AN: Thanks again guys. I'd like to get a really good estimate of which couple everyone is rooting for, so if you'll vote at the poll on my profile page, I'd really appreciate it. Better yet, do that and leave a review/PM stating why.

CHAPTER 25

Christine's first instinct was to either violently push away or slap the man, but she caught herself just in time at the realization of the swap.

Why did Erik suddenly want to leave?

"Ah….hi Christine," greeted Gerry with a pained smile as he tried to crack his neck. "That damn time portal or whatever is a bitch…"

"What's going on over there? How is everything?" Christine asked immediately.

"Oh. Well, pretty much everyone you know, aside from the managers and Carlotta and stuff, are having this meeting in Madame Giry's office….convincing Raoul is still as impossible as ever, but especially when Emmy showed up in your body…."

"Erik is in the same room with Raoul?!" she panicked. This made Gerry snicker and shrug.

"I guess so. Too bad I don't get to see the brawl."

"It's not funny, they're going to kill eachother!"

He scoffed and sauntered over to her. "I wouldn't worry about that, if I were you. You aren't there to show off for, it's just Emmy. Plus, I can see Madame Giry keeping them in line."

"Just Emmy…just Emmy…well, apparently she's become more important to Erik than you think—possibly even Raoul as well!"

"Eh…no. They seem kind of annoyed with eachother, if anything," Gerry corrected her, then asked, "What do you mean she's become important to Erik?"

"Well, obviously, you and I know what he keeps doing…"

"Oh…right. But from what I heard, it was just a drunken kiss and then a dumb truth or dare game. Doesn't mean they care about eachother that way," Gerry shrugged it off outwardly. Inside, he had been worried about those two that since the first time they realized what that knock-back sensation meant. He couldn't quite say it was just a natural protectiveness for a young, defenseless girl, but he definitely didn't want to think that it was anything more than that. He was 17 years older than her, for God's sake.

"He said it's hard to decide how he feels because she and I are so similar—"

Gerry interrupted her with a snort. "I beg to differ."

She gave him an irritated look then continued, "But he can tell the difference. He and I have…well, quite a history. He spent the past nine or ten years focusing on my well being, my career, my voice…and then what he wanted from me. But your world and all the newness of it draws him in, as well as the newness of their…friendship. I can assume their relationship is much less strained. But most of all, he's torn because the likelihood of him being loved back. I told him, straightforward, that I do want him to be happy, but I can never be happy WITH him."

"Then why doesn't he just go on and go after Emmy, then?"

"Because he believes that love is selfless. Simply pursuing the one who is more likely to love you in return, even if you aren't sure you love them, is a cowardly thing to do."

Gerry thought about this. That did make sense. He could see why Erik might be confused.

"Well…maybe we should just let each other spend some time together…to figure things out. On an…uh…emotional level, I mean."

Eyes downcast, deep in thought as well, she nodded in agreement. "I can assume the next time a simultaneous kiss happens, Emmy and I will swap and we will all be in the right place. But I don't want to go home just yet."

"Oh, you should see Emmy. She's fangirling all over the place."

Christine gave him a strange look and he elaborated with a sigh. "She's very excited about being in your world. People only dream of being able to go back in time."

At that, her face went blank as she remembered. "I was just saying something about turning back time when Erik suddenly kissed me in order to leave….why would he do that?"
Gerry shrugged. "I have no idea. I've never even met the man. I just play him."

/

Meg ended up having to escort Raoul outside, seeing as he was not one to be left out of an important conversation—at least, by himself. And Meg, being skittish of the séance that was about to take place, could easily sacrifice her curiosity for some time spent with the Vicomte.

Before he started on any rant about Erik, she decided to bring up something else that might be beneficial to her.

"You know, I talked to Christine some before Emmy swapped into her body."

As expected, this sparked his interest.

"You did? What did she say? What did you talk about? Just tell me everything."

So, little Giry started retelling as much of the conversation as she could remember…with a few exaggerations concerning Christine's 'affections' for Mr. Butler. But she did manage to point out Christine's final decision regarding Erik.

"Unless, of course, he succeeds in that time-turning theory of his…in which case, he could manipulate life so that I may not have ever even met Christine!"

Meg pursed her lips and looked away. "Perhaps…but he doesn't even have a solid plan on how to change time, aside from talking to these so-called spirits, whom I assume aren't willing to do favors for any of us."

This seemed to give Raoul some sense of security. But not much, as now he was worried about this actor from the future as well.

"So…she fancies him?"

"She didn't officially SAY so…but…"

"You could tell."

Meg shrugged and nodded. He groaned.

"Fantastic. Just what I need. When Christine has finally broken away from Erik, his bloody future doppelganger comes back to finish the job of twisting her mind and ruining my life!"

"Well…I must disagree with you. Gerry doesn't seem to care half as much as Erik does. In fact, he doesn't seem to be making any effort at all to obtain her favor. But she is charmed by him, nonetheless. He's a rather charismatic person, from what I hear."

"Am I not?"

Meg shook her head a little too quickly. "No, no, you're very likeable! I can't think of any woman who wouldn't wish to be with you."

Raoul narrowed his eyes at her eager answer but said nothing about it aside from a quiet word of thanks. Biting her lip, knowing she had said far too much, Meg went silent.

Meanwhile, Madame Giry had formed the séance circle again, excluding Nadir as usual. This time, the voices spoke up much more quickly.

"Back again, are we?"

"Hello, hello…"

Erik thought very hard, trying to recognize the voices but failing to recall anything. So he went straight for his question.

"Can you turn back time in this dimension?"

The voices were silent for a while before an annoyed, British accented voice replied.

"What kind of stupid question is that?"

Emmy giggled a little bit and Erik shot her a look before speaking again. "I want to stay here, but go back about six months or so in my own life. Is that possible?"

"Well, yes, but you would just go back, as you were before, and do exactly the same things over and not even know about it. It would be rather pointless," said a softer male voice. Erik grit his teeth in frustration.

"So there is no hope for me."

A maniacal voice cackled. "Of course there is hope for you, you fool! Why would we do this if there was no hope for you?"

Erik snapped, "Why would you do this, PERIOD?"

"All shall be clear when all is said and done!" chuckled a lower voice darkly.

"When all is rearranged yet in its rightful place, all shall see!"

"What does that mean? Will you lunatics please just say something that makes sense?" Erik rudely shot back, and Emmy squeezed his hand tightly as if to tell him to shut up.

"What he means is, can you elaborate a little?" Emmy asked the voices politely.

The nicer of the men's voices replied regrettably, "I am sorry, my dear, as we said before, you must simply figure it out for yourse-"

Another voice cut him off with an excited whisper, "Except, IF there is something to figure out. You may have already done so, or there may not have been a point to this at all!"

At this point, Erik was close to banging his head against the table in frustration.

"Don't hurt yourself, my boy!" said one of the voices amusedly. Emmy chuckled, not knowing the voices could see what they were doing as well as hear them. Erik just rolled his eyes.

"Well, if that is all you have to say…" Madame Giry trailed off, and Erik nodded, unclasping his hand from hers and Emmy's, breaking the circle and therefore the connection.

"When I find out who these spirits are, I'm bringing them back to life so I can kill them myself."