And ikr, Daniel just needs to leave. Maybe he can go to Paraguay to join Gordy and the weasel (Neds Declassified) XD