I was surprised to see the views had risen up since I published this! Thank you! I appreciate you for taking the time to read this! I hope you enjoy this chapter as well!

~Happy day late birthday Gaston Leroux! (May 6th)! Thank you for the story of the Phantom of the Opera!~

Penelope Zozes - I am a bit sad too, my first story on here and I quite enjoyed it! Thought I was never going to finish it, but I glad I did! Phantom is my passion!

grandma paula - Thank you Miss Paula! And I am quite honored that you think that! I wanted to strive for something different and hearing that I'm doing an original is wonderful!

Third POV

Erik was fixing his wax figure of Christina with the wedding dress he had made for her and fixed the veil upon the figure. He stepped back, admired his work, and went to gather his outfit together for his appearance. Everything was going to plan and the plan to flee the opera house should a mob come invade his home.

Farsi curses filled his parlor as Nadir came stumbling in, clearing a trap he had laid to keep pesky visitors from disturbing him from his work. The Persian fell with a thud as he tried to untie the rope that had captured his long legs. Erik strode over and loomed over his captured friend, "I hope this important Daroga. Erik is thinking about letting you see his iron gibbet for disturbing him."

The Persian stopped and looked up at his friend, Erik bent over and pulled an end of the rope, untying him from his bindings. Erik strode away and glanced at his model of Christina again, next to her a covered portrait that sat on an easel. "Speak! Erik has no time for your nonsense!"

The Persian sighed and walked to his friend, "What did you do to Mademoiselle Barrett? She is not herself." The Phantom just looked over his shoulder, "who is that again? I believe I do not recognize the name of which you speak of. If you are here to waste my time with idle talk of a woman who-"

The Daroga pulled the sheet off the cover the easel, to revel Anna taking off her mask in masquerade attire. The coy smile still on her face as dust flew off the sheet and some landing on the picture of her. "Remember this woman? The one who was not scared to face you when she first took this job? Who merely scoffed at the mention of a phantom?"

Erik took a long look at the picture, expecting her to come out of the portrait and poke fun at in her usual fashion. Then back to his friend, "The woman lied to me on who she was. From what I heard she murdered her manager at the Berlin State Opera and she was a Prima Donna... She hid that she was quite capable of understanding what Erik meant when he talked of term of theatre." Erik grabbed the sheet and covered the portrait again.

Erik had gestured toward his wine cabinet to the Daroga, who merely shook his head as Erik fixed himself a glass. "I heard that today when Fräulein Roma had revealed her previous status to the entire staff. Anna herself was quite disgusted of how her position of power abused others. She reprimanded the girl in front of Carlotta."

The wine swirled in the Phantom's glass as he peered at his friend, "She would be the one to have common sense. Roma is too young to have the position in the first place, if I were her tutor, I would have waited until a year or two before encouraging her to try. Barrett would be the only one to even put her back in her place, realizing she wasn't in her position yet." He sat in his chair before continuing, "In a sense, Barrett holds the title until she relinquishes it to Roma."

There was an uncomfortable silence as Erik seemed ponder this. Nadir sighed, annoyed that his friend was missing the point of his reason on being down there in the first place. "If you are curious, why don't you ask her yourself? She left the building after proclaiming she was quitting her position of manager and benefactor at the opera house."

Erik's head whipped to him, his eyes glowing in anger and confusion. "She quit? Why is she leaving? She has no where go to! The only family that has talked to her socially was Ruth and Andrew, and they had left for Germany two months ago." Daroga looked away as Erik slammed his wine glass down, anger taking over and grabbed his friend by his shirt.

"Tell me Nadir or you will be the first to test out my gibbet. Erik knows you know something that Anna is going to do. Tell Erik now!" Pity and sadness were evident in Nadir's eyes, he spoke slowly and carefully, "She told that you had severed your connection with her, she had been working on letters of dismissal to hand out to her staff when I was in her office last... She was getting her affairs in order."

Confusion clouded Erik's eyes as let go of Nadir, Erik stood stock still as Nadir looked at his friend closely. "Did you see which way she went?" Erik started grabbing his cloak and fastened it closed.

"Where are you going? If you pursue her, there is a likely chance she will brush you off, or worse, she could turn you into the police." He turned to face his friend, only to see he was left alone in his parlor with Ayesha brushing up against his pant leg.

Anna's POV

I had spoke on what I wanted to say... I didn't have to worry about the implications of what others thought! I am tired of being calm and collected, the fury that sparked within me, my world seemed to gain some color back in way. It was time to stop being someone's puppet, I am cutting my strings loose from what is expected of me. No more following the set of rules I was always given, time to make up my own.

Thunder had rolled through Paris as clouds gathered above, threatening to spill at any moment. I guess I can take back the remark about my world finally gaining color. It seemed I had caused more chaos when I announced my resignation, not that matters now. I had procured a ticket for a box seat before the tickets could be offered to the crowd. After all, have a nice view of Eri- Phantom's opera. He is not Erik, he is the Phantom. That was not the Erik I talk to, that was the Phantom.

As I debated on what my course of action would after what Erik would do to ensue mayhem, rain had poured heavily on me, drenching my quickly. Lightning cracked against the sky as heavy door seemed to creak and a light shined over me. I covered my eyes quickly, only to see a woman bring me into a small cathedral.

There were few people praying in the church as a statue of the Madonna holding Jesus close to her gazed at the door, beckoning for those who had hardships, to come in and take rest. The woman that brought me handed me a large cloth. "Take it mademoiselle, no one should freeze to the bone." She patted my shoulder and went towards a woman sobbing.

I looked around to see it was a small, poor chapel. The pews look as if they had seen better days, a few buckets were sitting on the ground, catching the rain water that had dripped through the roof. Dust had scattered when I sat down on the pew. The building was in disrepair, but from the few people that were around inside, it was still loved and care for by those who wish to keep it there.

I rubbed my hair dry and patted my face and shoes from the water. I folded the towel next to me, not wanting a rat to drag it off to its nest. I bowed my head and closed my eyes in mock prayer, not wanting to look out of place. Maybe enjoy this time to reflect rather than roam around Paris with a mind heavy with what-ifs.

It has been a while since I have been to church. I really did not pick a religion that seem to suit me at the time. The time to slip as I was on the run, performing, or organizing events for the opera houses. Churches seem to focus on talk of brimstone and fire to scare their patrons to deposit their hard earn funds into the church coffers. Everyone needs to have faith in something I suppose, along with hope, it seemed that a person could function through hardships.

I don't remember relying on heavily on faith and hope, fear and valuing my life seemed to be more important when I was running to avoid the police and Warren. The thought of actually asking God to forgive me for my sins when I can't help to commit them were pointless. If He did not want us to commit sins, He would have had us perfect. He would not put madness and greed into the world that He created. Why if I ever got to His throne, I would ask Him why He did it. My time was coming soon, I could ask Him then.

There was a light tap on my shoulder, I opened my eyes and turned my head to see a girl staring in my face. I could see her eyes dart across my face before she pointed to a confession booth on the other side of the church. She grasped my hand and tugged me up from my seat. I gently shook her hand from her grip, "I'm fine little one. I have no need to go to confession." I turned to leave the chapel, only to have an insistent tug on my dress towards to confession.

The woman who saw me trying to loosen my grip called the girl to let go. She child shook her hair and pointed to the other side of the church. The woman gave me an apologetic smile, "Hannah won't let go until you see Father Ashe in confession. She may be mute, but she always knows when one needs to talk about something weighing upon their person. You may not come here, but go to talk to him about your sins. You are anonymous here." I relented and let the girl pull towards booth.

She knocked rapidly twice on the door, to see it had open and gap in darkness. She pushed me in and I stumbled onto a little seat. I went to reprimand her about shoving, only to have a door slam in face. The grate that divided the two sections was closed. Just as I was about to leave, the grate had slid open, to reveal someone was on the other side.

"Forgive Hannah, she only did as I requested. I had seen you seen your face shift with worry and despair. You are not usually the kind of person to come in our small chapel at this time." The voice was elderly, a bit of sternness in his voice. "Feel free to confess to sins you have committed, to unburden your soul and have the Lord forgive you for your sins."

I scoffed, "Sins are not easily forgiven. I believe God would want me to tell Himself personally. I do not see why I need to answer a priest to tell Him of the sins I committed."

There was a chuckle, followed along with a cough, "If sins are not weighing you down, do you wish to discuss about what is weighing upon your mind? Most women in your sort of attire would simply flee the church the moment she stepped in."

"I have nothing to say to you..." I started to stand, about to leave, only to have Warren's face flash through my mind. "Actually, I take that back." I sat down and looked straight into the grate. "Murder is one of the ten Commandments. What if... what if you killed someone in self defense? To protect those who have no clue what this person could do to them?"

I heard cloth shifting as he settled down into his seat. "Murder is a rather heavy subject to talk about. You should protect those who care about and wish no harm upon them because they are your neighbor. And that cannot be helped at times, we have no choice to in order to keep ourselves and our loved ones safe from the person who threatens their well-being. Killing in cold blood for wealth and other gains is breaking God's command to love your neighbor."

"And if we don't know the people we are protecting them from? That if they are not dead, they could harm others, even it meant sacrificing your own well being to protect them? I'm not looking for some self-righteous action or wanting to commit suicide because of it. I want them to cause no more harm, even when no one but one other is within that person's grasp. I had suffered heavily by it and I want no other to die because I refused to do something about it."

His throat cleared after I had laid my thoughts on the proverbial table. "Why the sudden desire to protect those who you don't know? What made you decide it was right to protect those people, that you have never met, into laying down you life down for them?"

"I have lost everything to this monster. Because I kept silent of my past, I lost the respect of the man I considered a close friend. The thing I had that was close enough to an actual friend. Granted, it had started off with a sort of business arrangement, I was thankful to have a someone to talk to and poke fun occasionally." I chuckled about his amber eyes sparking in annoyance every time I tried to lighten his mood about something.

"And you feel like you have nothing to live for? We all have a purpose in life, we can always find more purpose when our original has died. Like this small chapel for me, I always imagined I would be a scholar at the Vatican, but that was not so. This is my home, even if it is not a grand palace. These people need me here." There was more shuffling and a thump, from what I guess from a cane, hitting the wood as he spoke.

"Weren't you listening? I lost everything, money or gaining the false respect from others has lost its glimmer! I know my time is coming to a close. Whether I choose to pursue another path, I know this is one I must tread alone. Thank you for listening and taking time out of your schedule, but my mind is set on what I must do. God bless you Father, may your coffers be filled to help your chapel grow." I stood up and left the booth, the rain from outside seemed to stop.

I waved to Hannah and her mother as I left, before opening the door, I dropped a few francs within the offering bowl by the door. Warren would a be gain for me of course, him being dead will be payback for how destroyed my home and my original home theatre. But to others, this will keep them safe from this malicious beast.

3rd POV

As Anna left the booth, the elderly priest groaned as he tried to rouse himself from being knocked unconscious by a chemical that had been applied on a handkerchief. A masked man sat beside him, poised ready to strike the priest if he decided to open his eyes to see that Phantom glaring down at the elder.

Erik was silent for the longest, only to slide the grate covering and leave the booth, armed with this new knowledge. He donned his heavy cloaked and followed Anna, making sure she reached her estate before returning to his opera house. He had one last letter he wanted to write before his Don Juan could be preformed.

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BYD