Castiel and the Phantom of the Opera - Chapter 20
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Chapter 20 – No One Would Listen
Dean made no sound. He didn't yell, or scream, or cry, or sob – that would come later. At that moment in time, Dean was in both shock and denial. This is a dream, he thought. This is just a sick, twisted dream. He stared at Castiel's body, his eyes slowly filling with tears. Any joy and happiness he might have felt was drained from his body. He's not dead . . . He is not dead.
"Oh my God," Meg said softly, dropping the pistol on the stone floor. "Castiel!?" She ran toward him, collapsing on the ground next to his body. Meg let out a strangled sob and covered her mouth with her hand. "CASTIEL!" She shook his body violently, trying to elicit some kind of response.
But it was too late.
Dean crawled over, then. His stomach was twisted in a painful knot, and he had a physical pain in his chest. He stared at Castiel's lifeless face, his mouth open slightly. The blue eyes that had been staring at him with love only moments ago were now permanently closed. His face was pale – almost grayish in color. And yet, Dean thought he looked . . . peaceful. He's gone . . . Dean thought, finally seeming to acknowledge this fact. My angel . . . My angel is gone.
And then, Dean began to sob. His entire body shook as he did so, and his voice reverberated off the stone walls. He covered his face with his hands and let out a heartbroken wail. "CASTIEL!"
Meg stood suddenly. She walked over the pistol on the floor and took the gun in her hands once more. "I killed him," she cried to herself. Her soft voice could barely be heard over Dean's loud lament. "I did this . . . I killed Castiel . . ." And with that, Meg pressed the barrel of the gun to the side of her head and pulled the trigger.
Sam, Balthazar, Kevin, Gabriel, and Zachariah made their way swiftly through the labyrinth. Each held guns, preparing themselves for the worst. Balthazar was at Sam's right hand, his entire body filled with unease. Something didn't feel right – not that having your best friend kidnapped by a psychotic musical genius would feel right, of course.
"CASTIEL!" a voice suddenly roared through the tunnels. The five men came to a halt and listened closely. About thirty seconds later, a gunshot sounded.
Balthazar's gut clenched in fear. Sam grabbed the older man's arm and jerked him forward. "C'mon!" he shouted to the others, sprinting down the narrow passage. Balthazar followed close on Sam's heels. After what seems like an eternity to the dancer, they reached what appeared to be a small, underground lake. A metal gate divided the lake in the middle, keeping the men from what lay on the opposite shore.
Through the metal bars, Balthazar could make out a small alcove that was filled with candles. Not only that, but it seemed to be furnished as well. Then he realized: this was the Phantom's lair. This was where he dwelt beneath the opera house.
Sam walked over to a nearby wall and pressed on one of the stones. There was a faint sound that reached Balthazar's ears that almost sounded like gears grinding against each other. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw the metal gate rise out of the water. Not waiting for the others to follow, Sam jumped into the water. Balthazar didn't hesitate and followed . . . and then immediately regretted it. The water was dreadfully cold and seemed to drain the warmth out of the dancer's body. Jos teeth began to chatter, and he began to question all the decisions he made that brought him to this point.
As they got closer to the lair, and Balthazar actually saw what was there waiting for them, he nearly wretched. Meg Masters lay on the stones at the edge of the lake. Half of her head was gone – blown off. Blood and chunks of flesh and brain tissue were spilled out onto the stones, staining them crimson. Balthazar had to turn away from the sight, horrified and disgusted.
"Dean?" Sam called hesitantly. By now, the other men had entered the water and had seen Meg's body. Balthazar heard someone vomit at the sight and didn't blame them. He still felt sick. Sam pursed his lips together in a thin line as his blue-green eyes scanned the alcove. "Dean!"
After a few moments of eerie silence, a soft voice began to sing. The voice was not pleasant to listen to – the person that was doing the signing was clearly crying as he did so. However, the raw emotion in the singer's voice chilled Balthazar to the bone.
"No one would listen.
No one but him,
Heard as the outcast hears.
Shamed in to solitude,
Shunned by the multitude,
I learned to listen.
In the dark, my heart heard music.
I longed to teach the world,
Rise up and meet the world.
No one would listen.
I alone could hear the music.
Then at last, a voice in the gloom
Seemed to cry, 'I hear you!
I hear your fears,
Your torment and your tears!'
He saw my loneliness . . .
Shared in my emptiness . . .
No one would listen.
No one but him
Heard as the outcast hears . . .
No one would listen.
No one but him,
Heard as the outcast hears."
When the song came to an end, Balthazar saw Sam move deeper into the alcove. He walked along a small path that led into a separate section of the lair. The dancer followed, glad to be out of the icy water and away from the gruesome sight of Meg's body.
The two men entered a smaller section of the alcove that contained a bed and other furniture like bedside tables, an armoire, and numerous candelabras. At first, Balthazar looked around at the room in wonder, but then noticed the man on the bed.
He was sitting there, crying quietly. But his face – his face made Balthazar quiver in fear. The man – the Phantom – wore no mask and was hideous. The right side of his face looked to have been burned so badly that almost all of the skin had been singed off. Bone, tendons, and muscle were all exposed to the air. But Balthazar had very little time to be truly horrified by his appearance for he saw the lifeless body of his best friend lying on the bed.
"NO!" Balthazar shouted, shoving past Sam and rushing toward the bed. The Phantom flinched at his approach but made no attempt to stop him. "Cas! CAS!?" Balthazar screamed, his voice cracking. He shook him, tears overflowing from his eyes.
"Good God," Sam breathed, staring at Castiel's body. Then, his eyes flew to Dean. "What happened?!" The next thing Balthazar knew, the 6'4 choreographer had his brother by the shirt collar. "WHAT DID YOU DO?!"
"Nothing," Dean answered in a soft, resigned voice.
"THEN HOW DID HE DIE?" Sam demanded, shaking the Phantom violently.
"Meg," he snapped in response, jerking away from Sam's hold. "She . . . She had a gun and tried to shoot me, but . . ." he trails off, shaking his head and wiping away some of the tears on his face. "Castiel got in the way . . . After she saw that she'd killed . . . h- him instead of me, she . . . she took her own life."
Sam was quiet then, his own eyes growing moist. "Damn it," he hissed under his breath. He pounded his fists against a nearby wall as he screamed, "DAMN IT ALL!"
Balthazar looked at the pale face of the man he considered a brother and cried.
Castiel Novak was dead.
The Opera Populaire was burning to the ground.
And the Phantom of the Opera was finally truly and completely broken.
Sam watched as Dean headed out of the bedroom. "I . . . I put him on the bed," Dean whispered, as if that mattered. His voice was choked with tears. "I couldn't l- leave him on the fl- floor." He paused, staring at the stone wall before him. "He- he's dead, Sammy. My Castiel is dead. My Angel is dead. My only reason to live is . . . gone."
The choreographer did not know how to respond to that. What could he possibly say to console him? He knew that if something were to happen to Jessica – if he were to lose her in that way – he didn't know what he would do. He would never forgive himself. He didn't think he would ever able to be happy again.
Dean let out another small sob before putting both of his hands on a nearby wall for support. Sam's heart wrenched as he heard his brother sing softly.
"You alone could make my song take flight . . .
It's over now, the Music of the Night!"
A/N: Thanks for reading.
The song is "No One Would Listen" and is a deleted scene from the 2004 POTO movie.